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Blogout Comments

Well, seems their servers have gone wrong or run out of space or soemthing. That's not really a problem, except that the error message I got instead of the little "AM" after the new comments was much too big. So, I've taken them out for now, but left a version of the link riiiight down the bottom the page where it won't get in anyone's way but it will let me know if/when their system is back up again.

If I remember to check...

"Comments are free but facts are sacred." - Charles Prestwich Scott

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Strike it Rich With The Friday Five!

You have just won one million dollars:

1. Who do you call first?

Call? I'd have difficulty speaking. When I get to the point where I can't stop speaking (or babbling, more likely) it would probably be... my mother? Closest family member and all that.

2. What is the first thing you buy for yourself?

Hard to say. Some serious computer upgrades maybe. If I can control myself for long enough, a house.

3. What is the first thing you buy for someone else?

Private health insurance for... someone. Someone who needs it. It's the first thing I thought of.

4. Do you give any away? If yes, to whom?

If there's some sort of central distributes-money-to-lots-of-charities organisation, I'd give it to them.

5. Do you invest any? If so, how?

Yes, definitely. I guess I'd have to talk to an investment adviser at my bank about how.

"No one can earn a million dollars honestly." - William Jennings Bryan (1860 - 1925)

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What Song of 2003 Are You?

Your song of 2003 is Coldplay's "The Scientist". You live with regret, regardless if it is from something/one you lost, a mistake you made, or just regretting the past in general. Hopefully this next year will be better for you.
This test taken @ TheAeroZone.com, where you can take more tests than any human should. :D

How very true.

"Oh, take me back to the start." - Coldplay, "The Scientist"

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Snow Fun

I am so not going to enjoy driving back home today, what with all the snow and ice. The big main roads I go on will probably be almost entirely free of snow, but everyone will be driving as if on an ice rink anyway, because they're rubbish. I'd much rather be snowed in at home with my PC than stuck here in Andover.

"A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water." - Carl Reiner

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Another blog added to my list... The P@rix. An occasional stalker of this blog, apparently.

"The best audience is intelligent, well-educated, and a little drunk." - Alben W. Barkley, (vice president under Harry Truman)

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Baby It's Cold Outside

Very much so, actually.

First there was some random, out-of-the-blue thunder and lightning, then, about an hour later, I looked out and saw snow. I was quite surprised, as I thought there wasn't going to be any down here in Hampshire. I guess I was wrong.

Damn cold inside too. The only heating is storage heaters, and they ain't storing much just now. So I've nabbed the fan heater thing while the boss is out.

And finally.... The Hutton Report, eh? Interesting... but I wonder what the end result will be? We'll just have to wait and see.

I do get serious occasionally... just in a very shallow way.

"Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow." - Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)

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So This Is Thirty

Doesn't feel any different yet. But then, I was very well-fed yesterday and it hasn't worn off yet. And I've been roadtesting this zimmerframe of mine for so long now it seems almost like an extension of me...

Much, much more importantly, however, my PC finally came home. Upgraded with more memory and a bigger processor (and hopefully a fan that means it won't overheat anymore) it worked all weekend, which was nice. I guess we'll see if it's still in the land of the operational when I get back Thursday night.

Bloody Andover crap. I'd much rather be at home playing Knights Of The Old Republic or sorting out my music collection so I can transfer it onto my mp3 player.

And sleeping, of course. Always sleeping.



I think I've used this before, but who really cares?

"Personally I think birthdays and anniversaries are like menstrual cramps, a regular pain in the ass that’s somehow connected to birth." - Hugh Elliott, Standing Room Only weblog, September 30, 2003

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Favourite @ Five

At this moment, what is your favorite...

1. ...song?

Aqualung - Strange And Beautiful.

2. ...food?

There are a number of candidates clamouring for attention, but I will go with pizza. With lots of meat on. And garlic bread with cheese with it. Yummy.

3. ...tv show?

Overall, it's almost certainly Farscape. Right now, out of the few things I currently watch, it would have to be a tie between Alias (when I don't miss it's annoying after-midnight slot on Channel 5) and Charmed (also on Channel 5 but at a much more sociable hour).

4. ...scent?

