Confessions Of A Worm Kisser

Welcome to my morning!

2007-04-26T08:48:43Z

p.s. avoid South-East London at the moment:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6594419.stm

15 min journey took 75 mins.... not good.

Mondo Birthday Bash

2007-04-25T12:50:07Z

For those of you without Facebook (Event Here on Facebook) Here's the summary:

Mu-mu-mu-multi-part party this year!
On Friday, we'll do a little sleepover for those who can make it - I can sleep about 3 (more) people at my place comfortably - beyond that you're gonna start squeezing into floorspace. Sleepover will include party food, probably cake, computer games, silly TV, maybe boardgames etc.
On Saturday, we'll go off and do a free museum thing in London somewhere, and then we're going to start things off a little early (10pm) with an all-nighter at Slimelight, leading straight into the Movie Comic Media Expo in the ExCeL Centre.
The majority of the celebrating will be at the Expo itself, so I expect most people will opt to just turn up for that part - but those who want to see me into my birthday the night before are more than welcome to come along.

Plan as follows:
Slimelight at 10pm
Stay until shattered in the early hours.
Home for a quick nap.
Bimble around London
Head to Docklands / ExCeL centre for 10:00/10:30am
Blitz the Expo http://www.londonexpo.com (not actually possible - we'll likely be there till they throw us out at 5pm)
Find somewhere to eat (Pizza Express?)
Head back to my place for more collapsing and movies (again, 3ish more spots for sleeping) / wii / zombietastic lethargy, and then you have Monday to recover and make your way back wherever you came from.

Notes: Christopher Lee and Amanda Tapping are both gonna be there on Sunday :O
Oh, and some of the robots from robot wars :D

mmmm crapola

2007-04-25T07:57:34Z

Argh!
Just when I didn't need something like this to happen I've managed to break my office key.
Now I'm stuck sat on a stairwell until Alex arrives, assuming he's even coming in today - otherwise I'll have to head home and work from there.

The coconut orchestra the other night was fantabulously nutty. Terry Gilliam and the other Terry (who I can never remember properly) did this wonderful instruction thing on stage about how to use the coconuts :D

Got to meet Mat Bowles, Naomi, Dan and Rosie, and some friends of friends I don't really know.
Was also nice to see some familiarish faces like DJ Psyche turn up - both of us queueing for the same coconut lot with rather neon combination of hair :D
If you're on facebook - you can see some pictures. Otherwise I guess you can't :P

The Key - click here to see what's left of it

Still alive!

2007-04-17T10:08:49Z

Hi everyone,

I know I've been very quiet the last month or two but workloads have been pretty huge recently (Boss has a new baby, people on holiday, and my training up new minions).
Things are starting to cool down again now so hopefully I'll start to update again soon rather than just crashing out in the evening.

I'm well, if a little tired, and really just posted this to re-iterate something that Rosie posted in her journal:

---

Monty Python’s Spamalot celebrates St George’s day with an attempt to smash the Guinness world record for World’s largest coconut orchestra

To coincide with St George’s Day on Monday 23 April, cast members from the hit musical Monty Python’s Spamalot along with the general public will be attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the World’s Largest Coconut Orchestra.

The SPAMALOT team will teach members of the public how to ‘clip-clop’ in time to the Python classic Always Look on the Bright Side of Life prior to the record breaking attempt which will take place in Trafalgar Square at 7pm. To be assured a pair of exclusive Monty Python’s SPAMALOT coconuts and possibly a place in the history books, you will need to have registered at one of a number of check points in Trafalgar Square by 6.30pm.

The Guinness World Record for the largest number of people gathered in one location playing coconuts at the same time currently stands at 1789. This record was set on 22 March 2006 outside the Shubert Theatre in New York, to celebrate the one year anniversary of the Broadway production of Monty Python’s SPAMALOT.

The record breaking attempt will be part of a weekend of free activities organised by the Mayor of London. It will be followed by a special screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail in Trafalgar Square at 7.30pm.

