Frax

Returning from Hiatus for one day

frax — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:27:46 GMT

Today I am so overjoyed that Obama has won the US election that I am returning this blog from hiatus just to say "Hurray!"

Rogue Hoodie update 1

frax — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 13:56:52 GMT

I am a lace girl really. Most of my favourite knitting success (especially socks) have been in lace knitting. Although I am not up to the standard of wedding ring shawls quite yet. However when visiting Triskellian (who has a well known obsession with cables) last year I fell in love with the Rogue Hoodie. This is a rather gorgeous jumper with a hood and cables that look like Celtic Knotwork. It was gorgeous and when asked by my parents what I wanted for christmas I asked for the pattern and some of the wool to go with it. I ended up with a flash key with a pdf on it and many many balls of debbie bliss cashmerino aran in a sort of wine colour. It is lovely wool, very soft and I have already rubbed my face in it many times.

So then I open the pattern up and download it. IT IS 19 PAGES LONG! Once I picked myself up from the floor I decided the best way to approach this monster was to take it one small stage at a time and blog the progress so that I can learn from the many mistakes I anticipate making. So in honour of this pledge I begin.

I am in a sort of swatch hell. I have knitted two practice cable swatches in leftover wool to understand the engineering of cabling and now I am knitting two gauge swatch one flat and one in the round because my new knitting guru - the DomiKnitrix - really cracks the whip about gauge swatches.

I am aiming for a gauge of 4.5 stitches and 6 rows to the inch.

Flat Gauge swatch 0.1 comes in at 5.5 stitches and 7 rows on 5mm needles so I clearly need to drop a needle size.

Round Gauge swatch 0.1 come in at the same on 5mm so they both need to go up one.

Of course I forget that knitting a round swatch involves using the magic loop techinique which I learnt a couple of years ago but don't like because it hurts my hands. All the fiddling around moving stitches from one end of the knitting needle to the other is just annoying the joins don't look right and I am reminded why I really really prefer using double pointed needles to knit tubes. I find the joins are easier to tighten up and you need less (or no) stitch markers because the 3-4 different needles make it easier to check you haven't lost/gained any stitches.

I am trying to get more organised about swatches in general though and have taken to attaching the ball band of the wool used to the swatch and writing the needle size on the ball band. The DomiKnitrix recommends making a number of purl stitches on the right side of the swatch equal to the needle size but I guess she works in US sizing and I work in mm which it doesn't really work for as the mm are often decimalized and I can't do 2.25 purl stitches.

Ok - slightly later update as I have been writing this over the course of 2 hours. 2 hours of gauge swatching and 2 psychology course podcasts later and I STILL don't have a definitive needle size although after the last swatch it is looking like I probably need 6mm (which I don't own) AND my hands are hurting from wrestling with metal needles. I will give up in disgust and return to this when the postman delivers me some 6mm (in Wood). May as well go and cast on another sock in the meantime.

Driving Test

frax — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 12:10:21 GMT

Well after 75 hours worth of lessons and 2 hypnotherapy sessions I have passed my driving test first time with only 5 minors.

Thank you very much to Mark Smith of www.all-drive.co.uk for being a fantastic instructor!

Thank you very much to James Warlock of www.insightclinicalhypnosis.com for enabling me to stop panicking about driving long enough to take my test!

Thank you very much to cardinalsin for putting up with me being constantly stressed and on edge for the last couple of months.

Filters

frax — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 09:47:17 GMT

I think a *very* long time ago I said that I was setting up a weird shit filter so I didn't have to spam my friends flists with my musings on that subject. It was SUCH a long time ago that I think I have friended new people since then so if you would like to be added to the filter (or taken off because I never post nuttin) then let me know in comment and it will be done.

Frax 1, Taps 1

frax — Sun, 07 May 2006 19:42:41 GMT

Godammit.

So although I replaced the tops of both taps it turns out that the bottom of the hot water tap has corroded to almost nothing and died on its bottom less than 24 hours after the new tap head was fitted. Back to the drawing board only now it appears that I need to replace the new tap. A challenge I see...

Apart from that today has been a great day on the house! My family came round to help out with the redecorating and gardening and we got loads done. The bedroom walls and ceiling have two coats of paint each leaving only the skirting boards etc to be done, then a carpet to be fitted and curtains & light/lampshade sorted. Lawns are mowed and almost everything else pruned to within an inch of its life.

Peas, courgettes, squash and strawberries are now planted and we have finally started putting down the composted tree bark in parts of the garden around the plants - currently around the strawberries and herbs but eventually to extend over the whole of the front garden. The idea behind this is to save water by minimising the amount the evaporates off and to deter slugs from getting at the plants because they dont like the feel of it and it keeps the weeds down. As a bonus it looks pretty and smells great so here is hoping it does all the other goods things it promises. This is part of a larger plan to take up the whole of the front lawn and replace it with flowers and herbs so that we have a gorgeous view out of the kitchen window. We are hoping that the mulch will be a good way of minimising the weeding required! Keeping fingers crossed.

Frax 2, Taps 0

frax — Sat, 06 May 2006 20:02:13 GMT

Firstly - apologies to everyone who asked for comments on the last meme - I really meant to do it but I left it too long. Sorry guys!

Today we worked a little more on the house (a very little really). Hopefully more tomorrow.

But this was a personal success for me. Our bathroom tap has been dripping for ages and because of the hosepipe ban I have becoming increasing guilty about it. My guilt was pretty much increasing in line with the increasing speed of the drip. Today I finally fixed it. I had hoped it was just the washer but it turned out that I had to fit a whole new tap head - because they come in packs of two I fitted the other one as well because it was looking a bit dodgy.

