[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [CLVIII].

I figured I'd make another post so I can more clearly see what number day it'll be tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, my wifey and I are moving up to Preston for a while.  It's not far away from the internet, so I'll still be able to post things, but it will be a long day.  And then I've got three days of work!  I can't wait!  I've not worked for a good while - standing up, walking round, working hard.  I did a bit of construction work in November last year, but other than that it's been nice work like making dolls and painting murals  Time for some on-my-feet-for-10-hours-type work.  Lovely.

Also for the end of the day:

A couple of logo bits for a series at church.  Not a whole lot to go on - a Dark Knight-esque 'S' for the series' title 'Superness'.

I like the first one the best but I'm finding all the 'S's to be a bit curvy to make dark-looking.

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [CLIV - CLVIII].

I'm having to learn how to use Roman numerals again.  I knew them in primary school because one of our teachers gave us various nicknames and ways of answering the register.  I was VII.  I don't know the numerals that well because there weren't a whole lot of us.  It didn't reach thirty, if I remember correctly.

But that's enough of that.

I've been absent once again from this photo-a-day thing.  I do have a bit of a better excuse for today, however.  And the past few days.

As you may well be aware, the Olympics are being hosted in London this year.  Huzzah.  If you are not aware, then consider yourself now aware.

The logo for the Olympics has been one of those love it/hate it conversation points since it was first unveiled in 2008.  I don't think it's all that great, really.  I think it's a bit clunky and a not all that pleasing to the eye.  I also think that it cost far too much.  Apparently, the cost of this logo was around the $400,000 mark.  Four hundred thousand pounds.

This, on the other hand, is the logo for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.  If you're not aware of this, then I guess it's a bit more acceptable than not being aware of the Olympics, but it's still a pretty big deal.

For the second time in England's history, the Queen has been on the throne for 60 years.  Since coming to the throne in 1952, there have been 11 presidents.  The Queen met 10 of these, but she also met one before she was Queen and a former president while she was on the throne.

For this huge occasion, what fantastic logo should be selected but this one above.  Stellar.

As I suspected, it was a Blue Peter competition (Blue Peter is a kids' TV show that's been going here for 54 years), but what surprised me was that the artist was 10.  I guessed 7.

Now I realise that the Olympics probably won't be back in England in our lifetimes, but to have a Monarch on the throne for 60 years isn't going to happen any time soon either.  Why we spent $400,000 on one logo and opened the other up to a kids' competition I'll never know.  The occasions are arguably as important as each other  - I'd say the Jubilee is more important - so why not proudly display a scrawlings of a primary schooler for the world to see at the Olympics?  It would have saved us a bit of money.

Finally, we have Euro 2012.  It's like the World Cup but only for Europe.  Thrilling.  For the American reader, picture the World Series being played ever 4 years and with actual teams from across the world being involved.  Hard to do, right?  So then if you have an All-American series every 4 years, off-set so that you can watch a big championship every two years, then you get an idea, albeit watered down, badly thought through and not really that similar.

England are in the competition again.  We normally are.  We get really patriotic and a little bit violent until we're out of the competition.  Than we just take all that patriotism that could have been and a select few turn that into even more anger and violence.

I love my country, really.

We play some good football until either the second half of the game or the second half of the compet

But the most important reason I haven't been on here for the past few days is that my wifey and I have been celebrating our second anniversary!

It's been an incredible two years and I can't believe how blessed we are.  Well, I can, because I know that God is good and He takes care of His kids.  But also, I can't, because we're just so blessed it's silly.

If 'blessed' is not a word that you're familiar with, it just means fortunate, but - essentially - God-given fortune.

We've been fortunate enough to have had the chance to go to Amsterdam, Germany, Iceland and America - including living in Arkansas and visiting Missouri, Georgia, Ohio and New York - traveling through Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and a couple of other States.

We've also been fortunate enough to have had the chance to live in the UK and America.  And to also have seen wonderful things - the hills and views of Arkansas and Germany, the canals and buildings of Amsterdam, the roads and countryside of America, Niagara Falls and the births and engagements of almost twenty of our friends and family.

Visas have plagued our marriage, as one sadly expects in this age of (seemingly) 'only those who stay illegally can stay', but we know that God is good and we know that He provides us with everything we need.

We have the money for my wifey's visa to the penny - a gift that we received from a person at church in America.  We also have a nice, big bag of winter clothes for my wifey - made possible for us to bring home by someone else at church paying for that bag!  And now that we're looking for a house in Preston, while we get jobs sorted in order to save money for a house in Preston, we have some more friends from church who have offered us three rooms to stay in while we save up enough for a deposit! God is amazing.  When Christians live like Christians should live, it glorifies God and shows His love to everyone around.

This past two years has been amazing.  Words cannot describe how much I love my wifey and how stoked I am for spending the rest of our lives together.  There are only 26 characters in the Roman alphabet.  Not near enough to use with the effect I'd want.

