Thursday 31 May 2012

Make up, travel hell and clothes

Today was a make up day. Decided to throw caution to the wind and go to work with eyeliner, mascara and lip gloss on! Got some interesting looks en route although nobody batted an eyelid in the office. Was nice to be able to do it and all being well it will be a regular feature before I start slipping something else into the mix (and no that wasn't a euphemism).

Busy but uneventful day at worn was followed by travel hell. A fatality on the line meant that Cannon Street was in chaos. Initially there were no trains at all and I was just staring to plan a route home using tubes and buses when I managed to squeeze on a very packed train heading to Eltham. One bus later and I was home albeit a little later than usual but not majorly so which was lucky. It was my turn to cook so everyone was glad I hadn't been delayed too much.

Toni and I tackled our clothes tonight and manage to get nearly all of them put away. Still a few things left to do but at least we are making excellent progress again (having stalled for a few days). So nice to be able to easily access most of our clothes once again :o)



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Wednesday 30 May 2012

Last.FM listening post

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:


Top weekly artists:


Overall top tracks:


Overall top artists:

Tuesday 29 May 2012

Sam's new PC

Spent most of the evening back and forth with Sam getting his new PC up and running. Toni wasn't well and crashed out on the sofa so I occupied myself in PC support mode. Troubleshooting is so much fun, I love it! Had to find him an adapter to convert SATA to IDE so that we can re-use his old optical drives on the new machine. That was quite a baffling one for five minutes as we realised that his new Micro ATX motherboard had no IDE support on it at all, it was all SATA. You live and you learn! I haven't done an upgrade for a while and to be honest I didn't even think to check. Oh well, sorted now!

He was most impressed with the performance once it was all up and running and now Minecraft is SO smooth running.

Monday 28 May 2012

Great Orpheum rehearsal

Despite the intense heat Orpheum were holed up in Storm Studios tonight for the first of two pre-gig rehearsals. I have to say we were sounding fierce and new song Eden has come up sounding very good. I really hadn't wanted to rehearse after work as I was feeling hot, sweaty and yucky but I am so glad that I did. This band just totally kicks butt and feels right for me! Roll on the next rehearsal!

Saturday 26 May 2012

London MCM Expo & Iron Sky

Today was an exciting day as we attended our first ever London MCM Expo. If you want to know more about this event then please visit their site here: http://www.londonexpo.com/

It was a fantastic day, so much fun anime, manga, sci-fi and comic related stuff to see and spend money on (lots of money was spent!). I'm not really a die hard fan boy/girl these days but I couldn't resist having a photo taken with Elvira Mistress Of The Dark:


We stopped by the Smell Your Mum stall to say hi to Z and Vikki (SPiT LiKE THiS) and picked up a copy of their new CD Normalityville Horror.

Some of the cosplay outfits on display were amazing. We'll definitely be dressing up properly next time we go (and there WILL be a next time)





After the Expo we went to North Greenwich before heading off into central London. We had a surprise lined up for Sam, Tristan and Aaron as we led then on a roundabout trip through various parts of London before ending up at the Prince Charles Cinema to go and see the late night showing of IRON SKY. All three of them had commented during the Expo that they would have loved to have seen it so they were all delighted to actually get to as it was a limited run and this was one of the last cinemas to still be showing it. It was a fantastic film, really fun, tongue in cheek and fully of lots of clever jokes.

You can view the trailer here and it is already available on DVD and Blu-Ray for those of you that weren't lucky enough to have seen it on the big screen!

Thursday 24 May 2012

Grrrr day and Avengers

Today was a bit of a grrr day. It didn't help that it was really hot again. Not being a fan of the heat the current weather was never going to impress me for a prolonged period! I did however take a very pleasant stroll down Victoria Embankment from Charing Cross to Blackfriars.

Work was one of those days where I was just investigating loads of stuff only to find that problems that had been encountered were largely due to internal cock ups. I was less than impressed to find that people still fail to follow the simplest of instructions.

We had a very pleasant evening out with dinner at Wagamamas in North Greenwich and then a trip to the Odeon to see Avengers. I have to say that I was really rather impressed with the film. It was great fun and a welcome return to form for Marvel movies. Definitely one to go and see if you are a Marvel fan. The trailer for Prometheus also looks good so that's another I'm looking forward to.


