Alien Spouse

Please Be Patient.

I read a few different blogs, and they have all gone through the occasional fallow period which is kind of annoying when you want something new to read every day.

One of the very few celebrity blogs I follow is Wil Wheaton's, and from time to time he will write a post that essentially says "I have something to blog about, but it's a secret for the time being, so I can't blog about it right now, ok?" 

Well, that's where I am right now - I have STUFF to blog about, but, for some quite excellent reasons, I'm reluctant to for a few weeks more and nothing else is really interesting me quite as much (Ooh, apart from "Mod Nation Racers" on the PS3. Doc C and I have been racing each other every evening this week and I even beat him once! Amazing!) 

So, um, stay tuned and I'll hopefully get more entertaining in a little while! Thanks!

2012.

Happy New Year!

We spent yesterday evening at Randy and Laura's house with a small grop of friends. It was a very nice way to end 2011, and start 2012.

Today I slept late; finished playing "Arkham Asylum"; got half-way through "Genius Wars" and had a most satisfactory afternoon nap.

Doc started playing "Arkham City" (Catwoman! Squee!); made vegetable stock form the HF-W cookbook; looked on-line at houses for sale and has now settled in for a "Star Wars" marathon.

2012 is off to a cracking start!

The Dragon and The Unicorn.

Boxing Day is part of Christmas that I have come to appreciate more as a grown-up; because obviously as a kid the day after Christmas is merely the furthest possible day from next Christmas and is therefore rather a disappointment after the frenzy of Christmas itself.

Now I think I prefer it! It's so much calmer (well, not that Doc and I actually did anything exciting for Christmas this year) and there are still all sorts of little treats to still be enjoyed.

We went to Randy and Laura's house to play board games, and were introduced to "Chaostle" which is sort of a simpler version of Dungeons and Dragons. Not that I would notice any major differences having never played actual DnD, but this was pretty fast moving and I enjoyed it a lot.

I took loads of photos of the epic battles - Then when I looked at them later, it seemed that almost all of them featured either the Dragon or the Unicorn, so I thought I'd use the only skirmish that was between these two mythical brawlers (I believe the Dragon won here).

'tis The Season!

Christmas Day!

We celebrated with a late breakfast followed by the traditional playing of video games (Doc C - Arkham Asylum, normal mode); a long walk followed by coffee and cherry pie; the traditional playing of video games (Me - Arkham Asylum, easy mode) and now we are watching "Metropolis" whilst I cook risotto for dinner.

It's practically Dickensian, isn't it?

The Festive Season.

Last week was the last week of classes, so whilst there are still a week of exams to get through before the Winter break, there is a distinct scent of festivity in the air. Last week I went to a drag show, my department's Christmas drinks and the annual Christmas party of some friends of ours - These events, plus our usual Wednesday pub night, meant that we were out four nights out of seven and that is a lot for me. I felt distinctly unsociable and headachey by Sunday, so I wanted nothing more than to play "Arkham Asylum", read about animal communication and get my Doc Martens ready for winter.

When we were invited out to the cinema on Sunday, it sounded fun but it also sounded like I'd have to wash my hair and get dressed.  I really needed some quiet time at home, so we declined but it's so nice to have friends who understand that sometimes you just have to power down.

This week we've got Doc's departmental party, a haircut in Asheville and a Torchwood viewing party; so far there's nothing else on the calendar and that sounds just about perfect to me.

Edith in Action.

As the weather gets colder Edith gets distinctly livelier and wants to play more, she's currently loving playing "reaching through the stairs" and will play for as long as she has a human opponent.

Trivia Night.

This evening Doc C and I were invited to join Anna's pub quiz team, and I am very pleased to report that Stormageddon came third. Not bad for an opening gambit.

We have lulled them into a false sense of security, and next week we shall sweep to victory! Victory!

No Virtual Pain, No Virtual Gain.

One thing I really like (usually) about my Zumba video game is that it's very encouraging, the instructor voice overs prefer positive re-enforcement so you get praised for replicating the movements (or at least jumping around enough in a close approximation). The avatars also like to make sure you stay hydrated, and occaisionally remind you to drink water in between routines; this also gives you a few seconds more time to grab a drink and be back on your mark for the next song.

I was getting really annoyed at my virtual trainer for not giving me a drink break, which just meant whenever I did have some water I missed the first few moments of a set. I got so annoyed that I said "I bloody hate you!" just as I gave my hips a particularly vengeful shake, thereby activating the trainer to apparently reply "Good!" in a sadistically cheerful voice.

