What I am to you

What a difference a year makes

2013-02-06T23:04:51Z

I posted this almost a year ago:

Seeing all of the new F1 cars and going through testing results is making my heart hurt too, I *want* to be doing that, and I know that now I never ever will - this is not a new revelation either, I've known for a while that it was never going to happen, the shiny new things just make it suck a little harder all over again!

That makes me incredibly sad for the me the last year, and incredibly happy for the me now :)

Meme From Tumblr

2013-01-21T20:24:11Z

I can't even pretend that I have anything sensible to say today, so instead have a meme from Tumblr:

iTunes Word Meme: Type these words into the search bar on your iTunes and list the first song that appears in the results.

happy: Happy - Ashanti
love: Let Me Put My Love In You - AC/DC
hate: I Hate Myself For Loving You - Joan Jett
light: The Killing Lights - AFI
dark: Dancing In The Dark - Bruce Springsteen
good: Any Good With That (The Mummy Returns OST) - Alan Silvestri
bad: The Bad Touch - The Bloodhound Gang
smile: Smile (Pictures of It Didn't Happen) - Amanda Palmer
cry: Cry - Angie Aparo
girl: Girl With A Pearl Earring (Girl With A Pearl Earring OST) - Alexandre Desplat
boy: Sexy Boy - Air
sad: The Saddest Thing I Know - Birds Of Tokyo
lost: Lost and Found - Adrienne Pierce
night: Why I Can't Stand One Night Stands - Catatonia
day: Daydreams - Adele
wolf: Werewolf Heart - Dead Man's Bones
robot: Robot Factory - Jimmy Eat World
dance: I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys
time: That Particular Time - Alanis Morisette
life: The Life - Alicia Keys
death: Death Is The Road To Awe (The Fountain OST) - Clint Mansell

Hm, quite a good selection of the random stuff I have on my iPod, and highlights how many OST's I have lurking around on there; yet somehow no tunes from 30 Seconds To Mars, Muse, Darren Hayes, Johnny Cash or Placebo! 0_o Mystifying!

2012 Meme From samincittagazze

2013-01-05T13:16:31Z

1. What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?
Started work in F1, slept in the back of a van, cut my own hair and passed my driving test!

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I wanted to get a 'proper' job and pass my driving test in 2012, mischief managed!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My beloved Phoenix Bird :(

5. What countries did you visit?
France, oh my god, that is pathetic!

6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
I would like to be renting a house/flat in a few months time, rather than just a room. Don't get me wrong, I really like where I'm staying, but I am essentially living in their front room and sleeping in a bunk bed. It is not a good look ;) I also really want to get out riding as much as possible, and increase my driving experience.

7. What date from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
July 5th, when my now boss called to offer me the job at Caterham.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Not getting sucked back into working at the Chess shop, getting a job in F1, not getting to maudlin about things related to Switzerland and reading so many books!

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not seeing some friends as much as I should, and not writing enough.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
*touches wood* Thankfully, aside from a couple of colds, I was disease and injury free in 2012!

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A pile of "Soap & Glory" stuff from Boots, it is working miracles, and my ticket to Le Mans!

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
My Aunt, for being incredibly supportive and driving me to interviews.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
I don't think anyone made me that depressed in 2012. I was annoyed at the way my ex behaved at the Amanda Palmer gig I went to, someone else falling out of contact with me because I chose a job over him was kind of depressing, um, I think that is it really.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Driving lessons.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Kimi Raikkonen, Nelson Piquet Jr, starting work, going to Le Mans, seeing 'The Hobbit', new Stargate SG-1 books, 'The Avengers' and never having to talk to Chess customers ever again.

16. What song will always remind you of 2012?
Urgh, probably something like "Gangnam Style" or "Call Me Maybe", just through overexposure. I listen to an insane variety of music, and my 'song of the moment' is constantly changing. Oh , actually, I did listen to The Irrepressibles - In This Shirt (Röyksopp Remix) MANY times in 2012, I find it weirdly motivational AND heartbreaking.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? (About a million times happier.)
ii. thinner or fatter?
iii. richer or poorer?

