lissajous

Bang! That's the sound of me starting something that I intend to do regularly but probably won't do again. June had quite a bit going on. tre.praze.net's mum was over for a few days at the start of the month and tre.praze.net was away in Lisbon for a week so I went to stay with mum and dad. I also had my bi-monthly on-call week which was a little busier than usual but nowhere near as bad as the days when I used to get 10+ call outs a week. tre.praze.net and I were also travelling to Brussels at the end of the month (her for a conference, me for chocolate and beer) Anyway here's some of what I did in June 2025.

Films

The Omen Pentology box set has probably been in the "to watch" backlog for longer than any other DVD I own. I did manage to watch the original last year but that was as far as I got. This month I decided I was going to try and plough my way through the rest of it.

I think my attitude to The Omen as a franchise is basically the same as my attitude to Alien. The first one is sort of ok but the sequels all seem to misunderstand what it was that gave the original it's appeal.

Damien: Omen 2 - Not great but not completely terrible. One problem is that the deaths just aren't nearly as cool as the ones in the original.

Omen 3: The Final Conflict - A little bit better than the second one mostly because:
a) Sam Raimi is in it.
b) Roche Rock in the land of tre.praze.net is featured.

Omen IV: The Awakening - A really dreadful TV movie that quite rightly killed the series (at least until the remake.) Doesn't quite make it into "so bad it's good" territory.

The Omen (2006) - Visually I think this is the strongest one apart from the original. Doesn't mean it needed to be made though.

There was also a prequel (The First Omen) which was released last year. My expectations weren't high for that but it seems to have been quite well received so I might have to watch it.

House of the Dragon - Watched the first episode of season 2. I did actually read Fire and Blood before watching this (having already seen season 1) so we'll see how much that informs my opinion. The general consensus online seems to be that it's worse than season 1.

Gaming

Rise of the Ronin - I've been playing this since at least the start of the year so I probably need to pick up the pace. It's a bit repetitive but generally pretty fun.

Ratchet & Clank 2 Remaster - Last year I played through the Jak and Daxter remaster for PS3 and was really blown away by how well it still holds up. I played the Sly remaster before that so this year I decided to complete the trilogy of nostalgic platformers with Ratchet & Clank. I'm pretty close to finishing the second one and I'm sad to say that unlike the others this one just didn't hit. It's hard to put my finger on exactly why. There are lots of positives like the music and the "capitalism bad" themes but somehow it just doesn't grab me like the others do.

Reading

Equal Rites - I'm a huge fan of Wyrd Sisters so I thought I'd give some of the other Discworld novels a chance. I have this one in Compact Discworld format (actually it might have been dad's at one time) so I can experience maximum ocular discomfort. I only started this towards the end of the month so I haven't really read enough to form an opinion.

Plays

The Importance of Being Earnest - Even more enjoyable than I expected. It was nice to see something really light and fun - felt a bit like eating a nice sorbet. Between scenes they had these Terry Gilliamesque animated sequences which tre.praze.net and I really enjoyed (and could even have used more of.)

Music

Had to take over tre.praze.net's role as principal timpanist in the amateur orchestra we play in. No beaters were available so I had to use teaspoons instead (tells you all you need to know really.) The two pieces we played were:

Arriaga - Symphony In D
- As with most music we play in the amateur orchestra I was indifferent to this at first and then it really grew on me. Arriaga wrote this when he was 17 (2 years before he died) which is pretty ridiculous and very based.

Mendelssohn - A Midsummer Night's Dream - It's the one with the wedding march. The Overture is a slapper (and was also written by a 17 year old.)

Baking

Sticky Toffee Pudding - A rare instance of me baking something for humans other than myself and the missus. This is a Nigella recipe so no meecrowavays were harmed in its making.

Flan Patissier - So good I made it twice. Basically just a way for me to practice making sweet shortcrust pastry. I've started using the technique described in the big patisserie book I bought last year. This video shows it quite well. I find that it makes the final cooked pastry much smoother than the techniques I used previously.

Peanut Butter Cookies - From Delia's Book of Cakes. Nice, subtle peanut butter flavour. I like making biscuits every now and then because they're quick and not as technical as the patisserie stuff.

Some other baking-related news - last year my parents bought me a gift card for a pastry-making class but a firm date was never set by the organisers. I got an email to say that it's now been scheduled, so that's exciting.

Home Improvements

Finally got the fence and the door to the utility room fixed (hooray!)

Running

Parkrun times for this month are:

2025-06-07 - 00:23:29

That's it actually. I did do one other parkrun this month but it was an awful day and the rain destroyed my printed barcode sheet so I have no record of my time :(

1. What did you do in 2023 that you'd never done before?

Built a PC - haven't got round to installing Windows yet though...
Lots of other minor things but nothing significant enough to warrant a mention.

2. Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don't really do new year's resolutions.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth, get married or engaged?

A close friend got engaged.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No.

5. What countries did you visit?

England and Holland.

6. What would you like to have in 2024 that you lacked in 2023?

More social interaction (although I think 2023 was better than 2022 on this front.)

