Should auld acquaintance be forgot

In an effort to not 'have it large' the night before New Years eve, we went around Phil's for a poker night, with a little bit of Pro Evo stuck in for good measure. 7 of us stuck a tenner each into the pot for a game of Texas Hold 'Em, and I was doing quite well. A few people got knocked out and I let them buy back in by giving them some of my chips (poker chips that is.... Adem doesn't share food!) in exchange for their monetary value, and so I had my £10 stake back in my poker and was playing with about £15 worth of excess chips.

In the end it got to about 2am and I was getting a little bored, the ante was now at 50p/£1 and so several big hands later and I was out. And then I got to play Pro Evo!

We left Phils at around 3:30am, and I finally got to sleep at around 4:30am, which I think you'll agree is perfect preparation for New Year's Eve!

This year we're all going in fancy dress as is the same for every year and I'll try and get some pictures up tomorrow for you.

Have a good time whatever you're up to!

Only the lonely

I'm watching 'Under Pressure' starring Charlie Sheen on FiveUS, and an advert came up for text flirting. You know the adverts they have "text to chat to single girls in your area", yadda yadda yadda, etc etc etc. Well I was shocked that this 'service' was charging £1.50 per text message!!! Can you imagine how much a 'conversation' would cost? Who knows who's on the end of the line!

What a crazy world! I'll stick to my 'Premium phonelines' instead!

I've paid my dues

I've just paid for another 6 months road tax which came to £60.50, then later on this afternoon I'm taking my car to the garage to get new brake pads, then afte going through my documents I realised that my MOT is up in mid-January, which will mean me getting those 3 new tyres I talked about before, and then I've also got to sort out my wing mirror!

I've managed to get registered at a new NHS dentist and have just booked a preliminary appointment to check over the ol' gnashers, so that'll be a bit more cash too, but at least it'll be cheaper than going private.

Woo Hoo!!!

You gotta stand up straight, Carry your own weight

oooh, it's been quiet hasn't it? All I've been doing is eating roast beef all day, and then I went to the pub this afternoon/evening and drank guinness. done.

I did get around to watching 'The Machinest' which I bought on DVD last week for £4.99 in WHSmith whilst Xmas shopping. One of the main talking points about this film was that its star, Christian Bale, lost 63 pounds to play the role. Quite amazing and he apparently ate one can of tuna and one apple a day as part of his 'diet'. After this film he then had to bulk up for 'Batman Returns'. Not a bad film in all, and I won't spoil any of it for you.

(in The Machinest)


(in Batman Begins)

I'd better start getting buff hadn't I?

Oh, I can't wait to see those faces

It's Christmas but does it feel like it? I'm at home with my Mum and my Sister, we've unwrapped our presents, we'll be having our feast in a while, and we'll be spending the whole day together, so in that respect I guess that it is Christmas, but do you know what I really want.....

SNOW!!!

I know it's a bit immature but I love it and at the moment it's not even that cold. It may not be good for driving in and may cause havoc for many but there's something nostalgic about it, so here's a selection of photos from February 2005. Either click here to get the whole set or just refresh your browser to see another selection of pics.

www.flickr.com

I hope you all have a good day whatever you're doing.

I don't want a lot for Christmas

Here's some festive greeting from me.

Click here

Jack Frost nipping at your nose

I've been a little bored this week as I've been off work but haven't applied myself to anything of note. I've watched TV, played computer games, got my Christmas shopping done, had a bit of a tidy-up, but that's about it really. Everyone else has been at work and so I've only had myself as company, which as you'd expect is pretty boring.*

I did manage to go out last night though which was nice and had quite a few pints of Bombardier and Adnams and I had a lovely kip last night. I am refreshed today and tonight I've got my football club Christmas dinner to go to, so I'll be suited and booted and no doubt will have a few more bevvies.

I'm pretty sure I've got some interesting blog posts inside my head but I'll save them for a bit later, so no interesting posts yet.

*You would be bored too if you had to spend a lot of time with me!

Post office clerks put up signs saying position closed

Nothing much happening at the moment. Bit boring really.

