Still not dead...

Not much to report, though, which is why the lack of posting lately.

The weather's distressing lack of consistency has been frustrating my attempts to get washing dry, but I haven't even bothered thinking about cutting the lawn. So I really should do that tomorrow...

I've now seen The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which was just as silly and full of big booms and chases and special effects as I thought it was going to be. I've also switched to a 160Gb iPod Classic, and I'm slowly filling it with music and goodies such as Chuck, Reaper, etc.

I haven't lost any more weight, nor have I gained any. I haven't especially done any exercise. The house hasn't collapsed. My bike is working. So, yanno, that's about it.

*shrug* What do you want, people? Funky dancing??! Meh. I shall attempt to liven up my life for your entertainment prior to posting again...

Several random things...

1. Lincoln was lovely. It was rather special to be able to camp in the grounds of the castle, and I really enjoyed bimbling around in my medieval outfit, making stuff and chatting and relaxing.

2. Must make a List for packing, and also acquire a TARDIS or a larger car. Packing is Not Fun^TM.

3. Nice to see folks at the Theatre Royal sale. I bought all their remaining fox furs and a couple of pieces of silk. And a blouse.

4. When running round like a loony, doing mad frantic last-minute sewing and having just written a clean, postable 32,000 word fanfic novella in 2 weeks, and being in the middle of hoiking stuff out to pack into a Fiesta to go away for my first ever reenactment event, that's the time my oomph will vanish out from under me, and I will fall into the Slough of Despond AND the Pit of Despair. I love writing, but the come-down's a bitch. Also, alasdair1076 is wonderful and I'm extremely glad he's my best friend.

5. ravenlas is a truly amazing man, and is very, very hot in a doublet and hose. *fans self* Truly I am a very lucky woman! No, I have no photos. This time. Next time, though... *grin* And he is wonderful with Aspergic kids.

6. Got a lot of work to get through this week. Posting this (and Correspondence Course over on the_proofreader) is not getting it done. So. I may be slow to reply to comments, emails etc.

7. RIP Audrey Chapman, a very brave and fierce woman. She had a hard life, and I hope now she has some peace. I'll miss her.

8. There is no number 8. Oh well. Tumty-tumty-something... nope. Gone. *shrug*

So I shall go too. Tea break's over. Back on my head.

Another busy one, which is good and bad. I enjoyed it, but there's more to be done, and I need another weekend to laze around in.

paul_marks was up visiting, and with ravenlas, we went to the Riding Lights production of a play about Edgar Allen Poe. It's a youth theatre, and the son of a friend was in it. And it was smashing! They did such a good job with it, including 3 or 4 Poe stories within the play, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. We followed that up with a trip to Old Orleans for dinner, and all in all, it was a great evening.

Saturday, I did some dressmaking, went to the Balloon Tree for supplies, and came home and made a pan of chicken soup and a pan of stew. We went to see 300 at the City Screen, which was well worth the seeing. It's beautifully filmed, and bulks the (faithfully followed) graphic novel out with a nice sub-plot. I really enjoyed that, too!

Sunday, despite the clock change (stick to GMT, dammit, bloody politicians), I went to the gym and got back in time to take Paul to visit a friend. More dressmaking, 2 loads of laundry done, cooked a joint of beef, and cycled 24 miles on the exercise bike while watching the double-bill of Grey's Anatomy. Yay!

Today it was difficult getting up at what my body insists is far too early an hour, despite it waking me up at that time a couple of mornings last week, and despite having gone to bed early. So I was grumpy. Bah. Tonight I suspect it'll be more dressmaking and an early night.

I was absolutely knackered yesterday evening. Still, I got some proofreading done, and then I read some, erm, 9th Doctor/Rose/Captain Jack slash fic, which was very funny, and intended to get to bed around 10pm. Which slipped to almost 11pm... And then, being so tired, I kept on waking up, being disturbed by my SO - not his fault, it's what I do when I'm too tired. The other thing I do when I'm too tired is... dream of zombies. Why? *shrug* I dunno! But they scare the crap out of me in my dreams, and I have to wake myself up. This time, there were people turning into zombies outside, and I was driving somewhere with someone in the passenger seat. Who was turning into a zombie, but didn't seem too aware of it at the time. I was just sitting there, thinking, please don't turn and look at me and tear my face off. *sigh*

So I woke up very, very grumpy, and did my godzilla stomp around the house until it was time to leave for work. No o_faolain to do the crossword on the train with today (which always cheers me up), but I think it *might* be a setter I can do a few of. ;-) I got some writing done instead. And so far today - no work, but 600 words on a story about screwing an angel. Well, the office talk afterwards. *heh*

Other things to make me grump - my bag has knocked the dodgy connection on my sennheiser headphones enough that one side's not working any more. Feh. Have to shell out for some more. The only question - do I go for another pair of the same, which aren't in-ear, but keep my ears warm while I'm cycling, or do I go for a pair of in-ear headphones?

