Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Happy Nanoo Nanoo Day!

It's the 1st November and we all know what that means. Nanoo Nanoo starts today (that's NaNoWriMo to the lay person). While I would never attempt something so foolish as trying to write a novel, I'm generally in awe of anyone who gives it a shot. My writing creativity reached it's peak in Higher English when I was 17, when I wrote an essay about my gran's funeral. I don't mean to toot my own horn or anything, but it did make everyone who read it cry. I believe the words "touching" and "heartwarming" were used. That's all I'm saying. ;)

Anyway, good luck to all of my friends who are participating in this mad month. I'll be the ever faithful cheerleader, trying to boost morale when inspiration starts to flag (which I'm sure won't happen!). I'm sure you'll all do wonderfully!

My sister and nephews are doing well. Katie was really shaken when I went home, but she seems to be over the worst of it. She hasn't driven again yet, but she's talking about doing it before the end of the week (she needs to drive for work). She was pretty much back to her usual self by the time I left yesterday, if a slightly battered and bruised version. The kids are great. It doesn't seem to have affected Lewis at all, and Kieran doesn't even remember the accident! He thinks he broke his arm by falling over! My wee sweethearts! It was so good to see them.

Finally, I think this'll probably be my last entry at blogger. I'm really starting to miss Blurty. It's like homesickness. My mouse keeps hovering over the update button on my user information page when I want to make a new entry. And I feel more able to make little frivolous posts on Blurty when I have a little something to say. When I make a post on Blogger, I always feel like it needs to have some substance (not that you'd guess that from reading my entries!). I'll probably change my mind again in six months, but I'll try not to. I'll miss my pretty blog, with all my customisations, but I think I'm a Blurty girl at heart.

Anyway, I think most of you followed me over from Blurty, but just in case, you can find me at http://www.blurty.com/users/eileen.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Car Accident

My sister and nephews were in a car accident last night. Barring a broken arm for Kieran though, they're all ok. Mostly shaken.

Katie was driving home last night and was about to turn into the road to her village. There was a 36 tonne lorry coming in the opposite direction, but she saw indicators so thought he was also turning into the same road. She started turning since she was closest and the lorry would be slowing down, but it turns out the lorry was actually going straight ahead, so it ploughed into the passenger side of the car at 30mph, pushing it halfway along the road before it stopped. The driver of the lorry (who is also ok) said he hadn't indicated, so I'm not sure what happened. It was raining heavily though, and it's possible Katie saw a reflection from another car or something and mistook it for an indicator.

There was no passenger sitting in the front, so Kieran got the worst of it because he was on that side in the back seat, but luckily no worse than his arm because he was in his child seat.

The car is a complete write off, and I'm so glad that they all came away relatively unscathed. I haven't told anyone at work yet because I'm worried I'll get upset as soon as I mention it. Whenever I think about how close they came....

Anyway, they all got home from the hospital last night. They were going to keep Kieran in overnight because he was very quiet and withdrawn at first, but he brightened up after a couple of hours, so let everyone go home. We now just have to convince him that having a cast is the coolest thing in the world, because he's not to pleased about it at the moment!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

So weird!



Right now, in Samoa, it is 1.40am on Wednesday 18th October, and right next door in Tonga, it is 1.40am on Thursday 19th October.

Right next door!

Weird.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Dude! Emily Gilmore is the mum (or mom, if you'd rather) from Dirty Dancing. I never realised!

I'm having a bit of a crisis of faith. I miss Blurty. This is why I've been quite quiet lately, because when I want to post something, I can't decide where to post it! Especially since I mainly want to post my thoughts on West Wing. But I feel like I shouldn't post on Blurty anymore until I decide for definite that I'm going back there. I don't like my blog posts being spread out like that.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Naughty shopping.

Pretty (brown) shoes!

You know, for someone who doesn't like shopping, I have been doing rather a lot of it lately. I need to stop myself. Although the shoes were an absolute necessity! I went to take a skirt and jumper back to the shop yesterday (trying to save myself some money, see!), but I was past the 28 day returnm period (I've been busy), so couldn't get a refund. But they let me exchange them, which they didn't ahve to do, which was nice. I got a pair of woollen light brown trousers and a dark brown wrap top. But I have no brown shoes. Hence the necessity. See?

Friday, October 06, 2006

Home & Away

I'm in a deep state of sulking. I missed the Wombat Grade 2 exam! I've bgeen waiting for it for months, and it had to arrive right in the middle of my hectic two weeks of business trips! I'm so upset, especially after my outstanding result last time! No fair!

*pout*

In other news, I'm home. Thank goodness. I'm so not cut out for this jet setting lifestyle. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to be ungrateful. A lot of people would kill to have a job that sent them to Bermuda and Madrid, and I appreciate that. I'm just not one of them. I'm a little homebird, who doesn't like to leave the roost unless I have to. Especially when it's all work and no play. I was in Madrid for two and a half days, and the most I can say for it is that the hotel the conference was at was very nice. And the road to the airport is...like any other road (albeit with slightly more crazy drivers than you get in the UK). Oh, and Madrid Airport is bloody HUGE! Of course, the same can't be said for Bermuda. I did have a lot of fun. Still. Nice to be home.

I have a feeling that autumn is well and truly here. Finally! You have no idea how happy I was to step out of the airport when I got back from Bermuda to a dark, rainy morning in the UK. I love this weather!

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Bermuda (so far)

So much for me not getting online. I've barely done any work for the past two days! OK, granted, I was in a conference for the past two days, with five minute breaks between each hour and a half (minimum) presentation, with no lunch. But it didn't really feel like work. I was surprisingly alert through the whole thing, even with jet lag.

Tuesday night, I went to a cocktail party at the MDs house. AMAZING view. I didn't get to see much of the inside of the house because we spent all night out by the pool (they all have pools!), but watching the beautiful sunset over the Atlantic ocean isn't a bad way to spend a Tuesday night.

Last night Gary (the guy from my team who I came over with) and I went out for dinner with my boss and his wife, which was lovely. We went to a little outdoor restaurant with lovely food, and we sat drinking wine/beer and chatting till about 11.30pm.

I tried to do work today. I really did. But I have to access the server in London to do anything, and my computer really doesn't like that. It takes me about 15 minutes to even open a file, let alone do anything with it! So I got a bit of training done and a little bit of work, and before I knew it, it was 12.30pm and time to head down to the harbour for the afternoon boat ride! Which was fantastic, by the way. I felt a bit self consious at first being the only peely-wally one there (Gary goes on the sunbed once a week), but it was so hot that I had to sit on the back of the catamaran and take my cardy off and hitch up my skirt! I even went out on a canoe! It was lovely. I've had about three glasses of wine, and now back at the office, waiting for 5pm, to go to my bosses house for dinner and drinks with people that I used to work with, but have since moved to Bermuda.

All in all, the trip has been a pleasant surprise so far. I have enjoyed myself far more than I thought I would have, and I'm starting to see the attraction of moving out here!

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Bu-Bye!

Just a quick post to let you know that I'm travelling for work for the next couple of weeks so I won't be around much. I'm in Bermuda all of next week and doubt I'll get online at all, then I'm off to Madrid for a conference next Tuesday. I might get online between the two trips, or I might just sleep. We'll see!

Don't have any loud parties while I'm gone!

Friday, September 22, 2006

Bank Job

I've updated my "Song of the Moment" on the sidebar. It's now Bank Job from the new Barenaked Ladies album Barenaked Ladies Are Me. I finally managed to get it downloaded earlier in the week (I was looking for the delux edition, which includes the album that will be released next year sometime). I'm still not sure how I feel about it. It'll probably be a grower, like their last album. But there are a couple of really good songs on first listen, including Bank Job. If nothing else, you can always rely on BNL to make you laugh.

We all had our ski masks
And sawed off shotguns
But how do you plan for
A bank full of nuns

But I guess we panicked
We all have taboos
And they were like zebras
They had us confused

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Golly Gosh, And All That Bally Hoo!

How introducing us to guns is supposed to help us bond as a company, I have no idea, but whatever. It actually turned out to be a relatively amusing day, a day out of the office at least. Although I'm not sure I'd go again.

But it turns out I'm a bit of a natural with a gun. At least, I started out that way. We went round five stands, each with a different way of releasing the clay. Some rolled down a hill, some flew up into the air towards you, some flew up into the air away from you, etc. I got 9out of 10 on the first two stands, had a bit of a slip on the third and only got 6 out of 10, then got back on form for the fourth stand and got 8 out of 10. Unfortunately, I completely blew my score on the last stand and only got 3 out of 10! In the end, I was only 5 behind the person who won the prize for top gun, so if I'd only kept up my standard, I could have won. Never mind, I can't be too bitter when the guy who won had been in the South African Army for two years.

