Weekly Quote/ 100th post bonanza

Hello readers, this things which you may be reading is in fact my 100th post on this blog and as well as the slightly overdue weekly quote I'll have a quick look back over the previous 99 posts, what brought me through them to today and what is going to happen in future posts. Well first let's get the quote out of the way eh?

"It's easy for a man to smile when life rolls along like a song. But a man is a man who can really smile when everything's going wrong." - Adolf Hitler 1945 (courtesy of Barry Cryer)

So, blogging eh? I was informed by friends that this was the thing to do, and I cautiously dipped my toe into the wonderful world of writing for millions to see, and two or three to actually read. I remained cautious over letting the potential millions seeing what I though and felt and initially kept my postings to a small "Space" provided as part of my MSN account where only verified contacts could read it. This provided me with the security I needed and so I was free to write, to complain, to tell stories and generally jibber jabber online - I was soon hooked.

Eventually I decided to spread out to the wider world and accessed blogspot.com and got myself an account. I still stuck to limited content, more or less just copying content from my still current MSN blog to the somewhat awkwardly titled "RE-blog: the home of C 'n P" so named for the fact that was essentially a remake of an existing blog I liked to Copy 'n Paste content onto it: I'd done a joke about R 'n B remixes being more like C 'n P and it went down well at the time, unlike most of my jokes so it seemed worthy of the title space.

So the somewhat awkward balance between private and open blogs remained until my favour started to slip towards the blogspot one, mostly due to the fact that people actually read it! And soon this blog became the current one and the MSN one became redundant. I still C n' P'd content onto it up until recently, but it's purpose has been served and it's death was, I think, officially realised when this blog took on it's moniker "The Place that is."

I'm still fairly reserved, and I'm cautious about posting photos of myself or others on here - though Facebook has given me an outlet for such activities, again secure that most of the people who view my pictures I should know personally. On my blog I've declined to share personal information and released no image other than a shillouette, why - just a general feeling that one should be better safe than sorry while surfing and I guess it also lets me blog and say things without feeling it has to be about me or that I have to let people know what I'm up to. While it is a thin layer the anonymity lets me at least feel that I can say what I want and write whatever gibberish I feel like writing without it being my fully stated personal opinion. Like I say it is more of an illusory placebo than an actual reality the effect is still there.

Of course anonymity would mostly be helpful if I had a mass of readers, which I don't. I had a decent amount of readers to begin with, but I think people lost interest due to my posts being long winded and only sparsely updated. By the time I took the advice of having shorter, more frequent posts, regular commenting had more or less died out. I guess this brings up another issue, one I call blogger vanity - to assess one's worth in the amount of comments one gets on one's blog. Now I'm aware that I do have semi-regular readers now, which is encouraging, but without some kind of measure of visitors to the site unless they comment it's hard to know if they look or care. I could get some kind of hit counter, but i think that would fuel my vanity more so I'm afraid to consider it.

This is starting to turn into a lengthy uncommentable post so I'll wrap it up methinks. As for the future I merely plan to continue as I am, and maybe gain a reader along the way, but not feel too bad if I don't. I've had various ideas along the way, but always get disapointed when they don't turn into the massively popular, underground star createing projects I imagine them to be so I think realistic goals and just enjoying the fact that I can write and occasionally have people read what I write is pleasure enough and I will do my best to treasure that.

You've been a maervelous audience - goodnight!

Word of the post: Crapulent - adjective

sick from gross excess in drinking or eating.

Shotton Solutions

Hello dear reader, and how are you?

This post concerns the town of Shotton, which is nearby to me and which I drive through regularly for work, church and to visit friends. Unfortunately driving through Shotton can be a hard event to go through because of the horrendous traffic there which will frequently jam up even during the middle of the day when no one should be driving really! This is partly due to a network of side streets which wind around and take time off your journey, and since evryone knows them it doesn't often speed things up to take them.

Aerial photograph of Shotton














This, unfortunately, drives almost all traffic onto the main street. In terms of covering distance it is the most efficient way to get round the town. Unfortunately it is a very efficient way to get to lots of other places too as it leads to and from several other towns in more or less a straight line. This means that half the people in Shotton are actually trying to get out of it, often with little success. The non local traffic don't know the side routes and the locals can't be bothered taking them so it can make for a very frustrating journey indeed.

Photo of main street - ironically taken on a quiet day
















Various solutions to this have been proposed, including stopping buses from stopping in the main street, but this merely drove more people onto the roads and those who chose to walk home just caused road rage because they were actually travelling faster than the cars. I would like to propose an alternative solution to the problem and that is to create a large overpass which would literally let cars skip over Shotton and carry on to other destinations and at the same time letting local traffic continue as normal, albeit with a few buildings missing and not being able to see the sun as much.

Artist's Impression














Such an overpass would in my opinion facilitate a much better way of life for people driving through Shotton, those outbound could pass over the town at a comfortable 70mph which lical traffic could carry on beneath with little or no interruption to their journey. I do feel that something like this will be necessary since Shotton is developed and spread out so there's nowhere to put a diversion road without going miles out of the way which is why people still go through Shotton even though they expect heavy traffic, something needs to be done - who will step up?

Disclaimer: Of course most of the facts in this post are made up and for the purposes of a joke, if you don't get that you're a bit thick really and you probably won't even read this but I'm putting it here anyway. This post is purely about the traffic situation in Shotton and means no slight to the town or the townspeople, well only a slight slight at least, the very slightest of slights I should say. All in all this has been an interesting experiment and when it comes down to it I think we will all agree fundamentally that the average price of a can of Coca-Cola should be no more than 50p.


However, when experiencing the actual reality of Shotton traffic myself and one or two other have often mentioned an alternative solution...
















Thank you for your time

Word of the post: Congealed - adjective

solidified by cooling

Weekly Quote W/E 24/02/08

A bit late but what's to do.

"The tragedy of English cooking is that 'plain' cooking cannot be entrusted to 'plain' cooks." - Countess Morphy, English Recipes (1935)

Till sometime soon

Review a CD?...yeah go on 'en!

Alan mention on his blog (sidebar) that bloggers should think about reviewing a CD and so I will. I'm aware after starting that this has virtually nothing to do with what Alan was mentioning but I'll press on nonetheless and see what my musically ignorant mind can produce to describe the last album I bought, which would be this one...

Gorillaz - D-Sides
Double Album
Parlophone records










D-sides is the latest offering from the world's greatest virtual band (note to self, aren't they the only virtual band...probably not by now...must check) and is a must buy for any fan of the band. While 2-D, Murdoch, Russel and Noodle have taken a break from the recording studio...though since they also live in it it's a bit hard to see how! Anyhow to satisfy their fans ever present need for musical greatness they have released D-Sides a double album of B-side tracks and remixes which should keep them going for a bit. As well as these the album also includes rare and unreleased tracks such as "Rockit" which features on their webpage.

This is not the first time this tactic has been used as G-sides, originally aimed at the Japanese market but proving popular enough for world wide release, was created after their first album campaign. Other recent releases have been "Rise of the Ogre" an autobiographical account of the band's creation, "Slowboat to Hades" a DVD with videos and other material from their second studio album Demon Days. Their website is also a wealth of material in it's own right and now features a dilapidated and partially destroyed setting in keeping with the video for El Manana their last single. So with Gorillaz you don't just get you music you get a story and a whole world not quite like our own.

Anyway, so the music yeh? While not a studio album the CD still contains a number of highly catchy and proffesionally done tracks. I would say that the album on the whole feels very much in the same spirit as their first album. Demon Days is dark in tone and very much the studio album whereas "Gorillaz" was the happy go lucky experimental and unusual record you'd expect from a bunch of animated delinquents. D-Sides starts with "68 State" a beautiful instrumental track mixing guitars and synths eloquently and drew me in instantly. With the catchy "People" to follow, cleverly reusing elements from "DARE" to create a completely different song I was hooked. Catchy would be how I described most of the songs on there with beats to make you tap your toes and clap your hands. With the melodic "Hong Kong", the weird/rocky "Murdoc is God" and the completely unique "Rockit" adding flavour the album is certainly not a dull one.

