Wing Night Swansong

Last night Sam America arrived back in the country from her 2 month European odyssey so Jo, Bonnie, the two new American temps and myself heading out to wing night to see her for one last time before she headed home to Denver.

The American sports cafe was the same as always although it was a little sad without Meredith, who has already gone home to North Carolina. Natasha turned up and it was much better to see her than I had imagined... I really have missed her since she left in February. We had a good chat and then her husband (HUSBAND!) arrived with a surprise birthday gift for her... a Pomeranian puppy!!!!! It was just gorgeous and although both her husband, Blake, and I tried to persuade her out of it she has named it Mimi (she originally wanted Mini Me.... Jesus Christ...).

After that I headed home (after drinking 5 bottles and a pint of beer in an hour and a half... oh and lusting over the two American temps... Americans are so my weakness).



Today work was ok, although my card didn't work at lunch time so I went hungry (bloody bank had cancelled it, and on payday as well! Tis alright now though, all fixed!). Had work drinks, got home, got some money and Jim and I went down the local to get nicely pissed.

Honestly... I'm not an alcoholic. Yet.

Impoliteness

*Warning: Rant Ahead*

I hate people who are impolite. I just cannot stand it when someone is rude. Sadly, in my line of work, I have to put up with it all day.

People are so angry sometimes, for no reason, with people in my office. And then five minutes later you get a badly written apology about how they were having a bad day etc. If there is anything worse than being irrationally angry it's apologising for being angry afterwards. You shouldn't have been angry in the first place if you subsquently feel the need to apologise. I desperately wish I could write back saying something like:

"Whilst I appreciate the apology you have given, I find your rudeness to be quite unforgivable. There is no reason to get angry with a stranger over nothing and that kind of behaviour is shameful and unacceptable. I trust you will bear this in mind for the future.

Kindest Regards

Jason"



Oh, just writing that down makes me feel better. All I hear is others giving these people the benefit of the doubt saying things like "It's the heat of the moment." "Everyone gets angry sometimes". Well I'd beg to differ. The only time I have ever gotten angry (as in on the outside, not internalised anger which is a constant) with a stranger is when they have done something so singularly rude to me I cannot avoid confronting them. It just goes against everything I've ever learnt about public behavior to shout at someone "because you're having a bad day".



And then there are the awful people on the phone who you have to put up with just to get their business. I really dream of finding these people, standing up to my full height and then verbally laying into them about their rudeness, their superiority complex and their obviously awful parentage.

Oh well.. shame I'm too well mannered to follow through...

BODMAS!

Today I rediscovered Bodmas!

Was going to write something meaningful, then got drunk down the local so instead... here's Chris Klein...



So my "type". As Jim says... my type is "heartbeat".

The Spider

"I think I just saw a mouse run across the floor" says Jim, alarmingly calmly, as he peered into the television lit gloom of our front room.

"Are you sure it wasn't a spider?" I ask

"I'm telling myself spiders can't move that fast" Jim says somewhat less calmly.

Eager to find out if it's a mouse (i.e. cute) or a spider (i.e. terrifying) I switch the front room light on.

"Oh God. It's a spider" Jim says "There by that wire" he points to one of the million wires that criss cross our floor next to one of the several piles of DVDs.

I look, my poor eyesight (or maybe it was just my fear) not allowing me to see. I get closer... Jesus Christ it was big!

I'm sure every house has a designated spider catcher/killer; the person who is least scared of spiders. Sadly, for some unknown reason, I've ended up with that job. Darn it!

I went to the kitchen and got a glass and a piece of paper. Jim told me he wouldn't think less of me if I did just kill it. I just can't bring myself to kill spiders. Partly it's just plain old "It's wrong to kill" and partly it's a fear that the spider might survive and either come back to get me or live long enough to tell other spiders of my deed and they attack en masse (paranoid much?). So I got the thing in the glass with the piece of paper beneath it.

