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October 23rd, 2009
04:51 pm - Crime
To clarify, while dealing with an exploded central heating system (all fixed now and not too much damage I think / hope), I got a call from my credit card company.
"Hello. Did you order 2 things of about £500 each from Currys Online yesterday ?"
"No...um...no" (funny how you become unsure of your own actions)
"Well someone did - we'll cancel your card for you :)"
So I called Currys...
"Yes, someone did place two orders for flat screen TVs (can you say cliché ?) to be delivered to the following address in London..."
So I called the Police...
"Hi. Someone at this address...ordered 2 TVs yesterday, pretending to be me and using my credit card. Fortunately the credit card company's security caught it. Would you like to arrest someone ?"
"No. As far as we are concerned, if nobody actually LOST anything, no crime has been committed."
I am flabbergasted. My neighbour, a solicitor who defends such people, plans to use this as a defence next time one of his clients is accused of such a crime. How can using a credit card number that does not belong to you to order goods you have no intention of paying for not constitute a crime ? I really need to do something about this.
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August 22nd, 2009
09:06 pm - Doormat
Please don't read this - I just need to get something out of my system so that hopefully it doesn't fester and perhaps tomorrow I will learn from it.
I just got sucked in to helping with something - being neighbourly you might call it. The upshot is that I have probably speeded along the happy social night that some friends are having. This is a night I am not involved in because, well, women don't use me like that. They want me to be always there when they have a problem, when they need a friend, when they need someone to lean on and when they need someone reliable. When it comes to relationships, women want the "bad boy". The guy with a bit of "edge". Of course when that guy treats them like the bastard he is, they'll turn to me again...because I am a "nice guy" and won't treat them like, well, a bastard.
When I return to what I was doing some minutes later, everyone else has gone to do their own thing. Once again I am feeling a bit alone and unwanted. I am well aware that the major part of that has to do with my social awkwardness but frankly what am I supposed to do ? I am a nice, but shy, person, and that's not what pretty girls are usually looking for.
So I'm off upstairs to get hammered on my own.
I have been correctly criticised in the past for not being positive enough about my own strengths. So let me remind me. I am loyal and caring, devoted and faithful, thoughtful and passionate. There are many other things that don't come naturally. I am awkward meeting new people, I don't like crowds, I know shit all about music and I dance like a tree. If I'm not your kind of guy then that's not a problem but please, PLEASE, don't treat me like a slave - I am reserving that dedication for someone who really cares for me.
There is no upside to writing this all down and letting the world see it other than honesty and I am old enough now to think that is a pretty valuable thing. Tomorrow I will wake up and be as cheery as I was this morning so please don't fret. Maybe one day I will find someone as screwed up as I am to share my malformed world with me.
And I'm outta here...
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June 13th, 2009
05:32 pm - A sign ?
Well, for the two people who cared enough to enquire...
That dream had me on a plane. A very pretty stewardess and I exchanged glances and appeared to be hitting it off. Cut forward in the dream and I am being harrassed in offices of what will appear to me on waking to have clearly been Schipol Airport. There is an atmosphere that I have done something wrong, perhaps made unwanted advances to this woman. I am being strongly verbally berated.
And this is the point at which I realise (in my dream) that I am taking part in some sort of Dutch version of "Candid Camera" and this is all a wind-up being filmed. I call them on this point and they can not hide it any longer.
The bizarreness is that it was all based in a Dutch Aiport. Christine - shall we take this as a sign that we are destined to spend time together ?
The sadness was that the stewardess didn't really like me after all. Even in my dreams I end up without the girl :(
</nonsense>
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June 11th, 2009
09:27 am - Amsterdamn
Did I find love in Schipol Airport last night ? Comment here if you'd like to know more.
*This post refers to a truly bizarre dream and not Christine and I falling for each other across a check-in counter*
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May 26th, 2009
10:11 pm - Uncommon
I don't post on here very often but I check my LJ friends feed several times a day. I'm watching you, you know. Of course the odd person will read this when it gets copied over to Facebook and wonder what I am banging on about. Don't fret.
Today we built the college room that will house our photographs for the end of year show. It took all day but was only that quick thanks to the expertise of Amy's dad and her boyfriend who just got on with things. I finished off the last few boards but only having learned from the experts. Anyway, it needs painting but the space looks quite good which is fun because we have all put a lot of time and heck of a lot of money into this.
We are also exhibiting in London at a thing called "Free Range". People who I think might want to attend will be getting invitations but if anyone randomly reads this and thinks "I should go and see lots of photos in London" then come along. If you liaise with me I'll try to meet you there for the guided tour. The nice thing is alongside our work will be hundreds more by other groups so there will be plenty to see.
Tomorrow I get to go to London to my first ever "private view" of an exhibition and it happens to be one which I have an image in. It has been selected for an awards night and while I am happy that it will not win anything it is great to be featured. I am really using it as an excuse to meet up with my sisters in town and raise a glass in celebration of Wednesday - always a big holiday in my family.
So right now I am happily busy with all this photo lark but in a couple of weeks I will be quiet again and in need of distraction for the summer. So if anyone is similarly bored they should get in touch. My courtyard has a chair in it which is ideal if sitting is your thing. Come try it out. It is everything you have heard about in the Internet hype.
