Busy Busy

So it's been a while since my last post and clearly I didn't starve to death after all, which you know is a plus. Still unemployed and still looking to try and end that unlucky streak cos it's getting depressingly long now. Still I try to remain upbeat. I had a good Xmas, smaller and a bit quieter than usual and maybe better for that. My 37th birthday is in a few days and not at all sure what I am going to do for it. Normally I'd go to the Chinese place for all you can eat and stuff myself there, then head to the Odeon and watch 2-3 movies back to back, but that takes money I don't have sadly. So I'll likely stay in and paint.

I took a couple months break from painting after getting my ass handed to me in a 6th edition game of Warhammer 40k, but I'm back at it now and nearly finished 3 new units to add to my Imperial Fists which are:

• A Stormtalon Gunship (slightly converted to fix the gawd awful chin turret).
• A Land Speeder Storm (pain in the ass to paint, but it looks good when done, shame the rules for it are crap).
• An Attack Bike (magnetised the weapon port so it can be fitted with either Heavy Bolter or Multi-melta depending on which role I need it to carry out on the battlefield)

I've also finished the Whirlwind Missile Tank that had been on my painting desk for a year and have made a good start on my 3rd Tactical Squad (armed with Plasma Weapons to deal with pesky power armoured opponents) and an Aegis Defense Line. I have the remaining 4 members of my Chapter Master's Honour Guard, a Bike Squad and a 10 man Assault Squad to finish once those are done and then onto 2 Devastator Squads, another Attack Bike and a bunch of Transport Vehicles which will finish off what I currently have figures for.

I have a tax rebate coming and also the first of what should be several payments for wrongly sold Payment Protection Insurance, so will be clearing the debt I owe my best mate with that and I might treat myself to a Land Raider with what's left over as I really want one and ideally a Terminator Assault Squad to deploy from it and an Army Transport Case and on and on. And after that there's the desire for a nice game table and scenery to go on it and *sighs* it really is a very all consuming hobby.

Still it keeps my mind occupied, which DDO doesn't do so much these days and I'm sort of taking a bit of a sabbatical from it between updates. There is a big update due at some point in February but until that goes live it's very much a case of "been there, done that" many times before and so I'm taking this time to get a lot of painting and reading done.

I have a stack of like 4 novels on my To-Read pile at the moment and at least a couple more in my shopping basket on amazon to add to it as soon as I can afford them. I've also been making my way through a lot of trade paperbacks over the past year, both the GI Joe ones that IDW put out which I buy and the DC Comics ones that my good friend Ian buys and generously lends me. I have mixed feelings about DC's New 52 as while the quality of a lot of the stories and art is very good, their continuity is now a huge mess and while that might not bother new readers, it certainly bothers me. DC had such a great continuity starting from their total reboot of Crisis on Infinite Earths in the mid 80's and it seems like they have just thrown that all away for a short term sales boost.

So that's me currently, not at work but rarely idle. I do wonder what I am going to have to curtail when I do get a job and have to devote a great chunk of time to that.

Happy Birthday To Me

So I turned 36 years old today and while the day itself has gone rather well, what with lunch at Pizza Hut and then a couple movies back to back (Puss in Boots and The Darkest Hour), both of which were in 3D and I enjoyed them both, it is hard to go through the day without looking back on the year just gone and ahead to what comes next.

My 36th year did not go well really. I lost my job, failed to find a new one and my weight and debt both increased. The only silver lining really is that at least the migraines that I suffered from seem to have eased off of late (though I'm pretty sure the 2 large bottles of Jacque's cider I intend on drinking before heading to bed tonight will see to it that I have a headache tomorrow). I have less of a sense of self worth than ever, and the bouts of depression I get are getting worse and lasting longer. I seem to suffer from aches and pains more, especially in my right shoulder and that side of my neck.

So what is there to look forward too? Well hopefully a job will happen at some point, I'm applying for plenty and at some point one of these companies has to actually respond to my CV, or at least I hope so. I'm slowly getting better at painting figures, and my army whilst still very small at the moment is beginning to take shape and will, I'm sure, look very impressive when it's all done. I need to lose weight but I do not have the willpower needed to do so, not by myself. Truth is, I simply don't care about myself and have not done so for so long now that I'm not actually sure how to start doing so again.

I know that the year ahead will not see me find that "special someone" and so the profound sense of loneliness that I feel at all times will only get worse. As I've posted about before, I am the proverbial nice guy who always finishes last and so I'll go unnoticed and unloved whilst listening and reading about friends boyfriends and such taking them for granted, or treating them poorly. As the Abba song goes "If you're all alone, when the pretty birds have flown, honey I'm still free, take a chance on me" but I know that no-one ever will because the world doesn't work that way. Even were I to lose the weight, I'd still be a poor, balding geeky guy. I think in part that's what stops me bothering to try and slim down, because I doubt I'd be any happier as a thin guy than I am now as a fat one. At least now I can eat what I like.

