Superbowl Wars

Having been absorbed by Any Given Sunday last night, I watched the Superbowl tonight from the end of the first quarter. It was pretty good! I used to think American Football was for dumbasses, but despite the constant stop-starting there were some decent flowing bits, and the 'touchdowns' were more numerous than tries in the type of kicking Wilkinson rugby that England play now. I was backing the Philadelphia Eagles because they were the underdogs, but in the end the New England Patriots held on at the end to win 24-21, their third Superbowl victory in 4 years. Not bad!

Haha... What music did they just play to introduce the prize-giving? The Star Wars theme tune!

Singing in the Rain

Quote of the moment:
"Put... the bunny... back... in the box." - Nicholas Cage in Con Air. Classic stuff! :D

I just saw an awesomely cool advert for the new Golf GTI. It's "Singing in the Rain" with the guy in the suit dancing down the road with his umbrella. The difference is that after the first line or so, he starts robot-dancing, then does some break-dance style stuff off a lamp-post, back to the robot and up to the car, which is obviously not an old black one but a silver GTI (still in the - presumably digitally produced - old street). I can't really do it justice, but it is seriously classy.

Wandering Wallet

Quote of the moment:
"D'oh!" - Me, yesterday, upon getting home and discovering I lacked a wallet.

It was handed in at Liverpool Street station (where it was presumably lifted from my bag/pocket while I was going home), minus the £2 worth of change and the debit card, but still with the driving licence! I cancelled the card as soon as I got home, so no probs! I just have to go back there tomorrow to collect it. Sigh!

Camp Westmont

Quote of the moment:
"Would you like to sign up now, or have a look around and come back and sign up later?" - Girl running the Camp Westmont stall at the Camp Directors Fair.

Hurrah! I now have a proper job for the summer! I looked at a couple of stalls, starting with the Canadensis one, but unfortunately they'd got people for the camping posts already. I then got a more encouraging response from a Catholic boys camp, which would have been fine with me (basically means grace at meals and prayers before bed), taking 'riflery'. That was for ages up to 13 though. When I browsed on I found the Westmont stall with a huge list on the front of all the jobs on offer, including one for 'Pioneering'. It's co-ed (single sex cabin groups) and ages 6-16, but the 6 and 7 year olds do specific junior activities. The job turned out to be being in charge of the small campsite a short distance from the main camp, where groups go for overnight stays, supervising them pitching the tents, setting the fire and jointly cooking the barbeque. That means that every one of the 3/4 nights per week I'm doing campouts, I get to eat BBQ. Score!

One of the people on the stall was the guy who's been doing it for the past two years and is now in charge of the canoeing, and he said it's an evening only activity (there are 3 periods, morning, afternoon, evening) so I'm free for helping with other activities during the day. When he then found out I've done a fair bit of canoeing, he seemed to mentally go SCORE and I got offered the job on the spot :D That's because for the canoeing they put an adult in each canoe (of the long, open kind) along with 2 or 3 kids, so they always need people for helping with that, and that's a morning to afternoon activity, with lunch halfway down the river. Also score! So my timetable's looking pretty awesome :D They also do the Color War and other evening stuff, so I should be kept busy. Plus I got a Camp Westmont '05 t-shirt - pics when/if I ever get my laptop back - which is quite pro. They also happen to have a very high proportion of English counsellors, which is most excellent!

Mwahahaha! Victory is mine! [Grins evilly]

[Edit 19.33 - England got whipped by Wales in their opening Six Nations rugby match, most of which I caught on TV. Sigh... What can I say? The Welsh are cool :D]

Antedeluvial Porcupines

Quote of the moment:
"Sorry. I seem to have done toilet on your floor!" - The old classics, eh? That takes me back to the good old days of yore, when we were young, before Old Man Hoult was crippled parachuting onto a porcupine...

Ahem. Is Will delusional? If you asked me on a Monday, I'd say...

BBC newsreader: We go now to our political editor, Andrew Marr. Andrew, it seems the current political blah blah blah...
Andrew Marr: Yeah I know.

Apparently it was a passably good impression, as well. Congratulations are due!

In the small but horribly deformed world of Will, there has been little of note, other than that I finally submitted my Camp America online form last night. I then found that because I'd taken so long to decide whether I wanted to attend the Saturday fair or the Sunday fair (some Camp directors only attend one), the Saturday option had already disappeared from the options. Damnation, I cried! Well, something similar in the modern vernacular. This was because I had found that all but one of the decent camps that are only available on one day, are on Saturday. Fortunately I phoned this morning and was told to just turn up anyway, as it was only to give a rough indication of numbers, since many people apply by paper form which they bring with them on the day, and they don't have to tell anyone beforehand.

