I've been trying for ages to come up with a blog post for this RPG that actually works. But this RPG has been ongoing for almost 3 years and I've only been part of it for almost a year, so there's a lot of background story that I find out on the go. So as to avoid all unnecessary parenthesises I waited until a good spot came along, and now it did. I wanted to make a new character and a new guy wanted to join the RPG so we made a skip in the story to five years in the future. From this skip I'll start blogging :)
Right now we are one female high elf named Ariana (that's me), one male dark elf named Mirion, three people from an apparantly extinct (but very alive to me) race of people; one female named Razario and two males named Gapy and Starion and finally an "ordinary" person (well he's a hermit) named Needle Beard (translated from Swedish: Barrskägg. The needles from pine trees). Also there are the elves Lelarion and Herald.
Before the RPG starts this evening. Mirion and Starion have been in a coast city called Valgovana to find Razario (related to an older no longer used character of the RPG. She has no idea ofc). Razario is one of the few left of Starion's people so he wants contact. She makes her living as a whore and she's very, very paranoid. However stuff happens in the city which forces them to run from it and while on the run a man called Santiago contacts them mentally. Santiago is a very small magical person who lives in an ent :P Santiago tells them that there are three people in his house (in the tree tops of the ent) that all would benefit from co-operating.
Ariana, Barrskägg and Gapy are all in Santiago's living room. Barrskägg is playing chess against his squirrel (who lives in his beard) and Ariana is inspecting Santiago's bookshelves. The books are all in elvish and written by himself. They all contain very advanced information on herbs and plants. A magical door appears out of nowhere and out steps Razario with a knife at the ready. Starion makes an epic entrance with magical light etc to appear as a master magician, and then Mirion walks out of the door as if nothing has happened. Santiago invites us for dinner and asks us to all sit down at the table. Everyone do so except for Mirion who leaves to visit his sister (Something has happened to her and now she lives in a room there. She can't speak. That's pretty much all I know of that back story). The rest of us notices that there are only fruits and vegetables on the dinner table, no meat whatsoever. After that it's good night.
During the night Starion notices that we are being watched by an undead. In the morning we arrive at the swamp close to the Doors of Might and we exit the ent. We greet Barrskägg's silver cats (two in the size of wolves and one in the size of a horse). A marketplace further away. We get there. There is a camp for people. There are also knights with pipes on their backs (the number of pipes tells how many magic schools the person knows and the colour of the pipe tells which one. They are from a cult called the Light of the Elementar). Since the Doors of Might is a dwarven city it's also a dwarven marketplace. Gapy notices that what the knights with pipes are offered to buy is crap. Starion is being watched by a knight with one pipe that see-through (no one has seen that before). Black armour and the visor down. Starion asks Gapy to keep an eye on the one-pipe. We discover that Razario has disappeared after we have entered the Doors of Might. Starion leaves the find Razario. The rest of us continue on to the dwarven king. Thanks to Mirion (he's a prince btw) are we allowed to enter past the guards. They talk about Gwelvin (a dwarf Mirion has gotten a telepathic cry for help from). Mirion, Ariana and Starion go to Gwelvin's study/temple to check out his recipes in alchemy for an elixir that can give you the ability to breathe under water for 24 hours. Lelarion is there. He seems worried and tells us that something's happening. We can feel magic in the air, sticky and unfriendly. Mirion tries Scatter but fails. None of us know what kind of magic it is. Ariana uses perfect True Sight and catches a glimpse of a small creature (about 1 m) with black robes and green skin that disappears. The description fits someone Starion has seen before. Mirion senses a new magic from the notes. Uses Scatter and their appearance changes. Ariana and Mirion sits down to brew loads of elixirs. It still feels weird to be there. It feels like the magic has a mind of its own. Around midnight Starion comes back with a very beautiful woman whose name is Adia and archmage. The creature Ariana saw is a hobgoblin that's a necromancer. We make sure there are guards around the clock outside the room and that they are changed every second hour.
After breakfast we leave again. We're going out to sea. Barrskägg is opposed to this at first but then agrees. We are going to save Gwelvin (he's a dwarf that likes water). We go through a magic door and arrive at a small island with only a dock and a small boat. Lelarion calls for the White Swan. There's a blinding light and then there a ship. The figurehead is a swan's head. We climb aboard. After some time we arrive at a place that Mirion sense is the right one. In the middle of the sea. Ariana makes Night Vision on herself, Barrskägg and Gapy. We see a city at the bottom . We swim toward it. Only ruins. We sense the same kind of magic that we sensed in Gwelvin's room. We enter the temple of the ruins. Mirion's Perception doesn't work. Ariana buffs the others beforehand and then we go through the magic field. Everything except Iron Skin wears off. Ariana puts on Night Vision again on them, but nothing else. We continue down. Mirion uses Perception again to find Gwelvin and feels his presence but no direction. We choose right in the crossroad. There's a symbol for demon worshipping. Rare demons. They manifest as tornados, usually in deserts. Ariana uses True Sight and sees a hidden tunnel where a scaly creature stands with a two-handed spear. Puts True Sight on Mirion who activates his invisibility cloak to go check. There's not only one bu several. Mirion sneaks inside and kills one and decontaminates one. Gapy steps forward and immediately can't breathe. He's injured by the creature and fails himself to stab it. Ariana tries to use Breathe Underwater but is stopped by magic. Barrskägg uses Scatter and makes the magic disappear. Gapy can breathe again. Mirion activates his cloak to sneak past the last one. Starion recieve an arrow in his back but isn't injured. Ariana puts True Sight on Starion. Starion and Barrskägg see a man (like the ones in the tunnel) with a bow and arrow exit from a tunnel further down. Ariana puts Iron Skin on Barrskägg. We can't sense when magic is being conjured in that field. Ariana moves to the tunnel Gapy is in to put Stumble on the men coming from the other side. Gapy is by now injured pretty badly.
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Sunday, 26 June 2011
Heroes
[SPOILERS AHEAD!] (Unless you've seen all four seasons of the series...)
I'm having a trip down memorylane - again. This time asked Love to finish Heroes and after much nagging he agreed, although he knew it would all end in a huge cliffhanger. I have all the boxes. All the four seasons. And now when I'm re-watching it again I remember how I used to follow the series and sitting on edge waiting for a new episode. But seriously, do you remember how great it used to be?