So go superFrax DIY queen.

The meem - you probably know the drill by now.

frax — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 20:58:19 GMT

Comment, and...
1. I'll respond with something random I like about you.
2. I'll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. I'll name something we should do together.
4. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me (or just me).
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
6. I'll leave you a quote that is somehow appropriate to you.
7. I'll ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on your journal so you can do the same for other people, well, only if you want to...

Toikey

frax — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 20:03:50 GMT

Sunday cardinalsin and I are off to Turkey for a little sun, sea, relaxation and endless hours of looking at Greek Temples. I am really looking forward to the break. Work has generally been fine recently so I don't need a holiday from that point of view but I have found this winter to be one of the longest, darkest, coldest I think I have experienced for ages. It have generally felt pretty tired and lethargic for months now. I can't wait to get to Turkey to enjoy the daylight and warmer temperatures. I have already started to perk up since the clocks changed - acutally felt more awake in the mornings despite getting up an hour earlier. So I guess it will be interesting to see how I feel after next week.

In the meantime does anyone have any good suggestions about things to do in Toikey?

Tanked up

frax — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 14:58:17 GMT

Well this is more of a memo to self - since I thought it would be nice to have a record of the whole "getting the house in order thing" to look back on over the years. Well at least after it is all done.

Today the council men are here in a van to remove the old Kerosene tank (and the kerosene in it) which was used in the oil powered fire in the living room to heat the house and to heat the water for the house. Since November the house has had nice central heating and today we are reclaiming a sizeable part of our garden from the tank. Hurrah.

In the vein of all things local I am also off to the local Runnymede Amnesty International Group tonight to start volunteering and get to know like minded other-local people. It is special Stop Violence Against Women meeting tonight in aid of International Womens Day so I am particularly looking forward to it.

Happy Womens Day to you to.

Abcessing over you...

frax — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 19:21:32 GMT

Well since cardinalsin has aluded to my getting ill/sick I should probably explain...

So yesterday I travelled up to Wolverhampton in preparation for my all day meeting and I stayed in a hotel.

Last night I woke up at about 5.00am with terrible neck and shoulder pain. Unfortunately this is not an unusual occurence give the problems with my neck. I stumbled to the bathroom massaging my neck on the way and resolving to sleep on only one pillow for the rest of the night. Then I noticed that on the bone behind my ear it was bumpier than usual and painful to the touch.

I tried to sleep after this but failed abysmally and was generally in a lot of pain.

I got up around 7.00 and tried to look behind my ear in the mirror and failed because me head was in the way and my eyes can't see round corners. I fiddled around with it a bit more and came to the conclusion that it was indeed very very painful and very very lumpy back there.

I generally felt ill but put this down to a little less sleep than usual and slightly more pain that usual. Apparently I was wrong.

Many people at the meeting asked me if I was ok. I expect I looked like death warmed up by this point, painkillers had failed and I was feeling pretty nauseous. Eventually my boss asked me if I was ok and I said not really and mentioned the swelling behind my ear. She took one look and packed me off home via Wolverhampton A&E. Oh and I also quickly had my photo taken for the Corporate brochure on the way - I can tell that that piccie is going to come out well!

Apparently I have a large but diffuse abcess behind my ear. It is sufficiently swollen that it is putting pressure on my neck muscles hence the huge amounts of neck and shoulder pain.

Right now I am dose up with painkillers and antibiotics and seriously hoping that they work otherwise I will be back to the Dr (a surrey one this time) so that can slice it open and drain it. That sounds pretty scary all things considered.

Generally I feel ok though.

Home

frax — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 19:50:30 GMT

Since buying our new House cardinalsin and I have been slowly and inexorably drawing closer to some serious DIY. We have had the central heating put in, sky TV installed and put up a couple of shelves, coat hooks and a shower rail. All these little jobs have been leading up to the first big one.

The bedroom is covered in colour swatches, and the colours are finally picked. Warm apricot on the walls, velvet plum on the door, skirting boards and cupboard. Some sort of matching plum coloured curtains with a funky rail (unpicked as yet although I favour the curly iron ones). And a possible mossy/dark green coloured carpet (although isn't decided on yet either but anything it better than the lino we currently have). So now we are decided on the colours, worked out how much paint we need and what it will cost we had probably better start moving out of the bedroom and into the spare room and then doing the scraping off the walls.

One better than that though, today was the day we met our new plumber - an excellant start since the last one we contacted failed to turn up at all. He is pricing up for fitting our dishwasher (a very kind moving in present from my parents) and then cardinalsin and I will go and choose our new bathroom which he will also price up to fit for us.

We are still in the planning stages really but it is getting more and more exciting and the shiny new plumber has already given us lots of helpful advice so he is definately the new top person of the moment.

Poop poop! Poop poop!

frax — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 21:47:25 GMT

Today was my catch up driving lesson.

I have only had 3 in total (this time around) before today but unfortunately I have just had a three week gap between lessons and boy could I tell. Cunningly I also have a lesson booked for tomorrow for 1 hour so now I have caught up with being rusty I should be able to power into tomorrow's lesson and make good headway on hill starts. Rarrrr!

