tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38682234168318429132024-02-08T09:49:25.506+00:00I'm not paid to teach pigeons.Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-34441267155281320922010-04-06T22:56:00.000+01:002010-04-06T22:57:29.445+01:00"Always tell the voter what the voter wants to hear"So, it's election time again! A moment I've been waiting for for almost three years. I'll get angry with the constant repitition (while still watching News 24 in the desperate hope of something new), I'll grt pissed off with the cameras asking people on the street what they think (what have elections got to do with them?) and I'll mock everything that the Tories say.<br /><br />I've been in front of BBC News 24 for about ten of the last fourteen hours, and I can't wait for the next thirty days of it. I've got an awful lot of blogs subscribed to through Google Reader, a nice fancy reader program on my iPod Touch (plus access on my phone when I'm away from a wifi connection) plus an awful lot of books to read when I've run out of immediately topical stuff to read. <br /><br />No doubt within days I'll be sick of it all, but I won't be able to drag myself away from it. I'll still be shouting at the telly for much of the day, and come 6am on May 7th I'll still be hooked, and in desperate need of sleep. <br />Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-74391873764460333522010-02-27T22:50:00.001+00:002010-02-27T22:50:10.775+00:00"Fascinated by good, destroyed by evil, what is there to believe in?"CNN have a Chile desk, so all is well with the world. They even have some fancy graphics and dramatic music to play every so often, which makes it even better. They do actually have some rather fancy touch screen systems that the presenters use, which actually do seem useful. I remember Jeremy Vine had something in his "virtual studio" in the US elections eighteen months ago, but interaction seemed very pre scripted, and he'd be unable to do any manipulation of the visuals on the fly. <br /><br />Anyway, it's odd to watch different news sources every so often. The BBC are sticking to their regular weekend programming on News 24 (presumably because they have no correspondents on the scene yet), and because they can't really show hour upon hour of live footage of traffic cameras pointed out to sea from Hawaii, like CNN is doing. <br /><br />Anyway, sleepy time. <br />Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-58209640904472590292010-02-26T11:12:00.000+00:002010-02-26T11:24:56.687+00:00"Did you fall when we dragged her along? You will never know Thursday's gone."I've just watched a Jimmy Carr DVD. You may disapprove, but I saw it as a compromise since the initial suggestion was watching one of Ricky Gervais's stand up efforts. I smiled at roughly a third of the Jimmy Carr material, but For the rest of the time I couldn't help thinking that was how the Nazi party must have started.<br /><br />Anyway, I'm up North again. I'm unemployed, again. Similar to eighteen months ago, but I'd like to think this move was thought through slightly better than the last one. I don't regret moving down south. If I'd stayed up North back then I'm sure I'd have had no motivation to get a job, anything I might have got wouldn't have been anywhere near as good, and I wouldn't have anywhere near as many stories. Even if those stories mostly do involve seeing the political editor of Newsnight. Or Jenni Murray's horrible little dogs. <br /><br />I do have some vague intention of updating this a bit, though I know I've said that in the past. I quite like the idea of keeping some vague record of what I do with my life, though open for all to read. Anyway, the battery is going on my iPod, and due to a lack of any vague punchline, I'll leave it at this.<br /><br /><br />(I wrote that two days ago, but I then discovered that the program I used to use now doesn't work.) <br />Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-71027489624174146142009-07-22T22:46:00.001+01:002009-07-22T22:46:56.194+01:00Who is Virgilio Anderson?<p>I can't sleep. I'm restless and stressed with lots. Nothing particularly big, just lots of little things at work, and I'm wanting to move now. We've found something that seems ace, and I'm trying to get a viewing, hopefully they'll phone me back tomorrow. <br /><br />I checked Peter Mandelson's ticket earlier today. He was going to Runcorn. Is saying that a security risk? </p><br /><p>Posted with <a href='http://lifecast.sleepydog.net'>LifeCast</a></p><br />Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-1121951361410743862009-07-20T10:28:00.001+01:002009-07-20T10:28:51.105+01:00"I'm The Urban Spaceman..."