I'm having a trip down memorylane - again. This time asked Love to finish Heroes and after much nagging he agreed, although he knew it would all end in a huge cliffhanger. I have all the boxes. All the four seasons. And now when I'm re-watching it again I remember how I used to follow the series and sitting on edge waiting for a new episode. But seriously, do you remember how great it used to be?
A lot of unfair and unfortunate things happened to the greatness of Heroes. After the first season there was the writers' strike in Hollywood and second season was cut in half, which made it a very bad season. But oh, how I loved when HRG was killed. Why, oh, why did they have to save him?
Third season started out with a very interesting plot, turning all the characters upsidedown. Suddenly you no longer knew who was good and who was bad. But it was slow. It was an interesting plot, but it was a slow realisation of the plot, people got bored and the series lost viewers. Season three is also divided into 2 volumes; Villains and Fugitives. Villains was real slow and not until halfway in on Fugitives did the plot kickstart again. I love the re-introduction of Micah in the form of Rebel. On the other hand I hate the whole Niki/Tracy-thing. I always get nervous at the final episode of the third season. The killing of Nathan. Sylar has always been my favourite character, he seems to be the only character of the series that has a real depth. Third season is very much about Sylar and I love that.
Fourth season. Wow. I was very sceptical to the whole carnival thing with Samuel to begin with. But Samuel turned out to be way more smug and cunning than I originally thought and he made the fourth season so very interesting. I hate Emma. In this season I love the growth of Hiro and I continuously love Sylar. I love the re-introduction of Charlie and I wished so much that they would've brough West back in after Claire mentions him. The amount of viewers upped again after the fourth season, but that was at the same time as the economic crisis and thus the series was cancelled.
Heroes has had a hard time all on all. First the writers' strike and then the economic crisis. I wish they'd at least end it like they did Firefly, with a made-for-TV movie that answers loads of questions. It would give a greater sense of finality than that stupid cliffhanger-ending we have on our hands right now :/
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Game of Thrones
[SPOILERS AHEAD!] (Don't say I didn't warn you)
Just watched the last episode of the first season of Game of Thrones. It's amazing! I haven't read the books, but according to Love I could just skip reading the first book of the series and go directly to the second. That's how precisely they follow the story. But this is perfect. I wanted a new series to be crazy about since Heroes ended (boohoo :'( ) and I love this! The political intrigues, the detailed characters, the constant backstabbing + the supernatural element. It's perfect.
I actually didn't think they would kill Eddard Stark, since Sean Bean was the only known name and drawing card of the series. I didn't think they would kill off Drogo and Daenerys's son either. I thought they would mix up with the already existing war in King's Landing and make it a quick one :P But Deanerys is the Dragon. She can walk through fire. "Fire cannot kill the Dragon". And now she has three baby dragons. Next season's gonna be awesome!
I hope Sansa will do something next season. She seems to be starting up her own rebellion against Joffrey, thinking of pushing him over the edge. A kind of subtle rebellion, but I do hope she will get her own fierceness later on. I wonder what will happen to Arya. She seems to be able to handle herself. Now she's disguised as a boy and it seems like she's leaving King's Landing for the Wall. But what will be at the Wall? The Night's Watch including Snow has rode off beyond the Wall to look for wildlings and white walkers. Will they survive unlike everyone else who has ventured beyond the Wall since the series started? I want to think that Snow is one of the main characters and they can't kill him, but Game of Thrones doesn't seem to follow the common rules of not killing the main characters. I honestly can't say if Snow will make it out alive. Too bad. I like Snow.
And then there's Robb and Tyrion. Hopefully Robb will win his own war, avenge his father, save his sisters and kill the king :) That's what I want to happen anyway, but if that happened next season there wouldn't be much left so that's probably not gonna happen :P Tyrion has slowly become one of my favourites. Hopefully he will be able to spank some sense into Joffrey as the King's Hand. But I rather doubt it...
I just want the incest relationship between the Queen and her brother to be revealed, in the wake of that revelation it will become obvious that Joffrey isn't really a Barathian and he will lose his crown :)
Daenerys is by far my favourite character. She has grown enourmusly since the beginning of the series and now she's a wicked woman that can walk through fire =D
Season finale. Final scene. Daenerys. Do I need say more?
Sunday, 19 June 2011
Horses
Yesterday and today I worked at the horse racecourse in Malmö on an event called American Days. There were American flags everywhere and there were special shows inspired by America. Like Western riding, Mountain shooting, Cowhorse/Cutting and Quarterraces. All foodstand there were Americanized. There were Panpizza, Doughnuts, Hickory Smoked Ribbs and of course hamburgers. There was a small area dedicated to American soldiers from the Second World War, so there were men and women dressed up as 1940's military (wish I'd brought my camera). There was also a small Native American fireplace with a tent close-by. Later in the evening there were tributes to Dolly Parton and Tina Turner on the small stage. There were also loads of old American vintage cars, cool and beautiful all of them.
Along with all this there were of course all the ordinary gallop races. Standing there watching the horses I suddenly felt like 8 years old again. Like all small girls I too loved horses. I wasn't dedicated enough to commit to riding and taking care of a real horse, but every chance I got to ride I took. I was, and still am, a little afraid of horses because they are such big animals (I have respect for all animals I know to be stronger and/or bigger than me). But while I watched those horses there were especially two that I completely fell in love with. One was lightbrown in body and mane, but the tail was half-white and it had white spots on its behind. It seemed a little rough to the body but seemed to have a very subtle nature and personality. Very likeable. The other one was jetblack, so black that it almost shimmered in blue. The mane and tail were long and wavy. It was a very thin horse, muscular and confident, but also beautiful and elegant. None of them seemed to win their races, though.
We had two places where we sold our things. One place close to the stage and one place close to the entrance. Down by the stage we had all the basic things and up by the entrance we had cotton candy and balloons as well. Down by the stage it was extremely windy. I hadn't brought a jacket cause I thought it wouldn't be necessary. But the constant wind added to only 17 degrees made it freezing down by the stage. Luckily Cicci (my friend who also worked there) had her mum come bring a jacket. Since we switched places every now and then, the one standing down by the stage wore her big wind jacket/coat. Also, down by the stage there was absolutely nothing to do except wandering back and forth or sitting down at the very-bad-for-your-back chair. Up next to the entrance on the other hand there was hardly any wind at all (we were between two buildings) and since that was the place with cotton candy and balloons, that's where all the families went. I think I made about 20-30 cotton candy that day and sold about twice the amount of balloons. That was fun! Later in the evening there was a sudden downfall that didn't end, so we decided to pack up and leave 1½ hours earlier than planned.