However being away for three weeks and being so rusty I was able to keenly see what some of my big problems are - not being rusty problems - bigger problems than those:

1. I am scared of other cars, if I see one moving I will probably break (occasionally hard).
2. I feverishly check my mirrors all the time and (this is the bit which is bad) frequently check over my right hand shoulder. (Couldn't work out why I was doing this, until I realised I was checking that no-one was overtaking me - this is because I spend almost 1/2 my travelling time on a bike.)
3. Up until recently every time I changed gear the car increased in speed. I don't like increases in speed. However today I experienced the car decreasing in speed when I changed gear. Therefore I am no longer so frightened of changing gear because it can be used for good as well as evil.
4. I don't like using the accelerator any more than is absolutely necessary (i.e. more than the 20 mph). In fact my driving instractor has taken to putting his foot on the accelerator and not letting me bring it up until I "give it more gas!" Sneaky man.

So...

Most of these I expect will sort themselves out on further lessons and generally progressing with regular lessons so I don't forget too much. And willpower should kick the looking over the shoulder thing.

A pleasant surprise and a dilemma...

frax — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 16:47:25 GMT

So, I was fidgeting around at my desk this morning as I sometimes do and (as I sometimes do - please don't ask any more) I decided I would try putting my earring through my old nose stud hole. I periodically do this to find out how much of the hole has closed up in case I ever want to repierce it.

Only....

to my surprise the earring went straight through and it turns out that the hole is still there alive and well and still in good condition. I had thought it was about 1/2 closed but it turns out it was just at a funny angle. After my initial elation I realised that I had a dilemma.

I took out my nose stud when I became a trainee at a law firm because IT WAS VERY MUCH FROWNED ON. At the time I massively regretted it. Of all the people that do wear nose studs I was one of the lucky few it actually looked quite natural on and I really felt I should be making the most of this and it just looked really pretty.

So now I am sitting here with an earring through my nose - terrified to take it out in case it suddenly closes up again and contemplating how to approach this issue with regards to my career.

Advice welcome please.

Funny old start to the year...

frax — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 22:18:17 GMT

I think I have cracked being healthy... this has come as a bit of a shock being such a bookworm but apparently cycling to the station and going to the gym at lunchtimes makes you fitter.

I am enjoying feeling healthy and decided to share my current recipe for success:

1. Cheese is not a condiment or a seasoning, unlike chilli and garlic.
2. Cake is not a food group (or a condiment)
3. Starving children in Africa will not benefit if I finish my (and my boyfriends') dinner, any more than if I don't.
4. Rationing ended before I was born - I do not have to eat all the chocolate today, there will be some there tomorrow.

Unfortunately it will only last as long as I don't go through a lazy patch, but at least this time I know how to get the healthy back if I need to.

Films 2005/2006

frax — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 23:35:30 GMT

Last year I kept a list of all of the books I read over the year and a couple of line on what I thought of them. I found the exercise very interesting and have reread the entry many times over the last year. As is obvious from the last entry I am going to do it again this year (although without the 1 hour and 30 mins on a train every working day I probably won't reach the same dizzy heights of 74 books in a year). However over the last year I have also seen many interesting movies which I wish I had kept a record of in the same way. Lets hope this list is as useful as the book list...

25th December to 24th January

1.Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra - funnier in the original french and generally a good laugh.

2. V for Vendetta - better than I thought.

Book List 2005/2006

frax — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 23:31:11 GMT

As was successful last year this will be my list of books for the coming year. Last year I realised I read a lot of junk food and made a conscious effort to read more challenging books. I really enjoyed that. Towards the end of the year I started a lot of non-fiction books which I have yet to finish to they will get bumped into this years list.

25th December to 24th January.

1. The Gourmet Gardener by Bob Flowerdew (non-fiction) Probably fairly obviously this is a book on growing food in the garden (and a little bit on flowers). It it is a good whistle stop tour through the best sorts of varieties to grow on a good range of fruit veg and flowers with a brief section on the soil conditions etc for each plant. I think I would probably read a more in depth book on some of the aspects of plant care covered in this but it is a good read and very helpful for choosing what fruit/veg to grow.

2. As Black as he's painted by Ngaio Marsh (fiction) Not happy reading this at all. I appreciate all the arguments about the "period" it was written in and that sort of thing but fundamentally this book had element of racism in it that I was not comfortable with it all.

3. Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith (fiction) fantastic thriller, I really enjoyed this book even though there were very few sympathetic characters in the book.

4. Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge (fiction)I thought that this book was really fresh and engaging. The use of language in itself as well as a motif was particularly good.

5. The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer (fiction) Another children's book to kick off the year. This one was recommended by my Dad and was great fun. I think the idea of a combat lawyer is deeply cool - I want to be one :)

6. Just Law by Helena Kennedy (non-fiction) I love this women's work and writing again she has turned a spotlight on some of the unpleasant aspects of the british legal system.

7. Five Hundred Years After by Steven Brust (fiction) Another one in the Phoenix guards series. I found this one slightly easier to read than the first and therefore enjoyed it a lot more.

8. The Veiled Kingdom by Carmen Bin Ladin (autobiography) Book club book - therefore we don't talk about it.

25th January to 24th February

9. The Paths of the Dead by Steven Brust (fiction) This is a reread because I bought the next two in the series recently and then realised it had been so long since I read the first one (a year) that I couldn't remember the plot.

10. The Low Fat Cookbook by Rosemary Conoley (non-fiction) This is a terrible book. The recipes are generally awful and make you feel like you want to cry after you have eaten them.

11. Ainsely Harriot's Low Fat Meals in minutes (non-fiction) Generally quite good, food is tasty and interesting and you don't feel like you are missing out on anything - not quite as good as the Top 200 Low Fat Recipes but still an excellant addition to my library.

