Saturday Waffling (May 17th, 2014)
Morning everyone. It’s been your sort of standard issue busy week around here – lots of Kickstarter stuff and e-mails to reply to and a side of writing. Chapter Three of the secret Doctor Who Project is somewhere just shy of 2000 words, and Chapter Eight of Last War in Albion is just north of 5,000, and currently very fun, and also a complete mess where I have little to no idea of the overall shape other than “it’s probably chronological” and nothing like a guess on how long will be. But I get to type “Nukeface” a fair amount, and I have to admit, that’s kinda fun. Plus, the obligatory Blake section comes absolutely gift-wrapped for this one, and that’s always nice.
Meanwhile, it’s just starting to get warm enough that I’m looking longingly at the air conditioners. Actually, the temperature is still fine, but only if I leave the windows open, and the humidity has been going nuts, so it’s just that ghastly time of year where no matter what, you feel slightly sticky at all times. Which is to say, summer is icumen in.
Any fun summer plans, anyone? I’ve somehow acquired the brilliant plan of “go to Phoenix for a week at the beginning of July,” which will be an entertaining exercise in seeing just how much of my ability to endure the horrors of Florida summers has completely evaporated over the last four years.
May 17, 2014 @ 12:38 am
Yeah, of all the months to pick to go to Phoenix, you sure picked a bad one. 😛
Seriously, even as someone who passionately defends Arizona weather (it's honestly pretty nice most of the year and we get some hella rainstorms), July is the worst. Though we also have pretty low humidity, so it's at least more tolerable than the worst of someplace like Florida (from what I've heard).
What'll you be doing in the Phoenix area, anyways?
May 17, 2014 @ 1:28 am
T.Hartwell, we may be distantly related. I have other Hartwell family, who live in the Phoenix area. PM me if you're interested in investigating.
https://www.facebook.com/keith.russell.564813
keith then the at sign then interkeith.net (email, mangled to foil robots)
May 17, 2014 @ 5:00 am
I have several friends who grew up in Florida and have lived in New York City now for 10+ years. There have been days where I was passing out from the heat and they were all "okay, now the weather is getting close to nice," so I don't think the tolerance every really goes away.
May 17, 2014 @ 7:45 am
Yeah, I remember visiting family in Denver once over the summer, where it would regularly hit 95 and all our relatives are complaining about the heat while we're just enjoying how nice and cool it is.
May 17, 2014 @ 8:56 am
When I lived in the Phoenix area — some decades ago now — August was actually worse than July, because it was the only time the Phoenix heat was somewhat humid.
Phoenix heat is generally a lot less humid than Florida — but on the other hand it can be 20 degrees higher.
May 17, 2014 @ 1:31 pm
I'm English. We don't talk about the weather.
May 17, 2014 @ 2:34 pm
I'm 50 in July, so as well as our annual trip to the Festival of History (now rebranded History Live) – where we will, as usual, be discussing topics as diverse as Saxon midwifery and Roman legionary shield construction (to take a couple of pseudorandom examples from last year) – we will be involved in a murder mystery on a steam train. We had an extra-special holiday this year back in February, so times away will probably be camping in Derbyshire or Yorkshire.
May 17, 2014 @ 4:55 pm
Any fun summer plans, anyone?
At the moment, I'm thinking it'll be a quiet Christmas with my family. I doubt I'll have put enough money together to travel, so I'll probably use the free time to re-watch Capaldi's first season instead.
May 17, 2014 @ 6:02 pm
Australia?
May 17, 2014 @ 10:33 pm
Straya
May 17, 2014 @ 11:12 pm
Yeah I could watch that season finale again. Talk about cliffhangers!
Happy New,Year!
May 18, 2014 @ 1:33 am
I could rewatch series 8 with my sister this time. 🙂
(NZ)
May 18, 2014 @ 3:30 am
Yeah, Phil, check yo hemisphere privilege! 😉
Anyway, Pete's plans:
Write first draft of a crazy-ass novel
Learn more guitar
Curse plants I planted last month for not bloomin' blooming
Watch OitNB season two
Bore people rigid with my sudden ex nihilo Stevie Wonder obsession
Yay 2014 \o/
May 18, 2014 @ 8:16 am
My plans for spring/summer: look after wife who has broken her leg, learn words for stage adaptation of "the Vicar of Dibley" in June, complete script for this year's local pantomime. Then for two weeks it's off to San Diego/s. California assume ing wife is still OK to fly.
Oddly pleased to hear that Frank Skinner has been cast in Season 8. In an interview he said he heard the news as he was watching EP 3 of The Sensorites while on the tour bus, so we can assume the man is a fan…
May 18, 2014 @ 8:17 am
Erm…I don't think the joke here was about antipodean seasons (Christmas and New Year are celebrated at the same time in both hemispheres) rather a riff on the non-linear timey wimeyness of Phil's recent posts.
May 18, 2014 @ 9:21 am
It's actually not even his first appearance in a Doctor Who story this year; he had a scene with Paul McGann in Dark Eyes 2. He enthused greatly about his fannage on the interview disc. It must be like Christmas for him to get a part in a TV episode so soon after.
May 18, 2014 @ 11:19 am
yep, just listened to the podcast of his radio show, where it comes up, and he talks about the role involving him dressing up as a cheetah and riding a horse, he also mentions 'stunt casting' so yeah he's definitely a fan (as well as his appearance in the sublime Fiveish Doctors for the 50th and his co-presenters telling him to tone down the Who talk on his radio show).
May 18, 2014 @ 4:54 pm
Technically it won't be summer yet, but: http://improvutopia.com/
Highly recommended to anyone who does improv and never got to go to summer camp as a kid.