i am officially finished writing for the winter holidays (and i'm doing it a week early, so i'll be an extra week editing). i'm heading home tomorrow evening, have this afternoon and tomorrow to clean the place and pack.
i can't wait to go home and see everyone again. penelope_stone will be around for a good long time too, so i'll get to hang out with her. woo. we're heading to kerry for the week after christmas. beaches. sand. cold and wet (ok, that's not so good). an open fire.
i finished editing for this year on a really good chapter too. i think i'm really evil that inflicting pain on my main character makes me happy. i just made poor zachery cry and i walked away from the chapter thinking: that was good. well - it's not good because he's crying, it's good because i think i wrote the emotion in the scene well. i can't wait to have other people read this, but i can't share it with anyone because it would ruin the rest of the story. i hope when people read it that it comes across as a "no, they can't do that, stop the story, it can't happen this way" sort of tragedy moment.
i finished borderlands for the second time last night, with a different character (lilith) - so now i have played it 2.5 times. i'd love to finish it a third time with mordecai, but i'll save him for playing whatever dlcs that come out with lordkilljoy. i have more xbox achievements from this game than any other. i kinda feel like playing brick and ronald up to fifth level just so i can get the achievements for them too. i'd love to get every achievement but it's not possible with a silver account (boooo).
i don't really have much else to say. i havn't updated in ages, but things have been quiet.
17 December 2009
09 December 2009
half-life2 and mirror's edge
i have no energy at all today. and its so dark - as dark as it usually is by 4:10, not 3:10.
just a quick post really - i started playing half-life2 on the pc last night (i had started it on the xbox and found it way too hard - i think i can only play sniper on xbox because it still takes me about 10 times longer to aim at things). and i must say: this game is amazing. or, the start of this game is amazing. i played for about 2 hours last night and in that 2 hours the pace never slowed. you are thrown into the action after about 5 minutes and from then on you are running from guys, heading blindly into a city that you have no idea about, taking corners seemingly at random (i say seemingly because the level design guys really had their heads on right - it feels like there are dozens of turnings and byways that you are missing, but you are on the right path all the time). it makes me think of that bit in the matrix after neo fights the agent and then takes off running - not knowing where he's going just relying on tank's directions. it has that same feel of "don't stop and think, just keep going, keep alive."
i was playing mirror's edge last night too. now that is a game that got the level design totally wrong. in this game, more than any other, you should get the feeling that i got from half-life2, but the level cues are so obscure that half the time you have to stop and look around and get totally frustrated because you don't know where to go next. the game is about free-running and should have the most amazing flow ever, you should never have to stop, never get stuck. the new prince of persia comes to mind as what mirror's edge should have been more like - in that game it is always clear where you can jump to next, you never stop running and leaping and climbing.
i got to the last chapter of mirror's edge and stopped because i just didn't care enough to have to stop-start my way though what i guessed was going to be the worst designed level yet, with no clear path and multiple dead-ends.
right - going to go now.
just a quick post really - i started playing half-life2 on the pc last night (i had started it on the xbox and found it way too hard - i think i can only play sniper on xbox because it still takes me about 10 times longer to aim at things). and i must say: this game is amazing. or, the start of this game is amazing. i played for about 2 hours last night and in that 2 hours the pace never slowed. you are thrown into the action after about 5 minutes and from then on you are running from guys, heading blindly into a city that you have no idea about, taking corners seemingly at random (i say seemingly because the level design guys really had their heads on right - it feels like there are dozens of turnings and byways that you are missing, but you are on the right path all the time). it makes me think of that bit in the matrix after neo fights the agent and then takes off running - not knowing where he's going just relying on tank's directions. it has that same feel of "don't stop and think, just keep going, keep alive."
i was playing mirror's edge last night too. now that is a game that got the level design totally wrong. in this game, more than any other, you should get the feeling that i got from half-life2, but the level cues are so obscure that half the time you have to stop and look around and get totally frustrated because you don't know where to go next. the game is about free-running and should have the most amazing flow ever, you should never have to stop, never get stuck. the new prince of persia comes to mind as what mirror's edge should have been more like - in that game it is always clear where you can jump to next, you never stop running and leaping and climbing.
i got to the last chapter of mirror's edge and stopped because i just didn't care enough to have to stop-start my way though what i guessed was going to be the worst designed level yet, with no clear path and multiple dead-ends.
right - going to go now.
05 December 2009
dream of destruction
i had a very strange and intricate dream last night. it all took place in one city (possibly on an island, but maybe a peninsula). it was right by the sea with a nice beach and possibly palm trees.
at the start of the dream the city got attacked by aliens. they came down in huge ships, all light and colour, exploding everything, creating chaos. people ran everywhere, totally panicked and a lot of people were killed.
the middle section involved the city going on fire. i was in a hotel or something and we all had to get out. and this old man was somehow important (he was telling me about the alien attacks?). there were loads of people in the hotel - all in a sort of foyer just waiting - possibly refugees from the earlier attack? we may have gotten out. but i seem to recall something about the roof? or air conditioning extractor things or something?
and then i woke up in cork (i'm not in cork this weekend) and was telling mammy about how i had decided to come down at the last minute (by somehow beaming there instantly?). i wanted to see penelope_stone but she was asleep. i think the old man came back into it here - i had to escort him home or something.
and then i was back in the city, only this time it was over-run by evil military forces. they wore white (so that you could pick them out easily). i was fighting with a bunch of resistance people, getting farther and farther into the military base - running from troops, but into others. and then i met someone from the city (who looked like colin farrell or maybe brad pitt as his character from fight club). i knew him (sort of) and i hated him because he was a traitor. he was ordering a few troops around and i walked up to him.
for some reason i raised my arm (maybe to hit him) and a little red dot flew past it - lightly tipping it. he looked at me and rised his arm, showing me a little X on his wrist, right where the red fly-insect-thing had just bitten me.
"do you know what that was?" he said.
and i just stood there, in shock, not really wanting to know because it was a little fly that killed you within a few hours. i stumbled away - none of the troops would attack me any more. i had a little time to act, so i tried to find their main weak point, but everything was falling apart and i was stumbling along (and exaggerating it a bit to make sure no army-guys tried to kill me) and then i got to some stairs and just lay down with people walking by me as if i didn't exist.
and then i woke up. i really didn't want to wake up - i wanted to know if i managed to get up again and destroy the place. because i wasn't near death - i was mostly faking it. and the dude who had the scar was fine even thought he'd been bitten too.
yea - i think borderlands inspired that dream. lordkilljoy and i finished it last night. got to level 36 and the last bad guy was a little bit easy to kill, but ah well. i still want to get to level 50, though. does the game know itself to start you all over again, or do you have to go to some particular place. we still have the zombie island of dr. ned to go, though.
i don't really have anything else to say. i might head into town, because i want to buy stuff for people. i hate shopping in dublin though, because i only know where all the department stores are.
at the start of the dream the city got attacked by aliens. they came down in huge ships, all light and colour, exploding everything, creating chaos. people ran everywhere, totally panicked and a lot of people were killed.
the middle section involved the city going on fire. i was in a hotel or something and we all had to get out. and this old man was somehow important (he was telling me about the alien attacks?). there were loads of people in the hotel - all in a sort of foyer just waiting - possibly refugees from the earlier attack? we may have gotten out. but i seem to recall something about the roof? or air conditioning extractor things or something?
and then i woke up in cork (i'm not in cork this weekend) and was telling mammy about how i had decided to come down at the last minute (by somehow beaming there instantly?). i wanted to see penelope_stone but she was asleep. i think the old man came back into it here - i had to escort him home or something.
and then i was back in the city, only this time it was over-run by evil military forces. they wore white (so that you could pick them out easily). i was fighting with a bunch of resistance people, getting farther and farther into the military base - running from troops, but into others. and then i met someone from the city (who looked like colin farrell or maybe brad pitt as his character from fight club). i knew him (sort of) and i hated him because he was a traitor. he was ordering a few troops around and i walked up to him.
for some reason i raised my arm (maybe to hit him) and a little red dot flew past it - lightly tipping it. he looked at me and rised his arm, showing me a little X on his wrist, right where the red fly-insect-thing had just bitten me.
"do you know what that was?" he said.
and i just stood there, in shock, not really wanting to know because it was a little fly that killed you within a few hours. i stumbled away - none of the troops would attack me any more. i had a little time to act, so i tried to find their main weak point, but everything was falling apart and i was stumbling along (and exaggerating it a bit to make sure no army-guys tried to kill me) and then i got to some stairs and just lay down with people walking by me as if i didn't exist.
and then i woke up. i really didn't want to wake up - i wanted to know if i managed to get up again and destroy the place. because i wasn't near death - i was mostly faking it. and the dude who had the scar was fine even thought he'd been bitten too.
yea - i think borderlands inspired that dream. lordkilljoy and i finished it last night. got to level 36 and the last bad guy was a little bit easy to kill, but ah well. i still want to get to level 50, though. does the game know itself to start you all over again, or do you have to go to some particular place. we still have the zombie island of dr. ned to go, though.
i don't really have anything else to say. i might head into town, because i want to buy stuff for people. i hate shopping in dublin though, because i only know where all the department stores are.
04 December 2009
indecision
i just had a moment of indecision whether to put on lip balm, or not to put on lip balm. before that i couldn't decide what music to listen to, and before that it was breakfast: porridge or krispies. i went with krispies because it was easier. but the milk was cold.
i'm on to chapter 9, the glorious chapter 9 where i bring poor, poor zachery right to the edge of the abyss, dangle him there for a good long while and then let him back up. there is a lot of introspection in chapter 9.
i can't think of anything else to say.
i'm on to chapter 9, the glorious chapter 9 where i bring poor, poor zachery right to the edge of the abyss, dangle him there for a good long while and then let him back up. there is a lot of introspection in chapter 9.
i can't think of anything else to say.
30 November 2009
video games live
over the last few weeks, whenever i looked at the calendar on the fridge i felt a tingle of excitement. video games live was coming up and i couldn't wait for it. so last night was the big night. we were off to the national concert hall, lordkilljoy in dr. who stylings of a suit and cons and me wearing my lolita dress.
the concert was brilliant, between the orchestra, the choir, the visuals from the games and the light show that went along with it. the music was great (even though i didn't really know any of it), the showmanship was entertaining (and totally over the top) and the venue was perfect.
we hung around after to get signatures and gush at jack wall.
saturday night was lainey316's birthday. we went to a lebanese restaurant and then on to a pub. the food was good - it's always nice to try something different. it was a good night, but i was a little too tired and full to really enjoy it. the others went mad dancing - i danced in my chair :)
in other news:
today, for the first time ever, i used rubber gloves to wash the dishes. and the reason? i didn't want to take my gloves off. it's been really cold all weekend - the kitchen got down to 9degrees yesterday afternoon.
i'm a bit worried about nymph. he's kind of stopped eating and i wonder is he a little too cold. but he doesn't look very skinny, so i think he's all right.
the concert was brilliant, between the orchestra, the choir, the visuals from the games and the light show that went along with it. the music was great (even though i didn't really know any of it), the showmanship was entertaining (and totally over the top) and the venue was perfect.
we hung around after to get signatures and gush at jack wall.
saturday night was lainey316's birthday. we went to a lebanese restaurant and then on to a pub. the food was good - it's always nice to try something different. it was a good night, but i was a little too tired and full to really enjoy it. the others went mad dancing - i danced in my chair :)
in other news:
today, for the first time ever, i used rubber gloves to wash the dishes. and the reason? i didn't want to take my gloves off. it's been really cold all weekend - the kitchen got down to 9degrees yesterday afternoon.
i'm a bit worried about nymph. he's kind of stopped eating and i wonder is he a little too cold. but he doesn't look very skinny, so i think he's all right.
27 November 2009
short news
i have been 100% freezing all day. when i came into the kitchen this morning it was 14degrees. it's 16.8 now, but the heating is just about to come on, and when it does i'll be hugging the rad.
we went to see ash on wednesday night. it was good to to be at a small rock gig again. concerts are all well and good (and amazing) but its hard to beat a good gig. ash totally rocked out, even adding in some totally cheezy "echo" singing. but i really enjoyed it - singing along to about 85% of the songs.
i'm over the worst of my novel. it's clear sailing from here, as far as i can tell. it's just editing, not rewriting. i'm half way through - heading on to chapter 8 on monday. i think ch. 9 is one of my favourite bits in the whole book. (it's very emo.)
i don't really have a lot of other news, or not that i can think of any.
we went to see ash on wednesday night. it was good to to be at a small rock gig again. concerts are all well and good (and amazing) but its hard to beat a good gig. ash totally rocked out, even adding in some totally cheezy "echo" singing. but i really enjoyed it - singing along to about 85% of the songs.
i'm over the worst of my novel. it's clear sailing from here, as far as i can tell. it's just editing, not rewriting. i'm half way through - heading on to chapter 8 on monday. i think ch. 9 is one of my favourite bits in the whole book. (it's very emo.)
i don't really have a lot of other news, or not that i can think of any.
22 November 2009
borderlands
me and lordkilljoy are playing borderlands together at the moment. i may have developed a slight obsession with it - the kind that i've not developed since i played the thief games, the kind of obsession that comes from playing a new kind of game that i've never played before. i'm playing the hunter (sniper), mordecai, and i'm finding it really wierd being a male character. i'm split between feeling i am him and being attracted to him. i think he may have to go into my hall of cool male characters (like garrett and the prince), even though his character isn't nearly as fleshed out as either of those two. but still, the little laughs he gives when he gets a critical hit and the caustic comments he makes give him enough. yea - i think that might be the problem. when playing other male characters (garrett, prince, raziel) i knew they were the character and i was the player, but borderlands is more of a shooter rpg and the character bounds arn't cut so deep, so it confuses my poor brain. (just to note - i've never played a male character in an rpg.)
but anyway - i'm really enjoying the game. when i get crits i laugh right along with mordecai. the funniest thing, though, is that games like uncharted and fallout have led up to this. as i said to lordkilljoy last night - fallout3 is like a gateway shooter. if i hadn't played them i don't think i would be enjoying borderlands half as much because i wouldn't be able to shoot anything.
not much other news - i really need to get chapter 6 finished today. i have so little to go with it. i tried to get it done yesterday, but in a fit of procrastination i cleaned the apartment instead.
but anyway - i'm really enjoying the game. when i get crits i laugh right along with mordecai. the funniest thing, though, is that games like uncharted and fallout have led up to this. as i said to lordkilljoy last night - fallout3 is like a gateway shooter. if i hadn't played them i don't think i would be enjoying borderlands half as much because i wouldn't be able to shoot anything.
not much other news - i really need to get chapter 6 finished today. i have so little to go with it. i tried to get it done yesterday, but in a fit of procrastination i cleaned the apartment instead.
