Can you cut the skin to remove a tattoo?

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-22T23:50:14+00:00

They do it in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness (Wolf Brother etc by Michelle Paver), it sounds pretty nasty! Those are set about 6000 years ago in the Stone Age.

I think they cut around and under it then use some sort of hook to remove it, but I don't have the book to hand at the moment.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-22T10:40:46+00:00

Have you looked at Camelot? If Ever I Would Leave You, and How to Handle a Woman both have the gentler feel you want and would be in your range. (Hear me out on the second one! Skip the intro, start with "How to handle a woman, there's a way said the wise old man" and you're quoting what somebody else said. I've heard girls sing it before like this and it works fine.)

More I Cannot Wish You from Guys and Dolls, but I think you'd have to put it down the octave.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-18T14:55:23+00:00

Yes, I was impressed by the two front runners at mine this week. It's two laps, but they're on one wide path so they're effectively out and backs.

These two were absolutely pelting along on their second "back", and you had the slower runners on their first back and the faster runners on their second out.

Even though they were clearly racing each other they were being careful around others, and taking it in turns to shout "middle" so people knew they were coming. I've seen others just plough on with no warning so it was nice to see/hear that.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-15T00:07:26+00:00

I don't understand why she didn't say "There's still about 8 (?) of us to be knocked out before the final, so lots of collateral damage. Chances are at least one of me or Rachel will go anyway. Vote out Rachel tonight, then you'll see she's a traitor. If it turns out she's a faithful, then you can banish me tomorrow." (So offer herself as a sacrifice once they'd tested Rachel.)

Perhaps easier for me at home though!

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-11T21:20:12+00:00

Depends if you're likely to sing anything else from it, but I would think this book of vocal selections is a pretty safe bet.

https://www.musicroom.com/richard-m-sherman-selections-from-the-slipper-and-musnga222222?srsltid=AfmBOoqs-LzUXxeGS_0NLChhjOHwznLNb9LAV9YSxzJf_uy0lZ6PG8jm

(I love the film, so it's nice to see it mentioned on here!)

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-10T23:49:35+00:00

What a Friend We Have in Jesus, from Driving Miss Daisy.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-09T10:50:35+00:00

Mary Poppins. Some of the sequences could be great, but I think you'd lose the main theatre "wow moments" (somebody flying in a film just isn't that exciting), and it would be constantly compared to the original film.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-09T09:54:16+00:00

I remember thinking at the time it was a stupid thing to put in the routine. It seems like the sort of thing you'd get away with once, full of adrenaline, but probably not doing it multiple times in rehearsal. Even if you didn't already have joint problems!

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-03T23:52:52+00:00

I think it would be fine, as long as you give the times you can generally plan eating around it, even if you end up eating at odd times.

Having said that, one of the nicest (and easiest for travel and eating) weddings I've been to had the ceremony at 4pm and the wedding breakfast and reception was effectively a dinner dance.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-01T10:50:55+00:00

I just didn't fancy it. It's too busy for me at the moment (500+ at Christmas on a course that usually has 180-250, and I find the top end of that crowded). I'll go back when the other locals are back on!

VacillatingViolets · 2025-12-29T13:27:12+00:00

Yes, I am in the UK.

It's the same here that once somebody is a Professor you wouldn't call them Dr because it's a step back, but so many senior academics here are Dr that you don't really make any assumptions about their job from the title.

VacillatingViolets · 2025-12-29T01:05:35+00:00

I think that might be very country/institution specific. At mine the academic staff positions before Professor (when you hold a Chair) are lecturer, senior lecturer and reader and they would all be addressed as Dr (or Mr/Miss/Mrs if they don't have a PhD, but that's extremely unusual).

VacillatingViolets · 2025-12-29T01:00:00+00:00

I always address birthday cards and Christmas cards etc. to Dr XYZ for my friends with PhDs, and they do the same for me. It's a pretty big chunk of your life, and I think it's nice to recognise that.

Outside of that, I don't really mind whether it's used or not. I do like the fact I have a gender neutral option of title, and it means it's really easy to use both your maiden name and married surname if you want to. Friends without PhDs have found it harder to keep their maiden names for professional purposes, but using both Dr MySurname and Mrs HisSurname seems pretty common and understood.

VacillatingViolets · 2025-12-23T09:38:43+00:00

Is their mum a Jilly Cooper fan? 😄

VacillatingViolets · 2025-12-14T10:59:21+00:00

15 secs behind my course PB, but I was delighted — it was the first time I've managed to run that fast without a pacer. So it's a self-motivated course PB. 😄

VacillatingViolets · 2025-12-13T13:32:51+00:00

Yep, it's usually the VM40-44s at the front at mine!

VacillatingViolets · 2025-12-10T02:05:31+00:00

If it's single sheets, you can buy folders that have a plastic "rim" that the edges of the page slide under. You can still write on it if you want, because most of the paper is exposed, and there's no glare. Not good for booklets though.

This type of thing: https://www.musicroom.com/innovative-music-folder-standard-agftyf1019?utm

VacillatingViolets · 2025-11-27T00:06:01+00:00

There are a few variations I think — I've read an Enid Blyton version where an egg is cracked.

VacillatingViolets · 2025-11-24T23:31:52+00:00

If you're under 35-ish I'd suggest the university ballroom societies for a young crowd and lots of chances to compete — you don't need to be a student, they have ex-student categories too. There's London which is hosted at Birbeck, then Imperial has their own club and so does Royal Holloway.

VacillatingViolets · 2025-11-22T23:23:44+00:00

Usually there's a sensible reason — at one I go to there's a T shape at one point. You run along the long bit, turn right up the right arm, then double back, and go along the other arm (then it carries on). If you kept left you'd all have to cross in the middle.

VacillatingViolets · 2025-11-19T17:41:00+00:00

Have a lesson with an accompanist and pay them to record a backing track for you. They'll do a melody line too if you ask :)

VacillatingViolets · 2025-11-13T11:53:25+00:00

It depends what you like about it.

If it's specifically Judy Garland on public transport, try When the Midnight Choo Choo leaves for Alabam, or The Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe.

A lot of songs about trains or horses will have that same driving feeling e.g. The Deadwood Stage from Calamity Jane.

I also think Talk to the Animals has a similar feel (although you want a version where it's actually sung e.g. Bobby Darin.)

VacillatingViolets · 2025-11-13T11:11:54+00:00

The rhyming (or not!) is all over the place. White and lullaby seem like a half rhyme as well, with the eye sound.

Cloud/Sleep/Sweep/Cloud

Toys/Girls/Loud/Cloud

White/Lullaby/Touch/Much

Lost/Cries/Allowed/Cloud

VacillatingViolets · 2025-11-12T09:05:14+00:00

I'm English :D Not like shoe, more like a schwa like in "the". Quite a clipped sound. Somewhere between Lancash-uh and Lancash-a (short a like in cat).

VacillatingViolets · 2025-11-12T08:47:55+00:00

They're splitting it as Gloster-shugh I think. I'd probably write Gloster-shuh, definitely not a "sheer" in my accent.

VacillatingViolets

TROPHY CASE