Today we had only the place up by the entrance. But it was very windy there too today. However I had borrowed my sister's wind jacket today so I was fine. There was hardly anything to do today at all. It was a very slow day and the only exciting thing that happened was that I was photographed by a newspaper (and the small sudden downfalls that had us taking in and bringing the balloons back out again over and over).
At 5pm we closed up and went back home. Now my back, feet and legs hurt from having to constantly stand up two days in a row. It's painful but at the same time it's kind of pleasant to feel that your body has been doing some serious working outdoors. There is a special feeling of accomplishment and pride that comes from throwing out empty boxes at the end of an event. I like my job :)
And the only song I could think of those two days was this one:
Along with all this there were of course all the ordinary gallop races. Standing there watching the horses I suddenly felt like 8 years old again. Like all small girls I too loved horses. I wasn't dedicated enough to commit to riding and taking care of a real horse, but every chance I got to ride I took. I was, and still am, a little afraid of horses because they are such big animals (I have respect for all animals I know to be stronger and/or bigger than me). But while I watched those horses there were especially two that I completely fell in love with. One was lightbrown in body and mane, but the tail was half-white and it had white spots on its behind. It seemed a little rough to the body but seemed to have a very subtle nature and personality. Very likeable. The other one was jetblack, so black that it almost shimmered in blue. The mane and tail were long and wavy. It was a very thin horse, muscular and confident, but also beautiful and elegant. None of them seemed to win their races, though.
We had two places where we sold our things. One place close to the stage and one place close to the entrance. Down by the stage we had all the basic things and up by the entrance we had cotton candy and balloons as well. Down by the stage it was extremely windy. I hadn't brought a jacket cause I thought it wouldn't be necessary. But the constant wind added to only 17 degrees made it freezing down by the stage. Luckily Cicci (my friend who also worked there) had her mum come bring a jacket. Since we switched places every now and then, the one standing down by the stage wore her big wind jacket/coat. Also, down by the stage there was absolutely nothing to do except wandering back and forth or sitting down at the very-bad-for-your-back chair. Up next to the entrance on the other hand there was hardly any wind at all (we were between two buildings) and since that was the place with cotton candy and balloons, that's where all the families went. I think I made about 20-30 cotton candy that day and sold about twice the amount of balloons. That was fun! Later in the evening there was a sudden downfall that didn't end, so we decided to pack up and leave 1½ hours earlier than planned.
Today we had only the place up by the entrance. But it was very windy there too today. However I had borrowed my sister's wind jacket today so I was fine. There was hardly anything to do today at all. It was a very slow day and the only exciting thing that happened was that I was photographed by a newspaper (and the small sudden downfalls that had us taking in and bringing the balloons back out again over and over).
At 5pm we closed up and went back home. Now my back, feet and legs hurt from having to constantly stand up two days in a row. It's painful but at the same time it's kind of pleasant to feel that your body has been doing some serious working outdoors. There is a special feeling of accomplishment and pride that comes from throwing out empty boxes at the end of an event. I like my job :)
And the only song I could think of those two days was this one:
Friday, 17 June 2011
Stephen Lynch
He started off with a few new songs like Lorelai, Dick Like Me, Tennessee and Queer Tattoo (all great), many of the old classics he played this time weren't the same as last time. For example he played Little Tiny Moustache, Beelz, Special, D&D, Priest and Superhero. I guess now that he's working on a new album the songs from his last albums also are classics by now. From that album he only played Dear Diary and A History Lesson.
The 2 hours were great and spent constantly laughing and actually had me bent over with laughter at one point. I never thought Whitney Houston's "I will always love you" could be hilarious. I never thought the Swedish language could be that hilarious. Apparantly he had been in Luleå the night before. Try saying Luleå with an American accent! xD Or kyckling for that matter... I never thought the films "40 year old virgin" and "Good Will Hunting" could be that funny.
All in all it was well worth the money spent. But except for playing four of my favourites (Little Tiny Moustache, Beelz, D&D and A History Lesson) I missed a few songs so here's some shamless advertising :P
Lullaby.
It's a horrible song, but I think it's cosy...
I enjoy listening to it.
What if that Guy from Smashing Pumpkins Lost His Car Keys?
I love this only because it's hilarious and never gets boring...
Craig Christ
Because... Since when is it boring to joke about religion?
There are so many more... Like Grandfather, Baby, Vanilla Ice Cream, Halloween, Talk to Me, America, Hallelujah, Down to the Old Pub Instead... He never gets boring! If you haven't heard of him or listened to his music I suggest that now is a great time to start!
Monday, 30 May 2011
Dixi's first day out!
First real day of summer vacation today and I thought I'd seize the moment and take Dixi out for a walk in the park. It was her first time outdoors and although she's pretty used to the portable cage by now she's not that fond of her harness (It's so pretty! It's pink with skulls on!). So she was a little grumpy when I put the harness on. But as soon as I opened the cage in the park she seemed to soon forget about the harness and trotted away, with me and Love doing our best to keep up! She seemed to enjoy herself and in the end she didn't seem to want to go back home. I will do this more!
Here are four pictures from today (click for larger):
Here are four pictures from today (click for larger):
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Call of Cthulhu RPG #4 - the end
We get a flat tyre. It takes about half an hour to fix and Castle drives by without stopping to help. Finally we arrive at the law firm and there is Castle. A somewhat bleach looking man meets up with us and asks us if we want to cooperate with Castle and explore the house to find out if Cornthwraithe is dead or alive as they have a will to consider. We find out that a sheriff Whitford have been in the house and had a quick look around. We go to visit him. He looks angry when we mention Corthwraithe's name. Smith explains the situation But the sheriff refuses to go anywhere near "the damned house". When we ask he says that he couldn't get down into the basement. At the farm "next door" there's an expensive horse missing.
We have ourselves a meal before we set out for the house again. During dinner Castle shows us a note he found in the house. Cornthwraithe have written that something had killed his staff during the expedition and that it had followed him back. Something green in a temple. The waitress tells us that it was a rich man who built the house about 60 years ago. Both of his sons were in the Civil War. One of them died. The other came home shell shocked and killed his entire family and himself. In the 1890's Arthur Curwen's family moves there. He goes crazy and kills his family with an axe and then disappeard. Three years later and older couple moves there and they died from old age. Three years after that Cornthwraithe moved in.