12. The Lord of Castle Black by Steven Brust (fiction) - This is pulp fantasy, it does what it sez on the tin.

25th February to 24th March

13. The Human Brain by Susan Greenfield (non-fiction) - This was a great pop science book on the brain. I really enjoyed it, particularly the section on neuropharmacology which is also a great word.

14. The Silver Wheel (non-fiction) - this is a pagan-pop-women's-psycology book which I bought many many moons ago lent to someone before I read it, got it back and finally read it. The time for it has passed though. Maybe if I had read it 4 years ago I would have though it was amazing as it is I think 5% of it was interesting and much of it I disagreed with particularly its comments on feminism - because men and women are all paid the same no doncha know. However the illustrations were really amazing and very inspiring, probably worth a lot more than the book.

15. The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency by John Seymour - this is the ultimate guide to self sufficiency and contains reams of practical advice. I can see it will be a brilliant reference guide for years and years to come.

16. Armadale by Wilkie Collins (fiction) - This is another excellant Wilkie Collins book. I loved the change in sympathies that occurred about halfway through the book as it made it feel like a complete tragedy, you sympathised with every character's personal tragedy.

17. The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands by Mrs Seacole (non-fiction) - This is the autobiography of Mrs Seacole a black nurse who worked with soldiers in the Crimea, it had some interesting social commentary on racism, sexism and slavery but ultimately very little happened and it wasn't as interesting as I had hoped.

18. Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie (fiction) This was a Poirot mystery only really interesting for how the bridge game played a part in the murder. Other than that it was pretty weak in terms of plot and generally a bit of filler.

19. Captain Altrista by Arturo Perez-Reverte (fiction) The first in a new pseudo-Dumas series set in Spain and written by a Spanish author. Really good start to what is clearly a series but it was far too short. It was just getting interesting when the book finished. I hope that there are many more though. It has also inspired me to read Alexander Dumas' stuff whcih I never have.

20. V for Vendetta by Alan Moore/David Lloyd (fiction) I have never read this graphic noval and I always wanted to and given that the movie is coming out. It was dark and stylish and very cool although I felt that the plot was both blown to early and never revealed but that was part of its charm.

25th March to 24th April

21. Purity of Blood by Arturo Perez-Reverte (fiction) This is the second in the series of the adventures of Captain Altrista. This was focussed on the capture of his young side kick by the Spanish Inquisition. The plot was pacy and excellant but YET AGAIN IT WAS TOO SHORT.

22. To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (fiction) I think that this is my second favourite Virginia Woolf novel after Orlando. The scenes over the dinner party were particularly good and I loved the way she would hop inside someone's head we would hear their thoughs about loveing another character then we would go inside another character's head at exactly the same moment and see how oblivious they were to the thoughts of the first character. It was really interesting.

23. Sethra Lavode by Steven Brust (fiction) not great, pulp fantasy that like breaking its own rules in non-cool ways. This book was particularly bad. Basically the main story kinda ended in the middle of book two and this was book three. The long term plot in this book should have been part of a much longer epic more on the scale of George R R Martin but it wasn't and it was done in a rushed way which made it feel a bit pointless.

24. The Call of Cthulu and Other Stories by HP Lovecraft (fiction) This is the first HP Lovecraft I have ever read and I can well see why it was turned into an RPG, it is full of imaginative and other chilling tales with tonnes of recurring background detail. I particularly enjoyed the Shadow over Innsmouth and the twist at the end (It wasn't completely unexpected but lots of fun anyway).

25. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (fiction) I recently started to compile a list of seminal fiction I think I should read. I will hopefully put it up on LJ eventually and this book was on the list. I liked it but what I liked most about it was finding out the RB was trying to get it published during the McCarthy era and the only publisher who would touch it with a barge pole was Hugh Hefner!

26. The Three Muskateers by Alexandre Dumas (fiction) I great classic which I heartily enjoyed despite its being very different to the book I was expecting. I certainly intend to read the others over the course of the next few years. However I felt that the overal plot arc and the way it developed was a bit weak with a sort of milling around section in the middle waiting for things to happen.

27. The Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (fiction) I didn't like this at all. I felt that the this was completely a concept book and a concept which I had seen done much much better elsewhere. This was in no way a love story to me and I did not find it remotely romantic. It was a book about determinism, questions over consent, the role of women and the grooming of children. On top of my other misgivings plotwise almost nothing really happened it was just a catalogue of the domestic lives around the concept as such I found it pretty boring and way too long.

25th April to 24th May

28. Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop (fiction) This was part of a trilogy which I read all in one go so I will save my comments for the final book.

29. Heir to the Shadows by Anne Bishop (fiction)

30. Queen of the Darkness by Anne Bishop (fiction) The blurb on the back said that this Trilogy was about looking at a world turned upside down where women wield the power, sexual, magical and political and men are second class citizens. I am not sure if it achieved what it set out to do but it was a very very interesting read on a gender politics level and the different potential scenarios it threw up. As a fantasy novel is was ok, it had a lot of nice background and fairly interesting plot. In fact the magical background was sufficiently detailed I thought it would have made an excellant RPG.

31. Toast by Nigel Slater (biography) This is a biog of Nigel Slater. Part of the problem is I am only dimly aware of who he is so his biog was not as interesting as it could be. In fact it wasn't very interesting at all and I was quite pleased at how short it was.

32. The Resurrection Casket by Justin Richards (fiction) I have to admit it, I love this little nuggets of brain candy. Readable, the characterisation comes through well, I can often practically here the lines spoken in the actors voice. It isn't high art, amazing SF or brilliant literature but it does exactly what it says on the tin and sometimes that it exactly what you want. And dudes it has pirates!

