Phil's Scrapbook - It rambles along without an end

[Tessa Poe]

So I figured I'd start one of these up... not entirely sure what to put here but never mind, I'm sure something will turn up as I type, it usually does after all. Ah, there's something already, though I apologise if I get a little rambley here and there. Oh and gushy, I might get a little gushy too.

Since it's been just over a month since I signed up here and came up with the idea for Tessa and I've got to say I'm having an awful lot of fun with it all. I've been around more than a few RP sites and for some reason never seem to gel with them. Maybe it's the lack of activity, or the fact that I get very bored very quickly with the idea of playing god-like characters who never seem to even flinch from whatever ridiculous ability they've cooked up for themselves or ripped off from an anime or something.

That's a complete tangent.

To get back on topic, Mizahar, I'm rapidly falling in love with the way the world's been crafted and the sheer amount of detail, planning and love that's obviously gone into its creation and that in a round about way brings me on to why I've made Tessa the way she is.

What I wanted out of Tessa was someone who was interested in the world, intrigued by it and more than anything else wanted to see as much of it as possible. Someone who wasn't entirely blasé or jaded about the places and the people (For all that the people make her nervous) The rest of her little quirks, hang ups and fears that I either had in mind while I was writing her up or have developed as I've been posting with her just add to the fun of that. I like the fact that while she's basically a good person she's also a bit of a neurotic mess who overthinks most of what she does, that she gets scared by things that should scare her, that she has her own prejudices that she can't get over... hang on, is this all sounding like I'm patting myself on the back here? Really not the way it was supposed to come across.

I have to take this time to thank everyone who's thread with me so far, I always find new characters need time to bed in, to sort of grow beyond the write up and evolve into who they are, if that makes sense, and everyone who's threaded with me so far has helped in that. Andre gave me the chance to bring out her fear/mistrust of mages, Bob gave me the chance to have her gambling and at her most confident (til his hypnosis messed with her fragile mind and sent her half mad for a while at least), Erzotol's let me bring out her cute, awkward and fumbling side as well as fleshing out some of her back story, Fela her very real desire to see the world and all it has to offer. There are others too, don't think I've forgotten anyone here. The thread with Luke let me bring out her stubborn, self sufficient side, Seven's got more awkwardness and her tendancy to get lost as well as how much being completely lost scares her and Fraha, short as the thread is so far, her general dislike of small cramped spaces. Of course all of these things blend across each thread, but they were sort of born out of and developed in those threads. So yes, thank you to you all, hope you're having as much fun with Tessa as I am.

Hmmm what else was there? Oh yes, something related to both Tessa and Mizahar again. In some ways I made her a rather simple character, she hasn't got any grand ideas or plans for the future, she hasn't got a life long ambition, she's just herself making her way in the wide world, and again what a world it is I keep reading through the lore on various cities and trying to vaguely plan how she'll reach them, how she'll survive out in the wilds to get there and when she does finally arrive what she might see there.

I think that's all for now... I should probably write something about myself at some point, I'm sure I'll get round to that eventually.

Heh take care everyone,

Phil

[Tessa Poe]

Just a short thing:

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Just so I don't lose this since it took... longer than it probably should have done to sort out.

[Gossamer]

I've been really hoping for a scrapbook from you since you joined. I stalk all your threads and really love your little non-pretentious PC. She reminds me of what being new to the world is like and I rejoice at all her discoveries and insights and even at her awkward moments. I'm glad your doing this, because now we get some wonderful insight on the curious creature that is Phil. Thank you for all you contribute to Mizahar. You haven't done anything on the grand scheme, but in the day to day workings, you're fabulous at picking up the little things and helping out where you can.

[Tessa Poe]

Heh thanks Goss, though I'm not all that curious am I? Have to say it's a real compliment to hear you're taking an interest in Tessa too

I am planning on getting to some more concrete contributions to the site, part of the problem recently's been finding the time. But now that I've Tessa more established and the really busy bit of work's out of the way I should be able to make a start properly. Plus my sixty's up in a couple of weeks, well almost, so I'll be making my application fairly shortly afterwards

Hmmmm now since Goss has called me curious it seems an appropriate time to talk a little about myself. Not my favourite subject but there we go. This probably won't hang all that well together, but never mind! Onwards we go.