The remixes are also very good, featuring a variety of artists reinterpreting songs from "Demon Days" in a variety of intriguing and provoking ways. DARE and double A-Side track "Kids with Guns seem to be the most popular tracks with three re-mixes each. I'm glad Kids with Guns is appreciated by industry proffesionals as much as by me, though I'm surprised Feel Good Inc didn't get more attention. However favourites for me would be the Junior Sanchez remix of "DARE" featuring powerful electric guitar riffs and the Schtung Chinese New Year remix of "Dirty Harry" which not only adds eastern flare, but the song is also sung in Chinese.

To say more would be to feign music knowledge I simply do not posess so I'll quit while I might just possibly be ahead.

Farewell

Word of the post: Exegesis - noun

critical explanation or interpretation of a text or portion of a text, esp. of the Bible.

Weekly Quote W/E 16/02/08

I'm off to York soon so I'll post up this week's quote a modicum early...as soon as I think of one!

Um...

Well...

This sounds ok

"You have not had thirty years' experience...you have had one year's experience 30 times."

not sure of the context, but I bet it's blinking funny in it!

See ya soon

Weekly Quote W/E 09/02/08

OK, it;s that time again - this week I'm going to fob you off with some of the words of Chairman Mao, which I don't completely understand, but I like the idea of a paper tiger!!

"The atom bomb is a paper tiger which the United States reactionaries use to scare people. It looks terrible but in fact it isn't...All rectionaries are paper tigers."

Yeah, nothin' terrible about atomb bombs, it's just you imagination folks!!

Till sometime soon...

Product Testing - Diet Coke Plus (Antioxidant)

While the title makes me feel like starting another of my "series" posts (see previous post for example) but that, for your sakes, will hopefully not happen, with the possible exception of the other flavour "Plus" drink.










OK so Coke have yet another line of variant drinks out on the market - Diet Coke Plus and out of the sheer morbid curiosity that drives me to do these kind of things I just had to buy one when I saw it in the shop. Actually seeing it in the shop seems to be a kind of spur, watching on TV made little impression on me, but seeing it in the fridge made me want to reach out and grab one - guess that's the power of advertising - plus I was a little thirsty.

Coke have released many variants over the years including the popular Cherry Coke, which was amazingly good, but now seems to be available only in a local chippie, Vanilla Coke which captured the flavour of ice cream soda well and had a good stint, but has also waned in popularity. A more recent venture was Coke Orange, which came in a suitably coloured bottle but for someone who's been mixing Coke and Fanta since he was a kid it didn't overly impress - I haven't seen it again since. An image search revealed a whole host of American variants including Coke Blak - is any Americans stumble across this can you please fill me in?

Obviously Diet Coke is the longest standing variant and a seperate drinks option in it's own right and is likely to outlast and outsell even Coke Zero which has made it's stamp on the market (though Pepsi Max did virtually the same thing several years before.) And naturally when marketing a healthy option, Diet Coke is the best base to jump from. Another variantr which seems to be out there still is Diet Coke without caffeine, which is a bit odd to me, I mean if you take the sugar and drugs out of Coke what is there?!! But I haven't tried it to be fair.

Anyhow instead of taking something away these drinks obviously add something to the mix. In the case of the one I grabbed off the shelf it was an antioxidant. Curious to know what an antioxidant does I grabbed it, chugged it and was soon on the floor gasping as the air in my lungs was sucked away... OK, so I don't actually know what an antioxidant does, but it didn't do me any harm and it won't rot my teeth I guess. Unfortunately my curiosity into antioxidants has been put off by the fact that they also added Green Tea to the flavour, creating an aftertaste that I can only describe as weird!! Not a fan of Diet Coke as the best of times, I have been put off their further attempt to make my drinks healthier - which I guess makes a blog post this long a bit anticlimactic, maybe I'll try the other variety to see if I come out a bit more positive!!

Ok, I'm tired now and I want to put the bottle in the bin, goodbye!

Word of the post: Nomenclature - noun

1.	a set or system of names or terms, as those used in a particular science or art, by an individual or community, etc.

Stuff I've read recently 3

Well I've picked up the pace a little bit, mostly due to the books being Science Fictioney and quicker reads than the classics and more serious books I try and labour through. A train journey down to London and back helped speed things up a bit too!! So anyway here's a list of the things I've read since...well since the last time I wrote on of these things.

Oh, and I've added "Visual Bookshelf" to my Facebook page, so any readers who are friends with me on that can check out what I'm reading at the moment and other stuff.

The Bible - God et al

Since the last post I've managed to get through Amos, Obadiah and Jonah - owing more to the shortness of these books than my reading pace. The books of Amos and Obadiah, prophesies of judgement against God's enemies and his own rebellious people contrast with Jonah who is very reluctant to go on a mission of mercy to a foreign kingdom. These books show the attributes of God, both the righteous God who must punish evil and the saviour willing to rescue mankind from their own sin.

Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Inferno - Troy Denning

One of the shortest books of the series, but still worth paying the price. The galaxy has entered full on Civil War and the Jedi and even the Solo family are forced to face up to the fact that Jacen Solo is now truly their enemy and that he must be destroyed. Once again targeted and alienated, the Jedi and those who support them are considered enemies of the state. One of the notable things about this book is that it features the Sith from the Legacy comics in it.

Star Wars Legacy of the Force: Fury

A slower paced book that I whizzed through on the train and seemed to have a less dramatic impact on me somehow. This book wraps up several threads of the storyline while still leaving plenty of room for an epic conclusion. Again the galaxy is plunged into darkness and the Jedi struggle to hold on to their principles as they follow Jacen down in the hopes of ending the war.

Bad Twin - Gary Troup

A story written by a man who tragically disappeared on Oceanic Flight 815. Yes, this is a Lost tie-in book, but unlike a lot of tie-in fiction is is extremely well written and you don't need to be up to speed with the latest mystery to read it. There are several nods to Lost, notably the Widmore family, who also feature in the series and a number of companies and individuals who were part of the "Lost Experience" online game. The book itself did feature in the series, but was unfortunately destroyed before anyone could figure out the connection.
For the non Lost fan the story is about Paul, a detective hired to track the billionaire brother of Cliff Widmore, Zander, who is renowned for being a reckless soul and who Cliff thinks might be in danger. Drawn into a case much bigger than anything he's seen before Paul has to face danger himself and figure out who really is the "Bad Twin." A really great read, if a little rushed in parts, and worth picking up.

Analog Magazine, December 2007 - various

Analog is one of the primary Science Fiction magazines in America and I was fortunate to snag a copy on import from Borders and enjoyed seeing what contemporary SF writers are up to. The stories were wide ranging and interesting from spoilt billionaires who dive into supernovas for the thrill of it, legal battles between man and machine, alien visitors from Aztec legends and mystery on a distant human colony. With one exception, an immature and boring "Jesus just wanted everyone to be happy and if we all believed that instead of the stuff he actually said then the world would be so much better." the story was childish and similar stories were shot down for that reason at Uni so I don't see why it deserved a place in that magazine - no doubt atheists think it very clever though. On the whole though, very diverting and worth buying, if I spot another issue I'll definitely grab it.

Don't Waste Your Life - John Piper

Challenging from the front cover, the book shows how Christians can often waste the precious gifts that God has given them and challenges us to live our lives, to work in our jobs, to use our money, to spend time with our friends and all other activities to the glory of God, a monumental challenge we all fail at, but striving to do so will leave us able to live life without saying "I've wasted it!" when we reach it's end. An excellent book which I'd highly reccomend to anyone who calls themselves a Christian.

Well that's it for now, I'm already starting on my next set, but they're a bit thicker than these books and don't have as many lasers in them so they may take a bit longer, we'll see, but I think I've written enough for now so adieu.

Word of the post: Be - I can't find a definition, but I mean the prefix as in "bewitched"

Weekly Quote W/E 02/02/08

Well it's now February, and we're already a month into the year that is 2008 and what better way to note this than to pick a quote at random and post it up here because I haven't got time to do anything else!

