Month: April 2004

So then I ended up playing Eve and as I wasn’t giving it 100% I made a stupid mistake and lost my ship.

So the course is over, it’s been both a long and a short week at the same time. I’m pretty tired out, I’ve been getting to bed earlier than usual and in that sense I’ve had a good week. Realised something interesting about timing and things like that which I have to think about.

This evening I’m pretty restless. I don’t know what I want to do, but I know that I want to do something. Today we finished early so I’ve been home for a while (none of the usual Friday night fun for me, as I don’t want to take the tube to the other side of London) and I’m, well I’m bored. I’ve done a small bit of cleaning and organising and I’ve played Eve and fuck all else really. I have loads of stuff to watch and to read and none of it is jumping out at me now.

I’m thinking perhaps cinema but there is fuck all on that I really want to see, a few things I may go and see but again nothing jumping out. I guess I’ll play Eve for most of the night.

Song of the week and indeed my life right now is Springsteen’s The River some of it is just so charged up and it rocks hard.

I dropped my discman yesterday, most of it is fine…except for the increase volume button which is well fucked. Suspect it’s going to mean a new one which is one more expenise I could do without this month. Shall check out the prices on the way to Dublin in a couple of weeks.

Finished Chasm City and since then Diamond Dogs/Turquoise Days, the two novellas collected which were excellent. Looking forward to finishing Redemption Ark and then onto the new one which I have not read.

Google IPOing….well it’s about time but does seem like it was perhaps a bit forced on them. I wonder (hope) this is going to be a rallying point of some sort for the internet industry and that we will all benefit from it. I am already considering how I can go about buying some shares in it. Thing is, they would have to be long term and I don’t have much cash I could tie up like that…unless I sold some of my shares which I really don’t want to do. Still, thinking about ways and means. Also, hot damn but this letter alongside the IPO information is good stuff. Man I want to work for them!

– course is really tough. I was struggling by lunchtime on the first day. Not a good sign. Perservering through as much as I can.
– had way too much to drink last night with one of the lads.
– I’m having a quiet night in watching stuff while playing Eve. I love the fact that the new 24 has a graphic violence warning before it.

That’s about it for now.

Today was a lovely day. I did some brief shopping in Camden and enjoyed a nice walk along the canal.

A short list.
– It appears that The Lovely Bones is to be filmed within the next year or so. If they capture half the book, anyone watching will spent the entire movie sobbing.
– *sigh* I don’t even know how to phrase this but I have much stronger feelings for someone than I should.
– Chasm City is going really well and again I’m enjoying it so much more than the first time around.
– Message board bugs have been annoying me a lot today.
– I have played way too much Eve today. Tomorrow I need to get our more and enjoy the weather. By the end of the week I should be able to fly any basic frigate in the game and close on every cruiser in the game. Then I can work my way up to all battleships.
– I need to go and sleep but I want to get a little stuff finished up first.
– Tomorrow I have no plans, I really need to go out to Avalon and collect my comics but I’m dreading what the bill for that one will be 🙁
– I’m tired. I was up around 9 this morning which is very unusual for me on a Saturday. Tomorrow, hopefully I will sleep in.
– Watched a whole load of stuff today aswell, most of which was good. It certainly was an entertaining few hours.

So I’ve just landed myself a 5 day training course next week in Java. I am exceptionally pleased about this. I am really looking forward to next week now. At the very least, the training course is damn close to my flat. It’s not quite walking distance but it’s close enough. Most days shoud be over around 4.30 and I’ll get some more Eve time in (what!?!)

I have also made some decisions and have come up with a bit of direction. It is one that I have been thinking about for a good while but I am actually going to follow it through now. I just need to get some cash together and I’ll see what I can do about that in the next couple of weeks and then get going.

I am the man with the plan, if I can follow through on this plan it will make the coming weeks, months and indeed years rather interesting and rather tough too. I have no idea if I can handle it but I’m damn well going to give it a try.

This has been a very social week. I’ve had lunch with 4 different people and will head out out to the pub for our usual Friday semi team lunch. Going to go a little early to get a seat outside as it’s starting to become really nice over here. I’m hoping that it will be a nice weekend. I don’t have much planned, I want to pick up a few comics but mainly nothing planned. I may hit the cinema a couple of times, the Prince Charles has some stuff on that I want to see and a cheap quiet weekend sounds good.

Dublin is all confirmed. I get there on the 8th when I’m on holiday until the 11th. At that stage I’m attending a conference for next 2.5 days and back to London on the afternoon of the 13th. In a case of good timing, my dad is in London at the time I’m in Dublin on a course of his own. It overlaps a little, I’ll see him in Dublin before he leaves and then he is staying with me the weekend after. Some beers involved there I’m sure.

