Tuesday, February 27, 2007

You'd have to be as blind as Anne Frank not to realise that!

Well hello readers and another blog is up and about... Unfortunately there has been sod-all happening this past week so I will make this mundane run-through as entertaining as possible.

On Monday morning I awoke ready to get back in to the swing of things after half-term. When I got to school I was told about an idea to beautify the school and that I would be helping to set out some ideas. (I actually new of this ages ago but had since put it out of my mind because I thought nothing would come of it.) So I dreamt up some ideas and stored them for use later in the week. In the evening we decided to go and see Hot Fuzz in Solihull. Being a fan of Shaun of the Dead, I was anticipating it to be just as funny and I'm pleased to say that it was! If you haven't seen it yet, stop reading this, get on the phone and book some tickets at your nearest cinema.

Tuesday was much of a muchness. The onlt thing I did different to the norm' was to take photo's of areas of the school that could do with being a little more colourful. I took about 40 photo's in all and put them on to Sally's laptop ready to be photoshoped! After doing that, I took some photo's of students work and loaded those onto the laptop so I could use them to show everyone how the school could look.

In the evening everyone went for a drink as per usual.

On Wednesday I started work on my virtual school beautification. I will try and get you some pics' dear reader. Mr. Robinson may be so interested, being a fellow photoshop user (all be it a better one than me... I still dont know how to properly use the pen tool to do cool things!)
Later on in the evening I went down to fathers as usual to watch some TV.

Right, Thursday... Work was the same as Wednesday, still working on my little project. Followed by a good old trip to the packhorse in the Evening...

On Friday I was just looking forward to the weekend. I knew that the presentation of my visuals would be given to the bigwigs at Woodrush. Sal' sent me a text at about 5:00pm saying they enjoyed it and they think that some of the ideas put forward by me and the rest of the art staff might actually get done! woohoo!

... Oh sod it.

I didn't want to do this...

... I always wanted to be...

... A LUMBERJACK! (just click the link)




*Ahem* Sorry readers. Just trying to make it more interesting.... Where was I? Oh yes...

Friday evening was spent with marcus, Jenny, and Adam.

Right, Saturday. I went to HMV to buy Clerks and Clerks II. I think they are both absolutely brilliant and fancied seeing them. Knowing Selena had never seen them either, I went round to watch Clerks, and ended up letting her borrow Clerks II. Afterwards I went to the Swan with Marcus and Jenny, and we moved on to the Kings Arms in Kings Heath. Jen' was looking a bit frazzled due to a heavy session the night before... tut-tut!

I came home and dived in to bed myself because I was knackered.

Right, I'm off out in a bit so I will leave you there dear readers.

TTFN

Monday, February 19, 2007

Half-Term

Hello readers and welcome to a photo-heavy blog! I'm blogging the half term week, so I will skip all the fat and get right in to the meat of the subject: (Thats a long way of saying "I'll get to the point")
I will skip to Tuesday: I spent a £20 HMV voucher that I had for Christmas. I got Test Drive: Unlimited for the 360, and because of a special offer, got The Outfit for free as well. Test Drive is a good multiplayer racer, and The Outfit is a bit manic. Good fun though.
Valentines day. I didn't really do much, but I did receive happy valentines messages from a few people... Always nice to know I'm not completely done for...! At fathers in the evening we watched the Little Britain:LIVE DVD. Hilariously funny and with sketches that weren't performed when I went to see them at the NIA. I came home and dossed about on the PC for a bit before going to bed.
On Thursday myself and Father went to the motorcycle meuseum. I had never actually been round the place, but was glad I did. They have virtually every model of british bikes since the 1900's! Obviously I took lots of photo's but have only uploaded a few. (I realise your time is precious, dear reader)

Ah, and we start with my favoritest bike ever. The Vincent Black Shadow! Perfection in engineering and no mistake!



