The Wriggler

I went shopping with my son at the weekend and we ended up in Hawkins Bazaar, which is a shop I love because it has toys that remind me of my childhood. There are loads of little things that are very cheap, which is another reason I love taking the kids there because it's one toyshop that includes toys that require imagination. I ended up buying a few small items, one of which happens to be my daughter's new pet Melissa - see the Magic Wriggler picture above. It's just a bit of fluff and a strand of nylon but it's great fun to watch kids marvel at it in the playground. I remember really really wanting one of these as a child and I was so happy that after begging for one for days that my mom finally got me one. I think I played with it for a few hours after that and then got bored as kids do. I'm sure it was called something different to Magic Wriggler when I was a kid but I can't remember what it was.

I have to also mention the weather here. I cannot believe the weather in just one day:- it's got really cold and it changes from being sunny and bright to dark and pelting snow in what seems like an instant. Most odd. I have got to travel tomorrow and I don't think I'll have much time for checking up on the Blogosphere until the weekend unfortunately. Have a fun week though, whatever you get up to.

Losing Stuff You Never Meant To

Tara's blog post inspired this.

Every year for certain things, like car tax for example, you need to be able to bring together different documents: in this case an MOT certificate from a garage, an official form, your cheque and a valid insurance certificate. I have to hand it to my wife for instigating the introduction of "the grey box", which is a filing cabinet system to help organise our stuff. Some documents you have are not necessarily required annually. Documents like examination certificates, birth certificates and passports (we don't leave the UK that much in general) and so I think some stuff has been forgotten and just not made it into the "grey box". The other problem is that the "grey box" was getting rather full and it was getting harder and harder to put stuff into it easily, so she bought a set of drawers. So unfortunately now we have the "grey box" and "the drawers". But that's not all, we also have "the pigeonholes" that are part of our computer desk, my own "daddy's cupboard" which is where I just file stuff (ie. put it in a disorganised pile) and separate "car folders". This organisation crap has got totally out of control in our house and it drives me nuts!!! I can't find anything and the worst is I'll ask about something and even though I've been told where it is I still can't find it. I'll get all angry and hot in my frustration and I'm sure that this actually prevents me finding stuff even when it is under my nose because as soon as my wife looks again (in the same place) she usually finds what I was looking for: arrggghhhh! But what I don't understand is how someone who is as good at organisation as my wife loses her car keys everyday. We have a bowl near to our front door and I make it a habit to always drop my keys into it - I find the jangly clang noise satisfying in a "Honey, I'm home" kind of way even if its just myself in the house. But my wife just seems to drop her keys anywhere and then shouts "Has anyone seen my keys anywhere?" in a mild panic - arrgghhh!!!!!! The sooner they implant chips in us that bring together all this stuff so we can get rid of paper and keys and everything the better. There - that's my rant over with.

Have a simply wonderful weekend everyone :-)

Friday 5

I Got these from here.

1. What do you like most: Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays (and why)?

I prefer Friday's because I can look forward to the weekend with anticipation all day and really relax Friday evening knowing that I have two days of rest to come.

2. What was the best weekend of your life?

I've had so many good weekends, if I have to choose I'd say the weekend I got married because it was so wonderful and I'll never forget it.

3. What weekend of the year is your favorite?

This is a hard one. I think it would be the first weekend of the year when the weather gets warm and dry enough to stay out in just a T shirt and shorts all day and much of the evening.

4. Do you have any weekend routines?

Absolutely do, involving alcohol during the evenings and possibly takeaway food (though not every weekend), certainly watching a film or two and playing videogames, visiting our library and playing games with my kids. I have boring stuff to do too though, like cutting grass, visiting the dump, doing the weekly shop etc.

5. Describe your ideal Saturday night.

Spending the evenings laughing and talking with friends, listening to some live music, drinking beer, going for an inexpensive but really satisfying meal with friends and falling contentedly asleep with my wife .

Springlike?

The weather over the last few days has been bright but cool. In the car or the house you might think it was warm and Springlike. Outdoors though it is still a little too cold to gad about in T-shirts, not that that stops some people I see. When I see folks wearing just a thin shirt in cold weather I don't know what to think:

• don't they feel the cold?
• are they just concerned with the fashion of how they look?
• maybe they forgot their coat? Or it was stolen?
• maybe they didn't realise how cold it was, or they just came out of a really hot environment?

It does puzzle me.

It's the time of year when my thoughts turn to the Eurovision Song Contest, an annual TV song competition I've loved and watched since I was a kid. The British entry hasn't been chosen yet, it's being chosen on March 17: contenders include Justin Hawkins (ex-Darkness singer), Brian Harvey (ex-East 17 singer) and Liz McClarnon (Atomic Kitten). Unless I'm mistaken it seems this year that the individual performers in the selection contest are of a higher quality overall than in recent years, I hope this is good news for a good UK position in the competition proper but you never know what's going to happen with Eurovision, that's why I love it.