<p>I'm watching a programme recorded from BBC4 interviewing the wives of many of the Apollo astronaunts. It's called Apollo Wives, but I think they've missed a trick by not calling it Mrs. Apollo. Surely Bonzos references wouldn't be lost on a BBC4 audience. </p><br /><p>Posted with <a href='http://lifecast.sleepydog.net'>LifeCast</a></p><br />Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-21869585901951031772009-04-30T00:07:00.001+01:002009-04-30T00:07:38.886+01:00"Right now I'm ready for the future"<p>Walking near Wall Street earlier today I saw someone sitting in a doorway looking sad with a cardboard sign and the following written on it:<br /><br /> "PLEASE HELP. WERE HUNGRY"<br /><br />These four words tell an awful lot about the failings of America. A matter of minutes from New York's financial centre, where (even now) billions of dollars are changing hands, simply to make more money, there is this sign. A centre of excess, where enough money would be made in a fraction of a second by a single banker to solve this problem once and for all. It almost brings me to tears. <br /><br />It should be "WAS HUNGRY".</p><br /><p>Posted with <a href='http://lifecast.sleepydog.net'>LifeCast</a></p><br />Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-48757193968799643542009-04-28T15:43:00.001+01:002009-04-28T15:43:54.300+01:00"A rooftop where we played. Just you, me, a clear view of the trees"<p>I've been wondering how long it'll be before people start moving down subway carriages away from people who have just sneezed. I give it another day. <br /><br />We went to see Les Paul last night. Despite being 93, he still plays two sets every Monday night in a jazz club on Broadway. We discovered he'd had to cancel the past couple of weeks because he'd been in hospital, so it made it seem all the more special. Given his age, and the fact that he's got arthritis in his left hand, his technical ability wasn't amazing, but that's not really the point. It's amazing to see someone who's been behind so many developments with the electric guitar, who can still play so many years after. Even if he does need to be lifted onto his seat on stage. <br /><br />Today is supposed to be the hottest day of the year, beating the previous record of... uh... Sunday. So we're going to Long Beach. I was hoping to see Mogwai tonight, but ticketmaster.com are bastards and won't consider the fact that someone with a credit card registered abroad might want to buy tickets. Oh, and "convenience charge"? Fuck off. </p><br /><p>Posted with <a href='http://lifecast.sleepydog.net'>LifeCast</a></p><br />Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-29147930852919469752009-04-27T15:13:00.001+01:002009-04-27T15:13:05.339+01:00"All the hurt I kept within, I blame myself for everything"<p><p>"The European Union has advised that you postpone all non essential travel to the United States and Mexico". Oops.<br /><br />Maybe it's just because we're watching Fox News, but that's not good. CBS doesn't seem too scared (they're giving out information about Supermarkets that I thought was common knowledge). <br /><br />The weather earlier was sponsored by Imodium. And they have adverts going into detail about (prescription) incontinence treatments. The British prudish nature is sometimes a bad thing, but before half past eight in the morning I can't help but miss it. <br /><br />I must sound like all I'm doing is watching telly and reading the paper. Far from it, but that's far more interesting to write about than "we did this, then we did that". <br /><br />Les Paul tonight. I can't wait. </p><br /><p><a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.7445144653,-73.9964752197'>Geolocate this post</a>.</p><br /></p><br /><p>Posted with <a href='http://lifecast.sleepydog.net'>LifeCast</a></p><br />Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-58745420725825705222009-04-27T01:31:00.001+01:002009-04-27T01:31:24.300+01:00"We speak only in memories"<p>I'm in Central Park, in the glorious sunshine. I suppose that makes a change from the usual things I write on this. <br /><br />--<br /><br />I think I may have tempted fate by saying that I needed a comfy bed. Arrival at the airport was fine, we had a perfectly fine taxi ride to the hotel, we checked in and then found the room only had one bed. We went down, assuming there had been a mixup, to then be told that was the only room they had available, so couldn't move us at all. So I slept on the floor. We were assured that we'd be okay for the next night, but when there's no other rooms available there's little you can really do. <br /><br />This morning, after flicking through the telly channels and discovering that nobody in this country has the slightest interest in formula one, we also discovered that there wasn't even a kettle in the room. Anyone who has met me for even five minutes knows that I'm an utter bastard of a morning before I've had coffee, so this wasn't the best start I could have hoped for. But a diner was found to supply us with copious amounts of coffee and pancakes, before deciding to spend the day in Central Park. Since we were both so tired, and the weather was so beautiful, it was decided this was a better plan than attemping to force interest in a museum of some kind. <br /><br />Plus I had the