25th May to 24th June

33. The Stone Rose by Justin Richards (fiction) Dr Who novel - mind candy but fun.

34. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (fiction) This was my second Evelyn Waugh book. Last year I read Vile Bodies and thorough enjoyed it. This was no exception. I loved the depiction of a different time and he described it all wonderfully vividly

35. The Complete Book of Herbs (non-fiction)

36. The Feast of the Drowned (fiction) Dr Who novel - mind candy again but I enjoyed it.

25th June to 24th July

37. The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMasters Bujold (fiction) Bujold had been recommended to me by quite a few people. Unfortunately I thought it was dull, formulaic and lacked pace and interest. I have been told that the second in the series is much better. However I think I will probably pass on it.

38. The Mountains of Madness and other stories by H P Lovecraft (fiction) More great Lovecraft stuff. I just really enjoy his world and I can see why it makes such a gret RP background.

39. The Stone by Adam Roberts (fiction) I thought this was a fairly bog standard SF novel. It has a couple of nice ideas but poor editing in the beginning really spoit it for me.

40. Solider of the Mist by Gene Wolf (fiction) This was a really interesting book about a soldier who had lost his short term memory but instead had gained the ability to see the gods. It is a bit slow moving and often repeats itself because of the subject matter. I have enjoyed individual scenes but not the novel as a whole.

41. The Light of Other Days by Arthur C Clarke and Stephen Baxter (fiction) This was a really good SF book which cardinalsin has been pushing me to read for ages. I was acutally really impresed about the quality of the writing and the cool ideas involved. Definately worth reading.

25th July to 24th August

42. The Prose Edda by Snori Sturluson (fiction/mythology) This is one of the primary sources of Norse myth and it was great fun to read.

43. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (fiction) This is a darkly sexual retelling of old fairly tales. I loved it. It was a wonderfully subversive twist on the familiar stories and definately worth a re-read.

44. A First Course in Psycology(Psycology) This is an introduction to psycology and I found it very interesting. It really worked as an introduction to a vast subject. Giving the reader a good understanding of basic

25th August to 24th September

45. Preachers of Hate: The Rise of the Far Right by Angus Roxburgh (Politics) This is a book I have been meaning to read for years. It is a whistlestop tour through the rise of the far right in the last 6 years in various different European Countries and how their policies have been adopted into the mainstream. I don't think we are on the verge of being swept away by a racist tide as the author sometimes suggests. However I do now have a much better understanding of racist groups across several European countries not just here. I also understand why the rise of racist political parties has been more marked in other European Countries but less so here and in Germany. Generally very interesting and I am pleased that I read it.

46. Soldier of Aretes by Gene Wolf (fiction) Generally not a very satisfying ending.

Moving House

frax — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 11:48:13 GMT

So this is the final weekend of packing before the projected house move on Friday. I am throwing lots of things away, giving lots of bags of stuff to charity and we are still going to have huge amount of stuff come moving day. As far as I can see this is mainly books. I have been through the bookshelves and sent a small pile of about 8 to charity. You can't even tell that I have got rid of any though.

I suppose it isn't surprising that one of the things I am looking forward to most about the move is having the ability to put up shelves on the walls and save on the amount of bookcase space which gets taken up.

As to the actual move itself I can't wait. I have enjoyed living in our little flat for the last couple of years but it always felt like a temporary home, and although it was nice it wasn't ever exactly what I wanted. There was no garden and we lived above a main road so I never felt like I could really escape noise in the flat. So although I feel a little sad to be saying goodbye I am far more excited about moving to a home which will suit my needs more. I guess I feel in a way like I have grown out of our little flat and this is the right time to be moving.

Right back to packing up blankets and duvet covers.

A long time coming

frax — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 20:03:49 GMT

So I haven't posted in an AGE...

The missing highlights are:

I have a new job which I am nicely settled into and enjoying a very great deal.

cardinalsin and I are buying a house (with a garden and a greenhouse.

Huzzah!

In other news today I tried out our gym at work in lunchtime. Now I am not usually one for high physical exercise but very few people use it so it is not intimidating at all. Since I am doing a bit more LARP recently I figured being able to run for more than 5 steps would probably be really helpful. I think I may have found my perfect time to exercise. I felt much more energised for the afternoon's session at work and I didn't feel as tired as I do after work. We shall see how this goes.

Book Club - The Art of Murder by Jose Carlos Somoza

frax — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 20:35:19 GMT

Before I do a holiday write up I need to get down our book club musings before I forget them.

This time our book was chosen by lathany. It was the Art of Murder by Jose Carlos Somoza. This was his second book to be translated into English. The first book was the Athenian Murders which I had previously lent to lathany.

The Art of Murder is part murder mystery and part speculative fiction about an alternative modern artworld in near-to-modern day settings. The action takes place across Europe and the focus of the story is a series of gruesome murders in the artworld which are focussed on the hyperdramtic works of art involving real people as "canvases".

lathany kicked off the meeting. She had chosen this book because she had really enjoyed the Athenian Murders but found after reading the Art of Murder that it was her favourite. She started by saying that she really liked this novel and was the first to point out the cross genre status of the book as both murder mystery and speculative fiction. She said she found the murders, characters and world all very believable and liked the consistent approach of the author to his created, internal world and characters.

She said she thought the final approach of the two main characters to the climactic scene was very very interesting but felt that the main character of April was never really resolved satisfactorily.

lathany had actually read the book twice to refresh her memory of the book prior to book club and had found on the second reading that every character (even some of the minor characters) makes a point of referring to their father at some point in the novel.