"You can't kill her! She's pregnant...with five babies...and one of them's a puppy!" - Jim Friel, legendary lecturer at John Moores U.

See ya soon

On London

Recently I had the opportunity to go down to London to visit some close friends of mine. Now I guess I could tell you about the wonderful time we had...or I could just whine about the capital!!

London is BIG, I mean stupidly big. OK so there are several American settlements that dwarf it but nonetheless it is rather massive. I was astounded to see that a train journey from Euston (universal arrival station for us up north) to where I was going to meet up was estimated at a little under an hour - no journey withing the same city confines should take that long!! OK, so it actually took ten minutes, even with changing trains due to cancellations but the point stands.

On arrival at Euston I was greeted (not personally) by several policemen strolling the station keeping watch. I guess this is necessary because of the terror attacks but it is still a strange sight. The only other time I've seen police at a train station was when Liverpool Central went into lockdown because of fire, and even then it was only two bobbies casually leaning on a wall.

The next step into weirdness was purchasing an Oyster Card, London's new travel solution. Not too far from Science Fiction the card is "topped up" and then swiped over a reader on your journey deducting money for your travel as you go along. The most bizarre thing was when the system extended to buses too, you no longer have to exchange words with the driver you just beep yourself in and get off creating a very impersonal feel, which apparently suits Londoners down to the ground.

After meeting up with my friends and perusing the National Gallery one of the first sights of London was to see a large black man unashamedly singing and dancing in front of the historic building. People were passing by absently videoing him, but apparently his rendition of "Billie Jean" really got them going. There aren't many such nutters up north but enough for it not to be a complete shock. It makes you wonder why they do it though, I mean was he just hoping that Simon Cowell was going to take in some art that day or did he have some perverse need to publicly express himself. Nonetheless I got a good few seconds video out of it and moved on like everyone else.

The last negative, fuelled by Oyster Card human independence is the dispassionate nature of people travelling in London. On the tube it is practice to avoid all contact with people on your journey..which begs the question why put all the seats facing each other! Anyway, I managed to get onto a tube train by jamming my bag into the door at the last second. Anywhere else the people on the train would be having a giggle about it and swapping stopries of close shaves for the next few stops at least, but on the tube everyone just stared at the floor. No sense of humour whatsoever just minds numbed by travel on a system designed to be as inhuman as possible.

OK, so it's not quite that bad, and we did have one nice conversation on the tube. And it was a good day out, but nonetheless the big city is a weird weird place!!

Word of the post: Vignette - noun

1.	a decorative design or small illustration used on the title page of a book or at the beginning or end of a chapter.

Weekly Quote W/E 26/01/08

Bit late...I've been busy...tell you later

"It is better to marry than to burn." - 1 Corinthians 7v9

Now there's motivation!!!

Weekly Quote W/E 19/01/08

Well there's not much to say really...another week has gone, so here's another quote. Oh I think it may be the last Facebook one...oooh!

"The way to become famous fast is to throw a brick at someone who is famous" - Walter Winchell

Till next time...

Stuff I've read recently 2

Hello. Well it's been a shamefully long time since my last one of these posts, so long I could barely remember I'd done one of these and I'm struggling to remember which books I've read since the last one, though that's not to say I've read lots, just a few...and very slowly! But anyway, it's still a good practice to remember what I've read, and if you find it interesting then all the better.

I'll start with the Bible, I've got through a fair few books of it while plodding through secular literature. Since there's a few books to get through and my summaries have generally been grossly inadequate I'll just note down the books I've read and maybe link to better written reviews later.

The Bible - God et al.

Since the last post I've read through Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea and Joel. These books, especially the early ones take place during a time when Israel/Judah had been humiliated and defeated by the nations around them, but these books emphasise God's control and authority during this dark period in Israel's history, which was ultimately his judgement on them.

Planet Simpson - Chris Turner

"On Thursday 21st January 1993, around 8.20pm I was standing on the edge of a dance floor at a campus pub called Alfie's with a glass of cheap draught beer in my hand. The dance floor before me was packed with people, all of them waiting - as was I - for the nest mind-blowing riff from the in-house entertainment."

This is one of the first non-fiction books I'd read in ages, or at least the first I'd read purely for entertainment. It tracks how the development of pop-culture has influenced the dysfunctional yellow family and how they have had more than a little impact on it in return. While at times a little overreaching in my opinion the book charts how the show is one of the most vivid and accurate reflections of consumer culture in modern times. Dense, but a very easy read I would recommend it to anyone who wants to think a little more about the impact one TV show has had on our world.

Elephants can remember - Agatha Christie

I've returned this to my Dad so I don't have the opening line, but it was a great read nonetheless. Again Christie shows her great ability to weave unique and thrilling plotlines in many different ways. This story builds on intrigue rather than tension, with the murder being long in the past and no one at real risk of death. The story follows a girl's need to find out whether her parent's death was murder or suicide. No one knows, there is little evidence to prove anything other that that they are dead and most witnesses so old they only have foggy recollections. With this scant evidence Poirot must try to piece together an ancient case, and makes good reading while doing so.

Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday - Alan Dean Foster

"Standing taller than a thirty-six-story building and weighing six million, seven hundred thousnd pounds, in the year 1969 the Saturn V moon rocket was the biggest man-made object ever sent to space."

While I wouldn't class this as one of the best books I've read, and tie-in fiction is hardly renowned for it's masterful prose, it was still a pretty decent read. The book is set around the time of the Moon Launch where a secret crew enter space and inadvertantly find their way into the middle of the conflict between the Decepticons and Autobots, not knowing who to trust and struggling to survive, lost in space and outclassed by the far superior Transformer race. Some of the details were a bit unclear and there seem to be a few discrepancies between it and the film it prepares you for, but nonetheless it was a good intro. If you're a fan of the film and want to know more then it's probably worth the flutter, otherwise I wouldn't rush out to get it.

Untold Stories - Alan Bennett

"There is a wood, a canal, the river, and above the river the railway and the road. It's the first proprer country that you get as you come north out of Leeds, and going home on the train I pass the place quite often. Only these days I look. I've been passing the place for years without looking because I didn't know it was a place, that anything had happened there to make it a place."

While prose this was again one of the few non-fiction books that I've read in recent times and though it's taken far too long I'm glad to say that I read it and enjoyed it. The book is comprised of numerous pieces of writing including prose, essays and Alan's diaries. The title piece is an autobiographical account focused on his mother's deppresion, but telling a good chunk of his life's story around it. While non-fiction it certainly has the flow of a prose piece, and it took me a good few pages to realise it was about real life, which to me made it all the more interesting. The man has had an interesting and diverse life yet he tells his story with a good deal of humility or "shyness" as he so often terms it. There is a great variation in types of writing and that keeps it fresh and readable throughout and as a last note the man manages to talk about art and actually make me interested and sympathetic to him as he manages to approach it with both a collector's eye and an appreciation of how it looks to someone who's come into the gallery to keep warm - a rare gift in my book!!

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman

"'Tonight we're going to show you eight silent ways to kill a man.' The guy who said that was a sergeant who didn't look five years older than me. So if he'd ever killed a man in combat, silently or otherwise, he'd done it as an infant."

The Forever War is more my cup of tea, being an epic and unique Science Fiction adventure. The story is told of William Mandella, recruited into a war against an unknown enemy, the Taurans, and finding he spends much longer at war than he could possibly imagine. The method of travelling they use distorts time so when they first attack the Taurans they spend a few days attacking with limmited success, then return only to find decades have past, Earth's economy crumbled and reformed. Unable to cope with such a drastically changed homeworld he returns to the army only to have his so called "veteran" status mean he gets promoted and pushed into command and back into the field. Time and again he fights the unknown, time and again he returns to a drastically changed world, how will a man cope under such circumstances. This book has well deserved the awards placed on it and I reccommend it highly.

Well I've taken up enough space so I'll leave it at that methinks, well apart from word of the post
Word of the post: Apropos - adverb

1.	fitting; at the right time; to the purpose; opportunely.

