An open letter to George Lucas

Dear George.

I hope you don't mind me calling you George, Mr Lucas sounds so formal, especially since I've lived with your magnus opus since I was at school.  Yes, Star Wars changed my life, and is probably one of the reasons I have grown up with a love of science fiction.

I loved the original trilogy.  So you can imagine my delight when I heard that episodes 1 - 3 were actually going to be made.  I was like a little kid again, waiting impatiently for the movies, and when they came......oh dear. What can I say.  Three little words that really spoiled these movies for me. Jar Jar Binks.

Yes, the floppy eared, obviously thick, creature from Naboo was an utter abomonation.  The hate sites sprang up (Jar Jar Binks must Die), and I completely understood where they were coming from.

Binks aside (please lets leave him aside), I didn't think they were bad movies.  I enjoyed watching Anakins' journey to becoming Dark Helme.....Darth Vader.

Then there was the "special editions" of the original trilogy.  Utter travesty.  The races and creatures cgi-ed in, to tie in with the new movies, stuck out like a sore thumb.  I own them, of course I do, but do I watch them?  Nope.  I watch the original editions.

Now the point of this letter George.  You're releasing the movies in 3D.  In fact, as I type this, The Phantom Menace is already out.  Now, I know everyone in the movie business seems to have a hard-on for 3D, but believe me, if it's not been shot on a 3D camera, it pretty much sucks.

You're dry humping the cash cow now George.  Seriously, stop it.  Please.

Now here's the hypocritical part of this letter.  Will I go and see the movies in 3D?  Hell yeah.  You know I will.  I've bought into Star Wars since I was 12, and I'm almost 46.  Like a junkie I'm hooked. (I've managed to avoid the Clone Wars, but only because I hate the style of animation).  There's also the fact that the attack on the Death Star in A New Hope (if the 3D is done well) will be utterly amazing.  Just make sure it doesn't suck like the cgi additions to the special additions. And hey, if I'm going to see one, I may as well see the set.

So there you have it George.  A Star Wars addict pleading with you to please stop messing with my childhood memories.

Thank you and goodnight.

Climb every mountian (come on, sing along)

Yesterday started of with a karate class.  Saturday classes involve bo staffs, and the occasional bruised shins, and are really good.

After karate, there was some film noir, in the shape of Murder My Sweet.  Plots in these movies can be (a) convoluted, and (b) tenuous at best.  But what the hell, they're fun, usually overacted, and are a great way to kill a couple of hours.

Fast forward a couple of hours, and it's off the the Green Chilli Cafe for a really nice meal.  They were even happy to deviate from the set menu to give Karen greater choice (she's coeliac), at no extra charge.  Brownie points for that guys.

Back home, and the night was rounded off with more martial arts, as Wesley Snipes roundhouse kicked vampire ass.  Result.

Today, we headed to Aberfoyle, and went a walk up Craigmore.  It's a nice wee hill, and it's a decent walk.  Just shy of the summit is as wall that used to support a tramway that was there way back in the mists of time. I can't remember off-hand why there was a tramway halfway up a hill (some local industry), but if I find out I'll update this post.

Anyway, from the top of Craigmore, there were some stunning views.  I think this is Ben Ledi.  I checked the direction and looked on a map, and it's in the right direction.  As with the tramway, if I'm wrong, I'll correct when I edit it later.

Fire alarm - This is NOT a test

I was in Strathclyde Uni last night when the fire alarm went off.  We were in the Royal College, but the nearest/quickest exit was in the Weir building.  Through a set of swing doors and down two flights as opposed to walk along a corridor, and down six flights, so it seemed like the obvious way to go.

Down one flight and we were met by fire fighters coming up!  Looks like the alarm that side of the building went off a good bit before the alarm where we were!

When we got outside, fire engines were there with hoses already into hydrants and snaking into the building.  You could smell the smoke.

When we walked round and go to George Square, you could see the smoke coming from the building.

Smoke from the Fire at Strathclyde University

This morning, the fire crews are still there.  Hopefully no-one was hurt.

Fail

When I got in from work last night, K was knackered and bailed from going to karate.  I went from being psyched up to flatlining in about 3 seconds, and replied with "Stuff it, lets have a tv night".  So we did.

The souvenir book for Odyssey 2010 also dropped through the door.  I've only had a quick skim through it, but it looks good.

Today I'm reading in a old-skool-stylee.  ie I've brought a real book out with me instead of the kindle.  Hey, I never said having a kindle would stop me buying dead tree editions now, did I?

*BOING!*

Yup, had a fantastic sleep last night, and after lunchtime karate, I'm totally buzzing.  Great wee adrenaline buzz right after.

Now I'm chilling in the house with a beer, waiting for K to watch her soaps, then we'll stick a movie on.

Tired dammit

I'm just so tired this weather.  It's crap.  I just about have a heart attack in the morning when the alarm goes off at the not horrifically early 6.30am, get up, shower, drink coffee and juice, and get the train at 7.40am.
Once in work (about 8.15), I've got time to grab another coffee before I have to start.

Mid afternoon, I'm feeling lethargic, and by the time I get home at about 5.30pm, I feel like I need a wee sleep.
If I do, it means I can't get to sleep when I do go to bed, and invariably wake up knackered because I haven't got to sleep till about 2.00am.
If I don't have a wee sleep, then I'm out like a light by about 10.30/11.0pm, and sleep like a log till about 5.30/6.00am, when I try and squeeze in that last little (half) hour of sleep, and *bang* wake up when the alarm goes off as described in the first line of this post.

Weirdly, if I'm on holiday, my sleeping routine seems to sort itself out, and I can get up and bounce out of bed at stupid-o'clock.am regardless of how late I went to bed the night before.

It's Scotland's climate that's screwing me up, I'm sure of it.  Oh where's my lottery win so I can emigrate?

Saturday mooch

Yesterday we headed down to Castle Semple at Lochwinnoch, and did a walk through the surrounding countryside, of just under 4 miles.  There was a really nice little pond, that should have had a kelpie living in it (maybe she was just hiding).
Once on top of the hill, there was a great view taking in three lochs.

Probably the highlight was coming across a couple of young deer.  I managed to get the camera out and just get a photo of them.

Before hitting the cycle track that lead back to the car park, there was the ruins of a little 16th century church.  There's a few graves inside the church, and it's in a really nice setting.

A nice day for going out for a wander.

There really should be a selkie in this photo

If you look carefully you can make out a small deer. 

(Hint - look for the white tuft of the tail)

View from the hill overlooking the loch

Ruins of a 16th century church.

Stuff of late

Not been up to a great deal lately.

The Antibiotics did the trick, so I can breathe again, which is good.  The karate is still going strong, so I'm knackered.  I'm liking this a lot more than I did the running, because there's some cerebral stuff as well as the physical.  That's not to say I didn't like running, which, I really need to start doing again, just not to the extremes that I was previously.  It had got to the stage where my life was dictated by training schedules and race calenders. Not good, especially when you're partner doesn't run.  Makes a social life a bit difficult.

In the next month, there's the Glasgow SF convention Satellite 3 which I'm really looking forward to.  I managed to avoid being on the committee this time, and ended up volunteering to run a game of Do You Worship Cthulhu, being on a genre Celebrity Deathmatch style panel, running a quiz, and being in charge of tech ops.  I'd probably have got off lighter if I'd been on the committee!!!

Quackery

Well, I went to the doctors, and am now on antibiotics.  The capsules are actually so big, I'm not sure if I should swallow them or stick them up my arse.
Speaking of "stick it up your arse", that's exactly what the practice receptionist can go do.  When I made my appointment, she had my old address on record.  When I gave her my new one to update the records, she told me that I was outside the catchment area, and the doctor would have a word with me about that.  He didn't.  He's ok with it, so up yours nursie.
She got her revenge though, she still hasn't updated my records as I found out when I tried to collect my prescription and the address was wrong.