We drive to the neighbour to ask about the horse. The farmer is pissed at us for disturbing him in his dinner. The horse was in the pen closest to Cornthwraithe's house. We drive back to the house and start exploring the overgrown garden. Castle says that some of the plants are from the tropics. Castle tumbles on a tree root he swears wasn't there a minute ago. We continue and Carling gets whipped by branches. Carling clears up with the axe he found in the garden and then throws the axe into the largest tree there is. A lot of water rushes out on him. The road is blocked by a fallen tree. We climb over the trunk but as it starts to get dark we return to the cars. There is absolutely no sign of animal life. We enter the house and try out the electricity. There is in some rooms. We put some beds in the library. Then we explore the kitchen. There is no water and no gas. In the kitchen is the doors to the cellar. Can't open the dooes. Not even when we remove the hinges. We check the attic instead. There is a trunk that has blown up from the inside. It's glittering inside. Inside are jungle expedition stuff. Sophie graps the machete and Carling grabs the revolver. Keep looking around the attic and Castle falls through the floor. The light goes out. Sophie lights her lighter and Carling makes a torch. Castle is in a room with no doors or windows and he's staring at a rotting corpse and a bloody axe. We've found Arthur Curwen. Castle takes a picture after he has climbed back through the floor. We exit the attic and enter the library. Put salt in doors and windows.
We all sleep very badly. There are absolutely no sounds from the garden. Should be more sounds. We rise at dawn. There's a knock on the entrance door. Castle puts salt in the door and opens it. There is a hooded man with an axe. Castle closes the door. The man tries to enter. He says his name is Stan and that he's from the local newspaper. He says he found the axe in the garden. Smith grabs the axe and we bring him to the kitchen. The doors are still closed. Stan can't open the doors. Carling gives him the crowbar. Stan gives it to Castle. Castle pries but it doesn't open. Stan takes it from him and continues to pry. The door is torn off. Down there it's dark, moist and it's dripping. We light the lamp and go downstairs. Bones from small animals all over the floor. Water damages. Earth floor. Hatch to a coal cellar. Pokes around the coal, but there's nothing there. We exit the basement and move on to the room with trophies from Cornthwraithe's expeditions on the second floor. Castle closes the hatch to the attic. In the room there are a lot of artefacts taken directly from temples. The statues seem to glare at us accusingly. Smith absorbes herself in the history and tells Sophie to not steal anything. Sophie and Carling goes to see how Stan is doing (He went to the toilet). Castle stays with Smith. We knock on the toilet door. No answer. The door is unlocked but unable to open.. Then it clicks and opens a little. The door opens and the room is filled with water. Stan is in the middle of it. Dead. A tentacle shoots out for us. We run towards the bedroom (where there were salt in doors and windows). Castle and Smith comes along with us. The salt is no longer intact and the water enters the room. Water all over the house. Castle and Sophie jumps out through the window (second floor). Carling and Smith har hold back by the water. Smith waves the axe. More tentacles and a face appears. She jumps out through the window as soon as she's free. Castle and Sophie runs for the cars. Smith runs around the house. Carling follows Smith. The creature screamed when Carling slipped away. Castle and Sophie drive away. Sophie puts salt in the windows of the cars. They hear a crash behind them. Smith has gone temporarily crazy and crashed her car. Carling runs for it but gets shot by Smith. Sophie and Castle drive off. Come back to the village and visit the closest doctor. Sophie gets the sheriff who whiten considerably when he hears of the dead body. Smith comes into the doctor's carried by a stranger (broken leg). Castle leaves pretty soon after that.
Two weeks later Smith and Sophie drive back to the house. Sophie puts the house on fire and everything burns down and the creature screams. They drive back to New York, there Sophie sells the machete, the tie-pin and the cigar box
We have ourselves a meal before we set out for the house again. During dinner Castle shows us a note he found in the house. Cornthwraithe have written that something had killed his staff during the expedition and that it had followed him back. Something green in a temple. The waitress tells us that it was a rich man who built the house about 60 years ago. Both of his sons were in the Civil War. One of them died. The other came home shell shocked and killed his entire family and himself. In the 1890's Arthur Curwen's family moves there. He goes crazy and kills his family with an axe and then disappeard. Three years later and older couple moves there and they died from old age. Three years after that Cornthwraithe moved in.
We drive to the neighbour to ask about the horse. The farmer is pissed at us for disturbing him in his dinner. The horse was in the pen closest to Cornthwraithe's house. We drive back to the house and start exploring the overgrown garden. Castle says that some of the plants are from the tropics. Castle tumbles on a tree root he swears wasn't there a minute ago. We continue and Carling gets whipped by branches. Carling clears up with the axe he found in the garden and then throws the axe into the largest tree there is. A lot of water rushes out on him. The road is blocked by a fallen tree. We climb over the trunk but as it starts to get dark we return to the cars. There is absolutely no sign of animal life. We enter the house and try out the electricity. There is in some rooms. We put some beds in the library. Then we explore the kitchen. There is no water and no gas. In the kitchen is the doors to the cellar. Can't open the dooes. Not even when we remove the hinges. We check the attic instead. There is a trunk that has blown up from the inside. It's glittering inside. Inside are jungle expedition stuff. Sophie graps the machete and Carling grabs the revolver. Keep looking around the attic and Castle falls through the floor. The light goes out. Sophie lights her lighter and Carling makes a torch. Castle is in a room with no doors or windows and he's staring at a rotting corpse and a bloody axe. We've found Arthur Curwen. Castle takes a picture after he has climbed back through the floor. We exit the attic and enter the library. Put salt in doors and windows.
