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Sunday, July 5th, 2009
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9:00 pm - In Dublin
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Flew into Dublin friday evening & it felt like the plane had hardly lifted off before it was setting down again. Though Ryan Air manage to try & sell you an impressive amount of stuff in that short time. Haven't flown Ryan Air lately so was a little surprised by the tinny trumpet salute played on landing.
The Summer Edition event went really well yesterday & we even sold teh 5 Girly Books we'd bought over, as well as quite a few issues. The organisers & Irish creators were very welcoming & had a nice evening chatting in the pub, after the traditional after-con curry.
Today saw us wandering around Dublin, drinking malts at Eddie Rocket's, visiting the Museum of Archaeology & History and taking a rather long detour around the suburbs of Dublin due to getting on the right bus, but heading in the wrong direction!! Finally made it back to ztoical's brother's flat & now crashed out in front of the net with take-away.
Saw bog people at the museum, which makes me want to read some Seamus Heaney, which I never thought I'd say after studying his poetry for 4 years at school!
Plan for tomorrow is more touristy stuff, probably a gaol so Jay doesn't get homesick & the obligatory comic/book shop visits before flying home.
So far knackering but fun... but still not solved the mystery of why Toucans are associated with Guiness. Photos when I get home.
current mood:  tired
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| Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
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2:29 pm - Caption Q&A
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| Sunday, June 7th, 2009
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7:38 pm - Flabbergasted
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The Girly Comic Book Volume 1 has been shortlisted for a British Fantasy Society Award for Best Comic/Graphic Novel!
Highly unlikely to win as we're up against things like:
30 Days of Night: Beyond Barrow (Steve Niles/Bill Sienkiewicz) IDW Publishing | All-Star Superman (Grant Morrison/Frank Quitely) DC Comics | Comic Book Tattoo Tales Inspired by Tori Amos (Ed, Rantz A. Hoseley & Tori Amos/ Various) Image Comics | The New Avengers: Illuminati (Brian Bendis & Brian Reed/Jim Cheung) Marvel Comics | Hellblazer: Fear Machine (Jamie Delano) Vertigo |
Hellblazer: The Laughing Magician (Andy Diggle/Leonardo Manco & Daniel Zezelj) Vertigo | Locke and Key (Joe Hill/Gabriel Rodriguez) IDW Publishing | The Girly Comic Book 1 (Ed, Selina Lock) Factor Fiction | Buffy Season Eight Vol. 3: Wolves at the Gate (Joss Whedon & Drew Goddard/ Georges Jeanty) Dark Horse Comics |
Very lovely to be nomiated though, and all due to all our wonderful contributors.
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9:29 am - Diet Update & other stuff
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Generally been busy trying to write, garden and stay on top of the housework. Managed to 2k on the Angela D'eath story I'm trying to write, although I already know I'll need to re-write a lot of that in the edits! Hoping to get another big chunk of it done today.
Managed to get through the whole of May without taking a sick day, which may sound appalling to some people but is a pretty big milestone for me. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up by scheduling my activities & breaks in a sensible manner.
My first goal for the diet was to loose half a stone by August and I've managed to loose half a stone by today. BIG YAY!! To celebrate I've ordered Supernatural S3 and a Kelley Armstrong book from my wishlist. It would be lovely to loose a stone by August as I'm doing well, but in the short term I will try to loose 5lb and reward myself for every 5lb lost.
Strategies that are working for the diet for me are keeping a notebook on me which lists why I want to loose weight and other diet reminders (like eating slowly, giving myself credit, making time to plan adn track etc), and which I read when I get cravings. Planning the week's menu in advance (which also helps with budgeting) and tracking my calories everyday with Sparkpeople. I allow myself some choice each day by having a range of similar calorie puddings or treats to choose from, but which are built into the diet.
In terms of exercise I'm trying to do housework more regularly and take the dog out.
Overall, very pleased with my progress & Jay has also lost weight too.
current mood:  cheerful
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| Sunday, May 17th, 2009
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6:46 pm - Nice Week & Diet Update
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So, had a nice week all round. Didn't feel to tired after Bristol compared to how I often feel after conventions, which meant we managed to take in Star Trek on Monday afternoon. I've seen a lot of Trek but in rather random orders & I often forget a lot of the mythology so the film worked pretty well for me. Thought it was fun and interesting overall. I can see how there are some plot holes if you think about it too much, but I don't tend to overthink space adventure!
