I'm just going to take this opportunity to apologise to my girlfriend, I'm sorry, guitar hero 3 is out here soon. I love you more than it, I promise, even if it might not seem that way for a while.

Well, I always said I stayed for the community...

So it's a bloody shame the community is fucking off less than a month after I renewed. You're all bastards.

Seriously though, it's very strange. About 3 years ago I made a group picture for SGUK, I'd been a member of the group for almost as long as I'd been on the site, but at that point I'd never made it to a meet. The picture was a riff on the Sean of the Dead poster, with various prominent members of the group taking the place of the encroaching zombies, and Traumatron as Sean in the middle of it all. These were people that were really at the core of the group, and played a huge role in making it the fantastic time-draining place that it was. I don't have a copy of it to hand (I think it remains buried in an old backup hard drive somewhere) but as I recall there were 10 people in it, and I'm pretty sure if you head out to the next SGUK meeting you'll only see one of them.

I guess many people from my friends list have come and gone over the years, but never so many at once. The set and the surrounding brouhaha has really been the last straw for so many that have watched the site go downhill recently. It was a sad illustration of the mess it is becoming, and will go down as an event as significant in its history as the HBO special, only even more negative than opening the floodgates to the general-fucktard populace.

I'm not leaving, like I said, I'm paid up for about 11 months still, but I'm wondering what really there will be to stay for now the community I've loved is dying. I might be a fair bit quieter around here I guess, we'll see what happens to SGUK when the dust has settled, but we've already found a new home elsewhere, and I have a feeling that's where a lot of my time will be spent now.

*sigh*

It really was fun while it lasted.

I guess it's like when your favourite pub/club/bar closes down, that old haunt you've spent so many years in. I'll still see the people (really, the people that have had the biggest impact on my life in the last 5 years have come from this site, and I know I won't be losing them) but it's just not the same. Better, worse, who knows, but never the same.

So, I went away. To Graz, which is in Austria. I'd not been before. I took lots of pictures.

I was only there for two nights, the main purpose of which was to meet some more of my lovely lady's family and friends. Perhaps making me watch Two Days in Paris just a fortnight beforehand wasn't the wisest move, unless her plan was to scare me. For those that don't know, it's about a couple - an American man and a French woman - going to Paris for two days (you wouldn't have guessed that bit at all, right?) There's a significant language barrier as he only knows a handful of French phrases, and this makes his encounters with her parents and friends... well, difficult.
I will say though, despite sometimes significant language barriers, nothing went as horribly wrong for me as it did for them, comedically or not, they all seemed to rather like me, and things ended much better for us than they did for Julie Delpy and Adam Goldberg. I had fun. (Honestly, more than I thought I would)
And I got to do some sightseeing.
Graz is pretty, but quiet. It was European City of Culture not too many years ago, but I can't see it having had much effect on tourism 'cause even on a Saturday lunchtime there were few people around the tourist attractions we saw. Compared to the heaving crowds of Prague I saw last year, well, it felt like there weren't any tourists at all.
We took the tram to the top of the Schlossberg, which offers amazing views of the city, and there was only one other group of people on it.


It lacks skyscrapers, or even too many eyecatching buildings in its skyline, to be honest it's much prettier viewed from the ground, walking around the streets, but it was still a lovely view.
You're probably wondering about this thing...



That's the Kunsthaus, and it's such a shame we only had time to see it from the outside! You can read a bit about it here, but it's basically an amazing looking gallery, inside and out. Certainly one I'll be making time for on the next trip.

For such a quiet, and seemingly largely very traditional, place, Graz has some amazing juxtapositions of style. For example, this is the giant clock on the Schlossberg that can be seen from the city below.


Very much the traditional look you'd expect. But then you come across something like this...



Which is actually the wall of the train station. It takes no time at all to get from one to the other, and it's strange to be wandering through such traditional architecture and then being hit with something so alien.

Aaaannnd, I've just realised the time. I have to be up at 4:15 to go to London.
Yeah, I'm excited about it.
But I shall continue this tomorrow. Maybe if I split it up people might read it all anyway

I have many pictures, the combination of regular camera and iPhone was lovely, the iPhone can take some really nice pictures (shame it doesn't perform better in low light), and it was thanks to it I got this picture, on my first day riding trams...