---

I'm going for definite... in fact, I think I'm going to make my own St George tunic for the event.
Soo.... anyone else coming? I know Rosie and Dan are at least.

Voltaire was Awesome!

2007-04-02T14:25:09Z

That's pretty much all I wanted to say :3
Big thanks to Psyche for organising the whole thing - I was in stitches for most of the show and the rest I was happily singing along from my perch up near the rafters.
Good to see some friendly faces too (Al, Uncle Nemesis, Matt North, and Steve and Georgia turned up)

On a pseudo-related news: Anyone considering going along to see The Last Dance at the Betty Ford Clinic (April 20th)? I went along to the club few weeks ago for the opening night (when there were no bands on) and it was a bit quiet, but still a blast (More room to dance \m/)

Post thorpe-park update

2007-03-14T15:53:02Z

Well Thorpe-Park was, as expected, awesome. Myself, Hugh, Alex, Becky, Mary and Phoebe all crammed into the back of Hugh's car for the short journey between Staines train station and the park itself.
Unfortunately, about half of the park (the good half) was shut so we didn't get to go on Nemesis, nor Detonator, etc.
There was enough to fill up the day though (Depth Charge, Colossus, Miss Hippo's Fungle Safari, Quantum, Mr Monkey's Banana Ride, Chief Ranger's Carousel, Vortex [never going on this again], Zodiac) - and more than enough spinning around upside down suspended above the ground to make me feel uneasy.
We didn't go on Stealth because it didn't open until the last minute and it looked like there was about 20 hours worth of queueing for it. Quite glad too tbh, I like my trousers black, not brown.

After the park we went back to Becky's place for some cardgames and drinking (well, not me drinking obviously), and from there back to my place for sleepingus maximus.

There are some pictures from Alex's camera which I'll try to sort out at some point.

Make saturdays interesting presents: Tate / Tate Modern

2007-03-14T15:43:11Z

We haven't done a museum in a few weeks, but this saturday we'll either be going to the 'Tate Britain' or the 'Tate Modern' depending on the mood on the day / popular vote.

As per usual we'll be meeting at Angel Tube Station @ Noon and then meandering over. If anyone feels like coming along can you make sure I know so that I can ensure we don't poddle off without you.
Also - anyone is free to meet us there or come along later if more convenient - Just let me know and I'll find a way to let you know where we end up.

Eclipse, Spring and Thorpe Park

2007-03-08T09:38:55Z

Last saturday wasn't just a run-of-the-mill full moon, but we were also lucky enough (well, those of us that noticed it) to get a blood red circle, courtesy of the good old planet earth.
We wandered up to the stone circle at Hilly Fields to get a better look at it, and while it was a lovely clear sky with many stars visible etc, the ground was a tad too muddy to stay there for very long. As we were leaving though a couple turned up looking like they were about to get with the baby makings, although I haven't been able to find any reference to a blood moon being good for the sexings. I suppose it might have just been coincidence, but anyway. Did anyone else get to see the eclipse?

It's nice finally to be light in the mornings when I have to head over to Cirencester. I have to get up before 6am in order to catch the 6:30ish train into London, to get across London and back out the other side etc etc, and it's really nice to not be sat in the dark at the station wishing I was back in bed. Now I'm sat in the light wishing I was back in bed ;)
It's also getting lighter in the evenings... not quite "light" when I get home (especially last night - train delay meant I didn't get back until gone 10pm) but it will be soon enough.

Oh, finally - we're going to Thorpe Park this saturday. Anyone want to come with?
Park opens at 10am, so we'll be on the 8:28 train from Waterloo to Staines and then we'll get the shuttlebus from Staines. So far there are 7 of us going that I know of, in two groups (we'll meet up there)
I'd offer crash space, but it might already be taken up by a few bodies - will make another post if more space becomes available or if anyone drops out.
Weather is currently shaping up for sun so it should be an excellent day :3

awesomely leet credit!

