Holiday and Birthday :o)
Diary: Week of 15/05: Trip to Scotland; hills, pubs, barbecues and SingStar :o)
Started off with a lie-in on Monday, which was bliss, as was not having to worry about getting up for work in the morning on Sunday night. Does good things for my mood (although I'll have to get another job eventually). Ended up spending a lot of time watching Star Trek as well as doing a little writing for a pet project I've been meaning to get on with :o)
Tuesday was my dentist's appointment, wherein I'm usually given antibiotics and told I need to stress less but this time I've been told I need to sleep more, which I'm happy enough to go along with :oD Bought 'Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' on the way back but suspect I might have the same problems I had with 'Passion of the Christ' in getting people to watch it with me :oP
Lacuna_Raze came down on the Thursday to make sure we were all packed for the Scotland journey and then we caught a flight the next day on Friday. She was nice enough to let me have a window seat as it was my first time flying; was slightly weird seeing the city as it might appear on Google maps :oP
Far side of the journey was bad as I discovered that I'd been rashly dismissive about being warned to suck on lots of sweets and swallow lots; the whole air pressure thing is unexpectedly painful! :oP Not so much as to cause an issue or make me miserable or anything serious but still rather annoying and very distracting :o)
Once we landed we headed over to maleficent and Gav's place, who had kindly set a room by for us. We promptly ate pizza and then headed out to the Auld Hoose for drinks. After closing we headed back to the flat with Xora in tow and ended up playing Settlers of Catan. I have never played before and intend to get my hands on my own copy now :oD
On Saturday, Lacuna_Raze was off to a hen party, so I took some time stumbling around Edinburgh trying to find places to buy stuff I'd forgotten to bring with me. Edinburgh is a very beautiful city; is twice the size of Southampton but just as green and with some amazing buildings and architecture - all the buildings being old and yet high rise is great :o)
When I got back to the flat I headed up to Arthur's Seat with maleficent, Gav and Craig. Took some of my first photos of the holiday (had not gotten around to it the night before, which is a shame). Caught a quick bit of hayfever on the way back but it seemed to clear up over the next couple of days :o)
Sunday we went up to a barbecue at Lacuna_Raze's parents' house (somewhere outside but not too far from Edinburgh I think). Made sure to wave at them and eat their food and such like *nods*. We went to visit on of Lacuna_Raze's friend where we watched tv and then, in my typically ultra-social style, I started to feel tired and went to lie down and watch Star Trek as they played SingStar in the other room :oP
Diary: Week of 22/06: Tours, Parties, Weddings and home again :o)
On Monday, Lacuna_Raze took me on tours of underground places in Edinburgh :oD
The first was the vaults under South Bridge. I found South Bridge quite odd when I was wandering around Edinburgh because I was never sure when I was on it. Because the bridges tend to have large buildings around it, it can be quite hard to realise that you're above ground level at all :oP
South Bridge was apparently built in the eighteen century to span a gorge and all the space between the arches got enclosed by growing tenement buildings either side of it. Extra floors were built underneath the spaces to create approximately 120 rooms to be used for storage and workships but they leaked and flooded so were abandoned to be taken over by slummers. The idea of so many impoverished people being crowded into these little vaults to live is very captivating.
The tour itself was of one set of vaults and got slightly distracted by the fact that some Wiccans had set up a coven in one of the rooms, which I didn't take too seriously. They had a room set up in tacky stuff bought from local Goth/hippy shops and the 'High Priest' had set up a stone circle in one of the rooms to keep some kind of evil spirit in there. All a bit naff :oP
The tour guide took it all a little seriously for my tastes, as well as with the ghost sightings. By all means mention the claims and observations of people who have experienced ghosts but there's no need to state it as fact, that just makes you seem silly. Same way, stating Wicca to be a pre-Christian religion makes the rest of your historical claims look shady.
Still, seeing the place itself was very nice and interesting :o) When asking people whether they believed in ghosts the tour guide suggested that those of us who didn't were spending the night here. Sounds like it could be fun really, bring a couple of friends and some alcohol :oD
We had drinks in a nice courtyard outside a pub called the Jolly Judge before having something to eat at WannaBurger (has very good banana milkshakes) and then going on to the second tour, this one of Mary King's Close.
Mary King's Close was one of a number of tightly packed closes about seven stories high. In the eighteenth century some of the higher levels were knocked off and the bottom layers used as foundation for new construction, so Mary King's Close was preserved and now sits under the Royal Mile as a snapshot of life back then.