2.	Obsolete. by the way.

Weekly Quote W/E 12/01/08

Well I've nearly blundered my way through another set of books, taking much longer than needed, but hopefully I'll be able to post about literature and add a splash of interesting colour in addition to these quotations. But for now, here's yet another one...

"So what you're saying is we all have to live like hermits or eskimos or thirdworldsters just so we can save 19 species of hummingbirds so they're around to get fried when the sun goes mental?!" - Mitchel and Webb, That Mitchell and Webb Sound, Vol 1

Back soon I hope

And a happy new year!

Well we're a good nine days in now, but I though I may as well post something welcoming y'all to another few weeks of constantly getting the date wrong!! 2008 will get some getting used to, for some reason I never even realised until now I'm quite fond of 2007, it having a much better ring to it than any other year of the decade, with 2001 being a possible exception.

I digress, the number notwithstanding it is great to be in 2008 and to have a whole year to look forward to. Though for the most part the "new year" period is often taken up with reminiscing over the holidays which already seem so far away. Unlike the great majority of the British public I can still remember what went on over the festive period.

Christmas was early in on the holiday time, with only a few days to cram in a bit of last minute shopping before the big day. I've already detailed Christmas so I won't go into it much other than to say it was a nice day spent with family eating chocolate and watching embarrasing home videos...as always! Immediately after I caught up with some close friends and we went to see I Am Legend which was the well written Sci-Fi thrill ride it promised to be. The next few days were spent "chilling" and catching up with folks.

New Years Eve I spent with Edd, who I hadn't seen for a while due to conflicting work schedules. We set about wasting as much time as we could, bolstered by the fact that work rang to say they'd cancelled his shift and many an hour was spent on his Wii before I realised it was getting dark and I'd better get going before the very inclinous way home became even harder to traverse. On arriving home I got an invitation to have a Bourne Marathon evening to pass the New Year, it was good fun and I got to put my doughnut maker (from mum and dad) to good use. We spent the crossover period arguing about how many seconds there were left as all of our watches disagreed!!

Well I'm now back to work, but I managed to squeeze in a few more catchups, a trip to the much missed Laser Quest (now Quasar) in Chester and even a wedding so all in all a very full and satisfactory holiday period. And that's probably enough from me now, but I'd like to wish all my reader(s) a very happy new year.

Word of the post: Proxy - Proxynoun, plural prox·ies.

1.	the agency, function, or power of a person authorized to act as the deputy or substitute for another.

Weekly Quote W/E 05/01/08

Well a bit late and a bit of a gap again in bloggage I'm afraid. I've had a very satisfactory Christmas holiday which has kept me occupied and away from my computer. I will endeavour to let you know what I've been up to and do some kind of Happy New Year type post at some point, but for now...

"You know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I beat you with till you realise who'se in ruttin' comman here!" - Jayne Cobb, Firefly.

Speak to you soon

Weekly Quote W/E 29/12/07

A little bit late again, but who'se to quibble over a few days eh? I am ashamed to see I missed a week, but what with christmas shopping and that I can't be blamed surely? Well I'm going to quickly bring you another quote that adorns my Facebook homepage and who knows I might even post something else before the next one!

"To Alcohol! The cause and solution to all life's problems!" - Homer Simpson, The Simpsons

Till whenever we meet again.

Behind the times

I was alarmed to discover that my PC is starting to get well erm...old! I bought two games this christmas, one for myself and one for a friend which I'm now keeping. The alarming thing about the first was that my processor is too slow. For quite some time my 2GHz processor has been head and shoulders above the requirements for games - but the latest Splinter Cell (which ain't that new actually) requires a 3GHz minimum speed to operate. Since I'm something opf a cheapskate I hadn't bought a new game in some time and had assumed my noble steed would bear the brunt of any new game loaded onto it, but apparently not.

Another game will just about squeeze onto my processor's capability, but I was halted in the installation process because there was simply no space on my hard disk to contain it. I found it hard to believe that my 70G had been consumed already, but I couldn't escape the facts or deny that 70G is actually quite a small amount by today's standards. I uninstalled another game and a few useless programs to make room, but I still haven't loaded it out of shock.

While my 1G of RAM still hold it's head high, some games are starting to demand 2G in their lofty "recommended" stats. So what's a boy to do, I do have money to upgrade and maybe get an external hard drive, but with console exclusivity becoming more and more common, the best route may be for me to succumb and get an Xbox 360.

Your sympathy is appreciated

Word of the post: Perennial - adjective

1.	lasting for an indefinitely long time; enduring

P.S. The other game was Star Trek Legacy if you're interested

Merrylicious Festivatal Celebrationism

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas to you all!

(Note: that is much harder to type than to say!)

Well the big day has gone, but it's time I blogged about the fun filled malarky that comprises Christmas. The leadup to Christmas did naturally involve some pannicked shopping, running around the streets of Chester, but thankfully I got pretty much all of it done in two sessions, no wait, three. One gift was for a secret santa for the young people's group at my church. I bought a novelty pen that was about a foot long and still worked!!

My novelty present was very novel indeed. When desperately trying to think of ideas for what people could buy me I jokingly suggested that I could do with a green elephant along with a supply of green jelly babies with which to feed it. And sure enough when i openbed the wrapping of my gift I found a green elephant model (hand crafted) and a pack of jelly babies which rather made my day!! I'll post pictures when I get more batteries for my camera.

I actually found myself in a rather odd, unusually charitable state of mind when I was actually just as excited about other people's reactions to their gifts as I was about recieving mine. I don't know whether that means I'm unusually noble or whether I'm getting more apathetic about what I want, but nonetheless it made the day more cheerful. A factor in this is that I have a longstanding tradition of disguising present which makes it more fun. So a DVD was encased in a chocolates tin, complete with scrunched up paper to fool anyone who tried to shake it etc.

I got some good swag myself, I got a donut maker which I've tried out much to my satisfaction and a mountain of sweets with some DVDs and books thrown in. The amount of food was somewhat disturbing so I guess people think I'm a big eater, but my sister got tonnes of perfume and the like so I guess everyone thinks she smells, which is a small consolation.

I've enjoyed some good Christmas telly, notably the Doctor Who and Extras Christmas specials which were excellent and trips to the cinema to see Enchanted and I Am Legend, both of which were top class of their respective genres.

Well that's enough for now I think, see you soon

Word of the post: Vanquished tr.v.

1. 1. To defeat or conquer in battle; subjugate.
   2. To defeat in a contest, conflict, or competition.

Getting on

Yesterday I went to see my old High School's Carol Service and it was a great event and, as always, set to a very high standard. I arrived only just ahead of the children and managed to sneak in just before the opening procesion, barely finding a seat at all. I spotted a few teachers on my way in, but didn't have time to exchange fond memories with a horde of teenagers at my back ready to march in. I managed to find a seat, shamefully asking if it was free in English - habit that would be frowned upon by the educators I'd just passed.

The children marched in and it doesn't seem too long ago that I was one of them, shivering from standing out in the cold in just a shirt and trousers and occasionally having to deal with the added cold of a well placed snowball strike. Admittedly I don't remember too much of those days, but my better memories come from sixth form when I joined the older boys choir, mostly to get out of lessons, but also because I did genuinely enjoy it. It was a great communal experience as we all had to work together and I got to know a few lads from younger years who are still familiar faces and useful contacts at events like these where most people don't know me. I still remember the old anthem we had, which may have tragically been lost - we'd stand around the piano and start singing "Tom is gay and he's got no friends" repeatedly, moving around until everyone had been sung about, what better way is there to pshych each other up?

We also bolstered the teacher's choir, which now seems to have aquired a few more male voices, which is good as my friends and I provided pretty much the whole bass section back in the day. "Back in the day" definitely seems the way to describe it as I've now gone through Uni and come out the other side leaving a three year gulf between myself and those heady days of youth. I was shocked to see a girl I remember as a cohort in the school production on Nicholas Nickleby who was year 7, maybe 8 and is now a member of the Sixth Form, that made me feel very old!!

I managed to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen since A Levels which was a very pleasant reunion and was glad not to be the only one feeling nostalgic and a bit older!! But it was a great experience and I hope to go to many more.