Sometimes this game is a little too realistic.

Weekend Status Report.

The Good: I am reading Donna Tartt's "The Secret History" and loving it. It's sort of a murder mystery with academic overtones, but whodunnit is never any sort of a puzzle. It's gripping.

The Bad: The weather this weekend has been really humid and sticky, my least favourite kind of weather personally. I cannot wait for Autumn proper to kick in with some nice crisp mornings.

The Ugly: The cream that the dermatologist prescribed causes a rash to flare up on my chest, and so it suddenly feels as though every single t-shirt I own has a scoop neck to it which hits me in just exactly the wrong spot. Yesterday I discovered that wearing a scoop neck backwards creates a boatneck at the front which conceals and protects the itchy bumpiness. This will look intentional with most of my tops; the exception being henleys, so if you should happen to notice that I have a row of buttons down my back, can we just pretend it's a new fashion trend from Europe or something?

The Fabulous: Monday is Labour Day, it's like Bank Holiday Weekend, and I have finally treated myself to a copy of "Portal 2" so I intend to be spending several hours of my day off in my pajamas playing that, with occasional breaks for coffee and toast.

Edith and Nancy - Because They Are Cute.

Edith is one of those cats who un-complicatedly adores humans, and she is very very clear about this. When we got home from Pilates last night Edith was in the mood for love, and she planted herself on my leg. I was sitting sort of cross legged, so she was just draped along my thigh, purring at top volume and with a totally blissed out expression on her face.

I didn't have my camera, and when Doc made a move to get it for me, Edith sat up to watch what he was doing; then promptly decided she felt like grabbing a quick snack and jumped off me. Damn it! Fortunately she came back a bit later in the evening and re-draped herself on my other leg, by which point I had my camera to hand and ready to take her photo.

Oh, how Edith loves!

Nancy usually spends most of her time in our bedroom, but she did spend a few minutes with us in the living room last night and we were treated to some ferocious kitten-cat hunting.

This is one of Nancy's favourite parts of hunting; putting herself behind an obstacle and r-e-a-c-h-i-n-g in vaguely the direction of her prey. It is, not surprisingly, ineffective.  She also does ridiculous little pouncing jumps which will sometimes segue into forward rolls, with the occasional hiss thrown in for added drama. Nancy would survive in the wild for as long as her stores of body fat held out, but I seriously doubt she'd be able to actually catch her own food.

Can't Talk... Gaming...

Doc and I are taking turns in being obsessed with the video games we rented at the weekend; I nabbed the PS3 straight after work and Portal-ed until it was time for dinner. Then I threw together some ginger vinaigrette to dress a salad with and handed over the play station to the L.A.P.D. under Doc's careful guidance - He just busted Greg Grunberg! I love watching Doc play "L.A. Noire" as much as I enjoy playing "Portal 2" myself, well, really both games are becoming somewhat of a collaborative effort and are all the more fun for that I think.

Travel Sick Whilst Stationary

So this evening I tried out the game I rented from Blockbuster, which was "Portal 2". I may have got a bit sucked into it.

It's really fun, super simple to understand and play, but it's series of logic puzzles really so it gets increasingly challenging. My only complaint is that first person perspective on video games makes me feel a bit queasy, sort of like being car sick in the comfort of your own home.

Playstation Sunday.

I earned three Zumba'd trophies during my 45 minute PS3 dance class today, which I am very proud of. I'm on the expert level now, which involves a lot more fancy footwork that I cannot get my head around. The best part of playing this on my own in the livin room is not being embarrassed that salsa will never be a strong component of my dance repertoire.

We've been using the Playstation on and off all day, I used it to watch the first couple of episodes of the BBC's "Being Human: Season 2", then it choreographed my cardio for the day and Doc has also played "L.A. Noire" a couple of times.

It might sound odd, but I'm really enjoying watching "L.A. Noire". We'd read a lot about how good the facial animation was, but also read mixed reviews of the game play itself; which was why we rented it first. Well, the avatars faces really are incredible and I am loving that I can clearly recognise many of the actors; particularly because several of them are from the cast of "Mad Men"! It's so nice to see another side to Ken Cosgrove! Doc C also is very much enjoying actually playing the game, which is after all the point,so we may end up owning this one.

Derby Day.

I was so tired last night, and that translated to me sleeping for something like 14 hours. Ridiculous.

This afternoon we went to watch our local Roller Derby team play their inaugural bout against a team from another city. Our girls were creamed, but it was very entertaining to watch. I may have even wooped once or twice.
Hopefully Doc C and I will be able to go to the next match which is in Charlotte, but Doc has a conference that day so it all depends on the timing.

