It's been awhile.

I was always pretty bad about keeping a diary as a child but I used to try just the same. So I write this as a 'Dear Diary' sort of entry as I look back at the last week in which I think I did quite a lot of things. We'll see.

Friday 15th June - When I realised I was no longer 18!

I recently caught up with an old friend

ravurian, and so we've been hanging out together. Friday evening he arrived with the obligatory coca-cola and chocolate and we settled in for a session of chatting, gossiping, catching up and presenting odd things we've discovered on the internet.

Somewhere around midnight, or maybe it was before that, time got away from us and the next thing we realise it's four in the morning, a phonecall to the local cab firm yielded no available cabs (they were all on Gatwick and Heathrow calls) and so I usher ravurian into the spare room and set my alarm for eight because I'm supposed to be meeting people for an excursion early on Saturday.

But we used to spend many a weekend staying up to all hours, going out for late night walks, exploring local ruins and managed to survive on less than four hours of sleep a night... not anymore. It appears that in our advanced 'youth' we require at least six precious hours of duvet time.

Regardless of the following days exhaustion I had a thoroughly good time. I've missed ravurian's company over the last few years and hope that the recent renewal of friendship will last.

Saturday 16th June - The Force is strong with this one

Onto the excursion... 

My sister arrived at my place just before 10 and we head off to the train station to get the 10:12 to Waterloo East where we met Dean. After a spot of brunch we wandered along the South Bank to County Hall... yes the excursion is to the Star Wars exhibition.

Star Wars: A New Hope was one of the first films I saw on pirate and the inner geek was released. I love the original trilogy and I tolerate the new trilogy for its foundation of episodes IV, V and VI.

The County Hall is packed with costumes, props, artwork, models and chairs (for some reason) from the six films. And though I lingered over Princess Leia's Gold Bikini I found myself pressed against the glass for her Bounty Hunter costume, but my ultimate reverence is reserved for Stormtroopers, and therefore Boba and Jango Fett. (Have you ever noticed that everyones uncle was a Stormtrooper but no one ever says their dad was?) I don't know why I have such a fascination for the troopers; maybe it's the really cool helmet (I had my picture taken wearing one once), maybe it's the breastplate that would keep my lubbadubs immobile, or maybe it's because despite being a lesbian Harrison Ford looks really hot in his Stormtrooper armor. Who knows?

Later...

I decided that getting some more sleep would be a really good idea before my girlfriend arrived. xwillowdragonx, in true fairy tale fashion woke me with a kiss; I muttered something, shifted over a little and allowed her to join me on the bed for a nap. (She works nights, finishes her last shift, gets onto a coach and travels down to London to spend a few days with me... I love her.)

I remember going out to get an Indian takeaway and I remember watching Tiswas:Reunited and then I fell asleep again so I don't remember anything!

Sunday 17th June - In the name of the Father

My parents have been on holiday in Ireland for a couple of weeks and arrived home in the early hours of Sunday morning. I finally arrived in the land of the fully conscious at around 11, I chatted to them for a little while and then woke Katie at around 1.

Whilst my parents decided to spend a couple of hours at the pub Katie and I embarked on the first disc of Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers - Special Edition. Her favourite instalment of the trilogy is Return of The King; I am torturing her by making her watch all of them.

For the first time in living memory my sister and I, independently of one another, had got my father the same Fathers Day card. But they do look lovely on either side of the mantle piece. My dad is notoriously difficult to buy gifts for because he usually goes out and gets books, dvds, pond accessories and anything else himself. But I had an ace up my sleeve. He enjoys books by Wilbur Smith, preferably in hardback, but doesn't like paying more than about 50p for them! (He's replacing his paperback collection from charity shops.) So when good old Wilbur releases his new book 'The Quest' I know I can purchase said book without the worry that he will have got it for himself. He was very pleased.

We did offer to treat him to a meal at Cypress Village, one of his favourite restaurants but he turned this down in favour of Harvester where he could have his Cracker Jack Prawns. I wasn't about to argue I was looking forward to my Lemon and Herb Chicken.

Katie and I rounded out the day by playing Monopoly. It looked like it could go on all night but in an unfortunate turn of events Katie landed on one of my transport spaces, threw a double five to land on the next transport space (owned by me), threw another double five to land on a third transport space (also owned by me) and praying she wouldn't throw another double and end up in jail, she threw a four and a six to land on the fourth transport space (guess what?) After that she landed on one of my properties with numerous houses and got bankrupted.

