I should've bought that big picture frame in Cancer Research, it would've been ideal for the two fighting centaurs picture I want to draw. Poot. Mind you, I can't remember whether or not it had glass now I think about it.

A bit of an art update, The Laughing Zebra. He's partially coloured but I don't want to scan him again until he's finished. Original is 3.5" x 5", so quite small.

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Doodled up this bit of Centaur life, a teenaged colt looking after his baby brother who's trying to stab him with his sword. See, babysitters are all big bad dragons that brave knights have to slay, if you're a foal that is.


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Yes, my back is much better now, thank you :)

This is going to sound controversial to a great deal of the people on my Friends list but...

I don't like Dr Who.

Don't get me wrong, I gave it a good shot at trying to like it and it's not nostalgia making me not like the new Dr. Who (though I doubt anyone will ever be as good a Dr as good old Tom Baker, David Tennant comes really very close) it's that the script, the cast and the music (oh god, the music >.<) is so lightweight and predictable that it no longer becomes fun to watch. The old Dr Who was challenging, the stories were not always predictable but normally made sense and the fact that they hadn't got the budget to do what they wanted to meant they had to rely on acting and script much more, something I admired about much of the BBC programming at that time.

The new Dr Who isn't scary. I don't get the same feeling as I did when I was a kid being scared of a low-budget television series. Even going back and watching the older episodes while I might not be as scared the psychological stuff is still there, the stories are still far richer and entertaining.

So... by choice I don't watch Dr Who because it's let me down massively. I avoid the Christmas specials because they're whiney, mushy shite and apart from 1 episode, the name of which I can't recall, I avoid any scripts by RTD like the plague.


Don't even get me started on the fagfest that is Torchwood, the only reason to watch that is the chance to see naked John Barrowman, and you can do that on the internets without having to suffer all of the above and more.

Today, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, we remember those that made the greatest sacrifice for our freedom. We remember the men, women, children and animals whose lives were lost in the service of their country or in the tragic accidents of war.



We remember them without boundaries, without blame, from every nation and every culture the world over.

Take two minutes of your day, any two minutes, to turn everything off and sit in silence, as many of us (though sadly not all of us) in the UK will be doing at 11:11am, to remember and thank those who have gone before not just in the two Great Wars, but in all wars.

Be thankful for your freedom and grateful for because of them and their sacrifice we are very lucky.

Alex and I just watched a More 4 documentary on a recent play named War Horse which follows the story of a horse who is taken from a Devonshire farming community and pressed into service in the First World War.

Interestingly, the horse puppet - which is absolutely phenominal to see in action - is not anthropomorphised, instead a construct of wood, metal, wires and mesh is brought to life in a very convincing way.

I would dearly love to see the War Horse play, but I cannot and for a very sensible reason: it would upset me too much.

When it comes to the Great Wars I'm never afraid to admit how deeply they affect me emotionally. The loss, the sacrifice and the sheer waste of the Wars is something that can turn me so far introverted as to be unreachable. The Great Wars were terrible, wasteful things and I despise anyone being blasé about them, I despise the attitude that somehow it was not important or relevant to modern day life.

I can only hope War Horse opens the eyes of some to the true magnitude of hateful actions within war, especially the First World War, and that it goes some way to countering the aforementioned negative attitude.

It's Rememberance Day on Wednesday and I'm hoping to make it to Weston Park at the eleventh hour, if I don't I shall still go and pay my respects to those that made the ultimate sacrifice so that I might have the freedom I do today.

This week is proving to be a powerfully emotional one for me, as it is most years.

20 years ago today the Berlin Wall finally fell.

Let us not forget how important that was.

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear meeeeeee....


So far only one card from the family when normally there's lots, so I suspect Royal Mail's industrial action (which I have mixed feelings about) has eaten them for now.

I'm a bit giddy, which is a surprise. Alex said I can't see my present until he gets home, and that it's silly and that he hopes I like it (which I obviously will).

*bounce*


Party at swordstrider & summermoth's was awesometastic, I didn't get drunk (not for want of trying) and Alex had both our hangovers the following day, for which I had less sympathy than perhaps I should have. The fireworks were pretty awesometastic too, especially the surprisingly loud Catherine Wheels. My favourite outfit was probably infinidimincorp's, but mainly for the hat.

So yus, birfday! ^____^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Lk1JY5QyFo

Brilliant.

Today I saw a breakfast product called Paw Ridge. The pun made me laugh inside.

Found this one while browsing the inimitable http://notalwaysright.com

(Note: our customer support number is close to a local driving school’s number.)

Me: “Thank you for calling. How may I help you?”

Customer: “How much for my daughter?”

Me: “Um…”

Customer: “She’s 16. It’s her first time. She needs training.”

Me: “Sir, I think you want the driving school.”

Customer: “Oh, what do you guys do?”

Me: “Adult websites.”

Customer: “Oh…OH! Oh my God!”

see more Epic Fails

Should I marry Ms Peabody or just steal her business model?

I'm selling off a big pile of my Warhammer miniatures and rulebooks. This is pretty much a first shout for anyone that might be interested in anything from the following:

Warhammer 40,000
Foot troops from 25p each
Vehicles from £5 each
Anything painted to my usual high standard will command a slightly higher price but still be ludicrously cheap.
Eldar (massive army)
Eldar Harlequins (including old jetbikes)

Warhammer
Foot troops from 25p each
Large troops/small creatures/war machines from £3 each
Anything painted to my usual high standard will command a slightly higher price but still be ludicrously cheap.
Chaos (small force, but has some nice things like Flesh Hounds and Dragon Ogres)
Dark Elves (small force, but a lot of Witch Elves)
Beastmen (mixed lot of old and not so old)

Sourcebooks
50p to £3.00 each -  Rulebooks for most Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 armies, but not all, across a variety of different rule editions.
£5 - Warhammer Magic box set - expansion card set, intact.
£5 - Warhammer 40,000 Dark Millenium - expansion ard set, intact.

