http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/39269610/704169

Mr Seb's blog, journal, etc...

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/157043.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/157043.html

 You know, even though I quit posting actively on LiveJournal a long time ago, it still has a permanent tab in my browser? I have no idea why either... probably because it had one for 3 years or so... it just feels like it should be there!

Things at the new blog are going well. Number of viewers is climbing quickly, as is the number of subscribers. I have no idea how quickly it's meant to grow, but it feels quite quick!

Had another mention from WoWInsider, the largest WoW-related blog/news site. Aurthority seems to be growing, with lots of guilds linking to my 'WoW blog'. So far there hasn't been any criticism at all, which is pleasant, and surprising.

Tomorrow (or today, depending on when you read this!) I'm posting a fun article on all the wild, EXCITING places I've had sex, with unique selling points and the 'exhibitionist rating'.

I'd like to get into writing in a more serious capacity -- a column in a paper -- either print, or electronic, I don't mind. I've also started writing a short story (which you can read, if you like -- it's not finished though!)

I think that's about all for now. If you haven't come across to my new blog (http://blog.mrseb.co.uk), you should! It's quite a lot of fun, I think!

I trust all is well with yous!

-S

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/156836.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/156836.html

I've been rather prolific on the new blog. Keeping up my New Year's resolution of blogging once a day has been quite a challenge, but fun at the same time. I'm finally catching up on all the stories from my travels to Turkey, Serbia, America, the Netherlands...  It feels good to finally get the stories OUT! They've been bouncing around for years, in some cases.

Anyway, a brief breakdown of the 'important' news follows:
I made a rather pretty horizontal photo slideshow that scrolls across the top of every page -- I think it looks pretty! Let me know if it works, and if it looks nice!

I just launched some kind of competition too, in aid of the community, and my artistic skills. To one lucky winner (well, hopefully lucky) I'm going to try and make some kind of avatar or logo for their blog, or online presence. I'll take their nickname, or the topic of their blog and try to create... something!  It's obviously free to enter, and you just need to write a few words to be in with a chance of winning!

Other than that, I've been writing some stuff on games -- a guide for beginner gamers, and some more World of Warcraft-related stuff.

I'm off to Wales soon, so I hope to get some pretty photos there -- and hopefully Ireland and the Faroe Islands after that. The Faroe Islands are meant to be the most beautiful place in the world... I hope I can do them justice!

I trust you are all well; come join me on my blog if you haven't already. Or syndicate me on your LiveJournal friends feed thing!

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Imogen Heap

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/156507.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/156507.html

I figured this could kind of become a bit of a 'meta blog'... where I talk about how my other blog is going. Or something like that...

Anyway, the new blog is going well. Lots of readers, lots of subscribers. And hopefully, lots of LISTENERS! For some reason, I've found myself recording audio bits quite a lot... Right now I'm just experimenting, trying to find something that works well, is enjoyable and popular! I think I stumbled across one idea -- The Penis Monologues. 

The idea was to do a slight parody of The Vagina Monologues, but also to (hopefully) include some serious content too. I've done a Cowboy's monologue, and a (pretty awful) Scottish one too. Next up there'll probably be an Irish one, and maybe a Pakistani. I'm not going to claim that my production standards are fantastic, and the accents could certainly do with a little polishing up... but it seems to be well received -- i.e. people are laughing! That's all I'm realling aiming for!

The whole 'write one thing a day' has been working out well too. Sometimes I write twice, or even three times! It's certainly got my creative juices flowing again, which is what I badly needed after a couple of years of... stagnation. 

If you wanna go listen to The Penis Monologues, you can find them here: http://blog.mrseb.co.uk/podcasts

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/156187.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/156187.html

 (Happy New Year's Eve to you all!)

Just a brief post to say I've finally moved my blog from LJ to my own site: http://blog.mrseb.co.uk

It's been a long time coming, and hopefully this return to blogging, and writing, will persist.

