[ frimlin - wizard, reflected ~ ]
The Fantastical Voyages of Wizard Frimlin, continued...
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Saturday, November 23, 2002 |
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At 6:41 PM, Frimlin posted this:
Greetings!
Last night I had a great time at the Pickerel with Virginie, Dave, Nigel, Charlie, Tom, Emir and others. Got quite merry and stayed till closing time -- which isn't very late if you know what UK pub closing times are like! Made me feel much better after having a pretty rotten day at work. When I got home I went to get a Chicken kebab -- I hadn't eaten since breakfast and I was famished. I rang Mum in NZ and talked to her for a while -- it was nice to catch up. Apparently it's about ten weeks until she comes over here to the UK for a year -- February 7th.
Tonight I'm heading down to London for Pyromania 5. Should be a great night -- I'll let you know tomorrow!
Frimlin
(Posted at 6:41 PM)
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Thursday, November 21, 2002 |
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At 12:56 PM, Frimlin posted this:
Hello you!
Tuesday night Nigel came around to my place and we had a series of good conversations, and his presence helped me justify drinking Bailey's on a Tuesday. I'd got a litre bottle in my last Tesco order, and I'd been itching to have a sip or three.
Wednesday night I met up with Nigel at the Pickerel. We were briefly joined by Janine, Tom and Janine's Dad Ingolf, before they went off to see the second Harry Potter movie. Then we were joined by Annabel and her neighbours Jane and Kitt. Jane's a nurse and Kitt works for the US Airforce at Mildenhall. Had some very interesting conversations!
Tonight I think I'll just take it easy and go home straight after work. I'm out tomorrow night doing the Friday Evening Socialising Thing, and on Saturday is my trip down to London for Pyromania 5. I still haven't managed to squirm out of the hotel booking I've made for Saturday, and I'm hoping my friend David will help me out with a place to lay my head for the night. But at the moment it's not looking likely.
Meeting Nigel for lunch for the dependable taste and texture of a Chicken Tikka!
Frimlin
(Posted at 12:56 PM)
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Tuesday, November 19, 2002 |
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At 10:18 AM, Frimlin posted this:
Greetings and Salutations! :0) Yes, it has been a while. Sorry about that! I spent a very cheap weekend at home, mostly spent on the computer. Even managed to make an appearance on ICQ on Sunday night to talk to an old friend. It was good to catch up with him. :o)
Friday night hadn't been very eventful. Nigel was down in London with his sister, Sally. I really wasn't up for the usual lagers & Indian so I just went home and mucked around. Talked to Virginie on the phone for a while, which was nice. I'm not much of a phone person, though. I prefer just texting most of my friends. There's only a few people I'll talk to on the phone, one of them being my Mum. It's a bit odd in a way, because it's much less intimate, I guess. But yet it's generally what I feel most comfortable with. Silly Frimlin.
Last night I met up with Claire at the Pickerel. I'd already been told this by Annabel, but it appears the two have parted ways. I won't desecrate my friendship with them by relaying all the gory details to you, dear reader. I just hope that things work out well for each of them -- in whatever way, shape, or form that needs to be.
Me? I'm still somewhat melancholic. Still listening to somewhat "down" songs from R.E.M. Just got a hair cut yesterday -- it's quite short, but at least it's tidy -- and I think it looks okay. I'm going down to London this weekend for a big event called Pyromania 5, which has been organised by an online community I belong to called OUT. Should be a great night, and I'm really looking forward to it.
Frimlin
(Posted at 10:18 AM)
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Wednesday, November 13, 2002 |
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At 1:02 PM, Frimlin posted this:
Hello! I'm having a good day so far -- I'm actually quite enjoying the new project I am working on.
Last night I had a quick drink at the Pickerel with Nigel and Richard, then we all went back to my place to watch the extended version of The Fellowship of the Rings. You probably know already that it was long enough without extending it anymore! Some of the extended scenes were much better, but with others it was hard to tell what was added. There were a couple of completely new scenes too -- including a very early encounter with the Elves just outside of Hobbiton. I think it was good to show the magical nature of the Elves earlier than the encounter with Arwen, so it's a shame that it wasn't in the normal version of the film.
Later, after Nigel and Richard had left, I watched a few of the documentaries included on the bonus disks. In particular I enjoyed one which showed the New Zealand locations used for certain scenes in the film. It really made me feel pangs to be back at home again. My time with New Zealand is not over. At the very least it would be nice to retire there. But as I always say, time will tell...
Frimlin
(Posted at 1:02 PM)
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Tuesday, November 12, 2002 |
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At 12:50 PM, Frimlin posted this:
Another day, another bleedin' rainy English day. How inspiring.
Last night I spent the evening mucking around, but I managed to watch the deleted scenes andother special features on my new Star Wars: Episode 2 DVD. I even managed to fall asleep later, while the film was playing. I wasn't really paying attention -- only ever really opening my eyes when Anakin appeared. I wonder why.
