Becca Jane St Clair

I am not a gamer. I’ve never been able to get into gaming the way a lot of other people do. Even when I was in high school, I think the longest I lasted at a D&D campaign was maybe 2 or 3 meetings. I thought I finally had caught onto gaming while I was visiting my friend A in Ann Arbor. His sister, V, came over and brought along the PS2 game We Heart Katamari. After spending several hours rolling up stuff in the Katamari balls, I thought I finally found something I’d like to play more of. I also would occasionally watch A play one of the RPG games for the PS2. One of the Final Fantasies, possibly Kingdom Hearts, but he usually was in the middle of something when I visited.

I eventually purchased a Playstation 2 (which I’m now trying to sell, along with We Heart Katamari if anyone is interested*) and I honestly think I played with it a dozen times. The controller hurt my thumbs, so I could only go at it for an hour or so before my hands would hurt (I have small hands!). While playing the game was fun, it often cut into my time for doing other things – reading, crafting, other hobbies – but it was still a nice distraction. I even bought a used copy of Kingdom Hearts (which I never played).

Another friend of mine, D, plays Second Life. Since Second Life had a free version, I thought I’d try it out. I also discovered another friend of mine, (another) D, also played it, so I spent some time hanging out with whichever of my friends was on at the time, met some of their in-game friends, and did a bit of exploring on my own, going so far as to create a character for myself that had fairy wings. I think I lasted about 10 days before I deleted the program off my computer and gave up.

Ditto for the Sims. I had the original Sims installed on my laptop when I was in college, and I sporadically played with it so much that my people kept dying on me from neglect. When I got a new computer 6 months later, I didn’t bother re-installing The Sims.

I think I might have even had a Tamagotchi at one point,or at least a cheap knock-off. My pet “died” because I neglected it. Even the hand-me-down Furby a friend gave to me stopped responding the way it should because I lost interest. Funny, I love my real cat and pay attention to him all the time!

Even online role-playing games. I was in 2 Harry Potter related games, and 3 Torchwood games. You would think with HP and TW being two of my main interests that playing an RPG and getting to be one of my favourite characters would hold my attention. Nope. Although, in all fairness, most of these games fell apart on their own through everyone’s lack of participation, and not just my own.

Recently, several of my friends started sending me invitations to play Farm Town on Facebook. I checked it out, and it looked like fun. You set up crops to grow, harvested the crops, and then sold them for “money” which you could use to improve your farm – buying fences for your animals, planting new crops, and when you have enough money (and a high enough level), you can even purchase things like houses, barns, silos, and windmills. You also earn points and money by visiting your friends farms or by helping other farmers harvest their crops. I’ve steadily gotten myself up to level 10 in the two weeks I’ve been playing….and I’m ready to quit. The game is so monotonous – plant, visit, harvest, sell, repeat. The levels are a bit ridiculous, too. You can buy a house at I think it’s level 7…but only if you have 70,000 coins. Since most crops give you 50-200 coins when you sell them, and you have to “buy” the crops to plant, it seems near impossible to get that many coins…yet I know friends who have houses and barns (and even windmills and silos) on their property, so it must somehow be achievable. Then, there’s the “get more coin” offers, which almost ALL require you to purchase something off another site…or you can even buy your coin. $10 gets you 10k coin (I think that’s the correct number). I really don’t see myself lasting much longer. The past two days, I’ve logged on maybe 3 times and that was just to harvest my crops so they didn’t “go to waste”. I didn’t even visit any of my neighbours.

I am not a gamer**. I will never be a gamer. So why do I insist on getting involved in games?

*Playstation 2 comes in the original box with one controller, an 8MB memory card, and We Heart Katamari. I was asking for $75 with local pickup, $90 if shipping is needed, but am considering knocking $10-15 off the price. E-mail me if interested.

**Board games and card games on the other hand….I love.

[Image used at the top of this post is a screenshot of my farm in Farm Town, and is © slashkey.]

