T'eyla Minh

Just a quick reminder to myself to try and make one new icon per picspam as cloudsinvenice and I work our way through Jonathan Creek.

I already have an idea for "Jack in the Box" (the next one) and will probably look at the others tonight, although some may have to wait until I watch as there aren't many screencaps to choose from at present (more might be forthcoming as I watch the episodes!)

PS: I has a tumblr. It is the biggest, most distracting timesink IN THE UNIVERSE, but there are so many awesome fanstuffs on there it makes me desperately sad that it didn't exist in the early noughties when I had infinite amounts of studentesque free time. (It also makes Jonathan Creek almost look like it has a fandom that comprises people other than me!)

Anyway, add me if you're on there. I would say join, but you wouldn't forgive me. Over and out.

For anyone who hasn't yet heard via Facebook or text message (not many!), here is the official announcement.

Paul and I are engaged. :)

The ring is actually a teense too big so I'm going to get it resized this lunchtime, after which I will post a proper photograph.

If you're curious, he bought it on a whim on the way back from his business course on Saturday, pretended he couldn't get the internal porch door open (it sticks sometimes) and knocked so I'd come to let him in, whereupon he was waiting on one knee in the porch. He was going to wait until April so I was definitely surprised!

So, there we go. I wouldn't get too excited just yet as it will probably be the longest engagement ever until we have any money. :P

This weekend was mostly spent being a massive geek. ( Apart from this bit which wasn't. )

Anyway, after that wasted morning and early afternoon, we decided to investigate downloading games onto the Wii. ( Here comes the geekage )

On a final note, I will re-post these details here in case anyone missed them on Facebook:-

30th Birthday Drinks

Saturday, 15th October at 7.00pm at the Kings Head Pub in Bearwood (formerly the Quantum), which is on the corner of Hagley Road and Lordswood Road. If coming by bus you can get the 9, 126 or 140 from Colmore Row (they go from the same stop), all of which stop opposite Bearwood Bus Station (on Hagley Road). Alternatively, if you live on the route, the 11 goes past it. The 11C stops right outside or the 11A on the other side of the road, both on Lordswood Road. It's a pretty massive pub so you shouldn't be able to miss it. :P

If Bearwood is too far away for people then I'm also having post-work drinks at about 4.30ish on the Friday, starting at Colmore Bar & Grill, which is near Pij and part of the new(ish) Premier Inn. Currently there's only two or three definite attendees from my work lot, plus myself and Paul, because... yeah, I'm so popular. :P Caryn is one of the definites and will be slightly late as it's her birthday a day before mine so she's going for a massage (fair enough!) but she assures me people will congregate on the afternoon... clearly she has more confidence in them than me. The other two are Gaynor and Marvin. Hopefully other people will come. :|

Also the time on Friday may be subject to change as inevitably, last minute stuff will crop up... As to Saturday, I'm having a family meal beforehand at 5.00pm and hopefully we'll be done in two hours, but if you arrive and can't see us just send me a text to say you're there and I'll find you afterwards. It's a very nice pub and also very big so hopefully space won't be an issue...

I think that's everything. Work has been annoying as ever, but nothing so horrendous that I've felt the need to blog about it... Tonight I need to unpack some more stuff before I waste my evening on fandom stuff. Oh, adulthood, you great bore...

I haven't been updating. Not properly, anyway.

That's because I know nobody's interested in my money woes, or the contents of my brain.

Normal service will be resumed when I stop wanting to hibernate / run away.

803am - is Friday 26th February okay for you to come up for your birthday? Any point over that weekend is fine, as I have the week afterwards as leave.

Just heard via phanwank that Andrew Lloyd Webber has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. :(

WTF is this, the year of random celebrity doom?

My relationship with ALW is somewhat love/hate. I love his genius and his many creations, but I hate the way he mangles my brain into incomprehensible shapes. Nevertheless, here's hoping he has a speedy recovery.

Hurry up and blow over, 2009. Haven't you done enough damage already?

*sends happy and healthy vibes*

Before I update about that, though, here's a random health update.