The only negative point lathany really had to makes about the book was that the translation was sometimes a little rough around the edges.

KR (Not on LJ) had only managed to read 4 chapters into the book having been given it only last week. She said that in the short amount of time she had been reading the book that she thought that some of the descriptions of hyperdramatism were close to the more extreme example of coutuere (sp.) modelling in the real world. Later she also compared some of the physical manipulations of the canvases to the extreme slimming required of models as young as 14 which also reflected the book's focus on the young female canvases in hyperdramatism.

I was next.

I really loved this book. I loved the Athenian Murders and was apprehensive that the author would be able to top it but he did and created something fresh and new and very exciting. I was on tenterhooks the whole time I read it because I found the ideas and world created so exciting - the actual murder mystery was very much secondary to this.

There were themes of feminism, politics, money and the extremes of materialism and consumerism. The exploration of these themes and the philosophising that the reader is invited to undertake in this book are all very well explored and thought out by the author. For example early on the book I realised that pretty much all the models in the book (and certainly those which were the focus of most attention) tended to be young, good-looking women. However later in the book a member of a hyperdramatism protest group makes exactly the same observation and links this to child porn. The analogies with prostitution and pornography are even clearer and something that Somoza is clearly conscious of.

However the author refrains from making value judgements and leaves it to the reader to determine for themselves.

al_fruitbat also loved the book but thought that it was pure science fiction rather than speculative fiction. He approached it from the viewpoint of someone who knew a bit about the modern world and appreciated the commentary that the author was making about the processes of creating art and the artworld. He thought that Somoza's world of art was very believable, fresh and exciting and above all beautiful. He said that he thought Modern Art in the real world was just ugly and shocking and that Somoza's vision was of a Modern Art that could have been; and would have been both beautiful and erotic.

He said that he didn't really get into the whodunnit aspect of the book but didn't find it bothered him.

He said he thought the insight into the characters lives was interesting and that he really enjoyed the use of Rembrant in the story and the implications of that.

He thought that the character of Clara would be sad to have found she survived the serial killing.

elle_ also liked the book and thought it was was part thriller, part fantasy and partly philosophical.

She liked the conflicting emotions about hyperdramatism that the author had created in the reader and thought that April and Lothar personified this conflict.

However she said that she found the mindset of the artists themselves very alien and noted that all the people at the heart of hyperdramatism were fundamentally emotionally damaged. It was discussed how this may be analogus to the perception that great artists are often a little crazy.

elle_ also noted that although the murders were described in horried detail the main point of the murders was secondary and used to keep the attention of the reader whilst the author explored that ideas around hyperdramatism.

_alanna Initially really liked the book but then found she got bored towards the middle of the book and liked it much less by the end. She liked the idea of hyperdramatism but found she couldn't make the leap to seeing a difference between the work of art and the human being used to create it. She thought that the excusing of molestation as art and murder as art was something she couldn't see because art and being as artist was no excuse. She also thought that Clara was manipulated and brainwashed into being the canvas and that this raised various issues as to consent and when consent is no longer valid.

Ultimately she didn't like the book because she couldn't buy into the world view offered.

April was her favourite character.

ealescerwen also liked the book but didn't think the characterisation was strong.
Her favourite character was Gerrard.

ealescerwen: I didn't take notes on your views like I did the others, so if you want to comment on this post that would be most cool - Cheers!

Generally this was a great book club book. Everyone saw something different in it and got something different and interesting out of it. Almost everyone would recommend the book to someone else and I in fact bought it for cardinalsin's stepmother who then lent it to two others.

I thought this was a great book and I can't wait to see what Somoza does next.

The next book chosen by KR is The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

Last day at work

frax — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 20:50:16 GMT

So today was the last day at work and effectively the last day of my training contract. I was really touched at how many people came to say goodbye and at the size of my leaving gift. I have had some good times and some bad like you get in any job but I have met some amazing people and been encouraged to co-write and publish two articles.

I definately feel ready to be qualified now though. Being a trainee solicitor isn't great shakes in many ways and I have done my time and am ready to be a grown up qualified solicitor. Hurrah!

Head of my household?

frax — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 15:33:44 GMT

Last night an interviewer came round to talk to cardinalsin and myself about our expenditure and food buying habits. We have been selected at random to take part in an Office of National Statistics survey and I think we both felt that taking part is our civil duty and happily agreed.

However a question came up which I sort of dread and this is the second time I have been asked it in this sort of survey.

"Which of you and your partner earns the most?"

The person which earns the most is then deemed to be the "head of the household". Now as the man explained (despite it being obvious) this question is about stamping out sexism. Previously the man was always the head of the household. So by phrasing it in terms of the highest salary this means that it is non-gender specfic and could be either party.

My big problem is this - our household has NO head. I find that an antiquated notion. I completely disagree with the idea that a partnership of people living together automatically has a hierarchy. And that furthermore the person who financially contributes most to the partnership is automatically at the top of that hierarachy. I really dislike the idea that even our relationships are supposed to be a reflection of the materialistic, capitalist world and that the government considers me to be the head of our household because I earn more. Not to mention that given that men and women are still paid disproportionately this means that in general men are normally going to be the head of the household no matter the rephrasing of the question.

At the interview I said that I earned more money but that I did't agree with the concept of "head of the household" and that our household was a completely equal partnership. Unfortunately this didn't fit his form so he pretty much ignored me. Therefore to set the balance right in the world my flist is being inflicted with this viewpoint.

