novan

Been another busy week. Last weekend Die and I drove to Cov to see Nan who'd just come out of hospital after having a knee replacement. Despite this, she's yet to exhibit any signs of her newly acquired cydroid/mecha abilities, infact, the whole thing just seems to have made her really tired. Sounds as if she's on the mend now though, so hopefully she'll be vaulting over buildings/fighting crime soon.

This weekend has been pretty rad. We were down to take a trip over to Manchester to go to ARA, a goth night - that was until we realised that it really wasn't going to be worth paying £30.00 each for the privilege, especially when after doing some research, found out it was run by christians. As few and as far between goth nights are, I'm not going to be visiting one where there are 'spiritual awakenings on the dancefloor'.

Spiritual cramp is where it's at.

Anyway, Friday saw us visit the new night down at the Diva bar with Claudia and Neil, which was an extension of the shittily named 'Metal Pig' night on a Tuesday. However, it turned out to be a really good night! The music was a little hit and miss, although Die and I did managed to dance to AFI and I flailed around on my tod to a really good live version of NIN's Starfuckers. Arseholes didn't play Ministry or Lard though - *shakes fist* Oh, and next time I go I'm well having one of those drinks with the tequila worm in.

Saturday was mostly taken up by being frustrated at bad 'antique' fairs, but this soon subsided after purchasing an Arther Mee book about Warwickshire and visiting Delikates for noms. I'd not been in the shop before and I nearly hyperventilated at the amount of edible stuff, wicker and cake. Got home, drank lots of tea and then got really bummed out after reading descriptions of pre-WW2 Coventry. Arther Mee really knows how to tug at my heartstrings. I wish I could have seen St Michaels before 1941.

So far today, I've not really done much and Die is sat cross-legged on the floor arranging lengths of chain in a just-so manner. It's very endearing. We're off to see if we can find another wardrobe and are having dinner at Frank and Liz's this evening.

Really could do with another day off, this weekend has flown by (again!!)

Car insurance really is the lamest thing ever! Seriously! It's one of those times when I wish Grandad was still around - not because he'd do all the work, just because he'd really buzz off the subject and give me a few pointers. True, Dad can also do this, but he just doesn't have the tenacious, puppytoothed zeal that Grandad had for the most boring of subjects. I suppose I've little time with it because I've just been given an outrageous quote by the company that insures me as a named driver on Dad's policy. Despite 7 years of no claims, no convictions and no points, they have just quoted me over a grand to insure a 1.2 litre car.

Dicks!

Last weekend mon frere James came to stay. We didn't actually do that much, which I think was the general idea. Still, we had a proper walk around Chester, he picked up some clothes and we had a proper good catch up. Seems like he's ready to leave the nest and I don't blame him either. I get the impression he's grown up quite a bit of late. Granted, he's still quite lazy and fuzz-faced, but he's shaping up to be a well, a bloke I suppose.

Plus, he's taller than me now, and using 6 year old Mark logic, means he's the boss.

Work has been a bit manic of late. We're 50% down in the warehouse and have loads of Christmas stuff going on around the business which I have to help setup/closedown as well as everything else. Still, free hot drinks more than make up for it. I'm becoming a proper hot chocolate junkie.

Die's off at the Gym right now. Really hoping that it does her some good. The past few months have been in the lower levels of lameness and she deserves to at least wake up without not being able to move properly. Baked potato for tea tonight, bit of painting and then off for a skate with Grosa and Mongotron.

Ah, the post Whitby malaise. Oddly enough, this Whitby was the least goth of all the weekends Die and I had previously attended - mainly because we ended up at so many amazing 80's nights. Still, it was a brilliant weekend, full of cakey, pie and watery woodpecker. Thursday night was spent at the Shambles, basking in the wonder that was DV8 vs DV80's. Twas a really good start to the weekend, for as well as an amazing DJ set, Die and I got to bump into Kai, Savage, Angus, Jenny and Jo (?) as well as several other of the Edinburgh locals who Faye and Rachel introduced us to last April.
The Friday was spent wandering the stalls, as well as getting a bit of a wind-blown skate in. The evening was spent up at the Abbey, with the ruins illuminated whilst several shows were performed. I really enjoyed the reading of Alfred Noye's "The Highwayman" complete with galloping horses, gunshot and bloodstains! The hangman was well good too. Myself as an 8 year old was buzzing.
On the Saturday Die and I lurked around the Kustom Kar show, which was loads better than I expected. We also met a bat, avoided crowds whilst I mocked steampunks (they do travel in herds!!). We managed to avoid the Resolution (unfortunately missing the Friday night DJ set - grr) for most of the weekend, only popping in to see Uninvited Guest (KAZOO SOLO!!!) and have a bit of a post gig dance on the Saturday evening. Unfortunatley the football was cancelled on the Sunday due to blistering wind and rain, which gave us the excuse to stay in bed until 3pm. This set us up nicely for the beuaty that is 80's night at Laughtons. Bumped into Phil and Catriona who seemed a little confused that they had mistaken the 80's night for the trad night down the road. Danced like a twat to lots of gems and admired the wonder of Angus's deconstructed shirt before grabbing some ribs on the way home and eating them whilst watching Halloween 3.
On the way home, Die and I visited Helmsely castle, which inevitably turned into a Parliamentarian hating session. However, we were lucky enough to visit the castle at the point in the day where the light was stunning - Die got some super-rad photees.

