Zone Doubt, a.k.a. 'Surreal Я Us'...

Joules, trusted by... dozens... to make a drama out of your crisis...

Other sites:

:: JAT :: WaveWrights :: Publications ::

I live to write. It's not wise to get in my way.

... I'd write my autobiography, but no-one would believe it....


If you come across any words you don't recognise in this blog, take a look at the Taylorspeke Glossary in the left-hand infopane, you'll usually find a definition there.


The Poppy Tales

(Transformers fanfiction!)

Transformers mini-comics here.




Adventures in Orchids

Apparently I am now collecting them...

There's room for one - or maybe two, at a pinch - more on that bedroom windowsill (the only one in the house that's ideal for them). Let's see what I find. Well, that didn't last long...


EO - Everlasting orchid. Phalaenopsis. I've had this orchid since 2007 and it just keeps flowering...







AO - Alien face orchid. Phalaenopsis . Bought 2018 - lovely little flowers, all different patterns!





RO - Rescued orchid photo to come when it flowers. Phalaenopsis. Rescued from a bin up the road in 2019. Classic!






TO - Tiny orchid. Phalaenopsis. Bought at Tesco 21.8.20. It just begged to come home with me. How could I say no?





CO - Crimson orchid. Cambria. Another Tesco find. This one may be going to live in Ken's room once we've redecorated and put up the new shelving; it prefers a cooler, less sunny windowsill. If so, I'll need to find another cambrian to keep it company.






GO - Golden orchid. Phalaenopsis. Saw this one when I bought CO and left it behind - then immediately regretted it as soon as I got home. Never seen one like it before. Ken, bless him, went back over to Tesco in the rain and bought it for me...





DO - Dendrobium Orchid. Smells of wisteria, so beautiful...











RO2 - Rescued orchid no 2. Phalaenopsis. This is the one I rescued from the wall along the road middle of 2021.








PO. Pink orchid. Phalaenopsis. This is the one I bought at Cabury Garden Centre on special, late 2021. It's much happier here!










TWO. Teeny weeny orchid, Phalaenopsis. Rescued from Tesco end 2021 (I think).




















My IMDb ep summaries

(completed)
Arthur of the Britons
Sky
Star Maidens
The Starlost
Space Rangers
The Sentinel (part: seasons 2 and 3)
Swamp Thing (part: season 3)
Gravedale High
Transformers: Armada
Transformers: Energon
Transformers: Cybertron (part)
Misfits of Science (four eps)
Zoo Gang
Zodiac
Jupiter Moon
Transformers: Beast Wars (part: seasons 2 and 3)
Transformers: Beast Machines (part)
Vampire Princess Miyu
Starhyke
Nathan Barley
No Heroics
Undermind (3 eps)
Will Shakespeare (Tim Curry version)
Nightwalker
12 Kingdoms
Trigun (ep 8)
Rayearth
Hyperdrive (season 2 ep 3)
The Café

For later:

Missing Earthian ep
Missing Haibane Renme eps


Silver birch at Eastwood 

Farm

"Autumnal - nothing to do with leaves. It is to do with a certain brownness at the edges of the day... Brown is creeping up on us, take my word for it... Russets and tangerine shades of old gold flushing the very outside edge of the senses... deep shining ochres, burnt umber and parchments of baked earth - reflecting on itself and through itself, filtering the light. At such times, perhaps, coincidentally, the leaves might fall, somewhere..."

(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Act 2: Tom Stoppard)

Autumn...

I love this time of year. I love the colours, the sharp slant of sunlight on the trees, mosaics of acid-yellow and harts- blood, velvet and darkness and a haze of mist-grey over the hills. I love its immanence, its mellowness, the tang of frost just around the corner of the year...

Watching the little birds in the goat-willow in my garden, I realised something more.

I love this land with a fierce, possessive love, deep-rooted in two thousand years of history. From the frosted beaches and cloud-brushing peaks of the north to the wind-haunted meanderings of the rivers of the east, from the sensuous rolling patchworked hills of the south to the demanding dark moors of the west, this land seeps into bone and blood and synapse, mother of motley nobility, culture, individual freedoms. It can be known. It can be understood. It can be felt deep inside.

I love its effortless eccentricities, its vigour and vibrancy, its flawed perfections, its silent strength and tenacious resilience, its hard-won tolerances and intense and variable beauty, the profound energy in its sacred mythical landscape.

Home and more-than-home, the forces that shape and protect and bind, in me, as I am in the land. Love returning love in the stillness for those who'll only take the time to listen...

(Joules, Autumn 2004)


All photographs taken by Joules unless otherwise specified. All photographs © Joules A Taylor or other specified individual.


In Memoriam

17.03.09 - Argent

25.07.08 - Raptor

18.12.07 - Quyn

02.12.06 - Ryme


Currently enjoying:
Muse
Transformers - IDW, Prime, Animated, Rescue Bots.

Currently reading:
Various Transformers books and graphic novels.



