Blake's 7

In the early 80s there was a sci-fi drama serial called Blake's 7. Led by a resistance fighter (Blake), who lost his memory, and a small group of criminals also fleeing from the dark and evil Federation escape while being transported to a prison planet by stealing an advanced spaceship from an unknown world. The pic is of the spaceship, known as the Liberator. I loved the programme as a kid and I have some on video in the loft that I think I'll get down and watch at the weekend. Thinking about this has cheered me up!

Money, so they say....

We seem to be down on our luck with money at the moment. There seem to be bills coming from all quarters, preventing us from doing stuff we want to do like go on holiday and spend some time together away from home. In December our boiler needed fixing, in January we had a big water bill and a big bill for my car, we also had a bill for sorting out my wife's car and last night our tumble dryer broke - so we have another big bill to pay. The tumble dryer annoys me because it's only 3 years old, we couldn't afford the warranty package and knowing our luck it would have broke the day after it expired anyway. They don't build things to last more than a few years and it is wrong, they should build to higher standards.
Money doesn't make you happy, I know that. But a friend in a similar position found a nice caravan website for a holiday near Scarborough, good value, but because they spent a year saving for a trip abroad this summer they couldn't afford to go. So, knowing that we haven't planned anything, they shared it with us. I phoned today and they don't have anything for the summer without our daughter missing school and we don't want her to do that. So it looks like we're stuffed. The prices are so high too during the holidays that it would be cheaper to holiday in Europe. Sorry to go on about money but we're finding it difficult just to stay afloat, it's not like I'm earning a pauper's wage. The cost of living for the average family is just outrageous. How people on low incomes survive is really beyond me. Everyone seems out to screw everyone else.

Mmm, perhaps the wine tonight was a mistake - it's made me feel bitter and twisted.

Lunchtime chat

We're sitting around the dining table eating lunch. It's a Saturday lunchtime and the song Free Nelson Mandela is playing because we have the PC on and iTunes running. My 5 year old daughter knows the song but doesn't know who Nelson Mandela is, and being 5 years old why would she right? OK, so my wife and I explain to her who he was and what happened to him. And it occurs to me how the world changes during our lifetime but also why history is important and what an incredible life and story that of Nelson Mandela's is. To go on to be the head of State after 25 years in prison is like just mindblowing isn't it? I just thought I had to post this mini-episode of my life.

Model Mania

I've been working really hard on a new model this week, it's taking a long time and I've got my daughter drawing things to add bits of detail to it. I've also been creating a website too, that's taking a while, mainly because I have no real idea what I'm doing but I've done a few models and I think it might be cool to share them. Anyway, the new model is of Tracy Island of Thunderbirds fame. So, I've also been watching a lot of Thunderbirds with my son. He loves them, that is my inspiration behind the model. I'm thinking of either writing a short story or a comic strip based on Thunderbirds too. It's becoming a bit of an obsession. I think this is just because I'm doing the model, I'm sure the obsession will wither as quickly as it has come on. Anyway, I plan to post stuff either here or on the website when it's up and running.
Also this week, I've started watching 24. My wife has been into this recently, so much! She watched the first three seasons in just under three weeks, that's a lot of TV! I think 24 is very good, the pacing is just spot on.
My listening this week has been N*E*R*D - Fly r die, Angie Stone - Mahogany Stone, Missy Elliott - The Cookbook and Ms Dynamite - Judgement Days.

Read the Blog, Wear the T-shirt

I like the sound of this service, Snapshirts analyses your blog and produces a word cloud, I've done it for this blog. You can then change some colours or replace some words. But when you're done you can order printed T shirts with your word cloud on: how cool is that?

Too Scared!!

What films can't you watch when you're at home alone at night? Here are mine:

• Blairwitch Project
• The Omen
• The Exorcist
• Carrie
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
  
• Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer
  

These particular films get under my skin and make me put lights on before entering a room. I just can't stand to be creeped out when I'm alone. I used to enjoy horror films once but I tend not to watch many these days. I had the opportunity to go and see Wolf Creek recently but I'd heard the second half was hard to watch and I just thought why put myself through that?

The silhouette is, of course, the statue of Sherlock Holmes outside of Baker Street tube station. I changed the orientation of this picture and to my surprise the cameraphone automatically changed the resolution so unfortunately I can't make it any bigger. 

This building project fascinates me: redeveloping the body of the building while leaving the frontage and clock tower held up by scaffolding. 

A wet afternoon in London. After the rain, there was sunshine so I thought I'd capture the moment of blinding whiteness reflected off the pavement on film!

I felt I should qualify my last post with a photo. the scary part is that up-close and face-to-face his presence is so powerful that you probably don't even think about the hair! That's true power indeed! 

The Apprentice

Alan Sugar from the programme called The Apprentice. The US equivalent is fronted by Donald Trump. If you have to look like either of these dudes to get the top, I'm glad that I'm where I am! What is that with Trump's hair?

Over the weekend, I finally painted the model I've been building for my kids' cars. I have mentioned making it before here. I'm onto the next project now, it's going quite well - I'll post the picture when it's finished.

Planet Earth

I don't watch too many documentaries at the moment but a new series is starting tonight called Planet Earth and it looks like a good one.

The F1 season begins next Sunday, I'm looking forward to catching some of the races if I can. The season calendar is here. 

I felt so guilty that our kids missed their pancakes on Tuesday that I cooked them today for breakfast. We got some mix left, so we'll have them for breakfast tomorrow too. The guilt of being a parent sometimes! 

A Favour...

The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on "donating a mammogram" for free (pink window in the middle).

This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising.

Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know.