Work wasn't too taxing and there was quite a lot of laughter in the office this week. Plus lots of TV season finales: Bones, Lost, Chuck & Dollhouse. The last Bones episode was good fun as it was out of normal continuity so they could play with the characters & bring an old done back, but I could do without the final 'in continuity' twist. Dollhouse improved a lot in the last 6 episodes, but I'm still pretty surprised it got renewed. Lost has been much more exciting and interesting this season, as I've enjoyed seeing more about the island's history, but it ended on a stonking cliffhanger, which left me screaming in frustration as usual! Also been watching Cold Case & Without A Trace on catch-up & realised I watch far too many crime dramas (as there's also NCIS, Castle & Criminal Minds)..... perhaps I shoudl widen my viewing habits. Any recommendations?
Diet went really well & I've lost 3lb! Yay! Managed to stick to the diet plan or made sensible substitutions & the CBT techniques have helped me to resist the urge to snack when bored or fed-up. Finances are very strained after Bristol so I was also pleased with some future creative use of store cupboard ingredients for this week's meals, while staying within the diet plan. Just had lovely cauliflower curry, yum. Tough the low fat veggie lasagne wasn't a total success yesterday! There will be much beetroot later in the week.
We've also decided to take ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ztoical up on her offer of crash space & will have a table at the Dublin Summer Edition small press fair in July. As this will be aimed at a family audience we've decided to try & do a kids mini-comic/zine for it. No time to get strips done so I'm trying to write An Angela D'eath prose story which Angela co-creator Dave Windett will do a cover & spot illos for. Story just about outlined & then I need to get writing!
In order to commit myself to doing more writing I went along to the Leicester Casuals writing group meet this afternoon, which evolved out of the Leicester NaNoWriMo group. It was really nice to catch up with the two organisers, whom I met a few years ago and have a coffee & chat about writing. We all took laptops/notebooks with the intention of writing there but it didn't actually happen!
current mood: optimistic
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| Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
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4:17 pm - The Dreaded D Word
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Okay, I'm going on a diet (again) & hopefully this time I will manage to loose some weight instead of falling off the band wagon 1/2/4/6 weeks in.
Quite a few motivation sites suggest that by declaring your intent publicly and asking people to old you accountable means you are much more likely to stick to your goals. So, this is me declaring that I want to loose weight in order to:
- Look better
- Feel better
- Be healthier & lower my risk of heart disease & diabetes
- Help improve my ME
- Fit in a smaller size (including all those clothes I've been hoarding!)
- Feel more attractive
- Be happier when I look in the mirror
- Have more energy
- Get less indigestion
- Be more confident
Those are all the things I have to remember when sitting around bored/tired/frustrated and would normally reach for the biscuits/chocolate/cereal.
I'm currently 15 stone 4 pounds & a size twenty. I would like to get down to 12 stone and/or be a size 16, as that's a healthy weight/size for my height.
Shorter term goals are:
- Loose a pound a week
- Loose 1/2 stone by Caption (August)
- Loose stone by Birmingham Comics Show & my sister's 40th party (October)
current mood:  determined
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| Sunday, May 10th, 2009
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3:06 pm - Bristol Comics Expo 2009
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| Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
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12:01 pm - Strange contraption
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| Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
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2:57 am - Adrian Kermode
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Adrian Kermode
Originally uploaded by Syrtis.
UK small press comics loses another creator, as Adrian Kermode passed away this weekend. Click on the picture for more information and thoughts from one of his creative partners; Terry Wiley.
I don't know if many of you ever met Ady in person but I'm sure some of you would have read the award winning Petra Etcetra, which he wrote and Terry illustrated.
Jay & I spent some lovely times with Ady and his girlfriend Debs at the Bristol Comics Festival in it's earlier years, and we're very sorry to hear we've lost him.
I think Jay is planning on dedicating the new issue of Violent! to his memory and re-printing the Dr Sorrow strip Ady wrote for KissKiss BangBang.
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| Friday, April 24th, 2009
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6:38 pm - Camera advice?
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Looks like we need to buy a new camera, after I dropped the old reliable (massive epson digital camera we got free in 2001 with our first laser printer!) & the vivitar oneis eating batteries every 2 minutes (literally!).
So, can anyone suggest a decent, bog standard compact digital camera? We tend to just take pictures when we're out and about, so decent pixels and a zoom but nothing specialised needed. Preferably around £100 or less.
