Monday, February 25, 2008

Preserve Reflect on Famous River

Hello readers and welcome to another installment

Let me start out by saying that this blog may become a little hurried and disjointed as I progress. This is for 3 reasons...

1. I can't remember what I did at the start of last week.
2. I fancy trying a slightly different format and writing style, and
3. It's late, I'm tired, and want to go to bed.

I will begin by telling you that after a week off work, Monday Morning felt like Beelzebub had risen from the depths of hell and ripped my eylids open with a red-hot pitchfork. I dragged myself to work, which I don't really remember, and then sort of dragged myself back home at 4:00pm. Now point number 1 above means that I will skip to Tuesday. (I think I went over to Adams, like usual on Monday.)

Getting up for work was slightly easier and I went in feeling quite good. At 4:30pm I made my usual getaway and in the evening... No! Wait! I've remembered what I did Monday! I did go over to Adams, and he lent me Fable for the xbox!... Sorry. I'll get back on track... In the evening I went back over to Adams (I think)

Wednesday, work was work, but alas, hometime was not hometime. I walked out of work to discover I had a flat tyre AND my car wouldn't start. Anne thankfully dropped me to the garage (because I thought I had just run my car out of petrol.) Well the extra fuel helped when I swung the engine over... I got it started, just and inflated my tyre. Anne followed me home (bless her cotton socks!) and I rumbled home knowing that something was definitely wrong with the engine...

In the evening I tried to go down to fathers, only to find that my car wasn't running properly! (yes, again!) It turns out that one of my sparkplugs wasn't firing and so my engine was running on 3 cylinders... And I had petrol backed up that had soaked the plugs and caused god-knows-what damage. Father came up to sort the problem and we got my car healthy again! I went down to his house as he was having problems with his computer, so I fixed it.

Ok, Thursday... I went down to the Packhorse as usual (though Lank didn't come out, as he had something on) where kate had a quiz for us! It gave a list of cryptic clues that related to band/singer names. If you would like to try it, go here (click the "click here" link in the larger grey box in the new page.) The title of my blog is one such clue! *

We spent a while pondering all 7 billion of them (Ok, that may be a slight exageration, but there were a lot!) before coming home with Jason and Gemma.

Friday and work flew by! The first week, Gone! woohoo! I, along with all the other staff, shot out of school at 3:30pm! In the evening I went with Donna to see a friend of mine play with his band in The Jug of Ale in Mosely. Matt, who is a fellow TA, and in my sisters year at Woodrush, and his band, The Rock Dogs, were headlining an evening of music so we popped along. Donna had never been to The Jug' before, and I knew how she liked a good "rock pub" I picked her up at about 8:00pm and we got to the pub for about 8:45pm. They played a really good set and I would suggest if you ever see them advertised, GO AND SEE THEM. They play some excellent songs, and do a mean cover or two.

After we had watched them, and well after the bar had stopped serving, me and Donna left and I dropped her back home. I then went straight home to bed.

Saturday was spent at home playing Fable with Selena and Nan, and granddad coming to visit asd usual. In the evening I went over to Solihull where we watched a bit of telly before going for a drink.

Ok, Sunday... And i'm getting tired sat here now... so this will be a quick round-off... I went to the Legion, came home, went to nans, and then back to the legion because one of the sixthformers has started work there and I wanted to wind her up! hee hee!

Ok... sorry I need my bed...

TTFN!


* Preserve reflect on famous river...

Preserve = Jam
Reflect = mirror
River = River Kwai

Jam-mirror-kwai...

... Jamiroquai !!!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Plateonic Terraforming

Hello readers and welcome to another blog.

I begin, for a change, with last Tuesday (Since I blogged the Monday in my last post... You know, it was the day of utter catastrophe with my car.)

Ok, so Tuesday I got up and did vitually nothing all day exept play some Guitar Hero and some Blazing Angels. In the evening I went over to Adam and Marcus' house for more xbox related procrastination.

Wednesday... I pretty much did nothing except when nan and grandad arrived. I decided to wash up (seriously, it's come to this; blogging about "washing up" for christs sake! thats how unactive I become in the holidays.) and put all the crockery away before settling back down to watch some TV. I then went and did a few hours at the Legion, because they were under-staffed. In the evening I went down to fathers as usual. I watched Torchwood and then we stuck a Laurel and Hardy DVD on.

On Thursday the morning was spent on the internet trying to beat this damn quiz!
The evening was spent, as usual, in the Packhorse. There weren't to many of us this week, we were quite a small and select group. The only major difference was the heat... Or lack of it! The heating had broken so the place was freezing cold. As a result, it was fairly quiet in there. We had had enough by about 10:30pm though and everyone left. I came home and turned the TV on.