Here's another photo for today, actually.  My mum has an Etsy page!

My wifey and I were getting her sorted and ready to sell.  I was in charge of creating the banner for my mum's page and this is the photo I took the strip from.  Lovely stuff.

In other news, my mum taught me how to crochet, so there's a thing.

I've made two small squares and a tiny scarf.

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [CXLIV - CLIII].

Day something something.  Let's write off May as 'in transit'.

Today saw patriotism so tangible I had to swim through it to get to town this afternoon.  Not only does this weekend see the start of the Jubilee, with our dear Queen celebrating her 60th year on the throne, but today we had the Olympic Torch make it's way through the town.  My wifey and I and my mum and dad got a good look as the guy carrying it ran past with a surprisingly conspicuous and blend-in-able looking entourage.  Most peoples' views were somewhat obscured by a select few who gathered reasonably tightly around as the flame was passed.  I didn't even realised it had happened until I saw that the spritely young man who had passed us moments before had now been switched out with a slightly more frail lady.  A lady who obviously treasured the opportunity to carry the torch, twirling as she got to the top of the bridge she set off from.

Waiting for the torch to pass was a nice experience.  It was a similar to chatting at home, but instead, we were stood at the corner of a street.

A few squads of police bikes made their way past, followed by a couple of buses and cars advertising various products and companies.  At one point, a bus went by and I saw a lady in it holding her torch.  I thought that was it until half an hour later when the actual runner went by.  Following them pretty closely was a car advertising a bookies, which I'm pretty sure wasn't representing a real sponsor of the Olympics. And then it was regular traffic.

And that was it.  The crowd dispersed and went on their way.  People looked at their Union Flags with bewilderment as the realisation set upon them that - really - they don't need them.  And they could have done something better with whatever amount it was that they paid for them.

Upon starting this post, I realised that the memory card with all of today's photos on is currently at a friend's house after she was kind enough to shoot my wifey and I for our anniversary.  The camera has been shooting all day - at least 600 photos.  Which is ridiculous.

So here's a picture I took the other day.  My mum has got a rose bush in the garden an it produces really great orange roses.  It's blurry because one of the lenses on the fisheye attachment had a smudge on it from when we played the eye game - a game where you put the fisheye lens over your eye and try to walk across a room to high-five someone.  I've been the high-five..ee more often than not and have been hit in the face twice.

In other news I found another bug in Skyrim.

"Another?"  I hear you cry in utter disbelief.  "Surely that means you'd have had to have found at least one before this?!"

Well this one is a little more irritating.  I say a little.  It was pretty frustrating when I found myself walking through a wall and falling out of a city limit, before hovering over a grey expanse for a while until I decided to get somewhere else.

But this was the sort of bug that doesn't go away when you come back to it.  I can go back to that city and it'll be fine - all the walls intact.  But this?  No.

I was on my merry way to kill a zombie dragon, following a girl by the name of Delphine.  I knew where we were going, but I thought it may be character-building to walk the whole way with her - instead of fast-traveling (teleporting) there only to find out she got there just as quick.  A short while into our journey, we came upon a fellow casting a spell of some sort and behaving in a way that was less that health-building to our characters.  So I got out my bow and made sure he wasn't a problem any more.  Or his little fire creature that he was hanging round with.

No sooner had the problem been dealt with, I turn around to find Delphine running at me with a couple of swords!  Unsure as to what to do - seeing as I sort of needed her to be alive for the mission - I ran until she was off the radar.  As soon as that happened, I fast-traveled to the place we were meant to meet.  Sure enough, she was already there.  But because the AI had me as an enemy, she just attacked me straight away.  I fought back until she should have expired, but she just knelt down and regained her strength.  Thinking it was a test and that after a few times of doing this, she'd get up and say words to the effect of "This was a test and you've passed," I carried on.

But it wasn't a test.  It was AI gone awry and there was no stopping it.

At one point, while she was subdued, I went to the place that we were meant to be going and a huge zombie dragon jumped out of the ground and started shouting at me.  And breathing fire at me, but the shouting annoyed me more.

At this point in the game, Delphine is meant to come and help me out, but with the stellar AI, she just started hitting me.  So I was fighting a huge zombie dragon and this crazy chick with sharp things!

Once the dragon was dead I figured I'd leave it at that and call it a day, but the mission is not going to be complete without finally talking to Delphine.  Who tries to kill me every time I'm however close I need to be for her to fire arrows my way.

Load game.  Start the mission again.

Life, hey?

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [CXXXIX - CXLIII].

Well the past few days have been a lovely roller coaster of feelings.  Mostly unbelief that the UK Border Agency is so woefully unhelpful.

Mt wifey and I are soon going to be sending off for her visa.  This is very exciting but at the same time, it's a nice test of our faith.  See; we have enough money to get the deposit and first month in a property in Preston, where we're wanting to live.  But all of that money - every penny - is going towards the visa.  This is good because we need the visa.  But this is bad because we also need that money for a house.  You may see our problem.

