Beer Bomb

Quote of the moment:
"Well, I just got back from playing a long session of Lord of the Rings monopoly. My brave little pewter Legolas held on valiantly until the bitter end, when Gandalf the mighty swept through like a tsunami and claimed all of Middle-earth for his own. Mostly by putting hotels on everything." - The Ferris Wheel of Shame

Amazing what oddities you can find on the 'most recently updated' list.

I had a brilliant day at work today: was putting a final 10-pack of Stella on the shelf and the (badly placed by a previous person) one at the back wobbled off into the gap between the two sets of shelves. The bits of glass made it to the far sides of both aisles, along with the beer. It was impressive!

[Edit 00:49 30/12/04 - Ninja Pirate 2 is out now!]

The First Four Days Of Christmas

Quote of the moment: "Oh s***, 95!" - Vicky driving on the motorway.

Judging from the impressive tally of comments on my previous few posts, everyone's on holiday and therefore not checking much... Well, probably mostly just that Prillo doesn't have her broadband! Therefore I'll limit my Christmas epic as much as possible.

Christmas Day:

Woken up by Podgy phoning at roughly 7.45 am. Did anyone else experience this joy?!

A classic quote from lunchtime, when the older generation were interrogating my cousin - who works in the Home Office - about David Blunkett etc. Me to my mum: "Calm down dear! It's only a commercial!"

Marge Simpson's Christmas message included the following:

"In world events, the friendship between America and Britain is stronger than ever. You're like Mini Me to our Dr Evil - helping out in all our zany schemes to take over the world."

Boxing Day:

On a church noticeboard on the way to lunch with the other side of the family:

"Jesus is for life, not just for Christmas."

Last night:

Watching the Big Fat Quiz Of The Year:

Jimmy Carr: "What was voted the most influential art work of the 20th century?"
Will (quoting Allo Allo): "Ze Fallen Madonna With Ze Big Boobies."

I also found out that the BNP's Christmas party was a flop, because they accidentally booked a black DJ. Apparently "He didn't sound black on the phone".

Today:

Met up with Jimmy, Prillo, Kaz and Rosie at Starbucks in Freeport. Prill had a ride on the toddler school bus, caught on video! Something to look forward to :D

To keep you happy in the meantime:

Me trying to replicate Prill's efforts.


Girly shopping? Dull? Not for me!

Satan Claus

Quote of the moment:
"Santa Santa Santa Santa
Santa Santa Santa Santa
Presents, Presents!"

- The Badger Badger Christmas Eve screensaver, complete with aerobic badgers in Santa suits.

Is it a coincidence that Santa is an anagram (or typo, in my case) of Satan? Perhaps not...

Things on interest at Tesco today: One. A 6-ish year old girl had climbed onto the post box, and couldn't get down, while I was parking my bike. I had to instruct her in assault course wall techniques while putting my bike lock on :P

I'm now off on the first leg of my epic Christmas journey, to Felsted to have supper and sleep at my grandparents house, so that they can deliver me to somewhere near Wales in the morning. How fun! Plus my dad packed my stocking contents and took them with him on Monday :(

Next post circa the 28th!

Captain

Quote of the moment: "Pie control to Major Yum"

New Weebl and Bob! Captain - it's rather disjointed but amusing nonetheless.

I want to see the "History" Battle of Hastings:

Weebl: "Bob, Bob! Someone shot me in the pie!"
Bob: "Wanker!"

To see the kr3w clothes label stuff click here.

Nice background, isn't it?!

[Edit 02:12 - I thought this needed to be seen:

2:09:18 AM rob_quill@hotmail.com says:
[watashi-wa]necrophilia is dead boring
[watashi-wa]try incest instead
[watashi-wa]it's only relatively boring :P

Classic...]

Gam0rs

Quote of the moment:
"Henry Walton is now 6ft tall and his balls have dropped... Had you going!" - Will T

Harsh, possibly, but I rofled :D

Poor chap, eh? Still, going by Ed Hutley, who was short and squeaky at the start of the summer holiday and my height and gruff voiced when I saw him at Grease, Henry still has a chance!

It was me, Will T and Jimmy tonight... But fortunately Jimmy's phone ran out of battery so we didn't start filming anything daft. Instead we ate pizza (or Tesco chinese for Will T), played Perfect Dark, then moved upstairs to play Worms Armaggedon on the PC. Thanks chaps! Special thanks to Jimmy, who allowed himself to be persuaded that since we didn't have time to play on it tonight, he should leave his GameCube here. Spanx Jimmy :D

Film geek moment: I've just spotted Sarah Jessica Parker in a minor role in Footloose!

Film Of The Year

Quote of the moment: "The film of the year is The Return of the King" - Film 2004 with Jonathan Ross

Shocking, eh?

I agree with Jonathan though, in that Hero was a bit of an outsider. Undeniably cool though. So beautiful Podgy should have cried.

In other news, The Witness was on last night. Viggo Mortensen was in a minor role as an Amish farmer boy with a very dodgy wig. His debut, in fact, as I correctly guessed. Film geekdom is the way forward :D

Games Fest?

Quote of the moment: Ade Edmonson and Rik Mayall are splitting up. "We're nearly 50 and we're starting to feel undignified talking about w**king and knobs," says Ade - The Daily Mirror, quoted in The Times' column on ageing.

How long do you think it will take Rob and Will T to stop talking about w**king and 'knobs'?...

For anyone who was wondering, I did indeed manage to stay awake through my whole shift, despite having to get up at a very early 9am! I then had an exceedingly fun hour of physio knee class. Hurrah.

My mum and Vicky have now departed, which means I am alone in the house until Christmas Eve (when I have another shift, hence the staying here), when I get picked up by my grandpa for a Boote-House-Special(super-turbo-family-fun-size)Christmas-Eve-Meal! Mmm...

That means that tomorrow, during the day or the evening, if any crazy holidaying kids are about, then get yourselves here! Jimmy will hopefully be coming, if he doesn't take a sudden aversion to me. I won't be going anywhere fast as my car went to Wales today, and I cba to cycle :P

P.S. Bring games + consoles!

Pesky Kids

Quote of the moment:
"What kind of freak would fancy Claire(the headmistress)?"
"The same kind of freak who would become an OFSTED inspector..."

Teachers - Fun as ever :D

Also, from Teenagers From Hell: "This is Sarah Ryder, a 16 year old from Chelmsford."

That's the Sarah Ryder who used to go to Felsted Prep School, before she got into Chelmsford Girls County High (the girls grammar school). I think she was even in the same league as Poyntz's ma, mi and min, though in the year between my sisters. I also think I recognised another girl there from Paddy's 18th birthday, but he'd have to confirm that. It was tres amusant though: her mum agreed to let her have a house party, and there were cameras there filming it... Despite the usual 5am antics - throwing up, guys trying on bras, crap dancing etc - and the poor choice of music and clothing motifs - Slipknot being the main one - by the time her mum arrived in the morning the house was clean and the only thing missing from the drinks cabinet was "...the bottle of Malibu, which I'd been trying to get rid of for ages." You can tell they're the most intelligent kids on the programme, can't you?

In other news:

"Students running Saint, the newspaper of the University of St Andrews, are to undergo cultural diversity training after accusations of racism over an article that made fun of the Welsh." Methinks the Times should maintain a permanent reporter at St Andrews!

I was persuaded into working a full shift tomorrow, because I was the only person in today who isn't already working tomorrow(and presumably Tesco is busier than expected). It's a whole nine hours long! Can Will stay awake that long? Place ya bets now!

Work, work...

Quote of the moment: "Mmmm... Beer..."

Today at Tesco was thrilling! I was working on the 'Beers, Wines and Spirits' aisle for the first time, as I will be for all my extra holiday shifts. I saw Mr Sugden, soon to be Head of Elwyns, with his baby daughter. I got asked by a three year old where the cereal bars are, and had to walk very slowly ahead of him so I could show him (and his highly amused mother) their exact position. Then, just to round off an exciting day, I pulled a four-pack of bacons (:p) out of the packaging to put them on the shelf, and one of them had a hole in. I spent the last hour and a half of my shift smelling of Carlsberg. Mmmm...

I hope all those who were being indignant about the Dark Materials film fiasco will watch The South Bank Show tonight. The BBC are repeating the interview with Philip Pullman tonight at 11pm because of the resurrected controversy over the iconoclastic theme, due to the forthcoming film.

P.S. Did you like my impressive wording? :D

Gay Bar!

Quote of the moment: "Gay bar, gay bar, gay bar!"

We were watching The Talented Mr Ripley, in which the eponymous central character is gradually revealed as somewhat undecided as to his sexuality... so every time there was a bit of an awkward moment between him and another guy, Vicky and I started singing "Ripley... We want to take you to the gay bar!" etc.

In one of the breaks I saw the ad for House of Flying Daggers again - which looks cool - but they'd obviously lost the soundtrack in the post or something, because the music was all from Gladiator! How rare!

I snivel, you snivel, he/she/it snivels

Quote of the moment: "If you hold a shell-suit to your ear you can hear Romford" - On Q.I. last night.

I'm ill. It sucks. When I woke up this morning , I was sweating and had a huge temperature. My mum made me take some Sudafed as well as the paracetamol I'd already had, but all that did was make my eyes water! So I had to phone up Tesco half an hour before my shift started and say I couldn't go to work.

Duty Manager: "You do know you're supposed to phone at least 2 hours in advance, so that we have time to organise someone to cover your shift?"
Will: "I was waiting to see if the pills helped... and I only woke up an hour ago!"

Oops!

Chris Weitz not up to the challenge

Quote of the moment: The forces surrounding the film adaption of Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials have claimed another casualty. After last month's quiet dismissal of Tom Stoppard from the Hollywood project, its director, Chris Weitz, has resigned. The About A Boy director said: "The technical challenges... are more than I can undertake at this point." Perhaps after having been removed from the script, God intervened.

