Catching Up Part 2 - The Rest
Aug. 14th, 2008 07:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
same_differenceWhat follows here is everything I'd wanted to write about, but had put on hold because of working on cosplay for Amecon.
The reception for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cheekychipmunk and pujaemuss was lovely and both purplegirl23 and myself were immensely grateful for the invite. It was interesting to see the Limpley Stoke Hotel as it's one I've been past several times as it's very close to my home. It did look like a good place for the wedding and reception. cheekychipmunk looked amazing in her dress, and while I don't know the exact complications she suffered through with the fitting, considering the result I'd have said they were probably worth it. All that's left to say is that the two of them look very good and happy together and I wish them the best for the rest of their lives.
With regards to my feelings on the reception, well the food was definitely approved of (long discussions about wedding food at the event has become a bit of a jokey tradition with my close family), and I once more proved I can't learn dance steps and certainly can't remember what I'm doing and listen to the beat at the same time. Still I got out before I lost all my dignity and I think I erred on the side of comedic fool, because if you're going to make a fool of yourself you might as well do it in an amusing fashion.purplegirl23 looked amazing and I'm glad there was an opportunity for her to get dressed up during that period when thanks to a course of treatment her skin was perfect.
Lastly all credit to those who made the brides maid dresses, they looked very good on the day.
[WARNING SPOILERS]
Batman The Dark Knight - I'm a big fan of this film, I thought the acting was excellent and the story well told. Definitely not a 12A. One thing I would say is the true nature of the film was hidden behind a bluff; in much the same way and almost hinted at by the fact that all of the actions of The Joker were bluffs or a series of bluffs. For you see the film bills itself as 'Batman vs The Joker', but really it's 'The Fall of Harvey Dent'. I'd almost go so far as to say that Batman was really a MacGuffin in the film, there to drive the actions of Gotham/Harvey Dent (which were really mirrors of each other) and to act as a motivating pressure driving The Joker onwards. Bruce Wayne does get some character development through his part within the film, but it was in many ways little more than a subplot. With regards to The Joker - what can you say other than Heath Ledger has forever defined what the character should be, but the sheer quality of the writing was a key part of that.
The obvious complaints of Gotham not having the additional visual touches of the Gotham of the first film, and of Batman's voice didn't really bother me. I didn't even notice the former and with the latter Christian Bale's effort is no worse than in the first one. The difference is of course the greater quantity of dialogue that had to be delivered using the voice. Seriously though how could someone as well known as Bruce Wayne not put on a voice if they wish to stay unknown? They could probably have toned down the level of damage to Harvey's face as Two-Face, at the least to avoid all the complaints with regards to infection and his eyeball drying out, especially considering the 'realistic' angle they've gone with for the films).
The only thing I wonder is maybe that the story was too big for a film, the way it was told you couldn't split it into sequels you need all that happens to show the fall of Harvey Dent properly (unless you want a Star Wars prequel style shift - or a somewhat unsatisfying Matrix 2 feel to the story). It's certainly a film that felt like it could have ended repeatedly throughout, but whether that was part of yet another bluff Nolan was playing with the audience or a consequence of the sheer scale of the story I'm not sure.
I only wonder if they make a sequel who can they really use as a villain, in many ways the Riddler fits Nolan's style, but might also feel too close to the way the Joker played out. Oh and speaking of villains the minor presence of the Scare Crow in the second film is something I am very happy about. I just like how Nolan avoids some of the more obvious comic book superhero film tropes.
Forbidden Kingdom - Very entertaining, but it's a martial arts movie with Jet-li and Jackie Chan so how could it not be. The fight between them, like all the fights, was well choreographed - Jet-li vs Jackie Chan was definitely in hindsight what I was hoping for. A good mix of technical skill, humour and a demonstration of their individual preferences and styles in an appropriately epic fight. Generally the fights were handled well with the surprisingly not irritating american kid feeling appropriately useless and appropriately out matched as the film progressed. The direction for the fights was excellent. I particularly liked the way even as they focussed on the individual fights between specific characters you could still see the other fights continuing properly in the background; it was a nice touch that made everything feel much more cohesive. So generally entertaining if you like that sort of film, with the martial arts and the humour you'd hope for in the cast. I still find Jet-li smiling and acting, especially as the Monkey King immensely odd though (Just as I have done in the other films where he acts/smiles a lot).