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Exploring the Island.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Brooding, applying for jobs and over-thinking.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent it with my family. I read a lot, I ate a lot and I watched a lot of bad movies.

21. Did you fall in love in 2012?
My existing love for someone got turned 'up to 11' and then began a slow decline back to the constant background level that it will probably always be at.

22. How many one-night stands?
Technically, none.

23. What was your favourite TV program?
Of 2012 specifically, it would probably have to be 'Grimm', so many Nick feels that sometimes it actually hurts to watch a new episode. I also adored "The Hollow Crown".

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I strongly dislike a few new people, but not hate, yet.

25. What was the best book you read?
Most of China Miéville's books, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", Bernard Cornwell's "Warlord Chronicles" and "The Windup Girl" by Paolo Bacigalupi.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I listened to a lot of mash-ups, anything composted by Ennio Morricone and Lana Del Rey.

27. What did you want and get?
A job in F1.

28. What was your favourite film of this year?
GAH. Probably "The Avengers", although I really loved "Skyfall".

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
My parents and I tried to go for Mexican, but instead ended up at a pub next to an airfield. We also went to the Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Kimi winning the Championship, Caterham scoring a point and seeing "Thirty Seconds To Mars" live again.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?
January-June, alternating between slobbing around at home clothes and interview clothes. July-December, all clothing choices now revolve around a horrific white blouse, dog-walking, an office than be as cold as the Arctic/hot as the jungle, and not looking horrific in an office full of men!

32. What kept you sane?
Vix, Pickle, littlestella06 and aitakute

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Nelsinho Piquet (I still cannot believe that I have his gloves next to me on my desk!), Vitaly Petrov (it's getting quite bad), Rupert Graves, JR Bourne, Gillian Anderson and Scarlett Johansson.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
None of them enough for me to remember them without doing some research.

35. Who did you miss?
Phoenix.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Probably my boss, how lame does that sound/ Seriously though, he's mental and amazing and annoying and kind and a pain in the ass and incredible.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012:
Never give up on a dream.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

There's a crane, knocking down all those things, that we were,

I awake, in the night, to hear the engines purr,

Kimi Clothes

2013-01-04T21:10:46Z

Seeing a lot of Kimi-related clothing woe on my Twitter feed :( This makes me feel guilty and sad, because I received mine with no problems at all. I ordered on the 11th, I got my tracking number on the 29th December, but my goods were signed for on the 26th. They did miss the first line off my address, and they did send me two instead of one (I only paid for one), but I'm pretty content. I'm also extra happy as it means I can send my spare to aitakute , once I get things weighed at the Post Office tomorrow.

Many orders seem to have gone missing though, and some people don't seem to have heard from them at all. I guess it was always a bit risky for Lotus to let an external company use their name on some 'extra' merchandise but I hope it doesn't put them off for good :s Specialist Kimi clothes are just too cool to miss out on in the future.

I don't really understand why people are complaining about the quality either. My hoodie is soft/fluffy inside, smooth on the outside, the lettering is not overly glittery and feels pretty good too. I haven't washed it yet, so I guess it has one final test to pass.

The only thing I can think is that the company were completely over-whelmed with how many orders they got and things have gone a bit mad for them. I wonder how many orders were placed with them and how many they were expecting. I hope you all get your stuff soon though.

Little catch-up.

2012-11-23T21:23:58Z

I still can't quite believe that I actually managed to pass my driving test first time. It was a far less traumatic experience than I was expecting! I thought I was going to come out with some kind of nostalgic horror tale to share, but my examiner was kind of...different? He spent most of the time talking about his allotment and his brush with death a few years ago, it was hard to know if he was really paying full attention. I did get a brief rush of nerves about 2mins out of the test centre, which made me have a very light clutch foot - which was not smooth at the first roundabout we got to.

Today was my last day of using my taxi company though. Words cannot express how happy I am that I will no longer have to loiter about at work waiting for my taxi to come and pick me up. There were some nights where they just wouldn't pick up, so I would have to roam around the desks trying to chat lifts out of people which isn't a great way to get to know your co-workers. Such a shame that all of the pretty ones are really hard-working and very rarely leave at the same as me...

