An Early Christmas Present
Haha, every time I write an entry this interface gets more fiddly XD. LJ, flashy extras before core functionality eh?
I'm gonna yet again make some effort to be concise here, fully aware that I may and probably will fail, but hey, better chances if I try than not, right? Anyway, I've got 3 things to share, 2 opening acts and then the main event.
First off, life's been pretty crazy for me, as always, since around about the end of September. The heart of this is my final year of university, but a load of other stuff came up as well with excellent choreography and timing to make things harder than they need to be XD. I can't say it's been fun, but I haven't face-planted over any hurdles yet, and aside from my course stuff seems to have mostly settled down for now. To anyone who reads this that I haven't been in regular contact with, well, that's why, and I'm sorry. I really look forwards to some kind of stability where I can regularly keep in touch with people, I want to, but it seems like I'm always fending off people wanting to kick my out of my house, cut off my income and kick my dog. On the bright side I've almost finished my first semester of this year of university, after which is only one more. I've really put a lot into this course, and although I'm not sure about how I'll do, really, it'll be good to get to the end, and have some true freedom from all of the chaos and worry. Just 6 or so more months...
Although the last few months have been mostly a slave labour to things like uni, I did manage to squeeze out one thing for myself (ignoring my course's qualification here as I haven't got that yet). There's this annual event called NaNo WriMo, which stands for National Novel Writers Month, I believe. It's a free and voluntary event, online-based so it's also international despite the name, and it's really popular. Basically, starting November 1st and finishing on the 30th, you have to write a 50,000+ word novel. That's all there is to it. 1,667 words a day is the going rate. I heard about it from a friend a while back, but didn't try until this year, as even though I thought I could do it I hear (truthfully so) that only a sliver of the people who try manage, and I didn't feel ready to be part of that minority. This year, despite everything, my life feels more organised, so I went for it. Long story short (hehe), I won ^^! Over 50,000 words in a month, hahaha, first time and I did it! Just once I wanted to be able to say I beat NaNo, and I can, so I'm really glad for that. Besides winning it, I now have a 50k novel (52k to be exact). Because of the time-attack nature of NaNo, what you often end up with is more of a first draft than a polished, finished product, so that's what I have. I'm gonna revise it into a more solid work in my spare time, but once I have I plan to post it up here, broken into chapters as it is, just if anyone's interested. I'll make another entry when it's ready, hehehe.
That's the first thing, a bit wordier than I predicted, but hey. Doo-dah number 2 next. Basically a while back, I forget quite how long ago now, I visited a friend of mine, Craig or Shadowscythe as he's known online, with or without the C. I was over there for a few days, we had a really fun time and it's just the kinda thing I'd write about in my LJ, but at the time I had so much going on I never found the time and energy to sit down and do so once I got back. So honourable mention and thanks to Sythe, I enjoyed the going out to club-like places, the gaming and meeting your friends, plus of course just spending time with you buddy ^^.
Hehehe, and now the main entry. Mirroring the above mention, someone came to visit me recently. Her name's Laura, and I'm not sure of the exact month, but I met her about April or so this year, and we became really close friends. Although I try not to complain about it a lot, I do find all the stuff I go through draining, and she's taking on a university course as well, plus no one's life is perfect, so for a good while we'd been discussing the idea of us meeting up for real, cus we tend to pick each other up well talking online and generally have fun, and it would be even more awesome to do it in person. Heheheh, long story short, we finally did it ^^.
Laura came down on Friday the 19th by coach, which took about 7 hours but was loads cheaper than going by train, and we're both students so, heheh, yeah XD. She got up really early to leave in the morning, her coach pulled in around about 4pm here to give an idea, I gotta thank her for doing that so we could spend more time together, thanks Laura :). I'd put a heart there but I'm afraid LJ will eat it, with the pointy bracket thing and all XD.
