Amytiger

Yo! Sam!

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:06:02 GMT

Imogen Heap has finally released her new album 'Ellipse'. Especially liking 'Little Bird', 'Aha!' and 'Canvas'. Please enjoy:

Grfffgasdasdkkfjd. And it was raining too!

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:14:20 GMT

I passed my driving test! *waves tiny flag*

Spot an Amy :D

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:53:29 GMT

:: From TrainShetland's Summer 09 Newsletter ::

Fandom Meme

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:55:09 GMT

From redbrunja :

List 10 of your favorite characters from different fandoms, and ask people to spot patterns in your choices, and if they're so inclined, to draw conclusions about you based on the patterns they've spotted.

10, pff. Here are the ones that come to mind...

Gundam Wing: Duo Maxwell

Repo! The Genetic Opera: Graverobber

Hikaru No Go: Touya Akira

Seirei No Moribito: Balsa

Inuyasha: Sesshoumaru

Mononoke: Kusuriuri

Naruto: Kakashi (with Iruka and Tenzou as close second and third)

Soul Eater: Maka

Rurouni Kenshin: Kenshin

Firefly: Kaylee

Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse Series - Eric Northman

Watchmen: Rorschach

Stargate SG-1: Daniel Jackson

Simoun: Wapōrifu

Bit of a mix! Tell me what you think :)

Shiny Bones

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:19:31 GMT

Got the rest of my college work emailed away, and although I might have corrections on it, it's a big relief to get it finished. Woo!

079. Nahoko Uehashi- Seirei no Moribito
080. Lian Hearn- Grass For His Pillow
081. Cory Doctorow- Little Brother
082. Lady Murasaki (trans. Richard Bowring)- The Diary of Lady Murasaki

So that's all the books I've been up to. I'd especially recommend Little Brother (thanks Mo!) which you can download off the author's website. It's full of awesome tech. Go read.

'Fake' by Alex Roots. Nice modulation :D

I'm off to have weekend adventures. See you soon! x

INV to LSI @ 17:50, Or So They Say

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:46:11 GMT

Whoo, what a relief. That's my second block just about over, and I'm heading home on the plane tonight. Spent the week trying to get as much work finished as possible, so I haven't read much. Not to worry though, with the Amazon voucher Mom and Dad got me for Christmas, I was able to buy many, many new books. Actual impending glee.

Still February is going to be chock-a-block with project work and logbook entries. I look forward to the end of March, and getting everything handed in. Hoping to squidge some excitment in the cracks.

Got my bags packed, and I suspect it's gonna weigh more than 20kg, being that my shoulder cracks every time I pick it up. Since BA has sold our route to FlyBe, they are a lot more strict about such things. Eep.

Have to get back to writing 'Safe Isolation Procedures', which is almost as much fun as it sounds. Have a nice weekend, peoples!

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:44:31 GMT

083. Jack Kornfield- The Eightfold Path for the Householder
084. Charles de Lint- The Blue Girl

Slowly getting better from my flu. Been doing lots of homework, and I had a nice weekend with Chrissy and Ryan visiting from Aberdeen. We walked around the canals, had nice drinks and window-shopped our way around the East Gate Centre. I bought a couple of t-shirts, so clearly I was doing it wrong ;)

Just into my last week at college. Still have a couple of things to catch up with, mostly around three phase theory and earthing, which I'll be working on in the next couple of days. I've been really enjoying this sort of thing:

TN-C: combined PE and N conductor all the way from the transformer to the consuming device.

TN-C-S earthing system: combined PEN conductor from transformer to building distribution point, but separate PE and N conductors in fixed indoor wiring and flexible power cords.

I should be headed back home on Friday. It's been an interesting month, I've learned a lot more testing, done some project work, made a little ground on doing regular meditation and writing in Japanese. I would've liked to have done more exercise, but my walk to college every day and back will have to suffice. Right, to the homework pile!

A Lame Excuse For A Week

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 16:31:51 GMT

Basically spent the whole week in bed ill (deprived of internets). Slept lots, and in the last two days finally managed to get some of my logbook done. Towards the end of the week I even read some books.