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

Happy Birthday Miranda

Miranda Richardson's birthday today. She is a great actress. I thought she was so funny as Queenie (Queen Elizabeth 1st) in Blackadder. But her portrayal of Ruth Ellis in Dance with a Stranger is gripping, she plays a woman who develops an obsessional love for a man who seems to toy with her. It is painful to watch because another man does truly love her and her child but she is blind to it. It is ultimately a sad story but the performances of the three central characters are so incredibly strong it is compelling viewing.

Faulty Goods

Somehow, I didn't pay too much notice before but there is a screen on my new little MP3 player made of glass - thin glass. Glass so thin it can easily crack. And that's just what it has done. It's only been in my possession since Monday I think. It developed a crack overnight, it was on my desk and wasn't being dropped or anything, the kids didn't get in and sit on it or anything like that. So, either it was a faulty one off or the nice shiny new replacement I have will be fine. I'm hoping the latter and nothing to do with poor build quality. Functionally, I'm very pleased with what it can do but I have my fears about robustness.

Rally Mexico this weekend, I hope I can catch some of the coverage - it's on at times I'm rarely awake. Rally is one of my favourite motorsports. 

This morning, early start for me. I'm on the train while my wife uses my car until we can get to fix her door. 

I wanted to avoid the tube, it's so crowded and horrible in rush hour, that I ended up doing a lot of walking. This is Tottenham Court Road, there's like a mile of technology shops back to back, a great place if you want to buy a laptop. 

Car Trouble

We both have a car, a necessity when we both work and share picking up the kids. Trouble is we can't afford new cars and its probably a false economy because the money we spend on keeping our old cars on the road is probably more than new cars would be. Well, I'm in London well away from home and the train station is a long walk away and I call my wife to tell her that I'll be late when she gives me the bad news. The car door is busted and won't lock, I mean doesn't even stay shut. Whenever there is something wrong with one of the cars I feel like I've been thumped in the stomach - it's the lack of control: how much it is going to cost to fix things and who we can trust not to rip us off. So my wife has to drive home physically holding the door while driving with the children strapped in the back, nightmare! It's not like there is a handle or anything that would allow me to tie the handle shut when I got home, so we had to leave it parked in the street up on the curb so the door appears shut. :-(

So yesterday I was in London and it was snowing, but not laying on the ground. I walked past the British Museum for the first time. 

Tomorrow is Pancake Day!

I love pancake day. It's the only day some years that we make pancakes, crazy but true. Crazy because I love pancakes so much. I always used to put lemon juice and sugar sprinkled on them but actually my wife showed me how to make them even better by using the juice of an orange instead of a lemon. I will endeavour to photograph my efforts tomorrow.

Anway, I mention this because I picked up my daughter from school. The first thing she couldn't wait to tell me was that she was giving up chocolate and Macdonalds for four weeks because they weren't very good for her! She gets Macdonalds once a week on a Wednesday because we're all usually late home and the kids have been doing gym and stuff and are really tired and hungry and it's easy and quick. (how many Ands can I get in a sentence? I probably haven't used that many since I was at primary school myself!) And she gets chocolate even less, except in December when she gets a little everyday. Well, I told her that I was very pleased and that she reminded me we needed to get the mix for some pancakes tomorrow. But before I said anything else she had me agreeing to giving up chocolate and Macdonalds too. Well, OK I'm not usually back early enough for Maccy D's on a Wednesday anyway so I can live without a Big Mac but CHOCOLATE? FOUR WEEKS? I don't think I've ever done that. That means I'll have to gorge myself on all the chocolate I bought at the weekend (to last me a week) tomorrow. We call it Shrove Tuesday but I'm so ignorant and not generally very religious I don't know if it's called that across the pond.

Here's a strange coincidence: in the story below I never knew Olney was famous for this and it's not that far from us, though I've never been there. Wikipedia tells me that although it has a Milton Keynes postcode it has a Bedford dialling code! What crap you can sometimes find!

Going for gold in the pancake olympics

One of the most famous pancake races is held at Olney in Buckinghamshire over a 415 yard course. The rules are strict; contestants have to toss their pancake at both the start and the finish, as well as wearing an apron and a scarf. The race is followed by a church service.

Since 1950 Olney has competed with Liberal in Kansas, which holds an identical race, to see which town can produce the fastest competitor. After the 2000 race, Liberal was leading with 26 wins to Olney's 24.

Kinga and Kemal?

I read this story today about Kinga and Kemal from Big Brother 6 being an item and my flabber has never been so gasted. He was the campest, skinniest little drama queen who liked to wear heels (and pretty much nothing else) and talk at one hundred miles an hour about nothing but his feelings. I found Kinga attractive at first sight but her personality soon put me off, she was outrageous and I remember one drunken night when she pretended to masturbate with a bottle - how classy! The only thing I can remember them having in common was their ability to take their clothes off and prance around. Another match made in heaven.

My wife called me in to watch this roller coaster, man I was shaking just looking at the thing! It's at a place called Cedar Point in Ohio. This particular roller coaster is the Top Thrill Dragster, my wife would go on this. Me? No chance. I hate 'em. Check out these photos and scroll down to the bottom pic to see what I'd look like if I went on this. 

I thought this log looked more like a wooden Chinese puzzle - as though it had to be assembled by putting all the blocks together in the right sequence. 

We went for a family walk in a country park on Sunday. It has a lake and some wildlife! These birds standing in line amused me. 

Missy Elliott

I felt inclined to state here that I love Missy Elliott's album This is NOT a Test. It's a work of pure genious in my opinion.

I woke this morning and instantly had in mind two cartoons which I penned down. I have to work out a way of putting them on the web but I will do that and display them here. They were quite surreal but I found them funny. That probably means nobody else will!

This is the version I generated from this link off Tara, thanks! 

TFI Friday

It's been a hard going week this one. I'm glad Friday is actually here and I can enjoy a brief hiatus from work. Although having said that, I'm doing some work for my mother-in-law for her business - so will be doing work of a sorts.