Anyway, the pills seem to be doing the trick.  Now all I need is a lottery win and my life will be complete.

TFI Friday

Seriously.  The week started off not bad, then ground to a halt somewhere mid Wednesday, and never picked up momentum again.
It's now Friday afternoon, and all the energy has been sucked out of me.  Having seriously blocked sinuses doesn't help, and when I called the quacks this morning to make an appointment (I don't want this going into my chest), I got a stroppy practice nurse telling me I was now out of the catchment area.  So it looks like I'll be forced to find a new doctor.  Never mind, there's a shitload of them on Paisley Road West, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I didn't make karate last night, as I was at the monthly sf meet-up (Trout).  I didn't stay long, just a couple of hours (the blocked sinuses again), but there was a fairly big turnout, and I caught up with some people I've not seen in ages.

Right, 2 hours to go then it's off home for the weekend, which will feature a karate class and a meal out (tomorrow) and some vegging and watching Gone With The Wind and some film noir (Sunday).

Weird dreams

Lately I've been having some weird dreams (how about a shower head under the dash on the passenger side of the car, so you can wash your hair en route to work?), but last nights is really bugging me.
In the dream, I was dj-ing in a warehouse sized club, and doing a mashup of The Orb's Little Fluffy Clouds, and Slayer's South of Heaven.  Now I'm going nuts thinking about it and if it would actually work.  I'm getting to the point where I think it could be do-able, and still be listenable.

Any takers?

Well the holiday season is definately over

On the way in to work this morning, I took a wee detour through George Square.  The Christmas lights are still up and lit, but they are starting to dismantle the whole Christmas village thing that had been set up.  Here's a couple of pics.  One is of the lights, and the other of the big wheel.  The ice rink had already been dismantled, and most of the tent's/stalls are away as well.

Christmas Lights in George Square, Glasgow

The big wheel.  Or as I call it the Glasgow Aye, Right!

Wee hillwalk

Today we took a trip to Muirshiel Park near Largs.  It's a country park with quite a few signposted walks, including one up a hill called Windy Hill.  We opted for Windy Hill, as from the visitor centre it looked like there was a trig pillar at the top.  Turned out it was a cairn and not a trig, but it was a good wee walk with a nice view at the top.

Once we got back down, we headed into Largs for a curry at the Star of India, which I can recommend.  They do a really nice set meal for £6.95.

Cairn at the top of Windy Hill, Muirshiel Park

So that was Christmas then

A............nd that's a wrap.  Christmas 2011, thank you, it was good.

After heading over to my mum's first thing, we went over to Richard and Sarah-Jane's for dinner.  There was a between course walk to the park to feed the swans, then back for dessert and some drinks, before heading home to veg out and watch telly, eat sweets and have another beer.

The kilt got an airing, and I found out that it is better protection against the elements than trousers, as I was the only one who's legs weren't soaked after getting caught in the rain after feeding the swans. Result.

Anyway, roll on tomorrow and the sales.  I've got HMV vouchers and I'm not afraid to use them.

Crimbo do - the aftermath

And there I was thinking that not much had happened.  There was a couple of things I saw, but nothing major, but here's the breakdown from the corridor gossip the morning after the night before.

1 - lecturer in psycho mode.  After looking stressed/freaked out, a lecturer hides in a corner with a drink and starts looking angry.  After announcing he's leaving as "this is not my sort of place, I don't feel comfortable here" he's spotted at the bar with not one but two drinks.  Proceeds to get pished and have a good time.

2 - admin lassie absolutely blootered, staggering about with a drink in each hand telling anyone who will listen, about the "sleazy b*stards who keep groping her arse on the dancefloor.  She then proceeds to name them before falling over twice.  Once in the venue and once in the street.  Horribly hungover the next day, and eventually threw up.

3 - married academic caught snogging single admin girl who (rumour has it) is involved with another (married) academic

4 - lots of really bad dancing, which, due to the amount of booze sunk, the perp think is the best dancing ever done.  The highlight being one academic (do you see a thread here) dancing like a condemmed man who hasn't been strapped into the chain before they've turned the current on.

5 - possibly the weirdest one of the night. Male academic walking round in one of the admin girls' high heels.  This is not the first time he's pulled this particular party trick.  Is there something he's trying to tell us?

Anyway, that's it for another year.  Thank God.

New dress code for work

Actually the post title is a lie, we're just off out for the work Christmas lunch today.  It's at the Corinthian, so bearing in mind the bar prices, there's a good (every) chance I'll be leaving asap after the meal and sloping off somewhere a bit cheaper.

'tis the season

Well the Crimbo season is upon as, and that means for some the annual binge/purge night out, when they go to the pub with colleagues from work that they normally wouldn't associate with, and after binging on so much booze that they either (a) fall into the "You're my best mate you are, I've always liked you" mode, or (b) they tell them exactly what they think of or (c) really screw up and tell the one person they have a wee crush on that they really fancy them, which might lead to a shag, or it might not, but either way will leave them waking up the next day thinking "I did WHAT?  With WHO?  OMG kill me now", before staggering out onto the street, where the next morning, the results of all the purging is there for all to see in the various shapes and sizes of pavement pizzas that can be found littering the streets.

If it's been a particularly chilly night, the pavements can resemble the frozen pizza aisle on Iceland or Farmfoods.  If it's been an afternoon bash, then you may be lucky enough to witness the local pigeons tucking into a warm meal of freshly boaked pavement pizza.

All of the above can be enjoyed best if you pace yourself with the booze while everyone else is throwing it down their necks like it's going out of fashion.

Is Blogger trying to tell me something?

After posting, I occasionally click on the "next blog" button on Blogger.  Now, either Blogger is trying to tell me something, or there's (excuse the pun) a hell of a lot of Christian blogs out there, because the hit rate for me landing on a "I live my life for Jesus" type blog is probably in excess of 50%.

Should I be worried about this or is this pretty standard?  Are the Christians out to save my soul without knowing if I need saving?  Who knows.

Here endeth the thought for today

Finally....

....set up the 360 and started playing Assassins Creed.  Ooooh nice :-)

Watch the birdie

Just found a roll of film in the cupboard.  Time to dig out the slr and head into Pollok park to get some photos old school style.  Will the tension be too much when I have to wait till I finish the roll, then get it developed, before I find out it the pics are shite or not?

Anyway, as I type this, I'm re-watching Bronson.  Too be honest it's a movie I didn't expect to like, but I absolutely love it.  It's totally theatrical, and not at all what I was expecting. (I thought it would be a bit more like A Sense of Freedom)

Fill your head with rock

On Thursday, I braved Hurricane Bawbag to go and see Bonafide at Stereo in Glasgow.  It was a great gig.  the venue was a basement with a cracking atmosphere.
Anyway, when the drummer threw his sticks out, I got one (first time in almost 30 years of gig going!).  When we were leaving, the band were at the merch stand, so I wandered over and got my ticket and the stick signed.

Signed Bonafide ticket and drumstick

When they get as big as AC/DC, that's my retirement sorted :-)

*ouch*

On Saturday, we went ice skating to Braehead.  I've only just started back after a gap of about 4 years.  I was getting seriously frustrated that I couldn't do things that I used to be able to do without thinking about it, and ended up going arse over tit and landing on my shoulder.  It's the first time I've ever gone on my arse skating!
Let me tell you, ice is hard.  My shoulder is still stiff and achey, and reaching for things just plain hurts.

