Happy to report that the chap at Traps is sending a new switch. Thats nice to hear, in spite of this little lapse in quality I really do love my drums and want them in full working order asap. I tried setting up my band hi hats to see if I could still pratice with an acoustic pair...man what a noise....I can't do that to the neighbours....so will wait for the new switch.
I hope this one is going to last the duration since it seems I may have to change my role in the band
Robbie our drummer has quit the band...lack of time and some of those famous musical differences...he didn't really find it challenging. Thats a shame as he's been there since the very beginning before we even were a band and we'll miss him, but I think we all knew that he was not happy .
So if we don't find a new drummer soon I may have to step in on some numbers...eek I'm months from being even close to doing anything as a real drummer, unless its silly 4/4 and 12/8 beats with fills....which limits my song choices quite a bit.
Have had a bit of a jippy tum today, never eat luke warm sausage rolls......you have been warned. The tummy may now be empty but the room is somewhat fragrent....I'll let you work out why!
Ahthankyew
Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
Oh c'mon...is supposed to be strong!!
I am a bit pissed off...over the last month when things have got a bit stressful, I've discovered a superb way to relax...go bash things.
In particular my new drums, A cool Electronic set of Traps e500 with 550 heads, which I got on ebay for a really good price...
I've wanted a cheap but usable set of drums for sometime after catching the bug at our jams...but an acoustic set just isn't an option, and the cheap shitty thing I bought does not help me learn so I wanted to get something with mesh heads that were accurate but quiet representations of a real kit...that sadly meant looking at higher end kits I could not afford, hoping to find a mega bargain on ebay..but nothing came up.
But there is one maker in the UK doing a low cost high spec mesh head kit.
Traps, only very slighly outside my budget price range but far far cheaper than the big boy kits from Roland and Yamaha... So I held out for a Traps kit, waiting for something to come up I could afford....
As luck would have it the prices started to drop as the current range was being cleared out for the next model....And I found a new set from a shop who were offering a pre produciton verison of the new range with a mix of new and old range parts. and boom, ebay was my friend. And I love it
It's really really easy to play, one of my bands drummers thinks its great but didn't like the hihat much, though he managed it...
I guess thats a drummer preference thing. I have had no problems with it, since I don't know better I just got on with learning to deal with the on/off nature of an electronic control system.
The only thing I didn't like were the really cheap single trigger cymbals...a 2nd hand Roland Dual zone however was a great add on, and it turns out I can get a dual Zone from Traps so I've been in touch about that.
But overall its been fantastic fun getting behind them and banging heck out of them. With no real time to spend "learning" I've just been repeating over and over the few patterns I know, and adding fills to them and as days go by my 20min frustration bashes have become more rhythmic. Though my left foot refuses to be independant..for now.
And no neighbours have had any reason to complain.
Fantastic until tonight...
The hihat controller broke...it just broke..I was able to take it apart and spotted the problem right off, a small lever on a 50p microswitch had snapped off, it wasn't repairable so for the sake of that tiny switch my hihat controller is buggered.
grrr....I mean it takes a bit of a beating being switched on and off 10000's of times but its meant to cope.
1 month after buying..new...and it breaks..not happy.
I have been in touch with the guy who runs Traps, asking about better cymbals and he seems a decent chap,
I've explained the problem and hopefully a new switch is going to be sent out...I hope so..its a shame if such a nice kit its let down by shoddy parts....I want to get the best out of my Traps kit and continue my frustration bashing learning...soon.
Ahthankyew
I've wanted a cheap but usable set of drums for sometime after catching the bug at our jams...but an acoustic set just isn't an option, and the cheap shitty thing I bought does not help me learn so I wanted to get something with mesh heads that were accurate but quiet representations of a real kit...that sadly meant looking at higher end kits I could not afford, hoping to find a mega bargain on ebay..but nothing came up.
But there is one maker in the UK doing a low cost high spec mesh head kit.
Traps, only very slighly outside my budget price range but far far cheaper than the big boy kits from Roland and Yamaha... So I held out for a Traps kit, waiting for something to come up I could afford....
As luck would have it the prices started to drop as the current range was being cleared out for the next model....And I found a new set from a shop who were offering a pre produciton verison of the new range with a mix of new and old range parts. and boom, ebay was my friend. And I love it
I guess thats a drummer preference thing. I have had no problems with it, since I don't know better I just got on with learning to deal with the on/off nature of an electronic control system.
The only thing I didn't like were the really cheap single trigger cymbals...a 2nd hand Roland Dual zone however was a great add on, and it turns out I can get a dual Zone from Traps so I've been in touch about that.
But overall its been fantastic fun getting behind them and banging heck out of them. With no real time to spend "learning" I've just been repeating over and over the few patterns I know, and adding fills to them and as days go by my 20min frustration bashes have become more rhythmic. Though my left foot refuses to be independant..for now.
And no neighbours have had any reason to complain.
Fantastic until tonight...
The hihat controller broke...it just broke..I was able to take it apart and spotted the problem right off, a small lever on a 50p microswitch had snapped off, it wasn't repairable so for the sake of that tiny switch my hihat controller is buggered.
grrr....I mean it takes a bit of a beating being switched on and off 10000's of times but its meant to cope.
1 month after buying..new...and it breaks..not happy.
I have been in touch with the guy who runs Traps, asking about better cymbals and he seems a decent chap,
I've explained the problem and hopefully a new switch is going to be sent out...I hope so..its a shame if such a nice kit its let down by shoddy parts....I want to get the best out of my Traps kit and continue my frustration bashing learning...soon.
Ahthankyew
Saturday, 27 October 2012
busy busy Rock/code star
Its been a few weeks...did anyone miss me??
no?
oh..
well I am sorry I have been mega busy with coding, fighting an apparently never ending battle with PSM memory limits and SDK bugs and the onslaught of milestones always round the corner..so when not coding I was playing with the band or..coding again...and getting a taste for life again :D
Still very busy but a recent design change means I'm no longer trying to fit quite so much stuff in the game at once so memory has beome easier to deal with, my productivity has shot up and I'm enjoying myself
The Band did manage to make the gig at Ed's Birthday Bash without Robbie, and though we struggled a bit with timing with no dummer and lack of practice with some songs, we did a pretty fair job and no one really noticed the mistakes at the time...It was really enjoyable to watch people bobbing away to music I was helping to make...I've pasted a widget in below but it looks like Blogger isn't too happy. so its HERE if you can't see the widget
WSS Ed'sParty by Brian Beuken
Also my bass playing is not getting any better despite help from the amzing Eric Wels who's been giving me lessons...I seem to forget everything I learn on bass the minute I pick up a guitar again..quite embarrassing to listen to me rattle off my homework excersises..and nothing even close comes out despite having it totally perfect a few days before..I need to spend a few weeks doing only bass I think.
Not so drumming..I appear to be a natural...at least for the simple stuff, only 3 weeks or so playing and I'm gettig quite good at fundimental rhythms and beats..I just bought a new dual zone cymbal to add to the kit and it works great, as a bonus the old cymbal, still hooked up gives me cowbells :D It may be a cheap kit but the Traps e500/550 is amazingly easy to play.
I spend 20-30 mins a day drumming in the morning to wake me up and shake myself out of sleep mode and maybe a bit more in the evenings before the kids next door go the bed, and it is paying off.I'll be adding drums to future recordings pretty soon.
Other nice things are happening in real life, lack of time due to work prevents me from fully exploring that, yet but lets just say things are looking up ;)
Ahthankyew
no?
oh..
well I am sorry I have been mega busy with coding, fighting an apparently never ending battle with PSM memory limits and SDK bugs and the onslaught of milestones always round the corner..so when not coding I was playing with the band or..coding again...and getting a taste for life again :D
Still very busy but a recent design change means I'm no longer trying to fit quite so much stuff in the game at once so memory has beome easier to deal with, my productivity has shot up and I'm enjoying myself
The Band did manage to make the gig at Ed's Birthday Bash without Robbie, and though we struggled a bit with timing with no dummer and lack of practice with some songs, we did a pretty fair job and no one really noticed the mistakes at the time...It was really enjoyable to watch people bobbing away to music I was helping to make...I've pasted a widget in below but it looks like Blogger isn't too happy. so its HERE if you can't see the widget
WSS Ed'sParty by Brian Beuken
Also my bass playing is not getting any better despite help from the amzing Eric Wels who's been giving me lessons...I seem to forget everything I learn on bass the minute I pick up a guitar again..quite embarrassing to listen to me rattle off my homework excersises..and nothing even close comes out despite having it totally perfect a few days before..I need to spend a few weeks doing only bass I think.
Not so drumming..I appear to be a natural...at least for the simple stuff, only 3 weeks or so playing and I'm gettig quite good at fundimental rhythms and beats..I just bought a new dual zone cymbal to add to the kit and it works great, as a bonus the old cymbal, still hooked up gives me cowbells :D It may be a cheap kit but the Traps e500/550 is amazingly easy to play.
I spend 20-30 mins a day drumming in the morning to wake me up and shake myself out of sleep mode and maybe a bit more in the evenings before the kids next door go the bed, and it is paying off.I'll be adding drums to future recordings pretty soon.
Other nice things are happening in real life, lack of time due to work prevents me from fully exploring that, yet but lets just say things are looking up ;)
Ahthankyew
Monday, 15 October 2012
Fame..escapes 1 more time
Looks like the gig is off, Robbie our drummer pulled out....since Britta, our singer is violently opposed to the use of drum machines,...and tbh they dont' work that well for live stuff, it looks like we have to cancel the debut of the worlds greatest unhead of rockband.
If it was a few months on I'd have a go at standing in for Robbie but with only a week or so of drumming skills I'm no where near good enough...so...oh well. I'll call the A&R man and tell him not to bother coming.
Ahthankyew
If it was a few months on I'd have a go at standing in for Robbie but with only a week or so of drumming skills I'm no where near good enough...so...oh well. I'll call the A&R man and tell him not to bother coming.
Ahthankyew
Holidays without headaches
We're on autumn break ..yeahhhh and no re-occurance of the scary migraines from last week. I'll still be going to the docs though to get checked out.
Its not exactly a relaxing holiday though, as well as a pile of marking to finish I've got my psm project to work on. Its going very well but as it gets bigger I find myself running into memory issues on a daily basis. The 96M limit Sony have imposed is very restrictive.
lol 96M when I started 16K was considered a lot, 48K almost unfillable.....how times change.
But the fact is I need to keep finding ways to maximise the memory and its getting harder and harder to do. There's a limit to how many quarts you can squeeze into that pint pot.
I have 1 more brilliant idea though that might save some memory, at the expense of some processer power but I have no choice but to make the trade.
Its also interesting to see what a dog the Vita is on PSM, its by far the slowest machine and I've not managed to get its threading/multi core stuff to funciton correctly..but it will be the main target machine so somehow I have to get the speed up on that....gulp.
Music news now...WSS are going to do a gig...well I say gig, what I mean is a party, well I say party, what I mean is Ed' our Bassist's, Birthday party...so no income and an hopefully appreciative audience no matter how bad we are, but its still a gig. Its quite exciting but also scary as fuck since its only this weekend??? Ahhh considering he knew when his birthday was, we didn't get a lot of notice..but pressure leads to focus and focus leads to a good set of rehearhals, our last one was excellent.
Fortunately the attic studio is now in good shape, and the recent addition of a good set of electronic drums means the whole band can come together and play upstairs with the Jamhub so we're not stressing out the neighbours.
We plan to do 3 sessions this week ready for the gig on Saturday.
We have to locate a PA from somewhere too...may have to buy one...grrr
Maybe we'll not bother with the PA, and let Britta the singer shout at the top of her lungs to be heard on those quieter songs :D.....lol nah we have to find a low cost small PA from somewhere, I tried to borrow one but no joy. ebay has several options and 1 particularly decent option at a good but not pocket money rate...I might invest....but really want to put the spare cash into the clear the credit card fund so I can get it cleared next month...
I'll have to do some thinking on that, try to locate a PA for hire 1st.
Ahthankyew
Its not exactly a relaxing holiday though, as well as a pile of marking to finish I've got my psm project to work on. Its going very well but as it gets bigger I find myself running into memory issues on a daily basis. The 96M limit Sony have imposed is very restrictive.
lol 96M when I started 16K was considered a lot, 48K almost unfillable.....how times change.
But the fact is I need to keep finding ways to maximise the memory and its getting harder and harder to do. There's a limit to how many quarts you can squeeze into that pint pot.
I have 1 more brilliant idea though that might save some memory, at the expense of some processer power but I have no choice but to make the trade.
Its also interesting to see what a dog the Vita is on PSM, its by far the slowest machine and I've not managed to get its threading/multi core stuff to funciton correctly..but it will be the main target machine so somehow I have to get the speed up on that....gulp.
Music news now...WSS are going to do a gig...well I say gig, what I mean is a party, well I say party, what I mean is Ed' our Bassist's, Birthday party...so no income and an hopefully appreciative audience no matter how bad we are, but its still a gig. Its quite exciting but also scary as fuck since its only this weekend??? Ahhh considering he knew when his birthday was, we didn't get a lot of notice..but pressure leads to focus and focus leads to a good set of rehearhals, our last one was excellent.
Fortunately the attic studio is now in good shape, and the recent addition of a good set of electronic drums means the whole band can come together and play upstairs with the Jamhub so we're not stressing out the neighbours.
We plan to do 3 sessions this week ready for the gig on Saturday.
We have to locate a PA from somewhere too...may have to buy one...grrr
Maybe we'll not bother with the PA, and let Britta the singer shout at the top of her lungs to be heard on those quieter songs :D.....lol nah we have to find a low cost small PA from somewhere, I tried to borrow one but no joy. ebay has several options and 1 particularly decent option at a good but not pocket money rate...I might invest....but really want to put the spare cash into the clear the credit card fund so I can get it cleared next month...
I'll have to do some thinking on that, try to locate a PA for hire 1st.
Ahthankyew
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Oh Goodie more hospital visits
So after being suitably shaken by 2 migraines in a row I managed to get in to see my Doc who prompty made clear he wasn't too keen on a man nearing his 50's suddenly developing migraines especially considering my past history....hmm reassuring or what? But he did say that theres lots of reasons to get migraines and he just wants to be sure.
Immediate referral to constultant...which I had to call and make a "very" prompt appointment.
The nice thing about The Netherlands is they way they deal with shit so promptly, one of the not so nice things however is trying to book appointments with hospital staff, which is one of the very very few areas where English is not so widely spoken..
So after calling the number in the referral letter, to book an appointment at the Neurology dept, I got a receptionist who spoke a little English. I explained my doctor wanted me to book an appointment for neurology, and was then asked a serioues of odd questions to "register me" in the system and my "daughter" ermm no not daughter, doctor..in fairness they are pronounced almost the same here...ok took a while but so far so good...Then she transfered me to the poli (clinic)
A few minutes of waiting and being bounced on hold and I get someone who speaks quite good English, I explain I need to make an appointment, and once agian get asked a series of odd questions...ending with questions about my wifes medical history...
"ermm sorry what, I'm not married"
" oh sorry your daughter......"
"ermm she's in the UK"
" oh sorry, your mother then"
" also in the UK, why is this relevent?"
" I'm sorry I thought you were a man, please excuse me".
"I am man, why do you think I am a women..."
"Oh but you said you wanted an appointment....this is the Gynocology dept!!"
ah....penny dropped, the daughter/doctor thing started a chain reaction which could have ended up with me in stirrups having my migrine checked out in a very odd way.
Anway, after transferring again I get to the right dept,
"Good afternoon, is it possible we can speak in English"
"No!" Comes that horrible reply.
Fortunatley my collegue Nils was around and I asked him to help me out.
So I now have my appointment to se the Neurology consultant next Wednesday....no stirrups I hope!