All of last week I was feeling horrendously tired and somewhat fuzzy-headed, with several separate incidents of miniature black-outs / almost collapsing. Thankfully most of these were at home, with only one that I can remember being at work. I was begining to wonder what was wrong, as it didn't seem to matter how much sleep I got and I was totally lacking in energy by the time I got home (Paul has done all the cooking this week). For a moment the tiredness was starting to feel horribly familiar and I attributed it to being stressed about Paul not having a job...

On Saturday I mentioned it to Lisa in passing, and she said that it might very well have been a bug. A weird bug, but a bug nonetheless. A couple of her work colleagues have had very similar symptoms, also without realising they were ill, and on Paul chatting to his mum later it turns out his brother, Darren, has had the same thing. He even went to his GP for testing to rule out something like diabetes (I was beginning to worry about that myself at one point last week) and it transpired to be nothing.

So, if anyone else starts to feel exceptionally tired (in my case I was just more tired than usual :P), woozy or fuzzy-headed, or feels like they're going to black out or something - don't worry, it's a bug. I have now probably given it to most of my office due to not realising I was ill, but it didn't warrant being off work... It also didn't help that last week we had nothing to do for most of Tuesday to Thursday, so the day dragged to a conclusion. In retrospect, I might as well not have been there. :P

I feel somewhat better this morning, though the fuzzy-headedness has come back. I don't feel as horrendously tired as last week, but that might just be because I'm on my own here today and there's plenty of work, as opposed to bugger all...

Oh, interesting thing for 803am to note, assuming she watched X-Factor this weekend: Paul's sister-in-law's nephew, Dominic, is through to boot camp again, and in the backstage section you can see Paul's brother (Darren), sister-in-law (Andrea) and nephew (Patrick), as well as Dom's brother (Blair) and his mum, whose name I've forgotten. It's incredibly odd seeing people you know in real life on television. ;) (I will find a YouTube clip later to screencap...)

Anyway, here's a proper update...

( Weekend. )

In the evening Paul went out to the Adam & Eve (and only had three drinks - very impressive) and I watched The Beach on Film Four, which would have been more enjoyable had Virgin Media not been made of FAIL. The image kept fritzing and halting every few seconds pretty much for the last hour of the film. Thank anything, we don't pay for Film Four any more (though I preferred it that way - at least we didn't have ad breaks), but Virgin have been rather consistently rubbish lately...

Oh, if anyone is interested, Persepolis is on tonight on Film Four at 9.00pm. They're also showing This is England at some point this week...

Right, I do believe that's everything.

I need to do a proper update later.

You've probably noticed I haven't really updated since Thursday (or was it Wednesday?), aside from the Tweets, and there's a very good reason for that, which I will explain in due course.

For the most part, I've just been too damn tired. For which, again, there is a very good reason.

So. Watch this space.

However, I did see Coraline on Sunday, and will review appropriately later...

...that animated short I couldn't remember?

I FOUND IT.

By a very circuitous route - we happened to watch Kill Bill Vol. 1 earlier, and the music behind the sword-making scene was "The Last Shepherd" by a pan-flutist named Zamfir. I said to Paul that the music on the animation was a lot like it, and then it twigged it might even be the music.

So I went to Amazon and found the soundtrack, then stuck the track name into Google, which took me to Wikipedia, which took me to Zamfir's credits on IMDb, where I had a total EUREKA moment and found the bloody short film, which is called Paradise. It's not all on a black background as I remembered, but it EXISTS, which means I'm not insane or delusional. :D

YAY!

Enjoy!

I just did a minor friends-cut and deleted some people.

If I know you in real life and you've updated lately, you're safe. :P There were just a lot of people on there who haven't updated in years or who I just haven't clicked with.

Such being the case, the majority of those cut probably won't even realise.

For anyone else unfortunately afflicted by Virgin Media's television service, I believe they're bringing back Sky One and related channels tonight.

The "M" package gets Sky Three and a couple of others, "L" gets Sky One to Three and Sky News (I think) and "XL" gets all the Sky channels, including the new ones.

About BLOODY time. This is exactly what they should have done in the first place - if customers want it, they should have the right to pay for it, not just have it taken away.