19 November 2009
i can't think of a subject
this morning i turned on my computer and the second icon to greet me in the notification area was a functional internet connection. and my response was: sweetness insanity! i haven't used that phrase in a long time - i kinda wondered where it came from, what murky depths of my brain did it leap out from when it saw the chance to be at large in the world again.
but anyway, i was very happy to see it. i think it even featured in my dream last night. my dream was really wierd, though. in it, i was told that i had a second dad and he was a trucker who drove to china on a regular basis, which is why he was never around. and he was trying to parallel park an articulated truck (a really big one) with very little success. by dream also featured ambrosia creamed rice, the regular members of my family, a tiny kitchen, and probably loads else that i can't remember.
apart from that, i have nothing else to say, really. i smell like lush yummy shower cream.
it's a bit stormy today - i had to turn on the light getting up (at 8:30) and while i was in the shower, listening to the rain and wind on the window, i had a sudden desire to put up our little fiber-optic tree and blue lights. roll on december :)
but anyway, i was very happy to see it. i think it even featured in my dream last night. my dream was really wierd, though. in it, i was told that i had a second dad and he was a trucker who drove to china on a regular basis, which is why he was never around. and he was trying to parallel park an articulated truck (a really big one) with very little success. by dream also featured ambrosia creamed rice, the regular members of my family, a tiny kitchen, and probably loads else that i can't remember.
apart from that, i have nothing else to say, really. i smell like lush yummy shower cream.
it's a bit stormy today - i had to turn on the light getting up (at 8:30) and while i was in the shower, listening to the rain and wind on the window, i had a sudden desire to put up our little fiber-optic tree and blue lights. roll on december :)
18 November 2009
internet woes will be a thing of the past
more internet troubles. today my connection slunk out of the computer, crept from the kitchen and quietly flung itself from the balcony. and i was very, very annoyed at it. so between uninstalls, reinstalls, searching for drivers, reboots, more searching, i finally found a driver that is working. and hopefully it will continue to work with no hiccups long into the future.
so that's what i did today, instead of writing. hmmm. i've been on chapter 6 for the last week and a half now. (yes - i am supposed to be half way into ch. 7, but if i don't get ch.6 straight, the rest of it will be crooked too.) i'm getting through it all right, just very slowly. i'm writing all new descriptions for the main human city (i call them humans, even though all the races are human, because these guys don't use magic). it's the same city that zan and kej live in, only 20 years earlier. so it's funny knowing the area, but describing it from zachery's point of view. it's really cool actually - as i write, i'm seeing the place in my head and it seems so familiar - like a city i've lived in myself. it's kinda mad. i guess it sort of helps that i modelled it a little bit on cork city. only slightly, though - the hills more than anything. certainly not the buildings.
i don't really have a lot of news - we watched star trek on blu-ray last night. it is such a good movie. i smiled through most of it - the characters are just so funny.
i reached level 20 in fallout3. it's wierd now to find places and kill things and not get any xp for it. i'm finishing off the side quests and then i'm going to go finish the main quest and hopefully by then the dlc will have arrived (goty edition ordered - thanks to lordkilljoy)
yea - i'm going to go now.
so that's what i did today, instead of writing. hmmm. i've been on chapter 6 for the last week and a half now. (yes - i am supposed to be half way into ch. 7, but if i don't get ch.6 straight, the rest of it will be crooked too.) i'm getting through it all right, just very slowly. i'm writing all new descriptions for the main human city (i call them humans, even though all the races are human, because these guys don't use magic). it's the same city that zan and kej live in, only 20 years earlier. so it's funny knowing the area, but describing it from zachery's point of view. it's really cool actually - as i write, i'm seeing the place in my head and it seems so familiar - like a city i've lived in myself. it's kinda mad. i guess it sort of helps that i modelled it a little bit on cork city. only slightly, though - the hills more than anything. certainly not the buildings.
i don't really have a lot of news - we watched star trek on blu-ray last night. it is such a good movie. i smiled through most of it - the characters are just so funny.
i reached level 20 in fallout3. it's wierd now to find places and kill things and not get any xp for it. i'm finishing off the side quests and then i'm going to go finish the main quest and hopefully by then the dlc will have arrived (goty edition ordered - thanks to lordkilljoy)
yea - i'm going to go now.
13 November 2009
dreams of pets
i had an exceptionally wierd dream last night. all my dreams are wierd, but this one was especially strange.
me and lordkilljoy or possibly penelope_stone were at a market kind of thing and this guy was selling lizards that looked like dinosaurs (a brachiosaurus but with diamond-shaped plates along its back) it was cute, yellow and we bought it straight away. but there was something you had to do to it before you put it in a tank. you had to bite its neck. so i did, but i bit too hard and ripped off a bit of skin, leaving a huge hole near its collarbone (do dinosaurs have collarbones?). so we got it home and put it in the tank with yoshi, who was not at all impressed with this newcomer. he attacked the dino-lizard, aiming for the hole in its neck, and somehow managed to pull its heart out. dino-lizard, looking shocked, keeled over and died right then and there.
me and lordkilljoy were equally stunned, unable to believe that our scardy little yoshi had just killed something three times bigger than him.
so, later, i had to clean the corpse out of the tank and nymph was lying on it, happy as anything. i had a job to get him off and the dino-lizard was all stiff and tangled around the branches in the tank.
yea - it was really wierd.
went to see la roux last night - spur of the moment (people couldn't go and gave their tickets to lordkilljoy). it was fun - up on the balcony of the academy. it was strange going to a non-rock gig, though. no rock-out bits and the crowd was very well behaved.
nymph-newtonious has been hanging out in the filter again. i don't know is it the flow of water or the tiny bit of extra heat, or just that it's hidy, but he really seems to love it in there. i think, one of these days, i'll stop taking him out of there. but then i'm afraid that he'll find a way out of the tank altogether. hmmm.
right. enough with the procrastination.
me and lordkilljoy or possibly penelope_stone were at a market kind of thing and this guy was selling lizards that looked like dinosaurs (a brachiosaurus but with diamond-shaped plates along its back) it was cute, yellow and we bought it straight away. but there was something you had to do to it before you put it in a tank. you had to bite its neck. so i did, but i bit too hard and ripped off a bit of skin, leaving a huge hole near its collarbone (do dinosaurs have collarbones?). so we got it home and put it in the tank with yoshi, who was not at all impressed with this newcomer. he attacked the dino-lizard, aiming for the hole in its neck, and somehow managed to pull its heart out. dino-lizard, looking shocked, keeled over and died right then and there.
me and lordkilljoy were equally stunned, unable to believe that our scardy little yoshi had just killed something three times bigger than him.
so, later, i had to clean the corpse out of the tank and nymph was lying on it, happy as anything. i had a job to get him off and the dino-lizard was all stiff and tangled around the branches in the tank.
yea - it was really wierd.
went to see la roux last night - spur of the moment (people couldn't go and gave their tickets to lordkilljoy). it was fun - up on the balcony of the academy. it was strange going to a non-rock gig, though. no rock-out bits and the crowd was very well behaved.
nymph-newtonious has been hanging out in the filter again. i don't know is it the flow of water or the tiny bit of extra heat, or just that it's hidy, but he really seems to love it in there. i think, one of these days, i'll stop taking him out of there. but then i'm afraid that he'll find a way out of the tank altogether. hmmm.
right. enough with the procrastination.
11 November 2009
sp3
"It's nice to know that there will still be kittens in the singularity." such a cute quote.
i installed xp sp3 today - i don't really know why i waited so long. when sp2 came out i ordered it (on cd, because my 'net connection wasn't good enough to download it - shock) straight away. but sp3 has been out for ages and i just never bothered with it.
but for these few days i have to keep my 'net connection open and having it crash out every 20 minutes is just not on. so, in a bid to eradicate my connection woes, i updated to sp3. and so far it seems to be working out well.
i've listened to Exogenesis: Symphony Part 3 (Redemption) by Muse 21 times over the last week. i think there's subliminal messaging in the lyrics: let's start over again.
wacom are running a competition on dA with the theme: dreams. i'm very tempted to enter, because i have these amazing ideas in my head, but i just know that if i try to draw them they will fall apart. i can never draw what's in my head. something in my brain messes up the composition, or perhaps images in my head are in 5D or something and don't convert well to 2D.
in other news: i'm back playing fallout3, and listening to a lot of philip glass at the moment.
that is all.
i installed xp sp3 today - i don't really know why i waited so long. when sp2 came out i ordered it (on cd, because my 'net connection wasn't good enough to download it - shock) straight away. but sp3 has been out for ages and i just never bothered with it.
but for these few days i have to keep my 'net connection open and having it crash out every 20 minutes is just not on. so, in a bid to eradicate my connection woes, i updated to sp3. and so far it seems to be working out well.
i've listened to Exogenesis: Symphony Part 3 (Redemption) by Muse 21 times over the last week. i think there's subliminal messaging in the lyrics: let's start over again.
wacom are running a competition on dA with the theme: dreams. i'm very tempted to enter, because i have these amazing ideas in my head, but i just know that if i try to draw them they will fall apart. i can never draw what's in my head. something in my brain messes up the composition, or perhaps images in my head are in 5D or something and don't convert well to 2D.
in other news: i'm back playing fallout3, and listening to a lot of philip glass at the moment.
that is all.
10 November 2009
catching up on the weekend
muse friday night were brilliant. we got there just after doors opened and managed to get into the pit (somewhat illegitimately). waited for ages for the support to come on, but there was no support. muse themselves were fantastic - from their stage layout, to lights, and obviously the music. they rocked out quite a bit, but did spare some time for their more mellow tracks. and i could actually see the band most of the time, thanks to a mosh pit that opened right in front of us. it did not impress the security guys, but i thought it the best thing ever.
went to see the men who stare at goats last night. i enjoyed it, laughed lots - some of it was so preposterous, but some of it seemed to hold a grain of truth.
writing's going well. i think i have figured out a way to make chapter 6 work, and this is a very good thing.
i finished uncharted2 on sunday. it was a lot of fun. just gave up in annoyance with the number of guys to kill once. well - one thing that did annoy me was that i carried one particular gun for the last few hours just so i could use it to kill the bad guy at the end, and then the fight started and they just gave me some random default weapons. just cause they wanted me to kill him their way, not my way.
then lordkilljoy had to go to work, so i got to play dragon age: origins for a bit. it's fun, but you really have to have your head on going into fights.
i think that's all my news.
went to see the men who stare at goats last night. i enjoyed it, laughed lots - some of it was so preposterous, but some of it seemed to hold a grain of truth.
writing's going well. i think i have figured out a way to make chapter 6 work, and this is a very good thing.
i finished uncharted2 on sunday. it was a lot of fun. just gave up in annoyance with the number of guys to kill once. well - one thing that did annoy me was that i carried one particular gun for the last few hours just so i could use it to kill the bad guy at the end, and then the fight started and they just gave me some random default weapons. just cause they wanted me to kill him their way, not my way.
then lordkilljoy had to go to work, so i got to play dragon age: origins for a bit. it's fun, but you really have to have your head on going into fights.
i think that's all my news.
06 November 2009
muse
off to muse tonight and i am so excited. i've been listening to the resistance all week, trying to get to know the songs. but i was sabotaged by the last one on the album. i've listened to it in whole 14 times and in part probably over 20. it crescendos so well. i love it.
not really getting a lot of writing done this week. i'm about to hit that dreaded part of the book where i never really figured out how stuff can happen, so it's just happening with no good reason. trying to come up with good reasons, but it's hard not to just ignore it. i've skipped one scene already, and i have a feeling that i'll be half finishing more scenes next week. see, the problem is that the rest of the book hinges on this one little bottle neck, it it has to stand very firmly. right at the moment it's a stilt house on sand, where the stilts are made of twigs lashed together. and it's an earthquake zone too. yea...
i don't really have much other news.
not really getting a lot of writing done this week. i'm about to hit that dreaded part of the book where i never really figured out how stuff can happen, so it's just happening with no good reason. trying to come up with good reasons, but it's hard not to just ignore it. i've skipped one scene already, and i have a feeling that i'll be half finishing more scenes next week. see, the problem is that the rest of the book hinges on this one little bottle neck, it it has to stand very firmly. right at the moment it's a stilt house on sand, where the stilts are made of twigs lashed together. and it's an earthquake zone too. yea...
i don't really have much other news.
02 November 2009
halloween
I have 10 minutes left in lunch and am using it to write a quick post about halloween and how amazingly brilliant it was.
penelope_stone and i dressed as zombies and joined the cork zombie walk, in the rain, i might add. so we were bedraggled zombies, but we had a laugh stumbling towards random people and scraping at restaurant windows. i have pics and i will upload some of them, but not now.
we went to camouflage after the zombie walk and a few drinks in the franciscan well. my neck is still sore from that - they played so many good songs.
the wedding the night before was really good fun too. good food, good music and everyone seemed to have a good time.
i'm still a little tired today, but writing's going well. enough, anyway. i know where this scene is going and that always helps.
nanowrimo started today. for the first year since i started it, i'm not doing it. it feels wierd, actually. i kinda feel like i should be doing it, but work on my novel is way more important and all books in the trilogy are written and i don't want to write another novel until i have all 3 in some sort of publishing shape and hopefully one or two of them off with a publisher.
right, so. i'm going to go again.
i have 5 layers on (counting hat and arm-warmers as one layer) today and my nose is freezing.
penelope_stone and i dressed as zombies and joined the cork zombie walk, in the rain, i might add. so we were bedraggled zombies, but we had a laugh stumbling towards random people and scraping at restaurant windows. i have pics and i will upload some of them, but not now.
we went to camouflage after the zombie walk and a few drinks in the franciscan well. my neck is still sore from that - they played so many good songs.
the wedding the night before was really good fun too. good food, good music and everyone seemed to have a good time.
i'm still a little tired today, but writing's going well. enough, anyway. i know where this scene is going and that always helps.
nanowrimo started today. for the first year since i started it, i'm not doing it. it feels wierd, actually. i kinda feel like i should be doing it, but work on my novel is way more important and all books in the trilogy are written and i don't want to write another novel until i have all 3 in some sort of publishing shape and hopefully one or two of them off with a publisher.
right, so. i'm going to go again.
i have 5 layers on (counting hat and arm-warmers as one layer) today and my nose is freezing.
28 October 2009
going home
off to cork this evening for a wedding on friday. i'm kinda excited now... having yummy delicious left-overs from last night, got all my scenes for this week done, despite not getting anything done on monday. well - they are not the most polished scenes in the world, but still.
last night we made a mince beef madras. it needed a little soy sauce, but was really yummy then. and i cheated and bought canned tomatoes - i think if i was making it again i'd skin and chop up proper ones.
penelope_stone will be around for the weekend and has invited me out with her. i've not seen her in ages, so i think i may tag along with her and liam on Halloween.
i don't really have a lot of news...
last night we made a mince beef madras. it needed a little soy sauce, but was really yummy then. and i cheated and bought canned tomatoes - i think if i was making it again i'd skin and chop up proper ones.
penelope_stone will be around for the weekend and has invited me out with her. i've not seen her in ages, so i think i may tag along with her and liam on Halloween.
i don't really have a lot of news...
26 October 2009
mcm expo, london
I've been wearing this cool hat all day, it's got 2 massive purple and black stripy "ears" that hang down to my waist. it looks totally mad today, but yesterday it looked almost dull when compared to what some people were wearing. pink wigs, blue wigs, people in furry costume, anime characters, game characters, people in boxes and robots and daleks.
yea - the expo was amazing, if only for the number of people dressed up. and so many people's costumes were brilliant - they looked like a lot of time had been put into them. one of the most fun parts of the con was hanging out in the corridor and watching everyone go past.
saturday we just spent looking around at everything: artists, stalls, games, comics, movies, crazy people playing ddr, and we caught a few shows on the stages. sunday we did mostly the same, but me and tom played bayonetta and we all went to watch the cosplay masquerade, and we caught a taiko drumming session, and i got to pet an alien. he was very dog-like O_o
i have loads of pics that i should upload, but i haven't looked at most of them yet. i'm having a non-sort-of-day. i got very little writing done, and even sitting down to write this was difficult. anyway - tomorrow will be better... except that we are off to a wedding afters tonight, so hmmm.
goodbye, then.
yea - the expo was amazing, if only for the number of people dressed up. and so many people's costumes were brilliant - they looked like a lot of time had been put into them. one of the most fun parts of the con was hanging out in the corridor and watching everyone go past.
saturday we just spent looking around at everything: artists, stalls, games, comics, movies, crazy people playing ddr, and we caught a few shows on the stages. sunday we did mostly the same, but me and tom played bayonetta and we all went to watch the cosplay masquerade, and we caught a taiko drumming session, and i got to pet an alien. he was very dog-like O_o
i have loads of pics that i should upload, but i haven't looked at most of them yet. i'm having a non-sort-of-day. i got very little writing done, and even sitting down to write this was difficult. anyway - tomorrow will be better... except that we are off to a wedding afters tonight, so hmmm.
goodbye, then.
21 October 2009
sometimes my subjects get like tags
I finished devil may cry last night. i found the last 2 missions utterly frustrating. the second last is set up so that you battle all the bosses that you have already battled twice. it seems that capcom ran out of interesting ideas, but i guess people who prefer battles would like it. i prefer puzzles. the last battle was stupidly hard. hard to the point where i got the guy down to one bar of life and then couldn't hit him any more because he started jumping all over the place and casting spells and being generally annoying. the only reason i managed to beat him was because of an item i had, not because of any combos or weapons. i roll my eyes at that game.
ah well. i then went on to uncharted2. i think i'll have fun with this game, once the controls sink in. the first mission is unlike anything i've played before (not that i've played that many games) but i was impressed with the way they structured it. and drake is, as always, so much fun.
writing is going well - i got three scenes done yesterday. they were about 500 words each, but still. i should be finished ch. 3 today. ch. 3 is about 3,000 words - which for me is pathetically short - i have scenes longer than that (ok - almost). so i may have to shuffle it into chs. 2 and 4. or maybe i'll leave it, because it does stand nicely on its own - a wrap up to act 1.
i don't have much other news. going to london on friday for mcm expo. the excitement hasn't really sunk in yet. i don't think it will until i'm standing in the queue waiting to go in.
ah well. i then went on to uncharted2. i think i'll have fun with this game, once the controls sink in. the first mission is unlike anything i've played before (not that i've played that many games) but i was impressed with the way they structured it. and drake is, as always, so much fun.
writing is going well - i got three scenes done yesterday. they were about 500 words each, but still. i should be finished ch. 3 today. ch. 3 is about 3,000 words - which for me is pathetically short - i have scenes longer than that (ok - almost). so i may have to shuffle it into chs. 2 and 4. or maybe i'll leave it, because it does stand nicely on its own - a wrap up to act 1.
i don't have much other news. going to london on friday for mcm expo. the excitement hasn't really sunk in yet. i don't think it will until i'm standing in the queue waiting to go in.
