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Let's Talk About Me

You know we haven't spoken in a while Dear Constant Reader. Yes, blogging is an exercise in navel gazing and self indulgence. But I haven't been doing nearly as much of that as I used to. Maybe it's because I've been blogging for so long I've got very bored of me, me, me. Nah... that'll never happen!

Sooo... I'm off to Lochgoilhead for some curling fun the weekend after next. I'm really looking forward to it. No not to the curling (imagine lawn bowls on ice with broomsticks), although that's not awful, but for the beauty of that part of Scotland, the peace and quiet and the good fun I can expect to have with the people I'm going with and the hideous amounts of alcohol that I will consume.

This Friday I'm off out with work to some place... the name of which hasn't been divulged to me yet. We've been told it's dress to impress though. You should know how I feel about dress codes... they are intended to keep out the interesting people and leave only the boring people pretending to have fun. I'm sure our companies prescence will change that. But give me a good boozer like our local* any day.

Christmas is coming and it's time to start buying presents. If you find yourself unsure what to buy someone it might be best if you just send them a card... and buy me something... ;op But seriously I must start buying presents. I think getting the Family Guy game for my brother George is a good idea from Jim. But everyone else? Hmm...

My budget for the month is going ok. This is very good. Must try harder though if I want to seriously save up.

Work... it's going to get more stressful, but a lot more interesting, in the next few months. No rest for the wicked. Nor Jae.

So how are you guys?

*Our local: is quite weird. From the outside it looks like any old pub, even though it is set down a quiet street in Greenwich hidden among large houses. Inside... it feels like you've entered someones living room. It's all very cosy if slightly disconcerting... It does do some wonderful food though. And it's got a fairly unique range of lagers and ales. None of your Stella or Fosters there...

Jae Salutes The Rainbow Nation

Dearest South Africa. We love you. First you gave us Nelson Mandela. Then Archbishop Tutu (is he possibly the best Christian alive today?). And now you have lead the way in Africa by legalising gay marriage.

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, president of the South African Catholic Bishops' Conference, said the bill would be a blow against democracy.

"The impression we got is that there is overwhelming opposition to this bill from people throughout South Africa," he told South Africa's Daily News before the vote.

African Christian Democratic Party leader Reverend Kenneth Meshoe told MPs that those who voted for same-sex marriages would face divine wrath.

Democracy is ok. But trust me it isn't perfect, and we must always be wary of the tyranny of the majority. If there was an overwealming majority in one country against Catholicism is he saying it'd be okay to ban Catholic wedding ceremonies?

And divine wrath??? God likes wrath but it really is up to him. Stop threatening things like that when it isn't up to you! I hate people taking their God's name and using him to threaten others.

It's Bona To Vada Your Dolly Eeks

What Has Jae Been Watching?

So we have:

The latest episode of Battlestar Galactica "A Measure of Salvation". It was, as always, very good. Helo, my current sci fi beau, was his usual heroic, moral self. I do like a man in uniform.



Abominable: A Bigfoot movie. It's actually a pretty good B movie. The acting is certainly above par, Lance Henriksen is in it but it's let down a lot by the truely awful costume. I mean... really bad!!

This represents a sympton of my current obsession... sasquatch!! I've been reading up on some eyewitness accounts on Bigfoot Encounters. It's pretty convincing, if slightly worrying, stuff. Check it out.

Torchwoods last episode was "Cyberwoman". Not bad, but each week the acting seems to get slightly worse.

Tonight I think I shall watch the latest Supernatural, so I can get my Jensen Ackles fix.



I used to sit next to someone who looked exactly like him in history class. I'm kicking myself as we speak...

We Remember

DULCE ET DECORUM EST - Wifred Owen

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues -
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.*

*"It is sweet and meet to die for one's country."

And Relax

Today has been paradise compared to the previous four thanks to the programme I use to work on being fixed. Praise be! And after work I had a few drinks down the Riverside. Yum.

Been listening to Round The Horne and the Bona World of Julian and Sandy ("Hello, I'm Julian and this is my friend Sandy... Oh HELLO!"). Despite being nearly 30 years old it's still bloody hilarious. Check it out if you like a bit of Carry On esqe humour and some highly camp laughs...



It's the weekend!

What On Earth Is Going On?

OK... the train network here in Greenwich and throughout south east London and Kent is Southeastern Railways. Not so long ago they were owned by a company named Connex (who I will reluctantly admit was part of the same family of companies as TVW, my previous employers). Now Connex were awful.

If a train arrived on time you would thank your lucky stars and double check to make sure you weren't dreaming. I spent many a "happy" hour at Westenhanger station waiting with no information for a train that should have been there two days ago.

They were so awful the Government took their franchise away and made Southeastern a public company pending tenders from private companies. And a miracle happened. The slam door trains disappeared, replaced by new Electrostar ones that Connex had been slow in getting out into service. Trains began to run on time! Things seemed to be getting better. Then Govia was awarded the contract.

They took over in April and things didn't seem to change much (a good thing!). But then I suppose it's hard to ruin a good thing straight away.

But the last month has been hell. Every morning the trains seem to be late. Sometimes they are cancelled. I've become reliant on my Oyster card and a hellish journey on the tube to get into work. Now if it was an ongoing problem (a faulty signal even!) I could kind of understand. But everyday it's different (and today according to my fellow travellers each one of us was given a different explanation; a medical emergency, staff abscence, a faulty train, a police incident being just four I heard just to explain todays cancellations!)

It's bloody awful... I hate using the Tube (I'm taller than the carriages, it's not pleasant!) and it's just not good enough. I wish they'd get their act together.

Democrats: Don't Mess This Up

Firstly, I've got my fingers crossed for the outcome of the Virginia race being in the Democrats favour. Our cousins across the pond need a strong counterweight to Bush and a totally Democratic Congress would do that.

Now please, please, please don't mess this up!! The world needs America to be strong. And the world needs America to be just. We don't want Republicans Lite. We want free thinking Democratic leadership!! Sort out Iraq, the economy and the erosion of liberty and come 2008 America might truely be the best country in the world once more (other than the United Kingdom but hey that's just my opinion).

Oh Rumsfield is going... woo.

And best news of all... Rick Santorum has been ousted! I love the people of Pennsylvania. If you don't know why this makes me happy have a read of this

To celebrate...



Mmm......

The Great Ape Project

As some may know I have a passing interest in zoology. Recently I have been studying up on evolution and humans closest surviving relations; bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans.

They are amazing creatures. Not only are their social systems intricate (and in the case of the Bonobos very fun sounding) but individuals have been know to communicate with humans and engage in artistic expression. See for example Kanzi and Michael. I found the fact that Michael still remembered, and could communicate about, his mothers death at the hands of poachers to be quite distressing.

Now that humans are getting to the point of being able to survive without killing wild animals (and when I say this I mean culturally, technologically we probably reached this point around the time of the Sumerians for crying out loud) surely we should be going out of our way to protect the Great Apes above all others for they are probably the closest we're going to find to intelligent life outside our species any time soon!

That's why I ask you take a minute or so to go and read the Great Ape Projects Declaration and sign it if you agree.

You've Gotta Love Christians

Just like those sci fi convention attendees dressed up as Borg, Cylons and Wookiees there is something darn cute about Christians.

Just read a copy of one of the Jehovah Witness' magazines like Awake. Filled with cutesy pictures of a happy family life, and of paradise. Bless them for their optimism!

But my favourite example is creationism. Specifically dinosaurs and creationism. See Christian Answers attempts at an explanation. I particularly like the concept that animals didn't eat meat before the Flood. They couldn't have evolved they carnivorous teeth after the Flood so they... erm... we don't know, we will just gloss over that point...

So, it could be that animals ate dead animals once in a while before the Flood, but that few (if any) animals killed for food until sometime after the Flood. This seems to make sense, since the fossils show that the pre-Flood world had plenty of plants to eat. The animals probably did not need to kill to live.

Wonderful.

