davidbrider's Journal

10:00PM - General purpose rules of engagement and intro post

• If you've found my journal, hello! Pull up a virtual chair, put your feet up, have a cup of tea (or drink of your choice). You are very very welcome!
  
  
• I was Friends-only for a while. I'm not any more, but quite a lot of my posts before about mid-2007 are still Friends-only. Generally speaking, unless I'm making posts that are really only for me (lists of things to do) or for specific friends ('phone number or "this is what I look like for when we meet up" posts), my posts tend to be public.
  
  
• That said, I compensate for being rather shy and introverted IRL by being very eager to make new friends on line. If I've Friended you, it's unlikely to be entirely random - either we share a few interests, or some mutual LJ friends, or we know each other IRL, or I've noticed you commenting in a community or on an LJ friends' post and I think you seem interesting or worth knowing. Obviously, you don't have to Friend me back, but I'd certainly appreciate it. Who wouldn't?
  
  
• If you decide to Friend me, please say "hi" by adding a comment to this post.
  
  
• I can be a bit tactless myself, but I tend to start out from a position of trying to be nice and polite to everyone. If I inadvertantly manage to offend or upset you, please bear that in mind. Likewise, if you accidentally offend or upset me, I'll be more than ready to forgive and forget ('cos life's too short, frankly). But if you're deliberately unpleasant or rude or jerk me around...well, I might take exception to that.
  
  
• There are a few things about me that you may consider it worth knowing before you decide to Friend me:
  
  
• I'm bisexual. That doesn't mean that I'm sexually promiscuous or anything like that - there are a few men that I think are rather attractive, but I'm entirely monogamous and engaged to a lady called Sarah - the wedding is planned for September 19th, 2009. If I get to know you well enough, you may well be invited. If you have a problem with me being bisexual, Friending me may not be a terribly good idea.
  
  
• I write and read slash fiction, both fanfic and original - again, if you have a problem with that, you may want to think twice about Friending me. Generally speaking, any fic I write (which is pretty infrequent, I've got to admit) is hidden underneath an LJ cut, so you don't have to read it if you don't want to. I try to tag my entries, but more of them are untagged than are tagged. That said, if you actually want to read my fiction, there is a tag for it, and also I tend to add it to my Memories. Also, I have a goal of wanting to write a novel.
  
  
• Generally, I'm pretty pro-gay rights and pro-gay marriage, and all told a bit of a liberal. Indeed, I'm fairly left-leaning politically.
  
  
• I'm also a Christian, part of a church which is reformed (though I'm not) charismatic. At the moment, I'm...not exactly having a crisis of faith, but having an ongoing discussion with myself and (when I remember to include Him) God about what I'm looking for in life and where I need to be. Paths I'm looking at pursuing include Christian mysticism and/or some kind of Pagan/Christian hybrid.
  
  
• Anything else you need to know about me, you can probably get from my LJ User Info.
  
  
• I'm not sure where my default Userpic came from. When I find out, I'll post a link.
  
  

7:04PM - Oh yes, he is.

So, it appears that the casting of Matt Smith as the eleventh Doctor has been rather, um, controversial. Not sure why. For me it's more a case of, "oh, who's he?", seeing as I'm totally unfamiliar with his work (something I plan to put right by getting hold of a copy of Party Animals asap, and possibly The Ruby in the Smoke). The only real negative that I can see is he's not Chiwetel Ejeiofor (for whom I'd rather built up my hopes), but then that would have been true of most of the other actors who were mooted in the press, with one obvious exception. And hey, he may be not very well known, and fairly young and not terribly experienced, but he is an actor. ISTR back in 2003 when RTD was getting the new series off the ground, that some papers were suggesting that maybe Paul Daniels could be the Doctor. *ahem*

Oh, and Demons. Another case of building my hopes up. I don't know if it might have been better if Glenister hadn't played it with that bizarre pseudo-American accent, but quite frankly, that's an hour of my life I'll never get back...

David.

11:52AM - Must...

...get hold of a copy of this song from iTunes.

In other news, one of the rounds on UniChall last night was about Alma Schindler. Thanks to the works of Tom Lehrer, I answered the first one (Gustav Mahler) easily enough, and after much brainstretching, managed to remember the name Gropius for the second. Did better than the team who were actually answering the questions. Honestly, don't students listen to Tom Lehrer nowadays?

