Blog: The Life Of A Supreme Ruler

Well, it’s cooled down a bit

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— orudge @ 30/06/2006 7:25 am

… but it’s still a bit hot some days. I’ve been up to all sorts the past week or so, including going to San Francisco and various places in and around Napa Valley. Most exciting. However, now it is time for bed, having just watched “The Producers” having been told by Rachel how good it is several times over the past couple of weeks. I’ll be back in Scotland on Tuesday, and a full update shall follow sometime after, I daresay, as well as the usual huge pile of photos. 😉

Phew, it’s hot!

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— orudge @ 23/06/2006 12:54 am

Well, it’s hitting over 100°F here in Napa, California (37°C), which is probably the hottest weather I’ve been in for ages. It’s really quite something, but Rachel’s parents have air conditioning in the house at least! Things have been quite good, albeit a bit mad, since getting here on Saturday night. Was very tired on Saturday after some 13 hours of flights (and in total around 22 hours of flights, airports, buses, trains and whatnot), so when Rachel had picked me up from the airport and we headed to Santa Cruz, I was feeling rather tired. We got some pancakes at a nice little, and very American, diner, and then it was basically off to bed. The next day, Sunday, I appeared to have recovered from jetlag rather quickly (I’m guessing it’ll be worse the other way) and it was Rachel’s graduation in the afternoon, which was a pleasant afternoon – hot though, although not quite as hot as it is now! On Monday, Rachel moved out of her apartment in Santa Cruz and we went down to the Boardwalk for a while, went on some rides which was good fun, and explored a little bit of the town. After that, we hit the road, heading south for Los Angeles. For a large part of the journey, we were going down a fairly small, bendy road in the hills, surrounded by forest, before hitting the freeway. We stayed overnight in a motel, and then on Tuesday (Rachel’s birthday), we continued to drive down, got a little bit lost in LA, and finally found the CBS studios, where we were going to see “The Late, Late Show” being filmed. It was quite a fun experience as “show enhancers” (not “audience”, this is Hollywood remember!), and we saw an actress whose name I can’t quite remember, and Jack Black as guest stars, which was pretty fun, and I made my debut on US national TV for all of about a third of a second (they didn’t really show audience shots). Then we were back on the road, heading up to Napa – stayed in a motel overnight again, not so noisy this time (the previous one was right next to the 101 freeway, and the cars were fairly loud), and the next day, yesterday, we continued on our travels. When we neared Sacramento, Rachel noticed that the car was running low on fuel, so we left the freeway and hunted for a gas station, but to no avail. Just after she asked a man where the nearest gas station was, the car started to splutter and she just managed to park the car before the car finally died. She phoned her dad to basically get rescued, but while on the phone, she accidentally managed to lock her keys in the car… oh dear! Note also that the temperature in Sacramento was rather hot – some 40°C plus, I think – so this was really great! She called up the insurance company and somebody came to get us back into the car and give her some gas, and we finally got back on the road again – oh well, it all added to the adventure! Finally got into Napa, where it was still quite warm, got some food, and not really done a huge amount since then. Going to be exploring the countryside nearby over the next little while, as well as the likes of San Francisco.

Overall, the past few days have been really quite good, if a little hectic. There are probably things I’ve forgotten to mention, but general opinion is “so far, rather good, if just a little bit too hot!”. I now know all sorts of things I didn’t know about Romans, too, the joys of being in a car with Rachel for a few days. Hehe, I jest… overall, things are good. 🙂 Hope everyone’s having a good summer so far, too.

California, here I come…

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— orudge @ 17/06/2006 6:13 am

Well, I’m off on my travels. This time in 24 hours, I should be in California, probably very tired! I’ll update you all sometime soon… ta ta for now!

Driving test

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— orudge @ 15/06/2006 3:38 pm

Well, I had my driving test just now, and I failed. Was on a crossroads, and I’d stopped to turn right. There were cars coming from the right though, and I let out one that I wasn’t meant to (I had priority), and cars were building up behind, and managed to get a major for that. Sigh, it’s a bit annoying as everything else was basically fine, my manoeuvres were fine, but what can you do, eh? Also annoying is that it’ll be a couple of months before I can take it again due to my travels. Ah well, so be it. America on Saturday. 😀

I’ve also decided…

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— orudge @ 12/06/2006 12:09 am

… that I want to skydive. There’s a skydiving club here in St Andrews, I might have a look at it in freshers week. There’s also a local company, Skydive St Andrews, who look like they might be quite good.

Exciting stuff!

I’ve decided

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— orudge @ 05/06/2006 3:43 pm

I think I’ll go into space one day. Or at least try. I mean, with the likes of Virgin Galactic, it’s only projected to be $200,000 or so, and then it can only get cheaper… (you could argue that SpaceShipOne isn’t planned to actually go into space properly, but that’s fine, I’m not planning to be the first one into space on there). One day, when the Zernebok Empire is prosperous, perhaps…

Who knows, one day this blog may feature self-taken photos of the exterior of the planet. 😉

It’s June!

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— orudge @ 03/06/2006 9:32 pm

Yup, it’s June already, time really does fly. One of my exam results came back this morning, too – I got a 13.9 in French (science), or thereabouts – can’t remember exactly as the facility is down right now for “scheduled maintenance” (releasing more grades perhaps?)

Well, being the 3rd of June, it is:

• 12 days until my driving test
• 14 days until I go to California
• 31 days until I get back from California
• 33 days until my Duke of Edinburgh presentation
• 36 days until my birthday!
• 37 days until I go to Brazil
• 68 days until I get back from Brazil
• 80 days until I go to Rome
• 88 days until I get back from Rome
• 105 days until Freshers Week 2006!

(Bored? Me? Never!)

I’m not too sure how the driving test will go – obviously, I hope I’ll pass, but I seem to have good days and bad days. If I just stay calm, everything should be alright… easier said than done though, I believe. Oh well, we’ll see.

California should be good fun, if rather hot compared with what I’m used to. Although, on that note, the weather yesterday in particular was lovely, and it was hitting 23°C at one point in the car! Very nice and sunny for the most part. Should be good preparation for California and Brazil!

At the moment I’m enjoying some Age of Empires III online, which I couldn’t do at uni due to the delightful resnet port blocks. It’s kind of nice having nothing specific to do, although it can be a bit boring at times.

Well, I’m off to do something or other, toodles for now.