I found this website about a year ago, thanks to a link from the Queen of Wands webcomic. I thought it would make a suitable post for Halloween. Read it through, and read all of it, and you'll see what I mean. I know it suitably creeped me out when I read it for the first time.
Let me know what you think of it in the comments!
Monday, October 31, 2005
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Not A Good Day
Today I had a 9:30am to 6:30pm shift, which I found a little odd as the store closes at 4pm on a Sunday, owning to Britains archaic trading laws. Anyway, not only was I on Admin today, but also my colleague Ben Harvey, which was doubly odd, as well, frankly there isn't really enough work for one person on a Sunday in the office, let alone the pair of us.
And it has just been one thing after another all frikking day long. The main computer program we use to place orders and input stock counts crashed company wide (it wouldn't allow anyone to log into it). We normally have something like 6 windows of this running. We managed to keep open the 1 window that we had signed in when the crash happened, so eveything had to be inputted via that.
It was crazy busy in the store, meaning that every phone call that came in that wanted to speak to such and such dept, ended up getting routed back to us in the office, because no-one in the dept was free to pick up the phone. So a lot of messages were taken down, (which of course we then have to either phone the dept to pass on, or run around the store playing messenger). So just as I'm about to go to lunch, the Duty Manager of the day comes into the office and says that the Pie Shop dept could use a hand. Having nothing to do, I said I'd go and help them out after lunch.
Only it wasn't Pie Shop that needed a hand, noooo.... it was the Oven Fresh dept next to it! The dept that sells hot roast chickens, the dept that had nobody to clean the ovens that day (despite having a guy there who clearly could have done just that, and would have had a much better idea of what he was doing than I did). So for 2.5 hours today I was stuck in the small room behind the ovens, sweltering in the heat in there, leaning over a vast sink of hot chemical-filled water, scrubbing the VERY heavy and awkward pieces of the Rotisserie ovens.
And they were disgusting!! Thick in brown, burnt on grease, fat and lumps of chicken meat, skin and blood. I felt (and still feel as I write this) physically sick doing this chore. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that it is the worst job in the store. The water would turn brown, so I'd empty the sink, rinse it and refill it (which took ages), and the water would be brown again in no time at all. I got splashed in the water, I was sweating, it was not nice.
And what was worse, was that once I was done on the dept and headed back to the office, I then still had nearly 2 hours of my shift left. So I spent most of that helping out the EPOS team with placing promotional signs on shelf edges. This would have been an easy job, if the signs were in any kind of order. Instead, I spent most of the time walking from aisle to aisle looking for whewre the adverts went, and a good half of them had been printed out for products we don't even stock. Only because I don't work on the shopfloor, I didn't know we didn't stock them, so ended up wating a goodly chunk of time on that as well.
I can honestly say, that I think that today is the worst shift I have had in quite some time, and I am now very much looking forward, to having Tuesday and Wednesday off work!
And it has just been one thing after another all frikking day long. The main computer program we use to place orders and input stock counts crashed company wide (it wouldn't allow anyone to log into it). We normally have something like 6 windows of this running. We managed to keep open the 1 window that we had signed in when the crash happened, so eveything had to be inputted via that.
It was crazy busy in the store, meaning that every phone call that came in that wanted to speak to such and such dept, ended up getting routed back to us in the office, because no-one in the dept was free to pick up the phone. So a lot of messages were taken down, (which of course we then have to either phone the dept to pass on, or run around the store playing messenger). So just as I'm about to go to lunch, the Duty Manager of the day comes into the office and says that the Pie Shop dept could use a hand. Having nothing to do, I said I'd go and help them out after lunch.
Only it wasn't Pie Shop that needed a hand, noooo.... it was the Oven Fresh dept next to it! The dept that sells hot roast chickens, the dept that had nobody to clean the ovens that day (despite having a guy there who clearly could have done just that, and would have had a much better idea of what he was doing than I did). So for 2.5 hours today I was stuck in the small room behind the ovens, sweltering in the heat in there, leaning over a vast sink of hot chemical-filled water, scrubbing the VERY heavy and awkward pieces of the Rotisserie ovens.
And they were disgusting!! Thick in brown, burnt on grease, fat and lumps of chicken meat, skin and blood. I felt (and still feel as I write this) physically sick doing this chore. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that it is the worst job in the store. The water would turn brown, so I'd empty the sink, rinse it and refill it (which took ages), and the water would be brown again in no time at all. I got splashed in the water, I was sweating, it was not nice.
And what was worse, was that once I was done on the dept and headed back to the office, I then still had nearly 2 hours of my shift left. So I spent most of that helping out the EPOS team with placing promotional signs on shelf edges. This would have been an easy job, if the signs were in any kind of order. Instead, I spent most of the time walking from aisle to aisle looking for whewre the adverts went, and a good half of them had been printed out for products we don't even stock. Only because I don't work on the shopfloor, I didn't know we didn't stock them, so ended up wating a goodly chunk of time on that as well.
I can honestly say, that I think that today is the worst shift I have had in quite some time, and I am now very much looking forward, to having Tuesday and Wednesday off work!
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Crypt Of The Shadowking: A Book Review
Having finished this book during a two hour stretch of my shift at work today, when I had nothing else to do, I figure it is best to get the review done while the plot is still fresh in my mind. Crypt of the Shadowking by Mark Anthony is a Forgotten Realms novel, and the 6th book in the Harpers series. If you've read any of my previous reviews (especially the latest ones) you will know that the Harpers are a semi-secret organisation of agents, who work for the greater good of the peoples of the Realms.
This book centres around a Harper agent named Mari Al'maren who is sent by her superiors to find an ex-Harper by the name of Caledan Caldorien. She is to enlist his aid to drive the Zhentarim from the city of Irieabor, which they have occupied. The Zhentarim are some of the best villains in the Realms, a black network of wizards, evil priests and assassins who operate from the city of Zhentil Keep, and a dozen other dark citadels, all held by their thousands of murderous soldiers. The Zhentarim are the sworn enemies of the Harpers.
Unfortunately, Caledan wants nothing to do with the Harpers, he left the organisation seven years prior when his fellow Harper and lover Kera, was killed by their nemesis the Zhentarim Lord (though actually a Lady) Ravendas. It is only when he sees Ravendas in Irieabor (his home city which he has returned to, and found under occupation), and finds out that she is the one running the garrison there, that he decides to help Mari, he badly wanting revenge.
Ravendas as it turns out, is running the city into the ground, abducting people off the street to work on some mysterious mining project beneath the tor that the older part of the city is built atop. In an effort to find out wat she is up to, and to overthrow the Zhents control of the city, Mari and Caldean reunite his old adventuring parry of: Ferret the thief, Tyveris the warrior (only in the seven years since they were last together, he has renounced violence and become a priest of Oghma, the God of Knowledge), Morhion the mage and Estah the healer (who has gotten married to another halfling Jolle, and had twins, the noisy Pog & Nog). Naming themselves after the Inn that Estah and Jolle own, they are the Fellowship of the Dreaming Dragon.
Their quest ranges all over and out of the city, as they seek out ever more elusive clues in their effort to thwart whatever grand design Ravendas has planned. All the while Caledan is stalked by a mysterious (and very powerful) black robed assassin, which represents a third party interested in the outcome of the actions of both the Fellowship and the Zhents.
This is a very well written book, the characters while being a bit cliched are very likeable, apart from Caledan who is just bitter and angry all of the time and he argues constantly with Mari. Their interaction forms the central relationship of the book, though there are some very neat plot twists and flashbacks,which throw things into disarry more than once. For a 312 page book, the author sure packed a lot in, but it doesn't feel overfull. It reads and feels like a Realms novel, and for that it gets a solid 5/5. It also has a sequel which I'll be reviewing next once I've re-read it.
This book centres around a Harper agent named Mari Al'maren who is sent by her superiors to find an ex-Harper by the name of Caledan Caldorien. She is to enlist his aid to drive the Zhentarim from the city of Irieabor, which they have occupied. The Zhentarim are some of the best villains in the Realms, a black network of wizards, evil priests and assassins who operate from the city of Zhentil Keep, and a dozen other dark citadels, all held by their thousands of murderous soldiers. The Zhentarim are the sworn enemies of the Harpers.
Unfortunately, Caledan wants nothing to do with the Harpers, he left the organisation seven years prior when his fellow Harper and lover Kera, was killed by their nemesis the Zhentarim Lord (though actually a Lady) Ravendas. It is only when he sees Ravendas in Irieabor (his home city which he has returned to, and found under occupation), and finds out that she is the one running the garrison there, that he decides to help Mari, he badly wanting revenge.
Ravendas as it turns out, is running the city into the ground, abducting people off the street to work on some mysterious mining project beneath the tor that the older part of the city is built atop. In an effort to find out wat she is up to, and to overthrow the Zhents control of the city, Mari and Caldean reunite his old adventuring parry of: Ferret the thief, Tyveris the warrior (only in the seven years since they were last together, he has renounced violence and become a priest of Oghma, the God of Knowledge), Morhion the mage and Estah the healer (who has gotten married to another halfling Jolle, and had twins, the noisy Pog & Nog). Naming themselves after the Inn that Estah and Jolle own, they are the Fellowship of the Dreaming Dragon.
Their quest ranges all over and out of the city, as they seek out ever more elusive clues in their effort to thwart whatever grand design Ravendas has planned. All the while Caledan is stalked by a mysterious (and very powerful) black robed assassin, which represents a third party interested in the outcome of the actions of both the Fellowship and the Zhents.
This is a very well written book, the characters while being a bit cliched are very likeable, apart from Caledan who is just bitter and angry all of the time and he argues constantly with Mari. Their interaction forms the central relationship of the book, though there are some very neat plot twists and flashbacks,which throw things into disarry more than once. For a 312 page book, the author sure packed a lot in, but it doesn't feel overfull. It reads and feels like a Realms novel, and for that it gets a solid 5/5. It also has a sequel which I'll be reviewing next once I've re-read it.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
The World Of Gor
I define myself as a gorean. So what is Gor? That is a highly complex question, far more so than it sounds. Put simply, Gor is a fictional world that was created and detailed in a series of 26 novels, by an American professor named John Lange, who wrote them under the pseudonym of John Norman. The novels themselves vary greatly in tone, length and subject matter, and to be honest the stories leave a lot to be desired. Norman clearly fancies himself as a writer in the same vein as Edgar Rice Burroughs (author of Tarzan, and John Carter of Mars). He isn't in the same league though, and while he might have started writing the Gor novels with an aim to emulate the John Carter stories, he ended up writing something entirely different.
Gor itself is another planet in our solar system, slightly smaller than Earth (and with a little less gravity) and with three moons. It is in the same orbit as Earth, only always on the other side of the sun to our world. In every language on the planet, the word Gor simply means Homestone. Their name for the sun (which we call Sol), is Tor-Tu-Gor, or Light On The Homestone. The Gor of the novels is entirely based on one continent of this world, with the people living there oblivious even to the existence of any other large landmasses, which I presume there must be. Indeed, not even the whole of the continent is known, the eastern regions bordered by the massive Voltai Mountains, and beyond them simply a vast grassy wilderness known as the Barrens. To the west lies Thassa, the great ocean, and while there are some island nations detailed, none are really that far out into Thassa, and like medieval europeans before Columbus, the people are scared to sail beyond the worlds end.
Gor is ruled by the enigmatic Priest-Kings, the closest analogy the world has to Gods. They are not seen, and only rarely heard from, yet every Gorean fears them and pays homage to them. They live in the Sardar Mountains in the north of the continent. Ask a gorean what a priest-king is and most would say that they likely are little different to humans, just larger, more powerful, grander and worthy of respect. They are in fact giant golden ants, highly evolved and super intelligent. Only a bare few goreans, trusted servants, are aware of this fact. They have ruled Gor for eons, even moving the planet through various solar systems until reaching ours, collecting many creatures along the way that comprise much of Gor's sometimes bizarre flora and fauna.
These "Voyages of Acquisition" also brought humans to Gor, a species that the Priest-Kings find fascinating. As a result, many of the cultues and races of Earths antiquity are represented (albeit renamed) on Gor. We have the mighty cities of Ar (Rome) and Cos (Carthage). There are Vikings (Torvaldslanders), Inuits/Eskimos (Red Hunters), Amerindians (Red Savages), even Amazons (Panther girls in the northern forests, Talunas in the southern jungles). Too, there are many cultures that have developed on the world, unique to there, the great tribes of the southern Wagon Peoples having little in common with any culture of Earth save perhaps the Romany Gypsies of Eastern Europe in olden days, and the pirate reavers of squalid Port Kar likewise without any real earth comparison. Were goreans from the main continent ever to venture to another continent on their world, I do not doubt that they would likely find cultures comarable to the Aztecs, Mayans, Incans and Orientals of Earth.
Gor is also a primitive world by the standards of ours (the novels are set in a time period concurrent to Earth's 20th/21st centuries), with most technology and societal practices not having evolved beyond the level of Earth's Iron Age (cultures such as the Romans). Much technology is limited by the edicts of the Priest-Kings, they not wishing mankind to develop to a point where their own existence becomes threatened, having seen how Earth has turned out, a world choked with pollution and industry, where laws are passed and enforced even against simple biological fact. In other ways though, Gor is more advanced than Earth, most obviously in the field of medicine where the gorean physicians have developed both a 100% effective contraceptive in the form of a latent poison made from the Sip Root that is drunk by women. It remains effective until a releaser is drunk to neutralise its effects. Also they have developed the stabilisation serums, a set of injections that are a cure for ageing, many goreans living for centuries in perfect health. Disease is almost unknown.
Gorean society is caste based, with five High Castes (the Warriors, Builders, Initiates, Scribes and Physicians) and many lesser castes, though no-one ever considers their caste to be below anyone elses. And while some might look down on other castes, none deny that every caste is important. The Warrior after all knows that without the Metalworker and Leatherworker to make his armour and weapons, he is of little use. The Scribe needs the paper made from plants picked by the Rencer. And everyone needs the food grown by the Peasants.
The lowest strata of gorean society are the slaves. Slavery is a culturally accepted part of life in every society on the planet. Too, it is universal in how slaves are kept. Slaves have no rights in gorean society, not to food, water, shelter, clothing, a name, or even life, they are legally at the same status as animals. The vast majority of slaves are female, male slaves almost exclusively being used for heavy labour in mines, quarries, rowing warships etc. Slavegirls (or Kajira to use the gorean term) fill a great variety of roles. Slaves are kept in a collar, a locked circle of steel about their neck, inscribed wth their owners details. They are also branded, the most common place for this being high on the left thigh, just below the hip. Brands vary by the society which marks the girl, but the most common is the Kef which looks like a stylised letter K (the first letter of the word Kajira). They own nothing, and are entirely the property of whoevers collar they wear, who can do as they please with them.
Gor has some creatures that are similar to those of Earth such as: Tarsks (Boar), Bosk (Bison), and Vulo (Chickens)and many that are unique, such as: Tarns (huge birds of prey, like the Roc from Earth's legends. These are trained, saddled and used as mounts), Sleen (six legged reptiles that are kept much like dogs are on Earth), Urts (six legged rodents) and Kaiila (large cats, kinda like lions, that are used as riding beasts). There are also several varieties of Tharlarion (Dinosaurs) that have been domesticated, most notably the Draft Tharlarion (Brontosaurus) used to pull huge wagons and barges, and High Tharlarion (a large species of Velociraptor,that are used as cavalry mounts).
That is a brief overview of the world itself, and I will write more to explain various aspects of the world, backed up with quotes from the books to illustrate points, as my words do not do Gor justice, only John Norman's can do that.
