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
01/06/2008 - 30/06/2008
01/07/2008 - 31/07/2008
01/08/2008 - 31/08/2008
01/09/2008 - 30/09/2008
01/10/2008 - 31/10/2008
01/11/2008 - 31/11/2008
01/12/2008 - 31/12/2008
01/12/2008 - 31/12/2008
01/01/2009 - 31/01/2009
01/02/2009 - 28/02/2009
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01/01/2010 - 31/01/2010
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01/05/2010 - 31/05/2010
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01/01/2011 - 31/01/2011
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01/01/2013 - 31/01/2013
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01/10/2013 - 31/10/2013
01/11/2013 - 30/11/2013
01/12/2013 - 31/12/2013
01/01/2014 - 31/01/2014
01/02/2014 - 28/02/2014
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01/11/2014 - 30/11/2014
01/12/2014 - 31/12/2014
01/01/2015 - 31/01/2015
01/02/2015 - 28/02/2015
01/03/2015 - 31/03/2015
01/04/2015 - 30/04/2015
01/05/2015 - 31/05/2015
01/06/2015 - 30/06/2015
01/07/2015 - 31/07/2015
01/08/2015 - 31/08/2015
01/09/2015 - 30/09/2015
01/10/2015 - 31/10/2015
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
01/04/2016 - 31/04/2016
01/05/2016 - 31/05/2016
01/06/2016 - 30/06/2016
01/07/2016 - 31/07/2016
01/08/2016 - 31/08/2016
01/09/2016 - 31/09/2016
01/10/2016 - 31/10/2016
01/11/2016 - 31/11/2016
01/12/2016 - 31/12/2016
01/01/2017 - 31/01/2017
01/02/2017 - 28/02/2017
01/03/2017 - 31/03/2017
01/04/2017 - 30/04/2017
01/05/2017 - 31/05/2017
01/06/2017 - 30/06/2017
01/07/2017 - 31/07/2017
01/08/2017 - 31/08/2017
01/09/2017 - 30/09/2017
01/10/2017 - 31/10/2017
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

Sunday, March 31, 2013

0o0

They... they killed off Dinobot...

But... he was my favourite. Why do they keep killing off my favourites?

Upset now.

HOWEVER... Tf: P season 3, Beast Hunters, is turning out to be a lot better than anticipated (with one possible exception. We aren't there yet though so I'm keeping fingers crossed). And we watched the new Doctor Who tonight on replay - most enjoyable. I still don't like Matt Smith, but I suppose I'm getting used to him.

Feel absolutely dreadful. Can't believe this came on so fast. Apparently it can last for a couple of weeks - really hoping it doesn't. Brain AWOL and stuffed with cotton wool and not able to do anything that requires me to, y'know, think...

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0 Comments:



Saturday, March 30, 2013

Dammit, I'm going down with a lurgy: throat is really sore and feels like a tennis ball is stuck halfway down, and sinuses are stinging...

Labels:





3 Comments:

Blogger GoodTwin said...

Welcome to the club... :(

11:15 pm  
Blogger Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor said...

Symps...

1:40 pm  
Blogger GoodTwin said...

Got it Monday, just about gone now (I hope!) Second one this year; think I'm run down :(

11:40 pm  



Friday, March 29, 2013

Managed to wake up ridiculously early, and it's a wonderfully sunny day between the light cloudy spells, so I went out and cleaned the sun-ward half of the greenhouse inside and out - the sunlight can get in properly now. Seedlings are out enjoying the sunny breaks, and I've got leeks, courgettes, peas, salad leaves and watercress (in a seed tray in a solid seed tray half filled with water - will see if it works. Ken's going to need as much iron-rich food as possible and watercress is great for that) now on the go. The cold weather's not over yet but I'm hoping keeping them in the greenhouse will give them a good start.

Later on I'm hoping to persuade Kai to hoe the veg bed so I can start the carrots (and if he rakes behind the greenhouse I can throw down some sunflower seeds - thought that would be nice for a change and maybe tempt more birds and insects). Also going to sort out potato planters: the Talbot Rd Allotment Society sell seed spuds in the shop, and I can pay my year's sub and pick up a handful at the same time next weekend. I only need two or three of two different varieties and I'd rather buy from them that have to pick up two whole big bagfuls from a garden centre.

