Sleepypete's Pillow

He has assorted weaponry and knows how to use it 😉

Been meaning to tackle one of the house repair jobs for a little while now, finally got the chance (and inclination) today …

My loo has a problem with its flusher. It’s a siphon type that doesn’t siphon at the moment. It’s broke. (But not icky because I have a workaround that lets the loo function). So this repair job is going to involve either :

Replacing the loo
Replacing the siphon thingy

I’m hoping I don’t have to go as far as replacing the loo as I’d have to get someone in to do that for me. And while it’s not spotless, it’s not beyond my abilities to get it that way. So I’ve been looking to replace the broken siphon thingy.

But … (there’s always a but). There’s a problem.

2 problems in fact – 2 rusty nuts.

To do the repair, I have to take the cistern off the wall to be able to replace the siphon because the bits to unscrew are hidden between cistern and loo. I can do the prep work :
Identify problem & get bits – had ’em ages and I understand how to fit them.
Empty cistern of water – fine. I have a suction pump thingy.
Keep cistern empty – sorted and I can decouple those pipes too.
Get cistern off loo ?

That last is where the problem comes in, there’s 2 wingnuts that are rusted to the bolts. I’ve had them soaking in WD40 on and off for a while but it begs the question :

Why the hell use corrodable bolts in the most corrosion friendly area of a house ? You’ve got the water, fresh air plus warmth from when you use the hot water. The only place in a house that’s more corrosion friendly is the kitchen. Plastic wingnuts would have been far more sensible.

So – frustration today cos those wingnuts just refused to budge.

I’m hopeful I can get them loose though without having to resort to heat. Using heat almost certainly getting a plumber in to replace the loo as I doubt the porcelain would survive. WD40 is usually the universal answer so I’m trying that + time.

In the meantime it’s back to that temporary solution which is one reason I’ve not offered to share the surround sound + movies with anyone lately …

PS I also have that scent of liquid rust in my nose that the moment that comes with all that WD40 … with the window open upstairs to take it away too.

Lol – rumbled … Although there should really be people like A-Ha, Snow Patrol and Dire Straits in there too … I guess it's because I imagine the female voices are singing just to me.

Picking out some for an alternate one of Age 0-10, 11-20, 21-30, 30-21again now 🙂

Oh – Julianne Regan = always been voice of Menolly for me

I thought that was an AK47 ? 🙂

Nice choices. It is so hard to narrow it down to 3 tracks for each decade!

I suspect you are a fan of female voices?

My basement cat has a cricket bat too 😉

I wonder if this is what my depressive side thinks of my hyperactive side :

And I have a few cricket bats available :

PS Really tired right now – not slept at all well this week and it started catching up to me yesterday. Hoping for a relaxing weekend with sport tomorrow, looking for stiffness and soreness to melt away. Although I’ll stand ready with the cricket bat if someone needs a henchman.

This one’s inspired by a Facebook group 🙂

The idea is to go through the decades, posting one track a day. You start with the first decade, post 3 songs (over 3 days) and then go through successive decades. I’m in the 70s at the moment. But … I thought :

4 decades,
3 songs per decades,
That’s almost perfect for a music theme T13! (with an extra bonus).

I’ve got it slightly wrong though as it should really be Age 0-10 (1974 to 1984), 11 to 20 (1985 to 1994), 21 to 30 (1995 to 2004) and 31 to 37 (2005 onward). Muahaha – that’s an idea for a future T13 with tracks I couldn’t include here :-).

1970s :

1 – Wish You Were Here from Pink Floyd. This is an all time classic and quite possibly the best track ever by Pink Floyd.

2 – Don’t Stop Me Now from Queen. When we went anywhere of any distance in the car, Queen’s greatest hits 1 would invariably be put on the radio.

3 – Nobody Does It Better by Carly Simon. This is the theme tune from the Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me”, which not only has one of the better Bond theme tunes but it also has Barbara Bach as the Bond Girl … And I just happen to have a weakness when it comes to pretty dark haired ladies …

1980s :

4 – Martha’s Harbour by All About Eve. Such a beautiful track. This was on one of the first cd’s I owned and is definitely still one of my favourite tracks. We even owned this on 7″ single (and I want the B-Side).

5 – California Dreamin’ by River City People. This was one of those sit up and listen tracks when they burst onto Top of the Pops with it. Yes, it’s a cover version but it was also a good intro into their own material. Another incredible voice here …

6 – Sweet Dreams from Bat For Lashes. This is a cover for Radio 1’s Live Lounge which showcased Bat For Lashes centred by Natasha Khan who shows off her voice with great effect here. This was another intro for a new artist who has gone on to come out with some incredible material of her own. Oh and she’s also extremely cute with that long dark hair thing.

1990s :

7 – Indestructible by Alisha’s Attic. Saw this one completely out of the blue on Saturday morning TV. And following that, I own all 3 albums (plus collection) and as many of their B-Sides as I could get my mitts on. There’s a reason I used the nickname Alisha’s Addict for a while 🙂

8 – It Can’t Rain All The Time by Jane Siberry. When I was involved in my first long term serious relationship, there was a film we ended up going to a silly number of times. That film was The Crow (with Brandon Lee) and this was one of its signature songs from the soundtrack.

9 – My Favourite Game by The Cardigans. This isn’t one of my favourites of their’s but it’s the one that really got them going (as well as Lovefool). It’s signature Cardigans as it’s not just Nina Persson’s voice, it’s how they combine it with the band that made the Cardigans great.

2000s :

10 – Let it Will Be by Madonna. The thing about Madonna is that she keeps reinventing herself but still sounds amazing every time. (Album version sounds much better than that “official” video though). One of the first albums I owned was Madonna’s Like A Virgin but the energy in Confessions On A Dance Floor makes it my favourite of the Madonna albums I own.

11 – I Can’t See New York by Tori Amos. Couldn’t go through this list without a Tori Amos track. Before Alisha’s Attic, I was collecting Tori Amos B-Sides … Tori Amos is a little inconsistent but this shows her at her ultimate best. Amazing voice combined with a virtuoso performance on not one but two pianos. What a talent …

12 – Empire Ants by Gorillaz. And now for something completely different … Plastic Beach is a future classic album and I’ve included this track because it marks me breaking out of the music I had been interested in before and into new groups and new styles. This is the highlight of Plastic Beach for me as it builds into something that bursts more into life later on.

Bonus track :

13 – The Man With the Child In His Eyes by Kate Bush. Another singer I’m a huge fan of, although more her earlier work than the more recent stuff. Every track is a treat of ethereal vocals.

Can you tell what I’m most a fan of yet ? 🙂

I’m between games right now …

Having just completed the fourth play through of Deus Ex Human Revolution (which is awesome by the way, fps players will love it) and saved the world … again, I’m now waiting for the next game.

That’s right : today the world, tomorrow the galaxy.

The “next game” is going to be Mass Effect 3, which will continue the series started by Bioware a couple of years ago. It’s a hell of a game in itself to be honest, although there’s disquieting rumours coming due to DLC. That’s “DownLoadable Content” and it’s likely to be the bane of gamers for quite some time to come. It’s usually quite benign, things like different outfits or subtle changes. Blizzard do it with in game cosmetic pets in Warcraft. The idea is that a few months after release, they release expansions that add extra episode to the game for a few £££.

Trouble is though when it gets to be content that should have been in the game at launch. That would be like a novel with the prologue and epilogue removed with you having to pay a little extra to get it. Or it’d be missing a chapter in the middle (like actually happened with Deus Ex HR). To be honest, there were several expansion DLCs done for Mass Effect 2 which I bought because it is actually a fantastic game and most of that DLC proved to be worth it. To use the novel analogy, DLC a little while after release is like adding self contained fan fic to an already complete book. Happy when it’s done like that. With Mass Effect 2, one of the DLC provides a bridge between Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3.

But to rip a chapter out of the game and expect you to buy it on release ? Come on ! These games are already £30, with up to £90 being asked for the special editions. On the Origin store, I could pay £35 for the standard ed or £55 for the digital deluxe version. £35 is already rip off territory. Some of the extra £20 is ok … things like getting the soundtrack and a few extra bits of merchandise I could support, although I’m not so much of a fanboi that I’ll be taken in by that.

Trouble is when they start adding extra content on top of the box you see in the shops. That’s a little sad.

Moving on though. I’m still looking forward to this one coming out and have my pre-order in with Amazon. I’m curious to see whether history repeats from when Mass Effect 2 came out. I’d pre-ordered early with Amazon again but a couple of days before release I get an email saying they had insufficient stock. No excuse for that so I immediately cancelled the pre-order and on the day of release I got the game from Asda instead.