- The Times, 16th December 2004

Score! Hahaha... He got owned, no? :D

Amusing Trivia from IMDB: Chris Weitz was the male voice in the porn film which Jim is trying to watch at the start of American Pie.

End of term!

Quotes of the moment: A couple of classics from my lesson today:

"Can I have a slice of paper please?" - Me

"I have to get mens gloves because my (false) nails are so long" - The same girl who said that me only having 5 lessons a week was "Safe man! Awwww, thats heavy!"

Term is over! Hurrah! I've just been given a copy of The Felstedian. The Elywns section is dominated by pictures of Pete etc mudsliding! Lol! There's also a fair bit about the all-conquering House Challenge team :D

What you say?

Quote of the moment:
Rumsfeld to Bush: "Captain, someone set us up the bomb"
White House Aide: "Main screen turn on"
Bush: "It is you!"
Bin Laden: "How are you gentlemen? All your base are belong to us"
Bush: "What you say?"
Bin Laden: "You have no chance to survive make your time. Ha ha ha ha"

BOOM! (Cue music... "All your base, your base, base, base, all your base... are belong to us...")

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

I know I've been ticked off already for saying this far too much, but OMG. I did a Prillo last night! No, worse! I did... a Vicky Adekunle! I had some overdue stuff (of course, being me - though it was the first majorly overdue stuff this term :D), which was a paper and two lots of corrections on my mocks... Then I had another two half-finished (in lesson-time) papers which were due in today... And then - and this is the scary bit - I had another one for tomorrow. I handed them all in today! WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?!

I did maybe an hours worth yesterday afternoon. I took my parents to "The Feast" (the end of term dinner in the Prep School). Jimmy came over, we watched some Salad Fingers, I discovered he didn't know what "All your base" was, so I had to show him instantly (I also discovered that logging into MSN from my laptop is now impossible). I went to fetch me 'rents in the middle of Teachers, Jimmy went home, I came back, watched the end of Teachers that I'd videoed, then at about midnight I started doing maths, cos I was thinking "Er... yoinks guys... I'm in le poo!" (Cue on the spot Scooby running :P

I stopped doing maths at about 3.30am. I was on so much of a roll that I did my stuff for tomorrow as well. HELP ME.

[Edit 20:48 16/12/04 - I realised that I forgot to provide an All Your Base link! So here is one! :D]

The Emo Test!

Quote of the moment: Holy Shit Your(sic) Emo! Holy shit you actually are emo! Congratulations on not being a poser.

Take the quiz: "How emo are you?"

To B, or not to B?

Quote of the moment: "You're mad! But you can come in early if you want..." - my section manager, when I asked to start at 8am on New Year's Eve.

Hurrah! That means I can be there, according to the current time-table, at 19.38! So hopefully I'll have time to get to Prill's and back without too much running. Soz, Kaz m8!

While I'm mentioning Kaz, I'd be very grateful if she took her Monopoly set. It could be an old-fashioned alternative to the Game Cube?... Plus I'm better at it :D

In other news, I now have all my formal offers:

• Bath - BCC
• Cardiff - BCC
• Sheffield - ACC

I was only putting Sheffield as an insurance choice, but they'd upped their standard offer since last year from CCC to BBB, and I didn't bother getting a new prospectus! D'oh! It's not like I actually wanted to go there though, t'was just to keep the 'rents happy. Since, including my AS modules, my overall score in my mocks would have been 456/600 or 76%, ie a high B, I'm (probably rather too) confident :D

History 5

Quote of the moment: "Beware the pies of March!"

New Weebl'n'Bob! It's the Romans, and it's awesome!

All of Rabbit's Friends and Relations

Quote of the moment: "Awwwwwww..."

Today there was a pre-Christmas clan gathering of the O'Gormans (my mum's side of the family) chez nous. There were two grandparents, one aunt and two uncles, each with daughter. The set of three (Aunt, uncle and daughter) included the new cousin, Alexandra Beatrice Grace O'Gorman, who's 4 months old! She's impressively quiet! She hardly wailed at all, though that was probably due to the constant amusement by gawping cousins!

Prillo the Pants-Sniffer

Quote of the moment:
Homer - "Hello. My name is Mr Burns. I believe you have a letter for me."
Post Office Guy - "What's your first name sir?"
Homer - "I don't know..."

Prill has changed her profile picture. She now has one showing her hugging a pillow, apparently. Personally I think it looks like she's sniffing either a pair of Bridget Jones pants, or a pair of Dr Dave's white boxers!



See!

The Golden Compass

Quote of the moment: (On Messenger last week)

Rob: http://www.alinkijustmadeup.com
Rob: Can you go there?
Will: Where? The link?

D'oh! Rob is the monkey, as he reminded me today!

Returning to the point: Philip Pullman's Dark Materials Trilogy. Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. Except that if you visit that link, you'll find it's the U.S. publisher's page, and Northern Lights is called "The Golden Compass". Why?! Is that somehow better? I think not. Maybe Americans don't know what the northern lights are. The fact that they are an inherent part of the theme of the book is obviously irrelevant, as is the instrument in question not being a compass at all, but an alethiometer. For anyone who's read LOTR, that's like calling a Palantir a bauble. But then again, maybe they do in the U.S. editions!

The inadaquacies of Americans are further exposed in the crass damaging of the plot, accuracy, and entire ethos of the film. The director of the project, as currently installed by the studio, caused an outcry by saying this:

"New Line is a company that makes films for economic returns. They have expressed worry about the possibility of His Dark Materials' perceived anti-religiosity making it an unviable project financially. My job is to get the film made in such a way that the spirit of the piece is carried through to the screen, and to do that I must contend not only with the difficulties of the material but with the fears of the studio. Needless to say, all my best efforts will be directed towards keeping His Dark Materials as liberating and iconoclastic an experience as I can. But there may be some modification of terms. You will probably not hear of the 'Church'."

Does he know the meaning of the word iconoclastic? Specifically "a person who attacks images used in religious worship" according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, or more broadly, someone who attacks the religious establishment. How does removing the element of the story which opposes the antiquated establishment of the Church keep it iconoclastic? Yes, the 'Church' is used as a metaphor for every institution that suppresses individual thought. So it might be possible to maintain that ethos by replacing the 'baddies' in the film, and about half of the books' characters, I'm sure. With what, exactly? Mr Chris Weitz, the aforementioned director, suggested a Communist authority. Ironic, certainly. The Communists were great persecutors of Christianity, just like Philip Pullman! There are some vague similarities, but I really don't think so.

The studio bosses basically want to make a mediocre spin-off that will hopefully make a reasonable return. They're so scared of the Bible-Belt lobby that they're planning to remove the 'Church' from a trilogy that just gets more iconoclastic from book to book! It essentially is about iconoclasty! What happened to "Any publicity is good publicity"? Making a trilogy of films that remain mostly accurate, and certainly true to the spirit of the book, is something that New Line have a history of doing. Why not maintain that reputation? Monty Python's Life of Brian was film that was a spoof of the Easter story, the fundamental basis of Christianty. There were huge evangelical protests that just served to highlight the accuracy of the film's mockery of the reactionary Christian establishment. This is nowhere near that iconoclastic! (I love that word now!)

For Rob, and as a summary for anyone who read all of that: New Line have just gone from [Comic Store Guy Voice] best... studio... ever... [/Comic Store Guy Voice] to the exact opposite. They are planning to turn the modern Lord of the Rings equivalent into something that Flanders would take Rod and Tod to.

P.S. Thanks to Jimmy for having the conversation with me that inspired that. Alternatively you can damn Jimmy for making me rant for ages, because you thought it was boring. Me too.

His Lite Materials

Quote of the moment: "There aren't any TA's until the end of January..."

A TA, by the way, is a timed assesment. I normally have one a week, but they stop after the mocks last week until the January exams are over. This was on the timetable I got at the beginning of term. The one I used the back of to write on in my first TA cos I'd forgotten a pad of paper. Oops! No wonder I turned up for mine today and the door was locked... D'oh!

I had to leave my Pizza Hut lunch in a hurry for that! (Paddy randomly turned up around midday, and made me change out of my dressing gown and go to Freeport Pizza Hut for the all-you-can-eat-lunch. Mmmmm.)

In other news today: THE CHURCH IS WRITTEN OUT OF THE DARK MATERIALS FILM SCRIPT.

The MSN Article
The IMDB View

OMG. This is SO WRONG.

I will continue this later, when I have regained the power of speech.

AMERICANS. Sighage...

Here's Villy!

I just watched a film called The Chase which had cameos from Anthony Kiedis and Flea. JEALOUS Podge m8!

I feel I should also mention the circumstances of my arrival at Will T's house. As it was about 11.15 when I got there, I thought that his rents would probably be in bed, so I only tapped lightly on the door. There was no response, so I went around the front and peeked through the gaps under the curtains. There was a light on in the little room with the PC and keyboard in, but no-one visible. I then went along to the sitting-room window. The TV was on, so I thought Will must be in there, and started tapping gently on the window. No immediate response was forthcoming, so I tapped a bit louder. Meanwhile, Will's parents are sitting watching the end of The Pledge, and were feeling a bit scared, when they heard a rapping on the window. It got louder and louder, until Mr Thorne got up and peeked around the curtain to see a large figure looming against the night sky... carrying a bag with an N64 in. He looked rather timid! Hehe! When he let me in, I found Will lying on the floor underneath the keyboard! D'oh!

Finally, the pics I promised: I would have posted them last night, but my laptop was refusing to acknowledge the prescence of my (USB) mouse, let alone my camera! I also forgot to rotate them before publishing them, and it's highly unlikely I'll bother to do anything about it... :P [Edit 26/11/05 - Unlikely, yet it happened.]