We had a long-tailed tit in the medlar earlier, hopping around from branch to branch. Then it flew off - and twenty minutes later flew back with four of its friends! I hope they become regular visitors - they're just so cute.

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

I don't think I actually accomplished anything today.

Oh, no, I put the sticky copper tape around the uprights of the outdoor staging that I germinate all the outdoor veg upon. Stuff's supposed to deter slugs and snails. I'll believe it when I don't see any gastropods amongst my leeks and lettuces...

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Well that was fun!

Because we (very very) occasionally eat at the Glassboat we were sent a voucher around Yule - buy one two course lunch and get one free (offer ending 30th of March). Ken's folks sent us up a little cheque for Eostre, so Ken thought it would be nice to take advantage of the offer and the gift and go out for lunch!

It was very nice. I had chicken liver parfait (fancy paté) with sweet onion... thing and toast, followed by roast belly pork on lemon cabbage and mash (Ken had plaice with prawn butter, which was also very tasty) and blood orange polenta cake with chantilly cream for dessert (this is probably my favourite dessert of all and I should try to learn to make it...) And of course the setting is always wonderful.

Afterwards, since we were in town anyway, we bussed up the Gloucester Rd to check out the charity shops, but unfortunately I've done in my Achilles tendon again and it was too painful to walk far.

Made spagbol for dinner (more for Kai than us - he had the big serving!) then settled down for another three eps of Cowboy Bebop (Vicious has just entered the fray...) Did I mention that Steve Blum (the voice actor for Tf: Prime's Starscream) voices the main character Spike Spiegel? And his non-SS voice is just meltingly sexy...

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

I'm fed up with the cold.

But at least it's not snowing here. Yet.

We started watching Cowboy Bebop tonight. It seems I've forgotten most of it, which is fine. It has the most wonderful sight gags and running jokes, and Kai and I were chortling from the second ep. Not sure Ken is quite so grabbed but we'll see...

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Monday, March 25, 2013

So we watched the last four eps of Wolf's Rain and all I can say is

WOW!!

Stunning. Even with the dreadful sub.

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1 Comments:

Blogger bakayaro onna said...

Yay!

7:21 pm  



Sunday, March 24, 2013

The usual Sunday. Ken came with me to help with the shopping (Sainsbury's were out of organic potatoes and eggs - I hope it's just a Sunday lack of delivery because it's going to be a pain if they're stopped supplying them) and after dinner we watched Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium, which wasn't as good as I was expecting.

And that's about it. It's bitterly cold here at the moment, makes going out not a lot of fun.

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Saturday, March 23, 2013

Lost a day again...

Friday's highlight was being invited to dinner with a friend of Ken's - Alex, an aspiring writer. She made vegetarian lasagne, which was delicious but very filling, and a wonderful lemon pie (I must ask for the recipe). It was a very nice evening, and we got a lift there and back (she lives out at Patchway).

Ken went to Glastonbury today, to visit the Abbey for research for the St Anne's Well book (he's not back yet, in fact). Kai has been working on his own projects upstairs, and me... I haven't done much. Kind of a day off, though I have client stuff now stacking up which I must tackle tomorrow.

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1 Comments:

Blogger GoodTwin said...

Sometimes it's nice to have a day not doing much. :)

11:54 pm  



Thursday, March 21, 2013

An odd sort of a day. Tidying, trying to get client stuff done and failing, and [gasp!] finally writing a new post for teh serious blog. On fanfiction. Heh.

Kai's last day at school tomorrow then Eostre holiday for two weeks.

Interesting things noticed in Tf: Beast Wars - Remember that weird ripply mouth component Bayverse Shockwave had (can't find an image or a Youtube snippet with a decent view I'm afraid)? Predacon Tarantulas has the same mouthparts. And the blue energon crystals in Prime? Straight out of Beast Wars.

There's also a bizarre moment in the second ep (I think) where Cheetor is taunting Dinobot and suddenly stops and gazes at him - and the pupils of his eyes get absolutely huge... Heh. I can feel a fic coming on...

