That was the twitter hash tag for this weekend, not that I really know what one of them is. I don’t twitter, because well it seems everyone else does (or did, its so last decade people :)) and that 140 characters limit. I can’t cope with just 140 characters, I have this need to ramble on endlessly and pointlessly about the trivial minute of my lack of life. Hence this blog. But the others tweated, mostly from their mobiles to fill in the awkward long gaps in conversation that are forced on you if you have the miss fortune of my company

Right on with the rambling…

During the week something weird went wrong deep within the bowels of a system I mostly look after. It was so deep I really couldn’t even look at the problem, so I made as much noise as possible and eventually got people who called other people who called other people (probably in Germany) to sort it out. Had no updates on the system for 2 and a half days, users where getting tetchy and the first answer we got to solve it was to reinitialise the whole thing. That would of taken about a week. Next solution offered was delete one row from a table, which would take 30 seconds. After authorisations from high ups and the necessary thre quarters of a tree of paper was shuffled the offending row was deleted. And then everything worked again. Such is life in IT

Apart from that, we the austerity drive continued, well up to Wednesday, made worse by a final reminder for a gas bill I forgot to pay and a new electric bill arriving on the same day. But I made it, had pennies left in the current account, but I made it. Ate a lot of soup, beans and pasta to save money, but fortunately I like soup, beans and pasta

But Thursday was pay day so I can shop again bought a small case (50% off in BHS), some silver flats (New Look 9 wide) and some white cropped leggings (from Applesnow, small/medium size but still fit). Why well this Friday was another trip to Fenny Stratford, this time for the UK Angels 10th birthday party at Pink Punters and with a possible shopping trip and dinner out with the twitterati before hand. Had planned the outfits, I wanted to wear this thing to PP, a clubbing outfit I put together ages ago but never go around to wearing out. Trouble is I was thinner when I put it together, the dress (a size 12) still fitted, just, but the white denim Capris (also a 12) under it where a problem, I got into them, but only barely, there really was possibility of popping a button (esp cause they where from Primark), so I bought the stretchy leggings to wear instead as they are more forgiving. The silver flats where as a backup to the silver shoes I had (different ones to the photo) as they didn’t fit so well, they crushed my toes a bit and the case, well I’d had enough of manhandling (that doesn’t sound right, womanhandling, no, transhandling? ) a huge case on public transport for just an overnight stay and I really didn’t need the tripod and light stand etc, so got a smaller case instead.

What with work, Star Trek online and getting ready for the weekend I’d been burning the midnight oil a bit all week, felt tired, but no rest for the wicked (well slightly naughty) , Friday and Saturday where going to be long days too.

Friday (had the day off, it felt like Saturday though), bathe/shave etc, I’m still managing to find loose hairs to remove after laser, but a few strong ones have grown back I think, but still It all comes off very easily and not that much makeup is required. Daytime outfit is a white LS tee, greyish denim mini, different shade of grey leggings, black sort of miltary style leather jacket, black almost flat bikerish boots. Hopefully anonymous enough for travelling and shopping. Just managed to pack everything in the case, evening outfit, jeans and a top to travel back in, change of underwear, toiletries and far too much makeup, it was tight, but ended up being far more manageable. And I’m all ready to go, by 10am, which was actually far to early. Noodle around a bit then decide to pop out to a local café for a croissant and a cappuccino, as breakfast was ages ago. Man in shop is polite and puts quite a lot of care into the cappuccino. He doesn’t use any pronouns when talking to me, but then again, he doesn’t use any with the other, obviously genetic, woman standing next to me in the café who was also getting coffee.

Ready to go, check face in mirror before leaving the building, yes still there, at front door, have I forgotten anything, hrm must of,  hotel reservations? Ah, dash back up stairs to get the print out. Right to the tube, walk quickly, still feel I need to rush, new little case is easier that the big one, don’t hit it with my feet as I walk. Tube to Euston, get ticket and bits for lunch (very worth low fat low calorie sarnie and water) and next days breakfast from M&S and settle into a seat on the train. Ah another thing I’ve forgotten, headphones for my IPod, doh (I use it as a web browser more than anything, so I usually don’t have headphones plugged into it).

Train journey uneventful, read paper, time goes by, change at Bletchley, new case much easier to manage on the tricky steps down to the other platform. Off at Fenny Stratford and walk over to the Campanile, taxi passes me on the way and the TDAR pings, not sure why, didn’t see a face. But it was accurate, two girls are getting out of it as I arrive, that’s Justine who I met at Sparkle last year and the other is Jenny, don’t know her but have seen her about on Facebook.

Check in, room not ready (well it was 1:30 and they say check in after 2), so have to wait a little. But not to long, back to the room, dump the case and unload the handbag of the all the stuff I couldn’t fit in the case (flash gun and stuff), check face and brush hair, then back to the bar.

Justine and Jenny are there, so get a glass of wine and chat, another tall T girl walks in, she orders her glass of wine in French then asks if she can join us. She does look familiar, but I still have to ask then name. Linzi, ah of course, We’d met at the Sparkle meal (actually meals, plural, last year and 2 years before that). We all sip our wine (well I guzzle) and chat and wait for the others. There is a shopping trip to central MK planned for this afternoon, but it is a bit of a kitten herd, getting multiple t-girls together at a particular time to do a particular thing is always like this. But Kay, Sophie, Louise and Saffy do turn up and we get going. Hrm, there at least 3 of us in grey tights or leggings with black boots, is there a trend going on or something?

Thing there should be a kitten herding IPhone app or something, you join a herd with other people and the phones send out your GPS position and reminders trying to get everyone to meet up, with it buzzing and bleeping if you are late or move away from the herd. Could be a winner

Into the cars, Sophie has her big 4 wheel drive (which isn’t a Kia like I thought it was) which can fit several of us (the rest go with Saffy) and we are off. Think I even know the way to central MK from the camp by car now, done it so many times.

Shopping with 6 other t-girls, we don’t need a kitten herding app, we need kitten herding pro enterprise edition extreme 2.0 We try to stick together then something catches something eye and they wander off, people walk at different speeds and people get bored waiting for others and so on. I’m as bad, if not worse than everyone else at sticking in a group. Sort of wander off into New Look (it has a magnetic attraction for me), drag Kay along with me, can’t find the Tall section, have a half hearted look at the shoes and eventually find that denim shirt I’d been after (well I wanted the “Tall” version). Got it in a 14 without trying it on, should fit.  Woman on the checkout tells me this branch (a big one) doesn’t have a tall section, oh well. Try shirt on later, it fits, sort of, it’s tight across the chest. I’m getting this problem more and more these days, how have I put weight on up there?  Still I wanted to wear mostly open over a white tee shirt anyway. Shirt has a nice sort of flair at the hips though and make it look like I have some, should just be long enough to wear over leggings to.

