Thoughts of a Dying Atheist

First off, was on the way back from the Sunday service this mornin' on the metro, & had the delight of sitting facing a mother of about 20, with a lil girl in a pushchair. As soon as she got on the train, she was effin' 'n' blindin', so first impressions not so good eh. But then she grabs her kid out of the pushchair & literally chucks her a fair distance onto the opposite seat, muttering something or other. The girl landed quite painfully, & starts crying, for which she got a "Shut the fuck up.". The hell is that about? Sigh, the kid was probably a mistake. I reckon people should have to apply to Venus for gonads or summut. Spose it'd be a bit ridiculous like in Demolition Man though... ah well, life's just unfair.

Anyway, lookin' back, Scotland was ossum & paintballing has to be repeated as much as is humanly & financially possible. Got a bit too much work so far, along with too many choir commitments. Singing the usual tuesday, thursday, friday & twice on sunday, plus some random saturday stuff recently. Plus we just recorded a new CD - with Christmas stuff on, that'll be out come end of November. Just got our own copies of the CD we recorded in spring - tis quite kewl - we recorded 3 French masses. Linky to the first track on the CD - has a mix of awesome loud organ & choral bits plus some quieter bits. I'm singin' bass - first voices you hear XD Just click Download File near the top if you fancy a listen.

The kids are on half term this week, so got a break from choir for a bit - leaving me time to host Mr. T himself. We're off to see Newcastle play Charlton at St. James' Park on saturday. Then JiMmEiSt0r the weekend after that, aaand got a couple tickets to see Muse here in Newcastle on the 19th November - never seem 'em live before, so can't wait XD They were sold out by the time I realised they were coming, but thanks to the copious supplies of overpriced eBay tickets, *sigh* I'm goin'.

Well that's about it for now - except for a Happy Birthday for Villimach ;)

Eat shellfish.

Santa's coming, have you been good?

At last, I have a job! Reed deigned to call me up after an all nighter with Villi, saying work for us tomorrow kthxbye. I was not impressed - you shoulda heard me on the phone with them, I was all like "You're damned lucky I need the money, otherwise I would have to come over there and set you up the bomb." So anyway, I started work on Tuesday - at Essex County Council, for whom I worked in my gap year, twice. I'm in the 'Disclosure' department, which mainly processes Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) forms - criminal record checks for teachers & the like, for whichever employers want them done basically. 'Tis just boring office stuff, but you get to see someone's criminal record when they've applied for a job, which can be quite interesting... Keeps me busy anyhow, hopefully it'll last me for a few weeks before they catch up with their workload. Plus it's gotten me reading again, thank the Lord.

... By the way, that site has now been banned from some European Google search results, due to the amount of 'unjustified' hate in it, & there's more of an opposition to it. Whatever you do don't sign the petition against it, more people should be able to stumble onto an entertaining read like this - have a look if you haven't already followed Jim's link to it. I found an essay on it about computer games, and how they are the work of the devil. I was just gonna link it, but having reading it, Ima have to write something about it.

Here's the linky anyway. It's obviously a bit old, as it refers to the original Quake as a 'recent offering'.

"In this article, I'm trying to focus on how Satan uses these games to help increase the population of Hell ... Doom, by Id Software, is considered by many to be the greatest game of all time. Its graphics and eerie sounds and music are probably the creepiest on the market. But why are there so many satanic symbols found in the game??"

Hmm... maybe because the whole game is about fighting demons from hell? Come back to me on that one.

"When exiting the shareware version of the game, you will see a screen with more info about what is in the full registered version. Here's what a section of it says:

"… Sure, don't order DOOM. Sit back with your milk and cookies and let the universe go to Hell. Don't face the onslaught of demons and spectres that await you on The Shores of Hell. Avoid the terrifying confrontations with cacodemons and lost souls that infest Inferno.

Or, act like a man! Slap a few shells into your shotgun and let's kick some demonic butt. Order the entire DOOM trilogy now! After all, you'll probably end up in Hell eventually. Shouldn't you know your way around before you make the extended visit? …"

This is a good example of how Satan, working behind the curtains, likes to make himself subtle and put into the ranks of Santa (Satan?) Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy."


Doom... Tooth Fairy... Doom... Tooth Fairy... I know there's a link in there somewhere... just give me a minute...

Sigh.

He waffles on about the many pentagrams in Doom, and talks of some other games, including Afterlife, which has some amusing aspects. More are talked about on the Christian site, but my favourite is that if you run out of money, The Four Surfers of the Apocalypso come and own you. Moving on, apparently Nine Inch Nails made the instrumental soundtrack for Quake - something I didn't know. He goes on to bash NIN a bit, quoting some lyrics, and then:

"Trent Reznor also has an instrumental only song called "Help me i am in Hell". Seeing the path he's chosen, it might not be too long before the song title becomes a reality for him!! Hopefully he will repent and get saved before it is too late for him."

Well, sell my soul and call me Sarah Ipstown from Tasmania, I do believe he may just see the light after reading one of your essays, Andrew. Next up is a quote including a Q&A from the Quake instruction manual.

"Q: Are you guys Satanists?

A: No.

Yet again, they treat the whole thing as a joke..."

A joke? Well now, they were hardly going to admit it with people like you about were they? This way, they get to keep their jobs & can carry on making satanically influenced games. Everybody wins.

He goes on to knock Duke Nukem, Warcraft and Diablo. He's now crossed the line.

Nearly every game he mentions involves fighting the minions of hell, now surely that's not such a bad thing? I would have thought that a mouthful of lead is more effective than praying that the ugly evil thing in front of you begs for forgiveness from God. Makes for a better game too - last time I checked, EA's Bible Basher division wasn't doing so well. Surely there's nothing wrong with sticking some pentagram graffiti along the way, probably more popular with the demons than a "Wot no blueberry muffins" Chad. Now, the diehard Christian like Andrew, would probably contest this by saying that just putting these symbols into a commercial game, makes the gamer accustomed to them.

"Satan is getting everyone prepared for his worship, and these games are a great way for him to do that. The games can be fun, but in order to play the game you must look at these symbols. And as people look at them more, they consider them usual, and it won't be long before they get interested in occult activities."

Don't you think that's taking a bit too far? I'm willing to bet that there are more people worshipping Satan as a result of opinions like these, than the games themselves. Plus, anyone who's that impressionable must have something wrong with them anyway. Also, this site has many a piccy link to the pentagrams, so surely he'd just be making more people accustomed to seeing them? Meh, whatever.

Rant over. In other news, Switchfoot got postponed / cancelled *sniff*, so knowing my luck I'll probs be in Newcastle for when they reschedule their Europe tour.

For all you music lovers out there, I shall leave you with this:

"Nowadays, more people are worshipping their friends or their favorite music stars, and are calling themselves gods and goddesses. It won't be long before they all turn their attention on the Antichrist, and later, gnash and wail their teeth (Matthew 13:42) in the lake of fire (Revelations 20:15)."

Eat fruit. Own demons.