Mugshot

Here is the mug my daughter painted for me. It says "I (heart) tea" on it, very true - I do love my tea. The box it came in is behind the mug.

What's Your Personality Cluster

My phone went off yesterday morning, so I had no internet again for a day and a half. It's back today though.

Your Personality Cluster is Extraverted Intuition

You are: A true wordsmith - a master of words Original, spontaneous, and a true inspiration Highly energetic, up for any challenge Entertaining and engaging, both to friends and strangers

What's Your Personality Cluster?

Sunday Sunday Ah Ah, Ah Ah Ah Ah

I've enjoyed quite a good weekend. Shame its almost over. On Saturday I picked up my own copy The Sims really cheap, I bought it for my wife a while back and she loves it - her Sims are certainly enjoying the high life. I picked up my copy really cheap and its just the original version but it runs alright on my old PC upstairs, which is what I wanted it for. My Sim house is very humble compared to my wife's, she does enjoy lying on the bed telling me how I should run the world though bless her.
My daughter painted a mug I've had lying around since Christmas yesterday, it was a present to me. It came with some paint and you just paint a picture on the white mug and put it in the oven for half an hour to fix the paint. I'll have to post a picture of her handywork.
Today we went as a family to see a show, a sort of comedy/pantomime show. We went last year. I was dreading it slightly because I sat on an end of aisle seat and there's part where they come into the audience with custard pies and you can guess what happened. The custard is actually shaving cream and while its funny to watch, it is a little bit uncomfortable to sit with the dampness and the smell on your clothes. Well fortunately this year I only got squirted with water! I managed to cover my son with his coat before the water hit him, he cried last year when he got wet but he's older now and even the "baddie" made him laugh out loud - especially when his wig got pulled off. Kids laughter is very infectious.
The last act of the day has been to launch the second series of my podshow, the opening episode is a special longer edition with me talking to a friend who writes songs. Great fun to do, hope you have time to check it out.

Five on a Friday

Five in a Row

1. Name one thing you do everyday.

Drink tea. I'm a tea-aholic, I drink far too much tea but I do love my brew. I especially find it reviving after a shopping trip with my family and I get home, put the TV on and settle down with a cup of tea for 5 minutes peace (not that I ever get my 5 minutes).

2. Name two things you wish you could learn.

I would love to play guitar better than I do. The other thing has to be that I wish I could swim. I know I should take lessons, so I should probably do that. I just feel so stupid that I can't swim at my age.

3. Name three things that remind you of your childhood.

Penknives. I always had a penknife as a kid. I've never owned one as an adult.
Ice lollies. I like nothing more on a hot day than sitting down with a plain orange ice lolly.
The Stranglers. My first crush was the older sister of a boy I used to play with, she wore Stranglers T shirts and wore incredibly tight jeans.

4. Name four things you love to eat but rarely do.

Anything with prawns.
Malayan curry.
Thai food.
Strawberry pavlova.

5. Name five things that make you feel good.

Dancing
Making love
Jogging
Watching shoppers file past as I sit with a coffee and a paper in a cafe
Laughing and joking with my kids

Midweek Happy

This week started badly for me. A lot of things seemed to be going wrong for me on Monday, I was just glad to be able to get into bed and rest. Tuesday came and I knew I had a list of stuff to do to put right what had happened the previous day. This included taking a new headset back to a shop, it wasn't working on 3 different computers I tried it on and when I was given the choice of trying another or my money back I took the money. At least my old headset works and I'd rather that than a new one that doesn't. My daughter is having a bit of a rough time at school and I had to go and see the teacher about it. I had a lot of stuff to sort out for work but got all of it done. I did some more work for my forthcoming podshow and I'm pretty nearly all set for the new series starting on Monday. Today was fine, I allowed extra time for travelling past some roadworks on my journey but infact I turned up early for my appointment so I went for some breakfast. I was glad I did because it was way past lunchtime before I ate again. I did make myself a tasty sandwich though: ham, tomato, mayo, salad and sweet onion sauce on white bread but its somehow white wholemeal bread - I don't know how they achieve that but it tastes good. So the final bit of today was attending a private viewing of my sister inlaw's art. Some really cool abstract paintings, I like abstract art because there are so many levels to it. I like depth.
I'm also quite pleased it is midweek and that the weekend is coming up. I've also got to book some holiday time before the end of March to use my allocation of days up, I can't carry any unused days over unfortunately - which means I can't store them up. I hope you all are having a good day today too.

Meet Wilbert

My son had first choice and therefore the name of our first goldfish is to be Wilbert. Next weekend we'll get him a partner, they wouldn't sell us two at the same time - I hope Wilbert doesn't get territorial about his fishtank. He seems happy enough on his own but he could use some company.