Currently working on:
Haadri

Currently chuffed with:
My garden

Currently miffed at:
Nestlé, Nonpres Tinyhands Fart, Toadface Farage

Currently maintaining:
BCHS
BCW


Blog Pics
I've gathered some of my pages of photos together: the page of links is here. I'll be adding more as time goes by!




Evil Squid
A Little Glossary of Taylorspeke
(in no particular order)

plit popints - n. Typo for 'plot points' typed on a keyboard with more than half the characters worn off...

[PING] (alt [ping]) - n. A brainwave. The text equivalent of a lightbulb going on blindingly over someone's head. Usually mine. And usually at the most inconvenient of times. [sigh]

TPTB - The Powers That Be.

wulmet - n. A person of little or no talent who somehow inveigles himself into a position where he is in power over other, far more talented people and uses his position to downplay them in order to try to make himself feel superior.

biteable - referring to an anatomical part vb, tasty.

Flatterfed - vb. 27.02.08: my typo for flattered, but since it's so cutely apt I thought it would fit nicely here. Lutra defined it as "the lovely warm feeling of satisfaction resulting from enthusiastic reviews..." (which I've been getting for my MB fics).

Composted - vb, 'compos mentis', mentally capable of working. Contrast with uncomposted or non- composted, not 'compos mentis', not capable of working, hungover...

Cumbles - n, cucumbers.

Kewp - how Ken says 'thank you'. We rather like Lutra's 'nanx', too...

Musekick - noun, music, without which I cannot work.

'feinne - noun, caffeine, essential for correct mental functioning, especially first thing in the morning. I prefer mine in the form of SodaStream Diet Coke. And on that subject...

Skoosh - verb, noun. To skoosh - to add CO2 to a sodastream bottle filled with water to make it fizzy, prior to adding Diet Coke syrup (or just drinking as sparkling water). A skoosh - a bottle of water that has been skooshed. Skooshy - something that has been skooshed, water, or that whipped cream that comes in tins you have to shake then upend and press the nozzle...

Shoogle - verb. To shake gently, for example, of roast potatoes in a roasting tin to ensure they're covered with oil. I have vague memories of this being a real Scottish colloquialism...

Stegasaurus - n, spider of the genus tegenaria. Why? No idea. I just find it easier, that's all...
Edit 08.09.07: Lutra thinks that Brian is a good name for a mini-stegasaurus. From now on, any 'Brian's in the posts may be assumed to be a tegenaria. Except where otherwise specified.

Viterals - noun, vitamins + minerals. Also a pun on victuals.

Splish - verb. A combination of slosh and splash.

Parrots - noun, paracetemol (from the old joke "Why are there no aspirin tablets in the jungle? Because the parrots eat 'em all...")

Maggles - noun, magpies. As opposed to non-magical people.

Flamewings - noun. Swifts. So called because the first time we became aware of them was an early summer evening when they were flying high, the light from the setting sun seemingly turning their wings to flames. Lovely little birds. We always know summer's arrived when we hear their high-pitched squeeing.

Murfs - noun, moths.

Peasant cut - noun, roughly cut up into big chunks, e.g. vegetables chopped in a hurry for a hearty stew or soup. By extension, anything prepared in a hurry - haircut, material, even a first draft of a story...

Giraffe - noun, a carafe (of wine, coffee or water, for example).

Shrumps - noun, mushrooms.

Splings - noun, Kai's spelling homework: by extension, any spelling.

Tyops - noun, typos. var toyps, typso, psyto, psoyt, etc. Usual result of a dose of the fingerials (see next entry).

Fingerials - (pr. fin GEEE ree yalls) noun, fingers that will not type what you want them to.

Haddock - noun, time, of which I never have enough. (Origin of this term here.)

Sleep - noun? vb? a.k.a. sheeeeeeeeep.... I used to know what this word meant...


The Updates Blog

The place to stay notified of WaveWrights' Fiction updates: Zone, Darkside, DarkRealm, Matrix, Vault, Safehouse 13...




my computer gremlin Butch. click the pic to see the larger image

Butch, my computer gremlin. Click the pic for larger version, and read his adventures here...

Butch by the talented 

Sylverthorne

A gift for me! Butch by the very talented Sylverthorne. Click pic for larger image.

Joules' 

Haddock

This is MY haddock. It was caught exclusively for me by Talon. No, you can't have any. I need all the haddock I can get!!



A'lestrel by Valkyrie.

A'lestrel - a gift for me from Valkyrie...



Albino Alsatian Benten (c) MEBird 

2004

Another gorgeous Valkyrie gift for me - Benten the Albino Alsatian! Click thumbnail for larger image.

Radittsu, an oekaki for my birthday 04 

by 

Onna

Oekai by Bakayaro Onna - Radittsu at his sexiest...



