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Saturday, May 23rd, 2009
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7:25 am - Dragon Boat Race
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I'm going to be taking part in a Dragon Boat Race with some guys from work. We're raising money for the Anthony Nolan Trust and you can sponsor us by clicking the link below.
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(Answering machine)
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| Thursday, May 21st, 2009
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11:26 am - It's that time of year again...
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Time for another lyric-based post. It's the next line round, people - I want the next line or lines, the artist and the song title :
1. The girl with the curls and the sweet pink ribbon in her hair
2. Don't let the sun be the one to change you, honey, I wanna learn how to love, if I'm to know
3. Here she comes with a masterplan, and I'm starting to lose control, he she comes to this trash of man, and I'm ready to taste it all And she....... I think that word goes on for half the song, so that must count as the next line - Andreas Johnson: Glorious - Julian (it goes on sheeeee's bringing me in, checking me out, making me glorious... but I will accept that)
4. You don't have to have the solution, you've go to understand the problem and don't go hoping for a miracle... all this will fade away, so I'm coming home, yeah yeah yeah, I'm coming home, yeah yeah yeah, I'm coming home, yeah yeah yeah... But just for a short while - Slight Return: Bluetones - Hannah T
5. I drink a lot of wine, when I am alone; I lose my track of time, my ideas turn to stone LINE NOT GUESSED - Ed Harcourt: Apple of My Eye - Julian
4. Whatever makes you tired the resting always fails
5. When I'm down and my hands are tied, I cannot reach a pen for me to draw the line Up in my lonely room, when I'm dreamin' of you - The Coral: Dreaming of You - Rikk
6. It knows you're just a modern man; it's shining like the chandelier
7. I want your doctor to take your pictureSo I can look at you from inside as well - The Vapors: Turning Japanese - Rikk
8. Why'd you have to be so cute - it's impossible to ignore you
9. What would you think of me now, so lucky, so strong, so proud? I never said thankyou for that
10. Gonna take it slow babe, do it my way, keep your eyes on me
11. Stars at my window, all say they don't know
12. With the briefcase empty and the holes in my shoes; I try to stay friendly for the sugary abuse, so tell my secretary now to hold all of my calls; I believe I can hear through these walls so please save me, save me from myself, I can't be the only one left on the shelf - Turin Brakes: Underdog (Save Me)- Julian
13. Dahg Rustafabri, do you know that you're a fucking dog? And if you can hear me, then throw up - give me a sign
14. You're made of my rib, or baby, you're made of my sin; and i can't tell where your lust ends and where your love begins I didn't mean to hurt you, baby, didn't mean to hurt you - VAST: Pretty When You Cry - Rikk
15. What I really wanna know, my baby; what I really wanna say, I can't define; Well, it's love that I neeeeeeed...
16. One last thing before I quit
17. So, why are you sat at home? You're not designed to be alone!You just got used to saying no - Frank Turner: Reasons Not To Be an Idiot - Rikk
18. "I'll be over at 10", you told me time and again
19. It doesn't make no sense, no. It's not convenient, no. It doesn't fit my plans, but...
20. Ooooo you make me live; whatever this world can give to me I got you, you're all that I need - Queen: You're my Best Friend Slappersire
21. You enter the place of endless persuasion Like a knock on the door when there's ten or more things to do - Crowded House: Nails in my Feet - Julian
22. And if you've never heard that silence, it's a god-awful sound so, please hand me the bottle, I think I'm lonely now - Matchbox 20: Kody - Julian
23. I'll idealise and realise that there's no sacrifice, because a price is paid and there's nothing left to grieve
24. I poked my finger down inside makin' a little room for a ant to hide; nature's candy in my hand or can or a pie Millions of peaches, peaches for me; millions of peaches, peaches for free - Presidents of the USA: Peaches - Rikk
25. You don't succeed cause you hesitate; You think we're fly but we levitate
26. Dear Mavis, thought I'd follow up my letter - drop a line about the fate of our poor vicar Very tragically his time on earth is ended, found him gagged and bound in stockings and suspenders - Mansun: Stripper Vicar Slappersire
27. It's the last great adventure left to mankind, screams a droopy lady
28. You wake up to the sound of alarms And you're driving your fabulous car, listening to the music that reminds you, you used to be young, you used to be young - Tom McRae: End of the World News (dose me up)- Julian
29. Prop my eyes open with chemistryLINE NOT GUESSED - Thea Gilmore: St Luke's Summer - Julian
30. It's obvious to me, but she never seems to see that it's not about the days when everything has turned out right; Yeah, it's more about the moments when she calls me in the night To make her cups of tea and wash the weary worries from her head, then to draw the pain out slowly as I put her into bed - Frank Turner - A Decent Cup of Tea - Slappersire
31. It's never easy, it's not hard, when you've lost your mind
32. High above the wrecks on ice shelves and dressers; with crash united sewn on all of my dress shirts
33. I need to build a wall around me, but I want to smile with everybody Only the artist has been guessed correctly...
oh, fuck it, 33 will do...
