Alex's even longer post thread.

[Alex]

It has been a busy day today. Got three letters from the pension's office confirming that I am now officially a pensioner and thus fully entitled to yell at kids and tell them to get off my lawn! Popped into Elgin, confirmed with the bank that the credit card has now been paid off (yay). We decided on a new couch for the living room (blue leather), although we couldn't agree on which new bed to get. The flights for our next holiday have been booked and I got a couple of emails letting me know I start work on the 19th of September.

Let's hope I am fully over the jet lag then. Private Corbett reporting for duty.

My pension will be paid at the end of the 7th of every week. Kristi gets paid on the 28th of the month and I'll get paid on the last working day of the month. I think we can work with that.

Still loving my 3D printer. Used the first real and working my way through the larger one I had bought. I think I should order a backup for that one too. 

Today I've been thinking that if there is a god out there, it must be like a more neurotic version of Woody Allen.

Picked up an electric razor today. Not used one of them since I was a teenager. Generally speaking I prefer the feel of a blade, but I figure if I am in a hurry, or if I miss shaving one day I can always have it as a backup.

Hmm. Making people afraid of you is only a viable strategy for peace on a short-term scale. Sooner or later people get fed up of living in fear and decide to destroy what they are afraid of.

I feel random today.

[Alex]

Funny how little it takes to bring out the dark side of people. For some people, all it takes is ignoring an idea, an unkind word, not acknowledging their hello. Other people, take more of a sustained effort but very rarely does such treatment fail to bring results that help neither the originator or the target.

I wonder why doing it has remained part of the human psyche and not been bred out?

Not that I am a fan of Shakespeare but I saw that a performance of his 12th Night is being performed at Elgin Cathedral. Figured that was something Kristi would love, and I must admit it sounds pretty cool to me too so I've bought us some tickets.

The Thunderton has finally reopened. It's been closed for the best part of 20 years. Last time I was in it, the walls were whitewashed rock, which given the building dates back 1000 years (although it was rebuilt 500 years or so ago. I am not sure how much of it is still the original building, but it is still pretty old). Went in for some drinks and thought the decor had vastly improved. It was all dark wood paneling. Had me at that one there really.

Printing out a little present to send out to various friends of mine who like Serenity. Hand painting them for a special touch.

[Alex]

Present buying is well underway, and I think I am about finished with stuff for Kristi.

Except for impulse purchases of course, and if they bring out another illustrated Harry Potter book.

Ash, well I know what I want to get him. It just depends if that is still his big interest come the big day. Last year I bought him loads of cars and playsets for cars because he was obsessed with them. Then come November all of a sudden he switched to trains. It has continued to be trains all this year, but I want to wait until closer the time before actually buying him his first electric train set.

Waiting on many, many deliveries today. The new couch, printing stuff, other stuff. Just lots and lots of stuff. Meanwhile, I am printing out some extra little gifts for a certain select group of people which I am then hand-painting. You'll know if you are getting one because I'll ask for your address. I am only making a limited amount, and it is very closely related to a specific interest/fandom or whatever you want to call it, so if I don't know this is your jam then I won't be making you one I'm afraid. Each one gets named and numbered.

f**k YOU AMAZON! I WANT MY RANDOM s**t NOW! BRING IT TO ME IMMEDIATELY AND STOP THIS DIRE FIRST WORLD PROBLEM THAT MUCH OF THE REST OF THE WORLD WOULD BE GLAD IF THAT WAS ALL THEY HAD TO SUFFER. I DO NOT HAVE THE PATIENCE TO WAIT FOR SOMETHING TO BE DELIVERED.

And yet I have no problem waiting for hours for something to print out. I wonder why? Saying that though, I wouldn't complain if the printer went faster. I did do some research on how to solve one of the problems I've encountered with printing out reversed slopes and long overhangs, so once the wall I am printing (not connected to the presents I am making) is done, I am going to redo my Maus turrets.

I wonder how they would have performed had they ever made it to the battlefield? Those complicated builds with so many handmade components did the German army no favours, but while they worked they did achieve big kill ratios. Of course, having a kill ratio of 11 to 1 means nothing if your enemy can make 12 tanks for every 1 you produce.

They'd have been scary, but they simply couldn't manufacture enough of them to turn the tide of the war.  Still, I wouldn't have wanted to face one in a regular Sherman, or even a T-34/85.

