So Chris and I have been messing around playing Beatles songs for the last week or so and tonight we had a go at recording a few. This was really only a practice run, to see what kind of recording quality we could get with some free software and the microphone that came with Beatles Rock Band. Also, to see if I could figure out how to put another track over the top for a guitar solo (success, yay).

And it turned out pretty well -- a few little mistakes and I've sung better before, but all the same I'm excited and wanted to share these two songs with you :D

Right click and save, or just click normally and play in your browser:

I Should Have Known
You're Going To Lose That Girl

That's Chris on guitar and me singing, which him joining in on the second track. Our "band" is called Her Majesty & The Imposter, after the Beatles song (Her Majesty) and the Elvis Costello (The Imposter) song.

As I said, please remember this was just a practice run and we'll hopefully do better later XD

Hello My name is

Kate

My identity is

admirer, adorkable, ally, bi-romantic, bisexual, bookworm, brunette, cat lover, chubby, complex, creative, curious, cute, daydreamer, different, dreamer, eccentric, fangirl, female, feminist, friend, full of love, gay-friendly, geek, girl, girl lover, happy, hippie, intelligent, introvert, kinky, left-brained, liberal, library dyke, loved, lover, loving, Miss, man-loving, married, minx, myself, nerd, open, pagan, pan-romantic, pansexual, passionate, person, polycurious, pro-choice, pro-sex feminist, queer, quiet, quirky, romantic, sapiosexual, sapphist, sensitive, sex positive, shy, spiritual, submissive, sweet, trans-friendly, understanding, unique, vegetarian, XX

What's yours?

Well, that was interesting.

So back in April of 2007 Chris and I went to London for the day and decided to do "A Day in the Life". For some reason, I never actually got round to uploading the photos or posting them. I'm not really sure why. But here I am, two and a half years later, sharing them with you XD

( one day in April 2007 )

We're going to London again next week, so I may do this again :D

Since paying off some of our arrears we realised that Chris would have quite a bit of money spare each month from his wages. Enough for us to pay my course fees without having to borrow from my mum, and to save up for getting the car fixed. And, what with me earning some extra money this week, enough to buy Beatles Rock Band: Limited Edition before everyone else rushes out to buy it for Christmas...

It's actually even more fun that I expected. I've been mostly playing drums, which is funny because drums are not something I've ever really expressed an interest in in real life. Of all the instruments in Rock Band, drums are probably most like the real thing. And they're really hard. I think it'll help me with my ukulele playing because of course it's all about rhythm, and strumming is where I have the most trouble on the uke. Chris has been playing a lot of bass, because he used to be a bass player in a band, but he switches over to vocals when Lucy plays because she likes to play guitar and we only have one guitar/bass at the moment. When all three of were playing together yesterday it was loads of fun, it was almost like we were really playing.

We also went to Ikea and bought a new saucepan because I ruined the old one by letting it boil dry. This is very dull news, but I mention it because we got a £5 Ikea gift voucher in exchange for donating five old books we didn't want anymore :D It's a special promotion (possibly UK only?) to celebrate Billy (the bookcase) being thirty years old. They had some really prettily decorated Billys there that was I rather tempted by because I do need a new bookcase. Probably more than I needed Beatles Rock Band XD Never mind, my books are coping okay in boxes. While in Ikea we also got a 19 piece tupperware set for £2.50! This is not dull, this is very exciting. They'll do for Chris' bento, because he doesn't have a box of his own and for some reason he doesn't believe that a cute box will make his lunch taste better. (He's right, in a way -- the magic ingredient is actually LOVE.) Speaking of bento, I got some very cute bento things from ebay recently. I'll show you some pictures next time.

I went to my mum's again today to pick up a knitting pattern she'd photocopied for me, a knitting magazine of mine that she had borrowed, Lucy's washing (our washing machine is broken), and a stamp to post my OU registration form back. Last time we were there, my mum gave us some home-made cake to take home, so this time I returned her tupperware and put some cupcakes in it, as Lucy and I made quite a lot yesterday for her boyfriend's birthday (Lucy's not my mum's).