2007-03-01T14:43:51Z

Heh - I just noticed from one of my receipts for lunch, that my credit-card ends 1337
How awesomely nerdy :3

Minion! and new toy!

2007-02-26T22:47:13Z

Looks like all of this work I've been doing interviewing people hasn't been for nothing (this time). We decided to offer one of the two positions we had advertised to one of the recent batch of interviewees... and he has accepted the offer. \o/ Hooray!
It means that in one month he'll start work and I'll have someone to take some of the load off :3

In other news, work have purchased a swanky new laptop for me (to replace my aged desktop computer. This is a good thing (tm) because it means I'm now posting from bed, while I stream TV shows wirelessly from my media-drive across the network \o/

Breezy Brighton

2007-02-26T09:59:06Z

As I mentioned before, this weekend was supposed to be a trip to Paris (or somewhere else in Europe... we never got round to finalising it), but we had to change plans because the "1-week fast-track" service for Passports in the country is actually more like a "2-week if you're lucky".
So instead, we organised a near-last-minute trip down to Brighton for the day.
Travelling by Megabus the journey takes about 30-40 minutes longer than if we'd gone by train, but given the megabus costs £4 for a ticket, and a train ticket costs just under £20, the saving is well worth it. Unlike most of the rest of the country, it wasn't actually raining in Brighton, just awfully windy, but when the sun was out it was quite warm(ish).

So Kes and I met up and made our way to Victoria's Greenline Coach Station for 9:30am and arrived in Brighton just a smidgen before Noon.
Kes hadn't been to Brighton before so I gave her a whirlwind tour before our 5:00pm departure again - We went to the pier, on a bunch of rides at the end of the pier, back and along to the lanes, to the Games Workshop (which I haven't been in since I was about 12 or 13), through the lanes, along the high street, to a bunch of shops, to the north lanes, to my favourite sweet shop in Brighton, along to a comic shop, off to The George, back along the lanes and briefly swinging past Food for Friends to ensure it still existed. Just as we were leaving we went to the Shakeaway where I had a tictac milkshake :3
Kes had a peanut/chocolate one whith added wheatgerm which smelled lovely - I highly recommend this place, they do all sorts of things (cucumber milkshake anyone?)

Next time we'll arrange things a bit further in advance, and then we can fit more things in - like the Royal Pavillion, or walking along to the Marina Village again (probably avoiding the nudist beach, with its weathered elderly population - hardened by the strong winds and salt surf), and maybe go in the Sealife centre *shrug* depends on what's on and when we go back.

Journey home was filled with hangman, squares, and other such travel games :3 and we spent the evening watching Supernatural \m/

Long long interview day, and owie as well

2007-02-23T21:08:27Z

Urgh - I hate doing these interviews.
I have to be up at 5:30 and I don't get back until, well now (4 hours commute in total).
6 were scheduled today, but we had one cancel at the last minute so at least I got to eat lunch this time.
Interviewing british people is tough enough - so many things to check in such a short time, and more often than not they don't actually know the stuff - they just think "hey, I can do excel so I can do databases"
Worse though, is interviewing non-native speakers. It's at least twice as hard to get the information out of them, even though they may well be more qualified. It takes so much more out of me doing the interviews but at least we get there in the end.
From this batch we had 1 British, 1 Lithuanian, 1 Chinese, 2 Mons and a Greek applicant.
We might give out two jobs from this selection - depending on followup information.

In other, more painful news, my right hand got smashed something good pulling someone back from stepping out in front of a speeding car. Nothing's broken, just a lot of bruising and superficial grazes. No thanks or anything either, but I think the kid was a bit shaken up by everything too.
Still, going to Brighton with Kes tomorrow which should be a nice winding-down after long stressful stuff.
Might even make it to slimelight - not sure how I'll feel yet.