And: BT, having had my change-of-bank-account details, and sent me a letter saying 'that's fine', have now sent me a you-haven't-paid-this-bill bill. Fuckers. I shall be shouting at them shortly.

Edit: Headphones are under a 2 year warranty and will be replaced if I post them off tomorrow. Sennheiser do a longer warranty than most electrical appliances get! V. impressed. BT summarily dealt with. Some idiot had put the letter on the system, sent off an 'everything's okay' letter, and hadn't actually bothered putting the new direct debit details in. So, hit man has been dispatched. Today, I have a shit list, and numpty's on it.

Oh, and I went out this lunchtime in the beautiful sunshine, and then dived into the basement which is TK Maxx. On emerging, blinking, into said sunshine (late for work), I now have bras which fit, a top with faux-feathery bits round the neck, and a black zip-up cardigan. I'm not nearly so grumpy.

( Christmas: or, How I Learned to Stick to Chanukah... )

Back in York, ravenlas and I went sales shopping. I bought: 3 pairs of pyjamas, 4 towels, a lamp and some monster furry slippers from BHS. And then we went to Monsoon, and I bought a pair of trousers. ravenlas bought me a silk skirt and a jacket, and the jacket wasn't even in the sale! He's so good to me, and I don't deserve him. We called into Game, and ravenlas got a computer game, and I did too, only mine was only £1.99, so I'm not expecting great things of it. Then we had dinner at Russell's Carvery, went home, came back into town, gave said monster slippers to a_crow for his birthday, saw his flat - v. envious as it's in one of the Georgian town houses on Micklegate, and it's a gorgeous building - and went out for a drink. Various folks were there, and I got to see Vicky's Peru photos, but all too soon we had to head home as we're at work today. Only... when I got home, I opened a bottle of wine and sat and watched Pretty Woman, which is still a darned good film. So I got to bed at 1:30am, rather squiffy, and though I could catch a later train into work, I'm still tired and a wee bit achey. Meh. That'll teach me... Oh, and I have done No Writing. At all. I will have to rectify this state of affairs.

So far today, I've done no work whatsoever. I suspect that state of affairs will continue until next week... *heh*

Writing group last night was good. It was nice to see everyone, and rhube came along too and bravely brought a piece with her, not knowing what our group is like. So kudos to her for that. Lendal Cellars was quite a lot busier (and noisier) than usual for a Tuesday night, as the races were on. Still, I got to do some posh frock spotting while attempting to lipread. I just hope that the First Hussar's renovation doesn't take too much longer!

Today I had train fun. Yesterday I got to see ayrton_nix very briefly on the platform. Today, I got to go spend over an hour sitting on the floor in the vestibule end of the train which goes via Leeds and Wakefield. My train? Oh, the driver and an engineer couldn't get the brakes off after it stopped in York. It could still be stuck there, for all I know. Feh. So I'm stuck in work an extra hour to compensate for Virgin having trains which break down quite regularly. To be fair, it's usually only the air con which goes, and that hasn't killed me yet, just made me very hot and quite grumpy. But still, it's annoying.

Anyway, enough grumping, back to my help file...

Happy belated birthday, paul_marks and ant_girl!

( Gaming, POTC II and Tewkesbury )

So all in all, a good weekend. I hope ravenlas gets better soon and doesn't give me his lurgy.

Writing: Pages edited -

69 / 310 (22.3%)

Edits on computer -

33 / 310 (10.6%)

Right. Life is getting busy again. Now I actually have things booked, I figure I'll let you all know what's going on.

( Cut for those who don't care: )

So there you are. If you want me to be somewhere, doing whatever, it'll have to be around what's already in there. Let me know!

Now this does pose problems for actually having a Saturday birthday barbeque. So I'm thinking I'll maybe just end up having a meal this year, and anyone who wants to come along can do so. I might have a Sunday barbeque, though, which won't go on past around 10pm. Thoughts?

I just got my first ever story rejection! Go me! So now I have to send it out again, and finish the other story I'm writing so that can go out too. *bounce*

I swam 50 lengths yesterday in the outdoor pool at the gym: I could see the steam rising off it - bit chilly out of the water. So, feeling virtuous, I went for lunch with dressmaking friends and ended up having a chicken satay skewer starter, fillet steak & veg, then a pana cotta to finish up with (and a glass and a half of white wine). Alas, the pana cotta disagreed with me around half an hour later, it being lots of dairy and all. Meh. But the meal was worth it, and I was stuffed.

Scrawled over another 10th of my manuscript yesterday evening: only another 7/10ths to go...

And I need to get my bike in for a service as I can't use the outside gears for fear the chain will fall off. Humbug!