Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Same Difference's LiveJournal:

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Saturday, October 24th, 2009
12:53 am	World of Goo World of Goo fun little physics based puzzle game. Currently available till Sunday on a donate how ever much you think it's worth to pay for it system (min 1 cent). After Sunday it goes back to being sold for $20. Download the demo, it's only 39Mb (the full game is 61Mb), and see if it grabs your interest. Current Mood: amused (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
10:34 pm	Everything, including a kitchen sink (part 1 of probably 2) Eeep, when I started writing it I hadn't realised how long it's been since I last actually wrote an update. Suffice it to say things have been busy, as my list of jobs to do on the weekend should have showed and I've found myself with too many other things to do. Still almosthonest updated so I really ought to keep up my side of the bargain. So first things first how the house come along in the last month, well the answer is simply slowly. A lot of the last few weekends have been busy with other commitments, and the evenings tend to involve me being tired and more than busy enough with general household living stuff to get much done. Though I've managed to do an hour or two occasionally. The builder/general workmen my Dad's been employing on both the houses (his and mine) has been doing a good job, but there are a few things where we just seem to be stuck waiting to get them resolved. ( Room by room (Plus assorted thoughts): ) ( Brief work related bit ) Speaking of work I've also begun walking to work, well I say begun I started about a month or so ago. I was pretty much holding off starting until I got myself into a good morning routine. It seems to be about 30 mins down to work and around 35-40 mins back up. Ralph Allen Drive is a steep hill, but not as bad as it looks. The exercise is definitely doing me good, especially as I still lack time to be able to come larping (well until the house reaches a given level of done). I've actually started trying to push myself to walk up it faster whenever I feel like I've been walking comfortably, so hopefully I'll be able to reduce my journey time, and get a fair bit fitter eventually. The one habit I have taken up while walking is taking the opportunity to call the people I don't always get a chance to chat to, helps pass the time and distract from the slope. So if you're free between about 5:00pm and 5:40pm and fancy a (slightly breatless) chat leave a comment, and I'll give you the occasional call. ( Hobbies & Games generally ) ( Series assorted and a BSG rant (contains spoilers)! ) Current Mood: exhausted (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, October 18th, 2009
11:59 pm	What I did on my weekend. So for comparison sake anything crossed out I've completed: Do the washing. - And the ironing for this week and last week. Finish the painting of the small room. - Glad to have it done. Fit the door bell. - Dad helped by providing drill. Work on the bits of [info]purplegirl23 costume that I'd said I help with. - No time :( Replace light bulbs in our bedroom, and see if the central one is the bulb or the fixture through experimentation. - Need to buy the replacement bulb yet, central light was just loose. Take stuff down to the dump. - Complete car load, front and back of house is much clearer. Pick up any needed shopping. - Wasn't much needed. Make a curry for Sunday evening. - Should remember for future, curries get a lot hotter if eaten day after it was made. Will have to experiment a lot to get my Dad's level of knowledge, watching how he flavoured the curry. Make a vegetable soup for the week ahead generally. - So so easy to do. Clean the cooker hob. - Done. Cut the hedge. - Also no time, the nice weather better last. Clean the lounge/dining room walls and ceiling ready for painting. - Far too big a job to squeeze in. White wash the lounge/dining room lounge and ceiling. - Need to sort out builder stuff first really. Have time to go for a meal out tomorrow evening. - Good company, good meal, lots of quietness on my end because the conversation was 85% about skiiing. Marshmallow cheesecake, with turkish liquier sauce (though not sure whether the sauce actually was there) was actually very nice, incredibly sticky and excellent entertainment for the rest of the table. In hindsight somebody should have taken a photo. I also managed to clean and sort out the front porch, but half of the work of that was taking stuff to the dump. Current Mood: accomplished (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 17th, 2009
