Despite the fact that I totally failed last year, once again, I'm determined to keep a record of the books I read, just because I always enjoy reading other people's! This year, I have a goal, in that my Tanith Lee collection has reeled out of control with 25 that I hadn't read at all and giant chunks that I've only read once (this is not all that surprising, I own 97 of her books) So in an ideal world, I'll get through most of them, in a slightly less ideal world, I'll manage just the ones that I haven't read but chances are, it'll end up a mix of both, given that there's other things that I want to read!

Also, I finally have a Kindle. I forget if I mentioned this on here before but I got it for my birthday. It is great but does mean that I keep downloading free/cheap books and this is ... distracting sometimes!

A star means I haven't read it before.

( Books read in JanuaryCollapse )

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Oops, I haven't updated since October. Well, nothing really important happened in November did it? ;)

I've been meaning to update for ages because I've seen all sorts of things in a vaguely fannish way but somehow never got round to writing the proper posts. So I'll go for short summaries!

Confessions of Dorian Gray Season 5 - horribly disappointing, has already become a minor meme with some of my friends due to my terrific flaily fury. NOT OVER IT.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - eh, it was okay. I remember bits annoyed me at the time but mostly now remember it affectionately, bar the TWEEST at the end which is the worst.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - my sister got tickets because she's the best. And it was AMAZING! It was beautifully staged and really exciting and the acting was wonderful. So that was a total delight.

Star Wars: Rogue One - I liked this one a lot, although it wasn't quite what I expected from a Star Wars movie. ( SpoilersCollapse )

I spent a lot of time shouting "DON'T TRUST HIM! HE EATS PEOPLE!" at Hannibal though. I did this all through Dr Strange too (which I also quite liked) Obviously some actors are just one part forever ...

So that's me really! (with a chunk of anxiety missed out, it's been a year of worries for me really!) I hope everyone is having a good Christmas Eve - or a peaceful day if you don't celebrate!

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So, I was having a brief burst of random anxiety for no reason and so decided to deal with it in one of the ways I know - your anxiety is a beach ball bobbing on the ocean and you just let it bob there peacefully till it drifts off.

That's it brain! I say encouragingly to myself. Picture that beach ball!

And so my brain obligingly pulls out a vision of the white ball from The Prisoner exploding to the surface of the sea ...

Um ... thanks brain. You're always here for me ... ???

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First off, thanks so much for the lovely birthday wishes guys! I wasn't expecting them, particularly since I've been so quiet lately and it really made me smile. Thank you!

So, I'm 31. I had a good birthday, I have finally got a Kindle (well, I will when it arrives) It may simply end up as pretty shaped technology but hey, I may learn to love the Kindle! Perhaps the amount of paper books will shrink (but I doubt it!) I suspect life will just be filled with more books but oh well!

My usual birthday party was great fun and I think they had a lovely time too, so that's always good!

While the party was happening though, one of my friends asked me how I was apart from work and I kind of had a long pause. I have been noticing lately that when people say "How are you?" my answer tends to be "Work has been okay." or "Work was annoying." or "Work was good." Which is fine, that's okay but it's made me realise that I'm feeling quite a bit stuck in a rut. I seem to mostly be doing the same things and that's not necessarily bad but ... it's leaving me feeling a bit hollow lately and I've been fretting about it (this is one of the reasons I've been totally absent again, I keep convincing myself that I have nothing to say which is stupid)

(also, it's having the negative effect that when I'm doing something that's not part of my rut, I'm worrying about it more than I need to because "OMG I don't do this WHAT IF IT'S HORRIBLE?" I mean, I do that anyway, I'm that type but I think it's been worse lately)

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do about it yet. I will be doing some new stuff soon (I always take some Open University classes so they'll hopefully be a bit inspiring) Maybe I need a new hobby? I wouldn't mind trying to learn something new, something creative, although I'm not quite sure what (I worry about buying something expensive and then totally ignoring it forever ...) I don't know. I'll think of something though.

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Oops, I disappeared for all of August. Not very surprising, Summer Season at work eats all our souls and there's very little room for anything else. I may re-enter the world a bit now (possibly!)

Anyway, not very much has happened except for work. It's just been rather busy!

- I have a new TV! It's huge and impressive and a bit alarming (I swing between thinking Hi-Def is great and finding it really a bit weird?) It's cool though, it has a Netflix button and all the things to take you to the TV apps and YouTube and stuff. So now I can watch everything on a super-big screen and it's pretty cool!

- used Netflix to watch the first two seasons of Skins. I have this weird idea that I used to know people who were very into it but all I remember is that people used to have feelings about Effy which is nice but I have no idea what those feelings were. I too have feelings about Effy but mostly have them about Tony, which is probably unsurprising, given that I started watching entirely to admire Nicholas Hoult's beautiful face. Skins was a gift for this.

- I have been reading stuff! I will make a post soon about this, for sure (okay, I've been meaning to do that for three months but I will, I promise!)

- I signed up for ladiesbingo. I may regret this but I'm sure I won't. It looked like fun!

( Bingo cardCollapse )

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Heh, I made the checkout guys day today in the bookshop when he saw I was buying books 2 and 3 of the Captive Prince trilogy. He was all "Have you read the first one?!" and after I told him that, yes, I had (devoured would be a better term, I bought it on Monday, finished it yesterday and went "WELP, IT'S FINE, I'M BACK IN TOWN TOMORROW, I CAN BUY THE OTHERS THEN.") we had a happy chat about it with him clearly dying to spoiler me on everything ever. Bless his heart, he was just so pleased, it was lovely. I like bookshop people that get actively excited at you when they see the books you're buying!

