New Title in Progress

Boredom, Moving and Weather!!

2008-03-10T12:54:00.005Z

I'm having a very bored day. I'm off work today because I worked a day at the weekend (when everyone else was off!!) so therefore I get a day off during the week (when everyone else is at work!!!) so hence I'm sitting around on my own with nothing to do.........well, nothing I want to do.

I wrote a poem about being bored once when I was bored.

Of course I could tidy the bedroom and try to sort some of my stuff out. My beloved and I will be moving out of the flat soon to go and live at my parents until we get married. I really ought to start setting stuff aside to take over so that we don't have a whole load to move at once.

My friend Vicki is coming over on thursday for a few days and after she's gone it'll be all stations go moving stuff over to my parents.

I didn't get much sleep last night because of very stormy weather. On the news yesterday, they were going on about a storm hitting England and Wales and I said "Surely, if it's going to hit England and Wales, it has to pass us first?!" But there was no mention at all of any inclement weather for Northern Ireland.

As I was drifting off to sleep, I had a vague thought that the kitchen window was slightly open and that maybe I should close it in case it got windy, but then there was no forecast of windy weather for us so I thought it would be ok.

I was awoken at around 2.45 am by ferocious wind and rain battering against the window. It sounded like there was a hurricane going on outside. As I woke up a little more, I could hear the sound of the front door rattling, then I remembered about the kitchen window. I think I swore quietly at this point imagining the window being blown open and things being smashed and broken in the kitchen.

It reminded me of a time when I was a child and we were on a boat to Liverpool and it was really stormy at sea.

When I got into the kitchen, the window had been blown wide open as I'd feared and the rain and wind were being blown in. It really did look like a storm at sea. I expected to see waves because the rain looked like sea spray. As the window is just behind the kitchen sink, I had to lunge across the sink to try and grab the handle of the window, but I couldn't reach it and was flailing about for a while balancing on the worktop getting battered by wind and rain. I doubt I would have fallen out of the window but it was really scary at the time. Eventually I had to climb onto the worktop to reach out to the window.

I was quite shaken when I eventually got the window closed. I couldn't sleep afterwards. I kept worrying about where the birds would go and where the ducks would go and then I was worrying about debris hitting our car and worrying if mum had brought in her potted plants in case they got damaged.

I put on BBC News 24 for a while but there was no mention of the storm. Well, they kept going on about it hitting England and Wales at dawn but they didn't say anything about the fact that it was currently battering the hell out of Belfast. Even today, they haven't said anything about it on the news.

Perhaps it was all a dream!

Hello, I'm still around.......somewhere!!

2008-02-28T21:33:00.002Z

I'm not very good at this updating thing. I think I'm getting lazy and can't be bothered of thinking of things to write.

Anyway, here I am now. Not been doing anything exciting really. Just going to work, coming home, getting into bed and watching telly as usual.

A friend of mine is coming over to visit in a couple of weeks. The visit has been planned for several months now and I'm really looking forward to seeing her especially as I've not seen her for a few years.

My fiance and I are going out to see the Shaolin Monks tomorrow night. They do mad stunts, acrobatics and Kung Fu stuff. I got the tickets for him for his birthday.

I can't really think of anything else to write. I think I'll go play Mahjong on my DS. I'm addicted to it. There's one level I can't do and it's really frustrating because I can't unlock any of the other levels until I do this one.

ohh Neoplanet!!

2007-10-26T13:06:00.000+01:00

Check out the Neoplanet thing I've just added to my blog. Scroll down and look on the right. It's very cool.

Wee Survey on Belfast

2007-10-19T19:24:00.000+01:00

There's going to be some new branding for Belfast in the near future and there's a public survey to help create the new brand. If you want to have a look and give your views on Belfast visit:

www.yourviewsonbelfast.com

It doesn't matter if you have never been to Belfast. The survey aims to establish how people perceive Belfast.

2007-08-29T09:36:00.000+01:00

WEE LIAM!!

LIAM AND HIS BIG BROTHER RAVIN

I'm an Auntie Again!!

2007-08-22T20:24:00.000+01:00

My sister-in-law had another wee baby boy. Another wee nephew for me.

He's called Liam and has apparently got brown eyes. I'm hoping to get some good photos soon.

He was a month early so he was kept in the hospital for a while but is out now. He was born in Connecticut, but I think he has gone down home to New York now. I'd love to see how my nephew Ravin is reacting to having a new baby brother. I bet he's smiling all the time and is really proud of his little brother.

Phew!!

2007-08-04T08:38:00.000+01:00

My parents and my fiance's parents met for the first time last weekend.

I wasn't sure how it would go but they all got on really well. All 6 of us went to the Red Panda for a meal last Saturday and it was lovely and they were all chatting away and then we went back to my parents for drinks. We had booked a taxi for midnight but everyone was having such a good time that they sent it away hehe. My dad had the Black Bush out and everyone was merry.

On friday night, Dean's parents had come round to our flat and we ordered pizza and played on the Wii and had a few drinks. I had bought them Irish Coffee glasses as a wee present and I made Irish Coffee for the first time ever and everyone liked it.

Everyone had a really good weekend so at least we know they'll all get on ok at the wedding.

I've finished reading the last Harry Potter book!!!

2007-07-23T23:12:00.000+01:00

2007-07-08T10:19:00.000+01:00

Glad to be off work today after 6 days in a row. Back into work again tomorrow and tuesday but then I am off for 5 days for the 12th. 5 days!!! I have never been off for more than 2 days without having booked time off. Pretty much all the permanent staff are off for the 12th and 13th as they are public holidays and I was due next weekend off anyway. I've got wednesday off because I was owed a day for working yesterday. I'm very excited about this prospect, I'm not used to being off around the 12th. Of course I'm not likely to go and watch the parades or anything. I'll probably just sit about the flat pfaffing about.

In case anyone doesn't know, this is what the 12th is:

"July 12 is a Northern Ireland public holiday and many locals of all backgrounds take the 'Twelfth Fortnight' as their annual summer holiday. All banks and the vast majority of shops and businesses close on the day, and quite a few stay shut for longer. " Further info on why this is a holiday can be found here Battle of the Boyne

Again, this year, I missed most of Wimbledon because I was working. I'll have to be more organised next year and book time off during Wimbledon. At least today I can watch loads of sport. Hurrah!! I'm looking forward to the mixed doubles. I'm supporting Murray and Jankovic of course. I'll be keeping an eye on the British Grand Prix as well today. Although we have to go food shopping at some point. We always seem to be going food shopping!!

I didn't watch any of that Live Earth thing partly because I was working yesterday but mostly because there weren't really any artists on it that interested me.

Saturdays won't be the same now that Dr Who has finished!! And it was a really rubbish last episode as well. I think it was the worst of the series. I know it's all fantasy and I can suspend disbelief to some extent but that was just ridiculous. I need a least a sliver of possibility and a tiny degree of logic to accept and enjoy fantasy things.

My favourite episode of the series was Weeping Angels. That really captured my imagination and the writing and acting was excellent. The only bits I didn't like were the pointless and irritating interjections by Martha.

I'm a bit concerned about the Christmas special which involves the Titanic.........and Kylie Minogue!!! I have fears it could be a terrible rip off of the film Titanic with Kylie as a love interest and some alien involvement in the sinking. Having grown up in the city where the Titanic was built and now working in tourism and knowing all about the massive marketing and merchandising campaign relating to the Titanic which is going on in Belfast at the moment, I know all about the hideous cliches and crass romanticising of the disaster. Hopefully the Dr Who writers won't let us down though. I'm looking forward to seeing a trailer for the episode.

I've just got engaged!!!! (and other stuff)

2007-06-24T09:51:00.000+01:00

We haven't set a date for the wedding yet, but it will be either next year or the year after.

He proposed in my place of work hehe. I had just gone for a 15 minute break and as I was coming back into work, he was there with the ring. He was all romantic and lovely. Opened the box with the ring in it, asked me if I'd marry him and then slipped it on my finger.

Of course I went and showed all my workmates my ring straightaway. They were quite baffled that I had just gone on my teabreak and came back engaged.

One of the supervisors sent an email round all the staff saying that I had just got engaged and the next day everyone had done a collection and they got us a lovely card, a bottle of pink champagne, a box of chocolates and the Wedding Journal magazine. We had the pink champagne and chocolates last night. We were just lying in bed watching telly, drinking pink champagne and being all engaged. It was lovely.

