seven: podcasts

Two days last week I went for a walk in my lunch breaks, mainly to and from the supermarket but it kept me out of trouble and got me away from my computer for a little while. Also I walked from work to The Fountain rather than catching the bus (which would have shocked Chris a bit more if I hadn’t had to prompt him to check his phone when I got to The Fountain).

Anyway, that has very little too title. I was listening to music but then started to get bored with the small amount of music that I have space for on my phone (I keep trying to take pictures and it freaks out and tells me there isn’t enough space!). I decided to listen to podcasts instead. I’ve been listening to a couple of them anyway but decided to tell you all about them.
EpicFu
EPIC FU is up first – really this is a video podcast so I tend to watch it when I can sit still rather than when I’m walking around. This is all about geek culture and all the bits and pieces that come with that – the current post on their homepage is all about Top Travel Apps. EPIC FU started life as JETSET until it was renamed. It’s created by Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf. It’s won various awards including Webby Awards and Streamy Awards.

Being a geek is all about having a passion for something—films, bands, technology, video games, going green—and that passion makes you totally kick ass! EPIC FU is all about stoking the flames of geek passion, and therefore improves your kick to ass ratio with every viewing.

From the EPIC FU Website

Blog * Twitter * iTunes * YouTube * Facebook *

Wez-Wanders-Banner-987 

Next up is Wez Wanders this is a reasonably new podcast from Nathan aka Wez who lives in Australia. In a six degrees of separation kind of way I got to know Wez via Ruby or maybe it was the other way round.

Anyway so Wez has a podcast, it’s all about travel and his adventures. I got to know Wez when he did a trip of about 8 countries in two months or something crazy like that. He started in Japan and worked round to England and then back round to Australia.

The Wez Wanders Travel Podcast is about well… travel. Wez talks about travel news, what’s been happening in travel, travel tips, as well as great destinations to visit. Do you have any questions about travel? Ask Wez and he will answer them on the podcast.

* Blog * Twitter * iTunes * YouTube * Facebook *

Jelly and Bean

Jelly and Bean is one of my favourite podcasts at the moment. All about tech, TV and movies amongst other things. I even got a mention after emailing Jelly following the first podcast back in November.

Jelly aka Daniel Farrelly and Bean aka Branden Maynes are also from Australia and are friends with Wez too! Branden is married to Ruby so as you can imagine it’s all a bit crazy and I got to know them all via Twitter, later by Facebook and then met Jelly and Mrs Jelly a few months back when they were in England for their honeymoon.

Do you like tech? Games? TV? Movies? Well DANG. We have so much in common already! Jelly and Bean are two super pals who like to talk about all of the aforementioned topics, resulting in a nice little peek into the world of geeks, all in the form of a delicious weekly podcast that can be played into your ears!

From Jelly

* Blog * Twitter * iTunes * Facebook *

six: sunday

I’m writing this while sat in the pub. We were invited for lunch with some friends but I’m not sure where they are. Oh well time for me to scribble down some ideas and create something worth reading.

So that was lunchtime. We’d had a discussion just before we left church about where we were going. Chris, Our Sidekick and I grabbed a drink and sat chatting. My phone started ringing. I answered it – it was our friend who had invited us to dinner. They were in a different pub – where were we?

Well there was confusion and we were in the wrong place. Eventually we were on the right place and all had lunch together.

Anyway that was earlier and now it’s 9:30pm. We’ve had time together today. I sat and watched Call The Midwife – Christmas Special and now I’m starting on Numb3rs Season One. It’s so long since I watched it that I thought I’d start over again.

Numb3rs Title Card

I also watched a film called My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend. It’s an okay film but kinda random seeing Christopher Gorham playing someone other than Auggie in Covert Affairs.

Onto Season 1 Episode 2 of Numb3rs and more crochet.

five: one whole year

Midori MD 2013 date bookClick for source

Each time I set a goal to do something everyday for a year I either forget or get distracted. Well this time I’m determined and I have Melly to check up on me (like I’m going to check up on her!). Each day for a year we’re going to blog. I kinda started this year on the 3rd as I was recovering from Christmas but the official “One Whole Year” posts are from the 4th January 2013 to the 4th January 2014.