I'm still reverting to Sky if and when we ever get a house, though; the service is just generally better.

Anyway. Just to let you know.

Really odd dream this morning... I can't remember much of the plot of it, if it even had one, and as such it doesn't warrant a filtered post of its own. ( Disjointed... )

There was a time I could have described all of that so much better. Meh.

Occasionally, I get these periods where my brain starts filing thoughts away, and when the filing cabinet gets too full, the thoughts start to bubble out of the top and niggle at my consciousness. Sometimes the bubbling comes to fruition in a post which was probably best left unwritten, but we'll see how it goes. If they don't get too tumultous, I may let them evaporate instead. (They majoritarily seem to revolve around friends and the future and a combination of both...)

Oh, while I'm here: I put this on Facebook, but for anyone who isn't there and might be interested:

1st November 2008 from 6.30pm - we're having another Bad Movie Night to celebrate Hallowe'en (would have been actually on Hallowe'en but Paul and I are seeing Nosferatu at the Town Hall instead.) Costumes are optional but the theme - obviously - is Movie Heroes. BYOB and I'll lay on buffet-type food as usual, which you don't have to eat if you don't want. There are sleeping arrangements if you need / want to stay over but bring a sleeping bag just in case...

I think that's it. You can also bring some Bad Movies if you want, though Blockbuster were more than helpful last time. Alternatively, bring your favourite 'good' horror film, and just ignore what Lloyd says. :P (We were going to try and get El Orfanato as the 'good' film, but I think trying to watch that when pissed would be a very bad plan.)

Fin.

Or I need to make entries which are about one thing instead of many. :P

( Cut cutty cut cut... )

Was that rambly enough for you?

PS: To any that may be interested, there's another open rehearsal for the choir in a couple of weeks. I'll scan the flyer tonight and post it...

For anyone who hasn't yet heard, MTV are planning to remake The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is obviously an abomination against the universe as we know it.

Go here to sign a petition.

The Lips command you. :P

Another fairly sociable weekend, which seemed to invole an awful lot of films... I have rambled an awful lot in this one, so I've cut where appropriate.

I don't think I've updated in a while, so: on Thursday I made a seafood risotto using a recipe I got online by Jamie Oliver, which was actually as easy as he said it was. I decided to cook the prawns, salmon and scallops separately in a frying pan so as not to confuse things, which meant the risotto was as stodgy as a brick. Also, the recipe called for an amount of grated parmesan, but as our parmesan is powdered (it's generic 'Italian hard cheese' from Asda, in a plastic box) it ended up being ridiculously cheesy... Nevertheless, despite the fact you could build a house with it and my pans SUCK, it was actually very tasty.

Friday night was quite sedate for me, although Paul went out for drinks after work, came home (we had some more of the risotto and I still had to throw a little bit away - I think I'll halve the recipe next time...), and then went out again. I wasn't best pleased about this because I basically saw him (sober) for all of twenty minutes, but I did get the PC to myself for the evening. :P I had a play around on DOSBox and managed to get Simon the Sorcerer to work from the CD, though I am failing to get the Puzzle Pack to work because it was designed for Win 95/98 and will not install on XP or Vista, but is too advanced for DOSBox. (Although I think it might work with the SCUMMvm emulator, will have to investigate...) Got quite a way through it by remembering what I did last time but am now at a dead end again.

Paul rang me up at quarter to midnight to say he was waiting for a taxi, after which he talked bollocks at me for a while. Came home utterly plastered and hence broke his promise. :P

Saturday, we got up earlyish and went for brekkie at Wetherspoons, pottered around the house for a bit and then left for my mum's. I aimed to get there for 2.30 but hadn't banked on Hagley Road traffic (going through town is probably still bloody quicker than waiting for the 11 to turn up) and got there around 2.45. David was playing a Queen DVD and seemed to have convinced himself that Queen (circa 1985) were influenced by the Phantom movie (2004). Er, no, David. ;) Freddie was already dead by the time the movie was made, although I'm pretty sure the original musical and Queen influenced each other back and forth, judging by some of the videos...