I did ok on the archery too, getting 42 out of 50 on that one. And my team won the prize for biggest overall score! Woooo! We got a shot glass each. Shot! Geddit?! ;)

Now I have a very sore shoulder where the butt of the gun kept banging against it. Those things have a massive kick! Although I'm just pleased I stayed standing. I'd watched an episode of West Wing the night before where Toby went clay shooting, and the force of the gun knocked him on his back. I had mental images all day of that happening to me.

I missed out on the dinner that night because I was off the the theatre to see The Last Five Years. It finishes this week and my friend wanted to see it after I raved about it, so I went with her. Even better, second time round!

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Winter Shopping

I went shopping today at Canary Wharf. Actually, my friend wanted to go shopping because she loves shopping and had never seen Canary Wharf. I just tagged along because I didn't have any other plans. My friend ended up buying just a couple of items, while I went a bit crazy. Probably not the wisest idea considering I don't get paid till Wednesday, but oh well!

I'm so happy with one of my purchases! It's my first winter purchase of the year, so you know what that means. Christmas is just round the corner! Ok, ok, I won't go on about it. I'll just leave you with this photo of my super-cute scarf and hat combo (you should be so proud of me Caz!).

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Miscellaneous Thoughts

The results for my September 2007 exams will be released on 21st December! The 21st December?!

a) People are most likely going to be travelling home that day for Christmas
b) Christmas! Are they trying to destroy it?! I'm probably going to be miserable about failing.
c) The results used to come out at the beginning of November and the exams were in April. Now they keep pushing results back and back, but not changing the date of the April exams. If you're planning your exams around any resits you might have, this completely screws that plan up because you're effectively losing two months of study.

I know it seems insane to be worrying about this just now, but this is how early we need to start planning things. It's just one thing in a long list to indicate that the Institute are taking the piss! Grrrrrrr!

I made lasagne for the first time the other night. It was very nice, if I do say so myself.

House! I want to talk about it, but I can't work out how to do spoiler tags in this blog, and my comments are a bit more spoilery than my last ones. I might make a special entry in my Blurty.

I've put my name in the pool to be an audience member for Strictly Come Dancing. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

It's the final of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? on Saturday night. I'm so excited. I know that Connie is going to win, but I'm still holding out hope for Helena. I love Helena! She's come through against all odds (She's been in the bottom two nearly every week, but ALW has always saved her. Then amazingly enough, she made it through both public votes last week and didn't have to do the sing-off for ALWs save. Yay!). I don't get what the public has against her. I think she was unlucky enough to be clearly the worst in the first week and the public hasn't really forgotten that. But based on her performances since, I'm putting that down to a bad song, because I think she's great! She could totally do it, if the public could just get their heads out of their arses! Connie is a good singer, she's professional, she has stage presence, blah-de-blah-blah. There's just something about her I don't like. I wish I could put my finger on it. But I'm not too worried though, because I honestly think that all of the three finalists have what it takes to be a good Maria.

I'm going clay pigeon shooting on Tuesday. Look out people, they're giving me a gun! And a bow and arrow! I must admit, when the activity was first suggested as a team building exercise, I really didn't want to do it because I don't like guns and it all seems a bit too upper class for me. But everyone else seemed enthusiastic about it, and we'd been through about 10 other ideas and couldn't reach a consensus, so I wasn't going to be the only one to veto this idea. But the teams have been selected and the trash talking has started, so I'm starting to think it could be a good laugh. We'll see.

Monday, September 11, 2006

House Season 2

My lovely, lovely boxset arrived on Friday! Joy! I probably would have finished it by now, but I had plans to go away for the weekend. As it is, I've only just started the second disc, but I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm enjoying it even more because I can watch it guilt-free, without the worry of studying looming over me.

A couple of observations:

~ It's very funny. I have laughed out loud at several things, and I don't tend to laugh out loud when I'm watching TV on my own.

~ I can't say that I really like any of the three underlings, Chase, Cameron or Foreman. Don't get me wrong, I don't particularly dislike any of them (even Chase, which is more than can be said for him in season 1). There are times when I really like their storyline or something they've done. But there are too many times I don't. I think the ratio of me liking them to not liking them is about 50/50, whereas I tend to like House, Cuddy and Wilson a lot more often. Especially Wilson! :P

But my opinion of them in comparison to season 1, Foreman is pretty much the same, Cameron has gone down, and Chase has gone up. So I guess Chase is doing better than any of them.

~ It's not as formulaic as season 1. And some of their patients are actually dying! Much more realistic.

~ Is it just me, or would anyone else love to see Stephen Fry as a guest? I had it in my head a while ago that this was actually happening, but couldn't find anything about it, so concluded I'd just made it up. But ever since, I've been thinking about it and would love it to actually happen!

Monday, September 04, 2006

Exam Round Up

9.45am - 1pm - Assets
Not bad actually. I don't think I could have asked for a better paper, in fact. If I failed it, it's not through lack of knowledge, but through lack of detail. I don't do well with wordy exams, and I might write something that I think is worth 10 marks, but only get 6 for it.

2.15pm - 5.30pm - Liabilities and Asset Liability Management
(I only discovered that was the name of the subject today when I hard to write it on my exam paper!)
Worse than the morning paper, but better than I expected. I nearly started crying when I read through the questions, but when I started to work through them, I realised they weren't so bad. There were a couple of things I made up on the spot, but I expected it to be a lot worse.

The crappy thing though is that it's actually one subject and I have to pass both papers to pass it. I could get 100% for one of the papers, but still fail if I fail the other paper. And have to do it all over again! But all in all, it could have been a lot worse. I really had no hope going into it this morning. I'm not saying I've passed. Just that I might have failed by less than I was expecting! It's a sad day when it comes to that phrase making me feel better! :P

7.30pm - bedtime
I was planning on cleaning the flat, but I really have no energy. I'm going to order take away, then plonk down in front of the TV to watch Gilmore Girls.

I might just clean the bathroom. And the kitchen. And put a wash on.

Aahh, no studying! :D

Thursday, August 31, 2006

I Don't Trust It!

My water was due to be switched off at 8am this morning, and for the next three mornings, for "essential engineering works". It's still on.

Building work was supposed to be starting in my house at 8am this morning, to add a fifth flat to the loft space. I got a letter today saying it had been postponed to mid October.

Two things that were going to interrupt studying for my exams on Monday, suddenly disappearing? Call me paranoid, but I don't trust it. Something else is going to go wrong, and this time I won't be expecting it! A nice little power cut the night before my exams, maybe?

In other news, Kieran started nursery yesterday. Where is the time going? My sister said that, despite her being worried about him being clingy, he was fine. In fact, he couldn't run away from her to the toys quickly enough. And she was fine too. She didn't get emotional. Much!

Monday, August 21, 2006

Goodbye Chips



My dog was put to sleep this morning. He was having difficulty breathing over the weekend, which was attributed to bronchitis, so my parents took him to the vet and got some tablets to help it. Unfortunately, it got much worse last night and he was taken to the vet again first thing this morning. After some x-rays and tests, it was discovered that his windpipe had collapsed and that he had also developed Cushing's Disease. There was an operation he could have undergone to fix the windpipe, but the trauma he'd experienced over the weekend had exacerbated the disease, and he would still have been extremely ill. So it was decided that the kindest thing to do would be to put him to sleep.

He was an old dog with a lot of health problems, and every time I'd go home, I'd worry that that would be the last time I saw him. But even though I've been expecting this phone call from my parents for a while, it doesn't make it any easier.

Chips originally belonged to my brother in law and we took him in when my sister and brother in law moved in together and they weren't allowed pets. It was only supposed to be a temporary solution, but 10 years later, he was still at my parents house. He was a crazy little Jack Russell pup who mellowed a lot in his old age, but I was still gobsmacked at the amount of energy this 14 year old dog had. He was almost completely blind, but that didn't stop him wanting to play football in the back garden every chance he could get. It didn't matter to him that he couldn't see the ball unless he was two inches away from it! He would sleep in my bed with me whenever I went home, and he liked nothing more than someone taking his collar off and giving his neck a good scratch!

He was such a good dog, and I'm going to miss him so much.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Big Mistake. Big! Huge!

I have been so tired lately, which I don't understand because I've been getting as close to eight hours sleep a night as possible, which is practically forever for me. I usually get by on about six hours sleep perfectly fine, but I find myself barely being able to function at work at the moment with the extra couple of hours.

I got home tonight and was so completely wiped that I lay down for half an hour before I did anything. Two hours later I woke up. This was a big mistake for several reasons.

