Sleepypete's Pillow

Oh, as Oscar Wilde so brilliantly said: Women are meant to be loved, not understood. I gave up trying to understand them years ago. I suggest you do the same.

Ok,

So – change of plan. I was going to give a shoutout to someone for this post but … Here’s the replacement pic :

Pocket dwagon strikes !

This one’s “It’s A Present”. I don’t actually have that one. My pocket dragon collection used to be much bigger but Ravenwolf took custody of more than half of them when she moved out almost a decade ago (to be fair, she was the one who bought most of them!). Sadly, pocket dragons are no longer made, so you have to raid Ebay for them.

What was the presents post going to be ? One of the youtube people I keep mentioning does a series in December, an Advent series where they do videos opening what the fans send in. It’s fairly amusing :-). But I’m not going to send shoutouts their way any more. (Ok, just the one, it’ll be in a few days time)

That sounds a little petulant doesn’t it ? I guess it does. Or it’s just someone giving up and moving on after a multitude of attempts to get someone’s attention in order to answer the need for them to find company. Or maybe that isn’t their actual need ? They just say it on the videos to seek a certain response from the audience. That’s a shame because the quality of the videos otherwise means they’d captivate that audience, without getting it from the emotional/protective response.

Either way, there’s another little lady who’s got my attention at the moment.

I watched Hobbit 3 yesterday with a very good friend (aka Luth). He’s one of my movie buddies. I’ll quite happily head off to the cinema on my own. I should really look at doing other things as well to get me out and about, bit cold at the moment to go walking up mountains though, or other stuff like that. Yep, Luth’s one of the movie buddies, as are the Craziemob.

It’s a mixed mob, each movie buddy likes different types of films. So where one wouldn’t go to see Hobbit 3 (haha – I know how much CK loathes the suck everything out of the franchise attitude surrounding these films), another didn’t want to see Interstellar.

I’m hoping I’ll have another regular movie buddy 🙂 I’ll be going to see Hobbit 3 again on Monday night with a Pretty Lady.

It’s true ! I saw that look. Haha 🙂

Actually, that brings me back to presents because I have a little preparation to do. First thought was to do that today but it looks like I missed a bullet. After today, there’s only 1 more shopping Saturday until Xmas. Which means … chaos. Looks like it was chaos out there today. I’ll head in tomorrow instead for :

Bratwurst – yes, I’ll miss that German Market when it goes.
Hot Chocolate – yes, I’m addicted again.
Presents … What can I say ? I like doing nice things for people.
Happy Cookie Place – those cookies ! sooo good.
Early buying of the tickets – I don’t think they’ll be booked out. Friday was close but that was opening night. Monday’s tend to be quieter (unless it’s a one time in the week 2001 showing !)

This next week will be fairly busy. A night out with the Pretty Lady on Monday, an afternoon/evening with the team on Wednesday (not convinced how long I’ll stay out) and pre-break shopping to sneak in some time too.

I’m looking forward to the break. It’ll be a chance to heal and a chance to hibernate. The healing is positive and negative. I am genuinely healing but it’s still ridiculously easy to set it back through ill discipline. I’d hoped to be healed up by now but it’s still taking its time.

A new telly might appear … But it will depend on the right offer being in place. My requirements are :
Big Screen – 55 inch preferred.
4k ultra HD resolution.
High processing rate – this affects the smoothness of the movement between frames. And now I know what to look for, a low processing rate (like on the Samsungs) is really noticeable. They’re ok for static images but I was starting to feel ill watching them.

It could be an LG Big Telly. But … It needs the right offer and I really do need to fix a couple of other things :
The heating – it’s ok for heating water but it really needs fixing.
The washing machine pipe – it’s leaking more and more over the course of a wash.
And generally making the house suitable for visitors.

I suspect the pipe will be an easy fix, outside of getting access to the back of the washing machine. It may not even need replacing (I suspect a bad washer).

This has gone into random thoughts territory hasn’t it ?

