Malazan Book of the Fallen II

So back when I first started writing this blog I wrote a very long entry on My appreciation for the Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. At that point I had only read half way through book 3 out of 10 and I am now on book 5 so I thought I would update it a little bit.

*warning possible spoilers* (I will try to be vague in an attempt not to ruin it for people wanting to read it)

But yes! I have just finished the 4th book (House of Chains) and I would mostly like to write about that one. So far in the series you have mostly been following the Malazan Empire or at least the Malazan armies, and a little bit on the enemies, but not much, just enough for you to get an idea of what they are up against. This changes however in House of Chains as you follow a character called Karsa Orlong, a young yet mighty warrior. You journey with Karsa as he grows from an arrogant youth to a wise and scarred man, and I don't know about other readers but I personally became very attached to him. (*spoiler*) It came as shock then to discover that we had already met this character before in Book 2 (Deadhouse Gates) and he is very aggressive towards another character that I am deeply fond of, and he also forms a strong part of the rebellion against the Malazan Empire. Also despite his personal strives against this role he is being formed into one of the (this might sound stupid but eh trying to avoid giving everything away but probably failing miserably) 'big baddy's' main people...

(One person's idea of what Karsa Orlong would look like, drawn by merlkir on Deviant Art )

This came as a shock and I have to say I was distraught that a character I had watched grow and become very fond of was possibly one of the main enemies against the other characters. On the other hand I think it is a very clever tactic of Erikson. Not only is he drawing you into the lives of the people from the Malazan empire, those you would automatically assume were the 'good guys' (as they were the ones you were reading about) but he then throws you a curve ball by showing the other side of the battle. Erikson continues this by showing the two opposing sides of Sha'ik's rebellion and you follow the two armies up until the final conflict. This could be seen as possibly over complicating the story, but the guy has written 10 novels, he is allowed to complicate things because (assumably) he has enough room to explain everything afterwards.

So yes, 5 books in and I am still very much enjoying these books. :)

Graduating!

Wednesday 8.45am

So today I am graduating! Woo! Or you would think so. Unsurprisingly graduation day brings to my house a shed load of stress and panic as people run around the house trying to get ready while still doing work.
I'm not particularly looking forward to it myself as I didn't particularly enjoy my time with my English course. I didn't have many friends on my course so uni life was simply keeping my head down and getting on with things quietly by myself until I left and went out with my real friends and got roaringly drunk.
I got quite upset by this and worried about graduation yesterday. Feeling really bummed out that I didn't have any friends and I don't want to be put back in the situation where everyone is hanging out with their course mates and having fun etc etc while I will be sat on my own twiddling my thumbs. I actually got worried that I wouldn't have anyone to take a photo with. But I then gave myself a massive pep talk thinking ok screw that! So what I don't have many friends on my course! I do actually have two really good friends on my course and lots of lovely people I know so its pathetic to think that I am completely alone. Also I have masses of friends in other parts of uni life. I ran a society basically for two years for goodness sake. You just need to sit in a hall for 2 hours, walk across a stage and say fuck you English course 2012 and then go on to bigger and better things such as getting drunk and doing a masters. Yay!
Also I am dressed up really nicely which is making me feel weird... I should have fishnet tights on. That would bring the alternative to the outfit but alas my Mother would not approve. Also it is not even 9am and I am already wearing make up. Very unusual for me. Right I should probably get up and join in the maddness that is my house and getting ready to go to get to Cardiff on time to pick up my evil villain costume, I mean graduating robes...

11.45am

So after a slightly stressful drive with traffic and the rain we have made it to Cardiff! I have picked up my graduating robes, had people laugh at the fact that I'm currently wearing doc martins with my dress and we are now sat in Cafe Rouge waiting ages for some brunch. I have half an hour before I have to make my way to be seated and then wait for the rehersal before the main thing. Woo! Bored, hungry and nervous now =\

(This is the stage we had to walk across, and look! No steps!)