1957 Triumph classic




The view from the saddle of a '60's Sunbeam

Another nice bike... Fuck-knows what it is, but hey, there we go

It was a good day. In the evening Me, Lank, and Donna went on a mini pub-crawl. We went to the Drawbridge but it was quiz night and it was heaving with people. We decided that the Resevoir would be quieter, so we left.

Funny Story alert!

As we were leaving the Drawbridge I was walking behind Donna, watching her stepping over the kerbstones and flowerbed by the entrance. I was jokingly saying "Don't fall over, don't fall over" whilst poking her in the back. However, (and I want to make this absolutely clear) about 5 seconds AFTER I had stopped doing that, what does she go and do? Yep! Slip straight on to her ass on the carpark! She was OK, thankfully, but couldn't stand up for laughing! We eventually got her in to Lanks car and away we went!

Right, back to normality...

We got to the Res' at about 9:45pm and got sat down with our drinks. At 11:00pm we decided it was too quiet so we went to the Packhorse, since they serve until 12:00 midnight. When we arrived Jason and Gemma, Nikki, and Kaz and John were still there so we pulled up some chairs and joined them. We had a good laugh (as we always do) and left at about 12:40 after being told to vaccate the premises because they were locking up! Lank dropped me and Donna home and I went straight to bed... because I knew Friday would be a bit hectic...

I got up on Friday morning and had some running-about to do. I had also promised father that I would solve his iPod problem for him. Basically, some of the tracks were skipping, so I had to adjust them on my PC and put them back on. All this was done in a rush because it had been agreed last Monday that at the weekend we would go and see Carl in Plymouth! He said he could put 3 of us up for a couple of evenings and that it would be a good laugh so Adam and John got to mine for about 6:30pm with sleeping bags and back-packs in tow. We left an hour later and was on our way. I kept the car at a steady *cough, cough* miles per hour and was making good time down the M5. We stopped once just before Bristol for something to eat, although I rather wished we hadn't...

We went in to Wimpy burger (yes, they do still exist!) and ordered a meal... for £6.25! had I known the price beforehand (not to mention the quality of the food) I certainly wouldn't have bothered. The bread was nasty and cheap, the meat was so thin you could see through it and the sauce was, well, a sort of stain on the bap. We finished up and left. I made it in to Plymouth for just after 11:00pm...

Or more accurately, I made it in to what I THOUGHT was Plymouth for just after 11:00pm. What I had done, and this is rather silly, I had "missed" Plymouth by a couple of miles due to the fact that I forgot to turn off the motorway. Had I not noticed my slight error I may very well have ended up drowning in the English Channel... Or Worse!... France!

No, actually, I had missed one turning on the A38 and was on the outskirts of Plymouth, but not in the City centre, which is where I needed to be... So I went back through the main roads and found myself on the ringroad... Which is where I stayed. Top Tip, readers if you are ever thinking of driving around Plymouth... DON'T! It really is the most confusing, stupid, rat trap of a road system. Take my advise and hack your own legs off, it's easier. Carl gave us directions though and we found his house before 12:00 midnight (just) After unpacking we pretty much turned in for the night because we wanted to go out for the day on Saturday...

Which we did. We got up, had brekkie' and headed on out. We decided that the local Sealife Centre would be good so we went in. Again, I took lots of piccies and the best of the bunch are here for you to enjoy...

Carl and Adam looking at a thinga-ma-bob (which they first mistook for a thingy-ma-jig!)


Fish (Well, duh')


More fish... I'm not quite sure how to tell you any more about them, really.


These have got to be some of the most patriotic anenomes I have ever seen...

A seahorse... Miserable looking bastards, but I suppose I don't blame them. Especially the males! (note: if you don't know what I'm talking about, read through this)

Ah Yes, One of my favorite photo's this was a room in the sealife centre that used to be a large exhibition tank, but had been converted to a research facility that you can observe. In case you can't read the note in the picture it says: SEA 2-5 Low Level Electrical Box Please Keep Closed. I just liked the fact that it had been left completely open!