For some reason, I could guess at a few of them I’m feeling completly miserable right now. I really don’t want to be here, what I’m “working” on is a pain in the fucking hole and the highlight of the rest of the day is a patch for Eve when I get home.

I’m not able to find anything to listen to which hits the spot. Been a fair bit of Iron Maiden over the past couple of days but right now nothing is working. It needs to be heavy right now and it needs to just drown everything out but the noise. *sigh*

I am actually considering taking two days holidays and not coming in tomorrow and Friday. I don’t think I’d miss much but I am trying to keep my holidays for later in the year when I might actually be able to go somewhere.

I find myself in need of a goal at the moment. I’m floundering a bit, both in work and in my own life. I guess I have a little direction in both but it feels lacking. Alot of it is down to a quiet time in work. We are very much between projects and don’t have all that much to keep going on.

Have you see a cripple dance?
Pay your money, baby
Now’s your chance
Eyes like cyanide
I am so dumb
Just beam me up
I’ve had it all forever
I’ve had enough
Remember, you promised me
I’m dying, I’m dying, please
I want to, I need to be
Under your skin
Our love is quicksand
So easy to drown
They steal the gravity, yeah
From moving ground
Remember, you promised me
I’m dying, I’m dying, please
I want to, I need to be
Under your skin
And now I understand
You leave with everything
You leave with everything I am
Withering
And now I know that love is dead
You’ve come to bury me
There’s nothing left here to pretend
Anything
Remember, you promised me
I’m dying, I’m dying, please
I want to, I need to be
Under your skin
I’m dying, I’m dying, please
I’m dying, I’m dying, please
I’m dying, I’m dying, please
Under your skin
Under your skin

Dying by Hole, band de jour.

IF ONLY YOUR LIFE COULD BE LIKE A COMPUTER
If you messed up your life, you could press “Alt, Ctrl, Delete” and start all over!
To get your daily exercise, just click on “run”   
If you needed a break from life, click on “suspend.”  
Hit “any key” to continue life when ready.       
To get even with the neighbors, turn up the sound blaster.  
To “add/remove” someone in your life, click settings and control panel.  
To improve your appearance, just adjust the display settings.  
If life gets too noisy, turn off the speakers.     
When you lose your car keys, click on “find.”  
“Help” with the chores is just a click away.  
You wouldn’t need auto insurance.You’d use your diskette to recover from a crash.      
We could click on “send” and the kids would go to bed immediately.  
To feel like a new person, click on “refresh.”  
Click on “close” to shut up the kids and spouse.    
To undo a mistake, click on “back.”
Is your wardrobe getting old? Click “update.” 
If you don’t like cleaning the litter box, click on “delete.”

I’ve started having breakfast every day in work. Not just having a breakfast, but having a healthy breakfast. It’s probably way over due and it’s a good chance for a sit down and chat in the kitchen here so that’s good too. I also feel alot better around the 11.30 mark than I normally do. So um yes.

Almost a quiet weekend all round. Friday night was out with the V for the evening with clubbing scheduled for afterwards. A breakaway party went to a late bar instead and that was far more fun. Handy to chat there aswell. Saturday morning didn’t really happen, then aside from a trip to the comic shop, it was mainly an Eve weekend.

I moved down to Immensea, narrowly avoiding some Corp1 on the way and then spent the rest of the weekend hunting with III. It was good good fun and has shown me several things I need to change about my setup. Will be working down there for a week or so I think, Getting close to having the next level of battleship paid for. I have over 50% of the mins and the blueprint copy sitting in my hanger. Making 3-4 million a day hunting and hopefully some mining in there will be very helpful. The loot modules will be sold on for a nice profit too of course.

Anyway enough of that. Comics wise, the new Queen & Country trade was to Rucka’s usual high standard but the art was very patchy. In places the style was changing from page to page and I wasn’t impressed by it. Niles and Templesmith’s Dark Days was ok, nothing like as fun as 30 Days of Night but with some gorgeous artwork and a nice last page.

I have some code to pump this into a livejournal which I have to play with. I had meant to do it over the weekend but never really got around to it. Not so sure on pushing everything to there, it’s much more searchable (not to mind findable) than this place here (not that this is hidden away really) and so I’ll think about it. It’s handy for being able to comment on others and that’s a good thing, the rest…I’ll see.

Curious to know who xara.net is now.

Finished off Revelation Space last night, it’s an excellent excellent book. Moved onto Chasm City and it’s a more recent read so fresher but still good fun.

So I get embaressed pretty easily, usually over pretty girls. I guess after tonight those on the V who were not aware who held my interest, are now. Hopefully I’ll get the good word in anyway.

London is a really lonely place.