It's Over... Again!!!

Yoinked from Bangkok of the Mind

Happy Valentine's Day! I awoke to both a chocolate cake and a copy of "The Marvel Vault" which was more than a little nice.

I was so pleased to finish work yesterday evening, rushing home to have a nice night in the local with a new menu, random folks and amusing haircuts. I still don't feel like I've got the whole of next week off (punctuated only by an interview on Tuesday morning)... but I'm sure I will soon!!

Erm.. Jim is currently petitioning for me to go get him a sandwich... so I'll need to go find some clothes (not an easy task these days I'm sure there's a t-shirt stealing monster in the bedroom) and head on down to Somerfield... joy... Love ya Jim! x

So just for Jim, today we have Josh Hartnett...



This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Splutter

There I was sitting in the break room at work, sipping gluging my Diet Coke and reading The Economist with This Morning playing in the background. I look up as they were playing something even more annoying than usual (a Youtube style video of a kid pretending to be Mr Bean) when suddenly... a Shadow Man walks across the screen! Of course the kid was on to talk about his encounter...

AH!! I do not want to see Shadow People on telly! This is why I do not watch day time telly... that and the fact that Eamonn Holmes makes my head hurt.

Grr...

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

I Surrender

I'm waving the white flag as we speak. You win life. I give up. I suck, you rule etc.

I suck at pretty much everything I've ever turned my incompetent hand to, I'm a total clutz and I couldn't even get suicide right. I'm an unqualified failure. So please, just give me a break for once.

All I ask is one small thing to cheer me up. A day without that now familiar refrain "There are insufficient funds in your account" or without some person moaning at me down the phone. A day without me breaking something, hurting someone or putting something off that can easily be done now.

All I ask is for one day without worrying, without wishing I was someone else. Is that really too much to ask?

Probably but hey doesn't hurt to try.

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

The 4 Hour Commute

In a bid to avoid coming back to our flat where, we discovered as we left on Saturday morning, there is no heating we decided to commute from Lympne to London this morning... who knew there could be such a lot of traffic so early in the morning???

Then the District Line got suspended and I began an underground adventure. Joy. I was half glad to get to work for once...

Dear Constant Reader, a rather large event in my life is currently being discussed and contemplated and whilst I can't guarantee you will be the first to know what it is, I can guarantee you will be told pretty quickly after the first person.

But for now on to more pressing questions such as: Why do I not own an Edward Mendez???



Yoinked from World Asian Beauty.

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Before There Was Blogging...

... there was Paramount Comedy Mailbox. And, praise be, there still is Mailbox! God, that used to be a must read on teletext. Remember teletext?? Happy days (which is annoyingly my current most quoted phrase which I say randomly throughtout the day annoying others and myself. Must stop that).

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Pedigree Chum

Darn it. I've caught the genealogy bug again. I'm in Lympne for the weekend and there wasn't much else to do...

But did work out I'm about 80% Kentish. Woohoo!! I like knowing where I came from, and that despite everything I come from the same place as a large part of my modern ancestors. Happy times.

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

It's Another Day Closer

Yoinked from Eyecatcher

Today I had a literacy test at Plan B in preparation for an interview. Quite dumbstruck by just how many people have applied for the job. Need to buck up my ambition if I'm going to get this job even though I have been doing it already for 4 months. That sort of thing doesn't count at by the book Plan B where I am just another applicant.

A new intranet was launched today with zero bugs. That just goes to show what can be done in a proper company quite unlike how things worked at EO.

And in other news... it's nearly the weekend and I still have fallen over on the ice outside. This surely cannot last!

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Noooo... Snow

The snow has started to melt even in Greenwich. Much sadness. Although my street remains resolutely snowy with the paths now turned into icy death traps. I've managed 3 days without falling over, so I suspect the ice will stay around a little longer just to catch me out. Always the way.

I've got myself an interview for a permanent job at Plan B on the 17th (my week off, d'oh!). Wish me luck... although I'm still hoping furiously I'll win the lottery soon.

I've started writing again, as in stories rather than just this lovely blog! God, I've missed that, even if it is all pretentious crap that I'd never let anyone read in a million years to avoid too much shame.

Just started rereading The Ballad of Halo Jones (US Amazon) again for the first time in ages. God I love that book. It's so melancholy. Mmm...

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Report From Ground Zero

If one is to believe all the folks I encountered commuting today, and the Evening Standard, then London suffered some sort of cataclysim yesterday and someone is going to pay.

6 million people didn't go to work for a day? What happened? Erm... they didn't go to work. There were a couple of fatal accidents (I bet that involved people GOING TO WORK) but otherwise nobody suffered too much. 99.9999999999% of everyone has made it through to another day and most of them happier for the snow.

Sure today's journey to work was... interesting. But even though my journey took 75% more time than usual I still made it in on time. How? Because I plan for these sort of eventualities, no need to moan about it. That's life.

On the train home (which arrived as advertised and was busy but no more so than when there are even a couple of minutes of delays on a normal day) people were moaning about how come this country goes to pot over a little bit of snow. Erm... it's not the whole country, just the south east and we go to pot because it's an event, not a normal occurrence.

