Turbulence, of our own making. As Michele repeatedly said to me, just before we got married, be careful what you wish for because you might just get it. Well, I wished for a new job and appear to have it. A job at C——p. If you’ve never heard of them then just remember that they probably own you. A multi national global capitalist organ. But hey, they pay better, I’ll be working, at worst, in Lewisham, at best from home, and the stuff I deal with is purely open source (sendmail/perl etc)! Hoorah! Goodbye Windows! Goodbye users! They also seem like a good bunch of people. And I’m not even going to miss the Goldsmiths possee because I’ll still be able to see em all! Woohoo.

The only potential bugger is the spectre of moving house. We presume we’ll have to move out of cosy little flat as we’re no longer full time college employees 🙁

I’ve been into Big Brother and I do feel dirty as a result. But this time I’ve propped up my pathetic addiction by taking part in discussions on free.uk.tv.big-brother and on irc://irc.accessirc.net/bigbrotheruk.
Tragic!
Also, after my dad gave me a CD of Stan Tracey’s music for Under Milk Wood, I fear I may end up really liking Jazz 🙂

Michele’s commented on how “Head Over Heels” by Tears for Fears reminded her of being 14. It reminds me of thinking “What is this shit music ? Can’t I put my Run DMC tape on ?”. Now I like it. Obviously because my musical taste has matured….on the other hand, if at 14 someone had told me I’d like Tears for Fears at age 34, I’d have put it down to clear senility.

Sitting in front of the blog engine, parrot on my head preening my hair (before crapping on it, no doubt) it all feels good. Yes, red wine has been ingested, but nonetheless there are clearly good things afoot.
Work has been particularly shite recently, but there have been a few good points. Not least of which is that the Students’ Union decided to honour me with an award at the 2005 Student Awards Night! I can’t tell you how important this was to me. There were lots of jokes beforehand about how it was a “lunchtime achievement award” (thanks Llynos) etc to the extent that I was convinced it was a piss-take…but it wasn’t! Some great friends from work came along, together with many “big nobs” from the college, and it was a great night. Everyone in the place seemed happy and seemed to have a good time (apart from Ben who fell down the stairs and had to be taken to hospital…again :). Jamie, the official Union geezer, had the job of selecting the music to be played as the winners picked up their awards. He is convinced I am some sort of geek…Christ knows why…and so chose the Imperial March from Star Wars (AKA Darth Vader’s theme). Sadly, I was wearing all black as I went up to collect the award, so it was quite appropriate.
Needless to say, Michele and I had a couple of “bastards behind the eyes” next day.

And that same day a really good old friend, Tony, popped in from France. He, Zap, Michele and I spent a drunken night in the company of Eurovision (we was robbed), Dr Who, HIGNFY and various other televisual delights, whilst having a good laugh and a good curry from Monsoon…well I enjoyed it anyway.

Sunday was another goody. We went over to my mum and dad’s and had some gorgeous roast pork, followed by a brief selection of someof my dad’s 1970s singles collection…ie my audio childood memories: Peter, Paul and Mary, Paddington Bear sung by Bernard Cribbins, The Wurzels etc). So good. There have been loads of other occurrances recently but none spring to mind. When they appear I’ll get blogging.
More apologies to those whom I have been so crap at keeping in contact with.

It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.

P. G. Wodehouse, The Man Upstairs (1914)

I nearly forgot!
On saturday I received a phone call from someone I was very friendly with when I was at college (as a student). He’d seen a message I left on the Alumni message board at Goldsmiths website! He actually noticed the message a couple of years ago but never got around to calling until a recent moment of procrastination. That’s cool though, logic I understand!
BTW, please allow me to apologise to all of those people I’ve been so crap at keeping in touch with. Please remember not to take it as a personal swipe and always remember what a useless wanker I am.
Goodnight again.

Two years ago, if you’d asked me if I could ever love someone/thing with feathers, I’d have thought you were barking. And you would have been – it’s a bizarre question to ask someone. But now, as I type on this parrot-shit caked keyboard, I think of my dear little humph and her innocent, earnest, face, and it makes me feel strangely loved-up. Perhaps we need children now…(Michele and I, not the bird…)
I’m also thinking of Michele, in her distant luxury hotel. This week I realised just how much I depend on my sweet bat. Thanks meanie.
Sorry all – this wasn’t supposed to be a maudlin, soppy blog but that’s just how it came out.
This afternoon and all day tomorrow I’m off work for unbloggable reasons.

What a crap blog. Sorry.

BTW – I loved HHGTTG despite this “expert” opinion. I intended to write to this character and point out what a nob he is, but it seems that he’s already done a good job of doing it himself.
Good night.

This week I turned 34. What a thing to celebrate…
On Tuesday Raaach left work for good. A sad day but a happy one in reality because we were happy for her and decided to celebrate. Many of the assembled throng had problems getting into work the next day. Not me, of course, apart from not wanting to leave our beautiful parrot home alone (currently on my head).
Anyway, on my birthday, a bunch of good friends accompanied me to my favourite restaurant. I had such a good time! The restaurant people were really nice too, despite us clearing the place. They gave me (mister Martin) a free Dosa that was the size of three plates. 14 quid a head, including the massive amounts of wine. GO THERE! Gorgeous! Happy day!
This weekend, Michele came back from Exeter and a very good friend of mine, Ben, came up from Brighton for a visit. It was really nice to see him. Humph thought so too – tart :).We went out on Saturday night to “The Peninsula”; ostensibly to see HHGTTG, but also to eat.
We ate in “Nando’s”. Now, if you have never had the Nando’s experience, let me tell you, it’s as close to the experience of going to America can be without actually getting your fingerprints taken by a humourless, souless, American, civil servant. Not only do you have to queue up to get in, but you have to order and buy your own food before you eat (no refusing to pay if it turns out to be crap). If there’s no cutlery you eat with your fingers. If you want water, you go to the tap with your glass…that you received when you ordered your manky, sugary, piss, from the “bar” and fill it yourself. If you were foolish enough to order a bottle of wine, then fuck-you. You are clearly anti-American and deserve to die of dehydration.
While you eat, you can look out the window at the scenic car-park and watch the cars go up the motorway. If you don’t like such scenes then worry not. You can enjoy the happy atmosphere of the thousands of FCUK-clad chavs stuffing themselves with overpriced battery-chickens whilst listening to chart-inspired muzak. A fun day out for all the family.
I must admit that the hot sauce and the corn on the cob were pretty darned nice. But it wasn’t cheap.
In fact, the whole experience of the peninsula was singularly horrible. Another American inspired hellhole where you’re not welcome unless you drive. You can pick up busses outside the cinema for Thamesmead, Bexleyheath, Eltham and Woolwich, but not for Greenwich, Lewisham or New Cross. Considering that this place is actually in Greenwich (next to Lewisham, and New Cross), the situation is really fucking annoying. They clearly know their target audience. Already we’re at the US position of not being regarded as true citizens unless we drive.
At the souless, miserable, multiple-screened, misery-temple, that is Greenwich Filmworks, there was a poster on the wall that sums up why I HATE ALL COPYRIGHT FASCIST COMPANIES, especially FACT, FAST, the BPI and the MPAA. They are evil scum who suckle on satan’s sulphurous teats. These BASTARDS, in conjunction with global capitalist Borg, have produced a poster that attempts to link pirate films with everyone’s favourite easily understandable hate figure: terrorism! Yes! People have gone from normal dudes, through to terrorists, via criminality, just by downloading films that they’re not necesserily interested in, but are far simpler to watch via download than by going to the fucking Greenwich peninsula. We’re going to hell in a handcart etc ad nausiam…