I need to raise quite a bit of cash so I'm looking at what I've got that I can sell off.

I don't get opportunity enough to play with the models and have in fact had 2 games since moving to Sheffield 5 or 6 years ago so it's pointless to keep them.  I'll be keeping a few models that I'm more attached to, but not a huge amount.

If there's no interest, I'll be selling these via eBay (books) and Wargames Emporium (everything else).

I'm stockpiling as many unwanted picture frames as I can between now and the end of the year for the convention I'm off to next May. I've got a fair few already, but there's not much variety in the frames themselves.

If you've got any complete picture frames - must have the glass and backing - in any condition, the odd scuff or even bashed off moulding isn't too much of an issue to me, I'll happily take them off you.

I could do with some larger frames too, (I know you said you had rough one, mayfly182, which I'll happily take) since most of hte ones I've got are on the small size.

Up until now, I've been scouring charity shops, but the pickings are a bit slim when it comes to variety.

I'm absolutely TERRIFIED about attending this convention, I can only hope I'm over planning by starting on work now for it, even though I've got a good few months to go.

Although I was very young when it happened (8 years old, in fact), the fall of the Berlin wall impacted strongly on me as a child, in part because it was explained to me why it was so important at the time. Images of the Berlin wall, either stood defiantly or crumbled in defeat or any point in between still stun me to stillness I've not known anything else to do.

The fall of the Berlin Wall is the first political event to impress upon me in any way. It taught me the value of freedom and the evil of segregation, it helped me to understand the fundamental principles of equality and opened my eyes to how beautiful and how ugly the human race can be.

My thanks to avon_deer for the timely reminder of this momentous occasion which happened nearly 20 years ago. Perhaps there should be something to mark the event which originally happened on November the 9th 1989.

My sleep pattern is a bit... chaotic lately as it normally is when I've been poorly for a while. So, since I was having a bit of a break from commission work I thought I'd tidy my desk.



One fumble later, I now have a gallileo thermometer devoid of oil with a smashed base. I'm so cross with myself since I'd wanted one of these for ages and Alex had gone out of his way to get me one last year.

However, all is not lost. Providing that it's straightforward enough, I'm going to make a stand or a wall bracket to hold the glass case, refill with appropriate oil (smells and feels like a graphite oil, rather like WD40) and fashion a lid to keep dust out. As far as I'm aware, the gallileo thermometer works due to the temperature of the oil. The hotter the oil, the more of the globes can rise within the tube.

If it requires to be vacuum sealed or that sort of thing I'm a bit screwed and just have some attractive, but delicate, temperature globes and a broken holder.

So cross with myself. I've been so clumsy lately, it's getting to be a nuisance.

I just about fell out of my chair laughing.

Yesterday, Alex and I spent most of the day outside in the glorious sunshine digging and planting and mowing. The garden is looking rather spiffy once more and I've moved quite a few things into a new west-facing flowerbed that should see things thrive. Hoping to get some seeds from the exciting annual climbers we planted this year because now we know what they look like we can plant them next year and have a fantastic display.

For the first time since we planted it, the Passion Flower has successfully flowered, though the flowers themselves are completely unreachable as they're two-thirds of the way up the adolescent Ash tree in the garden.

Next on the cards for the garden is to prepare the shady top end. We were going to put slate chips down but we're going to try just extending the lawn instead since it's cheaper than slate and if it works, would make for a nice place to sit on brilliantly sunny days.

As for the Ninjas, has anyone else reading this ever watched Ninja Warrior? It's an amazing show, very Japanese but rather than being utterly silly it actually requires some jaw-dropping feats of physical strength and agility. I have been most impressed with it and genuinely on the edge of my seat at times. Mind you, last night's episode did have 'the strongest transexual' who was a bit of a character, especially in her animé-style outfit of fishnet and improbable scraps of fabric... scary stuff.

Our thanks go to erin, Starr, Adam, Tam, Sarah, Mum & Dad for making it tonight to the swapmeet.

I was unaware that Paul's leaving party was happening until it was too late to change the date and, when people had left it was too far and too late to travel to Hunters Bar to gate crash a party where the only people I knew were there had already left.

I was really set up to be in party mode tonight so I feel a bit at a loose end and while a couple of my friends were super flakey about the party at ours I don't really blame them for it as they have a lot on their plate.

It has brought home that I NEEEEEEEEEED to get out and dance and flirt inappropriately with people I have little to no intention of taking home with me while dressed fabulously so I suspect a trip to Corporation is on the cards.

Looking forward to the Harvest Party next weekend, seeing my parents the weekend after for Mumsie's birthday, the Charity Shop Crawl after that and the Hallowe'en party at the end of October at Tam and Sarah's.

I suspect my birthday bash will be sometime around the 17th of November so I've got a bit of time to get my Satyr outfit done. I _do_ want that to be a festival of wine at the very least.

This is like a crazy Japanese computer game come to life... though I can't decide whether or not the most amusing thing is how utterly bored the commentators sound about the shennanigans.

We won the ashes, apparently.

Don't worry, you'll get them back next year, Australia.

But seriously, congratulations England Cricket Team, I'd say that's quite a moral boost you pulled off there!