The Zone Plant from
The Zone 

blog 

plant

OrganicHTML (which alas no longer seems to exist...)
[::..My Regular Reads..::]
:: Astronomical Pic of the Day [>]
:: What is Space... [>]
:: Dark Roasted Blend [>]
:: BLDG [>]
:: Watchismo Times [>]
[::..Fun Places..::]
::HubbleSite
Stunning...
::PALEOMAP Project
Absolutely fascinating.
:: Skymap
Check out the night sky where you are!
[::..Useful Sites..::]
:: GreenNet
First stop for environmental matters
:: The Forest of Avon
Our local community forest and places to visit
:: The Guardian
Online Guardian Newspaper.
:: Symbols
Exactly what it says
:: World Timeserver
For checking the current time around this world
:: Universal Currency Converter
Actually it's just a terran-global currency converter, not universal, but it's still useful...

So what is it with the haddock? Am I some kind of fish freak?

I'll leave that to others to decide.

The tale (or tail if you prefer) harks back to October 2000, when my GoodTwin and I, ably assisted by Sue, ran the first UK Professionals convention...
It's common knowledge that I never have enough time, and I was determined not to bewail the fact that weekend: hence I promised not to use the 'T' word...
Of course, that didn't really work (if nothing else I had to let the trainees know what times things were supposed to be happening!) so we decided a substitute word would be employed instead. There were several suggestions. Banana came very close to being chosen. However, I eventually decided that 'haddock' fitted the bill nicely. Ever since, haddock=time. Hence the title of my forthcoming autobiography,
My Half-Life in the Haddock Space Continuum....


Normally I wouldn't, but these were just irresistible...

How could I resist?

Just too adorable...

and to complete the rainbow...

These Too-Kawaii Kitties
were adopted from
Ghost's Anime Page (which appears to have disappeared, alas...)

[::..Anime/Manga..::]
Useful sites:

BBTS -
Fabulous anime figures

Anime Lyrics
A huge selection... evil popups

Anime still needed to complete series' I'm collecting... Many thanks to everyone who has helped me acquire the collection!
Ai no Kusabi

Owned:
   DVD
   Dj: June Special
   CD: Ambivalence

Cyber City Oedo 808

Owned:
   DVD
   All 3 eps on Video, dubbed
   Dj: Cyberage 1-3
   Illustrated Book 2 (Benten's) in Japanese

From Eroica with Love

Owned:
   Manga Vols 1, 9, 11

Mirage of Blaze

Owned:
   DVD Vol 1 (eps 1-4)

R.G. Veda

Owned:
   English Manga: Vol 1
   Japanese Manga: Vol 1-7 complete
   Tarot Pack
   R.G.Veda video

Twelve Kingdoms

Owned:
   Anime Vol 1-12: complete

Under the Glass Moon

Owned:
   Manga Vol 1, 2
Vol 3 needed

Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust

Owned:
   DVD

   Vampire Hunter D Book 1



New Vampire Miyu

Owned:
   (Studio Ironcat) Manga Vols 1 -5 (complete)


Yami no Matsuei

Owned:
   Viz Manga: English translation, Vols 1 - 11 (complete: I believe vol 12 is only available online)
   Japanese 3-DVD set
   Central Park Media: Descendants of Darkness Vol. 1, English/Japanese subbed.
   Sketchbook


[::..Joules SP fied..::]


... this is Terra? How the hell'd I end up here...?

(Thanks, Lutra, for the quote!)

