h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Okay, okay, as the title says! I'm e-mailing you!

My Dad always likes his own tea, and if I'm really nice to him he starts getting paranoid and wants to know what I want instead of being in a good enough mood to let me do it...

Step-dad? I never knew you had a step-dad!

Did you have a good weekend? I hope so, when the Last night of the Proms starts I may watch some of it, I hope you were visible!

¦M¦

I don't think I was visible, the 39,999 other people got in the way. But yes - it was a great day at the proms! I'll tell you more in the e-mail.

Yes, I have a step dad, and a step mum. My parents divorced when I was 8 and both re-married. It says all about that on my "Who Is Bluebottle?" page if you've read it.

I won't be on much this week - if at all - so I hope to be able to e-mail you before I go.

See you

<BB<

OK! I'll check my e-mail - I was so excited about having slightly longer online tonight that I decided to spend it all on H2G2!

Ohh... *huge amounts of sympathy*. I have read it. I must have forgotten. Sorry, that's one hell of a big thing to go round forgetting, sorry sorry sorry.

OK! I'll be back soon, I hope.

See you!

¦M¦

Hiya Ming - yes, I saw you online in the Swimming Pool - great.
Don't worry about forgetting about my parent's backgrounds - frankly, I can't remember that much details about your life. I'm sorry - it's not as if I want to forget, I'm just not good with details like that, and I don't mind if you're the same and forget too. It's not that you _want_ to forget, it just happens...

Anyway, I've got an e-mail of yours to reply too.

And I've been back since!
()

Yes, I am the same... I can't remember much about my closest friends' backgrounds... so you don't worry about forgetting about my life, and I won't worry about forgetting details of your life. OK?
I've always found that if you really _want_ to forget something, it never happens... but then if you do forget, you won't remember that you wanted to forget it, so, umm... there is a point to that, only I've forgotten what it was... dammit...

Yes, you have. . I look forward to the reply!

¦M¦

I've sent you a reply, honest!
I find it very very hard to keep track of everyone's relations - especially if I haven't met these great uncles etc. Whose grandparents are dead and whose aren't, really confuses me... So far, 5 of my grandparents are dead and only 4 are still alive - only one of which isn't a step grandparent, my mother's mother.

I don't seem to have much trouble in forgetting most things, as long as I remember not to think about them. That's the real challenger, unfortunately. I just have to make sure my mind has nothing that it associates with what is being forgotten.

*smiles* Yes, I think I got it!

Yes, I agree...
*exclaims* That's a lot of step-people you've got...

gotta go - piano...

¦M¦

Yep - I've lots of step everythings. It makes up for only having one uncle, one aunt, one male cousin, one female cousin and no neices or nephews. So I have 5 step-grandparents, and a half sister and a step sister. Not bad, eh? But I don't get more presents at Christmas...

So, how was the piano?

(And I'm replying to your e-mail now )

*exclaims yet again*
I seem to be exclaiming a lot! You do appear to have a lot of step-people and similar...
And don't worry about the neices and nephews! If it makes you feel and better, I haven't got any either! (but then my sisters are 14 and 12, so I would hope not...)

Piano was good, actually! Apart from failing to play any dynamics correctly, I didn't make too many mistakes!

¦M¦

(and I've replied to that e-mail! )

I completely forgot!
HUGE amounts of congratulations!!! You're Vice! How does it feel?
And I did vote for you after all...
And I'm so happy! Me and IE got 6 votes! I didn't think we'd get any - apart from Aurora and Njan, who told us that they'd voted for us!! So that's good...
Anyway-

¦M¦

Well, congrats to you on your election results, and thanks for your vote.
How does it feel to be Vice? Would you be disappointed if I told you that it felt the same as it did before?
Still, I'm happy to have won. Now I just have to work out exactly what to do now I'm Vice President. I think I'll just have to smile a lot more.
I'm glad your piano went well - I never mastered the beast, but I do enjoy the Bugle. As for your reply, thanks for sending it, but I've not got it.

And who needs nephews when you've got h2g2?

<BB<

That's OK! I think you and Peregrin deserve the title(s)!
...and I didn't want the Celery to win...

No, not disappointed at all... that's how I reckoned I'd feel if I got it. AFTER thinking that I was either insane or everyone else was.
Yes. I think smiling would be a good thing.

