Funny :)

3 June 2010

taken from Atheist Cartoons

Booklist

1 June 2010

Stolen from Michael on facebook.

BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up? Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Look at the list and put an ‘x’ after those you have read. Tag 14 other “Book Nerds”, plus me so I can see what you read!

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen x
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte x
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling x
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible x
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte x
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell X
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens -
Total: 6

11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Helle
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
Total: 0

21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams – x
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll – x
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
Total: 2

31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens X
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hossein
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne x
Total: 2

41 Animal Farm – George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown – X
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding X
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
Total: 3

51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert -x
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen x
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Total: 2

61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck –
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas X
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding x
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville X
Total: 3

71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens X
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker -X
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett X
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante x
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
Total: 4

81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens -
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker x
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle X
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
Total: 2

91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams X
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas X
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare – X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl – X
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
Total: 4

Grand Total 28
I do have most of those books on my wishlist to be read though.

Too honest for my own good

13 May 2010

I play world of warcraft and have my own guild there. Lately some of my guildies have been hacked which resulted in some big withdrawls from our guild bank. Luckily Blizzard returns those items to the guild master so i can put them back in the guild bank again.

Yesterday a friend got hacked and i reported what he took to the Game Master team. This morning i found the items in the mail.
Better said, i found the items _twice_ in the mail, including a very very very expensive epic gun that was taken.

I guess most people would just cheer and take all the items and not say a word to Blizzard about their mistake.
I just can’t do that. I have to be able to look myself in the eye about this.
I took the items from the first mail and returned them to the guild bank, than i made another ticket to the Game Master team, informing them that they send the items twice and that i left the 2nd mail in my inbox untouched.

I have no idea what they will do. Maybe they’ll delete the mail, maybe they’ll do nothing. But i did the right thing and reported their mistake and didn’t take advantage of it.
I’m such a goody 2 shoe.

Promo at Walibi Part I

10 May 2010

I larp at Vortex Adventures, and they have contacts with a bureau that organises festival kind of stuff.
Through them, VA was asked to do promotional activities at Walibi World, an amusement park that had a few days dedicated to fantasy.

A few days before the promo i was about to chicken out. I felt insecure about myself, my costume and had many excuses not to go.
In the end i slapped myself and went anyway, even though it took me 3 hours to even get there.
I had packed my white chemise and red overdress with kaproen. A black belt, black leather bag and tin cup as ascessories.
I was afraid that it would look too simple compared by some costumes others would bring, and this was almost a reason to not go… again.
I got an email that some people had cancelled and decided that this was not the time to chicken out.
So i got up early that morning, got my coffee, showered, ate and went on my way with my big backpack, sleepingbag and tent.
The journey was quite long, but i had my music with me. I had planned on buying a book at the bruna at the station, but they didn’t have the one i was looking for, so i didn’t have anything to read besides the paper.

When i was waiting for the buss in Harderwijk, i saw a familiar face. It was one of my fellow larpers, sarah.
I never really played with her nor talked to her before, but i didn’t want to let that stop me.
In the buss already we chatted a lot and when we arived at the place we went looking for the camping. Luckily we bumped into Frank of the organisation so we didn’t have to call him. He showed us where we needed to go and after a while we found our camping spot and started putting up our tents.

We put on our costumes and went to find the rest.
Our stand was at sherwood forest, which was the location of all the fantasy stuff.
We walked up with some of the other guys. After entering the park, we put all the parts of the demon costume on one of them. It looked rather cool, though the downside was that every 2 meters people wanted to take 10 pictures with him.
I was even asked for a picture, something i’m really really not used to.

I was rather nervous to start the promo and asked Jantien first what the normal things were that were done. She explained a bit and than we send her off to have lunch.
I was glad that maup was there as well, it’s always good to see her.

