girlofprey

( Coronation Street, tw for cancer and suicide )

I went to Blackpool! It was lovely, even though the weather was changeable enough to make it difficult. The first night we were there it was just throwing it down all night. On Saturday it started out dry at least, then the sun came out and I was wondering around without a coat for a bit. Then there was a thunderstorm. It was funny actually, mum and I were in a cafe on a pier - which was already rocking because of the water underneath - just eating lunch, and then I noticed one of the girls from behind the counter asking if any of the other workers minded if she borrowed a jumper, and putting it over her head before she ran outside. Then we just heard the rain, sheeting down on the roof and outside. People started running in to take cover. Then the thunder started rolling. It was like being on the Ark. Like we were the last people in the world safe from the rain. One poor woman ran in with her kid, completely drenched, and told whoever she was meeting in the cafe that they'd been at the top of the big wheel when it started coming down. It let up enough that mum and I managed to leave, and we were planning to go to the Sealife centre just down the road anyway. When we came out it was dry again, and it was just sort of drizzling on and off for the rest of the night. It got cold though. The next day it was sunny in the morning, and then just started raining and showering for the last few hours we were there. There was a train at 2 and a train at 4, but we were both knackered and the weather was terrible, so we ended up going at 2. Then on the way home there was a rainbow over the Pennines. British weather, eh?

So it was a little difficult, but it was lovely, and I glad we went. We stayed in a great B&B on the North shore, so it was really quiet, but within walking distance of everything. On Saturday we went up the Tower, which I'd never been to before. We watched the dancers in the ballroom, including one young couple who must have been professionals and were amazing, had a drink in the cafe looking out over the sea (ocean?), where I had the finest traybake I've ever had in my life. I'm not sure any other will ever compare to it. Then we went to the top of the Tower - we had to have a 4D Experience on the way, but I did learn some interesting things, like that there are more B&B and hotel beds in Blackpool than in all of Portugal. Weird. The views from the top were lovely, as the sun was out at that point, and I did do the Skywalk, but I think the effect was spoiled a bit by the scaffolding a few stories below us. Anyway. Then we went and looked round the Winter Gardens, where mum said she'd gone back in the 60s, and walked down to the Central Pier and had lunch. Thunderstorm, and then the Sealife Centre, which was lovely, but they did have a weird attitude to their sharks. Telling you all about how sharks are endangered and not to buy products made from sharks one minute, and then playing Jaws-style music in the tunnel and selling shark's teeth in the shop the next. Didn't know what to make of that. But it was nice to see the fish.

Then mum and I walked down to the south pier and Pleasure Beach, but we were pretty knackered at that point and possibly about to do our feet an injury, so we just had dinner and went back to a bar near out B&B on the tram. I tried a Strawberry Daiquiri, finally, which was lovely, but as it was made in a Wetherspoons from what was apparently a pre-made mixer, I suspect it still wasn't the genuine article. Anyway. The next day we were both tired and it kept raining, so we just walked the opposite way up the North shore, came up from the slipway and walked to the end of the illuminations - all the way to Bispham station - then walked back, had some lunch and went for the train. Mum was talking about staying till the 4 o'clock train, but I don't know what else we would have done there. We were both tired, our feet were killing us, I didn't want to walk back into town anyway, and it was raining. And it had forecasted thundery hailstorms for later on. So we came back. And that was our weekend in Blackpool. It was grand.

I also went into Wakefield last week to try to get my netbook sorted out, or get some tips on fixing it. I don't think I ever posted about it, but I went to jekesta's on the 4th and took my netbook with me, and it connected to her wireless internet immediately. In Wakefield, in the shop where I bought it, it also connected to their internet immediately. So the guy said it couldn't really be the computer, or the software, because it was staying connected and loading webpages. He said it must be our router, somehow, even though all our other computers can connect through it. There might be something I can do with changing the internet options on the netbook, apparently, but he couldn't do anything there because I wasn't on my dad's network. So his only advice was to call our internet provider and talk to them about it. I'm not looking forward to that really. But it's the only thing being suggested at the moment. And if they can't help, the guy said I could bring it back and send it to them for a service, and he'd make sure it went even though there was nothing to say it was a problem with the machine itself, but he wasn't sure there'd be anything to fix, you know? Sigh. It's a conundrum, this netbook. But I may as well keep at it. One thing he did say was that registering my warranty online, like I was being prompted to do at jekesta's, wasn't an issue, and I'd have a warranty whether I did that or not, which was the only thing I was freaking out about. So at least that's not such an issue.

