(b)ankers

From Doonesbury -

"Marshall Plan, Louisiana Purchase, Race to the Moon, S&L Crisis, Korean War, The New Deal, Invasion of Iraq, Vietnam War, NASA."
-- list of government expenditures which, combined, are still less than the current bailout

We could probably end poverty and go to Mars if we closed all the banks. Hmmm...

Nanowrimo begins

The nice thing about starting on the weekend is that you have plenty of time to do all those things you really have to do before settling down to write a novel. Things like installing a new, untested operating system on the laptop you need to use to write on, catching up on Facebook and emails, trying out the new features of your new operating system and playing with your colour scheme. Downloading some new desktop backgrounds for your PC. Reading about the Royal Australian Navy because it's the Wikipedia article of the day. Still, it has been a successful weekend and I'm even a little ahead. Back to work tomorrow but hopefully I can just keep plugging away at it in the evenings and get to next weekend with a reasonable word count. My mistake last year, when I failed to get much past the second week, was having days where I simply did not write. While that was not entirely my fault once you get behind it is a big challenge to catch up again.

Long time

Took a long break from doing my writing blog but finally broke the dry spell tonight with a silly new thing. Almost tempted to write about the spider from my dream last night but managed to avoid it. It was about a foot across, with legs like gnarled tree branches and strange, bright orange nodules on it's underside that excreted some kind of pus when it launched itself with a thud against the window I was standing next too. But this is much nicer.

Honeymoon

We had a brilliant time in Crete for our honeymoon. Mostly we didn't do very much apart from eat a lot, lie on the beach and read but it was much needed. The hotel was nice and it was easy to get into the old town to have a look at the tacky shops or go for a nice meal. We did manage to do a couple of things; Visit the Minoan ruins at Knossos and walk the Samaria Gorge. By coincidence the walk day was also the worst weather we had - frequent drizzle - but as we were hiking that wasn't much of a problem.

www.flickr.com

We visited Knossos the lazy way, on a tour, and that was a bit disappointing. Half the tour was in German meaning that you just stood around half the time wishing you could be exploring the site more and also the route through the site was pretty constrained so I feel that there was more that I could have seen. Serves me right - it wouldn't have been hard to get the bus, just laziness.

I also had plenty of time to research my new book which I am getting really excited about. I've decided to save starting it until Nanowrimo in November.

Wedding

Quick description before heading off to honeymoon.

Woke up. Had bacon and eggs cooked for me by Dad and then headed out to collect the cake and pick up Emily who needed a lift into town to get ready with Zak. Was a bit late meeting up with Anthony at the train station but that was ok because his train was late. Next went to the Palace Hotel to drop off the cake, the various other bits we had and Emily. Headed back to my parents where Anthony suggested going for a pint. Waited a bit for Debbie and Simon to turn up with new baby Oliver and then we went to the pub while Dad went to pick up Alan. Had a Guiness, which I haven't had for a while and really enjoyed. When we got back there was a bit of rushing around while everyone got ready and then the minibus taxi turned up. After a lot more fussing everyone finally got on board and we collected Lucille and Bob, and then Vicky John and Alice. Got stuck in traffic on the way into town which was a bit worrying as it was the Labour Party conference and a Stop the War demo next to the hotel that afternoon but everyone was actually going somewhere else, traffic cleared up and we sailed into town with plenty of time to spare. Checked the room over, came down and had another drink, went back to the room to see if the registrar had turned up and found the seats had been rearranged again. Confirmed I was who I am with the registrar and then people started turning up. Ceremony was supposed to start at four. At five past there was still no sign and someone came to say there had been a slight problem and the bride was running late. Finally, at twenty past, the registrar came in and announced that things were starting. Alice, as flower girl, came in first and did a marvellous job covering the aisle with petals. Finally Zak walked in looking absolutely stunning. Andy did a brilliant job of the reading and then the ceremony started. It didn't feel rushed, it felt just right. We went out to the theme from Once Upon a Time in China and drank champagne as we walked downstairs where everyone shook our hands. Drinks done it ws time to try and get photos organised which was pretty chaotic (but based on a quick look through yesterday it all worked out) and then into the meal. Slight problem with the seating arrangements but that got sorted. Food was really nice, although it was pretty late. By the time we finished a number of the evening guests had arrived so we decided to move the speeches downstairs, which was really nice. Anthony's speech was also great, not too embarrasing or too formal. After that we had our first dance to Israel Kamakawiwo's version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow and after that it was just more drinking and lots of dancing. I had a really, really good time and Zak did too. Thanks to everyone who came and made it a fantastic day.

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a week off

Finally, some time off work. The plan has been mostly just to do as little as possible which has meant doing some of the obvious things, like video games and olympics watching, but I've managed to get some other stuff done too. I went for a walk from Edale up Mam Tor on the Monday, which was very wet and a disturbing reminder of how unfit I am at the moment but very enjoyable. Had a good view of several kestrels hunting from the top of the ridge.
Zak's sister is staying with us at the moment which makes the apartment feel pretty small. So on Tuesday I went to help my dad clear out the carpet from the spare room and leave the car there to save having to find somewhere to park it every day in Manchester. On Wednesday Crystal and I met Zak for lunch at the Manchester City Art Gallery. It was full of kids for some summer event but I broke off to go and see a new exibition and Crystal spent some time looking at paintings. I left her there and went home to watch Election 2. That is an excellent film. It's got some pretty nasty bits in it but overall is a bit less ott than the first film and less shocking. It is still a good look at the triads in a pretty unglamourous light and confirms Johnny To as someone to watch. Which is nice because when looking at the Cornerhouse web site I saw that another film of his, Mad Detective, was on this weekend.
Mad Detective was a really interesting film about Bun, a mad detective. He may be psychic or he may just be mad. Unlike the average film in this genre it doesn't shy away from the fact that Bun really has no grasp on reality, whatever his talents might actually be, and is a real danger to those around him. Bun's visions are brilliantly realised and the acting quality throughout is superb. Films like this, and the Election series, show just how good Hong Kong film making can be.

Nearly two months since the last post. Been very busy with work, not feeling too good about that but things look set to get better. Bt then they always do and yet seem to manage to get worse. I've taken a week off work, which I really need. Hoping to get out for some walking, as well as doing some writing and other stuff. Didn't do my gr-sf piece last week which is bad, but this past week has been pretty disrupted as Zak's sister is staying with us now.
Went to see Wall-e and Batman recently. Wall-e was very good, as good as most other pixar films. The robot does look a bit rubbish in the pictures but when you see him animated it's a completely different story. The animation is gorgeous. The only thing wrong with the film is when the humans get involved. They aren't that engaging and that kind of spoiled it a bit for me. But, it's a kids film and it has a message and that needs humans, not a peculiar romance between to robots.
Batman is also excellent. Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker has gotten a lot of comment and it is a great performance. It evokes the best of the best comics; Dark Knight Returns, Long Halloween, Arkham Asylum and creates a serious film out what could have been just another action film.