Walle was immensely cute, though not as cute aspurplegirl23 was as she squee-ed her way through the film (much like she had during all of the trailers). Considering it was a Pixar film the message wasn't as force fed as I've known them to do it. It was more that the message was the setting so while in that sense it was ever present I didn't find it felt as in your face as it might well have been if there had been more dialogue. It's also the first Pixar film where it didn't feel like there was an obvious 'Look-what-we-can-animate' moment (e.g. the jellyfish in Nemo). As well as the first where I've been so absorbed in the quality of the film, and the excellence of the animation, I didn't get distracted staring at how pretty the graphics were, at least until most of the way through. Definitely two improvements I hope they carry on with in the way they make future films.
And the short at the beginning: genius. Definitely an example of what 'Looney Tune' style cartoons can be at their best.
Hancock - Was entertaining, though I'd have to say I generally agree with the criticism levelled as it (mostly how it feels like two different films kind of glued together, not so much a twist as a complete direction shift). Will Smith is as always entertaining, but considering it was a script that was apparently knocking around unwanted in Holywood since the mid-nineties, I can certainly see why that would have happened. Well enough acted, funny in places, but I can't decide if the film you get is better than what the first half of the film carried on more directly would have been like.
[SPOILERS OVER]
There's been a lot of films I wanted to see this year, and I've enjoyed all the cinema trips withpurplegirl23. Still several more I'm interested in though. Want to go see the sequel to Hellboy, even if I didn't really like the ending of the first. I'm also debating whether or not to watch the Mummy 3 (because I do generally like the first two films, but something about this latest one doesn't feel right - and not just the recasting of Rachel Weisz' roll; though possibly her pulling out of it might be part of my misgiving). Then lastly there is the latest Star Wars offering. I like Genndy Tartakovsky's art style having seen it grow up so to speak over the last decade, and so in many ways I enjoyed the original cartoon Clone Wars. This time though it sounds like Lucas has more involvement which is a definite warning sign (General Grievous: awesome villain in the cartoon, crippled just in time to be left a wheasy useless un-intimidating wreck in the 3rd film). Best case scenario it's a series of cool lightsaber fights and space battles, worse case scenario, well I'm not sure there is one I can conceive knowing Lucas' recent efforts.
Before the all-time-absorbing-ness of cosplay really kicked off, I'd been going through a bit of an extended game binge (one I must admit I've been looking forward to restarting).
I picked up the Spore Creature Creator demo, and fairly quickly upgraded to the full version. It's quite a bit of fun, whether you're twinking fast, ultra deadly creatures with your limited number of features you can add, or trying to make artistic creations with realistic movements, or even surprisingly effective versions of inanimate objects. Looking at some of those featured on the Sporepedia only reinforces how lacking my own artistic abilities are, and how amazing people can be (and how much free time they must have too). Of course because you can download and open in game any creature, there's nothing stopping you using someone elses good work as a base for your own. And no I haven't made any penis shaped creatures yet, nor am I likely to. I'm hoping the sandbox game play in the different levels of creature complexity is fun, but we'll have to see how it works out.
The other game I've particularly sunk my time into is Team Fortress, actually unlocking all the Pyro's weapons without an achievement server (though I did ask someone to help me get the Haduken taunt kill one). Looking forward to the heavy update for definite. Would also be good to actually play it when someone else in Bath is. While I know other people online through other things, they tend to be in less helpful time zones.
The one thing I possibly should be ashamed to having purchased is 'On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness' the Penny Arcade game. In all fairness I did try the demo first and did enjoy it enough to try the full game (that didn't exactly cost much anyway). While I enjoyed it, I'd certainly want to demo any later episodes before buying the full one, because it will depend on whether or not they've improved some of the more flawed design decisions of the original.
Then lastly I have a horde of PS2 game still to work my way through :) Definitely can't complain about that. I am very fortunate to have a girlfriend who owns (or can borrow from her sister) all those games I'd intended to try, but never got around to buying because of other releases and limited budgets at the time.