Twilight sort of tastes like fanfiction to me. I even had daydreams of doing comparison charts between Twilight and the Dead series because of the similarities. Vampire first boyfriend, check. Werewolf best friend, check. Heroine strong-type who happens to get hideously beaten up, if not once, then on a regular basis, check. Heh.

085. Barry Farber- How To Learn Any Language
086. Stephenie Meyer- Breaking Dawn
087. Stephenie Meyer- Eclipse
088. Stephenie Meyer- New Moon
089. Stephenie Meyer- Twilight
090. Ma Jian- Stick Out Your Tongue

Still dizzy, but I'm going to go back in to college tomorrow. That's right. HARDCORE.

Here In Inverness It Rains Rains Rains

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 15:39:21 GMT

091. John Ajvide Lindqvist- Let The Right One In
092. Charlaine Harris- From Dead to Worse
093. Charlaine Harris- All Together Dead
094. Charlaine Harris- Definitely Dead
095. Charlaine Harris- Dead As A Doornail
096. Charlaine Harris- Dead to the World
097. Charlaine Harris- Club Dead
098. Charlaine Harris- Living Dead In Dallas

I might've accidentally spent most of this week reading. I'm not going to keep up this speed, going to force myself to focus on my coursework, which I have rather a lot of. Saying that, I did really enjoy the Harris books. It was all very light amusing fiction, although slightly formulaic. In this case, though, that works. Rather like watching one of your favourite soaps.

On Friday I watched 'Let The Right One In', then on Saturday I read it. I think that the movie had a better effect. It followed the book quite closely, but the ambiguity of the film was nicer somehow.

At college, we've been doing project work (design and plan an installation for a newly built warehouse and old asbestos riddled pump-house) and 3-phase theory (phasor diagrams and the such). When I'm underway with my project I shall post up some pictures. I don't really have great internets here in Inverness- the College have annoying filters and the coffee shops aren't very close.

Also been playing Guitar Hero on my DS. It's very good, but it makes me miss my own guitar.

100 Book Challenge

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:16:17 GMT

I thought it might be more fun to count down. :D

099. Charlaine Harris -Dead Until Dark
100. Lian Hearn - Across The Nightingale Floor

Got to Inverness on Sunday, and I'm staying again on Montague Row. Filled up my wee computer to the brim with music, films and eBooks to keep myself amused. I've only been at college for two days and already I have a boatload of homework. Going to be very busy for the next while, but that's okay, it'll stop me getting listless and bored.

Also, if you haven't seen it, watch Mononoke. It is made of so much awesome, words cannot express. Seirei No Moribito is pretty damn good too :)

Happy 2009!

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:45:16 GMT

Hope 2008 went well for you :)

Spent a couple of hours this afternoon contemplating what I wanted to do with the next year, and thinking about what I'd got out of the last one.

The Good:

Completed my first year of Electrical Installation, and was in Inverness at college a total of four times.
Worked like hell, paid the bills
Completed an OU Level 1 course in Maths, which I passed with 88% (Yay!)
Did a 90 Hour 'Foundation Studies in Exercise' course, just for teh lulz
Sang tenor in the Christmas Choir for the second year
Wrote some songs with Neil
Little trips to Glasgow to see friends and remind myself what civilisation looks like.
Living in Shetland and seeing my parents and sisters.
Keeping my job.
Got a wee Asus laptop. Sweet.

The Bad:

Stress. At college, at OU, at house mess.
Working too much~ tired busy, no time :E
Feeling like I'm not really getting done what I want to do.
Living in Shetland, away from my friends

I am thankful for another year.

Thoughts for 2009:

College work: I have project and logbook to complete by the end of March, so that will take up the first quarter year.
Computer: Want a workstation for recording music as my current computers aren't really snippy enough to deal with uncompressed audio.
Album: Want to get some more substantial music-making done, take those songs and get them on a computer.
Meditation: Make the habit of doing it every day.
Gym & Exercise: To keep going whenever possible.
Japanese: Muuch more work needed XD
Livejournal: In a moment of MADNESS I went and bought another years subscription, so I shall make an effort to post once a week.