So here's to being 36 years old and a toast to the only thing I really achieved last year... getting one year closer to being dead. Such a pity that there's so many more years ahead of me.

Pain

Hello 2012... I hate you already.

This is because since waking up on New Years Day I've had a truly ridiculous amount of pain in the right side of my neck and also the shoulder/arm joint on that side. I've taken painkillers and they do nothing. I've applied Deep Heat muscle rub to try and soothe the pain, which did nothing. Slept flat on my back last night, and that didn't help either, if anything the pain is worse today than it was yesterday and it was at times making me gasp then.

I can relieve the pain by lying down, which for a time alleviates it somewhat as the weight of my head is no longer sat on my neck, but I can't just lie on my back all day doing nothing. I somehow need to get to the shops and buy a few things, as I'm out of bread, cold meat, pop, sugar and almost out of milk too. Simply getting to the shops is going to be a herculean effort, yet alone the problem of how I'm meant to carry my purchases back with me.

What truly annoys me about this isn't the pain so much (though it is very annoying), it's more that I don't know how I hurt myself and so don't know what not to do to prevent it happening again. I went to bed early on New Year's Eve, skipping the party that friends were attending as I just didn't feel like attending. By 11pm I was sound asleep, only to wake up in the early hours in agony. There are times I feel like I was born to suffer, this would be one of them.

Urrggghhhhh

Otherwise know as the oligatory over-reacting to a touch of flu post! Yeah I'm ill, and it sucks to be ill at this time of year, especially as I'm due to head over my parents house tomorrow morning (though I'm tempted to go today as I can catch a bus if I do so). It started with a thumping headache on Wednesday which brought on dizziness and vomiting, and pretty much confined me to bed for the whole day. While my body knackered itself out sorting them out, it seems flu crept in unnoticed and managed to establish a beachhead that my tired immune system is now having some diffculty in dislodging.

This particular strain of flu seems to have been concocted with a peverse sense of humour though as it is keeping me drowsy and craving sleep, and yet I cannot sleep. I just lie there for hours staring at the inside of my eyelids. I've been awake since about 3am currently as I got fed up or trying to sleep and though maybe an hour or two being awake would make me nod off... so far no luck.

Thankfully Gareth is off out to the shops, so I've thrust a tenner in his hand and begged him to drop by Boots chemists and pick me up a bottle of Covonia cough medicine, which is the rough equvalent of declaring nuclear war on this flu. It is by far the foulest tasting and most powerful cough medicine I know of, the taste is akin to gargling with petrol, but by golly does it work!

Really hoping to get some of that down my neck, sort this damn cough out and hopefully the drowsiness too, get a nap in and then decide whether to head over my parents house today or leave it to tomorrow morning.

Unemployed

So I got sacked from my job in the supermarket last on Friday... I knew it was coming. I suffer with migraines and now and then they cause me to have to take a day off work sick to deal with them. Rarely am I off work longer than a day, sometimes two. But the days still add up. The company had policy of 4% sickness over a rolling 12 month period. My sickness rate went over that and the disciplinary track began. First came a verbal warning, then a written one and then a final written one. The final written got reissued too, but when I got the migraine 1.5 weeks ago on the Wednesday night and it kept me awake all night, unable to sleep, well I had a lot of time to think (even though thinking hurt).

I phoned in sick on the Thursday morning and spent the day mostly asleep, eating next to nothing because I had no appetite, my migraines are probably the only thing that robs me of my appetite. I drank water, took painkillers and slept and I thought I had it beaten. So much so that I was in work on the Friday morning. The migraine had become merely a mild headache and I felt safe to go to work. I was wrong. It came back with a vengeance and I was sick in the customer mens toilets and was then sent home. I didn't return to work until the Wednesday as I spent Saturday off ill recuperating, and Sunday-Tuesday were my days off anyway.

When I returned to work I knew I would have a back to work chat with one of the managers. I knew at it they would issue me with a summons to a disciplinary hearing which I had figured would be on the Friday. It was. Friday 30th September at 12:00 noon. I took my good friend and work colleague Richard Adams along as my witness, even though I knew what was most likely going to happen and didn't really want a witness there for it. Still considering how long the interval in the hearing was while the Store Manager and Personnel Manager adjorned to decide what to do, I was very glad to have him there to talk too.

