I'm on a Trip/T'Pol fic reading mission at the moment. I really don't want to go back to work tomorrow. I've been thinking about various characters in TV/Books etc, particularly the ones that everyone likes, so here's my late night analysis (still thinking 10 o'clock is pumpkin time after last week).

Duncan Lennox (The Bill)
I remember my first impressions of Duncan were that he was a nice guy. And he is, its just that putting my finger on exactly why is more difficult. Up until the fire (I'm not talking about post-fire Duncan at all) he had it all. He was married to a woman who worked in the stock market and therefore earned a lot of money. He had a really nice apartment (ie too big to call a flat) overlooking the Thames. And as other people in CID pointed out, he wasn't the one who paid the mortgage. When Liz was sent threatening letters he made sure she was safe by letting her stay at his place (his wife being away at the time). He and Liz always got on well, but then everyone got on with Duncan. I was thinking that he's always happy, but then he has does his fair share of whinging. I think perhaps people like him because he does all the polite stuff, but because he geniunly wants to know, not because he's honest.

Captain Carrot (Discworld)
Terry Pratchett explains it better than I could, I just haven't read any of the relevant books recently. In a way he's a lot like Duncan, in that he's very honest and he will ask people how they are because he wants to know. It helps that he has a good memory, mind you. He has also got the girl.

Trip Tucker (Enterprise)
Trip is slightly different from the other two. He is also honest, but he is more blunt. He says what he thinks, which isn't so good when he's in command of the ship and has to be diplomatic to other species. I'm not so sure everyone automatically likes him, he's had to work at it. Admittedly, a small group of people thrown together with only other species they've just met for companship, disliking anyone on the ship is a bit of a problem. At first Trip has a tendency to rub people up the wrong way, but I think that they get used to his particular brand of 'honesty'. Having said that, the thing he has in common with the other two is that the polite stuff he does is because he wants to know.

Really shouldn't get into all this deep stuff while I'm tired, but if you disagree with any of the crap I just wrote (or if you agree) send me an e-mail. I'm working on getting a comments thing for this.

Haven't posted for a while due to being tired. I got 3.5 hours of sleep Sunday night (entirely my own fault) and not that much more any night before that. Then it took me 9 hours to get from Blackpool train station to Oxford train station on Monday, where I was constantly changing trains (busy) and sitting around at Birmingham for so long I thought I wasn't getting home. Not good. And just realised I haven't told my video The Bill is only an hour long tonight. But new Buffy!

Anyway, will maybe do some website stuff this weekend as my photos will be back by then (I took 2 films worth!). Spent serious amounts of money even before Chris Judge's talk on Sunday. Where I paid half of �150 to grope Garwin Sanford (Narim). I'd much rather it had been JR's (Martouf) but he was too expensive, plus it was apparently quite bony. Garwin did at least have a nice arse, even if he is nearly the same age as my mother.

Er, what else. All the usual stuff really. Will put something on my site maybe, or write it in here when I'm feeling more inspired. I must do something with this as well, I've been getting inspiration from reading other people's recently.

I almost wish I hadn't watched the thing on Human Instinct now, it was gross. And kind of scary. And reading angsty Alias fic with lots of UST, probably not helping. I so need the time off this (long) weekend, work's getting a bit stressy now. I think we should get more time off a year, it would really help. Plus if we didn't get so overworked. Not that I can really complain, given that I start and finish on time nearly every day, although I have done some overtime every week since August now.

Looking forward to SG5. Considering how I can convince Jay and JR to pick me up so I won't look so short in the photo Will have to hatch some plans when I meet up with everyone on Friday. Looking forward to going up to uni as well. I haven't been there since term 2 last year, so its been a while. Its always strange though, because it feels like home, apart from the bits that have changed, those feel weird. Plus being able to walk across campus and not recognise a single person. That so rarely happened while I was there.

Have thought about packing, but still working myself up to it! Will do some in the morning when I'm feeling more awake, hopefully going to get a lie-in. Instead of planning to go to bed at 11 and getting there at quarter to 12, I am going to stay up and watch Buffy. So it will be at least tomorrow by the time I get there. Which will doubtless be my earliest night until Monday, which will be ridiculously early.

