The Lyorn's Den

08:29 pm - Cat gallery

( Cat gallery behind the cut )
All these pictures were taken by mad_freddy, Nov 1st 2009, and edited by me.

12:23 am - Cats and cake

mad_freddy and K___ were visiting today to bring me a book, look at the cats and get tricked into baking and eating chocolate cake.

The cats became enthusiastic about a bit of string and a one-metre "tail" with some feathers on a handle (they pulled it out of my hand and had me pouncing on the handle to catch it, which I hope mad_freddy has not caught on video). In the end they had a far improved opinion of humans as a species, I think, although they were still shy of being touched.

( Very sweet chocolate cake with hints of caramel and cheesecake )

Current Mood: lazy

12:53 am - Cat update

The cats are on the brown blanket on the sofa and are grooming themselves. They look very pretty.

I had a bad moment when I came home this evening, but I'm over it now, I think.

ETA: Picture!

Jack (tabby) and John (white with spots) on the sofa.

01:09 am - Cats becoming visible

The cats are becoming more and more visible. They are in the living room now, exploring and investigating ("That a spider plant? Nom nom.") Only when I make sudden moves, they disappear.

11:12 pm - New (invisible) cats

I have new cats, but they are, as of now, invisible. I only got a very short glimpse as they disappeared under different cupboards, and have heard an occasional soft tread, or the sound of dry food bits being chewed.

I think of Eliphas, who was highly visible (and audible) from day one.

Current Mood: weird

01:58 am - Hm.

Current Mood: contemplative

05:01 pm - Grr.

No motorbike -- last week the garage said "Satureday", but when I went there on Wednesday to pick it up, it turned out it was not done and they didn't think to call. Grrr.

No cats -- called the animal shelter, the cats have a cold, too and are under quarantaine. Grrrrr.

And still a cold. Rest of the old one, or a new one (at least, if it's a new one it shouldn't develop into something nasty as I should still have enough antibiotics in my blood to kill whole populations of bugs). Grrrrrrr.

Also, it's snowing. Looking at everything else, I think I'll be happy about that. Even if it melts into rain before it reaches the ground.

Current Mood: annoyed

03:53 pm - Back at work

Very tired -- I couldn't sleep until 6:30 in the morning, and got up at half past nine.

The visit from my mother went fine. We had very good steak and my fear about a revival of the food debates was unfounded, it seems.

This week: Get over the last of the cold, get the motorbike back, get cats.

Current Mood: tired

07:20 pm - Poe's Law in action

Poe's law says, Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing. (found at Urban Dictionary, discussed in depth at Rational Wiki, lots of examples at TV Tropes.)

This it not new -- more than twenty years ago I heard a satirist mock the very same effect, that one day's parody was next days politics -- but it has been brought to a new high (low?) by the Conservative Bible Project (keep the brain bleach ready if you follow that link, you might need it). If this was parody it would be over the top, still, how can it not be parody? (via slacktivist).

I'll go with the Lolcatbible here: And if pplz photoshpz the Heliez Bibul, the Ceiling Cat takes pplz's cheezburger away, k? Unless there is some severe taking away of cheeseburgers seen, the whole project will make a good data point for scepticism.

06:30 pm - Linking to it might spoil the joke...

The Cold War Reenactment Society (via copperbadge).

03:45 am - Strange day, and motorbikes

Yesterday (Tuesday) night I noticed that the windows to the coldest room of my flat were fogged from the outside. When I opened the window, warm, wet air sloshed in. I opened the windows again when I went to sleep shortly before sunrise (still sick and following my natural day-and-night rhythm), and it was the same temperature outside as in the warmer rooms. When I woke around 1 pm, I felt warm air coming in from the outside. It was 27°C.

Last week I had the garage pick up my motorbike, because it would not start. Two days later they called, said it needed a new battery but would be done tomorrow. That was one week ago. Today, I had arranged with Gwydion (who is on reduced hours, which means he has a two-day work week) to go to the garage to pick up the bike -- as I am in no state for motorbiking, he'd get the bike home and I'd dive the car.

Everyone at the garage was very nice, but it took them 20 minutes to find the person in charge, who then needed 10 minutes to find my bike, which was still not done. Next week, then. Blargh. The good thing was, I peeked on the bill and found that they were only charging 30 Euros to pick up the bike. Had I known that, I'd have got it picked up earlier. Also, nothing expensive seems to be broken.

Gwydion and I went up to the showroom then to look at some of the new bikes. BMWs always make me feel smaller than I am. I never expect to be able to reach the ground from the seat of an R1200GS, or reach the handlebars on a K1200S, but actually it's easy. The new G650Xcountry had the petrol tank below the seat towards the back, nothing between you and and handlebar, and weighs next to nothing. It feels tiny, although it looks big.

