New Bicycle!

Just thought I'd give a little update to the nicked bicycle story,
that makes me happy. Last week, I popped to King's Street Cycles to
buy a cheap city bike to keep in London to reduce my commute a
little. And lo and behold, what did he have for sale for the princely
sum of £55 but a Raleigh Esquire identical to my stolen one! I bought
t then and there, and despite it not being in as good a condition as
my old one (the chain guard is missing, for example), it rides
beautifully, and I feel like my old friend has returned. So hooray!

I'm a simple character really!!

Oh, and just to complete the story, the cheap red 'Challenge' bike
that I was using to tide me over has been consigned to the cycle
racks in King's Cross for daily commuting (ab)use.

Goodbye Bicycle

Today, some callous bastard has stolen my beautiful pride-and-joy bicycle, that I have owned and treasured for three years.

Just in case you happen to spot it, it is a brown Raleigh Esquire, gentleman's three-speed city bicycle, with a large wicker basket and dynamo lights. Particularly distinguishing features are that the front right hand corner of the basket suffered an injury and so was a bit broken, and the chain guard a bit dented and put back on with a shiny silver nut. Also, the reflector was cracked in half on the right hand pedal.

May you rest in peace.

Oh, and to top it all, there is nothing similar in any of the bike shops around Cambridge (and it's hard work going round them WITHOUT A BICYCLE).

I've seen 46 out of 239 movies - I have a life, wooooo!!!

Apparently, if you've seen over 85 movies, you have no life. Mark the
ones you've seen. There are 239 movies on this list. Copy this list,
go to your own MySpace account, and paste this as a bulletin. Then
put an X next to the movies you've seen, add them up, change the
header adding your number, and click "Post" at the bottom.

Have fun!

(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest (though I slept
through most of it)
( ) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club
(x) Starsky and Hutch
( ) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
( ) Airplane

Total So Far: 6

( ) The Princess Bride
( ) Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy
( ) Napoleon Dynamite
( ) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) Saw III
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
(x) 50 First Dates (couldn't finish it though - far too painful!)
( ) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

Total all together: 7

( ) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
(x) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
(x) American Pie 2
(x) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
( ) American Pie Naked Mile

Total all together: 11

(x) Harry Potter 1
(x) Harry Potter 2
(x) Harry Potter 3
(x) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
( ) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
( ) Lilo & Stitch

Total all together: 15

( ) Finding Nemo
( ) Finding Neverland
( ) Signs
( ) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
( ) 13 Going on 30
(x) I, Robot
(x) Robots

Total all together: 17

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(x) Along Came Polly
( ) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
( ) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
(x) King Kong

Total all together: 23

( ) A Cinderella Story
( ) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
( ) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving Christmas
(x) Flubber

Total all together: 25

( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
( ) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
( ) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards

Total all together : 25

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child's Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
( ) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
( ) Nightmare on Elm Street
( ) Sixteen Candles
( ) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
(x) The Longest Yard
( ) Gridiron Gang
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask

Total all together: 28

(x) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Seven
(x) Ocean's Eleven
( ) Ocean's Twelve
( ) Bourne Identity
( ) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(x) Ice Age
(x) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George

Total all together: 32

(x) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
( ) Maid in Manhattan
( ) War of the Worlds
( ) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2

Total all together: 34

( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
( ) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf's Tribe
( ) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
(x)The 40-year-old-virgin

Total all together: 35

( ) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
( ) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
( ) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
( ) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
( ) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
( ) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Total all together : 35

( ) BASEketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
( ) Elf
( ) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three

Total all together: 35

(x) The Jackal (assuming that this is the original 1973 'The Day of
the Jackal')
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Full Metal Jacket
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard

Total all together: 40

( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
( ) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
( ) Hook
(x) Chronicle Of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
( ) 28 days Later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
(x) Waterworld (though may never have seen it all)

total all together: 42

( ) Kill Bill vol 1
( ) Kill Bill vol 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) The Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness

Total all together : 42

( ) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
( ) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
( ) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars A New Hope
( ) Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back
( ) Star Wars Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks the caravan of courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor

Total all together: 43

( ) The Matrix
( ) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions (slept through the whole thing)
( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
(x) Team America: World Police
( ) Silence of the Lambs
( ) Hannibal
( ) Red Dragon
(x) Anger Management (a terrible film!)