In the evening we went for a curry. Me and John had been there before when we visited Carl last year whilst he was staying in Halls. It was a good meal and we left all feeling a little bit too full up. We then went to The Voodoo Lounge. It is a lively bar which we also went to the last time we were there. We left at about 2:00am to go and play on the xbox!

The game of choice was Worms Forts... It was shit. During the course of the night we noticed that Carls lamp was casting big shadows on his wall. We also noticed the large inflatable sythe he had in his room (well, he is a student, such things are to be expected!) So naturally, the fun began. I have some interesting photos (not all are suitable for this little blog readers. But here is one that should offend)

Carl pretending to sythe John through the head... See that sythe?... Well the other shadow photos I have involve using the blade section to simulate a certain part of the male anatomy! (yes! That part!)

well Sunday morning came and went. We had lunch and at 3:30pm we set off back home. We hit a jam about half an hour in to the trip so we stopped for a McDonalds (Not a bloody Wimpy Burger!) The journey was OK but not as quiet as before. We ended up singing along to my '80's CD for about 2 hours to kill some time and boredom. I reached Becketts Island at 7:15pm and dropped john home. After Adam got picked up from my house I went down to my nans as I usually do on a Sunday (well, I like watching Top Gear at my nans!) I came home for 10:00pm though as i was absolutely shattered. in fact i can't remember getting in to bed because I was 3-parts-gone anyway!

And it is there I will leave you, dear readers. I am off out in a bit to go and see Hot Fuzz in Solihull. catch you later.

TTFN.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Half Term and a bit

Hello readers (and "Marvin", I suppose) and welcome. Looking for an update are you? Need something quick to read? Then look no further...

Well where to begin... I will skip to last Tuesday, if I may, since Monday was boring.

Anyway, On Tuesday I had to cover a couple of lessons in the art department. This is unusual, because I'm usually used to cover other subjects like maths and history... You know, those subjects I know so much about (hint: sarcasm.) But as it was I was actually teaching art. By myself. Me... Now the day culminated in the yr11's... basically, they know what they are doing, I just have to supervise. It was a nice relaxed lesson and I enjoyed it... However, part way through the lesson I noticed this on the whiteboard:



Lovely isn't it. You watch, they will have a nick-name for me next (assuming I don't already have one!) It wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't mis-spelled "weird" but, there we go... Oh and in case you are wondering, no, I didn't get my phone out and take that picture in the lesson... I'm daft, but I'm not un-professional. I took the photo after 3:00pm when the kiddies had gone.

Anyway, I went home, had tea, and went out. I took Donna for a drink in the Drawbridge since I hadn't seen her in near enough 3 weeks. I was glad of the company and, although I wasn't drinking, I had a good time. We didn't stop out late as Donna had to be up early so we came back for about 10:30pm. I dropped her home and went back to watch a bit of telly before going to bed.

I got up Wednesday and headed in to work. It was a normal day, just like any other but at mid-morning a rumour went round to say that there was going to be snow on Thursday and that Woodrush might be closed... At the end of the day I went home praying to the heavens that 20 tons of snow would hit Wythall in the small hours of the morning. I then had tea and went down to fathers as I usually do. We put on Little Britain:Live but rather than watching the show we watched the extras, including a documentary about David Walliams swimming the English Channel... Good stuff! I went home afterwards, still praying for snow... and guess what! God smiled down upon me, and he sayeth: "Gareth, thyne work is good, and all that you survey will be covered in thy frosty goodness" (Those weren't his exact words, but you get the idea.)

Sure enough, I was awoken Thursday morning at 6:50am by my phone going off. It was the call to say Woodrush was going to be closed...

WOOHOO!

I had a lie-in and got up atabout 10:00am. I watched telly and sat in front of the computer, and... Well actually, that was about it. PC/TV acounted for 90% of my day. The only thing I did was pop out in my car, I spent 10 minutes digging it out from under the snowy blanket that covered it. When I came back, I looked at it about 20 minutes later and this was the image that greeted me...