mountain that is the Sunday edition of the New York Times to devour. </p><br /><p>Posted with <a href='http://lifecast.sleepydog.net'>LifeCast</a></p><br />Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-44780008303855609152009-04-25T20:00:00.000+01:002009-04-27T01:30:57.164+01:00"I want to leave it all, just for a while, I'll be satellite news"<p>Without wanting to sound like a raging Communist, it does seem to me rather depressing that after going through security at Leeds Bradford Airport you emerge in the deepest corner of the Duty Free shop. Someone clearly made the decision that too many people were just walking past the disgusting face of international capitalism dressed in the shiney perfume boxes, and that people had to be forced to walk past the bottles of vodka at eight in the morning. Not only that but, instead of the usual "wait at gate" that used to display on the departure boards before your flight is called, you are now invited to "Relax & Shop". Instead of being a facility to assist you in getting from A to B, airports now appear to exist to take money from you.<br /><br />Perhaps it's always been like that. It's been so long since I've flown that, were I not sitting thousands of feet above the Atlantic Ocean as I type this, George Monbiot would be proud of me.<br /><br />I think if I ever lived in Amsterdam I'd never get anything done. Even away from the drugs and prostitution, I'd just want to spend all the time exploring the canals. I'd have to live just on a canal, and be able to step right from my house onto my boat with a small outboard motor. Not sure of a name for the boat. Probably something very witty that my brain can't think of at the moment.<br /><br />Anyway, I may update this a bit more on this holiday. I'm told the hotel has wifi so I may update with the goings on of my trip. All I want to do now is land, get the bloody green form into immigration and get to the hotel. By the time we get there I'll have been up for 24 hours, so I hope the bed is comfy. My back certainly needs it. </p><br /><p>Posted with <a href="http://lifecast.sleepydog.net/">LifeCast</a></p>Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-65439970779728380292009-04-01T11:32:00.002+01:002009-04-01T12:24:06.259+01:00"I am a lonely visitor, I came too late to cause a stir"<span style="font-family:arial;">After a worryingly long time without having read any books, I've just finished two in really quick succession. I finally got round to reading <a href="http://www.wherediditallgoright.com/BLOG/index.html">Andrew Collings</a>' rather excellent <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Did-All-Go-Right/dp/0091894360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238582704&sr=8-1"><span style="font-style: italic;">Where Did It All Go Right?</span></a> (mostly in the bath. But don't try and read very much into that), and just this morning I finished his colleague <a href="http://www.richardherring.com/">Richard Herrin</a>'s first volume of his Warming Up blog (<a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.gofasterstripe.com/cgi-bin/website.cgi?page=videofull&id=5104">Bye Bye Balham</a>), covering the first six months of entries.<br /><br />One could question the logic behind spending £10 on a book that I could read online. But books are better. And there are footnotes giving more detail that he felt he wasn't able to discuss at the time, but with the passage of five years he felt able to be more public about some events. Like the operation on his penis.<br /><br />It covers a fairly eventful time of his life. At the start he was in a fairly intense, fast moving relationship that he thought was perfect, he was moving into a new house partly so he could be closer to his girlfriend, then by the end when he'd moved in his relationship was over and, in his own words, "it meant my two main reasons for upping sticks were now no longer valid. I felt a bit displaced, and lonely".<br /><br />I'll have to wait until volume two to see if the similarities continue. Or perhaps I could just read the blog online. I won't get the footnotes though.<br /><br />Perhaps my life will continue as a mirror of Richard Herring's though. Perhaps our lives will continue in parallel, yet be different in subtle ways. Perhaps the current comedy stars of the day (Horne and Corden possibly. I should suggest this as an idea for them. They'll do any old rubbish) will make it into a film. Maybe it should be called <span style="font-style: italic;">The Life of Ian</span>.<br /><br /><br />I do realise that this entry is filled with far more just to amuse myself (and perhaps other obsessive Richard Herring fans. But I don't think any of them read this. I don't think anybody at all reads this actually) than usual. But I don't care. I'm mostly writing this to waste time until I can justify making lunch.