Total: 46

I am posh, apparently.

UNPOSH SECTION

▪ [] Lived in a terraced house
▪ [] Lived in a council house
▪ [] Don't have a back garden
▪ [] Shared a room with brother/sister
▪ [x] Went to a state primary school
▪ [x] Went to a state secondary school
▪ [] Left school at 16
▪ [x] Own Reebok clothing
▪ [x] Own tracksuit bottoms
▪ [] Own Burberry clothing
▪ [] Own a football shirt
▪ [x] Own Fred Perry clothing
▪ [] Own Puma clothing
▪ [] Have done graffiti
▪ [x] Used overdraft on bank account
▪ [] Shop in Asda/Lidl/Aldi/Morrisons
▪ [x] Shopped in TK Maxx
▪ [x] Shopped in Matalan
▪ [] Smoker
▪ [] Use 'prick/wanker' regularly
▪ [] Have a tattoo
▪ [] Piercing [not ears]
▪ [] Drink Lager/Cider
▪ [] Parent(s) is/are unemployed
▪ [] Parent who earns under £15,000 a year
▪ [] Both parents earn under £15,000 a year
▪ [] Parent(s) in Trade Unions
▪ [] House has fewer than 3 bedrooms
▪ [] Live in an urban area
▪ [] Don't own a car
▪ [] Own a car older than K reg
▪ [] Support a football club
▪ [] Member of a Snooker club
▪ [x] Own a bike
▪ [x] Been on a Caravan holiday
▪ [] Had summer holiday in Britain more than abroad
▪ [] Been to Lanzarote
▪ [] Been to Costa Del Sol
▪ [x] Been to Blackpool
▪ [x] Have/had a minimum wage job
▪ [] Microwave meals every night
▪ [x] Eat GM food
▪ [] Use the term 'Prep/Jock/Rah' as derisory
▪ [] Hate posh people more than chavs
▪ [x] Parent votes Labour/Lib Dem
▪ [x] Use the NHS
▪ [] Both parents vote labour/Lib Dem
▪ [] Believe tax system favours the rich
▪ [] Hate Margaret Thatcher
▪ [] Love Karl Marx

TOTAL: 15
__________________________
__________________________

POSH SECTION

▪ [] Went to a private primary school
▪ [] Private secondary school
▪ [] Parent is a millionaire
▪ [x] Parent owns a business
▪ [x] Parent is a lawyer
▪ [] Parent is a doctor
▪ [] Parent who earns over £50,000 a year
▪ [] Both parents earn over £50,000 a year
▪ [x] Parents live in a detached house
▪ [x] En-suite bathroom
▪ [] Have a games room
▪ [] Own Jack Wills clothing
▪ [] Designer clothing
▪ [x] Own an item of clothing worth over £100
▪ [x] Savings account with over £5,000
▪ [x] Have your own car
▪ [] Own house/flat
▪ [x] Mobile phone
▪ [x] Ipod
▪ [x] Own tuxedo/prom dress
▪ [] Play an instrument
▪ [] Expensive perfume/aftershave
▪ [x] Shop in Sainsburys/Waitrose
▪ [] Drink Ale/Gin and Tonic
▪ [] Call your parents 'Mummy/Daddy'
▪ [x] Use 'crap/damn' regularly
▪ [] Have a double-barrelled surname
▪ [] Live in the countryside
▪ [x] Parents own a 4x4
▪ [x] Parents own a Mercedes/Jaguar/BMW/Porsche/Audi etc
▪ [x] Parents house has more than 3 bedrooms
▪ [x]Parents have a guest room
▪ [] Member of a gym
▪ [] Have private healthcare
▪ [] Member of a golf club
▪ [] Support a Rugby club
▪ [] Do Yoga/Pilates
▪ [x] Been to America
▪ [] Been to Australia
▪ [] Been to Africa
▪ [x] Had summer holidays abroad more than in Britain
▪ [] Eat some organic food
▪ [x] Home cooked meals almost every night
▪ [x] Use the term 'Chav/Pikey/Pleb' as derisory
▪ [x] Hate chavs more than posh people
▪ [x] Parent votes Conservative
▪ [] Both parents vote Conservative
▪ [x] Believe there are too many immigrants in UK
▪ [] Like Margaret Thatcher.
▪ [] Hate Karl Marx

Total: 23

Bicycle

I want a Raleigh Superbe. Also here.

