Scorpion

It was time for another new series tonight, this time in the form of Scorpion. Inspired by a true story, eccentric computer genius Walter O'Brien and his team of brilliant-minded outcasts cannot function normally in society. One day they are recruited by federal agent Cabe Gallo of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security when a serious problem arises. Even though O'Brien and Gallo have history, he and his friends agree to help solve the problem and ultimately become the last line of defence against complex, high-tech threats around the globe.

This team of masterminds is codenamed Scorpion, which includes O'Brien, one of the smartest persons in the world with a 197 IQ and his friends (as Agent Gallo describes them), Sylvester Dodd, a "human calculator" dealing in statistics, Happy Quinn, a "mechanical prodigy" and Toby Curtis, a "world-class shrink" (a Harvard-trained behaviourist). Paige Dineen is a former waitress whose interaction with people translates the real world to them; they, in exchange, translate her young mentally gifted son, Ralph, to her.

We are now two episodes in and it is pretty good. There is a nice spread of different characters and it's interesting to see their awkward interactions with each other. The stories are larger than life which actually makes the whole thing work. If it was too grounded in reality it would probably be a bit drab so they've got the balance right.

A little trailer:

Star Wars Rebels

Tonight we watched the first episode of Stars Wars Rebels. Have to say I was very impressed. Whilst the animation style might not be for some it certainly maintains the Star Wars look and feel and the soundtrack was superb.

This is definitely going to be a series that starts to grow and I am looking forward to seeing how it bridges the gap between episodes III and IV. It has also increased my excitement for Episode VII exponentially (and I didn't think that was at all possible).

Transparent - an Amazon Original

Today we discovered a new show on Amazon Prime called Transparent. Transparent is a darkly comedic story about an LA family with serious boundary issues. In this exploration of sex, memory, gender and legacy, the past and future unravel when a dramatic admission causes everyone's secrets to spill out. The dramatic admission in question is the father of the family coming out as transgender.

Watched a few episodes and it's pretty good. The trans subject matter so far seems to be  treated with respect and reverence. It's early days yet so hopefully it will stay that way. The show switches between all members of the family to allow their stories and characters to grow with the recurrent theme of their relationship with their father.

Macmillan Coffee Morning and new hair

It was off to North London today to Daraline Towers to attend this years Macmillan Coffee Morning hosted by Caz and Dazza. There was coffee, cake and good friends on offer. We had a brilliant time, chilling, catching up and stuffing our faces and enjoying good coffee :)  I had a result as I won the "Guess The Number Of Coffee Beans In The Jar" competition, can't complain about that!

After the Coffee Morning (which extended into the afternoon) it was off to spend time with Sara and Elmo and get new haircuts. They have just come back from Crete and give us presents which was very sweet of them.

Here's mine:

Here is Toni's:

After a drink and some nattering Sara set to work in providing us both with fabulous new haircuts! Not a lot of styling to mine for a change but a massive thinning out which just makes flow more and feel absolutely wonderful:

Toni had a more dramatic change which looks bloody fantastic!

We also had the pleasure of Darren and Traci Law joining us for a short while which was lovely as we haven't seen them for ages. 

Sara cooked us a delicious meal that was all gluten free and then we enjoyed an evening of chilling out listening to muzaks and chatting. It was a fantastic day and great to meet up with friends that we don't see enough of these days.

Bendgate, work and Rishta

Some of you may have noticed a considerable amount of backlash against Apple at the moment regarding the bendability of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. This has become known as #bendgate on social media. Personally I think the whole thing is hilarious. Surely it is common sense that you don't put a large phone in a small confined space under pressure and not expect something to happen out of the ordinary! Here are a couple of good articles on how Apple have reacted to #bendgate.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/25/apple-shows-off-its-own-bend-tests-for-new-iphones/?ncid=rss_truncated

http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/09/25/apple-tries-to-close-iphone-6-plus-bend-gate-as-fashionistas-come-to-grips-with-larger-iphones

The defining moment for me was Buttz Yoddles' Facebook status which pretty much sums about the stupidity of those complaining about #bendgate:

"After seeing these new iphones not being able to withstand a fucking good bending,.. I decided to check the robusticity of some of the products here in Buttzhuttz,.. fucking shocked I was,.. the greenhouse simply shattered when I hit the glass bits with a hammer,.. my kettle is now in bits as it couldn't stand being jumped on,.. and as for the wing mirrors on my Citroen,.. they simply flew off into next door's garden when I attacked them with a common mallet. In fact,... the only sturdy piece of equipment I can recommend,.. is my Slazenger baseball bat,.. which effortlessly glided through my fridge freezer compartments & shelves."

