a_c_macklin

I have been a very good girl, and not been caught once. For Christmas I would like:

1) A new job
2) A sewing workshop, complete with mannequins and boxes and boxes of material, and knee cushions
3) Insta-knowledge of how to use DreamWeaver
4) A treehouse with cushions and a library
5) More larp
6) A publishing contract
7) A jacuzzi (possibly in the treehouse?)
8) A video editing suite for Dan
9) A helicopter for David
10) A gallery showing for Mum
11) ...Dad's the happiest person I know. He just wants good sailing weather.

Thank you, Santa.

Love Liss.

This weekend I:

Did not go to the Unicorns because I'm running a conference in Miami next week.
Did sort out heating for the bedroom.
Did do a lot of sleeping.
Finished Andrea's book project.
Didn't start my dress, despite being very keen, because the pattern hasn't arrived and I'm away all week.

All in all, apart from the book project, I don't feel very Liss-like at all! Never mind - I shall soak up some Floridian sun and return solar-powered.

QUESTION: Is spending several thousand (probably) pounds of council tax money on half an hour of shiny explosions wasteful and irresponsible?

Dan and I don't agree on this. He says that it's literally sending money up in smoke, which could be used for more important things like street cleaning and security and so on.

And he's right, of course.

But my point is that it's the ONLY time London suburbs come together in any semblance of community spirit. A Christmas tree in the main street doesn't get everyone gathered in the same place, laughing and chatting with complete strangers. And it's also the only time that council tax money is used to make people uncomplicatedly happy, even if for a very short time. So I consider it a very good use, especially when the council in question goes to such an effort as Streatham.

They had signed meeting points, so you could find your friends in the dark.
They had a soundtrack, including Thriller and Pirates of the Caribbean.
They had ENORMOUS explosions, and pretty shimmery glitters, and a grand finale which basically consisted of setting everything off at once and turning the sky red and green and gold.

And Si brought mulled wine in a thermos, and mugs. I was impressed.

HOT
Training up with Lolli, and frothing all the way
Sleeping in a yurt! How cool is that! The only time I have ever longed for 24hr time in.
Quiet conversations with Legion in said yurt.
Translating around 20 pages of fae script, starting only with the letter 'A'
Using Cartography! Woot!
Lecherous Italian miners
Mass Enthralling Captain Warwick's groupies
Physically hurling a returning groupie out of the front door (sorry, Rob!)
Getting pissy with Captain Warwick when groupie letters threatened me, and the resulting fall-out (the whole thing was pretty damn funny, and he was a very good sport)
Secret secret fae talks and rites with Pavel. Been waiting for them all year.
Foible proving to Fama that she was being illogical
Being conned into a girly night out with Rosamunde (I am scared)
Getting the drop on the monsters in the final fight, rather than the other way around. It was totally the characters' turn to have the top of that ridge!
Captain Warwick's level of professionalism whilst rescuing the prince
Scouting out the battle terrain in advance with Saul - it felt very satisfying to be that prepared
Being able to claim paralysis immunity, fear immunity and fatal immunity in response to three simultaneous calls whilst fighting under melee immunity as well. I felt like a warrior-god for those brief seconds.
Glowing in the dark (as close to proper fae glamour as I think is possible to phys-rep!)
Bodyguarding Ben's character all weekend, and breaking our previous trend!
Ben being awesome (natch)
Being fed by El, whenever I had time to turn up
Being driven home by Martin, and getting to know him rather than Snowy
Helvinian, Helbrecht, Tarro, Pavel, Foible, John Warwick, Saul, Lolli, Martin, Simon, El

NOT
Would have quite liked to finally meet and kneel before the Crown Prince that holds our contracts, since he was there
Snail tracks all over my hood
Minimal time for eating (totally my own fault)
Dangerous levels of sleep deprivation (again, I have no one to blame but myself - I was having too much fun to go to bed)
Very sore shoulders and thighs
Everyone meeting up at the Harvester being a partial and rather gutting fail
The utter nightmare that is London public transport. It took two trains, three buses, a hefty walk, and almost three hours to get across town. I finally made it home just before 1am which, given that we left the Harvester at 6pm, is pretty rubbish really.
There being no LARP events I can make from now until Nicholmasmasmas. Fail.

NEXT
I can finally start making my Nicholasmasmasmas dress, which I was superstitiously putting off until after this weekend!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8295718.stm

Ignore the age limit.

Is there any chance I could request a lift from Bridgend Station next Friday afternoon? And also back again on the Sunday? I can pay my way in money, talk, and/or chocolate. I haven't booked the train tickets yet, so the timings are flexible.

Purty please?

The Liss is back! Oh yes! In short: Vegas is bizarre, and Cornwall was mainly filled with sleep.

No, not sheep. Sleep. Although there may also be sheep. I don't feel qualified to comment on that.