[::..archive..::]
07/01/2002 - 07/31/2002
08/01/2002 - 08/31/2002
09/01/2002 - 09/30/2002
10/01/2002 - 10/31/2002
11/01/2002 - 11/30/2002
12/01/2002 - 12/31/2002
01/01/2003 - 01/31/2003
02/01/2003 - 02/28/2003
03/01/2003 - 03/31/2003
04/01/2003 - 04/30/2003
05/01/2003 - 05/31/2003
06/01/2003 - 06/30/2003
07/01/2003 - 07/31/2003
08/01/2003 - 08/31/2003
09/01/2003 - 09/30/2003
10/01/2003 - 10/31/2003
11/01/2003 - 11/30/2003
12/01/2003 - 12/31/2003
01/01/2004 - 01/31/2004
02/01/2004 - 02/29/2004
03/01/2004 - 03/31/2004
04/01/2004 - 04/30/2004
05/01/2004 - 05/31/2004
06/01/2004 - 06/30/2004
07/01/2004 - 07/31/2004
08/01/2004 - 08/31/2004
09/01/2004 - 09/30/2004
10/01/2004 - 10/31/2004
11/01/2004 - 11/30/2004
12/01/2004 - 12/31/2004
01/01/2005 - 01/31/2005
02/01/2005 - 02/28/2005
03/01/2005 - 03/31/2005
04/01/2005 - 04/30/2005
05/01/2005 - 05/31/2005
06/01/2005 - 06/30/2005
07/01/2005 - 07/31/2005
08/01/2005 - 08/31/2005
09/01/2005 - 09/30/2005
10/01/2005 - 10/31/2005
11/01/2005 - 11/30/2005
12/01/2005 - 12/31/2005
01/01/2006 - 01/31/2006
02/01/2006 - 02/28/2006
03/01/2006 - 03/31/2006
04/01/2006 - 04/30/2006
05/01/2006 - 05/31/2006
06/01/2006 - 06/30/2006
07/01/2006 - 07/31/2006
08/01/2006 - 08/31/2006
09/01/2006 - 09/30/2006
10/01/2006 - 10/31/2006
11/01/2006 - 11/30/2006
12/01/2006 - 12/31/2006
01/01/2007 - 01/31/2007
02/01/2007 - 02/28/2007
03/01/2007 - 03/31/2007
04/01/2007 - 04/30/2007
05/01/2007 - 05/31/2007
06/01/2007 - 06/30/2007
07/01/2007 - 07/31/2007
08/01/2007 - 08/31/2007
09/01/2007 - 09/30/2007
10/01/2007 - 10/31/2007
11/01/2007 - 11/30/2007
12/01/2007 - 12/31/2007
01/01/2008 - 31/01/2008
01/02/2008 - 29/02/2008
03/01/2008 - 31/03/2008
01/04/2008 - 04/30/2008
01/05/2008 - 31/05/2008
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01/11/2008 - 31/11/2008
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01/12/2014 - 31/12/2014
01/01/2015 - 31/01/2015
01/02/2015 - 28/02/2015
01/03/2015 - 31/03/2015
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01/05/2015 - 31/05/2015
01/06/2015 - 30/06/2015
01/07/2015 - 31/07/2015
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01/11/2015 - 31/11/2015
01/12/2015 - 31/12/2015
01/01/2016 - 31/01/2016
01/022016 - 28/02/2016
01/03/2016 - 31/03/2016
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01/06/2016 - 30/06/2016
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01/11/2016 - 31/11/2016
01/12/2016 - 31/12/2016
01/01/2017 - 31/01/2017
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01/07/2017 - 31/07/2017
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01/11/2017 - 30/11/2017
01/12/2017 - 31/12/2017
01/01/2018 - 31/01/2018
01/02/2018 - 28/02/2018
01/03/2018 - 31/03/2018
01/04/2018 - 30/04/2018
01/05/2018 - 31/05/2018
01/06/2018 - 30/06/2018
01/07/2018 - 31/07/2018
01/08/2018 - 31/08/2018
01/09/2018 - 30/09/2018
01/10/2018 - 31/10/2018
01/11/2018 - 30/11/2018
01/12/2018 - 31/12/2018
01/01/2019 - 31/01/2019
01/02/2019 - 28/02/2019
01/03/2019 - 31/03/2019
01/04/2019 - 30/04/2019
01/05/2019 - 31/05/2019
01/06/2019 - 30/06/2019
01/07/2019 - 31/07/2019
01/08/2019 - 31/08/2019
01/09/2019 - 30/09/2019
01/10/2019 - 31/10/2019
01/11/2019 - 30/11/2019
01/12/2019 - 31/12/2019
01/01/2020 - 31/01/2020
01/02/2020 - 29/02/2020
01/03/2020 - 31/03/2020
01/04/2020 - 31/04/2020
01/05/2020 - 31/05/2020
01/06/2020 - 31/06/2020
01/07/2020 - 31/07/2020
01/08/2020 - 31/08/2020
01/09/2020 - 30/09/2020
01/10/2020 - 31/10/2020
01/11/2020 - 30/11/2020
01/12/2020 - 31/12/2020
01/01/2021 - 31/01/2021
01/02/2021 - 28/02/2021
01/03/2021 - 31/03/2021
01/04/2021 - 30/04/2021
01/05/2021 - 31/05/2021
01/06/2021 - 30/06/2021
01/07/2021 - 31/07/2021
01/08/2021 - 31/08/2021
01/09/2021 - 30/09/2021
01/10/2021 - 31/10/2021
01/11/2021 - 30/11/2021
01/12/2021 - 31/12/2021
01/01/2022 - 31/01/2022
01/02/2022 - 28/02/2022
01/03/2022 - 31/03/2022
01/04/2022 - 30/04/2022
01/05/2022 - 30/05/2022
01/06/2022 - 31/06/2022
01/07/2022 - 31/07/2022
01/08/2022 - 31/08/2022
01/09/2022 - 30/09/2022
01/10/2022 - 31/10/2022
01/11/2021 - 31/11/2021
01/12/2022 - 31/12/2022
01/01/2023 - 31/01/2023
01/02/2023 - 28/02/2023
01/03/2023 - 31/03/2023
01/04/2023 - 30/04/2023
01/08/2023 - 31/08/2023
01/11/2023 - 31/11/2023

Thursday, February 28, 2013

So there was a little birthday cash left over after everything was totted up...

We're still watching - and mostly enjoying, even though at least half of it is running and being shot at - Beast Machines, and I really like Cheetor's lean, elegant, long leggy design (he's a great character too). And as it happened, there was a Cheetor figure on ebay for half of what I had left...

