Gracie’s Life Experiment

The episode of Dr Who tonight was really good (The Stolen Earth).  I liked the bit with all the different companions all meeting up on the subwave “facebook” - poor Rose not being able to join in.  The bit at the end was a bit schmaltzy though (the slow-mo running towards each other).  Davros returning was a bit creepy (esp when he opened his jacket) - and Dalek Caan was so funny (gone screwy loopy and camp at the same time).

Huuooooowwwwaaagge cliffhanger till next week (thank goodness it’s not a cliffhanger till next series though).  So many questions:

- Is the Dr regenerating? Beeb kept that quiet well if he is 
- What is the Osterhagen Key?
- What are the 27 planets designed to do?
- Will Billie Pipers teeth stop escaping from her mouth?
- Why is Donna special?

Summary of the day:  Went into town to do some banking, Can’t even walk round town for 1 hr without getting knackered (and why is it that when people see a heavily pregnant woman they just walk straight at you - where is it I’m meant to suddenly disapparate to exactly?), Hubby made a curry for dinner, Watched Dr Who (and then Dr Who Confidential on Beeb 3).

OMG can’t believe what happened in the finale to Robin Hood.  I haven’t really watched that much of series 2 on the beeb but caught some of the episodes and the finale tonight.  It was all pretty ridiculous.  I mean how is it that it only takes a day to get from Nottingham to Portsmouth circa 12th Century in a horse and carriage?  Even more they seemed to get from Portsmouth to the Holy Lands in a blink of an eye.   Then Richard gets and arrow in the back, and later is well again but with what appears to be a broken arm - wtf?  It was like this episode was dreamt up by a group of primary school kids, I’m sure we used to do this kind of role play and come up with similar things in our imaginations.  Ah well, it’s Robin Hood for kids and on TV and not meant to be realistic (hey was it all just legend though, how many different Robin Hood’s were there anyway?).  It was fun, but silly at times.  Nevertheless I found myself oddly enjoying it (even though I was throwing my arms up in disbelief in places - at least I was watching). (more…)

I wasn’t that enthralled with this year’s X Factor when it first started this year.  But I’ve kind of become a bit more endeared to all the different characters towards the end.  The judges have become more like pantomime acts (with their mock fighting and digs at each other).  Rather shockingly Rhydian didn’t win - which I was very surprised at.  TBH though I don’t think the winner’s song really suited either of their styles and seemed a bit high.  Some of the song choices were dreadful this year.  Also I don’t know why Leon never seemed to sing anything more contemporary (other than Buble) as at the bootcamp stages I really thought he sounded just like the lead singer from Maroon 5.

Summary of the day: Had a lie in, Watched kid’s cartoons, Took doggy for a brisk walk, Went to help out at the church Christmas Fayre (found out we weren’t needed though so spent some money and bought some hotdogs), Snuggled in the lounge, Watched more crappy TV.

When it’s cold outside and snug inside, and there’s kid’s films on in the afternoon, and a dark hot chocolate, and haribo …. it must mean that it is a winter weekend and I have a rare opportunity to not do anything but catch up on zzz!  Was watching Prince of Egypt on telly and before I knew it I had fallen asleep and the next program was on.  Then I watched most of Cats and Dogs (love it - Dogs Rule!!). If only every weekend was like that - but then I guess I would probably take it for granted.  Suppose I really should be more appreciative of more free time to do hobbies or spend time with John, but sometimes it’s so nice to catch up on sleep (especially when the dog has learnt a new trick in the last week of waking up at 3am and barking for an hr, also why is it she can’t distinguish between weekday and weekend?).

Summary of the day: Breakfast in bed (yay), Went food shopping, Sorted out Christmas card list, Went to Rach and Lou’s for Christmas dinner (my 4th this week!!!)

I must admit that I do like most TV game shows.  My favourite is probably University Challenge as it actually is quite a challenge (I think I maybe get about 10 questions right in a show).  I don’t really like the ones based on luck.  Deal or No Deal does my head in - like you can “will” something already predetermined to become red or blue.  You have a better chance of “willing” it to turn into a dwarf riding a tiny elephant inside the box.  I used to love Crystal Maze and Krypton Factor.  I quite like the sort of panel team celeb ones (like Question of Sport and Buzzcocks), nice mindless stuff to watch in the background.

Summary of the day: Work, Absolutely no meetings so actually managed to get work done (3/5 things ticked off to-do list), Cooked moussaka, Watched telly, Thought about tidying (didn’t)

So this week’s 10 things are a selection of 10 DVDs in our collection.  They’re in alphabetical order (well until the big box sets which all go at the bottom) so I’ll do every 10th one.