On Saturday night we headed out for a really nice meal at Merrylee Road Bar and Kitchen.  First time we'd been there, but it won't be the last.  Really nice food in excellent surroundings.

Sunday we should have gone in-line skating, but ended up going to Linlithgow Palace instead.  For some strange reason, the gps took us home a different route to the one it took us out!
If you've never been, the palace in set in a really nice park with a small loch full of geese, swans, ducks and other aquatic birds.  The walk round the loch took about an hour.

Linlithgow Palace

New-old gaming

I just picked up an xbox 360 from a guy in work.  £50, so a bargin.  This opened up a whole world of "previously played" games in the game stores.  I currently raid them for PS2 and original xbox games, but hey, Assassins Creed for £7.99, and Gears of War will be added to that soon.
While I do go "ooooh" and "aaaah" at the ads for the new games (Skyrim is seriously floating my boat at the moment), the great advantage with being a couple of years behind everyone else, is I've still got all these games at my disposal for a fraction of the price.

I know Ed is desperate for me to get Dead Island, so I can help him kick zombie butt, but I really want a bit of good old fashioned adventure gaming*, so Assassins Creed will see me over the holidays I reckon.

(* I actually used to LOVE the old text only adventures on the speccy waaaay back in the day, so if anyone knows of anywhere I can play text only on the pc, pleas leave a comment)

Industrial action for the hard of thinking

On Wednesday if everything goes to plan, then the UK will grind to a halt as the result of a mass day of action by trade unions, in defence of pension rights and pay increases (among other things).  My division of the union I'm in wasn't balloted on the pension issue, as we're ok on that front, but we were balloted on action regarding a pay offer of less than 1/2%.

Bizzarely, the action was defeated 52%-48%.  Now, we are involved in action short of a strike, but I've just had the weirdest conversation with someone who isn't in a union, but thinks if you are, it's ok to pick and choose your battles.

Her argument goes along the lines of "I don't want to strike over the pay rise, so even if the union voted to strike, I wouldn't"
My counter was "But you're in the union.  They voted in favour of industrial action.  You're on strike"
Her "Not me.  I didn't vote for it"
Me "The union is democratic.  The majority voted for a strike, therefore it's a strike"
Her "That's not democracy.  If I don't want to strike, I won't"
Me "Fine. Resign from the union"
Her "I wan't to be in a union.  I wan't the protection it offers"
Me "Then you have to accept that you won't always agree with the majority, and just suck it up"
Her "No I don't.  That's not a democracy"

It's a circular argument.  She JUST DOESN'T GET IT.

I firmly believe that if you're a union member, then you abide by the majority decision as voted on by the members, and if you don't like it, get the hell out of Dodge.

Maybe I'm naive.

Nanananana Angus....

Just been to the AC/DC exhibition at the art galleries.  It's superb.  there's some incredible memorabilia, and some of the exhibits are actually quite moving (Bon Scott's jacket, some letters etc.)
After the exhibition, we headed to the Brew Dog pub, which I'd never been to before.  Excellent beer, and a really cool pub.  I'll definately check it out again in the future.

After the BrewDog, we went to the Three Judges for a pint.  We're now sorted for Crimbo, as we're heading over to theirs. I'll do dessert.

Other than that, not much been happening.

Zen and the art of movement

Karate last night was good.  It was a smaller class than usual as the national weekend course had been on at Largs at the weekend, and more than a few were suffering from aching legs.  I wasn't, but that was just because I hadn't gone to the course.

Anyway, they were concentrating a lot on things that were covered at the course, and concentrating on getting the body in.  A punch in itself doesn't have that much weight behind it.  But when it's you're body that's moving in to your opponent, and the fist is the last thing that comes into play, it's a hell of a lot more devastating than a punch from a moving arm alone.

We also covered moving towards a punch that's coming towards you, and how to deal with it.  This really goes against your natural instinct, which is to move back when someone tries to punch you, but it is really effective.  It also freaks the attacker out a bit as "that's not supposed to happen", and can cause them to pull the punch a bit, which is an added bonus.

Anyway, today my legs are a bit tired, as in a small class, there's nowhere to hide, so no slacking allowed :-)

w00t

Guy in work upgraded his xbox 360 from a 20G to a 250G with kinect. Sooo, he sold me his 20G machine for £50.  Result.
There's a brand new unused xbox Live headset as well.  Now, I know what games I fancy, but I just need to use a little sense and not run out and buy a shitload at one.  The plan is to work though Assassins Creed and Gears of War, with a little zombie action on the side.  Then, who knows.
All I have to do is see which of the original xbox games I have are still playable and then probably sell the original and the remaining games as a job lot and get my £50 back.  Failing that I need to finish the games that won't work on the new machine.
Either way, w00t!!!

St Andrews uni and the burning effigy

It's all over the press that Tory students at St Andrews Uni burned an effigy of Barak Obama, and are now being hounded as racists.  Lets take a deep breath here and without a knee-jerk reaction, consider if they actually are.
Now don't get me wrong, I can't stand the Tories, so anything that paints them in a bad light is fine by me, but come on, are they actually racist?

The burning of effigy's of people you have problems with has a long and noble tradition, especially in the middle east, where effigy's of political leaders (esp in recent times of George Bush) have been coming into contact with naked flames on a pretty regular basis.

Now, if the St Andrews students were burning the effigy "because he was black", then yes, they're racist scum. But if they were burning the effigy in protest at US policy's, then the skin colour is irrelevant, and they are not racist.  I may be a bit naive here, but Barak Obama isn't white, so if the dummy wasn't of a similar colour to the person it was meant to represent, no-one would know it was supposed to be the leader of the last remaining superpower.   Would they?

Politics is like football.  It causes way to much trouble and should be outlawed, but hey that's not going to happen, so how about a little bit of common sense and a bit less sensationalism from the press in reporting things like this.

Accusing the students of being racist when they're not, because the effigy they're burning happens to represent a black man is stoking the fires, and likely to cause actual race problems in the fallout.  Remember people.  If it was Bush or a white man in power, the effigy would have been white, and there would be no accusations of racism.

Let's all just use some common sense, which ironically doesn't appear to be that common.

Rediscovering bands

I don't know about anyone else, but my musical listening habits tend to be cyclic.  I listen to a wee group of bands for ages, then want to listed to something different, and move on.  Eventually I go full circle and end up back at the bands I've not listed to for ages (sometimes years).  And so it is that I'm currently on a King's X trip.

I first came across them when they supported Anthrax at the Barrowland in Glasgow, and my ex bought me Gretchen Goes to Nebraska, after seeing how blown away I was by them.  By the mid 90's my taste had shifted slightly (not always in a good way*), and King's x went on the back burner.  I recently downloaded XV, and was totally blown away.  From the opener Pray, all the way through, this is a superb album.  I've been going back and listening to the back catalogue again, and plugging the gaps in the collection (fortunately just a couple of studio albums.

If you like your rock music with a proggy (but not too proggy) edge, check them out if you haven't already.  They can rock out when they want to, Moanjam from Faith, Hope, Love is a case in point.

Click here and listen to Pray from the album XV.  Superb stuff.

Fandom and fanzines

It's been ages, so I think it's time to bung squeeze out another issue of Loose Stools (Glasgow SF zine.  Actually it's just 2 sides of A4).  I've also got an idea for a more general zine, covering SF/fandom/movies/music/shite.  I'm going to call it Die Fanboy Die!  Just because.
Cthulhu knows when I'll get round to it (over the Crimbo holidays maybe), but half the fun is in the planning.

Ye Olde Worlde Underground magazine

I've just discovered Alan Moore's wonderful Dodgem Logic.  It's an old school type underground magazine.
So far there's been eight issues published.  I've picked up the first two, and will get the rest of them soon.
Issue one came with a free cd celebrating 50 years of Northampton music.  It's an eclectic mix, so obviously all of it won't float everyone's boat, but overall it's a great cd.  Current favorite from it is "I can't show my face in that bar" by Gerald Claridge.