Gor itself is another planet in our solar system, slightly smaller than Earth (and with a little less gravity) and with three moons. It is in the same orbit as Earth, only always on the other side of the sun to our world. In every language on the planet, the word Gor simply means Homestone. Their name for the sun (which we call Sol), is Tor-Tu-Gor, or Light On The Homestone. The Gor of the novels is entirely based on one continent of this world, with the people living there oblivious even to the existence of any other large landmasses, which I presume there must be. Indeed, not even the whole of the continent is known, the eastern regions bordered by the massive Voltai Mountains, and beyond them simply a vast grassy wilderness known as the Barrens. To the west lies Thassa, the great ocean, and while there are some island nations detailed, none are really that far out into Thassa, and like medieval europeans before Columbus, the people are scared to sail beyond the worlds end.
Gor is ruled by the enigmatic Priest-Kings, the closest analogy the world has to Gods. They are not seen, and only rarely heard from, yet every Gorean fears them and pays homage to them. They live in the Sardar Mountains in the north of the continent. Ask a gorean what a priest-king is and most would say that they likely are little different to humans, just larger, more powerful, grander and worthy of respect. They are in fact giant golden ants, highly evolved and super intelligent. Only a bare few goreans, trusted servants, are aware of this fact. They have ruled Gor for eons, even moving the planet through various solar systems until reaching ours, collecting many creatures along the way that comprise much of Gor's sometimes bizarre flora and fauna.
These "Voyages of Acquisition" also brought humans to Gor, a species that the Priest-Kings find fascinating. As a result, many of the cultues and races of Earths antiquity are represented (albeit renamed) on Gor. We have the mighty cities of Ar (Rome) and Cos (Carthage). There are Vikings (Torvaldslanders), Inuits/Eskimos (Red Hunters), Amerindians (Red Savages), even Amazons (Panther girls in the northern forests, Talunas in the southern jungles). Too, there are many cultures that have developed on the world, unique to there, the great tribes of the southern Wagon Peoples having little in common with any culture of Earth save perhaps the Romany Gypsies of Eastern Europe in olden days, and the pirate reavers of squalid Port Kar likewise without any real earth comparison. Were goreans from the main continent ever to venture to another continent on their world, I do not doubt that they would likely find cultures comarable to the Aztecs, Mayans, Incans and Orientals of Earth.
Gor is also a primitive world by the standards of ours (the novels are set in a time period concurrent to Earth's 20th/21st centuries), with most technology and societal practices not having evolved beyond the level of Earth's Iron Age (cultures such as the Romans). Much technology is limited by the edicts of the Priest-Kings, they not wishing mankind to develop to a point where their own existence becomes threatened, having seen how Earth has turned out, a world choked with pollution and industry, where laws are passed and enforced even against simple biological fact. In other ways though, Gor is more advanced than Earth, most obviously in the field of medicine where the gorean physicians have developed both a 100% effective contraceptive in the form of a latent poison made from the Sip Root that is drunk by women. It remains effective until a releaser is drunk to neutralise its effects. Also they have developed the stabilisation serums, a set of injections that are a cure for ageing, many goreans living for centuries in perfect health. Disease is almost unknown.
Gorean society is caste based, with five High Castes (the Warriors, Builders, Initiates, Scribes and Physicians) and many lesser castes, though no-one ever considers their caste to be below anyone elses. And while some might look down on other castes, none deny that every caste is important. The Warrior after all knows that without the Metalworker and Leatherworker to make his armour and weapons, he is of little use. The Scribe needs the paper made from plants picked by the Rencer. And everyone needs the food grown by the Peasants.
The lowest strata of gorean society are the slaves. Slavery is a culturally accepted part of life in every society on the planet. Too, it is universal in how slaves are kept. Slaves have no rights in gorean society, not to food, water, shelter, clothing, a name, or even life, they are legally at the same status as animals. The vast majority of slaves are female, male slaves almost exclusively being used for heavy labour in mines, quarries, rowing warships etc. Slavegirls (or Kajira to use the gorean term) fill a great variety of roles. Slaves are kept in a collar, a locked circle of steel about their neck, inscribed wth their owners details. They are also branded, the most common place for this being high on the left thigh, just below the hip. Brands vary by the society which marks the girl, but the most common is the Kef which looks like a stylised letter K (the first letter of the word Kajira). They own nothing, and are entirely the property of whoevers collar they wear, who can do as they please with them.
Gor has some creatures that are similar to those of Earth such as: Tarsks (Boar), Bosk (Bison), and Vulo (Chickens)and many that are unique, such as: Tarns (huge birds of prey, like the Roc from Earth's legends. These are trained, saddled and used as mounts), Sleen (six legged reptiles that are kept much like dogs are on Earth), Urts (six legged rodents) and Kaiila (large cats, kinda like lions, that are used as riding beasts). There are also several varieties of Tharlarion (Dinosaurs) that have been domesticated, most notably the Draft Tharlarion (Brontosaurus) used to pull huge wagons and barges, and High Tharlarion (a large species of Velociraptor,that are used as cavalry mounts).
That is a brief overview of the world itself, and I will write more to explain various aspects of the world, backed up with quotes from the books to illustrate points, as my words do not do Gor justice, only John Norman's can do that.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Soldiers Of Ice: A Book Review
I finished this latest book on Monday at work, so on with the customary review. Soldiers of Ice is a Forgotten Realms novel by David Cook. It is the seventh book in the Harpers series, each volume of which details an agent, or agents of this semi-secret organisation for good. This book details a rookie Harper agent by the name of Martine of Sembia (Sembia being a large, very wealthy nation, ruled by merchant houses).
Martine is a woman eager to prove herself, and thoroughly fed up of being a mere messenger for the organisation she has joined, so she leaps at the chance of a solo mission, to the frozen north. There she is informed by her mentor, the wizard Jazrac, that she must place a set of enchanted stones around a planar rift, to seal it and then bring the keystone back, so that he can finish the enchantment and seal the gateway between worlds. Easy she thinks... boy is she wrong!
It is easy to emphasise with her, I mean who hasn't been in a position when you are finally given a chance to prove what you can do and you go at it hammer and tongs, determined to give 110 percent, and mess it up somehow? She seals the rift, but that quickly proves to be the easy part. Far harder is dealing with the creature that got through it, before it was closed, an Ice Devil by the name of Vreesar, who is infuriated to find himself trapped on her world.
The book is very well written, with a tight, engaging plotline, all set in one tiny wintry valley, far from the rest of the world. Martine isn't alone, she finds an ally in a retired ex-paladin named Vilheim and also the small clan of gnomes (the Vani) who live in the southern half of the valley, though they are resentlful allies, and initially furious that her actions in cosing the rift have left the dangerous Vreesar trapped in their valley. As for the devil, it takes control of a tribe of gnolls (7' tall hyena men) and leads them to war against the gnomes, wanting the keystone that Martine has, so it can reopen the rift and bring more of its kind to the world to conquer it.
She also find an unlikely alley in the form of Krote, a gnoll shaman, who wants to learn the secrets of the southern lands (like reading and writing!) from her, and who becomes outcast from his tribe when Vreesar easily massacres the old chieftain and takes command of them. The battles are crisp and exciting to read, and the author does a good job of portraying a conflict in a place where nature itself is against both sides, the cold sapping everyones strength, apart of course from Vreesar, who proves to be a very compelling and alien villain.
I first read this bookwhen it came out back in 1993, but with no money right now to buy any new novels, I am re-reading my small library of novels, refreshing these stories in my mind. This one gets a solid 4/5, only dropping a point due to the cliche ending, which didn't satisfy me as a worthy finale to an otherwise great story.
Martine is a woman eager to prove herself, and thoroughly fed up of being a mere messenger for the organisation she has joined, so she leaps at the chance of a solo mission, to the frozen north. There she is informed by her mentor, the wizard Jazrac, that she must place a set of enchanted stones around a planar rift, to seal it and then bring the keystone back, so that he can finish the enchantment and seal the gateway between worlds. Easy she thinks... boy is she wrong!
It is easy to emphasise with her, I mean who hasn't been in a position when you are finally given a chance to prove what you can do and you go at it hammer and tongs, determined to give 110 percent, and mess it up somehow? She seals the rift, but that quickly proves to be the easy part. Far harder is dealing with the creature that got through it, before it was closed, an Ice Devil by the name of Vreesar, who is infuriated to find himself trapped on her world.
The book is very well written, with a tight, engaging plotline, all set in one tiny wintry valley, far from the rest of the world. Martine isn't alone, she finds an ally in a retired ex-paladin named Vilheim and also the small clan of gnomes (the Vani) who live in the southern half of the valley, though they are resentlful allies, and initially furious that her actions in cosing the rift have left the dangerous Vreesar trapped in their valley. As for the devil, it takes control of a tribe of gnolls (7' tall hyena men) and leads them to war against the gnomes, wanting the keystone that Martine has, so it can reopen the rift and bring more of its kind to the world to conquer it.
She also find an unlikely alley in the form of Krote, a gnoll shaman, who wants to learn the secrets of the southern lands (like reading and writing!) from her, and who becomes outcast from his tribe when Vreesar easily massacres the old chieftain and takes command of them. The battles are crisp and exciting to read, and the author does a good job of portraying a conflict in a place where nature itself is against both sides, the cold sapping everyones strength, apart of course from Vreesar, who proves to be a very compelling and alien villain.
I first read this bookwhen it came out back in 1993, but with no money right now to buy any new novels, I am re-reading my small library of novels, refreshing these stories in my mind. This one gets a solid 4/5, only dropping a point due to the cliche ending, which didn't satisfy me as a worthy finale to an otherwise great story.
Monday, October 24, 2005
The Living Years
I didn't like this song when it first came out, but my Mum did. Me, I thought it a little too preachy, but then I was in my early teens when it was in the charts, and anything preachy is bad when you're that age. As I've gotten older, I've come to like this song more and more. The simple meaning of the lyrics, that you should tell those you love that you love them, that you shouldn't let differences linger and become divides, because that person you argue with, but adore, might not be around to hear your words the next day. Yeah, it is still a preachy song, but the lyrics speak a lot more to me nowadays.
The Living Years by Mike and the Mechanics
Every generation
Blames the one before
And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door
I know that I'm a prisoner
To all my father held so dear
I know that I'm a hostage
To all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him
In the living years
Crumpled bits of paper
Filled with imperfect thought
Stilted conversations
I'm afraid that's all we've got
You say you just don't see it
He says it's perfect sense
You just can't get agreement
In this present tense
We all talk a different language
Talking in defence
Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye
So we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
It's the bitterness that lasts
So don't yield to the fortunes
You sometimes see as fate
It may have a new perspective
On a different day
And if you don't give up,
And don't give in
You may just be OK
Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye
I wasn't there that morning
When my father passed away
I didn't get to tell him
All the things I had to say.
I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I'm sure I heard his echo
In my baby's new born tears
I just wish I could have told him
In the living years
Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye
The Living Years by Mike and the Mechanics
Every generation
Blames the one before
And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door
I know that I'm a prisoner
To all my father held so dear
I know that I'm a hostage
To all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him
In the living years
Crumpled bits of paper
Filled with imperfect thought
Stilted conversations
I'm afraid that's all we've got
You say you just don't see it
He says it's perfect sense
You just can't get agreement
In this present tense
We all talk a different language
Talking in defence
Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye
So we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
It's the bitterness that lasts
So don't yield to the fortunes
You sometimes see as fate
It may have a new perspective
On a different day
And if you don't give up,
And don't give in
You may just be OK
Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye
I wasn't there that morning
When my father passed away
I didn't get to tell him
All the things I had to say.
I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I'm sure I heard his echo
In my baby's new born tears
I just wish I could have told him
In the living years
Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye
Sunday, October 23, 2005
A Shocking Night
It's been a day since I went out, I think I'm more in the right mood to write about last night now. For starters I'm not as angry as I was walking home. I went out and walked in same as I normally do, only the place was different than usual. It was full of blokes, and I do mean full. At a rough guess, I'd say there was at least 3 guys for every girl in the place. It took more than 15 minutes just to get my first drink, though getting served did get easier as the night went on thankfully.
I made my way to the dancefloor and stood at the side there, overlooking the pit, and drinking my drink. Only because the place was so full, no-one was dancing... they couldn't because the floor was packed with people stood about drinking. I wasn't the only one annoyed at this turn of events either, there were plenty of people stood on the fringes of the floor, looking pissed off cos they wanted to move to the music and lacked any space to do so.
So when the crowd started to thin out, as people headed off to other pubs and clubs, there was room to move, so the dancefloor cleared right? Wrong. Cos the group of guys stood there, were drunk out of their skulls and quite happy to simply stand and get more drunk, and hassle the female staff as they tried to go about collecting glasses and bottles from tables. They eventually left, leaving the dancefloor strewn in broken glass. Since nobody else seemed to want to do anything about this, I mentioned it to the DJ, who got one of the bar staff to sweep it up. Just seeing the dancefloor wet brought back nasty memories of my breaking my wrist on such a dancefloor a few years back because of a slip.
So then there was dancing, and the music was good, it was 80's music, and not the bad songs either. Sure, there were a few clunkers, but only a few. And I found myself dancing with a truly gorgeous pair of women, one a slim girl dressed in black with long straight black hair and pale skin, the other with curly brown hair, a perpetual smile and a chest that should be registered as a deadly weapon. And we were getting on well, smiling, flirting, dancing, oblivious to everyone else, so when there was a brief lull between songs and they went to their table to sip their drinks, I followed and seeing they were almost out of their drinks, offered to buy them new ones.
Big mistake. What I took to be a genuine offer, they took offense at, the slim dark girl (never did get either of their names), hissing that she was almost date raped once, and the pair then storming off. I was and still am stunned. Granted, I'm not the most handsome guy out there, I have no illusions about that. But to be basically accused of having to try and drug a girl to have sex with her... I was just lost for words. I actually thought girls appreciated having a drink bought for them. Maybe I'm just old fashioned.
I left earlier than normal, and I don't recall walking home but I did. Due to late shifts and lack of funds I won't be going out for a few weeks if not longer. Somehow, I don't think I'm going to miss my Saturday nights out quite as much as I thought I would.
I made my way to the dancefloor and stood at the side there, overlooking the pit, and drinking my drink. Only because the place was so full, no-one was dancing... they couldn't because the floor was packed with people stood about drinking. I wasn't the only one annoyed at this turn of events either, there were plenty of people stood on the fringes of the floor, looking pissed off cos they wanted to move to the music and lacked any space to do so.
So when the crowd started to thin out, as people headed off to other pubs and clubs, there was room to move, so the dancefloor cleared right? Wrong. Cos the group of guys stood there, were drunk out of their skulls and quite happy to simply stand and get more drunk, and hassle the female staff as they tried to go about collecting glasses and bottles from tables. They eventually left, leaving the dancefloor strewn in broken glass. Since nobody else seemed to want to do anything about this, I mentioned it to the DJ, who got one of the bar staff to sweep it up. Just seeing the dancefloor wet brought back nasty memories of my breaking my wrist on such a dancefloor a few years back because of a slip.
So then there was dancing, and the music was good, it was 80's music, and not the bad songs either. Sure, there were a few clunkers, but only a few. And I found myself dancing with a truly gorgeous pair of women, one a slim girl dressed in black with long straight black hair and pale skin, the other with curly brown hair, a perpetual smile and a chest that should be registered as a deadly weapon. And we were getting on well, smiling, flirting, dancing, oblivious to everyone else, so when there was a brief lull between songs and they went to their table to sip their drinks, I followed and seeing they were almost out of their drinks, offered to buy them new ones.