( Random Phantom-esque theory... )

Aaanyway, at around 3.45 we headed off for the Barbecue of Doom at Quinton Church. The horrible thought did occur that my grandmother might have invited my father and not told anyone as a 'well-meaning' surprise, but then I remembered that even if she had, he would only have refused and/or had a strop when she didn't want him to bring Annabelle... So obviously, he wasn't there, thank anything. Nevertheless, the BBQ wasn't as bad as I think my mother was anticipating. The food was good (if cold, to David's chagrin) and there were some sane people at our table, not too many screaming children, and the weather was okay (at least it didn't rain...) We won a pack of playing cards in the raffle as by the time our number was drawn, the good prizes had gone. It was either cards or a set of golf tees. ;)

Back at my mum's, we spent a good hour or so arguing over what DVD to watch, before eventually settling on 300. ( STABBITY! )

After that we argued a bit more over what to watch next, despite it being midnight and everyone being tired. My mum, Paul and I all agreed on Harvey, which David then denied they even had, despite Paul suggesting it because it was on the rack. Meh. In the end we watched the beginning of Eddie Izzard's Glorious but gave up at around 12.30 and went to bed. David also wanted to watch the first 10 minutes (the opening sequence, basically) of the POTO movie, which prompted Paul to want to see the rest of it... I grudgingly agreed we could watch it on Sunday. ;)

In the morning, my mum cooked us breakfast and we went through the pile of car-bootable DVDs in the office, taking home a bagful, and there's also a pile in the living room of stuff I want copying... I forget now what we picked up, but I do now have a full set of Pirates DVDs, including the "lost disc" version of the first one.

Does anyone want a copy of the 2-disc Special Edition of Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (that's the first one)? Because I now have two. I'm not sure if Lisa ever bought herself a copy, though, so will ask her as well. It's free, as ever, to a good home.

I've also borrowed a selection of DS games (Tetris, Brain Training, 42-games-in-one, and Barnyard on GB Advance) from my mum, as I'm bored of Pirates 2 and Monkey Ball. ;) Had a go at Tetris and Barnyard last night, but at least I have some entertainment for a bit. :)

On the way home we stopped at the cinema to see WALL-E. ( Review / Spoilers )

Sorry, I went on a bit, there. I was very impressed with this one. I need to make a list of stuff to see over the coming weeks, though. X-Files is out on 1 August and I also want to see The Mist and Hancock and Dark Knight - hopefully at IMAX if it's not too expensive... Also Mamma Mia. ABBA FTW, and Meryl Streep makes everything she's in brilliant. ;)

The rest of Sunday was relaxed. 'Stenders of the afternoon, and we did watch POTO of the evening. I think my hatred of the majority of it has mellowed since its release (this was only the second time I've seen it, for that reason) and whilst the same things still irk me (casting, majoritarily, and the fact that they moved the chandelier incident to somewhere completely different, for no apparent reason) I will admit that the visuals are mostly stunning. I already reviewed it the first time and mostly my opinions haven't changed. ;) You can find it in my December 04 backposts if you're desperate. :P But as a result I started to re-read the original novel, so yay. We got halfway through the insanely long documentary on the second disc before giving up at midnight, so will watch the rest of that tonight. Phantom documentaries never get old, even when they regurgitate information. The origins fascinate me.

And that, finally, is that. I apologise for the longness. Must remember to update more often, or actually do stuff in smaller batches. ;)

It arrived about 4.00pm. So far so good, except for a few teething problems. Am on the scrounge for some free Vista-compatible software if at all possible, e.g. firewall (there's one in-built for the router but I wouldn't mind having one on the PC itself) and anti-virus. Vista refused to install my illegal versions of Norton because they were pre-2006... Of course, it had no problems whatsoever with Office 2000. Wish I knew where my Office 2003 discs had gone...

Still, it is speeeeedy! And actually, despite some initial Skype/IE conflicts (error message whenever we closed IE!) Vista is totally not as annoying as I was expecting. Preeeeetty backgrounds.

Also, it does not like my printer because it's so bloody old there are no Vista drivers for it. Which means buying a new printer.

In which case:

WOULD ANYONE LIKE A PRINTER?