Ahthankyew
Immediate referral to constultant...which I had to call and make a "very" prompt appointment.
The nice thing about The Netherlands is they way they deal with shit so promptly, one of the not so nice things however is trying to book appointments with hospital staff, which is one of the very very few areas where English is not so widely spoken..
So after calling the number in the referral letter, to book an appointment at the Neurology dept, I got a receptionist who spoke a little English. I explained my doctor wanted me to book an appointment for neurology, and was then asked a serioues of odd questions to "register me" in the system and my "daughter" ermm no not daughter, doctor..in fairness they are pronounced almost the same here...ok took a while but so far so good...Then she transfered me to the poli (clinic)
A few minutes of waiting and being bounced on hold and I get someone who speaks quite good English, I explain I need to make an appointment, and once agian get asked a series of odd questions...ending with questions about my wifes medical history...
"ermm sorry what, I'm not married"
" oh sorry your daughter......"
"ermm she's in the UK"
" oh sorry, your mother then"
" also in the UK, why is this relevent?"
" I'm sorry I thought you were a man, please excuse me".
"I am man, why do you think I am a women..."
"Oh but you said you wanted an appointment....this is the Gynocology dept!!"
ah....penny dropped, the daughter/doctor thing started a chain reaction which could have ended up with me in stirrups having my migrine checked out in a very odd way.
Anway, after transferring again I get to the right dept,
"Good afternoon, is it possible we can speak in English"
"No!" Comes that horrible reply.
Fortunatley my collegue Nils was around and I asked him to help me out.
So I now have my appointment to se the Neurology consultant next Wednesday....no stirrups I hope!
Ahthankyew
Tuesday, 9 October 2012
Had and having a migraine
Had my 1st ever migraine yesterday it was a very odd sensation, my vision sort of whited out with ths large flashing white explosion getting bigger... It lasted about 20 mins then went leaving me shaken and feeling a bit confused.. The feeling mutated into a dull headache and general listlessness, a bit like a mega hangover that lasted all day.
Scary
But right now I'm having another not quite the same, but growing in intensity, so not sure how much longer I can type..this time instead of a bright white explosion jagged edge graphic, its like space time is warping just to the right of me as though I'm looking through a lens of moving clear liquid.
Its a seriously odd sensation, a mild headache is starting and I feel a little groggy....hmmm not right.
I was going to go to the doctors walk in surgery this morning but overslept, I will call tomorrow to make an appointment and see if I can get a quick check up...2 in 2 days after a lifetime of nothing is not good..
ah its starting to fade....wonder if the hangover thing will happen again..I'll let you know
edit
yeah hangover effect, again not quite so bad, but mild headache and a certain sense of detatchment for the rest of the day..Most certainly going to the docs tomorrow see if we can find whats triggered this.
Ahthankyew
Scary
But right now I'm having another not quite the same, but growing in intensity, so not sure how much longer I can type..this time instead of a bright white explosion jagged edge graphic, its like space time is warping just to the right of me as though I'm looking through a lens of moving clear liquid.
Its a seriously odd sensation, a mild headache is starting and I feel a little groggy....hmmm not right.
I was going to go to the doctors walk in surgery this morning but overslept, I will call tomorrow to make an appointment and see if I can get a quick check up...2 in 2 days after a lifetime of nothing is not good..
ah its starting to fade....wonder if the hangover thing will happen again..I'll let you know
edit
yeah hangover effect, again not quite so bad, but mild headache and a certain sense of detatchment for the rest of the day..Most certainly going to the docs tomorrow see if we can find whats triggered this.
Ahthankyew
Sunday, 7 October 2012
Getting back to normal
Been a fun filled few months...well not really, work work and work have been getting in the way of pretty much everything, not just school work, which is all encompassing at certain times but the fun home stuff occasionally has reared its ugly side.
SDK bugs, miscommunication and on occasion sheer inability to figure some things out has made a lot of the "fun" work quite frustrating. Of course its a learning processs and I have learned a lot, but still I have spent a lot of time with furrowed brow trying to understand why the cosmos is so against me.
But these things do eventually get overcome, with help from others or realisation of the solutions.
I submitted a delayed but impressive milestone delivery on Friday after a mega effort of coding and SDK bug hunting, and feedback from the clinets is very positive. Having broken the technical back of this project I can now throttle back a bit and focus on polish and content issues which will still take time but I don't expect them to be anything like as intese or frustrating.
As well as a restful weekend, I've had a few chances to engage in one of those social life things again...its been fun going out with old friends and meeting some new ones. I foresee a lot of nice new things happening in the coming months. 2012 will be a turning point for me I think. Lots of big changes in most aspects of my life.
I am now incidently officially a Dutch company or something like that, I had to register with the local Chamber of Commerce or Kamer ven Koophandel as its called here, to sign up with the tax office and get my dutch VAT (BTW here) number so I could invoice for my work.. Within days I had accountants cold calling me after my bookkeeping business...oh dear!!
Thats now done with help from my long time (since I got here) tax advisor and getting a few of those invoices paid will finally let me sort out my credit card which the bank insisted I clear before they will transfer the mortgage into my sole name. That then finally cuts the last of the "legal" ties with Bina which will allow us both to move forward as finanically seperate entities, somethings considered important here...
For me it'll mean a bigger finanical load, well it has done since she left and I've managaged so far, so not going to be able to indulge my GAS quite as much but clearing the decks now means more that adding to my collection.
I don't plan to do a huge amount of freelance work, it really has been quite tiring getting back into it, but then again, the fact I don't really have a decent pension plan might make it something to consider as a tuck things away plan...and of course it is good relevent experience for the day job which may be needed when the subject of getting a masters comes up next time as it will...but thats a rant for another day.
I still find this policy of insisting on a masters to be short sighted and counter productive.. In time, (hopefully a long time) when the core group of current people from industry have moved on and all that are left are the academics that are now being hired I wonder if the quality we have managed to achieve with so much hard work will ever be the same......no point dwelling on it..not yet.
Ahthankyew
SDK bugs, miscommunication and on occasion sheer inability to figure some things out has made a lot of the "fun" work quite frustrating. Of course its a learning processs and I have learned a lot, but still I have spent a lot of time with furrowed brow trying to understand why the cosmos is so against me.
But these things do eventually get overcome, with help from others or realisation of the solutions.
I submitted a delayed but impressive milestone delivery on Friday after a mega effort of coding and SDK bug hunting, and feedback from the clinets is very positive. Having broken the technical back of this project I can now throttle back a bit and focus on polish and content issues which will still take time but I don't expect them to be anything like as intese or frustrating.
As well as a restful weekend, I've had a few chances to engage in one of those social life things again...its been fun going out with old friends and meeting some new ones. I foresee a lot of nice new things happening in the coming months. 2012 will be a turning point for me I think. Lots of big changes in most aspects of my life.
I am now incidently officially a Dutch company or something like that, I had to register with the local Chamber of Commerce or Kamer ven Koophandel as its called here, to sign up with the tax office and get my dutch VAT (BTW here) number so I could invoice for my work.. Within days I had accountants cold calling me after my bookkeeping business...oh dear!!
Thats now done with help from my long time (since I got here) tax advisor and getting a few of those invoices paid will finally let me sort out my credit card which the bank insisted I clear before they will transfer the mortgage into my sole name. That then finally cuts the last of the "legal" ties with Bina which will allow us both to move forward as finanically seperate entities, somethings considered important here...
For me it'll mean a bigger finanical load, well it has done since she left and I've managaged so far, so not going to be able to indulge my GAS quite as much but clearing the decks now means more that adding to my collection.
I don't plan to do a huge amount of freelance work, it really has been quite tiring getting back into it, but then again, the fact I don't really have a decent pension plan might make it something to consider as a tuck things away plan...and of course it is good relevent experience for the day job which may be needed when the subject of getting a masters comes up next time as it will...but thats a rant for another day.
I still find this policy of insisting on a masters to be short sighted and counter productive.. In time, (hopefully a long time) when the core group of current people from industry have moved on and all that are left are the academics that are now being hired I wonder if the quality we have managed to achieve with so much hard work will ever be the same......no point dwelling on it..not yet.
Ahthankyew
Saturday, 29 September 2012
Insomnia....my old friend
Work related issues on the freelance proejct have cause a lot of late nights. Serveral bugs in the PSM SDK caused all manner of issues, one in particular turne out to be a major flaw in the Math systems for the PSM, took me days to find it, and indeed it was only my collegue Dino's instance that despite the documentation telling me the math funciton atan2 needed its paramaters x, then y, it should have been y x (this is an odd quirk of standard C libs) he was right...and a swap immediatly fixed my problem allowing me to progress towards a very late milestone.
Ironic really, since I am a proud exponant of programming solutions over maths solutions, but had been using some pretty simple maths to do a rotation translation...only to have it break and force me to seek help from a maths guru....to then find when the bug was discoveredf that my maths was working perfectly...as I aways knew it was...its a bit like entering 2+2 into a calulator and it says the answer is -17... you know its wrong but you entered the right vals.
Anyway, I am really relieved to have the hard shit out of the way and the last couple of days coding have been tremendous fun and lots of progress on nice polish details.
But the late nights mean I'm not sleeping so well..I plan to get back on track this weekend, with a days work, then nice evening of poker and friends and much booze...and avoid any more late sessions. Hopefully that will be the case as all the really hard work is done, now its just a case of doing gameplay an some optimisations to improve performance.
Another plus for me is, when this milestone is delivered I can invoice for all the work I've done, for which I had to register with the Dutch Tax office as a company and get a BTW number (same as VAT).
phew...but on the plus side, I will be able to make a massive dent in my credit card this month and clear it next month allowing me to sort out the mortgage transfer and cut the final ties with my ex.
An important step for me in the move forward with my life, so am going to pull out all the stops to make that happen sooner rather than later.
Better get to bed, or that days work will be a bit on the short side requireing a big day tomorrow.
Ahthankyew
Ironic really, since I am a proud exponant of programming solutions over maths solutions, but had been using some pretty simple maths to do a rotation translation...only to have it break and force me to seek help from a maths guru....to then find when the bug was discoveredf that my maths was working perfectly...as I aways knew it was...its a bit like entering 2+2 into a calulator and it says the answer is -17... you know its wrong but you entered the right vals.
Anyway, I am really relieved to have the hard shit out of the way and the last couple of days coding have been tremendous fun and lots of progress on nice polish details.
But the late nights mean I'm not sleeping so well..I plan to get back on track this weekend, with a days work, then nice evening of poker and friends and much booze...and avoid any more late sessions. Hopefully that will be the case as all the really hard work is done, now its just a case of doing gameplay an some optimisations to improve performance.
Another plus for me is, when this milestone is delivered I can invoice for all the work I've done, for which I had to register with the Dutch Tax office as a company and get a BTW number (same as VAT).
phew...but on the plus side, I will be able to make a massive dent in my credit card this month and clear it next month allowing me to sort out the mortgage transfer and cut the final ties with my ex.
An important step for me in the move forward with my life, so am going to pull out all the stops to make that happen sooner rather than later.
Better get to bed, or that days work will be a bit on the short side requireing a big day tomorrow.
Ahthankyew
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Makes me cry
Barring a bit of radation induced girly superpowers I briefly displayed, there's only a few things in life that make me cry on cue
My Daughter being upset at something I've done.
My Daughter being happy at something I've done.
Jonny Cash's Hurt video
The opening sequence to Pixars UP
and now this
http://youtu.be/QRRWnp6_rhA?hd=1
I hope the list dosen't get too big.
Ahthankyew
My Daughter being upset at something I've done.
My Daughter being happy at something I've done.
Jonny Cash's Hurt video
The opening sequence to Pixars UP
and now this
http://youtu.be/QRRWnp6_rhA?hd=1
I hope the list dosen't get too big.
Ahthankyew
Now thats just not fair.
A very very very rare Gibson Little Lucille is on ebay, and for the moment at least is at a decent price..
and I'm skint having just bought a drum kit.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gibson-Blueshawk-BB-King-Little-Lucille-Extremely-Rare-/271064881216?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3f1cb9d840
not fair.
Though at least I have my Libby...so I guess I can wait for another.
Ahthankyew
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Bad Blogger I am
Work has been rather intense the last week, I missed an important deadline after having several major cock up with the SDK and my assets increasing is size dramatically. This meant a major re-work of code that I had 99% working and looking amazing on screen, but then had to strip back to barely seeing anything as I built a dynamic memory manager from scratch.
Its been one of the hardest tasks I've had to do on the PSM so far, not helped as usual by the lack of accurate documentation and several SDK bugs rearing their heads.But shout out to my student Mark, who is also doing PSM coding who pointed me in the direction of a couple of these issues that allowed me to keep my hair on my head when I was tempted to rip it out.
Today at last with 1 final big push I think I will have it working which represents a big hurdle cleared, and means also I can hand most of the work on this project over to the designers who can install maps into it without much input from me..assuming no more massive assets.
I'm looking forward to getting back to tinkering with things to enhance gameplay rather than this mainstream tech stuff.
Diet is on hold, not eating much at the moment as I spend all my time in front of the computer, but what I do eat is takeaway or crap..so I know its climbing up again...
soon
soon
the Gym is calling...
I'm not ignoring it for a bit longer.
Ahthankyew
Its been one of the hardest tasks I've had to do on the PSM so far, not helped as usual by the lack of accurate documentation and several SDK bugs rearing their heads.But shout out to my student Mark, who is also doing PSM coding who pointed me in the direction of a couple of these issues that allowed me to keep my hair on my head when I was tempted to rip it out.
Today at last with 1 final big push I think I will have it working which represents a big hurdle cleared, and means also I can hand most of the work on this project over to the designers who can install maps into it without much input from me..assuming no more massive assets.
I'm looking forward to getting back to tinkering with things to enhance gameplay rather than this mainstream tech stuff.
Diet is on hold, not eating much at the moment as I spend all my time in front of the computer, but what I do eat is takeaway or crap..so I know its climbing up again...
soon
soon
the Gym is calling...
I'm not ignoring it for a bit longer.
Ahthankyew
Sunday, 16 September 2012
There is Life after...
After spending most of last week laid up with manflu it was great to feel well enough to have visitors and get out and about.
Though I went back to work for 2 classes on Friday I'm still a bit under the weather, with the usual post manflu cough and a bit chesty and run down.
But I got out and had some fun in town, catching some of Breda Barst festival and topped up my weakend and emaciated body (whaaat??) with a nice steak dinner at Gouchos. hmmmm rare Ribyeye steak......expensive but worth it.
Damn its good to be out in the world again, and catching some great music, there were a couple of bands playing I really liked but didn't really know who there were. One of the stages closing act was a Belgian band called School is Cool, they were bloody amazing, have bought the album and am going to listen to it soon.
Its great to see live bands, I don't do that enough...new rule for upcoming life...see more band!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh5GYjo6qEI&feature=related
Ahthankyew
Saturday, 15 September 2012
Spice Spice baby
With the recent diet, I've not really been cooking anythng fancy the last few months, but decided to cook a nice curry last night, after a quick trip to the Asian store in Haagweg to replace all my missing essential spices.
The shopkeeper was a little taken aback by my insistance on proper spices, when there were perfectly acceptable jars of Pataks on the shelves for his usual pasty skinned dutch customers. I like pataks, but its a bit processed for a home made curry (their madras and vindaloo's though just can't be beat for quickie curry pastes)
Did an improvised medium chicken curry, it was blinding!!! I even got some chapati four and made chapatis.. they were also nice, beautifully soft and tasty, though as usual with my chapatis, not even remotely round, I never did master that skill, but map of Australia chapatis are just as nice when dipped into lovely spicey curry sauce.
I must get back in to my cooking, as much as I do like the occasional takeaway from the Taj in town I do make a great range of curries myself..I will have to batch cook and freeze a load.
Next I will make some nice samosa's, also another fav food I've not had in a long time.
