girlofprey: (R for raygun)
So, nothing happened with my sister yesterday. Well, nothing much. There were a few snippy moments when she sort of got onto me for the way I was replying to her. But other than that there wasn't really anything, and we all had a pretty decent time. Aside from my ON, mostly, who was upset he wasn't winning at bowling even though it was his birthday. And my parents and sister starting arguing about money a couple of times. But other than that it was pretty good. To be honest, I'm not sure I even like it when nothing happens with my sister, because I'm pretty sure she's still upset about stuff, and it just feels like she's saving it up, or like I'm still waiting for the axe to fall. But I'm not really going to go looking for arguments with her, especially not if no progress is probably going to come of it. So, it was the best it could have been, pretty much.

Anyway. What I did before seeing my sister at my nephew's birthday party, was go to see Cakesy in London. Which was pretty much the opposite experience. We watched Luck, which is beautiful, and incomprehensible, and beautiful. I LOVE LEON. That probably won't come as a surprise to anyone who's seen it. Also we went to Camden, which is partially based out of what I assume is an old stables, and is filled with random horse statues. And we watched the Gangnam Style video, which I forgot had a bunch of horses in it. So altogether it was a pretty horse-themed weekend. It was no bad thing no, I like horses. Also I got a purse and two bags I don't need. But a BEAUTIFUL purse and two bags I don't need. Then I came home on Monday. Also we watched Oz, and at one point a terrible character had a breakdown and sang 'Camptown Races'. MORE HORSES. Also, they should have kept Peter Schibetta and made him and Adebisi be an odd couple - who hurt each other way less - for a lot longer. I'm just saying.

Also Cakesy is a v good hostess. A++. SEE HOW I REVIEW WELL, CAKESY?
girlofprey: (Default)
Hello! I've not posted in a while. I've just got back from a weekend in London with [livejournal.com profile] cakesy, where we did such things as go see an Aziz Ansari gig (which was very good), and go to the Sealife centre, to see sharks, among other fish (which were very good). Also we watched a bunch of Parks and Recreation (I love Leslie, and Ann, and Ron, and Andy, and Tom, and April, and sort of Ben) and she allowed me to put her through watching The Other Guys, Wizard People Dear Reader and some My Little Pony specials on Youtube. It was pretty super.

Before that, last Saturday I thought that now I have a new laptop with new components and space and everything, maybe I could finally install Black And White 2 on it, which I got a few years ago, and have it actually work, which I did and it did. I have been pretty much playing it ever since. Until I went to London.

And today I got back at about quarter to six, and went upstairs to check the internet, and found my laptop telling me that my Antivirus subscription was about to run out/had run out. I had thought that because I'd bought the package for my other laptop online and it was there in my account that it would just continue on for my new computer after the trial subscription that came free with my laptop ran out. But after my antivirus protection shut down, I thought maybe not, so I checked it again and it has no activations left. I could renew it online, but I just spent loads in London, and my dad says you can get it half price in WH Smiths apparently, and when I came down to ask him about it, he said he'd have a look on his computer to see if he had any subscriptions going free. Which he hasn't done yet. So for at least a little while my only internet access might be through my dad's computer. Oh well. Hope you're all well, anyway.
girlofprey: (Default)
Today my nephew came over, and I decided to try to get on with tidying my bedroom again. Which mostly meant trying to clear out the cupboards above my wardrobe again. I didn't get very far, because I always feel the need to look through everything, and also because my nephew was here. But mostly it turned out that the box marked 'documents' in the cupboard above my wardrobe was, as I suspected, another 'memory box', only this time filled with stuff from even EARLIER than before. Including a bunch of bus passes from when I was in highschool, the letter and all the stuff I got regarding my Oxford interview, and a diary I (very) intermittently kept from being at least 12 to about 16. It was by turns strange, excruciating, and kind of sad to read. Mostly me complaining about my sister and my family. But also, in another way, quite confusingly like what I think now. Hmph. With a brief detour into things Saddam Hussein was doing when I was 12 or so, and how much I disapproved of it. Hmm. Other things in the box of mystery: some old costume jewellery I didn't want to wear anymore but apparently didn't want to throw away, maps of Lightwater Valley and Alton Towers from a lot of the school trips we went on, and some caveman-like stick drawings depicting a day with two exams on it, and a mysterious and terrifying coffee machine. Quite. Things I will probably be throwing away from this box: not many of them.

But now I've gone through that box the rest of clearing out the cupboards should be easy, as it's only stuff like old toys and pillows. I basically need to get it down, and then decide whether to throw it away or put it back up there.

It was my youngest nephew's birthday yesterday as well. We went out for a meal at a restaurant down the road, and my parents got him a new bike, which he has been out on today, so he obviously likes it. He can't quite pedal yet, but he's enjoying pushing it around all the same. And tonight I almost ended up going to a Tom Stade gig in Leeds, as basically my last shot at deciding whether he's actually funny or more of a twat, or funny enough to justify my continued interest in him even if he is kind of a twat. But I asked my mum if she wanted to go, so I wouldn't be coming back on my own, and she didn't want to decide until yesterday, and we made the massive mistake of talking about it last night at the restaurant, in front of my sister. She - invited herself along. Rather suddenly and without actually asking me or mum if we wanted her to come. It was really strange, my mum mentioned something about it, and my sister and dad didn't understand what she was talking about, so I explained it, and before I'd even finished explaining what we'd been talking about earlier, my sister said "Well, I'll come with you, and mum can have [my youngest nephew]". But not in the reasonable, offering to come with me way you are probably imagining. In a ridiculously blunt way as if she was being deliberately cheeky, except then she didn't seem to be joking. I continued to try to explain about how me and mum were thinking about going, and she said "Oh, so you're coming now?" to mum. It was SO STRANGE. And kind of awkward. I really couldn't tell if she was joking, I thought she might be, I pointed out she had two young children (who she doesn't like leaving on their own with their dad), and she just said 'so?'. And then started asking her partner if he'd mind her going out for the night. But anyway, she didn't mention it again, and when I got home I went to check if there were any tickets left for the gig, and there weren't. So. WE'RE OFF THAT SLIGHTLY STRANGE AND AWKWARD HOOK. Tom Stade has another gig in April in Leeds though. So I'm thinking about going to that one instead. But planning to get the tickets a little earlier than the day before it, hopefully.

And I also booked my tickets for London today, finally. It's like a whole extra level of commitment.
girlofprey: (Default)
Hello. It's me. A few weeks ago I decided, since my computer didn't seem to be having the disk space issues it had been doing and I had a new external hard drive to clear space with anyway, to see if I could install an old game of mine, Morrowind, again. It turned out that I could, aside from some problems with the computer not recognising the game disk some of the time. But anyway, I've mostly been playing that rather than posting for the past few weeks. God I love Morrowind. I'm not exactly a big gamer, but it's probably my favourite game I ever had. And one of my favourite fantasy stories ever. But anyway.

I have been doing stuff though. I went to see the Snow Queen in London a few weeks ago, and stayed the weekend with [livejournal.com profile] cakesy. The Snow Queen, and staying with cakesy )

I also had two interviews. The interviews )

The flat things )

Anyway. In other news:

  • While I was at my parents' I picked up a belated Christmas present that wasn't delivered in time in December, the Wolf Almanac. And promptly spent most of my time at my parents' reading about wolves. I would be tormenting you all with Wolf Facts and discussing Erroneous Assumptions About Wolves somewhat endlessly, but I'm mostly a better friend than that.

  • I saw a part of an episode of Veronica Mars while I was at my parents', and am currently going through one of my regular bouts of rage about the lack of Aaron/Logan on the internet. Dudes. It was incestuous, abusive, AND Aaron was a Spoiler for season 1 ). How could it not have taken off??

  • I saw a beautiful hat in the sale in Accessorise last week, on the very day that I really properly did not have enough money to buy it with. It was a black trilby with two of those scrunched-up felt flowers attached to the side, a pink one and a grey one. It was beautiful, sort of Gangster-Feminine, but the next day, when I had slightly more money, it had gone. At the moment I'm vaguely planning to make one. If I can find the right bits in a haberdasher's.


