With friends like these...

Yes, it's me, I'm still alive!

How long has it been since I last posted properly.... erm. Wow. Nearly a month.

Jeez...

Guess I should let y'all know what I've been up to! To be honest... roleplaying, mostly. I've joined a couple of games on DW and they've been keeping me pretty busy, but I've settled now and should definitely get back into writing. I noticed it's been a month since my last fic update I am so sorry about that I haven't even noticed the time passing so quickly. It's even half done and everything. I'll have that up soon as I can remember where I was actually going with it.

I still don't have a job and I'm still not much closer to getting one, but I'm still trying. I suppose it won't be much longer before the Jobcentre starts pushing even harder at me but I can't do more than I'm already doing and I'm not going to spend a load of my own money to go trolling around Wigan/Manchester/Warrington looking for jobs. I'm unemployed. I can't afford £4.50 on public transport however many times a week. It's the undeniable flaw in their logic, I think.

Though speaking of work I'm still volunteering at the British Heart Foundation. I've managed to garner myself a couple of admirers and while the attention is flattering it isn't exactly wanted. One of them has backed off, but the other is being a little more persistent. Not pushily or creepily so, but I think he's got it into his head that if he can just persuade me that I'd like to try to have something with him then it would all work out fine. I don't get into relationships anymore for a variety of reasons, and the fact that he's on the rebound after coming after an eight year long relationship with someone who just left him about three weeks ago would mean that even if I did like him that way I wouldn't be getting into anything with him now.

He's a nice enough guy and I think he's trying to be understanding about why I don't want to be with anyone, but I don't think he can quite get his head around the idea of someone who has no sexual desire.

Still, until he starts getting annoying, I'll allow it. He's not doing any harm and it's not like he's cornering me and demanding anything. I'd just be reluctant about doing anything with him 'as friends' in case he takes it as a sign that I'm starting to come around to the idea.

Hmm.

Last Saturday, I met up with the amazingly awesome nasty_show again and we went to see The Avengers. I hadn't been terribly bothered about seeing it since superhero films aren't one of the things I lose my shit over, but I was curious, and Holly once again swept me up in her enthusiasm as she has a tendency to do.

Luckily, that morning, the birthday present that I had bought for her had also arrived! It was late, but it was the first I'd seen her after her birthday so what can you do.

This is what I got her.



It's a pendant, and I bought it from a seller on Etsy. It's about a centimetre high and hand made, and the cutest thing. We had some lunch at my house and then went off to the cinema.

I HAVE NEVER HAD LESS REGRETS ABOUT SEEING A FILM I DIDN'T INITIALLY CARE ABOUT.

Seriously. If you have not seen The Avengers yet then you need to. Even if you don't care about superhero films.

I would see it again. Easily.

Nothing much happened through the week. The manager was off work so we actually got stuff done. Honestly, the manager is lovely but she tends to flit about and get under your feet, while the assistant manager actually organises herself and everyone else. The only major problem we've had is one of the new staff seems to be dating all the new stock incorrectly. We've found stock dated 9/12 (9th of December), and if anyone from head office came in and saw that we would be in so much trouble.

I did, however, have the shock of my life on Friday afternoon. The phone rang, and Sue had her hands full downstairs so she called up to me to answer it. Kurtis, one of the other volunteers, is a nice guy but a bit socially backwards. He was closer to the phone, so he said he would answer it. I said okay.

However, had I known he would give off the 'hello British Heart Foundation' etc spiel in the most bored tone imaginable and then top it off by saying 'what do you want', I wouldn't have let him within ten feet of the phone. It is a place of work. You do not answer the phone like that.

I ended up having to take the phone off him anyway and apologise to the woman he was speaking to before I took down her address and number because he was just mumbling into the phone and couldn't seem to fathom how to hold the phone between his ear and shoulder while he wrote her address down. He's lucky it was just someone ringing for a pickup, not the manager, or the area manager, or someone from head office, or anyone. I smacked him over the head with a clipboard when I put the phone down and told him to never answer the phone again.

For the love of GOD.

Anyone who has made it this far, I congratulate you. There's still more.

Last night, my dad took my sister and I to see Avenue Q. We've seen it before, but dad hasn't. Our dad is one of those cool dads who is an utter nerd and lets you cuss (within reason) and goes to see things like Avenue Q with you. He loved it, and I had actually forgotten how rude it is.

Before that, though, we went to my nanna's with my aunt and two cousins. My cousin Sam is eight (I think?) and one of those kids who tends to just ignore you. I brought a Simon's Cat book along with me, which I'd picked up at the shop for £2.50 (£12.99 new, bloody bargain), to show to my nanna because I know she likes Simon's cat, and my cousin took a liking to it and spent an hour going through it with us. He then went through it again when we were done because he liked it so much.

Sometimes, he can be cute.

Now to the latest thing - my sister has expressed an interest to go to MCM London next year - a pan-fandom convention. She's not into anime, and has never really shown any interest in this kind of thing before, but now she wants to go.

And she wants to cosplay.