We all sleep very badly. There are absolutely no sounds from the garden. Should be more sounds. We rise at dawn. There's a knock on the entrance door. Castle puts salt in the door and opens it. There is a hooded man with an axe. Castle closes the door. The man tries to enter. He says his name is Stan and that he's from the local newspaper. He says he found the axe in the garden. Smith grabs the axe and we bring him to the kitchen. The doors are still closed. Stan can't open the doors. Carling gives him the crowbar. Stan gives it to Castle. Castle pries but it doesn't open. Stan takes it from him and continues to pry. The door is torn off. Down there it's dark, moist and it's dripping. We light the lamp and go downstairs. Bones from small animals all over the floor. Water damages. Earth floor. Hatch to a coal cellar. Pokes around the coal, but there's nothing there. We exit the basement and move on to the room with trophies from Cornthwraithe's expeditions on the second floor. Castle closes the hatch to the attic. In the room there are a lot of artefacts taken directly from temples. The statues seem to glare at us accusingly. Smith absorbes herself in the history and tells Sophie to not steal anything. Sophie and Carling goes to see how Stan is doing (He went to the toilet). Castle stays with Smith. We knock on the toilet door. No answer. The door is unlocked but unable to open.. Then it clicks and opens a little. The door opens and the room is filled with water. Stan is in the middle of it. Dead. A tentacle shoots out for us. We run towards the bedroom (where there were salt in doors and windows). Castle and Smith comes along with us. The salt is no longer intact and the water enters the room. Water all over the house. Castle and Sophie jumps out through the window (second floor). Carling and Smith har hold back by the water. Smith waves the axe. More tentacles and a face appears. She jumps out through the window as soon as she's free. Castle and Sophie runs for the cars. Smith runs around the house. Carling follows Smith. The creature screamed when Carling slipped away. Castle and Sophie drive away. Sophie puts salt in the windows of the cars. They hear a crash behind them. Smith has gone temporarily crazy and crashed her car. Carling runs for it but gets shot by Smith. Sophie and Castle drive off. Come back to the village and visit the closest doctor. Sophie gets the sheriff who whiten considerably when he hears of the dead body. Smith comes into the doctor's carried by a stranger (broken leg). Castle leaves pretty soon after that.
Two weeks later Smith and Sophie drive back to the house. Sophie puts the house on fire and everything burns down and the creature screams. They drive back to New York, there Sophie sells the machete, the tie-pin and the cigar box
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes and returning home
In the end we went for Indian and not teppanyaki. Our friends' neighbours had this sign on their garage. Explain the exclamation mark, please.
For our last day we wanted to do the nerdy stuff. I wanted to go to King's Cross to see what they had done for platform 9 3/4 and Love wanted to go to 221b Baker Street, where Sherlock Holmes is said to live in the stories.
First we wanted to go and have lunch at a Dutch pancake place we found our very first day. However we couldn't find it again. So we walked around for ages trying to find a place to eat that was cheap and sounded good and in the end we went inside a bar. Love had a burger and I had some pasta dish that was really good. After lunch we headed to King's Cross and although I thought what they had made for platform 9 3/4 was quite dreadful, I had to take a picture ;)
Then we went to Baker Street and the Sherlock Holmes museum. It was quite cool stepping off the train at Baker Street Station. Baker Street is one of the stations from the original Victorian underground called the Metropolitan line and the station was very 19th century. It was really cool! Stepping outside the first thing we see is a huge statue of Sherlock Holmes pointing us in the right direction. The museum tickets were £6 each so we decided not to go and only had a look around the souvenir shop, which was quite nice in itself. We bought a sign saying Baker Street with a small Sherlock Holmes icon in the topmost right corner :)
For dinner we went to that same pub we went to on our first night. After returning the time was about 9pm and we said goodnight and went to bed. The alarm went off at 4am. We got up, got dressed and walked to the tube station in Acton Town. Turned out we had misread the time by 30 minutes - to our advantage. We had to wait around for 25 minutes before we could go down to the platform and take the train to Victoria. At Victoria we had to run to catch the Gatwick Express and then we were on our way. We had breakfast at the airport after security and before going to our gate. Both of us slept the 1½ hours on the plane.
Got home. Got unpacked. Now everything's back to normal. It's nice going away but it feels good to be back home again :)
For our last day we wanted to do the nerdy stuff. I wanted to go to King's Cross to see what they had done for platform 9 3/4 and Love wanted to go to 221b Baker Street, where Sherlock Holmes is said to live in the stories.
First we wanted to go and have lunch at a Dutch pancake place we found our very first day. However we couldn't find it again. So we walked around for ages trying to find a place to eat that was cheap and sounded good and in the end we went inside a bar. Love had a burger and I had some pasta dish that was really good. After lunch we headed to King's Cross and although I thought what they had made for platform 9 3/4 was quite dreadful, I had to take a picture ;)
Then we went to Baker Street and the Sherlock Holmes museum. It was quite cool stepping off the train at Baker Street Station. Baker Street is one of the stations from the original Victorian underground called the Metropolitan line and the station was very 19th century. It was really cool! Stepping outside the first thing we see is a huge statue of Sherlock Holmes pointing us in the right direction. The museum tickets were £6 each so we decided not to go and only had a look around the souvenir shop, which was quite nice in itself. We bought a sign saying Baker Street with a small Sherlock Holmes icon in the topmost right corner :)
For dinner we went to that same pub we went to on our first night. After returning the time was about 9pm and we said goodnight and went to bed. The alarm went off at 4am. We got up, got dressed and walked to the tube station in Acton Town. Turned out we had misread the time by 30 minutes - to our advantage. We had to wait around for 25 minutes before we could go down to the platform and take the train to Victoria. At Victoria we had to run to catch the Gatwick Express and then we were on our way. We had breakfast at the airport after security and before going to our gate. Both of us slept the 1½ hours on the plane.
Got home. Got unpacked. Now everything's back to normal. It's nice going away but it feels good to be back home again :)
Sunday, 24 April 2011
Camden Market, Chinatown and Buckingham Palace
We had a slow start today since the plan was to meet up with Tiffany at 2pm at Camden Town Station to have a look at the market. So we didn't go out until it was time to go meet up with her.
Camden Market was cool. Huge crowd and loads of interesting things on sale. Love got himself a pair of Batman Converse shoes :P I was too busy looking to take pictures and with all the people it would've been pretty hard stopping to take a picture and at the same time keep up with Love and Tiffany. We had lunch at one of the food stands there and continued our walk down Camden Market afterwards.
When we got tired of all the people there we took the tube to Covent Garden. Tiffany had said that she knew the best cupcake place there and ofc she had to take us ;) So she had a vanilla one, Love had a caramel one and I had a banoffee one. Banana Toffee.