Rob demonstrates his 1337 hair:

And now the top view:


In the car park afterwards, while having a "circle pit" around Paddy's car, Rob and Podgy were persuaded to swap garments:

Podge looking unusually colourful:


And Rob looks particularly bad-ass in Podgy's Oasis jacket:

"Goodbye, Podgy-Jean... Though I never knew you at all..."

Quote of the Moment: "Bound, bound, bound and rebound"

This is the 100th post on my blog! Hurrah! However, unlike my recent kr3w effort, I am actually going to put something useful in this post!

As reported on Friday, I got my first pay-cheque yesterday: an impressive £264.36! That's 5 weekends x 9.5 hours x £5.03 per hour, plus a bit extra for my induction morning. Most of that will have to be saved for bumming around later this year though :( No spending sprees yet!

Went to see Grease last night at school, since Sarah was in a minor role. It was quite good, though one of the pyrotechnics failed to go off, which was most disappointing :P I then proceeded to Will T's, even though Jimmy had spent the afternoon there and left only a short while before, so that I could view the Starwars efforts. Very budget, to be sure.

Today Rob, Paddy and I went to the Incredibles (again, for me) with Koel, as a kind of "Good riddance, you're off to Canada" thing. I am now, obviously, humming Green Day (:D). We then went and sat in MacDonalds while Podge had food, since she is a pie... Hehehe... Perhaps I should mention that she gave me a couple of CDR's with a selection of music that she thinks I need to be educated about, along with a rather attractive enamelled pen pot type thing (with peacocks on), and I promptly left them in the sweet shop. Oops... They were still there when I remembered at the end of the film though :D

I have 1337 pics of Rob's 1337 hair, before he has it "made suitable" for working on his dad's office over the holiday! They'll be published tomorrow hopefully, as an edit to this, because I'm currently being harassed by my mother to go to bed. RENTS! Who'd 'ave 'em?!

Money, money, money...

Quote of the moment: "There is no emoticon for what I'm feeling!" - Comic Store Guy, in The Simpsons tonight. It's so life-affirming watching The Simpsons :P

I'm finally getting my first pay cheque tomorrow! Hurrah! Since the first weekend I worked was carried over onto this month's pay, it's going to be a bumper one... :D

Has anyone watched any episodes of Hard Spell? The words are for the most part rather easy, and I reckon I could have owned them at 14, anal-retentive geek that I am (and proud of it!). But ignore that, because the reason I asked is that the background to the regional final that I saw was just loads of "hard" words scrolling down the screen, Matrix-style!

Fitness Report: Go me! I did a load of weights stuff followed by a full set of Scrot core strength exercises! :D

[Edit 23:38 - I've just seen an advert saying that The Return of the King: Extended Edition DVD is out on December the 10th! YES! I'll be around to watch Will T's A.S.A.P.]

Cardiff and Mockery

Quote of the moment: "It's so life-affirming..." Another Koel classic!

As Rob said, an example of its many uses could be:

"It was so life-affirming I wanted to cry!"

:P

So... This week was mocks week at le college. On Monday I had a P1 and P2 double bill in the afternoon, which went pretty well! I ran out of time during the last P2 question, and today I found out that I differentiated instead of intergrating in the first P1 question! D'oh! But still, I got 88% in P1 and 85% in P2.

That's up from last year's impressive performance:

• P2 25%
• P3 25%
• M2 50%
• (AS year: P1 77%, M2 82%, D1 87%)

That means that to get a B I need to get 74 more overall, and to get an A I need 134 more. So a B is within reach, given that I got 71 more on the first two exams!

Today I took M2 in the morning and P3 in the afternoon. Unfortunately I wasn't particularly awake for the mechanics... It was kind of "I know how to do this... I'm just too busy yawning (and being annoyed by the sniffing people with no tissues) to actually work it out." P3 went ok-ish, as expected... nothing spectacular, given that I'm still getting it sorted after sorting out P2, but on the two together I should be able to add 3 more marks! If I get the P3 sorted by January, an A is reachable - not bad from a U last year!

On Monday afternoon after my mocks I took my executive car, with paternal chaffeur, across to the Welsh Border to stay the night with my granny. On Tuesday I had an interview at Cardiff University, which was basically the same as last year, except that I made it there in time for the bus tour of the city, with the Millenium Stadium, the new arts centre and the Welsh Assembly. Oh, how exciting! Welsh politics! :P

My interview was with a different Prof this time. This guy's research involves "creating computer programs for the monitoring of engineering conditions", and he looked like a stunted version of Mr Dawkins! It was more of a Q&A actually, including me getting confirmation that I can do a language (e.g. Arabic) instead of a couple of the management type modules. Hurrah! I also given some information on the OTC, but it didn't include what my dad told me on the way home: The new CO of either the Cardiff OTC or the overall Wales OTC (my dad was "merry" at the dinner when they last met) is a guy who was in the Royal Regiment of Wales at the same time as my dad! How handy! So he'll be like: "Poyntz... I recognise that name... Yes, I expect he'll be falling asleep all the time too..."

Random piece of amusing information: Ben, our (older) labrador, snores exactly the same way as my dad... LOL

t3hkr3w-opoly!

Quote of the moment: "The Lion King is David Beckham's favourite film. Bless." - The Ultimate Film

Robin Hood is blatantly better, right Jimmy?!

Also: while watching Casualty over supper, Vicky said she thought she'd seen a previous episode with a guy impaled on a fence the exact same way.

You know what comes next :D

I reply: "They've changed something!"

OMG There was an actual guy called Kenny Baker inside R2D2! Sorry Will T, you probably knew that, but I didn't. WOW!

Christmas/New Year Plans:

I'm working in Tesco on Christmas Eve. Bumclouds! I then have to go cross-country on Christmas Day with my grandparents, to join the rest of my family in Monmouthshire. On the 27th (probably) I return here, so I'm around for any kr3w shenanigens on Tuesday the 28th. Then, while Prill, Jimbo and Kaz are flying up on the 29th, I'm doing an extra shift in Tesco. Then the usual one on Friday the 31st, which I couldn't get out of, but moved to the morning. Then taking the train up to Edinburgh for at least 4 days (unlike the full hardcore week for everyone else) of hardcore partying, and hopefully more Monopoly. Which reminds me: somehow we need to give someone/everyone a Make-your-own-opoly set, to be made into t3hkr3w-opoly! It's as cunning as a fox who's the Regius Professor of Cunning at Oxford University!

Medical Students

Quote of the moment: "MSN Hotmail Plus is Here! 2GB of storage, 20MB attachment size and more." At last!

This evening I had a First Aid mini-course. Which was alright... the guy taking it works as the on-site first aider for the Cambridge University Rugby Club, which was quite cool! According to him, getting concussed even once significantly increases your chances of senile dementia! D'oh! He was very confused when I said the only time I'd got concussed was in a hockey match, being hit by someone's hip! Oh dear! So no probs there, apart from his slight lack of control.

The problem was the wannabe medical students! They kept asking niggly questions, mostly regarding what they'd seen in hospitals while on work experience. The teacher guy was just like: "As I have already said, when you find yourself in an emergency situation, you don't normally have a surgical theatre full of equipment, or even a first aid box!"

Sigh. Medical students, honestly. Though I suppose these are the ones who didn't make it. Oh dear.

P.S. I finished reading The Lord Of The Rings on Monday, so it took me 10 days, including reading all the appendices. Go me!

Edinburgh Update

Quote of the moment: "You taught me baseball Tim, and how to laugh!"... The real Rambo: First Blood Part II is on now, Vietnamese chick and all!

Since I am n00 and only realised last week that New Year's Eve is a Friday, I can't book me holiday cos the people who've got it booked for then have had it booked for a year. D'OH! So the only thing I could do was move my shift from starting at 1pm to starting at 9am, finishing at 2pm, then travelling up after that. I might move it back to 8am if necessary, but on the current train timetable I can arrive around 9/10-ish. Should be fine, except that because I'm n00 I also forgot to book the street party tickets, and thus may need to go sit in Burger King well in advance to get in!

Heroes (of the Old Republic)

Quote of the moment: "What is thy bidding my master?..."

Another early morning effort. Yesterday afternoon I went to Will T's. Then went with his 'rents, little brother and Jimmy to see "The Incredibles", which was most excellent! Plus we had the fortunate excuse of little Edward in case of questions about watching a U rated cartoon. A good thing too, because in the cinema I spotted none other than Mr Christmas, legendary hero himself, with 3 small boys in tow. At the end of the film Will insisted on trying to walk right past them, even though that meant crossing over to the far aisle so he could cross back in front of them. When this failed, Mr Thorne resorted to waiting outside the doors and saying "Oh look, there's Mr Christmas" loudly in case he tried to avoid us. Oh dear... Strange thing, hero worship! :P

We then returned to Will's house, where we gamed, had a humoungous home-cooked Chinese for supper, gamed some more, watched Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie and then got distracted... I'm not sure exactly how that happened, but it might have been something to do with Will T obsessing over the Star Wars: Episode III advert he saw when he went to Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason with Kaz. Apparently that made it all worthwhile :P Whatever the cause, we spent the next 3 hours using Jimmy's new video phone to record our own Star Wars Special Edition Trilogy, with deleted scenes, a trailer, lots of bad cuts that were vetoed by the perfectionist director, cast profiles and more... It has now gone into the post-production phase, and will soon be released to a select few for screen testing, before being set loose to maul box offices the world over. More news soon, or ask Jimmy, the director, producer, camera-man and now editor!

Is yesterday tomorrow, today?

Quote of the moment: "If any of the departments is taken out, the whole tower falls down. Or it should do...."

I think I shall have to write this in the past tense, even though I haven't slept since it happened.

