Month: November 2004

Well that certainly turned into a ramble.
Busy morning ahead (ha) and then a quiet afternoon working on RF and then Dublin.

yay.

I have to type. It’s one of those times. The keyboard is just sitting there calling to me and I have nothing to say to it. It doesn’t seem to care, it taunts me. I have things to do, I’m no-where near ready to go away for a week and yet here I am. Slave to the keyboard.

I’m pretty well organised in the essentials department. I have my passport which lets face it is the only thing I really have to have, everything else I could survive without. Aside from that, I came across my keys for my parent’s house last night by sheer chance…in the place I knew I had left them so I’m all set for them too. Again some thoughts with them, its stranger everytime to add them to my keyring. It’s not my house, it hasn’t been for a while yet still it is. Strange one.

Today was a date, well it was almost a date. It will actually be on Wednesday but it felt like it today. Wednesday, around 8.30 in the am will be a milestone. Five years, an entire fifth of my life will have been spent working for the same company, my first and only real job. It astounds me. It really does. I started doing telephone support in a smallish call centre in Dublin earning 12k Irish a year. And now, it boggles the mind to think. I know how I got here, it was kicked off by chance. I’ve been lucky throughout, there was some talent and ability too but there was a whole lot of luck.

I can’t even begin to think where I will be in a year nevermind in another five. A month is starting to look optimistic for knowing where I am going. Things are changing, a slip of the tounge today or a plan for the future? My job is in the drain at the moment. I have no work to do and it’s been that way for about 6 months now. I actively hate going to my desk every day, I can’t surf the web or make up shit anymore, it’s long past funny. I don’t know how I’ve managed to do it for so long. It’s starting to look like it could be another 6-8 months like that. I won’t be able to do it, I know I won’t. It’s just not possible.

Sure I’ve got some other things to do, I mentioned a while ago that I’m back doing some work for Dave but it’s tough. I need some sort of structure to these things and I struggle at learning from a book. Not the learning but the actual doing it. I can take it all in but without a day to day challenge in it, I struggle. The stuff that I’m good at, or at least I was, I was working in and learning in daily and that’s how I became good at it. Practice, a whole lot of enthusiasm and I guess I felt like I had some thing to prove. I proved it, but to this date I’m not sure if that was a good thing or not.

Anyway enough of that shite. Spent 10 minutes looking for my business cards, I used the last one in my wallet last week and aside from being handy in general, they are damn handy when travelling. Found em, again where they should have been, I just had to think about it for a moment and stocked up. Picked out my cds and my clothes and a couple of books for the trip and packed em up. I could go now I guess.

So other than that, I dinged 33 in CoH last night. Slotting up nicely now and close on another respec which I think I’m going to take some time thinking over and see if I can improve a bit. Eve launches Exodus tomorrow. Looking forward to checking it out when I get back. Really hope that like the last expansion they’ll finish training the skills which were under way, I’ve stuck a 24 day one on that I’d really like and I have hope.

This place is getting a little lately than LJ, I don’t know why. This’ll get edited a little bit before going in there tho I guess I really don’t care anymore.

Oh apparently the text is invisible on Mozilla which is annoying and indeed strange. It should only be CSS. Speaking of, lots of Fisting today, issue 50 of Robot Fist goes live tomorrow afternoon. Got everything I have in so far pretty much ready to go. Hoping to get the rest this evening or early tomorrow morning. It’s in good shape so far and there are some good articles. I still don’t know if mine made the cut yet, I guess I will tomorrow.

I’ve not said much about the new U2 album. I was waiting to do it in the Fist but I realised something today. I read a review somewhere over the weekend (Uncut maybe?) that called it the third to compliment The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby and I scoffed. After some thought, I’m not scoffing anymore. It’s grown on me so much. I don’t think I’ve listened to much else in the past week or so. I’ve listened to it at least five times today, possibly closer to 10 and I love it. It’s not getting old at all and the words are coming down pat. Love it, it’s a fantastic album and I’ll be talking about it soon one way or another.

My computer was making some funny noises over the weekend, turned it all off and opened it up. So much dust in the fan, I blame Hebe. Cleared it out and it’s running nice and smooth. So every now and again, dust the inside of your machine.

On that subject, slightly annoyed at missing out on some decent free wireless networking kit earlier today. Had I not been going away, I could have cleaned up the network here at the Hilton a whole lot. Ah well, I’d rather go away.