After sitting down and eating cupcakes and talking about whatever she had to get going to get started on a school assignment and we walked down the street, headed for Chinatown. In Chinatown there were mostly restaurants, but we found one sweets shop where we went in and I immediately started looking for things I ate in Tokyo. Unfortunately I didn't find much except Pocky and the lovely Calpis Water. I also bought a Hello Kitty tin can with fruit drops in it. Because I liked the design and I like hard candy.
Chinatown ended up not being that big and at the end was Piccadilly Cricus. From there we picked a direction and started walking. We ended up in St. James's Park and then we found Buckingham Palace :)
Now we're going out to eat teppanyaki at a new Japanese restaurant in Ealing Broadway :)
Camden Market was cool. Huge crowd and loads of interesting things on sale. Love got himself a pair of Batman Converse shoes :P I was too busy looking to take pictures and with all the people it would've been pretty hard stopping to take a picture and at the same time keep up with Love and Tiffany. We had lunch at one of the food stands there and continued our walk down Camden Market afterwards.
When we got tired of all the people there we took the tube to Covent Garden. Tiffany had said that she knew the best cupcake place there and ofc she had to take us ;) So she had a vanilla one, Love had a caramel one and I had a banoffee one. Banana Toffee.
After sitting down and eating cupcakes and talking about whatever she had to get going to get started on a school assignment and we walked down the street, headed for Chinatown. In Chinatown there were mostly restaurants, but we found one sweets shop where we went in and I immediately started looking for things I ate in Tokyo. Unfortunately I didn't find much except Pocky and the lovely Calpis Water. I also bought a Hello Kitty tin can with fruit drops in it. Because I liked the design and I like hard candy.
Chinatown ended up not being that big and at the end was Piccadilly Cricus. From there we picked a direction and started walking. We ended up in St. James's Park and then we found Buckingham Palace :)
Now we're going out to eat teppanyaki at a new Japanese restaurant in Ealing Broadway :)
London Aquarium, London Dungeons and a walk along the River Thames
For yesterday we had combined tickets to London Aquarium and London Dungeons. I looked up how to get there and then we took the tube to the aquarium. We had priority entrance tickets and got to skip most of the queue, but still we had to queue a lot inside. There was a really big fuss about the shark tank that in the end wasn't that fantastic. There was the standard underwater tunnel in the tank with sharks and rays and a pair of sea turtles. It was really really short but that was the best of the aquarium. I was kind of disappointed. Although it was nice and I had a good time it wasn't as great as the one in Seoul, which was ginormous and had pretty much every kind of sea animal there is.
The first thing we did after exiting the aquarium was to find Wagamama at the South Bank and once again have some Japanese food. The Japanese really know their food and everything is delicious. After lunch we started to look for the dungeons. On the map they had looked quite close, but it was actually really far. We got a nice walk along the South Bank, from Westminster Bridge to London Bridge. It was beautiful weather and we passed St. Paul's cathedral and the area we had walked around in the day before.
On our way to the dungeons we saw a ship. Like an old 16th century ship. It turned out to be a reconstruction of Sir Francis Drake's galleon. Francis Drake was a pirate and privateer under Elizabeth I and he gave her so much money that she knighted him. I wanted to go aboard and still I didn't. If it hadn't been a reconstruction but the real thing from the 16th century I wouldn't have hesitated.
But we were in a hurry. At 4pm we finally arrived at the dungeons and started queueing to get inside. We didn't have priority entrance to the dungeons. 45 minutes later we got in and had our picture taking; me holding an axe over Love's neck ^^
Then the tour started. The actors were great and it wasn't really scary. I felt a little uneasy, but not scared. So we passed through the Crypt, the Labyrinth of Lost Souls and the Plague, and then we got to the Great Fire of London. That was the first interesting moment. We were all standing in a room where they had a film going with some of the actors acting out the horrors of the night when all of medieval London burned down, caused by a spark from the local bakery. Over 300 houses. By the end of the film there was smoke coming from the door we were supposed to continue through.
After that came the Surgeon, telling us of how many surgeons gave in to grave robbery to learn anatomy. Here the actress picked one from the audience to assist her. After going through lobotomy and blood letting on him she came to amputation. The whole room went dark and we were sprayed with something wet (only water) while a recorded man's voice screamed :P That was a lot of fun. The Torture room had a very fun actress who left us laughing. We entered the Judgement which had us laugh even more as the presenter of the case was a very young and happy girl and the judge was a complete drunkard. Here they had three people from the audience being judged for different crimes.
We continued through the Madhouse in Bedlam and then got on our first ride; a boat ride to Hell. After which we ended up visiting Mrs Lovett and Sweeney Todd and then we arrived at the new show of 2011; Jack the Ripper. This was the scariest moment ever. The actors repeatedly told the women to cover their necks and throats and stay close to a man. We were invited into a bar by an actor who told us that it was the 10th anniversary of Jack the Ripper's murders. No one knew where he went and everyone was scared he'd come back. There was a fictional storm while we where there and the lights went out. When thunder lighted up the bar we saw a cloaked figure with a top hat slicing for the closest woman.
A little shaky we continued to the next room where a film, similar to the one of the Great Fire of London, told us of Jack the Ripper. It depicted his murders in detail and showed us old 19th century pictrues of the victims. Beneath the screen was a reconstruction of the final victim and everything he had done to her. That was horrid and gross.
Next room was Bloody Mary the Queen. The daughter of Henry VIII who convicted loads of people of heresy and hanged them. We were all judged as heretics and sent to the gallows. This was the second ride. We all sat down and had the protectors down. Then we were hoist up into the air were there were dolls who did the ceremonial judging and then the hangman moved and we were dropped to the floor. It was a very small free fall kind of ride but it was fun. That's where it all ended.
When we got out the time was 6.30pm and we decided to return home. It was raining and it was a really nice change from all the sun. No cameras were allowed in the dungeons.
The first thing we did after exiting the aquarium was to find Wagamama at the South Bank and once again have some Japanese food. The Japanese really know their food and everything is delicious. After lunch we started to look for the dungeons. On the map they had looked quite close, but it was actually really far. We got a nice walk along the South Bank, from Westminster Bridge to London Bridge. It was beautiful weather and we passed St. Paul's cathedral and the area we had walked around in the day before.
