Lunch Break Papers

Hey! Yes, I really do still exist; but what with great real-life interaction going on, I sort of didn't have the opportunity to write here.
So, here are a few random things while I catch up.

Where to begin...

We could've used this weather a week ago; it is warm, and not a cloud in the sky. Which is nice though if you want to spend the day in the garden, reading. Until the family next door has a get-together, and the kids train sport stacking in the garden. The sound of the plastic cups makes its way through the window at my desk, while I sit here remembering the past few days.

I always find that I pay more attention to my home town when I have a visitor to show stuff to. And I did want to show off my city - not that ladyjillian and I did much in the way of sightseeing; but we did spend some time at the site of a Roman / Germanic battlefield, walked through the streets here, had ice cream and beer, many fascinating discussions, and exchanges of viewpoints. There's a lot there to be mulled over.
It's too bad ladyjillian's camera appears to be lost. There were a couple of great photographs on there. But I am glad she arrived back home OK.

I'll spend the rest of today goofing off I think, lie in the sun, read, and eat the leftover basil cheese. Good way to take a breather before I plunge back into the adventurous life of a PhD student.

And finally, for the delight of my friend britishamerican, a cute pair of tits, and some perky boobies.

I missed the third Anniversary of Alder Hill. It was eleven days ago.
We had such high hopes for that place. A fantasy community where we would lay the groundwork (and a fantastic groundwork it is, too!), and the community members would write the stories, flesh out the skeleton we created. We have a chatroom, and a forum, we have maps, and history, timelines, stunning artwork, stories, poetry, even music and the beginnings of languages. We wanted to create a place where a community-co-created fantasy world would grow and people could let out their creativity.

A year ago, I was ready to close down the place. We were committed, yes, but it didn't work the way we had expected, coming as we did from a thriving online community. And then, we kind of lost interest. I know I did. Why invest energy in something that doesn't give back? But I left it online, for some reason.

And some people have found it, and breathed life into the old thing.

Thanks, guys.

So, this guy I've known since he was in school - he's quite a bit younger than I am; we met via a circle of Star Trek fans - got married the other day. I saw the picture in the newspaper, he looks neat and proud and as happy as a groom should. This is so cool, I'm happy for him.

But boy, do I feel old now. :-D

The remains of last night are cleaned and put away, and despite the sunshine and cool breeze, I'm tired. No wonder, I had my birthday party last night after all. More people in the house than could fit into my livingroom, food and drink a-plenty, laughter and fun. I think I need to invite people more often, it was a brilliant evening which went on well into the night.
Hey, want to see pictures? Someone forgot their camera here, and I was evil enough to use the USB port.

( Have a look: )

Man, I had a good time. The guests seemed to, too, especially after I unpacked my presents, and especially after I unpacked the last one.
The band gave me two violin stands, one which looks like a miniature guitar stand and one which can be screwed onto any microphone stand and the violin hung into that. Perfect, since both in the rehearsal room and especially on stage, I never know where to put the violin when I'm not playing, and I will freely admit that I'm always afraid someone will step on it when it lies on the floor. Silly, I know, but I'm rather attached to my instrument. They also got me a CD voucher, which is good. Very good.
From the other group of friends I received a CD with Mahler's 7th symphony, which I heard for the first time in concert on Monday and quite liked, and am looking forward to give a close listening to. And then, something that has been haunting me for the past two years happened: they gave me this as a birthday present. What the hell are you supposed to say to that? Apart from "Thank you", of course, never let it be said that I am not polite, even though I added "... you bastards". I am sure that during the next few rehearsals, I'll hear someone (probably the bass player) hum to embarras me. Bass player also came up with rather creative names for the thing. I like bass player. But I like guitar player 2 more.
That was the only slightly annoying thing - I had hoped to be able to get him alone to ask him one or two questions, having got my nerves together and having drunk enough red wine to be able to blame alcohol in case things got embarrassing, but I didn't manage it. Yes, he went outside to smoke (an ex-smoker's home is usually a non-smoking home), but there was always company. And when he wanted to leave and another minute would have sufficed, the others decided to leave as well and suddenly, there were four more people. They couldn't know, of course. Now I have to be sober for the questions, dang it! :-D

Bottom line: Party = fun. Thanks guys and gals, and thanks Red for making me promise. :-)

Spring has definitely sprung over here. The early birds are making quite a lot of noise, which should drive the early worms out of the earth. Spring flowers are blooming, even though it could be a little warmer. At night, the cats are serenading each other in the garden - well, they are screaming, anyway.


I'm slowly starting to get back into my daily routine: work a few hours early in the morning, lunch break, work a few hours in the afternoon, do fun stuff in the evenings. For a lazy sod like me, having an established routine and forcing myself to adhere to it is more or less the only way to get anything done.

( distracted by fan fiction )


I sort of miss having someone around the place.


Yes, I'm still thinking of how to answer that question.

Yes, I know I haven't updated in the past few days, but then I could really not have told things better than manchester_red has, so check out his journal if you want to know what we've been doing.

