Wherever I lay my hat that's my home

Here's a bit of history for you....

1980 - Born in London (December)
1980/1984 - Lived in Sidcup till the age of 3.
1984/1986 - Moved to Doha, Qatar, till the age of 5.
1986 - Returned to England to live in Ramsgate, Kent.
1999 - Moved to Chichester age 18 to study at University.
1999/2002 - Completed my degree.
2002/2003 - Elected as Vice-President for the Students' Union (1 year term).
2003/2004 - Worked as Bars and Entertainments Assistant Manager at the University.
2004 - Moved back to Ramsgate.

Ramsgate has always been my home town and will always be the place that I grew up in but Chichester also has a place in my heart. The thing is that I loved my time in Chichester and spent 5 years there, but by the end of that time I was missing Ramsgate. I could've stayed but I had felt a rot settling in and had to leave to save myself. There was another reason for me to move back to Ramsgate and that was because my Mother and Grandmother also live there.

They both lived in the same house and this is where I moved back to. My Grandma was very ill and I think it helped that I was home to help my Mum whose responsibility it was to look after this bed-ridden old women, who had in her earlier years been the live and soul of the party, but in her latter years had been ravaged by Parkinson's Disease, stokes, and also arthritis . Sadly she died in December 2004, but I thank God that I was there to be able to be at her side at the hospital, to tell her I loved her, and to reassure her everything was alright. If I had still been living in Chichester I may not have been there for her and I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself. It was also good to be able to support my Mother at a time like that.

I am still living with my Mum, and we get by quite well, but it is times like now that I start to miss Chichester. I have got a lot of friends here but I only really see them at weekends so I think it is loneliness that is giving me these feelings for Chichester, where my life revolved around a place heaving with youngsters who are all experiencing something new, which in turn added something to my life. I am fed up with Ramsgate as it never changes, or maybe it is me that never changes. I am in a job where I spend most of the time by myself in a small office, and I think I need something new to put the spark back into me.

I'm looking into new avenues for job prospects and ultimately I keep coming back to the same areas. The only problem is that I can't commit myself to jumping into something, and it will ultimately have to be something which will start off working around my present jobs, the ones that pay the bills. Do I risk it all and follow my dreams, or do I stick with the status quo and keep doing what I'm doing?

The area I'm interested in is promotion and design. When I get the chance to work with Dreamweaver or Photoshop I become more animated and can spend hours working on something, perfecting it, and making someone else happy. I have mainly done small websites for bands, or people I know, and really enjoy designing something which has been transplanted from their ideas into something physical. I've just got an email from an old friend who needs a website for his band, and so I'm going to work on that later.

Another reason why these homesick feeling for Chichester have come up is that most of the people's sites I run are from Chichester, as it is where I learnt about t'web. I could honestly see myself living back in Chichester but what about the sacrifices I'd have to make to leave here?...my friends and my family.

At the end of the day nothing will probably come of this post and it will be resigned to history, but I will be visiting Chichester again on October 7th and we'll see what happens then. In the meantime I think this post has helped me a bit and I'll try and get my head into the correct mindset and try and be the person I was a few years ago, still me, but having more fun, and more self-assured.

Thanks for listening reading

The answer is blowin' in the wind

I finally gave in and got some questions from Phil. I asked him some last week and he's left a few comments on my blog along the lines of "...if you want any questions then just ask", and so I knew that he REALLY wanted to get some pearls of wisdom out of me, or make me squirm. The questions have really put me on the spot.

Bloggerland is full of people I have never met, but after frequenting their blogs on a daily basis I feel like I know them fairly well (well, what they decide to write about themselves). In the case of Phil, of Freespurge fame, I DO know him. We met at University (I was working for the Students' Union running one of their bars, and he was on the Exec Committee), and actually started our blogs at the same time, along with another friend Dave.

I [boasting] have kept my blog going along since that time (around 1 1/2 years) but both Phil and Dave disappeared, Phil in Jan '05, and Dave in Oct '04. I'd given up on both of them returning, but Phil made a comeback this Summer. So without further delay here are the questions and my answers.

Question 1.
Death sentence. Good, bad, or necissary? Discuss.

Catgorically my answer is 'no to the death sentance'. It is a very bad thing. I don't know the figures but I'm sure that there's been quite a few people on 'Death Row' who have been aquitted, who were proved innocent by new technology which wasn't available at the time of their detainment.

But some people are guilty, and some of very very bad things. Sometimes revenge will pop into my head and I'll think it was better if they died, a horrible death too, but what would that make me?

I'm sure executions help the families of murder victims, so they can gain 'closure', but in the long run will it ease their pain?

I do think there's something wrong with the prison system though and that some prisoners get off too lightly [watch out I'm getting all Daily Mail here!] and never have to deal with the crimes they committed, never have to meet the relatives of their victims. Could they still contribute to our society even if they are deemed monstors? What is the alternative way of paying their debt?

I don't know the answer to that but in the meantime I have to say no to the Death penalty.


Question 2.
What's the one thing that you wished you had said to someone but never did?

I think the person would've been my Grandfather on my Mum's side, who died when I was around 11. And I would've just liked to have said that I loved him. As a kid you take loads of things for granted and don't look to the future, just taking each day as it comes, and I wish I'd got to spend more time with him and been able to grow up with him as he was a great person. He was the first person i knew who died.

Question 3.
You're in a room with all the world leaders of Earth. You've been asked to speak on behalf of the masses. What you say next will change the face of Human society, what is it?

I would probably say:

"One Love! One Heart!

Let's get together and feel all right.

Hear the children cryin' (One Love!);

Hear the children cryin' (One Heart!),

Sayin': give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel allright;

Sayin': let's get together and feel all right. Wo wo-wo wo-wo!

Let them all pass all their dirty remarks (One Love!);

There is one question I'd really love to ask (One Heart!):

Is there a place for the hopeless sinner,

Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own beliefs?

One Love! What about the one heart? One Heart!

What about - ? Let's get together and feel all right

As it was in the beginning (One Love!);

So shall it be in the end (One Heart!),

All right!

Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right;

Let's get together and feel all right.

One more thing!

Let's get together to fight this Holy Armagiddyon (One Love!),

So when the Man comes there will be no, no doom (One Song!).

Have pity on those whose chances grows t'inner;

There ain't no hiding place from the Father of Creation.

Sayin': One Love! What about the One Heart? (One Heart!)

What about the - ? Let's get together and feel all right.

I'm pleadin' to mankind! (One Love!);

Oh, Lord! (One Heart) Wo-ooh!

Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right;

Let's get together and feel all right.

Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right;

Let's get together and feel all right"

Good enough for you?

Question 4.
Name a book that changed your life for good or for ill.

This is a tricky one. I suppose it could be something as mundane as a story book at school, thus enabling me to actually read and write, but I think I'll go for 'Stupid White Men' by Michael Moore, a critique of the 2000 USA elections where he believes Bush was fraudulantly elected as President. I know some of it biased and to get the whole story you will need to read a few more books from different sources, but it opened me up to the fact that USA is not A-OK (sorry Trong Van Din), and the problem's associated with politics.

Question 5.
Of all the women you know, who's the one you want to sleep with most?

Fuck me, what a way to put me on the spot. I love women, that's a fact, but the strange thing is that there hasn't been anyone I'd want to sleep with for quite a while. I've been off the scene for a bit, but I do go out and see women whom I'd like carnal relations with, but it is just lust, pure animal hormones, seeking some sexual gratification. I could probably give you 50 names of those types of women. But I can honestly say that there's no one that I'm "keeping my eye on", no one I really want to get involved with, and so to cop out of your question, there's no one I want to sleep with....at the moment.