18 October 2009
Wacom bamboo
this entry is being written from lordkilljoy's new toy, a Wacom bamboo graphics tablet (A5). Cool, but it does have its problems. As in, i would be faster writing this by typing, but it's fun to hand write onto your computer and see the text come up like normal on the text box. Yea, allow me to demonstrate by not correcting the following sentence:
thissentence ispure, uneditd output fromMac OS X `S B handwritingrecognitionpmgmm,Jnkw$. Yea, maybe i need to adjust the sliders for my handwriting width. OK, i've done that. Let's See how it turns out now. dedicated readers of my Lj may have noticed that i do capitalize my handwritten words - it is purely an "i couldn't be bothered with hitting shift" problem with typing.
Yea. this entry has taken way too long to write.
It has taken me 20 minutes to get this far. the other crazy thing is that Inkwell makes a little writing sound for you - as if the real sound of stylus on tablet wasn't enough. OK, i made some adjustments + things seem to be going a lot smoother. What i do like is the little symbols that mean spacebar (for editing) and return. Ugh, this refuses to recognise my capital i as what it is. it keeps wanting to put J or T. Annoying.
Right. i've had enough. Good night.
P.S. i'm playing Devil may Cry 4 at the moment and it is so much fun. totally over the top ridiculous, but in a good way.
thissentence ispure, uneditd output fromMac OS X `S B handwritingrecognitionpmgmm,Jnkw$. Yea, maybe i need to adjust the sliders for my handwriting width. OK, i've done that. Let's See how it turns out now. dedicated readers of my Lj may have noticed that i do capitalize my handwritten words - it is purely an "i couldn't be bothered with hitting shift" problem with typing.
Yea. this entry has taken way too long to write.
It has taken me 20 minutes to get this far. the other crazy thing is that Inkwell makes a little writing sound for you - as if the real sound of stylus on tablet wasn't enough. OK, i made some adjustments + things seem to be going a lot smoother. What i do like is the little symbols that mean spacebar (for editing) and return. Ugh, this refuses to recognise my capital i as what it is. it keeps wanting to put J or T. Annoying.
Right. i've had enough. Good night.
P.S. i'm playing Devil may Cry 4 at the moment and it is so much fun. totally over the top ridiculous, but in a good way.
13 October 2009
I wrote about 2,000 words today, and about 3,000 yesterday. Ahh, the exciting bits are so easy to get through. Tomorrow should go well enough too - it's an entirely new scene, but it involves characters i like and they are talking about fun types of things (conspiracy - always fun) and it's leading up to the introduction of Azrynn, woo.
mulkabu is up tomorrow - we are all going to kevin smith, so i'm kind of trying to get a bit done before then. But i have two scenes left this week - one tomorrow and one on friday.
me and lordkilljoy went to see zombieland on sunday. it was fun, nothing serious and a lot of laughs. Up is the next thing to see.
I'm still playing assassin's creed. i imagine that today, i will beat lordkilljoy's score for it. he didn't even get that score. i did. and he made such a fuss about me getting him free achievement points that i have to do better on my own account.
and now he's home. so i'm going to go :)
mulkabu is up tomorrow - we are all going to kevin smith, so i'm kind of trying to get a bit done before then. But i have two scenes left this week - one tomorrow and one on friday.
me and lordkilljoy went to see zombieland on sunday. it was fun, nothing serious and a lot of laughs. Up is the next thing to see.
I'm still playing assassin's creed. i imagine that today, i will beat lordkilljoy's score for it. he didn't even get that score. i did. and he made such a fuss about me getting him free achievement points that i have to do better on my own account.
and now he's home. so i'm going to go :)
09 October 2009
cleaning
dyson make the best hoovering machines of anyone, ever. i hate hoovering, but the dyson does really make it very easy. and today it was making a kind of funny sound so i went about pulling all the hairs and threads (and massive length of twine o_O) that was wrapped around the suction thing out and now it works even better.
as i said yesterday, i took today off writing. i'm having serious doubts about the scene i'm writing at the moment. i think it's a bit too contrived - i have some information to tell and that is the only purpose that this scene serves, it doesn't really fit into the story. hopefully monday will bring a clear head and an objective viewpoint on it.
i don't have any other news, really. lordkilljoy is sleeping and then we're heading down to cork for the weekend. i might go play assassin's creed for a bit.
as i said yesterday, i took today off writing. i'm having serious doubts about the scene i'm writing at the moment. i think it's a bit too contrived - i have some information to tell and that is the only purpose that this scene serves, it doesn't really fit into the story. hopefully monday will bring a clear head and an objective viewpoint on it.
i don't have any other news, really. lordkilljoy is sleeping and then we're heading down to cork for the weekend. i might go play assassin's creed for a bit.
08 October 2009
writing woes
this week has been significantly harder than last week. all the scenes that i have to write are ones that i couldn't write last time round and it seems that i still can't write them. and then i begin to question if they are really necessary, and should i just get rid of them, but i don't like doing that - that's what nanowrimo has taught me - you don't lose word count.
i'm fine with the descriptive bits, but as soon as anyone starts talking, i'm just like: what on earth do these people have to say to each other and then i just write very directly and it seems so unnatural and forced and the shortest conversations ever.
i just want to take the rest of the day off, but then i'd be bored.
i am thinking of moving tomorrow's scene to chapter 5 or something though - i think it comes just a little too early. then i could spend tomorrow cleaning the apartment because it is a terrible mess. i haven't hoovered in about a month. (shhh, don't tell anyone.)
i'm fine with the descriptive bits, but as soon as anyone starts talking, i'm just like: what on earth do these people have to say to each other and then i just write very directly and it seems so unnatural and forced and the shortest conversations ever.
i just want to take the rest of the day off, but then i'd be bored.
i am thinking of moving tomorrow's scene to chapter 5 or something though - i think it comes just a little too early. then i could spend tomorrow cleaning the apartment because it is a terrible mess. i haven't hoovered in about a month. (shhh, don't tell anyone.)
07 October 2009
first frost
first frost of the winter and i woke to the sound of the neighbour scraping the ice off their car and thought, "oh, great. another 5 months of being woken by this sound." (yes - we are 3 floors up, and yes i can hear that scraping loud enough to wake me. there are gaps 1cm big around the balcony door in the bedroom.)
but it's a lovely morning - crisp blue sky, little wisps of cloud - a bit cold, the thermometer in here is only reading 17.7degrees. i wonder how nymph will fare over the winter as his tank water temperature plummets to 10 / 12 degrees.
that's all i wanted to say. it's almost 9 - time to start writing for the day.
but it's a lovely morning - crisp blue sky, little wisps of cloud - a bit cold, the thermometer in here is only reading 17.7degrees. i wonder how nymph will fare over the winter as his tank water temperature plummets to 10 / 12 degrees.
that's all i wanted to say. it's almost 9 - time to start writing for the day.
06 October 2009
random procrastination
i got 3 scenes done today, but i'm worried about the rest of the week because it's new stuff until next week and we are off to cork for the weekend, so i can't slak off on the actual writing bits. the only problem is that i don't feel at all inspired this week. editing is ok, but even the edits don't seem that great - i'm not really adding in much inspiring things, just deleting things that really don't work. see i can't even write properly - that last sentence was so inelegant.
then from next week on i'm into the stuff that hasn't been touched since my last stab at editing last year. there are quite a few chapters that need new scenes written, culminating in ch. 6, which is completely different to the original chapter 6 except for one scene.
i also now have a chapter 1.5.5. remember i mentioned that ch 1 was 10,000+ words and i cut it in half - well, ch 1.5 then blossomed, so i had to cut it in half too. it seems i will have 21 chapters in total when its all done - 19 main ones and the pro- and epilogues. still not bad. at least it's not like some books with three page chapters, but the book itself has over 80 chapters. i always find that wierd.
yep - this is not going to be a monster of a fantasy - a nice 120,000 words i think - maybe 150,000 at the very most. although, if my chapters all grow like ch 1 did, then i may have a chapter naming problem on my hands.
see, the reason i don't like books with 80-odd chapters is because i like named chapters. just numbers always seems very impersonal. and then i could be like feist with a table of contents - not really. i don't like them either, because you risk spoiling the book - as a reader you can't help flicking though the contents and wondering what's going to happen in the story to cause things like "death of a hero" and who's going to die and stuff. well - no chapter name is that explicit, but you get the idea.
i just realized that i'm procrastinating. golly - i've not done that on here in a while. it must be nano time. i cleaned out the press under the sink today too (and yes - i still got 3 scenes edited). i must be secretly petrified about writing these new scenes. hmmm...
it's miserable weather too, though. so dark and grey. dull. uninspiring. and raining too. i was going to go to lidl and get fish for dinner, but it's just too miserable out.
then from next week on i'm into the stuff that hasn't been touched since my last stab at editing last year. there are quite a few chapters that need new scenes written, culminating in ch. 6, which is completely different to the original chapter 6 except for one scene.
i also now have a chapter 1.5.5. remember i mentioned that ch 1 was 10,000+ words and i cut it in half - well, ch 1.5 then blossomed, so i had to cut it in half too. it seems i will have 21 chapters in total when its all done - 19 main ones and the pro- and epilogues. still not bad. at least it's not like some books with three page chapters, but the book itself has over 80 chapters. i always find that wierd.
yep - this is not going to be a monster of a fantasy - a nice 120,000 words i think - maybe 150,000 at the very most. although, if my chapters all grow like ch 1 did, then i may have a chapter naming problem on my hands.
see, the reason i don't like books with 80-odd chapters is because i like named chapters. just numbers always seems very impersonal. and then i could be like feist with a table of contents - not really. i don't like them either, because you risk spoiling the book - as a reader you can't help flicking though the contents and wondering what's going to happen in the story to cause things like "death of a hero" and who's going to die and stuff. well - no chapter name is that explicit, but you get the idea.
i just realized that i'm procrastinating. golly - i've not done that on here in a while. it must be nano time. i cleaned out the press under the sink today too (and yes - i still got 3 scenes edited). i must be secretly petrified about writing these new scenes. hmmm...
it's miserable weather too, though. so dark and grey. dull. uninspiring. and raining too. i was going to go to lidl and get fish for dinner, but it's just too miserable out.
05 October 2009
now... what was i going to post about? there was definitely something, but then lordkilljoy came home and distracted me. it was something short, possibly seasonal, but i just can't remember.
short update on stuff - 16 week plan is going really well.
playing assassin's creed again. one of the quests in fable 2 broke and i got annoyed with it.
ahhh - i remember what i wanted to post. lordkilljoy got edge (magazine) on friday and there was a little dust cover on it. and ezio featured on that, so i cut him out and stuck him up next to my computer. he's been keeping me company all day :)
ok, gotta go.
short update on stuff - 16 week plan is going really well.
playing assassin's creed again. one of the quests in fable 2 broke and i got annoyed with it.
ahhh - i remember what i wanted to post. lordkilljoy got edge (magazine) on friday and there was a little dust cover on it. and ezio featured on that, so i cut him out and stuck him up next to my computer. he's been keeping me company all day :)
ok, gotta go.
03 October 2009
autumn
I have a feeling that tomorrow the trees will be significantly more bare than they were yesterday. big storm today - wind, lashing rain, the sound of tyres on wet tarmac, girls screaming as they try to walk straight in the gale.
i've been kinda looking forward to this - it's been cloudy for the last few days, the kind of cloudy that makes you think a good storm would be good for the sky. and here it is... only i wish it had happened yesterday, because we were going to go into town and i don't think that's going to happen now. we'd planned to go see district 9, and i suppose even if it was raining, it's not like we'd be trudging around in it for hours.
i don't really have much else to say - waiting for lordkilljoy to get up. he stayed playing games 'til 3am this morning. i was sensible and went to bed at 12:30.
i've been kinda looking forward to this - it's been cloudy for the last few days, the kind of cloudy that makes you think a good storm would be good for the sky. and here it is... only i wish it had happened yesterday, because we were going to go into town and i don't think that's going to happen now. we'd planned to go see district 9, and i suppose even if it was raining, it's not like we'd be trudging around in it for hours.
i don't really have much else to say - waiting for lordkilljoy to get up. he stayed playing games 'til 3am this morning. i was sensible and went to bed at 12:30.
02 October 2009
my journal
ok - this is wierd. livejournal says my journal was created on 4th october at 7am, but my first post was the 3rd at 3pm. that was 2001, by the way. i can't believe my journal is 8 years old. that's 8 years of writing daily happenings, random thoughts, just plain randomness, good things, bad things, journeys, changes - you can practically see me grow up on the pages of my journal.
anyway, because i more than likely won't be online over the weekend - happy birthday journal. i love you :)
anyway, because i more than likely won't be online over the weekend - happy birthday journal. i love you :)
silly connection
Ever since we got our new internet in july, my connection has been on and off (unable to find certificates, limited connectivity, crashing out, unable to connect to wireless card, all sorts of fun things) and every so often i go at it to see if i can make it work properly. invariably i just make things worse and end up having to do a system restore to get it working at all. so today - since i'm a week ahead in my 16 week plan, i decided to go at it again. now it seems that the router will only pick up my pc if another pc is already connected to it. it won't start up wireless broadcasting just for my pc, no matter how hard i plead with it.
so i have it working now (but the laptop is also connected) and i'm just hoping that when i turn on my computer on monday i'll see a fresh, bright-eyed and ready connection waiting for me. i'm not keeping my hopes up on that, though.
i'm back playing fable2 at the moment. did i mention that already? i started a new character and am really enjoying the game. i've gotten up to new stuff in the game and it's really exciting. in fact, i enjoyed my time in the spire so much that i'm going to take my old character (the evil one) there and see just how bad things get. my good char woosed out at having to kill a fellow guard.
i'm back to 4 layers today (and fingerless-gloves). i had on 3 yesterday. i think it's the humidity is getting to me. i put on my hello kitty jumper this morning and was delighted by the smell of nag champa from the health fair, which is the last time i wore this jumper. i can still smell it now, but not as much - every time i moved during the day i'd get this lovely whiff. i'm totally considering putting an unopened box at the bottom of the wardrobe. mmmmm :)
wardrobe and cupboard are the wierdest words ever. and what's wierder is that they are both places to keep stuff. odd.
right, so. i'll go now.
so i have it working now (but the laptop is also connected) and i'm just hoping that when i turn on my computer on monday i'll see a fresh, bright-eyed and ready connection waiting for me. i'm not keeping my hopes up on that, though.
i'm back playing fable2 at the moment. did i mention that already? i started a new character and am really enjoying the game. i've gotten up to new stuff in the game and it's really exciting. in fact, i enjoyed my time in the spire so much that i'm going to take my old character (the evil one) there and see just how bad things get. my good char woosed out at having to kill a fellow guard.
i'm back to 4 layers today (and fingerless-gloves). i had on 3 yesterday. i think it's the humidity is getting to me. i put on my hello kitty jumper this morning and was delighted by the smell of nag champa from the health fair, which is the last time i wore this jumper. i can still smell it now, but not as much - every time i moved during the day i'd get this lovely whiff. i'm totally considering putting an unopened box at the bottom of the wardrobe. mmmmm :)
wardrobe and cupboard are the wierdest words ever. and what's wierder is that they are both places to keep stuff. odd.
right, so. i'll go now.
30 September 2009
Running Sal
I have a new short story (~1,500 words) that i would like to present to all on my friends list. I decided to write for this month's with just 12 hours to go, so if it seems a little rough, it's because this is draft 0, with the smallest bit of editing.
The genre is mixed genres - bringing in bits of action / adventure, sci-fi and western (it's supposed to be a sci-fi / western sort of setting - not sure how well that came across).
"My name's Running Sal and I've never been caught!"
The last words I'd spoken went round in my head as I dashed over the rooftops of Ivy City. I can run, and it is true that I've never been caught. It's not because I'm faster than everyone else. It's because I go in a straight line. Running, jumping, climbing, it's all the same to me; a way to get from one place to another.
