Some quick links:
Look, you'd have to be absolutely insane not to realise this, but there's MAJOR SPOILERS at these links:
What does Silent Bob think of Star Wars ROTS?
George Lucas talks about something other than Star Wars. No really, don't faint.
and What George did next.
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Dear christ, I'm glad I'm going shopping right now:
BBC1 - Fucking snooker
BBC2 - "The nun's story" I mean, puh-leeze
ITV1 - "Midsomer Murders", or Bergerac in Buckinghamshire
C4 - Horse Racing
FIVE - Pee Wee fucking Herman's Big Adventure
If only I could rely on the freeview channels to be better. Looks like it's Radio 2 till Dr Who then.
BBC1 - Fucking snooker
BBC2 - "The nun's story" I mean, puh-leeze
ITV1 - "Midsomer Murders", or Bergerac in Buckinghamshire
C4 - Horse Racing
FIVE - Pee Wee fucking Herman's Big Adventure
If only I could rely on the freeview channels to be better. Looks like it's Radio 2 till Dr Who then.
Been a bit quiet of late. This is for two reasons:
1) Everyone else is making the points I want to make much more eloquently
and
2) I'm busy trying to recover my business plans from a major setback so that we can actually afford to live this year
So when I've found a cheap supplier of PC components that charges by invoice, or worked out how to make more than a tenner a week out of the stuff I've got ready to sell right now, I'll get back to sticking some interesting articles up here.
I have had some good news, though. I thought I owed someone £500 but it turns out I only owe them £200, so that's good. I now have a working wireless network, thanks to my Dad's experiments with networking his own house. And The Beast is back on the road (not in my name, but it's a better solution than having it rusting away under a SORN notice for three months).
There's so much I want to get done. I'm building a long list of people I want to talk to about my business ideas and jobs and soforth and it's so completely frustrating knowing that I can't deal with anything until Tuesday. I've already had one sleepless night rearranging finances and goalposts and I can see a few more coming up.
I need a steady £150 a week in order to clear all my debts, learn to drive and take us on holiday, but it's ridiculously hard to arrange when you're relying on selling tat on Ebay, looking to build PC base units for under £150, looking for a job in Adult Education and trying to work out how to go about setting yourself up as a freelance I.T. troubleshooter.
If everything would just go right - for example, if I could secure a small business loan of maybe £1500, then every one of my plans would come to fruition in less than a fortnight. Just another rainbow to chase once the Bank Holiday's over and done with.
So in the meantime, I'm putting loads and loads of washing on the line while the weather's nice and I'm just about to sod off up the shops for an hour to look for a new mop and bucket. But I can't get the frustration out of my head. It doesn't help that there's 6000 more people looking for work than there were two weeks ago around here (slight good thing about the Rover kickout is that everyone who's on a new pilot signing-on scheme that means you don't have to visit the godforsaken jobcentre eevry two weeks has been suspended until the jobcentre is a bit less busy, which means I have another month free in which to compile a comprehensive list of the jobs I've ahem "applied for" ).
[Current Mood: Deeply Frustrated]
1) Everyone else is making the points I want to make much more eloquently
and
2) I'm busy trying to recover my business plans from a major setback so that we can actually afford to live this year
So when I've found a cheap supplier of PC components that charges by invoice, or worked out how to make more than a tenner a week out of the stuff I've got ready to sell right now, I'll get back to sticking some interesting articles up here.
I have had some good news, though. I thought I owed someone £500 but it turns out I only owe them £200, so that's good. I now have a working wireless network, thanks to my Dad's experiments with networking his own house. And The Beast is back on the road (not in my name, but it's a better solution than having it rusting away under a SORN notice for three months).
There's so much I want to get done. I'm building a long list of people I want to talk to about my business ideas and jobs and soforth and it's so completely frustrating knowing that I can't deal with anything until Tuesday. I've already had one sleepless night rearranging finances and goalposts and I can see a few more coming up.
I need a steady £150 a week in order to clear all my debts, learn to drive and take us on holiday, but it's ridiculously hard to arrange when you're relying on selling tat on Ebay, looking to build PC base units for under £150, looking for a job in Adult Education and trying to work out how to go about setting yourself up as a freelance I.T. troubleshooter.
If everything would just go right - for example, if I could secure a small business loan of maybe £1500, then every one of my plans would come to fruition in less than a fortnight. Just another rainbow to chase once the Bank Holiday's over and done with.
So in the meantime, I'm putting loads and loads of washing on the line while the weather's nice and I'm just about to sod off up the shops for an hour to look for a new mop and bucket. But I can't get the frustration out of my head. It doesn't help that there's 6000 more people looking for work than there were two weeks ago around here (slight good thing about the Rover kickout is that everyone who's on a new pilot signing-on scheme that means you don't have to visit the godforsaken jobcentre eevry two weeks has been suspended until the jobcentre is a bit less busy, which means I have another month free in which to compile a comprehensive list of the jobs I've ahem "applied for" ).
[Current Mood: Deeply Frustrated]
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Regular readers might remember that I wanted to validate my new template with the World Wide Web Consortium, W3C.
Well today I did the deed and while the body of the template pops up 200+ errors, mostly to do with blogger's scripts, my own, hand-coded Style Sheet validates perfectly, so I'm awarding myself one of these:
Chuffed!