We carry on in our sort of haphazard way, heading towards Next as Louise wanted to go there, sort of having a diversion via Priceless shoes and then I duck into Claire’s accessories and oh we do appear to have lost a few, some of the other are heading back in the opposite direction. So thats it, we lost Saffy to Costa coffee (she has a magnetic attraction to that place like I have with New Look). We all go back to the Costa and have a coffee break (I’m trying to be good and skip having an actual coffee though).

Right lets get going to Next, though one weak chocoholic has to duck into Hotel Chocolate on the way (and her name begins with H).

Louise wanted a smart suit and blouses at Next (wonder why Lou :)) but it takes a while, the rest of us try not to look to conspicuous while we wait, fail a shop assistant asks if we need help. Like the look of black crochet net long sweater (to wear over coloured vests) on a mannequin, its not cheap, but hey, just been paid, get one for myself. The other girls complain the store is too warm, its OK for me, but I’m a tad underdressed for January.

Did mention about trying to remain inconspicuous, out and about in the real world and all that, but as usual, Queen of the Amazons in a short skirt here is noticed, get two or three distinctly frosty looks from teenage girls, but that’s about it. The others didn’t report any such attention, guess it helps that most of them only come up to my shoulder, even in heels.

Louise gets her suit. Time has been getting on and we sort of decide to move on and try and get to the restaurant a little early. Well sort of, little detour via a jewellery stand, two clothing shops (that’s just me again), Superdrug, Monsoon, H&M, a cash machine and the Debenhams lingerie department (which as Justine pointed out, started to take on the appearance of a certain episode of Father Ted) meant we aren’t going to get there early.

The others find the cool evening air outside a relief after the warm shops, not me, its bloody freezing and starting to rain, to the cars, quickly. Right to the restaurant then, we are off to the Jaipur, the Indian restaurant in the same building as our usual Thai haunt, the Orchid Lounge. But how to get there? I sort of know the direction, I could walk there, but had now idea how to drive there. Sophie has Sat Nav but doesn’t know the post code. Right lets get the technology out, with our phones we search on the web, check mails and send text messages to get the exact address. In the end Saffy walks over from her car and tells us.

Get to the restaurant in time, starting to rain now so get inside. A few texts and calls are required to try and locate the other dinner guests, we can’t find Petra but manage to get to Clarissa and Kimberly and pass on numbers so they can share a cab. So the restaurant, not tried the downstairs before, but its seems just as friendly. Looks smaller than upstairs somehow though. Menu is a little short on veggie options, unusual, but there’s the Lentil Dahl I fancy, ask them to spice it up a little and it arrives with a nice little glow to it. We skip starters and decide not to do set menus for a change. It’s a nice meal, but I seem to be failing on the conversation front (as usual), concentrate on the food, its what I’m good at, ending up stealing other people’s bread and rice as I can’t stand to see food wasted. Plus I love bread and rice. All those carbs can’t be good for me though.

As I want to get to get back to the hotel with enough time to change and maybe a drink at the bar before hitting the club I grab a waiter and get the bill sharphish. I thought the meal was nice, and with a few drinks and papadoms £25 a head isn’t outrageous (I’m thinking London prices here aren’t I)  Make sure I grab a few of the after dinner chocolates nobody else seems to want (they where for later).

Right back to the hotel, in Sophie’s car. I promised to buy you a drink or two for all the driving Sophie and I didn’t, sorry next time I promise.

Right lets get changed. Oh all those carbs where a bad idea, tight dress shows the tummy bulge (which I had before, so I can’t blame the curry totally).  Bit more makeup, same silver eyeshadow as last week and lots of eye liner, which look OK for a bit but later on most of it ended up streaking down my face. Use the flash gun remotely, perched on the telly and the camera sat on the dressing table to take the pic (who needs a tripod and light stand). Take pictures until I get one that manages to hide most of my flabby jowls, multiple chins and wrinkles.

Right lets get out there. So do I take big cam with the flash and TTL cord? That will mean taking big bag, but I could slip my flats in that (shoes where not comfortable after 10 minutes, not a good sign) too. With big cam I could get everyone’s photo’s and create a nice record for the night. But the big bag would be really heavy and awkward when dancing and these days, Angels is so not about taking pictures these days, rekon some people would probably tell me to F off if I pointed a camera at them. So no, no big cam tonight, pack a hair brush, some blot powder and a couple of twenties into a little sequin clutch bag (matched the dress) and off we go. Big bag didn’t match the outfit anyway.

Wander off to the hotel bar first, there’s one or two t-girls there, but not many I know, a couple I recognised, Jo Angel and Becky Enverite who’d come out of retirement for the night, Lynn the blogger and ah there’s Clarissa again. Say a few hellos then head over the club, Clarissa comes with.

Its either a very quiet night or we are very early, the ground floor is very quiet, but upstairs is pretty full, full of angels in fact. Mange to get a drink and find Lousie, Saffy, Justine, Kimberly, Sophie etc.  Petra arrived later on too, Happy birthday Petra.

Actually although the angels where a bigish crowd there was a group from the Boudoir and I think some PP regulars there as well on the T-girl front.

Maybe it was because I was getting tired and my shoes hurt but I wasn’t really at my best. And my best isn’t really the most fun person to be with anyway, so I struggled at the socialising bit, and even just the dancing like a loon. Did manage to exchange a few words with the #MKANGELS and a few others I’d met before briefly, Becky, Carol, Lucinda and Linzi, but I was hardly the socialite and didn’t mix much. Sorry. I wasn’t blanking or avoiding anyone, I’m just not really good at large social gatherings, especially when there’s loud music on. OK I did brush off someone, a man, an admirer I assume, complemented me on my outfit, I said thank you, but later I was sitting near the dance floor he made his move, I shoo’ed him away and avoided him for the rest of the evening.

Did dance a bit, silly DJ was taking to much as usual, but he managed to stay quiet over Insomnia and Castles in the Sky for my trance fix and later on some cheese came on and I had a bit of jig to Abba and the like

The shoes and the tiredness where taking there toll though, did spend a bit to much time just sitting or standing around, even switched to soft drinks after a couple of vodka’s, didn’t feel like getting drunk. In the end I take the shoes off and go barefoot (not exactly I had ankle highs on) upstairs for one last drink and chat. Feet may of ponged a bit, sorry. Try to get my last drink, “We don’t do lines here” snaps the barman and I have to explain again I wanted a “lime” and soda.

