| VNV Nation + House |
[Aug. 3rd, 2008|08:19 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  bouncy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | VNV Nation - Chosen | ] |
Weird how it goes really. Either ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) beeeaarr or astaelf (can't remember which of the two) sent me some VNV track... ooh it must have been at least three years ago. Probably longer though. Don't ask me what track it was either, I really can't remember. The point is, I hated it. Not the music probably, but the vocals. To me, music can be really good, but be completely spoiled by whatever vocals it has, and I just really really didn't like Ronan Harris' vocals. His voice absolutely grated on me.
Then, some one or two years ago, beeeaarr introduced me to Digitally Imported (www.di.fm just in case you didn't know) and I started listening to the 'Futurepop' channel. Lots. I still love it - it plays a lot of stuff I'd never heard of previously but really really like, and of course it also plays lots and lots of VNV Nation. Now, I listen to DI in bursts, basically until I get bored of them playing the same songs over and over, but in the past two years I have listened to it a LOT. I have therefore also listened to VNV songs a LOT. And guess what? They've grown on me so much that I now absolutely love them. Including the vocals. It's got to the point that I can't actually think of any other voice that would fit the songs.
In a way this isn't THAT weird, because the most rewarding songs I find are always the ones that take a while to grow on you. If I get an album from some artist, I generally stick it on repeat for a few days, and eventually there will be a few songs that end up standing out. I won't have thought much of them initially, but three weeks later I'll be wondering how I didn't immediately see the brilliance of them. Three years for that process, however, is slightly longer than it's ever taken before.*
Whatever, I think I'll be playing VNV Nation on non-stop repeat for the next few weeks/months (or however long it takes for Chris to get fed up with it and ask me if I could please play something else now). Utmost favourite at the moment? Probably Beloved.
In other news, we're moving house soon, whee! I'm still amazed at how easy and unexpected it's been to find a house we wanted to buy, but I'm not complaining. Also, the estate agent called yesterday, and it sounds like the people in it are pretty much ready to move out, so we will hopefully have the keys and everything before the end of the month! (I'm still being cautious here.) This is good, because my parents are coming over on the 26th or something, and this year they've decided to stay for nearly a month, which isn't too convenient when you have a small house which by that time would be up to the eaves with packed boxes, most specifically in the spare room where the spare bed normally lives. So if we have a second house before they get here, that would save a LOT of space issues.
Did I say I was excited? Wheee!
*That said, there's no way I'll EVER like Anne Clarke. EVER. |
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| Eurovision 2008 |
[May. 26th, 2008|08:07 am] |
A day late in posting, but I have my sister over to visit, so I don't get to my computer as much as normal. Cut for length, comments posted exactly as I typed them on the evening.
( Costume Changes Galore... )
And then Russia won. I'd rather have seen Greece win, I liked that song better, but hey-ho. Back for more next year I guess! |
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| Question for music lovers... |
[Sep. 16th, 2007|06:58 pm] |
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Does anyone know who the song 'Remember David' by A Flock of Seagulls is about? I've been wondering for ages, but I can't find anything about it... |
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| This is the weirdest I've felt in ages |
[Aug. 29th, 2007|08:39 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  annoyed | ] |
Amazing how you get used to someone being around. Amy's been living in our house for two months, until today, when she went back home to America, and the house just feels very empty. I'm guessing this is a toned down version of what parents feel when their last child has left the house to go live on their own, or something.
On the plus side though, as Chris says, at least now we can wander around the house naked again. :)
It's been fun having her around though, we'll definitely miss having her around.
In other news, death to my tooth. As tooth histories go, this one's quite a tale:
- About eight months ago it started getting sensitive to heat and cold. Very annoying, but my dentist didn't think too much of it, so advised me to try a sensitive toothpaste. Not surprisingly, this didn't help.
- When I went again for a checkup in early July and complained it was still sensitive, she said she'd replace the second filling, as it may have started leaking, causing the sensitivity. She was very busy though, so the appointment for the filling was for three weeks later.
- About a week after that, I started getting a toothache. Minor at first, easily subdued with painkillers, and silly me figured it might go away and it'd be okay until my appointment. Yeah right.