Friday 10.10

Ok so it is now actually Friday, 2 days after I graduated, but my plan to continue updating on the day failed as my phone died and then I just forgot! But yes! The actual graduation service was kind of boring. All that happened was that you walked across the stage when your name was called and then doff to the people and then sit around and wait for the other x hundred or so people do the same. There weren't even many speeches, I suppose that is a good thing though?! I do remember thinking just as I was about to walk on stage 'why on earth have I been so worked up over this?!' and to top it all off no one fell over! woo!

After the ceremony followed the traditional rush of 'omg take photos while the sun is out!!' (it was pouring with rain for most of the day) and then we went to a after-ceremony-drinks with lecturers. This was actually good fun, despite the awkward moments when stood with my parents with them egging me on to talk to people! I even got a promise from one of my lecturers to give me a copy of an article I've been wanting to read! Score!

So yes I have now graduated. Bring on doing a Masters so having to go through it all over again!

And this is me, graduated, by the Olympic rings outside Cardiff City Hall.

The Lazy Drummer's Life

With all this Doctor Who writing, I kind of miss just writing about me, being able to ramble about anything and everything. Ok it normally comes together as a pretty shit blog but oh well!

Not in the best of moods this morning. Had the weekend off (my only weekend of the whole month off) so used the sunday wisely, sort of like you used to do Sunday evening before school, well at least I did. I got all my stuff ready, my uniform washed and ironed, all the stuff for my bag organised in various places over the house so I could just scoop them up and dump them in and go!

Only one exception. I am working the 9.30-5.30 shift today, which normally means I am on tills (I have actually been really wanting a till shift recently so this is nice). But because I am difficult and I live in Warminster which is a 40 min train ride away from Bath and the trains like to be difficult, to get a train into Bath for 9am I need to get the 7.40am train which gets me into Bath at 8.30am. Not so bad as it gives me an extra hour to read my book when I get to work. At 7.30am this morning I suddenly realised I am not meant to be getting the 8.40am train which I normally get to start at 10 but that I had 10 mins to get up, get dressed, get my stuff and get to the train station (which I normally allow 20 mins for) in 10 mins. *massive face palm*. After stressing for 5mins I came to my senses and realise there is nothing I can do but get the later train and be 15 mins late for a potential till shift. Woo! Today has started well.

It has however given me time to not only write this blog but to also back up my iPod. I hardly ever do this because my music on my laptop is in no way organised and I often have old music on my iPod which I don't have on my laptop so it ends up not being transferred across which is major annoying. However I need to this morning because for some unknown reason I have agreed to join my brother's new band 'Erectile Disfunction' a hard core punk cover band, and I need to learn the set list in 2 weeks. This could be interesting! I haven't drummed for 5 years but I did enjoy it, and only stopped because I am lazy and my brother left for university. So, this is for a one night show, unless I really enjoy it then there are various bands I could join in Cardiff apparently, so yeah! Back into the music scene!

and this is my drum kit, rather small and battered but works just fine!

Doctor Who at the Baths, Episode 2: The Doctor and Sulinis

Previously on Doctor Who at the Baths, Doctor Who meets Bladud.

*intro music*

    "Hmmmm... This wasn't here before..."
The Doctor stepped out onto a Roman street which moments before had been steaming marsh land.
    "What? Where are we?" I asked. The second time in as many hours that the Tardis had landed in the wrong place, I was beginning to get annoyed.
    "I think we might be - woah!" The Doctor was suddenly knocked off his feet and landed with a crunch on the floor outside the Tardis.
    "Doctor! Are you ok?" I shouted, running to the door to see what had happened.
    "owww" the Doctor groaned.
    "Oh sir I am so sorry!" Squeaked a young girl, quickly getting off of the Doctor and helping him up. "I did not see you there, it was like you appeared out of no where."
She was a young girl, can't have been much more than ten. She had light coloured hair which was cropped short and was slightly disheveled after the collision with the Doctor. She had big blue eyes and large red lips turned upwards in a worried smile, no doubt hoping that we wouldn't report her to her mistress for running. She was wearing a simple grey dress, tightened around her small waist with a red sash. She had been carrying a wicker tray which was now on the floor, the contents of glass bottles and jars rolling around on the floor which she now was attempting to pick up before they became lost.
    "That's ok, my fault completely! I do it a lot!" The Doctor said, brushing himself down. "I'm the Doctor, who are you? And why are you in such a rush?"
    "My name is Apulia, and I forgot my Lady's make up when she went to the baths so had to go back and get it before I get into trouble." She said standing up for the first time. She was quite tall and skinny but not lanky,
    "Your Lady?"
    "Yes, I am a slave, and I am going to get such a beating if I don't get it to her on time!"
    "Come on then young Apulia, we shall help you get there!" The Doctor said, helping to pick up the items that the young girl had dropped.
    "Really? Oh thank you Senor!" She said gratefully and we set off down the street, following the young girl as she wound her way through the busy streets.