There’s a few left hanging on, Kimberly, Linzi, Justine, Saffy and Jenny are still there, think Louise had gone to bed. Its around 2 and I want to go, Kimberly has had enough to and we both go back to the hotel, guess the others where there till the bitter end.

Wasn’t a bad trip really, nice to meet faces old and new, I was the let down mostly. Though I am getting a little bored of Pink Punters, it doesn’t seem to change much and I like the thrill of the new, will have to give it a rest for several months I think. Oh and the next time I go I’m wearing comfortable shoes, I’ve made the shoe mistake about er 3 or 4 times now, should have learnt better by now shouldn’t I.

Back in the hotel room, change, clean up and hit bed, am out like a light.

Wake around 9, opps, better get on. Shower and shave, 2nd tranny grade shave in a row isn’t half as bad as it normally is, thanks to the laser. On with jeans and black top and the same boots and jacket as yesterday. Makeup is as little as I can get away with (which less these days).

Mange to change and pack (take the Campanile biscuits with me, maybe I should of nicked the coffee too?) in less than 2 hours, woot. Next train is 11:33 though, have a bit to wait. But hey, there’s Louise packing her car, shall I be cheeky and ask for a lift to the station, she said she was going to Bletchley park this morning and that’s virtually opposite it. I was, but on reflection perhaps I shouldn’t have been, Louise isn’t in the best of moods. Actually as well as Louise there’s Saffy, Sophie, Jenny and Justine, they are all off on a group trip to Bletchley park, say hello and wave good bye and share Lou’s car with Saffy to Bletchley park. I play sat nav directing them to the codebreaking site.

Bit of a wait for a train so I grab a sandwich, well its nearly lunch time. Its cold on the platform and I wish I’d brought a thicker coat. Train journey back is the usual uneventful one, bury head in snowboard magazine and we are passing through Wembley by the time I finish it. Tube then walk home, brr its colder than it was on Friday. Drop my case off and look for a warmer coat, can’t find the one I wanted, flat must of eaten it (another thing its devoured) so try on a few, big red one seems to work and its warmer.

No time to rest, shopping to do. The tube and trains to Camden all seemed to be closed for engineering works this weekend so its on the bus. There it is, run for it, catch it, but a button pops of my coat (recover it in time) and my jeans slip down a bit. These jeans are always doing that, I dunno why, they fit tight. Last week I broke a belt hook on them pulling them up and had to sew it back on.

Bus, yeah, off to Camden, yet again, but I had to get the finishing touches to my outfit for the Magic Theatre next week. I’d bought this gothic Lolita dress, remember, but it really needed a petticoat to lift the skirt, also needed a pair of white stockings (or stay ups) with pink bows that matches the dress. Plus I wanted that chainsaw The plastic one I saw on the fancy dress site BTW.

So first stop, my favourite fancy dress shop, but erm, no chainsaw, well not the one I wanted, the one they had looked really naff. Bought a machete instead, well a plastic one with painted on blood. I really wanted something nasty to contrast the over cute outfit and the machete was the best I could find. The shop also has tutus and petticoats, but neither seem right, too short. I’d been searching online for petticoats, doping my research, and most do seem to be either very short tutu like or very long for big skirts, a 20” maybe hard to find. Leave with just my plastic machete, well covered up in plastic bags.

Tour a number of vintage places looking for Petticoats, but can’t find anything that would work. Try a Rockabilly place (they do big skirts) and a couple of corset shops, no nothing right. Eventually go back to Sai Sai, the Gothic Lolita place where I got the dress. And they have just ticket, in fact they remember me and the dress I bought. Well I say just the ticket, I’m not sure if its quite poofy enough for what I want, but get it anyway, it’s the best I can find.

Tour a few more places, looking for the stockings, find a pair, white with pink bows, but not quite the right shade of pink. Well its near enough this will do.

Am getting cold even in this big coat and am still feeling the effects of the long week and the late Friday night, better get on. Still I think I have everything I need, it’s not perfect but it will do. Also its been a quiet day as far as reaction goes, apart from one guy mentioning “Drag Queens” to his girl friend in a very geezer accent as I passed, there wasn’t much directed my way. In fact I’m not 100% sure the drag queen comment was about me anyway (humor me here).

Walk down towards the centre of Camden, well I can just look at a couple more shops, that Gothic shop I like, hey doesn’t it have a downstairs bit that’s a bit more punk/rockabilly? It sure does and they have petticoats and on the end of the rail there’s this perfect white one (from Hell Bunny), its better than the one I had hrrmm, I want it, it will work better, so I had to get it, I can even wear it with the other one underneath and get the required poofyness ) Sold.

Then there’s may favourite tights and stockings place, and guess what, they have lots of white stockings (well hold ups actually) with bows and that one there is the right shade of pink, better get that them to. The other pair will just have to be a backup. So now I have 2 petticoats, 2 pairs of stockings and a blood stained machete. I’d also picked up a very cheap little white tutu (just in case), a tiny pink hello kitty shoulder bag (cheap, but very badly made, think it’s a knock off), a pink hair rose and some pink bow hair grips along the way. Definitely shopped out now.
Go find bus back to Islington. As wait to cross road a van has to slam on his brakes to avoid a man running across the road. The van driver sort of looks around after having trying to get a “Did you see what that idiot did” reaction. I would have been more sympathetic to him, if it wasn’t for the fact he had been driving with a mobile clamped to his ear and that probably why he didn’t react to the pedestrian earlier.

First bus is to full, wait 2 minutes, next one has a seat, phew, back to Islington we go, seated. Its not really late, but I’m cold and tired. Decide to get a drink somewhere warm before getting the bus home. End up in the Pitcher and Piano at Angel with a glass of Rose, well its warm, quite empty mid afternoon and has free WiFi

Last bus of the day home. Get bottle of wine and some snacks from the shop and think about dinner, had very in stock, so better get something. No, sod that, I just want hot food now, missed out on my post night club chips on Friday (still think that’s a missed business opportunity at PP) so to hell with the diet, go into the chicken shop next door and order a large portion of chips. Guy serving is smiley and helpful, but his colleague says something to him in a language I don’t know as I leave. If it was on the line of “That’s a bloke mate” I wouldn’t of been surprised.

