Hello world. Well, hasn't it been a long time? I have many things to update you on, but I keep starting posts and then running out of steam before I finish them. Someday I may go into all these things in detail, but for the moment, to sum up:

• Christmas was great.


• Work continues to suck.


• I saw a fabulous version of the Robin Hood legend at the RSC this January - and it was all about Marion. Robin had the "steal from the rich" bit down, but the "and give to the poor" was all Marion. Plus the staging was amazing. The whole stage, from about halfway back, was one giant, grassy slide, right up into the rafters! People slid onto stage - ouch - and had to climb back up with ropes! It's the most athletic play I've ever seen.


• Castle! I have burned through all the seasons currently available, and now impatiently await more of season 4. I have no patience for open canon shows. I want it ALL, NOW. Will they/won't they? (Oh, they totally will.)


• I finally read all the Tiffany Aching / Wee Free Men books, by Pterry. *happy sigh*. In possibly related news, I've not gone to sleep before 2am for most of the nights this week. I. am. so. tired.


• I'm thinking of trying to run a 10k this year.


• Kat continues to be adorable, although I do wish she'd stop eating her toys.

ION, I'm finally conceding that I don't like some taste combinations that are generally considered delicious. Coffee and chocolate, for example. I like coffee, I love chocolate, but together? Yuck. Ditto fruit and chocolate - I just don't really like them combined. I feel that togetherness makes them less than the sum of their parts - it takes away from the freshness of the fruit, and the richness of the chocolate. And yet it always seems to be, "What could be better than fresh strawberries? How about STRAWBERRIES DIPPED IN MELTED CHOCOLATE!" Give me my strawberries unadulterated, and my melted chocolate with a big spoon, pls. Also, baked potato and baked beans is just wrong, I don't care what people say.

ETA: ( The Heart of Robin Hood. )

Pick your five favourite TV shows (in no particular order) and answer the following questions about them. Don't cheat!

Mine are:

1. Blake's 7
2. Stargate SG-1
3. Magnificent 7
4. Robin of Sherwood
5. Sapphire and Steel


( I really shouldn't be doing this right now... )

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I have to rewatch some of these shows, sometime.

For the last three days, I've failed at my self-imposed project to blog every day for threeweeks, but life is kicking my ass at the moment. It's in fact particularly hectic today - must get the last few things done so this damn website can be launched - but I need a break.

So.

Talking to rydra_wong yesterday, I was thinking about doing good (or sensible) things for the wrong (or strange) reasons. For instance, arm lifts - okay, I've not tried doing them yet, but I have less issues about lifting weights up in the air, above my face, than I do about doing press-up type exercises to strengthen my arms. At the moment, it's partly due to my right wrist (I have this thing that Doctor Internetz says may be a ganglian cyst, I need to get it looked at, it's not bad but it makes it less than fun trying to support my weight in Downward Dog), but really, I've always hated doing press-up type exercises, so that's just a convenient excuse.

Lifting weight above my head appeals far more to me, and that's not entirely unrelated to reading... Jane Austen? Georgette Heyer? one of those, when I was a teenager, and coming across instances of the Regency belles holding their arms up above their heads before entering the room, so the blood drained from their hands, leaving them pale and smooth. I used to copy the idea. Every now and then, the mood overtakes me again (not all the time; I'm not crazy!), and I stick my arms in the air. Not usually when other people are around, though. And, hey, the technique got me a brief hand modelling gig for SMA, so apparently it works. *g*

Another thing I do for a weird reason is give blood. Yes, yes, it's good to do, people need it, etc... You want to know why I do it? Robin Hood.

I was crazy about Robin Hood when I was younger. I wanted to be in his gang, and maybe to be his Marion, but not one of those girly Marions in a silly dress that got in the way, oh no. I wanted to be an expert with the bow and arrow, and I wanted a sword and a dagger and one of those green and brown outfits, and I wanted to be able to disappear like magic into the trees. Maybe I wanted to be Robin; it kind of depended on whether or not I liked boys that week. But anyway, in one of the most common versions of Robin's death, he's ill and goes to visit his cousin, an Abbess. She's secretly evil and in league with the Sheriff, though, and she persuades Robin that he needs to have some blood let. He falls asleep during the bloodletting, and she leaves him draining, until he's at death's door. Then Little John - who'd found out about the plot, somehow - breaks in, and Robin, dying in his arms, shoots one final arrow out of the window, hitting the Sheriff of Nottingham again. Where it landed, that's where he was buried.

Anyhow, it's very difficult to pretend to be Robin Hood on his deathbed when there are cheery nurses talking to you, trying to make sure you don't fall asleep, pass out, have a fit, etc. Nurses are so pragmatic.

Surely I'm not the only one who does this sort of thing...?

My Top 10 TV girlfriends (because this meme evolved into being about characters rather than actors, and I like that idea better). The previous one? Took me a whole day to choose. This? Five minutes. In no particular order...

Made some icons last night... just because. And incidentally, boy do I loathe the new Robin Hood. Why must he do that tilting-the-head-down-and-looking-up-with-a-smug-smirk thing all the damn time? Eh? Eh?!? Grah. It's not cute - it's Just. Annoying. Makes me want to whack him on the top of the head with a mace.

And why the horribly anachronistic way they all speak, dress, act...? And the stupid location titles - 'Sherwood Forest'. No! Really? I'd never have guessed what with all the TREES! And the completely unsubtle attempts to crowbar modern issues into what's essentially a costume drama - ye gods. Give audiences some credit - they might actually be able to get their heads around the different mindset of people from the Middle Ages. It doesn't always have to be pop culture to be watchable and/or relevant. *grinds teeth*

Okay, okay, if I don't like it, don't watch it, etc - I agree. Actually, I'm not watching it. I gave it a try, watched the first few episodes, but decided, for the sake of my sanity and the ongoing not-smashed-in-ness of my TV, I'd better stop. He makes me want to chew my own fingers off in sheer rage.

edit: If anyone wants to use these icons, use away. Just gimme credit if asked - not that they were much effort to make.

	Robin of Sherwood could kick the new boy's ASS Icons
	RoS Don't Mess With The Hair Icons
	RoS Inimitable Icon
	RoS Unbreakable Icons
	RoS Never Forgotten Icons