I work for an organization that makes sure the top echelons of this little asteroid colony don't get too cocky. We watch, we scold, we kill on occasion. I'm a messenger; I deliver things, letters, bugs, bombs, whatever. I'm small, agile, can get into tight spaces and get out faster than anyone else.
The job today was simple, the financiers office was holding a meeting, and I was to plant a bug to record the whole thing. I'd arrived early, found a good spot in the ventilation, and gotten out fast. But something had gone wrong. The guards waited for me at my exit point.
"My name's Running Sal," I said. "And I've never been caught!"
I lunged between them, their hands grasping at the space I had just vacated. Off I tore, along the flat uneven rooftops, leap-frogging over railings and diving across alleys. I couldn't spare a glance behind me but I could hear the guards keeping pace. These guys were good, but no one can keep up with me.
From my belt bag I pulled out a grappling winch the size of a small gun, but packed with a hundred meter coil of spider-twine attached to a compact grappling hook. The guards could eat my dust, no one could do the stunts I could using a grappling winch.
Aim for the rail of the next building over, fire, and hang on. The hook connected perfectly, and the winch kicked in, whipping me across this rooftop, over the gap and onto the next roof. The wind flew through my hair and flapped against my light poly armour. I landed perfectly, yanked the hook out and reeled back in the twine, ready for another jump.
Down this time, the next level was about 5 meters below this one. It was part of this building but separated by old railings, rust eating through cracks in the paint. The roof rose up again about 10 meters distant. I could make that jump.
I leapt up onto the railing and fired my winch at the rail on the opposite side. But even as I leapt I knew I had made a bad move. The rail under my feet crumbled to rusted shards and even as the winch took my weight, I felt the twine go slack. In horror, I watched the opposite rail do the same. I crashed towards the lower section of roof, trying my best to tuck into a roll. Elbows and knees connected with the ground, jarring my bones all the way through to my spine. The singular pain paralysed me and as I lay there in agony, all I could think was, "I have to get up. Those guards will be here any second."
But I couldn't get up, I couldn't move. The guards' racing footfalls grew louder, hard-soled shoes slapping on concrete. My heart beat out a counter rhythm and I started to shake. This was it. They would collar me and erase my life, put a new one in its place and I would become one of the reformed. That couldn't happen to me. I'm Running Sal. I don't get caught.
Five burly figures came over the roof and slowed when they saw me.
"It's our lucky day, men," the one in the lead said.
I had to get up now. Straining against the pain in my bones, I pushed myself off the ground but I could barely stand. The world spun and the daylight vanished as blobs of darkness covered my eyes.
The guards closed in, quickly surrounding me. Still unable to see well, I dodged away from the sounds they made, the scrape of shoes on sandy concrete and their loud breathing. It was no use. Strong hands latched onto my arms and legs, and try as I might to pull away, I was helpless against them. My sight came back just in time to see one of them come at me with a small sliver collar, about half an inch wide.
"No!" I screamed.
I wrenched my whole body around, kicking out with arms and legs and lashing my head from side to side. But they were used to holding struggling bodies and the collar was on me in an instant.
In that second, everything stopped. My muscles went slack, my mouth dropped open, my eyes stared into space. But inside my head my mind screamed. This shouldn't be happening. It wasn't supposed to happen. I couldn't have been caught.
But slowly even the thoughts went silent, until all that was left to me was a trickle of senses, none of which I could process properly. Going down in an elevator, being shoved into a van, waiting in a chair, four walls and a high ceiling surrounding me. My senses woke up a little more as they questioned me, and after that, nothing.
I woke up on a soft bed, the covers kicked off during the hot night. I loved this bed. About the only thing I liked about this cruddy apartment. I got up, showered, taking care to clean underneath my silver choker, contemplated having breakfast. Too much bother and besides, half the food had already been eaten by the rats. I really needed to find a better place to live. First I had to find a job. Dressed quickly, grabbed keys and jacket from beside the door and headed for the employment office.
The resident junkie lay sprawled across the floor outside my door. Why did she always crash out here? It sickened me to see her eyes sunken into her pale, almost alabaster skin. Today she was awake, damn. She'd start talking to me. I never responded, and she took offence at that, usually getting violent.
"Sal," she said.
My heart skipped a beat. That wasn't my name, but somehow it struck a chord. I kept my back to her as I locked the door and then walked away without looking at her.
"We need you back, Sal," she said.
I stopped. She sounded different, more coherent. I turned back.
"I'm not Sal," I said. "You have the wrong person."
"How long have you had that collar?" she asked.
I brought a hand to my throat, feeling the warm metal. "All my life," I said.
The choker had belonged to my grandmother who had died when I was a baby. She'd wanted me to have it and I never took it off.
"Belonged to your grandmother? You never take it off?" she said.
My hair stood on end. "What do you want?" I said.
"You are living a lie, Sal. You got caught and they collared you."
A single image flashed across my eyes. Five men grappling me on a rooftop. My heart beat faster.
"I've never been caught," I said.
It seemed like a strange thing to say, but at the same time the words were as much a part of me as the collar around my neck.
"Would you come with me?" the junkie said. "I want to show you something."
I hesitated. I had an appointment with the jobs officer that I didn't want to miss. But something strange was going on here and I wanted to know what it was. I finally looked at her, and realized that I had misjudged her. Her skin was pale, bit not sickly, and her eyes were lined in dark makeup, not sunken into her skull. I nodded and she led the way out of the building, onto the maglev train across town, into another building and up onto the roof.
Broken railings surrounded an area where the level of the roof dropped about 5 meters.
"Do you recognise this?" she said.
It did seem vaguely familiar, the reddish yellow skydome all around, being able to see over the buildings, even the rusted railings around the perimeter twigged something within me. She handed me a device which looked something like a gun, but instead of a trigger, it had a button on top. I didn't recognise it, but curiosity urged me to press the button.
Spider-twine shot from the barrel, coils of it trailing after a barbed hook. The hook landed with a thud in the concrete of the building opposite, and before I could think to let go, a winch kicked in and dragged me across the gap. A squeal trailed after me and I squeezed my eyes shut as I soared over the road. The sound of hover traffic and ground traffic zoomed passed me. And then I was safely on the other side, standing on the roof after a perfect landing.
I had done this before. I remembered it, the thrill of being chased across the rooftops, the surge of excitement when I pulled way ahead of them. I pointed the winch back at the fateful building where I'd been caught and leapt across the road, this time in control and exhilarating in the speed.
"Vena," I said. "I remember."
She smiled. "Let's get that collar off."
My name's Running Sal, and I've been caught once.
The genre is mixed genres - bringing in bits of action / adventure, sci-fi and western (it's supposed to be a sci-fi / western sort of setting - not sure how well that came across).
"My name's Running Sal and I've never been caught!"
The last words I'd spoken went round in my head as I dashed over the rooftops of Ivy City. I can run, and it is true that I've never been caught. It's not because I'm faster than everyone else. It's because I go in a straight line. Running, jumping, climbing, it's all the same to me; a way to get from one place to another.
I work for an organization that makes sure the top echelons of this little asteroid colony don't get too cocky. We watch, we scold, we kill on occasion. I'm a messenger; I deliver things, letters, bugs, bombs, whatever. I'm small, agile, can get into tight spaces and get out faster than anyone else.
The job today was simple, the financiers office was holding a meeting, and I was to plant a bug to record the whole thing. I'd arrived early, found a good spot in the ventilation, and gotten out fast. But something had gone wrong. The guards waited for me at my exit point.
"My name's Running Sal," I said. "And I've never been caught!"
I lunged between them, their hands grasping at the space I had just vacated. Off I tore, along the flat uneven rooftops, leap-frogging over railings and diving across alleys. I couldn't spare a glance behind me but I could hear the guards keeping pace. These guys were good, but no one can keep up with me.
From my belt bag I pulled out a grappling winch the size of a small gun, but packed with a hundred meter coil of spider-twine attached to a compact grappling hook. The guards could eat my dust, no one could do the stunts I could using a grappling winch.
Aim for the rail of the next building over, fire, and hang on. The hook connected perfectly, and the winch kicked in, whipping me across this rooftop, over the gap and onto the next roof. The wind flew through my hair and flapped against my light poly armour. I landed perfectly, yanked the hook out and reeled back in the twine, ready for another jump.
Down this time, the next level was about 5 meters below this one. It was part of this building but separated by old railings, rust eating through cracks in the paint. The roof rose up again about 10 meters distant. I could make that jump.
I leapt up onto the railing and fired my winch at the rail on the opposite side. But even as I leapt I knew I had made a bad move. The rail under my feet crumbled to rusted shards and even as the winch took my weight, I felt the twine go slack. In horror, I watched the opposite rail do the same. I crashed towards the lower section of roof, trying my best to tuck into a roll. Elbows and knees connected with the ground, jarring my bones all the way through to my spine. The singular pain paralysed me and as I lay there in agony, all I could think was, "I have to get up. Those guards will be here any second."
But I couldn't get up, I couldn't move. The guards' racing footfalls grew louder, hard-soled shoes slapping on concrete. My heart beat out a counter rhythm and I started to shake. This was it. They would collar me and erase my life, put a new one in its place and I would become one of the reformed. That couldn't happen to me. I'm Running Sal. I don't get caught.
Five burly figures came over the roof and slowed when they saw me.
"It's our lucky day, men," the one in the lead said.
I had to get up now. Straining against the pain in my bones, I pushed myself off the ground but I could barely stand. The world spun and the daylight vanished as blobs of darkness covered my eyes.
The guards closed in, quickly surrounding me. Still unable to see well, I dodged away from the sounds they made, the scrape of shoes on sandy concrete and their loud breathing. It was no use. Strong hands latched onto my arms and legs, and try as I might to pull away, I was helpless against them. My sight came back just in time to see one of them come at me with a small sliver collar, about half an inch wide.
"No!" I screamed.
I wrenched my whole body around, kicking out with arms and legs and lashing my head from side to side. But they were used to holding struggling bodies and the collar was on me in an instant.
In that second, everything stopped. My muscles went slack, my mouth dropped open, my eyes stared into space. But inside my head my mind screamed. This shouldn't be happening. It wasn't supposed to happen. I couldn't have been caught.
But slowly even the thoughts went silent, until all that was left to me was a trickle of senses, none of which I could process properly. Going down in an elevator, being shoved into a van, waiting in a chair, four walls and a high ceiling surrounding me. My senses woke up a little more as they questioned me, and after that, nothing.
I woke up on a soft bed, the covers kicked off during the hot night. I loved this bed. About the only thing I liked about this cruddy apartment. I got up, showered, taking care to clean underneath my silver choker, contemplated having breakfast. Too much bother and besides, half the food had already been eaten by the rats. I really needed to find a better place to live. First I had to find a job. Dressed quickly, grabbed keys and jacket from beside the door and headed for the employment office.
The resident junkie lay sprawled across the floor outside my door. Why did she always crash out here? It sickened me to see her eyes sunken into her pale, almost alabaster skin. Today she was awake, damn. She'd start talking to me. I never responded, and she took offence at that, usually getting violent.
"Sal," she said.
My heart skipped a beat. That wasn't my name, but somehow it struck a chord. I kept my back to her as I locked the door and then walked away without looking at her.
"We need you back, Sal," she said.
I stopped. She sounded different, more coherent. I turned back.
"I'm not Sal," I said. "You have the wrong person."
"How long have you had that collar?" she asked.
I brought a hand to my throat, feeling the warm metal. "All my life," I said.
The choker had belonged to my grandmother who had died when I was a baby. She'd wanted me to have it and I never took it off.
"Belonged to your grandmother? You never take it off?" she said.
My hair stood on end. "What do you want?" I said.
"You are living a lie, Sal. You got caught and they collared you."
A single image flashed across my eyes. Five men grappling me on a rooftop. My heart beat faster.
"I've never been caught," I said.
It seemed like a strange thing to say, but at the same time the words were as much a part of me as the collar around my neck.
"Would you come with me?" the junkie said. "I want to show you something."
I hesitated. I had an appointment with the jobs officer that I didn't want to miss. But something strange was going on here and I wanted to know what it was. I finally looked at her, and realized that I had misjudged her. Her skin was pale, bit not sickly, and her eyes were lined in dark makeup, not sunken into her skull. I nodded and she led the way out of the building, onto the maglev train across town, into another building and up onto the roof.
Broken railings surrounded an area where the level of the roof dropped about 5 meters.
"Do you recognise this?" she said.
It did seem vaguely familiar, the reddish yellow skydome all around, being able to see over the buildings, even the rusted railings around the perimeter twigged something within me. She handed me a device which looked something like a gun, but instead of a trigger, it had a button on top. I didn't recognise it, but curiosity urged me to press the button.
Spider-twine shot from the barrel, coils of it trailing after a barbed hook. The hook landed with a thud in the concrete of the building opposite, and before I could think to let go, a winch kicked in and dragged me across the gap. A squeal trailed after me and I squeezed my eyes shut as I soared over the road. The sound of hover traffic and ground traffic zoomed passed me. And then I was safely on the other side, standing on the roof after a perfect landing.
I had done this before. I remembered it, the thrill of being chased across the rooftops, the surge of excitement when I pulled way ahead of them. I pointed the winch back at the fateful building where I'd been caught and leapt across the road, this time in control and exhilarating in the speed.
"Vena," I said. "I remember."
She smiled. "Let's get that collar off."
My name's Running Sal, and I've been caught once.
29 September 2009
hello
my 16 (aka 20) week plan is going well. i'm finished everything i had set myself 'til friday to do. it's good to be ahead at the start. i guess i had no idea how fast or slow things would go, but the prologue was pretty much ok, anyway.
apparently it's 20.7 degrees in here, but even with 4 layers on i'm only luke-warm. today, while cleaning nymph's water i spilled a load of it on the counter, the cupboard, the floor, me. i should get overalls or something. but it was so cute - i put my hand into the tank to pick nymph out and he crawled up onto my finger all by himself. i think he trusts me - that's so great. not like yoshi who still flinches away if you go up to his tank too quickly. silly scardy.
i don't really have much news. lordkilljoy and me are probably going to see surrogates tonight. i'm kind of looking forward to seeing it.
i think i'm tired or something. my concentration waned at about 2 o' clock today and hasn't come back.
apparently it's 20.7 degrees in here, but even with 4 layers on i'm only luke-warm. today, while cleaning nymph's water i spilled a load of it on the counter, the cupboard, the floor, me. i should get overalls or something. but it was so cute - i put my hand into the tank to pick nymph out and he crawled up onto my finger all by himself. i think he trusts me - that's so great. not like yoshi who still flinches away if you go up to his tank too quickly. silly scardy.
i don't really have much news. lordkilljoy and me are probably going to see surrogates tonight. i'm kind of looking forward to seeing it.
i think i'm tired or something. my concentration waned at about 2 o' clock today and hasn't come back.
25 September 2009
equinox missed
ok, wierd. i was all set to get a new Lj theme because my current one had stopped doing the tag cloud, but i just looked before writing this post and it's in a cloud again. very odd.
in other odd news, i missed the equinox by ages. i just realized it had gone past when apod posted a picture about it today. silly me.
so the nights are officially longer than the days now. roll on march. it's not that i don't like winter, its just that i love when the sunset stretches for hours and the sky is still holding onto the last dim glow of day at midnight.
my cold is getting worse. i'm thinking today will be a recovery day where i sit on the couch and play mini-games in fable2. chopping wood - very therapeutic. i started a new game last night (since to play my old game i need to log in as lordkilljoy on the xbox, go to downloads, re-download knothole island, log back in as me (riarua, if anyone's interested in friending me on xbox) and then i can play). i hadn't realized how the effects of stealing and killing had effected my first character - my new girl looks so fresh and innocent in comparison.
my 16 week plan is shaping up well. i have a good plan done out (only that i actually have 20 chapters, counting the pro- and epilogues. (i now have a chapter 1.5, as well as a chapter 11.5 - chapter 1 was 11,000 words. i think that's just a few too many for the first chapter.)
the little sick mood guy should have an option to have a smiley face on - i'm really not that miserable.
in other odd news, i missed the equinox by ages. i just realized it had gone past when apod posted a picture about it today. silly me.
so the nights are officially longer than the days now. roll on march. it's not that i don't like winter, its just that i love when the sunset stretches for hours and the sky is still holding onto the last dim glow of day at midnight.
my cold is getting worse. i'm thinking today will be a recovery day where i sit on the couch and play mini-games in fable2. chopping wood - very therapeutic. i started a new game last night (since to play my old game i need to log in as lordkilljoy on the xbox, go to downloads, re-download knothole island, log back in as me (riarua, if anyone's interested in friending me on xbox) and then i can play). i hadn't realized how the effects of stealing and killing had effected my first character - my new girl looks so fresh and innocent in comparison.
my 16 week plan is shaping up well. i have a good plan done out (only that i actually have 20 chapters, counting the pro- and epilogues. (i now have a chapter 1.5, as well as a chapter 11.5 - chapter 1 was 11,000 words. i think that's just a few too many for the first chapter.)
the little sick mood guy should have an option to have a smiley face on - i'm really not that miserable.
