Monday

Another week, back at work for a Monday morning. I was hit by inspiration today. I have another Star Trek group next week and was wondering what to do for my introduction for my chosen episode. Having gone into video intro’s I want to keep doing something along those lines. And today it hit me, Big Brother! Brilliant! I shall take a selection of my sci-fi toys and make an episode of Big Brother with them! And at some point they will discuss trivia from the episode I have chosen! Genius! MLF is onboard with this, she will do some voices for me. It’s an excellent idea!

My stag do is at the end of this week, and so my brother, who is also serving in Best Man capacity was due to send a text out to everyone finalising the times. I was hit by a moment of hilarity as I came up with a classic prank!

I didn’t know what time he’d be texting, so I had to move fast. I managed to contact 3 of my attendees before the text came around. I asked them to respond to my brother’s text asking which Doctor Who costumes other people were making, the implication being that I’d got them all to agree to come dressed as a different doctor! I have not mentioned the important part of this, which is that my brother is not a nerd! Not at all! So the idea of spending the day in the company of 7 gorwn men dressed as various Doctors is not one that would appeal to him!

I had later confirmation that at least 2 of my 3 co-prankers had had a response, and then I got the text from my brother! He is not happy! He called me a sneaky russian and warned he would make things worse later in the stag do! I sent him one back saying ‘Wait till you see your costume K9!’

I will tell him soon it is a classic prank. I may even say ‘bazinga’.

I had a conversation with MLF regarding strippers later on. She raised a point that I hadn’t considered and is now going to cause me considerable concern. Lap dances. See, my brother/bestman has promised me a strip club visit. This is mean. I am a nerd, I’m terrible at talking to women as it is, and the idea of a strange naked lady dancing around me is horrifying! It’s massively embarassing. But I’m ok with it for the traditional stag do type thing etc. But lap dances... well those are a bit different. I will have to speak to him about making sure there isn’t a lap dance on the cards, as for me that crosses a line. The no touching rule in strip clubs, I think should work both ways, at least for me. Maybe I’m being an old fuddy duddy, but I just don’t think it’s appropriate. I kind of hope I am being a fuddy duddy, because that is an awesome phrase and I feel like I was kind of serious there so I need to say some funny words or something!

Sunday!

Sunday, ah Sunday, living up to it’s name with some sunshine. Though it could also have been called, wind-day’ as there was some breezy behaviour. In fact, one of my tomato plants suffered at the hands of the fast moving air currents that plagues us this day and some of the stalk has snapped. Hopefully it’ll be ok, it didn’t snap all the way through and I’ve tied it up to support it. Some tiny green tomatoes have formed upon the plant now, so it’d be a terrible shame if it got trashed.

Wait, what? Have I just chattered about tomatoes? This isn’t a gardening blog, it’s a nerd blog! So what have I done that’s more nerdy??

Well, we had our photographer’s free pre-wedding shoot in the morning. My Lovely Fiance also timed her makeup trial at the venue for this morning so we went there and I waited with a coffee while she had her trial before the shoot.

Firstly, £2.30 for coffee! It’s an outrage! I got two small cups out of that! However, the wi-fi is good there, and also actually free, so I was able to sit at the windy terrace bar with an overpriced coffee and my EEE. The wind kept blowing the door shut behind me, which was annoying to begin with, until on of the staff charged out in a panic as one of the outside tables was blowing away. Ah, slapstick!!

When we had the shoot itself, we were led all across the grounds of our wedding venue to get some shots. It’s a really nice place with lots of interesting spots. MLF is not a keen photography subject, but apparently I am brilliant! The photographer kept insisting I was a good subject and I infer from that I should probably consider modelling. This sounds good to me, I imagine lots of people would enjoy looking at my face in magazines and on billboards. They’d probably like to look at more than just my face, but I’m not up for doing gratuitous nudity. I’d need a good reason. Like large amounts of money.

Actually I should follow that up, get the modelling started.

Or maybe concentrate on losing a bit more weight first.