Basics first I guess, my name's Phil (in case you haven't been paying attention so far) I'm 27 ('til tomorrow at least), I live in the UK and I'm working as an Operations Manager for a small group of care homes for the elderly. That just means I do the paper work, and some of the decorating, and some of the gardening, and tree surgery, and furniture removal, and... yeah I have a long job description. Still it pays the bills, and it's not too bad a job really. I run the networks for each care home so I get to log onto Miz during the day and there's no-one to catch me doing it but me. I figure as long as I can get what I need to do done for the day it doesn't matter too much about me being online. What else is there? Well my favourite colour's purple, my favourite number's 8 and I have a terrible obsession with giant robots of all kinds.

(I think I can still quote the entirety of Transformers the Movie, the animated one from the 80s not the recent Bay ones off by heart)

In case the above didn't give it away, I'm a terrible, terrible geek. Anime, comics, roleplaying, fantasy and sci-fi, gaming, board games, love them all to bits. I should say I don't consider that a bad thing, far as I'm concerned it's fun so why worry about it?

Ummm... running out of things to say possibly. I'm currently single, have been so for a year since my ex and split up after nearly eight years together. I'm saving for my own little house somewhere, getting closer every month and to be honest I can't wait to move out of this place. It's a lovely house and all, and I get on well with my housemates, but I don't know, just starting to feel the need for my own space at last. And I want my own library too.

Well that's all for now I think, have to apologise to Canali for the lack of a pic with this thread since I think I promised her one. Ah well, there's always next time

'til then take care all,

Phil

[Tessa Poe]

So... I'm officially twenty eight.

Wait! Come back, this isn't going to be some sort of emo tract about how it feels to get older, I promise!

Nope, this is going to be about what it felt like being out in a bar on a Saturday night. It's been so long since I felt that way that I'd almost forgotten what it was like. Now, those of you who read my last post in here might have noticed the little bit about how I've been single for almost a year after being with someone for almost eight and this is mostly to do with that.

After the first year or so with my ex I ended up... how to put it. People were there, and they were attractive/unattractive/somewhere in between, but it didn't really affect or interest me. Nor was it particularly important. They were just... there, physicality didn't enter into it. As far as I was concerned I'd met the person I was going to be with, well 'til I ended up dead in a ditch somewhere and that was that. I didn't have to look elsewhere anymore so I didn't, if that makes sense. Single friends would notice people and draw my attention to them and I'd mutter something in reply and that would be about as much thought as I gave it, and that sort of lack of looking didn't go away after we split up either.

However, last Saturday night at this comedy night in a bar in London though there was something different. I was looking around at people, actually looking at them, not in a creepy stalker way, just in a sort of "Huh, he's nice/she's pretty" kind of way.

Oh... yes I'm bi-sexual, no that had nothing to do with the break-up last year and no I have no idea why that's important.

I think I've sort of lost the point of this somewhere along the way. I guess... it's like a bit of me that's been sleeping for quite some time has finally woken up and is starting to try and get my attention again, and honestly? It's a nice feeling. I mean I'm not obessessed with meeting someone who I find attractive or anything, it's just... the possibility's there I guess. Or at least the possibility that I'd be alright with it happening?

Something like that anyway, I probably shouldn't over think it.

[Tessa Poe]

This'll be a short one since I've several threads to catch up with and I really do want to get on to them, especially since it's been eleven days since I last posted in some of them which is... awful of me.

But essentially my life in the last two weeks has involved waking up, taking the first of whatever medication I'm supposed to take four times a day, going to work, getting home around 6 or 7 and then collapsing in a pile of uselessness. Yes this includes weekends.