Freshly cooked pizza? Fresh bread?

5. ...quote?

"You can be more."

"My favorite animal is steak." - Fran Lebowitz (1950 - )

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Literaturely Deprived

Another meme list from Ryan via Phoe, but no one seems to know exactly where it came from originally. This time we're talking books. And, as I suspected, I've not read very many of them. For the record I've read maybe four Pratchett books, and the children's books (other than Harry Potter and His Dark Materials) were last read by me many years ago. As I constantly say regarding how I've not seen many of the favourite films of people I know (or those off the IMDB list for that matter), I'm clearly deprived.

1984, George Orwell
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
The BFG, Roald Dahl
Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
Bleak House, Charles Dickens
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
Catch 22, Joseph Heller
The Catcher In The Rye, JD Salinger
Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky
David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
Dune, Frank Herbert
Emma, Jane Austen
Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
The Godfather, Mario Puzo
Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell
Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
His Dark Materials trilogy, Philip Pullman
The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Douglas Adams
The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
Holes, Louis Sachar
I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
Katherine, Anya Seton
The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, CS Lewis
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
The Lord Of The Rings, JRR Tolkien
Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blighton
Magician, Raymond E Feist
The Magus, John Fowles
Matilda, Roald Dahl
Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
Middlemarch, George Eliot
Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie
Mort, Terry Pratchett
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
On The Road, Jack Kerouac
One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Perfume, Patrick Suskind
Persuasion, Jane Austen
The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
Pride And Prejudice, Jane Austen
The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Secret History, Donna Tartt
The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
Slaughterhouse 5, Kurt Vonnegut
The Stand, Stephen King
The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
Tess Of The D’urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
The Twits, Roald Dahl
Ulysses, James Joyce
Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
War And Peace, Leo Tolstoy
Watership Down, Richard Adams
The Wind In The Willows, Kenneth Grahame
Winnie-the-Pooh, AA Milne
The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
A Clockwork Orange
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

And there, again, you have it.

"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." - Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

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Where Have You Been?!?

This can take a while to load...


Create Your Own Visited Country Map

"When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable." - Clifton Fadiman (1904 - )

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Site Meter Is Useful!

Thanks for the comments. New blog, "Just Another Day..." added to the list. Welcome.

"I never said actors were cattle. I said that actors should be treated like cattle." - Alfred Hitchcock (1899 - 1980)

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I've added a Site Meter. I didn't do it before because I hadn't realised it was free.

It'll be interesting to see the results.

"Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work." - Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931)

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IMDB's Greatest Movies Of All Time

I got this meme from some guy called Ryan via Phoe. It looked interesting so I thought I'd give it a go. The idea is to bold which of IMDB's Greatest Movies Of All Time you've actually seen.

Here we go...