Home, finally, that’s it. Feet up, eat chips with wine and boot the PC. Check my sites and start up Star Trek, the beta ends soon and I wanted to get to Lieutenant rank before it finished, as then you can requisition a new ship. But after a short while there server crashed. Dam. It was about 7 and |’d finished the wine by then, was feeling a little sleepy anyway, so I’ll just rest my head… boom out again.

Wake around 1am, fully dressed and made up still, doh. Deslap, clean up and dress for bed, but no I’m to awake. The Star Trek server is still down, dam. Decide to go looking to see if I can get that chain saw  anywhere else, I still want it. Little bit of a dig and I see its still on Escapde’s web site and its listed as in stock and they can do Saturday delivery, oh well better order it, do a quick spywear scan and get out my plastic.

Noodle a it and finally get back to bed. Sunday, lie in. Little bit of Trek and get my promotion (server is still unstable, doesn’t bear well for launch), pub lunch, little work on the photo’s, laundry and have to login to work to run a couple of jobs. But find a little time to try on the full outfit for the Magic Theatre, takes longer than expected as I can’t find the bag my bag I put all my gloves in. Much rummaging around is done, but I find them eventually, but on they way I find the box my long Hot Hair wig is in, Yes! I didn’t throw it out after all The full outfit is rather outrageous, but even with both petticoats the skirt isn’t as lifted up as much as I’d wanted. Perhaps I want to much, I wanted it virtually horisontal. Still it’s a silly thing and I dunno, when wearing it, these rather silly thoughts start to go through my mind, the clothes maketh the man/woman/tranny sometimes, a character might emerge. The Magic Theatre could be interesting… If I mange to figure out a way to get there in this on public transport.

Midweek is livened up by the acquisition of a key to the Star Trek Online Beta. It’s technically the “Open” Beta, but its only open to preorder customers and those lucky enough to grab one at the various website give a ways. I got the later. Also got give a free smoothie from a give away at the station

First problem with STO, downloading the 7gb’s worth. It seemed unless you stump up for a full File Planet account there isn’t enough bandwidth around to supply it at normal speeds. Ended up getting a on a bit torrent and even that was very slow, it took 24 hours to DL. Next problem, actually logging in, due to the sever instability and the sheer number of people trying to play it, it can either be very laggy or just impossible (server is full). But finally on Saturday morning I got in and got moving with my first character, a petite Tactical officer with pink hair with her first starship, the U.S.S. Gagarin (I should of called it the U.S.S. Tereshkova shouldn’t I).

Now I did have some plans for Saturday, bit of a lie in then get read and go out, to the pictures, have a meal out and then on to a club. Started to get ready around 8, bathe/shave etc but got into STO after that and sort of lost a few hours… next minute its 6pm. 

The game is erm, I’m holding passing judgement on it for a bit. You do get to be a Starship Captain and have a crew and fly around and do away missions and stuff, but well it doesn’t quite feel right. One thing is most missions basically involve blowing up other starships (mostly Klingon/Orion). I’ve only got to level 6 and probably blasted more ships that Saturday afternoon than they get through in an entire TV season on Trek. Though the starship combat is a bit more involved than the average MMORPG hack and slash, much more manoeuvring is required to get most of your phasers to bear on and present your strongest shields to the enemy and then working on making a gap in their shields to send photon torpedo or two through. On top of that there energy management and special skills and so on. It can be quite involving even at low levels.  Plus the game will automatically group you up with other players in the system to do missions, so you are often flying in a little fleet, whereas most other MMORPGs these days you seem to spend much more time solo. So space combat is pretty good, there’s ground combat to with your away team, that’s more conventional. Trouble is the whole morality/ethics/Dipolmacy/problem solving/exploration sides of the Trek shows seems very limited in the MMORPG There are also quite a few bugs still, the user interface is a little confusing and game balance can seem very off at times.

Nerdy wittering out of the way, back to the plot. Getting ready, shaving went very well, probably because there is much less hair to remove. During the week I kept finding lots of totally loose hairs and removed them, some even you could squeeze like a blackhead and they would just pop out. I reckon in many places there’s as 80+ % of the hair gone, the only dense path now is a little bit on the bottom left of my chin (think they missed a bit) and the top lip (but that’s down at least 50%). What I didn’t realise is how many white hairs I have (must be getting old), these won’t be touched by the laser, but then again, won’t show as shadow. So the 2nd laser session has worked really well, and I’m now looking forward to the third one (probably in March) to clear up the stragglers. Still have a few blemishes to hide though, but these are healing to, hopefully will be clear by next week.

As I said, I geeked out till around 6 then started to get ready. During the week I’d done the maths and figured I could afford that top/dress from Oasis after all, so I went to a branch and found one in 14. It was mostly black though, I thought it was a lighter colour, oh well. Was in Ian mode at the time (went after work), girl serving asked who it was for, I wimped out and said it was for a friend. I had intended to wear this clubbing at the weekend, but had an extended dressing up session on Wednesday to check what went with it and eventually went with a different top entirely, I found on I’d never worn before at the bottom of a case that worked better. I also found a packet of sweets and a magazine I thought I’d lost. Good. What I can’t seem to find any more is that long Hot Hair wig  I bought last year, last time I wore it was at PP in December, now I’m pretty sure I didn’t leave it in the hotel, so it must of got back to my flat. Trouble is it was probably stuffed in a plastic bag and I might of threw it out with the rubbish I will have to have a really good hunt around for it. I will be a real shame if I’ve lost it, it cost quite a bit and if you got it right, looked quite nice.

Get dressed and have a little bite to eat then makeup. Little concealer on the blemishes and just a thin layer of foundation is required Even my neck required very little, this used to be a hard area to get really smooth so I had to cover up with slap, but now there’s much less hair it all works better.

Go a little mad on the eyes, heavy black liner and silver on the lids. Wanted to do silver eyeshadow (I’d been watch Lady GaGa makeup tutorials on You Tube you see…) I had one tub of 3 silvery grey eye shadow colours, but I couldn’t open it, think some nail varnish remover got splashed on it and its melted the lid on shut. But I did find a little tube of silver gel eye shadow I got with a special offer from Boots. The gel eye shadow is a bit messy to apply, but gave a nice strong colour, need more practice with it though. Think I like the results, plus it should be fitting for the club.

Have a little photo shoot after getting ready, a little red and orange gels on the side speed lights to brighten the thing up a little.