Ta Da

frax — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 10:10:22 GMT

Just had an article on Freedom of Information published.

Training Weekend part 3 - the OOC commentary.

frax — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 21:24:47 GMT

I think one of the things I enjoyed most was the sense of personal development I got for my character in a very short space of time. I constructed a quiet, shy persona and then in the initial stages of the game found it impossible to contribute to the robust group discussions with the result that during the test my character looked pretty ineffectual. However during the live situation when other characters started to lose it completely, my quiet little mouse took control of various aspects and pulled her team mates through their hallucinations and was instrumental in getting the mission completed. So it felt like a really nice personal mini story going on in the background of the game. I really enjoyed playing this out and got a great deal of satisfaction from it. Particularly since on the final morning I made a joke and one of the characters I had been interacting with the night before turned to me and smiled saying "that is the first joke I have ever heard you make." So that was really cool as well.

Although it won't mean much the joke revolved around the fact that Sunday night Steve had dreamt he could only go to the toilet if he broke the code combination lock on the door. A sure sign that someone had been doing too much code breaking the day before.

Other enjoyable moments included waking up on the Sunday morning and taking stock of the night's events in-character. I ended up discussing this with the only other vaguely early riser - Sarah - and as we chatted a group of young children piled into the field at the back of our training hut and started playing a variety of games arranged by the adults looking after them. Sarah and I looked at each other and commented how the "end of the movie scene" had arrived and that our work was indeed done.

People pretty much consistantly used in-character names all weekend and this was great in creating atmosphere. I myself made only one slip at 12.30am on the Sunday morning when I needed someone to hold a box I was carrying because my bra had just come undone. So I think that is ok!

Also although I knew some of the people there I didn't know all of them and there is always something special about the first time you role-play with someone you have never met before. RPing with someone you don't know anything about gives you the purest reactions. Some of the best stuff I have ever done has been with virtual (and occasionally complete) strangers.

There were some damn cool props used over the course of the weekend and we are being encouraged to bring our own next time which I certainly intend to. I have even started to arrange an IC meeting between me and a couple of other players to visit the site the next session is at ahead of time to walk the area and take photos for an IC briefing pack I am going to organise the preparation of.

The Training Weekend - Part 2

frax — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 14:38:09 GMT

While we were out the tables and chairs in one of the rooms had been converted into a makeshift altar - various painted chicken bones were laid out in patterns (this was also done on someone pillow - which was found later on) and a pad with some red script and symbols on it.

I realised that while out on the field exercise I had run past a set of exactly the same bones in a firepit in one of the clearings. I told Alex and he went off and retrieved them making sure he took photographs of the area before he disturbed the set up. There was also a wooden block with them, with the numbers 1.13.5.14 again marked on it in charcoal.

There was also an odd looking fingerprint on the girls toilet door.

The forensic/Detective team did their stuff while everyone else continued trying to break the codes and hypothesise about what was going on.

A couple of film makers for a Living TV documentary (Most Haunted) turned up and told us a bit about the history of the site they were staying on but people were keen to get them to leave as soon as possible and those of us around were asked not to talk to them in for security reasons.

After the second exercise we returned to base and looked at the materials and evidence that had been collected. Sam and I also had another private session with the instructors.

During the course of the day things gradually became more intense. Sam had a hallucination that he was on fire and 3 of us had to restrain him and talk him down. Rebecca, a surveillance expert, went missing in the woods and then later returned with a sinister black book which she had found. Another two sets of bones along with some incense and a bible was discovered in two different locations. About this point all the instructors began to look agitated. It turned out that some of the events last night and that morning had been engineered by them as part of the test but now things were happening which had nothing to do with them and they were getting concerned. They also revealed what the agency had been about all along.

Jake received a total of two voicemails on his phone from an unidentified scottish male saying that we were being watched and that he wanted to help us. Jake and Adam took themselves off to analyse the message while the rest of us planned what to do next. 3 of the instructors went off to sort out some dinner for us and we then brainstormed how we were going to fix the situation.

We decided it was likely that the ghosts in the area (originally a monastery had been burned down and the strange events dated from then)needed to be put to rest. Various other clues led us to look at passages 1.13 and 5.14 of revalations in the bible and this was indeed chilling as the passages connected directly to some of thethings we had seen and evidence collected.

After dinner we spent some more time discussing what to do but events moved swiftly. Two of the instructor burst in because the chapel at the top of the site was glowing. When we went to investigate most members of the team fell over experiencing painful hallucinations. Christian Blake (linguistic expert) went into a state of total catelepsy which I had to wake him out of and get him back to the facility.

Everyone was pretty shaky when we got back in and the leader Clive immediately started brainstorming on the board. However this was pretty haphazard and not completely helpful. Jake and Adam suddenly appeared and were quizzed as to where they had been. Jake replied with a completely straight face that they had just got back from the chapel where they had been taking readings and everyone shouted "what do you mean the chapel! Was it glowing, what did you see." Jake and Adam said they hadn't seen anything and everyone was suddenly even more stressed than they had been before.

Laurence one of the instructors got up to say something but no-one was listening and lots of people were shouting at each other. However when he collapsed and started convulsing on the floor everyone went quiet. Under his jacket blood was starting to seep through his T-Shirt spelling out the words REV 8.13 (Not sure if I remembered this correctly). We checked the Bible and again it was pretty chilling stuff.