(and there's a bonus one as the subject)
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(12 Messages | Answering machine)
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| Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
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1:12 am - Short story competition
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So, there's a short story competition at work. Well, considering it has a word limit of 1,000, it's more of a short scene competition. Anyway, I will be submitting the piece I just posted. I's be interested to know what people think. Good or bad. I'm not good at keeping things short. 1,000 words is not a lot.
Anyway, there it is.
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(Answering machine)
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| Monday, March 9th, 2009
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4:27 pm - Writer's Block: Almost Famous
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I generally get told Orlando Bloom, but people have started realising I look more like David Spade. Two very kind people have said Johnny Depp, but I don't see that one so much. Other complementary ones have included Guy Pearce and the singer from Silverchair...
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(2 Messages | Answering machine)
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| Sunday, January 11th, 2009
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3:41 pm - 5 years on...
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I realised recently that May 3rd marks my five years of nightshift work. Thankfully, this coincides with the Reading Beer Festival (April 30 - May 3), which is a week off... couldn't be more perfect...
Of course, this has led me to look back five years and see what was going on back then. LJ provides a little doorway into the past, triggers off a lot of dormant memories. I'd been living at Christchurch Road for six months with my then girlfriend ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mistress_carrot, ladyfrances, refusenik2_0, ornot_demar, frenchie_666, and many others, with nk1415 practically living with us too. I'd been working at Friar St Bookshop for slightly longer, with ooohshiny and Forbes and the rest. ShitManagerChris had recently come in to ruin our lives and I was plotting my exit from the company. I'd been suffering from glandular fever for about two months without it being correctly diagnosed and it was about now that I remember getting a nosebleed while on the phone to a customer and thinking that maybe I should take some time off.
Five years ago, we spent our time playing board and card games constantly, like it was an addiction. We played computer games, watched DVDs and generally felt like a (dysfunctional) family at Chez Geek on Christchurch Road. Seems a very long time ago. Even with the exhaustion I was feeling back then from the GF and the irritation that came later on when I didn't get various jobs and was told my liver was enflamed so I couldn't drink alcohol, I remember having lots of fun. If I'm honest, that was probably one of the best periods in my life.
Not that now isn't great. I'm a team leader now, with 13 staff, in a job I love, earning over triple what I was on back then. I'm single, but, given the last relationship, that's probably wise for now, and it's led me to appreciate my friends around me much more. I love my lifestyle, but something always makes me hanker for those days. The ones I can never get back. I'm not depressed by this thought, just nostalgic.
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(Answering machine)
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| Thursday, January 8th, 2009
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6:00 am - Writer's Block: Prepared Answer
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| Wednesday, January 7th, 2009
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3:49 pm - Music Meme
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Haven't done this for ages so I've done 50... enjoy... (oh, and I've done the first line for each, to give it some form of system)
~Shuffle your playlist to random and pick the first 20 songs with lyrics that come up, post one line, see if people can guess, etc etc~
1. Listen to the world out on the outside pressing in. Are you ready on my mark?
2. Everyday it comes to this, catch the things you might have missed - you say, get back to yesterday
3. Your's is the only version of my desertion that I could ever subscribe to
5. When you're on your own, you walk in the rain. You walk around the house then walk around it again.
6. Daybreak, at the bottom of a lake, it's a hundred degrees, I can't breathe
9. Get out of bed, pick up the phone - time to tell the press
10. I'm ahead, I'm a man, I'm the first mammal to wear pants, yeah; I'm at peace with my lust, I can kill 'cause in God I trust, yeah!