Hm, that’s still not very nerdy is it? Ooh, I helped MLF update her iPhone! To OS4 or whatever they call it. It took some time, we had to install a new itunes first. (Hey Apple, if itunes is so good, why do you keep doing new ones?? Maybe you should get it right the first time! Like I did in my photoshoot!) Anyway, after a lengthy download and letting the machine restart, reload, and refresh the phone about 80 times, it was all done. The update took a backup of the phone which it then restored after. But not the emails apparently. Clearly apple feel that while you’ll want to keep your precious memories in photos and the songs you’ve bought, you won’t have any important emails in you inbox!

But the new features are pretty cool. The camera is now zoomable, while the quality isn’t great when zoomed in, it’s still useful. The icons can now all be rearranged into small sections to neaten things up. And besterest of all, all the photos now have a corresponding location pin on a map so you can see where they were taken. Even on previously taken pictures, which is a little unnerving that the iphone has been tracking your movements since you got it. It’s like a little nosy old woman in your pocket!

The weekend cometh

Ah, is there anything more delightful than waking up on a Saturday? It's so full of promise, two whole days without work. And the sun is shining! You're young and it's summer and for the next 48 hours you don't have anything to worry about!

Then you remember, you're in your 30's. You need to sort the washing out. And get a haircut today. The rabbits need to be cleaned out. As does the fishtank. Also some shopping will need doing

Weekends aren't what they were when I were a kid!

My lovely Fiance and I spent the first part of the morning sorting a few details about the wedding out. We picked our songs and vows, ready for our meeting with the registrar. We'd ummed and ahhed about a second reading for months now, we finally decided we did want it. Both our readings are pretty awesome, being both beautiful while capturing essential elements of us. Had to call up a friend to see if she'd be amenable to reading the reading for us, she seemed happy to. At least I hope she is...

And I've got a few nerd surprises in the music choices too! Those should be good. I've been a bit torn on how openly nerdy some aspects should be. We are considering an 'Order of Service' type sheet for the guests, which would name some of the music tracks, but a part of me wants to see who can spot them. Another part doesn't want older uncool relatives rolling their eyes in tired tolerance of my silly ways, but as MLF pointed out, they're getting a free meal out of our day, so they can damn well like our silly ways!

After this we went into town for our haircuts. Me for a general cut, MLF for a trial run for her wedding style. I had my usual hairdresser, which is good, as if I have one I don't know, I clam up and can't carry a conversation. But I know Gemma, and like how she cuts my hair and pretends to like my stories, so I entertained her with the tale of the woman at the tailors. The one who measured me for my wedding suit and said, 'You're a 32 inch waist...in your dreams!'

Which I thought is quite funny, but also cruel and unbecoming of someone in a customer facing role. And you know what? At the beginning of this year, I was a 38 inch waist. When she said that I was a 36. I'm now in a pair of 34 inch waist jeans. So actually, by the wedding I might be 32! Yeah, eat that tailor bitch!! Though I'm happy at 34, but it depends where I am at Kyle Rayner weight I guess.

Once I was done entertaining my hairdresser (who seemed to really enjoy my stories today, I imagine she has a crush on me!) and was satisfied with my cut, I thought it's a beautiful day, I shall walk home. Which I did, my walk home was aided by the Ben Folds albums on my iPod. And I had a couple of those horrible moments where I'm at a pedestrian crossing alongside a family with a young child. I hate this because I'm always aware that the parents are trying to teach their child safe and responsible road crossing, but I always see a point where I can cross long before that green man appears. But if I do, am I condemning those parents to an afternoon of the child asking why they couldn't cross when that other man could. It's an odd paranoia that at certain points I would be an unwilling influence on a child and, without malice, accidentally interfere with the important lessons that parents are trying to impart. But it's an irrational thought that occurs to me every time!

I tried to have a start at writing my speech after that. I got a few key lines down, but it's a struggle. As I'd said, I'm writing a blogpost daily to try to keep my writing juices going, (try not to dwell to long on the phrase 'writing juices', or just pretend it's ink) to aid my speechwriting, but there's a lotta difference between being able to look back at my day and pick out the bits that mean I'm a nerd and summing up everything I think and feel about marrying MLF. Oh and also thanking the various people etc.

