Pomp and circumstance.

Bonfire night would be good if it wasn't for the smell of melting plastic as idiots throw stolen bins on the fire. Yep, they had searched around and pinched bins from people’s gardens just to throw on the bommie. All three of Gaz's bins were pinched, and our green bin was also fated to become a molten pool of petrochemical muck. The smell cut through everything, and it was still stinking at about 3am last night. The one good thing was the free firework show, which I could watch from my chair. Why go out in the cold to see professional shows when the ones from peoples back gardens are just as good.

I sat and watched (I don't know why) the opening of Parliament this morning. It's the first time I have ever done that. What a load of rubbish! Okay, tradition is all well and good, and I am not averse to a little tradition myself, but talk about taking themselves seriously! Nothing new was put forward for the coming parliamentary year, it was all the same as previous years: fight terrorism, sort out housing, and fix education. Hah! That is relatively impossible. Most kids don't want to be in school, and with reforms in policing and corporal punishment kids no longer have respect for anyone, so how do the government propose to keep kids in education until they are at least 18 years old?

Talking about school, Principessa is no longer going to nursery. Well, at least not until next February. The school called yesterday after she went in, and half an hour after starting she had managed to get herself in such a state that the teachers could not calm her down. I had a long talk with one of her teachers and we agreed that she would not go back until February. If she doesn't settle then, she will not go back until next September. I am now looking into home schooling her. It might be the easiest (though harder for me) option.

I am still plodding on with the NaNo. I'm actually surprised I have stuck with it for nearly a week. Things have happened already in the story that I wasn't expecting, but I think it is sounding okay. Here are the updated word counts:

Day 5: 297 words
Day 6: 213 words (so far)

It's strange how you can go off a person.

So, as most people who know me know, I recently nominated a certain writer for a weblog award (mentioning no names, nah, bugger to that. 'Twas Neil Gaiman). Now, I know this may give the impression that I am a stalker (can you stalk in a wheelchair?), but I messaged aforementioned writer to inform him that I had nominated his journal as my way of appreciating his work. When the journal was selected as a finalist I messaged again to tell him, and to ask if he could direct the rest of his readership to the website so that maybe they could vote too. No response, no message on his journal. My mission then was to get peeps that would like to vote to vote. I left a message on his forum, and on a number of groups on facebook. I asked my friends to vote. I checked today to find he was about 200 points in the lead. So how irked was I after reading his journal today to see that someone else had also told him he had been nominated and that he was currently in the lead? Pah!

Okay, enough grrrrrr. I am still plodding along with my 'using the NaNo to get into good writerly habits, even though I am not participating' story. I'm going to have to do loads today whilst Principessa is at nursery. Here is the full word count for yesterday:

Day 4: 307 words

Moto

Valentino Rossi did ride in the Valencia GP, but had his hand strapped up in a big way as he has three fractured bones in his wrist. Ouch! Truthfully, I think they are completely silly to ride with injuries (another rider - can't remember who - was riding with suspected appendicitis), but I suppose it's up to them.

Anyway, Rossi was up for second place, but had to pull out of the race after his bike broke down (hmmm, just tried to spell broke 'browk'. For all intents and purposes, it still looks like a proper word!), so Dani Pedrosa ended up with the second place in the world rankings after finishing the race first.

Update on the NaNo:

Day 3: 337 words.
Day 4: 90 words (so far. Will do some more later.)

Stepping back in time; five months ago

This was the time I was potty training Principessa. I was having trouble getting her to use the potty, though I did finally work out what I needed to do. This happened after hours of trawling the net, looking at advice pages. The best piece of advice I found (after "Let the child get used to having a potty around, so they know what it is") was "Just stick with it, no matter how many times a nappy is asked for." Yeah, I know, kind of obvious. It isn't when you're doing it, the easy option is to just give in and put on the nappy. So I followed that advice and within three days she was potty trained. Even more amazing than that was she took to night-time trained two days later and was completely out of nappies a few days later (with a couple of little accidents, but not as many as I was expecting).

Anyway, the point of this post was to share this video. It nearly made me wet myself when I saw it, and as the subject is potty training, then it is quite apt for the post.

Slow, unconfident words.