It promptly began to attack the glass. Thinking about lifting the paper and glass up scared me a little too much so we got a comic and put that underneath the paper for added support. I still felt a tad afraid so grabbed a DVD and added that. Finally lifting the glass up, Jim opened the window and grabbed the net curtains aside as I flung the spider out into the garden.

Spiders should be unseen, unheard and very much unfelt.

As an aside why on Earth do my customers feel compelled to right LOL in their emails to me? Any one got any examples of anything more juvenile or over familiar?

Why I Love Adrian Monk

Hard to believe but Monk is in it's sixth season! Thanks to the wonders of my blog I found out I first watched the show on April 12th 2003, whilst on a date in Petersfield... (me? Obsessed with dates?) and ever since then I've loved every second of the show.

Here's what happened... Monk has grown throughout the course of the series into a well rounded character, he certainly isn't just a nutty detective. Natalie has grown from annoying but somehow boring into a funny side kick, every bit as petulant as Monk when she doesn't get her way. Stottlemeyer and Disher are both comic relief, armed back up and emotional supports (ok... maybe that's just Stottlemeyer). The thing is you actually care what happens to these people. When Stottlemeyer gets his heart broken you just want to shout at the screen. When Monk talks about his dead wife Trudy you can almost feel the emotion.

Brilliant acting all round and some hilarious stories.

I could be wrong now. But I don't think so.

To Blog, Or Not To Blog

On the 23rd of August this blog turned 6 years old. It's only two years younger than Blogger.com itself! You, Dear Constant Reader, and I have been through a lot together; university, Faulty Towers, Eurotunnel, nights out with the Folkestone people, holidays, Three Valleys Water. Relationships have come and gone. I've lived in four different houses. I've had four different jobs.

The world is a different place too... September 11th, Prime Minister Brown, the Iraq War, the tsunami.

Over the years I've stopped caring why I blog. It's just force of habit, like breathing... I get home... I blog. It's as simple as that. I've been blogging for a quarter of my life. Scary? YES!

come back to what you know is not just a blog. It's my way of life. I am a creature of habit, and I will always come back to what I know. That doesn't mean I don't take risks sometimes, but it does mean I'm fairly reliable. So, as long as nothing drastic happens, here's to another 6 years. I'll be 30. Jesus Christ.

Wanna come along for the ride?

Thank you Dear Constant Reader. Whereever you are. x x x x

All Jurassic Parked Out

Bank Holiday weekends with a new laptop are great... and the roast lunch at the Local helped too. :D



Yoinked from Real Euphoria

Guess Who's Back?

I have got a new laptop! I'm sorry for the quantity and quality of posting over the last month; with my trip to France, Cornwall and the lack of a laptop I think you can let me off this once!

So normal service will now resume... just need to rescue my Charles Dera picture collection from my dead laptop...

Yoinked from Stunning Sexy Guys



Bud Light??? WHY???

6 Years Of Blogging

Before my laptop went BOOM I had hoped to write something properly regarding my blogs 6th Anniversary. However that will have to wait until the weekend... until then... Happy Birthday Dearest Blog. 6 years already...

Wanna celebrate?

Please Accept My Apologies

Normal Service Will Resume Some Time. Sadly with no laptop any longer at home I am forced to post from work where I am usually not in a blogging mood (imagine constantly being interrupted by small children with silly questions while blogging... it's near impossible to feel the urge...) Anyhew... where was I...

Sunday...

After breakfast with the crazy lady we headed to our rooms for a final check for any unpacked items and while I tidyed up there was a knock at my door. I opened it to find the B + B lady standing there with a French couple I'd spotted at breakfast. She wanted to show them around the room. I made my escape and squeezed past them as they gave me a look that said "Please Help Us".

Afterwards I returned to my room to find her still there "Could I borrow your muscles, please?" That was how I found myself transferring beans from her car to her shed... God... When I had finished she gave me a huge pack of biscuits as payment so not all bad I suppose!

