The Sweetest Cherry in an Apple Pie

Book sale! (Part 1)

2010-07-26T16:48:00.002Z

Part one of many :)

I have faaaar too many books in my room (over 300) and simply no space for them all. And also I am broke. So, BOOK SALE!

Most are brand new, never read (I have a habit of buying books and then NEVER READING THEM yet buying MOAR) - condition will be specified to best of my ability! If I notice it's not as described when packaging it up I will let you know.

£3 each for paperbacks, £5 each for hardbacks, £2.50 for classics - prices include postage/fees. Paypal, bank transfer or cheques accepted. Discounts for multiple purchases!

Paperbacks: £3 each

1. Scarlett Thomas - The End of Mr Y (large/airport sized paperback, black edged pages, read once).
2. Zoe Heller - Notes on a Scandal (has mark on cover from sticker) - £2
3. Sue Townsend - The Queen and I (second hand condition) - £2
4. Malorie Blackman - Checkmate
5. Robert Jordan - The Eye of the World

6. Stephen Hunt - The Rise of the Iron Moon
7. Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind
8. Aravind Adiga - The White Tiger
9. Alexander McCall Smith - Tea Time for the Traditionally Built
10. Vicki Myron - Dewey the Library Cat

11. Rory Clements - Martyr
12. Maureen Lindley - The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel
13. Anchee Min - Empress Orchid (second hand condition) - £2
14. J. L. Carrell - The Shakespeare Secret
15. Katherine Howe - The Lost Book of Salem

16. Bernard Knight - The Sanctuary Seeker
17. Bernard Knight - The Elixir of Death
18. Bernard Knight - The Awful Secret
19. Bernard Knight - The Poisoned Chalice
20. Bernard Knight - Alis Hawkins - Testament

21. Dan Abnett - Triumff
22. Wilbur Smith - River God
23. Wilbur Smith - The Seventh Scroll
24. Wilbur Smith - Warlock
25. Karen Maitland - The Owl Killers

26. Ken Follet - World Without End
27. Ken Follet - Pillars of the Earth
28. Graham Joyce - The Tooth Fairy
29. Angela Carter - The Magic Toyshop
30. Katherine Roberts - I am the Great Horse

31. C. J. Sansom - Dark Fire
32. C. J. Sansom - Sovereign
33. C. J. Sansom - Dissolution (second hand condition) - £2
34. Alexander McCall Smith - The Comfort of Saturdays
35. Alexander McCall Smith - The Careful Use of Compliments

Classics: £2.50 each

36. Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe
37. Jules Verne - 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Hardbacks: £5 each

38. Elizabeth Kostova - The Swan Thieves
39. Jeanette Winterson - Battle of the Sun
40. Geraldine McCaughrean - The Death Defying Pepper Roux
41. A.S. Byatt - The Children's Book
42. Anne Rice - Angel Time

43. David Mitchell - Black Swan Green
44. Anthony Riches - Empire

I also have some items listed on Amazon, which you can view here!

Non-fiction (mostly history related!) coming next :)

Books: srs biznizz

2009-10-19T21:01:00.003Z

Every year I set myself a challenge to read 50 books in one year, and I've never done it before. AND THIS YEAR FINALLY I HAVE YESSS.

1. Audrey Niffenegger - The Time Traveler's Wife
2. Markus Zusak - The Book Thief
3 & 4. Rob Grant and Doug Naylor - Red Dwarf and Better than Life
5. Lisa Dalby - Geisha
6. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
7. Amanda Foreman - Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
8. Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
9. Alexander McCall Smith - Morality for Beautiful Girls
10. Alexander McCall Smith - The Kalahari Typing School for Men
11. Virginia Woolf - To The Lighthouse
12. Virginia Woolf - A Room of One's Own
13. Thomas Hardy - Tess of the D'Urbervilles
14. Ian McEwan - On Chesil Beach
15. Bernhard Schlink - The Reader
16. Patricia Highsmith - The Talented Mr Ripley
17. Geraldine Brooks - Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague
18. Anne McCaffrey - The Ship Who Sang
19. Bruce Campbell - Make Love The Bruce Campbell Way
20. Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows
21. Philippa Gregory - The Wise Woman
22. Philippa Gregory - The Other Queen
23. Oscar Wilde - The Importance of Being Ernest
24. Oscar Wilde - A Woman of No Importance
25. Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
26. Oscar Wilde - Lady Windermere's Fan
27. Graham Greene - The End of the Affair
28. Christie Dickason - The Firemaster's Mistress
29. Paullina Simons - The Road to Paradise
30. JK Rowling - the Tales of Beedle the Bard
31. William Horwood - The Willows in Winter
32. Karen Holmes - Advertising, Marketing and PR (Insider Career Guide)
33. Neil Gaiman - Fragile Things
34. Jane Austen - Mansfield Park
35. Agatha Christie - Elephants Can Remember
36. Adela Stanley - Careers in Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations
37. Carolly Erickson - The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette: A Novel
38. Robert Harris - The Ghost
39. Frances Osborne - The Bolter
40. Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
41. JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
42. Laura Thompson - Agatha Christie
43. Karoline Leach - In the Shadow of the Dreamchild: The Myth and Reality of Lewis Carroll
44. Cornelia Funke - Inkheart
45. Cornelia Funke - Inkspell
46. Cornelia Funke - Inkdeath
47. Christopher Paolini - Eragon
48. Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere
49. Chris d'Lacey - The Fire Within
50! Cornelia Funke - the Dragon Rider

50 / 50 books. 100% done!

Holiday: Day 6, 27/08 (Ironbridge Gorge museums)

2009-09-04T15:10:00.000Z

Didn't get mileages today!

The receptionist at the hotel was lovely, she got us info on the Ironbridge Gorge museums, so we knew that they wouldn't be open until 10am, and was able to have a lie in.

Blists Hill - while I have been here before on a trip as part of my degree, it has changed a lot since and they have added extra things since then. Really enjoyed it though, weather held out thankfully. It was only round the corner from the hotel, too!
+ the blacksmithing
+ candlemaking and the fly that got owned
+ the bank, and being able to buy and use old style money
(among lots of other things!)
My Dad bought my sister an iron mouse too, hand-made in the foundry there.

China museum - we thought that the other museums would only be round the corner from the village, so we thought that we'd walk down - turned out that it was a very long (and not very well sign-posted!) walk - after a short while my Dad decided to go back to the car and meet us there. We had a quick drink and then walked down to the museum over the road. The museum exhibiton itself was actually quite boring (for me), but I made comments about some mini tea cups that were thimble and doll sized (that they'd only be bought by the really stingy hosts - you'd know if they gave you one of those, that they didn't like you much!), and apparently the people infront of us looked disgusted! There were more interesting parts outside, watching people making and painting china pieces. There is also a section for kids, a little workshop where they can make and paint their own pottery, which looks fun! I also enjoyed walking inside a kiln - they are huge!

The Ironbridge - we then drove over to Ironbridge. We got lots of photos, and I think lots of mine came out really well. When we'd walked over the bridge we saw another Figaro! Also grey. Dad got some photos of Stanley by the bridge and of him with the other Figaro. We then drove back to a pub opposite a very modern style bridge for dinner, though unfortunately they were not serving food (short-staffed), so we drove down past the Ironbridge again to an orange coloured pub (the Moathouse, maybe?). They had a great menu, lots of lovely food! My Dad especially found it really hard to choose. Later when I walked back to the car, we saw another Figaro parked opposite mine in the car park - again took photos, plus one of it and Stanley together.

We move on again tomorrow, going to Hereford and Hye on Wye.

Holiday: Day 5, 26/08 (Driving)

2009-09-04T15:00:00.001Z

At Scotts Corner services (again) - 147,609.3
At Tibshelf services - 147,777.7
At the hotel (Madeley Court, Telford) - 147,910.1

Today the weather was rainy and horrible so we mostly spent the day driving to the new hotel, the Madeley Court Hotel in Telford. On the way back we decided instead to travel down back roads and A roads, instead of the M6 due to the severe weather warnings.

The hotel is lovely - a beautiful Tudor mansion. My room is on the ground floor with a new view over the lake. Lots of ducks, moorhens and coots. :)

For dinner we went to the hotel restaurant as we were very tired from driving - table was booked for 8.15pm, but we didn't get to eat until almost 9pm. Sat in the bar while we waited; they were very apologetic, though, and gave us a free bottle of wine with our meal. The dining hall was lovely, with quite a funny painting/tapestry on the wall above the huge fireplace. Hopefully the weather will improve tomorrow, we're going to the Ironbridge museums.

Holiday: Day 4, 25/08 (Kielder, Holy Island)

2009-09-04T13:50:00.001Z

At hotel: 147,193.3
At Kielder Bird of Prey Centre - 147,239.5
At Holy Island - 147,378
At Hexham - 147,499.3

Did lots of driving today - we went to Kielder Bird of Prey Centre then drove to Holy Island, then finally Hexham for dinner.

Kielder - we had difficulty finding the bird of prey centre once we got there as it was not sign posted, but we really enjoyed it. Unfortunately we could only spend an hour there, and there was a lot to do around the site as well, which we hadn't expected either. The staff were all really friendly - one guy let us stroke two little owls, they were so cute and soft! While the site seemed quite small (especially when compared to Eagle Heights in Kent), they had a lot more birds and different breeds, as well as two reindeers. The flights were at 1pm though, so unfortunately we were unable to see it! (We had to leave at 12.) Wish we had been able to spend a day there! We definitely plan to go back, though, as it was a lovely place.

The drive to Holy Island was very long (longer than anticipated), and my Mum and I got separated from my Dad, so we worried that we were lost a lot (the directions my Dad had given us were not always clear) and phone signal was poor, so we couldn't call and ask him. Finally, though, we made it, and arrived there at about 3pm.

Holy Island - again, I would have liked to have had more time here, as we didn't get to see the castle (just the priory ruins and the church) as the tide went up at 5pm. Holy Island was a lot different to what I had expected, I didn't realise that there would be a village there and a whole community. I enjoyed it, though! The priory was also a lot bigger than I had expected, too. There wasn't a lot of it left, but I think I got some good photos. We then looked round the current church next door, which was lovely inside (beautiful windows) and had a lovely memorial from the Norway church, with a really touching letter and a gift, as a peace offering for the Viking raids. We were also watching a guy and his sheep dogs, who were told to sit and wait while he walked round the site - the older dog was happy to sleep while the younger one was obviously itching to be with his master, you could see him almost hopping on the spot, and at one point he ran over, just to be chased back (looking very sorry for himself). It was really funny and cute to watch them! Aww.

For dinner we went into Hexham. There wasn't much open (the Italian that my parents went to last time had had a fire since, and was closed for repairs/refurbishments), so it was either an Indian or an Indian - not much of a choice for me! But it was actually very nice.

We're off again tomorrow to a new hotel in Telford, which I'm looking forward to!

Holiday diary: Day 3, 24/08 (Hadrian's Wall)

2009-09-02T16:30:00.001Z

No miles today - we drove in my Dad's car (Harrius! Not Bashed Nose, apparently).

Parents woke up late today - I think this might be the first time ever that I've woken up before them! So that set us back a bit and we left later than planned.

Today we did Hadrian's Wall, going to three sites/forts along the wall. And I wore my new Hadrian's wall t-shirt that Dad had bought us the day before (our Gladiator uniforms!).

Birdoswald: When we arrived, there was a nice guy in the car park who gave us his parking ticket (and we then gave it to someone else when we left). It's not a very big site! It didn't take us very long to go round. The ruins are fairly small, it's just the fort itself really, no other outbuildings or town, and there is a wall round them which you can walk round. There is also a lovely medieval style youth hostel on the site too. Dad bought Mum and I t-shirts as well.

Vindolanda: Highlight of the day really, I loved it! It's a huge site, far bigger than I thought it'd be. It was oddly laid out though - usually at heritage sites you go through the shop and café to enter and leave, but at Vindolanda, the café, gift shop, and an exhibition/museum were at the very back of the site, down a steep slope! Bizarre. Anyway, we first walked down to have a (very nice!) lunch, then looked around the museum, which had lots of artefacts found at the site as well as an interesting video about the tablets and how they find them/the process they use afterwards. They have ongoing excavations there (probably why it's such a big site) and you could watch them digging and ask questions. It was interesting to see an on-going dig, must be exciting! Unfortunately, we missed the head archaeologist's talk, which would have been interesting (we just lost track of time). Managed to leave just as it started raining, though - always a bonus! I spent far too much money on books there, too! (just over £30)

Cowfields: this is the largest existing fort. We had to climb up a very steep hill to get there, but it was worth it - the view from the top was amazing, in every direction! It was pretty big too (not as big as Vindolanda though) and despite the screaming children it was great, I enjoyed it. I was quite tired by that point from all the walking though so I probably didn't enjoy it as much as I would have otherwise. But it was very peaceful. Afterwards, at the bottom of the hill, we had hot chocolates/teas and I got lots of photos of some cute little birds that were hopping around eating crumbs. I bought myself a Roman emporer mouse mat. (It has all the emporers on it.)

We had hoped to go to Chesters, opposite the hotel, but we just didn't get time in the end, and we were all a bit too tired to go anywhere else anyway.

Tonight we had dinner in a pub nearby as Dad had an argument with the hotel (their fault), they've changed their system of putting drinks on the room bill without warning and were not very apologetic or nice about it either. They really embarrassed my Mum with their attitude, they were quite condescending to her. So we went somewhere else. Parents had been to that pub before and enjoyed it, and it was good food.

Tomorrow is Holy Island, which I am really looking forward to!

Holiday diary: Day 2, 23/08 (Beamish, Angel of the North)

2009-09-02T15:56:00.001Z

At Durham Marriott hotel: 147,099.2
At Beamish: 147,120.2
At hotel (the George Hotel, Chollerford) - 147,193.3

We were woken up at 6.30am by the fire alarm - a false alarm, but by the time we found out it was too late to get back to sleep. Apparently the roof was leaking and water had gotten into one of the fire alarms, triggering the alarm throughout the hotel. (They were not very apologetic about it, either. I know it wasn't their fault, but it wasn't ours either!)

We packed and left the hotel early (about 9am) and as it was sunny but cloudy we drove up to Beamish, the Victorian village. I thought it was great, far bigger than it looked on the map and in the guide book. I now have a year long pass, too (when you buy entry, you can convert it to a year's pass for free!).
+ Loved the authentic trams and buses to take you around
+ Giant pig! And she posed for photos
+ Lots of ponies!
+ Staff were all very friendly and helpful, can't fault them at all - helped that it wasn't too busy (probably due to the predicted rain) so we had time to talk to them, especially the man in the bank, the young lady in the Freemasons lodge, and the lady with the pigs
+ Going down the reconstructed mine (though it was pretty small)
+ Looking at steam trains, a man overhearing said about his experiences on working on a freight steam train from Chester to Carlisle, eg going with his Dad on the footplate, warned that there were kids playing on the tracks, so they heated up a poker from the fire and nearly branded the kids with it as they went past - kids pooed themselves and ran off, probably didn't play on the tracks again! (lolol.)
+ Mini steam train ride on one of the first steam trains invented (used for moving coal).
+ the Freemasons Lodge, just because it's so interesting!

