So. Where was I? Where am I? The weekends whir by so quick at the moment it's difficult to keep up! 
Weddings
Following my step-brothers wedding in South London on August Bank holiday I had another wedding do the following weekend up in Nottingham. The groom was former SGUK member fpkk, and this time the event was rather more humorous and unconventional. The day started well when we rocked into the pub near Basford Registry Office to be told they didn't serve wine. The service itself was short if you blinked you missed it and everyone made a quick beeline for the pub (a different one) on the other side of town for the party, which had possibly the largest buffet I'd ever seen. The groom had pre-mixed the entire evening's set on his ipod (I think he spent more time on that than he did on the rest of the wedding combined) and we were treated to a variety of mash-ups including Guns & Roses vs the Beatles, and The Prodigy vs. The A-Team. The couple's first dance was a choreographed sing-a-long to a Bloodhound Gang song (I forget which one). Comedy (and rage) ensued with the bride's makeshift chocolate fondue fountain exploded spraying an arc of warm sludge over several metres. After the pub kicked us out the bride and groom invited everyone back to their flat for more beer and inane arguments about god-knows-what until about 3am in the morning.
Illness
The day after the wedding was also when my cough started. Not quite sure how it came about, but likely standing outside in the freezing cold surrounded by people smoking huge cigars probably didn't help. Took regular drugs for two weeks to no avail so I went to see the GP. He concluded I had some kind of proper throat infection and so I needed proper drugs. Took those for another week and started getting all phlegmy. The proper drugs ran out so I went back to normal drugs. Two weeks later I think it's finally started to shift. About bloody time if you ask me. It wasn't so bad that i could have cried off and stayed in bed, but soldiering on in spide of it has made the last five weeks pretty miserable *sighs*
Gaming
A couple of weeks ago I was invited up to Game Workshop Games Day at the Birmingham NEC to help demo the new Warhammer card game for Fantasy Flight Publishing. Was a pretty exhausting day and what little I saw of the show seemed pretty rubbish. We should have had ten times the number of tables and we still would have been in huge demand. Got free entry though, and the ltd. edition mini has already gone on ebay for a fair sum
Also scored a free copy of Dawn of War II, although the WIndows Live! game checks are lame as it means I can't play the bloody game if I'm not online, tsk 
More Gaming
September also marked the Southern Regional event for the Isles of Darkness (formerly the Camarilla) LRP group. After foolishly volunteering to run their London game, I even more foolishly agreed to run the Friday night game at the Southern. First game of the weekend, with nearly 100 players - also the highest attendance of the weekend. Needless to say I was rather apprehensive about it going ok. Thankfully it did, I had the rest of the weekend to NPC and laze around in bed. The venue was a lovely abbey house near Huntingdon and the local pub was pretty damn good. Top weekend (despite coughing throughout).
With the Southern out of the way the last couple of weeks have been devoted to trying whip another LRP into shape. This time it's a one-off freeform affair set in Ancient Rome written by me and a couple of friends that we'll be running for a load more mutual friends in Derby this coming weekend. I've been busy spraying cheap pocker chips gold and silver to use as coins and we've concocted an 'influence' system so that different people can try and control (or bump off) members of the Senate. Should be a laugh, although with three days to go and still so much to do once again I'm a little apprehensive. Some beer and some board games between now and then should take my mind off it though...
Film & TV
With so much going on it's been difficult to spare much time to hit the cinema. I saw District 9, which was pretty awesome, although a little rough around the edges. Otherwise I've been trying to dig through my to-watch pile of DVDs at home.
Cursed was a pretty tawdry effort for Wes Craven, while Candyman Collector's Edition stands up to time pretty well. The original Spanish language REC is pretty gripping, and no doubt tons better than the US remake (which I haven't yet seen). Troy Director's Cut was a much better experience than my recollections of the original cinematic version, although its pacing was still off, and the dialogue was still somewhat ponderous. Intolerable Cruelty was the Coen Brothers on form, and which only goes to prove that IMHO lately they've been off their game. Speed Racer was surprisingly good, and the visuals were really stunning - I'm sad now that I missed it on the big screen. The Thirteenth Floor was a straight-to-DVD affair that offered a surprisingly complex and intriguing story (which I won't spoil in case you ever get to see it).
On TV I'm glad to see that Fringe has started again on Sky, and that's it's focusing more on the bonkers story arc than the old grisly murder/experiment of the week format. I've seen the first few episodes of Flash Forward too, which while slightly contrived have so far been entertaining. I missed the beginning of Stargate Universe - everyone keeps saying it's brilliant, although to me it just seems like a bastard ripoff lovechild of Star Trek Voyager and Battlestar Galactica. Looking forward to season 2 of Dollhouse when it starts on Sci-Fi UK next Tuesday.
That's it for now (I think)!