Super Freak

Just watched Little Miss Sunshine. Excellent - Go watch!

Sorry, and 1984

Sorry I haven't written anything for a little while (not that anybody actually reads anything I have to say anyway). I have been rather stressfully house-hunting, which takes up a surprising amount of time.

Anyway, I just thought I would point to some comments I made on Brian's blog, rather than reiterate them here (I am volvo340). Enjoy!

Quiz...

...from Phil.

1. Can you cook? Yes

2. What was your dream growing up? [Or to what did you aspire?] To be rich, and a TV newsreader.

3. What talent do you wish you had? To be able to play the piano.

4. [What is your] F [f]avo[u]rite place? Erm, in my car?

5. [What is your] F [f]avo[u]rite actor? Patrick Stewart

6. What was the last book you read more than once? The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole

7. What zodiac sign are you? Aries

8. [Do you have] A [a]ny T [t]attoos and/or P [p]iercings? Yuck - no!

9. [What is your]W [w]orst H [h]abit? Erm, chewing my nails.

10. [What is your] F [f]avo[u]rite snack? Kettle chips!

11. What is your favo[u]rite sport? Tennis, perhaps.

12. Do you have a Negative [pessimistic] or O [o]ptimistic attitude [nature]? Optimistic, definitely.

13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me? Wait to be rescued...

14. [What was the] B [b]est thing to ever happen to you? Getting into Cambridge.

15. Tell me one weird fact about you[rself]. Erm, I hate bananas.

16. Do you have any pets? No.

17. Do you know how to do the Macarena? I used to, and there's a video of me teaching a new year's eve party to do it in 1997.

18. What time is it where you are now? 14:14

19. Do you think [that] clowns are cute or scary? Neither - stupid. But more scary than cute.

20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be? Make my nose smaller.

21. Would you be my partner in crime or my conscience? [n.b. I don't know what this one's supposed to mean either!] Definitely your conscience.

22. What colo[u]r eyes do you have? Blue.

23. [Have you] E [e]ver been arrested? [All answers in five part harmony with full orchestration if possible please.] Nope.

24. Bottle or Draft [draught]? Bottle (though for me I will assume it refers to coke, not beer).

25. If you won $10,000 dollars [£5,133.64] today, what would you do with it? Put it in my bank, and stroke my balance. And buy a 15-inch MacBook Pro.

26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew? Hate gum - makes me ill!

27. What's your favo[u]rite bar to hang at? Surely I should hang out at a bar? Erm, The Anchor, maybe?

28. Do you believe in ghosts? No, most certainly not.

29. [What is your] F [f]avo[u]rite thing to do in your spare time? Surf the net!

30. Do you swear a lot? Fuck yeah!

31. [What is your] B [b]iggest pet peeve? That faculty staff feel that by their status they have carte blanche to talk audibly in the library.

32. In one word, how would you describe yourself? Sensible.

33. In one word, how would you describe me? ASNaC

34. Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you [or indeed for any other reason]?

digital tv

Gosh, for somebody who doesn't actually watch TV, I sure spend a lot of time posting about it!

Anyway, my thought of the day is about the news of the impending switch-over to digital TV, meaning that instead of 4 okay channels, we get 4 okay channels, plus 30 other dreadful channels to waste our time flicking through and our lives in front. Also, from what I gather at home, my mother, who may not be the most technology savvy person in the world shall we say, was pretty much unable to watch TV from the moment our house got freeview, because it was just so complicated: 4 remotes, different channel settings, and cables everywhere. And to be honest I sympathise, despite me being somebody with a Cambridge degree, two computers, a PDA, iPod, digicam etc. It is horrendously complicated. And further still, a big problem we have at home is crappy digital signal. Now with analog, if you had crappy signal, the picture was just a bit fuzzy, and it was still watchable. But with digital, even the slightest hint of interference made the channel a jerky boxy mess that was totally useless. So, for example, in our front room at home, we cannot get ITV. Which is retarded. 