23 September 2009
things of substance in a random nature
the health fair was on over the weekend. it was good. it was great to hang out with penelope_stone for the whole weekend.
i have a 16week plan. it involves spending one week on each of the 16 chapters in my book and getting the editing finished by january. (i am ignoring the fact that there are 17 chapters in my book - because i keep forgetting about ch. 11.5. a 16week plan rolls off the tongue easier than a 17 week plan. 17 is just too long to say; like 1, 1000. 2, 1000. 17, 1000 is way longer than 1 second. (i see i haven't lost my ability to ramble randomly on here, that's good. because i'm really not sure how many readers will have made it out of this little bracket unscarred.))
i developed a cold yesterday, somewhere between the train, the cinema and food. i felt it coming on during dinner and i thought it was just an affect of warm food and cold drink, but no. i now have a roll of tissue beside me (well, actually i have a glass of multivitamin in pineapple juice beside me, but the tissue was there a minute ago, before i got the multivitamin).
ooh - the cinema... i went to see dorian grey. every time someone said dorian's name all i could think of was dorian from the night angel trilogy. it was a bit wierd. but the film was good. definitely not a film that everyone would enjoy (a little too much sex), but it was creepy and stylish and i really enjoyed the second half.
hmmm, night angel trilogy: i finished beyond the shadows over the weekend. it was fantastic. the best of the books. all the characters' parts played out well and everything came together excellently. weeks still has an editing problem, but it's not quite as bad as in previous books. i think what i like about this book (and the other 2, but this one shows it off most) is the way kylar bounces around like a ninja from an anime. it's very stylish and fun - pure escapism.
the rest of my review is on my goodreads page
i think that's all i have to say.
i have a 16week plan. it involves spending one week on each of the 16 chapters in my book and getting the editing finished by january. (i am ignoring the fact that there are 17 chapters in my book - because i keep forgetting about ch. 11.5. a 16week plan rolls off the tongue easier than a 17 week plan. 17 is just too long to say; like 1, 1000. 2, 1000. 17, 1000 is way longer than 1 second. (i see i haven't lost my ability to ramble randomly on here, that's good. because i'm really not sure how many readers will have made it out of this little bracket unscarred.))
i developed a cold yesterday, somewhere between the train, the cinema and food. i felt it coming on during dinner and i thought it was just an affect of warm food and cold drink, but no. i now have a roll of tissue beside me (well, actually i have a glass of multivitamin in pineapple juice beside me, but the tissue was there a minute ago, before i got the multivitamin).
ooh - the cinema... i went to see dorian grey. every time someone said dorian's name all i could think of was dorian from the night angel trilogy. it was a bit wierd. but the film was good. definitely not a film that everyone would enjoy (a little too much sex), but it was creepy and stylish and i really enjoyed the second half.
hmmm, night angel trilogy: i finished beyond the shadows over the weekend. it was fantastic. the best of the books. all the characters' parts played out well and everything came together excellently. weeks still has an editing problem, but it's not quite as bad as in previous books. i think what i like about this book (and the other 2, but this one shows it off most) is the way kylar bounces around like a ninja from an anime. it's very stylish and fun - pure escapism.
the rest of my review is on my goodreads page
i think that's all i have to say.
16 September 2009
back from lanzarote
ahh, warmth - how lovely you are when i don't have to expend any energy to keep myself warm. lying on a beach, or by the pool, or just walking around - all the time being heated by the warm air. bliss.
the photographs are many, the adventures great, and the sights awesome - too much for one poor journalist to put into words, so i will sum up.
monday - rain! amazing. there is nothing quite like rain in a hot country, unexpected, light, exciting. spent the day getting acclimatized to the heat, the area and the cool water of the pool and the sea. walked about 5km in the middle of the day. did not get burned, surprisingly. i wonder if the clouds helped with that.
tuesday - hung out by the pool for most of the day - wandered to the beach for a swim. badly mixed long island ice teas caused the loss of the guide book - booo! painted my toe-nails for the second time in my life - 5 different colours used :)
wednesday - spent recovering, hung out by the pool, went to the sea. went to arricife, it is very spanish and not very tourist friendly (this may have happened on thursday - we had sushi while here, yummy). didn't get up to much.
thursday - walked along the beach (it's really nice to walk along - a bit rocky, a bit sandy, quiet, little waves). didn't really get up to much.
friday - sunbathed on the beach - rented a parasol and attempted to fall asleep in its shade. not tired enough for sleeping, so played beach tennis instead. me and lordkilljoy are the worst people at beach tennis i have ever seen. it was a struggle to get 6 hits without one of us dropping the ball.
saturday - rent-a-car day. the best day of the holiday. cesar manrique is a genius - architect artist who does these amazing things with lava structures. visited about 6 or 7 (ok, 11) different places (flea market, manrique's house, restaurante lagodar, lunch stop, haria, mirador del rio, cueava del verde, white-sand-beach south of orzola, yaiza, playa blanca, random sunset beach) and caught the sunset over the atlantic. it was so amazing - the island is so small you can see nearly all of it in one day.
sunday - the only really sunny day of our holiday, spent the day packing and getting bits and pieces and messing in the pool. then had to go home :(
and that was it, really. came home and have been wearing three layers. i was wrapped up in a blanket for the whole day yesterday. heading down to cork tomorrow - the health fair is on. that should be fun.
the photographs are many, the adventures great, and the sights awesome - too much for one poor journalist to put into words, so i will sum up.
monday - rain! amazing. there is nothing quite like rain in a hot country, unexpected, light, exciting. spent the day getting acclimatized to the heat, the area and the cool water of the pool and the sea. walked about 5km in the middle of the day. did not get burned, surprisingly. i wonder if the clouds helped with that.
tuesday - hung out by the pool for most of the day - wandered to the beach for a swim. badly mixed long island ice teas caused the loss of the guide book - booo! painted my toe-nails for the second time in my life - 5 different colours used :)
wednesday - spent recovering, hung out by the pool, went to the sea. went to arricife, it is very spanish and not very tourist friendly (this may have happened on thursday - we had sushi while here, yummy). didn't get up to much.
thursday - walked along the beach (it's really nice to walk along - a bit rocky, a bit sandy, quiet, little waves). didn't really get up to much.
friday - sunbathed on the beach - rented a parasol and attempted to fall asleep in its shade. not tired enough for sleeping, so played beach tennis instead. me and lordkilljoy are the worst people at beach tennis i have ever seen. it was a struggle to get 6 hits without one of us dropping the ball.
saturday - rent-a-car day. the best day of the holiday. cesar manrique is a genius - architect artist who does these amazing things with lava structures. visited about 6 or 7 (ok, 11) different places (flea market, manrique's house, restaurante lagodar, lunch stop, haria, mirador del rio, cueava del verde, white-sand-beach south of orzola, yaiza, playa blanca, random sunset beach) and caught the sunset over the atlantic. it was so amazing - the island is so small you can see nearly all of it in one day.
sunday - the only really sunny day of our holiday, spent the day packing and getting bits and pieces and messing in the pool. then had to go home :(
and that was it, really. came home and have been wearing three layers. i was wrapped up in a blanket for the whole day yesterday. heading down to cork tomorrow - the health fair is on. that should be fun.
03 September 2009
off to the seaside (2500km away)
passport arrived yesterday, booked a holiday today, flying off on sunday (tomorrow would have worked well in that sentence, but that is just a little too rushed for me - 2 days is a good amount of time to get ready). and where are we off to? Lanzarote - Los Pocillos, near Puerto del Carmen to be exact.
right at the moment (apart from trying to update my Lj) i'm making a packing list and reading the guide book i got (i just can't help it - when you went around the world on a guide book (or well, 3 of them) you kinda get hooked on their helpful facts and must-see lists of places) and planning what we can fit in during our week, giving enough time to hang out on the beach too. and it's so small that we could rent a car and see everything away from the resort in a day.
i wonder would lordkilljoy join me in renting bikes and come for a cycle along the coast. and we could bring a lovely picnic and juices and it would amazing. even if lordkilljoy isn't up for it, i might rent a bike myself one of the days and head out to Uga (near the volcano). and visit their salmon smokery (aka, place where smoked salmon is made).
um, so i think that's all my news.
right at the moment (apart from trying to update my Lj) i'm making a packing list and reading the guide book i got (i just can't help it - when you went around the world on a guide book (or well, 3 of them) you kinda get hooked on their helpful facts and must-see lists of places) and planning what we can fit in during our week, giving enough time to hang out on the beach too. and it's so small that we could rent a car and see everything away from the resort in a day.
i wonder would lordkilljoy join me in renting bikes and come for a cycle along the coast. and we could bring a lovely picnic and juices and it would amazing. even if lordkilljoy isn't up for it, i might rent a bike myself one of the days and head out to Uga (near the volcano). and visit their salmon smokery (aka, place where smoked salmon is made).
um, so i think that's all my news.
02 September 2009
games and other topics
i finished the light campaign of sacred 2 last night. the last battle was stupidly hard - i drank about 250 heal potions, got in no spells or combos. basically, i was hitting the heal button every half a second and died whenever i tried to do anything else but hit the thing with my swords. bosses shouldn't be that overpowered. unless you are meant to be at 50th level or something before you go to kill it. i was at 40 and even with all my heals, i still died about 15 times. i'd died a total of 14 times during the whole rest of the game. so, to me, that seems like pretty bad game design.
but anyway - i did enjoy playing the game. my dark campaign character is on 7th level, and i'm considering ignoring side quests with her and just doing the main quest. might get the dedicated achievement too (completing main quest with exploring less than 20% of the map).
when i was younger, hide and seek was my favourite game. i was never any good at tag, because i'm not fast, but with hide and seek, it was all about finding a good spot and keeping quiet. a lot of the people i played with didn't understand this and peeked out or laughed or whatever. but not me. i was good at hiding. the reason i'm posting this is because i'm playing splinter cell at the moment and i absolutely love sneaky games. the thief series is one of my favourites and it's all about hanging out in the shadows, not moving and waiting for the right moment to run to the next hidey-spot or to take out the patrolling guard. i just find that the most fun ever.
the other day i was thinking about advanced rules for hide and seek. where there are two people who are "it." one is the normal "it" who tries to find everyone, but the other is kinda special. this person hides and everyone else has to try and find them. so the winner is the person who finds the "hider" without being caught. i think it would be great fun.
my new passport arrived today. yeay, me and lordkilljoy can go off on a holiday now.
but anyway - i did enjoy playing the game. my dark campaign character is on 7th level, and i'm considering ignoring side quests with her and just doing the main quest. might get the dedicated achievement too (completing main quest with exploring less than 20% of the map).
when i was younger, hide and seek was my favourite game. i was never any good at tag, because i'm not fast, but with hide and seek, it was all about finding a good spot and keeping quiet. a lot of the people i played with didn't understand this and peeked out or laughed or whatever. but not me. i was good at hiding. the reason i'm posting this is because i'm playing splinter cell at the moment and i absolutely love sneaky games. the thief series is one of my favourites and it's all about hanging out in the shadows, not moving and waiting for the right moment to run to the next hidey-spot or to take out the patrolling guard. i just find that the most fun ever.
the other day i was thinking about advanced rules for hide and seek. where there are two people who are "it." one is the normal "it" who tries to find everyone, but the other is kinda special. this person hides and everyone else has to try and find them. so the winner is the person who finds the "hider" without being caught. i think it would be great fun.
my new passport arrived today. yeay, me and lordkilljoy can go off on a holiday now.
30 August 2009
happy birthday to me :)
Hello, Livejournal.
Just had a great meal (in donatellos - a bit shabby looking, but the food is amazing). then drinks in mantra. it was 70s, 80s, 90s night tonight, and we had so much fun bopping out to queen, primitives, cure, mc hammer and loads more while drinking cocktails and having a brilliant time. it was just me and lordkilljoy but it was really, really good.
i got a new shirt - kind of blue check and i wore the shirt-vesty thing i got in singapore. i think i looked cute. lordkilljoy thinks i did too. i should post up pics - maybe tomorrow. it's a bit late right now and i'm way too tired for taking pics and resizing them for the web and posting them here.
i have other news all marked down on a post-it, but i'm writing by the light of the hallway right now and it's too dark for reading. so maybe tomorrow or the next day i'll get around to that.
until then, fare well and good night.
ohh, p.s. - they played the neverending story song - it was brilliant.
Just had a great meal (in donatellos - a bit shabby looking, but the food is amazing). then drinks in mantra. it was 70s, 80s, 90s night tonight, and we had so much fun bopping out to queen, primitives, cure, mc hammer and loads more while drinking cocktails and having a brilliant time. it was just me and lordkilljoy but it was really, really good.
i got a new shirt - kind of blue check and i wore the shirt-vesty thing i got in singapore. i think i looked cute. lordkilljoy thinks i did too. i should post up pics - maybe tomorrow. it's a bit late right now and i'm way too tired for taking pics and resizing them for the web and posting them here.
i have other news all marked down on a post-it, but i'm writing by the light of the hallway right now and it's too dark for reading. so maybe tomorrow or the next day i'll get around to that.
until then, fare well and good night.
ohh, p.s. - they played the neverending story song - it was brilliant.
21 August 2009
passport
so, despite my eruption on twitter the other day (wwaaaaaaa..... the price of getting a new passport went up since last month. i'm just not in the mood for this right now. it's so expensive.) i sent off for my new passport today. it took 2 hours of cycling from one end of the village to the other and waiting around for the garda station to open. but in that time i got to go in around the castle (i'd only ever walked around the grounds before). it's kinda cool inside - they have an informative exhibition; i never guessed how many battles this place was involved in, or how much power it held between 1200 and 1500.
so my new passport should be here the second week of september. and then me and lordkilljoy can go on a last minute holiday to the sun and hopefully the temperature will have dropped a little.
mmm, muesli bar and yoghurt with honey for lunch. yummy. i don't really have any other news.
i moved my keyboard receiver around a few weeks ago, but now if i have it on my lap i have to go far away from my desk or i start loosing letters. it's a little annoying.
so my new passport should be here the second week of september. and then me and lordkilljoy can go on a last minute holiday to the sun and hopefully the temperature will have dropped a little.
mmm, muesli bar and yoghurt with honey for lunch. yummy. i don't really have any other news.
i moved my keyboard receiver around a few weeks ago, but now if i have it on my lap i have to go far away from my desk or i start loosing letters. it's a little annoying.
20 August 2009
A declaration of season
I declare it officially autumn.