Big mistake. What I took to be a genuine offer, they took offense at, the slim dark girl (never did get either of their names), hissing that she was almost date raped once, and the pair then storming off. I was and still am stunned. Granted, I'm not the most handsome guy out there, I have no illusions about that. But to be basically accused of having to try and drug a girl to have sex with her... I was just lost for words. I actually thought girls appreciated having a drink bought for them. Maybe I'm just old fashioned.
I left earlier than normal, and I don't recall walking home but I did. Due to late shifts and lack of funds I won't be going out for a few weeks if not longer. Somehow, I don't think I'm going to miss my Saturday nights out quite as much as I thought I would.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Heading Out
After consulting the schedules for the next few weeks in work yesterday, I noticed that I am down to do the closedown shift for the next two Saturdays running, and I could well be in line for more after that (only 3 weeks were on display though, so can't be sure). Hence either I go out tonight or not again for a month, or maybe longer. So I am sat here typing this having just showered, and about to go and shave and do all the rest, that comes before I can convince myself that I look presentable.
Not bringing anyone along tonight, as it occured to me that the best responses, I've thus far gotten to going out, were on that first night when I went alone. So I'll be heading out to my usual pub for their Saturday 80's Night event, hoping to have a bit more luck tonight than I have had of late. I don't really have the money to go out, but its either now or not for a while, as not only will I have late shifts to work on Saturdays, but it is about time I started buying Xmas presents, which are going to seriously cut into my funds.
So I'm going out to hopefully enjoy myself for the last time in a long time. Wish me luck!
Not bringing anyone along tonight, as it occured to me that the best responses, I've thus far gotten to going out, were on that first night when I went alone. So I'll be heading out to my usual pub for their Saturday 80's Night event, hoping to have a bit more luck tonight than I have had of late. I don't really have the money to go out, but its either now or not for a while, as not only will I have late shifts to work on Saturdays, but it is about time I started buying Xmas presents, which are going to seriously cut into my funds.
So I'm going out to hopefully enjoy myself for the last time in a long time. Wish me luck!
We Didn't Start The Fire
Apparently Billy Joel wrote this song after overhearing a conversation in a music shop, where one of the chatters said that he felt sorry for the older artists, like Billy Joel, as nothing really happened during their lifetime, and that all the important stuff was going to happen in their generation. He wrote this song, with the lyrics composed of people and events from his lifetime, to show that his generation has plenty of important history to lay claim too. I love how the song summarises the second half of the 20th Century, and to a truly great rythmn too. Important to remember that any history we make, is built on the foundations of those who came before. As the old adage goes "Those who do not study history, are doomed to repeat it".
We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel
Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray,
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television,
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom,
Brando, "The King and I" and "The Catcher in the Rye"
Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new Queen,
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana good bye
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it but we tried to fight it.
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev,
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron,
Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock"
Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team,
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev,
Princess Grace, "Peyton Place", Trouble in the Suez
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it but we tried to fight it.
Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac,
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai"
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball,
Starkweather, Homicide, Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, "Ben Hur", Space monkey, Mafia,
Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy,
Chubby Checker, "Psycho", Belgians in the Congo
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it but we tried to fight it.
Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land",
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
"Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania,
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex,
JFK blown away, what else do I have to say?
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it but we tried to fight it.
Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again,
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, Punk rock,
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline,
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan.
"Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, Heavy metal, Suicide,
Foreign debts, Homeless vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz,
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law,
Rock and Roller Cola wars, I can't TAKE it anymore!
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...
We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel
Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray,
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television,
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom,
Brando, "The King and I" and "The Catcher in the Rye"
Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new Queen,
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana good bye
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it but we tried to fight it.
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev,
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron,
Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock"
Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team,
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev,
Princess Grace, "Peyton Place", Trouble in the Suez
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it but we tried to fight it.
Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac,
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai"
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball,
Starkweather, Homicide, Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, "Ben Hur", Space monkey, Mafia,
Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy,
Chubby Checker, "Psycho", Belgians in the Congo
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it but we tried to fight it.
Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land",
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
"Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania,
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex,
JFK blown away, what else do I have to say?
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it but we tried to fight it.
Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again,
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, Punk rock,
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline,
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan.
"Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, Heavy metal, Suicide,
Foreign debts, Homeless vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz,
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law,
Rock and Roller Cola wars, I can't TAKE it anymore!
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...
Common People
I don't much like Britpop, bands like Blur, Oasis and the like. Heck, I don't really even like Pulp all that much, apart from a very few songs, chief amongst them this one, which just perfectly sums up the very essence of the division that class causes. It has a kickass tune to go with it too, and was a deserved massive hit for a group that had been around for years without much notice, and have now slipped back into relative obscurity. It is a great example of how a song can highlight a social issue.
Common People by Pulp
She came from Greece, she had a thirst for knowledge
She studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College
That's where I caught her eye
She told me that her Dad was loaded
I said "In that case I'll have rum and coca-cola
She said "fine" And then in 30 seconds time she said
"I want to live like common people
I want to do whatever common people do
I want to sleep with common people
I want to sleep with common people like you"
Well what else could I do?
I said "I'll see what I can do"
I took her to a supermarket
I don't know why but I had to start it somewhere
So it started there
I said "pretend you've got no money"
But she just laughed and said "oh you're so funny"
I said "Yeah, well I don't see anyone else smiling in here
Are you sure you want to live like common people?
You want to see whatever common people see
You want to sleep with common people
You want to sleep with common people like me?"
But she didn't understand
She just smiled and held my hand
Rent a flat above a shop
Cut your hair and get a job
Smoke some fags and play some pool
Pretend you never went to school
But still you'll never get it right
'cos when you're laid in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall
If you called your dad he could stop it all
Yeah
You'll never live like common people
You'll never do whatever common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
And then dance and drink and screw
'cos there's nothing else to do
Sing along with the common people
Sing along and it might just get you through
Laugh along with the common people
Laugh along although they're laughing at you
And the stupid things that you do
Because you think that poor is cool
Like a dog lying in a corner
They will bite and never warn you
Look out, they'll tear your insides out
'cos everybody hates a tourist
Especially one who thinks it's all such a laugh
Yeah and the chip stain's grease
Will come out in the bath
You will never understand
How it feels to live your life
With no meaning or control
And with nowhere else to go
You are amazed that they exist
And they burn so bright
While you can only wonder why
Rent a flat above a shop
Cut your hair and get a job
Smoke some fags and play some pool
Pretend you never went to school
But still you'll never get it right
'cos when you're laid in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall
If you called your dad he could stop it all
You'll never live like common people
You'll never do whatever common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
And dance and drink and screw
'cos there's nothing else to do
I want to live with common people like you.....
Common People by Pulp
She came from Greece, she had a thirst for knowledge
She studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College
That's where I caught her eye
She told me that her Dad was loaded
I said "In that case I'll have rum and coca-cola
She said "fine" And then in 30 seconds time she said
"I want to live like common people
I want to do whatever common people do
I want to sleep with common people
I want to sleep with common people like you"
Well what else could I do?
I said "I'll see what I can do"
I took her to a supermarket
I don't know why but I had to start it somewhere
So it started there
I said "pretend you've got no money"
But she just laughed and said "oh you're so funny"
I said "Yeah, well I don't see anyone else smiling in here
Are you sure you want to live like common people?
You want to see whatever common people see
You want to sleep with common people
You want to sleep with common people like me?"
But she didn't understand
She just smiled and held my hand
Rent a flat above a shop
Cut your hair and get a job
Smoke some fags and play some pool
Pretend you never went to school
But still you'll never get it right
'cos when you're laid in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall
If you called your dad he could stop it all
Yeah
You'll never live like common people
You'll never do whatever common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
And then dance and drink and screw
'cos there's nothing else to do
Sing along with the common people
Sing along and it might just get you through
Laugh along with the common people
Laugh along although they're laughing at you
And the stupid things that you do
Because you think that poor is cool
Like a dog lying in a corner
They will bite and never warn you
Look out, they'll tear your insides out
'cos everybody hates a tourist
Especially one who thinks it's all such a laugh
Yeah and the chip stain's grease
Will come out in the bath
You will never understand
How it feels to live your life
With no meaning or control
And with nowhere else to go
You are amazed that they exist
And they burn so bright
While you can only wonder why
Rent a flat above a shop
Cut your hair and get a job
Smoke some fags and play some pool
Pretend you never went to school
But still you'll never get it right
'cos when you're laid in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall
If you called your dad he could stop it all
You'll never live like common people
You'll never do whatever common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
And dance and drink and screw
'cos there's nothing else to do
I want to live with common people like you.....
Friday, October 21, 2005
Rogues Gallery: Matt Cheetham
For this, the third in my series of features on the people in my life, I have chosen to turn the spotlight on my friend Matt who I know from work and from D&D.
I first came to know of Matt however, through my brother and sisters social circle, or rather them referring to a character known as Moomin who they hung out with (more often than not at Henry's Bar). This often baffled me, as the Moomins were characters from a truly bizarre (and often downright freaky) childrens show from Finland that was shown on the BBC many years ago. Quite why Matt is known as Moomin has been explained to me on a few occassions, and everytime I forget it again.
I'd probably met him before, but finally got to know him when he joined the Bakery dept in the store where I work, which I also worked on at the time. To be blunt, Matt is a fairly intimidating person, he's a really nice bloke, great friend, fond of a laugh and doesn't take himself too seriously. He is also about 6'5", dresses mostly in black, has long hair, a deep voice and has the general look that if he wanted to do you some damage, the chances are good that you'd end up damaged!
He joined my D&D group a couple weeks into the start of the campaign I am running, and has been a regular member of the group ever since, lasting over a year now. My friend Dan brought him along, as a newbie player, as Matt's only other encounter with the game had gone bad when the person running the game (I'm looking at you Gareth), killed him in the first session!
He is by far my youngest friend, as he only recently turned 18. He recently left college and is currently taking a year out to do other things, before presumably heading off to University to do more learning. After learning the hard way, I know better than to take Matt on in a philosophical debate, as he has studied philosophy and can run rings around me on that topic!
He also seems to know everyone, or everyone knows him. On the walk back home through the town centre each friday night coming back from the Games Club, more often than not I walk and talk with him for most of the way. and also more often than not, we run into a group of people who know him and want to chat. I swear these are always different people, they always look different anyway.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
The Phantom Slugs
A little history. I moved out of my parents house about three and a half years ago, and was the last of my parents brood of three to leave the nest. I left because, well my Dad was fed up of me being around (though he was glad I was there whenever he went on holiday, cos they had a house sitter), and Mum the previous year when I asked what she wanted for her 49th birthday, had said something along the lines of "I'm not sure, but I can tell you what I want for my next birthday, you out of the house". Granted it wasn't said angrily, but the message was clear.
So in May of 2002 I moved into a small 2 room flat (well okay, technically 3 room, but the loo/shower room might as well have been a closet it was so small). It wasn't much, but it was mine. It was also bloody cold in winter, but that's another story. Pretty soon though I discovered that I wasn't alone in the flat, I had slugs. I knew they were there, because the little bastards leave those glistening slime trails behind them.
Only these trails started in the middle of the floor, and swirled about in some bizarre pattern that probably makes sense if you're a slug, but to a human looks like the route that even a really drunk person couldn't walk in. And they ended in the middle of the floor too. No sign of an entrance, no sign of an exit, and absoloutely no sign of any actual slugs. So I called them phantom slugs.
Sure enough, every morning almost without fail, I'd wake to find some new slug pattern on the carpet in my lounge (always near my computer desk) and in my bedroom (always near my chest freezer, told you it was a small flat). But try as I might, I could not find how they got in or out and I could not find them. And believe me I looked!! No stone, desk, sofa, freezer, bed, bookcase or table wasn't overturned in the hunt for my elusive tormentors. Did I find them? Did I hell!
This went on for two years, until in August 2004 when I moved into this house. No more phantom slugs, they could go and slowly drive barmy the next resident of the flat. I walked into the utility room at the base of the house about an hour ago to get something from the freezer. The floor was covered in glistening slug trails that started and stopped in the middle of the carpet. No sign of how the slug arrived... no sign of how the slug left... and no slug! They're Back!!
So in May of 2002 I moved into a small 2 room flat (well okay, technically 3 room, but the loo/shower room might as well have been a closet it was so small). It wasn't much, but it was mine. It was also bloody cold in winter, but that's another story. Pretty soon though I discovered that I wasn't alone in the flat, I had slugs. I knew they were there, because the little bastards leave those glistening slime trails behind them.
Only these trails started in the middle of the floor, and swirled about in some bizarre pattern that probably makes sense if you're a slug, but to a human looks like the route that even a really drunk person couldn't walk in. And they ended in the middle of the floor too. No sign of an entrance, no sign of an exit, and absoloutely no sign of any actual slugs. So I called them phantom slugs.
Sure enough, every morning almost without fail, I'd wake to find some new slug pattern on the carpet in my lounge (always near my computer desk) and in my bedroom (always near my chest freezer, told you it was a small flat). But try as I might, I could not find how they got in or out and I could not find them. And believe me I looked!! No stone, desk, sofa, freezer, bed, bookcase or table wasn't overturned in the hunt for my elusive tormentors. Did I find them? Did I hell!
This went on for two years, until in August 2004 when I moved into this house. No more phantom slugs, they could go and slowly drive barmy the next resident of the flat. I walked into the utility room at the base of the house about an hour ago to get something from the freezer. The floor was covered in glistening slug trails that started and stopped in the middle of the carpet. No sign of how the slug arrived... no sign of how the slug left... and no slug! They're Back!!
Tom The Tractor Is Broken
One of the tasks of my new dept is to place calls to engineers to come and fix anything that goes wrong in the store. A dept will contact us to say their oven, or a mixer, a light switch, whatever is bust, and we take down the details and then consult the Maintenance Folder. Inside this tome, is a listing of every piece of equipment in the store that can break down, and the name of the company responsible for fixing it along with their phone number.
Some things break more than others naturally, because they get used more. It is a rare week that something doesn't need fixing in the Bakery for instance, as the machines down there take a real hammering every day. And for some bizarre reason the Coca-Cola drinks machine in the store Cafe just keeps breaking (the engineer has had to be called out 5 times in the last 8 days now. It's gotten to the point that when he left yesterday, he said "I'll see you tomorrow no doubt", sure enough he was back today!)
So anyway, today I got a call from the Cash Office to tell me that Tom the Tractor is broken and can I please call out the engineer to fix it. Tom the Tractor is a really crap kiddie ride, that looks like a cartoony tractor. The kid sits in it, places his coin in the slot, and is "entertained" for a minute or so as Tom wobbles about, a few lights flash and a bad song plays. Maybe I'm being overly critical, chances are good I enjoyed these things when I was a toddler, I honestly don't remember.
Still, getting back to the point, I duly note this down in the equipment maintenance record, so that the store has a record of us calling out an engineer, along with when we did it, and then ask what exactly is wrong with it (as the company responsible for fixing it will be bound to ask when I phone them). The conversation then went a bit like this:
"I don't know"
"Well in what way is it broken?"
"I don't know"
"Well have the mechanics gone, the lights, the song, is it smashed in some way?"
"I don't know"
"Well how do you know it is broken then?"
"No-one has spent any money in it for two weeks"
I'm not actually sure what I said to that, probably something like "Oh right, okay" and then I hung up. Is it just me, or could the reason no-one has put any money in Tom for two weeks be because it is a really shit ride, that is tucked behind the passport photo booth and the customer service desk in a corner of the foyer, and it has been the same ride now for months. We used to change the ride fairly often, I presume so that kids would not get bored of nagging their mum for a ride on it. But Tom the Tractor has been there for quite a while now, and perhaps the local kids are bored of him. Or maybe he really is broken. I guess the engineer we've called can find out.