Anyway, the all important ring!!!

See pics below!!!

Scary finger close-ups!!!

It's even more lovely than it looks in those pics. I'll have to take some more. I keep looking at it all the time, it's so shiny and lovely and every time I look at it, I feel all warm and lovely because it means that the man I love wants us to spend the rest of our lives together.

Anyway, that's enough soppy love stuff. We went to the Ulster Air Show yesterday and it was very cool. I particularly liked the Spitfire and the Huey Helicopter (or Helidoctor as my wee nephew Ravin would say). In fact I've found a website for it http://www.huey.co.uk/ . But the best was at the end, the RAF Typhoon Eurofighter. It was so loud!!! Like some massive giant was ripping the sky apart with its bare hands. At the end it flew vertically into the sky like a rocket and disappeared "back off down to Shannon" according to the commentator, although I thought he said "buggered off down to Shannon."

Last weekend we were at a mediaeval festival and country lifestyle show and I had a go at archery (which I was quite good at), air rifle shooting (which I started off very good at, then got complacent and got quite rubbish). We watched jousting and I bought early saxon coins and tudor coins and I struck a coin myself.

Next saturday, mum is organising a family lunch to celebrate our engagement which means we'll probably miss the last episode of Doctor Who!!!! We'll have to record it or watch the repeat on BBC3. I can't wait to see what happens.

Belfast is Everywhere!!

2007-05-05T21:03:00.002+01:00

Belfast, Limpopo, South Africa
Belfast, Northampton, Pennsylvania, USA
Belfast, Saint Thomas, Jamaica
Belfast, Mpumalanga, South Africa
Belfast, New Zealand (general), New Zealand
Belfast, Greeley, Nebraska, USA
Belfast, Highland, Ohio, USA
Belfast, Wayne, North Carolina, USA
Belfast, Newton, Missouri, USA
Belfast, Clermont, Ohio, USA
Belfast, Allegany, New York, USA
Belfast, Russell, Virginia, USA
Belfast, Marshall, Tennessee, USA

Smargerate

2007-04-11T20:02:00.000+01:00

Jackie made this word up years ago and we think it should be recognised as a real word and should be included in the dictionary:

Smargerate(adjective): The act of stealing food and smuggling it away with the intent of eating it. An act often committed by small children that have been told they are not allowed a biscuit. Smarge (noun): Someone who is caught in the act of Smargerating or somebody who frequently smargerates.(to smargerate, I have smargerated, I am smargerating, I am a Smarge).

Join our campaign to get this recognised as a real word! Jackie has already started brainwashing people at work!!

Arrghhh!!!!

2007-03-28T21:53:00.000+01:00

My mobile seems to have been infected with a virus.

Today I was just going through my phone opening messages in my inbox and then deleting them if I didn't want them anymore. I noticed in my Inbox, there was a text message from "Unknown Sender" which I don't remember receiving. The message was marked as opened and replied to.

My phone shows some of the first line of text of messages in my inbox before I open them and the first part of the text from "Unknown Sender" looked something like this: @!"£$@:a:v)%

Basically, it was a bunch of symbols and letters which caused me to think it must be a virus because I had never seen it in my inbox before and certainly not replied to it. Anyway, text messages never appear from "Unknown Sender". If the person isn't saved in your contacts, then their number appears in your inbox.

Well, I scrolled up and down my inbox and noticed that as I was doing this some of my text messages were duplicating themselves. I went and deleted "Unknown Sender" without opening it, but it still appeared in my inbox, so I deleted it again and it was still there so again I deleted it and it seemed to have gone.

So I continued and deleted messages I didn't want before noticing they were duplicating again and "Unknown Sender" was back!! I had to delete it several times before it went away again. But in the end, I just deleted everything in my inbox.

That virus would explain why alot of my pictures have corrupted and disappeared and all my videos have been wiped and also why the camera on my phone no longer works.

It's a bit scary to have a virus thing like that, not to mention extremely annoying. I'm worried that it's accessed my address book and has sent itself to my contacts. I'm not sure whether its still in my phone or not.

I've googled and can't really find anything about it. I've read about other american viruses that completely wipe everything and you have to buy a new phone.

Has anyone heard of a virus like this or got any ideas about what I should do?

I'm still here

2007-03-23T20:26:00.000Z

Hello there. I'm still in existence, just got lazy about posting again.

Lots of stuff has happened. I am now full time at work which is nice because I get a regular wage and plenty of exercise from walking to and from work each day!!

My beloved has moved in so I have a wee family now with my bloke and my little rat Henry.

Henry has a playpen which he loves. I got the idea from this website:

http://www.petratscanada.com/

I'm going to New York soon to see my wee nephew and there's another baby on the way which is due in September. I have a feeling its going to be a girl.

My mobile has gone kaputt, well the camera part anyway, it won't take photos anymore and photos that I had as contact pictures don't work anymore. A lot of other pictures have gone as well. They seem to be corrupt. I've not even had the phone that long and I've not used the camera on it much. Don't really know what to do about it. Maybe I could go into a phone shop and ask.

How cool is this??

2006-12-22T11:26:00.000Z

There's a Belfast in South Africa!!!!

Look!! ------> Belfast, South Africa

Very Good Blog

2006-12-21T11:20:00.000Z

Please note the addition of the following very good blog to my blog list there on the right:

Random Burblings

Henry's not very good at hiding!!

2006-12-18T20:49:00.000Z

Our Christmas Tree!!!

2006-12-17T16:27:00.000Z

I've got Christmas all wrapped up!!

2006-12-15T22:04:00.000Z

2006-11-17T19:06:00.000Z

Look at this. I think it's fantastic hehe. I especially like the way they describe it:

Cupid's Umbrella

Arrghh!!! Getting pestered on my mobile now as well!!

2006-11-09T10:02:00.000Z

Yesterday morning about a quarter to 11, I had a missed call from 02920240069 which I thought was an odd number and then this morning, I was rudely awoken at 9.20am by a call from 02920368701 (which I didn't answer).

Hmm.......I thought, so I got up, had some mini Kinder variety sweets for breakfast ,got back into bed, thought hmm...... a few times more and then decided to consult my old pal Google.

I then discovered other blogs mentioning those numbers and a forum as well. It turns out that it's some call centre scam thing trying to get money out of people by telling them their mobile contract is about to run out and that they can save money by switching contracts. It's a Cardiff number apparently. The callers claim to be calling from your network provider and have also tried to get people to make payments over the phone.

I never answer my mobile if I don't know who's calling and especially if it's a strange number. Unfortunately Dean's landline doesn't show up on my phone, it just says "unknown" when he calls but I always know when it's him calling :)

Anyway, if anyone legitimate is trying to get in touch with me, they can leave a voicemail. I wish we had voicemail on our landline because I missed a call from my great aunt last night because we don't answer the phone anymore because of call centre hassle. I did 1471, recognised the number and called her back.

I'm not at all impressed with NTL, giving us a pre-owned number without letting enough time elapse and their customer service shuts at 8 in the evening. That's the only call centre I know of that shuts that early!! And they are a big company as well so they should be open longer. I'm actually feeling inclined to change to BT, although after Christmas, we only have 4 months left in this flat so I suppose it mightn't be worth the hassle of changing considering we'd have to give a month's notice as well. Next time, I'm getting BT, even if it is a bit more expensive. You get what you pay for. We had BT at home for years until my parents swapped to NTL thinking it would be cheaper. We had too many problems with NTL with the internet connection and cable TV and it didn't appear to be being much cheaper so my parents went back to BT and got the BT/SKY package which is great and the customer service with BT is much superior.

Anyway, this post was supposed to be about being pestered on my mobile. Got sidetracked there!!

Here is the blog I found which talks about the mobile scam:

Blog-Ed

and here is the forum where people had been talking about it:

What Mobile Forums

Spoke too soon..........

2006-11-07T16:06:00.000Z

So much for being free of call centres pestering us!!!

See Jackie's Blog for the full story.

Hello

2006-11-02T17:01:00.000Z

I thought it was about time I posted.