I need to get some enthusiasm going this evening as feeling pretty fed-up. Probably due to feeling crappy after having an asthma attack this morning due to the automatic fragrance thing in the staff toilet at work. Edit: After asking for advice we ignore it all & bought a Fuji Finepix in the sale at Tescos!
current mood:  grumpy
current music: local news
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| Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
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4:30 pm - Factor Fiction @ Bristol Comics Expo
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Factor Fiction will be selling the 10th Anniversary issue of Violent!, which was originally launched by Mike Sivier at the Bristol Comics Festival in 1999. We will also have the latest issue of The Girly Comic, featuring not one, but two Terry Wiley strips, including his new series Verity. The issue also includes regular strip Space Girl and brand new Lee Kennedy strips. If you haven't already picked one up then don't miss out on your chance to pick up a copy of The Girly Book Vol 1, which collects strips from the first nine issues. It's a lovely hardback edition and a "very reasonable price of £15" according to the review on the Forbidden Planet blog: http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/?p=12464 Though if the recession is hitting hard, then for newcomers to The Girly Comic, we will have bargain packs featuring early issues of the comic. Come & see us at our stall at the Ramada Hotel.... or , as I'm keen not to spend te whole weekend behind the table let me know if you want to meet for coffee, drink, lunch etc...!
current mood: good
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| Saturday, April 11th, 2009
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11:00 am - Mostly I've been reading...
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House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne-Jones - Sort of sequel to Howl's Moving Castle & Castle in the Air but stands well on it's own I think, as Howl just makes a guest appearance. As usual I was soon caught up in the prose and empathasing with the teenage, female, main character. Lost treasure, huge libraries, Kings, magic dogs and interesting threats... all good.
Skellig by David Almond - wanted to read this before the TV adaptation this weekend. Easy to see whay it is considered a children's classic, short but very powerful. Magic realism at it's best as it weaves the themes of fear for loved ones in among the wonder of being alove and finding a magical creature. Sins of the Night & Unleash the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon - I believecleanskies refers to these types of novels as slaying & shagging books.. pretty good description! Paranormal Romance/erotica, one of my guilty pleasures :-) I've become drawn into Kenyon's Dark Hunter world, as I'm just a sucker for shared universes. Vampire myth mixed with Greek Gods gives a different twist on things, overall fun, enjoyable romps.
Shifter & Unusual Suspects - two paranormal antologies. Some good short stories in these as many have a sci-fi twist mixed in with the paranormal romance/mystery.
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - had this on my to read pile for ages and finally picked it up when the film adverts started appearing. Pretty dark children's adventure as the main villains have a penchant for torture. I got distracted halfway through as I already knew too much about the story and wanted to get to the bit that explained stuff. However, once I got back into it things started moving at a better pace and I didn't see one of the turns of the story coming at all.If you like stories about stories and the philosophy of storytelling this will appeal and if you just like an enthralling, indepth children's story with a large cast of characters then this is also for you.
Loki & I are off for a few days on the canals with my parents & their dogs, so my bag is packed with more stuff to read! - Thicker than Water by Mike Carey (1/4 way trough), Men of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong, the last two Thing Anthologies, latest issue of Mslexia, Overcoming CFS using CBT and the Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance!
I believe that Jay is planning on lettering comic strips, watching stuff I don't like (e.g. horror films) and eating large amount of KFC while I'm away.
current mood: relaxed
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| Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
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7:52 pm - The thing with The Thing was...
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I was pretty darn tired. Not surprising really, as I'd been ill for half the week and the other half was printer stressful!
I'm glad we went as it was nice to see people (briefly), catch up on Caption stuff and we sold loads of stuff. We did go to the Half Moon afterwards but I just couldn't cope with the crowds and lack of seats. Instead we headed off to Schmurgen Con & found seats, but no food, so then headed for Japanese & back to Schmurgen con (for 1 quick drink). By that point I was past zombified so we headed off on the 2 hour drive home.
As is usual with The Thing there were lots of great stalls and people there, but we didn't appreciate finding a note on the table stating "Jay Eales report to panel area at 3pm to host a panel. Topic materials". Ummm, an email beforehand to prep for the panel would have been appreciated...! Plus I'd been timetabled to cover other people table's at the same time which would have left our table unattended. Hand - forehead.
I would have really liked to sit and have a proper chat with lots of people, so we going to try and organise some day trips or weekend trips to catch up with people this year if poss. e.g. Perhaps a day trip to London for tea & cake, if anyone's interested? We will actually be down in London & free to meet up on Sat 17th April..?
I'm also keen to arrange to meet people for lunches and breaks from the table during the Bristol Expo, so I don't turn into a zombie there too.
current mood: calm
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| Friday, March 27th, 2009
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2:58 pm - Why do we print our own comics?
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That's what Jay & I are asking ourselves today. We have a PDF of Girly #19 ready to print for The Thing tomorrow. Bought about £300 of new toner for the printer earlier in the week.