1) I didn't do any studying tonight - not a huge deal though, because I don't know how productive I would have been anyway;

2) I bet you I have trouble sleeping tonight, despite the fact that I still feel like a walking zombie;

3) That will just mess up my study day tomorrow because I'll feel tired and lethargic all day. I don't mind feeling that way at work, but it pisses me off when I ruin my study days by feeling that way!

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Typical Me

I really like this photo of me.



It pretty much sums me up. Plus, my hair is so shiny! :P

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

12 of 12 (but not!)

I was going to do one of those 12 of 12 posts, but Blogger is being all funny with me and not letting me load all of the photos. (I know, I know, it's supposed to be done on the 12th, but I missed that bit in Helen's post when I decided to do it yesterday. Yes, it took me two times reading it for that to register, despite it being the point of her post. I'm thick, so sue me!) Which is fine, because it was turning out to be a really boring post, and I was just using it as an excuse to tell you something anyway. So I'm just going to tell you the normal way.

I sat my theory test for driving yesterday.


I passed! Woo!

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Why Do You Build Me Up?

My mum and oldest sister are coming to visit me in December. The main purpose of the trip is for them to get a bit of Christmas shopping done and for me to treat them to a West End show, Wicked. It's been organised for a while and they booked their flights months ago.

I mentioned it to my other sister last week when I was getting ready to book the theatre tickets, on the off-chance that wanted to come. She was really excited about it. It'd be a weekend away from the kids, which she's never had since Kieran was born. She just had to make sure that Graeme could get the time off work to watch the boys, but that wouldn't be a problem. And it wasn't.

But I got an email from her today saying that she can't get the time off! She hadn't even considered that!

Boo! I'm really, really disappointed. Once the idea took root in my brain, I started to get really excited about it, a weekend with just my mum and her girls*. Finding out it wouldn't be happening threw me in a way even I didn't expect. I was really quite down about it for a few hours after I got the email.

I've spoken to my sister since, and we've come up with a couple of different options, included her trying to convince someone at work to swap holidays with her, so it's not compeletely hopeless. And even if she can't come down, I'll still have my mum and my other sister, which will be great! But how much better would it be if it were the four of us? So, please keep your fingers crossed that she can get the swap?


* I did also mention it to my dad, but his reaction was:
"A shopping weekend in London with four women, even if it is my wife and daughters? No thanks!"

Monday, July 31, 2006

Big Love

I really can't stand Nicki! Like, really really. I'm not really a fan of Chloe Sevigny, so I was a bit against the character from the very start, but she is actually horrible! She's a conniving, vindictive little cow!

Min? Danielle? I'm not alone in this, am I?

Naughty girl!

So I did a naughty thing today. I popped out at lunchtime to buy my lunch, and as I was making my way to M&S, I passed Monsoon. With a sale. I thought "I'll just pop in and see if there's anything decent", knowing full well that I detest sales and I would probably walk in and walk right back out again because of the mess and the crowds.

But!

The second I walked in, my eyes fell on this dress (edited with photo taken tonight). Only one left, and it just happened to be in my size. And it's so pretty! I decided to try it on for the hell of it, knowing that I don't usually look good in dresses.

Well!

This one is very flattering! I look so pretty in it! And for me to say that about myself is high praise indeed!

So I bought it! Yay! But no. I have absolutely no reason to buy it. I have nothing to wear it to. No weddings, no christenings, nothing! Last year I had these events coming out of my ears, but this year, zilch. I shouldn't have bought it.

But it was half price! It would have been rude not to.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

All Hail The Rain Gods!

It's raining! It's actually raining! Although sod's law dictates that it had to happen in the middle of my first driving lesson in a month! Being a learner driver, driving for the first time in weeks in the middle of a thunderstorm with a new instructor and new car is not fun. Although I think I do like my new instructor. He makes me laugh and I'm not as tense around him. And I definitely prefer the new car (a Vauxhall Corsa as opposed to a Ford Focus - the car of the devil!).

Oh yeah, I changed my driving instructor, by the way. The other guy was doing my head in with his contradicting instructiions and his crazy car!

My water was turned off for essential maintenance work today. Which is fine. I was given plenty of notice and told it would be back on by 12. It actually came back on at 2.30pm, but I can handle that. It's what I expected. But it's still only just a trickle at 7pm! And then I come home from my lesson to find a notice saying my water is going to be off for four, count them, FOUR mornings in a row next month! So based on today, I can expect to be pretty much waterless for almost four full days. Did I mention that it's the fours days immediately before my exams? Grrr!

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Happy Birthday Lewis!

Today is my other beautiful nephew's birthday!

He's one years old and I can hardly believe it. It's strange. On the one hand, I can't believe he's one already, but on the other, I can't believe he's only one because it feels like he's been around for longer. It's funny how you can get so used to someone's presence that you can't remember what life was like without them around.

By all accounts he's had a wonderful birthday. He saw all of his grandparents and (nearly) all of his aunties and uncles, he went swimming where he got his first taste of the rapids and slides (all in the careful arms of Daddy), he went to the park and tried to follow his big brother onto the big boys climbing frames, and of course he got lots of presents. Although I must add that when I called to wish him happy birthday, he was happily playing with the empty pack for the air freshener.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

The Rocky Horror Show

After the success of the special production of Rocky Horror for the Royal Court's 50th anniversary, the current UK touring production was convinced to drop by the West End for a 3 week limited run. And I got tickets!

I went to see it last night, and I wasn't really sure what to expect. I've been to see the film version in one of those audience participation screenings where people get dressed up, you get handed a bag of props as you go in (eg newspaper to cover your head as Janet and Brad are walking up to castle in the rain, because the ushers squirt the audience with water guns) and you shout out stuff throughout the film (eg whenever Janet's name is mentioned, the audience yell "SLUT!"). But this was a theatre in the West End. Surely that kind of stuff couldn't happen here....

Well, I was right about one of them. There were no props or water guns or stuff, but there were a few Magentas, Columbias and Frank n' Furters in the audience, and all the usual stuff was yelled out. It was a bit strange being sat in one of those theatres, where UK audiences are usually very restrained, to hear the words "SLUT" and "COCK" being shouted at every available opportunity. It got a bit annoying at times when people were just heckling and not shouting the traditional cult stuff, because it interrupted the flow of the show, but usually it was brilliant.

The best bit by far though was my friend's reaction. She knew nothing about Rocky Horror except that it had the Time Warp in it. So the first time someone yelled something out, she looked a bit scandalised! I had to quickly explain the whole thing under my breath (I would have done it earlier, but I had no idea that she didn't know what to expect) before she started drawing people dirty looks or she got up and walked out or something! And she was more than a little shocked when Frank n' Furter revealed his costume (I still can't believe that she didn't know about him!), but she was more into the spirit of the thing by this time, and it was a laughing shocked rather than a we're-british-and-don't-accept-that-kind-thing shocked!

All in all, it was a good night. I prefer the film version because it's more polished, and as fantastic as David Bedella was last night, Tim Curry is the original and best Frank n' Furter! But the show was still really good fun.

At least the next time I go to the theatre, it'll be outside, so I'll hopefully not feel like I'm melting throughout it!

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

When I'm Wrong, I Admit I'm Wrong

Usually.

I just watched a full episode of Top Gear...and it was hilarious! Although, it can't seriously be that funny every week. I mean they set fire to a bloody caravan site, for god's sake!

Thursday, July 13, 2006

The World Cup of Cuteness!

I love this! Posted by Moreena over at The Wait and Wonder.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Weekend Round-Up

I had a fairly uneventful train journey home on Wednesday night. Although there was a cute guy sitting across the aisle from me, which made it difficult to relax because I was scared of falling asleep and drooling all over myself! Actually he probably wasn't that cute, but he was Scottish and after four years in London, I'm a sucker for a Scottish accent now. Actually no, he was that cute.

Thursday was my dad's birthday. The big 63. OK, so not exactly a landmark, but still. He had a very chilled out day, sunbathing in the garden in the morning and going out for a late lunch/early dinner in the afternoon, with various visitors throughout the day. It was a nice day.

I can't remember what I did during the day on Friday (my memory sucks!), but I remember that my sister brought Kieran and Lewis round in the afternoon and Kieran threw up all over my dad. Poor baby, he was in pretty bad shape for a while. But he went to bed for a couple of hours and woke up feeling absolutely fine. My sister was supposed to be going to a wedding that night, with us babysitting, but she wasn't going to go when Kieran fell ill. However, he was so much better after a sleep, that we managed to talk her into going. She phoned several times throughout the night to check up on him, but he was fine. In fact, he was more than fine. Both he and Lewis were in high spirits and an absolute joy to babysit (bit of a change from the last time!). I had so much fun.

