I’m bored.

Three of us – me, Frood and Munky – have shared house space for the past three years. Now Frood and I are moving to Scotland – quite a shift for him, back to the home territory for me. The logistics of all of this are giving me the heebs, not least of which is who moves what when and how, and, since Munky has bought himself a flat, the worry of Frood being abandoned in a near-empty house with a camping stove and a shoe box.

There’s also the issue of our crap. I mean, most of it will be fine. The PS2 is ours, so there’s no point leaving Munky any of those games except for the ones with the giant robots and/or zombies for when the PS3 comes out and he can pick up a PS2 for a fiver. We’re keeping a couple of the PS1 games, like Hogs of War because that was the best tenner Frood ever spent and I won’t deprive him of piggies for anyone. Cutlery and crockery is easy to sort out because Munky’s stuff is all matching and ours isn’t. All the good kitchen knives are mine. I have an internal duey-decimal system so the books won’t be an issue. He gets the coffee machine (his): I get the grinder (mine).

But then there comes the issue of the bike tools. That I am not looking forward to at all. We know a few things already:

• Munky will have to buy a track pump, because that’s mine.
• I will have to buy a workstand, because that’s Munky’s.
• The freewheel removal tool is mine because it came with my ACS Claw.
• The whirly screwdriver spoke tool thing is Munky’s cos he stole it.
• Munky says I can have my favourite spoke key even though it’s not mine.
• I’m pretty sure it’s Munky’s chain whip, even though I bent it.
• Nearly all the bike bottles are mine .

It’s sorting out things like the BB removal tools, the crank extractors and the hex keys that is going to take ages.

To Chuffy and Bags, who have finally announced their wedding. I was starting to wonder if they were ever going to let the rest of the world know, or whether they were going to remain in post-nuptial coital bliss for the rest of their lives.

And people say C+ is only a forum!

I’ve also updated Impressions for the first time in a long while (for ‘a long while’ read ‘nearly 6 months’). It was an interesting experience, writing that. I’ve always complained about the lack of capacity in the English language for discussing certain concepts. It has been such a long time since I’ve even tried writing about my experiences with the world of weird, and so much has changed, that I found the limitations of the language even more restrictive. Hence the rather disjointed, incoherent, Billy Connolly-esque style of rambling. It’s difficult to stick to the issue at hand when the language requires one goes off at these little tangents just to get to the point because otherwise the point will be lost.

Actually, it’s not so much the language as the rarity of the experience. Even if a word exists for something, if the experience denoted by the word is not shared, it is little more than a label with a dictionary definition, and a dictionary definition isn’t the same thing as understanding – it’s just more words.

Oh, incidentally, if you have been following University Challenge – yes. That was my definition of cool used as a question. How cool is that?

Why they took down the old True Meaning Of Life. It was fantastic. I even had a question answered on there once. Sadly I think it has been lost in the missing archives of 2001. Back in the old days they had cool things like Chop Chop Master Onion giving spelling lessons. And geometry! It was so much better before. I could spend hours there. Now it’s just another gaming site.

That sucks.

As only Kathy, MVC and the Chuffy/Bags continuum have said they are definitely coming, and Kathy can only make it on the 18^th, the League’s Farewell To Auntie Samantha party will be on the 18^th February.

Double Locks, 7pm, bring bikes.

You know, I like this changing userpic depending on mood idea. And with the post template option in blogger it shouldn’t be that hard to do something similar on a blog without it being desperately cumbersome or anything like that. It would be particularly handy on a group blog, such as the Braakishly blog – although that one gets so little use it doesn’t seem worth making the necessary changes.

As you can see from my weather pixie — assuming you are reading this close to time of posting, anyway — it’s fucking gorgeous here today. The sun is shining, the sky is a brilliant blue, and every fibre of my being is demanding to be outside soaking up some sunshine right now and for the rest of the day. I don’t suffer badly from winter blues, but I’m pretty sure that some part of my genetic programming remembers that at one point this species lived in Africa and still longs for days spent outdoors in the sun. On days like this it’s like one of those bizarre food cravings I get sometimes, usually when there’s some specific substance my body has decided it needs and will have no matter how odd the food item that contains it. I used to get really bad cravings for tuna and banana sandwiches. These days it’s the only reason I eat the occasional bit of marmite on toast.

You know the advert? Love it or hate it? I do neither. I occasionally crave it. If I try eating it outside those times of craving it’s okay but my life wouldn’t feel bereft without it. When I do crave it I can’t even taste it.

The glories of flexitime. I think I shall be bailing on the dot of 15:00 today. I know that will leave me with a ridiculous number of hours to make up next week before I finish, but for this sunshine it’s worth it.

Oh. No. I lied. We don’t.

So we’re supposed to feel better because they’ve decided to leave making ID cards compulsory for another Act of Parliament? They’re still going insist on you having your fingerprints and iris scan added to a national database (the very thought of a national database brings me out in hives) if you want to get a passport from 2008 onwards. I’d better get mine renewed pronto.

Maybe I could try to get them to scan the wrong eye…

Eny fule kno that a voluntary ID card is the first step towards a compulsory ID card. Once the first stage is complete it’ll be that much easier for them to pass this second Act of Parliament. All we can do is hang on and hope that the usual happens and the owners of the feet walking the corridors of power decide to change political tack.

I’d love to think that a change in Government would make a difference, but they’re all the bloody same these days. I can’t even find it in myself to get too excited about the shock victory of the Lib Dems in Dunfermline and West Fife, although I expect my Mum and Dad probably consider it to be the first sign of the coming Apocalypse.

Hmm. Ming the Merciless as one of the Four Horsemen. There’s an Age of Apocalypse storyline Marvel hasn’t tackled!

There seems to be some question over whether the leaving party will be the 18^th or the 25^th now. The glorious and beautiful Mrs Pike will be around on the 18^th but Hummers won’t. But then Hummers doesn’t think he’ll make it for the 15^th, either. It’s all down to how many people can make it on each date. If you have a preference, tell me. I’m easy either way. The only advantage of the 25^th is that it gives people longer to get exit visas and Frood isn’t working that weekend.

If you happen to be in the area anyway, there will be post-work drinks at The Bridge next Friday.

In typical League fashion there are already discussions regarding a ‘welcome home’ party once I’ve got up to Scotland. So if you can’t make one, maybe you can make the other.

The other thing I like about LJ is the userpics option. This has given me a splendid half hour or so of fucking around not doing any work this morning, as I have put together a collection of suitable 100×100 pixel sized images.

Of course, as I’m not actually intending to use LJ for anything other than reading other people’s musings, I’m not about to pay for it, which means I can only choose six. Dammit.

Currently I’m not using the two Rex the Runt pics. I’ve only got MS PhotoEditor at work, and that’s a bit pants when it comes to cleaning up reduced images.

I can see more hours of my life being wasted if I’m not careful. Then again, I like the various Tank Girl ones so much I doubt I’ll change them.