Can we do it? Yes we can!

You can find Melly’s Blog here and her Twitter here.

four: christmas summary

In my brain world/consciousness there are certain events that have to happen for me to feel like Christmas really is round the corner. Growing up it used to be when Mum started playing a specific album (which I downloaded last year when I was editing the script for the church Christmas production). Now there are other things, there are two adverts (one and two) that me and my Mum both look out for, the last two years I’ve been to the Royal Albert Hall for the Messiah from Scratch concert which screams Christmas (albeit it tunefully while doing an impression of an opera singer!)

14th December

Christmas officially starts with the carol service at my parent’s church. The last few years I’ve sung as part of the band, this year a visiting choir came to sing at the service. It was good fun to be in the audience instead but I think I was bugging the boys by singing along.

16th December

Next up was the Christmas Production at church, I guess it’s a nativity but there’s extended bits so it’s more of a production that just a nativity. This year I was part of the writing team, I also got cast as Elizabeth in the lead up to the Nativity bit. I was a bit reluctant to have a speaking part as I always used to go blank when I got onto the stage, whereas I can remember song lyrics most of the time.

24th December

Work started to wind down and by Christmas Eve it was really quiet. I spend most of the morning answering the phones or filing and generally keeping busy. By about lunchtime I’d finished as much as the archiving as I could do as I had ran out of archive boxes.

Following work I headed down to The Fountain as me and Jollie Rog were singing Christmas Carols to entertain the customers – in the end of a lot of customers joined in. Straight after our carol singing, Brains arrived as we were going to have a catch up while she was back for Christmas – especially as she’s moving even further away in a few weeks to start her new job. Afterwards I headed home and my in-laws had arrived for a Christmas Meal. We watched a movie before dinner then played xBox and watched another film after dinner.

25th December

Christmas Day was at home – following church we made dinner and opened presents. I got two books and three DVDs. From Mum and Dad I got a kit to make macaroons (the pretty coloured ones that seem to appear everywhere but Bedford!) and a crochet kit. My brother got me the DVD of Season 5 of The Big Bang Theory so there’s about 20 episodes or something like that on there so that will keep me occupied for a little while! We went for a walk in the afternoon then headed to my parents for tea – we then played board games.

Finished project. #zpagetti #crochet #crocheting

#articulate time with family. #happychristmas

26th December

Boxing Day started with a really lazy day, the boys went out in the morning and I spent most of the morning watching TV (Chris had got me a two month pass for Netflix as my Christmas present – I watched a whole chunk of Warehouse 13!) In the afternoon we headed over to my Mum’s house, we hung out with my family and caught up. After tea we had fireworks that my brother had saved especially for Christmas. We then played board games in the evening.

three: review – december

Review 2012

Books
About Falling In Love by Yaritza Garcia
Bah, Humbug! A Romantic Comedy Novella by Heather Horrocks
The Girl in the Converse Shoes by Yaritza Garcia
City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments) by Cassandra Clare
You Had Me At Hello by Mhairi McFarlane

Films
The Hobbit
Pitch Perfect
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part Two
Home Alone 2
Home Alone 3
Shrek Forever After
Santa Claus: The Movie
Priceless
Miracle on 34th Street
Pitch Perfect

TV
Warehouse 13 (Season 3 via Netflix)

The Month in Bullets

  • I finished my Christmas shopping – although I thought I finished it the things that I actually needed for across the Christmas period I finished on Christmas Eve – thankfully town wasn’t that busy when I needed to nip into one shop
  • I have watched far too many films and too much TV in December. Probably explains how I didn’t complete my Goodreads Reading Challenge.
  • Got to catch up with Brains before she disappears to her new job, thankfully via FB and Skype we can keep in touch when she moves.
  • Because everything was so busy we ended up putting up our tree really late. Chris and Our Sidekick ended up putting the tree up and saving me a bauble to put on when I got home. I think in the end I put my bauble on the tree on Christmas Eve or possibly Christmas Day!
  • Spent lots of time with family and had eight and a half straight days off work. Was good but then on the first day back I didn’t want to go back!!