Raithe

Well this is looking like a fun Christmas time in general. On the up side, I met a lady I've been online friends with for years, some flirty stuff, and now we seem to be forming into a long-distance relationship. And all her adore me, and I find myself actually missing them. On the downside, now it's a Christmas spent on opposite sides of the Atlantic, she's just had brain surgery and is recovering, and the kids have come down with flu. Also, funny thing came up that my mother was meant to have knee surgery on the same day as the brain surgery.. but she's come down with some infection and been taken into hospital as the doctors try to figure out what it is, and why there's fluids forming in her lungs. Now they've put in a central line and are talking a two week course of meds while they try and figure things out... so she's likely to be in over Christmas. Which, with myself and my mother the only people in the family who care about Christmas trees and decorations (my father being a touch on the Grinch side in regards to it all), I'm not having the oomph to put anything up. Since it's always been a thing that I put them up while she's in the room and we talk about it and the season and family stuff. Doing it on my own just seems kind of wrong. Now, because I'm the primary carer for my mother, one of my regular (but small) sources of income comes from the government (since I spend in excess of 40 hours a week providing care)... but now I'm being questioned over it because for the second time in a little over 10 years I took a holiday. It just happened to be one that lasted 35 days. Apparently they get iffy if they think you're committing fraud by being outside of the country for that long a time. So that's fun to deal with bureaucracy over. I'm feeling the Christmas spirit.

I've been puttering away at the game since I got back home, and I'll say for the most it has caught me up in it. There have been a few annoyances, the tactical camera just doesn't seem to click that well for me, so I don't tend to use it that much. I'm a little disappointed over the whole Skyhold customisation and return it to glory - I thought there would be a touch more to it then just 3 "rebuild" actions, and some generic change banners/décor/your bed... Ran through the Winter Palace section yesterday, quite enjoyed that. It's nice to have an extensive area that focuses on the sneaky side of politics rather more than just hack n slash. Although the couple of areas of combat in it felt a little jarring to a degree (most notably you get encouraged to change from formal party wear to full armour and weapons). Although the combination of Halla Statues, Coins, and Blackmail collectables might be pushing things too far, and the Halla Doors are a touch awkward. Limited number of Halla Statues to unlock with, so you can't open all the doors and no real hints as to which ones are useful until you actually do open them and use up the Halla Statues. Hm, one weird thing I noticed... I managed to get all the blackmail materials on the main three people and did the grand smackdown on all of them so I could get them all working together, but when I get back to Skyhold everyone is acting as if I supported Celene, and Gaspard and Briala have been ruined. Which seems a touch weird. Party banter really does seem to require specific mix and matches. Solas and Vivienne converse a chunk. Iron Bull and Dorian get some flirty. Cassandra and Varic talk up a storm (especially after Varric finds out she reads his books), Solas and Sera do a mix of fun poke at each other over elven nature, I can't seem to recall Blackwall saying much banter-wise...

I think that's one that is an entertaining film, good actors, plenty of in-jokes and moments of amusement... But somehow never quite reaches the heights of greatness it should have, which makes it seem less good then it is.How much of that is due to the hash up of editing/director/producer thing that was going on could be one of those great unanswered questions....

Trying to figure out the logistics and finances of a long distance relationship that requires flying back and forth across the Atlantic every 6 months or so.. Helping out being an alarm clock for her daughter by phoning her to check that her daughter is awake for the school bus while she's in hospital recovery from surgery. Also, while trying to get the post-jet lag oomph to start exploring the dark depths of the attic and find the Christmas decorations my mother has had her Monday planned surgery delayed, and ended up being taken into hospital due to chest infection, fluid in the lungs, and assorted doctors general concern and worry.

Packing things up to head home after the month away. Definitely a weird mix of feelings. Had a "chocolate party" for the kids last night where they got to dig into the remnants of the cadbury flakes I brought over with me, along with hot chocolate and ice cream. A new thing to have children crying about me leaving (note, that's a 16 year old girl, a 13 year old boy, and an 11 year old girl). Trying to put the upspin on it all, and figure out the logistics on long distance relationships. But I get to leave, their mother gets to go in for surgery next week, and my mother is going in for surgery on the same day. So all the fun.