I've mused before that I'm not totally happy with the title of this blog, Pickings was meant to refer to top picks from my browsing of the web - but it's hardly that any more. I've been meaning to post something about my bad habit and thinking about the word 'Pickings' leads nicely into it.

Ever since I can remember I've had an apparently nervous habit of biting and picking the skin on my fingers. It is something that I do. I never considered it too much, the compulsion to do it is usually so strong that I don't know I'm doing it until its too late. The results are pretty horrible, really, when I think about it. Right now I have 6 fingers out of 10 with some skin removed. Most often I have a little tag of skin by the side of a nail that I pull off, we call them 'quicks' but I don't know where the name comes from. Other times I bite skin and then pull it off in a chunk, usually my right thumb or index finger. I do it when I'm anxious or am stressed. The severity changes and some weeks I'm fine. But it turns out that I'm not alone. My parents, especially my dad, were always telling me off for biting my nails. It looks like this doesn't really help. So, now I've got a clicker I'm going to put it to good use and try to count the number of times I bite or pick the skin on my fingers and will use this info to try and reduce it.

My last thought for tonight is that I've seen news reports here in the UK about 'Happy Slapping' where someone, usually a teenager, is set-up to get hit in the head by someone while another gang member films it on a videophone. This isn't new, I've heard about it before and wondered whether it was really a 'real' thing or whether it was an urban myth that was being manufactured by the media. It seems to be quite real. Well, what a sad twisted fucking world this is that someone would get their kicks this way. Even sadder that it stems from the younger generation, who learn behaviour from the adults.

I also heard that kids in the US are trying out a variant of this where they open car doors as they're moving to try and knock cyclists off their bikes. Jesus Christ! (apologies) But how stupid can some people be??? There's a video file doing the rounds at work I saw this week wher someone actually leans out the car doing this but falls out instead and gets his head knocked by the bumper of a car going in the opposite direction- Ouch! In a way though, I hope it acts as a deterrent to anyone who contemplates doing something so deadly stupid. I hope the police come down hard on people they catch doing this.

I need to calm down now, so I'll go and watch my TV a bit.

At last I'll be able to watch Sin City this weekend, my wife borrowed it for me to watch. I It never actually appeared at the local cinema. 

MP3 Man Strikes Again

I love the Eurovision Song Contest and I saw this today:

Even though 160 million viewers watch Eurovision, British media and BBC suits still sneer at it. Americans are not so stupid. Plans have just been made to create Americavision, based on our Song Contest, and NBC executives expect it to be so big it'll blow American Idol out of the water. The competition will involve each American state choosing a band or artist to compete in a huge prime-time final.

I wonder if it will work in the US?

Today I bought a new MP3 player, see photo below. It's got eight and a half times more memory than my last one and cost the same price. It also has some nice 'simple but useful' features like shuffle play, voice recording, a battery indicator, track and artist info ticker (all new for me). It'll hold more music than I can listen to in a single trip. The process of buying it was a little harder than it should have been, I got quite a mature checkout assistant and she ran it through the till twice because she was having trouble with the security tag. I can sympathize, the design of those security studs must be quite bad because they never seem to come off anything I buy very easily. So my poor, shiny new MP3 player was getting bashed a bit and she handed it to the checkout assistant next to her who bashed it too. When it came back to her she swiped it again. Hence it totalled double what it should have. So, I then had to follow her to Customer Service who had to credit my credit card with half the amount. It was early and the store was empty - otherwise I might have been more annoyed. My brother is a massive audiophile and he would sneer at my little player I'm sure. But hey, in my book, if it works and is simple to use I'll get just as much pleasure from it than he would from one costing a hundred times as much.

Today, I got tagged for the first time by Tara. Here's the score...

List seven songs you are into right now, no matter what the genre. It does not matter whether they have words, or what decade they're from. The only requirement is that they must be songs you’re really enjoying right now.

Post these instructions on your blog along with your seven song choices. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

Here's mine then, in no particular order:
1. Black Eyed Peas - Hey Mama
2. Osmonds - Crazy Horses
3. Lemar - I Believe In A Thing Called Love
4. Schnappi - Das Kleine Krokodil
5. Crazy Frog - Axel F
6. Mud - Tiger Feet
7. Ray Charles - Shake Your Tailfeather

Apart from the 1st and 2nd, these aren't the kind of songs I'd be listening to if I didn't have a family who like this kind of stuff. I can get into it though and enjoy it just as much as they do. A little embarrasingly, I'm not acquainted with 7 other bloggers yet - so thanks T ;-) I guess that's my homework!

I got a new mp3 player today, more about that in a minute. I took a picture of it with my cameraphone, it was a bit boring so I've tinkered with it, I kind of like this image. 

Back in the saddle

I didn't see the BAFTA awards ceremony this year, I think this is probably the glitziest British awards ceremony - it's posher than The Brits music awards. You can get a taste from these videos on the web, the presenter Stephen Fry has his own unique style and you can tell he likes words.

My business trip is over and I'm exhausted. It was nice to get home and get back to the family. It's when you're away that you really appreciate what you have in having a family. Four hours on the train up and back was boring, I'm glad I stayed overnight otherwise it would have been a killer - especially having to travel again today. My MP3 player seems to have died too, which makes the journey even more boring - though the train has radios inbetween the seats that you can plug you're headphones into. I listened to a radio drama serial called The Archers, there are people who listen to this show religiously. I just think it's a bit naff, a snooty person's version of Eastenders. Maybe I'm exagerrating.

I sometimes go though this churchyard in the old part of town, those gravestones are like 150 years old or more...it must be weird to live there, with your bedroom window having a view moonlit of them! 

