| Have you seen my Hermoine? |
[Sep. 17th, 2011|01:09 am] |
So, tonight there is a party on the top floor of our block of flats. It's actually not too obnoxious, but on the way back from the off-license ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) sugar_and_space and I heard it, so she did the only sensible thing: make a noise up the stairs that sounds like a cross between Cthuhu and a dying duck.
There it would have ended, if not for the fact that once we were inside we heard some people come downstairs asking each other "Did you hear that noise?". So then sugar_and_space did the next sensible thing: she waited 'till they were gone, made the noise again, and vanished inside to listen.
And again they came downstairs, and sounded pretty freaked out. So we then did the next sensible thing, and printed out the following:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_k8xQWOHibkNDE2ODNiNWYtYWFmMi00ZDk1LTg5ZjEtZmY1YjY2MTY2ZGMz&hl=en_GB
and posted it around our street.
We think we just heard the word "Hermione" mentioned. We are terrible people. |
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| Some catching up |
[Aug. 22nd, 2011|06:34 pm] |
It's occurred to me that it's been a long, long time since I last posted anything to LJ or Facebook, and there's a lot of stuff that's happened in my life recently.
I'm in Brighton. In May I began the final leg of a plan eighteen months in the making, and moved into flannelcat and penguin_worship's spare room to house-hunt and job-hunt as a full-time job. In June I completed the first task, in July the second. I'm now living on Horton Road, on the boundary between Brighton and Hollingbury, with gin_gerkitten and sugar_and_space. Our house looks terrible from the outside, but is lovely inside. So far, things are going very well with the new job too: it's a lot less pressurey than working with Pöyry, I'm doing a similar kind of thing, and people seem to be appreciating what I can do. So all good. The money's a lot less good, but it's enough.
Family tragedy. Recently my grandfather passed away. He was very much the patriarch of our family. He was also very, very ill, and he wasn't going to get better. And he was also a man who had achieved everything he'd set out to do in life. So I'm mourning him, but I'm not sad that he died, because death is the price one pays for living and without it he'd not have been able to do all the things he did.
I'm running a D&D game. And enjoying it: I've missed GMing a lot. So far things seem to be going well -- it's a good sign when your players produce fanart of your own game.
I think that's me up to date now. Further posts can continue without me worrying that I've left key background details out.
E: My housemate is sugar_and_space not slothgirl |
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| Pyramid schemes: coming to a city near you |
[Jun. 9th, 2011|05:02 pm] |
So, in my capacity as a newly-unemployed person I've visited the Brighton jobs fair. Generally, they were pretty good.
There were, however, two bad things. They were Ardyss and Nutrimetics. Now ignore for the moment that both of those are selling dodgy-as-all-hell health and beauty supplements: that's not the point, and it's not what I'm angry about.
What I'm angry about is that these two are transparently multi-level marketing schemes, if not actual pyramid sellers. Nutrimetics' brochure, which isn't on their site, states that you have to pay £25-£95 to join up, at which point you then buy their products at a 'discount' and sell them to your friends and family. Ardyss are even more transparent about their nature as a jumped-up pyramid scheme.
I've written to Brighton City Council voicing my complaints. I don't think MLM schemes are illegal in the UK, since they've got enough of a veneer of legality to not actually be a pyramid scheme. But I am very upset to see a town that I'm so taken with about to be taken for a ride by these sharks, and I'd encourage any Brightonauts reading this to complain likewise to ensure BCC know what they're letting their residents in for. |
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| The flat: An update |
[May. 23rd, 2011|03:56 pm] |
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I'm feeling a lot more relaxed now: The landlord's been paid, and we've got keys. We've also got the promise of window fixed whenever we arrange a time we can be in, and a fridge freezer being delivered on Wednesday. Looks like things are starting to come together! |
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| We have a house! |
[May. 22nd, 2011|12:15 pm] |
After two weeks of househunting in Brighton gin_gerkitten, sugar_and_space and myself have found a house, paid up, and got a set of keys.
We're based at 83 Horton Road; it's about 20 minutes' bus ride from the centre, which isn't too bad for a starting point. It's a ground-floor flat; the landlord's fine with smoking and cat inside the flat; it's cheap, and has a really nice view. The lounge is lovely: plenty of room, masses of sofa space, and an actual dining table.
Things we need to get for the flat:
- A fridge freezer
- Curtains
- A cat flap (The landlord has said he's fine with this, but wants written confirmation from the council that it's okay -- he's the leaseholder on the place, they're freeholders.)
- More desks
I still need to meet the landlord tomorrow to pick up the remaining keys and transfer the rent and deposit to him, but aside from that: I have a house in Brighton! |
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| So, Maelstrom |
[Apr. 27th, 2011|02:49 pm] |
Basically: This is the first event I've been to where I've actually felt like I was getting things right. Before I've been nervous and hung around at the edges; this time I've actually gotten properly involved, and really enjoyed it.
Good bits:
* My first taste of the Plot Stick.
* For the first time, feeling like the things I was doing were important, that I wasn't just hanging on and watching other people do the work.
* The glorious weather.
* Getting unexpectedly paid five shillings by a complete stranger for singing a Jacques Brel cover.
* Successful camping. When I was young, I camped some times with the scouts. I was awful at it; couldn't pitch a tent, tie a rope, or wash up properly, and spent most of the time letting people down, being shouted at, and feeling miserable. I've got kind of a terror of doing anything large-scale-campsitey now; being able to pull my weight during setup and takedown helped overcome that a lot. And doing washing up when you're IC turns out to actually be quite a nice break from having to think about IC stuff.
Bad bits:
* I was probably lucky to get away with the amount of sunburn I did. But I did get burned. Ouch.
* Forgetting a toothbrush, so my mouth tasted foul all weekend.
* Matching my character drink for drink. Turns out it's much more fun to roleplay being drunk than actually be drunk, even if you don't take into account the issue of hangover.
* The new costume that I bought ripping at the crotch after one night of being worn. Fortunately, I had backup. Even more fortunately, it was a lot lighter than the stuff that broke, so looks like I'm keeping it. (I do want to find some braces that will pass for IC, though.)
* The question mark over whether I'll be able to make the next event.
* I got the feeling I was leaning on the rest of the Traders a bit for prices and approval of deals I made. Which in a way is fair enough IC given I've not been in the New World long, but I worry it was frustrating OC for them. |
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| Leaving, on a jet pl^H^H^H^H^H^HBritish Rail train |
[Apr. 8th, 2011|02:10 pm] |
So, some of you might already be aware that I'm not going to be sticking around in Oxford for very long: myself, gin_gerkitten and sugar_and_space are packing our bags to move to sunny Brighton.
In fact, I've now got a date set: my last day in Oxford is May 6th. Before that, I really ought to say goodbye to the city that's been my home for eight years.
So my plan is to claim the afternoon of Saturday 16th April as my own, sit around in the beer garden of the Angel and Greyhound from about 1pm with a late lunch, early beer, and card games, and then to improvise some sort of wonderful, harmonious plan when the post-LARP crowd arrive. If you're reading this, you're very welcome to come along, either with the LARPers when they stumble in muddy and tired or earlier, for food and games and sunshine-enjoying*.
Edited to include the date of when it's happening, because I am dozy.
actual sunshine not guaranteed |
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