Yes, yes, I'll give you all five minutes to pick yourselves up off the floor after the sudden shock of the first SuperSnotling blog in over 2 months...

Truth be told, my mind has been elsewhere. I've been caught up with trying to sort out my college for September, which still isn't going too well. The fact that it isn't going too well has led to an overall feeling of uselessness some days. Hard to describe really, but it just generally leads to me being in a slump all day, limited attention span, total apathy and lethargy. Not fun.

Thankfully I have someone to help me through things. I really don't know how things would have been if I didn't have Susi to help me through things. I know all you other guys would have helped me too, if I needed it, but Susi did such a wonderful job on her own, your services weren't required.

Then of course there is the fact that last week was carnival week here in Rhayader, which meant a whole load of alcohol was had by all. Going to take a little time off from that now. Maybe a few days at least, possibly longer.

I've got some pictures to put up, but given that the first half of this blog is me moping around, I'll save them for another day.

So, as a teaser, here's an excellent reason why I'm going to be cutting back on the drink for a while:



Yes, that's me. I borrowed half of someone's fairy costume for a photo op. Susi thinks it's sweet, I think I look like a fool. But then looking like a fool is part and parcel of carnival day...

So anyway, I'm all good and still alive these days. I've even started to show up around the site a little more, could be the start of a glorious return.

Well, this has been a short, sweet one. I'll try to geek it up a bit more next time, it's been a while since I helped you with your overdose of geekiness.

SuperSnotling out... (to go do some geeky research)

Hiya guys, just a quick one to let you know that I'm not dead (again) I was prompted by Claire's 'Goodbye' blog to post this really, so you might want to thank her.

Don't worry, I'm still here, just dropped into lurk mode for a little while. I still read most of the forum threads, and even post in a couple of them, but blog commenting has been cut back on. I do read them, honest.

The truth behind it is that I've become mildly addicted to a new computer game I have. Call of Duty 4, to be specific. Great game, too much fun. (anyone with an Xbox 360 and their own copy of CoD4 can find me under the Gamertag BunnyCommando (Just like that, capital B, capital C)

Add to that the bedroom finally falling into place after redecoration while I was in Germany, (furniture took its time arriving, long story there, might tell it later, but it really isn't that interesting) and you see why I've been away for a while.

The game is still fun too, no signs of the fun there slowing down, so I'll still be in lurk mode for a little while longer.

But I'm alright, everything's fine. I shall return properly at some point, but it might be a while...

(And for those of you thinking that this blog might seem a little unLeelike, with no bunnies or geek references, I point to to the title. Only mildly geeky, but I'm counting it. Bonus points for knowing the origin. )

SuperSnotling away... (to go shoot virtual people. )

Just a quick and random one from me today guys. Possibly a little geeky as well. Had to be cryptic with the title though, if i had just yelled PIKA! none of you would have come here.

Everyone knows Pikachu:



Cute little yellow fellow that he is. But have you ever wondered what the internet would look like if he was in charge?

Well, thanks to a little gizmo I found online, you can. With the help of the Pikachizer, you can Pikachize any web URL you like. A few examples for the more discerning amongst you :

Our very own Tv.com CSI:NY forums. Unfortunately you can't log in, it just reverts back to the original English version. The links still take you to a Pikachized area though, so if you know what's where, you can still have a look around.

The Doctor Who forums here at Tv.com. No danger of spoilers if you can't read the language. (Pika preferred Martha to Donna though)

Pikachu's Wikipedia entry. He likes this one.

Google. For the Pikachu who needs to find something.

PikaTube? Why yes, yes it is...

This very blog... Because without him, none of this would be possible.

Well, that's it for me, if you decide to play with the Pikachizer yourselves, just remember that (as far as I know) if you have to log in to anything, it won't work. That includes friends only blogs, if any of you have that option on.

Still, he had fun...


PIKA!

SuperSnotling away... PIKA PIKA!!

Hi guys and gals, sorry it's taken so long for me to get this up, but the problem with writing a blog about your recent holiday means looking through the photos you took to see which ones are any good, and unfortunately it's taken me this long to not get all tearful and sad every time I see a photo of Susi and I together. I really miss her, and wish I was still over there sometimes.

Anyway, I didn't actually go over to go sightseeing, I went over to see Susi, so I didn't really see very much of the country, just a little of Bonn, and parts of Cologne when we went shopping one time.

I had a great time when I was over there though, Susi is every bit as nice in real life as she is online here, if not more so, and she's a lot prettier than she thinks, she just won't accept it.

So, let's take it from the top, shall we? Turns out I don't fly well, my nerves were shot for days in advance, most of it due to the flying, not the meeting Susi, although that was a big part as well. A large coffee at the airport sorted out some of those problems though. So after the obligatory checking in, security checks, going through boarding, buying cheap video games in the duty free Dixons (yes, really ) I go to waiting for the plane. I would have thrown a mini blog up direct from the departure area, but for some reason, I couldn't access the airports wireless. I have no idea why, there was nothing wrong my end, and the guy sat next to me was connected just fine. But anyway...

It was a poky little plane, the safety voice over guy did say what it was, but I forget. Couldn't have been room onboard for more than 60 people.