Heheh, anyway, I headed to Victoria Coach Station to meet her. Her coach was about 15 minutes late, which I'm kinda grateful for in one way, since it did give me time to get over the butterflies in my stomach. Eventually it came though, and we met up. She was tired from the early rise and stuffy trip, and had bags with her, so the first thing we really did was go back to my place via the underground (train). Laura told me afterwards that she was kinda overwhelmed, being so tired and having to travel so far via train, with her bags and lots of other people and having just met me, and I really sympathise with that. I'm kinda gutted that it takes so long to get from most places that people arrive in London at to my home XD. Eventually we got back though, and we spent the rest of the day more or less relaxing at my place, getting comfortable with each other and enjoying some things you can do without going out. We ordered pizza, because I love pizza and she's a fan too, so we spoiled ourselves on this massive order with side dishes and stuff, unbridled indulgence, it was awesome. Laura had also brought a game I got for her birthday and sent to her via mail, she hadn't had time to play it yet due to university but she finally did with me watching. She really liked it, plus I got to watch her enjoy it in person, 2 things I am so so glad for :). We did some other stuff as well, including cuddling, because hugging rocks, and that was probably my favourite thing of all ^^.
On Saturday we awoke and feasted on leftover pizza and Pepsi Max, and as I said to her, though there are far more expensive luxuries in life, I genuinely believe starting your day in such a way is one of the best simple joys there are to know in this world. She enjoyed it too, which made it even better ^^.
I'm gonna be snazzy and start a new paragraph for actually leaving the house. Laura had brought a bunch of 2 for 1 offers with her, from the company she got her coach tickets from, so we could go to various tourist attractions in central London together for the price of one :D. One thing she had really expressed an interest in was the London Dungeons exhibit, so we went there first. I'm not normally hugely into these kinda things, like I would enjoy them but I'd usually have a bit more fun with say, a good book or computer game, but honestly, however it may sound, going there with her made it totally worth it XD. The, hehe, decorum I guess you could call it, and the sounds and music playing set a good mood, and they had actors too, it was quite an immersive tour, we really had a fun time together there ^^. At the gift shop we got some things, notably a toy stuffed rat from her to me as a Christmas gift (a black one, it's meant to be a plague rat XD), and I got her a towel with a recipe for something by Sweeney Todd, which Laura really loved the movie of, as a Christmas present to her ^^.
After we left there, we got approached by this guy that was genuinely 7 foot 2 inches tall, in costume and giving away 2 for 1 offers to promote another nearby attraction, I forget exactly what it was but it had a similar history and horror trend to it XD. I was really tempting, and both of us would have liked to go, but in the end we didn't find the time. Laura kept the leaflet with the offer though, so who knows, maybe there'll be a next time and we'll go then ^^.
Anyways, the reason we turned down that attraction is we wanted to go on a cruise, and we did. Ever since I was a kid I've loved boat and ferry rides, I could try and explain why but for the sake of conciseness I'll just say that I really really do XD. I also like bridges, as it happens, heheh, thought I'd share that while I was at it, since this cruise we went on went under some bridges crossing the river Thames (that's the really big one in London). It was more or less sunset by now and we only just caught one of the last cruises, but we made it and it was so much fun ^^. We started out near Big Ben and the London Eye, that gigantic ferris wheel. Laura really likes Big Ben, from when she visited London once as a kid and saw it, so she had a great time taking photos of it and some other things as we cruised down the river. I took a few shots too, although she was better at it, but I think I improved a bit thanks to the practice, heheh :D. I honestly loved that cruise, I have a really hard time picking, but it might come in second to the hugging for favourite thing we did, I love boats and Laura got so into taking pictures, it was a great experience ^^.
After we got off the cruise we had a KFC, then went back home. Laura had brought her laptop with her, and she had a few episodes of shows she likes on it. We watched the first ever X-Files episode as well as a couple of her personal picks, and I've always thought X-Files was cool and interesting but I never really managed to make the dedication to follow it, so it was supremely enjoyable to lie together and do that, I really wasn't let down, it rocked XD. Eventually we got to bed, and uh... Oh yeah, on the way back we bought a bottle of chocolate milk. That stuff was gorgeous, hahahah, I have it every now and then as a treat, and Laura loved it too, mmmmm the indulgence.