Well today I did the deed and while the body of the template pops up 200+ errors, mostly to do with blogger's scripts, my own, hand-coded Style Sheet validates perfectly, so I'm awarding myself one of these:
Chuffed!
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Over the years, I 've had plenty to say on the subject of the erosion of Teachers' Rights. Teachers can't even raise their voices to instil discipline in their own classrooms and this has inevitably led to widespread disrespect.
To be fair, would you respect any teacher who, when faced with an out of control class simply sat at their desk and shouted something non confrontational about it being "a bit loud in here"? My class would have ripped them apart!
Here's an article from ABC news about a five year old who was led away in handcuffs by the police after a tantrum. I kid you not.
To be fair, would you respect any teacher who, when faced with an out of control class simply sat at their desk and shouted something non confrontational about it being "a bit loud in here"? My class would have ripped them apart!
Here's an article from ABC news about a five year old who was led away in handcuffs by the police after a tantrum. I kid you not.
When I read this one at Katya Coldheart's blog, I couldn't come up with answers to all of them, but as I've got nothing better to do while I wait for the latest episode of "24" to hit Bittorrent, I thought I'd rack my brains for a while...
What Is Your Most Embarrasing Moment
Let's see, stumbling while walking off stage after recieving a merit certificate at school so everyone thought I was taking a bow, or maybe the time a kid walked past me and my mum walking the dog in the street and announced in a loud voice the rumour about what me and my girlfriend of the time used to get up to, or maybe the celebration party at Boys' Brigade when I made staff Sergeant, getting tonguetied and introduced my dad by saying "He's my son".
Or, more recently, dancing anywhere near my ex at nightclubs where her idea of headbanging would be to stick her arse WAYY up in the air and sweep the dancefloor with her hair, and her habit of wafting her arm high over her head and marking the beat with one finger. Gotta be bad when a preferable option is to dance with your mate whose favourite trick was to dance in a way that guaranteed her breasts escaped from her top. Or maybe the same ex's habit of wailing "NOOO! That's not FAIRRR" when the hero would get beaten up in a movie, then storming out the cinema in protest.
If You Could Be Any Animal, What Would You Be & Why
A cat i think.
What Band/Singer You Would Never Admit Listening to
Some of the stuff that comes on Radio 2 - especially the Hammond Organ bloke on a Wednesday night.
What is The Cheesiest Move You Could Watch Over & Over Again
Weekend at Bernies. I dunno, something just appeals to me about that film.
I know, I know.
Which Superhero would you be
Zenith
or Slaine
Or Finn
Which Movie Character Do You Most Identify With
Bilbo Baggins
What Book Would You Would Recommend
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Steven Donaldson
The Seafort Saga by David Feintuch (Who just started writing again. Hallelujah!)
What is the Last Dream you remember
I tend not to remember my dreams. They tend to be quite mundane, like I'll dream about a perfectly normal trip to the shops, or the school run or something. Talk about a wasted opportunity.
What is Your Favourite Board Game
It's a game that comes from africa where two players have seven pots each. Six of them have four stones each and the aim is to get all the stones into your empty seventh pot by taking all the stones from one pot and moving them one-by-one into the other pots.
You get a version of it on Nokia phones. I kick ass at it.
I'd love to play the ancient egyptian game of Senet, but no-one knows the rules.
What is Your Unusual Talent
I can make daffodils out of card
What Is Your Most Embarrasing Moment
Let's see, stumbling while walking off stage after recieving a merit certificate at school so everyone thought I was taking a bow, or maybe the time a kid walked past me and my mum walking the dog in the street and announced in a loud voice the rumour about what me and my girlfriend of the time used to get up to, or maybe the celebration party at Boys' Brigade when I made staff Sergeant, getting tonguetied and introduced my dad by saying "He's my son".
Or, more recently, dancing anywhere near my ex at nightclubs where her idea of headbanging would be to stick her arse WAYY up in the air and sweep the dancefloor with her hair, and her habit of wafting her arm high over her head and marking the beat with one finger. Gotta be bad when a preferable option is to dance with your mate whose favourite trick was to dance in a way that guaranteed her breasts escaped from her top. Or maybe the same ex's habit of wailing "NOOO! That's not FAIRRR" when the hero would get beaten up in a movie, then storming out the cinema in protest.
If You Could Be Any Animal, What Would You Be & Why
A cat i think.
What Band/Singer You Would Never Admit Listening to
Some of the stuff that comes on Radio 2 - especially the Hammond Organ bloke on a Wednesday night.
What is The Cheesiest Move You Could Watch Over & Over Again
Weekend at Bernies. I dunno, something just appeals to me about that film.
I know, I know.
Which Superhero would you be
Zenith
or Slaine
Or Finn
Which Movie Character Do You Most Identify With
Bilbo Baggins
What Book Would You Would Recommend
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Steven Donaldson
The Seafort Saga by David Feintuch (Who just started writing again. Hallelujah!)
What is the Last Dream you remember
I tend not to remember my dreams. They tend to be quite mundane, like I'll dream about a perfectly normal trip to the shops, or the school run or something. Talk about a wasted opportunity.
What is Your Favourite Board Game
It's a game that comes from africa where two players have seven pots each. Six of them have four stones each and the aim is to get all the stones into your empty seventh pot by taking all the stones from one pot and moving them one-by-one into the other pots.