And for a bit of fun I'm going to go for a HUNDRED BOOK CHALLENGE, since I got to 69 in 2007 ::list::. I'm not going to count manga or graphic novels, since I could probably whip through a hundred in a week. Got a nice Amazon voucher for Christmas from Mom & Dad, so I gleefully went and ordered a huge number of books.

Have a nice year, my peoples! :D

Oh Shifting Spanner, PLS BE MINE <3

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:46:21 GMT

Awesome ^_^

Shetland Arts Volunteer Remix

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:43:27 GMT

Shetland Arts Volunteer Remix
Video sent by amytiger

In an effort to learn the program 'Soundtrack Pro' I took the volunteer video that Shetland Arts used, cut it up, sampled some of the audio and constructed a score.

Yes it's funny. That's fine :D

Also! I passed my test to recieve funding from SECTT. :)

Amy? Where aaaaare you?

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:28:00 GMT

It may seem like I've fallen off the face of the internets, but worry not, I'll be back properly when I get all these essays and exams out of the way. Until then! xx

[Someone who has access to my accounts on Altnation and Facebook might still post occasionally, but you have to understand that isn't really me, I am somewhere else studying.]

AyeWrite 2007

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:45:09 GMT

I just realised it's been a good couple of weeks since I last posted. Went along to the Aye Write Festival last week, and that was good. This week I've been working towards an essay on Greek Tyrants, and will be relieved when it's all done (although I've been enjoying reading about it). All my poor friends and family are being bombarded with interesting excerpts from Herodotus, whether they like it or not.

So, last Monday I went along the Mitchell Library to see Sandy Toksvig and David Blunkett. Stuart came with me for the walk. They've really done the place up nice- the last time I was there the decor was resolutely 1970s. Now there is a Cafe and a small bookshop, and apparently you can drink beer while you read. Now all they have to do is have it open all night- that would be amazing.

First up was Sandy Toksvig. The main hall was totally packed and the audience seemed thrilled to see her. She talked for around forty-five minutes to great effect without blatantly pimping her new book. As I'd been late in I ended up fairly near the back, which was a bit rubbish for seeing her but meant I could zip out the door for the signing. Managed second in the queue.

Oh, I was nervous. When it was my turn I realised that I was going to be towering over her so I kneeled down. She said "No need to get on your knees for me dear, I'm not that short!" I asked for a picture she sat me down in her chair and her assistant took the photo. After that I sort of rolled away in a human tumbleweed of glee.

David Blunkett was next. I got a seat fairly near the front. There wasn't quite the same crowd. He was a good enough talker, but the jokes he made fell flat and just made him seem a bit creepy. I took two video clips of him talking (dutifully uploaded to YouTube here and here). It was a hard crowd. No one asking him questions seemed to have any political point to make, so it didn't give him anything to rail against. They weren't for or against him, merely interested. At the end no-one seemed to want a book signed. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

On Friday I went along the QMU to take a look at Sir Ming, head of the Lib Dems. He didn't manage to endear himself to the audience, but was a fairly composed speaker. Except when he was trying to make unnecessary political points. I'll vote for him, but I'll begrudge it just a litle.

Later that night, back at the Mitchell, I saw Michael Buerk give a talk on journalism and the state of the media. He didn't seem very optimistic about where it was all headed. Unlike Sir Ming, he was a warm speaker, and you could laugh with him. He didn't seem to think very much about the youth of today, and looking at the general age of the AyeWrite Festival-goers I saw, I'd probably agree with him.

The reason I went to see these particular speakers was because I listen to them on Radio Four, or had listened to programs about them. Dad joked that Radio 4, like short-sightedness, was some sort of hereditary defect that had been passed down from Mom. :D

Sandy Toksvig said "To the question of 'What's on the TV?', the right answer should be 'Dust'."

Project One: Jumperthing Owarimashita!

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 17:41:09 GMT

Finished knitting up the last little bits and sewing it all together. Result!

Notice how the arms are slightly stripey? That's on purpose- I had two different dye-lots so swapped wool over every four rows :D

To view all previous jumper posts click here.