Hehe, so, Sunday XD. I gave Laura the last of the chocolate milk, which if I'm any judge went down well ^^, and we eventually got out the door to do more stuff. First up was the Science Museum, which has the benefit of being free, and we didn't manage to see all of it but we still checked out a good portion and had fun, we started with a ride on a simulator, kinda like a virtual reality roller coaster, it was kickass XD. After that we went to the London Aquarium, which I think was what Laura enjoyed the most out of the places we went to that day, and kinda cus of that, I think I did too ^^. She had taken a few photos in the Science Museum but we really went to town with them here, she has a lot of pictures of the sharks, hehe. Part of it was closed down but the rest was still great, and once we finished it we headed to the last place of the day. It's this thing called Ripley's Believe It Or Not, and it's basically a museum of cool stuff, hehe, like really that's its focus, unbelievable, surprising and cool things. It's a bit exhibit and we were in there for hours, so it was pretty exhausting, but also way cool and interesting :D. There was an optional mirror maze for extra charge, and being a fan of mazes I had to do that, so we did, and we beat it ^^. By the time we got out of the whole place it was 11pm or so, so we pretty much had to head back home XD.
I guess now's a good time to share a little side quest I had concerning Laura. While she was there I wanted to get her to try something I like despite how odd it is, just to see what she thought of it. Basically you go to a McDonalds and get some chicken nuggets and a McFlurry ice cream, preferably Smarties flavour. You then, heheheh, dip the former in the latter instead of some kinda sauce XD. It's nuts I know, but I've shared it with a few people, all of who thought it sounded gross and/or crazy, but when they tried it they liked it, haha. Anyway, we had already been to 1 McDonalds, but their McFlurry machine was out of action, so on the way back we tried another, but it also wasn't doing any McFlurries! Fate really did a number on us XD. Heheh, we just got a drink instead and managed to get on the Last Train Home, which is my favourite song by Lostprophets as it happens ^^.
We slept good and hard after getting back after midnight, but somehow got up on Monday. Laura's coach didn't leave wasn't due to leave until 3pm or so, so we had time to have some last bits of fun, including walking about and taking more photos of Big Ben, as well as finding a McDonalds and having her sample my fetish of choice, hehe. She didn't like it, which was a combo breaker for me, oh well XD. Eventually we worked our way over to the coach station, and I helped her load on her bags, hugged her farewell, and we parted ways. I've done this a fair few times, visits with friends, and I never want any of them, but I guess I'm a bit practiced by now, so I took it OK. I did a little Christmas shopping before I went home, had a good long sleep, and I've seen Laura since already on MSN ^^, so, yeah, I'm really happy. Thanks Laura, I loved your cuddles and your company, and seeing you was a much-appreciated recharge, I honestly feel like I can keep going with a lot more strength now, than I did before.
I'm gonna yet again make some effort to be concise here, fully aware that I may and probably will fail, but hey, better chances if I try than not, right? Anyway, I've got 3 things to share, 2 opening acts and then the main event.
First off, life's been pretty crazy for me, as always, since around about the end of September. The heart of this is my final year of university, but a load of other stuff came up as well with excellent choreography and timing to make things harder than they need to be XD. I can't say it's been fun, but I haven't face-planted over any hurdles yet, and aside from my course stuff seems to have mostly settled down for now. To anyone who reads this that I haven't been in regular contact with, well, that's why, and I'm sorry. I really look forwards to some kind of stability where I can regularly keep in touch with people, I want to, but it seems like I'm always fending off people wanting to kick my out of my house, cut off my income and kick my dog. On the bright side I've almost finished my first semester of this year of university, after which is only one more. I've really put a lot into this course, and although I'm not sure about how I'll do, really, it'll be good to get to the end, and have some true freedom from all of the chaos and worry. Just 6 or so more months...
Although the last few months have been mostly a slave labour to things like uni, I did manage to squeeze out one thing for myself (ignoring my course's qualification here as I haven't got that yet). There's this annual event called NaNo WriMo, which stands for National Novel Writers Month, I believe. It's a free and voluntary event, online-based so it's also international despite the name, and it's really popular. Basically, starting November 1st and finishing on the 30th, you have to write a 50,000+ word novel. That's all there is to it. 1,667 words a day is the going rate. I heard about it from a friend a while back, but didn't try until this year, as even though I thought I could do it I hear (truthfully so) that only a sliver of the people who try manage, and I didn't feel ready to be part of that minority. This year, despite everything, my life feels more organised, so I went for it. Long story short (hehe), I won ^^! Over 50,000 words in a month, hahaha, first time and I did it! Just once I wanted to be able to say I beat NaNo, and I can, so I'm really glad for that. Besides winning it, I now have a 50k novel (52k to be exact). Because of the time-attack nature of NaNo, what you often end up with is more of a first draft than a polished, finished product, so that's what I have. I'm gonna revise it into a more solid work in my spare time, but once I have I plan to post it up here, broken into chapters as it is, just if anyone's interested. I'll make another entry when it's ready, hehehe.