So Newport I have an end date August 29th, so only 11 more working days! This is good because even back after a long weekend off, I'm quickly finding myself tired, and as sick of the commute as ever. Yesterday was an extra special journey. Apart from it taking 175% of the usual time due to rain and traffic (and I've lost count how many times I've literally crossed the River Severn from a dry clear England into an overcast wet Wales), I also got reversed into on the motorway. Pull into a static queue on the outside lane, the person in front waits a little, puts his car into reverse and heads straight back until he connects with my car, then shoots off on to the inner lane and away. I didn't have time to get into reverse, nor the room to move if I had, still got his number plate anyway. Ultimately I'm glad no damage was caused because that would have been an awkward claim to prove.
The project will be unfinished when I leave, but that was always going to be the case. Considering we're only a few weeks away from the customer agreed deadline and we're still waiting on decision from them, on data to to work with from the lower level team, and that the main thing this release was due to work with is still in sketchy details stage and not due to be finalised until a quarter of a year after this project goes live, there was no sensible way we'd ever have it all done for when we were supposed too. I do pity those work colleagues of mine I'll be leaving behind, but not so much I'd stay longer.
Still excited about the Malta Holiday, still need to work out the best travel arrangements to and from Gatwick. Looking like taxi there, train back maybe the most sensible overall. It'll be good once it's all completely finalised.
I had put house hunting on hold, if only because looking at places where you don't want to live, but could afford and then seeing places that look amazing, but cost so far out of your price range gets tiring after a while. Still now I have some time, I've got lots of reasons to start some more aggressive house hunting again.
So hobby wise as you may have seen from this entry and the last I almost have too many. Aside from working and all the necessities for life I'm always dividing my time out between gaming, reading, larping, cosplay costume making and con going, playing Magic and watching films and interesting TV series. Ultimately this means there are always going to be periods when I'm doing one primarily to the detriment of the others. I think in total I'd probably like to make it to about 2/3rds of the specific things I can make it too (larping, Magic events) and get a good balance of the rest of my hobbies the rest of the time. I think in some ways this might mean I'll stop bothering with playing larp campaigns as I can't see myself going frequently enough any more to get really involved in an ongoing story. I have to admit larping wise I was quite glad of my business (and in many ways I still have too many drains on my time and energy to really get involved till October) because it's kept me nicely out of all the recent events. It'll be interesting to see how things are once I have time to go larping again, and in some ways the ability to pick which ever weekend day is more convenient will be useful. Still I imagine larping will mostly be a Sunday activity as I always have so many specific things I need to get done on Saturday's it seems. Lastly with regards to cosplay I think one event a year is enough. I'll need to start the costume making well in advance, but by doing a little every so often will mean I can do things as well as I want while still getting to do all the others thing I'd like to. Of course I have a couple of non cosplay related sewing projects to start so I'll have enough to keep going other than with Minami next year.
Yespurplegirl23 is absolutely and utterly amazing. I had a really nice long weekend with her, the longest continuous time we've spent in each others company so far. She just seems so very well suited to me; for example Monday she helped me sort out my room as distractions with my time, life and too little room for what I have always result in a progressive increasing quantity of mess. Not only she did help which in itself is wonderful, she also said at one point (and I quote) 'This is so much fun'. Yep, I'm dating someone who enjoys sorting and tidying things. I can imagine she's going to get plenty of opportunities for tidying dating me.
I'm very lucky and grateful to have such a wonderful, genuine and good person as my girlfriend. I'm just glad that I can make her happy and have been able to make a positive difference with her eczema. So thank you for everythingpurplegirl23, I love you.
The big 'issue' I had when I was a teenager was that I was very good at making myself feel like an outsider, a kind of general hanger on so to speak, even when among good friends. I admit there are still times when that feeling of being a periphery has certainly come up again, even as an adult. The difference is of course is that this time I know that any feelings of being on the fringes is really a direct result of how I live my life. There are a lot of people I consider friends, or would like to be better friends with who I see only rarely, and have a decent chat with even less frequently. This is a shame as I know a lot of absolutely wonderful people, so I plan to fix it as demonstrated by the next paragraph (and one outside of this particular lj-cut).
As you can see from the above I've been busy. Now I once again have deadline free, free time (Yay!) in between watching, reading, gaming and the occasional bit of sewing I'm intending to make more of an effort to see and talk to people. I'm lucky in that I know and get on well with a great many lovely people, I just suck at actually making time to see and talk to them, so I'm intending to spend at least an evening a week visiting people, preferably withpurplegirl23 in tow. I might not see people more than once a month this way, but it'll be better than not seeing them at all. So expect text, phone calls or other means of communicative prodding about meeting up soonish.