I'll continue to read LJ of course, I just won't post here, unless it's pertinent, or something :)

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/156086.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/156086.html

Although I neglect LiveJournal an awful lot (and thus my friends here, for which I am sorry), I feel that a picture of me in my Halloween get-up would go a long way to alleviating any fears or concerns you might have towards my condition, or safety.

So I give to you... the gay cowboy (yes, those boxer shorts are pink)

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/155722.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/155722.html

 I have a new, highly-constructive game to play while I travel around Italy.

It's called 'pull as funny a face as possible, in front of as many tourist video cameras, in 24 hours'.

So far my record is 18, which I set in Venice. I'm hoping to beat it today though, but I surely won't if I slack and return to my hotel room to write journal entries.

The look on some of the Japanese when my ugly mug suddenly appears on their LCD screen... I hope I don't send anyone into a coma or something.

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/155611.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/155611.html

Only 4 months since my last journal entry; I'm gaining momentum again!

Anyway, yesterday I finally received a massive order of Ben Folds paraphernalia that I'd been missing for some years. So, obviously, I had a bit of a Bengasm and listened to the new music for about 8 hours yesterday. I think the best stuff is probably the full 70 minute set from 'West 54th', some music show that happened to invite Ben Folds Five to perform a whole set, from around the Whatever and Ever Amen period (1996ish).

It's the only high-quality recording of Ben Folds Five available, and it's like... mega cheap on Amazon... so go buy it!

The other two live recordings were a MySpace live performance from his studio, which was pretty fun (and more recent, 2005), and then one with the West Australia Symphony Orchestra (in Perth). A lot of his/their music has string and wind instrument veins, so I guess it was fairly natural to play with an orchestra. He even tried to get them jamming a bit at the end, which was fun!

Other than that, I'm off to Italy on Monday. I'm going to be spending 2 weeks travelling through Venice, Florence, Pisa, Rome and Pompeii. I might visit Salerno too, or maybe even go further south. I'll see how much Rome has to offer, as I'm there for 7 nights. I'm excited, and nervous. As always I haven't planned much -- just the hotels and transport. I have a rough idea of what there is to see and do, but I'll rely on my hosts to give me a little more direction.

Expect a few photos to pop up while I'm there, but I'll probably wait until I'm home, as I'll be fairly busy!

I'm still single, after having my heart yanked out of my chest, torn into little pieces and strewn amongst the foliage of the Sussex woodlands. The biological clock is ticking though, and I'm on the hunt.

-S

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/155302.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/155302.html

Up to lots of things. Prague was awesome.

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY...

Went to an '80s Moustache' party yesterday.

I shaved my chin for the first time in 7 years or so...

And here's how I looked at the party:


Sorry if I blinded you... but you have to admit, I pull off the horseshoe moustache with some kind of glorious aplomb...

Otherwise, I am home alone at the moment, and playing Mass Effect. Things are good.

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/155035.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/155035.html

So, for as long as I can remember, I've had very vivid memories. My recall is almost perfect for my contemporary life (I guess about 10 years or so.)

I can recall almost any instant, of any day; any experience, pleasant or otherwise.

Now this is obviously a blessing, but a bit of a curse. Not a day goes by when I don't remember, in graphic, minute detail having sex with an ex-girlfriend. Now this is a pretty good thing when you are bored, or you are travelling somewhere. Reliving the exultation of standing under a waterfall in Yosemite is pretty cool. Feeling the water on my skin, the intense freshness and deafening noise -- it's really like being there again.

Anyway, this weekend I was down in Southampton, seeing friends from university (there was actually an Alumni weekend at Essex which I didn't know about, which I probably should have gone to... but hey...). I drink a lot of coffee, and coke, when I'm with Adam. Now the problem is always on the first night, when they go to bed early (compared to my schedule), and I attempt to fall asleep. The caffeine is still coursing through my veins. My mind is waaay too alert. I can't possibly fall asleep. So right there and then, in about an hour, I relive almost the entirity of last year, with the main focus of my mind's eye being on the year-long relationship that I had with the girl that stole my heart, and 1 or 2 dreams that I was nurturing.