I've sometimes thought I'd like to go back to university just so I could be part of a UniChall team. That, or for Open University to have a team with a player called Dawes. Just 'cos it would make me unreasonably giggly every time Roger Tilling says "Open Dawes".

10:19PM - He is like snow and ice and other cold stuff...

Just watched a repeat of the Top Gear Polar challenge on BBC3 and...OMG. Absolutely hysterical, and also thrilling and thought-provoking. Not, I'll freely admit, one of my main fandoms, but nevertheless a great way of spending an hour. And very slashy too...do they...realise???

Today's been another good day. Hopefully this is very much a case of starting 2009 as I mean to go on.

Sarah's still ill, but the Met line or Chiltern trains willing, I'll be popping up to Chorleywood to spend tomorrow with her. And then watching the Doctor Who Confidential special when I get home. And Demons.

Hopefully Sunday morning will be spent at Oasis for the first time in about 14 months...

7:46PM - Icons meme

Default *	Oldest	Newest
Saddest	Happiest	Angriest
Cutest	Sexiest	Funniest
Fave Ship **	Fave Fandom	Fave Animated
Best Quote	Best Textless ***	Best Stolen Idea
Use The Most ****	Favourite *****

* Until January 6th when the Christmas decorations come down.
** Well, fave ship represented by one of my icons. I have no Remus/Sirius icons and no Merlin/Arthur icons.
*** Best textless that Sarah won't kill me for having.
**** As it's normally my default.
***** Of the ones I haven't already used in this meme.

HOW MANY ICONS DO YOU HAVE: 161
HOW MANY AVAILABLE ICONS SPACES: 34
IF YOU COULD BUY SPACE FOR MORE, WOULD YOU: Don't know, but possibly.
DO YOUR ICONS MAKE A STATEMENT: Oh yes. They say my main fandom is Doctor Who.
WHAT FANDOM DO YOU HAVE THE MOST ICONS OF: See above.
AND THE SECOND MOST: Not sure, actuallly! Probably Supernatural
WHAT SHIP DO YOU HAVE THE MOST ICONS OF: Dean/Sam, although I don't really ship them massively.
ARE YOUR ICONS MADE MOSTLY BY OTHER PEOPLE: I think they're mostly by me.
DO YOU MAKE ICONS: Yes.
ARE THEY ANY GOOD: I hope so, but when I've joined in with LIMS contest I tend to be the first out. :o/
ANIMATED ICONS ARE: Good if done well, but most of mine aren't done terribly well. IMO.

Dai

4:33PM - So...

...it looks as if tomorrow I'll have to update this userpic.

Dai

11:18PM - Misc. end of day stuff.

Jonathan Creek was...not as great as could have been. ( Spoilers. )

Quite enjoyed Three Men in More Than One Boat. I don't know who had the idea of teaming up Dara, Rory, and Griff for re-enacting Three Men in a Boat a couple of years back, but it was variously a stroke of genius and a recipe for disaster. Normally both at once. Fun viewing, and it reminds me how much I'd like to go on a water-based holiday with Sarah.

In other news, it's been a good start to the year. Well, apart from my video player (the one I use for importing tapes into the computer) deciding to die on me (for some reason the transport controls just wouldn't work when I went to use it this morning). So I had to go to Argos to get a new one. Hadn't really expected that.

Apart from that, though, I've actually, for the first time in a while, made proper resolutions for the year ahead (they're in a public post, although frankly I wouldn't bother reading them unless you want to be bored to death - I just fancy a bit of accountability; y'know, if a couple of really good friends can come to me at the end of January and say, "you know this world domination bit? Have you actually been making much effort in that department..?"), and although it's early days, today was pretty good - I've been fairly productive round the house, and even, for the first time in ages, written a couple of diary entries.

Oh, and as there's still about half an hour of January 1st, and as I forgot earlier,

Happy New Year, Flist! Have a great 2009!

Dai. (Yes, I'm experimenting. Sarah calls me Dai. I think it kind of suits me. I'm convinced I'm part Welsh, despite the absence of any evidence to support that theory.)

11:41AM - Four things that are various kinds of brilliant...

• Just finished watching Mine, all mine, which my mum bought me for Christmas, and it was rather terrific (although the ending was a bit of an anticlimax). I don't care what people say - Russell T Davies is rather an excellent writer. It's also got a young (virtually unrecognisable) Gareth David Lloyd playing a character called Yanto Jones. Which is cool. I'd like to go back to Swansea at some time.
  