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1 Comments:

Blogger Sue said...

Oooh, have been watching t'other blog in the hopes of seeing a new entry - eagerly runs to read!

9:04 pm  



Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Um... nowt really. Finished the 26 eps of Wolf's Rain - strange ending, but apparently the four OAVs (which Onna very kindly also included) explain it, so we shall be watching those next.

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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Remember a while back I'd decided I had enough Bot Shots, except that I'd really like a Shockwave? I then found out he didn't come by himself but in a boxed set with a couple of others. However, up at Wilkinson's last week I found said boxed set going cheap - and the other two bots are Ironhide (who I didn't have) and Brawl (the box says it's Brawl- who I do have - but it looks more like Bonecrusher to me, so that's who it is as far as I'm concerned).

So I now have the cutest little Shockwave!
Shockwave alt mode

- Lovely alt mode, although he's come out looking blue rather than the royal purple he is in reality.








Shockwave root mode








Just so cute! ->



We're still watching Wolf's Rain - up to ep 20 now. It's been slightly spoilt because the people who did the subtitles appear to have run them through Babelfish twice, once in Chinese and once in Latin. Spending time trying to work out what the hell the subs mean is definitely not on my list of fun things to do while trying to understand a deep and philosophical anime.

It's still beautiful though.

Thinking about watching Cowboy Bebop next.

After liking Beast Machines I'm now watching Transformers: Beast Wars on Youtube, and to my surprise I'm rather enjoying it. It's funny. And the characters are cute. Though I'm still having trouble with accepting Megatron as a T Rex and Dinobot (a raptor) as an ex-Con turned Bot who sounds like Starscream... There were three series in total though, so while season one is fun, I can't vouch for the rest yet. Will see when I get there.

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Monday, March 18, 2013

[sigh] I have now managed to correct the posts for the whole of the first year of blogging - which brings me up to July 2003 (and page 40 of 44 pages of posts). They are all correct from March 2010, which is when I tweaked the template. Oh joy. Seven years of posts still to correct...

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Saturday, March 16, 2013

The Poppy Tales 

Sixth part of New World 2 - Operations 3 - now posted over at The Poppy Tales (link above).

Enjoy!

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EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Kai's letter from Bristol Uni arrived today. It's scattered with 'excellent candidate', 'impressed with your web design and programming self-study', 'enthusiasm', 'excellent exam results and references'...

Firm acceptance of his application for M.Eng in Computer Science, subject to A, A, B grades (one of the As to be in Maths).

Chuffed and proud? Damn right!

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4 Comments:

Blogger Lutra said...

[happydance!] That's brilliant!

12:10 pm  
Blogger Sue said...

Oh what splendid news. Well done, Kai!

6:49 pm  
Blogger GoodTwin said...

Doesn't surprise me, it's all true :) Keep up the good work!

10:04 am  
Blogger Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor said...

Thanks, all, from Kai and me. We are all so happy.

1:20 pm  



Friday, March 15, 2013

Eyeballing...

Not sure who thought they were going to eat who...

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Thursday, March 14, 2013

A day of glorious sunshine. Seedlings out in the greenhouse for the whole day, and after Tyjer came in I did a little spraying to try to clear the grass from some of the places it shouldn't be. Everything's coming into bud. It's very pretty.

Client site stuff most of the rest of the day...

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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Client site stuff. Then shopping. Then eps 4 -6 of Wolf's Rain (a present from Onna a good few years ago now). Kai suggested it. He's become quite fond of us all sitting down to watch something after dinner, and now we've finished Beast Machines we needed something else, and since Kai and I never managed to get all the way through and Ken never watched any at all, it's a good choice.

And it's beautiful. Everything about it, the art, the backgrounds the characterisation, the music - oh, the music... We're all gripped so far.

Heh. Watching the news with dinner tonight: Kai on the smoke signals for the pope's election: "They can't even choose a new pope without polluting the planet."

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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

The Poppy Tales 

Finally!

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

Enjoy!

Also heard back from Kai's psychology teacher. She's requested that his exam paper be returned so they can see what went wrong, and if it wasn't Kai's fault, ask for a regrade. Will report back when we know.

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Monday, March 11, 2013

Cold.

