A right royal pain in the.....back!

So, people who know me on Facebook and have read my status will know that I have had a tingling sensation and some pain in my left side since Monday just gone. I thought I had pulled a muscle or had a trapped nerve or something.Then Friday, I started to get this itching sensation on my back and when I got home, I asked Mrs.Sparky to take a look to see if anything had developed. That was when I first became aware that I had got a rash......now some of you might have already guessed what these symptoms suggest but I wasn't sure so decided to take a trip to the NHS Walk-in centre the next morning in case I had had some kind of an allergic reaction or in case I had developed anything contagious. They were a little confused at the centre to say the least but they did settle my mind that I had not pulled a muscle. As for the rash, they suggested everything from insect bites due to bed-bugs down to some kind of heat rash. I asked if it might be Shingles but got told there it was unlikely!

Anyway, I get home after work on Saturday and Mrs.Sparky had looked up my symptoms on the NHS website and come up with a diagnosis that actually confirmed Shingles which had been my first thought.

Basically, the symptoms start off with pain and discomfort down one side for several days followed by a band of rash and irritation in the same area thast can last several weeks! Shingles is the adult form of Chicken Pox and can only be contracted by people who have had that as a sprog. The cells lie dormant in your body until something acts as a trigger to reproduce the virus as Shingles! On Saturday, I was in a lot of pain unless I dosed up on iboprufen and Sunday morning I was really hurting when I first got up and that pain came and went all day. The best way to describe it is like shooting pains every few minutes going through your body or like someone constantly poking you in the side every few minutes. Not nice!

Today I started a weeks holiday from work and got myself down to the doctors as soon as I could get an appointment. The Nurse Practioner I saw as the same one I saw last year when I was depressed and confirmed the diagnosis from the NHS website. Yes indeed! Sparky has got shingles!!!!

I can't say I'm happy about it, the pain is really starting to get on my nerves and my spots on my back are starting to fill with fluid and are really itchy but at least Ihave a good excuse not to do much on my holiday! Problem is, sitting on the sofa without lots of cushions is really painful and I am developing chronic back pain especially if I lean forwards so playing GTA is awkward! Still, at least I don't have to do much this week without feeling too guilty about it!

Today I watched the extended version of The Fellowship Of The Rings and am looking forward to watching the other two films in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy in the same format later this week! I had forgotten how great those films are and the extra bits just make them even better! I also hope to try and write lots of reviews on Dooyoo. I am just waiting for my points to go through and, in a few days, I will have earned another fifty quid!! Just for writing about stuff I would have read or watched anyway!

Talk about money for old rope......thats all for now ~ catch you all laters, Sparky xxx

Let me be your fantasy.....

Continuing my thread of 1001 books you should read before you die, my second choice that I think I should mention is actually a series of novels. Some of you who know me either from Babbling Books or RISI online, may be aware that I am something of a fan of the highly acclaimed fantasy writer, Robin Hobb. So it is then, that my second choice that joins my own personal list of 1001 books to read before you die is Robin Hobb's complete collection....