I sat watching Dave Gormans Googlewhack Adventure. It recounts his journey that started life as a drunken bet. Now for those of you who don't know what a Googlewhack is, let me explain:

It is simply two random (but real) english words that, when typed in to Google, without quotations, returns just ONE webpage. an example of this would be: Lipped Rejectivist The blue bar above Google's search results confirms the validity of this Googlewhack in two ways. 1) it says "returned 1-1 of 1 results", and 2) both words appear blue and underlined in the blue bar, meaning they can be linked to Google's all-encompassing dictionary. This is what must happen for a "true" Googlewhack.

I decided that I would make my blog a Googlewhack in itself. But that posed a problem... I first needed two English words that, when typed in to Google, returned NO results, and therefore would allow me to create a new Googlewhack...

... It took me the best part of 4 hours!

I sat typing all sorts of words in to Google to find an "open slot" as it were (incidentally, this process of elimination is called "whacking-off"!!! thanks wikipedia!) I was ready to give up when I found it! Two words that have never been combined on any web-page ever created... You already know what they are. Or at least you should do if you read the title...


plateonic terraforming
There we go! A brand-spanking-new Googlewhack has been born! (I just hope Google picks it up!) Ok, so enough of this tomfoolery...
Friday. Again, it was a bit of a nothing day. In the evening I went over to Adams and Marcus' but Marcus was out with Jenny at a show at the MAC. I sat watching Adam play Mass Effect whilst playing with his hamsters (no, it's not a metaphore...) Marcus and Jenny arrived a while later and we got down to the nitty-gritty of some Guitar Hero. After playing 'til our fingers bled we called it a night.
saturday morning I got up and played on t'internet for a bit until nan and granddad arrived with their new car! they had a Skoda Octavia estate but swapped it for a hatchback. Its quite nice inside (all jam and sponge! ha ha!.... no? oh, Ok then.) Selena turned up as usual and after nanny and granddad had gone we decided to take a trip to Shed-city in Shirley (I.e Argos, Comet etc.)
Selena needed a telephone because they now have a land-line in the flat, and I went along because I needed a foot-pump (since I now have a slow puncture in one of my tyres!) along with some new dustcaps and a wiperblade.
We did Argos first where Selena picked up her phone. We then went to Halfords and after some time I found the correct blade, cheap pump, and dust caps. We then went home and Selena shot back to the flat but said I was welcome to go round. I inflated my tyre, had a bite to eat and went over. We ended up playing Mario & Sonic at The Olympics on the Wii which I bought her for christmas, but had yet to have a go on it. The game in insanely difficult and I cannot see how children cope with it. After pulling every muscle in my arms, and sending my heart rate to never-before-seen limits I decided to stop incase I died!
Kieron told me that there is to be a Dragonball Z game coming to the Xbox 360 (AT LAST!) so we youtubed the trailer. As a life-long fan of Dragonball Z I watched with anticipation! We then put a few episodes on (since Kieron has them all on his PC) and relaxed until about 12:30am when we decided to call it a night.
This morning I got up and waited for dinner whilst I stared this blog...
... Which I have now finished!
TTFN readers.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Ah, solitude...

Hello readers and welcome once again to another thrilling episode of my blog.

Lets begin, shall we?

Monday morning was the begining of the last week of the half term. It went really quickly as well which was a bonus so at 4:30 I left and went home. In the evening I went over to pick Jo up to see Cloverfield. We met Adam in the Masons and after a quick drink we went across to the cinema.

Now for those of you who haven't seen Cloverfield, let me tell you this: It leaves you with more questions than answers. So if you have been wondering what all the fuss was and want to see it just to find out what it all is, then prepare yourselves for dissapointment. Those of you who want to see it because it's a kick-ass monster movie, go and see it, it's brilliant!

After the film, I dropped Jo home and went home to bed.

Tuesday at work was spent trying to sort the stock out for the year 11 mock exams which start soon. I got a fair bit of work done and at 4:30 left as usual. In the evening I went over to Adams and Marcus' for an Xbox fix.

Wednesday at work was a bit different. I was sat in on 2 SATS tests (I love being able to juggle with the future of smaller people... MUAHAHAHAHA!... Hmm... Maybe saying that in interviews is where I've been going wrong... Just a thought!)

Anyway it broke the day up and at 4:30 I left. In the evening I went down to fathers as usual for a bit of telly. I also fixed a slight issue with his PC and then left to meet Donna in the Swan for the last hour...

... That reminds me. I've got to phone her... I'll do it now, hang on!



... No answer, I've left a message!

After the drinks, I went home to play a bit of Call of Duty 4 before going to bed.

Thursday at work was interesting. I realised that I had sold myself short on oil pastels in the art department! I put them on a requesition form and put it in the appropriate draw... We will have them on the Monday we get back.