Remembered Post

This morning I had a good idea for a blog post and I didn't write it down. Now I'm left with a blank space and I just don't know how to fill it.

I just remembered what it was about!

I was pondering that insects and humans don't get on. We squash them or step on them or have zapper lights on walls or sticky papers. What if, one day a giant super insect came into being. Imagine something the size of a car that could multiply extremely fast. Imagine legs as hard as steel rods. Human society and insect society are totally different things. Imagine how hostile it would be to live in insect society. They would be like robots (The Terminator), killing without mercy. I remember as a child being terrified by a black and white science fiction film (it was probably called The Incredible Shrinking Man but I probably never knew the title). In it a man reduces in size every day until eventually his human friends lose him and he has to fend for himself. He has to fight a spider with a pin that, to him, is the size of a lance. It's horrible. Probably the reason I don't like looking at spiders or insects too closely even now. I once wrote a poem about the insect world (that I can't find tonight). If I ever do come across it I'll post it.

Post Pancake Day

Yesterday was Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday. We made some panckes and I also picked up a couple of offer packs of frozen ready-made pancakes. The ready made ones were smaller and not as tasty, not surprising I guess. However, we had the for breakfast today and they were nice and quick and easy. We don't tend to have pancakes for breakfast but I know this is more commonly eaten by some people in the US. We didn't have any Maple Syrup and that is my favourite pancake topping, we made do with squeezing orange juice over them and sprinkling brown sugar.

Yesterday was also very important for us because we received the official letter telling us which school our son was going to start attending from September. To out greatest relief, he got the same school as our daughter. It would have been really really hard for us if he hadn't got in. So I'm heaving a massive sigh of relief!

A new week begins

A new week and I'm posting this from an older PC I have up in the bedroom. Boy is the screen bright, or maybe its just that I'm tired, I can't tell. At the weekend my wife bought a fish tank, so next weekend we'll be buying a Goldfish - poor thing, I hope it lives. We haven't had any pets while the kids have been young and I'm a bit disappointed in that because pets are great but where we live there is no room for a dog and I'd be frightened that a cat would be killed because the cars drive down the road so fast. So, out of the range of available pets my wife chose a fish. I guess she thought it would be relaxing to watch the fish after a stressful day at work and I suppose she might be right. It was just a bit sudden, her coming through the door with a big box like that. She bought me a game called Mancala too, its a wooden board and has glass beads you move from hole to hole. It's good fun, I played it with my daughter. I think several games probably go by the name of Mancala, so I'm not sure which variation we play - I got the rules off the Internet because the rules that came with it were just impossible to understand - there were no pictures and whoever wrote them, well, English was obviously not their first language.

It's been a weird time with the media at the moment, all I seem to notice is news about Anna Nicole Smith or Britney Spears or Robbie Williams. It's all about rehab, going nuts and dying young. What is wrong with everyone these days? It seems like you can't be famous unless your infamous. Sod dying young, its not worth it to put poison into your body. I'm not a practising Christian really but I think religion could definitely play a big role in the lives of people who have enough money that they will never need for anything else the rest of their lives. If I made millions I'd want to put my money to good use, rather than squandering it on drugs or whatever. Maybe I'm being unrealistic, afterall I have no idea what life is like when you can't go anywhere without being recognised. Maybe a Fame City is needed: where just famous people live. There would be no photographers or press and everyone would be treated equally, money wouldn't buy you any dream tickets. Huh! Never gonna happen is it?

Frustration!

It's been a disjointed, unnatural week. The biggest problem with the week has been the lack of Internet access since Tuesday afternoon until this morning. It's been very frustrating not to be able to see what the world is getting up to and not having access to my favourites. I've had some days off with the kids this week too, so I've not had a good chance to sit down and get work done apart from Monday which was business as usual. The problem with the Internet wasn't of my doing either, so its not like I could have done anything about it. I am seriously considering changing ISP now because its happened three times in the last twelve months. My wife and I need Internet for work as well as for home, so its not acceptable to be without it for two and a half days.

Monday Monday

I had quite a good weekend. I did miss my wife and daughter who went to Disneyland Paris for the day on Saturday: pity the weather was wet and miserable. I spent the day on Saturday with my son and we had a great time together shopping, playing, eating, watching TV and reading stories. Saturday night I was in online multiplayer mode on the Playstation 2, had good fun but got shot up many more times than I needed to. My wife and daughter were back really early on Sunday and it was a relaxed day. I went out to see some friends on Sunday night, which was great. Then today I realised I should try and take some leave because my daughter is off school. Luckily, my boss was OK about it and I got Tuesday and Thursday off, so tomorrow it will be great to be off from work. The other piece of news is that I bought a personal DVD player on Friday. It was going to be for my wife to take on the trip to Paris but she didn't take it in the end. This may strike you as odd but my wife and I don't always watch the same stuff, but now I can be close to her in the same room AND watch what I want to, instead of having to sit in another room.
At the weekend I also sorted out the accomodation for our summer holiday, a nice apartment near the beach in Bounemouth where we went at the end of last summer. It's nice to have something to look forward to and this time we're away for seven nights instead of three.