12:46 am	Update Incoming However it's going to be fairly massive considering how long it already is, and how much more I have to write about it. Now though it's late and I should sleep. Instead then I'll post everything I'll get done this weekend would time allow, in order of priority: Do the washing. Finish the painting of the small room. Fit the door bell. Work on the bits of purplegirl23 costume that I'd said I help with. Replace light bulbs in our bedroom, and see if the central one is the bulb or the fixture through experimentation. Take stuff down to the dump. Pick up any needed shopping. Make a curry for Sunday evening. Make a vegetable soup for the week ahead generally. Clean the cooker hob. Cut the hedge. Clean the lounge/dining room walls and ceiling ready for painting. White wash the lounge/dining room lounge and ceiling. Have time to go for a meal out tomorrow evening. Right I think that's it. So I should sleep otherwise I won't wake up to do any of it. Current Mood: tired (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
5:11 pm	First week and a bit I'd meant to get this written on the weekend, but things have generally been too busy. I'm not sure why, but moving in hasn't felt like a big transition, though I suppose it'll have something to do with how long I've been working on the house. Of course living with Rachael is amazing and I'm definitely happy with the house. It just feels right, the area feels nice to just walk around in and the main road isn't as busy as I'd thought. Plus we have shops close, and there all a walk along the flat away. You don't really hear the road noise at all unless we have windows open at the front. I'm glad we've got valient_starr as a lodger. He's been very good about the state of the house and all that we've had to make do with. I'm really glad with the attitude he's taken about the whole thing. I've gone from being initially a bit nervous with having someone else in my newly almost done home, to feeling comfortable to trust him to get on with things correctly. I've also had some good chats with him so I've got to know him a lot better too. So yeah it's good. Oh and occasionally amusing to come home to him almost lurking on the stairs in his first attempt at face paint for his new character. Came off more ghoul/undead monstrosity than raccoon, but I think the three of us have worked out a better way for him to do it which is good. Generally living there has been manageable, though limiting in some ways. We all have to be careful to avoid splashing while having baths, and won't be able to have showers until that's all fitted. At least we now have a pull cord for the lights in there, better than what we had to do at the start of last week which was balance a desk lamp on the sink to use as a light source. We've been doing all our washing up in the small basin sink, which really limits what you can use. It's not a very big space for a loo, so the basin is likewise small and so we had to limit ourselves to using only things that could fit in it to be cleaned. So breakfast bowls are OK, but it's been paper plates and takeaways otherwise. All our meals, have been eaten around a very small fold-up table sitting in a corner of the lounge, which has been up until recently also doubling as the storage area for the few items we could use. The lounge was also where we've been keeping our fridge until the kitchen was ready and wired for it. Clothes are currently being ferried down to my parents to use their washing machine, but there only a couple of minutes away so that's not a big inconvenience. Well for us at least. Overall mores got done since we've moved in so each day has made things easier generally. Though the pace of work on the house is obviously not as quick as when I was off work. Last week Rachael spent some of her time organising things as best she could with the limited storage space we have at the moment. I did a small amount of tiling in the bathroom, building on the start my Dad had made to show me how to do it properly. There was also general cleaning done as well. Obviously the broadband came as I've already mentioned on Tuesday which is good. Almost scary how much I rely on the internet for various things these days. On Sunday the electrician came along and mostly finished up the electrics. This basically meant fitting the new fuse box, finishing putting on the sockets and network data points, wiring up the boiler and the controls for it and putting in place the wiring for the water softener. Having power at all the points, and not having to run extension cables everywhere to use everything has been good. Towards the end of the week the electrician had come and done some wiring so it wasn't as stark a transition as it might have been. Him coming along did at least mean we could move the fridge to where it belonged in the kitchen. As of Monday morning we had our driveway surface completed. We'll change it to be an overall better slope eventually, but it'll do for now. It's good though as it means I can actually park in the driveway without scraping the bottom of my car. Before I'd end up in the situation with the front wheels on the road, the back wheels part way down the slope with one in the dip where the gravel had been added to not quite the level of the driveway, and the bottom of my car