Maisie and Muffin were both very pleased to see me. Maisie chewed my hands again but has learnt to be more gentle about it. She's funny because she's like a real dog. Well, of course she is, but Muffin has never really been very dog-like. He's never really grasped the concept of fetch, for one thing, unlike Maisie who picked it up right away. She also loves to bury things and dig things up, and she's been finding plums all over the garden and hiding them in the house. She had a rawhide shoe yesterday and she took it to pieces and hid each one in various places, including one in Muffin's bed, which confused him when he found it. She also dug some weeds out of a rather large flowerpot and then emptied the pot entirely of earth. Muffin has never really done any of those things. Perhaps he's right -- perhaps he really is a person and not a dog.

I'm excited about the knitting pattern my mum has copied for me. It's a cardigan called Whisper and there is absolutely no seaming involved! You start with one sleeve, knitting in the round, then switch to flats for the back of the shoulders, and then back to circs/DPNs for the other sleeve, resulting in a shrug-like thing. Then you pick up and knit to lengthen the back, as well as to do the neckline. There's a schematic here if that made no sense. I ideally wanted to do it in a nice variegated red colour but I can't find any suitable yarn that's fairly cheap and in the UK, so I think I'm going to go with the plum shade from here.

I still haven't finished my Mrs Darcy cardigan yet >.< Neither of the needlework shops in town had the right size DPNs; one of them has ordered them in for me but they hadn't arrived when I went in to check the other day. So no casting on for Whisper until I've finished Mrs Darcy. I'd better hurry up though because I'd ideally like to finish Whisper in time for Christmas so I can wear it on Christmas Day, and it's lace-weight yarn so it's going to take forever. I have a few Christmas presents to knit/crochet too but they're fairly small and shouldn't take long.

I attempted to bake again cookies again yesterday. I made a lot of dough, enough for more than three baking trays worth of cookies. The first lot were undercooked. The second lot caught fire(!) in the oven. By the third tray, I was feeling rather disillusioned and just put all of the rest of the dough on the tray, knowing there were too many on there and that they were too close together. Of course, it came out as one giant cookie that had to be chipped off the baking tray. Tasted nice though XD

I got an anonymous package yesterday containing a little booklet of biscuit recipes, a bear shaped cookie cutter and some lollies. Of course, I knew right away it was from mwandie and then the postmark confirmed it XD Mandie is sweet like that.

My mum said she'd lend me the money for my OU course ♥ I don't know when I can pay her back, but she says it's okay if it's not for a long time because she doesn't have a pension so she'll be in more need of the money then anyway. Aww.

I went round there today to lend her a knitting magazine and to see Maisie. Maisie is still lovely but she has sharp little teeth and thinks chewing on people's hands is fun. My mum says she's got bigger but she still looks tiny to me. She's getting blonde bits in her fur but her face is still really dark. Muffin has taken to just ignoring her which is an improvement on snapping at her at least. He's also got much better at not barking at other dogs in the park. My mum says it's because he's realised now that he is actually a dog and not a human. Perhaps in time he'll learn to be friendly with Maisie and be a proper big brother.

Tomorrow I am going to wash my hair and catch up on all my emails. I know that was hardly an interesting thing to say, but I thought writing it down might increase the chances of me actually doing it.

my anime stereotype

(if you're not familiar with anime but want to play anyway, here's a list of stereotypes!)

♥ This Big Train sketch. We've watched a couple of Beatles documentaries recently as there seems to be a bit of a Beatles season going on, and I just can't help but start laughing whenever I hear George Martin, thanks to this sketch XD



♥ FreeRice.com. I'm sure you're all already aware of this site, but it's a good cause and so always worth a mention. Thanks to _phoe mentioning it earlier, I'm now trying to get to level 60 and have raised 1980 grains of rice so far!

