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| Thursday, September 21st, 2006 | | 4:56 pm |
Dear Sir/Madam, Please find attached a copy of a highly official letter full of, like, numbers and stuff and certainly not a Livejournal post cunningly disguised as writing a letter at work. Certainly not. As may be apparent, I’m still employed, possibly about to get more so. Job’s pitifully easy at the moment, and I’m spending a fair bit of time twiddling my thumbs but without access to the wealth of entertainment options I had while unemployed. Reading a novel looks unprofessional at work, playing a game even worse and masturbating takes unprofessional to a new level. However, my blissful period of indolence comes to an end soon when I’m being used to document thousands of lines of professionally coded VBA and SQL. The fact I have no experience in these languages is seen as only a minor impediment, which is why I like this company. I know the basics, I have lots of support and quite frankly I like Baptisms of Fire more than perhaps I’d like to admit. Plus I get £15/h for doing 2 jobs at once. Hee. And work from home. Well, someone’s home at least. Life-wise things are good but moving fast. We have the move to Leytonstone to sort out, things are changing for Kirsty and everything seems to be in motion after a very long rest. Which is just fine by me. Trying to get back in touch with people and activities I’ve been neglecting for a while, which includes LJ, it seems. Brave new world, indeed. Current Mood:  optimistic | | Wednesday, July 5th, 2006 | | 10:15 pm |
I have a job! I've finally joined the ranks of those who have overpaid jobs that their friends got them, superceding better qualified people! I'm now auditing the NHS, starting Monday, with the oportunity to work from home, for £375 a week! And my boss plays Feng Shui, which kind of got me the job! Yay! I'm looking for a cheap, but new-ish laptop so I can work in the library without being distracted by the multitude of distractions at Brixton. I'm looking to pay about £300-400 (absolutely no more than £400, preferably a branded version. Also no filthy Macs.) and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions of brands to go for or avoid, good retailers etc. I've heard tha HP are pretty crap and Dell aren't bad but expensive. Also, would I be able to claim VAT back from it? The laptops I've been looking at include this , this and this . Mad props to everyone who's been so supportive since I've been out of work. Current Mood:  hopeful | | Thursday, June 15th, 2006 | | 12:52 am |
Looks like I spoke too soon. I've been fired from my job one day after mentioning it in LJ. At least I didn't say "At least I have my health!" Current Mood:  crushed | | Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 | | 12:03 am |
Still alive....
As I'm in a productive mood, thought I'd update my LJ. Been in a bit of a downward spiral of late and fighting hard to reverse it. Let's condense the past few months into a few salient paragraphs I've working semi-productively in a Pharmacists in Balham (25h/week so I have time for other stuff) for the past 3 months. It's not fun or easy, but it is a job, there's no doubt about that. Of course, thanks to Lambeth Council I'm actually getting less than on benefit and I'm still trying to penetrate the bureaucracy to get some more. My boss is a bitch, but such is the way of all bosses of minimum wage slaves. And I keep making mistakes, which I attribute to not enough sleep, an unforgivable habit of mine I am working to resolve. Am greatly afeared of getting fired. My mum was diagnosed with breast cancer the same week I got my job. She's had a partial mastectomy and is undergoing chemo soon. All looks well so far, but she has been in hysterics constantly for the past few months and is now even worse as she expects to lose her hair. Any of you who knew my mum knows she wasn't going to win any sanity awards beforehand. Yes she still phones me every day. My dad's suffering, as you might expect and I feel for him, and I do keep in touch as much as I can with work and social commitments but it's hard to cope with all the screaming, crying and shouting. But I shall soldier on. All this has made me more than somewhat down of late but I'm fighting not to go down that road again. I know where it goes and there's not even a Little Chef. I do this by small organizational triumphs such as LJ :) In other news, Kirsty is still wonderful and fills me with hope and strength. It's grotesquely unfair that she, or any other of my good friends should have to be unhappy. I'm also hoping to re-establish ties with some friends who seem to have fallen by the wayside such as Deniz and Jake, my oldest female and male friends. To be honest, things look bright for the future as long as I seriously pull my finger out. I may be lying in the gutter, but I'm looking up at the stars. Doesn't stop it smelling of piss, mind. PS Does anyone have a copy of Snowcrash by Neal Stevenson I could borrow? I hear it's rather good. Current Mood:  melancholyCurrent Music: Placebo- Every Me and Every You | | Wednesday, March 1st, 2006 | | 1:15 am |
Party! Party! Party!