Post office clerks put up signs saying position closed
And secretaries turn off typewriters and put on their coats
Janitors padlock the gates
For security guards to patrol
And bachelors phone up their friends for a drink
While the married ones turn on a chat show

And they'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow

Gentlemen time please, you know we can't serve anymore
Now the traffic lights change to stop, when there's nothing to go
And by five o'clock everything's dead
And every third car is a cab
And ignorant people sleep in their beds
Like the doped white mice in the college lab

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
The needle returns to the start of the song
And we all sing along like before

And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow

Telephone exchanges click while there's nobody there
The Martians could land in the carpark and no one would care
Close-circuit cameras in department stores shoot the same video every day
And the stars of these films neither die nor get killed
Just survive constant action replay

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
The needle returns to the start of the song
And we all sing along like before

And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow

Bill hoardings advertise products that nobody needs
While angry from Manchester writes to complain about
All the repeats on T.V.
And computer terminals report some gains
On the values of copper and tin
While American businessmen snap up Van Goghs
For the price of a hospital wing

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
The needle returns to the start of the song
And we all sing along like before
Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
They'll burn down the synagogues at six o'clock
And we'll all go along like before

And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow.

Here in my car

I was travelling back from Canterbury on Friday in my car, when a car coming from the opposite direction got a little too close to my car and clipped my wingmirror. Ok, nothing too bad except when you calculate that I was travelling at 30mph and they were travelling at 30mph, then that was a 60mph impact on my wingmirror which proceeded to smash it into my window and obliterate it, covering the inside of my car with glass (and me as well).

It produced a very large BANG and the glass came flying at me and I believe the words to come out of my mouth were "fucking hell!". I was shocked and pulled over, but the other car was gone and didn't stop. In all honesty I think they thought it was only the wingmirror and that no damage was done... but they would be wrong. I had several cuts on my hand from the glass and had to drive the remaining 15 miles without a window which made me very cold.

Once home, I parked the car up the drive and taped a black bag over the window, and was slightly annoyed.

In the morning Autoglass came out and I payed £50 for the priviledge as an excess on my insurance, but they were very good and came out about 30 minutes after I called them!

In instances like this I always try and look on the bright side and came to the conclusion that I didn't go out on Friday Night and only bought a crate of lager for a party on Saturday, so in effect that £50 was what I saved by not spending the usual amount on a weekend. kinda.

What's new pussycat?

I discovered the monochrome function on my camera!! And my cat did some posing for me this morning.

I didn't focus properly on this next one but I actually like it.

There's functions I'm discovering all the time. Great!

And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear

You may remember that last Saturday I went to a Christmas meal in fancy dress, but didn't actually get any photos. Well, a few have surfaced, so here goes.

Jonny also told me that he gave a lift to one of his work colleagues who was there for part of the evening, and he asked who I was, as we'd come as a double-combo fancy dress. Jonny explained that we'd known each other since school, and the colleague looked a bit confused as he thought I was about 50 years old! My make-up was very good then.

My Ding-A-Ling My Ding-A-Ling won't you play with My Ding-A-Ling

BBC News yesterday reported two African trials showing results that circumcision can cut the rate of HIV infection in heterosexual men by 50%. Quite an astonishing fact, so much so that the trials were stopped as it was unethical not to offer circumcision in the men who were acting as controls.

There could be several reasons for this: Specific cells in the foreskin may be potential targets for HIV infection and also the skin under the foreskin becomes less sensitive and is less likely to bleed reducing risk of infection following circumcision.

A very interesting article but also one with an ironic and humourous note. The director of the HIV/Aids department of the World Health Organization, who was interviewed in this article is called...... *schoolboy giggle*.....Dr Kevin De Cock!

Is it just me then? hello.... *cue tumbleweed*...

(heads up to ECR for this spot. I had read the article but somehow missed that fact first time.)

BTW.. Have you actually read the lyrics to Chuck Berry's 'My Ding-a-ling'?

I bet you think this song is about you

Over at SwissToni's Place, ST has been asking us to submit our Earworms of 2006, and it's really hard to narrow it down to just 5 songs, and the majority of them are quite recent, with it hard to think back through the whole year.

