Not disappeared - honest! I'm also not espeically snowed under, I just haven't really been posting much for some reason. Currently I'm trying to find out how to go about re-mortgaging my house. I sat down the other day and ran through my budget every month and I could be paying out so much less than I am if I re-mortgaged and used some of the equity to pay off credit cards etc. (Which will then be cut up, shredded, burned and then buried at sea!) I know all this, only problem is I suck at maths so working out the best deal is not easy. And even finding a financial advisor is not easy - mostly because the first time I took out the mortgage the financial advisor I had was trying to push one particular product despite the fact she was employed by my solicitor and was supposed to be independent, so I have trust issues now. (Any advice? *g*)

Speaking of mathematical stuff, the GT (Graduate Trainee) in the department is currently doing a course which involves her creating a website. She's never done it before so she asked me for help - well, I kinda offered actually. I really don't mind at all (although the Brian McFadden CD case that she used to bring in the CD-R she saved her files to which is currently sitting on my desk is an irritating part of the deal) but yesterday I was talking her through a basic CSS file and she said out of the blue "I don't think I could ever do this. I don't have a maths brain." I laughed till my sides hurt. I seriously suck at maths (I got my B in Higher purely because I paid for a tutor!) so to have someone think of me as having a mathematical-type brain? Funny. Very funny.

Other news? Next part of Moroccan Knight will be up by tonight (why is it I always start to spell Morocco as Morrocco? I always catch it and correct it, but still - every time!) and I'm in a writing mood again - the list of tales in this thing has grown from four to seven just today (my personal favourite is Bluebird even though it doesn't really fit into the Xander-centric theme of the whole thing (he's telling the story, but he's not in it at all). All I have to do is actually get them written rather than abstract concepts and summaries on my notepad. Good news (from my perspective) is that ToaMK has now moved up from the generic 'fic' notepad to a notepad all of it's own. An A4 one no less. (I have odd writing habits - my generic 'fic' notepad contains plot bunnies, scraps of dialogue and completed one-shots. Once a story grows a little I start using a shorthand/reporters notepad to focus on it and, rarely, if a story 'universe' becomes big enough it moves into an A4, spiral-bound notepad and gets written in Parker pen. It's like my own odd version of OCD!)

I've not been graphically inspired much lately - to be honest I'm getting way too caught up in the challenge contests I'm in to do much else, although I do have an idea for an icon series which I'm quite keen on, not sure if I can pull it off or not so I'm not going to go into details, but if I do it'll have 144 BtVS icons, 110 Angel icons and 12 or 13 Firefly icons. So big project. *g*

Nominations have not exactly been flooding in so for on White Knight Awards (there are 8 to add to the 4 already on the site)- I'm going to pimp it on the sites this weekend (with new graphics) but remember there's no limit to the number of times you can nominate. :)

Finally

Happy Birthday Laura!

Not disappeared - honest! I'm also not espeically snowed under, I just haven't really been posting much for some reason. Currently I'm trying to find out how to go about re-mortgaging my house. I sat down the other day and ran through my budget every month and I could be paying out so much less than I am if I re-mortgaged and used some of the equity to pay off credit cards etc. (Which will then be cut up, shredded, burned and then buried at sea!) I know all this, only problem is I suck at maths so working out the best deal is not easy. And even finding a financial advisor is not easy - mostly because the first time I took out the mortgage the financial advisor I had was trying to push one particular product despite the fact she was employed by my solicitor and was supposed to be independent, so I have trust issues now. (Any advice? *g*)

Speaking of mathematical stuff, the GT (Graduate Trainee) in the department is currently doing a course which involves her creating a website. She's never done it before so she asked me for help - well, I kinda offered actually. I really don't mind at all (although the Brian McFadden CD case that she used to bring in the CD-R she saved her files to which is currently sitting on my desk is an irritating part of the deal) but yesterday I was talking her through a basic CSS file and she said out of the blue "I don't think I could ever do this. I don't have a maths brain." I laughed till my sides hurt. I seriously suck at maths (I got my B in Higher purely because I paid for a tutor!) so to have someone think of me as having a mathematical-type brain? Funny. Very funny.