She gained so many cool points from me for that. More than she got from being able to quote the Magic Cupcakes video despite never having read Homestuck. Which my dad can now also do since I showed it to him. Amy wants to cosplay Rapunzel, á la Tangled, and I'm going to be her Mother Gothel. I have a friend who makes the most beautiful cosplays and she's going to see how much it would cost to make them for us, rather than having to settle for whatever we can find on ebay (because Gothel costumes are non-existent and Amy doesn't really like the look of the Rapunzel ones).

She's going to have a Pascal and take a frying pan with her. xD

*DEEP BREATH*

So. How are all of you?

The Good News:

I got a promotion (of sorts) at work on Monday, which means that I can now use all of the functions on the till and no longer need to call upstairs if I cock up or if someone needs to return something. I am very pleased with this. Kurtis was less than pleased as he's been working in the store since before Christmas and is still on the lower level, but Kurtis is nice enough, but he's a ditzy sod and Michelle doesn't trust him with the higher till functions when he's still messing up the lower ones.

I'm also being trusted to put the Gift Aid takings in pretty much every day I work unless Sue is counting up the till because for some reason she always nicks off with the form and takes it upstairs. I'm not sure why she does that because I'm perfectly capable of adding it up myself xD

My shark swim is in three weeks! Doesn't feel that long ago that I booked it, so yaaay.

Also I found a voucher that my sister and bought last September for a photography session. It's up on the 22nd of this month, but I emailed the place anyway, and they told me that fortunately they can extend it and they're going to call me to arrange a session, so that should be fun! They ask for £50 deposit to make sure you turn up, but you can get that back at the end, or use it to buy some of the photos they take.

Ben has finally stopped trying to chew his feet off. We had to get a cone for him eventually, which he didn't approve of, but it stopped the licking/biting habit for long enough that his paws could properly heal and now he isn't doing it anymore. He's currently asleep on my bed, the little sweetie.

The Not So Good News:

I got news back from my job interview, and unfortunately I didn't get the job. The same usual stuff about the quality of applicants being very high and unfortunately I was one of the ones they dropped. Mum thinks I should ring up and ask where I went wrong but I don't really want to, I'm just going to chalk it up to experience and move on. I think she was more miffed about it than I was to be honest! Oh well. Keep calm, carry on and all that.

Starting to lose a lot of enthusiasm with this whole job search thing.

Other Stuff:

A few days ago, I put down Game of Thrones in order to read Good Omens, as a number of my friends have been raving about it lately. I might give a full review when I'm done, but at the moment (and at the risk of being lynched), I have to say it's nothing special. Yes, it's funny, I'll give it that, but the narrative trips over itself at times and sometimes drags, and I don't really think it utilises the best of both of the authors. I do adore Aziraphale and Crowley, though, and their interactions definitely make it worth reading.

In other news, I bought a TARDIS for my goldfish. I kid you not. Here, look.



Check that bad boy out, how cool is that? I found it for £1.50 in the charity shop where I work, and I wasn't sure what it was for at first, but as soon as I realised I just had to buy it. His usual castle can get a bit of a break.

Lastly, we have a mouse living in our kitchen. It's decided to live in the back of the cooker and I'm not sure where exactly it's living in there, or how it's not boiling alive when the oven is on. We've caught three and think this is the last one, but it is so devilishly smart that it keeps avoiding the traps and getting the better of us at every turn. It comes out in the evening, when we're all still up, and I've seen it several times now (and almost caught it once!), as it's run across the windowsill or counter when the light's been turned on.

Today, I was in the kitchen when I heard an odd noise, like gnawing. I eventually located it. The mouse was inside the toaster. I got my stepdad to listen, and he tried to arrange the various traps we have to catch it, then moved the toaster. It shot out, and avoided all of the traps, and went back down behind the cooker again. People keep telling me we should get a specialist to sort it, but I don't know what a specialist could do that we haven't done, at this point.

I don't want to end up killing it, it's not as if it's there to be malicious, but it's a mouse, and they carry diseases, so it can't stay in the house =|

We think something is wrong with our dog.

He's always wanting attention, he's throwing up (though he isn't off his food), he randomly starts shaking sometimes, and he looks very tentative when he tries to sit down, like his hips or his legs hurt. Mum's going to take him back to the vet. He's twelve, so he's not young, but at his last checkup there was nothing wrong with him.

I think John's friend at the local shop needs to stop feeding him meat scraps. He always brings them back up.

I've volunteered at a charity shop in my town - the British Heart Foundation - and may also have some work coming with the Red Cross, possibly some admin work for good experience, and also some work at a small theatre in Bolton.

I've not had more than five hours of sleep at once for the past five or six days. I am so tired. I might go to sleep soon, to hell with waking up early. I'll probably just hibernate again.