The reception for
cheekychipmunk and pujaemuss was lovely and both purplegirl23 and myself were immensely grateful for the invite. It was interesting to see the Limpley Stoke Hotel as it's one I've been past several times as it's very close to my home. It did look like a good place for the wedding and reception. cheekychipmunk looked amazing in her dress, and while I don't know the exact complications she suffered through with the fitting, considering the result I'd have said they were probably worth it. All that's left to say is that the two of them look very good and happy together and I wish them the best for the rest of their lives.With regards to my feelings on the reception, well the food was definitely approved of (long discussions about wedding food at the event has become a bit of a jokey tradition with my close family), and I once more proved I can't learn dance steps and certainly can't remember what I'm doing and listen to the beat at the same time. Still I got out before I lost all my dignity and I think I erred on the side of comedic fool, because if you're going to make a fool of yourself you might as well do it in an amusing fashion.
purplegirl23 looked amazing and I'm glad there was an opportunity for her to get dressed up during that period when thanks to a course of treatment her skin was perfect.Lastly all credit to those who made the brides maid dresses, they looked very good on the day.
[WARNING SPOILERS]
Batman The Dark Knight - I'm a big fan of this film, I thought the acting was excellent and the story well told. Definitely not a 12A. One thing I would say is the true nature of the film was hidden behind a bluff; in much the same way and almost hinted at by the fact that all of the actions of The Joker were bluffs or a series of bluffs. For you see the film bills itself as 'Batman vs The Joker', but really it's 'The Fall of Harvey Dent'. I'd almost go so far as to say that Batman was really a MacGuffin in the film, there to drive the actions of Gotham/Harvey Dent (which were really mirrors of each other) and to act as a motivating pressure driving The Joker onwards. Bruce Wayne does get some character development through his part within the film, but it was in many ways little more than a subplot. With regards to The Joker - what can you say other than Heath Ledger has forever defined what the character should be, but the sheer quality of the writing was a key part of that.
The obvious complaints of Gotham not having the additional visual touches of the Gotham of the first film, and of Batman's voice didn't really bother me. I didn't even notice the former and with the latter Christian Bale's effort is no worse than in the first one. The difference is of course the greater quantity of dialogue that had to be delivered using the voice. Seriously though how could someone as well known as Bruce Wayne not put on a voice if they wish to stay unknown? They could probably have toned down the level of damage to Harvey's face as Two-Face, at the least to avoid all the complaints with regards to infection and his eyeball drying out, especially considering the 'realistic' angle they've gone with for the films).
The only thing I wonder is maybe that the story was too big for a film, the way it was told you couldn't split it into sequels you need all that happens to show the fall of Harvey Dent properly (unless you want a Star Wars prequel style shift - or a somewhat unsatisfying Matrix 2 feel to the story). It's certainly a film that felt like it could have ended repeatedly throughout, but whether that was part of yet another bluff Nolan was playing with the audience or a consequence of the sheer scale of the story I'm not sure.
I only wonder if they make a sequel who can they really use as a villain, in many ways the Riddler fits Nolan's style, but might also feel too close to the way the Joker played out. Oh and speaking of villains the minor presence of the Scare Crow in the second film is something I am very happy about. I just like how Nolan avoids some of the more obvious comic book superhero film tropes.
Forbidden Kingdom - Very entertaining, but it's a martial arts movie with Jet-li and Jackie Chan so how could it not be. The fight between them, like all the fights, was well choreographed - Jet-li vs Jackie Chan was definitely in hindsight what I was hoping for. A good mix of technical skill, humour and a demonstration of their individual preferences and styles in an appropriately epic fight. Generally the fights were handled well with the surprisingly not irritating american kid feeling appropriately useless and appropriately out matched as the film progressed. The direction for the fights was excellent. I particularly liked the way even as they focussed on the individual fights between specific characters you could still see the other fights continuing properly in the background; it was a nice touch that made everything feel much more cohesive. So generally entertaining if you like that sort of film, with the martial arts and the humour you'd hope for in the cast. I still find Jet-li smiling and acting, especially as the Monkey King immensely odd though (Just as I have done in the other films where he acts/smiles a lot).