Today I've been off, sorting and cleaning cloths and generally being (a) domestic. Well stoked on the early starts for the rest of the week, but bummed that Die's bummed on work right now. Have been looking out for jobs for her though, so crossed fingers.

Botham's biscuits at 11 o'Clock - nom nom.

It's been too long for me to recall the minutia of the weekend, but to suffice to say the overall impression is one of warm fuzzies, skateboardery action and jolly funlaughs. Messers Joxa and Zoro came over for the weekend full of silly rolling antics and nostalgia trips and although Zoro couldn't come on the Saturday session, everything was super rad. Plus, he ran into the house at 2:00am in the middle of having a fag to tell us that he'd seen a Roman walk between parked cars and bins and dissapear into a hedge - haha, our road now has a Roman ghost - get in!
On the Friday night we managed to get a street skate on several spots that I'd not taken advantage on my own, which culimanted in a 15 minute skate on the row ledges which are super rad. On the Saturday, Joxa and I had a quick warm up on the Catholic Girl banks before heading to Runcorn, Warrington and Tattenhall. In the evening Die, Joxa and myself went out for a few drinks, but Chester was being lame, so we headed home to listen to the Amazing Delores and Alexander Panda whilst drinking Die's legendary partymix.
On Sunday, Joxa and I headed up to Blackpool where 60% of the Cov skateboarding population had driven up for an amazing get together. It was awesome to see Steve Spain, Skin, Joe as well as the Terrible crew and the Swampton Hesh Squad. Much marlarky was had.

This week, continuing the theme of visitors, saw Melon and his missus, Leah turn up for a brew at the house before going for a meal at Telfords which was rad. Seems like they both dug Chester and I'm stoked they managed to dodge the rain. However, I don't think Melon was down for the man-hug at the end of the evening (*Note to self - don't hug the Melon again*).

Really regret not cooking something at home for them, but it was all a bit rushed.

Just finished watching Questiontime - seemed Mr Griffin had long dug his own hole in his personal graveyard of awkward quotations. Despite the whole thing being rather messy, it was a good barometer of opinion in Britain right now. We're heading for a winter of discontent trapped in the hull of a rusting, rudderless hulk. Oh, and to top it all off the posties are on strike. Twats.

Come armageddon come.

Apart from that, this week has been pretty relaxed. Managed to set up a new deck (the first for 11 months!!!) and have started a little bit of painting. Don't think Die and I are up to much this weekend - Hopefully go over to Delamere on Sunday and will probably get a skate in at the Boneyard or hook up with Grosa for a roll at some point.

Right, Bedtime.

Stoked on the past week. Celebrated being 26 by drinking lots of tea, buying models and developing a snuff habit. Die and I went out for a few drinks on Saturday night, bumping into the entirity of the Chester Roc Soc (all two of them) who willfully submitted to our requests. Went for a skate at the weekend in Nantwich with Grosa and a few other dudes, twas good to get out for a roll in the street for a change. Next weekend sees Joza and Zoro visiting for a few days and the mega Cov invasion of Blackpool - So much stuff going on before Whitby!

Had one of those bi-yearly faggy drawing drives which was suprisingly fun to give into. Why is it that the longer I leave in between drawing/painting the better I seem to be at it?

Right, going to bang on the old 88 vid and doodle.

Oh dear, sinking into a daily routine can really suck the time away. I think I need to stop being regimented in everything I do. Been a good past few weeks. Last weekend Die and I went down to Cov and I got to catch up with friends and family whilst Die popped down to London to visit Emma for her birthday. Didn't so anything out of the ordinary, just a fun skate with friends and much nomming of foods.