Photos took a while, have to get moving now, swap the 35 f2 for a 50 1.8 on big cam and pack everything up, time is getting on, the club said the band would be on at 10 so I want to make it for that.

Outside the flat, glad its got warmer, it must be oh, nearly 6 degree’s now Had rained a bit too but that had stopped as well, bit of a relief from the snow and cold. Had a coat and a hat on over the outfit, but still there was quite a bit of leg on display. Hey there’s my bus, I rushed but it left the stop before I could get near. Hey there’s another one I can use, the !&(&*^*&% doesn’t even stop. Bother! Sign says next bus is 11 minutes away, so decide to walk to the next stop. There’s a couple of chavy looking girls waiting there already so decide not to linger, walk to the next one. Still have 5 minutes to wait before the bus arrives. Wait quietly watching the world go by, seems my look, short skirt, fairly dark tights and ankle boots is about right for Islington Saturday night, as I wait I spot several GG’s sporting it as well (though most where in there 20’s). Bus gets here eventually, ride to Angel, then walk to the club. Well the pub, the club is in the upstairs room. Get there for about 10:10. Girl on the door and the cloak room is a little dizzy, but we sort it out and up we go. Band hasn’t started, phew. Get a glass of wine and a seat and chill for a bit. In fact it doesn’t start till more like half past. I must learn that 9 time out of 10 acts on in clubs almost always start at least half after the time advertised. Trouble is if I go by the rule, and turn up late, that’s going to be the time they play on time.

Oh yeah forgot to mention the club, its BEDSITLAND again, that one I went to a couple of times last year, on at Lexington on Pentonville road (yeah London). Why well I sort of had the option of going to a TG night where there would be a few familiar faces, or the Gypsy Hotel, but I just sort of fancied going out for a dance to shinny electro pop and its quite cheap and local. They usually have one band on these days, this time it was Mechanical Cabaret, dark electro pop… no I’d never heard of them either, but that’s usually the case on club nights like this and often it turns out well.

Band comes on eventually, just two guys, one keyboard player who spends the night behind his array of keyboards and modules and a singer who plays keyboards a bit to. Manoeuvre around to get a few angles, trying not to get in peoples way. The singer is a bit of a rock star, he puts on a proper performance, he notices the camera a few times to and gives it a pose. Shoot full manual (well not quite, I used auto focus), well I’d been shot here before and knew what the light was like.

Some of the pics are a bit soft, but dunno a couple seems to work. Put my camera away after a few numbers and shimmy along to the tunes. The band are pretty good, especially like “Disbehave” :) 

After there set I gab another drink to cool off, big bottle of pear cider, made better by the fact the DJ puts on “Enola Gaye” So what now, last time the dance floor really took off after the band, but its rather slow starting this time. But it does sort of pick up and I take to the floor several times, dance on my own, no one seems to want to dance with me, but sort of used to that, and I’m not the only one, a few other people dance alone, they just sort of get lost in the music doing there own thing and finding there own shapes.

Did sort of feel a bit invisible there, I was the only T-girl there as far as I could tell, and perhaps people just avoided the weirdo. But I didn’t feel that strange and it was a fairly diverse crowd, gay/straight/lesbian some dressed down, others right up, in fact there was quite a bit of gothy PVC in evidence, I was almost underdressed. Did spot a couple of people I recognised from the Festival of Sins, but was to shy to say hello.

The music and the dance floor picked up, got to go a little crazy to a few favourites, esp enjoyed Kim Wilde’s “Kids in America”

Did say I was invisible didn’t I, well sort of. It was around 1 and I was just having a breather with a Vodka and Lemonade on a seat near the bar when a GG I’d never seen before comes and sits down beside me and practically hugs me. We chat for a bit, well try to, I really struggle to make conversation when there’s loud music on. Also she’s quite drunk. Think I managed to gather her name was Kirsty. Music changes, Paul Hardcastle’s 19 comes on, I like this so drag Kirsty on to the dance floor. Turns out she’s not a Paul Hardcastle fan. We dance and try to talk a little more, she’s there with her friend who’s celebrating her 30th. We dance  abit more more, music changes a couple of times then something she likes comes on, Lady GaGa. Her taste in music is a little more modern than mine. We sort of hug a little bit again to.

Now I’m in a bit of a pickle. Yes a genetic girl has actually come on to me, which is amazing. But this does sort of point out I didn’t pass at all, she’s hetro and she see’s a man, all be one in a skirt. She’s also drunk, not paralytic, she’s stable enough on her feat, but enough to slur her speech a bit and affect her judgement. I do not want to take advantage of a drunk woman who has a huge case of the vodka goggles. I also don’t fancy her. Trouble is we don’t seem to have a lot in common, talking to her is difficult and well, the looks, she isn’t bad looking I suppose, but she’s on the short side, a plainish face, thin eye’s and well, awful dress sense. Do you go out to and Electro/synthpop night on your friends birthday in a shapeless brown knee length shift dress and a cream cardi? OK I’m being rather bitchy and mean here, sorry and it’s not like I look any better, I am clocked by drunk people in a dark room. But then perhaps I was reading far to much into it all perhaps she just saw someone a little unusal and just wanted a chat and maybe a dance, nothing more. I’m so fucking useless with people Losers like me really can’t afford to be too picky if we ever want to hook up with someone or even just find new platonic friends.

We where sort of drifting apart after a few dances anyway, she saw me looking at my watch which isn’t a good way to impress someone is it, guess she realised what I was thinking. I said I had to pop out and would be back in 5. I went to the loo for a bio break and to touch up the makeup. Couldn’t see here when I got back. Carried on dancing. Think I saw her briefly later, she was with her friend and I think she had found a proper bloke to talk to.

Few more dances, its getting late now and my feet are starting to protest and I’m flagging to. These ankle boots have about a 3 to 4” heel, its manageable but not for hours on end and I’d been in them for over 4 hours. Best call it a night, I’m on call anyway (had things to do on Sunday, but I shouldn’t be called on Saturday night). One last mad dance to Duran Duran’s “The Reflex” and I get my coat, leaving about 2am.

No rain, good, back to Angel and the night bus via Chapel market. Guy outside a bar says “Hello” as I pass, ignore him. Stop for chips, well dinner had been rather light as hadn’t got much in and I had been dancing a lot. Guy serving in the Kebab shop gets a look at me in the light and stops him self from using a pronoun. Walk back to the bus munching my chips. There’s a bit if a wait for the bus, but it turns up eventually and there’s just one seat left on the top deck for me. Get home by 2:30sih

By the time I’m cleaned up and ready for bed its nearly 3:30, out like a light. Don’t manage to get out of bed again till 11:30. Another pretty good night at Bedsitland, good music, accepting, cheap and local plus an unusual encounter. Will return for another, but not the next one, I’ll be on holiday then.