Walle was immensely cute, though not as cute as
purplegirl23 was as she squee-ed her way through the film (much like she had during all of the trailers). Considering it was a Pixar film the message wasn't as force fed as I've known them to do it. It was more that the message was the setting so while in that sense it was ever present I didn't find it felt as in your face as it might well have been if there had been more dialogue. It's also the first Pixar film where it didn't feel like there was an obvious 'Look-what-we-can-animate' moment (e.g. the jellyfish in Nemo). As well as the first where I've been so absorbed in the quality of the film, and the excellence of the animation, I didn't get distracted staring at how pretty the graphics were, at least until most of the way through. Definitely two improvements I hope they carry on with in the way they make future films.And the short at the beginning: genius. Definitely an example of what 'Looney Tune' style cartoons can be at their best.
Hancock - Was entertaining, though I'd have to say I generally agree with the criticism levelled as it (mostly how it feels like two different films kind of glued together, not so much a twist as a complete direction shift). Will Smith is as always entertaining, but considering it was a script that was apparently knocking around unwanted in Holywood since the mid-nineties, I can certainly see why that would have happened. Well enough acted, funny in places, but I can't decide if the film you get is better than what the first half of the film carried on more directly would have been like.
[SPOILERS OVER]
There's been a lot of films I wanted to see this year, and I've enjoyed all the cinema trips with
purplegirl23. Still several more I'm interested in though. Want to go see the sequel to Hellboy, even if I didn't really like the ending of the first. I'm also debating whether or not to watch the Mummy 3 (because I do generally like the first two films, but something about this latest one doesn't feel right - and not just the recasting of Rachel Weisz' roll; though possibly her pulling out of it might be part of my misgiving). Then lastly there is the latest Star Wars offering. I like Genndy Tartakovsky's art style having seen it grow up so to speak over the last decade, and so in many ways I enjoyed the original cartoon Clone Wars. This time though it sounds like Lucas has more involvement which is a definite warning sign (General Grievous: awesome villain in the cartoon, crippled just in time to be left a wheasy useless un-intimidating wreck in the 3rd film). Best case scenario it's a series of cool lightsaber fights and space battles, worse case scenario, well I'm not sure there is one I can conceive knowing Lucas' recent efforts.Before the all-time-absorbing-ness of cosplay really kicked off, I'd been going through a bit of an extended game binge (one I must admit I've been looking forward to restarting).
I picked up the Spore Creature Creator demo, and fairly quickly upgraded to the full version. It's quite a bit of fun, whether you're twinking fast, ultra deadly creatures with your limited number of features you can add, or trying to make artistic creations with realistic movements, or even surprisingly effective versions of inanimate objects. Looking at some of those featured on the Sporepedia only reinforces how lacking my own artistic abilities are, and how amazing people can be (and how much free time they must have too). Of course because you can download and open in game any creature, there's nothing stopping you using someone elses good work as a base for your own. And no I haven't made any penis shaped creatures yet, nor am I likely to. I'm hoping the sandbox game play in the different levels of creature complexity is fun, but we'll have to see how it works out.
The other game I've particularly sunk my time into is Team Fortress, actually unlocking all the Pyro's weapons without an achievement server (though I did ask someone to help me get the Haduken taunt kill one). Looking forward to the heavy update for definite. Would also be good to actually play it when someone else in Bath is. While I know other people online through other things, they tend to be in less helpful time zones.
The one thing I possibly should be ashamed to having purchased is 'On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness' the Penny Arcade game. In all fairness I did try the demo first and did enjoy it enough to try the full game (that didn't exactly cost much anyway). While I enjoyed it, I'd certainly want to demo any later episodes before buying the full one, because it will depend on whether or not they've improved some of the more flawed design decisions of the original.
Then lastly I have a horde of PS2 game still to work my way through :) Definitely can't complain about that. I am very fortunate to have a girlfriend who owns (or can borrow from her sister) all those games I'd intended to try, but never got around to buying because of other releases and limited budgets at the time.
So Newport I have an end date August 29th, so only 11 more working days! This is good because even back after a long weekend off, I'm quickly finding myself tired, and as sick of the commute as ever. Yesterday was an extra special journey. Apart from it taking 175% of the usual time due to rain and traffic (and I've lost count how many times I've literally crossed the River Severn from a dry clear England into an overcast wet Wales), I also got reversed into on the motorway. Pull into a static queue on the outside lane, the person in front waits a little, puts his car into reverse and heads straight back until he connects with my car, then shoots off on to the inner lane and away. I didn't have time to get into reverse, nor the room to move if I had, still got his number plate anyway. Ultimately I'm glad no damage was caused because that would have been an awkward claim to prove.
