The life and times of Luggage

I have returned from the depressing bowels of the job centre after signing on a little perturbed by my visit to the bank.  I went in to pay in a cheque and see what had put me over my overdraft limit at the end of the month.  I wanted to use the automated machine but there were no paying in envelopes and no one around to tell about it.  So I joined the queue for a cashier, knowing they would ask quesitons about upgrading my account and reviewing things.  I paid in my cheque and the rest of the conversation went like this-

Cashier: "You are over your overdraft limit on another account, can I look at that for you?"
Me: "You can if you want but there is nothing you can do, my job seekers allowance will be going in soon so it will be back above it."
Cashier: "Maybe we could extend your overdraft limit to help out."
Me: "I don't think that is a good idea as I am unemployed and do not want to get myself into more debt."
Cashier: "Would that be because you would spend the extra money?"
Me: " I am trying to spend as little as possible at the moment so I would not spend it intentionally."
Cashier: "What about your credit cards?"
Me: "I don't pay those out of that bank account."
Cashier: "We could offer you a loan to consolidate all of your debt."
Me: "I don't have enough income for you to give me a loan. I am unemployed."
Cashier: "The details on my computer still show that you are working..."
Me: "That's not exactly RESPONSIBLE LENDING is it."
Cashier: "Oh, um."
Me: "Leave everything as it is."
Cashier: "Maybe you should come in for a  budget review."

That is when I walked away in disgust.  Not only was it a perfect example of irresponsible lending but also fraud.  I could not believe that the cashier had suggested that he lie about me still working to sell a product, it was not as if I hadn't mentioned that I was out of work right at the beginning of the conversation!  I am debating about complaining about this, one of the personal bankers which I have dealt with before over heard part of the conversation maybe it is worth saying something...

So last Saturday after bimbling around town and then chilling on the sofa, we decided to go out for once.  It doesn't happen often really but seeing as Taffdan was up and it was Jo Fury's birthday and stuff t seemed like a good idea.  There was 7 of us altogether in Firebug and we had got a table.  I was sat by the window, which meant I was furthest away from the end of the table where people walk past.

I had a couple maybe three glasses of wine.  When people were buying rounds two people went to the bar so drinks were ferried back to the table and not left unattended.  I didn't leave the table except to buy a round.  My drink was not left unwatched at all.

I lost an hour in the pub, which makes me think it happened in there.  I have had people fill me in on what we spoke about and they said I was pretty normal, maybe a bit tipsy but then I had been drinking.

We walked to Mosh.  We went in and downstairs and as I got part of the way down the stairs I stopped stepping on steps and kind of fell/sat down heavily, stopped for a moment and then got up again.  I now have an array of bruises including bruised ribs and elbow.  I brushed myself off thought I had bruised my elbow really badly until Al said it was dirt and carried on.

Apparently when we went upstairs it was my suggestion to dance, but I don't know what song it was and didn't stay on the dance floor very long.  When I sat down Al realised domething was wrong.  We went home where Al, Jo and Taffdan kept me awake and stuff while I drank tea.  My whole world was only about 3 foot around me and I couldn't see any further than that.  I kept passing out, I threw up.  It was not my idea of a fun night out at all.

Since then I have had headaches, dizziness and am quite tired and confused a lot.  It is getting better, but earlier on I did jump out of my skin at the toaster popping.   The police have been informed and I have been checked out at the doctors.  The worst part of it is that I was with a group of people I trust, my drinks were not left unattended and I am lucky I didn't wander off on my own somewhere - this means it could happen to anyone anytime.  Not just vunerable students who are in a new town.  I have know people get spiked at events where bottles are passed around and people swig from other people's drinks, it is an obvious risk.  I don't think we took any risks as a group and it still happened.

Someone out there is a jerk.  

I don't normally but think I will this time....

Cheertastic

• Vipers...all of them.
• Lager showers - does not mean I need another one, I need to get my white corset dry cleaned but the whole speak with ancestor was funny.
• Pure thought showers.
• Noxious and letter burning.
• Vlad controlling a zombie to stand in the food queue for him on Friday night.
• Presents.
• Going to the Unicorns on Saturday night and Vipering their command tent.
• Order of Awesome.
• Chris, Jo Tim, Rob, Mark, Stu.
• Breeds on Sunday night with the ritual description and the box of maltesers.
• OOC behind the scenes being great and front of house being equally as great for players.
• many many other things which I am too rubbish to remember because of fuzzy post event zombifiedness.
• Alex being most awesome on many levels IC and OOC.   Don't think I would have managed this weekend without him.

Lame

• Loosing a little bit of faith in the human race.
• Coldness and shivering on Sunday night.

I have had a pretty cool week. 

Last weekend me and Al had Lex and Gemma over for an evening of Outcast froth.  It was generally just cool to hang out and we went to the pub and stuff too. 