It's as well I'm starting 2 months before the day!

Later in the afternoon we visited our friend Stevie for a while. MLF had found a newspaper item about an old school friend of theirs being found with a rape kit and having an attempt at attacking a girl. We also just like to see him every so often, before you think that we only visit him on such occasions, or that such occasions are frequent! Stevie has nerf guns, so we had fun times shooting each other and diving around his living room. I've rarely seen such a look of pure joy in MLF's eyes as when she's lining up a shot at me. I don't know if I should be concerned about that...

Also, Stevie has some excellent toys, I was admiring his Doctor Who figures. He has the 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th and 11th Doctor's! And an awesome set of Daleks and Davros.

Feeling somewhat Doctor Who'd up, we headed home to have a pizza and watch some older Doctor Who to fill that Saturday evening gap. MLF chose the opener for Series 4, Partners In Crime. There's something extra fun about a season opener, especially when the Doctor gets a new companion. And as we'd already met Donna, this one was less encumbered with introductions and makes for a very entertaining episode. What did surprise me was how odd it was to see the older TARDIS console room, which is odd as I got used to that for more than four years, but just one series with the new look and it's already become the default TARDIS room in my mind. How easily my affections are switched between TARDIS consoles!

But then time was reversed and it never happened...

As it turns out I rather enjoyed that Enterprise with Archer suffering a memory loss condition. Though all the development and interesting story aspects were ultimately lost when the timeline was reversed. An annoying occurence, I remember being disappointed on Voyager that Year of Hell just never happened. If things had been solved differently it could have been a fascinating thing to carry the series on with Voyager barely held together and the crew dealing with the effects of nearly being blown apart. I’m sure the Doctor could eventually cure Tuvok’s blindness, given his unrealistic skill at curing any other random recently encountered condition. Heck, McCoy once kept a Vulcan alive after his brain was removed, then to follow that miracle, attached a remote control unit to him!

I’m sometimes struck by the futility of railing against Voyagers failings when the shows been off the air for seven years. But not often.

I saw some of the latest and last series of Big Brother this week, and I noted that some of the housemates seem to be wearing a version of the nerd glasses I so admired last weekend. I’m not convinced that it isn’t a non-corrective pair that’s being passed around. It makes me feel better about not getting them!

I took Thursday off from the gym, though I shall be going again on Friday and looking to do something energetic on Saturday too. It’s a more punishing gym schedule than I’ve had before, but I’m feeling motivated and would really love to reach Kyle Rayner weight by my wedding. Which basically works out as two months to lose just under two stone. I don’t think this is unreasonable, I lost 3 stone in just over three months this year. My problem there was I got over-confident and spent the next 3 months bouncing around that weight. But progress has resumed now and I shall go from overweight nerd to skinny nerd!

Of course, in that time I have a stag do to attend and someone else’s wedding. Those will both involve alcohol and food in large quantities. I find it incredibly selfish of the couple getting married to have their wedding mere weeks before mine, thereby impacting on my weight loss. I may raise this point during the ceremony when they ask if anyone has any reasons etc. Actually, that would probably get me thrown out even if they reject my reasoning and still marry, so either way I can still eat healthily! I win! Right up to the point when my lovely fiancé comes home and brutally murders me for embarrassing her and everyone at her friends wedding.

I have almost finished Richard Herring’s book, which I have enjoyed. It seems to be frank, honest, self deprecating and in some ways tragic, but also wittily written and hopeful. Of course, instead of being titled ‘How not to grow up’, he could have called it ‘how to obsess over having a threesome’, which is quite a recurring theme. Though as a nerd I have enough trouble talking to girls one on one, let alone two of them. And yes, I said talking, imagine how much awkward embarrassment there would be trying to bed 2 at once! Actually don’t imagine it, just in case you picture me naked! Wait two more months, then me naked should be a more attractive image! Well, when I say ‘more attractive’, I actually mean ‘slightly less repulsive’.

Or maybe I was wrong...

