Before I had a beard, I had Within Temptation CDs. Before I even had Within Temptation CDs, I did not know that my lifelong (so far) love affair with female fronted metal would begin with obsessively listening to bands like Within Temptation,After Forever, Delain, Epica, Nightwish,, Sirenia, Tristania, and in more recent years continue with Unleash the Archers.

A few weeks ago, while I was sick, I was looking for something to distract me from my impending demise and burial. As a man, and as is typical, this did not come to pass; so instead you're stuck here reading the thoughts I furiously input into my keyboard.

I cannot recall if I've mentioned anywhere on HVIE that I have taken up playing the piano. Come to think of it, I think that I have, but only really in the replies to comments of things about other pieces of music... and mainly the ramblings of a very particular @mobbs, but I finally have a real world piano story to share.

At my old house, I had a squat rack, a bench, and about 130KG of plates. I used them every single day for about 12 months, and I was pretty strong, and feeling like I was on top of the world. Now, there's a lie in that last sentence. I didn't use them every single day, I used them every second day as the body, of course needs time to recover.

I was listening to Kittie as a teenager, once upon a time, through a Creative Labs 5.1 PC based surround sound set up. My parents didn't appreciate the music as it was "too angry". Now, some 20 years later, I find myself with an entry ticket to Kittie, who are opening for Jinjer.

I've finally finished the Rama series. What excellent value. I had originally purchased the omnibus on google play books, and I'm finally through it all. The final book, "Rama Revealed," was a very long slog compared to its predecessors, yet it delivered on its titular promise in ways both profound and unsettling. When I say slog, I don't mean that it was painful, just that it was SO much longer than the previous books in the series.