Amazing things

Hi!

Yes, I'm very sorry, it has been a long while but it's difficult to be incredibly inspired enough to write something I think that people might actually want to read.

This blog is half for me and half for the people who read it; there's no point in me blathering on about stuff that makes sense to me alone. In the same vein - I'm not going to witter on about crapola that doesn't really interest me.

I'm making a cake later, because I want to; I've just book marked the page for the recipe and put it in my Bookmarks list entitled "AMAZING THINGS".
This is where I store stuff that's cool, interesting and am more than likely to revisit; it's for this reason that I am going to share that list with you.

It's going to be like emptying out my handbag in front of people, there's a risk you might think "WTF is THAT about?!" but so what. It's my list!


These aren't in any particular order other than from top to bottom on my Bookmark list

Wyedean Mushing - because ONE day these two muppets on the kitchen floor flaked out will see what it's like to run properly in a harness!

For Dummies Cover generator - I used this at my old job (yeeeears ago); usually for just one person. It has come in handy in the past two years though and I believe one of my creations is pinned to someone's noticeboard because it made the recipient (not the subject of the cover) laugh so much.

Hollyoaks YouTube channel. I missed LOADS of this (yes it's corny, yes I LOVE it) a few months ago and then I found this angel who puts ALL THE HOLLYOAKS things on the Tube!

Cocomale home furnishings - I like pretty things and I miss The Pier - this is a good replacement!

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego DOS replicator. It's practically the same as the original classic but crashes quite a bit; it's a taste of what my days as a 10 year old allowed on Rob's computer meant :)

Making cake pops! Difficult, but possible....one day

Who to unfriend on FB this makes me laugh every time, simple bit of coding

NARS makeup, it's lush

Video that hits a little hard given the current situation. One day someone will actually listen to what children want

Kathy Weller's ace blog - one that actually posts a lot! :)

The Book Book - there are many lovely Mac related things on this site - but it's this item that makes me want it WANT IT

Adam Hughes' AMAZING artwork -geek related. Oh you will love this to the max

Heroes convention more geekery

Jeremiah Ketner does some bloody lovely stuff as well. Thumbtack press is a great website - affordable, quality art of all kinds

Graham and Greene - another site full of lovely things for your home

A watermelon shark punch bowl this was a link someone posted on Twitter and it was just too good not to save!


The Sims Building Mode music - when I used to play The Sims 2 (it's not on the new one :( ) I used to pause and un pause until this was the music I got, then I was happy to build for ages.

Time After Time - The Flying Pickets. I know they're a bit cheesey, but I really like vocal harmony!

The restaurant J and I found in Rome in a secluded street where we had Grappa...you don't get a link to this hideaway ;) This one's just for us

The NYC dept of records - thousands of fabulous photos from the archives of various parts of the city - now released for public view on line. this was so popular when it was first released that  had to wait a couple of days before I could even see it!

Marvel Avengers skinny fit tee Bloody love this

Fifties vintage hair style. This is GORGEOUS (I have both parts saved, but you'll find it if you want it)

Contemporary vintage style things to wear. I realise that's an oxymoron, but you'll get it if you're interested enough to look.

How to do 20s/30s fingerwaves - this was when I was in 42nd Street, but due to having to don a very blonde wig in one routine, it would have wrecked this style. I'll do it one day though

40s hair roll for wearing with my lovely vintage style dresses :)

The inimitable Gary Oldman in TTSS Karla scene. Here's a weird one for you - Gary Oldman's sister is Big Mo in Eastenders. Yeah, I know, right?

Black Milk Clothing. They don't do thousands of things, but what they do, they do incredibly well. these are the guys who did the R2-D2 and C-3PO swim suits. alas, no more.

Pen and Ink. I don't look at much Tumblr - I can't be arsed, but this one is a good one. Tattoos and the stories behind them. All hand drawn, no photographs

Muscial Wine Glasses - NEED THESE

Haworth 1940s weekend - just missed it this year but not realising it existed, which is fairly ironic given my interest and its name. Going next year!

Letters of note Some of these are genuine - some aren't. it's still a good read.

Pixar's 22 rules of storytelling  If it works for them, great! My book only has a prologue and a death. No names yet...not sure if I should change that.

Pixar's actual blog This is a good read :)

Dr Davis' Nature vs Nurture study in article form! Husband of "SIL"

Buying a Ford Prefect. It shall be mine, OH YES it shall be mine!

What happens when you google your ex (in a nosey fashion :) You find blog posts written by aggrieved, bitter people. This was a good laugh because I can attest to a lot of this behaviour! When he and I split up he told his online gamer friends that his mother had died, when in fact he was out at another woman's house. The dude was class.....