Finally managed to hook up with one of the N26 lurkers for a skate at the Boneyard last night. Was a fun session despite the hordes of dick rollerbladers. I did manage to throw their wax away though, everything was covered in the stuff. The vert ramp is now moreorless done, just a few repairs needed on the surface and new coping to do - can't wait for a session.

Been really enjoying skating lately. I think watching old videos has rekindled my love somewhat. I've been trying to get out and ride a bit of street more often, which has fruitful as I've found a proper Scott Bourne-esque block to skate.

Work is still ruling. Today I built a mountain bike and helped dress the atrium of the building like a cruise liner. I also lurked on wikipedia quite a lot. So far, I 've bought home 2 bottle of champagne, a bottle of white wine and £30 worth of M&S vouchers. Stoked!

This weekend may see my brother popping up for a visit and a trip to Delemere to hunt for sweet chesnuts, which will more than likely turn into me running around kicking leaves whilst Die forages for foods.

Cup of tea time methinks.

I was suprised and stoked to be tagged by Mr Pob of deepest Wiltshire in a "7 random/weird things about me" meme that he took part in the other day. Pob's an utter ruler - a proper skater's skater, amazing surfer and a gentleman to boot. I loves him. So here is a list of 7 random/weird things that not everyone might know about me.

1 - I'm an utter wuss when it comes to slugs and snails. Anything that utilises it's own mucus to travel upon seems a little wrong. I did have a proper fear when I was younger which wasn't helped by my brother and sister chasing me to my room with what seemed like handfuls of crushed snails. I'm okay with snails now (as they have handy dry shells) but slugs are still a bit scary.

2 - I am big Games Workshop fanboy. I have kept every reciept of every purchase I have ever made from one of their shops and one day I'll work out how much money I've spent on plastic/metal crack. I hope to enter some painting competitions soon and maybe even have a crack at the Golden Demon competition in the future.

3 - From the ages of 8-12 I had a huge fear of thermonuclear war. Sometimes the nightmares I had would wake me up and I'd end up watching central jobfinder at 5am (haha - remember that!!!) because I was too scared to go back to sleep.

4 - The first album I ever requested as a gift was Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell 2". The first album I bought with my own money was "Scatmans World". The second was Aerosmith's "Big Ones". Make of that what you will.

5 - Die and I are together primarily because of anthro art and corpses. Amazing.

6 - I think about Grandad Hewitt everyday and regret that he'll never get to visit our house. However, thus is probably for the best because he'd only drive to Chester at the weekends to wake us up early and talk about fuel economy and mileage on cars.

7 - The first girl I really fancied was Sam Fox. We had the "Touch Me" music video on VHS and the whole ripped denim thing did it for me when I was 5. Thankfully, my tastes changed for the better when I became quite obsessed with Miranda Richardson and later Alyson Hannigan (well, sort of. I was more into the character of Willow series 1-5 if you want to be specific).


This week has mostly been dominated by Type O Negative. Must be autumn!

First few weeks of employment have flown by. Everything seems to be going very well and I'm feeling so much better in myself having a job where I'm moving around. This past week I've been lurking around the facilities office as I'm covering one of the girls in the office which should be different. From what I've heard I've already bagged a permanent position, so things look good!

Last week the skatepark down the road took delivery of a modest vert ramp. It was awesome to help out unload it, there must have been at least 20 of us running around carrying metalwork about. It's not been put together as of yet, but I've been told that it should be ready in the next few weeks.

Today Die and I lurked around Chester, checking out specially opened sites for Chester Heritage weekend. I was nursing an embryonic hangover (from the previous evening, having spent the evening with the neighbours nextdoor, being plied with booze stories of mad local characters and cashews - I am such a lightweight these days) but this didn't detract seeing Roman mosaics, the remains of hypocausts, galabanting up and around medieval nautical defences and managing to avoid the worst of the unfortunately timed Chester races.

Tomorrow, if my ankle isn't feeling so raw, I'll be having a roll around.

Moaning over.

Job sorted. Office dogsbodying starts Friday.

Agh, still waiting for some recruitment company to phone me back regarding a possible job. I wouldn't usually be to fussed, it's only a temporary position and it's dogsbodying office work, but I really want to get back at things. It has been a bit of an awkward one though. I found out that one of the guys who comes around for Thursday night roleplay also had an interview there and that it'll be either him or myself that gets it.

Bleargh. I'm looking forward to all of this being over so I can stop moaning about it.

MOANY MOANY MOAN MOAN.