Impending Overnighter

I've got some travelling to do for work tomorrow and Tuesday. I'll be away from home, staying in a hotel. I don't like being away from my family but there is something nice about hotels. I think it's the TV being on when you enter the room, having your own little bathroom and the tiny kettle and cups. I especially like the en suite bathroom and I wish we had one at home, instead we have the Shower From Hell. It zips from boiling to sub-zero in seconds, it's not as it there is any power in the water, if it was a normal shower the water would probably be just right - but because it just trickles out it must get-like super-hot on the way. But then there are days when it is bearable, I don't mean it's powerful because that is the one thing it never is, just that some days you can stand underneath and it doesn't remove the first layer of skin. I swear though that one day, I'll rip that fucking thing off the wall. It usually turns freezing just when you're washing your hair and the shampoo is in your eyes so you can't open them to see where you're stepping. That got that out of my system.

But hotels, everyone has something to say about hotels. I think they're fun but I don't stay more than about a couple of weeks worth of days a year in them - if that. If I was always on the road and had to stay regularly, I think they would lose their charm. Breakfast in hotels is good, eat as much as you like and get free coffee refills. Some people I know at work look up the hotel in advance just to check there is a pool, but for me I'm like "You went to the pool? When?" because we might break at 5 or 5.30pm and then have dinner at 7pm. They use that couple of hours to go to the pool. Me, I'm relaxing with my work suit off and the TV on. I phone the family, make a beverage with the tiny kettle, maybe wank into the toilet (hope there's no hidden camera!), have a poop and take a nice hot shower and a shave before dinner but I'm definitely NOT in the pool. I don't understand how they have the time. I think, deep down, they're doing that just to impress or be superior. It doesn't wash with me though, I know they still look for pens and notepad freebies on the desk before they leave.

Hotels bedrooms are sometimes too hot. The windows can be a bit tricky to open. At least one time I couldn't sleep it was so hot and I couldn't open the window because it seemed lke it was jammed. I stayed up most of the night practically in tears I was so tired. Ironically, in the morning I found out how to open the windows!

I snapped this today, the churchyard on the way to town has these streetlamps. My 3yr old son recognised it instantly as the streetlamp in Narnia.

My wife and daughter are now seriously addicted to this little critter, they have one each and with the IR they swap virtual presents. Good grief! 

The Brits 2006

I watched The Brit Awards show tonight, it seems like a long time since I watched the TV - I watch more DVDs than TV these days. Anyhow, here's my thoughts on the stars -

• Prince played, doing the thing he does with guitar.
• I thought Kelly Clarkson sang with spirit, don't know who she is, but her singing was all over the place as she was jumping and running around a lot.
• Kanye West did a number, but I missed a lot of it, lots of scantily clad females on stage with him apparently.
• The Kaiser Chiefs won a few awards but I can't explain why.
• Coldplay likewise.
• James Blunt, first time I heard the song "You're beautiful" I thought it was nice - my 6 year old daughter loves it - but when you've heard it for the 3rd time you just want to turn it off. His talking voice is very like his singing voice, kind of high and a bit wierd.
• I liked what Madonna said about British music, so glad she got an award.
• Glad too Green Day got something.
• Jack Johnson, whoever he is, performed an acoustic song I thought sounded alright.
• It was good to see Beck was nominated in the 'international male solo artist' category, I like his stuff but he didn't win it, I think Kanye West did
• I heard a quick snatch of a song from the Black Eyed Peas I thought sounded great, I think I'll get some of their stuff I like what I've heard on the radio
  
• Madonna beat Mariah to 'international female solo artist', though Missy Elliot was in same category and would have been my choice
  
• Gorillaz sounded good, infact they were probably my highlight.
• Paul Weller finished the evening off with some songs and the deserved lifetime achievement award.

For some reason it looked like it was shot on film, this made it slightly disconcerting for me as I'm used to TV awards shows looking like they were filmed just for TV. I thought Chris Evans was a shit host, he's definitely lost the X factor he had as a presenter for me. Boy George gave him a murderous look when he made some comment about having a ton of drugs under the bed in the hotel and calling the NYPD. Boy George didn't have his black neck tonight. I heard he paints that black neck to hide the fat hanging under his chin. It just looks like a desperate attempt to stay young to me, nothing wrong with that but when it just makes you look like an idiot it's time to stop isn't it?

My older brother turned 45 today, fuck! I was reflecting in the shower this morning that I've spent most of my thirties looking after my babies and young children. I'll spend my forties looking after my children as teenagers and my fifties will be almost over before my children have flown the coup to set up their own lives. It was all a bit of a shock. Another frightening thought was that in 1980 I was already 12 and a lot of today's footballers weren't even born then. Sobering thoughts.

OK, so I have to put a picture on the web to put it in my Blogger profile, so this is it. I drew me. 

Smoking

It seems that Film Four is coming to Freeview, yahoo!

There is a now a new smoking ban on smoking in all enclosed public spaces that will take effect next summer. I don't smoke, never smoked and because I have asthma I'm glad I never did try it. I did used to find smoking sexy though, so it never put me off someone if they were a smoker. So, I've never been an anti-smoker it's just that it has never appealed. Most of my friends who used to smoke have stopped or only smoke an occasional fag once in a blue moon. My wife was a big smoker, until she met me and then she stopped. Funnily enough her stopping has made me more of an anti-smoker now than I've ever been. So, I'm glad that pubs and clubs are going to become smoke-free but, like mobile phones in phone free train carriages, how are they going to police it? I can't see some pubs ever being smoke free completely.