Word of the post: Cloying –adjective

1.	causing or tending to cause disgust or aversion through excess

Weekly Quote W/E 15/12/07

Ok well I slipped in one post, but it's still not brilliant and I don't have a cold to cover me this time so I have to apologise profusely for lack of content once again and pawn you off with a quote.

"I am not so much disapointed as I am blinded with rage" - Fat Tony, The Simpsons

Till next time...

The power of summon

It seems Facebook has powers over more than just communication, in a rare glimpse of it's true power today I met an school friend I hadn't seen for a while. So it appears Facebook has some ability not only to reaquaint you with friends, but to actually summon them to you!! As it continues to grow one wonders at what new capabilities this website might bring...

Or put another way - I saw my friend the day after adding her on Facebook, what a coincidence!!

Word of the post: Shambolic - adj. Chiefly British Slang

Disorderly or chaotic

Weekly Quote W/E 09/12/07

Well I'm abashed to note that a week has passed without a single post of note, perhaps these weekly things will serve as a reminder to actually post stuff on my blog. As for my absence I blame a cold and a busy work schedule. But enough of my whining, here comes another quotation that tickles my fancy.

"No pain, no pain!" - source unknown...to me at least!

Hopefully I'll speak to you soon

Weekly Quote W/E 01/12/07

OK so it's a little bit late, but i was away on the weekend so was unable to add last week's quote. I'm full of cold at the moment so am unable to think of anything else to write so I'll just post up the next quote from my Facebook profile.

"How can I change the world if I can't even change myself?" - Faithless, "Salva Mea"

Till something interesting happens goodbye

A conspiracy!

While at work the other day, my friend made a shocking discovery. A jigsaw, labeled as a 100 piece jigsaw was found to contain no less than 104 pieces! Assuming that this must be some error on our part we counted and recounted the pieces then assembled the jigsaw to make sure no pieces were missing or belonged to another jigsaw. But there it was, a completed jigsaw with no less than 4 pieces extra to the number clearly displayed on the box. Another jigsaw was checked, it too had four pieces more than displayed on the box. Such widespread deception can only be part of some dark scheme.

Be vigilant - check your jigsaws, if we can't trust Ravensburger it may be too late for all of us!!

In trepidation,

A Figleaf of your imagination.

Word of the post: Ramboesque - adj.

in the aggresive, mindless style of the fictional character Rambo

Weekly Quote W/E 24/11/07

Well since there's not much to actually say about my goings on then I figured some kind of repetitive easy post would come in handy for keeping the blog looking all new and used. Since a dictionary of quotations was bestowed upon me a "quote of the week" seemed like a good idea. OK so most of the quotes will likely come from the Simpsons and other such media, but you never know I might get something good and deep out once in a while.

I'll start off with what's decorating my Facebook page for the first few weeks

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose" - Jim Elliot

See you, either in a week or if something interesting happens!

More from Chester

I was brought again to the town of Chester by an unfortunate event. On Impulse I decided to go bowling with my friend Tim. Read more about him at his blog - link on my sidebar. But as we arrived at the alley we discovered that the bowl was fully booked until six (we were there at about two) - an unheard of situation. Left with nothing around us but furniture shops we decided to walk from the out of town retail park into chester itself, a good twenty minutes walk or so. Then we walked around chester for a bit grabbed some food and left.

Such events, annoying as they are, can often be quite fun in and of themselves and I must admit that despite the freezing cold we did have a good time. a highlight was listening to a rather extreme street preacher who was denouncing Islam as we passed and then within the same sentence moved on to the evil of materialism, explaining how the sin of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll came about in the sixties, led by "those four horsemen of the apocalypse from Liverpool, John Lennon Paul..." It was certainly an interesting interperetation, though I can't exactly see how the Beatles were sent from God and brought war, pestilence and the like to Earth!!

It certainly made the day out more interesting!! By the way, this isn't the african guy who is regularly in Chester - that guy's a legend!!!

Word of the post: Pugnacious - adj.

fond of fighting, belligerent

Squirrel based musings

I recently took a trip to Chester, which working afternoons only now affords me. As well as perusing the shops I decided to take a little stroll along the walls adjacent to Chester cathedral.

Whilst approaching the walls I noticed there is a designated pigeon feeding area featuring a dovecote type structure and a mass of the undying lords of traffic dust, commonly known as pigeons (if I haven't already posted by pigeon theory I shall do so soon). But creeping towards them, excellently disguised in similar colours was a squirrel, creeping amongst the birds to access the free food. This incident prompted me to remark to myself - "aha! A fox in wolve's clothing!" and it wasn't for some time that I realised that it wasn't quite the phrase I was looking for!!

Later I was reminded that, pests as they may be, squirrels are rather cute too! I observed one licking itself clean in the usual manner of such animals, but then it decided to dry itself off, and grabbed it's own tail and rubbed it's face clean, much as a human would use a towel. Such innovation got that individual squirrel my attention and respect.

Till next time!

Word of the post: Antidisestablishmentarianism -noun

opposition to the withdrawal of state support or recognition from an established church, esp. the Anglican Church in 19th-century England.

There's a new hero in town!!

Caption reads: Time Travelling Secret Agent Dinosaur For Hire

When you can't think of a post to write you can always steal content from Penny Arcade. Penny Arcade is an excellent website featuring regular updates in comic book form and indepth reviews of games both table top and video. If I had the remotest bit of artistic talent I would be doing my utmost best to rip them off, but as it is you're stuck with this blog for now!! The character above was created in a recent comic discussing the Writer's Guild strike - which left Gabe, the artist, on his own to come up with something to write about!!

Better than reading my explanation would be to visit the site itself - you'll find a link in my sidebar

Writer's Bloc 4 - Delusions of Grandeur

This rather unusual item here is a Hugo award, given to the best writers of Science Fiction every year as well as artists, editors, filmmakers and other contributors to the genre. As an aspiring writer of Science Fiction my heart is very much set on getting a Hugo, Nebula or ( a ta more realistic since it's British but still very much in the far distance) Arthur C. Clarke award.


I do like to entertain the vision that my first publication will so wow publishers and readers that it will win the prize and that fame and fortune will no doubt follow. This is almost certainly to be a delusion, especially for a debut piece, though I do hope that I can continue to improve in standard and create a work worthy of rememberance.

As such having a trophy like this is good so there's something to aim for. If I hope for the cool trophy (and hold the realistic expectation that I won't get it in mind) then it will act as a spur not only for me to write, but for me to ensure that my writing is the best that it can be. In Uni it was simple, I wanted to do the best piece of work to get the best grade, the award will hopefully provide the same kind of motivation, and once a piece is finished if it even gets published I'll be most pleased.

But the whole thing does raise the issue of motivation, especially as I'm in the middle of deciding what to to with my future. I would love to be a writer and since I passed my degree I obviously have some competence in the field and I guess it would be good to make use of my three year's training. But there is also the call of teaching, which I've also got a lot of experience in and I also know I'd be making a difference if I went into it.

I believe that my actions should serve not only myself but the God who made me, and this is where motivation comes in. If I'm just out for the glory and the award then I'm probably better off not bothering 'cause there's a decent chance I'll get neither. But at the sime time, the ability to write is a gift from my maker and I want to be able to use it to his glory.

So there are decisions to be made and things to think through...but it still would be cool if I got the trophy!!

Word of the post: Venerable –adjective

1.	commanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity; worthy of veneration or reverence, as because of high office or noble character:

So it DOES make a difference!!!

Well I was a sceptic about the effects of Blogger Action day and in particular my contribution to the events but it seems that I have indeed made a breakthrough as mere days after discussing whether recycling should be made law the government have brought in new initiatives to enforce recycling and to try and drastically reduce the amount of waste going into landfills in the UK. Since the UK is significantly behind the rest of Europe in waste reduction we could end up facing sanctions unless something is done, more reason for the government to want to put this scheme forward.

