Such a shame...

I have just finished a chemistry assessed practical, and largely due to the skill of my lab assistant, I almost certainly got full marks. This is a shame because it was a manipulation (rather than planning observation or interpretation) which i cannot put towards my final mark.

It is amazing how effective "more, more, bit more, STOP!!" is in titrating...

So unbelievably busy!

I am so sorry for not posting, reading blogs, and reading ouch. I have been unbelievably busy with UCAS (done), evil maths homework (done), and getting my comic up (Never ending stream of things to do).

I have a chemistry practicle now - joy!

I am teh ubergeek

My order from Think Geek has just arrived.

I now have:
A black charity style wristband saying "THINKGEEK"
A t-shirt reading "2+2=5 // for extremely large values of 2"
A t-shirt reading "I'm blogging this"
"The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" omnibus addition.

I am so geeky!

Where am I?

Sorry about lack of posting. been tired & busy. I am also behind with homework. The good news is, the comic will be up soon....

A Word About Webcomics

I read a lot of webcomics. I have also read a lot of webcomic archives. Thus I know a lot about webcomics. And I have found that every comic of reasonable quality is slightly perverted. I don't know why. Anyway I've decided to make some links to my favourite comics:

Questionable Content
This is my favourite comic - fab humour, plot and music refrences. What more do you want?

User Friendly
The original geeky comic. Good jokes, but the art lacks a bit.

Ctrl Alt Del
Very funny gamer comic.

Sluggy Freelance
Amazing plots. (Warning - long and adictive!)

Megatokyo
Amazing art - Meta manga (don't worry I don't normally like manga!)

More later....

Crip Geeks Confused

Sorry for lack of decent posts - same reason as before: School + Hypersocialising + Webcomic obsession = no blogging. I have also been away from Ouch for way to long...

Anyway. I am currently alternating between periods of elation and manic deppression. This is screwing with my mind and my life. So:

I am happy because:

• I got good exam results and am doing well at school.
• I am applying to Cambridge.
• I have lots of friends and am socialising a lot.
• I have found some new webcomics to read.
• I have a cool blog.
• The girl I really want to go out with is single and actually talks to me.

I am deppressed because:

• I got shit exam results yet I am still top of my class in Physics and Chemistry.
• I am applying to Cambridge.
• My close friends are wierd and fcked up people. The people I want to be more friendly with probably just pretend too like me.
• I am spending too much time online and not enough time socialising.
• No one reads my blog.
• I am doing nothing about the fact that the girl I really want to go out with is single and actually talks to me.

That is my life. ish.

Crip Geek has a night out!

(Apolagies for the lack of posting - Start of term, and time spent catching up with friends)

On wednesday evening, my friends' band had a gig at a bar in Oxford, and I agreed to go (because they're bloody good). Being a) crippled and b) a geek, I don't get out that often, and indeed have never been to a gig before, so I was a bit nervous about the whole "no parents, no friends" thing - my two friends who were meant to go with me had other commitments, so I really would be going solo. Anyway, my dad drops me off outside and I go in. It's a very nice bar - well lit, comfy sofas, more like a cafe - but it's deserted. I see some stairs going down, and the barlady nods when I point at them. ("F*CK" I think). At the bottom of the stairs there is a big bald bouncer who is very enthusiastic and helpful and gets my money out for me.

I go in, and see a mass of people, most of whom I know, in a cosy low-cielinged red basement. My mate Ben is on the stage alone singing a really nice song, named after the band (Where I'm Calling From). Then someone hugs me (!) - it's Tom, we are WICF's biggest fans, and know nearly all the lyrics! I'm a bit overwhelmed by it all, so go and sit at the bar, where I see more friends (and would be girlfriend). The bouncer leaps past (literally) and excitedly tells me the tiger beers are only £1.30 - OMG someone thinks I'm 18+!

The music is fab - of course - and I dance and sing along - what a prat I must look. So all is cool. When WICF finish, I (yep me) organise for drinks to be bought by an 18 looking girl, and by one for Ben, which I drop (hehay). I get pissed on less than a bottle (w00t) and give the rest to Tom.

The next act is a blues guy (who sadly had no audience of his own). I go up top to get some fresh air, and guess what, I end up conselling my would-be gf (there is nothing going on here, just my wishful think) on her recent break up with possibly the stupidest guy I know. Such is life...

The headlining band, Jabberwok - psychadelic funk, are truely awesome, and are quite big in Oxford. However WICF managed to pull a bigger crowd. Wahoo, we rule.