- For those who don't know, El Steve and I are having a party at the Brixton House on Friday 10th March.
- It starts about 6-ish.
- Bring your own drink, weed etc.
- It'll be great.
- All are welcome.
- Unless we don't like you, in which case please don't come.
- Comment to sign up for bringing one of the ingredients of APA, ie Blue Bols, Vodka, Archers, Big bottle of Smirnoff Ice.
| | Thursday, February 16th, 2006 | | 1:30 am |
Gigs and Gigs and Gigs!
It's been a hectic couple of months. Christ knows what it'll be like once I finally get a job... Been going to lots of concerts with the lovely Kirsty, so far we've been to Placebo, where we got on the video for the new placebo single. It was fucking ace as well, the new album, Meds, is a wonder to behold and really nice old-school Placebo with some really powerful guitar work. We only had to queue for 6 hours to get in. Actually, it was great in the queue. We met Placebo fans with cool clothes and interesting breasts. Coldness breeds a kind of enforced solidatity. I'm beginning to see what James saw in his uni hiking society. Brian Molko tried crowdsurfing but Placebo fans are all 14 year old goth girls so that didn't work too well. Kirsty touched him! The Sex Dwarf himself! And got his autograph. Chris got his shirt signed by Stefan, and will continue to never wash his shirt. I'm only on for a second at 65 seconds but there's a really clear shot of Kirsty looking beautifully gormless at 91 seconds. Can't wait to get the DVD version, in pin-sharp digital crikeyvision. http://www.kerrang.com/nav?page=kerrang.news.detail&fixture_news=4215468We also saw Dragonforce, which was, uh, an experience. Cool music that began to blur together after 2 hours. With some top notch Euro-hair-metal prancing about on stage like twats. Top marks. Very crowded, mind. We also went to see Channel 4's new Album Chart Show, the single format being dead and all. We say Graham Coxon, the ex-guitarist from Blur, who had a really charming brand of rock-and-roll/punk coolness going on and is to be commended. We left when we heard Craig David was on next though. We have our pride. And we're going to go see Imogen Heap in March and Placebo again in April. Looks like a cool new fixture of my life. ( Some pretty pictures ) Current Mood:  determinedCurrent Music: Placebo- Because I want you to | | Thursday, January 12th, 2006 | | 12:54 am |
Finally got round to finding a spot in my busy schedule to update my journal. I'm still dismally unemployed, but after a period of despondancy am back in full-time looking for work mode. Have an induction meeting hopefully starting monday in TBG lerning in Brixton to get me an ECDL (European Computer Driving License) and Admin and Business qualification. Should only take a few weeks and keeps me busy and active. Plus, it'd be nice to have some qualification. Tomorrow I should have signed up with every major temp agency in London, which should hopefully yield something positive. In other news, I've got a guitar! An Epiphone Special II to be precise. I was dragged along to see MTV's Total Request Live season finale. The program was more of a giggle than I thought- being a glassy eyed cow person who claps on demand is more fun than it sounds. Then they gave out free guitars. Me and my 3 comrades were the last four to get them. For that night and that night only I loved MTV. Am slowly, slowly learning to play it. Glad I didn't grow headbanging-length hair for nothing. God I love my hair *carreses it lovingly* Off to see teh Kirsty this weekend, which is always an exercise in delight. Looking forward to the new Star Wars game, but I'll be damned if I know when to run it. Was thinking Wednesday evening, as I thought Ernst's L5R had terminated. So I'm plum out of ideas. Any weekday evening everyone can make? Any weekend come to that? Current Mood:  energeticCurrent Music: Sugar Cult- Daddy's Little Defect | | Wednesday, November 2nd, 2005 | | 1:21 am |
Seems my life's not all that bad then. Always good to hear... Current Mood:  tiredCurrent Music: Killers- Mr Brightside | | Thursday, March 3rd, 2005 | | 6:57 pm |
| | Sunday, February 27th, 2005 | | 4:33 pm |
