Wednesday, June 25, 2008

"I want you all to know, I mean this breast satirically."

Coupling DVDs should be available on the NHS. Managed to cheer me up last night. Must get round to getting more than just the first series though....

Last few days have been tough. Not helped by Daddy having missed some happy pills while larping and going back on them on Monday - side effects seem to have hit him harder than usual. And the email from my supervisor asking how writing up is going - I just feel like curling up into a ball and crying. Chapters? WTF does he think I've been doing for the last few months? Working?

Was going to ramble about gaming, Doctor Who and stuff but now I really don't feel like it. Don;t know what I'm going to do. Don't want to be a burden on daddy and the terror but can't seem to look after them properly either.

While writing this I listened to: Lovely Rita - The Beatles, Confusion - The Zutons, Into Temptation - Crowded House

Friday, June 20, 2008

In which I comment on that which I have read

Yesterday:
Comics day. Nothing much to say about 200AD or Angel. X-Factor was good if slightly downbeat. Still missing Layla Miller - Jamie-imagination-Layla just isn't the same. Also got the long-awaited Astonishing X-men vol 4: Unstoppable and Gaiman's take on Eternals. Both were quite amazingly good. That bastard Whedon can always make me cry. And dear lord but I'd forgotten how good Gaiman's comics could be.

This morning:
News from New Scientist. Apparently "organic" pigs raised outdoors and not given antibiotics are exposed to more pathogens than those raised indoors and routinely fed antibiotics. Go figure! We did invent soap for a reason after all. Of course, overuse of antibiotics leads to resistant bacteria and therefore is a definite risk to human health, whereas I'm fairly sure Salmonella poisoning can be avoided by good hygiene and adequate cooking. And happier, healthier animals are better from an ethical standpoint. But I'm not sure why anyone would think "better for pigs" would equal "better for people eating them". Which is why I'm always a bit dubious about some of organic farming proponents claims.
Speaking of dubious claims, two authors have offered £10,000 to anyone who can prove homeopathy works, in proper clinical trials of course. "We certainly have nothing to prove," said one spokeman. Couldn't agree more.
And finally, what all the geek guys have known for years: bad boys get the girls. Personally, I rarely fall for the classic "bad boy" and never did see why women fall over James Bond, say. Guess that's why I'm engaged to a geek and all-round nice man.

On the way into work:
Yes, I know the path isn't wide enough to fit in the "S" but seeing
CYCLIST
SLOW
DOWN
on the ground always gives me pause for thought. How does the cyclist know the message is meant for him/her and not all the others?

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Overcoming internet shyness

One post at a time.









Still hurts like hell though. :(

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Molto bene!

Wow....Midnight was a bit good wasn't it? Moffat level of goodness in fact. And people say RTD can't write, huh? Best episode of the series so far - I foresee a Hugo nomination in the future.

Ok, rest of weekend. Well, Daddy was off "in Derby fighting monsters" so various friends helped out in keeping the Terror and me occupied. There were some tantrums of course, but mostly I was good. He missed his Daddy terribly and picked out his own card and present for Father's Day. We survived. Next weekend is Moot 2, so we have to do it all over again - only without T who will also be going for his first taste of larping. All this of course is just making me look forward even more to the Gathering in August. Can. Not. Wait.

Before then though we have to continue trying to get the Terror ready for school (manage toilet on own, get used to cutting up own food, get dressed on own, get up in time etc) and we're about to start a Weapons of the Gods game - with Daddy GMing not me! So less stress for me, more for him. We've just finished making our characters - in an unusual move we only have one fighter...and two cooks. Should be interesting....

Mostly of course, I am writing this in order to avoid work. And the consequential depression. Sooner or later I suppose I'll have to have another go. Or I could take up writing short stories again....

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

How not to respond to a vaguely positive review

In the latest issue of SFX, the woefully underpaid Dave Golder wrote some short reviews of Doctor Who podcasts, one of which was the Dr Who Bathroom Reader.

Someone was not impressed.

I think my favourite bit was how he edited Dave's post to extract the demanded apology and then accepted it. That was good.

To further entertain us, Mr drwhobathroomreader posted this announcement before going on to start a thread apparently about feminism although it's hard to tell now as he edited his original post and repeatedly demanded the thead be closed.

To top it all off he (sorry, his "legal team") invited SFX editor Dave Bradley to take part in his podcast, not by emailing him and arranging a suitable time for both of them of course, but by posting again on the forum. Suprisingly, he hasn't requested this thread be closed yet...