Some things break more than others naturally, because they get used more. It is a rare week that something doesn't need fixing in the Bakery for instance, as the machines down there take a real hammering every day. And for some bizarre reason the Coca-Cola drinks machine in the store Cafe just keeps breaking (the engineer has had to be called out 5 times in the last 8 days now. It's gotten to the point that when he left yesterday, he said "I'll see you tomorrow no doubt", sure enough he was back today!)
So anyway, today I got a call from the Cash Office to tell me that Tom the Tractor is broken and can I please call out the engineer to fix it. Tom the Tractor is a really crap kiddie ride, that looks like a cartoony tractor. The kid sits in it, places his coin in the slot, and is "entertained" for a minute or so as Tom wobbles about, a few lights flash and a bad song plays. Maybe I'm being overly critical, chances are good I enjoyed these things when I was a toddler, I honestly don't remember.
Still, getting back to the point, I duly note this down in the equipment maintenance record, so that the store has a record of us calling out an engineer, along with when we did it, and then ask what exactly is wrong with it (as the company responsible for fixing it will be bound to ask when I phone them). The conversation then went a bit like this:
"I don't know"
"Well in what way is it broken?"
"I don't know"
"Well have the mechanics gone, the lights, the song, is it smashed in some way?"
"I don't know"
"Well how do you know it is broken then?"
"No-one has spent any money in it for two weeks"
I'm not actually sure what I said to that, probably something like "Oh right, okay" and then I hung up. Is it just me, or could the reason no-one has put any money in Tom for two weeks be because it is a really shit ride, that is tucked behind the passport photo booth and the customer service desk in a corner of the foyer, and it has been the same ride now for months. We used to change the ride fairly often, I presume so that kids would not get bored of nagging their mum for a ride on it. But Tom the Tractor has been there for quite a while now, and perhaps the local kids are bored of him. Or maybe he really is broken. I guess the engineer we've called can find out.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
If I Could Turn Back Time
I like this song for several reasons, the rythmn, the attitude that Cher sings it with, but most importantly for the lyrics. I think everyone on some level or another can identify with them. Who hasn't said or done something that they wish they could change or take back? From the sound of her voice when she sings this, I'm guessing Cher has more than a few moments like that in her life, I know I have in mine.
If I Could Turn Back Time by Cher
If I could turn back time
If I could find a way
I'd take back those words that have hurt you
And you'd stay
I don't know why I did the things I did
I don't know why I said the things I said
Pride's like a knife, it can cut deep inside
Words are like weapons, they wound sometimes
I didn't really mean to hurt you
I didn't wanna see you go
I know I made you cry
But baby
If I could turn back time
If I could find a way
I'd take back those words that have hurt you
And you'd stay
If I could reach the stars
I'd give them all to you
Then you'd love me, love me
Like you used to do
If I could turn back time
My world was shattered, I was torn apart
Like somebody took a knife
And drove it deep in my heart
When you walked out that door
I swore that I didn't care
But I lost every thing darling then and there
Too strong to tell you I was sorry
Too proud to tell you I was wrong
I know that I was blind, and darling
If I could turn back time
If I could turn back time
If I could turn back time, Baby
I didnt really mean to hurt you
I didn't wanna see you go
I know I made you cry
If I could turn back time
If I could turn back time
If I could turn back time, Baby
I didnt really mean to hurt you
I didn't wanna see you go
I know I made you cry
If I Could Turn Back Time by Cher
If I could turn back time
If I could find a way
I'd take back those words that have hurt you
And you'd stay
I don't know why I did the things I did
I don't know why I said the things I said
Pride's like a knife, it can cut deep inside
Words are like weapons, they wound sometimes
I didn't really mean to hurt you
I didn't wanna see you go
I know I made you cry
But baby
If I could turn back time
If I could find a way
I'd take back those words that have hurt you
And you'd stay
If I could reach the stars
I'd give them all to you
Then you'd love me, love me
Like you used to do
If I could turn back time
My world was shattered, I was torn apart
Like somebody took a knife
And drove it deep in my heart
When you walked out that door
I swore that I didn't care
But I lost every thing darling then and there
Too strong to tell you I was sorry
Too proud to tell you I was wrong
I know that I was blind, and darling
If I could turn back time
If I could turn back time
If I could turn back time, Baby
I didnt really mean to hurt you
I didn't wanna see you go
I know I made you cry
If I could turn back time
If I could turn back time
If I could turn back time, Baby
I didnt really mean to hurt you
I didn't wanna see you go
I know I made you cry
Waiting For A Star To Fall
I only recently tracked this song down again, after knowing it years ago and losing track of it. A chance hearing of in MVC music store, convinced me to find it. A great mixture of pop and rock with some serious saxophone thrown in for good measure, and great lyrics. This is a really good love song. Hope you like it too.
Waiting For A Star To Fall by Boy Meets Girl
I hear your name whispered on the wind
It's a sound that makes me cry
I hear a song blow again and again
Through my mind and I don't know why
I wish I didn't feel so strong about you
Like happiness and love revolve around you
Trying to catch your heart
Is like trying to catch a star
So many people love you baby
That must be what you are
Waiting for a star to fall
And carry your heart into my arms
That's where you belong
In my arms baby, yeah
I've learned to feel what I cannot see
But with you I lose that vision
I don't know how to dream your dream
So I'm all caught up in superstition
I want to reach out and pull you to me
Who says I should let a wild one go free
Trying to catch your heart
Is like trying to catch a star
But I can't love you this much baby
And love you from this far
Waiting for a star to fall
And carry your heart into my arms
That's where you belong
In my arms baby, yeah
Waiting (however long...)
I don't like waiting (I'll wait for you...)
It's so hard waiting (don't be too long...)
Seems like waiting (makes me love you even more...)
Waiting for a star to fall
And carry your heart into my arms
That's where you belong
In my arms baby, yeah
Waiting For A Star To Fall by Boy Meets Girl
I hear your name whispered on the wind
It's a sound that makes me cry
I hear a song blow again and again
Through my mind and I don't know why
I wish I didn't feel so strong about you
Like happiness and love revolve around you
Trying to catch your heart
Is like trying to catch a star
So many people love you baby
That must be what you are
Waiting for a star to fall
And carry your heart into my arms
That's where you belong
In my arms baby, yeah
I've learned to feel what I cannot see
But with you I lose that vision
I don't know how to dream your dream
So I'm all caught up in superstition
I want to reach out and pull you to me
Who says I should let a wild one go free
Trying to catch your heart
Is like trying to catch a star
But I can't love you this much baby
And love you from this far
Waiting for a star to fall
And carry your heart into my arms
That's where you belong
In my arms baby, yeah
Waiting (however long...)
I don't like waiting (I'll wait for you...)
It's so hard waiting (don't be too long...)
Seems like waiting (makes me love you even more...)
Waiting for a star to fall
And carry your heart into my arms
That's where you belong
In my arms baby, yeah
On The Plus Side...
One thing about working in the Admin dept that I'm finding enjoyable is not having to deal with irate customers on the shopfloor, being that the office is up above all that, and tucked away behind a security door. Even better, I get to pass on customers who phone in with queries and complaints to other people. There is something quite satisfying about doing so.
Take today for example, the car park attendant slapped tickets on about a dozen cars that were parked too long, and when the customers got home, they called in, either angry or with a sob story. You know the usual excuses "I didn't know", "I was only a few minutes late back", "It's not fair" etc etc. And I didn't have to deal with one of them, I could simply ask them to hold the line, and then call the embattled staff at the Customer Service Desk, letting them know that they had a call on the line in my my friendliest voice, before transferring the call to them.
I could really get to like this job!
Take today for example, the car park attendant slapped tickets on about a dozen cars that were parked too long, and when the customers got home, they called in, either angry or with a sob story. You know the usual excuses "I didn't know", "I was only a few minutes late back", "It's not fair" etc etc. And I didn't have to deal with one of them, I could simply ask them to hold the line, and then call the embattled staff at the Customer Service Desk, letting them know that they had a call on the line in my my friendliest voice, before transferring the call to them.
I could really get to like this job!
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Ahhh Boredom, We Meet Again!
Worked my first closedown shift on the Admin dept tonight, starting at 12 noon and finishing at 9pm. Well okay not my first such shift, but this was my first solo closedown. And it started off well, plenty of work to do, tapping order pads and stock counts into the computers. Only all of that was done by 5:30, and I do mean ALL of it. Even all of my breaktime was gone, as I had to have it early or lose out on it altogether, as there was nobody to cover for me for the rest of the shift.
I knew that come 8pm there would be plenty to do... it was the two and a half hour interim that was truly diabolical. I don't think I have ever been so bored in all my life. I would have read a book, only I had left it in my locker... at the other end of the store, and I could not leave the office, because I had to man the switchboard (not that barely anyone phoned). I would have written something, heck the D&D movie review I posted here was mostly written at work, only I got stuck on what to write.
I snatched what conversation I could, with the few brief visits other members of staff made to the office. But for the most part it was me, alone, in an office, with nothing to do for a couple hours. I couldn't even use the computers to surf the net, the company computers are locked up tight, with only work related programs installed on them. Don't get me wrong, I like my new dept, but it is a lot better when there are others around to talk with. Still, the next time I have a closedown, I'll go prepared!
I knew that come 8pm there would be plenty to do... it was the two and a half hour interim that was truly diabolical. I don't think I have ever been so bored in all my life. I would have read a book, only I had left it in my locker... at the other end of the store, and I could not leave the office, because I had to man the switchboard (not that barely anyone phoned). I would have written something, heck the D&D movie review I posted here was mostly written at work, only I got stuck on what to write.
I snatched what conversation I could, with the few brief visits other members of staff made to the office. But for the most part it was me, alone, in an office, with nothing to do for a couple hours. I couldn't even use the computers to surf the net, the company computers are locked up tight, with only work related programs installed on them. Don't get me wrong, I like my new dept, but it is a lot better when there are others around to talk with. Still, the next time I have a closedown, I'll go prepared!
Monday, October 17, 2005
The Leash
This is an excerpt from one of my favourite books, Witness of Gor by John Norman. The main character (a woman from Earth, who was abducted and brought to the planet Gor, there trained as a slave) has been brought to before a set a double doors, and is about to be presented to her Master:
He then jerked the leash. But now it did not close on my throat. It had been adjusted, to be a normal collar.
I looked at him, gratefully.
I still could not slip it, of course.
"That is better, is it not?" he asked.
I whimpered once.
"You do not now fear the leash, do you?" he asked.
I whimpered twice.
"You are mistaken," he said.
I regarded him, puzzled. What was there to fear from a common leash?
He then freed the ring at the back of the sack from the chain on the wall.
No longer was I attached to the wall.
I felt him unbuckling the sack.
I whimpered, begging him to speak to me.
"You are perhaps concerned about the gong," he said.
I whimpered once.
"That was the first signal," he said.
When the sack fell free from about my upper body I was put to all fours. My upper body suddenly felt cold. It had been uncomfortably warm in its tight canvas enclosure, from the pressure of my limbs held so closely to my body and the general heat and constraint of the sack. It had been covered with a sheen of perspiration, from its confinement and my exertions. Now it felt cold, from the air of the corridor. He then had me crawl forward, until my legs, too, were free of the sack. He then folded the sack and put it to one side. He then picked up the leash, looping its long end in three or four coils.
We then waited, again.
He was to my left. I was naked. I was on all fours. The tunic, in its small, neat folds, was gripped between my teeth.
The leash, in his hand, looped down, and then up, to my neck.
I regarded the closed door.
"Remember that you would like to live," said the jailer.
I whimpered, once.
He looked down upon me, as such men often look, and appropriately, upon women such as I.
"You are a pretty little she-sleen," he said.
At that time, though I was familiar with sleen, or at least the one who had patrolled the ledge, I did not know the word.
There are many varieties of sleen, incidentally, adapted to diverse environments; the most formidable, as far as I know, is the forest sleen. There is also a sand sleen, a snow sleen, even some aquatic varieties, types of sea sleen, and so on. They vary greatly in size, as well. Some sleen are quite small and silken, and sinuously graceful, no larger than domestic cats. They are sometimes kept as pets.
It was easy enough to understand, of course, that a "pretty little she-sleen" must be some sort of domestic animal. I was on all fours. I was to be, apparently, marched forward, through the door, on all fours, leashed. How could it be made more clear to me that I was an animal?
At that time I did not know of the habit of some masters, usually imposed as punishment, to refuse an upright posture to their girls, and to refuse them, as well, the use of human language. They must go about on all fours, or their bellies, and communicate, as they can, by whimpers, moans, and such. They are naked, save for their collars. They are not permitted to use their hands to feed themselves, and so on. Needless to say, they also serve in this modality. There are various Gorean expressions for this; one is the "discipline of the she-tarsk." A tarsk is a piglike animal. The boars are tusked, and can be quite large. They are also territorial and fierce. Many hunters have lost their lives in their pursuit. The sows are smaller and lack tusks. The male keeps them in his group, or, so to speak, in his harem.
"Do you understand the leash?" he asked.
I whimpered once.
"I wonder," he said.
He then, suddenly, without warning, jerked the leash upward, and its leather was tight under my chin and I was jerked up to my knees, and I looked at him wildly, helplessly held in place; he then, with ease, with flicks of the leash, flung me to one side and the other, bruising me on the stone and the walls, and then put me to my back, and his booted sandal was on my belly; I looked up at him, in terror; the stone was hard beneath me; and then, with snaps of the leash and the sides of his feet, and gestures, he rolled me about on the stone, from one side to the other; and then he flung me to my belly; how hard was the stone! I shuddered, lying before him, on my belly, in his power. How well I had been controlled by the leash, even though my hands were free! I lay there prone, trembling, sweating on the stone, the tunic tight between my teeth; he then put his foot on my back, holding me down, pressing me to the stone, and, leaning forward, pulled up the leash, the leather again under my chin; my head was painfully back; always , as a practiced leash master, he avoided exerting pressure on the throat; that can be extremely dangerous; the pressure of a collar, of whatever sort of collar, is to be always high, under the chin, or at the back or sides of the neck; happily, he had adjusted the collar so that it was no longer a choke collar; else I might have been slain; most collars, of course, as mine now was, given the adjustment he had made, are not choke collars; such collars, as suggested, can be extremely dangerous; indeed, most masters eschew them; too, they commonly train their girls to such a point of perfection that there is no need for such a device; too, of course, the girls go to great lengths in diligence and perfection of service to avoid having such a device put on them; also, as a matter of fact, other devices are as much or more effective in girl training, even things as simple as bracelets and a switch; but even if a choke collar is used, the slave knows that she has nothing to fear from it, unless she is in the least bit recalcitrant or disobedient; then, of course, there is much to fear from it; he then, with the free end of the leash, which was long, tied my hands behind my back, and then crossed my ankles, and pulled them up, painfully behind me, and tied them to my wrists. I reared up a little, but was helpless. I then, lay, subdued, on my belly, before him, my wrists tied behind me, my ankles pulled up and tied to my wrists.
How I had been intimidated, controlled and mastered!
"Do you understand the leash now," he asked, "a little better?"
I whimpered once, fervently.
I now understood the leash, and its power, as I had never understood it before.
And as he had adjusted it, it had been only a common leash. How terrifying then would be a choke leash!
I had received additional training.
I gathered that he had though I needed it.
Certainly I would be a better kajira for it.
Another device which can be used for training, display, control, or such, is the slave harness, to which a leash may be attached. This does not touch the throat. Such a harness, well cinched on the slave, can be extremely attractive. There are usually two rings on such a harness, for the attachment of a leash; one is on the front of the harness and the other is on the back.
He then unbound my hands and feet, and gestured that I should once again go to all fours.