I found the historical roleplay done by the tour guides to be a bit naff but it was brilliant having a look around. There's quite a bit of replicas used to talk about the history of the area (including some people who lived there, crimes, outbreaks of the plague, etc) but the buildings themselves are the main attraction, in one case still bearing the original plastering work on the walls (made from horse hair and ashes from cremated bodies). Brilliant stuff and definitely worth a visit :o)
On the way out, I bought a Plaguedoctor puppet, which Lacuna_Raze hates :oD (we've named him Plague Doctor Banana, after the milkshakes at Wannaburger) :o)
Tuesday Lacuna_Raze had to go back to Southampton for a badly timed interview, so I went exploring for the local Goth/Alt shops in hope of buying some new trousers/jeans. No luck though! :o(
Wednesday Lacuna_Raze was back and we went back to her parent's ready to go to Bob Bash at liomari's the next day on Thursday. I took pictures of Lacuna_Raze wrestling on the ground with liomari but wasn't allowed to post them :o( We kept people entertained by showing them literal versions of Bonnie Tyler and Meat Loaf videos: linky and linky
We made it out late back to Edinburgh to attend a very alcohol-rich party at Kate's. Was quite crammed in with people but everyone seemed to be having fun, except the lady that got annoyed with Lacuna_Raze and maleficent playing with the intercom thingy that made a squealing noise when you picked it up (of course, lady's condescending attitude just encouraged the pair of them) :oP
When we ran out of alcohol, Gav rescued us by bringing us some strange mixture of British wine and whisky, which was soon labelled 'Hellbooze'. It was surprisingly pleasent given what it was, although I'm not sure I could drink that much of it :oP
Saturday, we went a pirate themed wedding reception for one of Lacuna_Raze's friends. I felt slightly out of place as most other people attended the actual wedding and thus I was the only one not wearing a suit. To be fair, I did nearly wear a shirt but Lacuna_Raze thought I'd look better in my normal clothes :oP
We had planned to get up early to head off to a very large maze at Traquair Castle but a few people pulled out and we decided it would better to get some rest and allow us some extra time to get to feorag's Nunniversary. Between me, Lacuna_Raze and a little help from Xora, we got through three bottles of wine before moving off to the next spot. Also managed to intentionally use the video option on my camera for the first time (results on facebook).
A bunch of us moved on to CC's afterwards, which was fun and looked nice, although not as big as the Edge :o)
Diary: Week of 29/06: Films, Industrial Fallout and Barbecue :o)
Me and Lacuna_Raze had a fairly relaxing Monday watching season three of Heroes, which I am enjoying lots (want to marathon watch it all night but have been waiting to watch it with Lacuna_Raze! :oP
Tuesday was the flight back home. Is a shame to reach the end of the holiday but also nice to be able to use my own shower again and sleep in my own bed :oP Just nice having everything where you're used to having it :o) The flight back home was much easier on my ears. Maybe I adjusted a little but I also paid much more attention to the whole sucking on sweets and swallowing lots too :oP
Wednesday I had my job seekers interview, which seemed to go fine. Soon after though I received a letter saying there's a doubt over my claim because I 'left my job voluntarily', which I don't feel is particularly accurate. I'd worked beyond the end of my contract because they were offering me extensions on a week-by-week basis. That had to end because I had booked my flight to Scotland before even starting that job so they weren't going to keep extending the contract (I had accumulated enough holiday pay to cover it too). Seems silly to talk about me 'voluntarily leaving my job' in that circumstance :o/
Oh well. That night I watched Tideland. Quite an odd film. Interesting for being odd except the plot seems to lack direction, which makes it a tiring watch at times.
Thursday I watched Black Cauldron, a Disney film I'd seen written about but not ever watched. Now know why it's not popularly watched... just not that good. Probably worth skipping :oP
On Friday, Lacuna_Raze came around, but we didn't get a chance to watch any Heroes because we were watching the Michael Jackson interview with Martin Bashir. I think it annoyed both of us... he was so desperately trying to find things that looked weird to the extent that he seemed to think that if he dropped the word 'disturbing' in enough that we wouldn't notice that what was actually on screen wasn't that strange.
It's worse when you know he cut out things that made him seem less strange.
I really do think of Jackson as being a victim in his own right really.