    "So where are we headed then Apulia?" I asked as I slipped my arm through hers in order to not lose her in the crowd.
    "Why the Bathhouse of course! Why else would you be visiting Aquae Sulis? People come from all over the Empire to take the healing waters of Sulis Minerva. Only there are a few problems as the Great Bath is undergoing maintenance right now. The wooden roof was starting to rot so they are building a new stone one now. Belator says it will never work because the Romans are making it too big. But I think it will. They are using local stone masons to build it and Sulis will not let them fail."
We had reached a large stone building and Apulia made straight for the entrance.
    "Apulia!" The guard shouted. "Your mistress is not best pleased with you. You better get in quick!"
Apulia squeaked and dashed inside, reappearing to gesture to the Doctor "come on!"
The Doctor flashed his psychic paper at the guard, "Imperial stone mason inspectors, from Rome itself!"
The guard eyed the Doctor suspiciously "and partner." He quickly added gesturing at me, I smiled in response.
He waved us through and we entered the Roman Baths.

Apulia popped up again from beyond a door way: "I need to find my Mistress, but you can go to the spa or something...?"
The Doctor smiled and glanced towards the soldier on the door, "I think I'll go take a look at these stone masons."
He wondered out of the door after Apulia.
    "The Great Bath is that way" Apulia pointed, "I'm going to find my mistress at the temple, hopefully see you in a bit though" she smiled and skitted around the corner and the Doctor wondered off to the left towards the sounds of hammering and shouting, leaving me to follow in his wake. We entered a vast room with a huge empty bath taking up most of the space. Alcoves lined the walls, filled with tools or benches and tables, pushed back to make more space. Scaffolding spanned the length of the room, and looking up you could see that at the moment it was half open to the sky, the rest being covered by a wooden ceiling which was slowly being dismantled.
    "Hey! This area is off limits to bathers and worshippers!" Shouted one man from the scaffold.
The Doctor waved his psychic paper. "Imperial stone inspector from Rome! You can call me the Doctor, what have we here then?" he said attempting to get a better look at the dismantled roof.
The man clambered down the scaffold and jumped to the floor. He was young, possibly early twenties, his short black hair was covered with dust from the sandstone he was working with. He was dressed in a simple woollen smock with a leather apron and leather gauntlets on his wrists, his sandals were of the Roman style, worn and slightly too big for him, giving the idea that they might have belonged to an older brother or his father at one time. He had a mason's belt through which he had pushed a hammer and chisel and to which a small bag was tied by leather throngs. He started absent-mindedly twiddling with these thongs as he went up to address the Doctor.
    "Sulinus, Senior, I didn't think we were getting an inspection for a while?"
"Ah but this one is a surprise inspection!" The Doctor grinned. "So... what are you up to then?" he said beginning to wonder around not waiting for Sulinus to reply.
    "We're replacing the wooden roof that was earlier erected as the hot water and steam has made it start to rot."
    "Well that doesn't seem very clever" I scoffed.
    "Well it worked fine for the first 200 or so years! But High Priest Gius Calpernicus has declared that a new roof of stone be built to further the magnificence of the Baths." Sulinus said defensively.
    "And how long is that going to take you then?" The Doctor asked from down the room.
    "Well, we need to reinforce all the pilars see? And thats gonna take a while... and the actual roof is made of tiles and we ain't tilers see" Said another mason coming up, wiping dust from his hands on his leather apron.
    "Yeah, but I talked to Calpernicus and he might be getting us a deal to mix the mortar" Butted in Sulinus.
    "Oh is he now!" Grumbled Brucius, "We don't need no more deals for simply making mortar. We are master craftsmen!"