Only downside - Dad went ahead while Mum and I stroked a lovely horse that had ran over from the opposite side of the field to see us (probably wanted feeding), we then went to catch him up.

It turns out that some of the cottages on the edge of the museum they don't own - they are privately owned and lived in by locals. (We didn't know this at the time.) There were signs to a mill, so my parents and I walked down. My Dad went on ahead and my Mum and I followed behind. While we were walking towards the cottages (again - we assumed this was part of the mill exhibition as there were lots of other cottages you could look round), we were walking up the footpath towards it, which had bushes along both sides of it and fields beyond those on both sides. While we were walking along, a sheepdog suddenly appeared, barking and snarling at my mother and I. I started screaming and got quite hysterical (which I admit didn't help, but I was terrified and couldn't help it) as the dog jumped up at us and tried to bite, my Mum tried to keep me calm and said to just back away, which we did. A group of kids were in the field (it was on a slope so we could see them), we could hear them calling a name so it appeared to be their dog - they had heard me screaming and were laughing. They began to stroll round the hill, still laughing at us who were still being attacked and threatened by their dog, me still hysterical. Eventually we'd backed enough away and the dog stopped following us, but continued to bark and growl viciously. I was absolutely terrified - I am usually not scared of dogs, but this one was really aggressive. (Even thinking about it now is making me shake.)

I shouted at the kids over the bushes (who were not at all bothered, made no effort to come and get their dog, did not apologise, didn't even come over, just laughed and ignored us, carried on messing around in the field) to keep their dog under control, it just tried to attack us (as they well knew! They could hear it). Their response was basically "well it's just a puppy, you probably scared it, it's your fault, you shouldn't be here anyway, it lives here, it can do what it likes", and we could hear them still laughing. (If it was a puppy, it was certainly almost full-grown! It was huge!) The kids were about 10-12 years old, so still kids, but old enough to know that their dog shouldn't behave like that (and if they don't, they shouldn't be left in charge of it!).

I was really upset and their reponse to it had made me worse, I was shaking and crying and still quite hysterical. My mum rang my Dad who came back quickly after hearing what had happened, he'd been speaking to a woman who lived in one of the cottages who explained about the houses being privately owned, but that the land around them and the footpath was all museum owned. The dog was equally aggressive to him (he hadn't gone past it originally, he'd gone a different way), and tried to bite him - he managed to stare it down and eventually it backed off, though this took a while and he said he was surprised at how aggressive it was. It turned out that the mill was all boarded up anyway, apparently the museum are going to reconstruct and repair it but they haven't yet, so it was a wasted trip anyway (this isn't mentioned in the guide book or on the map signs!).

Later, we saw the kids and the dog again, as they went into the museum town nearby to buy some sweets. They then got on one of the trams (the same one we were on) to go back to the cottages. The staff obviously know these boys as they were chatting to them. The boys had recognised us, and kept staring at us and whispering to each other and laughing. When we got off the tram, they had stood by the tram exit and as I walked past them they were smirking and laughing at me, and deliberately put the dog on the side closest to me (which nearly made me freak out there and then, actually! - I was still very much shaken up). They obviously were not at all sorry for what had happened to us!

(I may complain to the museum - even though it wasn't their fault, the land we were on was owned by them, and they should put signs. I may also complain to the local council and Police as they should have restrained the dog, under the Dangerous Dogs Act.)

On the way to the hotel, we stopped at the Angel of the North (near a town called Harlow Green, how funny!), got a few photos before it started to rain. (At least that was at the Angel of the North, and not Beamish!)

The hotel is nice, I have a four poster bed and a large flat screen TV!

Holiday diary: Day 1, 22/08 (Durham)

2009-09-02T15:25:00.000Z

Starting mileage - 146,673.5
At Grantham services - 146,850.6
At Scotch Corner services - 147,050
At Durham - 147,099.2

We set off at 9am, after stopping at Staple Tye and Asda for my prescription, and made good time despite arriving late at Scotch Corner services due to road works (mini digger working alone is going to take a long time to build a new road!). Enjoyed talking to mum in the car, and listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Arrived at Durham's Marriott hotel for 3pm (as scheduled). Left things in my car/Dad's car, and went to check my room out - is very nice! Parents were given a free upgrade as they haven't stayed there before (and he was paying). Their room is slightly bigger and has a separate sitting room area (as opposed to mine, which is all in one room).

We then walked into Durham, which I've never visited before - it seemed quite small/quiet but very pretty! We then walked around the cathedral. A couple outside were having wedding photos taken outside it, and their wedding reception was in Durham castle so it was closed unfortunately! We enjoyed walking around the cathedral, though the decoration was plainer than later cathedrals (it is Norman), it had beautiful windows. They unfortunately don't allow photos in the actual cathedral, which my Dad was really disappointed about. In the cloisters there were lots of sleepy and confused "teenage bats" flying around (Pipistrelles, so very small!) or hanging on the walls asleep, which was really cute! Taking photos of them almost (but not quite) made it up to my Dad, who had been really looking forward to taking roof/window photos. There was even (as we were leaving) a little bat laying on the floor! It was amazing to see one close up, it was so cute!

We then wandered back to the hotel, put bags into the hotel, then went to the bar and had a few drinks before dinner - had thought about going into town but Dad and I were too tired from 5hrs of driving that we didn't feel like going anywhere. Had a great chat with parents, talked about Thursday (cruise/London Eye/Avenue Q), showed them photos, then ate. Unfortunately my meal was very spicey so I didn't eat much, but parents enjoyed theirs.

It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow. We may go to Hadrian's Wall (as it's mostly driving). New hotel tomorrow night, too. Now, bed time (it's 11.30pm).

o2 NIN setlist:

2009-07-17T23:04:00.001Z

Now I'm Nothing
Terrible Lie
1,000,000
Heresy
March of the Pigs
Reptile
The Becoming
I'm Afraid Of Americans (David Bowie cover)
Burn
Gave Up
La Mer
The Fragile
Non-Entity
The Big Come Down
The Downward Spiral
Wish
Survivalism
Down In It
Metal (Gary Numan cover, with Gary Numan)
Cars (Gary Numan cover, with Gary Numan)
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole

Encore:
Hurt

:D

London Marketing Services (another job scam)

2009-07-14T14:52:00.009Z

It seems I've had an interview invite for another scam. I applied for them via totaljobs.com on the 2nd July. I don't think these are related to the original one I posted about before, but it is very similar.

London Marketing Services
Lower Ground Floor
Shand House
14 - 20 Shand Street
London SE1 2ES
Tel: 020 7234 3560
Fax: 020 7234 3569
http://www.londonmarketingservices.com

Edit: Their Nottingham 'branch': (Thanks Nicholas!)
Suite 17, Third Floor
Minerva House
Spaniel Row
Nottingham, NG1 6EP

Cardiff office: (Thanks Nels!)
Sophia House
28 Cathedral Road
Cardiff, CF11 9LJ

They operate in a very similar way - you go in for a first interview, they act too busy to really talk to you about the role, then quickly invite you for a second interview - which is essentially being asked to go out and work for them unofficially for the day. The role will typically involve lots of door to door or street sales with no basic pay (commission only - not itself a scam), no official contract of employment (they ask you to sign a contract that states you are self-employed), and will struggle to get any of the commission owed. They don't make any of this clear to you when you are interviewed (and I'm not sure they even make the self-employment clear either).

In addition, from this link, it seems that they are not registered at this address (there is only Cameron Taylor Brady, Clarke Bond Group, and Komex Clarke Bond - who may or may not also be running a similar scam, as it's common for these companies to use many different names to avoid detection). "London Marketing Services" are also not registered with Companies House, which is the national registry of all registered companies in the UK.

They lure you in with promises of fast track management schemes and benefits, but the reality is that you are unlikely to get anywhere with this company. The only one who benefits is the owner of London Marketing Services.

(Found me through Google? Check out my previous two blogs on this subject - Job scam doing the rounds and More on the job scam.)

More on the job scam

2009-07-07T12:39:00.011Z

It seems that job scam is a lot more common than I first thought. I don't know whether they are the same company or different ones.

Just a few of their other names and addresses I've found!:

Galaxy Marketing (thanks Mark for the info - added 26/05), EA Worldwide Acquisitions Ltd
Lower Ground Floor Shand House, 14-20 Shand Street, Elephant & Castle, LONDON, SE1 2ES
T: 0208 6160 989 OR 020 7234 3568
F: 0207 234 3569 OR 020 7234 3569

JTM Solutions and Select Marketing Solutions (thanks Hannah for the info - added 26/05)
38-40 Culver Street East, Colchester, Essex CO1 1LE
01206 768741

Smiths Marketing Associates (thanks to Margie and Kaiser_Baz for the info - added 26/05)
Lower Ground Floor, Baltic Chambers, 50 Wellington Street, Glasgow, G2 6HJ
www.smithsmarketingassociates.co.uk

JMS Marketing Ltd (thanks to Nathan for the info - added 26/05)
The Cotton Exchange, Third Floor, Suite 314, Bixteth Street, Liverpool L3 9LQ

JMS Marketing (thanks to Razmataz for the info - added 26/05), Clover Advertising (thanks Daisy for the info - added 26/05), Powerhouse Direct Ltd and Krishna Worldwide (thanks Laurily for the info - added 26/05)
Business Environments, City Point, Temple Gate, Bristol BS1 6PL
T: 01173 736 255

G.M. Solutions, Supreme Corporation, R&S Solutions, B1 Client Services (Thanks Nikita!)
1 Bath Street, London EC1V 9LB
020 725 19028

Fusion Marketing Solutions, TML Promotions, Arkville Sales & Marketing, Power Play Marketing Ltd
West Orchard House, 28 Corporation Street, Coventry, CV1 1GF

VI Marketing, Power House Direct Ltd, R&S Solutions, Red Square Direct Ltd, R.S. Marketing Ltd
30 Western Road, Brighton, BN3 1AF

Marketing Solutions; South Yorkshire Marketing (thanks James for the info - added 26/05)
Belgrave House, 47 Bank Street, Sheffield S1 2DR
0114 276 7329
http://www.rsmsonline.co.uk

AMM Direct Ltd, Marchant Marketing, T.H. Worldwide
4th Floor, Premier House, Darlington Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 4ND
01902 716233 OR 01902 427353

SRM Marketing Limited (company no 06736679), Supreme Corporation UK Ltd, Orick Marketing Solutions Ltd, Fosters Marketing Solutions Ltd
Added 11th August: Pure Solutions Direct Limited (company no 06868527), CSK Marketing - thanks Neil!
Added 30/12: Harlequin Marketing UK Limited (company number 6660849) website: http://www.harlequinmarketingukltd.com/
G-Force Marketing Limited (Company no 05057461, http://www.gforceltd.com/)
Griffin House, Aurillac Way, Retford, Nottinghamshire, DN22 7SS
http://www.supremecorp.co.uk
http://www.orrickmarketing.com/

RS Advertising Yorkshire Bank Chambers
Market Square, Retford, Nottinghamshire DN22 6DQ.

Supreme Corp Kent, JK Marketing Services, Oval (thanks Charlotte!)
86a Bank Street, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1SD
01622 670478

Awka Limited
94 North Street, Leeds LS2 7PN
0113 2445330
http://www.akwa-limited.co.uk/

SRM Marketing Ltd (thanks Bobhussain for the details!)
First Floor, 11 Orford Place, Norwich NR1 3RU
01603 230186
http://www.srmmarketingltd.co.uk/

Powerhouse Direct
Southampton

G-Force Marketing Limited (was O'BRIEN MARKETING LIMITED)
16 Newton Street, Manchester, M1 2AE
http://www.gforceltd.com/

EA Worldwide

Horizon Marketing
Telford House, 102 Collingdon Street, Luton, LU1 1RX
01582 455134

JTM Cardiff, Venus Marketing UK
Cardiff

Other business names:
CO&CO Marketing (added 26/05 - thanks Grace & Roy)
P & D Marketing
The Cobra Group
R3 Marketing
Clover Advertising
Endeva Advertising
Magnum Marketing Ltd
Mosco Marketing
Paramount Force Promotions
Progressive Global Training
Innovation Marketing Direct
Celica Marketing
Flash Organisation
Blackrock Advertising
Fourways Marketing
Co&Co Marketing
Source Marketing Direct

Jess has also said they have a big prescence in Norwich. I guess student towns are easiest.

Blimey.

Moral of this story: ALWAYS DO YOUR PRE-INTERVIEW RESEARCH.

(Found me through Google? Check out my other two blogs on this subject - Job scam doing the rounds and London Marketing Services (another job scam).)

Job scam doing the rounds.

2009-07-06T18:00:00.003Z

I got all excited about having an interview for tomorrow. The job description on totaljobs.com was a bit vague about what I'd actually be doing and the website from the job listing (http://aspireldn.co.uk) is empty, so I thought I'd Google for more info on the company and to prepare. I found this rather professional looking website instead - and also found a lot of websites saying that it's a bit of a scam. Reading a bit more into the company, it certainly doesn't sound like what I want to do. They ask you to come in for a preliminary interview, talk to you about the role and how easily you can progress up the ranks, and then ask you to come for a secondary interview the next day, where you will go out doing door to door sales with one of their 'top salesmen' so they can evaluate your skills, essentially working 9hrs for free. You then work on a commission only basis for a few months, before they promote you to team leader, again working on a commission only basis (something they don't tell you in interview), doing door to door sales, or possibly just harrassing people in the street to buy things. This could mean that if you don't sell much, you could end up working for free or for well below minimum wage - for someone like me who has bills to pay, and who needs a basic wage, that's not ideal. Only when you reach level 3 do you get a proper wage and are no longer involved in door to door selling.

The company that called me were Aspire Acquisitions Ltd, but they also apparently operate (from the same address and telephone number) as JCC Solutions, GM Global Marketing Solutions, Red Square Direct, Mosco Marketing, Fosters Marketing Solutions, and Supreme Corporation UK - among others! They are based at 1 Bath Street, London EC1V 9LB, phone number 020 725 19028, but also seem to have offices around the country (I saw stuff on Google for Manchester and Coventry as well).

I should have been suspicious that they don't seem to have 1 vacancy, or even a handful - they'll just recruit as many people as are interested (knowing that most will probably quit or cancel early on I suppose). Someone in one of the above links says that they worked for 3 weeks, and didn't receive any pay afterwards (or did with a struggle), so there doesn't seem to be a guarantee that you'll even get the commission you've earnt! They also don't give you a contract, just a disclaimer that you are "self-employed".