We paid up (I got a discount, wooo...) and headed off on the Longest Drive In The World. However we did stop off at Plymouth at the National Aquarium which was a bit of a disappointment after Oceanopolis. However... in the deepest tank in Europe (also the least diverse and least interesting ever) they did have four Sand Tiger Sharks one of who was nearly 3 metres long. As I've never seen a shark that big I was very impressed and spent long minutes viewing them from every angle. What beautiful things they are. Inspired me to buy Shark! by Peter Benchley, a very interesting book indeed. I love sharks.

So after the Longest Drive In The World, I had to wait an hour at Ashford for a train then do the usual hour and a half journey home. I was, needless to say, tired and moody and very grumpy. Then my laptop didn't work and I was extremely moody indeed!

Monday: went down the Local.
Tuesday: went down the Local, came 5th out of 8 in the quiz. Wooo... way better than last time.
Wednesday: quiet night in... at last. Fell asleep by 9.

Hopefully (cross your fingers) a new laptop will be with me Saturday morning. This may mean I am very poor forever more but... hey we can't have everything...

A Wedding Picture

The Old Gang Together Again



Rob, Elliot, Me, John, Arron and Chris.

Cornwall and The First Wedding

Sooooo... it's been a very long weekend. After rushing around town on Thursday lunch time buying wedding gifts and clothes, I finished work late and then rushed back to the flat. I had dinner (goats cheese salad, Jim's current obsession... yum) and then got packed before catching a late train to Westenhanger station.

I walked through the dark country lanes to Lympne, pondering how I managed to do this almost every winter night for two years without screaming in fear, before finally reaching the safety of home. How did I know I was home? Because my baby Angel cat came running out of my parents estate meowing her head off and was very pleased to see me. I'm glad she still remembers me.

After chatting with my brother and sister for an hour I made it to bed about 11.30pm.

On Friday I awoke at 5.30 a.m (sob) and got washed and dressed before Zoe and Lee arrived to pick me up. We headed off to Cornwall on the route I showed you and we made good time. We had to stop quite a bit for me legs but only took us about 6 hours to get to Truro. We found the B + B fairly easily too, called the Bay Tree.

The owner was a mad lady who spoke very, very fast but she was nice so we didn't worry too much. After stowing our luggage and getting a bit of a rest we headed into town to explore.

Truro was chav central and very busy even on a Friday. Most of the stores were closing down and it had the feel of a bit of a down on it's luck sort of place. We did some last minute shopping (wrapping paper etc) and popped into the Royal Cornish Museum which looked good from the outside but was a bit bland with relatively little items of interest. They had tried to put Cornish history into some sort of order but it wasn't very engaging.

We headed back to the B and B and got changed and headed to the local Spoons, Try Dowr, for some drinks with the old Folkestone crew (Chris, Claire, Elliot, Arron, Rob and a random encounter with Tim who isn't part of the old crew but hey...). After that we popped over to a good pub called the Old Ale House to meet up with a bunch of other wedding peoples.

Had a good night and slept well.

The next day was the day of the wedding! AH! Woke up and went and got breakfast from the crazy lady. It was a huge breakfast with gorgeous fried bread. I ate it all. I was innocently sitting with my empty plate when she comes over, screams and runs off.

What have I done?, I thought... well turns out she'd just gone to get me a lolly because I'd finished. INSANE! Spent morning lounging around reading, helping crazy lady move furniture and pretending to iron my shirt.

We met everyone at the Old Ale House again before walking through Truro to Epiphany House where the reception was. There was a bouncy castle... we knew when we saw that that we had arrived at John and Vixies Wedding.

It was a lovely day, nice food, Elliots mum, with a tear inducing speech from John, a group hug among the Harvey boys and some Eurovision music. Pictures will follow soon as I get a new laptop.

After the reception twas back to the B + B.

I'll do the rest tomorrow as I can't be arsed and I really should be working... Not having a laptop is most annoying...

Just Back...