<br /></span>Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-60262212273197476852009-02-22T23:42:00.003+00:002009-02-23T00:04:43.292+00:00"Take me in your arms again, lead me in my dreams again"<span style="font-family: arial;">I need a holiday. Sunday lates are an absolute nightmare. Why are people with the wrong tickets so argumentative on Sunday evenings?<br /><br />Adventure in a month or so. It'll either be really fun or just a bit shit.<br /></span>Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-86511334140273634022009-02-10T23:40:00.002+00:002009-02-11T00:07:04.980+00:00"You're going nowhere and you're going there fast"<p>I'm bored. Not short term boredom that's fixed by having a walk up the road to give a letter to the letting agents. And boredom probably isn't even the right word. I'm just sick of getting up, doing an eight hour shift then coming home, watching some telly then going to bed. Work in itself is, for the most part, good (apart from when I'm getting threatened by people then having to give statements to the British Transport Police), but the whole routine nature of my life is getting to me. I can rarely even go to gigs because I'm either working until 2130/2200 or I'm in work at 0500/0530 the next morning.<br /><br />I had a great spur of the moment trip to Birmingham the other week, but opportunities (and people who want to do last minute visits who live on the West Coast Main Line) are few and far between.<br /><br />And now I can't sleep. I'm doing two days of 0530 starts (plus a whole week next week, I think) and getting to sleep is impossible. I eventually get into it, but I always start with a couple of nights of three hours sleep, which makes me an utter bastard to deal with. Even moreso than normal. <br /><br />So I'm left writing self pitying blog posts whilst listening to Yes records.Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-91003618647912271442009-02-01T22:15:00.002+00:002009-02-01T22:17:32.381+00:00"A great many things keep happening..."<I>"A great many things keep happening. Some of them good, some of them bad."</I><br /><br />That seems like a fairly apt quote. I'm having thoughts about the future. By the future I actually mean from the end of September. Given that everything that brought me towards London has gone, will be leaving or was never there in the first place, there's little point in staying there for another year. Sure, it's an exciting place, but if two thirds of my income is going on rent then I can hardly take advantage of much of it. So I move elsewhere? But there are no jobs. So I go back to uni? Perhaps. It's a possibility, certainly. Perhaps I just try applying for lots of jobs in places that seem fun in May time and see what happens. If nothing comes up then I move home and keep trying.<br /><br />Lots of possibilities. No real direction. Just like before really. Things never change.Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-18873593754029212232008-12-14T01:27:00.001+00:002008-12-14T01:28:52.715+00:00Review of the year!1!!!!!oneeleven!!!1eleventy!!11!!<span style="font-family: arial;">Can I just have most of it back again please? Or at least the last six months of it? Thanks.<br /></span>Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-58372759762666522132008-11-08T17:06:00.002+00:002008-11-08T17:30:57.168+00:00"You might claim to have the facts, but the truth is true no mattter how you act"<span style="font-family: arial;">I've just been offered a job. Which is nice. No doubt I'll be utterly sick of the sight of trains after about two weeks though. And definitely people. But then again I'm sick of people already, and I doubt any job would change that.<br /><br />It's amazing how diluted the word "change" has become over these past few months. But perhaps it'll be good. I can't quite see how it'll be any worse.<br /><br />Now, what shall I do for a month?<br /></span>Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-79332114293838838182008-10-26T21:10:00.002+00:002008-10-26T21:48:08.559+00:00"Pacing down the street again, a briskly striding silhouette"<span style="font-family: arial;">"So how are you?"<br /><br />You don't care. None of you fucking do. You're only asking because you think I'll say "I'm fine". And I conform to the expectations. Because what's the point in doing otherwise? Where will answering with the truth get me? Other than being tarnished with the mental brush to go with the one marked "disappointment". None of you could give a shit about the answer. To tell you the truth, I don't give a shit how you are. We're only having this conversation because of the misfortune of common ancestry. We both know the conversation isn't going to go on much longer than two minutes before we both go off and say the exact same things to other people. Perhaps, to make things slightly different, someone else will join in this conversation so one of us will repeat the exact same things whilst the other is <span style="font-style: italic;">still standing there</span>. Perhaps that person may know who I am, so maybe they'll ask me how I am. And I can repeat the same old lies about how everything is okay.