Have lots of Buffy, Angel and Alias to download but no time to download it in! Was really busy at work today just after lunch, then there wasn't very much to do later on. Which was probably just as well. We're being checked for ISO a week on Thursday, so really need to find the time to go through all the projects and check everything is there and signed.

Only one more working day to go! Really looking forward to seeing Jay Acavone again, he was so funny last time. Having said there's no way I want my photo done, I can't help thinking that one with Jay and JR Bourne would be quite nice

Okay, so that wasn't quite what I was expecting. Next to Sydney Vaughn looks like sucha wimp, being as she can run faster than him and kick his arse if she wanted to. I don't think he is, it's just the comparison. Its the same as Xander looking wimpy next to Buffy and Vila being a coward in comparison to everyone else on the ship. They're the normal people and that's probably how most of us would act in the same situation. Its the ones who can kick arse who are different. And I have to say, I feel sorry for Sloane. I just can't get over the fact he shares his name with a bad guy in Deep Space 9 and looks like Rene Auberjonois (if you don't look too carefully).

I got loads done today, which is good. I have to do some stuff with CDs though tomorrow, so I could watch some more of the Stargate film while I do it I suppose. I could always re-write my essay on the train next weekend. Maybe I'll be bored enough to finish reading The Two Towers, although I doubt it somehow.

Alias went to London on Channel 4 today. You can tell its London because they showed a red bus in the establishing shot. Because of course you don't get those anywhere else. Yeah, right. I doubt they really shoot a few seconds worth in all these different places somehow. I finally remembered to watch Casualty tonight. It was kind of weird to see him in a completely different role but looking the same. I only saw hin in two scenes though because Chris rung in the middle of it and the entire point of Russell Boulter is to listen to him. Not that watching's nice too, but its not quite the same if he's muted. Plus I didn't really want to watch too much of it being as I would quite like to sleep tonight. I'm really going to have to get some sleep in this week in preparation for getting ridiculously tiny amounts next weekend.

At last the week is finally over. I have watched so much Alias this week, and gone to a load (ok, a few) websites and read some fan fic. Oh, and got stung by a massive great but wasp. On the bottom of my toe. Which was really fun. Or not. I am going to update my website this weekend. I think Michael Vartan is going to get added to the guinness list. Not that I'm obsessed or anything. I keep thinking I need something to take my mind off him. I just need to see the rest of Alias, that I can get hold of, then once a week on Channel 4 won't prove much of a problem.

I can see how people get really into Alias. Its the same thing as Farscape, and a few years ago, Babylon 5. And that's only considering American TV. The only trouble is that you have to watch every episode in order to have a clue what is going on, and specially to appreciate it. Alias is the only one of the two that I've seen from the beginning. The trouble is that B5 faced not getting a fifth series (which might well have been a good thing in the end, but still) and Farscape is in imminent danger. Hmm. Doesn't bode very well for Alias then.

Think I will go to bed and watch some late night Friends to put me to sleep (okay, so I taped it earlier so I could watch the film).

Meant to write in this yesterday, but got tired and went to bed about half ten. Then couldn't get to sleep, so ended up watching a bit of Stargate Director's Cut at quarter to midnight. I have noticed some differences as well. Not entirely certain if they're better or worse yet though. Still totally indecisive about going travelling, hence the not sleeping. I should just see how it goes really, try to do some more IT at work, and if I want to go, it doesn't necessarily have to be next summer. I did realise that I really want to see the Northern Lights (can't spell technical name!). Everything I can pretty much take or leave to be honest. Then I'll have seen just about every stellar phenomena there is.

Been watching loads of Alias recently. I've just realised how good it is. Stupidly went to find some websites and accidentally read some spoilers for episodes I haven't seen yet, which is annoying. But I think some of them won't really make sense until I get to those episodes anyway, and I might well have forgotten them. I found some read hair dye in Boots, that is pretty much the colour I want and only lasts 3 washes, which is good. Unfortunately, you need blonde hair for it to work. Bugger.

Run out of other things to do now! Meant to do some work on my website, but haven't got round to it. Need to stop typing though, hand hurts. Will go and watch Stargate instead maybe (bugger all on TV of course).