Jay went t print last night & our PC (which is connected to printer) won't work... boots up & get some info onscreen but as soon as it should go on to the windows screen it goes blank. Slight panic until I find the printer USB cable & Jay finds the software & we get it working with the laptop.
Two pages in and the photoconductor unit ont he printer goes. Arrgghh. So, plan was to buy a new version of the printer today (as we already have the toner cartridges & memory & if the 2nd photoconductor has gone then the drum won't be far behind)... rang around all the suppliers in Leicester & no-one has it in.
So, looks unlikey we will have a new issue for tomorrow & we need to seriously review our comic printing strategies.
After that comedy of errors & the fact that my ME has been flaring up this week & it's over a 2 hour trip each way... it's tempting not to go to The Thing tomorrow. But seeing all our friends outways the woes methinks, so we will still be getting up at 6.30am tomorrow to drive down to London.
current mood:  crushed
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| Monday, March 16th, 2009
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8:25 pm - Adventures in cooking...
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I'm currently cooking/making chicken stock... I have never made stock form anything other than an oxo cube in my life. So, you may be wondering what has prompted this rash of cooking from scratch in the last few weeks.
Couple of months ago I watched Fast Food Nation & then read a couple of books abour food production which is why I started getting an organic veg box & am trying to move us over to organic/free range where possible. I haven't got the urge to go veggie this time, which is what happened when I researched factory farming at the age of 14!
Of course I ahve wonderful timing as Jay pointed out.... we're in the middle of a recession and you decide to buy more expensive food?! Yep, because it is making me feel better. I no longer need to feel guilty about what I'm eating from an ethical viewpoint most of the time. It's also given me a new creative outlet - hence all the cooking.
So, today I did roast lemon/garlic chicken (yummy) and sauteed seom jerusalem artichokes with garlic and mushrooms (quite tasty... will try roasting some later in the week) and I'm now making the aforementioned stock. Gonna try making a morrocan tagine with the chicken legs and a lemon risotto from the rest of the chicken later in the week.
But I still ahve done anything with that second bloody red cabbage!
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| Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
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7:11 pm - Red Cabbage
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So, tried a Delia recipe for braised red cabbage with apple tonight. Not a success, as the cabbage didn't seem to be cooked (it was still a bit crunchy) despite being in the oven for nearly 3 hours!
Jay was not impressed with the taste at all. Now I have a bowl full of partly cooked cabbage that I don't know what to do with... any suggestions?
Luckily I made coleslaw with the other half of the cabbage, so I'll eat that anyway. Hopefully no cabbage in the veg box next week!
current mood:  ditzy
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| Monday, March 2nd, 2009
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10:26 am - Pink Pasta!
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Pink Pasta!
Originally uploaded by GirlyComic.
Here's the first beetroot dish we're trying out. This one is a beetroot & walnut pasta dish using a recipe called Keith's Lovelu Beetroot Penne from the Abel & Cole site (who we get the veg box from).
Overall verdict - put a few too many walnuts in, but otherwise nice & tasty.
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| Saturday, February 28th, 2009
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11:29 am - Fairtrade Birthday Haul
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Fairtrade Birthday Haul
Originally uploaded by GirlyComic.
In honour of it being Fairtrade Fortnight & because I got given a 20% off voucher for the local fairtrade shop I decided to spend my birthday money on this lovely stuff!
My sister had forbidden me to spend it on books, cds or dvds & actually it was nice to come up with other fun things to buy instead.
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| Friday, February 27th, 2009
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4:44 pm - Thank you for the Beetroot Help!
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Thanks to all the beetroot afficianados out there for their suggestions. Roasting seems to be the favourite way of cooking.
Think I'll try this recipe for beetroot penne, which means roasting it first and then mixing with pasta & cream (but think I'll substitute creme fraiche & parmesan.
Also, for ease later in the week think I'll try this Beef & Beetroot casserole in the slow cooker.
I suspect I'll probably get some more next week as I've asked them to exclude the celeriac (yuck) and cabbage & kolrhabi (Jay & cabbage do not mix!), so I'll be able to come back to all your great suggestions then.
Should be interesting to try some new stuff, s I haven't really tried beetroot since the vinegary stuff of childhood.
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2:28 pm - Beetroot help!
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We've started having an organic veg box again as of today (our last attempts failed due to an overload of cabbage!), and I find myself in possession of two large beetroots.
I have never cooked beetroot in my life, so any suggestions as to recipes etc?
A bit of recipe searching suggests that some kind of beetroot & pasta dish might be a good idea for one of them...
current mood:  surprised
current music: Dengue Fever
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