Christmas 2005: The Photo Tour!!!
No I'm not drunk yet. I explain at the end, but instead of doing one of those looks back of the year, I'm going to instead show you pictures of my Christmas. Aren't you lucky.
This is my Christmas Tree. It happens to be the most homosexual Christmas tree in the world. I mean, look at it!!! It's white! Sorry, but I like my tea hot, my beer cold and my christmas trees green.
Me, Rick and Bonnie on Christmas Eve, watching the Celebrity Football Challenge Quiz on Sky. Notice my face, and how ill I look. I was not well, not well at all, and it seems that so many people were in my boat over the festive period. Well, by many, I know Alyson greeted be with 3 sneezes when I rang her, and Sarah was a bit rough too. Comes with the season, get some Vit C inside you.
When Christmas Day came, we began opening presents in earnest. Notice the look on my face when I open a DVD which I already had. Grrr.....
Of course, it was Bonnie's first Christmas too, and here she is enjoying one of her new toys, which lasted approximately 24 seconds before breaking.
After Christmas Dinner, Bonnie caught me under the mistletoe. Notice the glass in my hand, it is white wine. For the first time since "The Chester Incident", I've drunk white wine. Thank goodness the trains weren't running that day.
The remnants of the Turkey after Christmas Day. Okay, it wasn't the size of Ally's, but it's only just been finished today, with my dad eating the legs. I haven't had any of the turkey leftovers, due to me not actually liking it too much.
So that was Christmas 2005. I'll remember it with two unanswered questions: "Did that kid really say 'fuck' on Hard Spell?" and "Just when are the bins coming?" (as of today, they still haven't been emptied for around two weeks).
And this brings an end to my blog in 2005. As of now, I have no plans for what I'm actually doing for the night, and there may be the scary premonition that I could be spending it indoors for the first time since the age of 10. I hope it doesn't come to that. Nevertheless, 2005 has been a brilliant year for me, with one night in May, my graduation, Alyson coming into my life (she really is that amazing), Coldplay and me being on the radio being the personal highlights for me.
This next year should be interesting. I've got a few things planned (including working so much between now and May so that I can have the World Cup off), and I've applied for a few proper jobs which the applications are currently being processed. Who knows where I'll be, what I'll doing and who'll be with me this time next year. All I know is that I can't wait to find out.
Happy new year everybody. All the best.
Eat, Drink and Feel Good
Allow me to share a story of my battle with the bulge.
I was a fat kid, always. No two ways about it, and I kind of remained that way until around May. I had lost a lot of weight during my University days, but hovered around the 15 stone mark. It wasn't the fact that the food which I ate was rubbish, oh no, lots of fruit and veg for me, but it was the sheer quantities that made me fat. In May I felt I needed to change, and made a concensous effort to lose a bit of weight. It worked, and I dropped to a fairly lean 13.5 stone, and felt pretty good about myself when I returned to Liverpool.
When I returned my lifestyle kind of went down the toilet. I drunk more beer, ate more takeaway food and - although I walked a mile or so to work and participated in more horizontal exercising - I was generally less active. This killed me as I was often full of colds, headaches, and other niggly illnesses. I was sure I screwed over my body, and all my work over the summer went to waste.
When I returned home I weighed myself, I expected my wait to of ballooned. Suprisingly it wasn't the case, and my weight remained even. At least for a little while. When I started eating Christmas food I felt myself get fatter again.
Last night I stepped my turkey laden ass onto the scales in the bathroom for the first time in a week. Suprise suprise, up two pounds.
With that said though, I actually feel a lot better for myself. Maybe it's the week off I've had has made me feel better, but I suspect it's the great food I've eaten.
My mum doesn't believe in certain foods being frozen, least of all at Christmas. As such, all the meat and all the vegetables were the freshest of the fresh. From local places too, which still has a presence on Colwyn Bay high street. Okay, so whilst I overate, I did have a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, and fresh meat (not all of it white though, had a nice piece of gammon from the butchers, which we've had cold). I've only eaten chips twice in the past week, and one of those was a takeaway (it's tradition we need to go to our local every Christmas).
Today also marks the sixth month anniversary since I last went to McDonalds (don't ask how I know that, just accept it) and - even though Subway, KFC, Pizza Hut, Domino's, Blue Mountain and Burger King have all profited in my decision (I just think it's wrong paying for a burger with only 69 pence, what's in it can't be good) - my diet has improved. It also marks the sixth anniversary when I bought "Don't Eat This Book". I remember sitting in McDonalds reading it, and suddenly losing my appetite. I encourage everybody to read it.