It started snowing on Sunday as they left and I had to catch a train to Bishops Stortford to chill out with Adrian for an evening before going to a seminar on information management in museums on at the London Transport Museum in the morning.  Well, Adrain picked me up from the station and we sat in the pub waiting for the chinese take-away to open.  Its an awesome pub, I do love village pubs with roaring fires and friendly locals.  It started to snow really heavily by the time we left and headed back to his place for the night!  To cut a night of movies and wine short, we got snowed in.  He started the car in the morning and hadn't cleared the snow away from the gates and stuff, and the news was saying that London had come to a standstill.  Amd that was before we had contemplated getting out of the village on ungritted roads!  Needless to say we snuggled down under a duvet, watched the snow come down and more dvds. 

At about lunchtime we ventured out in a rather childlike manner towards the pub.  The snow was about a foot deep.  We made it to the pub and settled in for lunch.  The whole village made it to the pub eventually and it was really cosy and friendly.  We trecked back throwing snowballs at stuff and almost getting into a snowball fight with some 11 year old girls!  We dig the gates out and the car and Adrian managed to get us out of the villgae to get me to the station.  It was a little touch and go at some points but we made it.   The trains were ok too, I got home as fast as I got there.

Alex had snow days Monday and Tuesday, I went to work on Tuesday and for the rest of the week as usual.  Alex had Thursday as a snow day too, he has been enjoying it.  It brings out the inner child...

This morning, Alex woke me up early because one of the hamsters had escaped and she was hiding under the sofa.  She came quietly though when I stuck the hamster ball in front of her as they are all trained to get in it for cleaning.  I think she thought I might clean under the sofa if she went back in to her tank!

This evening Alex got tickets to see Tim Minchin next week, and we are going to a wedidng tomorrow.  So all is pootling along.

So we are now in 2009...awesome.  There is some cool stuff happening this year. 

Had a really chilled Christmas Day.  Lee Barfoot and Lee English came over and we ate too much and drank to much and played games which involved co-ordination and me not falling alseep on the sofa.  I lost at both!  We also played on my new Wiifit (thank you Alex for getting me that and the All Star Cheerleading game).  I am sure the best thing is to start your Wiifit training about 30 minutes after having eaten a huge meal and drank a lot of good wine?? Well we can only get better from there!

Alex's sister had her litttle boy on the 29th so we went to see him.  He is lovely, but seeing someone a day after (or even straight after) having a c-section does not  make me broody I'm afraid.  We headed on over to Cardiff straight afterwards ready for New Years.

The Park Plaza in Cardiff was good.  Nice big bed so I wasn't sleeping on Alex's side which I am told happens a lot at home.  We met up with Taffdan when he finished work and went for some lunch and cocktails.  Then we were joined by Yorkie for a bit of shopping and stuff.

The party was cool.  I would say I am getting old and so preferred the sitting in a bar drinking cocktails part of the day better but I don't think I am getting old and it has nothing to do with it.  It was good to see people that I haven't seen much over the last few years and catch up and hopefully be better at keeping in touch with them!  I had a few moments of clarity about the people I want to spend more time with and am going to make an effort to do so. 

Anyway me and Alex are back home now, I have paid my next terms uni fees and just need to tidy the house so it doesn't look like a bomb has it it anymore.  Things are good in Luggage land.  I don't think I need to make any resolutions to change anything either, just use my Wiifit a bit, get good grades, to quote Alex's Nan "do my best work" and keep in touch with my friends which is really just what I should be doing anyway.  I don't even think I have to do one of those 'things to do before I am 30' lists either.  In fact I am quite looking forward to an excuse for getting my favourite people in one place and having a laugh. 

2008 was good, I think 2009 could be better.

So today I emailed off my admissions essay and held my breath thinking it would be a few days.

I got an email today saying I am on the course!!!!

*running around house waving arms in the air*

 Dribble....

Wow...

Awesome...

Wot Albevan said.

On Monday I got on the train and went to Bath to see my sister.  Its a boring journey and the trains were trying to send me to Cardiff!  The Birmingham train was mislabeled for Bristol when it was going to Cardiff really, but I found out in time and got on the right one.  And again in Bristol the Cardiff train was waiting on the same platform as the one to Bath.  Alex and myself have been talking about getting down to the Cardiff/Swansea people soon so I think it is the world telling me to go! :-)

Bath is a beautiful city, George and me went out for dinner and looked at a few of the pigs we were going to hunt the next day.  They have an art installation going on at the moment called "King Bladud's Pigs" all to do with the legend of how the waters were found to have amazing curative properties in the area.  So 100 artists have been given fibreglass pigs to decorate and they are sponsered by local businesses and schools and these pigs are displayed in places all around the city.  They have funny names too like Pig-eon, Save the Hamazon and Piguana.  We found about 70 of the 100 I think, I saw loads of the city itself aswell because we walked everywhere.  It was fun and I got to chat to my sister about all sorts of stuff as we don't really talk much.