I did so, the leash still on me.
I would be taken through the door leashed, on all fours. I was a slave, an animal. And thus I would be presented, as an animal, before whoever might be on the other side of that door. The leash was a common leash. I did not require a choke collar.
"Soon, little tasta," he said. "Soon."
We waited.
My knees, and palms of my hands, were sore, from the stone. My body, too, was bruised from my leash training.
I had a clearer notion now of what I was.
I was more of a kajira now than I had been this morning.
This was, I think, a kindness on the part of the jailer. He wanted me to live.
Then I started as, from behind the door, from somewhere well behind it, once again, sounded the gong.
The door opened.
"Proceed, little tasta," said the jailer.
I then, on my leash, crawled toward the opening
He then jerked the leash. But now it did not close on my throat. It had been adjusted, to be a normal collar.
I looked at him, gratefully.
I still could not slip it, of course.
"That is better, is it not?" he asked.
I whimpered once.
"You do not now fear the leash, do you?" he asked.
I whimpered twice.
"You are mistaken," he said.
I regarded him, puzzled. What was there to fear from a common leash?
He then freed the ring at the back of the sack from the chain on the wall.
No longer was I attached to the wall.
I felt him unbuckling the sack.
I whimpered, begging him to speak to me.
"You are perhaps concerned about the gong," he said.
I whimpered once.
"That was the first signal," he said.
When the sack fell free from about my upper body I was put to all fours. My upper body suddenly felt cold. It had been uncomfortably warm in its tight canvas enclosure, from the pressure of my limbs held so closely to my body and the general heat and constraint of the sack. It had been covered with a sheen of perspiration, from its confinement and my exertions. Now it felt cold, from the air of the corridor. He then had me crawl forward, until my legs, too, were free of the sack. He then folded the sack and put it to one side. He then picked up the leash, looping its long end in three or four coils.
We then waited, again.
He was to my left. I was naked. I was on all fours. The tunic, in its small, neat folds, was gripped between my teeth.
The leash, in his hand, looped down, and then up, to my neck.
I regarded the closed door.
"Remember that you would like to live," said the jailer.
I whimpered, once.
He looked down upon me, as such men often look, and appropriately, upon women such as I.
"You are a pretty little she-sleen," he said.
At that time, though I was familiar with sleen, or at least the one who had patrolled the ledge, I did not know the word.
There are many varieties of sleen, incidentally, adapted to diverse environments; the most formidable, as far as I know, is the forest sleen. There is also a sand sleen, a snow sleen, even some aquatic varieties, types of sea sleen, and so on. They vary greatly in size, as well. Some sleen are quite small and silken, and sinuously graceful, no larger than domestic cats. They are sometimes kept as pets.
It was easy enough to understand, of course, that a "pretty little she-sleen" must be some sort of domestic animal. I was on all fours. I was to be, apparently, marched forward, through the door, on all fours, leashed. How could it be made more clear to me that I was an animal?
At that time I did not know of the habit of some masters, usually imposed as punishment, to refuse an upright posture to their girls, and to refuse them, as well, the use of human language. They must go about on all fours, or their bellies, and communicate, as they can, by whimpers, moans, and such. They are naked, save for their collars. They are not permitted to use their hands to feed themselves, and so on. Needless to say, they also serve in this modality. There are various Gorean expressions for this; one is the "discipline of the she-tarsk." A tarsk is a piglike animal. The boars are tusked, and can be quite large. They are also territorial and fierce. Many hunters have lost their lives in their pursuit. The sows are smaller and lack tusks. The male keeps them in his group, or, so to speak, in his harem.
"Do you understand the leash?" he asked.
I whimpered once.
"I wonder," he said.
He then, suddenly, without warning, jerked the leash upward, and its leather was tight under my chin and I was jerked up to my knees, and I looked at him wildly, helplessly held in place; he then, with ease, with flicks of the leash, flung me to one side and the other, bruising me on the stone and the walls, and then put me to my back, and his booted sandal was on my belly; I looked up at him, in terror; the stone was hard beneath me; and then, with snaps of the leash and the sides of his feet, and gestures, he rolled me about on the stone, from one side to the other; and then he flung me to my belly; how hard was the stone! I shuddered, lying before him, on my belly, in his power. How well I had been controlled by the leash, even though my hands were free! I lay there prone, trembling, sweating on the stone, the tunic tight between my teeth; he then put his foot on my back, holding me down, pressing me to the stone, and, leaning forward, pulled up the leash, the leather again under my chin; my head was painfully back; always , as a practiced leash master, he avoided exerting pressure on the throat; that can be extremely dangerous; the pressure of a collar, of whatever sort of collar, is to be always high, under the chin, or at the back or sides of the neck; happily, he had adjusted the collar so that it was no longer a choke collar; else I might have been slain; most collars, of course, as mine now was, given the adjustment he had made, are not choke collars; such collars, as suggested, can be extremely dangerous; indeed, most masters eschew them; too, they commonly train their girls to such a point of perfection that there is no need for such a device; too, of course, the girls go to great lengths in diligence and perfection of service to avoid having such a device put on them; also, as a matter of fact, other devices are as much or more effective in girl training, even things as simple as bracelets and a switch; but even if a choke collar is used, the slave knows that she has nothing to fear from it, unless she is in the least bit recalcitrant or disobedient; then, of course, there is much to fear from it; he then, with the free end of the leash, which was long, tied my hands behind my back, and then crossed my ankles, and pulled them up, painfully behind me, and tied them to my wrists. I reared up a little, but was helpless. I then, lay, subdued, on my belly, before him, my wrists tied behind me, my ankles pulled up and tied to my wrists.
How I had been intimidated, controlled and mastered!
"Do you understand the leash now," he asked, "a little better?"
I whimpered once, fervently.
I now understood the leash, and its power, as I had never understood it before.
And as he had adjusted it, it had been only a common leash. How terrifying then would be a choke leash!
I had received additional training.
I gathered that he had though I needed it.
Certainly I would be a better kajira for it.
Another device which can be used for training, display, control, or such, is the slave harness, to which a leash may be attached. This does not touch the throat. Such a harness, well cinched on the slave, can be extremely attractive. There are usually two rings on such a harness, for the attachment of a leash; one is on the front of the harness and the other is on the back.
He then unbound my hands and feet, and gestured that I should once again go to all fours.
I did so, the leash still on me.
I would be taken through the door leashed, on all fours. I was a slave, an animal. And thus I would be presented, as an animal, before whoever might be on the other side of that door. The leash was a common leash. I did not require a choke collar.
"Soon, little tasta," he said. "Soon."
We waited.
My knees, and palms of my hands, were sore, from the stone. My body, too, was bruised from my leash training.
I had a clearer notion now of what I was.
I was more of a kajira now than I had been this morning.
This was, I think, a kindness on the part of the jailer. He wanted me to live.
Then I started as, from behind the door, from somewhere well behind it, once again, sounded the gong.
The door opened.
"Proceed, little tasta," said the jailer.
I then, on my leash, crawled toward the opening
Dungeons & Dragons II: A Movie Review
Having watched this new movie a couple nights ago (thanks to the internet), I feel compelled to write a review of it, so here goes. To start with, a little background. This is the second D&D movie, and I was sceptical when I heard about it being made. this is due to the legacy left by the first film which was... well it was bloody terrible. Hammy acting (Jeremy Irons in particular as the movies main villain Profion), bad SFX and a total lack of understanding the D&D game in particular (the Beholders being the best example of this failing).
So when I heard they were making a sequel set in the same fantasy world (an empire ruled by a king and a council of wizards named Izmer) and it starred one of the major characters from the original film (Bruce Payne's evil soldier Damodar), I was practically groaning. Still, as time went on and I read snippets of info on webpages and saw some stills from the movie I began to kindle some small hope thatit might be okay. While I would dearly love to see D&D given the same treatment as Lord of the Rings, the realist in me knows that is likely never going to happen.
This movie is okay. It's not brilliant, there are bits where myself, Tony and Gareth were groaning, but also a lot of times where we were smiling as the film got things right. It got the magic right, the wizards made gestures, spoke arcane phrases and even used material components. They pooled their power for a ritual, researched through books, potions and even summoning creatures to consult with. Heck, there was even a brief explantion of how arcane and divine magic differ from each other!
It got the monsters right, and there were plenty of them. I can name a few straight off: A lich (skeletal wizard), a death knight (Damodar), a white dragon, a half-orc, wraiths, piercers (at least I think thats what the living stalactite critters were anyway), a magmin (small lava being) and a couple varieties of demon/devil.
Most importantly (for me), it got the characters right. In the first movie only one of the entire cast of characters seemed believeable, the fighter/thief Ridley.The others being a complete idiot of a thief (Snails), a 'dwarf' (Elwood) who was actually the tallest person in the group when he wasn't crouching to make himself look the height he should be, and an elf ranger (Nora) with the worst pair of stick on pointy ears ever! This time out they treated the characters with respect and we get a far better mix with:
Berek the Fighter: The party leader, who is an older veteran warrior, semi-retired but called up to lead the quest by the king due to his experience. He loves his wife Melora (a member of the wizards council) and is sworn to do his duty and save his country.
Lux the Barbarian: My favourite character, she is a 6' beautiful blonde killing machine. She throws herself into battle, fearlessly taking on far greater numbers (an entire bandit army at one point). She clashes with Nim as his cautious approach goes against her reckless attitude.
Nim the Rogue: I've always loved clever, sneaky characters and this one is both. The most cynical member of the group, he clashes with Lux over their respective styles to problem solving, though they do learn to respect each other as the story progresses. His skills with puzzle solving and trap finding are invaluable, and the groups quest would have failed without him.
Ormaline the Wizard: A decent looking elf this time (her ears are barely noticeable, as they should be), and a powerhouse mage to boot, as evidenced by her spells which wipe the floor with a bandit army and she utterly annihilates a white dragon that ambushes the group! She has the least dialogue of any of the group though, but if anything that helps to reinforce the mystery of her power.
Dorian the Cleric: We actually get a cleric this time, but it is a shame that he doesn't last that long, meeting a rather grizzly end about halfway through the film. Still the actor played the part well, with the quiet dignity of a typical priest.
The villains are better this time out (not difficult considering how bad they were in the first film), and while Damodar is the arch bad guy this time, it is the Lich who steals the plaudits for the best performance (witness him summoning a small horde of Wraiths to battle the heroes when they disturb his lair).
The main plot revolves around the party trying to recover the Orb of Faluzure that has been stolen by Damodar. with it he can wake up the long slumbering form of Faluzure the Night Dragon, a being of godlike power in the shape of a gigantic zombie dragon, which was long ago imprisoned by a cabal of wizards. With this incredibly powerful being loose, Damodar intends to raze Izmer to ashes and then rule over whatever is left in retribution for the defeat he and Profion suffered a hundred years before (the outcome of the first movie).
The SFX are a marked improvement on the first film, but still fairly poor when compared to even a modestly budgeted big screen movie. Still, there are some stand out sequences such as Faluzure itself, Ormaline's use of a Ring of the Ram, and a truly great battle against a white dragon. The action is good too with a great fight in which Lux and Ormaline take on a bandit army by themselves, while the others work on opening the entrance into a dungeon.
All in all this is a big improvement on the first film and I'm now hoping they make another one. If they do, I certainly hope they keep the scriptwriters who wrote this one, as they have a good grasp of what a D&D movie should be like. I'm going to award this film 3/5 as it has plenty of room to be better, but it is certainly entertaining in its own right. A big step in the right direction.
So when I heard they were making a sequel set in the same fantasy world (an empire ruled by a king and a council of wizards named Izmer) and it starred one of the major characters from the original film (Bruce Payne's evil soldier Damodar), I was practically groaning. Still, as time went on and I read snippets of info on webpages and saw some stills from the movie I began to kindle some small hope thatit might be okay. While I would dearly love to see D&D given the same treatment as Lord of the Rings, the realist in me knows that is likely never going to happen.
This movie is okay. It's not brilliant, there are bits where myself, Tony and Gareth were groaning, but also a lot of times where we were smiling as the film got things right. It got the magic right, the wizards made gestures, spoke arcane phrases and even used material components. They pooled their power for a ritual, researched through books, potions and even summoning creatures to consult with. Heck, there was even a brief explantion of how arcane and divine magic differ from each other!
It got the monsters right, and there were plenty of them. I can name a few straight off: A lich (skeletal wizard), a death knight (Damodar), a white dragon, a half-orc, wraiths, piercers (at least I think thats what the living stalactite critters were anyway), a magmin (small lava being) and a couple varieties of demon/devil.
Most importantly (for me), it got the characters right. In the first movie only one of the entire cast of characters seemed believeable, the fighter/thief Ridley.The others being a complete idiot of a thief (Snails), a 'dwarf' (Elwood) who was actually the tallest person in the group when he wasn't crouching to make himself look the height he should be, and an elf ranger (Nora) with the worst pair of stick on pointy ears ever! This time out they treated the characters with respect and we get a far better mix with:
Berek the Fighter: The party leader, who is an older veteran warrior, semi-retired but called up to lead the quest by the king due to his experience. He loves his wife Melora (a member of the wizards council) and is sworn to do his duty and save his country.
Lux the Barbarian: My favourite character, she is a 6' beautiful blonde killing machine. She throws herself into battle, fearlessly taking on far greater numbers (an entire bandit army at one point). She clashes with Nim as his cautious approach goes against her reckless attitude.
Nim the Rogue: I've always loved clever, sneaky characters and this one is both. The most cynical member of the group, he clashes with Lux over their respective styles to problem solving, though they do learn to respect each other as the story progresses. His skills with puzzle solving and trap finding are invaluable, and the groups quest would have failed without him.
Ormaline the Wizard: A decent looking elf this time (her ears are barely noticeable, as they should be), and a powerhouse mage to boot, as evidenced by her spells which wipe the floor with a bandit army and she utterly annihilates a white dragon that ambushes the group! She has the least dialogue of any of the group though, but if anything that helps to reinforce the mystery of her power.
Dorian the Cleric: We actually get a cleric this time, but it is a shame that he doesn't last that long, meeting a rather grizzly end about halfway through the film. Still the actor played the part well, with the quiet dignity of a typical priest.
The villains are better this time out (not difficult considering how bad they were in the first film), and while Damodar is the arch bad guy this time, it is the Lich who steals the plaudits for the best performance (witness him summoning a small horde of Wraiths to battle the heroes when they disturb his lair).
The main plot revolves around the party trying to recover the Orb of Faluzure that has been stolen by Damodar. with it he can wake up the long slumbering form of Faluzure the Night Dragon, a being of godlike power in the shape of a gigantic zombie dragon, which was long ago imprisoned by a cabal of wizards. With this incredibly powerful being loose, Damodar intends to raze Izmer to ashes and then rule over whatever is left in retribution for the defeat he and Profion suffered a hundred years before (the outcome of the first movie).
The SFX are a marked improvement on the first film, but still fairly poor when compared to even a modestly budgeted big screen movie. Still, there are some stand out sequences such as Faluzure itself, Ormaline's use of a Ring of the Ram, and a truly great battle against a white dragon. The action is good too with a great fight in which Lux and Ormaline take on a bandit army by themselves, while the others work on opening the entrance into a dungeon.
All in all this is a big improvement on the first film and I'm now hoping they make another one. If they do, I certainly hope they keep the scriptwriters who wrote this one, as they have a good grasp of what a D&D movie should be like. I'm going to award this film 3/5 as it has plenty of room to be better, but it is certainly entertaining in its own right. A big step in the right direction.