It's a Xerox DocuPrint M760, with separate ink bays (i.e. one for black and one for each colour rather than one for all three colours) and the print quality is okay. It does still work. I have the installation disc and all the documentation that came with it. It connects via a parallel port.

I'm willing to sell for a tenner or give it away free to a good home. It's LARGE and NOISY and slightly temperamental but I don't really want to just chuck it and it's not worth the hassle of ebay. It WILL NOT WORK with Vista but XP will be able to find the drivers just fine... also suitable for Win 98 with the drivers on disc / downloadable.

Oh, and despite now being obsolete technology you can still get the ink cartridges online (and also much cheaper compatibles). The colour printhead was also recently changed for new.

Anyone interested?

I'm going to get a new one off ebuyer (new favourite place to shop!) but it's served me well for a fair while.

Any takers - or if you know anyone who might be interested - leave me a comment. I might also put something on Facebook.

Oh, other annoying thing - having forgotten that Yahoo!Mail refused to work on the other PC, I checked it today to find 35 unread emails - only 2 were spam which had escaped the filter, which is an improvement, at least... Most of those were a comment tennis between thefleshfailure and yoshi, a couple of Facebook notifications, several ebuyer / paypal confirmations, and an email from Woolworths saying they have cancelled my order. So - no bike. I will have to order it in the shop after all. I suspect, becuase they are selling the bloody things for £50, they didn't anticipate a rush of people buying them and have hence sold out. Would be about right.

Annoying. As ever, plans for fitness are scuppered. I don't know why I bother.

Also, I am missing our last choir rehearsal because I totally cannot be bothered / am tired / have backache / all of the above. I doubt I'll miss anything vital...

Next on list:

~ new printer
~ new camera
~ new MP3-player

Although if the bank give Paul a credit card he will buy us both new MP3-ers, so yay.

That's about it. Must download Semagic... and transfer fonts and pictures to hard drive tomorrow, and rip lots of CDs, apparently...

I have another 2-for-1 voucher for wagamama, valid until 27 April, if anyone wants a copy...

Comment with your email address (comments are screened) and I'll forward it on. :) You just need to print it out and present it when you pay.

And yes, printing it out is fine, it's an online voucher. :P

I have mellowed a bit now. Might go out for McDonalds for lunch. Comfort food, yes.

These are for herringprincess after our "Badger Badger" conversation yesterday, but everyone should look at them anyway. If you've never seen these amanzing internet phenomena, you're missing out...

1. The Llama Song. You will not be able to get this out of your head.

2. Weebl's Stuff.Com - the home of Weebl & Bob, but the flash cartoons on this bit of the site are legendary. My favourites are:

3. Patrick Moore

4. Scampi - this eats your brain.

5. The Salad Fingers Saga: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3 , Episode 4 and Episode 5. Disturbing doesn't even begin to cover it, believe me.

And I just found this one.

6. Giraffe In My Loft.

But yeah, there are loads all worth investigating. Scampi loses all synch after about the 12th loop, it's great. :)

Enjoy.

I'm going to my mum's in a bit in order to drive to East Midlands airport to catch a flight to Paris.

I shall be absent until Wednesday evening.

Try not to miss me or anything.

I'm giving up on the theme park. Despite the initial enthusiasm I now get the impression people are no longer interested. Just as well, really, because I'm skint.

So, instead, I am offering a trip to Saltwells Nature Reserve in Netherton, and possibly also the park / canals depending on time constraints and weather. If it rains on whatever day we organise I will call it off and probably cry...

My dad lived in Netherton until about 1997 and we used to go cycling in the park and around the canals, and before I could ride a bike we used to walk down to the reservoir and nature reserve. There are abandoned claypits (now reclaimed by nature) and I remember there being a natural spring and big rocks you can climb. (Although given I was about 10 at the time I imagine the rocks aren't as big as I thought...) It's a place I remember quite fondly from my childhood and for some reason today I decided to go back there.

Paul may not be able to get the time off work so if anyone else would like to join me for a day of appreciating nature (and nostalgic reminiscing) at some point between 2 and 6 July, let me know. Maybe a packed lunch picnic in the park and some playing on the swings?

I will be getting there by bus. This will involve two buses from Birmingham (one to Dudley, one from there to Netherton), plus whatever you use to get to Brum in the first place, and a LOT of walking. I advise wearing good shoes. The reservoir / reserve is also at the bottom of a ridiculously steep hill, so I'm just warning you in advance that it's NOT fun trying to get back up it...

Mostly, I'm wondering whether I can still remember the short cuts through the backstreets from the park (logical starting point) to my dad's old street, so I can find the reservoir. I haven't been there in over 10 years, so it could be interesting.

So, yeah, any interested parties can leave a comment in order to organise a day and time and suchlike. I'll want to get there fairly early because of transport issues, but I'll check the bus timetables if it's happening. Incidentally, I think you can get to Netherton using a West Midlands bus pass, but at the very least you can get as far as Dudley. ;)

Anyway, I am cooking sausages and mash for tea and later we're going out drinking with my mum and David somewhere in either Moseley or Kings Heath.  If we ever decide where...

I ran out of work again today due to everyone being on leave.  Noor is due back off sick leave next week and I guarantee that'll just put us in an even worse position in terms of workload.

Subsequently, I left at 4.45, and since getting home I've put out the rubbish and half of the recycling, and done the washing up from last night.  We look like alcoholics because we missed the collection a fortnight ago.

Anyway, here is another Public Service Announcement, to any interested parties...

Symphony Hall is showing The Phantom of the Opera (silent movie) with live organ accompaniment on 15 June 2007 (a Friday).  The first showing of this a few years ago was frelling awesome ("to speak in the vernacular of the peasantry"*) so I would highly recommend people going to see it.  So this is something of an open invitation for those who want to come.  As with Pirates 3 I don't want the hassle of trying to organise people, so if you're coming, come, and we'll go for drinks afterwards.  I'll probably be hanging around in the foyer or something. Or, at the very least, if you're coming and your tickets are booked, then you can let me know...

Tickets range from £5.00 to £18.50 with a very reasonable student / young person discount (which I still just about qualify for)...  There is more information here if people are interested.  The silent movie is one of my favourite film versions of Phantom and quite possibly one of the definitive visions.  Plus, you get to see Lon Chaney mincing. :D

* Guess that quote!

I left work at 3.30 today because I'd had literally two very small things to do since 1.00pm and just couldn't be bothered any more.  Of course, everyone started bloody dictating again at 3.00, but whatever, I'm on leave all of next week so the 'Helpers' can help themselves to the entire work pile.  I think Ama is quite disturbed by the prospect already: "They're all really slow."  Given it took one of them just shy of four hours (!) to do a 2-tape this morning, I'm inclined to agree.  I admit the fee earner in question isn't the clearest, but that's no excuse...

Anyway.  Memeage time.

( Nothing you don't already know by now... )

And now for the freebies mentioned in the header.  Probably mostly of interest to jackiesjottings but open to others as well...

A while back I bought a pair of shoes from Barratts because they were in the sale.  However, because I have insanely long toes, they pinch just too much to be able to wear them comfortably, and are also the complete wrong shape for my feet in general.

They are glittery turquoise flat pumps of the kind you see everyone wearing lately, size 5.  Photo under the cut.

( Photo )

You know how it is; you try shoes on in the shop and they're fine, until you try and walk in them. I've literally only worn them a couple of times in the hope of wearing them in, to no avail.

So, they are free to anyone who wants them.  I know how much Jackie likes her turquoise and her glitter, so I reckon these are right up her street.

They are completley free to a good home.  If there's no interest here I'll put them in the charity shop up the road.  I would put them on eBay or something but I'm not that desperate for money. :P

I'm going swimming with herringprincess tonight, in an effort to stop sitting on my big fat arse and start doing some exercise. We're going to Cocks Moors Wood Leisure Centre, which is just up the road from me. Hurrah.

Of course, I haven't been swimming in frelling ages so will probably attempt to do a length and die halfway through. We shall see. Practice makes perfect, and I was quite good at it at primary school. (I got both the Junior and Senior Swimming Cups by the end of year 6 at our Speech Night.)

I don't have any goggles or swimming cap, alas, and have no idea where to buy them from. I might have a little look at lunchtime but failing that will hope that the Leisure Centre has a shop where I can get some.

Now for what the title refers to... I went onto the birmingham.gov.uk site to find out how much it costs to go swimming these days and discovered that CMW does trampolining courses / sessions for adults. I used to go to trampolining lessons (with Aisha) at Hadley Stadium in Bearwood / Cape Hill when I was 15/16, initially as part of the physical aspect of my Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award. It was so much fun I carried on doing it.

It's a bit like gymnastics in that most kids (girls mostly) start it when they're five or six, so the other two girls our age were much further advanced than us at the time. It was also full of small children, most of whom were lovely.

Anyway, it turned out to be very good exercise for my legs (I used to have very well defined calf muscles as a result) so I figure something that's fun can't be bad.

I'm going to see if they have a leaflet or something when I go to the centre tonight (the website isn't very clear other than the times/days) to see how much it costs and what the nature of their sessions are.

In which case, would anyone up Kings Heath end (or within easy access of the 50 bus route) be interested in joining me for some Tiggerific bouncy fun? I don't mind going on my own, but it's better to go with a friend.

From what I can see so far, adult trampolining is on Monday evenings, 6.15 - 7.00pm. It looks like a full 'course' is £33, but I'm hoping they might do it on a weekly sessional basis as well. If it's £33 for a course it might have to wait until I have some more money.

It also means the start of my week will look like this: Mondays - trampolining; Tuesdays - choir practice; Wednesdays - swimming; Thursday to Sunday - death. But I am determined to lose weight by the summer, damnit. I can't eat any less.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Instead of the usual Christmas Eve drinking at the Briar Rose, things will be slightly different this year. Instead, you are all cordially invited to the flat on Friday 22 December from 8.00ish until whenever you want to go home (but, er, preferably before Christmas Eve...).

This is mostly because neither Paul nor I will be spending Christmas with our respective families this year so we're inviting immediately family over on Christmas Eve instead, for the handing over of presents and drinking of alcohol.

The following people already know about this and, AFAIK, are still coming:

~ falling_softly
~ flatline2010
~ last_dance (who I ran into recently at the German market and emailed about it)
~ Denise
~ some Inline types
~ some of Paul's mates

Hence, this is mostly for the attention of:

~ frightened
~ herringprincess & wrysprygoat
~ anyone else who fancies coming along if they think they can make it.

Sleeping accommodation shouldn't be a problem if anyone needs to stay over, as there is a double bed and double mattress upstairs, as well as one small sofa, one larger sofa (which was a bed originally anyway) and some floor if that's not enough. The only problem would be duvets since we only have one spare one and some blankets, so if you need to stay over a sleeping bag would be advisable.

We will most likely lay on some party food (crisps, etc.) but bringing your own drinks would be the best thing to do.

If you need my address and/or directions on how to get there, let me know by text, comment or email. I will endeavour to try and check Yahoo regularly but it's quite tricky at the moment to get internet access (I'm only typing this entry because there's no work to do and the LJ update page looks fairly innocuous...) so texting would be the best thing to do.

---

In other news, we recently saw Pan's Labyrinth, which was amazing... Some definite shades and influences of Labyrinth (duh), Legend and Alice in Wonderland, plus a few others, and the violence was a lot more graphic than I could've imagined. It's not for those with a weak stomach, and the scariest bit is definitely the second challenge - although it certainly makes the phrase 'hand to eye coordination' take on a whole new meaning.

Highly recommended, so try and catch it where you are (especially if you live in Birmingham) before the cinemas stop showing it.

Two exciting things are happening in the cinema, also, though damned if I can find anywhere that's showing either of them:

~ digitally remastered BFI release of The Wizard of Oz
~ The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (dude!! I mean... DUDE!)

I'm currently scouring the Metro cinema listings pages for any mention, but no joy so far. IMAX seems to be showing everything 3D but NBC3D so I'm getting a little irritated now. Birmingham sucks. :(

Also, Hitherto Unknown Problem With Our Flat No. 738: the front window leaks. Or, at least, the wall does. Which would explain why it's so bloody cold in there.

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PS: herringpricess - please can you find out Josi's email address for me? I keep forgetting to email and ask you. Ta very much. :)

If the mass-circulated email sent around this morning is any indication, it looks like the UK is in for a heatwave. So this is my Helpful Post about the symptoms of Heat Exhaustion and Heatstroke, so everyone can look after themselves and know the signs:

Heat exhaustion is usually one of the first signs that someone is at risk of developing heatstroke. Symptoms include:

~ headaches
~ dizziness
~ nausea and vomiting
~ muscle weakness or cramps
~ pale skin
~ weak pulse
~ high temperature

Heatstroke can develop if the symptoms of heat exhaustion are left untreated. It can also occur suddenly and without warning. Symptoms include:

~ confusion and disorientation
~ convulsions
~ flushed, hot and dry skin
~ racing, thumpin pulse
~ very sudden rise in temperature

It can result in organ failure, brain damage or death.

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In other news:

Natasha got attacked on Friday night by a service user who followed her home, mainly because she'd Chaired the Conference where it was decided to remove her child. The police aren't taking this nearly seriously enough.

Am officially living in the flat, and it's a mess. Photos will be taken tonight if I can find my batteries. Boxes everywhere.

There would be more to this entry, but it's TOO DAMNED HOT.

I was going to do this earlier in the month and forgot because I'm rubbish, but nevertheless...

If you want to come to see Rocky Horror at the Alexandra this year, please email me.

The party so far includes:

Me
Paul
My mum
David (all definites)
metalmikey666
rubytitania (not sure if they're definites)

I am willing to book tickets for a large group, under the following conditions:

1. Everyone pays me promptly, preferably by cheque.
2. Everyone is absolutely sure they want to come and nobody's going to pull out at the last minute.
3. In the event of the above, make sure someone else can use the ticket.  Because otherwise, it's a waste of money, and we can't get refunds.
4. Everyone is prepared to come in costume.  I am very strict on this.  I don't care if you're a Rocky virgin; I may consider a pre-show viewing of the film if anyone's absolutely stuck and/or petrified by this concept and if the numbers are small enough to accommodate, but large enough to warrant it.  I'm not really keen on lending out my DVD.
5. By costume, I obviously mean Rocky-related.  Not, like, a pirate or something.
6. Everyone is certain they can actually attend the date I will provide below.

We'll be going on the first night of the tour in Birmingham, which is TUESDAY 2^ND MAY 2006.  This is mostly because it's traditional, and because there used to be a good chance Richard O'Brien would turn up on the first/second night/s.  Not sure if that's still true, but it's worth a try.

A stage door lurk at the end of the night will be optional for those who want to get autographs.  There's usually someone good playing the Narrator, at least.

Yes, I will be going for the best seats I can get.  This will be expensive, so no whinging when it comes to paying up.

And yes, there will be photographs of everyone in their costumes.

If you want to come, e-mail me by the end of this week.  teylaminh at yahoo dot co do you-kay.  I was going to email everyone who'd expressed an interest, but this is probably quicker.  If you think someone hasn't checked their LJ, by all means let them know.

THIS IS MY FINAL ANNOUNCEMENT.

If you haven't emailed me by the end of the week and you want to go, tough shit.  I'll be getting the tickets on Monday lunchtime or after work, so you technically have until then.  I'm not prepared to wait around for people, and I hate trying to organise things at the best of times because, quite frankly, I don't need the stress of it all.  So if you're not going with me and mine, organise it yourselves.

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In other news, I wish LJ would sort out the custom mood theme glitch and gimme me pictures back. :(

Also, I got about three dirty looks off Sandra today for no good reason, but I can't be bothered to rant about that.  I did 39.11 hours last week, so it's hardly surprising I was exhausted all weekend.  I finished Shafiq's backlog this morning and then found out there's 2-3 more lurking somewhere that need doing.  I've also still got those Asylum Team minutes to do (the deadline is tomorrow - er, not going to happen, and Maxine can bitch all she likes, but I have my own priorities) and some from SHAO that are still at Amanda's house.  Don't ask.

I'm knackered, but probably won't be able to sleep again.