Last week I sat on the train opposite a young lady. It was going to be nearly two hours for me and I was a bit bored. For about half an hour I sat wondering what I could talk about and whether it was silly to start a conversation with a stranger. Would she think I was mad? Would she prefer to be left alone. The mind goes round in circles and plays its tricks. In the end I did start the conversation, a simple observation about not being able to fall asleep on the nice, cosy, warm train despite having gotten woken up at 4am by the kids. And boy could she talk! I think I new more about her than a close friend by the end of it. I was glad to be able to say goodbye when my station came up. I suppose it was good in a human-spirit kind of way. It just shows that you think there is nothing to talk about and this massive amount of material just surges forth, a bit like owning a blog sometimes.

Happy Valentine

I was up late last night working. When I finally turned off the light, it was nearly 2am and I found it difficult to get to sleep. I hate it when my mind is so restless that I can't sleep. So today, I've been tired and my head has felt a little woolly.

I got my wife roses and a card this morning, about an hour and a half after receiving my card from her as soon as I woke up. She didn't seem to mind, which was lucky. As far as I remember we aren't a couple who spend much time celebrating Valentine's day. It has never been a special day for me, I'm sure there must be some people who really love it but my wife was talking about how she saw some desperate men hunting for flowers in Tesco's as she was picking up some wine tonight. Poor bastards.

The one glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for me is that the Eurovision Song Contest is getting closer as each day passes. What can I tell you about this? I love it. Countries of Europe send singers or groups to compete against each other to win the contest. Whichever country wins gets to host the following year's competition. The big thing is, after all the songs have been performed each country is visited in turn and asked for their scores. This takes an absolute age, honestly you'll want to slit your own throat by the end of it. But eventually someone wins and they can all go home. Now here are the things I love about this contest:

• the short videos introducing each country
• the German entry (usually some bonkers guy with a moustache and a big shirt)
• when pop singers are dressed up as rock chicks or goths to sing a slightly rockier song
• the UK entry (usually good for a laugh, I wish Jordan had performed last year - pregnant in a skintight pink leather jumpsuit)
• the scandalously political voting where countries give the highest points to their nearest neighbours
• downloading the scoring sheet and marking acts on various aspects of their performance and comparing my own scores with the votes (very sad I know, you should hear the abuse I get for this)

Well, that's about what I love about the comp, a lovely night in in my books. A beer or two usually helps as well.

Saturday evening thoughts

I'm eating a Swedish Fish as I write this, it'a a sort of fish-shaped chewy jelly sweet that my wife buys from Ikea. Fortunately, it doesn't taste of fish but then it doesn't really taste of anything else either - apart from sugar.

Congratulations go to Steve Fossett who has flown further continuously than any human ever. A crazy daring thrilling end to a great story, the man is a hero. He's no spring chicken yet he managed to stay awake for over 70 hours and concentrate making decisions all the time and fly his plane around the whole globe. A great achievement.

From an achievement to a disaster. West Brom lost today to Fulham. I mean LOST big time. It was a sickening defeat. I'm not happy.

I've not been feeling very well today, but I've not complained, I've soldiered on regardless but its getting the better of me a bit now. I think I might have to lie on the sofa and watch TV with a blanket over me. Nooooo mustn't give in to it!

I can start painting the model I've been building for my kids tomorrow :-) it will be good to make some progress. I started it last year but it got put in the loft. I got it out a few weeks ago and made a start again. They're going to love playing with it when its ready. I might even post a picture of it. How's that for generosity?

One last item, I'm catching up with Alias slowly. I got the 1st volume of the 2nd series dvd out of my local public library. I love the show! My wife got the 2nd season of 24 out at the same time - boy has she got some watching to do this week (like 4 hours a day!). She's enjoying it though.

Awaiting a delivery

I've decided I need a new phone (review) and now I'm awaiting delivery. We have two digital cameras but there are times when you just want to take a quick snap of something. The smaller the camera the better and combined with a phone, well it is just so appealing isn't it? How could Gadget Boy resist the temptation? Anyways, it was reconditioned and I got a good deal considering. One thing I did notice from a lot of phone reviews on the web was how damning people are of the technology they buy. I sometimes wonder where these high expectations have come from, I know things move fast but come on let's be real!

Today's score: 19

You're wandering what the score I'm talking about is aren't you? Well, my wife signed up to receive a free Lynx gift (Lynx as in the deodorants range) and it arrived last week. It's a shiny chrome clicker that counts from zero to 9999, it has a reset knob and a clicker that increments the readout by 1. But what am I counting? You yell at the screen. That's easy - I'm counting what it is intended for, all the pretty girls I see. So a score of 19 isn't bad at all. I did have to go to Birmingham today though, so that's why the count is so high. Normally, I'd say the count would be much closer to zero.

I noticed that when I left the house today at 7am, the sky was much lighter than it has been recently. It has also been getting slightly warmer over the last few days. I like it when it's lighter in the mornings, mainly because I hate driving in the dark. Especially narrow roads in the countryside.

Dawn and Drew Show

I download a few podcasts and listen to them on my extremely cheap and crappy Alba MP3 player (that only has 60MB). One of them is the Dawn and Drew show. I recommend a listen if you've got the time. They're talking about nothing really special but they're tangental take on life is quite sweet to listen to.

Not a lot happening with me, I just want to curl up and hibernate until the weather is warmer. I don't like cold, I thought I did once but now I know I don't. I can't imagine how hard life must be for the poor in third world countries who don't have proper shelter and go hungry.

I've been busy today building a model for my kids. It's just cardboard, tissue paper, newspaper and PVA glue. I don't know what it will turn out to be, it's got a bridge and lots of hand holes to put little cars in. I think they'll like it. They're really into the old Thunderbirds TV show, with the puppets at the moment. I loved those shows when I was a kid too.

I have been thinking about doing a weekly cartoon for this blog. I haven't got any material so it may take me a while to get going with the idea. Also, ideally I'd draw on paper and scan it in and manipulate that but our old scanner doesn't work with our new computer - apparently we need a USB scanner. So I'm not sure how I'm going to do it but watch this space.....just don't hold your breath.