Wednesday we went to the Hampton Court Flower Show.  George is a gardener and the company she works for had organised tickets.  It rained though which made it a little bit miserable, but the flowers and the things you can get for your garden are amazing.  I came home with a Lavender called Little Lottie and nearly bought a new rose bush called Charlotte but decided it would be easier to order one off the internet.  We also came up with a bit of a plan for our backgarden as it is very damp and sheltered.  Looks like we might be loosing the lawn in favour of decking, gravel and raised flowerbeds!  I would still be able to fit in the pizza oven I was thinking about too.

Came home today all worn out from travelling to catch up with 79 emails!  Oh well.  Need to find the next interesting thing to do now.

What a fantastic weekend. I am so proud of our faction (npc team, plot and players). I love you all. :-)

So...

HOT

The set up crew (thanks for all the hard work) and Gerbil and Declan
Roleplaying at our own moot (it felt like a campaign event)
Tepes for making my roleplay harder
Vipers in general
Monsters
Walks in Circles
Gethin as Wilhelm wanting to stay with the argument of "everything is awesome, Stesha is awesome, Aleena is awesome, Fury is awesome, Bryargh is awesome, Vipers are awesome."
...and so many other things I could froth about.

NOT

Finding bruises and how achey my shoulder is today
Some other stuff that is insignificant


Thank you for giving me back my keen. Can't wait until next weekend.

Finally back from Venice. It was soooo cool. Many photos and stuff. Nick is obsessed with belly buttons. Bellini's through straws are the way to go when one is in San Marco. I could very well be allergic to shellfish, but think I will get tested for this. Hungarian directors are funny when they make their crew dance for the rats. Zen-navigating in the rain is fun...but wet. Harry's Bar rocks (we got a round of applause for removing our masks, it was very warm in there). Canova, Tintoretto, Titian, Bellini (not the drink). More stuff and fun. Am exhausted, need a holiday.

I have been having some bizarre dreams recently. Proper odd (which is how they should be). Here are some highlights...

I was kidnapped by some Dragons (faction not people) and they were holding me captive but took me to an event. During one of the big fights I tried to tell Jojo_jojo by having one of those off to the side npc conversations but they would not go far enough away from us. When the fight finished all the monsters ran through to be thanked by the players and the main bad guy was Meloril. There was something to do with a goat at one point but that bit is hazy.

My mum was the queen, but I wasn't a princess and had to queue to see her.

I was sat at a table outside a cafe (very french stylee) and was talking to two people who I knew (but I don't know who they were) and I looked behind me to see a girl leaning really far out of an upstairs window over the street. She began to fall so I closed my eyes and heard her hit the floor. I said she was dead but the other people at the table said she was ok. I was crying because I found it upsetting, as if I knew her. Then I woke up in a bedroom with a cat asleep on the bed (siamese cat all sleek and boney), it was dark and someone kept putting their head around the door as if to check on me. The cat ran off and I rolled over to find I was in a twin room and the girl that had fallen out of the window was in the next bed. I freaked as I thought she was dead but she was breathing, but it took a while to get over the thought she was dead.

Alex and I had bought a house in Aberystwyth and I had gone back to university to do art history (again) and english. I was trying to get my timetable from two different faculties but neither would give it to me. Then I decided to go home but could not remember the way. I was driving (which in my dreams is like driving a go-kart and not paying any attention to the highway code) and kept ending up at the railway station.

The oddest one (and geekiest I think)...

I was going to the Gathering and met Alex in the Tarantulas camp (half of which was in a warehouse and had church pews stored in it) and I saw loads of people I knew and was soooo happy to be there I was crying!

Crazy. I must be having some really normal days to be having dreams like this.

Here is one of the new additions to our household, Rasputin. He would not come out of the tube but does like to sleep with his head poking out. He has Ivan for his friend who is slightly darker furred but just as cute. Ivan bit Alex yesterday. But I think they are just trying to adjust to their new surroundings.

I tried 3 names (for I am greedy and have been blessed with many names) the last one seems most appropriate!!

Luggage --

[adjective]: Like in nature to a banana peel

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Charlotte --

[adjective]: Like in nature to a train-riding hobo

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Aleena --

[adjective]: Smelling like turnips at all times

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

My weekend so far...
Friday was work, it was an expectant day like I was going to an event that evening but it was all down to going to my managers wedding reception instead. So we all headed down to Clearwell in Gloucestershire after work. (For those who have been, Clearwell is the nearest village to Stockwood Campsite, the one with the roundhouses.) Clearwell Castle was an amazing venue. It would be good fr an event but I don't think they would appreciate the mud on the carpet. We got there at about 8pm and departed the party at about 11.30. The hotel we staying in was nice, with its four poster bed and whirlpool bath en suite.