I'm sure that you are all, dear readers, capable of extrapolating the point of all this to the general population, without me having to spell it out (old people, etc etc).

Anyway, just my thought of the day, to provide at least a semblance of an attempt to write something every day.

30 in 30?

Doing this would be quite cool, but it's so not going to happen, so I shall not pledge to it. It's not because I don't have anything to say, it's just that I inevitably think of them either as soon as I write another post and I don't want to be overzealous, or it's in bed and I have forgotten by the morning.

Anyway, somehow my brain has managed to recover the content of my thoughts in bed last night. On saturday, I watched Bowling for Columbine, upon Brian's recommendation. Three things struck me from it. 

1. It would have had more credibility has Michael Moore not been in charge (the image of him on Team America just stuck in my mind, and he became his caricature).

2. The culture of fear in the US, and to a similar extent in the UK is really quite depressing. Since I stopped watching television three and a half years ago, I have become very cynical of TV news reporting. And to think, for all my teens I wanted to be a news reader (albeit on the BBC)! It really was a sign of our times when the film showed us a long row of talkers telling the story of a shooting in gory detail to all their different networks, and how the camera crews just go nonchalantly from one tragedy to the next.

3. Guns are scary. They are quite possibly the most evil thing in the world. Killing with a gun is so easy. You're so detached, and have to go to virtually nil physical effort. A person has so much effort put into their lives: parents cradling them, watching them crawl, begin to walk, first day in school, happy days at the beach. Then suddenly, in less than 5 seconds, it all ends with a piece of metal, not even two inches long, being launched into your head at supersonic speeds. You stand no chance, it's so final. I just cannot understand what possessed people to invent such barbarism. A knife by comparison is a tame weapon - you need contact, and as such you stand more of a chance of breaking free, disabling the assailant, removing the weapon from the scene. But against a gun, you stand no chance whatsoever, and it terrifies me - I have to close my eyes and ears every time a gun is involved in a movie scene, because I just cannot cope with it. 

I don't really know what I'm trying to achieve with this post, probably nothing, but it feels a little liberating to explain my fears in writing (as well as the impressive feat of actually remembering what I wanted to write!)

i'm wide awake, it's morning

I found some new music I liked today, something that had been sitting on my HDD for ages, but I just could not be bothered to listen to it. You know how it is, you have your set artists that you listen to intensively for a period (for me at the moment, Interpol, Death Cab for Cutie, The Feeling, The Fratellis and Lily Allen [more below]). However, for the past couple of weeks, I have been in that transition phase where I don't really know what I want to listen to so I just let iTunes choose things at random and inspire me, but sadly without much inspiration. So today, I set out to discover The Arcade Fire. I had heard their new single 'No Cars Go' on Radio 2 on saturday afternoon, and enjoyed it. Then something from their old album came on in the interlude at Lily Allen last night, so today I dug out the copy Maddy had given me as part of a CD one time, but that I had just ignored because I didn't know it. And let me say that it is good - so good in fact that I felt I knew most of the songs already, as they were being played! So finally, I think I might have something that will enable me to give Interpol a little rest - I'm scared of getting bored of them! And just for the sake of completeness, I also listened to the Bright Eyes for the first time, hence the title of this post.

Aaaaaand, as I hinted to above, I went to see Lily Allen in concert at the Hammersmith Apollo last night. She was great, albeit a bit pissed. She covered Blondie's 'Heart of Glass', and the Kaiser Chiefs' 'Oh My God' - both brilliant! One complaint I had though, and this is true of pretty much every concert I have been to, is that the music is so loud that it both drowns out the singer, and seems to 'max-out' the speakers, so everything sounds treble-y and strained. I hope somebody else knows what I mean. Anyway, the best thing about the whole night was my driving: I drove into pretty much central London for the first time in my life, and thankfully, it went well. One tiny hiccough on the way, when I naively followed the signs rather than my good sense and the map and google earth, but we got back on track pretty soon and relatively stress-free, so that was good. Finally, do take a look at Brian's blog post about Lily - I agree fully with his wisdom!

Second Class Citizens

Two little things that irritated me yesterday, and I thought were worthy of comment:

1. Some workmen were coming to do something in our set yesterday morning. As is usual among college staff, the courtesy of discovering whether people are in and dressed and ready and willing to answer the door was lost on the maintenance staff. A ferocious knock was followed immediately by the jingle of keys heading swiftly towards the lock. Thankfully I had just finished getting into my jeans, so I was decent, but I quite possibly could not have been. Surely it is common courtesy to wait until you are let in to somebody's room, or at least wait a good few seconds to establish that there is nobody there in order to enter with a master key? Of course, I realise that my room is College property, but think about it - if I had visitors in my house, I would not barge in on the room in which they are staying without knocking and waiting for a reply first. It strikes me as rude, inconsiderate, and potentially very embarrassing for all parties concerned.

2. When the workmen came in, one of them mentioned that there would be drilling, and that he had better go and inform some of the people living around, to apologise. The head of maintenance who was with them dismissed this instantly, saying "it will wake them!". Might I
add that it was 9am. Now, College is an educational establishment, full of hard-working students. The people upstairs from us might well have been up half the night finishing an essay, and using the morning to catch up on some sleep to recover before working in the afternoon.
Surely it should be common courtesy to at the very least apologise to those people that their slumber is about to be disturbed by an 18-inch drill hacking away at concrete walls underneath their beds? No, of course not, we are simply the vermin that inconvenience the staff by occupying their precious rooms, making it more difficult for them to do their work.

So, this is not on. I am sick of being a second-class citizen in what is my home. I am therefore really looking forward to being free of student accommodation next year - I have had 4 years of it, I am a grown-up, and I think it is high time that I become an English(Welsh)man in my own castle.

A lovely day

It's a really lovely day today, which makes me feel good about the world. How terribly shallow and British of me! I must admit, I am starting to look forward to summer, which is possibly a first for me. Summer in Cambridge is gorgeous, and today reminded me how much I love this city. I should really go out and enjoy the day, but unfortunately I have not done any work for what seems like a week, and I really need to get some serious reading done for my thesis. Honestly - I have far too much time to do this - I need some pressure to work more efficiently!!!!

Oh, and my bicycle seat has suddenly, after two years, started to hurt my derriere. I have no idea why. I might try to cycle less over the next few days and see if I fix myself.

TV Licensing

TV Licensing irks me no end.

Today, I received an "OFFICIAL WARNING" that a visit from an enforcement officer was imminent, because I do not have a TV licence. I am proud to not have a television licence, because I do not have a television, nor do I watch television. I have not regularly watched television broadcasts since I left home in 2003, preferring to live my own life rather than watching others live their fake ones. I buy DVDs and watch them on my laptop if I want to have entertainment, or I go to the cinema.

Anyway, my point is that I despise being treated as a criminal for simply not conforming to how most people live their lives. It does not seem to cross the minds of TV Licensing people that some people simply choose not to have a TV, and that everyone who does not have a licence is trying to rip them out of their £131.50.

My other gripe is that it is a criminal sanction. The BBC, which granted is a public body, is not the government, thus I object to being subjected to possible criminal sanctions for not paying them their fee for me watching their programmes. Surely this is a contract: I agree to pay the fees for receiving their television signals, pure and simple. If I receive their programmes without paying, they should sue me. They should not prosecute me.

Finally, and this is probably a stupid point but it annoys me nonetheless: what if I have a television, but actively do not watch the BBC? TV Licensing, which is a subsidiary company of the BBC, say that if I watch ANY television as it is being broadcast, then I need a licence. Well actually, the licence fee pays for the BBC, so why should I pay it if I am not receiving anything back from the BBC? Granted I have the possibility of watching the BBC, but since when has having the means of breaking the law been sanctioned? I am not fined for driving my car, that conceivably is capable of breaking the speed limit. I choose not to, and so I do not have to pay the fine. Surely that analogy should apply to television signals?

Anyway, that's just some food for thought. As for food for my stomach, well the smell coming from the kitchen is telling me that it is ready...