Stayed up late on Monday to watch The Next Gen on Sarah's TV, as I hadn't seen it. I was going to do the same last night, but I was too cold, so I went to bed and watched Monday's Farscape instead. BBC2 has just reached the point where I haven't seen a few episodes, so hopefully they'll continue showing them, then I'll have seen them all! Wish they'd repeat the original series at a reasonable time as well, then I could see all of those too. And Quantum Leap for that matter, there's so many important ones I've missed!

Still undecided about travelling. I'll go to STA Travel on Saturday anyway. And make a decision at some point.

Buffy's good though. And the sound was at the same time as the picture, which is even better. Can't wait for Angel to start next week.

The SG4 video was really sad, mainly because they played THAT song at the end. So then I went and found the What If video and realised I'd have to watch Meridian at least once for my essay. I think its because I haven't seen any Stargate with Jonas in for a while and I've only really read stuff with Daniel in. It would be cool if Corin Nemec was at SG5 though. Its only 4 weeks to go, which I can't believe. It still seems like such a long way away.

Went to Tae Kwon Do on Friday, which was hard, but good fun. Had completely forgotten until Sally rung yesterday that I was supposed to be going to Rotary tomorrow, so I won't be able to go to Tae Kwon Do. Have to take the Junior's Meeting tomorrow. Scary! I'm getting into Alias now. I just wish they wouldn't leave each episode on cliffhanger, then end it within 2 minutes of the next. Its just a ploy to get you to watch the next one, which if it was good in its own right, you would. We don't need to be treated like idiots who watch soaps. I am continually amazed at how nice Sydney's hair is when she's working undercover, considering how limp it looks any other time.

Watched part of the SG4 video. I've only seen the opening ceremony, but I remember now how I lost my voice afterwards from so much screaming! I need 3 passport photo (I think thats what he said) for Tae Kwon Do, so of course I have 3, and there's no-where in Wallingford to get more. Watched 3/5ths of Buffy, because RealPlayer refuses to play part 4, which is really helpful.

Good weekend. We won! I got to see British players win a match for the first time! It was quite boring in comparison watching today's winning match, partly because doubles is more exciting - much quicker rallys, involving more volleying - but also because there was more doubt about the result. Although its quite hard to sit in those seats for 4 hours. Watching it on TV afterwards just isn't the same. Why didn't I do this years ago? I am so going back there for the next one (assuming I'm still it the country, February's could be away).

Then got to see the season premiere of Enterprise. Woo hoo! It was so good to see a new episode, and it was good. Watching the one on today, wasn't so good in comparison either. And I slept in till 10 this morning, which I've been wanting to do for ages, but haven't. It comes to something when you think 10 is a lie-in. I need to get less sleep during the week, and maybe I'm make it till lunchtime again.

Going to try Tae Kwon Do tomorrow night, assuming I leave work on time. Have to leave the house when Farscape starts, so I'll be in to press record. I have seen it twice already, so not really needing to see it again that much just at the moment. Specially after seeing new Enterprise, and new Buffy is this week too.

Ooh, want to know who that bloke is now. How can PoG go from Sean to Puke to another guy that quickly? Distinct lack of phone calls and texts tonight. Discovered I can tape Monkeys, hopefully as I'll be out and my computer won't be on to affect the reception. I can't believe Channel 4 showed the Alias advert before Futurama and during it. Its going to go like Enterprise, they keep showing the same things. Why not give us a trailer for the next episode rather than for the series itself? It was okay at first, but we're halfway through now! I might watch Alias, I think I'll need to see what the usual episodes are like. And I want to know why everyone is raving about it. And if I can manage to stay up till 1am next week I can watch some Highlander.

I think I ought to have another early night, as I'm feeling quite tired. Done something nasty to my knee though. I think I've bruised it inside - usually bruises on the outside don't appear that quickly, or look quite that nasty. I just have to be careful not to touch it. Stargate Infinity reminds me of something, I forget what though. Probably something I watched when I was little. Not only is it not any good, but there's continuity they've not bothered with, and stuff I'm sure they've done purely because its set in the future, where of course people commonly have blue hair.

I quite liked Alias, despite the pinkness of the video. I might watch it again if I'm in, but I'm not that bothered about it. Had a day of not getting much achieved really. Really bored of this week already! Would much rather be back in Derby really. Is it possible to be bored with 899 TV channels I wonder? Hmm, I could quite happily do a study into it...