But......I'm sure someone will come along, who'll turn my head, someone I least expect ,whom I'll want to get to know better, discover who they are, grow to love each other and then......

FUCK LIKE RABBITS!

I don't like cricket, oh no, I love it

England have beaten Australia to win the Ashes!

I've been watching the tests over the series and have thoroughly enjoyed them all. I must admit that I only watch International matches and don't watch any county cricket.

There were more highs than lows and many of the matches have been edge of the seat stuff, but I think that the end result was correct as England have shown that little bit extra.

Brilliant!

[I know this is a bit of a weak post but I'm not really in the blogging mode. I have been checking out and commenting on other blogs though so don't worry.]

Question time

Questions for Tom
1. Using advanced technology and satellite tracking you can order a 'hit' on anyone in the world. Who would it be? (no one will know you did it)
2."Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me". Have you ever been bullied or been a bully?
3.Which is your favourite Spice Girl and why? (Posh, Ginger, Scarey, Baby, & Sporty)
4.What Superpower would you like and would you become a SuperHero?
5.Pick 3 songs to be played at your funeral

Questions for Phil
1. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
2. Blondes, Brunettes, or Redheads?
3.How will the Third World War Start and End?
4. What's your view on 'designer babies'. Would you play god and create a 'perfect child'?
5.If you could have written one song and lived off it's profits which song would it have been?


Remember to update your blog with the answers to the questions, offer to interview others in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Laters

Coming soon...

I'm still thinking of some questions for Phil and Tom. Watch this space.

Ask Me No Questions, I'll Tell You No Lies

There's been a lot of questions around bloggerland lately, and I admit I was feeling a little left out. But luckily Lord Bargain has leapt to my aid and has given me 5 questions to answer. So here we go.

1. Describe your journey to work.

I have 2 jobs so I'll describe my journey to them

My first job is 2 miles away. I usually drive. Quite lazy, I have cycled a few times before but I've slipped back into getting there quickly. It takes 5 minutes, time for a couple of tracks on the CD player, and then I'm at work. Not a very interesting story.

For my other job I only live 30 seconds away so I usually leave 3 minutes before I'm meant to start. I walk (obviously) and I'm there pretty soonish.

2. You’ll starve unless you eat a dead human being. Which bit of them do you eat first?

Leg or Breast mmmmm....Oh that's a Christmas question, not to be confused with becoming a cannibal. The obvious thing I'd ask is 'what is the situation?', and I would probably want to know that before I made this decision but I won't delve into that too much and will instead assume that I've got to pick a body part.

I love meat and I can never refuse a bit of rump steak so my choice would have to be the rump, the buttocks, call it what you will, but I think that would be the best bit. I've seen the film 'Alive' many times and that's the bit they go for. Apparently it tastes a lot like chicken....

3. What’s your favourite Disney movie?

My fav of all time is 'Jungle Book'. When me and my sister were kids, we used to visit family in Northern Cyprus on our summer holidays. They used to have siestas in the hot afternoons, but us being hyperactive kids needed to be entertained whilst they were all napping. They had a collection of 'English videos' that would come out and we would watch them mesmerised. They included 'The Fly', an old copy of Wrestlemania 2, and also 'The Jungle Book'.

These would get played on rotation but invariably only one of these could I call a classic and a favourite. I'm not a big Disney fan, and a lot of their creations piss me off but with The Jungle Book you get something great (incidently it was last film personally overseen by Walt Disney). It's built around a great story by Rudyard Kipling (although some of the darker elements are removed, is full of great characters voiced by great actors, and is chock-a-block with magnificent songs.

Who would have thought that a bear could come out with this classic:

"And don't spend your time lookin' around

For something you want that can't be found

When you find out you can live without it

And go along not thinkin' about it

I'll tell you something true

The bare necessities of life will come to you"

4. In what circumstances is a “shoot to kill” policy acceptable?

Are there any circumstances where this is acceptable? This is a question that arose following the death of Jean Charles de Menezes (23/07/2005) at the hands of the Metropolitan Police when he was wrongly suspected of being a terrorist. And it has been raised again when the USA adopted a "shoot to kill" policy in the wake of violence following the devastation of Huricane Katrina.

I've had to think long and hard about this question. What would I do? I could take the Utilitarian viewpoint and decide on the 'greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people', is it worth sacrificing one life to save many more? What if de Menezes was a suicide bomber? Would his death have saved innocent lives? Of course he was innocent, we know that now, but what if?

There are too many questions to be asked, and hindsight is a wonderful gift, but after all the things I've seen I would say that a 'policy' of death is not acceptable under any circumstances. How can yu tell someone they've got a greenlight to kill people indiscriminately. Do they have a set of guidelines in this policy about what the person has to be doing to get killed? And how do you gauge such a thing?

Every decision we make in our lives is effected by the situations we are in. No two scenarios are the same and so there must be flexibility in the laws we uphold and the policies we make.

So to answer the question I would have to say that a "shoot to kill" policy is never acceptable but if someone was threatening me and it was me or them then I'd probably do what I could to survive.

5. The music police will erase every song in the world except five of your choosing. What do you save?

Oh my god, what a toughie. You really saved the hardest question till the end. I'm always terrible at these type of questions..."what's your favourite film?", "Best album of all time?"..etc I think you get the drift.

I'm sure that I'll remember a few classics after a while but I'll just go for it now as I'm sure if I don't decide soon then the music pigs will delete everything.

1.End Of A Century - Blur (something to reminiss to)

2.The Day I Tried To Live - Soundgarden (something to rock to and play air guitar)

3.Jump Around - House Of Pain (something to jump around to...obviously)

4. I'm So Tired Of Being Alone - Al Green (something to get your groove on to)

5.Wise Up - Aime Mann (Something to think about to)

It was really hard to pick a set of 5 songs because new ones kept popping into my head. I hope you like some of them.

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1. If you want to participate, leave a comment below asking to be interviewed.

2. I will respond by asking you five questions - each person's will be different.

3. You will update your journal/blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions

We at war with terrorism, racism, and most of all we at war with ourselves

I've not been very animated lately. This, I think, is due to a lack on input from myself, and also a lack of output somewhere. I haven't really been investigating the world and have simply been going along for the ride. I've stopped reading lately, I don't know why, and most of the information about the world I've been getting is from TV snippets and the BBC website. So it's not been too mentally challenging and usually the majority of the news is the same and comes to the same conclusions.

I was kick started yesterday when I was reading I, Brummie's post from Sunday and it did raise some vitriol in me. Not against Graham, but against George W. Bush, the subject of the post.

I just can't believe the stupidity and incompetance of Bush. I've had this feeling towards him for many years now, basically since his election when many doubts about him were raised, and then after 9/11, the war on Iraq, Kyoto, and now Hurricane Katrina, the feelings in me are even stronger.

I would suggest you read Graham's post as I agree fully with what he has to say but I'll end on his last point...

14.In Conclusion, Bush's management of this situation has been appalling - and by any reasonable standards, grossly incompotent.I would say, that by any reasonable defintion, it borders on gross misconduct. Can we look at the presidents contract? Can he be fired for gross misconduct? If someone can lose their job for say, looking at porn on the work internet (and it has happened, but not to me)....doesn't the incompotence that leads to the loss of thousands and thousands of human lives lost due to gross incompetence count as gross misconduct? Why isn't that a sackable offence? less than a decade ago we saw the example of Bill Clinton almost losing his job because he had sex with a woman who wasn't his wife - and right now, thousands die because of the President Bush's gross incompotence and gross misconduct, and I don't see Kenneth Starr anywhere, writing a report at the cost of millions of dollars to get Bush impeached.