catching the slight bump where the drive meets the pavement. Yesterday we had the plumber and the gas man come along and pressurise the system fully so we could use our central heating and boiler properly rather than relying on the immersion heater in the tank. Unfortunately this resulted in the two main bedroom radiators leaking and the water getting to a couple of the newly plastered walls downstairs. On the plus side the gas man finished the connection we'll need for the gas fire place and also got the cooker connected up. We also got the water softener in, which is another big plus as that meant our kitchen sink is now all connected. At the same time our builder got the kitchen most of the way done, though he accidentally drilled the handle holes in the wrong place on one of the cabinet doors, so we'll be waiting for a replacement to come though. The kitchen does look really good though, he's done an excellent job fitting it, and Rachael and I made the right choice when we picked it and the floors (and the lights, and most things we've chosen for the house over the last few months). Last night was spent with Rachael and I doing a lot of cleaning and sorting things out in to the cupboards. Tonight I'm looking forward to cooking in my new kitchen for the first time. It'll be a change from takeaways, in the last week, we've had 2 meals of pizza, one of Chinese, one of fish and chips (or fish and bread in my case) from the local chippy, a meal out at TGI's of just the three of us and a couple of meals at my parents. So getting to cook my own food is kinda exciting. Having the kitchen sink connected is also a big deal, because the lack of wash space is no longer a limiting factor. So yeah I'm excited about being able to wash dishes and cook food... So yeah to continue the previous format here's what's left: Kitchen - Pretty much useable. We've gone a long way towards getting all of the stuff into it. We still need to fit the blinds, paint behind the radiator, touch up the paints, get the dishwasher installed and get the cooker hood vented. Still it's not far from being done now. Lounge - No change, though the gas pipe for the fireplace is all done. Hallway - No change, really. Under stairs loo - Still fitted, except we've discovered the cistern for the loo and a very fine crack in it, which leaks, so we're going to have it replaced. Bathroom - No change other than some more tiling. Still need to get the mirror in place. Front bedroom - Finished except for skirting boards, and a bit of a tidy in the cupboard which can now be done since all the wiring/plumbing that needed to go through it has been sorted. All of valient_starr's furniture has been built, but we might buy him some more if it turns out he needs it. Rear large bedroom - No change, still needs skirting boards. We need to get wardrobes, but that proving a little complicated. Rear small bedroom - No change, still needs more decorating and carpets fitted. Driveway - Done, woo! General - Rear and porch lights have been fitted. We need to sort our wiring to the garage so we can put a freezer and washing machine out there until we've got the rear downstairs loo bit redone into more of a utility pantry style area. Also I really need to see to the gardens, as they've been neglected with all the internal works that's needed and still needs to be done. So not there yet, but still making progress. I except I'll be busy for a little while to come. Hopefully will be able to see more people soon though. Current Mood: excited (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
11:45 pm	Hello from Combe Down! We have broadband!! ...still powering things off extensions, but still it's a step closer to all being done. Current Mood: tired (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, August 30th, 2009
9:02 pm	Moving In Has begun; I imagine it's going to be several days before we're all completed though. Today we got most of Rachael's stuff out from Joe and Ailsa's and Weston, tomorrow we'll shift the rest, and getting her stuff down from Porth will need organising in the immediate future. My stuff, we'll be moved in stages from parents, mostly because as they're only five minutes away it's easier to do in a controlled fashion. Tonight will be the first night Rachael and I will stay in our new home. I'd be more excited if I wasn't tired and perpetually juggling the ever present to do list sitting firmly in the foreground of my thoughts. So to round up what state the house is in as we move in: Kitchen - Summary not usable yet: Decorating finished, but needs to be touched up in places. Cooker wired in, but not in it's correct place or connected to the gas. Units built, but wall units are unmounted; doors and draw front need to be fitted. Appliances not in place. Worktops cut as needed except for a couple of bits being shortened; still need to be properly fixed and edged. Sink fitted, but not plumbed. Water softener on order. Blinds bought but not yet put up. Lounge - A lot tidier and