Another sledging clip

Here it is...

It's a bit mental out there....

I've spent the past hour or so hitting 'next blog' and seeing where it takes me.

It's incredible, and as the heading above emphasizes, mental too. People pour their lives out on here. Some of it can be a bit incomprehensible, but I persevered with some of the blogs and the stuff often turns out to be compelling, espesh when one person is writing about another person who also happens to have a blog that you can go to to see what they're writing about the first person.

Sheesh, talk about peering in folk's windows at night!

Uploaded some video clips of the sledging we did yesterday - great day, one to remember.

www.auchinloch.co.uk/video/sledging

Seasonal Tidings, or whatever

I don't get Christmas, or Xmas (whatever the X has to do with it...) and let me outline my reasons for you.

Father Christmas, Santa Clause, St Nick etc etc etc. What has he got to do with it? If I was Jesus and there was some fat guy in a red and white suit (which we all know represents Coca Cola, right? Let's be clear on that) hijacking my birthday by dishing out presents to everyelse, I'd be steaming mad.

I've read the Gospels and nowhere do I see a fat guy sponsored by Coca Cola turning up on a sleigh pulled by nuclear-nosed Rudolph handing out PS2s. It just aint there.

Next: Why December 25th? I actually heard a minister on the radio the other day talking about how Jesus came preaching to us at Christmas.

Ah? Eh? How's that?

Ok - Jesus died on Nisan 14, which corresponds to between the first and second week in April on our calendar. We know he died when he was 33 (and the all important) and a half. Let's do some simple arithmatic. If he died in the April then he...hold on while I get my calculator....yes, he must have been born around...September or October time.

Hmm...

So why December 25th? Ah, wait. Isn't that roughly when the longest day is, AKA the Winter Solstist? Wait a mo...people wouldn't actually be worshipping the sun, would they, when they gather round their Xmas tree (with twinkly lights etc - nowhere to be seen in Matt, Mark, Luke or John, btw) to open their presents? Surely people haven't been duped into worshipping the sun when they think they're celebrating Christ's birthday, have they?

Considering Jesus is as important to most people's Xmas as the sun is, then people don't really care. Xmas is about PS2s and socks and wanting and getting and giving and being disappointed.

I'm not against Xmas, people can hook up and have parties etc to their heart's content. What I don't get is why it's still dressed up to look like something to do with Jesus, when all you have to do is read the Gospels to see that everything I've said above is true (well, you won't see Coca Cola mentioned), that the star led the 'wise men' - AKA Magi or astrologers - to King Herod first; the King that wanted Jesus dead. So the star wasn't sent by God to guide them....duh...And you'll see that Jesus was about 2 or 3 years old when the Magi finally got to him, not a baby in the manger as the nativity scenes describe. You'll also see that, by the time Jesus died, he had at no point instructed his followers to celebrate his birth. The only celebration Christ instituted was that of his death.

Because, let's face it, if the story is to be understood correctly, it was his death that was important...

ch ch ch ch changes

Changes are funny, aren't they? I mean, obviously not funny ha hah - although some undoubtedly are; sex changes are funny ha hah. But changes in the main are funny peculiar.

My eBay rating is now 47, and I've actually emailed people that owe me feedback to ask them to give me some..(it's an eBay option). But, unlike a few weeks ago - see posts below - I've changed. I've changed in that my eBay rating doesn't mean as much to me as it once did. Once namely a few weeks ago.

But - for the moment - it doesn't mean as much to me. It's like I've...moved on.

Note too, regular reader, that my template has changed. This must be another symptom - the eBay change above included - of some kind of internal change.

The birth of your child brings with it upheaval of pretty much every kind; emotional, physical (tiredness etc), spiritual and mental. And once the upheaval settles, as I feel that it has, a change becomes apparent - it becomes clear that you've changed.

I'm not saying the change will be permanent, but for the time being the change is here and I'll go with it.