    "You'll have to excuse my father, Senior," Sulinus said apologetically to the Doctor. Now Sulinus had pointed it out it was easy to see the family resemblance between the two men underneath all the dust and grim. Brucius stood half a head shorter than his son but supported the same broad shoulders and muscular arms,which he had folded as he approached his son. "Dad, I don't mind doing the extra bit of work, I mean it's not like we need the money, but I just like to be part of the history. This is going to be a magnificent building when it is finished and I like that I was a part of it. We have a special mortar mix that we use, lime stone with added bits to help increase the strength!" He added, directed to the Doctor.
    "So how are you planning on building the roof?" I asked.
The Doctor at this point had wondered off down the five steps into the bath to look at the floor.
    "Well" Sulinus said, eyeing the Doctor nervously. "We are taking the wooden roof down first, and adding the extra support to the pilars, and then we are going to construct a wooden framework and build the new roof on top of that as support, and then dismantle the wooden framework when it is all set!"
    "It should take a couple of months to complete, which is a shame as it means the Great Bath will be out of action for that time, and man is it impressive when it is full!" Said Brucius.
    "That sounds like it is going to be very impressive! Shame I can't see the 'Great Bath' in action!" I said.
Sulinus and Brucius both grinned.
    "Is this lead?" The Doctor called, poking a finger down to the bottom of the Great Bath.
    "Yes! 45 sheets of it taken from the Mendip Hills. Was put in when the Baths were first built. Have hardly any problems with it! Keeps the warm water in and the cold water out! The sacred spring also has a lead lining."
    "Ah ha" The Doctor nodded. "Looks pretty secure. I'm impressed!" He started jumping up and down on it to check the strength.
    "Did you say that your name was Sulinus?" I asked quickly in order to distract the masons from the Doctor's increasingly embarrassing actions.
    "Yes, my Partner raises a valid point," the Doctor said, taking one final jump and then walking back up the steps to join us on the side. "We keep hearing that name, Sulis, Sulinius..." The Doctor said.
    "Well of course you do! This is the sacred site of Sulis Minerva" said Brucius. "Me and the missus see, we were trying to have children but the first two we had died. So we went to see High Priest Gius to see what we could do. Now he suggested that we pray to Sulis Minerva, and give her lots of offerings"
    "Sacrificed a goat didn't you dad?" Sulinus said, sounding impressed.
    "Yeah, it was blooming expensive too! But after all our offerings and prayers the missus finally became pregnant and this here my son was born. So we named him Sulinus in honour of the Goddess herself. Some times I wonder whether he's more of a curse than a blessing though! ha ha ha!" Brucius laughed.
    "Ah, it is as I thought then." Murmured the Doctor, coming back up the steps. "We didn't move in space we just moved forward in time. This is the site of Bladud and the 'Holy' springs. And something is still preforming 'miracles'"
    "What do you think caused that then?" I asked, worried.
    "I'm not quite sure, but something is messing with the Tardis, not allowing it to stay in one time zone for too long...." The Doctor was interrupted by a sharp beeping noise coming from his jacket. He pulled out a strange round device that was flashing and vibrating widely. "Ha! I thought this would happen. The tardis is attempting to materialise! Quick! We have to get back before it leaves without us!"
   "Oh! Bye Sulinus!" I shouted as the Doctor grabbed me by the hand and started running to the exit. "Hey Doctor! No running in the swimming pool!" I grinned.

We dashed out of the Great Bath and back the way we had come, dodging through the streets and past the various worshippers or bathers who had come to the Baths. The Doctor lunged for the door. We made it just in time as when the door slammed shut the Tardis started to disappear.
    "I wonder when we will be next time..." I said to the Doctor, feeling worried.

To Be Continued.