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I’ve edited the “about this site” page, and thought it was worth sharing on the regular blog. I put it behind the more tag, but I don’t think those tags work on the RSS feeds. Sorry!

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[I was asked to post this somewhere where it could be linked to, so apologies to anyone reading this who saw it on FB or LJ who is also seeing the RSS re-posts.]

I took the train out to Philadelphia mid-morning. I couldn’t meet up with Erin until later in the afternoon, but I got a ride to the train station, so I had to go when the ride was offered! My plan was going to be to just plop myself on a bench in 30th Street and read for a few hours. I went into Cosi to get some tea and my iPod beeped with a discovered open wifi at the Cosi, so instead I grabbed a comfy booth and alternated between being online on either Jack (the N810) or Ianto (the iPod) and my book (Moab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry). I even managed to catch Tim for a bit on Skype before Erin was out of bar exam prep class and she finally met up with me.

We were only a few blocks away from WXPN, so we headed over there to pick up the tickets for the show. Surprise, surprise, guess who we bumped into? None other than Barry,who was going out to the van to get something as we were walking past. We stopped and chatted with him for a few minutes and had a fun moment while Barry tried to remember my name and all he could tell me was “you sell merch for us sometimes, but I didn’t need you tonight….” until I took pity on him and reminded him of my name.

Tickets procured, it was time to find dinner. They serve food at WXPN, but we both agreed the prices were a bit on the high side, so we opted to walk around until we came across a food court and got pizza slices the size of my head. I’m not kidding, they were huge! and cheap. We headed back over to WXPN, even though it was early, and got in a small (but growing) queue for the door. Most of the people ahead of us were older adults (which I now suspect might have been the family members of the new bassist) and they all went and sat at the tables to order food, so Erin and I were able to grab prime real estate at the front of the stage. We were *really* early, so we opened a bar tab, ordered some beer and just caught up on a lot of things. Nicole texted me at this point, so we made plans for her to meet us when she got there. I saw someone from S&D III who recognized my kitty ears, but I can’t remember who it was (Sorry!)

The opening act, Alternate Routes, was a lot more than I expected. I know I should give openers more credit than that, but more often than not I wind up not being overly impressed with openers. But Alternate Routes rocked, and the lead played a tool box. I’m not kidding! We saw this tool box on the stage with a cord sticking out of it and had no clue what it was and then the lead picked it up and started shaking it for boom effects. After the opener was done, I made a beeline for the bathroom. Erin and Nicole asked him what was in the box, and apparently it’s just a lot of junk that makes noise when you shake it. Still, pretty cool!

Soon it was time for Carbon Leaf! 😀 I received nods/grins/acknowledgment from Barry, Terry, and Carter (several times), and Barry kept focusing on our group. I don’t know if it was because he talked to Erin and I before the show or if it was because I was one of the few recognizable faces in the front, but no complains from me…until Barry almost took me out with his mic stand, that is.

Barry uses a cordless microphone and he has a stand for it. The stand can be batted around and will (usually) pop itself right back up, sort of like a boxing dummies. Well, a weight must have fallen out of it or something happened to it because Barry batted it and it stated coming down straight at me! If I hadn’t stuck my hand out to catch it, it would have cracked me (and possibly the person behind me) on the head! Erin and I tried to get the thing to go back on stage, but it bounced back and almost hit her, so then we just got it to lay flat on the stage. Whoops. After the song, I shouted “are you trying to kill me?” and Barry grins back at me and mimes being smacked in the face with a mic stand. Thanks.

Later in the show, he had a piece of paper with someone’s birthday on it, and he was trying to figure out if the date was the 26th or not. He claimed his watch said it was the 21st and everyone is laughing at him and people are shouting that he must be drunk, so he comes over to the edge of the stage and leans down at Erin and I to show us his watch to confirm the date. LOL. (and sure enough, his watch said the 21st)

But the funniest part had to be the re-telling of what happened at the Philly Diner. For those of you who follow CL and Terry on Twitter, you might have seen the posts about a guy passing out in the bathroom. Well, Barry proceeded to show us exactly how the man was laying on the ground:

and flops down with his butt right in front of my face (yeah, thanks for that “/)

The BEST part of the show was the encore. A reprise of Learn to Fly unplugged:

Absolutely beautiful.