I'm in ur computer network, stealing ur camera

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 16:05:58 GMT

Thanks to John, who emailed me with this gem:

Click here and it should come up with a list of network cameras, some of which should really be behind a firewall.

Then you can play with them ^_^

In your City

In your warehouse

In your office...

Turns out that last camera can zoom in pretty well.

Selling phone systems, huh?

I can seee your nooooootes.

And one of these guys is Tony Itonaga, and works for Panasonic Communications.

That looks like Japanese to me.

But you want to see the most interesting thing?

Mmmmmmmm, sugar.

Link here.

Edit: Turns out the company was Dial Tone Communications Inc., based in Ontario. They provide a link to the cam from their website front page.

Guess they never thought that one through. Lol.

On all my journeys through the internets...

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 14:52:21 GMT

Jellybean Prayer

To Have Without Holding

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 15:34:39 GMT

By Marge Piercy

Learning to love differently is hard,
love with the hands wide open, love
with the doors banging on their hinges,
the cupboard unlocked, the wind
roaring and whimpering in the rooms
rustling the sheets and snapping the blinds
that thwack like rubber bands
in an open palm.

It hurts to love wide open
stretching the muscles that feel
as if they are made of wet plaster,
then of blunt knives, then
of sharp knives.

It hurts to thwart the reflexes
of grab, of clutch; to love and let
go again and again. It pesters to remember
the lover who is not in the bed,
to hold back what is owed to the work
that gutters like a candle in a cave
without air, to love consciously,
conscientiously, concretely, constructively.

I can't do it, you say it's killing
me, but you thrive, you glow
on the street like a neon raspberry,
You float and sail, a helium balloon
bright bachelor's button blue and bobbing
on the cold and hot winds of our breath,
as we make and unmake in passionate
diastole and systole the rhythm
of our unbound bonding, to have
and not to hold, to love
with minimized malice, hunger
and anger moment by moment balanced.

In celebration of loving. :)

Project One: 4/5ths Done

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 01:08:31 GMT

Finished knitting the main body. It was stretching out quite a lot and due to it's weight not keeping shape too well. I started by washing it:

Then I laid it out on a towel and gently pushed the stitches closer together, while getting the full length (rolled up socks to keep the shape at the front... lol):

Finally after two days of drying I sewed the arms on, which turned out to be slightly (and amusingly) puffy at the top. Hung it up, and you can see how heavy it is (I did want it to be warm, and had kitted up the wool with smaller needles than recommended):

Originally, I had played around with the idea of the sleeves being detachable, but I came to see that the top of the jumper was going to need as much support as possible. The front of the jumper still hangs down quite low, so I've begun to knit up a front panel, like the one I had improvised earlier with a sleeve:

This should help pull the front in, and stop it from stretching out too much. I don't have an awful amount of red wool left, so the size of the panel will be as big as I can make it. Will also mean I won't have to wear a vest top under it if I don't want to.

Going to go buy ribbons to thread through it tomorrow. Will also run them zigsag up the back, but I can't corset it or the knitting would just stretch. 4/5ths done and Project One is nearing completion!

Project One: Front Complete!

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 20:56:02 GMT

Finished knitting up the front. What a relief, only the back to go.

It might not look much like the earlier diagram, but that's alright. It's only a guideline, and I plan to block it into slightly better shape :)

Project One: Jumperthing

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 02:38:23 GMT

I've been planning and working on this jumper for over a year now... Finally I promised my mom I'd have it finished for Christmas, and setting some time aside each week seems like the best way to achieve this.

How I'd like it to look:

Notes: If I have enough wool after knitting the main body, I'll add kimono-style sleeves. Will probably sew ribbon through the edges (think Sai in Hikaru No Go). Not terribly sure about the shape of the upper body. I have the obi-waist-ribbon all worked out :) Was originally going to put a mandarin collar but square necks suit me better.

I'm using a cotton-based deep red wool that contrasts nicely with the heavier grey:

Made the sleeves long because I get cold hands:

Where I'm at now:

I've finished both sleeves:

And I've sewn one of them up:

I've started on the main body, but still got a ways to go:

Will keep you updated with any new and exciting developments ^_^