Overcast, dull and wet today. Hopefully it will clear up by Saturday. Despite my dislike for the bard's works I do find myself looking forward to seeing the play this weekend. It would be nice if the weather could match my enthusiasm. If it pours down we can always go to the pub instead.

Rewatched Renfield last night. Really gets me how much they were able to get Nic Cage looking reminiscent of Bela Lugosi in some of the scenes. Shame about the teeth though, I felt that they were the only thing wrong with the whole film really. Also watched Evil Dead Rise for the first time. Liked it more than the latest Hellraiser film.

Damn you Bezos. You just made the list.

[Alex]

The man cave looks like an absolute disaster zone right now. My new shelves arrived and I obviously had to empty the old ones so I could take them down and put the new ones in. Everywhere just has stuff sitting on it right now. Even stuff has more stuff piled atop it.

Getting there on sorting it out though, step by step.

Got a friend coming over to visit in November. The last time we saw her was the long weekend before we lost Lilly-Beth. This time it would be nice if the meeting will bring happier memories. I let her go with Kristi to the hospital for an ultrasound scan thinking I'd have many more times to see her.

Such is life, and death. We aren't promised how much time we get, only a beginning and an end. Just do the best you can with the bit in-between.

Kristi has gone out for a girls night in Aberdeen. She's never been out for a night with girls drinking before. Hopefully, she'll enjoy it and manage to come home sober as she is working tomorrow.

[Alex]

Well Kristi's night out started well. After a few hours, one of the other women joined them and seemingly she just killed the mood. One of those people whose entire life is made up of complaining about everything and nothing.

I wonder if her name is Karen?

As long as she got home safely I was happy. Turns out she (Kristi) doesn't like Tequilla shots though. Funny, I don't think I've drunk that for 30 years. So many different types of alcohol, so little time.

Nikki brought round a new girl looking to play Shadowrun on Sunday. Apparently, all she does in real life is smoke weed. I don't have a problem with her doing that but I have made it very clear that it can't happen in my house, or around us. I still get drug tested when I go back to work. Got our play to go to tonight. Hmm, I should print out the tickets for that while I remember.

I am covered in scratches from all the moving stuff around I've been doing. Went to do some weights this morning and found my right arm could barely lift them. I guess I strained something. Oh well, I still have my left arm and I am sure it will be all fine in a few days.

Wasn't sure how I'd like my new configuration of shelves. The are forming a U behind my chair. I think I am going to be happy with it though. The plastic ones were fine when we first moved in, but they were never intended to be permanent. They weren't even supposed to be used as long as they were. Still I am sure Nikki will give them a good home. She's taking them away on Sunday. On Monday I'll pop into barrack stores and see if they want the old couch and armchairs back or if I should just dump them. We've had them for 10 years. I don't know what the expected lifespan is on these things. It still shocks em that we stayed 10 years in the one house. The longest most people get is 3 before they have to move. Even moves after a year are not uncommon.

Watching X-Bomber at the moment. It is a show I watched when they showed it once on British tv, then I never saw it again since.

[Alex]

From the show earlier tonight.

Walking up to the cathedral.


That building on the left is used for weddings sometimes. When it is lit up at night it looks like a lantern.


The actors wandering through the crowd before the show. Turns out we both love Nightmare before Christmas.




The set.




The entire cast.

[Alex]

The play was decent. I enjoyed it, although with the 5 actors/actresses involved playing multiple roles and having different costumes within those roles it could get a bit difficult to tell what was going on at times.

Then again, it is a romantic comedy and they seem to thrive on that kind of thing in my limited experience.

I'd go and see them again, although I wouldn't say it has changed my generally negative view of Shakespeare. The enthusiasm of the cast and the setting made it special, not to mention that Kristi quite clearly loved it. Ultimately I went to it for her, so how she viewed it was the important bit of the evening. The choice of a southern US drawl as the accent for a male character being played by a woman did surprise me somewhat.

Making myself a Lament configuration box. Because why the hell not?

[Alex]

I was listening to some songs via Youtube this morning. Flight of Icarus and I happened to notice a comment below the song that said:

My favorite Maiden song. Makes me feel like I have no limits.

Boy, did he miss the point of that song and legend lol.

Getting the hang of my printer more and more. I am on my 6th attempt at printing out a Panzer IV. The previous attempts all came up against an assortment of problems, but this attempt has gone much further than the previous ones and should be finished in about 2 hours. It's been going since lunchtime yesterday.