By the time I’m fully awake, had erm its lunch now isn’t it, (have cheese on toast in the local pub with a pint) and done the first batch of work stuff its nearly 4. Right back to Star Trek online. Except I can’t. The server is full, the USA has woken up and filled up the server. I read the developers underestimated the demand for the game and didn’t have enough server capacity, more hardware is on the way but that will take a while. So no more Trek for me on Sunday, I try again a few times but still can’t get in. So just process the pics, do more work stuff, play a little Champions, another bath and back into bed, think I was out of it for about 11 and a half hours…

This week, on Friday there’s the big Angels do at PP, with shopping and dinner with the usual gang planned for before hand. Though if the night out turns out like the forum there might be tears…  On Saturday there’s a load of stuff I need for the Magic Theatre outfit, so big shopping session is in order. Might not even make 11 hours awake next Sunday

But to be honest I haven’t done much to write about, but I’ll waffle on about what little I did anyway. Back to about the December 22nd, when I published the last post, off work and free to do, er more Christmas Shopping and general faffing about, a day and a half to sort out things before I had to go visit the Family for Christmas, suppose I could of sneaked in some Helena time, but just didn’t get around to it. Managed to get presents, spoilt the Nephews a little (5 year Nephew number 1 is really into Starwars at the moment :)) and even book my holiday before departing for darkest Lincolnshire (I typed Lincolnshite there at the first, Freudian slip?). Oh yea holiday, I’m off to Saalbach-Hintergleem in Austria at the end of February with my snowboard, place looks like its has a massive quality of fine Pistes to play with, though it could do with a little more snow right now,

Christmas with the family, stayed with my parents and visited and got visited by the siblings and their families and ate and drank far to much, usual really. And there was the usual awkwardness about me being the only singleton, I tended to leave the grown ups to talk and go play with kids and/or cats and dog, spent most of Christmas day building Lego kits. Big news was my sister announcing another was on the way, her 2nd. Not a bad Christmas really and it was a white one

I can cope with my family for a short while, so was out of there on Sunday, whisked home by surprisingly efficient public transport.

Monday, had sort of planned to have a Helena day, but by the time I was out of bed and defuzzed it was gone lunchtime and I just couldn’t find the energy to get made up went to town en bloke instead and ogled snowboard kit instead.

Tuesday, after yesterdays failure at doing much I had to try and do something, so I packed my board and went to Milton Keynes for a few runs. Place was a mad house, its definitely the snow dome silly season at the moment, they didn’t have any free slots till 1:30 (I had arrived around 10:30), fortunately they let me stash my board bag there while I went shopping to kill the time. Kind of promised my self some new snowboarding boots so I went off to find the shop I got my first pair from as think they had a better range and service than the shop in the snowdome. The Shop, the BBC (Bucks Boarding Centre) isn’t in central MK, its in a little shopping precinct off to one side about 40 minutes walk from the dome, I didn’t have a map and hadn’t been there for nearly 3 years, but managed to get there surprisingly easily. My sense of direction is quite good, but this is technically a male trait isn’t it.

Service and range where as good as I remember and I came away with some K2 Darko boots, simply because they fitted the best. The black with lime green laces and fur trim isn’t exactly subtle though. Back to the snowdome via the shopping centre, well he got new boots, so she should have some to make up for it, Cept there wasn’t anything much I fancied (apart from these absolutely killer over the knee boots, virtually thigh boots in the sale at Top Shop, but they only ones they had where size 5) , back to the dome, via an almost deserted Revolution Bar for lunch. Change into my body armour and baggies and hit the slope, it wasn’t quite as busy as I’d feared, but was still rather full and as usual they closed off a quarter of the slope for Tobogganing. wasn’t really a particularly progressive session that. But I did get the new boots

Wednesday, and the laser returns. Had booked into Renew Medica in Barnet the previous Tuesday for my 2nd laser session. I’d been recommended Barnet over Muswell hill by Louise so thought I would give it a try. Took a while to get there (right out at the end of the Northern Line), but I still had a bit of time before the session, eventually find a nice old pub to eat in (Barnet appears to be short of these and I had to hunt for one) and have a couple of pints of liquid anaesthetic. The place isn’t busy and I order food, but it takes ages to arrive and I have to bolt it before dashing to the clinic. I was 5 minutes late but they didn’t seem to mind.

This clinic seemed a little less formal than Muswell hill and we got started right away. More power this time, I think it was between 24 and 26 (Still les than most people have) most places and we did the whole face in one session. It was not a pleasant treatment, pain threshold was reached a couple of times, I was clenching my fists and grimacing with some of the jabs and there was plenty of burning hair smell. But the girl doing it, Natalie seemed very thorough and friendly (She was also young and attractive which sort of helped…).

Feel rather singed and warm after the treatment, but the endorphins start to kick in (its always after, why can’t you do this during?) and I started to feel a little floaty. Take a long bus ride home (well as far as Holloway and walk the rest). Check my face in the mirror when I get in, its rather red, but yes, ejected hairs lying on my face, another good sign

Thursday lie in bed all morning, then go out and have a sushi lunch and see the new Sherlock Homes film (its er OK, but not exactly true to the books) and play Champions online (my new game, downloaded off Steam, only about 8 quid, my old PC couldn’t cope with it, but the new one doesn’t break a sweat even on max detail, OK game, really fun character creator). Oh its New Years Eve isn’t it, well I can’t put make up on so soon after laser and I didn’t know anyone else locally who was going out anyway, so stay in alone. As usual. Fall asleep before midnight too. One of these years I’ll actually go out on New Years eve.

Friday, New Years Day, or National Hangover recovery day for many people. More family visits, went to brother who lives in London and his family, parents where there to. Had dinner and built a model Snowspeeder for Nephew number 1. My face was still rather red and blotchy, and a number of big spots had appeared but no one mentioned anything.

Saturday, right lets do Helena, its 60 hours after laser and that should be enough time. Cept it isn’t shaving is horrible, my face looks like a warzone afterwards, blood everywhere. I really shouldn’t of done that, I should of waited longer. I would of needed to dunk my head in a bucket of concealer to cover up the mess, didn’t think that was a good idea, decided to spare the face any more abuse and go out in Ian mode.