RIDE THE PONY

MOANY MOANY

MOANY MOANY

I SAY YEAH

YEAH

YEAH

YEAH

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHH IT'S BILLY IDOL.

In other news, today Frank and I have sealed the house and sorted out the curtain rail for the spare room, as well as finishing off some spot painting. Still no news on the carpet delivery date. Last night Die and I lazed and were lucky enough to catch the most cracked episodes of Ricky Lake and Sally Jessee Raphael - our lives rule!

The past few weeks have been productive for belting out models. I've finally finished the last platoon for my Hieronian Guard, polished off the cherubim/servoskulls for my Inquistor retinue and have started on some Dark Reapers for the Eldar. I've also started plotting the return of my old Space Marine chapter and have got very, very excited about this. If I get a chance, I'll probably post up some pics.

Off to Cov this weekend to see everyone. It's also my sister's birthday who will be gifted a potentially offensive card and some homemade cakes.


Die is home in several minutes - huzzah!

I've just returned from the traditional Wednesday night skate with the news that Chester will soon be home to a decent sized, if a little narrow vert ramp. It's Neil Danz's old Team Extreme ramp from what I hear and I cannot wait for it. I've already said to the staff at the skatepark that I'll be around to lend a hand putting it up/clearing land for it.

So, so stoked. The vert plan is back on! Also got to skate with Becky this evening, turns out she lives over in Wepre. Good to see a familiar face after a few months skating on my tod!

This week has been busy. Ordered the carpet for the spare room and finally got 99% of all the painting done. Sent off for another two jobs and have two applications to do tomorrow too. It's getting me down a little that nothing seems to be coming through; thankfully I'm still able to pay the bills (with an awful lot of help from the family + eBay) but no matter how much I do at home it still feels as if I'm not properly contributing.

Still, the situation could be worse.

In other news, I had my first Vindaloo this evening. Felt proper Dave Lister. So much so, I might have a fried egg sandwich with chili sauce and chutney later.

*Boys from the Dwarf!*

This morning has been frustrating.

"The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on. Nor all thy piety nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it."

Much pounding and knocking above my head. Mr Plasterer is hard at work transforming the at present Dickensian Bordello Squat of a back bedroom into something less than a potential cholera trap. Rest assured, anyone who comes to visit will not be getting whooping cough or polio - huzzah! In all seriousness, I'm glad it's getting done. The fireplace is now stripped and we should be able to get painting within a week. I got all excited when it came to nabbing Dulex colour swatches from B&Q.

Anyway, here's what it look liked a few days ago,..

( spareroom )

Not much news on the job front. Didn't get the Britannia job (which was a relief, Wrexham is a dive) but I have got through to the second interview working in an insurance claims office. I'm rather hoping that I'll be successful at roping myself into this job, as it's only up the road and sounds interesting. Die's birthday last week was a good'un. I'm stoked she had fun and it was great to see everyone. Last weekend Die and I visited Speke Hall ate pigeon and hassled Tudor re-enactors. We also had a Chinese in a place which looked like it was constructed from the space-time fabric of the 1970's - crazy times!

This week, apart from the preparation for plastering, I've busied myself with more jobhunting and a little bit of painting. My Guard are now on the home stretch, hopfully get all the pouches/waterbottles trimmed up and based coated today. Then it's the final push to get two Sentinals a Valkyrie and cobble together some sort of commander for the force. I've also had two lonesome, but productive sessions at the Boneyard, finally learning liens to tail over volcanoes and f/s feebles. This weekend, we're off to Liverpool for a lurk and hopefully a roll on Sunday if the weather is with us.

Oh! Before I bugger off into real life, check this out,..

( Furrymurderplotdrama! )

Oh my goodness. I have just spent the last 2 hours choosing userpics because I never realised that you could have more than 6. Much excitment has ensued.

Went for an interview today. Not too bothered if I'm successful or not as the job was in Wrexham, which is more of an armpit than Bedworth. Have another interview next week. Progress, progress.

Found an old pic of the Japan trip that I'd never seen on Joxa's blog. Well stoked as I didn't have a good pic of the crew,..



Steampunk meet-up tomorrow and Covpark Combat on Sunday. Ruling!

This week has been very productive so far. In the absence of any jobs worth applying for, I've now totally finished working on the back gate, finished the trim in the kitchen, fitted some lampshades after some modding help from Mr Booth and have finally got a plan of attack for the spare bedroom. I've also been trundling along on the Ride site, which is now more or less done. Next time I go down to Cov I should be in for quite a haul of new skate stuff as my deck is now thoroughly thrashed.

