Hmm... Topic: Stephen Says
2007 may be the year of not too much blogging. At least it seems to be starting off that way.
Tim & Vicki have left after a blow out involving much too much alcohol (At least for Tim & myself) and the rather grim discovery of a couple of syringes on the landing of our flat. Our handy-dandy neighbour got in touch with the police about it as Woking becomes even classier.
Speaking of Woking, I stumbled across this website which is a guide to Woking from the perspective of a cat. I don't really know what to say about it except oh... my... God.
Crap. Topic: Stephen Says
I did get sick after all. Woke up at 6AM during my sleep in with a sore throat and feeling spaced out. Foolishly chose to work 'till 6 after being offered the chance to go home at 10AM.
Got home with no food in the flat after only eating a cheese pizza for breakfast all day and realized I'd forgotted that Elisabeth, who has agreed to go grocery shopping, was at the Y-Pod so I resorted to eating chunks of cheese and some little Swedish almond cookies. When Elisabeth did get back, she'd forgotten sauce for the eagerly anticipated pita pizzas so I spazzed out; we ate some grilled cheese instead and I went to bed at 8PM. Woke up at 2:30, couldn't sleep, went back to bed at 5AM and slept 'till 9:30 and am feling slightly more human.
Elisabeth got her brand new super computer last night as well so it's probably for the best that I went to bed to give her the chance to play around with it. Expect more CD's to come out shortly as a result.
Happy New Year? Topic: Stephen Says
Hope y'all had a good New Years!
Our plan: To bike 30 minutes in the rain to Byfleet, party it up until just after midnight in a (semi)responsible way and then bike back home in the rain so that I'd be fresh for working the late shift on the first of January.
The reality: Elisabeth's cold was still in full effect so she had a snooze to re-energize at 5PM. At 6:30, she rang to say we wouldn't be coming. We played a game on Monopoly for old times sake (Still can't bear to dust off the good ol' Game of Life) and then she went to bed and left me to binge drink alone until midnight where I was too uncoordinated to send a bulk text out to people and then staggered to bed.
The good news: Her cold lifted yesterday morning. A lovely coincidence that it was also her first day back at work which, as far as I'm aware, equals a pretty sucky Christmas holiday.
Me: I'm holding my breath that her cold has passed me by because I don't feel like being sick. That said, if I do get sick it means that I'll get to use up some of my sick days so I'm not holding my breath very hard.
And now for these short messages Topic: Stephen Says
Well, well, well. Looks like the busy holiday season has temporarily put the blog to sleep. It’s been a couple of busy weeks what with the Christmas party season directly conflicting with the arrival of Tim & Vicki which, in my case at least, led to being very busy, staying up past my bedtime and going above the legal alcohol limit for driving a few times. They had barely left when we had to organize ourselves to head down south to spend a lovely and quiet Christmas with my family where Elisabeth promptly got sick and lost her voice. Since we’ve been back, I’ve been back at work, Elisabeth is still struggling with her cold (Though Champaign & organic Chardonnay is helping her along better than any pills seem to have done) and we’ll be biking to a New Years party this evening where we will be well behaved because I’ve got to work tomorrow.
So that’s it for the re-cap. It’s been a pleasant two weeks with lots of good food and drink being (mostly) consumed in moderation. No New Year de-tox for us!
As for me, not too many New Years resolutions. Other that the usual ones to get more healthy, I’ve actually started to use a diary to keep track of things and over my past 5 day trial, it’s been pretty good and I’m more on the ball with doing things. Will it last into February, though? We’ll see…
Happy New Year to all ( Or, happy Eid al-Adha, if you’re so inclined) and your regularly scheduled programme will resume after the holidays.
Too funny Topic: Stephen Says Soy makes you gay! Best part of the article:
Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality
Actually, the whole article is the best part of the article. It ends with tis warning:
Soy sauce is fine. Unlike soy milk, it's perfectly safe because it's fermented, which changes its molecular structure. Miso, natto and tempeh are also OK, but avoid tofu.
Stupid stuff Topic: Stephen Says
Weather: It was pouring at work and then I rode my bike home and by the time I got up the hill, it had all turned to snow. Yes folks, an overall elevation of 1.5 metres is the difference between rain and snow in Woking.
Of course it's gone now. Snow in England lasts about as long as the Iraq Survey Groups findings remain relevant in George W. Bush's 'brain'.