*Insert suitable catchy comeback title here*

Bet this caught you all by surprise. Anyway, umm, just a quickie really, coz I feel like it, & have spent yet another night at the computer getting less & less sleepy, until now, when I'm feeling wide awake... sigh. Ah first off - I'd just like to make it clear that I can't be arsed to relocate all my old pics. I still have them somewhere, so if I ever feel the need, I can, but not now.

Well, I've just watched a rather awesome 15min Zombie movie. You should ALL watch it. A low budget, highly amusing, suitably disgusting, Peter Jackson-esque film. In fact, it's produced or whatever by Peter Jackson's own lil company. Or big company by now, probs. Linky - now go! All of you! There's one catch, I'm afraid - you have to download a program called Steam in order to view it, but you shouldn't have to subscribe to / download anything else as far as I can remember, so if you have the connection, time & patience, do it ;) Now.

In other news, I'm quitting WoW, at last. Too was eating much it up time. My last subscribed day is tomorrow *sniff*. No fear though, I shall game on. Would rather play some more light hearted games I can pick up & stop whenever I like. Might stick up some nostalgic pics sometime :P

Now erm... spose I'm kinda meant to bridge the gap since my last blog, but err, maybe not. Everything's been fine, first year's gone pretty smoothly... umm yeah. On another note, I have Switchfoot tickets!!! Woo. Except no one to come with me *sob* Damn all ye who cannot make it - ye know who ye are, may ye burn in hell! So yeah, anyone who fancies coming, (for free), please apply here :P

Eat at Dish.

Nice, Cannes, Monaco, Le Moineau et Le Chiot

Right. Where do I start? First of all, my tan is fading rapidly, since it's currently raining & lightninging here in sunny England. Methinks this could be a long blog, and there are so many more piccies I wanted to put up, so mebbe I'll stick 'em on Imagestation soometime - will let ya know once I have done. I took around 250 pics while I was in France, wanted to post 27, but have now cut the number down to a slightly healthier 9.

Had a rather good time over in Nice (desperately searches for synonyms for nice) - I was greeted by brilliant sunshine, and a drive along the 'Promenade des Anglais' on the way to my host's house. The couple I was staying with was pretty nice (argh!) - they were in fact grandparents, so they did indeed have children & the family came over every now 'n' then for a meal. I soon found out though, that (not as I had requested) I was not the only student staying with them - it seems M. & Mme. Kohl get quite a few students from the language school in, even some teachers from school groups. So when I arrived there were already 2 german girls there, followed a week later by some Austrian teachers.

Laurence, the lady of the house, yes, that's Laurence, always spoke really slowly, loudly and patronizingly. But I soon discovered that was how she spoke to everyone, y compris les Francais, which got a little annoying, but hey. Bernard, the man of the house, was quite kewl - think he was an economics lecturer at Nice uni. Both their english accents were absolutely appalling:P Not that they spoke much english to me at all. They live in a rather schexy part of Nice - called Cimiez. It was a kinda appartment type thang, but in a huge house - about 3-4 families lived there methinks. They had a full 3 floors - mostly open plan, if that's the right way of sayin' it. And 1 floor was entirely for the students! We had our own lounge with TV, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and our own room. Which was obviously kewl, we had our own door as well, could come & go as we pleased. But it did mean that we weren't really involved with the family too much, apart from dinner.

Anyway, here are the first couple o' pics:

The 'Baie des Anges' - so-called possibly due to the infrequent presence of angel sharks, and alongside - the 'Promenade des Anglais' - so-called coz some english dude gave the commuters of 19th Century Nice some shelter along the promenade, during their uber-cold winter.


Here's the view from just about the same place, but in the opposite direction - and you can see Sean Connery's house! Apparently it's to the right of the crane and down a bit:P

So... it was quite a long walk into school every day - about 30mins each way. Had lessons in the mornin', then free to roam about & chill in the afternoon & evenin'. The school, Alpha B (apparently the best language school in Nice), did offer afternoon lessons in addition, and also the possibility of individual tutoring in the afternoon, but I obviously had financial limitations, & those woulda cost quite a bit more.

On the first day, all n00bs got tested - with about 80 multiple choice questions, a letter to write & an oral. The multiple choice starts off with stuff like 'Je suis 19ans' or 'J'ai 19ans'. It then gets harder & harder - I was ok without any problems til about Q60, then things really got tough, but I got a few right. I managed to stick in as many subjunctives & tenses as poss for the letter, thanks to AS jump-through-hoops exams, and the oral went pretty well. After that, they place you in a class - 6 to choose from: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2 where A1 is beginner & C2 is post-university (which hardly ever exists). I got placed in B2, which was what I was aiming for:)

Pupils were from a wide range of countries - from the UK to Russia, and quite a few places in between, although mostly Germans & Swiss. We did mostly grammar, with the odd debate, which was a good revision, especially since I hadn't done french for quite a while, what with not taking my A-levels:P But after a little while, it was a bit slow. There were oldies in the class as well - mostly people who had done it at school or uni, then lost it & wanted to pick it up again. Some of them knew quite a few words that I didn't, but things were still slow, & the teacher noticed, so suggested that I move up a class:) so after a week & a half I tried C1. We discussed things a lot more, and did no grammar at all unless there was a problem. On the second day, we went to the Modern Art Museum of Nice, and discussed the art a little - nothing too heavy, just knowing all the vocab, describing our fave works n stuff. There were some pretty kewl paintings - one set by this American dude who painted things like the Garden of Eden, but then camouflaged them with images of a Shell petrol pump or somethin' like that. There were some less interesting works, such as a small, cordoned-off room with a load of bright blue powder on the floor. That was it. Sigh. Anyway, so the new class was kewl, not too hard & we watched french films n stuff, did presentations, more debates & even our own murder mystery in french! I was one of the detectives:P

The school organised visits every week to someplace or other - the first was to a Greek style house in Beaulieu - a couple of train stops along the coast towards Italy, which wasn't bad - then we walked back to the train stop in between, then got the train back to Nice. But the walk was très agréable - took many a photo, my favourite of which is this one right here:

Villefranche-sur-Mer

Also on the walk back along the coast, we saw the stage type thing being built for Justin Timberlake & Cameron Diaz's wedding, which was scheduled for the week after I believe.

Another outing was to Cannes - where they have the Film Festival, and coincidentally, just before it happened. We saw all the marquees, posters & the 'Palais des Festivals' being prepared.

The 'Palais des Festivals' - where the stars ascend the stairs to watch filmz.

I also went to Cannes with the Family on the opening day of the Film Festival, but only in the evening after dinner, and I didn't get to see much, but there were limos a plenty driving around & loadsa people dressed up trying to get picked by film directors 'n' stuff:P

Miss Stone's handprints, one set of many along the pavement by the Palais.

Also managed to get to Monaco, where there's no income tax apparently, but VAT is 80%!!! I suspect most people in that smallest of countries buy their groceries in Nice:P Saw the preparations for the Grand Prix there - 'tis an awesome track - winding around the streets of the city:D

Mika Hakkinen lives in the right half of the building - just opposite the Palace of Monaco, and not far from the racetrack, as you might imagine.