He's an absolute bugger to transform, though that's mostly because he's almost new and the joints are really stiff. They'll loosen if I transform him a few times. And as you can see, there's no way on earth he'll ever stand up on his own without some sort of stand, blutak underpaw, or leaning against something...

... so he's just going to sit here all nonchalant instead...[g]


The last little bit of cash has bought the hysterically bad Starcrash from amazon uk.

Labels: ,





2 Comments:

Blogger GoodTwin said...

He looks *mean*... :)

8:03 am  
Blogger Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor said...

Aww, he's just a big kitty really...

1:14 pm  



Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Spot the difference...

Before.

After.

Labels:





2 Comments:

Blogger Lutra said...

... are there more of them?

10:35 am  
Blogger Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor said...

LOL!
Um, yes, just a few. But they're more organised now as well.

12:49 pm  



Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Birthday

Long, picture-heavy post is long with lots of pictures...

So Ken brought me up a mug of Douwe and Egberts Vanilla Coffee to start the day and it all went uphill from there!

The cards - oh, the cards! They told a story - and I opened them in this order too!
from Kim




<- from Kim...


















from Carol




From GoodTwin ->


















from Sue











<- from Sue!! (Obviously after the six bottles of wine and the male stripper have kicked in...)








And this from Lutra! So cute...







And then - the birthday swag...


First, the little 'How to Draw Transformers' book - neat, and useful, but with one glaring error - they haven't included Knock Out. Everyone else, including Airachnid and Skyquake, but not everyone's favourite fabulous Doctor. Ooooh dear...

The Ark - the Autobot ship from the third Bayverse film. It's sized for the Cyberverse figures and I will populate it later, when I've reorganised my desk.

As a ship.

the Ark











Transformed into a battle station. (There's a little cell at the back for holding captured 'Cons!)


Transformers: Armada Skywarp with his minicon Thunderclash. The second of my presents from GoodTwin and Sue. Although he never appears in the cartoon, he is in the (now sadly defunct) Dreamwave comics continuity. The wiki describes him as:

a petty, immature prankster with good aim and the ability to warp place to place as he pleases. He uses his warping power as a toy. It is a tool for thuggery and practical jokes. However, he is also a dangerous combatant versed in an array of martial techniques. Proud of his excellent aim, Skywarp has named himself "Bull's-eye in the Sky."

Doesn't stop him being very pretty though!

Skywarp

Skywarp


Skywarp

And lastly, Vector Prime from Transformers: Cybertron, with his minicon Safeguard. One of the original Thirteen, and the ruler of Space and Time. (And he runs on clockwork. The original, that is, not my figure.) The plushie mouse is his plush version [g]. I saw him in a charity shop for 30p and had to have him. I don't know if you can see the similarities but they struck me immediately

Vector Prime
Vector Prime
Vector Prime


And in a few minutes we'll be having organic rump steak and chips for dinner...

I have had a wonderful day! Many thanks to everyone for making it that way.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Sue said...

Hap, hap, happy day!

9:13 pm  
Blogger GoodTwin said...

Kim's card is so accurate! :)

11:02 pm  



Monday, February 25, 2013

Of course, what I forgot to say about the visit on Saturday was that GoodTwin brought the rabbit with her...


He's poorly and needs medication 2 - 3 times a day. Tyjer was thoroughly spooked and spent the evening after everyone had left wandering around looking behind and under things to make sure it had gone.

Feather showed an interest too, though that would have been a bit ambitious for her...

Today has been client stuff, mostly.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Lutra said...

He's almost as big at Ty, isn't he? (woodgie bun... :)

9:46 am  
Blogger GoodTwin said...

Hee, not really. His hutchmate Martini is probably getting on for cat-size - she's about a third bigger than Saki.
I didn't let the bun run around. It's astonishing how big brave puss-cats can be scared of a small bun :)

11:01 pm  



Sunday, February 24, 2013

Sunday again, where did the week go?

Interesting. After dinner we all watched the first three eps of Beast Machines (I suggested K&K just watch a couple so they know what I'm talking about). They're both intrigued and would like to watch more. I hadn't expected that...

Next!Poppy started but I'm too tired to do anything tonight.

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Saturday, February 23, 2013

GoodTwin and Sue came over for the first day of my extended birthday (as decreed by Sue, whose birthday never ends). In honour of the occasion I opened and transformed my Transformers: Armada Jetfire...



He is magnificent! So show accurate and a beautiful piece of design. Love him to bits and he's out on my desk beside his Starscream and in front of Cybertron SS. (Only problem is I transformed his minicon Comettor more by luck than judgement and now I can't transform him back. The instructions are about as helpful as a slap round the face with a wet lettuce...)

We watched a couple of stories from Sue's Ace of Wands (season 3, which is all that remains of the series, alas), which was wonderful, then we played a couple of rounds of Tom Baker's Ultimate Sci Fi Quiz, which was great fun even if we all ended up floating in space forever, having not managed to get back to earth.

And then we played the X is for Unexplained board game I picked up from the charity shop a little way back.