There's some bizzaro comic strips, recipes, and hints on guerrilla gardening.

If you've an open mind and like something a little bit different, then give it a look.

Zen and the art of aching thighs

For those that don't know, I do karate.  I'm attend two clubs, Caledonian Shotokai at the Caley Uni, and Waseda in the Whiteinch Community Centre.  Both clubs are part of the Shin-do Shotokai Association.  The Caley club is a Wednesday lunchtime, and Waseda is Thursday night.  Anyway, to get back on track, this week on Wednesday, we spent the majority of the class concentrating on proper stance, as it's easy to get sloppy, and if you do, you can't have a strong base.  The result was achey thighs, which after last night's class at Waseda, turned into VERY achey thighs.

I honestly don't think my legs were this achey after I ran the Edinburgh marathon a few years back !

Ach, it's all good though.

New anthology comic

Strip Magazine is a new anthology comic.  Issue 1 is just out.  Years ago I used to love Deadline, so I thought I'd give this a go.  For those of a certain age, it's reprinting Hook Jaw from Action comic from the 70's.  Has to be worth a peek even if it's just to relive a childhood memory.

Anyway, it's £2.99 a pop.

Oh joy

The boiler has gone into it's annual meltdown, and doesn't want to switch from heating to hot water.  The result is that it's bloody hot in the house, but there's no hot water.  We can get hot water if we let it trickle out the taps  , but it's not working properly.

This always seems to happen when this time of year.  It's a wee valve that gets jammed.  Fortunately we've a service contract. Unfortunately, it's going to be Wednesday before it'll be fixed, as that's the first day that one of us can be in the house to let them in.

Could be worse, at least we've got heating.

Everything louder than everything else

Yup, went to see Motorhead (again) on Saturday.  The support was a couple of old punk bands who've been doing the rounds for what must seem like eternity.  First up was the UK Subs, and then The Anti-Nowhere League.
I've got to admit to liking both when I was listening to punk, before I got into rock/metal, but I knew more ANL stuff than Subs stuff.  Still, UK Subs were good, but the League were really really good.  Motorhead of course, were superb as usual.

The rest of the weekend was taken up with doing some housework, some shopping at Silverburn, where coffee was partaken of, and a spot of feeding the ducks at Queens Park.  There's also swans and moorhens on the pond, so there's a bit of variety.

This is kind of cool

I found the following post on someone else's blog when I click on the "next blog" button on Blogger.  The person that posted it had come across it as a piece of graffiti in a bathroom.  It's kind of cool.

"People tend to forget that happiness is a state of mind, not a result of circumstance."

If this is Scotland's greatest album, we're screwed

Just checked the results for Scotland's Greatest Album and sorry, but what a crock.  Out of 12 tracks, the Proclaimers have 2, Rod Stewart IS NOT SCOTTISH, and neither are Snow Patrol.

The only good thing is they're remembered who Frankie Miller is, but come on, Caledonia?  He's been on the go for decades, and you pick a cover he did that was used in a lager commercial.  Words fail me.

Also, where's Alex Harvey?  A true Scottish legend if ever there was one, or Maggie Bell?

Seriously, what where the panel thinking?

Post lurgi post

So I'm feeling human again which is good, and I'm back at work (boo!).  During the lurgi phase I managed to catch up with some stuff that needed viewing.  In no particular order, I watched The Beach, Batman (Tim Burton version), The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Outpost, The Horde, and some episodes of Big Bang Theory

I also (finally) got round to reading Arkham Asylum (wtf!) seriously mental, but very very good.  dave McKean's artwork is superb.  I much prefer this to the artwork in Dark Knight Returns (see earlier post on this).  I also finished reading The Roil.  This was a terrific book, totally loved it, but it IS the first part of a trilogy and there in NO conclusion here, so don't go looking for one.  Saying that, it's an ending that leaves you wanting more, so that must be a good sign, right?

The Colour of Magic got a re-read in a little over a day.  That's some kind of record for me, I usually like to stretch books out for a bit, and I kind of feel that I sped read my way through this.  Still a good book no matter how many times I re-read it.

I'm now just about up to date enough that I can start a novel that a friend wrote.  The Elect is available from the Amazon kindle store.  Check it out, and give it a go.

So, that's me just about up to date.  Other than the fact that I'm going to veg for the rest of the week (work aside) and not go to skating or karate (I still need a bit of a rest after the lurgi), there's not much else to say at the moment.

This is too cool

Found this linked on Facebook.  It's too cool not to share.

Peanuts meets Cthulhu

Urgh, lurgi

Not been great since Friday.  Someone in work assumed I was hungover after a gig on Thursday, but I knew it wasn't a hangover.  I've got the lurgi.  Spent Satuday and Sunday in bed with a raging temperature, and a head full of mucus.  On Satuday I wasn't eating as I felt nauseous, and it was only last night I felt ok with food.

Still not back to normal, so I'm off work and doping myself up with lemsips.

The plus side to this is that I can veg out and watch The Beach (this is one of my "fall back" movies).  The weird thing is that Robert Carlisle's character is even freakier when you're running a temperature.

Lifestyle re-boot

Ok, I need to do a clear out.  Seriously, I need to get rid of stuff.  I buy new t-shirts with the intention of them replacing some that I have in a drawer, then never do the replacing part.  I could also do with downsizing the cd/dvd collection as well.  There's stuff I've bought because it was cheaper than renting at the time, and I've watched once and that's it.

I also need to stop snacking during the day.  It's not good, and I know it.  I don't have a weight problem or anything, but if I don't give it a rest, I'll NEED to diet. It's also a brutal waste of money.  Boredom eating sucks.

So basically my plan for a healthier happier me revolves round letting go of material stuff (after all it IS just "stuff") and eating better.  I've sort of started on the eating better with buying a tagine and cooking meals in that.
I get 3 to 4 meals if I just go by the quantities in the recipes, and with Karen not eating meat, it's all mine, so that's one to eat straight out the tagine, and 2 or 3 to freeze for later.  Result.
Here's one I made earlier.  Chicken with honey, onion, tomatoes and chickpeas. Mmmmmmh!

Nom!

Graphicy goodness

More comics stuff.

Last night I finished reading The Dark Knight returns.  The story is great (Frank Miller is great), but I'm still not sure about the art.  There's some of it I think is really cool, but some of it - specifically the mutants - I just don't like.  On the whole though it's good, and the since the story is great, it's well worth a read.  It's not my favourite Batman book though, that still has to be The Killing Joke, but I've still got Arkham Asylum sitting waiting to be read, so we'll have to wait and see.

I've still got a pile of Walking Dead books that Ed gave me a loan of, that needs my attention, and I think both the Luther Arkwright books are in need of a re-read.

Weekend stuff

On Friday, there was the Rock Radio Farewell gig at the Cathouse.  That was in the previous post, so I won't go over it again.

Saturday, we hit Silverburn, where we did a bit of shopping and had a bit of a wander, before going over to visit Simon & Wendy.

Yesterday, was in-line skating again which was fun, after which, K went round the shops and I went for a pint or two in Lauders :-).  Back at the house, we watched Daybreakers, which was a pretty decent take on the vampire myth.

Lunch. Lauders style.

Rock Radio Farewell tour

Friday night was the Rock Radio farewell gig.  The 3 dj's who have been sacked as part of the corporate makeover where there, along with the Legend that is Tom Russell.  It was a great night, with three bands, and lots of crazieness onstage.