One of the guys in my second class was an english guy called Ben, who lives in Ireland, same age as me - hung out with him quite a bit, and we actually managed to speak french about half the time:P But we were sittin' in the 'Place Massena' - a pedestrian square type thing, near the beach, having our lunch one day, chattin' away, when suddenly I feel a lil tweak at my fingertips. I look down, and there's a frickin' sparrow eating from my hand! I was eating some brioche type stuff, and he just thought he'd come along & help himself. Never seen anything like it before. Anyway, it flew away, but came back to eat from Ben's hand, and I managed to get out the camera just in time:D

t3h 1337 spadg3r

And now a couple of random pics that I just had to stick in:

A Pacman Ghost mosaic!!111!11ein!!einein!!!11! - On the streets of Nice


One of the tiny lil ones in the puppy shop just 'round the corner from the school - excuse my reflection:P

Anyway, had an awesome time - went to the beach quite a bit, swam a couple of times, despite it being rather cold. Ok, very cold, but hey, I did it. When I got back off my easyJet plane at Stansted I could tell I was back in England again:P But I'll be back in the sun mid-July :D it's still in the final stages of organisation, but should be good to go very soon. Hope this is not too long:P and yeah umm... sorry for the delay:P

Mange fruit.

Nice chez les Kohls

Hey y'all. Have been meaning to blog for ages now, think it's about time, since I'll be leaving the country very soon. First piece of (old) news: I'm now blogging on ma new 2Mb connection! :D w00t! It's all good.

Well, finished the job two weeks ago, got some more spending money. Not the way I'd want to spend too much more than a month. Especially since I ended up doing my supervisor's job as well, since he was on holiday & then off sick, so pretty busy. But that meant that any mail that came in, even if it had 'Strictly Private & Confidential' on it, if it wasn't properly addressed, then I had to open it to see what it was all about & where it was meant for. Suffice to say there are a few things that you probably didn't expect your parents taxes were going towards ;) ;)

On a more innocent note, in the time I was workin' in the County Hall post room (or one of them), the stamping machine got through about £10k worth of postage. So that's more than £2,500 a week - in the smallest post room in the building. Pft, waste of money, sending letters out to parents & crap, they should just not send anything for a week or two & invest the money in my gap year instead.

Anyway, that's all over, but I'll most probably be going back to Reed for some more work after I get back from France, since they seemed pretty good & give loadsa bonuses on top of the hourly rate. And plus the girls who work there are rather nice:P

My parents have been away this last week - up north lookin' at areas & houses. Yep, our house is on the market & we've already had a few lookers. The rents have always wanted to move up north once they'd both retired, & I'm now coincidentally going to Newcastle. So they'll be not too close - not in Newcastle, but probably close enough to send washing to every now & then:P Gonna miss this house though :( lived here my whole life. They'll probs end up getting a bungalow, since my dad's knees aren't so good, and are not likely to improve too much, even after the recent op.

Have been pretty darned busy the last week or so. I'm leaving for Nice this Sunday morning, and my dad had told me that my travel insurance was sorted. My mum knew better - to phone them up just to check, and - lo & behold, it hadn't been paid for. As you can imagine, travel & medical insurance for me takes a little longer to acquire & often costs more. So, being home alone, I had to send off a cheque myself & only just got the reply through the post yesterday. On top of that, I have my scuba diving expedition to organise. I'm on the verge of booking it - just gotta send off a form or two. I had to have a medical done by my GP, to say I was ok to dive - guess how much that costs? Nope it's not free, coz it's a holiday, so the NHS make you pay. An exorbitant one hundred and thirty two pounds! Just for a quick look in my ears & a couple of signatures. Sigh, nm, can't complain - I'll be going to Roatan - an island off Honduras (near Mexico). But more about that another time methinks:)

So now I've just gotta pack for France - will be away for 4 weeks: back mid-May. And I just got a lil leaving present from Prill :) A mini photo album thingy with pics of you guys in :D So I will forget you not. I'll be staying with a french couple out there - best way to do it I reckon. Then I'll be going into a language school in Nice every weekday. Am lookin' forward to it, just a little daunted at the prospect of being chucked in the deep end:P

Anyway, dunno what connection I'm gonna have access to out there, so if I post, then I post, we'll see:)

Eat more fruit.

Horse kills chicken at last

A week's work finished:) And god am I knackered. These past few months I've just been bumming around, and now suddenly I'm on my feet all the time. They ache big time. I have a 15 minute walk in, then I'm walkin' around delivering & picking up all day, then a 15 minute walk back, surprisingly enough:P But yeah, anyway, I'm damned glad I've found an industrial estate where I can park for free - otherwise it costs nearly £5 a day. That'd be £100 by the time I've finished working in Chelmsford. Oh and for those of you that are / were confused, it's just a temporary position - there's nothin' gonna stop me going to Nice in April :D

My hours are 8am - 4:30pm, so I get up at 6ish, & have breakfast nice 'n early. Which means that by the time I'm walkin' in, I'm starvin' :P and there's a bakery type place on the way in, that does £1 bacon baps ... Mmm... damn I'm so tempted... but I have resisted so far:P It's not like I'm dieting or anything... heh obviously, am just trying not to waste money on food if I can possibly help it.

I realised half way through my first day, that I'd been to the Chelmsford ECC before - a group of us from school went & played some random music in the foyer a few years back for some unknown reason:P Ooh - I have my own security pass :D with access to everywhere since I go 'round everywhere delivering 'n stuff. 'Tis only a temporary one obviously, but yuh still - makes me feel important:P lol. Or not. Ooh if ever anyone wants to get into the County Council system, then the guy opposite me leaves his username & password on a post-it stuck to his keyboard... so yuh, hardly any 1337 madskillz required there.

There's a guy working in one of the other post rooms that has Down's syndrome, and he's unfortunately called Timmy. Although luckily I've heard no one pick up on the fact. He comes round to our post room dropping stuff off etc. - apparently he's been working at Essex County Council for 16-17 years now. My boss, or 'Post Co-ordinator', said it was coz it was a 'big thing' employing people like that back then. He was in a post room with quite a lot of people to begin with, all of whom looked after him. Then things changed & moved around, & he got placed in a smaller room, and now they think that he can't handle the job. I mean, he seems to manage fine, it's just he doesn't do things that efficiently. Which means that people get annoyed with him. They don't shout at him or anything, they just talk about him behind his back. I don't like some of the things the two guys in my office say, but meh, I can't really do anything about it. They don't say horrible things, but it's pretty damn obvious they don't want him working there. Those are the two permanent guys & then there's a nicer part-time bloke who works a few hours a day. I mean they're all a good laugh, just those two can sometimes be a bit... bitter? Something like that. But I just nod & say 'Yeah...' :\ Anyway, forgive my ignorance, but to be honest, Timmy's a bit more 'with it' than I expected. I've never known or spoken to someone with Down's syndrome. But yeah he's nice. He comes up & said 'How's things?' & shakes my hand every now & then. I dunno what it is, but I feel relaxed whenever he comes in, and a kinda warmth almost. Yeah I spose some of it's sympathy & whatever, I dunno... probs coz I know he isn't someone who's gonna come in & start talking about the West Ham game last night:P

Heh, and these two guys were talking about their sons - they're both 50s ish. One of them basically said - that he couldn't watch the footy last night, coz his son & girlfriend turned up & announced that they were now engaged... lol well ok, it wasn't said just like that - he was obviously pleased & happy for them & was just messin' around a bit. Lol but still, he is a little football obsessed.