The project will be unfinished when I leave, but that was always going to be the case. Considering we're only a few weeks away from the customer agreed deadline and we're still waiting on decision from them, on data to to work with from the lower level team, and that the main thing this release was due to work with is still in sketchy details stage and not due to be finalised until a quarter of a year after this project goes live, there was no sensible way we'd ever have it all done for when we were supposed too. I do pity those work colleagues of mine I'll be leaving behind, but not so much I'd stay longer.
Still excited about the Malta Holiday, still need to work out the best travel arrangements to and from Gatwick. Looking like taxi there, train back maybe the most sensible overall. It'll be good once it's all completely finalised.
I had put house hunting on hold, if only because looking at places where you don't want to live, but could afford and then seeing places that look amazing, but cost so far out of your price range gets tiring after a while. Still now I have some time, I've got lots of reasons to start some more aggressive house hunting again.
So hobby wise as you may have seen from this entry and the last I almost have too many. Aside from working and all the necessities for life I'm always dividing my time out between gaming, reading, larping, cosplay costume making and con going, playing Magic and watching films and interesting TV series. Ultimately this means there are always going to be periods when I'm doing one primarily to the detriment of the others. I think in total I'd probably like to make it to about 2/3rds of the specific things I can make it too (larping, Magic events) and get a good balance of the rest of my hobbies the rest of the time. I think in some ways this might mean I'll stop bothering with playing larp campaigns as I can't see myself going frequently enough any more to get really involved in an ongoing story. I have to admit larping wise I was quite glad of my business (and in many ways I still have too many drains on my time and energy to really get involved till October) because it's kept me nicely out of all the recent events. It'll be interesting to see how things are once I have time to go larping again, and in some ways the ability to pick which ever weekend day is more convenient will be useful. Still I imagine larping will mostly be a Sunday activity as I always have so many specific things I need to get done on Saturday's it seems. Lastly with regards to cosplay I think one event a year is enough. I'll need to start the costume making well in advance, but by doing a little every so often will mean I can do things as well as I want while still getting to do all the others thing I'd like to. Of course I have a couple of non cosplay related sewing projects to start so I'll have enough to keep going other than with Minami next year.
Yes
purplegirl23 is absolutely and utterly amazing. I had a really nice long weekend with her, the longest continuous time we've spent in each others company so far. She just seems so very well suited to me; for example Monday she helped me sort out my room as distractions with my time, life and too little room for what I have always result in a progressive increasing quantity of mess. Not only she did help which in itself is wonderful, she also said at one point (and I quote) 'This is so much fun'. Yep, I'm dating someone who enjoys sorting and tidying things. I can imagine she's going to get plenty of opportunities for tidying dating me. I'm very lucky and grateful to have such a wonderful, genuine and good person as my girlfriend. I'm just glad that I can make her happy and have been able to make a positive difference with her eczema. So thank you for everything
purplegirl23, I love you.The big 'issue' I had when I was a teenager was that I was very good at making myself feel like an outsider, a kind of general hanger on so to speak, even when among good friends. I admit there are still times when that feeling of being a periphery has certainly come up again, even as an adult. The difference is of course is that this time I know that any feelings of being on the fringes is really a direct result of how I live my life. There are a lot of people I consider friends, or would like to be better friends with who I see only rarely, and have a decent chat with even less frequently. This is a shame as I know a lot of absolutely wonderful people, so I plan to fix it as demonstrated by the next paragraph (and one outside of this particular lj-cut).
As you can see from the above I've been busy. Now I once again have deadline free, free time (Yay!) in between watching, reading, gaming and the occasional bit of sewing I'm intending to make more of an effort to see and talk to people. I'm lucky in that I know and get on well with a great many lovely people, I just suck at actually making time to see and talk to them, so I'm intending to spend at least an evening a week visiting people, preferably with
purplegirl23 in tow. I might not see people more than once a month this way, but it'll be better than not seeing them at all. So expect text, phone calls or other means of communicative prodding about meeting up soonish.