I went to work as normal today as I had feared that my IPL would leave me all red faced but thankfully everything looked fine so it was business as usual. I can't tell you how much of a relief that was! It was a productive day at work both backlog and process wise which was a welcome change :)

After work we made the decision to go and have dinner at Rishta rather than cook. We haven't been round there for a while so it made a welcome change.

IPL and floods of emotional tears

Well today was the day that I started my IPL treatment at Avalon Laser Clinc. I'll have to admit I was a little nervous now that the actual day was here. Overall it was OK though. Toni was with me and that helped me get through the session. I'll be honest, it was pretty uncomfortable and I had trouble relaxing which didn't help matters. I did try but wasn't very good at it, will  have to practice.....

IPL isn't like having a tattoo which is a different sort of sensation altogether and very easy to manage. The problem with IPL is the noise that the machine makes before the flash comes which just made me anticipate what was coming next. Sara was very patient with me and it was all over very quickly. Next time I might try having my headphones in and some noisy music blasting out to try and distract me from the sound of the machine.

Having it done was quite exhilarating and I got quite emotional on the way home as tears flooded out. This is another step in my transformation into who I want to be and it was such a relief to know that I am moving on with my journey. I can't wait for the day that having to shave on a daily basis becomes a thing of the past. The discomfort of the treatment was so worth it knowing how good the benefits will be. I'll be back again

I do have to take a brief moment to say a BIG THANK YOU to Toni for making all this possible!

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:

Wicca Moon School Of Witchery & lemon meringue pie

Having competed our homework last night Toni and I set out bright and early to Wicca Moon to attend stage two of the Wicca Moon School Of Witchery. As was the case last time I won't be blogging any details but it was a great day with some great things to be learned. This course is proving to be really interesting.

Sam made us lemon meringue pie for our pudding today. Oh wow!

Shite week and meeting dad

The last half of this week has been a bit shite and the day matched that. Tempers seem to be getting shorter with the tiniest of things making people kick off. It can't go on like this so words will be had on Monday morning to try and get things back on an even keel again before things really get out of hand!

In the middle of all this I did have a nice break at lunchtime when I went off to Liverpool Street to meet dad for a drink and a catch up. Had a good old chinwag about what is happening in both our camps and it was good to see him again. Sadly time ran away and I had to return to work.

The very end of the day was good in that we made some breakthroughs on some testing that was proving to be troublesome over the last two days so I did at least leave with a smile on my face!

Toni and I spent the evening talking over various buts of our Wicca Moon course that we are on and making sure everything was in place for our session tomorrow.

New osteopath and doing well

It was back to the osteopath tonight and this time I was a little nervous. Ben has now left the practice and so I was lined up to have a session with Gareth who had just joined. Ben had informed me that he was a good guy but I wasn't 100% happy with having to have a change.

It turns out my fears were misplaced. Gareth had a very similar technique to Ben so I hardly noticed that it was a different person doing my treatment. He is really pleased with how I am responding and the plan is for me to go back in two weeks time and then probably not for another six after that. So pleased that everything is on the mend and that I am starting to reach the end of treatment. I have more exercises to do now to help keeps in good shape.

Happy Birthday to The Gherkin and crocheting with packaging

Apparently today was some sort of celebration day for The Gherkin. There was crazy golf, free popcorn and helium filled Gherkin balloons that looked like giant floating butt plugs! I didn't partake of any of these things event though they were free but I did grab a quick shot of the coolest crazy golf hole there was:

We had some deliveries today that had some amazingly long packaging inside the boxes. Toni decided to prove that it was "crochet or bust" as she set about hand crocheting (ie with her hands) these impressive pieces!