Many kids just wanted to fight with the larp swords we had with us, and there was a little green lawn in front of us that was perfect for “weapons training” for the young ones.
We took turns at the stand and walking around a bit. Also when having dinner. The day went pretty fast and we even had a little time to go into one of the rollercoasters.
The wooden one was fine, but we also wanted to go in another one and when it was our turn, i found out that i didn’t fit in it.
A moment like that seriously sucks. I was sitting down, but the belt that needs to be put over your waist didn’t close. The guy of the rollercoaster tried to help me but to no avail.
Rather humiliated i left the seat again but managed to keep a straight face. I had hoped that the belt was completely in the waist, than it would have fit, but it wasn’t.
I stood outside and watched the others go, my head in a turmoil and trying not to feel too hurt at the moment i had to get out with everybody watching and knowing i was too fat for the rollercoaster.

When the others got out they were really supportive, so that made it a bit better. I know it’s just a matter of time before stuff like this doesn’t happen anymore, but when it does, boy it makes you feel bad.

We went back to the promo and did the last bits of the evening. I was starting to get really tired and was glad that someone else did most of the clearing of the stuff before we could leave the terrain.
We couldn’t see any of the other people and wondered where they were. We went back to the camping but didn’t see them there either.
Some of them actually already went to bed (it was 10) but even though Sarah and me were tired, we weren’t sleepy yet. We sat in my tent, just talking when we heard some others outside.
Turned out there were more people still and they even had some drinks.
Sarah decided to join them, and i did the responsible thing and went to bed. I was exhausted and knew i needed my energy for another day of promo.

Back on the Wii.

10 May 2010

It had been a week since i stepped on my Wii fit. You know how it goes, the longer you don’t go, the harder it gets to get back on, as you fear that you’ll have gained 25 kilos (at least!) and you’ll have to start all over again.

So with trembling hands i was holding my remote while the program was starting up. I knew it would just suck. Last week had been quite hefty so i hadn’t watched what i ate at all and this was going to show… right now.

To my relief it wasn’t that bad. Yeah, i had gained a little bit a whooping 0.2 kilos.
At least now i can start again, because i didn’t have the feeling i was back where i started, i would just go on with what i was doing and be just fine.

Pfew!

Moving a forum (II)

3 May 2010

It took a bit longer than i anticipated, but the leviathan forum is moved to the new hosting. At first it didn’t want to load at all, which turned out to be a little mistake in a file which was corrected by my friend (I don’t think i could reach that file, not sure though).

So today i got to work in installing and putting the backup back.
The install went very smoothly. The backup.. not so much.
I tried several times and just couldn’t get it to work.
Than i checked the configuration and it turned out that the old forum used different database table prefixes than the new one. DOH!

So i changed the configuration and it worked. I thought i needed to change one more little thing.. and boom. I blew up the whole forum.
Error error error.. no forum.. database crap woops!

I wasn’t sure if it was the last thing i had changed or a combo of a few things that made the forum go boom, so i needed to fiddle some things around.
After some trial and error i found it and managed to fix it.

So the forum is back, completely in it’s old format with the complete backup too.

I’m still contemplating doing a new install before the moots though (after making another back up of course with the updated posts of the upcoming days) as there is still one glitch and i’m a perfectionist and i don’t like glitches (even if they’re only visable in the admin panel).

La la la la la Lolcatz!

3 May 2010

Even better with sound!

The weekend

3 May 2010

After the moderating madness of the fair it was nice to not be home for 2 days.
I went to visit Claudia in Zoetermeer to do some preperation stuff for the moots.

Clau had adviced me to take randstad rail, which i had never done. So i looked up on line how that worked and just couldn’t get how my route would turn out. Both ret and randstadrail’s website were so unclear that i decided to just take the tram to hofplein and see from there on the boards.
When i got there it became more clear how it all works and i wondered why they couldn’t put that on their website more clearly.

The weather started to worsen when i arrived in Zoetermeer and since my bag was pretty heavy, we first went to the appartment to drop it off.
After that we went into the old city and got some supplies we still needed and groceries for dinner.
Lots and lots of talking later, we started on our “special project” for the moots. It was fun to do this creative stuff. I was also a bit hyped because this was the first time i was going to see Dr. Who when it was actually airing on the tv. (curse Tele2 for not having a deal with the bbc to show bbc 1 and 2).
Pepijn came home and dinner was in the oven.
I was wrong with the time Dr. who would be on, so we had another hour to chill out before it started.
Dinner was really nice, Clau had made lasagna.
After Dr. Who i went to work on the scarab necklaces i wanted everybody of the group to have at the moots. We mixed some paints and came up with a really nice color for them. I had sanded some wooden beads into the shape of a beatle and together with some other wooden beads and a hennep cord they look really nice.