Voltaire - April Fools gig in London

2007-02-20T09:08:40Z

Woot is all I can say.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT

I saw Voltaire a couple of years ago at Whitby and I've been hankering to see him again so naturally I was thrilled (read: ran around all of my local friends screaming OMG WE HAVE TO GO) when I saw the flyer at the Betty Ford Clinic.

Purple Turtle (Camden) on Sunday the 1st of April. I'll be going unless something major comes up :)

Edit: Happy 'Feed Greg Pancakes' Day as well btw

Post-Valentines update

2007-02-19T15:14:41Z

Hmm, haven't really updated in a little while so I'll give a quick overview of the last few days for the curious.

Valentines night was a dinner party with some friends - unfortunately quite a few (about half) of the people coming cancelled which meant we were left with waaay too much food.
Greg to the rescue of course! There were only a few crisps and cakes left at the end >:) Ended up watching House with Danni, Dom and Phoebe until everyone started passing out from tiredness.

Thurs night was a veg-out. I caught up on a few TV shows I've downloaded and not watched. - set a bunch more downloading (omg - I'm *so* behind on everything)

Friday night I hooked up with Amelia to go to the new Betty Ford Clinic night at SEone (right next to my office). I really enjoyed it there, and it was good to see Amelia again out and about. Didn't dance a huge amount there because the music I was enjoying most was Psyche's set (which was just finishing as we arrived) - but I did get a spot of dancing towards the end.
Random girl on dancefloor started flirting with me so I did what I do best in such situations and employed my run/hide tactic for fear of turning into a gibbering idiot.

Saturday, as I announced a few days ago, was the Science Museum. I was planning to meet Amelia and Naomi there, but the former was still fast asleep when we were supposed to be meeting and the latter came down with the flu. *prod @ naomi* been like 4 months now :P
So instead I met up with Alice and her friend Becky and we plodded round the museum.
I think I preferred the Natural History Museum to the Science Museum, but it might just be because of the layout rather than the content. Seemed to be a lot more stairs and such involved in the Science Museum, and because Naomi wasn't there I didn't want to press the fact that I wanted to go and see Game On (£10 entry, and if you're not really into the history of computer games it'd be kinda dull).

Aaaaaaaaaanyway, free entry Slimelight in the evening again, where I this time took Alice and Becky as we had such a fun time earlier in the day. Spot of trad-goth, then some EBM dancing, before collapsing in front of Children of Men. Note to self: re-watch this film without chatting to Vlad (p.s. Hi Vlad) and other people I wasn't expecting to see throughout.

Sunday was mostly uneventful, just reading a certain webcomic and catching up on more TV shows and that's the week over.

The boss' other half gave birth on Saturday morning so my skyrocketing workload has just gone thermo, but it'll be cool once I get some overtime in tonight or something.

Paris might not happen, a couple of people have dropped out / got other commitments so the few remaining might just bugger off to Brighton via megabus for a cheapy-weekend-by-the-sea.... we'll see how things go.

Make saturdays interesting presents: Game On & Teh Science Museum

2007-02-14T10:07:16Z

The 'Make Saturdays Interesting' crowd will be visiting The Science Museum this saturday.
As usual, we'll be meeting at Angel Tube Station @ Noon and then meandering over. I expect Zoë and Phoebe will be present, along with myself and anyone else I can coax into existance again (Naomi?).
The rest of you are welcome to come along and join us, or meet us there etc.

Information on Game On

Location of the Science Museum

In other news... why has Livejournal decided that Vagina Pink is a suitable colour for today? I could understand a deep-hearty-red, but this particular shade is awful.

Where aaaaaaaaare you?

2007-02-13T11:34:22Z

Naomi and 3lancer. I've not spoken to either of you since at least November last year! it's like you've just vanished. Where aaaaaaaaaaaare youuuu?
Either of you fancy doing the Science Museum this weekend?
It's like the last chance we'll have to get to Game On while it's still open.