Other than that I'm mostly watching Coronation Street and replaying Oblivion. I've been replaying a lot of my old RPGs lately, but Oblivion's a slightly more serious one because I wasn't really that bothered about it when it came out. I bought it in 2011, when I finally got a laptop that could cope with it, and I kind of rushed through it so I'd be all caught up when Skyrim came out. And the Empire/Cyrodiil was always my least favourite part of the Elder Scrolls world. But now I'm going through it properly and have thought a bit more about my character and class, I'm enjoying it a lot more. The number one thing that still irks me though is that Foxglove Nectar doesn't have the Damage Health effect. Foxglove is like one the deadliest plants in the world. Worse than Nightshade, I think. It should definitely be a poison, I SHOULD BE ABLE TO MAKE THE BEST POISONS EVER WITH IT. Bethesda!

Also I bought Scribblenauts Unlimited because it was £3.74 on Steam. Fun!

There's some personal stuff that's come up in the last few days that I'd really like to talk to my counsellor about. However, I called up this morning to see if it'd be possible to see her any earlier than next Monday, and it turns out she's a volunteer who's only in the building on Monday's, so they can't even get a message to her. Which is a bit of a shame. They do have a drop-in session tomorrow though, it's kind of early compared to when I usually get up and I have no idea if I'd actually get to see anyone or how long for. But I might go check it out. If not, it's not that long now until I'd get to see her, and I have talked this stuff through with a friend already. It's just thrown me a little bit, I sort of always assumed if I needed to see my counsellor early or talk to her, I could. But apparently it's just pretty much Mondays when she's available. Hmm.

In other news, some marketing type things that happened to me recently are a) a cold caller hanging up on me, which if anything is normally the opposite of what happens. A woman called me, asked to speak with me about my contract mobile phone, I told her I wasn't on a contract and she said "You're not on a contract? Sorry" and then just hung up. Lovely. And b) yesterday I was in McDonalds, and the card swiping machine they had was advertising McDonald's coffee and donuts to me in it's idle time. Is this what the world is turning towards? Everything will have a screen, and every screen will be advertising something? Because that will be a terrible world. That is my prediction right now.

On the plus side, I did manage to pick up my Netbook. Unfortunately I don't really have anywhere to set it up - my bedroom is kind of a mess. And short on space. So I've decided to buy a case to keep it in before I actually get it out. And I still hate the colour. Oh well.

ETA: Oh and also, I changed my Livejournal email to my new gmail account, experimentally, and now I'm suddenly getting comment notifications in my inbox again. Rather than just 'your subscription is running out/pay us money' messages. So I guess it must just have been an odd Hotmail thing. Which is weird. But I'm not going to argue with getting them again now.

Oh my God, is it just me, or is like 100% harder to type in Google and Youtube now they have the whole predictive text boxes? I know they are a source of hilarity to Tumblr and the internet at large but ksdfkjksdalj. Typing and the ability to type - whether or not people always manage or bother with it - is what the internet is founded on, let's not take that away.

To prove my point, EVERY SINGLE LETTER I typed in the above paragraph appeared on screen WHEN I PRESSED THE KEYS, even when I used backspace! Will wonders never cease?

In other news, I got my period. Ow. Things I didn't get: the three packages I ordered this and last week, or an email telling my Netbook had arrived in the store like the shop man assured me it would this week. Growl.

On a lighter note, a thing you should probably all check out: Crimer Show. I promise you you might not be enthralled, but you won't be disappointed.

In other other news, some games aren't coming out quickly enough, and some are coming out much much too quickly. Another Assassin's Creed? Already?