Actually, I probably don’t have hay fever. See, I said it was a cold, then people started saying I might have developed hay fever, so I started taking some anti hayfever tablets, but they’ve had no effect, so maybe I have got a cold.

Which is a tad unfair, I’m eating tons of fruit these days. I easily pass my 5 a day, plus the exercise and general healthier living, doesn’t seem right to catch a cold. Also, I haven’t been in contact with anyone with a cold, and no-one else seems to have caught it from me. Clearly fruit is working for them...

I did another gym workout, which makes three so far this week. According to the Wii, I’ve lost 2 more pounds since Sunday. Still a way to go to match Kyle Rayner’s weight, but I think it’s achievable before the wedding. Well, before Christmas anyway...

I’ve recently begun watching through the 3rd series of Enterprise. I always tried with Enterprise, I’d start each series determined to give it a chance, but normally tailed off. Except with the 4th series, which really picked up. But the 3rd series was a series long storyline, and I’d dipped in and out before, so my buddy Will loaned me the series set. I’ve got 2 disks in and while the episodes are of variable quality, the larger story has caught me a bit more this time. What I have noticed is that Enterprise seemed to have a predilection for flashy effects sequences that weren’t particularly relevant. I just watched one where for no good reason a shuttlepod had fired a thruster while landed and Archer and Tucker watched it start to sail off leaving them stranded. So they shot the thrusters out and bought it down. Great looking sequence, completely pointless for the story.

The next one I have to watch features Archer waking up in the future.. well I guess he always does that, but I mean his own future, after the Xindi have destroyed Earth, but Archer can’t remember it. His short term memory is gone and he’s like that guy in Memento. Sounds a bit similar to Future Imperfect from the 4th season of The Next Generation really. That was a kick ass episode.

My lovely fiance pointed out to me that uh-oh, no Doctor Who on Saturday! This is very true and a cause for concern. Frankly, after that finale, Christmas seems a long way away! So, what to do?

Well, I might see if she’ll be amenable to some classic Who on DVD! Seems like a plan! I’m in the mood for some Troughton myself but who knows how the mood may take me?

My allergies!

I’m a touch concerned that I seem to have developed hay fever. It turns out that it’s not because of too many Fonzie impressions (that’s ‘heeeeeyyyyfever’ and has very different symptoms) but you can develop this randomly at any point in your life! What?? So a childhood free of the ravages of pollen means nothing in terms of lifetime immunity?? I’ve been walking around with a ticking timebomb of summer sensitivity? Unaware that at anytime the forces of nature would suddenly turn on me and the merest hint of pollen would cause my eyes and nose to stream their associated fluids? (So far it’s just those two thankfully, any streaming from other orifices would be most uncomfortable!) How has humanity evolved this way? What grand design would feature this?

Well, that’s my overly dramatic reaction done with. It’s a touch annoying though, I don’t want to be all sniffly and snotty, it’s the summertime! But in a way, I’m a little bit happy! Now I can put on my nerdiest tone and complain about my allergies! It’s as good as getting nosebleeds! Which I haven’t done in a while, though with the increased nasal workload that this hayfever has been causing, who knows? Maybe soon...

And why Hay fever? Why not Pollenitis? Or SunshineSniffles? That’d be a good name.

It may seem odd that I have found a brightside to hay fever as it makes me nerdier. I guess I’m just a glass half full type. Oh, I did see, when in Meadowhall the other day, awesome nerd glasses! They were big thick frames and the size and shape of the ones Christopher Reeve wears as Clark Kent. And they weren’t corrective, which is great as I don’t need glasses (another regret, I’d look much nerdier in specs!)

Then I realised something. These glasses were being sold as a fashion accessory. What kind of a nerd would I be if I went around being fashionable? What kind of a nerd would buy eyewear that wasn’t to correct a vision problem? Vanity is not my way!

Also, my lovely fiancé wouldn’t let me get them. Her reasoning was again, that wearing glasses without needing my eyesight corrected was not really me. She is probably correct, I am lucky to have her.