Ahthankyew
The shopkeeper was a little taken aback by my insistance on proper spices, when there were perfectly acceptable jars of Pataks on the shelves for his usual pasty skinned dutch customers. I like pataks, but its a bit processed for a home made curry (their madras and vindaloo's though just can't be beat for quickie curry pastes)
Did an improvised medium chicken curry, it was blinding!!! I even got some chapati four and made chapatis.. they were also nice, beautifully soft and tasty, though as usual with my chapatis, not even remotely round, I never did master that skill, but map of Australia chapatis are just as nice when dipped into lovely spicey curry sauce.
I must get back in to my cooking, as much as I do like the occasional takeaway from the Taj in town I do make a great range of curries myself..I will have to batch cook and freeze a load.
Next I will make some nice samosa's, also another fav food I've not had in a long time.
Ahthankyew
Thursday, 13 September 2012
Normal services resumed
I feel pretty rough today but my head is clear and aside from the rasping chest I've been left with it seems to have been a nice short form of flu...that or OD'ing on cold meds and orange juice and whiskey really does work.
Barring any relapses, I'll get back to work tomorrow and have a stay at home weekend to be sure.
As soon as I can get my aching bones downstairs to make some coffee and wake up a bit more, I'll get on with some coding work on my project,. fixing the damage I seem to do yesterday, and complete some class notes for work, as well as some admin the refuses to die!!
Ahthankyew
Barring any relapses, I'll get back to work tomorrow and have a stay at home weekend to be sure.
As soon as I can get my aching bones downstairs to make some coffee and wake up a bit more, I'll get on with some coding work on my project,. fixing the damage I seem to do yesterday, and complete some class notes for work, as well as some admin the refuses to die!!
Ahthankyew
Oh Kaaay what was I thinking?
3.30am and at last the fever seems to have broken, though still feeling a bit chilled and have very very painful joints and muscles..like I've been hit by a bus.
Chest is still tight and raspy and I have a nice dry cough for my pains which is keeping me awake..and a bit of a headache still ;- But I am functioning again......almost
Also am now very aware of an abolute mass of mossie bites all over my body...they must have been attracted to the heat cos I've never seen so many bites before...I am starting to look forward to the cooler weather when the little buggers die off.
Hoping a good nights sleep and some rest tomorrow will see the end of the illness...I don't want to take too much time of work as it will leave my Teaching Assistant taking 3 of my 4 classes which is hard on him
I was doing a bit of coding work today in between blinding headaches caused by the over bright screens and I have to say..I genuinely and honestly have no idea what the hell I was trying to write.
It was meant to be an additional section to a script loader for a map ediitor I'm doing that could handle object rotations and fix a bug in map size calculations....but what I wrote is jibberish..in fact its an insult to jibberish.
I'll cut it back tomorrow and write it properly. I really should not go near a computer when I am ill, I just hope I didn't introduce too many stupid bugs.
Ahthankyew
Chest is still tight and raspy and I have a nice dry cough for my pains which is keeping me awake..and a bit of a headache still ;- But I am functioning again......almost
Also am now very aware of an abolute mass of mossie bites all over my body...they must have been attracted to the heat cos I've never seen so many bites before...I am starting to look forward to the cooler weather when the little buggers die off.
Hoping a good nights sleep and some rest tomorrow will see the end of the illness...I don't want to take too much time of work as it will leave my Teaching Assistant taking 3 of my 4 classes which is hard on him
I was doing a bit of coding work today in between blinding headaches caused by the over bright screens and I have to say..I genuinely and honestly have no idea what the hell I was trying to write.
It was meant to be an additional section to a script loader for a map ediitor I'm doing that could handle object rotations and fix a bug in map size calculations....but what I wrote is jibberish..in fact its an insult to jibberish.
I'll cut it back tomorrow and write it properly. I really should not go near a computer when I am ill, I just hope I didn't introduce too many stupid bugs.
Ahthankyew
Wednesday, 12 September 2012
Why are you here?
If you've taken the time to come check on my current fight against the deadly male only virus known as man flu, welcome.....I'm really ill, got a serious temp, feel like my lungs have been replaced by an old mans and have the most horrible headache which makes looking at this screen bloody painful.... I had the most fitful nights sleep which even full strengh Nyquil I get from a 'merkin friend didn't manage to tame.
Fortunatly I managed to tone down the brightness of the screen long enough to compose my thoughts and post this. Aside from being ill, and a little OD'd on cold meds (incluidng scotch), I was also very very deeply distubed by something last night. Why are some people checking out this blog, in light of recent events in my life, it seems some people are taking a little too much interest in things?
If you're here to read about my thoughts on life, expecially mine, well I think you're a little strange but feel free. But mostly this is a series of posts for my mum and close family friends who have often expressed concern for me, and this shuts them up :D
If you're here to pass or make comment on the events, feelings and content of this blog... please do, there's a comment box below, I publish pretty much ever comment even if they are critical of me or what I write.
But if you are here to make sure I'm not saying something you or others might find uncomfortable or feel is giving away too much information about my life and all the things and people in it who affect my life..or if your hunting for a bit of juicy gossip.
Stop reading!
Go away!
Unsubscribe and delete the link from your explorer, Block it even.
Don't ever come back and don't ever try to prevent me from carrying out the main purpose of this blog...which is, if you care to check the intial posts, to document how "I" feel about things, to itemise the things in my life that have an impact on me and to give an honest view of how I feel about my life.
I've documented incredible highs, desperate lows, love, hate, funny and disturbing events and thoughts, always as honestly as I dare, and as personally as I am able I will continue to do so.
It matters not if you know me, it matters not if you know the people I write about, you simply do not have the right to be upset about the fact I write very personally and directly about "me", about "my" life and about the things that happen and shape "my" life
I exercise a great deal of self control normally on here when it comes to how some people or things piss me off, upset, irritate, sadden, confuse or just bloody infuriate me. I rarely burn bridges, unless I feel I really don't want to have any more contact with someone or something. But thats my right to do so, no one elses.
If you read this blog regularly, and I know you, you may occasionally recognise yourself or others in some of the posts, even if not named or directly mentioned, if it makes you as a reader uncomfortable, ask yourself why, is it because its true?
Does my stating how you or others impact my life make you uncomfortable?
Good.
Life is sometimes uncomfortable, we learn to make it less so by reflecting on that.
Now pull up a chair, and hit the subscribe button, or make sure the door does not bang you on the arse on the way out
Ahthankyew
Fortunatly I managed to tone down the brightness of the screen long enough to compose my thoughts and post this. Aside from being ill, and a little OD'd on cold meds (incluidng scotch), I was also very very deeply distubed by something last night. Why are some people checking out this blog, in light of recent events in my life, it seems some people are taking a little too much interest in things?
If you're here to read about my thoughts on life, expecially mine, well I think you're a little strange but feel free. But mostly this is a series of posts for my mum and close family friends who have often expressed concern for me, and this shuts them up :D
If you're here to pass or make comment on the events, feelings and content of this blog... please do, there's a comment box below, I publish pretty much ever comment even if they are critical of me or what I write.
But if you are here to make sure I'm not saying something you or others might find uncomfortable or feel is giving away too much information about my life and all the things and people in it who affect my life..or if your hunting for a bit of juicy gossip.
Stop reading!
Go away!
Unsubscribe and delete the link from your explorer, Block it even.
Don't ever come back and don't ever try to prevent me from carrying out the main purpose of this blog...which is, if you care to check the intial posts, to document how "I" feel about things, to itemise the things in my life that have an impact on me and to give an honest view of how I feel about my life.
I've documented incredible highs, desperate lows, love, hate, funny and disturbing events and thoughts, always as honestly as I dare, and as personally as I am able I will continue to do so.
It matters not if you know me, it matters not if you know the people I write about, you simply do not have the right to be upset about the fact I write very personally and directly about "me", about "my" life and about the things that happen and shape "my" life
I exercise a great deal of self control normally on here when it comes to how some people or things piss me off, upset, irritate, sadden, confuse or just bloody infuriate me. I rarely burn bridges, unless I feel I really don't want to have any more contact with someone or something. But thats my right to do so, no one elses.
If you read this blog regularly, and I know you, you may occasionally recognise yourself or others in some of the posts, even if not named or directly mentioned, if it makes you as a reader uncomfortable, ask yourself why, is it because its true?
Does my stating how you or others impact my life make you uncomfortable?
Good.
Life is sometimes uncomfortable, we learn to make it less so by reflecting on that.
Now pull up a chair, and hit the subscribe button, or make sure the door does not bang you on the arse on the way out
Ahthankyew
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
100.something
can't quite read the small print...0.1 or 0.2 ish..
yup...feeling shit, nose and eyes streaming, chest dry as a bone and totally sweating buckets
2 giant bottles of orange juice, 2 or was that 3 large whiskeys and 2 doses of beechams did nothing.
Tonight may be my last day on earth...manflu has struck and I'm on my own, my body may never be found.
Nah, some people would care enough to check on me...bring chicken soup and grapes...hmm?
Well I live in hope.
Going to mail in sick and not set the alarm, if I'm very very very lucky my last NyQuil, which I have been saving for months, the strongest cold relief known to man, might let me sleep it off....if I'm lucky.
On the plus side...I bought a footspa at the weekend, what better time to use it!!!
Jokes aside, I hate being sick, so really hope this is a 1 day/night thing and I am back to work asap. Though last time I had a cold it brought on a mother of a chest infection that needed 2 different mega inhalers to clear up....Going to stay in wrap up warm and not push things.
Ahthankyew
yup...feeling shit, nose and eyes streaming, chest dry as a bone and totally sweating buckets
2 giant bottles of orange juice, 2 or was that 3 large whiskeys and 2 doses of beechams did nothing.
Tonight may be my last day on earth...manflu has struck and I'm on my own, my body may never be found.
Nah, some people would care enough to check on me...bring chicken soup and grapes...hmm?
Well I live in hope.
Going to mail in sick and not set the alarm, if I'm very very very lucky my last NyQuil, which I have been saving for months, the strongest cold relief known to man, might let me sleep it off....if I'm lucky.
On the plus side...I bought a footspa at the weekend, what better time to use it!!!
Jokes aside, I hate being sick, so really hope this is a 1 day/night thing and I am back to work asap. Though last time I had a cold it brought on a mother of a chest infection that needed 2 different mega inhalers to clear up....Going to stay in wrap up warm and not push things.
Ahthankyew
99.6 downs and ups
No thats not todays weight, its my temp...just checked it. Been feeling a bit rough all day but got a lot worse in the last few hours, feeling light headed and having the dryest throat and tightening chest with the most pathetic forced cough ever...and sneezing and and...
#oh shit!
man flu is about to strike..nooooo.
Have come home early to dose up on my fortunately abundant supply of UK cold meds and some Vit C and whiskey...whiskey being the most useful of the available remedies I suspect, since its going to kick in no matter what.
I have some project and school work to do in the peace and comfort of my office so will crack on with that then have an alcohol fuelled early night and hope it does not kick in as the hours tick by.
Students are doing well but there's a couple who are struggling, I hope they take my advice and put in the work they need to do or they will get lost which would be a shame, I hate to see students fall away, but there comes a point where I can't do much more for them and have to focus on those doing the work...we're only in week 2 though so still plenty of time before I start to worry about them.
Got some news that a friend has had a lot of their life plans fall through the toilet when an important job offer didn't materialise, its going to make life very hard, but I hope it won't all be bad news.
It makes any petty problems I have, seem a little irrelevent. Though the pettiness of some of my problems is pretty surprising, I don't intend to let them impact on my life or how I lead my life as it is now.
Had a really great rehearsal with StarrCase last night, I had a better feel for the style and tempo of the band and it sounded pretty good at times. Looking forward to even more improvment..if the man flu does not kill me.
I bagged an ebay bargain too...I documented my gadget sale of some pedals a few months ago, including my RC3 which I felt I didn't need, but ever since I have missed the little fella, especially when the RC300 is a bit of overkill for some backing to play along to...So I bought another, on special offer from the US, fully expecting to pay duty making it only very slightly cheaper than buying here...but no, delivered with no duty to pay, 50quid saved...happy :D
hmmm 99.7 now....this could be a bad sign....
better hope the Beechams kicks in soon or bed may be earlier than expected.
Ahthankyew
Sunday, 9 September 2012
nice song...ruined
I have to play the solo with the band at some point....so recorded it to practice
Ahthankyew
Ahthankyew
Life eh!!
I wrote this several months ago when Bina announced she was leaving...I chose not to post it at the time to avoid hassle.....interesting that I was trying to avoid hassle....The split has been amicable when all said and done but I think point that this blog is to post how I feel about things should be maintained...so at the time I was pissed off....and venting a bit, but quite co-herent..I dug this up in the draft section of blogger and thought it should be posted.
I'm comfortable with how things are now, the future has new possibilities in it and I'm looking forward them...but back to the original post.....
The one sure thing about life is its uncertainty...more so when you share that life.
I'm comfortable with how things are now, the future has new possibilities in it and I'm looking forward them...but back to the original post.....
The one sure thing about life is its uncertainty...more so when you share that life.
Now it seems I'm going to be on my own again.
My "opinion" regarding the madness of CAM is apparently the final straw. There are it seems other straws that broke the camels back, but for the life of me I can't help thinking that in every measurable way I'm not a bad bloke.
I really have spent a lot time thinking about that question the last few years, cancer really does make you evalute your life...I had some silly times as a youth, and made some bad mistakes with relationships I was not really equipped for. I've been and still am a little, impulsive, reckless and thoughtless to other people, But as I got older and "wiser" I have made a lot of changes to become the person I am today, I won't say that I've removed my faults, but I've honed them to a point where I'm happy.
I have to say, that camel ain't got much of a backbone.
I really have spent a lot time thinking about that question the last few years, cancer really does make you evalute your life...I had some silly times as a youth, and made some bad mistakes with relationships I was not really equipped for. I've been and still am a little, impulsive, reckless and thoughtless to other people, But as I got older and "wiser" I have made a lot of changes to become the person I am today, I won't say that I've removed my faults, but I've honed them to a point where I'm happy.
There's some things I probably still should change, but thats my choice, I should choose because I want to... I don't need someone telling me I'm fat, or have bad dress sense or that I'm apparently lazy,cos I prefer to wait till there's a big pile of washing to do.. All these things are relative and on the grand scheme of basic male faults I'm pretty low down in the scale.
But I'm kinda tired of putting up with someone elses dissapointment in me...yes I'm a little overweight, but I hate gyms, (I mean I REALLY hate the whole music banging sweaty treadmill concept of them.), nope I don't run to the dishwasher still chewing my last mouthful, sorry I do leave the socks on the floor and the pants and teeshirts and the odd cup or plate on the table.
So?
Also I'm a bit too wrapped up in my hobbies, too much of a nightbird and quite prone to sleeping late when no one wakes me, and several other basic male faults.
So?
And that seems to be enough to end a 12 year relationship, I'm not perfect. I don't intend to try to be perfect, so I'm not.
I am what I am...and frankly I'm genuinely happy with who and what I am, which means basically if you don't want "me" then I'm not going to make promises I can't keep or change to be something else..
If I am indeed such a terrible person, I'm not seeing it?
I was raised in a house where a large obnoxious pig-ignorant dimwitted arsehole with delusions of importance due to his "rich" upbringing, was never wrong and could never be spoken back to, threw his weight around, demanded 100% attention, used violence and fear of violence routinely and had everyone in the house cowering as his intention was made clear that the universe revolved around him and our role was to make sure he was never bothered with the day to day encumbrances of relationships or fatherhood.
If raising my voice in the middle of 1 very rare arguement constitutes comparisons with that....then frankly some people are living on a different fucking planet and have no clue what real agression actually is.