7. What dates from 2023 will remain etched upon your memory?

None really come to mind.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

More major breakthroughs with my guitar technique. Hopefully it continues into 2024.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Nothing specific comes to mind.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I got food poisoning while tobli and I were in Utrecht which was a shame because I'd been really enjoying myself up to that point. It wasn't that serious but I was so tired and dehydrated afterwards that I ended scrapping the other stuff I had planned :(

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Fairly boring answer but probably a round, tupperware box for cakes.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

One of my coworkers received a best employee award which was very well deserved. He's one of those rare people who does his job well and is liked by everyone.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

I wouldn't go as far as "appalled and depressed" but a friend of my mum's has been acting in a way that could be termed "not good."

14. Where did most of your money go?

Probably food.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Similarly to last year it was probably breakthroughs with my guitar playing.

16. What song/album will always remind you of 2023?

Probably Heroes End from Stained Class by Judas Priest just because I kept playing this riff on guitar.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. happier or sadder? I'm going to say happier.

ii. thinner or fatter? Definitely thinner. So much so in fact that several people have commented on it. That being said I'd be amazed if I hadn't gained some weight over Christmas.

iii. richer or poorer? Richer. My salary went up a bit this year.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Socializing.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Avoiding social interaction.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

tobli and I spent it at my parent's house.

21. Is there a particularly memorable meal you had?

Probably the 6 course tasting menu (with wine pairings for 5 of those courses) we had for tobli's birthday.

22. Did you fall in love in 2023?

I've been in love with tobli since 2017.

23. How many one night stands in this last year?

I have never and almost certainly will never have a one night stand.

24. What was your favorite TV program?

Not a new TV program but I started watching 24 in September. I bought season 3 (I think) in CeX years ago thinking it was the entire show but never got round to watching it. I was sorting through my old DVDs last year and realized I needed to go out and buy the first 2 seasons. I'm blown away by how good it is and how well it still holds up.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

I don't think I really "hate" anyone.

26. What was the best book you read?

To my shame I haven't finished a single book this year. I started Tales From Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin but I'm not even a third of the way through it.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Actively seeking out new music isn't something I really do which is strange considering how much I enjoy listening to music.

28. What did you want and get?

A better work-life balance (for the most part anyway.)

29. What did you want and not get?

The opportunity to play my guitar in front of other humans.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?

Probably the new Hunger Games film. Millennials gonna millennial I guess.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old are you now?

I think I might have been on-call so we ended up staying in the house and having a boring pizza.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Having the opportunity to play my guitar in front of other humans.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2023?

As ever I am blue.

34. What kept you sane?

Doing new things.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you like the most?

I don't really follow celebrities/public figures.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

I feel like climate change is the only political issue I really have strong feelings about which has been the case since forever. I'm not really interested in politics which I think is sort of irresponsible but I struggle to give a fuck about it.

37. Whom did you miss?

No-one really.

38. Who was the best new person you met?

Maybe the organizer of the badminton club I started going to.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2023.

This sounds extremely clichéd but try to live as if you're life might not go on for that much longer. A slightly watered down version of "treat every day like it's your last."

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?

Before you're in a corner
Can't crawl away
Here's a way to save you

You got to push
Get out of my way and push
You can turn the wheel, push
One more push

"When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm in a part of the UK other than the one I live in."

So I've always been a huge fan of magazines. I think a big part of this is the sheer range of subjects they cover. It does my soul good to know that someone out there is leafing through the latest issue of Sea Angler. Unfortunately the exodus of Eason from the motherland has made it harder for me to pick up my favourite publications when the mood strikes. Fortunately tobli and I do find ourselves in other parts of the UK (and the "other place") on occasion and while there it's become a tradition for me to stock up on zines. Here are a few of my favourites:

Guitar World:

In my younger and more vulnerable years I used to acquire a lot of guitar tablature. The trouble was that whether these were free online tabs from sites like Ultimate Guitar or "proper" ones from actual licensed books of tablature they were generally pretty crap. Guitar World was the first time I'd seen tabs that sounded close to the original recording and were written idiomatically. I bought my first issue in July 2007 and have continued to do so on and off since. Each issue has 4-5 tabs from different artists and they occasionally publish Guitar Legends which focuses on a single artist.

BBC Good Food:

Leaving aside the fact that you need to re-mortgage your house to afford it, BBC Good Food has also earned its place among the favourite zines. In all honesty I think the recipes sometimes look better than they taste, but this magazine is really more about selling you a lifestyle than making you a fantastic home cook. There's just something cosy and friendly about sitting down to flick through its glossy pages.

Practical Electronics:

The most recent addition to the favourite zine family. There's plenty of electronics-related info on the net but it's a bit like trying to learn programming from a Udemy course (you get stuck in tutorial hell.) The projects and articles in Practical Electronics really help bridge the gap between individual circuit "building blocks" like current mirrors and push-pull outputs and complete circuits like power amplifiers. They also have a PCB Service where you can order PCBs for projects published in past and future issues.

Anyway that's the end, get this down ye.