After the show, we headed outside to the lobby where Erin got to talk to the lead from Alternate Routes a bit more while we waited for the crowd around Carbon Leaf to thin down. Finally it thinned down so we went over to talk to them and so Erin could get her CD signed (I recommended she start with Indian Summer, since she was familiar with a few songs off that album to begin with). Barry apologized for almost whacking me with his mic stand, and then decided it was better it was me and not a new fan, because then there might have been a lawsuit. I told him I’d have PTSD now and dream about mic stands flying at my head. LOL. We also found out that Carter’s banjo is broken! 🙁 He was playing his guitar as if it was a banjo for a few songs, so Erin asked him about it and he told us that it was broken. Oh noes! So I hope he can get it fixed soon! I got a big hug from Terry, and I talked to Terry about performing in the UK….he said maybe next year and asked me if I’d fill the bars with people I knew if they do. heh. I also found out that CL is NOT scheduled to be on ANY of Sixthman’s cruises in 2010, and Carter made it sound as though they had wanted to do BNL’s again before BNL decided to not do one. I asked about the rumors of a Celtic Cruise, and Terry said they’d probably do it if there was one….though there were questions on being able to fill an entire cruise ship, so we decided we ought to charter the Lewes-Cape May ferry for a show. LOL. Love those guys.

We made our good-byes and split off from Nicole. Erin decided since it was so late we’d just grab a cab back to her apartment and we were soon in Pajamas. I think we wound up going up to bed around 1. She has a studio loft with the bed in the loft. I woke up around 4/430 to use the bathroom and decided I didn’t want to climb up the ladder and try to squeeze my way back over to the bed, so I just crashed on her couch (and really didn’t get much sleep. Darn Philadelphia street noise!). I finally decided around 630 to just get dressed and I managed to make it to 30th street just as the 9AM Keystone was boarding. Woo.

So, fantastic day/night. I wish CL was playing more shows near me…they need to come out to Lancaster! 😀

[x-posted to facebook and LJ….with more photos on FB, so if you’re NOT on my FB, add me!]

I’ve decided I’m not going to take the time to completely blog every single town and place we visited. I’ve been home for over a month, and I just haven’t had the time. BUT – I know I have some readers (i hope?) who want to read about things, so here is the list of places we were. If there is a place you’d like to see me write more about and I haven’t already, please leave me a comment.

Stamford
Liverpool
Lincoln (multiple times)
Stratford-upon-Avon
Hereford
Hay-On-Wye/Brecon Beacons
Cardiff
Bridlington
Scarbourough
Robin Hood’s Bay
Yorkshire Moors (and NYMR!)
York
Nottingham
London
Portsmouth
Stonehenge
Blackpool
Liverpool
Rainhill
Newark
London
Greenwich
Beamish
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Alnwick and other Castles in the North
Scottish Borders
Durham
Darlington
GCR
Bletchley Park
Leeds
Mablethorpe (and other seaside towns)

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As posted to LJ and Facebook…

Top 10 Memories From the Past 6 Months:

10. The frog in the living room!
9. Seeing “Spamalot” and “Oliver!” in the West End
8. Getting locked in the loo on the train
7. Exterminate 45 with the Leicester Doctor Who Club
6. UK Ships and Dip get together in Liverpool
5. My Hovercraft is full of eels
4. Christmas in the UK, and being treated like family by Tim’s family
3. Spending six months with the man I love
2. Stonehenge at sunset
1. Hearing Tim say to me “I love you” for the first time.

Top 10 Things I’ll Miss about the UK

10. Boots
9. Primark (Where in the US can you get nice jeans for £6?)
8. Public transportation that works
7. BBC/BBC Radio
6. Ribena & D&B Soda (though not mixed together)
5. Tesco
4. Tim
3. My UK Friends & Family
2. Tim
1. Did I mention Tim?

