vivdunstan

Drawing up my initial target list of Spring Thing interactive fiction games. Have noted those that appeal to me initially, and that I am hopeful I can play. A nice mix of genres (e.g. slice of life, fantasy, scifi, mystery etc) and type (e.g. parser, choice etc.).

Replying to a Doctor Who subreddit post about first Big Finish story heard. For me it was Chimes of Midnight in 2004. Also the first time I encountered the 8th Doctor. Somehow - and I'm still not sure how this happened! - I missed knowing about or seeing the TV movie in 1996. Despite being a fan since 1978.

I'm just starting a rewatch of New Who series 9, with "The Magician's Apprentice" / "The Witch's Familiar". And while I'm enjoying it, I'm finding the so very Steven Moffat storytelling exhausting. Admittedly I'm especially tired at the moment, including cognitively, as I recover from my latest neurological illness flare. But the constant jumping around from time and place to somewhere else combined with the big set pieces in between feels way too much for me at the moment. I'd really like a more simple story structure with a more straightforward beginning, middle and end!

To be fair I've seen and enjoyed this era of Doctor Who before, on original broadcast. And I'm very familiar with this style of storytelling, from especially New Who series 5 onwards, as well as some isolated examples before then. It's what we get, for example, in "The Pandorica Opens" / "The Big Bang", and so many many more Steven Moffat penned stories. But sometimes it's just too much for my taste. And tonight is definitely one of those times.

Harking back to slightly simpler times in Doctor Who history, we're planning to soon rewatch all the Fifth Doctor TV stories in sequence, now that we have all of his season Blu-ray boxes. I saw them all many years ago, and a few again more recently. Martin's only seen a few of the stories. So that will be fun, and hopefully a little more palatable for me when fatigued. That's not to say that they're simplistic, but there should be a certain lack of convolution generally. Which I think I will appreciate. Though we still have to finish watching the final BBC Narnia TV series first.

Current reading includes a reread of the second Tiffany Aching book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I adore the Tiffany run of Discworld books, though it took me quite a while to start reading them. Suitable for all ages, good thought-provoking fantasy. Some of Pterry's very best.

Some years ago I read all the Discworld books in sequence. Mostly a reread, but some, like Tiffany, were new to me. Now I'm taking a leisurely reread through the Witches stories and am now in the Tiffany subset. Enjoying this so very much. After that I think I'll reread the Guards books in sequence.

Waking late afternoon as continue to recover from my latest neurological illness flare. Heavy sleeping daily with the most bonkers protracted dreams! Still waiting for urgent gynaecology referral appointment. NHS Tayside has phenomenal wait for this particular clinic (*), though guidelines say they should see you in 2 weeks ... Meanwhile sleep.

* Current advertised waiting times are 35 weeks ...

Staring at my folders of Infocom text adventure / interactive fiction game files (from the Lost Treasures of Infocom boxes I bought new decades ago), and wondering what Z-code format one of them is in. "Let's try Z5!" says me. And whether that's the right or wrong version, Lectrote opens and runs it. Off into foggy Victorian London for a Sherlockian adventure ...

Been heavily asleep all day - this has been a thing for some days now, after a few more headaches ... - and wake at nearly 6pm and remember I need to refill my daily journalling fountain pen. So still sleepy me then digs out the syringe and ink miser (my ink bottle is nearly empty, so I need to use those things to fill pens with the relevant ink), ink bottle, and the fountain pen. Amazingly I did not scatter ink all over the kitchen sink! Though I'm sure when Martin comes home from weekly shopping he'll find a few tiny spots 😜

Old pic, but it was basically all the same stuff in play today. The purple thing on the right is the ink miser. That I fill with ink using the syringe, and can then fill the pen well. Otherwise the ink level in the bottle is too shallow to fill the pen through the nib as normal.

I favour piston fillers due to my neurological illness causing big hand control problems. Switching to a syringe is not ideal, but it works in this case.

I'm a member of an accordion players forum. Someone asked what would folks do if they couldn't play any more. I had thoughts, given what's happened to me since 1994!

Continuing my Twelfth Doctor rewatch. And going to put this two-parter's discussion in a spoiler cut.

( spoilers )

Delighted managed some accordion practice, too long after recent neuro illness flare. Light headed by end, but right hand (piano keyboard) working well. Practiced ABBA Thank You For The Music, Speechless from Disney Aladdin, and here my first go at Bella Ciao, adding improvised right hand harmonies. I *love* my accordion 🙂 Been playing it for nearly 50 years.