Weekend Ahoy!

It's a Boys Weekend coming up as the women in my household are spending most of the weekend travelling to Disneyland Paris and back. I hope they have a great time while they're there and especially that the snow stays away. It's freezing snow tonight so tomorrow is not going to be good driving first thing.

Not too much to say in this post, it's been a tiring week at work and I haven't slept all that well this week - I think its the cold.

I'm working my way slowly through the first series of Star Trek on DVD. Admitting you are a Star Trek fan is a little risky because some people take it really seriously - doing degrees in Klingon and dressing and living like intergalactic tribes. It's the best series for me and I love the young William Shatner in it as Captain Kirk. It's the series I saw as a kid and I remember being fascinated and scared at the same time while watching it. So many of the gadgets I saw as a kid in Star Trek have actually come true in todays world of technology. Bluetooth earpieces, communicators (3G phones) and the like. There is a sort of camp quality to the stories as well. I love the sets and costumes. And the women were really awesome - not skinny models but women with curves and an attractive shape. What's your favourite version of Star Trek and why?

Weather thoughts

I just noticed the temperature for London at the moment is -6C and given that I live in a rural area some distance outside of London I bet its colder than that. No wonder its so cold in our bathroom this morning. I wonder whether we'll have some snow later?

Everyday Object Photos

I visited my mum's today. Here are a few shots I took of everyday items, including a food label. Tara's blog entry asked for everyday food labels, my mum gave me this bottle of mulled wine as a leftover from Christmas. I'm not sure I could drink a bottle of mulled wine, it's a bit spicy for me.

Online Gaming

I did something this week I've never tried before. I hooked my Playstation 2 up to the internet to try out the world of online gaming. The games are good fun but you join games with people of all different levels and the main problem is that if you don't know the game environment well and all the moves and combos (who has the time?) then you can get turned into toast pretty easily. I tried out the free game military game Hardware and its good shoot 'em up fun, just driving around shooting other players but after a while it is a bit repetitive and there is no story to play out. But that's OK, it was easy to join a game and worked well and the environments and vehicles are pretty cool, which made up for the repetitiveness of the action. I was doing well to turn 5 other vehicles into toast but some players were getting scores into the 20s - probably mostly off charring my vehicle. The other game I tried out was SOCOM a game about Navy SEALS where you play either with a team of SEALS or a team of terrorists. I was a terrorist in the game and I played about 7 games and didn't manage to kill another player. I seemed to be quite good at getting shot up though. I have other games with online modes, I'll check those out over the coming weeks.
I also wore my USB headset naively. It's a bit strange and there isn't really anything to say - I heard a variety of questions that went mostly unanswered, I certainly didn't answer. Any talk was minimal, it was mostly "Nooooo" as someone was blown up. There were a few "Good game" comments and stuff. I heard some swearing and in one game a guy and a girl were chatting constantly in an accent I didn't understand or recognise but they spoke as if they weren't playing the game at all. I don't think they were talking about game, odd really that they would be choose to be chatting in a public game rather than somewhere else more private. I don't think I'll bother wearing my headset again.

A lot of the new game consoles like XBox360, Wii and soon the Playstation 3 seem to emphasize the online side of gameplay. I'm glad I tried it out but I wouldn't say I'm addicted to games online, I just don't play enough to get that good. If I could play games with other newbies it would be better but I think the stigma of any match called "For Newbies" is off-putting, that's why nobody was joining those games.

Computer Nerd

A friend of ours wanted me to look at her computer one evening this week, I get asked now and again by various friends. It was running slow, same problem that my mother in-law had but for a different reason. She had two different security programs running and they were working against each other. She has a teenage boy who likes to play games and do his music on the PC, so it was mainly to help him. He gave me a list of stuff that needed doing but I didn't have much time to do it all, so I removed the security program that they didn't want but couldn't remove themselves - it was a bit complicated but I got it sorted. But then as I rebooted, it wouldn't recognise any internet connection so I left her feeling bad about that even though she tried to reassure me it happens regularly. I refused any payment, as I would for any friend I can help. When I got home, I got a text saying that the internet was OK again and that her son was well impressed with me. Apparently it's much faster now, so I was pleased in the end. So I think the other playground mummies think I'm a computer nerd. My son was even called that by one of his nursery teachers because he likes his computer games so much.