Night all.
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April 27th, 2009
12:18 am - The usual
Late. On phone. Need to be brief. Nice guy. Fair amount to offer including complete devotion and total loyalty / faithfulness. Not currently swamped with offers. Sleep, a solo business, beckons.
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March 26th, 2009
03:39 pm - Fucking fuck
The lad currently sitting to my right is about 20 years old. He is dressed like tramp. He said goodbye to our college trip by vomitting in the Tuilleries gardens near the Louvre. He has been talking for an hour and has said fuck about every tenth word. Two of the other nine are also coarse. He probably has a string of women in his life. Where's the reward for being a nice guy ? Thinking about becoming a bastard.
Current Location: France, R, Paris
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March 25th, 2009
11:08 pm - Last night
This has been a funny trip. I've enjoyed a lot of it and have taken some nice photos I think - hard to know for sure until I see them on a big screen. Also I have some to be manipulated so we'll see how those come out. Drama today as we separated on a Metro and the other group got in the middle of a pepper spray attack. Lots of coughing and tears from that. Our excitement came from the karaoke chanteuse and the wrestling drunks. But people have been tired, financially challenged and missing loved ones to such an extent that it all inevitably impinges on the mood. Add in the odd bit of illness and the odd odd bit of behaviour and fractiousness is never far away. Again today I experienced that horrible sensation of being in a crowd yet feeling very alone. It sucks. Fun times overall but good to be home tomorrow.
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March 24th, 2009
11:52 pm - In Paris
The hotel wifi is not playing ball and free hotspots are proving hard to find. Otherwise having fun in Paris. Have walked all over the centre fir two days and have seen loads. Forecast is dodgy and we wanted to be ahead of the game. Have taken loads of photos to bore you with on Facebook this weekend. Time for another sensible, sober night. See what the morning brings. Bonne nuit.
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March 16th, 2009
05:48 pm - Dusty
I am having work done on my kitchen and bathroom, both rather bizarrely on the ground floor.
Here is the state of my desk on the floor above. I will have to clean when they have gone but there's little point working too hard because the floor tiler is in in a week's time and he's going to make plenty dust.
*le sigh*
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February 27th, 2009
11:49 am - What's factoring into my Friday
Briefly : I ran a temperature last night which had me up most of it and shivering like a child. I think it may be a side-effect from some meds I am taking but (as per the instructions) I have checked with the doctor and he says to monitor it for now. Just feel unpleasant and sticky even when full of ibuprofen.
Additionally, I noticed someone had removed me from their Facebook list recently. It transpires that they have had an unpleasant experience with someone on another profile who gave the impression they were me. I don't really know the details as to whether the person said they were me or this friend just assumed that. The upshot though is that this friend thinks I have played some sort of unkind prank on them when in fact I am completely in the dark as to what has gone on. Now I have an upset friend and some prick out there responsible for it. I am angry that someone would be unpleasant, worried for my friend, and concerned in case this isn't just random but an attempt to deliberately get me blamed for something. In the meantime I have to wait and see if the friend will believe me that I have no idea what this is all about...right now they think I am to blame and not keen to talk. Not much I can do.
In other news, tilegate is now just 10 days away. Expect many posts about my bathroom and kitchen tiling endeavours as we head into March :)
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February 26th, 2009
06:44 pm - Fun stuff
Yesterday I ended up in a random pub I never go in and ended up having to call an ambulance for the barman who was shaking and fitting in the corner. The root of his problems probably lay in years of drinking including a terrible mix earlier that day. In response to realising that he had had a similar mix so far that evening my friend ordered a pint of water...with a pint of IPA chaser. That was his nod to health !
Today I had another ridiculous day in college where nobody knew what was going on and no lessons were planned. Absolute joke...except not funny. However I had a lovely day with my friends Becky and Amy who were their usual hilarious selves. Becky was bouncing around like a kid (usually in the middle of the road) and Amy and I were being childish buying silly things in Superdrug, making innuendo out of Costa Coffee and throwing Blu-Tak at each other.
Now I am sitting upright so that my pills don't so something nasty to my throat (so the warning label tells me) and watching England actually bat quite well in the cricket. A very strange day.
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February 12th, 2009
11:26 pm - Bah
Can't get to sleep. Don't need to. The next thing I have in my calendar is in five and a half days' time and that is my only appointment for the next ten days. Packed social calendar.
Really enervated tonight. I think. Can't be arsed to look up enervated to make sure I'm using the word correctly. Something that happened today has just set my brain racing in a funny direction and now I can't stop it. Stupid brain.
I want to throw away half of everything I own and rip up my carpets right now. I will feel different in the morning. Then I will feel like I never want to get up out of my comfy pit. Such are the perils of being a night owl. I feel like I want to do something dramatic but the reality (which will out in the cold light of day) is that even if I did, nothing will be different. I may survey my domain in a few months time and see that I have less crap in my life and I have tackled my wobbly floors but who will care ? Who will I proudly show it to ? Who will give a single flying fuck ?