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Wednesday 23 May 2012

BBQ, unpacking, girly time and late night hockey

Today was a lovely day. Too bloody hot for my liking but a lovely done nonetheless. Got home to find that Toni had decided it was time for our first BBQ as the sun was it. Despite the heat it was quite pleasant sitting in the garden and eating meat from the BBQ. Less heat and more BBQs is the way forwards methinks.

After noms I spent some time sorting out some more boxes in the bedroom. Every little bit counts and we are moving ever closer to get things all done. As an interesting aside to this Toni and I also did some research into the correct storage of silicone toys. At least we won't have any future meltdown!

A little bit of girly time followed with hair receiving a much needed wash and my nails restored to painted glory once again!

Toni managed to get to sleep even though it was still horribly hot and I watched Game 5 of the Stanley Cup semi finals with my beloved New York Rangers fighting back from a 3 - 0 deficit at the end of the third only to be robbed by the New Jersey Devils to lose 3 - 4 thus making Game 6 on Friday a must win for the Rangers to tie things up again and force Game 7.


Last.FM listening post

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:


Top weekly artists:


Overall top tracks:


Overall top artists:

Tuesday 22 May 2012

Good news is good news and Orpheum rehearsal

So, today the good news finally came. A little restructuring and now the London office is being run by a local manager! Who'd have that that it would be better to have someone close at hand overseeing things rather than a remote manager who was a whole time zone away?

At least common sense has now prevailed so with a trailing wind we should actually start to see some change and things improve for the better. In other work news, the Gherkin move is now likely to be early July.

After work it was off to Martine's for an Orpheum rehearsal. En route I was talking to the singer If a band who hopefully we'll be working with in October.

Rehearsal went very well and we got the structure of another song completed which should be ready to gig very soon. We also came up with some rather fabulous ideas for a music video for Porcelain Doll.

So there you have it, today has indeed been a very good day!




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Monday 21 May 2012

Catalogue of disasters

It wasn't a great day for the new house today.

There was no hot water to the shower when we moved in and the hot water elsewhere was intermittent and not very hot. Plumber came to sort it out..........

Plumber ran shower for 5 minutes and water started leaking out down the side of the house! (This was spotted by the gardener)
Gardener also told us that we have red ants nests in the back garden.
Plumber then noticed that the boiler had zero pressure so increased that.
Water then leaked from the boiler into the electricity spur and blew the electricity out!

Toni was supposed to be WFH but not a lot was done with no electricity. Thankfully British Gas came to the rescue and sorted out the boiler and also fixed the electrics.

On the plus side the office has been half painted and the colour is much more suited to a working environment!


Friday 18 May 2012

Good day, Indian, loading and girly time

Got a lift to the station this morning which was a nice novelty. It wasn't too bad a day at work either. Managed to get loads done which was a relief to my workload for next week.

Got home and chilled out for a bit before we decided to forget about cooking and walk round the corner to try out our local Indian restaurant. Food was absolutely delicious. It was so nice to find a local restaurant with gorgeous food. We might not be going too regularly but at least we know it's well worth visiting now, we will be back!


After our meal Toni went to bed and Sam, Aaron and I took the sets out of The Beast and then loaded it up ready for an early start tomorrow. We are off to SWF to make a run to the dump as well as bring back Sam's bed and the last of our stuff. Hopefully that will be the last trip where we actually have to do anything.

I was delighted to get a work email saying that there will be a presentation on Tuesday afternoon. Hopefully this will prompt change, direction and a new way forward, fingers crossed!

When I got upstairs Toni was crashed out. I decided to sort some clothes out before retiring. It gave me a chance to have a little girly time although it was a shame Toni wasn't awake to share it. Just tried on a few bits and pieces although I do think I'm going to be stealing one of Toni's cardigans LOL

Thursday 17 May 2012

Goodbye Eltham house

Tonight we finished the clearance of the house in Eltham and said our goodbyes. Tomorrow we continue the marathon task of unpacking and finding homes for all our stuff not to mention a trip to SWF over the weekend to get Sam's bed and a couple of other bits.

In the immortal worlds of the much lamented British Rail, "We're Getting There"!

International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

One day perhaps everyone will be treated as equal and there will be no need for things like this. Sadly we are a LONG way away from anything like that happening so in the meantime.................