You get a version of it on Nokia phones. I kick ass at it.
I'd love to play the ancient egyptian game of Senet, but no-one knows the rules.
What is Your Unusual Talent
I can make daffodils out of card
Take the Which Brat Pack Character Am I? Quiz
Well, when I actually was at school I definitely wasn't, but that's cool. And I get to bang the popular chick who can put her lipstick on with her tits. How's that for class?
Friday, April 22, 2005
You've got to have a play with this South Park character generator (via Mark's blog)!
This kicks ass dude!
This kicks ass dude!
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Thanks to Memoryanddreams for this one:
| You scored as Existentialism. Your life is guided by the concept of Existentialism: You choose the meaning and purpose of your life. “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.” “It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.” --Jean-Paul Sartre “It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.” --Blaise Pascal More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page...
What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03) created with QuizFarm.com |
I started a Teacher Training course today.
OK, that in itself is great and all that. Another rung up the ladder of my masterplan, but it happens to be based at the local Resource Centre that hapens to be on the frontline of support for the recently redundant Rover workers. When I walked in there, I walked past at least fifty despondent, embarrassed, defeated faces. Human detritus, washed up on the polluted shoreline of corporate bullshit.
And now we learn that the Chinese company that let Rover go to the wall may be planning to build Rover cars anyway. Just let them fucking dare. The human misery those people have caused! I'm speechless..
OK, that in itself is great and all that. Another rung up the ladder of my masterplan, but it happens to be based at the local Resource Centre that hapens to be on the frontline of support for the recently redundant Rover workers. When I walked in there, I walked past at least fifty despondent, embarrassed, defeated faces. Human detritus, washed up on the polluted shoreline of corporate bullshit.
And now we learn that the Chinese company that let Rover go to the wall may be planning to build Rover cars anyway. Just let them fucking dare. The human misery those people have caused! I'm speechless..
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Maybe it's my sheltered life, maybe it's the natural result of spending my formative years a) On the breadline and b) hooked up with a social regressive, but I found myself shamefully unable to tick off one match on Mark's list of bands whose gigs I might have been to.
So here's my own list, which may not reach thirty artists, and which relies heavily on the Phoenix Festival, 1996:
1) Peter Gabriel
2) Sex Pistols
3) Wet Wet Wet
4) Kylie Minogue
5) The Fall
6) Dodgy
7) Sinead Lohan (there's a story to this one)
8) Heather Nova
9) David Bowie
10) Bjork
11) Cypress Hill
12) Massive Attack
13) Skunk Anansie
14) The Specials (OK, I listened from outside, but it was a tent, y'know. Slight lack of walls to muffle the sound)
15) Stereolab
16) Alanis Morissette
17) Foo Fighters
18) The Wildhearts
19) Fun Lovin Criminals
20) Frank Black
21) Placebo
22) Gene
23) Strangelove
24) Scheer
25) Holy Barbarians
26) Terrorvision
27) Echobelly
28) Glenn Miller's Big Band (VE Day 50th anniversary)
29) King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys
30) Stan Tracy's Big Band
Christ, that was a push.
Anyway, Sinead Lohan is an Irish folk singer and in 1996 she was playing to a tent with all of twenty people in it. It was probably the most intimate gig I could ever go to I have to admit to finding her rather attractive. It may have been the lovely green eyes and dreadlocks, or maybe it was that she stared directly at me for three songs straight. Yes, definitely a gig that's indelibly etched on my memory. I don't remember a single song.
So here's my own list, which may not reach thirty artists, and which relies heavily on the Phoenix Festival, 1996:
1) Peter Gabriel
2) Sex Pistols
3) Wet Wet Wet
4) Kylie Minogue
5) The Fall
6) Dodgy
7) Sinead Lohan (there's a story to this one)
8) Heather Nova
9) David Bowie
10) Bjork
11) Cypress Hill
12) Massive Attack
13) Skunk Anansie
14) The Specials (OK, I listened from outside, but it was a tent, y'know. Slight lack of walls to muffle the sound)
15) Stereolab
16) Alanis Morissette
17) Foo Fighters
18) The Wildhearts
19) Fun Lovin Criminals
20) Frank Black
21) Placebo
22) Gene
23) Strangelove
24) Scheer
25) Holy Barbarians
26) Terrorvision
27) Echobelly
28) Glenn Miller's Big Band (VE Day 50th anniversary)
29) King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys
30) Stan Tracy's Big Band
Christ, that was a push.
Anyway, Sinead Lohan is an Irish folk singer and in 1996 she was playing to a tent with all of twenty people in it. It was probably the most intimate gig I could ever go to I have to admit to finding her rather attractive. It may have been the lovely green eyes and dreadlocks, or maybe it was that she stared directly at me for three songs straight. Yes, definitely a gig that's indelibly etched on my memory. I don't remember a single song.
Quick note to The Urban Fox:
Just started reading Dice Man. Dunno how you did it, but you were spot on. Cheers!
Just started reading Dice Man. Dunno how you did it, but you were spot on. Cheers!
Pope Benedict XVI
According to his Fan Club: "As Grand Inquisitor for Mother Rome, Ratzinger keeps himself busy in service to the Truth: correcting theological error, silencing dissenting theologians, and stomping down heresy wherever it may rear its ugly head."
