Date: 2009-11-26 21:20 Subject: Would you believe no one had Borders! Security: Public Tags: deadpool

No honestly - none of us.

Sar still only point and just over a month left this year...

Date: 2009-10-11 09:21 Subject: Swine of a flu Security: Public

Well there's progress. Temp is close to normal, half way through the tamiflu and only side effect appears to be that I have no apatite at all. Still coughing a lot but thankfully the horrid muscular aches and thick head have subsided a lot. Still not allowed out anywhere for three more days lest I infect Joe Public.

Date: 2009-09-28 16:13 Subject: Sickly llama Security: Public

Well I've been not the best last few days.  Felt wiped out on Thursday evening, overnight a skull cracking headache and then developed a raging temperature, nausea and hallucinations on Friday.  Basically since then I've been washed out and sickly with a combination of flu and cold symptoms.  Not a lot of fun, especially last night when I was utterly unable to sleep - which isn't helping things.  Thus off work for the time being as I try to fight this.  All I seem able to do is drink tea and watch tv - I am so bored!!!!!

Least the Wife bless her didn't go to Spain today as planned and hung around to look after me - 'cos I certainly need it!

Date: 2009-09-25 19:05 Subject: Weasel: Listen again Security: Public Tags: radio, randy

Wish you'd listened to Randy on the radio the other day but missed it?  Miss out no more as I've put it on the web (sans the music due to copyright).

http://digg.com/u1D6ay

I have the whole show as well if anyone wants me to burn 'em a disc...

Date: 2009-09-23 21:57 Subject: Radio fame Security: Public

Enjoyed listening to myself and the weasel on the radio tonight (the wife said I came across a bit full of myself, but meh - who wants a shy, retiring flower on the radio!).  Naturally I am now too famous to talk to all my old contacts and will be spending the rest of the year living in a bath of champagne.

Date: 2009-09-21 22:08 Subject: Radio Ga Ga Radio Weasel Security: Public Tags: radio, weasel

Randy Weasel. 

Live(ish) on the radio 105FM (if you're near Wrexham) or Web stream if you're not.  www.calonfm.com. 

Wednesday 23rd September. 

7-8pm BST.

Be there or be elsewhere.

Next stop, the Radio 2 breakfast slot with Chris Evans...
 

Date: 2009-09-17 22:03 Subject: To Infinity and beyond (well Wales) Security: Public Tags: librarian, radio, videos, weasel

Got back a couple of hours ago from a overnight flying visit to Wrexham.  I'd gone over on the invite of a very good friend of mine Paul, who's the chief librarian at Glyndwr University, to lecture on their new foundation degree in librarianship.  Took the train over from work after lunch, and despite a 70 minute wait at Birmingham New Street station (twinned with the City of Dis in the 6th Circle of Hell) the trip was uneventful.  Checked into my hotel (a former convent) and then met up with Paul and students for a social evening. 

Today I've been pretty much on the go since 7.30am when I breakfasted with one of the students (they're all distance learners, and this is their first residential week).  Headed off to the Uni around 8.30 and met up with Paul and his staff who were delighted to see me...and my assistant.  Yes, the weasel.  I think Wales (or maybe Teeside) now holds the offical Randy Weasel fanbase!  Anyway after a tour of the building I got set up for my lecture (with just enough time to tend my crops on Farmville - which will be meaningless if you're not playing it on #fb).

I was doing a slightly more indepth version of my classic "How to make, use and exploit videos for librarians" for the students.  I was on good form - and so were the students, hard workers the lot of them!  We watched some of my videos as well to illustrate various points in the script to screen process; one of which got a massive round of applause!  And then another round of applause for me at the end of the session - I think they all really enjoyed it, and hopefully will have got the "message" I embedded in everything I teach - just do it! (or is that Nike?).

Lunch was in an hour, and I'd agreed to hang around for the afternoon (as you'll see) so I sat in library (and got served a smashing cup of tea by one of Paul's staff.  Chatted to some of them.  And then ended having to pose for publicity shots for the uni with the weasel.  Well I say pose - I was behing the desk as some very confused students found themselves being snapped by a half dozen librarians.

Wonder if I'm (well the weasel) classed as a cult yet?

After a cracking lunch Paul and I went off to Calon 105 FM, the local community radio station on which Paul has a regular slot to do an interview about creative writing, librarianship...and yes the weasel.  You'll be able to hear the edited highlights this coming Wednesday from 7pm (you might have to sit through some other people first I'll be checking my exact slot).  Just as well it's pre-recorded as on more than one occassion I managed to crack the entire studio team up - I swear Paul was near collapse from laughter at one point.

