Fables and Reflections

Hello, strangers.

2006-01-27T15:20:06Z

Help, I seem to have fallen off the face of the internet. ;)

(Everything is alright, nothing is malfunctioning more than usual, but I've just fallen out of LJ-mode somewhat lately.)

Tonight, I am going to a masquerade ball.

I'm slightly unwell, but not really bad; just sneezing and headachey. I may fall asleep in a corner somewhere rather than actually participating in the ball much, but never mind.

Spent the last few days with acid_lag celebrating her birthday (we went to see Brokeback Mountain on wednesday. She got in for free because the cinema has an arrangement with the place she works, and I got in free because... just because? I tried to pay and my money was handed back to me.) -- also, not sleeping much.

Tired now.

ETA: You people talk so much! I've just skimmed through about 250 entries on my f-list since I last checked it, but didn't really have the energy to read properly/leave comments on anything... Sorry! ;)

Also, people who sing loudly and off-key in computer rooms are evil.

Body Electric

2006-01-13T11:43:24Z

In the year 2006 I resolve to:

Walk on the ceiling.

Get your resolution here

I can only presume that this is because there is acid on the floor?

Also.

2006-01-12T12:39:20Z

I have just ordered Gormenghast on DVD from amazon.co.uk ... I maintain that the whole "one click ordering" thing is dangerous. But on the plus side: Gormenghast!

An Instructive Half Hour

2006-01-12T12:08:54Z

Best. Article. Ever. May not make sense if you're not familiar with archaeology, but...

"The Near East," Sir Mortimer Wheeler once remarked at lunch, "is the land of archaeological sin." Such a statement could only have been made by a man who had never worked in Mesoamerica.

And:

"I've been reading Binford," he began. I stiffened a little at that, because these religious fanatics always make me sort of nervous.

Or even,

"Early formative villages of the middle San Jacinto drainage are characterised by neckless jars with a red band at the rim, obsidian blades, volcanic tuff metates, Type A figurines, ash lenses, brown gopher burrows, and intrusive Classic burials whose heads extend outside the excavated area."

*grin*

(It's actually the introduction to a book on Mesoamerican archaeology, which we had to read for one of our classes...)

Happy New Year

2006-01-01T01:18:25Z

Good luck to everyone in the new year...

It's almost 2:30 am, so I'm not really up to writing a thoughtful and introspective review of the year, or my wishes for the year ahead. I'm sure you're all heartbroken. :)

Edited, at 3:30 am:
At some point during the evening I appear to have acquired what can only be described as a pair of "decker sunglasses" (Mike just looked at me and said "woah, where's the datajack?"). I'm sure they don't suit me but I find myself strangely attached to them. I think I shall steal them. They are... surreal. :)

An update! Wow!

2005-12-30T09:45:19Z

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and all. I've been... travelling around between parents places and boyfriend's parents place.

But I had a very lovely christmas day at my mother's house (and got covered in mud getting her car un-stuck at one point, but that was okay -- was wearing suitable clothes. Yes, I have 'get muddy' clothes. They're the things I wear under LARP gear. :P ), spent a couple of nice days with my dad and his evil bundly of fur (Toby), didn't get to see Jess, but will, even if it means I have to go to Wales for a weekend (I'm booking tickets as soon as she knows when her exams are so I can work around them, damn it -- it costs less to go to hers and back than it does to go to norwich and back, if I book well in advance).

In France for New Years. Then back to Norfolk, though Jess is busy, so I won't get to see her as planed and so it'll be more of a general collecting of belongings trip than anything.

Should see some of the gaming people over here. Should be good. Yes.

Of late, I've been constantly struck by little thoughts I'd like to write down on my LJ, but they run away whenever I'm staring at the screen. Hence the quietness.

Sorry. :)

Andy!

2005-12-26T12:51:11Z

I was going to phone you, dude, but in a stunning display of incompetence my phone has no battery and the charger is in a different house. Therefore, I don't know your number, so I'll just have to say this here...

Happy birthday! Hope you're having a good time, and sorry I couldn't make it down to London today to see you. But tomorrow! Yes.

See you then. Have a good time, and enjoy your present.

I got you a demented card, but it's in my flat in Streatham Hill, so you'll have to get that late. Oops.

*hugs*

It's Over

2005-12-17T11:50:23Z

Term is over. I got all of my essays handed in on time, but not without some considerable panic.

I am... hung over.

There was a Levellers gig last night.

Today, my cup of tea is my friend.

And that's quite enough on that topic. I shouldn't be allowed to go anywhere with Andy, I think, but until the rest of the world figures this out we're ok.

(And today, I am making Andy come christmas shopping with me, because I hate christmas shopping and require moral support... though Andy is probably more suited to being amoral support, which I suppose works too.)