Yesterday's shift at Tesco was the best so far. Why? Because I spent an hour and a half being educated in the "Living Service" programme. This involved free chocolate. I would like any Tesco personnel programme for this one advantage alone! But it also involved stickers, playmats, videos, a room with a mini theatre curtain across the door, and most importantly, wooden building blocks. These were cubic, and so when at the start we were instructed to sit on the floor in a circle and use the blocks, each labelled with the name of a store department, the majority response was to put one on another in a column with a base of 4 (2 x 2). Logs are not involved, Vince/Rob/Anyone who might think this was challenging :P However, this obviously proved unstable due to a lack of interlinking, so I set each layer at a 45 degree angle/rotation from the previous one, so that all blocks both supported and rested on two other blocks. This meant that when the time came for the "Without all of these departments, the store would collapse" soundbite, there was a disapointing failure of the "store" to do anything other than wobble. It was rather like Jenga :D

Upon returning home from Tesco I was informed that Paddy had only just left, having stopped by to give me my orders regarding a cinema trip. When I eventually got hold of him, he, Rob and Dan Haustrup were in the foyer at Cineworld, tickets bought, film "beginning" then. How handy! I thus skidded there pronto on the lovely icy roads, and saw the Manchurian Candidate. Which was cool. When we left I got my first full view of Rob's hair, which is cooler!

Thereafter ensued a trip to Pizza Hut, where the Eastern European waitress flirted with Paddy. When I made a comment about "Nadia", he thought I was referring to the Portugese one... SIGH. We then made our way to Paddy's house, where we ate, drank coke, and admired Rob's Hair (It's so cool it's become a proper noun :P). Xbox obviously followed. Rob was delivered home at midnight by Paddy, and in the intervening hour I vastly inflated his Xbox live death count (and added to the kills by 5) while Dan tried to argue with confused Americans via the microphone. Sometimes in Danish, just for extra effect.

Dan departed around 2am, whereupon we set to Halo 2, co-operative. By 5.45, when I left, it was (apparently) nearing completion! Hurrah! And hence the rather early time of this post... I'm off to catch some sleep before meeting up for Gamecube action at Will T's at 3pm! Super-turbo-hardcore-games-fest-action-marathon!

Pompous Politics

A muddle of random occurences, beginning with things seen yesterday:

1. On the way to college I got stuck behind a Land-Rover Freelander. On the spare wheel cover on the boot door was printed in large letters: Park Lane Land Rover, 17 Park Lane, Mayfair! The Monopoly car is now a Freelander, it seems.
2. While walking back from college to where I park my car - in the lane behind St Faiths Prep School 10 minutes down the road - I passed a Dons of Dunmow coach parked by the school entrance, disgorging the Felsted Prep School Rugby teams, including William Gwyther.
3. In the afternoon, I got a text message from my dear sister (Vicky) saying she passed her driving test, first time, with 3 minors. Absolutely daft, isn't it!? She even hit the curb at one point, but she's a girl, so she passed. No doubt her ample assets distracted the examiner. How handy!

Things seen in the news today:

1. Fox hunting will be illegal in 3 months time. It seems absolutely daft that an act designed to enable the swift declaration of war when under attack has been hijacked (again) by New Labour for something actually rather trivial. The control of the Fox population is now carried out largely by cars, as can be seen by the number of corpses on rural roads around here. Hunting with hounds has been shown to be kinder to foxes than shooting them, the only viable alternative (apart from to the saboteurs, who would obviously like to see them running happily around like innocent little bunnies - reality check, they rip little bunnies to shreds). This issue only actually matters to a few dedicated people on either side, but its symbolism has meant that it has been used by the Labour backbenchers to attack the House of Lords - The only political institution left that talks sense, not spin. Hunting with hounds doesn't actually do any real harm, and there is no real justification for banning it. This will hopefully be the decision arrived at by the appeal courts.
2. A former secretary in the household of Prince Charles is suing for unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination, after she was sacked for being a hyper-politically-correct lefty. Up to Charles to pick people he gets on with, surely? She has produced as evidence a private letter from Charles to a senior member of his staff, in which he puts forward the opinion that annoying people like her are the product of a society that is afraid to tell people that they aren't good enough to be pop stars or prime ministers, and that in order to achieve these aims actually requires a lot of hard work and talent/suitability for the job. Shocking! Every Private can't become a Sergeant Major?! Every Second Lieutenant can't become Chief of the Defense Staff!? Surely not! Bear in mind, too, that this was not a public statement, but private correspondance.
   None the less, Education Secretary Charles Clark attacked the Prince for being out of touch with modern youth and teaching. What hypocrasy! This same Charles Clark today announced that pupils who have been expelled for disruptive behaviour should be distributed equally among the other schools in that region equally, even if that means putting those who fall far below the entry standard into grammar schools. Congratulations, everyone is now equal. Or not. Placing someone into classes where the content and speed is far beyond their grasp is hardly likely to encourage them to pay attention and become model pupils. Making the class slow down to the level of the weakest, however, means that all the others will be twiddling their thumbs, messing around and becoming disruptive. Well done, Mr Clarke. No one, surely, could be more short sighted and out of touch, or more of a prime example of what the Prince referred to in his letter: Overreactionary politically correct nitwits (My words, not his) who condemn anyone who dares to be less than totally optimistic.
3. I watched the news and saw, at the opening of his presidential library (built to hold the records and paperwork of his goverment) and in the prescence of Bush Sr and Jr, as well as Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton displaying again the oratory skills that made him outshine both candidates in the recent election during his brief rally appearance. Putting John Kerry in the shade might have proved rather unhelpful...
4. In the local paper today: 3 men breaking into the office of of an Ongar businessman were shocked to find him still there. The black-belt martial arts enthusiast was practising with his Samurai sword while working late. He heard the glass smash in the back door, and then, said the 58 year old: "I was confronted by three men with an iron bar. I let out a massive Kiai(sic) shout holding this sword and the look of terror on theirfaces was unbelievable." He chased them, still screaming, out to their car. PMSL.

Other things that happened today: It snowed! Hehehe!

The Landlord's Daughter

Due to intense boredom I changed all the names on my blog links on Monday. Most of the references are obvious, but I though I should explain one:

Kaz - The Landlord's Daughter

Obviously Kaz is currently residing in her mansion in Edinburgh, as bought by her dad, but this is also alluding to the cult (camp) Scottish 'horror' movie The Wickerman, in which the patrons of the local pub perform the following ditty en masse:

THE LANDLORD'S DAUGHTER
Much has been said of the strumpets of yore
Of wenches and bawdy house queens by the score
But I sing of the baggage that we all adore,
The Landlord's Daughter ...
You'll never love another
Although she's not the kind of girl
To take home to your mother ...
The Landlord's Daughter ...
Her ale it is lively and strong to the taste
It is brewed with discretion and never with haste
You can have all you like
If you swear not to waste
The Landlord's Daughter ...
... And, when her name is mentioned
The parts of every gentleman
Do stand up at attention ...
The Landlord's Daughter ...
Oh, nothing can delight so
As does the part that lies between
Her left toe
And her right toe ...
The Landlord's Daughter ...

Or to put it more succinctly:

"Above the pub, the landlord's daughter ... depucelates young male virgins brought to her by the laird of the isle." - http://www.imomus.com/wickermeetsman.html

Isn't that so, Kaz m8?!

Enslaved!

Quote of the moment: "Your starter for 10: what does this emoticon depict?" - Emoticons on University Challenge! Hurrah!

Have just seen an advert for La Coste perfume stuff. For guys. Featuring a guy getting out of bed naked, walking past his huge trophy cabinet, then sitting down with a cup of tea of a saucer. White china. A real man's man, obviously!

Now, be warned. Rob in particular should be scared. I am about to embark on a contraversial on possibly emo topic. If you are pregnant, have a heart condition, are epileptic, or are Rob, please look away now!

I was watching Moira Stewart on the BBC 2 "Who Do You Think You Are?" series. Most of it was pretty good, including the bit when she went to a small Scottish town where her grandfather worked in a hospital, and where we used to stay overnight on the way to the Northwest coast for holidays. How rare! What did remind me of something rather daft was what she said at the end. When she found out that an ancestor of hers was a slave-master, she said she felt disgusted that she was descended from some involved in slavery.

Fair enough you might think. It wasn't actually that which I was objecting to, it was the way she talked about "slavery", in the same way as many people do. As if slavery was something invented and implemented by Europeans, including those who colonised North America, and was exclusively practised upon Africans. Much like the idea of "ethnic cleansing" was an exclusively Nazi thing, practised only upon Jews.

6 million Jews died during the Second World War, under the Nazi regime. But so did 5 million others; Romany gypsies, homosexuals, communists, and many more. Ethnic cleansing has happened all through history. For example, the Kurds and the Sunni Muslims: 30,000 Kurds died in Iraq between the two Gulf Wars. Rwanda: an estimated 1 million people died in 3 years of genocide, mostly under machete blades.

Slavery has been common practice in at least 4 continents that I know of, in the last couple of millenia. In Europe: Obviously common in Rome and in Ancient Greece. The Vikings had thralls (the origin of 'enthrall'), the Normans had serfs. When Europeans colonised Africa and took black African slaves home, and later to North (and South) America, they weren't doing anything new, especially because the African tribes had a tradition of slavery too. The Zulus, the most organised and effective of the warrior tribes, that conquered an empire for themselves, took whole tribes in slavery. Such is the traditional method of the conqueror. In South and Central America, the Inca, Maya and especially the Aztecs took slaves in war. They were a vital and normal part of society.

The major difference, it seems to me, is that the scale involved increased. It started with tribe to tribe, only a few miles apart. It increased to being nation-states, then to countries. When the Africans were shipped en masse to Europe and America, it became intercontinental, and more importantly, it's the only time it happened in the memory of most Americans (of the white variety, slavery was also common among the American Indian tribes) and thus the only one that counts against the guilty consciences of those of liberal (emo) sensibilities.