- The pain started on Wednesday, and by Friday night I was ready to cut my own head off if it would have made the pain go away. By Saturday morning, painkillers were simply not doing anything anymore. That's when Chris decided enough was enough, and called the emergency dentist.
- I got an appointment for 6pm that day. When I arrived I got an anaesthetic, which didn't really do much, so I got another dose. This still didn't stop anything hurting, never mind when he started drilling, so he booted me outside to give it another 10-15 minutes to kick in.
- 20 minutes later the pain finally stopped. This lasted until he started drilling again, so in the end I just had to sit through it while he was drilling.
- He drilled down to the nerve, rinsed it with antibiotics or something, put a temporary filling in it (looks like a piece of chewing gum) and gave me a letter for my own dentist.
- When I turned up for my original appointment to have the refill done, she hadn't read the letter, despite the assistant's assurance a week earlier that she'd pass it on. The reaction was 'oh, that wasn't quite what I was expecting, so I don't think I'll be able to do all I need to do today'.
- I nevertheless spent 30 minutes in the chair, under local anaesthetic, with her poking the most numerous amount of instruments into my tooth I've ever had to deal with. It didn't hurt, thankfully, but it wasn't exactly comfortable. She then made an appointment for me to come back so she could finish it off, and in the meantime I got another chewing gum filling. This appointment is for this coming Friday, so I was kinda hoping that'd be the last of it - tooth fixed, back to normal.
- Yeah right. Yesterday morning I was happily chewing away on my crunchy nut clusters, when I suddenly noticed a bit that was a little bit too crunchy to be healthy. When I fished it out of my mouth, it turned out to be one of the few remaining pieces of actual tooth which surrounded the humongous filling. This in itself isn't too distressing, it's not like it hasn't happened before, but unfortunately it was a piece that was on the inside, and the remaining edges are annoyingly sharp, meaning that after nearly two days my tongue is getting a little the worse for wear, to the extent that I'm almost feeling like I'm starting to slur my speech.
I can't wait to get to the dentist this Friday and go 'Hey, you think this was going to be it? Think again...' |
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| Well, there's a surprise... |
[Aug. 1st, 2007|11:10 pm] |
| What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Gamer/Computer Nerd You enjoy the visual stimulants of a video game, chatting on AIM, or reading online comics. Most of these types of nerds are considered dirty who lack hygeine, of course they always end up being the ones who make a crapload of money. And don't worry, that's just a stereotype; I'm not calling you dirty. ^_~ | | Literature Nerd | | | Artistic Nerd | | | Anime Nerd | | | Science/Math Nerd | | | Musician | | | Social Nerd | | | Drama Nerd | | What Be Your Nerd Type?
Quizzes for MySpace |
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| Harry Potter |
[Jul. 22nd, 2007|06:54 am] |
I've read it, and it's good.
That's all I'll say about it. |
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| Cool! |
[May. 20th, 2007|07:48 pm] |
I might actually want that Tarot deck too, it's pretty...
You are The Devil
Materiality. Material Force. Material temptation; sometimes obsession
The Devil is often a great card for business success; hard work and ambition.
Perhaps the most misunderstood of all the major arcana, the Devil is not really "Satan" at all, but Pan the half-goat nature god and/or Dionysius. These are gods of pleasure and abandon, of wild behavior and unbridled desires. This is a card about ambitions; it is also synonymous with temptation and addiction. On the flip side, however, the card can be a warning to someone who is too restrained, someone who never allows themselves to get passionate or messy or wild - or ambitious. This, too, is a form of enslavement. As a person, the Devil can stand for a man of money or erotic power, aggressive, controlling, or just persuasive. This is not to say a bad man, but certainly a powerful man who is hard to resist. The important thing is to remember that any chain is freely worn. In most cases, you are enslaved only because you allow it.
What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out. |
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| Eurovision 2007! |
[May. 12th, 2007|11:31 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Sarbel - Yassou Maria | ] |
Sort of a tradition, although by the looks of it I forgot about Eurovision last year. Hang on, no I didn't because I saw Lordi win. Never mind. Anyway, commentary behind the cut, as usual.