No, I haven't managed to master it either. I've been playing on and off for 11 years and I haven't got further than about Grade 2 standard...compared to flute, which I've been playing for 1 and a half years and I'm working towards Grade 5, that really is not good... but I would like to be able to play piano, so I'm struggling on... d'uh.

You haven't got it? Oh. That can't be right. I'll have to write you another and see if that reaches you... only you'll have to wait for a couple of days - I'm not supposed to be on.

I got your e-mail now, and I've replied.
And you're right - it always is good to smile.

With piano, I never bothered with grades, and strangely enough, I also tried the flute. Believe me - when it came to playing "Three Blind Mice" - no one was better than me. But that was about all I could do. I'm quite good with the bugle, though.

Ah. I haven't got it.
But I'm glad you got mine. I'll see if I've got it by tomorrow or whenever I can get back on next... and tell you if I haven't - or even if I have...

Yes, I think it is.

No, I don't do piano grades either, I'm guessing where I am.
Yes, I think you've said before - and I'm sure no one could play 'Three Blind Mice' better than you!
Yeah? The bugle is something I always wondered about since my mum pointed one out to me on the television. I couldn't work out how you were supposed to stay in tune and play the right notes. I have a friend in the Boys Brigade who plays the Bugle. She's female... and she refuses to tell me how you do stay in tune.
*looks hopefuly at BB, wondering if he got he hint*


¦M¦

Oh - I've got your e-mail now, and replied to it!


¦M¦

Yay - I got your e-mail. And I'll have to reply to it again.

As for the bugle - how do you play the right notes and stay in tune.
Well - the staying in tune question is easy - to stay in tune, all you have to do is play the right notes in the right order at the right time - and you're in tune. Having a drum to keep the beat makes it easy to know the rythm, so staying in tune is easy as far as playing at the right time goes. If you know what you are playing, than of course you play in the right order. As for playing the right notes - it's harder to describe. I'm not really sure how I do it, it kinda happens most of the time. What I can say is that to get the really high notes you have to blow a lot harder, but then it's also hard to get the bottom notes. Well, not really hard - but the 2nd note is the easiest to get. (A bugle is supposed to have 5 notes - you can get about 9, but only 5 are used). It's like riding a bike - you don't know how you stay balanced and not fall off, but you do.

I hope that helps a little.

<BB<

Yep!

Ah! It's one of ~those~ things. It's like me and shooting - I can do it quite well, but I have no idea how...
(and you stay balanced on a bike by going fast - except those people who can stay balanced when they're still...)


¦M¦

I didn't know you enjoyed shooting. So, what type? Small bore? Rifle? Pistol? Tell me all about it.
But yes, it's one of those things.
Not like piano & flute, where you press a button at all.

Air pistols. Yes, I do enjoy it, but as I no longer ride horses, I don't get the chance to.
I'm guessing that right now you'd like an explanation...
Basically, I belonged to the Pony Club. They held Tetrathlons. This was riding horses over a cross country course, running a distance, swimming for a certain amount of time, and shooting at targets using air pistols. They could take place over one day or two. There was no particular order to the seperate parts of the competition, but the running was almost never first. My strengths were the riding and especially the shooting, as I wasn't very fit...

Yes, that's the only way I can play instruments... I tried learning violin once. I learnt for a whole year, but I disagreed with it. I hated playing, I couldn't trust myself to get my fingers in exactly the right place, whereas with flute my fingers don't move. With piano, there is no threat of being out of tune, although there is a problem with getting the fingers in the right place, which is why I'm so bad at it...

¦M¦

Sounds quite an unusual way to get into ai-pistol shooting, although if you really enjoy it, have you tried looking for specific air-pistol clubs? The trouble with joining clubs, though, is that normally the people you enjoy doing whatever with on a casual basis - youir closest friends etc, don't join you when you join the club, and it's the being with your friends that makes it the most fun.

Uni starts for me tomorrow - so I'll only have a little time to h2g2 between lectures etc, when the computer rooms aren't full and busy. I really have to try and get back into the habit of working - I really want to do well this year. So wish me luck, and nag me to work hard.

Apart from that, I can't think of much to say today

<BB<