"I am the sum total of my parts," she said, flicking her hair suggestively,
"Then where is your left foot?" he said, peering downward underneath the duvet.
"You are delusional," she said, "my foot is here, see?" she wiggled her toes,
"No," he said, "it is not there. I cannot see it and my eyes do not lie to me."

My dog and I are standing with our noses pressed against the window, watching the pouring, unending rain. we had planned to go out and if it were up to me I still would, a little wet hair has never bothered me much, but the dog? Well the dog is a bit of a girl about the rain and if I were to force him out in it he would stand there with his tail between his legs looking the epitome of the expression 'hang dog'.

So what else can I do? This morning I read about a site called there. It's an amazingly designed virtual world and inside characters can talk to each other. So I go and look only to find it's not available for macs yet. I ask them when they think they might produce it and they don't say a month, or three months or even six. No. They say they think they might get around to bringing out a Mac version in...2004.

On the study of words, their meanings and where they come from (or the language skills of a 5 year old).

Vacuum cleaner - Vacroom cleaner
Windscreen wipers - Windowscreamers
Plant stems and tree trunks - Standers
Roundabout - The Go Arounds

Yesterday, as part of a conversation on children and their incredible way of seeing things exactly as they are, my friend said this to me: I like to try and think like a child when I'm coming up with ideas, and I wish I still had that bit of imaginative ability that growing up kicked out of me (I think making up words is the closest I get these days...) It made me sad that he felt his imaginative ability had been kicked out of him, and made me wonder at what point do we become unwilling to accept any thought or feeling as possible? For example, at what point does the breath you blow out on a cold morning stop being �Dragons breath�, and become just condensation, just the Encyclopaedic answer: There is always some moisture in the air, even if you cannot see it. As the temperature drops the air cannot hold all the moisture and tiny drops of water appear. This is condensation and you notice it when you see your breath on a cold day.

Personally, I much prefer the Dragon�s breath concept � the idea that inside of us we all have a little fire breathing beast who only shows his face in the very cold weather. And I for one shall try as hard as I can to remain in this frame of mind, this alternative reality, and allow myself to think the oddest and most subnormal thoughts I can.

I have been inspired to start my own blog by reading that of another blogger; someone who is not yet my friend but to whom I can lay a small claim. I allow myself this link because my best friend spent time with him in Sydney, lolling in the grass.

So tentatively I begin my first post, a little unsure of what to write, a little unsure of how to write it. Nervously I taste the words that come; the large and the small of them, the right and the wrong of them, determined that they should compliment one another before I send them off into the world. This linguistic vanity is typical of me, I am not lazy with syntax, or lax with semantics. I do not care very much if I do not have my make up on, but I could not go out in public without the right words in my head. This sounds like I plan every conversation that takes place, but I am referring only to the written word, these words I send out to other people, the ones with permanence.

Interestingly, I seem now to have talked my way round to today�s subject: I am not the only one with this language obsession, a site I was sent today is introduced as follows: An experiment in language and interface, Plumb Design's Visual Thesaurus is both an artistic exploration and a tool to explore, study, and analyze the structure of language. By displaying the interrelationships between words and meanings as spatial maps, the Visual Thesaurus translates language into a visible architecture. I like the idea of visualising the structure of language because as well as my passion for words I am also a very visual person. I think in pictures. If you say �word� to me, I will see a picture of a word.

So Plumbs Thesaurus pleases my visual, wordy mind immensely.