Work for me at the moment is a long long string of petty, pedantic emails from bothersome creatures who should crawl under a rock and stay out of daylight. I work with a bunch of wankers. Note to self: change your job!

Travel by Train

I've heard of Bystander Apathy before. Usually, its where people become bystanders to a crime or ugly behaviour like bullying but they don't intervene. I'm not proud of myself when I've been a bystander sometimes but have not had the guts to put my head above the parapet. On the train today, I got into the mobile free carriage and sat down. I couldn't believe that someone a few seats down was playing a portable DVD player without headphones - he had the volume quite loud. Unfortunately it was playing Lee Evans live. I don't mind watching Lee Evans, nothing against him, he's one of those comedians that I have to be in the mood for - I can find him hilarious one day but another I can sit with a straight face and not even be tempted to smile. I guess today was one of those days. I wanted to tell the guy to put some headphones on, a lady asked him if he had any - I didn't see his response I guess it was no. But the whole carriage let him watch it at that volume, even though it contained bad language. I'm glad there were no young children around. I think I would have said something then.

On a related note I do think that sometimes people can't hear the noise their headphones make, especially if they're cheap and nasty ones - bad sound leakage can be really irritating. I was putting my bag into a coach luggage store once and the grumpiest coach driver in the world had a go at me for getting my Walkman out of it, the bastard. He obviously thought I would have it turned up to blast my ears and everyone else out without even giving me the benefit of the doubt.

But at least some people wear headphones. This bastard wasn't, he could have at least sat in another fucking carriage - like one without quite zone stickers on the windows. I can't believe the guard didn't say anything to him either. The guard fined someone 20 quid two seats away
for not buying a ticket before travelling. He should have fined the twat watching the DVD in my opinion.

Rant over. Now I'm tired and I want chocolate and the house is empty of it. Fuck!

Finding things to do

I'm all over the shop at the moment. Finding things to do that keep me occupied. Like making a model for the children. Watching DVDs. Playing videogames. Reading books. Downloading podcasts. Blogging. The deadline for the job I thought of applying for is this Friday and I haven't done anything about my application. To be honest, the thought of going for a job for less money has put me off big style. I think I'm doing all of these things to fill in time, so I have an excuse not to apply. It's not like I'd be a dead cert to get it, on one hand I don't know why I'm bothered and on the other I really want my heart and soul to be into a job before applying. The other thing at the back of my mind was my wife commenting that the job didn't sound very interesting (it's not a million miles away from what I do now). I tend to agree with her and this has probably put me off more than the money thing. 85% of me has decided not to apply and 15% thinks the practice might be good. That's not enough of an incentive.

I've got the KT Tunstall CD Eye To The Telescope out the library to listen to. Last night I watched The Transporter again and it is an excellent film. Most of all, I admired the really cool soundtrack by Stanley Clarke that I'd not really noticed before.

Euro Lottery Rollover

I was just thinking that I've nothing to post about today. But it has come back to me: today we won a few quid on the Euro Lottery - 8.90 to be exact (we paid out 7.50 on tickets, so not a massive win obviously). My wife prompted me to go and get the ticket checked, I didn't think they did that - I just thought they sold tickets so I learned something today. I might have thrown the tickets away, knowing that we didn't win the 100 million jackpot, but my wife insisted and true enough it was worth the effort of checking, I was pleasantly surprised.

We both had to buy a car tax disc today too, I can't believe that we have to pay 170 pounds a year just to use the fucking roads! I'm annoyed that having just been paid, all our money is draining away before the month has started.

I got some bad bad news about a friend this week too, it's really blown me off my feet. I don't know what to do or say to her. Last time I saw her, about 10 weeks ago she looked fine, but now I hear she's got advanced C - I just can't believe it. It's not the first time a friend of mine has died young of C and after that I didn't expect another friend to have it. I'm probably naive to feel like this - doesn't it affect 1 in 4 people or something? It scares the hell out of me.


I'm glad Chantelle won Celebrity Big Brother but I wish she had something more interesting to say other than "Oh my God", like "Pete Burns, you are a cunt!"

Galloway leaves the house

We can’t really know what prompted George Galloway to enter the Celebrity Big Brother House. He surely considered it from many angles and consulted with other “celebrities” before going in. He must have reasoned it as a Win/Win situation, yet how wrong could he be? It revealed his personality as petty, two-faced, full of his own importance, condescending, patronising, jealous, vindictive and bullying. Nobody wants that kind of reveal. But he shouldn’t be singled out – there were others in the house that shared these and worse traits. The fact that George is a politician and that this was potentially an innovative way to reach many more ordinary people is something to be applauded, the unfortunate thing is that in this case, it was naïve. George’s political reputation has been damaged by this. I find the suggestion that the House of Commons will receive him with a cacophony of cat meeows saddening. The MPs who engage in this behaviour are no better than the tabloids and certainly no better than George himself. But there you go, they’re MPs afterall and we unfortunately have to live with the fact that most of them are somewhat less than the “ordinary” people they represent. As Preston sarcastically put it: “a cheating politician – what a surprise!”.

Hidden

The last few nights I've been retiring to bed to watch Alias on my laptop, trying to beat the one week loan period limit at the library. There were just too many episodes and not enough time in the end, so I had to renew it yesterday. At least I can watch the extras now, I don't think I'll bother with the audio commentary all the way through (does anybody?). I mention this because I have missed Celebrity Big Brother and the news and most of the other stuff in the world I usually pay some attention to, so I feel like I've been hidden away on planet Alias. This is the danger with DVD box sets! Anyway, I'm sufficiently interested in Alias that I'll probably take out series two from the library soon. I do think they should extend the loan period for box sets, I mean who has time to watch all those episodes in one concentrated period? Whilst I'm on the subject, Jennifer Garner is an amazing actor - my judgement is clouded to some extent because I think she is beautiful but I think she works really hard. Her fight scenes are excellent and I learned from the extras that her fight instructor said she learned moves really quickly because she was a dancer. She is very graceful as she blocks, kicks and swings her fists - that kind of movement doesn't just happen. She has my respect.

