10 days to go...

As the song goes, "All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go..."

Well okay, not quite all of my bags are packed.  And most of my stuff is in boxes.  And I'm most definitely not leaving on a jet plane.  But at least the bit about being ready to go is true.  With ten days to go until I uproot from Sutton and finally make a home for myself in Lichfield, I am well and truly ready for the move.  All forms of entertainment are packed, aside from one or two things in each category;

All of my Xbox games are packed except for Dead Island, which I'm currently playing.  All of my dvds are packed, except for Underworld and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, which I only bought this evening.  All of my comics are packed, except for Marvel's Civil War, which I'm reading.  And all of my books are packed, except for Gav Thorpe's Deliverance Lost, which I started reading this afternoon.

My spare Magic cards are packed, as are allof my Fluxx decks and my Zombies!!! board game.  Most of my clothes are packed...  I really am now at a point where I have nothing more to do until the big day.

It's going to be a bit sad to leave - you can't live in the same place for 30 years without getting attached, but frankly I can't wait to get this move started.

It's official!

I can now officially say I'm moving out! :)  The estate agent called today to confirm that my credit checks and references have all come back fine, and so I can go in to pick up the keys and put down the deposit on February 1st.  Now that all doubt has well and truly been put out of my mind I can bring some boxes home from work and start packing my assorted bits and pieces.  The priority (aside from the fish tank, obviously, and essentials such as clothes etc) has to be my books, dvd's and Xbox games.  Once I've got those in then it's just a case of taking over what I can until I have a comfortable living space which isn't cluttered.

So while I'm settling into my new place my Friday Night Magic attendance will be taking a dip, and my cosplay efforts will be put on the back burner, but once I'm settled I can get back to my weekly FNM reports and my quest for the perfect Prefect :)

Pop back at the beginning of February to see some photos of my new home!

A home within a home

Behold, my wonderous marine aquarium!!!

Pretty impressive huh?  Oh fine then, that's not my wonderous marine aquarium.  It is, in fact, the photo off the front of the box.  This is my aquarium as it currently stands...

So not quite so scenic at the moment, but the important thing is that the initial expense has been paid and my fish-to-be have a home!  I had a good chat with the assistant at Aquatic Pets & Gardens in Stonall, and he was really helpful.  I ended up getting a package which included everything I need for starting up a reef tank, even including the pre-mixed salt water.  Once I've moved in I just need to head back to pick up my water and some living rock, then after running the tank for a week or two I can start adding livestock - probably starting with the Hermit Crabs :)  He recommended I don't go with the Humbugs as they can be a bit aggressive, so I'm probably going to go with Yellowtail Damsels instead.

I'm rather excited, it had to be said.

And another little treat for me today...

As a housewarming gift my sister bought me a little indoor water feature :)  There's a definite aquatic theme to my new apartment!

A Fishy Update

Well the whole "moving out" thing seems to be proceeding very much on schedule, with a Feruary 1st move-in date currently on the cards.  As long as my credit checks turn out fine then I should have nothing to worry about, and there's no reason that they should come back as anything less than stellar.

So I have been turning my attention to my future living companions; a tank full of marine fish.  Well okay, I have also done some sensible things such as buying new bedding and towels to take with me (the place is fully furnished, so on that front I'm all set), but with that sorted I spend an hour or so at Planters in Tamworth today to get some ideas about marine fishkeeping and just which species I'd actually like to keep.

I picked out a tank today, but haven't bought it yet.  First of all I don't have the money at present, secondly I have nowhere to store it for the next month, and thirdly I know that would completely jinx my credit check!  But I've at least picked it out, and it's a complete started setup, a decent sized tank, and isn't heinously expensive.  The assistant in the shop talked me through it and said that a tank of that size would be suitable for 4-5 fish, not including invertebrates.  By that point I'd already decided on the aquatic lineup from looking through their livestock, so I told him what I was after and said that the tank would be fine :)  So hopefully I'll be the proud keeer of a little marine community in a few weeks' time!  I shall, of course, be posting photos of my little fishy friends once they're alll settled in.

So, my intended lineup.  First up, a pair of Common Clownfish.  Yes, Finding Nemo has made them the bog-standard marine fish, but they are incredibly beautiful and I'd love to own a couple.  And with the Clownfish of course comes the anemone, in this case a Malu Anemone.  They'll be all the more fascinating to watch with an Anemone as part of the community.

Then the other two regular fish will be a pair of Humbugs, so-called for their black and white stripes.  I was torn between these and a pair of Yellow Tail Damsens, but the Humbugs won me over when I saw them in a tank with the Clownfish and the contrast in colours looked marvellous.

Invertebrate-wise I'm after a Cleaner Shrimp, as these guys just look really cool, and I can imagine myself spending ages just sat by the tank watching them at work.  And finally a pair of Hermit Crabs, which again will be fascinating to watch and nice to have to round off the community.

Being a marine setup as well I plan to get some coral (as yet undecided), and then I just need some scenery with lots of little spaces for the fish to swim/crawl through and explore.

Once I'm settled into the new place, I can picture this as being a very happy place to live :)

Speed: Epic finance fail.

On the way home from work today I suddenly fancied watching the movie Speed.  It's been a long time since I last watched it and it was good to watch a nice bit of mid-nineties action.

But for the first time ever I realised what a terrible financial decision it was not to give into Dennis Hopper's character and just pay him.  For the sake of saving $3.7million they wrecked a city bus, a jumbo jet, a subway train, and caused god only knows how much damage to other road vehicles, streets, and the subway system itself.

They really dropped the ball on that one.

A place to call home

I always said I wanted to move out by the time I was 30.  There does seem to be a certain stigma attached to living with your parents at 30.  Granted I also wished to be married by 25, but we all know that didn't quite work out the way I'd hoped!  But the moving out by 30 thing was an important personal landmark, and unfortunately it seemed for the longes time that my 30th birthday was just about going to beat me to it.

But, as the say, what a difference a day makes.

I went to view a place this afternoon in Lichfield, and all is looking good with regards to being able to move in next month!  I was a bit hesitant as it was described as "studio style" and I've never liked the idea of a studio flat, but this was just perfect.  It didn't take long to look around, but the apartment's a perfect size, it's a great price, it's in a truly beautiful location, and it's fully furnished :)  the landlord was a fantastic guy and has said that if I want it then my early February timeframe fits in perfectly for him, so I think I've found myself a happy little nest :)

More news to follow...

A year in films...

So with the new year now underway my cinema viewing list has now been reset.  Last year I managed to get to the cinema a whopping 19 times - not much for a true film buff, but for me it was a pretty impressive tally.  I don't particular expect to top it this year, but then again it's not supposed to be a target, more a point of comparison.

With that in mind I've compiled a list of the films which, at this early stage in the year, I already know I would like to go and see before January 1st rolls round again.  Obviously this won't be all of the films for 2012, as there are undoubtedly some in the works if which I'm not aware, but will see a trailer for in a several months and go "Ooooooh! I want to see that!".  Simlarly I dare say that some of these may be plagued with enough bad reviews to put me off going to see them on the big screen and end up waiting for the DVD or Sky Movies release (I'm looking at you, Green Lantern!).

Anyways, without further rambling, here is my intended 2012 cinema list as it currently stands:

·       The Avengers

·       Spider-Man

·       The Dark Knight Rises

·       The Woman in Black

·       World War Z

·       J. Edgar

·       Prometheus

·       The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists

·       Men in Black 3

·       Snow White and the Huntsman

·       Django Unchained