Just enough time to quickly update before I catch my train. I'm away home for a week for an operation. I'm assured the surgeons have a raft of qualifications and no significant history of muscular spasm, so I'm not too worried. Don't ask what's happening, I prefer to keep my medical data to myself, but it's not lethal or even particularly dangerous. Sorry to those who had their hopes up. I'm going to be incredibly bored. I'm going to miss... um... all those cool things I did. Like watching Tai play FF: Tactics. (Which was actually pretty fun, to my shame) and I'll certainly miss seeing Kirsty. Straight from the frying pan of hordes of coursework (My last ever coursework essay. Scary.) into the fires of crushing provincial boredom. However, I shall have food made for me and I'll be dosed up on aneasthetics and painkillers which should help pass the time. See ya'll next week I suppose. | | Saturday, January 1st, 2005 | | 1:11 am |
W00t! First post! (As far as my Friends are concerned) Hmm. Looking at paste entries, it seems that Tai has stolen my 1st post idea and gone back in time. Damn yooou! Hope everyone's new year turns out to be better than the last one, which seemed tinged with sadness for too many good people *hugs for everyone* Thank you and goodnight. *collapses in a drunken heap* | | Monday, December 6th, 2004 | | 11:42 am |
On Free Will
A little experiment in philosophy from me. Don't worry, I don't think I'll be doing it again any time soon and apologies in advance for my dire communication skills. I choose to move my arm for no other reason then for this arguement: it moves. Was anything other than a nerve impulse from my brain causing the muscular contraction? I submit not- I don't think many people will argue with that. Now, that impulse originated from a set of neurones in my brain, which in turn were induced by others. Now, at what point does the intangable 'free will' intervene? While I do not deny the existance of a conciousness, at what point does this mind, this soul or whatever cause ion channels in my brain to open? It seems to me that a belief that we have a true choice in our actions seems to hinge on a belief in telekinesis. Because if we do not believe in that, what could have possibly caused my arm to move? Only the actions of other neurones in the brain- and why would they act in such a way? The only answer is surely from stimuli from the enviroment (in the broadest sense) and their physical layout, determined by genetics and a multitude of psuedo random factors before and after birth. Now at what point does 'free will' intervene and cause cells to secret growth or death factors to change the brain's layout or affect its physical function. None I say- if free will exists, then it is utterly impotent to affect our actions. If I could not change the phyical layout of my brain with my will, then I could have not stopped my arm from moving- I had no choice! Now, this seems obvious to me and I apologise if I labour a simplistic point. Do other people agree, because it seems to me that a lot of people don't or haven't thought about it. What axioms are necessary to refute this? Comments/counterarguements are appriciated. I need fresh ideas to progress on this... Current Music: MAX 300- DDR Euromix 2 | | Monday, October 25th, 2004 | | 2:34 pm |
One of my coursemates has hoop earings the size of her handspan... Current Mood:  amused | | Thursday, October 21st, 2004 | | 8:54 pm |
My word, it HAS been a while since my last update. Third Year is an absolute nightmarish avalanche of algebra and pain, although I'm struggling enough to keep my head just above the waterline, which gives me a tremendous sense of accomplishment. I even managed to hand in a piece of coursework early because of GenCon. Me! Getting work in on time! Inconceivable! Sadly, though the event in question is causing my current coursework to be late. What kind of department makes an entire course's coursework to be handed in within 4 days, anyway?? The event itself was.... mmmalright. Went to an old schoolfriend's 22nd on the Friday. There was much drinkage, even some dancing from me (!) at a very, very cool rock/metal club. Butlins was great, hope we can spend longer there if it's there next year- the place is enomous fun and really deserves a week. Got press-ganged into trying DDR, and found to my astonishment that I was terrible at it and really liked it. Have been going down the road to Trocedero to practice on my lunch breaks. Some good games of Shadowfist, and I sold £75 worth of cards, with another £60 forthcoming next week, almost emptying my stock, which was most welcome, and I now have a new Cop deck, which needs some merciless tweeking, but is fun to play. The cards in question were aquired on a day trip to the