I went through to Glasgow on Saturday to catch up with some friends from my uni course. We went to Wagamama's for lunch, which was a strange experience because it's a place that I strongly associate with London. I often go there for dinner before heading off to the cinema or the theatre and, until recently, thought it was a chain limited to London. But it was good, as always, and it was really nice to catch up with my friends. I usually only have time to go through to Glasgow once when I'm home, and tend to always meet up with the same friends and neglect others for many months. That's why I didn't mention I was coming through Sharon. It's been about eight or nine months since I've seen those guys and I was feeling really guilty, especially since I blew one of them off recently when she was in London.

Sunday was a day I've been looking forward to for months. The Wimbledon men's singles final and the World Cup final in one day! How awesome. I even changed my train and took an extra days holiday when I realised I made the grave mistake of booking my train to clash with the World Cup! And how utterly predictable that I woke up on Sunday feeling terrible. I got dressed for mass long enough to realise that there was no way I was leaving the house that day, got back into my pyjamas, crawled into bed and stayed there for the rest of the day. I did watch the games, but fell asleep during them a couple of times.

Tennis - I got my dream final between Nadal and Federer. After the first set where Federer crushed Nadal 6-0, I thought my hopes of a close final were misguided, but no! Nadal came through in the end. It wasn't as close as I would have liked (I would have liked to see it go to five sets), but I think he challenged Federer more than anyone else could have. He never really had a shot at winning, but I think it could defintely be a different name on that trophy in a year or two. I do like Federer and was happy for him when he won, but it gets boring when that same person wins over and over again.

Football - What can I say? I'm gutted. I really wanted France to win and think they deserved it. I thought they were the better team and were attacking more. Italy seemed to be playing a much more defensive game, which isn't a game of champions. And to lose in penalties! How horrible! And Zidane. Oh wow. This was actually one of points in the game I fell asleep. I drifted off somewhere in the middle of the first half of ET and woke up to the commentators saying that Zidane had shamed himself. Luckily, it was replayed right away and I couldn't believe it. More than anything, I feel so sad for Zidane. He's a great player and has had a fantastic World Cup, but his career is always going to be defined by this one act in his last ever game. It was completely out of order and he totally deserved to be sent off, but I hope the Italian player deserved what he got. I'd hate to think that Zidane brought that kind of shame on himself over something really small. It just makes me really sad.

Then another uneventful train journey back to London. I was sat at a table with three lovely pensioners, and it amused me to watch them eat their packed lunch from empty margarine tubs. It reminded me of my gran. There was also another cute boy, but only for a short portion of the journey, so I took full advantage of drooling over myself when he was gone. ;)

Monday, July 10, 2006

Give Me A Break!

I got the train through to Glasgow on Saturday and, instead of giving me the discount for my Young Persons Railcard, the rail assistant applied the discount for the Senior Railcard. I'm guessing it was an innocent mistake, but coming on the heels of finding the gray hair, it would be quite easy for me to develop a complex about this!

An update of my trip home is coming when I can be bothered!

Friday, June 30, 2006

Going Grey

I blame Jazz and Amanda for talking about this recently.

I just found my first grey hair!

While I'm not bothered about it, I am a bit flabbergasted since I'm only 25.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Wimbledon

There is no better weather forecast than the start of Wimbledon.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Plasters! Stat!

I went on a training course today to renew my first aid qualification. It was quite fun actually. A lot of practical, hands-on stuff, like putting people in the recovery position and bandaging them up! My favourite, though, is practising CPR. You practise the rescue breaths and chest compressions on a dummy (called Annie), because it's probably a bit awkward to practise on your fellow classmates. But fun! If I ever have to do it in real life, I hope I remember what I'm doing, but I seemed to be quite good at it in a controlled environment at least.

I'm going to see Avenue Q on Monday! I've been going on about this show for over a year, but I completely forgot about it. I knew I was going, but it always seemed like forever away and it just kind of sneaked up on me. I was going to post my friend a soundtrack I copied for her because I thought I wasn't going to see her for weeks, then she pointed out to me that I'm seeing her on Monday. I don't know where my head is lately. But, for now, I can't wait for Monday! Eeee!

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Fortunate Fool?

I have either just been a good samaritan or been taken for a fool. It would depend who you're talking to. My mum, for instance, would say I was being kind, but my dad would get exasperated with me for being so gullible.

I was walking home from the tube station tonight when I came up on this young guy, maybe late teens, talking to a couple in the street. I was listening to my iPod so couldn't hear what was being said, but it was clear the boy was upset. The couple turned to walk away, and as I got closer, the boy motioned for my attention. He asked me if I knew where the nearest Salvation Army was and I replied I didn't. It was now that I noticed he was crying. He turned to walk away, but I asked him what was wrong. He had quite a thick accent, so I couldn't make out everything he said, but the gist was that he'd lost his wallet and the police said there was nothing they could do. I said I was really sorry and he walked away.

That would probably have been the end of it, but he was walking in my direction. As I kept my distance from him walking in front, I saw him stop a couple more people to ask for the Sally Ann and get more and more agitated. As I caught up with him, I couldn't take it anymore. I offered him £5 to get a train or bus or whatever he needed to get home. He wasn't going to take it, but I insisted. He wanted to send it back to me, so I was going to give him a business card (I may be a fool, but I'm not about to give a stranger my home address!). Unfortunately, I didn't have any of my own handy and only had a colleague's, so I scribbled out his details (name, phone number, email, etc) so that it only had the address left and gave it to him.

Now I know he could very well have been a con artist, but you know what? I don't care! If it was the real deal, hopefully he'll get home without too much bother and I feel good for having helped someone out. If it was a con, I'm out £5. It's not exactly going to bankrupt me. I feel bad about giving out a colleague's business card to a stranger (I hope I managed to scribble out his details ok), but that's about it.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Happy Father's Day

A father is always making his baby into a little woman. And when she is a woman he turns her back again.
~Enid Bagnold

Old as she was, she still missed her daddy sometimes.
~Gloria Naylor

Any man can be a father but it takes someone special to be a dad.
~ Anne Geddes

The father of a daughter is nothing but a high-class hostage. A father turns a stony face to his sons, berates them, shakes his antlers, paws the ground, snorts, runs them off into the underbrush, but when his daughter puts her arm over his shoulder and says, 'Daddy, I need to ask you something,' he is a pat of butter in a hot frying pan.
~ Garrison Keillor

My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.
~ Clarence Budington Kelland

Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance.
~ Ruth E. Renkel

To her the name of father was another name for love
~ Fanny Fern


We may not shower him with praise
Nor mention his name in song,
And sometimes it seems that we forget
The joy he spreads as he goes along,
But it doesn’t mean that we don’t know
The wonderful role that he has had.
And away down deep in every heart
There’s a place that is just for Dad


~ Author Unknown



Happy Father's Day, Dad. I love you too!

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

From London to Berlin

I am such a typical Scot. Temperatures in London hit 32°C (90°F) yesterday. Waaaaayyyy too hot for little old me. To be fair, as soon as the temperatures start climbing to the early to mid-20s, I'm searching for a shady corner to curl up in with a fan. I'm not cut out for heat. I like bad weather. I like rain and wind and snow and cold. You do get summer weather in Scotland, but it only lasts for about a week.

I watched the first episode of Big Love on channel 5 last night. I was intrigued when Min was talking about it in her Blurty, and then noticed that it was starting over here, so thought I'd give it a go. It's....interesting. I'm not entirely sure what I think about it, but it caught my attention enough to make me want to watch next week, which I guess is the ultimate goal. But Beaver! I miss Beaver!

I've got World Cup fever, as does everyone else in this city. It's pretty good being in London for stuff like this when England do well, even though I'm not English. So far, I've done the Rugby World Cup 2003 and Euro 2004, and the atmosphere is electric. There's also been the cricket, but while the guys in my office get obsessed with it, I can't bring myself to care.

I was in a pub on Saturday watching the England game (supporting England I might add) and it was disappointing for a number of reasons, the main one being the discomfort I felt at being surrounded by drunk England fans. This particular crowd seemed a bit yobbish. I overheard several racist comments about a bunch of Middle Eastern guys standing at the back because they weren't singing along with the songs, despite the fact they were wearing England strips and obviously supporting them. Then the anti-German and Scottish comments and songs started and my discomfort quadrupled. I really couldn't get out of there quick enough. Now, before anyone starts, I know that this happens in Scotland as well. I've been at plenty of Scottish sporting events when anti-English songs have been sung and that's wrong too. But I've heard people say that it's just Scottish fans that are anti-English and it's not the other way round, but that's wrong. It's not all English fans, just like it's not all Scottish fans, but it does happen. And when you're a Scot living in London at a time like this, it can be really exciting, but also a bit disconcerting,

What else? I'm going to see Avenue Q in a couple of weeks! Yay! And then I'm going to see The Rocky Horror Show a couple of weeks after that! Double yay! And I'll throw in a visit home, in between them, for my dad's birthday for good measure. Triple yay!

