Belle and Sebastian were fab. Funny, melodic, rocking, chilled... they got the lot.

I'm tired... g'night!

Ouch. Had a great night last night; out @ the local Mexican restaurant propping up the bar, 2 litre jugs of Margharitas (remember, the lemon juice must be freshly squeezed) followed by champagne. Got a lovely didgereedoo from Matt, some beautiful flowers, and now a tremendous hangover. Huge thanks also to my birthday twin for the book, too :)

I hope my queasiness subsides in time to enjoy Belle and Sebastian tonight...

A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my birthday-twin Davo - I didn't know anything about the anti-inflammatories though! I'm off later for some lovely fresh Margharitas. Mmmmm!

I am trying to work hard - found another bit of code to fiddle with. Perfectionist? Moi?!!!

But a quick foray to Luke's blog to get his email address had me chuckling over his link for today....

My first birthday present arrived today; the new Soft Boys CD (Underwater Moonlight). Thank you, Nick!

Slow is best. Ask the cows....

you should see the lightning storm about to break over london town. it's times like these i wish i could get to my camera, or could point a webcam out the window to show you how beautiful it is. i am terrified of it, yet sit by the window watching the flashes grow in intensity and frequency. i dread the fact i will have to walk home by myself in this... not so much the getting wet i mind, i've just come too close to lightning before (6 inches) and i just want someone's hand to hold... to guide me so can shut my eyes and push away the fear.

but then i'd miss the beauty.

Oh why can't I concentrate, dammit ?!

This person is beautiful. Writing of such clarity and gut-wrenching honesty that makes your heart both ache and sing simultaneously. Especially this article.

Put that Coca Cola can down now, and read this [via phonezilla]. Disturbing as hell.

This is great news. So too is the fact that I am not being carted off to Isle of Man this week (I mean that in a nice way, Nick!)... so I get to spend my birthday with my family at home, instead of in some godforesaken hotel with only the minibar for company. Well, that's the plan; but the reason the trip got postponed til next week is the sheer amount of work that has to be done before I go. So that'll be a late night tonight, wednesday, thursday... doh!

[Update: links to desks taken away 26/06 cos whatever I did, I couldn't seem to make the links work. To anywhere.]

Well I have jumped on Meg's bandwagon, and so here are my workdesk and my home desk. Not pretty, not funky, not in cute popup windows... but they were taken during a hard week last week, and I've spent all night updating Jasmine's website with some more photos, so dashed these last 2 images off in the last 10 minutes.But they exist. If you're interested..

Had a good evening, though - spent with friends from waaaaaaaaay back, eating tapas, drinking some lovely wine (wrote it on my PalmV but it's charging right now) - nice. Off to bed (supposedly early night?!!)

Well, the 5pm leaving-time on friday never materialised - a tricky bit of SQL Server Trigger-writing occupied another hour or so. But all was good, as I then got plied with marvellous fresh margharitas @ a nearby bar. Three more under the table, and it was off to Covent Garden to celebrate Ian's birthday. Both he and I were pretty surprised I was still standing at this point; not so much due to the cocktails but a huge broadside from the fatigue-monster. But a few G&T's gave me a new lease of life, and pretty much got me wrecked as I conducted conversations with many people I'd never met, and a few people whom I had. It was, however, great fun - however tired I was!!

We all do things we regret when we're plied with alcohol - my actions were pretty morally corrupt. Having departed Ian (and his lovely friends), I got as far as Earls Court on the last tube. Having missed the last bus also, I waited for a taxi. 30 minutes. "Sod this" I thought. So I did a really evil thing. I went to McDonalds (no link here, thank you!). *Shock Horror*. Not a grievous crime by many other people's standards; but since I have boycotted them on moral, ethical and nutritional(!) grounds for 10 years - this was very much a huge lapse in concentration. To over-use a well-known phrase, "b*gger, sod and damnit". I did have a severe attack of the guilts... but the pickle in my Big Mac was so delicious..... Thankfully a taxi without a light on saw me standing there, and said "'ello luv, where are you going to?", so I was saved another £2-something and a dodgier digestive system the next morning (admittedly @ the cost of an £8 taxi fare and the obligatory conversation about Fulham FC).

Saturday dawned bright - 7am found me waking in no pretty state; having not done the usual "one Berocca, 2 Advil, some spirulina, a vitamin C tab and 2 pints" trick. Although I was meant to go to the hairdresser @ 9, I decided to scrap such an unfeasable target, and slept in. Lovely. By 11am, I was merely left with a nasty taste of day-old hamburger (BAD Jen!) and a lingering feeling of intoxication. Just the right kind of state to face a trip to school, then.

Which wasn't so bad. The headmistress was her usual charming self (not!), but it was good to see the few familiar faces who'd showed up. The obligatory tour round the new building (which I must say is lovely, and as far as the new sixth form common room goes - "it's not faaaiiiiir"!!!!). A presentation to the (retiring) school caretaker (janitor) was met shortly after with a swift exit from myself and Alex. Is it me, or do kids look younger every year?!! (my impending birthday this thursday just highlights the fact that I will be as old as Davo - but I haven't really got anything interesting on my Amazon wishlist yet).

A couple of hours of trash-tv was followed by a lovely visit to my other school-friend Sarah. Pizza, Doritos, tiramisu, wine (could only face one glass) and much gossip about babies (she's having one), friends, life etc - all against the vaguely-watched background of "Top Ten 80's" on Channel 4. Just the right kind of evening... by the time I got home I passed out from fatigue -into freshly laundered sheets. No feeling quite like it :)

Today was just as constructive - a lazy morning (it's Dawson's Creek time!) and much sunbathing lead to copious amounts of fresh coconut juice being consumed, and a pink tinge to my now-tingling arms and legs. A brief foray to the Moroccan shop to buy marinaded chicken and beef (and a large watermelon) for tonight's impromptu barbeque - celebrating the conception of another friend's first child. Boil the water, they're all at it! I've a short party to go to tonight (celebrating Alex's successes on the medical-school front), but first I'd better go make some salad (of the couscous, green and fruit variety) so we can eat tonight.

A lovely weekend - much needed after last week's marathon. Need to post some more pics of Jasmine on her website, but it's too warm upstairs here in the office. Did have a look at my friend David's photos from Peru, though - absolutely amazing.

By the end of today (I'm treating myself, and going home @ 5), I would have worked a 72.5hr week. I've accomplished about 90% of what I set out to do, which isn't bad. I think I have 'laptopper's elbow' - you know when you're typing and your elbows pivot and get worn away on the desk.... no?! Hmmmm... Well, I'm off to finish this bit of code and go for a nap, and then some beer. Lovely :)

[However many hours I work, I can't even touch the amount of effort that has gone into my friend's career - she has worked her butt off for every school/Uni exam for the last 10 years, got a 1st class degree, and is now (as of about 1pm today) officially Dr. Rankin, and can go practice on 'proper' patients! Just sent a bottle of Moet round...]

Remember to go vote for Blogger in the Personal Site category of The Webby Awards. Now. You know you want to... [this site would not be here without da big B].

One of the weirder things about going to this school function on saturday, is that I will have to get used to being called 'Jennifer' for the day. I didn't get called Jen until I went to university, where everyone shortened my name (and there was no way I was going to be called Jenny). Now, nobody I speak to currently ever calls me Jennifer (except that person - see previous blog entry - I hadn't spoken to in 12 years).

"Jen is something one learns rather than something one is born with".

Thanks to Rodney for that little gem (jen?!).

Have you ever had a conversation with someone you haven't seen, heard anything of, or spoken to in 12/13 years? It was very odd.

My head just got transported back to sitting at a small desk, in a classroom (yes, we had a school uniform but it was v. boring), aged 14/15, pissed off with the world and whoah - MAN - it was strange. All these memories just came flooding back in huge rush of nostalgia and emotion.

I think I need to lie down...

I do love my mum. I've just slurped down a huge pot of vietnamese vegetable noodle soup that she brought round at lunchtime for me. She phoned me on the mobile, asking if I wanted any. "Err.... I am at work? (duh!)". Turns out she was downstairs, outside the office, in the car. She'd gone to this cool new noodle stand just off the King's Road, and thought of me not eating much this week, so bought me some. Awwwwww!. As I'd already had lunch, I saved it for dinner - and it was bloody marvellous too. I don't think I have seen her for more than about 3 minutes this week (as I type, I am clocking up my 58th hour @ work since monday morning) - and I definitely haven't had dinner since - erm - saturday (oops!). So this was a godsend. Thanks mum!

Not only is the solstice, Nick, but there is also a solar eclipse in Africa.

Sleep? What is this sleep that you speak of?

Matt @ Interconnected wants to know what a Duck Billed Platypus sounds like. If you can help him by sending him a sound file, please do! Let me know if you're successful.

This great toy was pointed out by Daniel.

By way of Nick comes something to make my day. The ultimate 'page not found'. Almost makes me feel better about being @ work for the 43rd hour so far this week.

Late entry for failed Kremlin web design competition.



(if you don't get this immediately, you won't get it @ all, so don't worry !)

Davo manages to cheer me up.

Do you like books?

People's relationships are really odd sometimes. Family, friends, aquaintances; it's all very perplexing what makes a relationship - of any kind - 'tick'. I have friends with really, really odd relationships, that they consider quite normal. Do they consider mine weird, too? It's all a matter of perception and perspective. Who you get on with, who you 'click' with, who you don't - there is seemingly no hard and fast rule. Davo linked to this article a while back, about people's perceptions of attractiveness in a relationship. That swings with the ol' boy-girl (and girl-girl/boy-boy) thang, but what about good friends? I've been down the "When Harry Met Sally" route before - discussed it to death, but I refuse to believe there isn't something else going on there. Some other kind of chemistry. Or not (when you don't get on). Whaddyareckon?

O l d   S c h o o l   T i e s

I did a scary thing just now; I phoned my old school. On Saturday they are having a barbeque and tennis/rounders tournament, and I was invited last night by one of the teachers. 1985-1992 were fraught years; partly due to not really liking school, and partly due to circumstances beyond my control. So it was with trepidation that I rang just now to accept the invitation. I'm dragging a good friend of mine with me (she's just finished her final med school exams) - moral support for an event that fills both of us with mixed feelings about going back; the first time for about 3 or 4 years for either of us.

Apparently the physical personality of G&L has changed with the erection of many new buildings since I left (even when I was there, it was in a constant state of flux); however the general atmosphere is now very different (or so I have heard). I started there just before a new Head was appointed, and the vibe changed considerably with her appointment - much like the change of government will affect a country. She and I never really saw eye to eye, which did colour my view somewhat. The academic quality of teaching was unparalleled, and I had some outstanding teachers during my incarceration (many of whom who have since left). I am still in touch with several of them, which is fantastic. People who have inspired, supported, and propelled me through some very troubled times. I wasn't the easiest of kids to teach - one of those who said "why?" at every occasion, with a precocious knowledge of some fields and almost zero concentration in others. Maths was the worst; as only the second year doing GCSE's, the coursework was unfathomable and pointless nonsense. But in all it fulfilled the academic stimulus I needed, as well as the extra-curricular activities which gave me a stable base around which to grow as a person.

It was just the sheer number of girls in one place that really got me down. Even now, the mere thought of walking into a dining room full of 700 11-18yr-old girls brings me out in a rash. It might explain why a large majority of my friends are now guys... a bit of a 7 year girl-overkill put paid to a lot of potential female friendships. I can remember with utter clarity being asked to visit the Head's office one afternoon; she asked me to form more friends of "my own age" (my friends were scattered throughout the school years like confetti). My retort was quite valid; "I will be friends with who the hell I want; in the real world friendship is not based merely on age group, but a wider ranging and far more valid peer group". I was left to my own devices after that, and am in contact with no-one from my year (bar one or two). The social, financial and class pressures and stigma (rife in any school of that nature) therefore never really took hold - thankfully. Although I insist that it is one of the best schools of its type in the UK (or at least it was), the dangers of narrowing ones mind through social education were all too apparent to me, even at a young age. I was, and always will be, the cat that walked by itself.

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
- Robert Frost

There's something I have always wondered about during each cabinet re-shuffle. Do the ministers actually know anything about their new department?. Reading G2 on my PalmV this morning, I came across this interesting article..

Happy Birthday computers.

And this too.

I like this. Very freaky story today, but a great read.

Winning entry in latest referrer logs. *Ahem*. Please own up...

The servers in this room make it sound like the inside of an aircraft carrier, and makes it very hard to think straight. The resultant white-noise effect is even more distracting than regular "noise"noise, but I can't go downstairs as I need to be near the server to debug stuff. Damn. I am thinking in 15 minute bursts, then my brain shuts down for a few seconds due to the overload of input. I need a new processor I think.. what about slot-in flash memory cards for the brain? Would be a real seller - instant expertise of any subject / language / etc for the price of a microchip. Hot-swappable. Marvellous :)

Aren't you glad I'm not an evil Frankenstein-creating scientist?!

*evil cackle*

Last night's blog was pathetic really, but I physically wasn't able to type. So I shall make up for it.

Rodney and Ian (a very generous sponsor) joined myself and David after the walk yesterday (Rodney even did the last few km unsponsored!); we managed to polish off about 3 bottles of champagne and several cocktails in the Oxo Tower bar afterwards. Got very merry and nearly fell asleep in my dinner (poor Ian was trying to carry on a conversation but my brain wasn't cooperating!), and I then virtually passed out on the sofa, watching the last episode of ER. Ian's birthday is tomorrow so I will just have to get him lathered on friday night as an apology ;)

The builders started on the roof @ 7am this morning, which really didn't make me happy... I woke up with my head on the cat (she makes a great pillow!) and really bad hayfever (see below). Being allergic to the cats doesn't help :) Every morning without fail, I am pushed to the edge of a substantial double bed - whilst Rosie and Pepsi lie curled up bang in the middle of the bed, with smug grins and their noses on the pillow, poking out from under the duvet. There's even a woollen blanket (from Iceland) and a sheepskin (from New Zealand) at the foot of the bed for their use... but no, it's not half as warm and snuggly as under the duvet. I don't think anyone ever told them that they are cats and not people. Still, it's cheaper than an electric blanket!

Got my V2001 tickets... haven't managed to attend any music festival on this scale before (bar Finsbury Park's Madness gig in the early 90's), so it will be an experience. Although I love camping and music, large volumes of people do my head in so I've avoided events like this for years. I almost went to Glastonbury one year, but saw sense and avoided the mudbath. Don't get me wrong, I am looking forward to the atmosphere, the music, the people.. I just can't deal with the portaloos and the really really pissed people and the mud. As I said, I love camping - I camped on a glacier for 6 weeks in Iceland (it rained for 4 of those weeks) - and I don't mind getting muddy or wet or pissed... it's just the thought of several hundred thousand people sharing the experience. Oh, and a large dose of claustrophobia... Am keeping my fingers crossed for a weather miracle for that weekend (she says, shivering in her fleece in an office warmed by 9 servers in June for chrissakes!). At least it isn't a bank holiday - then it would be a guaranteed mudbath.. ;)

Right with ya here, Robyn...

Sooooooooooooooooo tired. Walk went well - punctuated and polished off by cocktails and champagne. Hot bath, bed.

I didn't leave work til quite late, and came home to some fresh scallops - delicious fried in garlic and lime juice. Spent the evening watching a scary movie on BBC1, then "We Know Where You Live, Live" on Channel 4. The entire evening was punctuated by the hum of my phone - keeping up a txt mssg conversation with my mate Ian on the other side of London about football, Monty Python sketches, Stereophonics... you name it. Isn't technology wonderful?!

It's even raining on my computer.... the Mutton Birds' Envy of Angels CD has a hidden track right @ the end of the CD - featuring a clap of thunder and the sound of rain.

Forecast for London: rain, rain, a bit more rain with a few heavy showers thrown in. Davo, you an' me is goin' to get a wee bit damp @ tomorrow's Walk for Life. Umbrellas, hup!

This CAT Users Manual is indispensable..

So I am sitting here typing, waiting for my jeans to dry so that I can go to work. Fresh out the shower (yes I know it is nearly 2pm!), in the bathrobe in front of the computer. And it starts raining again. HARD. This only means one thing - the roof is leaking again. Somehow, in cutting a hole in the roof for the velux window (makes finding stuff in the loft so much easier), someone mismeasured. So there is a window of x dimensions, and a hole of x + 1cm dimensions. Which means on days like these, water pours into the loft, down the tiles and into the bedroom cupboards. So I am in my bathrobe finding the first available towel (pale yellow no longer), and start wedging it into the crack. Then the cat decides to join me. I chase the cat, bang my head on the rafter and lose grip of my bathtowel. In front of the velux window. Oops. The neighbours have a roof extension that overlooks our roof. Big oops.

(ya see, all you sick puppies that foolishly decided not to go with the majority and vote for Davo and Tom in Cal's ickle poll, you missed your one and only chance. Don't be too upset about it... you didn't miss a thing.. )

Maybe I might just put on half-dry jeans instead, stop procrastinating, buy some lunch and go to work.....

Cal's latest poll is very, very scary. Go Davo, go !!

I do love this Flash London tube map.

I really want to know who managed to stumble across this site by searching in Altavista under +microchip +film +pics. Wha??!!! And more importantly, how the heck did it pick my page with those search terms?!!

I always wonder if it is wise to blog after copious amounts of alcohol. I guess it lessens the reticence.... and being a naturally shy person (stop sniggering in the back!), there's a lot of that around. Only thing alcohol limits is a) typing ability and b) common sense.

Tonight I was meant to go to see Absolutely Fabulous being recorded with Nick and Rodney. As I didn't get there until 6.45, and Rodney (who had the tix) didn't get there til just before then, they had already filled up the seating allocation. So we went to visit Rodney's friend in the Fridge instead. The Fridge being that huge white (elephant) building further up the road, also belonging to the Beeb (I remember when it was a wasteland!). That ickle round turret off to one side (the one you drive past on the slip road to the motorway, with that 3D globe on top) is the BBC Club bar, in which we ensconced ourselves quite happily for 3 hours. Enough time to drink 3 (cheap) pints of Guinness, anyway. The bar lady and a random (BBC) punter @ the bar wouldn't believe that I was from London - one from Donegal, one from Melbourne; both decided they had more of a London accent than I. That'll be all the moving about that I did, then.... Topics of conversation tonight: Isle of Man TT Races, blogging reasons, blogging cliques, barge holidays, daleks, recording studios........ you name it.

One of the conversations - what one should and shouldn't blog - held my imagination. When I started blogging, I didn't expect any readers - heck, I didn't know any readers! I wrote what I felt like. Then one day, someone asked me why I hadn't blogged. Day by day, people would say something that made me realise - "sh*t, people are actually reading this". This made for a conundrum - do I carry on writing what I do, or do I make sure I offend *nobody* and write almost nothing? So I have decided - I know who reads this, and I know who can identify themselves. But I will name no names. So I guess that so long as you don't blow your own cover, I'll keep writing and you can squirm in the corner if it's too close to the truth. I mean no harm, I seek merely to capture the moment. God knows I have the worst memory in the world, and I have to write it down somewhere!!

Which reminds me of an incident that occurred shortly after Christmas, but I didn't write about for fear of blowing *someone's* cover. So long as I don't reveal specifics, I can continue. Let's just say that of all the people I expected to take to a family planning clinic, it wouldn't be my gay friend ********. It was when the nurse asked her "are you particularly promiscuous? would you like some protection", that I had to leave the room to guffaw in the safety of the waiting room. It struck me as dreadfully ironic at the time, and I still giggle even thinking about it..

I trundled home tonight (after dropping Nick @ the tube and Rodney @ Hammersmith) and went round to my best mate, ate pizza and watched exceedingly dodgy Channel 4 programs until just now.. and walked home in the rain. It's saturday tomorrow. I have the keys to the office. Oh joy.

This blog has been brought to you by the number 220 (bus), Pappa et Ciccia Pizza, and a grammatical and spelling check by Rodney. G'night.

The sheer physical volume of work I have to complete before 6pm today scares the feck out of me. It looks 101% probable I will be in work again tomorrow. Oh joy.

Better stop yakking and get on with it then....

mp3s get even smaller....

This is just classic..

Back from Semisonic, great gig. Dan Wilson has a lot of charisma on that stage. Jake's an awesome drummer too.

Can't get to sleep, cute ickle Jasmine is bawling. Babies. They're great contraception....

And the damned video screwed up again and didn't record the last episode of ER. Darnit.

Here's a cute kid.. my cousin Francis (all the way from NZ)..

Database relationships are pants. My head is spinning - I know what I want it to do, and it worked 15 minutes ago. But now it's not playing. Damn.

I have been reliably informed that the voltage on the London Underground lines is only 600V.

Still not very healthy...

(and it's the current that kills you, not the voltage, btw).

Busy Day today.. my sister and my niece are coming round, as well as my little cousin Francis (22 months of blue eyes and blond curls). I am then off to see Semisonic @ the Hammersmith Apollo. Check out Jake's latest tour diary entry for an amusing read..

I spent so long sitting chopping up these pics of the blogmeet last night (awww, thanks Cal!) that I have almost forgotten what I was going to type. As it is I will have to keep it short.

I was waiting at Victoria tube station this evening, having finished a lovely meal with my dad. Standing there reading my Paul Auster book (recommended by Tom). Waiting for a Wimbledon train. It thunders down the tunnel, the lights emerging out of the darkness and a rush of wind on the platform.

At that point, (what can only be described as) a very pissed, incredibly stupid young man in a rugby shirt jumped off the opposite platform, hopped over the (live, several thousand volt) lines, and jumped onto my platform to join his friends. Stupid at the best of times, but particularly ridiculous right in front of an oncoming train. The train driver didn't stop in time. Only by some sheer luck did the guy make it to the platform, as the train was about 4cm from his foot as he scrambled onto the platform.

Needless to say, the guards freaked, the train stopped, chucked out all the passengers and went out of service. A businessman standing beside me (who had been ejected from the train, and therefore hadn't seen what had happened) started moaning about the delay, and got a stern talking to by an old lady. Apparently this had happened to the driver before (I always rely on old and seemingly deaf ladies for the best gossip!) and he had to be taken away with severe shock - last time the guy hadn't been as lucky.

a) it's really scary that the tube train took the equivilant of 2 carriages to actually come to a stop.
b) i hope the moron who jumped on the tracks was given a severe bollocking - scared the daylights out of a lot of people.
c) if the driver is anywhere *near* the state of shock I was in just watching the episode, he'll be needing more than a strong cup of tea this evening.

London. It's full of total nutters...

Cute! Tamagotchi Big Brother contestants.....

Linkomatic [via digitaltrickery].

One of the best things about my job is the fact I can listen to music whilst I work. I know a lot of employers are relaxing and letting people just get on with it, but I sure as hell don't take it for granted. At the moment I am sitting on the top floor with all the servers and stuff, whilst everyone else is downstairs. This means that I can play music through speakers rather than headphones, which is imminently less distracting, means that my colleague Nick can't creep up behind me, tap me on the shoulder and freak me out; also I am not fighting to hear whatever CD above the sounds of Virgin (or Heart or Magic) playing on the office stereo.

We don't agree on music here; everyone has very different tastes ranging from Paulo Conte, Led Zeppelin, Elvis, The Pixies, Neil Finn, R.E.M., Stone Roses, Ibiza 2000... you get the idea. Some are less tolerant of these differences than others - I draw the line at Paulo, Nick draws the line at Neil, and at least we all like the Ibiza 2000 album. When I am under pressure, I don't listen to anything; at the end of this CD I will be turning off all speakers/media players and getting on with it, as I get too involved with the music to concentrate properly. My brain follows the notes and harmonies and although I can work effectively with the music on, when under time pressure I can only listen to Ibiza or trance stuff - Nick Drake at a push.

Right now I'm on the last track of The Mutton Birds' 'Envy of Angels'. I haven't really listened to them much since last november; I went on most of their UK tour - a great experience, phenomenal music - it is so nice to come back to it with a fresh ear 6 months later. An un-sung hero; Don McGlashan's writing is so melodic and rich, the lyrics pulling at you, grabbing at your heart and mind and refusing to let go. One of those bands you don't know why you haven't encountered before, and realise immediately what you have been missing. Superb.

Lovely blogmeet, can't write as too tired and fingers not co-operating. Great to put names to faces, meet new people etc.

Have photos, will post them up when I get half a chance ;)

Hehehehehhehehe! [via momorgan.com].

I am off to a blogmeet tonight. I haven't met any of these people before.. Nick seems nice though.. hope I recognise them!

Had better get some more work done before I go. I've worked my backside off all day. Nothing changes..

I just wanted to link to this.

And more indication that knowledge is power.

Cute.

We had a powercut here today. Not that I am stressed enough with my current project deliverables; we take the opportunity of the outage to have a meeting, in which we discuss the impact of lost hours on the project. As a result, I get an extra day (good thing). And I get temporarily re-assigned to another project whilst I am waiting (bad thing). So in fact I gained more work and didn't actually gain time. Argh!

The new R.E.M. album, Reveal, is absolutely fantastic. Have had it in the computer for about 2 weeks now.... awesome.

Oh, and did I say how much I love the numbers 14 and 22? Two buses which go from down the road (well 10 minutes walk from here), to the heart of London, via the rest of it. A very civilised way to travel.... especially at midnight when the tubes are shutting down.

Rodney just mailed me to say that 8 pints is a gallon, so that was nearly a gallon of Hoegaarden I drank.

"Wot'll it be, guv'nor? A gallon of best?"
"Sure thing.. fill 'er up...."

Scary.

(Ian, I am not sure that 2 days quite counts as a pattern... ;) !!)

I don't learn.

Not content with pickling my liver on friday night, I had to go do it again last night. It's 9pm and I have just about recovered - thanks to my friend David and his 3 mates, outraging polite Putney society with our conversations at lunch. I am sure they were aghast - but it was funny as heck, and distracted me from the small matter of 7 pints of Hoegaarden I was trying to flush from my bloodstream!

Just been admiring the purchases I made yesterday - great little baby vests for Jasmine and some jasmine bath bombs for my sister. They're off to Cornwall on holiday this week, via London. Will be great to see them - Jas is getting so big now, it's scary how fast they grow ;) Hope they don't get caught up in the hurricane coming over from California..

Off to have some dinner - can't decide between miso or wild mushroom soup. Nightmare.

5 great things about London:

1. You can walk down the length of the King's Road in an afternoon whilst not on a shopping trip, and still not have change for £150.
2. You can be mad at someone for 9 months, yet stand in the Hogshead (L. Sq) and be best mates again in 20 minutes.
3. You can take a really straight friend of yours to Manto in Old Compton Street for a drink @ 11pm, and laugh as you watch him get picked/eyed up by 4 men.
4. Steve's Sounds in Little Newport Street, Chinatown. Every promo CD you could ask for, £2.
5. You get a bus driver with a mission, and make the (normally 1 hour) trip from Piccadilly Circus to the end of the Fulham Road in 25 minutes.

I wouldn't say I am sober, but I have had a really, really nice day.

Got v. pissed with my boss tonight.

*hic*

*ouch*

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor.....Explore. Dream. Discover."

- Mark Twain

This is exceedingly cool.

Nick enlightens us again - good word!!

Seems like I have to work this weekend... dammit.

Yes I voted, no I won't say what! I bumped into my neighbour / mum's colleague on my way home from work, so we went together. Her husband is American so can't vote, and this is the first time I've ever voted in person! We got a free boiled sweet too - does that count as bribery?!

I have stayed up as long as I can for the election results... been keeping one eye on Big Brother, and another on the BBC website (which has great coverage of the election). Was impressed by E4 - they've utilised digital TV technology pretty brilliantly for this (press the little round red button on your handset when you're watching BB on E4...)

Did you know... "In 1997, Hammersmith and Fulham was the 16th poorest local authority in the United Kingdom, according to official statistics". Still can't bloody afford to live there though !!!

At this precise moment: 12 seats to Labour, O to Conservative and Lib Dem. And counting...

I can't bear the tension. G'night!

Oh *bugger*. The first time my mum is actually going to be in the same country as me on my birthday in three years, I get sent to the Isle of Man on a business trip.

So I now get to sit alone in a hotel room, drowning my birthday blues in the minibar.

Yippedee doo dah!

NOT.

I'm on a roll today. I've had brain-drain for a couple of weeks - I've been finding it very hard to get back into the thinking-business, after 4 weeks spent partying it up and gigging 'til the cows go home.

But now my brain has entered the building..

(just in time to finish this super-important project, *phew*!!)

I was born on exactly the same day as Davo. Spooky.

Ahhhhhh !Memories.......

Sausage-Blog

I cooked sausages on the barbeque last night. Actually, that's a lie - I cremated sausages on the BBQ. I was being distracted by Rodney telling me about this marvellous new salmon recipe. Actually, that's a lie too - I just plain forgot about them....

All was saved by an immense bowl of delicious salad (with fresh oregano, mint and chives from the garden), boiled potatoes, and a really wicked sticky toffee pudding with organic custard. Oh, and then Belgian chocolates. From Belgium (rather than Thorntons). And a lovely bottle of wine. And a video (The Cider House Rules).

But the sausages were rather - erm - crunchy.... sorry, Rodney!!

"The distance from London to Australia is about 17,000 kilometres, but the space station is only about 400 kilometres up. Join the queue".

Ok, this is how it is going to be.

The General Election is cancelled. Instead, a parallel series of Big Brother is going to run on Channel 5. Contestants will be the leaders of each respective party (including Monster Raving Loony Party), who will be locked inside the Houses of Parliament for 10 weeks. There is to be no contact with the outside world. Each week, the contestants will have 2 nominations to expel one person. Then the general public will have a vote. After one week (and the first expulsion), a trained monkey will be voted in by the public; this monkey is trained in menial tasks, but is to have had no experience of politics whatsoever.

Each week, the contestants will have several tasks, which will decide their food allowance. Tasks include 'Save Railtrack From The Mess It's In', 'Get the NHS Running Properly", "Give Our Kids A Decent State Education" - amongst others. Contestants may work as a team if they so wish.

The last Party Leader left will control the Government until the next series is filmed. If the monkey is the only 'person' left, it will highlight what a pile of ***** our Government really is, and how even trained monkeys could do better than the current politicians running (ruining?) our country.

Tips for a happier, healthier life: don't inhale carrot juice.

*splutter*

I bought some clothes today - first time in about 6 months or a year (tour t-shirts don't count !! *grin*). A pair of jeans, a pair of chinos, and a new shirt. All of them blue. For a change. Not.

I do own other colour clothes, but blue is just so easy, practical and - well - whenever I go shopping 'blue' just happens. I did actually pick up and consider a (shock! horror!) pink top, but I figured a) I would spill something down it in 5 minutes (pale tops have magnets in them, I swear!) and b) my mum would nick it off me.

And now I am going to watch some videos, as the satellite is broken, and there is nothing on TV.

God, I lead such an exciting life...

Just been babysitting. Same kid 2 nights in a row. Lovely parents, cute kid (though it did scream v. loudly this evening for about 1/2 an hour).

Coincidentally had a call from my sis, who's been in the hospital with Jasmine - over-protective doctors etc. Nightmare. 7 hours of tests !!!!

I remember why I don't have kids yet... future's good, but mmmmmm - I think I'll just have a few more baby-less fun years before I hit the nappies...

Damnit damnit damnit.

I did try.

But yes, I have succumbed to Big Brother. C'est pas ma faute - I was babysitting last night, and there was nothing more entertaining on TV (despite 100 satellite channels). I resisted last time, but - eek - I might have to watch it again.... urgh!

You can hear Lisa Germano's song "Wood Floors" (played several times on Neil's tour) on atrecordings.com.....here is a direct link. Well worth a listen :)

Diary of a band on tour - with a difference! Read and laugh your socks off - Lunasa @ their funniest. The surrealism of seeing a trad. Irish folk band perform in Tel Aviv....oh to have been there!!

On Tuesday, I brought a few CDs in to work - hastily filched from the shelves and floor-stacks at home, I picked a cross section of stuff to listen to whilst coding. Nothing too brain-engaging (or I find myself typing lyrics into the code, nightmare!). I didn't really think much about it, I must admit.... first-grabbed-first-played sorta thang.

But then last night, out with my mate Ian (who kindly got tickets to go see the excellent Witness @ the Barfly in Camden - very good show and awesome drummer), a short discussion led to some consideration of this collection of CDs:

The Merry Sisters of Fate - Lunasa
Synchronicity - The Police
Ibiza 2000 - Ministry of Sound (mixed by Tall Paul & Judge Jules)
Reveal - R.E.M.
The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths
Blue Swan Orchestra - Goldenboy
Sandstorm - Darude

Eclectic, or just plain weird? You tell me.