That's the first thing, a bit wordier than I predicted, but hey. Doo-dah number 2 next. Basically a while back, I forget quite how long ago now, I visited a friend of mine, Craig or Shadowscythe as he's known online, with or without the C. I was over there for a few days, we had a really fun time and it's just the kinda thing I'd write about in my LJ, but at the time I had so much going on I never found the time and energy to sit down and do so once I got back. So honourable mention and thanks to Sythe, I enjoyed the going out to club-like places, the gaming and meeting your friends, plus of course just spending time with you buddy ^^.
Hehehe, and now the main entry. Mirroring the above mention, someone came to visit me recently. Her name's Laura, and I'm not sure of the exact month, but I met her about April or so this year, and we became really close friends. Although I try not to complain about it a lot, I do find all the stuff I go through draining, and she's taking on a university course as well, plus no one's life is perfect, so for a good while we'd been discussing the idea of us meeting up for real, cus we tend to pick each other up well talking online and generally have fun, and it would be even more awesome to do it in person. Heheheh, long story short, we finally did it ^^.
Laura came down on Friday the 19th by coach, which took about 7 hours but was loads cheaper than going by train, and we're both students so, heheh, yeah XD. She got up really early to leave in the morning, her coach pulled in around about 4pm here to give an idea, I gotta thank her for doing that so we could spend more time together, thanks Laura :). I'd put a heart there but I'm afraid LJ will eat it, with the pointy bracket thing and all XD.
Heheh, anyway, I headed to Victoria Coach Station to meet her. Her coach was about 15 minutes late, which I'm kinda grateful for in one way, since it did give me time to get over the butterflies in my stomach. Eventually it came though, and we met up. She was tired from the early rise and stuffy trip, and had bags with her, so the first thing we really did was go back to my place via the underground (train). Laura told me afterwards that she was kinda overwhelmed, being so tired and having to travel so far via train, with her bags and lots of other people and having just met me, and I really sympathise with that. I'm kinda gutted that it takes so long to get from most places that people arrive in London at to my home XD. Eventually we got back though, and we spent the rest of the day more or less relaxing at my place, getting comfortable with each other and enjoying some things you can do without going out. We ordered pizza, because I love pizza and she's a fan too, so we spoiled ourselves on this massive order with side dishes and stuff, unbridled indulgence, it was awesome. Laura had also brought a game I got for her birthday and sent to her via mail, she hadn't had time to play it yet due to university but she finally did with me watching. She really liked it, plus I got to watch her enjoy it in person, 2 things I am so so glad for :). We did some other stuff as well, including cuddling, because hugging rocks, and that was probably my favourite thing of all ^^.
On Saturday we awoke and feasted on leftover pizza and Pepsi Max, and as I said to her, though there are far more expensive luxuries in life, I genuinely believe starting your day in such a way is one of the best simple joys there are to know in this world. She enjoyed it too, which made it even better ^^.
I'm gonna be snazzy and start a new paragraph for actually leaving the house. Laura had brought a bunch of 2 for 1 offers with her, from the company she got her coach tickets from, so we could go to various tourist attractions in central London together for the price of one :D. One thing she had really expressed an interest in was the London Dungeons exhibit, so we went there first. I'm not normally hugely into these kinda things, like I would enjoy them but I'd usually have a bit more fun with say, a good book or computer game, but honestly, however it may sound, going there with her made it totally worth it XD. The, hehe, decorum I guess you could call it, and the sounds and music playing set a good mood, and they had actors too, it was quite an immersive tour, we really had a fun time together there ^^. At the gift shop we got some things, notably a toy stuffed rat from her to me as a Christmas gift (a black one, it's meant to be a plague rat XD), and I got her a towel with a recipe for something by Sweeney Todd, which Laura really loved the movie of, as a Christmas present to her ^^.
After we left there, we got approached by this guy that was genuinely 7 foot 2 inches tall, in costume and giving away 2 for 1 offers to promote another nearby attraction, I forget exactly what it was but it had a similar history and horror trend to it XD. I was really tempting, and both of us would have liked to go, but in the end we didn't find the time. Laura kept the leaflet with the offer though, so who knows, maybe there'll be a next time and we'll go then ^^.