Bought seats C13 - C20 for the 18th Jan showing of Rocky Horror at the Mayflower Theatre. Should be a lot of fun when it comes around :o)
Industrial Fallout on Saturday was surprisingly good. Last time it was just too cramped to move about, which made it little fun and way too hot. The music this time wasn't much better but at least I could go from the bar to the smoking area (where it was cooler and I could actually hear people), which was very nice :o) Lots of fun had in the end :o)
Thepussykat and Littlecyberalex were nice enough to arrive with both belated Christmas presents and a birthday present :oP One of the things they got me was the second Nemi anthology, which is fab :o) I remember seeing the first one because I got it as a present for Sweetcyanide, will have to get myself a copy as well now :oP
Did end up having an argument with some idiots, but not in an upsetting or or particularly dramatic way. They got my back up when I sat down at the same table as Lacuna_Raze and they started quizing me about whether I was transgendered or whether I was a boy or a girl (if you're not sure and you don't need to know - and you don't - then don't ask!). One of them ended up stroking Lacuna_Raze's arm across the table and she shot him down for it and sorted it out but I was in a somewhat alcohol-fuelled and argumentative mood so I picked it up myself and ended up being more and more derisive the more rubbish explanations and apoligies they gave... 'How do you know someone doesn't want you to touch them until you try...' 'It's okay, he's gay so it's allowed...' and 'Well, if people flaunt it then they shouldn't complain...' (never got an explanation for the last one.)
I don't understand what is so hard to understand about the concept of consent. It's really simple enough, don't touch anyone unless you are sure that the attention is wanted. Don't just guess and start touching complete strangers, get to know them and be sure. If you're not very good at those kinds of judgements then err on the side of caution and keep your distance. People have some very annoying entitlement complexes sometimes.
I think the guy felt quite hounded by the time I'd made a fairly big issue about it :oP Perhaps next time he'll think twice maybe :o) I don't think they were even slightly interested in the music scene anyway, they were seemingly just randoms that turned up :o/
On Sunday, my parents gave me Settlers of Catan and the 5-6 players expansion, which is great. Just need some people to play it against :oP They also got me Unbreakable, Devils Backbone, The Dark Knight and my younger brother got me the League of Gentleman set :oD
After we'd gotten ready and I'd gone through my presents we headed up to Thepussykat and Littlecyberalex's place for a barbecue. I even went and got some lamb burgers and barbecuey type stuff and made us some food :oD (may have had some help from rosenkavalier) :o) Littlecyberalex did put Victor on me for a while but it Was still a good night and took plenty of photos, ended up getting a lift home from my younger brother :o)
Link: The Pernicious Influence of Immigrants - linky
Link: The intersection of race and Steampunk, Colonialisms after effects and other stories from a Steampunk of colour's perspective - linky
Started off with a lie-in on Monday, which was bliss, as was not having to worry about getting up for work in the morning on Sunday night. Does good things for my mood (although I'll have to get another job eventually). Ended up spending a lot of time watching Star Trek as well as doing a little writing for a pet project I've been meaning to get on with :o)
Tuesday was my dentist's appointment, wherein I'm usually given antibiotics and told I need to stress less but this time I've been told I need to sleep more, which I'm happy enough to go along with :oD Bought 'Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' on the way back but suspect I might have the same problems I had with 'Passion of the Christ' in getting people to watch it with me :oP
Lacuna_Raze came down on the Thursday to make sure we were all packed for the Scotland journey and then we caught a flight the next day on Friday. She was nice enough to let me have a window seat as it was my first time flying; was slightly weird seeing the city as it might appear on Google maps :oP
Far side of the journey was bad as I discovered that I'd been rashly dismissive about being warned to suck on lots of sweets and swallow lots; the whole air pressure thing is unexpectedly painful! :oP Not so much as to cause an issue or make me miserable or anything serious but still rather annoying and very distracting :o)
Once we landed we headed over to maleficent and Gav's place, who had kindly set a room by for us. We promptly ate pizza and then headed out to the Auld Hoose for drinks. After closing we headed back to the flat with Xora in tow and ended up playing Settlers of Catan. I have never played before and intend to get my hands on my own copy now :oD
On Saturday, Lacuna_Raze was off to a hen party, so I took some time stumbling around Edinburgh trying to find places to buy stuff I'd forgotten to bring with me. Edinburgh is a very beautiful city; is twice the size of Southampton but just as green and with some amazing buildings and architecture - all the buildings being old and yet high rise is great :o)
When I got back to the flat I headed up to Arthur's Seat with maleficent, Gav and Craig. Took some of my first photos of the holiday (had not gotten around to it the night before, which is a shame). Caught a quick bit of hayfever on the way back but it seemed to clear up over the next couple of days :o)
Sunday we went up to a barbecue at Lacuna_Raze's parents' house (somewhere outside but not too far from Edinburgh I think). Made sure to wave at them and eat their food and such like *nods*. We went to visit on of Lacuna_Raze's friend where we watched tv and then, in my typically ultra-social style, I started to feel tired and went to lie down and watch Star Trek as they played SingStar in the other room :oP
Diary: Week of 22/06: Tours, Parties, Weddings and home again :o)
On Monday, Lacuna_Raze took me on tours of underground places in Edinburgh :oD
The first was the vaults under South Bridge. I found South Bridge quite odd when I was wandering around Edinburgh because I was never sure when I was on it. Because the bridges tend to have large buildings around it, it can be quite hard to realise that you're above ground level at all :oP
South Bridge was apparently built in the eighteen century to span a gorge and all the space between the arches got enclosed by growing tenement buildings either side of it. Extra floors were built underneath the spaces to create approximately 120 rooms to be used for storage and workships but they leaked and flooded so were abandoned to be taken over by slummers. The idea of so many impoverished people being crowded into these little vaults to live is very captivating.