Anyway, my little Modus is going to be on the 7am ferry tomorrow, with my parents of course. My Dad wants to 'test' me as well, which I think is just going to end in tears and with him being stranded in the wilds of Oxfordshire. It is kind of an unfair proposal though, he used to be a Metropolitan police driving instructor.

The very lovely vixletthepixlet has been to visit a couple of times over the past months. Despite the fact that we went to school together, this is the closest we have ever lived to each other. We've become almost locals at the pub across the road but we haven't managed to get into too much trouble together yet. We did have a lot of fun at the Cotswold Wildlife Park a few weeks ago though:

Quite gutted over the driver announcements today. *hugs Vitaly*

Win?

2012-07-22T19:02:53Z

Win!

They are so incredibly soft that it's unreal!

Well, I just lost a fight with a My Little Pony...

2012-04-09T15:29:40Z

Seriously, I kind of tripped/fell off my bed (thank you iPod cable) whilst carrying an armful of MLP. I didn't drop a single one, or damage them, I did though punch myself in the chest and take enough layers of skin off my hand for it to bleed. Successful adventure!

I've spent the last couple of days scrubbing some MLP that I bought in a bundle, and that were a little bit skanky. I've kept two of them, but managed to get the majority of them up on eBay - taking advantage of their free listing day :) I've now confined them to a box so they can't attack me again!

Last week my Mum and I went across to Portsmouth, for a very belated Mothers' Day treat of lunching in the Tapas bar over there. We then went a little bit silly and decided to go for a boat tour around the naval & commercial dockyard. I do have a bit of a secret love affair going on with Royal Navy ships, especially as I got to attend the commissioning ceremony of HMS Albion when I was in school. Thank you CCF.

I was very happy to see HMS Illustrious looking not too worse for wear after getting her hull punctured earlier on this year. How can anyone failed to be impressed by the awesomeness of this ship?

There is always a queue of container ships lurking about off the coast of the Island, it was nice to see one actually getting to lighten its load for once.

Also *points up* HMS Warrior always makes me think of the "Jolly Roger", as it appears in the Disney version of "Peter Pan".

In some ways, it's quite a treat to live on the Island as the Navy like to play around in the Solent from time to time:

I was about to read "Stargate: The First Amendment" but now I have a hankering to read "Peter Pan" instead :)

deltachild @ 2012-02-28T11:20:00

2012-02-28T11:21:01Z

Also, obligatory eBay link.

Featuring:

- My Little Pony
- Red Bulletins
- Doctor Who, Torchwood, Stargate etc books
- F1, Empire, SFX Magazines
- A couple of comics
- A couple of DVD's

Enjoy :)

This is all sandrine 's fault.

2012-02-01T22:43:30Z

Ok.

So what book have I read that features:
- A band of travellers/warriors/companions.
- Planets or at least territories that are very far apart.
- The companions may have been 'thrown together' or are at least an unlikely group.
- One member of the party is from a race/species/planet that is infamous for always being conquered, maybe something 'bad' always happens to the conquerors allowing for a new set to come along. The race/species/planet never make any attempt to fight back, and are always content to live/work with their new leaders - it's almost like they roll out a red carpet every time someone comes along to take over their planet.
- At one point in the book, where bravery is needed, the person from the 'surrender planet/territory' comes up with a suggestion, and one of the other characters (I want to say it's a girl) says something like "What would you know about it/bravery, you're just sitting there waiting to be conquered again", at which point the leader gives them/her a mini-lecture about how it takes "great bravery to accept that you cannot beat your enemy and to choose to work/live amongst them".
- There is something in the back of my head that is making me think of gully dwarves in the DragonLance books, and something else that is trying to convince me that it is a Dr Who fanfic (of which I maybe read about 3 of a year so I'm not convince!).

Any help would be VERY much appreciated as it is starting to drive me around the bend!

deltachild @ 2012-01-27T11:06:00

2012-01-27T11:06:40Z

So I'm just going to leave a link to my eBay page here :)

Currently selling a range of F1 DVD's, fantasy books, motorsport magazines, Stargate/Star Trek/Heroes/Doctor Who books/DVD's and a couple of other random things. If you would like more info on anything than please let me know.

