I've had a pretty cool two days, especially post-wise.

Yesterday a huge box filled with bubble wrap arrived in the post! The postman left it on the doorstep, so it was a good job we were in. I mean, if we hadn't been in I doubt the box would have stayed there long! Anyway, the box didn't just have bubble wrap in it. It had some Stargate movie figures that Mr. Geoff Random bought at a Car Boot Sale! I guess I owe him now. Yikes!

There's a death glider, O'Neil, Kawalsky (I think) and the fantastic Anubis Guard (who I like to think of as Ra's First Prime, because obviously the Horus Guards guard all those in the family of Ra. Everyone knows that. Anubis was special. And completely different to the Anubis that's in the series. Just so we're clear on that.) Plus all the odd plastic model gubbins that were packaged with the figures.

The figures always amuse me because they look so little like the actors. O'Neil's not bad, but the others... well. I think my favourite odd figure is the one of Skaara. He looks like Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted. Honestly, he does. If I had the figure here I'd show you!

So now I have lots of figures. I can never remember exactly which. It's like my collection of Star Wars Micro Machines. I have no idea which ones I own. They're all in their packaging hidden in the corner of my room, over a hundred miles away. I took a few out of their boxes and dotted them around the room, but generally I leave things in their packaging. So it's good when I get slightly played with unpackaged figures - I don't have to worry about removing them from the packaging! If you know what I mean. :)

That was rambly. :D

The other cool thing that came in the post yesterday was an issue of Edge. I subscribed to it, you see. This is the first issue since I signed up. It's the most exciting magazine I've found since Amiga Power, and that was a long time ago... It's far more interesting than normal computer magazines because it's sort of an industry publication. It takes me ages to read since I read it so thoroughly!

And today I had things too. Two CD's that I bought on eBay. One was a Sting single, This Cowboy Song. I had the album version, but the single version is the first Sting song I liked. It had Pato Banton doing odd Pato Bantony things on it. I bought the album Fields of Gold because it had a sticker informing me that it had This Cowboy Song on it, but it wasn't the same! So now I own it. It reminds me of Suggs's solo work, though. Specifically it makes me want to say, "Spicier than a Spice Girl". That remark hasn't dated well, has it? Heh... Pretty sure it's from a song called Girl. I could check. Yup, it's that song. But that's someone called General Levy. Let's say it's the same vocal style as Pato Banton's. :)

That Sting album was one of my first CD's. I bought it from WHSmith in 1994. I was one of the first people in my circle of friends to have a CD player. My other first CD's were the Jungle Book soundtrack and Now Dance 1993. I think. Not that it really matters. You get the idea. I can't imagine me buying a Dance CD now. That CD had things on it like All That She Wants by Ace of Base. It seems so long ago...

The other CD that came this morning (because you're so interested) was The Kinks Kontroversy. For some reason, I because interested in The Kinks while I was at university the first time round. In 1997. It was my first year, I was bored, and Dad mentioned that they wrote the same sort of storytelling lyrics as Blur. (Blur can do no wrong in my eyes.) I asked Dad to tape some Kinks songs - he has vinyl albums - but they were all too scratched. When I saw a "best of" album I bought it. Last year I saw The Village Green Preservation Society in a sale, so I bought that. And I figured I should buy more albums, if I saw them cheap. So I have been. I found another one on eBay, too. That hasn't come yet.

I've developed a strict policy in regards to second hand CD's from the internet. I probably shouldn't be buying any of them, but...

Ali keeps being mean about my "obsession" with Sting. Okay, so I want to but all the albums that he released, but what's wrong with that? I want to own all the albums of any band or singer I like. For instance, I own all the Blur albums and all the Divine Comedy albums. And Madness and Suggs. I even have the The Madness album. (The band most of Madness formed when Madness split up.) I could go on. But I won't. Let's just say when I find something I like I want to own everything by that artist.

Personally I think Sting has written some memorable tunes and insightful lyrics. I like to think of myself as a musician, and musically his stuff is spot on. He's experimented with so many musical styles over the years. Not so keen on his country efforts, but there weren't many of those. Plus, he plays the bass, and so do I. :) Yeah, sometimes I want to listen to Apollo 440 or The Gorillaz or something else loud and scary, but I know for a fact Ali wouldn't like those either. She probably wouldn't like it if I played David Bowie. She doesn't even like Blur. There's no way she'd like the jolly Latvian band Brainstorm.

I was beginning to doubt my musical tastes, but I'm sure at least some of the bands I love are listed in "best bands ever". My music tastes are definitely eclectic.

Make your own mind up about me. At the moment I'm listening to (or trying to watch on the music channels) the infectiously catchy Keep Me A Secret by Ainslie (if you visit that website beware of the font, and don't say I didn't warn you!) and the funkily retro Dreaming of You by The Coral. I think I'm over the Electric 6 madness. :p

And I love the Sugababes' reworking of Sting's Shape of My Heart. Which you'll hear over and over if you visit that website. Or the first tiny part of it. Over and over. (Who thought that was a good idea?!)

I'd better stop rambling. I was going to talk about website proposals and TV stuff, but I've gone on long enough!

Perhaps I'll leave you with some Sting lyrics that are kind of appropriate in the current political uncertainty.

You could say I lost my faith in science and progress;
You could say I lost my belief in the holy church;
You could say I lost my sense of direction;
You could say all of this and worse, but
If I ever lose my faith in you
There'd be nothing left for me to do.

Some would say I was a lost man in a lost world;
You could say I lost my faith in the people on TV;
You could say I'd lost my belief in our politicians,
They all seem like game show hosts to me.
If I ever lose my faith in you
There'd be nothing left for me to do.

I could be lost inside their lies without a trace,
But every time I close my eyes I see your face.

I never saw no miracle of science
That didn't go from a blessing to a curse.
I never saw no military solution
That didn't always end up as something worse, but
Let me say this first:
If I ever lose my faith in you
There'd be nothing left for me to do.

Yeah, I bolded some bits. Just in case I'm stretching and it's not appropriate.

Maybe Ali's right and I am just obsessed. :)