Many millions of thanks to mr_zog and redryder52 for their excellent help with fixing my Internet Explorer display problems.
For those of you viewing this in Internet Explorer, you'll need to be told that there's a nifty bit of alpha transparency going on right at the edge of the white panel which shows up very badly because IE doesn't handle transparency.
the frankly wonderful mr_zog and redryder52 did point me at a solution to this slight problem, and I'll try and follow their advice later on today. In the meantime, you can sit and contemplate the beauty you're missing out on by using a crap browser.
For those of you viewing this in Internet Explorer, you'll need to be told that there's a nifty bit of alpha transparency going on right at the edge of the white panel which shows up very badly because IE doesn't handle transparency.
the frankly wonderful mr_zog and redryder52 did point me at a solution to this slight problem, and I'll try and follow their advice later on today. In the meantime, you can sit and contemplate the beauty you're missing out on by using a crap browser.
Friday, April 15, 2005
Site Statistics time again.
No increase in staying time, 85% of you are still google click-throughs. The next most popular way of getting here is by following the link in my Usenet posting signature. Of the 15% that stay, most - the vast majority - stay for long enough to read the top posts, so that's kinda gratifying.
Something a little misleading is the Browser statistics: At the moment, I see that 85% of you are using Internet Explorer. Oddly enough when I started thinking about making this post last week, the statistics were almost down to 65% for Internet Explorer, but it's crept up again since.
Yet again, I'm getting no visits from Linux users.
Also similar are the screen resolution stats, with almost everyone at 1024x768, with the rest split equally between 800x600 and 1152x864. I'm now using 1600x1200.
The best news is the increase of traffic. When I last posted about the Site Stats, I was just ticking over the 2,000 mark. Now, just four months later the counter's just about to tick over another thousand, so it seems we're looking at a 25% increase in traffic this year, which is fine by me!
So keep it coming, hello all you click-throughs, and for those of you who come here looking for spells, invocations, herbal remedies and the like, which seems to be the standard fare of the other results when you search google for "hedgewitch", then you'll be looking for a long time.
However if you're more into BEING than DOING, more interested in how a genuine, lifelong hedgewitch lives a spiritually free life in unnatural surroundings, well, stay a while and look around. Here's an insight into the mind and soul of someone who took the title "Hedgewitch" not because he liked the word but because he found a label for what he'd been all his life.
No increase in staying time, 85% of you are still google click-throughs. The next most popular way of getting here is by following the link in my Usenet posting signature. Of the 15% that stay, most - the vast majority - stay for long enough to read the top posts, so that's kinda gratifying.
Something a little misleading is the Browser statistics: At the moment, I see that 85% of you are using Internet Explorer. Oddly enough when I started thinking about making this post last week, the statistics were almost down to 65% for Internet Explorer, but it's crept up again since.
Yet again, I'm getting no visits from Linux users.
Also similar are the screen resolution stats, with almost everyone at 1024x768, with the rest split equally between 800x600 and 1152x864. I'm now using 1600x1200.
The best news is the increase of traffic. When I last posted about the Site Stats, I was just ticking over the 2,000 mark. Now, just four months later the counter's just about to tick over another thousand, so it seems we're looking at a 25% increase in traffic this year, which is fine by me!
So keep it coming, hello all you click-throughs, and for those of you who come here looking for spells, invocations, herbal remedies and the like, which seems to be the standard fare of the other results when you search google for "hedgewitch", then you'll be looking for a long time.
However if you're more into BEING than DOING, more interested in how a genuine, lifelong hedgewitch lives a spiritually free life in unnatural surroundings, well, stay a while and look around. Here's an insight into the mind and soul of someone who took the title "Hedgewitch" not because he liked the word but because he found a label for what he'd been all his life.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
In the interests of true balance, here's some links to a couple of site that exhort you to exercise your democratic right of abstension:
Spoil Your Vote who should hurry up and get a usable logo
and
Where you can leave a note specifying your reasons for not voting.
While I'm at it here's the breakdowns of the results of every post-war General Election, and the turnouts for each, courtesy of the Electoral Reform Society
Not very surprisingly, it reveals that only around 25% of the population votes for the winning party in any given election. The voice of the people indeed...
I mentioned Andrew Neil and Michael Portillo doing an "Amarillo" in one of my questionnaires. Well this page has a link for you to watch this bizarre occurrence. What's worse is that Tony Christie himself actally rewrote the song to include the chorus "Election Fever's in the air"!
Hate to break it to you chaps...
Spoil Your Vote who should hurry up and get a usable logo
and
Where you can leave a note specifying your reasons for not voting.
While I'm at it here's the breakdowns of the results of every post-war General Election, and the turnouts for each, courtesy of the Electoral Reform Society
Not very surprisingly, it reveals that only around 25% of the population votes for the winning party in any given election. The voice of the people indeed...
I mentioned Andrew Neil and Michael Portillo doing an "Amarillo" in one of my questionnaires. Well this page has a link for you to watch this bizarre occurrence. What's worse is that Tony Christie himself actally rewrote the song to include the chorus "Election Fever's in the air"!
Hate to break it to you chaps...
Who should I vote for?