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My flight is out of LHR at 4:15PM BST tomorrow. Landing in IAD at 7:15PM EST…ETA back in Lancaster probably around 10 or 11PM.

Regular posting will resume at some point this week, and it will include the HUGE backlog of places I’ve visited…I think I have to backtrack all the way to London in January! But, it gives me something to do instead of moping about missing Tim, eh?

There’s a frog in the living room!

I don’t want to take a picture of it and scare it with the flash, so I tried taking a video. I can see him if I look where he is, but I’m not sure if he’s visible on the video or not.

I texted both Tim and his sister, S, because I wasn’t sure what to do and sometimes Tim can’t reply to me from work. S told me how to catch it, but the darn thing crawled behind stuff and I don’t want to scare it if I move the bag he’s hiding behind.

Tim told me he’d take care of it when he gets home from work….unless Prudence (the cat) “gets to it first”…so I’ve been keeping an eye on the kitty and chasing her out of the living room. I’ve been trying to get her to go outside, but she won’t so far.

I took one of those silly online quizzes:

I travel like Tony Wheeler !
You are someone who others will come to rely on for their best travel advice and information. With any luck at all, you’ll eventually get bought out by the BBC, so you can retire, and then keep traveling anyway.
What type of traveler are you? Take BootsnAll’s Travel Quiz to find out.

Ah, I only wish the BBC would want me to be a correspondent!

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Due to work and family illnesses, Tim’s mum invited us over for breakfast on Christmas Day, and dinner on Boxing Day, leaving us on our own for most of Christmas.

We purchased Christmas Crackers (poppers) and I made us a turkey with all the trimmings. A few days before we found fresh cranberries at ASDA, so I made up a batch of cranberry sauce for us to share with his family.

At home, I usually woke up around the time that Mom would get up to put the turkey in the oven – sometimes as early as 6. Surprisingly, even though we weren’t having our turkey until the evening, I was awake bright and early on Christmas and had to wait for Tim to get up!

A few weeks before Christmas, I decorated a stocking for Tim (with a train on the front!) and filled it with candy, (US) railroad pins, and a pair of novelty boxer shorts. Tim took his cue from me, and I had a stocking filled with candy (he filled anything “hollow” like a coffee mug and a make-up bag with chocolate!) and other small items. Tim also gave me a few books, but the best present of all came in a little tiny box from H Samuel. Tim gave me a beautiful ring with a butterfly on it! Apparently he almost didn’t have the ring to give me. He had to have it sized and was told to pick it up on Christmas Eve. He went into town before work to pick it up, and the store was all locked up with the gates down! Fortunately, they took pity on Tim and let him in since he had already picked it up, or he would have been pretty upset on Christmas!

After we exchanged gifts, we headed over to his parent’s house for breakfast and to bring over the gifts we had for them. To my surprise, I had a small pile of gifts to open! Tim’s parents gave me bedroom slippers, a pair of pajamas, and some bath products. His grandparents gave me a purple handbag (that I LOVE!), and I also received chocolate, some Doctor Who related items, and a Pashmina from his other family members. I really appreciated everything they did to make me feel a part of things.

Later in the evening, Tim and I opened a box of wine and popped our crackers. We sat in front of the fireplace and watched the Christmas Doctor Who special, the Wallace and Gromit special, and a few movies before heading to bed.

My new ring!

For more Christmas photos: http://photos.beccajanestclair.com/uk-trip-2008/christmas-2008

[22:23:58] Sarah says: Joe did say today that he thinks you should come stay here again, since our pantry is disorganized. 🙂

Hehe! Sarah and Joe are the two who I house/catsat for over the Summer. I organized their pantry in a fit of boredom.

Tim’s uncle passed away yesterday, and before I get back to blogging about trips and things, I wanted to post about meeting him. We stopped by “on our way” to Liverpool and Blackpool to see him. We were expecting to stay for maybe a half hour before he got too tired for visitors, but he managed two and a half hours before we bowed out to leave. I had never met him before, and I think Tim was a little nervous for me meeting his uncle while he was so ill, but I’m glad I got the chance to. While we were there, he pulled out all his old 45s and showed them to us and played a few…at eardrum breaking volume! He had pretty much every single 45 the Beatles released….in original mint condition. It was absolutely amazing to look at his collection and hear him tell us about it and ask his wife (Aunt C) to put on a few records for us.