Le Panique! Valentines! Oh, and Brissol

2007-02-13T09:15:06Z

Erk - I've managed to lose my passport. Having asked everyone I've come into contact with over the last 6 months I have decided that I must've burned it or eaten it while I slept... which means I've now got an emergency appointment booked for thursday morning at silly-o-clock am to try and get a replacement before next weekend.

Last weekend I took Phoebe over to see dunos, legoooooolas, watashiki, jamesoff, greeneyez, AD, Stokeboy, zeeb, bimbltron, duds, *insert many many more names here till my fingers fall off* for Jamesoff/Zeeb's joint party, and to help Dunos move large items of furniture.
Remarks: Your other friends are like a walking lan-party. Tiring weekend for my legs, but good to see everyone again - rather odd because it wasn't like our normal chillaxed meetings where we get a good chance to talk and relax but we did get some superb photos which I shall link later this evening.

In other news, Amelia and Bob who were so helpful to me at the end of last year during my rough patch are going through a rough patch of their own :/ Hopefully things will blow over for them.

Oh yes, and I spent last night making silly valentines cards for $random people. I'll post photos of those later as well but avoid them if you think you've got a hope in hell of getting one. Card + random glitzy things + lollypops + mix CD. All very tongue in cheek, the CD contains such lovely tracks as Andrew Lloyd Webber - Learn To Be Lonely and Good Charlotte - The Day That I Die.

Finally, I have reverted my hair to its natural colour (Burple)

Consider my mind broken

2007-02-09T16:20:15Z

:psyduck:

I'm a big fan of smallville, have been since near enough the start back when I was at university.... Today I just sort of had my mind blown.

When Jimmy Olsen became a semi-regular I thought "oh cool - He looks familiar - he must've been in a previous episode" (my mind was drawn back to an episode involving a precognition).
Then I re-watched the Xmen movies and my mind went "Hmmm, iceman looks familiar"
Slow dawning.... 2+2 = 5.
Nope - I was completely wrong.
Not only was the guy who plays Jimmy not in smallville before, but the guy who plays Iceman is in fact a completely different person, and the person who I thought Jimmy was originally (who was in Running with Scissors) is another completely different person.... but all 3 actors have been in smallville at one point or other to just add to my poor brain's confusion.

Joseph Cross (The precognition dude in smallville.... and in Running with Scissors)
Shawn Ashmore (Iceman... and the kid in smallville who could steal superman's powers)
Aaron Ashmore (Jimmy Olsen)
^^ of course it doesn't help that two of them are twins....

Oh Hugh you card!

2007-02-09T12:44:02Z

Marvel at his creation!

Do guns really cause violence?

2007-02-09T11:41:24Z

Stolen totally from dunos on IRC.

This site is conducting an ongoing experiment to find out if guns really do cause violence. If you see anything suspicious please let me know because I can't watch it all the time ;)

Amusing memory from lastnight

2007-02-07T18:38:41Z

Dinner with urgusabic, jims_wild_love and aeglowyn

** Aeglowyn whispers to me: Is Nick, ya know?
Aeglowyn and Myself: so Nick, do you have stairs in your place?
Nick: Nah, it's a small condo.
** I shake my head slowly
** Aeglowyn chuckles quietly.
** Nick gains a blank look.
Nick: Why do I have a feeling I've just been dissed by the cool kids? :(

Goon Love, Paris, and Work

2007-02-07T10:09:51Z

Normally I hate valentines. Change that - despise valentines. Over-commercialised and *generally* whatever happens from it is emotionally cheap and meaningless.

That being said - I got my first valentines card <3
Hand Crafted From Norway!
Will post pictures later when I get home, along with my preparation for sending out a batch of my own.
Now this is fun, hand-crafted cards to/from near-strangers across the globe (an offshoot of the 'lets send each other mail' thing I mentioned before).
You'll have to wait until after valentines day to see the cards I end up making though - I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone who might be on the receiving end before they actually get one.

Also - should anyone be planning on seeing me for the last weekend in Feb you should probably let me know soonish because I'm now planning a brief excursion over to Paris 24th->25th (depending on other people's availability...)

