Gale force winds, driving rain - lovely weather today. Kai spent a little while in wellies and coat attacking ents in the garden (at least, he was whipping the holly bush with a stick...) while I tried to get some more of F45 done, not easy with Ken and Kai going back and forth behind me... Maybe later, after they've gone to bed.

Installed PhotoShop (5.5) on Kai's computer; he spent an hour or so playing with it - produced a rather fine bright blue spider. He wants to learn to create animations, he says...

Like the picture, onna - those expressions are wonderful!

Hn... think I'll take a break, watch some CCO808 (in Japanese)...

If XP has one thing going for it it's the 'restore point' facility...

Installed Core ftp - which still wouldn't let me login, and then wouldn't close down...

Have now changed the nameservers at UKReg, but still can't logon. I'm sure it's to do with xo.com, but I need to have that confirmed before I can do anything more. I think.

This is the other end of my room, just for the hell of it!

It's Friday? Again? Already??

... cannot cope... off to Mordor...

... anyone got a map...?

This is Raptor on her indoor 'tree', actually the laundry basket hanging on the inside of th kitchen door (which we never use, the patio doors are more useful). She sits up here watching the activity in the kitchen, and once even fell asleep for a minute or two - it's very cute.

We used to have an oval shaped basket hanging here, which she used to sit on (wrong shape to sprawl - she much prefers this one.)

Why is nothing ever easy? I tried to ftp to the IAVMT site earlier - just to see that everything was set up correctly, I'm not ready to upload yet - only to get an error message 503: Must specify domain as part of login. Huh? I did. Emailed supanames, who are looking into it (the techie who got back to me suggested changing the settings to passive transfer, which unfortunately hasn't made any difference. I think it's something to do with xo.com, myself...)

Ah well - trying with a different ftp client...

[shakes head] I seem to be overwhelmed with things that need doing at the moment...

BUT... [bounce] They found my photos!!

o... (where do I start? Room perhaps....) Edit Oct 1st 2014 All these photos were uploaded to the old wordwrights site, which no longer exists, and I'm not sure where the originals have got to. Sorry about that...

This is the room before it was decorated: yes, the walls are pink, sort of - a kind of dusky rose colour (chosen in an attempt to warm the room up before I decided I liked golds and oranges...) The.... um.... mess is Kai's (you might just be able to make out the 'robot' he made, from meccano and a Weetabix box.) The 'tree' on the right is my dracaena marginata (the one that was sold as ideal for a bottle garden) after five prunings...

A colourful but not exactly sophisticated room!

And this is almost the same view after decorating (the weekend after, you can tell by the rather old and traditional Yule decorations... must try to get some new ones next year...) Miraculous as it may appear, it's actually stayed this tidy, although it's taken a bit of me nagging Kai for it to do so.

It's so much better now, warm and comfortable to sit in - I love it!

Quyn likes his new carpet -

And this is the best of the pics I took of Rosa. It's been brightened and lightened and sharpened in PhotoShop - she's not really this colour... I'm hoping that the ones Ken took with his much better camera come out clearer, but he hasn't finished the film yet, so we'll have to wait and see...

The two black semi-circles are the thermometer and humidity-gauge on the inside of the tank.

This is what is on the wall behind me when I'm at the desk - although as Carol and Sue will confirm, the table is usually piled high with books, files, and other bits and pieces: it's clear here because it doubles as the dining table over Yule (the top opens out to twice the size). This is what the room looks like at Yule.

And these -

Are the gorgeous yunomi Littesaru gave me for Xmas!

Lastly - but certainly not leastly -

Kai as Harry Potter for his Samhain Party! (I have some good pics of the other kids at the party but I really should get everyone's permission before posting, which is probably going to be impossible!) OK, so he's a dark blond and rather tidy Harry, but I had to organise the costume in a hurry...

Right - time to make the German Potato Soup... (Hm. The sort of thing Jaeger would make, perhaps? [smirk]) It's still freezing here: the little bit of snow we had is still on the grass in the shadows. Ken rang: Kai's asked to walk through Nightingale Valley on his way home from school - it'll be cold but very pretty down there!

I have a few more amendments to make to the IAVMT site. Should be able to upload it on Monday, barring any problems with xo.com (who have been very helpful so far...)

Then it's back to F45. Managed about half of it last night, which wasn't bad given how busy it's been...

And yes, Lutra, I could have made the 'thanks' at the bottom of Collapse pt 3 smaller - but I've upped it a font size instead. I only made it small because all I contributed was one little line of 'fallon's dialogue - hardly enough to warrant a big thank you...

Well, it's not often I'm too busy to post an update!

But I did get a lot done yesterday, despite getting up later than I'd intended. The bios and photos for the IAVMT site are coming in now, so a fair bit of time has been taken up resizing/editing/posting those. I revised F44 and am now really rather pleased with it. Then for light relief I finished Starter (latest UM ficlet)...

The evening was a little distracting, however. I've had a memory of a name - Princess Lollipop - floating around in my head for years and years, associated with the image of a little flying robot. But that was all; I had no idea where I'd seen it or what it was about. Last night I finally got around to putting the name into Google...