The tour itself was of one set of vaults and got slightly distracted by the fact that some Wiccans had set up a coven in one of the rooms, which I didn't take too seriously. They had a room set up in tacky stuff bought from local Goth/hippy shops and the 'High Priest' had set up a stone circle in one of the rooms to keep some kind of evil spirit in there. All a bit naff :oP
The tour guide took it all a little seriously for my tastes, as well as with the ghost sightings. By all means mention the claims and observations of people who have experienced ghosts but there's no need to state it as fact, that just makes you seem silly. Same way, stating Wicca to be a pre-Christian religion makes the rest of your historical claims look shady.
Still, seeing the place itself was very nice and interesting :o) When asking people whether they believed in ghosts the tour guide suggested that those of us who didn't were spending the night here. Sounds like it could be fun really, bring a couple of friends and some alcohol :oD
We had drinks in a nice courtyard outside a pub called the Jolly Judge before having something to eat at WannaBurger (has very good banana milkshakes) and then going on to the second tour, this one of Mary King's Close.
Mary King's Close was one of a number of tightly packed closes about seven stories high. In the eighteenth century some of the higher levels were knocked off and the bottom layers used as foundation for new construction, so Mary King's Close was preserved and now sits under the Royal Mile as a snapshot of life back then.
I found the historical roleplay done by the tour guides to be a bit naff but it was brilliant having a look around. There's quite a bit of replicas used to talk about the history of the area (including some people who lived there, crimes, outbreaks of the plague, etc) but the buildings themselves are the main attraction, in one case still bearing the original plastering work on the walls (made from horse hair and ashes from cremated bodies). Brilliant stuff and definitely worth a visit :o)
On the way out, I bought a Plaguedoctor puppet, which Lacuna_Raze hates :oD (we've named him Plague Doctor Banana, after the milkshakes at Wannaburger) :o)
Tuesday Lacuna_Raze had to go back to Southampton for a badly timed interview, so I went exploring for the local Goth/Alt shops in hope of buying some new trousers/jeans. No luck though! :o(
Wednesday Lacuna_Raze was back and we went back to her parent's ready to go to Bob Bash at liomari's the next day on Thursday. I took pictures of Lacuna_Raze wrestling on the ground with liomari but wasn't allowed to post them :o( We kept people entertained by showing them literal versions of Bonnie Tyler and Meat Loaf videos: linky and linky
We made it out late back to Edinburgh to attend a very alcohol-rich party at Kate's. Was quite crammed in with people but everyone seemed to be having fun, except the lady that got annoyed with Lacuna_Raze and maleficent playing with the intercom thingy that made a squealing noise when you picked it up (of course, lady's condescending attitude just encouraged the pair of them) :oP
When we ran out of alcohol, Gav rescued us by bringing us some strange mixture of British wine and whisky, which was soon labelled 'Hellbooze'. It was surprisingly pleasent given what it was, although I'm not sure I could drink that much of it :oP
Saturday, we went a pirate themed wedding reception for one of Lacuna_Raze's friends. I felt slightly out of place as most other people attended the actual wedding and thus I was the only one not wearing a suit. To be fair, I did nearly wear a shirt but Lacuna_Raze thought I'd look better in my normal clothes :oP
We had planned to get up early to head off to a very large maze at Traquair Castle but a few people pulled out and we decided it would better to get some rest and allow us some extra time to get to feorag's Nunniversary. Between me, Lacuna_Raze and a little help from Xora, we got through three bottles of wine before moving off to the next spot. Also managed to intentionally use the video option on my camera for the first time (results on facebook).