Keep thinking!!

Tell me baby do you recognise me?

Hibernation is a state of inactivity and metabolic depression in animals, characterized by lower body temperature, slower breathing, and lower metabolic rate, to conserve energy, especially during winter. Hibernation may last several days or weeks depending on species, ambient temperature, and time of year. Typically, the winter season for the hibernator is characterized by periods of hibernation interrupted by periodic euthermic arousals wherein body temperature is restored to typical values. Hibernation allows animals to conserve energy during the winter when food is short. During hibernation, animals slow their metabolism to a very low level to allow them to use their energy reserves, stored as body's fat, at a slower rate. Before entering hibernation most species eat a large amount of food and store energy in fat deposits in order to survive the winter. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibernation]

I believe that this means that I'll be shortly going into hibernation. Let's have a look at that again and make a checklist:

1.State of inactivity - check
2.Lower metabolic rate - check
3.Eating a large amount of food, stored as fat deposits. - check

I think that you'll agree with me that I will soon be going into hibernation, and boy do I feel like it. Either that or I've become a fat slob, and the actual evidence seems to point to the latter. I'm going to try and get my shit together over the festive period, and do all the things that I've not been bothered to do lately, such as tidy up, get some exercise, stop eating crap food ,etc.

It's going to be hard with all the celebrating and parties going on but when I come back to work in January I want to feel 100 times better.... and look it. It used to be that I'd put weight on over winter but I'd then lose it over summer and that would enable me to paarty again at winter, but over the past few years, since I've been in 'real' work, I have forgotten to do the summer bit. So I'm gonna have to try and make the winter my lose weight time. Pretty hard though, but hopefully if I write it here then I may actuall do it. I think the best way for me to go is through getting back into cycling which I've completely put on the backburner in favour of driving to work. Part of this is because of the rain and wind, but (puns ahoy) I've got to get 'back into the saddle', as it's 'just like riding a bicycle'.

I've had a lot more convenience food lately too, and have put it down to not having enough time to make something. Bollocks. It is nice though, but I know that it's just the fat, salt, and sugar giving me that artificial high. It's not just takeaway food though, even stuff like shop baguettes are full of calories, and I'm simply not doing enough to burn these off.

So another checklist can be made:
1. Eat less
2. Exercise more

I think this is the general feeling amongst people as it gets to winter time, and I know that once I start exercising again, I'll feel better and will feel less lethargic.

Let's do it!!

Here she comes, she’s a picture of perfect youth

On Wednesday I was down town as I had to drop my car into the garage to get the exhaust fixed and whilst I was their I had a play with my new toy.

I have the luxury of living on the coast and so I just wandered down to the harbour and got clicking.

I'm still learning to use some of the features but some of the shots aren't half bad. I've put them on Flickr which is where I try and upload all my photos, and feel free to have a look around at them.

The badge below shows a random selection of photos from the set so just click 'refresh' on your browser to see more.

www.flickr.com

So use it and prove it

While we're on late 90s lovey-stylee songs let's a listen to:

I'm not too sure why these songs keep popping into my head as I can clarify that I don't have a muse inspiring these choices. Do I have to have a reason? No.

I do have some good news though... I'm going to be able to finish work this Friday 15th and won't be back until Wednesday 3rd January. That is a lovely break to have, and I must say I'm really looking forward to it. Nice eh? Now I've jsut got to get all my backdated work done by then!

Get this party started on a Saturday night

Last night I went to Jonny's work do, which I had the pleasure of being invited to as he had parted company with his ladyfriend and I was a back-up guest. It was definitely worth breaking them up for! (joke.)

The night had a 'Hollywood' theme and so yesterday afternoon we decided to go has Indiana Jones and his father Henry Jones Sr (Sean Connery). We hadn't organised anything to wear and so from 2:30pm - 4:30pm was spent trawling around charity shops, and looking in the loft for anything to use.

In the end it all worked out and we looked very good (very modest). I didn't manage to get any photos of us, but some others did get photos and I'll try and get hold of them. I did get a photo when I got in last night around 2pm, and at this stage I was pretty sozzled and had lost some of my facial hair.

n.b. do not stick liquid latex into your facial hair.