It was good to find out I hadn't imagined or dreamed it. The character is in ep 9 of the original black and white series of Astroboy! How or where I managed to see it I have no idea: I can only guess it was at my grandmother's house when I was very young. It must have made a considerable impression on me for me still to remember it now, however - which begs the question, have I in fact been an anime fan my whole life? (Wouldn't surprise me...)

Lutra provided another distraction when she was meandering around names looking for something appropriate for one of her latest creations, and one of the ideas she came up with was Lysander - which suddenly and forcefully reminded me of a fascinating dream I'd had years ago... I can't remember the details now, in fact, I had to skim through my old dream diary (a distraction in itself, there's so much in here that could be turned into stories; how could I resist something I called "The Gods Went Shopping"?) to find the name: Leander Pryne, an occult expert/demon hunter, I think. (And yes, I did dream the name too.) That was back in December '94, and I remember making notes about it - even then I wanted to turn it into a story - but I can't remember where I put the notes! It's possible I put them on disk; problem is, around that time we were switching from the old Amstrad PCWs to our first IBM PC, and while it's supposed to be possible to install and run LocoProf on XP, I somehow don't think Butch would appreciate it... Alternatively they might be in written form, in which case I won't have thrown them out, but quite where they'll be is anyone's guess... Dammit, I'm now going to have to spend some time hunting for them...

Onna, thanks for the pngs - they're lovely. I'll be using one or two of the purple based ones for your own gallery, but I'd quite like to use several of the others in other parts of the site, if you have no objections. I'll get back to you soon...

We had the lightest sprinkling of snow this evening - Kai went out (all bundled up) to run around the garden earlier. Me, I still feel chilly, even though the house is wonderfully cosy with the new heating system. I got too cold waiting for bratling to come out of school earlier (wind chill is well below zero here at the moment). The forecast is for icy roads tonight and tomorrow - then it turns wet again. Just in time for the weekend, of course!

[thoroughly pissed off] My photos didn't arrive with the snail mail this morning, so while I was in town entirely failing to find what I'd gone in to pick up, Ken rang Goldrush...

Apparently there's a letter on its way to us, to explain that the envelope arrived, with the cheque, but it had been torn open and the film wasn't inside... That was the film with the photos of Kai in fancy dress as Harry Potter at the Samhain party, my before and after pics of the lounge, shots of the mermaid on the shelf above the stairwell (for Lutra) and my porcelain figurines, the ones I took at Yule of the snowflakes and silver tree in my room, the first photos of Rosa, and probably a whole load of others I've forgotten...

The only faint glimmer of hope is that we have an account with them, and the film canister has a sticker with the account number and Goldrush's post code on it, so if it's found it can be put in the post to them. That is if anyone has the sense to do so.

[growl] Pissed off is putting it mildly...

[grin] I've just completed my 2,000^th SETI@home work unit...

Rosa is fine - out of the hide and hunting crickets.

Next AC now started, still hoping to post it tonight if I can. Have created a table for the DarkRealm to make it easier to navigate, and made background tiles for Lutra's Elga and Birth, so will be able to post them once they're coded - about an hour I suppose. I'm going to hold off tackling the sequel to Meet (the Demons story) as there's a chance I may be able to get hold of the Nightwalker dvds for my birthday: first time I checked they were only available from Amazon.jp, but they can now be ordered via Amazon.co.uk from a Miami supplier (for about £20 plus p&p) - as can the Fake anime.... It's going to be a matter of a) how much I'm given and b) how best I can compromise between the manga, and the anime, I want... Ah well, there's Yule next year, I suppose!

Off to code...

Labels: Alliance Chronicles

And another wee update: she's out of her hide and very conveniently stretched up against the tank wall, so we could measure her. Diagonally (from toe to toe of her longest legs: not sure if that's the right way to measure a spider but it's how we'll do it for consistency's sake) she's now almost two and half inches long, so she's grown an inch in three weeks. The hairs are a really lovely shade of pink!

We haven't handled her yet, but both mine and Kai's hands have been in the tank, and it doesn't seem to bother her, so when we have to move her to the next size tank (in about six weeks if she carries on growing like this!) we might try lifing her out. We'll see how calm she is when the time comes. (Heh, how calm I am, come to that!)

The next UM ficlet - Share - now finished and will be posted later. Starting next AC after dinner...

Labels: spiders

Spider update: Rosa's recovering in her hide at the moment, but we brought down the tank and peeked in the end that's up against the wall, and she's very pretty - the new hairs are a lovely deep rose pink colour.

Also meant to mention (but keep forgetting) - I haven't needed to buy any more crickets. We now have at least twice as many as we started out with: I put them in a second tank with some bran, give them slices of apple every couple of days, and they seem to be breeding quite happily. [shakes head] Heh, we have a cricket farm!

Labels: spiders

That was absolutely fascinating.

At about 10 pm I noticed something looked different about Rosa; Ken came over to look, and said he thought she was partly out of the old skin (it's not easy to see, as her tank is out of direct light on Kai's shelf, where it's fairly dim and safely out of the way of the other animals). I took a closer look and he was right, and she was using the first pair of legs to push out of the old skin, a little like someone trying to peel off a too-tight pair of jeans...