I feel quite pointless. That may look like a typo but it isn't. This isn't about the upcoming Valentine's day but those who have cause to celebrate on Saturday should look at all the things they have to be happy about and try to cherish them in more than a Hallmark Cards way. When you are on the outside of happiness looking in it can be hard.
Right now I kind of want to eat Mars bars until I vomit just because I can. If I stay awake too much longer I can see myself driving to a Tesco to do just that. I wonder how much I could stuff down me ? I wonder how I would feel tomorrow ? I guess the reason I don't do things like that is because I know the answer. After a bit of sickness I'll feel the same as I do today. The action in the interim having been pointless.
Hmmm...talking of pointless, now I remember why I try not to write these interminable LiveJournal entries. If I were you I'd have stopped reading properly and flicked to this end paragraph already hoping to get the gist without reading all the wailing in the middle. I don't blame you. Sorry. :P
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February 10th, 2009
08:10 pm - App
If I can post to my LJ from this app why can't I read my LJ friends' page ? Surely that would be even easier ? Falling out of love with LJ but as yet not falling IN love with Twitter.
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February 6th, 2009
03:48 pm - Moving on ?
I tire of LJ. Anyone Twitter ? Not sure that's much better :)
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December 17th, 2008
01:46 am - Pretty Woman, yeah, yeah, yeah
I am a nice person. I am okay for money. I try to be good to good people. I like to look out for people. I'm loyal and trustworthy. At least I like to think all those things are true. I can't wait until someone recognizes that in me and lets me care about them above everyone else. No, really, I don't know if I can wait.
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December 15th, 2008
01:17 am - At the spark of a match...
I just lit a candle. In my modern world these are scented to make a room smell nice or decorative to make a room atmospheric. But I lit it in an otherwise entirely dark room so the only light in here, before I fired up the iPhone, was from the candle. I was hit by a huge wave of memories from childhood when powercuts were commonplace and I often carried a candle to bed. The sad thing is how long ago that is and how much has changed since those simpler times in my life. Candlelight and the smell of paraffin will always make me sad and yearn for the people and the innocence that my life has lost. Having this phone by my bed raises the prospect of more late night rambling. That's probably not a good thing !
Current Location: United Kingdom, England, County of Buckinghamshire
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October 29th, 2008
11:27 pm - Music First Line Thingy
People never tidy these things up...but I shall. For anyone wanting to look back, here are the tracks that I gave first lines to some weeks ago.
Why not see if you missed something obvious ?
1. Ladies Night, Kool and the Gang
2. Under the Bridge, Red Hot Chilli Peppers
3. Kiss Kiss, Holly Valance
4. My Humps, Black Eyed Peas
5. Suddenly I See, KT Tunstall
6. Seven Nation Army, White Stripes
7. This Love, Maroon 5
8. One Week, Barenaked Ladies
9. Ass Like That, Eminem
10. Mad World, Gary Jules
11. Galvanise, Chemical Brothers
12. Wicked Game, Chris Isaak
13. Clocks, Coldplay
14. Tropicalia, Beck
15. Last night, The Strokes
16. The Universal, Blur
17. California, Phantom Planet
18. Get Busy, Sean Paul
19. Things I’ve Seen, Spooks
20. Feel Good Inc., Gorillaz
21. Dare, Gorillaz
22. Ecuador, Sash !
23. Just a Girl, No Doubt
24. Diamonds and Guns, Transplants
25. God Put A Smile On Your Face, Coldplay
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October 17th, 2008
09:37 pm - It's O-so-quiet
No, it REALLY is !
MSN, Facebook, Skype...everyone's missing. You could be here with me...that could be nice :)
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October 9th, 2008
08:34 pm - Touching Base
I don't post on here very much any more. I'm not really sure why. I'm actually being forced back into blogging for my studies which are using blogs rather than sketchbooks as more environmentally sound methods for documenting our work.
I check my LiveJournal (where this post is written) at least twice a day and find out what is going on in the world of others. However I don't use it proactively like I used to. Shame that.
Emotions are very intricate, twisty things. They intertwine and tug on one and others will resonate. Thus this evening I find myself gently shedding a tear at a random scene in a random TV show. It is of course merely the trigger which brings a day of thinking to an end. It isn't a bad thing either. It is just part of life's rich tapestry. I think about what I used to have and what I have no longer. I think about what I have never had and wish that I could find. I think about all I feel I can offer and whether I make the best of myself. I don't reach any conclusions of course - such revelations are rare this far West of Damascus.
I wonder if life will change much over the next ten years ? Will it change for the better, for the worse or just to a different mix ? Will I look back in ten years' time and think that I made good use of my time or will I still be hiding under the bedcovers scared to find out if my pound coin is still worth anything ?
It is interesting how often thoughts about the future are stimulated by thoughts about the past but they are always driven by thoughts about the present - and that's where I am supposed to be living. Sitting in class today talking about writing business plans didn't really make me sit up with excitement...so what will ? What DO I want to do with the time I have and the skills available to me ? Right now, I kind of want to go to bed but even there I will reflect on how the pillow never hugs back.
</poignant> as the smart kids would say.
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