In the evening I went with Lank to the Packhorse as usual. Most of the evening was spent playing the games machine. We won about a fiver after putting about £15 in (between about 6 of us.) Jason and Gemma were out in force again which was nice, I hope they make it a regular thing. We left at about 12:00-ish and I came home to play a bit of Call of Duty before bed.

Ah, Friday. No kiddies in school because they had finished. It was a Teacher Training Day so everyone was in normal clothes. After the powerpoint presentations and the food, we split in to our respective departments to do some departmenty-type-stuff. I was away for 3:00pm... Magic!

In the evening I went over to Adams and Marcus' because Carl was back for the weekend! The plan was to go for a curry but people had already eaten. We watched a bit of telly and played a bit of Guitar Hero 3 before we called it a night at 12:30am.

Ah, Saturday (this is where it gets interesting) The plan was to take my car down to the garage to have my aloy put back on from when I had my blow out. I took it down to Kings Heath and the guy sorted me a new tyre. He was in the middle of taking off my spare when *CRUNCH* "Oh bollocks, mate. D'y'know y' springs gone?"

"... Pardon me? what? No?... What?"

Basically, there must have been a crack in my near-side front spring, and it has shattered when the goon was taking off my wheel. It was driveable (just) but it meant that he couldn't put my alloy back on (because it was a bigger radial than the spare and it would have caught the edge of the broken spring) so he ordered me a new shock absorber and told me to come back Monday (i.e. today) I went home and sat playing Blazing Angels, just because I haven't played it in a while. In the evening the plan was to go for a curry, but because of my car, Carl kindly picked me up. Carl, myself, Adam, Jenny, and Marcus went to Cafe Saffron in Knowle. I had never been before but it is a really nice place. Check it out. After the feast we came back to solihull to watch Blade Runner on DVD. Carl had gotten the new boxed set "final directors super duper cut" of the film for christmas so we put it on. Afterwards he dropped me home.

Sunday. I had dinner at 1:00pm and then went to the legion for my weekly stint. It was quite quiet and not a lot happened. I was out for 7:00pm. I then got a lift down to my nans for tea as usual, and Selena dropped me back home at about 10:30pm

Ok. Today... Monday... I got up to take my car down to the garage for the new shock it required. However. Before i could do that, I had to de-ice my car. So I turned the engine on and put the heaters to maximum, then got out of my car with my scrapper. Big Mistake! A gust of wind blew my door shut... Now obviously this isn't a problem since the car needs to be locked with the key and doesn't just lock itself automatically... That would be silly...

"zzzt-click!"

??????????

"WHAT-THE!?"

Somehow, due to either the cold, or god not liking me, the central locking system decided it was getting bored and so decided to play all by its self. Yup! The engine was on, the doors were shut, and the car had locked itself!

It took me a good few minutes to realise that I had a spare key hanging in the kitchen, AND that there is the spare key to the front door! PHEW! Crisis averted... yes?

... Well no, actually. Keep reading...


I set off for the garage and got there in good time. I told the bloke on the desk what I was here for...

"yuh-what? Spring? Mondeo? You Sure?" was the response I got. He looked in the book for my name and when he found it, he put a big cross through it!

He then told me that whoever had ordered me a new spring was, and I quote "A right dozey tw*t" because they dont have a spring compressor to fit it with! He suggested I try Addison road garage. I popped round the corner and they told me they could do the job £20 cheaper and I am to go back tomorrow... So I left fairly happy (ok, I have to wait another day but it saves me £20) and decided to go home. I was on the bypass when there was a scraping noise, a mild crunch, and then my car had a heart-attack and died!

Problem 1: The broken spring was rubbing the tyre. Problem 2: Somehow, the jolt my car had suffered from the friction on the tyre had caused the ECU to think I was having a crash and had tripped the emergency fuel switch. I just, and I mean *JUST* managed to coast it half way on to a lay-by on the A435. I had to push it a few feet to make sure no-one was going to smash in to the back of me and then I phoned the RAC.



The RAC van arrived and the guy got under my car to throw the fuel switch back over. So I now had power but the spring was still to close to the tyre to drive so he decided to tow me at slow speed back home. He did and I thanked him...

... I came in and started blogging...

... Now I'm going to hide in a ditch somewhere. hang on, Donna is phoning me back...



... Sorry. Yes, I'm off to hide in a ditch somewhere incase anything else goes wrong today!

TTFN readers!

Monday, February 04, 2008

Well you never caught a rabbit and you ain't no friend of mine...