The conference in Vegas ran smoothly, and isn't really worth talking about. But the city is WEIRD. It's like Dubai, really - it shouldn't exist. Slap in the middle of this barren desert is a massive pile of lights and glass and water features and golf courses, and hotels made to look like the Ponte Vecchio or the Statue of Liberty or (my personal favourite) a pirate dock with two ships at nearly life-size. Slot machines everywhere, including immediately on disembarking from the plane. The pavements are carpeted with hooker cards. It's actually quite a fun atmosphere for a few hours, but after that I was quite glad to retreat to the peaceful sanity of the hotel swimming pool.

Cornwall was lovely. We stopped off at my parents' in Bristol on the way down and wandered around Bristol Zoo, which was enormous fun. Getting down to Cornwall, we had vague plans of going to see exciting things like Tintagel, but basically were too lazy and spent most of the week either sleeping or reading. Luverly.

Stopped off at Ben and El's for the weekend on the way back, and chilled some more with them. Mild frothing was done, as was the brutal slaying of Dr. Lucky on his own gallery and similar adventures. I am now keener than ever for larp, so it's quite convenient that there's a couple of events coming up.

On which note, see most of you soon!

Found by Lu Bradbeer, and shamelessly looted from Facebook by me for purposes of humour, I direct you to the final entry of this article:

http://www.cracked.com/article/128_7-vampires-around-world-worse-than-ones-in-twilight_p2

Stavros, Morachi - have you been getting drunk and spinning tall tales again?

Also, this just proves that Stesha was right to ban fruit. It's clearly more dangerous than people realise.

Once again I am off on my work-related travels. Flying out to Vegas tomorrow morning, which I am looking forward to solely because it is in the middle of a desert and should therefore be relatively warm.

This will be followed by nine whole marvellous, wonderful days on holiday with Dan - mostly in Cornwall, but coming home via Ben and El for a weekend. It's the first holiday we've ever had together, just the two of us, and I can't wait.

So I will be largely incommunicado for the next fortnight. Have fun, be good, and if you can't be good, don't get caught.

AeroMexico flight under a bomb threat sent by God

An AeroMexico flight was grounded under a bomb threat yesterday when a preacher demanded to relay a message to the Mexican president, Felipe Calderon - from God. The 737-800 on flight 576 from Cancun was held at Mexico City, its arrival destination, for two hours when a passenger told Calderon that history's biggest earthquake was to hit.

The hijacker, Jose Flores, a 44-year-old preacher who lives in Mexico (who is now known to have a former drug addiction and conviction for armed robbery) eventually negotiated with federal authorities to allow women and children to disembark. Police then forced their way onto the aircraft and arrested Flores along with two others, originally thought to be accomplices.

Flores had used a drinks can rigged with lights as a fake bomb. The hijacker had thought September 9 (9/9/09) was a significant date is it is the down-turn number of the devil, 666. All of the 103 passengers were rescued safely.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0676.html

(The cartographer bit, not the sex taint bit...)

HOT

Ben. He's awesome.
Daedalus and the boggart - best household staff ever.
My shiny shiny sword.
Foible going Seelie, making Fama very uncomfortable and forced to do some thinking.
Upholding the Reichsmarshal's authority.
Being let into the Lions camp without being scanned because 'she's here every day'.
The 95th on guard.
Lester's concert, and leaving for the anti-Elder Races song.
Treacle liking my ideas.
The attempted recruitment for Ladies' Day.
Killing Ian's monster. :-D
10 factions holding the line for longer than I thought possible.
The Reiskarg rescue mission - it may have been a failure, but it was fun.
Playing a part in preventing Monday's fight from becoming acrimonious.
Holding off part of the Dragon's line single-handed for around 30 seconds. 'Immunity to Melee', I love you.
Chatting with Pebble as we fought each other.
Duelling Aeneas, and the battle around us stopping to watch.
Noxious Vapus being considerate, appreciative, and a fantastic Reichsmarshal.
Sneaking hugs from Ian and Ed.
Sprout and prune cake - tastier than it sounds! Thanks, Dave.
Taking the Tuesday off work. Never done it before, and it's wonderful.

NOT

To quote Nick - my feet, my poor feet.
The Vipers and Jackals being as far apart as possible AGAIN. El, we really need to talk about swopping tents for events!
Not having time for a tea party.
The reason for the Monday battle being utterly lame.
Seeing almost nothing of Andrea, Will, Ian, Stu, Scav Dan, James, Kev, Mark, Ed, Lolli, or even Nick. In fact, I seem to have spent the entire event rushing around talking to people, without really seeing anyone.

NEXT

Supporting Aeneas at Lecce. I suspect it could get nasty...

I know some awesome people. Some of them are also amazing cooks. Thank you to everyone who made my birthday wonderful.