The week's not yet begun

Just heard this on the local radio station and thought it'd be nice to spread some of the love.

Once you pop, you can't stop

Maybe I've been treating myself a little too much lately and not watching the £££s like I was a few months ago. Today I was really contemplating buying a Nintendo Wii, after a friend was showing me all the cool clips of it in action. Yes it is very cool, but do I really need it? No.

And I know I'll have plenty of outgoings too as today I got my new exhaust on the car (it's amazing how quiet it is now), and was also told I'd need to get 3 new tyres, and I need new Road Tax at the end of the month. I'm also still waiting to get an NHS Dentist and have filled out the same form again and personally handed it in to the practice. It's been a few years since I last went and I know I'm gonna need 2 teeth taken out where I've broken them, which will mean a few visits.

Consumerism is very much like Pringles.

With my extra leg, diddle-iddle-iddle-um

Look what I've just bought!

Should go well with my new camera.

Early in the morning, just as day is dawning, he picks up all the post bags in his van.

I got my new camera today!! I get most packages delivered to my work as there is always someone there to sign for them, and so when I got in this morning it had arrived!!

I've only got to play with it a little bit and there's loads of features on it that will take a while to learn.

I am happy.

Sleep with one eye open

Rules of all-day drinking:

#1 - Never fall asleep



Tom didn't remember the rules and fell asleep on the ferry back from Calais. You have been warned.

I'll do Graffiti if you sing to me in French,

As has been the tradition of 2004 and 2005, since I've been back living in Kent, I've travelled on the cross-channel ferry over to Calais for my birthday.

Nine of us went over in total and had a good time, although you can tell that we're all getting a little older, and not drinking as much or being as impulsive, but I guess part of that is that we've been to Calais quite a few times, although this time we did venture futher past the town square and further into town.

It was still nice to get away and nice to be away with good friends.

As opposed to previous years, the ice-skating rink wasn't up yet this year, and I had to settle for going on a big-wheel which wasn't as fun, but I did have my first French kebab!

We got back to Ramsgate around 10:30 and I had a curry, and then I was back home at 11:45pm. I could've stayed out a bit longer, but just didn't feel like it.

I was going to have football today, but I got a great Birthday present when my manager rang me at 8:30 am to tell me that the game had been cancelled after excessive rain. woo hoo! And so I got to lie in until 10am, which is a good sleep for me.

I didn't get very exciting presents, but that's because there's nothing I really need, although I did get 3 books, some chocolate, the new Damien Rice album, a documents folder to keep me tidy, and some money).

I have spent my actual Birthday today just lounging around, enjoying a day off, although I did get around to kicking off the fermentation of my home brew beer, and at 8pm I'm off to the pub for a few beers although I don't think many will be out as they are recovering from yesterday.

Thanks for your birthday wishes too.

P.S. I've uploaded photos from yesterday.

Will you still need me, will you still feed me?

It is my birthday today.

more to follow.

Strange brew, strange brew, strange brew, strange brew

It's just over 3 weeks 'til Christmas and guess what that means??

Just enough time to brew my own beer!!! I was in Wilkinsons the other day and saw their brewing kits, and it was something I'd discussed with friends before. I was down town again this afternoon and bought the neccessities, and looking at the instructions it should be ready for Christmas and I think I'll have the lads around to sup on it.

All the equipment came to less than £20, and apart from the £4.99 spent on the actual tin of beer ingredients and a bag of sugar, the rest is reusable and so if this work out I'll be able to make 40 pints of beer for a fiver! (I will need to get hold of some returnable style bottles though and a some bottle-tops too though, but yet again they are reusable.)

It's not really about saving money, but just trying out something new, and I think back to memories of 'The Good Life' when they used to make brusselsprout wine.

If I get time I'll kick it off this evening.

p.s. I thought this sounded quite funny (in schoolboy humour), which was located on the top of the fermenting barrel.

"O" RING ...... heh heh!

We're gift-wrapped kitty cats

miaow!