Rant over.

Also on my hitlist today: my rents, for yelling at me for spending all evening on the internet.

1. It's a prepaid account, of the £12.99 per month dial-up variety. Thus it is costing them nothing extra for me to do so.
2. Since I work on Saturdays, Tuesday is my second day off per week (which is vital for health reasons, according to Rob).
3. I was harassed for messing around when I should be doing something useful. I did an hour and a half of maths and walked the dogs today. Plus I spent a hour before supper printing off emails from admissions tutors and my UCAS application, and checking on the track thing (which still doesn't show anything, though I have apparently recieved two offers already).
4. They also had a go at me for waking them up at half twelve last night, by opening the back door and turning the outdoor light on. That would be because the puppy was whining because he needed a leak, so I took him out into the garden so he wouldn't piss on the floor.
5. They were only moody because Zulu (the puppy) tried to chew the carpet in the sitting room!

Go me! Longest... Rant... Ever... (By Will - obviously Podgy ones are at least quadruple the size).

Emo, Canada

Quote of the moment: "...it was just gorgeous. I wanted to cry."

Applicable to everything. Honest. For example:

"That Tesco Christmas jingle is just so gorgeous, it made me want to cry."

"Rob's new hair is just 1337. I wanted to cry."

"I saw the length of Podgy's latest post... it was just ridiculous. I wanted to cry."

Harsh, but SO deserved! I hope she does visit Emo during her Canada trip!

In other news, I went to the Rememberance Sunday service in Felsted today. It was suitably peace-loving, being taken by "Jolly John", the village vicar. And that was suitably countered by Mr Christmas' sermon about encouraging cadets to join the Army... LOL. The bugling was rubbish too. Plus: I took my camera. Joules was in full dress uniform. I zoomed in, hit the button, and the battery died. Poor Prill! Hehe!

[Edit 21:57 - Have just seen a advert with Destiny's Child promoting World Children's Day. 50p given to Ronald MacDonald charities for each meal (of some sort that I can't remember) purchased. Cue rant from Podgy :P]

Missed me!

Quote of the moment: "We looked for you when we came in to do the shopping. Several times, actually!"

Hurrah! Go me! I managed to take my 15 minute break at the same time my mum and sisters came in to Tescos!

You killed Phil's mum!

Quote of the moment: "Yes Mum, I ate lots of fruit this week." - Phil, my Essex University attending colleague, talking to his mum when she appeared in Tescos doing her shopping...

Also: at the college there's a short guy in Yr 11 called Kenny. Really, apparently. I haven't ever seen him with his hood up, but it's a start! :p

P.S. I've started reading The Lord of the Rings, for the fourth time! Perhaps I'll get past the first book of the six this time!

Blogs Are Dangerous!

Quote of the moment: "Psychologists at Staffordshire University have been monitoring their students, and asking them about their diary addiction and health problems. The study seems to suggest that students who kept diaries were worryingly prone to mental and physical illness, compared to the diary teetotallers... ...The study suggests people who re-read entries in their diaries suffer the worst, adding social dysfunction to their list of ailments."

However, it seems like it's actually the other way around: messed-up people are more likely to keep diaries! That, by the way, was a quote from an article in Student Times - a free paper I got given in college on Monday (rather out of date - from Thursday 7th October) - which also included an advert for a band called Reuben, "On Tour with Biffy Clyro 12 - 19 October." Hmm... why does that sound familiar?!

Oops!

Quote of the moment: "Oh. Should I have woken you up?"

That was my dad, upon seeing me come down the stairs, at 2.30pm. When I was supposed to be starting my Maths Challenge paper... Sighage...

When my dear mother harassed him about it this evening, he said he'd forgetten I was even here, what with my sisters having just gone back to school after half term and all. THANKS!

Fitness Report: Erm, that would have been the 1pm sports session? Oops to that too...

Disney Top 5

Quote of the moment: "Sorry mate, no idea!" - The captain of the Portsmouth team on University Challenge, to Jeremy Paxman.

Hurrah! Met up with Jimmy and Prillo in Chelmsford this afternoon, which was most entertaining. I even managed to get birthday presents for both Jimmy (belated) and Podge (almost on time!). Go me! Only a couple behind now!

A question for everyone who had Disney cartoon films as part of their childhood: What are your Top 5 Disney films? Everything from Snow White up to Toy Story - which is borderline, since it's CGI and not traditional :P

My top 5:

1. Robin Hood
   The whole animals thing - It's awesome! Plus Prince John is hilarious.
2. The Sword in the Stone
   Archimedes (the owl) is my hero! Also Mad Madam Mim - like Prill?!
3. Aladdin
   Robin Williams as the Genie.
4. The Lion King
   Timone and Pumba - especially the "In the Jungle" singing.
5. Beauty and the Beast
   For the awesome cutlery/pottery, and because I want to have my own castle!

Fitness Report: I'm going to sports tomorrow as well, since it's just before The Maths Challenge! Twice in one week, and physio' on Wednesday! Yikes!

[Edit 23:38 - I just went outside to look at a meteor shower, as suggested by Prillo. It was raining. Outside sucks :P]

[Edit 00:23 - New Weebl and Bob! It's awesome! "This not the sphinx! It the sphinxter!"]

Politics

Quote of the moment: "Canadian immigration officials cited by Reuters said that the number of US citizens visiting their website went up six-fold on Wednesday."

See here for details!

I wrote all of this as commentary on Podgy's latest marathon update. I thought I'd show it off, as it's actually coherent! How rare!

Bush makes people feel safe. This should not be the case, but from the small glimpse of his activities they get, thats what they think...

Kerry sucked. If, for example, George Clooney had run for President against Bush, he'd have won. He'd never have been chosen by the Democrats as their representative, because they choose on the basis of intelligent policies, not charisma. Kerry didn't, at any point, capture the moment, or hold the crowd's attention. The Republicans have known the power of charm since at least Ronald Reagan - a former (minor) Hollywood star. Bill Clinton won the nomination for his policies and the election for his charm, his twinkly eyes and his saxophone playing.

If George Clooney had run for President, he'd have captured the group that really decided the election: the "security moms". The ones who were charmed by Clinton. The ones who voted for Bush because his eyes twinkled more than Kerry's.

Also: The number of U.S. citizens visiting the Canadian Government's immigration website went up by six times on Wednesday - the day the election result was announced.

In other news, I actually got my uniform today! Hurrah! It's awesome:

• The shirts don't have tails, so they come untucked really easily when I bend down to put things on bottom shelves (and shirts always have to be tucked in).
• The trousers are too narrow around the thighs so my humoungous tree-trunk legs are gripped too tightly to allow me to crouch down (I wore my own blue baggy ones).
• The jumper is V-necked, which is for women and golfers.

Fitness Report: Cycled to work and back, again! Am also planning to sit in front of either Apocalypse Now or The Untouchables, playing with my weights... Go me!

First day at work

Quote of the moment: "I really liked that cutter"

Today was my first day working at Tescos... Go me! 1 til 6pm, Fridays and Saturdays. It was bit weird... I never actually got my uniform! I spent the whole time with a badge pinned onto my rugby shirt! How rare!

The first hour I was supervised by my section manager. At some point I managed to mislay his "cutter"... Which is a like a safety bladed thing for cutting (obvs) open boxes and plastic wrapping. Oops... Good start, no? After that I was with a guy who's been working there 2 days... Very experienced! Plus the section manager turns up and presents me with my own cutter, complete with curly keyring thing so I couldn't possibly leave it anywhere... Sighage...

It wasn't too bad though! Time flies when you're pretending to be an Italian waiter with a box of Daz :D

Fitness Report: Cycled to work and back :D

Hail to the Thief

Quote of the moment: Kerry calls Bush to concede...

Two days ago, but unmentioned as yet. I thought it was quite impressive that Kerry didn't go into the courtroom battles, despite being a lawyer!

Sighage... Looking on the bright side, at least the Armed Forces will be kept busy, and hopefully thus escape too many cuts as a result of "having too many troops". More likely, they'll have to go to war, but not have any budget increase, and thus be forced to make more cuts like those happening now. I think Bush should chuck 3 billion our way to pay for our assistance, since Gordon Brown won't - it's less than what gets spent each day on the US Armed Forces, apparently!

The political maps show America in terms of Red Republican states and Blue Democrat ones... But here's the proportional representation map: nearly Cadbury Purple, Podge m8!



Fitness Report: I got owned in Badminton doubles by a pair of females! Shocking! I blame my partner for being a short-ass... Short people are t3h sucky :P

Nice haircut, Marine!

Quote of the moment: While talking about watching The Ring last night with Jimmy, I was tres amused... Here are the edited highlights:

Hulk: I watched the ring last night
Jimmy: have you watched the hole thing yet?
Jimmy: *whole
Hulk: PMSL
Jimmy: huh?

Sigh... Oh, the irony!

Today I made what was possibly a huge blunder: I had a haircut! My lovely long Einsteinian locks have been shorn! It's not quite Vince level short, but close, no? Judge for yourselves...



Also, for your delight and viewing pleasure (and to make Jim jealous), the window of the shop in Edinburgh:



Mine's in the front row, one to the left of centre... However, I'm sure Jim will be more concerned with the beauty in the middle of the back row! And on the topic of making Jim jealous, I sat next to three Russian girls on the train down from Edinburgh on Monday, who were happily chattering away in accents that would have had Jim begging for more... :P

Fitness Report: Does walking around Braintree count? Nope, didn't think so...

Hallo, Ween!

Quote of the moment: Happy birthday Kez-yarrrr! (For yesterday)

The epic Halloween get-together was most excellent!
I agree my dear comrade Ted: totally bogus!

