Author: Sleepypete

What’s our definition of fun ?

For me, a lot of the definition of fun is to be doing things that make people smile. To enjoy. To smile, to grin, to laugh. Sometimes there’s some running around involved too. Perhaps a little danger.

I know one thing that made me feel much more involved on the cricket field was fielding close in where you depending on your reactions to avoid getting hurt when the cricket ball came zinging in at your head. Ok, it was more using those reactions to quickly gather the ball and ping it back in. A competition if you will, where my skill is put again the batsman’s speed. If I win, they’re run out and heading back to the pavilion. If they win, they score another run and come back for another go.

I used to really enjoy fielding close in, it was where I’d feel most involved in the game. Of course, a bit of sun helped out too, until it got in your eyes. But … warm sun beat dazzle any time.

Pics ?

I couldn’t mention playing in the sun without using that one.

Watching stuff and playing stuff counts for a lot too. Going through that A to Z :

A, D, E, G, K, M, S, T, V, W, X – I’m a huge sci fi fan, including all those represented by these letters. That’d be Star Wars, Star Trek, Star Gate, Battlestar Galactica*, Doctor Who, Firefly and Babylon 5. I’ve had lots of fun with the games, the books, the telly stuff and the movies.

*(I still think the old one was better – but then again, the new one was tarnished for me by them running out of ideas for how to continue after New Caprica – their artistic well ran well and truly dry)

Bebop is one anime I’ve never watched, although I am looking forward to watching Outlaw Star again.
Challenger was sad, both for the two lost shuttles and for the fact that we don’t seem in the business of space exploration seriously at the moment. Hopefully that will change with Orion.
Fireball XL-5 was good fun. It was a Gerry Anderson series before Thunderbirds, which featured the Zero-X.
Heart of Gold is from Hitch hikers Guide to the Galaxy. Must watch the BBC series again.
Ishimura – don’t know that, although I suspect it’s anime again like Space Battleship Yamato.
Jupiter II is from the Lost In Space, which was pretty bad but I still enjoyed it all the same.
Lexx was weird. Very weird.

Normandy is the star ship (and its replacement) from one hell of a game series, Mass Effect. This is the story of an Earth marine almost 200 years from now. It’s a great galaxy set up and Bioware made a great story matched to a decent game engine. I really enjoyed these games, although the third kinda killed the want to play through it again.

Don’t know Pillar of Autumn (ah – it’s Halo). Don’t know Unity either …
Quinjet is from the Avengers, I’m really looking forward to Age Of Ultron. I think I’ll be rewatching the other movies over this break.
Red Dwarf is a legend, although perhaps its writers ran their well dry too.

Fun for now is continuing to watch the Yogscast livestreams, they had a great one last night with Kim and Playstation Access. Lovely enjoyable chill out.

I need to have a good crack at Elite Dangerous too, hopefully those pilot skills will come back.

Pics ?

I’ll need to lose weight again after Xmas is finished.

I wonder what people are doing over the break ? I wonder what Cupid’s Gift is getting up to … must ask. I know she’s working a lot of it. But at least she won’t be on her own. I had a chance to offer someone else some company over the break, actually have made a few offers … but the messages were not returned.

I’m not going to dwell there. I’d rather focus on the potential positive rather than the definite negative and I’ll be hoping I get a chance to see Cupid’s Gift again soon.

One last pic ?

Because hugs are fun too.

…

Cookies.

I’m going to miss the Happy Cookie Place when the German Market completes :

Those cookies are large. Think 4 inches in diameter (maybe – mine are all gone so I can’t check) and about a centimeter thick. I know ! I know ! Mixing units in the same sentences is naughty.

I apologise. But not for the cookies. They’re awesome. Cupid’s Gift has been liking them too, really glad I picked up on the marble cake hint to prod me into passing on some cookies 🙂

I didn’t escape the house today but hopefully will tomorrow. And then I’ll pick up even more cookies. Other cookies just don’t really compare. And they have cake too. Cake that is bigger than my hand. And to prove that the cake is not a lie :

Yep. Big cakes.

Holiday stuff ?

I’ve been trying to remember how to pilot again … I’ve beaten the combat challenges on the Elite Dangerous tutorials (at least up to the Sidewinder vs Cobra one – got bored after) but it was a bit of a job relearning how to fly … Crikey that’s been a while. Space combat is very different to air flight maneouvres. It’s free in 3 dimensions and the controls in Elite : D at least means you’re pitching up rather a lot (because the turn rate is better in that axis). To follow someone you’ll roll so they’re on that vertical axis and then pitch to get them in your gunsights.

Air combat is totally different – you’re fighting gravity and you’re also interacting with a fluid (the air). So whereas in space combat, going up causes no problems, going up in air combat means you’re turning your speed into height and you’re subject to the g forces that space games forget about. You lose speed, which means you’re likely to stall. So in air combat, it’s either done at range with missiles or you’re rolling and using the elevators to turn. It’s done on the flat rather than in the vertical.

But it’s taking a while to get used to the game again. And … so many keys …

Been listening to music, I’m steadily getting my way through the library. Although, there’s still new stuff appearing in it. I’ve been enjoying listening to the legend that was Frank Sinatra crooning old classics. He was amazing. There’s 588 tracks to go, or 1.4 days of listening. I might get close by the end of the holiday. It’s only been … 14 months so far since I reset the library when I moved it to the Macbook ?

Oh – mentioning that … I get a lot of frustration with my Windows 7 desktop. Things like it not wanting to talk over the network to my phone or the printer. So for the Elite keys, I was printing from the Macbook after giving up on the desktop. Meh. Windows has always been daft when it comes to connectivity.

Cookies ?

Clever dog. Last one :

Gonna have to lose some weight again in the new year. I blame a combination of winter SAD and immobility. But I’ll be walking to the bus again in the new year, so I should shift some of the weight.

Make that a new year’s resolution !

Cya tomorrow 🙂

I’ve already done one Santa pic, way back for day 5 – Red.

But, today – here’s one I’ve been using as an avatar all month :

Dragon Santa !

Had to be done. I’ll use him as my avatar all through December.

I’ve treated myself today. I had a mad moment where I paid the (probably exorbitant) price for Elite : Dangerous. It’s £40 at the moment, which I consider a bit hefty. But I paid it anyway because I remember all that time sunk into the original Elite. Need to get my flightstick out again for this one and to dust off the printer for the keyboard layout.

On gaming, I’ve just watched a lovely chilled out stream from Pippa Warr (@philippawarr) about a game that’s coming out very soon, called How To Build A Snowman. It’s a simple puzzle game, utterly charming. And I got a lovely chuckle when I linked over the Internet Hug pic 🙂 (there was a bauble related reason). I think I may be tuning in for more if she does more.

More pics ?

One more :

Muahaha. Have a good evening everyone.

It could only be …

Return of the Snow Thing !

I made him a number of years ago. We hadn’t had snow for quite a few years, so when it started falling one winter night it was a massive novelty.

So of course I had to head outside at 11.30 to build a snowman. You can probably tell by his size that we didn’t actually get much snow that night. But it had to be done ! I bet I got a few funny looks from the neighbours too, which makes it worth it.

More pic ?

Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin & Hobbes is an absolute legend. And one of the staples of Calvin & Hobbes was always the snowmen scenes in the winter.

Utterly hilarious.

Now for some chilling out – on the telly we have the Strictly Come Dancing finale. I have no clue who’s going to win. Once the also rans were eliminated, it’s been an incredibly strong field with 6 potential winners. I hope Caroline wins, although it would be good to see Mark win as he’s come from nothing to be something pretty special.

And on the desktop, we have Yogscast doing (or trying to do – the game is a bit broken) Civ V on the livestream. That’s usually good for a laugh as they ally, betray and backstab each other in an otherwise friendly game.