I went out for my cycle today and it was cold, the kind of cold that gets into my lungs and stays there for a few hours. i had to cut my cycle short because of it. even after a nice warm shower my lungs are still hurting from the cold.
my shower was lovely, though. i got a butter cream from lush (lemslip) and it's beautiful. it smells yummy and my skin is so soft now.
well, except that when i rub my skin there's bits of cuts scraping along it. yoshi-sandwich scraped up my hands yesterday - i was going to post up a pic, but i couldn't make it look impressive enough in photoshop. ah well.
i think that's all my news. i've had this silly quote from robin hood men in tights going through my head this morning: "no noose is good noose," said by the executioner. (you may have to say it out loud to get it).
right - bye.
edit - i got the picture looking moderately painful :)
I went out for my cycle today and it was cold, the kind of cold that gets into my lungs and stays there for a few hours. i had to cut my cycle short because of it. even after a nice warm shower my lungs are still hurting from the cold.
my shower was lovely, though. i got a butter cream from lush (lemslip) and it's beautiful. it smells yummy and my skin is so soft now.
well, except that when i rub my skin there's bits of cuts scraping along it. yoshi-sandwich scraped up my hands yesterday - i was going to post up a pic, but i couldn't make it look impressive enough in photoshop. ah well.
i think that's all my news. i've had this silly quote from robin hood men in tights going through my head this morning: "no noose is good noose," said by the executioner. (you may have to say it out loud to get it).
right - bye.
edit - i got the picture looking moderately painful :)
19 August 2009
i forgot a title
Lj tells me it's one week since i updated. it feels like way more. it feels like i havn't update in months. (i checked - it has actually been 2 weeks. that's appaling, really. what ever happened to the days when i updated every day? i guess i actually had stuff happening back then. not that nothing happens these days, but life seems to be taking place more in my imagination these days in a city called drieh.) i don't really have any interesting news.
i was in cork last weekend. bought a dress for niamh and gordon's wedding - it's blue and i like it.
barry's game was on. it was the "neutral" party - who are bumbling around causing more evil than the evil party. these guys just don't have a clue - they are like drunk people wandering around in the dark and knocking everything over. i will not be surprised if these guys are standing at the point where the world starts to rip itself apart, saying "maybe we shouldn't have pushed that big red switch." but they are a fun group. zan got to 17th level :)
i really don't have much news - i'm writing mainly, and taking care of yoshi and nymph. and cycling in the mornings - dropped down to every other day, because my legs were tired all the time.
i'm playing beyond good and evil at the moment. it's so good. i can't believe i didn't play this when it came out. i finished daggerfall ages ago, played morrowind for a bit, but it kept crashing. then played oblivion for a bit, but got distracted by beyond good and evil. was looking up bgae2 today - it looks totally like assassin's creed. all free running stuff. i wonder did ubisoft just go free running crazy after that game? but it is fun.
right, i'll go now.
i was in cork last weekend. bought a dress for niamh and gordon's wedding - it's blue and i like it.
barry's game was on. it was the "neutral" party - who are bumbling around causing more evil than the evil party. these guys just don't have a clue - they are like drunk people wandering around in the dark and knocking everything over. i will not be surprised if these guys are standing at the point where the world starts to rip itself apart, saying "maybe we shouldn't have pushed that big red switch." but they are a fun group. zan got to 17th level :)
i really don't have much news - i'm writing mainly, and taking care of yoshi and nymph. and cycling in the mornings - dropped down to every other day, because my legs were tired all the time.
i'm playing beyond good and evil at the moment. it's so good. i can't believe i didn't play this when it came out. i finished daggerfall ages ago, played morrowind for a bit, but it kept crashing. then played oblivion for a bit, but got distracted by beyond good and evil. was looking up bgae2 today - it looks totally like assassin's creed. all free running stuff. i wonder did ubisoft just go free running crazy after that game? but it is fun.
right, i'll go now.
06 August 2009
welcome back to the internet
ah golly - i hadn't checked my friends page in so long that i can't go back far enough to read them all. our new router arrived (wired only) yesterday, i got it all set up with our new wireless n router today (too 3 hours - why are these things so complicated?). but it's great - we have internet again and can watch diggnation and totally rad show. wooo.
i spent the last few days in kerry with penelope_stone. i am offically fit. i made it up the worst part of the hydro road (~300m 45degree slope) without stopping. i was kinda happy with that. we wandered around the 2 lakes, had fun bog jumping and getting blown over by the wind.
so i'm a bit distracted, i'll update later.
i spent the last few days in kerry with penelope_stone. i am offically fit. i made it up the worst part of the hydro road (~300m 45degree slope) without stopping. i was kinda happy with that. we wandered around the 2 lakes, had fun bog jumping and getting blown over by the wind.
so i'm a bit distracted, i'll update later.
23 July 2009
hello
"last update 1 week ago" hmmmmm.
well - it's not so bad. i didn't really have anything much to say. the days have passed in a sort of blur of randomness. penelope_stone went home on saturday, but while she was still around we went for walks and stuff, and to see harry potter (which was only ok. if it had been half an hour long it would have been really good, but there was just too much teenage stupidity). on friday we had a sushi party. that went quite well. some of lordkilljoy's work friends came over, and goblin_insane and claudia. it was a great night - everyone enjoyed the food and while a lot of the conversation was about people i don't know, we did discuss music a lot and that was good.
i'm playing daggerfall at the moment. my character, ajira (spy) is on 14th level and over half way through the main quest. the game is old and the graphics are bad, but i can see why i spent so much time playing that game when i was 15ish. there's so much to do and the world is so big. i'm thinking of going on an elder scrolls binge and playing morrowind again too. but morrowind takes a huge time investment and i'm not sure if i want to give it that. i might play for a day or two and see how i'm getting on. i still have sacred 2 to finish and it pops into my head every so often.
i recently rearranged all the plugs in the sitting room. we can now plug stuff out at night, instead of just leaving it on stand-by. i think lordkilljoy thinks i'm crazy and i know it only saves a tiny bit of electricity, but still.
i don't think i have any other news. we went to see moon last night. i enjoyed it.
right, i'm going to go now.
well - it's not so bad. i didn't really have anything much to say. the days have passed in a sort of blur of randomness. penelope_stone went home on saturday, but while she was still around we went for walks and stuff, and to see harry potter (which was only ok. if it had been half an hour long it would have been really good, but there was just too much teenage stupidity). on friday we had a sushi party. that went quite well. some of lordkilljoy's work friends came over, and goblin_insane and claudia. it was a great night - everyone enjoyed the food and while a lot of the conversation was about people i don't know, we did discuss music a lot and that was good.
i'm playing daggerfall at the moment. my character, ajira (spy) is on 14th level and over half way through the main quest. the game is old and the graphics are bad, but i can see why i spent so much time playing that game when i was 15ish. there's so much to do and the world is so big. i'm thinking of going on an elder scrolls binge and playing morrowind again too. but morrowind takes a huge time investment and i'm not sure if i want to give it that. i might play for a day or two and see how i'm getting on. i still have sacred 2 to finish and it pops into my head every so often.
i recently rearranged all the plugs in the sitting room. we can now plug stuff out at night, instead of just leaving it on stand-by. i think lordkilljoy thinks i'm crazy and i know it only saves a tiny bit of electricity, but still.
i don't think i have any other news. we went to see moon last night. i enjoyed it.
right, i'm going to go now.
14 July 2009
a new week
so, i brought my bike for a service. now everything is working again and i've taken to exploring the countryside looking for a good route. i think i've found it. it's 13km - starts along the canal, goes over the train tracks and the motorway in a kinda big loop home. it's lovely, though, because there are hardly any cars on the roads - just people out walking their dogs or their children. yea - might do that one again tomorrow. if it stays dry today and dry the day after i might try some trails the next day, but right at the moment it's way too wet and muddy for it.
i've rewritten the start of the fall again. i now have 2 pages that i think might actually stay as the final thing. i need to add a bit more atmosphere, but it might work. or i might look back on this in a few months and go - i was so wrong. and i'm thinking of changing the title. the fall is used for so many books and films. i want something a little more original.
lordkilljoy got threecornersquare back for me. he's hosting it on his site and he bought me the domain for my birthday :) looking forward to getting it up and running again, since google closed down it's pages thing and sites isn't nearly as good. actually - i'd say that if there was one service i thought google was doing a bad job on, it would be sites. it's just not versatile enough.
mmmm, i don't have much other news. i had a good weekend at home. barry's game was great. because we don't get to meet that often, doing single quests each session works out way better. and we still manage to make a heap of trouble for the world... adventurers! pah - good for nothing but breaking things and being ignorant. yea... this week we released a litch-prince on the world. and of course we ran away and left whatever villages are nearby to thier fate. see - adventurers!
i've rewritten the start of the fall again. i now have 2 pages that i think might actually stay as the final thing. i need to add a bit more atmosphere, but it might work. or i might look back on this in a few months and go - i was so wrong. and i'm thinking of changing the title. the fall is used for so many books and films. i want something a little more original.
lordkilljoy got threecornersquare back for me. he's hosting it on his site and he bought me the domain for my birthday :) looking forward to getting it up and running again, since google closed down it's pages thing and sites isn't nearly as good. actually - i'd say that if there was one service i thought google was doing a bad job on, it would be sites. it's just not versatile enough.
mmmm, i don't have much other news. i had a good weekend at home. barry's game was great. because we don't get to meet that often, doing single quests each session works out way better. and we still manage to make a heap of trouble for the world... adventurers! pah - good for nothing but breaking things and being ignorant. yea... this week we released a litch-prince on the world. and of course we ran away and left whatever villages are nearby to thier fate. see - adventurers!
09 July 2009
bike troubles
yea. my brain really wasn't working yesterday. i knew there was something good that i wanted to post about, but i just couldn't remember it. it was the trip to denise and eamonn. seeing everyone was brilliant. louise is a mentally lively girl of 6, denise and eamonn haven't changed much, and their house is very similar to how i remember it. it seems everyone is getting on well. we tried to make plans to meet up again while penelope_stone is around, but everyone is busy.
My bike is giving some trouble at the moment. i'm not sure if it just needs a service or if there's an actual problem with it. the chain doesn't stay on the gears - it keeps slipping down to the next one and sort of permanently clicking over, as if it wants to change, but can't. i wish i knew more about bikes and how the gear system works. so that's really annoying. yesterday the chain fell off in the middle of me cycling - with no provocation at all. i haven't gone out today, because it's a little intimidating and aggravating not being able to trust your gears. i should look stuff up online.
not much else to say... i'm still playing sacred2. my main character is almost at level 30. i got to fight a dragon last night, but he killed me. well, actually - i just wasn't fast enough to drink a potion.
i think that's all my news.
My bike is giving some trouble at the moment. i'm not sure if it just needs a service or if there's an actual problem with it. the chain doesn't stay on the gears - it keeps slipping down to the next one and sort of permanently clicking over, as if it wants to change, but can't. i wish i knew more about bikes and how the gear system works. so that's really annoying. yesterday the chain fell off in the middle of me cycling - with no provocation at all. i haven't gone out today, because it's a little intimidating and aggravating not being able to trust your gears. i should look stuff up online.
not much else to say... i'm still playing sacred2. my main character is almost at level 30. i got to fight a dragon last night, but he killed me. well, actually - i just wasn't fast enough to drink a potion.
i think that's all my news.
08 July 2009
the weekend
ahh, i have so much news that i can't remember it all. penelope_stone was over for the weekend. we played mariokart wii, rock band, went for walks and on monday i helped her carry a load of climbing gear over to dalkey (on the train).
dalkey is a lovely spot, full of expensive mansions and pretty homes. it's the kind of place where more than one house has a round turret room and all the properties have massive walls around them and the cars that you see on the street are all bmws or mercs or porches or other sporty types.
hmm, i really can't think of anything to say.
dalkey is a lovely spot, full of expensive mansions and pretty homes. it's the kind of place where more than one house has a round turret room and all the properties have massive walls around them and the cars that you see on the street are all bmws or mercs or porches or other sporty types.
hmm, i really can't think of anything to say.
03 July 2009
summer fun
i cycled 16.3kms today, mostly by accident. i left the house intending to do 12, had a nice route all planned out, but somewhere along the way i must have missed a turn-off, because i ended up in celbridge. yep - just checked google maps and that turn-off was easy to miss. but at least now i know that i can do 16kms with only slightly more difficulty than 10. well, the last km was all downhill, so maybe i should set my new target at 15. agh - i just had the worst thought: go the other way and have a 1km hill at the start of the journey. maybe i won't do that. i'll just have to keep a super-special eye out for the turnoff.
i'm still playing sacred2. my seraphim (whose name is seraphina) is at level 18. she's annoying and i want to play an evil high elf, but i don't want to invest 10+ hours leveling another character. i don't think lordkilljoy would let me. i'm hogging the tv every evening. i feel terrible. i'll just have to buy sacred2 on the PC and play it on his computer instead.
penelope_stone is coming up on saturday evening (giving me a change to get into town to see delichan and mytholder's comic launch thingy). we're going to visit denise and eamonn on sunday evening. I haven't seen them in forever. I'm kinda excited about it. and granny and martene will be there too. it's great. i'll finally get to meet louise too. it's crazy having cousins that you've never met.
ok, gotta go now - make the place presentable for penelope_stone. and hopefully get a bit of writing done too, but i doubt i'll get much done before lordkilljoy comes home.
i'm still playing sacred2. my seraphim (whose name is seraphina) is at level 18. she's annoying and i want to play an evil high elf, but i don't want to invest 10+ hours leveling another character. i don't think lordkilljoy would let me. i'm hogging the tv every evening. i feel terrible. i'll just have to buy sacred2 on the PC and play it on his computer instead.
penelope_stone is coming up on saturday evening (giving me a change to get into town to see delichan and mytholder's comic launch thingy). we're going to visit denise and eamonn on sunday evening. I haven't seen them in forever. I'm kinda excited about it. and granny and martene will be there too. it's great. i'll finally get to meet louise too. it's crazy having cousins that you've never met.
ok, gotta go now - make the place presentable for penelope_stone. and hopefully get a bit of writing done too, but i doubt i'll get much done before lordkilljoy comes home.
30 June 2009
Sacred 2
rob, mulkabu and lordkilljoy went to ac/dc on sunday night. on that same night, i played 6.5 hours of sacred2. that game has the worst premise ever, but it's totally addictive. how is this? why does it take over you brain and run riot with suggestions of "just one more quest!" and "just get to the next village!" It makes no sense. The story is paper thin and the world is held together with cobwebs, yet I am totally addicted. hmmmm.
I got a magnetic aquarium glass cleaner for Nymph yesterday and cleaned away all the algae this morning. Yeay for clean glass. now i need to water-vacuum the gravel, because a lot of the algae fell off the glass onto the gravel.
Ok, that's all i wanted to say really.
I got a magnetic aquarium glass cleaner for Nymph yesterday and cleaned away all the algae this morning. Yeay for clean glass. now i need to water-vacuum the gravel, because a lot of the algae fell off the glass onto the gravel.
Ok, that's all i wanted to say really.
25 June 2009
lighthouses and sandy shores
i left the house yesterday with the intention of getting sand everywhere and that's exactly what i did :)
well, maybe it didn't go everywhere, but i did my best to get it all over the blanket and in my bag, stuck to my skin (sun cream is sticky and sand sticks to it) and in the fold ups on my jeans. and how did i carry out my plan? i went to howth for the afternoon.
it's a nice enough place, touristy, and reminded me a lot of kinsale. i walked along the harbour, out to the lighthouse and back, then out the other side of the village looking for a way down onto the beach. it's like secret beach entrance... took me ages to find it.
the beach itself was kind of disappointing. small, no waves, too many cigarette butts... but it was warm and the sand was soft and the blue sky was perfect. i ate lunch, dibbled my feet in the sea (it was freezing), read a bit of a comic and then went home. i need to find a better beach, i think.
i don't really have a whole lot of other news. nymph's tank has an algae infestation. this is good because it means the water quality is high, but bad because the tank is going green.
i finished drakes fortune the other day (monday, i think). i enjoyed it. kinda wanted to play more after i had finished it. i'm almost to the end of assassin's creed as well. might finish that tonight if lordkilljoy doesn't have any plans.
right, going to go now.
well, maybe it didn't go everywhere, but i did my best to get it all over the blanket and in my bag, stuck to my skin (sun cream is sticky and sand sticks to it) and in the fold ups on my jeans. and how did i carry out my plan? i went to howth for the afternoon.
it's a nice enough place, touristy, and reminded me a lot of kinsale. i walked along the harbour, out to the lighthouse and back, then out the other side of the village looking for a way down onto the beach. it's like secret beach entrance... took me ages to find it.
the beach itself was kind of disappointing. small, no waves, too many cigarette butts... but it was warm and the sand was soft and the blue sky was perfect. i ate lunch, dibbled my feet in the sea (it was freezing), read a bit of a comic and then went home. i need to find a better beach, i think.
i don't really have a whole lot of other news. nymph's tank has an algae infestation. this is good because it means the water quality is high, but bad because the tank is going green.
i finished drakes fortune the other day (monday, i think). i enjoyed it. kinda wanted to play more after i had finished it. i'm almost to the end of assassin's creed as well. might finish that tonight if lordkilljoy doesn't have any plans.
right, going to go now.