I just thought this info might be useful for other people here who get calls from them. They seem to be taking advantage of the recession and how many desperate unemployed people there are. Obviously if you want to do sales, and are happy with their conditions, that's fine, but they don't seem to make it very clear or obvious at all that that is what you'll be doing or how you'll be working, and I personally have cancelled my interview with them tomorrow.

(Found me through Google? Check out my next two blogs on this subject - More on the job scam and London Marketing Services (another job scam).)

Asus Eee 900 out soon :D

2008-04-27T15:02:00.002Z

Yay!

For those of you that don't know, I have an Asus Eee, which is amazing and that I love very much. It is the size of an A5 notepad (or half A4 size), with a 7" monitor, 512mb RAM, 4gb harddrive, and has no CD drive (just 3 USB and 1 memory card port). It also has a VGA webcam and microphone. Not great specs, but it's merit is it's small size and light weight (900g), rather than being too groundbreaking, and it's cheap price - I bought it from Toys R Us (of all places!) for just £219. It is pretty groundbreaking in that the Eee 700 models come with Linux Xandros and runs free software, such as Pidgin instead of a version of MSN Messenger/Yahoo! Messenger/AIM/ICQ etc, Open Office, instead of the Microsoft Office package, and Firefox as its browser (which is obviously far better than IE anyway). While you can install Windows XP on it (it comes with instructions) why would you want to? XP is a resource hog and while the Eee runs fine on Linux with no real lag, I can't imagine it would run so well on XP, especially without upgrading the RAM a bit. (Asus have said that it will not void the warranty if you upgrade it to 1GB.)

I bought one because I wanted a laptop for uni, but most laptops are quie bulky and awkward to carry around - you need a laptop bag (which shouts 'steal me'), and they are pretty heavy too. They are also expensive, and considering I have a good desktop, so when all I'd want it for would be word processing and web browsing it seemed ridiculous spending so much on it (and, you know, poor student etc). The Eee seemed ideal.

However - to the point of this post. Asus are soon to be releasing the Eee 900, which will come with an 8.9" screen (and higher resolution, 1,024 x 600), 1gb RAM, better webcam (1.3 megapixels). It will also be available to buy with either XP (with 12gb harddrive) or Linux (with 20gb harddrive). This will mean a slightly higher cost (£319, I think) but I think it seems pretty worth it - they are still far cheaper than most laptops out there, and will keep the small a5 size (which is the whole point).

And, if this wasn't enough to convince you to get one, STEPHEN FRY HAS AN EEE TOO :D :D :D

(No, I am not being paid for this. But I should be.) I just think they are great little laptops that everyone should get! They are pretty in demand so seem to be quite hard to come by, but they are definitely worth it.

/geek

ani difranco 'you each time'

2008-04-23T22:30:00.001Z

there you were day after day
six feet
twenty feet
two feet away
right in my pocket singin me a song
makin my heart race all day long

and we talked it out and we talked it down
but your eyes were not listening
and my ears were looking around
for another song to sing
but it was you each time
it was you

the answer to each moment must be yes
and the question: can you live with that?
becomes the test
so you weigh it against that aching in your chest
and that secretly relentless emptiness

and you talk it out and you talk it down
but your eyes are not listening
and my ears are running around
looking for another song to sing
but it is you each time
it is you

so my heart finally broke
it was so long bent
and it broke in three places
when it finally went
it wanted only to say what it meant
so it suffered every punishment

now it lives in a shack outside of town
and only the wolves are out there listening
and in her dreams they chase her down
their moonlit eyes are glistening
and it is you each time
it is you

Die so Fluid 'Not Everybody Gets a Happy Ending'

2008-03-02T14:50:00.001Z

I bought Die So Fluid's new album, 'Not Everybody Gets A Happy Ending,' when it came out last week and I've basically not listened to anything else since (although you can't tell as although my PC is fixed, the internet won't work, and my laptop's last.fm won't update for some reason).

It is definitely their best album yet (and I loved their last). I feel that the lyrics are better than on their last, with some great one-liners, and the guitars also feel a lot more catchy and easy to sing along to, as well as having some great solos. It also is quite a diverse album, with a mix of styles; from more traditional rock ('Gang of One') to punk ('Something to Say'), as well as the very short and strange track 'Swam Beneath Me'.

This is definitely one album this year that you can't afford to miss out on.

Czech Police wonder where bridge has gone

2008-02-22T12:13:00.002Z

Police in the Czech republic are trying to find out who stole a 4 tonne railway bridge from the border town of Cheb.

The company which was responsible for looking after the bridge raised the alarm when, ever alert, they noticed that the bridge wasn't there any more.

The bridge was on a disused stretch of line just outside Cheb.

Martina Hruskova, a spokeswoman for the Czech police, commented to AFP: 'We are not sure if it was taken for personal use or for its scrap value.' Exactly what that 'personal use' might be was left unsaid.

'It is the first time we have dealt with this type of theft,' she added.

Of course, it's not the first time some light-fingered bridge enthusiast has made off with a bridge. At least two bridges have been nicked in Russia in the past six months, and a pair of bridge thieves appropriated two Macedonian bridges last February.

From http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=100140&in_page_id=2

Plastic Toys, Die so Fluid & My Ruin, 02/02

2008-02-05T12:08:00.001Z

Saturday night was the My Ruin gig with Steve :D When I finally got up and got ready (my Dad and I played Solitaire together for ages) we headed into London, with the thought that we could wander around Camden for a few hours and make a day of it. Naturally by the time we arrived it was about 4, we drove to Tottenham Hale & then got the train in as it was cheaper (but also full of mild peril as I had no idea how to get there and my satnav enjoys lying to me), and to make sure we didn't get stuck. The roadtrip down was exciting, and although Camden was packed we wandered around for a bit before going to McDonalds. In McDonalds there were a few 14-15yr old kids asking everyone for change (they asked me four times!) and they got quite aggressive, eventually shouting at a group of girls about how "you don't know what I've been through! You don't know how hard my life has been!" Yeah, it must be so hard, sitting in McDonalds all day with your friends eating crap food (because they were with a group of friends who had a table and were sat eating, they were definitely not just randoms off the street). And the girls said that they didn't need to get rude/aggressive, and bought them food (wtf?!). We left to go to Angel and the Carling Academy Islington not long after.

It was only when we came out of the Angel station that I realised I'd been there before to see Static X, so that was a nice surprise as I knew the way (it's randomly in the middle of a shopping centre, if you didn't know roughly where it was you'd struggle to find it as it's a bit randomly placed). We got there at 6.30, and despite arriving so early it took forever to get in (doors opened at 7), put our coats away, and then I bought merchandise - a signed My Ruin poster (with a free smaller tour poster), a My Ruin Momento Mori t-shirt, and a Die so Fluid shirt (plus free badge). I'm going to put the posters up in my room tomorrow :D (the first ones in my uni room here!). In the queue we randomly started talking to a guy next to us in the queue who had come on his own, he had come to see Plastic Toys (all the way from Milton Keynes! Dedication!). Also, Steve had me in hysterics by saying "last laff" in a very northern accent randomly (without meaning to) instead of "larst larf" in a southern accent (which is um, how he should have said it). It was so un-Stevelike and just generally WEIRD that it was somehow hilarious and kept me amused for ages XD Even now it makes me giggle. lolol. We can't even blame his time at Oxford, since um, Oxford is south too! And he doesn't have any northern friends. How random. I have no idea what happened to his accent XD

Steve and I got right to the front, second row of people on the right hand side (facing the stage), and had a great view. Unfortunately we were stood next to a group of girls who insisted on dancing wildly and getting in everyone's space (no one dances like that at a rock/metal gig!), forcing lots of people to move out the way, yet they'd continue to dance towards either side. It was actually really annoying, especially as they kept giving me dirty looks when they kept shoving into me, like I was randomly shoving into them, and when they weren't dancing they were texting and faffing with their phones, or going to/from the bar! The venue also unfortunately opened at 7 and closed at 10, due to an indie night on afterwards, which was a real shame. We only saw 3 of the songs of the first supporting band (Plastic Toys), though they sounded good from what we heard. Die so Fluid were on next, about 8, and had quite a short set, only about half an hour. I've been a fan of theirs for a while so it was great to finally see them live - we had a great place to stand, right infront of Grog (the singer/bassist) so that was great, and they played lots of new material - apparently they have an album out mid February, which I didn't know about. Finally My Ruin were up at 8.45 - again, their set was sadly quite short. Tairrie B (singer) kept apologising as she was quite hoarse after the night before in Bristol (I knew I should've gone!!) and felt like she was letting us down as she always likes to put 100% into her shows, especially here as they don't come to the UK much. But it was still great - it was just good to know that she cared so much about giving the fans a good show. She talked to the audience lots, and as always interacted with the audience too - often letting people sing lines she couldn't manage, holding hands with fans, or leaning into the crowd. They always put on an amazing live show, and it was definitely no exception.

Songs they played (in no particular order)
Silverlake 6571
The Devil Walks
Spilling Open
Religiosity (new song)
Momento Mori (new song)
Through the Wound (another new song - for this one she exposed her arm which is quite horrifically scarred after she had a car accident)
Cold Hands Warm Heart
Hypocrite (a Manhole/Tura Santana song, as her new drummer is technically their old drummer, he was in Manhole/Tura Santana)
Burn the Witch
Ready for Blood (new song)
Blasphemous Girl
Made to Measure/Beauty Fiend

I'm sure there were others, but I forget.

We arrived on Angel's platform at 10.01 according to the Underground's clock, and were in Harlow by 11 - amazingly early! It's usually gone midnight before I get home after gigs. On the way we stopped at McDonalds and Steve paid with a £10 note.. and got £13 change XD I was going to say something, but Steve said not to, and we sped away as I was worried they'd come after us. Steve kept saying the whole night that he was sort of looking forward to the car ride home (lolol) as he had a sense of mild peril. Apparently not!

BSOD!

2008-01-26T15:13:00.000Z

I keep getting blue screens whenever my PC is left unsupervised (even if it's just for half an hour, I'll come back to find a BSOD)

KERNAL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR

Any ideas?

New Years resolutions.

2008-01-02T22:26:00.000Z

My 2007 resolution was to read 50 books in one year - unfortunately, as those keeping up with my book reviews blog may have noticed, I did not succeed. I only reached 40.5. These were:

(A quick key, before I do, as to how I rate books:
1/5 - awful; avoidavoidavoid! If the choice is between this and
2/5 - poor; only read if you have nothing better to do.
3/5 - average; not bad, but not memorable either. A good holiday read.
4/5 - great; enjoyable and definitely worth a read.
5/5 - brilliant; one of my favourites and a must-read!)

1. Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian. 3/5.
2. Anne Rice, Merrick. 3/5.
3. Terry Pratchett, Mort. 4/5.
4. Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha. 4/5.
5. Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man. 4/5.
6. Dick King Smith, The Sheep Pig. 4/5.
7. Tom Holt, Alexander at the World’s End. 4/5.
8. Terry Pratchett, Hogfather (5/5)
9. Terry Pratchett, Soul Music (5/5)
10. Philippa Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl (5/5)
11. Stephen Fry, The Stars’ Tennis Balls (4.5/5)
12. Jane Moore, Dot.Homme (3/5)
13. Jed Rubenfield, The Interpretation of Murder (4/5)
14. Eva Rice, The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets (4/5)
15. Philippa Gregory, The Queen’s Fool (3/5)
16. Philippa Gregory, The Virgin’s Lover (3/5)
17. Philippa Gregory, The Constant Princess (4/5)
18. Philippa Gregory, The Boleyn Inheritance (4/5)
19. Alison Weir, Innocent Traitor (4/5)
20. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (4/5)
21. Susanna Dunn, The Queen of Subtleties (3/5)
22. Alison Weir, Isabella, She-Wolf of France, Queen of England (4/5)
23. Garth Nix, Sabriel (3/5)
24. Lauren Weisberger, The Devil Wears Prada (2/5)
25. Bram Stoker, Dracula (5/5)
26. Douglas Kennedy, The Pursuit of Happiness (5/5)
27. Agatha Christie, Mrs McGinty’s Dead (4/5)
28. Lana Thompson, The Wandering Womb: A Cultural History of Outrageous Beliefs about Women (3/5)
29. Agatha Christie, Cards on the Table (4/5)
30. Jasper Fforde, First Among Sequels (3/5)
31. Agatha Christie, Dumb Witness (4/5)
32. Gregory Maguire, Wicked (2/5)
33. Gregory Maguire, Confessions of an Ugly Step-Sister (5/5)
34. Paullina Simons, Red Leaves (5/5)
35. Karen Harper, The Queene's Cure (3/5)
36. Terry Pratchett, The Wee Free Men (4/5)
37. Alison Weir, Elizabeth the Queen (5/5)
38. Alison Plowden, Tudor Women: Queens and Commoners (3/5)
39. Peter Benchley, Jaws (5/5)
40. Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain (5/5)
Currently reading: Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd.

So, naturally, this year I plan to try to beat this; it should be easier as I finish university in May and so will have a lot more spare time on my hands. At the moment I'm struggling to read two or three pages a day for fun, let alone a few chapters! I will be pleased if I manage to beat 40, though reaching the target of fifty would be even better.

2007-12-18T22:59:00.000Z

It's my birthday on Thursday. I will be 22.

I want to be excited about it, but I really can't be - I'm going to be spending it all on my own. :(

"My Posse Can Do"

2007-10-17T10:43:00.000Z

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7D7A2CG8

This song cheered up my mood today.

I don't know what you've been playing
I don't know why I've been staying
I got me some better things to do

I do mind what you been saying
I don't know why I've been staying
I got me some better things to do

Boys, you give me the beat

Tippy tippy ty
Tippy tippy toe
Tippy tippy ty all over the world
There be things that my posse can do
Oh boy, yeah

Tippy tippy ty
Tippy tippy toe
Tippy tippy ty all over the world
There be things that my posse can do

Save yourself the lie
I see it in your eyes
You've been having you
A wonderful crime
She can flip her hair
I can flip you off
You've got talents
But baby, I'm thinking they're not enough

I don't know what you've been playing
I don't know why I've been staying
I got me some better things to do

I don't do so well in traffic
Or with leaders who don't have it
I got me some better things to do

Boys, you give me the beat

Tippy tippy ty
Tippy tippy toe
Tippy tippy ty all over the world
There be things that my posse can do
Yeah, boy

Tippy tippy ty
Tippy tippy toe
Tippy tippy ty all over the world
There be things that my posse can do

A formula one
Racer or the Pope
Presidential posts
You say aren't for girls
That's the way it's been
Up until today
There's another way
Maybe this girl's got a taste to misbehave

I don't know what you've been playing
I don't know why I've been staying
I got me some better things to do

Brothers, I say, hallelujah
You proselytise and compute
All them things that your posse can do

Boys, you give me the beat

Tippy tippy ty
Tippy tippy toe
Tippy tippy ty all over the world
Tippy tippy ty
Tippy tippy toe
Tippy tippy ty all over the world
Tippy tippy ty
Tippy tippy toe
Tippy tippy ty all over the world
There be things that my posse
There be things
There be things that my posse can do

Boys, you give me the beat

Regina Spektor :D

2007-09-09T11:02:00.001Z

I saw Regina Spektor at the Royal Festival Hall on Friday - the third time I'd seen her. I thought it was amazing - she seemed much more confident than the last two times. Her voice was as amazing as ever! And I loved the new songs. I was just blown away! Steve came along and he hadn't seen Regina before and he was equally impressed. I can't wait til she plays here again!