Your expected outcome:
Liberal DemocratYour actual outcome:
Labour -33  | |
| Conservative -21 | |
 Liberal Democrat 48 | |
| UK Independence Party 16 | |
| Green 65 |
You should vote: Green
The Green Party, which is of course strong on environmental issues, takes a strong position on welfare issues, but was firmly against the war in Iraq. Other key concerns are cannabis, where the party takes a liberal line, and foxhunting, which unsurprisingly the Greens are firmly against.
Take the test at Who Should You Vote For
* * * *
Well well well, I was looking at their website yesterday as it happens, but this is a big surprise! I probably will vote Lib Dem however, as I can't in all conscience vote for the local Labour candidate that let at least 20,000 jobs go to the wall. I'd love to see the Lib Dems come in as the second party. Thanks to Graham again for the link.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Last Cigarette: Wasn't just tobacco
Last Alcoholic Drink: Hell, I dunno. Pint after work I think.
Last Car Ride: Yesterday afternoon. Mad dash back from town with heavy shopping.
Last Movie Seen in Theaters: LOTR
Last Movie Rented: Blimey. Stumped me there. It's been years and years. Probably Bridget Jones' Diary. We kept it because the rental shop went bust. Or the shop went bust because we kept it. You decide!
Last Cuss Word Uttered: "Fucking" - under my breath, as in "my fucking head", as in don't wake up with hayfever folks, it's bad for your attitude.
Last Beverage Drank: Orange squash. We're running low.
Last Food Consumed: Cheese and onion roll.
Last Time Showered: Last week.
Last Phone Call: To the Taxi company or from her folks.
Last Text Message: "Knock knock"
Last TV Show Watched: Newsnight review, with Andrew Neill and Michael Portillo doing a very bizarre "Show me the way to Amarillo" skit. We put the radio on then.
Last Shoes Worn: Para boots
Last CD Played: Sepultura "Chaos AD"
Last CD Bought: "Antbox" Adam Ant Boxset, obviously.
Last Annoyance: spiky thing on kitchen floor, just now when I got up to check what the last CD I played was.
Last Disappointment: Dunno.
Last Thing Written: By hand? Driving License application.
Last Word Spoken: probably some variation on "stop that"
Last IM: Some horny idiot IMing Charlie.
Last Weird Encounter: I'm usually weirder than the people I meet.
Last Ice Cream Eaten: Ice cream in a scalloped shell with a flake and marshmellow.
Last Time In Love: Every time I see her.
Last Time Hugged: Last night, taking daughter up to bed.
Last Shirt Worn: Black grandad shirt.
Last Webpage Visited: Swansea Girl's Blog, from whence this came. Eyethangewe.
Last Thing Lost: Hours of sleep thanks to stupid body clock.
Last Regret: Life's too short for regrets.
Last Alcoholic Drink: Hell, I dunno. Pint after work I think.
Last Car Ride: Yesterday afternoon. Mad dash back from town with heavy shopping.
Last Movie Seen in Theaters: LOTR
Last Movie Rented: Blimey. Stumped me there. It's been years and years. Probably Bridget Jones' Diary. We kept it because the rental shop went bust. Or the shop went bust because we kept it. You decide!
Last Cuss Word Uttered: "Fucking" - under my breath, as in "my fucking head", as in don't wake up with hayfever folks, it's bad for your attitude.
Last Beverage Drank: Orange squash. We're running low.
Last Food Consumed: Cheese and onion roll.
Last Time Showered: Last week.
Last Phone Call: To the Taxi company or from her folks.
Last Text Message: "Knock knock"
Last TV Show Watched: Newsnight review, with Andrew Neill and Michael Portillo doing a very bizarre "Show me the way to Amarillo" skit. We put the radio on then.
Last Shoes Worn: Para boots
Last CD Played: Sepultura "Chaos AD"
Last CD Bought: "Antbox" Adam Ant Boxset, obviously.
Last Annoyance: spiky thing on kitchen floor, just now when I got up to check what the last CD I played was.
Last Disappointment: Dunno.
Last Thing Written: By hand? Driving License application.
Last Word Spoken: probably some variation on "stop that"
Last IM: Some horny idiot IMing Charlie.
Last Weird Encounter: I'm usually weirder than the people I meet.
Last Ice Cream Eaten: Ice cream in a scalloped shell with a flake and marshmellow.
Last Time In Love: Every time I see her.
Last Time Hugged: Last night, taking daughter up to bed.
Last Shirt Worn: Black grandad shirt.
Last Webpage Visited: Swansea Girl's Blog, from whence this came. Eyethangewe.
Last Thing Lost: Hours of sleep thanks to stupid body clock.
Last Regret: Life's too short for regrets.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Lazy autoblogging courtesy of Graham
TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Name: Hedgewitch
Birthday: June 1973
Birthplace: Selly Oak, Birmingham
Current Location: Kings Norton, Birmingham.
Eye Color: Black to brown.
Hair Color: Black to grey. Hints of ginger in the chinfuzz. Not happy about that.
Height: 5ft 10 I think. Always wanted those last two inches.
Right Handed or Left Handed: Right
Your Heritage: Thai, Toon and Taffy.
The Shoes You Wore Today: Para boots
Your Weakness: Can't resist sex that includes chains and leather.