It's getting nippy these days and we can't afford to use the heating because it's Economy 7 which is probably the most expensive kind of heating around. However I have employed the use of candles and keeping the door closed to keep my bedroom nice and warm. It's very effective. If I go to the loo or kitchen or something and then come back into my room, it's noticeably warmer than the rest of the flat. So there's a tip for you, if you want cheap heat. Of course, you do have to be careful where you place candles and not fall asleep with them lit and stuff.

We haven't received any more nuisance phonecalls since Mrs McLoughlin choked to death on an avocado. They must have believed us. They must have thought that Mrs McLoughlin choking to death on an avocado sounded more likely than her not living here.

I had to go on a wee trip for work to the Sperrins region (www.sperrinstourism.com) I'll not write about it now because I can't be bothered. Got paid for the two days I was there and got all my meals and an overnight stay in a four star hotel as well. First time I'd stayed in a proper hotel. Had a triple room all to myself. Anyway I'll write more about the trip another time.

My parents and grandparents have gone to New York to see wee Ravin. So now I only have my boyfriend here to look after me. Well I suppose I don't need looking after really, but I do feel slightly vulnerable with my family away.

Right I'm off now to check all my candles aren't threatening to set fire to the flat.

This is a letter we received in work:

2006-10-20T19:48:00.000+01:00

"Dear Sir or Madam,

As you can see from my address I am Canadian.
I travel to Northern Ireland often and every time I arrive at Belfast Airport I renew my disgust at the luggage carts.

The wheels are wrong.

The wheels at the front are OK but the rear wheels should not be castors, should not swivel.

Stupid carts.

This is the first impression visitors get on arrival. Their first impression of Ireland.

You don't get a second chance at a first impression.

Even in stores I found the same stupid carts. Fix the two rear wheels on a cart and you will see what I mean."

Me and Jax out last night

2006-09-30T18:18:00.000+01:00

Wheelie Bin Update

2006-09-26T21:14:00.000+01:00

Both our bins now have locks fitted courtesy of my dad.

I feel very triumphant now we have foiled the bin infiltrators.

Mrs McLoughlin and the Avocado

2006-09-20T16:05:00.000+01:00

We have been plagued by call centres ever since we got a landline in our flat. They never ask for us. They always ask for Mr or Mrs McLoughlin, more often for Mrs McLoughlin.

As we only got NTL installed (and therefore our phone number) about a month after we moved in and also that the previous occupants of the flat used BT, we know that the phonecalls aren't for anyone who used to live in this flat.

My dad's theory is that NTL have given us a recycled phone number so our number used to belong to the McLoughlins. Dad says that phone companies are supposed to wait for a set amount of time (he thinks it's 6 years) before using a phone number again. Considering the amount of call centres we've had hassling us, I doubt very much that NTL have waited that long before re-allocating our phone number.

We have been very patient with the call centres. Every time they ask for Mrs McLoughlin, we have told them that there is no-one of that name here and they've got the wrong number. They clearly don't believe us because the same call centres keep calling back asking for this Sheila McLoughlin woman. We know a few of the call centres are repeatedly calling us because we've done 1471. Sometimes the number is withheld but there are two numbers that we have had repeated calls from despite having told them on several occasions that they've got the wrong number.

We've stopped answering the phone in the flat now because everytime we do, it's a bloody call centre and we're getting really fed up with it now.

However, last night at around half sevenish, the phone rang and Jackie decided she would answer it.

Jackie answered the phone and said "Hello". I could tell by her face that there had been no response which is a definite sign that there is a call centre on the other end. They always seem to be a bit slow to speak for some reason.

"If it's for Mrs McLoughlin, tell them she's dead," I said. "Tell them she got hit by an avocado."

After a moment, It was obvious by Jackie's expression that the person on the other end was asking for Mrs McLoughlin.

Jackie replied in a very serious dead-pan voice to the call centre monkey:

"I'm sorry, she choked to death on an avocado. Goodbye."

______

Help Required to Combat Bin Crime!!!

2006-09-11T21:46:00.000+01:00

Some bugger or buggers in our block of flats keeps putting their rubbish in our bin!!!

This has previously led to our bin being full up and there not being any space to put our own rubbish in it. The foreign rubbish has contained things like plastic bottles which are supposed to go in the recycling bin belonging to each flat.

The reason the culprit or culprits have not used their recycling bin may be because it is full of general household waste. There has been a blue (recycling) bin with the other bins for definitely at least a month. It keeps getting put out the front on bin day but the council will not lift it and have put a sign on it saying that it should contain recycling waste only and that the household waste should be removed from it. Whoever put the rubbish in it hasn't bothered to remove it and its been there for weeks and weeks.

We put a sign on our bin saying it was only for rubbish belonging to flat 30 (there is a big 30 written on the bin!!) and that if they do not have their own bin, they should call the council who will provide them with one.

Since we put that note on our bin, we have had 2 bags of someone else's rubbish put in our bin. The audacity of it!!!

The problem is we don't know who is doing it. We were trying to think of ways of stopping them putting rubbish in our bin, but it's not possible to lock the bin and there is nowhere we could hide it. My dad suggested we booby trap it.

It would be nice if we could put something in it that would jump out and scare the crap out of them, or better still attack them!!

Anyway, I welcome all suggestions of ways to stop this infiltration and violation of Arthur (that's our bin).

Please help!!

I've got a sore throat

2006-09-09T12:21:00.000+01:00

Therefore I am eating chocolate because there is apparently something in chocolate that helps if you have a sore throat. I am going to get ice cream later if I ever bother to get out of bed and get dressed. I feel all horrible and my head hurts too.

Despite the fact that I now have Freeview, there is still bugger all on TV (until Jeeves and Wooster later this afternoon).

You may be under the impression that I am only posting on my blog in order to grumble and complain, that is not the case, well not entirely.

Anyway, my birthday went well. Got very very drunk. Had a good night with people from work and Jax. I only remember patches though.

Apparently, when we got back to the flat (although I have absolutely no memory of this)..........apparently I was walking around the flat with a square of Green and Black's chocolate on my eye saying it was my SAT NAV system and it was helping me locate the fridge to get the cider.

?!?!?!?!?!? I have no idea how or why I came up with that!

It's quite scary I don't remember though. Quite concerned about what else I might have done that I don't remember!!!!!

I'm older now!!!

2006-09-06T13:39:00.000+01:00

Arrghhh!!!!

Do you have a comfort station here??

2006-09-03T22:14:00.000+01:00

That's what an american tourist asked me at work today!!!

I've never heard it called that before!!

I don't know why americans can't just say the word. Why do they have to be so inventive about it?

It's as if it is some sort of taboo - "the thing that cannot be named."
It's as if they are scared or embarrassed about saying TOILET!!!

Behold the Magical Mug of Emnor!!! ............(~ INTERLUDE ~)

2006-08-29T22:05:00.000+01:00

Jump Henry!

2006-08-03T19:00:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Biscuits and Factobrunt for helping me get this on my blog!!!

August

2006-08-01T21:14:00.002+01:00

At last!!!

Boring

2006-07-24T21:29:00.000+01:00

Finally got all my housey things done. Dinner cooked and eaten, washing done, other washing put away, dishes washed, bedclothes changed. It's surprising how long those things take. My whole evening has disappeared!

My room still needs tidied and hoovered and Henry needs cleaned out, but I'll leave those things to disappear my evening tomorrow. I don't really mind actually because being busy makes time go quicker and I'll be quite happy for July to speed off into the distance because I'm getting fed up with it now. It's been going on for ages!!

2006-07-23T19:00:00.000+01:00

I was reading the back of a packet of cashew nuts I bought the other day.

Beside the nutrition section, it said: CONTAINS NUTS

Of course this surprised me as I had expected it to contain bananas.

Hot Hot Hot!!!!

2006-07-20T11:27:00.000+01:00

....or "gurum gurum" as Ravin would say.

My phone informed me yesterday that it was 33 degrees as I was walking home from work. Was difficult to sleep last night because of the humidity and after I finally got to sleep I got woken up at 2.30am by the blokes in the house across the way :

"It's definitely coming from that direction."
"Yeah I think so, although sometimes its hard to tell."
"Ohhhh there's another one!!!"
"Yeah definitely coming from south west."
"Listen to that, it's getting closer!"

When, I opened my eyes, I could see them standing on their patio and hear them really well because I had gone to sleep with my window and curtains wide open because it was so hot. They are always up and about on their patio at odd hours those blokes. I've seen them having a barbecue in the rain at 3 in the morning before.