There is just no end to her talents!

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:

Off to see Jodie and home made gluten free scotch eggs

Toni and I popped round to see Jodie tonight to deliver her birthday present and say hello. We had a good time and a very excited Azalea to entertain us!

Got home hungry and Sam had conjured up his cooking skills today and made us gluten free scotch eggs. Oh my, they were delicious!

After the noms we watched a few episodes of Peep Show. It was a good day!

..and on that happy note, have some Sesame Street Star Wars....

Happy Birthday Jodie

Happy Birthday Jodie, hope you have a great day!

The Star Wars Deluxe Edition

Got home from work today to be greeted by a nice big parcel. Inside was a copy of The Star Wars Deluxe Edition. For those that don't know The Star Wars was a an issue comic book run from Dark Horse. Based on George Lucas’s original rough draft screenplay for Star Wars, the comic adapts Ralph McQuarrie‘s early concept designs to bring the un-filmed version of the story to life. I already had the original comic book run (with all the variant covers) but this set was too good to pass up. The set comprises of three beautifully bound books in a great box. Inside is an oversized hardcover trade paperback collecting issues #0–#8 of The Star Wars, a portfolio hardcover collecting the comic covers in removable lithographs, and a third book which is an official guide to the different galaxy which includes the original comic art commissioned to pitch the project to George Lucas. It is LUSH!

Reading, IPL marks, The Clone Wars, Star Wars LCG and Total Recall

Despite a late night I was up pretty early today. Toni was in the bath for hours so I took the opportunity to do some reading. I should really make more time to read over playing games and/or watching stuff.

The good news is that my IPL marks are reducing nicely. Still visible but definitely going which is a positive

Breakfast was gluten free chicken nuggets and gluten free tiger bread and boy was it good! Copious amounts of tea and watching The Clone Wars from the beginning again was followed by crashing out on the sofa. Must have needed that.

In the afternoon Sam and I battled it out as Jedi v Sith in a game of Star Wars Living Card Game (LCG). It was a close fought game with Sam just scraping through a Sith win. Yes I am usually Sith but I decided to do something different for a change LOL.

The evening finished with Arnie's version of Total Recall after we had been talking about how you can now book a one way ticket to be part of a Mars colony. The effects might be a tad on the ropey side now but it's still a fantastic film.

IPL test

Well today it was off the Avalon Laser Clinic in Bromley to discuss IPL laser hair removal. It was a fairly quick appointment. I was given a quick talk through the procedure and then it was time for a test patch. It was like getting twanged hard with an elastic band. It was uncomfortable rather than painful. Once completed it was then time to start booking for for some sessions. All I have to do now is keep an eye on the red marks and make sure they start to fade away quickly.

I can't wait to reach the stage where I don't have to shave every day :)

Revenge Of The LEGO Star Wars Sith and Episode VII fun

Gradually my Sith Empire is expanding! I've not got round to doing updates as they came in so we now have an additional ten joining the ranks!

Sith Lord

Lord Adraas

Darth Plagueis

Darth Traya

Darth Nihilus

Nautolan Sith Lord (think Kit Fisto if he turned)

Savage Opress

Asajj Ventress

Darth Maul (from The Clone Wars)

Darth Revan

There was some exciting Episode VII news this week with some captured footage from Greenham Common that appears to show some builds of a Millennium Falcon and X-wing.

It is possible that we will see a black X-Wing too, top left here:

There is also speculation as to whether or not we'll be seeing fragments of The Empire (or even a Death Star) after JJ Abrams posted this little gem following on from the recent Apple Watch event:

Does that background look a little bit familiar to you? ;)  It could of course just turn out to be nothing but given the last note that hinter at a return to the Millennium Falcon (and now the footage above) it could be that there is something in it!

Just in case you were wondering how important a soundtrack can be to a movie, here's the Star Wars Episode IV Throne Room scene WITHOUT John Willams' score, AWKWARD!

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: