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mad_andyFred has updated!
He's either about to sneeze or come, not sure which:
I love the goatee. Wish he'd grow it back. *Sigh*
It's the closed eyes that make me dribble over this one.
And - don't ask me why - being able to see the nail on his left thumb. I didn't know I had a thing about thumbnails. Weird.
Mmmmmm. Dirk. *Happy sigh*
Two other pieces of news, one good, one not so much.
First the one that made me roll my eyes and go - oh hell, here we go again.
Had a couple of errands to run today as well as the usual stuff. Actually did a bit of housework (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
navigatorsghost take note - those ginormous dust bunnies in the lounge are no more!), did a few new tatt designs (I'm working on getting my head around old-school type stuff and it's not as easy as it looks) and spruced up a few old ones. Then had a shower. Then thought about going to Tesco. Then...wandered off and did something else.
Finally realised at 4:30 what was going on.
Mmm, fun and games, the agoraphobia's back. Well, it's not exactly a fear of open spaces, per se, more of a fear of leaving the house. Yeah, my confidence took a right old bash a couple of weeks ago but it's a pain in the arse to be dealing with this crap again.
I'd been pottering around the house and realised that every time I thought about going out the heartrate went up, the cold sweats started - all the usual bollocks.
So after a few minutes spent swearing about it, I just grabbed jacket, wallet, Archos and car keys and went and sat in the car. Once the light-headedness had passed, off I went on my errands.
I'm not giving in to that shit. Never again. And I know that the only way to beat it back into its cage is to stomp all over the bastard; when you want to stay in, go out. When you want to withdraw, talk to people.
It works but it's bloody hard. And bloody annoying when you thought you had a handle on it.
Anyway, the pleasanter news is that the fishtank - which has for months now only contained one clown plec and six black Kuhli loaches - now contains ten white cloud mountain minnows. Tough as old boots, eat anything, small, pretty, undemanding.
I bought them from the local pet superstore. First time I've been there; we've had some bloody awful cases of rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters brought in from there that had been bought and got very sick soon after reaching their new home. Figured I'd scope it out.
Typical of its breed, really. Uninspiring, everything kept clean and looking fine but staff demonstrating a lack of basic knowledge, although they have been trained to ask the right questions.
Yeah, so I made myself better by being difficult. Bite me.
"Dozen white clouds, please."
Is your tank set up? Yes. Have you kept fish before? Yes. Is your filter mature? Yes. We don't usually sell more than eight at a time, because your ammonia levels will shoot up--
Cue evil grin.
"What's your nitrate level here?"
*Blink* Er.
She looked it up. 20 ppm, which is what it is straight out the tap around here. Disgusting but there you are.
"I'll have to add some dechlorinated tap then. I like to keep mine at 10...."
It's true. What with the amount of plants and whatnot I've got growing happily in the tank the nitrate level is kept at a reasonable level. I was rather hoping she'd say that nitrate isn't important, but she didn't. Shame. I was in the mood for a lecture.
So anyway. I explained about the different cichlids I used to breed, the spare equipment I have knocking around in case we do get a massive ammonia spike, the test kits and so on and so forth. The subtext - which from the look in her eyes she got loud and clear - was that if this lot kark it I'm going to be back.
So anyway. They're pottering around in their new home and once I've fattened them up a bit they might even breed for me - been years since I've bred any of the egg-scattering species. In a minute I'm going to go outside and net them some nice fat mosquito larvae from the water butt - nothing better to get them settled in.
So. Next run out is to Tescos, as soon as Slay gets home.
And speaking of Slay, he's going away tomorrow! Oh frabjous day. For two weeks. The first week being spent withrockfic and the second at a conference in Salt Lake City. I'm just looking forward to having the house to myself!
ETA: Holy shit, bunny anyone?! Tobi, Markus, Henjo (and some other guy)...*drool*
One of these daysrdyfrde is going to kill me, I swear. And of the new live Henjo pics, he's leering at someone in the crowd in a couple of the shots from the Gods - I reckon it may well have been silicondreams!
He's either about to sneeze or come, not sure which:
I love the goatee. Wish he'd grow it back. *Sigh*
It's the closed eyes that make me dribble over this one.
And - don't ask me why - being able to see the nail on his left thumb. I didn't know I had a thing about thumbnails. Weird.
Mmmmmm. Dirk. *Happy sigh*
Two other pieces of news, one good, one not so much.
First the one that made me roll my eyes and go - oh hell, here we go again.
Had a couple of errands to run today as well as the usual stuff. Actually did a bit of housework (
navigatorsghost take note - those ginormous dust bunnies in the lounge are no more!), did a few new tatt designs (I'm working on getting my head around old-school type stuff and it's not as easy as it looks) and spruced up a few old ones. Then had a shower. Then thought about going to Tesco. Then...wandered off and did something else.Finally realised at 4:30 what was going on.