Wednesday 16 May 2012

Unpacking the bedroom

The evening was spent unpacking stuff in the bedroom. We made good inroads and at least the bedroom looks a lot less like a warehouse now. Still quite a lot to do but making a start has made the task seem a lot less daunting now. Sadly, we have a good few days left of unpacking before we can really settle down and relax but progress is being made which is a welcome relief.

Last.FM listening post

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:


Top weekly artists:


Overall top tracks:


Overall top artists:

Tuesday 15 May 2012

No rest for the wicked

It was no rest for the wicked today. Very tired and achy I made a return to work for more circus shenanigans. I wish I had taken another day out but hey ho. On the plus side the journey there and back was without pain so that was a real plus. Sadly the announcement I had hoped was going to come today didn't happen so we are still hanging on for that one!

Got home and had dinner and then it was back to Eltham in The Beast to carry on moving our last bits into the new house. My body was screaming at me after two journeys but we got nearly everything out. We should be able to get the last stuff out tomorrow night and then we'll be done!

A nice bubble bath completed my night...... ahhhhh!

Monday 14 May 2012

Moved in, back online and still living in boxes

We are now moved into the new house!

I'm back online thanks to a very smooth broadband change over thanks to BT (I never thought I'd get to say that).

It's been a very strenuous few days as we packed up the final bits of the house in Eltham and moved over to our new place in Sidcup. Saturday was a bit of a whirlwind as we picked up the keys, did the inventory check and then it was back to Eltham to start ferrying things backwards and forwards. Extra special big thanks to Sharon, Alan, Brad, Pete, Tristan, Ian and Jamie for taking time out of their day to add extra bodies to the move making it all go and lot faster and smoother than if we had done it ourselves.

After the initial move on Saturday we had some much needed time out to have a big meal at El Bandito taking out some of our helpers as a token of our appreciation. After that it was back to the new place to crash out for some much needed sleep!

It was more of the same for Sunday and Monday, building various bits of furniture and starting to unpack stuff and find a home for everything. We are getting there slowly but there are still a lot of boxes left to be sorted out. Sam, Aaron and Gemima have all been good at getting involved and helping to get things done which is a welcome relief and makes things so much easier.

Despite us still living in more box chaos this new house feels like home already and I don't miss the old place at all. Can't wait until everything is sorted out and then we can relax and enjoy the place and get back to living (ab)normal lives again!

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Work stuff, fashion things, trans things & Drop Dead Diva

It was an interesting day at work today. Most of it was the usual sort of thing I've come to expect in the Big Top at Billy Smart's Circus but I did get a heads up of the winds of change which could well prove VERY positive and mark a dramatic improvement in everything. Watch this space for more news if/when it all materialises into reality. Fingers crossed that sanity is restored!

Fashion things? Well not quite yet but I intend to start extending my blogging to reviewing things like clothes, make up and shoes etc. Don't groan, you might learn something new or even find it interesting LOL. It will be a week or so before I start doing this as I have the big move coming this weekend to get through first.

It's been an interesting day on the trans front. Firstly we have the attempted suicide live on Twitter of a trans woman. Thankfully disaster was averted due to a massive outpouring of love and compassion from tweeters all over the world. Said woman is now very thankful for the help/support that has been given so hopefully she can get some proper care to help her move on from this. My only worry is that it has been picked up by some of the media so I hope that they treat the story with respect rather than sensationalising it. I know one tabloid was more interested in the trans scandal side of it rather than it being a human story, a cry for help and the wonders of humanity gathering round to help someone in their hour of need. She seemed shocked at this but I did point out to her that this was probably only the start of her infamy as doing it publicly will now put her under the spotlight for a while and that she should be cautious before reading all these articles and concentrate on getting well again.

The other trans story of note is that of Against Me lead singer Tom Gabel who has come out as trans and is about to start living life as Laura Jane Grace as she transitions. She intends to stay married to her wife Heather and has her full support which is wonderful. This story actually broke in a controlled manner in an exclusive with Rolling Stone magazine and so wasn't surrounded by the usual scandal and sensationalism that stories like this can have. It is refreshing to see everything being reported in a positive manner for a change and I haven't seen anything negative a out it as yet. Let's hope the media allow her to transition in peace without constantly intruding and looking for scoops.