So Bye to Donald, Billy and (the biggest nutter to grace the airwaves) Ted.  It's been fun, and Ted, cheers for the namecheck on your final show, that was cool man.

Anyway, got to meet the Legend that is Tom Russell.  Pictorial evidence as well.

Thank you DC...

...for re-booting your universe.  I'm now collecting comics again, and it's all your fault :D
I'm now a card carrying standing order owning customer at FP instead of just a customer.  The really cool thing is that I got standing order number 6.  "I am not a number, I am a standing order!"

For those of a geeky nature, I'm breaking myself in gently with only three titles.  Detective Comics (Batman), Action Comics (Superman) and finally, a title I used to buy intermittently waaaay back in the day, Swamp Thing.

*happy dance*

Wheelie good

Apart from one (I think) post before I'd tried it, I mentioned I was going inline skating.  I've been going twice a week now for about three weeks, and I'm loving it.  Last night was good, as some of the ice skating stuff I could do is coming back to me and I'm slowly getting them on the inline skates.  Specifically forward crossovers, and mohawks (forwards to backwards, not the other way round. Yet.).  I also tried and managed a spin stop.  It might have been a tad wobbly, but it did what it was meant to and I didn't fall, so I don't care that it wasn't graceful or cool looking, I'm claiming it as a success.

The only problem is that now I've got these fun new skills, the weather is conspiring to keep me indoors, and not try them outside.  I mean Largs seafront must be perfect for skating this time of year.  Well, as long as the wind stays away and doesn't (a) blow me into the sea or (b) blow the sea onto the prom.
On second thoughts.....

Grumpy old man

Don't know what's up, but yesterday (and to a lesser extent today) I've been grumpy as f*ck.  I was feeling run down yesterday and seriously couldn't be arsed.  People in work got my hackles up just by walking into the room.  It didn't help that I had to spend half a day chasing students out of a room that had signs saying "Room closed, NO ENTRY", and that was basically a building site!   I mean seriously, would you walk past a no entry sign into a building site to look for a stapler.  Colour me confused, but I thought university students were supposed to be intelligent.  Maybe it's just the department I work in, who knows.

By the time I had finished work I had a hell of a headache.  Whether this was down to chasing students out the building site, or down to lack of caffine I don't know.  Either way, I went for a nice de-stressing pint before heading home, where I watched someone more stressed than me on tv (Gordon Ramsey on Hells Kitchen).

Today I don't feel stressed, but I am full of that "can't be arsed" feeling.  Think I need to win the lottery and get the hell outa Dodge.

Weekend stuff

Firstly the ceilidh.  It was ok, but just ok.  The band seemed to have changed line-up, and there was no guitar/bass, but there was a keyboard, manned by one very enthusiastic band member.  It sounded sort of cheesey.  Not great.
Think next time we'll try the one at Sloans.

Saturday, I FINALLY got round to watching Resident Evil: Afterlife.  It was worth the wait.  Pretty fun movie.
Later we headed into town so K could do the shake plate, while I went for a pint and excercised my drinking arm. Later we went to Exotic India in Renfrew for a curry, which was excellent and I highly recommend them. Back home we watched Vertigo.

Yesterday, we picked up Robbie and went to Costco and Tesco so he could do a bit of shopping.  When we got back to the house we vegged out and watched The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, which was good fun.

And that, as they say, was that.

Wee video camera

Well the credit card bill came in, and the wee cheapo video camera I picked up to play about with on holiday was a pleasing £34 thanks to the exchange rate.  If I find I'm playing with it on a regular basis, I'll put my hand in my pocket and invest in a decent one, but at the moment, this wee toy is fine to experiment with.

I'm really looking forward to Friday night, as we're off to a ceilidh, so it'll be time to dig the kilt out and have a wee swoosh round the dancefloor. (Kilts "swoosh" apparently).  Anyway, should be fun, there's 5 (maybe 7) of us going, so it'll be a good night.

Hectic social life ahead

You go for long enough without any gigs/nights out, and then they all come at once.

This Friday I've got a ceilidh at the Renfrew Ferry, Saturday we're off out for a curry, next Friday, it's the Rock Radio farewell bash, at the end of the month it's Whole Lotta Led.
Next month, on the 5th, it's Motorhead, and on the 30th it's the Quireboys.
Throw in a night at the theatre, and 2 SF meet-ups a month, and a day course at karate, and that's me socially for the next couple of months.

I may need a holiday to recover.

In the meantime, things at work are still trundling on.  There's been no resolution to the change to the ordering system, that actually sets us back about 3 years.  The resource room that we fought for years to get has, of today, ceased to be, and I've spent most of today binning stuff.

On the plus side, I'm now helping out with some sample testing for the RICH centre, or at least I will be when they get the samples in, so that's going to be good.  I'm looking forward to it.  The PILLS project is starting to wind down, or at least the sampling part is, so I'll be involved less now, as it's now over to the lab for analysis.

I'll be needing a holiday soon at this rate.....oh, wait, I've just had one. (arty pic below)

Back from holiday...

...to droppage from Amazon. French zombie flick Horde, Big Bang Theory Season 4, and a box set of classic 50's SF B movie gems (including Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Tarantula and This Island Earth).  These wee gems should keep me going for a bit :-)

Things in work are getting....interesting.  Some things changing for the better, but with the merger, there's also been a decided step back in a certain area, pretty much because that's the way some people have "always done it", and they don't seem to want to get up to date with the everyone else.  But hey, it's makes my life easier, even if it creates more work for others.

Currently rocking out to.....

Alex Harvey live at the BBC. And rather excellent it is too.

This post was brought to you by "Currently rocking out to..."

Ignorant arse

Got off the train this morning, and when I was walking across the concourse, a guy in front of me just blatantly stopped reading his Metro, and dropped it on the concourse.  I hat idiots like this.  Where the hell were the litter wardens with their £50 fines?   Too busy fining women who's kids in a pushchair have spilt a pack of crisps on the ground (I HAVE seen this happen on more than one occasion).

Aaaargh.

Monsters

Yesterday, after an in-line skating session (fun fun fun), we stuck on the latest movie from LoveFilm, Monsters. It's brilliant.  A sort of SF road movie.  NASA probe crashes with samples of alien life, which then grow, resulting in what's called the "Infected Zone", a huge swathe of land between America and Mexico, which is pretty much a no-go area.

Cue rich American girl who's father is determined that she's getting home, and who tells a photographer who works for his magazine, to make sure she gets home safe.  After missing the last ferry of the season to leave for the US, and having their passports stolen, the only option left is to travel overland through the Infected Zone.

It's a cool movie, and there's a quite touching scene when two of the creatures encounter each other at a gas station our couple are sheltering in.

Monsters is genuinely different to other movies, and is well worth checking out.

Dammit...

.....I'm knackered.  TFIF :D

Plan for tonight - laze in front of telly.
Plan for tomorrow - take Rosie to vet to get weighed.  Grand Ole Opry at night
Sunday - in-line skating.

But for now, I'm outa here.

WIDATW

Friday after work, fellow zombie nut Ed came over to drop off a stack of dvds he'd borrowed.  Think he might have pulled a girl at work, as she was constantly texting him.  He's worse than me at picking up on signs.

On Saturday morning, there was an extra karate class which was good fun.  Especially as there was bo and jo staffs involved, and we were going over basai dai, which is a kata I've just started learning.  So there was plenty to take in.  Really need to pick up staffs for me and K.

On Sunday, we went in-line skating.  There's a class at the gym at my work on a Sunday morning, and it was a blast.  The instructor managed to get me to do things that I couldn't do when I was ice skating, so I was really chuffed.