I should point out that I've not got anything serious, the antibiotics I'm on are for something, Hidradenitis suppurativa, (around my armpit in case you were wondering) at least I think that's what it's called. I know the first word's right anyway. To put it simply it's a chronic infection beneath the skin and what it does is start all these lovely infectious tunnels down there that can run... well as long as they run. I've already had one area of infection removed and I thought that was that, but apparently it's back, and my old drugs aren't working anymore. So now I'm on new shiny drugs that... well the side effects so far aren't pleasant. But hey if they actually work it might make this damn thing go away before I have to have it operated on again.

It's really not a particularly serious condition, so no need to worry (in case you have been, or are at the moment) though it is unpleasant, icky and very uncomfortable, with a tendancy to burst and stain whatever I happen to be wearing with blood and puss so... sorry, that was a little more graphic than I'd intended. So yeah, side-effects of the antibiotics plus working 7 days a week for a fortnight have left me more than a little drained, but I seem to have broken the back of things at work so now I've got the time, I just need to try and pull myself together to post.

Sorry for the delays everyone, hopefully you shouldn't have too much longer to wait,

Phil

[Tessa Poe]

So, forgive me for a moment but I'm going to go a little political here. I might jump around a little too as thoughts occur, but I'll try and keep it roughly coherent.

Recently in the UK there's been a proposed change to the law concerning planning permission and it's... ugh I'm not entirely sure why anyone thinks it's a good idea. See round about 1935 the government of the time introduced the Green Belt system, whereby restrictions were placed on what could be built around major cities. There are loopholes of course, and they've been exploited over the years but on the whole the greenbelts have done what they were supposed to do, that is prevent England turning into one giant urban sprawl of the gritty Sci-Fi variety. I'm fairly sure one of the major concerns of the time when the law was actually passed was that one day London and Birmingham might end up doing just that. So for years the countryside's been protected from rampant building and that's worked so far.

Come to think of it, I do know who thinks it's a good idea. Firstly there are the big construction firms/contractors. Now I know the arguments in favour of their approach, more construction = more jobs = better national economy. That's fair enough. Also in their favour is the housing shortage that's going on in this country, which is actually affecting me personally since I'm still looking to buy my first place and not having all that much luck with it. But, when it turns out that said large construction firms and contractors are essentially paying the government to get appointments with the ministers responsible for this law and its phrasing, and making rather donations to the Conservative party as a whole, well something starts to smell a little fishy. Match that up with the fact that these big developers are sitting on massive amounts of greenbelt land that they've been buying since the review of the planning laws started way back in 2007 and it starts to smell like Grimbsy on warm day.

(Grimsby - English town that used to be a big fishing port, in case you were wondering.)

Next is the government itself, because if they deregulate and slim-line the planning application process as massively as they're planning to they can cut the planning office down to size which'll cut their budget (and given the current financial climate that's always going to be attractive to them), they can keep the big contractors happy and as such ensure that their large donations keep flowing and they can look like they've acted to solve the problem of the housing crisis at the same time which might help to get them re-elected.

Thing is though in the region I live in alone there are thousands of houses (the figures I've seen range between 4,500 to 9,000) empty houses that have been that way for a year or more. If we're looking to solve the housing crisis, that'd be a much better place to start.

As far as I'm concerned, and this is partly related to seeing the big reform the Care Sector's been through as part of my job partly down to general cynicism, there is an argument for limited deregulation, but if you throw out practically all the regulations you're left with... well people, being able to do precisely what they want and while the majority might stick close to the spirit of the new, slimmed down rules, there'll always be those who'll just see it as an excuse to act without a single thought for the future.

As an amusing side note if this law goes through it'll be much easier for people to build wind turbines out in the country side, that I'm not opposed to.

