One Man's Notes

Bird song

I really don't stop and listen to bird song often enough.

I should do more of that.


QotD: Let's Go There

What's your favorite vacation destination?

I've not often visited the same area twice, but the West Country is rapidly becoming a favourite, if only because of Lorna's enthusiam for the area.


Revising My Opinions of Conventions

Y'know, I always associated costumes at conventions with overweight, middle-aged men in deeply, deeply inappropriate costumes.

And then I find this picture in Squid's photostream.

I believe the correct phrase is "blimey".

I may have to reassess my view of geek culture, and for the considerably better.

(She's dressed as Marvel Comics character X-23, incidentally)

I've only ever been to one convention in my life, a Dragonmeet some years ago. The experience was mainly notable for somebody asking me for an autograph, which was rather flattering.

Maybe in the future, just as long as people can reassure me that the male attendees at these things have learned how to use soap.

QotD: Collector's Item

What do you collect?

I don't really collect anything any more. I've been through phases of trying to collect things, but I always find the process of acquisition more pleasureable than actually owning the objects, which I tend to find rather irritating.


Remember Jigsaw?

UK kids' TV got very strange during the 1980s. Very strange indeed:

Noseybonk


QotD: Speak To Me In...

How many languages can you speak?  Which languages can you read or understand?

Only English (it being my native language and all…) and a smattering of French. I can remember enough to get by there, but not enough to hold a conversation or read a newspaper.


Vox Hunt: Tastes great

Show us something that tastes great.

Mmm. Afternoon break.


QotD: I Get Around

How many places have you lived in your life?

I've called 12 places "home"

  • 2 houses in Manchester
  • 2 houses in Scotland
  • 2 student halls
  • 3 student-era flat rentals
  • 2 post-student flat rentals
  • Our current flat

Hopefully, I'll hit number 13 later this year…


Scenes from Bristol's Open Doors

It's an in-laws weekend, with Lorna and I down in Bristol visiting my mother-in-law and brother-in-law, Jesse.

It's also the Bristol Open Doors weekend, giving people the chance to visist Bristol buildings they wouldn't noramlly be able to see in then same way. Here are somw phone pics of a few places we visited. Others will follow when I get home and download pics from the SLR.

Bristol Blue GlassTour guide at workThe suspension bridgePath through the woodsGlassmakers at work

QotD: Middle Name

What's your middle name?  Is there a story or history behind it?

I have two: Matthew John. The first is what my parents were originally going to call me, until they decided Matt Tinworth didn't sound very good (the clashing 't's), and chose Adam instead, after hearing it on The Archers. "John" is a family traditional middle name.


Stingray involvement…

Apologies to anyone easily offended:


QotD: Three-Day Weekend!

What are your plans for the holiday weekend?

Dear Voxters,

The wonderful thing about the internet is that it lack boundaries. It is, in a ward, international.

So, hey, thanks for the US-centric question.

Our holiday weekend in the UK was last weekend and it was just great, thank you.

Regards,

Adam


QotD: Less Stress, Please

What is your favorite way to relieve stress?

Quite honestly, I think I unwind most by playing World of Warcraft. DVD-watching is more about spending time with Lorna and I really don't get much time for reading at the moment.

Blogging used to be a hobby, but in snow my job. Hmmm. Photography - yeah, that's a big stress reliever for me.


QotD: Home Sweet Home

What is your browser's default home page set to?
Submitted by Kelev T. Cat.

It's set to the Vox homepage, so I can answer the question of the day, and then go on to my neighbourhood.

What an incedibly recursive response.


A Handy Weekend

Tonight feels odd. It's the end of the weekend, but not the Bank Holiday Weekend. I've got tomorrow off, but Lorna doens't. So, this evening is hung somewhere between a Saturday and a Sunday night, with Lorna doing her normal Sunday stuff and me looking forward to an Alterac Valley match or two tomorrow.

Otherwise, it's been a handy weekend. Fixing lights, fixing up the garden, clearing out wardrobes, that sort of thing. We did spend three hours shopping in Lewisham, which was horrific, and the less set about that, the better.

Howeverm we have just watched a really excellent movie, which I'll talk about in a seperate post. I'm such a tease.


QotD: I'm reading (or about to read)...

What books are on your nightstand?
Granta 90: Country Life

The Mary-Sue Extrusion (New Adventures)

The Last Witchfinder: A Novel

Bit of a mixed bag at the moment. The first two are books extracted from my massive "to be read" pile. The Granta country life issue is part of a general longing I'm feeling for the rural. The Mary Sue Extrusion is part of a long-defunct sci-fi series that I'm finally getting around to reading so I can flog it on Amazon for £15.

Finally, The Last Witchfinder is a recent purchase, which I'm enjoying immensely. It's part of a genre you might describe as "playful, intellectual, revisionist historical fiction" which is, in part narrated by Newton's Principia Mathamatica. Oh, and the sex scenes are great.


QotD: I Just Made That Up

Remember sniglets?  Do you have any favorites?  Have you ever made up your own word?  (Now's as good a time as any.)

OK, this is probably not something to be proud of, but I did coin the word "whorevert" to describe the advertising cards London prostitues leave in phoneboxes a while ago.

My other blog is still the number one result if you Google for "whoreverts". Really.


Vox Hunt: That Rules

Show us some rules.

This is a pretty standard set of bomb threat rules, which I suspect date from the IRA era. Today's terrorists don't bother with warnings…

It almost makes you nostalgic. Almost.


Today's Productivity Destroyer

Absolutely no thanks at all to AndyB for sending me this and thus costing RBI 10 minutes of my valuable time:



Robot Chicken - Junk in the Trunk (101)



You've been warned.


I'm such a nerd because...

What's the nerdiest thing about you?
Lucifer's Shadow: Tales of Fallen Angels
Michael Lee, Adam Tinworth, Greg Stolze

Easy one.

I've written role-playing games and books professionally.

I started through writing for Future Publishing's long dead arcane magazine, which AndyB worked for. That lead to invites to write for White Wolf. I produced sections of about two dozen books over a five year period, including the books shown here.


QotD: Teacher's Pet

What was (or is) your favorite subject in school?

Oh, thank you for this. This is one of those questions that makes everyboy hate me. You see, I liked pretty much all subjects at school, and was good at all of them.

Horrible isn't it?

I can answer the opposite question: my least favourite subject was French. But I never really had a favourite subject.


QotD: Here Comes The Bride

What was the last wedding you went to?  Were you in the wedding?

The last wedding we went to was Adam & Clair Rochester's wedding about a month ago. It was held up on the north Norfolk coast, with a tiny ceremony for close friends and family only. We arrived for the reception, and had a really great time. I need to sort though the photos later on today, so I'll update this post with some pics then - which I've now done:

"Ignore the nasty man with the camera"Rock around the clock!The Bridal HornsRochester the Fearless



Back

We're back in the Uk. Horrible journey. More later.


Long lunch

So, here I am, sat with the family, having lunch in a French restaurant. It was worth driving through the torrential rain yesterday.


and we are off

Tunnel time!