22 June 2009
news news
new art up on dA
Colour CyberByMutantmushroom by ~zarkia on deviantART
happy summer solstice. today is roasting - it's as if we've offically hit summer, the air has been heated by the sun heading up to this point and now we get to bask in the heat. yea... except that it's a very muggy kind of heat. a thunderstorm would be fun right about now. don't think the clouds are ominous enough, though.
i don't really have a lot of news. went in around the world street performance on saturday - just for a bit. and made sushi on saturday night. that turned out well. hmmm, i might have sushi for lunch. yummy.
i'm playing drakes fortune at the moment - well i started it on friday and am almost finished. it's kinda fun, but there are too many gun fights for my liking. (i have drastically improved at aiming with a console controller since last summer, though.) but i was at a bit last night where it was really dark and all i could see was a little flashlight ring segment of the screen and there were baddies and i was so scared. i even screamed a little at one bit. hhaaaaaaa, games shouldn't be allowed to have dark segments. i get so frightened. i could never play a game like dead space or alone in the dark (if that's the one where you can only see the bad guys through your camera) that just seems like the most frightening thing ever.
yea... not much else to say.
Colour CyberByMutantmushroom by ~zarkia on deviantART
happy summer solstice. today is roasting - it's as if we've offically hit summer, the air has been heated by the sun heading up to this point and now we get to bask in the heat. yea... except that it's a very muggy kind of heat. a thunderstorm would be fun right about now. don't think the clouds are ominous enough, though.
i don't really have a lot of news. went in around the world street performance on saturday - just for a bit. and made sushi on saturday night. that turned out well. hmmm, i might have sushi for lunch. yummy.
i'm playing drakes fortune at the moment - well i started it on friday and am almost finished. it's kinda fun, but there are too many gun fights for my liking. (i have drastically improved at aiming with a console controller since last summer, though.) but i was at a bit last night where it was really dark and all i could see was a little flashlight ring segment of the screen and there were baddies and i was so scared. i even screamed a little at one bit. hhaaaaaaa, games shouldn't be allowed to have dark segments. i get so frightened. i could never play a game like dead space or alone in the dark (if that's the one where you can only see the bad guys through your camera) that just seems like the most frightening thing ever.
yea... not much else to say.
16 June 2009
speed speed speed
today, i hit 40km/h on my bike. it was cool :) that's almost the speed limit - i'll bet with a good wind behind me i could totally make 50. i had a good cycle today, though maybe i pushed myself a bit hard. i was pretty wrecked when i got home - all buzzy eared. i don't think this is such a good thing, but i recovered quickly. so according to my bike computer today, i did 7.4kms in 24 minutes at an average of 19km/h. my normal average is about 17 (or 14 if i'm just cycling to the village).
anyway - the 40km/h thing - i was going down the only hill in my journey (actually there is another hill, but it's the downslope of a bridge and isn't long enough for me to get up much speed and the road slopes up again straight after), it's like this pathetic hill, though... more of a slope, really. i mean, gravity was helping, but only a little.
in other news, i had a good weekend in cork. the street performance festival was good fun and the weather held up for it. it's on in dublin this weekend, and i might go along again. there were a few acts that i didn't get to see in cork that seemed good.
the bamboo out on the balcony has two new shoots coming up... at least i hope it is bamboo shoots, it could be some sort of random weed, because it is outside, but these stalks look serious, not like weeds which are weedy (which is why we call weedy things weedy). yea...
we watched speed racer last night. i really quite enjoyed it. just so long as you didn't question anything it was a fun movie, i liked the effects and the colours and the characters.
ooh - over the weekend i watched a film called push. i'd been iffy about it, not having heard anything about it, but i enjoyed it too. i liked the setting and the character powers. i'd classify it as an urban sci-fi - sorta gritty camerawork mixed with elements that you won't find in a normal action flick, but which arn't like aliens and spaceships and stuff. or maybe urban fantasy would be more like it... because there was really nothing to make it science-y, but a bit to make it fantasy-ish.
yea, i think that's all. got to get back to writing now.
anyway - the 40km/h thing - i was going down the only hill in my journey (actually there is another hill, but it's the downslope of a bridge and isn't long enough for me to get up much speed and the road slopes up again straight after), it's like this pathetic hill, though... more of a slope, really. i mean, gravity was helping, but only a little.
in other news, i had a good weekend in cork. the street performance festival was good fun and the weather held up for it. it's on in dublin this weekend, and i might go along again. there were a few acts that i didn't get to see in cork that seemed good.
the bamboo out on the balcony has two new shoots coming up... at least i hope it is bamboo shoots, it could be some sort of random weed, because it is outside, but these stalks look serious, not like weeds which are weedy (which is why we call weedy things weedy). yea...
we watched speed racer last night. i really quite enjoyed it. just so long as you didn't question anything it was a fun movie, i liked the effects and the colours and the characters.
ooh - over the weekend i watched a film called push. i'd been iffy about it, not having heard anything about it, but i enjoyed it too. i liked the setting and the character powers. i'd classify it as an urban sci-fi - sorta gritty camerawork mixed with elements that you won't find in a normal action flick, but which arn't like aliens and spaceships and stuff. or maybe urban fantasy would be more like it... because there was really nothing to make it science-y, but a bit to make it fantasy-ish.
yea, i think that's all. got to get back to writing now.
10 June 2009
there is a slim chance that getting online twice a day might help with Lj posting
I did a 10k cycle today. well, my bikecomputer tells me i did 11k, google maps tells me i did 11.6. either way, that's not too bad. it was a lovely cycle too - took 35 minutes. if i could just do that every morning, i think i would solve all my angst problems. because i have loads of energy today... or it could just be hormones.
i made an interesting lunch today. couscous with tuna, but the couscous was taking all the flavour out of the tuna (i think that's all couscous does - remove flavour) so i added some hot sauce and it was yummy. hot sauce (the stuff that goes on chicken wings) goes really well with fish.
i don't really have much else to say. there's a street performer's competition on in cork this weekend, so i think i'll head down for that.
ooh - in all the fun with london, i totally forgot to say that i'm going to muse in november. kinda excited about that. i saw them at glastonbury 05 and they were brilliant.
ok, back to writing now.
i made an interesting lunch today. couscous with tuna, but the couscous was taking all the flavour out of the tuna (i think that's all couscous does - remove flavour) so i added some hot sauce and it was yummy. hot sauce (the stuff that goes on chicken wings) goes really well with fish.
i don't really have much else to say. there's a street performer's competition on in cork this weekend, so i think i'll head down for that.
ooh - in all the fun with london, i totally forgot to say that i'm going to muse in november. kinda excited about that. i saw them at glastonbury 05 and they were brilliant.
ok, back to writing now.
09 June 2009
bonsai
i went a little mental yesterday and decided that the big bonsai (which should be called daibonsai) needed to be cut back, only i think i went a little extravagant with it. all i can say is yeay for the way things grow back, not like when you cut your teddies' hair when you were smaller.
i also cut back the mini shrubs we have growing in the kitchen - i considered going bonsai on one of them, but i resisted.
i don't have a whole lot of other news... bought some ice tea in lidl today - it's yummy.
right so, bye.
i also cut back the mini shrubs we have growing in the kitchen - i considered going bonsai on one of them, but i resisted.
i don't have a whole lot of other news... bought some ice tea in lidl today - it's yummy.
right so, bye.
London
For most of my life that I can remember, I've wanted to go to London, because it's the closest famous city to me and you'd think it wouldn't take that much to go visit it. But there was never anyone who wanted to go with me and I wasn't going to go on my own.
So I finally got to go to London. lordkilljoy and I went over to see Gordon and Niamh for the weekend. We saw loads: Tate Modern, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (which should be called the horse parade), Camden, the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral and random bits of the city walking to and from tube stations. I loved all of it. I'm definitely going back some day, maybe when I have more money. There were some amazing things in Camden, but I curtailed myself to two tops.
It has great hanging out with Niamh and Gordon. We had some great meals and went out on Saturday with friends of theirs: good fun even though I was wrecked.
And on the flight back I spotted the apartment - that was mad.
In other news:
Nymph ate half a cricket today. He hasn't really been eating well since Newt died, and it had been a while since he'd eaten a decent amount. So I was delighted when he gobbled down the bit of cricket that I had chopped up for him. See, my problem is that I have no idea how big or small his stomach is and how much he's meant to eat.
In a strange sort of contrast, Yoshi refused to eat anything today. That's a first in a long time. But I'm not worried about him. He ate a pinky (new born mouse) on Friday and I imagine that he just wasn't hungry.
Our internet is down at the moment... so I'm writing this on monday, but not really sure when I'll get to post it.
So I finally got to go to London. lordkilljoy and I went over to see Gordon and Niamh for the weekend. We saw loads: Tate Modern, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (which should be called the horse parade), Camden, the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral and random bits of the city walking to and from tube stations. I loved all of it. I'm definitely going back some day, maybe when I have more money. There were some amazing things in Camden, but I curtailed myself to two tops.
It has great hanging out with Niamh and Gordon. We had some great meals and went out on Saturday with friends of theirs: good fun even though I was wrecked.
And on the flight back I spotted the apartment - that was mad.
In other news:
Nymph ate half a cricket today. He hasn't really been eating well since Newt died, and it had been a while since he'd eaten a decent amount. So I was delighted when he gobbled down the bit of cricket that I had chopped up for him. See, my problem is that I have no idea how big or small his stomach is and how much he's meant to eat.
In a strange sort of contrast, Yoshi refused to eat anything today. That's a first in a long time. But I'm not worried about him. He ate a pinky (new born mouse) on Friday and I imagine that he just wasn't hungry.
Our internet is down at the moment... so I'm writing this on monday, but not really sure when I'll get to post it.
27 May 2009
one step forwards two steps back
this editing a novel malarkey is so hard. i keep on making up new bits to throw in, and the next day cut them out again as i realize they are doing nothing but clogging up the story. so i get two or three pages up and then cut back one or two pages. it means i'm getting an average of one page a day. it's a killer slow pace. i have a text file called cuts and it is slowly becoming bigger and bigger.
anyway...
i had a really wierd dream last night. penelope_stone was showing me around intel (where she worked as a scientist) and i was really excited to see what this mystery place looked like on the inside. it had a very 70s vibe - lots of wood and plastic and textures and people with afros and wearing flares and old-style suits. it was packed with people, like an airport or a shopping centre, all wandering through the corridors and going up and down on the escalators and chatting and laughing and everyone seemed to be in the best mood.
the first room she showed me was a telecommunications / support helpdesk kind of place. everyone wore little telephone headsets and stood around white tables (made of plastic like a macbook) shouting into the mics of their headsets. the phones were little neon pink router-like thinks in the centre of the tables. we rushed through, because there was a lot of stamping and arm waving going on and everyone gave us mean, angry looks as we passed through.
then we went up an escalator, but before we got to the top the roof caved in, or it had caved in already and we had to try to wriggle around the debris. there were some guys there and they were telling me something (can't remember what - something about the building or my day or the damage or something).
anyway - the fabs were broken up into houses and each house was just that - a pleasant home-style building with four people working in it. penelope_stone's house was kinda medieval fashioned, with the upper floor build out over the lower. the inside was open, with comfortable furniture, but a total mess. the other three people she lived with seemed to ignore it, but it bothered her.
she quickly showed me a bit of her work - some sort of scientific research. but i was distracted by the planes that were flying over the main building, which i could see out the window (the window took up on whole wall of the house). they were so loud and i was afraid that they were going to crash into the building.
i can't really remember much else. i think there was another bit where i was talking to some people, but i don't really remember.
yea. not much else news. lordkilljoy was sick for the last few days. i hope he's feeling better soon.
anyway...
i had a really wierd dream last night. penelope_stone was showing me around intel (where she worked as a scientist) and i was really excited to see what this mystery place looked like on the inside. it had a very 70s vibe - lots of wood and plastic and textures and people with afros and wearing flares and old-style suits. it was packed with people, like an airport or a shopping centre, all wandering through the corridors and going up and down on the escalators and chatting and laughing and everyone seemed to be in the best mood.
the first room she showed me was a telecommunications / support helpdesk kind of place. everyone wore little telephone headsets and stood around white tables (made of plastic like a macbook) shouting into the mics of their headsets. the phones were little neon pink router-like thinks in the centre of the tables. we rushed through, because there was a lot of stamping and arm waving going on and everyone gave us mean, angry looks as we passed through.
then we went up an escalator, but before we got to the top the roof caved in, or it had caved in already and we had to try to wriggle around the debris. there were some guys there and they were telling me something (can't remember what - something about the building or my day or the damage or something).
anyway - the fabs were broken up into houses and each house was just that - a pleasant home-style building with four people working in it. penelope_stone's house was kinda medieval fashioned, with the upper floor build out over the lower. the inside was open, with comfortable furniture, but a total mess. the other three people she lived with seemed to ignore it, but it bothered her.
she quickly showed me a bit of her work - some sort of scientific research. but i was distracted by the planes that were flying over the main building, which i could see out the window (the window took up on whole wall of the house). they were so loud and i was afraid that they were going to crash into the building.
i can't really remember much else. i think there was another bit where i was talking to some people, but i don't really remember.
yea. not much else news. lordkilljoy was sick for the last few days. i hope he's feeling better soon.
24 May 2009
i think it was sunny all over the world today
it was a beautiful day today - blue skies, no clouds, a little windy, warm, summery. i wore flip-flops for the first time this summer and went out without bringing a jumper with me.
lordkilljoy had the good idea to go the the japanese gardens and national stud in kildare today, in celebration of the wonderful weather. we wandered through the gardens, went on a guided tour of the stud, saw some horses and took some pictures. i will upload them at some later stage; i'm using the mac to post and want to use my own pc to make some crops, trims and adjustments.
so, yea... we had fun. last weekend was fun too - i totally forgot to mention about it. delichan and mytholder got engaged, so we all went out to the franciscan well to wish them well and celebrate. got to see loads of people and had a great night. then saturday we went to a barbecue in kanturk. the house did not burn down and the food was yummy, so it was a big plus. and to cap off the evening we watched the eurovision. yea....
not much else news. i'm kinda stuck in psychonauts. lordkilljoy is playing wolverine at the moment.
i think that's all, really.
lordkilljoy had the good idea to go the the japanese gardens and national stud in kildare today, in celebration of the wonderful weather. we wandered through the gardens, went on a guided tour of the stud, saw some horses and took some pictures. i will upload them at some later stage; i'm using the mac to post and want to use my own pc to make some crops, trims and adjustments.
so, yea... we had fun. last weekend was fun too - i totally forgot to mention about it. delichan and mytholder got engaged, so we all went out to the franciscan well to wish them well and celebrate. got to see loads of people and had a great night. then saturday we went to a barbecue in kanturk. the house did not burn down and the food was yummy, so it was a big plus. and to cap off the evening we watched the eurovision. yea....
not much else news. i'm kinda stuck in psychonauts. lordkilljoy is playing wolverine at the moment.
i think that's all, really.
20 May 2009
again with the dreams
i guess it must be this time of year again. my dreams have become crazy and vivid and scattered.
last night my dream involved (possibly) the end of the world. there are just a few scenes that have come back to me - the first is:
i was in a car going past my secondary school, but the whole place had been knocked down and there were bulldozers and diggers on the rubble. loads of cars were parked along the road by the school and i wondered why they were there. someone beside me told me it was the last swimming class in the pool around the back. as i watched more cars pulled up and children got out and ran around the piles of rubble to vanish down the hill behind the school.
the second bit:
i was on a deck (of a ship? or maybe a train) and i needed help with something - something bloody (which i can't quite hold onto in my mind) but the guy i was talking to (the captain?) wanted to sell me poi. they looked like a good set and i was interested. so i took them out of the pack and unfurled them. they were massive wing poi, made of heavy cotton and too bulky to spin properly, but they did look impressive so i bought them.
the third bit:
i was with my aunt martene, in her room in her old house (only in was in the place her bathroom is) and we were having some sort of girly discussion. i'm not sure if i could move or not - it's very vague, but i have this idea that something exceptionally violent happened and there was lots of blood.
i know there is one image in my head of my arm split open and a huge gouge taken out of it and blood pouring everywhere. and my leg was the same and i could hardly walk.
and there was some other bit entirely set in a forest with an overlord and i was with a group of slaves. the complex was under attack or something and we were hiding out.
there were more bits, but they flit away when i try to focus on them. there was definitely something involving getting away from the end of the world on a train...
hmmm. oh well.
last night my dream involved (possibly) the end of the world. there are just a few scenes that have come back to me - the first is:
i was in a car going past my secondary school, but the whole place had been knocked down and there were bulldozers and diggers on the rubble. loads of cars were parked along the road by the school and i wondered why they were there. someone beside me told me it was the last swimming class in the pool around the back. as i watched more cars pulled up and children got out and ran around the piles of rubble to vanish down the hill behind the school.
the second bit:
i was on a deck (of a ship? or maybe a train) and i needed help with something - something bloody (which i can't quite hold onto in my mind) but the guy i was talking to (the captain?) wanted to sell me poi. they looked like a good set and i was interested. so i took them out of the pack and unfurled them. they were massive wing poi, made of heavy cotton and too bulky to spin properly, but they did look impressive so i bought them.
the third bit:
i was with my aunt martene, in her room in her old house (only in was in the place her bathroom is) and we were having some sort of girly discussion. i'm not sure if i could move or not - it's very vague, but i have this idea that something exceptionally violent happened and there was lots of blood.
i know there is one image in my head of my arm split open and a huge gouge taken out of it and blood pouring everywhere. and my leg was the same and i could hardly walk.
and there was some other bit entirely set in a forest with an overlord and i was with a group of slaves. the complex was under attack or something and we were hiding out.
there were more bits, but they flit away when i try to focus on them. there was definitely something involving getting away from the end of the world on a train...
hmmm. oh well.