I have to say that it was really nice to just chill, do the crea stuff and sip mead. Pepijn was sitting behind his computer looking up some stuff, also for his costume and me and Clau were busy with the necklaces.

I think it was just past midnight when we went to sleep, after i inflated my brand new airbed with my new pump (that i had to tinker coz it didn’t fit the airbed.. doh! but nothing a little ductape won’t fix).

I had a nice night of sleep. I think i’ll be fine again at the moots, but i’ll pack my hot water bottle just in case it gets really cold.

I was up pretty early and the house was all quiet. I made myself some coffee and nestled in the couch to read a bit. Clau and Pep didn’t get up till over an hour later, which was just fine as it gave me a moment to chill by myself, have some (more) coffee and read.
After breakfast and more chattering me and Clau worked some more on our secret project. We didn’t manage to finish it though, as we were missing something important.
Now Clau will drop by wednesday and we’ll finish the project at my house. It’s going to be so cool!

When we went to the fair, i had seen a top that was really cool, but they didn’t have my size anymore. Pep had bought the last one it seemed.
He wasn’t sure he was going to use it, and i bought it of him for the original price. Happy camper here, as i really liked that top to begin with.

After we finished what could be done on our project, i went home again. The trip back was smooth.
Looking forward to wednesday but got 2 busy days inbetween as well. urg.

Lately…

30 April 2010

So the last few days i have been reading my old entries. 2001 up to july 2002 are read so far. It was the time of the trouble with the roommates and lots of stuff going on with roleplay on the net.

Some things are odd to read back, and i’m glad i blogged a lot about it so i actually have the chance to read it back. The later periods are a lot more spotty in posts. I want to try to keep writing now, even when i’m not doing so well. It helps me keep my mind focused and takes a weight of my shoulders.

I have been coughing a lot last week. Slime in my throat that just doesn’t want to go away. I already vacumed my whole bedroom, getting rid of any dust. I even washed my bedroom’s curtains. It’s mostly at night, which means i haven’t been sleeping well the last week. It could also be hayfever, as a pattern is starting to emerge (i read 2 years in a row that i had this coughing in the spring).

Today is queensday, which means a lot of fleemarkets all around. After i had my shower and breakfast i’ll go raid them to see if i can find some larp goodies. I always think beforehand what i’m looking for, so i don’t end up buying way too much crap that i don’t need. I’ll show the loot after i’m done.
The weather is not really cooperating at the moment, but it could all just clear up in an hour and we’ll have an amazing sunny day (hopefully).

I have also been talking to two old friends on icq, alex and Gavin. Alex is the only one on my messenger i still have “contact” with of the VC people. I have some on facebook though, and it’s fun to see what they’re up to now.
Better hit the shower soon so i can start raiding the flee markets.

Moving a forum

29 April 2010

Today i’m moving the leviathan forum to the new hosting.
Though i had known for a while we had to move it, it still was a sudden reminder it needed done this week. So i poked Hiryu and he came through for us. So incredibly awesome!
At the moment i’m prepping the new hosting with a clean install of the php software. The levi forum has been closed and a backup has been made.

I guess reading all my 2001 entries last night reminded me what i’m good at. I love doing webstuf. Even in the worst times in the last few years, i have always done webstuf.
Fora, admin stuff, take care of groups. I guess the jewl on my crown is my wow guild, which has been going strong for 5 years now.
This is one thing i never lost control of. All those chronicles and such always fell appart in the end after i listened to people and gave up my position, even when i actually was one of the creators.
I’m not going to let it happen anymore. Not with the Elf Forum, not with my guild.
I guess i have become more diplomatic than i was in the past and learned to react less hefty to some situations.
It seems i have calmed down a bit in the last few years. Some stuff just isn’t worth getting wound up about (and some stuff is, heh).

Back to the Levi forum. This is the first time i’m changing around an entire domain. I hope i do everything right. The backup is made, the forum is at the new hosting, but i can’t install it yet as i don’t have a temp address. I have to wait till the record in the dns updates so i can reach it again. I’m not sure how long that’s going to take. I guess i can get some groceries in the mean time.

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