♥ Stella Artois, because it's the only lager that doesn't given me an instant stomach ache. I'm on my own tonight so though I'd treat myself to a whole pint can. Hope it doesn't make me ill!

♥ Lovely Complex. I said this last time, so it may seem pointless to repeat it now. But last week I'd only seen five episodes. I loved it for being a cute and funny typical high school romantic comedy with pretty animation, but now I love it for all those things and additionally for being quite a realistic and touching depiction of love, despite the silly concept (a tall girl falling in love with a short boy). It also has a very similar ratio of romance-comedy-angst that I'm aiming for with Mon Petit Chou (the manga Sonia and I are working on. It's coming along very slowly. Nothing really to show yet.)

♥ Tumblr. I signed up for this because reformatme and charlipscombe told me to. (Well, actually, I signed up for it ages ago but then didn't do anything with it until they tweeted telling everyone to get tumblr XD) I use it just to repost pictures, quotes, songs etc that I find pretty/interesting/inspiring.

Honourable mentions: succeeding in making cookies that taste nice and don't fall apart when picked up! ♥ Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice -- so far! I miss Maya though :( ♥ Trades of the Flesh by Faye L Booth -- more on my blog soon! ♥ buying a new bento box and bento supplies -- pics when they arrive!

I feel like I have so much I want to do and not enough time, which sounds silly because I only work 16 and a half hours a week. But you see, whenever Chris is at home, we're doing things together, so the only time I have to myself are the two evenings a week that he works a late shift. Of course, I love that we never get bored of spending time together and that we have so many shared hobbies and interests, but every now and then I find myself with too much to do and not enough time. This week, Chris' late shifts have been Sunday and Thursday, which are the two days that sadrlegends comes over, so I've had even less time to myself. I have emails and book reviews and this journal post and a Things I Love Thursday post to write, and I'm not sure if I'll fit it all in.

I should've got up earlier, really. I slept for 13 hours last night which is ridiculous. Okay, so I only got about five the night before (yesterday being a work day), but for the four nights before that I was sleeping for between 11 and 15 hours. Why do I sleep so much? I've tried setting an alarm on my days off, but I've just turned it off in my sleep. I could try putting it on the other side of the room or something, but then I'd wake up grumpy. I just want to wake up naturally at a reasonable time after a reasonable amount of sleep, why is that so difficult?

*

I am suddenly yearning for shoes, which is quite unlike me. I want:

• a pair of tall gold gladiator sandals, which I hope to find in the sale. I've wanted some for ages and was actually considering wearing some on my wedding day (for a kind of goddess look) but didn't, because I didn't want to look like I was influenced by the current fad for them (so I went for barefeet/beaded foot thongs instead). I know it'll be too late for me to wear them now, but I can keep them for next summer and hopefully they'll be a little bit less popular then.
  
• a new pair of kitty mary-janes. I've actually had two pairs of these before, but both wore out because I was wearing them to work. I really want to get another pair and this time not wear them to work.
  
• a pair of mary-janes in a really shiny dark cherry red kind of colour. I saw some last year (in Tesco, of all places) and didn't get them, and now I regret it.
  
• A new pair of knee high boots. I have a gorgeous brown pair with laces all the way up and hooks at the top, and one of them vanished last winter and I still haven't found it. I didn't ever take them out of the house (except for when I was actually wearing them) so it must be here somewhere but I've looked everywhere without success. Curiously, my yoga mat disappeared at around the same time. They must've run off together.

*

Cardigan progress: I've now reached the point where I need to start doing the sleeves, which will have to wait until tomorrow (pay day) because I need to go out and get the right size DPNs. I also need to buy some more yarn because I'm starting to run out. It looks quite good so far but I can't help but feel it looks really, well, bulky. I don't know why, because I'm using the right weight yarn and I have the right gauge, but it just looks a lot chunkier than other people's. I guess photos are not the same as real life though. Maybe blocking will help sort it out. I'm not really sure how to block but I'll have to try and learn.