A bunch of us moved on to CC's afterwards, which was fun and looked nice, although not as big as the Edge :o)
Diary: Week of 29/06: Films, Industrial Fallout and Barbecue :o)
Me and Lacuna_Raze had a fairly relaxing Monday watching season three of Heroes, which I am enjoying lots (want to marathon watch it all night but have been waiting to watch it with Lacuna_Raze! :oP
Tuesday was the flight back home. Is a shame to reach the end of the holiday but also nice to be able to use my own shower again and sleep in my own bed :oP Just nice having everything where you're used to having it :o) The flight back home was much easier on my ears. Maybe I adjusted a little but I also paid much more attention to the whole sucking on sweets and swallowing lots too :oP
Wednesday I had my job seekers interview, which seemed to go fine. Soon after though I received a letter saying there's a doubt over my claim because I 'left my job voluntarily', which I don't feel is particularly accurate. I'd worked beyond the end of my contract because they were offering me extensions on a week-by-week basis. That had to end because I had booked my flight to Scotland before even starting that job so they weren't going to keep extending the contract (I had accumulated enough holiday pay to cover it too). Seems silly to talk about me 'voluntarily leaving my job' in that circumstance :o/
Oh well. That night I watched Tideland. Quite an odd film. Interesting for being odd except the plot seems to lack direction, which makes it a tiring watch at times.
Thursday I watched Black Cauldron, a Disney film I'd seen written about but not ever watched. Now know why it's not popularly watched... just not that good. Probably worth skipping :oP
On Friday, Lacuna_Raze came around, but we didn't get a chance to watch any Heroes because we were watching the Michael Jackson interview with Martin Bashir. I think it annoyed both of us... he was so desperately trying to find things that looked weird to the extent that he seemed to think that if he dropped the word 'disturbing' in enough that we wouldn't notice that what was actually on screen wasn't that strange.
It's worse when you know he cut out things that made him seem less strange.
I really do think of Jackson as being a victim in his own right really.
Bought seats C13 - C20 for the 18th Jan showing of Rocky Horror at the Mayflower Theatre. Should be a lot of fun when it comes around :o)
Industrial Fallout on Saturday was surprisingly good. Last time it was just too cramped to move about, which made it little fun and way too hot. The music this time wasn't much better but at least I could go from the bar to the smoking area (where it was cooler and I could actually hear people), which was very nice :o) Lots of fun had in the end :o)
Thepussykat and Littlecyberalex were nice enough to arrive with both belated Christmas presents and a birthday present :oP One of the things they got me was the second Nemi anthology, which is fab :o) I remember seeing the first one because I got it as a present for Sweetcyanide, will have to get myself a copy as well now :oP
Did end up having an argument with some idiots, but not in an upsetting or or particularly dramatic way. They got my back up when I sat down at the same table as Lacuna_Raze and they started quizing me about whether I was transgendered or whether I was a boy or a girl (if you're not sure and you don't need to know - and you don't - then don't ask!). One of them ended up stroking Lacuna_Raze's arm across the table and she shot him down for it and sorted it out but I was in a somewhat alcohol-fuelled and argumentative mood so I picked it up myself and ended up being more and more derisive the more rubbish explanations and apoligies they gave... 'How do you know someone doesn't want you to touch them until you try...' 'It's okay, he's gay so it's allowed...' and 'Well, if people flaunt it then they shouldn't complain...' (never got an explanation for the last one.)
I don't understand what is so hard to understand about the concept of consent. It's really simple enough, don't touch anyone unless you are sure that the attention is wanted. Don't just guess and start touching complete strangers, get to know them and be sure. If you're not very good at those kinds of judgements then err on the side of caution and keep your distance. People have some very annoying entitlement complexes sometimes.
I think the guy felt quite hounded by the time I'd made a fairly big issue about it :oP Perhaps next time he'll think twice maybe :o) I don't think they were even slightly interested in the music scene anyway, they were seemingly just randoms that turned up :o/
On Sunday, my parents gave me Settlers of Catan and the 5-6 players expansion, which is great. Just need some people to play it against :oP They also got me Unbreakable, Devils Backbone, The Dark Knight and my younger brother got me the League of Gentleman set :oD
After we'd gotten ready and I'd gone through my presents we headed up to Thepussykat and Littlecyberalex's place for a barbecue. I even went and got some lamb burgers and barbecuey type stuff and made us some food :oD (may have had some help from rosenkavalier) :o) Littlecyberalex did put Victor on me for a while but it Was still a good night and took plenty of photos, ended up getting a lift home from my younger brother :o)
Link: The Pernicious Influence of Immigrants - linky
Link: The intersection of race and Steampunk, Colonialisms after effects and other stories from a Steampunk of colour's perspective - linky