Essentially the scheme would involve fining people who put too much waste in regular bins instead of recycling. There is of course opposition to the scheme from those with large families whose bins fill up by necessity, but by and large the scheme seems to be put forward positively and sensibly. One aspect that is good is that it can be locally controlled by councils so that the nature of the order can be locally sensitive. Of course whether this works will depend on how MPs implement it and if it is seen to be more for fining people than the environment it may end up being retracted. While fining people isn't always a good option, and it is yet to be seen how this will be met once enforced, it is good that the government is listening to me...I mean seeking practical ways to reduce this nation's waste.

Read more in this BBC report on the issue.

Another plan put into use is for districts to have "travel advisors" or something of the kind to help people plan efficient, environmentally friendly routes to work and to be made fully aware of the options available. This seems positive and looks to be cost effective too.

Anyways, that'll do - we live in interesting times indeed.

Word of the post: Quinquagesimal - noun

the Sunday before Lent; Shrove Sunday.

Just keep swimming...

Ok so I've not blogged for a bit after that epic Blogger Action Day post which I'm sure contributed to doing...something. I may have to check up on some kind of feedback for what the day achieved or my overriding cynicism may take over. If you're reading this and wondering what on earth I'm blathering on about and what it's got to do with the title then you may be interested to know that I have resolved to keep typing whatever comes into my head in an effort to create a semi-worthy blog post and this is just the introduction so let's hope someone calls "lunnch!" before I run out o things to say and...ah - there we go!

a brief introduction into the pysche of Aled there. You may be interested to know that I typed the whole thing without looking at the screen and only two typos - woot!!

Word of the post: Conglomerate - noun

2.	a corporation consisting of a number of subsidiary companies or divisions in a variety of unrelated industries, usually as a result of merger or acquisition.

Silly Me!! Blogger Action Day...a bit late!!

OK I'm a bit shamefaced as I thought the 15th was a tuesday when it was in fact a monday meaning that I completely missed it. But nonetheless I will contribute some environmental based blogging today in the hope that it makes some kind of a difference even if it is a bit late!! I offer no expert knowledge or even a fully formed opinion just a debate on a point which I have wondered about a bit.

Recycling and energy saving: Free choice or by law?

I've always wondered whether recycling would one day become law. As a follower and sometime writer of Science Fiction I often envisage a future where recycling is strictly enforced and is even more of an ever present reality than it is now. But whether it should be a present day reality I'm not quite sure.

Encouraging people to recycle is all well and good but most of us have enthusiasm in short bursts not like the myriad environmental campaigners that seem to have a constant source of energy and concern (and full respect to them by the way.) Anyway, my point is that encouraging us to recycle with things like Live Earth will work but the enthusiasm will die away after not too long for most people so should more be done?

Some things do work. Our local council, and doubtless many others, send lorries to collect paper and plastic recycling every fortnight on much the same basis as a bin lorry i.e. you put your stuff outside your house and they take it away. The paper goes to a factory that produces sheets for newspapers and something similar happens to the plastic I'm sure. This system works, but it only works if people choose to do it. Most people I've seen do, but doubtless (like in our house) many paper and plastic items go in the bin and then to the landfill.

Should recycling be enforced then? The problem lies in enforcing the law because it would be unfair to punish people just because they forgot to put their newspaper in the recycling or accidentaly slipped a can into the plastic bottle bank. And I most definitely think it would cause unrest if the police were sent round or hefty fines were applied because of this problem. But I do think the government could perhaps put sanctions on excessive waste (though again you'd have to debate what is "excessive") or restrict the amount of waste that goes out.

How about positive enforcement? I think things could be done on a more positive basis to enforce recycling. For example waste could be taken away not to be dumped but to recycling centres. No doubt this is already taking place, but if Recycling facilities were to completely replace landfills then it would at least get rid of the eyesores that landfills are if nothing else. It could also encourage people to sort their rubbish more if it was all going to be recycled. Again logistically and in terms of energy consumption this may be impractical at the moment but I think it's something we should be heading towards. They could also start things like encouraging companies to only make/sell energy efficient bulbs.

A last point. OK so I clearly don't know everything and not all my points have been followed through and have more to do with the government that most of my readers. But I guess if we show an interest in recycling then the powers that be are more likely to do something about it. Anyway to close, there's something I know should be enforced. Standby lights on VCRs and whatnot should be abolished. We have a DVD player and a Freeview box, both of which display a constant red light when plugged in. This is totally unnecessary, I can tell whether it's on by pointing the remote at it and seeing if something changes - I don't need a red light constantly on and it's a great waste of energy when you put all these units in the UK together. They're not needed and companies should stop installing them.

Enough from me for now - I hope that some of it was worthwhile

Word of the post: Mega

pref. Large:

Making notes

Reading the diaries of Alan Bennet has made me note that it's often the little things that pop into your head that make interesting reading as well as larger issues like the one mentioned in the previous post. So I will endeavour to articulate a thought I had now in the hope that it will be readable and that maybe some of you will sympathise with it.

I frequently have the experience of listening to the start of a piece of music and immediately I start bopping my head or tapping my feet only to realise a few seconds later that it's a tune I loathe and that feeling of "ooh this song" is brought on by a subconcious recognition of a despised tune. One I get frequently at the moment is the new song by James Blunt. Like many others I hate James Blunt on principle (though I'm not entirely sure what the principle is!) but the opening riff on the new record is very catchy and it takes a while to clock on to the fact that I don't actually want to listen to this song!!

I do think it is an interesting phenomenon (well a slight oddity at least) that I should, on recognition of a piece of music, immediately think I like it. Perhaps it shows my character, always willing to give the benefit of the doubt - but then since I have a more or less written law forbidding myself to listen to Atomic Kitten for more than 10 seconds under any circumstances I'm not entirely sure that's it!! Maybe it shows that hated tunes get more ingrained on the mind than loved ones, or maybe it just shows that I'm picky about music and I get muddled sometimes - who knows. There are no answers today, only thoughts and questions.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

Word of the post: Mottled - noun

2.	a diversifying spot or blotch of color.

Could be good

I don't know if any bloggers read the blogger buzz page but you do find some interesting items there - such as blogger play. Well I found a new one - Blogger Action Day. This is a day for bloggers to unite about one issue - the environment. I think the general idea is for everyone involved to post something about the environment and what can be done on their blog, thus flooding cyberspace with a wealth of information and opinion on what is wrong with our world and what might be done about it. The date is Tuesday the 15th and I will try and get involved and add the two or three readers I have to the several million expected viewers of the event.

Well - here's a banner for it - t'is pretty good, saves me thinking of something from real life to post up!!




Word of the post: Countenance - noun

1.	appearance, esp. the look or expression of the face

Hinter zu normal

Just a quick point noting that blogger now shows the "post published page in English once again...just as I was starting to get used to the German. Ah well!

On the box

With a bunch of new shows on their way I have become more aware of the slightly alarming amount of television I expose myself to and this is set to increase this week. With three new shows on arrival in addition to several I'm commited to already this will add up to a fair few hours per week in front of a screen - not that that's anything new! Anyways, just to demonstrate the issue and show you what I'm interested in I'll give you a run down of the programs I'm watching and plan to watch over the next few weeks - links to official sites included.

Coming Up:

The Sara Jane Adventures. 30 mins. BBC1 Mon 5:00This has already started but I missed the first episodes because of forgetfulness and commitments at the time of broadcast. The series is a Doctor Who spinoff, similar to Torchwood but aimed at children instead of adults. The lead role is taken by Sarah Jane Smith, a former companion of the Doctor, who investigates and halts the plans of aliens in her neighbourhood with the help of her adopted son and his friends...but not of the Doctor or his TARDIS. The first episodes featured the return of a Doctor Who enemy, the Slitheen.

Ugly Betty. 1hr. CH4 Fri 9:00A surprise favourite of mine, I tuned in to series one to see what it would be like and quickly fell in love with the characters and the show itself and am eagerly awaiting the arrival of series two on friday. Ugly Betty is the story of a fassion obsessed Latina who gets her dream job of working at Mode Magazine by being the only applicant her boss Daniel wouldn't be compelled to sleep with. Her unbridled optimisim gets her through every day working in a place where her matted hair, braces and lack of coordination (both in clothes and in general) are scorned. What I love about this show is it doesn't spend the whole time preaching about how beauty isn't skin deep, it just tells Betty's story and along the way we learn that all the characters have a history and at least a hint of depth below their shallow facade.