1. Back to the Future Trilogy
2. Die Hard
3. Little Shop of Horrors (not the musical one)
4. Moulin Rouge
5. Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves
6. A Series of Unfortunate Events
7. Monty Python’s Life of Brian
8. Quantum Leap (series 2)
9. Sharpe’s something (John’s box set - couldn’t be bother to work out which one it was)
10. Lord of the Rings (special edition box set)

Honourable mentions also go to all the different Pixar/Disney/Dreamworks animation DVDs that managed to cunningly avoid falling on the 10th DVD, the fabulous Blackadder box set and all the Simpsons/Futurama boxsets that are in a DVD rack all of their own as there are so many.  Gosh we must have spent at least £1000 on DVDs that’s a bit scary to think about. 

Summary of the day:  Went to work, Went to our Professor’s funeral in the afternoon (very emotional,  went to pay my respects to the man), Got home to find hubby had cooked chicken & tomato spaghetti for dinner, Ate Mint Choc, Practised piano for church on Sunday, Enjoyed Thurs night comedy

I am loving the first series of Heroes.  The first few episodes were confusing (esp all the different stories and different times) but it’s started coming together quite cleverly.  Especially confusing is the fact that on UK terrestrial they show one episode on BBC2, then the next episode after on BBC3 on the same day.  So if you watch the episode on BBC3 then they repeat it on BBC2 the following week.  So if you periodically watch it on different channels and miss the odd week here and there it’s even more confusing.  Once you get used to the strange powers you’re drawn into Heroes world where nothing they do seems to be out of the ordinary.  I’ve spoilt it for myself though by looking on wikipedia early on so I kind of know what’s going to happen.  Must not do that for the Second series which has already started in US.  If I could have any of the powers I think I’d quite like the time travel one (although I’d more than likely confuse myself and screw everything up!!). 

Summary of the day: Work as usual (yawn), Student meetings as usual (yawn), Explained my work to a complete newbie, Went to archery (still not any better I just can’t seem to get my form back, it’s soooo uncomfortable and awkward at the moment - think I need to get a video camera to sort it out), Foraged for takeaway on the way home, Tested hubby on interview questions, Watched Heroes

No, this post is not about seeing friends who are geriatric!!  Today I met up with a couple of friends, one who I hadn’t seen/talked to for about 5 years.  Was interesting to see that we’re pretty much the same as we were before and just picked up where we left off.   Sad to think I haven’t really done much in the last 5 years to talk about. 

Some student has given me flu AGAIN so spent the whole day with tissues attached to my face.  Unimpressed when I am trying to be social.  We had a couple of neighbours over as well in the afternoon and then had a Red Dwarf (series 1) watching evening (totally forgot Kryten wasn’t in the first episodes).  Dog kept trying to steal chicken nuggets and Guinness!  No sign of the 4,691 irradiated haggis though

Summary of the day: Went to archery only to find my string has frayed, Emergency trip to Merlin Archery to get a couple of new strings (and a new tab face while I’m at it), Twist new strings and put on bow only to find serving way too thin, Put second layer of serving on and start shooting 1 3/4 hrs after starting at archery, Met up for lunch with old friends, Retired back to house and had tea, Cooked nibbles and watched Red Dwarf, Dribbled a lot!

These are my 10 favourite TV shows (in no particular order) - yes, in answer to your question, I am a Square-eyed couch potato:

1. CSI (mostly the Vegas original, don’t really like Miami, don’t mind NY)
2. Quantum Leap (childhood favourite of mine liked the whole lot except the one with the devil goat - freaaky)
3. University Challenge (otherwise known as Universally Challenged in our household)
4. Red Dwarf (smegging great- better than fresh mango juice)
5. Futurama (like The Simpsons too but fed up with watching repeats)
6. Heroes (loving it, but getting very confused when I sometimes watch it on BBC2 and sometimes catch it on BBC3 so it’s in a funny order - when it’s all higgle-di-piggle-di anyway makes it hard to follow)
7. Blackadder (got the box set on DVD)
8. Dr Who (absolutely can’t miss it, or have to record it)
9. Ugly Betty (tend to watch and preen at the same time)
10. Coupling (”perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, da da da da dum”)

Summary of the day: Went to work with husband’s wallet in my bag (oops), Had plenty of student meetings again, Came home early, Gave piano lesson, Watched Red Dwarf series 1

A bit of another non-day again today.  Woken up this morning by builder angle-grinding the wall outside my bedroom window.  Not good when I’ve only just got home at 2.30am and a huge hangover.  The morning started with a rather nasty conversation with the big white telephone.  Feeling much better after that (and the paracetamol kicked in).  Went to work where everyone laughed at my looking rough and also the random scrawling that some gimp had written on my skin in permanent marker thankfully it was under my sleeve (not on my face).

Wednesday’s are quite good in terms of telly I like.  Heroes and Ugly Betty on Freeview.  It took me a while to work out what the hell was going on in Heroes to start with, but now it’s getting towards the finale in the UK it’s really getting interesting now.  Ugly Betty is great as it doesn’t involve much attention and I find myself just idly preening myself during it.  Tonight I will be scrubbing/exfoliating the ink off my skin!

Summary of the day: Felt rough, Had lots of student meetings, Came home early, Watched telly