After the match we went for burritos and then rented some video games from Blockbuster. Doc got "L.A. Noire" and I got "Portal 2", I can never resist rummaging through the ex-rental DVDs so we now own "The Brothers Bloom" and "In The Loop" for 99 cents each. I also got some cardboard speakers for 69 cents that Doc is highly skeptical of, but might do for when I'm workin in the store room at the office and I need some tunes.

All in all, a very successful Saturday.

Friday : And Relax...

Today I got stuff done at work, as one does.

When I came home I took off my make-up, put on my exercise clothes and watched last night's "So You Think You Can Dance" with a cup of tea. Then I Zumba'd, but I'm glad none of the judges were there to watch, I'd never have made it through the initial auditions.

I also played a demo of a PS3 game called "Flower", which just involved swooping around as petal on the wind and bringing other flowers into bloom. Not exactly good botanical science, but bloody gorgeous and very relaxing. I got Doc C to give it a go after dinner and he thought it was lovely too. Not something you say often of video games; actually Doc is playing the "Watchmen" demo now, and that involves slot more violence and mayhem.

Speaking of dinner, this evening Doc grilled burgers (veggie for me, naturally) and half a lobster tail each, with a large salad. Please excuse me now whilst I curl up like a cat and luxuriously digest the tasty.

Further Virtual Fisticuffs.

I am on a gladiatorial roll! I took out another opponent, but now I'm up against the big boss for the level and she is a very tough customer. I barely even scratched her before being knocked out, three times in a row. Yikes.

The main point of the exercise was to get some cardio (after 30 minutes of pilates. I was very focussed this evening!), so I didn't take the defeat to heart.

This time. But I'll be victorious, eventually.

Hard Won Virtual Victory.

After work this evening I had a cup of tea with a slice of banana bread, whilst reading Victorian detective stories. Then I changed into sports gear, turned on the playstation and did battle in the virtual gladiator arena. That sounds like I just sat in an armchair and pushed buttons, but actually I had to move furniture out of the way so I had enough space to flail around the living room with my virtual sword and shield. I must look like a loon to anyone who happens to look through our window.

I've been battling the same avatar all this week, and although I have won a fair number of the matches I didn't get all three if the possible gold stars. I don't move onto my next opponent without a full compliment of gold stars; that's my own personal rule, not part of the game. The really difficult part was that my opponent was the character I usually play as, so we were very equally matched, but after a lot of hard slog I won!

Doc C came out of the study just in time to catch me, covered in sweat, doing my gloating victory dance and laughing maniacally.

The Red Metal Cabinet.

Monday. Ugh.

Fortunately we don't have to dwell on the horror that is the first day of summer school classes, we have much more pleasant things to consider; such as our new TV cabinet.

I love being able to close the doors and shut away all of the wires, gadgets and accessories, it makes the whole room look tidier straight away. On top of that it's actually got a slimmer footprint than the hideous tables, so it takes up less floor space giving us about a foot more space in the living room.

Right now the only minor problems are the cats, who are both, naturally, fascinated by the new piece of furniture, all the more so because it usually has closed doors. Closed doors are an anathema to cats, and so whenever the cabinet is open both girls are drawn to it like a magnet. They didn't give a toss about the PS3 or the cable box before, this is purely because of the doors.

(By the way the images on the TV are from a game called "Red Dead Redemption", it's set in the wild west and I believe Doc C is currently hunting bad guys for the bounty on their heads)

A Relaxing Friday Night At Home.

After work this evening Doc C had some work to do (the man always has work to do, should anyone think that academics don't do anything over the summer they are very very wrong), so I watched "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" (2008).

Then we played petanque/boule/bocce/ on the lawn in front of our house whilst we drank a bottle of Corona each. I think Doc beat me, but we weren't very precise about keeping score, so I'm not 100% sure. We chatted with one of our neighbours, and her lovely dog, before playing one final round of bocce before Doc cooked burgers and sweetcorn on the BBQ.

All in all, a rather pleasant almost summer evening.

Slightly Chilled.

Today's weather was mostly notable for a twenty degree drop in temperature, which meant it felt really quite cold, and, even though I thought I had dressed for the conditions (a long sleeve dress, tights and tall boots), by the end of the working day I felt physically tired from just being a bit chilly all day. Naturally this called for Gentlemen's Relish on toast with a nice hot cup of tea and the second part of a time-travel adventure that I am enjoying very much.

