Mortuus Sum et Renatus Est

Pizza

2008-08-05T17:03:59Z

I'm inviting the Internet out for pizza. Everyone from the Internet is welcome.

http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=21430590278

16th August, 4pm, Pizza Express in Canterbury.

Add yourself to the event or reply here and feel free to invite anyone.

LiveJournal and Facebook, together at last

2008-07-16T07:54:32Z

Now we can all be social networking friends, let's stop the feuding.

Or I figured out how to get LiveJournal posts on Facebook.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention...

2008-07-15T23:40:14Z

You know how I've been in the second year for five years?

Not anymore, baby! :D

Songwriting

2008-07-05T01:52:52Z

I seem to be doing 50/90 (50 songs, 90 days)

http://5090.fawm.org/writers.php?id=303

See?

Because it's been a while...

2008-07-02T22:13:53Z

...new userpic.

Phone works again!

2008-07-02T08:01:19Z

Back on the trusty old XDA now running Windows Mobile 6.1 with less of the rubbish I'd installed last time. It runs fairly well and has a shiny Vortigaunt theme.

It's nice because for a couple of days I was using this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_FONE_F3

Preferred it to the 7600 though. :)

Maybe at some point I'll finally get some sleep.

Phone gone bad

2008-06-28T08:35:55Z

I'll start using a backup phone so I will be textable, sadly my backup phone is this square monstrosity (and I am very grateful to Bridget for letting me take it from her phone graveyard).

Description of my problem that I posted on xda-developers because I am lazy: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=403870

I was planning to reflash the phone anyway but I've got two years worth of messages there totalling over 10,000. End of an era? :/

For those unaware, my phone is this but I flashed the ROM to a beta of Windows Mobile 6 about a year ago.

Comrades!

2008-06-27T15:53:46Z

The Russian equivalent of Facebook set to the "nostalgic" language.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_Kontakte#April_Fool.27s_Day_joke

If you haven't signed up on a Russian social networking site then you do not know true boredom.

UNDEFINED CONNECTION ERROR: 6

2008-05-31T07:17:41Z

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It's too damn hot and heat makes my brain not work

2008-05-12T10:14:47Z

Turned up for exam early. Exam is actually at 1400 not 0930. So by now I've been sitting here over an hour (uni computer room) and starting to discover an odd feeling called "Why won't the world just let me sleep until it's all over?". Ho hum.

General news. Single now, you probably know roughly why, all very complicated. Trying to enjoy the wonders of single life but haven't figured out how yet. Been clinically depressed since February and that's pretty annoying, enjoying the drugs though. Doing exams at the moment which are actually going rather well, four down and two to go. I thought they were mostly going well last year, mind, but I think my standards of what "well" means have changed since then.

I don't know what else is going on really. Not seeing TagSoc types enough, not spending enough time with church people either, most of this is down to revision though. My social life as a whole has taken a complete slump to being mainly housemates and Pete but I guess that's to be expected right now.

So I guess that's my life at the moment. Nothing of interest. My days consist of revision, sleeping and Mario Kart Wii. Looking forward to exams being over so I can get properly involved in the Tiggs/Chris/Xcerus house-related drama since that sort of thing is always entertaining (also I genuinely think I can help in some way, maybe I'm just crazy or hold my abilities of neutral-party mediation in too high a regard).

Bit boring I'm afraid but I've managed to kill a good ten minutes writing this. I've revised pretty much all I can for this next exam and don't want to start revising anything else in case the networks stuff gets pushed out of my brain. Maybe I'll take a walk for a bit then return and make sure I'm actually remembering this stuff.

Also Dijkstra can take the shortest possible path off a cliff. Bastard.

Anyone out there own Smash Bros Brawl?

2008-03-26T16:56:52Z

I assume that you can't play against random players anywhere in the world since I can never see anyone on there (coming from the UK). The friend code malarky however might work internationally.

With that in mind, my friend code is 1418-6569-3520.

Anyone who owns it please let me know your friend code and we'll see if we can make it work.

I'll see you in the brawl. :D

morti @ 2008-03-16T18:32:00

2008-03-16T18:33:05Z

Found him! :D

morti @ 2008-03-16T18:32:00

2008-03-16T18:32:27Z

I lost my bear. :(

morti @ 2008-03-16T17:43:00

2008-03-16T17:47:02Z

btw, LJ != Twitter, tbh.

morti @ 2008-03-16T17:43:00

2008-03-16T17:46:45Z

Monsters killed me in my face. :(

morti @ 2008-03-16T17:43:00

2008-03-16T17:44:33Z

Guys, stop posting to LJ, the UT2004 game has started.

morti @ 2008-03-16T17:43:00

2008-03-16T17:43:59Z

I'm ready in UT as well.