Ahem. (Y) Ya! It was though, tbh :D

Personal highlights:

• Rob m8 trying to stroll into a nightclub on Kaz's arm, because he'd lost his wallet whilst mashed up on Thursday night.
• Rob m8 seeing Nick's hair and feeling insecure.
• Me being owned by Nick for implying Diet Coke was unmanly.
• Prillo trying to use me as a ghost shield on the vaults tour, in case something came through the wall.
• Rob's glow in the dark face.
• Jimmy getting Klu Klux Klan comments from virtually everyone, when dressed in his white sheet.
• Playing Monopoly while attempting to ply everyone with alcohol... and failing with all except myself!
• Finding a souvenir shop selling swords... and armour, and helmets... Samurai sowrds up to a humoungous Braveheart style double-handed broadsword.
• Being so impressed that I gave Kaz m8 the squids to buy me one, since I forgot about them on Sunday. (Only a compartively ickle one though!)
• Eating Rob's supplies: Jaffa Cakes, Jaffa cake mini-rolls and chocolate oranges. Anyone else interested in the Rob-recommended diet?!
• Going shopping with Rob, Kaz and Nick, and discovering that neither of the latter two are capable of making a decision on anything trivial (eg Vanilla Diet Coke vs Diet Coke, or chocolate cake vs sponge cake).
• Decorating the sponge cakes we eventually bought with some awesome Tesco ready-made icing (rolled with a Smirnoff bottle, since the rolling pin had gone AWOL).
• Embarrasing Kaz by singing Happy Birthday.
• Sitting in a squished-up bundle on a bench in the park on Sunday night, watching some n00bs set off fireworks while Rob recanted comic tales.
• Getting up at 6.25-ish on Monday morning - un peu later than planned - and striding/running to the station with my mahoosive backpack on (mostly full of mahoosive sleeping bag).
• Arriving just in time to see my train leaving... D'oh!

Fitness Report: I'm super, thanks to Kaz, my new personal PT instructor :D

Hardcore

Quote of the moment: I woke up at 6.45pm! Hardcore!

Maybe I shouldn't have stayed up all night watching DVDs... Damn you, Jimmy... Look what you've done to me :P

Fitness Report: Played with weights for the entire duration of Black Hawk Down. It stops me wanting popcorn so much! Go me!

RIP Kurt, Brian and John Peel...

Quotes of the moment:

• RIP John Peel...
• Kerry Leads Bush!
• For the [/bush] T-shirt, click here!

I have my train ticket to Edinburgh! Score! £57.25 from Bishop's Stortford to Edinburgh, with 1/3 off for a railcard. That's an open ticket too, so if I miss a connection or anything, I just wait 30 minutes for another one, nullus anxietas... One where you pick the train (And they reserve you a seat) would have been a bit less, but they'd all been sold already... Plus I don't trust myself to definitely get up in time!

Today I went to THE DENTIST. (Cue shock and awe music). As I have pr0 teeth, the dentist told me to piss off pronto :P Unlike my dear sisters, both of whom need fillings. Mwahahahaha! I am invincible! We then went to Stortford to buy/book(not applicable this time) my ticket. All the time being chaffeured by my dear sister Victoria. She who never updates her blog, you ask? The very same! It was rather eventful... She still hasn't got the hang of 5th gear much! But we made it safely from Stortford back along the A120 to Freeport, where my dear sisters looked at shoes and dresses, and I bought myself a mahoosive woolly jumper... 'Cept it's acrylic, not wool. Anyway, it was cheap, which has a kind of magnetic attraction for Scrooges like me. Sighage! I also bought, for £6.99 each, The Darkness' Permission to Land, and Jet's Get Born. Hurrah! Go me!

Tonight's important viewing: The first episode of Series 4 of Teachers. It wasn't as bad as it could have been! As the man from the Sunday Times says, having lost all of the original main characters (the best ones having gone after series 2, to appear in Love Actually!) the humour is, wisely, shifted more onto the older staff than the new additions. It was pretty good, though I couldn't help wondering what happened to the rubber chicken when Kurt and Brian died?!

Fitness Report: I've been playing with my weights loads... going through all the exercises in the chart. Started with 10lbs, am now on 15... still n00b weights, but I'm progressing... can do 25 on the normal curls, but some of the other stuff is t3h hard! Like lifting your arms up to flat out, and then lowering them again, counting 3 seconds each way. It's worse than just holding them out, and I reckon that a rifle weighs about 10/15lbs, and that's a classic punishment, being made to stand with your arms out straight and a rifle in each one! It used to be holding your rifle out straight in front of you, but then someone went and introduced a new compact, lighter rifle, and the P.T. instructors had to get 'inventive'... Anyway, soon I shall have huge shoulders to go with my huge belly! Hurrah for me!

Request from the Management: Please feel free to scroll down through the oodles I've spooled out recently. It will only take you as long to catch up as it would to read one Koel-sized entry!

Piccies on Imagestation

Quote of the moment: "Followed Stuart Hall, who starts second on the grid" - Just heard on Formula Renault racing commentary, watching highlights on ITV. OMG... Lucky bugger!

That reminds me of when I was watching the Australian touring cars last week: One guy hit a 'roo and got his bonnet smashed in totally! Wrote off the car and the 'roo!

Mr Hall has just had a rear right tyre blowout! How tragic!

Today I was roused just in time to go to my grandparents in Felsted for Sunday lunch. W00t w00t! Upon eventually returning home, my dear sister and I watched Me, Myself and Irene: Just one of 9 films I borrowed from Jimmy last night, to keep me occupied for half term. Hurrah! Included in my selection were seven other films I haven't watched yet, including Kill Bill, and also The Crow, which is just awesome :D Plus I need ideas for Halloween costumes, because I am now coming up to Edinburgh for the weekend!

Now, for your delight and delectation, a selection of my piccies from Friday and Saturday have been posted on Imagestation! They only took 2 hours to upload! Go me, and my 38.6kb/s connection!

Induction to destruction

Quotes of the moment: While watching LOTR II, Jim commented:

"Saruman asks his magic 8-ball: Where has Gandalf gone?..."

When the Uruk-Hai and goblins stop for a rest, having hobbit-napped Merry and Pippin:
"Ok - anyone who needs the loo, go now, because we're not stopping from now until we get there!"

LOL...

My Tescos induction this morning was very exciting! I spent 4 hours watching videos, reading health and safety bumf, finding out about the Tesco pension scheme, filling in lots of forms and eating sweets. There were bowls of assorted sweets - Wine Gums, Minstrels, mints, toffees - in quite large quantities... How handy! So I am officially employed by Tesco now, working from 1pm til 6pm on Friday and Saturdays on refilling the shelves after the ravages of the week!

This afternoon I went to the Freeport cinema with Jim and Jimmy to watch Alien vs Predator (AVP). It was surprisingly good! The plot was obviously less than plausible, but the acting was alright, and there were a few amusing take-offs of the previous films in both series. The real stars, however, were obviously the extra-terrestrials themselves. Both Aliens and Predators were classy, and must have been a compilation of CGI and the original style mechanical models... The most entertaining part of the film had to be when the sole surviving Predator and the woman scientist who was helping him have just disposed of the Alien threat. They're standing on a cliff looking down, then look at each other... He removes his helmet, but the pig-like snout and huge teeth must have put her off the classic last-scene snogging! Obviously, afterwards in the carpark Jim attacked me like an Alien, jumping on me and driving his hand into my chest like it was a spiked and barbed tail! Thanks Jim m8!

Sit-Rep: I'm in Jimmy's room, watching The Two Towers on his obscenely huge TV. We = myself, Jimmy, Jim and Jim's elvish girlfriend Emma. It's true, she really is elvish. I've taken a picture of her with ears poking out, just to prove it. I tried to get her to pose next to the screen when Arwen popped up, but she refused. Spoilsport! However, she is t3h cool... Suitably nervous at being in my intimidating prescence, of course. Until I air guitared over backwards on Jimmy's wheely-chair, anyway! She and Jim seem to get on really well... They're both very dirty minded, for one thing! :P

Photos will hopefully go up later today, when I get up. If I can persuade the camera into connecting, that is, and if I survive attempting a morning weights session! It won't be too strenous though: pumping with one arm while the other holds a book! Also conditional on me making it back home in one piece! YAWN...

UCAS - He shoots, but will he score?

I should be in bed... I have an induction for my new job at Tescos at 9am! "OMG, early!" I (don't) hear you cry (9am lectures? What are they?), but when I start the actual job it's 1pm til 6pm, Friday and Saturday - not a particularly early start! But apparently Bath has lectures from 8.15am... Cardiff suddenly bounds even further ahead in my estimation! Talking of which, my UCAS form is done: Hurrah! The only thing I haven't marked finished yet is the courses bit, because I still only have 3... I do have replies from the Bath and Cardiff admissions tutors saying that they'll take me on BEng with BCC grades, but I've stuck down Sheffield as well, since their standard BEng offer is CCC. I'll probably use them as my back-up, just in case of accidents. I'm fairly sure of managing a C grade, since I'd only have to gain 14 marks across 3 papers! Adding 74 marks for a B should be ok as well, given that I should manage to get at least 80% in M2 (+30 marks on last time) and 75% in P2 (+50 marks on last time!), even without improving P3 or P1. An A would be rather harder to achieve...

Anyway, it feels wrong to send off the form with only 3 universities on it. But I haven't got any others that meet the criteria of running design-based courses (as demonstrated by the "& Structural" or "& Architectural" titles on the MEng courses), will offer BCC or less, and that have an OTC! Since I don't have any others to add, I'll take that plunge now!...

Plunge taken... Brrrr, it was chilly! :p And now, to warm me up, a pair of:

Handy sites:

http://www.newstudent.org - A most handy site for new uni students and applicants: it has forums on each university, as well as a general one with diverse topics ranging from Who's been ill? to How much money are you taking?... (You need to register even to look at those links, but it's worth it :D) I especially recommend this to Podge, cos most of the people seem to be very emo... :p

http://www.dogpile.co.uk - A browser (pfft - Google it) with a handy extra feature: you can search for people by surname and postcode/town/county... How handy! The American version came up with just 20 Poyntzs in the whole of the USA... How rare!

