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!
Quotes of the moment:
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!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!
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...
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!
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
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:
![2: Backlit, trying to look cool... [Roll eyes!]](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6054/368/1600/bwbacklit.jpg)
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!
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!
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
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.
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:
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...]
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!
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!
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...