Ah yes - I had forgotten it was Red Nose Day yesterday, until I saw people wearing them & other red items. Lol the best bit's seeing people getting stressed & annoyed when they're wearing a red wig or somethin'. Ooh but on the 2nd floor there was a raffle for a load of easter eggs! I was busy at the time, so I thought, right, I'll come back & get a ticket on my next round... and guess what? Yep... all gone :'(

If you ever begin to wonder where your precious taxes will be going in future - I can give you a clue: Essex County Council are paying £18,500 for a sculpture. Not sure where it's planned for, and I'm not sure exactly where the money's come from - it's a special fund of some sort. But wherever it's come from, it still makes me wonder what else it could be spent on... I mean sure, it's nice to have art around the place, and yeah - the kind of things they're looking at are fairly big, so sculptors would have to spend a fair chunk of time on them, and may well be worth the money for some people, just not me I don't think. Especially with some of the just-about-working-but-very-temperamental-and-out-of-date machinery we have in the post room:P

Hmm... I'm not sure it's a good thing me working in Chelmsford town centre. On my first day I nearly bought 2 DVDs in the High Chelmer HMV, but decided to restrain myself, though very tempted. Need to save for the gap year. Fortunately, the new parking is not only free & keeps me fit (ugh), the route also doesn't go past the shops, so yeah, hopefully I'll only go if I know there's something I need.

Went for a full body massage today :D yep, finally, I've had my way - you may remember I got refused at Center Parcs. But yuh, me mam had a free gym pass etc. for her posh london gym, so I went & gymmed, swam, steamed & then had a massage in the afternoon :D It was an oriental gal / lady, and hell she was good. I mean sure, it's her job, but at times I could have sworn she wasn't using her hands, more like a special hi-tech massaging machine or somethin' :P Anyway, 'twas nice 'n relaxing. She did ma back, neck, legs, *turns over*, legs, feet (oooh yeah that felt good), stomach, shoulders, & scalp. Lol dammit why do I still have to be ticklish. :P I didn't giggle or anything, but I had to think 'It's relaxing dammit, not ticklish' a few times:P Oh, and yeah - Massage --> Ma-sah-gi --> (Chinese Translation) Horse kills chicken :P Apologies.

For those of you who don't know & also for those of you who should be jealous: BT are upgrading their broadband service to 2Mb for free! It depends on the area etc, so we might not get it quite that fast, but fingers crossed... We're on 512k at the moment, but mmm... just think... that'd be awesome:D And I have some good news to proclaim: Jim has proposed to me :D:D:D Uh huh. I think he only wants me for my broadband, but hey, I'm not complaining. Heh and apparently he has plans for his Ka, but I'll leave him to tell you about that:P

Ooh - have forgotten to stick this in my last blog or two. Go here if you haven't already, and even if you have, go there again... now! Go have a listen to the samples & if you like 'em, then buy it dudes. I have my copy :D 'tis all crackin' stuff. And, all the money goes to Macmillan Cancer Relief - which I'm obviously very happy about endorsing. Except for the ugly elven lady on the front page. Dude, you can't have ugly elves anyway. It's just wrong. But apart from that - go buy it! :D 'Tis only £6 :)

Eat fruit.

Postman Jimmy

I have a job! w00t! Uh huh, I've finally gotten up off my arse - went to some job agencies in Chelmsford on Wednesday of last week, since the Braintree Job Centre hadn't found me anything yet. First one had nothing, the second - Reed - told me to come back 2 days later for an appointment, to register. So went back on Friday, gave details & took a few tests - there was a data entry one, just seeing how fast you can input stuff on a computer, then there were Microsoft Word & Excel tests as well. Apparently I was fast & accurate, and didn't do too shabbily on the Microsoft tests. Comes with spending too much time at the computer no doubt.

So yeah, they said they had a job for me & I could start on Monday, so I've just got back from a day's work:P And I'm knackered. It's just a pretty basic job at Essex County Council in Chelmsford - in the post room. So yeah I help sort out & deliver internal & external mail n stuff. Won't go into boring details, but they have some awesome machines in there (well, as awesome as you can get in a post room...) one just whizzes loads of new letters through & stamps them, & the other, you put a ream of new A4 letters in, and it automatically folds them & envelopes them. Yes, ok, they're awesomely crap & boring, but hey, must save a hellova lot of time & no doubt have decreased post room worker suicide rates.

I'm workin' til just before the kr3w bash at the beginning of April, then I'll have a week or so to get ready before I jet off to Nice:D So, unlike Will P, as I'm ever so organised, I'll definitely be there :D

Ah yes - my heart doc has now said I can get on with my gap year & book up my scuba diving:D I just have to tell the organisation what health problems I've had, & I should be fine, so fingers crossed... So I'll be booking that up soon, am gonna try & get my PADI before I go abroad though, so that there'll be less learning & more doing out there. I won't be going to Malaysia after all, for fairly obvious reasons - so there's a choice of the Phillipines or Honduras (Caribbean). So yeah - tell me where you think I should go if ya like, I'm still not sure - could practise my Spanish in Honduras though:P

Unfortunately I've been a lil ill recently, and not just coz of Jim's terrible driving that night, I've been coughin', sniffin' & night sweatin', which wasn't too reassuring, seen as I had those symptoms this time last year... but yeah I've been on antibiotics & seems to be getting a lot better :)

Went to my cousin's at the weekend - 'twas kewl, but yeah - made an interesting discovery. Now I know that some of this kinda stuff has been touched upon by other people, but I'd still like to say my lil bit. Background: her hubby has kids from his last marriage, & they used to all live together, but now they live with their mum. Those kids are son & daughter - David & Samantha. I don't have any dirt on Samantha:P but David started smoking at 11... which we found out while they were still livin' with my cousin & their dad. And I have now discovered that he is now, aged 15, living with his girlfriend & their 1 month old baby!?! Dude. 'Tis so wrong. He's obviously still at school, & they're obviously in a council place, but it's probs with her parents or something. But imagine having had to look after a kid for the past 3-4 years. Just think. I mean I wouldn't have thought he'd have gone to university anyway, but it's such a burden at such a ridiculous age. Serves him right though, yeah sure. Sigh. I mean I've read about such things in the paper, but it obviously makes you think a little harder when it's someone you know. Such an effin' shame. Anyway... my cousin & this guy now have 2 kids of their own - mischievous lil bastards. One of them actually is.

Sorry, anyway... I've got some piccies from our 'Team Laser Implosion' outing:

Ben da Chav

Jimmy Ill

Jimmy being cheered up by the lads

Zombie Jim

Undead Will T

Kk that's enough of them, here's some vids if you have the connection for them / can be arsed:

Team Laser Implosion - Not too thrilling - 'tis a bit too dark, but take note of the location
House of the Living Dead - A.k.a. Will P's
Jim's Madskillz - Handbrake turns in the snow, in the car park behind the war memorial:P
Will P's Madskillz - Apologies for Will T's lack of filming talent

Right that's it - gotta be up in 7 hours:( Peace out.