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Exam Results

I passed one and failed one. I'm trying to see the positive side of this and ignore the negative (although it is the third fucking time this particular negative has happened!).

But a pass. Yay!

Sort of.

Clearly ths whole positivity thing needs a bit of work.


EDIT - I just found out that I failed by, at most, five marks! Five goddamn marks!

Monday, June 05, 2006

Rule of Thumb

It's strange how you take not being in pain for granted. For example, if you get a mouth ulcer which stings whenever you drink or eat or talk or whatever, you constantly think "I wish I didn't have this ulcer". But when you don't have an ulcer, you don't go around thinking "I'm so glad I don't have an ulcer". Or at least, you might, but it's not a constant thought. You just take it for granted that your mouth isn't in pain. Well, I do anyway.

The latest example of this is my thumb. I staved it at the weekend and it now hurts. I was sitting on the floor and, in my excitement to see Andy with his shirt off (photos forthcoming!), I managed to bend my thumb backwards while trying to stand up. It was sore at the time, but the pain went away that night, so I thought it was ok. But when I woke up the next morning, it was throbbing. The throbbing has gone away, but it aches when I try to move it which, considering it's my thumb, is all the time! It hurts to grip anything and it's surprising how often you have to bend your thumb into funny positions to do stuff. Goddamn opposability!

Friday, June 02, 2006

Happy Birthday Kieran!

Today is my beautiful nephew's birthday. He is three years old today. Three?! How did that happen? I still remember the day my sister was in labour, when I called my mum every hour for news. How can he be three already?

I posted up his birthday presents on Tuesday and they arrived on Wednesday morning. After they took the brown parcel paper off and Kieran saw the Bob the Builder wrapping paper, he got all excited. He asked if he could open them now, but my sister told them that he'd be able to open them after two sleeps. "Okay", said Kieran, "I'm going to bed". So cute!

I know I post a lot about Kieran and Lewis, which may be a bit strange since they're not actually my children, but it's because they really are a big part of my life. My family has always been very close, so it stands to reason that I adore my nephews. Whenever I think about them, I smile. Anything that does that to you should be celebrated.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Some Fantastic!

From www.bnlmusic.com:

Release dates for the upcoming album will be:
Sept-08-2006 (Fri) in Switzerland, Germany and Austria
Sept-11-2006 (Mon) in the UK
Sept-12-2006 (Tue) in USA and Canada


Woo hoo!

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Whoops!

I just set the smoke alarm off by leaving a pork chop under the grill for too long. Crispy!

Although, in my defence, it's the first time that's happened in the eight years I've lived away from home and been cooking for myself.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Never Forget

The concert was AMAZING! They have not lost their touch. In fact, I think this was the best of the four concerts I've been too. Absolutely spectacular.

I feel like I'm 15 again! Every time I think about it, I give a little squeal! I can't believe I saw them again! Squeee!!

EDIT - let's see if I can try to formulate something a bit more substantial than "Squee"!

Last night was excellent, but I'm left feeling very strange. It's hard to put into words how I feel though. Nostalgia? Giddyness? Sadness? Part of me is still walking on clouds, like I'm back to being a teenager again, part of me is feeling down that the experience is over and longing for it carry on and part of me is sad that that part of my life is finished.

I think I've covered the giddyness part pretty well! I really didn't expect last night to affect me so much, but I actually had tears in my eyes at one point. It's pathetic, but TT were such a huge part of my life at one point and seeing them live again was just so overwhelming. And following on from that, I wanted it to last longer. I remember feeling the same way after my first Barenaked Ladies concert, trying to buy tickets for the following night because I'd had such a good time. I think I'm coming out of it a bit now, but I'm definitely in the midst of post-concert blues.

But there's a feeling of sadness that it's all over. They've made a comeback and they're releasing a new album (which I'll probably buy because the songs I heard last night were good), but it's not the same. We've all grown up and I can't get that time back. This is obviously about more than Take That, it's about that whole time in my life. I never thought I'd feel nostalgic for it though. I guess it's those rose-tinted specs coming out, trying to trick me into thinking that I loved my teenage years, but they lie! I know they lie. Logically, I know that I never want to feel again the way I did when I was 12-16 years old. Yet, I can't shift this feeling of sadness that I'm not at that point in my life anymore. It's crazyness. It's probably exacerbated by my dissatisfaction with my life right now, but hopefully that'll go away in time, with some effort and work.

Wow, this turned into quite a depressing entry, after the opening. I need to remedy that.

Highlights of the night:

  • The Beatles Medley that they performed at the Brits;
  • Their pisstake of "How To Make a Boy Band", including a personal dig at themselves about not becoming friends with each other because if one of the members starts to lose it, you might have to kick them out;
  • Robbie making a minor appearance, having recorded a video piece of the beginning of Could it Be Magic for them;
  • A sexy, tango version of It Only Takes a Minute;
  • The encore of Never Forget.


Take That Rule!

Every Time!

It was someone's leaving drinks at work last night (again!) but I was really, really tired so had only been planning to go out for one or two drinks. Yeah right. I got home just after midnight! Every time. When I go out expecting to have a really good time, I end up not enjoying myself and leaving early, but if I'm not in the mood, I have a brilliant time.

We spent a few hours at All Bar One, which isn't normally one of my favourite places. They normally cram large parties into a really tiny area and the waiters are pretty rude. But we managed to snag a good sized area last night and I didn't have to deal with the waiters at all, so that was good. I should have known what kind of night it would turn into because the innuendo and teasing started pretty much immediately! I demonstrated my innocence as the baby of the company by demanding explanations to some of the stuff I've heard mentioned in the office as jokes, including dogging! It's been mentioned in jokes at work for months, and they refused to explain to me what it meant (because of my delicate innocence?! I don't know!) and I've been too scared to google it because you never know what you could get! But I finally got it out of them last night. I must admit that after all the build up, I was expecting something much worse!

Anyway, after a few hours we decided we needed some food to soak up the alcohol, so we headed for Haz, a turkish restaurant round the corner. This place has the best smell in the whole City of London. You walk past it and drool! And I'm pleased to report that the food tastes every bit as good as it smells!

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

My Love Affair With Take That

It all started in the late Spring/early Summer of 1992. I was 11 years old, coming to the end of primary school and preparing myself for the big bad world of high school. On the Sunday in question, I was going about my business as normal, little suspecting that my life was about to be changed forever.

As I did every Sunday, I set the video recorder to tape The Disney Club while I went to church with my family. As I remember it, I wasn't even that big a fan of the show, but I utterly adored The Gummi Bears (still do!) and didn't want to miss it. This particular episode though had a guest band that I'd never heard of. This wasn't unusual however, because up until this point, I didn't really have an interest in music. But that was all about to change! The video for the song the band was promoting came onscreen. A boxing ring, sepia colouring, and then.....the boys! From that moment on, I was completely lost to them. I remember rewatching the video for It Only Takes a Minute about 10 times because I loved it so much. It's funny how that is now one of my least favourite Take That songs.

Anyway, that was the start of it. My obsession grew from there. I bought loads of TT merchandise: watches, videos, posters, magazines with interviews of them, etc. Stupidly, the one thing I never bought was an album! My friend gave me copies of all of their stuff. So as much as I loved them, I actually never once helped them in the charts.

Fast forward to the start 1993, and we were organising my sisters wedding which was in August. I was one of her bridesmaids and she offered to buy me a ticket to the TT tour that was coming up in the summer as my gift and I readily agreed! Even though I would only be 12 at the time, my mum let me go to the concert with a friend who was a couple of years older than me, as long as we were dropped off and picked up and didn't do anything stupid (my mum had a lot of trust in me, which actually turned out to be justified because I was a goody two shoes!). My friends at school were all incredibly jealous of me because they hadn't managed to get tickets. In fact, my friend and I had bought the last two tickets from the local music shop (I was 12! I'd never heard of a telephone box office!). The day before the concert, my friends helped me make a poster to hold up at the concert: WE LOVE YOU MARK! No, really.

I won't go into detail about the concert except to say that it was amazing! We were ten rows from the front, and I swear Mark looked right at me! He obviously saw my poster. :P The whole experience just solidified my belief that TT were the best band in the world and I would love them forever.

The band announced the Everything Changes tour for December 1993. I was desperate to go, but couldn't find anyone to go with. My sister realised how badly I wanted to see them again and agreed to take me. Only after some substantial moaning, mind you. After all, she was a 19 year old married woman, being dragged to see a boy band by her 12 year old little sister. Obviously, she fell in love with them after the concert. So much so, that when they announced their 1994 summer tour (bloody hell, they toured a lot in a short period of time!), it was more a case of her dragging me. Not that I was reluctant to go of course, but she put all the wheels in motion for it.