Good fun weekend.  Only two weeks now till the holiday :-)

That was awesome

As you may or may not know, I'm a huge horror fan.  I'm especially a fan of all things Lovecraftian and zombie.  For a fan of zombies, the last week and a bit has been amazing, as I was working as an extra on WWZ.  The experience of spending a week working on a film was incredible, but the cherry on the cake was the fact it was not only a horror, but a zombie flick.

I'm so happy I got the oppertunity, and I'm gutted it's over.  I'm also relieved it's over, as I don't have to get up at 5am every morning now, so there's a silver lining.

Really looking forward to seeing the movie when it comes out.

Plugging the gaps in the dvd collection

Got given a gift card for HMV, so at lunchtime, I picked up a couple of movies I've meant to get for some time.  The latest Romero zombie flick, Survival of the Dead, the latest Resident Evil, Afterlife, and one I missed at the cinema, Scott Pilgrim.  That should keep me going for a bit.

Sunshine

I know a lot of people hate this movie, but me, well, I love it.  I don't really care about the dodgy science that everyone goes on about, I just really enjoy this film.  It looks good and it's a good story.

I was supposed to be doing something else today but it's been delayed, so it's sunshine, then lunchtime karate for me.

My take on the London riots

Ok, there was an interview with one of the rioters on tv this morning.  It's easy to assume from the way he was talking that he's not exactly educated, so he probably didn't attend school, so got no qualifications, so can't get a job, so has no money.  Now, ultimately this is HIS fault, but does he see that?  Like hell, it's the government's fault.  It's them to blame for his total unemployability.
Cause and effect.  You thought it was fun to arse about in school, and now you've no job/cash, but it's "society's" fault?  That's the level of genius that's rioting.

And another thing, how does burning down houses in the area you live in help your social situation?

Arsewipes the lot of them.  This is not a politically motivated riot.  This is a mob jumping on the bandwagon of a protest at a man being shot, and using their "anger" to loot shops.  They couldn't care less about the guy who died, all they care about is the nicking the biggest plasma in the shop.

What have I been up to lately?

Well, I went to the costume fitting and didn't have to buy any new t-shirts or anything for it, so that was good.  Other than that, I'm off to see Maiden Scotland only a couple of weeks after seeing Iron Maiden.  One month the real band, the next, the best tribute doing the rounds.

We've got a holiday booked for next month, so I can't wait for that, and there's a karate course this Saturday, which should mean I'm suitably knackered before heading out to the Maiden Scotland gig.

I'm really getting into reading on the kindle, it's possibly the best gadget I've got.  So far I've bought River of Gods by Ian McDonald, World War Z by Max Brooks, and a few ARCs from Angry Robot.  So, that should keep me going for a bit.

The long term plan is to fill the kindle with all the Pratchett books, as every time I've had to have a clear out, it's the Pratchett books that have gone.  This was basically because I don't think there's any danger of them EVER going out of print, making them the easiest to replace.

WWZ

So, I've got an email with a list of colours of clothes to take along to the WWZ fitting tomorrow.  No white, no black and no large logos.  Can you tell I'll pretty much stuffed then.  I pretty much live in black tour shirts.

Oh well, maybe a wee trip to ASDA for a couple of cheap tshirts.

Kindle update

I got my replacement Kindle yesterday, and OMG what a cool piece of kit.  Never again will I have to have a book clearout as I don't have shelf space.

I don't think it's going to stop me ever buying another dead tree book, but the vast majority of my purchase will now be ebooks.

Corporate buzz words

Is it just me?  Am I weird?  I HATE corporate buzz words.  You know the kind of thing, "are we all up to speed?" or "think outside the box", phrases that actually mean nothing, and are usually said by people trying to sound important.

Well, I just heard one that nearly gave me the boak.  "touch bases".  Seriously, wtf!  It's crap.  Say what you mean.  Say "get together and discuss this" not "We should touch bases".  Do you have any idea just how wanky that sounds?

Aaaaargh!

Dead kindle

Yesterday, the Kindle K bought me for my birthday arrived, and it's dead.  It charges, the laptop can see the contents, but the screen is not working.  3 calls to Amazon's Kindle support (which is on an 0800 number, so well done Amazon), and various attempts at kickstarting the bugger, all with no success.  They're sending out a replacement today, and the gubbed one is going back by courier tomorrow.

I'm pretty impressed with the tech support, and the speed of the replacement process (it should arrive within 2 days), but K is a bit peeved that her pressie didn't work.  It's electronics, it can't be helped.

Cycling rant (pt2)

A while back I did a wee rant about the state of the roads in Glasgow being a danger to cyclists, and that the money the council spends promoting cycling was basically being pissed up against the wall, as people would be reluctant to take up cycling considering the state of the roads. Well, here's part 2, which justifies my initial rant.

Someone I know in work who also cycles in daily, and is in fact cycling daft (his idea if a relaxing weekend usually involves about 60 miles on the bike).  On Sunday he was out on a bike run with another work mate, and on the way back into Glasgow, coming down the Switchback, his front wheel hit a pothole.  He went over the bars, hitting the other cyclist, who somehow managed to stay on his bike.  Being clipped in, when he went over the bars, the bike came with him.  He's now in the hospital with a double skull fracture.

The guy who was with him thought he was a gonner, as he was making a "death rattle" sound in his throat.  Fortunately, he's still alive.

After accompanying him to the hospital, his mate headed back up to the site of the accident to take a photo of the pothole, but guess what, it had been filled in.  Funny that.  The police apparently have photos though, as if he had died they would have been needed for a fatal accident inquiry.

Just shows, someone is almost killed and the pothole gets filled just like that.  Would it have been filled if he hadn't crashed on Sunday?  Call me cynical, but I doubt it.

Weekend stuff

Well, on Friday after work me, Fi & Pete, headed for a pint after work for a couple of drinks.
On Saturday, me and K headed over to Silverburn for a bit, then pretty much spent the rest of the day vegging in the garden and getting slightly sunburnt.

Today, we went to Saltcoats, which I've not been to since I was a kid.  The town was pretty much closed, with only a couple of shops open (hey, it was Sunday), and the odd pub (we hit Weatherspoons, as they were having a cider festival).  We also took in a walk along the beach and grabbed an ice cream.  The beach and the seafront are really nice, but it's not got as much to do as Troon, and there's the feeling that it's been allowed to run down a bit.

 Sunny Saltcoats

 Karen on the beach

 Arty shot of shadow and toe

 On the beach

 Obligatory self portrait

 Wish you were here

 Man and double nougat in perfect harmony

Screeeeaam for me Glasgow

And lo, Glasgow DID scream for him.  Yes, Bruce, Janick, Adrian, Dave, Nico and (last but not least) Steve totally blew the roof off the SECC last night.  There was a decent mix of the new album and some total classics, so that should have kept everyone happy.  The new stuff actually works really well live.

Yeah, that was an awesome gig.

Update thingy

So, after a hectic weekend involving a ceilidh, my wedding anniversary, and a friends daughters' wedding, followed by a bank holiday to recover, only we spent it gutting the house, I finally got to veg last night.  The only problem being, that vegging meant missing the Queensryche/Judas Priest gig at the SEC.  Ah well.....

Anyway, tonight it's the Maiden gig at the SEC, and it'll be Karen's first time seeing them.  Should be a good one, Airbourne are supporting.

Wedding bells.

Just back from the wedding, and what a do it was.  The food was good the drink was good, the venue was excellent.  Oh sod it, here's some pics.

The happy couple

Man with a pint

Me and Karen

Yeah, great night, and all the best to Tegan and James.

The weekend so far

Ok, the ceilidh has been ticked off, and yesterday we went through to Stirling and had a really nice meal and spent the night in a hotel in Stirling for our anniversary.  This morning we had breakfast, checked out, and we're now at home, feeding the cats before we get changed and head out to a wedding this afternoon.