  
• Mamma Mia! tops all-time DVD list with sales of more than 5 million copies. And I still don't have one yet. Something wrong there, methinks. But anyway - yay.
  
  
• Saw a bit of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year last night, and...is it just me, or is James Corden really just wonderful, or what?
  
  
• I've got a lovely fiancee. She treats me wonderfully (and I hope I treat her wonderfully as well). And I marry her on September 19th this year. *YAY*
  

Dai.

1:53PM - Something I'd love...

...having been playing Tim's various Guitar Hero and Rock Band games on his XBox, I should love it if someone were to make a (musical) keyboard controller and then market Synthpop Hero. 'Cos I'd buy it.

Dai.

10:28AM - All hail the knight!

Yay!!! for sir Terry of Pratchett.

Dai.

10:00AM - New Year's Resolutions 2009

Start every day with a reading from Lucas on Life, Every Day

Go to the morning meeting with Oasis every Sunday

Meet up with small group every other Thursday (might need to drop Gordon and Sally an email to check when they're next meeting).

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Do half an hour of tidying up every day. When the easy stuff has been done, move on to the difficult - e.g., piles of paperwork that need to be sorted through.

Catalogue one video tape every day. Import contents into computer and convert to .avi file. Burn to disc where possible (e.g., complete series to a DVD-R, 90-ish-minute TV movies or one-offs to a CD-R)

Try to pack at least one photocopy-paper-size box of things for moving house per week (start with CDs and tapes; move on to books; then DVDs - both bought DVDs and DVD-Rs)

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Diet - regular meals at regular times. No in-between-meals snacking. Try to avoid eating out unless absolutely unavoidable.

Take anti-depressants once per day

Take MetFormin twice per day

See Doctor/nurse on fairly regular basis

Get back into going to gym, again on fairly regular basis

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Get back into writing diary entries, maybe two per day. (More would be nice.)

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Save money

But buy one item from Amazon wish list per week (starting with the really cheap ones - the ones that are £1:00 or less from Amazon Market Place).

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Finish watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Finish watching Angel

Watch through the stack of DVDs on top of my TV that are waiting to be watched! Maybe one episode/film per day?

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Speaking of stacks of things, you see that mound of books next to your bed that fell on you on Christmas Eve? Try, like, reading them..?

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Get married. This is going to happen anyway, but hey.

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Learn at least one computer language (C++ or C# seem like fairly good bets)

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Take and pass driving theory test

Take and pass driving practical test

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Have at least one decent holiday, involving going somewhere away from home for a week of not doing anything too energetic (conventions don't count) with Sarah.

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Treat Sarah well. I hope I do this anyway,

11:59PM - So...

...this year, I've watched most of Merlin (although IIRC there are still three or four episodes I've not seen yet), seen Spamalot, and just watched the DVD edit of Doctor Who - Battlefield, which was actually quite good, IMO, although how much of that was down to improvements in the DVD edit I'm not sure.

Anyway, I'm thinking, a bit of a common theme is developing here, so how to round out the year with style? Maybe catch up with the Merlin eps I've missed? Maybe indeed have a full-in Merlin-thon?

Or perhaps I could watch the Sam Neill version of Merlin (which Tim has on DVD somewhere)? Or Excalibur? Or The Sword in the Stone? The possibilities are...some.

That was a random thought, it's late, I'm tired, I'm going to bed.

(And I still need a Merlin icon...)

12:08PM - 2009 meme...

...gacked from lonemagpie

( Read more... )

Dai.

9:47PM - Today was...not bad...

Went to East Ham for the Nicholas Courtney/Ben Aaronovitch signing at The Who Shop, which went well. I was eighth in the queue despite arriving only half an hour before the signing was due to start (a bit different to the old Tenth Planet signings). Mr Courtney was charming as ever, and I look forward to seeing Battlefield (especially the new DVD edit) and listening to the Big Finish audio Masters of War, which I've been looking forward to for some time having loved Sympathy for the Devil.

(On a related note, one of the Christmas presents I received was the Doctor Who - Travels in Time & Space CD boxed set of William Russell reading the first three Doctor Who novelisations. Been putting that onto my iPod, so I'll be listening to it some point soon.)