( Corsets galore! ) |
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| Värttinä |
[Nov. 12th, 2006|01:10 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
So, I'm just back from a (literally) flying visit to Amsterdam to go see Värttinä. Seems a bit excessive maybe to fly over just to go to a concert, but boy was it worth it. They were really really good and played some of my favourite songs (including Nahkaruoska as the second encore!), so it was absolutely and totally worth it. I'm glad beeeaarr came with me though, I'd have done it on my own but it was much more fun to have someone to talk to.
Incidentally, they had a pretty good support act too, some all-women Russian band called Iva Nova. They sounded really good, and they had a girl on drums who can't have been taller than five foot, she looked totally like a pixie, but damn she was good! Really amusing seeing someone that petite and cute bashing away on a drum kit. Much more interesting to watch than the accordeonist, who was just totally over the top. We suspected she was laying it on so thick to divert attention from the fact that she wasn't really that amazing an accordeonist.
Anyway, I'd do that again, no question. |
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| No longer a Miss! |
[Sep. 9th, 2006|10:29 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | bouncy | ] |
Well, my first day as a married woman was (predictably) no different from any previous day, other than that I'm pretty shattered still from the wedding. I had an absolutely brilliant time, and from the comments people made so did everyone else, and it all went fabulously. Even the weather couldn't have been better.
I'll post a picture or two in here once I can, but for now we're getting in a night's rest before we're off to Rome for our honeymoon!
Lala tired now, bye. |
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| 20 days to go... |
[Aug. 20th, 2006|11:08 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  excited | ] |
Sometimes I think I could check when my hair was last dyed by checking my LJ posts - it's one of these things to do while you're waiting for the dye to do its work.
Anyway, as it says, 20 days to go until the wedding! I'm quite proud of myself, because everything is sorted. Venue is booked, all the food is organised, payment is going out this week (and ouch if this isn't the big one). Dress and bouquet are sorted, flowers are ordered and paid for, photographer is fully arranged... I've even got the confetti and place cards for the tables sorted. I also have my hair and make-up trial run this Friday, and I'm pretty curious about how that's going to look. I hope my hair is long enough by now to put up somehow, but I'll be happy with anything as long as it hides my double chin a bit.
So what's left now is the big countdown really. There will be some last minute arrangements to do, but they'll be as and when. Can't wait! |
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| Jack is back |
[Jul. 12th, 2006|10:28 pm] |
Went to see Pirates 2, loved it. I know the reviews say it's too long, but I wasn't bored for even a second, and to me that's what counts.
Now I know bunny will post about this in her journal, so I'll leave anything else for comments on that. ^_^
On a related note to pirates, my colleague bought me some 'Talk Like A Pirate' bath salt on her holiday in Canada. Description says something like 'Guaranteed to make you walk with a peg leg limp and yarrr with the best of them'.
I love my colleagues. :)
On a slightly otherwise related note, I have now also watched the final episode of Dr Who. I do not know whether Shai TV has been able to broadcast this particular episode yet, so all I'll say is that I bawled like a baby. Brilliant episode, but omg I cried. |
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| Am back |
[Jul. 8th, 2006|07:10 pm] |
Dress is done. So is bouquet (in fake flowers), yay for tailor mum and yay for sister with floristy education.
Cat is mad, he now eats his medicinal tablets. As in, you don't need to stuff them down his throat, you just let him sniff a kitty treat, drop the tablet on the floor and he eats it. He still gets his kitty treat after that of course, we're not that cruel.
Holiday was otherwise nice but v. hot. Am glad to be sleeping in my own bed with my own pillow (omg mum's pillows are ubershit) in my own cool bedroom.
Details might follow, depending on whether I cba, but it's probably not likely. |
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| Holiday! |
[Jun. 23rd, 2006|07:04 pm] |
Finally, two weeks of well-deserved rest for me. Well, in as much as I'll get rest while working with my mum on getting my wedding dress sorted, but still, I'll be able to sleep late, whee!
And boy, after the past fortnight at work I've never been more in need of a holiday. Work is le stress atm. I could go into detail, but I really don't want to right now. It's all very bleh.