I was told that I was being dismissed (which I had expected, so much so that I'd cleared out my locker the day before). At the time of my dismissal against a company policy of 4%, my sickness for the 12 month stood at 5.28%. I said a few goodbyes as I made my way out of the store, but only a few. Some weren't in that day, some were and I couldn't find them. I made my way home and resolved to take the weekend off work and start looking afresh on Monday.

I didn't go looking on Monday. I spent most of the day filling out the Jobseeker's Allowance forms on the internet instead and then I ran my weekly Pathfinder RPG game in the evening, followed by the urge to write this. From somewhere now I need to find it within myself to motivate myself, something I've struggled to do for ohh so long. I have brains, I have the ability to use them, I'm just extremely bad at caring enough about myself to want to do so. I'd move mountains if I could to help others, but I have nothing but contempt and loathing for myself.

Still Never Been Kissed

This is an updated version of the entry "Never Been Kissed", as I felt it useful to post a more current version of that confessional entry.

The title refers to, well probably my worst kept secret. I just turned thirty three years old on January 16th. And I've never been kissed. Okay that's not strictly true, I mean my Mum's kissed me, relatives have kissed me, heck a bully named Steven Woodland at school kissed me, simply to get a laugh from everyone else. But a romantic kiss? A passionate kiss? A drunken "You'll do, c'mere" kiss? None of the above. Not even a good luck kiss, a Happy New Year kiss, or a "Ohhh mistletoe" kiss.

Is that a great secret? Maybe, maybe not. So lets not stop there, while I'm baring my soul, let's go for broke. It really isn't that big a step anyway. I mean it doesn't take a genius to figure out that if I've never kissed a girl... I've never gotten any further with one either. So I'm the V word. In a purity test I normally rate in the high 90's percentage wise.

So do I feel like less of a man because I've not scored, pulled, carved a notch in a bedpost etc? I'm honestly not sure. I know back when I was in University in my early twenties, then yeah, I regarded still being a virgin as this great failing on my part. But now?

I think part of the reason why I don't feel that way anymore, is that I have nothing to compare the experience too. If I'd had the kissing, the hugs, the cuddles etc then yeah, I'd be stoked for what comes next. But I've never had any of that, the best time I've ever had with a woman, was a couple hours spent snuggled up on the sofa with my ex-girlfriend Dana watching cartoons. And as much as I'm curious as to what a kiss is like, I'm scared too. Women can be a pretty unforgiving lot, us blokes don't often get a second chance to impress, and being labelled a bad kisser (or bad in bed) is a hard tag to get past for even a young guy.

I'm getting older and I'm not getting any better looking (at least I don't think so anyway). Perhaps on some cosmic level it all makes sense. I mean all things have an equal and opposite according to Newton's Law anyway. So for all those guys out there who ooze charisma and have women throwing themselves (and various items of their clothing) at them, I guess there have to exist guys like me to balance things out.

This is not to say that I am happy being one of these cosmic balancing acts. Being the nice guy who always finishes last frankly sucks. But try as I might to change things and improve my lot in life, it just never works out. Life it seems has a role for me to play and no matter what I do, it seems that I'm doomed to fill it. Were it not for a promise I stupidly made years ago I would have killed myself by now. I certainly tried a few times to do just that before making it.

More than anything in the world I want someone to share life with, a partner to live, laugh and love with. And I'm so fucking sick and tired of the platitudes people spout to try and cheer me up. Bullshit like "It'll happen when you least expect it" and "There's someone out there for you". Three times now I've fallen in love. Three times now I've had my heart broken.

There is a limit to how much pain anyone can take and I'm at my limit. I can't take the pain, the misery, and most of all the crushing loneliness anymore. I want out. And every day that goes by, that promise holds less and less hold over me. I've never broken my word if it is freely given... first time for everything!

State Of The Bob Address

So it's my birthday today. Another year of my life has passed me by without me having really achieved anything apart from grow a bit older. I tried to lose weight this year and for a time succeeded, but I'm pretty sure it's all come back home now. I certainly don't feel any slimmer anymore. I think my level of debt has decreased but not by much. Hopefully the court case that the the Office of Fair Trading began against the banks on Monday will resolve the disputed bank fees case and I can claim back the seven thousand pounds that HSBC has overcharged me over the past six years. That money would go a long way towards sorting out my life.

Despite all my efforts, I have been single all year long, and while I've had a few chats with women and even flirted a bit, nothing has come of any of it. I'm obviously hoping for better luck in the year to come, but I'm not exactly going to hold my breath on that score. No matter how optimistic I try to be about my prospects for finding a partner, something always brings reality into focus. Currently that would be my rather pitiful rating on the Hot or Not feature on my Facebook account, where after 60 votes I currently rate a dismal 3.4 out of 10! Not that that overly surprises me. I keep telling the people who tell me that I'm attractive, that if I was truly attractive, that people would be attracted to me... and nobody is!