Just found my laptop dead. My phone is dead. Haven't been able to get hold of Jim since I went away, and he is not here. Can't contact him as I don't have his number. Been a 14 hour trip home.

Jae smells, needs a bath, the loo, a hug.

:(((((

Where's Jim???? :(

Jae Kay Is Going Away... Again!

Sorry Dear Constant Reader, I am being a very bad blogger at the mo. I've got a busy day ahead of me. I've got to go into London at lunch and buy some new clothes (so soon, I hear you cry, after last time? I know... Shopping makes Jae sad). Then after work I'm going to go back to the flat, get packed and head to Lympne by a late evening train. Then tomorrow Zoe, and Lee, will be picking us up from there as we head to Cornwall!

For those who don't know Cornwall is Britains Brittany... with cider and everything! Here's our route. It's a long bloody way!

Why are we going to Cornwall? Because John and Vixie are to be taking part in some strange ritual known as "marriage". I know... I haven't a clue what that is either!

So I won't be posting again until Sunday evening at the earliest. Stay tuned!

Last night went out to the Local and got drunk. Had a very good appraisal at work yesterday so any excuse!

Oh and two other things: Firstly following on from yesterdays post about shaming the people who are domesticating Dave the Dolphin.... I've found an example from April...

But Richard Tozer, whose rowing boat was used for the filming, said: "He was just coming close to the boat."

Mr Tozer insisted he would never have done anything to harm the dolphin.

He said: "We were just out having a nice day in the sunshine with my children, and seeing a dolphin there is a wonderful thing to see."

What a lovely day out... let the dolphin get used to nice boats with nice children... so it bloody gets itself caught in a propeller when a motor boat comes to visit next. Good thing you'd never do anything to harm a dolphin Mr Tozer, because if this is what happens when you don't try to harm it I'd hate to see what would happen if you did.

And the other thing... there's a poll on the right hand side of the site... please vote!

*EDIT* Oh and guess who has a letter in Gay Times this week? Hmm... I wonder who that could be...

Dave The Dolphin And Idiotic Kentish Folk

The people of my hometown of Folkestone sure have a funny way of expressing love for their favourite animal... Dave The Dolphin.

After last weeks "People Like To Swim With Him" story (tis a female but you can't call a female Dave) where stupid people decided that get into the sea with a wild animal wasn't going to lead to problems... we have the first blood drawn.... Sadly it's the dolphins (wished it could of been one of those bloody irresponsible parents who have taken the kids near her).

A bottlenose dolphin that has been swimming off the Kent coast since last year has sustained injuries apparently from a boat propeller.

The dolphin, named Dave before it recently emerged that she was female, has parallel cuts on her dorsal fin.

Experts have said the wound is not considered to be life-threatening, but have warned that it could lead to an infection which could prove fatal.

Swimmers and boats have recently been ignoring advice to keep away from her.

Fucking bastards. Hope you're all bloody happy now down there in Folkestone. Human beings can't help but ruin things for every body else.

This is disgusting and I hope the people Folkestone react by ensuring that anyone who is caught pestering the dolphin is treated to a vigorous public shaming.

Why I Hate Sales People...

When I worked at Eurotunnel I had no interest in selling things to people who didn't want them. I'd offer them things, insurance and upgrades, but if they said no I'd move right on. This actually lead to me selling the most insurance on my team as I took way more calls than anyone else, which meant that if I could have earnt commission (just a temp!) I would have earnt more than anyone else too. In your face!

Why am I telling you this? Because I got my first ever sales call on my mobile today! I know... I've been very good at not getting the calls to the point I thought there must be something wrong with me. Why was everyone else getting these calls and not me?

Over the weekend, during a particularly bored moment, I applied for hundreds and hundreds of competitions for such prizes as meeting Matt Damon or a holiday in Austria (ooo...) or a laptop. Most were simple "Give us your email address (here's my spam address...) and we'll let you know". But some were more along the lines of "We'll call you to give you a quote for.... and we'll give you the chance to win...". So I got my first quote today for electricity and gas from Powergen.