12. When we were young the future was so bright, (whoa-oh!) the whole neighbourhood was so alive (whoa-oh!)
13. Your eyes like crashing jets, fixed in stained glass, but not religious
16. She ain't no ball and chain x 3
18. Baby, you're sailing today, baby, you're sailing away
21. Stars at my window, all say they don't know
23. Look at you, lying there, defenceless and alone
26. You think that I don't feel love but what I feel for you is real love
32. My rhyme ain't good just yet, my brain and tongue just met
37. I'm me, me be, goddamn, I am, I can, sing and, hear me, know me
38. [title], do what you do to me, I haven't been the same since my teenage labotomy
40. You don't know what's going on, you've been away far too long
42. Time and time again; translation seems to sabotage the words - you know what is said is not what is heard
43. Ain't nothing workin', ain't nothing right, there's a hole in me that I can't fill
46. Youre so impossible; Scream and moan - it chills my soul
48. Baby, I'm so into you, you got that something, what can I do?
49. (hurry hurry, step right up) A carnival for the human race
4. Blue morning, blue morning, wrapped in strands of fist and bone Counting Crows - Murder of One - wrongladder
7. I'm so bored of you, it didn't take long h - You Dinosaur Thing - wrongladder
8. There's the moon asking to stay; long enough for the clouds to fly me away Jeff Buckley - Grace - pantheia
11. Well, East coast girls are hip, I really dig those styles they wear Beach Boys - California Girls - wrongladder
14. Subconscious strange sensation, unconscious relaxation, what a pleasant nightmare and I can't wait to get there again Dream Theater - Strange deja Vu - Justin
15. Look at me now, got no religion, look at me now, I'm so vacant Marilyn Manson - I Want To Disappear - nk1415
17. Never met a girl who makes me feel the way that you do (you're alright!) Temptations - Get Ready - pantheia
19. Oh we move like cagey tigers, oh, we couldn't get closer than this... The Cure - Love Cats - Rich Croton(via Facebook)
20. Thought I was safe inside my own little shell, but you came out of the blue and gave me hell Grey Lady Down - Thrill of it All - Justin
22. Mother spent ten years sitting by a window scared if she spoke she would die of a heart attack Poe - Walk the Walk - wrongladder
24. (*whistles* All Aboard!) She smiles at you cross a smokey misty room Grey Lady Down - 12:02 - wrongladder
25. Anger, he smiles towering in shiny metallic purple armour Jimi Hendrix - Bold as Love - pantheia
27. I spy a boy and I spy a girl; and I spy the worst place in the world Pulp - I Spy - wrongladder
28. Lucky you were born that far away so we could both make fun of distance Shakira - Whenever, Wherever - Rich Croton(via Facebook)
29. Mamma please stop crying, I can't stand the sound Pink - Family Portrait - wrongladder
30. Royal Canadian blended Muse - Sober - Forbes (via Facebook)
31. (fuck) Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road Green Day - Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) a - Justin and wrongladder - and trust me, the 'fuck' is there...
33. I read the news today, oh boy The Beatles - A Day In The Life - Suz(via Facebook)
34. [title] I have someone who needs me, someone I've needed so long Stevie Wonder - For Once in My Life - pantheia
35. Well, I'm standing next to a mountain Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) - pantheia
36. Out of here, we're out of here; out of heartache, along with fear Doves - There Goes The Fear - Mr Luke Spanswick Esq.
39. Could you whisper in my ear, the things you want to feel? Goo Goo Dolls - Slide - wrongladder
41. When you grow up, living like a good boy oughta Scissor Sister - Take Your Mama - wrongladder
44. There's a look on your face I would like to knock out Archive - Fuck U - Justin
45. All the leaves are brown Mamas and the Papas - California Dreaming (aka The Bathtub Song) - pantheia (and wrongladder)
47. Jimmy Cream was clean, his brain was always winning Supertramp - Asylum - wrongladder
50. Over bridge of sighs, to rest my eyes in shades of green Small Faces - Itchycoo Park - wrongladder
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(10 Messages | Answering machine)
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| Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
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1:47 pm
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I Am A: Neutral Good Human Sorcerer (3rd Level)
Ability Scores:
Strength-13
Dexterity-14
Constitution-13
Intelligence-13
Wisdom-9
Charisma-15
Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.
Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.
Class:
Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.
Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)
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(Answering machine)
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| Sunday, November 23rd, 2008
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6:27 pm
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I've been a team leader for nearly 5 months now and things have changed rather a lot. I've grown more confident in my abilities and in general feel much better about my life. I've settled in nicely on my team and things have run relatively smoothly. A little too smoothly. Thankfully that lack of a big challenge has been noted by management and, when the tl for the government team was given the role of deputy shift leader (deservedly so), I was asked to take on his team. I view this as a promotion and will relish the challenged of a team twice as big, with more prestigious clients. However, the one fly in the ointment is that I think a lot of people were hoping that someone else would get the role. I also think some people see me as new to the job and inexperienced. Fact is, I was team lead in Reading, I used to practically run the Reading college satellite shop for Blackwells, while taking care of the corporate sales side of the shop, and I have worked as a presscutter for nearly five years. Most of the resentment I may get is that there was a guy who worked on government for much longer than me that became a tl at the same time as me and some people think he should have got it. Others feel that there should have been an open application. Again, the simple fact is that I was chosen and that's that. Anyone that has an issue with it either needs to grow up or transfer to a different team, in my opinion. I feel like I've been a little pre-judged by many that don't know me well and hope that they will give me a chance to prove myself as an effective team leader who only wants th best for his team and the company as a whole. I feel like my happiness needs to be kept under wraps as the decision to move me over is not the most popular one that could have been made. It's made me more than a little paranoid about how people see me. but until they experience me as a tl firsthand, they can't know any better. oh... it's just a really scary prospect, succeeding a very popular and experienced tl, when you are the management's choice but not the staff's.
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(2 Messages | Answering machine)
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| Friday, November 14th, 2008
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2:29 pm - Need inspiration...
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| Thursday, November 6th, 2008
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1:40 pm
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The line "I'm going to say this once, and once only, Gene. Stay out of Camberwick Green!" has amused me immensely today
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(Answering machine)
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9:42 am - America, get your act together...
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So, it's fantastic that Obama won. I'm as happy as the next man - a relatively liberal man with a realistic outlook and good intellect is now going to be in charge of the US. Regardless of the colour thing, this is a great time for the US.
Except, why the fuck did they vote yes on Proposition 8 in California? What gives a government the right to interfere in the very personal right for two people that love each other and want to be joined in the bonds of marriage to do so, just because they happen to be the same sex? It just makes no sense, California... Whether you believe in marriage or not, most intelligent people would agree that two people should be able to marry whatever race (inter-racial marriages were only allowed across all of America from 1967 onward) or creed they are. Large age differences are only frowned upon. Why should gender be such a different matter? People can disapprove all they like, but making it illegal?!? The idea of banning interracial marriages, I'm sure, seems insane to most people. In fact, it's down-right racist to say that people should keep to their own race. All this is is institutionalised homophobia. What exactly is the argument against same-sex marriage? Huh? Any bigots out there want to let me know? Who does it hurt? Why should anyone care who marries who?
Bah... </rant>
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(1 Message | Answering machine)
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| Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
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9:40 pm - For anyone that has tried to get in touch recently...
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... I've been so tired and feeling so crappy recently that I've done nothing all week except work and sleep, with occasional eating and infrequent, but nonetheless irritating, migraines and vomiting. My main conclusion is that I'm not coping well with nights any more and that I should get out. In the mean time, I have no idea what day it is most of the time and am still a little shaky. I spent a good couple of hours yesterday on the bathroom floor having violently thrown up what felt like my entire bodyweight of former food. Having woken up on the cold linoleum, with a dry and sticky mouth, I decided I should crawl into bed.
Feeling better now, but not quite right. Anyway, that's why I've been a little distant recently. Sorry all.
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(2 Messages | Answering machine)
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| Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
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8:30 am - All clear
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I finally got my MRI results back and my brain is apparently fine. So, it was, as suspected, just a complicated migraine, that is probably going to happen to me again at some point. At least next time, it will just annoy me rather than annoy and scare the crap out of me.
The past week has been a shitty for me, really, so this was a welcome relief. I (well, my team,) nearly managed to lose a £300k contract... so that's not been pleasant. I slept very little all week. Grabbing a couple of consequetive hours each day and feeling really rough by the end of the week. Consequently, I have pretty much slept through Monday and Tuesday...
Oh, and I just got a message on Facebook forwarded on from Piers Corbyn about a message I put on a random group ages ago in which I may have accused him of being a fraud. He's none-too-happy. For god's sake, though, he predicts long-term weather by means of sunspot activity, won't let the general public see his predictions or methods and then tells anyone that asks that his methods are the most accurate. It comes down to one of two options: either he is a brilliant predicter of the weather, more accurate than anyone else but is too greedy to share his findings with the world without payment; or he is a snakeoil salesman and keeps his methods to himself because it's all smoke and mirrors. But that is just my opinion. I think this is one of those areas where my big mouth may get me in trouble and it is best to proceed with caution.