Cue Doctor Who ending music *ooooweeeeooooooooodooodadoooooooodooodooodooooodoooo....*

Read the next instalment in Doctor Who visits the Spa


(Doctor Who, the Tardis and all other awesome related things are copyrighted by the BBC etc etc)

Doctor Who at the Baths: 'Episode' 1. The Doctor and Bladud

Some of you guys may have read my Doctor Who Takes a Tour of the Baths post, and seen how I have taken some photos of my Tardis at the Baths, (just because I am cool) to go with it. Well while I was prancing around with said Tardis, a tourist actually came up and asked me what I was doing and I told him about my blog and he said him and his friends will give it a read. At which point I thought, shit, this isn't actually that good! So in the spirit of Doctor Who and maybe getting a few more reads I have decided to turn my tour into a series of Doctor Who 'episodes'. (Also my train was delayed and I was bored!) So here is the first instalment of Doctor Who at the Roman Baths.

    "Doctor? Doctor! What's going on?!" I shouted.
Lights were flashing, things were beeping, bells were ringing and that might have just been a cow moo-ing...
    "Err..." the Doctor said, head popping up from underneath the console. He grinned, "I think we're going to crash!"
    "Crash!? What do you mean cra-"
The Tardis crashed. With an angry hiss, smoke started to pour out of the main control panel. The Doctor reappeared, this time with a hammer, and began hitting various things before giving up and throwing it over his shoulder to land with the sound of breaking glass.
    "Well that's that! Should give the old girl some time and space to recover!"
    "So what are we going to do? You were meant to be taking me to the beaches of Clarilitum." I muttered, folding my arms.
    "Ah Clarilitum! A beautiful place, the locals have some crazy customs... very crazy..." The Doctor trailed off.
    "Doctor? ....Crashed Tardis, what are we going to do?"
    "Yes... yes! Why we'll go exploring! What else do we do?" The Doctor strode to the door, stepped outside, and sank up to his knees in hot mud.
    "Of all the places, you had to crash in to a swamp didn't you? What planet have we ended up on now?"
The Doctor waded around, stuck his finger into the mud, pulled it out and then sucked it clean.
    "Eewwww" I grimaced.
    "Ah ha!" He spun round. "We're not that far from your home actually! Earth. England. Well, what will become England anyway. This is a strange place though. Come on in! The water's lovely! And I mean it, must be around 40oC or 115oF, if not  a bit more... Lovely taste of bloody eggs, by which I mean iron and sulphur, along with other delicacies; lovely stuff!" the Doctor started to wonder off, "This way!"
    "I hate it when you get all technical like that. Wait, where are you going?" I said, gingerly stepping into the warm mud and began to wade after him.
    "This way, I think I heard something"