Best news stories today were about "pavements in residential streets not cleared" (erm, if the residents were so concerned why didn't they go out and clear the path outside their own property???) and people falling down the stairs at Waterloo station (with pictures showing none of the "unfortunate victims" were even bothering to use the hand rail provided, idiots). Really folks, it was only a bit of fun. Relax. It's nearly over... which is soooo sad.

I watched the snow starting to melt outside my window at work today and felt the same thing I feel everytime a snow day comes to an end... sadness. This brilliant column by Simon Jenkins pretty much sums up my feelings about the last couple of days.

Tomorrow everything will return to normal and life shall be all the worse for it.

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Snow: Don't Have Your Say

I promise. I'm not reading Have Your Say any more... but... I did read today's snow related one. I think they are even more stupid and more reactionary than the posts about Eurovision.

Snow in the UK always makes me laugh that it makes national news. I have just returned from Chamonix in France where snow does not make the slightest impact on life. In the UK as usual we make a big deal out of it with transport stopping, panic buying, delays etc. I laughed this morning when I saw people just driving cars as normal on snowy roads- and skidding everywhere. What do they think would happen! As usual the UK is not prepared for this...

[wooleywoolhead], Newcastle

They've held the Winter Olympics in Chamonix before, I hardly feel that how they deal with snow compares to how southern Britain deals with it. It's not sensible to compare the two at all, more sensible to compare how parts of north eastern Europe. And this whole "snow doesn't bother them in Europe" is sort of put to rest by this Le Monde article, this Liberation article and this De Morgen article.

Why weren't people working through the night to ensure transport was running?
James, London

Because they have families and lives of their own. Plus people did work through the night to keep the main routes open (which on the whole has been successful)... we can't be expected to fund gritters for every driveway and back road when it snows so infrequently.

If it snows often it pays to be fully prepared with village snow ploughs and chains on your tyres. But if it happens once every other year (and in London it's the worst snow in 18 years) what is the frigging point?

No more moaning, I hope all the nice folks out there enjoy their snow day!!

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Friendly People, Snowy Streets

Having decided that attempting to travel from Greenwich to Hammersmith and back today was probably akin to attempting suicide, I instead headed out to the corner of my street to get supplies for the day... bacon rolls, Diet Coke and Double Deckers seem to be the in thing today.

Despite all the miserable people on telly moaning about "a little bit of snow" (this is not a little bit of snow) "causing such unnecessary chaos" (insert "I made it into work and now I'm pissed no one else did") I found that in my usually 2 minute long walk to the local cafe I held conversation with 3 groups of complete strangers, passing the time of day and hilarious jokes about falling over. I found them, and the lady at the cafe, to be absolutely delighted with the change of pace. Everyone is taking it easy and being all friendly.

Now that's something you don't see on the news.

Those moaning about southern Britain's absolute lack of preparation ignore the fact that it's not really something we NEED to be prepared for. Instead throw off your shoes, call off work and relax. The world will not end.

Parents taking time to play with their children, strangers chatting and smiling in the street and everyone taking their time. We could all learn something from a snow day.

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Well after many months of feverious hope we finally have a snow day!

I'm hoping for ten inches by the end of the day. ;)

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Eurovision In Britain: Permision To Moan

Good Lord above, aren't British people whiny gits? Moan, moan, moan; it's all you hear from the lot of us.

I think it's too much to hope that previous, now gone, generations were any less cynical and downright belligerent. But I still try to imagine that once upon a time there was some optimism and good nature in the collective soul of the British people.

Sure, Eurovision is just a song contest and how people feel about it is hardly the most important topic of our times. But I do feel the reactions to it are indicative of the reactionary, old fogeyism that has settled upon people of all ages in this country. It can be seen in the downright idiotic protectionist protests of the last week (guys we had this argument in the 19th century... free traders won. Let's not start it all up again), and it can be seen in the uncharitible feelings held between all our home nations.

So let's take a look at the wild entries on the BBC's Have Your Say section (for a more regular view at the hilarious/terrifying commentators over there check out spEak You're bRanes)...

It doesn't matter if Jade is the new Madonna, or if the song was the best thing ever written, we still don't stand a chance of winning. Nobody in Europe, especially Eastern Europe likes us or would vote for us, they are only interested in working over here and sending as much money back to their own families and countries. We should give up and let them get on with it. After all, our music speaks for itself on international music charts.
Janet Shaw, Romford, United Kingdom

Ooo... topical. Can't think why Europeans would hate us when we go around saying things like that. Hmm... nope... no reason. You're a self fulfilling prophecy Janet!

Why did Jade not go through the same audition process of the rest of the
hopefuls? Why was she a late entrant? These questions really do need to be addressed to stop the rumours that she was a plant.On the night I thought the twins version was the better eurovision chance
Lesley, Nuneaton

Oh yes, the conspiracy theories, well you saw it here first guys! I mentioned this half heartedly days ago. Her credibility falters at the point she thinks the Twins would be a better choice. Truly Lesley, you must be tone deaf!