I’m glad Tim got the opportunity to see his uncle, and I’m glad I got to meet him. Tim’s dad told us he really enjoyed our visit, and that’s what counts.

Tim’s on the overnight shift all week, and I somehow managed to put myself on the same sleep cycle as him so I’m awake at home overnight until he gets home at 6am and then we both go to bed until around 1 or 2 in the afternoon.

Tonight after dinner we finished off the last of the ice cream, and since the container was plastic, I set it in the sink to rinse out before putting it out for recycling. Well…it never made it to the recycling bin. I decided I wanted to have arts and crafts time at 1:30 in the morning!

We bought a blanket for £2 at Primark to keep on the sette (US: sofa/couch) because it sometimes gets chilly down here without the fireplace going and it came wrapped in a black ribbon. I saved the ribbon, figuring it could find it’s way onto a Christmas present as a ribbon or something. We also had a huge roll of silver wrapping paper Tim bought, and I had some star-shaped gift tags I had picked up for £1. Also on hand was some glitter glue (leftover from making Tim’s Christmas stocking) and a glue stick.

I laid the ice cream container on it’s side and traced a line onto the wrapping paper to mark the bottom, then cut it out. I used the glue stick to glue the paper all around the side of the carton. I wound up splitting the paper into half, because it was hard getting the long strip around the curves. Then, I laid the lid down on the wrapping paper and traced it to cut out a piece to fit over the lid’s label. I glued that down. Not quite yet satisfied, I spied the pack of gift tags and cut apart one of the stars and glued it to the center of the lid. I outlined the star in glitter glue. Spying the ribbon, I decided to glue some ribbon around the carton to give it some “class”. Still not quite satisfied, I cut apart another star and glued it into the center, again outlining it in glitter glue.

And here’s my project:

No clue what I’m going to do with it at all, but it was a fun and cheap project!

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I’ve made 100 posts to this blog!

(click to make bigger)

Wow! Now, if only more of you would comment so I know this is being read!

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Ugh, I’m sick.

[The rest of this post is not for the weak. I discuss my cold in detail.]
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It’s December! That means Christmas and Christmas decorating! I asked Tim what he had for decorations and he told me “a small tree and some tinsel”. He dug it all out, and it turns out what he was calling tinsel is what I call garland. His tree reminded me of the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. It was a silver colour and looked a bit sparse. Unfortunately (or is that fortunately?) Tim couldn’t find the base for the tree, so we headed into town to Wilkenson’s to buy a new tree.

Tim picked out a small four-foot tree and we grabbed some fairy lights (US: twinkle lights or just Christmas lights) and a few packs of generic ornaments in red, gold, and silver. Tim also had a light-up train his aunt had given him one year. We decided to put the train in the upstairs window and the tree in the living room. We wound the extra string of lights around the banister for the steps with some garland, and it actually gives more light than the regular light did!

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I still haven’t written up and posted photos from my day out in Lincoln by myself, but I’m off again this afternoon to London and The South! We’re seeing Spamalot on Saturday with Tim’s siblings and on Sunday spending the day with my friend (and assistant admin!) Xenutia and going to the Doctor Who exhibit. I’m not sure what the plans are for Monday and Tuesday, but we’ll be back on Tuesday afternoon/evening and I’ll have plenty to tell you all about!

It’s harder to pack for 2 months away in the Wintertime than the Summertime, and harder to pack when you will be visiting someone as opposed to staying on your own. I’m finding I’m going to have to check 2 bags, as it’s impossible to fit everything into just my suitcase this time around.

On the other hand, if I don’t pack both bags to the brim, I’ll still have room to take stuff home.

I just hope Tim doesn’t think I’m moving in!