LJ is the cancer that is killing TagLAN

2008-03-16T17:41:50Z

lol Internets

morti @ 2008-03-07T19:03:00

2008-03-07T19:04:51Z

Hello. Reply if you read this, I'm doing an experiment. :)

Attn: London dwellers

2008-02-29T09:40:33Z

Hello my lovelies.

The post-FAWM meetup is on Sunday 9th March and I'm going to be there and I want you to join me. Not a musician? Don't care. I want to see you guys and I'd love for you to be an audience while myself and my FAWM buddies play some songs. Our function room has a bar downstairs so think of it as a free gig with some amazing musicians playing (and me) with a bar. Contributions towards costs for the day are welcome but not required of non-performers.

Details

If you can come please comment here or add yourself to the guestlist. If I know you and you're in London on Sunday you are very much encouraged to come along since I usually miss you London peeps.

Leap Year

2008-02-29T08:19:22Z

I was watching an episode of Frasier set on Feb 29th and he encourages people to take a leap and do something different on this day that comes but once every four years. Sounds like a fine idea to me, I'm off to Paris later.

Hi

2008-02-17T14:12:53Z

BIRTHDAY COMMENT LOVE ACTIVATE

Erskip

2008-02-12T23:11:25Z

FAWM is upon us again and I've been taking part as ever. Just thought I'd share this song of mine since it's getting a bit of interest.

Erskip

That's a link to the song page where you can listen to it and read lyrics. It's a half-backwards acoustic drinking song. You have heard nothing like it.

I'm not a fan myself but it really speaks to some people apparently. :P

Scrabble with skel

2008-01-13T05:41:52Z

Weirdest game I've ever played. We were probably doing it deliberately a few turns in but it certainly didn't start out that way.

I scored 411 in Scrabble today

2008-01-11T03:36:07Z

Writing some stuff down that's happened for posterity really, although feel free to comment if it strikes a chord.

This week has been a week of two very exciting acquisitions, a monitor and a cat. The monitor is http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-026-OK (and I've just noticed it's in a week only offer for £10 off, I bought it last week, damnit) and it's very pretty. Stuck a bit of tape over the overly bright blue LED on the front mind, other than that it's spot on. Lovely piece of kit. Read the forums over there if you're interested, it's an amazing monitor and I've no idea how it can be so cheap.

The cat is Jasper. Ever since I've lived in 7 Martyrs Field Road he's been coming to visit (so since... 2004, blimey) and apparently he'd popped by plenty before then too. For most of that time he belonged to Paul and Sam who I eventually called and had brief moments of dialogue with since then. Last year they moved house and decided to give Jasper to Philip because Jasper didn't get along well with their other cats (particularly Merlin, as is my understanding).

Jasper didn't want to go though, he preferred it at my house. He spent nearly all his time here going back just for food. For many months Philip would come here to collect Jasper to bring him back, once keeping him in for a few weeks and at one point taking him to Yorkshire. But still, as the traditional kids song goes, "the cat came back ... he just couldn't stay away". We never even fed him except for a week when Philip and his family were away (since then he seemed to visit more often, despite never being fed by us).

A little before Christmas Philip called me and told me that he hadn't seen Jasper for a couple of months. This set of alarms in my mind, it meant that Jasper was getting food elsewhere and not actually returning home. So we got all the time with him, someone else fed him and poor Philip had all the responsibility (including potential vets bills and the like). I started talking with Jo about the possibility of adopting the cat proper, looking into how much it'd cost and the like. So a month later we came back after our Christmas breaks and the day after I returned so did Jasper, looking a little malnourished (not ill or anything, just a little skinny).

I gave Philip a call and he said he still hadn't seen Jasper despite everyone in our house being away for Christmas, I pointed out what I said above about the situation being rather unfair on him and he asked if I wanted Jasper. I said I did but would have to check with Rosie (my dear landlady). Philip promptly called Paul and Sam to let them know the situation and that's when things got a little messy. He called me back later and said he'd had an odd conversation with Paul and Sam in which they said they were unhappy about me taking the cat, partially because they knew Rosie and knew she didn't want cats in the house. At the time this was true, but perhaps Philip neglected to mention that I was going to check with Rosie before actually taking Jasper in (or Paul and Sam had some ulterior motive for not wanting me to have him). I attempted to call Rosie that evening but didn't get through.

The next morning Jo went to work and just as she was leaving she got a text message from foo asking if he could talk to her at work later (at the time, paranoid as I am, I said he was trying to thwart my Jasper-related scheme, turns out he wasn't but not far off). When Jo came home (I'd still not been able to get hold of Rosie) she explained what had happened at work. She spoke to foo who said that he was coming with Paul and Sam to collect the cat, Paul had (for some reason) asked him to come along as a neutral party. He also mentioned that Jo was not to tell me about it, perhaps because I would cause a fuss and be difficult about it. Damn straight, actually. They were coming to take Jasper to a cat sanctuary.