13 May 2009
a soup of words
yesterday i made soup. it took me ages, way longer than it should have. it was as if time was sucked into a wierd soup-making vortex. but anyway. the soup i made was carrot and coriander (really good - a lot like the soup you get in brackens on paul street). but the thing that gets to me is that the coriander reminds me of ginger bread for some wierd reason, so it's confusing me eating it because it smells like ginger bread, but tastes and looks and feels like soup. so i'm not sure if i'll make this one again. and the recipe said it made 4-6 servings, but i only got 2 and a bit bowls out of it. yes - my bowl holds a pint, but they should know that real soup fans have bowls this big.
i'm not getting much writing done today. but i'm happy with the new beginning of the fall. that had always been my problem, when i wrote it for nanowrimo three years ago, i spent the first few days just getting into the flow, so the first 5,000 words or so were complete rubbish. but now i have a whole new starting, which actually opens the story well - sets the tone and holds elements of the main conflict. i've also dumbed down the two main races a bit too. and gotten rid of a tonne of the religious overtones. the only thing really remaining of that is the names of the characters.
i don't really have a whole lot of news. the princess bride (on monday night) was brilliant. i smiled for the whole film. and for the last few days i've been quoting it around the place.
god, i'm really not in a writing mood at all. it's taken me 20 minutes to get this far in my post.
i'll just go now.
i'm not getting much writing done today. but i'm happy with the new beginning of the fall. that had always been my problem, when i wrote it for nanowrimo three years ago, i spent the first few days just getting into the flow, so the first 5,000 words or so were complete rubbish. but now i have a whole new starting, which actually opens the story well - sets the tone and holds elements of the main conflict. i've also dumbed down the two main races a bit too. and gotten rid of a tonne of the religious overtones. the only thing really remaining of that is the names of the characters.
i don't really have a whole lot of news. the princess bride (on monday night) was brilliant. i smiled for the whole film. and for the last few days i've been quoting it around the place.
god, i'm really not in a writing mood at all. it's taken me 20 minutes to get this far in my post.
i'll just go now.
11 May 2009
today is exciting
yoshi ate 3 locusts yesterday. yeay, he's such a happy-eating little dragon-pou! he also ate 5 crickets along with them. oh, and he shed another bit of skin. there had been a bit on his back that hadn't come off and it's coming off now.
ok - i probably shouldn't update right now, because lordkilljoy just sent me a link to some prince of persia movie first-look stuff and i am totally excited about it. i'm going to have to make some new PoP icons. the ones i have are so old.
anyway... went to see star trek again last night. we got to go to the showing in the massive-large screen (aka screen 17) and it was fantastic. going to the princess bride tonight. i'm so excited. woo - everything is exciting. even the fact that i potted some coriander in the kitchen sink (ok - i potted it in a pot, but used the sink to catch all the soil that fell out) and and to buy a plunger because the soil blocked the sink up.
apart from that, i havn't much news. not doing any writing today, because the apartment is a big mess and needs cleaning and other such jobs - like potting the coriander (who i christened mr. coriander, after the character in the neverending story) - need doing.
nymph's eating is sporadic these days. i think i might put him down to feeding every 3 days, instead of every 2. yoshi begins to look a little starved after 2, but i think nypmh is fully grown and doesn't need as much food.
i bought a Japanese-learning thing in aldi the other day and it's really good.
and i finished ratchet and clank: quest for booty yesterday. that game was way too hard. there were some bits that took me days to pass. i hate games like that, because i love adventure games for their flow and forgiving ways. so when i get stuck because some stupid bad guy keeps knocking me off a ledge at the exact same spot (no matter what i do) it makes me really annoyed. the game was fun, just annoying.
i'm back playing psychonauts. it's a fun game. i started from the start again, so that i could get a handle on the controls, and remember the story.
ok - i probably shouldn't update right now, because lordkilljoy just sent me a link to some prince of persia movie first-look stuff and i am totally excited about it. i'm going to have to make some new PoP icons. the ones i have are so old.
anyway... went to see star trek again last night. we got to go to the showing in the massive-large screen (aka screen 17) and it was fantastic. going to the princess bride tonight. i'm so excited. woo - everything is exciting. even the fact that i potted some coriander in the kitchen sink (ok - i potted it in a pot, but used the sink to catch all the soil that fell out) and and to buy a plunger because the soil blocked the sink up.
apart from that, i havn't much news. not doing any writing today, because the apartment is a big mess and needs cleaning and other such jobs - like potting the coriander (who i christened mr. coriander, after the character in the neverending story) - need doing.
nymph's eating is sporadic these days. i think i might put him down to feeding every 3 days, instead of every 2. yoshi begins to look a little starved after 2, but i think nypmh is fully grown and doesn't need as much food.
i bought a Japanese-learning thing in aldi the other day and it's really good.
and i finished ratchet and clank: quest for booty yesterday. that game was way too hard. there were some bits that took me days to pass. i hate games like that, because i love adventure games for their flow and forgiving ways. so when i get stuck because some stupid bad guy keeps knocking me off a ledge at the exact same spot (no matter what i do) it makes me really annoyed. the game was fun, just annoying.
i'm back playing psychonauts. it's a fun game. i started from the start again, so that i could get a handle on the controls, and remember the story.
09 May 2009
soup and free stuff
i had a really good day today. the sun is shining, it's fresh, a lovely day to be outside and doing things, or even inside and doing things - just doing things, really. so, we brought a bunch of stuff for recycling and then bought bunch of new stuff to replace it O_o. heh - no, it wasn't that bad. lordkilljoy convinced me to go make some soup, so we got a hand-blender thing. and then, of course, i had to get a recipe book on making soup, because i'm timid when it comes to making up food stuff.
so we went to eason to look for one, which i found, but it had no price. the girl at the counter couldn't find a price and after checking with her manager gave it to me for free - much to my surprise and delight. while still in the shopping centre, i went to get a bagel and the dude made it wrong, had to re-do it and gave me the one he'd gotten wrong for free! madness. lordkilljoy's comment was that i might end up winning a car or something. i didn't.
the rest of the day was normal enough - got ingredients for carrot and coriander soup, and locusts for yoshi. we're going to try getting him to eat them again. we're being optimistic, but he's eating really well at the moment and i think he may eat them with just a little encouragement.
ahhh - my foot has fallen asleep and now has pins and needles. euwww - it feels icky.
so we went to eason to look for one, which i found, but it had no price. the girl at the counter couldn't find a price and after checking with her manager gave it to me for free - much to my surprise and delight. while still in the shopping centre, i went to get a bagel and the dude made it wrong, had to re-do it and gave me the one he'd gotten wrong for free! madness. lordkilljoy's comment was that i might end up winning a car or something. i didn't.
the rest of the day was normal enough - got ingredients for carrot and coriander soup, and locusts for yoshi. we're going to try getting him to eat them again. we're being optimistic, but he's eating really well at the moment and i think he may eat them with just a little encouragement.
ahhh - my foot has fallen asleep and now has pins and needles. euwww - it feels icky.
08 May 2009
almost a month's worth of news
lordkilljoy and i went to see star trek last night. i loved it - everything about it made me want to watch it again. it was funny, exciting, adventuresome, i liked all the characters and seeing how they all ended up together.
i want to go back and see it again this weekend; we'll see how things work out.
i finally started the rewrite of the fall. lots of things have been changed, mostly from the first half, because i was never really happy with it.
it's been almost a month since i made a proper post, gosh - that's terrible. i guess script frenzy just kept me from updating and then i was down in cork and things just got ahead of me. so this will probably be lots of short points.
in pet news, newt died. he hadn't been eating and then we went away for the weekend and he was dead when we got back. even if we'd been around, i don't think he would have survived. he just seemed to go off his food and that was that.
ooh - we got a surround sound system in the apartment. it is so cool. the sound out of it is so clear and loud and rumbly. playing games on it is fantastic. and it makes finding gargoyles in fable2 way easier.
yea, we went to see wolverine too. it wasn't nearly as good as star trek. i seemed to lack something, or the story just wasn't grand enough, or heroic enough or something. i did like gambit, though. he seemed cool.
it was lordkilljoy's birthday last week and we went for korean barbecue. the way that works is there there's a little firepot at the centre of your table and you cook the food they bring you. it was delicious. then we went for after-dinner drinks and dancing at the village. that club is way trendier than i had expected. but i still had a really good night. i got to see lordkilljoy and goblin_insane get their boogie on. it was funny to see.
so... what other news do i have? yoshi is eating voraciously these days. it's good to see. nymph isn't eating so well, but he's eating a little. i think he's turning into a nocturnal newt. he just seems to sleep until 4 or 5 in the afternoon.
i don't think i have anything else to say...
i want to go back and see it again this weekend; we'll see how things work out.
i finally started the rewrite of the fall. lots of things have been changed, mostly from the first half, because i was never really happy with it.
it's been almost a month since i made a proper post, gosh - that's terrible. i guess script frenzy just kept me from updating and then i was down in cork and things just got ahead of me. so this will probably be lots of short points.
in pet news, newt died. he hadn't been eating and then we went away for the weekend and he was dead when we got back. even if we'd been around, i don't think he would have survived. he just seemed to go off his food and that was that.
ooh - we got a surround sound system in the apartment. it is so cool. the sound out of it is so clear and loud and rumbly. playing games on it is fantastic. and it makes finding gargoyles in fable2 way easier.
yea, we went to see wolverine too. it wasn't nearly as good as star trek. i seemed to lack something, or the story just wasn't grand enough, or heroic enough or something. i did like gambit, though. he seemed cool.
it was lordkilljoy's birthday last week and we went for korean barbecue. the way that works is there there's a little firepot at the centre of your table and you cook the food they bring you. it was delicious. then we went for after-dinner drinks and dancing at the village. that club is way trendier than i had expected. but i still had a really good night. i got to see lordkilljoy and goblin_insane get their boogie on. it was funny to see.
so... what other news do i have? yoshi is eating voraciously these days. it's good to see. nymph isn't eating so well, but he's eating a little. i think he's turning into a nocturnal newt. he just seems to sleep until 4 or 5 in the afternoon.
i don't think i have anything else to say...
30 April 2009
I won!!!
I won script frenzy! Wooo!! I'm so glad I did it this year. I struggled with my story from page 15 to page 85, telling myself every day, "I'm giving up today - this story is going nowhere." But it was actually going somewhere and I'm quite happy with what I have now.
I found that way harder than Nano. But now I can brag that I've gone from knowing nothing about scriptwriting to having a 100 page screenplay to call my own :)
Actually, I blitzed from page 85 to 100 today. Well, truth be told, my script ended on page 99. But the story was finished and I'm sure it will pad out a little with editing. Shhhh. It's 21,308 words long, so it's actually got more words than most 100 pages scripts (20,000).
I'm happy. Now I get to deal with all the little tasks I've been ignoring, like setting up the watering system in Yoshi's tank, playing Fable 2, making penelope_stone a playlist.
But first, I'm off to the shop.
I found that way harder than Nano. But now I can brag that I've gone from knowing nothing about scriptwriting to having a 100 page screenplay to call my own :)
Actually, I blitzed from page 85 to 100 today. Well, truth be told, my script ended on page 99. But the story was finished and I'm sure it will pad out a little with editing. Shhhh. It's 21,308 words long, so it's actually got more words than most 100 pages scripts (20,000).
I'm happy. Now I get to deal with all the little tasks I've been ignoring, like setting up the watering system in Yoshi's tank, playing Fable 2, making penelope_stone a playlist.
But first, I'm off to the shop.
16 April 2009
pets
more newt news... today, newt ate some tubifex worms straight from my hands and nymph ate a bit of a cricket. i don't really want nymph to get into the habit of eating crickets, because they are yoshi's food. it was so cute when newt ate from my fingers, though - and he seemed really hungry too. he was in the floating log, with his head poking out, so i just gave him the food. he retreated to eat it and them poked his head out for more. he did that twice more, and after the fourth bit of food, i decided he'd had enough. he has a cute little belly now :)
i don't really have a lot of other news. i was playing fable 2 last night and got to crucible. it's so much fun. i didn't think it would be this much fun, but having to keep the crowd entertained gives it a bit of variety.
i can think of nothing else to say.
i don't really have a lot of other news. i was playing fable 2 last night and got to crucible. it's so much fun. i didn't think it would be this much fun, but having to keep the crowd entertained gives it a bit of variety.
i can think of nothing else to say.
15 April 2009
A silly sort of post
I've been listening to Koyaanisqatsi by Philip Glass a lot recently. I got it off davidnarby when I was down last weekend. I kinda like Glass anyway; liked what I've heard of him before - Passages with Ravi Shankar and a few random mixes. And now I've just noticed that Koyaanisqatsi is from 1982, and so am I. I have this funny thing that there's a connection between me and lots of things from that year. Because I like lots of things from that year.
lordkilljoy's gone off to Raw for the evening and I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do with myself. Generally I spend my days doing stuff and looking forward to when he comes home, but now he's been and gone and I don't quite know what to do in this situation. I guess it doesn't help that I'm feeling just the slightest bit apathetic at the moment. I have 10 pages of script that I need to get written, but I woosed out after 3 pages today. And the exciting climactic end to act 1 just finished and the start of act 2 is less than dramatic. Sometimes I wonder how I'm not completely emo. My writing is so angst-filled and immature.
I'm rolling my eyes at myself.
I also don't know what to get for dinner. I'm feeling lazy and uninspired. And we have nothing that you can just pour boiling water over or quickly heat up in a pan. And it's way too miserable to even think of going to the shop for something. Actually - I think it's stopped raining, but still.
I have a cat at the top of my Firefox. Hee, that sentence seems wierd when you take it out of internet context. Anyway - it's all thanks to Personas for Firefox from Mozilla labs.
I think I'll do a stir-fry for dinner.
Right, since I've decided at least that much, I'll go now.
p.s. I've been waiting for a good occasion to use this usericon for ages. I'm not confused, but I'm at a loss, so it's adequate.
ooh - gosh - how could I forget. I'm going to see The Princess Bride in the cinema on the 11th of May. It's going to be the coolest thing ever. I've been 100% in love with this film my whole life. I know the whole thing off my heart I've seen it so many times. It's going to be fantastic.
p.p.s i don't think i've ever used this mood before.
lordkilljoy's gone off to Raw for the evening and I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do with myself. Generally I spend my days doing stuff and looking forward to when he comes home, but now he's been and gone and I don't quite know what to do in this situation. I guess it doesn't help that I'm feeling just the slightest bit apathetic at the moment. I have 10 pages of script that I need to get written, but I woosed out after 3 pages today. And the exciting climactic end to act 1 just finished and the start of act 2 is less than dramatic. Sometimes I wonder how I'm not completely emo. My writing is so angst-filled and immature.
I'm rolling my eyes at myself.
I also don't know what to get for dinner. I'm feeling lazy and uninspired. And we have nothing that you can just pour boiling water over or quickly heat up in a pan. And it's way too miserable to even think of going to the shop for something. Actually - I think it's stopped raining, but still.
I have a cat at the top of my Firefox. Hee, that sentence seems wierd when you take it out of internet context. Anyway - it's all thanks to Personas for Firefox from Mozilla labs.
I think I'll do a stir-fry for dinner.
Right, since I've decided at least that much, I'll go now.
p.s. I've been waiting for a good occasion to use this usericon for ages. I'm not confused, but I'm at a loss, so it's adequate.
ooh - gosh - how could I forget. I'm going to see The Princess Bride in the cinema on the 11th of May. It's going to be the coolest thing ever. I've been 100% in love with this film my whole life. I know the whole thing off my heart I've seen it so many times. It's going to be fantastic.
p.p.s i don't think i've ever used this mood before.
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