I mean, bitterly cold. Went out to empty the kitchen compost bin, when I came back in I couldn't feel my fingers. Wind chill taking it down to around -6. And it keeps flurrying with snow. Making chilli con carne tonight to warm us all up!

An Obsession of Starscreams. Click the pick for the big (2000px) version. (There are 23 Starscreams here - well, 24 if you count the small jet inside PretenderScream.)

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3 Comments:

Blogger Lutra said...

Hoo, boy! A sea of cods before me...

9:54 am  
Blogger Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor said...

And some of them quite magnificently over the top! (Or should that be under the bottom?)

1:01 pm  
Blogger Lutra said...

[titter!]

9:19 am  



Sunday, March 10, 2013

Mothers' Day

Vanilla coffee and scrambled eggs and mushrooms on toast - very nice! Took it easy mostly, went over to Go Outdoors in the afternoon to buy new boots, as mine now leak (but will do fine for the garden), then had a steak dinner. All very relaxed and pleasant.

Tomorrow I need to rethink the proposal (again...)

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Saturday, March 09, 2013

Kai's 18th Birthday!

Spent quietly, which is what he said he wanted. He had his new watch, Stalker and a daft 18 mug from us, and lots and lots of money from everyone else! (For which, my thanks. He'll email his own later, if he hasn't already.)

We took him over to the Black Castle for lunch: it's changed hands since we were last there and the food is not as good (and took 45 minutes to arrive). But we had a good old chat (about how I handle online comms with friends and how base 16 is much more sensible than base 10 for measuring anything) and enjoyed our Chicken New Yorkers. Unfortunately he has a lot of homework this weekend and has to get some of it done today or he won't have time to finish it, but he's taking it as easy as he can. I'm hoping we can watch Starcrash with the snacks we're having later...

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Friday, March 08, 2013

I somehow managed to get up at 6.20 after getting to bed at 1.30. Went shopping at 7.30, then put wash through and booted up. More client stuff, then a little Poppy. Then Ken produced our financial forecast for this year and I started looking up how much selling organs would bring in...

Kai's 18th birthday tomorrow. Ye gods. He was only a wee sprog when I started this blog. It's terrifying how fast the time goes.

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1 Comments:

Blogger Lutra said...

Selling organs. Yours or other people's? The latter would be more lucrative...

Zomg, 18!

11:57 pm  



Thursday, March 07, 2013

So, yesterday!

We arrived at twenty to twelve and signed in (well, Kai did) then sat and read the folder of info until everyone had arrived. Then at midday it was down to lecture room 1.11a for the hour-long introductory talk by Dr Hollis and a third year student - all very interesting, although we knew a lot of it already, having done our homework. At one it was back up for a very nice buffet lunch (although we were late as there was much enthusiasm and many questions from everyone).

At one thirty it was back down to the lecture room for the parents and carers Q&A session while the kids went off in groups with their allocated professors - and that's when the parents were told that this was in fact the students' 'interview' (Bristol Uni doesn't do formal interviews), which is what I'd gathered from the website. It's a great way to find out what the kids are like without the stress of knowing they're being assessed - but nerve-wracking for us!

Then at two it was a mini-lecture on optical recognition and its uses (particularly in the field of conservation), then another on computational neuroscience (which I could just keep up with and which was fascinating.

A break for drinks. then back down again for a talk on robotics, which was very interesting, then finally back upstairs (that made ten trips up and down the stairs. No wonder my legs are killing me!) to one of the computer labs to play a game designed by the students - a demolition derby. (I managed the impossible on my first attempt, ended up crashed upside down floating in midair...) Then a final farewell (and two large heavy books of info to bring home) and we were finished at 3.45.

It was wonderful - and I want to go do the course myself! [grump] I was born too soon...

I took Kai over to Cabot Circus afterwards, to see about buying him a decent watch for his birthday. He chose a rather nice Lorus one from WH Samuel, who were having a sale so bonus!

I mentioned about the APAG meeting already.

Today has been all client stuff, and I'm still not quite finished.