An uninvited but very welcome guest.

2012-01-22T22:14:38Z

Our garden on the Isle of Wight can be a lot more exciting than it has any right to be. This beautiful Sparrowhawk landed in our garden today, complete with his/her own offering for lunch. I may actually take it upon myself to clean the conservatory glass, it was so frustrating trying to take stealthy shots through it this afternoon.

Dreamwidth Question

2011-12-30T14:00:26Z

In terms of cross-posting I understand that I can create a post in DW and set it to be cross-posted here, and that I can use an external client to post to both at the same, but is there any way I can write a post on LJ and have it cross-posted to DW? I'm sure that I'm either missing something really obvious, or that the answer is no.

I like posting from LJ, and as I have a permanent account so I don't want to be doing everything through DW until I'm really forced to (where I only have a free account so I don't have access to all my icons for fully illustrated posting). I do not always post from my own computer so if I used a client there would still be the occasional stray entry that didn't make it over - unless I kept importing my entries each time. Actually, is that the way the DW import works? If you import after maing 10 new entries on LJ does it import ALL of your entries again, or just the new ones?

Hmm, off to wade through DW and LJ FAQ pages, and Google results.

Writer's Block: Instant replay

2011-11-08T13:51:08Z

REM - Leave

Lyrics to write a 1000 stories to, music with a split personality and it is brilliant to get lost in.

I'm not even a massive REM fan!

But this light Is not for those men, Still lost in, An old black shadow

2011-11-07T00:11:05Z

*sits and sorts through her mind for a bit* My life really isn't thrilling enough to write about, but I miss the sensation of regularly typing out entries!

I watched "The Shining" for the first time last weekend, and was massively disappointed. I'm not too sure what it was that ruined it for me, whether I've seen too many parodies (mainly "The Simpsons" one, or if it was too hyped up in my brain to ever live up to my expectations. Whilst I appreciated some of the excellent cinematography throughout the film, and the down right creepiness of it all, there were some parts that really managed to ruin some of the excellent story-telling that had come before them. I understand that the film is supposed to be ambiguous and that no one is really meant to come out with a coherent and definitive story of what happened - I just felt that there were too many points near the end that closed off the more interesting speculative story-lines that had been suggested earlier on, and just left 'boring' possible meanings. I would welcome the chance to go in almsot argumentative circles with someone about what they thought was going on / the meanings behind things, maybe I've just really missed the point in places? So yes, the film left me a bit 'sad-face' overall, the little kid and his finger really creeped me out though.

I spent the Saturday night up near Milton Keynes with my old motorsport boys to celebrate one of their birthday's, to catch-up, eat Indian food and geek out over the Grand Prix. Oh wow they can be cutting about the driver they don't like, but also totally hilarious as well. It is odd, we aren't the best group of people for staying in touch but as odd a group as we are, I think we may really last the test of time. As a set of people I think we will continue to meet up well into our lives.

This weekend, on Friday night/Saturday morning, I slept for 12 hours by accident, then only stayed awake from about 11 hours before going back to sleep again. Not too sure what is going on with my body and mind at the moment - a little too much thinking, poured into desperate bouts of creative output before being hypnotised by shows such as "The Vampire Diaries", "Pan Am" and "Greys' Anatomy". I have also been having some spectacular dreams as well, ranging from flying badgers living in my chest of drawers, to building sheet forts with David Tennant, and watching Damon Salvatore breathe (I don't even.).

Today I went with the Boy to the "National Army Museum" and had my heart ripped into little pieces by their War Horse Fact and Fiction exhibition. Really wonderful stories of individual famous horses who worked in various wars (both fictional and real), mixed in with the general tales and information of the importance of horses in war time. There were pictures and exhibits there that were almost accidentally moving, everything was informative but then there was something that would catch at my mind and just ouch. There was the tale of one of the two horses that survived the infamous "Charge of the Light Brigade" without a single injury, carrying a man who was too badly wounded before the charge to even hold his sword any more, but the horse was never named. So many tales of lost horses as well, and where most of the heroic animals ended up after seeing battle as well :( If anything was ever going to set in stone where an alternative career path for me lies than that exhibit was it, I don't think my heart is ever going to be the same. If you catch yourself in London, with little to do, then go to the exhibit. It is free and will change the way you look at horses forever.

