Catherine-Haines.com http://catherine-haines.com Wed, 15 May 2013 04:49:10 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Earworm: Pompeii http://catherine-haines.com/blog/earworm-pompeii/ http://catherine-haines.com/blog/earworm-pompeii/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 04:49:10 +0000 Catherine http://catherine-haines.com/?p=179 I heard this song on the radio while on the way home from work and immediately went to give it another listen. Then I did the thing where you get a song and listen to it over and over and over again until I had to force myself to stop.

Not because I was sick of it, mind you. Just so I would listen to something else. Unfortunately that failed, as I heard it on the radio the next day.

So my current earworm is Pompeii by Bastille. What did you think of it? And what is your earworm?

]]> http://catherine-haines.com/blog/earworm-pompeii/feed/ 0 Too Much Temple Run 2 http://catherine-haines.com/blog/too-much-temple-run-2/ http://catherine-haines.com/blog/too-much-temple-run-2/#comments Sat, 26 Jan 2013 10:07:45 +0000 Catherine http://catherine-haines.com/?p=151 Temple Run game has just come out and since I liked the original and other running games like it (e.g. Agent Dash) I thought I'd give the new one a go]]> So the new Temple Run game has just come out and since I liked the original and other running games like it (e.g. Agent Dash) I thought I’d give the new one a go.

Since this morning I have:

  • Played 106 games
  • Run 334,197 metres
  • And collected 104,409 coins

I am really enjoying this game. My hands… not so much. My tablet is a bit heavier than, say, the iPad. Plus they are tiny anyway and protest at holding a lot of things. Like A Clash of Kings. Ow.

My high scores for the moment:

  • Highest Score: 5,250,960
  • Longest Run: 17,035 metres
  • Most Coins 6,302

Overall I much prefer this game to the original Temple One. The graphics are better, the areas are more varied, and I really like the “save me” feature (the old wings thing was annoying as you sort of had to anticipate your failure… which often resulted from me activating the damn thing) and the same goes for the power up. I love the rope line sections and hate the mine cart bits, so that all balances out, I suppose.

Anyone else played Temple Run 2? What are your thoughts?

]]> http://catherine-haines.com/blog/too-much-temple-run-2/feed/ 1 Ta da! http://catherine-haines.com/blog/ta-da/ http://catherine-haines.com/blog/ta-da/#comments Sat, 01 Dec 2012 07:02:10 +0000 Catherine http://catherine-haines.com/?p=130

Aw yeah.

P.S. Today is my birthday.

P.P.S. I have put up my portfolio, finally. It is full of book covers.

]]> http://catherine-haines.com/blog/ta-da/feed/ 1 I Want It All http://catherine-haines.com/blog/i-want-it-all/ http://catherine-haines.com/blog/i-want-it-all/#comments Thu, 18 Oct 2012 20:14:43 +0000 Catherine http://catherine-haines.com/?p=77 Ubuntu before switching back to Windows (I wanted to game, basically) I never had a good go with a Mac]]> Up until I started this graphic design course back in July, I hadn’t really used a Mac before[1]. I grew up around computers that ran Windows[2] and while for a few years after building my computer I ran various versions of Ubuntu before switching back to Windows (I wanted to game, basically) I never had a good go with a Mac.

Either it was just that they were too expensive or, in the case of the place that I studied web design, the Macs were for the graphic design students.

But after using an iMac for five days a week for the past few months, and getting over my initial issues with the differences, I have found that I quite like Macs. I still love my Windows computer and the things it can do (not just gaming) but I have come to understand Macs and want one of my own.

It’s mainly the apps.

I was always jealous of Mac having Scrivener, so I rejoiced when a Windows (and Linux) version came about. But that jealousy that I had has only increased now that I have become more aware of things are done on the Mac side. Things like MacHeist (which currently does include Scrivener) and all the other Mac app bundles make my eyes turn a vivid shade of DO WANT.

Unfortunately my dreaming of owning a Mac has gone to the same section of the Dream List as the most recent version of Adobe’s Creative Suite. The “one day when I have loads of money” list.

Until then, a girl can dream of one day bringing home a Mac sibling for EpicComp and TinyComp.

Footnotes    (↵ returns to text)
  1. That is, if we exclude a few brief uses of it for basic emailing etc. more than five years ago. The experiences can basically be summed up as OH MY GOD WHERE IS THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON.↵
  2. 95, XP and now 7. I skipped Vista entirely – and as far as I can tell, that’s not a bad thing.↵
]]> http://catherine-haines.com/blog/i-want-it-all/feed/ 5 NaNoWriMo Preparations http://catherine-haines.com/blog/nanowrimo-preparations/ http://catherine-haines.com/blog/nanowrimo-preparations/#comments Tue, 09 Oct 2012 05:52:12 +0000 Catherine http://catherine-haines.com/?p=56 NaNoWriMo begins. For those unfamiliar with the term, it's basically a giant challenge for people to try and write a 50 000 word first draft of a novel]]> So according to the NaNoWriMo website it’s 22 days until NaNoWriMo begins. For those unfamiliar with the term, it’s basically a giant challenge for people to try and write a 50 000 word first draft of a novel.

This will be my fourth year at giving NaNo a go, and fingers crossed it will be my first win. My previous three attempts, for one reason or another[1], all dropped off at the 25k mark. Since I know now that is my problem spot I will be knuckling down to get past it. To 30k! And this time I will not let people telling me the vampires and LGBT content will make Bleed Like Me impossible to sell – it will be written!

Ahem.

Anyway, as part of my preparations I have been reading a lot of books. Some of them are writing related, such as How Not To Write A Novel and How To Write The Breakout Novel (sadly, I don’t have the workbook), while others are just more genre related.

Are any of you doing NaNoWriMo? If you are, you can add me as a writing buddy. And what sort of preparations are you doing, if any, for NaNo?

Footnotes    (↵ returns to text)
  1. One “this is just hard”, one death in the family and one me listening to people telling me that there was no way I was going to sell it↵
]]> http://catherine-haines.com/blog/nanowrimo-preparations/feed/ 0