I'm not going to prattle on about my faults, because whatever they are, and I am sure there are more serious personal ones but who knows since I was never consulted, the decision is made, the 3rd time such a decision has been made, without discusion or attempts to fix it. It seems Bina's cosy la la land world has to be maintained at all costs, or she walks into some other cosy lala land world where she can do her own thing and not have to worry about socks or cups or whatever.
That to me means indicates a certain lack of comittment, since in 12 years despite more than a few frustrating occasions I've never once even considered asking her to change, or be something she's not or walking out. Not once.
Seems a few socks, and cups and maybe even some smelly old trainers are enough to kill what I thought was a stable comitted relationship.. Well that's what I thought.
ok..I think thats fair enough.
So?
Also I'm a bit too wrapped up in my hobbies, too much of a nightbird and quite prone to sleeping late when no one wakes me, and several other basic male faults.
So?
And that seems to be enough to end a 12 year relationship, I'm not perfect. I don't intend to try to be perfect, so I'm not.
I am what I am...and frankly I'm genuinely happy with who and what I am, which means basically if you don't want "me" then I'm not going to make promises I can't keep or change to be something else..
If I am indeed such a terrible person, I'm not seeing it?
I was raised in a house where a large obnoxious pig-ignorant dimwitted arsehole with delusions of importance due to his "rich" upbringing, was never wrong and could never be spoken back to, threw his weight around, demanded 100% attention, used violence and fear of violence routinely and had everyone in the house cowering as his intention was made clear that the universe revolved around him and our role was to make sure he was never bothered with the day to day encumbrances of relationships or fatherhood.
If raising my voice in the middle of 1 very rare arguement constitutes comparisons with that....then frankly some people are living on a different fucking planet and have no clue what real agression actually is.
I'm not going to prattle on about my faults, because whatever they are, and I am sure there are more serious personal ones but who knows since I was never consulted, the decision is made, the 3rd time such a decision has been made, without discusion or attempts to fix it. It seems Bina's cosy la la land world has to be maintained at all costs, or she walks into some other cosy lala land world where she can do her own thing and not have to worry about socks or cups or whatever.
That to me means indicates a certain lack of comittment, since in 12 years despite more than a few frustrating occasions I've never once even considered asking her to change, or be something she's not or walking out. Not once.
Seems a few socks, and cups and maybe even some smelly old trainers are enough to kill what I thought was a stable comitted relationship.. Well that's what I thought.
ok..I think thats fair enough.
time to move on.
Ahthankyew
Worst vocals ever
not even autotune can save this...but its just a work in progress, hoping I can get a proper singer to do it for me.
Ahthankyew
Ahthankyew
Friday, 7 September 2012
In a band :D
the Rolling Stones didn't return my call, so I decided to audition for the next best thing. I went to the rehearsal for StarrCase last Monday and they liked me...which was bloody brilliant cause I thought I was shit and out of my depth totally when the other guitarist didn't show and I was left to do a bunch of songs I wasn't that familiar with and people I'd never played with :D
But I did it.
And I'm in!!
https://www.facebook.com/#!/StarrCase
Expect the pictures to update soon, with me in it? Unless they latch on to the fact I was just following the keyboard player and what was written on the board....mind you, what else do I need to do? :D
Not giving up on We're Still Shit at all though, just that StarrCase have a nice set up, steady line up (though I am replacing the lead guitarist/bassist) practice regularly and gig from time to time which is something WSS may find hard to do for a while yet even with our new improved focus.
Lets hope its not to long before I get screaming groupies chasing me around and can order my rodies to turn it up to 11 for me.
What???
Ahthankyew
But I did it.
And I'm in!!
https://www.facebook.com/#!/StarrCase
Expect the pictures to update soon, with me in it? Unless they latch on to the fact I was just following the keyboard player and what was written on the board....mind you, what else do I need to do? :D
Not giving up on We're Still Shit at all though, just that StarrCase have a nice set up, steady line up (though I am replacing the lead guitarist/bassist) practice regularly and gig from time to time which is something WSS may find hard to do for a while yet even with our new improved focus.
Lets hope its not to long before I get screaming groupies chasing me around and can order my rodies to turn it up to 11 for me.
What???
Ahthankyew
Sunday, 2 September 2012
mozzies
Oh there is a 3rd hell..The other night I left the bedroom window open as it was hot and sticky inside following another warm but occaionally rainy day.
I must never ever do that again.
I have a dozen weaping mosquito lumps all over my body...itching like mad, which prompted me to buy one of those probably useless Vapona plugins to get rid of the mossies...
I don't understand why mozzies find me so appealling, surely they prefer a fat free diet but leaving the window open just screams out buffet time in mozzie speak.
grrrr
Ahthankyew
I must never ever do that again.
I have a dozen weaping mosquito lumps all over my body...itching like mad, which prompted me to buy one of those probably useless Vapona plugins to get rid of the mossies...
I don't understand why mozzies find me so appealling, surely they prefer a fat free diet but leaving the window open just screams out buffet time in mozzie speak.
grrrr
Ahthankyew
90.4 Hell begins x2
Monday 3rd Sept....students start school and its time for the 1st week of lessons :D
Always a stressful time with 60 or so new 1st year student names to remember. It usually takes me a couple of weeks and several silly nicknames before I start to remember their names but I think its good to make the effort.
This years didactics course has taught me a lot of cool stuff, which I hope will become apparent as the weeks go by..I had planned to have more of my course work done in advance but I find I still can only really do an outline since I don't really know what rate they will "learn"
We're hoping this year, due to having a better selection process, that we won't have to have the more expereinced students slow themselves down a bit, waiting for the less experienced ones to catch up. Though I suspect we'll have the usual mix of geniuii and what the fuck are you doing here, students.
Also I have to get re-aquainted with my new 3rd years who will be doing console coding with me.. I don't have much to do with 2nd year students so I lose touch with them for a year..Which often means they leave me as developing novices at the end of 1st year, but come back as keen and eager in the 3rd year to show off how smart they are, often making me worry about my own skill levels.
But Console coding is different enough that they will have to stop and take stock of things...perhaps even listen to a few warnings from a crusty old veteran.
Hell 2 starts on Tuesday....I don't have an early start on Tuesdays...so its...gulp Gym time...as you can see the weight is stopping around 90kg so need to push the weights around a bit to drop that 10kg I want to lose before the end of the year.
Better get on with my prep...also got to finish some work on my project, the map editor of which has been a nightmare to get working.....I hope the solution I came up with is solid enough...it should but we'll have to see.
Ahthankyew
Always a stressful time with 60 or so new 1st year student names to remember. It usually takes me a couple of weeks and several silly nicknames before I start to remember their names but I think its good to make the effort.
This years didactics course has taught me a lot of cool stuff, which I hope will become apparent as the weeks go by..I had planned to have more of my course work done in advance but I find I still can only really do an outline since I don't really know what rate they will "learn"
We're hoping this year, due to having a better selection process, that we won't have to have the more expereinced students slow themselves down a bit, waiting for the less experienced ones to catch up. Though I suspect we'll have the usual mix of geniuii and what the fuck are you doing here, students.
Also I have to get re-aquainted with my new 3rd years who will be doing console coding with me.. I don't have much to do with 2nd year students so I lose touch with them for a year..Which often means they leave me as developing novices at the end of 1st year, but come back as keen and eager in the 3rd year to show off how smart they are, often making me worry about my own skill levels.
But Console coding is different enough that they will have to stop and take stock of things...perhaps even listen to a few warnings from a crusty old veteran.
Hell 2 starts on Tuesday....I don't have an early start on Tuesdays...so its...gulp Gym time...as you can see the weight is stopping around 90kg so need to push the weights around a bit to drop that 10kg I want to lose before the end of the year.
Better get on with my prep...also got to finish some work on my project, the map editor of which has been a nightmare to get working.....I hope the solution I came up with is solid enough...it should but we'll have to see.
Ahthankyew
Monday, 27 August 2012
90.5 Lapsed badly
Damn its amazing how quickly it creeps back up.
Though I have lapsed badly the last few weeks, especially while at the Unite2012 conference in Amsterdam where good food was available at the 4 star Movenpick hotel. (I even got an upgrade to a suite when I complained about being too close to the elevators).
I got a chance to have a delicious 2008 Châteauneuf-du-Pape at 70euros a bottle...yes I know, but how often do I get the chance?? Of course I won't be claming that on the expenses sheet :) It was delicous though.
I also took a bit of time on the final morning to rent a bike and cycle around Amsterdam, something I have wanted to do for a while since walking never seems to take you past the seedy areas. The bike lets you go much further and see a much nicer and upbeat side to Amsterdam which I want to explore a bit more in future. I found an especially cool blues bar called Bourbon Street (aren't they all called that?) in an area I can't recall the name of just now but where we all had an excellent sushi meal the night before.
Cycling however has proven to me that pedestrians in Amsterdam, most likely tourists are batshit crazy mofo's who have lost the ability to look left and right when stepping onto the lanes...I lost count of the number of times I had to break hard or ding the bell to get people to notice me...I mean in a city famous for its cycles you'd think the peds would be a bit more careful.
I know I keep saying it...but its Gym time...perhaps when I get that 1st visit over I'll be able to get over my distaste for the place. But I have been paying for it for 8 months now I suppose I should make use of it.
Work wise I am very busy this week, my freelance program is being re-worked to be more flexible ready to plug in maps from the client, and to aid in that I'm busy doing a map editor for it, but thats just evenings, daytime we're back to work, teaching next week so am prepping all my lessons wayyyy in advance so that I don't have to stress out too much on work days and can fit in a good amount of freelance work.
So busy busy week, having to learn lots of new things too, Unity in particular is starting to make sense to me, our students are going to be using it for GameLab and I need to be able to help them.
I'm also going to try to get out more, so I'm not at home drinking wine every night (not good for the weight)...I'll go out and drink with freinds...oh wait...something wrong with that plan, can't quite figure it out.
Music also is changing, I am hoping to join another band, a group of collegues from another dept in NHTV are after a bass/guitar player...I doubt my bass playing is up to it but hope my guitaring is. I might be able to contribute a bit of bass sometimes. Its a more formal structured band than We're Still Shit. They gig from time to time which is what I want to get some experience of, so I hope to get in there and be more focused on my playing. The music is ok, not quite my style, but nothing I hate, it'll be a great learning process.
We're Still Shit will continue of course, and I'm hoping we can formalise our practice and style a bit more too, which will allow us to gig. We're having a formal band meeting this week to lay down some ground rules which I'm going to try to manage. I'll mean splitting time with two bands...but what else do I have to do eh?
Right...back to course plotting, map editor, and unity.
what an exciting life I lead!!
Ahthankyew
Though I have lapsed badly the last few weeks, especially while at the Unite2012 conference in Amsterdam where good food was available at the 4 star Movenpick hotel. (I even got an upgrade to a suite when I complained about being too close to the elevators).
I got a chance to have a delicious 2008 Châteauneuf-du-Pape at 70euros a bottle...yes I know, but how often do I get the chance?? Of course I won't be claming that on the expenses sheet :) It was delicous though.
I also took a bit of time on the final morning to rent a bike and cycle around Amsterdam, something I have wanted to do for a while since walking never seems to take you past the seedy areas. The bike lets you go much further and see a much nicer and upbeat side to Amsterdam which I want to explore a bit more in future. I found an especially cool blues bar called Bourbon Street (aren't they all called that?) in an area I can't recall the name of just now but where we all had an excellent sushi meal the night before.
Cycling however has proven to me that pedestrians in Amsterdam, most likely tourists are batshit crazy mofo's who have lost the ability to look left and right when stepping onto the lanes...I lost count of the number of times I had to break hard or ding the bell to get people to notice me...I mean in a city famous for its cycles you'd think the peds would be a bit more careful.
I know I keep saying it...but its Gym time...perhaps when I get that 1st visit over I'll be able to get over my distaste for the place. But I have been paying for it for 8 months now I suppose I should make use of it.
Work wise I am very busy this week, my freelance program is being re-worked to be more flexible ready to plug in maps from the client, and to aid in that I'm busy doing a map editor for it, but thats just evenings, daytime we're back to work, teaching next week so am prepping all my lessons wayyyy in advance so that I don't have to stress out too much on work days and can fit in a good amount of freelance work.
So busy busy week, having to learn lots of new things too, Unity in particular is starting to make sense to me, our students are going to be using it for GameLab and I need to be able to help them.
I'm also going to try to get out more, so I'm not at home drinking wine every night (not good for the weight)...I'll go out and drink with freinds...oh wait...something wrong with that plan, can't quite figure it out.
Music also is changing, I am hoping to join another band, a group of collegues from another dept in NHTV are after a bass/guitar player...I doubt my bass playing is up to it but hope my guitaring is. I might be able to contribute a bit of bass sometimes. Its a more formal structured band than We're Still Shit. They gig from time to time which is what I want to get some experience of, so I hope to get in there and be more focused on my playing. The music is ok, not quite my style, but nothing I hate, it'll be a great learning process.
We're Still Shit will continue of course, and I'm hoping we can formalise our practice and style a bit more too, which will allow us to gig. We're having a formal band meeting this week to lay down some ground rules which I'm going to try to manage. I'll mean splitting time with two bands...but what else do I have to do eh?
Right...back to course plotting, map editor, and unity.
what an exciting life I lead!!
Ahthankyew
Sunday, 19 August 2012
Hot..do damn hot
Flaming typical, after a pretty awful summer holiday weather wise and my summer holiday and only real chance to top up on Vit D, effectively lost after the split I have been avoiding rain and miserable weather for the whole 5 weeks or so.
But now, here we are at my last weekend and the sun is belting down, the whole county is basking in it, and I am sat here semi naked to keep cool in front of a compter screen hoping I can finish a delivery today so I can spend 10 mins to turn lobster read.
There is no justice.
Ahthankyew
But now, here we are at my last weekend and the sun is belting down, the whole county is basking in it, and I am sat here semi naked to keep cool in front of a compter screen hoping I can finish a delivery today so I can spend 10 mins to turn lobster read.
There is no justice.
Ahthankyew
Friday, 17 August 2012
Last Weekend
keep forgetting to weigh myself, but I know I'm not losing any more, nor gaining, so Gym has to be started.....
Its now our last holiday weekend, I'm back to "work" on Monday, I say "work" cause I will be checking into a 4 start Amsterdam hotel for 4 or 5 days as I attend the Unite Conference to get better aquainted with Unity Engine which we will be teaching next block...Fun fun fun.
The Crazy in Love recording session has been abandoned....it was biting off too much more than I can chew...coupled with lack of time for something so intense as I do my coding job. I need to stick to simpler things and will try to do something this weekend.
The PSM project is going very well now, I have most of the main game mechanics done and working well, though we have to get the actual mechanics of the gameplay fixed this weekend. I delivered almost everything I had to today except for some menus which try as I might the Sony Supplied font code kept throwing errors...I couldn't find out why. I'll try again over the weekend since I need to have a bit of a break and enjoy my last free Friday night.
Ahthankyew
Its now our last holiday weekend, I'm back to "work" on Monday, I say "work" cause I will be checking into a 4 start Amsterdam hotel for 4 or 5 days as I attend the Unite Conference to get better aquainted with Unity Engine which we will be teaching next block...Fun fun fun.
The Crazy in Love recording session has been abandoned....it was biting off too much more than I can chew...coupled with lack of time for something so intense as I do my coding job. I need to stick to simpler things and will try to do something this weekend.
The PSM project is going very well now, I have most of the main game mechanics done and working well, though we have to get the actual mechanics of the gameplay fixed this weekend. I delivered almost everything I had to today except for some menus which try as I might the Sony Supplied font code kept throwing errors...I couldn't find out why. I'll try again over the weekend since I need to have a bit of a break and enjoy my last free Friday night.
Ahthankyew
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
3 o'clock in the morning
well strictly speaking its 4 in the morning but BB didn't sing it that way.