I should have just left it alone I suppose...

In the evening, I went up to the Packhorse. No Lank this week, so I got a lift there with mother, and a lift back with Jason. I came back and checked my Email. I had one from the admin at Woodrush telling me that WOODRUSH WOULD BE CLOSED FRIDAY AS WELL!!!

I was extatic. This meant 2 days added to half term. I had officially broken up... Nice!

So Friday went much the same way as Thursday, except that in the evening I went out

Saturday was a good day. I got a phonecall from Adam saying that he had found his old sledge! (You can see where this is going, can't you?) Ok, I will skip the twaddle and get right to it: We arrived at the Lickey hills at about 3:00pm. Me, Adam, John, Marcus, and Jenny were wrapped up with gloves, coats, etc. Jenny took 3 steps and fell on her ass, but it didn't stop her having a go. I made a decent run to test the surface snow out... Turns out it was good! I went quite quick down the hill behind the visitors centre, and got a few funny looks in the process. We all took turns going down.

In the evening we went for a curry. Sledging and curry in one day! Surely, there is a law about that much pleasure... Sledging, and curry!!! rock on!

Well there wego readers. I will have to leave you there as I'm off to nans for my tea...

Catch you all laters!

TTFN


Monday, February 05, 2007

Only 11 months until Christmas!!!

Howdy readers, and already we are in to February...

I wil begin this chapter of my on going adventure by going back to last Monday. After finishing work and coming home I had a phone call off Marcus asking me if, instead of going to the pub, a night of Bowling would be of interest. Yes, was my response so Me, Marcus, John, and Adam (No Jenny this week, she was studying for her police thingy) all went up to Rubery. Adam had a special voucher that gave us a free game, so a good time was had by all...

... Except me who ended up losing both games.

After taking my losses on the chin, I dropped John home and drove back to mine with Adam and Marcus, who jumped in to Ad's car and went home. Another sucessful evening.

On Tuesday I left work slightly later than usual and shot home to watch a bit of TV before going to pick John up and shooting over to Adams. We never know what we are going to do, we just sort of wing it. We ended up in the Field House but only stayed for one drink because of the amount of smoke. Honestly, it was thick and horrible. The air actualy felt greasy from it! We wandered back to Ad's and stuck the telly on. (We will probably do pretty-much the same thing later)

Ah Wednesday... I went to see father who had returned from his skiing holiday with the lads (or "The laaads" as they call themselves) in Lake Tahoe. It is the 20th year running for the lads ski holidays. I have been on 3 of those 20 (as well as the big ski holiday every year at Easter) and they are usualy quite manic, but I suspect that being the 20th aniversary, it was bloody mayhem. they stayed in a Hotel/casino, and i will try to post some of the photos when dad gets his film developed (film? What the hell is film?)

Thursday was Swan night... Except that it wasn't. For reasons I won't go in to (or even fully understand) Swan night became Packhorse night, and will probably remain Packhorse night for a while.

Friday (sorry readers i'm rushing through this because I'm A) hungry and B) want to play on my new bit of software which I will blog about in a moment) Friday after work, no one went to the pub, instead we all went home. I ended up having chinese for tea, and while I was chomping away on a chicken fried rice when my mobile rang. It was Marcus asking me if I fancied joining him and Jenny for a meal... D'oh! I declined but said that a drink would be spot-on so I phoned Adam, who shot over to mine, and we went to pick Marcus and Jenny up. In the car going to Weatherspoons in Kings Heath (which is where we decide to go) I decided to have a little bit of fun. Jenny was going on about her studying for her police training and said that she had been doing arrests....

heh, heh... So I made a big point of saying something like "would you have to arrest someone for, say, a traffic offence even if you weren't on duty?" like a mug she said "yes" so I dropped the Mondeo in to 3rd Gear and stood on the gas. I got the car up to 50-ish on Haunch Lane where Jen' tried to actually read me my rights!.... She got it wrong, however, and so I politely helped her out... Technically I was under arrest but didn't give a shit and parked by the old church in Kings Heath. We sat in the non-smoking section, about 2 feet from the actual sign. when Jenny lit a ciggarette a barmaid told her to put it out. Jen went and stood a couple of feet away so that smoking was allowed... Crazy. Afterwards, I went home to bed as I was feeling quite tired, and new that Saturday was going to require some energy...