So that went well (even had a nibble for a possible future collaborative project with one of the studio guys!) and then I had to make the long slow ride home.  Thankfully Orac and Tarquin kept me company the whole way home (even when the Wife bottled out of picking me up and I had to catch the shuttle train home).

Day off tomorrow for writing and weasel filming (and sleeping - lots of sleeping!)

Date: 2009-09-03 21:21 Subject: LARP Piccies Security: Public Tags: larp, piccies

In case you're not on FB

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=114835&id=553446510&l=c35aac953d

Date: 2009-08-31 18:16 Subject: Renewal 2009 Security: Public Tags: larp, renewal

And so we're back from CP Renewal 2009, the best LARP festival event of the year at Home Wood, Cuffley, Herts.  Here's a potted summary of the last 5days.

Thursday
Weather: a bit over cast, breaking through into glorious and hot sunshine

Made pies and packed all morning, headed down south around noon.  Good drive and found the site without a problem.  Unpacked and over the next three hours put up both IC and OOC tents and caught up with my excellent mates in the Lions Azure (and other groups).  Chilled, even though the high winds kept threatening to send the camp site into orbit.  Location was quite frankly excellent with the best loos and showers of any site I've been on in 11 years of doing CP events.

Friday
Weather: Glorious if still very windy.  Cloud burst (heavy) just at time in delayed the kick off for 30 minutes, but thankfully only lasted an hour max.

Other folks slowly came on site and set up.  Avoided having to move my IC tent (huzzah) and as the day wore on slowly shifted into kit.  At time in (7pm) we had heavy rain but after this flase start the evening went with a swing.  Highlight had to be getting sozzled with Stormoak and Haskell in the Tavern whilst trying to find General Donald.  Also the "Are you horny?" incident with the guy with the giant horns from Haskall  (who kept heading off on "odd jobs" whilst Stormoak and I get a little more tipsy.  Met a lot of folks (including a lass in a cracking far eastern outfit and strangley enough a guy playing a parrot - Refs' enemy number 1 for the weekend!), got more tipsy, roleplayed my heart out and had a smashing time.  Up til time in fighting off camp attacks and trying not to giggle at the Jhereg getting slotted big time.  Froze a bit overnight.

[Edit: I forgot about the pie!  Sitting in camp we were discussing (camped as we were next to the Vipers) how if we just said pie loud enough we'd be inundanted with hungry Tutonians.  Then the LG of the Vipers (Darius) appeared as if from nowhere asking about pies.  We thought he was taking the piss and he went away.  Then the message came back that he was serious - and we'd better make ammends.  I took 6 of the Lions Azure out to escort a pie to Darius personally - reaching the Viper gate just as the Jhereg war exploded and the Vipers stormed out.  An hour of battlefield pie guarding later we finally delivered the pie.  Went down well...]

Saturday
Weather: Overcast to stunningly sunny and warm.  Wind had finally dropped too.

Full on day and huzzah the Wife finally appeared which made my day.  A slightly frustrating time selling pies and pickles - made some cash but honestly some folks are a bugger to roleplay with if you don't fit into their narror defenintion of "rpging".  Ah well, I enjoyed myself.  Plenty of camp skirmishes during the day yet strangly quiet at night.  The weasel came out for a tour of camp and ended up with a new mobile house.  We also tested the possibilities of weasel, chicken and imp assisted arrow fire (imps are best).  And out-weirded a lot of more norm-roleplayers too.  Got invited to provide entertainment at the Hai-Rathe banquet but was too fagged out to bother, so waffled my way out of it.  A whole lot of laughs throughout the day and night - but flaked out early around 11pm as energy was flagging.

Sunday
Weather: Overcast with bursts of sun. Dry and warm.  Perfect.

The day of the battle, and as I'd decided to risk it with the Lions Azure we spent the morning kitting up and getting set up.  Battle was an absolute stunner - the best I've ever been in for so many reasons.  Massive, massive ruck.  Dirty in-fighting, pincer movements of monsters, monsters playing their parts like characters.  Not to mention my archery pod shotting at least one guy, another right in the middle of his head and countless arms, legs and chest hits.  Almost took out the offical photographer as he strayed into my line of fire at a crucial moment.  Battle had predicted 60% casualty rate (hell's teeth!) but we made it back without...well almost.  Both Stormoak and I went down at seperate points in the melee (5 hits to my back - from a ninjing guy - OUCH!) but thankfully we both got healed up.  Victory!