Phew!

And the winner is......

....me.  Not the lottery you understand, that would be asking too much, but I have won tickets to a ceilidh this coming Friday.  Now, I've got a wedding to go to on Sunday, and I'll be wearing my kilt.  The question is this.  Do I wear it to the ceilidh, and hope there's no spillage, or do I just wear jeans?

Dear reader(s) I await your answers.

Weird dreams

Last night I had a really weird dream.  Even weirder for me in that no zombies were involved.  Anyway, me, Karen and K's pal Liz were driving round Scotland visiting wee touristy villages that reeked of Wicker Man type in-breeding.  Anyway, they were populated by serious oddballs, and even though it was summer, there was serious snow on parts of the roads, and some of the roads were at 45 degree angles, so the car risked rolling over as you drove along.

We were just about to buy more tartan tat, when I woke up !  That's what you call a close call.  Give me the dreams where I'm armed to the teeth fighting off hordes of zombies.  That's much less scary.

Braiiiiiiiinssssss

World War Z is going to start filming in Glasgow next month.  It's based on the Max Brooks book of the same name, and is starring Brad Pitt.  Today there was a casting for extras, in Glasgow, and I took myself along.  Hey, it's a zombie movie and it pays £130 a day!

Anyway, I should find out in a couple of weeks if I'm getting a part.  That would be so cool :-)

Venue reunion

On Friday night I headed over to Ivory Blacks for the Venue Reunion.  The Venue was a rock club up Suchiehall St in what is now called G2, behind the Garage.  Robert Fields who was the dj at The Venue, organised the reunion, and what a night it was.  There was people I haven't seen in about 20 years. The night was a complete blast form the past, with no post 1992 songs getting played.  This resulted in a load of classics getting an airing.

In the tradition of the old club, there was a band on as well, who were pretty decent.  The only thing missing was the old sticky carpet that was in the old club.

some of the old gang back together

me and Karen at the reunion

Cliff, Scott and me

There's going to be another in December.  If it's half as good as Friday was, it's going to be a belter.

Run away and join the circus

Or, what I did at the weekend.

On Saturday, we just went for a bit of a wander round Silverburn.  I had to go into an opticians, as I'd managed to sit on the glasses I use to see (as opposed to the ones I use to read), and bent the shit out of one of the legs.  A big thank you to Vision Express, who fixed them, even though I'd not got the glasses there, and didn't charge me, but instead said that a donation to their charity jar would be payment enough.
Excellent service, that would actually make me consider using them the next time I need glasses.  Well done.

On Saturday evening, we headed over to Paisley to see the Moscow State Circus.  It's the third time we've seen them, and they always put on an excellent show.

Sunday saw me back at the climbing wall, where despite saying I'd not been in three weeks, and was going to take it easy, Al had me climbing routes that were almost at the limit of my ability.  I was helped in my endeavours by some encouragement from Jen, which went along the lines of "Climb bitch!".  Hey, it worked.

Sunday afternoon saw me and Karen taking a wee run down to Port Glasgow to visit Newark Castle, which would be in a really picturesque setting by the Clyde, if it wasn't for the shipyard right next to it.  Nevermind, it's a great wee castle, which is actually two castles built at two different times, one an extension the other.  This can be seen clearly in the different architectural styles.

Back home, and the weekend was brought to a close with a beer and a viewing of the totally awesome Paul.  If you haven't seen it, see it.  Embrace your inner geek.

Bike week and rain

Well, this is bike week in Glasgow, with the council hosting various events to try and get the average weegie off their arse and on a bike.  To be honest, the converted already have, and I wonder just how many people actually take up cycling after this annual bike-a-thon.  Those that do, probably give up after they realise just how potholed the city's streets are.

Anyway, true to form, it's bucketing down this week.  There's a gazebo being set up (tomorrow I think) to give out a free breakie to passing cyclists.  If the weather is anything like last year, I won't be stopping, as I'll be trying to get get to work asap to get a shower and dry off.

Anyway, that's the cynical rant over.  Anything that raises awareness of cycling is good in my book, but for once, could the rain just kindly f*** off?  Pretty please?

Back from Rennes

Last week I spent four days in Rennes for work.  Ok, it was one day travelling either end, and two days of meetings, but it was a good trip.

Day one saw an early start as the plane to Paris left at 0845.  Once at Charles de Gaul, it was down to the station to collect out tickets, the just barely time to grab a snack before jumping on the train for the three hour journey to Rennes.  Once there, a 5 minute metro ride and a 10 minute walk saw us in the hotel, where we dumped the bags and headed into town for a snack and a beer.

some French sausage with a sneaky beer peeking in at the top.

The next two days were full of meetings, but the company hosting them did take us out for dinner both nights. The first was to a creperie where the main courses where all made using black wheat (buckwheat) and the local speciality drink was Breton Cidre.  Very nice.

The second day, after all the meetings, dinner was at a seafood place, which fortunately for me, had steak as well.  Really nice dinner, then some of us headed into the wee square for a couple of drinks.  In reality, this resulted in leaving the pub at 1.00am, and not getting to bed till about 2.00am, the intenvening time being taken up with finishing our drinks in the square (the bars gave out plastic tumblers for people who hadn't finished) and taking about 80's thrash bands with one of the Irish contingent.  Bizzare but fun.

the wee square with the eateries and bars

Curry cravings

Lunchtime today I could have absolutely murdered for a curry, so off I trotted to the refectory, which I have to say, does actually do a good curry for a little over £2.  When I got there, horror of horrors.  There was no curry on today.  So, I've eaten, but am still craving that spicy goodness.

There's only one thing for it.  Curry for dinner.  Then I have to pack for France.  Can't leave it any later, I fly out tomorrow morning.

Must be a blue moon, here's an update

Yes, I've been a bit lax in the update department of late, but here we go.

Last weekend we were planning on visiting a Historic Scotland site, but that was knocked on the head when I couldn't find my membership card.  One phonecall and one day later, and I had my replacement.  Hat's off to Historic Scotland's customer service, it was outstanding.

This weekend, we took a wander to the Glasgow Panopticon where they were having a craft fair.  Chocolate fudge and home made soaps were bought.  The fudge was excellent.  The patchulli (sp) soap smells incredible.  We also discovered that the people who made and sold the soaps, were rat parents.  Until my dad died, we had kept rats for about 8 years. (We had to stop after he died, as he was out rat sitter when we went on holiday).

Sunday, I went for a wee bouldering session at the climbing wall, but it was short and sweet, as I was knackered after about 6 problems, and half an hour.  The rest of the day was a lazy veg out affair, with The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Loved Ones (an Aussie horror) being the movies of the day.

Not enough time in the day

Seriously, there isn't.
I've got an idea for a short story that I want to write and send in to the BFS, who will (of course) fall over themselves to print it, seeing as it's wonderful and all, but I can't find the time to sit down and put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard).  I know, I could be typing it up instead of typing this, but then my non-existant followers would have no idea that I was actually a writer. (ok, not having put pen to paper, technically I'm not, but you get my drift).

There's also a pile of the last five issues of New Scientist sitting in front of me that I promise, I WILL get round to reading - preferably before the next issue comes out!

Then there's all the other stuff, and I still have to find time to eat and sleep.

Oh well there's always the next life......

Saxon

Went to see Saxon at the ABC last night, and what a gig.  A great mix of old and new songs, and when you've been on the go as long as they have, that's a hell of a lot of songs to choose from.

Met some old friends that I haven't seen in years, which was pretty cool.

Here's a wee pic of Biff in action.