It is so true. I'm sure he must have a contract somewhere and the first point should be that the President cannot be a dick. but sadly..

Bush is a dick

I had a dream, last night I was blind. And I couldn't see color of any kind

I would say that most people are not racists, after all the world is getting smaller, and we are one big global village. But isn't it strange the assumptions we can make depending on someone's colour or nationality?

(thanks to Retroboy who linked to this image from The News Blog)

mmmm.....

I’ve seen so much, I’m goin blind, And I’m braindead virtually

I don't watch a huge amount of TV and there's never anything that I have to watch. If I get to see a particular programme that I like, then brilliant, if I miss it, then no probs. I watch TV when I've got free time and want to relax, but I don't arrange my life aound the old goggle box.

One thing has changed that and it's Lost. I started off by watching the 3-episodes combo on E4 and have watched every episode now, every week. I suppose it helps that it's on a wednesday at 11pm on E4, in that I don't normally go out midweek, and so don't have to go out of my way to watch it.


Anyway, I've been watching it, and I do like it, but it seems that the last couple of episodes have been a bit drab. The first few were brilliant, loads of suspense, weird shit going on, etc, and it got me hooked, but the last couple have been a bit boring, only tying up a few loose ends. When I watch something for an hour (darn those adverts) I want some kind of payback, I want to know more things, I want to be left on a cliffhanger, so that next week I get the money shot. I know things will pick up and I can't wait to watch all 25 episodes, but damn it I want to know more stuff now!

I could easily borrow the whole series from a friend of mine, but I think that would ruin it for me, my wednesday nights, and also I'm sure I'd end up revealing the ending and pissing off quite a few people. So I'm gonna stick with it and hope it picks up soon.

Back Soon.

Hi all. I'm still alive, but I've been quite busy, and haven't really found the time for blogging. I'll be back soon though when I'm inspired.
Laters

Adem

Wash your dirty mouth, Your dirty mouth, Watch your little mouth

I swear and cuss but I'm usually careful about the circumstances and surrounding when I go into 'potty mouth' mode. In the past I've tried to keep my blogging language fairly PG but I've seen that over the last few weeks a few swear words have crept in.

Sometimes I do swear in a throw-away mannor when there's a suitable word that would be an adequate alternative, but I guess this is a sign of the times that so many profanities have lost their strength and shock value (I sometimes wonder what words will replace the now common place !#{&!@&^*@, #@!@&^*@, and !*!%@&^*@

I don't do it to be big or clever but I find that only certain words can express what I'm thinking and usually these words are profanities. So in praise of these words I'm going to make my "Top Ten Swear Words". Borrowing from Slightlydrunk.com just hover over the bold words (such as !@!@-8;^*@) and the real swearwords should appear.

1.!@!@-8;^*@
2.!£24t%$^*@
3.(%^$*&(£_)
4.^**&£"$%@:
5.@:£$%**&$
6.!@!%^?!
7.?+_(%**£

You may notice that I've only got 7 words in my "Top Ten" so I'm opening the floor for comments to contribute to the list. Be as imaginative and dirty as you like, and maybe we'll start a revolution.

-----------------------------

In my web browsing I've come across a few choice swearing sites you fellow swearers may find interesting. Swearsaurus & Viz Profanisaurus

Swing when you're winning

I haven't blogged for the week and I'm a bit sad about that but to be perfectly honest I haven't had a huge amount to blog about. I've been off work for the week as I had holiday that needed using up but I haven't gone anywhere, just stayed at home. I did do a few things that I don't normally get a chance to do although they're not very exciting.

On tuesday I played golf. My local golf course is pay-and-play so there's no membership needed which is good as I only play golf around 6 times a year. The course is divided into two 9-hole sections and I usually just do 9 holes but this time I did the whole 18 with Jonny and Pub Tom. In the end we were out for about 4 hours (with a pint halfway through) and the weather was fantastic. It took a few holes to get my swing back and in the end I was happy with my tee shots and my putting but my middle game was absolutely dreadful. Practice makes perfect but at the end of the day it's only a game and I don't have to be perfect at it (luckily my friends are as crap as me too!)

On Wednesday daytime I went ten-pin bowling which was fun too, although there were loads of kids around. I played 3 games with Jonny (who has taken the week off work for the same reasons), and won the 1st game with a 150 score, but then lost the next 2 games with scores of only 99 each time. I must say I'm not crap and I played the first game properly but for the 2nd and 3rd games I used my spin technique which is basically showboating and very aesthetically pleasing. I get the ball to swing out to the gutter, straddle the lane, and then swing back in. I enjoy this style immensly, and so did the group of german teenagers in the next lane, who were in awe of my flair bowling. That said though, I did lose the 2nd and 3rd games, but as I previously said, it's only a game.

So an eventful week is nearly over and I'll be back to work soon after the weekend. exciting eh?

We're all going on a summer holiday

I've won something!!

Lord Bargain is going away somewhere for his hols, and challenged us to guess where he was going for the prize of a specially made compilation CD (this prize was suggested by Swiss Toni).

LB is going to Toronto in fact, and the 2 nearest guesses were Guantanamo Bay (my guess) and New Orleans (by Spinsterwitch).

I must admit I wasn't taking it too seriously when I said Guantanamo Bay, but hey I'm sure to get a cracking CD for my efforts.

Will Tiffany be on it though??? I Wonder?

Roll up, roll up for the mystery tour

Some of you may know that I play for a local Sunday League football club, Preston Hellings F.C., well this weekend we went away for our annual 'tour'. Previous years have included trips to Brighton, Calais, Somerset, and Shrewsbury, to name a few, and this year I volunteered to help organise it.

The 'tour' is basically the chance for everyone to get away for a weekend, sometimes play a game of footy, but definately to get pissed, think of it as La Manga circa 1996, avec Gazza. After consulting the players it was decided that we should go camping somewhere in the south of England, and so I set out to find a campsite that would accomodate a group of 13 men. This is where the trouble started.

It appears that there are hardly any campsites that will take on single-sex groups, or even just large groups, damn! After ringing-up or emailing all the campsites in Bognor Regis, Chichester, Southsea areas plus a few others dotted around that could actually boast being near anywhere that we could have fun, we turned to sites nearer the Ringwood area, as our Goalkeepers missus is from that area. It was looking pretty bad as this time, but luckily last Tueday, Dean (Goalie) managed to find a campsite that would accomodate us!

The campsite in question was actually attached to a pub called the 'Sir Walter Tyrrell', a bonus, but it was miles away from anywhere else, so we would have to make our own entertainment, but at east we were getting away. phew.

Everything seemed to slot into place for the weekend, and I must say that I had an excellent time. It could've ended up completely different with everyone getting bored out of their skin, but fate helped us in that it seemed we'd booked in when a busy weekend had been planned by the campsite owners. Karaoke had been organised for the Saturday night, which involved everyone's names getting jotted down to sing various random songs (I was lucky enough to have the female part in 'Time of My Live'), and we drank a lot as we had all put a fair bit into the kitty. A good evening by all, but not the end, for the next day was the 'Rustic Games'!

The team by the Rufus Stone

The Pub had arranged the rustic games, along with various stalls, whack the rat (a sexual euphemism no doubt), a hog-roast, raffle, and tombola, etc. We entered 2 teams of 6 people, Preston Farmers Phats and Preston Farmers Smalls (we had previously convinced them that the F.C. stood for farmers club, as our club crest has a tractor on it), which divided the club members depending on their weight.

The events were: Welly Throwing, Horseshoe tossing, bobbing for apples, egg catching, and the infamous Tug of War.

We all put up a good show, even winning the prestigious Tug of War (Phats), but were beaten into 2nd place. After the awards ceremony we made our way back to civilisation, but had made a good impression because the Landlady invited us back next year, along with the promise of a game of footy against a local team.