Perhaps I should say we tried to play it. The questions had a choice of three answers each, the correct one being noted with a X (which confused me to start with as that indicates a wrong answer to me), and varied from 'According to Douglas Addams, what is the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything?' to 'How long was the column of toads that traversed the Liaonging Province of Northern China in 1966?' (Or something like that. The card is back in the pack now and I'm not going to dig it out. Oh, the answer is 1,000 miles. No, we couldn't fathom it either. That's an awful lot of toads...) I swear you have to be a life-long multi-conspiracy theorist to even begin to know the answers to most of them!

Just to make the game more interesting, if you land on a square with a X on it - you have to give the wrong answer... [sigh] Every time I got one my answer was correct. Every bloody time! I couldn't have done that if I'd tried...

I think Sue won? It was funny to play but I don't think I'm likely to play it much in future.

And Sue gave me these.

Yes, they are a real thing!

Steamy would love them...

And the Transformers: Beast Machines boxed set arrived! Will inflict the first two eps on K&K tomorrow.

It was a fantastic day - Feather even came out to be cuddled! - and as always it ended too soon. Thank you both - I had a wonderful time!

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4 Comments:

Blogger Lutra said...

Yes, he is a bit magnificent, isn't he? :)
Sounds like a great day (and I love the mints! Have you tried them yet?)

11:45 pm  
Blogger Sue said...

It was Carol who won the game. I think she has sneaky game strategy when it comes to board games :)
It was a lovely day, as always - thank you!

10:43 am  
Blogger Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor said...

Oops - sorry GoodTwin! I had a memory once upon a time...
It was a wonderful day and no, I haven't tried the mints yet. I like garlic but I'm a little worried about these!

3:52 pm  
Blogger GoodTwin said...

My sneaky game strategy seems to consist of managing to get things wrong - but that could have been my advantage here :)
I hope Feather enjoyed me cuddling her as much as I enjoyed giving the cuddle, although I suspect it was the lovely smell of dinner on my jumper that she enjoyed :)

11:07 pm  



Friday, February 22, 2013

Fall of Cybertron Starscream arrived:

FoC SS

FoC SS

Very nice. The triple barrels of the guns rotate when that cog is turned. He is, luckily, smaller than I was anticipating - about five inches high.

And this is good, because a Machine Wars Starscream appeared on ebay that was actually affordable. And he is large. Not quite as big as Cybertron SS, I think, but getting on for it.

When he arrives - I'll have the lot! A complete obsession of Starscreams, at least one from every continuity. YAY!!!

(Don't anyone dare ask what I'll be moving onto next!)

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2 Comments:

Blogger Sue said...

The very idea of asking had not even started to contemplate the merest possibility of beginning to cross my mind. Now, however.....

8:17 am  
Blogger Lutra said...

[snicker]

11:00 am  



Thursday, February 21, 2013

You know those days when you feel as if you are never going to do anything or accomplish anything worthwhile in your life? You look at the library-copy bookshelf, your home, your family, and your head is yelling "Don't be so bloody stupid!" but deep inside there's a sneering little voice chanting "you're a failure - always been one, always will be"...

Yeah. I hate those days.

Lutra said I'll be lusting after a sports car next. I said I'd rather have a Defender. Or a starship. Or a TARDIS.

Though I most certainly wouldn't say no to a Nemesis...

Today it was just very cold.

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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Well, in between finishing off the proposal (started off at barely 4 pages, ended up at 8 - fingers crossed!) and a flying trip up to Wilkinson's at Broadmead to restock the wildbird food, and then watching Battlefield Earth (a 99p what-the-hell buy from a charity shop - bad but not as bad as I remember...) to kill off the brain after dinner, Monday kind of disappeared. Again.

And today I did another fairly large Sainsbury shop, and am now going to take the afternoon off, flop on the sofa and continue watching Transformers: Armada

From Lutra's tumblr - this is adorable.


I just fall over the name. A Desert. Rain. Frog. Three words that simply shouldn't exist side by side in the same sentence...

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Sunday, February 17, 2013

Usual Sunday. Kai came shopping with me and we stocked up the freezer with specials. The proposal is done all bar a handful of illustration suggestions and can go off tomorrow as promised. I now have one cucumber and two tomato seedlings (Glacier and Brandywine) showing and have started taking the covered seedtray out to the greenhouse during the day to get as much light as possible to them (weather's been gloriously sunny the last two days).

And that's about it.

Making a start on next!Poppy but it's going to be a little delayed...

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Saturday, February 16, 2013

Kai has been working very hard, and fancied a trip to Glastonbury, so we FirstBused it out before lunch. Had a look around the upper part of the town (and he found a print he just fell in love with, and bought for himself: will have to get a frame for it) then carried on to Street for a quick shufti there. A lot of fun and a great afternoon out but I'm knackered now, we didn't get back until gone 6. Watching a couple of eps of Transformers: Beast Machines on Youtube to see what it's like, then hoping for an early night.