I had my 1st sleep in at work in what seemed ages which meant unbridled access to a television set which meant that not only did I watch the Party Poker's Australian open but I got to see a double bill of Van Damme movies:
His modern day classic 'Derailed,' which featured a cutting edge plot inolving terrorist bio-weapons, and super-marionation traintastic special effects. Utterly craptastic in the most boring way you can imagine.
This was followed by his classic movie 'Kickboxer' (Not to be confused with Kickboxers 2-5 which didn't actually feature the Muscles from Brussels) which features one of the (If not the) greatest action scene in a movie ever:
Will have more soon when I'm not quite so tired, it's not quite so late and the phone isn't ringing so much.
What have I been thinking? Now Playing: Neurosis - The Eyes of Every Storm Topic: Stephen Says
Really, what HAVE I been thinking? Ntl is doing work in the area so our broadband has been real hit and miss over the past few days. Of course we were never told about it and, only after I called 3 help lines, being charged 5-10p a minute depending on which service desk I was ringing, did I find out via an automatic voice with a dodgy Yorkshire accent that Ntl customers in the GU22 post code area were going to be having dodgy service for the forseeable future. Elisabeth is is pretty pissed off at the shoddy service and is going to complain the living shit out of them to get us a refund of some kind.
Whee, I'm back at work and all energized and happy and productive and I think it's freaking out the staff & residents alike. Just for the hell of it, I whipped up a batch of cheezy garlic bread and was able to produce a caramel apple tart with custard on top of my usual duties. Efficient worker says you? Cheap bribery says I.
So, hmm, The Nativity Story bombed at the box office. Gee, did anyone see that one coming? Reuters is trying to pass the blame onto poor weather (i.e., God) but over at CHUD, the same fella who so wonderfully blasted that anti-global warning asshole a couple of days ago has another point of view which has a lot more merit than blaming God for a poor box office.
(Seriously, if you can't blame liberals, gays, immigrants or Muslems on something, I suppose God is always a good fallback guy. After all, you know he'll only just forgive you.)
(Unless he feels like going Old Testament all over your ass, in which case you're screwed anyway.)
Anyway, rant aside, what was I thinking today? With the internet out of commission, I headed into town for 2 1/2 bloody hours to browse. At Christmas. It was horible, just horrible, gentle reader. I came close to buying cufflinks, spending 100 pounds on a new juicer, 30 quid on a bloody chopping block, more money on gloves I didn't really like... The possibilities for getting ripped off were endless! For an unreasonably long period of time, I became one of the living dead:
On Old Farts Now Playing: BBC Radio 4 Topic: Stephen Says
I posted the following comment on another blog:
Are you an old fart? Am I? Spent Saturday night at home drinking camomile tea and lying in bed reading a history of the Middle East and fell asleep around 9PM. Woke up this morning and thought 'what a wonderful evening I just had' and am now looking forward to my wife cooking pancakes and reading the Sunday paper. Ugh.
Read it to Elisabeth who laughed at me and I thought it might be worthwhile to post it here as well. It was only when I was typing out the entry that I realized I was listening to BBC Radio 4.
The same Radio 4 I listen to all the time.
The Radio 4 that is mainly listened to by posh ladies in the countryside with names like Beatrice and Eugenie who don't call themselves birdwatchers, rather they use the much cooler term 'twitcher.' I know that because I listen to (groan) BBC Radio 4 all the Fekking time.
On the up side, I've also discovered a hysterically funny comedy show on it which has garnered more complaints that positive reviews so you know it's got to be good. You can listen to the 1st episode HERE, assuming you've got a fast connection and real player.
Stupidly Effiecient Now Playing: Totally 80's Topic: Stephen Says
Elisabeth continues to be irritating and book driving lessons first thing Saturday morning. So she was up early (As was I a while later) and out of the house. I cut my hair, spaced out and, upon her return, we ate breakfast and vamoosed into town where we hit the bank, post ofice, a few shops, I bought clothes, she a 2007 diary, and bought groceries and a paper (A Guardian. Eeew.). We were home by 2PM.
We're having Radiccio Pizza for supper tonight. We thought radiccio and radishes were interchangable so we stocked up on radishes. God only knows what the pizza's going to tast like.
We're also cleaning the flat though motivation for doing this is waning severely. The last guest we had staying with us was about 6 months ago which means it's been 6 months since we cleaned the place and only 1 week until Tim & Vicki arrive which means that we've got to make the accumulation of mould disappear pronto. We've beenwading through about 6 inches of dust over the last month and have become used to it, though I'm sure it's not to everyones taste.
Neither is radish pizza but we're gonna eat it anyway.