Everyone in the uk should boycott this years show and refuse to watch this rubbish until they change the voting system. It is becoming the Slavovision song
contest with the ridiculous childish voting antics that were started years ago
by the Greeks and the Cypriots. They should have stopped them doing it then. Now
it has become the norm. Time to stop this national humiliation every year. Why
do we do it?
Alice Klahr, Kingston

Here's some statistical analysis from 2007 showing that block voting (which does exist but more for cultural reasons and due to more exposure for neighbouring countries songs than political reasons, I mean the Irish hate us but they always seem to give us some points!) is not as prevalent as the likes of Alice and Terry Wogan would have one believe. Plus isn't this a great thing to teach our children, when the odds are stacked against you, just give up! Absolutely wonderful.

It would be easier to state what I do NOT like about the Eurovision Song Content. It is a farce. I have never heard of, seen or heard of this Jade Ewen. And I do not wish to. She is a nobody that one man has chosen to stand up for Britain. It is not valid that one chap will decide and of course he is monied. I hate this contest and feel exactly the same as Terry Wogan about it. I think this year he is not bothering himself about such a fixed, put-up show. J
It's nothing but a farce. Joy
Joy Pattinson, Switzerland

Does anyone really think the BBC would be so stupid as to actually fix the public vote after the last couple of years of scandal? Does Joy even know there was a public vote?

Couldn't care less. I'm not British. And most of all I've not watched this show since my childhood days. I won't until they change the rules, requiring every nation to submit a song in their own language. Actually the idea of such an event is great and could be a symbol of European integration just as much as the Euro currency, but in it's current form it is not even worth watching as a joke.
[markus_uk], United Kingdom

You have some strong opinions for someone who couldn't care less.

Honestly, sometimes I think the whole country is just full of dreary sceptics and cynics.

Good luck to Jade, fingers crossed for a victory! And if you don't win, at least you gave it a shot. That is really what counts after all.

Right... I need a Dima moment to calm myself down.



Plenty to moan about there, but no complaints ;)

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Jade Ewen To Represent The United Kingdom At Eurovision

The final show of "Your Country Needs You", Britain's latest Eurovision selection show, aired last night revealing both the UK's entrant and song choice for the 2009 Eurovision song contest in Moscow (and also featuring the ever gorgeous Eurovision 2008 winner Dima Bilan)

Jade Ewen was brought into the programme after the official selection process had finished suggesting she had always been the production teams choice over a rather lacklustre group of 5 other entrants. Whilst awkward on stage she certainly does have the requisite singing and dancing ability. Plus she looks good too.

At the same time the new song, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren, was unveiled. "My Time" is, unsuprisingly, heavily influenced by the musicals so beloved of the two writers. My only concern is it seems less like one of the big numbers and more like one of the filler songs such as "Castle On A Cloud" in Les Mis. They're good but not memorable or remarkable.

However given that our last stellar performance was the third place "Come Back" by Jessica Garlick in 2002, another ballad by a female solo artist, perhaps this is our best hope in years.

The fact the song has been chosen fairly early and the BBC news story about the selection suggests Jade is to tour Europe promoting the song bodes well for once (have they been reading my blog where I've been bleating on about European promotion for years? ;) )

Good luck Jade, bring it home!!

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Another Week Over With. Thank The Gods.

This week at work. Yuck. I did get a really nice compliment from a tenant who said that he always likes to speak to me as "Mr Jason is a gentleman and always does what he says he will do" (I'd say half the tenants I speak to call me Mr Jason, it's a south Asian thing I think). I also got a thank you card from an old lady who now thinks I am the bestest and refers to me as Jasey. But nevertheless when 5.00pm came last night I was out of my seat and out the door quicker than a member of the House of Lords accepting money to change legislation.

Tonight we find out who is to represent Britain at Eurovision. Our choise is a pretty boy, a plant (Jade was brought in after the selection stage) and a pair of twins who can't sing. My money's on the twins who can't sing. British people are gluttons for punishment.

Bought a box of Starbars at Makro last weekend. This makes Jae a billion times happy.

Thanks to this site I have a whole new appreciation for Paul Licuria. YUM! Aussie Rules just gets better and better...

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

It's Cold Outside

Oh I nearly forgot! Did you hear Red Dwarf is coming back for special at Easter on Dave? How flipping cool is that? Red Dwarf is one of the best comedy shows of our times.



My favourite piece of dialogue:

Rimmer : Step up to Red Alert!
Kryten : Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb

Aww.. bliss.

Now smeg off!

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Ways To Make Money 1: Rile Up The English

I have upset some rather brash and cynical "English" folk over on Walk This World with a badly written and ill thought out rant (is there any other kind?) but the plus point of this is... I got so many hits! And of course some Google Ad revenue came my way. Even as they fling insults at me, each one is helping me out just a little bit. I don't think I should tell them how much I appreciate that as I think their heads might explode with their misdirected anger. Bless them. They have accused me of being a northerner, posh and worse still... English. One is not posh. One is from Snodland.

Currently sitting here contemplating the bag Mini Reese's Cups which Jim has arranged to collect from an American friend he is meeting on a business trip to Paris today, which I can't wait to get when he gets home. Yum yum!! Feeling rather lovey dovey at the moment, more so than usual and that was before Jim announced Reese's Cups were on the horizon... Gotta love the Jim!