Some ways in which it has demonstrated itself (the two instances above apart);

• I'm feeling happier, more settled (admittedly I wasn't overly unsettled, but still)
• I'm feeling more energetic (played squash on Tuesday, playing again tomorrow - Sunday - morning at 9am), even went to the gym on Wednesday
• I'm more organised (I even bought a pocket filofax which I'm using and enjoying)
• I'm less anal about things like eBay and HL2 (see previous posts)
• Importantly, I've started to refer to my family*

*I've noticed myself doing this quite a bit, and upon analysis, it's clear that a degree of settlement has taken place within me. I'm married, and until last month, had 1 child. This, probably by most people's standards and definitions, is a family. However, I'm not aware of myself refering to my wife and son collectively as my family. But since Grace came along I've started doing it; e.g. 'right, I'll have to get my family together so that we can head off...' etc etc.

It shows that perhaps within me there was a bit of a gap that Keir left. And for all that Grace isn't a replacement, wasn't intended to be, never will be, that gap has, in part, been filled. A Grace-shaped baby filling a Keir-shaped hole won't ever work completely - stuff will still find its way through to my subconcience, for example - but it's definitely better than an unstopped Keir-shaped hole.

So, change is afoot and I'm glad it's happening now. You expect to feel a bit different at the start of winter, and a bit different again at the end. But a change in the middle of winter is both unexpected and welcomed.

I'm glad.

Day 7 (?) Saturday

• eBay rating now 47
• 20 pairs of ski gloves sold
• got new headphones!

Too long!

Jeez, how long has it been? Too long.

I get bored or tired or uninspired by these things very quickly, even though

1. I enjoy typing on my laptop keyboard (simple things, simple minds etc etc)
2. I enjoy the catharsis
3. I quite enjoy the writing involved in cataloging my thoughts etc

But anyway, be that as it may, it's been too long.

Quick update:

• my eBay rating is now 27
• I completed Half-Life 2
• I've had gastric flu
• I've watched entire first season of The West Wing AND the first 6 eps of season 3

Ok, let's take them one at a time....

eBay

Yeah, 27. I'm quite pleased. Obviously I'm expecting it to get quite a bit higher soon as most of the feedback I'm expecting is for sales. I decided to sell ski gloves, and they're doing a fine trade, I think 7 pairs so far. The profit isn't huge, maybe just over a fiver each, but it's adding up. I've got another 6 pairs listed. Obviously I'm a teeny bit concerned about filling these orders as I don't actually own the gloves yet. I still need to buy them from Costco. But I'm sure they'll have tons left - they had boxes and boxes full when I was there last week...yeah..

So, anyway, I got stung on one of my auctions - the Crayola Lumie Light. I saw them advertised online @ £18, so I decided to sell mine (I haven't actually bought them yet, just like the gloves) in an auction starting @ £9. This was stupid, as it'll cost my just under £12 to buy them and goodness knows how much to post. And of course the two I put on eBay went for just over £9...So any profits I'd made so far will be eaten up to a degree by these two foolish sales. (Also turns out that Toys R Us is selling them for £12.99)

HL2

Finally finished it after taking a week off from playing it. I'd had gastric flu and wasn't sleeping properly, then Grace was awake at 3am on Thursday so I got up and finished it off during the early hours.

Hmm...overall the game is awesome - absolutely mind-blowing in its detail, atmosphere, game-play, story and involvement. So I think in view of that, it's hard not to be just a little disappointing with the last level of the game.

I'd read an interview with the guy that wrote the story of HL (can't remember his name, but he's a scifi author, I think) and he said that there wouldn't be a Xen platform-jumping level in HL2. The Xen platform-jumping level - where you simply had to time your jumps between large floating areas of solid mass - was a real weak point in the original game. In fact, Xen itself was a disapointment, but I can see how it was intrinsic to the whole story. I'm telling you this because there's a level in Xen where there's these pod things and large pillars moving up and down that you have to jump between etc. If you play the last level of HL2 you'll see the similarity.