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Friday, February 15, 2013

Another working day... Kai was upstairs today, but took a break outside while we had a blow through. Then he levelled out the stand for the greenhouse waterbutt (it started listing badly to the left last year) while I moved some foxglove seedlings away from the cerinthe patch.

He's been invited to Bristol Uni on a Visit Day (a special one, not the standard two they hold each year). I check on their website and this is what they say about Visit Days:

You will be invited along to a visit day if you have applied to study with us, and we think you have the potential to do well on one of our courses. Visit days are held between November and March.

N.B. Occasionally the 'visit day' may be referred to as a 'UCAS day', 'interview day' or 'admission day'

It's in reference to his application for one or both of two courses he'd applied for - Computer science M.Eng and Computer science with Maths B.Sc. I'll be going as well, to find out the stuff we need to know from our side. All so exciting! Fingers crossed please. Bristol is ranked in the top 50 universities in the world.

Edit: and a new Fall of Cybertron Starscream has just appeared on ebay at a decent 'buy now' price with cheap postage (from Weston-super-Mare! I swear this part of the country has more tf fans of multiple continuities than any other...) so Ken said grab him while I could. Out of packaging but in perfect nick, the description was, so my collection is now almost complete.

Because of course there's always one out of reach. These prices are insane, and I have no intention of paying them. I'm sure that one will turn up at a price I feel happy with, and until then I'm prepared to wait.

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1 Comments:

Blogger GoodTwin said...

ooh, Bristol Uni sounds good. I have everything crossed.

11:39 pm  



Thursday, February 14, 2013

Kai was working upstairs today, but took a break at 2.30 and we went to make a start at getting the ivy off the wall at the top. Ken cut through all the stems at the base and it's been gradually pulling away from the wall as it dies, but I DO NOT want it landing on all the plants on the slope (two pretty acers, one of which is now almost my height, the sumac, and the wiegela from Sue). We've got about half of it, which is pretty good going, and the plants are now safe. Of course, we have a massive pile of ivy offcuts, but not a lot we can do about that...
daphne buds






My daphne finally has flower buds! Lots of them!

I made us steak and chips for dinner, since it's Valentine's Day. And we watched Looper, which is very good.



The moss and lichen on the elder tree is amazing...

moss on elder

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Wednesday, February 13, 2013

And the proposal is finally coming together - I woke up knowing exactly how to do it (and how to slant the style of the book). I love the way my brain works (except when it doesn't...)

Kai decided to work downstairs today, so we had music all afternoon as he ploughed through physics course work. I rather enjoy it when we're working 'together'.

Kai found this a while back and I meant to post it then forgot... It's beautiful. And heart-wrenching.


There are buds on just about everything in the garden. Fingers crossed for a very pretty year!

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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

It's all one long slog at the moment. Waking up late didn't help, as I was all behind. The work on the proposal went well - then I got a slew of urgent! client stuff that had to be done right now (fair enough, it was time sensitive...) I've just now got a minute to rest and it's nearly 10 pm.

[grump] Needs a holiday...

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Monday, February 11, 2013

Client stuff. Lots and lots and lots of client stuff. And a reprieve on the proposal, as I only have one chance to get it right so it needs to be bloody good.

But Skywarp and Jetfire arrived! YAY!! And are now closeted away upstairs (hopefully with pretty sparkly bows on them) until GoodTwin and Sue come over later in the month...

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Sunday, February 10, 2013

[sigh] Normal Sunday. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along....

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Saturday, February 09, 2013

The Poppy Tales 

Fourth part of New World 2 - Operations - now posted over at The Poppy Tales (link above).

Enjoy!

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Friday, February 08, 2013

So - client stuff this morning, then the afternoon was spent teaching xhtml/css and general netiquette to Lizzie, who is taking on the day to day management of the BCAP site. It was most enjoyable - been ages since I've tutored anyone and I'd forgotten how much I like it.

Then after dinner we watched Total Recall (the 2012 version). Was OK, I guess. Rollicking film, slim plot, heavy on the action. Not one we'll be getting but OK after a very busy week and when feeling tired.

Not a lot of Poppy done and no proposal at all. Must do better. (Don't need an elephant, thanks, Lutra...)

Oooh ooh ooh! Goodtwin and Sue said they'd buy the Armada figures for my birthday (so I don't have to wait 10 months for them!) [GLOMPS!] That is really too generous. Thank you.

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Thursday, February 07, 2013

Client site stuff for most of the day, but it is just about finished now. Tanked over to Tesco in the afternoon (to save having to do it tomorrow), and came back for some serious ebaying...

It's all Lutra's fault (of course). I idly commented on skype yesterday that I would quite like some more Armada figures, and she asked how easy they were to get hold of. My first reaction was "not", but then I thought I'd better check. Amazon - ouch. Only OP and over £100 if I remember correctly. So then I though I'd check ebay...

[headdeskheadddeskheaddesk] A man in Grimsby - oop north - was selling his entire collection of Armada figures... All of them. Unopened. In original packaging. Two ebay pages of them. Including the two I fancied - Jetfire and Skywarp...