Today will be spent the same way I've celebrated my birthday for the past few years, namely I'll be spending the day with my best friend Tony Searle (whose birthday it is also), and together we'll be grabbing lunch at Pizza Hut, followed by watching 2-3 movies back to back and then likely hitting the Hollywood Bowl for bowling and beers to round off the evening.

So that's it really, another year gone and pretty much wasted. I continue to plod on through life without any real aim or desire save to reach the end of it. Only in that sense can the past year be viewed as a sucess, as I am one year further along the path to the end of my life. Far too many more to go though it seems. Guess I'll just take them one year at a time same way everyone else does and maybe somewhere along the way I'll find a reason to wish they passed me by a bit slower than they do. But I didn't find her this year.

Seven Deadly Sins

I saw this survey on a Message Board that I frequent and thought that filling it out myself would make for a good blog post. So here goes:

Wrath
Who did you last get angry with?
I can't remember.

What is your weapon of choice?
Knife

Would you hit a member of the opposite sex?
If they hit me first, then yes.

How about the same sex?
Yes

Who was the last person who got really angry at you?
I don't know... though it was probably my Mum.

What is your pet peeve?
Hahahahahaha.... you want the list?

Do you keep grudges, or can you let them go easily?
I keep them!

Sloth
What is one thing you're supposed to do daily that you haven't?
Clean my room

What is the latest you've ever woken up?
17 hours after I went to bed. I forget what time of day it was though.

Name a person you've been meaning to contact, but haven't?
My Doctor.

What is the last lame excuse that you made?
I forgot.

Have you ever watched an infomercial all the way through?
Yes

How many times did you hit the snooze button on your alarm clock this morning?
2


Gluttony
What is your overpriced yuppie beverage of choice?
Venti White Chocolate Mocha with an added Espresso shot from Starbucks.

Are you a meat eater?
Yes

What is the greatest amount of alcohol you've had in one sitting/outing/event?
The amount my friends at University got me to drink on my 21st birthday. I had alcohol poisoning for 2 days afterwards.

Are you comfortable with your drinking and eating habits?
Not really.

Do you enjoy candy and sweets?
Yes

Which do you prefer: sweets, salty foods or spicy foods?
Spicy food

Have you ever looked at a small house pet or child and thought, "lunch"?
No

Greed
How many credit cards do you own?
None

If you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?
Pay off debt, buy a house, take a loooong holiday.

Would you rather be rich or famous?
Rich

Would you accept a boring job if it meant that you would make megabucks?
Yes

Pride
What's one thing that you have done that you're most proud of?
Nothing

What's one thing you have done that your parents are most proud of?
Beat's me!

What thing would you like to accomplish late in your life?
Die

Do you get annoyed by coming in second place?
No, because for me second place would be better than where I normally finish.

Have you ever entered a contest of skill, knowing you were of much higher skill than all the other competitors?
Yes

Have you ever cheated to get a better score?
Yes

What did you do today that you're proud of?
Nothing

Lust
How many people have you seen naked (not counting movies, family, strippers, locker rooms)?
None

How many people have seen you naked (not counting physicians, doctors, family, locker rooms, or when you were a young child)?
None

Have you ever caught yourself staring at the chest/crotch of a person of your chosen sex during a normal conversation?
Not that I'm aware of.

What is your favorite body part of a person of your gender choice?
Hair/Eyes

Have you ever had sexual encounters (including kissing/making out) with multiple persons?
No

Have you ever been propositioned by a prostitute?
No

Envy
What item of your friends would you most want to have for your own?
Alastair's tablet laptop!

Who would you want to go on "Trading Spaces" with?
What is that?

If you could be anyone who existed in the world, who would you be?
Eric Bana

Have you ever been cheated on?
No

Have you ever wished you had a physical feature different from your own?
Frequently

What inborn trait do you see in others that you wish you had for yourself?
Self-Confidence

What deadly sin...
Do you do the most often?
Wrath

Do you do the least often?
Pride

Is your favorite to act on?
Sloth

Drunken Ramblings

So I'm a bit drunk right now. A bottle of Chilean Merlot Rose wine is the culprit that's gotten me into this state and very nice it was too. I've been drinking it over the past few hours whilst watching episodes from the tail end of season 3 of Battlestar Galactica. Just got 2 left to watch at the time of writing... no that's not right, typing this post to my blog. And I'll watch those in a bit. As well as munch on another Magnum ice cream. I've eaten two tonight, but I bought 6 of them earlier, so I'm not about to run out anytime soon.