Time to concentrate on the music again. I’m getting closer to listening to everything, although 2 more soundtracks appeared today courtesy of GoG.com’s sale. There’s only 800 more tracks to listen to. That’ll take me into the new year.

Especially as I have this habit of adding more stuff to the library !

Let’s see.

What could be more appropriate than :

Yep. It had to be pizza.

That’s a BBQ Meat Feast pizza done by my current favoured pizza outlet, the Pizza Hut Delivery that’s really close to where I live. I can hit the button to confirm a web order, put on shoes & outside stuff and still walk there with a few minutes to spare before it comes out of the oven (never rush food, especially pizza). I reckon it’s actually quicker to walk there than it would be to take the car.

I’d actually prefer to walk, it offsets some of the calories that are in the pizza.

Demolishing a pizza is still something that satisfies one of those Make Pete Happy things. It fills me up, it’s tasty, including multiple different tastes and it satisfies the naughty guilty pleasure aspect. I do pay for it later though, I’m developing a minor lactose intolerance. Nothing really serious, certain foods (including pizza and cheese) make me produce too much acid. I’m usually prepared for a great deal of trouble getting to sleep the night after having a pizza.

I have a few other known allergies too, the most serious is citrus/orange. I had two connected incidents where I nearly carted myself off to hospital due to having a great deal of trouble breathing. That was directly linked to having orange juice and white bread …

Wait …

More joy ?

I’ll be going to see Hobbit 3 twice over the next few days. The second will be with Cupid’s Gift on Monday night and I’m expecting that to be huge fun. Mostly cos she’s good fun. This sounds conceited but it’s rare that I find people who can keep up with me. CG definitely can.

Joy is – having someone who you can communicate with on an equal level. That’s verbally, non verbally and most important, offering the gift of your time.

One frustration I’ve had is where I reach out to people and they don’t communicate back. I like writing nice things about people and I like it more when I know they’ve appreciated seeing what I wrote. So you can imagine my frustration when I tell people about the nice things and they completely ignore it. Yep. I’m talking about yesterday’s post. Let’s just say I won’t be doing a shout out to someone’s channel tomorrow for “presents” ! A pity. As I genuinely admire the people I talked about but if they give me the blanking treatment, then honestly ? that’s their loss.

Back to joy ?

Happy T-Rex is happy.

Sad T-Rex is sad.

Driving fast, usually at ludicrous speeds around corners, used to be a big joy. Actually, it still is, the problem is finding the places to drive at the ludicrous speeds and corners that give the challenge. That’s a drawback to having a car that handles speed the way it does, both in a straight line and in the corners. The IS handles the turns extremely well and insulates you from feeling the high speeds.

Last one for today – Smiles are Awesome.

To be honest,

I still don’t have much of a clue for a Green themed photo post. I have another pic coming up later in the month which has lots of green in it but … I have another theme in mind for that.

How about – anti green ?

Why green ?

Cos the terrible threesome above are sitting in a green screen room, with the image superimposed on top. Or the game video is there instead. Haha – ok, yep. It’s a terrible excuse for a green theme but … the livestream last night was worth it.

More background ?

From left to right in the pic is Killer Kim, Stupendous Simon and Horrible Hannah. They’re all 3 members of the Yogscast and (Lewis too), they’re the driving force behind Yogscast. They put out incredible amounts of content. They (well, Hannah & Kim !) do the serious reporting. They keep the standards, they set the tone.

What is that tone ? Why do I keep coming back to watch them ? It’s :

Fun.
Mischief.
Spontaneity.
Craziness.
Empathy with the game characters and ability to carry the audience along with that.
Incredible voices.
Interesting* content.
*(even when the games are rubbish, Hannah & Kim will make the videos worth watching)
Feistiness.
Confidence.

In a time when my own game playing and my reading have suffered due to the secondary effects of my illness, firing up the videos these two ladies make has kept me going. They’re awesome. Their spontaneity and intelligence genuinely adds huge value to the games on screen. You could say it’s the gaming version of the audiobook, except they’re adding their own comments to the literature of the game.

