I paid my dues

In keeping with money issues, a while back I posted about paying off my debt, and I'm happy to say that I've continued paying off monthly to reduce it. When I made that post on 12th October I told you I had £2,349 on my credit card, well since than I've managed to pay off £600 leaving me with £1,749 on it. I've been paying off £200 a month on the card and also putting £100 into my savings, and in theory I could've just paid off £300 a month but it's nice to have a bit put aside for emergencies.

If I get within a reasonable amount of getting to zero on the card I'll use some of my savings to get to it quicker. It's like a game now and trying to get a better score!!

I said you could be mine

Oh yes, you will be mine. [in a Wayne Campbell stylee]

I'll be getting my Christmas Club money this week which I was saving whilst I was at the pub, and it should be over £200 (I stopped paying in once I'd quit there in August). I've been umming and ahhing for ages now about which new camera to get, and obviously money is an issue and I've got this money as a budget.

A while back I'd mentioned I wanted a Fujifilm FinePix S5200, and that was 4 months ago, and in that time I've had a look around at other cameras too, but I'm definitely going to get it. It's good to look around but I keep going back to the same camera and I think that shows it's the best one for that price bracket and the features it has, and shows that it's not going to be an impulse buy. It's now only £139 in Amazon which leaves me some spare cash to get a meaty 1GB card for it too.

You know my name

Last night I went to my small local cinema to watch the new James Bond film - Casino Royale, along with Ian, Ant, and Jonny, and I have to admit that I quite enjoyed it. [no spoilers in this post]

Do you want to know a secret? This is the first Bond film I've ever watched at the cinema! Shock! I grew up watching all the repeats ov TV and have watched each film many times over but I guess when I did get the chance to watch the later films I didn't really fancy it and would prefer to wait 'til they're on DVD or on TV, but for this one I thought I'd make the effort.

In the cinema I had a really uncomfortable seat and the sound wasn't very good from the off (poor Chris Cornell), but I guess it shows that I hardly noticed these distractions at all and got involved in the film.

I guess the real plus for me in the way that this Bond has shaped out is that that he has more of a vulnerability about him in that he doesn't have this bulletproof demeanor about him which previous Bonds have. He knows that he could die and that the lives of 'Double-O' agents are notoriously short. Another plus is the villains in the film and their motivation, which is not for world domination or vendettas but purely for money and trading on international conflict.

So all in all not a bad Wednesday night.

We play out our last scene

I'm going to watch Casino Royale, a film that has had a promotional budget almost a large as the filming budget, and this got me thinking of films I've stumbled across with no prior knowledge.

At the moment I can think of 2 films which fir into this criteria and both were bought on VHS for 99p at a discount vidoe shop in my local highstreet quite a few years ago.

The first film was Happy Gilmore, starring Adam Sandler, which I'm sure did have a bit spent on it but it went underneath my radar and I only discovered it in around 1999. It became I sure-fire hit with me and my friends and we were able to watch it over and over again, quoting all the best lines.

The next film is 'Office Space' which I probably got a hold of in around 2001. It's a very funny film, and I'd recommend it to anyone. Watch it!

So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life.

So why else am I talking about these films?? well, I also put an 'Office Space' picture in my last post and I also want to put in a youtube clip of course!!

I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black

I'm feeling better now. I guess it was just one of those days eh?

I have changed my template (again) as I was annoyed with the last one, which didn't seem to update automatically (requiring me to sometimes have to refresh manually to see new content), and also took that little bit longer to load.

I have gone for a clean design, with less clutter.

Done (for now).

You make me completely miserable

I am depressed. It's for no particular reason, and I know on a scale of how depressed other people can get I nowhere near that level, but I do feel rubbish today. I've got nothing to really feel bad about but as I am usually quite happy, when I get a little down it hits me more.

What I really feel like doing is going out and getting drunk, but that is not an option, and anyway, what good would that do? The only benefit I feel is that I'm actually writing something personal on this blog, instead of just the usual ramblings.

I am tired, and I guess that doesn't help, and all I really want is to do nothing, to wallow, and to be alone. None of that is going to happen. I honestly can't wait 'til the Christmas holidays when I get a few days off.