When it was announced that Robbie was leaving the band in 1995, I was pretty gutted. Next to Mark, Robbie was my favourite member of the band and I was really going to miss him. He brought a fun and energy to the band that I thought would be lacking when he left. And I was right. Take That were never quite right after that. When they finally announced their split in 1996, I wasn't as upset as you might think. I'd seen it coming for a while and was actually a little disappointed that they hadn't called it a day when Robbie left. At least then, they'd have been finishing on a high. My sister, on the other hand, the 22 year old married woman, was devastated! :P

Fast forward 10 years to the TV documentary on Take That, chronicling where they are now and what went wrong. Rumours cirulated afterwards that they might try to make a comeback and I pooh-poohed the idea, saying that it reeked of desperation. Of course, when they announced the tour, I was first in line to buy tickets. I know it makes me a hypocrite, but I'd never have forgiven myself if I hadn't at least tried to see them one more time. It does reek of desperation, but I can't help it. I love them. Even 10 years later, I still adore their songs. I can honestly say that I've only ever fallen under the boy band spell once. Unfortunately, I never quite recovered.

I'm going to see Take That tomorrow!


~ Mark is still so damn cute! ~

Monday, May 22, 2006

Eurovision

~ The Terry Shrine ~


I think the shrine says it all, really.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Rules for Life

I received this forward this morning, purportedly to be a speech Bill Gates gave to some high school kids. I don't know if that's true or not, but I thought I'd share anyway because I liked it.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

You Call That Customer Service?

*Warning - Customer Service Rant*

I'm just off a half hour call to Apple's customer service people in which I ripped the guy a new one.

I sent my iPod in for a service a couple of weeks ago because the battery has been cutting out on a regular basis, even though it says that it has up to a full bar left. I was confident that the problem would either be fixed or replaced because their technical support has been excellent in the past.

But no! They sent back the original iPod, saying that there was nothing wrong with it! WTF?!

I decided to give it a while and see how it worked out. Maybe they'd done some stuff to it that would make the battery last longer, we'd see. It soon became apparent that they really hadn't done anything to it and, in fact, the problem was more severe than before I sent it off.

So I called their customer services at lunchtime. I was ready to just explain the problem and insist, politely but forcefully, that they fix it right away because my warranty is up in just over a week and I refuse to pay for a problem that should have been fixed by them weeks ago. Unfortunately I got a complete idiot who couldn't undestand a word I was saying and kept talking over me! And he kept calling me Mrs Eileen, even though he knew it was my first name! So I ended up getting really riled up. But they are coming to collect my iPod again. I swear if they don't fix it properly this time, I'll explode!

I don't like it when people call up customer services to make a complaint and lay into the representative for no reason, other than they're angry about the complaint. The representative is only the middle man who has no control over your problem, other than to pass on your message to the appropriate people who can fix it. But why do companies insist on hiring complete idiots within their customer service departments who have zero people skills? I get mad at them because of the way they are acting! Nothing to do with the original purpose of the call! It's all them!

Man, I have the worst luck with customer service!

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Study Day

I've had a really productive study day. Really.

  • I got my hair cut;
  • I did some grocery shopping;
  • I spoke to a man about a dog;
  • I went for a run;
  • I did two loads of washing.

Really productive study day!

Monday, May 08, 2006

Am I a Total Geek?

Before you rush to answer this generally, I'm talking about a specific example!

So, you may or may not know that I've started taking driving lessons. I've only had two so far, and I think they're going ok. I definitely felt a lot more relaxed during the second one, but I made quite a lot of mistakes. It's hard to know if I'm making the normal amount of mistakes for someone at my level or if I'm just absolutely terrible at driving! And I can't get the measure of my instructor at all, so his reactions are no help.

So anyway, in order to help me, I'm making up a driving cheatsheet, with really basic instructions, in the hope that it'll help me learn quicker. So far, I have:


Getting In Car

• seat – steering – seatbelt
• mirrors

Prepare

• clutch – 1st gear
• move hand to handbrake
• find the bite
• pump the gas
• check road

Starting

• release handbrake – pull clutch up slowly – press gas

Stopping

• press brake
• press clutch fully down
• change to 1st gear
• handbrake on

Once Parked

• handbrake on
• gear into neutral
• indicator off
• feet off pedals


So am I just the biggest geek and/or dunce in the world, or is this not an entirely crazy method of learning? :P

Friday, May 05, 2006

Slippery Slope

I've just won my very first Ebay auction! Oh dear. It's all downhill from here.

It was for the classic Super Nintendo video game Super Mario World. The SNES is the most up to date console I know and own! I love it, but can't find any games for it anywhere. Then I remembered Ebay!

Rocking it, old skool! Oh yeah!

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Lost, Season 2

Best opening episode of a season, ever!

The second episode was a big pile of pooh, but we'll just ignore that.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Easter Break Photos

Pictures of my "wild day out" in Glasgow with my sisters. When I say wild, I mean drunken, but we were sober at the time of these photos. They were at the beginning of the afternoon. Unfortunately, by the time I got around to attempting a photo with all three of us, my batteries had died.


~ Maggie & Katie ~


~ Katie & I ~


~ Me & Maggie ~


And now for the gratuitous nephew piccies! You knew they were coming!


~ Blondie Bear ~


~ King of the Castle ~


~ This kid knows how to accessorise! ~


~ Big Cow Eyes ~

Belated Flat Pictures

I know I said I'd get some photos of my new flat up, but they're only....three months late!


~ couch #1 ~


~ couch #2 ~


~ cool touch lamps I got for Christmas and DVD storage box ~


~ doggy picture ~


~ framed pictures of Prague ~


~ kitchen #1 ~


~ kitchen #2 ~


~ hallway ~

Baby Post

But not my baby, despite everyone's suspicions with my "8 months to go" post!

My oldest friend in the world had a little girl over the Easter holidays. We've known each other since we were 4 years old, and don't see or speak to each other as much as we should. But I saw her on Easter Sunday, just a couple of days before she gave birth and it was lovely. It was a bit of a shock to the system though. Although I know about a million women who are having babies right now, Sarah is the first of my peers to have one and it hit me that we're all growing up. I still feel and act like a teenager half the time!

Anyway, the little girl is called Scarlett Gwen [surname] and I went shopping for her today. So much fun! I've ordered my sister to have a little girl next because they're much more fun to buy for than little boys! Anyway, I got her an Eeyore from the Disney Store (Sarah's favourite Winnie the Pooh character was Eeyore when we were little) and a summer dress amd a baby grow. So cute!

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Row, Row, Row Your Boat!

I am so completely wiped! I had a day out with my friends today and even though I wasn't looking forward to it, I ended up having a really great day.

We went to Hyde Park and had a picnic. While I wouldn't say it was exactly picnic weather (it was bloody freezing!), we still had fun. And the sun popped out from behind the clouds enough to give me a bit of sunburn on my face and chest.

We also hired a rowing boat and went out on the Serpentine. So. Much. Fun! I don't think the Oxford boating team will be calling for my skills anytime soon, but I had a brilliant time. We decided that while I had the power, Yvonne had the technique. When we were rowing together, we kept going in circles because I was rowing stronger than her! But when rowing individually, it was evident that I was pretty crap at it, while Yvonne managed to succesfully take us back to mooring without crashing! Evonne, sensibly, decided to abstain from the actual rowing part, and attempted to be our cox. Unsuccesfully. Really, so much fun!

Then we walked a lot, stopping off at the memorial fountain for The Princess of Wales (nice, but way more hassle than it's worth) and watching Yvonne attempt to roller blade (neither Evonne or I have roller blades). Then we headed back to Yvonne's to watch Dr Who, which I wasn't impressed with, I gotta say.

I just got home and I'm shattered. It's been a very long but enjoyable day. I'm now probably going to go watch and episode of Gilmore Girls before crashing.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Happy List

So I'm back at work after 10 days at home in Scotland. And it sucks. Really, really sucks.

But I'm not going to dwell. I'm going to make a list of things to look forward to in the coming months.

~ Going home again in three weeks for the event of the year - EUROVISION;
~ Take That concert;
~ Two, count them, TWO bank holidays this month;
~ Amanda's party;
~ Going to see Avenue Q;
~ Going on a pub crawl with my old colleagues in Winchester;
~ My sister's family coming down for a visit;
~ Starting my driving lessons next week;
~ Hopefully going to see Idina Menzel in Wicked later in the year (I was so excited when she was annnounced to be joining the West End cast!);
~ Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully moving back to Scotland within the next year.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Easter Weekend

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend. Mine's been good and bad, but mostly good.