We wondered off in the vague direction of the sounds and soon enough the sounds became clearer; the squelch of mud, the snuffling and snorting of pigs, and more disturbingly, a man crying. We walked up to him.
    "Are you alright?" I asked cautiously.
    "Alright?" The man replied. He was a Celt, and at this point in time, completely naked and covered from head to foot in mud. "I'm... I'm cured! Praise Sulis!" He reached his hands to the sky, laughing through his tears.
    "Cured? From what exactly?" The Doctor was starting to sound interested.
    "And who is Sulis?" I added.
    "An Early Celtic Goddess which confirms my suspicions that we are in BC England..." The Doctor murmered in my ear.
    "How on earth did you know that?"
The Doctor winked, "I'm clever see?" He turned back to the muddy man. "We're travellers here, but I'm the Doctor, maybe I can help?"
    "I don't need a doctor, I'm cured!" The man beamed again. "Percinious!" he suddenly yelled, his attention drawn by a wondering pig. "Come back here!"
   "Percinious... the pig...?"
   "Percy for short! He has a mind of his own, that pig, but it's thanks to him that I am now cured so I won't hold it against him! Come! I have ale back at camp, I would tell you my tale. My name is Bladud, son of King Rud Hud Hudibras and I used to be prince.But, I became sick, sores on my skin, bleeding, rotting, so my father banished me."
   "That seems a bit harsh to do to your own son. You poor thing!" I said.
We had arrived at Bladud's camp and he shrugged, passing a skin of ale to the Doctor before sitting down.
    "A sick man cannot rule, so I left, and instead of ruling my people I rule these pigs instead! I resented it at first, but now I love these beasts!" He reached over to stroke one of them close to him. "But no matter how careful I am, some of them always wonder off and get into trouble, especially that Percinious! They'd come back with scrapes and sores from brambles and rocks. But the other day when I was looking for Percy I stumbled upon that Holy place. The breath of the Goddess resides there."
    "He means the steam..." The Doctor interjected.
    "Sulis is strong in this place, you should watch your tongue." He continued: "Percy had waded into the mud and gotten stuck, so I had to go in to hoik him out. That is when I realised the power of this place, for the mud and the waters are warm. When I managed to get Percy out I checked him over for injuries and realised that not only did he not have any new wounds from his adventures, but his old ones were healed!"
The Doctor arched his eyebrow
    "You may scoff unbeliever" Bladud drank deep from the ale.
    "I am sorry, I do not scoff! Continue, please."
    "Well I was astounded, but confused. Given my situation, the Gods have not been kind to me, so I tested it."
   "You tested it?" I interupted.
Bladud nodded, "I sat down with my pigs and made a note of any wounds or anything in the evening, and then the next day I came back to the swamp and let the pigs wallow for the day. Pigs love a good wallow, especially if it is warm!"
    "So what did your test reveal?" The Doctor asked.
    "It was true! The pigs came out healthier than they had ever been! This was far too good an opportunity for me to miss. I love these pigs but I miss my family and will give anything to return to them, so I stripped off and jumped in and had a good wallow with my pigs. And now I am cured! Check for yourself, not a mark or a sore on me!" His eyes welled with tears again, "I can go home to my family!"
    "And become King!" I cheered.
    "That is just a small plus! The first thing I will do when I become King is build a shrine here to the Goddess Sulis, to thank her for healing me! Doctor! Friend! Will you join me on my triumphant return to my people?"
    "Errm, maybe not just yet..." The Doctor stalled, "a newly healed prince with two strangers, isn't the best combination, we'll head back to the Tardis for now I think and join you when the questions have stopped!"
    "The what?"
    "He means we forgot our... packs... on the other side of the swamp! Stupid us! Always forgetting things! We'll rejoin you in time for the party!" I said hurriedly.
    "'Bladud', betting you like a good party! We'll see you in a bit King Pig herder"

The Doctor waved Bladud off and we both turned back towards the Tardis.
    "Come on Partner, lets see how the Tardis is feeling."
    "So...?" I asked.
    "So what?"
    "So, do you think the Goddess cured him? or is there a perfectly reasonable explanation?"
    "Well some of it has a reasonable explanation, the water is hot because it has been heated by the geothermal energies of the earth. My guess is there is a fault in the rock which allows the water to come up here under immense pressure. That is how most springs form, you see. This is the only hot spring in England though, which makes it extra special! And the hot water creates steam which explains the 'Goddess' breath'. It is understandable for them to place faith in their Gods here."
He was quiet for a moment.
    "Ah King Bladud! I thought I knew him."
    "So he does become King then?"
    "Oh yes. He fathers King Lear, the legendary King of Shakespeare. Right, lets see how the old girl is doing."
    "Ah good ol' Shakespeare! He always pops up somewhere!" I grinned.

We had reached the Tardis and the Doctor unlocked the door, jumping up to the controls.
    "Just a quick test" he murmured, fondling the controls with care, "don't want to miss all the fun of a newly made king!"
There was a bang and the Tardis shook, materialising and then re-materialising in less than a minute.
    "Errr, where are we?" I asked, knowing I wouldn't like the answer that was coming.
    "I think we are still here, the coordinates are the same. What's up old girl? Feeling a bit poorly?" The Doctor cooed, stroking the Tardis.
    "Come on, lets find Bladud and Percious, I'll be annoyed if we've missed the party!"
    "Right you are Partner!" The Doctor bounded down to the door, pulling it open, "we'll be fine, have I ever steered you wrong?! .....oh..." The Doctor had opened the door onto a Roman street. "hmmm. This wasn't here before...."

Cue Doctor Who ending music *ooooweeeeooooooooodooodadoooooooodooodooodooooodoooo....*

To Be Continued!!