I've now got the rest of the week off, but have got nothing planned, so I'm gonna spend the day fixing an old computer, checking up on people's blogs, and doing nothing too exhausting.

Does everyone have a different take? Are you just cool and I'm just baked?

I finally caved in a got the James Blunt Album 'Back to Bedlam'. It has been at Numero Uno in the charts for a while now so it must be good........mustn't it?

A complete and utter blunt??

First Listen...
Well I've listened to it now, all 10 tracks, and it's quite good, although there is something nagging at me that I feel like I've heard a few of the songs before, not that they're rip-offs but some of the soings are a bit same-ish. I can't quite put my finger on it but if you've heard it you might know what I mean.

A while later....
Ok, I've listened to it a bit more, and actually listened to the lyrics, and I must admit that some of the songs do do it for me, and I think it's one of those ones that I 'll listen to when I'm a little lonely and want a few songs to wallow in.

I couldn't do better myself though so I'll stop now.

Got any comments on it???

Brando, "The King and I", And "The Catcher in the Rye"

Well I did my little bit for the environment, I made fire! I've got loads of weeds, bramble bushes etc in the back garden and a lot of this got dug-up or cut back at the weekend, but I was left with a lot of crap. We do have a green collection by the council every other Friday but I had way too much.
So I got it all and burnt it!!!! ha ha ha, I did it responsibly though in a garden incinerator and even got this nice picture by taking a picture of one of the air vents with my camera in macro mode.

I think nature paid me back though because I've got a horrible cold now and am steadily running out of tissues......

What else should I be, All apologies

Jean Charles De Menezes, dressed in casual denim, left his flat, got on a bus to Stockwell tube station, bought a ticket, picked up a free copy of Metro, ran to get on the tube, sat down, and was then shot 7 times......

more info here from ITV News

If you but this record your life will be better

I've just listened to.....

Hot Hot Heat - Elevator

and

Ben Folds - Songs for Silverman

very good indeed.

Watching the people get lairy, is not very pretty I tell thee

All the talk lately has been about the new revised licensing act and how this will spell the end of Britain as we know it. I'm caught in two minds about it and often the argument is that if we lengthen hours people will come out a different times, go home at different times, and as their drinking will be spread out then they won't binge drink. I don't think I really agree with this because I know what British drinkers are like (i've worked in pubs for over 5 years).
Another thing is that the Pubs have had to apply for what hours they want and actually most of the pubs in my area have applied for licenses of 7am till 1pm. They are only going to use the 1am extension on Fridays and Saturdays, and will only use the 7am for special occasions, usually sporting occasions such, which could've been useful for the 2002 World Cup in Japan, or the Lions tour in New Zealand. For the rest of the time they will stick to normal (11am-11pm) hours, because who wants to work late at night?

What does this mean? It means that everyone is still going to be leaving the pub at the same time, except maybe drunker! I suppose the only real way to avoid this would be to actually introduce 24 hour drinking, whereby there is no opening or closing, but this was on offer to all licensed premises and hardly anyone took it up.

Now I was reading an interesting article in the Observer on Sunday which basically compared the French way of drinking to our way of drinking and commented that our current culture in Britain is that of drinking to get drunk, whereby the French drink to complement their meals, to relax, and to indulge in philosophical debates. Maybe this view of the French way of life is slightly off but you have to admit that the fact that I am talking about this and ways to make people behave themselves shows that we, as a collective, have a drinking problem.

Because I haven't been drinking much beer lately, I've found I can get a bit pissed quite quickly but I've lately been switching onto soft drinks when I think I've had enough. I have in the past gotten completely mashed (many times) and embarrassed myself by my complete lack of control, incohherent slurring, incomprehensible flirting, and uncontrollable hurling! I don't do this anymore (much) but I know that when I go out with a group of lads I'll get back onto the pints and do stupid things.

On Saturday I was going around to Tom and Nikki's for a BBQ and I decided to instead take a nice bottle of Rose wine instead of the usual crate (Portugese Rose Table Wine, selected by Asda, £2.54!). My decision for this was that I fancied something crisp, refreshing, and not at all bloating, and I also had a football match at 10:30am on the Sunday. I must say that I thouroughly enjoyed myself and liked the wine too. I did finish a bottle by myself but when you compare that to the amount of beer I would've drunk then I think I did quite well.

If I knew the answer to the problem of binge culture then all would be Kool and the Gang, but I don't. There has to be a culture shift and view drinking alcohol as something that must be done responsibly, but shouldn't be taboo. Maybe if wine was introduced to the dinner table when we're in our early teens then we wouldn't see young urchins in the park supping on cheap cider?

I hope I given you some food drink for thought on a very tricky subject, ..... now I'm off to get pissed on some Super Strength Lager and harrass some old people.

MacDonalds, MacDonalds. Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Rut

I'm working at the pub again today, this time from 3pm-7pm, and then I'm off out to the last night of Broadstairs Folk Week. To satisfy my ample food requirements I decided to go to Pizza Hut after I had finished my other job, and indulge in the Buffet Lunch which is basically an ' Eat as much as you want' offer. This would mean that I will gorge myself on pizza now, and then I won't be hungry for the rest of the day....brilliant.

Now the thing is that everytime I've been in the Pizza Hut restaurant there's only been girls working there (usually 17-19 year olds). This is not a problem except a previous time I went there with 3 mates and I came up with a Porno scenario for a film called 'Pizza Rut'. All the usual cliches came up (pun intended) and it means that everytime I go into Pizza Hut the same thoughts come into my head. I know this is typical for you guys out there, I usually rate every woman of whether I'd sleep with her or not! I know it sounds terrible and degrades women to mere sexual objects but it's a primal instinct that all men have (plus I'm not getting any!).

So now I'm a sexual deviant as soon as I enter Pizza Hut. Not physically but mentally ,and it puts me off my food! So there's the problem, not a great one, but one nevertheless. I bet they keep the ugly ones in the kitchen!

MMM I bet they're looking forward to the 'Meat Feast'!

Someone said give peace a chance. And, that's all that we're saying while we're sitting on the fence

I've just got home from work at the pub, doing a 4pm-9pm shift to get a bit of extra pocket money, and something really pissed me off today.

I was behind the bar and I wandered into a conversation several of the locals were having, well one of the locals was giving his view, and a couple of others were listening and nodding their heads. I normally think people are entitled to their views and if they say stuff I normally don't agree with then I usually let them have their say and think to myself that they're a bit ignorant but they're allowed their free speech.

This may sound a bit arrogant coming from me that I believe that my view is normally right, but in many instances I am! The subject of this conversation was Muslims in Britain. Quite topical I think you'll agree, and something that could provide a heated debate, but from a group of un-educated, Sun-reading, xenophobes I think you can guess what the primary arguments were.

They were going on about 'Muslims' on the dole and getting thousands in benefits, when many Brits were getting nothing. They argued that we shouldn't allow mosques to be built in England as Church's wouldn't be allowed to be built in the Middle-East (do they not remember where Christianity was founded?). And the final insult was that he said he'd like to go around with all people that felt the same as him, and blow up all the Muslims! I was shocked and appalled. IGNORANT LITTLE CUNTS! (pardon my French)

As I said previously, I'd normally allow them their views but in this case, on something close to my heart, I had to step in. I told them they couldn't just generalise all foreigners under the tile of 'Muslims', and that their views were completely wrong. Not all Muslims are suicide bombers, or benefit cheats, or pledge allegiance to Satan. They said that Muslims hated Christianity and would do anything to destroy 'our way of life'. I said that Muslims were nothing other than normal people who have a few different beliefs but generally believe in many of the same things as Christianity. This guy, we'll call him Frank (because that's his name), couldn't understand my point of view and told me in no lesser terms 'to fuck off if that's what you believe', what a tosser. In fact I was happy to and couldn't stand to be in his company anymore.