Other news? Next part of Moroccan Knight will be up by tonight (why is it I always start to spell Morocco as Morrocco? I always catch it and correct it, but still - every time!) and I'm in a writing mood again - the list of tales in this thing has grown from four to seven just today (my personal favourite is Bluebird even though it doesn't really fit into the Xander-centric theme of the whole thing (he's telling the story, but he's not in it at all). All I have to do is actually get them written rather than abstract concepts and summaries on my notepad. Good news (from my perspective) is that ToaMK has now moved up from the generic 'fic' notepad to a notepad all of it's own. An A4 one no less. (I have odd writing habits - my generic 'fic' notepad contains plot bunnies, scraps of dialogue and completed one-shots. Once a story grows a little I start using a shorthand/reporters notepad to focus on it and, rarely, if a story 'universe' becomes big enough it moves into an A4, spiral-bound notepad and gets written in Parker pen. It's like my own odd version of OCD!)

I've not been graphically inspired much lately - to be honest I'm getting way too caught up in the challenge contests I'm in to do much else, although I do have an idea for an icon series which I'm quite keen on, not sure if I can pull it off or not so I'm not going to go into details, but if I do it'll have 144 BtVS icons, 110 Angel icons and 12 or 13 Firefly icons. So big project. *g*

Nominations have not exactly been flooding in so for on White Knight Awards (there are 8 to add to the 4 already on the site)- I'm going to pimp it on the sites this weekend (with new graphics) but remember there's no limit to the number of times you can nominate. :)

Finally

Happy Birthday Laura!

Seriously, biggest spider I've ever seen outside a zoo was in my bedroom. On the wall. Behind my bed. It was (and still is) gigantic! I'm not arachnophobic or anything, I just don't particulary like the buggers and I hate the thought of one of them being that close to my face when I'm asleep. Especially one that big.

I caught it in a soda glass, and it is a soda glass - really wide neck - the spider's legs were too big for the glass to cover. I had to coax it into the glass with a cd case.

*shudders*

I love living in the countryside, really I do. I couldn't hack city life for the 18 months I did it, but one thing's for sure - I wouldn't have freaking giant spiders if I moved back to the city!

I'm planning on having a really lazy day today, might go shopping since the only thing in my fridge is some pate and coffee but other than that? I plan to do absolutely nothing. I do have a deadline for icons this week - 25 Faith icons to be done for the 18th. I haven't actually started them yet and to be honest I don't know if I will, I may give up that claim if I don't get any done at all today but I'm in no way stressed about that. Plus I had a goal of having Off Course part 2 ready for the end of the repeats tonight (E4 are showing four hours worth of Lost tonight from 8pm onwards) but I'm not going to force it. If it wants to be written it will be.

Hey, that almost sounds like a healthy attitude! Who is this person who's invaded my journal?!

Seriously, biggest spider I've ever seen outside a zoo was in my bedroom. On the wall. Behind my bed. It was (and still is) gigantic! I'm not arachnophobic or anything, I just don't particulary like the buggers and I hate the thought of one of them being that close to my face when I'm asleep. Especially one that big.

I caught it in a soda glass, and it is a soda glass - really wide neck - the spider's legs were too big for the glass to cover. I had to coax it into the glass with a cd case.

*shudders*

I love living in the countryside, really I do. I couldn't hack city life for the 18 months I did it, but one thing's for sure - I wouldn't have freaking giant spiders if I moved back to the city!

I'm planning on having a really lazy day today, might go shopping since the only thing in my fridge is some pate and coffee but other than that? I plan to do absolutely nothing. I do have a deadline for icons this week - 25 Faith icons to be done for the 18th. I haven't actually started them yet and to be honest I don't know if I will, I may give up that claim if I don't get any done at all today but I'm in no way stressed about that. Plus I had a goal of having Off Course part 2 ready for the end of the repeats tonight (E4 are showing four hours worth of Lost tonight from 8pm onwards) but I'm not going to force it. If it wants to be written it will be.

Hey, that almost sounds like a healthy attitude! Who is this person who's invaded my journal?!