1 Godfather, The (1972)
2 Shawshank Redemption, The (1994)
3 Godfather: Part II, The (1974)
4 Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003)
5 Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The (2002)
6 Casablanca (1942)
7 Schindler’s List (1993)
8 Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001)
9 Shichinin no samurai (1954)
10 Star Wars (1977)
11 Citizen Kane (1941)
12 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
13 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
14 Rear Window (1954)
15 Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
16 Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
17 Memento (2000)
18 Usual Suspects, The (1995)
19 Pulp Fiction (1994)
20 North by Northwest (1959)
21 12 Angry Men (1957)
22 Amelie (2001)
23 Psycho (1960)
24 Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
25 Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966)
26 Silence of the Lambs, The (1991)
27 It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
28 Goodfellas (1990)
29 American Beauty (1999)
30 Vertigo (1958)
31 Sunset Blvd. (1950)
32 Matrix, The (1999)
33 Pianist, The (2002)
34 Apocalypse Now (1979)
35 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
36 Some Like It Hot (1959)
37 Taxi Driver (1976)
38 C’era una volta il West (1968)
39 Third Man, The (1949)
40 Paths of Glory (1957)
41 Fight Club (1999)
42 Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) (Spirited Away)
43 Boot, Das (1981)
44 L.A. Confidential
45 Double Indemnity (1944)
46 Chinatown (1974)
47 Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
48 Maltese Falcon, The (1941)
49 Requiem for a Dream (2000)
50 M (1931)
51 Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957)
52 All About Eve (1950)
53 Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
54 Se7en (1995)
55 Saving Private Ryan (1998)
56 Raging Bull (1980)
57 Cidade de Deus (2002)
58 Wizard of Oz, The (1939)
59 Rashômon (1950)
60 Sting, The (1973)
61 Alien (1979)
62 American History X (1998)
63 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
64 Léon (1994)
65 Vita è bella, La (1997)
66 Touch of Evil (1958)
67 Manchurian Candidate, The (1962)
68 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
69 Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948)
70 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
71 Great Escape, The (1963)
72 Reservoir Dogs (1992)
73 Clockwork Orange, A (1971)
74 Amadeus (1984)
75 Modern Times (1936)
76 Annie Hall (1977)
77 Jaws (1975)
78 Ran (1985)
79 On the Waterfront (1954)
80 Braveheart (1995)
81 High Noon (1952)
82 Apartment, The (1960)
83 Fargo (1996)
84 Sixth Sense, The (1999)
85 Aliens (1986)
86 Shining, The (1980)
87 Strangers on a Train (1951)
88 Blade Runner (1982)
89 Metropolis (1927)
90 Duck Soup (1933)
91 Finding Nemo (2003)
92 Donnie Darko (2001)
93 General, The (1927)
94 Toy Story 2 (1999)
95 Princess Bride, The (1987)
96 City Lights (1931)
97 Great Dictator, The (1940)
98 Lola rennt (1998)
99 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
100 Notorious (1946)

And there you have it.

"The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder." - Alfred Hitchcock (1899 - 1980), In Simon Rose, Classic Film Guide (1995)

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Wrong

I've been feeling a bit wrong today.

Partly it's the usual disaffected feeling everyone gets when it seems like things aren't going the way they might have wished. Partly it's the ongoing realisation that I have taken an interest in something (don't worry, something all legal and ethical) for dubious reasons. And partly it's because I've done something I probably shouldn't have. Again, legal, but probably unethical, if on a rather small scale.

So that left me feeling a bit wrong about everything, a bit down, and then I was on the phone with my mother. And, as I have been saying all along, apparently I'm not allowed to beam out any negative waves for her sake. Just think what she has to be putting up with, she says. I just need to get on with it, she says (the "it" being the damn boring job and the travelling up and down the country every week that said job entails). Positive mental attitude, she says.

Bollocks, says I.



P.S. I was going to delete that previous entry, because of [censored], but I haven't in the end. Oh well.

"For every human problem, there is a neat, simple solution; and it is always wrong" - H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956), Mencken's Metalaw

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I just read something that moved me. But I wish the author knew they were a better person than they think they are. Because they are. You just can't tell some people.

"You can be more."

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"Fresh From Rave Reviews..."

Hmmm...

Well, those 'puter parts arrived. They are geting burned in right now.

(An aside: the term 'burned in' comes from the computer days of yore, when new parts would be added and the system left on for a bit to 'acclimatise' them. They would give off smoke as they settled in, hence 'burned in'. Dull, eh?)

By the time I get back from Andover on Thursday I should know if my PC is properly back in action again. Which would be nice.

Otherwise.... Ho hum. I wish... a lot of things. But there you go. Ho and, as I said, hum.

"Between the wish and the thing, life lies waiting." - Unknown

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So much for the Hed Hept-O-Quiz... Here's the Friday Five Instead.

1. What does it say in the signature line of your emails?

Nothing interesting, on the rare occasions I use one.

2. Did you have a senior quote in your high school yearbook? What was it? If you haven't graduated yet, what would you like your quote to be?

We don't have yearbooks in this country.

3. If you had vanity plates on your car, what would they read? If you already have them, what do they say?

I almost certainly wouldn't, but only because I can't decide on what I would have.

4. Have you received any gifts with messages engraved upon them? What did the inscription say?

No, I haven't.

5. What would you like your epitaph to be?

"This is just for appearances, since he will live forever. And that's actually live, as in be alive and healthy and so forth. Now go away." Not exactly catchy, is it? Best I could come up with on short notice though.

"It is the responsibility of the sender to make sure the receiver understands the message." - Joseph Batten

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It's Oh So Quiet...

