Okay, we finally cracked. Alice and I have spent months deliberately NOT buying any baby clothes, for several reasons. One: we didn't want to jinx things by getting over-excited too soon, especially before the all-important 20-week scan. Two: we weren't entirely sure what we'd need. Three: every female we know is currently knitting something for the baby. And four: have you SEEN the scrum in Baby Next most weekends? Christ.
Anyway, today we forgot all of that, and bought a bunch of clothes. Some t-shirts, trousers, a couple of all-in-one sets. That kind of stuff. And y'know what? I think I might have the taste for it. Which means the next few weeks, my PayPal account may take a battering. eBay will provide, I'm sure. And if I can't find an ultra-tacky Baby Elvis romper suit while in Vegas for CES, I'll be sorely disappointed.
Christmas was grand, lots of food, drink and family fun. We went up to Al's mum along with her sister and partner, and I took the Wii along to test this theory of non-gamers falling for its hand-wavey charms. And they did! Admittedly, the only thing I forgot to pack was, er, Any Games At All, but luckily Rayman Raving Rabbids was still in the drive, so much mini-game fun was had. If you own a Wii and haven't bought RRR yet, it's highly recommended as a party game. Way better than Wii Play, anyhow, albeit without the free controller.
Thankfully, having worked my arse off last week writing, I have no freelance to do this week, so time for going to the dump (the municipal tip, I mean, not the other kind), buying stuff, spending vouchers and starting to clear out my old office room, which is now going to be a nursery. A nursery with a Wi-Fi router in the corner, admittedly. I'm starting to think about high-tech webcam monitor malarkey, although I think Alice may have something to say about that...
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! Although I'm secretly envious. Anyway, this is someone's house in the village of Snettisham, in Norfolk (UK). And I didn't even manage to squeeze the illuminated Christ/wise men manger scene that's in front of the garage...
Happy Christmas everyone, have a sympathetically-lit reindeer for your trouble. We've come up to Snettisham on the north Norfolk coast for Christmas, staying at Alice's mum's. It feels good to have got here and kicked off our shoes. I'm even feeling a bit festive.
Off out for a walk in a bit, mind. I intend to find the tackiest Christmas lighting on the outside of a house possible. And these are fertile hunting grounds for that, let me tell you...
Phew. I feel like I'm lurching towards the end of the year, having worked my arse off since going freelance in July. I've only got two more one-off assignments to finish, plus my daily blogging commitments for Shiny Media and Pocket Gamer/Pocket Picks.
Next year will see a change of emphasis, I think. I've learned that a lot of the one-off commissions tend to be last-minute - "Can you do this 2000-word piece for, er, Friday?" - and that doesn't always fit in with 6 hours a day of paid blogging commitments. Hence all the evenings and weekends I've been furiously typing away recently.
Hopefully I'll be able to focus more on the regular stuff in 2007, with a few choice one-off commissions if they fit in. The baby arriving in April (hopefully) will be a huge change anyhow, so I want to get the work under control by then. Of course, it may mean I have MORE time to work (just at 3am).
What else is new? I sidled into my old work's Christmas drinks yesterday, drank lots of wine, and ended up eating a plate full of random seafood in a backstreet Chinese restaurant. I've not been feeling great today, unsurprisingly, but at least I can pretend it was the food.
I met Mena from Vox creators Six Apart yesterday too, to interview her for Tech Digest (the piece is appearing next week). I better not give too much away, other than to say she had loads of interesting stuff to say, and was thoroughly nice to boot. *readopts cloak of journalistic cynicism* Well, it was okay, y'know.
I've also unwittingly sparked a racism row online, after doing a report on a Second Life debate where a music marketing guy said a certain event was the first time he'd seen black avatars in Second Life. After another blog reported on my story and criticised him for his naivety - apparently there've been loads of black avatars in Second Life for ages - he popped up on that blog's comments claiming I'd misquoted him.
Grr. I checked my notes, and they were bang on. I asked the journo who'd been sitting next to me, and his notes backed me up. I met the people who ran the debate yesterday, and they remembered him saying it too. I'm all for people picking up journalists on errors / misquotes, but when they cry wolf falsely just to save face when they've said something silly, it's annoying (and borderline libellous). Grr again.
Oh, I'm rambling now, that's what comes from Voxing during a train journey with nothing else to do. Final things: Wii is amazing, Rayman Raving Rabbids is the dark horse hit of the launch titles. Christmas shopping makes me weep hot, salty tears of self-pity. The cats have started bringing home dead starlings. And I could do with a week off... Especially if it involves lots of playing Wii, no Christmas shopping, and as few bird corpses as possible...
Am hot-footing it about town this afternoon, first a meeting with Ashley from Shiny Media, then onto a Second Life music biz debate tonight.
I'm looking forward to that actually, as I'm still not convinced that the only thing record labels get out of a Second Life isn't just column inches. Also, someone whose job title is 'metaverse evangelist' is speaking, which is intriguing.
I'm picturing a virtual version of the sinner/winner guy at Oxford Circus, although the reality will be a chap saying 'Second Life is great, please invest in it so my job remains relevant...' Sorry, this is cynical, I know...
Just found this in Tesco. We were going to have a simple ploughmans for lunch, but...
Just on way back from Oxford Street, after deciding to spend a relaxing Saturday afternoon just before Christmas jostling with millions of other angry Londoners doing their festive shopping. The whole street's been pedestrianised for the day, so it's TEEMING with people. I shudder to think if they fit on the pavements normally.
Anyway, mission successful, and there was quite a bit going on, with the Evening Standard doing its bit to cheer shoppers up with enormous balloons (pictured), a stage just off Oxford Circus, and street entertainers.
Of course, for the rest of the week the paper will be doing its usual job of depressing Londoners with dreadful stories about TRANSPORT CHAOS and house prices...
Also, Habitat is much more bangin' than I remember it. They had a DJ in there and everything. See, soft furnishings and lighting is well wicked, innit.