Still wanted to go shopping though, so of to Camden. Had a plan to look for Outfits for the next Magic Theatre, and I also wanted another pair of thigh boots, matt black with a small platform, either no lacing or back laced, for an outfit for the Festival of Sins. I’d found a pair I liked on the net, but would rather buy them retail, see what they are like first.

Toured the boot shops and Goth places in Camden for a bit. One place had some new Lip Service stuff, all very nice, but nothing quite right for me, and there was the black gothic satin blouse and big skirt I liked, but well I did black last time. In the boots shops only one had approximately the same boot I had seen online. I asked the guy if they had size 10, no but we have a 9 and they fit generously, let me get you one to try on… Wait a minute, he doesn’t mind me trying on black high heel thigh boots in bloke mode? In fact he seems quite keen… Oh well, might as well. He goes to check his stock, but returns empty handed, seems he doesn’t have a 9 after all, just an 8. Suppose boots like this are often bough by TV’s and DQ’s I guess and he’s used to it. Carry on shopping.

The little Gothic Lolita place in the Stables Market had closed down, which was a bit sad, I’d got several cute things from there. But wait, what’s that, it hadn’t closed down, it had just moved, to a bigger premises further down. In fact there are 3 Gothic Lolita places around Camden, all quite close to each other, I suspect they are simply all outlets of the same shop (this seems to happen a lot in Camden, you often see stalls with exactly the same stock as one you saw just down the road). Back to the Gothic place, look around, it has a larger upstairs section and hey, quite a few more styles in Extra Large. XL here appears to be about a 14 and they just fit. There a couple of interesting punky leather jackets and these over the top frilly lace trimmed dresses with bows (pink and white and black and white) . Mind goes wandering, they might just work…. It is rather “Sissy” but I could turn it on its head with the right makeup and props… It could just work, well at the Magic Theatre anyway, maybe not for popping out to the supermarket. Bloke in the store spots me looking at the dress. Want to try it on he asks? Another bloke asking if I want to try on feminine clothing when I’m in bloke mode? I guess like the boot place they must get a lot of Tranny customers. I decline, it would be just to embarrassing like this. Ask how much the dress is though, £59 he says, oh that’s actually less than I though it would be (It’s quite a complex garment). I know this place only takes cash and I don’t have that much on me, better get to the bank then.

Why do people queue outside a bank in the cold when there are machine inside no one is using? Inside the bank, better just check the balance, what with Christmas presents, the laser treatment, that new Cop Copine dress, the snowboard boots and the Holiday it had been an expensive month (thought the holiday was 250 less than I expected, but the hotel is only 2*). Oh that’s less than I though I had, oh well, its still enough to, Oh shit, I haven’t paid the rent and council tax yet! Bugger I’m poor No new dress or boots for you missy.

Take out some cash anyway, but that’s for groceries and to get me through the weekend. Walk down through Camden towards the west end, mostly just window shopping, and to get some exercise, Christmas overeating and drinking hasn’t helped my waist line. Find myself on Oxford Street, well I’d just though I’d see if those boots I saw in Top Shop MK where available in the big Oxford Street Branch. There weren’t, but I couldn’t afford them anyway.

Did look in a few of the touristy shops that do shoes though as they often have some New Rock and fetishy type boots. And one place did have some thigh boots close to what I was looking for. I was still concerned about funds, but I asked about sizes anyway. Are these available in size10 I asked? No the biggest we currently have is a 9 replied than man, I can order you 10 or you can try on the 9’s… That’s the third time today that’s happened. In the end I do actually try the 9’s. I can get them on (can fit 9 sometimes, but rarely in this sort of style and heel) but they are rather tight and I wasn’t sure the boot was quite right anyway. Left the store empty handed. Are London’s retailers getting so used to trannies that they don’t mind you trying stuff en-homme?

Have my fill of Oxford street and Soho and head home empty handed. Sunday is sort of a non day too, lazy and still a little sore from the shaving, I did want to go to the drawing club, but not as Ian, so stayed at home, more Champions. Couldn’t even be bothered to do Laundry.

So that was my Christmas Holidays, some Family time, a laser job and not a lot else. Bit of a waste really.

Back to work on Monday, bit of shock getting up early after nearly 2 lazy weeks. Also am now on a diet and austerity drive (well austerity till payday anyway). Get quite a lot done in 2 days and impress the boss by delivering stuff on Tuesday afternoon. Weather forecast on Tuesday looks bad, (well bad for getting to work) heavy snow, take laptop home incase.

Snow does come Tuesday night, but you are in the UK you knew that. Work from home Wednesday (skive most of the afternoon) buy a full weeks of shopping at Tescos just in case and find work has advised people not to come in on Thursday and Friday. Those days sort of merge together, get plenty done in the peace, but I’m sort of confined to just one room with the good heating, it all gets a little weird being in one room for so long. Do leave the flat a few time, though only briefly to the shops around the corner (and managed to do a laundry session on work time :)). On one trip I have to help an elderly gent, he had slipped and couldn’t get up and was shouting meekly for help, a bunch of teenage school kids down the street where ignored him. I had to pull him up and help him down the slippery pavement to his flat. I held his hand, perhaps I should have held his arm. The snow in London wasn’t really that bad, we had it easy compared to the rest of the country, so I could of got to work I think, but well, any excuse to not go into the office.

By Saturday I was a little stir crazy and had to get out, and this time I was going to go in Helena mode, no excuses! The face had been playing up in the week, quite a lot of spots had appeared, I always break these and clean out the yuk, but there a bit of redness and skin damage that has to heal afterwards. But as well as the spots (folliculitis made worse by the laser treatment) I’d noticed many hairs where not properly rooted, experimenting I tugged on a few, some wouldn’t budge, but some just slid out. In fact rather a lot just slid out or just sort of snapped off. These where the hairs where the laser had killed the follicle. I ended up spending rather a lot of time in front of the mirror during the week giving a little tug on every likely looking hair on my face with some fine tweezers. Quite a lot came out, my cheeks must only have 20% of the original left, the neck and chin 50% or more in places (its patchy) and every some came out on the upper lip. The laser has had quite an effect everywhere (apart from a small patch on the bottom left of my chin that might of just been missed).

