Go and see what stellar and TerrorizedTears have done. Nice work - keep it up! :) :)

And now I am going to bed. *scoots*

*hears loud noise outside*
*opens window*
*leans out of window*
*catches cat!*
*repeats manoevre until room filled with cats and dogs* :D

Yep ... it's RAINING again. And some.
G'nite, folks. :)

Ooh. It's gone dark all of a sudden, a strong cool wind's started blowing and we just had a rumble of thunder. Better log off then. I love summer storms. ;)

...

15.45: The sky grumbled intermittently for about an hour. Then at 3pm, gallons of water started falling. I love it when the storm gets within about a mile, close enough to hear not just the initial explosive crackle of thunder but the full, deep, percussive, cave-shaking BOOM. Fabulous.

And through it all, Fat Brown Cat sat on his doorstep. Unpurrturbed (oops) even when the two little girls who live in his house came running and screaming from the car through the rain.

The sky is brightening up now.

Big apologies for the delay! A day late ... but here's TWIJS.


JOURNALS

Home inspires a poignant haiku exchange between plato and Pavel.

Looking for some new reads? Who's the best? Check out Mr. Wolf's Journal Pimps. Mr Wolf reads 10 random journals a week and selects the one that impresses him the most. This week he nominates eternalfool. Congrats!

JS Idol contest, hosted by jadedgrrl. Which Round 2 contestant do you want to win? Listen to the entries, then vote in the poll! [Closes midnight (MST) 22nd June.]

Steverino and Toddlite get new journal skins courtesy of jadedgrrl. And Devoted2pain's journal gets a new look thanks to the Gawdly talents of HottTxBoi.

Just like wine and cheese? 30something celebrates 12 years of marriage.

DefiantMike goes shopping.

sophisticate sighting of the week - "that man is like Bobby Fischer" - by DefiantMike.

HottTxBoi writes: "I think commenting is what helps bring the community together more and the less people comment, the less the community is brought together." What do you think?

A conversation about Dawson's Creek prompts jewels9445 to cheer the strength and value of platonic friendships.

ceciledubois89 blogs by proxy from summer camp.

surfinpure sees a dream come true. And ... baby's on the way! Stay tuned.
UPDATE! surfinpure gave birth to a baby girl at 5.30pm, June 21st. (Thanks to alyak23 for passing on the news. :)) CONGRATS!!!

LittleWashu gets back in touch with the tiger within.

Wanna learn alcoholic chess?? Then do it the phayte way.

61.93294%. Can anyone on JS beat strixy's Geek Test score?

Your chance to define laurapink. Here.

Deep cookie thoughts from Kate_Schurman.

JS site speed led to exchanges this week on phayte and jadedgrrl's blogs. Tiroteo has a useful post on latest site speed improvements.

Wolferz tells the story of a boat.

Happy Unbirthday! sunfish celebrates being 25.50.

Go visit mixelle's journal! She needs ya!

nak finds a hilariously beautiful use for Joss lights.


AUDIOBLOGS

laurapink gets her friends to say hello.
http://www.voicemonkey.com/mailbox/0161/0306161407.mp3

Baby's on the way!! surfinpure's latest update.
http://www.voicemonkey.com/mailbox/0139/0306210554.mp3


INTERVIEWS

HiFiChicAzn asks Toddlite: What's the perfect definition of love?

oyster tells Hiei109 what her favourite cheese is.

mixelle explains her use of the phrase "everyday is my wedding day" to jadesjaded666.


FORUMS [log in to see these links]

HoneyDippedLotus asks a million-dollar question ...

Who else on JS likes anime? Hiei109 wants to know!

Wanna start up a group blog? MrSoller [his blog is down - where's he gone?] kicks off a long thread.

Pokey is vanquished! On BlogBattle, not the forums that is.

Talking of BlogBattle ... jpcfunk started this one.


POLLS [log in to cast your vote]

DefiantMike's been there. Where in the world would you go?

Nuintincowen asks: Are the Harry Potter books anti-Christian?