Set included Ain't No Cover (as always), the Flowers, Baby Jesus, Prisoners, Music Box, Ghost of Corporate Future, Blue, Fidelity, Human of the Year, Poor Little Rich Boy, Twenty Years of Snow, Summer in the City, Samson, On the Radio, Apres Moi, Better, and Field Below, as well as Bobbin' for Apples and That Time (for once no one seemed to laugh at the "remember that other time when you OD'd for the second time" line - I never understood why that was so funny). There were two new songs too. She played one encore, but it was really long - five songs, maybe? It was much longer than I had expected. I was surprised too that she seemed to have a set-list to play from (usually she doesn't, she just makes it up as she goes along), but I can't complain.

Oh and the support, Eugene McGuiness, was really good too - his Myspace page is here, definitely worth checking his music out. It was funny though, he didn't actually introduce himself, in between songs someone in the audience asked him "who are you?" XD (All he'd said was "I'm not Regina Spektor, heh). He was funny!

I was getting annoyed with the audience though - quite a few people near me were leaving for the bathroom/bar mid-song or taking photos (with flash). Not as bad as when I saw Tori, but still annoying. I think it helped that there had been an announcement beforehand asking the audience not to take photos, but I wish the staff had enforced it more - they asked someone in the second row to stop taking photos of the support act, but even though there were two girls in the row in front of me taking loads of photos all the way through, they didn't do a thing, which surprised me!

More dead Sims.

2007-08-11T15:03:00.001Z

Another accidental death. My Sims are dropping like flies!

I don't even know what happened. I only asked her to mop up the puddles her aunt's ghost left everywhere :( (Never drown your Sims.)

Luckily, though, I let her life be spared. Thanks Suzie!

I like how she's laying crumpled on the floor XD

The Sims

2007-08-09T22:57:00.002Z

For once an accidental death that actually *was* an accident:

One minute he was running on the treadmill... the next he was gone :( WTF?

I have never had this happen to me before!

Tori Amos at the Apollo Hammersmith (04/07)

2007-07-05T23:14:00.000Z

I saw Tori Amos last night (4th July) at the Hammersmith Apollo. She was great! I thought there would be lots of songs from the new album (which I still don't like), but instead she played lots of old songs. As it was 4th July there were lots of her political songs, which we'd expected, and she wore an American flag sequined catsuit (ohgod).

Setlist:

Yo George
Sweet Dreams
Tubular Bells
Devils & Gods
Almost Rosey
Tombigbee

Big Wheel
Caught A Lite Sneeze
Liquid Diamonds
Cornflake Girl
Doughnut Song
Glory Of The 80s

Solo
Home On The Range (Cherokee Edition)
Winter
Cooling

A Sorta Fairytale
Beauty Of Speed
Code Red

Precious Things
God

The Waitress
Hey Jupiter

It was a shame about the irritating audience, though. Lots of people were getting up and going to the bar or the bathroom, and the people we were sat with were the worst audience members ever. The people infront of us turned up halfway through Devils and Gods, and spent the whole time fidgeting, talking, and playing with their phones. The guy on our right sang random lines and was *incredibly* out of tune. The pair on our left went home halfway through Beauty of Speed (I guess to get a train); they could have at least waited til the end of the song! And the people behind us were even worse, the guy behind me kept kicking my chair and putting his feet up on it, and kept touching my shoulder - why would you do that?! It creeped me out and made me feel so uncomfortable all evening. Whoever that was, you were lucky I didn't claw your eyes out.

Abbey.

2007-06-10T14:05:00.000Z

Abbey have offered me the princely sum of £20 in response to my complaint. I was hoping they had just accidentally left a 5 off, or even an extra 0, but apparently not. I'm not at all pleased with the way they have dealt with this.

Off to the small claims court we go.

Abbey update.

2007-05-10T16:32:00.000Z

Still no response from Abbey. I'm sending them a reminder letter tomorrow.

"I wrote to you on 14th March making the original request for a payment in settlement of my claim. As I have not received a satisfactory response, I am writing to inform you I intend to claim the full amount claimed together with interest up to the date of judgment and court fees in the proceedings through the county court. "

ho hum.

Internet bests

2007-05-07T21:02:00.000Z

I have found a lot of winnage today on the internet!

Here is a selection.

Star Trek lol - this is like the cat photos, but of Star Trek (tribbles!).

Tori Amos performing A Sorta Fairytale - a great song, great video. But the man sitting next to her is creepy. TOO CLOSE.

A cover of Tori's Original Sinsuality/Talula - YOU ARE NOT TORI AMOS. PLEASE STOP ACTING LIKE YOU ARE. I'm sure he's actually quite a good singer, but copying Tori's ways of speaking, singing and mannerisms is weird (but hilarious).

What What (in the Butt) - haha! This is just amazing. My new favourite song <3 It just makes me laugh so much.

My Boobs are OK - I'm assuming this is meant tongue-in-cheek!

:(

2007-04-22T14:14:00.000Z

Last night was pretty awful. I went to Tesco with Louis and Adam, spent £10, on the way back we decided to stop at McDonalds (it's tradition!), went through the drive-through and then sat in the car park for a bit to eat. There were a few little groups of drunk kids (16yrs old or so) walking past since McDonalds seems to be their cool place to hang out, but after we'd nearly finished eating there was a large group of about ten standing next to my car, all drinking (wearing tracksuits and baseball caps). I was starting to get nervous so said we'd go, and turned the engine on. They all started laughing, which made me more nervous. I went into reverse and looked behind me as they were standing around everywhere, and there was a guy leaning on my car. I revved my engine and he didn't move. I waited for a few seconds but he apparently wasn't bothered, so I started to reverse back slowly (since I wasn't going to wait there just to let some idiot use my car as a leaning post). He fell sideways and knocked my sideview mirror, which fell off (though it was hanging on). I don't know if it was on purpose or not. I stopped, thinking "wtf?" and all the kids had scattered towards the front of the car. Eventually they came over and were like "we'll fix it we'll fix it!" and pushed it on, but not properly, it wasn't on right. I wish I just left, though that was hard because they were laughing around at the front of my car and saying "go on then run me over!" and I was worried they'd jump on my bonnet. A girl came over (part of the gang), Adam wound the window down a bit, and she asked what had happened, I said they'd just broken my wing mirror off. "oh but they've fixed it" "that's hardly the point, is it? And it's not fixed properly." then a group of 3-4 guys came over and started shouting obscenities at us, saying it was my fault because I reversed into them (hardly, and he knew I wanted to move away, he and his friends should have moved out the way), what was I going to do call the Police (well, yes, actually). Then they shouted obscenities, I kept saying "get away from my car" loudly and firmly, they eventually started walking off, then one guy turned back and jumped and hit the wingmirror clean off, it skidded off down the car park. They all laughed, and as they walked away they threw beer cans at my car (I don't think they did any damage though, but I will check later this afternoon).

I was really freaking out by now, I didn't want to go anywhere incase I ran my wingmirror over and then I'd have to pay for a new one and didn't really want to claim on my insurance, and got my phone and called the Police (I'd asked Adam to but he couldn't find my phone). They came really quickly and were very helpful although unfortunately we couldn't give them very good descriptions other than of the guy who broke it and was swearing at us through the window and the girl, they were the only faces we saw properly. McDonalds have CCTV over the carpark so they should be able to get footage, which might help them find the kids (though unlikely now). They can't get forensic evidence from the wingmirror as lots of people will have touched it, and also it's curved. The Police did have a drive around the area to look for any gangs, as they'd walked over to the housing estate nearby. We've got to do official statements later in the week.

I was really shaken up about it, and I'm still terrified of walking around town incase I see them and they taunt me. I had nightmares all last night about the gang coming into work and laughing at me. I'm sure this will pass but I've been getting a lot of hassle this week for my hair (why is having purple hair something to make a big deal over?) and so I was a bit unsettled anyway. It's weird; I never used to get any trouble for the way I dressed, even here. I'm beginning to wish I'd never dyed it, even though this is my dream hair colour. I'm almost relieved that Woolworths have asked me to change it.

Abbey

2007-04-11T18:37:00.000Z

No response from Abbey yet, other than a standard "thank you for your complaint, it will be dealt with in 40 days" standard letter. Humph.

I shall reply this week, saying it's not a complaint, it is a request for money they have illegally taken from me, and they have 7 further days to give me my money or I shall go ahead with small claims.

2007-04-03T23:11:00.000Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W91sqAs-_-g

No idea where this cover of 'My Humps' has come from, there's no mention of it on Alanis' official site, but I really like it!

Pizza Hut are noobs.

2007-03-22T21:29:00.000Z

I saw John after work last night. We decided about 7 that actually we'd quite like to go to the cinema and Pizza Hut, but after faffing (John's fault, he wanted to go on the internet first) we got there about 8. Since the film was 8.40 we thought we'd be better off getting a takeaway since they're supposed to be quicker. The pizzas came at 8.40. They'd been sitting on the side for ages and the girl who served us was useless!

At half past I'd gotten fed up and went to the counter to ask how much longer they'd be, got ignored for five minutes, then the manager lady asked another girl with daft hair to check if there were any takeaways waiting. Daft Hair Girl then spent ages standing there trying to call the manager who was obviously busy (sorting out change or something), who turned round and eventually said "instead of standing there you could've come over and actually served these people by now" and she said "I know" (argh!), then after the manager finished what she was doing came over and gave us the takeaway, I asked if they'd been there a while because we've been waiting for over half an hour, she said "well they're still warm" which was hardly the point! I said that we were meant to be going to the cinema, now we've missed it because of their poor service, I wasn't very impressed, and the girl didn't even give me an apology. And what annoyed me off more was that I know that as soon as my back was turned, she rolled her eyes or gave a 'omg can you believe her' look to the other group of people waiting for their takeaway; she had that kind of 'I don't care' attitude. I would have asked to see the manager if it wasn't for the fact that time spent arguing is time I could have been eating. I think I'll write a letter to complain; it's not the first time that I've had bad service at the Llandudno Pizza Hut. Everytime I've gone they've gotten orders wrong or been incredibly slow. In fact, I'm rather tempted not there again. I know the letter probably won't even be opened, but it'd at least make me feel better.

John had bought the tickets for the film in advance, we sat in the car and scoffed pizza as fast as we could (which was hard, I eat SLOW) and realised that it was now 8.50 and there wasn't much point in going. John said he didn't mind losing the £10 (and I know he has more money than I do but I still feel awful! What a waste!) and we sat eating the rest. Then we got McFlurries from the nearby McDonalds, John ordered a Crunchie except they gave him chocolate instead. After sitting in roadworks for a while behind a nice car (an old one! A Triumph, I think, a little sports car) we stopped at Bangor's McDonalds so I could get another Creme Egg McFlurry and chocolate milkshake. While sitting in the drivethrough I said to John about McDonalds trying to get the dictionary's definition of 'McJob' changed; from boring, low paid, low prospect job to high prospects, good pay, fun. When we drove up to the second window, we saw a McDonalds employee trying to get the Creme Egg sauce out of the bottle, shouting and swearing at it and cursing her job. I said to John that we should ask her whether she thinks her job is fun and well paid. :P She eventually threw a McFlurry and a milkshake at me, with no word of thanks or bye, or even a smile, then slammed the window shut. And she gave me a Crunchie McFlurry instead of Creme Egg - I would have gone back and said but I was too scared of getting The Rage.

I then gorged on my McFlurry, then drove up to John's where we watched Marie Antoinette (I bought the DVD the other day on my lunch break). I loved it, John commented that not a whole lot really seems to happen, Marie and Louis don't really speak a lot, and yet it's really good. I think it really works. Steve Coogan playing a serious role is amazing though, I kept expecting him to do/say something silly. It is long though. And the ending is a bit odd, it could have done with a note saying something like "A month later the monarchy was abolished. Louis was executed for crimes of treason on 17th January 1792, and Marie on 16 October 1793. Her son Louis died in captivity two years later. He was eleven years old at the time.", just to give it some kind of closure.

2007-03-16T20:30:00.000Z

So, I'm going to claim my bank fees from the past two years back from Abbey. In total this comes to £485, 526.76 with interest. I've gotten my statements and I posted them (recorded delivery) today; they now have 14 days to respond.

Let's see if this works.

2007-02-13T23:19:00.000Z

Babe 2 just isn't as good as the first one :(

2007-02-06T08:29:00.000Z

Just a test. My feed on facebook has stopped updating.

Films!

2007-01-28T00:22:00.000Z

I saw 'Miss Potter' at the cinema last week (I think it was last week? I don't know about time anymore) and really enjoyed it. I don't know how accurate it is, but it was certainly a lovely story and Reneé and Ewan were great in it. It's a really nice, cozy film. Beatrix Potter comes across as an independent, strong role model and I liked that.

I bought 'Memoirs of a Geisha' on DVD a while ago, and although the first time round I didn't understand parts of it, it was a lot better when I re-watched it. It is a bit complex and it's certainly not my favourite film, but it's a nice story. The ending feels a bit rushed/cheesy though, and parts of it are certainly not very accurate as to how a real geiko/meiko would behave. But it's a decent film all the same. I now have a copy of the book, which I have yet to read, so I'll see whether that's better.

2007-01-25T23:17:00.000Z

Still not much to report, really - last week I had two exams and had to hand in an essay, too. I don't think my essay and one of the exams went well, and the other exam I didn't turn up for. Not really sure what will happen; I may be able to retake in August, but my marks may be capped at 40% (a pass). I'm quite disappointed and annoyed with myself - I worked so hard only for it all to go down the drain in the last week or two.

Next term I'm studying Latin, which is 10 hours for 3 weeks. It doesn't count towards my degree, it's a course for postgrads but they opened it to undergrads as well, but I'm really looking forward to it. It's going to be difficult and quite intensive, though, but it'll be a bit of a break from all my other assessments that are due in.

2007-01-03T21:33:00.000Z

I'm still alive! And I have a new haircut, too. This time, done correctly.

New blog.

2006-12-03T23:04:00.000Z

I'm now a proper geek! I've made a new blog for all of my book waffling and reviews. You can find it here, if you're interested. :)

Book geekery.

2006-11-30T12:49:00.000Z

I am temporarily suspending my '1001 books' project. I know, I know. Sorry folks. And I suspect it may be a rather long time starting. I have realised how much I loved 'the Black Stallion' and 'the Silver Brumby' serieses. I can't believe I forgot about them! So I've bought 'the Black Stallion' on eBay and two volume omnibuses for 'the Silver Brumby' (I know I have them both at home, but the first disappeared, and I can't jolly well read the second without reading the first, and although there was an auction for just the first volume I'm impatient, and I can always auction them back later as they seem to be going for a lot at the moment).

I realise it's Christmas and my birthday soon, but that's irrelevant. My interest will probably have burnt out by then; I can't wait that long! And besides, I do have 1000 other books that people can buy me. Or they can get me the DVDs! Did you know that the Silver Brumby movie had Russell Crowe in it? I didn't either, until now. Oh! And the cartoons! Hehe, they were so cute, I used to watch them sometimes after school. :)

Amazingly, this was brought about from a tangent about the conflict in Iraq. Don't bother to ask how that happened - I don't even know.

Nevermind my essays, this is all much more awesome. Each series has about 20 odd books in it! I never even realised. Bound to keep me quiet for a few weeks, at least. And then there's 'My Friend Flicka', which I never got into, and that apparently has a very recent film for it (with a girl?! wtf?), and then the sequels, 'Thunderhead' and 'Green Grass of Wyoming' - all of which I do own at home. And then there's National Velvet, Black Beauty...

Yeah. This should set my 1001 books project back by a few months, I expect.

(Now I think about it, I'm rather surprised that 'Black Beauty' isn't on my 1001 book list. I'm not so sure that I picked a very good list to work on anymore, either. I have a feeling it came from this book of the same name; Someone should get me that for Christmas/birthday, I think.)

Work (Woolworths + NW1).

2006-11-27T17:54:00.001Z

Woolworths yesterday (my first day!) went fine - I was quite nervous when I got there but my fears were completely unfounded. It was busy but not exhaustingly so. There would be a mad rush for half an hour and then it would be dead for another fifteen minutes, so I wasn't completely rushed off of my feet. Everyone was very nice and the guy I was working next to was really helpful and made sure I didn't mess up. I didn't take off the tags from clothing at first as we hadn't been told about that in training, so I felt quite bad when one of the manager's said to make sure I did it - all those poor people had been checked my security on their way out! eek. I was a bit slow serving customers at first but once I got into the flow of it and got a system, I think I was fairly quick.

Work today (at NW1) actually went reasonably well, despite getting drenched on the way there. When I got there Gill asked me if I could try on one of the prototype shirts they'd made for her and see how they fit. They look really cool, one had lots of details like d-rings on the shoulders and straps on the arms, and the other has a very pointed collar. The detailed one was really small (more like a size 8 than a 10), while the pointed collar shirt fitted well except for the shoulders, where it was a bit tight. I liked the pointed collar one; I will have to keep an eye out for it when (if!) they release them.

Phones, horse riding, and book.

2006-11-23T20:50:00.000Z

I'm now using the Nokia 8210 - it's better than not having a phone at all I suppose. My Virgin contract is even better than I thought - it's £15/month, not £20! I'm having my number transferred over and as soon as that's sorted out my contract with o2 will cancel automatically. I'm probably going to go back to my old phone, the Nokia 3300 - I loved that phone and I seriously regret selling it when I bought the e900. There's one on eBay for £6 with p&p, so I'll probably get that which is apparently in very good condition, and a new battery (since they always run down after a while) which is £3, and keep the 8210 as a backup. Sounds good to me I think :) All's well that ends well, as 'they' say.

Horse riding today went well, and I'm not sore at all! I rode Little Horse (who's not little) and did lots of trotting and cantering. I enjoyed it! I rode with Steph and Ian, who I hadn't met before but both were very friendly and easy to get on with, which was great. Ian (a beginner) rode Bailey and Steph (who's at a similar level to me) rode Marcus.

Unfortunately Ian fell off; there were two girls in the school with us (riding their own horses) and one spooked, which freaked out Bailey, who went into a canter then stopped suddenly. He was fine though and got back up, but Sian (instructor) put him on the lunge rein for a while so he could get his confidence back, and then asked the two girls to leave. Little Horse is great to ride - fairly bouncy, but a lot quicker than little Eddie. Steph rode a horse called Marcus, who kept just following Little Horse around and cutting corners to catch up, which got a bit annoying - if I wanted to practise walk/trot transitions I had to make sure Marcus wasn't right behind me because he wouldn't overtake, he'd just crash into Little Horse's bum and walk behind him, which Steph found quite (understandably) very frustrating! Sian was really pleased with me, she said there wasn't a whole lot she could say to me other than keep doing what I was doing and get lots of practise! Which is really good to hear :D

I received a copy of a Jeeves and Wooster omnibus (book) the other day, with 'the Mating Season,' 'the Code of the Woosters,' and 'Right Ho, Jeeves' included. I'm very much enjoying it. Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry did a fantastic job of portraying them on screen - I can imagine them saying every line of the book, and also, unusually the book is just as good as the TV show! It really shouldn't be very good at all, most of the dilemmas involve love triangles, but Bertie's commentary is so entertaining that it's really not a regular mushy love story at all! It's brilliant - I must get the others!

Mobiles.

2006-11-21T22:33:00.000Z

I never realised how much I relied on having a mobile phone before now. I feel really isolated and cut off from half of my friends, which is silly really when I have the internet!

It's so difficult to get in touch with people when you don't have a mobile (or anyone's numbers, because they're all on my SIM). I've had to organise my week early and stick to it, because I have no way of notifying the persons involved that I've changed my mind or will be busy after all. It's so awkward! I've had a mobile since I was 14 or so and I've never really thought about how much I use it until now.

Thankfully my Dad is sending my old Nokia 8210 up tomorrow but until then..

Welsh Dragon sausages!

2006-11-18T18:28:00.000Z

From the BBC's 'Farming Today' page:
Trading Standards officers in Powys have told butchers they have to change the name of their "Welsh Dragon" sausages. It's misleading the consumer as to the nature of the product; they're made of pork, not dragon.

Only in Wales!

phones4u.

2006-11-17T18:43:00.000Z

I was in phones4u for nearly two hours, trying to cancel the contract! The manager (who I spoke to before) was dealing with another customer for 40mins, and then the next hour was spent sales pitch after sales pitch. I could have asked for almost anything and they would've done it!

They offered the tariff that I thought I was getting for the same price, I explained my parents were giving me the RAZR, they offered me the tariff for cheaper, then a smaller Vodafone contract for £20/month, then for half price for 6 months. THEN the manager got the 'code' she needed, talked to the phones4u people on the phone, then I had to talk to them and they gave me another 15mins of pushy sales ("PAYG isn't good value, you'll be wasting your money!" "you know the v3i has been out for a while, it's not as good as the one you've had" "do your parents not like you having a contract?" "is it the money that's a problem?" "I'm sure there's something you're not telling me, this really makes no sense! have the staff said something to upset you to make you want to cancel?" etc etc). And after all that I was finally able to actually cancel the contract, which took another 15mins or so.

Really wish I'd brought a friend along for moral support (and some company during all the waiting!) but at least it's over with now!

NEVER AGAIN.

Books!

2006-11-16T01:25:00.000Z

I just finished reading 'Thud!' by Terry Pratchett. It's really, really good - I love the ending, even if it was a little predictable. But everyone loves happy ending. I like how Vimes is so dedicated to his son too :)

I borrowed it from John and I think I'll buy my own copy soon. This is a book that I'd definitely re-read!

Mobile phones (again), animal biscuits, and new job!

2006-11-15T17:42:00.000Z

John came round yesterday - it was good to see him again. We went to phones4u and spoke to the manager (although it was rather embarrassing as the lady who sold me the contract originally was there and I felt really bad!). She said that the deal was definitely 800 mins and 500 texts for 6 months, and she could change it but it would cost me more money, so I said that fair enough, it IS more than I'm using at the moment and more than I'd need ever, but I got it because I thought it was a good deal, but 400 minutes and 250 texts for £35/month really isn't that cheap! Unless you're going to do video calls, download a lot of stuff and regularly use WAP (which I don't) it's not worth it at all. I have to go back tomorrow as apparently they need to get a code to cancel it, though in reality they're probably just hoping I'll have changed my mind by then.

Dad's sending me his black Motorola RAZR v3i, which is a bit rubbish but it's OK. In the end I only want a phone that rings, texts and looks cool - all criteria which the RAZR fills. So mneh. I've also ordered one of Virgin's SIM only contracts. It has no obligation after the first month, and I'll get 300 minutes and 300 texts for £20/month, which is all I wanted in the first place! There is probably a moral here somewhere.

The best part of yesterday was definitely animal biscuits though. In my multipack there are NO bags with elephants on! I had one with a lion on and said to John that he should get an elephant one because the helefants are cute and he looked through them ALL and there wasn't any! OMG RACIST. I was deeply disappointed. And we compared animals for ages. It was quite fun. XD "A hippo!" "I have a hippo in his pjyamas! or a burglar hippo!" "HELEFANT" ".. what?" "HELEFANT!" "... I have a lion!" "HELEFANT!" "Mine is squirting water!" "OMG. Mine is just it's face!" We are so easily amused. :)

In other news, I got the job at Woolworths. Go me :) I called them back on my Dad's recommendation, as the lady had said she was going to ring today but hadn't yet, and she said that she was going to ring me on Monday coming to let me know I've got the job. She's going to call me back on Monday afternoon to arrange training. I obviously didn't do half as bad in my interview as I originally thought!

Pizza Hut and last night's (weird) dream!

2006-11-14T13:17:00.000Z

Last night I went to Pizza Hut with Louis, Dave and Adam. It was pretty good.

On the drive there I nearly tipped the car over. Whoops. I need to remember to slow down for roundabouts. It generally helps. I just didn't realise how tight a bend it actually was. Going at 40mph round it wasn't a good idea. I didn't even remember to brake after I realised!

Pizza Hut was funny - the waiter kept getting our orders wrong. He brought me a 7Up instead of a Tango at first, then kept writing our pizzas down wrong (I nearly had ham on mine!). Then when the pizzas did arrive, he had accidentally put Adam's order in wrong so they'd made him a small margarita pizza (which he had for free), instead of a medium meat feast, and gave Dave a large margarita, instead of a medium. then when we ordered desserts, I wanted an Ice Cream Factory and Louis wanted an ice cream sundae, and he just brought us both ice cream factory bowls. Then when the sundae did arrive the cream was a total shambles (it was everywhere, instead of a neat whippy bit) and we just burst out laughing for ages. We got the desserts and the drinks free in the end, as well as the small pizza. A pretty good evening, I'd say, even if the Cineworld arcade was closed so we couldn't shoot zombies after dinner.

I had a really weird dream last night. I was in a big posh house and had a big poofy dress, and the walls were covered in this really intricate design with animals and birds and flowers and the occasional cross/crucifix on it (all painted) and then a load of scary monks were like "NO! You can't have imagery! PAINT THEM WHITE!" and then tried to smash up the massive chandelier and everyone in the house (even the servants) were standing round it. "Not the chandelier! Anything but that!" "Why do you care? You smash up the place all the time?" "It's called REDECORATING! It's DIFFERENT! Arg!"

I think I have been studying Henry VIII far too hard.

Test.

2006-11-14T00:03:00.000Z

Pizza Hut ftw!

Work.

2006-11-13T18:02:00.000Z

Work today sucked a bit!

I had one customer. In three hours. At 4.45. They bought a badge, worth 50p.

OMG.

New music. Woot!

2006-11-11T20:23:00.000Z

I found some new music on my PC that I didn't know I had!

I love it when that happens. Especially when it's really good music!

I recommend everyone takes a listen to 50FOOTWAVE. You can download their EP 'Free Music' there, which, as the title suggests, is completely free - there are download links on the page in either mp3 or FLAC. It's really catchy! It's the same lady as the singer in Throwing Muses, which doesn't really mean anything to me but maybe it will to you. She has a slightly croaky voice.

But anyway, it's totally free, go take a listen - no excuses!

2006-11-11T14:10:00.000Z

WHERE DID POO BUG GO

:(

Window

2006-11-11T14:04:00.000Z

Ho hum.

Hahaha!

2006-11-09T20:56:00.000Z

I don't know how I managed it, buuut..

Yesterday I walked out of Bangor's phones4u with a Sony Ericsson W850i, a 1gb memory card, and £100 in cash. Totally legally.

Score!

Mobile phones. Humph.

2006-11-08T01:19:00.000Z

I have had enough of o2. I'm currently on their off-peak call package. I pay £20 a month and get 1000 off-peak minutes to o2 mobiles and landlines, 25 off-peak minutes to any mobile, and 100 text messages. However, I usually make about 200 or so minutes of calls (some during the day, some evening, to my parents landline and mobiles on a variety of networks) and send about 150-200 texts. My bills (with VAT) end up costing me £30+, even if I try really hard to stick to my 100 texts. So it's not really such a good deal after all.

However, I have 7 months left of it - until June. And I can't just afford to keep this contract, nor cough up the £140 necessary to buy my way out of it. So. I have the clever idea of selling my Samsung e900 (unfortunately it's fashion over function - the LG Chocolate touch sensitive buttons look great but I keep pressing them by accident and ringing people, even after having my phone for 3 months or so) which should raise about £120-150, as it's like new and unlocked, and I have a spare charger, 1gb memory card and a PC adaptor. I don't have a spare phone so I can't just go back to Pay as You Go (300 texts and 150 evening minutes did me perfectly, thanks) as I can't really afford to buy a new mobile. Thus I'd have to get into another contract (defeating the point one may say) but not with o2, and obviously one that actually reflects my phone useage rather than some smelly boy.

I really like the look of T-Mobile's Flex-T. Online they're offering £5 off each tariff, so I could get their usually £30/month package for £25/month, and get £90 worth of calls/texts/whatever. It's an 18 month contract but I guess I can ignore that since my phone use hasn't particularly changed over the past 5 years or so, and I can't imagine it changing now. Sounds perfect, right? Well. Then I saw the £3 charge for paying via anything other than direct debit (and I really do prefer paying by card over the phone or 'net or sending a cheque, so I can make sure I have enough money in my account first), and they also charge £1.50 for itemised paper billing. Humph. Suddenly not such a good deal.

Then I looked at Virgin, who have an internet only £25/month package offering 300 anytime any network minutes and 300 texts, which are rolled over for a month if you don't use them all up (how handy!). It's 12 months, and if you want to continue with the contract after that, the price lowers. But what if I go over the limit? 35p/minute?! (And I don't know anyone on Virgin mobile, as far as I know, so I can't take advantage of the 5p calls and 3p texts.) Also, it means Richard Branson.

I tried looking at 3's website but I don't get their tariffs. I don't want video calls. I don't want WAP. I want to call people and text people and maybe take photos now and then when/if I can figure out how to do it. I want a fancy phone that I can show off to people/thieves and increase my street cred (debatable). And I want it to work (the most important thing I suppose) and last me for the next year or two (because I really don't like all this phone swapping, honest guv'na).

Help?

I love history trips.

2006-11-04T14:23:00.000Z

The trip to Dublin on Thursday was great! I don't even know how I woke up at 6, but I did. My room was freezing so it was a big effort to get up. It was still even dark outside! I had bagels on the ferry, but it was almost all cheese. They must have dumped the whole pot of cheese onto the bagel - the cheese was thicker than the bagel was! I had expected a tiny butter sized pot of cheese with it but they were generous (which was awesome because I like Philly cheese).
The actual history stuff was kind of boring. We looked around a museum that had lots of shiny things, pimpin' walking sticks and midget Egyptians (OK, so that wasn't so bad). I bought buffalo flavour crisps and an 'archaeology for dummies' book!
After lunch we went to a library that had lots of old books in it and a pig that played the bagpipes. We also were shown around Dublin by the lecturer's friend, who was really smart and kind of geeky and wore a tweed suit with a detective coat and hat and had a slicked down posh schoolboy style haircut that was parted down the middle, and he had Harry Potter glasses. He knows everything! He must have remembered every single book he's ever read to the word, it was kind of scary. He kept interrupting the Irish librarian and she didn't seem too pleased. And he walked really fast, and my bag got really heavy (I was carrying rocks or something) and I only have short legs, so I tended to lag behind most of the time.
We saw the cathederal and the really posh university and another big Church, and lots of shops.
Oh! I went shopping on the ferry with the other 3 girls on the trip and we spent ages looking at perfumes. I bought my Mum her Christmas present! We were half hour late for the seminar (a few people did their presentations on Irish stuff on the way there). It was okay though, no one seemed angry. But us girls were always (fashionably) late, which was a little unfair.
The ferry on the way back was fun. I bought a double gin and lemonade from the bar, and the barlady just didn't care at all about keeping to the shots. My glass was almost all gin (and I'm not exaggerating!) with a bit of ice and lemonade in. For £3 I certainly got my value for money! (Not like the Irish posh bar where I had a double gin/lemonade for 6 euros!) We talked about Blackadder and Red Dwarf! Afterwards a few of us went to the pub and had cocktails and had fun trying to exchange numbers, which took far longer than it should have (technology argghhh!). Then John walked me home.
The end!
To summarise: shiny things + pig playing bagpipes + buffalo flavour crisps + alcohol = good day XD

"The Butcher and the Butterfly."

2006-09-15T19:18:00.000Z

BUY THIS ALBUM. NOW.

You will not regret it; haunting, catchy, and yet depressing all at the same time, this is perhaps Queen Adreena's best album yet. Katie-Jane Garside has an amazingly capitvating voice; Childlike and innocent one minute and an emotional fervor the next. The background is pounding guitars, bass and drums, which only serves to intensify Ms Garside's vocals. The lyrics are a little scattered at times (and sometimes they are almost incomprehensible), but this doesn't seem to matter; it delivers a strong emotional punch every listen.

Motorola L7 SLVR review.

2006-08-07T21:26:00.000Z

I recently started on a mobile contract with o2 after being on their pay as you go plan for a year or so, and as part of that I was given a new mobile phone for free. I chose the Motorola L7 SLVR in red, mainly because it seemed like a good cause, rather than for the phone itself (my first mistake, right there).

Within a few days, the middle button fell out while I was texting somebody. That was my first annoyance with it. The second was that while checking my emails to try out the internet browsing feature, I found that while writing an email using it there was no way of changing it from the frustrating predictive text to just regular button pressing. Again, only a minor annoyance, but it'd probably annoy me more if I was planning on using the Internet for it (although, of course, it is possible that it may be due to Gmail, not the phone itself). It's also very easily scratched, and I find it frustrating that I can't keep mobile, work and home phone numbers in the same entry. Although you can give them the same names, and when they're saved the phone memory you can have symbols next to the person's name, but it was still a disappointment.

Next, the camera. I didn't really know what a 'VGA' camera was, but assumed it would be fairly good. This is a modern phone, right? They all come with about a 2 megapixel camera these days, right? Ha. Other than Motorola's phones, it seems. VGA is actually less than a megapixel (more like .5 of a megapixel), which, considering it doesn't have flash either, puts it pretty low in the competition. I was incredibly disappointed with the quality of the camera - even my sister's older Nokia takes better photos! I'm not planning on using the camera very much, but it'd be nice to have the option of occasionally sending quick snapshots to friends while I'm out and about.

Motorola have spared no expenses with this phone, it would appear. Don't expect to get anything free. The games are demos - you have to buy them to play the complete version. You don't get a hand's free headset free. You don't get a wire to connect it to your computer, either. Or the iTunes software for transferring music onto it. It only comes with 6mb of memory - if you want more, you have to buy it (the option for expanding the memory, however, is about the phone's only bonus).

The phone's main selling point is the 'Red' brand. Like the RAZR, however, that's no excuse for Motorola to use only the basics to make a phone that, frankly, doesn't live up to the hype.

2006-06-24T23:34:00.000Z

I'm supposed to be dying my hair right now. However, it doesn't actually seem to be changing colour.

Hmm.

Maybe this is a sign that I should stay a redhead.

Yay!

2006-06-09T21:51:00.000Z

*** CONGRATULATIONS ***

BODOG MUSIC
IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE
THAT YOU, YES YOU! ARE THE LUCKY WINNER OF A PAIR OF TICKETS TO SEE

BRITT BLACK & THE VINCENT BLACK SHADOW

On Monday 12th June 2006 @ The Luminaire, London
Doors: 8pm
TVBS: 8:30pm - 9:15pm aprox.
BB: 9:45pm - 10:30pm aprox.
Curfew: 11:30pm

At the gig your entry into the venue will automatically put you into a
grand prize draw to win an amazing trip for two to the USA Warped Tour,
including flights & 3 nights accommodation in America.
The winner will be announced by the bands on the night.

THERE ARE NO TICKETS.
INSTEAD WE WILL HAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WITH + 1 (FOR YOUR FRIEND)
DOWN ON THE GUEST LIST AT THE DOOR
(PLEASE EMAIL BACK ASAP IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND
SO WE CAN ALLOCATE YOUR TICKETS TO SOMEONE ELSE)

Then all you need to do is turn up nice & early
!! Please note that due to the exclusive nature of this event, tickets are in huge demand, and we therefore request you arrive at the venue early to ensure entry. Entry is on a first come first serve basis & once capacity of the venue is reached we will no longer be allowing competitions winners in.
In order to win the Warped Tour prize you must attend the gig !!

SEE YOU THEN!

Strictly Over 18s Only . ID Required

Haha, I've never even heard any of their stuff, but oh wellz :P

Not sure who I'll take though, obviously I can't take my sister as it's 18+. I'm sure I'll find someone, though. Any offers?

Fire thought she'd really rather be water instead.

2006-05-18T17:58:00.000Z

OMG so liek today I didn't really do much. I held my hamsters and cleaned them out, then I did some revision for my exam tomorrow. I also went to Tesco and bought ice cream, and listened to Tori in the car. My life is totally exciting!

'Begin to Hope' review.

2006-04-27T23:42:00.000Z

I downloaded Regina's new album (yeah yeah I know, but I'm going to buy it when it's released).

And really? My honest opinion is that she should've used her budget to buy a REAL drummer. Not a synthesizer that just puts fake sounding violins, drums, and other distracting noises in the songs everywhere, and ends up drowning out her voice, so she sounds as though she's having to really shout to be heard. To me her appeal is her voice and her lyrics; how can I appreciate them when I'm too busy being distracted by the silly and unnecessary noises, and struggling to understand her voice? The sad thing is that 'Field Below,' which is my least favourite Regina song, is probably the least tampered (and thus nicest sounding song) on the entire album. The rest of it (particularly 'On the Radio,' which, IRONY, I was looking forward to hearing the most!). 'Edit' I'll allow, as she has said that it's "as gangster as I've ever gotten." If they were real drums, I probably wouldn't have a problem with them; I like 'Pavlov's Daughter,' which has quite a heavy drum beat through it, but it's just the synthesiser which makes the whole thing sound fake and forced.

Basically - if you don't like the overproduced style of 'Fidelity' and 'Better' that were posted on her MySpace recently, you really won't like this CD. Maybe it'll grow on me, but I am really disappointed with it.

However, 'Lady' gets 10/10. OMG. Pretty! And it even has a real saxamophonist at the end, too.

Goose!

2006-04-12T19:51:00.000Z

http://bigmixup.com/content/handicapped-goose/

lol

Fiona Apple!

2006-03-27T14:55:00.000Z

Oh, I forgot to mention:

I have two tickets for Fiona Apple on the 11th! :D

She's playing one date in France and one in London, and I just had to go. Not sure who I'll be going with yet, but at least I have a ticket. They're in Circle, row H, which looks quite far back from the seating chart, but I think it's a small venue so it shouldn't matter too much. This time I'm also going to remember to bring my camera!

V for Vendetta.

2006-03-24T20:54:00.000Z

I saw 'V for Vendetta' last night and I absolutely loved it. It's definitely worth watching; brilliant acting, brilliant plot, brilliant idea. I didn't really know what to expect as I've never read the comics and the adverts didn't really seem to explain very much, but I thought it was a very gripping film.

It also has Stephen Fry in it, but this is just an extra bonus, rather than being the reason why it's so good!

New Regina Spektor songs.

2006-03-09T01:58:00.000Z

Regina Spektor has two of her new songs on her MySpace page - both I'm already familiar with from live tracks, but they're very different on the recorded track. If you're expecting the same fairly raw sounding tracks, you may be in for a shock (I certainly was with the first few seconds of 'Fidelity' with that drum beat!) but she says this is all her choice. Fiona Apple's latest CD was fairly heavily produced, but it's still one of my favourite albums. And, it's still amazing live. :D

I can't wait til her new album comes out. Her 'Soviet Kitsch' CD literally never leaves my CD player these days! She's just amazing, both voice (which you really can't appreciate from the studio recordings) and musical talent. I've said it before, but I shall repeat; make sure you check Regina out, and quickly.

2006-03-05T12:13:00.000Z

http://theffriddcat.blogspot.com

lol, excellent.

Regina Spektor lyrics

2006-02-27T11:52:00.000Z

Come on, bartender, won't you be more tender?
Give me two shots of whiskey and a beer chaser.
Love will be the death of me, love is so fickle,
It starts with a flood and it ends with a trickle.

Come on, bartender, just a little more tender,
I ate all your peanuts, return me to sender.
I've been too candid, now I'm barely standing,
Just call me a taxi and prepare me for landing.

Oh, you have got to kick me back out into the cold and nasty weather,
and maybe if I sober up I will stop pretending that love is forever...

25/02 - random dream.

2006-02-27T00:38:00.000Z

I had a weird dream, which involved me with a scooter, my Mum driving, my Dad riding a bright yellow motorbike from the Birmingham NEC show we went to last year, an Alice in Wonderland thing (which I had been to before, I recognised it from a past dream) and us complaining because we had to pay 80p each, halfway through, and eventually me saying that I wanted to get out because I'd been so many times before. And then the university lecturer sitting next to the White Rabbit was saying about how that's true, everyone's bored of the story now. And I said that it wasn't that I was bored of the story, just the ride, and the White Rabbit got awfully insulted, but let me out, which was just as well when I was waist-deep in someone's mouth. (That all made perfect sense to me.)

At one point, Petrovitch was singing along to Braille and I was incredibly impressed at how good a singer he was and sounded just like Regina. :P That's what I get for leaving my music on, I suppose.

And Chuck was at my party and mixed Baileys with Gin (which I later found out he actually does - how freaky!), but it tasted absolutely awful, and even the dogs wrinkled their nose at it. In summary, don't do it. :D

24/02

2006-02-27T00:37:00.000Z

Again, blogger doesn't let you edit time/date anymore, so just pretend I posted this on the 24th February.

I called the bank earlier.

The £80 charges are from the 20th and the 21st of December, when £95 to B.T. and £20 to Demon Internet via direct debit left my account. On the 17th December, I paid in a bunch of cheques (after weeks of hassling my housemates for the money) totalling £90, which showed up on my account as having been paid in immediately - my balance immediately dropped to -825 on my statement. However, the cheques didn't actually pay into my account until the 22nd, so these two direct debits took me over my overdraft limit (even though it doesn't actually say that on the bank statement).

I now owe the bank 160 in fees from the past few days. They are taking 110 out on the 10th March. I don't quite know how, though, when I have no money whatsoever to pay them. I have £15, which I have to give to Kay for the electricity bill, but that is it. My rent of 180 is also due on the 1st. As far as I know right now, these charges are for:

15/02 - £10 payment to O2 for phone credit (£20)
15/02 - £4 payment to my credit card (£20)
16/02 - £18.95 payment by cheque for credit check (£20)
21/02 - £19.99 direct debit payment to Demon Internet (£50).

(though this doesn't work out to 160...)

kthx.

Regina Spektor.

2006-02-20T22:00:00.000Z

Everyone needs to go and check out Regina Spektor's music, if they have not done so already. She is quickly heading to be my favourite artist ever (as opposed to Fiona Apple or Tori Amos). She recently released a compliation of her previous albums ("Mary Ann Meets the Gravediggers and Other Short Stories") in the UK, as they were all US-only, and is releasing another CD worldwide in a month or so called "Begin to Hope." So no excuses!

She's awesome, mostly piano but also a bit of guitar and drums too, and has the most amazing voice I have ever heard. She has songs that are personal, as well as ones that tell stories, brilliant and original lyrics, both quirky and more serious. I saw her live on Valentine's Day in Colchester, and both I and Pete were blown away completely.

You can also find mp3s of a few of her live gigs here, as well as a live video of her performance for Xfm here - make sure you check them out, you will not be disappointed.

Lyrics.

2006-02-17T18:39:00.000Z

I tell you how I feel but you don't care,
I say tell me the truth but you don't dare.
You say love is a hell you cannot bear,
And I say gimme mine back and then go there for all I care.

I have never been so insulted in all my life,
I could swallow the seas to wash down all this pride.
First you run like a fool just to be at my side,
And now you run like a fool but you just run to hide and I can't abide.

Don't you plead me your case, don't bother to explain,
Don't even show me your face, 'cause it's a crying shame.
Just go back to the rock from under which you came,
Take the sorrow you gave and all the stakes you claim.
And don't forget the blame!

I got my feet on the ground and I don't go to sleep to dream,
You've got your head in the clouds and you're not at all what you seem.
This mind, this body and this voice cannot be stifled by your deviant ways,
So don't forget what I told you, don't come around, I got my own hell to raise.

Tymps.

2006-02-09T01:51:00.000Z

So why did I kiss him so hard
late last Friday night,
And keep on letting him change all my plans?
I'm either so sick in the head
I need to be bled dry to quit,
or I just really used to love him,
I sure hope that's it.

Driving test on the 27th.

2006-01-29T00:10:00.000Z

I passed, with only 3 minors! :D

AND I had to do a parallel park, on a HILL! The examiner said that when he asked me to I had a look of sheer terror, heh. I got in first time perfect, but was sure I must be out, so put the handbrake on and went to go into first, but he stopped me and said that that was fine, see, it wasn't so bad! He was really nice, though; he had tested me before and felt very bad for failing me, so he said he was glad to be able to pass me. He said it was a great drive, and I had deserved it!

Unfortunately my car's MOT ran out in September so I can't legally drive it (if I do, my insurance will be invalid). It's being MOT'd Wednesday, so I'm back to uni today (due to registration) and coming home on Thursday, then I'll drive up Saturday or Sunday. Yay! It's going to be great to have so much freedom.

The Da Vinci Code.

2006-01-27T00:09:00.000Z

'The Da Vinci Code' is also not worth the read. It certainly did not live up to the hype. And it is not real (I thought I would remind Da Vinci fanatics of this). I didn't feel that the ending was much of a twist, really. I didn't feel shocked, or surprised; I just wasn't bothered. It was far too predictable, and the writing was poor. I also didn't like the need for so many short chapters - there are 105 in total, but many are less than two pages in length!

Obviously Dan Brown, the author, has done a lot of research for the book, some of which was interesting, which is it's merit - but only if you're interested in religion and the history of Christianity.

Many of the 'puzzles' that the characters struggled over, I found fairly simple, particularly at the beginning in the murder scene. A quick, light read for those who want something thought-provoking and that will make them appear intelligent and/or well-read, without much effort or without actually having to do much thinking.

Fun With Dick and Jane. Or not.

2006-01-27T00:08:00.000Z

'Fun With Dick and Jane' is awful. DON'T DO IT.

It was not funny at all, not even "heh" funny. I didn't care about the characters. They're too unrealistic. And their kid is Spanish, for some unknown reason. They are meant to be broke, yet keep a cleaner! Surely the cleaner would be the first to go, if you were struggling to pay your mortgage? They start stealing, but there is no real explanation behind it. If you were desperate for work, you would go for lower positions - it was just unbelievable.

It's full of so many plotholes, it's just not realistic, and the fact that it's not funny, makes it not worth seeing. It's only blessing is that it's short, but when it's over I just thought "... is that it?" It didn't seem like a proper ending.

Books & an Open Letter to Dr. Laura

2006-01-22T17:09:00.000Z

I finished reading Well of Lost Plots yesterday on the train - I hadn't touched it in a while due to being so busy with assignments and exams. I then started reading the Da Vinci code, which I'm now halfway through. It's alright; so far it doesn't really seem to be living up to the hype.

Someone on my Livejournal friend's list posted this, and I thought it was worth sharing:

Dr Laura Schlessinger is a US radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said that homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura penned by a US resident, which was posted on the Internet.

Dear Dr. Laura,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination.

End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them.

1. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev.1:9). The problem is my neighbours. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev.15:19-24). The problem is, how do tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Lev.11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev.24:10-16) Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Your devoted fan,
Jim.

Shadowboxer.

2005-12-27T15:42:00.000Z

I adore this song. The lyrics are so clever.

If you don't have a copy of Fiona Apple's first album, 'Tidal,' I suggest you buy it.

Once my lower, now my friend,
What a cruel thing to pretend.
What a cunning way to condescend,
Once my lover, and now my friend.

Oh, you creep up like the clouds,
and you set my soul at ease.
Then you let your love abound,
and you bring me to my knees.

Oh, it's evil babe,
the way you let your grace enrapture me.
When well, you know I'd be insane,
to ever let that dirty game recapture me.

You made me a shadowboxer, baby,
I wanna be ready for what you do.
I've been swinging all around me,
'Cause I don't know when you're gonna make your move.

Oh, your gaze is dangerous,
and you fill your space so sweet.
If I let you get too close,
you'll set your spell on me.

So darlin' I just wanna say,
just incase I don't come through,
I was onto every play,
I just wanted you.

Oh it's so evil my love,
the way you've no reverence to my concern.
So I'll be sure to stay weary of you, love,
to save the pain of once my flame and twice my burn.

Books and music.

2005-12-27T01:27:00.000Z

Finished today: Lost in a Good Book.
Started earlier: Well of Lost Plots.

Miss Havisham, yay!

In other news, Bif's new album (Superbeautifulmonster) is really catchy. I think it was worth the purchase!

PS. I do seem to read rather quickly, don't I? Hmm.

2005-12-24T21:35:00.000Z

Just finished: The Eyre Affair.
Now starting: Lost in a Good Book.

Just one more sleep til Christmas!

2005-12-24T00:54:00.000Z

Birthday was good. It was a shame that barely anyone remembered, though.

Finished reading Great Expectations today.
Now reading Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair.

Pronounciation of obscure country names is hard.

2005-12-14T13:48:00.000Z

Sleksovaskia?

2005-12-04T17:58:00.000Z

So, it seems my stomach bug has moved way to a cold. Yay!

2005-12-02T12:51:00.000Z

2005-11-28T09:47:00.000Z

I am sick. I think the Welsh water has got me. :( I thought I'd be okay to drink lots of it over the past week without boiling it. *dies*

And, just because it never ceases to amuse me:

http://pictures.greatestjournal.com/userimg/3699664/22156

:D

TTfW Withdrawn

2005-11-17T11:51:00.000Z

I've just noticed this article on the BBC website, regarding the Tube Tips for Women leaflet I mentioned about a week ago.

"Having listened to concerns raised by members of the public, and following consultation with the mayor, the leaflet has now been withdrawn."

Haha, yes!

2005-11-17T00:20:00.000Z

Uh, don't mind my blog while it just does whatever it wants.

2005-11-16T13:31:00.000Z

It's also recently been brought to my attention that AP now has a blog.

http://angrypelican.blogspot.com

:)

I've found the hiding place for idiots on the Internet!

2005-11-15T13:26:00.000Z

Yes, it's true. They're all hiding over at ResEvil! Let's take a look why, shall we?

This thread about how Totally Resident Evil (or TRE) is "for fags" was pretty much unprovoked. We banned a member, Lucky, for being an idiot (as you can probably tell, if you have the patience to read all 15 pages of mostly entire stupidity), and so the ResEvil moderator (in his amazing maturity) decides to start a 'board war,' despite breaking his own forum rules specifically saying that their 'Anger Management' or flame forum cannot be used to start board wars. Double standards, no? His insults mostly consist of "I WIN U LOSE LOL FAGS", "K GO CRY NOW," "OMG UR GHEY," "BLAHBLAHBLAH BORED LOL" and "U GOT PWNED HOMO." (Yes, that is almost the exact wording.) Then, after starting this 'board war', they accuse TRE members of starting the argument because they then sign up to ResEvil to retort (which shouldn't really have been a surprise - if someone insults you, you're going to want to have your say, especially if you're a more vocal person).

For example, a post from Sunderland 3 pages in:
...Popularity comes with being worthwhile, something I'm positive you have no idea how to pull off.

Do yourself a favor and cut the homo jokes out of your flames, it makes you look like even more of an infantile bag of ass than you truly are. Besides, it's redundant, and can be used against you oh so easily.

Gay, fags, homos, queers it's all you've got and you know it. Such a skipping record you are...

You represent your website poorly, Van. A man would've turned his back on a situation like this.

The moderator, Van, replies with:
Keep crying, Sunderland. It may wash the cum from your lips. :)

What the Hell is that about? How is that a response? Then later, Van posts:
OH NOESSS!!! SUnderland is going back and editing his posts! Did they not attempt to flame lucky for this? Hahahaha, lameness at its best.

Sunderland's reply:
lol, no no, corky. Lucky flat out deleted her posts. From now on, get the info right before you go puking it all over your boards, twat.

Don't get too overly excited over that way, bud. I was simply going back to include more of your post in my response, it wasn't an attempt to pull a fast one on you. ;)

Deep breaths, Van...deeeeep breaths...

Van's oh-so-intelligent response:
Whats up with the ;)?

See, he does love me. Sunderland proving once again, that he can take homosexuality to an all new level!

Perhaps not the best example. Eventually Marco, TRE's admin, posts this:

Dear Van,

After spending 10 minutes in your forums, I have seen the error of my ways. TRE is, in fact, gay. In order to make my forum as great as this one, I shall have to:

1) Change the colors. As it is, it is fairly easy on the eyes and all text is easily legible. This is, of course, totally wrong (or should that be: totally gay?). I am currently trying to decide between a blue background and green text, or maybe even a black background and black text, so that people will actually have to highlight things in order to be able to read them. It will be awesome! Also, I am currently in the process of designing a pink logo.

2) Create many more forums. Only 11 public forums* simply don't cut the mustard. Your forum is just the way it should be: with a gazillion of subforums to discuss every fine aspect of life, including, but not limited to: UFOs, piercings and religion. Expect to see dedicated subforums about pubic hair and tacos at TRE very soon. The more, the better!

3) Remove the crazy limits I have imposed on signatures. What, only 1 image and 3 lines of text? What was I thinking? From now on, everyone will have huge signatures. You're setting a pretty good example yourself. I may force everyone to put the full lyrics to "YMCA" in their signature, it will be a good start.

4) Create many similar topics. I realize now that we should have a "what did you do today?"-thread at least, well... every day. No point in using one single thread for important stuff like that.

5) Add more animated smilies. In fact, I have always dreamed of one day having dancing bananas on my forum, but I never realised it until now. It makes one feel so much more mature when one can end a post like this:

6) Add tons of hacks to my forum. I now know that a forum really isn't complete without built in pets, a store and an arcade where you can play all kinds of fun games. Personally, I can't wait to play Zoo Keeper, and I don't think I'm the only one.

7) Increase the avatar size limit to at least 1024x768. Apart from the increased viewing pleasure people will derive from this, it will also eliminate the need for "post your desktop"-threads because people can just use their desktop as an avatar instead. In fact, this idea is so brilliant, I wonder why no one ever thought of it before!

Well, this is all I can think of for now. I am looking forward to any additional suggestions you may be able to provide me with!

Regards,

Marco

* Ofcourse we also have secret forums in which we devote ourselves to posting gay pr0n. These are, however, hidden from the public. I hope you understand.

Which I thought, by anyone's standards, was a pretty good and intelligently-written post. So, what's Van's response?

Goddamn, Marco. Your forum fails either way you would like to think about it. Nothing you can do could possibly make it better. It's horrible and no one likes it.

You're not me, Marco. So get used to failing.

Wow, great way to dodge the point entirely. Well done. Your mother must be so proud. Even posts that were not actually flames (just two people trying to have a discussion), Van sticks his "OMG TOLD!" nose in and looks like even more of an idiot.

How can someone so incredibly stupid and incompetent even figure out how to turn a PC on, let alone start his own website and message board? Has Windows and the Internet become that dumbed down? I bet they all use AOHell, too.

2005-11-05T11:17:00.000Z

I dyed my fringe black yesterday.

This is a picture of me from 2-3 years ago. Spot the difference!

Tube Tips for Women.

2005-11-04T12:30:00.000Z

So, the Transport for London have published a patronising new leaflet: Tube Tips for Women!

This informs the female tube user that, incase you didn't know, twisted ankles can be a real pain, so make sure you take care on the escalators (especially when wearing your party shoes!), sit near a panic button, just incase you feel uncomfortable, and if you're pregnant, why not wear a new 'baby on board' badge so people can be sure that you aren't just fat, and give you their seat? Oh, and make sure you keep your handbag near you, too - you wouldn't want your mobile phone stolen, now would you? Have you missed breakfast? Well, Tube Tips for Women advises you carry a cereal bar with you as a snack - it can fit into even the tiniest handbag!

On top of this, it's covered in "cute" lipstick bullet points and bad grammar (their replies to complaints are just as bad - "this is not the ideology," indeed!), and, of course, they have no intention of publishing an equally patronising 'Tube Tips for Men'. Don't men need to be warned against causing unnecessary train delays by fainting if they don't have breakfast, too?

University life.

2005-11-03T10:05:00.000Z

I haven't posted something real in this thing for a while. It's mostly just been lyrics. To be honest, I haven't really had much of interest to say, bar what I've been up to.

University is going really well. Amazingly well, infact. I love my new course (History, archaeology and heritage management for those not paying attention), I love my housemates, and I've made some lovely friends. I am genuinely happy and I feel genuinely welcomed and at home - as opposed to last year, where I didn't make any new friends, I hated my course, and felt incredibly lonely and homesick most of the time. I have felt down at times, but for the most part, life is going pretty well right now.

History is taught in much smaller groups than Psychology was. Instead of 300 or so students in each lecture, we have only about 30 people at most. On Monday one of my lecturers walked past me and a friend who were chatting, and said hello. That was something that would never happen with Psychology unless you really made an effort to stand out - I am now actually a student, and not just another person in the crowd. We also have seminars, which are small groups of about 10 students sat around a table, and given the opportunity to discuss the subject and debate ideas. This was something we also never did in Psychology, and I was always given the impression that they didn't care what your opinion on a subject was, you had to regurgitate the book or the lecturer's views. I love the overall more personal feel of the subject, it was one of my main hates of Psychology (that, and the course material itself).
This is also emphasised and helped by the trips that we regularly go on - I had 2 last week, and another on Monday. There's usually about 10-20 of us there, and everybody is super friendly and chats and has a laugh and a joke together, and I've made several new friends on the trips. It's a much easier way to get to know people, as you can all chat and laugh about what you see (you have to find some amusement in staring at piles of rocks that were once a burial or a house all day). I know this would never have been possible with Psychology (aside from taking you to a mental hospital, there's no real trip potential), but it does make the course a lot more enjoyable - North Wales has a lot of significant historical sites, particularly in pre-history - so it's great to be able to see and touch the things you're studying (or at least the remains).
We also are set work to do in the seminars each week, so we're always kept busy doing reading and research - you can't sit around doing nothing, or you won't be able to join in the seminars (which are compulsary). I love this - it keeps me active and I have to make sure I do work, whereas with Psychology it was very easy to never do anything, as you would have weeks with nothing to do, and all of a sudden, 3 deadlines and some exams. The work was never spread evenly across the course as it seems to be with History.
My timetable is also excellent - I have Mondays off, and none of my lectures start before 11am. On Thursdays, my lectures start at 1pm, which is ideal as I have the rock night, Trash, on Wednesday nights!

Right, so what else?
Ah yes, housemates.

I'm living with 3 others - 2 girls and a guy, Kayleigh, Cookie, and Rob. None I really knew beforehand, but we get on amazingly well and we are the best of friends. They have similar interests to me and we have similar senses of humour. I really couldn't have asked for better people to live with. Yes, they are a little messy, and yes they smoke inside (they're all smokers), but I can deal with that. We go to the rock nights together, which is great as last year I had no one to go with - not that I didn't get on with the people I lived with in Halls, but we didn't really have much in common. They would rather go clubbing than to Trash. Because of that, last year I never really met anyone I clicked or had lots in common with. I had one main friend, Kathryn, who I met on my course, but that was it. We still get on well but we've drifted apart a little now, both having found our own seperate friendship groups.
But, because Rob, Kay, Cookie and I have similar tastes, I've also met other people with whom I have lots in common with - for example blonde Dave, Dave Angel, Brum Dave (I don't know why they're all called Dave), Kerrie (Kay's older sister, she's lovely), Mat, and Louis. Coupled with my new good friends from my course (Hannah and Charles, mainly, but I feel I can speak to almost everyone on my course), and people I've met through fencing (I recently took it up), I feel very happy and also rather popular here! At home I always loved how I could go to Wetherspoons on a Friday night and bump into loads of people I knew. I know it's not quite like that here (I've lived in Harlow much longer, for one thing), but Trash on a Wednesday night has begun to be the same - I bump into loads of people I know, who all do Star Trek Vulcan signs at me. :D
The only thing missing, really, is a boyfriend - Dann and I are seeing how things go at the moment, but nothing is particularly certain yet as I'm so far away. I've been single since April (although Dann and I have been kind of on-off since then) and it's only been recently that I've actually completely gotten over it and began trusting people again after the way my ex broke up with me and some of the things that happened between Dann and I more recently. I am ready for a relationship now, but unfortunately I've not met the right person yet. Here's hoping though!

Kay also dyed my hair a lovely dark red colour yesterday. Today I'm going to dye my fringe black, so it's back like old times. I've been meaning to do it for a while, and have only just gotten round to it. Yay!

I'm bored of typing now. Here is a picture of my house:

And here's a picture of the view from my road. It's hard to tell when the photo is shrunk like this but you can see the sea and Anglesey in the background.

/end.

Red, Red, Red.

2005-10-22T10:31:00.000Z

I don’t understand about complimentary colours and what they say,
Side by side, they both get bright, together, they both get grey.
But he’s been pretty much yellow and I’ve been kind of blue.
But all I can see is red now, what am I gonna do?

I don’t understand about diamonds and why men buy them.
What’s so impressive about a diamond except the mining?
But it’s dangerous work trying to get to you, too,
And I think, if I didn’t have to kil myself doing it,
Maybe I wouldn’t think so much of you.
I’ve been watching all the time and I still can’t find the tack
but what I want to know is, is it okay; is it just fine,
or is it my fault; is it my lack?

I don’t understand about the weather outside,
Or the harmony in a tune or why somebody lied.
But there’s solace, a bit in submitting to the fitfully, cryptically true,
What’s happened has happened, what’s coming is already on its way with a role for me to play,
and I don’t understand;
I’ll never understand, but I’ll try to understand,
There’s nothing else I can do.

London.

2005-09-23T02:07:00.000Z

Random notes from my trip to London on Thursday (yes, on my own):

While I was wandering around for hours trying to find the seemingly non-existent Police station, a pigeon almost flew into the back of my head. It skimmed over my head from behind, and the feeling of the wind whooshing past and seeing a pigeon appear infront of me was very odd, and made me jump several feet in the air. I must have looked quite shocked as the lady in front of me almost started laughing. :(

Policepeople are so friendly and nice! (Or at least the two I spoke to were.) They were so apologetic too about my phone not being there.

And so are the people who work at Underground stations, they're so patient even to stupid tourists like myself who don't know anything about where they are or where they're going. "Which Police station are you after?" "Paddington?" "But which one? There's two." "Uh, Paddington?" "Paddington Green?" ".. Yes." "Or Harrow Road?" "Yes!" "Um, you'd best try Paddington Green."

And the whole time I was at Paddington station I kept thinking of Paddington Bear. I can totally understand how he got lost now. It's huge! I wish I'd brought my camera with me.

Fiona Apple article.

2005-09-23T01:54:00.000Z

I found this article really interesting - she talks a lot about how much trouble she had releasing her forthcoming album and how much she appreciates all the support she had from fans <3

From Rolling Stone's website:

Fiona Apple is the multiplatinum pop star least likely to appear on an episode of MTV's Cribs. She doesn't have a cell phone. She neither owns nor drives a car. She possesses only two bras, and the one that she's not wearing on this particular August afternoon is lost, she's pretty sure, for good. What's more, for two of the six years since her last album came out, Apple lived in a house whose only furnishings were a few green dog pillows, a twin bed that doubled as a couch, a small TV/VCR that wasn't actually connected to an antenna, and a boombox.

After splitting with director Paul Thomas Anderson in 2001, Apple moved to the artsy Los Angeles beach town of Venice, into a one-story house with a wall of oleander surrounding the perimeter -- "for privacy" -- and a huge yard where her Staffordshire Terrier, Janet, could run around. Her older sister, Amber, lived there for a while, and Apple says the two of them would eat their dinner sitting on the dog pillows. "We had these old step-aerobics kind of boxes that were full of dust, and we used them for tables," she says. "I remember thinking, 'This house is never going to be full and lived in.' Now it's almost cluttered." She eventually bought a couple of couches, but her clothes -- the few she has -- are piled on top of tables because she still hasn't bought a bureau. "Maybe once a year I'll go into a store and grab a bunch of stuff, and I won't try anything on," she continues. "I think I don't like to go shopping for clothes because I have no clothes to wear to go shopping."

When I join Apple -- whose long-awaited third album, Extraordinary Machine, is due out in October -- at an upscale bar and grill in Venice, she is what she calls "dressed." Rather than wearing her usual sweats, she has on a clingy black top that's cinched into a V-neck, an ankle-length black skirt with a bit of ruffle spiraling it and black clogs. Her long waves of blond hair are parted, as usual, straight down the center, and around her neck is a beaded pendant with a hunk of blue quartz in the center that, she admits, she chose because the stone strategically covers a blemish on her chest. Just below her right breast, a safety pin secures her shirt to her bra, "because otherwise it rides up and looks funny." Her skin is sun-kissed, and her once-waifish physique has filled out just enough to give her an unexpected softness and vitality.

It is a difference that, though subtle, implies a greater truth: At 28, Apple is no longer the dangerously sullen teenage chanteuse whose uncommonly sumptuous voice and promise as a song-writer were in danger of being overshadowed by the glowering, post-adolescent angst she exhibited during her famous "this world is bullshit" speech at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards. For one thing, Extraordinary Machine (an early version of which leaked on the Internet last spring) easily surpasses that initial promise. It's a daring and decidedly non-commercial album that abounds with hypnotic grooves, vaudevillian spookiness and cabaret piano vamps. Throughout, Apple shows increasing sophistication as a lyricist capable of striking a balance between overstatement and understatement, between whimper and wail. The album is, like Apple herself, grown-up.

"My best friend, Bella, has this memory of me from around the time I was recording my first album," she says. "And this is sad. But it's funny. She used to come over to my dad's house, where I was living at the time, because she was friends with my whole family. She would come up to my room, and I'd be in there vacuuming and crying hysterically at the same time. I used to clean furiously like that. I can't believe I was like that. I'm sure I will always have those kinds of days once every couple of years. Back then, I was like that every day. I guess I just had to go through that time."

Apple no longer sees a therapist, and earlier this year she managed to stop taking the anti-anxiety medication she'd been on for about a decade. Nowadays, she clears her head by going for long walks every morning. During a recent trip to New York, she forced herself to rise at 5 a.m. so she could get a walk in before heading off for the photo shoots that used to routinely make her cry. "I go back and forth, like, 'I'm handling this really well this time, nothing can get to me anymore.' The other day, I was on the verge of tears, and then I was like, 'I cannot break down at a photo shoot. Those days are over!'"

Her newfound Zen is especially impressive considering how stressful the past few years leading up to Extraordinary Machine's release have been. Beginning in the spring of 2002, she recorded eleven songs with Jon Brion, who also produced When the Pawn . . ., Apple's 1999 album. As the pair neared completion on the tracks, they began to run into problems with her label, Sony BMG. "The record company was sort of like, 'What the heck is this? Where are our singles?'" says Brion. "I sat with them and said, 'There's a huge group of people who have a heartfelt attachment to this person and her music.' They didn't get it. It was shortsighted of them. So things were getting mixed and remixed ad nauseam to make songs that were already idiosyncratic more radio-ready."

Apple says she's still proud of the work she did with Brion but acknowledges that, at that stage, she didn't have a strong vision of what the album should be. In hopes of approaching the songs from a new perspective, Apple gave the demos to producer Mike Elizondo and asked him to play around with them. "She didn't really give me any specific instructions," says Elizondo, who has engineered albums alongside Dr. Dre for Eminem and 50 Cent. "I learned the songs on piano and dissected the chords and Fiona's melody, and then I'd play them over and over until I heard a different drum groove or another way of presenting the song. I wanted to make the songs swing but still be bare-bones and hypnotic."

Apple loved what Elizondo came up with, but when she asked Sony for more money, she says she was told that it would only allow her to record and hand in one song at a time. The label contends that it was a miscommunication -- "We would have put out whatever record Fiona wanted us to put out," says Michele Anthony, Sony Music Label Group's chief operating officer -- but if it was, it was a miscommunication that stuck. "At that point, I did feel like they were going to shelve the album," says Apple. "I didn't want to be in a position where they owned one more thing that I love and then refused to put out. Or even worse, they might tell me how to change something, and not once in my career have I let that happen." One day, she got up her courage, sat down on the steps outside her house and called her manager. "Tell them I'm not going to record anymore," she said. "And don't call me back and ask me if I'm sure, because I know this is the right thing to do." Ultimately, she says, she was prepared to let Extraordinary Machine live solely on the Internet and devote herself to something new, maybe some charity work.

Then last January, Apple was at her mother's Manhattan apartment, spending the afternoon as she'd spent many previous afternoons: wearing her bathrobe and watching Columbo reruns on Bravo. She was, she says, "holed up figuring out what the fuck I was going to do with my life," when her manager called to tell her about a protest being staged by a group of fans operating under the moniker Free Fiona. They had been sending apples to Sony to protest what they perceived as a calculated effort to keep Extraordinary Machine from being released. Apple was stupefied. She hung up, shuffled to the back room of the apartment and said, "Mama, have you heard of these Free Fiona people?" She was laughing at first, but then came the tears. "It was happy crying," she says. "I said, 'Mama, they're so organized and they care so much. They don't even realize I'm sitting here watching Columbo in my bathrobe!'"

Not long thereafter, Sony agreed to let Apple rerecord Machine on her own terms. "I believe them when they tell me that they're very excited about putting out the record," she says. "But I won't kid myself into thinking that's the only reason this is happening. A group of kids did this, and I think they deserve credit. I've also been waiting so fucking long to thank them. I'm so in awe of people who care that much about anything that they organize like that, and I think it has to be known that it actually works. This whole thing gives me a great deal of enthusiasm for not just my job but for the way that life works. Doing things for the right reasons, based on your principles, gets you really far."

It's a realization that echoes Apple's increasing awareness that you don't have to be miserable to be idealistic. "When I was younger . . ." she begins, her eyes searching the room as she indulges in a pause long enough to be slightly awkward. "How do I put this? I had troubles. I don't think I was actually idealistic then. I think I was absolutely wrapped up in being exactly the person who did this and did not do that. I had rules about everything, and I think my reasoning behind a lot of it was a little bit kooky. I was afraid of somebody stopping to love me, and I was afraid of making a fool of myself in public, and I was afraid of being misunderstood -- that was a big one -- and I convinced myself that by living a certain way I was somehow protecting myself. But once all those things happen anyway, and they're terrible, and you're not fine for a while, but then you're fine, you actually come to a place where you like your life. And it makes you go, 'Oh, wow, I'm really kind of proud of myself. I have some good stories, and I look back and I like what I've done with my life. I like the furniture that I've chosen.' When that happens, you can play a little bit more and you can be looser and not worry about falling down so much because you know that, whatever happens, you're going to be OK."

Garbage lyrics.

2005-09-20T02:53:00.000Z

Send me an angel to love,
I need to feel a little piece of heaven.
Send me an angel to love,
I'm afraid I'll never get to heaven.

Have you found me?

2005-09-09T00:08:00.000Z

If you've stumbled across my blog, I would appreciate a (non-spam) comment please!

I know you all exist, please prove it :)

Some Fiona Apple lyrics I can relate to.

2005-09-08T00:05:00.000Z

One man, he'd disappoint me
He'd give me the gouge and he take my glee
Now every other man I see
Remind me of the
One man who disappointed me

Wait 'til I get him back
He won't have a back to scratch
Yeah, keep turning that chin
And you will see my face
As I figure how to kill what I cannot catch

So I say "and on I go"
To another one who disappoint me so, oh oh

The next one up
A contemptible snob
He lived to put things in their place
He did a commendable job
He put himself so low
He can hardly even look me in the face

Wait 'til I get him back
He won't have a back to scratch
Yeah, keep turning that chin
And you will see my face
As I figure how to kill what I cannot catch

Oh, he made my blood just burn
I flipped so far
I thought that I would not return

But the last one I had
Who was getting my hopes up
I might have been a little fast to dismiss
I think he let me down when he didn't disappoint me
He didn't always guess right but he usually got my gist

So wait til I get him back
I'm gonna bring him home
And I'll watch him unpack
He keep turning that chin
And you will see my face
Is fixed on the one
I'm gonna get back

Guess who.

2005-09-04T13:14:00.000Z

It really amazes me what a bit of make up can do.

This at least gives me some hope that no matter how much I hate the way I look, at least I can change it (and without surgery, too) and become someone else entirely.

Website updated!

2005-09-01T23:21:00.000Z

Yeah yeah, I know all I do is post links here. But here is another!

I spent all day working on my website, and am noticeably unimpressed by Freeweb's policy of 50 files max for free accounts, so I had to make a second one to fit the Eve's Plum stuff.

Please go visit! It'll probably be another 8 months before I do anything else on it, after all.