I am midway through book two and still enjoying. They are deliciously tropey fun (as long as it's your kind of trope, anyway) and easy to read and I'm really involved now so I'm happy and dying to find out how it all ends and if my guesses about stuff are right or not!

Although I really shouldn't be buying any more books currently because the book pile is looking like it might actually kill me, I haven't got a clue where to put anything and there are creepy book stacks beginning to appear against the walls as I try to work things out. I wonder if I could fit another bookshelf in the living room ...?

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So, you may remember my howling post about a wasps nest not too many weeks back. Well, I called a man, who called another man and this man came and killed said wasps. ("Don't go out there for a bit," he said. "They'll be a bit cross." I look out of the glass door, admired the enraged swarm and then go and lock all my windows because NO.)

A week later, Dad comes to the door and asks if I still have the number because they have a wasps nest under their house. I hand said number over, guy comes, wasps are killed, we win!

At work this week, we think there might be a wasps nest in our building. I wail about how everything happens in threes this year and that I'm sick of it. Then wasps magically disappear (that was weird ... I guess a load of them must have got inside and all buzzed round the same place or something? It's not usual but they aren't there now, there's no nest so ...) I think I'm safe from the Curse of Threes.

Today? Mum tells me they have found ANOTHER wasps nest under their house in a different bit (right by the front door in fact, aaaaagh) NO. MORE. OF. THIS. FUCKING WASPS!!!!!!!!

(my sister thinks it's me and that I am the wasp queen. A vengeful queen that keeps calling people to KILL ALL MY PEOPLE ...)

In other news, I've now written three hc_bingo fics ... all of which are in a sort of line ...

( Two X-Men, one Victor FrankensteinCollapse )

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Went to visit two friends in London last weekend! (apparently, wherever I go this year, I will be mildly unwell. Fine body. Whatever. I don't even care that I had a cold!) Met K in a bookshop. Hugs are exchanged, we are excited to see each other. Conversation begins.

Me: Blah blah stuff about life I really liked X-Men: Apocalypse.
Her: *sadly* I didn't get round to seeing it.
Me: Oh, that's so sad, I liked it, I went five times, it' going to be weird seeing Ghostbusters and breaking my X-Men streak ...
Her: *idly googles on phone* Oh hey, this local cinema is still showing it ... *looks hopeful*
Me: ... WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME?

And that is how I ended up seeing X-Men: Apocalypse for the sixth time. I HAVE NO REGRETS. Not even the ridiculous London prices. Because it was still a happy, happy fannish experience for me and I was pleased. Also, I've now seen it enough that I'm noticing random things about the background and having thoughts about comparisons (this time around Cerebro has those twisted metal wires coming down from the helmet that basically match what Apocalypse wears ... )

We also went to see the more recent Ghostbusters (then breaking my X-men streak! ^_~) and it was really fun, to my great relief (the original was part of my childhood and I was one of the people who watched the first trailer and went "... oh. This isn't actually funny to me.") It took me a little while to get into it, partly because I was doing a bit of a "HOW DOES THIS MATCH UP?!" but somewhere along the line, I stopped doing it and just enjoyed it. It was hilarious and cute and I loved the cameos. Holtz was my favourite new buster, she is awesome but they were all lovely and it was nice to see how it all went. I will definietely go to all the sequels (they will make them right? RIGHT?) and buy the DVD when it comes out so that's nice.

And I bought books. I really need to allocate time to read my books, the pile is now ridiculously large. And had lovely chats with my friends and that was terrific so I am happy.

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HOLY SHIT, the BBC store has Elidor available on their downloading/streaming site! TAKE MY FUCKING MONEY NOW!!!!! (well, in a few days when I have a new laptop that will be able to cope with streaming stuff well) I'm not normally one for downloading, I prefer DVDs but they've certainly found my gateway drug! (release Archer's Goon, BBC. Reeeeeelease it. I need it in my life, damn you!) Elidor was part of my childhood and has kind of shaped stuff I like in fiction ever since. I don't give a shit about the "hokey" effects, it's part of the charm and I am super-excited that soon, I can watch it properly and not on my not-entirely-complete video or YouTube copies.

In other news, I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate the heat. HATE IT. *sighs* It's been horrible these last few days (and I've been ill!) I've been so hot that all I've been doing while not working is lying around and thinking about X-Men fics to write. Luckily, I have a hc_bingo card so something to work on. I like using it as an excuse "Oh, I have to write this modern AU, I have a bingo square!"

(which reminds me, I haven't posted it here ...

( My hc_bingo cardCollapse )

Of course, so far, all the ones I'm writing aren't in lines but never mind ...)

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So, have come back from a holiday! (yeah, I'm suddenly having all the holidays at the moment!) This one was up in Yorkshire, between Scarborough and Whitby. It was a really gorgeous place, lots of beautiful rolling hills and fields and stuff.

I also had a great deal of fun on this holiday because the day we went, I read Robert Swindells Room 13 which takes place largely in Whitby. It turns out Robert Swindells has the knack of capturing places perfectly, I spotted every single thing that he mentioned and it was just right. This made me VERY HAPPY.

Some of the stuff we did ...

( Pickering, Scarborough, Whitby ...Collapse )

One note though (left out of the cut because I am still angry) DO NOT GO TO THE ABBEY TEAROOMS. They were vile. I am really very patient about simple food, I'm fussy, I mostly only eat simple food and sometimes, you have to shrug and go "Oh well, plain but fair." This? This was shit. The bread was stale, nothing tasted very nice and the service was rubbish. It was a real disappointment and I'm still pissed off about it because it was more disappointing than almost anything else I've had anywhere. Truly lousy.

( Back to the cutCollapse )

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