After that I spent some time this evening decorating my Sack Person's Pod in "Little Big Planet" in a loosely steam-punk motif. If the Play Station Network was up I could take a screen shot and post it for you, but as it is you'll just have to take me at my word when I say it was half an hour very well spent; and that was before I even started playing the game itself.

My feet still haven't fully defrosted, but I have slippers on, with a fleecy blanket over the top and Edith sitting on top of that, so I hope to be less zombie-like by the time I go to bed.

Boules, Bocce, Petanque.

Doc C asked me to bring back some biscuits from England, but he really couldn't think of anything else he wanted. Fortunately Ridley's have a range of retro-packaged classic games, including this rather nice Boules set.

This is a particularly great present because it works on so many levels, first of all it's the real life version of a game Doc C enjoys on the PS3, secondly the box is lovely and well worth displaying and, finally, it just happens to be the perfect size to use as a bookend on the cookbook shelf.

So far we've only played a couple of games in the living room, much to the confusion of the cats, but I am really looking forward to playing on the lawn when the weather gets nicer.

Wednesday Day : Wednesday Evening.

First day back at work, after a fortnight's holiday and two sick days; I had 230 unread e-mails in my in-box, I kept thinking it was Monday instead of Wednesday and I'm still battling the last of my cold, so I am totally exhausted.

When I got home this evening I played some Little Big Planet, Doc C made me a blue cheese pizza and now we're watching the DVD box-set of "Mad Men" (season one). Fabulous.

Friday! Cardio! Legumes! Woot!

There is a philosophy conference on campus this weekend, which Doc C is attending. This means the cats and I get to party like rock stars in the house this evening and all day tomorrow! Oh yeah!

So far tonight I have Zumba'd at intermediate level for 50 minutes, then s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d for 25 minutes before having a nice hot shower and cooking myself some dinner whilst dancing around the kitchen to Kylie's "X" album. This evening's culinary experiment was chick peas with onion, garlic, lemon and tabasco over brown rice, which sounds SO dull doesn't it? As it happens it was really tasty, and I still have half a can of chickpeas left so I'll probably have it again tomorrow.

Meanwhile Nancy is on the bed and Edith is up in the loft.

Like I said, ROCK STARS!

Shake It 'Til You're Warm.

It rained all day today, so by the evening I felt cold and miserable. I came home and had a nice hot cup of tea whilst curled up under a blanket with Edith, but that didn't thaw me out.

Clearly the cure for this was to to do a Zumba workout for 25 minutes. After that I was MUCH warmer, in fact my biceps were toasty-warm to the touch (Doc was impressed!), and I was much happier because it turns out that dancing around your living room is fun.

Ok. Fine. I am enjoying exercising regularly.

There, I said it.

Boring Spreadsheet Code Aide Memoir.

This will no doubt sound like a ridiculously simple problem to anyone who understands how to write Visual Basic codes for Excel, but I don't know how to do that. I know just enough about Excel to be dangerous, in that I'm aware it can do some pretty useful stuff that should theoretically save me bunches of time but it will take me hours to find out how. Naturally I tried searching on-line, but usually what I want to do is clearly remedial level Excel and there are no internet Excel guides written in crayon unfortunately.

Today I really wanted Excel to compare two sets of data and simply tell me where there were any discrepancies. It took me freaking forever to work out how to get it to do that, and my solution is as simple as it could possibly be, so I'm prepared to bet that what I ended up with could be much more sophisticated, but it will do.

The code that I eventually got (with the aid of the Excel function wizard) was:

=IF(A1=B1,"Woot!","Boo!")

It's 25 characters, more or less, and I'm making a note of it here so I don't have to spend hours trying to find it again. What it does is look at cell A1 and compares it to cell B1; if they are equal it writes Woot! in cell C1; if they are not equal it writes Boo! (that's what this one does, my one at work checks for room numbers and course titles, etc, so it might say "Room?" instead of "Boo!")

Really quite satisfying, and all the more so because Doc C looked at it too and couldn't get it to work. It almost makes him beating my Little Big Planet high scores, as I am writing this, not sting quite so much.

Monday Pilates.

After work this evening I did Pilates with a set of evil rubber bands, to a video lead by a woman whose sole intention is to make my arms ache and I am tired now. This is good, in that I'll sleep really well because it's that nice physically tired feeling not just mentally fatigued.

On the other hand I meant to fight some gladiators before going to bed, and that is definitely not going to happen. Fortunately tomorrow I'll zumba, so I'll shoehorn the fighting in then. It's probably good to alternate nice stretchy pilates with ridiculously sweaty cardio, right? I want to keep my muscles confused, and my brain engaged.