Monday 18th June - We make a good team, me and my mum

Before she went to Ireland my mother broke her wrist when she slipped whilst going up the stairs at home. So I'm the Office Manager by remote, or as she puts it she's the brain and I'm the brawn. She dictates emails and letters while I type, I carry bundles and do filing on command, she instructs me in filling out forms, and I think it's working out just fine. And inbetween times I get on with the archiving and preparing bundles for court.

It's been nice working in her office, mainly because it's above ground and I'm away from the people who nag me about the state of the basement when it's they who make the mess while I desperately try to keep things tidy. The problem is that when they finish a case they want the papers out of their offices, but until all of the accounts are tied up they can't be sent to storage and so they sit in my office and gradually build themselves into giant cardboard mountains. My mother keeps me sane at these times; she helps me out when I think that I might start yelling at my bosses, so it's been nice to help her out for a change.

We headed home early, she gets tired lugging that cast around all day. I don't remember much of what Katie and I got up to that evening; I know there was dinner and cleaning up from dinner and I think the rest of the time was spent playing on the computer, but that's just a guess because that's what I do most evenings!

Tuesday 19th June - Cookies, Coke and Computers, Oh My

I decided to trade my day off this week, I would work Friday in exchange for Tuesday so I could spend the day with my girly. We had the supplies of coke (regular and diet), we had a box of Millies Cookies (milk, plain and oatmeal and raisin) and we had the use of Dean's Lord of The Rings Online account until 4:30. We get up bright and early only to discover that LOTRO is having major server maintenance until midday. BUGGER!

We used our time wisely... that is I sent my repeat prescription to the Doctors and sat watching Animal Cops: Houston until Katie yelled that the servers were up and running again.

We both have Elf characters; mine is called Khaos and hers is called Helarian. Okay so mine isn't a particularly Elf like name but then I was never supposed to be playing the game, just learning how to do it so I show Katie how to do it. Alas I discovered I rather enjoyed it.

At 4:30 we logged out and decided to watch Brother Bear while we waited for Naomi to arrive with the KFC before heading out to pick up ravurian and then on to cinema to watch Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer.

We'd managed to get Gallery tickets; this means we sit in a special roped off section in big comfy chairs with complimentry hot drinks, nachos, muffins and chocolates. We arrived late because of traffic and the lights were dimmed and the film rolling which means I didn't get to enter the auditorium with my 'check me out in the VIP section' attitude. Shame.

The film was good fun, it's not meant to be a work of art just a fun couple of hours of entertainment. And at least now I know why there was a huge Silver Surfer on the side of the London Eye.

Wednesday 20th June - The power of The One Ring

Katie's four days off were over, time to head north and back to work. If it's a weekday she always travels into town with me and comes to the office for an hour or so before heading over to the coach station. I always hate it when she goes home, very much looking forward to the day that she moves to London.

Still performing as my mothers hands at work. Today she had no option but to leave at 4 because that's what time I leave at on a Wednesday. Every week Dean and I meet up for dinner and maybe a little bit of shopping, it helps to break up the monotony of the week.

We ate at Cafe Rouge near Covent Garden and talked about all sorts including how much I seem to be enjoying playing LOTRO. The power of The One Ring is far to great for this Elf and by the time we were paying the bill I had agreed to buying my own copy of the game and paying the monthly subscription fees because with my own account Dean and I can start forming our own kinship and fellowship and his higher level would mean he could help me out on more difficult missions. You can see why I gave in.

Unfortunately it means I had to create a new character and start all over again but I figured I'm taking it seriously this time from the outset. My new character is Kylan, she is an Elf Guardian and has chosen the profession of Explorer. This profession incorporates a tailor, a forester and a prospector; which basically means I collect metal, wood and kill a lot of animals for hides. I attained level 8 before bedtime.

Thursday 21st June - So this is what it's like to have a normal day... sort of

Work: Typing, filing, form filling

But at the mention of a pub dinner normal turns to a little bit special. Mum and I travelled home on the train and head straight for The Red Barn (tallest building in the town at a staggering three storeys). Dad was already waiting for us and perusing the menu. Naomi arrived about and hour later and four steaks were on the way. (Dad - rare, Naomi - medium/rare, Mum - medium, Me - buggered!)

I took off after dinner because I got a text from Katie telling me she was going to be online at her parents place before she heads off to work at 9ish and it's 8ish now. It turns out that Katie has purchased LOTRO herself and now our fellowship is 3 strong. But in having to download all of the updates and patches she didn't manage to get any gameplay before she had to leave for work. But lookout Middle Earth!

And that brings me to today... which has been me sitting at my desk at work and writing this journal. And with all my others tasks accomplished for the day I think I shall head home shortly, I have an Elf Prince to rescue!

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