I really like this venue, but it has stairs. I don't know what to think about this because it's a pain in the arse and illegal, but there never going to fit a lift in and I don't want to be a suing git and make them pay loadsa money. It's a lose-lose situation. Stairs suck. Advice please?

IKEA!

For my bithday I was promised a trip to Ikea. My birthday was in april. That shows just how busy I am :).

Anyway, off we went this morning to Brent Park. It's a very easy journey - A40, M40, A40, North circular, Ikea car park - and took only 1.15 hours. We arrived at about 11.15, just over an hour after it opened, and guess what? ALL the blue badge spaces were taken. And its a Monday FGS! In fact the entire car park was full, and we had to park miles away. I am not happy, cos its a huge store, and I wanted to conserve my energy.

So, I walk in to store, and what do I see? Stairs! It's OK, there's a lift. But it's out of order! I ask a yellow shirted worker if there's another way upstairs, and she tells me that there's a flight of stair in front of me! Duh! Someone else points to a combo-locked door with a felt tip sign saying "Wheelchairs and Pushchairs Only". I don't bother pointing out that I am neither...

So I enter the store, bybass the showroom and trolley point, so i take one from a helpful employee. The store is big. and busy - where do all these people come from, and shouldn't they be at work? My Mother freaks. Luckily I had already made a list of everything I needed to buy, so I wound my way through the maze picking up what I wanted. They didn't have the magnets for the crip friendly magnetic noticeboard i wanted which annoyed me.

We finaly got to the self-service warehouse (how un-crip-friendly can you get?), and I set about looking for my Forby stools and Trotsig footstool (aka blow up pouffe) I wanted. I can't find them so I accost a worker who was ever so helpful and even offered to push my trolley for me ( ;) ). It turns out they don't have the blue denim cover i want. The man is very helpful but no, I can't order it, and no the pc won't tell him when it'll be instock. I have to buy the black polyester one instead.

We go to pay. More problems I won't bore you with (seriously boring). Then we look at the restaurant. It's full, noisy and SHIT. Buy a crappy sandwich. Leave.

Except, you can't (physically) take the trolleys into the car park. The loading area is so busy we decide to carry the stuff to the car, and hope someone offers to help. No one does.

God that was stressful

And then I find, everything, even the desk lamp, requires assembly WITH SCREWS!!!! AAAAARGHHH!!

Crip Geek's Guide to Ikea

• Plan first!! Decide exactly what you want and write down it's stupid name, size, colour, and description (so you know that a Ripe is a Lamp Shade).
• Check availability online.
  
• Go Early! On weekday, to be sure to get the blue badge parking spaces.
• It's Big! Take a chair.
• Take someone strong.
• Use a trolley not a yellow bag.
• Find someone good at DIY for when you get it all home.

Phew...

Google Groups : Crip World Domination

I have set up a google group for crip bloggers to discuss blogging and other stuff that would be offtopic on Ouch! Please join.

Google Groups : Crip World Domination

Holiday!

It's been a bit hot recently so haven't got round to writing this till now. Sorry.

I have just spent two weeks in a farmhouse in France in the middle of nowhere near La Rochelle (west coast), followed by four days in Britany, near Vannes. We flew to Nantes with, for the first time since the first low-cost airlines, BA. I had totally forgotten how nice flying BA is, and even more so now with online check in. Amazingly a nice airport official let us queue jump to check in hand luggage seeing as the Young Gentleman (me) was disabled. This was very welcome seeing as the airport was extra crowded thanks to the strikes at other London airports - we were at gatewick. They were also great with my folding bike with stabilizers - even let the air out of the tires for me. Very shortly after arriving we were sitting in the first class lounge, thanks to my Dad's regular buisness flights, reading freed copies of Time and New Statesman, with free sandwiches as well! What style!

The house we were staying in was huge. Truely delightful. I spent a lot of time reading, playing monopoly with myh brother, and lazing in the hammock - bliss. We did some sightseeing - which meant car trips - which meant music of my dad's choice - Simon and Garfunkle, Cat Stevens, Leonard Cohen, Van Morrisen - fantastic. We also listened to Radio Nostalgie, which played both french and english songs from the sixties and seventies. My Dad (being french) knew the words to all the french songs!

Britany was fab - I long to return to do some sailing. I enjoyed regular lunches of gallete (savory pancake) and cider. I drank quite a lot of cider and got quite drunk at the hotel on our last night. So did my parents!

Overall the weather was good - sunny, not too hot, and I swam in the sea twice. I also taught my family to play bridge, and received my exam results. (Looks like they looked favourably on my physics practicle :)).

I think that's about it.... any questions?