Raithe

Working my way through a lovely bout of man-flu. Congestion headaches and all. When you can't read a complete page without being interupted by hacking coughs or a need to attempt to blow your nose.. You don't really get much done.

Firefly - What needs to be said about this show? Hookers and Cowboys in Space, with dialogue from Whedon... Babylon 5 - It had it's rough spots, but damn, it was the show that really pushed the idea of series long plots and not just episode of the week or season end/begin 2 parters.. That and the characters were bloody excellent. That, and the music (like Star Wars) just helped create such an evocative ambience for what happened in the show. Highlander - Again, started rough, but once they found their pacing it just worked (especially with Methos..) Blackadder - Apart from the very first season, which wasn't as smart or polished as the following seasons. MASH - For just how eminently re-watchable it is. Parker Lewis Can't Lose - It was pretty much ferris bueller's day off writ as a tv series with a touch more surreal elements... As for seventh place.. Brimstone. - a dead cop in hell for killing his wife's rapist is sent back to the world to chase down 113 escaped souls. And John Glover does a rather thoroughly brilliant Devil. hm, honourable mentions would have to be said for both Odyssey 5 and Threshold. Two sci-fi shows that were unfortunately cancelled with the 1st season shown. If they'd had time to grow their story arcs and start to pull in some of those winding plots that they both spent the first season establishing..I'm pretty sure they'd have moved up onto the list properly.

Was away from Friday through Sunday on a weekend work thing. Came back home to find no-one had actually thought to clean out the kitty litter while I was gone. Also, it seems my sore throat is now developing into more of a full blown flu-style thing. Joys for the start of the week.

And the odds of him actually spending any time in jail?

Well he shot that "Much Ado About Nothing" in his home in California. He joked one of the reasons they filmed it in black and white was so he wouldn't have to repaint his walls..

heh. I've actually had something similar said from my Le Grande Ex. It does not make it easier.

Have a form of working weekend coming up, a semi-casual discussion on work, company, personal aims, and some networking. Based around the idea of "get folks who have spent more time emailing each other and talking across the phone rather then in direct personal contact together" and with a game plan of "roughly sketch out time tables, then do some work stuff together and have a beer, then some more work and discussion, and some more beer, then a dinner with outside company contacts and more booze". So that should be somewhat interesting. But it's being an oddly paaced evening feeling right now. Organised things for my mother, so all her meds are prepped and assorted things are handled while I'm gone. I finished my replay of New Vegas yesterday, and finished a book I was reading earlier. Wrapped up a short crash presentation preperation on combating graffiti for a potential work pitch... Have that slightly disconnected feeling and not sure what to do. Not in the right mood to start a game, can't really get a frame of mind to figure out fresh reading, Nothing jumping out as a "this needs to be done now", and my mind keeps having odd wistful half-memories of an old girlfriends voice. Just very... ungrounded in anything in my life right at this moment sensation.

One surprising thing I've noticed, is if you take a cross-section of scientists by discipline - a bigger chunk of physicists and astrophysicists will believe in God (even if not as part of an organised religion), while a majority of chemists seem to be more secular / agnostic / athiestic.

Heh. Just noticed that the packet of strepsils I've emptied over the last two days has a "Do Not Use After : Nov 2004" tucked away on one end....

Watch out for the season finale. Supposedly, all the clues for what actually happens are in the episode. But so far (at least not when I last checked) no-one has successfully claimed to identify everything and identify exactly what goes on... Which means lots of theories up in the air...

heh, and apparently John Carpenter himself showed "Lo Pan Style" at Screamfest the other weekend.

Yeah. Stopped the launch, got to be Idolised by BoS and FotA upon my return. Although so far I only blew up 25 of the warheads scattered around.. Did find all of Ulysses tapes, so I got his back story fairly well sorted. I'm not sure what it was, Dead Money had that emotional payoff when you faced Elijah, Honest Hearts had that serious storyline that had a bit of emotional punch, OWB had that zany side of B-Movie madness that had you chuckling even while facing the serious "science gone too far" type of crazy and a fairly emotive sequence of end slide. But Lonesome Road.. I don't know. Something about it just hasn't seemed to connect properly. It was ...interesting, but I can't really nail down what I liked or disliked about it.

Overdosing on strepsils in an attempt to combat a sore throat thats been kicking in the past day or two. When every swallow has that dry, bladed sandpaper feeling and your voice drops down to the depths.. it's not the best of times to be facing a working weekend.

I've done a blitz through a couple of Baen's eArc's this last month. Weber's latest addition to the Honorverse - Shadow of Freedom, Ringo's return to the Kildar - Tiger by the Tail, and the newest Liaden Universe book - Necessity's Child. Actually re-read a bunch of the Liaden Universe at the start of the month, and I have to admit the best description still sticks with me; "it's like someone threw Star Wars and Pride & Prejudice into a mixer then added some more wit and humour."

Just finished Lonesome Road for the first time. I am... curiously undecided on just what I make of it.

Congrats and I hope it continues equally as well into the future.. On my downside, I seem to be developing a rather annoying sore throat and short coughw which is certainly a wonderful start to the week..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xiAbDkXDgg

I guess I'm just that good at lurking inconspicuously in the background....

Bout to push some more Fallout New Vegas along before I take a turn on Lonesome Road for the first time. But before I do, I shall have to decide whether to have Veronica stay with the BoS or go Follower this play through... hm. decisions decisions.

On that side note, still waiting for that Lurking Caped One of the Obsidian Order...

Hm, I've just lost a companion somehow. Was in the Thorn with Arcade, engaged a couple of matches, left the Thorn and fast travelled somewhere.. only to find my companion wasn't with me. I still had the perk and all that.. but no companion. Went back to the Thorn, he wasn't there. Used the "Companion Dismissal" terminal that's supposed to send companiosn back to their home, and I can't find him at either the Lucky 38 or the Old Mormon Fort...

So now is the time for the mass catchup of people who joined in the last days/hours and filtering through the threads to double-check..

I end up trying to fit in bits of general exercise around my daily routine. Do 60-100 squats as I clean my teeth, whenever I've done x around the house then do a quick 20-3o pushups. Just try to get it all into a habit and scattered around what I'm doing normally rather then try to set up an hour or so to do a complete block of exercise all at once with no distractions. That and walking, and some general play with the dogs. I have a couple of free weights as well that I try to use for various shoulder/arm work and clutching at times when I do situps. I try to get in the odd bit of Iaido practice at home as well, but although thats martial arts, it doesn't really fall into heavy workout type...

Hm, I've realised I've let a huge amount of tv shows stack up that I meant to get around to watching. The last 3 seasons of Fringe, the last season of Nikita, ditto on Supernatural, and Haven... a few others scattered around. Finally managed to sit down and catch the final season of Eureka the other week. I have to admit, that had an odd sort of ending. Wasn't so much any particular wrap-up to life, more just a "and now we're back to normal and waiting for the next usual disaster" type of thing.

At the moment I am going to focus on thinking up important phrases it would be appropriate to learn in general before spending a few weeks in Mexico-City.. and then I can start pondering on speechwriting.. "I don't understand" "Could you repeat that?" "Which way to the bathroom?" "Where is the embassy?" "What sort of bribe were you wanting?"