Emails from an ass hole. Similar to but not as funny as David Thorne, still worth a good laugh.



Cookie monster cupcakes - What more do you need to know apart from that?

Five guys take the same pic for 20 years

Lovely graphic design DC gubbins!

FRIDGE CAKE this is the one that made me think of this post today! I'm gonna make it!

LIMPICS!!!

The only mention I am giving to the Opening Ceremony is thus: Absolute mind blowing, jaw-dropping, fantastic, ingenious, British amazingness. You are welcome to your own opinion on this, but if it's different to the above, then I guess you are welcome to your own wrong opinion. Sucks to be you.

It's not really what this post is about, but I didn't want to go without giving it any tip of the bowler hat.

Yesterday, J and I went up that London to go and watch Hockey at the Riverside Stadium in the Olympic Park, Stratford. I'm not a massive hockey fan, there are rules I don't understand (who knew there was more to it than "don't let the ball touch your feet" and "you have to be in the D to score"?), there is play that's so quick I don't see it and I also get a little queasy when I hear the clash of sticks followed by a short, sharp scream.

I played hockey at school, but quick sticks, those red and yellow plastic thingies; I did umpiring as well, but certainly not with any huge amount of knowledge or skill, just enough to be praised for it by my PE teacher who knew I wasn't the sportiest of students. I have no story to trot out over and over and over and over about the one goal I scored, but I think my friends thank me for that.

J, however, loves it; he played a lot at school, played for South West and in general was just pretty darn good at it. Recently he's joined a local club and it's actually really enjoyable to go along and watch him play because he clearly knows what he's doing and he seems to have fitted in well with the team. Also, he's a Level 1 Umpire (doncha know?!) so can be seen running all over the field in a yellow jersey with a whistle and a pack of peculiar-shaped cards, knowing ALL THE THINGS about hockey.

So you can see that James was thrilled to get Hockey tickets, whereas I was just chuffed to bits to get to go and experience the Limpiks...and WHAT an experience!

The park in incredible, it's enormous! We weren't waiting in any queue for longer than 2 or 3 minutes and if it took longer than that, as it did outside the Megastore, the queue was constantly moving, and quickly too.

The Riverside Stadium, where the hockey is held, is at the far end of the park so is about a ten minute walk from Stratford Gate; the atmosphere was buzzing when we got in and first up were Spain and Pakistan. It's fair to say that I enjoyed watching the game because of the surroundings and the crowd, but I wasn't super interested in whether Spain or Pakistan won.

We headed out for a quick bit of late lunch, but were restricted to the outlets inside the Riverside: Indian snacks, pretzels, or waffles: a peculiar cross section indeed. India were playing next so in the spirit of things, and because it was the shortest queue we got some Indian snacks. Not something I would hurry to do again; I really like Indian meals but this particular stand was probably not a great representation of Indian cuisine. Never mind!

Heading back into the stadium, the seats previously unoccupied had filled up including a small group in front of us which had several fans of India in them; it was clear that we'd definitely be cheering on India against the Orange army!

I enjoyed that match ten times as much as the first one and was screaming for India as they sped up and down the pitch, being part of a crowd watching sport can do funny things to your natural instincts.I was gutted when they lost by one goal to the Netherlands, especially as both teams were going hard at it for the full 70 minutes. Mint.

Apart from the sport and the pristine facilities, the best thing about the games is the miracle procured by LOCOG - thousands of friendly Londoners in Games Maker get up making the place a bloody lovely place to be. Of course there were a huge number of people there who were from various cities across the UK, but without exception, they were all friendly, helpful, proactive and having a good time themselves. It makes a huge difference and I hope that international visitors will appreciate it as a part of their memories of the games as well.

We're really keen to get back and experience more live sport and now that more tickets have been released, maybe we will get a chance. I'm sure that the real strain of resources and space will be felt when the 80,000 capacity stadium is being used for the athletics, but as the right people are already in place on ground level, I reckon the whole thing from start to photo finish is going to be a massive success :)

Watching: Olympics - there is honestly nothing else being transmitted into our home

Reading: Twitter, a lot.

Listening to: Things I don't know about different Olympic sports.

Drawing: Star Wars birthday art plus a couple of personalised pieces.

Eating: Potato salad.

Learning: Things about hockey

Coveting: MOAR Olympics tickets

Saving for: Anniversary things...

Quoting: Fact Hive. A lot.

Planning: Tomorrow's trip to the cinema