I was actually feeling quite bored by 8pm, but could now stay up all night. I found the Stargate University last night, and thought up a few topics to write essays on. The science stuff I can understand, but its when I start descending into English Lit it gets quite bad. I actually quite like disecting these things (up to a point, anyway). Maybe its because I'm actually interested in the stuff and I'm not being forced to dissect what the author meant, or compare or contrast anything. Mrs Alper has a lot to answer for.

Everyone else was out so went and watched Friends on E4 downstairs. So Chris rung in the middle of it, which was annoying, especially as I'd left my train times upstairs, so I had to spend money typing it into the phone and running out of characters. Then I remembered what someone had mentioned at the weekend about Dr Jackson's Diaries. If I said it was funny, that would be putting it mildly. At one point I couldn't stop laughing. And I'm only up to February. I can pretty much cope with the slash in it though because its so funny. I will not be converted to Jack/Daniel slash, thats just too weird.

I managed not to do stuff I should have done, hence the boredom. Really need a weekend at home so I can get loads of things done first thing in the morning when I'm feeling energetic. Not feeling energetic when I get home after work as I've spent this week sorting out the printer and writing really quite amazingly boring databases (amazing because they're complicated, you'd think they'd be interesting, but no, they're just a bugger).

Really must post more often - so much has happened!

Still in a bit of a state of shock, Farscape has been cancelled (see http://www.farscapeweekly.com/cancelled.htm for the chat transcript). As they finish filming season 4 on Tuesday, we'll get a cliffhanger ending, as usual. The Sci-Fi Channel says it has low ratings, but thats because they've treated it so badly. On the plus side, I won't miss any of it while I'm away (every cloud has a silver lining).

I now have something to read as Judith's finished the Stargate story she's been talking about. I'm trying to save it for next weekend, but I've already skimmed through the first 2 pages (whoops!). I have no willpower. I've been introduced to Highlander as well, which isn't a good thing. Although that could well have something to do with the silly comments we were all making through the episodes, as I've not been terribly impressed with it before. Mind you, I don't like Duncan McCloud, he's boring. Methos is interesting though, and Peter Wingfield. And Tracy Scoggins sounds completely different from when she was in Babylon 5.

So looking forward to going back to work tomorrow to fix the printer, which made me late on Friday, so I didn't get home till 10pm (if I leave on time I can be there by 8.30 cos the trains work out better then).

I tried to post this at 8.25pm on 2nd Sept, but blogger was being a bugger and didn't post it:

Didn't have a terribly good weekend, then today was really shite. I pretty much spent the day working on one project, on which everything that could go wrong did go wrong. And its still not finished. Will be nice to get it out of the way though. Discovered my landlady's cats have fleas because I've been bitten and also because I've seen them. Looking forward to going home this weekend as it'll be relaxing (yeah, right). Will have to go to Tescos, so might as well go to the cinema while I'm there as I still haven't seen Minority Report and The Importance of Being Earnest comes out on Friday, which I really want to see. Plus if I don't take my computer home I'll only get bored anyway.

Managed to miss Hywel this weekend, which was pretty much the reason for going to The Bill studios. Hopefully though I'll be able to get the day off for the next one, which will be before he leaves. I still have about 10 photos left on my film as well, which I'll need to use up at the Davis Cup match. Almost getting excited about that as well, not that much because I haven't really seen any of the US Open because BBC2 only show the semi-finals onwards, if that, which isn't much help as non of our guys are left in by that stage. And the year that Rusedski got to the final they didn't show it at all! I remember listening to it on the radio at 11 o'clock at night, in the dark, lying in bed, trying not to fall asleep. Have at least managed to find some good fic at the SG1 2002 Awards site, which is something.

I tried creating one of those cool trading cards at livejournal, so of course it doesn't work with my look and I'm too tired to mess about with the HTML. Plus I'm sure livejournal is doing something strange to it. Having used blogger and livejournal I think I prefer blogger. I think livejournal is good for communty-type things, but I don't have time for those anyway. I have enough community stuff of my own going on anyway.