The Night Parade: A Book Review
Having finished this book yesterday, I continue with my series of reviews of the novels I read during my breaktime at work. This time the book is The Night Parade by Scott Ciencin. Another Forgotten Realms novel, this one is part of the Harpers series which ran to 16 novels in all. Each book in the series detailed an agent (or sometimes more than one) of the semi-secret organisation called the Harpers, a force for good in the world. This novel, is the 4th in the series, and was published in 1992. I bought it when it first came out and while I started reading it, it creeped me out and I put it down and didn't look at it again until about a week ago, when I was needing a new book to read and didn't have the money to buy a new novel. I saw it on my shelf and figured, I might as well give it a read.
The heroine of the book is Myrmeen Lhal, a seductive warrior woman who after being widowed, has inherited rulership of a powerful and wealthy city. Life is good for her, she has a small army of lovers and suitors, her people adore her and she wants for nothing. Yet she feels empty, as this excerpt from the start of the book shows:
It had been the storm of course. The haunting sounds of the rain had brought back momentsthat were better left forgotten. Better to concentrate on more pleasant memories,such as the young sculptor's touch as he had expertly worked her tender flesh for the past ten evenings,as if he were attempting to make her into one of his highly regarded works of art.Across the room lay a present that he had left for her: a bust of the ruler wearing her most wicked expression and little else. Behind her was the huge, round bed they had shared, topped with teal and black silk sheets that had been wrestled into unnatural formations by their efforts. On the floor lay a pile of black and gold pillows that had been tossed from the bed in a frenzy that continued to delight Myrmeen when she thought of it. The chamber was lined with several sculptures and paintings; many were abstract works of expression and all were joyous celebrations of life and love.
She clutched at the thin black sheath she wore as she hugged herself and sighed. Her life had turned out better than she had ever believed it would. She would not allow herself the ridiculous indulgence of self-pity. For as long as she was able, she would push away the growing realization that for all her wealth, for all the dreams she had made real, her life was hollow and empty.
Into her world comes her ex-husband Dak who informs her that the daughter she thought dead at birth 14 years ago was in fact sold to slavers. Gathering a group of her old Harper allies, she sets off to find and recover her, travelling to the distant city of Calimport, a vast arabian styled metropolis, with huge slums surrounding grand palaces and temples. It is here that she encounters the Night Parade, a truly ghastly collection of nightmare monsters, thought by most of the people of the Realms to be mere superstition.
Recovering her daughter proves to be the easy part, getting away with her though is far harder, as the creatures do not wish to leave alive witnesses who can testify to their existence, especially do-gooders like the Harpers, who would be more than likely to return with a far greater force to stamp them out. The book still creeps me out, in the most part because of the Parade creatures, which are grotesque, each one unique in its deformities and abilities.
The story time and again gives Myrmeen and her allies a chance to simply get away, and time and again they continue their battle, knowing that if tey got away they would live, but at the cost of untold thousands of other lives. The main villain is compelling, Lord Sixx, a humanoid figure with a set of six eyes in each limb, as well as the front and back of his torso. His clothing is designed with holes so that all of his eyes can be seen at all times!
I'm going to give this book 4/5, it is good and I enjoyed it, Myrmeen is a heroine that it is easy to understand and identify with, she is a mother willing to do anything to recover and keep safe her child. The book loses a point though because it doesn't really feel like a Realms novel, the Night Parade are like something out a Clive Barker novel and they don't fit all that well into the shared world. Still that's my only gripe.
The heroine of the book is Myrmeen Lhal, a seductive warrior woman who after being widowed, has inherited rulership of a powerful and wealthy city. Life is good for her, she has a small army of lovers and suitors, her people adore her and she wants for nothing. Yet she feels empty, as this excerpt from the start of the book shows:
It had been the storm of course. The haunting sounds of the rain had brought back momentsthat were better left forgotten. Better to concentrate on more pleasant memories,such as the young sculptor's touch as he had expertly worked her tender flesh for the past ten evenings,as if he were attempting to make her into one of his highly regarded works of art.Across the room lay a present that he had left for her: a bust of the ruler wearing her most wicked expression and little else. Behind her was the huge, round bed they had shared, topped with teal and black silk sheets that had been wrestled into unnatural formations by their efforts. On the floor lay a pile of black and gold pillows that had been tossed from the bed in a frenzy that continued to delight Myrmeen when she thought of it. The chamber was lined with several sculptures and paintings; many were abstract works of expression and all were joyous celebrations of life and love.
She clutched at the thin black sheath she wore as she hugged herself and sighed. Her life had turned out better than she had ever believed it would. She would not allow herself the ridiculous indulgence of self-pity. For as long as she was able, she would push away the growing realization that for all her wealth, for all the dreams she had made real, her life was hollow and empty.
Into her world comes her ex-husband Dak who informs her that the daughter she thought dead at birth 14 years ago was in fact sold to slavers. Gathering a group of her old Harper allies, she sets off to find and recover her, travelling to the distant city of Calimport, a vast arabian styled metropolis, with huge slums surrounding grand palaces and temples. It is here that she encounters the Night Parade, a truly ghastly collection of nightmare monsters, thought by most of the people of the Realms to be mere superstition.
Recovering her daughter proves to be the easy part, getting away with her though is far harder, as the creatures do not wish to leave alive witnesses who can testify to their existence, especially do-gooders like the Harpers, who would be more than likely to return with a far greater force to stamp them out. The book still creeps me out, in the most part because of the Parade creatures, which are grotesque, each one unique in its deformities and abilities.
The story time and again gives Myrmeen and her allies a chance to simply get away, and time and again they continue their battle, knowing that if tey got away they would live, but at the cost of untold thousands of other lives. The main villain is compelling, Lord Sixx, a humanoid figure with a set of six eyes in each limb, as well as the front and back of his torso. His clothing is designed with holes so that all of his eyes can be seen at all times!
I'm going to give this book 4/5, it is good and I enjoyed it, Myrmeen is a heroine that it is easy to understand and identify with, she is a mother willing to do anything to recover and keep safe her child. The book loses a point though because it doesn't really feel like a Realms novel, the Night Parade are like something out a Clive Barker novel and they don't fit all that well into the shared world. Still that's my only gripe.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Drunken Lullabies
I promised my friend Karen that I'd write a review of the couple songs she emailed me, so here goes for the first of them. The song is Drunken Lullabies by a band called Flogging Molly, who I've never heard of before. The song is VERY lively, a sort of insane cross between Irish folk music and rock. The best comparison I can think of is that if the band Rednex sang in an irish accent, they would sound much like this group does.
I like the song, it has an infectious rythmn to it that is hard to dislike. I can't honestly say I think much of the lyrics, but that is mainly because they are sung at such speed,and in a strong accent, to music that is powerful. I don't think you are meant to really notice them. I'll have to see what else this band has come up with, as if it is more of the same, they just gained a fan. Thanks Karen!
I like the song, it has an infectious rythmn to it that is hard to dislike. I can't honestly say I think much of the lyrics, but that is mainly because they are sung at such speed,and in a strong accent, to music that is powerful. I don't think you are meant to really notice them. I'll have to see what else this band has come up with, as if it is more of the same, they just gained a fan. Thanks Karen!
Last Night
Well since one of the group couldn't make it to D&D last night, I called off the session and decided I'd give Friday Night on the town a try. After all I'd been out a few times recently on Saturday night, and I was curious as to what Friday at my usual pub was like. I knew that Friday was Traffic Light Night at the Market House.
If you don't know what a Traffic Light Party is, allow me to explain. Basically everyone who comes into the pub is asked whether they are Red, Amber or Green, and then given a sticker to wear somewhere prominent of the colour they chose. The colour has significance:
1. Red - Means you are attached and you are not looking to meet anyone.
2. Amber - Means maybe you are attached, maybe you aren't. Basically this colour is chosen by people who want to tease, and/or those who prefer that people talk to them to find out whether or not they are up for grabs.
3. Green - Means you are definately single and looking to not stay that way.
I've been to a Traffic Light night before at college, and wore Amber then, because I thought it would be good to have a little bit of uncertainty about myself. No such reservations this time, so I opted for Green. It wasn't a good night out really, though I did get quite drunk, mainly because there was nothing else to do. I arrived at the pub too early (before they even started playing music), and when the tunes did start up none of it was stuff like I liked.
Still this is me, I love to dance, and so I hit the dancefloor, and lost myself in the music a couple times, danced with a trio of ladies, one of whom seemed very interested on the dancefloor, but not at all once off of it. Ahh well. I think I'll stick to my Saturday 80's Night for going out in future. Still the barmaids were HOT, and the best looking one of the lot was wearing green stickers (one per breast, a nice way of showing that she was availiable I thought), so I'll have to look and see if she works Saturdays.
If you don't know what a Traffic Light Party is, allow me to explain. Basically everyone who comes into the pub is asked whether they are Red, Amber or Green, and then given a sticker to wear somewhere prominent of the colour they chose. The colour has significance:
1. Red - Means you are attached and you are not looking to meet anyone.
2. Amber - Means maybe you are attached, maybe you aren't. Basically this colour is chosen by people who want to tease, and/or those who prefer that people talk to them to find out whether or not they are up for grabs.
3. Green - Means you are definately single and looking to not stay that way.
I've been to a Traffic Light night before at college, and wore Amber then, because I thought it would be good to have a little bit of uncertainty about myself. No such reservations this time, so I opted for Green. It wasn't a good night out really, though I did get quite drunk, mainly because there was nothing else to do. I arrived at the pub too early (before they even started playing music), and when the tunes did start up none of it was stuff like I liked.
Still this is me, I love to dance, and so I hit the dancefloor, and lost myself in the music a couple times, danced with a trio of ladies, one of whom seemed very interested on the dancefloor, but not at all once off of it. Ahh well. I think I'll stick to my Saturday 80's Night for going out in future. Still the barmaids were HOT, and the best looking one of the lot was wearing green stickers (one per breast, a nice way of showing that she was availiable I thought), so I'll have to look and see if she works Saturdays.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Settling In
I've been on the Admin dept for a few days now, and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. I still have no clue as to like 95% of the stuff that my new dept does, but the stuff I do know, I am getting good at already. This pleases me, being the fish out of water is never a fun role to be stuck in. I've always been a fast learner (albeit often a lazy one. I can learn almost anything quickly, IF I can be bothered to do so). I have good incentive to get the hang of all these new tasks and procedures quickly, namely there are FAR worse departments in the store I could be sent too.
They are a good bunch up in the Admin office, I get on with all of them already which certainly helps matters. Yeah I'm missing making the cakes, but I'm not missing being yelled at all the time by my old supervisor. I think I'm going to enjoy this new posting.
They are a good bunch up in the Admin office, I get on with all of them already which certainly helps matters. Yeah I'm missing making the cakes, but I'm not missing being yelled at all the time by my old supervisor. I think I'm going to enjoy this new posting.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Gimme Hope Joanna
To my mind this is one of the best examples of how music can help to change the world. The best example of course would be Feed The World by Band Aid. This song though tackled the issue of the South African governments racist policy of apartheid. I can very clearly remember this song from when it was in the charts, I loved it then because of the rythmn, I love it now because of that, but also because of the lyrics. People power brought down apartheid, just as people power ended the communist governments in eastern europe. It seems corny to quote a sci-fi show I know, but this quote from Babylon 5 comes to mind anytime I hear this song:
G'Kar: "No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand."
To me this song is proof that music can help to make the world a better place.
Gimme Hope Joanna by Eddie Grant
Well Jo'anna she runs a country
She runs in Durban and the Transvaal
She makes a few of her people happy, oh
She don't care about the rest at all
She's got a system they call apartheid
It keeps a brother in a subjection
But maybe pressure will make Jo'anna see
How everybody could a live as one
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope, Jo'anna
Hope before the morning come
I hear she makes all the golden money
To buy new weapons, any shape of guns
While every mother in black Soweto fears
The killing of another son
Sneakin' across all the neighbours' borders
Now and again having little fun
She doesn't care if the fun and games she play
Is dang'rous to ev'ryone
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope before the morning come
She got supporters in high up places
Who turn their heads to the city sun
Jo'anna give them the fancy money
Oh to tempt anyone who'd come
She even knows how to swing opinion
In every magazine and the journals
For every bad move that this Jo'anna makes
They got a good explanation
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope before the morning come
Even the preacher who works for Jesus
The Archbishop who's a peaceful man
Together say that the freedom fighters
Will overcome the very strong
I wanna know if you're blind Jo'anna
If you wanna hear the sound of drum
Can't you see that the tide is turning
Oh don't make me wait till the morning come
Do give hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope before the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope before the morning come
G'Kar: "No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand."
To me this song is proof that music can help to make the world a better place.
Gimme Hope Joanna by Eddie Grant
Well Jo'anna she runs a country
She runs in Durban and the Transvaal
She makes a few of her people happy, oh
She don't care about the rest at all
She's got a system they call apartheid
It keeps a brother in a subjection
But maybe pressure will make Jo'anna see
How everybody could a live as one
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope, Jo'anna
Hope before the morning come
I hear she makes all the golden money
To buy new weapons, any shape of guns
While every mother in black Soweto fears
The killing of another son
Sneakin' across all the neighbours' borders
Now and again having little fun
She doesn't care if the fun and games she play
Is dang'rous to ev'ryone
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope before the morning come
She got supporters in high up places
Who turn their heads to the city sun
Jo'anna give them the fancy money
Oh to tempt anyone who'd come
She even knows how to swing opinion
In every magazine and the journals
For every bad move that this Jo'anna makes
They got a good explanation
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope before the morning come
Even the preacher who works for Jesus
The Archbishop who's a peaceful man
Together say that the freedom fighters
Will overcome the very strong
I wanna know if you're blind Jo'anna
If you wanna hear the sound of drum
Can't you see that the tide is turning
Oh don't make me wait till the morning come
Do give hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope before the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope before the morning come
Mmm Beer.. Arrgghh Keyboard!!
The title of this post pretty much sums up what happened. There I was very early this morning (no work today) watching cartoons (X-Men Evolution rocks) and drinking a can of Fosters lager, when a thought occured to me that it would be a good idea if I plugged in my headphones, as not only do they have better sound quality than my computers speakers, but it was gone 2am, and the noise from me watching the toons could be keeping my housemates awake (in particular Gareth, whose room is directly under mine).
So I reached across the desk, grabbed up the headphones and lifted them, and in the process knocked over my can of beer... right onto my keyboard. Needless to say the two really don't mix, and two thirds of my keyboard died a lager-induced death. I only found out that it didn't work this morning though. So out I went into the pouring rain to buy another keyboard, an expense I could have done without. Thank the various divine ones for Argos. I'm now typing this on a very nice (and cheap) media keyboard with all kinds of extra buttons on it that my old one didn't have, including one to bring up winamp, and another for the calculator. Dunno what the others do as yet, but I'm gonna have fun finding out!!
So I reached across the desk, grabbed up the headphones and lifted them, and in the process knocked over my can of beer... right onto my keyboard. Needless to say the two really don't mix, and two thirds of my keyboard died a lager-induced death. I only found out that it didn't work this morning though. So out I went into the pouring rain to buy another keyboard, an expense I could have done without. Thank the various divine ones for Argos. I'm now typing this on a very nice (and cheap) media keyboard with all kinds of extra buttons on it that my old one didn't have, including one to bring up winamp, and another for the calculator. Dunno what the others do as yet, but I'm gonna have fun finding out!!
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
A Bolt From The Blue
I went to bed last night and as I was lying there, just starting to get sleepy so my computer goes beep and I'm fully awake again. Silly me had forgotten to plug my headphones into my speakers to muffle the sounds my MSN and ICQ programs make. Since I had to get up and plug them in, I figured while I was at my computer I might as well take a peek at what caused the beep...