Another thing I've been thinking - while I do feel like any money I get from now on should really at least partly go towards paying back what I've borrowed from my savings to pay for my rent and stuff lately - on the other hand, when I get the £200-ish deposit back from my flat (assuming I do move out at the end of February and they don't feel the need to buy new furnishing with it or keep it for some reason), it would probably pay pretty much for me to go to Eastercon. Assuming there are still places and I can find someone to share with. Hmm. It's a thought, anyway.
girlofprey: (Heroes Noah West I Am Not Your King)
I went to London last weekend. After some running around trying to get my benefits forms in. Which I did, mostly, except for a few extra things I have to chase one of my temp agencies up for and something the Jobcentre ought to have sent to the Council now. But anyway. London )

Anyway. Since then, I watched the end of Harper's Island. Massive spoilers )

And I watched the newest episode of True Blood. Mild spoiler for 1.03, not really )
girlofprey: (Default)
I have a question - has anyone ever been to the London Coliseum (I think you know what city it's in)? There's a couple of things on there that I want to see in January and April next year, and I got my parents to put up half the money for decent-priced tickets. I went to my first opera - I don't think I mentioned, it was brill - and sat in one of the cheapest seats, and it wasn't actually that bad. But looking at these other things now, there are still some of the most expensive, stalls seats left for only a bit more, and I'll be up on the second balcony otherwise. And it strikes me that if the London Coliseum is bigger than the Nottingham Theatre Royal, and chances are that it is, it might make a big difference. Anyone actually know what it's like in there?

Well, anyway. I'm still working. I got let go from the job I had at the beginning of the month because the work dried up, but the Monday after that the agency that had got me that job, had another one for me. Which I wasn't expecting. And it was a reception job, so they were all "Can you go in this morning? Can you go right now?", and hadn't had a shower or washed me hair or in fact had more than about five hours sleep, as I recall, and I was all "WHAT??", but we managed to negotiate for about half past twelve, and I had a semi-quick cold shower, and everything was fine. It's not too bad actually, it's a reception post at a little civil engineering company, and last week most of the staff were on holiday or at various sites, so apart from a bit of typing I mostly didn't have much to do all day. Which is fair enough. They want me for this week as well, so I'll have worked a full month, yay! I have a feeling I should be saving at least some of my wages in case I don't have anymore work for a bit. But on the other hand, almost every band I like seems to be playing somewhere this autumn, so - we shall see. The odds don't appear to be in saving up's favour though, honestly.

I've been watching TV, I have things to say, I generally have so many things to say about it that by the time I get round to posting anything I have FAR TOO MUCH TO FIT IN A POST. The main things were though, about why lots of people - mostly men - think it's alright to make fun of Deborah Meaden on Dragon's Den? Particularly since she's the BEST ONE, and BEAUTIFUL. She has the BEST LAUGH I HAVE EVER HEARD. I LOVE HER. And people are very strange about her. Also, Strictly Come Dancing. I only just found out because I was looking up when it was coming back on. BUT WHAT THE FUCK? They've fired Arlene? They've fired ARLENE? And replaced her with a younger woman? What the fuck, BBC? And the younger woman is Alesha Dixon, because she used to be a contestant. What? I vaguely get their point about her knowing what it's like to be a contestant and being able to offer advice the dancers can possibly understand better - but isn't the point that it's a dancing show, and they have the judges for technical criticism and the public for sympathy, and their partners for actual specific help? Wasn't that how it all worked. And do the BBC actually not see a problem with making the only female voice on the judging panel no longer an informed, technical one, but a basically emotional one? What the hell? Also, they have fired Hayley and hired another female dancer, for no apparent reason. What is that?

Hmph. Anyway. There's been TV I like. Single-Handed was brilliant, and it's now over. I love Jack Driscoll, in all his self-righteous, furious-about-corruption-but-willing-to-use-it-for-his-own-ends glory. You can still watch it on the itvPlayer, if anyone is interested. I highly recommend it. I'd say I don't think I've slashed anyone with their evil father quite so much before, but that would mean ignoring Logan/Aaron, so never mind. Gary's coming back into Coronation Street this week. I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT. Check out his look of UTTER HATRED for David on his return. You can see the hatred right? That certainly couldn't be confused with any other emotion. I love Coronation Street. Also I'm loving Ugly Betty at the moment. Every episode is a bit pointlessly upbeat, but I HONESTLY DON'T CARE. OH GOD BETTY AND AMANDA AND MARK. I LOVE THEM. ALL I WANT IS THE THREE OF THEM, AND OFTEN THE SHOW DELIVERS. 2 ASSISTANTS AND A RECEPTIONIST DREAM TEAM FOR THE WIN. And Daniel is quite good, and Wilhelmina. BUT THEY'RE NO BETTY AND AMANDA AND MARK. OH. Also in NCIS this week they made Ziva and McGee go out on a case together. I don't understand why they can't be partners all the time. They could keep DiNozzo with Gibbs, or send him away somewhere, and I everyone would be happy. I should be running television. Honestly.