*

In other news, there were TWO massive spiders in the living room last night. Thankfully, Chris was on hand to take them away. He doesn't like spiders either, but he's brave enough to be able to catch them in a glass and carry them to the back door, unlike me. I can't even look at a spider without completely freaking out, let alone go anywhere near one.

There was a spider at work the other day and I asked this boy I work with to do something about it and he brushed it onto the floor (with his hand!) and stamped on it. I felt a bit bad then, because it's not really fair that spiders should have to die just because I have an irrational fear of them :( I just don't want them near me.

Anyone have any tips for spider deterring? I know about the conkers thing but I don't have any horse chestnut trees near me. Do those ultrasonic wave emitting things you plug in actually work? Is there some kind of spray I can just use on the little crack under the bay window where they get in?

*

That'll do for now -- I have some more meme questions to answer (this time from karohi) and some work-related stuff to talk about but they'll have to wait because I want to get some emails written. I may also have to pop out and get some chocolate digestives because this craving is not going away.

That meme again.

• leave me a comment saying "GOOBLEDIGOOK",
• i'll respond by asking you five questions so i can get to know you better.
• update your journal with the answers to the questions.
• include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions

This time, the questions are from reformatme.

1. What's the last tune you had stuck in your head?
I Feel Fine by the Beatles. Presumably because of all this Beatles stuff that's going around. Speaking of that, we're currently saving for Beatles Rock Band. We've never had any version of the game before, so don't have any instruments for it, and Chris really wants the Hoffner bass so we're saving for the limited edition premium bundle. Hope it doesn't sell out before we have enough.

2. Which of your hobbies would you like to spend more time with?
Knitting, I think. I get bored if I just sit and knit so ideally I need something else to do at the same time. Sometimes I knit and read, but I mostly read at bedtime, when knitting would keep me awake, or in the bath, where I couldn't do both at once even if I was reckless enough to take my knitting in with me. The ideal time to knit is when I'm watching a movie, but I don't do that very often because I don't have the attention span for that either. So currently, I mostly knit when I'm watching Chris play video games, or if he's not here, in between refreshing my friends page obsessively and reading random Wikipedia articles. I'm actually knitting right now, in between thinking of things to type.

3. Where have you found most of your LJ friends?
Probably makeafriend_uk and addme_sa. I also have a few friends left over from my days as a Harry Potter fanfiction writer (between about 2001 and 2003). And quite often I just click on any interesting usernames I see commenting on friends' journals and have a nose around to see if they're interesting. I've made a few friends that way.

4. What was the last program you installed and was it any good?
DVD Slideshow GUI. No, it didn't really work. It took forever to export the slideshow and my computer made a lot of noise doing it and then told me it was running out of virtual memory. Finally it sorted that out, and then it got to the burning stage and just did nothing for 40 minutes. Eventually I got fed up and just turned my computer off. Anyone got any recommendations for good, simple, programs for putting a photo slideshow onto a disc? I just want to send my grandma some photos to play on her DVD player, I don't need to do anything fancy with them. I might just try Windows Movie Maker but I heard the quality wasn't very good, and some of these photos aren't all that good quality to start with.

5. How did you have fun as a child?
My dad used to be the senior ranger at Brigstock Country Park and in the holidays I'd often tag along with him, finding secret, hidden places to read, or exploring the park, pretending I was on an adventure. Sometimes I'd write my daydreams down, but most of the time they just stayed in my head. My dad stopped working there when I was about thirteen, which was probably just as well because when I started secondary school real life suddenly caught up with me and I wasn't able to lose myself so easily in make-believe anymore. I've been back to the park as an adult and it's not like it used to be, it's more commercialised these days, so I'm glad I left before it all changed. It doesn't even really feel like the same place anymore, it's like I left the old park behind a long time ago.

Incidentally, a few years ago I wrote a short story about all this, which you can read here.