Spent a fun productive slgihtly frustrating day tracking down some odd bugs, as always RTFM applies, the coord system of the PSM is different to what I am used to and a reversed y direction caused lots of odd problems.
in the end 1 line needed to be changed....1 line!! 1 fucking stupid line had to be reversed.
Ah well..I am delighted with the result now, the main gameplay feature of this game now works and can be expanded on to produce the final game.
I have a demo to produce on Thursday, so getting this fixed was a major thing...theres some issues with the way PSM does particles I have to fix but RTFM will probably sort that...trouble is the M is absolute pants...I need to work out a lot of it myself.
But now its time for bed...I can even close my eyes! To quote the great one!
Ahthankyew
Saturday, 11 August 2012
Moozik
Still working on the Crazy in love thing...not a lot of time for that one right now, but here's something i did when reminded earlier today its just over a year since Amy Winehouse died.
Loved this song when I first heard it, and managed to work out a way I could play it.
Ahthankyew
Loved this song when I first heard it, and managed to work out a way I could play it.
Ahthankyew
Thursday, 9 August 2012
Mossies consider me a feast
This summer has been a right roayl feast time for the Mossies...which wouild be so bad if it didn't itch like mad and then swell up. I've got a tiny bite between my 2 small knuckles which has caused half my hand to swell up...really annoying.
work progresses a little slowly but it does progress...I'm making less mistakes but finding some things a pain to do....such is life I suppose.
Ahthankyew
work progresses a little slowly but it does progress...I'm making less mistakes but finding some things a pain to do....such is life I suppose.
Ahthankyew
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
89.5 Display problems cracked
oh boy.....I got stuck for a while, trying to do what seemed to be a very simple thing...mixing small 3D models with 2D banner sprites...but try as I might the sprites didn't show.
I re-wrote, re-read the instructions, re-wrote, re-wrote, re-read again...but nothing! Tried another approach...still nothing, tried another.....still nothing...shouted at the screen...strangly didn't work...tried another approach.
doh..then it dawned on me...I made a simple error, 1 single missing line..which escaped me.
The sprite demo I based my sprite code on set up a vertice buffer on init, it was a 1 time set up in the demo so that works becuase it never prints anythng else, but since I was constantly updating the graphic types and putting in new buffers I needed to reset that buffer when it came time to render sprites.
add the line...boom..Sprites!
Doh!
oh well...it gave me something to do at 4am when I couldn't sleep after having a few too many drinks with Martin and getting my pre sleep hangover...I hate that, why can't I have normal pass out when drunk and wake up with hangover, like everyone else.
Onward an upward. With the display code issues resovled the rest of the coding is fairly easy maths and masking....should be very effective when I've finished it.
Ahthankyew
Monday, 6 August 2012
Progress
Ah finally, after a lot of stopping and starting and some very odd and unhelpful error messages, I am starting to get chunks of my own code functioning as I wanted it to..excellent
Lost a couple of days at least with strange errors, misunderstoof folder requirments, lack of documentation on addition of libs and plane old, this does not work as it should, type of errors but today I finally worked out how to get things to do what I wanted.
I had to mod an exisiting demo to do it but neverthe less ite bones of the old code have been removed and new code doing what I want is in place...thats a good good day
Should have most of teh hard techy bits done by tonight and ready to deliver to the client tomorrow
Ermm if I figure out how to actually deliver. I solved the coding issues, not the delivery issues...they can wait till I have things working as I want them
I was going to go out for a drink with Martin tonight but he cried off, for work reasons..oh well..just as well since we just had a MONSTER of a hail storm pass over us...it looks like a cold winters day outside...very bizzare.
Ahthankyew
Lost a couple of days at least with strange errors, misunderstoof folder requirments, lack of documentation on addition of libs and plane old, this does not work as it should, type of errors but today I finally worked out how to get things to do what I wanted.
I had to mod an exisiting demo to do it but neverthe less ite bones of the old code have been removed and new code doing what I want is in place...thats a good good day
Should have most of teh hard techy bits done by tonight and ready to deliver to the client tomorrow
Ermm if I figure out how to actually deliver. I solved the coding issues, not the delivery issues...they can wait till I have things working as I want them
I was going to go out for a drink with Martin tonight but he cried off, for work reasons..oh well..just as well since we just had a MONSTER of a hail storm pass over us...it looks like a cold winters day outside...very bizzare.
Ahthankyew
89.9 meh!!! Oh hang on wtf?
Weight seems to have levelled out at ther 90Kg region...not good enough, diet alone does not seem to be working so time to do the horrible bit and hit the gym....groan. I really really hate gyms
C# has also hit a bit of a plateau, messing with demos is all fine, but trying to start a new project and build up to use the libs has proven to be confusing and in the process wasting much time...In the sense that I struggle to get things to actually work. I'm sure there's a simple thing I am missing, but none of the tuts seem to explain things at a step by step level well enough.
There's a big jump from the simple putting an image on screen starter I was building on to including the 2D engine lib....wait..how did you include that lib...it never said.
Like I say probably something very simple, but at the moment I'm missing that step, so having to resort to using a demo which has the lib I want to use and modifying it to suit.
But no probs, its all a learning process. I'm making notes of things that I find confusing, since these are exactly the things that will throw students.
Back to it, have a deliverable to try to hit today....should get it if I can just work out how to make my linked list update and get rid of the very odd and unfamiliar errors that throw up randomly sometimes
Ahthankyew
C# has also hit a bit of a plateau, messing with demos is all fine, but trying to start a new project and build up to use the libs has proven to be confusing and in the process wasting much time...In the sense that I struggle to get things to actually work. I'm sure there's a simple thing I am missing, but none of the tuts seem to explain things at a step by step level well enough.
There's a big jump from the simple putting an image on screen starter I was building on to including the 2D engine lib....wait..how did you include that lib...it never said.
Like I say probably something very simple, but at the moment I'm missing that step, so having to resort to using a demo which has the lib I want to use and modifying it to suit.
But no probs, its all a learning process. I'm making notes of things that I find confusing, since these are exactly the things that will throw students.
Back to it, have a deliverable to try to hit today....should get it if I can just work out how to make my linked list update and get rid of the very odd and unfamiliar errors that throw up randomly sometimes
Ahthankyew
Saturday, 4 August 2012
89.0 C# is cool
Even though I still find myself going...hmmmm I am finding C# to be quite a cool way to do things. I miss direct pointer access of course and some of the referencing is a bit befuddling but after a while it all starts to make sense, basically its about making sure you know what you are passing.
Still no joy on the Tablet, I will try that again after I've completed work on my demos. Get the code working 1st then try the mad hardware.
I've been told the Vita is the weak link in the PSM hardware family despite is awesome graphic and cpu power it lacks certain hyperthreading functions the android devices have so it might struggle a bit..I will probably have to buy one or get one bought for me to test this since the game is heavily depending on memory shifting around which is best doen with hyper threading (you can shift a bunch of memory while doing update code)
Off to Ikea in a bit with Jacks big bike with the rack ont eh front to buy a computer/printer unit since the work PC is proving to be a bit noisy, and I do want to get the printer down there.
Will see if they have a nice roastbeef potatoes salad dinner while I am there.
Ahthankyew
Still no joy on the Tablet, I will try that again after I've completed work on my demos. Get the code working 1st then try the mad hardware.
I've been told the Vita is the weak link in the PSM hardware family despite is awesome graphic and cpu power it lacks certain hyperthreading functions the android devices have so it might struggle a bit..I will probably have to buy one or get one bought for me to test this since the game is heavily depending on memory shifting around which is best doen with hyper threading (you can shift a bunch of memory while doing update code)
Off to Ikea in a bit with Jacks big bike with the rack ont eh front to buy a computer/printer unit since the work PC is proving to be a bit noisy, and I do want to get the printer down there.
Will see if they have a nice roastbeef potatoes salad dinner while I am there.
Ahthankyew
Friday, 3 August 2012
89.5 Trials and Tribulations of a Sony Tablet S
Barring any major issues of finance and timescales it seems the coding job is mine. Needless to say I can't say too much about it but I will outline a few things to form part of a doc that I will present to students as a guide on how (not) to do a project
Its a nice little game which I won't give details about so will limit myself to the fun getting used to a new bit of kit. In this case PlayStation Mobile (PSM). Essentially Android OS on specific Sony approved machines with graphic accelerators and written in C#.
Android is something I am just getting my teeth into at work, but C# is relatively new for me, though I have tinkered with it I've never done a full project
PSM SDK and IDE are freely available so I spent the last few days setting them up and working through the docs and tutorials, no real issues, aside from lack of familiaity with C#. But I've picked it up pretty quick in the last 2 days.
I do have a Playstaion Mobile certifed device, a Sony Tablet S, which I wanted to use as a dev target so I had an idea of hardware speed. Sadly hooking this up is not a simple case of plug and go, indeed plug, go, install, uninstall, plug, go, re-install, find udpates, uninstall, find different updates and so on has been a major waste of several hours research time, which still has not resulted in getting the machine accessable....oh well...The SDK comes with a perfectly usable simulator
The game reequires a few basic featires and 1 major feature which is a bit tricky to do, so I've spent a few days testng if the basics work..yup, no real issues there... But the major feature which involves accessing and modifying graphic data in game...proved a bit hard. There's many ways to do this in c++ but c# wasn't having it..It does not like its memory to be directly accessed...this requires a few work rounds.
The core API does allow for some ability to transfer buffers to VRAM, so using a sledgehammer approach I can impliment what I want...the question is how fast is it will I have enough memory to contain this heavy handed method....will it impact on gameplay?
At this point, hard to say, especially not being able to run on hardware at the moment, but I am setting up some tests to find out.
So far all so good...the weekend will tell if the game can be done then I can dump the tests and start the project proper.
I will need to have a bit of a break from the Sony Tablet though.....why is hardware always a pain!!!
Ahthankyew
Its a nice little game which I won't give details about so will limit myself to the fun getting used to a new bit of kit. In this case PlayStation Mobile (PSM). Essentially Android OS on specific Sony approved machines with graphic accelerators and written in C#.
Android is something I am just getting my teeth into at work, but C# is relatively new for me, though I have tinkered with it I've never done a full project
PSM SDK and IDE are freely available so I spent the last few days setting them up and working through the docs and tutorials, no real issues, aside from lack of familiaity with C#. But I've picked it up pretty quick in the last 2 days.
I do have a Playstaion Mobile certifed device, a Sony Tablet S, which I wanted to use as a dev target so I had an idea of hardware speed. Sadly hooking this up is not a simple case of plug and go, indeed plug, go, install, uninstall, plug, go, re-install, find udpates, uninstall, find different updates and so on has been a major waste of several hours research time, which still has not resulted in getting the machine accessable....oh well...The SDK comes with a perfectly usable simulator
The game reequires a few basic featires and 1 major feature which is a bit tricky to do, so I've spent a few days testng if the basics work..yup, no real issues there... But the major feature which involves accessing and modifying graphic data in game...proved a bit hard. There's many ways to do this in c++ but c# wasn't having it..It does not like its memory to be directly accessed...this requires a few work rounds.
The core API does allow for some ability to transfer buffers to VRAM, so using a sledgehammer approach I can impliment what I want...the question is how fast is it will I have enough memory to contain this heavy handed method....will it impact on gameplay?
At this point, hard to say, especially not being able to run on hardware at the moment, but I am setting up some tests to find out.
So far all so good...the weekend will tell if the game can be done then I can dump the tests and start the project proper.
I will need to have a bit of a break from the Sony Tablet though.....why is hardware always a pain!!!
Ahthankyew
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
Back in the saddle..yeahhawww
Well after a few years out of the commercial side of things, due to exhaustion, disillusion, family commitments, teaching and plain old being seriously ill. I seem to have finally landed a commercial project.
I've been fishing about for a few weeks now, given my new single status I have time to spend on some smaller jobs. I had a couple of nibbles, but this week a perfect new project that will also help my "research" side of my school work has cropped up.
We've not signed anything yet but it seems to be on, given there's a tight deadline (as always) I need to make a start on it will we haggle over times/fees in the next few days but even so, I'm excited.
The new work only office is up nand running, though discovered last night I need to replace a memory module on the work Pc, but not a big issue.
A few days of research to get used to a new system then make a start on the proejct next week, hopefully contracts signed and kick off.
Money will be nice to have too, given the financial hit due to the seperation, this will even out the big dip I've had to take and get back to a nice level guitar buying normality.
Of course the nature of these things means I can't say a work about the project or platform for a while, but I will be keeping a record of the progress and publishing it when its possible. It'll provide some course material for teaching next year, and of course means I can put a more uptodate project on the CV.
:D
Chuffed!!!
Ahthankyew
I've been fishing about for a few weeks now, given my new single status I have time to spend on some smaller jobs. I had a couple of nibbles, but this week a perfect new project that will also help my "research" side of my school work has cropped up.
We've not signed anything yet but it seems to be on, given there's a tight deadline (as always) I need to make a start on it will we haggle over times/fees in the next few days but even so, I'm excited.
The new work only office is up nand running, though discovered last night I need to replace a memory module on the work Pc, but not a big issue.
A few days of research to get used to a new system then make a start on the proejct next week, hopefully contracts signed and kick off.
Money will be nice to have too, given the financial hit due to the seperation, this will even out the big dip I've had to take and get back to a nice level guitar buying normality.
Of course the nature of these things means I can't say a work about the project or platform for a while, but I will be keeping a record of the progress and publishing it when its possible. It'll provide some course material for teaching next year, and of course means I can put a more uptodate project on the CV.
:D
Chuffed!!!
Ahthankyew
Tuesday, 31 July 2012
89.9 Sprog gone !! boo
I ate "normally" while sprog was here..so weight climbed again, it was really good to see her though, am missing her already...I got her to say Daaaaad several times, and even made her cry a couple of times, not always on purpose :D
But back to normality now. I've been chasing a few freelance projects recently and it looks like some might come up, one in Holland is especially interesting so I'll see if I can nail that one and get back into programming again, its android stuff, but I guess I have to go with the flow.
I lost my coding mojo after the cancer, but slowly have regained it and am working on a nice project at work that I would like to be more involved in but as a part timer on it, I get quickly overtaken by some of the full timers. I need a more focused project where I can start and finish something without worrying about it being changed or completed by someone else...even if they do do a better job sometimes :D
So the office is now the next target for my re-arranging and updating eye. I've put my "old" computer down there to get set up as a man work machine. I say old its really quite a good system and more than capable of being a coding machine its just not an I7 like my monster upstairs which will now be a mainly recreational machine with occasional coding.
I want to make a point of seperating work and play even at home, so no guitars in the office, no games on the Pc and no recording software. :D
On of my SSD's which don't work too well on the monster has windows installed on it, so hopefully it will slot back into its old home and fire up without too much messing about...1st attempt showed windows in place but it insisted on trying to update stuff without being on the web...grrr, running a startup repair on it now, so hopefully it will bypass the drivers that are no longer used...as well as some of the big old drive stuff it used to have.
Only thing missing is an office chair, a bit of a store space for the PC itself, I saw one in IKEA I will pick up, and somewhere to stick the printer...
Ahthankyew
Friday, 27 July 2012
Sprog day :D
Now that the weather has finally changed for the better, I did finally get to IKEA, and bought my sideboard and a couple of small chest of drawers for the spare room and office. But typical luck I couldn't get them delivered till Saturday..ooooh bugger. Still, quilts and pillows are now available in the usable spare room.
Today is the big day, Danni and Kieren arrive for the UK, only a long weekend but I'm still looking forward to it. It will be the highlight of my summer.
House is a little full though since new collegue Jack is crashing upstairs while he does a rapid hunt in Breda for an apartment, stopping me getting to my guitars at 3am..but hey ho, can't do that when Danni is here anyway.