Mmm, fun and games, the agoraphobia's back. Well, it's not exactly a fear of open spaces, per se, more of a fear of leaving the house. Yeah, my confidence took a right old bash a couple of weeks ago but it's a pain in the arse to be dealing with this crap again.
I'd been pottering around the house and realised that every time I thought about going out the heartrate went up, the cold sweats started - all the usual bollocks.
So after a few minutes spent swearing about it, I just grabbed jacket, wallet, Archos and car keys and went and sat in the car. Once the light-headedness had passed, off I went on my errands.
I'm not giving in to that shit. Never again. And I know that the only way to beat it back into its cage is to stomp all over the bastard; when you want to stay in, go out. When you want to withdraw, talk to people.
It works but it's bloody hard. And bloody annoying when you thought you had a handle on it.
Anyway, the pleasanter news is that the fishtank - which has for months now only contained one clown plec and six black Kuhli loaches - now contains ten white cloud mountain minnows. Tough as old boots, eat anything, small, pretty, undemanding.
I bought them from the local pet superstore. First time I've been there; we've had some bloody awful cases of rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters brought in from there that had been bought and got very sick soon after reaching their new home. Figured I'd scope it out.
Typical of its breed, really. Uninspiring, everything kept clean and looking fine but staff demonstrating a lack of basic knowledge, although they have been trained to ask the right questions.
Yeah, so I made myself better by being difficult. Bite me.
"Dozen white clouds, please."
Is your tank set up? Yes. Have you kept fish before? Yes. Is your filter mature? Yes. We don't usually sell more than eight at a time, because your ammonia levels will shoot up--
Cue evil grin.
"What's your nitrate level here?"
*Blink* Er.
She looked it up. 20 ppm, which is what it is straight out the tap around here. Disgusting but there you are.
"I'll have to add some dechlorinated tap then. I like to keep mine at 10...."
It's true. What with the amount of plants and whatnot I've got growing happily in the tank the nitrate level is kept at a reasonable level. I was rather hoping she'd say that nitrate isn't important, but she didn't. Shame. I was in the mood for a lecture.
So anyway. I explained about the different cichlids I used to breed, the spare equipment I have knocking around in case we do get a massive ammonia spike, the test kits and so on and so forth. The subtext - which from the look in her eyes she got loud and clear - was that if this lot kark it I'm going to be back.
So anyway. They're pottering around in their new home and once I've fattened them up a bit they might even breed for me - been years since I've bred any of the egg-scattering species. In a minute I'm going to go outside and net them some nice fat mosquito larvae from the water butt - nothing better to get them settled in.
So. Next run out is to Tescos, as soon as Slay gets home.
And speaking of Slay, he's going away tomorrow! Oh frabjous day. For two weeks. The first week being spent with
rockfic and the second at a conference in Salt Lake City. I'm just looking forward to having the house to myself!ETA: Holy shit, bunny anyone?! Tobi, Markus, Henjo (and some other guy)...*drool*
One of these days
rdyfrde is going to kill me, I swear. And of the new live Henjo pics, he's leering at someone in the crowd in a couple of the shots from the Gods - I reckon it may well have been silicondreams!
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no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 05:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 05:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 06:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 06:12 pm (UTC)Now you know why I have an Avantasia bunny. The above picture is of the musicians that played on the two CDs. The guy on the far right is the drummer for Rhapsody named Alex Holzworth. His brother Oliver plays bass for Blind Guardian ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 06:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 06:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 06:18 pm (UTC)I almost got fish the other day, or at least the set up for them, but then I realized that I don't really have a place to put a tank. Good thing too. After I saw the budgies in their cage, I was glad I wasn't going to spend any money at that place. Oh, they appeared to be healthy and all, but they had them in one of those acrylic jobs with perches and toys hanging from the roof. The only problem was, all the budgies had been clipped so they had no way of getting up there and spent their time on the floor of the cage. The people who run these big chain stores are fucking idiots.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 06:24 pm (UTC)No, that's Tobias Sammet of Edguy. Henjo is to the left of Tobias :)
no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 07:45 pm (UTC)*Blush*
Nah. I just remember how bad it was before. *Shudder* I'll fucking die before I go back there. And having very very loud music in the car helps.
...and I'm a stubborn SOB when I put my mind to it. ;)
(OH! And whilst at the chain-that-shall-not-be-mentioned I picked up a bag of Chappie, the dry stuff. I know the tinned is good - we recommend it for diabetic dogs - so I figured I'd see how the dried went over. It is currently being treated with deep suspicion by the lurcher. he is picking the bits of Bakers out from between the Chappie bits. he'd better get bloody used to it or he's going to bloody starve.)
no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 07:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 10:57 pm (UTC)It works but it's bloody hard.
Yes. Very effective, very difficult...and my overall thinking on this method is that the more you use it, the less, eventually, you have to. That seems to be my experience, at least.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 11:07 pm (UTC)