So, as far as my New Years Resolution? It'll have to be able to maintain my healthy eating habits I have at home back in Liverpool. Sure, I may put on a bit of weight, but by god I'll feel better for it.
That, and stop biting my nails.
I am Saleing
Today, we did the annual 3 days after everybody else Wynne tradition, and hit the
sales.
Well, I say hit, it was more of a light brush and an apology. Never really been one for the January sales, as I rarely pick up something which I like. I picked up "Civilization: Call To Power" for a pound 2 years ago and "Mortal Kombat: Deception" for £7.99 last December. This concludes one thing, that should the title have a colon in it, then you're getting a saving. When it comes to your pocket, Colon's = Cash!
The newsies have been proclaiming the past few days how the sales have been a minor miracle for the high street, who - with the combined effect of internet shopping, the stagnent economy and the fact that it's far easier getting a CD of Bittorrent - have taken a battering recently. Shops are reporting upto 80% off 'highly desirable goods'.
After visiting Llandudno today, I call bullshit.
Take HMV, who has a "Massive" Sale on. Which is fair enough, providing you have an interest in the following areas:-
- Keep Fit Videos fronted by Soap 'babes'/Reality TV 'stars' (to lose the turkey tummy, no doubt)
- Movies that have been on TV recently
- Books by Dan Brown.
- Any computer game with the words "EA", "FIFA", "NHL", "Madden" and|or "Shit" on it (god do I hate EA Games. Challenge Everything? Craptize Everything more like. If they were a foodstuff, they'd be Turkey Twizzlers).
As none of those things appeal to me, I had no desire to spend my hard won cash.
Except on one thing. For some peculuar reason, the shops reckon that Christmas and New Years Eve are on the same day. With that in mind, they knocked down all of their calendars, including the Lucy Pinder one I was hoping for. I would of bought it at the princley sum of £2.99, had my mum not been with me. It's not the fact that I don't want her to know I'm a red blooded male, oh no. It was just that I think she'd get upset if she finds out her highland cow calender won't be put to good use.
I'll wait until I'm back in Liverpool....
All I Want For Christmas.....
Hate to say it, but I had a bloggable Christmas. So here's what happened in that overly festive 24 hours.
7:30: Woke up to hear my dad saying to my mum "What's this like being your 50th Christmas?". Fall back asleep.
8:30: Woke up....
8:31:...Bonnie makes sure of it.
9:00: The beginning of the opening of the presents, know it may be a bit dissappointing when the first present was greeted with "that's nice Rick, but I already have that DVD".
9:30: Finished opening presents, highlights:-
- Civilization IV, which I haven't played yet, due to the computer I'm on not having a DVD Drive. I've already burnt a CD with the Welsh mod on it.
- 2005: Blogged, which is edited by Tim Worstall, and features tons of blog posts.
- Screwdrivers. I was so happy! Felt like such a man!
- Highland Cow calender. I kind of expecting I would get a calender, and I had every appendage crossed it was Lucy Pinder. I'm stll happy though.
- Alyson got me a dart board as well.
10:00: I rang Alyson to thank her for her presents, got all her family singing to me down the phone. As we had a limit of a fiver, I got her a framed photo of us from a trip to Chester a few weeks ago. It was a bit risky as she doesn't like pictures of herself, but she loved it.
12:00: There's three occassions when you can drink during the day and be civilized. During the World Cup in a far away loser country, during the cricket, and at Christmas. With that in mind, I went to the pub, and heard this kid say "I want to use the special man's toilet!", whilst pointing to the disabled toilets. I'm quite aware of the season, and the nature of the comment. But I couldn't help but laughing.
1:30: Have an influx of around 4 or 5 text messages wishing me Happy Christmas. Despite me sending some this year, I'm not sure I like them. It's because I can't tell if they're individually sent or sent to a group, and it warps my fragile little mind.
3:00: Jamie Oliver's speech, which is mainly about healthy eating, and food that tastes nice. I wonders what he thinks of pringles?
3:15: Ate some Pringles, noticed the King Kong competition, and everybody has a 'chance to win' a prize texting a number printed on the tub. I texted in, and I won "the opportunity to play Peter Jackson's King Kong Game, only £29.99 from most retailers!". Oh la de da! I feel so honoured! Also won "the opportunity to drive a Ferrari, only £250,000 from a Car Dealership!".
3:30: Christmas dinner, very tasty, especially the stuffing, and sausages wrapped in bacon. If there's a finer food than sausage wrapped in bacon, then I don't want to know about it
4:15: Hangover kicks in, not good....
4:30: Watched, Toy story 2. Great film, but it has made me never throw away another toy again. Was planning to clean out my room in Colwyn Bay in the new year, not going to do it now, purely out of guilt.
8 ish: Watch the entire Ross Noble DVD I got, wasn't expecting much, but was actually plesantly suprised by it.
10:00: Actually want to go to bed, but it feels like such a waste of Christmas.
10:30: Fell asleep
Nadolig Llawen I Chi Gyd
Twas the night before Chrismas,
And all through the house,
Not a creature was sober,
Not even the mouse.
Rhys was bored wating,
For Christmas to arrive.
"I could throw a big party in here."
"As I cannot drive."
He rang up Alyson
To invite her to this feat
"Bring plenty of alcohol," he said
"And some nice tasty treats."
Alyson arrived with the booze,
And the treats and all.
"Excellent" I said "I'll ring the numbers,"
"For the third annual Bloggers Ball!"
First to arrive was Ally
With plenty of food for free.
"Don't get excited" She says, struggling
"It's my leftover turkey."
Next was Sarah, walking through the door.
"Any coffee? Or am I out of luck?"
"Alas no", Rhys answers, "Nay mind."
"I've brought my own from Starbucks."
Jenny and Jacob and Lottie were next.
They're the people from Punclox.
"It's great", says Jake, "but maybe next year"
"Rhyme us with something else, bar socks."
Mike, Ian and Pete arrived as well.
As did Roland, Loki and Vicky from Japan.
People came from far and wide to attend.
Including Fern and Dan.
The reason? To see him,
The man who makes Christmas tick.
As, dead on Midnight, he came down the chimney.
Jolly old St. Nick.
"You always have the best party.
And this time, it's such a sight.
So Merry Christmas to one and all.
And to all, a fucking good night!"
Merry Christmas to all my readers.
A Troublesome Smile
I generally big myself up too much on this blog, one such area is in my personal life. I'm lucky to have one woman chase after me, let alone two. I've never been put in a situation where two women have been fighting for my charms. I've got a lovely girlfriend in Alyson, but I've yet to be tested.
Until last night.
I went out with Mike (the last of my housemates still in Liverpool) for a little pre-christmas drink. We ended up in Flanagans in Liverpool, which is an Irish bar on Matthew Street, as a few people he knew from bowling were there. To be honest, I wasn't feeling 100%, so I kind of stayed in the background, nursing my pint, and looking around the room, where I made eye contact with a girl. I did the honest thing, smiled, and looked away, and thought nothing of it.
Except she didn't.
I started speaking to Mike at this point, making huge amount of eye contact with him, as I felt her eyes staring a hole into the side of my head, thinking about the empty chair to the side of me, and praying to god she didn't sit down. God didn't answer my prayers, and she sat down beside me.
She was quite a large woman, and about twice my age, and didn't seem to have a clue where she was at. She started by trying to sit on my lap, then jokingly slipped off. To say she was drunk would be an understatement: she had blood poisioning in her alcohol stream. Now, I felt myself out of my depth and doing something I've never done before, trying to let her down as gently as possible.
I failed.
I did my absolute best to be honest. I mentioned Alyson, and she said "She won't know, c'mon, just you and me. Bit of festive spirit" (or words to that effect), and repeated over and over again that I was flattered, but not interested. Her arm started stroking my leg. My free leg was then used to kick Mike under the table, which is the internationally recognised symbol for "Lets get the hell out of here.". I said my goodbyes, she tried to follow. I told her no.
Finally, she listened.
Even now though I do feel guilty. I mean, I looked over to her mates when I was leaving, and they looked at me like I was Hitler. I looked back with a "sorry" expression on my face, as Mike - being the mate he is - told the world of my male whority.
I could write a song, a hundred miles long, that's where I belong, and you belong with me...
Last night was spent in the company of my mum, my two brothers, a guy with fantastic knitware (more on later), and around 20000 people. Of which, four were
Coldplay.
Nonchelant comments will forever be the death of me. Back in August, my mum asked me if I'd like to see Coldplay, I said yes. Three and a half months down the line, here I am, watching them, and £35 worse off.
Not that it matters.
Put it shortly: amazing. Coldplay are the best band in the world at the moment, bar none. I was a bit unsure of what to expect, as I haven't sat down at a gig since Feeder.
Firstly the support was Richard Ashcroft. I was sceptical at first when announced, as - I'll be honest - I was hoping that he'd play some Verve songs. Thank the good Lord he did. "The Drugs Don't Work" being a personal highlight for me, as I said last week, it's one of my favourite songs ever.
It was during this perfomance that I realised who I was sitting next to. He will forever known as Mr. Knitware, sporting a tank-top, a dodgy shirt and chinos. He was in his 50's, and - whilst I'm not saying that Coldplay's tunes are not enjoyed by all - he did look more out of place than Brad Pitt at a Star Trek Convention. After every Ashcroft song I was greeted with "WOOOOOOOOO!". Not a Ric Flair style "WOOOOOOOO!", but a very forced, husky "WOOOOOOOO!"
It got worse when Coldplay were on.
The image - whilst not fantastic - kind of gives an impression of where I was in the arena. What you can't see is how far I had to lean over to take that picture. Mr. Knitware was holding his mobile up in my face so that his friend could hear the concert down the phone. It's not that I'm being ungreatful, as I think he knew, yet he still did it. It was just very annoying, and - whilst didn't spoil the concert in any way, did kind of peeve me for a short while.
With that considered though, I was happy of my location. Sure, it wasn't at the front, but I did feel like I got a better experience, as you saw some amazing sights, such as during "Yellow", they dropped 15 or so huge balloons filled with glitter on the audience.
Another such moment was during the final song: "Fix You", which would probably go down as the single coolest gig experience of my life. Seeing mobiles and lighters being waved in the air, with 20000 people singing "Lights will guide you home....", and seeing them all from above was so, so cool.
From my vantage point I could also see probably the most humourous point in the gig. At one point, Chris Martin (whenever I type it, I always type Christ Martin......hell, he's a veggie, anti-war, and people come from all around to see him. Wouldn't suprise me if he was the second coming.) ran to the back of the arena, and 20000 plus people turned their heads away from the stage. I know that they share out all the profits equally and it's a 100% democratic band, but for the other three (see, I don't even know their names), it must get a bit demoralising being at the front of a stage, and not a single soul is watching you.
However, should you ever get the chance to see them, do so. Whatever you do, don't stay in our hotel. £100 a night (which I didn't pay), and it was cold, and had this wallpaper.
I'm sure it's a ploy so you can check out on time.
And the pen I nicked doesn't work.
Gomen ne!
On Friday in work I was busy sorting out goneaways. Goneaways are when you recieve mail at your address that was intended for someone else, and are sent back to us. For whatever reason, there are usually thousands, and this week were no exception. Usually I have a little giggle at the names; with "Mr Cock", "Mrs Gay" and a "Mr P Nis" being occassional occurrance. Sometimes, the person who sends us back this mailig has a little giggle, the one I remember was a Mr. Love, and the person wrote
Love Ain't Here Anymore on the envelope. However, letter number 586 (give or take a few) made me almost scream "Oh my god! That's so cool!".
It's hard to believe but I honestly did scream that. Why you ask? Well, first of all may I slap you for asking such a stupid question, and read on.
I loved Street Fighter II as a kid, and played it non stop (literally, non-stop). I even bought endured the god-awful C64 version as I was poor and didn't have a Super Nintendo until when Street FIghter 2: Turbo came out. Admittedly, I did prefer Blanka (who's name is derived from the spanish "Blanco", as he was a white man born in Brazil. Though his skin changed colour, apparently), and Chunners was one of my least favourite characters. I don't know why, probably because I was a male chauvanist at a early age and women shouldn't be in fighting games, probably because the bitches knee lift move countered Blanka's electricity every fucking time, probably because I thought my mates were sad when they had it for the Super NES and paused it when you could see her underwear.
Anywho, call me sad but I really want to meet this Miss Chun Li. Obviously, I don't know where she lives or anything (as it was a goneaway, and the address she was at is located in China. Either way, should I run into her, I would shake her hand, and ask her if she's aware she's got a fictional character named after her.
She probably wouldn't, and proceed to lightning kick my arse to oblivion.
Any other Street Fighter memories from all you gamers out there?
Hello, I'm William Shakespeare. I make gay merriment of the poor, the drunk and the fair maidens of this world!
Last night I went to see my housemate perform in
Taming of The Shrew in the
Liverpool Academy 2 in the Guild. He played Petrucio, who (from what I could understand) was a horny alcoholic from Scotland. He had trouble learning his part, as in real life, he's actually a horny alcoholic from Nottingham.
Firstly, may I just say I've studied Particle Physics in my time, and that was easier to understand than this. My housemate warned me by saying even the biggest Shakespearians have trouble understanding. Instead, we spent the best part of the play trying to understand it. However, it didn't help with unobvious sexual innuendos which had me giggling. Even though it was tricky to follow, it was not the most nonsensical thing heard all day. That honour falls to a drunken text message I recieved from Alyson.
Now the good thing. They seemed to put a lot of physical comedy into it which made it funny, and you couldn't fall asleep through it. That was largely due to my mate, who has taken over my position as "The loudest member of the house", more than once, I was not paying full attention, and when he came on stage, I quite literally soiled myself. They interacted with the crowd a lot, and we were sat in one scene with my Petrucio-playing mate stood just to the left of me in the isle. Thankfully, the temptation to shout something or look up his kilt was resisted, but man it was hard.
We went to the after show party, where dispite theatrical luvvies saying "Oh darling! You were marvellous.", we managed to get a few words in. He sneaked in a bottle of wine to the pub (told you he was an alcoholic :P). We left soon after, to play Mario Party, and to discuss the possibilites of creating Mario Party: The Musical. (How cool would that be?).
If you are in Liverpool, and fancy something a bit cultured for a night out, go and see it tonight in Liverpool University. It's the last night tonight. Then go to the Liver, and tell him that Rhys sent you, and he was fabulous. Cheers!
The Good, The Bad and The Scrabbling
Hello! Just thought I'd let you know a few things that's happening at the moment in my life.
- I think I'm far too forgetful. I don't know, I've been detatched from my family for near enough the past two months, and things that happened in the summer I cannot remember. What am I talking about? Monday I'm going to see Coldplay! It had completely slipped my mind. Luckily I was able to book Tuesday morning off as I'll probably stay in Manchester that day, and I feel so excited. Also, Richard Ashcroft (front man of the Verve) is also performing. That's two more of the bands I'd like to see crossed off. Only Radiohead, Oasis and Muse remain!
- Secondly the bad. Last Thursday we took in one of my mates who's having trouble with a few of his housemates. I've been debating how to post this, so I will. We all went out for a few beverages largely to give him a night out, and then he came back to ours, and 'for a laugh' woke me up at 2am, and ransacked my room. I was seething and was wide awake for another hour. I spoke to him the next day and promised to return the stuff, but still thought it was funny. At no point did he apologise for what he done, as it hurt. It's not nice to have stuff stolen, even if it's still somebody you knew, and the way he did it was pathetic. Yesterday I talk about respect for people. I lost a lot of respect for him last Thursday.
Finally, I have been playing Scrabble again, with the new Internet Scrabble Club. It evokes memories of a simpler time back in High School, when I was in the Scrabble club, and represented my school in the North West finals, that was covered by the Young Telegraph. We finished second, thanks largely to us winning three games. By us, I mean my partner, who won all three games. I lost my three. The Young Telegraph had a bit of a field day to make the media trouble surrounding Alex Ferguson light. Beaten, I existed a Bobby Fisher style existence for the rest of my days, (by only playing scabble over the internet, not the fact I deny the Holocaust or anything like that). On ISC I'm known as "rhyswynne". Challenge me should you join. And dare.
And that's that. No word on anything more interesting in my life. But you'd be the first to know. Or second. More likely tenth.
Somewhere To Call Home
Do you ever give money directly to the homeless?
From a young age I was told not to. The "homeless" in Colwyn Bay when I was little were actually beggers, often with a roof over their head. I did give 10p to one once, and he followed me down the street asking me for more money. Personally, and this is quite harsh, but I just don't know what my 10p was used for. However recently, on the way to work, I saw about 3 or 4 people in front of me give to this homeless guy in the street. I don't know why I thought this was peculular, just I was taught not to give to the homeless.
If I was feeling in a good mood, I would generally subscribe to Sarah's theory of giving to the homeless. She generally bought a soup or a bacon butty for them. She said that - in general - they're extremely happy to recieve that. I could see Alyson subscribing to that theory, but - knowing what a kind hearted soul she is - she'd probably welcome them with open arms, piggy back them back home, bathe them, cook them a full meal and send them back onto the street with a hat, scarf and a bag of tasty treats.
I mean, I always try and treat people with a general bit of respect. If people are homeless and ask for change, I do smile and apologise. There was an incident in the first year where a homeless guy came upto us on the street and asked for change. Instead of giving it to them, one of the students in front of me (generally the kind which I don't get on with, who only got into university because daddy paid for him) threw money at the poor fellow and laughed in his face. I just couldn't do that to anybody, it just doesn't seem right.
Sometime in the future, I'd probably give to some homeless charities, as I believe that, given a little bit of a push in the right direction, those who are homeless could make a success of their life. Not that they will be the next Bill Gates or anything, but they could easily get a roof over their head. I don't at the moment, as I'm not horrendously well off myself (don't flame me with the "well, these people have nothing" arguement) and - in my opinion - charity begins at home.
Burnin' Down The House
One of the perrenial links on my sidebar is
GorillaMask.net. I found it's intelligent discussion and topical debate mentally stimulating.....only kidding, I go there as it has pictures of ladies with very little on and funny stuff which appeal to my boyish humour (hypocritical?
Oh yes...). The owner loves family guy, loves silly humour, and has the disinct honour of being the only American to be able to out-drink yours truly. I swear, if he'd move to the UK, learn the intricacies of football and denounce every American 'sport' (with the exception of basketball, and maybe ice hockey), then it would be the best site ever.
One of the links today was that rarity of things: a meme that is actually intresting. Drawahouse.com bills itself nicely: it's a website which you draw a house on, and can tell your personality from it. Or so it says. Nevertheless, I was impressed "Oooh!", I thought "Graphic Recognition software has improved leaps and bounds recently!". For a good few minutes, I spent constructing this wonder of modern architecture....
The next screen was so dissappointing though. Instead of analysing my brush strokes and complex algorithms, they instead asked me questions relating to Chez Rhys (what I called it). "Does it use straight or wavy lines?". There was no option "well, they should be straight, but because it's easier to play the piano with your knees than it is to draw with the mouse, they're curvy", so I plumped for yes. After 10 questions that made the whole drawing process redundant, I got the usual sugar coated blurb from meme's:-
" You are sensitive and indecisive at times. You are a freedom lover and a strong person. You are shy and reserved. If you've drawn a cross on each of windows, you always want to live alone. You are very tidy person. There's nothing wrong with that because you're pretty popular among friends. Your life is always full of changes.
You will avoid being alone and seek the company of others whenever possible. You love excitement and create it wherever you go. You have a strong personality and you like to command, influence and control people.
You added a flower into your drawing. The flower signifies that you long for love. It also safe to say that others don't see you as a flirt. You don't think much about yourself."
I wasn't expecting an in-depth look into my pysche, I admit. I don't know what I was expecting from my readout, but - by god - I was expecting the computer to look at my house and tell me things relating to it. Even if it could recognise a flower I'd be impressed, but oh no. It's dissappointing, like finding out that there's no santa claus, or recieving a text only to find out it's from O2.
I suppose I expect too much from computers. I believe they will take over the world, and - as much as Alyson hates it - are capable of anything. I refuse to accept their limitations, which probably meant I clicked on that link slightly dewey eyed.
It's an interesting destraction, nonetheless.
Firefox? Unfucked!
Just so it doesn't get deleted and lost in the bowels of time, may I just use this post to reiterate my
Firefox woes. Thankfully, with thanks to
these wonderful people in my comment box, I managed to get it fixed. It turned out that one of the extensions -
Adblock, was a bit dodgy in updating, so instead of updating it via the normal way, you had to go to the
firefox extension site and re-download it.
Problems solved.
The only other newsworthy item was the World Cup Draw in Lepzig, Germany. The three big stories from it (assuming the fact that most of my readers come from the UK, US or Australia) is that England have Trinidad & Tobago, Sweden and Paraguay. That has been tipped to be an easy group, which means they are going to struggle. The United States (who were a massive bogey team) have Italy, Ghana and Czech Republic. My prediction for that would be "bye bye Italy!". Australia, who are finally in the World Cup have a stern test in Brazil, Croatia and Japan. The Socceroos, I fancy, could squeeze into second behind Japan.
As a neutral, I watched the draw with curiosity as opposed to interest. However, one thing that I couldn't help thinking.
Considering it was drawn by normally efficient Germans, they didn't half take their time, didn't they?
Firefox? Fucked....
Last night, I downloaded the new
Firefox v1.5. I love Firefox, and I can't see how anybody else would not find it useful. I converted
Sarah, on my way to converting Alyson, and was so chuffed when Tom's new girl (she's not technically his girlfriend) was chuffed to bits when she found out that Tom used it (as a direct result of yours truly). If I ruled the world, and here's hoping, it would be on every single computer.
However, I downloaded the new version, and I felt something I thought I never would.
Dissappointment.
Hell, I love Firefox so much that is probably my fault (I downloaded the US version, not the English conversion, as it's not out yet. By virtue of Progressive Geographical Bug Fixing), but it's being dead arsey with my computer.
I would like to keep it, as I've updated almost all of my extensions associated with it, but if anybody's got any ideas of what's gone wrong, I will resort to the good ol' blighty version.
Firstly, I'm having trouble viewing certain images. The images are mainly on reputable sites (such as the Beeb's website) which I know are not broken links , as I've tried them on **shudder** internet explorer.
The second, and more worrying problem is that it's seemingly incompatible with Flash. I have been to a number of websites with Flash and none of them seems to work. It meant that the link that Fern posted a few days ago which can recognise people's faces didn't work, and I had to view it in **shudder** internet explorer. (Incidentally, I came out looking like Gabriel Batistuta and James Dean, I so rule).
If anybody has any ideas on why that's not working, they would be greatfully recieved.
Silence Is Golden
My alarm (which plays the theme from Zelda, I'm so cool) awoke me at quarter to eight for the usual time. Slumberarily, I awoke:-
"Yawn! Fuck! It hurts to yawn! Fuck! It hurts to talk!"
The world breathed a sigh of relief, as I was destined to partake in an impromptu unsponsored silence. Nevertheless, the folks at the call centre would probably not pay me for sitting there in silence, so I took a day off. "Brilliant!" I thought (as I couldn't speak) "A day off!".
My, how wrong I was.
Anybody knows me knows that I'm a loud bastard. No, not with tender moments in the bedroom (I'm usually quietly greatful), just generally. It drove my old boss and my brother insane, the fact I'm loud. If you can't sing good, sing loud. That's me. With the absence of a chalkboard, I was struggling through lunch by clicking my fingers or sending text messages to people sat at the opposite side of the table to me (two of my housemates are half deaf, so any form of whispering was impossible).
The worst thing though was the post office, which was just painful. If you listen intently, you could just hear me. However, with thick bomb proof glass, I was struggling.
The other thing that bothered me was "How did I manage as a student?". I sat around the house doing nothing. I hope I'm not turning into my dad who has to do something for every working minute, but after watching a rubbish game show called Sudo-q, I sat around doing nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. In the end, I got a bit bored and went out, but I honestly thought like I was throwing my life away. I shudder to think how I coped being a student.
Sex Sells
I read
this article with earnest. In one hand I feel I should reply. After all, my house is full of the magazines mentioned, and I've got posters with pictures of the 'best breasts' and women with very little clothing.
On the other hand, I agree with almost all of what she says.
I've actually seen the effect on so many people. The article says "With readers as young as 10- to 12-year-old boys, according to some surveys, what type of men will result?". I can tell you what type of men result. A few months ago when I worked in the Zoo I was working with kids usually a lot younger than me. One of them was exactly the "lad" type that is meantioned in the article. I was going through my breakup with Sarah, and - although I rarely let it be known on my blog - I was miserable. I meantioned this to somebody who probably opitimises the kind of "lad" brought up with reading Daily Star and FHM at bedtime. "Oh, I've split up with my girlfriend.", I said. Being the sensitive soul that he was, he said that I was an "idiot", and I should of kept her as a "fuck buddy".
Of course, he was the worse case scenario, and the article does talk about kids reading them at 11 and growing up too quickly, which I perfectly agree with. Kids do grow up far too quickly (I was 18 when I bought my first FHM, and I generally just stuck to Computer & Video Games Magazine, and Match magazine). There are also aspects of the magazine I don't agree with (I felt the "win a boob job for your girlfriend" was enormously bad taste). But there's a lot that I do enjoy reading (a few have a "blog watch", which looks at blogs which would appeal to young males - quite why I haven't been featured is unbelievable).
I suppose that's why they're so popular. Lads mag generally aim for those people who are interested in beer, fashion, cars, girls, facts, the Premiership and Abi Titmuss. With the exception of the Premiership (which I'm a bit indifferent to), fashion (as I'm not fashionable) and Abi Titmuss (who I can not stand), I read everything in the magazines. Why? I suppose it's escapism, like a Mills & Boon novel, or a computer game. I mean, half of it is pure fantasy, be it sexual or otherwise (such as anything mentioned about England's world cup chances). With a discussion with my mate we do agree that some parts are just stupid, and we are quick to moan about parts we don't like (the fact that this weeks Nuts has no "Real Life Story" has angered me.
These magazines are popular and will continue to be. Not only with men though, but also with women. Admittedly most women who I know who read it read it because their boyfriends/housemates/I have it, but I know a few who legitimately buy it every week. I spoke to a few of them asking them if they would ever pose in those magazines. Most say they would, but just for the money. Some would do it for an ego boost, and a couple who said they wouldn't.
Admittedly it is just a straw poll, but I'm throwing this out to my readers (especially female), if FHM, for example offered you a chance to be in a photoshoot, would you take it? If so, how much for (if anything), and if you don't, why not?
Bye Bye My Apple Pie
Morning everybody. This weekend was spent with Alyson who came down to stay for a night, playing the recently purchased
Pirates!
(which is amazingly good fun), and going to the quiz.