So I have started the mini Nano, as I am not confident in my self to do the full NaNo yet. So the word counts so far are:

Day 1: 469 words
Day 2: 230 words

So I shall sit down later tonight and write some more, but this time I'll try not to over think what I am writing. Therein lies my problem. I need to switch off and write, rather than reread what I have already done and start making changes. I'm never going to get anywhere until I break this cycle. I have to get it in my head to just write, finish and leave it alone for a while. Maybe I might end up with something solid. Once I've got that far, maybe I'll learn something. *sigh*

On sports matters, 'tis the final Moto GP of the year. Rossi can't win, but he could get the runner up spot. That is if the crash he has had today in qualifying doesn't stop him, and if he can make his way through the field from about 16th place. If he can't do it, then Dani Pedrosa gets the second place. Ah well. Not an easy end to the season for the Doctor!

Anyhows. I couple of weeks ago I mentioned a web program called Sanctuary. Well, here is the first episode. Enjoy.

Ah well..

He gave it his best.

It's no go for Andy Murray in the top eight for the tennis masters series. It was exciting following the race this week though :D

Toilet Riser

I have this piece of machinery that reminds my brain-that-works-in-mysterious-ways of Ed209 from Robocop. This piece of machinery is to help me get on and off the toilet. Over the last few weeks the seat part became decidedly dodgy, making it feel like it would break down at any minute (no, it's malfunction was not telling me I had 20 seconds to comply). Well, a new riser was delivered this morning, but lo and behold if it doesn't work.

When I say it doesn't work... I mean we can't assemble the damn thing as the arm attachment rod has been put on backwards! Not good! It's times like these I really wish that I had an iron bladder. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I found out yesterday that my nomination for Neil Gaiman's journal was successful enough to take it to the final stages in the Weblog awards. Now all I have to do is rally some support and get people voting for it. I hope he wins!

Argh! Mini NaNo starts today!

Panic! Panic! Panic!

I feel like a headless chicken! I still have not managed to hash out the middle of my plot, and it is time to start writing! At least there I have managed to get something started. Only problem here is I am not sure how strong the start it, and I still don't really have a title. Poop!

Principessa woke up at 6.45ish this morning. My poor head! I hope I can concentrate later today when she goes to nursery. We had to play 'Keep Hammy warm' before coming downstairs. This consisted of wrapping Hammy (the squirrel from Over The Hedge) in a pink towel and then rocking him like a baby and calling him 'My little terror'. I don't know! Then Principessa started moaning for a bottle 'o' tea (relaxed parenting - she still gets comfort from a bottle, and I'm sure she'll grow out of it when she is ready), crying out "Oh woe is me"! Talk about a character!

Well, I will leave here with a little snippet of some of my NaNo attempt. This is the curse that happens in the first few paragraphs.

The fairest of friends,
The bitterest enemies.
By Bark: Bough and Trunk,
This is the Wyrd of the Trees
The heart of a Folk boy
You both seek to win.
To the victor; a husband.
To the loser; darkness within.
In two Lands - Buck and Folk
Always divided to be.
To leave, be cast down.
Withered wood shallst you be.
A Father's love
Returnst you here,
On the thirteenth day
Of her thirteenth year.
This Wyrd shallst reverse
By an apple; pure and white.
The truth of all things
Revealed in the light.
But a childs heartache
Is a Mother's cross.
A loving sacrifice
Is a family's loss.

(c) A. Tresidder 2007

Creating monsters

I am slowly, but surely ( I hope), working through the plot for the middle of my mini NaNoWriMo story. I've been flustering about what to do in the middle, like what I was going to call the creature that has just made it's presence known, but that has just fallen into place. I now have its name. I feel a bit disappointed now, because I know that this particular monster will not be part of the story for very long. Ho hum, maybe I'll try and find a different name and keep this monster for another story. Then again, maybe not.

Principessa is home today. Her nursery starts again tomorrow. So I will have to entice her to get some books out and we can do some reading. Okay, she may not be able to read yet (though I am sure she can. I was logging into facebook the other day and Principessa just happened to be sat on my knee. I've not mentioned facebook to her, or alerted her to the facebook logo, but as soon as she saw it she said, "Ooohh, facebook."), but she loves her books. And I need to drag her away from Tom and Jerry!

Still piddled off about the post. It is not back to normal yet, and I still haven't received some of the stuff I ordered just before the strike started and some things I ordered after it finished. Grrrrrr. If I had super powers....

Well, time for lunch.

Time to live on one level?