To elucidate. Jetfire is fun. Next to SS and OP he's probably my favourite character. I honestly thought I'd never find one, but this guy had two. (Different decos - pre- and post-Nemesis Prime versions I think (haven't got there yet on my rewatch on the TV), and it was the pre- version I preferred.) Skywarp never appears in the cartoon, only in the Dreamwave continuity - but they made a figure anyway, I believe to give the series a Seeker trine like in G1 (i.e. Red pre-Nemesis Prime Starscream, blue post-Nemesis Starscream who comments in the English dub that he looks just like Thundercracker, and purple Skywarp.) So it's the first non-appearing figure I've acquired, but I don't mind this once, as he is quite magnificent. Basic SS body but the head is completely different and the knee-blades have fans in the middle!

But I may have to wait til next Yule to have them as they were more expensive than I wanted (and I had to resort to my patented 'wait until the last 20 seconds then put in bid and max bid and hope no-one can type faster than you' tactic in order to get Jetfire, as I watched the price creep up and up... erk). But I have them! Dead chuffed.

Proposal all day tomorrow - with breaks for next!Poppy.

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1 Comments:

Blogger Lutra said...

Pffft, yeah, blame me. :)

10:02 am  



Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Knackered.

But it was an interesting day. Got a little client stuff done in the morning (more still to do, unfortunately), then Kim picked me up early afternoon and we went to Bedminster (North Street, where the Tobacco Factory is) to check out charity shops etc, then over to Bedminster main shopping precinct for another browse. Didn't actually find anything but it was a fun afternoon anyway, lots of chatting and exchanging of news.

Then this evening Ken and I wandered over to the Thunderbolt for readings by member and friends of the Bristol Writers Group. They started very late, so we only caught half of the event, but I have to recommend The Time-Sweepers by Ursula Wills-Jones - a cracking short story I really enjoyed.

Now hopefully hoping for an earlyish night. Tired and my legs are killing me...

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Tuesday, February 05, 2013

YAY!!



My package came today! Remember I said I was on the lookout for a very cheap copy of the first part of Transformers: Armada? Well, I sort of found one on ebay.

Or rather, I found the whole series, eps 1 - 52, new, on a German import, for £24.99 plus £2.25 p&p.


The whole thing.



(It would have been over a hundred dollars from amazon u.s. for part 1 - I already have part 2 ...)

Chuffed? Oh yeah. I don't mind the four day delay, even if it was a bit stressful at the time.
 

The only thing I have to remember is to hit 'sprachen' and change it from Deutsch to Englisch every time I put a disc in, otherwise it starts playing with the German dub.

In other news - I got a handful of seeds planted, indoors, to see what will happen - the old favourite cucumber 'Burpless', and four tomatoes, Black Russian, Brandywine, Sweet Millions, and Glacier. If I can get those going we could have a much longer cropping season..

And lastly, a publisher is showing tentative nibbles around the last proposal I sent to agent. They want a more detailed synopsis, so I shall be working on that over the next couple of days. Fingers crossed please!

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3 Comments:

Blogger Sue said...

Oh well done for nabbing such a bargain! And fingers will be crossed for a bite from the publisher.

5:37 pm  
Blogger GoodTwin said...

hee, sprachen ze English bitte... :)

I do like your hippo...

6:41 pm  
Blogger Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor said...

Thanks both! i have been so lucky with my finds. If only it would translate into winning the lottery..,

6:50 pm  



Monday, February 04, 2013

Anxiously waiting for an important package that was expected on Friday and hasn't yet arrived = not being able to concentrate.

But at least the fridge and cooker got a thorough cleaning...

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Sunday, February 03, 2013

The Poppy Tales 

Third part of New World 2 - Misunderstandings - now posted over at The Poppy Tales (link above).

Enjoy!

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Saturday, February 02, 2013

So Ken and I took a day off, leapt on buses and FirstDayed it off to Glastonbury and Street.

Wonderfully sunny day, and there's a faint haze of green on the trees already - must be spring! We haunted the usual charity shops and I found The Little Book of Fast Cars for £1.50 - will be useful reference for when I want a fast car transformer alt mode, save me ages googling them. On the way back, just outside of Wells, we passed a garden centre - with two very large missiles (one looked old, the other much more recent) in the 'garden ornaments' section. I mean, large as in looked to be about 8 foot long... I'd love one! Would certainly be an interesting feature in the front garden. Might even scare off the cold callers!

Sun was setting on the way back - beautiful colours but the bus was going to fast - and heading away from it - for me to take any decent pics.

And this evening we watched my latest Lovefilm, Safe. Very violent but very satisfying.

Been a nice day, all told. And now it's back to Poppy...

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Friday, February 01, 2013

Insanely manic.

On the sensible side, we got a little essential garden stuff done, and I've prepared a few minipots to start off some early seed, as I want to seriously get the successional growing right this year. But not until after the cold snap forecast for the middle of next week.

Poppy now nearly three pages in and going well. Should be able to post over the weekend.

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