That means I might be able to get placed at Camp Canadensis - the best of the bunch, according to what I've gathered so far. Partly because they do my stuff (Hiking, overnight camping, campfire cookery etc) partly because the website is extremely detailed, and partly because the one-offs look awesome. For example, the 'Color War' where the camp is divided into blue and gold teams, and they compete in everything from tug-of-war through swimming to quizzes, and the 'Revolutionary War day' (4th July, Independance Day), when Brit bashing is de rigeur, and the camp staff dress up as the opposing sides. My Union Jack would be coming with me, methinks :D

I also managed to pick up my reference from Mr Christmas from school, the one from Mr Gwyther having arrived this morning. Mr Gwyther's was in an envelope within the postage envelope, and the inner one was unsealed. I obviously therefore had a peek! It was very complimentary (:D), but made me chortle over the bit which said something like: "His dedication to his extra-curricular activities was so strong as to be possibly to the detriment of his academic work." Haha... Understatement of the year!

Postman Zulu

Quote of the moment:
Jo Mills: "You're only going to Warwick..."
John Deed: "Yes, but it feels like Siberia!"
- Judge John Deed. Taking that, Rob m8?

Zulu brought me my post this morning! Hehe! He missed all the small envelopes, but he brought the large envelope with my RCB Briefing forms. There are a ridiculous number of them, everything from an optician's test through a doctor's medical form to an ethnic origin questionnaire.

I just realised what the Judge from A Time To Kill has been in! Patrick McGoohan was Edward I, Hammer of the Scots, in Braveheart!

[Edit 20:34 - I would like to apologise for my brief lapse into Prill-like rapture over Sandra Bullock. Sorry!]

Pain!

Quote of the moment:
"If I get any trouble outta you guys, I'm gonna integrate this jail" - The Sheriff to the two white rapists in the cell block of black men.

I've just finished watching A Time To Kill on BBC3, which was pretty awesome. The cast list alone was awesome. All the major cast were recognisable, as were half the minor ones. Just for starters: Samuel L Jackson, Matthew McConaughey, Kevin Spacey, Donald Sutherland, Kiefer Sutherland, Sandra Bullock...

Mmmm... Sandra Bullock. Definitely best film (looks wise) I've seen her in. [Drools]



There was also a very cool bit in the rioting outside the courthouse, when a group of black guys grabbed the Klu Klux Klan leader, in his special red cape and pointy hat, and dragged him out of the crowd to the side of the road, then scarpered. Then another one pops up on the roof of the shop he's lying next to and throws a molotov cocktail down on to him. Mmm... roast Klansman!

Unfortunately that means I missed the start of both Rocky III and Predator. Shame! I've seen Rocky III before, and Predator at least 4 times!

Argh... I now have the exciting task of reading the profiles of about 200 camps, and browsing the websites of probably 40+ possibilities, so I know what Camp Directors I want to see at the weekend. Fun reincarnated!

Haha... Just seen the classic Rocky training montage! LOL.

Another classic:
Reporter: "What's your prediction for the fight?"
Clubber Lang (Mr T): "My prediction?"
Reporter: "Yes, your prediction."
Mr T: "PAIN!"

Football Jibber-Jabber

Quote of the moment:
"Quit your jibber-jabber!" - The legendary Mr T.

As you may have noticed, if you obeyed my order to watch, Mr T wasn't on. It was moved to tomorrow night, presumably because of the epic clash between Manchester United and Arsenal at Highbury.

I've finally completed the Camp America form! Hurrah!

Camp Jim

Quote of the moment:
"11.15: Film: Rocky III" - My TV guide. That'd be the one with Mr T! Hurrah! Hope everyone watches it!

Filling in my online form at the moment for Camp America, before the Camp Directors Fair at the weekend. Interviews... Scary!

Congratulations to Jim for passing his driving test first time. Funny thing, I remember something about him being in Essex for the weekend due to 'a driving lesson'. What a coincidence!

[Edit 21:22 - Looking at Mr T's IMDB profile, his first TV job was doing voices on Sesame Street!]

Laptop Saga

Quote of the moment:
"Interesting in a good way? Not in a 'he would be interesting to study in a controlled environment' sort of way?" - tequilamockingbird. All that and an amusing name too.

Be warned: what follows could be classified under the species 'rant'. Fortunately it's of the genus 'mocking', not 'irate' and certainly not the extreme mutation of rant, the 'Podgy'.

Two weeks ago my sister returned home from school saying there was a fault with her laptop screen. My dad gave her my laptop to take in, so he could send hers off to be fixed. I transferred my old desktop (that I had prior to having the laptop that is now Sarah's) to the desk to use "for two weeks at the most".

This weekend my sister brings back my laptop, and has even had Ant sort out the firewall settings so that I can connect to Messenger again. My dad has spent the last two weeks trying to get her laptop to fail again, without success. He therefore decides that she should take it back into school until it malfunctions. However, because she's starting some coursework this week, he also gave her mine to take in to do her coursework on. She is therefore supposed to use her laptop for chatting and emailing, and mine for work.

That's great. The best bit, however, is that it's the same fault that I had two years ago with the same laptop, hence I persuaded him to give me the new one he'd bought himself. Sarah took mine, because there wasn't actually anything wrong with it other than the ancient spec and the screen going wrong if left on for days at a time.

I wonder why the screen could have gone wrong in exactly the same way?!

I have tried explaining this, but my dad just talks over me and says that when it goes wrong he'll send it off to be fixed, or failing that, claimed on the insurance.

That's great too!

He has over a year until his half century, but he's already acting like a Saga tourist who left the spare hearing aid battery at home!