Also Doc started playing Little Big Planet purposefully, and he's already beaten most of my high scores on the first level. This may be war. A very cute war.

Rich in B Vitamins * 100% Vegetarian

I got up early this morning to fit in some Zumba (and a bit of gladiatorial battle as well - Raaaah!). Doc C was still asleep and I didn't want to wake him up, so I cleaned the kitchen a bit.

That included washing the empty jars that are waiting to be recycled. Amongst them was the large Marmite jar we had just finished, which will not now be recycled but instead will live on the kitchen windowsill in all it's retro glory.

Then the Doc woke up and made me pancakes! Yay for Saturdays!

The Cure for Mondays.

There was a palpable Monday-ish to today, not to be totally unexpected on a Monday I suppose. It comes to something though when you are told that the lift you thought was broken is actually working and you think to yourself "Well that's just bloody brilliant isn't? Ugh!"

So I came home and played "Little Big Planet", then I got changed and did a Zumba routine. There is nothing quite like video games followed by crazy dancing around the living room to cheer a girl up.

Game Day.

Today we had arranged to go over to Laura and Randy's house to play "Arkham Asylum".  This time we were very focussed and actually remembered to play the game instead of just chatting which is what happened last time.  It's a really fun board game, and I very much liked that it was a collaborative effort on the part of every one playing to battle the ancient horror and it's minions.  True I did get eaten, or rather my character did, but my companions bravely battled on and were ultimately victorious.

After that, we went for burritos and frozen custard! Yay! It's great being a grown up and having exactly what you want to eat!

It was still fairly early in the evening, so I suggested that we all go back to our house and play video games.  Which was what we did, and Laura now understands my deep love of "Little Big Planet". 

It has been a very fun Saturday.

Tree Buds and Video Games.

We went out for brunch this morning, and then went for a walk to work it off again.

I noticed there were several trees in bud, which is really shortsighted on the part of the trees because we are expecting another bad cold snap next week. I was taking photos of the buds when Doc C pointed out a really tiny nest. We couldn't work out if it was a bird nest or an insect nest, but it's pretty impressive that it's so well built that it has survived the whole winter so far.

Then we came home and I had a lovely nap with Edith in the loft.  Then Doc C napped with both cats whilst I played "Little Big Planet 2", and it is SO cool. There is an whole level made of cake, Batternburg Cake, where you can grab and throw blobs of jam. Plus there is another great soundtrack, which includes the disco classic "A Fifth of Beethoven" which is so damn funky.

It has been a fun Saturday.

A Halloween Tree and A Gladiator Tournament.

We moved the furniture around in the living room, so that we would have more room to move when playing with the PS3 Move.  When we did that it meant the vases of Christmas decorations were in odd places, so I decided just to put them away a bit early.

Before I did though, I decided that I can't wait 9 months to see what my new Halloween decorations looked like on the black vinyl mini-tree.  And they look fabulous.  I cannot wait!

Whilst I was doing that Doc C was playing Bocce on the PS3, and then we swapped over.  I played the gladiator game, for about 45 minutes.  That doesn't sound like much, but I was competing for the bronze trophy and at the end of it I was an exhausted sweaty mess.  It was worth it though, I fought 12 duels and I won ten of them.  Raaaah!  So much fun!

A New Toy.

Damn it! As a "back-to-school" present to me (and let's be honest, to himself as well), Doc snuck out this morning and bought the PS3 Move bundle.  It's got a camera, a controller and the Sports Champions game.

We've been playing Bocce fairly competitively for about two hours now, and it turns out I'm just as wildly inaccurate when hurling a virtual frisbee as I am when it's the real thing.  Also the gladiator game is good, really good, but both of us would love it even more if there was a light saber and some Force involved.

I will, of course, be buying the work out game that goes with the system with my next pay check.  Unlike Kinetic, it's not affiliated to Nike; instead of a totally fictional trainer this time I shall be bossed around by an avatar of Mel B.  It's going to be like I'm on "Dance Your Ass Off", but with more leaping around in my own living room and a lot fewer sequins.

 

 

An Apprentice Error.

At lunch today I suggested that Doc and I should get a simple version of Dungeons and Dragons to play over the Christmas break, because I've never played it whilst he spent many a happy teenage hour as a Halfing Thief.  I said that one bonus was that we could then hold our heads up in the local comic bookshop, and brag about having "...a mage with plus five dexterity."