I hit the gym again last night, despite my nose-based issues, thankfully it didn’t hold me back and as usual, the only thing dripping off me was copious amounts of sweat. It’s funny at my gym, they have a separate smaller room with some machines in, which is the ‘Women’s Gym’, for women who want to do their work out away from men. I’m not sure why this is, I suppose they’ve had questionable clientele in the past or something. So this supposed private room is blocked from men’s sight by some blinds on the window. That were open. I happened to be on a treadmill that was facing this window and realised I could see clearly into the Women’s Gym and could see women in there on their treadmills. Facing me. So they could see me, staring into their private Women’s Only gym and breathing heavily and sweating! Man, I was only looking at the blinds inefficiency!

Tonight I must find a treadmill that faces a different way, or I’m going to be labelled as some sort of pervert...

New week, same monday...

As they must, the weekend, well, ends and a new Monday dawns. A brand new week, filled with possibilities, almost a new start with life here, all refreshed from the weekend and ready to start again in this wonderous experience that is life.

Of course, most of us manifest this feeling as, ‘oh crap, Monday already? Gluuurrrggghh!’ Which when you think of the immense impossibility of our lives even getting to this point is a bit of an anti-climax. After all, it’s a long string of unlikely coincidences that have led to this planet being formed in just the right position from the sun, the atmosphere developing, life emerging, life evolving to this point and still not getting wiped out by a passing meteor, then the specific circumstances that have led to the right people getting together and producing offspring, then those offspring getting together and so on and on until here we all are.

Of course, those are lofty and mind boggling thoughts for a Monday morning, I had to make some lunch, have some breakfast, pack my gym bag and get to work!

Not that I was being much fun there, though she’s only got a minor infection, I was still concerned about my Grandmother and waiting to hear news from my mum after she heard from the Doctor about the current status. Which when I did hear, is positive. So a day’s worth of being worried and irritable for no reason there!

When I wasn’t being irritable I was discussing Saturday’s Doctor Who finale, with pretty much anyone who would listen. In some cases I followed people around talking about it even though they didn’t want to listen. I knew deep down they cared. The general consensus is everybody loved it and no, I should not get a fez.

I did have a stint wearing a fez in my early twenties. It got pretty much the same reaction as the Doctor’s.

I hit the gym for the afternoon. I’m quite proud of my progress this year in increasing my fitness level. When I started I struggled to jog for more than a few minutes at a time, I can now manage half an hour constant jogging, at increased speed from my beginnings. My only problem is I now get bored! After all half an hour with just the gym wall in front of the treadmill to look at is a bit dull. I used to listen to Doctor Who Big Finish audios, but I started having increasing problems with earphones. I may have to look at some better listening devices. The hideous truth is the normal in-ear type, gradually slide out as I become slimy with sweat.

There’s an image to give you cosy dreams!

I should get back into the Doctor Who audios though, the Eighth Doctor ones were very enjoyable, you kinda wish we’d been able to have a full TV series with Paul McGann. I wonder what it would have been like?

Pretty good I imagine, depends who was writing. But as time progresses I guess even the prospect of a flashback to the Time War with him is getting fainter and fainter. Though I have imagined an awesome episode in my head just this morning now, as I was thinking about this. It follows from The Doctor’s taking The Moment from Gallifrey, and being chased by Time Lords, up to encountering the Dalek fleet when he has to use the Moment and sets of the destruction of Gallifrey and Skaro. But the Daleks have prepared a defense. In the midst of a battle as Dalek saucers overrun a Time Lord fleet whos history is burning up, The Doctor would take his TARDIS into the heart of the Dalek city and have to destroy the device that was protecting Skaro from the Moment. Which he does, then prepares to burn with his people and his enemies, but whatever protection the Dalek defense provided, some of it has permeated the TARDIS and the Doctor, just enough for them to survive outside the time lock though he ends up regenerating.

It’s a spectacular sequence, as there’s no limit on the effects budget of the human imagination. Also, I’ve had some particularly mindless tasks this morning, so y’know, able to think about important things! This afternoon I shall be thinking up a version with the Black and White Guardians...