Recording is on hold till the visitors have all gone but probably just as well as I seem to have a couple of really sore fingers on left fretting hand, hope thats not going to stay. I'd hate the idea of getting arthritis or something that restricted my playing just as I was starting to get good....hmmmm lets not worry for now.
Another step on the road to full seperation, Bina has cleared the joint flexible credit account which means it can now be closed. The normal joint account is still in use to pay for most of the main house bills but I'll start swapping those to my single account and get ready for that account to be closed. Still got a cracking big credit card bill to clear ASAP so I can get the mortgage sorted but progress is being made. I was late with my tax return but it was done last week and it looks like a nice 600 euro rebate will be heading my w...I mean the credit cards way.
Ahthankyew
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
4 YEARS!!!
Since I moved to Breda, and spent that 1st uncomfortably night in a concrete shell on a leaky airbed.
Lots happened since, some good, some bad, some very bad. But overall I'd rather have gone though all the bad stuff here than 10 times the good stuff that was on offer in the UK
This is home. I love it here, the bad times melt away when you come across the ever present good times, good city, good friends, good job. !
Good Home!
Thank you Breda.
Ahthankyew
Lots happened since, some good, some bad, some very bad. But overall I'd rather have gone though all the bad stuff here than 10 times the good stuff that was on offer in the UK
This is home. I love it here, the bad times melt away when you come across the ever present good times, good city, good friends, good job. !
Good Home!
Thank you Breda.
Ahthankyew
Saturday, 21 July 2012
88.8 recording going ok
Might get something done tonight but overall the recording is going well :d....
no not really just wanted an excuse to post the 88.8 :D
Recordings is goin gok very hit and miss, trying to overlay and stay subtle isn't something I've very good at yet, and I've not ever thought about how to sing it....I'd prefer to get someone else to do the vocals...might be an idea.
Ahthankyew
no not really just wanted an excuse to post the 88.8 :D
Recordings is goin gok very hit and miss, trying to overlay and stay subtle isn't something I've very good at yet, and I've not ever thought about how to sing it....I'd prefer to get someone else to do the vocals...might be an idea.
Ahthankyew
Friday, 20 July 2012
88.9 Still housebound
Though the weather today has been dry there has been threatening clouds all day just waiting for me to get on my bike and head out. I'm not falling for that.
I fooled it by staying in and doing a bit of recording and now about to do some cooking, then back to some recording.
Out of booze, so will have to stay moderatly sober tonight. :(
My liver appreciates it.
Recording is still hard...but starting to get some shape to it...not posting anything yet at leat till I get a full backing track done, may have found a cool way to emulate strings with my ebow but will have to play with it a bit more.
dinner now...there's a pork chop and a few chips with my name on them.
Ahthankyew
I fooled it by staying in and doing a bit of recording and now about to do some cooking, then back to some recording.
Out of booze, so will have to stay moderatly sober tonight. :(
My liver appreciates it.
Recording is still hard...but starting to get some shape to it...not posting anything yet at leat till I get a full backing track done, may have found a cool way to emulate strings with my ebow but will have to play with it a bit more.
dinner now...there's a pork chop and a few chips with my name on them.
Ahthankyew
Thursday, 19 July 2012
89.3 :) mid day weigh ins are best
Especially when you have pee'd :D When we're talking under a kilo then the contents of ones bladder makes quite a difference.
But looks like slow steady progress is continuing, perhaps a walk or long cycle ride later.
Weather has finally brightend up, just as the shops all shut, I don't fancy rushing up to IKEA, in fact on reflection having bought the bed, I'll get the sideboard next week. Pillows and a double Duvet are a higher priority at the moment.
The ungodly hour wake up has left me shatterd all day dozing on the couch, so not really in any mood to do much just now...will go cook some dinner and watch some vids today.
Ahthankyew
But looks like slow steady progress is continuing, perhaps a walk or long cycle ride later.
Weather has finally brightend up, just as the shops all shut, I don't fancy rushing up to IKEA, in fact on reflection having bought the bed, I'll get the sideboard next week. Pillows and a double Duvet are a higher priority at the moment.
The ungodly hour wake up has left me shatterd all day dozing on the couch, so not really in any mood to do much just now...will go cook some dinner and watch some vids today.
Ahthankyew
89.8 :( Spare Room project phase 1
Hmmm expected to be down a few hundred grammes today..oh well..
Spare room has its most important feature, a nice double bed thanks to Get rid of it in Breda facebook page where I managed to pick one up reasonabely cheaply and get a nice couple to deliver it. They spent half an hour with Ed and I while we all jammed a bit...kinda...drink had a part to play in my hospitality.
After getting up at an ungodly hour for some reason, 6-30!! I have done a bit of pottering about and built aformentioned bed after dismantelling the not so far mentioned single bed frame what was left. Trying to shift that on Get Rid of it in Breda to but there seems to be a bit of a glut of beds, and no one wants a single steel framed jobbie. If it doesn't go before next week it'll have to go in the shed so the room is clear for D & K when they arrive.
Ikea trip for sideboard and a couple of small chest of drawers (and some pillows) for the spare room is again on hold till the weather decides what it wants to do. So far this morning there have been 3 or 4 short deluges with sunshine following...note I said deluges...as in massive though short lived downpours...just the kind that soak you to your skin as you cycle 4 miles to Ikea...so it can wait a bit.
Have some other things to do so will crack on until I see permanent blue skies.
Recording not going so well due to impromptu jamming with Ed, will continue later.
Ahthankyew
Spare room has its most important feature, a nice double bed thanks to Get rid of it in Breda facebook page where I managed to pick one up reasonabely cheaply and get a nice couple to deliver it. They spent half an hour with Ed and I while we all jammed a bit...kinda...drink had a part to play in my hospitality.
After getting up at an ungodly hour for some reason, 6-30!! I have done a bit of pottering about and built aformentioned bed after dismantelling the not so far mentioned single bed frame what was left. Trying to shift that on Get Rid of it in Breda to but there seems to be a bit of a glut of beds, and no one wants a single steel framed jobbie. If it doesn't go before next week it'll have to go in the shed so the room is clear for D & K when they arrive.
Ikea trip for sideboard and a couple of small chest of drawers (and some pillows) for the spare room is again on hold till the weather decides what it wants to do. So far this morning there have been 3 or 4 short deluges with sunshine following...note I said deluges...as in massive though short lived downpours...just the kind that soak you to your skin as you cycle 4 miles to Ikea...so it can wait a bit.
Have some other things to do so will crack on until I see permanent blue skies.
Recording not going so well due to impromptu jamming with Ed, will continue later.
Ahthankyew
Wednesday, 18 July 2012
89.3 Long Lie in's and recording fun
One thing I have to resolve is the fact that with no one in the house I will go to bed and get up when I want..I don't really have an internal body clock, or certainly not one that runs to 24hr cycles... so after putting down some intial tracks last night (which on relistening are crap) I finished around 3-30 and went to bed
Waking up at 1-30...hmm half the day gone...though I'm not going anywhere so it hardly matters...and I feel refreshed and awake which would not have been the case if I'd set an alarm.
Still I must try to get into a conventional sleeping pattern or I will be a hermet living nocternally before long.
Crazy in love is a frustrating project, but one I am going to push on with. I am going to have to change the key though, a bit of a practice sing in the shower (why do I always sound amazing in the shower) made it very clear I can sing something I like but not in the same key as Antony, so a bit of experimentation is needed to find a suitable key....if such a thing exists for my voice.
The blip in the diet is starting to fade and weight loss is back on...only a few hundred grammes a day but thats how these things work
I am however going to bite a painful bullet...and start going to the gym that I pay for every month as a concessin to trying to be healthy, as much as I hate it, it will accelerate the weight loss....I just need to find some better noise cancelling headphones to drown out the horrible noise of the music.
Ahthankyew
Waking up at 1-30...hmm half the day gone...though I'm not going anywhere so it hardly matters...and I feel refreshed and awake which would not have been the case if I'd set an alarm.
Still I must try to get into a conventional sleeping pattern or I will be a hermet living nocternally before long.
Crazy in love is a frustrating project, but one I am going to push on with. I am going to have to change the key though, a bit of a practice sing in the shower (why do I always sound amazing in the shower) made it very clear I can sing something I like but not in the same key as Antony, so a bit of experimentation is needed to find a suitable key....if such a thing exists for my voice.
The blip in the diet is starting to fade and weight loss is back on...only a few hundred grammes a day but thats how these things work
I am however going to bite a painful bullet...and start going to the gym that I pay for every month as a concessin to trying to be healthy, as much as I hate it, it will accelerate the weight loss....I just need to find some better noise cancelling headphones to drown out the horrible noise of the music.
Ahthankyew
biting off more than I can chew
but I enjoy a challenge
I love the song Crazy in Love by Beyonce and have heard a couple of brilliant covers done in totally different styles, but none quite as amazing as this version from Antony Hegary of Antony and The Johnsons. Its utterly haunting with his strange weird but beautiful voice turning an upbeat uptempo number into something haunting and pained...
I tried to do a version of this months ago, but I didn't get anywhere at all, clearly I can't sing like him at all so needed to come up with a version that captured the style and pace and didn't need a full orchestra
I can't find a score or tabs for it anywhere on line, which is not surprising since its a bit of a hidden gem. So I've spent quite a lot of time working out the arpegios and timing..
Well I've got the chords worked out, which is not hard since its just riffing on a Cm and a G#m and I have some of the little solo parts worked out....now I just need to try and lay down some tracks for bass and some kind of fake strings and then we'll think about vocals...
I will try to lay down the main "harp" part on guitar tomorrow, then see what I can do about some of the overlayed stuff
I'm in no rush on this one, its a big project and I want to get a nice clean sound to capture the essence of this but do it my way..so plenty of time.....or I'l scrub it again and try in a few months.
Ahthankyew
I love the song Crazy in Love by Beyonce and have heard a couple of brilliant covers done in totally different styles, but none quite as amazing as this version from Antony Hegary of Antony and The Johnsons. Its utterly haunting with his strange weird but beautiful voice turning an upbeat uptempo number into something haunting and pained...
I tried to do a version of this months ago, but I didn't get anywhere at all, clearly I can't sing like him at all so needed to come up with a version that captured the style and pace and didn't need a full orchestra
I can't find a score or tabs for it anywhere on line, which is not surprising since its a bit of a hidden gem. So I've spent quite a lot of time working out the arpegios and timing..
Well I've got the chords worked out, which is not hard since its just riffing on a Cm and a G#m and I have some of the little solo parts worked out....now I just need to try and lay down some tracks for bass and some kind of fake strings and then we'll think about vocals...
I will try to lay down the main "harp" part on guitar tomorrow, then see what I can do about some of the overlayed stuff
I'm in no rush on this one, its a big project and I want to get a nice clean sound to capture the essence of this but do it my way..so plenty of time.....or I'l scrub it again and try in a few months.
Ahthankyew
Monday, 16 July 2012
89.5 Biblical rainfall
What the hell is going on with the weather...in 4 years here I don't recall a summer like it. They have rain allright but never this heavy or this constant...its been weeks since I smelled a BBQ (a national pastime here) and even then it got washed out.
Its stopped me going out to IKEA again, though that might be a good thing, since I will probably just end up annoyed and sideboardless again. I've focused on finishing up the house clear up, getting the office ready for use, and having a proper sort out in the studio. Taking books and work based things down to the office means I have more storage space upstairs for my guitar/recording crap so things are starting to fall into place. I thought the house was quite big for me on my own, but considering how much crap I have, it seems spreading it around multiple rooms solves most of my issues right away :D
Ahthankyew
Its stopped me going out to IKEA again, though that might be a good thing, since I will probably just end up annoyed and sideboardless again. I've focused on finishing up the house clear up, getting the office ready for use, and having a proper sort out in the studio. Taking books and work based things down to the office means I have more storage space upstairs for my guitar/recording crap so things are starting to fall into place. I thought the house was quite big for me on my own, but considering how much crap I have, it seems spreading it around multiple rooms solves most of my issues right away :D
Ahthankyew
Sunday, 15 July 2012
89.3 IKEA fail
Aside from the exercise of cycling there...IKEA was a dissapointment..
I wanted one of these
But had neglected to take a note of the name, thinking I would see it in the store and go collect it and a few other bulky items and then arrange for delivery
But desptie going around twice (arrgghhh let me off) I never saw it....without the name I was a little impotant on the instore stock control system..so I had to leave it.
bahh will try again later...its not as if I have anything else to do.
Also a mooch around the beddign stores proved disapointing too. I just need a simple and basic double bed for the new "spare" room, but all the stores were selling frames/slats and matresses seperately at extremes of price, so even the most basic bed is 4-500 euro's..
There was a decent cheap bed "frame" in Kwantuum, (a mega cheap tatty store) but no delivery option, or not I could understand.
Tiredness and frustration then drove me home, on a slightly more scenic route than usual...the rain almost stayed away, just a minor shower or 2...compared to the last few days deluges.
Diet is back on again now, so need to get back down to where I was before the break.
Ahthankyew
I wanted one of these
But had neglected to take a note of the name, thinking I would see it in the store and go collect it and a few other bulky items and then arrange for delivery
But desptie going around twice (arrgghhh let me off) I never saw it....without the name I was a little impotant on the instore stock control system..so I had to leave it.
bahh will try again later...its not as if I have anything else to do.
Also a mooch around the beddign stores proved disapointing too. I just need a simple and basic double bed for the new "spare" room, but all the stores were selling frames/slats and matresses seperately at extremes of price, so even the most basic bed is 4-500 euro's..
There was a decent cheap bed "frame" in Kwantuum, (a mega cheap tatty store) but no delivery option, or not I could understand.
Tiredness and frustration then drove me home, on a slightly more scenic route than usual...the rain almost stayed away, just a minor shower or 2...compared to the last few days deluges.
Diet is back on again now, so need to get back down to where I was before the break.
Ahthankyew
Rain Stopped play
That and a rear wheel puncture prevented my trip to Ikea yesterday, it was dreadful weather, worst I've seen in some time, massive cloudbursts every 20 mins or so.
As I went to risk a trip into town between downpours I spotted by back tyre down and looking pretty crap..so walk time to the normally cheap Habour bike shope.
The old bike has been in need of a full service for a month or 2, with the chain popping off and brakes becoming more a matter of judgement and faith rather than actual stopping ability, so it was time to bite the bullet and fork over the 30 quid for the full service and another 35 for a puncture proof back tyre and fitting..ouch...
They offer a while you wait service, but I went into town to have a nice goats cheese salad at my favourite cafe in the Grote Mark, Soho Kitchen. A few pints of cider and a catchup with fellow recent singleton and cider serving barmaid, Laura who's also getting on with things,then head to Blokker to buy a cheaper than 1st excpected before cost of bike repair was known, vac.
I just got a really cheap basic light one, with hardwood floors throughout you don't need much of a vac - and this isn't much of a vac. But it works. Lounge and bedrooms have been tackled, upstairs "studio" as it is now, needs a bit of sorting out 1st.
Ironic that for a slob, the house is now cleaner that its ever been. :D
Rain seems to be holding off today, so will pop along to Ikea later on the new improved stoppable bike and get my bits sorted.
If I get it all done quick enough today I'll get the studio sorted out and do a bit of recording..maybe some better versions of the Eurythmics stuff I noodled with a few weeks ago.
Ahthankyew
As I went to risk a trip into town between downpours I spotted by back tyre down and looking pretty crap..so walk time to the normally cheap Habour bike shope.
The old bike has been in need of a full service for a month or 2, with the chain popping off and brakes becoming more a matter of judgement and faith rather than actual stopping ability, so it was time to bite the bullet and fork over the 30 quid for the full service and another 35 for a puncture proof back tyre and fitting..ouch...