Saturday
Babysitting did not go well. It didn't go any worse than I'd expected, but I'd hoped it would be better. Lewis is still very clingy and isn't very comfortable with people he doesn't know. He's fine with me when his parents are around, but not on my own, which is understandable since he hasn't seen me since Christmas. So I ended up having to get my mum round to help put him to bed because he was screaming for an hour solid and nothing I could do would help. He was having such a paddy, that I was worried he would hurt himself. My mum was round for about an hour, feeding him and letting him fall over to sleep, then went home and all was well again. I played with Kieran and put him to bed and Lewis stayed sleeping. So I got help for one hour out of the six I babysitted, but I still felt like a bit of an idiot. Not to worry. I'm obviously just not a natural with kids.

Sunday
My uncle and little cousin came to my parents to stay over for Easter. I've documented my family issues with my uncle already, but I can't be bothered searching for any specific entries about it. Suffice it to say that my family has been walking on a knife edge with our relationship with him in order to stay in touch with my little cousin. Well he turned up on Saturday afternoon spoiling for a fight. He was taking everything the wrong way and causing tension left, right and centre. While I was babysitting, it all kicked off between him and my dad and it was all my dad could do to stop my mum from telling him he wasn't welcome back again. I didn't know anything about this until Sunday though, and you probably wouldn't have realised to look at them. We actually had a very nice day having Easter egg hunts and decorating competitions with the kids, but everybody was going out of their way to avoid my uncle. They left probably earlier than they would have and you could feel the relief in the air and they way evryone relaxed after they'd gone. I don't know what's going to happen in the future. Our family holidays have been marred for the past three years by tensions caused by trying to keep my little cousin in the family. While we stll want to be involved with her, I can honestly say that I wouldn't be upset to never see my uncle again. This may sound harsh, but I can't really help it. I used to hate him, so this is actually a step up!

Anyway! It was actually quite a nice Easter, despite the way it sounds. Kieran, Lewis and Caitlin were full of fun and I was laughing at them all day.

Monday
This was the sister's day of fun. My sisters and I got the train through to Glasgow at lunchtime and went on a pub crawl. The day started off excellently when we got a drink at the bar in the train station. My sister got asked for ID because the barman thought she was too young to buy alcohol. My oldest sister. Who is 33 years old on Sunday! We thought this was hilarious! The poor barman seemed so embarassed afterwards! This sparked a bit of a worry between my other sister and I because we didn't have any ID in case we were asked. We weren't of course. We must just look like old hags! ;)

Anyway, we had an excellent day. We got a bit tired round about 5pm, just after we had something to eat. We were just talking about maybe going home early, then we got a second wind. We ended up getting the last train home at 11.40pm! I love my sisters so much. I really am beginning to think that my family is slightly wierd. We're very close and we get on amazingly. I use dto think that was normal and families that were dysfunctional, or even just not that close were the uncommon ones. But I'm starting to see that families who are close are the uncommon ones. I feel very lucky.


The rest of the week has been strange. I had earache over the weekend and because of this, I've been biting my gums. I think I maybe gave myself an infection or something because I feel totally out of sorts. Also, I've been unable to sleep at night because of the pain in my mouth and so have slept for at least 3 or 4 hours during the day for the past couple of days, which of course, has done nothing to regulate my sleep at night.

But if nothing else, it's just been nice to be home and chill out for a while. I may have moaned for a fair bit of this entry, but I have really enjoyed being home.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

I'm going home tomorrow! I get to see my family & friends. I get to go to sleep with my dog lying at the end of my bed. I get to babysit my nephews. I get to go out for a day in Glasgow with my sisters. I get to just chill out. It's been way too long since I was last home. I'm so excited!

It was someone's last day at work today, so we headed down to the pub at lunch time for his leaving drinks. However, since it's the day before a bank holiday, the office closed at 3pm and no-one went back! Well, I went back round about 4pm to log off my computer (I had intended to go back!), but I was in the pub pretty much all afternoon. I only had two glasses of red wine though because I'm going to mass tonight and I didn't think the priest would be too impressed if I rolled up drunk!

The Story of the Flaming Sambuca

Since it was Mark's last day and he's actually moving away to Bermuda, Gary went to the bar to order him a flaming sambuca. While he was away, Mark had managed to spill some of his beer on the floor. When Gary came back, he handed the sambuca to Mark. Unfortunately, Mark's hand was still wet from the beer and the glass slipped. He spilled some of the sambuca over his hand.....and the flame transferred to his hand too! It took him a couple of seconds to realise that his hand was on fire, but when he did, he started jumping around and shaking his hand to blow the flame out, which it did. In all the commotion, he dropped the glass, spilling the rest of the sambuca over the floor and setting fire to the floor! He started stamping on it with his feet but the flames were still there. In the end, he was able to blow them out.

It should be noted that he didn't actually burn himself much. It's the sambuca vapours that burn, so I don't think the flame actually touched his skin. Much. It just stung a bit afterwards, with no visible marks.


Anyway, I probably won't be around much next week, so have a lovely Easter!

Monday, April 10, 2006

Who Needs Sleep?

I really took advantage of not having to get up early to study this weekend. I slept till midday on Saturday, much to the annoyance of my friend (but we'll not get into that because my rant could end up about 50 pages long!) and then, slightly stupidly, till 2.30pm on Sunday. This is what happens when I don't set an alarm. I could sleep for Britain in the Olypmics!

So, partly thanks to my marathon lie in and partly thanks to me finishing my book (I always end up reading to the wee hours when I get to the end of a book, because I don't want to put it down), I didn't get to sleep till after 3am. And I was up again at 6.45am. I'm really starting to wish I hadn't given up coffee for Lent right about now.

I went to see Rent on Saturday, which I loved. The flow of the story was slightly patchy in the places, and I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it so much if I hadn't known the soundtrack inside out (I promise I'll get that back to you within the next couple of weeks Crystal! I suck!). But as it is, I did, so I loved it. It was really moving and I had tears streaming down my face at more than one point through the film. I can't wait to get it on DVD.

I noticed something strange when I was looking for a screening near me. It's hardly showing in any cinemas! I had to go all the way into the central London to see it, and even then, I only found it in one cinema. I was really surprised about that because I'd heard it had done well in the US. I guess it doesn't translate well to Britain. I don't think the stage show took off in the West End either.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

When I Said I'd Try To Curb My Harry Potter Obsession....

...I lied! So sue me.


W.O.M.B.A.T.
Grade 1
(Wizards' Ordinary Magic and Basic Aptitude Test)


This is to certify that you have passed W.O.M.B.A.T. Grade 1 and have been awarded the classification of

Outstanding

CONGRATULATIONS!
Your exemplary powers of deduction and a formidable knowledge of the inner workings of the magical world reveal you to be a witch or wizard of genuine skill and learning. This first examination has barely tested you. We look forward to challenging you to a further and more difficult examination in due course.



My first O! I'm so proud! At least I passed one exam this past week or two! ;)

Friday, April 07, 2006

Wibble Wobble

I went out for a few drinks last night with people I used to work with. It was really nice and good to see everybody. Well, nearly everybody. I just avoided the ones I didn't really want to talk to! It was great to see everybody though. Especially a specific few who I really miss. But one of them asked me to do the Winchester Wobble (annual company pub crawl in teams of two) with her, so that should be really fun. I've had some of my best nights since I moved down here at those things. Funny though, how I've been away from the company for almost 2 years, yet not missed one of these things!

Tonight, I came home and sorted out some stuff, and I'm just about to have my tea and settle in front of the TV. Then I plan to go to bed and sleep forever! Okay, maybe not forever, but for a long time! I'm getting a lie in! Yay!!!

And tomorrow I'm finally going to see Rent! I've only been waiting to see it for about 6 months!

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Free as a bird!

I had my last exam today. It could have been so good. It was a fair paper and I was well prepared for it, but I ran out of time. I spent too long on a question that had bugged me in the studying but I knew I could nail. Unfortunately, it was only worth about 6 or 7 marks and I struggled to make up the time. With 45 minutes to go, I still had two 14 mark questions left to do. I scanned them and caught a word in one of them that I didn't like. I went onto the other one, which turned out to be, not difficult, but really fiddly. I did end up having time to go onto the other question, which wasn't what I thought it was originally, and given the time could have done it with my eyes closed! Unfortunately, the time had been snatched away from me! I managed to get half of it done before time up. In the end, I think most of what I did was right, but I'm not sure whether I did enough. Story of my life!

But I'm done! Absolutely knackered, but done! Whoo!