Your Fears : Alzheimers, debt spiralling out of control and losing everything.
Your Perfect Pizza: The thin and crispy hawaiian one that the cheapo freezer food shop used to sell three for a quid. I could eat them all day.
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year: To break even. Current target: £5,600.
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger: Wotcha.
Thoughts First Waking Up: Ugh.
Your Best Physical Feature: I like my hair.
Your Bedtime: Between 2am and 4am
Your Most Missed Memory: My old flat. They blew it up.
Pepsi or Coke: Ick. Orange and lemon squash.
MacDonalds or Burger King: Benji's
Single or Group Dates: Oh, gotta be the old one-to-one. Group scenarios can be interesting however.
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Earl Grey, in the fridge, lemon to taste.
Chocolate or Vanilla: Depends. Apple.
Cappuccino or Coffee: Cappuccino, so long as there's a toilet with a good supply of reading matter and loo roll within sprinting distance. Don't get IBS folks.
Do you Smoke: Been known to roll the odd reefer.
Do you Swear: More than I should. Have thougth up some wonderful euphemisms for use infront of the kids.
Do you Sing: There's plenty who wish I didn't.
Do you Shower Daily: Hate showers, which is a shame because we don't have a bath.
Have you Been in Love: Not before Charlie, which will come as a surprise to someone whose name starts with Z.
Do you want to go to College: Only if I was taking the class.
Do you want to get Married: We have a deal. When she gets down to a size 16, we start planning. When she hits a size 14, we set the date.
Do you belive in yourself: Oh yes!
Do you get Motion Sickness: Nope.
Do you think you are Attractive: Sometimes.
Are you a Health Freak: Hahahahaha! Ha! Hahahahaha! HAHAHAHA! Oh stop!!
Do you get along with your Parents: Bettter than they deserve but worse than I should.
Do you like Thunderstorms: Nature's fireworks. Spectacular!
Do you play an Instrument: I like a good fiddle sometimes... (b'dum tish!)
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol: Actually, no. For shame!
In the past month have you Smoked: Yup.
In the past month have you been on Drugs: It doesn't count if you grew them yourself, right?
In the past month have you gone on a Date: Not much point really.
In the past month have you gone to a Mall: Yep, twice a week.
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos: Foul! Who decided to mould dust in a biscuit shape?
In the past month have you eaten Sushi: Nup.
In the past month have you been on Stage: Not bloody likely.
In the past month have you been Dumped: Hardly.
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping: Nope.
In the past month have you Stolen Anything: moments of peace and quiet.
Ever been Drunk: Yep, but not recently.
Ever been called a Tease: Yes. And great fun it was.
Ever been Beaten up: Erm...no. I'm gonna say no to this one.
Ever Shoplifted: The tube of toothpaste just didn't make it out of the trolley before I paid the bill, honest.
How do you want to Die: Well, you know I'd rather not, but peacefully or in a blaze of glory would be great.
What do you want to be when you Grow Up: Solvent.
What country would you most like to Visit: Gondor.
TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Name: Hedgewitch
Birthday: June 1973
Birthplace: Selly Oak, Birmingham
Current Location: Kings Norton, Birmingham.
Eye Color: Black to brown.
Hair Color: Black to grey. Hints of ginger in the chinfuzz. Not happy about that.
Height: 5ft 10 I think. Always wanted those last two inches.
Right Handed or Left Handed: Right
Your Heritage: Thai, Toon and Taffy.
The Shoes You Wore Today: Para boots
Your Weakness: Can't resist sex that includes chains and leather.
Your Fears : Alzheimers, debt spiralling out of control and losing everything.
Your Perfect Pizza: The thin and crispy hawaiian one that the cheapo freezer food shop used to sell three for a quid. I could eat them all day.
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year: To break even. Current target: £5,600.
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger: Wotcha.
Thoughts First Waking Up: Ugh.
Your Best Physical Feature: I like my hair.
Your Bedtime: Between 2am and 4am
Your Most Missed Memory: My old flat. They blew it up.
Pepsi or Coke: Ick. Orange and lemon squash.
MacDonalds or Burger King: Benji's
Single or Group Dates: Oh, gotta be the old one-to-one. Group scenarios can be interesting however.
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Earl Grey, in the fridge, lemon to taste.
Chocolate or Vanilla: Depends. Apple.
Cappuccino or Coffee: Cappuccino, so long as there's a toilet with a good supply of reading matter and loo roll within sprinting distance. Don't get IBS folks.
Do you Smoke: Been known to roll the odd reefer.
Do you Swear: More than I should. Have thougth up some wonderful euphemisms for use infront of the kids.
Do you Sing: There's plenty who wish I didn't.
Do you Shower Daily: Hate showers, which is a shame because we don't have a bath.
Have you Been in Love: Not before Charlie, which will come as a surprise to someone whose name starts with Z.
Do you want to go to College: Only if I was taking the class.
Do you want to get Married: We have a deal. When she gets down to a size 16, we start planning. When she hits a size 14, we set the date.
Do you belive in yourself: Oh yes!
Do you get Motion Sickness: Nope.
Do you think you are Attractive: Sometimes.
Are you a Health Freak: Hahahahaha! Ha! Hahahahaha! HAHAHAHA! Oh stop!!