Anyway, when I managed to open my eyes (it takes a while when I've just woken up because they seem to be glued together and when I open them, I can't focus for a few minutes) I saw lots of flashes about every 10 seconds. I quickly deducted that this was lightning (I'm clever like that you see).

It was very cool lightning, the thunder was just rumbly though, not big exciting crashes. I sat on the windowsill for a while hanging out the window to watch the lightning. Over the course of the next couple of hours a few storms passed over and there were a few big crashes. I finally got to sleep about 5am. The problem was that I got myself all giddy and excited watching the storms and then I was wide awake and it took me ages to get back to sleep.

As usual they are making a big thing in the news about the weather:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/5197248.stm

We didn't have any power cuts. Well I didn't put any lights on in the flat, but I saw street lights on.

In other news...................I bought a new phone!!! I was originally going to get one bought for me for my birthday but I decided that it would be rather an expensive birthday present and I would feel guilty having all that money spent on me. It cost £129 and this is it:

http://shop.o2.co.uk/shop/o2uk/jsp/handsets/viewHandsetDetails.jsp?prodID=consumer:SE:W300i:GROUP

Its very cool. Still getting to grips with it because have never had a Sony Ericsson before. It kindly beeped at me at 6am to tell me I had no appointments today. Well I'm glad it reminded me..... grrr!!!! I think I've turned that reminder off. I don't fancy being informed every morning at 6am that I have no appointments.

I have used half the battery power already because I've been constantly fiddling with the phone.

I'm off to eat some rice now. Feel a bit sick today. I think it may be because its been so hot and I didn't sleep properly. I suppose having had a bar of Green and Black's chocolate at 8am didn't help either!!!

Hello Again

2006-07-16T20:33:00.000+01:00

I was away in Scotland again but I'm back now unfortunately. Back to the boring normality of going to work etc. filling in the time until I go back over again.

On the plus side, we've got lots of new games for the Playstation that Jackie's boyfriend bought and I'll get paid more this month so I'll be able to get new clothes, although I probably won't because I hate clothes shopping. The only time I seem to get new clothes is when I go into Primark on my lunch break, walk round quickly and buy lots of clothes that look vaguely interesting then I try them on when I get home and if they are no good, I'll bring them back the next day. I find its a very efficient way to clothes shop. You don't have to bother standing in a queue to try stuff on or spend ages trying to wade through people.

When I was bored

2006-07-08T22:38:00.000+01:00

I googled myself. I didn't find myself but I found a My Space page of another Emma Smyth who lives in Belfast, just over the river from me. She seems to have much the same taste in music and things as me. I considered making contact and saying hello but that could possibly freak her out.

It's not really that unusual to find someone living nearby with the same name as me. There was a girl in my class at school called Emma Smyth as well. The teachers used to always skip one out when they read the register because they thought it was the same person accidently printed twice. I got labelled "big Emma" because I happened to be taller than the other one. I disliked that moniker because it suggested I was very fat or excessively tall, when in fact I was just normal height and size. It was the other Emma who was extremely small and petite.

Latest Pics of Ravin

2006-07-05T16:32:00.000+01:00

Testing testing

2006-07-04T21:28:00.000+01:00

testing testing

Apologies

2006-06-12T20:02:00.000+01:00

Sorry about the delay in posting. I currently appear to have gone mad.

I'm sure I'll be alright once I've had some ginger.

Ravin has got a backpack to carry his wee toys in!!!!!

2006-05-29T19:56:00.000+01:00

Did you know........??

2006-05-26T23:17:00.000+01:00

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Catpee!

Catpee can taste with her feet.
About 100 people choke to death on catpee each year!
Catpee is the only one of the original Seven Wonders of the World that still survives!
Catpee is the only bird that can swim but not fly!
Catpee cannot swim!
Japan provides over thirty percent of the world's catpee supply.
The average duration of sexual intercourse for catpee is two minutes.
Forty percent of the world's almonds and twenty percent of the world's peanuts are used in the manufacture of catpee.
Half a cup of catpee contains only seventeen calories.
A lump of catpee the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court.

Pole Dancing

2006-05-26T22:27:00.000+01:00

I'm thinking of taking up Pole Dancing.

Hmmm.....

2006-05-24T13:47:00.000+01:00

Well I suppose I should get dressed as it is after 2 o'clock now!!

Bored Bored Bored!!!

2006-05-23T20:40:00.000+01:00

Arrghhh we are bored. Nothing on telly. I'm so bored of being bored!!! Help!!!

Me on the balcony

2006-05-17T17:38:00.000+01:00

Online again!!

2006-05-16T18:27:00.000+01:00

Hurrah, we've got NTL in our new flat. I felt very strange without internet access in a similar way to how you might feel if someone came and took all the taps out of your house.

I have ordered a wireless router which should hopefully arrive soon. The wireless router I had at home was for ADSL and therefore wouldn't work with NTL so I had to get a DSL one. Bah!

Our new flat is very nice. We have a balcony! There is a photo of me on the balcony with a glass of wine which I shall post soon. Shall have to get a similar one of Jackie on the balcony, although we are off alcohol for a wee while. We had two drinking sessions last week which went on into the early hours of the morning and required fizzy good the next day!

Bye Bye Ravin

2006-05-01T22:24:00.000+01:00

Ravin leaves tomorrow morning. I'm sure I'll shed some tears. Will really miss him.

This is intriguing

2006-04-30T22:28:00.000+01:00

While doing my usual pfaffing about online, I discovered another interesting website.

I really like this one in fact. I think it's a really good idea.

Dosh Tracker

It tells you where your money has been! As it says on the website "Ever wondered where the notes in your pocket have been or where it will go next? This is the place to find out!"

It's rather odd that when you register and select your region, one of the Northern Ireland region options is Powys!!! I'm sure that should be in Wales!

I entered a fiver and a tenner that I happened to have taking up space in my wallet. They are quite new and I was the first person to register them so there was no info on where they had been.

I think this is a great site hehe. I have a feeling that I shall be registering every single bank note I get for some time to come!!

We took Ravin to the Zoo today!

2006-04-27T22:31:00.000+01:00

Ravin is here!!

2006-04-26T21:56:00.000+01:00

The precious boy has arrived!!!

He says "Duck" and "Quack Quack" and squeals very loudly with delight when he sees the cat from down the street which terrifies the poor cat. He squealed happily at Henry and poor Henry ran to his tunnel for safety!

He likes playing my piano and when his mum says "Laughing cow" he goes "hahaha"

He's so very cute!!

Erotic Acid and Cummingtonite

2006-04-24T21:04:00.000+01:00

I somehow stumbled across this rather amusing website:

Molecules with Silly or Unusual Names

Wow!!!

2006-04-22T23:47:00.000+01:00

Your Superhero Profile

Your Superhero Name is The Sub FrogYour Superpower is GadgetsYour Weakness is Confined spacesYour Weapon is Your Atomic BladeYour Mode of Transportation is Surfboard

What's" your Superhero Name?

2006-04-22T12:21:00.000+01:00

I weighed Henry this morning.

He weighs 485 grams

I'm leaving home!!!

2006-04-20T18:51:00.000+01:00

Finally got a flat sorted.

I'm going to live with Jax and we'll be moving in on the 2nd of May.

So excited. Can't wait!!!

Me and my family on the London Eye

2006-04-18T19:10:00.000+01:00

How to get rid of unwanted male attention

2006-04-09T17:28:00.000+01:00

Hello again. April really seems to be dragging. It feels like it's been April for ages and it's only the 9th. Time always goes slow when you want it to go fast and vice versa.

Tomorrow, my mate Jackie arrives so there will be cider drinking at some point next week. We might go into town and hassle some men by quoting Monty Python at them and asking them if they like rats. The best way to get rid of unwanted male attention is to start talking to them about pet rats. The results are incredible, the man almost instantly disappears, it's like magic!! Unfortunately it took me a while to realise this topic of conversation actually frightens men away. After several failed attempts to pull blokes, it dawned on me that things were fine until I brought my rat into the conversation. It has to be said that I was always very drunk before I started talking about the rat, it's not something I mention when I first meet a bloke.

Anyway, I also realised that the sort of bloke who doesn't like pet rats isn't the sort of bloke I want anything to do with so I feel I had a lucky escape from those vanishing fools.

So now I use the rat topic to get rid of undesirable men. And sometimes when I'm out having a few drinks I get in the kind of mood to see how far I can go with men. By that I mean in terms of what I say to them and how much craziness I can inflict on them before they run away. I feel like I'm going to be in that mood this week. I'm sure Jackie will join me in my mission. We can be very crazy when we get together and have a few ciders hehe.

Try Again

2006-04-05T15:45:00.000+01:00

I failed my driving test yesterday. Bah! Humbug!

Memories

2006-03-28T20:39:00.000+01:00

Today I found my diary from first year at uni. I'd forgotten I'd kept a diary then and as I was reading it, so many little things I'd forgotten came back to me.

Most of the entries were about a bloke called Iain who I was very much in love with. He was one of a group of blokes I was friends with and we all used to hang about together all the time. I was having a great time until I felt my feelings for him change but this wasn't requited and when he found out how I felt he started behaving horribly towards me. At times, he was nice, friendly and affectionate. There were even incidents of cuddling and groping which gave me hope but then there were periods when he would completely ignore me. This went on for months and months. It was cruel treatment, he manipulated me basically. He knew how I felt about him and he used that to control me, always keeping me hanging on. I felt so miserable and empty. He was the first bloke I'd really felt anything for. I was strongly attracted to him. As soon as he walked in the room I could feel it. I remember being surprised at this because I thought that sort of thing didn't really exist and that it was just poetic hyperbole. But it was real, I felt dizzy when he smiled at me and my heart really did skip a beat. But, alas what good are such feelings of love when they are not received willingly or reciprocated!?
I was thinking of the saying "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all"..............well I think that's absolute rubbish because I wish I'd never met Iain or fallen in love with him because love caused me so much pain and misery. He really hurt me, yet I still think of him at times. I don't think it's possible to forget someone you felt so strongly for.

Anyway.........on a lighter note..........most of that stuff happened before I met Jax and although I was always gloomy ( I still am I think!), I did have good times with Jax and here is an excerpt from my diary of one of these occasions:

"Wednesday 26th Jan 2000,

Yesterday me and Jackie decided that we would celebrate Burn's Night. Well, I decided to celebrate Burn's Night and we both decided to get drunk which we managed successfully with the assistance of Bell's Whisky and Olde English Cider and then Jackie got a sudden urge to stay up all night and being drunk I readily agreed so we spent about 6 hours trying to keep ourselves awake until breakfast at 7.45. We were extremely successful and I had my Weetabix at breakfast for the first and most likely last time this term. We stayed awake by walking down to the Brig and beyond while I sang "Kevin Barry" and by sending misspelt emails to our friends.
There was also a point in the early hours of the morning when we went to the chocolate machine and I ate a ridiculous amount of chocolate - 3 bars to be exact. We went to bed about about 8.30 and I was awakened at 10 by the testing of the fire alarm and I couldn't get back to sleep again so at about 11 I just gave up. I did manage to get a couple of hours sleep this afternoon but I still feel like a zombie from House of the Dead."

hehe, I miss doing all that daft stuff we did.

Sorry about that.......

2006-03-23T19:54:00.000Z

I buggered off to London for a few days and then didn't get round to posting for ages. I'm buggering off to Scotland for a few days tomorrow so thought I better post before I have too much to post about!!

Anyway London was nice. First day we went on the London Eye and then my poor granny fell and hit her head. Luckily St. Thomas' Hospital is just across the road so we went over to A & E. Four hours later she had been checked out and she was fine. We also saw the Houses of Parliament which we thought was Westminster Abbey for about 20 mins!! I was very disappointed to discover that Big Ben was attached!!! I always thought it was a free standing clock tower like our good old Albert Clock in Belfast.

That night we had the most disgusting chinese takeaway from a place called the Big Chef. If you are ever in Chelsea, don't buy from there!!! Second day, me and mum and dad went to the Tower of London. It was bloody freezing!! I was disappointed by the Tower of London as well because it was nothing like I'd imagined. I thought it was just a big tower like in fairytales hehe. I thought prisoners were kept high up in a big tower, but the Bloody Tower were many prisoners were kept wasn't high at all, it wasn't much of a tower either. I suppose the White Tower was ok. I didn't think much of the crown jewels. They didn't look that expensive. I reckon they are copies anyway. There wasn't that much security in the jewel house.

Didn't get to see the ravens either because they are locked away somewhere in case they catch bird flu!!!

On the third day, we went to Wellington Barracks to see Princess Anne present the Irish Guards with the Shamrock. It was bloody cold then too. After that we went to the Sgt's Mess for a piss up. Met a nice handsome Welsh man who bought me drinks hehe. He's coming over to Belfast in a few weeks so we exchanged phone numbers, just because I work in tourist information that's all. He has a girlfriend.

On the fourth day, we came home and Easyjet lost mum's case and she had to wait 4 days to get it back!! Anyway, enough writing, here are some photos. I don't have any of the Welshman I'm afraid.

I DYED MY HAIR!!!!

2006-03-04T19:23:00.000Z

AND................

I bought new boots!!!!

I've lost half a stone in the last week as well and got some new clothes. I feel all new hehe

Now I'm off to hit the town and show off my newness!! I'm even going to put make up on!!!!

I've got a new toothbrush!!

2006-03-03T19:32:00.000Z

Yes, my life is so dull that I'm excited by a new toothbrush!!
It's really cool though, it's orange and blue and looks very smart.

Henry has more chance of solving this than I have!!!

2006-03-02T18:29:00.000Z

However, I think he's more intrigued by what's in his food bowl!!!

Ravin in India

2006-02-28T15:39:00.000Z

Some pics of wee Ravin when he was in Mumbai with his mummy in January. He's growing up so fast!!!

Here I am!!

2006-02-27T19:08:00.000Z

Sorry about the delay. Normal service will now resume.

Driving news:

I passed my driving theory test last week, hurrah!!
My practical driving test has been booked for the start of April (not telling anyone the actual date)
I have been driving myself to work in my car (accompanied by dad of course) and getting more confident behind the wheel. I no longer panic when I stall, I just tut a lot and huff and puff at myself.

Work news:

Been applying for some jobs. Annoyingly lots of jobs require you to be able to drive. I often find that I have all of the essential and desirable criteria apart from a full driving licence.

Baby Ravin news:

The wee man will be coming over at the start of April. Can't wait to see him talking and walking especially hearing him call me "Auntie Emma"

Postal Strike News:

It finally ended after three weeks and the mail is starting to trickle through again. There was some talk of another strike taking place, an official one this time which will affect all of Northern Ireland.

Other stuff:

I went out for a day last thursday with the Conservation Volunteers. We went to Delamont Country Park and helped cut down and chop up tree/hedge things along the hedgerow which had got overgrown. This was to allow for regrowth and to keep the place clean and tidy. It was nice to do something manual and outdoors even though it was quite cold and wet. I'll probably go along again sometime. They go to different places and do different things all the time. You just go into town and the bus picks you up, takes you to their headquarters and then they sort you out with what you are doing and what tools you need and take you there. Apparently they were making willow domes earlier in the week.

I finally went to see the Belfast Giants!!! It was the last home game of the season and it was against the Cardiff Devils. We lost!! Oh well. It was an interesting experience. The ice rink was much smaller than I thought it would be and it's not as fast as it looks on TV. I didn't really understand what was going on. They kept stopping all the time and then loud music kept playing in short bursts and there were quite a few punch ups at which times "I Predict a Riot" was played which really amused me. There were lots of children going mad and screaming. I did quite enjoy it and will probably go to a game again. I watched a bit of ice hockey in the olympics so have more of an idea of what's going on now. I think there are play-offs or something coming up at the end of March so I'll probably go to one of them.

I'm contemplating dying my hair, perhaps browny red chestnut type colour. What do yous think?

Last episode of Life on Mars tonight!!!!

"BELFAST IS THE MOST ROMANTIC CITY IN THE WORLD"

2006-02-12T23:12:00.000Z

As ridiculous as it sounds, someone famous did actually say that. I'm not sure if this person was on medication or experimenting with drugs at the time.

It's in the January/February Belfast guide which we distribute at work and there are also some "useful" ideas for romantic activities in Belfast.