Monday, April 03, 2006

Top Ten Songs

I've been thinking about my top ten favourite songs. Whenever I get asked something like that, I usually wuss out and say that I couldn't possibly choose. But I think I'm just being lazy. I have a group of songs that are perennial favourites and I never get bored of them. Songs that, whenever they come on, make me stop and listen. So I decided to try and make a list. Surpisingly, seven of them came easily, with very little thought. The other three are still very much favourites, but there may be others that would be more favourite. And yes, my music tastes change, but it's still a pretty definative list for, I'd say, the past three or four years, at least.

(In no particular order)

Hallelujiah - Jeff Buckley
At My Most Beautiful - REM
Call & Answer - Barenaked Ladies
One True Love - Semisonic
If I Had a Million Dollars - Barenaked Ladies
With or Without You - U2
Somewhere In My Heart - Aztec Camera
Stand - REM
Improv - JJ72
Pachelbel's Canon - Johann Pachelbel

I'm not really sure what this list says about me. When I was first thinking of it, the first few songs seemed to scream SAP! But they're not all sappy. Some are bouncy, some are sappy, some are downright depressing.

Although, I did notice one thing. There's a glaring ommission. Everybody Hurts by REM is no longer on the list. For years, I couldn't listen to that song without crying. I found it incredibly sad, but uplifting at the same time. Now though, I feel nothing when I hear it. If I make myself stop and listen to it properly, I can get a bit teared up, but it doesn't stop me in my tracks like it used to. Except when they played it live, but that was a totally different situation.

Anyway. I found this little exercise interesting. Not to mention a good way to procrastinate when I should be studying for my (last!) exam. But I'm not sure if this will give any of you more of an insight into me or not.

Text Conversation

A text conversation from yesterday between Yvonne and I:

Yvonne: Bet you a fiver Oxford win the boat race.
Me: You really should try to curb that gambling addiction of yours! I don't know anything about the race or have a preference. I didn't even know it was today. Is it?
Yvonne: Is it a deal? Yes it's today.
Me: No!
Yvonne: Why not?!
Me: Because I don't know anything about it! I'm not blindly betting a fiver on it! Get yourself to gamblers anonymous!
Yvonne: Probably just as well you didn't. It finished half an hour ago. I lost a fiver to a guy at work and was trying to make up for it! Ha ha ha!
Me: And you wonder why I don't trust you.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

O-kaaaaay!

I think my foray into the Harry Potter fandom is coming to a close. They're all nuts! Amy, you were right!

The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet joined forces for a really funny April Fool's gag today. They pretended that:
1) the webmasters of the two sites (who people have been shipping like crazy - Memerson!) got married in Edinburgh last week;
2) the two sites have joined forces to make one big super site, The Leaky Mug.

It's so obviously a joke and I've been giggling over it all day. But most of the readers are completely losing it! Three or four news entries have been posted today, with a total of about 4000-5000 comments attached! At least 2/3rds of the comments are people going crazy about the joke (not that I've read them all - you just need to scan them)! Either they really believe it's true (come on!), or they're going nuts because they think it's a bad joke and it's dragging on too long. And I mean nuts! People are crying over it! They want their Mugglenet/Leaky Cauldron back! It's only been a day people!

I am so out of there!


And I promise I'll really try to curb my HP posting from now on. My obsession has reached massive proportions and it's even boring me now! But this was just too insane to not post about.

Friday, March 31, 2006

MyDeathSpace.com

I can't decide if this website is a touching memorial to those who have died, or just really, really morbid and sick. I'm leaning towards the latter.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

One down, one to go

I had a powercut last night! The power went off round about 7.30pm, just as it was getting dark and I only have a couple of candles! Not exactly conducive to studying the night before an exam! I tried to study for another hour and a half or so, then gave up. Made my dinner (praise the gas hob!) and went to bed at 10pm. According to my alarm clock, the power came back on round about 2am.

The exam wasn't terrible. It wasn't great, but it could have been much worse. I think most of what I did was correct, it's just whether I did enough or not. I was running out of time and was struggling to finish the questions I'd left to go back to. So it could really go either way. But I at least felt like it went better than the other two (have I mentioned that I've failed this particular exam twice already?).

My lovely boss gave me the afternoon off, not taken out of study leave or holidays or anything. People usually have to go into the office after a morning exam, but I didn't. Yay! I'm having the rest of the day free from studying though. I plan to clean. This place is driving me mad! It's not disgusting or anything, but it just needs dusted and swept and washed and I just haven't had time for a big clean for ages. Little bits and pieces, here and there, but I want to gut the place!

But, for now, I am going to have some lunch. And possibly lie down in a dark room because my head is pounding.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Crunch Time

I have three folders for the subject I'm currently studying. One contains all of the notes for the subject, another contains question banks, tutorials, etc and the other contains a large bank of past paper questions with fully worked solutions. I usually have only one folder, sometimes two, open at any one time. Usually one of the question folders, and sometimes the notes folder when I have to read through the theory again.

You know it's crunch time when ALL of the folders are lying open, with me rifling through the question folders to find questions I haven't already done and diving into the notes folder because I've suddenly forgotten how to do everything!

Not to mention the yanking out of the hair and the banging of the head against the desk.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Mother's Day

You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around - and why his parents will always wave back.
~ William D. Tammeus

Never raise your hand to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected.
~ Red Buttons

Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.
~ Tenneva Jordan

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.
~ Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty

Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.
~ Aristotle

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.
~ Honore de Balzac



When you're a child she walks before you,
To set an example.

When you're a teenager she walks behind you
To be there should you need her.

When you're an adult she walks beside you
So that as two friends you can enjoy life together..


~ Author Unknown



Happy Mother's Day, Mum. I love you.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Badness/Goodness

Badness: Losing an hour of sleep the weekend before my exams start because the clocks jump forward.

Goodness: Treating myself to season 1 Angel after a hard days studying.

Badness: Illness the weekend before my exams.

Goodness: New music (thanks, Jess and Annika, for the Pixies suggestions).

Badness: Studying at home for the past week and being completely out of the loop about the stuff happening at work.

Goodness: Studying at home for the past week and being completely out of the loop about the stuff happening at work!

Badness: Giving up chocolate and coffee and fizzy juice for Lent. Man, am I craving a skinny vanilla latte from Starbucks!

Goodness: Strawberry trifles from Marks and Spencers.

Badness: Over-active emotions.

Goodness: Sleep. Sweet, sweet sleep!

Badness: Exams.

Goodness: Exams being over in less than two weeks!

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Confession Time

I've been cheating on the WD.

With The Leaky Lounge. Yes, I know. My Harry Potter obsession knows no bounds.

I've joined other forums before, but usually made no posts, or just one or two before I gave up because everyone was so scary. I made a few posts on Leaky, and while people didn't seem too scary, it was very overwhelming! That site is huge! I don't remember the WD ever being that big, but then Harry Potter is probably a bigger fandom than Buffy ever was.

I was all ready to give up on it, but they've brought in these reading groups now, where they're re-reading and holding discussion about the books, one at a time. The groups are very contained and much more manageable, so I think I'm going to stick with it for a while. I've already had a couple of good discussions, and I've only joined a group today!

Just don't tell the WD. I don't want to hurt it's feelings.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!

I've just had a hot bath. Really hot. The kind of hot where you have to lower yourself in really slowly to stop the water from scalding you! The kind of hot where there's no need to use a body scrub, because the water burns off the dead skin cells anyway!

It was fantastic! Now I feel all clean and fresh!

And reason number 1,863 why it's good living on your own:

You can leave the bathroom door open so that you can listen to music while just lying there!

The Big Red Button


I thank Steve for this game.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Starlight Express

Yesterday was my ex-flatmate's birthday and, in true Yvonne style, we didn't celebrate it in the usual few-drinks-in-a-bar way. No, Yvonne decided that for her 26th birthday, she wanted to go to a.......ROLLER DISCO! That's right. And not the inline skates. The old-fashioned two by two skates!

It was brilliant! We'd gone to her house for a few drinks before, so by the time we actually got to the club, we were quite merry. Some moreso than others because that was the only way they'd go roller skating! But the skating was great. Hilarious at first, with everybody trying to find their balance and remember how to do it. I haven't roller skated for about 15 years, but I'm a pretty good ice-skater, so I thought I'd be fine. Not a chance! Same basic principles, completely different in practice! By the time I left, I'd just about mastered the skating, but stopping was still a bit of an issue. Although, I was able to go up to the bar at one point and carry four drinks back! Whoo!

I would really have liked to stay longer, but I had to leave around midnight in order to get the last tube home, otherwise a taxi would have cost £60. My first taste of the pain of living so far out. Not to worry. Any other time, and I've had stayed out and got the bus that takes hours, but I really needed to study today, so I was trying to be sensible.

But it was a good night. Something different!