Back to the plot, Friday night/Saturday morning was absolutely freezing, don’t sleep well, so up early very hot bath and lets try the razor again. Its not nearly as bad as it was last week, but I have quite a lot of blotches and blemishes that need a lot of makeup. Over do the shading a little and have to try and correct it with even more powder. When the blotches heal perhaps I can get away with just a single layer of studio tech, the reduced hair density means much less cold blue/grey shadow to cover).

Dress, oh its too cold for a skirt, thick tights, jeans, flat boots, thin top, sweater dress, big coat, hat, gloves scarf. I’m so covered up the resulting affect is I think a bit more androgynous than usual, its certainly not overtly fem. Still its should be warm and anonymous.

Out around lunch time, I’m not really hungry though. Bus to Angel to stop at the bank, have to monitor the funds carefully at the moment. Bank is shut due to the bad weather conditions! Suppose they had the same idea as me, any excuse not to come in, but the reality was it hadn’t actually snowed much for 36 hours.

Might as well go to Camden then, that branch of the bank might be open, and I can get there on the warm tube, the wind outside is bitterly cold. Camden branch is open, phew and people are still queuing in the cold to use the outside cash machine. Check statement on the machine, inside, gawd its got worse, the Laser clinic hadn’t charged me till this week, I’m even poorer than I thought. But, I’d done the maths, I need so much to get to work and eat, and the bills are now paid, so that does leave me just enough to get THAT dress. So I do. There’s a girl serving in SAI SAI this time, Eastern European I think with a large amount of piercings, I again decline the offer to try the dress on (to many layers to remove) as I still reckon I can fit it, but we do have a chat about the sizing of the garments (a lot of customers want larger sizes…) and clubs to wear them in, turns out she’s a fan of Torture Garden and says she sees a lot of their outfits there.

The outfit does need a few more accessories, white stockings with pink bows, a Petticoat under the skirt to pouf it up and perhaps new hair (I’d spotted some OTT wigs at another place earlier), but all that will have to wait till after payday. Also have to want to get a chainsaw… Well I wanted to turn the thing on its head, do the old good girl gone bad thing, but taken to an extreme, cute pink and white sissy little girl with a blood soaked serial killer chain saw but not a real chainsaw, there’s this quite realistic looking plastic chain saw with blood splats (for Friday the 13th costumes I think) I’ve found on the net.

I did try on the outfit when I got home. Its got a really small fiddly back zip that sort of gets stuck on the seams when it goes past the skirt to the back. Probably because its to tight, I really only just fit the dress :(. Thing is, its not my waist that the problem, its my chest that’s to big (without boobs too) and the fact the dress is cut for a shorter GG so the waist line is about 3″ to high and sits on my rib cage (my usual problem with tailored garments). I got the zip up eventually. First tried it with a black wig, that looked cute, but the curly blonde wig was even cuter, a white stocking (I’ve lost the other one) my double strap black courts worked well on the legs (will have to buy a new pair), and although it came with these white arm gaiter things, replacing them with these white lace long gloves with huge cuffs I already had looked even better. I think I have an outfit. It’s totally OTT and will probably loose me any Trans credibility I had (but theres not a lot to loose), but I’m going to do it, what the hell What it really does need though is a short (20″ or so) very very pouffy white petticoat to lift the skirt right up. That’s going to be a bit hard to find.

I did say that dress would loose me all trans cred, well I suppose, but I did go out an buy it in broad daylight, in bad weather, in completely normal and practical clothes and as little makeup as possible and not attracting any attention and interacted with people. Or so I thought. You see many of the food places in Camden offer little bits of food as free samples to passing customers, as I passed one Chinese food place the woman working there called out in a friendly manor “Try a piece of chicken Sir” . That’s why I hadn’t been attracting much attention, people where just seeing a bloke, not even one trying to present as female

Potter around the market a little more, stop in the Proud Gallery as I kind of hoped their bar would be doing food but it doesn’t look like it. But they did have an exhibit of photographs of Debbie Harry. She’s one of my idols, so I stayed and browsed. Some of them, phew, I just so want to look like that. I also took a few photo’s photos of the photo’s, but then I got told off for doing that, so I left. Me bad.

That’s just a picture of the wall, not the photo’s themselves OK?

Was lunch time now, wanted somewhere inside that was warm, but also very cheap. Wander around a bit, cross the very slippery footbridge over the icy canal and find myself in a place called the Earl of Camden (Think I’d been here a couple of years ago, with oh, her). But it wasn’t busy, looked OK and I could get a sandwich, chips and a drink for five fifty. Food was fine and the portion generous Pub was warm too, was a bit of a shock to get back in the cold.

So what to do next? To be honest not a lot, no more shopping, I wandered down through Camden towards the west end. There’s this little park near Morning Crescent, its not used much as far as I could see, and it still had a plenty of snow, so I stopped in there to get the picture of the day.

Carry on into town, past Euston (and that shop). Have my last little browse around the shops at the Brunswick, Ow wow New Look now carry a grey batwing top/dress that’s identical to the one I wore to dinner in MK last month, they must be following my fashion lead And wow again, there’s that top/dress thingy I liked in Oasis, and its in the sale, down to £25 from £55 and in my size. Normally would of snapped that up without a thought, but not today. If I’m good all week and eat beans and soup maybe I can get it next weekend. Maybe, if its still there.

Cold now, and bored of not being able to shop I want to go home. And to be honest I was starting to get a little self conscious, got a couple of funny looks and a group of girls exclaimed “Oh My God” as I passed them. Go find my bus home in Holborn. Get some bread and some pop at the shop near the bus stop to go with dinner.

Spend the evening playing a little online and well having a sort of dress up session, with that new dress and a few other items. Only a few items, most of my clothes are kept in suitcases in my kitchen (I’ve run out of wardrobe space), and my kitchen was to cold to spend much time in.

Sunday, another lazy day, spend most of it in bed again. But it’s a warmer day and the forecasted snow doesn’t really materialise. Not a lot happens really, spend a bit of time searching the web for petticoats.

So what with the cold, the lack funds and my general levels of apathy, it’s not been a great recently. But payday is only 10 days away, and I may just be able to sneak out to a local night out next weekend.

BTW
The blog has been using up its monthly band width allowance recently, last couple of the day of the month you might see a band width exceeded message. This goes away on the 1st or the 2nd as the quota is restored. I don’t think this is due to too many actual real people reading, its spam bots, since I opened the comment system (You can now comment without logging in now, but all comments have to be moderated) the amount of spam hitting the site has gone up 5x. The spam filter is keeping the awful spam comments away, but every time a bot reads the site it uses up some bandwidth I might have to think about changing the hosting.