Today the occupational therapist came to see me. She had visited yesterday as we are exploring the option of having a through-floor lift installed as it's becoming decidedly dodgy for me to stand from the stair lift. Anyway, the engineer had a look around the house yesterday trying to site where the lift would go. A place was decided, but the next problem to arise was that the original problem of me standing from a seat had still not been addressed as the lift would include a seat. The engineer then had a look at the seat I have downstairs. The seat has a riser mechanism attached to it, that brings me to a standing position. That threw up further problems as both the OT and the engineer agreed that the lift may not be feasible. Poop.

So, the visit today included a surveyor. They came to look to see if the option of building an extension was a feasible one. It looks like it might be, and having a bedroom and bathroom built onto the back of the house. Well, I suppose it's better than what I have now.

On other news, I have now applied for my first course with the Open Uni. Kirst and I are on the list for the Feb 2008 start list for the introduction to Humanities course. Yay! I think I am quite looking forward to it!

Nobleism

Last night I went to the Empire to see Ross Noble. That man can't half make you laugh! The only thing is, even though I spent most of my time laughing my socks off, I felt like I'd been to see Derren Brown because I couldn't remember half of it when it finished! What I do remember is the show was being filmed and there were satellite link-ups to Vue cinemas across the country. I do remember a girl confessing to peeing in a bin because she was desperate and her mum was on the toilet. And I do remember the glass eye.... Yeah, it was a strange, but fun, night.



On other matters... I seemed to have stalled with my story. Again! I don't know what it is, beginnings and endings seem to be no problem. Getting from the beginning to the end, now, that's a different kettle of fish completely. I have no idea where my plotting takes a holiday, but middles are my mental block. I can't seem to get past it! I think I might need to put a nail in my head just to confine my train of thought. (And here is the bigger problem... I know what needs to go in the middle of this latest story, but I can't seem to put it down in a structured plot that would keep people interested in reading. Sucks, hey?)

Principessa is getting funnier by the day. She is her own stand up comedy show! Now, a few posts ago I mentioned about the 'Niamh, Destroyer of Worlds' quote. She has now expanded on the quote. The second part of the quote came into being after Nanny had told her off for playing with the stove. Nanny had told her that if she played with the stove and turned it on, the stove would get hot and blow up. To this I said:

"Well, you keep telling her she is destroyer of worlds. The addendum to that is 'One cooker at a time'."

So now, when you ask Principessa her name she says:

"Niamh, Destroyer of Worlds! One cooker at a time!"

She picks things up so quickly!

Things I hadn't thought about.

I was reading about what made children in fairy stories heroic yesterday, only to realise a hole in the plan of the story I am plotting out for the NaNo. Oh poo! I kept myeslf awake last night by thinking of how I was going to fill the gap in my story. I am still thinking. At least through that thinking I have worked out two new incidental characters and their introduction to the story, so that's good, at least. I shall work on the ideas more today if Grandand takes Principessa to the park.

Yay! The post is now being delivered. So far, I have received the DVDs of series one of 'Heroes'. Woohoo! Still waiting for my books and comics though. And the USB keyboard. I am hoping that I can use that on the old laptop to access files and folders that are, at present, locked into it.

Well, back to the plants and plot.

Change.

I hate it when TV programs change the film that it is filmed on. I can see the difference instantly, and a lot of the time it totally distracts me from the program. The sharpness of the picture completely throws me. I know it sounds silly, but it does.

I remember the first time it happened. Red Dwarf, series 7. The first episode. I never watched another episode after it. Okay, part of the reason was that I didn't think it worked well with only Doug Naylor writing it, but the change of film really put me off. I hated it.

More recently it has happened with Casualty. I only watch Casualty as it is Dad's favourite program, but this season introduced the new media it was being filmed on. It was the first time Dad also noted the change. I have to say, there was something about it that really grated on my nerves. Okay, so they had changed the set too, it was darker and it didn't suit the program (I've never seen a hospital painted in such dark and dreary colours), but the sharpness of the media also detracted from the atmosphere of the program. I finally worked out tonight what was griping me about it all. The old media leant to the 'grunginess', the feeling that a hospital has, and the backdrop was also much lighter and more reminiscent of a hospital. What griped were the mix of the new media and the use of the dark backdrop. The dark backdrop only made it seem more depressing and oppressing. It didn't add anything to the program, only detracted from it, taking the atmosphere that it had spent about 20 years building. It was just wrong.

