peck72

. . . and I still have nothing really profound to say. Not so much of a surprise there I guess but a little disappointing none the less.

Yes, I've managed to miss my Journals birthday by two weeks, although to be honest this is actually quite good compared to some of the distances I've managed to miss other peoples birthdays by (Sorry Haylea) and they are rather more important.

So, what has happened to me over the last (quickly checks) 3 and a bit months then. I had originally meant to do a nice long post covering things in detail but I doubt that would really benefit you or me, so if there is anything you would like to know more about then please remember that e-mail / snail mail / the phone / walking up to me in the street and saying "Hi" is your friend.

Items in no real order of importance, except for this first one.

On march 25th, just a few days short of her 84th birthday, my Nan died. She had been fighting throat cancer for nearly two years and had been particularly poorly for the previous 6 months up to the point where she was sleeping almost constantly.
This picture was taken a couple of years ago. The others in the pic are my mum and dad (her son) and my grandad.

Nan had already picked out the hymns for her funeral and the music to be played on leaving the crematorium. I'd been able to keep things in check through most of the services but then as we were about to leave, the song she had picked started playing. It was sung by Katherine Jenkins and was called "Time to say goodbye". This just about finished any control I had left. It's also made me even more determined to have Monty Pythons "Look on the bright side of life" playing at the end of my funeral. Both Anna and mum have attempted to veto this but I'll find a way.

She was a great nan and is missed.

So in other assorted news. I won the Beginner of the Year cup at Chester Photographic Society! Ok, while I'm not strictly a beginner (I've been taking photo's for the last 8 or 9 years now), it is my first year in the society and my first time at entering competitions so i reckon I'm ok. That said I do think that I will move up to the A class next year. Firstly, I think it would be a bit cheeky to stay in the B class after winning it but also I'm looking for a bit of a larger field to test my pictures against. The quality in the B class is very high but the number of entrants is quite small (to the effect that I got 1st and 3rd place in one competition largely due to the fact that I entered three out of the four pictures in the B class) and so I'm curious how I'd fair against a wider selection of pictures.

Along side this news, I have also passed my OU course in Digital Manipulation. I really enjoyed this course and I think that a lot that I learnt here was instrumental in achieving my Beginner of the Year award. It helped me to look critically at the pictures I produced, to see what was good and what wasn't and to then tweak and improve them in post production on the computer to make them much stronger images. The only downside to the course was that it only ran for 10 weeks and so things were a little rushed and I didn't really get the time to take part in the on-line community with the other students.

I will at some point in the near future put my best pictures from the last 12 months or so into a video or slide-show of some kind for the edification of the viewer (or so you can say "i can do better than that" ).

I've got myself a funky, new phone. It's a Sony Ericsson K550i and among it's many cool functions are it's ability to connect to the pc and synch with Outlook. So I now have a back-up of all my phone numbers and my e-mail addresses. It also means that I can create my own ringtones and import them onto the phone. Since I'm a generous kind I thought I'd share a few with you.

Space Oddity

Paperback Writer

From Russia With Love

Teen Titans

And finally,
currently enjoying on TV - Heroes, House, Pushing Daisies, Bionic Woman, Big Bang Theory, Dr.Who
currently reading - Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know, Sir Ranulph Fiennes autobiography
Currently listening to - Third by Portishead
Currently intreaged by this trailer

And so that this post has something else to it, here are two meme's for you. The first by way of

greygirlbeast

The Ology of peck25

TECHNOLOGY
Q. What is your wallpaper on your computer?
Iron Man (but that is due for a change now I've seen the film)

Q. How many televisions do you have in your house?
One.

BIOLOGY
Q. Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Right.

Q. Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
Only teeth thankfully

Q. What is the last heavy item you lifted?
Numerous boxes of blood at work

Q. Have you ever been knocked out?
no

BULL*OLOGY
Q. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
No.

Q. If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
Currently favouring William Swift

Q. What color do you think looks best on you?
Black although I tend to dress in shades of blue

Q. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item?
A tooth when I was about 11

DAREOLOGY
Q. Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100?
No

Q. Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000?
No, I'm sure I'd miss it once it was gone

Q. Would you never blog again for $50,000
Yes

Q. Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000?
No

Q. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
No

Q. Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000?
Possibly, depending on the person but actually I'd hope not

DUMBOLOGY
Q: What is in your left pocket?
Lint

Q: Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie?
Possibly with the right company

Q: Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house?
Carpet

Q: Do you sit or stand in the shower?
Stand

Q: How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
None

LASTOLOGY
Q: Last person who texted you?
Beth from work

Q: Last person who called you?
Sister in law

Q: Last person you hugged?
Anna

FAVORITOLOGY
Q: Number?
3

Q: Season?
Winter, without any doubt

Q: Color?
dark blue

CURRENTOLOGY
Q: Missing someone?
Nope, all accounted for

Q: Mood?
tired

Q: Listening to?
Tori Amos

Q: Watching?
Too much (I've 5 episodes of Battlestar Galactica to catch up on)

Q: Worrying about?
How bad the garden will get before i get around to dealing with it

Q: Wearing?
Jeans and t-shirt, my standard uniform

RANDOMOLOGY
Q: First place you went this morning?
Shower, then work

Q: What can you not wait to do?
Go to bed ;)

Q: Do you smile often?
Yup

Q: Are you a friendly person?
Mostly

And this one, thanks to

trixie_chick