So apart from that, there's not been too much on. ( Apart )

Right. Roleplay this evening, followed by a weekend of crafting. Let's be having you Thursday.

Wow, quite a bit has been going on of late, hence the lack of journalesque entries. However, I will attempt to claw back some memories of distant weeks passed,..

( happenings )

The past few weeks have seen Frank and I work on the house some more, last week we finally got the new back gate up, making the house properly impenetrable. This week, along with tiling hidden parts of the kitchen, the moat will be dug and minefields planted.

The jobhunt has yet to yeild edible fruit, but I'm feeling much better about the whole thing after talking to Dad and Nan, who've both said they'd help out. I've already applied for a job today and am going to hassle the agency after I've had a cup of tea.

Last night's jaunt to Manchester to see Zappa plays Zappa at the Bridgewater Hall was ruling. Many, many thanks to Mr Paddy and Missy Kelliot for the tickets. The set was much more instrumental than I was expecting, and in all honesty I don't think I'm of a musical enough nature to appriciate some of the complex madness that was going on. Several classics were belted out in note-for-note precision, including Zombie Woof, Dirty Love (!!!!), Peaches En Regalia, Cosmic Debris, and a bit of Yellow Snow. Die and I were both hoping for Joe's Garage and Camarillo Brillo, but you can't have it all. Really strange seeing a band like that in a concert venue - the staff were all of the 'sit down and shut up' persuasion. However, for the encore, Dweezil asked a load of people up on the stage to dance which was super-rad.

Thanks again you dudes!

Today has been quite productive. Sorted out the shopping, post office stuff and have gave the frontyard/backyard/entry a good tidying. Finally got around to exploring the murky depths of a recent gift CD from Ms Faye, and I've already found two songs I've been after for ages, so I'm now tripping my nads off to "Darrell & Alicia" by The Horatii and "Care Of The Devil" by Dream Disciples.

This evening I'm hoping to finish one of the Harlequins. They're starting to drag a little now. I'm also reaquainting myself with old friends via the Book of Faces. Yeah, I've finally caved in.

Bleaugh.

The last two days have been quite busy and dusty. The kitchen is 99% done now, with the tiles all going up on Monday with only the floor trim and some gaps to fill up around one of the units to do. It's pretty rad actually, the kitchen seems loads bigger than it used to and we've still got loads of spare room in the cupboards. That means we're able to buy loads more useless crap!

( kitchen! )

Got through a pile o'eBay stuff yesterday and have some stuff up today. Hopefully if Skin gets back to me today I'll be able to do some work on the site. It's been rad getting emails through saying how much people like the new layout/design.

So! Today should see the new garden gate turning up at some point, me hassling the crap out of agency staff in a 'gimmee job guv'nor' manner, more eBay, all whilst listening to CDs of mystery that Faye sent us yesterday - looking forward to hearing what's on them!

There's some awesome music around of late. It's been a very long time since I got excited about new music, mainly because of the wet-water-fart that was NIN's 'With Teeth'. Since then I've not put much faith in looking forward to releases and so-such. However, right now things are rad! Patrick Wolf has finely pushed through the glittery abortion period that was the lameness of 'The Magic Position' and is producing music worth listening to again. His 'Vulture' track is particularly rad in a pre-belly Trent Reznor kind of way. Lady Gaga is picking off where Eurythimics and Erasure left off with some genuinely classy synthpop and I seem to be coming across new and old tracks on a weekly basis.

So hurrah for all of that.

Finally on the home stretch with the Harlequins. I've never been one for freehand painting, but the diagonal/square checker scheme seems to have worked out alright. It'll still be another few weeks until they're done, but the scary part is over now.

Die and I haven't been up to all that much recently, we watched a few films and a load of classic episodes of Red Dwarf over the weekend, but haven't really been anywhere of note in awhile. However, next week we're off to see Zappa play Zappa in Manchester on Wednesday (thanks to Ms Kel and Paddy for the tickets!) and off to Little Moreton Hall and Mow Cop next Saturday.

This week, the kitchen is being tiled, the new back gate is arriving and I've got a few appointments with employment agencies. Hopefully I'll here something from some of the applications I've done in the past few weeks.

This is the swastika house. It makes me laugh.

In news of a less national socialist nature, I've boxed in some pipework, (ooer!) done a load of eBay stuff, painted skirting boards, filled some holes (oooooerr!) and sorted the Blockless Combat CDs out.

Hurrah!