truly stunning village of Marlow, which has to qualify as Best Day Out Ever, must go on another pub crawl there at some point. Got to be a bt of a loner a while back- what with all the work and all, I've been getting in an increasingly foul mood, and apologies to anyone for any fallout that results. Having said that, I've been meeting lots of nice people recently, in particular I actually found more than one UCL student who is tolerable o_0, most of the losers having dropped out last year. The Most Annoying Girl in the World is still here though, which irritates me to no end. The thought strikes me that I haven't actually played in an RPG for over a year. This disturbs me, so I am looking to sidle into a game, probably Tai's when I actually get some free time. I'm really keen to experience his GMing style. Tom and I lugged the new dryer from Curry's in the rain yesterday, which was one of those weirdly life affirming travails. Things are really pretty good right now, but not in any profoundly exciting way. So many people I have to remember to see! Deniz, Jake, my Werewolf party, even Chris! So sad when you don't have time for people you really love the company of! I miss 2003! Current Mood:  accomplishedCurrent Music: The Sweet Sound of COURSEWORK! | | Monday, August 2nd, 2004 | | 5:25 am |
Eek. Went to bed at 10.30 last night, woke up just now with what I thought was a runny nose, and turned out to be a huge and astonishingly persistant nosebleed. First Jake, now me... I hope this isn't a League of Gentlemen style epidemic! I always wondered what would happen if I went to bed at a sensible hour. | | Tuesday, July 20th, 2004 | | 4:12 pm |
This whole 'durian' thing is someone's sick idea of a joke, right? Current Mood:  nauseated | | Monday, July 19th, 2004 | | 7:57 pm |
People keep bitching that I never update my LJ, so here goes. Went to Chinatown today and saw/got much weird shit. This week's Doubleyuteeff award for Most Fucked-up Chinese Food Product goes to: White Jelly Fungus Soup Mix- Nourishes the Lungs and Quenches Thirst *blinks* Runners up include coffee flavoured Agar jelly and green bean powder. Bought myself some sweet potato noodles, sparkling peach juice, fish sauce, durian flavoured wafers, pickled mustard tuber (?), BBQ fried dough, strawberry Pocky and enough kim-chi ramen to sink a pocket battleship. Despite all this, I am now on something of a diet. Nothing major, just seriously scaling back on the fast and fried foods. I'm finally sick of this chubbiness around my cheeks and chin which I think distorts the shape of my face and I kno wit doesn't take much to be rid of it. I'll save money too. Also, dealers seem very reluctant to have exclusive rights to selling Magic: the Gathering boosters at a official DCI sanctioned booster draft. They suck. My favorite excuse was lack of stock. You see, if they sold all their boosters, they would have nothing to sell in the store, but *they still would have sold them all at inflated prices!* "But then we would have to reorder and that's, like, hard and stuff". Fine. If they don't want money, we'll have to make it ourselves. In other news, my fellow human beings aggravate me. I shall see them all dead in due course. Current Mood:  listlessCurrent Music: Placebo- Slackerbitch | | Wednesday, April 28th, 2004 | | 9:17 pm |
Learn Neuroscience in 30 seconds!
Having been revising the Neuroscience part of my course for some time, I have realised the true underlying simplicity behind it all and have, out of a sense of goodness made it so even PHYSICISTS can impress all the Biology chicks with their superlative knowledge of Brain Science. Want to know more? Of course you do! ( Learn Neuroscience! ) Current Mood:  silly | | Thursday, April 22nd, 2004 | | 8:01 pm |
*laughs* Ye gods...The Medical Sciences section of the UCL science library actually smells of women 24 hours a day. It's really quite strange- it's almost cloying. On a similar note, I'm actually coming to the realisation that I might actually be the only white male on my course. Not sure how to feel about that. | | Wednesday, April 21st, 2004 | | 4:28 pm |
Hmm... Common Room. Debate on the ethics of marriage, and now movie reviews. What? How long can you spend talking about the way a sandwich tastes? It's prounced "tor-tia" not "tortilia". "Eletrication" is not a word. Stop talking... stop talking... *gets chainsaw* Current Mood:  aggravated |
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