stitch witchery

So I went to Cornwall at the beginning of September. It was absolutely lovely despite the weather and I had a surprisingly nice time sharing a cramped caravan with my sister, dad and gran.

( Pics! )

I know this has been forever.........but I finally finished a book!

( The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet )

A few months ago explodedpen recced me this book. I say recced. She pulled her kindle out while we were on a tram and told me to read the first chapter. So I did. And I was intrigued.

And then last week I found the book in a charity shop. It was fate. Or something. Either way I read most of it in about three days, which is the quickest I've read a book in a long time. And it was really, really good! Without going too much into detail, it's character driven, the worldbuilding is gorgeous and I want to read the sequel already. Which I can't for a little while, because life. Bah.

But I can finally mark something off the bingo card! (Yay!)

I promised fififolle a tutorial on screencapping. It's not exhaustive and definitely not the only way to do it. But it's how I do it, and it works for me, hopefully it will work for you and anyone else who wants to give this a try :D

If something doesn't make sense, let me know!

( Cut to spare flists )

So a few weeks ago I listed some DVDs on ebay. Two of them were won by the same person... who has so far failed to pay, despite telling me he would today due to unforseen circumstances. I've resent the invoice and I'm now wondering how much longer I should leave it til raining hellfire on his feedback score and via ebay itself. I'm easy going but there are limits. Rargh.

In somewhat happier news I mnanaged to joint a bear myself yesterday (it took some doing). Going to finish the face tonight so it no longer looks like a Fringe event. Seriously digging the blue fur though.

Still suffering from writers' block. Or it's probably apathy. I'm just not enthused about anything, even the couple of WIPs floating around. Maybe I just need a new show to fire me up... any suggestions?

(And this new posting box thing is seriously annoying.)

K at work brought in a teeny tiny teddy bear that she made from scraps of fabric.

( So I took a photo. )

How is that not the most adorable thing ever?!

Also, Criminal Minds: Whatever happened to produce this week's episode, kindly do so again as many times as you like. That was the single best episode I've seen from you in a loooooooooong time :D

I have finally watched the final season of Spooks.

...it may have broken me just a tiny bit.

I haven't updated this thing in ages, so here goes.

Work: Meh. There were a couple of recent major cock-ups (none of which were our fault but we're the ones suffering for it, financially speaking) but otherwise it's been business as usual.

TV: Dull. Most of the US summer/cable shows I watch have been... flat. Samey. Predictable. I could easily drop most of them and not be bothered. That said, I recently (finally) started watching Grimm and I. Love. It. I'm midway through the first season and I've got about half a dozen more-or-less fully fledged plot bunnies on the go, most of which revolve around isolating Nick and putting him through every wringer imaginable. Very good times :D

Life & Other Things: My sister is staying with me this week while she's got early work shifts, and it's anything but dull with her around. Avengers marathon tonight \o/ Her first viewing of any of the Marvel films.

...Whoa, that's Amanda Righetti at the end of Captain America. Looks almost unrecognisable in 1940s getup!

What else? I'm getting blinds up in my kitchen and bathroom after almost 3 years of being in the flat! Batons are going up next week and I want to alter the blinds to go up asap. Oh what an exciting life I do lead.

We've just started on Avengers. This'll be a fun ride :D

So a few weeks ago I went along to a bear workshop my mum ran. It wasn't my first choice of how to spend a Saturday but that's what ended up happening.

As it happened, I had an awesome time.

( I even photo-documented the making process. Sliiightly image heavy. )

I haven't updated this thing in a little while. Not that there's been a whole lot to update about, hehe. Work's the same old unpredictable mix of mind numbing standing-around-doing-naff-all and manic crazy back breaking labour. I've taken to bringing my netbook in with me most days so I can poke at fic during the dry spells.

I've got myself a smartphone! It's a nifty little thing, if somewhat confusing. Lucky for me I also have teenage sisters who are happy to show me how things like twitter and smartphones in general work. I'm mostly chuffed I've found an e-reader that a) will let me import my own files rather than having to buy them and b) not encourage me to overshare my reading habits with the world at large.

And I've been slowly chipping away at my writer's block. Very, very slowly.

And that's it... that's it? Too much time spent playing games and gorging on Avengers fic, clearly! (Glorious fun, would definitely go to see it again!)

I've finally changed my LJ layout! I needed a change of scenery, and while this isn't exactly what I want, it's close enough for now. It's basically been way too long since I've tried to do anything with CSS.

Off to play with graphics now! And make a better journal header...