Doc C had to really wrestle with his inner gaming geek not to actually snort at such a very basic mistake, but the look on his face betrayed him, so I asked what was so funny.  Doc explained that a Mage really wouldn't need dexterity, that's an attribute for an assassin or a thief.

I mean, obviously.  Duh.

My Weekend in Summary.

This weekend I have spoken to my Mum; been to a Zumba class; walked a dog who I would love to adopt; eaten frozen custard; watched Miss Marple solve the mystery of "The Body in the Library; made a pair of clawed feet for crochet Yoda; bought comic books; finished a Dorothy L. Sayers book; played video games; and had a really nice nap.

 

DPNs.

This is the second leg of Yoda's trousers.  Please keep your fingers crossed that I have enough yarn to finish a whole pair of breeches, or Yoda may be wearing leg warmers.

Also I'm pretty sure that Kerplunk had to have been invented by someone who knitted on Double Point Needles.

 

Roller Derby Demo Bout.

Our local roller derby team had a demo bout this afternoon, which sounded like my idea of a well spent Sunday.  I thought I'd left my camera at home, so I don't have any photos - Not even of when one of the Black Team's Jammers slid off the track right into our trackside chairs.

It was very entertaining, and we already have a few favourite skaters (our favourites were chosen based on a combination of skating, style and a clever name or number); so I'm really looking forward to seeing them play an actual match against another team!

Don't worry though Mum, much though I enjoyed watching, I can't imagine I'll ever get out on the track itself.  For one thing, as Doc C said, I just don't have enough of a killer instinct for it.

Games, Detectives, Soup and Crochet.

Yesterday and today have both been a bit hectic in the office, and probably will be for the rest of this week too.  So I'm pretty much brain dead by the time I get home in the evening, yesterday I played video games and watched "Sherlock" and tonight I'm making lentil soup and watching "Castle".  I am also crocheting a soft toy Yoda which is very engrossing.

None of this is a particularly good photo opportunity, or white hot blogging material.

So... Hi!  I'm making soup!  How are you?

Ghost Lights and Video Games.

The Halloween lights are still going strong, and this year we put them outside in the bush next to the porch to encourage trick-or-treating goblins and ghosties.

I think I've pretty much reached the last of the Halloween 2010 photos, but it was either another spookily themed picture or a un-illustrated description of how I just doubled my previous best score on a particularly tricky level of "Katamari Forever".  The secret is, _{*lowers voice*}, taking a sharp turn at the very beginning because the path that's laid out in front of you just entraps you into a pattern of low points.  Actually it was remembering Einstein's observation, that "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results", which caused me to try going left instead of plowing straight forward, and it made all the difference.

One thing that I find particularly bizarre about playing Katamari is that all the tasks are set by the King of the Cosmos and no matter how well you do he always has something snarky to say.  Nothing you do is ever good enough for the King, and he goes on and on and on and on about it.  It's a most peculiar game, but oddly addictive.

Countdown to Halloween: Twenty One Days

This mechanical pony ride sits outside Kmart, next to a kid size Bat-Mobile.  I took this photo on the way in, and made some comment to Doc C about how spooked the horse looked.  This isn't the first time I've noticed this particular toy, and I have always thought that it looked uninviting, because that horse looks evil and/or insane and I wouldn't want to put a child on it.  Look at the expression on it's face!  That is not a well balanced horse!   

On our way out after our shopping there was a little girl riding the Pony of Darkness, and I recognised her as the child who had been systematically destroying an animatronic witch inside the shop. Maybe she was playing a rousing game of the Spanish Inquisition,.. or maybe she's just out of control.   Either way, I can see why the horse looks like that now, clearly even devil spawn children demand pony rides occasionally.

Edith's Puzzle Box.

Edith likes to be set a challenge.  I have been putting some of her biscuits (American Translation: Kibble) in an empty tissue box, so she would have to hook them out one at a time with her paw.  She loves that, but she finds it easy now so I've been looking for something else.

Another internet suggestion was to put a ping-pong ball in an empty egg carton to let the cat bat around.  Well, we had an egg carton, so it was really simple to pour a few biscuits in each of the individual nests and put it on the floor for her to investigate.

This is a much more refined version of the tissue box game, because she can get her nose within millimeters of the biscuits but not quite close enough to eat them.  So tantalising!

Of course she worked it out after a couple of minutes, but it definitely made her think.

Doc C is Down with the Street.

Whilst playing a video game we are all prone to talking to the characters, and Doc is not immune to this urge.  Usually I don't even notice, but this evening I was really very amused to hear him address a gentleman in full armour with the deathless phrase:

"Bitch! All my shit is real significant!"