We decided to go and lay the bones to rest in the Chapel grounds. But first we needed to collect a few more from a previous sit as 3 were missing. Laurence and I went out to get them and couldn't see anything, I heard a single tap and we whirled rounds to notice the bone on the floor. It had fallen out of the air and was lying on the ground. I got all three of them and took them back to find a scene of chaos. Extreme poltergeist activity was rocking the facility and everyone was panicking. Me and a couple of the others grabbed the incense and the bones and then got everyone to come up to the chapel with us. We lit the incense and laid the bones out in front of the alter in the pattern that they had been found in. Then everything really went
crazy. The poltergeist activity started and the only catholic amongst us led everyone in a chant of the lords prayer. But, we were missing two of the bones. Someone ran back to get them whilst everyone else continued the chanting, Steve and me were standing right in front of the alter and somehow stopping felt like it wasn't an option once we had started.

The other 5 people with me at the altar all started to exhibit signs of stigmata. I had to hold Steve up and shout at him to get his attention and bring him back to focussing on what we were doing. He broke through it and we gripped on to each other carrying on chanting while everyone else was laid out on the floor screaming in pain. After what seemed like an age the bones were brought back and we did one final repetition. It worked but as the spirit departed it gave us a message to go to [X] location at the September full moon. [OOC - Ihad an idea when this happened that this meant we were actually in a campaign and as it turned out I was right:) HURRAH!]

We all gathered ourselves up and headed back. The next morning we were all given the opportunity of joining the agency which everyone with one exception did.

[Next entry is the OOC stuff!]

The Training Weekend - Part 1

frax — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 10:24:59 GMT

The weekend consisted of events which were engineered by the trainers to test us and some other events which were happening outside their control which it was down the group to fix. This ranged from people turning up to the site who had not reason (and possibly no clearence)to be their to a full on paranormal manifestation including hallucinations and the retrieval of "the book of the dead".

I am probably going to have to post this in 3 parts as it is pretty long.

I was playing a quiet, shy character who generally sat the the back of the room occasionally this was really frustrating as I really noticed how a few people were really loud, generally took control and didn't listen when other people tried to talk. I also realised how isolated this attitude made me (which was really tough being so different to my usual personality). But plenty of interesting things happened and I should also mention that although pretty much everyone else knew each other OOC (except for me cardinalsin and a couple of others) when we finally went OOC they were some of the nicest people and not at all cliquey!

We started off with a briefing about equal oportunities, health and safety and terrorism given by one of the instructors. Then they made us pick leaders (including telling the group why we though various people would make bad leaders) and go into teams. All of this seemed to be aimed at us getting to know each other better and creating divisiveness between ourselves. Various people were also taken out for secret briefings. And we were all made to sign a pack of papers under the Official Secrets Act.

Later in the evening (about 12.30 am) when the briefing ended and we were chatting and talking someone noticed a figure in a white robe crossing the field at the back of the instruction facility. Several people went out after the figure and when they returned empty handed most of us split up into 3 groups to go and sweep the nearby area. This is when some of the exciting stuff really kicked off. Steve from GCHQ in my group received a telephone call from Alex (former solidier) who said he had just been knocked unconscious by an unknown assailant and been left on the ground with a white robe thrown over him. He told us that there were one, possibly two men in black in the woods. (At this point my group of 4 is fairly far away from the facility building in the middle of unknown woodlands and had NO-ONE with combat experience.

Tension started to mount. Alex called off and at that point Steve noticed he had received a text message from an unknown number. The message simple read 1.13.5.14. Steve was our cryptographer and clearly recognised this as a simple number substitution code leaving the four letter word AMEN. Obviously we were meant to work it out easily.

When we returned to the building other people had received different text messages althought AMEN seemed to be a common theme. Sarah, the forensic expert, examined the robe which had traces of blood, sweat and mould on it.

We settled in to discuss the events. People were agitated by the fact that a door which had been left locked was open when we returned to the building and so it was decided we would set watches throughout the night.

I was unlucky enough to get Dead Man's watch at 4.00am along with Adam the electronics expert and so having gone to bed at 2.00am I didn't really get to sleep before I was told my watch was on. Adam and I took positions at opposite ends of the room and watched and waited. Adam busied himself with one of the other coded messages that had come through while I just sat and occasionally looked outside with my torch. The scariest moment of the whole night happened on our watch. I was sitting with my torch light pointing at the floor nodding off. I suddenly woke myself up to see the biggest spider sitting in the middle of the circle of light on the floor. Adam had a go at removing it but we lost it by the window.

My watch finished at 5.00am and Jake and Steve took over. As their watch closed at 5.58 and the change over was due to occur. They did see figures wandering around the facility and woke Alex up to do a sweep of the perimeter.

Alex returned having found what looked like a ritual sacrifice sight. A pool of
blood and a trail leading to the door of a nearby fort. The door had two bloody handprints on it and the numbers 1.13.5.14 daubed in blood on it. Sarah was woken up and asked to go out and examine it foresnsically while the rest of of us gradually got up and starting breaking down the events of the night. We organised ourselves into a field ops teams and a data analysis team and devised a timeline on the white board of events.

Opinion was divided as to whether this was something real (Sam the detective's theory) or whether this was part of the test (pretty much everyone else's theory). I proposed that we trail the instructor's car when they left the site at night and watched to see if it was them planting this evidence. But well before this plan could be put into operation other events overtook us.

The rest of Saturday morning was spent eating breakfast (kindly cooked for us by the instructors) and going out on two field training exercises involving two teams with objectives to fulfill who could send each other back to their base HQ in the woods but placing two hands on the opposite team member - one on each shoulder.

After the conclusion of the first of these games we came back to the base to find a crime scene.