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(5 Messages | Answering machine)
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| Sunday, August 10th, 2008
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2:37 pm - I need to spend less time on the net...
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Why can't they just say "metal things near MRI = bad"? Why bother risking severe damage to the equipment and unnecessary worry to people by making a video of this and putting it on the internet? WHY?!
Maybe I might find this more amusing if I wasn't going to be where the watermelon is in two days? Not only am I terrified of them finding something now (which is a completely irrational fear) but now I'm going to be looking to see that noone has left their fucking thermos a little too close to the machine... calm... calm... I wonder what delights will be going through my head for the 20-40mins I have to lie there and stay still... la di da... well, I'm starting to hope there is something wrong just so this worry is not all wasted. Hate to think I have to go through all this, have some hospital use up their valuable huge magnet time on me and then have nothing at all wrong with me... I've actually never been so scared (well, not without someone chasing or threatening me... even then...)
Oh well, can't back out. That would be worse.
And, hey, I can spend some quality time with Lucy... rather than passing out and generally not being around when I said I would be... Not even as if I have some great excuse... I guess that's me, though - neglect, regret, apologise, regret, appreciate, try harder, fail, neglect....
Ah, I'm not all that bad... if you enjoy your conversations by text or msn...
what was I talking about?
Did I mention that I babble when I'm nervous?
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(Answering machine)
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| Monday, July 28th, 2008
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6:20 am - Glad they put it in terms that everyone has experienced...
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Extract from my letter describing the MRI scan:
"If we are examining your legs then much of your body is outside the magnet. Otherwise it will feel as if you are lying in a small tunnel perhaps a bit like the connection between the Soyuz Space craft and the space station"
But, a lot may have changed since I last visited the space station...
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(4 Messages | Answering machine)
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| Thursday, July 17th, 2008
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3:30 pm - In other news...
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I have started back at work with a clear feeling of being unceremoniously tossed in at the deep end into a baptism of fire ("Minister, with all due respect, one cannot..."). Three days/nights in and this almost cliff-face-steep learning curve is starting to level off a little. I've received a lot of congratulations, even from people who it adversely affects (such as my old boss Bill, who is already two men down this week and so I make three...). My team is a good one, generally, although they need a bit of geeing up. The relaxed attitude is nice and all, but my time on government team has shown me how much work some people are doing in comparison to the rest of the shift and I will be gently informing them of this in the coming weeks. My predecessor, I've decided, took on way too much of the heavier jobs. I remember this being nice while I was working under him but it will change - I want to be more free to help out people wherever help is needed and to do that I need to free myself up a bit. I also feel it's my prerogative as a team leader to take on the clients I want, so a few of my old favourites will be back on my own job list soon. Personally, I'm knackered - I got back from Spain on Monday at 5:30, went to celebrate Mike's birthday with him, a curry and a pint and then went straight to work. Since then, I've not really stopped... No rest for the wicked, I guess, but, really, how wicked am I? No, don't answer that...
Anyway, I'm enjoying it immensely, which is the main thing, although I've decided to step down as SCC rep (staff rep, basically) as it's greed of me to be first aider, risk assessor, staff rep and team leader, I feel... plus, when am I going to find the bloody time? No, time for someone else to listen to the whining :P
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(1 Message | Answering machine)
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2:57 pm - A lot of fuss for a migraine...
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You may remember I had a little odd incident a few weeks back. Well, I've had a neurologist look at me and he says his examination definitely points to a migraine. However, just to be sure, I'll be going for an MRI at some point. Nothing to worry about. Of course, I am worried - hard not to be when they say they want to look at your brain with expensive equipment. I know it will all be fine, but there's always that nagging doubt in your head, right? That lingering thought of 'what if they find something?'
Ah well, can't affect it now so no point worrying. In the words of Jewel - if I could tell the world just one thing it would be 'we're all ok'; and not to worry cos worry is wasteful and useless in times like these.
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(2 Messages | Answering machine)
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| Saturday, July 12th, 2008
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2:44 pm - Passed on from Unevendays :)
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| Saturday, July 5th, 2008
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2:31 pm - Well, what a bally good night!
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