Reliving each and every intimate moment, minute by minute, kiss by kiss, conversation by conversation, snuggle by snuggle. I wonder just how many of those little, lovely moments I would consider as being my favourite moments ever. Quite a few I think.

That was an experience. And one I think I will enjoy repeating until I die. Or perhaps until another girl steals my heart.

It's my birthday next week, by the by... 24! Gosh.

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/154712.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/154712.html

All of the photos here: http://photos.mrseb.co.uk/?moverse=digital/Poland/2008/ including a few candid snaps that may or may not interest people...

And just a select few photos...!

My first b/w photo for about 3 years...

The Baltic Sea from Sopot



Then some opportune moment with a kiddie feeding some birds...

The Beach at Gdynia



And then just your stereotypical night-time shot of the restored Old Town of Sopot:

Old Town, Sopot

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/154401.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/154401.html

I know! In a totally weird twist of fate, I'm posting for a second time in less than sixth months.

Shocking.

Anyway, I'm just back from Poland. Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia (The Tricity) to be more specific. Grey, dismal and mostly devoid of cheer. Despite the really gloomy outlook, I had a lot of fun. There were some great views of the Baltic, and the architecture in the restored parts of Gdansk, and Sopot, was lovely. There were some sodding huge red-brick churches, the largest I've ever seen. Oh, and lots of old, cobbled streets that the Fuhrer once trod upon, declaring his new ownership of the Tricity at the start of World War 2.

Apart from the restored parts, it was horribly grey. Almost everything had been left (or had degraded to) the original grey colour of concrete and dirty rendering. Seems they're painting the new buildings nice colours, but it just accentuates how grey the other blocks of houses and apartments are.

What really made the trip worthwhile was the food we ate and the company I kept. I stayed with a Canadian called Mike, and a German called... Schultz. Schultz was the most giggly and happy-go-lucky German I've ever met. I think he's single-handedly improved my whole opinion of the Deutschlanders. Mike liked to pretend he wasn't a sporting jock (which is what he looks like), and he succeeded a little... he is studying to be a doctor after all. But deep down, he's a bit of a jock I think. A lovely jock, but still a jock.

I met a bunch of other great characters... mostly Scandanavians, who were down in Poland studying to be doctors for some reason. An Indian, some more Canadians, a bunch of cute Polish girls (... really cute...) and even some Polish police...

I was also sick for the third time in my life, which was... er... an experience. Damn the hospitality of my hosts. Damn them! I also topped up my tinitus, as it was really getting all too quiet. Now it's just loud enough to block out the sound of my laptop's power supply -- so that's good...

There'll be some photos to follow, but probably late tonight or tomorrow. They're not that exciting, what with the country being almost devoid of colour... but I have some of the coast! And 1 or 2 of the old streets.

Other than Poland, I'm going to Prague in May, and I have another LAN in a couple of weeks. I have a new car (a cute little Mazda 3 -- electric blue -- all the better to pick up chicks with), and I'm still working way too hard, and not gaming enough.

Love,

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/154268.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/154268.html

It's interesting just how selfish humans are.

You see a person just once; someone you haven't seen for months. You see them for just a couple of hours, and then suddenly you yearn to see them again. And no one else shall have them! All yours!

The sucky bit is when you can't have them all to yourself, and you have to wait patiently... Bide your time until the fruit is ripe for plucking...

I'm not getting any younger though, damnit!

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/154001.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/154001.html

http://www.asylum.com/2008/01/17/the-kind-of-sofa-youd-like-to-come-home-to/

Not exactly safe for work, but not too lewd either.

But hey, it's the weekend!

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/153788.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/153788.html

I know, it's been an awful long time.

But I am here, and alive. Very much alive!

I will probably renew my efforts to keep this blog up to date, but just in an effort to ramp up to that glorious day when I'm updating fully, and in detail...

I thought I'd share with you the derivation of... Xmas!

So, many people think this is just an abbreviation for 'Christmas' -- in fact, commercially, it is just an abbreviation, for the sake of smaller banners, more punchy slogans, and from removing us slightly from the actual concept of Christ.