I have a BA in Study of Religions, an A-level in Religious Studies, and I'm also half Turkish-Cypriot and half English, meaning that I know a fair bit about Religion, both Christianity and Islam, along with many other religions, and the social aspects surrounding them and their history. In other words 'I know my shit' which means that I hate ignorant people that don't. Well actually I can understand some people's ignorance and where it stems from but when they won't accept there is another way, then it really gets my goat up.

For those of you who don't know much about Islam then here are six basic believes shared by all Muslims:

1. Belief in God, the one and only one worthy of all worship (Just like Christianity)
   
2. Belief in all the Prophets and Messengers (sent by God, including Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, not forgetting Muhammad).
3. Belief in the Books sent by God.
4. Belief in the Angels.
5. Belief in the Day of Judgment (Qiyamah) and in the Resurrection.
6. Belief in Destiny (Fate) (Qadaa and Qadar in Arabic). (Note that this does not mean one is predetermined to act or live a certain life. God has given the free will to do and make decisions.)

It doesn't sound too different for Christianity does it?

I believe that our multicultural Britain is a better place due to the immigrants in it, who have been arriving for many years. I love it that people want to come to our country.... we must be doing something right. I also love it that we have freedom to pursue anything we want to. Although I'm English I do feel an affinity with the 'Islamic' countries and I suppose my heritage has meant that I've tried to educate myself to learn more about the world and it's cultures and that all societies and lifestyles are equally valid as long as it's members and citizens are treated well and are free to purse other options if they want to.

I don't agree with suicide bombers, or terrorism, and have been stunned by recent wave of attacks in Britain by people who are trying to change 'our' way of life, a place I'm quite happy in. But is this any different from us invading a country and trying to force our way upon them? I know Saddam Hussein was a tyrant who didn't treat his people well and that many were abused by him and wished to overturn him, but does this mean that they should all want to live a way of life like ours, a life with democracy?

I can't answer that last question but to reiterate a previous point all lifestyles and societies are equally valid as long as it's members and citizens are treated well, are free to purse other options if they want to, and don't try to impose their way of life on other societies.

That's the end of my little rant, but please try to educate yourselves about your surroundings and the world you live in. It's a much smaller place than it used to be and you're bound to rub shoulders with groups you wouldn't normally meet.

FUCKERS!

FUCKERS!

I'd just writen a long post and there was an electricity surge which turned the PC off! and the Recover Post thingy didn't work!

FUCKERS!

It's oh so quiet

It's oh so still,
You're all alone,
And so peaceful until......

Bugger all happens.....B-O-R-I-N-G!

I've just not been up to blogging lately, but don't worry I've still been reading blogs and posting comments.

I've got something to put in you

I did not, I repeat, I did not go to Gay Pride! It occured to me that at the end of the last post I wrote "I'm off to Brighton tomorrow, so I'll blog over the weekend". It didn't occur to me until yesterday when I was travelling down that it was the Gay Pride march today, and I had told loads of people that I was going down to Brighton for the weekend. I can imagine them all thinking "that solves quite a few questions, he always did have good taste, and was always first to put YMCA on the jukebox".

I was only there to see Ollie Hodder (my friend Andy's brother) play on Brighton beach as part of the Lee Sounds Unsigned tour (from the people that make jeans) which has been showcasing the best unsigned talent. He got the chance to play after sending in a demo and if all goes well he could be playing at the Leeds Festival.

I'm really tired now as I stayed in a hostel and there was a women in the room who snored constantly, so here's a brief account of my day.
-Got to Brighton
-Saw Ollie play on the beach
-Went to the pier, almost sure I got a haemorrage from the mental waltzer, but I did win some toys on the sideshows (I'm honestly not gay).
-Had some drinks
-Went back to the pier, no haemorrage this time.
-Had some more drinks
-Saw TTP play at the Casablanca Club
-Went to bed.
-Got woken up by snoring woman
-Went to sleep
-Got woken up by snoring woman
-Went to sleep
-Got woken up by snoring woman
-Went to sleep
-Got woken up by snoring woman
-Went to sleep
-Got up and went to swimming pool and had a swim and a shower.
-Left Brighton

I did have a good time there but left this morning around 11am and so avoided the March and could leave Brighton fairly quickly avoiding all traffic.

I've just been to Broadstairs because it's the first day of the Folk Festival, but for a change I didn't drink and instead drove there.

I'm off to sleep now as I'm still tired and I've a footy friendly tomorrow. If we do well then I'll tell you about it, if we do shit then you'll hear no more about it.

Laters.

I just don't know what to do with myself

I must say there's not really much going on. As some of you may know I do 2 part-time jobs, one is at a University, one is at a pub. I've been quite busy at the Uni job as it's only 6 weeks till the freshers arrive and I'm trying to sort out loads of stuff before they arrive. On the other hand I'm not really doing much at the Pub. Shifts are on a rota so can vary from week to week, and for the next few weeks I'm virtually doing bugger all there, as I've only put down for a few shifts. I do enjoy working there but sometimes when I get my wages I wonder if it's really worth it. At that job I'm on minimum wage, £4.85 an hour, and I think to myself "is worth working a whole evening and getting £20?" I'd rather have some time to myself.

So now I've got some more time to myself and there's a few web-projects that I've been meaning to do but haven't got around to, but still they elude me. Instead I'm enjoying watching TV, playing on Football Manager 2005, and generally not doing anything constructive. I have got a few things planned but nothing life-changing.

The sunday league team I play for have got their first friendly on Sunday which I'm looking forward to but I'm sure we'll lose as we're all out of shape and quite a few of the team are injured, but it'll be good to get back into punting a ball around with a hangover. Incidently the club website is one of those web-projects I was talking about. I've been working with my friend Chris to create a database so that all stats can be filtered into the site and all pages will update after the previous match info has been input, but we've both been lazy on that and so I hope we can get it done before the season starts.

I've also been trying to organise a club weekend away. Last year it was Somerset, the year before Brighton, the year before that France, and this year it looks like we'll be going to brilliant Bognor Regis. I couldn't arrange a game there so instead we'll be camping and going out and experiencng all that Bognor has to offer (I'm going to enjoy going to Shieks Nightclub, now called Club Vision, as I enjoyed many a student night there) . It may actually be good that we haven't got a game as last year we were clubbing to around 3am and had a game at 10am, Paul Merson eat your heart out.

In a response to Lord Bargain's last post I think I'll try and come up with a more cerebrally enhancing post next time, something to educate and cause debate.

I'm off to Brighton tomorrow, so I'll blog over the weekend.

Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, Marijuana, Ecstasy and Alcohol* C-C-C-C-C Cocaine

It's been a quite uneventful weekend as I've had friday and monday off work to make a long weekend. Nothing new to report except that I drank too much vodka on Saturday night and had a hangover all day on Sunday leaving me feeling like Nic Cage in Leaving Las Vegas. I drank 3/4 of a litre bottle of Stolichnaya by myself whilst I was around Dan's, felt okay that night, but the next day was terrible. I felt better by 8pm and Tom came around and we played on Pro Evo for about 3 hours and I ate about 5 Breakaway Bars.
p>
TTFN

*I only had this, by the way.

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You spin me right round, baby, right round like a record

My mixer arrived today in cracking condition and I've tried it out and it all works. It's a KAM BPM Junior and cost me £21 (+£10 postage) and seems to be a good mixer to start my DJing with. I also got the decks out of the loft but I can't find the styli, cartridges and headshells I had so I've had to order some more off the internet along with a couple of RCA phono leads.