So from this post you can probably tell what I've mostly been doing lately. TV and work. Hurrah. I'm hoping that the agency I'm using at the moment might find me some work after this job finishes too. Although I do need some time off in September. But even so, some wages would be nice. Who knows?
girlofprey: (Default)
Anyway. I had a great weekend. I got the train to London about 12-ish on Friday, and K was going to meet me, but her temp agency called at the last minute, and she had work, so I went back to my back-up plan: wandering around the British Museum. Which I love. I went to the Timepieces room, and saw the lovely clockwork, and almost broke an exhibit with my head, but managed to stop myself. I went to a lovely little room where they had sort of medieval pottery and pendants, and was told by the guard to turn my MP3 player off, because he could hear it across the room. Which I didn't think anyone could since I got it. But there you go. They still have the lovely Rosetta Stone wall plaque, even if I can't afford it. And I'd just wandered into a lovely big room and was reading about conchology, when K called and I set off back to hers.

Then the next day, we went on a walk with wolves. Walking with wolves )

Pictures, probably quite big )

And then on Sunday, I came back into London, and met up with Cee, and she took me to a Cuban restaurant and bought me lunch. I took about three hours to eat mine, and that's not really that at much of an exaggeration. It was both difficult to chew, and delicious. And Cee was lovely. I almost had a Cuba Libre, but decided against it. And then I hard to dash, and probably wouldn't have if Cee hadn't sort of said I should, and it's a good thing she did because I ended up getting my train with about 4 minutes to spare. And then I came back. It was a great weekend. GREAT.
girlofprey: (Default)
Hello. I did come back from London. I'm sorry. There was work, and things to do, and unpacking, and shopping, and television just went mad. I saw that Mutual Friends was going to be on. I saw that Alexander Armstrong was in it. I saw that Marc Warren was in it. I saw that they were friends who hugged and gave each other advice on the breakdown of their marriages. But then it was on, and I watched it, and it was great and rather super gay, and now I'm pretty much planning to watch the whole thing. And then after it, there were two adverts, one for a drama with Paddy Considine on Wednesday at 9, and one for a drama with Gina McKee, on Sunday at 9. It was a bit lkike TV was saying, "You remember 9 o'clock? You'll never see that again." Emmerdale this week opened with Carl King and his girlfriend having a pillow fight. I stumbled on an episode of Reaper, which was much better than the one I saw in Cornwall. Dear oh dear.

But I went to London. K and I talked about her and J a lot on Friday night. Then on Saturday we went to Camden to try to find her a 40s style dress. Oh my good god, Camden. I thought I had been before because I had it mixed up with Covent Garden. I was mistaken. Camden is amazing.So many beautiful things on sale. We walked around at least five markets, and market halls. I don't wear skirts and dreses very often, and suddenly I was all "I want that dress. I want that skirt". Honestly. And the jewellery! And the candles. And in the middle there was a bar/restaurant that was Cuban-themed. K and I have planned to go back when we have some money. It was amazing.

Then we went to go see Avenue Q, which was great, and the next day we went to the 40s street party, except that her friend wanted us to go round to her house dressed in our costumes, and by the time we got to the other friend's - a lot of walking and a tube journey later - the party was pretty much over, and K's friend and K slowly starting changing out of their costumes, so I ended up getting changed. But we had a good time, I went out with K and her friends and we went to a local festival thing, and then to some clubs and bars, and I had a bit of a dance, and then we went back to her friend's flat and watched a bit of The Goonies before going to bed. And the next day we watched a whole bunch of Third Rock From the Sun as part of some marathon, and then I came home. Rah.