But not so... It comes from ... The Greeks! Christ is spelt '' in Greek, see? X being the Greek letter with the phonetic sound 'chi'. It's not even pronounced 'eks-mas'... or it shouldn't be, anyway.

Just as a side-note, 'Xtian' is also a valid form of the word 'Christian'...

Now religious types can self-label themselves as something COOL!

Merry Christmas,
-S

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/153348.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/153348.html

Or to normally post comics, or gaming geek-related stuff, but...

Today, a comic strip from one of my favourites, Little Gamers:



Original source here: http://www.little-gamers.com/index.php?comicID=1658.

So, so wrong.

But so, so good.

Anyone doing anything exciting this weekend? I fear I have absolutely nothing to do...

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Some vocal trance from di.fm

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/153126.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/153126.html

I have lots to write about... including a creative and fun week painting, dancing and acting -- followed by a weekend in Amsterdam!

I'm just going to show a few photos first, and try to write about the experiences later.

Of course, if I suck (like I did with Serbia), I will never actually write about them... but maybe someone can remind me to do it?

First and foremost... I was a mouse.

Seb & Glenn - Mice...



Yes, I was in a middle-of-the-year Cinderella pantomime. Don't ask me why.

I was also a tree, a ballrom dancer and a Cinderella lookalike... Unfortunately no photographic evidence remains...

Secondly, I hung out with cute girls:
Chloe & Anna (who is my cousin's girlfriend... damn him!)


Thirdly, I took a few actual, artistic photos (amazing, I know!)
I forgot her name, unfortunately


Then I hung out with another cute blonde, and prepared for Amsterdam (all of the pre-Amsterdam photos are here).

Amsterdam was cool. Incredibly laid back and sensible. Of course, I didn't actually get to lay back much (well, except for the brief stint in the red light district), as we walked across most of the city. Then we boated through most of it, and on the final day I had my first ever backy-ride on a bicyle. The kind with peddles and a chain. I still can't walk (3 days later). It feels like I've had a marathon sex session, but without the sex (well, apart from that one time on Saturday where my memory is a little hazy...)

Again, no photographic evidence of two boys in pink shirts cycling across Amsterdam... but I'm sure that one day someone will provide video footage of the experience -- perhaps when I'm richer and famouser.

Talking of video footage, there should be a clip of me deep-throating a raw herring. Yes... I did what every Dutchman loves -- consumed one of their 'national delicacies', which it blatently isn't, while they giggled and watched with glee on their faces. 'Just like sushi' my host Rogier said. Hah. But hey, I was a good sport and ate it, for the first and last time.

Anyway, a couple of photos!

The Red Light District


Some Other Part Of Amsterdam



I'm not too sure why the last one came out so grey - the day was still pretty bright at the time... but hey, it looks pretty dark and forboding, or something. You can't see it, but it's actually like 6 or 7 bridges that you can see through the first one, to the horizon. Some other photos are here: http://photos.mrseb.co.uk/?moverse=digital/Netherlands/2007/Amsterdam.

I think that's about all for now. I'm in London tomorrow, and busy planning my next trip... I just need to choose if I'm going to go hot (Egypt) or cold (Iceland/Norway). Oh! And my mum made friends with a guy that owns a holiday camp in Jordan (Petra!), so that's another cool possibility. Can get over to Iraq/Iran from there, too.

Sorry about the huge one, without cuts.

Love,
-S

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Ben Folds Five - Philosophy

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/152991.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/152991.html

I know, I've been silent a long time.

But I just had to break it for this little gem:

http://www.mr-lee-catcam.de/

Some (probably wacky) German guy has decided that just simply petting a cat isn't enough - he must know where it's been on its daily adventures too!

So he strapped a digital camera to the cat's collar.

I have to admit, it looks pretty unfair on the cat, but the pictures taken are pretty fun :)

If I strapped a camera to Mango I think the results would be pretty cool too. Well, apart from the hours of lounging on the carpet. Live action of her catching rabbits and stuff!