I've also went on the hunt for my vinyl collection and I've got a few classics in there which remind me of the mid/late nineties (Industry Standard - Industry Standard Vol. 1 (What You Want) / Double 99 - Ripgroove). A bit chavvy now but I still like them.

Hopefully the bits and bobs will arrive by the end of the week so I can give the vinyl DJing a go at the weekend. I'm sure I'll be terrible at first but it'll fun to have a go.

Bang bang you shot me down. Bang bang I hit the ground

A supposed suicide bomber was shot dead on Friday after being chased by 3 armed men and not stopping.

Call me stupid but I'd probably run if I was being chased by 3 strangers. Witnesses said that the man was chased, tripped whilst boarding a train, was pinned to the ground and received 5 shots to the head. The witnesses also commented that the man was of Asian origin, possibly Pakistani.

It now turns out that this was completely unconnected with the recent terrorist activity and Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair has apologised calling it "a tragedy".

Is it a reflection on our post-terrorism xenophobic attitudes that several of the witnesses assumed that the man was a Pakistani when he was actually a Brazilian? Are all Pakistanis going to be labeled as possible terrorists?

I don't know the amount of times I've had to run because I'm late for a train, running all the way to the platform. Anyone knows that train stations are busy loud places, and if I hear people shouting then I may give them a cursory glance but will usually choose to ignore them as they probably want to start an argument which will result in me getting a kicking.

I was questioning of Friday that maybe the man was just an innocent person late for a train, and it seems I was right.

Read the BBC article here.

If I die before I wake. At least in Heaven I can skate

Yesterday I went to the Sprite Urban Games at Clapham Common and it was quite nice to get away to the 'big smoke'. After parking a few train stops away from Clapham (we had been advised it'd be too busy to park in Clapham) and then travelling to Clapham we found that there were LOADS of spaces and we could've saved ourselves LOADS of time.

After our long journey we got to the common (advised Chris not to go for a pee in a bush as some people might get the wrong idea) and entered the fenced off area where the Urban Games were taking place. I must admit it was a lot smaller than I imagined and wassn't that busy but I still had a good time but after about 3 hours we'd seen all we could and made our journey home.

I must admit that all the stuff going on was pretty cool and makes me want to go out and buy a BMX and do some tricks, but I know I wouldn't be very good at it. I got quite a few photos but it was quite overcast so the colours didn't come out brilliantly.

My compromise is that I'll become really good at vinyl DJing and then my more adventurous mates can do all the tricks. Here are some photos from the day, I think they'll explain it better than I can:

P.S. We did see this cool thing.

Hey girls, hey boys, Superstar DJ's, here we go!

I have no musical talent but when I was at Uni I used to do a bit of DJing. The equipment I used was a Numark CD Mixer and Player, not as prestigious as vinyl, but I still got to learn mixing, got a crowd going, and got to listen and play a huge range of music. It widened my musical taste and although I've never played a musical instrument I could hear music in a completely different way and felt that I could understand it better.

Another thing I got to learn about was PA Systems, how they work, what goes where, specific types on cables, connections, and also general troubleshooting and making the audio sound good. I had a good time doing it and I was able to pass on my knowledge to a handful of other students whom I was able to teach how to mix and how to become an ok DJ.

When I left Uni I wasn't able to DJ because 1) I couldn't afford the equipment 2) I didn't really have the time 3) I couldn't be bothered DJing for anyone else as I wouldn't have the freedom to play a wide range of music that Uni provided.

I pretty much mastered CD mixing and I did get hold of some vinyl decks a few years back for free but I've never got around to actually using them. This is going to change and I'm going to be 'cool' 'cooler'. I've just bought a mixer on ebay and have got quite a few records so I'm going to start learning to mix vinyl as a new hobby, just for me.

In a response to my last post this is going to be my effort to make some 'real music'.

Music makes the people come together

Could you imagine a world without music?

It's amazing how music can reach you in ways that no other form can, and how it is constantly all around us. The only problem is that there is perhaps sometimes too much music that a lot of the 'real music' has been drowned out or polluted by polished, clean, manufactured, commercial music. I do enjoy a vast amount of music that is available in the mainstream on the radio, downloads, CD, or TV but as I've said they're too clean, tweaked in studios till they are considered as near perfect as they can be.

What I really enjoy is when the music is stripped down and reduced for the live gig, the freshness that comes from hearing a song that will never be heard the same again at anytime other than at that gig, added to this is the energy coming from a band on form and enjoying it, and also the unlimited possibility of where the track will go, the quips added by the vocalist, and most off all the thing I love is the audience interaction where you are truly involved in an almost tribal experience. This is something that cannot be achieved whilst sitting at home listening to a song that you know will always end on 3:34 and will always remain the same. Some songs are brilliantly recorded and I could listen to them again and again but just imagine hearing it live.....ooooh.

I feel that I've been deprived of my fix of 'real music' for quite a while now as I haven't been to a gig for quite a while and this is something I'm going to change (I did go to a Uni Ball which had cools bands but I didn't go specifically for them). I'm starting off with going to see my friend Andy's brother Ollie play an acoustic set in Brighton on the afternoon of August 5th, and then I'm going to see a funk band Ticklin The Pickle (I run their website by the way) play in the evening at the Casablanca Club. From small acorns they say, and so I'm planting my gig seed here and hope to add a few more over the summer, maybe even seeing a few bigger bands.

Out on a windy common, That night I ain’t forgotten

I'm off to the Sprite Urban Games on Saturday taking place at Clapham Common, which should be good. I've never been to one of these things before but I've seen some of it on TV, played Tony Hawkes on the PS2, and I had a BMX when I was about 7, so I'm pretty much an expert! I'm sure if I wanted to I could be "utterly bodacious" much like my friend Chris who has a skateboard (but can't ride it).
On show at the Urban Games will be skate, BMX, FMX, and Breakdancers. There's loads of other stuff going on too, and I can't wait to get my camera out and hopefully take some cracking photos. Hopefully they'll look a bit like these.

Preparedness makes us powerful. Butter merely makes us fat

Retro Boy posted this the other day:

"It starts slowly. A bad day. You didn't eat enough yesterday. Maybe you were working late. Maybe you had half a sandwich at your desk. Maybe you grabbed a bar of chocolate. Maybe you went to bed hungry last night. Maybe you forgot to cook. Power cut. So where's the harm. A bar of choclate. An extra slice of pizza. You sit at home, and you don't feel like exercising.

An extra sandwich. Nobody notices. Nobody minds. Middle-aged spread, they call it. Signs of natural aging, for others. But your clothes have a memory. They do not shrink in the wash. Steel expands in the heat, not humans. Clothes never forget.

It's how you become fat. Think of it as storage. Extra fuel for the lean times ahead. That's it. Yes. So maybe standing becomes difficult. Maybe you don't want to stand up for hours on end. Maybe you find the muscles in your legs have wekened. One day you go out onto the porch, and it's the last time you see the world with your naked eyes for 8 years. You can't leave the house. The doors have shrunk.

By the end, they need a crane to demolish the side of the wall so they can take you to hospital. Or the morgue.

Every journey starts with a small step. "

I've started making my small steps. I would say I really need to lose about 2 stone to be at a weight I'm happy with, but I haven't been that weight for around 6 years.

I've alway been 'big-boned' (not in the prison sense) and would say that I've got got quite a large frame... i.e. fat, but over those past 6 years it's got worse. Do you know what I did 6 years ago? I went to University.

