Dianetics™ Self-Clearing explained.

( From IRC. )

Birmingham Weekend.

Got up horribly early on Saturday morning and hopped on a train to Birmingham, to pay a surprise visit upon the Scientologists. Arrived an hour late, of course. (I'm practicing for my own funeral.)

New Street is the main shopping drag in the city centre. The Church of Scientology has the second floor on the corner of New Street and Ethel Street, above the Pizza Hut. A lovely spring day, with rain just like Melbourne's - pissweak drizzle blowing sideways. We gathered on the corner with leaflets, a dog with water wings, a small PA system and a helium tank. No inflatable space aliens, unfortunately, as they weren't ready in time.

Lots of Xenu helium balloons. The kids - early teenage to early twenties - went crazy for the balloons. Everyone loves balloons! In particular, one bunch of twelve-year-olds who kept coming back for more helium to huff. The new drug menace threating Birmingham's youth. (One such youth at a past demo having raved about how helium was "the best high ever!" ... one can but boggle.)

We held out for two and a half hours despite the rain. Gave away lots of leaflets (including some nice colour booklets one guy had printed up). Not much interaction with the Scientologists, after one who had been getting in our faces was told by his fellows to back off. By about 3:30pm the shoppers had dispersed, so we sensibly retired to the pub.

I nicked off at one point to buy myself a new SIM - if you think you should have my number or I should have yours, please email. (Remember that if I used to have your number, I don't any more!) Put it into marnameow's old Siemens S35. Smaller than the old Ericsson and without the Ericsson standard highly-breakable protruding aerial. I'm not sure the fancy soft controls are entirely drunk-compatible, but the interface seems usable and discoverable enough.

I failed to catch up with rainbowskye or sciamachy (encumbered with parents, kids or both), but rainbowskye put me onto a party at Zesty's. An entirely suitable soirée, with myself, Zesty, his girlfriend Kim, Jason, Will, Rebecca, ladycat and another fellow whose name I forget. Rebecca did some poi, of course. Spent most of the evening in deep discussion with ladycat on such important topics as gossip, clothes, how cool our respective loved ones are and, of course, pubic hair styles. I was apparently fantastically witty and said many things she proclaimed had to go into a post, though of course neither of us could remember any of them by night's end. Crashed on Zesty's couch and staggered home in the late afternoon and evening.

London (even Camden) beggars are paragons of politeness compared to the ones in Birmingham city centre. Incredibly numerous, obnoxious and persistent. Many waving a copy of The Big Issue at you, though they're curiously lacking in a vendor's badge.

Could someone please repeatedly cluebat ladycat that she is not merely breathtakingly gorgeous, but naturally elegant as well. Thank you.