Smoking..

I know that this is a very old story, but it was linked from a more recent one. It's very funny, and written with its tongue very firmly in cheek - I thought the BBC was meant to be impartial!!

Kidnap to Adoption?

This is very strange indeed, and makes for very uncomfortable reading. What the article does not do is try to offer an explanation why on earth the boy did not do something about his situation, given that he was as far from a captive as he could have been. But then if he was happy where he was, as he seemed to be, I feel very uncomfortable that he was returned to his family - did anybody ask him? Perhaps he didn't want to go home, and enjoyed his life with Mr Devlin, only for his world to be shattered by the cavalry. I'm probably wrong, but I can't help thinking this.

On a happier note, the fact that France wanted to be ruled by the Queen is kind of cool! Imagine how different the world would have been if Britain and France were the same country: The United Kingdom of Great Britain, France and Northern Ireland. Lol. I think it would have had a fabulous positive effect on our culture. Oh well, never mind, we can go and sample what we missed by going there on holiday!

A night out.

I actually had a proper night out last night, possibly for the first time ever. I had dinner at home, then went with the MCR to the Pickerel, where i had a glass of Pinot Grigio, then I went to Criminology pub which was just finishing at the Anchor and carried on in Darwin college bar, where I proceeded to have another two or three glasses of wine. To top it all off, I went to Gardi's where I met a few members of the MCR to eat greek burger with cheesy chips, and to walk (I think there was some running involved too) home with.

The strange thing is this however, I don't think I felt drunk. I don't think I have ever felt drunk. What is it supposed to feel like? Perhaps I didn't drink enough, but given that I have never really drunk any alcohol until about two months ago, I hardly think I have developed a tolerance for it, and four glasses of wine should be enough to at least render some level of inebriation in anybody. I certainly felt a bit rough when I got to bed, but I think that's quite natural after eating bits of toothpaste-consistency cow. Definitely no hangover in the morning either, I don't think, but again I don't know what that feels like: I felt a bit shitty, but then I was woken up at 9am to go invigilating, and it was no worse than any other morning (and Brian would know how dead I am in the morning!). Oh well, we'll see what happens next time...if there is a next time.

Various musings...

I like doing that full stop thing... don't I?

Anyway, here are a few things occupying my mind at the moment. Firstly, I have had new glasses, but to be honest I am not sure about them. Don't worry - they are not intended as a replacement for the black ones, but just as a bit of variety, particularly with a suit. Although, in that picture they don't look too bad!

I am very into Wil Wheaton's blog at the moment - his post about Star Trek: The Experience is very sweet - though it makes me really want to visit Las Vegas! In case you don't know, he played Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and is now a proud thirty-something computer geek. Also he has a mac - respect. (Unfortunately he has the Pro laptop, which is really annoying, as it makes me hugely jealous: the computer of my dreams!!). Oh well, someday maybe - this one is tough and brilliantly portable at the moment.

Also, I promised myself not to get excited about the newly announced iPhone, but to be honest, I am slightly. To buy one would mean throwing out all my high horse beliefs about multi-use devices (Cameramusicphones? Tosh! Buy a decent camera, iPod and a Nokia telephone, I say!), but I must say the functionality of a telephone along with a Mac OSX does sound tempting. Don't worry though, I have a feeling that it will be a long time before it will be available in the UK.

I finished my criminological and legal psychology essay today, I think. Which means all I have to do now is polish that one and my research methods essay before handing them in on Tuesday. That means I should have a relatively quiet weekend, not that I have anything exciting happening over the weekend to look forward to!

Oh, as an update to my really old post about Cambridge Trinity Street Post Office: I was there today, and was again pleasantly surprised by the huge improvement in the quality of service. Good job since the redesign - they clearly buried the old battleaxe in the concrete before re-opening!

Hello again..

Hello again. 364 days since my last post. Oh well! Anyway, I thought I'd give blogger a go again, having changed my page layout, and getting frustrated with the feelings of big-headedness that posting onto people's LiveJournal friends page seems to elicit.

So what have I got to say? Erm, not a huge amount in this post as it is just a "hello", but do take a look at my flickr photos.