I found beer, alcopops, irregular sleep patterns, fast food, women, the internet, etc. And it's been a slippery slope since then. I had always been an active person, riding my bike, playing sports, and generally enjoying doing stuff, but when this is replaced by meeting friends at the pub instead of the park there's bound to be an inevitable change in lifestyle and fitness.

When I was doing my A-levels I used to only have a saturday job at a local butchers and for working 8:30am till 5:30pm I got the handsome some of £20! With this I would go out on the saturday night over to the other nearest town on the "free train" (i.e. I didn't by a ticket) go to a pub (which isn't there anymore) and invest some of my money on a fair few pints of 'Toby Bitter' which cost £1 a pint...bargain and I'd maybe have a few shorts to finish off, play a few games of pool, and then get the "free train" home again. One night a week of doin stuff was all I could afford (and the bitter was like water anyway). My waist remained at a steady size.

When I was at Uni there wasn't just the weekend it was the whole week too and I'd probably go out on most nights and have a fair few beers, funded by my student loan. Eventually you are running on empty and the only food that really picks you up is junk food with its ready supply of fats and sugars. My exercise was cut down, my eating and drinking went up and that was the start of a slippery slope into fatness.

I've had several false starts into fitness, I've previously joined a couple of gyms, tried to cut down of indulgances, but ultimately they have been a failure.
Sice I moved back to my home town last year I'd got a more regular timetable in my life, and I was playing more sports than ever, and eating better food. I thought this would lead to a healthier lifestyle. Apparently it improves fitness but still doesn't get rid of the weight. I've finally accepted that the curse of my adulthood is ......wait for it......BEER!

I know it's not really much of a surprise but it seems that we British usually need to have a pint in our hand to be having a good time. It's the way our society has been built. Well I've eventually cottoned on to the evils of alcohol. I do like beer and I don't think I could give it up but I've realised that is is okay to say 'no' every so often. I used to feel pressure to always have a pint when out and I'd always have to keep up with the rounds, as it was the done thing.

I think the secret is not abstaining completely but only drinking when you actually want to. I'm now quite happy to have a pint (yummy) and if I think I don't really want anymore then I switch over to my drink of choice, a pint of orange squash and soda water. It's very refreshing and at 60p, compared to £2.80 a pint, very cheap (I've blogged a fair few times about how I haven't got much spare money now).

This regime has only been going on the past few weeks but it's great to wake up in the morning with a perfectly clear head anda wallet with money in!

Every so often it's good to get bolloxed but the need hasn't come yet so I'm still good. I think another reason is that I've now got over the initial stage where friends were joking about my squash drinking, and now they don't care about it.

Viva la revolution!

------------------------------------------
Don't you hate it when people are utter c**ts? i'm quite a good natured fellow most of the time but when people are rude and obnoxious I get very angry and a storm rages inside me. This happened yesterday when I was working at my local pub. this person walked in and I thought to myself "ok, he's been a c**t to me before but everyone deserves a second chance, I'll see how he acts today and reserve my judgement. He was still a c**t. No surprises, but it was worse because I had been willing to rethink about his c**ticity. This put me in a bad mood which I'm sure reflected onto other customers. I finished work at 8pm and guess what? I had to have a beer to relax me! first of all I wanted lot's of beers, but one seemed to do the trick and Istopped there. My journey into semi-abstaintion is still on the right tracks.

Good morning TV, You're looking so healthy

It seems that a few of you thought that was the end of "The Big Blog" but that was not the impression I was trying to give when I ended my last post with 'Au Revoir'. I must admit that if I was going to leave then that would've been a classic way to do it, in an homage to Reginald Perrin leaving his clothes on the beach and walking into the sea, or Captain Oates who left with a simple "I am just going outside and may be some time".

I don't give in that easily though and I'm sure I can cope with blogging for the foreseeable future. But how long for? I took the MIT Weblog Survey the other week and one of the questions asked was (I'm paraphrasing here) 'How long will you keep maintaining your weblog?' What a question! In the end I think I answered around 2 years, as a safe option (Thus outlasting my longest relationship)

I think the most endearing things about blogs are the personal nature surrounding them and the insight you get into people's lives. Sometimes I stumble upon a few blogs that are far too personal and I must say I'm a bit of a coward when it comes to things like that and I'd rather read a blog which I can read in a mate/mate style, topics and conversations I could chat about with close friends and not have too many uncomfortable silences [Pulp Fiction has just entered my head- Mia: "Why do we feel it's necessary to yak about bullshit in order to be comfortable?"]

I do enjoy blogging though as it gives me a chance to talk about things that actually interest me, and I know I won't be boring anyone. If you want to read it then fine, if you don't then you can whizz off to someone else's blog, not like being stuck in the same room as the person. It's as easy as that and I'm sure I've read 100s of blogs, discarded the vast majority of them and only keep reading the ones that interest me and to which I have a affinity.

From reading the blogs I regularly visit I feel like I know quite a bit about their authors. The bloggers, who's lives I read about, are people who I believe I would probably get on with in "real life", and have a great deal in common with. I could probably meet up with them in a pub and have a great conversation, but would it be the same if I hadn't known so much about them before? I doubt it.

The serious relationships I've had in the past have always been with women I have been friends with and then it's developed into something else. I suppose it's like testing the waters. We enjoy each others company [we can stand each other], know a fair bit about each other's past and interests, and things have developed into something good.

The not so serious relationships [or acquaintances] I've had have never lasted more than a month, after which I realise that we are completely different [Paula Abdul was wrong] and that I don't really want to spend a great amount of time with this person. I'm sure there were boundaries that could be overcome but if it's that much effort then I'd rather not go with it.

It's good if you have some different interests but it's essential that you have quite a bit in common with each other. If I could read the blogs of prospective dates then I'm sure things would run a lot more smoothly and if I didn't like what I read then I could pick up the phone say "Sorry I just don't think it's going to work, it's not me, it's you" and not waste an evening.

It's just struck me that that's a bit like these dating agencies where you can view a video of a potential date and, like Andy, say "I want that one!". But I'm sure that people who use them lie about themselves or only talk about the positive aspects of them, having a 3 minute section to sell yourself, whereas a blog usually has a years worth on entries where the blogger isn't trying to sell themselves to anyone, only trying to express themselves to no-one.

So there it is, a more meaningful entry to "The Big Blog". I feel better for it.

[Watch this space for a great business idea I have, where I'd like your views. I'll update later with my plans.]

I bore myself to sleep at night, I bore myself in broad daylight

If you've read a few of the previous posts then you'll know that I've been trying to spend little money...as I have none. Well it seems to be working for the moment and I'v ebeen keeping myself busy by working and then doing DIY jobs around the house that I've been putting off.
These are a few of the reasond why I have momentarily dropped off the blogging circuit. I have been reading other peoples blogs though and left a few comments here and there.

I've got a few things I could do a post about but I don't think they'd be very interesting so I'll leave you with that.

Au Revoir

A Change Would Do You Good

On a lighter side of things I thought I'd tell you my two favourite jokes.

Q. What's E.T. short for?
A. Because he's only got little legs!

Q. Why does Noddy wear a hat with bells on?

A. Because he's a twat!

Boom! Boom! Classics, and ones that I can still remember when pissed.
If you've got any classics and you want to share some good humour then post a comment.