2)The Complete Works of Robin Hobb: Robin Hobb has become, over the last few years, one of the most highly successful and imaginative fantasy writers that I have ever come across. The worlds she has succeeded in creating are both totally unique and utterly believable and her characters quite literally spring to life on each and every page. The reason why I have decided to include all of her collected work as one single choice is because the majority of her novels are all part of one great, big over-reaching story arc; the tale of the gradual return of Dragons to the world and that of a mysterious race called The Elderlings who disappeared from the lands of The Six Duchies and beyond many centuries ago leaving behind only their ruined and abandoned cities full of majestic and exotic treasures.... One of the things that I have always liked most about Robin Hobb is the way that, rather than write one long and ongoing fantasy saga that stretches on and on with potentially no end in sight (much like The Wheel Of Time books which author, Robert Jordan, never lived to fully complete), she instead has written a series of trilogies that fit together as a whole but which can still also be enjoyed seperately as complete tales in themselves. Though she had previously written under her real name, Megan Lindholm, her debut as Robin Hobb came first with The Assassin Trilogy..... The Assassin books follow the life of a young illigetimate boy named Fitz who belongs to the ruling Farseer family of The Six Duchies. An embarrassment to his father, the King-In-Waiting Chivalry, he is trained in secret as a Royal Assassin by King's Advisor, Chade who is himself illigetimate and in fact the King's brother. When The Six Duchies are attacked by The Red Ship Raiders from across the ocean, Fitz finds himself constantly thrown into the thick of many dangerous situations but quickly discovers that the most deadliest place he can be is in the Court itself as political machinations take hold threatening to tear apart the Ruling family of Farseers. An absolutely awesome series, I remember being fascinated by Fitz the first time I read these books and indeed this remains the strongest of all Hobb's trilogies to date. When I reached the end of the second book, Royal Assassin, I was almost moved to tears by events in the story; so intense were the final few chapters. Overall, it had been such a long time since I had been caught up and swept away by a story that this series remains my favourite fantasy trilogy of all time. Hobb's second trilogy, The Liveship Trilogy, moved down the coast and dealt exclusively with the Traders of Bingtown and their Rain Wild cousins who lived further North; excavating the lost cities they had discovered of The Elderlings of legend and suppling The Traders with a mysterious substance known as Wizardwood. Wizardwood, when used as material to carve the figureheads of The Traders' ships, seemingly made the ships come alive earning them the name of Liveships. But the source of this mysterious substance would have far-reaching consequences and it is both this story and that of Bingtown's troubles with their neighbours in Jamillia and Chalced that made up the crux of The Liveship Trilogy. Although not as gripping as The Assassin books before it, this second series was as equally well written and every bit as involving though it is fair to say that at times, it did become much more plot-heavy than it's predessecor! Hobb returned to the story of Fitz for her next set of books entitled The Tawny Man trilogy. This continued with events set in motion the last time we saw FitzChivalry Farseer and followed on neatly from The Liveship books with some very clever and not-so-subtle links that saw characters from both series' merging for the first time. Much of the story concentrated around the attempts to bring Dragonkind back into the world and a fools quest to a remote glacier with the attempt to find a mate for the sole surviving Dragon in the world. It brought happy closure to the lives of many of the characters of Hobb's first trilogy and was equally as sad as anything The Assassin novels had to offer whilst bringing Fitz's story full circle. For her next series, Hobb moved away from the world of The Elderlings and introduced us to a whole new universe for The Soldier Son trilogy. Addressing the theme of modern settlers taking on an ancient Tribal nation, it followed the story of Nevarre, the Soldier Son of the title, who found himself caught up in a battle between two very different peoples as modern technology faced off against ancient, failing magic. Very much a Cowboys And Indians style tale, this series nonetheless managed to combine everything about her previous novels that had proved so successful along with the equally strong characterisation that fans had come to expect! This is my second favourite of her five trilogies to date and resonated with me as strongly as The Assassin novels had originally done to the point where, again at the end of the second novel in this series, I once more found myself choking up!! Finally we come to Hobb's most recent trilogy which is only just beginning. The Dragon Keeper is the first in another set of three novels that once more returns to The Rain Wilds and the Realm of the mysterious Elderlings of legend. Following on directly from The Liveship Trilogy, the story looks at the sea serpents that featured at the end of that series as they form themselves into cocoons with the intention of hatching into Dragons. But the serpents have journeyed too late, are too weak and, upon hatching, many of them perish. Those that survive are weak and stunted and, as they become a drain on the resources of The Rain Wild peoples, a plan is hatched to help them try and find the fabled city of Kelsingra; a place where Elderlings, humans and Dragonkind once walked as one civilisation. But does Kelsingra still exist or has it been destroyed like the other Elderling cities? And does anyone know where it is anymore? One thing is for sure, if the rest of the trilogy lives up to the potential of this first novel, then Hobb fans are in for yet another treat! And the second book in the series is due out this March!!! The problem with Hobb and the reason why I find myself compelled to include all her novels as part of my second choice for 1001 books to read before you die is simple: all of her work is so outstanding that it would be nigh impossible to single out any single one of her trilogies or even any of her individual novels for inclusion without including them all! I have never found an author before who is so consistently brilliant and every one of her characters holds a place in my heart. Words cannot describe how much I have enjoyed each of these series' and it is for that reason that Hobb has become my favourite author of all time! Even though The Assassin novels and The Soldier Son trilogy remain my favourites to date, not a single one of her trilogies so far has failed to impress. The Liveship books are perhaps my least favourite, being a bit hard-going in places, but it would be wrong to call these the weakest of her books because, in their own way, they still manage to surpass anything written by any other author. I could wax lyrical about the talents of Mrs.Robin Hobb in my eyes for a long time to come but would still not manage to do her enough service. Needless to say, no list of my 1001 books to read before you die would be complete without mentioning her work! I hasten to add that I am suitably unimpressed by anything I have read under her own name of Megan Lindholm but that is just personal taste ~ of which this list is all about. But as Robin Hobb, this author can do no wrong in my eyes and so it is that I approach the end of The Dragon Keeper with both a hint of trepidation and sadness and yet also anticipation for the next chapter to come in what looks to be yet another outstanding fantasy series..... So thats choice number two for my 1001 books to read before you die. What's coming next...? Only Sparky has the answer.......