Imagine my surprise to find an MSN Messenger window open bearing a message from my ex-girlfriend/kajira. The one who vanished without a trace nearly 2 months ago. I'm not sure what my actual emotion was at the time, I think a goodly mixture of shock, relief, a little anger and a dash of guilt were all mixed into the brew.
She'd been in a car crash, a bad one, had been in hospital for weeks, and will be in a bad way for months still to come. Still she assured me that she will, eventually, be okay. That is a big relief. Her injuries are severe, in her own words "I broke my right leg in two different spots, cracked a collar bone, stayed in a coma for about three weeks and cracked a couple of ribs. Broke two vertabrae". Needless to say she is going to be in a bad way for a long time to come.
I feel guilt because I gave up, moved on. I had no way of getting in contact, I sent emails, they were not answered (for obvious reasons). I did wonder at the time if something horrible had happened. When I was with her, maybe I should have been a bit more insistant on having some other means of communication, swapping phone numbers would have been clever.
We didn't talk for long, I had to get to sleep, and her meds meant she was buzzing. It was really good to hear from her though, an end to the uncertainty. Not knowing the reason why she vanished, has been nagging at me. While I doubt we can go back and carry on our relationship where we left off, I do hope we can still be friends. She is a very interesting person to talk too.
Imagine my surprise to find an MSN Messenger window open bearing a message from my ex-girlfriend/kajira. The one who vanished without a trace nearly 2 months ago. I'm not sure what my actual emotion was at the time, I think a goodly mixture of shock, relief, a little anger and a dash of guilt were all mixed into the brew.
She'd been in a car crash, a bad one, had been in hospital for weeks, and will be in a bad way for months still to come. Still she assured me that she will, eventually, be okay. That is a big relief. Her injuries are severe, in her own words "I broke my right leg in two different spots, cracked a collar bone, stayed in a coma for about three weeks and cracked a couple of ribs. Broke two vertabrae". Needless to say she is going to be in a bad way for a long time to come.
I feel guilt because I gave up, moved on. I had no way of getting in contact, I sent emails, they were not answered (for obvious reasons). I did wonder at the time if something horrible had happened. When I was with her, maybe I should have been a bit more insistant on having some other means of communication, swapping phone numbers would have been clever.
We didn't talk for long, I had to get to sleep, and her meds meant she was buzzing. It was really good to hear from her though, an end to the uncertainty. Not knowing the reason why she vanished, has been nagging at me. While I doubt we can go back and carry on our relationship where we left off, I do hope we can still be friends. She is a very interesting person to talk too.
The City of Ravens: A Book Review
I finished this book on my lunch hour at work today and immediately started another novel. As has become a habit, I'm writing a review of the novel. The City of Ravens is a Forgotten Realms novel by Richard Baker, one of my favourite authors from that shared world (his The Last Mythal trilogy is fantastic to read). The book is set in the city of Raven's Bluff, which is a city noted for its high population of resident adventurers. The book focuses on the actions of a sorcerous thief (he'd prefer the term rogue I'm sure) by the name of Jack Ravenwild.
Jack is a very well written character, he is both clever, resourceful, sneaky and a bare-faced liar. He also has a habit of biting off more than he can chew, as this book details. He manages to get himself involved in something like a half dozen plots at the same time, I'll list them:
Jack is a very well written character, he is both clever, resourceful, sneaky and a bare-faced liar. He also has a habit of biting off more than he can chew, as this book details. He manages to get himself involved in something like a half dozen plots at the same time, I'll list them:
- He bungles a burglary on a rich merchants house, getting away though with 1 of the 5 rubies he intended to snare. As a result he has a pair of "property retrieval experts" after him to recover the looted item.
- He is hired by beautiful and mysterious lady warrior Elana to recover a book for her, named The Sarkonagael: Secrets of the Shadewrights. In his efforts to secure the book for her, he incurs the wrath of Iphegor the Black, a necromancer who he steals it from.
- He overhears a wizardess trying to deduce the location of a legendary lost tomb, said to be stuffed with treasures, and takes it upon himself to beat her to the place... just as soon as he's figured out where it is.
- In an assumed guise as Landsgrave Jaer Kell Wildhame he is wooing the Lady Illyth Fleetwood, who gets him to be her partner in the Game of Masks, a series of Masquerade Balls, one held every 3 or 4 nights, with an ongoing riddle puzzle (which is extremely complex!) for the attendees to solve.
- The Knights of the Hawk (the cities elite police force) are after him on suspicion of dealing with the agents of the Warlord Myrkyssa Jelan (who attacked the city a couple years previous), and he is thus wanted for possible treason.
See what I mean? This is a man with a lot on his mind. To the writers credit, he juggles all of these subplots (and some more besides) with great skill, ensuring that Jack is always on his toes, ducking and diving. He portrays a man who lives on his wits and cunning very well, and this is the most fun book I've read in a long time as a result. If anyone wants to play a Rogue in D&D, I would heartily reccomend they read this book, because Jack is the best written example of that class I can think of.
There is some great humour in here too. Jack is a funny character, and the whole section where he infiltrates Iphegor's tower to steal The Sarkonagael, and has to deal with the necromancers mouse familiar is priceless, worth buying the book for that chapter alone. This book definately gets 5/5 from me, along with the hope that Mr. Baker will write another novel featuring this amazing character.
A Winter's Tale
This is for me one of the best ballads that I know of, it dealing with someone who is very clearly missing someone that they have loved and lost. It is a song I can empathise with, and one I find myself singing along with whenever it comes up on my Winamp's random play choice. I like how the singer holds no anger or hatred towards the one he has lost, indeed he hopes that she does well in life and finds love elsewhere. I love winter, it is my favourite season of the year, but I agree 100 percent with how this song says that is a hard time of year to be alone. With another lonely winter beckoning to me, this song speaks to me on a lot of levels.
A Winter's Tale by David Essex
The nights are colder now
Maybe I should close the door?
And anyway the snow has
Covered all your footsteps
And I can follow you no more.
The fire still burns at night
My memories are warm and clear
But everybody knows it's hard to be alone
At this time of year.
It was only a winter's tale
Just another winter's tale
And why should the world take notice
Of one more love that's failed?
It's a love that can never be
Though it meant a lot to you and me
On a world~wide scale
We're just another winter's tale
While I stand alone
A bell is ringing far away
I wonder if you hear
I wonder if you're listening
I wonder where you are today.
Good luck! I wish you well
And for all that wishes may be worth
I hope that love and strength
Are with you for the length
Of your time on earth.
It was only a winter's tale
Just another winter's tale
And why should the world take notice
Of one more love that's failed?
It's a love that can never be
Though it meant a lot to you and me
On a world~wide scale
We're just another winter's tale.
It was only a winter's tale
Just another winter's tale
And why should the world take notice
Of one more love that's failed?
It's a love that can never be
Though it meant a lot to you and me
On a world~wide scale
We're just another winter's tale.
A Winter's Tale by David Essex
The nights are colder now
Maybe I should close the door?
And anyway the snow has
Covered all your footsteps
And I can follow you no more.
The fire still burns at night
My memories are warm and clear
But everybody knows it's hard to be alone
At this time of year.
It was only a winter's tale
Just another winter's tale
And why should the world take notice
Of one more love that's failed?
It's a love that can never be
Though it meant a lot to you and me
On a world~wide scale
We're just another winter's tale
While I stand alone
A bell is ringing far away
I wonder if you hear
I wonder if you're listening
I wonder where you are today.
Good luck! I wish you well
And for all that wishes may be worth
I hope that love and strength
Are with you for the length
Of your time on earth.
It was only a winter's tale
Just another winter's tale
And why should the world take notice
Of one more love that's failed?
It's a love that can never be
Though it meant a lot to you and me
On a world~wide scale
We're just another winter's tale.
It was only a winter's tale
Just another winter's tale
And why should the world take notice
Of one more love that's failed?
It's a love that can never be
Though it meant a lot to you and me
On a world~wide scale
We're just another winter's tale.
Monday, October 10, 2005
A Tiring Day
I started work in the Admin dept today at lunchtime. Not bad, certainly not as bad as a few had led me to believe it was going to be (I'm looking at you Jon). Certainly kept me busy though, a lot of data entry into the computers in the office, and as a result of all the cross-checking and typing and looking at screens, I'm actually quite tired (though that might have more to do with me being unused to working till 9pm, and not having had my usual afternoon pint of coffee).
On the way home I stopped off in the Market House for a pint of Stella Artois and a packet of dry roasted peanuts. I just needed a quick time out from life at work and life at home, and the place was nearly empty and on my way home. Was nice to just sit, enjoy a cold brew, have some nibbles and listen to the two girls in the seating booth next to mine who were completely wasted. Was amusing, as every other bloke in the bar had their eyes on the pair, who seemed quite oblivious to the sharks closing in on them. I left after my drink, and am now home. Think I'll make myself some coffee and chill out to some cartoons or something before hitting the sack.
Ohh and I'll listen to the drunken women outside the house heading home from the pub next door, but that one isn't by choice, just a consequence of having single-glazed windows!
On the way home I stopped off in the Market House for a pint of Stella Artois and a packet of dry roasted peanuts. I just needed a quick time out from life at work and life at home, and the place was nearly empty and on my way home. Was nice to just sit, enjoy a cold brew, have some nibbles and listen to the two girls in the seating booth next to mine who were completely wasted. Was amusing, as every other bloke in the bar had their eyes on the pair, who seemed quite oblivious to the sharks closing in on them. I left after my drink, and am now home. Think I'll make myself some coffee and chill out to some cartoons or something before hitting the sack.
Ohh and I'll listen to the drunken women outside the house heading home from the pub next door, but that one isn't by choice, just a consequence of having single-glazed windows!
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Rogues Gallery: Gareth Gillingham
As this series of articles details the people in my life, I thought that it would be best to start at home and work out from there. So this profile is on my other housemate Gareth, who moved in at the end of June 2005, to replace Jon.I always thought I'd first met Gareth in Krackers Games Shop only a few years back, until he pointed out that he had lived in the same road as me for years before that, back when I lived with my parents, brother and sister in Feversham Way at the north end of Priorswood. Turns out the kid with the extra curly hair and the scary looking dad that I remembered from then was in fact my friend. Small world huh?
Gareth is the quiet one of the household, in fact Tony and I often have to call downstairs to check he is even in the house, as he logs into Everquest or Star Wars: Galaxies and is happy as a clam for hours on end, with us not hearing a peep out of him. I'm getting him to play some Civilization 3 too, so I can crush him at it!
A fan of roleplaying games, fantasy novels, movies and tv (especially Babylon 5) he fits well into the household, and the three of us bachelors never tire of stuff to talk about. Gareth is a Christian, the only religious person in the house, and also the most social of the three of us, playing Basketball, and having two other roleplay sessions a week in addition to being a part of my D&D group on Friday nights. He also attends a LARP event 2-3 times a year.
He is a year older than me, his birthday being about a week after mine in January. He moved in because it was about time he got out of his parents house, and I think he has taken to life outside the nest very well, he's even starting to keep his room tidy (seriously at one point it was hard to see carpet under the piles of clothes and books, and just general mess. The inspection we had last week forced him to tidy the pit up and hopefully it will stay tidy).
Serenity: A Movie Review
I got back from the cinema a couple hours ago now, so figured it would be best to write this while the film was still fresh in my mind. A little background first. This movie is a follow-on from the plotlines begun in the aborted tv series Firefly which only ever had 15 episodes made (and only 12 got aired), you can buy the whole lot on one very nice DVD package. I know, I own it, and very worth the money it is too. From what I've read elsewhere online and comments from the Writer/Director himself, the movie is set about 6 months after the end of the tv series. While watching the series isn't neccessary to appreciate the film, you will gain a lot more insight into the plot from having done so.
So I'm biased. I love the tv show, the characters, the universe that Joss Whedon and his team of scriptwriters created, a future 500 years from now where humanity has moved on from Earth after this planets resources ran out, and instead settled a huge solar system, with dozens of planets and hundreds of moons, all of which got terraformed to one degree or another. The film nicely summarises this backstory in the first couple minutes and then moves into the history of a couple of the major characters, namely the doctor Simon Tam and his gifted sister River. As the tv series revealed, River was extensively operated upon, her brain altered and parts stripped away, granting her telepathic ability, but also removing her control over her emotions. While she isn't the films lead character, she is the reason for what happens in the story.
Serenity itself is a Firefly class transport ship, owned by Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds, an independence war veteran who fought on the side that lost and carries a serious grudge against the side that won. His crew consists of: Zoe the first officer, the only other surviving member of his war regiment, her husband Wash the pilot who is also light comedy relief, and whose death provides one of the films most shocking moments. Jayne the mercenary is hired muscle, used by Mal as a strongman on the jobs they undertake, which are frequently criminal in nature. Kaylee the mechanic keeps the ship flying, as well as having a crush on Simon. The other major characters are Inara a companion (high class escort girl) and Book a shepherd (preacher) who both travelled with the ship during the tv series, but have since settled elsewhere. Needless to say both get caught up in events.
I loved this film, it provides a big payoff for several of the major plot threads from the tv series, while still leaving plenty of room for a sequel and I'm really hoping that it gets at least one more film to follow it. I would be very surprised if it doesn't do extremely well for the careers of the actors and actresses involved (I know I'd like to see more of the incredibly beautiful Morena Baccarin, who plays Inara, on screens). It deserves to have sequels, it is not a pretentious film that gets preachy (most of the Star Treks) nor it is flashy for the sake of it (Star Wars prequel trilogy). It presents a pretty believeable view of the future, I especially like how the characters swear in chinese as that and english are the only languages left.
The movie is small in that it is primarily driven by the nine characters on the ship and also The Operative, a ruthless government agent sent to hunt down and kill River Tam as she is believed to know various state secrets that the government want kept secret at all costs. It is also epic, in the scope of the plot, the huge space battle near the end and how it looks. The film was shot on a fraction of the enormous budgets Hollywood likes to throw at films these days, yet looks as good as anything else in its genre, every cent is there on the screen, and from the looks of it, well spent.
If you like sci-fi see this film, if you like clever sneaky characters being clever and sneaky, see this film, and if you want to see a far more compelling vision of mankinds future in space than the utopia of the Federation from Star Trek, then see this film. I loved this movie, arguably the best film I've seen at the cinema all year.
So I'm biased. I love the tv show, the characters, the universe that Joss Whedon and his team of scriptwriters created, a future 500 years from now where humanity has moved on from Earth after this planets resources ran out, and instead settled a huge solar system, with dozens of planets and hundreds of moons, all of which got terraformed to one degree or another. The film nicely summarises this backstory in the first couple minutes and then moves into the history of a couple of the major characters, namely the doctor Simon Tam and his gifted sister River. As the tv series revealed, River was extensively operated upon, her brain altered and parts stripped away, granting her telepathic ability, but also removing her control over her emotions. While she isn't the films lead character, she is the reason for what happens in the story.
Serenity itself is a Firefly class transport ship, owned by Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds, an independence war veteran who fought on the side that lost and carries a serious grudge against the side that won. His crew consists of: Zoe the first officer, the only other surviving member of his war regiment, her husband Wash the pilot who is also light comedy relief, and whose death provides one of the films most shocking moments. Jayne the mercenary is hired muscle, used by Mal as a strongman on the jobs they undertake, which are frequently criminal in nature. Kaylee the mechanic keeps the ship flying, as well as having a crush on Simon. The other major characters are Inara a companion (high class escort girl) and Book a shepherd (preacher) who both travelled with the ship during the tv series, but have since settled elsewhere. Needless to say both get caught up in events.
