Deflated

This weekend has been exhausting ... though pretty cool, mostly. Among other things, I

got a haircut, spent some time with my Grandad, watched the FA Cup final, ate steak & kidney pie and chips with gravy and saw the new Marvel Avengers film (very enjoyable, by the way) on Saturday;

travelled up to see Manchester United play Swansea at Old Trafford (although the atmosphere was a little deflated after the loss to City on Monday, as well as their win at Newcastle earlier in the day ... the lap of honour for the final home game of the season was perfunctory at best, still ... it is possible we could win the title next weekend, though unlikely), participated in a pub quiz at the Flying Horse (we got a fairly respectable 33 out of 55, plus I managed to deduce that Widnes play at the Stobart Stadium ... I was pretty surprised too) and watched Dr Horrible's sing-along-blog with two friends on Sunday; and

worked a half-day, cooked for three other people and watched Quantum of Solace & Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol on Monday.

Pretty good going. Perhaps I should have planned ahead so that I didn't go to sleep at 2am and wake up at 9am every day. More sleep would have been better.

Today I had to attend my Godfather's funeral. My parents are in Egypt, alas. It was a nice service. His widow stood and spoke to every member of the congregation as they left the church. Incredible. When she looked at me and I leaned over to give her a hug, she immediately mentioned the 'lovely' message I wrote in the condolence card I sent last week (as well as the usual I'm so glad he was part of my life, I also wrote an anecdote about been asked to travel up from Wales with him once to make sure he didn't fall asleep ... I pointed out that it was a pretty stressful role for a nine year old). Hmm, that was tough. For a second I thought I was going to burst into tears when she looked at me. When you see the family in such situations, it's hard to imagine what they're feeling. You're sad that this person has gone, ... but compared to their grief it's nothing. Plus, I find it hard to remember my own times of grief. Although the person is missed, those feelings of pain don't have the same impact when merely remembered. I'm totally not comfortable consoling people. Can you imagine what nursing staff go though. Still, glad that I made the effort to be there. She seemed to appreciate it.

So that was my bank holiday weekend. And tomorrow, I carry on working. Think I'll need to make an early start too. Is it the weekend yet?!


By the way, if you've never seen Dr Horrible ... you must find it. Find it and watch it now! Here's a trailer:

It's only 45 minutes long (divided into three acts), so there's no excuse. From the mind of Joss Whedon, who you may know as the genius behind such entertainment products as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly/Serenity and recently the Avengers Assemble. It was produced during the writer's strike in 2008, as an internet mini-series. If you're still not sure, ... here's a taster (though don't blame me for ruining anything if you decide to watch it):

That's a clip from towards the end of the second act. I actually fell off my sofa I was laughing so hard the first time I saw that line. The delivery is just so perfect. This is the song that follows it, to give you an idea:

Some of the lines are genius ('shiny new Australia', in particular). I've shown this to so many people. They all love it! Well, there was one person. Without spoiling anything, the third act is quite different in tone from the first two acts. My ex-girlfriend got really upset, asked whether I was showing her this just to upset her and spent the rest of the day not really talking to me. Make of that what you will.

You've got to love Nathan Fillion, as Captain Hammer or really in everything he's been in. He does indeed make everything at least 27 per cent better (see this Empire magazine blog for an explanation).