And those comments can be truly hilarious or deeply saddening, depending on what’s going on. I’m rewatching Kim’s The Last Of Us series at the moment, that’s an example of the sad videos, as was her playthrough of Valiant Hearts which showed the building horrors of the first World War. Hannah’s just attacked the first episode of Telltale’s Tales of the Borderlands, which I found so amusing that I’m catching up with her Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us series.

May they stay in the video game … game … for many more years to come. They’re awesome.

So why highlight for this post ?

Yogscast do an annual charity drive with livestreams all the way through December. They’ve raised $483,000 so far this month, at time of typing. That’s pretty good for an internet channel. Hopefully they’ll smash through $1m by the end of the month.

I think we need a little bit of linky love … Here’s Hannah’s channel, here’s Kim’s. Enjoy ! And I think we need another pic. Just for Hannah & Kim :

You definitely were last night on the livestream. Oh and, last one, especially for Kim after some words that ended up on the end of the competition instructions :

Muahaha. Cya tomorrow.with “joy is”. No – it’s not going to be “Hannah and Kim sing”, although I’m tempted. I have something else in mind … Haha, it’s not going to be “Pete gets to see movie with Pretty Lady” (Hobbit 3 Monday !) either :-).

PS There’s one coming up with the theme “presents”, I have something in mind involving another shoutout but if Hannah objects (I hope you scan this milady !) then I’ll come up with something different.

Hmm.

This one’s a tough one. I thought about doing a few random scribbles on a bit of paper and scanning that but … I’ve been seeing a few funny pics from people lately about christmas lists.

Been seeing that one a lot. Muahaha.

Just going to my Facebook page. Be right back.

I think I know a few people who would have that as their favourite top.

I definitely know a few people who resemble that comment. And they’re fun people too.

I’m getting to that age when I could do with the fat free stuff too.

I know a few people who resemble that too – muahaha. One last one ?

From a legend. Cya tomorrow ! Whatever shall I find for green. I’m asking. Seriously. I have no clue at the moment.

Be vewy, vewy, qwiet … the dwagon is sleeping :

I had a Cunning Plan for tonight, it involved breaching quarantine (didn’t have a great night last night) and heading out to see the rescreening of 2001.

I’m shocked ! It’s sold out ! And this for a film that’s older than I am ! Crikey.

So I’m watching it off dvd at the moment. I’m quite looking forward to getting my next telly, which will probably be this Xmas depending on the deals which are available. I’ll definitely watch the sequel to 2001, called 2010 Odyssey Two, on the new Big Screen.

2001 was a visionary book and a visionary movie. It predicted a huge amount of technology, some which has happened, some which will hopefully happen. They’re on the space station at the moment, about to go to the moon. What’s the tech in 2001 ?

Space planes – not got these yet. Hopefully the British Skylon initiative will get us there. And these would be true space planes, which can achieve an orbit with cargo or passenger transfers. The ill fated Spaceship 2 is just capable of short suborbital jaunts. The space shuttle needed a lot of help with external boost`ers. But Skylon’s advantage is rocket/jets with breakthrough technology in the intake coolers which should be able to push it up to orbit as a single stage.

Zero gravity – 2001 predicts that we won’t have solved the artificial gravity problem. All of the space scenes have zero g, with this affecting meals, clothing and simply getting about the place. However, simulated anti-centripetal gravity is in the movie. This is where you have the floor on the inside surface of a cylinder and spin the cylinder up. One of Newton’s laws of motion says :

Objects will remain at rest or continue in motion, unless acted upon by an external force.

And with that cylinder, a body in the cylinder will fall outwards until it hits the floor with forces between body and floor stopping the body from falling further. Think of the hamster in his wheel.

It makes sense but limits artificial gravity to cylinders and centrifuges instead of magical panels in the floor or walls.

Hand held cameras and small digital devices – This is accurate, although we’re only now really hitting the strides for these.

Video phone calls – these are getting fairly ubiquitous now.

That’s enough about the movie and the tech in it though. Except to say that it’s a true timeless classic. The models used are still fantastic quality today and hold up with the best of the computer graphic effects we have now. In fact, I’d say in a lot of cases, the effects from 1968 are considerably better. They’re believable too.