I also saw "Drive" today, which was amazing. I have wanted to see the film since listening to one of the songs off the soundtrack via a Tumblr post. Now just hearing a couple of soundtrack songs might be an odd sounding reason for seeing a film, but there was something about what I heard which made me want to see what it could possibly be connected to that had people raving so much. Plus the posters were really eye-catching and there were bound to be pretty cars in it.

Do not be fooled. This is not a movie about cars, nor is it even really a movie about driving cars. It is a remarkable film for really demonstrating what things can drive a person to change in a way that seems very distant from what they could have imagined themselves being. The lead character is never named, he is not someone to fall in love and is not a stereotypical hero/villain - but he is enthralling to watch for a reason that I cannot really seem to pin down.

The film is unexpectedly (for me at least) violent in places, but all of the violence is so close-up, personal and very much a case of 'one-on-one this is for a specific reason' that it almost seems incidental to what is really going on. The violence is so necessary in places that it does not seem right to brand the entire film as being violent, the same way that you cannot say whether the film is about hope or the loss of it. I think I really need to watch it again, by myself in an enclosed space, to fully appreciate everything about what was going on - and to figure out exactly why I liked it so much. I am also going to be listening to the soundtrack again and again for the rest of my life :)

Here are some photos from the Island, because I miss the place and want to be there taking pictures damn it.

A post full of Christian goodness....

2011-10-20T21:33:43Z

The internet amuses me deeply sometimes. Christian is taking part in the Gold Coast 600 this year, an Aussie V8 Supercar event. So the Aussie's are trying to get people up to date with some of the guest international drivers who have signed up for the event.

Single, sexy V8 drivers revealed

No prizes for guessing who is at the top of that list ;) Shame they didn't actually use a picture of him next to the headline, but there are a couple of cute pictures of him in the gallery.

Point of interest:

Klien, who has been single for the past year after breaking up with his girlfriend of three years, said his ideal girlfriend would be someone who is understanding. "They would have to be laid back and understand I travel a lot," he said. "They need to be easy going and good looking, no particular hair colour."

I love how he feels the need to state that hair colour isn't important to him *rolls eyes and pets him at the same time*

Now at this point I find myself Googling "Christian Klien + Dreamland" which if anyone is monitoring my computer search history is not going to do me any favours ;) Where upon I discover a couple of photos of CK ~~naked and wet~~ , ~~participating in watersports~~ , surfing at a water park :) It also seems as though he has added quite a lot to the tattoo that used to be mostly hidden on the underside of his left arm, it also has colour as well *head on desk*

Anyhow, for your pleasure below the cut is a topless CK and a couple of videos of him :) Theories and speculation on what he's added to his tattoo are welcomed, I think I can 100% see some kind of stopwatch, and maybe a wheel arch of a classic car, less certain on that bit though ;)

Especially for you diagon , Mika Salo makes an appearance in the videos, but thankfully remains fully clothed through out.

CK starts at 0.24 an interview in English and one in German :)

This one has him trying to surf at the end.

If I can tear myself away from staring at tattoos for long enough I'm going to sort out my pictures from the Darren Hayes gig last night * dreamy sigh*

deltachild @ 2011-09-28T14:59:00

2011-09-28T13:59:42Z

I'm really quite excited about going to see "Jurassic Park" in the cinema tonight :)

It's not been forced into 3D mode either, just a little remastered to look more shiny.

*spins around on spinny chair*

Is it time to leave work yet?

deltachild @ 2011-09-24T19:57:00

2011-09-24T18:57:17Z

Contrary to what my journal would have you believe I do actually go and do things that aren't related to my job or sitting in my flat trying to sell things :)

Last weekend I went to find the "Word on the Water" barge in Angel. This is a barge full of second-hand books which floats about on the canals of London, with a cat, to sell books to people. Just my kind of thing really ;) The canals around Angel were so gorgeous that I almost forgot I was in London, there were some rather spectacular spiders and cars about as well.