Go Villy, it's your birthday

Quote of the moment: isketch, you sketch, but no-one sketches together...

It's my birthday and I'll fart if I want to... :D I got post from Glasgow and Edinburgh! Score!Spanks for the cards, organised female kr3w types... Prill's one had an epic essay in too! Lol...

Lovely prezzies... (well, mostly cheques, but pfft!) I got a humoungous weights set: two handbars, a full length bar thing, and a load of weights to stick on them... I only asked for a dinky set of hand ones... [Roll eyes] But when that message was passed via my mother to my grandparents, I ended up with the full Arnie set! I also got a set of Roman Historical novels, the latest Terry Pratchett paperback - Monstrous Regiment - and a digital camera from my rents! SCORE! :D It's not as flat and compact as Jim's/Prill's/Harry's, but it does all the tricks I could ask of it, so pfft! Tis not like I have particularly small pockets! :P

Jimmy and Jim got me a joint prezzie... The boxed set of Monty Python - The Movies! SCORE! And Now For Something Completely Different, Monty Python And The Holy Grail, Monty Python's Life Of Brian and Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life. In a box. Yarrrrr! I be right happy 'bout that'un... :D

Sadly the grand isketch plan didn't really work... I managed to get online and host, eventually, but when people tried to join, they got rejected for some reason. I was, however, greatly amused by the earlier trip to Megabowl in Chelmsford. Unfortunately my birthday luck in getting a strike first bowl was negated by the fact that Jimmy hadn't pressed start on the machine yet, so it didn't count. Ooops! I did the same at the start of the second game too, though I wasn't exactly consistent! But the prize for incompetence goes to Jim, for getting four straight gutter-balls... LOL! Jimmy, on the other hand, owned us both and scored 124 both times... The next best was 96 off my second game... Owned! After that jollity we hit the arcade. I failed to get Jim and Jimmy on the DDR machine though, as we ran out of change - I think it was intentional! We then went and looked at the in-house Wimpy, but fortunately it was shut, so we left for better grazing pastures! We took a wrong turn out of the Megabowl carpark and ended up in a dead-end facing a brick wall:

Jimmy: "WTF?"
Jim: "They've changed something!"

PMSL... Jim is t3h 1337 m4tr1x0r! Having found our way out, we set off on an epic journey of many wrong turns and much confusion, in search of a take-away. We eventually ended up at KFC in Moulsham street at least half an hour later! Just shows how useful driving lessons are for getting to know Chelmsford! [Sigh!] On the way there I managed to misdirect us to behind the Aldi supermarket, trying to find the retail place with the Pizza Hut. So we paused in the Aldi carpark at the back of a pub to decide where to go next.

Jim: "I love back entrances!"

ROFL...

When we'd eventually got back here and gobbled our greasy chicken (while the puppy licked Jim's crotch ;D) I managed to get online only half an hour later than my proposed time of 9pm... But isketch didn't work anyway! My apologies to anyone who was online and on-time... But at least you didn't miss out on anything!

I took plenty of piccies with my new camera :D However it used up a pair of batteries in a day! Yikes! No-one mentioned that aspect before... Lol... So I'll stick some more in it tomorrow, and upload the best ones then - including one of Zulu (our puppy) leaping up at Jim's crotch! SCORE! :D

Pictures!

Quote of the moment: "Insomniac Publications thanks you for your jigsaw piece"



My Prize! W00t w00t! :D Fairtrade choccie... Podge can enjoy the moral justice of that while I enjoy eating it :p

Also, while I'm posting pictures, vote now for which of the following you reckon should become my more up to date picture at the top right of my blog:







Apologies for the vanity of all of that, and also to Rob for not downsizing the pics - I will with the one I eventually choose... Plus it means my fans can have bigger versions :p

P.S. My Profile has finally been updated! Hurrah! I've written 17 posts since it last did!

Uniform Punks

Quote of the moment:

Hulk: i reckon that there should be a politcal party called something like "the agnostic democrats"

Hulk: branches in all western countries

Hulk: dedicated to the destruction of religion

Rob m8: "I want to conquer the world, give all the idiots a brand new religion"

Rob m8: -- Bad Religion

Hulk: it'd be like neo-nazis, but with better uniforms

Hulk: they'd obviously be black

Rob m8: lol

Hulk: with hats with holes in for spiked up hair

Hulk: dyed according to their unit

Hulk: uniform punks

Rob m8: ahh the irony

Hulk: anachronism on the scale of military intelligence

Rob m8: anarchism? no?

---------

Lolski... Good plan, no?!

As far as the planned update went, I've pretty much forgetten anything on value! Just for posterity's sake, I vaguely remember doing the following:

Last weekend: met up with t3h Podge, went to see Dodgeball... it was awesome! The ginger sidekick from A Knight's Tale plays a guy who thinks he's a pirate... spends the whole film saying "Yarrrrr!"... LOL!

Since then, not a lot of interest has happened... I have rediscovered the joys of isketch! Erm... I have been to a few more lessons. I've sent off forms for potential officer visits to the Infantry and Engineering HQs. I've got an interview for Tescos in Great Notley tomorrow! :D

See y'all online on Friday night!

SCORE

YES!!! For some reason, my stubborn pig of a blog has finally submitted and republished properly... Before, it was telling me my FTP password was incorrect, when I'd just taken the damn thing OFF FTP! Maybe tis just cos I'm not at home on my Paccy Lappie? [Sigh]

A full collection of random thoughts from the past week of non-blogging will follow when I return home... Also, I will insert all the links etc that used to be on the toolbar! Back to the three page version! :D I'm investigating drop-down menus, but so far I haven't found one that I can just steal from a page and stick my own links into... How unhandy!

A brief note, while I'm here: There was a strange little competition thing running for the last week chez MPW, which stemmed from everyone getting a sheet of random quotes n stuff, with a blank jigsaw piece in the bottom corner. The idea was to somehow decorate the piece, cut it out and stick it up on the whiteboard in the "Reading Room". (I.e. the library, only no fiction section... There's also a Library, which is the computer room. And a computer classroom. [Roll eyes]) Anyway, I photocopied a biro doodle-sketch I did of the garden out the front when I was bored between lessons a couple of weeks ago, zoomed it down and cut it out to fit the shape... And when I arrived today, I found a bar of chocolate in my pigeon-hole! Scorage! I owned les artistes... :D Doodling does pay, really, whatever teachers say :D

Will gets unusually sentimental

As I predicted in my harsh0r entry a while back, Ken Bigley has been confirmed as dead. It was pretty much inevitable from the time of his kidnap - now it's finally been confirmed, the family can get on with trying to cope... It may sound odd, but to me it seems better for them.

I've watched Charlotte Gray this evening... An impressive scene when the French Resistance trigger explosives under a German supply train carrying ammunition, and the ammo in successive carriages spontaneously detonates... Awesome stuff! Quite a good film too, overall, though not as good as the book, of course. I then progressed onto BBC1, but due to the afore-mentioned occurence in Iraq, the scheduled programme changed from "The Rock" followed by "The Dogs of War" - my intended choice of viewing - to an episode of Daziel and Pascoe, followed by "Patch Adams". Seen it before, but it's still refreshingly wry in patches (:D), even if sentimental and trite in others! Also: the little bald guy in the mental hospital at the beginning plays the prisoner with the mouse on Death Row in "The Green Mile" which I watched on Friday... Brilliant, even believable... and also supremely frustrating in the end, when something could surely have been done to save the innocent man, yet nothing was... ARGH.

There's something else I feel I kind of have to mention... I found something out tonight. Something sad, obviously for the people involved, but also possibly for us as a group... A part of what bound us together may disappear too. But I hope not... Although things may not be the same again, I hope that nonetheless something can fill that gap, and that all of us will still remain as friends. All of us are closer to some than others, and maybe that'll change, but though it may seem like another step in our disbanding, I hope that we, and especially they, will keep talking... It seems like they will, and I hope they will. Sometimes things happen that may be within our control, but beyond the grasp of our will. Sometimes, when we feel everything's just right, we want everything to remain the same. As we go our different ways into life that isn't always possible. But as we carry on with our lives we will find ourselves in other places where everything will be right again, and I hope that when we do, then our friends from school will still be close to us. It is almost inevitable that they won't be as close, but I hope that they will still be there, somewhere. Good luck, guys.

That was the day that was...

Quote of the moment: "I miss his short jokes :D Even if sometimes they were a lil over the top"... Sorry Prillo - it was irresistable!

Hurrah for me! I went to the job centre in Braintree this morning - my dad had an appointment to sign on (aka start claiming dole money)... LOL. That just cracks me up... I can't stop thinking of the Full Monty dole-queue dancing scene... :D Anyway, I used the rather fun touch-screens to search for a job to occupy my spare time. The machines have built-in printers that spool out slightly outsized receipts with the job reference number, then you have to take your collection of printouts across to a person who looks them up on the archaic old system to find how you're supposed to apply for them, and add the possible jobs to your account-thing (which I obviously had to set up). A bizarre combination of flashy new stuff and very old stuff... why couldn't the touch-screen just have a login and the contact details with the job? But then the job centre staff would be made redundant - how ironic... Plus, from the way it's explained to you, I guess some people need it one... syll... a... ble... at... a... time...

Anyway, I found a selection of jobs, including table-waiting or bar-staffing at the Raj Mahal in Felsted! As well as that, barman at the Chicago Rock Cafe, or being a general dogsbody in a couple of pubs around Braintree, including the Green Dragon half a mile down the road! 17 hours a week: sounds promising! Alternatively there's the warehouse at Comet or Interlink Parcels... and I still haven't made progress with asking about the printers up the drive at the industrial units on Lynderswood Farm, which would be an even shorter distance to walk!