Weddings
Following my step-brothers wedding in South London on August Bank holiday I had another wedding do the following weekend up in Nottingham. The groom was former SGUK member fpkk, and this time the event was rather more humorous and unconventional. The day started well when we rocked into the pub near Basford Registry Office to be told they didn't serve wine. The service itself was short if you blinked you missed it and everyone made a quick beeline for the pub (a different one) on the other side of town for the party, which had possibly the largest buffet I'd ever seen. The groom had pre-mixed the entire evening's set on his ipod (I think he spent more time on that than he did on the rest of the wedding combined) and we were treated to a variety of mash-ups including Guns & Roses vs the Beatles, and The Prodigy vs. The A-Team. The couple's first dance was a choreographed sing-a-long to a Bloodhound Gang song (I forget which one). Comedy (and rage) ensued with the bride's makeshift chocolate fondue fountain exploded spraying an arc of warm sludge over several metres. After the pub kicked us out the bride and groom invited everyone back to their flat for more beer and inane arguments about god-knows-what until about 3am in the morning.
Illness
The day after the wedding was also when my cough started. Not quite sure how it came about, but likely standing outside in the freezing cold surrounded by people smoking huge cigars probably didn't help. Took regular drugs for two weeks to no avail so I went to see the GP. He concluded I had some kind of proper throat infection and so I needed proper drugs. Took those for another week and started getting all phlegmy. The proper drugs ran out so I went back to normal drugs. Two weeks later I think it's finally started to shift. About bloody time if you ask me. It wasn't so bad that i could have cried off and stayed in bed, but soldiering on in spide of it has made the last five weeks pretty miserable *sighs*
Gaming
A couple of weeks ago I was invited up to Game Workshop Games Day at the Birmingham NEC to help demo the new Warhammer card game for Fantasy Flight Publishing. Was a pretty exhausting day and what little I saw of the show seemed pretty rubbish. We should have had ten times the number of tables and we still would have been in huge demand. Got free entry though, and the ltd. edition mini has already gone on ebay for a fair sum
Also scored a free copy of Dawn of War II, although the WIndows Live! game checks are lame as it means I can't play the bloody game if I'm not online, tsk More Gaming
September also marked the Southern Regional event for the Isles of Darkness (formerly the Camarilla) LRP group. After foolishly volunteering to run their London game, I even more foolishly agreed to run the Friday night game at the Southern. First game of the weekend, with nearly 100 players - also the highest attendance of the weekend. Needless to say I was rather apprehensive about it going ok. Thankfully it did, I had the rest of the weekend to NPC and laze around in bed. The venue was a lovely abbey house near Huntingdon and the local pub was pretty damn good. Top weekend (despite coughing throughout).
With the Southern out of the way the last couple of weeks have been devoted to trying whip another LRP into shape. This time it's a one-off freeform affair set in Ancient Rome written by me and a couple of friends that we'll be running for a load more mutual friends in Derby this coming weekend. I've been busy spraying cheap pocker chips gold and silver to use as coins and we've concocted an 'influence' system so that different people can try and control (or bump off) members of the Senate. Should be a laugh, although with three days to go and still so much to do once again I'm a little apprehensive. Some beer and some board games between now and then should take my mind off it though...
Film & TV
With so much going on it's been difficult to spare much time to hit the cinema. I saw District 9, which was pretty awesome, although a little rough around the edges. Otherwise I've been trying to dig through my to-watch pile of DVDs at home.
Cursed was a pretty tawdry effort for Wes Craven, while Candyman Collector's Edition stands up to time pretty well. The original Spanish language REC is pretty gripping, and no doubt tons better than the US remake (which I haven't yet seen). Troy Director's Cut was a much better experience than my recollections of the original cinematic version, although its pacing was still off, and the dialogue was still somewhat ponderous. Intolerable Cruelty was the Coen Brothers on form, and which only goes to prove that IMHO lately they've been off their game. Speed Racer was surprisingly good, and the visuals were really stunning - I'm sad now that I missed it on the big screen. The Thirteenth Floor was a straight-to-DVD affair that offered a surprisingly complex and intriguing story (which I won't spoil in case you ever get to see it).
On TV I'm glad to see that Fringe has started again on Sky, and that's it's focusing more on the bonkers story arc than the old grisly murder/experiment of the week format. I've seen the first few episodes of Flash Forward too, which while slightly contrived have so far been entertaining. I missed the beginning of Stargate Universe - everyone keeps saying it's brilliant, although to me it just seems like a bastard ripoff lovechild of Star Trek Voyager and Battlestar Galactica. Looking forward to season 2 of Dollhouse when it starts on Sci-Fi UK next Tuesday.
That's it for now (I think)!
VIEW 9 of 9 COMMENTS
I've just added to my journal to point out that I don't really think that parents who smack are "monsters", it's just that the attack I saw was so vicious I can't help but start ranting about it.