Also, finishing HL was tricky as you had to destroy the huge baby-thing. And it wasn't entirely clear what you had to do, so you're looking around that vast arena you face him in, trying to figure out what was needed and all the while he's blasting energy and teleportation balls at you plus you've got vordegaunds and those mad flying things taking shots at you. Very tricky.

HL2 is a little simpler. In fact a big part of the last level is set aside for storytelling.

The actual denounment itself is very good, all of that being said.

So, obviously, I'm working my way back through it, taking my time, looking for things that I missed first time round.

I've noticed that when you see the lambda sign that's usually a clue that there's a wee puzzle or hidden part that you can skip over, or slow down to take a look at. Eg, not long after you start Water Hazard you come out of a tunnel and on your right - just ahead - there's a red building high on a small dock. Look at the box that's being held on the winch. Then go and investigate.

Later in Water Hazard, after you've taken out the gunship, and you've got to open the dock gate, look out for 2 pipes fairly high off the ground. Both pipes are covered with railings. But look closely - the railing on the left pipe is slightly open, and there's a barrel nearby, partly hidden by rocks. Pull the barrel over to the pipe, jump up and go inside. The bottom of the pipe is full of toxic waste, so you have to make sure your suit and health are topped up (this can be done in the building you come to before you open the dam gate). Sprint along the pipe...you'll get a surprise.

I mentioned above that the stand out things about HL2 (and it's predecesor) are the story and the atmosphere etc. But, TBH, for me it's the little details they put in that make it truly fun to play...

Gastric Flu

Yeah, so...the least said about that the better....

The West Wing

Purchased seasons 1 & 3 off eBay. We'd already seen season 2 because the local library has it, and borrowing videos and DVDs from the library is kinda our thing at the moment. You see, we don't have television.

Let me explain, because obviously I must be lying when I say we don't have television. "How can you watch The West Wing (TWW) if you don't have a television?"

Well, you'll notice that I didn't say that we don't have a television. Obviously we do, otherwise you'd be right - how could we watch TWW if we didn't have a television? But we do have a television (in fact I bought a new one on Wednesday as both the SCART sockets on our 5 yr old one had passed away, thereby making it impossible to watch TWW on DVD...), we just don't have television, i.e. the signal - whether satelite, digital or analogue.

A few months ago we decided to get rid of it. Cameron was watching too much, and the kids' shows are terrible - the adverts in between even worse...Plus I felt we were turning into, to quote Bill Hicks, 'cultural train wrecks'. Heh. Yeah...

So we don't have television, and as a result don't have a TV license (which I didn't agree with anyway).

Truth be told, I rarely watched TV when we had the signal. Bizarely enough I watch more now. Which I suppose it fairly obvious, considering that in the past week I've managed to watch the first 22 episodes of TWW. Ahem.

Ok, some observations of TWW. 1st season is really great. You can see where all the hype came from. And the finale...superb. 2nd season matched it, in fact bettered it (partitially down to them ditching that Mandy character..sheesh, talk about train wrecks).

Now we're on to season 3 and so far I'm not impressed. Ok, this could be due to be overloading on it. I mean, chocolate is hard to beat, right? But if I sat and ate 5 bars of Dairy Milk it'd soon start to turn me off chocolate...So, it could be down to overloading on my part, but I also think it's partly down to overloading on the writers' part.

Some of the eps have far too much going on in them. I realise that they're organising a re-election campaign, but there are too many little stories going on - each character having their own detailed plot line. This now includes Donna. So I find it hard to - not keep up as such - but to want to keep up, to actually care and get involved with each story. Which is a shame.

Ok, the title of this entry is 'Too Long!', and this was to reflect that it had, in fact, been too long since I last posted. But I think 'Too Long!' could also describe the post itself....

Grace