I don't see how Belfast is romantic really. Apart from a walk up the Cavehill there's nothing else romantic about Belfast as far as I can see (and I can see very far from the top of the Cavehill!)

I'm not going to tell you just yet who this famous person is because I want to see if anyone can guess. I'll have to give you some clues I suppose. This person is pretty old, definitely older than 50 and is well-known in the UK and possibly other places for their love of music and they have a long running music programme featuring live bands and artists performing all sorts of music. That's all the clues so far.

I suppose Belfast might turn out to be romantic for me over the next week as my beloved will be here with me. We'll definitely be going up the Cavehill. Perhaps I might discover other romantic things to do in Belfast. Maybe I'll find that walking past the City Hall is romantic or that queueing at the bus stop ignites passion. Hmm.....

Winter Olympics

2006-02-10T14:43:00.001Z

Hurrah!!! The opening ceremony is tonight and the games start tomorrow. I like the winter olympics better than the summer ones. It's just more fun to watch sport with snow and ice for some reason, especially when you are nice and cosy in your house. Anyway the BBC Winter Olympics Website is excellent. It explains all the sports and their rules and you can download tv listings for all the games. I'm going to print them off and put them on my wall hehe. I think I might highlight all my favourite events as well.

I might watch the opening ceremony tonight which starts at 6pm on BBC2. Generally I'm not keen on opening ceremonies. It's just alot of people dancing about with coloured paper and things supposedly telling stories from the past of the place where the games are being held and you never know what they are going on about and even when the commentator explains the meaning behind all the dancing and running about, it still doesn't make any sense. It all looks very expensive and a waste of money. Anyway I said I might watch it because there's nothing else on at 6 apart from the news really and I do like the part in the opening ceremony when all the countries come out and walk round the track. I like to see all the different flags and see countries I haven't heard of before and I like to see who has the smallest team. Having said that though, that usually comes at the end so I might wait until about 9 before watching it. It's on until 10pm apparently. That's 4 hours worth of coloured paper and dancing!!

Anyway, enough of that. Did I mention before that we are looking after my cousin's kitten? He's black and little and very mad. His name is Jack. I had a good photo of him somewhere but can't find it. I shall have to post a picture of him. He's behaving at the minute and sleeping on my bed. Mostly though, he's destroying furniture, attacking people, running about like a speeding bullet or hassling my poor wee rat Henry. However, he is a very cute kitten and he does let you give him cuddles sometimes.

We have now had 2 weeks without post. There's no sign of this strike ending. The longer it goes on though, the more support the postal workers are losing. I imagine that if it isn't sorted out by monday, people are going to get rather fed up by the whole thing. It's not really affected me too much, apart from not having my appointment letter which I need to sit my theory test. I'm going to phone them up though and I'm sure that under the circumstances they'll still let me sit it without the letter.

Time to mimic a gene

2006-02-09T21:59:00.000Z

Well not really, but I looked up Wikipedia to see what this "meme" word means seeing as these things are very popular on blogs and the word was bugging me. I thought it was pronounced "me me" but it's actually pronounced like "meem" and rhymes with "theme". The word was coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book "The Selfish Gene" and comes from the words "mimic" and "gene". Basically he used the term to refer to things which replicate but not necessarily identically and they can also change and become modified as they replicate. Anyway, there is a huge page on Wikipedia about it here. It goes on to talk about genetics and Descartes and Karl Popper and memetics and other sorts of philosophy and science things. I just skim read over the rest of it because I had enough of that sort of stuff at University. Anyway, you know the etymology of the word "meme" now if you didn't before.

Right, that's the exposition over with, now time for the meme itself which Biscuits tagged me for:

Eight points of my perfect lover ( when I first read the title, I thought it meant "intimate" things!! But it doesn't so that's a relief. Not the sort of thing I would post on my blog about)

Anyway I'll get on with it now:

1) He must be nice and cuddly and give lots of hugs
2) He must like animals especially cats and rats
3) He must be about my height so I can gaze into his eyes easily
4)He must appreciate my frequent silliness and put up with me laughing at things which no-one else finds funny but which I find hilarious
5) He must be intelligent and know lots of things especially science type things so I can ask him lots of questions because I don't know anything about science type things and I like asking questions. He must be intelligent as well so he can intrigue me by telling me things I didn't know but not too intelligent that I can't tell him some things that he didn't know. Also he needs to be intelligent so that we can have intellectual (slightly) conversations which I like to do sometimes.
6) He must give me lots of love and attention and let me know how much he cares
7) He must like some things that I like esp. comedy things and music but also like lots of things I don't like so there is some variety.
8) He must be gentle and caring.

And the sex would be frequent.
And the other type of sex would be male, hence the word "he" in all my points.

I don't need this person made for me because I already have the perfect lover :)

8 people is not really manageable. I shall tag my mate Vix at Mad Bunny World, Snake at
Something for the Weekend, Graham at Gad 123 ( there you go, tagged at last) and finally Desk Monkey at Haggiswurst

Still no post

2006-02-06T22:45:00.000Z

We have had no mail since 27th January!! Still no end in sight for the strike. Now Royal Mail have said that "mail posted in Belfast will not be processed or delivered".

That must also mean that mail posted from anywhere will not be delivered in Belfast seeing as we haven't had any mail for over a week. I hope they sort it out soon. What about all the Valentine's cards I'm expecting!!!??? hehe I've never received a Valentine's card before. How sad is that?? Well my granny sent me one years ago but that doesn't count. I knew it was her because I recognised the writing and also she never uses postcodes, she always just writes the nearest main street instead. I think people used to do that in the "olden days". We get lots of cards at Christmas addressed like that.

We had a big meeting in work today about working sundays all year round as opposed to just during the tourist season which is March to September. Absolutely no-one wants to work on sundays but do management listen? Of course not. They aren't paid to listen, they are paid to make us listen to them!!

Every time we proposed a problem or difficulty, they either changed the subject, answered a different question (as politicians do) or twisted things to make them sound good and feasible. Luckily as an "on call" member of staff I can say when I can and can't work and I shall be saying I can't work sundays. My bus service doesn't even run on a sunday!! Everyone was fuming after the meeting. Maybe we should strike like the postal workers and let the tourists use their brains to read maps and guide books instead of getting us to lead them by the hand!

Yes, I know I'm in the wrong job. I can't be bothered with tourists.

I don't mind visitors but I hate tourists!

2006-02-05T19:32:00.000Z

Here is the four things thingy that Emma at
A day in the life of a terrible mother tagged me for.

Four jobs I have had in my life:

1) Sales Assistant at Evans clothes job
2)Sales Assistant at Paco clothes shop
3)Customer Service Advisor at Aberdeen Football Club
4)Travel Advisor in tourist information office

They are basically all the jobs I've had in my life!!!

Four movies I would watch over and over again:

1)Withnail and I
2) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
3)The Lion King
4)The Life of Brian

Four places I have lived:

1) Belfast
2)Aberdeen

That's it, I've only ever lived in 2 places

Four TV shows I love to watch:

1)Life on Mars
2)Black Books
3)The Mighty Boosh
4)Harry Hill's TV Burp

Four places I have been on holiday:

(I have never actually been "on holiday" but these are places I have been to visit relatives)

1)New York
2)Washington DC
3)Connecticut
4)Yorkshire

Four websites I visit daily:

1) BBC News
2)Channel Four Comedy Forum
3)and um....people's blogs.

That's it. Don't know how I manage to spend so much time on the internet really!!

Four of my favourite foods:

1) Thai green curry with chicken
2)Chicken tikka masala
3)My homemade Chicken Chow Mein
4)My own invention pasta dish

Four places I'd rather be right now:

1)Anywhere Dean is

Umm... that's it.

Four people to tag:

1) My lovely boyfriend at World of Ordinary (I'm not hopeful, he hasn't posted on his blog since October!!!)
2) My mate Jackie at her Jax blog
3)Jackie's boyfriend Adam at The Demon Realm
4)My web-friend Biscuits at Tea and Biscuits

News from Belfast

2006-02-03T19:50:00.001Z

Well, we have had no post all week because there is a postal dispute at the main sorting office in Belfast and now it seems to be getting worse and another sorting office has joined it so I won't be getting my new bank card or the confirmation of my theory test for a while. Its causing some hassle at work as well because on top of the many requests for 2006 brochures which we are already behind on, the postal strike is making things worse so many people aren't going to receive brochures for a while especially if they are overseas so people are phoning and emailing asking where their stuff is.

