I suppose I’m writing this just so I can update the blog, rather than having something specific to write about. So consider this a warning… I am just going to blabber a little bit about what I’ve been doing over the past week or so, see where my thoughts take me!

Last weekend I spent a lot of time with my sister Jane…she stayed with me for a couple of nights at the end of the week, then I went with her stay at our parents last saturday night. While she was here we went to the new Lau’s Chinese buffet in town… whereas it is still a buffet and as such the food quality isn’t exactly amazing, we both enjoyed the Sushi bar and garlic prawns from the Teppen-yaki plate (cooked fresh while we waited, nom). When at our parents on Saturday, we kind of just spent time together, with our parents and Grandparents. Dad drove her back to Linden Hall on Sunday morning, which is lovely drive when the weather is bright, which it was. I came back home to Michael on Sunday…after having the obligatory sunday dinner at Grandad and Grandma’s of course!

Not much happened on Monday…on Tuesday however Michael took me to see Charlie Ross perform his ‘One Man Lord of the Rings’ at the Gala Theatre in Durham. I had a really good time – both Charlie Ross and his support act were fantastic. Any LOTR fan should go and see his show, and it’s left me wanting to see his ‘One Man Star Wars’  as well.

On Wednesday Michael and I went to the Newcastle Bahá’í Centre for the monthly Open Deepening evening, which was hosted this time around by the lovely James. The theme was Prayer – we read and discussed some quotes based on why, what, how and who we pray for. I found this very useful as I must admit my discipline in remembering to pray each day has been lacking for a while now – the deepening has helped me focus on this area somewhat, so thank you James!

Thursday was another quiet day after I was done with work. Yesterday was the start of a four day weekend, what with it being Easter and all, yay! So, my Good Friday was spent pretty much in front of the TV, playing FF13.  I am a good way into it now…I think I’ve clocked up about 24-25 hours of gametime since I got it (which was March 9th, release day!). I am still enjoying it…a couple of reviews I read in the run up to getting it had me a little worried. I do agree with some of the criticism…the game has been very linear so far, although I am playing on with the promise of it opening up towards the end. The story was slow to get going…I am at Chapter 7 of 13 and it has only really started to gain momentum now.  Still, I am enjoying the story and eager to move on and delve further into it. My biggest worry going into the game was the battle system….I never got very far into FF12 as I really disliked the battle system. No such problem this time around, I’m happy that I have taken to FF13′s ‘Paradigm’ system quite well :-) (I must go back and give FF12 another go, same with FF8…).

In my opinion, FF13 is no FF7 or FF9 beater. However, it is better than FF8 and FF12, and perhaps on par, if not a little better than FF10. The Character development system, the ‘Crystallarium’, is pretty much a straight-up carbon copy of FF10′s ‘Sphere Grid’ level up system…not that I’m complaining though, I quite enjoyed that aspect of FF10.

Today I slept well into the morning…oops! I missed the qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix, so I spent the afternoon so far watching it on the BBC iPlayer. I am definitely going to get up early in the morning to watch the actual race live…it’s looking like it’s going to be good one – with the McLaren’s and Ferrari’s at the back of the grid I am expecting some exciting race action…throw in some rain to mix it up and it should be a belter of a race!

For the rest of today, I think I’m going to chill, do a bit of housework and maybe do a little baking later on.  I promised Michael some chocolate cup cakes like last week, I should keep my promise to him really! If I play my cards right I may also get a couple more hours of FF13 in..if not today then definitely tomorrow! :-)

Til next time x

The weather there was pretty much the same as it is here at the moment – aka, wet! Still, we didn’t let that bother us too much. Our little trip wasn’t about sightseeing, rather we were using it as a chance to spend a day together away from home, so we walked, chatted, had tea and coffee at Bewleys on Grafton Street, and just enjoyed the break.

As we stood by the River Liffey on Tuesday evening, I made Michael video me singing a certain song…the Janeypants song! Dedicated to my lovely little sister, who this week got herself a new job at Linden Hall. Congratulations Jane, wish you all the best!

Michael really wants to travel over the next couple of years before we start trying to have kids – he wants us to visit all the countries in the EU. I’ve decided that whenever we visit somewhere, I will now always sing the Janeypants song on video it as proof. I hope my sister doesn’t mind! :-p

Michael will be writing in his blog about our trip in more detail…I’ll link once he has.

Janeypants! ♥