They offer a while you wait service, but I went into town to have a nice goats cheese salad at my favourite cafe in the Grote Mark, Soho Kitchen. A few pints of cider and a catchup with fellow recent singleton and cider serving barmaid, Laura who's also getting on with things,then head to Blokker to buy a cheaper than 1st excpected before cost of bike repair was known, vac.
I just got a really cheap basic light one, with hardwood floors throughout you don't need much of a vac - and this isn't much of a vac. But it works. Lounge and bedrooms have been tackled, upstairs "studio" as it is now, needs a bit of sorting out 1st.
Ironic that for a slob, the house is now cleaner that its ever been. :D
Rain seems to be holding off today, so will pop along to Ikea later on the new improved stoppable bike and get my bits sorted.
If I get it all done quick enough today I'll get the studio sorted out and do a bit of recording..maybe some better versions of the Eurythmics stuff I noodled with a few weeks ago.
Ahthankyew
Friday, 13 July 2012
New order...
I've spent the day re-arranging the house a little, nothing drastic just chairs beds and office stuff. Making the house my own.
Sadly I got left with the crap vacuum which does not really work, and isn't making a dent on the considerable amounts of dust and lint...for all her moaning about how untidy I was, my ex seemed to have a serious problem with the concept of dusting.
But I've done as much as I can for now without a vac, so off to media markt and ikea in the morning for a few bits of gadgets and furniture.
Sideboard for the living room, with drawers for storage and some kind of filing system
Office chair
small chest of drawers for the office
Cheap spare double bed and matress...probably not from Ikea though they are quite pricey for beds.
and for electrics
Cheap monitor
Vac
There's a few more odds and ends I need and a couple of biggies, like wardrobes, but they can wait a little while, 1st order of business is to get the spare room usable for sprog on the 27th. Can't afford to spend too much on the card since its got to get cleared off as soon as possible to allow the mortgage transfer to go ahead.
Its been quite nice changing things around and filling in the gaps..picked up a few kitchen bits as well...can't quite work out why she took both cheese graters though!!!
Ahthankyew
Sadly I got left with the crap vacuum which does not really work, and isn't making a dent on the considerable amounts of dust and lint...for all her moaning about how untidy I was, my ex seemed to have a serious problem with the concept of dusting.
But I've done as much as I can for now without a vac, so off to media markt and ikea in the morning for a few bits of gadgets and furniture.
Sideboard for the living room, with drawers for storage and some kind of filing system
Office chair
small chest of drawers for the office
Cheap spare double bed and matress...probably not from Ikea though they are quite pricey for beds.
and for electrics
Cheap monitor
Vac
There's a few more odds and ends I need and a couple of biggies, like wardrobes, but they can wait a little while, 1st order of business is to get the spare room usable for sprog on the 27th. Can't afford to spend too much on the card since its got to get cleared off as soon as possible to allow the mortgage transfer to go ahead.
Its been quite nice changing things around and filling in the gaps..picked up a few kitchen bits as well...can't quite work out why she took both cheese graters though!!!
Ahthankyew
At last
aside from a small bit of paperwork I need to finish tomorrow, I am now on holiday for 5 weeks or so
thank fuck...I am mentally and physically exhuasted. I really am I just want to vegitate for a few weeks not, sleeping without and alarm and getting drunk......I know its not good for you but thats just how I feel right now
This has been a hard few months and I need turn myself off and on again to coing an ICT phrase.
Though I am going to start with a trip to IKEA on Friday or Sat to buy some new furniture and re-organise the house to my tastes.
I managed to clear off my share of the joint credit at last, so now I just have to get my credit card down to 0 ASAP and then I can switch the mortgage..
That in itself is annoying since I am alrady paying he mortgage and my cc and my share of teh joint credit comfortably, but the only way they will transfer the mortgage is to take away my credit line ....silly banks.
Had the end of year meeting today which was nice in a way, I decided not to go to the BBQ though I just wasn't in the mood to part or get drunk around freinds....that rest really is needed 1st.
Anyway....time to refresh, regroup and renew...3 R's to focus on the future.
oh diet went a bit out the window today, and not weeighed myself...will get back on the wagon soon.
Ahthankyew
thank fuck...I am mentally and physically exhuasted. I really am I just want to vegitate for a few weeks not, sleeping without and alarm and getting drunk......I know its not good for you but thats just how I feel right now
This has been a hard few months and I need turn myself off and on again to coing an ICT phrase.
Though I am going to start with a trip to IKEA on Friday or Sat to buy some new furniture and re-organise the house to my tastes.
I managed to clear off my share of the joint credit at last, so now I just have to get my credit card down to 0 ASAP and then I can switch the mortgage..
That in itself is annoying since I am alrady paying he mortgage and my cc and my share of teh joint credit comfortably, but the only way they will transfer the mortgage is to take away my credit line ....silly banks.
Had the end of year meeting today which was nice in a way, I decided not to go to the BBQ though I just wasn't in the mood to part or get drunk around freinds....that rest really is needed 1st.
Anyway....time to refresh, regroup and renew...3 R's to focus on the future.
oh diet went a bit out the window today, and not weeighed myself...will get back on the wagon soon.
Ahthankyew
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Sunday, 8 July 2012
88.7 few side effects
I honestly thought I would have put more on that that after a week of 3 meals a day and booze, but I suspect the trip there and back burned off 10,000 calories each time.
Back on the diet today, and the hunger pangs are strong with this one!!! But no eating till 5/6pm and then only high protien and a bit of rice.
Trip back was not as bad as the trip there, it has to be said, I packed a bit more carefully this time, taking some things on my guitar bag on my back and carrying the amp which was the heaviest thing, but pushed it on the case when I could. I did drop it a couple of times, when the wheels got stuck, and it got totally soaked coming home...not plugged it in to see if it still works.
A few minor war wounds from the week/trip, got mossie bites on arms and legs that are bloody painful. and will take a few more days to heal, in the meantime itching like crazy.
Pulled a muscle under my rib too I think...or its from my guitar rubbing under my ribs for 6 -7 hours a day..not sure, but its painful...no guitars on straps for a few days.
Pulled the instep on my left foot, aooohhhhhwwww that is sore, and needs a bit of a gentle rubbing.
Of course the dodgy old right knee packed up as well, so that'll need to be treated gently for a bit.
Strangest thing is the balls of both my big toes ache...like chilblanes, but it can't be that since the weather was rainy rather than cold....but hurts/itches with no noticible sign of swelling or bites...
ahh just have to be honest with myself, I'm getting old and broken down and pushing my body to strange unusual limits is just not such a good idea any more....next time I plan a long trip with baggage, rent a car. I'm sorting out my dutch license next week in anticipaton of that.
After negotiating the multiple stairs at Breda station which was in the midst of a 40days of rain for the flood (but I managed to get some milk from the late night AH) I found myself limping back into the house, sodden wet and in pain.
It was strange to walk into what is now a home for one. Bina had taken some furiture and a lot of the cupboard provisions, which I suspected. but the house felt totally different, despite also feeling familiar.
It was odd walking round the rooms to see what was gone and not...Jodies room has been cleared out totally....so guess she won't be visiting anytime soon....:( Kinda thought that from the lack of contact.
Upstairs the piano had gone, wasn't really expecting that, though I had bought it as a present for Jodie, I never really considered she would take it, not the least reason being the sheer weight of it, which almost killed me when it arrived. Left the old TV on the wall too.
Office is also cleared out...I think I'll continue to use it as an office and seperate my work computer activities from the fun computer activities.
Most telling was the bedroom of course...the 2 long standing frame wardrobes where her clothes used to be have gone, and a pile of old junk left on the chest of draws..including the photo of us both that was on the top of the landing...that was kinda upsetting. Don't quite see why it had to be taken down and put on a junk pile....I put it back on the wall, for now anyway.
It dosen't feel much like home at the moment...I guess I need a few days to take stock, buy a few things and make it feel like "my" home rather than the broken home it is now.
As much as I knew all this was happening, it still feels strange.....
Bina seems to be hell bent on painting me as some kind of weird control freak, posting on facebook that she's looking forward to not being taken for granted and being allowed to believe what she wants and only clearing up after herself
Very odd, and very unpleasent thing to post, I told her so, and got defriended...well it certainly sounds like she's been living with some ignorant slob of a control freak...
Strange that I never met him, but I guess telling the world that she decided to leave because we had a row over her wanting to put an earthing sheet in our bed and that I was so angry about her absolute faith in utterly innefective alternative medicines that I actually shouted at her...Is kinda hard to get people to understand, as a cause to destroy a stable 12 year relationship! Easier to suggest that I'm a monster!
Ah well....I'm genuinely not going to get into blaming and name calling after this, I was surprised and hurt she made those comments, but it does make me realise even more that splitting was 100% the right thing to do.
I'm moving on, life is too short, the strangeness will pass, my friends are still there and new friends, new times and new experiences await.
Once I have the house the way I want it and get some time to adust to things, I will get on with enjoying my life..MY way...something I've not had the chance to do for quite some time....surprisingly.
Theres a minor complication or 2 in the mortgage transfer, some legal crap to do, and annoyingly I have to pay off all my current credit, including my card before the transfer can be done, so its going to be a few months before we can conclude the last of the legal stuff...just have to knuckle down and keep the drink, drugs and debauchery costs to a minimum for a few months till its sorted.....At least I'm not wasting a fortune on takeaway every day, something to thank the diet for.
Ahthankyew
Back on the diet today, and the hunger pangs are strong with this one!!! But no eating till 5/6pm and then only high protien and a bit of rice.
Trip back was not as bad as the trip there, it has to be said, I packed a bit more carefully this time, taking some things on my guitar bag on my back and carrying the amp which was the heaviest thing, but pushed it on the case when I could. I did drop it a couple of times, when the wheels got stuck, and it got totally soaked coming home...not plugged it in to see if it still works.
A few minor war wounds from the week/trip, got mossie bites on arms and legs that are bloody painful. and will take a few more days to heal, in the meantime itching like crazy.
Pulled a muscle under my rib too I think...or its from my guitar rubbing under my ribs for 6 -7 hours a day..not sure, but its painful...no guitars on straps for a few days.
Pulled the instep on my left foot, aooohhhhhwwww that is sore, and needs a bit of a gentle rubbing.
Of course the dodgy old right knee packed up as well, so that'll need to be treated gently for a bit.
Strangest thing is the balls of both my big toes ache...like chilblanes, but it can't be that since the weather was rainy rather than cold....but hurts/itches with no noticible sign of swelling or bites...
ahh just have to be honest with myself, I'm getting old and broken down and pushing my body to strange unusual limits is just not such a good idea any more....next time I plan a long trip with baggage, rent a car. I'm sorting out my dutch license next week in anticipaton of that.
After negotiating the multiple stairs at Breda station which was in the midst of a 40days of rain for the flood (but I managed to get some milk from the late night AH) I found myself limping back into the house, sodden wet and in pain.
It was strange to walk into what is now a home for one. Bina had taken some furiture and a lot of the cupboard provisions, which I suspected. but the house felt totally different, despite also feeling familiar.
It was odd walking round the rooms to see what was gone and not...Jodies room has been cleared out totally....so guess she won't be visiting anytime soon....:( Kinda thought that from the lack of contact.
Upstairs the piano had gone, wasn't really expecting that, though I had bought it as a present for Jodie, I never really considered she would take it, not the least reason being the sheer weight of it, which almost killed me when it arrived. Left the old TV on the wall too.
Office is also cleared out...I think I'll continue to use it as an office and seperate my work computer activities from the fun computer activities.
Most telling was the bedroom of course...the 2 long standing frame wardrobes where her clothes used to be have gone, and a pile of old junk left on the chest of draws..including the photo of us both that was on the top of the landing...that was kinda upsetting. Don't quite see why it had to be taken down and put on a junk pile....I put it back on the wall, for now anyway.
It dosen't feel much like home at the moment...I guess I need a few days to take stock, buy a few things and make it feel like "my" home rather than the broken home it is now.
As much as I knew all this was happening, it still feels strange.....
Bina seems to be hell bent on painting me as some kind of weird control freak, posting on facebook that she's looking forward to not being taken for granted and being allowed to believe what she wants and only clearing up after herself
"Thanks everyone for your kind concern - I am looking forward to a new life...my own .place, my own space, freedom to be who I want to be, think and believe what I want to believe, not to be taken for granted and only be responsible for cleaning up my mess! Its a big change but I am a strong individual and am excited at new possibilities :-)"
Very odd, and very unpleasent thing to post, I told her so, and got defriended...well it certainly sounds like she's been living with some ignorant slob of a control freak...
Strange that I never met him, but I guess telling the world that she decided to leave because we had a row over her wanting to put an earthing sheet in our bed and that I was so angry about her absolute faith in utterly innefective alternative medicines that I actually shouted at her...Is kinda hard to get people to understand, as a cause to destroy a stable 12 year relationship! Easier to suggest that I'm a monster!
Ah well....I'm genuinely not going to get into blaming and name calling after this, I was surprised and hurt she made those comments, but it does make me realise even more that splitting was 100% the right thing to do.
I'm moving on, life is too short, the strangeness will pass, my friends are still there and new friends, new times and new experiences await.
Once I have the house the way I want it and get some time to adust to things, I will get on with enjoying my life..MY way...something I've not had the chance to do for quite some time....surprisingly.
Theres a minor complication or 2 in the mortgage transfer, some legal crap to do, and annoyingly I have to pay off all my current credit, including my card before the transfer can be done, so its going to be a few months before we can conclude the last of the legal stuff...just have to knuckle down and keep the drink, drugs and debauchery costs to a minimum for a few months till its sorted.....At least I'm not wasting a fortune on takeaway every day, something to thank the diet for.
Ahthankyew
Saturday, 7 July 2012
On the road again....
They give you free Internet on the Thalys train from Paris to rotterdam, only it's utter rubbish, takes 10mins to log in and then entering any page is a case of press and wait 30secs before pressing and waiting again before you know your link has been activated. Still it at least let me read my mails, nothing new thankfully.
I enjoyed the week away though could have done without the long marking sessions which meant missing out on a couple of nice events in cognac and drinks in the village. Jams were also kept to a minimum in an effort to finally get all the igad and coding student assignments done in time for the ridiculously short deadline. But think I just made it apart from a few stragglers.
Will have a short marking session when I get home to deal with tho then turn attention to the admin for next week.....fun fun fun
Ahthankyew
Monday, 2 July 2012
Daaayh Tooo in da Big Brother house
Had a really nice relaxing Sunday, getting to know people, doing some marking, eating and drinking a bit too much, which resulted in my usual reflux problems, fortunately I bought some pepcids from a chemist in Montparnasse but didn't stop me having a disturbed uncomfortable night....need to keep the bread and wine quantities down.
This morning, very bright and unnaturally early I got up at 6 since sleeping with the indigestion was not an option, and went for a nice long 45 min walk...that'll burn a few cals.
Todays plan is simple, guitar lessons, OSIRIS updates, marking, guitar lessons, marking...eat/drink, marking.
Today is also my first full official day as a singleton again....since if everything went to plan Bina moved her stuff out of the house yesterday...Which of course is a sad thing,I will be heading home to an empty house.. I still don't really want to discuss the ins and outs of things here..just marking the timeline.
Still debating the update of my FB page, it seems she's already changed hers to "seperated"...I think "single" is more accurate, no point trying to hang on to failed relationships.
Ahthankyew
This morning, very bright and unnaturally early I got up at 6 since sleeping with the indigestion was not an option, and went for a nice long 45 min walk...that'll burn a few cals.
Todays plan is simple, guitar lessons, OSIRIS updates, marking, guitar lessons, marking...eat/drink, marking.
Today is also my first full official day as a singleton again....since if everything went to plan Bina moved her stuff out of the house yesterday...Which of course is a sad thing,I will be heading home to an empty house.. I still don't really want to discuss the ins and outs of things here..just marking the timeline.