We woke up Kai, who barrelled down all excited and watched - giving us a running commentary - for the next hour and a half as she slowly pushed her way out. Then she rested, and Kai was worried that she was stuck under the exuvium (she'd hooked the toes under her webbing so she had something to push against), but then 20 minutes ago I checked, and she was out and moving around the tank, so I got Kai down to see. He'll sleep better now he's not worried.

She's bigger, but we'll have to wait til morning to see how much bigger. She's furrier too, but the pale pink colour is fading to a soft grey as the skin toughens up...

Heh - never thought I'd get so excited about a spider!

In other news, I'm obviously in a lemon mood tonight...

And there was great excitement in the Taylor household as Rosa was discovered lying upside down in her shallow web-filled burrow...

No, she's not dead - at least, according to all we've learned she isn't (though she certainly looks it to me and apparently a lot of novice tarantula owners make the same mistake...) She's shedding her first skin. Offhand I don't know how long it'll take - and Kai's owner's manual is upstairs - but she'll be bigger afterwards. Kai wants to mount the skin (more properly 'shed', except that that always makes me think of garden shed so we settled on correct name of exuvium...) on a piece of bark for display purposes <visions of a long row of similarly mounted bits of spider as spiderlings shed every few weeks....> More news as it happens...

Hoping to post the next AC chapter by the end of the weekend. We spent a little time on ICQ earlier clarifying a few details for the arcs in 6, and it should prove quite exciting...

Right - have come to a decision.

The aim is to have the Alliance Chronicles finished by next Yule. AC6 will follow the same pattern as the previous five chronicles, then AC7 will consist basically of a timeline, noting important events over the next 20-odd years, with the occasional 'proper' chapter where warranted. The 'l&L story will make up AC8 - and then there are the final two chapters, the rough drafts of which are already posted but in need of revision/completion.

It's time to start bringing it to a close. It's been wonderful creating it, and I've learned a lot (technique, dialogue, plot, etc) but both Lutra and I are beginning to lose enthusiasm - not to mention that there are other things we want to work on, primarily our original fiction (which is, after all, intended to pay) - and if we don't start working towards the end the whole thing will either fizzle out, or the quality will slide, and I don't want that. It's unfair to the readers.

We do however reserve the right to write Side Stories, should the inspiration strike us!

As for the other unfinished Zone projects... Fugitive was always intended to dovetail with Littlesaru's Shattered Heart at the end, and still could do so, if I ever find the time/inspiration to complete it. At least it's not stuck at a cliffhanger: I could leave it where it is without it causing too much irritation. Silk and Leather could also be left where it is if absolutely necessary, though we'd rather like to finish that one as well, if we can. I really do want to complete Transposition: that's first on the list to be tackled when I can make the time.

I have two more UM ficlets planned, two CCO808 chapters (with another bubbling), and we will be writing the Orial Tales, though we don't know how many yet (possibly three: I like trilogies...) but unless another anime grabs either of us, after that we'll be focussing on the original fiction (or original/anime crossover, as in DarkRealm). Dystopia will continue, although Lutra tells me it does have a definite ending, though how long we take to get there is up to us. And you never know, I might even be able to get back to Greynvoald, Flights and Fancy and Gremlins 2!

But the offsite fiction has to take precedence. I want FirstLight revised and sent off by my birthday - because the second and third books are going to take a lot more work to whip them into shape and I'm becoming very aware of time passing...

[blinks] And chapters 40-44 revised and off as well...

Aaaaaaand the voice goes... [glares at the cheers]

However - F39 is now finished. [GLOMPS Lutra] Thanks, Lutra, for letting me witter at you while I got it sorted! Now it can go off to be read, and I can make a start on revising the next few chapters...

But that'll be later - for now I need a nap. Feel bloody awful, can hardly breathe, and only managed about two hours sleep, on and off, last night (that was after I watched Yami no Matsuei until I couldn't keep my eyes open any more. I think it's safe to say I'd rank it joint best anime I've ever seen, along with Trigun: the complexity and depth is astounding.)

... bleurgh... Have I mentioned how much I hate being ill? Such a waste of time. Still, another 3 days, 4 at most, and I should be OK again...

[Netted at the Pond]

'Plot-spiders'? Most people have plot-bunnies... (I have plot-bunnies - gamboling about the place, digging up the roses, irritating things.) Then of course there's the plot-rhinos, the ones that come rampaging in to trample over every and anything else you're working on currently. ... would you let Bratling keep one of those?

[grins] Plot bunnies just reproduce everywhere. Plot spiders, on the other hand, are far more insidious, weaving webs everywhere to trip up/catch/tangle the unwary traveller, and connect web to web until the whole mindscape is one vast edifice of interlinked, multi-dimensional, labyrinthine matrix (no, not that one, the other one) - and then they reproduce, and their offspring add their own layers of complexity...

Bratling can have a plot rhino if he wants, as long as he keeps it to himself. I have enough trouble with the eight-legged ones that blunder about the webs, accidentally making new connections as they go...

[Trapped at the mousehole]

I really must learn to read things more carefully... It took me several seconds to realise that Kai hadn't actually brought a rhino home from school... >8-!

This was the second 'weird image moment' of the day - at lunchtime Cheryl announced she had a wild mushroom. Cue image of stampeding mushrooms with fangs - before I realised she was talking about the cup-a-soup...

[grins] Nah, Kai knows better than to try that; I wouldn't let him keep it - the garden isn't big enough...

As for the wild mushrooms... visions of a revised Fantasia, with stampeding vampire mushrooms... piranha instead of the fancy fish with the tails... clog dancing house elves instead of frost fairies...

[stops waving hands around manically] Sorry. Got to bed at about 4, was just dropping off at 8 when Kai came in and woke me up. Unlikely to get much sleep over the next few days (always find it difficult with a sore swollen throat and blocked sinuses: tend to wake up unable to breathe and panicking) so will probably spend a bit of the night(s) re-watching anime in Japanese, see if I can pick up any more of the language. No point in wasting time. And as I said to Lutra, if I have to be poorly, I'd rather drown myself in bishies than lie awake in bed feeling miserable... [smirk]

[happy - if snuffly - sigh] OOOOOOH that was good... positively tearful there for a moment near the end... And I'm right, it is Oriya Lutra wants written. Mmm.... lots of space for backstory.... Need to watch it again first though. And check the translations at theria - there's stuff there that wasn't in the anime of which we'll need to be aware.

Um, yes, you did read that right, I did say 'we'....

[growl] .... can't get warm, stomach hurts, throat feels like I've been gargling with barbed wire, head full of cotton wool... Never known it hit so fast...

Maybe it'll go as quickly...

On the plus side, I'm finding I'm actually understanding some of the Japanese in YnM. I suppose this means there must be something to be said for linguistic osmosis.

And on that subject, I'm off to watch the third dvd - though I'm guessing the character Lutra wants written is Mibu Oriya. [drools] Mmmm.... Plot-spiders' spinnerets already in operation. Going to call it Orial Tales (it's a phonemic pun, for anyone tempted to point out that the bird's name is spelt oriel...)

Oriya's seiyuu - Kazuhiko Inoue - also voiced Yuki Eiri (Gravitation)

(Joules, Fount of Miscellaneous and Very Occasionally Useful Information. Wonder what that would be in Japanese...?)

Oh joy, Kai's brought a rhinovirus home with him....

He's fine - but Ken has a sore throat and is snuffling, and my sinuses have started prickling. [growl] I'd have thought I'd be immune by now.

Rapidly coming to the conclusion that creating a CSS table that's succinct and also disabled friendly requires a degree in quantum mechanics.

Or maybe it's just the cold muddying my synapses...

Well, Kai dragged Ken and Quyn off for a walk, so my computer is still on its side, though it's still running cool and quiet so I assume it's OK...

On the plus side, their absence gave me the opportunity to finish AC61p1, which will be posted once I've coded it. I should now be able to stick to my original schedule of one chapter a week.

As for Yami no Matsuei... [contented sigh] It's beautiful, absolutely beautiful . Going to watch the second part tonight, after Kai's gone to bed. (Lutra tells me that the character she wants a story about is on the third dvd. Typical!)

[GLOMPS onna] Thank you.

Right, that's a little more of AC61p1 done (I had to backtrack to check a few details, and got sidetracked into re-reading a few chapters... [sigh] Always nice, but it does rather interrupt the flow...) I'm now going to close down and treat myself to at least the first Yami no Matsuei dvd.

And firmly refuse to think about everything I have outstanding. 'til Monday, at any rate.

[clipped from onna's tree]

My mother's was yesterday (16) and mine, well, the whole world missed it and that is normal for me. Don't you dare send me belated birthday wishes, folks!

[blinks] I assume that my e-card never reached you then. [frowns] That would explain why I didn't get a 'card viewed' message. That's bloody annoying...

Well, if it's any consolation (which it isn't really) Ken starts his next year's worth of medication on my birthday. (Think I'm just going to forget it this year....)

Happy Birthday, rat!

In fact it was only four hours: the transfer is now in progress...

The gift exchange went well: Kai has a couple of things to take apart, I have a new clear-glass bowl for floating candles, and all who turned up seem happy!

New member Richard also very kindly gave us a lift up to Maplins: the heat sink compound was £1.99 - cheap at twice the price! - but they couldn't help with the clip. So we've decided to compromise: we'll open the stack tomorrow (in daylight) and wire the original clip to the remaining eyelets, which will hopefully do the trick.

AC6p1 half written. Hoping to finish it tonight.

And sympathies to you onna - it's always a nightmare when computers go wrong, but to lose so much...

[blinks] Quite how a .org TLD ended up with both a registrar lock and an EPP aithorisation code I have no idea, but eNom have now confirmed they've unlocked the domain and I should be able to transfer it in 12-24 hours (so I'll try in six or so...)

It's the BRISTAL present exchange tomorrow morning: we don't really have anything to exchange this year, but I'll take Kai along anyway, then we'll head off to Maplins afterwards to see what I can sort out for the computer (and check out the second-hand shops up the Gloucester Road while we're at it). First Bus are offering an all-day all-bus ticket at the moment, £2.60 adults, £2.00 for children - a really good deal! Kai loves Maplins.

Then I'm hoping to watch some YnM tomorrow evening...

[growl] The online transfer form returns an error message: Object status prohibits transfer.

Rang UKReg, who confirm that yes, the payment for the transfer has gone through and that whatever is prohibiting it is at eNom's end, not here...

Now waiting for eNom's support centre to get back to me.

Fun fun fun... [sigh] The IAVMT site is ready now (I think) and I'm trying to transfer it. Trying being the operative word. I have four different accounts with four different agencies - eNom, the current (US) Registrars of the domain, UKReg, the Registrar I'm trying to transfer to, xo, the current host, and supanames, the host I want to use - and I'm swimming in passwords, IDs, authorisation codes... I can only access the TwoCows/UKReg transfer form in Netscape (brings up an error page in IE and I'm not going to change my settings just for this), and the page is going to expire before I can get the authorisation code from eNom, I'm sure (damn haddock differences!) Still, this will all be easier next time - unless they change the procedure, which wouldn't surprise me.

In the meantime, I've posted the next UM ficlet (should that read chapter?) in the Zone (that's the other Zone). Yes, I know I was supposed to be tackling other things, but it was quick and easy and made a break...

rat says the 'glue' was actually heat sink compound and it helps transfer heat. It should be creamy so the pasty stuff you have left is not very effective. He says you can get a tube of it at a reasonable price.

That's what Ken thought. Thanks for the info - I'll see if I can pick some up when I look for a replacement clip.

Ken wants a customised error 404 page for the Early Heaven site, and is happy to use the one I added to the WordWrights site. Shouldn't take long...

Went into town today to do the boring stuff... but for the first time I managed to get in an hour and a half before the mutoid lunchtime madness! It was almost pleasant...

No Fake or Demon Diary manga in Forbidden Planet (which doesn't really surprise me) but I have ordered graphic novels from them in the past, so will try again a little closer to my birthday. If not, I'll have to order them online. One way or another I will get both whole series'.

[Caught in Lutra's Pond]

Awww! How cute! The cubs have made dalek costumes for their ham-hams... ^~^

[gets out 'lestrel's mallet and waves threateningly] Yeah, highly appropriate, both species want to take over the world....

On the subject of the fun and games with the computer, Carol emailed to suggest trying the computer repair place in Bedminster, or Maplins up the Gloucester Road. Both are fair bets to have something that would serve, although both are unfortunately quite a way from home and in opposite directions, so I couldn't try both places in one trip (well, not easily anyway). Will try Bedminster first: I can walk there in around an hour (or get two buses, which would cost a lot more and take about as long). As for when - Friday's the earliest I can make the time. (Thanks Carol - I'd forgotten about them!)

I have been told to hurry up and watch YnM: Lutra wants to rave at me about one of the characters in particular. In fact, she wants me to write a story about him (I assume its a him?), and since I promised her a story if she guessed my original name (which she did with depressing ease and great speed) I really must make the time very soon...

Well, after playing pass the parcel with HP (spoke to five different people in total) we discover we can't get the clip we need. They can happily sell us a new heat sink unit (at £35) or a new motherboard (no idea how much that'd be) but a little piece of metal? Not a chance...

Will see if we can find someone who would make it for us, but in the meantime it should be possible to just wire the heat sink in place. Problem with that of course is that we won't be able to put it under as much tension as the clip does. [sigh] Why me?

WAIIII!!!

My parcel from onna arrived! Yami no Matsuei dvds!! [checks feverishly in virtual diary - held in head - for a slot for dvd watching: as you may have gathered, my plan to sit and indulge yesterday went completely to pot...]

[GLOMPS onna] Thank you so much!

I think the delay might have been caused with the sender managing to put United States as the destination, instead of the UK. Probably confused the hell out of the postal service!

The latest films go off to be developed today, so with a bit of luck I can post some pics here in a few days...

Well, the emailed answer from HP was pretty much as expected - technical support can't help because it's a hardware issue, advised me not to use the machine until the repair had been effected (heh, like that's an option! But then, they would say that wouldn't they?), and referred us to the sales and support team we contacted last time when the poor floppy drive died after me sitting here every evening for - a week? - transferring files from the old computer to my new one via floppy. (The old one will no longer take a CD writer. It's a long, long, grim story and I will never buy anything from PC World again.....) Must have been something in the region of 500 floppy transfers, the discs reused over and over again: some of the larger files I uploaded to the site via dialup then downloaded to the new machine via broadband... oh, the fun I've had with computers in the past! Anyway, the team were very good and very fast last time, so hopefully can be the same this time.

On the plus side, I uploaded the IAVMT site to a test directory on Wordwrights so I could run it through Bobby to check for disabled accessibility issues. I'm really rather chuffed with the result: had to make three minor tweaks to the mainframe/navbar/index2 and it then passed the first level of accessibility! (Means I can display a certificate on the site stating it's disabled friendly.) That's not at all bad given how tricky it is to make tables accessible, and the fact that I have no training in this at all - all self-taught and hand-coded... If I want to spend a couple of hours reading up on some of the finer points of structural markup and table hierarchy I think I can make it accessible to level 2 (there are three Bobby levels in total). [grins] I like the sense of achievement. Not to mention that there aren't that many people with WAI coding skills around at the moment, and with disabled accessibility laws coming in in October...

So there I was, in the middle of what I think was a rather nice dream, when Ken wakes me up to tell me - gently, luckily - that my computer has died...

Kai had been playing with Smith (his virtual Red Kneed Tarantula), when they smelt something electrical burning - then the machine just stopped dead. Ken immediately unplugged it, and the pair of them came up in fear and trepidation to break the news.

So we opened it up, laid it on its side, took out the lower fan chute and had a look - to find that the processor's heat sink had come loose and fallen onto the underside of the board below it. We took it out and had a good look, only to find that one of the eyelets that hold down the clip that holds it in place was missing. And I do think it was actually missing, rather than just broken off, as the place it should be is perfectly smooth and there's no sign of the little eyelet in the guts of the machine. Which means that the heat sink has been attached in place for the last two years solely by the gooey stuff on the back...

I'm not impressed. We bought Hewlett Packard because we like their ethics, and have always trusted their products, and to have this happen... The clip itself is unusable: the two little arms that hold it down are in the wrong position for the remaining three eyelets. So I'm sitting here, scrunched up against the side of my desk, with the stack on its side (the heat sink is just resting in place at the moment) - hardly ideal, though at least the machine is working (and I got to dig all the dust and gunk out of the fan, something I'm supposed to do far more often than I actually manage...) We now have the fun of trying to get a replacement, mirror image clip from HP - or failing that, finding a metalworker who can make one for us; it's a small thing, and hardly complicated.

[growl] You only realise how much the computer is your life-support when faced with the prospect of not having it. I'm just grateful the solution turned out to be so much less catastrophic than it could have been. Fingers crossed nothing else happens!

Loan pt 3 and the very short UM short Interlude - Consolation now posted. I need to take a look at F39, tackle a short Butcher (character from Purgatory) introspective piece, and see if I can get some more of AC6p1 done, later. Need a nap first though, perhaps while the spuds are baking.

[happy sigh] Kai had some emails to write - and Ken was organising a spider photo-shoot with his camera and tripod - so I settled down to watch Interstella 5555... It's wonderful, intriguing plot, gorgeous animation, beautiful graphics, and five fabulous characters just begging to have their stories told...

[is flattened by A'lestrel wielding an enormous mallet]

[snarl] Don't even think about it, ningen! You have mine and Lutra's story to finish first, and the Alliance Chronicles, and you've left Yuuzen and Choichan hanging. And what about Transposition? And Fugitive? And the shenanigans in the UM series you managed to start, baka? And that's without even mentioning Haadri! [thwap] You DON'T start anything new until you've finished at least one of those, you hear me? [snarl glare]

[rubs head, uncrosses eyes] Uncontrollable alter-egos - who needs 'em?

Moving swiftly on (before he hits me again)...

I'm getting to be a dab hand at catching crickets without squashing them (for Rosa, that is). And now Kai has a virtual [29.4.14 - site no longer exists] Red Kneed Tarantula called Smith, as well. [sigh] It needs almost as much care as the real thing (except that you can resurrect it if it dies - neat trick if you can swing it!) At the moment we only have the evaluation version, but at only $9.99 and given how much Kai likes it, I can see us registering it in the immediate future (i.e. when the 14 free plays run out. Tomorrow probably...). It runs on Windows 95, so we'll be able to load it onto Kai's computer once we have the full version.

Kai has also started preparing a webpage for himself, learning how to code and enjoying it [grins proudly]. We may be buying him his own domain for his birthday!

Heh, better get back to it before I get thwapped again....

OK - that's Loan pt 3 finished: can't really post until Lutra's read it, though. [wonder how many people would like an Alexei backstory...]

Am also half-way through Courtship - the next UM short - and a page into AC6pt1, but everything's such an effort at the moment (so bloody tired all the time) I can't see me having the AC chapter done by tomorrow night, dammit...

Pruned my mane earlier. There's so much white in it now the top (short) bit looks positively silvery in the light.

2003 was a hard year.

Hmm... dark, gothic, multi-layered, introspective - Darkside Blues requires considerable attention for it to make sense (and even then it helps to know a little about the story before watching it). The graphics are beautiful, the sound track fine, and the animation very good: the characters are intriguing (though it would have been nice to learn a little more about them), the violent scenes believably nasty, the humour dry, and the Darkside sequences dreamlike and vaguely disorientating. Worth waiting eight years for? Oh yes - for me, at any rate, though if your taste is for fluffiness you won't like the film.

Next time I'll watch the subbed version - and it might be interesting to keep an eye out for the manga, too...

[blinks] ... housework? I spent the afternoon doing housework?!

Well, not really, unless you call clearing out the kitchen cupboards housework - more like demolition the way I tackle it. But we have lots of space now, all the stuff that hadn't been used in a year has been ditched (resourcesaver or charity) and everything is within reach. Nice!

Watching Darkside Blues when Kai goes to bed...

I did a little more of Loan pt 3, but the heart wasn't really in it, so I tried another oekaki - Okami, for Lutra (one of her original characters in Dystopia, in the Darkside). It hasn't worked as well as I wanted - my hand started shaking half-way through (too much coding this last couple of days, I suppose) and I lost full control of the pen, so had to finish it quickly. Also I have no idea how light falls on fabrics: that's something I'll have to learn. But his expression is almost right!

I gave in to temptation earlier and read the first of the Demon Diary mangas... ye gods... (well, demons anyway) - Eclipse... [drool] Strong contender for most gorgeous bishie ever and I'm wondering if I dare import him into the DarkRealm or if I'd be disintegrated for even thinking about it...

Love the name, too. Thinking of borrowing it as a nick - not that there's any resemblance between Eclipse and myself, unfortunately, but it's kind of apt for me.

Bloody headache still won't shift...

... stole some minutes from the Time Daemons to read Fake. Hooked. [happy sigh] Knew I would be. [growl] JJ has to be the most slappable bitch I've come across in... in... longer than I can remember....

Erk! Time Daemons want their minutes back... Off to do penance...

Headache... [snarl] f*%$ing Dreamweaver! I've had to uninstall it, kept overwriting my styles.css docs - and all my other non-standard web documents all over my hard drive - even when instructed not to. Bloody aggressive software! It's taken me an extra hour to get the IAVMT site re-coded... Heh, I've never even used Dreamweaver, just had it sitting on the drive waiting for me to find time to check it out. I'll stick to hand coding everything, at least that way I have control...

Site's finished and looking OK. Awaiting emails back with replies to a handful of questions I need answering before I can finish the job.

AAAAAAND..... [bouncing off the walls] a parcel arrived from Windlily today... Lots of gorgeous bubbly bathroom pampering type stuff, a selection of differently flavoured cocoa drinks, a variety taco pack, a wooden box of lime tea... And... [blissful sigh] the first Fake manga, four volumes of Demon Diary manga (never heard of it but the bishies are some of the most beautiful I've ever seen...) AND Darkside Blues on DVD!! [I'd squeak except I don't do squeaks - will an ecstatic growl do instead?] I've wanted to see this for eight years - you can't get it over here and I've never managed to find a way to afford/order it over the 'net...

Have decided to take next Monday off (barring, as ever, any other crises) for me to watch my Yule DVD's and indulge in some good old-fashioned self-indulgent drooling...
[GLOMPS Windlily - the iridescent Dragon of the Centre...]

What a way to brighten up January!

Sometimes it's useful having a suspicious mind. Although AVG didn't pick it up, an odd email arrived this morning. A quick check of Grisoft found a small update: a complete virus scan found two viruses the email had dropped onto my system... now deleted, of course.

One last page of the IAVMT site to code and the basics are done, then I just need to spend an hour tweaking and it'll be ready to upload.

We watched the first two eps of Tremors the series on the Sci-Fi Channel last night. It's a fun thing to have playing in the background, but I can't see us getting addicted...

Back to it.

[groan] Went to bed early (well, 3 am is early...) - then when the alarm went off at 7 Ken switched on his light. Which is very bright. Unfortunately I was facing it at the time...

Still, I suppose I have a start on the day. Took Kai to school, loped off to Tesco to shop, put a machine wash through... Problem is I'm knackered, and can't do anything about it until my hair has dried after my shower. Ah well.

Letter arrived from the UBHT re: Kai's neuro appointment - I have to ring them to arrange it, which I'll do tomorrow.

What next? Could carry on with the IAVMT re-coding (though I'd rather wait til after I've had a nap - I'll be more awake to tackle the data tables), finish F39, or continue with the three chapters I currently have on the go (UM, AC6, Loan 3). Or try another oekaki - promised Lutra I'd have a go at Shinju and Okami... Oh, decisions, decisions...

Suprisingly productive day. Pursuit (latest UM PWP) coded and uploaded (with a wonderful Rhandi Mask pic as illustration), as is Lutra's Change, the latest Dystopia chapter. And I'm half-way through re-coding the IAVMT website (got distracted by Carol emailing the link to What if the Lord of the Rings had been written by someone else? [29.4.14 - site gone...] site - check out the DBZ one, it's perfect!) and hopefully should have that finished and ready to upload by tomorrow evening. Then I just have to transfer it from xo.com (who in their infinite wisdom - or should that read incompetence? - have posted a form to allow you to email them questions, which has a UK option, but won't allow you to put a UK postcode in the obligatory zip/postal code section and therefore won't let me send the email...) to supanames.co.uk.

Kim came over to drop off some clothes for Kai today, stayed for coffee and admired Rosa. Kim says although she never thought she'd say it of a spider, Rosa's cute! [grins] She (Rosa that is, not Kim) is trying to dig a burrow at the back of the tank, close to the heat mat; not sure why, we've provided her with a bark hide... Have to check the books tomorrow and see what they say.