cleaner, curtain rails fitted. Still needs to be decorated, fireplace to be built and gas fired installed (once it's delivered). Oak floor still needs to be restored. Hallway - Still partially decorated holding off finishing until skirting boards are upstairs. Still needs to be floored with probably carpet. Understairs loo - Bathroom is all fitted, including towel rail and loo roll holder. Still needs to be decorated and light to be fitted. Bathroom - Bathroom is useable, loo roll holder in place, blind fitted, bath and sink edge has been sealed. Awaiting previously missed bathroom cupboard handles. Tiling still needs doing. Front bedroom - Finished except for skirting boards, and inside of cupboard. Now has curtains and privacy. Bed in place, other furniture needs to be assembled. Door needs to be shortened and rehung. Rear large bedroom - Finished except for skirting boards. Now has curtains and privacy. Bed in place. Door needs to be shortened and rehung. Rear small bedroom - Mostly decorated, but that needs finishing, needs carpeting. Driveway - New edge has been filled with gravel so is pretty much usable, needs some more surfacing in places. General - Still have no power in the sockets, and still needs some sockets fitted; electrician will be back Thursday, Saturday and Sunday to finish thanks to my Dad having a word with him. Boiler also needs wiring up. Hot water currently off temporary plug to immersion heater; temporary wiring is the same as for the lighting and cooker in fact. Skirting boards need to be fitted in all rooms. More generally need for some more cleaning in places and eventually sanding and repainting of all door frames, stairway bannister etc. Phone like connected up, broadband due to be live Tuesday. Rear light and porch light also need fitting. So yes I'm somewhat amused that we'll have broadband just under a week before we properly have power in the place, but at least some things seem to have gone simply and to schedule. Current Mood: excited on some level probably (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, August 28th, 2009
12:04 am	Advice wanted. Having taken a work colleagues recommendation and having had CAT 5 run into most of the rooms in the house while we were getting the wiring done, I will now be looking for a switch to make things all work nicely. Not had to buy one before, so don't know anything about them. Anyone have any suggestions? Current Mood: tired (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
11:26 pm	House/Stress Kind of feeling like synonyms for each other at the moment, so time to unleash some of it onto LJ, (Dreamwidth I'll look at you some more when I have time - October seems good). So taking the definitely incomplete list from the last post here's what's been done and what's left: Kitchen: Ceiling painted. Cooker delivered. Units being fitted still, cooker needs to be fitted. Some plumbing has been modified to better fit units. Lounge - No change, but a little tidier. Has definitely joined into the 'To be sorted when we are moved in' pile. Hallway - partially decorated, mostly the high awkward bits. Understairs loo - Floor is now done. Rest of bathroom isn't in place. Bathroom - Floor is done, most of bathroom is in place. Front bedroom - all done bar skirting boards, radiator and sockets. Rear large bedroom - all done bar skirting boards, radiator and sockets. Rear small bedroom - some filling, mostly unchanged. Driveway - unchanged. Daniel - Stuff has been moved in. We've also managed to purchase/order most of the important furniture for the bedrooms so the three of us will have something to sleep on at least. The lights have all been fitted which is good. Though the sockets, and the actual finished electrics hasn't been. The electrician has let us down; frustrating on many levels not least because we have been telling him for weeks (months probably) we needed to be finished absolutely no later than the end of August. While he did actually come and work at the house today after saying he wasn't sure he could make this week at all, he still can't come back and finish till the end of next week. He's juryrigged a plug for our lights, and will do the same for the emersion heater so we have hot water and lights next week while we live there. However we are going to be relying on long extension cables for power and be living somewhat awkwardly until he gets back and get it all done... Not sure what the details will be till later in the week. On the plus side the light choices look good, as do the kitchen units, the paint colours, the bathroom fixtures and the bathroom floor. Still glad for free carpets, just wish we had more choice in the colour. The plumber after going and starting other jobs, has actually redeemed himself by coming back work extra time in the evening, and may well finish all his work relatively soon. I say this with the fear that he might be struck down my a meteorite it wouldn't surprise me... So the hope is by the end of next week we