<br /></span>Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-17333042752983278182008-10-04T10:31:00.002+01:002008-10-04T12:04:32.958+01:00I feel like I'm in some kind of strange time warp.<span style="font-family: arial;">Peter Mandelson is back in the cabinet and OJ Simpson has been found guilty.<br /></span>Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-52646951965385204652008-09-15T21:24:00.002+01:002008-09-15T21:31:06.558+01:00From morning to night...<span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">From morning to night, I stayed out of sight,</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">Didn't recognise what I'd become.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">No more than alive, I'd barely survive;</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">In a word: overcome</span></blockquote><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Can I have some happy news please? Something going right for once? </span>Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-35720833062744694692008-08-25T17:28:00.001+01:002008-08-25T17:29:51.594+01:00I got bored...<span style="font-family: arial;">...so I made a new blog documenting my new found love of spam. I'll probably forget about it in two days time, but what can you do?<br /><br /><a href="http://spamismapsbackwards.blogspot.com/">http://spamismapsbackwards.blogspot.com/</a><br /></span>Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-71469766744589632762008-08-09T20:46:00.003+01:002008-08-09T21:11:44.144+01:00What is Roland Rivron for?<span style="font-family: arial;">I turned on my television earlier this evening to find some Saturday evening guff on (I think it was called <span style="font-style: italic;">Last Choir Standing</span> or something) and standing next to the formerly lovely Myleene Klass (I went off her when I saw her "interviewing" Boris Johnson when pretending to be Judy Finnigan the other day. I almost felt sorry for him with her vapid questioning on policy) was Roland Rivron. It's not that I dislike him. That would be easy. It's just that I can't quite work out why he's on television. He's certainly not <span style="font-style: italic;">bad</span> at presenting. And people must like him, because you don't get a Saturday night primetime slot if nobody likes you (unless you're Piers Morgan). But he's just instantly forgettable. He's instantly recognisable but nothing he's done has been in any way memorable. There's a vague memory of him being a team captain on an awful music version of A Question of Sport presented by Jamie Theakston, but that's only because I was somehow reminded of it the other day.<br /><br />I do wish that there was some kind of punchline to this, but there isn't.<br /><br /><br />I'm alone for the first time in a week. It's... weird. Just like everything really. Some things are amazing. Some are terrifying.<br /><br />Much has happened. And I have no energy to put any of it into words. <br /><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Rain is falling on you but you have the wherewithall </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> To pull on a raincoat, shielding you from all this cold </span></span>Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-70780915849784888102008-07-22T20:34:00.002+01:002008-07-22T20:45:04.950+01:00Reading lineup<span style="font-family: arial;">Well, I finished <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bit-Blur-Alex-James/dp/0349119937/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216755300&sr=8-1">Bit of a Blur by Alex James</a> the other day and it was rather fantastic. His writing style takes a bit of getting used to. I mean no offence to him, but his sentences are fairly childlike in structure, often having paragraphs of "I did this. Then I did that." No doubt like my own occasional writing can be, I suppose.<br /><br />But it's very interesting (unlike my own). If you're expecting an <span style="font-style: italic;">exposé</span> of who did what to whom during the 1990s or what was the real reason behind various public events then you'll no doubt be disappointed, but it's certainly a fascinating insight into his life. He tells you what he wants to tell you and no more, but in a captivating way.<br /><br />I need to finish reading <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Down-Paris-London-Essential-Penguin/dp/0140282564/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216755694&sr=1-1">Down And Out In Paris And London by George Orwell</a> which I half read a few months ago and never got round to finishing. The same with <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dice-Man-Luke-Rhinehart/dp/0006513905/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216755758&sr=1-1">The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart</a> although I'll probably start that again because it's been so long since I started reading it.<br /><br />After that, who knows?