I've finally given in to the urge to get a new laptop. The one I'm using now has been in near-constant use for the past three or four years, and I've noticed upon looking at laptops that the standard laptop now (say, 320GB of storage, 3GB RAM, etc, for under £400) is twice as good as what I'm using. That's not to say that my laptop doesn't work. It works. When it wants to. Lately it's been becoming more and more cranky and I think it's about time for an upgrade. The hard drive is a little damaged I think, which isn't surprising from the three reformats and four different OSes it's had on it over the course of its life, and will occasionally degrade into locked-up, sporadic clicking that will last about a minute and has twice resulted in a full-on BSOD, and recently the S key and Shift have started to stick. Only a little but enough that I notice it, and it's annoying.

The one that I have my eye on is £379, reduced from £649.99, and a friend of mine who is good with computers tells me it's more than enough for what I intend to use it for. 6GB of RAM and 640GB of storage is making me drool a little, I have to admit. I'm rather hoping that they don't sell out or that the reduction on it doesn't suddenly end (though why reduce a laptop by over £200 if you weren't trying to sell them all) before Thursday, which is probably when I'll buy it. It's only two days, I can't imagine they'll sell out by then.

I do feel a little bad about giving this one up, but it's had a good run. Hopefully I can recycle it. That would make me feel a little better.

I'm so tired lately =O='' I think I might be getting sick.

FANDOMS

Italicised titles are active fandoms. If one isn't italicised, I will talk about it but I won't rave about it. XP

Television|Movies: Family Guy, American Dad, Blackadder (1, 2, 3 & 4), Black Books, The Mighty Boosh, Men in Black (1 & 2), Moonlight, My Name is Earl, South Park, Fairly Odd Parents, Futurama, X-Men: First Class, The Seeker: The Dark is Rising, 300, Young Frankenstein, Amélie, Ghostbusters, Barbarella, Flash Gordon, Inspector Gadget, Pan's Labyrinth, Monty Python's The Life of Brian/The Meaning of Life/The Search for the Holy Grail, The Iron Giant, Star Trek (Original, Next Gen, DS9, all movies).

Anime: Axis Powers: Hetalia, Ghost in the Shell, Blood: The Last Vampire, Pandora Hearts, Zombie Loan, Fushigi Yuugi, Fruits Basket, Elfen Lied, Howl's Moving Castle, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind, Spirited Away, Ponyo, Hellsing, Chobits, Fireball, Fireball Charming, Princess Mononoke, Vexille, Kino's Journey, Samurai X, Gravitation, Sukisho.

Manga|Comics|Webcomics: Fushigi Yuugi, Rebirth, Togainu no Chi, With the Light, Death Note, Fruits Basket, Angel Sanctuary, Zombie Loan, Franken Fran, Elfen Lied, Vassalord, Helen ESP, Pandora Hearts, Shinyaku Ookami ga Kuru, Fables, Lucifer, Death Jr., Homestuck, Earthsong, Inverloch, Dreamless, The Phoenix Requiem, PVP, Ctrl+Alt+Del, Lackadaisy, The Dreamland Chronicles, Girls with Slingshots, Return to Eden, Questionable Content, Looking for Group, Starfighter.

Games: Okami, Kingdom Hearts, Assassin's Creed (1, 2, Brotherhood), Fallout 3, Bayonetta, Dragon Age (1 & 2), Pokémon Pearl, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Hotel Dusk, Worms, Lemmings, Fable (1, 2 & 3)

Literature: Shakespeare, The Wind on Fire trilogy, His Dark Materials, The Vampire Chronicles, the Inkheart trilogy, Howl's Moving Castle, Darren Shan, the Abhorsen trilogy, Lord of the Rings, The Belgariad, The Mallorean, The Elenium, The Tamuli, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Farseer trilogy, The Tawny Man trilogy, The Dragonriders of Pern series, The Raging Quiet.

SHIPS

I am always open to new ships and won't bash you if you like something I don't, or don't like something that I do. We're all friends here, man.

Hetalia

Romantic ships - America/England, Prussia/England, France/Scotland, Russia/Australia, Turkey/Egypt, Denmark/Norway, Russia/Canada, France/Spain, France/Austria, Sweden/Finland, Lithuania/Poland, Austria/Hungary, Austria/Switzerland, Switzerland/Belgium, England/Japan, Greece/Japan, North Korea/Vietnam, England/Portugal, Netherlands/Canada, Mexico/Canada.

Hate/Rival ships - Denmark/Sweden, France/England, Russia/America, Russia/North Korea.

Family ships - Norway&Iceland, England&Scotland, America&Canada, Spain&Portugal, North Korea&South Korea, Australia&New Zealand.

Homestuck

Dave/Karkat, Dave/Terezi, John/Karkat, John/Vriska, Karkat/Terezi, Sollux/Karkat, Sollux/Feferi, Sollux/Aradia, Gamzee/Tavros, Equius/Nepeta.

Pandora Hearts

Oz/Gil, Break/Sharon, Break/Cheshire, Break/Reim, Glen/Jack, Oz/Alice, Jack/Alice, Elliot/Leo.

Assassin's Creed

Altair/Malik, Altair/Maria, Ezio/Leonardo, Ezio/Caterina, Desmond/Lucy, Desmond/Shaun.

Phoenix Wright

Wright/Edgeworth

Ghost in the Shell

Batou/Motoko