It would appear that society is slowly becoming more and more accepting of trans issues (well slowly but surely anyway) which can only be a good thing as far as I am concerned. Yes, I would say that! There is still a LONG way to go but every little step helps.

So what of the Drop Dead Diva you ask? Well from it being an accurate description for both Toni and I it was actually in reference to the TV show and watching a few episodes of it. Check it out if you get a chance, it's actually really quite good.

 

Last.FM listening post

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:


Top weekly artists:


Overall top tracks:


Overall top artists:

Monday 7 May 2012

Little boxes....

... and big ones too!

Our house is currently a maze of boxes and stuff! It's bad enough when you are doing a simple move from one house to another but when you are begin attacked on two fronts and having to move stuff from one house into another one that you are are trying to pack up and move from chaos invariably ensues. Hopefully we will never ever have to do another move like this ever again as it has been so much more stressful trying to get things done.

We did manage to dent what we have to pack up today though and it does at least feel like we are starting to make progress. Four nights remaining to pack up the final stuff and then we'll actually be moving. Then the fun of unpacking begins.....

We finished our long with weekend with a huge meal at Ziyafet, caught up on the last Game Of Thrones episode and then crashed out for some much needed sleep!

Sunday 6 May 2012

Day off

Today was marked as an official day off for us all. No packing at all was to be done! It was a most welcome break, knowing that we would be starting again tomorrow!

Lots of lovely food, Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows II and Terry Pratchett's The Color Of Magic allowed us to just sit back and relax and try and recover a little!



Saturday 5 May 2012

Clearing SWF, Chilli's and Harry Potter

We managed to get the majority of SWF cleared today. The only thing left there now is Sam's bed and a couple of pieces of furniture that need to be disposed off. Dining table, chairs and two armchairs have been delivered to Jade so I was glad to not have to get rid of them.

Sophie finally put in an appearance and has taken the last of the things belonging to her and the children and she handed the keys over to Sam. Thankfully she arrived with Steph while Toni and I were doing a run back to London so we didn't actually have to engage with them. Felt sorry for Sam though as he was referred to as "your sibling" by Steph when she told Sophie that he was there. It doesn't bother him but it is sad that it's one relationship that is probably completely FUBAR now. At least Sophie was talking to him or it would have been really awkward!

After we had returned to SWF we decided to have a "last" meal at Chilli's. I say "last" as we still have to go back to SWF at least once more so there is a possibility that we could go there again if we don't choose to have one last hurrah with our friends at The Kebab Van!

On our return to London we finished off the evening with Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows I.

Thursday 3 May 2012

A proper protest for a change

It was a real pleasure today to actually witness what I would class as a real protest just outside work. Really sorry if that offends some people but a lot of the Occupy stuff of late just lacks focus and a message and just seems like lazy protesting with people not able to even properly explain what they are protesting about and certainly unable to defend their view when questioned!

This was a genuine, organised, protest as part of the Stop Nuclear Power campaign against EDF. There was a clear and strongly shared message here!

You can read more about this on the Stop Nuclear Power UK website here: http://stopnuclearpoweruk.net/content/big-six-energy-bash

We had people dressed up as nuclear grim reapers, a mobile PA system, LOUD music and informative leaflets being handed out. It was just like the good old days with barricades of police blocking off the intended paths etc.






It really brought a tear to the old eye seeing something being done well for a change with a message that everyone shared and understood.

Wednesday 2 May 2012

Last.FM listening post

It would appear that Last.FM's Image Charts are finally coming back online again so I shall start blogging them once again. Hopefully they'll all be appearing properly over the next few days!

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:


Top weekly artists:


Overall top tracks:


Overall top artists:

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Back to being more girly

This past Whitby Goth Weekend had one strange twist to it that I hadn't expected. My plan had been to pretty much spend the entire time up a la femme. It was the perfect chance to express my feminine side in safe surroundings.

It wasn't be design but it just didn't happen that way. Yes I did go out on occasion in skirts and girly tops but I didn't go all out as I had planned for the entire period.

To make up for this I went straight into girl mode as soon as I got home. Have to say it felt good! This is going to be happening more and more as time goes on.

I'm currently working on a few ideas as to how I can start getting more and more girly and still be suitable for work as well. That one will be a work in progress that might take a little more time!



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