I now have an image in my head of a squat wearing a monocle, holding a swaggerstick in one hand, a glass of brandy in the other, talking with a plummy accent as he orders other squats to go frag over the bloody idjits....

Heh, quirky thing I was talking to my friend the other day, and she was talking about her friend who married a model.... and that's the model in question. I suddenly got a "hey, that's Sarah!" from over my shoulder as I was checking the forum thread.

On the downside of my trip to the states. So having to slowly get ready to fly back home later this week, and figure things out for the future. Although my friends sister had half hysterics in the background when the 13 yr old son casually announced while talking about the zombie apocalypse that he'd have me and his dad on his survival team. When someone mentioned that might cause difficulties, he blinked and said "yeah, but we could use dad for bait." in that utterly conversational tone with no awareness that teenagers can pull off so well. Edit: Also, Well, sure ...technically. Indeed. Sometimes you have to drink fine port.

[media] [\media] It's always fun to post via phones....

Well, enjoy your break if you do decide to wander to other areas of the internet or that dangerous area known as real life Hurl. Hopefully we'll see you around at some point in the future... On a totally seperate thing, I have to say it is both somewhat odd and yet pushes the warm fuzzies when three kids pretty much adopt you and tell their mother that she has to keep you.

A mix of she's just finished recovering from brain surgery about 9 weeks ago, the upcoming holidays where travelling from North Carolina to Georgia to visit family, and she doesn't want to go into surgery and be recovering during my last two weeks of visiting here.

Spent a chunk of the day experiencing the US ER and medical system, friend expecting to go in for neurosurgery in a couple of weeks woke up with a headache and balance issues so I was providing moral support as they're fighting to not end up with the surgery right now. I've never noticed NHS hospitals providing recharge points for mobile phones/laptops etc in the waiting rooms and open wifi, so that seems a definite difference to US hospitals...

Bribery and Corruption. I've learned that letting my friends kids have access to games on my steam earns me brownie points and keeps them quiet...

For some of the examples..

Got back from attending FaerieCon. Interesting experience, my first "big" convention. Not quite my geek, but still fairly interesting and the atmosphere was pretty damn amazing. A whole mass of very open and friendly people mixing, and a heap of eye candy and pretty in costumes going around. That mix of Fairie / Supernatural / Steampunk / Anime influences going on. They had a "Good Faerie Ball" on the friday, and then a "Bad Faerie Ball" on the saturday. The friend I was with was the "Jello Shot Pixie" and went around handing out about 200 jello shots to anyone and everyone over those two nights. Of course, on the saturday, we held an "Orphan Party" in the hotels lounge - The orphans being the opened but not finished bottles of alcohol people had. Due to the various US state laws about "open containers" and such, we'd been passing the word around that anyone with open bottles of booze should gather there, and then let the party run through till dawn while making sure all the alcohol was passed around and emptied... Definitely can say it's an experience when you have that sort of crowd, and then you end up playing a game of Nerds Against Humanity with a group of people dressed up in some very funky (and in some cases very revealing) costumes, as dragonberry rum, absinthe, various ****tails, whipped cream vodka creamsicles, and assorted other drinks are constantly being passed around.. Then a lazy sunday wakeup, the winddown of the convention, and a 6-7 hour drive from Maryland down to North Carolina. Today is pretty much a crash out and recovery in a very lazy manner.

http://youtu.be/RV5WqRnFejI

If we're going to derail with Polka, there's only one way to end it.. http://youtu.be/MRJILK3NxSM

To derail this to pictures of women...

"What are you meant to be?" "A shaved wookie..."

Doing the final run through of luggage and checking its weight, along with all the updates and last minute tweaks to the aging and creaking laptop before I leave manana for the airport. All of those little things that get double-checked and organised...

Well, historically the whole thing with Astra was a major significant part of Constantine and what made him Constantine if I recall correctly. And the original pilot had him sending her 20 blocks out of her way to see that murder scene in an attempt to manipulate her into working with him. They just flipped it since they decided the girl wouldn't work in the long run. So that was much more of the manipulative bastard aspect then comes out in the reshoot.