Whale of a time

The whale in the Thames is the big news story of the last couple of days. It's an extraordinary event, I'm not surprised it has attracted thousands of onlookers. I feel a little uncomfortable about all the spectators though, I suppose they are there because they feel sympathy for the poor creature and it's not a bullfight/bloodthirsty kind of thing. The last I heard, the prognosis doesn't look too good for the poor thing.

Underworld Evolution looks like an interesting film to go and see, doubt I'll get to see it at the cinema though with the need for childcare. I haven't seen the first Underworld film either but that has some good reviews. Where have I been? I don't think I've ever heard of these films. They sound like a computer game, I should do some research and find out if they're based on anything. This probably sounds like the dumbest post to Underworld fans but hey ho you've got to start somewhere haven't you?

I had to take my car to the mechanic yesterday, the MOT is due on Monday. Picked it up today and it was 200 quid. Another lump of money taking me further into the fucking red. What made it worse though, was that I stupidly asked for a service at the same time. I don't use my car much: like last year I did 5000 miles, and three quarters of this bill is for a 9000 mile service. When I asked for a service I should have made it clear I wanted a 3000 mile service, I'm sure he's done something like that for me in the past. If I was half a man I'd service the car my fucking self! I hate the car trade!

The Lemsip Max strength isn't helping much. I'm off to bed soon to watch more of Alias, great series. There's a new Argos catalogue out, pity we didn't pick one up today - I could have taken that to bed.

Which celebrity do you look like?

My wife showed me this site today, which I thought was quite funny. How do some people get the belief that they are the spitting image of a celebrity when they clearly look nothing like them - apart from wearing a similar pair of sunglasses or similar hat?

It has set me thinking about the experience of being compared to a celebrity. The only person I remember passing comment on who I looked like was an old friend of mine who told me when he first met me that he thought I looked exactly like Mike Mills. This was back in '93 or something and yes I did have long hair and round glasses in those days. Not now though.

When I first met the woman who was to become my wife, I was spellbound by her beautiful face. I remember waking up with the sun streaming through the curtains and looking at her face and thinking she was Pocahontas, apologies for the Disney cartoon but this was the only image of Pocahontas I had in mind because the real Pocahontas was not pretty imho.

So come on, which celebrity have you been compared to?

Faria goes

Well, as predicted since I knew who was nominated Faria has been chosen by the public to leave the Celebrity Big Brother house. I liked some of the backchat she gave Dennis because he deserves it but it was obvious she has a lot of anger and other issues she needs to deal with to get the chips off her shoulder.

Today my cold is worse than it was yesterday. And I've started thinking about whether it will develop into some time off sick from work - it's kind of like I'm planning my sick leave on some subconscious level. For instance, I know I've got to do some travelling for the next couple of days so I'm looking at possibly extending the weekend rather than taking sick leave at the moment. Where does this come from? I'll probably be alright and not take any. It's almost like I want it to get worse so I can take some time off. Does this mean I don't like my job or am I just lazy?

I'm really starting to get into Alias now. I've watched 4 episodes now. It's great so far.

Here we are, another Tuesday

I watched the first episode of Alias last night. I liked it but not as much as I thought I would. It's good, don't get me wrong, and Jennifer Garner is an excellent lead. I'm sure it will grow on me, I think because the first episode was an introduction it may not be representative of the rest. The worst bit for me was when she was with her fiance, I didn't like him at all and felt no remorse when he was murdered. The rest was OK though. I'm worried I won't be able to get through the whole season this week.

I'm a bit tired and confused today, my son woke me up at 3am after wetting the bed and even though he settles down really well in our bed I just wasn't able to get back to sleep until about ten to six. The alarm went off five minutes later. I managed to lie in bed until quarter past seven but I was just trying to catch up on my sleep.

On the job front I was looking at the Guardian online and saw absolutely nothing that interested me in the locality. I'm still deciding what to do about the one job I have seen anywhere near here. I'd like some professional advice but I don't know who to ask.

There's chocolate in the house and its driving me MAD that I can't eat it! It's wrapped in cellophane and I can't disguise opening it. Agghhhh!

Alias

I have been wanting to watch this for ages. The complete first season DVD box set was in the public library today. I took it out and will watch as much as I can this week. Can't wait! I'll let you know how I get on.

Begging

I've always been split on the issue of beggars. I do sometimes consider if I lost everything and was forced to live on the street how I'd feel about begging for money. And sometimes I'm angered by people using that old dodge "Can you spare a pound to help me catch the bus home?", which someone tried on me today. Thing is, I'm pretty sure that I can tell the difference between someone who is genuinely unable to get home and someone who wants some money to spend on booze or fags or drugs. The person asking me today was heading into the Job Centre for fucksake. If the beggar is busking I'm much more inclined to drop some change into the hat, the term busker is softer than beggar because they don't ask directly and they don't say how much they want. Teenage girls having a laugh and pretending to be in need of either "fake sponsorship" or money for a bus really annoys me, they're so fucking obvious. I have a friend who busks and can make fifty quid a day. At least he's working for it.
If someone asks me for money for not doing anything in future I am tempted to say something like "Yeah, I'll give you a quid for your jumper" just to see their reaction. What's wrong? I'm offering them a chance to redeem their dignity by exchanging money for something instead of money for nothing. Am I being harsh?

Baggies Win!

Victory today away from home at last. It was an eventful match. We're now 16th place, 5 points clear of the relegation zone. Today was an important match.