magically have everything done except the front and rear porch, and they will fall neatly into place afterwards. I need this hope, especially when spending an hour cleaning the paint stuff every day. An especially when I consider the joys of coming back from work to work on my partial building site of a home. Also I'm tired. The work seems to start at 9:45ish and finish 7:30ish each day; though some days just feel like all they consist of is driving around, organising people and purchasing stuff. My admiration and appreciation of my father only grows. This is wearing me out, but also making me stronger and fitter. So not all bad. Also also I can't wait to live with Rachael, each day she impresses me further with the way she deals with everything. Plus she can handle stressed me well. On another note my sisters wedding was awesome, she looking stunning, and the two of them seemed very happy. I will write more about it at some point. Suffice it to say it's got to be the only wedding I'll ever go to which including a tall German Goth performing a traditional egyptian wedding belly dance while wearing boots, combats, a metal bikini top with embossed skull design, and an enormous, very heavy candelabra hat complete with about 15 electric candles. Current Mood: determined (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, August 21st, 2009
10:21 pm	Actual Update! Though it is house related. I've not been around mostly due to tiredness and business from working on the house in most of my spare time, and well when I'm not doing that have been gaming heavily and reading occasionally to relax. Well the short summary is we're not done yet, but we are in the last stage finally. Though there is a lot to do still. I've taken a fortnight off work, and I'm so far one week through it. purplegirl23 has been absolutely wonderful helping me this week; her protestations that she wouldn't be able to do much have been conclusively proven wrong. Generally it's been hard work this last week, but I'm enjoying it when I'm not feeling stressed! This whole renovation thing has taken longer than I hoped, and once I've got my photos organised and uploaded I'll give a general breakdown of when the various things were done. The bulk of the delay really and it covers most of the time from early April till almost the end of June was waiting for the various workmen to finishing their bits, mostly the plumber. The main problem* was the Griffin pub in Bath. The other job the plumber had been doing; one he was due to finish originally early April. Except the owners have changed their mind, a lot. This necessitated a lot of work being completely undone and started again from scratch. Not just small things, but a newly finished conversion of part of the building into flats and the changing the location of the bar and the toilets more than once. Last I heard they finally finished in the first or second week of August... *Other problems include: - Losing a week worth of the plasterer's work a fortnight ago when he got swine flu. - Delays getting the gas meter fitted, when 'it just needs an emergency cut off handle', became 'the whole pipe needs to be relaid', only for that to be delayed a few days when it wasn't how they were expecting it to be. Then once the pipe was done, we had to wait while the Gas utility company contacted the Gas supply company (which I had contacted to get the connection ready previously) to get the meter itself fitted. - Various workmen going away on holiday for a week in the summer. - The wrong bath being delivered after the whole delivery was delayed waiting for a sink. Ended up the bath was a discontinued model and us getting the one from the showroom. Of course this was at the point when the plumbing couldn't be finished till the bath was fitted, which delayed the plastering and everything else that follows from there. In that time I've been doing what I can, with Andy being amazing by coming up to help me out on several weekends. For a while there wasn't much I could do really, other than dig the trench used for the new driveway wall. A lot of the time was spent by purplegirl23 and I shopping, making all the expensive and important decisions we needed to make. Like picking the kitchen units, the kitchen flooring, the bathroom flooring, the gas fire, the paint colours for the rooms, the bathroom suites, the bathroom wall tiles, the lights, and more I can't recall currently... Of course in the last few weeks as things started moving reasonably again there have been loads of jobs. Mostly consisting of cleaning up the huge quantities of dust and mess created by having the wiring redone and central heating fitted, and the actual cleaning, filling and sanding of preparing the unplastered walls to paint. I've been doing this by working 3-4 evenings at the house until the light failed (normally 1.5 - 2.5 hours of work), going out and deciding/purchasing needed things with purplegirl23 on Saturdays, and then working on the house while she worked at