Anyways, the reason we turned down that attraction is we wanted to go on a cruise, and we did. Ever since I was a kid I've loved boat and ferry rides, I could try and explain why but for the sake of conciseness I'll just say that I really really do XD. I also like bridges, as it happens, heheh, thought I'd share that while I was at it, since this cruise we went on went under some bridges crossing the river Thames (that's the really big one in London). It was more or less sunset by now and we only just caught one of the last cruises, but we made it and it was so much fun ^^. We started out near Big Ben and the London Eye, that gigantic ferris wheel. Laura really likes Big Ben, from when she visited London once as a kid and saw it, so she had a great time taking photos of it and some other things as we cruised down the river. I took a few shots too, although she was better at it, but I think I improved a bit thanks to the practice, heheh :D. I honestly loved that cruise, I have a really hard time picking, but it might come in second to the hugging for favourite thing we did, I love boats and Laura got so into taking pictures, it was a great experience ^^.
After we got off the cruise we had a KFC, then went back home. Laura had brought her laptop with her, and she had a few episodes of shows she likes on it. We watched the first ever X-Files episode as well as a couple of her personal picks, and I've always thought X-Files was cool and interesting but I never really managed to make the dedication to follow it, so it was supremely enjoyable to lie together and do that, I really wasn't let down, it rocked XD. Eventually we got to bed, and uh... Oh yeah, on the way back we bought a bottle of chocolate milk. That stuff was gorgeous, hahahah, I have it every now and then as a treat, and Laura loved it too, mmmmm the indulgence.
Hehe, so, Sunday XD. I gave Laura the last of the chocolate milk, which if I'm any judge went down well ^^, and we eventually got out the door to do more stuff. First up was the Science Museum, which has the benefit of being free, and we didn't manage to see all of it but we still checked out a good portion and had fun, we started with a ride on a simulator, kinda like a virtual reality roller coaster, it was kickass XD. After that we went to the London Aquarium, which I think was what Laura enjoyed the most out of the places we went to that day, and kinda cus of that, I think I did too ^^. She had taken a few photos in the Science Museum but we really went to town with them here, she has a lot of pictures of the sharks, hehe. Part of it was closed down but the rest was still great, and once we finished it we headed to the last place of the day. It's this thing called Ripley's Believe It Or Not, and it's basically a museum of cool stuff, hehe, like really that's its focus, unbelievable, surprising and cool things. It's a bit exhibit and we were in there for hours, so it was pretty exhausting, but also way cool and interesting :D. There was an optional mirror maze for extra charge, and being a fan of mazes I had to do that, so we did, and we beat it ^^. By the time we got out of the whole place it was 11pm or so, so we pretty much had to head back home XD.
I guess now's a good time to share a little side quest I had concerning Laura. While she was there I wanted to get her to try something I like despite how odd it is, just to see what she thought of it. Basically you go to a McDonalds and get some chicken nuggets and a McFlurry ice cream, preferably Smarties flavour. You then, heheheh, dip the former in the latter instead of some kinda sauce XD. It's nuts I know, but I've shared it with a few people, all of who thought it sounded gross and/or crazy, but when they tried it they liked it, haha. Anyway, we had already been to 1 McDonalds, but their McFlurry machine was out of action, so on the way back we tried another, but it also wasn't doing any McFlurries! Fate really did a number on us XD. Heheh, we just got a drink instead and managed to get on the Last Train Home, which is my favourite song by Lostprophets as it happens ^^.
We slept good and hard after getting back after midnight, but somehow got up on Monday. Laura's coach didn't leave wasn't due to leave until 3pm or so, so we had time to have some last bits of fun, including walking about and taking more photos of Big Ben, as well as finding a McDonalds and having her sample my fetish of choice, hehe. She didn't like it, which was a combo breaker for me, oh well XD. Eventually we worked our way over to the coach station, and I helped her load on her bags, hugged her farewell, and we parted ways. I've done this a fair few times, visits with friends, and I never want any of them, but I guess I'm a bit practiced by now, so I took it OK. I did a little Christmas shopping before I went home, had a good long sleep, and I've seen Laura since already on MSN ^^, so, yeah, I'm really happy. Thanks Laura, I loved your cuddles and your company, and seeing you was a much-appreciated recharge, I honestly feel like I can keep going with a lot more strength now, than I did before.