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October 10th, 2009

12:01 am - Pumpkin Carve-nival? Hello! I haven't posted on here for fucking ages (although I do still read everyone else's) and while an actual proper entry isn't quite here yet I do have a question to ask. First watch this: http://www.homestarrunner.com/halloween2002.html Then tell me, does anyone fancy a real life pumpkin carve-nival featuring me, you and other people we know? I've never carved a pumpkin before in my life so it'd be nice to have a go. I imagine that since Halloween falls on a Saturday everyone (including myself) will be out somewhere, but we could do it on the Friday instead. Let me know if you fancy the exciting combination of drinking and knives! Also creativity! Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: KJ Sawka - Click Pop

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May 5th, 2009

12:27 am - I'm worth it. I seem to have found the best product yet for use on my curly hair - it keeps my curls defined without weighing them down, and makes the volume nice and bouncy without it getting all frizzy. The wonder stuff? L'Oreal straightening lotion. The mind boggles... Current Mood: curious Current Music: Trellis - Fibre Troll (Green Wing OST)

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April 5th, 2009

11:58 pm - If you stick at something, you get results. Who'd have thought? Amost unbelievably, it's been 2 years since I started swimming regularly. Those who know me well know that I'm not the best of people for sticking at things, but it seems that my usual boredom and apathy is no match for the creeping terror of becoming fat - thus my motivation in this venture remains undiminished! Back in 2007 I was tipping the scales at just over 15 stone, and now I'm down to (DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNN) 12 stone 5 pounds! Over two and a half stone of fat has now been stripped from my frame, and I have little muscles appearing and everything :-) Not just that, but I've gone from being a piss-poor swimmer who could do one length at a time to being one of the fastest regulars up in the place. In the grand scheme of things I know that I'm still not very good, but in terms of personal betterment it's been fantastic. I haven't been this weight since I was a teenager, so I'm very pleased with the way it's all going - I guess at some point my weight'll settle out though, so it'll be interesting to see where that'll be. Either that or I'll keep on losing weight at the same rate, so in about 10 years I'll achieve neutral buoyancy in air and be able to float about everywhere instead. Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: UNKLE - Time Has Come [Portishead Plays UNKLE Mix]

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January 14th, 2009

11:44 pm - Whine. My car cost me £1095.42 to service this time round, balls :-( BUT, my clever economic scheme of always keeping about a grand in reserve in case of emergency worked exactly as planned... I almost feel like a responsible grown-up. Actually no, that's not true - I feel like someone who's just spent the second-biggest sum of money he's ever spent, and not on anything cool :-( Still, at least little Denzel's running better than he has for ages, so that's something! Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: Lamb - Wonder (Dead Guys Vocal Mix)

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November 30th, 2008

10:07 pm So, following on from last month's post, I didn't get the job I went for :-( I was going to write about the whole thing a little bit, but talking about work is boring so I won't bother with that. Preparing for that interview had eaten up a pretty big chunk of my free time, so recently I've been trying to get out and about a bit more so I can feel like an actual human being again - it's been very nice, I had a run of a good few weeks where I was doing something every weekend :-) In no particular order, Percy's birthday, Andy's birthday, Bogiez for Halloween (as most people saw I went as Russell Brand, it proved a popular choice - probably half the pictures of me on Facebook now are from that night), Mike and Miriam's awesome wedding reception at The Wharf, bonfire night with a whole bunch of cool peeps, catching up with old friends, a meal and a free-bar party with my homies from work... Plus a lot of swimming, films, video games and fucking - I feel a lot more like myself again after all that! Right now I have a little project, the Xmas Judder is coming up soon so I've decided to bite the bullet and put a costume together. Right now I'm feeling like I've bitten off a bit more than I can chew, but on the other hand it's good to finally be able to spend money on something a bit more whimsical like this - the me of a couple of years ago would get as far as planning everything out in his head, then have to spend the money on overdue bills or keeping himself from starving. It's progress! Speaking of progress, witness how things stand in my cosy little crafts area in front of the fire :-) See if you can guess from the materials shown what my costume might just possibly be... ( A picture for your perusal. ) Current Mood: productive Current Music: KJ Sawka - Cotton Club

