Tuesday 24 February 2015

Somnia, I AM IN YOU!

Bleagh.

Some nights I just can't get to sleep, however tired I am. I just sort of tense up into a ball of aches and pains; it's no fun at all.

Monday 23 February 2015

Stuff

It's basically one of these. It's suppose to moo when you take
the lid off, but actually moos whenever you move near it.
Burglars beware!
I have acquired substantial amounts of stuff this weekend, as Hanna's parents have cleared out their garage and shipped Hanna's stored gubbins down to live in my garage. Said gubbins includes furniture, books and a substantial set of cow crockery. It's a good thing I'm not a habitually-armed American or I would have shot the damned cookie jar already; the damned thing keeps mooing at me out of nowhere.

We also took delivery of Hanna's substantial, but not quite complete, set of Ravenloft material, a testament to her teenage obsession with Count Strahd von Zarovich. This includes the novel I, Strahd, which I irritated Hanna by suggesting was compatible with the I, Frankenstein. Finally, there was a bag of comics which may or may not be worth anything. I may have a stab at cataloguing them, purely to save Hanna the effort and not to sneak a read or anything.

"If I don't look at them, maybe the weird orbiting
naked chicks will just go away."
So, my place looks a little more than usually as if a bomb - or perhaps a toddler - had hit it, but once we get a chance to sort the nursery (since Arya doesn't need the cot anymore) some of that stuff may come in handy soon.

This weekend's second major fixture was lunch with MattMatt. It's been an age since we saw him, as schedules basically prevented us getting to a Hatfield game for ages. It was a salutary reminder that we need to work at not losing touch with people, as well as a lovely afternoon of good food, good company and watching someone else entertain Arya for a while. We would totally provide references if he ever wanted to adopt.

Coming home from MattMatt's was a little fraught, but it's my own stupid fault. I got on the wrong train and had to get off and turn around at Shelford. In addition, there's a bus from Ely to King's Lynn on Sundays, but at least the driver let us off in town. I wouldn't have minded so much, but the weather was absolutely vile last night; cold, wet and miserable.

Still, I got cheapish takeaway Chinese and it was so nice getting into my little warm flat full of Ravenloft modules. it really felt homey.

Monday 16 February 2015

Tell me why, actor man?

Hanna suggested that I photograph the label as I didn't
have a pen on me.
The last few days I have been awfully ill. In fairness, it could have been worse. Hanna was able o give me fair warning of how bad the affliction in question might get, so I've been on antibiotics since the infection began to show on Friday morning. All things considered, taking Arya into Ely on Saturday may have been a bit much. I was ludicrously pleased when Hanna got back from her game at around dinner time instead of in the small hours of the morning.

Other than being ill since Thursday, and sleeping on the sofa so that Hanna and I didn't keep each other awake with our coughing, it was a good weekend though. Arya continues to push boundaries, but I got to spend a load of time with her and with Hanna. We were both ill, so it was mostly cuddles and TV, but it was good to have something to ourselves.

On Sunday we went to see The Book of Life, an animated film by Guillermo del Toro which I originally saw part of with Arya. She had a go at walking out again and I missed the very end of the movie watching my daughter circle in the lobby of the cineworld Huntingdon. After that, we went to a Living History Fair in Godmanchester, where I mostly window shopped for LARP kit and Hanna recnnected with friends from Maelstrom/Empire or people her parents knew.

We had pancakes at dinner, which was nice.

Monday 9 February 2015

Dippy and Deprivation

Dippy the Diplodocus (c. Drow Male, Creative Commons)
So, they're moving the diplodocus from the Great Hall of the Natural History Museum in London. It's not been there forever, but it's certainly been there since I were a lad, so Hanna and I are quite keen to take Arya to see the Museum before they replace it with a blue whale. I'm not, for the record, angry about this or anything; I entirely get that Dippy isn't even a real skeleton, but is composed entirely of casts of bones, but standing and gazing up at the diplodocus is otherwise an experience I won't get to share with my daughter.

Why does this seem of great importance? Well, quite possibly because I am seriously tired, due to Arya's ill-health at the weekend. It changes your priorities does exhaustion, although I did get to sleep last night, so I'm not as bad as I was yesterday.

Of greater actual moment is the awareness that I need to start looking for a change of job. I'm reluctant, because where I am now is really pretty good to me. If it was only a little more money I would never leave.

Monday 2 February 2015

Insomnia and other passtimes

"Whatcha doing?"
"Oh, just lion around."
Illness is easier to cope with when you're getting plenty of sleep. Sleep is easier to come by when you're healthy. To quote the Devil in Brimstone:

"These microbes never cease to amaze me. An orgy of pain and suffering in such a little tiny package. You really have to give that old bitch Mother Nature a lot of credit."

My illness from last week persisted pretty much through to today, manifesting primarily as a painful throat and mouth blisters. By Thursday I thought I might have tonsilitis; by Saturday throat cancer. For various reasons then, I was not sleeping so well. I'm still pretty blitzed, as it goes, but I shall recover.

Between this extended lethargy and not seeing Arya at the weekend, I was pretty low, but better now for some baby time this weekend. I did consider trying to blag swimming, but I got the last two and its no fair if Hanna never gets in the pool with Arya. It was a very tired weekend - I managed to fall asleep in the denouement of The Wolfman, despite all the roaring and screaming.

I need to aim for austerity this month, financially and in terms of diet. January was expensive and I have No Rest for the Wicked and lots of major birthdays in March. This is in part why I was so peeved that, when the screen for Kingsman failed on Saturday, I couldn't find anything else to watch and ended up spending more than I should on a big lunch. If I'd capped that off by losing my scarf I would have been gutted, but fortunately noticed in time to go back for it. I also got to see the first few minutes of Into the Woods, which together with The Wolfman added up to an Emily Blunt-heavy Saturday.

I would have liked a little more time to spend with Hanna, but it's always good just to see her. Anyway, my thoughts and condolences are with her and Andrew today, as they are at his Gran's funeral.