AC6pt1 now started! Hoping to have that posted at the weekend...

[hides under the desk] Waiting for Ulysses 31 (now on at 10.30 on Fox Kids, so I can catch it without it clashing with anything), and a trailer for Power Rangers Ninja Storm was shown... Hamtaro in a robe giving orders... the horror, the horror....

[growl] OK, so that was a dead loss...

Didn't have a nap yesterday, and come 11 pm I was grinding to a halt. So I went to bed, fell asleep immediately - and woke up again at 4.15. Tried to get back to sleep - couldn't. So eventually I gave up and came down...

The annoying thing is that if I'd got up when I woke up, I'd have had three hours creative time: as it is, the alarm will go off in half an hour and I may as well take Kai into school, give Ken a lie-in...

Think I'll stick to my previous (heh) 'routine' and have a nap later...

I can't decide whether it's sad or nice when the decorations come down. It's nice to get back to what passes for normal, but they did make the house look pretty...

Loan pt 2 now coded and uploaded: will try to finish Pursuit tonight.

[Transplanted from Talon's Nursery]:

*points* I blame Joules...she's always complaining (well, not really complaining...griping...bitching...*hides*) about the lack of Zarbon ficage.

[blinks] Hn. And there I thought I was being quite restrained about it all... Will look forward to the fic!

As for rest... plenty of time to rest when I'm dead. Until my next life, that is.

I am so tired... I'm really not functioning at all effectively at the moment. Which wasn't helped by having a spider day today: Kai wanted to watch the two B movie spider films we bought on spec for Xmas. Spider and Spider 2: Breeding Ground. Truly awful...

Rosa was out exploring her tank again, and I took a couple more photos earlier. Fingers crossed they come out OK.

... it's no good, I can't keep my eyes open - have to have an early night. Sorry, onna - I'll get back to you tomorrow...

Heh - fun! Writing some Devon/Cloudie dialogue with Lutra for her next Dystopia chapter while working on my next Alexei and Trey chapter...

[Joules] Alexei made the mistake of showing Trey an old photo, of him (Alexei) with long hair...
[Lutra] ROFL!!
(as in my oekaki pic) and now Trey nags about it - wants Alexei to grow his hair out again.
LOLOLOL!! bloody charas with minds of their own!
... gotta love 'em for it...
LOL! that or lock 'em up in a cupboard somewhere
[blinks] that's a very bad idea!
yerrss, they'd just get fractious.
...imagine what they'd get up to.... and it would take forever to write the lemons...

Hoping to have Loan pt 2 ready to post by the end of the weekend...

[bemused blink] It's not every day you get to go home with a live tarantula in your handbag...

Well, shoulder bag actually, but you know what I mean. Rosa is in her tank (currently exploring her - we hope it's a her, impossible to tell when they're spiderlings, apparently - new home) and Kai is overjoyed - his first words at the shop were "Oh, she's beautiful!" And actually she is rather pretty: the hairs on her legs are a delicate pale rose-pink. She's about one and a half inches long at the moment. I've taken a photo, though I'm not sure how well it'll come out without the flash: might be able to tweak in PS. Will post it here if it's any good.

And in other news... started Loan pt 2, and Pursuit, and am hoping to complete at least one of them tonight. If I don't fall asleep...

And yes, thanks, Lutra, I will be working on FL again, from Monday onwards, but I need the weekend to try to unwind. It's been quite hectic this last couple of weeks!

OK - all seems to be working fine again, though I'm too tired to do anything about it.

Tarantula day today, all things being equal...

This is ridiculous! When I try to look at a blog - any blog - I'm taken straight back to the login page. Even if I try to view blog here. Yet I'm able to update and post... I've checked my security settings and as far as I can see I haven't disallowed any necessary cookies... Have emailed Blogger for advice.

It's been a lovely day. Carol and Adrian arrived around 2pm, we ate and talked and watched X-Men and X-Men 2, then Lord of the Dance while we played Scrabble (I've only ever played Scrabble twice before and both times gave up as my mind went blank. Worked out that was probably because there's maths involved... numbers...! But once I'd understood that it was a lot easier to play.) Ken and I won, too!

But not the second game, first thing in the New Year - I came bottom of the four of us. Will need to get more practise.

Normally we'd have the TV screening, but it rather looks like all the tech staff set the tapes going and buggered off to a party: most of the cable channels simply weren't working, and of the ones that were, they blinked out every few seconds and we had no sound at all, all night. And it wasn't the TV, because all the videos and DVDs we played were fine... I imagine there's going to be a lot of angry people ringing them up over the next few days.

Unfortunately it's also killed my email facility: I can't send or receive at the moment, and there's a fair chance that won't change until Jan 2^nd. And just to really cheer me up, blogger is playing silly buggers too - I can't access anyone's blog. Even my own. So when you'll get to read this is anyone's guess...

Not the most propitious start to the New Year.

I'm desperately tired and need to get to bed very soon, but here's wishing us all the very best for 2004: health, happiness and the fulfilment of dreams...