Do you get along with your Parents: Bettter than they deserve but worse than I should.
Do you like Thunderstorms: Nature's fireworks. Spectacular!
Do you play an Instrument: I like a good fiddle sometimes... (b'dum tish!)
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol: Actually, no. For shame!
In the past month have you Smoked: Yup.
In the past month have you been on Drugs: It doesn't count if you grew them yourself, right?
In the past month have you gone on a Date: Not much point really.
In the past month have you gone to a Mall: Yep, twice a week.
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos: Foul! Who decided to mould dust in a biscuit shape?
In the past month have you eaten Sushi: Nup.
In the past month have you been on Stage: Not bloody likely.
In the past month have you been Dumped: Hardly.
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping: Nope.
In the past month have you Stolen Anything: moments of peace and quiet.
Ever been Drunk: Yep, but not recently.
Ever been called a Tease: Yes. And great fun it was.
Ever been Beaten up: Erm...no. I'm gonna say no to this one.
Ever Shoplifted: The tube of toothpaste just didn't make it out of the trolley before I paid the bill, honest.
How do you want to Die: Well, you know I'd rather not, but peacefully or in a blaze of glory would be great.
What do you want to be when you Grow Up: Solvent.
What country would you most like to Visit: Gondor.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
BREAKING NEWS!
And this really is.
MG Rover has called in the receivers.
I grew up next to the Rover factory. Our neighbours worked there, our neighbourhood relied - relies on it for its livelihood. Because of the Rover plant thousands of homes - nice homes - have been built over the past hundred years. MG Rover was the lifeblood of the community for miles around.
And now, as of 10pm, ten minutes ago, it's gone.
So here's a retrospective:
Herbert Austin, founder of the Austin Motor Company at Longbridge in 1905.
A history of the plant.
And an article on the prospects of the 50,000 people whose lives just became a shitload less certain.
I need a 12,000 job to break even this year. The prospects of me finding one just got nigh on impossible. If things get too bad, and believe me, they might very easily, we're going to have to move away - and that's not a prospect I relish.
* * *
Edit: I backdated this post to when I actually wrote it, even though I actually posted it on Saturday morning. Blogger's been messing me about so I posted it to my livejournal first.
And this really is.
MG Rover has called in the receivers.
I grew up next to the Rover factory. Our neighbours worked there, our neighbourhood relied - relies on it for its livelihood. Because of the Rover plant thousands of homes - nice homes - have been built over the past hundred years. MG Rover was the lifeblood of the community for miles around.
And now, as of 10pm, ten minutes ago, it's gone.
So here's a retrospective:
Herbert Austin, founder of the Austin Motor Company at Longbridge in 1905.
A history of the plant.
And an article on the prospects of the 50,000 people whose lives just became a shitload less certain.
I need a 12,000 job to break even this year. The prospects of me finding one just got nigh on impossible. If things get too bad, and believe me, they might very easily, we're going to have to move away - and that's not a prospect I relish.
* * *
Edit: I backdated this post to when I actually wrote it, even though I actually posted it on Saturday morning. Blogger's been messing me about so I posted it to my livejournal first.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
An update to something I wrote four months ago on national ID Cards:
The bill has become the first casualty of the election. The tories apparently defeated the motion on it's third reading in the House and it's been shelved. Conspiracy theorists watch out. When Labour get back in (yes, when - realistically there's no competition. The fight this time is between the Tories and Lib Dems to see who becomes the official opposition) they will try to sneak this through quietly once all the hoo-ha has blown away.
The report I've linked to has a list of other casualties. Interesting collection of inconsequentialities there.
Something else Labour have done a deal over is the legislation needed to build SuperCasinos. Where there were going to be eight dotted around the country, there will now only be one. Blackpool is suggested as being the most likely location. What's the betting Wembley will put in a rival bid and suspiciously win, no matter how crap the arrangements, or how expensive the project?
The bill has become the first casualty of the election. The tories apparently defeated the motion on it's third reading in the House and it's been shelved. Conspiracy theorists watch out. When Labour get back in (yes, when - realistically there's no competition. The fight this time is between the Tories and Lib Dems to see who becomes the official opposition) they will try to sneak this through quietly once all the hoo-ha has blown away.
The report I've linked to has a list of other casualties. Interesting collection of inconsequentialities there.
Something else Labour have done a deal over is the legislation needed to build SuperCasinos. Where there were going to be eight dotted around the country, there will now only be one. Blackpool is suggested as being the most likely location. What's the betting Wembley will put in a rival bid and suspiciously win, no matter how crap the arrangements, or how expensive the project?
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Am I alone in finding this totally hilarious?
I was listening to the news this morning on my phone and just burst out laughing on the bus, then carried on giggling through Jeremy Vine's show while the comments came flooding in. Best one I heard was about how the Vatican was being thoughtless by scheduling the Pope's funeral to clash with Prince Charles's wedding. Next best was someone who said "Isn't the Church of England a global religion too?".
I was listening to the news this morning on my phone and just burst out laughing on the bus, then carried on giggling through Jeremy Vine's show while the comments came flooding in. Best one I heard was about how the Vatican was being thoughtless by scheduling the Pope's funeral to clash with Prince Charles's wedding. Next best was someone who said "Isn't the Church of England a global religion too?".