You know why? No Friday Five... and absolutely nothing to report or gripe about. Well, nothing I haven't griped about ad infinitum already.

So... just thumb twiddling going on as life plods on along it's less-than-merry way.

Catch y'all later.

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." - George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

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Deprivation

If there's one thing (among many, admittedly) that I don't like about being in Andover, it's the lack of sleep.

It doesn't matter what time I go to bed, it can be midnight or three a.m. I'm always tired the next day, and it's because I always wake up two or three times in the night. Every night without fail. Not enough to actually be awake but enough to disturb me. I have no idea why. It could be because the room is too hot, but it always happened in the various B&Bs I've been in too. It can't be some sort of 'unfamiliar surroundings' thing because I've never had this problem anywhere else.

It's a mystery. One which will, literally, keep me awake at night.

"Better to get up late and be wide awake than to get up early and be asleep all day." - Anonymous

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We've not had one of these for a while, so here we go:

You Are Edward From "Edward Scissorhands." You are very shy and often misunderstood. Innocent, sweet, and artistic, you like to pass your days by daydreaming and expressing yourself through the arts. You are a truly unique individual. Unfortunately, you are quite lonely, and few people truly understand you.

Take The Johnny Depp Quiz!

"The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions which have been hidden by the answers." - James Baldwin (1924 - 1987)

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Stuff and Nonsense

Sometimes I really wish I had some goals, some ambitions in life. It would give me something to aim for. I suspect far too many people live their lives like this, wandering aimlessly from day to day with no 'purpose'.

Of course, I could be overstating things, as usual. Probably because it's Monday, and I have some of the usual tedious days ahead. Or it's because it's the New Year and this sort of thing is seasonal. Or because it will be my thirtieth birthday this month. Or... other reasons.

I vote for 'other'.

"Everyone has a purpose in life. Perhaps yours is watching television." - David Letterman (1947 - )

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...And While I Remember...

I go back down to Andover Monday afternoon. What fun.

Not.

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"Friday Five Arrives On Time, Blogger Is Late Again" Shocker

What one thing are you most looking forward to...

1. ...today?

Going to sleep and having a long lie-in.

2. ...over the next week?

Getting back from being in fucking Andover. And finding out if my PC has been sorted out or not.

3. ...this year?

Summer, maybe. But no... I'd have to say I'm looking forward to improving certain things, things that feature in my New Year's Resolutions. Things which I will speak no more of.

4. ...over the next five years?

Since I'll cheat and include this year, I'll say improvements in my job. Not having to go to Andover anymore would be a start. Having to do less work and being paid more is just a fantasy though, much like winning the lottery, so I won't say I'm looking forward to them.

5. ...for the rest of your life?

I've gotta agree with Marnie when she says "Being happy. Finding someone with whom to share the happiness." She is wise beyond her years, that girl.

"What I look forward to is continued immaturity followed by death." - Dave Barry (1947 - )

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Come In Friday Five, Your Time Is, er, Late...

So here's the Five from Boxing Day... which is presently still the 'current' lot. I was busy doing Christmas-y things. So there's a certain time-warp-ness to these answers.

1. What was your biggest accomplishment this year?

The first half of the year.

2. What was your biggest disappointment?

The second half of the year.

3. What do you hope the new year brings?

Less time spent in/going to Andover. Like, none at all, preferably. And other things.

4. Will you be making any New Year's resolutions? If yes, what will they be?

Yes, for a change I think I will/have. The only one I will reveal is a vague resolution to 'lose weight'... vague because I have not really specified how.

5. What are your plans for New Year's Eve?

Bit late to answer ths properly, but it ended up much like I thought it would... round a friend's house watching films. Exciting.



Vague? Abso-fragging-lutely, goddamit.

"The reason of a resolution is more to be considered than the resolution itself." - Sir John Holt

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Ring In...

Happy New Year.

Let's hope it's a good one. There are more than a few people out there who could really do with some improvements to their situation, from people I know up to entire countries of 'em.

Crossed fingers for the whole world, guys n gals.

"Crazy! I mean like, so many positive waves maybe we can't lose!" - Oddball, Kelly's Heroes

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