HOT
The Great Cucumber Sandwich Scientific Experiment
Throwing sticks at other sticks
Cake (and variations thereof)
Sad songs on a cheery banjo
Walks in the sunshine
Good conversation (with limited larp frothing)
Presents (obviously!)
Stealthy family

NOT
...er, there really wasn't anything. It was perfect.

Following Nick's shining example, and suggestions:

BATHS - Baths are luxury. They are hot - preferably hot enough to sting just a little when you get in - and filled with bubbles (this is essential). My baths usually also involve a fizzy drink with ice cubes, possibly some chocolates, and a good book. Or, on one occasion, when I was feeling really in need of pampering, my laptop perched on the basin playing a film. Mmmm. Plus, as an added bonus, you get clean.

BOOKS - I don't read books. Not good ones, anyway. I don't see the words - I see the film of what's happening. If I can't see the film then it's not a good book for me. And I re-read books, over and over. I get cravings for a particular book, and will read just the section I'm interested in, and then put it back on the shelf. I'll read the first and last page of a book in the shop before deciding whether to buy it or not. And I think that the prospect of going blind is my biggest fear.

CAKE - It's not the eating of it that's the most fun (although that part is good as well). It's the creation. It's prancing round the kitchen, singing at the top of my voice to Evanescence or Wicked or Witches of Eastwick, waving a wooden spoon and beating the hell out of some poor innocent butter. Also, the satisfaction of putting all this weird stuff into a bowl, and pulling out a beautiful creation an hour later, is immense.

MUSIC - It's magic. It can tell stories, or take you away to distant lands, or cheer you up, or make you cry. I don't care for religion particularly, but the sounds people will make in celebration of their god - that is as close to divinity as I think it's possible to get. For the most part I'm very self-conscious about what I can or can't do, but I am proud of my voice. And singing is it's own kind of ecstasy.

POETRY - I can't help writing poetry. It's like a jigsaw puzzle (which I like) with words (which I love), and hopefully you can end up expressing something far more elegant and complicated than you could with prose. I often despair of writing a decent story, but poetry is always there like a beautiful patchwork comfort blanket.

SINGING - Kind of a continuation of music, this one. To sing...it lifts me. Sometimes, when the acoustics are just right, it doesn't feel like it's coming from me. It feels like the sound is just in the air, effortless and alien. To sing with a choir, too, is a feeling beyond words. The music wraps itself around you, full of harmonies, and takes you past yourself. I have cried with joy whilst singing Mass. Of all the things I miss about school, that is the keenest loss.

SWIMMING - The only way I have discovered to have fun whilst exercising for exercise's sake! I usually tell myself stories, or secretly pretend I'm a mermaid. It clears my brain, and lets me figure things out. I always write a better story after an hour in the pool. When I am rich and famous, my house will have 4 things - a library, a conservatory with good acoustics, a jacuzzi, and a pool.

Oh, and Dan. :-D

HOT

Vegetable cakes
Aborted honour duels
"Chips"
Mr Spooky
Surprise aiding
Ben's 'things just come together' ability
Foible and cold fish
Chaos headaches
Plotting with Boris - it's amazing how much those two have in common...
Keen researchers
Ian and Ed flavoured hugs
"What's the key for?"

NOT

Not-quite concussion
Very long walks
Losing lammies

NEXT

A whole world of trouble...

1) On behalf of a certain Belgian, is there anyone looking for a place to rent in London? One house-boat, berthed in Canary Wharf (? Or have they moved it, Renaud?), reasonable rates. It's a very cool boat, and quite large. 3 beds, 2 baths, kitchen and enormous living room. Any takers?

2) Harry Potter 6 rocked. It would have rocked even harder if the two girls in front of me had stopped talking at any point during the film. I loved the way they handled the love stories, and Slughorn was perfect. I now have the urge to reread books six and seven. Never thought I'd say that.

Nick: Is there anything non-alcoholic in this?
Dan: Well, the vodka was quite cheap.
Jules: What ratios did you use?
Dan: I finished the bottle. That's the only ratio I know.

And the evening progressed from there...

Weird question, but I'm canvassing opinions. There's a job being advertised that I really want, which basically involves organising events and general admin into the bargain. Now, their current website is dreadful - http://www.abcd.org.uk/. I can (and indeed, have) build a better draft one using free tools on Google during the course of this evening - http://sites.google.com/site/assocbritishchoraldirectors/home. (Of course, better is a subjective term. Cleaner, and I'd like to think more user-friendly, at least!)

The question is - do I mention this with my application cover email, or do I not? Is it a big bonus to my application, or a terrible faux pas? What do you guys think?

My boss is leaving on Friday, and we're trying to put together a soundtrack for his leaving party. With the exception of Leaving on a Jet Plane, and Fly Me to the Moon, can anyone think of aviation/plane-related songs?