Work work work

2005-12-13T12:33:21Z

In a fit of relative non-procrastination, I am actually managing to write an essay. How's that for shocking?

Practical assessment of the techniques used to determine sex from the skeleton: 500 words and counting...

If I can get this one done today I will be really rather happy. I'm somewhere betwen 1/3 and 1/4 of the way there and I know what I need to write, so it's all good.

I have a few hundred words on cannibalism done as well, but I think I'll get this one out of the way first.

I may actually survive the week at this rate!

Or is this me speaking too soon?

Edit: Writing about bones? SO much less painful than writing about post-holes. Positively wonderful, in fact.

Oops!

2005-12-10T11:04:18Z

Memes are better when they have cthulhu...

Oh Great Cthulhu!

I have been an extremely sedulous devotee this year.

In June, I made a burnt offering to the Dead Dreamer (100 points). Last week, I prepared an ocean voyage to R'lyeh (200 points). In July, I burnt my copy of the Necronomicon (-75 points). In February, I defiled the grave of that traitor, Lovecraft (90 points). In December, I rescued sje2 from being sacrificed (-200 points). In October, I rammed a ship into you (sorry Cthulhu!) (-1000 points).

In short, I have been very bad (-885 points) and deserve to be sent to sleep with the Deep Ones.

Your humble and obedient servant,
lios_alfar

Submit your own plea to Cthulhu!

In other news, I had a fantastic day yesterday, and am in fact still in Oxford. More details later, once I'm home and stuff. :)

lios_alfar @ 2005-12-04T19:08:00

2005-12-04T19:01:45Z

Hmm. My knee has taken it upon itself to start hurting at me. In a low-level but constant sort of way, with occasional twinges of 'oh-shit-that-hurts'. I don't think I've actually done anything to offend it, so I can only assume it's just annoying me out of boredom or something.

lios_alfar @ 2005-12-03T10:10:00

2005-12-03T10:17:59Z

I have my ticket for the Masquerade Ball, and Andre's. Happiness!

Stats = Demonic, or possibly Diabolical.

2005-11-29T15:45:30Z

Don't want to tempt fate too much, but I might just be beginning to understand what I have to do for this damn statistics work.

And this despite the fact that I am running on:
- three hours of sleep
- one large mug of coffee

All hail cyrus_ii. Without him, I would be a quivering wreck as I stared at all the strange numbers which would doubtless be refusing to play nice.

As has been pointed out, such strengths as I may have lie in areas which are Definitely Not Stats. I don't know what they are, but the fact that stats does not make the list is undeniable...

lios_alfar @ 2005-11-28T00:25:00

2005-11-28T00:30:05Z

VNV gig = Awesome.

Yes, it's the third time we've seen them on this tour, but this was... better than the others, I think.

And they played Solitary! This is a whole new level of cool.

My feet are dead now.

Edited next morning to add more coherant details:

Good night all round, really. And I do have bright red hair now, yes, and several random people complimented me at the gig, then one random person complimented me while we were waiting for a bus so on the scale of Random Approval it seems to be a success. We had to wait for tyr_arcana to show up because we had his ticket, so cyrus_ii, acid_lag, radendaren and I went to Wagamama's, because this seemed like a more sensible option than waiting in the cold. The food was good. We'd missed a few songs by the first band (I believe they were called SITD, not STD as Andy kept telling people, but...), but they were pretty generic electronic stuff, so not heartbroken. Enjoyable but... you know.

Almost had a heart attack over drink prices when the first round was bought, but oh well, it's not only in London it's also a Carling Academy. Bastards.

VNV were enthusiastic and talkative (unlike the other gigs -- they talked a fair bit in France, but were still basically playing for a foreign audience, so chattering away in English probably wouldn't have been the best plan), and played several songs I really wanted to hear, and at one point got handed something which looked like a prop sword by someone in the audience...?? (if someone nearer the front could confirm/deny this? We didn't have the greatest view!) And we danced until our feet were dead and then some more.

We managed to meet up with the_stony_one and ktx, and some other friends of Andy's. I'm pretty sure Niall was there but I didn't manage to locate him. Shame, but oh well.

Post-gig, we opted out of Slimes (dead feet and all that) and went briefly back to Andy and Syl's place for some non-disgusting beer, then Andre and I headed home. This took some time, and three buses, because the 59 does not run at night. Oops. It must be about the only bus I've ever tried to use in London which isn't a 24 hour service.

Now I have to go, because I came through to this room in search of clean clothes and I'm still sitting here in my pyjamas typing this. I'm not sure why. The computer ambushed me, I suppose... in any case, I have to leave in 10 minutes for classes, so I'd better run.

I'm still on a slight gig-related high.