In other news: one of our servers has just 'vanished'. Any Canadians reading this mind going to reboot the machine? :/ Trying to get hold of the engineers is proving somewhat trixy.

Photo of the tower

2007-02-05T11:30:02Z

peshwengi (my neighbour) just posted This lovely shot of where I live.

And we're well into Feb by now

2007-02-05T10:59:29Z

As some of you have no-doubt guessed from the last post I spent last weekend mostly with my dad.

Friday night started off with me having dinner with aeglowyn before we went back to my flat to play on my wii and watch a movie or two. If anyone hasn't seen "Requiem for a Dream" then I'd recommend it. Amongst other things, if this film doesn't put the idea of drugs really far from your mind I don't know what will :O The only thing I grew a bit tired of in the film was the way they showed the drug-taking - the first time was ok, but it grew repetative with the recycled footage.

Saturday morning came and with much scrambling we almost made it out of the flat at the intended time. aeglowyn was off to Forbidden planet to meet Terry Gilliam (Time Bandits / Brazil / Adventures of Baron Munchausen / etc) while I made my way across london to catch a train out to my dads. En-route I got stuck in the tube (hooray... not), and then when I did get to Marylebone they'd shut the line I was going to take for engineering works. Not that it mattered much though, turns out I could get a train through to Haddenham and Thame Parkway which is almost as close for pickup/dropoff.

Eventually got to Dad's about 4:00pmish where mrdarkhelmet and my other brother Danny were waiting (upstairs, playing Pirates of the Carribean on Danny's playstation somethingorother). Danny's grown a lot since I last saw him.... a *lot*. His voice has broken and he's probably about the same height as Dad which means he only has a few inches to go until he's taller than Alex. Now that his voice has broken, from the other side of the house you can't tell them apart anymore.

We chatted and played a few games for a while, and Hugh turned up a bit later. Danny had a concert to play at in the evening so he wasn't coming along to the Ceilidh (pronounced 'Kaley') in the evening, but Alison, Dad, Alex, Danny and myself were all going. Dad's morris group were booked to dance at the Ceilidh so I came with some whites in case they needed me to step in and fill a gap. They didn't in the end - but I was still able to dance in the normal Ceilidh dances. I hadn't been to a Ceilidh in about 10 years, and I was surprised at how many faces I recognised. Managed to catch up with the Lockets (family we used to see at Church when I was very little). Did end up managing to dance with a few ladies closer to my age throughout the evening (along with a few at either end of the spectrum). Managed to get through two shirts over the evening - I can see why my Dad takes 3 spares with him! And my feetskies hurt now.
After the Ceilidh we all went back home again and I crashed out on the sofa.

Luckily, I'm the sort of person who can sleep pretty much anywhere if I put my mind to it, and having shared a room with a computer gamer I can pretty much sleep through anything either. So when Dad woke up for 7am football it didn't bother me at all :) nor his leaving to collect manure for his compost either.
I spent the morning playing with Danny/Alex/Hugh (Jagged Alliance 2 - classic game) - and Alison very kindly made us a lovely roast sunday dinner. Spot the family traits time. 4 Sweetman Men + Pile of food + very short time-lapse. = 4 dozy men sighing happily.

We left Dad's about 10 past 5 so we could get back to London for a sane time, and on my way home I got a text from urgusabic saying he'd arrived in nodnol and when did I get back. A quick phonecall later and I dragged aeglowyn out to meet him and his girl. We ate pizza, chatted, then walked along the Thames for a while before saying goodnight and heading out different ways. Due to unforseen circumstances - I now have a spare urgusabic for a couple of days... can't complain though - he's lovely <3

Proper update to follow tomorrow

2007-02-05T01:38:03Z

When I'm not as sleepy - for now, some morris lyrics.

Well here's to the ladies we love them so well
and some are regular tarters.
Off with their knickers and off with their bras
and off with their bonnie green garters!