The bloke on the other end of the phone was very nice, but as he waffled on about the time he and his flatmate got Powergen and how it changed their lives through to his parents prefering to pay quarterly I got a tad bored. I listened politely to all his waffling, and to the fact I could save OVER A HUNDRED POUNDS, and then told him that I wasn't interested...

"But you could save OVER A HUNDRED POUNDS".

"That's wonderful... but I'm not interested. I'll bear it in mind though, thanks"

"So you're just going to turn down OVER A HUNDRED POUNDS?" He said sarcastically.

"Yes I am. Thanks very much"

"But... it's OVER A HUNDRED POUNDS!" His thick Geordie accent couldn't disguise his disgust and disbelief that someone could so willfully turn down OVER A HUNDRED POUNDS.

"I know. Thanks for the offer and all."

"Thanks for you time Mr Kay" he growled menancingly before cutting me off before I could even begin my goodbyes.

He called me! How rude. Sheesh... these people are all about commission this and commission that. Only an idiot would buy from someone who's pint after work depends on getting you to buy something.

On the work front we had a branding meeting today. Next thing you know we'll be a proper company and everything!

First Day Back To Work

Oh the humanity! Back to work already. Those two weeks just disappeared so quickly. Suffered severely from firstdaybackitis.

After work Jim took me out to the Richard the 1st for dinner (Beef and Ale Pie... mmm).

Heard the news about the gun toting dinos in Jurassic Park IV? Laura Dern is back which is good and I doubt the rumour is true... but if it is Speilberg is behind it and so I trust it'll turn out ok.



Yoinked from male and beautiful

What a great idea!

Jae is most jealous of Current Obsessions. Why? Well go check out his new Sunday feature... honestly... if only I'd thought of that! ;)

It's bloody great... love it.

The Queens Speech

It's my blogs sixth birthday in a week and continuing on a theme started last year I feel it's time to take stock of what's gone on here at come back to what you know.

So since the last Queens Speech I've been a London Lite blog of the day, received my fair share of Brent Corrigan and Charles Dera related hits, and discovered that the new Blogger picture uploading process means I've fallen out of the Google Image search results causing my hits to plumet from last Augusts extreme high. I foolishly added adverts for a while but decided that that was just lowering myself to the level of the newbie bloggers and have now removed 'em.



I have, however, discovered I have more Dear Constant Readers than I had ever imagined and I greatly appreciate you all! I cannot believe that 200 people come here pretty much weekly at least to read my posts. That's roughly, using a quick calculation, 200 lurkers! ;)

Thanks go to those of you who regularly leave me comments, you don't know how much you make me smile when I see an email telling me you've left a message. Merci Beaucoup!

Finally, I've changed my template as some of my archive pages were getting out of date and I'd rather the template remained consistent across the whole blog. Hope you don't mind.

5
4
3
2
1

Movies I'm Looking Forward To...

The Mist

It's Stephen King. It's a monster movie. How could I not like it? I even love Maximum Overdrive... so anything Stephen King does/inspires I can handle (except for Children of the Corn when it gets to about part 12: Grown-ups of the Corn).

Aliens Vs Predator

Come on! Aliens. Predator. It's gotta be better/longer than the last one.

"Cloverfield"

A monster in New York. Viral advertising. I WANT TO SEE IT!



Meg

Who loves sharks? Jae loves sharks. Who loves prehistoric animals? Jae LOVES prehistoric animals. Who is going to scream when this finally gets released? Answers on a comment people!

Halloween (2007 Remake)



I'm looking forward to this, with some trepidation. I love horror movies and the original Halloween was amazing. I hate it when things are remade, but I live in hope that this will bring a new dimension to the Michael Myers saga...

Jurassic Park IV

I've been looking forward to this for some time. If it doesn't get made I will be hunting down those responsible and going all Annie from Misery on them!

In other movie related stuff, Jim recommends the following tribute to Sommersturm