Got a wicked chocolate craving that choc ices just cannot sate. Time to get dressed (I'm dressed now, but in lounge about the house clothes you know) and head to the 24 hour Tesco supermarket to raid their confectionary dept I think.

One More Lonely Night

So I'm sat here drinking a pint of Jim Beam and cola and feeling just a bit sorry for myself. I shouldn't be, after all I've had a pretty good day. I had the day off work, and so I slept in late. I spent the latter part of the morning and early afternoon engaged in an enjoyable roleplay session online with noeva (one of the kajirae in my Slaver House chatroom). I then cycled to the cinema and watched Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which if you've not seen it, is well worth going to see. And if you do go to see it, stay until after the credits to see the final ending for at least two of the series characters. Very worthwhile waiting to do so, and you'll get to hear the fantastic music as you do so.

The day went wrong I think when I decided to go out tonight. I went first to Henry's pub which was boring, and then on to Subway to get something to eat. There I had the misfortune to run into the fucking moron who works in the same store as me named Thomas. Honestly the man is a walking argument for infanticide. He should have been shot at birth! So I ate my 6" sub whilst listeing to his insane drivel in the background, leaving as soon as he noticed me and started trying to talk to me.

I headed to the Market House pub which was busy but not packed. Saturday night used to be 80's night, but now seems to be "the DJ plays whatever he wants too" night. Which is a shame, 80's night was usually good, tonight... not so much. Leaving there after a couple drinks, I headed to Yate's Wine Bar as I knew my friends Derek Adams and Tony Searle were going there as tonight was the final of the local Battle of the Bands. It cost 5 pounds to get in. I should have saved my money and come home. As it was I stayed for one drink, whilst listening to the band slaughter their way through a couple "songs". If they got to the regional final I shudder to think on how bad the groups that didn't make it were!

So I'm sat here now, typing this blog entry, which is a rarity in itself, as of late I've largely lost interest in this outlet. I think I would have been better off having stayed home tonight and saved myself the money I spent on food, drinks and door fees. I'll never meet anyone staying indoors though, but then I never meet anyone when I go out. I'm too shy to approach any woman I like, and no woman ever gives me so much as a second glance.

Consolidation

Anyone who knows me will know that I have had debts now for a long time. These are entirely my own fault, apart from the excessive fees that my bank has hit me with time and time again which have added to the amount owed. Over time this debt has slowly increased, despite my best efforts to reduce it, as without fail any time I got close to getting it under control, some huge expense or other would rear its ugly head and swallow my attempts.

No longer. As of last night I now have 1 debt to 1 creditor, having finally consolidated them all (apart from the Studet Loan that is which really doesn't count, as I'm not earning anywhere near the amount I would need to to have to begin repayments on it).SoI now owe £13,200 to Egg Bank, in the form of a single loan. This will be paid off in monthly installments of £204 for the next 84 months, or 7 years to put it another way.

While that is a long time, I at last have the peace of mind of knowing that the debt will be cleared at the end of that time. As oppossed to the credit card I just scrapped, where my monthly repayments were merely servicing the interest, and which would have taken nearly 30 years to pay off according to the woman I got all this sorted out with on the phone last night. Also, the loan is arranged in such a way, that I can make extra payments to it, should I have the money to do so.

Which brings me back to the fees the bank has been charging me. According to the law, those fees are illegal and thus the money can be claimed back from the bank. To the best of my knowledge, my bank owes me somewhere in the region of £6000 from the last 6 years of such fees. I intend to claim it back and use that money to pay off a big chunk of the loan early. Also there are the boxes of stuff under my bed to sell on ebay, another source of money to pour into getting that debt cleared a hell of a lot sooner than 2014.

More Signs

Presenting another batch of alternative "inspirational" photo/posters that better sum up the experience of working at a Morrisons supermarket, than the far more flattering ones displayed in the staff areas where I work manage to do.

Signs

This post is really for those who read this blog and like me have to suffer the daily grind of working at a Morrisons supermarket. One of the many things that frankly annoys me about my workplace is the series of framed pictures on the walls of the staff area, each with a slogan like Achievement or Teamwork etc. I've always found them to be somewhat condescending. So here are a bunch of signs that I feel better sum up the experience of working for Morrisons. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday To Me

Or at least it would be if I were writing this up a couple hours from now having just woken up. No such luck. I woke up an hour ago and have been completely unable to get back to sleep since. So I'm sat here in my dressing gown making the best of a bad thing by writing this, in the hope that staring at my keyboard and computer screen will make me tired enough to be able to grab that couple more hours of kip.

I turn 31 today, officially at about 4:10pm I'm told. Whereas last year I had a quiet day at home and a meal in the evening with my parents, brother and best friends, this year I have a considerably more packed day ahead. I say I, but I should really be saying We, as for the past few years, I have shared my birthdays actitivites with my housemate & best friend Tony Searle, as today is also his birthday (he turns 32 today).

This morning I have promised to spend a couple hours roleplaying in MSN with my good friend Cheryl Fredericks, who lives in New Zealand. I've been talking and roleplaying with her online for something like two and a half years now give or take. I left the last roleplay session we did on a bit of a cliffhanger and she's been nagging me (nicely though) to put her out of her misery and resolve it, so 8:00am-10:00am today are set aside for that.

At 11:00-11:30am Tony and I will be taking his motorbike down to the Riverside Park on the outskirts of the town and heading to the Pizza Hut there for lunch. Yesterday after mentioning our plans for the day to a couple friends in the Bakery dept where I work, I invited them along, so we might well meet up with our friends Richard Adams, James Whitfield and Dan Shapter (who I asked Richard to pass the message along too). Which would be great, though if it is just the pair of us, well that's good too.

After lunch we will be heading to the Odeon cinema a short distance away and there watching the 1:10pm showing of Night At The Museum, followed by the 4:00pm showing of Employee Of The Month. Tony did want to see Eragon (which I've already seen but would happily have sat through another showing of), but it turns out that the Odeon stopped showing it as of last Friday, so we are going with a complete comedy line up today. Very much looking forward to seeing both those films, especially Employee as it is a comedy set in a supermarket, which is where I work afterall.

Employee should finish at around about 6:00pm, so from there we'll likely trek to the McDonalds Drive Thru for dinner. I say trek, but I mean stroll as it's just across the car park from the Odeon. And from there to the Hollywood Bowl (across another car park) and to the bar and arcades inside. I'm keen to have a go on Time Crisis 4 which I've not played before, but I've loved playing all 3Time Crisis games in the series before it. There we will be meeting up with several more members of the Bakery dept, as the Bakery are having our first attempt at a dept social outing. Two games of 10 pin bowling, plus drinks, chat and some healthy competition should be a nice way to round out the day.

I imagine we'll get back here for about 9:30pm where I have the bottle of 50% proof Smirnoff Blue Label vodka in the freezer waiting for me. Enjoyed a glass of that with icecubes and Clementine Juice (it was on Buy One Get One Free in work and I was curious as to what it was like) last night and it was superb. All in all I think I'm going to enjoy myself today.

New Years Resolutions 2007

I should really have posted this a few days ago. While I could claim that I wanted to spend a bit longer thinking over what my resolutions for this year were going to be, the truth is I've known for days and have just been too bone idle to type them up. I have also been busy watching the DVD boxset that I bought of Season 1 of The Muppet Show. I finished watching the last of the 24 episodes on the sets 4 discs earlier today. Money very well spent I think. I've laughed more in these past couple days than I did in the whole of last year.

Anyway, moving on... here are my resolutions for 2007:

1. Reduce my debts. I'm going to take another crack at this, as this was a resolution last year as well and I failed spectacularly in regards to it. Still, I have a pretty good idea how to go about clearing a sizeable chunk of what I owe and as I have next week off work, I'm going to get started on that.
2. Take more pride in my appearance. I have been nagged by... well a lot of people actually, including my Mum and my boss at work about this. Not really sure how to go about this, or how it will benefit me as I'm quite happy the way I am, but I'll give it a try. I could ceetainly do with being nagged less.
3. Reduce the amount of possessions I own. I STILL have boxes of comic books, old toys and more under my bed and I want them gone. As I also have a need for money (see resolution 1 above), then selling them off on ebay seems to be the best way to go about this.
4. Try and get proofreading work. I passed the course in Copy Editing and Proofreading last year and as yet have done nothing with that qualification. 2007 is the year I try and get work in the publishing industry as a freelance proofreader.
5. Write my blog more often. This last addition is motivated by the stack of 5 novels sat on my desk awaiting their reviews to be typed up. Also of late I have gone to write posts many times and stopped short of doing so, for fear of offending someone. This is despite the disclaimer at the top of the main page which states clearly "if you don't like what I write, don't read any more of it". I will try not to censor myself as often as I have been doing.

So there we are, 5 resolutions to try and stick too for the coming year. Assuming I manage to do so and to succeed, then my life should improve considerably by this time next year. Wish me luck!

Or Maybe I Won't...

...Need the energy today that is. The reason being that at some very early hour this morning (somewhere between 4 and 5 am I believe) I got a text message from my mate Dan Shapter telling me not to come into work at 6am after all, and that I'd get a phone call later today from boss (I'm presuming he means Lyndsey by this) to explain what is happening. Fair enough I figured and went back to bed.

A bit later on after waking up, Gareth came back in from whereever he had popped out too and mentioned something about there having been a fire at a petrol station. So I went onto the BBC News website and had a look at the stories for the South West of England and lo and behold, there was a fire last night at the Rover garage (not actually a petrol station, but very close to Morrisons one as it happens) and that as a result of a fear of gas tanks exploding, a good chunk of Station Road had been cordoned off and houses evacuated.

I would imagine that a stretch of Priory Bridge Road is likewise cordoned off, thus preventing road access to the store. Without customers being able to drive to the store and park, opening the store makes no sense as it would get very little business. So I get another day off work today and I'm writing this now at roughly the time I would be finishing my shift had I worked. I've yet to get any phonecall though.

The main thought that preoccupies me now is that several of my friends live in very close proximity to where the fire was, namely Richard & Derek Adams, my brother Rhys, Mads Bak, Sean Chard & his fiance Steph and also Matt & Jen. I'm very glad no-one has been injured as a result of the fire.

Back At Home

So after a gruelling 8am-5pm shift on Xmas Eve which was a lot busier than I thought it would be (certainly with regard to the huge Flans we make in the store which myself and Lyndsey made 8 of in quick succession!), I packed up a few clothes, most of the presents I've bought (excepting Richard & Derek's gifts and they will get theirs on New Year's Day) and wrapped up warm, before trooping across town to my parents house. I spent the night there on Sunday and again last night. Sunday night I was tired and slept like the dead, last night... ehhh not so much. It took forever to get to sleep and at best I got maybe 3 hours of kip before the alarm clock woke me up. And it wasn't quality sleep either.

I've had a good Xmas all in all. I've eaten and drunk plenty, but done neither to excess. I've not gotten drunk despite drinking most of my parents bottle of Cointreau which I mixed with the remaining litre bottle of Kinnie that I brought back from Malta. Yes, I've had a bottle of soft drink sat in my wardrobe since early August just so I could enjoy it as my drink on Xmas Day. I'm home now though, having gotten a lift from my Mum a few hours ago. So what did I get all in all? Here's my Xmas Gift List:

• New Spectacles: This tends to be my Xmas present from my parents every other year, but this is the first new pair I've had in 3 years now. Thanks to Specsavers 2 for 1 deal, I also have a new pair of prescription sunglasses too with dark blue tinted lenses.
• A 70cl bottle of Jim Beam Black Label Bourbon, which is 43% proof. This will go very nicely with cola and ice, just as soon as I've bought and chilled some cola! Totally did not expect this present!
  
• A 1 litre bottle of Blue Label Smirnoff Vodka, which is 50% proof. This present I knew about, as I generally get a bottle of this every year. It is now sat in my freezer (the drink doesn't freeze) and I will open it on my birthday in 3 weeks time. It'll be ready to drink by then.
• Underpants, socks, a denim shirt and a pair of jeans were my clothes this year. The shirt was a total surprise!
• The book "It's Not Easy Being Green" by Dick Strawbridge, which accompanies the BBC2 series of the same name, about a family that decided to try and live as ecologically friendly and self-sufficient a lifestyle as they could without giving up their 21st century mod cons. Fascinating reading. I have my Grandparents to thank for this gift.
• Superman Returns DVD (2 disc edition) from my brother Rhys. I love this film, and watched it this morning as once I'd woken up I couldn't get back to sleep (damn single bed). Thanks Bro!
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest DVD off my Nan. Great film, and she already got me the DVD of the first film a couple years ago. Thank you Nan!
• A jar of coffee, a tub of hot chocolate powder and a handful of instant hot choc sachets in toffee, white choc, belgian choc and choca mocha flavours.
• A bag of peanut M&M's which got devoured last night whilst I was watching a 2 hour documentary on Channel 4 about the blood family of Jesus (namely his 4 brothers and 2 sisters) that the founders of the Christian religion did their best to write out of the Bible.
• A 6 pack of a Brazilian beer that I've never heard of before off Mads. No idea what it tastes like, but the other Brazilian beer I've tried (Brahma) is great stuff. They are in the fridge now chilling down.

And that's it (I think). All in all a pretty good haul. Some nice surprises in there, and the items I knew about are all things I wanted/needed. I am back in work tomorrow at 6am to re-open the department, only to have to close it all down again on Sunday for New Years Day when the store is shut again. Still I have Thursday off to look forward too. Here's hoping I sleep well tonight, as I'm going to need the energy tomorrow!