GAME. The rest of my free time was spent feeling exhausted while relaxing as best I could. Anyway now we're working to a deadline. We need to be done at the latest by the end of next week, to give me time to move before I get back to work. We also need to have Daniel's room ready so he can move his stuff in on Wednesday. Thankfully him being at a CP event over the bank holiday gives us a little more time to work with. To give an idea of what needs to be done here's a room by room breakdown: Kitchen - Floor tiles are layed and grouted, walls are painted, window has been redone to be a more useful height. Ceiling needs final painting, Kitchen units will start being fitted tomorrow. Cooker arrives Monday. Lounge - One section of the wall is still needing to be plastered, but the old fireplace surround is now gone so that can be done. The oak floor still needs to be repaired, the walls and ceiling obviously need to be painted, and our new fireplace surround could do with being built. Gas pipe for lounge fireplace needs to be laid, and the actual fire installed (after it's bought). Hallway - is cleaned and sanded ready to be decorated. Once decorated carpets need to be laid. Understairs loo - Pipes have been fitted, walls have been sanded where needed, but need some cleaning. One of the walls has been under coated, another though needs a bit of a plaster repair. Rest of room needs to be decorated, floor needs to be laid and the suite needs to be installed. Bathroom - Bath fitted, walls and ceiling have been painted with the under coat. Floor needs to be laid, rest of bathroom needs to be fitted, final coats of paint needed and some walls need to be tiled. Front bedroom - final coat of paint needs to be finished/touched up in places. Carpets need to be laid. Rear large bedroom walls are whitewashed and final coloured paint has started to go on. Once the paints done the carpet needs to be laid. Rear small bedroom - ceiling needs to be sanded and whitewashed, though walls are white washed. Then there's the final coat, and the carpets. Driveway - has been widened and new wall has been built and looks great. The actual driveway surface needs laying with small gravel in the short term, until it settles. Actual hard coating will probably be done next summer, it will be usable till then though. Also generally lights and sockets need to be fitted. Also skirting boards need to be done. The central heating system is all in place, though a couple of radiators are currently off while the decorating is being done. We also need to get around to choosing and buying furniture. When all that is done, there will still be some things that need doing like the front porch, and the rear area being converted into the pantry/utility we want. They though can be done once we're in the house. So it's been a lot of work, though I couldn't have done it without my Dad's help. Aside from the fact I spent all my money by the place so my parents have helped by paying for most of the renovation, he's also spent countless of his already over busy days sorting out workmen, collecting/transporting materials and generally project managing things in way I couldn't while at work. Tomorrow we get an enforced pleasant break from working on the house as my sister is getting married. So I'm hoping for some good weather tomorrow, and lots of opportunity to relax and have fun. Current Mood: accomplished, but tired (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
9:57 pm	Bunnies and Stoats I was going to actually get a LJ update down about the house, but circumstances this evening have conspired against that. So instead you get a post about the wild animals currently inhabiting my parents garden. As I have no doubt mentioned before we have had many rabbits inhabit the garden mostly because of the plethora of hiding places all the building related piles of stuff provide. Most of them have been as expected cute when you see them, but nervous and easy to spook. Except for two of them, one is a much older rabbit whose been around a long time and is sometimes quite relaxed and not bothered by our presence in the garden. The other is a very small and very cute bunny, who's practically completing unfazed by our presence; often getting distracted mid-escape by some tasty plant even when we have occasionally spooked it. It's been around for the last couple of weeks or so, and has been a source of extra delight for everyone, especially purplegirl23. The big advantage of it being so relaxed, we've been able to get several photos and the odd video of it, sometimes from only a couple of feet away :) This evening though we had another visitor, a stoat, one of those creatures which I had never expected to see in the wild, and also much smaller than I'd have imagined. There long and thing and rarely get much bigger than about 30cms, this one was a bit smaller than that. I've managed to get a couple of photos, but as you'll see in the album it had a large area of building stuff to run around