Alex woke me up at 6am as he had to get to Chorleywood by 10am. So we watched the sunrise over the M4 (not romantic in the slightest :-)) We had a rubbishy rubbish breakfast as some services. I have now decided I really hate UHT milk, especially if it is in little single portions.

We got to Chorleywood at 9.30 and Alex dropped me off at the nearest tube station. I had nothing much to do with my day so started off in the direction of Woodford to find Lee Dixon. He wasn't expecting me so was bouncing with excitement, and so was Linda and Patch. We drank a lot of tea and talked a lot and walked the "not as smelly as he used to be" dog. Patch is an amazing dog, well behaved (unless there are other dogs) and sweet. He followed me everywhere.

I got back to the tube station in Woodford at about 6pm and continued my adventure to St Pancras station. The new part all refurbished is awesome. Jawdroppingly spectacular. It sparkles and is so big it takes your breathe away. Still breathless I went to get a ticket back to Leicester and nearly had a coronary. It was £41 for a single! Which works out at about 60p per minute on the train! For about £30 extra I could have gone to Paris. I might express my disgruntledness at Midland Mainline in writing.

I got home at about 8.30, exhausted. I have slept now and all is awake again, so I am tidying the house and waiting for Liss's piano to be delivered. All very exciting.

I haven't posted for a while, which is lame of me. Facebook is easier to do quick updates on what I have been up to. But I have some time today due to the snot to post properly before I have an afternoon nap.

On LRP...

I had a good Gathering, good Maestrom which reminded me that I can still go to events and chill, a good Viper event on the whole and an mediocre Harts event. I am still all the keen for roleplaying at the moment. I have lots of plans and things and absolutely love spending time with my friends roleplaying.

On our house...

It needs tidying. We need a proper spring clean I think and to chuck out a load of stuff and decide on getting the carpet pulled up in the front room and wooden flooring put it. I am making lists about things that need doing at the moment and wondering where we are going to get the time to do it from. I have accepted that the garden is going to be a Spring job and I can get my sister to come and help with that.

On work...

I am not enjoying work, I will leave it at that.

On Alex...

:-)

"ACHTUNG!

uberluggage may actually be a spider-human hybrid

Username:

From Go-Quiz.com



LOL!

Tomorrow I might meet Orlando Bloom!!!
Thank you Nortysarah.

:-)

I am all for tradition - well, when I say tradition...

(oh that all went a bit odd and posted on its own....anyway)

Hot:
Vipers as a whole, I love you guys. :-)
Strawberries and strawberry jam filled crepes cooked in bacon fat
House Tepes, keeping me sane and laughing again
Minimal ooc rubbishness to deal with
Frothing in the pub with hippies (you know who you are :-))
Coming home to find my mum had done the washing and hoovered

Not:
The mud and carrying kit to the car through it
Getting home at midnight and Alex being in work this morning

All in all an excellent event, I was even keen at the end.

It has been a while since my last post...

GEF was good, well, my feet were wet, I was incredibly cold, and felt quite miserable for a good part of it mainly because of all those reasons. But there were some amazing moments where I looked around and saw the faction misbehaving and threatening people and in a general state of thuggery and remembered how much I love being a Viper.

The Friday of GEF was stressful with being called about a potential leak from my flat into the flat below and when investigated at the time there being no leak at all. Since then it has been discovered that there is a leak but it is a pipe under the floor and has bought down part of the kitchen ceiling in the flat below. But that is a housing association problem and is covered on their builings insurance so easy for me.

Work has been changeable. I lost the plot on the last day of the month, came home and got told not to come back until the Monday after. Which meant getting to Jen and Tims wedding was made easier because Al was on half term and I was "on holiday". They have totally changed my role now so I don't have targets. Winner!

I was pestered by my sister to get a Facebook. So I have (but its under my real name so no one will find it :-) )

Jen and Tims wedding was fantastic, it was a wonderful day with sun and people and all the things a wedding should have, like a bouncy castle. I can confirm that body tape is a good thing and held up well on the bouncy castle. Not so pleasant to try and get off after though. There also seemed to be an epidemic of children. Mr and Mrs Lewis looked well happy and I left with a goldfish bowl at the end of the night.

This weekend we have been inundated with invitations for peoples' birthdays. Sorry I am having to work tomorrow. :-(

Well, thats all for now.

We might me a bit behind but me and Al (albevan) have only just done this.
Not only were the results quite shocking but we seem to own a lot of these movies aswell.
What scares me more is that I have a higher count than Dan Mac (veryfaraway69).

My score = 137
But the winner is......
Alex (who is an ubergeek) on 208!!!!!