Could it be that tyrannosaurs were mostly plant-eaters, not meat-eaters? The shape of their teeth alone can't tell us what they ate. (that's so true!) Perhaps they used their sharp teeth and claws to tear up tough plants and fruits, not dinosaurs. Obviously sharp teeth can serve other purposes than simply cutting meat, just as kitchen knives can be used for cutting carrots as well as steaks.(a prehistoric Gordon Ramsay?)

Bless them. Christians are wonderful, cute, cuddly nice people who believe the world is only a few thousand years old, dinosaurs lived with humans (we've all seen the Flintstones), animals were all very nice until after the Flood, and that before the Flood the world was an amazing wonderland and now it's just a shadow of it's former self. They seem to think that deserts are inherently bad and didn't exist before the Flood (which makes me think they may not be correct... deserts aren't bad, just not pleasant for some overly pampered people). It's all very airy fairy.

I'd love to believe that shit. Sadly I would probably be considered delusional and sent off to an asylum. Obviously my interest in Cryptozoology is nothing like the escapism of creationism... not at all... Darn... I am delusional!!

Guy Fawkes Night

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent
to blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below,
Poor old England to overthrow:
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, make the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
Hip hip hoorah!

A penny loaf to feed the Pope.
A farthing o' cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead.

Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah!

Nothing like a good bit of Catholic bashing to let you know it's winter...

See more about the Gunpowder Plot...

Another Day In London

Yesterday after work we all headed down the Wheatsheaf, a former lunch destination before it was sold, which was alright. It seems stuck between the previous pubs grottiness and their obvious hopes of making it glamourous.

After that some of us got a taxi to Leicester Square, which was a horrid journey for a number of reasons, and settled into All Bar One. The beer wasn't very nice but we had arranged for some people to meet us there so I wasn't too bothered about leaving. That was until one of the bouncers wouldn't let in someone who was 22 because they didn't have id!! We decided All Bar One stank and we all quickly left taking our boss (and his card) with us.

Our boss then took us, plus our guests of honour Surin and H from our suppliers, to the Cork and Bottle bar which was much better than All Bar One. Nice ambience and wine was lovely.

Sadly, for reasons I shan't disclose, I did not enjoy myself one little bit and had to cut the night out short. So to try and cheer myself up here is a pretty picture:



Yoinked from Male and Beautiful

Jae Loses His Faith

How can there be a God? Have you looked around you recently? Human beings are probably the most unlikely creation of any kind of God (unless said God has an amazingly twisted sense of humour!). We destroy everything we see, we are hateful, selfish, arrogant, dirty, and very unpleasant. Work in customer services for a little while and you'll come to see the truth in this.

I listen to the religious crazies going on about how we should let Jesus into our life, or follow the teachings of Mohammed. They preach love, understanding, goodwill and a twisted morality. Then the next day they are planting bombs on commuter trains or having sex with children/men/goats. Sometimes even a member of the opposite sex out of wedlock! The hypocrisy of it all disturbs me greatly.

I am a libertarian and I believe everyone has the right to believe whatever they want. But sometimes I wish I wasn't. I wish I was, as the crazies would call it, a "radical humanist".

They harp on about their religious freedom one minute then declare that a man and a man can't get married... where's the freedom in that? You can't live freely while expecting others to live by your morality. Obviously I'd rather marriage remained a purely religious/private matter. But while my tax money is being used to give benefits to married couples I darn well expect the same rights!!

I can't understand any God that created religious nuts. So I must finally put an end to my wavering Wiccan beliefs. I'll always have a special place in my heart for pagans. But I must be true to myself, and declare myself an agnostic.

Can you tell I had a horrible commute to work today? :)

Now let's all laugh at another hypocritical Christian. Don't you just love it when they get caught out? Let he who is without sin...

Jae Steals The Scene

For the last few days, as I wander past the London Eye on my way into Vauxhall, I keep walking through a movie/television filming. Yes that is correct... walking through.

If they are there tomorrow I may ask someone (I won't) what is going on as I'm curious now.