After a rather hearty Mexican we ended up roaming around in King's Cross Station for a while until we found an Artangel outpost, where we tuned into an Audio Obscua exhibition which really changed the way I will look at stations in the future. You can read a bit more about it here

I spent almost all of Sunday at Brick Lane Music Festival and exploring the surrounding market stalls, I somehow managed to not take a single photo. I did have a good time though.

On Monday I treated the Boy to a delicious after work dinner on the banks of the Thames, where the sunlight (and artificial light) was doing amazing things.

Killing off the final 25 mins at work.

2011-09-08T16:49:43Z

List Your Favourite TV Shows and Answer The Questions.

(These were just the first 5 that popped into my head)

Sherlock
The X-Files
Stargate SG-1
Doctor Who
Bones

Who is your favourite character in 1?
DI Lestrade ;)

Who is your least favorite character in 2?
Fowley

What’s your favorite episode of 4?
"The Girl In The Fireplace"

What is your favorite season of 5?
As much as I love the show, they do all just blur into one. The most recent series had some beautiful moments though.

What’s your favorite relationship in 3?
Oh please, Sam and Jack all the way. Although I do like watching the playful friendship between Sam and Janet.

How long have you watched 1?
Since it first aired about a year ago :)

How did you become interested in 3?
Through watching the movie.

Who is your favorite actor in 4?
David Tennant!

Which show do you prefer out of 1, 2, or 5?
The X-Files

Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3?
Three, bit unfair on one season of Sherlock though!

How would you kill off your favourite character in 2?
She can't be killed off, she's going to live forever!

If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?
Rose Tyler, TWO DT's people, TWO of them!

Give a random quote from 1.

Moriarty: I will burn you. I will burn the heart out of you.

Would a 3/4 crossover work?
I really think it could. Can you just imagine Sam and the Dr bouncing ideas off each other? :o

Pair two characters in 1 that would make an unlikely, but strangely okay couple.
Molly and Moriarty, not in his Jim disguise but as full blown Moriarty.

Overall, which show has a better cast, 3 or 5?
Hmmm. Really touch call, got to say "Stargate SG-1" though.

Which has better theme music, 2 or 4?
As classic as Dr Who is, the X-Files gets me every time :)

A few shots of the Isle of Wight Scooter Rally 2011

2011-08-28T20:57:45Z

All taken around the Ryde seafront today. Noisy buggers!

Now Jacques has said some crazy things over the years....

2011-08-11T11:01:55Z

... but is there really any justifcation for this?

Jacques Villeneuve says Kimi Raikkonen did not deserve his Formula 1 title

0_o What? Now lets just get over the irony of anyone considering Kimi as being 'lucky' at racing. Anyone who followed/follows Kimi has, at some point, scared neighbours/friends/parents by screaming in sheer frustration at Kimi's engine blowing up/catching on fire, or his suspension exploding, or Lewis driving into the back of him, or his car giving up on him again, or watching him plummet down the rally leaderboard. There have been instances where he's been lucky, but it's hardly a trend for him.

There's also "If Kimi won the championship..." If? Um, I'm pretty sure he did win the title?!

Why is Jacques even talking about Kimi when the whole point of his little rant is to praise Felipe (nothing wrong with that, but didn't Jacques have some colourful things to say about Felipe once upon a time?)?

Why is anyone asking Jacques about F1 anyway? *head desk* There's just no need Jacques, no need at all.

Also? Slow news week much?

Eeep Patrick!

2011-08-10T23:02:45Z

I get a number of obscure Google Alerts sent to me, and "Patrick Friesacher" has been on the list for a few years - it's so damn hard to get information about the boy, I still haven't found out what he was doing/driving at Goodwood...

Anyway, this one was sent to me today:

Austria Says Two Russians Purchased Citizenship ...