Well hello readers. Welcome to this weeks update (It’s actually the second time I have written this because Internet explorer crashed while I was publishing the first draft and it lost it!). Now last time I told you about a “new link” on my page which was the “mini city” link. (I hope you all regularly visit it!) But since then I have another new link. This one is for my Xbox 360s’ blog…

… Yes. You read that correctly. My Xbox 360 writes its own blog, without any interaction from myself! If you don’t believe me, just click the link over on the right, or if you prefer, clicky here.

Ok, on with the blog.

Monday morning came along and I went to work. It seemed to fly by, and at 4:30pm I was out the door.

In the evening I went to see Sweeney Todd at Cineworld in Solihull. I picked Jo up for 8:30pm and we waited in the Masons for Adam who arrived a little while later. We finished our drinks and went over to Touchwood.

The film is really good. If you are thinking of going to see it, don’t let the fact that it is a musical put you off. In fact I think that it works better as a musical than it would if it was a regular film.

Afterwards I dropped Jo home and came home myself.

Tuesday. Work went fairly quickly, due to my day being busy. Not hectic, just nicely busy. In the evening I took my guitar over to Adams and Marcus’. Marcus showed me how to play a 12-bar blues and we sat having a jam session playing Hound Dog. This means my song repertoire now consists of TWO FULL SONGS! Woohoo! I left after my fingers started to sting, at about 11:30pm

Wednesday. Work went well and at 4:30pm I was out the door. I decided to have my hair cut but I fancied a change. Instead of having a short-back-and-sides #3 and #4, I told him to “just buzz it with a #2” so he did. In the evening I went down to fathers as usual. We watched “Ice Road Truckers” on the TV followed by some Laurel and Hardy. We put on one of my favourites; “County Hospital” I have found a short clip of it for you on youtube… Enjoy!



Ah. Comedy in its purest form. Afterwards I came home to bed.

Thursday at work I managed to get quite a bit done. In the evening it was “business as usual” in The Packhorse. As a bonus my quiz was partaken in! (You may remember last week I took it but no-one wanted to play.) If you would like to play my quiz (well, the quiz I found and printed out) online you can do so here. (click the little link in the larger grey box to open it.)

After the booze had been drunk and the jokes told, it was time to leave at a rather respectable 11:30pm.

Friday. My nans birthday! Work seemed to drag a bit but it was Ok. At 3:30pm everyone made a run for it. I grabbed my nans card from home and shot down to see her…

… She was out. D’oh! No matter, I would call back in an hour. So off home I went. I popped back an hour-or-so later to find my nan in and my mum was there as well. I stayed for a bit but had to get home because I was off out! You see many of the staff at Woodrush were going to The Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath for a bit of a party! Me, Anne, and carol got a lift down to the pub where we met up with some other people. After standing at the bar for a good 20 minutes, we were served and made our way upstairs to the room we had hired. About an hour in, the food was unveiled, and the disco started. It didn’t take long for everyone to be up, busting some moves, strutting their stuff, and twisting some shapes on the dance floor!

Sadly their are no photos. I can imagine teachers don't want to be posted on a website that some of the kiddies access... Rightly so, too.

It stayed that way until midnight, when people started to leave. At 12:30am we decided to call it a night and ordered our chariot to take us back to Wythall. I immediately went to bed as soon as I got in.

I awoke Saturday and did nothing… Seriously. Selena arrived along with nan and granddad but after they had gone I didn’t do anything. In fact the entire day can be summed up thusly: Food, TV, Xbox, Guitar, Food, Xbox, TV, Food, Bed. The final “TV” slot was actually spent watching “Die Hard 4.0” since I hadn’t seen it I decided to order it on pay-per-view… Or “TV on demand” as Virgin Media call it. I then went to bed.

Sunday… Now Sunday was spent eating Sunday lunch, and working at the Legion. Actually the Legion was fairly quiet and so we took it easy. No fuss. No stress…

… Until the moment came when I had to tell the people in the club that we didn’t have the Villa/Fulham game on. It wasn’t that the cable TV was faulty, we just didn’t have the channel it was being shown on. (I will point out to you all now that we have some sort of Greek/Turkish cable package at the Legion… Don’t ask…) Well did they believe me? Did they heck!

I had people demanding to have the remote controls, people shouting, people fiddling with the set-top box, people swearing, more people shouting… Just because they didn’t believe the match wasn’t being shown…

… Dopey wankers.

Anyway, at 7:00pm I dropped my collegue home, and came home myself for an hour before going to my nans for tea. I came back at about 10:00pm and sat watching South Park. I don't get to see it very often but it was the World of Warcraft episode which in my opinion is one of the funniest episodes around...

Oh, what the hell! I'll share some of it with you...



After I had stopped laughing I went to bed...

… And that’s where this blog ends… Now lets see if blogger will let me publish it this time!

TTFN readers.