And now it's late and my hair's wet. Rah.
girlofprey: (Default)
So. Anyway. I was in London yesterday. Worked a half day on Friday, took a train down, went to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, y'know. Tried not to collapse from heat. Mostly succeeded. Jackets, it turned out, were not necessary.

Anyway. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds )

And I managed to get the semi-last tube back to Cee's. Hurrah. Yesterday, I woke up pretty early and set out again to go see the British Museum. By the time I found a cafe that would give me beans on toast, wandered through a couple of music stores looking for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds albums, gone to a shop looking for something I'd seen in Islington the last time I was there and caught the tube, it wasn't quite as early as it had been, but there you go. I went to Russell Square station, checked my handy pocket map, went through Russell Square and the P.G. Wodehouse Summer Picnic, and found I was pretty much there. The British Museum ) And then I had to go, because my train was at five o'clock-ish. But I don't think you could do it all in a day anyway, and I had a pretty great time while I was there. I'd love to go again at some point, preferably without a huge backpack.

I managed to make it well in time rather than at the last possible second or missing it completely. And then I came home. And then I went out again to see Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden? Which is good, though I thought some of the stuff at the beginning was a bit cheesy. And I don't think I took a lot of it in, properly, but most of it, and it was interesting. It's a good film, and I quite love Morgan Spurlock. And my God, Israel is fucking scary, at least the part of it he went to. The Jewish part. There's a good chance I don't really understand properly about Israel, but if you see the film you'll know what I mean.

And then today I had to do all the jobs I didn't do yesterday. Except not all of them, because my feet were killing me. But mostly I think I'm good.

It's been a week since Iron Man was released, and people still aren't writing Tony Stark/Obadiah Stane slash. What's up with that?
girlofprey: (Default)
A Poll

In your knowledge/opinion, the Golden Compass movie:

  • Using spoilers from the rest of the books in the trilogy?


  • Making up extra stuff for their own purposes?
If it's the first one, I may actually have to avoid it, which will be disappointing.


Had flat inspection on Thursday. Didn't get all the cleaning I wanted to done, but it turns out that where things can't be cleaned, wiping is just as effective for a visual test. Sadly not everything could be wiped, but still, they haven't written any angry letters to me yet. And I like the flat being clean. It's amazing how much bigger places look when you hoover the floor. It needs a bit of a dust and the drawers tidying, and a bookcase for the books and stuff on the floor, but other than that I'm quite pleased with it at the moment.

And then last night I went to London to see Interpol play at the Alexandra Palace. I need to update LJ more often I think. The gig )

Then I had to get back to Cee's flat by myself at 11 o'clock at night. I had a route all planned out on the buses because I didn't particularly want to take the tube, but after getting a bit lost then finding my bus route again and having three of my buses go by packed with Interpol fans, I decided to sod it and got a bus to the tube station. It turns out the tube is packed at quarter to midnight on Fridays, or at least the ones going to Kings Cross. So it was all fine. And then this morning Cee took me for breakfast, to a lovely place that offered pancakes I failed to take advantage of. And I had a smoothie, though I wasn't expecting the tanginess of the blueberries. Then Cee went off to do some shopping, and I had a wander through Islington. Bought my own Kripy Kremes, and managed to do a bit of Christmas shopping. My schedule for the next few weeks looks like this:

This weekend - Interpol in London
Next weekend - A thing at Newstead Abbey with my parents, briefly
The weekend after - Free
The weekend after that - Last weekend before Christmas, for which I'll have just gone back to my parents

So I need to get a start on it really. Anyway. I came back to Nottingham, and missed my train so had to pay £30 for a new ticket. Which was shitty. But will at least teach me not to miss it again. And I went to see Fred Claus, with my "free" evening. It was a bit beautiful. Vaguely spoilery )

And now I'm home, and my mum just called to say my uncle Bill has died. Which is sad. It's sort of strange because I never really saw all that much of him and my aunt's family, or at least not recently, and he's had terminal cancer for a while. But I did see him ocassionally, and know him, and he was only 65. But them's the breaks, I guess. I mostly feel bad for my aunt. I'm going to try to send her a card, I think. Or send it to my mum to give to her. I think she's been prepared for it for a while too, but still.
girlofprey: (Default)
La. I took my newfound day off work yesterday, to get stuff done before going away again this weekend. It was oddly liberating, even if I did mostly spend it doing chores. Next week I plan to go see a movie. There's quite a bit on at the moment, actually. I also managed to see my estate agents about the wasps nest outside again. Not that I imagine it will do any good. And I got my sister's birthday present. Hurrah!