A few weeks ago I saw this truly gorgeous man on the District line. The sort of guy who would usually become the subject of an instant crush, stalker dossier and all. But I managed to maintain my composure and forgot about him... until I got on a train at Earls Court and there he was... You will be pleased to hear, Dear Constant Reader, that I managed to keep repeating "You have Jim. You have Jim. You have Jim." which allowed me not to follow him towards Tesco's at Hammersmith when we got off the train (it was my original destination but I know what I'm like... I refuse to get another idiotic childish crush ever again). How proud of me are you?? Because this guy was, and I'm going to say it now, more attractive than MT!

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Slowly Goes

Thanks to a direct debit mishap this week up to yesterday has been a little... tough. I have to say food never looked as nice as the TWO jumbo chocolate croissants I had for breakfast yesterday after a week of "one meal a day" days.

Work. Work is stressing me out right now... nothing runs smoothly there and I'm constantly surprised as each new disaster presents itself to me. But Darkblade has been sighted a couple of times which has cheered me somewhat, even if he isn't really a proper crush but instead just the best of a average looking bunch of men there. But I have applied for a permanent position. I'm a glutton for punishment.

I've now officially finished all the books bought for me at Christmas. Which is a lot of books. I think I am now well prepared for a zombie apocalypse though. Thanks zombie book buyers!


On the television front: Your Country Needs You (the new Eurovision act selection programme) has settled into a boring, but more respectful, talent show format. Yawn.

Demons has not improved, and has an ever decreasing amount of naked flesh from Christian Cooke. Let's face it, it really is the only reason most people watch the show.



Total Wipeout, however, is a Saturday night gem. As a Ninja Warrior fan I was a bit worried it would be total crap. But some of the contestants have been so bad that it has been unerringly funny.


But of course top of the television stakes this year so far is, of course, the second series of the new Gladiators. And I say this as someone who considers anything shown on Sky 1 must have any good points halved just for being made by the Evil Empire (News Corporations other name). And I don't even just like it for the half naked muscular men getting rough with the contestants... but...

Spartan from Gladiators is my belated man of 2008 and my early nomination for man of 2009. He is gorgeous! Some have complained about having his legs wrapped around them on hang tough. Trust me, I would not be complaining...

Plus Goliath has added a little extra "shit my pants he's so big and scary" factor to the show this time round.

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Eurovision 2009 - Moscow

Event

After Dima's victory in Belgrade Eurovision will this year be held in Moscow, Russia. Given world events since the last contest this is not without some controversy but after initially pulling out even Georgia has agreed to attend. Then Georgia wrote a song that the European Broadcasting Union decided was political (whereas Peace Will Come was without politics?? Madness) and so Georgia pulled out again.

The voting system has, yet again, been tweaked to try to get rid of accusations of politcal bias. Wiki says it best:

In response to some broadcasters' continued complaints about politically charged, neighbourly and diaspora voting, the EBU evaluated the voting procedure used in the contest, with the possibility of a change in the voting system for 2009. Contest organisers sent a questionnaire regarding the voting system to participating broadcasters, and a reference group incorporated the responses into their suggestions for next year's format.[11] Telewizja Polska (TVP), the Polish broadcaster, suggested that an international jury similar to the one used in the 2008 Eurovision Dance Contest be introduced in the Eurovision Song Contest to lessen the impact of neighbourly voting and place more emphasis on the artistic value of the song. A jury would lead to less political and diaspora voting as the jury members, mandated to be music industry experts, would also have a say in addition to "random members of the public".

It has since been confirmed that for the contest final, each country's votes will be decided by a combination of 50% televoting results and 50% national jury. The method of selecting the semi-final qualifiers will remain the same, however, with nine countries in each semi-final which qualified based on the televoting results, and a tenth coming from the juries. Details on the jury method will be released after another Reference Group meeting in December. National juries were originally phased out of the contest beginning in 1997, with televoting becoming mandatory for nearly all participants since 2003.

Edgar Böhm, director of entertainment for Austria's public broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), has stated that the 2008 format with two semi-finals "still incorporates a mix of countries who will be politically favoured in the voting process," and "that, unless a clear guideline as to how the semifinals are organised is made by the EBU, Austria will not be taking part in Moscow 2009." Despite the inclusion of jury voting in the final, Austria will not return to the contest in 2009, but will broadcast the final on ORF as it did in 2008.

The official site

Eurovision 2009 on Wikipedia

Totty



Sakis Rouvas is back! After representing Greece in 2004 and hosting the contest in 2006 our favourite sexy Greek returns to represent his country once again! Here he is back in 2004...