<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Yes, I do realise I have just written about 200 words for no other reason than a rather awful joke that no doubt nobody will notice. But it's better than a 1500 word ramble about how shit things are isn't it? </span><br /></span>Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-1845655161766510812008-06-16T14:12:00.004+01:002008-06-16T14:52:18.319+01:00"Then we meet as satellites that are grounded by the weight of the Earth"<span style="font-family: arial;">An update to fill up part of the day.<br /><br />I need to go to Sainsbury's. I have no bread and I'm running out of juice. And I need a walk. And a paper. It's Monday, and hopefully Charlie Brooker will be back. I don't want to check the website because if he's not then my motivation levels might sink below the threshold of actually wanting to go out.<br /><br />Yesterday was fun. I went to the <a href="http://www.iwm.org.uk/">Imperial War Museum</a> with Charleh (the 30 minute film about <a href="http://london.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.1425">crimes against humanity</a> is particularly thought provoking), then we wandered around lots. Then found Green Park (they have deck chairs!) and sat in the shade for a bit before she had to go.<br /><br />Last week nothing much happened. Monday we went to the Natural History Museum, then watched V For Vendetta and more Coupling at my house.<br /><br />Stuff that's happening? I'm seeing a couple of TV programme recordings this week in London (Edinburgh And Beyond for Paramount Comedy, I believe. I probably should know, but I just saw Russell Howard's face and clicked on it) which I'm hoping will be fun. Then I'm going to a barbecue on Saturday. Then next week is Radiohead and my barbecue.<br /><br />I'll no doubt make a post in a couple of days reiterating much of that simply to fill up time, but what can you do? This is probably the most boring thing I've ever written. And that's even taking into account my GCSE geography project.<br /><br />It's highly annoying that when I have nothing to do my attention span drops massively.<br /><br />Now I'm going to write a shopping list.<br /></span>Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-16013954671617200012008-06-09T10:04:00.003+01:002008-06-09T10:15:05.254+01:00In contrast to the previous epic...<span style="font-family: arial;">Robert Kubica won! In the Formula 1 race in Canada yesterday. He's had it coming for a long time. He's consistent, and fast. Consistency is the key. This is his first victory this season, but he's been consistently good.<br /><br />I was joking with Mikey before about it and he said I should have put some money on Kubica to win. I really should have done! But still.<br /><br />Sweden to win Euro 2008!<br /><br />Anyway, yeah. That's it for the moment.<br /></span>Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868223416831842913.post-62682307913518359842008-06-05T15:00:00.002+01:002008-06-06T17:15:13.100+01:00"Moments follow one another without belonging"I've been trying to write something about the past week for... well, a week. Alright, I admit it. I've been wanting to use this title ever since it became stuck in my head the other day. There are worse reasons for writing blog posts though, I'm sure.<br /><br />One disadvantage of not using Livejournal anymore is that I can't write über elitist filtered friends only group posts so that only people not directly involved can read what I have to say. Having said that, I only ever did it once on my Livejournal. And I doubt I'd go to all the effort of making a friends group now. But that's not the point. I'm not sure what the point is, but that's certainly not it.<br /><br />Fuck. That sounds like things are bad doesn't it? No. The complete opposite. Things are very good. The past ten days or so have been absolutely fantastic. Sunday the 25th I went to Cardiff to see Emma. Came back Monday evening in the rain. Wednesday was the Maxïmo Park gig. I arrived at the venue at 1pm to meet Dana who had come over from Germany. When faced with six hours of queueing (I hate that word. Especially when the spell checker isn't working, because I lose track of what vowels should be where), what better thing to do than to crack open the vodka and coke? It was fantastic fun. Meeting new people, seeing old people, being given free fire from XFM, finding my new favourite person in the entire world, seeing some great bands, realising how fantastic Maxïmo Park are, nearly missing my last tube home, realising I should find out when my last tubes home are.<br /><br />Thursday daytime was spent mostly sleeping (and collecting the Monopoly board that I ordered for the next night's fun), and then meeting James and Olli who were dumping stuff off at my house before a number of tube challenges. That evening there were plans for a Random 15 challenge. This particular challenge involved fifteen stations being secretly picked from the proverbial hat (computers have made hats all but irrelevant. It's quite unfortunate), the first one being announced in advance (because we all need to know where to meet up), the remainder being revealed when the clocks start and then we set off to visit them all in any order. The route had to be planned against the clock, which is different to most other of the challenges.