In other news, I'm going to Holland next week. Just a quick trip to Amsterdam to see the sights, and to meet up with some friends. I've never been before though, so I'm quite excited. I'm also trying to plan a trip to Iceland and/or Norway... although I understand both countries are incredibly dull. At least Iceland has glaciers and stuff though.

Oh, and did everyone else watch Jekyll? If you didn't, I really suggest you download/buy it - it was a little eclectic in parts, but very fun too!

Ahh! And here's a photo from my (old) school's yearly school play, which was Robin Hood this year. The handsome one on the left is my cousin.

Emilio & Robert - Will Scarlet & Robin Hood
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You can see a few more here: http://photos.mrseb.co.uk/?moverse=digital/Sussex/School/2007 (and yes, I broke the thumbnail generation recently... so no thumbnails!)

You can probably tell that I've been experimenting a little with different white balancing and forcing exposures. Some of the results are better than others... but hey, it's all a learning experience!

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di.fm

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/152584.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/152584.html

Yesterday I had the double pleasure of meeting the darling, small, and highly misunderestimated Dan'a (of Maudelynn fame), and watching Tori Amos live at the Hammersmith Apollo in London.

Now, I have to admit that I'm not actually a Tori Amos fan. My knowledge of her music extends as far as hearing the occasional tune on the radio. So I didn't really know what to expect. Sometimes, having no expectations can be a good thing!

The entire set was pretty amazing.

Now, I could talk from a backstage perspective, but that might give away a few too many secrets and spoil the magic for some people... so I will just say that from my perfect seat, close to the stage and bang in the middle, Tori is one hell of a pianist. It seemed to be the popular consensus from the band that she's also never sounded this good before; her vocals were perfect! And talking of the band, I have to pay proper dues to the bassist, the guitarist... and most importantly, the drummer!

Of course I'm a little biased, because of the compact and mighty Dan'a, but really... Matt was so, so good.

I wish I could actually list which songs were played, so I could give you some idea of which songs were just very good, and which ones were immense. I recognised Cornflake Girl, which in itself was awesome, but was followed by some less-exciting numbers. Then the band went off and a solo set with just her piano ensued. And THEN! The band came back on -- this was my favourite set of about 5 songs.

I think you'll all agree that the magic behind live music is not so much the sound quality, or even seeing the star in question, but it's the pure and raw, unrestrained and unleashed energy that gushes from the artists on stage.

While I don't think I've become a Tori Amos fan over night, I'd certainly see her again if I had the opportunity.

Next up is Foo Fighters in Scotland I think...

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Ben Folds Five - Alice Childress

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/152399.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/152399.html

Hever Castle's a very pretty castle in Kent, near Edenbridge.

Basically, Henry VIII built it for Anne Boleyn after she whined about wanting her own castle.

So he built her a little castle, with a moat, turrets, crenelations - everything!

Man... women nowadays are much less demanding.

Oh, of course he beheaded her afterwards... but that's neither here nor there.

Anyway, I was down at its lake today, just as the sun begun to set. You know those moments where the world goes totally pink, red or orange... just for an instant? Well, this was one of them. Quite a cold white balance too, to keep the blues. I quite like the symmetry too.

And I have to admit... I scared the duck from the side of the lake and shooed him a bit until he was in a compositionally-strong position. I'm such a monster: I'll do anything to get the photo!


Hever Castle Lake

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Vocal Trance on di.fm.

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/152302.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/152302.html

That sucked the big one.

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/151972.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/151972.html

(This is a very long post... feel free to scroll down, if you just want to see pretty pictures -- or if this is your friends page, no doubt loads of blogs about Lee being the bestest Joseph...)

This whole waking up at 7am thing is starting to get to me.

My body's still on Turkish time it would seem, and as I woke up at about 8am for a week... it decides to keep on waking up early, even if I haven't really slept much the night before.

So now I'm pretty exhausted, but oh so delighted with how things are turning out.

Enough cryptics for now!