Without proper oversight on planning law we're going to end up with who knows how many substandard properties being thrown up on land that up until this point has been protected. They're talking about reforming the way 'Listed Buildings' are handled too, or in other words deregulating that. Briefly, Listed Buildings are essentially ones that have a historical interest, some of them date back to 1300s and before and under the current system they're protected from... well everything really. You've got to get permission to modify them, such modification has to be in keeping with the original structure so you don't just ruin the place and you can't knock them down and build a big concrete block on the site, and yes, this has been a problem. In York for example there's an area called 'The Shambles'. It's gorgeous, a few little cobblestone streets preserved with Victorian half timber terraces. Thing is it used to be much, much larger, but at one point back in the seventies the city council decided they needed an access road (most of which is now pedestrianised so it doesn't even work as an access road anymore) so they knocked down an awful lot of it, built their road, a fair few shops that aren't as ugly as they could have been but still aren't all that attractive and generally just disregarded the character of the city... and if these laws go through we're going to end up in that situation again.

Thing is it's not just buildings that they knocked down, it was part of the heritage of the city, part of what made it unique. I love the fact that cities and towns over here aren't laid out in blocks or grids, that they've grown organically and haphazardly over the centuries, it's part of what makes them, well them... and yet we seem to heading for a situation where we're going to start simply ignoring that and turning them into concrete nightmares.

Now it's true that there are supposed to be public forums set up in order to control planning decisions, where the public will be able to give their opinions/objections to any new development under the new law, but this fact hasn't been particularly well publicised and according to the Telegraph about 70% of around 2,000 people surveyed have already said they're not going to get involved in this new system, at all. Now that's a small sample and by no means definitive, but still, it's hardly encouraging. That and I have to say if you widened the sample? I think you'd still get roughly the same results. So our governments not going to regulate the new law, the people who have been empowered to regulate it aren't going to... so that leaves who? Well people with a vested interest like the big construction firms, the owners of which are probably rubbing their hands together with glee at the prospect of what they'll be able to do if this law gets passed.

Hurray for them.

Edit: I forgot something else, in the same poll of 2,000 people? Only 5% had any real idea of what these changes involved, around 10% had any idea that these changes were being proposed and debated in the first place. So yes, people have no idea about the possible law that's supposed to empower people to decide what should and shouldn't be built in their communities. I love the political process in this country sometimes.

[Cachet]

Believe me Tessa it isn't just there. It happens here all the time too. I am completely stunned that governments do thing "for the people" but the people don't have a clue what is going on. Why? I can't help but think that at times these governments meant it to be this way. That is startling but it does seem at times that they make NO attempt to inform us about anything. And those that do inform themselves about these things are seen as 'conspirators' or just crazy.

[Taln]

*double nods Phil*

I've noticed that there are two main types of governmental (note the last half of that word is mental!) politics in the states are divided between two things; regional attitude and campaigning attitude.

My area's regional attitude is proactive when it comes to any all political information. Our local channel runs a 24-7 senate, state and local government meetings channel. New Hampshire kids could tell you easily who sits in the political chain of command, and our state is courted first and strong by presidential candidates. The downside of it is that we obsess over politics and get very vehement about even the smallest topic.

When I moved to Tennessee, a southern state, it was all about history and rumor politics. You could ask the youngest child or oldest grandpa an advanced history question and they'd know it well. This area's regional politics centered around moral issues and if a politician they'd heard of, follows that same platform. Helping someone run for political office is considered their form of being proactive in politics.

We have so many by laws nationwide, that's it's difficult if not impossible for political information to stay 'clean' from one of the country to the other. In my opinion, we play a bad game of telephone with our political issues. This makes for arguing between states about who's right, and not about the political information itself.

Yikes. Looks up. This is normally why I don't talk about politics. Sorry Phil. I guess my point is: politics will stay irritating no matter what country or area you're from.

[Tessa Poe]

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Once again so I don't forget what the code for in here is.

Anyway, on with other things, thanks for letting me know what it's like over there Taln, US politics has never been one of my strong suits, really going to have to do something about that one of these days... but then I keep getting fascinated with those Tea Party lunatics and get distracted from reading about anything useful.

Heh and Cach? Sometimes I feel like I'm one of the tin-foil hat wearing brigade with this stuff... whenever I think of things like this I remember what my dad said about politicians

"If someone says they want to be a politician they should be barred from running." Or words to that effect anyway

On an unrelated note, and just because I really do love my Transformers: