Random Update

There's not been an awful lot going on. Just the usual go to work, get paid, do crap, nothing too exciting.

I'm on Holiday for 2 weeks from Friday, we were planning on taking a road trip around the UK, going up to Scotland, through Wales and then down to Cornwall. But due to us having pretty much no money were just staying in York mostly. Although we are going to Dom's in Portsmouth for a party on Friday, then to Baz's birthday on Saturday, where Dom's band is playing and we're gonna camp.

We'll probably come back on Monday as Viv really wants to get some pets. We've been getting cages and we now have so many cages, tubes, feed bowls and other weird pet crap we could start a Guinea Pig farm or something, selling their fur for clothing. Viv wants a Hamster and I'm getting 2 rats.

We're also going to the races in York at some point next week. There's 3 days to choose from and we'll probably go for whichever one has the nicest weather. It's only £7 for the Course Enclosure so we won't have to pay to much. We can't afford to get into any of the stands as it's £25 a ticket, it is Ebor after all.

I'm arranging a party at ours for the 7th or 14th of October. I've let some of the school dudes know so they'll definately turn up. Next month is gonna be pestering time to make sure no one pussies out, and to try and get a few more people to come.

Wedding Bells

Are ringing, as it's Sarah and Glenn's wedding tomorrow.

I haven't updated much recently as to be honest I can't be arsed and I've been quite busy at work and lazy at home. That along with not having too much to say has lead to a pretty boring blog.

Anyway, last weekend I went shopping with Viv and got a new shirt for the wedding, it's dark green and blue striped. Other than possibly some new gel pads for my shoes to stop them ripping through my achilles tendon I think I'm set for the wedding.

The boys are off out tonight in Acomb for a few drinks, not at the Acomb or the Ainsty, we'd rather not have black eyes for the ceremony. The girls are doing girly things.

What's your price?

To make this a little more fair I've changed all the values from dollars to pounds:

Would you walk naked for a half mile down a public street for £100,000? Sure, half a mile isn't really that far and £100,000. I'd just be a bit worried about being arrested. I'd probably do it for less.
Would you kiss a member of the same sex for £100? Why not, I think I've done this before anyway, although that time we didn't get the drinks we were promised.
Would you have sex with a member of the same sex for £10,000? Depends on the bloke I'd have to do it with, and I'm not taking it. I don't think I'd go much lower than 10 grand.
Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for £200,000? I'd definately lose my left one for £200,000.
Would you never blog again for £50,000? I only blog because I'm bored anyway, of course I'd quit for £50,000, or possibly a lot less, any money would be welcome.
Would you pose naked in a magazine for £250,000? Oh yeah. But I don't think it'd sell very well, whatever, it's not my money. I'd go lower as well.
Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for £1000? Insanity Sauce no, I would probably burst into flames. But pretty much anything else yes. As long as it's not a giant jumbo family sized bottle.
Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000? Pretty serious question, but yeah, as long as I got to choose who it was. If it was a completely random stranger I don't think I could.
Would you shave your head and get your entire body waxed for $5,000? I've shaved my head before, I could take a waxing for £5,000 or less, it's only pain and it'd be worth it, all the hair'll grow back... eventually.
Would you give up watching television for a year for £25,000? Sure, I can still download stuff on my computer right? Probably for less than that as well, but I'd need the money upfront to entertain myself.

The Stag Weekend

Last weekend we headed off to the Lake District, somewhere near Keswick, for Glenn's Stag Weekend. We left early Friday, getting there about midday. We got set up in the campsite and played a bit of cricket and football while having a few beers.

It got a bit windy, which carried on into Saturday, when it started to rain. This meant the paragliding was called off as the winds were too strong. Also the paintballing was no good as the guy hadn't booked it. Which meant we went go-karting instead. Before that we headed into Keswick for supplies and to get some food.

We played a bit of cricket when we got back, but it started raining, so we headed back to the tents and set up some shelter. We headed to the go-karting after that. Glenn was a bit worried but everyone had a great time. I only came 6th out of 9 though, so not so great. We stopped in a pub on the way home for some food (excellent lamb) and a few drinks while we watched the football. There was also a games room, so darts, pool and table football filled the boring bits of the match. Once we got back to the site the beers came out again and the shelter had to be reinforced, but despite the rain it was a good night.

Sunday we headed home about 12, taking a long and winding route, which took about 3 hours. It was good to see Viv again and apparently the girls night out had been pretty eventful, with Viv yelling abuse at some woman in a hotel who'd thrown water at them, and a few other little stories.

Congratualtions Gemma!

Gemma phoned Viv yesterday to tell her that she got a 2:1 in her degree. Well done Gemma! You are now part of an exclusive club amongst our friends, consisting of me, you and Fulli. Gemma has also been accepted for a Masters course, which means she'll be part of an even more exclusive club, her and Fulli.

Gemma had a long chat with Viv last night as well once we got home from work, and I played Counterstrike and offered bits of information when Viv forgot them. Viv hasn't talked to Gemma for quite a while, but she's been pretty busy at uni and just generally. Viv was really pleased to hear from her.

Congratulations again!

Stag Weekend coming up

This Friday I'm off to the Lake District with the Dude boys for Glenn's Stag Weekend. We're heading off on Friday morning, so I've got the day off. We're driving up and hoping to get there around midday, setting up our tents and then heading to a pub or something.

Saturday we're going paragliding hopefully, if the weathers good. Otherwise we'll be going paintballing instead as theres a place right next to the campsite. Then it's probably off to the pub again for a good night out.

I think Sunday is aiming to be quite relaxed, hanging out a bit, before we come back Sunday night, in time for the World Cup Final.

Next week I was supposed to be going to James's 21st, but I'm not going to be able to make it. We're really short of money this month, and Sarah and Glenn's wedding is the week after. And unfortunately we've also got to babysit Blizzard for the weekend as my parents are away. It's a shame as it would have been good to see everyone again, it doesn't seem that long since Chris's Hog Roast Party, but it's already been quite a couple of weeks.

Time flies

Everythings been going really quickly now I've got some more work to do and I'm getting a bit more involved at work. I haven't had a lot of extra time to waste so my blogs don't get updated too often. Especially as nothing that interesting happens that I can remember by the time I get to writing anything.

Viv is getting more and more pissed off at work though. I've suggested many times that she leave. She has a pretty crap job, and she can do a lot more. She doesn't get paid enough for what she's doing and the odds of her being promoted, even after 3 years working there, are slim to none. I think it's time for her to move on. I'm trying to get her to look at other jobs but I think she's just a bit comfortable where she is, even if she hates it.

New Houses all round!

Everyone seems to be moving house this summer. We moved earlier in the year, beginning of May I think... my memory is terrible! John and Karen moved recently, well probably about a month ago now. Jayne and Al moved into their new house on Tuesday. They've had the week off and have been unpacking and sorting stuff out, we're going round tonight to check out their new place, and probably watch some football (this also means we'll probably miss House).

On another good note England managed to qualify. We didn't beat Sweden, but at least we came top of our group and we get to play Ecuador. After that we'll be playing either Holland or Portugal. Unfortunately I drew Portugal in a sweepstake so that's bad news for me either way.

England's Last Group Game

England is about to play their last group game against Sweden. Germany have also just beaten Ecuador, this means if we win or draw, we play Ecuador as we'll be top of our group. If we lose we'll play Germany.

Personally I'd rather play Ecuador and not play Germany until the final. Although this does mean that we'll have to beat Sweden, which apparently we haven't done since 1968. I knew we didn't do well against Scandanavian teams, but 1968? Really? Sweden aren't that good... Or should I say, we're not that bad...

Such a slow week

It has been a really slow week. I normally find after taking some time off work it's really hard to get back into the swing of things, and this has been one of those times.

It doesn't really help that I don't have a lot to do and there's not much work going around. I have to finish off a site, but I'm not really sure what to do. We have given the customer URLs so they can have a look at the site, but we havent received much back, and the things we have received back we can't really do much about.

So at the moment I'm trying to keep myself awake, trying not to leave early, and keeping my eye out for some interesting sites that I can read while at work to keep me interested.

Oh yeah, and my stone age PC is beginning to seem like torture.

Download Festival

Thursday - We decided to head down to the site on Thursday. Dom had stayed Wednesday night, so we loaded the car and got going. We were parked quite a way from the arena and the campsites. We had to carry loads of stuff and it took us about an hour to get to our spot. Very annoying. Then we went back to get food and drink and forgot the car keys, realising this only when we got to the car. This meant another trip. Three trips to the campsite and back in a day in the boiling sun was not fun. But we got very drunk to make up for it.

Friday - The music kicked off and we went to see Throwdown and Soil before heading back to the campsite for a bit. Later we headed back in for Deftones and finally Tool. Tool was an experience, needless to say, a few smokes helped. I don't know a lot of Tool, but it was absolutely amazing. Bizzarely the planes coming in to land overhead at the nearby airport were well timed and really added some extra noise to the performance. Very impressive and one of my Top 3 live performances.

Saturday - This was the day I'd been waiting for. We got up and ate, then sat about in the sun until 1pm. Then we headed into the arena and watched the England game at 2pm on a massive screen with loads of other people. England beat Paraguay 1-0! In the background I could see and hear Arch Enemy, Alice in Chains and Stonesour, all pretty good. Once that was over we headed to the main stage and watched Avenged Sevenfold and Trivium, both excellent. We found out later that Korn's singer was ill and in hospital, so they had guest singers come on and sing with the band, interesting and unique, but I'd rather have seen Korn. Finally Metallica came out. They played an absolutely stunning set for 2 and a half hours, including (as it's the 20th anniversary of the album) Master of Puppets from start to finish. It was very very cool. We also got very drunk after that.

Sunday - Sunday was a lazy day after the two days before. We'd decided to head off that night so packed everything up and carried it all to the car before heading into the arena. We started out on the main stage watching In Flames, who were cool. The lead singer was Swedish and said he was going to make a big speech about how Sweden were going to kick our ass in the football, but then he'd seen them playing yesterday and changed his mind, he now wants England to win so at least one swede can lift the Trophy!

Unfortunately we'd missed Dragonforce as we were carrying stuff to the car at the time, but Dom and Matt had caught the end. It was incredibly hot on Sunday, so we decided to find some shade. Luckily there was a fair bit right next to the Snickers Stage. We could clearly hear the stage as we were only about 50 metres away from the stage, but outside the tent. We heard Aiden, Hundred Reasons, Eighteen Visions, Alexisonfire, then the Prodigy! After that we headed to the main stage to check out Guns 'N Roses. All I can say is, I was disappointed. We watched about 40 mins, then got bored and decided to leave early to miss the traffic.

We stopped at Donnington Services on the way home for a cooked meal, where I lost my wallet. After keeping on to it for the whole weekend! I didn't realise till Monday though, so I have no idea where it is. Bit of a bummer, but still an excellent weekend!

Just found out there were some problems on Sunday night, makes me glad we left early!

Counterstrike Weekend

Now that we've got broadband I've been reverting to my 'Student' state. Meaning I sit around on my PC and play Counterstrike all day. I managed to not do this for most of Saturday, as England were playing football, and we beat Jamaica 6-0, come on! Although I did play a bit in the morning after hoovering and cleaning up a bit.

On Friday evening we went round Jayne and Al's for possibly the last night at their house, as they are moving soon. We had to leave pretty early as they were heading to Bristol the next day for a friend's wedding.

Saturday night was at Sarah and Glenn's, Martin and Josie were their and got very drunk. We ordered pizza later and watched Napoleon Dynamite again. It was a cool night.

Sunday Viv went shopping with Sarah, she went to buy clothes for work and got loads. I'm glad I didn't go, I hate shopping if I don't have money to buy stuff, it just seems so pointless. Plus this also meant I had the house to myself. Which meant pretty much an entire day playing Counterstrike. I'm so sad. Viv also bought a weights bench, which I'm halfway through putting up, and I cleared out the living room of the last of the stuff that needed unpacking. So now we have loads of space and it looks a lot cleaner. And I got a TV set up in the bedroom, finally!

Gate Issues Update

Our gate is still pretty bad. It opens now, and we know why it wasn't working before. Orion had changed the code and only told people later on on Friday. But at least we could get back in. Also if we open the gate too wide, it knocks the wiring for the gate, which is why our buzzers weren't working.

We now have a new code for our gate, and we seem to be getting some mail. Although our bins still really need emptying, as our bin shed is pretty full again as they didnt get collected last week. Hopefully at some point everything is going to get sorted out and it'll all calm down.

Lock Down!

Our gate is fucked. As I mentioned earlier there was a small fire in our Bike Shed, resulting in the building needing repairs and someones scooter being destroyed. This also meant that the gate wasn't working properly. So when the nice Firemen turned up in their jolly red truck to put out our fire, they had to ram the gate open to get to it. This further messed up the gate, meaning me had to open and close it manually.

That was a whole week ago. Since then the situation has not improved. The code to the gate no longer opens it, I don't know if it's been changed, as no one has told us. This also means that once again we are getting no post and our bins are not being emptied. On top of this, our buzzers are now not working. We were wondering around for about 10mins this morning trying to get the gate open. Eventually we found a gate key, but this will only work from the inside, as theres no hole for one on the outside. And theres only one key.

So we managed to get out to get to work, but we may not be able to get back in. We can't drive anywhere as we can't get to our car. The gate is also the only way in or out of our compound. Well I could always look on the good side, at least it's secure.

A not quite miraculous recovery

Viv was feeling better yesterday, after crawling out of bed, doing some washing and having a shower. She ate dinner, drank lots of water, but couldn't really sleep too well.

Today she was feeling Ok, but felt gradually worse on the way to work. After preparing herself for the worst, she's actually been told she can't do any overtime as she has been ill, which I think is brilliant, as she probably won't have to work on Saturday. She is feeling a bit rougher now, but she does also have a new temp to deal with and train.

She'll probably be home before me, which is annoying as I took the Car keys, thinking I'd be back first. So I can't even get a lift home! There's no justice in the world!

Catching Up Post 3 - Sunday

We woke up fairly early on Sunday. We got ready to leave and helped Chris clean up a bit before heading off to Portsmouth. We tried to go via Winchester by accident after missing the M27, but soon got back on track.

We went to visit Viv's Dad and had a bit of a chat. It was Kyle's birthday as well, so we got him a card and gave him some money. We were going to go to Viv's Dad's Cafe for a free breakfast, but it wasn't open, so we went to find a Burger Van. We were told it was on top of the cliffs, but ended up taking a massive detour when we missed the turning and then couldn't turn around due to a car accident. We finally got there though and it was very worth it. I had an Animal Burger, which is 3 burgers, 3 eggs, cheese and onions in a massive bun. I wish I'd taken a picture, it was a thing of beauty.

When we got back we had a quick visit to Portsmouth, then said goodbye and headed to see Dom. He was in a barn at Deagan's girlfriend's house (Baz). He was there for his band practice. We met most of the band (the bassist wasn't there), and listened to a few songs, which were really good. They have a MySpace page which is here, go and check it out, it's good stuff!

Once they'd finished we went back to Dom's house and got stoned and wasted. It was a really good night!

Catching Up Post 2 - Saturday

Saturday was loooooong. We woke up early and Viv went to get a taxi to get the car back from Glenn's. I felt a badger had slept in my mouth, then crapped in it before leaving. Viv felt a bit better than me, but also had a sore neck from jumping about the night before.

When we got the car and had packed stuff we headed to the Garage to get our wheel *ching* £50. We then went to Kwikfit where they told us that the tyre was knackered and needed replacing *ching* another £50. They sorted that out and we headed off.

The drive was long and I felt crap. Viv took the first leg and we swopped over just before we left the M1 to get on the A43. From there is was M40, A34, M3, A33. It wasn't that bad a drive, the weather was ok and the traffic was easy. Almost as if someone was finally trying to give us a break after our crap week.

When we got there we met Fulli, Chris, Chris, Nick, Hogg and his girlfriend. Kate turned up later as well, and Gemma couldn't make it as she was baby-sitting cats (WTF?). The Hog Roast was excellent, lots of meat, stuffing and a huge tub of mash/potatoe salad.

After a bit the Dukies decided to head off to the pub, me and Viv couldn't be bothered so we hung around and chatted to a few people. We also got to be in charge of music, which was quite cool as well.

Fulli and Kate apparently had an argument at the pub and came back. The others turned up later and went to bed. Me and Viv stayed up for a bit before heading in and calling it a night.

Catching Up Post 1 - Friday

I'm well behind having been away for a few days and then busy at work, so I'm now trying to catch up.

Friday was Glenn's birthday, so we all headed round to his house. I took Guitar Hero, as he requested it and a few extra people were gonna be there who hadn't tried it out yet. Unfortunately Glenn's present hadn't arrived, I'll have to check about that on eBay... But we did have a card.

It was a really good night overall. Got to see Jim, Martin and Morgan turned up as well. Once everyone had had a bit to drink and played Guitar Hero a bit we went into the garden and jumped about to a bit of Korn, which none of us had done in ages.

Viv got a bit upset when Kirk started asking questions about the guy earlier in the week, but she was Ok after that.

There was lots of Tequila and drinking, a very good night. I was almost sick on the way home, but managed to hold it till I got out of the Taxi and spewed over the Bin Shed instead. Great stuff.

Viv - Drama Magnet

Viv always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yesterday she saw a guy commit suicide. He jumped out of a window in the centre of York.

Viv had gone to the Doctors and was on her way to work when she saw something going on. She went to have a look and saw the guy standing on a window ledge. He got talked down and everyone was leaving, when he apparently came back and jumped. Viv said she saw him falling, and then shut her eyes, but she heard it. I told her to go home, but she went back to work, mostly to calm down I think. I picked her up a bit later, once I'd got home to get the car.

This sort of thing always happens to Viv, in the six years we've been together, she's seen two motorbike accidents, one involving a kid on a bike, she helped out in both. We both saw a woman lying in the middle of the M25 and stopped. Now she see's this.

Viv said she saw on the news this morning that the guy isn't dead, but I can't find anything about it, even though the centre of York was shut until 8 o'clock last night. She seemed OK this morning, I hope she's alright.

Car Wheel Drama

And I thought this was going to be easy! I should know better by now...

Everytime it seems we are going to go to Portsmouth to visit Viv's Dad, we have some kind of car trouble. It's fucking frustrating, because it's expensive, and it's always just before we need to use the car. Last time our car got written off! Which was kind of the exclaimation point on the end of a similar run of bad luck. So we caught the train. Unfortunately this isn't an option this time as we'd have to pay for all of our tickets and the train is, to be honest, a ripoff.

Kwikfit finally got back to me saying the wheel would be £93. That's not funny. I phoned around to find a dealer and got a more reasonable, but still large price of £56. Great. I need to phone the guy back and give him my wheel size and stuff before he orders it to make sure we get the right one. I've also got to ask my Dad to see if the price is reasonable and see if he can get anything better. The main problem is that the wheel then needs to be delivered, which can take 48hrs, or until Saturday. I then need to get the tyre put on it, which Kwikfit said they do for free, so that's cool.

I just hope it get's here before Saturday, or we won't be going to Southampton.

Tags: Drama, Car Trouble, Weekend, Bank Holiday