and hide in. While it was funny watching it pop up over and over again in different places to see if I was still there before scurrying off someone else very quickly it didn't give me much time to take many good pictures. The Bunny and Stoat photos can be found here, but I've included a couple of the better ones below the cut, though there are many more pictures of the bunny in the album than the stoat. ( The Bunny Pictures ) ( The Stoat Pictures ) Some videos I and purplegirl23 have recorded of the bunny and a couple of brief ones of the stoat can be found here. Here's one of the bunny: Having spotted the stoat again after my Mum's initial sighting I decided to go out with the vague of hoping of scaring the stoat enough to stop it going after the bunny. Now ethically I probably shouldn't have done that, and normally I do tend to side with the predators as success on their part is rarely certain. However considering how cute and more importantly relaxed around us the bunny is (I think I'd have cared less if it had been of the typical run away as soon as we're insight rabbits), and quite probably because I'd recently received two bits of family related bad news and wanted to be able to make a difference in something, I was happy with my decision then. Still happy with the decision now too, though I doubt I'll have made much difference to whether or not the stoat will get the bunny. Current Mood: worried (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
11:29 pm	26th Birthday So turned 26 today, and made the most of it. Got to spend the entire day with purplegirl23 which is as ever amazing, and the best part of any day. I took the day off work, continuing my tradition of doing what I can to make the most of my birthdays, and we went to Longleat together. It did rain, but only after we were in the car only bit in the safari, and seeing as it didn't cause any of the animals to go into hiding wasn't really a problem. I also have a few photos where I was finding focus around the rain drops on the windows, will have to see if I can edit out the subjects into some interesting pictures. After a nice day out, we came back and relaxed here a bit before going to my cousin's restaurant. His cooking only seems to improve each time we go there, and considering it was very very good to begin with that's really saying something. I utterly can't recommend it enough. It being a Thursday they had the Jazz night which meant my uncle was playing with his band (in it's current incarnation). purplegirl23 as ever got me some wonderful gifts, and I get to spend the weekend with her in Porth as she's doing her charity walk on Sunday, and I'll be doing the same walk along side her not for charity just to keep her company :) Current Mood: ecstatic (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
1:33 pm	Star Trek Today 9pm Tickets are all bought, a few people beat me to the centre of the cinema, so we're a couple of rows down (Row F seats 7-18). If you're coming, you owe me £3.70 for the ticket. Thanks for everyone who provided Orange Wednesday numbers. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
8:27 pm	Star Trek: 9pm Odeon Bath So last reminder about tomorrow in case any one is interested, but has yet to let me know: People coming are: Me purplegirl23* Charlene Andy cheekychipmunk pujaemuss fourmyle saranthian swordkitten indigogecko Chris Loz (possibly) So far I've got three Orange Wednesday codes from cheekychipmunk, pujaemuss and swordkitten, I have one, and Andy should be able to get me one, as should indigogecko, so we should pretty much all pay about half price. If you'd still like to come or haven't sent me your Orange Wednesday number contact me before about 12pm tomorrow. I'll buy all the tickets get most of the centre of the cinema however makes the most sense, and just divide the total cost by however many we have, though we currently have enough codes for the tickets to be half the normal price. Reckon aim to meet up at 8:45 as that should be plenty of time before the showing as we'll all have tickets. *(plus her Bath Spa Uni scifi members) though purplegirl23 is sorting them out. NB: Updated Current Mood: sleepy (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 10th, 2009
10:41 am	Star Trek: Wednesday? Quick organising post, plans have been formed to go and see the new Star Trek film this Wednesday in the Odeon in Bath. Possible showing times are 20:00 and 21:00 (though I believe fourmyle finishes at 19:30 that day and so 20:00 is probably out). My thinking is I'll get however many Orange Wednesday tickets I can get off people, then go in and lunch time on Wednesday and buy up the centre of the cinema, and probably depending on opinion just divide the total cost between everyone going. So if you're interested let me know by no later than 12:00 Wednesday, and send me your Orange Wednesday numbers if you have them by that time too. Current Mood: accomplished (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 13th, 2009