Ah well, I was only saying a few posts ago that change happens and people should get on with it. Maybe I should take my own advice and not focus on it.

She is Principessa*, Destroyer of Worlds.

Well, that's what she told me when I asked Principessa what her name* was!

I took a break from the plotting yesterday, and it seems to be going that way today too. I might do some tonight after Principessa goes to bed. I think when I am writing the ideas fir the plot down I am writing 200 words per day. That's good seeing as that's the word count for the mini NaNoWriMo. I'm now looking forward to taking part in it.

Feeling rather peeved.

Yup. Very peeved off at the moment. I have bought things from Ebay and because of this stupid unofficial strike I am not receiving any of it. I am in a very hmph mood with the post. It's a good job I can phone the bank to get credit card balances and pull up catalogue bills online. Otherwise I would be having charges placed on my accounts. That would make me very angry.

I feel sorry for the people who depend on Royal Mail for work etc. Case and point; the CRB send out disclosures through Royal Mail. How are people who live in Liverpool feeling if they are depending on receiving a disclosure to secure their job? How many people are going to lose jobs because of it? Okay, so the RM workers are peeved about their hours changing, but hey, that's life. Other people have their hours changed too. It doesn't matter to them that other peoples lives are being disrupted and destroyed because of their pettiness. My life isn't dependent on RM, but I would be so mad if it were. I said to my Dad that I hoped they were having their pay suspended, but Dad pointed out that they would only earn it back in overtime that they will have to work to clear the backlog of mail. I don't think they should be paid overtime. After all, it is them causing the disruption in the first place.

Anyway, enough of my rant. I have been working hard on getting this story plot going. So far, so good. A few new characters have emerged, characters I hadn't been expecting. It feels strange plotting and not writing parts of the story as they come to me. Maybe it will help with training me to have a consistent train of thought while writing, instead of jumping from one scene to another and not writing linking bits in between.

Principessa is going back to nursery tomorrow. This nursery lark hasn't been all that successful as yet. I think she managed the stinted first week, then she was off ill for a week, then she went in the week after but only managed two half-half days and two full-half days, then she has been off for the last nine nursery days ill. I know I was bad with going to school and feigning illnesses, but I was at least in primary school by that time! Okay, Principessa has really been ill, but if it continues like this, week in, week off, then I might just think about keeping her home. We shall see.

Finding plots and programmes.

It's been a strange few days. Principessa went to the hospital again with Grandand on Saturday night after suffering with a fever for two and half days. Unfortuately, the doctor at the hospital was unable to examine her properly because she would launch into a tizzy when the doctor went near her. I think she might have an ear infection.

While Principessa was at the hospital I sat upstairs with Mum. She was online, looking at webcams in Canada. One of the cameras had been positioned on a bridge. Someone was in the middle of putting a banner onto the bridge with www.sanctuaryforall.com written across it. "Ooohh," we both said, "wonder what that is?" While we were waiting for the page to load the theories were mentioned. Mum thought it was probably for immigration, I thought it could be for an animal home. But no. We were both surprised when it led to a page relating to an online program called 'Sanctuary'. I've watched two episodes now, and it looks like it could turn into something good.

To further keep my mind off Principessa being at hospital, I started fleshing out characters and plot lines for my mini NaNoWriMo attempt. I still have no idea what the story is going to be called, but the preparations are starting to take the story somewhere I wasn't expecting. Just characters and ideas are making inventing the plot more interesting, if not more challenging. I'm not sure I am up to this challenge, but we shall see. Hopefully I shall have more of a concrete plan before November the 1st.

My Daemon

(Edited 20/10/07)
Okay, so it was a spider to begin with. Then the personality thing was changed and the demon changed with it. Ah well, a fox rather than a spider, that's okay by me.

Star Trek meets Cthulhu

Here I go, off on another geek speak.

So chuffed that Simon Pegg will be Scottie in the new Star Trek movie. What a great piece of casting. Just wondering now if he will go to speech lessons to find his inner Scotsman? Another great piece of casting is Zachary Quinto, otherwise known as Sylar in 'Heroes', as the young Spock. So far, I like the beginnings of this Star Trek film.

As for Cthulhu, I was giggling happily to myself when I found out that you could buy cuddly versions of the Great Old One. The one that tickled me the most was this one:

Santa Cthulhu

Now that is done with, normal news time.

