Yes, we are in a small room (by non-English standards). But the garden The breakfast of fresh pomegranate seeds and thick yogurt (there was so much more but I'm typing with two fingers). The ruins of the ancient hammam snuggled up to the hotel. The shower with GOOD soap and LOTS of water and a _heated_ floor. The Haghia Sophia floating in the air behind us. And the blessed WiFi. Aaaah.

Right. It was raining last night and we really only got in, ate, and called it a night (at 11:30 PM local time) and went back to our rooms and read. It's somewhat overcast but mild. Time to go explore the city.

Gentle persons:

I write to you as your hostess of the 5th annual TempleCon Retro-Futurist gaming convention, a weekend that embodies the spirit of temporal creation, featuring a plethora of games, performances, stories, and diversions that explore Retro-Futurist genres such as Steampunk, Neo-Victorianism, Weird West, Dieselpunk, Decopunk, Raygun Gothic, and Cyberpunk - all past visions of the future that are being re-examined in modern times and re-envisioned in modern terms. These are anachronisms with attitude, independence and idealism versus monolithic conformity and control, girded with the true grit and superior fashion sense required to go adventuring in the wasteland of civilization's decay. Mix in a healthy helping of elder gods, piracy, and revolutionary mayhem (this is Rhode Island, after all!), and you have a time-bending Retro-Futurist experience the likes of which no other convention dares to offer.

You are cordially invited to join us on the weekend of February 5th, 6th, and 7th, in the glorious Crowne Plaza Hotel in the city of Warwick, in the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.  We offer a rare array of Retro-Futurist amusements, including the premiere of the Unhallowed Metropolis theatre game led by the game's developers plus multiple other Unhallowed Metropolis events; appearances, lectures, classes, and panels by G.D. Falksen, The Penny Dreadfuls, George Higham, Jason Soles, Nicole Vega, Leanna Renee Hieber, Kelley Hensing, C.J. Henderson, Simon Berman, Robert Tritthardt, The Rhode Island Pirate Players, and more; a weekend-long Retro-Futurist costume contest as well as a Makers' Masquerade for Retro-Futurist costumers to show their creations on stage and a Retro-Futurist Fashion Show featuring work by multiple designers; steampunk seances by mentalist Rory Raven; a Neo-Victorian High Tea; retro-futurist dance performances by Ela Rogers, Ameena, Troupe Moirae, Neylan, Tempest, La Paloma, Samara, Happy Hour Burlesque, and more; musical performances in our Diesel, Deco, and Dance event by the Dirge Carolers, Sasquatch and the Sick-a-billys, and more; plus numerous vendors in our Clockwork Bazaar, and a stunning assortment of games in various genres.

Please be so kind as to peruse our pages on the Aethernet:  http://www.templecon.org/ and be sure to pre-register soon for this Retro-Futurist extravaganza!

I look forward to hearing from you and meeting you in person at the grand event!

Most Sincerely,

Madame Ximon
TempleCon Creative Director
http://www.templecon.org/

Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to thank everyone who came out to today's Chrononauts' Winter Stroll. I had a wonderful time, and I hope that you all did as well. I know there were a number of pictures taken and I look forward to seeing each and every one of them!

In addition, I'd like to set you all on the very lovely site http://www.fashion-era.com, which has numerous wonderful references for vintage clothing. I hope you all find it useful.

Regards,
-G. D. Falksen

another 8 days with *NO* office obligations!

Round 1...suggest! (mods remove this if you think it's not properly placed)

I'm moving to my new apartment within the month *squee* and most of my friends have wonderfully geeky names for their flats. I can't quite well name it the TARDIS (not unless my landlord lets me RE DOOR the front door...and I doubt that'll happen), but I am looking for suggestions. Names of previous friends apartments: Oz, Wonderland, King's Cross (Harry Potter/Brits FTW), The Hub, so on and so forth.

I'm looking for something who themed, or exceedingly nerdy, or british. (Big Bang Theory, Mighty Boosh, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Firefly, Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc) those are all appropriate themes.

I'm looking forward to hearing your suggestions! Thanks! (I apologize for the cross posting)

Thanks to my IRL friends, the Doctor Who community and the Steamfashion community it has been narrowed down to 2 suggestions

So it's Star Trek versus Doctor who. Now we all know Doctor Who wins by default. But that doesn't mean it has a better ring to it.

SO PICK YOUR FAVOURITE

Holodeck or the Oodsphere (Note: If the oodsphere wins, my bedroom will be renamed the holodeck). Although I can't guarantee I'll abide by the what happens in the holodeck stays in the holodeck rule.

Let's see who gets Knocked Out!

Why am I awake writing more The Thick of It fic?

Now with added illness, depression, overuse of the word 'clawing', plot-semblance, an abortion and poss!death.*



*this is my attempt at a "warmer" fic.

So, anyone want to go see Avatar (in 3D) at 16:15 at the Odeon on Monday?

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/12/from-exact-middle-of-nowhere.html

Waving from the Middle of Nowhere, where there's no TV, my cell phone doesn't work and the internet is slow and klunky enough that semaphore might be more efficient.

I'm having a huge After Christmas Sale in both my etsy and artfire shops. From now till January 9th every item in both shops are marked 20% off. Now's the time to buy that special item you wanted for Christmas but just didn't get. Or find something unique and unusual to spend some of your Christmas money on. I'll be adding new items throughout the sale so check back often.