TURKEY WAS VERY COOL. I've definitely had more than enough ancient history to tide me over for a while though, that's for sure. I love 2000 year old unconquerable mountain-top cities as much as the next person... but I think next time I do some tourism, it'll be a little more refined, involving all-weather paths and chair-lifts to the tops of mountains.

So, my last stop in Turkey was Cappadocia, a region in central Anatolia, Asia-Minor. Basically, a kajillion years ago a bunch of volcanoes erupted, sending tons of ash up into the air. At the same time, there was tons of lava flow. So first the lava solidifed, then the ash fell, and finally some more lava splurged out and created basalt caps in some regions. The settling ash was kind of cool, because it fell at different rates and caused strata of different colours. You get some rocks that have layers of red, yellow and black -- iron oxide, sulphur and normal ash. The basalt on top also causes the 'penis effect', which I will now illustrate:

Penis Valley


They actually renamed it 'Love Valley' recently, for tourism reasons apparently. Men have (and still do) taken their wives there, to improve fertility... apparently...

So, because the shafts are made of soft rock/ash, eroson wears away at them very easily, while the heads made of basalt have a slower rate of erosion. And thus the penises.

The above view was taken... from the hot-air balloon! This involved waking up at 3:30am, for a 4am pickup to be taken to the depot thingee. We then had to drive around and find a launch site, and finally got into the air just after dawn. The basket seemed to be filled with a hushed awe as we lifted off. So, so graceful! I guess it's something to do with how natural the effect of hot air rising is. We were ascending at about 10ft a second for a while, which isn't that fast, but still pretty fast... and before we know it, we're 2000 feet off the ground. Then a moment later, we're in a valley. Our pilot is considered one of the best and most experienced pilots in the world, and definitely took every chance to convince us of that. We'd pick leaves off trees; ascend out of valleys, so close to the wall that I could push us away from it; sit on trees, just enough to bend the branches a little, but not break them...

I think this photo shows the kind of situation we'd end up in (although this is a very wide valley compared to some of the ones we ended up in...)

Red Valley


We rose over that little thingee on the left. And the next minute we're at this kind of altitude:

High Over Cappadocia


Anyway, it was a very pleasant experience. Highly recommended. You can see a few more cool photos here: http://photos.mrseb.co.uk/?moverse=digital/Turkey/2007/Cappadocia_Kapadokya

After that, we toured around a bit, saw some other pretty sights, like 'Imagination Valley', which is basically those penises, but ones that have eroded into interesting shapes -- like camels, or frogs, or... whatever your imagination draws for you! Also some cool houses carved out of the same rock. Some of the cities were 1500 years old... mostly early Christian stuff, and then later Muslim. We saw tons, and tons of churches.

This post is spiralling out of control.

I'll leave you with one of my favourite landscapes, from Istanbul, at Topkapi Palace, overlooking the Asian half of Istanbul and their beloved suspension bridge.

The Bosphorus, as seen from Topkapi Palace


Most of the 'good' photos from Turkey are here: http://photos.mrseb.co.uk/?moverse=digital/Turkey/2007/

There's some more snaps to come I think... humourous stuff, self portraits, more penises, etc.

Next up, hopefully Israel... after a month of hard grind to catch up with work, and make a little cash.

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The beautiful sound of our garden.

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/151648.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/151648.html

Just finished a preliminary sorting of photos into snaps and 'half decent' ones.

Should be posting up a lot of the 'good' ones this afternoon, and a few of the snaps too, just to prove I do take shitty photos too occasionally.

I'll try to accompany the photos with stories, or something!

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di.fm

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/151492.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/151492.html

Just sorting through photos and other stuff on my laptop.

Found this one:



Has anyone seen it before? I didn't do it, sure of that. Feels a bit like a Dorkgirl jobby, but... maybe not...

Hopefully some Turkish photos to come later, but I still need to blog about Antalya, Selcuk and Urgup, before it all spills out of my brain and is lost...!

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Jekyll & Hyde

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/151136.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/151136.html

Or 'Termessos' as they call it here.