As you can see, we didn't have brilliant weather for flying out with, it was already raining.

But after an uneventful journey, unless you count me almost filling my trousers when the landing gear deployed , we landed safely at Bonn/Cologne airport (apologies to anyone who might get a touch grr at the sight of the Anglicised version of German names, but I still haven't figured out how to do accents on my Laptop yet. P). Baggage claim only took a few minutes, and then it was through the door and into the waiting arms of a certain gorgeous blonde. That was nice, actually, no awkward silence, no me freezing up because I'm a wuss, just a hug, a hello and a kiss.

Safe journey back to Susi's place, which is really nice. Lovely cosy little apartment. Won't say any more, Susi might kill me, and I don't want that to happen. Of course I hadn't slept the night before, too nervous to sleep on the plane, so it's now 9pm ish (I forget which timezone my phone was set to at the time, so it might have only been 8 o'clock my time), and I'm falling asleep on the sofa, because we were watching a DVD or something, I forget.

Anyway, next day we start doing normal things. There were some days when we just spent the day lounging around the apartment, not doing very much of anything really. They were nice days, just the two of us relaxing on the couch or whatever, maybe mucking about online, maybe watching a DVD, but it was still just the two of us being close to each other. I think I enjoyed those days the most.

We ventured out of the apartment a few times, mainly for food, or to go shopping for one reason or another, I think we only had one or two actual days out to see things. Took a trip up to Bad Godesburg (which really wasn't that bad) where there's a castle, that was a nice day out, it's where we took the picture you've all seen of the two of us. Took a few piccies, but they were mostly ones that I need to cut and splice together, because I couldn't get everything in one shot. But you do get a lovely view of Bonn (I think it was Bonn, we didn't travel that far )





Same day, the weather was the best it had been the whole time I was over there, except for the last few days (typical, really), so we went for a walk around some park, didn't catch the name of it. I still reckon that it was about the same size as the town I live in, but then I do live in a tiny little town...



Not really anything special, apart from the bigness of it all, and pancake men. Stands selling crepes (again, sorry people but I have no clue how to put accents in) just dotted around. Brilliant idea, and dead tasty too. So we walked around for a bit, just chatting, me occasionally getting my camera out to snap off a shot, but every time I did, Susi would stand behind me so she wasn't in the shot.

A few days later, we went shopping in Cologne, mainly so Susi could look for some shoes (girl ). But I did get to see Cologne cathedral, very kind of them to build it so conveniently close to the train station, I thought. Really big too, sod cleaning that roof...




Really nice inside too, didn't take too many photos, my camera doesn't do inside very well...

Managed to get most of my souvenir shopping done that day as well, which was handy. There was even a Lego shop. If I were a few years younger, I could have spent all day and a small fortune there. As it was I got a Lego Darth Vader keyring for myself and Lego bottle opener for my dad.

We spent a day in (apparently) Germany biggest museum as well, charting the reassembly of the country after the end of the Second World War. Rather interesting actually, even if it was all in German and I couldn't understand a word of it. Got told off for photography there. That was an interesting experience, being told not to do something in a language I don't understand.

Then one night (the night before I left, I believe), we wandered down to the bank of the Rhine (Susi called it a 'beach' but I know a pebbly riverbank when I see one. ) Got a lovely shot of Bonn by night, even if it was a bugger to take the photo straight.



On the way down we went down a path which was rather muddy, much complaining by Susi over getting her shoes muddy, my fault really, I insisted that we keep going. But on the way back we went over the felled trees that were lining the path, it was more fun that way, and I got to see action Susi.



Anyway, that was the night before I came home. My nerves were no better on the flight home, and the goodbye in the airport was rather emotional and a touch damp. It was sad leaving Susi, maybe the hardest thing I've ever done, but we'll be seeing each other in a few months time, I just hope I have the patience to survive.

There were a few other things we got up to (no, not what you're all thinking, dirty people. ) but they weren't that major, or photographically impressive, maybe I'll throw up part two in a few days, maybe I won't I probably won't.

But that's me out, I'm off to do, erm, stuff? Yeah, that's it, stuff. Not like I have anything important to do, so stuff it is. I shall return with your regular dose of geekiness as soon as I get a chance and/or a topic.

SuperSnotling, away... (To be all lonely and miss his Girlfriend. )

I don't really think there were any of you out there that doubted for a minute that I was really over here in Germany, you're all a reasonably trusting bunch. But just in case any of you had any remaining doubts, I Photoshopped something especially for you.

Ah, dammit, I wasn't supposed to say that. Forget that you read that last part, it never happened, this is real, people, a genuinely falsified photo of me and... I did it again, didn't I?

I'm just kidding anyway, it's a real piccie. Touch dark, but that's the cameras fault, and in no way the fault of the monkey operating it (me) forgetting to turn the flash on, nope...

So, people of a nervous disposition, with heart problems or those who are allergic to images of mild cuteness might want to look away now.

Don't say we didn't warn you...



Those of you still conscious may leave via the hall exits to the left.

That's about it really. I'll post all the sightseeing shots when I get back to the UK and have enough time without being distracted.

SuperSnotling away... (to be distracted)