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October 14th, 2008

08:08 pm - T/PL/NP/16 - Policy for Below 7 Bar Network Analysis When I left work today it really smelled like Autumn outside! There was that woodlandy organic smell in the air, it instantly took me back to my littler days and running through/kicking about/jumping into massive piles of fallen leaves :-) The best time was always getting out of choir practice and running down the path through the graveyard, the leaves would pile up about a foot thick on either side so you could really make a mess charging through it and kicking it all up :-) In other news I have a job interview tomorrow. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccckkkkkkk Still the same place, but a better job and more cash. It's a couple of grades up from where I am now (well into the realms of A Proper Job) so I'm not that hopeful of getting it, but I can but try. The revision over the last couple of days has been nearly impossible, I've been at it for a fortnight and I think I've burnt out my brain :-( What I'm learning is interesting stuff compared to what I'm currently doing, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm learning about gas regulations during my free time. My life is WEIRD. Current Mood: worried Current Music: Dj Krush - Duality (2006k Mix) Ft. Dj Shadow

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September 30th, 2008

11:57 pm Gah, should be revising for another job interview, but instead I'm watching a lecture about life by a guy who sadly didn't have much more of his left - Randy Pausch, who lost his battle with cancer earlier this year. He was a computer science professor, Disney Imagineer, education innovator, husband, father, (the list goes on), and if you've got a couple of hours spare to listen to his views on realising your dreams, it's well worth a watch. The last lecture of Randy Pausch. Current Mood: contemplative Current Music: Ivy - Worry About You

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September 25th, 2008

11:49 pm - Dun dun dunnnnn......... I ordered 2 laptops today. As I already have a pretty swish PC, you may wonder why I did this. In time you will find out, but for now......... P.S. If you're one of the people who do know, don't spoil it! Current Mood: geeky Current Music: Beck - The Horrible Fanfare, Landslide, Exoskeleton

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August 12th, 2008

11:54 pm - A date that will live in infamy... So, last Thursday marked the 2 year anniversary of when I started my job at Wales & West. I did apply for another position last month, but despite a good interview I was up against people who'd gone for it several times before - thus they had even better interviews, boo... My friend Dan and I both started here at the same time, and despite our best efforts here we remain :-( To celebrate the non-momentous occasion, he went home sick and I went to Judder on Friday with Phil and Alice to dance like crazy. That made things a lot better! I never got around to writing about it at the time, but (along with Percy and Sue) Alice and I did do the Cardiff Naked Bike Ride I mentioned a while ago! Owing to technical difficulties Alice and I arrived at the start mere seconds after everyone had set off, so it was a case of catching up and taking stuff off at opportune moments along the way :-) We started off by the museum, crossed over Queen Street, headed through The Hayes and went down to the bay - by which point Alice had got down to her pants and I'd got down to my landing strip. From there we headed back into town, down St. Mary Street and finished up in the park by the river. It was a lovely Saturday afternoon, so town was pretty busy - I wasn't sure what reaction the good people of Cardiff would have, but everyone was loving it as we rode past - tons of clapping and cheering, I was getting an achey face from smiling so much :-) It was definitely one of the coolest things I've ever done, and if they do one next year I'll be there in a flash. Never before have so many people at once seen my penis! In other news, my swimming's going nicely; I've lost over 2 stone and counting, and my technique's gradually getting better too. Yay, less body-shame! Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: Thievery Corporation - Lebanese Blonde

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June 5th, 2008

11:42 pm - Opportunity of a lifetime! Sort of! Hello, Percy recently brought this to my attention - we'll probably be joining in one way or another :-) Anyone else interested/curious? Naked bike ride in Cardiff, Saturday June 14th! Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: loafeye - feeling the way