I was about to delete it as sometimes there are other random people called that but I was a little bored so I went for a read. Basically Austria have put two Russian businessmen on trial over allegations that they tried to buy Austrian citizenship through a slightly wayward politician. One of the ways in which they tried to ingratiate themselves with Austria in general? They "invested some $2 million in a 2005 sponsorship deal for local Formula One racer Patrick Friesacher"

*head desk*

*gives Patrick a little hug, just because*

Such a happy geek right now.

2011-07-31T00:25:06Z

So today I spent around 5 hours queueing in the streets surrounding the British Museum, in blazing sunshine, to meet a couple of legends.

Alan Moore (and Kevin O'Neill) were signing at GOSH today, as a two part celebration of the new volume of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" being released and of GOSH moving to new premises next week.

There were over 300 people in the queue, and we were lucky enough to have ticket number 150. It was one of the best and happiest queues I have ever been in. Almost every one had a comic/book/Kindle in their hands, everyone was smiling, happy to sit on the edge of the pavement and to chat to the person next to them.

It was so nice to see a few blocks of London streets turn into this wonderful happy haven, powered by people happy to roast away in the sun and be totally lost in the written word. Despite most of my Twitter feed being full of F1 chat, it was nice to inject a little comic book geekery into my stream for a while. Frequent posting of queue pictures and tweets with fluffmitten and autiotalo certainly made the time go faster as well.

I was queueing to get my copy of "Watchmen" signed, which reminds me of a lot of good online times with lixia84 and aitakute :) My Boy however had also purchased me Volume One of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" as I have been reading his collection to death recently.

Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill were complete troopers, still smiling and engaging with each person who made it through to their table. They signed anything and everything put in front of them, complete with dedications if needed, which was nice as in theory it meant you didn't have to buy anything on the day. Some kind soul had supplied them with biscuits, tea and strawberry's. I think my Boy may have ended up flirting with Alan a little bit, but that seems to be his way and it was nice to see the pair of them get on so well ;)

I think I may have been a little bit starstruck as I didn't manage to say much at all while I was with them, I think I'm a little 0_o as I'm still very new to this whole world I'm discovering. It was such a delight to meet the creator of "Watchmen" though. I could have very easily gushed at him.

I know that no one is ever really interested in dreams but

2011-07-08T22:15:47Z

I can't let at least the ideas behind my last two go by without some kind of record.

1) Some kind of zombie apocalypse had occurred, and simultaneously there had been a season of heavy flooding throughout the UK. The zombies were only in specific areas of the UK, but they had knocked out the most common 'leave the UK' travel routes out. The Government had all fled and abandoned the country to its own device, leaving the population in a scramble to find a way to get off the mainland asap.

Now I never saw the zombies in my dream, aside from some far off silhouettes on the other side of a body of water. Almost my entire dream was spent in a very roughly made dug-out canoe, with three other companions. In the canoe with me were John and Sherlock from the BBC's version of "Holmes", and our propulsion was being provided for us by Shrek. Yeah. I know. It wasn't a 'realistic' Shrek either, it was just as he appears in the movie, all CGI.

Many nights/days were spent in the canoe, with Shrek always behind us pushing us through the water, and with Sherlock right up in front like some weird kind of figurehead. I spent a lot of time talking to John, and scratching Shrek behind the ears.

Towards the end, we landed on a small bit of land, that may well have been the top of a hill that had a sort of ramshackle hut on it. Inside the hut were Jean Grey, Wolverine, Gambit and Cyclops. All looking gaunt and shell-shocked. As with Shrek, they appeared exactly as they used to in the cartoon I used to watch when I was a kid, proper 2D sketches.

I woke up just before Gambit began to speak.

(For the record I have not read/watched any of these things in at least two months! And the most current exposure I've had to zombies is lots of cartoon versions of the survivors from Left 4 Dead 2, no actual zombies though.)

2). I don't remember as much about this one but I really wish I did.

Last night I dreamt about trying on gorgeous dresses with Gillian Anderson in a really luxurious dressing room, which looked as though it was filled full of things that had been bought of Etsy ;) I had a figure that I would kill for, and a friendship with Gillian that was off-the scale in terms of genuine laughter.

