Another massive update

[hils]

Instead of doing this I really should do smaller posts but whatever. Consider this Hils the digest version ;)

First off a question. Does anyone live in Chicago and feel like hanging out with me for a few days in October? I'm heading over to hopefully man a Random Acts booth at Chicon and I'm going to spend a few days sightseeing while I'm there. I had a blast last time I was there in 2010 but there were a few things I wanted to visit and didn't have time so I'm looking forward to that. I'll also be spending a day or two in Boston if anyone wants to hang out with me and one of my RA colleagues. Not sure the dates yet as we're still firming stuff up but I think at the moment I'll be in Boston the week of the 21st Oct for a couple of days and then flying to Chicago from there.

If anyone's got any hotel suggestions too that would be fab. I'll be in the convention hotel for the weekend of the con but I'll probably want to stay somewhere a bit cheaper for the rest of the time.

In other personal life stuff I had my mid-year review where I got told to carry on doing what I'm doing so that's good. I'm currently off my regular shift pattern and doing what they call 'floating'. Means I am all over the place covering people's time off. A pain but I get a 20% bonus at the end of the three months which will cover my US flights :D

I'm having fun with my new camera. Still not really sure what I'm doing with it. I know how to use all the pre-programmed settings now but I still have no idea how to manually set the light and shutter speed. Luckily the lady I am hanging out with in Boston is a photography teacher in her spare time so I am hopeful she will be able to show me.

I've put some of my 'work' up on Facebook if anyone fancies a look. Pointers, suggestions and general feedback are welcomed

Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Fountains Abbey
Scotland
Sutton Park

Those are in chronological order so I am hopeful you will be able to see an improvement if you make it through more than one album ;)

I've also taken up running. Since I started working shifts I was getting barely any exercise and it was getting to the point where I was starting to feel awful. I've just started doing Couch to 5K thanks to a nifty iPhone app. It's actually a lot of fun. It's called Zombies, Run and it acts like it's training you to survive the zombie apocalypse. Kind of like an official version of zaft365 which is funny. I've only done two training sessions so far and egads am I out of shape. It's not so much my overall fitness but I have seriously crap muscles in my legs due to all the sitting around I do. Building up the strength in my legs is going to be the biggest thing. Still, this app claims it'll have me running 5k in 8 weeks so we'll see how it goes.

In fandom news most of my shows are on hiatus now which makes me sad, but it also gives me a chance to watch some older stuff or catch up on things I meant to watch ages ago. Here's where I'm at with my shows

Supernatural: I'm pretty much just a casual viewer these days but the S8 finale intrigued me enough to get me to come back for S9.

Hannibal: MY NEW FAVOURITE SHOW! I haven't seen the finale yet (will be watching it later this evening) but my God everything about this show is amazing. I honestly don't understand why the ratings were so low. I guess because of the gore factor? I mean it is violent but it's not glorified violence like a lot of shows and movies out there. But, still, it did well enough to get renewed for a second season. LONG MAY IT CONTINUE!

Game of Thrones: Still wonderful. Dany, Arya and Tyrion are still amazing. Looking forward to S4. Oh, and somehow this season I wound up shipping Jaime and Brienne. Not in an 'I want to read fic about them' sort of way but I just love seeing them on screen together and I am kind of hoping something might develop between them (I haven't read the books so no spoilers please). ALSO WHEN IS JOFFREY GOING TO DIE? I HAVE NEVER HATED A FICTIONAL CHARACTER MORE!

Elementary: Still loved it at the end and LOVED what they did with Moriarty. Amazing. Can't wait for the next season.

Arrow: Urgh, I still have all the feels from the finale. Can't wait for next season. Also, Stephen Amell is a precious human being.

Grimm: I don't know about this one. Sometimes I love it and then at other times I am incredibly bored. I'm nearing the end of S2 at moment and I'm not sure if I'm going to bother with S3. Depends what happens in these next few episodes I think

Once Upon A Time: I had totally lost interest by the end of S2 so I won't be watching any more of this

Psych: Still loving it although the writing took a bit of a dip towards the end. You don't have your main character and his love interest get back together off screen after dedicating several episodes to the breakup. Ditto having Gus break up with his girlfriend off screen. Not cool. But I'm looking forward to the musical ep

Vikings: I was totally hooked by the end even though I want to shout at the dickish characters a lot :D Can't wait for next season

Spartacus: I was all set to give up on this when all of a sudden it became amazing. I am totally addicted now!

Hawaii 5-O: I'm pretty much done with this I think. I'm not at the end of S1 yet but I keep forgetting I have it so that doesn't speak well for how interesting I find it. I'll prob watch to the end of S1 and then I think I'm done

Teen Wolf: It's so silly and I don't understand why everyone ships Stiles and Derek but I enjoy watching it

Suits: Is it back on yet? :-s I haven't been paying attention

Agents of SHIELD: OMG CAN WE JUST HAVE THE PREMIERE ALREADY

Person of Interest: I just started watching this after I saw everyone raving about it. It's intriguing but I'm not hooked yet. We'll see how it goes.

Shows I want to watch while everything is on hiatus: Arrested Development, Parks and Rec, Hemlocke Grove, 30 Rock. Anything else I should be checking out? A couple of people have mentioned Defiance.

And finally I went to see Joss's film of Much Ado About Nothing yesterday. AMAZING! Alexis Denishof stole that movie and it was so wonderful seeing lots of familiar faces. I've already pre-ordered it on bluray.