Masterchef

Yep, another one already. I just realised that my last blog is probably my first in months in which I haven't moaned about cancer etc - lol. Well I'll make sure I sneak somethin' in this time:P Anyway, got back from my CookAbility cooking course yesterday evening, so I am now a fully proficient chef! w00t.

There are two people who own the company - both have nice big houses which they use to put up teenage Pot Noodle eaters. The house I was in was awesome - a load of bedrooms, nice new kitchen, just by loads of fields - great view. The man of the house is a hotel owner, chef & caterer, land owner & shooter. He owns 15,000 acres. Dude. That's 45,000 times the plot of my house or somethin'. So yeah, pretty well off. It's his wife that runs the CookAbility side of things though. There were 2 other guys & 4 gals on the course - here's the group photo:

The two on your left hand side are at school together in Taunton (where the course was), and were constantly flirting & denying anything & everything. The two 17 year old gals in the middle are 'all girl school goers', and yeah, they were... pretty close... :P Nah they both have older boyfriends - one is with her 29 year old boss! Lol and the other blonde, on the right, phoned me while I was on the train back home, withheld her number & read a page of erotic literature to me then hung up :S She was very bored... Ahem... The Frodo lookalike at the back used to go to Holmwood House & knows a load of Felsted people - & he's applying to Newcastle, so might see him in a while. Both the guys were smokers, unfortunately, but they were kewl.

Ugh... they have a hot tub in the back garden... Mmm... damn that's good, always improved by the company of the two bikini clad blondes ;) So spent a good hour or two in there most nights. Went down the local pub a few nights, a karaoke night included, in which we all participated - 'twas a good laugh. One son of the hosts came along & sang 'Combine Harvester' by The Wurvels, in his wellies - in true Somerset farmer style:P He's 23, runs his own 60k-a-year fencing company (as in putting up fences), and is going out with a 35yr old University lecturer. The other son is a navy bomb disposal officer, so quite a varied & successful family, eh?

Anyway - the cooking. Cooked a whole load of starters, mains & desserts, including pâtés, roulades, pizzas, pastas, curries, roasts, cakes, tarts, cookies, brownies & a gorgeous banoffee pie. We didn't all get to do everything, but still learnt a lot. Here's my self-made pizza (didn't get to it with the camera before it was cut in two:P):

And here's a delicious pudding we all made:

If you aren't drooling yet, you should be:P So had a good time, & can now put my skills to use at home... maybe... Coz my dad's even more disabled than he previously was - he's still on crutches after a knee op, a month or two later got diagnosed with diabetes, then rheumatoid arthritis in his hands, accelerated by using crutches, so he now uses a wheelchair around the house. So I have plenty to do at the moment, including driving him to Springfield almost as many times as I needed. Which reminds me - think I need to book my monthly checkup. Have just started on some heart pills - one a day for 6 months or more, but nothing too serious. Heh the side effects are listed to be the same as chemotherapy & more, but luckily aren't very common:) Hopefully I'll be allowed to scuba dive later on in the year - fingers crossed. My next trip will be to Nice on my French language course in mid-April :D can't wait. Anyway, that'll do for now, you all know my email address for any catering requirements ;)

Eat lots.

Geordieland

Howdy folks, just recently got back from a 2 night stay in Newcastle. The main reason was my choral scholarship audition, but I also timed it with an open day so I could have another look around the uni, as accomodation still needed to be chosen.

The plan was originally to go stay with my cousin, who lives in the nearby town of Pegswood, but she had some business trip or somethin', so we ended up just staying in her house, the mother and I. Got a taxi from the airport, and of course we had to pick the driver who didn't know where he was going... he asked us which way we normally go when we got in & we didn't know well enough. So yeah, he said he knew it, but we ended up in some other town, him asking "Is any of this familiar?" ... When we hadn't even seen a sign to Pegswood, let alone followed one yet. Anyway, got there in the end, & he tried to charge us the full amount for the whole trip... cheeky bastard. Got a reasonable price in the end, thankfully. Then, on arriving at my cousin's house, we were getting prepared to get inside quickly & type in the security code, that had been texted to us... only to find it was the wrong code... sigh. Cue frantic calls to cousin while security box bleeps wildly... Anyway, once we'd gotten in properly, there was a freshly baked chocolate cake in the kitchen, and a bag of Jelly Babies & some Terry's Chocolate Orange segments in ma room :D

So, next mornin' was the cathedral appointment - the choir director's a southerner of some sorts & he's a good laugh. Had a warm-up, sung my 2 pieces, bodged up a couple of times, did some German sight reading :S bodged up even more, then sat down for a lil chat while the dude printed off some info for me. He asked if my place at Newcastle was definite, I said it was & then he says "Well I can guarantee you a choral scholarship then." Except... he wasn't looking at me when he said it & I didn't really realise what he was saying. I was expecting a letter in the post in a few weeks or somethin', but he just offered it on the spot :D So after I'd got my head around what he was actually saying, I was a happy bunny. Tis a big commitment though - rehearsals nearly every day, two Sunday services (inc. 9am practice beforehand), but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna take it, the only thing being what else I'd wanna do at uni including other musical stuff - could be some clashes & some serious lack of free time if things build up. But it being a scholarship, I'd obviously get paid - £800 a year, plus there are extra days I'd get paid more for:) Then the rest of the day was spent lookin' round the city a little - am pretty impressed, although I unfortunately forgot to take my camera, so no pics today, I'm afraid.

Wednesday was the Open Day - had a tour round the accomodation in the morning & have now decided on the catered halls, closest to the main university site - no surprise there, but had a look around & 'twas nice, let's just hope I can get in. I don't really have an advantage over those who haven't had their A level results yet - we all get sent forms at the same time, but I know exactly what i want, so should be able to send it off straight away. I'll be doing Combined Studies at Newcastle - which is 3 subjects (for the first year at least). It was the only way to do French & Chinese, plus I thought I'd want to do something other than a language, as I've no idea what career to pursue. So... I think I've finally decided on Computing Science. It won't be the full course, obviously - just a third. Was thinkin' of something accountancy / financy to begin with, but am not too bothered. Saw a few fitties & got a few looks ;) and got chatted up by some irish girl on the plane home :S Had just sat down, started to read Abhorsen, when she (next to me) says "So what are you reading there?" 8-) Sigh. I was reading the last 20 pages of an awesome fantasy trilogy... huge battle between good & evil, yeah? Wouldn't have minded finishing it, yeah? But noooo. Lol nah had a nice chat & she asked for my number at the end. I gave it to her, but alas, she was not such a fittie & interrupted a good book, so no chance there:P

Anyway, am back down south now, & off cooking in Somerset next week:P Peace out.

Haircuts, pics and radioactivity

Right, it's been a while, but I think it's about time. First of all, I now I have enough hair to have haircuts!!! Yep, had my first haircut in about 8 months a while ago, and have had another since. Anyway, my Christmas was all good - partial thanks to my new digicam, along with a 128Mb memory card & a waterproof sealable case so I can take it scuba diving :D Can't wait to try it out.