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May 14th, 2008

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April 8th, 2008

11:43 pm - Gigs! This has been a good year for music so far - Phil and I saw Ulrich Schnauss a while back, and the other week I journeyed with treselegante, faggy_no_oats and Rhys to Oxford to see Eels, who were awesome. My favourite band did my favourite song, yaaaaaaaay :-) We found a cool pub to have food in beforehand, had a brief chat with miss_squiddy and lee_chaos who were at the gig too, passed a couple of Oxford's bizarrely-named 'Kebab Kid' chain of kebab houses, and on the way out of the town centre drove past some chav club with a huge queue outside, including a guy in a pink polo shirt with a popped collar! I hadn't seen that popped collar thing outside of the internet before, so coming across it in the wild was a very exciting time. Aaaanyway, the other part of my post is as such - on Saturday 26th April Phil and I will be journeying back to Bristol to see Ulrich Schnauss again, in exactly the same place as last time (we had brief glimpses of the top of his head on that occasion, so we're aiming to get a bit closer to the front...), and on Saturday 3rd of May Martin and I will be winding our way to Cheltenham to see Bonobo doing a set. I'll most likely be booking tix at the end of this week, so if anyone else fancies coming along you should speak now or forever hold your peace. Myspaces below if you want to have a listen to their stuff. Hope you're all well! http://www.myspace.com/ulrichschnauss (although from previous experience, his live sets are a LOT dancier) http://www.myspace.com/sibonobo (with him Cheltenham there'll also be a 35-piece orchestra who do covers of Amon Tobin tracks - I'm not exactly sure how it all fits together, but it could very well be awesome) Current Mood: calm Current Music: loafeye - full on broken down

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April 2nd, 2008

11:28 pm - Needs moar jobhunting. Recently there've been a round of voluntary redundancies at work to cut costs - and as it works out most financially beneficial for those who've been with the company a long time to take it, we've had loads of farewell emails from these people flying around over the last week. What's really scared me is how long these people have actually been there; a lot of them have been 25 years plus, with a few being over 40! Maybe I'm of the wrong generation to have that 'job for life' mentality, but these people have been working in the gas industry for nearly 2 of my lifetimes. Is that as good as it could get for them? Or did they have ambitions, gradually eroded over the years, until they were institutionalised? Worse than that is how brief these emails have been - I find it staggering that anyone could find it possible to sum up 43 years of their life in 4 lines of text. A lot of them just seemed to join the company because it was convenient for them at the time, and stayed for no particular reason. I myself joined the company because it was convenient for me at the time, so I'm having horrible visions of the future as a result of this. JAMES, THIS IS YOUR BRAIN TALKING TO YOU. GET THE FUCK OUT NOWWWWWWWWWWW NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: Lemon Jelly - Nice Weather For Ducks

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March 11th, 2008

11:34 pm - A productive day. I was bored this evening, but after reading a thread on 4chan about making forts I became inspired! ( BEHOLD, MY FORT! ) Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: arovane - lilies

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March 3rd, 2008

10:58 pm - If you like awesome things, then do I have a treat for you. As a connoisseur of weird and hilarious things, I can heartily endorse Lasagna Cat. Go there and be amazed at the efforts of a bunch of people doing live action re-enactments of Garfield comics strips from over the years, which are then remixed into music videos. Why do they do this? No-one knows. I find it really heartening that there are people out there doing this kind of thing though :-) Alternative types will like the music choices for 04/08/1998 and 06/15/2007, while 01/26/1995 must be viewed for sheer AAAAH WHAT THE FUCK value. Enjoy! Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: Imogen Heap - Goodnight and Go