An Update!

2005-11-27T09:08:31Z

I haven't updated in ages, because I am bad, and because fanfiction has been eating my time. Seriously. Now, essays are going to start eating my time instead. But here is how the weekend has gone so far:

Friday night: went to see Harry Potter movie with Andy, Syl, and Alex (who's visiting the others at the moment). Enjoyed. Giggled a lot about inapropriate things afterwards with my partner in crime (acid_lag, naturally). Went back to Andy and Syl's flat, drank beer, watched Lost Boys because neither Alex nor the random French backpacker lady who has been lurking around the place lately had seen it. Did not manage to go home. Shared bed with Andy and Syl, to amusement of Alex. Managed not to kill anyone in my sleep.

Saturday: Andre showed up and explained an RPG called Dogs in the Vinyard to us, and we rolled up characters, and drank a lot of wine >_< at some point Syl and I went on an mission to Camden for red hairdye (for me, which I will use today), bananas, and lucozade. Err, yeah.

Today is VNV Nation (hush, silks_ic, I don't care what you think! :P). Going to see Syl and play with each other's hair before the gig, heh.

And now... I must be off. mwahahaha

Mirrormask

2005-11-02T08:12:14Z

Yesterday, we went to see Mirrormask as part of the London Film Festival. And... it was fantastic. I'm SO glad Andy arranged for us to go. The movie was just beautiful and surreal and funny and sweet. Dave McKean talked a little about it beforehand, and answered questions after it finished.

Awesome.

I wonder when it's going to be on general release in the UK...?

Oh! And then my mother called and said she was in London and would we like dinner? So she took us out for a meal. Very nice of her. :) Saw a few people who I hadn't run into in a while there. :)

Good day.

This morning, I'm slightly ill again, but not impressively so. Just... feed me tea. I'll live. ;)

In the end...

2005-10-26T21:57:48Z

In the end, I spent much of today imitating the action of the Jirou. Ah, the joys of falling asleep in random places without warning. ;) (including the pavement outside a shop, but then someone kicked me. I THINK it was by accident.)

Syl has been telling me repeatedly how cute I am. Snerk. In response to this, I have fallen asleep on her several times, albeit briefly.

Didn't get to see Zannah, unfortunately. Could have gone to gig with her and Andy, but tiredness made it seem like a less than good idea... instead, stayed with Syl and watched Last Exile (I'm getting to her, slowly but surely. Mentioning Dio/Lucciola helped, as did the arrival of Alex. Mwahaha) and ate pizza and dozed a bit. I'm having energy spikes followed by crashes back into tiredness (further emulation of Jirou, I'm told: it goes like *bouncebouncebounce... bounce... whimper... thud!*)

Tomorrow = Changeling. If none of us are ill. :P Shall try to sleep well tonight as Jirou-ish GM is not ideal.

I got a new portable HD. :) It needs a name. HDs seem to be the only things which get consistently named 'round here, not least because it distinguises between them easily on ones desktop (Andy even stealthily renamed my USB key 'Biosoft_3' while I wasn't looking. Cheeky :D ).

Syl seems to want me to write fanfic. I remain dubious about the idea *raises eyebrow* writing about other people's characters is scary. My own are about as much as I can deal with.

General Warning

2005-10-26T07:54:20Z

For those who may have to deal with me today: I have had stupidly little sleep. As a result, I may grump at everyone, or I may just sit there drinking cup of coffee after cup of coffee until I can pretend I'm functional/until I'm twitching and squeaking. I'm starting now with strong black tea because I can't find my coffee.

I went to bed at some unholy hour, thinking "well, at least I should definitely be tired enough to sleep now" (I was in a strange mood last night, not really sleepy but fairly tired). Wrong. Dozed for a few hours. Woke up fully feeling slightly sick (though I think this is because I last ate at lunchtime yesterday. I... don't have any food in the house. Extremely stupid of me. Sigh.) at 7am. Forced myself to doze some more. Gave up at 8.
Not best night ever.

I'm going to go watch some PoT for the next hour until I have to drag myself across London for the world's most boring lecture, which I will probably sleep through, because, hell, if data analysis can't get me to sleep when I'm this tired, what can? (I suppose it depends how many cups of student union coffee I have before I get into the lecture theatre, really.)

Any offense given by me today should probably be ignored.

I... uhm.... err... kitten??

2005-10-23T09:48:08Z

News of the day: my father has a kitten.

I'm trying to extract pictures of it from my brother now.