Ooopsy daisy...I did it again....

Sometimes I do think I am a very bad man...in the last few days, one of the receptionists at work (whom we all call Posh Robot for reasons I will not go into here, they being so trivial as to not warrant mention) has been given the old heave-ho; the boot; the sack. Has, in fact, essentially had her working career at The Hotel terminated with pretty extreme prejudice. Now I played no part in her removal from the system (before anyone even thinks of pointing the finger anywhere near my general direction) but I did kind of gloat about it on Facebook in my Status. And that is why, folks, I am a very bad man.....

To be fair, in these or any other times, no one really deserves to get the boot and I am perfectly sure she was a nice enough person deep down inside but the crux of the matter, the thing of it is..... she REALLY got on my swede! Annoying is not a good enough adjective to describe just how frustrating the woman was ~ mainly because, in point of fact, she was very shit at her job. She just couldn't cope, constantly got all flustered and had a very negative impact on me whenever she made the mistake of entering my presence simply because she had the ability to wind me up without even starting to speak to me! There are two people I really could not bear or stand to be around at The Hotel and she was the other one; the first being a potwasher known colloquially as Crazy Dave or CJD for reasons that are apparent within approximately five seconds of you meeting him. Trust me, this is not a guy you want within 500 miles of either your kids or anyone elses for that matter! If I could just get rid of him as well, then my working enviroment would have the potential to be a much happier place.

I am not saddened by the passing of she who was Posh Robot and will not miss her presence in the slightest but do consider that putting as my FB Status: "R.I.P Posh Robot; you may not be dead but you are gone and soon hopefully will be forgotten!" was maybe, just a little bit, unnessecarily cruel and indeed harsh. But it was funny and it did get a lot of comments and, after all, life isn't fair so if she did happen to see it and read it...well, the sooner she learns that lesson the better.

This is not an apology, I might add, but more in way of a confession. I am not a Catholic and share few (if any) of their views but wonder if perhaps there might be some simple penance I could make in way of absolution......one things for sure, my comments on FB obviously do not sit well with my New Year's Resolution ~ to try and be more tolerant and nicer to others ~ of whom I had both Posh Robot and CJD in mind when I made it. Still what importance do New Year's Resolutions exactly hold anymore anyway...?

At least I didn't promise to change in any significant way (theres no chance of that happening any time between now and The Day Of Judgement); my Resolution was meant merely as a means of adjusting my existing personality, tweaking it if you will, to try and make me a slightly better person. But am I so bad? I may be a tad naughty at times but I will always be Sparkymarky at heart and nothing I do or say is meant with any venom.

It's just that certain people annoy me and if theres one thing I am short of, it is patience with incompetents! I am not known for suffering fools gladly and that is something that is never going to change.....no matter how many Resolutions I make.

And yes, before you say it, I do know that none of us are perfect.....it's just that as a human race, we are by our very nature judgemental. And thats why some of us will never get along despite any best intentions.....

1001 books you need to read before you die.....

So, one of the new ideas I have had for my Blog is another random and occasional series that I will try and update from time to time that is basically my own personal list of 1001 books I think you should read before you die. In no way, shape or form does it represent any official list you may have seen with the same name; this is entirely my own personal list of books that have touched, moved or affected me or that I think are in some way worthy of note!

Please note, these are no way in any order either. I do not intend to list them from best to worst or in any chronological order of when they were published. This is just a random list of books I have enjoyed more than usual and which I would like to share with readers of my Blog!

1} The first book on my list is Dan Simmon's The Terror which some of you may note I have mentioned before; last year in fact when I first read it. It is about the lost Franklin expedition in 1845 to the Arctic where both ships, The Erebus and The Terror, become locked in ice. Slowly, after two painful years of being trapped in this desolate waste-land, they begin to run out of food when it becomes apparent that many of the tinned goods they brought with them are putrid. Then, something begins picking off the Crew members; emerging from the ice, sleet and snow to snatch able seamen and carry them off into the night......only to return parts of their bodies, or in one case a head, almost like taunts against the crew. Eventually they are faced with a dilema ~ do they wait there for the ice to thaw so that they can escape, should they manage to survive that long? Or should they set out across the ice in a desperate attempt to reach some kind of civilisation before they all perish and die either at the hands of the beast or from scurvy and malnutrition?