In the same Universe, but with no kind of timescale, I was having a very passionate affair with Patrick Dempsey (at one point we were eating Aero Mint Mousse off each other). The sense if well-being and contentedness I felt during every part of being with him (not just the naughty bits) is something I didn't think could exist!

(For the record, there have been a lot of pictures of Gillian Anderson on my Tumblr dash recently, and I did watch "Transformers 3" the other night. However, I HATE trying on clothes, I don't have a great love for dresses and whilst I can see the aesthetic appeal of Patrick Dempsey I have never lusted after him.)

What gives brain?

Aside from the general loathing of my job, worrying about my Uncle and not having any unbranded trainers to work in tomorrow I have no major pressures/stresses on me at the moment. I don't hate my body and the Boy and I are doing great.

Can't wait to see what tonight brings :)

Ponies

2011-04-24T20:31:43Z

Mmmm have spent most of today in the singular pursuit of spending as much time with meeshy and ponies as possible :)

It was so nice to get out in the country (off the Island) on horseback and with great company. I may have made my face a little red, and my shoulders a little pink (it seems to be a very slowly developing burn), but it was 100% worth it.

No pictures this time as nothing I was wearing had sensible pockets, and also I spent most of my time keeping Josh on a *tiny* rein to stop him from charging up every hill we came across. Still, only three bucks, two rears and a bolt today. MASSIVE improvement from last times numerous bolts, numerous bucks, many rears, a near-miss with the floor and a charge through a bog :)

Having an epic case of "But I don't want to go back to the real world" at the moment. The thought of going back to a sweltering London to work in that shitty warehouse unit is not appealing. Even if it is only for three days. The light at the end of the tunnel is very bright though, littlestella06, Spa and WSR will make everything better. *ickle bounce* Also I'm sure my mind will be taken of the ickiness by the potential of finding out whether I got that job or not and the excruciating pain that my body is brewing up for me as a result of riding ;)

The Isle of Wight - Odd but Cool?

2011-04-23T11:14:23Z

I am having such a good time on the Island :) Being here is so relaxing, I didn't realise I needed to relax so much and to just not be in London.

Yesterday my parents and I went cruising around the Island in my Mum's convertible. It was a *little* bit windy in the back but great for taking photographs from. Not too sure if any of them aren't just a big blurry mess, will have to look at them later and see. We stopped off at various places to see what we could see. Caught the Freshwater Independent Lifeboat being launched, which was quite exciting and rather cool as my parents had signed up the day before to become regular donors to lifeboats based on the island (not the RNLI ones). We also sat down at Fort Victoria, watching the world go by in the form of dog-walkers, mad children, sweet old couples and lots of boats as well. Then spent the rest of the afternoon basking in the sun and reading "Only Human" a Nine & Rose & Jack book :)

Today my Mum and I left my Dad watching "Saturday Kitchen" and went to the Garlic Farm. I'm now the proud owner of some garlic that is about the size of my fist, and so much tastier than the little tiny sticky things they sell in supermarkets up in London. It was nice to go down some of the really quiet country roads, they weren't very island like and I couldn't see the see. We did almost get creamed into a hedge by a fire engine, I don't think I've ever felt the speed of one of those things so much. Later on we had to wait in the road for a St George's Day parade to go by, there were kids and parents in their own marching band, a knight and even a fluorescent orange dragon.

Mum and I stopped off at a yard sale to look for My Little Pony's (what?), and then got stuck in a herd of French Onion Sellers - I'm not even kidding. There were men, women and kids, all with stripy shirts on, fake moustaches and many with onions around their necks. It was the most bizarre thing ever, and they were all taking it very very seriously, there was no laughter going on.

I've also discovered that someone who did an MEng in Mechanical Engineering, at Brunel, is now a very happy Islander bus driver....

This Island, it does strange things to a person!

Very very excited by the news of Nelsinho's triumph yesterday in the NASCAR Truck Series. Thanks to lookingspiffy I can point you in the direction of the last few laps here and an utterly adorable interview with Nels (he seriously looks/sounds as though he's about to cry) here :) Love that boy!