It really was a trip worth taking

I'll also be putting lots more pictures on Flickr than ever make it on here, so if you're interested, look that up

I just got an essay back from my OU course, the question of which was "Was the sixties really a time of exceptional change?" There was a note on the bottom (one of many) that said simply "Bibliography?"
I wanted to reply with a simple note pointing out that to require a bibliography I'd have had to have read a book in my preparation for the essay. As I have the same tutor for my new course I have decided against it
Seriously though, this course has been a joke. I read the assignment question before I looked at the book for the module, got about 10 pages into the book and decided it was telling me nothing I needed to hear, and just got on with it. For the record, I largely said no, it wasn't; and they gave me 60% - far and away over the pass mark, though I have had better from the course. I think it's this attitude to homework that has always made me comfortable in exams. Exams are meant to strip away all those things you're meant to do when preparing for a big essay - research, planning, drafts and rewrites - and leave you with nothing but your wits and the bare minimum of time. But those are the conditions I wrote almost every piece of schoolwork I ever did under, so exam conditions have always been quite comfortable for me.
That said, this opening course had fuck all to do with my degree, well, one and a quarter assignments out of 9 were to do with it, so nearly fuck all. As so many of you asked, I'll just be lazy and state here, my degree is in English. The new course is actually about English, and it's already so much more entertaining. I've been reading the course books, watching the DVDs, taking notes, I even had to install Windows on my Macbook (I know, believe me, I know, but it's only running in emulation in its little bubble under OS X) to use the strange interactive DVDs and participate in some upcoming online interactive tutorials or some such strangeness. I'd say in this first week I'm verging on having done as much actual studying as I did in the preceding 9 months. I am currently very glad indeed I made the choice to go back to education (honestly, during the last course, I wasn't so sure) so, good week there already.
On top of which, I worked my little fingers to the bone and managed to fit the 4 days work I was given into 2 and a half, go me. As I have tomorrow and Monday off work that makes for a rather decent sized weekend
Today I have mostly been playing with this


Dear lord, it's hot sex. Such a beautiful user experience, I can hardly describe it. Get one. Really.
And get AceT to tell you how to unlock it properly I had an issue, simple really, I left the AT&T sim card in when I unlocked it. It didn't occur to me it would need my o2 one in there, that's the point of unlocking, right? To be able to put anything in there. Well, not quite. I needed to do it with the o2 sim in there from the start, and doing it the other way did things to the phone I didn't have a clue how to undo. He very patiently walked me through things I didn't fully understand (seriously, un-fucking it was SO much more complicated than cocking it up in the first place ) until I had a working phone. He's a champ. Combine that with actually buying the thing and sending it to me and he's a bloody superstar.

Tomorrow I'm off to Austria for the weekend. I'm told it's not all Nazis and Julie Andrews. We'll see.

I hope to return with pictures.

If it wasn't for the fact I have a cold trying to sneak up on me this week would be pretty flawless. I guess it'll do as it is though

Payday on Tuesday too

Happy face

I just cannot fucking sleep tonight. It's nearly 2am and I'm not tired, at all.
I don't know why, I got up about the same time as usual, worked for about as long as usual, did about as much as I usually do when I got home. Yet for some reason my body doesn't think this was enough to warrant me getting some rest.
It could be because my brain is very awake. It has had a lot to do tonight. I spent the evening writing (by hand no less) my final assessment for my OU course. This is only the first course of 5 I need for a degree, but it's a major milestone nonetheless. It felt weirdly foreign to write so much with a pen, I'm trying to remember the last time I wrote much more than a postcard by hand, and I'm sure I haven't written for 2 hours solid since I finished 6th form - and that was nearly a decade ago. I'll march it up to the post office in the morning, and then I'll be done with the course. No idea how long I have to wait for the mark, but as the first course was merely pass/fail and doesn't count toward the weighting of the degree I'm not really bothered as I'm sure it's enough to get past the minimum. No nervous letter opening for me, not this time anyway. No break before the next one though, my second course starts next week, and from here on every assignment will directly affect the final grade. Guess I should start taking them seriously (really, the first course was a joke. If that's a true reflection of the workload of first year students it's no wonder they have so much time to get drunk) as I'm now officially working toward my future. I'm very happy to say, however, that reading through the preliminary course materials has filled me with excitement, it looks interesting, stimulating, and maybe even a little challenging. Who'd have thought?
Other than that, well, my life hasn't been too adventurous of late. I've been working lots in order to make money, and I've been doing little in order to save money. As a result my finances are in an incredibly positive state, and I rewarded myself with a little present.

It is winging its way to me now I eagerly await the postman. Very, very eagerly.
I decided not to wait, just to get an American one and hack it, because the price (of both the phone and the contract) was more than I wanted to pay. I'll be sticking with my cheap out of contract call plan, but benefiting from all those lovely iPhone features, best of both worlds And I figure if I change my mind and want those few extras that only the official contract can provide, well, then I can sling it on eBay as an unlocked iPhone and probably make a profit from it. I read they're going for as much as $1700 is Russia. People are nuts.
In 10 days I'm off to Austria for a couple of days. I don't really know what to expect, it's probably not somewhere I'd have thought of visiting if left to my own devices. I'm sure you can all guess why I'm going I've been told the basics, but I've never really gone anywhere before knowing so little about it, or having so few preconceptions. I've never even seen The Sound of Music. Still, I'm looking forward to it. I'm going for the people, not the place, and I know it won't disappoint on that front, but fingers crossed that the place ends up capturing my imagination too.