Oh yeah - I was at a wedding at my local church a while ago, and the bride was a Ryanair Air Hostess. So my mum asked me, since I fly every now & then:

Mum: Have you seen her?
Me: No, I don't fly Ryanair
Mum: Oh you fly on jetski...
Me: Yes mum, I fly a jetski...
Mum: Oh you know what I mean.

Lol, sighage, rents - who'd 'ave 'em eh? Lol and then later on my stomach started rumbling in the quiet bits in between the wedding vows - 'Do you, wassisname, take wassername, in thingy & thingy' *rumble rumble* ... 'I do'.

Anyway before Chrimbo, I had my CT scan - won't find out the results til a week on friday though. There was an indian lookin' gal doin' helping with my scan this time, who was pretty fit I suppose, and yeah I was lying down ready to be scanned, while they were getting everything ready. Then that gal starts absently, gently poking my stomach whilst talking to the other person... and then started poking lower, and err... got quite low :$ and I swear I got some looks & smiles from her on the way out... Anyway the lady who was giving me the injection for it wasn't sure whether she'd gotten the needle in the vein properly, until I started spurting blood everywhere - "Ah, that'd be it then." So then they had to go mop it all up :P not that there was too much.

Then, after Christmas, had a nice lil visit from Prill avant New Year, when we went to see We Will Rock You, which was great, apart from Prill's constant commments about how the main guy wasn't as fit as the guy who used to do it:P Nah but I agree he wasn't as good for the part. But still enjoyed the show & the company:)

And then there was new year :D and since I had my new digicam, I now have my own piccies to post for once:D

The Dirty Half Dozen



Les Feux d'Artifice



The Drunk0r / The Ston0r



The Standing 69ers



The 3some



Ooooh... Pwetty Shoooes

Who wants that pic for Will P's next kr3w blog photo? PLEHCE YOUR VOTES NOW!!! And here's a vid of Drunk Will - look out for the angry strangers:P Probs have to 'save target as...'. Anyway, had a good'un in Edinburgh:D

Guess what? I am currently quite literally radioactive! w00t - fear me everyone:P But yeah, seriously, I had a 'Radionuclide Ventriculography' done this morning. It was coz my heart might have taken a battering from chemo, so just seeing if it's pumping properly & stuff. It first of all consisted of two injections, the second of which was a dose of Technetium 99, which apparently has a half-life of 6 hours, so since they didn't give me much in the first place, I won't have much, if any in a few days time. But still, pretty kewl, although I have yet to discover my superhuman powers :( so if there are any supers / ex-supers out there, then lemme know how to do stuff plz. kthx. But I have been warned not to spend extended periods of time in contact with children, as not to expose them to unnecessary radiation... and if I wanted to fly somewhere over the next few days, since many international airports have radiation detectors, I'd have to have a letter from London Quantum Imaging explaining my radioactivity. Anyway, then they took some speshul pictures of some sort. And yeah - there's something I'm not sure about, so if any of you scientists out there could explain, I'd be grateful. Radiotherapy means exposure to radiation, whereas the injection I've just had is actually putting radioactive substance inside, which would of course irradiate me or whatever. But... does exposure to radiation leave you radioactive? It's just they never told me after radiotherapy that I'd be radioactive, & they have done for todays injections. So if anyone can shed any light on that, t'would be appreciated.

Anyway, won't find out 'til Tuesday how that went, apart from that more checkups n stuff, so yeah, that'll do for now, hope you enjoyed the pics.

Eat fruit!

Bubblewrap

Well, it's been a while - but most of the stuff I've been thinking about recently I've just wanted to keep to myself, & well, there's not been much else going through my mind at times.

Had my checkup with the Prof last week - everything seems to be going fine, but he can't really say much for certain obviously, I'll have to wait until I've had my scan first... which I'll be having no later than the 22nd December, meaning I won't get the 'all clear' until after christmas. I think I could probably put up with another year of it if I had to though, I mean it's not that bad - there are worse things to go through, but enough about that. And I haven't had it half as bad as some people have. Firstly, I'm young & pretty healthy, which counts for a lot with this type of thing. When you're old & weak, it can be hell. And the most important thing with any serious illness, (and with pretty much anything that 'goes wrong') is support. I've had plenty, and I was happy throughout - that's what matters. Imagine being old & lonely and having to go through this kinda thing... it's completely different. But anyway, I doubt that the Prof's gonna say "That's it, you're cured", coz it can always come back, it's just very unlikely to after 2 years. We'll see:) Oh yeah but one of the veins in which they injected stuff has still not gotten better:( It feels like a hard tendon or somethin' & hurts a little...

So, what am I doing at the moment? Still getting income support, of course:P But looking for a job though... am looking at places other than Tesco, since the coffee shop will soon be turning self service & the HR manager never returns my calls. Maybe I shouldn't have put on my Barry White voice come to think of it... doesn't seem to be working anymore:( And of course my main occupation at the moment is editing the Star Wars stuff - it's great fun:P I should take up film editing at uni or something:P as suggested by Will P I believe... Can't wait til it's released - everyone has to watch it up in Edinburgh after christmas at the latest;)

Thanks to a certain Miss Holding, I can now introduce Virtual Bubblewrap!!! Haha have a play & lemme know what you think:

Virtual Bubblewrap © http://www.virtual-bubblewrap.com/
virtual-bubblewrap-distv1.1

Hehe great stuff... and if your finger gets tired, just click on 'Manic Mode' :P then it's easy. Don't forget to keep your ears open when you click on "Fresh Sheet" ;)

Kk, that's all for now methinks, I might add a link to the Star Wars Teaser Trailer here somewhere in the not so distant future, so keep your eyes pealed...

Peace out.

All good things must come to an end...

Right. Time to blog. I think it's time I just let it all out, even though most of you will probably already know quite a bit. I'm going to try to be as honest and forthcoming as possible, which I must admit doesn't always happen. Not that I lie, I just like to keep myself to myself sometimes.

Well, it's over. Just like that. I was very happy with life before I met Prill, but once I got to know her & got close to her, well, it just couldn't get any better really. Everything seemed perfect. She was my first kiss, the only person I'd ever been with, and we just seemed to get stronger and stronger. We spent so much time together when we could. When it came to the first summer apart, it wasn't heaven, but I wasn't complaining - we got through it fine. We emailed & spoke on msn when we could, and we spoke on the phone once or twice. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder". I was just so happy to see her after the summer, and so glad that it was still all working out, that I had another year during which (for most of the year) I'd be with her at for at least several hours a day. We applied to the same college at Cambridge. And I'm fairly sure it happened by coincidence. I mean, Selwyn was one of the colleges we all visited, so we both saw how nice it was, and we most probably both talked about how good it seemed to each other, which must have helped. But anyway, that didn't work out, which I think we were both kinda glad about in the end, looking back. After that, it really didn't look like we were gonna go to the same university, seen as the only other one we both had in common was Edinburgh, and that didn't do my ideal course - it was really just a backup.