Poor ikkle Principessa hasn't been well again. She came home from school yesterday and fell down with a temperature. She didn't get much sleep last night, though if she were in any pain she wouldn't tell me. She's still got a slight temperature today, but she's much better and bouncing about like a caged rubber ball. It's a good job that school was closed for a training day!

I have almost finished my Christmas Shopping! Woohoo! Just have to buy something for Mumbles and Nathaniel now. The only thing I have to worry about is buying birthday pressies for people whose birthdays are in the run up to Christmas.

Ah well, time to blubber with insanity as I have been perusing the Great Cthulhu's countenance for far too long now.... Blub, blub, blub!

I felt like such a heel.

Over the last four days, Principessa hasn't wanted to go to school. She cries continuously, demanding hugs, for half an hour before she leaves. Today she started as soon as she saw her clothes. I managed to calm her down enough to get her dressed but as soon as it was time to put her boots on she legged it upstairs to Nanny.

Uncle Gaz went upstairs to retrieve her, and took her boots up so that she could hug Nanny while he put them on her. She came downstairs with Gaz, but started her 'Oh woe is me' routine, dropping onto her knees and crying. Give her her due; she acted like a little trooper once her coat was on. She hugged Nanny and me, held onto Gaz's finger, and walked out of the door whimpering and sobbing. She didn't stop at all during the walk to school. When Gaz told me that, I felt so guilty. I felt like a bad Mum for sending her to nursery. I think if she carries on like this I might just stop her going. It's obviously causing her some trauma.

On the plus point for Principessa, she now has her own portable 7" DVD player. She doesn't know about it yet, as she is at nursery right now. I thought it was the best option as there isn't room for a DVD player on the downstairs TV and I am not letting her watch DVDs on the laptop any more. I hope it will be a nice surprise for her when she gets home.

I'm still feeling the loss of the old laptop. It had all the Japanese linguaphone discs copied onto it, so now I am unable to study Japanese until I am able to borrow the discs from J again. Grrr. I'll just have to sit down one night with my Kanji and Kana books and resume learning to read Japanese.

On the subject of Japanese, or Japanese culture, the fabulous Mr. Gaiman left a link to the Japanese art of Dorodango on his latest blog entry. I think I might want to try and make one. I think it's about time I went all Zen and reflective!

Well, it's time to start getting ready for the return of Principessa. TTFN!

The Legacy of the Mango Smoothie

It all began at 11.30am, Monday morning. I sat Principessa down to watch 'Charlie and Lola' while I sorted her lunch out. She followed me out to the kitchen, so I gave her a small beaker of mango smoothie. Happy, she goes back into the living room to resume her DVD watching.

Three minutes later I go into the living room with Principessa's lunch.

"No!" I said. "What have you done?"

"Oh no!" Principessa said. "I have to say sorry to Mummy."

There, on the table, my laptop sat. 'Charlie and Lola' still completely danced on the screen. The keyboard bathed silently in mango smoothie.

I have no idea how I kept my calm. I mopped up what I could from the surface of the keyboard. I had to dress Principessa for school, so I put the laptop down until she was dressed and off to school with her Uncle Gaz. Then I painstakingly removed each key to dry up as much of the smoothie as was humanly possible. Then I left it sitting upside down for 24 hours.

Tuesday afternoon, 1pm. I turn on the laptop. Woohoo I think, as the screen flicks on and the hard drive boots up. The password screen pops up. Tentatively I press the first key, hoping above hope that everything would be fine. Poop! No such luck.

Each time a key was depressed, three characters appeared in the password box. Each time the delete key was depressed one of two things happened. Either the cursor would jump over all of the characters already present and sit at the start of the password box or a new character would appear. Sugarplum fairies!

So I am typing this entry on my new pink laptop. It's good, sits better on my lap, but I miss my old laptop. I have lost all of my bookmarks, some programs I had downloaded online, and some photos of Principessa. Oh, and the kids story I had almost finished and other various bits and bobs of story ideas. So not happy about that. I can't believe that I would do that to myself, and not back them up on the pen drive. I have done with other my other story stuff.

So the morals of the story: Mango smoothie and laptops just don't mix.
Don't put your work on one hard drive. (Kinda like chickens, eggs and baskets, me thinks!)