Exhausted!

The weekend is nearly over and I'm totally fagged out. I don't know why, it's not like I've done anything particularly strenuous. It's probably down to emotional stress of trying to sort my life out jobwise. I've had some doubts about the job I've seen but not enough doubts to stop me applying. I'm just very worried about money at the moment. My car has it's MOT on Friday and I'm fearful that it'll be need some work to get it through. I was also planning to treat my darling wife in the summer to a night out in London, see a show, have a meal, stay in a hotel - just the two of us. But the reality of our money situation has put the breaks on that. I can't justify spending that kind of money - my daughters birthday party has to take priority. We've put a deposit down on that this week. All these bits here and there mount up to a fat heap of expenditure. :(
ON the BRIGHT side though, my wife bought us some Smirnoff Vodka gift packs really cheap in the sales - they include flashing icecube things and miniature Smirnoff bottles. She got them because she thought the icecubes were cool and wanted to stick them on the wall. Until I pointed out that they would have to be ON and flashing all the time! We'll be quaffing the vodka tonight I hope, they're chilling in the fridge...
AND I bought a couple of boxes of chocolate for the price of one.

Anyone seen Brokeback Mountain?

My wife mentioned this film to me while we watched TV on the sofa the other night. Stephen Gately is apparently in it - he was a member of the Irish boyband Boyzone, I personally didn't like their music. But I can respect the guy for coming out when they had an ENORMOUS following with young girls. I don't know if the film will ever come to our town, nothing slightly alternative ever gets shown: I don't know anything about this film except there is a gay love story thread in it, is it alternative at all in any other way? I suspect not.

Jobs and Money

I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I have seen the perfect job for me. However, it has a salary a few thousand less than I'm currently on. Some people might consider it is a backwards step to take a job that is not as well paid as the one you are leaving. What is your view? If I got the job I've seen, I would probably be able to earn a higher salary in the long run. I think I will apply for it and see what happens, can't hurt can it?
We saw the mortgage company today and talked about debt consolidation. I hate having to sort money out. It's horrible when you live outside of your means, even if its not extreme (which our case isn't) it is still a bit scary to have to even consider a loan secured against our property. We tend to be very conservative with money and risks. Why is finance so complicated, I wish I understood it or knew where to get really independent advice from - someone to analyse our spending and lifestyle and tell us what to do would be good.
Last thing for tonight: at last I went for a short jog yesterday lunchtime. First time since early last summer really. My thighs ache today, which I think is a good sign. I must do it again. You've got to keep fit haven't you?

Jodi evicted

I've been thinking for a couple of days how Jodi probably isn't the worst person in the house. I watched her eviction tonight with a hint of sadness. Especially after seeing Michael Barrymore have a massive flare up with her; I think faria was actually the cause of that one and Barrymore took it upon himself to put the boot in again. Watching the post-eviction interview with Davina I'm really surprised that there wasn't a set of clips of all the people having a go at her. Jodi did achieve what she wanted when going into the house, just not in the way she thought: she showed a vulnerable side, which I think will do her good in the long run.

China discovered America?

Chinese sailor who discovered Americas. I thought this was an interesting story, I wonder what the real truth is?

Celebrity Big Brother

It's been a mixture of entertainment and torture watching CBB. I do like conflict in the BB house and there has been plenty of that. I do find it interesting how Jodi has been demonised by Michael, Pete and George. They have started to turn Maggot and Dennis against her too. I hope George is voted out tomorrow night, he's vile. Pete is funny but a bitch. Michael is emotionally and psychologically unwell. Jodi is bitter and twisted. Dennis is just gross. Rula is a lovey. Traci is a hippy. Chantelle, Maggot, Faria and Preston are OK. The Big Brother's Big Mouth show on E4 is funny, a bit of light relief after the tantrums and tears.

Jobhunting

I've decided to look for a new job. I rang up about one today and spoke to the recruitment company. I don't know if I'll go for it, it's 15,000 more than I'm earning and I don't think I've got the experience. The money would come in very handy and my wife could give up work until my little boy is old enough to go to school.

Hell Boy

My wife bought me this film this week. She saw it really cheap on VHS at Tesco. I had read the graphic novel recently, borrowed from the public library. The novel intrigued me. I wasn't expecting the film to be very good, I imagined it would be as disappointing as Daredevil or Blade were. Infact, I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. John Hurt's performance is very good and the central character is oddly believing. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it and can recommend it. I like nice surprises.

JCB Song

I saw the video and liked this song a couple of days ago and it has really stayed with me. It is really great!

Derren Brown - The Heist

This guy makes great TV programmes. The Heist explores how ordinary people can be persuaded to perform extraordinary acts. He selects susceptible people and puts them through a two week programme of activities beginning with a fake seminar. It's funny where he asks them to steal sweeties from a shop. At the end of the programme the real reason for putting them through the period where subliminal messages and heightened emotional states are passed onto them is revealed: passing a security guard standing by a green van with a passing car loudly playing "Can you feel it" by the Jackson Five - how many will try to rob the guard with a replica gun (handed out as a freebie at the end of the seminar)? Well, remarkably 3 out of 4 did. Like the best tele it made me uncomfortable and excited at the same time.

Celebrity BB

A bit of a disappointment yesterday evening. Am I the only person who thinks Traci and Jodie are lookalikes? They're both orange too. I don't understand why they are regarded as 'babes' by the papers and magazines etc. They're odd looking in a sort of cheap plastic doll way.

Celebrity Big Brother

This is going to be great! I can't wait - there'll be lots of madness in the house with these leaked guests:

• Anna Nicole Smith
• Michael Barrymore
• Shane Macgowan
• Pete Burns
• Lisa Tarbuck

I don't know exactly how many of these will end up actually being in the show but it should be good whatever.