On our way to the dungeons we saw a ship. Like an old 16th century ship. It turned out to be a reconstruction of Sir Francis Drake's galleon. Francis Drake was a pirate and privateer under Elizabeth I and he gave her so much money that she knighted him. I wanted to go aboard and still I didn't. If it hadn't been a reconstruction but the real thing from the 16th century I wouldn't have hesitated.
But we were in a hurry. At 4pm we finally arrived at the dungeons and started queueing to get inside. We didn't have priority entrance to the dungeons. 45 minutes later we got in and had our picture taking; me holding an axe over Love's neck ^^
Then the tour started. The actors were great and it wasn't really scary. I felt a little uneasy, but not scared. So we passed through the Crypt, the Labyrinth of Lost Souls and the Plague, and then we got to the Great Fire of London. That was the first interesting moment. We were all standing in a room where they had a film going with some of the actors acting out the horrors of the night when all of medieval London burned down, caused by a spark from the local bakery. Over 300 houses. By the end of the film there was smoke coming from the door we were supposed to continue through.
After that came the Surgeon, telling us of how many surgeons gave in to grave robbery to learn anatomy. Here the actress picked one from the audience to assist her. After going through lobotomy and blood letting on him she came to amputation. The whole room went dark and we were sprayed with something wet (only water) while a recorded man's voice screamed :P That was a lot of fun. The Torture room had a very fun actress who left us laughing. We entered the Judgement which had us laugh even more as the presenter of the case was a very young and happy girl and the judge was a complete drunkard. Here they had three people from the audience being judged for different crimes.
We continued through the Madhouse in Bedlam and then got on our first ride; a boat ride to Hell. After which we ended up visiting Mrs Lovett and Sweeney Todd and then we arrived at the new show of 2011; Jack the Ripper. This was the scariest moment ever. The actors repeatedly told the women to cover their necks and throats and stay close to a man. We were invited into a bar by an actor who told us that it was the 10th anniversary of Jack the Ripper's murders. No one knew where he went and everyone was scared he'd come back. There was a fictional storm while we where there and the lights went out. When thunder lighted up the bar we saw a cloaked figure with a top hat slicing for the closest woman.
A little shaky we continued to the next room where a film, similar to the one of the Great Fire of London, told us of Jack the Ripper. It depicted his murders in detail and showed us old 19th century pictrues of the victims. Beneath the screen was a reconstruction of the final victim and everything he had done to her. That was horrid and gross.
Next room was Bloody Mary the Queen. The daughter of Henry VIII who convicted loads of people of heresy and hanged them. We were all judged as heretics and sent to the gallows. This was the second ride. We all sat down and had the protectors down. Then we were hoist up into the air were there were dolls who did the ceremonial judging and then the hangman moved and we were dropped to the floor. It was a very small free fall kind of ride but it was fun. That's where it all ended.
When we got out the time was 6.30pm and we decided to return home. It was raining and it was a really nice change from all the sun. No cameras were allowed in the dungeons.
Friday, 22 April 2011
[Edited] Kensington Park, Mary Poppins and shopping
Today we were going to make a park round. The guy we live with told us that if we start at Kensington Park we can go through Hyde Park, Green Park and St James's park too. So we took the tube and logically we got off at South Kensington. There we got lost for about half an hour in the scorching heat before we actually found the entrance to Kensington Park. When we found it we were so exhausted and worn out from the heat that we lay down in the grass in the shadow of a tree.
When we got up again after about 15 minutes we took the Flower Path, cause it looked nice. And smelled nice. And there were loads of squirrels, obviously used to being fed by humans and thus were very friendly and unafraid. They got up real close!
We continued to walk and found some monument. We are not really sure whom or what it's for. Then we walked further into the middle of the park where we found a huge pond filled with ducks and swans, but luckily no geese. Those birds were also very used to being fed by humans and got up real close, but without leaving the water. I kind of envied them. Water is so nice when it's so hot. I wanted to wet my feet but not even the children there were doing it so I resisted.
After getting some soft ice we took the tube to St. Paul's because I wanted to see the cathedral from Mary Poppins in person. While there we also took a detour to the Bank of London where the dad worked in Mary Poppins. Seeing the cathedral made me think a lot about this clip from the film.
Then we got back on the tube for Russell Square where we had found an okonomiyaki place on our first day. After lunch we took the tube to Oxford Circus to continue our walk along Oxford Street, where we had walked on our first day. That got me buying a new pair of shoes (Converse) and three new T-shirts from Uniqlo :) I also gave in to the sun and bought myself an after sun lotion. I got burned pretty badly...
For tomorrow we have combined tickets for Sea Life London Aquarium and London Dungeons!
When we got up again after about 15 minutes we took the Flower Path, cause it looked nice. And smelled nice. And there were loads of squirrels, obviously used to being fed by humans and thus were very friendly and unafraid. They got up real close!
We continued to walk and found some monument. We are not really sure whom or what it's for. Then we walked further into the middle of the park where we found a huge pond filled with ducks and swans, but luckily no geese. Those birds were also very used to being fed by humans and got up real close, but without leaving the water. I kind of envied them. Water is so nice when it's so hot. I wanted to wet my feet but not even the children there were doing it so I resisted.
After getting some soft ice we took the tube to St. Paul's because I wanted to see the cathedral from Mary Poppins in person. While there we also took a detour to the Bank of London where the dad worked in Mary Poppins. Seeing the cathedral made me think a lot about this clip from the film.
Then we got back on the tube for Russell Square where we had found an okonomiyaki place on our first day. After lunch we took the tube to Oxford Circus to continue our walk along Oxford Street, where we had walked on our first day. That got me buying a new pair of shoes (Converse) and three new T-shirts from Uniqlo :) I also gave in to the sun and bought myself an after sun lotion. I got burned pretty badly...
For tomorrow we have combined tickets for Sea Life London Aquarium and London Dungeons!
Thursday, 21 April 2011
The Tower of London
After sleeping for too long we went out around noon. Today was another well over 20 degrees day and sunny. We had decided yesterday to go to the Tower of London today and see the Crown Jewels. It was extremely hot and the air conditioning don't seem to work on any of the underground trains, thus not enough oxygen. We arrived and there was a huge crowd. Lots of people, but we decided to go anyway. The first queue seemed very long and tedious at first sight but passed through surprisingly quick. I thought it was interesting and I found myself knowing way more about the British royalties than I first thought. Love found himself with a free History lesson.