Yes indeed, my husband who holds a Phd in Philosophy was talking to smack to an avatar.  I could not stop laughing.

Saturday Afternoons Alright for Platform Video Games.

It's a rainy Saturday and, because the semester starts on Tuesday, the whole town is swarming with students and their families.  We ventured out for breakfast (well, I'd already had some yogurt and muesli so it was second breakfast for me really) and the diner was packed.  Then we were going to go shopping, but soon changed our minds when we realised the roads and car parks were just bumper-to-bumper with out of towners who had no idea where they were going.

So we came home and I fully intended to tidy the house and do some laundry.  Instead I played Little Big Planet for 5 hours.  Time very well spent because I cracked a couple of levels and collected a shed load of new swag.

Little Big Internet.

We went to a house warming party this evening (I wore a polka dot dress and we took a gorgeous blueberry pie from our favourite bakery) which was really fun.

I logged onto Little Big Planet for a bit before we left the house, and somehow I found myself playing on-line, which is one of the features that makes PS3 unique.  I honestly don't know how that happened, but I just went with it.  Then some other players joined the game, and they tried to talk to me but I don't have a microphone set up sort I just sort of waved at them.  They were friends, and I could hear them chatting to each other and occasionally they'd try to talk to me again, mainly asking if I was a boy or a girl.  Just based on that I think they were fairly young.

I think they got a bit frustrated with the game, and with me not talking to them, so they understandably went a bit feral - Nothing mean spirited, they just wanted to play fight really, but I couldn't retaliate very well  so I tried to leave the game.  What I didn't realise was that if I just went back to my home base they would get dragged with me.  It was SO weird having other sack people in my pod!  I quickly jumped into another game to keep them busy whilst I worked out how the hell to get off-line.

Playing Little Big Planet with friends would be so much fun, but I need to get much more skillful and I really want to team up with somebody I actually know for the first couple of on-line missions so they can hold my cyber-hand.  Do any of you want to volunteer?  Go on!  It'll be really fun I promise!

The Doc's Elaborate Ruse.

Whilst I was getting changed out of my work skirt and into shorts Doc C put "Little Big Planet" on the PS3.  It's a ridiculously addictive game, and he had no intention of playing it himself, it was a trap so I'd get sucked into playing and he could have the laptop.

And it worked.

I played for two hours, and then I decided to quit the game and read a book.  Instead I re-designed my character and her outfit; then I decorated my home pod.  It's red, orange, light blue, black and hot pink paint splotches, with white stencils of diamonds.

It looks lovely, but this may be why Doc is reluctant to give me too much of a free hand in the way of decorating the house.

Little Big Planet.

Damn it!  I bought a new PS3 game today, "Little Big Planet", and it appears to be extremely addictive.

I had no idea when I bought it that a) Stephen Fry was one of the voice artists, b) the characters look like cute little toys, c) it has the music from "Take Hart"s The Gallery and d) you can dress your avatar as Ada Lovelace (who was the Victorian equivalent of Claudia on "Warehouse 13" or Penelope on "Criminal Minds")!  C'mon!  That is genius!

I doubt I'll be doing anything else this weekend.

*Update* It's ok, Doc C got the controller off me by the simple expedient of handing me dinner, which was just a clever ruse so that he could play the new character he'd made for "Dragon Age: Origins".

Well played this time Doctor, but we shall meet again...

Sunday Trading.

Today we went shopping to pick up some necessities we'd forgotten or not found the day before.  I bought new Saucony trainers so I can go for a morning run around the ponds, and a set of plastic drawers to keep my yarn stash in.  I failed to buy a dressing gown.

We also bought doorstops, because Edith very quickly discovered the bathroom door upstairs doesn't lock or even latch.  She hates being shut out of any room, so this makes her very happy.  It makes whoever is in the bathroom less happy, as I'm sure you can imagine.  Let's hope an old fashioned wedge baffles her.

The big purchase of the day was relatively unplanned, although we had been discussing it.  It's a Playstation 3.  I spent an hour or so rolling up Katamari Damacy Forever stars after lunch, and Doc C is currently RPGing as an Elf called Kallian, as she slices her way through an army of bad guys.

Oh, which reminds me!  Doc C submitted a paper to Dragon Con, which he heard today has been accepted.  So we are going to be geeking out in Atlanta in September!

I loved this photo from last year's con, which featured an after hours visit to the Georgia Aquarium, but I never considered that I might go myself.

What to wear, what to wear...

Engerland Was Robbed.

I haven't been paying any attention to the football whilst Doc C watches the England Germany game, but even I think Lampard got a second goal for England.

