Hello 
I'm Siobhan Curran/Kisa Naumova, and this is my weblog. I tend to write about stuff like crossdressing, Macs, code, cats, wine and Second Life, but in general it's just an ongoing conversation about all sorts of stuff. If you'd like to know a little bit more about what this all is, I recommend starting on this page which has a little bit of info on who I am, and what I'm trying to do — or you could dive into my five years worth of archives if you like.
Otherwise, feel free to close this box and explore...
Reception
There's some great stuff on BBC4 tonight, if you're a sad fuck like I am, and like documentaries about cars and roads.
Secret Life of the Motorway starts at 9pm, and is the second in a trio of pieces about Motorways and suchlike. I watched (most of — I'll explain in a bit) the first last night, and it had some really interesting stuff about the designers they brought in to standardise the signage typography, along with a large chunk about how hard it was to build the M62.
(Including the now-obligatory reference to why the farm in the middle of it is where it is, the story about the farmer being a grouch and refusing to move being completely untrue)
And afterwards, there's Car Crash: The Delorean Story — a documentary about the DeLorean factory just outside of Belfast (which I've seen before, and can attest to being rather good)
When I was young, we used to see the stainless steel cars being driven down the main Lisburn road all the time, what with the factory only being a couple of miles away from us. You could also see into it from the train on the way to school — we used to peer out of the window at the rows of shiny silver cars every morning, and dream that we were Living In The Future™.
So yeah, for car-based-anal-retentives such as myself, a top night of factual telly. I however, won't be joining you, seeing as for some reason my BBC4 reception deteriorates gradually through the evening to the point of unwatchability by about half past nine.
BBC3 is fine, which really annoys me, because I'm left with the only option of mildly numbing my intellectual capacity through the medium of Two Arseing Pints of Fucking Lager and a Packet of Shitting Crisps. Again.
Retail Therapy
Such a stunningly beautiful day today. Blue sky, warm sunshine. I dunno, it's hard to be miserable when there's so much gorgeous light around¹.
After a couple of hours of contemplating the "should I go back to bed?" question — to which the obvious answer was "no!", I hauled my sorry ass into town on a specific quest to find a new bag.
(I have my little 'Leeds bag' that I fill with socks and pants for during the week, but I wanted to replace the battered old thing that I used to carry around everywhere and has now fallen completely apart under my desk at work)
Normally, when I go on specific shopping quests, all that happens is that my prejudices about Lancaster being a shit place to go shopping are confirmed, and I stomp home in a strop because nowhere has anything like what I'm after. But today...
Ta dah! A New Bag™! And I think you'll agree that it's a bit of a cool one at that. (£15 from the market. I got myself a new wallet at the same time, because I've been walking around using my passport as a wallet ever since I got mugged)
Inspired by the consumer triumph, I chucked my camera into it, and set off on a walk, intent on Taking Rather Good Photographs™ and enjoying the sunshine. I went out past Fairfield Orchard, and looped back to the canal, then spent a while flitting through town and buying ice creams.
The Rather Good Photographs™, however, all came out shit:
...which is a bit gutting, really. But hey.
...
Shit. Wait a minute. I knew there was more I was going to write for this...
I've been promising an old friend that I'd go visit her in her new place in Bolton for ages, and it struck me that what with Friday being A Very Nice Pay Day And All That™, I might take the chance to go out shopping with her — repeating our expeditions of old.
(It's great — she's the same size as me, so I can pretend the clothes are for her)
But failing that, I went on a bit of a trawl through some online shops earlier, and picked some stuff out that I quite fancy.
Ive been noticing that this whole 'little tunic dress worn over the top of jeans' thing seems to be going on at the moment, and I quite heartedly approve 
¹ I'm still managing it BTW. Might explain at some point.
(It's great — she's the same size as me, so I can pretend the clothes are for her)
Which is sort-of the reverse of why I'm off to help the Biker Chick with her wardrobe-refresh shopping next Friday
I Can't Work Out If I Find This Funny Or Not
Hmm, yeah.
There's a place fairly near me called Penny Hill, which some wag carefully changed the road sign for to say "Benny Hill". Which I found unaccountably hilarious every time I passed it. It was something to do with the incongruousness of a celebrity name on something as mundane and ordinary as a british road sign.
Of course I pissed myself at The Great Bear.
Oh and I bought a very similar bag the other week. :-S
See, I rather like how someone has tried to come up with similar typographical genius by scrawling the word "FUCK" over the lower sign.
The thing is though, I kinda think "Brilliant!" — yet at the same time I'm thinking "But I like tramps. Tramps are great. Stop making fun of tramps"
Reception
You do know that they're repeating that show at about 03:50 a.m.? May be worth
recording just in case the reception clears up. I meant to watch it last night
but forgot 
Shame really as the M62 is my favourite motorway (I worked on
it, for a while, during my 'Catch-22' year). By the way, do you ever watch
Family Guy on BBC3? If not, I can thoroughly recommend it (ok so some of the
American 'cultural' references sail over your head, but it's quite vicious and
wonderfully bizarre).
Funny
Works for me 
haha! that motorway program has been good, I particularly liked the motorway copper last night explaining how they knew that the Jag workforce knew which cars were for the police. But that bit might have been after the 9.30 receptionshed.
rachel
Hopefully I'm not quite so peculiar then, to have Chris' British Road Directory a) bookmarked, and b) listed on my website as general interest?
<rolls eyes>
Lauren Laverne seems to be one of the current main exponents of the tunic dress and jeans look. She was out and about in town for the Embra Festival and looking quite stylin'.
A few years ago, at the height of the Ken Dodd saga, one of the signs in Liverpool was vandelised. It said "Welcome to Knotty Ash", under which some wag had added "Tax Free Zone"
I cannot afford to follows links off your blog now.
Tonights continuous repeats on bbc4, means I've been able to idly leave the channel on and see all the programs without having to pay attention to them. Handy, since my digi box is temperamental to say the least.
rachel
There's a guy in the Philadelphia region who uses his DeLorean as his daily car! It's quite neat to see that car — looking quite futuristic, even now — trundling down the street.
And I entertained buying one, about 10(?) years ago. A place just outside of Lambertville, NJ, had one for sale. I seriously considered making it mine; even going so far as to drive out there from NY to take an in-depth look at it. The thing that stopped me was not just the insurance but parking the thing out on a Brooklyn street at night. If memory serves, one quote for insurance was in the $5,000 per year range. (The agent argued that it wasn't "if" the car would be stolen, but "when".)
There's an effort going on to replace all the signs on the Federal highways, and putting more in. Some new typeface, as well. It is clearer, but what a mess it causes when they replace the sign. Usually during the day — so a road like I-95 becomes that wonderful mix of demolition derby and parking lot so beloved by everyone. Not.
(Ah well. I just have to contend with that bit of furrowed land known as "I-295". It's rumored to be paved in some sections.)
Carolyn Ann