I should expand on something here. Jasper really does not like other cats. Philip left him in one of those places once for about a week; during that time Jasper didn't eat and lost a whole load of fur due to stress. We saw him shortly afterwards, he looked terrible, that's why Philip took him walking around the Yorkshire hills (which I imagine must have been an interesting holiday for him). I doubt Paul and Sam would have found a sanctuary for just one cat. Even so, they were to take him there until he could be rehomed with no guarantee that he ever would be (as is the case with such places). This wasn't good for Jasper and I wasn't about to let it happen, so of course I'd cause a fuss.

After speaking to foo, Jo felt uneasy about not talking to me about it so she phoned Rosie to explain the situation. Rosie, although not feeling too happy about having to say it, said she still didn't want cats in the house and we couldn't adopt Jasper. Rosie then took it upon herself (which was lovely of her) to call me about it. Her reasons were mainly that she'd have to steam-clean all the carpets if she were ever to rent the house out to someone who had cat allergies. Fair enough, except Jasper had already been essentially living with us for a year and she'd have to do it anyway, I also agreed to pay for the steam-cleaning if it became necessary.

After talking to me she was uncertain so phoned Philip and had a chat with him. During this conversation she realised her objections were rather nonsensical at this point (again, all credit to her, if I can afford it I will totally buy her some new carpets if/when I move out) and called me back to say this. That was just before Jo returned home to tell me about all the excitement she'd had at work.

So Jo and I sat around in my room with Jasper for a bit and she told me that Paul and Sam would be turning up any minute, foo was already outside, and she was going to go outside and talk to them while I stayed inside. Entirely offended by their refusal to talk to me about it I went straight outside with her, which it turns out was the right thing to do.

What followed was a long argument outside in which Paul and Sam repeated that they had Jasper's best interests at heart and were going to take him to a cat sanctuary (Sam got very offended when Jo said "cattery"). We pointed out that Rosie had changed her mind, they went off to phone her but failed to get hold of her and then a circular argument ensued in which Sam repeatedly talked about how Rosie had said to her in the past that she didn't want cats in the house and we repeated that she had changed her mind just today.

Paul and Sam weren't entirely pleasant for most of it, Paul asked me directly in a stern tone to return the cat while Sam blithered on about how she'd loved him for eight years and about how Philip had been responsible and she really was set on taking him to this sanctuary. Just a point here for those who might accuse me of raising further drama, although Paul and Sam were entirely out of order in the way they argued with us it was an emotional situation and I can understand why they took the position they did with the information they had. Further to that Paul and I have spoken recently and cleared the air and I bear no ill-will towards them.

Philip phoned me while Paul and Sam were trying to get hold of Rosie and asked if he could turn up to bring Jasper's medical records. I mentioned the event going on outside and Philip in true middle-class-superhero fashion turned up during the argument. He told Paul and Sam about his conversation with Rosie and made the situation clearer to them, once this was over Paul and Sam left and so did foo (who had mainly been standing quietly for the whole time).

foo, if you're reading this, I have nothing at all against you and more than anything I respect the part you took in this, coming along as a friend to support Paul and all. What I can't figure out is why he felt the need to ask you in the first place. I also imagine it might have been a weird request in the office ("Morti the blaggard! He's stolen my cat!" or somesuch). Thanks for staying calm and I hope it wasn't too much of an inconvenience for you and Rah. Not sure if it was you or Paul who wanted to hide the plans from me but I hope you're gathering at this point that I'm not a child and can handle such events in a fairly reasonable fashion. Never mind if it was Paul's decision to do that though, he apologised for not contacting me sooner and I'm quite happy with that.

So, shaking with rage and with a crying Jo we went inside with Philip for a calm chat after the storm. Philip said goodbye to Jasper (who had been on my bed the whole time), handed over the papers and went on his way. As I said, Paul contacted me that evening to clear the air which was very nice of him and now we have a very happy and healthy Jasper. He's in a loving environment, we know how to look after a cat and we're very happy to be able to finally take responsibility for the cat who's been visiting us for so very long.

Anyone involved with the story or anyone not might have comments to make, so again I reiterate that all parties involved are now (as I understand it) perfectly happy with the arrangement. No hard feelings anywhere as far as I am aware. I never got a straight answer from Paul about why he didn't contact me but he has apologised and I've let it go. This is all here as a record for me and as an interesting (maybe even touching) story about the acquisition of our new pet.

I considered friends-locking this for the names-named and potential drama and all but I'm sure those involved can handle their names being mentioned without resorting to drama and, really, I don't think there are any difficulties remaining to argue about. So anyone's welcome to read this and comment if they think they're represented unfairly, it's certainly not been my intention.

Longest post for ages, that, but it was worth recording.

God bless you all.