I know that there's gonna be a change, Better find your way out of your fear

I was watching the Edinburgh Final Push concert on BBC3 last night and I was greeted by the Sugababes singing 'Stronger'. It was an amazing version displaying brilliant harmonies and excellent voices by three young once young girls, and now young women. Here are the lyrics:

I'll make it through the rainy days
I'll be the one who stands here longer than the rest
When my landscape changes, rearranges
I'll be stronger than I've ever been
No more stillness,more sunlight,
Everything's gonna be alright

I know that there's gonna be a change
Better find your way out of your fear
If you wanna come with me
Then that's the way it's gotta be
I'm all alone and finally
I'm getting stronger
You'll come to see just what I can be
I'm getting stronger

Sometimes I feel so down and out
Like emotion that's been captured in a maze
I had my ups and downs
Trials and tribulations,
I overcome it day by day,
Feeling good and almost powerful
A new me, that's what I'm looking for

Bridge
Chorus

I didn't know what I had to do
I just knew I was alone
People around me
But they didn't care
So I searched into my soul
I'm not that type of girl that will let them see her cry
It's not my style
I'll get by
See I'm gonna do this for me

chorus x 2
ohohohohohohohohohohohohoh

The song really effected me and I was thinking back to things that have happened and things that are happening. Much of this had been brought on by the points raised by 'Live 8' and the 'Make Poverty History' campaign. I know that a few concerts and wristbands are not going to solve the problems but I'm a firm believer that once you recognise you have a problem it's the first step to overcoming it. I felt that we had finally brought a major injustice into the popular mainstream, and that the wheels were being set in motion to solve it.

It had been an emotional day following an emotional week, and after the jubilation surrounding London's successful Olympic bid, I felt we were turning a corner after what has been an awful start to the 21st century (September 11th, Iraq, the tsunami, continuing world famine, increased global warming, I could go on but it's too depressing) and 'Stronger' showed that we can all overcome adversity, pull together, and make a difference. It seemed everyone wanted the same thing. This feeling inside me only lasted till this morning.

I sat watching the news this morning and my optimism for the future was fading from me. I felt sick inside and was hoping (I can't believe I'm saying this) that it was just a tragic series of events that had occurred in our capital. It seems that this is not the case and terrorists have yet again had blatant disregard for human life and done something very bad.

I just wish it would stop. Sorry to all the victims and their families.

Olypics 2012 Update

The Results are going to be announced soon......
I've got the TV on and am blogging, and also doing some design work in Photoshop....busy, busy, busy. vidiprinter style text to follow....no time stamps though, I'm too lazy but all this is happening from 12:20.

The woman talking is quite fit.....I think she's a Singaporean actress....hot...back to the bid now.
-----------------------
Now some drawn out images of Singapore (they are hosting this IOC session)
-----------------------
I'm watching on BBC News 24 by the way, only another 10 minutes to go.
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They're showing all the candidate cities presentations in a montage stylee #. What a drawn out process.....I can't wait.8 minutes till the results.
-----------------------
The London bid video, with Heather Smalls in, is actually very good. I like.
-----------------------
Results time.......The President of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, has stood up. A 14 year old sailor (from singapore) is going to bring the envelope
-----------------------
A bit of singing now! Hurry up! Whatever happened to a good drumroll?
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They're giving thanks to Singapore. Now the 9 cities who initially bid..
-----------------------
The envelope's out!!!!!
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The 2112 olympics has been awarded to the city of...........LONDON
LONDON HAS IT!!!!!!!!!!
BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-----------------------
I thought we might've lost it, but no, brilliant. I actually clapped whe nthe results came out. Roll on 2012!

2012 Olympics

I'm watching the vote for the 2012 Olymipics, and for a room full of old farts it's been very exciting but yet I've been left on a cliffhanger.

Initially the possible host countries were Madrid, New York, Paris, London, and Moscow.
After a series of votes (computerised), Moscow, New York and Madrid, were eliminated from each round of voting. That left just Paris and London in it, and there's just been the vote between them, but agony, the end result won't be announced till 12:46 BST.
There's really nothing between them and it will be a lottery to who gets it.

I'll update after the result........

I feel right, the music sounds better with you

I've resisted the urge for a long time but now I really want one......I want an i-pod!!!
I've got loads of mp3s and CDs and I almost bought a Creative Zen Touch around 6 months ago but I resisted and realised I didn't actually need an mp3 player. But now I need one!

From all the specs I've looked at and reviews I've seen, the Creative is actually better than the Apple i-pod, but then there's the whole style issue, and after checking out a few friends ones (i-pods that is) I'm gonna get the i-pod.

I've fallen upon a few problems though:
1) Money - always a big issue. I've checked and I've already got 20gig of mp3s and this is sure to keep going so I really need to think about getting the 60gig one which is a pound short of £300. Luckily as I work for a University I could be eligeble for an educational discount but that only brings it down to £274.95
I've had a look on ebay but nothing is really much of a bargain so I might as well get an official one from the Apple store
2) i-Tunes has just f**cked around with the /my music/ directory and has made loads of new folders! arghhh! Not what I want. Also it hasn't uploaded around 90% of my music, so I'll have to upload all the folders seperately.

If anyone knows where I can get a cheaper i-pod then leave a comment. Also if anyone knows how to undo the folder buggery then leave a comment.

That's all for now.

MIT Weblog Survey

After gettting my daily dose from SwissToni's blog I followed a link from there to the MIT Weblog Survey which is basically doing what it says on the tin. I can now proudly boast this banner.


Why not click on it and become a number too.

they're like buses

You wait for one, then three come along at the same time. No not buses as the title suggests, or women (I should coco), but in fact photo-uploading doobries. In the past I've been uploading pics to my ademweb.co.uk site and directing my blog to get pictures from there. I did this as I have the space and there was nothing else that was that simple without signing up to loads of other things.

Then last month I decided to join flickr. I'd seen people, like SwissToni, had uploaded their pictures on to flickr and used them on their blog, so I jumped in and signed up (for free of course). All's very good there.

Then now blogger has launched a free photo upload service directly from the blog posting section. Easy Peasy.

So What do I go with???? I'm guessing I'll still use flickr and my own hosting, but I don't know if I'll use the actual blogger upload as I won't really know where the pictures are, as they'll be floating around in cyber space somewhere. Scary. I do wonder where all the crap goes on the internet, when people sign up to services or upload things and then completely forget about it.

Batman Begins

I went to the cinema last night with Jonny, Ant, and Ian, and I can say the at Batman has certainly Begun. Batman Begins has been out for a couple of weeks now and I only just got the chance to watch it.

It's usually the case that sequals get worse the further down the line they are, but I think that the time out from the Batman franchise has been good as there was a decline in the quality of the films, with the latter films resting on the laurels of Tim Burton's 1989 film.

1. Batman (1989) ...Great film, very dark, gothic Gotham is a masterpiece
2. Batman Returns (1992) ...Tim Burton and Michael Keaton return. Visually very pleasing, but the quality of script has slipped.
3. Batman Forever (1995) ...Robin is a pansy...a camp affair allround
4. Batman & Robin (1997) ...They didn't learn, crap villains
5. Batman Begins (2005) ...Starts back at the beginning, great cast, script, and visuals

In going back to the beginning of the whole Batman/Bruce Wayne saga the director, Christopher Nolan, of Memento fame, has a chance to start afresh from the series of films that slipped into mediocraty and campness.

The choice of cast is exceptional. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson are great actors and fulfil their roles here.....anyone notice that they're all British actors.

In fact is was actually a bit like a game of spot the Britain - Other notable Brits included - Tom Wilkinson, Cillian Murphy (ok Irish), Colin MacFarlane, Linus Roache, Larry Holden, and Gerard Murphy. These Brits actually take up 10 of the top 15 spaces on the bill. I suppose you get that when the director is british too!

The brits are showing the yanks how to do it. We do love a bit of drama, and always look on the dark side, so I guess Batman Begins is the perfect choice, as fear and darkness are underlying themes in the film.

I haven't gone too much into plot etc as I don't want to ruin the film for those of you who haven't watched it but I can assure you that you will be getting more than just a Summer Blockbuster.


Watch It!