Did I mention it's my birthday next week? 26 I'll be. And 'No' that is not the reason I am depressed. I'll be off to France on Saturday with some good friends, and no doubt getting drunk and ice-skating. Doesn't time fly eh? I guess I am a little miffed at getting older, but I shouldn't be. I'm still young although it's weird to thing that a 1/3rd of my life has gone by (hopefully given the national life expectancy). I guyes what I hate is that there are only so many hours in a day. I do not use these hours to the best of my abilities.

I suppose the job is part of the reason although I enjoy it on the whole, it's just some parts which annoy me, and I guess it's those parts that I can't control, like other people.

I should just try and change some things, and I will do that, but they always take longer to do than anticipated.

I guess that's the end of my depressing post, and I'm sure I'll be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed by the next post.

Au Revoir.

I also wanty to change my blogger template because it is shit. It looks good but the functonality is crap, and that annoys me. It will change soon.

I got the fever for the nectar, the payback will be later, still I need a fix.

I went out last night to Canterbury, and have to say I had quite a good time. I didn't go out on Friday as I was at work 'til 10:30pm and so I really wanted to go out on Saturday to let off some steam before the weekend was over, and as no one was doing anything in Ramsgate, I headed over to Jonny's who was going out with some work friends.

Normally when I go out in Canterbury I get very drunk by consuming copious amounts of Stella Artois and vodka Redbulls, I don't know why, but it does seem to happen, and so I decided that I'd stay away from any of that crap. 4 pints of Guinness, 1 pint of Masterbrew, and then 2 pints of Fosters did it for me, and I wasn't feeling dodgy at all this morning, apart from having what I have termed 'Sofa Legs' as I had spent the night on Jonny's sofa, which resulted in my legs either hanging over the edge of the arm, or being curled up, which obviously isn't the most comfortable.

We went to a few of the normal pubs, and also went to a new bar called 'The Cuban', which had recently opened on Canterbury Highstreet. I think I enjoyed it because it was midnight when we got there, and there was no fuss about getting in, no entry fee, no nothing, it wasn't being pretentious, just being a cool lace to go. You may have guessed by the name that this is a bar with Cuban influences and they actually had a live duo playing some cuban tunes, but they also sported some lovely decor, and a brilliant cocktail list. I didn't have any of the cocktails (£5.95 each!) but they were all properly made, in all the correct glasses, with all the trimmings and looked fabulous. I can also remember that they had the best decorated toilets I've ever seen!

I will definitely go there again.

Work tomorrow.... boooooo!

And how come we (England) are shit at all sports again!!

Men reading fashion magazines

And linking in to the last post how could be forget Martha's fabulous brother Rufus?

I find the map and draw a straight line

When I don't feel like blogging I always feel a video is always good and so this weekend:

Snow Patrol feat. Martha Wainwright - Set The Fire To The Third Bar



Also... If you fancy listening to the whole Snow Patrol - Eyes Open album then click here (obviously buy it if you like it!)

It's only words

You may have noticed that I haven't blogged for a few days but I just hadn't got around to it, and I don't really mind as I didn't have anything important to say [do I ever?].

On Friday I went and saw Jimmy Carr at the Margate Winter Gardens. Very funny and I enjoyed myself. I did have a worrying moment at the beginning when I went to get a few beers before the performance but once I'd bought them I was told I wasn't allowed back in the hall with drinks as the performance had already started! So there I was with 4 beers thinking I was going to have to down them!! Luckily the bar manager had a word with the usher and it was all cool. phew.

I haven't been up to much else except work.

Bit of a rubbish post but I had to get one out of the way. Laters

Music makes the world go round.

For a good tune click here.

That's life and I can't deny it

For the past few days I've been doing my bit for charity at the Uni. It's fallen to myself and another member of staff to try and raise money, and honestly if it wasn't for her then nothing would happen. It's Children in Need week and we always like to do our bit and so we thought of a few events such a cake sales, wet-sponge throwing, collections, and leg-waxing, and have been trying to get money out of everyone.

It's not gone too bad although it would've been nice if more people had offered to help out, but hey that's life. We decided to not only cellect for Children in need but were also collecting for a local children's hospice, an epilepsy charity, and a lung-cancer charity, with the proceeds of the week being split between them.

So far we've raised over £200 which isn't bad for a few lunchtimes work.

In other news I've been watching the repeats of This Life, which are celebrating their 10 year anniversary. Brainiacs out there will realise that it first aired in 1996, which meant I was 15, and to be honest I saw a little bit of it but it didn't click with me. But now watching it again it's amazing how much I can relate to it, and it is a fantatic programme to boot too.