The kitties are holed up at a local cattery, hope they're doing okay there, it's the first time we've sent them away (previously Chris' mum popped in once a day to feed them), but with Azrael's bladder problems and him needing a tablet twice a day it was the sensible thing to do really.
Other wedding arrangements are coming along nicely, I'll just be v. happy when the dress is done, hopefully in two weeks' time!
/signing off, seeya in July. |
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| Kitty is back home! |
[May. 9th, 2006|10:24 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  happy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Hedningarna - Veli | ] |
We got him home today. :) As I posted before, we visited him on Sunday, when he was essentially well, but rather miserable. This was because of a) the drip which was attached to his front paw with a big bandage all around his paw, b) the catheter which was still in and bandaged tight to his tail to stop it from moving and c) the collar he was wearing to prevent him from trying to pull out the catheter. He was really grumpy when we came in, lying with his back to the room, but as soon as he realised it was us he perked up, especially when we were allowed to take his collar off for a bit. The nurse was quite happy we'd come to see him, because they'd not managed to get him to eat and we managed to get him to munch some food down, so that was all good. He was not at all happy when we left again and his collar had to go back on though, the look on his face was pretty similar to that picture of that cat with the 'lion cut' that's out on the net.
The vet's verdict was basically that they'd take the catheter out on Monday, and if he could actually have a piss on his own again before Tuesday evening we could take him home again, so Chris called them a few times today and we got the go ahead sometime mid-afternoon. :) He's fine, just doesn't seem as clingy as I thought he would be, but that's possibly because he's annoyed at us for leaving him at the nasty vet's place for four days. Can't blame him really. ;p
In other news, Chris and me went to our local registry office and paid 30 quid each (bunch of rip-offs grumble grumble) for the privilege of having both our names tacked on the wall saying 'these two want to get hitched, if you have any objections then tell us now', which is something that apparently must be done before you're allowed to get married. After that we visited the venue and had a good chat with the coordinator person there about how what when where and why and that sort of stuff. I'm glad we've gone with Breadsall, it's pretty. Asta, you'll like it as well, the grounds are crawling with bunnies. ^_^
Oh, and for those interested, the venue is this one: http://marriott.co.uk/Channels/globalSites/propertypage/UK/emags |
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| Hospitalised kitty =/ |
[May. 6th, 2006|04:47 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  anxious | ] |
Azrael wouldn't come eat when I put the cats' food down yesterday, which isn't too unusual, but when I went to look for him I found him on the doormat and he wouldn't get up. =( He was meaowing at me all the time, which also in itself isn't unusual, but normally he meaows back at you when you talk to him, and this time he was doing it every time I stroked him, and I could definitely see something wasn't right. So after five minutes of getting more and more worried I called Chris (who was on his way home from Cardiff), then called the vet and made an appointment. Just as well I did too, the poor sod was wandering all around the house and lying down in the weirdest spots, then tried to go to the toilet and couldn't. That's when I suspected what the problem might be, and it turns out I was right: he's got bladder crystals and was totally blocked up. =/
So we went to the vet, she confirmed that his bladder felt very tight, and they kept him overnight to sedate him and put a catheter in to empty him out. Apparently this fetched three pretty big crystals out, and they immediately put him on a drip to stop him from getting dehydrated. They would keep him overnight and hopefully we'd be able to take him home today. This got revised this morning to tomorrow, and when they called again this afternoon after getting the results from the blood test they did (which thankfully confirmed that no damage was done to his kidneys) they revised it again to in a couple of days. Not because he's unwell or anything, he's doing fine basically (although he's grumpy at having to wear a collar apparently), but because they flushed him out and it fetched out a few more crystals, so they're having to leave the catheter in for a few more days to flush him out another few times.
So, I'm happy that he's okay, but omg I want my cat back. =( I'm kinda proud though, because apparently he's being a really good patient and is letting the vet flush him out without even needing to be sedated or anything. It feels really weird though, because we're allowed to visit him tomorrow morning. Cat hospital, I wonder if we should bring grapes and flowers, or maybe a toy mouse and some cat grass... |
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