Kai picked up the results for the exams he took in January today. We're all rather chuffed - A* for Maths, A for Physics, B for Computing - except for the Psychology, where something has gone seriously wrong - he got a U (Ungraded). We have no idea why (one of his peers got the same as well: the tutor wondered if perhaps the exam board lost half his paper) but it's obviously something at the exam board end, so the tutors are going to investigate. He can take it again if need be (he shouldn't need to to get into Uni), but he really doesn't need the extra work and stress. As it is he thinks he wants to retake physics to see if he can push the result to an A*, and will probably retake the Computing to try to push that to an A. (And this is his idea, not us pushing!)

Machine Wars Starscream - handsome, easy to transform, but not much articulation. Quite large too...

Machine Wars Starscream
Machine Wars Starscream
Machine Wars Starscream
Machine Wars Starscream

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1 Comments:

Blogger Sue said...

That sounds an informative but exhausting day. A work colleague was telling us today about her trip to Manchester uni with her son and that seemed along much the same lines.
Well done, Kai, on those results too!

8:28 pm  



Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Well, the Uni trip went very well, and was absolutely fascinating. We won't know whether he's being offered a place for two weeks though - so I shall still be biting my nails for another fortnight...

I'll go into much more detail tomorrow: we'd just got home and I was getting dinner done when the APAG Treasurer rang to ask where tonight's meeting was... meeting? ... AAARRGGHH! MEETING!!!. So dinner was hurried, and I didn't have time for a shower until I got back, and now I'm knackered but can't get to bed until my hair has dried. [sigh]

But Machine Wars Starscream arrived while I was out (Ken had the day off so took delivery) - and now my collection is complete! (Well, for now anyway.) I'd still like a normal-sized Bayverse one if I can pick one up very cheaply, but I have the Cyberverse version so it's not essential. Will try to take photos tomorrow.

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Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Wonderful sunny day! Seedlings out to the greenhouse again - and I've spent some time drawing (illos for the rp). It's been ages, and was quite enjoyable.

Kai's Bristol University visit tomorrow... Fingers crossed!

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Monday, March 04, 2013

A useful sort of a day. Up early, wash put through, chicken stock on the go, two eps of Armada watched before I booted up, chat with Lutra, client stuff finished, then watched the last three eps of Armada before Ken arrived home at 2 (the entire boxed set plays just fine!) Not bad for a Monday.

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1 Comments:

Blogger Lutra said...

Not bad at all for a Monday. Your usual Monday comment is along the lines of 'where'd the day go...?' :)

9:33 am  



Sunday, March 03, 2013

Just a normal Sunday. Tyjer is feeling a bit poorly with an upset tum. Rather afraid he's eaten something that's upset him...

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Saturday, March 02, 2013

(Friday.) My latest Lovefilm was Dante 01. The trailer looked good... I didn't check the language though (well, does anyone?) or I'd have known it was French (subtitled, fortunately, as my French wouldn't have been up to it, Kai opted for German after a year, and Ken has none at all).

How can I describe it...?

Actually, I can't, not in full, because I kept dozing off and missing the dialogue. It made little to no sense, and the ending was a dose of 2001-esque WTF?ery.

But today has been very successful. It was sunny, so we all went into the garden. Ken mowed, Kai weeded the patch of the veg garden where I've been bringing on native bluebells (dozens this year from about half a dozen a year ago - very pleased), half-filled the greenhouse water butt from the main one and cut down more ivy, while I pruned the greengage and rosemary, cleaned out the blocked piping that carries rain from the greenhouse guttering to the water butt, repotted the cucumber and tomato seedlings and generally tidied up my planting and potting area. All good stuff!

After dinner watched the first two eps of Beast Machines series 2... Much less running and shooting, and an interesting premise. I really rather like this continuity, it's quite different to any other.

An interesting coincidence: two of the voice actors for Transformers - Garry Chalk (OP in the Unicron Trilogy and Beast Machines) and Michael Dobson (Starscream in the Unicron Trilogy) have both appeared in The Sentinel. Unfortunately the eps involved aren't in Season 1 (which I have on DVD) and it's going to be a while before I can get around to transferring my tapes of the rest of the seasons onto DVD. I'd love to hear Dobson's normal voice. His Starscream is just plain sexy (especially that lovely little growl he uses every now and then...)

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