Other news, there was a bomb found in a car at a police station just down the road from me. The security alert lasted all day and residents were evacuated, army carried out a controlled explosion etc. I was surprised it was a real bomb. We have had alerts recently which turn out to be empty bags and things like that. So far there's been no mention of what sort of bomb it was and who is suspected to be behind it. There were a couple of other security alerts elsewhere in Northern Ireland today as well.

Something unpleasant in the news. Police are looking for the body of a baby in a landfill site on the shores of Belfast Lough, apparently after reports of a suspicious death. It's like something from TV detective drama things. It's all very creepy.

Yay!! I've done stuff!!

2006-01-30T23:35:00.000Z

I've booked my driving theory test!! I'm doing it on Wednesday 22nd Feb at 9.30am!!! Not a great time but the other dates around that time were at 8.30am!! I bought the AA book of official theory test questions and answers, although I probably should have got a book of theory test questions for Northern Ireland in hindsight, seeing as our highway code is slightly different. As far as I'm aware though, the only difference is that on the mainland they have a few more roadsigns than we have. There must be more differences I suppose though.

Anyway, I'm starting driving lessons again on wednesday and the idea this time is to do one everyday for about 2 weeks and then apply for my practical test, well after I've done the theory one because I can't apply for it before then.

I spent almost 4 hours doing a job application form!!! Those things take ages and are very stressful!! It was an online only application as well. It looks a very good job. That ECDL was a desirable criteria so just as well I've done that. An essential criteria was a full driving licence and access to personal transport. I put on the form that I had my own car and was awaiting a date for my driving test, just a slight porky there. Mum told me to put that though. I have everything else they asked for apart from the driving which I'm sure will lower my chances. Oh well, the closing date is 10th Feb so I won't hear anything until at least a week after then.

I'm very upset that I've missed Life on Mars because I was doing that application form! I'd been looking forward to it all week as well and somehow forgot all about it!! I have a terrible feeling it's not going to be repeated as well :(

I think this would make a great album cover!

2006-01-27T22:04:00.000Z

This is very very worrying!!!!!

2006-01-26T13:20:00.000Z

Let's Make a Baby

I am back by the way

2006-01-23T23:18:00.000Z

Just not got round to doing a proper post yet. Coming soon though.

Up, up and away!!!

2006-01-17T12:21:00.000Z

Right that's me off to Glasgow in about an hour. Have fun while I'm away people. I'll hopefully manage to find some internet cafe type place to post a brief update while I'm gone.

3 days until I go to Glasgow!!!!

2006-01-14T20:07:00.000Z

I'm looking forward to my wee holiday staying with my mate. I've not seen her for a while and she has a new place now which sounds nice.

I made a few little changes to my blog which probably no-one has noticed. If you look over in the sidebar, you'll notice I've added a few more blogs to my "blogs I have approved" list so you can check them out if you are feeling adventurous.

I've also added a couple more things to the "things I like" section and I've done away with Beethoven and Waterhouse and replaced it with Balderdash and Piffle. I don't know why I'm saying all this because you can see for yourself.

Anyway, nothing exciting to report except that I appear to have a car now. It's sat in the driveway, I've not had a look at it yet. It belonged to my great uncle who just died recently and if I want it, I can have it for next to nothing. I'll need to have a wee drive in it first before I decide if I'm going to take it. It's 11 years old but in good condition. It's a bottle green Clio. It was dark when I got home from work so I couldn't see the colour but it sounds nice.

Good News

2006-01-13T23:57:00.000Z

Just read this........

TAYTO BUYS GOLDEN WONDER FACTORY

Hurrah!!!

CAPTION COMPETITION!!!

2006-01-12T15:32:00.000Z

Hurrah no more ECDL!!!!

2006-01-10T20:23:00.000Z

Just completed the last two modules for the EDCL course. Was convinced I was going to fail Microsoft Access because I only used it for the first time in class last week and I don't have it at home so couldn't do any practice tests.....also I hadn't read the manual!! I tried to read it but I didn't understand it and it made my brain hurt.
Anyway I got 91% in the Microsoft Access module!!!!!! Lots of lucky guesswork for quite a few questions I think!
While I was on a roll, decided to the the Basic Concepts of IT multiple choice module straight after and I got 97% in that!!! There were a few questions that were absolutely ridiculous though and the correct answer was obvious. There were a couple like the early questions in "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?". I actually laughed out loud at one of them, it was so stupid. There were some quite hard ones though. Quite a few questions were about input and output devices and peripherals. Ohhh I've just remembered one of the questions :

Q: Which of these is NOT an operating system?

A: Windows XP
B. Windows XL
C. Windows ME
D. Windows 2000

hehe, I wish I could remember the one that made me laugh. Oh well. Glad I passed anyway. We had 45 mins to answer the 36 multiple choice questions. I handed the printout of my result to the tutor after 12 mins and she was rather surprised I'd finished already hehe. Tomorrow night I have my Audio Transcription exam which should be ok. I hope!!! Exams are so stressful!!!

Probably the best crisps in the world........

2006-01-09T23:21:00.001Z

Ah, all this talk about Golden Wonder collapsing and the discussions about crisps. I felt compelled to post to let everyone know that these are the most delicious crisps in the world:

TAYTO CRISPS

..........and I encourage people to order a box off the website, you won't be disappointed. If you are, I'll give you your money back......well, no I won't really. But if you don't like them, you could send them to me.

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I've just had a look round the Tayto website and there are games!!! There is Pacman!! Well Snackman hehe fantastic!!

Unfortunately they have stuck a massive £4 on delivery in the UK. Delivery used to be free to UK, bah!!! On the plus side, they now deliver to seemingly every country in the world!! Ohhh and you can get Tayto t-shirts and things!!

2006-01-07T21:16:00.000Z

I forgot to say that all my stuff arrived from Amazon. It took me all day to set up a wireless network but I managed it eventually.....hurrah!!! Felt very pleased with myself. So now my laptop is wirelessly connected to the internet and I can be online anywhere in the house hehe.......of course I always use my laptop in my bedroom but at least I can take it downstairs if I want and hopefully sit in the garden with it in the summer.

Did have a bit of a problem with interference though. My parents have a wireless receiver in their bedroom to pick up SKY from downstairs and my wireless router is in the room next to theirs which means that the two signals have to cross and this was causing interference on their TV. It is intermittent though so they are putting up with it luckily!!

Am loving my wireless mouse. It's taking me a bit of time to get used to having it though. I still forget at times and use the touchpad on my laptop.

My next little project is to get my phone hooked up to the phoneline. Lots of fiddling with phone cables and extension leads and lifting up carpets shall ensue!!

Just wondering....

2006-01-05T16:40:00.000Z

You know when you push down the scrollwheel on the mouse and the circle appears with the arrows in it?

Just exactly what is that useful for?

I hate New Year

2005-12-31T17:24:00.000Z

All the pointless celebration, all the hideous happy parties and silly positivity and snogging someone special as the New Year starts.

It's always depressed me because I've never had anyone to kiss as the bells chimed and it's even more depressing now because I do have someone special to kiss but I won't be kissing him because I am stuck here and he is elsewhere. And all I will be doing is sitting in my room on my own watching TV. I am contemplating just having a bath and going to bed early so when I wake up it will all be over.

Love is in the air....................

2005-12-30T22:55:00.000Z

Back Again

2005-12-28T16:54:00.000Z

Well here I am again. I meant to post just before I went away but didn't get round to it. I had a lovely time with Dean over Christmas. Sadly his grandad died a few days before Christmas so things were rather subdued. I got back on boxing night and a couple of hours after I got back, my mum's uncle died so things are subdued with my family at the moment. Deaths in the family are always very difficult but it makes it worse around christmastime when the emphasis is on happiness and families.

Mum's uncle's funeral is tomorrow morning and I'm reading a passage from the bible at the service. I've never done anything like that before. It made mum's aunt really happy when I offered to do it. She's very religious and it will give her some comfort.

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We're looking after my cousin's wee black kitten at the moment. He's called Jack. I call him Jack Black and mum calls him Blackjack hehe. He seems quite fond of Henry, he keeps hanging round his cage!! I'll have to post some photos of him.

I'm going over to Glasgow in a week or so to see my mate Kerryn. Not seen her for ages and I need to get away somewhere instead of sitting about the house pining for Dean!!! I wish I could go into hibernation until the next time I see him - eat lots of food, go to sleep and then wake up and he's here!!

I did some online shopping today. I bought:

Kath and Kim Series 1

Who Killed the Zutons?

Dean's birthday present (well in advance)

A wireless optical mouse for my laptop

A wireless 54Mbps ADSL router

A wireless 54Mbps USB adapter

A bit of retail therapy there without the stress of going into town!!

I got all that stuff from Amazon who seem to have the best prices at the moment from what I can see. I'm planning to have wireless broadband in my bedroom so I can use the phoneline for the phone I had in my room at uni and which has been stuck in a drawer in my bedroom for about 2 years. It will be nice to have a proper phone in my room again and my phone is a rather nice cordless DECT phone with a blue backlit display!!! hehe The sound quality is very good on it. I never use the house phones because I can never hear people properly on them and they have big annoying aerials.

Right I have to go for dinner now.

Bye Bye Rory

2005-12-16T17:52:00.000Z

I was very sad to hear that my mate Jackie's lovely dog Rory was killed today after being hit by a car. This picture is a little tribute to him. It was taken a few years ago when I went to visit Jackie and we took Rory for a walk around the loch. I'm not much of a dog person, but I really liked Rory, he was very friendly and affectionate and he let me hug him!! I will miss not seeing him next time I go to Jackie's house.

Jackie has posted a lovely picture of him on her blog:

Farewell to Rory

Congratulations Jax!

2005-12-15T19:08:00.000Z

Just wanted to say congratulations to my mate Jackie who is
"In love......and feeling great"

I'm really pleased for her. She's got a lovely bloke just in time for Christmas hehe like an early Christmas present.

And I'm also in love and feeling great because I've got a lovely bloke too!! And I'll be with him in 2 days time!!!!!

Me and Mummy

2005-12-14T21:47:00.000Z

A pic of mummy when she was a few years younger than I am now and a pic of me when I was a few years younger than I am now, which means we were about the same age at the time of the photographs.

Space Cadets

2005-12-13T21:44:00.000Z

I can't believe this I really don't believe these people think they are in space. It's all so very fake, they must know it's a load of rubbish and are just going along with it. I have to say I've only watched bits of it because, like Big Brother the majority of it is very boring. In fact Space Cadets has many more boring bits than Big Brother.

Anyway, I hope they don't really believe they are in space. It will cause me to lose faith in the human race. My rat Henry wouldn't fall for that. The bloke presenting (can't remember his name) really looks like someone from the 1950's.

Very much looking forward to flying over to my man on saturday. Have set things aside for packing but not actually started packing yet.

Had Excel test in ECDL class tonight and somehow got 96%. We have just 2 tests left now, Microsoft Access (which I'm dreading) and Basic Concepts of IT. We've got a good long break for Christmas though and don't start back until 3rd January.

I'm thinking of doing some courses after these ones finish. I was thinking of doing a German course and a sign language course.

I was selected for a training day for work which took place on monday. It's called Welcome All - info about it here: Welcome All

Basically it's training to learn how to give good customer service to people with disabilities and learning difficulties. I found it really interesting and certainly feel much more confident about serving customers with disabilites. When I was working at the airport, a deaf lady came up to the counter needing help and I felt so embarrassed that I didn't know how to communicate with her and I panicked a bit. Luckily she was really nice and very confident and gestured for a pen and paper so she could explain what she needed and then I felt more relaxed. After that training day I know I won't panic next time. I got a badge to wear with my uniform and will get a certificate as well :)

ME LOOKING FAT AND HENRY THE PIANIST

2005-12-09T23:39:00.000Z

Yummy Yummy Currywurst!!!

2005-12-08T22:28:00.000Z

Went to the Christmas markets at the city hall again. I managed to resist buying fudge this time and me and daddy got Currywurst. It's very scrumptious. We are going to go down again some night soon and have german larger and Bratwurst!! I think I'll be having some more mulled cider as well.

I haven't bought any Christmas pressies yet, eek!!! I'm still not sure who I'm needing to buy for though. I think I better get my cousins something cause one of them showed me what she was getting me for Christmas today. I know what I'm getting my mum and my granny and I have an idea what to get my granda. Not sure about my dad though, a bottle of whisky and some socks or something hehe I suppose I ought to be more original than that. It's mum's job to get him socks anyway.

My piano comes in the morning, I'm so excited, it's like Christmas coming early except I paid for the piano myself. It's as if I've bought myself a really great Christmas present. I shall take a photo of it and post it on my blog tomorrow. Stay tuned!!

It's my work Christmas dinner tomorrow, Deb is coming up here at about 6ish so I can show her my piano. There are pre-dinner drinks in town at 5.30 but we're not going to bother with that. We'll have a wee glass of something here first I'm sure. I'm not planning on drinking much because I have work on saturday morning. Of course I might end up getting totally wasted who knows!!!

Just listening to John Lennon tribute thing on Radio 2. It's weird to think I was only three months old when he was murdered yet he still became an inspiration for me and I grew up on his music and the Beatles music.

John Lennon RIP

2005-12-07T20:03:00.000Z

Eeek!! Only one audio typing class left before the exam. I thought there was one next week because I have ECDL next week but apparently there isn't. I got a distinction in the last paper I did. You are allowed 3 mistakes for a distinction and 7 for a pass so even if I mess up a bit in the exam, I should still get a pass which is all I need really. My exam is on the 11th January.

Gave Henry a Christmas card today. He sniffed at it, nudged it with his nose a bit and then went back to sleep. I think he liked it though.

Only 10 days until I'm with my beloved!!!

Hellooooooo!!!

2005-12-06T23:43:00.000Z

Piano coming on friday morning now. So excited!!!

Was supposed to be doing a modular exam on Excel tonight but the woman who was supposed to be setting up our class for the test set us up to do the Access test instead, which we haven't covered yet. Our tutor should really have checked everything was set up for us before the class, she's rather incompetent.

The woman who should have set up the test is even worse though!! This is the third mistake she has made. On two other occasions, some people were unable to do the test because she missed them out and hadn't registered them for it. We were already a week behind in the course and now this has set us two weeks behind.

I don't know how people get these jobs. When the tutor told us that the woman had set us up for the wrong test, I muttered "sack her" and the girl beside me heard and burst out laughing hehe. I do have a good laugh with the girls I sit with though. We are always whispering away to each other and the tutor is always giving us dirty looks. It's a bit like being at school except you can leave when you want and go and get some mulled cider and fudge which is just what I did.

Feeling happy

2005-12-05T20:13:00.000Z

Had a good day at work today. It went quickly as well which is always nice. I'm in a good mood. I only have 2 and a half days left of work before Christmas and one of those is a training day so I get paid for sitting about and listening to people talking and I get a free lunch and lots of tea. My piano is coming on thursday and I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with the man I love :) I feel all nice and floaty.

Day One

2005-12-01T23:20:00.000Z

Hurrah!! I got to open the first window of my advent calendar today and consume a tiny snowman shaped piece of chocolate. And that same joy awaits me for the next 23 days!

Piano probably coming middle to end of next week as soon as this bloody carpet gets fitted.

I read the most amusing and ridiculous news story here I think it would make a very good comedy sketch. In fact, I think my mate Jax should draw some cartoons illustrating the horrors of cat sized rats. If anyone has any amusing ideas for headlines for this story, please add them in the comments. My brain isn't functioning fully at the moment.

Hmm....perhaps one day rats will take over from cats and then we'll have to go round changing words and things..........

Catalogue = Ratalogue
Catnip = Ratnip
Cat Burglar = Rat Burglar
Catastrophe = Ratastrophe
"cat got your tongue?" = "rat got your tongue?"
"let the cat out of the bag" = "let the rat out of the dustbin"
"raining cats and dogs" = "raining rats and more rats"
"no room to swing a cat in" = "no room to hurl a giant rat around in"

More suggestions welcome....................

I'll have to change my name to Ratpee as well.

It's December tomorrow!!!

2005-11-30T21:32:00.000Z

Just thought I'd state the obvious.

LOOK!!!!!!

2005-11-28T18:44:00.000Z