I am the same age now as the main characters are, and seeing their lives resonates a lot with my life, the way they feel, what they've done, how they've lived. I've done the whole Uni thing, sharing a house thing, and generally wondering what life is about thing, and I guess it rings true with the nostalgia of not only the way I relate to them, but also the way I relate to the 90s and look back on that era.

It's a brilliant series and although I've caught most of the episodes, I've still missed a few and so may go out and buy the boxset before the BBC airs it's one off Christmas special of This Life, titled "Ten Years On".

Programmes like this show what is good about TV, as opposed to the reality TV rubbish around. Watch it!

Start me up..

Woo hoo.. I've just got Firefox installed on my PC at work! This was done by my mate Paul who works in the computing department and so has admin rights.

He also updated my flash player so I can now watch youtube and visit loads more websites!

Hoorah!

He drinks a whisky drink, he drinks a lager drink

Yesterday was dedicated as a BDOF (Boy's Day Of Fun) and we started off the day by playing a 9-hole round of golf. I was terrible.

Next up was a pubcrawl around all the pubs we don't normally go into, which usually means they are a bit dodgy. I used to go into quite a few of these pubs, but as we've all got older, people get set in their ways and don't like straying from the local.

The pub crawl the Stoneless Clubhouse for one, and then back to Ramsgate for the Australian Arms, The Admiral Fox, The Vale, The De Ville, The Bedford Inn, The Artillary Arms, Harveys, The Queens Head, and Rocca bar (I think that's all although I may have missed some due to excess alcohol.)

We played pool, darts, and drank. done.

I got in around 1am (ish?), and amazingly was quite sober(ish), flicked on the TV and ate my burger I'd got from the kebab shop. The repeat of Friday Night with Jonathon Ross was on TV and guests were John Barrowman and The Mighty Boosh. John Barrowman was very funny.

I then got up at 8:30am as I had football this morning, and I got my first game for a few months. I enjoyed it and we won 3-1.

I am quite tired now but have got to go to Uni to run a Pub Quiz in 20 mins. poo!

That's all for now, although I may reflect later on a few incidents in a couple of the pubs.

Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses

BNP leader Nick Griffin and party activist Mark Collett have been cleared of inciting racial hatred. The original trial was instigated by a BBC programme in which their leader Nick Griffin, described Islam as a "wicked, vicious faith" and said Muslims were turning Britain into a "multi-racial hell hole", and Mr Collett addressed the audience by saying: "Let's show these ethnics the door in 2004."

The jury acknowledged that the BNP had chosen their words very carefully and although many people would find it offensive, nothing they had said had broken the law. They hadn't incited racial hatred, which was the charge, although Griffin admited that he had been critial of religions, most natably Islam, but that wasn't what they were in court for.

I've been watching the live feeds from BBC News 24, and I hate this man. I have to admit that he is a very clever man, and certainly knows how to work the crowd, is a good public speaker, and seems to be getting increasing support.

There was plenty of talks of 'we' and 'us' with reference to 'whites', but if they are only going against Muslims, then why did I see no blacks or asians in their support, the majority of whom are British born and bred? Quite simply I believe they are racist purely against people who they not deem as non-white, and for all their talk of controlled immigration and keeping Britain British, I can't see them making speeches against white-Europeans who reside here.

They do not like blacks and asians [sorry to be pigeonholing here] and are too ignorant to understand that being British isn't about being a certain colour.

The scary thing is that they are finding increased support from a public who see answers in some of their policies, and also I'm sure from racists who are looking for a legal way to express their hate.

I Quit! I Quit! The situation's vacant for me

I have given up on NaNoWriMo. There I've said it. Please be gentle.

I haven't been fully committed to it and now that I've said I'm not doing anymore I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I only decided to do it on a whim the day before it started and I've only written 4000 words so far and we're already a third into the timeline of the contest. I like to think that I could have completed it but I'd be lying. Maybe at the beginning I thought it was possible, but I am not a writer, and never have been.

Yes I know I can 'write', but I just wasn't feeling it, and would prefer to spend the next few weeks catching up on some other projects that I only half-heartedy started and need to complete.

For regular readers of this blog you'll know I do this kinda thing every so often and have in the past considered stopping this blog because I couldn't be bothered, but I have always returned, tail between my legs, and so it is not the end of my NaNoWriMo career but certainly I will not be finishing my novel by the set deadline. I do get bored easily and am always wanting to try and new things, but I should really have some restraint.