Complete Songs and Contestants

Albania: "Më merr në ëndërr" - Kejsi Tola
Andorra: "La teva decisió" - Susanne Georgi
Armenia: "Nor Par" - Inga & Anush
Azerbaijan "Always" - AySel
Belarus: "Eyes That Never Lie" - Petr Elfimov
Belgium: "Copycat" - Copycat
Bosnia and Herzegovina: "Bistra voda" - Regina
Bulgaria: "Illusion" - Krassimir Avramov
Croatia: "Liepa Tena" - Igor Cukrov feat. Andrea
Cyprus: "Firefly" - Christina Metaxa
Czech Republic: "Aven Romale" - Gipsy.cz
Denmark: "Believe Again" - Niels Brinck
Estonia: "Rändajad" - Urban Symphony
Finland: "Lose Control" - Waldo's People
France: "Et s'il fallait le faire" - Patricia Kaas
FYR Macedonia: "Neshto shto ke ostane" - Next Time
Germany: "Miss Kiss Kiss Bang" - Alex Swings Oscar Sings
Greece: "This Is Our Night" - Sakis Rouvas
Hungary: "Magányos csónak" - Kátya Tompos
Iceland: "Is It True?" - Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir
Ireland: "Et Cetera" - Sinead Mulvey & Black Daisy
Israel: "There Must Be Another Way" - Noa and Mira Awad
Latvia: "Probka" - Intars Busulis
Lithuania: "Love" - Sasha Son
Malta: "What If We" - Chiara
Moldova: "Hora din Moldova" - Nelly Ciobanu
Montenegro: "Just Get Out of My Life" - Andrea Demirović
The Netherlands: "Shine" - De Toppers
Norway: "Fairytale" - Alexander Rybak
Poland: "I Don't Wanna Leave" - Lidia Kopania
Portugal: "Todas as ruas do amor" - Flor-de-Lis
Romania: "The Balkan Girls" - Elena Gheorghe
Russia: "Mamo" - Anastasiya Prykhodko
Serbia: "Cipela" - Marko Kon and Milaan
Slovenia: "Love Symphony" - Quartissimo feat. Martina Majerle
Spain: "La noche es para mí" - Soraya Arnelas
Switzerland: "The Highest Heights" - Lovebugs
Sweden: "La voix" - Malena Ernman
Turkey: "Düm Tek Tek" - Hadise
Ukraine: "Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl)" - Svetlana Loboda
United Kingdom: "My Time" - Jade Ewen

God Bless America

When this blog began way back in 2001 most sensible people thought Dubya was an idiot. 8 years on and I feel most people in general feel the same. Thank The Flying Spaghetti Monster for the end of his time in office. Long may Barack Obama reign (not exceeding two full terms of course...)

However... I must take umbrage at the opening words of his speech:

My fellow citizens:
I stand here today humbled by the task before us,
grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our
ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the
generosity and co-operation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath....

Woo there... 44? I think he means 43 for though Grover Cleveland might be counted twice and also be of a rather large size he does not really constitute two Americans. Time for someone's speech writer to be sent to school.

If I've got the wrong end of the stick please let me know...

Anyway far be it from me to take issue with a speech of the man who showed George W. Bush to the helicopter that took him away from the White House. Even if his presidency turns into a disaster he deserves to be remembered in history for having done the world that service.

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

All I Need Is A Little Time

All I need is a little time
To get behind this sun and cast my weight,
All I need is a peace of this mind,
Then I can celebrate

Ho hum. Today was spent in relative isolation at work having been moved to yet another new desk. In the background was the ever bubbly Rochelle who kept insisting I needed a hug or something to cheer me up even though I wasn't feeling that bad. Just your average Monday morning blues.

Finally managed to recharge my iPod which meant I had a lovely musical accompainment on my way to and from work. The greats of course were featured such as "Touch Me (I Want To Feel Your Body) by Sam Fox and "Soccer Practice" by Jonny McGovern





You can hardly call my musical tastes high brow!

Speaking of which... I've begun work on my pre-Eurovision post which should be ready by next week. :D

My current crush at work, a man whose name puts you in mind of some great fantasy figure such as Malus Darkblade (and his name from now on will be Darkblade which is actually not far from his real name) made an appearance on my floor today with his booming voice and sturdy body. He is a wonder.

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

2000 Posts!!! TL;DR

Wow. Sure many blogs as old as mine reached 2000 posts many years ago. Many blogs much younger than mine have too. But that doesn't stop me being immensely happy at reaching this total! 2000 entries here and still going 7 and bit years after it all started. Thanks, Dear Constant Reader, for sticking with me through the ups and downs!

Ahhhh!! Uni Time!! was begun in August 2001. I was 18, living at home in the summer before university, and I saw an article in the Guardian's Tech supplement one Thursday about this nifty new phenomenon called blogging and as a seasoned diary writer I decided to start one for myself. It was garish and insignificant and I soon lost interested.

Then I went to university and I started writing about my block, and renamed the blog Block 33. By December my lack of money and poor mental health meant the posts started to drop. I don't think the posts there really even begin to show how dark my feelings were during those couple of months and how really close I came on several occasions to just ending it all. It sounds melodramatic and unnecessary to me know, but hey it's the truth! And then Steps split up. Tragedy. In retrospect those first few weeks at university with Cheesy Dave and all the glorious fun of Brighton turned out to be the last few truly happy times for a long while.