I went to London last weekend, which was great. Cee had doughnuts. We went to see Elling, which I quite enjoyed, although yes, it probably was a bit too chaotic and directionless in the second half. John Simm was good though. We went to St Pauls on Sunday, which is very big and gold on the inside. We sat in on the Eucharist, and heard quite a lovely sermon by a priest from South Africa, who talked about how America should apologise to Iraq, and how the Church declared apartheid a heresy, and previous priests at St Pauls refused to hold the post-Falklands service as a victory celebration, as a "certain prime minister" wanted them to. It turns out the Church is sometimes shiny. I couldn't follow any of the hymns, though. Then we got lost, and ended up on London Bridge. It was quite good. Although over the weekend I attempted to show Cee the bits of Dodgeball where Jason Bateman and Lucas Buck are dodgeball commentators together and she insisted on watching the whole thing, AND IF SHE TELLS YOU ANY DIFFERENT SHE IS A FILTHY LIAR.

Tomorrow I'm going to my parents for my sister's birthday. Thought about taking my day off tomorrow for travelling, but I would still have had stuff to do, so I didn't, so I'll be going straight from work. There's new Suburban Shootout on tonight, though! Only three episodes this series, for some reason, but still. And [livejournal.com profile] whatho sent me Nightingales today. Thank you! I will watch it, probably next week. Oh, and there was a postcard with a failed icon in place of a stamp! I fully believe stamps were the original icons. Fully. I have to finish Arrested Development Series 2 before a new series though.

Spoiler for Arrested Development 2.16 )
girlofprey: (Default)
Hello. I just back from London. Sadly, I forgot to turn on the boiler before going to get food and eating some of it, so I can't have a shower for another half an hour or so. Probably I should be unpacking, but we all know LJ is where it's at. And it can wait.

I went to London. Possibly I didn't mention that before I went. I was at Cee's, who is lovely, and fed me cake, and only slightly tortured me with her bizarre neighbours.

On Friday we went to see Order of the Phoenix. Spoilers )

And then on Saturday we went for a Greasy Spoon breakfast and I made her watch Welcome to Collinwood (oh God, Sam Rockwell). She seemed to like it. And was quite nice about my random babbling about Peter/Sylar. Mostly I owe her for quite a lot this weekend. THANKS, CEE. And then - I don't even know where the time went, we were going to see a football match and I SAID YES but Cee backed down, and then we went to a tiny little stuffy room above a pub, in which we cleverly positioned ourselves next to the only open window, and watched a secret gig with Rich Hall. Rich Hall is great. He told massive lies to a taxi driver about being a rocket scientist trying to stop an explosion, and the taxi driver was suprised because he thought Rich only wrote a book about Sniglets. Mostly Rich said Britain was great for not being upset about explosions or much of anything really, and complained about there being no air in the room. And I made eye contact with a nice looking boy near the front a number of times. Which was pleasant. Sadly the seven months pregnant female Iranian comedian who was meant to be on after Rich couldn't make it, but we stayed and listened to some songs about Spain and senoritas, and then a guy who'd just got of the stage at some other bar be funny for five or ten minutes, and then went home.

Today I was not woken up by Cee's neighbours knocking on the door and trying to get a couch up the stairs. Just Cee wanting to jump on me. We had cake for breakfast, and watched the Hot Fuzz commentary, from which we mostly learned that Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright are a bit in love with Timothy Dalton. Searching for fic afterwards led us finding the Hot Fuzz fic archive, though it sadly does not include much fic about the aforementioned Dalton. Inexplicably. Then we tried to learn blackjack (mostly failed), watched the last episode of Heroes, and I ATTEMPTED to show Cee the glory of macros. It didn't so much work. And then I came home. It was all very good.

Also, Cee's mouse is great. If a bit trippy.

I guess the boiler will be done by now. I have to go get a shower for work. I keep meaning to post about work. Remind me tomorrow.

Ooh, lightning.
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