I loved this film, it provides a big payoff for several of the major plot threads from the tv series, while still leaving plenty of room for a sequel and I'm really hoping that it gets at least one more film to follow it. I would be very surprised if it doesn't do extremely well for the careers of the actors and actresses involved (I know I'd like to see more of the incredibly beautiful Morena Baccarin, who plays Inara, on screens). It deserves to have sequels, it is not a pretentious film that gets preachy (most of the Star Treks) nor it is flashy for the sake of it (Star Wars prequel trilogy). It presents a pretty believeable view of the future, I especially like how the characters swear in chinese as that and english are the only languages left.
The movie is small in that it is primarily driven by the nine characters on the ship and also The Operative, a ruthless government agent sent to hunt down and kill River Tam as she is believed to know various state secrets that the government want kept secret at all costs. It is also epic, in the scope of the plot, the huge space battle near the end and how it looks. The film was shot on a fraction of the enormous budgets Hollywood likes to throw at films these days, yet looks as good as anything else in its genre, every cent is there on the screen, and from the looks of it, well spent.
If you like sci-fi see this film, if you like clever sneaky characters being clever and sneaky, see this film, and if you want to see a far more compelling vision of mankinds future in space than the utopia of the Federation from Star Trek, then see this film. I loved this movie, arguably the best film I've seen at the cinema all year.
Another Sunday Off
Two in a row, very unusual for me and hopefully not the start of a trend, as I like my extra money for working Sundays. Still it did allow me to get the best night's sleep I've had in quite some time, actually felt like I was climbing out of a pit when waking up this morning. Course that may have something to do with fresh bedding, I always sleep better under a newly changed quilt.
Not got much planned for today apart from heading down the cinema in a couple hours to see Serenity. I'm a huge fan of the Firefly tv series, which was sadly cancelled before it's time by the ever stupid Fox network in the states, which showed the series in a dumb timeslot on a friday night, with the episodes shown out of order. So this is a chance to see one of the best sci-fi creations of recent years on the big screen, a chance not to be missed! I'll be catching a ride down there on the back of Tony's motorbike and the pair of us are meeting up with Gareth down there for the 1:10pm showing.
After that I dunno what I'm going to do with the rest of today, but I have a few D&D logs I should really type up and get posted over at EN World. And there might be more TV to watch if it has finished downloading. And I'll listen to a lot of music!
Not got much planned for today apart from heading down the cinema in a couple hours to see Serenity. I'm a huge fan of the Firefly tv series, which was sadly cancelled before it's time by the ever stupid Fox network in the states, which showed the series in a dumb timeslot on a friday night, with the episodes shown out of order. So this is a chance to see one of the best sci-fi creations of recent years on the big screen, a chance not to be missed! I'll be catching a ride down there on the back of Tony's motorbike and the pair of us are meeting up with Gareth down there for the 1:10pm showing.
After that I dunno what I'm going to do with the rest of today, but I have a few D&D logs I should really type up and get posted over at EN World. And there might be more TV to watch if it has finished downloading. And I'll listen to a lot of music!
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Hunting Grounds
I'm a little annoyed, okay make that a lot annoyed. See, one of my favourite websites is closing down. That would be Alter Realm, home to the largest online gorean community that I know of. The owner of the server has put up some reason involving moving home so his kids can go to a better school as his reason for closing the place down, but from what I've read on the message boards and such, no-one's buying that as the "real reason", even if nobody seems to really know what the real reason might be.
Reaction to this has been mixed, while a lot of people will miss the chat rooms and the incredible travel matrix that links them together, to create a semi-viable geographic chat world, I think very few people will actually miss the message boards on the site, that have for a long time now been synonomous with the worst excesses of whining and gossip in the community as a whole. A lot of the rooms will close, others will go to other servers, and there will be an influx of goreans to other servers such as GRP (where I have a membership and am a Moderator), which is both good (more people) and bad (some of those people are complete assholes).
For my part I'm going to miss the Crossroads room. It was owned by the site, rather than by any one person, and it represented a large area of open space between cities and campsites (each of which had their own room connected to it). It was an open capture area, to enter it was to put yourself at risk of capture or being killed. I loved that room, and would happily spend hours roleplaying hunting on tarnback in there (for the non-goreans reading this, a Tarn is a bloody massive bird, think a Roc and you're on the right lines), swooping down and netting prey (women, my character is a slaver).
With the closure of the site, this room that holds so many good memories for me (I caught at least two of my now ex-girlfriends characters in there) is going to be gone. I don't know where I'll be going to, to roleplay that kind of experience anymore. I'm sure someone somewhere will open a similar room eventually though, but it won't be the same. I'll miss places like Jo'Sephe's Rock, Bastian's Cabin (I never did investigate inside there), the Pilgrim's Road, and the roads on the north and south banks of the mighty Vosk river.
Reaction to this has been mixed, while a lot of people will miss the chat rooms and the incredible travel matrix that links them together, to create a semi-viable geographic chat world, I think very few people will actually miss the message boards on the site, that have for a long time now been synonomous with the worst excesses of whining and gossip in the community as a whole. A lot of the rooms will close, others will go to other servers, and there will be an influx of goreans to other servers such as GRP (where I have a membership and am a Moderator), which is both good (more people) and bad (some of those people are complete assholes).
For my part I'm going to miss the Crossroads room. It was owned by the site, rather than by any one person, and it represented a large area of open space between cities and campsites (each of which had their own room connected to it). It was an open capture area, to enter it was to put yourself at risk of capture or being killed. I loved that room, and would happily spend hours roleplaying hunting on tarnback in there (for the non-goreans reading this, a Tarn is a bloody massive bird, think a Roc and you're on the right lines), swooping down and netting prey (women, my character is a slaver).
With the closure of the site, this room that holds so many good memories for me (I caught at least two of my now ex-girlfriends characters in there) is going to be gone. I don't know where I'll be going to, to roleplay that kind of experience anymore. I'm sure someone somewhere will open a similar room eventually though, but it won't be the same. I'll miss places like Jo'Sephe's Rock, Bastian's Cabin (I never did investigate inside there), the Pilgrim's Road, and the roads on the north and south banks of the mighty Vosk river.
Sweet Child O' Mine
Song Lyric Time! This is for me the greatest guitar song of all time by one of the greatest bands of all time, the incredible Guns 'N' Roses, sadly now split up (well there is a band still calling themselves by that name, but it is really just the lead singer and a whole new bunch of musicians, not the classic line up, half of whom are now part of Velvet Revolver). I can remember my old mate Robert Tutill introducing me to this band by bringing over a taped copy of the Appetite for Destruction LP (he had the banned cover, I was so jealous), and we'd play it as well as a couple of Skid Row's tapes in our garage (our den, it had carpets, cushions, beanbags and a stereo, perfect teenage hangout). I grew up to music like this. As for the modern day, two weeks ago this got played at 80's night, myself and a very cute girl sang the lyrics at the tops of our voices and played air guitar to one another on the dancefloor. I love this song!
Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns 'N' Roses
She's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky
Now and then when I see her face
She takes me away to that
special place
And if I stared too long
I'd probably break down and cry
Sweet child o' mine
Sweet love of mine
She's got eyes of the bluest skies
As if they thought of rain
I hate to look into those eyes
And see an ounce of pain
Her hair reminds me
of a warm safe place
Where as a child I'd hide
And pray for the thunder
And the rain
To quietly pass me by
Sweet child o' mine
Sweet love of mine
Where do we go
Where do we go now
Where do we go
Sweet child o' mine
Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns 'N' Roses
She's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky
Now and then when I see her face
She takes me away to that
special place
And if I stared too long
I'd probably break down and cry
Sweet child o' mine
Sweet love of mine
She's got eyes of the bluest skies
As if they thought of rain
I hate to look into those eyes
And see an ounce of pain
Her hair reminds me
of a warm safe place
Where as a child I'd hide
And pray for the thunder
And the rain
To quietly pass me by
Sweet child o' mine
Sweet love of mine
Where do we go
Where do we go now
Where do we go
Sweet child o' mine
Staying In
I'm not going out tonight. Been out three Saturday's in a row now, and I couldn't afford last week but was given the money. Not the case this week, so I'm staying in. This is actually good (though I will miss dancing the night away), as I have some typing to do, and a lot of American TV watching to catch up on (with the exception of a very few shows I utterly despise British television).
So I'm gonna cook myself a nice meal (yes I can cook), probably chinese stir fry or if I have any naan bread in the freezer, then I might whip up a chicken balti instead. And there is plenty of milk in the house for coffee. So I'll likely spend a lot of this evening crashed out in a leather armchair, upstairs in Tony's lair, watching episodes of Lost. The cough seems to be finally dying, it can be hours now between a hacking fit and they don't last long, so that's good.
So I'm gonna cook myself a nice meal (yes I can cook), probably chinese stir fry or if I have any naan bread in the freezer, then I might whip up a chicken balti instead. And there is plenty of milk in the house for coffee. So I'll likely spend a lot of this evening crashed out in a leather armchair, upstairs in Tony's lair, watching episodes of Lost. The cough seems to be finally dying, it can be hours now between a hacking fit and they don't last long, so that's good.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Set You Free
Considering the events of the other night on Gor/MSN, I thought this song by one of my very favourite bands was particularly apt for the moment.
Set You Free by the Bangles
I hear you through the wire
The words all sound like noise
What happened to the fire in your voice?
Don't try to hide the distance
It's just too big to ignore
We work it out like business
It won't work anymore
I remember eyes that shined
As they looked so hard back into mine
Now it's just a memory
So I'll set you free
I'll set you free
Still sometimes late at night
Moonlight comes into my window
I make believe it's how it used to be
We made it look so easy
We never tried to resist
Somehow you stopped believing
Somehow we've come to this
I remember eyes that shined
As they looked so hard back into mine
Now it's just a memory
So I'll set you free
I remember words that fell
Like coins into a wishing well
It was never meant to be
So I'll set you free
I'll set you free
So now that I must go on
What more can I do
What good is being strong
When all I ever really want is you
Set You Free by the Bangles
I hear you through the wire
The words all sound like noise
What happened to the fire in your voice?
Don't try to hide the distance
It's just too big to ignore
We work it out like business
It won't work anymore
I remember eyes that shined
As they looked so hard back into mine
Now it's just a memory
So I'll set you free
I'll set you free
Still sometimes late at night
Moonlight comes into my window
I make believe it's how it used to be
We made it look so easy
We never tried to resist
Somehow you stopped believing
Somehow we've come to this
I remember eyes that shined
As they looked so hard back into mine
Now it's just a memory
So I'll set you free
I remember words that fell
Like coins into a wishing well
It was never meant to be
So I'll set you free
I'll set you free
So now that I must go on
What more can I do
What good is being strong
When all I ever really want is you
Eat My Dust
At the Market House on Saturday, Linda mentioned the name of a local band called Catherine Wheel and I replied that I'd never heard of them. So since she had my email she offered to send me one of their songs, which a couple days back she duly did. The song in question is called "Eat My Dust You Insensitive Fuck".
Now when I opened the email and downloaded the track to my desktop I was thinking "Great, a rock track". It isn't. With a title like that I generally assumed the tune would consist of a lot of guitars and drums, shouted if not screamed lyrics, music in the vein of groups like Skid Row, GNR and Metallica. Boy was I wrong. If anything the best way I can describe the song is that it is a ballad!
I mean it. I've listened to it through a few times now (it is like 8 minutes long), and that is honestly the best way I can think of to describe it. And it's wicked creepy. There is something deeply unsettling about someone almost whispering swear words. And it's a male voice too which only adds to the effect. I can't say I like the song (sorry Linda), but it sure is interesting.
Now when I opened the email and downloaded the track to my desktop I was thinking "Great, a rock track". It isn't. With a title like that I generally assumed the tune would consist of a lot of guitars and drums, shouted if not screamed lyrics, music in the vein of groups like Skid Row, GNR and Metallica. Boy was I wrong. If anything the best way I can describe the song is that it is a ballad!
I mean it. I've listened to it through a few times now (it is like 8 minutes long), and that is honestly the best way I can think of to describe it. And it's wicked creepy. There is something deeply unsettling about someone almost whispering swear words. And it's a male voice too which only adds to the effect. I can't say I like the song (sorry Linda), but it sure is interesting.
Die Bug Die
I've been ill for a while now, and this is now officially the longest that I have ever been sick (that I know of), this current bout of illness now beating the first three weeks at University when I suffered with Lampeter Flu (named for the town. Anyone who comes to the University there, who hasn't had it before, will get it and suffer with it for up to a month).
I've lost the rest of the flu, that's dead and done, no runny nose, drowsiness, cold sweats, headaches. They are defeated. But I just can't seem to shift this bloody cough. It's not even that bad a cough really, it has its bad moments sure but I can go a couple hours sometimes between it acting up. It just annoys the hell out of me that it is there, lurking, ready to strike.
So I've had enough, and have now bought a bottle of the most vicious cough medicine I know of, Covonia. The stuff tastes like... well sort of a mutant cross between licorice and what you would imagine your own armpit tastes like after a five mile jog! Still as utterly revolting as it tastes I'm hoping it can do the job. And I have plenty of orange juice to swill my mouth out with after it has gone down.
I've lost the rest of the flu, that's dead and done, no runny nose, drowsiness, cold sweats, headaches. They are defeated. But I just can't seem to shift this bloody cough. It's not even that bad a cough really, it has its bad moments sure but I can go a couple hours sometimes between it acting up. It just annoys the hell out of me that it is there, lurking, ready to strike.
So I've had enough, and have now bought a bottle of the most vicious cough medicine I know of, Covonia. The stuff tastes like... well sort of a mutant cross between licorice and what you would imagine your own armpit tastes like after a five mile jog! Still as utterly revolting as it tastes I'm hoping it can do the job. And I have plenty of orange juice to swill my mouth out with after it has gone down.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Rogues Gallery: Tony Searle
This is the first in what I hope will be a semi-regular feature, in which I turn the spotlight on one of the people in my life. The brave volunteer to go first is my housemate and best friend Tony.I met Tony at the Games Club here in Taunton back in 1998 not long after I had left University. He asked if he could join my game of D&D, as we were a bit short on players, I said to pull up a chair and roll up a character. The next week he brought along a mate from work Rodney Kick (now sadly passed away) who also joined the group.
Tony is a software engineer by trade, meaning he earns about twice what I do, and as a result pays more of the rent. Because of this he has the whole top floor as his lair wherein he has his office/lounge (complete with leather armchairs) and his bedroom (complete with mess!)
We share the same birthday (he's a year older) and a LOT of the same likes and dislikes, though he has a far greater tolerance for TV than I do, and I'm more inclined to listen to music than he is. He likes his beer (Fosters and Newcastle Brown Ale do not last long around this man), though he is banned (by me) from drinking Tequila, mainly due to the fact it gets him horrendously drunk and he makes a LOT of noise when he is that drunk.
He drives a motorbike (which he is seemingly forever having to repair) and has a penchant for hitting large visible stationary objects. Pedestrians, animals (apart from pheasants), or other road users, you're quite safe around Tony. If however, you are a wall, hedge, ditch, fence... look out! Still, I am slowly getting used to hitching rides on the back of the thing, but thus far only to the cinema and back.
He is the computer whiz of the household and thus is called upon to wield his mighty screwdriver whenever my PC has a glitch. Indeed he built the current PC I am using for me, from a few new bits that I bought and a load of his old components, from when he upgraded his computer last. He also set up and maintains our wireless network in the house. Put bluntly, I likely wouldn't be able to post this without him.
It was our joint idea to rent a house together, as walking back from the cinema we were discussing the cost of living and realised that we'd each save a little if we moved out of our two small apartments that we were paying too much rent for and got a place together. Add in a third housemate and we saved a lot more!
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