Still debating the update of my FB page, it seems she's already changed hers to "seperated"...I think "single" is more accurate, no point trying to hang on to failed relationships.
Ahthankyew
Sunday, 1 July 2012
owwww!!
Well I arrived safely eventually, but with a clear view that despite seeming like a more relaxed way to travel, and do a bit of work while doing it, travelling on very busy high speed trains choc full of mostly Belgians heading to the south for their holidays is not a fun way to travel.
I had bought a mega suitcase the other day to carry all my crap, I figured its easier to pull 1 big case than 1 large case and a couple of bags...So I went shopping and brought back a large but cheap mega case, which is easily big enough to hold a small atomic dirty bomb, or several illegal immigrants.
Everything fitted in just fine, amp, pedals, stands, some clothes... all good. Of course the day started badly before I even got out the front door, with one part of my mega suitcase pull handle coming away...undeterred I pulled on the still attached side and chuntered down the road for the half mile or so walk to the station. Big case behind, laptop bag in hand and Libby in a softcase with a few extras on my back...we're off.
The wheels were ok, though bits of plastic and metal feel off every couple of hundred years and then the remaining handle contact cracked and decided to stay on just at a strange angle, making it no longer a viable way to pull..so then pulled on the top handle of the case...leverage being reduced the weight of the dirty bomb started to really tell on my arm and shoulder.
A few more hundred yards and a few more bits dropped off...then the handle started to give way..Commited now beyond the point of no return, I tackled the stairs at the station.....I failed..needed a passing gent to help me up, at which case the side handle I was hauling it up with started to give away... Eventually at the top of the stairs.......I realised the horror of what was next...I now had to go down a set of steps.... to get to the tunnel to lead to my platform.. I pulled on the case....and heard the horrible telltale scraping noise the indicated the wheels had come off....sure enough, the handle breaks and metal and plastic discarded on the way were the support system for the wheels which were now off their mounts... I did manage to push them back on, and taking care to keep pressure at the right angle to ensure the wheels were forced into their mounts I pulled and got movement.
oh it gets worse!
I managed 1 bag at a time to get the assorted dead weights down the stairs...I just knew at this point that the escalator to platform 4 was going to be down.....it wasn't..yeahhhh. And onto the platform to note on the display my train was 20+ mins delayed...since I only had 15min window to get on my researved seat this was kinda problematic.
Lucky for me the 20+ reduced to 10+ then 5+ but it still meant a bit of a rush at Rotterdam, a station thats been undergoing major rework for the whole 4 years I've been here.. Again someone helped me get the bag on the train, more ripping noises as the handles increased their commitment to seperation but not quite yet.
Rotterdam...ok, well it wasn't to bad there were elevators, though my wheels kept popping off I did manage to get to the platform and on the train...though storing the luggage was another matter, I leaned it (its stabalising stand being one of the bits of plastic/metal that had fallen away) up against the luggage and sat down, sweat dripping off my brow.
I may be off the diet this week but I sure as hell did some exercise. Paris Nord is massive.. but I had 90odd mins to get to Montparnasse so there was no need for me to rush through, and fortunatly the site of a huffing puffing fat bloke hauling a large possible dirty bomb though Paris's biggest station did not attract the police random stop and search at the end of the platform..they seemed more interested in people with arab scarfs or black skin who were running (to catch a train I assume)...bit odd I thought, my slow progress allowed me to see them do this 4 or 5 times and it was kind obvious who they were stopping.
And now the metro...an underground system to rival London's any day..its big, its fast, its effective, it has no elevators!!! Nope not one, at least that I and several other weary travellers from Netherlands and Belgium could see...people were crying I mean literally cying at the top of massive stairs with their pull bags half the size of mine. I manned up...heaved on the dirty bomb and got down 1 flight of steps...considered crying..but manned up again and got down the 2nd....to the gates.
The very, narrow gates the very narrow gates that had normal people sized people walking through I had a dirtybomb sized suitcase. It was wider than me. Fortunatly there was a wide gate, but no one manning it, so I scanned around for anyone in a peaked cap.....nope.
Eventually someone spotted me and a lady in sort of uniform ushered me though...and there was more stairs..... oh god! Manning up...and semi walking falling down the stairs past more crying nederlanders.
I got to the bottom and put it on its wheels which came off again...arrghh but then I saw it...a mirage in a sea of despair.
Until now I've never understood why there are so many small luggage shops in airports and railway stations....now I do, they are there to offer hope and comfort and expensive luggage to those in desperate need.
99 euros later I have a more solid and secure but slightly smaller red abs case and leave the now totally destroyed dirty bomb case with the seller...who will probably patch it up and sell it on to some other mug I had to take my pedal bag out and my stands since they were too big but the amp, clothes and assorted cables went in ok, I was mobile again.
Wheels..on the bottom as well as the edge of a heavy case are amazing I only had to push this bad boy around to get to the next ...set of stairs..up this time.
Basically that was the metro for me, very very crowded trains, and lots of stairs and the maddest station at Montparnasse I have ever seen with exits at right angles to entrances and the flows of human traffic mostly tear stained and pushing cases trying to negotiate a path through...madness.
But finally onto the train to La Rochelle stopping at Niorts. Crowded...hell yeah but again sweat dripping of me I was gratefull for my reserved seat and tried to recover from the metro gym workout.
Half way into the trip, I went to the loo and forgot where I was sitting, and panicked the I could not locate my ticket when challenged by 2 attractve but angry French ladies, worse I couold not see my laptop bag above me in the seat I found myself in...oops. It was 2 seats back...Profuse apologies didn't get me their numbers though...I suspect they were lesbians, or I was too old and sweaty...probably lesbians.
An announcment a little way into the travel, in French which I just understood said they were running 15 mins late...since I had 7 minutes window for my train that was going to be a big problem..but I can get the next one. I'm in no rush I have to wait an hour at the final destination for my lift.
I get there,and sure enough the train had gone, but no worries I already resolved to get the next one, as I go to buy the ticket only to be told their computers were down and they could not sell me one, but I could get on one on the train. Splendid, a break in the evening sunshine as I wait for the next train was just about perfect....I asked the station guard in my best french when is the next train...he had no clue what I said, so I resorted to Franglish,
"le Train, pour Saintes...when??"
I wasn't quite prepared for the Gallic shrug that followed with the stereotypical nasal grunt and
"c'est Departe"....
"Qui, je compries, ...When...next..one"
"Demain."
Now its been a while since I did French but I realised that Demain didn't mee, soon, or now, or anything resembling a time....then it hit me...tomorrow??
"Tomorrow...Dimanche?????"
"Oui" (pronounced wheeeh)
Merde!! (I'm better at French than I thought.)
But now rather pissed off I point out in angry english that I need to get to Saintes and its not my bloody fault they can't get their trains to run on time.... At which point the cashier with no computer but some english ability pipes up, having now realised that I wanted to get to Saintes today with my masses of luggage....
"Eeet has already gone seeer, eet waited 5 minootes for zee express"
Not much good when it was 15 minutes late...but having got tired of the guards gallic shrugs I went to appeal to the clearly much more helpful cashier... Eventually using good old paper timetables she worked out I could get a train to Saintes from La Rochelle (remember I got off the express to La Rochelle)
I sent texts to Chris my host at creativevacance.com but no replies, I tried calling but got a french answerphone...odd since Chris is english and probably speaks very good French but with an accent...anyway...no response so I had to take the advice of the cashier.
Cutting a very long story and a long blog post short I finally got on a train, the guard making sure I got on the right train to get me of his station...and got to La Rochelle....no elevators again....down 1 flight of stairs to change platform, up another....more workout.
Text to Chris letting him know I was still going to be in Saintes around the correct time, give or take a few mins...and head off
But I got on the train..I arrived..
I waited outside for a bit expecting Chris to drive up, only to see him walk over from the other side of the street...asking why I was late...I texted....this number.....oohh no my number is.... a pair of digits were transposed.
arrghhhhh...apologies to the french bloke getting daft texts for desperate english speaking dutch/scotsman..
I put my stuff in the van, got in, and Chris brought me to La Morau.
I ate, drank and collapsed into bed.
This morning, after the day long workout I can barely move without pain....and I forgot to pack shampoo and toothpaste... It can only get better.
Ahthankyew
I had bought a mega suitcase the other day to carry all my crap, I figured its easier to pull 1 big case than 1 large case and a couple of bags...So I went shopping and brought back a large but cheap mega case, which is easily big enough to hold a small atomic dirty bomb, or several illegal immigrants.
Everything fitted in just fine, amp, pedals, stands, some clothes... all good. Of course the day started badly before I even got out the front door, with one part of my mega suitcase pull handle coming away...undeterred I pulled on the still attached side and chuntered down the road for the half mile or so walk to the station. Big case behind, laptop bag in hand and Libby in a softcase with a few extras on my back...we're off.
The wheels were ok, though bits of plastic and metal feel off every couple of hundred years and then the remaining handle contact cracked and decided to stay on just at a strange angle, making it no longer a viable way to pull..so then pulled on the top handle of the case...leverage being reduced the weight of the dirty bomb started to really tell on my arm and shoulder.
A few more hundred yards and a few more bits dropped off...then the handle started to give way..Commited now beyond the point of no return, I tackled the stairs at the station.....I failed..needed a passing gent to help me up, at which case the side handle I was hauling it up with started to give away... Eventually at the top of the stairs.......I realised the horror of what was next...I now had to go down a set of steps.... to get to the tunnel to lead to my platform.. I pulled on the case....and heard the horrible telltale scraping noise the indicated the wheels had come off....sure enough, the handle breaks and metal and plastic discarded on the way were the support system for the wheels which were now off their mounts... I did manage to push them back on, and taking care to keep pressure at the right angle to ensure the wheels were forced into their mounts I pulled and got movement.
oh it gets worse!
I managed 1 bag at a time to get the assorted dead weights down the stairs...I just knew at this point that the escalator to platform 4 was going to be down.....it wasn't..yeahhhh. And onto the platform to note on the display my train was 20+ mins delayed...since I only had 15min window to get on my researved seat this was kinda problematic.
Lucky for me the 20+ reduced to 10+ then 5+ but it still meant a bit of a rush at Rotterdam, a station thats been undergoing major rework for the whole 4 years I've been here.. Again someone helped me get the bag on the train, more ripping noises as the handles increased their commitment to seperation but not quite yet.
Rotterdam...ok, well it wasn't to bad there were elevators, though my wheels kept popping off I did manage to get to the platform and on the train...though storing the luggage was another matter, I leaned it (its stabalising stand being one of the bits of plastic/metal that had fallen away) up against the luggage and sat down, sweat dripping off my brow.
I may be off the diet this week but I sure as hell did some exercise. Paris Nord is massive.. but I had 90odd mins to get to Montparnasse so there was no need for me to rush through, and fortunatly the site of a huffing puffing fat bloke hauling a large possible dirty bomb though Paris's biggest station did not attract the police random stop and search at the end of the platform..they seemed more interested in people with arab scarfs or black skin who were running (to catch a train I assume)...bit odd I thought, my slow progress allowed me to see them do this 4 or 5 times and it was kind obvious who they were stopping.
And now the metro...an underground system to rival London's any day..its big, its fast, its effective, it has no elevators!!! Nope not one, at least that I and several other weary travellers from Netherlands and Belgium could see...people were crying I mean literally cying at the top of massive stairs with their pull bags half the size of mine. I manned up...heaved on the dirty bomb and got down 1 flight of steps...considered crying..but manned up again and got down the 2nd....to the gates.
The very, narrow gates the very narrow gates that had normal people sized people walking through I had a dirtybomb sized suitcase. It was wider than me. Fortunatly there was a wide gate, but no one manning it, so I scanned around for anyone in a peaked cap.....nope.
Eventually someone spotted me and a lady in sort of uniform ushered me though...and there was more stairs..... oh god! Manning up...and semi walking falling down the stairs past more crying nederlanders.
I got to the bottom and put it on its wheels which came off again...arrghh but then I saw it...a mirage in a sea of despair.
Until now I've never understood why there are so many small luggage shops in airports and railway stations....now I do, they are there to offer hope and comfort and expensive luggage to those in desperate need.
99 euros later I have a more solid and secure but slightly smaller red abs case and leave the now totally destroyed dirty bomb case with the seller...who will probably patch it up and sell it on to some other mug I had to take my pedal bag out and my stands since they were too big but the amp, clothes and assorted cables went in ok, I was mobile again.
Wheels..on the bottom as well as the edge of a heavy case are amazing I only had to push this bad boy around to get to the next ...set of stairs..up this time.
Basically that was the metro for me, very very crowded trains, and lots of stairs and the maddest station at Montparnasse I have ever seen with exits at right angles to entrances and the flows of human traffic mostly tear stained and pushing cases trying to negotiate a path through...madness.
But finally onto the train to La Rochelle stopping at Niorts. Crowded...hell yeah but again sweat dripping of me I was gratefull for my reserved seat and tried to recover from the metro gym workout.
Half way into the trip, I went to the loo and forgot where I was sitting, and panicked the I could not locate my ticket when challenged by 2 attractve but angry French ladies, worse I couold not see my laptop bag above me in the seat I found myself in...oops. It was 2 seats back...Profuse apologies didn't get me their numbers though...I suspect they were lesbians, or I was too old and sweaty...probably lesbians.
An announcment a little way into the travel, in French which I just understood said they were running 15 mins late...since I had 7 minutes window for my train that was going to be a big problem..but I can get the next one. I'm in no rush I have to wait an hour at the final destination for my lift.
I get there,and sure enough the train had gone, but no worries I already resolved to get the next one, as I go to buy the ticket only to be told their computers were down and they could not sell me one, but I could get on one on the train. Splendid, a break in the evening sunshine as I wait for the next train was just about perfect....I asked the station guard in my best french when is the next train...he had no clue what I said, so I resorted to Franglish,
"le Train, pour Saintes...when??"
I wasn't quite prepared for the Gallic shrug that followed with the stereotypical nasal grunt and
"c'est Departe"....
"Qui, je compries, ...When...next..one"
"Demain."
Now its been a while since I did French but I realised that Demain didn't mee, soon, or now, or anything resembling a time....then it hit me...tomorrow??
"Tomorrow...Dimanche?????"
"Oui" (pronounced wheeeh)
Merde!! (I'm better at French than I thought.)
But now rather pissed off I point out in angry english that I need to get to Saintes and its not my bloody fault they can't get their trains to run on time.... At which point the cashier with no computer but some english ability pipes up, having now realised that I wanted to get to Saintes today with my masses of luggage....
"Eeet has already gone seeer, eet waited 5 minootes for zee express"
Not much good when it was 15 minutes late...but having got tired of the guards gallic shrugs I went to appeal to the clearly much more helpful cashier... Eventually using good old paper timetables she worked out I could get a train to Saintes from La Rochelle (remember I got off the express to La Rochelle)
I sent texts to Chris my host at creativevacance.com but no replies, I tried calling but got a french answerphone...odd since Chris is english and probably speaks very good French but with an accent...anyway...no response so I had to take the advice of the cashier.
Cutting a very long story and a long blog post short I finally got on a train, the guard making sure I got on the right train to get me of his station...and got to La Rochelle....no elevators again....down 1 flight of stairs to change platform, up another....more workout.
Text to Chris letting him know I was still going to be in Saintes around the correct time, give or take a few mins...and head off
But I got on the train..I arrived..
I waited outside for a bit expecting Chris to drive up, only to see him walk over from the other side of the street...asking why I was late...I texted....this number.....oohh no my number is.... a pair of digits were transposed.
arrghhhhh...apologies to the french bloke getting daft texts for desperate english speaking dutch/scotsman..
I put my stuff in the van, got in, and Chris brought me to La Morau.
I ate, drank and collapsed into bed.
This morning, after the day long workout I can barely move without pain....and I forgot to pack shampoo and toothpaste... It can only get better.
Ahthankyew
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