January 2002. I ran away. Stupid me. I sucked at running away too. But I did have some fun times and I still remember most of the trip like it was yesterday. The weirdness of exploring London, of knocking Boy George over outside Broadcasting House, of joining protests, then travelling to France and spending my first night alone in a foreign country, travelling without reason and finding the back streets, the dodgy hotels, the humourous characters, discovering the beautiful Valance, joining more protests, eating paninis on the cold wintery French rivera, returning to Italy, loving Florence all over again, discovering Rome was a shithole, watching young love blossom on the platforms of Gare Du Nord. It was all so lovely. But bittersweet. I went out to France a scaredy cat who'd never really learnt to communicate with others. I came back two weeks later a little braver and a little less messed up.

February 2002... I got myself a job at the Euro Millennium Hotel which would soon become... Faulty Towers Hotel. Hence the url for this blog now. From then until June that year I sort of started my recovery. It was funny how messed up I was, I even got booked in for a counsellor. But as the months past and the appointment got nearer (this is the NHS after all!) I stopped being so down. There were good times... the Hardc0re 3 (me, Pete and Laura) wrecked havoc upon the bars and pubs of Folkestone. And best of all I got more friendly with Zoe, and where would I be without her? Blockbuster video evenings and random trip were just around the corner. Love ya Zoe!

By June 2002 my life was getting back on track. Sort of. I mean, I was back going out with Stephen in our on again off again sort of way (did we ever break up properly? I don't think so. I think officially we're probably still going out together which is slightly disturbing). Eurotunnel, Ben (mmm... Ben...), all the cute Folkestonian boys, getting regular pay and enjoying myself. Random names pop to mind, Andy the barman who was only extremely attractive when wearing beer goggles. The Leas Club Bar Man. Carla, the lady at work I sat next to and thought was called Carla for months and called her that until it was pointed out to me that was just her phone name. Becky. Oh Becky. She made me feel normal. :D Stacey Lady!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even in my head her name always has Lady and a million exclamation marks after it.

come back to what you know was finally born.



By February 2003 life changed again. I was the last temp out the door at Eurotunnel as it tightened it's belt (yeah bitches, I out lasted every last damn one of the others even super cool Stacey Lady!!xinfintity !) but started at TVW the next week which would be one of best things I ever did. And Stacey Lady!!xinfinity was there too. When she popped up in front of me as I sat at my desk I got the best feeling. But it was still a bit of a dark time, I wasn't totally mentally compus mentus... speaking of which...

May 2003. Gareth. Gareth. Gareth. There'd been Stephen. They'd been plenty of shags. But Gareth was my first proper relationship with washing up and all the trimmings. I met Gareth in April and by May we had entered lovey dovey territory. I should have know it wouldn't last. He was all the things I hated: obsessed with his work, with clothes, with cars, with looking good and with how people perceived him. And I was... well I'm me. ;) Messy, unkempt and lacking focus. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. But we had fun times, drinking and shagging and going to Canterbury and London. More Zoe activity. More Ben activity. It was all good. Bar 11 in Canterbury became my weekend home, Hollyoaks Sunday Omnibus my obsession.

Then November came. I should of been expecting it. Gareth never really understood me and his constant assertions that he did were annoying. But still when he dumped me it hurt me way more than it hurt him. Which hurt me even more as I had never wanted to let myself get into that situation.

2004 was, on reflection, the weirdest year of my life. I started dating, a new and unappealing concept to me. There was so many dates and many of them did not end in a shag! Amazing considering what a slapper I can be. Mark was a highlight. he really got me going. But most of that year is lost to you, Dear Constant Reader, for in my life funk I stopped writing on here (although for some of you LJ Constant Readers you know some of the details). But by the end of the year my life would be irrevocably changed for the better.

In January 2004 I began messaging with a guy named "Jim". We developed an online friendship and kept meaning to meet. But his travel and work commitments meant it took a long while to get around to it. By the time we did in August, I'd been on so many dates and in quite a few short term relationships that I was pretty jaded about the whole love thing. We met outside of G.A.Y. in Soho , and had a few drinks. We went out to the cinema and to Il Bordello and had a wonderfully time. But I think Jim was bitterly disappointed when I only ended our day by shaking his hand. I was just being careful. By October and after our first trip to Prague we were going out and I was in love.

Things went from there really and by the end of the year I was back blogging again. Jim and I spent many weekends together and he often came down to visit, including humourous lunch time visits where he'd race down from London just to see me for lunch.

In April 2005 I made a decision... I decided to leave TVW, move to London and live with Jim. By May, after some electioneering in Shepway with the Lib Dems, I was there and I "feverishly" began looking for jobs. Yes. Feverish indeed. Luckily Simon from EO contacted me thanks to my CV on Monster and soon enough, after a grilling in front of all three of the managers of the time, I got a job there. Thus began some of the good times. I can't begin to describe how many friends I made during my time at EO, how much fun I had on the work nights out and how good it was to be living with the man I love far from the parental units.

Also that year, San Francisco!!! My first, and so far only, trip to the United States of America. Northern California was awesome!

2006 I got on a podcast, got a featured column in the London Lite (it was this article), got mentioned in the Guardian thanks to this controversial article and generally had a good time of it with go out with work and "having a laugh" as Nick, a Wisconsinite of my acquaintance at the time, would have said. I had my first trip to Thailand and another trip to Prague, with added Warsaw. FUN!! Who knew Asian men were so damn good looking? Plus a trip to Lochgoilhead. oh and I lost my religion, Wicca, that year becoming a born again Athiest.