When I arrived at work today I was greeted by a rather large box from Amazon.co.uk. It appears I am now the proud owner of the four disc set, extended version of The Fellowship of the Rings. So guess what I intend to do tonight! Not that -- that's rude! I'm going to watch the film, of course. I can't wait to see that cutesy little Hobbit village again! No, I do not have an infatuation for Frodo -- and it's not just because of the hairy feet!
Frimlin
(Posted at 12:50 PM)
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Monday, November 11, 2002 |
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At 4:02 PM, Frimlin posted this:
Hello! I had a good weekend -- mostly just playing a new game on my computer. The game is Age of Mythology made by Ensemble Studios, the makers of the Age of Empires series.
The game is quite good, and the gameplay is very much like Age of Empires -- so it's quite familiar to me. However, you need to know which unit goes best against which other unit. Cavalry against infantry, infantry against archers, archers against cavalry.. etc And I don't think I have the kind of mind that wants to be bothered by that kind of detail, at least in a warfare scenario. I'm much better with Civilization's style, where there are mainly just offensive units and defensive units with varying strengths. I find that easier to understand, rather than having to try and micro-manage individual skirmishes *within* a large battle. It seems I am not cut out for being a Warlord. I am not in the slightest bit disappointed by this!
Today has been interesting, work-wise. Things have been discussed, and plans are being made. Looks like more changes for Ash at work, and also for the future of the Creatures Network. I'd say watch this space, but any necessary official announcements will be made on the Creatures Network site. I know many of the people who read frimlin blog are Creatures fans so I know I can't say anything concrete about work plans on here, unfortunately! If I knew only friends and family read this, it would be different.
Frimlin
(Posted at 4:02 PM)
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Thursday, November 07, 2002 |
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At 7:07 PM, Frimlin posted this:
Nothing particularly interesting to mention today! It was really quite cold in Cambridge today, though.
I haven't been getting up early this week, in fact I've found it very hard to get up at all. So maybe next week I'll try the early waking thing again. (Yeah right -- just like the classic "Tomorrow I start my diet." We all know tomorrow never comes.)
Nigel's probably coming around soon. He needs to use my computer to check his Hotmail and do the job searching thing. I'm fine with that, but me without a computer handy is like being limbless in a lifeboat. So I'm not looking forward to giving up my throne to him, even if it is only momentarily. I better get in a few turns of my Civ3 game as Dalriada before he arrives. It's going well by the way. I've become so powerful now, Munster is only target practice for my mighty War Chariots. I've expanded with four cities in modern day Scotland, and have now about ten cities back home in north Ireland -- three of which are at least 20 population points. Whoa that's big for pre 1000ad. Yeah, I guess you've got no idea what I'm talking about! Oh well.
By the way, much to my surprise and delight, my good friend Pav has sent me an email. We've not talked in ages! I like catching up with good friends! You. Yes you. Write to me. Go on. Yes. You do it first. C'mon I dare you! It's not just me being quiet! :OP
Frimlin
(Posted at 7:07 PM)
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Wednesday, November 06, 2002 |
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At 10:21 AM, Frimlin posted this:
Hello! Last night I spent the evening in -- mostly just working on my Civilization 3 scenario. I'm not sure if I've said this before, but I've now called the scenario "Frimlin's Mythica." It is based on a planet that has two large landmasses that strangely are very much like Britain and Ireland and surrounding islands. I've been working on it for a couple of months now. I started with simple tribe names like Picts, Scots, Irish, Angles, Saxons and Romano Britons. Now after some in depth online research I've expanded and enhanced the list of playable tribes to the following:
- East Anglia - lead by King Redwald of the East Anglians
- Wessex - lead by Queen Ethelburga of the Wessex Anglo-Saxons (?)
- Northumbria - lead by King Oswald (or maybe Aethelfrith) of the Northumbrians
- Mercia - lead by King Penda of the Mercians (?)
- Dalriada - lead by King Fergus of the Dalriadan Scots
- Munster - lead by King Brian Boru of the Munster Gaels (?)
- Caledonia - lead by Queen Iona of the Caledonian Picts
- Gwynedd - lead by King Rhodri Mawr of the Gwynedd Cymru
- Cornwall - lead by King Arthur of the Cornish Gaels
- Nordenlund - lead by Queen Freida of the Nordmen (think Viking)
- Kent - lead by Hengest of the Kentish Jutes
- Britannia - lead by Senator Paulinus of the Romano Britons
- Icenia - lead by Queen Boudicea of the Iceni Celts
The main playable tribes are Wessex, East Anglia, Dalriada, Munster and Nordenlund. For more of a challenge players could choose to be Mercia, Northumbria, Britannia, Caledonia and Icenia. Even harder still is Kent, Gwynedd and Cornwall -- which I have actually crippled in certain ways to stop them getting too powerful.
