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Attributes of a TimeChaser: Witty, sarcastic, opinionated, loyal, sometimes spaztacularifically geeky.

Chasing Time for: 33 years

Nicknames, Aliases, Pseudonyms and Nom de plumes: TC, Toki, Times, Chase, Timey Boy, Old Man

Interests: Music, Scifi/Fantasy, Anime, Science, History

Major Fandoms: Doctor Who, MythBusters, Top Gear

Other Worlds

The Watercooler|The Who Files|Radio Times

Banned Books Week 2014

I just wanted to pop in here for a sec and remind everyone that it's annual Banned Books Week. This is a special week each year (always the last full week of September) that highlights books that people have attempted to ban in schools and public libraries, and celebrates the freedom to read that everyone should enjoy.

For more information, check out the WIKI, and for a specific example, read this ARTICLE.

Thank you for your time, and think about reading a banned book this week. :)

An update from beyond the internet

*tap tap* I this thing on?

So, yeah. It's been over a year since my last post, and I don't really know who all is still around who'd be interested in this update, but I'll do it anyway for anyone who was wondering what I've got up to since then.

The biggest news by far is that I got married. I had been in an ongoing online relationship with fellow Otaku member Raina for several years, and then last summer she was able to come visit me for the first time. It was pretty obvious during her month-long stay that we wanted to remain together, so we got engaged and when she was able to come back at the end of the year, we planned the wedding. We were married on January 3. It was a bloody cold day, so I'm glad the ceremony was inside.

I'm very happy to be together with her. I had many long years without any kind of relationship before we got together. We look out for each other, have plenty of laughs together, and cook together regularly - my general diet has improved because of this, so that's good.

Raina is a bulldog when it comes to making sure my healthcare needs are met. This year hasn't been the greatest in terms of my health: I spent time in the hospital in February and April with pneumonia again, and currently I've got yet another bacterial infection in my lungs, forcing me to go back on long-term IV antibiotic infusion. I have a lot of doctors supposedly looking out for me, but there is always a terminal lack of communication between them, and Raina has proven to be a bulldog when it comes to dealing with these people.

We're slowly working on redecorating the house to suite our tastes. We live in my grandparents' house, across the street from my parents, and most of the furniture and color choices are definitely "grandma" in tone. I'm hoping that within a few years we can have the place fully transformed the way we'd like to have it.

We also have a small menagerie right now. Besides my cat Pond, there are fish (collectively known as the Floyds), originally purchased to be part of the table setting at the wedding; a snail named Speedy; as well as a hamster named Stormageddon (a Valentine gift from me to Raina).

So that's where life is currently at. If any other significant changes take place, I might pop back on here again for more updates.

Cheers.

Books Challenge - Update

I hope everyone who's been participating in the book challenge has been having fun.

Unfortunately, I've pretty much failed in my challenge. With all the medical and other distractions I've had this year contributing often to a lack of drive to read, I haven't even gotten over 10 yet, and I'm certain I won't reach my goal of 50 by the end of the year.

As such, I am personally rewinding my challenge to start with my current book, and see how many books I read between now and the end of next year, 2014. This is only for myself, so those of you who are already deep within the original challenge should keep going because I'd still like to know how people did by the end of the year. =)

If you would like to continue on into next year and see how many more books you are able to read, this time without a set limit, feel free to keep your counters going, while labeling your 2013 and 2014 books lists.

Happy reading!

No, really, I'm still alive

Its been a while since I last posted anything around here, so just to let you all know first, I am alive and doing well. =)

I've been busy these last few months. We've only just started renovations to the house I'm now living in, which was my grandmother's who lived across the street from us. Painted the living room... decided I didn't like my first choice, so now we're figuring out something better. Other work has been on the kitchen, but it's mostly just electrical, and priming the walls for whenever I want to paint in there. There's lots of other work to do first though, like replacing the sliding door out to the pool, choosing new cabinets, replacing appliances, etc.

I also spent the end of July and start of August in the company of my girlfriend, Asya, who visited from Australia for the first time. It was a wacky four weeks. I got up and did stuff I haven't done in a long time. Made me realize I need to exercise a bit more than I do now... which is zero.

I had a birthday; thank you to those who posted on my portfolio or sent gifts. Glad to know I'm still thought of a bit around here by somebody. ^^;

I have a lovely new Samsung tablet (Galaxy Tab 3) that I've been playing with. Its so much nicer to read books on as well. And speaking of books, I'll be making another post about the (non) progress of my book challenge... I'm certain the rest of you participating have me whipped already.

The week after Asya left, I had to report to the hospital again. It had been years since my last routine heart cath procedure, so they wanted to go in and check things were all right, especially since my whole lung infection problem. They were very pleased with the way the heart was working, but they also went ahead and coiled off some of the other areas of extraneous blood vessels in both lungs, so as to ensure they wouldn't affect me later. Which is good, cuz I've actually been enjoying going for months without coughing up blood.

If anyone caught the Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor special or has just been keeping up with Who news, let me know what you think of the casting of Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor. =)

Oh, and I've finally been sucked into watching The Big Bang Theory. I resisted for years, but now I'm addicted. Asya's doing again. ;)

I guess that's it for now. Ciao, y'all!

Freedom Attained

It's been a while since I posted on here, really since I logged in at all. I think with the way I was feeling with everything going on, I just sort of retreated. I know I started that movie review world, and I was all eager to do it at the time, but afterward I felt I bit off more than I was willing to chew. I'll keep it up though, and hopefully I will get some reviews written for it, but probably not at a great turn of speed.

Anyway, on with the good news! I went up last week for my first check-up with the doctors since being in the hospital, and it was decided that the IV could come out, which I was absolutely ecstatic about. I feel much better, I have more energy, its nice to finally be able to shower every day without having to wrap half my arm in plastic. I just feel like a big chunk of stress has been lifted away.

Now that the stress is gone, I'm hoping my renewed energy will translate into the desire to write reviews, and even fiction, which has been on my to-do list for longer than I care to think about.