... So I got up Saturday morning and waited for Selena and Kieron to come over because we were going to the snowdome. I shot down to fathers to pick up my ski boots (I hate rental ones) and stuck some petrol in and, when Sel' and Kie' arrived I set off for Tamwaorth. We were going because Selena had bought Kieron a ski lesson at the Snowdome for his Birthday (which was last week.) Me and Selena paid for two hours recreational skiing and watchd Kieron begin his lesson. All-in-all he was very good. He only fell over once at the end because he hit a pile of powder with one ski, and a compact bit with the other which can throw you off balance (I've done it myself many times, the trick to saving it is to turn with the slide. If your left ski hits a patch of ice, and your right ski is in thick snow, it spins you to the right. if you turn to the left the ski on ice wont bite and will slip from under you, turning with the spin, the ski in thick snow will carve properly, and you should regain balance... There we go, you've learned something! Who says my blog isn't educational?)

... Hang on where was I? Oh yes. So we will forgive Kieron for his little"touchdown" as I like to call them. I think he has now caught the bug and will go again. Afterwards we went to a pub (The Ladybridge. Go there! Now! The food is very good. Not the cheapest, but very good.)

In the evening, Adam came round and we went over to Sel' and Kie's, Adam had never seen my sisters place before and i think he was impressed. When we arrived, Kieron was watching season six of Smallville which, apparently, isn't out in this country yet. We decided to go bowling, but rather than trek over to Rubery, we decided to go to Stirchley. I haven't bowled there in years so off we went...

... We should have gone to Rubery.

We waited an hour for the lane so we killed that time with some Pool. When the lane was ready, we got our shoes but soon realised that there were no balls on the racks, only on the lanes themselves. Not a single ball that we could use was on our lane. After going on the scrounge we eventually found a 10lb and a 12lb with finger holes that we could just about get our fingers in to, but not comfortably... In fact at one point, Kierons hand started to swell with the squeeze of the ball limiting the blood supply to his fingers! We started the game but lo-and behold, it broke so we were forced to change lanes (they migrated our scores though so we wouldn't have to bowl again from the start.) We had two games and I lost them both (just like the Monday previous) by a few points. After the disapointing evening we went back to Sels' and put the Wii on. Adam enjoyed Wii sports but then we upped the stakes and put WarioWare: Smooth Moves on. It was hilarious to watch! Adam got in to it though and gave it a damn good go. If you have never played it, find someone with a Wii and rent it. It will be the wackiest night you will have in a long time. At 1:00am we decided we should leave and so I came home and went to beddie-byes.

Sunday was boring. Sel' and Kie' came round for Sunday lunch, and i downloaded BamZOOKi to my PC. basically, it is a program (distributed by CBBC, but we will ignore that for the moment) where you can build and animate creatures in full 3D. After building, you assign movement properties to the limbs and just like magic the whole shabang comes to life. now I suppose "Animate" isn't really the word because you have no say in the specific way a leg works, other than how you designed it in the first place. the fun starts when you exports your creatures (called "Zooks") in to the arena program, where you have no control over them. The computer pits them against each other in various contests, and you can watch to discover, say, which zook is the fastest, or the strongest, or the best at jumping hurdles, or taking penalties. It is a bizarre program to have but strangely addictive at thwe same time. I have always like the idea of 3D modeling but have never learned the advanced skills required to do it with serious, complex software...

Actually, since I've just about finished blogging and have now bought you up to date, I might have a quick build-session...

TTFN readers.