Why is this book worthy of being included in my top 1001 reads? Well because the descriptive passages of life in such harsh and uncompromising conditions has been done so perfectly and is so well researched, that I truly believe that this book bears inclusion. Even before something begins tearing into the crew, there is an enormous sense of hopelessness and despair and you really begin to feel as though you are there, stuck on one of those ships with them. Reading this, at times, I felt cold and chilled to the bone as though I myself was there in the Arctic~ so well has this book been written ~ and the novel is as much about the obsessive personality of Captain Franklin who lead the expedition as it is about the events that later enfold. I cannot recommend it enough even if you are not normally a fan of horror. It does go a bit off the boil towards the closing chapters of the novel but the journey getting there is an intense roller-coaster of a ride that can not be compared to anything else Simmons has written. The only other book by Dan Simmons I truly enjoyed, but for different reasons, was Carrion Comfort and that was not quite good enough to be included on my top 1001 reads whilst The Terror truly was. The next most anticipated book I want to read by Simmons is a novel called Drood about Charles Dickens and the famous last book he never managed to complete. The reason why this appeals is because, like The Terror, it is based on a very real period of history and loosely around real characters and events and so has a lot of promise! Whether it lives up to that or not, remains to be seen......

Leave the lights on, if you're the last one alive......

Well, it's been a couple of months since my last post and there must be some of you out there who must have thought I had given up on this whole Blogging malarkey! No such luck....though I do feel at pains to at least try and explain my absence. Basically, December is really hectic in my job as a chef and paticulary stressful for all of us involved in the Catering trade. Therefore I was not really in any kind of a suitable mood to be writing in my Blog even if I did get time to do it. In fact, I barely touched the computer over xmas and my time on Facebook was pretty much shelved which, as anyone who knows me will know, is totally unheard of. I think it has done me a lot of good though being away from FB as it has helped to cure me of my Farmville obsession and going back to Facebook now, I have barely even touched that paticular application. I'm still Scrabbling though and still losing as many games, if not more, that I win but it is good to know that my Scrabble buds kept our games open while I was away and had wondered where I was! There's nothing quite like being missed......and it's good to be back playing word games again as I really do enjoy it, sad as it may sound!

Of course, Xmas has been over several weeks now and I still haven't made an appearance up until now so you might be forgiven for wondering what else I have been up to....not much is the answer. One thing I did seriously develop over December was a renewed obsession with GTA4 so I have been getting in a lot of XBOX 360 time when I can, right into the wee late hours of the night and the beginning of the next morning on many a occassion, and trying to complete that especially as I got several other games for Xmas which need playing. There is something very satisfying and relaxing about GTA that really chills me out. It sounds bizarre but there really is nothing like going on a mad killing spree, completing a few missions or just trying to exterminate all of the 200 flying rats that can be found across the city to really relax me. So far, I am on about 64 % completion so have a way to go but I want to get it finished by the end of next week when I am on holiday or I will not be best pleased.

So anyway, I still haven't really explained where I've been...well the computer has started to play up so we have needed to get my brother-in-law to take a look at that so he could fix it but also the Laptop has also started playing up. My B-I-L has fixed the laptop and has the computer at mo but that does mean that me and Mrs.Sparky have had a conflict in interest over who gets control of the sole computer in the house. This is an argument she justifiably always wins as it is HER laptop but that does mean that sme of my computer access has been limited. Also, to be very fair, I have just not been arsed to come on here and write anything and the longer I left it, the easier it was to forget about my Blog for a while...

Still, I am back now so heaven help you all ~ expect lots of Blog entries next week as I intend to try and catch up for lost time. When last I left you, I was reading Stephen King's Under The Dome. Well, since then I have decided to re-read all his back catalogue starting with Carrie. Over the last few weeks, I have re-read The Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher too; finished the last Mo Hayder thriller ~ Skin~ which was okay but got better the further I progressed through it and am now reading the latest Robin Hobb fantasy, Dragonkeeper, which I will talk about further at a later stage. I am not trying to hedge or nothing but I have a new set of themes and ideas that I am want to use in 2010 on my Blog that incorporate some thoughts I had last year but never got around to putting into practice! This means therefore that I will be discussing my love for Robin Hobb, amongst others, in much more detail soon.....

Till then.....be fair or be square! Ciao Peeps!