I need sleep though, so saving the galaxy will wait another day.

I dunno how much sleep I’ve actually had over the past couple of nights but I know it hasn’t been that much. Just haven’t been able to nod off. Maybe that’s a little too much hyperactivity leaking through. Or I’m worried about people (psst – secret : it’s the worrying about others thing). I suspect I’ve had about 4-5 hours of quality sleep over the last couple of days, with the hyperactivity letting me blast through it.

Really tired right now though. I doubt whether I’d be able to concentrate on gameplay even if I tried. Back stiffness is currently at a level where I actually acknowledge it in front of other people instead of not letting on that it’s sore. (It’s been too long since it benefitted from a bit of TLC)

Will head for an early night soon, which will set me up really well tomorrow. I have a 9am meeting, which means I want to get in about 8am to prepare and get my mind right. (i.e. at least 1 mug of Coffee.) That means shifting the day 1 hour earlier to 8am to 4pm. And there just happens to be an England cricket match starting at 4pm.

Spooky.

PS Really must get some use out of the SW The Old Republic subscription. I guess Warcraft has totally burned me out on MMO gameplay. SWTOR has added story but is still driven by the same Thump X Mobs, Get Y Items repetitive MMO tasks.
PS2 Skyrim has been looking very tempting. Next time it goes on sale my better judgment will likely go byebye and I’ll get it …

I like to think I’m a bit of an empath.

That is – I’ll pick up on how people around me are feeling and unconsciously react to it. I’ll start to echo what they’re feeling. It’s nowhere near perfect and depends on being around people but I think it’s there.

I definitely react to my true boss – he’s one of the most professional people I know. Also highly driven. My partly unconscious reaction to that is to go a little more berzerk hyperactive. It’s a very good example to follow as it helps me crack on through the workload we have. But I also have to keep sure to maintain my own focus when the atmosphere in the office gets agitated.

Yep. The antenna also works on the bad stuff. We have someone on the team who is going through some really rough stuff at the moment and to her infinite credit, she hides it incredibly well. It’s positively valiant the way she keeps on going through what’s happening. But that empath antenna still picks up the hidden signs and the reactions are :

Wanting to burst into tears in sympathy with what’s happening
Wanting to give the Big Hug and say everything will work out ok

Trouble is that sometimes what someone would want to do to help out may actually cause more problems than it solves.

So I’m a little frustrated that I know there’s someone out there that needs some help and support but it’s not the Right Thing to do at the moment.

Kinda wish it went the other way too. I’m a bit too good at hiding my own inner feelings for people to pick up that I’m struggling or could do with a hug or two coming my way. Or at least being dragged to the canteen to talk through what’s bugging me over lunch. I have my own emotional armour and it’s incredibly rare that people are allowed in.

The hyperactivity gets in the way of the empath antenna too.

It’s a bit like constant noise in my head and a buzzing through my body. Don’t get me wrong, the hyperactivity is great for getting me the energy to do stuff. Trouble is, it can be an effort to focus it and I will skip right over essential steps. The noise from it also means I’ll miss vital signs from other people.

Urk – I’m rambling again.

Empathy is a great thing, if there’s people around who pay attention to it. There’s people who are acutely aware of how people around them are feeling, there’s people who are completely dead to others and there’s the ones who unconsciously react like me. And I’m not kidding about the bursting into tears feeling, that time hit me completely unawares …

But there’s also those magical people who make you feel that little bit better just by the power of their smile :

Snow Queen – who’s strength could let her take on the world if she got the chance
Mrs Sunshine – who always brightens up the room
The Boss – who has her own brand of empathy that kept her as The person to talk to in my old team before it started getting broken up
Finance Angels – this pair are always smiling and ready with a “Hello Pete” that makes me melt 🙂 (they’re also both recently married, which I think is a big factor in their inner happiness)

And that’s just 5 of the people I see almost every day at work (And there’s a few more outside the projects too). I try and contribute in my own way by not taking things too seriously while still looking to get things done. Laugh about mistakes while you fix them. Punishing people for every tiny mistake just makes them hide the mistakes until the mistakes get serious. Keeping a sense of humour going helps in keeping the perspective right.

It’s a far better world out there when people are aware of how others are feeling.

PS Cricket has now finished so it’s time to grab some dinner ! Need pancakes. Not got pancakes …