louisa

Manhattans reunion: photos from way back when

7/11/2007 / louisa / 4 Comments

At hideously-early o’clock (8.55) yesterday morning, a knock on the door awoke me from my slumber. Not expecting delivery of anything or anyone, I couldn’t be bothered getting up to answer since it was likely to be a spammer (we get lots of annoying salespeople around here). But, like with the cats I so utterly adore, curiosity got the better of me eventually. By that time though, there was a “we missed you” Royal Mail card on the doormat and the postman was halfway down the street and I had to chase after him barefoot and in my pyjamas. That was fun.

Anyway, the registered letter of horrid-awakening-and-cold-feet turned out to be my Manhattans Reunion tickets: the pieces of card which will whisk Andrew and me ten years back in time. I am still intrigued but nervous about this little event but on the whole looking forward to it.

For anyone that cares (and I know a number of people have come this blog recently through searching “manhattans reunion” or the like, so they might even if no one else does), that photo-booth picture up there is what I looked like when I frequented the ‘hattans all those years ago (mid-1995 to end-of-1997). Looking at it from this angle, I’m the one of the left; my right hand man, of course, being Andrew. Actually, that isn’t really what we looked like at Manhattans: that’s what we looked like at about 3am on a Monday morning at the Hartshead Moor services on the way back from V97 in Leeds after 48+ hours without sleep. We still went to Manhattans that night.

Geeky socialising

22/10/2007 / louisa / 1 Comment

WYLUG, the West Yorkshire Linux User Group, has had long standing monthly meetings – the second Monday of every month, usually a talk or two at the University of Leeds, then down to the Victoria pub afterwards for geeky chattery – but last month, we decided to try arranging social meet-ups on the other fortnight.

We had the first one at the Victoria last month – seven people attended – and the second last night at the Scarbrough Hotel, with ten people dropping in and out over the course of the evening. It would perhaps be overly presumptuous to say “a good time was had by all” but I can safely say “a good time was had by all the people I asked and who weren’t lying”.

Like after WYLUG talks, the conversations were varied (ie, not just about linux) but usually geeky, and progressively louder and more heated (but in a good, excited way) as more beer was consumed during the course of the evening. Lots of fun though, and a good laugh.

I’ll arrange a date for the next one ahead of November’s WYLUG talk (12th November) – it’ll probably be around the 25th/26th November – and if you’re in the West Yorks area and of the geeky persuasion, you should come down. :)

Woohoo for Wispas

14/10/2007 / louisa / 3 Comments

Wispa bar Contrary to popular belief that I’m a chocolate fiend, I don’t often peruse chocolate bars selections in shops these days because 1) I don’t frequent that many shops (or leave the house much for that matter), and 2) if we have chocolate, we tend to buy a big block and eat it a few squares at a time.

This is why it’s taken me a whole SIX DAYS to discover that Cadbury’s have relaunched their Wispa bar on the back of a public campaign.

Wispas were discontinued in 2003 when Cadbury’s rebranded all their stuff “Dairy Milk bubbly” or “Dairy Milk with caramel” etc. I was gutted when they did this because, without a doubt, Wispas are the best chocolate bar for dunking in tea and the “Dairy Milk bubbly” bars just didn’t perform in the same way.

As with most solid chocolate, Dairy Milk, with or without bubbles, is too heavy to absorb enough liquid to make tea dunking a worthwhile melting experience – but conversely, the bubbles in Aeros and the like are too big and they melt too fast. Wispas were the optimum middle ground between the two sub-standard extremes.

So anyway, I got a bit over-excited when I spotted them for sale again yesterday. I bought two and the Leach and I are currently enjoying them with a nice piping hot cup of char. Smashing.

KXStitch

29/9/2007 / louisa / 1 Comment

Pacman pattern and KXStitch screenshot A few months ago, I started learning how to cross-stitch but was hindered slightly by the lack of non-chintzy kits out there. I started on the simple and cute designs from Mouseloft but once I wanted a bit more complexity, I was somewhat out of luck. I found a few cartoony cat ones but don’t like them much more than the full on twee ones.