I'm considering to sell the BMW and get something smaller (though not that G650Xcountry, that's too strange). I'm not driving enough to do a medium sized bike justice. But there are hardly any smaller: Currently, motorbikes seem to start at 600cc, for a top speed of more than 200 kph. Next smallest is the 125cc class, or a motor scooter. Hrmp.

When I got home, I was completely exhausted and slept for four hours. I don't feel feverish anymore, but I'm still a wreck.

Current Mood: sick

01:58 am - Fanfic recs: Torchwood, Doctor Who, Harry Potter

Note 1: I'm way behind on my reading. Everything I rec here has probably been rec'd all over the internet and back already. But I can live with not being avant-garde. Nothing rec'd for TW here considers Series 3 yet.
Note 2: If you want ratings, or warnings for spoilers or anything else, you'll find them on the fic.
Note 3: Spoilers for the stories should be masked out in pale grey. If you see this sentence, it did not work.. Highlight to read.

Current Mood: sick

09:09 pm - Got a cold

I knew this week was up to no good.

Tuesday one of my co-workers crawled into office spreading viruses left and right. With my "can't be arsed about the small stuff" immune system, it was clear that I'd catch it for two weeks of fun :-(

This sucks.

Current Mood: crappy

12:40 am - Dinner: Mushroom pasta

This evening I discovered dried porcini in the back of the cupboard. So, mushroom pasta.

Take one handful of dried porcini, brush the sand off, or put them in a sieve and hold them under the shower for a few seconds. Then put in a big cup or small bowl and barely cover them with boiling water.

Cook tagliatelle in an open pot on high, meanwhile chop one small escalotte and one clove of garlic, and slice a handful of other mushrooms, whatever is there. (I only had button mushrooms. Chanterelles would have been nice.)

When the pasta is nearly done, drain it in a sieve, dry the pot, put it back on the plate. Brown the garlic and escalotte in some butter on medium high, add the mushrooms and the porcini, including the water. Turn up the heat, let the water boil off. Add pepper and salt to taste. When the water is nearly gone, pour in some white wine, turn off the heat, add some cream, some fresh or frozen chopped parsley, and finally the pasta. Mix well and give it a minute off the stove to rest before serving.

11:40 am - Unhappy

Crappy start of the week. First the election. Gah. The flat's a mess. And my bicycle has a flat front tyre. Life sucks.

Current Mood: grumpy

02:15 am - Fic rec: Evil Overlord List, TW CoE edition

lannamichaels "Fifteen Things You Should Remember While Part Of A Massive Government Conspiracy."

Current Mood: amused

05:00 pm - Cats

I___ dragged me to the animal shelter today to look at cats.

I instantly fell in love with two big blacks that tried to bite me, but one of them already was taken and the other needed her freedom.

So I decided on two five-months old boy kittens: a tabby and a white-with-tabby. White-with-tabby is a little shy, tabby is curious.

Now I have to talk to the landlord about cats and cat nets (never needed one before...), tidy up every level surface, and in 10 days I might have cats again and can try to find a way to get them to coexist with the new furniture. I fear it will be doomed to failure and already regret not keeping the old IKEA couch and the mouldy carpet.

I must have been crazy.
I can't abide waste and stupid consumerism, and then I go ahead and buy furniture. And curtains. What the hell was I thinking? I knew I wanted to have cats again, but I went off onto a completely deluded buying spree. I shouldn't have bought any of it. I cannot keep it. I feel like head-desking. A lot.

ETA: Ah, forget it. I should know by now that lack of sleep makes me into a complete drama queen.
They are very cute (and uncommonly slender) kittens with beautiful eyes and sweet voices.

02:08 am - Strange things

(warning: NSFW blog names and post titles)

Sexual assault prevention tips guaranteed to work (Funny, except that is kind of isn't. Via figleaf.)

Men, Women and Cold Dead Fish - the limits of fMRI.

03:29 pm - Anyone needs to rent a cargo ship?

They are cheap this season: Ghost Fleet. (via makinglight).

I saw something like that, a dozen ships only, though, when I was in Falmouth in April.

09:25 pm - A kind of complicated LOL

1. The town I live in is home of an "Irish independend speedfolk" band of slightly more than local fame.

2. I just got for R___'s daughter, who's with a girl scout group and loves the songs, two CDs from the Hamburger Singewettstreit (Hamburg singing contest). One girl group covered a song of the above band (beautifully), believing the band to be Irish.

1+2 has me LOLing.

Makes me feel old, though. I bet the girls weren't born when I went to the first live concert of the band.

Current Mood: weird