Right, about time I had another shot at getting some sleep. Bit ridiculous this whole being awake at 2:20 business. Wish me luck.

What's the worst thing you've ever smelt?

I ask because I went to a sewage plant today. I know what you're thinking, my job sucks sometimes, right? It was pretty smelly outside, it was pretty smelly in the offices, but this place is special. I assume because it's built on the coast, and they don't want strong off-shore winds whipping the shit-stink across the countryside, it's indoors. Yes, an indoor sewage treatment works. But, doesn't that really capture all the horrible smelly gasses you ask? Why yes, yes it does. The main plant room is the worst thing I've ever smelt. It's actually so noxious that this building, that was only built in 2001, is being closed soon to have rebuilding and redesigning done, because the fumes are actually eating the concrete away. I'll say that again, the smell is so bad it destroys concrete.I managed to test one thing (which I failed, HA) before walking out. I, quite literally, did not sign up for that shit. So, client angered, employer angered, some other poor fucker that has to go finish the job some other time angered no doubt, but I'm far away from the collected, distilled, and uncovered shit and piss of 50,000 of Norfolk's scummiest residents.

Upon recounting the story of my day to my mum, I wondered why the guy was so annoyed that I wouldn't go on. Why, given that all he was assigned to do all day was follow me at an irritating distance and stare at me, did he care that he had nothing more to do for the day, and that his employers might have to ask him to do this again on another day, with someone else. Surely an easy day's work for him, no? So why annoyed? My mum seemed to think that it was because this poor fucker has to work there every day, surrounded by this smell. It must follow him home. It's his life, and he probably hates that. To see someone else walk in and say "Fuck this, this is disgusting, and intolerable", and be perfectly willing to anger their bosses in order to not have to put up with it, that's probably pretty annoying. Probably makes you wish at some point you'd said it too.

And that's the story of how I came to realise there are worse things that working in a sewage plant. Like being reminded it really fucking sucks to work in a sewage plant, and then going back in to the smell again.

Sometimes my job really isn't so bad.

I nearly suffered the indignity of being on local news today. *shudder*
I was working in a local place that makes thermometers and barometers, and after lunch i spotted a hideous looking woman with a bad tan, worse hair, and make up laid on with a trowel being shown around by the owner. She was very enthusiastic about everything, which confused me, because the place was a dump, full of very old equipment and a 'well it's just going to get dirty again anyway' approach to cleaning. It seems they're banning the use of mercury in thermometers and barometers, in 2 years most of what they produce and service at this place won't be allowed to be produced anymore, which kinda sucks for them I guess. The local news hag had come down to do a report on what a shame it was that this old business full of craftsmen (fucking loopy old bastards that have probably been abusing the mercury if you ask me) may disappear, and interviewing the owner about what is being done to stop the mercury ban. Listening to her completely cocking up her lines about how strange it is mercury will still be allowed in fluorescent lights and fillings, over and over again, was pretty funny. But they were also shooting b-roll footage to overlay in the report, with various employees being forced to do something that looked vaguely clever or interesting, or just moving shit around the workshop and taking barometers out of boxes. It was during this time that news hag clocked me, and asked the owner what that 'nice looking young man' did. To be fair, if Sloth Fratelli had been present instead of me he'd have stood out as the most photogenic person in the place, so I can see why she was hoping I'd do something. Luckily though the owner didn't want me to just pretend I worked there to keep her happy, and I got to go about my day in peace.

Other than that, I got introduced to migraines this week. They're fun, aren't they! I sat around for 2 hours yesterday thinking I wasn't going to go into work, before deciding to suck it up and go make some money. I lasted about an hour and a half before abandoning the idea and going home to hide in bed. Today wasn't exactly aces either, but I was better prepared in the drugs department. Not having one ever again would be pretty awesome, thanks.

This cheered me up though


Tomorrow I get to go to London to pick up a special security pass, which will be fun. Then off to Brighton. I'm working there this weekend though, which at least gives me a chance to make up for the money I've not been making this week - for various reasons - still, I'd be happier if I got to spend all of it with the missus.

My girlfriend is awesome, and so are surprise presents.

Good weekend

Movie marathons. Home made sushi. Cookies in bed. Occasional excursions into the outside world.

Yeah, the good weather came. And we mostly squandered it. And I don't care.