On the way up to Cambridge today, I noticed that since yesterday, a rather impressive 6 dead creatures have appeared on the central reservation side of the road, somewhere on the A120 near Dunmow... in a single stretch... Two rabbits, two pheasants, a pigeon and a squirrel: get your country meats here! Fresh and free-range!

Having arrived, I noticed another curious phenomenom upon entering the computer room, confirmed by the flow in and out. The girls go in and sit anywhere, but the guys use the same rules as apply when using public urinals: First person picks their spot, other guys try to maintain a gap of one unused urinal between each one being used. It's the same with computers! I realised I always do it when I go into the computer room... There isn't such a problem with being unwilling to fill a gap and prefering to wait - even with legs twisted together - though!

While there I noticed that my visitor ranking had leapt by about 400, in a day! Bizarre! And by the time I got home it had leapt another 200! Most odd, even given that commenting means it gains at least 4! There aren't enough comments to merit that!

My T.A. this week, unfortunately, owned me... It was a full paper and I only had 55 minutes though! But still, I estimate 60% at the most...

This evening I watched Doc Martin, which included a blood-spurt that soaked the poor chap's shirt rather impressively! The highlight of the series so far! I've been conversing until recently with Podgy, meandering through various topics as we rambling types tend to! For your delight and delectation I present the highlights:

• Podge revealing that in her youth (aged 5, that is) she was an outspoken, self-confident "raucous lil brat" (in her own words!)... I find that hard to picture, somehow! I think family snaps from the time are needed!
• Podge on never having been to Wales:
  "well, ive been to Wells, and as my mum says both names the same way, you could make a case for it :p"
• Podge on Bono's speech at the Labour Party Conference: "it was admirable... except the constant gay "im a rock star" mentions..."
  Will: "You mean like yadda yadda yadda Ive got an alienware! yadda yadda yadda..."
• Podge reckoning I should work in a Video Store and look like Bill Bailey... :D

Fitness Report: I didn't run, nor did I manage to attend the sports session at college today! I somehow slept with my knee slightly twisted - or otherwise under pressure - and so it was stiff and generally complaining this morning... By the time of the sports session it was actually alright, but I'd have had to have left an hour earlier to attend! Oh well! Disgracefully lazy, me...

tomwonline

Quote of the Moment: 'I understand that people feel inadequate around me. It's true I'm a God, but they must try to put things into perspective, at least they're not a giant doughnut!'

If you have some time to spare, go browse this excellent website:

http://www.geocities.com/tomwonline

It's apparently the work of a guy called Andrew doing his GCSEs here, about a friend from his old school... Or so he says...

He now says he'll put up a message saying "Hi Will" on it in a link at the bottom of the page saying "Important"... Hmmm...

Anyway, go enjoy... I recommend the quotes and reviews... :D

[Edit: There is indeed an addition to the disclaimer saying "Hi Will!"... W00t w00t! I feel so privileged...]

Home Alone 2

I didn't go to the cinema after all that... I remembered after lunch that I needed to take the dog out... plus my mum rang to check that I had, and also said my sisters were playing in a hockey match against Colchester at 4.45! This was at 4.15! So I just went and watched them instead... No entry fee! :D It was quite entertaining... It was the Crombies A, so not too flashy, just lots of scrapping and the occasional deliberate foul - how handy!

This evening I've been watching Channel 5... Non-stop... since 7.30... Oh dear! WWII tanks, followed by Vietnam, followed by CSI, and now "The Farm"! Started off ok, but for the last hour there's been so little on I have actually watched Rebecca Loos masturbating a pig. I fear for the sanity of the nation if the BBC continues to produce nothing to persuade people away... At least there's Rocky IV on BBC1 at 11.20! W00t w00t!

I just saw an advert for "New Cillit Bang"... A household cleaner so effective - according to the advert - that it cleans dirty pennies like concentrated nitric acid! That'll be really safe then!

Fitness report: I did actually manage to go running this morning - Hurrah!

Home Alone

Spanx for reminding me of Office Space Kaz m8... I fished out my video of it and reminded myself of its pr0-ness... A couple of amusing Matrix references, in particular, such as the bit where the guy's boss comes looking for him and there's the classic view over the cubicles to the guy in the far corner... Also Jennifer Aniston on her waitress costume has a pin-badge saying "We're not in Kansas anymore" :D

As the title suggests, the 'rents have pushed off: mother to a nursing conference, father to stay with my gran cos she's not feeling too great... So I'm home alone! Tis very dull... I envy all of you who are at uni, surrounded by people to occupy your time... instead of which I have a collection of games I've already completed, films I've already watched and books I've already read. In the later two categories, mostly twice. Sigh... I think I need a job :p Maybe Cineworld in Braintree? Standing around taking tickets isn't very taxing... Even sweeping up pop-corn is pretty easy comparatively... I'll have to see if they have a staff discount :D

On the topic of Cineworld, I'm thinking of going up there tomorrow (or today, now) for an all-day marathon... W00t w00t! Because they take tickets in the hall, not on the door (presumably so they need fewer staff) once you've got in for one film, you can theoretically stay all day... Worth a try, I think!

Also on the topic of jobs, I sent off my Potential Infantry Officer's Familiarisation Visit form today... Should hopefully get me a visit in January, just after my exams... Unfortunately I haven't got a form for the equivalent Royal Engineers visit yet, which I need to do so that I can get them to sponsor me to take the RCB, and thus get my free money! W00t w00t! Well, tis free to me because I'd be doing OTC at uni anyway... speaking of which, has anyone been approached by the OTC at a freshers event yet? Lol...

Fitness Report: Failed to go running this morning... Was too late by the time I woke up, I needed to get in the car and drive ASAP! Will attempt it again upon waking up...

On the plus side, I'm making progress with my maths: on my weekly TA, I got a B... 73%... Score! Considering I got 25% in the exam anyway... Plus my technique was perfecto, the only places I lost marks were questions I couldn't remember the formulas for! So I just have to learn them better, which I've never been too keen on! Argh! Everything requires so much effort! Sigh... back to planning tomorrow's viewing then... 'Night all! Leave me with just my snoring dog - audible through 2 doors over the TV - for company, see if I care!

A Week in Waffle

Quote of the moment: "Pie corrupts. Absolute pie corrupts absolutely"

New Weeble and Bob - Parallel - it's pr0...

Apologies for my failure to blog all this week... The reason is simple: I set up my lappie on my desk in my room, where I could wake up in the morning, roll over and sit in bed, playing it. Hurrah! However, to go online I have to bring my lappie downstairs into the conservatory! Effort required! Plus it's chilly in here... Some severe shrinkage will happen if I try this in January without thermal undies :p

So - a compressed tale of the last week, hopefully without too much rambling... Unfortunately I've forgotten most of the amusing things I've seen this week, so the humour quotient will probably be even lower than normal... Soz :D

Last Saturday was the day of the epic meet-up... Watching "Hero" at the Freeport cinema, then to Will T's house for supper and gaming... Hero was pr0 - very arty, all the variations of the storyline are in bold colours - one scene has the two fighters in red, and the surroundings yellow from fallen leaves, for example... I thought it was cool, but not to everyone's liking... Also a distinct lack of blood, so I guess Jim was disappointed! :p That didn't stop him from trying a bit of street-running over the benches outside on the (wrong) way to the car :D I followed, but made the benches wobble so much I bottled out of hurdling... Sigh!

Back at Will's, we posed for piccies in our new Kr3w T-shirts (W0W!) and played on Jimmy's 'cube... Supper was awesome - spanx Will m8 (and your rents :p) - fajitas with chicken 'n' spicey stuff... Twas awesome... Then it was "Shaun of the Dead" time! Hurrah! Twas very cool stuff... I agree with Jim: "I wish that'd happen for real"... "Why?"... "Cos you can run around smashing peoples' heads in, legally!"

Since then, a pretty boring week... Watched a few films, the usual! Wednesday I stayed on after my lessons and had a wander around the shops in Cambridge with my mini-me, looking for birthday prezzies... Me = 22nd of October, her = 11th of October... the first day of lectures at Bath! Mwahahaha! I then sped back down to Chelmsford for a physiotherapy session... Just a group session because my dodgy knee's become rather weak again, along with the rest of me!

That wore me out so much that I didn't wake up until 1pm on Thursday, the same time as my sports session started! Oops! It's optional anyway... :p I did make it there in time for my TA, or timed assessment, at 2.30... Though I forgot my pad of paper, so I had to write on the back of bumf from my induction pack! Oh dear...

On Friday Jimmy came over again, delivering my Foo Fighters CD ('nk you!) stuff for Will and Podge's T-shirt, to be distributed via my sister... Also showing off his card tricks - Very impressive stuff... Watched Green Wing: very entertaining, as usual, especially Martin's T-shirt with the glow-in-the-dark horns on the shoulders!

Last night my mum was late back from a school reunion, so she picked up fish and chips... Hurrah again! We were trying to come up with something my rents could give me for my birthday... Found a set of dumbells in the ubiquitous Argos catalogue, for 25 squid, so it wont be the major part... But I'm gearing up to get fit! Shock horror! Need to be ready for my RCB fitness test, and even just to pass the medical I need my knee in full working order... I even went for a run this morning! Only about 1km, down to the roundabout at the end of the road and back... but back is uphill, so I'll stick to that for the next week (I hope!) before attempting anything more ambitious! It had me wheezing at the end, but I did at least manage to stride it out, not shuffle-jog... Was thinking of doing some "core-strength" stuff when I got back from running, but not today! I'll hopefully update on my (lack of) progress in that direction some-time soon!

Final thought: The World's Worst Website - go chortle...