I’ve not managed to hear back from most people about anything going on towards the weekend. My uncle has a book launch (Irish poetry, don’t ask) Wednesday evening and there is a party to go with that. I’ll be going off to that and I hear that several of my cousins will be around which is good. I’ve not seen most of them in a long long time, nor my uncle for that matter. My grandmother became a great-grandmother recently. I believe it’s a sore subject so I look forward to the mocking. I seem to be able to get away with it, while my dad just glares at me. Grand kids are out of wed-lock ya see and that’s a big no no.

Chess has been going a whole lot better in the past couple of weeks. I don’t know why but I seem to be way back on form. I’ve only lost a couple of games and I’ve won a few far more comfortably than I had been in a long time. It was about time as I’d been loosing quite a bit over the weeks before now. It’s a good way to have lunch, beats sitting at my desk, that’s for sure.

A good 30 minutes typing there and I still feel like I need to keep going. I don’t know what else there is. Is it worth telling the girl I had(have?) a crush on for a long time a long time ago(?) that?. Man how lame is that? I’ve been thinking about it recently. I thought it was all over like the silly school crushes should be but then no, boom 3 hours changes, that’s a lie, it was about 20 minutes changes things around and I’m left spinning in the air. I so nearly sent an email. It’s not a huge secret anymore, it came up in conversation a while ago, well more so I used it as a defense when I was accused of a) sleeping with and/or b) having a crush on someone else way back when. Now she’s an interesting case and I have had some thoughts there (not like that) recently. There’s no-one really from way back when that I can be bothered wasting time actually disliking. It’s just not worth any of it. We all could have been better people and better friends and yes of course I include myself in that but this is where we are now. It’s funny in a way the people who I consider friends now and probably much closer friends than they realise are the ones I didn’t expect to be in touch with at all and indeed didn’t really know. One exception to that latter of course. But the people that I would have thought would still be friends now ain’t.

Paragraph break for the sake of it and no other reason. I don’t really want to be friends with all of them and some I never would be again, but I don’t actually hold any grudges. It’s funny to even say that, I thought I would for a long time. I find myself not caring. It was all so long ago and at the end of the day in my life now, it’s barely a footnote. I’d never trust some of them again but I guess that’s really about the worst of it. Man those were strange times for a while.

This whole thing is just pushing the thoughts out and seeing what ends up on the page, it’s perhaps not meant to be understood. The act of writing is the important thing. There’s been a quote across the top of this blog for a long time. That’s the important thing. I understand.

Anyway extending olive branches (have I got that wrong, it sounds wrong), isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Someday, who knows.

Nothing here really comes from no-where in the end. It’s all coming straight from me. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, it just is.

I’m really getting fed up with spam. Thunderbird is a nice mail client but it’s piss poor at learning from spam. I don’t know what else there is to really change too, I’ve got something in work I may well end up using at home but I’d rather something else for a change of scene.
Really fed up of viri too, I had at least 7 today and fucking Norton makes me acknowledge each one before going onto the next mail. I don’t care who it is from or what the email says, just delete the fucker.

Mildly annoyed by email this evening as you can tell.

The Apple store was of course sold out of everything interesting, very early too from the sounds of it. Still it’s nice, as nice as any other Apple store really. Once you’ve seen one, you really have seen them all. The U2 iPod looks quite nice and I think I may well get one. My flatmate has kindly offered to carry one back from that awful country next month so that’s all good…and cheap.

Fairly quiet day. The Apple store was of course sold out of everything interesting, very early too from the sounds of it. Still it’s nice, as nice as any other Apple store really. Once you’ve seen one, you really have seen them all. The U2 iPod looks quite nice and I think I may well get one. My flatmate has kindly offered to carry one back from that awful country next month so that’s all good…and cheap. Went onto the Washington afterwards with Alastair and then met up with various other V types and drank vodka for a few hours. Split up into a dinner party and a gig party. Hit Pizza Express in Belsize Park as part of the former and had a nice enough meal.

Then home to the net which is failing to entertain. A quiet day ahead I have to do some washing before heading off to Dublin for a week and nothing else really. I’m hoping to be able to do (or at least majorly kick off) the Robot Fist update tomorrow evening, my pieces went off earlier today but I have no idea if any are useable. Guess I’ll find out all tomorrow.

Gah, bored. I’m only still sitting here because for some reason I feel like blogging but have nothing to say. Guess it’s time to sleep then.