There is nothing to compare to that satisfying feeling of completing something, and I have quite a big list of things that need to be done, so I'll try and get them done, and then maybe I could consider committing myself to something as big as NaNoWriMo. I wish I'd thought this out better....

We're the kids in America

I've just been to watch Borat!: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

It's quite niice

Cool for cats

I saw this over at Cheezy's blog, and according to the quiz only 32% of people are cooler than me, with 68% being more of a loser than me.

p.s I am cooler than Cheezy!

You gotta roll with it

yumm. In a post more likely to come from Stef, I'm going to talk about my lunch. I've discovered that the newsagent across the road from work stocks some excellent baguettes and at a very good price.

Normally I'll pop over to the Uni canteen and see what they've got in their choice of baguettes but they are made from cheap bread and the fillings are not really what I fancy (Emmental and Bacon anyone?) and I end up disappointed. I'm sure some people may like them but they are not for me, and I usually don't have the hot food because I prefer a main meal in the evening.

The shop over the road does these baguettes that are made from french sticks, have some lovely fillings, and are cheaper than from the Uni.

Yesterday I had Chicken, Mayonnaise, Celery, and raisons, and today I've had Chicken, Bacon, Cranberry sauce, and Mayonnaise.

Ok, they may not be the healthiest but they are yummy.

Bad to the bone

Saddam Hussein is a very bad man, an evil man and the Iraqi courts have just sentanced him to death by hanging, but I don't think this will happen, and I think that on appeal he'll get a life sentance. Well hey that's just my opinion.

Now I'm going to play devil's advocate here and say that I don't think he should be killed. Yes he has commited the worst kind of attrocities possible, and is surely in the big leagues with Hitler et al in what he has done, and what has been done under his regime, but I'm still not comfortable with capital punishment. Some people may call me a coward and will say that he does deserve to die, and yes I do think that he deserves to die, but not by our hand or anyone others.

It is a hard situation to be in because whilst he is still alive then he will still be a leader to those that still support him, and if he is killed then he will become a martyr.

If only there was some punishment between a life sentance and a death sentance.

I feel it in my fingers

hmmm.. so I'm not exactly setting NaNoWriMo alight at the moment but I've gone past 3000 words now, which is still 5000 behind schedule. I guess I'm hoping that I'll have a burst of inspiration and stamina and turn into a writing machine.

Reading through the aims of NaNoWriMo the main aim of course is to reach 50,000 words with the actual quality being second to the word count. So I can see a lot of bollocks being written in the near future as I aim to pump up the words that my miniscule mind can come up with.

This will definitely be no masterpiece but I'm sure I've read a lot worse before.

Good luck to all those others taking part.

Pick a part that's new

OK, I've started a new novel for NaNoWriMo, after realising the one I had started on the 1st for going nowhere as I had no knowledge of the subject!

I just wrote 643 words in 30mins, and have updated that on my sidebar widget, so that you can see that I've made the slightest dent in the 50,000 words total. The thing is that if I got anywhere near the total and needed to up the word should I just write bollocks? Obviously the novel would be rubbish[er] but I would have completed the novel.

As you can see..I'm a fair bit behind the total I should've reached by now. I always did cram at the last minute.

If anyone wants to check my progress of become a NaNoWriMo Buddy then you can find my profile here.

The title of my novel??

"A UK Monotony"

Well, I got a muscle of love

Today I am walking around like Douglas Bader having got a dead leg in football last night. An opponent went up for a header and kneed me in my thigh which ended my game on pitch and so I opted to go in goal (kept a clean sheet.. no real saves to make though).



For those of you unfamiliar with the term click here. When I've had them in the past it's usually fine after a day or so, but I have a feeling this one will take a bit longer which means I could miss football at the weekend.

On other news, I haven't even really started on my NaNoWriMo. It was a good idea...but I will fail. I'm DJing tonight, probably going out on Saturday and then on Sunday I'm running a quiz which doesn't really leave me with much spare time to write. If I can get a few thousand words done then I'll be happy!

Is that alright?

I heard this song by Damien Rice on the Zane Lowe show whilst on the way to footy.



It's a good live performance [cracking voice], although the version I heard was with the accompanying vocals of Lisa Hannigan.

If you want to be naughty then you can download the track here [just as a taster mind you. then go and buy it!]