[10:36:49] VnV! Durandal says:
kitten!
[10:36:58] Senna says:
...kitten?
[10:37:04] VnV! Durandal says:
(and angry nouno but...) kitten!
[10:37:28] Senna says:
....for real? pictures, man, pictures!
[10:37:42] VnV! Durandal says:
hang on...I'll see what I can get...mel's got a load on her laptop
[10:37:47] Senna says:
hehe, ok
[10:39:44] Senna says:
so, uh, why a kitten..?
[10:42:09] VnV! Durandal says:
mel had been hand rearing them at (insert wherever it is she works), and got attached to one
[10:42:18] Senna says:
haha, figures
[10:42:32] VnV! Durandal says:
he's tabby, but with a spotty belly
[10:42:43] Senna says:
cute. is he evil?
[10:43:09] VnV! Durandal says:
nah, he's really friendly. but he is currently running into walls and things...
[10:43:23] VnV! Durandal says:
just now went hyper after we didn't let him attack nouno
[10:43:52] Senna says:
erm, what does garfield think? O.o (note: the correct answer to this question is "well, he doesn't, really")
[10:44:14] VnV! Durandal says:
garfield seems to think "ah! it's cute and it's bouncy and it's in my face!" *backs away*

...so, there you have it. The tale of Why We Have A Kitten as told by my brother. He hasn't found me pictures yet. Grrr.

Castles that move, washing machines that stink

2005-10-22T16:06:48Z

My... my washing machine smells terrible. Seriously. *gags* I don't know what's up with it. It seems to have a grudge against Suzanne, and never drains right when she uses it, though when Grace and I use it it seems ok. Except... once it's done with washing, if you leave it for a day then it STINKS. It makes me actually physically gag. Not that this is particuarly hard to do, what with my weirdness when it comes to gagging, but still...

(Why yes, I'm online from home. Shh. It might run away again at any moment.)

I went to see Howl's Moving Castle today with Dre. It was interesting, in that it had more or less all the major elements of the plot that I remember, but taken, shuffled up, twisted through 90 degrees, and put back together in a different order, so that the end result had a main plot only slightly related (yet recognisably linked) to the book. What I mostly liked it for was the representation of characters I adore. Howl looked right (and... cute. Really really cute. Which is, of course, right. Grace maintains he looked better with blond hair, but, ehh... I dunno, myself, the dark hair was good too. ^_^), Calcifer was a little strange but then I never was sure how to imagine him anyway. Young!Sophie was good, Old!Sophie was a little too bulky. I always imagined her as one of those little old ladies, somehow. Small but ferocious.

The cinema we went to see it at deserves honourable mention, too -- the Ritzy in Brixton. It's a slightly crazy cinema, small and quirky and nice. And, like, normal cinema price, not London cinema price, at least in the afternoon.

We're currently engaged in a war between the tasty japanese restaurant 'round the corner and our bank balances. The outcome is still unclear at this stage.

And to return to the subject of Howl's Moving Castle... it got me wondering. It's not my favourite Diana Wynne Jones book, though I do like it very much. My favourite would probably have to be Hexwood. And I ask myself: what would a movie of that be like? The question made my mind boggle. bogglebloggle. It's a book which flits backwards and forwards through time and space, and different levels of what could possibly be called reality, if you were feeling generous. I wonder if it could even make sense as a movie. Hmmm.

lios_alfar @ 2005-10-21T12:10:00

2005-10-21T11:09:36Z

No internet at home for now, unfortunately. You'll hear from me when I sort it out or whenever I wander down to the net cafe (it isn't far and it isn't expensive, so yeah). Otherwise, maybe I'll get a little more work done than usual.

Or just waste even more time watching PoT.

Bleach 54

2005-10-20T09:42:17Z

Wow. Just... wow. *happy*

I see what you mean, Syl. On all counts.

*does dance of bleach-ish joy!*

Yes I am glad I finally got 'round to watching this series again after being put off 'round ep 14. Mmmmm. NOW I MUST HAVE MORE.

lios_alfar @ 2005-10-20T01:29:00

2005-10-20T00:23:40Z

I am... trying to make Last Exile icons... Dio seems to lend himself to this treatment best. There is a picture of Delphine which is wonderful but doesn't scale down well at all. hmm.

How frustrating. I have no skill at this. ;) But I can't use the icons anyway due to, ya know, having no space for more icons, so that's ok. :P

Syl!

2005-10-15T13:45:53Z

The question was:
would you like to come visit me tomorrow? I have movies, small amounts of Exalted I could run for you, and a really tasty japanese food place 'round the corner.

I feel like such a dumbass for forgetting that, especially as it was neither particuarly urgent nor complicated *headdesk* but, uh. Yeah.

Things

2005-10-12T08:15:00Z

On the fate of the Gem City Watch, following last night's session:

Remarkably, they're still not dead. Even Alana's crazy cousin is holding off on killing her for a little while (probably hoping that Octavian will do the job for her, or something).