4:28 pm	House: Return of the Updates So I really haven't sat down and made time to write one of the these in a while, so hopefully I haven't forgotten any key details still at least I have the photos to help prod memory. And if all else fails calling purplegirl23 seems to have worked well :)n (She's at home for a few days). So here continues the house renovation saga, and yes it is still fun. ( Week 7 ) ( Week 8 ) ( Week 9 ) Photos as usual in the normal place. Anyway this weekend has been a weekend of rest, I really haven't done anything for the house except to travel to Porth with a friend of the family and his van to collect the large table and chairs from purplegirl23's parents. I also have a feeling there were no house related things I wanted to write about, but I can't remember what they were currently so I'll leave the theoretical things for an inevitable future update. Current Mood: rested (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 9th, 2009
6:29 pm	Memeage - Stolen from others I'll write about house soon, anyway it's been a long long time since I last did a meme so: Ask any character I've written/played for advice, and they will provide it, advice columnist style. Your problems or fictional characters' problems both welcome. Management is not responsible for the results of following said advice (especially if provided by sociopaths or Turk). This currently includes: Aurinyan (TL - Sociopathic elven light mage with a golem and drow obsessions) Seeker Harold Cumberland (TL - Human - Freedom priest mad professor/Grandfather/Retired teacher) High Wizard Linte Masta (TL - Endlessly optimistic elven gypsy* air mage) Guard Corporal Lucien the Swaeger (TL - Elven warrior with a predilection for 14th century speech and honour worship) Blaine (TL - Gladiator turned guard turned mercenary turned drunk turned settler; now only living human in the Vale of Tyr (afaik)) Sihoiba (D&D 3.5 adopted Ashera** Sorcerer/Druid/Arcane Hierophant causer of much badger related death) Turk (D&D3.5ish Human Bounty Hunter turned Doomed World Saviour*** - dislikes people, gods, pubs and precognitive queens) Lucan Quinn (D&D 4th ed Half Elven Warlord - raised as a soldier from birth) *By marriage **Amphibious race of drabbit's creation ***Saviour of a Doomed World or Doomed Saviour of a World, both apply equally Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
11:34 pm	Minami 15: The Hattening So lots to write about I think. Cut tagged as usual. Was going to write more, but got tired, updates about House and other non-Minami things tomorrow. Before I begin however: does anyone have any good recommendations for free video editing software, specifically software capable of rotating video through 90 degrees. I am forgetful and keep filming portrait videos with my camera... which doesn't work well when played back for obvious reasons. Preferably windows based as I have yet to get around to sorting out a linux dual boot for my current machine, mostly because I never find cause to use it at home. Onwards... ( Minami Overview ) ( Minami Friday ) ( Minami Saturday Dealers + Bolts? ) ( Minami Saturday Taiko Drumming + Tails ) ( Minami Masquerade ) ( Minami Sunday ) Current Mood: WALL OF TEXT! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, March 30th, 2009
11:20 pm	Home again Back today, Minami was fun and I think we managed to make it feel as sufficiently like a holiday as we'd wanted to. Have also reconfirmed cosplay is a hobby I want to keep doing, still house first, glowing coke bottles second. It was lovely to see and chat to so many lovely people. Trip home involved detours resulting in trips to lights, and acquiring £4.88 50 piece craft/precision knife set (so many sharp pointy objects) from Lidl. Should you have a Lidl near by, and a need for sharp pointy objects possibly worth a look. Tomorrow wall of text to write, tonight still got to catch up with forum Mafia games of doom. Checking post at my house I have discovered Wessex Water have decided to install a meter off their own initiative... I am not impressed. Tomorrow much polite and reasonable righteous indignation will be wrought. Lastly, Rachael + paperhats = awesome. Current Mood: Relaxed + Tired - Rachael = ? (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
11:45 pm	Off to Minami Will be in Southhampton from Friday to Monday (purplegirl23 and I are staying an extra night to make the most of some space to ourselves). No cosplay, mostly because well time spent on House has been time well spent, and the headache of quiet persistent dooms tends to eat the rest of my energy. I've got a lot to write about, so expect even more after the con. Fear the impeding wall of lj-cutted text! In case it affects any of my friends plans this weekend, my cousin has taken over ownership of the No. 5 restaurant in Bath. I have tasted practically the entire menu (another monolith to add to the impending wall of text) and can highly recommend it all. Current Mood: tired (Comment on this)