Who's your favourite female comic character? Vote in Jen's latest poll. Jen (this week's JS featured journal) also publishes her poll results on the most wanted mutant ability.

acquiredtaste wants to know which (left) part of your body you'd give.

Are endings always a beginning? Tell robert.

JS Idol Round 2. Polls close midnight MST, June 22nd. Don't forget to vote.

Talking of JS Idol ... the person we most want to hear sing (apart from the present contestants) is Tiroteo. 23 votes to the good on jadedgrrl's last poll. C'mon, Tiro! ... *grin*


And finally ...


PIC OF THE WEEK

Here.

Listening to Westwood. The guy is doing a live show and he is on something (heh!), really hyper this evening. But I like his live shows. Westwood is waaay too surreal when he's locked up in a studio. Still the only show on Radio 1 stewed_tea listens to with any regularity tho'.

TWIJS is there all ready. Just needs formatting. Eek. Another hour of HTML. Gah. I need to go for a walk ... *logs off and disappears*

...

23.00: Back, and formatting TWIJS to the sounds of Westwood.

Followed the yellow brick road, er, the mill brook, and it led me through wide green spaces I never knew existed despite living for 4 years this end of the city. Come to think of it, never had the energy nor inclination to explore - 'til now! Crossed a playing field under a wide sky; stood at the far edge by a terraced access road and watched a pair of bats with brown wings dancing their delicate tangly air dance in the air just above my head. I love bats. Not spooked by 'em (apart from last year in the Venezuelan islands when there was a rumour of vampire bats, hehe!). They remind me of "home" ... this time last week in Mum & Dad's back garden, drinking in the smell of the garden after sunset and seeing the bat come out to play.

All in the name of TWIJS research, of course. *grin*. Thanks, acquiredtaste!

I am Pacman. I am an aggressive sort of personality, out to get what I can, when I can. I prefer to avoid confrontation, but sometimes when it's called for, I can be a powerful character. I tend to be afflicted with munchies constantly. What Video Game Character Are You?

Talking of munchies ... Tea break! tea break! tea break!!! And I need to sample this wonderful sunny day too. Back to TWIJSing later. *waves* *scoots*

Pavel is still recovering from his trial travails. So go over to his journal and give him a hug. *grin*

TWIJS will be posted, on stewed_tea's weblog, sometime this weekend. Apologies for the delay. Right now I'm a bit behind in preparing TWIJS and I also need an early night! See you soon.

First batch of haiku for ages. Went out for a walk just now and the words started to flow.


My street, walking west

Sunset, midsummer:
blue sky intersected by
glowing vapour trails.

Look up: room, posters,
man, naked back, moving. Down:
street leavings, greetings.


The next one is about a Cardiff street I lived in some years ago. These were my first impressions walking down it one summer evening. The impressions still hold true for me and the summer brings them back.

Connaught Road

Tree mountains, window
walls. Houses, stories, dense, tall.
City in a street.


Finally, not a haiku:

My street, going east

Chimneytop seagull seething.
Lovers' tiff graffitis the air.
I walk until the lights come out.

Mum just called me on her mobile from the boat! She's gone out to the Azores to be with Dad for 2 weeks. They're in Horta. She says the walls of the harbour are covered in murals painted by the crews of visiting boats. Dad's done one - it has a yellow background and a Welsh dragon and the words "SMALL" and "WORLD" (the boat's name) separated by a globe.

Mum said the Azores people are very friendly and she's looking forward to seeing more of the town with its Portuguese architecture. But the local weather pattern is completely different from normal: the "Azores high" ain't in the Azores! In fact it's cold and Mum and Dad have shut all the cabin windows.

WARNING: The following link will make absolutely NO sense unless (1) you have seen The Matrix Reloaded (2) you know what IRC is.

THE MATRIX RELOADED: THE ABRIDGED SCRIPT™
http://ter.air0day.com/index.php?script=matrixreloaded

Stolen from Rat's Journal (sorry Rat! but the link was so hilarious I just HAD to blog it :D).