A Leash

I bought a leash today on my way back from the cinema. I'd been meaning to get one for a while, and since my walk home took me past the Pets At Home store and they were open, I decided I might as well get it while I was in that part of town.

So I go in and they have a very nice range of pet leads in leather, cord, that horrid synthetic stuff and of course chain. Me being a Gorean, I go for the chain. 40" in length with a black leather handle and a snap fastening. A steal at £4.99.

I take it to the counter and the girl there rings it up and asks what kind of dog I have.

"Ohh I don't have a dog, it's for my kajira" I reply (even though I don't actually have a kajira as yet).

"Kah gee rah?" and a puzzled look is the reply I get as I'm typing in my pin number.

"Got a bit of paper and a pen?" I ask, and sure enough she produces such. I write down the word KAJIRA in capitals for her, slide it back to her and smile as I say "Look it up on Google. Good night" and taking my card and my newly bought leash, walk out of the store.

Sure wish I could be there to see her face if/when she does take my suggestion!

Writer's Block

AARRGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!

*puff, pant* Right I haven't exactly been writing a lot of late, mainly because my knack for figuring out how to write things seems to have deserted me. I have plenty of stuff to write about (I'm sat here with a small pile of novels in front of me needing reveiwing for starters), I just can't seem to find the motivation to do so of late. It's not that I'm bored of writing either, I love to write. I'm not bored of my blog either, I'm quite proud of my corner of the world wide web. so I don't know what is causing this general malaise of late, but I felt it important to at least put something here to explain the recent lack of posts.

Normal service will (hopefully) be shortly resumed.

There And Back Again

Today I've spent the past few hours in the city of Cardiff (capital city of Wales) visiting my relatives, something I'd not done in a few years. I went with my parents and my brother as a late addition to their trip (I was only asked yesterday if I had the day free), as Dad & Rhys were going up to watch a Rugby match and Mum was going to spend time first with Nan (her mother) and then after the other two returned from the match, to visit Grandma & Grampy (Dad's parents) for tea.

Since it's been a good couple years at least since I'd seen any of those relatives I eagerly agreed to join the trip, and so left the house at about 9:30am this morning to trek across town to my brothers flat, where we were to be picked up from by the parents at 10am. Sure enough they turned up on time, Mum sat in the back seat with their dog Shannon and so I grabbed the front seat next to Dad. The drive up was unevertful apart from noticing the new arrivals at the side of the motorway.

To explain: For years there was a large model camel at the end of a farmers field facing onto the motorway and it was there so long that it became something of a local landmark (so much so that when the farmer actually removed it to repair it, it made the local news as drivers had known to look out for it for years and could measure their remaining journey time from it!). So that started the trend. Then the district council added a huge piece of art in the shape of a wicker man... which got burned down by vandals, so they rebuilt it, doused it in flameproof stuff and put a moat around it to deter future burnings. So far this tactic has worked. The new arrival (for me at least as I'd not seen it before) was a large Tyrannosaurus Rex that has appeared to overlook the northbound side of the motorway, so that was amusing to see.

Anyway we got to Cardiff in time for lunch at Nan's. Now Mum had mentioned that there would be Clarks pies for lunch. There wasn't. This to me was a great shame, because as nice as the Chicken & Mushroom pies we had were, Clarks pies are on a level far above and beyond that of any other meat pie I've ever eaten. So when me & Mum took the dog for a walk a bit later on, I made sure to nip into the local store to get a couple of them, which are now in the fridge and will be my tea tomorrow night.

I napped on the sofa in Nan's for much of the afternoon, drifting in and out of consciousness. I guess I must have needed the sleep, though I'm not sure I want to know what I sounded like as apparently I scared the dog a few times. I have been told before that I growl in my sleep, so maybe the people who've told me that in the past weren't kidding after all!

Once Dad & Rhys returned it was off to see the Grandparents, where we enjoyed a nice picnic like tea of sandwiches, crisps and Grandma's ever fantastic trifle. Was sad to see that Grandma's arm is badly injured from a fall she took on holiday earlier this year, she holding it like it was a prosthesis and it showing about that level of movement. I really hope the doctors can sort that out for her soon. I wish I'd brought my digicam with me actually, as it has just occured to me that I have no photos of either of my Grandparents or my Nan for that matter.

The trip back was a blast from the past, driving in the dark now that the clocks have changed, it bringing back many memories of similar drives home in my youth, so I was quite quiet on the return trip. Dad was nice enough to swing past my house and drop me off pretty much on my doorstep, saving me a trek back across town. The pies are now in the fridge and I'm slurping a mug of coffee that has gone lukewarm (which doesn't bother me as I love coffee regardless of the temperature of the drink). It has been a good day.