23 Cool things that I did in my 23rd year!

In no real order...

1. Got a good Payrise (not likely to happen again, by the looks...)
2. Got the Star Wars DVD Boxset
3. Had a fab holiday in Scarborough, proving that British seaside is still cool
4. Visited Gemma in Manchester, which was fun!
5. Used an out-of-date railcard, and got away with it!
6. Saw the best movie of the year: The Incredibles!
7. Met Terry Pratchett
8. Went to my first Beatles tribute, sans Dom.
9. Went to York races in a pink dress and pink hat (quelle surprise)
10. Learnt how to make dresses (and sucessfully wore two I made)
11. Tried Thai food
12. Found out that I actually like olives (!!)
13. Ate strawberries dipped in a chocolate fountain! Wicked!
14. Got a deep fat fryer, and fried loads of random things!
15. Learnt Oh When The Saints on my guitar
16. Played badminton a little and got back into swimming
17. Visited Jax in Edinburgh and saw the fringe festival stuff
18. Moved into a house
19. Hosted a BBQ
20. Dressed up in fancy dress 5 times!
21. Watched Viking Longboat racing outside the flat (where I used to live)
22. Bought and Built a bed
23. Black tie dinner at the National Railway Museum - very cool!

And of course, it's my Birthday between 20:25 on New Year's Eve (the day I use as my birthday) amd the same time the following day.

S.P.A.G.

1. I must appologise for my appalling spelling in the last post.
   minesterial is spelt ministerial
   irellevant was clearly supposed to be spelled irrelevant
   justace should be written justice
   However, according to my spellchecker "empathise" is wrong. they want a "z" instead of an "s"
2. I also must disagree with badfriend's comment on the previous post. I also refuse to go any further on the subject at this time.
3. Lastly, I must appologise for not walking home with Iasonas, Lint and co when the ginger one was in a drunken stupor. I was the only one who was prepared to go near him when he was actually being sick though - so if anyone ever needs looking after while sick by someone who doesn't mind getting sick on them (!) then I'm often around on these occasions (my bad luck really)
4. And one more thing - stairs are dangerous!

Blunkett

Recently in the news you may have noticed Mr Blunkett and the various allegations made by his ex-lover.
This is a topic which has annoyed me in a variety of ways.

• People keep saying that we should not pry into Mr Blunkett's private life, however if he is abusing his minesterial position then it is important for the public to know that.
• Tony Blair, at the end of the day, is the man who will decide whether Mr Blunkett keeps his job. However, dear Tony has already stated that he believes Blunkett, even without the enquiry. This is not going to lead to a fair judgment on Blair's part.
• The fact the Blunkett has a child by this lady is actually irellevant.
• The lady now wished to be kept out of the press, and not go to court, yet she's willing to drag Blunkett's name through the dirt. This is wrong. If you can't take it, lady, don't try to give it out.
• There is one good thing that may come of this though. The fathers for justace group will have a high-ranking supporter, who will be able to empathise with those poor men who are denied access to their children. (NB. If there is good reason to keep the father away, so be it. But it needs to be a damned good reason!)

Why?

I have been asked several times recently - "why do you have a blog?" and "what is a blog for?"

Well, this led to some introspection on my part. Why do I blog? What is the reason for me to publish what is basically a diary on the internet for the world to see? Is it in some vague hope that someone will find it interesting? Perhaps I am looking for someone to be impressed. Is it that I want to share things without having to have conversations about them?

I think, in honesty, that blogging allows me to sound off about things which annoy me, things which I know my friends wouldn't be interested in, and also allows me to consolidate my thoughts on issues which have had some effect on me. Ultimately I don't blog for other people, I blog for myself. (Except the book reviews, of course)

Xmas Dinner One.

So yes, the first in a line of exciting dinners came and went last night.
We arrived in a blaze of publicity...
Well, we arrived anyway. One of my workmates was hanging around having a cigarette. Nobody took photos.
The food was good. I enjoyed all except the parfait. I didn't know what parfait was or I wouldn't have changed my order from plum pudding. It turns out, for the uninitiated, that parfait is basically blancmange on biscuit. Yuck. The first mouthful made me jidder. Ick! I gave mine to Dom.
The band was crap. I don't mind them playing Tom Jones's classics if they can sing anywhere vaguely near as well as he, but the band we had was poor. They did play some disco/pop music briefly between the band's slots. (Two slots!!!) and also apparantly afterwards. However, I missed the second slot since I was sick of the crappy music.
I did have a nice conversation with one of the young men who works down stairs from me, and who I send information to. He has very blue eyes! We agreed on the Daleks, Alien 3 and Star Trek. He was surprised by how much I had drunk, and the fact I wasn't falling over.
The dress was a success. I didn't reveal myself to the world due to extensive application of tit-tape. For everyone who isn't Pete (who I already told) tit-tape is double sided tape which is safe for use on skin and fabric and will attach clothing to body parts. That's how the stars, and now I, get away with these clothes.
However, despite the band being poor, the night was good. I enjoyed myself, I drank lots without being sick, some random person commented on my dress and some people even noticed my new haircut.
Yes, I finally got around to cutting my hair off. I feel like me again! I will try to post a picture of the new haircut but I will have to take a picture and everything first.

Question

Why is it that when you think stuff is looking better, someone always one-ups you?

Clickety Click

Regarding the sucessful day.
The electric meter clicks. Quite often if the washer/cooker is on. How can I stop it? (Other than sitting in the dark with no heating, no TV and no anything, except possibly the gas fire, which might be dangerous. And the pipes would freeze. And I'd have no clean clothes or cooked food. Or chilled food, for that matter.

I have nails again! Although they too click, at least when I am typing! Grr. But also yey! And I dyed my hair, but nobody noticed. This is good however, since I was going for a natural-brown shade, rather than my usual O-my-God-its-red style shade. I guess I'm either growing up or have a red dress which red hair would clash with - you know me, take your pick.

My First Month End Rant

This month end I am being my boss.
Ok, technically not, I'm being Mr Black's boss. Because he's in Norwich. Not Mr Black, but his boss. My actual boss is here. I have done the work of two people (Myself and Black's boss) but I doubt that I will get any thanks for it. In fact, I think that my actual boss might try to take the credit for the smooth running today himself. He seems to think that I can't think for myself. For example, a program we run requires two inputs. One of these inputs often arrives later than the other, although today they arrived together. I therefore ran the program. My boss thinks that I have not checked this, and therefore that I have run the program wrong. I appreciate that he needs to make sure that the team are producing good quality stuff, that we are not releasing rubbish, but I would have noticed - I've been here over a year, I'm not stupid and I know what I'm doing. I do keep track of what I've done!
I get really frustrated by it because I know I do sometimes make mistakes and they're always waved around to taunt me, but the good work I do is ignored - like today. It's 5:15 and we generally all leave by 5, but I'm stil here and working (bar this) - and I've been doing TWO PEOPLE'S JOBS!!!!
Raaa!
I get the impression that my boss doesn't think much of me or my abilities.