The Grand Design on Etsy




The Grand Design on ArtFire

I've done this often enough that I'm fully aware that not only do you have to install Windows plus drivers, firefox and thunderbird, but also media codecs, every piece of software ever, and sort out bookmarks and mail setup.  And several windows updates. 

• It's a lot of work.  and newest version of TomTom software doesn't install.  I suspect it needs .NET (edit: suspicion proved correct). 
• The copy of Pinnacle Studio that I splashed out 7 quid for now works.
• I can now double click on a folder in My Computer and it opens rather than giving me a cryptic "index out of range" error.
• Thunderbird no longer has loads of unrelated folder names.
• Must work out what bookmarks I actually want in Firefox.  
• Wondering if there's a more sensible way to carve up this disk.  ATM it's 80GB for the main partition (honestly, this should be plenty - my system is mostly filled with data), and 1.3TB for data. 

It's still going to be a while before it starts behaving just so again.   Don't really enjoy this job.

Columbus, Ga. Enquirer, May 15, 1860.

"Who is a Gentleman-- A gentleman is not merely a person acquainted with certain forms of conventionality's of life, easy and self-possessed in society, able to speak, and act, and move through the world without awkwardness, free from habits which are vulgar and in bad taste. A gentleman is something beyond this. At the base of all his ease and refinement, and tact and power of pleasing, is the same spirit which lies at the root of every christian virtue.---It is the thoughtful desire of doing in every instance to others as he would that others should do unto him. He is constantly thinking, not indeed how he may give pleasure to others for the mere sense of pleasing, but how he can show them respect, how he may avoid hurting their feelings. When he is in society he scrupulously ascertains the position of every one with whom he is brought in contact, that he may give to each his due honor. He studies how to avoid touching upon any subject which may call up a disagreeable or offensive association. A gentleman never alludes to, ever appears conscious of any personal defect, bodily deformity, inferiority of talent, of rank or reputation, in the persons in whose society he is placed. He never assumes any superiority---never ridicules, never boasts, never makes a display of his own powers, or rank, or advantages; never indulges in habits which may be offensive to others".

Back at the motherships for xmas and already feeling like I've put back on the three stone I've lost. Lots of lovely food, and booze and nibbles and now slumped in front of some kind of ice skating dvd thing the Grandmother seems to be enjoying.

Fabulous presents were received including cold hard cash, Vivienne Westwood jewellery and from my fab Boy a new RED Dell mini notebook, which I am having a fabulous time using to sale shop from the convenient comfort of my sofa. which is good, as I've eaten so much I can barely move :o)

Hoping everyone in LJ world are having equally comforting and happy holidays, be it xmas, Yule recovery or just generic not-being-at-work time.

So, happy holidays all, here's hoping that this year has been kind, and that next year be filled with joy for all.

Oh, and that LJ will start being a bit less dead.

:o)

cant wait for the next Eppisode..... hAhAAHAAHAAAAHAAAAA

Christmas eve started with a coughing fit, not great, but I had a cold/flu so meh. In the afternoon I went to Venture with kissycat1000 to view te results of our photosooth. there were some really good shots in there, the photographer did a good job of capturing "us" in a way that we liked. I spent too much, but meh, I liked them a lot. :)

In the afternoon however, things changed a bit, for the worse. More coughing and breathing became increasingly difficult. When I started feeling light-headed because I just couldn't get enough air in, I decided the best thing to do was to go to A&E.

( The rest of my christmas )

Still, got home in time to actually have christmas with my family, "tree presents" had been left to be opened until I got home. I am now sat in kissycat1000's lounge with my family around me, feeling quite healthy, though tired and weak, and I am really quite happy and content. :)

So yeah, not a conventional or great christmas up until about 3pm, but since then it's been great. Merry christmas everyone, and thanks to everyone who sent get-well wishes either direct or via kissycat1000's post. :)

Today, as I got all gooey-eyed and weepy in front of La Bohème, I was reminded that I'm starting to make good choices. If ever I have had a Christmas Moment (tm), that was probably it.

Happy Whatever, everyone.

Well, I woke up, scratched, swung my legs out of bed, put one foot in front of the other, etc etc.

Yeah. You don’t actually need all the detail, do you?

I’ve had a bloody lovely day. Bucks Fizz and a croissant, the company of my family, a phone call with my grandmother, a turkey dinner, a walk at dusk and a bit of TV – The Gruffalo and then Dr Who. The former was excellent, the latter was saved by John Simm quite literally chewing the scenery and Bernard Cribbins being exactly as good as I’d hoped. Really very frustatingingly part one of two, and the big reveal at the end had virtually no shock value at all.

Notable gifts: a stock pot, and a copy of Larousse Gastonomique. Next year: soup!

I am fighting the tempatation here to gush about Miranda and my family, because it’s them that put my festive spirit back, but the rest of you don’t need my vomiting up joy and rainbows everywhere.

So instead, one last set of holiday wishes for you all. Hope yours was a good as mine.

This entry was originally published at Black Ink

Cut in case of spoilers
( Thoughts )

http://www.dorktower.com/2009/12/25/so-this-is-christmas/

http://www.dorktower.com/?p=4262

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS, everyone!

Here’s the final version of the card they chose, in the end:

John