This weekend

Tomorrow we're off through to Edinburgh for the day.  The plan is hit Edinburgh early and go to the independence march/rally, then hit the castle, grab a late lunch in the Thai place we like, and then we're off on a ghost tour at 5.30.

Somewhere in among all that, there should be beer, and then it's back to Glasgow.

The only downside to this is that there's a karate course that I'm going to miss tomorrow. Ah well, can't have everything.

Weekend bargins

I didn't plan to buy anything, but then again, I never do when I go into charity shops, I just go in for a browse.  Anyway, this time round, I came out with the 3 core Rolemaster rulebooks (£1.99 each) and a Moorcock book that I didn't have (£2.49).

That's a result and also shows remarkable restraint, as there was a couple of Poppy Z Brite books I could have bought as well.

*swoosh*

*swoosh* - the sound of a kilt in full flight.

The ceilidh on Friday was a blast.  I was thoroughly knackered and a tad dehydrated the next day, and not because of  an over-indulgence, no, because I danced my arse off :-)  Yup, a great night was had by all.  I'll definately make a point of going there again.

And the winner is......

Me.

I've just won four tickets to a ceilidh on Friday night.  So I'm guessing there will be a little bit of pain on Saturday, especially if the strip the willow is particularly energetic.  The kilt might get an airing, we'll see, so Glasgow beware, the knees could be on display.

Disorganisation

Aaaargh!!!!  If you are in charge of running a project, and you are the one responsible for organising a rota, PLEASE make sure you stick to the rota that YOU have come up with and don't email the next day asking to swap dates because there "might be a meeting you probably should attend".  How vague is that?  Seriously, I've other stuff to do other than fit round your inability to avoid double booking yourself.  Especially when the rota is obviously designed round your childcare.

If you choose to have kids, don't expect the childless not to have anything else to do other than cover for you.

Rant over.

5a+ ? I think not

Was down at the climbing wall last night where there was a completely evil route that was graded at 5a+.  Everyone that tried was struggling/failing/cheating to get up.  Basically there were very few holds, and the only way you could get up was bridging between two walls, smearing, and (pretty much) swearing under your breath.
It was fun to fail on this, because it was just so different.  I know I won't get up it (despite regularly nailing 6a's and even the odd 6b), but I totally want to keep giving this one a go.

I also discovered that going climbing after going to a knackering karate class, possibly isn't the wisest thing to do.  Especially if you want to push yourself at the climbing.

Is it spring again yet?

Well the snow of yesterday has gone (thankfully), so I can get back on the bike tomorrow hopefully - karate today, so I have a bag of gear to lug in/take home.

Got a table booked at a tapas place for Saturday, so that should be good.  Got a voucher for £30 worth of tapas.  Between two of us, that's probably not as much as it sounds.  We'll see.

With the Middle East in an uproar, and the disaster in Japan, I'm frankly surprised that the end-of-the-world prophets haven't reared their ugly heads.  Thankfully they haven't, the last thing we need is sandwich board carrying religious zealots claim "the end is nigh" and using these incidents as examples of "the sins of man".  I say I'm surprised, but that's because they're not usually this slow off the mark.

FFS!

It's snowing again in Glasgow.  Thought we'd seen the last of this !

Bit windy

It's a tad blustery today, with gale force winds doing their best to ruin the hairdo's of pensioners throughout Glasgow.  It 's also ruined my cycling to work, as there's not a snowball's chance in hell that I'm cycling in this weather.  A death wish I do not have.

Planning to go see The Big Sleep after work.  Never seen it before.

That week flew in (literally)

Well, last weekend, I should have been down in Coventry at Redemption, but due to the car needing replaced and a few other unexpected expenses, I'd had to cancel it, but never fear thought I, as Frightfest is on in Glasgow, EXCEPT, the friends who said they'd go bailed, so I didn't either.
Actually it was a good thing, as I ended up floored with snot for 48 hours over Sunday and Monday, so would have spent most of Redemption/Frightfest sneezing like a deranged loon, so I suppose it was fortunate that I had to cancel.

Last Thursday, I headed over to another karate club.  This is the one we go to for day courses.  K decided that she fancied trying it too, and came along.  I got a good session, and she got a one to one introduction from one of the instructors, and loved it, so it's back over there again tonight.  While I sort of enjoyed getting my Friday night back when the instructor taking over the work club could only do the Wednesday, but I really need to do two practices a week (at least).

Other than that, I've got The Stranglers to go and see on Saturday.  Should be good.

last night - karate practice

Well, I avoided the booze as a stress relief, and headed to karate instead.  Brilliant practice.  Stevie and Pat are great to train with, and since me and K were the only non black belts (last night was K's first time), then she got a one to one with one instructor, while I joined in the main practice, and got lots of good advice.

Definately going to keep going to the two clubs.

karate practice

Was at the lunchtime karate practice yesterday.  I really need to do two practices at week (at least), so with that in mind, I'm off to Pat's club in Whiteinch tonight.  Karen is supposedly coming along too, as she fancies seeing if she likes it.  I think she will.

I'm just back from lunch with my mum, which as usual is exhausting, as she talks talks talks.  It's either karate or drink.  I need some stress relief.

Can I go back to bed please?

Woke up this morning about 5:20am totally wide awake.  This wasn't good, as the alarm doesn't go off until 6:30am and I wasn't about to get up and sit around for an extra hour just because I woke up, so I forced myself to roll over and go back to sleep.
One hour later, I'm in the middle of a deep sleep, and a dream involving skateboards, waste water samplers, and cycling during a marathon (the details are hazy and fading fast), when the alarm goes off, and I have to get up, except now, I'm shattered.  I'm in work and on my second coffee, but it doesn't seem to be helping much.

Motivational issues

Struggling to get motivated today, which considering that I've been busy this morning, is a bit of a contradiction.  Basically, I'm getting through the stuff that needs done, but without any enthusiasm for it.  Think I'm still a bit knackered mentally, after yesterdays' jaunt to the borders and back.  Four hours driving is a bit meh to be honest.

Never mind, got a lunchtime karate class, so hopefully, that'll wake me up a bit.

Theatrical goodness

Last night we went to see The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Heart, by the National Theatre of Scotland, at the Tron in Glasgow.  It was excellent.  A story staged in a bar, about a lock in, or what happens after a lock in, in Kelso in the Borders.  It's also about the folkloric traditions, and is just brilliant.

It's touring now, and there's a wee trailer for it as well.  If you get a chance to check it out, I highly recommend you do.

9.00 for 9.30am

Had a 9.00am dentists appointment this morning.  I should know better, as I've never known my dentist to actually be in on time, but there I was half an hour later waiting for him to show up.  As it was, it was in, look, and out, with nothing needing done.  These are the type of dental appointments I like, even if he does turn up half an hour late.

Quiet weekend

Didn't get up to much this weekend.  Did a bit of a clear-out in the spare room and the shed.  Took a fair bit down to the recycling center.  Virtually nothing ended up in the bin.

On Sunday, we did a wee bit of a shop, and went to see the new film directed by Clint Eastwood - Hereafter.  Well worth a look.

Thinking about entering the BFS short story competition again. Entered last year for the first time, on a whim, and this time I've a wee ghost story that's been itching to get put on paper, running round my head.  I've started jotting it down already, so I think getting it typed up and sorted out might be an idea.  We'll see.

Comics re-visited

Picked up a couple of new comic titles this week.  Firstly, Daredevil: Reborn, a four part mini-series.  I never usually went in for supes, but DD was one of the few I occasionally read.  Ironically I love superhero movies, including the X-Men movies.

The other is called Scarlet, and is awesome.  Think female Punisher, without the costume, and going up against a corrupt system, and you're sort of almost there.  It's damn good.

Check them out, especially Scarlet.