(no subject)
Oops. I'm a long way behind with posting here. I've been meaning to catch up for ages - at first, I just wasn't in the mood for posting, but since then there have been all sorts of distractions coming along ... the new Fish album, a set of Battlestar Galactica DVDs, the Enemy Territory: Quake Wars demo, and of course social stuff!
For a few days after we got back from our trip up north, I just felt really ... disconnected from everything. I don't know if everyone gets this, but sometimes after we've been away for a break, all the things that normally completely fill up my time just don't grab me anymore. Or maybe it's the effort to catch up that puts me off? Either way, I soon get hooked back in ...
It was our seventh wedding anniversary on Sunday the 2nd. Time flies! Having just been away from home, neither of us wanted to do anything "big" or formal to celebrate, so we just had a relaxed day together - and ended up at the beer festival at The Dove again for a few pints in the afternoon. It was actually quite a nice way to celebrate :)
The new Fish album "13th Star" turned up later in the week. His albums can be a bit hit and miss for me, but this one's definitely a hit - maybe not quite up there with "Sunsets on Empire", the album he made with Steven Wilson, but close. I've been listening to it loads since then, and it's still getting better each time. The packaging on this pre-order version is great too, with probably the best artwork Mark Wilkinson's done for a Fish release yet.
The next weekend was pretty busy, at least for us. Friday evening started with me pretending to be a karate instructor again, taking the class as our instructor was away. Then later we went out to Furry for the first time in ages - a combination of other things clashing / general tiredness has kept us away for a while, but tonight there was the promise of live music!
The venue had had a bit of a revamp since we were last there - they've put in a new decent-sized bar at the opposite side of the room (with more beers on draught too), tidied and decorated, and moved things round to have a stage at one side of the dance floor. All of which are improvements :)
The support was James Severy at The Circus-Circus, one guy with an acoustic guitar playing singer/songwriter stuff, and unfortunately he made absolutely no impression on us at all. There did seem to be people enjoying his set though, so maybe it would be different if you knew the songs. The main set was from These Monsters..., who we'd seen a while back in Norwich. We'd been unexpectedly blown away by their music that time - but this time it was more by the sheer volume! A bit too distorted, and much much heavier than I remember them being before, but I still enjoyed it.
Then on Saturday we had a friend's 50th birthday party, someone I know from karate (although he's not been along to the classes for a while). We surprised ourselves a bit by being the first ones there, although that worked out quite well as it meant we got a chance to catch up with the birthday boy for a bit, before lots of other people turned up and he had to mingle more. It really filled up later on, but everyone else seemed to know each other and they were all a bit older than us, so we mostly talked to each other :) We did see a few others I knew from karate though, and it was a good evening.
The next weekend (the 15/16th) was our first completely free weekend at home in what felt like ages, which was just what we both needed really. We lost most of it to the demo of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars ... we both started playing after lunch on Saturday, and when we stopped for a break, were astonished to find four hours had passed. And so the weekend disappeared!
I also finished watching season 3 of Battlestar Galactica during that weekend (having been spending my evenings watching it during these two weeks). Fantastic stuff - easily the best TV programme going, I think. While avoiding spoilers, I'm still feeling a bit wide-eyed about the way the season ended - and it seems like a very, very long wait for the next one :(
This last week's been the first that I've really felt like I'm properly settled back into things. At work I've got deadlines looming, which always focuses the mind, and thankfully it's been productive week! At karate we're gearing up for a grading at the end of the month, so I've been doing lots of teaching in the classes, mostly helping some of the beginners get ready for it.
The evenings have mostly been taken up with ET:QW though, I'm very much still learning how it all works. Anyone else downloaded the demo, yet?
For a few days after we got back from our trip up north, I just felt really ... disconnected from everything. I don't know if everyone gets this, but sometimes after we've been away for a break, all the things that normally completely fill up my time just don't grab me anymore. Or maybe it's the effort to catch up that puts me off? Either way, I soon get hooked back in ...
It was our seventh wedding anniversary on Sunday the 2nd. Time flies! Having just been away from home, neither of us wanted to do anything "big" or formal to celebrate, so we just had a relaxed day together - and ended up at the beer festival at The Dove again for a few pints in the afternoon. It was actually quite a nice way to celebrate :)
The new Fish album "13th Star" turned up later in the week. His albums can be a bit hit and miss for me, but this one's definitely a hit - maybe not quite up there with "Sunsets on Empire", the album he made with Steven Wilson, but close. I've been listening to it loads since then, and it's still getting better each time. The packaging on this pre-order version is great too, with probably the best artwork Mark Wilkinson's done for a Fish release yet.
The next weekend was pretty busy, at least for us. Friday evening started with me pretending to be a karate instructor again, taking the class as our instructor was away. Then later we went out to Furry for the first time in ages - a combination of other things clashing / general tiredness has kept us away for a while, but tonight there was the promise of live music!
The venue had had a bit of a revamp since we were last there - they've put in a new decent-sized bar at the opposite side of the room (with more beers on draught too), tidied and decorated, and moved things round to have a stage at one side of the dance floor. All of which are improvements :)
The support was James Severy at The Circus-Circus, one guy with an acoustic guitar playing singer/songwriter stuff, and unfortunately he made absolutely no impression on us at all. There did seem to be people enjoying his set though, so maybe it would be different if you knew the songs. The main set was from These Monsters..., who we'd seen a while back in Norwich. We'd been unexpectedly blown away by their music that time - but this time it was more by the sheer volume! A bit too distorted, and much much heavier than I remember them being before, but I still enjoyed it.
Then on Saturday we had a friend's 50th birthday party, someone I know from karate (although he's not been along to the classes for a while). We surprised ourselves a bit by being the first ones there, although that worked out quite well as it meant we got a chance to catch up with the birthday boy for a bit, before lots of other people turned up and he had to mingle more. It really filled up later on, but everyone else seemed to know each other and they were all a bit older than us, so we mostly talked to each other :) We did see a few others I knew from karate though, and it was a good evening.
The next weekend (the 15/16th) was our first completely free weekend at home in what felt like ages, which was just what we both needed really. We lost most of it to the demo of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars ... we both started playing after lunch on Saturday, and when we stopped for a break, were astonished to find four hours had passed. And so the weekend disappeared!
I also finished watching season 3 of Battlestar Galactica during that weekend (having been spending my evenings watching it during these two weeks). Fantastic stuff - easily the best TV programme going, I think. While avoiding spoilers, I'm still feeling a bit wide-eyed about the way the season ended - and it seems like a very, very long wait for the next one :(
This last week's been the first that I've really felt like I'm properly settled back into things. At work I've got deadlines looming, which always focuses the mind, and thankfully it's been productive week! At karate we're gearing up for a grading at the end of the month, so I've been doing lots of teaching in the classes, mostly helping some of the beginners get ready for it.
The evenings have mostly been taken up with ET:QW though, I'm very much still learning how it all works. Anyone else downloaded the demo, yet?