2007 was the year when things stopped being so much fun at EO. Sure I still had a deep crush on a certain somebody and there were new friends to replace the ever changing roster but somehow it lost a lot of it's glamour. But I did meet two fab Canadians that year... Vy, who was simply awesome and Arwen, equally awesome plus she kept me sane through the early months of 2008 and kept me company watching rubbish telly (Airport!) in our lunch break whilst plotting. Always plotting. More Lochgoilhead.

2008 and I finally got the courage up to hand in my resignation at EO, shortly after returning from a second trip to my beloved Thailand, with no plan for what was going to happen. Months of confusion followed with silly jobs that went no where and messy things. I finally grabbed hold of the nearest available lifejacket and ended up at Plan B. Not the best start to 2009 then. No, not the best start at all. No laptop either so as my finances went "Bang" my internet addiction has had to give way in a terrible period of cold turkey.

But hey! Things have been bad before and I survived. Onwards and upwards! Thanks for sticking with me, here's to another 2000 posts! Blogging might not be cool anymore, but it wasn't cool when I started so bugger off to all those cretins shouting "Blogging is dead". No mate, faddy blogging is dead. Get it right!

And here's to those constants of the blog: MT, The Sixth Former, Charles Dera, Brent Corrigan, Eurovision and Dear Constant Readers. I couldn't have done it without you!

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Tonight I'm Going To Party Like It's 1999!

Welcome, Dear Constant Reader, to post 1999! I trust it finds you well! Wow, it's a little chilly here in London at the moment, I've been keeping an eye on where I step in order to avoid one of those embarassing ice falls.

As I'm dirt poor at the moment (no change there then I hear you sigh) I'm currently enjoying the company of television... and finding it a very messed up companion.

Take Demons. It was absolute trite. I cannot begin to stress how much I hated the programme. A lot of bad acting. A terrible fake American accent (a pointless one as well!). Awful script and to top it all off the make up and costume department couldn't even equal the same quality as a normal episode of Buffy. Which, basically, this was a straight rip off of with names changed to protect the lazy writers. But I'll be watching the second episode, not because I'm giving it a second chance, but because the sight of Christian Cooke topless compels me to keep viewing. Shallow but true. He is gorgeous.

On the other hand Celebrity Big Brother 2009 is turning out to be amusing viewing. Coolio driving everyone insane, La Toya Jackson being strangely cute in a deranged Jackson sort of way, Ulrika obviously is only in there for the money, and why Verne agreed to go in is anyone's guess. Awesomenews!!

And finally controversy continues to wage in the family seat of Snodland. Shocking.

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

New Gladiator Goliath

Hot in a bearish sort of way. I wouldn't say no anyway. Although that isn't saying much is it really... :D

But 6'6"? That's not "Goliath" that's a midget!!

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Playstation 3

My stepdad got a PS3 for his Christmas present and Jim and him spent the entire time we were down at my parents house (read entire holiday period) playing some Tiger Wood's golf game.

Needless to say, thanks to a Gumtree swap of Jim's Nokia mobile (the dodgiest deal in history? I think so, who'd swap a PS3 for a mobile???) we are now the proud owners of a PS3... and that darn golf game! Jim does love it so though and it's given me a chance to nick his laptop and keep up with the blogging world once more. Mwhahahaha

Well over at the Doctor Who Forum, Matt Smith is the centre of attention, most of it negative. Lighten up guys it's only a television show!! Give the poor guy a chance. I did find one thread most amusing "What will Captain Jack make of the 11th Doctor?". One of the responses was that Jack wouldn't be seen flirting with the 11th because he was too young and it wouldn't be appropriate before watershed!! These guys do know Matt Smith is 26??? The people over there are acting as if he is twelve. Doctor Who fans. Who'd have them???!

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Your Country Needs You!

This show... oh God. This show dressed itself up as Britain finally taking Eurovision seriously then spent the whole hour mocking Eurovision and putting a bunch of folks with no love of the contest in charge of the selection process. Hmph.

From the meeting between Lord Webber and Prime Minister Putin (sorry to keep you from oppressing legitimate protests and invading annoying your neighbours Mr Putin) through to the crappy tongue in cheek elements (like that frigging Miss Moneypennyesqe secretary) this show kept repeating the mantra "We're taking Eurovision seriously" whilst sniggering to themselves about how silly it all was. Watching Graham Norton swanning around Moscow, the same city that has an awfully homophobic mayor and a very poor human rights record, making jokes and swinging a shopping bag like a big fairy mad me nearly throw up.

Here's a crazy idea: why not stop wasting time with this obviously idiotic selection process and instead select someone quickly and then base the rest of the shows on their travels around Europe promoting themselves and Britain. Wouldn't that increase our chances of winning more than a meeting of all the European Ambassadors in London? Because, news flash, most of those ambassadors will be in Britain and unable to vote for us at the time of the contest!!! Totally idiotic and childish, fronted by Lord Webber the least charismatic man ever to grave our screens.

But, let us try not to forget, it's all about the music. We hope.

Terry Wogan, all is forgiven. You might have grown jaded and cynical but at least when you made fun of Eurovision you did it with wit and charm.