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February 28th, 2008

11:03 pm - A timely update. Well, now that it's nearly March it's probably time for my roundup of 2007! It hasn't been the most obviously productive of years, but it's laid a pretty solid foundation for things to come. I started the year the podgiest I've ever been, at that point I'd been at my boring job for about 6 months and had been snacking all day long in an attempt to relieve the tedium. This took me from 13.5 to past the 15 stone mark, so something needed to be done. I started swimming at the end of March, and it's been going great - I'm comfortably back under 14 stone again, but with a fair amount of muscle to show for it too - I'm in danger of becoming fit! My post a while back about how I could swim 10 lengths in a row seems quite sweet in retrospect, my record for non-stop swimmyness now stands at 200 lengths :-) For someone who always assumed he was crap at physical activities it's a good feeling to make that kind of steady progress, so 2008'll see more of the same. This may be the year I can finally go to the beach in summer and not worry about getting undressed... Financially things are looking up also - before I started working I was at my overdraft limit with a maxed out credit card and 700 quid's worth of bills to pay - now that's all gone, I'm way in credit, I can afford to spend money making the house pretty and I finally bought a new pc after 7 years of waiting :-) A better-paid job would be nice so I can accrue funds a bit quicker, but that's in the works. I'm still doing my boring job, but it's served its purpose - after 3 years of the whole depression thing and not doing anything at all, it's got me back on my feet and in a good position to think about what the hell I want to do from here on out. I've started jobhunting, and 2008 may well be the year that various plans and ideas that have been germinating for a long time start to come to fruition too. Check back here in a year to see how it went! I intend to see people more this year too - being in work is pretty tiring, but I don't want to miss out on cool things because of it. It's going well so far - plenty of clubbing and houseparties (including my own last weekend, which was cool - thanks to everyone who came!), and the other week Phil and I muddled our way to Bristol to see Ulrich Schnauss (we were only driving around lost for about an hour, go us!). March brings a trip to Oxford to see The Eels too, which I'm very pleased about :-) Fingers crossed this'll be a year of reaping what I've sown. Everyone else have a cool year too! P.S. Thanks again to everyone for their concern last September after Dad and Nan had their mishaps - Dad's fine again, Nan continues to recover. Current Mood: relaxed Current Music: Bonobo - Dinosaurs

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January 15th, 2008

09:44 pm - Gig?! Hello! Does anyone besides me like The Eels? If yes, do you like them enough to want to go see them in Oxford on the 23rd of March? I'm not anticipating a flurry of replies here, but I thought I'd ask anyway. Now it is in your hands! Current Mood: curious Current Music: Chris Cornell - You Know My Name

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January 8th, 2008

07:39 pm - Make your debut album! A proper entry is long overdue, but in the meantime check out this cool idea I saw and subsequently stole from 4chan - how to create your very own album! 1 - Go to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band. 2 - Go to The Quotations Page: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 The last four words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. 3 - Go to flickr: http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover. Put it all together and you're away! Here's mine - Nissan VK Engine's album drops next Thursday: ( Edit: Other people have seen this and put it on their journals too, so I've had opportunity to make more album covers for their entries. Observe! ) Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: Bonobo - Shadowtricks

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October 31st, 2007

10:11 pm - QUESTION! After talking to several chums at Kat's nice little Halloween party earlier, the following questions have arisen: 1. Do people want to do anything firework-related for Bonfire Night on Monday? 2. If nothing else is arranged, can people be bothered to travel to Rumney to hang out in my back garden and make stuff explode? If the answer to both questions is yes, leave a comment - then the appropriate plans can be made! Current Mood: relaxed

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September 22nd, 2007

12:11 am I've been meaning to write about the lovely week off I had a little while back, but (as is the way with LJ mainly being a repository for sorrow) that's going to have to wait for another time instead. On Sunday I found out that my Nan had had a bad fall and broken her arm and hip, so she's been in hospital all this week. I've gone in to see her a couple of times and she's doing very well thankfully - being in her mid-80s the whole operation thing has been on my mind, but she came through that fine and is on the road to recovery. Then today I had a call in work from my Mum asking if I could come and pick her up as she was at the hospital, having got there in an ambulance with my Dad who'd had a 'mini stroke' this morning :-( When it happened he couldn't move his left arm or any of the left side of his face, but over the course of the day that's nearly all sorted itself out again - I got in to see him this evening and he was doing well. He's in good spirits, and despite me bringing magazines and a cd player he was actually finding all the sitting about and doing nothing to be very relaxing :-) When I first found out about Dad today I was in a sort of worried daze for a while, and Mum and I had a bit of a tense time waiting to find out exactly what was going on, but fingers crossed that after 24 hours of observation he'll be home again. This stuff with Nan and Dad all came out of the blue so it shocked me a fair bit - you hear about accidents and other lame things happening to other people, but never think that it might happen in your family. Right now I'm just glad that it wasn't worse, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing them both well again. Current Mood: tired Current Music: mileu & quosp - everglade

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