Monday, April 04, 2005
You never say sorry to a child.
You're not in charge if you show you care.
Life is a hard and bitter place.
Home is his chance to learn unfair.
You never say sorry to a child.
The harm is done. You're in the wrong,
But stay the boss, keep in control.
Teach him your way of being strong.
You never say sorry to a child.
We all make mistakes again and again.
And soon he'll learn how not to cry.
(And that's the way to deal with pain.)
You never say sorry to a child.
The years whisk by, and later on
You'll find you're speaking to a man
Who will not hear. For the child is gone.
Lucy Berry
04.04.05
You're not in charge if you show you care.
Life is a hard and bitter place.
Home is his chance to learn unfair.
You never say sorry to a child.
The harm is done. You're in the wrong,
But stay the boss, keep in control.
Teach him your way of being strong.
You never say sorry to a child.
We all make mistakes again and again.
And soon he'll learn how not to cry.
(And that's the way to deal with pain.)
You never say sorry to a child.
The years whisk by, and later on
You'll find you're speaking to a man
Who will not hear. For the child is gone.
Lucy Berry
04.04.05
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Karol Wojtyla 1920 - 2005
So that's it then. Half eight. At seven o'clock I posted a message to rec.arts.drwho speculating whether the Pope would last the episode out. Seems I was only an hour out.
Don't take my flippancy for disrespect. I've never had any truck with Catholicism, but I do have the utmost respect for the Pope. An amazing man.
Well the new template's here, coded by hand.
But it doesn't work in Internet Explorer yet. What a shame.
So do yourself a favour and get Firefox!
***
UPDATE
I think I've got it fixed in IE, but bloody blogger's not letting me republish! How's that for annoying?!
But it doesn't work in Internet Explorer yet. What a shame.
So do yourself a favour and get Firefox!
***
UPDATE
I think I've got it fixed in IE, but bloody blogger's not letting me republish! How's that for annoying?!
Well, April 1st has been and gone and Christopher Eccleston's still quit. Bollocks!
The Salmon and herby potatoes were lovely by the way.
I bought a couple of Trout today, but we're damn well not having them tomorrow. Chicken Kieeev, veggie fried rice and a bit o' salad is on the menu for tomorrow.
And I opened a Livejournal page. There's the odd entry on there that won't be on here. And when Blogger goes tits up, that's where you'll find me, so bookmark it, add it to your feed reader, or whatever and read on McDuff.
The Salmon and herby potatoes were lovely by the way.
I bought a couple of Trout today, but we're damn well not having them tomorrow. Chicken Kieeev, veggie fried rice and a bit o' salad is on the menu for tomorrow.
And I opened a Livejournal page. There's the odd entry on there that won't be on here. And when Blogger goes tits up, that's where you'll find me, so bookmark it, add it to your feed reader, or whatever and read on McDuff.
Friday, April 01, 2005
Blogger's being a pain in the arse, but what the hell:
I cooked my first fresh fish today. A pair of mackerel wrapped in tinfoil and shoved in the oven while I made Singapore noodles and a little mushroom and cherry tomato stirfry.
Very nice, very filling. The joy of simple food.
But is it really necessary for fish to have quite so many bloody bones?
Tomorrow it'll be Salmon Loins, herby new potatoes and salad.
Not only am I a HTML nerd, I'm a bloody good cook too. If they ever decided to rewrite "Get Carter" with Harry Palmer as an IT geek, they'd be writing about me.
I cooked my first fresh fish today. A pair of mackerel wrapped in tinfoil and shoved in the oven while I made Singapore noodles and a little mushroom and cherry tomato stirfry.
Very nice, very filling. The joy of simple food.
But is it really necessary for fish to have quite so many bloody bones?
Tomorrow it'll be Salmon Loins, herby new potatoes and salad.
Not only am I a HTML nerd, I'm a bloody good cook too. If they ever decided to rewrite "Get Carter" with Harry Palmer as an IT geek, they'd be writing about me.
I'm working on a new template. Writing it from scratch, by hand, in a text editor. None of yer Dreamweaver/Frontpage/Word for Windows for this Hedgewitch, oh no.
It's neat, it's minimalist, bright and easy on the eye and I think it'll be here before the weekend's out.
I'm very chuffed - and very aware of the geekiness of the whole thing. I'm almost at the point of uploading it to one of my test blogs and integrating the blogger codes into it. Then I'll find one of those "written by hand" buttons to add to the bottom. I'm also planning to get it validated at w3c. Oh yes, I'm a HTML god. All bow to the Lord High Hedgewitch Nerdiness!
In the meantime, Mark and Ellen have added to the human race, Prince Charles is having a bad day and the Pope won't be having many more days at all.
Peace!
It's neat, it's minimalist, bright and easy on the eye and I think it'll be here before the weekend's out.
I'm very chuffed - and very aware of the geekiness of the whole thing. I'm almost at the point of uploading it to one of my test blogs and integrating the blogger codes into it. Then I'll find one of those "written by hand" buttons to add to the bottom. I'm also planning to get it validated at w3c. Oh yes, I'm a HTML god. All bow to the Lord High Hedgewitch Nerdiness!
In the meantime, Mark and Ellen have added to the human race, Prince Charles is having a bad day and the Pope won't be having many more days at all.
Peace!
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