<br /><br />We were battling against some quite big problems on the network that night (not to mention hunger!) so we ended up abandoning half way through and going to McDonalds (although not before taking photos of us by the TARDIS that was there) then meeting everyone at the pub just before throwing out time. Very few groups finished, and we were all hoping that we were using up all our bad luck before the main challenge the next day.<br /><br />The main challenge was the annual zone 1 challenge that myself, James and Matt did for the first time last year. This year Olli came along with us and Matt went with another guy. After meeting outside Oxford Circus at midday, King's Cross was drawn as this year's starting station so we made our way there furiously planning a route (well, James was. He'd planned it all without me noticing!) for a 1pm start.<br /><br />Compared to last year we didn't have many problems at all. Certainly nothing like a ten minute wait at Liverpool Street anyway. Towards the end we had some minor problems (a lack of Hammersmith & City trains at Aldgate East) but we managed to fix them with our brilliant logic skills. A lack of ideal trains at the last minute meant we were one minute slower than last year, but I think I probably enjoyed this year more. Last year was good because it was the unknown, but we paced ourselves far better this year so we weren't so utterly exhausted after the first run.<br /><br />We didn't stay for very long at the pub afterwards (just enough time to enjoy the nicest bottle of cider I've had for a long time) then we went to meet Charleh at Leicester Square, meet up with Laura then head back to mine for the inaugural <span style="font-weight: bold;">Blood Red Shoes forum Monopoly tournament ®</span> (for once, not a cover story for anything). After severely cocking up the journey back to Uxbridge (entirely my fault, which I'm very sorry about) we went to buy food and alcohol. Arriving at my house both were consumed for a few hours and we discussed <span style="font-style: italic;">Life, The Universe and Everything</span> (well, Charleh and I did) then I took her back to the station because she had work the next day and when I returned (twenty minutes early) the battle commenced. As expected, I was first to become bankrupt. I think Olli won in the end, but I can't be sure. It was fun anyway, and that's what matters.<br /><br />Olli had to leave earlier on Saturday so I took him to the station, then James, Laura and I had another Brie and Bacon sandwich from the café in Uxbridge station and Laura got another chocolate cookie sundae thing after we'd bought one the previous night and left it in my fridge. I bid them farewell and returned to tidy up.<br /><br />Yesterday I was having some windows replaced which meant that I had to be up at 7:30am. Normally that would be fine but annoyingly Tuesday night marked the finale of the Primary season leading up to the US election. The result has been inevitable (yet close) for a few months now, but I'd have liked to have stayed up to watch the final speeches. Especially as Hillary Clinton was still apparently introduced as "The next president of the United States". Despite Obama having passed the all important mark of 50% of deligates.<br /><br />Still, I woke up to let the window people in and went back to sleep for another hour. I met Charleh at about midday and we spent the afternoon mostly watching Coupling (which she, scandalously, had never seen before) then we went off to North Greenwich to meet James, Katy, Phil and his friend where we saw Avril Lavigne.<br /><br />Despite being much more of a "pop" concert than last time I saw her (last time I saw her it was her, two guitarists, a bass player and a drummer wheras this time she had eight dancers, choreographed dance moves and huge screens), it was still brilliant fun. There were a number of "what the hell?" moments, particularly when everyone went off stage whilst the video played a montage of her promo videos whilst Avril's cover of a Joan Jett track played over the PA, but it was still great fun.<br /><br /><br />Apologies for how long this is. I'll give a lolipop to any who has read it all.<br /><br />Oh, and I do wish there was some deliberate irony in me starting an entry saying "I don't like writing long blog posts describing what I've done with people who read said blog" and then following it up with a thousand words of doing exactly that. But it's not. That's just what came out of my fingers. And I really hate editing myself.Jackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087425113165750888noreply@blogger.com1