Anyway, later in the year, I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. First of all, it just didn't seem real - when the doctor explained what it might be. I could hear him perfectly well, but my head was swimming, and it wasn't really sinking in. After the doc left, it was just me and my mum. I burst into tears. Yeah, at first, I did think something like "Why me?" Not because I didn't think I deserved it, just because... well not many people do get it, and I've only known one person that had cancer before in my life, my gran, and it wasn't too serious - she just had a fairly simple operation and that was it. Anyway, I kinda recovered, and Prill came in later to see me in hospital. I knew that I couldn't just break down, I had to try & be strong, since she was obviously upset.

A brief deviation - one definite thing I learnt from my condition, was that I had to support other people in a way. You never really think of it like that before something like this happens to you, at least I didn't. I now had to face many, many people, who would be in an uncomfortable situation, possibly not knowing what to say. That's not to say that they didn't want to be there, or that they didn't want to comfort me - most people do want to comfort someone in such circumstances, but may not know exactly how to handle it. Other people, usually slightly older people, have known someone in a similar situation, and therefore think they have superior knowledge on how to advise someone on how to deal with it all. In my opinion, if you don't know the person well, then the absolute worst thing you can emphasize to them is "You'll get through it, don't worry." No matter how many people you know who have.

Anyway, I can't stress how much support I've had from Prill throughout all this. I really don't know how I would have been had it not been for her. I had someone who would willingly listen to all my troubles & hear about all the details, no matter how gruesome. I'm not saying that no one else would have done, but I felt completely at ease with her, and that's what mattered.

By next Tuesday, 19th October, I should be cured. I'll have to wait a while for results, but I've been given the full whack, so it should be over. Except now I don't feel the same. This whole ordeal has never been a complete nightmare, due mainly to the support I've received from everyone. So I expected to be very relieved & happy after it all, but now... well, it doesn't seem so important.

One day I'm as happy as ever - I missed Prill loads, but apart from that I was fine. So many times I thought to myself that I couldn't believe that I was with her, I was just in constant ecstasy. The next day, I couldn't believe it either. Suddenly my world, my life just seemed so empty, blank & pointless. It still does when I think about it too much, but I do my best not to. Don't worry, I certainly don't have the guts to do anything stupid to myself, not that I'd want to anyhow. The last thing I am is angry. With Prill or anyone else. Of course, I'm upset, and yeah disappointed, but not really because of what you did in the first place, and it hasn't changed the way I feel.

I still love you more than anything in the world. It seems like it's gonna take a hell of a lot to change that, at least for now. I'm glad that we're still good friends, I don't think I could survive without you. I suppose we just have different plans & views... maybe I just got too wrapped up in my fairytale ending. Anyway, it's over. I know I'm just going to have to live with it & get on with my life, but that sort of advice is hard to follow right now.

Radiotherapised

Evenin' dudes & dudettes. Like a virgin - irradiated for the very first time... Hmm... doesn't have quite the same ring to it eh? Soz, yeah anyway had my first radiotherapy today. It was quick. And yes I mean like Jim quick. :P I was told that it'd only be like 5-10mins in the room, and someone else my family knows who's had it before said they took their own CD in to listen to. Well the actual radiotherapy only took like 10-15seconds? Something like that. Well ok, not quite as quick as Jim, but you get the picture. The setting up & aligning took a minute or two, but yeah I was out in no time. No time to put a CD on or anything, although they did already have music playing - they just have a stereo in there playing all the time. And it was playing Travis, which was nice. So I had just settled down, ready for a snooze / nice relaxing listen to Travis, and then the gal comes in and says "Ok." So I'm thinking, umm... that can't be it, so I just stayed still just in case. But she lowered my bed thingy, says "There ya go."

"Is that it?"
"That's it!"

Hmm... so I travel nearly an hour to get to Colchester, for 10 seconds of Travis:P Lol. Could have done that at home. But naah the people are really kind. Especially one gal who I thought was quite fit & was real nice as well. She offered to take me into a private room to "Go through things with me." But I declined, heh - I saw straight through her. Naah lol I'd already had my questions answered when I had it all planned out. So yeah, basically - radiotherapy's a walkover. If anyone here ever has to have it done, then seriously, don't worry. It's nothing compared to chemo anyway. But as long as you all eat fruit, then you'll be ok:P hehe I think there's more to it than that, but hey, fruit can't harm ya.

I've definitely become more aware of what food I eat. Before, I used to love really fattening unhealthy stuff, which probably helped my lil growth on it's way. But yeah, I'll always have a glass of orange juice instead of a glass of wine with meals now. I still wouldn't mind getting a lil drunk every now and then, but I've been drinking a lot less as well.

Anyway - the only problems people have with radiotherapy are those where the selected area gets delicate & even painful. It all depends on where you have it done. If you ahve full body radiotherapy, then obviously, it could become quite awkward. I spose that'd most probably take a lot longer as well - hence the reason to take your own CD. The only thing I'm likely to get is a sore throat, coz that's where it's all being directed. No probs. I spose I might have been more apprehensive had it been the only thing I was having. Chemotherapy kinda prepared me for anything & everything, and comparatively, what I'm having done now is nothing.

Some older people I've met, (in waiting rooms etc.) who have / have had cancer, are really grumbly & complain all the time. One lady I was talking to kept saying how it was awful that they didn't even let you put Radox in your bath when having radio. Excuse me? You're being cured of cancer. Cancer. And you're complaining about not being able to use frickin' Radox. Sigh. Coz I'm not allowed to use spray anti-perspirant or shower gel or anything like that, otherwise it'll burn & singe my skin or something I dunno. And she was also complaining about the taste of the white stuff they make you drink before having a CT scan. Ok, that's not as bad. I think that any normal person is allowed to complain about the taste of that, as long as they don't go over the top. But after going through chemotherapy, who gives a crap what the stuff tastes like if it's gonna tell you whether you're cured or not? And this was actually her last CT scan - these were crucial results she would have gotten now. Anyway, enough about that. I spose I'm just young & don't care as much. Where as others are old, wanna settle down, retire & not have to worry about stuff like cancer... I dunno. But there's no point in complaining or getting yourself worked up right? Absolutely no point whatsoever.

Anyway enough about hospitally medically type stuff. Hope everyone who's at uni is having fun. In fact, I think I've spoken to everyone who's at uni at the moment, but anyway, hope it's all good. In fact, I just hope everyone is having fun. So there.

Oh yeah, on another immature note - on the way back from Colchester, I saw a road called "Turkey Cock Lane". Chuckle chuckle. Well, what can I say, my rents were being boring on the way back, so I had to find some other source of amusement.

Sometime in the future, I'm hoping to learn at least a little on how to physically maintain or even build my own PC. Coz apparently courses are cheap, and it'd save a hellovalotta money if I wanna use any money I might have left over at the end of my gap year on a new computer for uni. I was thinking of that since we went into PC World on the way back from the hospital, and they charge ridiculous prices for a "PC Healthcheck" or something. So yeah, I might try & learn a bit myself.

Anyway, that'll do for today. I'm gonna put in the other half of the Lawyer trufax quotes, as promised. But btw, tell me if you think they're crap and you never want me to put anything like it on here again, and maybe I won't.