Anyway, this led to John and I wondering how I could go about designing my own patterns instead – we initially thought I’d end up having to do loads of hard work in my beloved Inkscape but then I found KXStitch.

Since I run Ubuntu, it was easy (and free) to download from Synaptic and not one for going out of my way to read instructions, I just dived right in to using it.

Unlike the aforementioned Inkscape, there aren’t a bazillion different options and tools to navigate so it’s pretty easy to pick up.

So far, I’ve mostly just used the “Import Image File…” option to convert existing drawings (usually made in Inkscape) into patterns. This option has a wizard, letting you set the details about the cloth count and size, whether or not to include partial stitches and set a maximum amount of colours (linked to DMC, Anchor and Madiera thread colour charts). I’ve then hand-tweaked the scans to make them easier to sew or correct colour issues.

The printouts are great – a proper little kit pack with a cover, details of threads (codes and how much thread of each colour is required for the finished design) and a pattern to follow. The font on my first printout was too big and bold making it hard to glance at the design but I have since tweaked this and they’re very easy to follow.

When John saw me working on my first KXStitch-produced pattern (commonly known as “the vaginas one”, although I swear they’re supposed to be eyes) he commented how the stitches make it look pixelly so that inspired the Pacman one seen here. I’ve still got to do the walls – and I didn’t follow the curve for Pac perfectly so it’s a bit square – but it was very easy to make and sew (aside from the nightmare of sewing on black Aida).

While it’s not perfect (oh for an “undo” – but it’s supposed to be coming in a future version), I’d recommend KXStitch for Linuxy crafters – and to me, it’s really symbolic of the wonder of free software – there is something for just about every niche out there and it’s free in both cost and freedom. Hurrah.

Manhattan’s reunion

29/9/2007 / louisa / 0 Comments

Did you, like me and Andrew, frequent the “indie room” (aka the little room) in Manhattans in Southport a decade ago? Did you walk with a bob to assorted Britpop tunes, sit down when James commanded and lie on the sticky, sticky floor to Radiohead (??)?

If so, you may be interested to know that some Facebookers have organised a reunion night for later in the year.

I haven’t joined the Facebook group because I have random issues with the system (and not just that Microsoft now owns part of it) but pending final confirmation of diaries and public transport arrangements, Andrew & I will be there on the night. I’m a little nervous about the whole idea to be honest but also rather intrigued…

My 18th birthday night out in Manhattans – a nostalgic write-up :)

Rather nutty

23/9/2007 / louisa / 0 Comments

Toirlet roll Dear the very small cross section of people that both read my blog and use our bathroom,

Next time you’re in there doing your whatever, you might smell something strange. Assuming you’ve not eating asparagus recently and your bowels aren’t acting strangely, the smell is probably our toilet roll. Yes, our current toilet roll provision is perfumed.

Scented toilet roll is apparently the new gimmick for people who need to differentiate from all the multi-layered, quilted, printed, themed and cushioned options out there and I bought it by accident. I worry about the people who buy it on purpose. Do they have such issues with their poop that they can’t possibly let a piece of tissue that smells of shit go down to the sewers? I mean, what on earth would the people at the sewage works thing of them?

Another worry I have is the build-up of sickly smelling chemicals will cause damage to the environment – I’m certainly not going to be composting the inner tubes as I usually do as that seems to be the bit that is actually soaked in the perfume.

Anyway blog-readers-and-bathroom-users, have fun during your waste product expelling, push the flush a couple of times in quick succession to get it to work and don’t forget to wash your hands.

Yours,
-Louisa

PS. Apparently ‘faeces’ is a pluralia tantum – it only exists in the plural, you never have a ‘faece’ – while ‘urine’ is a singulare tantum, you don’t get ‘urines’. There’s something to ponder while you’re on the pot, eh?

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