I've been enjoying playing as East Anglia and Wessex, and now I've turned back to playing Dalriada for a while. My current strategy is to grab as much of Northern Ireland as I can before Munster does -- and then I start expanding into North-West Scotland and the Outer Hebrides. If you know anything about history, you'll see my plans are very similar to the way the actual Kingdom of Dalriada behaved. I'm currently in a peaceful time, just following a massive ransom I paid Munster to stop attacking me for a while. I've got the defence in place, but only a small offensive force. I'm buying the time so I can stockpile my military -- then when the time is right, I'll strike south to give the Munster Monsters something to remember me by. While all this is occuring, some of my cities will be preparing settlers to found new cities in Scotland. I wonder if the Caledonian Picts will mind?
As you can see I'm really enjoying these games. I know that if I am, others will too -- so I'm spending my time making careful considerations. At first I was spending most of my time tweaking the stats of the Unique Units -- these are special units that are unique to only one or two tribes. Recently I've spent time getting the tribe and leader names right, and starting to find historically accurate city names. Soon I'll be trying to sort out the special resources on the map -- things like horses, metals, cattle as well as trading commodities and luxuries. Later this month I will be getting the first expansion pack for Civilization 3, which is called Play the World. My final act on this scenario will be converting it over to the format used in PTW, including bastardising some of the unique units that come with the new tribes in the expansion pack. Then I'll release it at CivFanatics.
I'll keep you updated on my progress! In the meantime, I must find some coffee -- it's a caffeine emergency!
Frimlin
(Posted at 10:21 AM)
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Tuesday, November 05, 2002 |
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At 1:07 PM, Frimlin posted this:
Here's an interesting article about sexuality. Sheep study raises questions about sexuality: US scientists claim to have found evidence that brain structure influences sexual preference in sheep. See I told you it was all in the brain structure. What is next, as far as I am concerned, is to try and find whether this brain structure difference occurs purely due to genes or not. My thought is that it is mostly genetical. I do think your upbringing, diet and environment have very powerful effects on you. But I'm pretty sure this isn't one of those effects. I think it'll be tracked down to being more that one gene, and some of them will be found especially on the X chromosome. Anybody want a bet?
Frimlin
(Posted at 1:07 PM)
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At 10:44 AM, Frimlin posted this:
Not feeling so great this morning. Maybe I just need some coffee -- haven't had any in days!
I took yesterday off as a holiday day. I just needed some time to myself. I thought I got enough over the weekend, but I guess I didn't. I suppose many of you have realised this, but I greatly enjoy time alone. This is probably the main reason why I'm single!
I've had loads more dreams, but none that have been as interesting as the two I've shared with you recently. Before I go on, let me just say a big thanks to Christine (aka TreeSprite) for her interpretations. I might even post some excerpts here, later. My dreams have been the usual -- being in unusual places, staring into a night sky filled with planets, living in a city invaded by aliens, flying around as though I was superman... the usual. Nothing particularly interesting to report from my dream world, I assure you.
I haven't done any writing for ages, and it worries me. I get loads of storyline ideas daily, but never seem able to find or make the time to record them all. I swear I have visions of me in the future sometime, spending night after night pouring over my writing. And yet taking the image of me now, and that vision, and comparing the two in my mind -- I can't see the bridge between them. I seem unable to see the path in between the two, and that's what concerns me. Is it that I can't see it because I won't recognise it when I do? Or is it because I know the path, and I know how to walk -- but yet I'd rather just sit around and think about it.
I really enjoyed listening and singing along to my R.E.M. album Up yesterday. I can sing some of the songs really well, especially now I'm learning the words. I'm starting to appreciate the album it in it's entireity -- as an album to be played in its own order, rather than a collection of tracks to be played at random. It's quite dark and low, despite the album name. It seems to resonate with me at the moment.
Frimlin
(Posted at 10:44 AM)
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Friday, November 01, 2002 |
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At 7:54 AM, Frimlin posted this:
Yet again I'm feeling good in the morning. I think this proves that I'm doing the right thing, with my recent lifestyle change.
However, last night I had the most awful dream. Well, at least in this one I didn't die. But it was almost as bad. Hmm how to say this without directly saying it. Okay... it seems somehow in my dream I managed to slice off the tip of something very near and dear to me! Yes I know... ewww! Suffice to say, I was mortified and probably may have well have been dead.
I recall that somehow I fell asleep or went unconcious, then hours later I woke (in the dream) and the sliced tip was still lying around. So I tried to put it back on, hoping that it would somehow re-attach. But looking at it, although I could see some of it had reconnected, there were bits that seemed like they were still not getting blood. Then lo and behold my mother appeared and I tried to convince her that I needed to go to the hospital immediately for reconstructive surgery. I tried and tried but she didn't seem to think it was much of a big issue! C'mon Mum! Erm I mean Dream Mum!! Listen to me! hehehe!
Anyhow, there was a very happy ending -- basically, I woke up at 5am and realised it was all a dream. But right up until that moment I was convinced it was real, and I was devastated. I've never really got a proper chance to use it to it's potential -- especially after almost two years of no activity -- and then there I was being literally cut off in my prime. The moral (click the link for a test, I got 35) of the story is?
Men -- be very careful with sharp objects!
Frimlin
(Posted at 7:54 AM)
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