The Doctor has arrived on a strange watery planet...

Read the next instalment at: Doctor Who and Sulinus!
(Doctor Who, the Tardis and all other awesome related things are copyrighted by the BBC etc etc)

Doctor Who takes a tour of the Baths.

I love Doctor Who, it is my favourite tv show of all time and today I managed to combine that love with my work at the Baths.

Part of my duties working at the Baths is to give guided tours around the Roman part of the museum. This can seem a little scary at first but its actually really good fun. I've been quite lucky in that I've normally only had small groups and you can just chat to them easily. I haven't had any kids on my tours before, which I've always found annoying and recently I had been planning on how to make my tour interesting and kid-friendly, and I thought, why not use Doctor Who! And today, I finally managed to do this!

I was very lucky in making this work as it was an American family, and I know Doctor Who has become relatively big out there but I wasn't sure quite sure if they would like it. So I started my tour off by asking them if they knew Doctor Who, expecting, but dreading, deadpan and confused faces but no, the kids shot up going 'yeah!! I do!!!' And the teenage daughter promptly went bright red as her Dad said how much she loved the Doctor too. I was in for a winner!

I won't bore you with details of my tour, you'll just have to come visit for that, but as a taster you get to travel back in time in the tardis and travel round the baths! Ingenious right?! But the family loved it and they even tipped me which I was highly embarrassed and grateful for, so the staff room will be getting cakes tomorrow!

It also led to me and Rosa, a fellow VSA, creating an ever complicating Dr who episode plot set in the baths, where all the VSAs were being mind controlled by a kracken like beast under the baths and the mind control beacon was in the world heritage symbol on top of the audioguide box, and the Doctor, of course, had to save bath, and us, from being destroyed by an evil Roman alien thing... Look out Dr Who producers, me and Rosa are coming for your jobs!

Laters!

Failings in life.

So I've been meaning to start a blog about all the stupid things I, and other people, do. Today has brought about the first of these posts!

In work I stupidly left my phone in the staff room after my break to be found by certain colleges. After realising I had a lock on my phone and therefore they couldn't frape me they decided to 'upgrade' my phone instead. To do this they covered it in white labels and then drew on an iPhone.

Actually pretty halarious and taught me never to leave my phone unattended again!

I fail.

Failure of a weekend

So last blog I said how I was having a long weekend of cleaning and moving houses up in Cardiff. Yeah, that didn't go completely to plan! I spent a long afternoon and the next morning cleaning before I gave up from being too tired and fed up and decided to call it quits and fuck off back home two days early! I did however manage the rather messy transition from old house to new house, and get very very drunk at Metros.

Hopefully September will bring a much better year!

Despite being home and failing at what I was meant to be doing I am keeping my day off and hoping to do something useful with it, such as master the controls for Battlefield... Totally worth my time right? I had a PJ day yesterday, (I have lots of pj days) which was nice, though slightly boring, so I am not allowing myself one today! As a treat for myself I bought loads of books over the last couple of days so I need to sort my finances out and go to the bank as well as playing xbox unfortunately. Also it is my 21st this summer and I am having a big party with lots of friends and family, well that is the plan, but I need to finish the invites today and post them otherwise no one will actually come...

Along with keeping this blog to keep my mind sort of working, I am going to start learning Welsh! It has taken me three years of living in Wales to finally decide to do this, and I'm not even learning it because I live in Wales (I live in Cardiff and there are hardly any Welsh speakers here, it has been accurately described as a mini-London) but because I want to read some ancient poems about Merlin and King Arthur in the original language of Old/middle Welsh. But to keep it interesting, or dull, whichever you prefer, I think I will keep my blog up to date with what I learn. Probably won't be much, and I'll give up as won't have enough time in between working and sleeping but hey, at least I'm trying!

Another fun/slightly sad thing I have done today is I have finally figured out how to do a changing desk top background, so I now have a cycle of around 100 pictures of 'good times' on my laptop which sadly makes me very happy! It is also quite sad how long it took me to realise I could do this as it is very easy to do...

Enough of me now,

Laters!