Anyway, time to go to the airport and collect Jason.  Yay!

Walks Downstairs.

  When I went to Target with Laura I knew I would have the luxury of a good browse without Doc C getting bored very vocally; fond though I am of my husband, it was delightful to shop without him.  I picked things up, I considered their merits and then I moved on, or not, entirely at my own discretion.  

The random selection of objects I purchased has already been documented, and I think it's clear from that that, when I go shopping, I very rarely have a list for what I shall be purchasing.  This is because that is almost guaranteed to make little pixies run ahead of me and buy up all of that particular item.  Plus it's much more fun to be delightfully surprised by stumbling onto a treasure, rather than sadly disappointed when you can't find your sole objective for making the trip.

Anyway, this time I bought a Slinky.

I did used to have a large blue Slinky (it was a proper Slinky though; it was a metal one painted blue, not a rubbish plastic one), which is either at my Mum's house or it's been lost when I've moved house at some point or other.  My blue Slinky was very good at walking down the stairs at my house as a kid, and when I saw this one I thought it might be fun to set it off down the stairs here and see what the cats made of it.  Plus it was only about a dollar.

However, when I got it out of the box at home and set it off down the stairs, it never got further than climbing down a single step.  Doc was surprised at my disappointment and said that in his experience Slinkys (Slinkies?) never work.  The problem is that the steps of a normal staircase have become wider, and the Slinky seems to be smaller; so they are incompatible.  My Slinky either needs an older, narrower, staircase; or my stairs need a larger Slinky.  Either way would freak the cats out judging from their reaction to that great noise the Slinky makes when you run it back and forth between your hands.

Now, of course, I want to find the biggest Slinky available and run it down some really impressive steps.  I'm thinking when we go to Philadelphia next year that I may have to visit Rocky's Steps, because that would be a very good Slinky walking opportunity.

Saturday Night.

When last we spoke I mentioned having bought plants, and the saga continues with Doc C carefully re-potted all three of my Peace Lillies for me.  We'd bought them nice new matching pots and Doc lovingly added some manure to make them feel at home, and then we packed them all in the back of the car to drop off at my office on the way to bowling.  At the first sharp corner the largest lily took a dive, knocked over the medium lily and spilled wet manure all over the back of the car.  The Doc was not what you might call pleased about this.  There may have been some swearing.  We carried on, I was sort of reaching around the driver's seat to hold the plant up for the rest of the journey and we surveyed the situation once we got to the office.  Fortunately only the large lily had really lost any soil, but it was still an impressive amount.  We scooped up as much as we could and packed it back into the pot, so hopefully when I go into work on Wednesday all the plants will be none the worse for their little adventure.

After this skirmish with inanimate flora, we went bowling and I won the first round!  It was extremely satisfying, but I lost whatever luck/skill/knack by the next round and came last with a score of less than half of my first one.  Ah well, that's how these things happen with me, I find.  It would probably help if the bowling alley served alcohol, because I find that after two beers my snooker/pool playing improves tremendously, and I'm pretty sure my bowling would as well.

Then we moved onto watch "The Big Lebowski" which was really fun, the cinema has been bought out by new management and they are really trying to encourage people to eat by putting out tables and chairs instead of rows of seats, and having waitresses come to take orders and get you re-fills whilst you are enjoying the film.  One waitress was on rollerskates, which was particularly cool.  Somehow I'd never previously seen the whole of "The Big Lebowski", and it was really fun seeing it on a big screen surrounded by fans who were quoting their favourite parts of the script as they came up.  Usually I hate talking in cinemas, but that's usually because it indicated the people chatting aren't really watching and that lack of respect for the film itself and for other audience members really bugs me; however, when it's fans clearly loving every moment of a film they love, well, how can you be cross about that?  I find it very endearing actually!  Or that good will towards all fellow audience members might have been because the cinema was also serving White Russians, and I find those to be a tasty and enjoyable cocktail.

Dr. Mario Phd.

Today my friend Zack was preparing to teach a class, and he needed someone to help him test the tech.  So I asked Doc C, because the tech in question was a Nintendo NES and a cartload of cartridges.  Zack's co-teaching a class on games, so it's important for the students to get a thorough grounding in the classics.

Zack had set up the NES in one of the classrooms at the end of the hall from my office, and they both went scampering off to play check that everything was really working properly in two-player mode.  Yes, I was working on budgets to the soundtrack of 8-Bit music.

Doc thought the technical consultation took fifteen minutes, but it was actually an hour and a half.