Everytime I get right into the middle of a crowd of extras the director screams "Start the wheel! And... action..." He he... oh the look he gave me as I snuck past him behind a camera today. Well none of the regular cyclists, commuters or runners were paying a blind bit of notice to the fact someone was trying to film, so why should I?

Today was a bit more exciting as I walked past and the word "action" was shouted a helicopter zoomed into position next to the wheel and hover by it. Looked quite cool.

While trying to find out about it I found this site. Doesn't that Channel 5 detective show sound just... rubbish? :)

Happy Samhain

I obviously need first to do my seasonal scary post... so in continuation of last Halloweens post and the followup here are: the pictures! See here, here and here.

Some people say the Shadow People aren't evil. Hmm... I'll leave that to you to decide. Just make sure you don't leave your door open tonight...

Saw the Evil Dead last night. It was not scary, but my God; that's a gory movie. I almost threw up! :) Great fun! But I didn't faint like these wimps

Today I got to work to find it all decorated up nicely (it's so nice not to have to decorate any more like I used to at TVW) and a goody bag of spooky sweets on my table. YUM!

I love Halloween...

Jae Kicks His Coke Habit

As many of my close friends and colleagues know, I struggle from an addiction. I've been addicted to Coke since I was just 12 years old. Back then I was buying 3 or 4 hits a day. Now I did go cold turkey from it for a few months back in 2004. But I quickly fell into my old ways.

At my current job they give it away for free, whenever you want it. My addiction has quickly flown out of control. My calculations would say I spend over £500 a year on it. Jim calculates £700. Realistically, factoring the more expensive hits at bars and from WH Smiths, I'd say it's probably approaching £1000 a year.

Yesterday I decided it had to stop. And it is. I'm suffering from huge withdrawal symptoms, headaches and tiredness. Last night I practically collapsed on the sofa at 6pm!

But succeed I will... Diet Coke Anonymous, here I come.

An early Halloween scare

I live in a house, converted into two flats. We live on the top floor. So when you hear a knock at the door the only people it can be is our neighbours. So when I opened the door last night to find the Angel of Death outside I was quite taken aback. Little did I know worse (or the best depending on your viewpoint) was to follow.

Downstairs was... a giant green monster who I'm assured comes from the Mighty Boosh? Scary! Their costumes were fab!

Saw The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green which was cool. Quite amusing, lots of half naked men, can't fault that now can we!

New Battlestar Galactica is AMAZING. Torchwood was also good.

Where's The Harvey Milk Of Today?

Today I watched "The Times of Harvey Milk". What an awesome documentary. I knew a little bit about Harvey Milk, mainly from my visit to San Francisco and the Castro. But this documentary shows what a really power politician he was.

If we look at the politicians we have today, how many of them can we say are truly charismatic? How many truly care about making a difference rather than scoring cheap political points? So far, despite a deep love of politics, the only politicians I have any respect for are in the Shepway Liberal Democrats! We need someone to come along and lead us all. We need a Winston Churchill, an Abraham Lincoln, a visionary!

Jim was telling me the other night about how much he disliked this country. It is fall of cretins and it isn't pleasant having all those boring, miserable kids standing around on street corners. But I don't hate the country. I hate the current set of politicians who are so out of touch and unable to bring themselves to condemn the way our country's culture is heading. We need someone who stands up and says "There is a better way. Things don't have to be like this. We can get rid of crime, we can get rid of disillusionment. We can get this country together and move forward".

Tony Blair has failed. We need a change. We do not need that plonker David Cameron. We do not need Gordon Brown. And we do not need, and I hate saying this, Menzies Campbell. We need a political revolution that will herald true change for once. Not more of the same.

Or we could just have this guy as PM... I'm easy...

Just Another Day In The Life Of Jae

Last Jim took me out for noodles and beer (beer being had at the Ashburnham Arms). I will also, grudgingly, admit that I also consumed a kebab. I hang my head in shame.

Today after work we had a couple of drinks at the Rose before I headed back to Jim who needed a hug. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.