Robin Hood. 1hr. BBC1 Sat 7:30 The adventures of everyone's favourite charitably minded thief continue on BBC1. I wouldn't class this as a favourite, but it makes very good saturday evening telly and tells the story with heart, humour and something else beginning with h that doesn't come to mind. I think that Keith Allen steals the show as the Sherrif and the creators have been good to put a unique spin on things. The show will generally feature Robin defeating a far superior number of soldiers (one wonders how they still manage to recruit soldiers in Nottingham!) but it has been intelligent enough to stop before becoming formulaic and remains a worthwhile program.

On now:

Heroes. 1hr. BBC2 Wed 9:00 I tuned into this expecting to hate it but soon found it compelling viewing. The show features a collection of characters who all develop unique powers from flying to reading minds to absorbing other powers...through various means. Some hide from their powers, others embrace them, all of them want to know why they have them. But they have to deal with real life, the authorities and a superpowered killing machine who wants to take what's theirs. Through the means of time travel and foresight powers the story revealed that there was a big threat to combat, namely that of a nuclear explosion and as the individuals take their seperate paths we know they will join and they will all have to face their destiny.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. 1hr. MORE4 Thurs. 10:00 A new show from the creators of West Wing. The show is a behind the scens look at the running of a comedy program, from the floor of the sets to the high towers of the corporation behind it all. The show is clever, witty and engaging and is great viewing as well as a good insight. The show features Mathew Perry of Friends fame who manages play a completely new character, retaining some qualities from his former role but certainly not repeating him and I've lost all feeling of "Hey that's Chandler" and now I'm quite comfortable watching Matt (character's name) in his own right. The show tackles a lot of religious issues and is quite disaporoving of Christianity, in particular the Christian groups who can control the media in America. Sometimes I feel it's just being negative for negativity's sake and the Christian character on the show is as feeble as they come, but the show raises important issues and I applaud it for doing so and find it very intersting viewing.

Well all this, plus regular viewings of Simpsons, occasionally dipping in to Scrubs and strolling through a fourth box set of 24 should reshape me eyes in no time, anyway must dash - i want to grab a shower before Heroes!!

Word of the post: Serendipity –noun

1.	an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.

No more a learner

OK, I would have liked to have posted up a picture of me actually setting my plates on fire, but since my sister is going to use them I won't be having that pleasure. Nonetheless I am pleased to inform you that I have passed my driving test. It feels good to have got it out of the way and I'm certainly glad not to have failed. I was never that fussed about driving, most of my contemporaries having long passed their exams, but it is a useful skill to have and being able to go to meetings and outings without requiring a lift or public transport is quite liberating.

It was an interesting day as it started in omen like fashion with the arrival of my Degree Certificate. I thought nothing of it at the time and still do not, but it was nice to have both areas of my life rounded of nicely in one day - a day for certificates it would seem. It also showed that I am no longer a "learner" in more than one sense. I have often joked that I'm "never going to learn anything else again now" but it would almost seem to have a sense of truth to it, now that I won't be having lessons of any kind for the forseeable future which is strange to think of and indeed I am finding it strange without the imposed structure on my life that learning provides. But nonetheless I am glad to have passed both my degree and driving test and to have recieved trophies for both.

And before closing I'd like to quickly apologise for being absent - it's been hard to choose what to talk about, but you have to acknowledge I've done faily well - I mean I did three posts in one day, that's gotta be a record!! more to come I hope, it's probably about time i did another Writer's Bloc and I have an idea brewing for one.

Word of the post: Modicum - noun

a moderate or small amount

Well whaddya know...

I was just playing around on Blogger Play again and, against my expectations, it turned up something familiar. I'm almost tempted to make this into a game - keep playing until you spot something you recognize - 1 point if it's from TV or whatever, 2 points if it's somewhere you've been etc and 5 points if it's someone you know or posted on a blog you read!! I think that a) it won't take off and b) if it did everyone would just be watching it all day and end up doing nothing else!!

Well anyway this is what I turned up whilst flicking along - an image of someone on the Logos 2, a missionary ship I visited a while ago.


We still get semi-regular updates on the work of the ship as it goes around the world stocked with books and manned by a crew eager to serve God. I recall there actually being a Logos 2 poster of some kind up in church so it's definitely something I'm familiar with, though I haven't seen the ship for a few years now. The blog is run by an American with connections to a mission organization - I had heard of neither before so it's quite a connection that a random image search should bring up something I visited in the UK.

Well it's not quite enough for a game - but it'll fill the odd rainy day!!

Word of the post: Truculent - adj.

1. Disposed to fight; pugnacious.

Is it just happening to me or...

is anyone else having the "Post Published" page come up in German?!!

Caption Competition anyone?

I was just ruminating as to how to encourage more interactive blogging when I came across this on the "Blogger Buzz" section of the homepage, announcing new additions to blogger. This latest one announces Blogger Play, a program that shows the latest pictures to be uploaded to Blogger in an unending slideshow. It can be quite fun to see what is uploaded the worldwide web each day, though of course it is done at your own risk. Blogger run all the pictures through a filter, but there is always a risk one might get through so use with caution. But the wealth of random images could surely lead to a wealth of caption competition type games.

I'll try and think of some game rules, but for now if you're reading this why don't you have a go at this beauty I found...

Anything strike you...do comment with appropriate captions or some such if this takes your fancy. Anyhow - here's the official post from Blogger detailing the site

"Today we’re pleased to launch Blogger Play, a neat little toy we’ve cooked up to show you photos and blog posts as you’ve never seen them before.

Image credit: kiwisweden

Shortly after Blogger launched photo uploading two years ago, one of our engineers whipped up a web page that would show us the pictures that were being uploaded in real time. The result was fun, often beautiful, but above all, compelling. We couldn’t stop watching.

Over the years we’ve kept this photo scroller as part of the Blogger offices, on a monitor or projector, as an interesting (distracting?) slideshow, and a reminder of the diversity and vivaciousness of Blogger blogs. The fame of the scroller spread within Google, until one day we were asked, “so, when are you launching this?”

“Um...,” we replied. But we knew a good idea when we heard one. We got our UI people to come up with buttons and fadey effects and we got our engineers to make the whole thing fast and robust. A bit of work later, and now we can share it with all of you:

http://play.blogger.com/

Blogger Play will show you a never-ending stream of images that were just uploaded to public Blogger blogs. You can click the image to be taken directly to the blog post it was uploaded to, or click “show info” to see an overlay with the post title, a snippet of the body, and some profile information about the blogger who uploaded it. We also wrote a Blogger Play FAQ with more information.

A caveat: we use many techniques, including Google’s SafeSearch technology, to keep the images clean. Nevertheless, on rare occasions an image that you may find vulgar or obscene will slip through our algorithmic filters. Google does not pre-screen the images that appear in Blogger Play, nor is it responsible for their content. To report a terms of service violation, you may fill out this contact form.

— Pete [14/09/07 12:30]"

Feels good to do a bit of C'n P again

Word of the post: Feasible –adjective

1.	capable of being done, effected, or accomplished

Notices

OK, I'm just popping up and noting a few things that have been going on and what I have noticed whilst they were going on.

The first notice I must make is that SAM of The Great Gig in the Sky is the triumphant winner of my Blogger's Challenge with a magnificent score of 7 - well done to you sir!!

And back to me...I made my first attempt to escape the void yesterday, as expected it wasn't as easy as I'd have liked and nowhere near as productive. My methos involved walking into shops, standing around for 5-10 minutes and seeing if I could stand being in there all day - if so then I'd hand them a CV. Constant loud music and busy queues put me off a few and lack of vacancies denioed me other - in the end GAME was the only one that I liked and that had an opening so I duly handed in a CV, whether anything comes of it we shal see.

Whilst not very forthcoming in the primary goal it did succeed in both secondary and tertiary goals. The secondary goal was to get me out of the house and let me do something productive in my afternoon, the tertiary goal was for me to get the latest Star Wars Legacy issue from town (see my SF Blog for more details) which it achieved well and gave added justification for travelling out to get it. I made one other purchase, a rare impulse buy - even rarer a book which I know nothing about, a book whose title and cover drew my eye instantly.

The book is Ringworld by Larry Niven and it struck me because it's name, premise and cover are very reminiscent of the computer game HALO. Doubtless I'm not the first to notice this and I'm sure Microsoft managed to wrangle out of any legal problems as soon as they arose, but it is interesting that a computer game I remarked at being so original should have such a close paralell in this book.

The last thing I noticed whilst reading Alan Bennet's diaries is the term bric-a-brac. For some reason (possibly the "a" in the middle) the term seems inherently Welsh and hearing it used in English conversation seems almost odd, though the term is English...or possibly French. I might look it up some time, but for now I bid adieu.

Word of the post: Mezzanine - n.

1. A partial story between two main stories of a building.

The Void

So I done me coursework, got all graduated and now I'm left in what I have decided to term the void, more commonly known as unemployment. This new state is only just starting to become a reality in my mind. This is partly due to having a fairly full and varied summer, had my time been dull and samey then by now I would be crying out for an occupation, but as it is I still sort of feel on holiday with a vague sense I should be doing something.

Another reason I'm not suprised at being idle is because I've been idle for quite some time. Uni was never demanding in terms of time consumption so I'm already used to having lots of days in the week to spend on myself. Had I been on a more demanding timetable no doubt this new state of affairs would be more of a shock to the system.

A third reson for my lack of unease is distractions. Empty days can while away much easier when you've got Facebook, a new series of Battlestar Galactica (series 1 so no spoilers you who've seen further!) and four series of Red Dwarf freshly purchased. These activities each demand at least 30 mins of your time and put together can fill a sizeable chunk of the day. This combined with some slightly more noble pursuits such as reading (currently Alan Bennet's diaries which makes my blogging feel very inferior) can help make those clock hands swing faster.

The last reason is that I'm not completely idle. I have been given a lot of responsibility by my church, some of it already existing, some if it completely new and not a little bit daunting such as running the youth work with a few friends that are the same age as I am. It's going well but we still have a lot to learn and there's a lot of preparation involved which helps give a sense of purpose.

But still I have reached a point where I see the need for work and a structured day (especially after buying said TV series!!) and so I will put my efforts into finding work of at least a temporary nature from hereon in.

Word of the post: Albeit - conjunction

although; even if: a peaceful, albeit brief retirement.

Squirrels!!

Well I was gonna start with a more common picture of a squirrel but when an image search turned up this beauty I just couldn't resist posting it! I haven't done a rant type post or talked about life in general for a while and this post struck me as an opportunity to do both without being too dull or aggressive - we'll see how things go.

Squirrels are a common feature of my life, given that one or two will visit my garden on a more or less daily basis. They gain access via a tall tree which connects to a tall hedge which connects to some small apple trees which connect to our lawn - all easily traversed with a squirel's natural agility. So common is this intrusion that it's hard to think of life without it and odd to speak to more urban folks who don't have bushy tailed visitors like we do.

While the squirels are very cute, especially in photographs, nature documentaries and Grosvenor Park(?) in Chester where they gladly come and eat nuts out of your hand, they do represent a problem and can be something of a pest. In my younger years I was an avid reader of nature books and attended various clobs which taught how the common greay squirrel has drive the much more attractive red squirrel into near extinction in our isles - something which needs to be addressed. The problem they represent in our garden is that they view the bird feeders as a ready source of food. Why these feeders should remain exclusive to avian visitors is not quite clear, but nonetheless squirrels go for them and are often particularly aggresive when they do so, mauling the containers open and scattering the precious grain to the floor. It is notoriously difficult to make things squirrel proof as they are seemingly born to be able to break into things - there seems to be nothing they can't climg up, swing down, hang upside down off or stuff their little faces into!! I also noticed recently that they produce a noise which seems to represent Daffy Duck being strangled to death and not the cute squaks you'd expect. All this makes them a dominating and annoying figure in the garden and they need to be warded away.

Which is where the fun starts! A cry of "Squirrels!" will drive our dog into a frenzy of speed unlike anything else. Commands like "Walkies", "Outside", "Biscuit" or "Hooshagabooshywa" will certainly increase his pace and have him barking and jumping around. But "Squirrels" puts him on an alert level and sends him scurrying into the garden at speeds no other command can produce. This is always amusing to see, especially when he heads for the base of the large tree (the common source of squirrels) and misses the nearby squirrel completely!! He has never caught a squirrel yet and we doubt he'd know what to do if he did, but it's good to watch.

So Squirrels: a cute pest that can be very amusing!!

Word of the post: Murine - adjective

pertaining to or resembling a mouse or rat

Edit: The word of the post is a random choice, picked from a list I add to as an when words take my fancy, given my negativity towards squirrels in this article this posts's word is a bit of a coincidence!!

Writer's Bloc 3 - American Studies

OK so still not a word more written, but plenty of thinking done and plenty more thinking to do. I'm starting to feel that I can probably wrangle together a complete first chapter (or prologue as it may turn out to be) without going to in depth and then correct all my grievous errors later.

Regardless some research needs to be done, particularly on America and it's government as they are the focus of my piece. Though of course the piece is set in the future it needs it's roots in reality. And as it's set on Earth and not a distant planet and in a future where not too much has changed besides some key technologies the governmental structure and tradition needs to correlate very closely to the real thing.

Herein lies the problem. Most of my knowledge of the American government comes from 24 and Splinter Cell, both featuring imaginary branches of the government both dedicated to stopping large scale terror, albeit with different methods and aims. Both are excellently written and I'm equally captivated by watching Jack Bauer beat the clock to stop a virus as I am to control Sam Fisher as he seeks to hunt down a guerilla leader across several countries. The two have slowly started to merge until I'm half expecting Bauer to don the tripple green goggles and hide in the shadows and wait for Fisher to disagree with protocol and demand his daughter's safety...oh wait he does!!

Anyway, these sources are my best information on the American government, 24 moreso as it focuses on the President and his campaign - I wouldn't even know that there was a California Presidential Primary if I hadn't heard Jack's voice say it over and over in series 1! But since neither CTU nor Third Echelon exist it looks like I have my work cut out to get things accurate.

I'd best get back to it, if nothing else writing this piece has given me stuff to blog about!

Word of the post: Harangue –noun

1.	a scolding or a long or intense verbal attack

Writer's Bloc 2 - First Page

I've held off this article mostly to let the Blogger challenge get noticed, I've had two takers so far, one dropped out on reasonable grounds and another who'se blog is apparently to high brow to stoop to my level! The challenge achieved it's main goal, which is to get people to actually read and comment on this thing, and it got at least one participant who was completely new to my blog. The standing record is Seven - if anyone is interested read the previous post and see if you can beat it.

The other reason I've held off is because I've not really written much and it's kind of embarrasing - but honesty is what these articles are about so I've decided to press on regardless. In one sense a first page is a meaningless thing, it's just a tiny fraction of what will be a large piece and by the time the whole thing has been written, rewritten and edited no two words will remain the same.

But on the other hand it's a big step and a good sign of things to come. Writing the first page means taking the idea from your head and actually putting it on paper (or screen to be accurate) and making what could be into what is. This can be an ugly and disillusioning process and can serve to show which of your wild imaginings that seemed genius at the time simply don't work. Writing it down means testing your writing skills as well as your imagination, putting the project onto a different playing field. Working through the first page, which took me well over an hour, made me face the reality of writing a book and reminded me of the seriousness of the task.

I've got a long way to go, but the first step is there to spur me on and while starting to write shows the greatness of the task it also shows the goal ahead and the pleasure of creating new work. I've currently taken it as far as it can go without more research so expect to get more snippets of information in the near future.

Farewell for now

Word of the post: Exemplar - noun

1.	a model or pattern to be copied or imitated