Thermessos - View from the theatre


Things are all good. Now in Selcuk, near Izmir. Ephesus was awesome. Almost had a few moments where I felt like I'd been transported back 2000 years... The restoration that they've done is really excellent. Walking down the marble-paved streets, lined with 10 meter columns of marble, you could almost think you were there...

Had a great guide too. Was only 2 of us on the tour in total, which made it very personal indeed. Seemed like the guide had actually played a part in the restoration over the last 30 years, as some kind of advisor, so he knew painfully minute details. Shared the tour with a nice English guy that's now working in Switzerland, with Roche. He was the youngest looking 38 year old I've ever met. Looked late 20s at the most!

Many stories to tell, not enough time to tell them. Just hope I can remember them all when I finally get a chance to write them down.

The guy that tried -- and failed -- to sell me fake 2000 year old coins was pretty good. I kept analysing the coins and declaring them fake, at which point he would admit that they were fake and then take out another pouch of more-elaborately fake coins. This happened 4 or 5 times until he said 'Ah, you want original coins! You come see my brother!', so off I trudge... his brother obviously failed, because at first he brought out a pouch of fake coins, just like the first ones I'd been shown. His 'brother' coughed and said something unintelligible, which is when he reached for his uber, mega bag of fake coins. Sadly, being fairly intelligent and having studied chemistry, I saw right through his ruse of a 'gold coin with medusa on it', which was meant to be 2500 years old. It felt an awful lot like lead, coated in brass. Gold doesn't corrode, see, but obviously tourists expect old coins to look corroded, so it'd been artificially oxidised... it was pretty classic stuff.

The 'silver' coins with copper oxide on them were pretty good too.

Finally, he told me that I had no clue about coins, and that he was trying to sell me a coin worth 800 euros, for about 25 euros... He told me to get lost! How cool is that? The peddler becomes the victim for once... hoorah for me.

Anyway, gotta sleep. Going to get up early and see if I can do something with my day before I fly off to Kayseri, my last port of call!

-S

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A turkish translation of 'Beyond the Sea'... odd...

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http://mrseb.livejournal.com/151036.html

http://mrseb.livejournal.com/151036.html

(This is a backdated entry, I was writing it as I waited for a taxi to Istanbul Ataturk airport, but the driver turned up early, and I had to shutdown before I got a chance to finish it... Anyway, I finally got online in Antalya, it's lovely. Will write more tomorrow if I get a chance.)

If I ever have to walk on cobbles again, it will be too soon.

3 days of walking around on old, hard, ridged and badly laid cobbles has made Sebby a sad boy. I just got back from the Topkapi palace (I now have fantastic ideas for the harem that I'll have in my castle).

I'm not even physically tired - it's just my ankles... they're rebelling against the lack of support for each and every haphazard step that I make.

Anyway! I've come back to the hotel a little early. My taxi to the airport arrives in 30 minutes.

Antalya is next. I'm staying in a lovely hotel, in 'Old Antalya' (itself a landmark), which apparently specialises in serving its very own organic fruit, grown in their back garden.

Incidentally, the fruit I've had here is amazing. Last night I had a 'Crepe Dervish' (the restaurant was called Dervish), which was basically a crepe, with honey, and then covered/filled with melon, kiwi, orange, cherries, some home-made ice cream...

It was actually the nicest thing I've had so far. To be totally honest, the rest of the food has bored me very quickly... It's just kebabs.

But having a country that specialises in baklava and fruit is by no means a bad thing...!

That also reminds me - the restuarant had a real, flesh-and-blood whirling dervish dancing...! To music!

He was utterly BORING. He whirled around slowly, with the most bored expression on his face. He didn't blur with alacrity or something... He just spun around on the spot for 5 minutes, while a couple of other guys played some music. I guess spinning must be fairly difficult; dizziness and stuff... But even so, it was really dull.

Almost finished my first book - Memoirs of a Geisha. Going to start Count of Monte Cristo tonight. I'm currently working my way through a list of intellectual, informative and inspiring books suggested to me by the cute, blonde and brilliant American.

(Not really the end, but I can't recall what I was going to write about, sooooo...)

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Some old men talking outside my window

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