After the signing, I headed up to Chorleywood, where I kept Sarah company for a couple of hours. She's now come down with tonsillitis. She's in a really poorly state, but I was glad that I was able to just be with her for a little while. Held hands, shnuggled up, and gave her mum the picture we had taken back in November (her mum, and her aunt Maggie who was also there, liked it).

After I'd left Sarah's, I did a bit of wander shopping in the West End (first time I've been able to pop into Forbidden Planet for yonks - the last few times I've tried it's been closed), had dinner in Nando's, and wandered around Foyles before realising that my feet were killing me and it was high time I headed for home.

Now torn before doing the washing up (which badly needs to be done) or going to bed, but tending more towards the latter.

I'm going to work tomorrow, although fortunately it's the only day this week I'm going in.

8:59PM - Fantasy casting.

Could we possibly have Rupert Penry-Jones as the eleventh Doctor and Sheridan Smith as his companion? It would make me happy.

3:10AM - The good, the bad...

The good - Jensen Ackles is going to be at Asylum 3 next May. I could well be tempted. Even more so if Jared decides to put in an appearance...

The bad - this really makes me wish I'd got an Intel Mac...

(The worse...I seem to be insomniac tonight.)

10:13PM - Odds and ends...

Yesterday was the family gathering for my dad's side of the family. Mum gave me a lift there (as dad's having his house totally overhauled to deal with some subsidence issues, it was held at my aunt and uncle's in Witham). It was lovely to be with them all (although my cousin Karen, and her daughters, sadly weren't there). Received yet more pressies. Mostly stuff from my wish list, but a couple of surprises - my aunt Lynn had bought me the Doctor Who 2009 calendar (I'd been thinking about buying it in Sainsbury's the other night, but decided against it), and my sisters Emma and Jessica had got me Stephen Fry's Moab is my Washpot. Given that a.) I love Stephen Fry but b.) I don't have that particular book (but do have most of his others) that was quite a good choice! And I'm looking forward to reading it.

The RPG geek in me was entertained by this gift from my cracker - a spherical die. Basically, a D1, albeit for rolling numbers from 1 to 6.



Sarah's still ill, unfortunately, and advised against visiting her today. It ended up being a fairly sedentary day, although I popped into the town centre briefly. Thought about treating myself to some DVDs, but decided against it. Popped into Woolworths, which was a strange experience (there seemed to be more shoppers than stock), picked up some basic groceries, then ambled back home, where I've been watching the second series of Chuck.

Just saw a trailer for the new Philip Glenister series Demons, which looks like it could be rather good (although from the trailer, rather dark in tone for the timeslot), although a.) of course Tim would remind me that the job of the trailer is to make something look good even if it isn't, and b.) Glenister's American accent sounds a bit dubious... Also, I'm rather looking forward to tomorrow night's The Thirty Nine Steps (not least because it's got Rupert Penry-Jones in it), and to ITV's adap of Affinity, despite the trailer making it look a bit dull. The schedulers win no points for ensuring that those two clash...

Travelling up to Chorleywood to see Sarah tomorrow is probably a no-no - various rail replacement buses are in operation and the nationalrail.co.uk website projects the travel time to be about five hours each way, which is, frankly, ludicrous. So tomorrow will (hopefully) be spent on housework, and I might go out to see Twilight, 'cos I could do with a laugh.

Plans for Monday involve going to East Ham for The Who Shop's Nicholas Courtney signing, and then popping over to Chorleywood to spend some of the afternoon with Sarah.

And *eep* I've just learned from the website that on Saturday 24th January The Who Shop are holding a signing by David Morrissey. Erm...I'm not doing anything that day, I hope...

11:42AM - Well...

...hopefully that should help my sanity a bit.

10:04AM - Christmas presents post.

Things I've received:

DVDs
Resurrection by N.T. Wright. - been after a complete copy of this since it was first shown about five years ago and I missed most of it. I like Wright - he's a good theologian - and am looking forward to seeing this properly.

Mine, all Mine. Recorded some of this when it was first on, and it was one of the first programmes I transferred to DVD-R, but I've never seen it properly all the way through - and indeed the DVD is the full six-episode version, rather than the five-episode version screened on ITV.

Books
Black Butterfly - the third Lucifer Box novel. I received the second one a couple of Christmasses ago. Now all I need is the first one and I can read the whole lot. And I love that cover...