A few interesting questions have been asked of me in the past few days, and I'll think them over before I answer them.

I've made new friends here as well these past days; welcome to my LJ! :)

Easter next week, as far as I can remember; I do hope that what I sent out will arrive in time.

A longer update will follow tomorrow, but most likely on Monday.

Someone fell for an Urban Legend: Bobby McFerrin is indeed alive and well. So there. Now he's dissapointed McFerrin's alive.

It's still raining. Figures: it's April, it's fair in my home town, my parents are on holiday and Red's here. Too many things for it not to be raining.

Tequila Sunrise last evening, together with friends and laughter. A good cocktail. Apparently, I made many unintentional innuendoes, as well as intentional ones. I still don't know what's so funny about global thermonuclear warfare. Or small people, for that matter.
No hangover today, though. Hooray!

Here comes the rain again. We should sell some of this weather to the UK.

The thing about feeling light under Czech skies is that when I get back home, I feel like my head's stuck in a bell jar for a couple of days before I readjust to the slightly higher athmospheric pressure. This, of course, results in me not being completely awake during the day, not falling asleep lightly in the evening, and getting up on the wrong side of the bed in the morning. It's only an hour's change with summer time, but I feel as if I have jet lag.
Thanks to that, I had a day of rows yesterday, first with dad, then with mum, then with a good friend. Two of the three I was by now able to clear up, and all of them were down to misunderstandings, as per usual.

The good news is that my dad finally relented: We're going to get DSL in a couple of weeks and internet flatrate with that. No more counting the minutes crawling around the net for me, hooray! Now all I need is to get a new email addy and inform everyone.

The next good news is that manchester_red will be here in a mere three days. Which on the other hand means that I have only a mere three days to clean up my place and do some shopping.

I honestly couldn't give a monkey's about bird flu; what I do feel is a slight (ok, more than slight) tinge of Family Pride that my mum's cousin Milan Malena, whom I've known for years - and have seen slightly inebriated at more than one family gathering - he of the booming voice, many jokes, and who is national veterinary management director of the Czech Republic, is currently in the news a lot, both nationally and internationally, both print and TV, because the first case of bird flu has been found in the Czech Republic, near Hluboka nad Vltavou, where I have been driving past the day before yesterday. They have a pretty castle there, and a very nice restaurant. It is a weird feeling when people and places you've known all your life are suddenly in the news.
Even though I have to chuckle at the way Milan is holding his wineglass. God but that's so typical!

On the negative side, I feel a bit sick today; my stomach's fed up and my head was hurting. I probably ate something which didn't agree with me at a friend's - our drummer's - birthday party yesterday, even though I was very careful which foodstuffs to choose. I'm guessing it was the one sausage (Wiener), which I can't always get away with at the best of times. I evaded all the sugar, even when temptation in the form of the host's wife shoved it right under my nose, but I did drink two glasses of red wine and one shot of whiskey - the host is a whiskey lover and collects medium rare vintages, and is very liberal with his hobby, letting friends taste them. I got home at two in the morning. All of this probably explains why I don't feel like cooking today and will live on bread and tea alone; this will also alleviate my bad conscience at having sinned yesterday.

On the plus side, I had a whale of a time yesterday. The band was there, sans singer, and the usual friendly bickering was much enhanced by the atmosphere. We occupied the living room, while most of the other guests were in the kitchen - it is strange how people gravitate towards the kitchen at parties. Sometimes, we were visited by other guests, who were occasionally looking at us strangely. Yep, we're the weird musicians, alright.

Also on the plus side, not feeling up to much today has resulted in me reading on in the Norton Anthology, specifically Gawain and the Green Knight, in a translation to modern English which nevertheless manages to capture the alliterations and rhythm of the original, as far as I could see. Beautiful, and very fascinating, both in how people and actions are described, but especially in light of how the perfection of nobility and honour was apparently valued higher than life itself. Although I am sure there are depths, allusions and cultural references hidden in there that my modern mind cannot see, so I won't judge what goes on within the work until I do more research in that area.

And finally on the plus side, it was a great day today weather-wise, sun shining and reflecting off a light dusting of snow, birds singing, very good to walk outside for a breath of fresh air, which always gets rid of a hangover headache.

Happy New Year, everyone! May 2006 be the best year you've had so far.

I was at a nice little party last night, it felt really good and was fun, friends all around. Text messages were sent and exchanged with those not there, and this morning I found a message on my answering machine which made me both smile and sniffle a little.
Like last year, I walked home in the morning. It didn't rain any more, and the snow had melted earlier in the day, so it was actually quite warm. Got into bed at five o'clock, got up again at 12, and have lolled around the house ever since, watching TV (lots of Mozart) and fiddling around with LJ.

So I got myself a new layout, had a few hours of creativity messing around with it, and added the 100 user picture option to my account (when 15 pictures aren't enough...), and have now a hella lot of userpics. I also got myself a mood icon set, the Cybermat one, because I am such a geek, and proud of it.

Construction of a Dalek hat is underway, by the way.