But I better wrap – I’ve been hearing the dinner bell going off in the kitchen. Better rescue my munchies before the smoke alarm tells me :

Cya !

Lol – I see – oops

I think Sean *Young* is far better looking though!!!

Haha – that's harsh. Bit wooden but I think that was the part … lol

ably supported by 'Sean Penn'….. Yup – You're definitely tired. You might want to check that again… [lol]

Ah well – having to cheat on this one again :

I have to admit, I don’t go too many places there are pine cones. I do have one of my own pics for tomorrow though.

My Xmas leave starts here ! By golly do I need it too. The physical and mental batteries are drained, the outsides need some healing time and there’s a few things I need to sort out around the house.

Plans :

Head up to see the mum & dad at some point for the Xmas day festivities;
Hopefully see Cupid’s Gift again if she’s free (am missing that chuckle);
Watch lots of movies and recorded stuff;
Perhaps see a few movies with the Crazie mob ?

I’m kicking it off tonight with pizza and by watching Blade Runner. It’s a Ridley Scott directed movie from the 80s and it is … stunningly beautiful in its own dingy way. I have the blu ray edition Final Cut and for an old movie, it does look amazing still off the bluray. The sound isn’t maybe as good as bluray quality but it’s still really good.

Harrison Ford leads this movie incredibly well, ably supported by Sean Penn (ed – erm, make that Sean Young). And the soundtrack by Vangelis is out of this world.

Still tired though. I may not be up long after the movie finishes.

I’ll hibernate over the weekend but I will head out early next week. There’s a few errands I have to do. Like get my jacket fixed ! There’s not much damage but the zipper has gone which means … coooold. It’s an old jacket and I may actually retire it …

I also need to get HMV to sort out a couple of blurays I bought. Plan A tonight was to watch XMen Days Of Future Past but the girl in the store was too confused to remove the anti-theft tag. So early next week will see me visit the store (with receipt) to sort that out. Ha ! First World Problems.

Back to the movie 🙂

Whatever could we use for stockings …

Well, I can think of something that ends up being very photogenic in stockings …

Haha – I suspect you were thinking of something different …

Ok. You thought it, you asked for it (beware mental scarring again)

Yogscast strike again 🙂

Gotta admit, I’m really flagging at the moment. It must be the after effects of yesterday’s Xmas party but I’m quite drained now. Definitely looking forward to the Xmas break now. Just one more day to go. So what happened yesterday ? Can’t remember what I wrote actually (brb).

I drank wine … That doesn’t happen too often. I tend to avoid alcohol due to unfortunate ill tendencies … I was the only one on our table drinking the white wine and ended up having maybe 4 glasses, most of the bottle.

Oops. I wasn’t ill or anything. I didn’t actually notice the wine too much. I definitely noticed the freebie rose wine we had before going in for the dinner.

Nah – it’s the walking that got me. I went on a rather strange route, Google reckoned it was 2 miles, I reckon I must have walked at least 3 on that leg, plus another mile after that. It just happened to take me past the Happy Cookie Place again … All those miles have settled into my legs and made them rather stiff and sore today.

However … one thing I’m happy about is that I’m able to do that indefinite walking thing again. That would have been difficult a month or so ago when there was still swelling in my legs and ankles. Pretty much all of that’s gone now. Hurrah ! I’m still looking like I’ve been dragged through that thornbush but at least I have most of my mobility back again.

Wow – this post has ended up longer than expected. Tiredness meant I thought I’d just post the pictures and run. But not before saying …

I may be tired, fatigued and waiting to collapse tomorrow night but – Cupid’s Gift is still making me laugh out loud with the random text messages.

Beware – I may end up being insufferable with mentions of Cupid’s Gift 🙂 The image of her lovely bubbly chuckle is one I’m desperately trying to retain in my mind !

Before I go, if anyone sees me doing this at work tomorrow :

Or just tell me there’s been a text come in from Cupid’s Gift. That’ll wake me up.