Ordered a box to keep all my M:TG cards in. It holds 3000. Figured that would be more than enough to hold my collection.

No. It holds maybe two-thirds of what we have. Got all my black, red, green and non-spell blue cards in there. All the blue spells, white, artefacts and multicoloured cards will need to go in a second box.

We are making plans for our trip stateside at the end of the month. It really doesn't feel like we are going on holiday in a couple of weeks.

Yay, the Panzer IV printed out successfully. Working on a Semavente now. Since I decided to start an Italian army, I figured I'd print their armour out myself. When it comes to armoured vehicles, Italy was in the 3rd tier of countries in that respect. The USSR was the only country that really started and ended the war with good tanks (from the point of view of tanks being useful against infantry and other tanks). The Semovente was a decent anti-tank gun able to take out anything anyone else was fielding, but they only got 30 of them made before dropping out of the war. When Germany occupied Italy they were able to make another 60.

Ordered a couple of ladders for some jobs I need to do in the garage. Got a 6-foot step ladder which isn't quite high enough, so I've ordered a 10ft extendable ladder on the basis that anything larger suddenly had a huge jump in price.

I wonder if we will ever find a way to unleash the creativity that we show during war in other ways. Can the human race ever discover how to put all that energy into something purely productive? Technology and medicine improve at a much-increased rate as we pour all that extra time and money into better ways of killing other people and saving our own. Mind you I also wonder if Genghis Khan will ever be celebrated as the man who delayed global warning enough that our technology might give us a chance of surviving it?

[Alex]

Had to travel down to Glasgow today. It was too hot to be stuck on a train. Spent a fair bit of time chatting with a lass from Brazil. She'd came to the UK 10 years ago because she didn't like how much of a mess Brazilian politics had became and she didn't like where her country had been going so she didn't often go back. 5 years ago she'd moved from London to Scotland and enjoyed it a lot more up here.

I can understand that. There are a lot of places I'd rather be than London. Not the dirtiest place I've ever been, but it was very sleezy.

Her English wasn't 100%, but it was good enough for us to have a chat for an hour or so.

I've had conversations with three women from the US this month who want to leave the states due to how things are going over there. They were asking about the problems we had getting Kristi over. One's husband is career military, I doubt he'll want to abandon that and move permanently. The other, I don't think would be capable of sorting her life out enough to do it (and I mean that in a nice way). The third well I could see her joining the small flotilla of women we know abandoning their native country.

It will be interesting to see how things are over there first hand in a few weeks.

[chefzombie]

interesting, as in " may you live in interesting times", i presume? it's my fault, you know, it's been this way sing this little guigein was given this " blessing" in 1979... sorry kids. 

[Alex]

Interesting as in I like to observe social trends. I find they very much go in a sine wave. The more you think things are going your way, the more you are going to be upset in a few decades when everything starts going the other way (or if you are unhappy in the first place, you just need to wait for your own uptick time).

Unless you die while waiting. I guess that would suck.

Kristi and her mum are arguing. We want to go do stuff with certain people. Her mother wants us not to invite other people. I am going to tell her that this is our holiday. We will be doing what we want, with who we want. If she wants to get time just with us then she can come over to the UK. We have a lot of people to catch up with. Our trip to Yellowstone especially seems to be a point of contention. Lori's new husband needs an electric scooter to get around in, we need to book a hotel that can accommodate this rather than the camping that we want. I feel we've bent enough there and I am putting my foot down.

I thought Kristi was moving out of this phase where she keeps jumping in on everything I am involved in, but apparently not. I am arranging to get a tattoo done while I am over in the states (one of two new ones I have planned). I contacted a friend over there for a recommendation on a studio and artist and got some contact details. I'd mentioned that I was planning on getting a tattoo, that I'd looked into somewhere, but didn't mention any more details. Kristi asked where I was getting it done and I told her the name of the place. Later on that night, she was on the phone to her sister who wants to go with me when I go to get it and she said "After I finish this phone call, I am going to go arrange everything for Alex getting his tattoo and speak to the studio."

No, she is bloody well not. I've told her it is all in hand and I am sorting it out myself. Honestly, it is getting as bad as when my mother-in-law found out I wanted to go to the bar in L.A that Lemmy used to drink at (it is a place I'd wanted to visit for a while. I wasn't going to meet Lemmy or anything, although if I had it would have been a bonus), and she phoned the bar to ask what time he normally came in at. I mean she meant well, but I was mortified. They must have thought we were stalkers or something. As it turned out, Lemmy either wasn't there or I didn't see him. I did see Ozzy though, but I refused to speak to him or even make eye contact in case he asked for a slice of my pizza.