Strange conversations at close on 1am this evening:

[00:56:53] Nick: right i must go,, my bread machine is beeping at me
[00:57:24] Dave: um you mean the toaster?
[00:57:30] Nick: nooo bread machine
[00:57:38] Dave: ???
[00:57:39] Nick: is making a brown loaf of wholemeal bread at the moment
[00:57:58] Dave: what the fuck a) are you doing with a bread machine and b) doing using it at 1 am on a Saturday night?
[00:58:12] Nick: lol i like fresh bread, and it was only 20 quid
[00:58:24] Nick: and i started it 3 hours ago but it takes that long to make a good loaf of bread
[00:58:38] Dave: ok
[00:58:45] Nick: its nice, when it works
[00:58:58] Nick: which it often doesnt and i end up making brick shaped blocks of sludgy stuff
[00:59:10] Nick: or solid lumps of almost bread
[00:59:13] Dave: ah I thought something like that might be the case
[00:59:31] Nick: it seems to be fine tonight though
[00:59:43] Dave: well I will leave you to it
[00:59:46] Nick: the yeast was worrying me though as it did not raise as fast as i was expecting

Lost is by far one of the best shows on TV in a long time.

This morning I got up a little earlier than usual. I’m slightly hungover and I needed to have a shower and actually make it to work on time for once. I only managed one of these things and yes I smell just fine.

Trains break down, it happens. The annoying thing is when they do it at the station in front of you, which just happens to be the first of nine. So 20 minutes standing and of course I finished my book. Not the best way to start the day.

Last night was a good night. It started well enough, made it to the pub and had a few drinks with the usual lot before heading down to the Astoria to see Modest Mouse. It wasn’t great to be honest, it seemed fairly lacklustre. The sound just wasn’t there. It was coming from the speakers fine but there was no energy. I don’t think they suited the venue too well, it’s better as a club than a gig hall and the sound is better that way. Soulwax and the Spree were fine for it, the former had a huge sound and people dancing, the latter had everyone singing and a huge crowd involvement. MM had neither. It was a good set and I enjoyed it but it was nothing, nothing compared to seeing them in the Islington Academy (one of my gigs of the year no question).

On that note, the Frames announced another London date for early next year, out in said Academy so I picked up a ticket for that.

Anyway seeing as it was Astoria the gig was over early so it could get open again for the club. So back up to the pub where there was still a good crowd. And again, The Scream until closing time. Just Andrew and Ciaran this week but it was fun and mud-girl was quite entertaining.

The weekend is quietish. I want to swing by the Apple Store opening in London tomorrow, not sure I’ll actually spend money it seems to make way more sense right now to take advantage of the dollar rate and import a US iPod. The U2 one will cost me less than £180 which ya know I think I like. I’ll see what they have anyway and may well go for a goodie bag if there are any left. I’m also quite tempted to swing by Virgin on Sunday evening for the midnight sale on the new U2 album. Something to do and indeed maybe a goodie bag there too.

I have three articles to send off to Robot Fist. Two are finished (ish) and the third should be later this afternoon. I’ll probably ask my *KLANG* flatmate to read over them first so she can tell me if they are shit or something which may well get used.

My throat has taken this moment to remind me and indeed punish me for smoking cigars last night.

Boston Globe Op-Ed: How ‘Dungeons’ changed the world

Dungeons and Dragons is seeing an increase in popularity as a whole new generation raised on video games begins to look for a way back to the more personally and socially engaging pleasures of sitting around with a bunch of friends and making stuff up. Imagine, parents, that some of your kids are actually turning the TV off to talk to each other, to play something that they have to “make themselves.”

I’m sure I wrote something like that just last week…

A US pressure group is offering music fans the chance to trade in copies of singer Ashlee Simpson’s album for “one of a higher entertainment quality”. Fans can bring the CD to a New York venue and exchange it for one by Elvis Costello, The Ramones, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin or others.

The stunt is being held by a group calling itself Horrified Observers of Pedestrian Entertainment (Hope).

‘Quality’ group targets pop star

I use to use some iframes on here. Stop shuddering. It was handy to pull in some other content, a side blog for books I was reading and stuff I was listening to. I’d like to add my camera phone into there, just because. I’ve signed up for Flickr like all the cool kids and I can post from there no problem.

Iframes suck, I’m sure I can use something else. I’ll have to think about it. Gives me something to do of course…

If Voice of the Fire was by anyone other than Alan Moore I’d have thrown it across the tube and screamed at it this morning. And that before I even got the end of the second page.

I have no idea if I’m going to be able to read the first chapter. It’s taken me a good 30 minutes to manage 11 pages.

Another one goes.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said he is resigning, his department has confirmed.
He will step down from his post once President Bush has chosen a successor, officials were quoted as saying.

The 67-year-old, long rumoured to have planned to serve only one term, is said to have submitted his resignation to President George W Bush last Friday.

Colin Powell to resign top US job

***
Now this one I’m not sure is a good thing. I don’t think he is entirely innocent of anything the US did over the past few years but I’m not convinced he’s entirely guilty either.