Q: 'Do you recall the time that you examined the body?'
A: 'The autopsy started around 8.30pm.'
Q: 'And Mr Hubert was dead at the time?'

Q: 'Mr Slattery, you went on a rather elaborate honeymoon, didn't you?'
A: 'I went to Europe, sir.'
Q: 'And you took your new wife?'

Q: 'So the date of the conception was August eighth?'
A: 'Yes.'
Q: 'And what were you doing at the time?'

Q: 'Are you qualified to give a urine sample?'
A: 'I have been since early childhood.'

Q: 'Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?'
A: 'No.'
Q: 'Did you check for blood pressure?'
A: 'No.'
Q: 'Did you check for breathing?'
A: 'No.'
Q: 'So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?'
A: 'No.'
Q: 'How can you be so sure, Doctor?'
A: 'Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.'
Q: 'But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?'
A: 'It's possible he could have been alive, and practising law somewhere, I suppose.'

Peace out.

Bits n Pieces

So we're back, and I've finally got my arse in gear and decided to write a blog - had loadsa stuff I wanted to blog about over the last week or so, so let's just hope I remember it.

First of all - I've finished my chemo!!! w00t. So there. I'll be having some radiotherapy after I've seen Prill off to uni:P but that shouldn't be anywhere near the hardship:) My hair has started to grow back as well:D so now I've got quite a dark collection of fuzz on my head. They've told me it might grow back a slightly different colour n stuff, so we'll just have to wait n see - it doesn't look drastically different as yet... And also - my income support has finally come through (hehe). A huge big fat cheque for £377.58 and hopefully they'll be some more on the way until I start work in Tescos. And when I do start work, I can carry on claiming for a while - it's called "Return to Work Credit". Hehe it's all gravy.

Anyway - went to stay with my cousin near Newcastle if you didn't know, partly coz my rents are planning to move up north when they retire, so they wanted to have a look at some areas up there to start thinking about. Don't worry, they ain't gonna be living close to the university, but it will be kinda handy having them within an hours drive. Also I got to meet the choral director-person, coz I'm planning on going for a choral scholarship. So I had a chat & he seems a good bloke - bit of a laff. He tested my range & said it sounded promising, so I'm gonna go back there sometime in the next calendar year for a proper audition, after I've got around to organising some singing lessons back at school. So yes - if you're one of those people who has another year of fun-filled Felsted frolics, then I might be visiting every now and then:) Oh yeah, and while I was in Newcastle, I spotted a few rather amusing place & road names that I thought I might share with you. One place called "Wide Open"... hmm... a little strange, but it doesn't compare to living in the wonderful village named "Dirt Pot". Seriously - we found it on the map... who could live in a place with such a name? Eh? A Place name that could be interpreted as the crapper, as my cousin astutely pointed out:P Also - we travelled along the road called the B1337 - so be jealous everyone.

Right - on a more serious note, I wanted to write about the hostage situation in Russia, but since it was a while ago, I've probably lost my momentum, but never mind. I was watching it on the news, as you do. Maybe it's just coz I haven't seen a real life tragedy on TV for quite a while, but anyway it just hit me really hard. Especially one image of a father holding his lifeless daughter in his arms, with the mother nearby pacing up and down, crying, not knowing what to do. I think it was because I haven't watched the news properly for quite a while, and haven't seen anything like this for ages. I've read the newspapers, but it's not the same as seeing moving images. This may not be a very nice thought, but can you imagine holding someone like that - someone that only a few days ago would have been hugging you back, full of smiles - suddenly gone, dead, now just an object, no longer able to interact. Also - something that Podgy said "Each human life has its own dreams" - I remember one of the boys who was killed in all this apparently wanted to open the first Macdonalds. Could seem a little silly, but yeah - everyone has the right to have a go at whatever they want, as long as it doesn't harm or hinder anyone else:( Sorry - I know this paragraph probably contradicts my last blog, in that I want everyone to be happy & here I am writing depressing stuff. Anyway - I know that in the short term, it probably would be better to give Chechnya its independence - coz the terrorist attacks would most likely stop. But what if there were other areas of Russia who then thought that if it worked for the Chechens, then why can't it work for us? Cue more terrorist attacks because they think Putin is easy. I can't actually name any regions that would want their independence in Russia, coz I ain't no expert. But even if there aren't any other such places, technically it only takes one person, so anything could happen. So maybe it is better not to negotiate in the long run, but then... the Chechens will just keep on killing anyway, right? So I dunno, tis a tough one.

Now on a lighter note, I've just finished reading Lirael. It kicks. Simple as that. So anyone who's reading this - go read Sabriel & then Lirael, coz they both r0x0r. Can't wait to read the next one:D Oh yeah, just remembered - if you didn't know, now you can get paid to put ads back on your blog. It all depends on how much people click on them, but yeah I'm gonna give it a go. If it's really crap and annoying then I'll remove them, so feel free to leave angry comments on the subject.

Anyway - onto more recent happenings. I had an awesome birthday:D hehe. Prill's written about it already, so you can go look there if you haven't already. But yeah, the driving wasn't too challenging, the place we stayed at was perfect - the owners were very nice indeed, and Alton Towers was amazing, as expected. Sorry we couldn't make it an outing with more peeps in the end:( would have been awesome. But anyway, had a good time. Prill managed to smuggle a Happy Tree Friends birthday cake up in the back of my car, hehe which was a very nice surprise:D Here we go:

And, to add to that - the owners of the B&B knew it was my birthday, coz, well, we were chatting about it, so they left a bottle of champagne in my room:D hehe. Prill didn't really like it, so... well... I had to have it all to myself:P hehe I finished it over two days, but had most of it on my birthday:P which was incredibly good timing, since I had only just finished on my antibiotics that very morning:) Anyway, Oblivion & Nemesis were awesome, apu, although Prill didn't like Oblivion:P d'oh! And the new one's pretty good as well - Spinball Whizzer. Twas my fourth visit to Alton Towers - still great stuff:D Oh yeah - Prill's rents got me a pressie as well:D a mini 40GB portable hard drive, just like hers:D Was very nice of them indeed. Tis awesome.

Anyway, to counter the depressing bit earlier, I'm gonna stick another quote in... oh and tell me if you hate them btw, I just think they're funny - these ones are all real life quotes methinks, it's just the first page, I'll put the next one in on my next blog:

"The Lawyer's an Ass:

'Now, doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know anything about it until the next morning?'

'The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how old is he?'

'Were you present when your picture was taken?'

'Were you alone or by yourself?'

'Was it you or your younger brother who was killed in the war?'

'Did he kill you?'

'How far apart were the vehicles at the time of the collision?'

'You were there until the time that you left, is that true?'

'Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?'

Q: 'She had three children, right?'
A: 'Yes.'
Q: 'How many were boys?'
A: 'None.'
Q: 'Were there any girls?'

Q: 'How was your first marriage terminated?'
A: 'By death.'
Q: 'And by whose death was it terminated?'

Q: 'Can you describe the individual?'
A: 'He was about medium height and had a beard.'
Q: 'Was this a male or a female?'"