I can't believe the discussions on the forum going on at the moment about the kiss. I didn't like it, but that was more because of the circumstances surrounding it, and because I knew Hywel didn't like doing it. I don't know exactly why, he must have known that playing a gay character would mean having to kiss a bloke at some stage. I've also just realised thebill.com answered all the questions I had about Sean (ie they've been going out for 2 years and he's a computer programmer). Although I wouldn't call 2 years the "all these years" Sean claimed they'd been together, but still.

Tired because keep waking up early (like 8am) which is really annoying when I don't have to. Maybe I should stay up later tonight in the hope that I'll sleep later, although it probably won't work and I'll end up getting even less sleep.

I switched over to Midsomer Murders at 9.30 to see the second half as I couldn't be bothered getting up. It looked quite interesting so I left it on. A few minutes later, the characters walked out of the theatre and it looked suspiciously like the Corn Exchange in Wallingford. But I thought, no, it can't be. They showed it again later with view of some of the other shops, which all looked quite similar. I went and asked my landlady, and yep, it was Wallingford! That is so amazing. I was living in Causton (sp?) and never knew it. I hoping they're going to film some more sometime soon now!

Then of course I looked it up on the web and they've certainly been around. Not that I know any of the other places, I don't have much of a need to go to any other dead little villages. I was going to go to bed at 10.30 because I was tired. Never mind, at least I get three lie-ins now. I hope!

Calming down a bit now. I was in a state of shock over tonights Bill. In my defence it was very dramatic. I felt tired before the episode started, but by the end I couldn't stop moving - just nervous energy I think. I had a really boring day at work as well, as there wasn't much work on really. Which is kind of a good thing at the moment.

I think my landlady's gone on holiday. Her car and toothbrush are gone and I know she's supposed to be going soon. Its just as well I didn't let the cat throw up on the video then. I think I will get an early night while it is quiet. And it is nice to get some peace and quiet, it does my head no end of good. Which is probably just as well, given that I've nearly run out of pills - didn't quite manage a pill free day today, sadly.

Virgin sent me a 5 pound voucher - which is not 25% of 40 quid. I checked their passengers charter on their website and it says if the trains are late so you arrive at your destination an hour or more late you are entitled to 25% of your ticket price. Also, if you have to wait at a station for an hour they'll provide you with free drinks. Which is very interesting. I'll wait to see how much I get for the journey up there, then I'll get another complaint form to complain about the complaint. Maybe it was because I used a different address they didn't know it was me, so are trying to fob me off, thinking I don't know the system. Well, they have another think coming!

Haven't updated for ages. What's been happening since then? I went up to Leeds for a long weekend, and it was really good to see all my friends. It was kind of scary at first as it was a strange Northern place with people whose accents I couldn't understand. But it was okay. The rows of terraced houses look really bad, and make it all look really dodgy, but it seems to be quite a cool place. And Stargate in Spanish, what can I say! Needless to say the trains were crap, and I left work at 5.30 and got to Leeds at 11.30 at night. Coming back took 6 hours as well. So I'll get 20 quid back off it, which is something.

I was the only person in my department last week, and to top it off I managed to get flu. It wasn't really bad, but worse than a bad cold. I felt crap, but I still had to go in and work form 8 till 6. I've now done 6 and a half hours extra since the start of July, and because our system's crap I don't get to see any of it. I might try for the sympathy vote though. So last weekend I spent lying on my bed watching Ewan McGregor. So it wasn't all bad! Not quite feeling better yet, but getting there. And not dreaming of work which is a big improvement.

I'm planning to work on the site this weekend. I might put it up before its done, because there's loads of stuff needs doing in the Bitz section, and because I'm moving servers and changing address I need to change things like guestbook, stats, webring, which of course isn't simple. I also want to go to STA Travel, I need to go to Tescos, and I want to play some computer games, as I haven't had the time for ages. And get Enigma out of the video shop, as it has Hywel on it.

Its worrying how being obssessed about Eastenders/Big Brother/football is considered normal but mention anything sci-fi (or even The Bill) and suddenly thats sad. Everyone at work seems to be getting married at the moment, which is quite sad too. Conversations in our office seem to involve houses or cars (the buying of). Both of which I've never done and have no intention of doing for a long time. So its not really a surprise that I don't really take part in them much. Don't think I'll have the energy for fencing tomorrow, which is kind of annoying because I miss it. But I do get to see The Kiss live. Not entirely certain its a good thing though!

Free Reg!