That's the gist of it, anyway.  There are a load of other little bits that either change with the amount of people who tell us about them or small things which are somewhat in the way.

And that's also why I haven't been posting much recently.  Yesterday I spent 7 hours on the phone in a mix of visa questioning and job searching.  It was pretty tedious.  I also found out that while the UK Border Agency has a 'phone service'; this service is completely automated and instead of giving you an answer, at the end of whatever button combination it asks you for, an automated voice comes on and tells you - quickly and only once - an email address to send you enquiry to and that they'll get back to us in two weeks.  Which is so unhelpful I cannot think of a metaphor.  My frustration at all of this is huge and it's now just culminated in me getting very tired and depressed.

So apologies once again for the lack of pictures.  I have taken a good few, but haven't had the time to upload them.  Which sucks because it doesn't take long.  But that's how much time we've had.

I'll upload again soon.

Thanks for sticking with me  :)

Actually - here's one of the drawings I did a while back.  I still love it and I've been looking forward to doing something like this again.

Dogsword the Demolisher - originally by Jouste; this one's my rendition.

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [CXXXVIII].

Today was pretty busy.  We got up earlier than usual to try and combat jetlag - I've never had it this long but my wifey and I haven't really helped ourselves.

For today:

This is why I tape my feet when I play any sport that requires me to run and/or turn quickly.  Unfortunately, last night, my tape slipped off my toe while I was playing footy.  This was the result.  I mentioned it yesterday but I figured I'd show you today.  You're welcome.

No drawing for today again, I'm afraid.  Korean looks pretty nice when you write it, so I guess that's something.

My wifey and I had a great day in Preston, with meetings and visits and things like that.  Pretty nice.

And at last - a decent bed time.

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [CXXXVII].

Today was a good day.

My wifey and I got up around noon, which is better than it has been.  We looked round the back garden (something that we've been wanting to do but - for some reason - haven't) with mum and I packed down about 6 boxes of LEGO into one box that I have now put back into storage.  Then, my wifey went to a small church group and I went up to another village and played some footy for a bit.  That was good.  I haven't done that for a while and I think I needed it.  Even though I have a blood blister the size of a 10p/quarter on the bottom of my big toe  :s

For today:

The willow arch that's growing in nicely.  Mum's planning on having a few arches around the garden - if they are all like this, it's going to be wonderful!  This one has actually started to grow to the left of the picture - an arch that reaches over the entrance to the raised garden (formerly the chicken plot).

A Clematis flower that was growing to the right of the willow arch.

And then a close up of it.  Because that's what I do.

A garden spider.  I've missed these things!  All orangey and patterned.

And these wonderful things!  Baby trees!  I'm not sure what sort of trees they are, but look how tiny.

That's all for photos today.  I'm going to look for a job tomorrow and then my wifey and I have to go up to Preston to get her National Insurance Number.  After that, it's either band practice or a small groups at church.  We'll know nearer the time.

Thank you for sticking round!  I appreciate your reading.

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [CXXXIV - CXXXVI].

Well it turns out that this couple of weeks was harder to keep track of than I thought it would be.  This is why I thought it would be a good idea to not post back when my wifey and I were at the Canvas Conference a couple of months ago.

It is, at present, 01:20.  I'm sat in the living room with my wifey realising that English TV is pretty much utter tripe and that there's nothing on that is more entertaining than a kick in the throat.  It's nice, I guess - it means we're not going to be wasting time sat in front of it.

No photos for the past few days - we have been focusing on getting our days and nights back in sync.  Although not too effectively.  The first night we were back, my wifey had a 4-hour nap while I played Skyrim.  It's an amazing game, but probably not great for getting over jetlag.

We've also been playing 'The Fisheye Game' with my family and friends.  Basically; I take the fisheye attachment off my lens and get the 'player' hold it in front of one of their eyes.  They keep their other hand by their side and when we say "Go," they open the eye that the lens is in front of, walk over to someone else and then high five them.  I've been hit in the face twice as the recipient of said high five.  The game needs refining somewhat.

Other than that, we've been catching up with some great friends and it's been really, really nice taking our time to get settled back in a bit.

Even though I'd like to get out and catch some snakes...

I'll be out tomorrow with the camera, weather permitting.  It's been rainy over the past couple of days, but I guess I'll have to leave the house at some point.  There are things out here that need photographing all up close, like.

Apologies for the lack of pictures - I'm going to remedy it.

In other news, I'm (re)learning Korean, albeit slowly.  I got the hang of it the other year while I was being taught by my housemates and friends from Korea, but since then I've not practiced it at all.  So it's back to the consonants and - soon - vowels.  I think character/letter combinations are next - I just need to get these consonants down.  It's really fun!

Now.  My dilemma is this:  do I play Skyrim a bit more or chill out on the sofa?

Peace.