Category: Lifestyle

Categories
Blog Lifestyle

Migraine Awareness: Me and my Migraine

migraine-awareness-comic

Hi, I’m Amy and I suffer from migraine.

I hate my brain. I know I can’t very well do without it but it often seems like the enemy.

Migraine is the most common neurological condition (or brain disorder if you like) and it can affect  anyone.

The seriousness of migraine is often not realized for several reasons. Firstly it’s in the brain so essentially invisible. Sometimes there’s also the misconception that because it’s ‘in the mind’ it’s imagined and isn’t really real. For people who think that may I remind you that the brain is a physical organ and a very important one – it controls everything and if it is screwed up the body cannot work properly, like if you are in the car and the steering wheel doesn’t work. A similar disorder to migraine is epilepsy.

Continue reading “Migraine Awareness: Me and my Migraine”
Categories
Blog Funny/Cool Lifestyle

Talk Nerdy to Me

‘Talk Nerdy to Me‘ is a parody of the song/music video of Jason Derulo’s ‘Talk Dirty to Me.’ It’s getting added to my Geek Mixtape, that’s for sure. It had me at “Hey, listen!” and Starfleet uniforms. It’s funny and clever and speaks to me. Yes – nerds are sexy!

There’s references to Star Trek, Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Zelda, The Lord of the Rings, World of Warcraft, Star Wars, Batman, Iron Man and oh so many things to make my little geek heart fill with glee. I had to freeze-frame the video a few times to take in all the cosplays.

Watch it an enjoy! The lyrics are below.

Continue reading “Talk Nerdy to Me”
Categories
Blog Lifestyle

My Logan’s Run Birthday Party

So, just over a week ago it was my Birthday, and not just any Birthday. It was my 30th. The Big Three-Oh. Being a Sci-Fi Geek (and an Old School Sci-Fi Geek at that) that Milestone meant just one thing to me: Lastday. Time to Renew, or time to run.

Welcome to Sanctuary (there is no sanctuary), behold my blinking Life Clock
Welcome to Sanctuary (there is no sanctuary), behold my blinking Life Clock
Continue reading “My Logan’s Run Birthday Party”
Categories
Blog Lifestyle

Coping with Anxiety – 10 Methods that work for me

I’m writing this because I suffer from depression and the root cause of this is anxiety, ergo to manage my depression I had to learn coping techniques for my anxiety. (Okay, I don’t mean regular, run-of-the-mill anxiety – this can actually be quite useful! I mean Chronic Anxiety that negatively affects your everyday life). The following is a list of things that work well for me, and maybe will help you to.

anguish

Continue reading “Coping with Anxiety – 10 Methods that work for me”
Categories
Blog Lifestyle

Custom Art Card Sleeves for Magic the Gathering etc

Do you play Magic the Gathering or other collectable card games with precious cards you need to keep safe? Tired of boring, plain card protectors that are weak and fall apart when used? How about a strong, custom card protector customised with your own artwork?

If this sounds appealing to you then you need to back this Kickstarter Project created by my good friend George (a fellow gamer at my University’s Wargames & Roles Play (WARP) Society).

Protect your cards, and look good while you do it! Tough, durable card sleeves with the art of your choice on the back!

A lot of gamers like to use card protectors to prevent the cards getting sticky, marked or damaged when they play. Some collectable cards, such as Magic the Gathering Cards, can be valuable to! Card sleeves are a small investment that keep cards pristine, extending their life and protecting their value.

This Kickstarter campaign offers some rare Magic The Gathering cards as incentives so take a look. There’s also the target of producing handmade leather and chainmaille dice bags once the £3000 goal is reached. Currently the sleeves are sized for MtG cards but if it succeeds Penniwhistle Games would like to make different sizes available, such as those for Yu-Gi-Oh cards, but he need to get the wheels rolling and kick-start his business first!

This is a cool project so go show your support and get your own custom art card sleeves!

Categories
Blog Lifestyle

Custom Art Card Sleeves for Magic the Gathering etc

Do you play Magic the Gathering or other collectable card games with precious cards you need to keep safe? Tired of boring, plain card protectors that are weak and fall apart when used? How about a strong, custom card protector customised with your own artwork?

If this sounds appealing to you then you need to back this Kickstarter Project created by my good friend George (a fellow gamer at my University’s Wargames & Roles Play (WARP) Society).

Protect your cards, and look good while you do it! Tough, durable card sleeves with the art of your choice on the back!

A lot of gamers like to use card protectors to prevent the cards getting sticky, marked or damaged when they play. Some collectable cards, such as Magic the Gathering Cards, can be valuable to! Card sleeves are a small investment that keep cards pristine, extending their life and protecting their value.