Finding Serenity - Anti-heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers In Joss Whedon's Firefly - just 'cos it looks interesting.

Learning Cocoa with Objective-C - because I really want to properly learn how to program a computer. I think that's going to my main goal for 2009 (apart from the obvious) - possibly with a view to a career change, I don't know...

Chart Throb by Ben Elton - I've got most of his books, and this was one of the ones I'm missing. Looking forward to reading it. Some of the recent ones have been a good laugh (although others, such as Blind Faith, have been less so). Hopefully this one will be a good laugh.

Treasure of Khan by Clive Cussler. A Dirk Pitt book I missed? WTF? Time to catch up. And there's a new one out in hardback now too.

Mock the Week - Scenes We'd Like To See. Because I enjoy a good laugh. On a cursory flick through, this certainly seems to be pretty darned hilarious.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. Because I'd like to check out the work of the guy who's doing the sixth Hitch-Hiker's novel, and this seems to be as good a place to start.

CDs
Bilingual by Pet Shop Boys - the re-release with the Further Listening disc. One of the few of those re-releases that I hadn't got (I think the only one I'm missing now is Behaviour. Admittedly, the only reason this was on my wish list was that there are only a couple of "previously unreleased" tracks on the Further Listening disc, and there was no way I was going to bother buying it myself just for those two...

Cinemasonic by All About Eve. For some reason, I never bought this at the time. Really looking forward to listening to it, 'cos, well, it's "new" (as of about 6 years ago) All About Eve.

MJGB06 by Martyn Joseph. Because I like Martyn Joseph, and again, this is one of the few of his that I don't have.

(Also Visible Results by Liza Minnelli and David Tennant reading Doctor Who - The Stone Rose, both of which were birthday presents from Antonia & Richard).

Miscellaneous
A pizza stone from Claire.

Three rather nice smart jumpers from Sarah.

So I'm quite happy with all of that lot. Must read through my book collection a bit more quickly, though - I've got a sizeable pile of books still to be read. They collapsed on me while I was in bed the other night. That's probably not a good sign, really...

9:50AM - Eight days of happiness meme - parts 3 & 4

Christmas Eve

• Did everything at work that I needed to do, and I'm only working one more day (next Tuesday) until January 5th. Be nice to have a break.
  
• Had fish soup for dinner. I like my fish soup.
  
• Managed - briefly - to get on top of the washing up. I know, house work (or at least getting it done) makes me happy.
  
• The Christmas HIGNFY special was good fun. Loved the costumes, and it made me laugh.
  
• Caught some of the Christmas Gavin & Stacey. I've never watched it properly, but it looked good, and I've heard really good things of it.
  
• Went to the midnight service at the local Cathedral. A bit high church for me, but even so, it was nice to go there - went with my mum and my sister, and saw some old friends there which was nice. Good way to see in Christmas Day (those last two verses of O come, all ye faithful get to me every time...
  

Christmas Day

• My mum. Took me all the way to Chorleywood and back. She's a star. Over this year, and particularly over the past couple of months or so, I've come to really appreciate my family a lot more than I had before, but my mum really is a star. She does so many good things for me.
  
• Saw Sarah, however briefly. Did a little pressie exchange. She liked her presents (three David Attenborough DVDs which I'd bought from her wish list, and the Prince Caspian DVD and the Folklore of Discworld book). She and her mum had got me, between them, a digital photo frame and an 8GB flash card with loads of family photos loaded on to it. That was nice.
  
• Christmas day with mum & Malcolm, Antonia & Richard, and Jakob & Eleni. Jakob received loads of presents and was full of beans, Eleni was crying a bit but when she settled down she was happy (although, as seems to be the way with young babies, manages to cultivate a very studious look). A lovely time, no arguments, and we were all happy, although I was still a bit tired from lack of sleep and spent a couple of hours in bed.
  
• Received some wonderful presents - mainly stuff from my Amazon wish list - which I shall itemise in another post. People seemed to appreciate the presents we'd bought for them, including Malcolm (Spiral on DVD). Also Tim (I'd given him his present - the Peep Show script book - a couple of days ago, but he liked it, which is always nice).
  
• Got home and saw the Christmas Doctor Who. Again, deserves a post of its own, but suffice it to say, I enjoyed it.
  

So yeah, two good days. I wonder what today will bring?