It’s going to be a busy week for movies …

Today is 2001, on dvd rather than cinema as first thought.
Friday – The Hobbit no 3. I hope they make this third one worthwhile. I’ve said before that I think they’ve stretched the Hobbit out way too far. It was a smaller, less detailed book than any of the 3 Lord Of The Rings books, yet they make it into 3 films. And they include some really fluffy, useless extra parts while stupidly extending sequences like the barrel escape. I hope this one restores some faith in the franchise.
Monday – Black Sea. Could be a bit late though. But I won’t mind because Cupid’s Gift hopefully will be ok with staying out late.

I’ve been pretty down lately as my body and mind prepare for hibernating through the Xmas break but the promise of an evening with a Pretty Lady is a sure thing for resurrecting me from any negative or tired feelings.

Looking forward to it.

More pics ? Let’s see what I got in the peace theme …

Anti-peace ? Maybe. Back to the movie :

I’ve just been accosted at the door by two carol singers with very wobbly legs.

Seriously.

Their legs were going all over the place. It was too weird to be some kind of strange carol dance. And that’s coming from a weird, strange person.

Poor things musta been cold so I sent them on their way quickly (with a small donation).

Wrapping paper ?

In case any price stickers are visible there, yes it is Sainsburys and other sellers of wrapping paper are permitted. Encouraged even. Find the most suitable for you !

But what I will quite happily say is that Sainsburys make the tastiest pasta bake ready meals. (And like all the endorsements I give, I’ve never been paid for any of them – more’s the pity)*

*(us internet publisher people are having to be more careful about full disclosure – I don’t monetise anything here, which makes me freer to say what I think. Although I do try to keep to the Say Nice Things principle)

I don’t use wrapping paper much these days. The various groups I exchanged gifts with have faded away over the years. The locals gave up after it got too ridiculously expensive for us and the family have given up on the presents too.

There’s a lot of stress involved in presents … Both the giving and the receiving. The giver stresses about finding the right gift and the receiver stresses about thinking of a suitable range of gifts that they don’t already own yet. And that’s not thinking about the buying of them either. People go a little bit crazy this time of year around the shops.

I do miss the presents thing although it seems like the “traditional” times are geared around the commercial aspect and not the festival aspect.

Thanksgiving in the States is supposed to be about the pilgrims surviving those early winters. It’s not about a frenzied assault on the shops and all who work within them.
Christmas should be about that certain festival, although that’s a religion* thing coming in again.

*I respect people’s religious wishes, although I don’t really follow any religions of my own. I believe in a certain superstitious luck. It’s only by a freakish combination of luck, through those early amino acids combining, our solar system producing a perfect planet, that correct level of radiation to drive evolution, all the rest of that luck that brings us to this world. And that is my answer to Why Are We Here ? But at the same time, I’ll respect other people’s religious views because that’s a key part to understanding them as people.

I think at this time of year, I’d rather celebrate things like the Midwinter Festival on 21/22 Dec or New Year.

I should be around in Bristol for that Midwinter Festival too.

Hint hint ? Maybe – lol 🙂

I talk a decent about the single ladies here. Part of that is in hope that they’re listening, reading, watching. Another bit of hope is that they’ll get in touch. Yep. Still single here and I know that a few of the regulars are still single too … It might look here sometimes as if I’m chasing a bunch of different ladies. I guess I am. But there’s a difference between chasing and committing.

Chase several – see a few ladies and find them to be highly interesting. Yes.
Continue chasing them all after one finds my heart ? No.

One last pic :

Perhaps. I hope they aren’t dragons ! That said, certain dragons are cute. Certain dragons (of the Pern variety) are intensely loyal. May she be one of the cute ones, I know I’m one of the loyal ones.

ARG ! Too much Deep Thought for one post !

Hmm – it's my biggest so far and there's nothing in the boot at the moment … (apart from a coat)

Only if you have a big car and a very empty boot…

We learned a long time ago to not take you anywhere near places like the Book Barn.