Took a fair few hours post battle to pull ourselves back together again (it was very, very tiring running after our General while keeping alive!).  The evening took on a very...Discordial air as I tried to put together the outline of a new musical entitled "Sting: Here Come the Waspmen" which after a bit of adapting of "An English Country Garden" for the opening number led us to the conundrum of "Do wasps have genitals?".

Well naturally we had to ask all visitors to the Lions Discordial camp the question - which led to the usual WTF? type faces for some, hilarity to others and from the parrot the longest and most intelligent explanation.  Bet the budgie wouldn't have known the answer!  Few more night skirmishes this night thankfully kept us on on our feet til after midnight when getting trapped with the Speaker of the Hai-Rathe ended up boring me to bed.

Monday
Weather: Overcast, muggy and very warm and dry.

I had planned to stay on for the 2nd battle and monster, but fatigue really caught up with me.  Loaded up the OOC tent and the Wife and she shot off around 9am.  Took me another 2 hours to load up the IC camp, not helped by my pumptruck getting a flat tire.  But finally was done, and despite the pleas of the LA to stay on I hit the road.  Got back just after 1 to make some corned beef hash, watch some Goodies, bathe and then spend two plus hours fast asleep.

Still shattered now - but frankly this was the best LARP event I've been to in f*cking years; so glad I went and really keen to go to more events next year.  Wife enjoyed bits (she hates camping) but dead proud of her for sucking it in and going.  She had a lot of laughs too, good lass that she is - and the Lions Azure and many others were really pleased to see her too.  Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to get some tea, watch Chuck and then go to bed again...

Date: 2009-08-23 18:37 Subject: Sunday Bloody Sunday (Alan Patridge redux) Security: Public Tags: weekends

Today I have mostly been:

• Growing my beard more
•  
• Bottling my Ginger Plum Suprise chutney
•  
• Looking for a car (hellllllo Ford Kuga!) and not buying anything
•  
• Examing floor underlay
•  
• Sorting out the final shooting scripts for the weasel's latest epic.
•  
• Been feeling exhausted

Ah well, back to work tomorrow

Date: 2009-08-21 21:49 Subject: What a week it's been Security: Public

It's been a week of thrills chills and excitments

Recovered slowly from the wedding, tho spent most of Sunday asleep.

Back to my consultant for the follow up to all the tests of the last few months.  With interesting results!

I've been in the office for 5 days in a row.  Felt weird.  Thankfully Renewal next week where all the cool cats will be at!

Sorted out countless issues at work and finally got a start date for the new job (1st Oct).

Identified some new(er) cars to go shopping for this weekend (it was always the deal that when I got my next job that I'd get a new car)

And we bought another house in the time it took me to catch a train and get home from work tonght.

So all go basically!

Date: 2009-08-16 08:30 Subject: Here comes the Bride Security: Public

Yesterday the Wife and I headed over to bandit country (also known as southern Lincolnshire) for the wedding of my cousin Al to Lucy.  This was a much anticipated wedding, not least because I was never sure if this was going to be one of those engagements that just went on forever.  However, I was delighted to hear they were going for it.  Only one slight caveat - the wedding guests included my mother and my father.  Two people who'd not been in the same room for 10 years, so I wasn't quite sure if it would all kick off in Eastenders high gear.  Oh and yes, I'd not seen my dad for the same period of time either (tho of late he has been ringing me every 5 or 6 weeks for a chat, which is praise worthy effort on his part!).

I was also going to be meeting with his step daughters and family for the first time (I'd met his current wife Jane 10 years ago, so it was just her offspring I'd not met).  I'd been talking to one of them, Lucy, for the past year on Facebook so at least this wasn't a meeting from cold.   While I wasn't what you'd call nervous about how the day was going to go the Wife and I were...intrigued in how this was going to pan out.  It really was a day of big unknowns.

Actually I needed have worried, as it all seemed to go smoothly!  There were definite good times throughout the day, the wedding went excellently well and Alan and Lucy seemed to have a blast.  Alan even played and sang a song for his new bride, which was a high spot.  Well that and the magician they had going from table top table who had me marked as someone very willing to make a fool of himself  - and was frankly bloody brilliant at close up magic!

Aside from my father's current clan, I got to see lots of my dad's side of the family I've likewise not seen in flipping decades - so all in all a family reunion twinned with a wedding made for a good day out.

We drove back late night (since it was only an hour away) and got to sleep in our own bed.  Bit stiff this morning, but at least we can spend the rest of the day recovering - and tidying the house a bit.

Pictures are here for those of you who are Facebook deficient