And note to all behind this show: The British public can't vote for the British act in the contest so what exactly is the point of basing this show in the UK? Wouldn't it be better gracing the televisions of all the other countries rather than our own? Or perhaps actually, maybe it's best with kept this rubbish a dirty secret.

Matt Smith Is The Doctor!!

The decision has been made and Matt Smith is the new Doctor Who.

I'm not going to prejudge him, having seen none of his work. Good luck to him, I'm sure he'll do the job admirably. Long Live The Eleventh Doctor!!!

Happy New Year, Dear Constant Reader!

2009. Ouch. I'll be 26 this year. Double ouch. But let this year also be the year I get myself together physically and financially.

Things to be excited about today:

The new Doctor Who is announced! In 20 minutes time no less...

The first programme in our new Eurovision selection process, entitled "Your Country Needs You" is today. I'm excited even though it does involved Russian Premier Putin and Andrew Lloyd Webber. I don't really like either of those guys personally...

And ITV's new series "Demons" starts today with the rather shaggable UNIT soldier from Doctor Who (also known as Christian Cooke) in the lead...

Christmas At The Folks House

So what have I been up to? Not much really. I did do a quiz on the 16th at the pub. I thought the questions were quite easy but alas no one else seemed to agree and the highest scoring team only got just over 30 out of 60. Let's just say: there was heckling, and it wasn't very popular. Oh well...

Plan B is a little better now there's a couple of people there I can talk to but still not the ideal place to be. Perhaps it's only 100 times better than my last job after all :p

For Christmas I got: LOTS! Thanks Zoe and Lee for the book!! Add to that... oh I don't know about 20 more books, and a couple of DVDs and a HAMPER (yes, a HAMPER) of Guylian chocolate and you'd have one very happy Jae. But Jim, as always, has to go and beat everyone else. Not only did he get me the Special Edition of the Love of Siam (including postcards, photos, the soundtrack and a bonus feature of Mario Maurer in the bath...) but he also bought me the wooden Father Christmas toy from the movie!! It was meant to come with the special edition but production problems stopped that happening... so instead Jim went out of his way to find it and very sweet of him too. :D Happy times.

Christmas has been good so far, and I hope yours has been too.

New Years Resolutions??? Hmm... MUST LOSE WEIGHT! Honestly. This time I mean it. You guys simply have to start being meaner with me! Send me hideous amounts of emails calling me fatty or something ;)

And finally after being absent from our televisions for some months I'd forgotten how gorgeous and beautiful a speciman Spartan from Gladiators is so for all us Gladiators fans here we go:



Don't you just want to have his babies?

Majel Barrett Roddenberry Has Passed Away

My self imposed, no laptop enhanced exile from blogging must be briefly ended due to the sad news of Majel Barrett Roddenberry's passing. As a lover of Star Trek it is extremely saddening to hear of her death. She brought so much joy to her roles and she will be greatly missed. Can Star Trek really go on without the voice of the computer???

May She Rest In Peace

It's Christmas Time... Nearly

I can tell because the strange mixture of extreme delight and despair has fallen upon me as is now a Christmas tradition.

I spent the weekend down in Lympne with the parental units and my siblings and had a lovely time. Jim cooked lovely fish cakes, we watched movies and the Christmas tree went up.

But I know I can barely afford Christmas this year and things are going to be really tough. :(

Jim has gone over to Boston for a few days so my mood hasn't been helped by the loneliness.

And work. Leaving my last job was a good move. Finding another job without finding a way to earn money without doing any work at all was a bad move. If it wasn't for the rather awesomely pretty boy (I'm talking AWESOMELY pretty. Think The Sixth Former sort of awesomeness) I saw on the tube today I think I may well have given up and gone home (thankfully he got off at Hammersmith too).

My laptop died yesterday, the hard drive is fried I think, so this will probably be my last post for this year (blogging from work, it's a big no no around here). I don't know when I'll be able to afford a new laptop but it may well be some time indeed (think years rather than months!). Sorry Dear Constant Reader, you'll have to make do without me.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

So in case I don't see you; good afternoon, good evening and good night.

Eurovision: This Is Serious Business

Graham Norton to be the British Eurovision commentator? Terry Wogan stepping down??? 

After this year's Eurovision, where Terry Wogan showed extremely unsportsmanlike behaviour, I did call for Terry Wogan to step down as commentator. But to replace him with Graham Norton? Is that really necessary? 

Don't get me wrong, I've always had a soft spot for Graham Norton. I grew up loving "So Graham Norton" on Channel 4 with Dolly Parton and that old lady from the audience who kept turning up. All very amusing in a Friday night comedy chat show sort of way. 

But whereas Terry mixed wit, with knowledge and enthusiasm, I feel Graham Norton is likely to mix his "wit" with more "wit" and a lot of cynical sarcasm. Which is exactly the reason I wanted Terry to step down. 

I supposed I should stop worrying and give him a chance but alas, Dear Constant Reader, I feel the time will soon be upon us when Britain withdraws from Eurovision thanks to the badly handled BBC running of the show and British people's cynicism.

Contrasts

Jae's current obsession: ZOMBIES!