Except for the Crown Jewels we entered the Torture Chamber, which was a big disappointment. It was only one room with only three devices and then it was finished. We also entered the White Tower and saw the armoury.
After those three buildings we were quite hungry and decided to leave the Tower to find something to eat. We exited the fortress and the first thing we see is Tower Bridge and the River Thames. The blue ornaments on Tower Bridge are eyesores to me. They look hideous!
Just opposite the Tower of London we found a Japanese restaurant called Wagamama and there we had our lunch. After lunch we took the tube a few stations to Westminister. The exit to Houses of Parliament have you coming out of the underground right at the foot of Big Ben. It was pretty cool.
We crossed Westminister Bridge and arrived on the South Bank with the London Eye. From there we picked a direction and then we walked. At that direction we accidentally found Waterloo Station, the Imperial Court and a WWII Monument. We followed Kennington Lane all the way back to the Thames and then we took the tube back home from Vauxhall.
That's enough adventure for one day.
Except for the Crown Jewels we entered the Torture Chamber, which was a big disappointment. It was only one room with only three devices and then it was finished. We also entered the White Tower and saw the armoury.
After those three buildings we were quite hungry and decided to leave the Tower to find something to eat. We exited the fortress and the first thing we see is Tower Bridge and the River Thames. The blue ornaments on Tower Bridge are eyesores to me. They look hideous!
Just opposite the Tower of London we found a Japanese restaurant called Wagamama and there we had our lunch. After lunch we took the tube a few stations to Westminister. The exit to Houses of Parliament have you coming out of the underground right at the foot of Big Ben. It was pretty cool.
We crossed Westminister Bridge and arrived on the South Bank with the London Eye. From there we picked a direction and then we walked. At that direction we accidentally found Waterloo Station, the Imperial Court and a WWII Monument. We followed Kennington Lane all the way back to the Thames and then we took the tube back home from Vauxhall.
That's enough adventure for one day.
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
British Museum
First day in London ended up being great. It's pretty much summer here. Today it was well above 20 degrees and sunny. For our first day we decided that the British Museum would be nice so we took the tube to Russell Square and walked from there. I had never been there and after Love mentioned something about mummies I wanted to go.
Our first thought was to go through all of it, but after going through the 12th room full of decorated rocks we started to get tired of seeing all these rocks and statues and decided to fast forward to what we thought was the most interesting. Obviously the first stop fast forwarding was the mummies. That ended up being only an exhibition of the mummifying procedure and one single dried up mummy. I looked upon him and said: "I don't think this is how he pictured his afterlife." The Mummy room was also the most popular room. Extremely crowded. I ended up getting approval for my theory that all people are morbid, although maybe not everyone would agree to it. But if you go to a museum to see thousands of years old dried up dead people you have to be pretty morbid, right?
Next stop was Asia. China and Japan. To me China and Egypt are the two most original cultures in the world and then pretty much everyone copied parts of it and adopted it to be their own. I liked this part very much, especially the part with Chinese jade and those extremely intricate designs. In the Japanese section however it bothered me to pieces that they kept calling the shinto deities buddhist. I also liked the part where we walked into one room and before us is a huge stone statue originating from Easter Island (I think).
The most excited I was at the museum was to see the Rosetta stone. The stone where the same text is written in Egyptian, Ancient Greek and Babylonian. This stone helped translate the old languages thanks to the Ancient Greek and what's really great about this stone is that the text contains all of the letters from that language. It's really something. However it was hard to get a good picture since the stone was in a glass monter. Without flash you could hardly see the stone cause all the people around you was reflected in the glass and with flash you could hardly see the stone cause the flash was reflected in the glass. But I was happy to have seen it anyway.
After the museum we had fish n chips for lunch and then we just walked. I have no idea where we walked and how but around 4pm we had arrived at Oxford Circus and decided that it was time to head back. By then I know we had walked on both Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road. When we got home we both showered and then took a nap for about 30 minutes. Both totally exhausted!
Tomorrow I think The Towern is up.
Our first thought was to go through all of it, but after going through the 12th room full of decorated rocks we started to get tired of seeing all these rocks and statues and decided to fast forward to what we thought was the most interesting. Obviously the first stop fast forwarding was the mummies. That ended up being only an exhibition of the mummifying procedure and one single dried up mummy. I looked upon him and said: "I don't think this is how he pictured his afterlife." The Mummy room was also the most popular room. Extremely crowded. I ended up getting approval for my theory that all people are morbid, although maybe not everyone would agree to it. But if you go to a museum to see thousands of years old dried up dead people you have to be pretty morbid, right?
Next stop was Asia. China and Japan. To me China and Egypt are the two most original cultures in the world and then pretty much everyone copied parts of it and adopted it to be their own. I liked this part very much, especially the part with Chinese jade and those extremely intricate designs. In the Japanese section however it bothered me to pieces that they kept calling the shinto deities buddhist. I also liked the part where we walked into one room and before us is a huge stone statue originating from Easter Island (I think).
The most excited I was at the museum was to see the Rosetta stone. The stone where the same text is written in Egyptian, Ancient Greek and Babylonian. This stone helped translate the old languages thanks to the Ancient Greek and what's really great about this stone is that the text contains all of the letters from that language. It's really something. However it was hard to get a good picture since the stone was in a glass monter. Without flash you could hardly see the stone cause all the people around you was reflected in the glass and with flash you could hardly see the stone cause the flash was reflected in the glass. But I was happy to have seen it anyway.
After the museum we had fish n chips for lunch and then we just walked. I have no idea where we walked and how but around 4pm we had arrived at Oxford Circus and decided that it was time to head back. By then I know we had walked on both Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road. When we got home we both showered and then took a nap for about 30 minutes. Both totally exhausted!
Tomorrow I think The Towern is up.
Friday, 8 April 2011
Dead Boy's Poem
"If you read this line, remember not the hand that wrote it
Remember only the verse, songmaker's cry, the one without tears
For I've given this its strength and it has become my only strength
Comforting home, mother's lap, chance for immortality
Where being wanted became a thrill I never knew
The sweet piano writing down my life
Teach me passion, for I fear it's gone
Show me love, hold the lorn
So much more I wanted to give to the ones who loved me
I'm sorry
Time will tell, this bitter farewell
I live no more to shame nor me nor you
And you... I wish I didn't feel for you anymore."
- Nightwish
So insanely beautiful. It gets me every time.
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