The Hope and Anchor quiz is a weekly occurance. Teams of any number compete to win a crate of beer, a certain amount of money and some groceries. To win one of the grocery prizes if you managed to get a line across the Blockbusters stylee-board, the money is won by getting a question nearest to the correct answer (the question was last night: "How many white keys are on a piano?" The answer was 52, the closest was 51), and the beer is won by whoever gets the most questions correct.
One of the grocery was a selection of Asda Apple Pies. We managed to beat a number of teams, including a team that managed 8/40. According to them:-
- The capital of Hong Kong is Beijing.
- The biggest office (in land area) in the world is the CNN tower.
- There's no point going for a field goal in American Football, as it's worth 0 points.
We won the Apple Pies (and did pretty average in the quiz), but we were dissappointed. Here's the box for them:-
Mmmmm....don't they look tasty?!?! With their puff pastry top. Well, unfortuantely, that wasn't the case.
There is no puff pastry top! How dare they! Now, you probably think that this isn't worth complaining about, but if anybody has studied the thermodynamics of apple pies may know that sticking them in a microwave without a puff pastry top will cause them to explode. Which they did.
Asda - if I'm not busy - will recieve an angry email.
Friday Quiz!
This has been doing the rounds in work at the moment, as well as around websites I visit. It's quite big, but it's quite fun.
Click for bigger.
This picture has somehwere in the region of 75 band and artist names. We've managed around 33 bands, with around 50 by cheating on the internet. Leave your answers in the comment box below, and I'll put the list of the ones I've got sometime next week!
Not drinking doesn't make you live longer, it only seems that way.
This blog has been appearing in my stats quite a lot recently. The reason?
This post regarding the 24 hour drinking, which linked my post entitled
"The Nation's Biggest Lock-In". Reading that post over and over again, it kind of disturbed me. Not in a bad way, but it seems that people who read that post would think that I am against it (like the writer). Nothing personal against the writer, and I respect his opinion, but I don't agree with what he says and I don't want people to come here from his site to think that I'm against the 24 hour laws, so this post I hope will set things straight, and - you never know - I may get a rarity on this blog, an intelligent discussion.
I'd also like to point out that I'm an antheist and have no interest in politics. Call me selfish or ignorant, but I believe that as long as you're nice to people, you can believe whatever you want.
Last night, I had 5 cans of carling, 1 can of Kronenbourg and a bottle of Corona (no lime, I'm so hardcore!). By definition, I was binge drinking, which is defined as "more than 5 drinks in any one sitting" (the fact I stood up 4 times to go to the fridge, I contest this point), however I don't want to talk about my drinking habit, just the fact that drinking is constantly linked to abuse (which kind of irks me).
The drinks I had last night were in the comfort of my own home, and I'm quite aware of the damage drinking in excess does, hell, it killed George Best, and I have cut down a lot recently, primarily due to more work and less money. However, I am prone to the occassional tipple. The only damage my binge drinking was doing was to both myself and Yoshi on Mario Kart (it made me realise that should I ever get behind a wheel when drunk, then I'm as good as dead). I certainly was not more agressive, macho or violent.
I understand not everybody is the same as me, and there are people who want to go out and kick off every friday night. However, whilst alcohol is the fuel to some of these problems, it's not to all of them, and there are many people (myself included) who go out and have a few drinks and cause no trouble. I myself can only remember seeing about 3 fights in Liverpool since I've been here.
I went out last Friday night on the first weekend of possible 24 hour drinking, and I could honestly see no difference. In fact, if anything it was a little quieter. My logic was that people were staying in pubs until 12:30, clubs would be less busy, as I would normally pay to enter a club after midnight, but wouldn't want to stay for just half an hour, so would end up staying the night. If there was rowdiness on the streets, I honestly didn't see it. I didn't see it before, and I don't see it now.
As far as breaking up families and affecting health, then yes. However, like tobacco and drugs, alcohol effects people in different ways. My dad, for example, is the worst person in the world to be hungover with. Me and my mum are quite chirpy and get on with it (sleeping, that is). If there are underlying problems, then alcohol will accentuate it, but with 95% of the people with no problems, why should we be punished?
We're not the only country with a high consumption of alcohol, we are behind many of our northern european neighbours in terms of alcohol consumption, and other nations such as Australia, Japan and Canada have laxer drinking laws. All of those countries (with the exception of Finland and Denmark) have far lower crime rate than we do.
I mean, there are other factors why people binge drink. The phrase "drowning away your sorrows" is popular amongst these parts. I just think, given the opportunity, people would not be drunk for 24 hours as what the doom-mongers predicted.
The adverts for alcohol encourage you to drink responsibly, it's nice now that we can prove that we do.