This Kickstarter campaign offers some rare Magic The Gathering cards as incentives so take a look. There’s also the target of producing handmade leather and chainmaille dice bags once the £3000 goal is reached. Currently the sleeves are sized for MtG cards but if it succeeds Penniwhistle Games would like to make different sizes available, such as those for Yu-Gi-Oh cards, but he need to get the wheels rolling and kick-start his business first!

This is a cool project so go show your support and get your own custom art card sleeves!

Categories
Blog Lifestyle

NaNoWriMo 2012

This month I am participating in National Novel Writers Month, aka NaNoWriMo. This is an international challenge to all writers to write 50,000 words during the month of November. It is like a marathon for writers. It’s also a big kick up the butt for people like me who say ‘I’d like to write a Novel someday’ to stop putting that day of and actually do it!

This is my first attempt; I am a NaNoWriMo virgin. So I’m looking for writing buddies to encourage me and help me through this. My NaNoWriMo username is amuletts (as it is pretty much everywhere), so if you’re participating in NaNoWriMo too add me. I will be working on a piece of fantasy fiction called ‘Desert Story.’ It’s about eeevil characters!

Synopsis

Wilf and Gladys are assassins, exiled to the desert after a political upheaval. Survival is treacherous, precarious. When they find a genie bottle they believe their luck has changed, but what they release is an evil Ifriti, angry from its long imprisonment and intent on destroying all life. They also release a human, Tam Y’lset, who originally helped capture the Ifriti but in doing so became trapped with it. Having spent a thousand years sharing it’s prison he is insane and obsessed with revenge. Now these three anti-heroes must work together to undo what they have done, put the genie back in the bottle, and save the world.

Excerpt

“You know I always admired your professional detachment,” Gladys chided cruelly. She could only be patient and kind for so long. It wasn’t really in her nature.
Wilf rounded on her. “Gods woman! You think I can just kill you like anybody else, as if you were just another contract?”
“I think you’re capable of anything,” she said.
Wilf angrily turned away from her. She had rendered him speechless.
“It’s a complement!” she insisted, “You’re a cold-blooded killer. Fortunately that’s just what I need right now.”

___

Anyway, wish me luck! Hopefully I will succeed in writing 50,000 words and therefore be a NaNoWriMo Winner instead of an epic failure!

Categories
Blog Lifestyle

Hedingham Castle

Hedingham Castle is a classic Norman Box Fort located in Essex, England. I was lucky to visit it on a bright, sunny day with little rain (surprising as it has barely stopped raining all summer with the highest amount of of rainfall in June since records began). As readers of the comic will already know I am using Hedingham Castle as the basis for Kasper’s Castle in the comic. I think having convincing backgrounds gives the story a grounding in realism perhaps making it a bit more believable. I think this is quite important in a story with magic and other outlandish (and sometimes ridiculous) elements. And since Hedingham Castle really isn’t that far away I couldn’t not go!

Continue reading “Hedingham Castle”
Categories
Blog Lifestyle

Nuts in June

So my camping/cycling holiday didn’t go exactly to plan… it turns out my tent is not waterproof, or at least not waterproof enough. It’s perfectly fine in good weather and can take a light shower but it cannot take torrential rain, which is what we got on Saturday night and continued all throughout the Sunday. So I woke up at around midnight with water splashing on my face to discover the tent had filled up with water and basically become a pond! In the middle of the countryside it was pitch black and there were no houses for miles.

Continue reading “Nuts in June”
Categories
Blog Lifestyle

Lovely Jubilee Holiday

It’s the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend tomorrow which means an extra-long bank holiday so I’m taking the opportunity to go on holiday and see Hedingham Castle in Essex. Hedingham Castle is the one which Kasper’s Castle in the comic is based on so I intend to take lots of photos for reference! There’s also a Knights of England Jousting Event going on Sunday & Monday with – you guessed it – jousting as well as have-a-go archery (I will have a go!), a craft fair, food fair and other awesome stuff I’m sure.

I’m going to make this a travelling holiday and go on my bicycle. The train route to Hedingham is involves going through the centre of London and I expect it will be crazy busy with Jubilee celebrations. I don’t travel well in vehicles, especially in crowded places (I get panic attacks) and it would take a long time. The route is much shorter across country and I can take my time and enjoy the scenery.

From my starting point on Oxford I’ll be going through Thame, Aylesbury, Whipsnade (cool Zoo here), Kimpton, Stanstead Mountfitchet (there’s a Castle there too!) until I eventually arrive at Castle Hedingham. I’ve not got to rush so it should be a nice, leisurely ride and I’ll be able to visit some of the local attractions along the way! I just hope the weather is good! (If it’s not I’ll find the nearest public transport and get on it).

I don’t have a fancy iPad or Android, so I’ll be uploading the photos from my adventures when I get back.