I know sitters aren’t supposed to pick favourites, but I really am going to miss Hobbes the most when I go back home, even though I’m going home to Will, who will probably cuddle me at least the first night I’m back.

Hobbes and I started out poorly. The first day I was here Joe tried to put Hobbes on my shoulder and I got clawed. The second day I was here I was trying to unpack my suitcase, and Hobbes decided to lay claim to it and clawed and hissed at me when I tried to get my clothes out. I spent my first two weeks absolutely terrified of this little cat who growled and hissed at me even when I got into bed at night!

But then, something changed. I don’t know if it was him realizing I was the one keeping the litter box clean and the food and water dishes filled, or what happened, but he started to like me. He would climb onto me while I was at the computer and try to perch on my shoulder. When I went into the kitchen to cook, he followed and snaked around my ankles, he followed me into the bathroom when I’d shower and sit on the bathmat to wait for me, and he cuddled me while I slept.

Last night when I got home, Hobbes immediately started following me around the house as I got myself ready for bed. When I sat at my computer last night to post the short blog, he was perched next to my laptop, every once and while leaning down to rub his head against my arm, and at one point put his paw on my arm as if to say “ok, time for bed”. When I got up to go to the bathroom, he was there again, following me…and as soon as I got into bed, he jumped up and curled up right next to my head…so close his whiskers were ticking my ear.

I will really miss this guy. Casper was easy to love. He’s just loveable in general and loves everyone who shows up. Quincy is aloof and comes to you on his own terms. But Hobbes? Once he decides he likes you, he really likes you.

Tonight was my “going away” of sorts. C invited me over for dinner with her, J, and baby C and also invited over B, L, and their kids. After dinner we had a cake because B & L’s oldest son turns 10 on Tuesday. Imagine how touched I was when L told him he was sharing his cake with two other people – J, who has a birthday this week also, and *me* as a going away cake. It really made me feel fuzzy to know that I was being included. After cake, we played a rousing game of 3 on 3 (girls vs. boys with L and B’s oldest as the extra boy) Canasta. and played, and played. It’s 2AM, and I stumbled into the house about 10-15 minutes ago. But it was loads of fun, and even if I have a lot I still need to do…I’m so glad that I went over and had the chance to see everyone I’ve met here.

I gave L my contact card. They don’t have internet (I know, I was shocked too), but the boys might send me letters :). I’ve been told when I come back they all look forward to seeing me, too.

So it was a really nice send off. I do sort of hope I get to come back someday.

That’s a very good question.

I want to say that I won’t miss it here – I won’t miss being alone and not having access to the things I’m used to (24 hour stores! a car!)….but I do think I’m going to miss the three little guys I’ve been taking care of for the past seven and a half weeks. These guys have imprinted themselves on my heart…Hobbes in particular. I suppose it’s wrong to pick favourites, but when you have a cat that climbs up and sleeps against your side and cuddles your arm….that one becomes a favourite.

This morning I had Hobbes up against my side, Quincy down at my feet, and Casper against my legs. I wonder if they know my time of taking care of them is coming to a close…my suitcase got placed up ontop of the dresser the other day and I started tossing things into it…I moved all my stuff from other areas of the house so its all in one location…I started cleaning things that I wouldn’t clean on a daily basis…poor kitties.

BUT – They’ll have their “parents” back soon enough, and I’ll go home to my cat, Will. I’ve really missed Will while I’ve been up here because he’s really my companion at home. He’s with me all day and usually follows me around the house!

Perhaps there will be an opportunity in the future to come back and catsit again for Sarah and Joe, or maybe I’ll actually be able to visit WITH Sarah and Joe sometime!

Or at least, I’ll be back to catsit again if Sarah and Joe like the way I took care of the cats and house…I do worry that I might have overlooked something in cleaning up after myself, or didn’t take care of something I should have….but I’m hoping I haven’t.

So….I’ll miss the cats, but I won’t miss being alone here.

Quincy is king of the mountain!

Hobbes, curled up for a nap

Casper, stretching out