It was f**king good pizza. If you ever find yourself in L.A, I heartily recommend the Sunset Bar & Grill for it.

Back home now. The train was still overly hot, but at least it wasn't crowded. There were a lot of tourists on the train though, especially Scandinavian/German people. Listening to them made me think of the start of 13th Warrior, well if the Vikings had all been middle-aged, skinny and balding.

A fan made trailer has been put out for the movie I backed on Kickstarter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDYGpXv0e8E Looks fun and cheesy.

[chefzombie]

i'm backing you all thw way on this, because i've been through it with family members on both sides( although never my inlaws, they rocked) and it isn't their decision. you know i love kristi's family that i know, just like i love your brother and fam, but there's a phrase i started in my fam years ago. " if you ain't payin', you ain't sayin'".
  i see no reason why lori and hubs and whoever can't stay in the hotel while you 3 camp out, tis is YOUR family vacation after all. as for the tat, you fly down here and i'll get brooke's brother to do yours, he's so good he's been on tv. lol, i'm kidding, i wouldn't boss you like that, since i'm not payin'!

[Alex]

Yesterday we were taking a walk to the shop and making our plans for heading to Fantasy Con in Aberdeen on Sunday morning. Half way down the street we decided to turn around, go home, pack and book a hotel in Aberdeen, then go from there.

So we packed up, and headed out. When we reached our hotel, we dumped off our stuff and went for a meal. I had some high hopes for the restaurant. It was called Rohaan and had a nice rustic feel to it. My chicken burger though was somewhat disappointing considering the price tag. It was a fillet of chicken with a slice of American-style cheese chucked on top, so not even proper cheese. The chips were slightly overcooked. Kristi said her meal was nice enough, so maybe I just got unlucky but it isn't somewhere I'd choose to give a second chance to. Took a good while to settle Ash down to sleep, but then it always does when we are in a hotel. I got a decent nights sleep, but Kristi didn't. Anyway, we got up early to head into Aberdeen.

So early we were there 2 hours before anything opened. The only place we could get breakfast at was McDonalds. The Fantasy Con was good enough for what and where it was. There were various semi-famous actors from films and tv shows I've watched or at least am aware of, even if I couldn't tell you the names of any of their characters with the possible exception of a White Walker and R2D2. Then again, you don't exactly get to see the actor who played him. We spent some money at it, met up with some family and then after we'd seen what there was to see, done what there was to do and bought what we wanted to buy we headed off to the nearby park. I tricked Adam and Cam into getting onto a roundabout and then spun it round as fast as I could.

Really, they've known me all their lives. You'd have thought they'd have figured this part out by now.

After that, it was time to head into the city proper. We could hear roars from the local football ground. Aberdeen were playing Celtic and we were guessing on what side had scored from the noise being made. We stopped in somewhere for a meal, and we all had much better fare than the previous night. I went with a trio of starters (squid, prawns, and some spicy Korean-style chicken). I'd certainly eat at that one again, even if I can't remember the name of it right now.

Finally, it was time to pick up some hobby paints and then catch the train home. I thought I was going to have to help the conductor when he confiscated some alcohol off of some underage kids (you aren't allowed to drink alcohol on the train as well as them being underage), but despite some shouting they didn't get violent. It was just a simple taxi ride home to finish the weekends adventures.

I had meant to take some photos while I was at the Con, but didn't get around to it. The only picture I did take was of the offshore wind farm that p**ses off trump so much. I've heard is building a second gold course nearby. Let's hope another wind farm is already in production and puts him off building it.

[chefzombie]

i haven't been to the ICT comicon/scifi fest since the first one, but i think i'll go this year, just to meet barry bostwick. i mean, seriously. how can i resist the chance to meet "BRAD" of rocky horror fame???? i think my bestie will go with me, since there's some blond chick from one of the star treks that he crushes on there too.

[ER]

The only problem I have with winds farms is they kill a lot of birds and bats*. If maybe some sort of cage could be erected around the blades it might eliminate the problem. I think tidal batteries are potentially a majorly underutilized source of energy since there's little so dependable on the planet as the tides.

* If you notice high-rise buildings with reflective glass kill a lot of birds too. Walk under almost any one of them and you might find a dead bird.