I got my pay cheque last week and they didn't take my money off that I wanted to give to charity. Here I am, trying to be all nice and lovely and they don't set it up, pah. It's quite good though as if it comes out of your pay it is tax free and the government pay a small amount as well. So I set it up to go to Childline Scotland, UNICEF and The Samaritans. At least now I don't feel so guilty walking past charity people and not giving them money all the time.

I'm thinking of opening a glass and cup museum at our house as we have way too many, we could easily invite 40 people to our house and cope with them all having tea and coffee. I'm sure if I put most of them away the housemates would re-use their cups more often instead of creating a massive pile of dishes as they use different cups for every drink that they make. But then they never do the dishes so what do they care eh?

Monday, September 16, 2002 - 12:24 p.m.

Wow, what a weekend full of excitement and incident, I think it will take all of this week to get over the mass of events that happened. I'm out of breath just thinking about it [please add own sarcasm to previous sentence].

I planned on getting things done yesterday, but the Grand Prix, FIFA and generaly laziness got in the way, oh well. So I still have a tip of a room and my website is ages out of date in certain areas, no change there then.

In a moment of sheer stupidity we decided to play a 90 minute game of FIFA and somehow Mike managed to win, 24-23 I think the final score was. I only had ten men for a large portion of the game though as Mike had clearly bribed the ref as he hacked away at me for 90 minutes whilst I did one foul (by accident as well) and get sent off, it was like playing one of the Old Firm. It was enjoyable though, and Maz came down to close the door as I was making too much noise, heh. Revenge shall be sweet though.

There's a coffee cup on top of the leaflet shelf by the water cooler and it has now been there for a week now, for no reason at all I am going to keep you updated on how long it stays there as I know you'll find that more interesting than anything I write for the rest of the week.

On friday night whilst knocking back the drink I spent £106 on tickets, errrr, why didn't anyone stop me? So I'm off to see Chelsea v FC Viking on thursday night and West Ham v Birmingham at the beginning of next month (all in my bid to get to every ground in and around London before I leave here), and I'm also off to see Interpol (I blame her if they're rubbish, heh!), D4, Blood Brothers, The Shining and Sigur Ros. I then checked my bank account and realised when working out what I had for the month I had forgotton to subtract my travel expenses so I am now skint again already and I only got paid on Friday. Oh, and we're also off to see The Vagina Monologues on wednesday which should be fun.

TV has decided to show some decent films lately, we've had Scum, Saving Private Ryan (although why Channel 5 had to show it two weeks running is beyond me), Once Upon a Time in American (which I've been after on DVD for ages as it is so rare, so I taped as it is such a long movie), and tonight Get Shorty. There was something else as well but for the life of me I can't remember what it is? It amazes me that at times TV can show non-stop guff and then suddenly come up with loads of good stuff, why can't it all be good?

Started watching Alias on Saturday night too but I don't think it is going to be that good. There are too many similarities to that other 'great' female agent TV series 'Nikita', now that was a model example of ruining a great movie (although the holywood version was crap too). It had some interesting plot points but instead of letting them slowly unravel they just piled it all into the pilot episode and now there aren't any surprises left really, and it just got silly as layer after layer of detail got thrown haphazardly into the mix without any thought for pacing or for the viewers memory to take it all in. I'll give it another couple of episodes but I see it becoming formulaic very quickly. Surely we are beyond thinking that by putting a woman into the lead role makes it cutting edge aren't we? Oh, and what's Dark Angel like as that starts on Channel 5 soon? I remember catching a bit of the second series in American but I didn't know what was happening so didn't really follow it.

For those of you after a bit of intelectual stimulation tonight, there's Uni Challange on BBC2, a film about sex workers (I'm so PC) on Channel 4 and the Palastinians on ITV (by John Pilger none the less). Well that's my night sorted then, who says you have to go out to enjoy yourself eh?

Who thinks this place needs a bit of a face lift? I've not had this design that long and already I want to butcher it, I think I am so used to moving about in life that I get very bored of things quickly and always have to have change things around me. Even now I still move my room around all the time, trying to find that perfect fit that just doesn't seem to exist (me and my sister used to swap rooms as well, now that I don't want to do again in a while as I have so much stuff). I have a few ideas but will try and think about it tonight and see what I come up with this week.

Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 04:49 p.m.

I can't believe we just lost that game, three easy chances past up. Eejits. Moenchangladbach only drew as well, but at least Caley and Everton look like winning.

Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 04:19 p.m.

United are currently having the majority of play but yet again are struggling to do anything with it and therefore we are 2-1 down instead of leading. COME ON!!! I knew I shouldn't have worn my United top as we never win when I do.

Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 03:25 p.m.

This is a transcript from TalkSport radio the other morning (I'm told it's genuine)...

Presenter: We have Jim on the line who wants to discuss the Faroe Islands/Scotland game.

Jim: Thanks...er yeah. Just want to say it's an absolute disgrace. I mean, we're playing probably the weakest side in world football and we can't do better than a draw.

Presenter: It was a poor result.

Jim: Poor result! Poor result! It's absolutely scandalous. The manager has lost the plot completely, he's got to go. I know we've never set the world alight over the years on the international stage but I can't remember things being this bad. It's the end for us. The absolute end. I can't see us ever recovering from a setback like this. We're a complete laughing stock.

Presenter: Look Jim. I know it seems bad now but there is still a long way to go. I can't see you qualifying for Euro 2004 but hopefully things will improve.

Jim: I never expected for a moment we would qualify. I don't mind that so much. We're not good enough. But listen, to not qualify is one thing, but to fail to beat a team like Scotland is a different matter. It's a bitter blow for everyone here on the Islands.

(Uproar and laughter in the studio)

Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 02:53 p.m.

Well if he's allowed to do it, so am I :o) The artist is David Mack and he is an absolute genius with his comic art. He made his name with the amazing Kabuki storyline, and then moved onto more mainstream work like Daredevil. Enjoy.

Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 02:20 p.m.

All you arty Londoners should try and get involved with this if possible, I'll certainly be giving it a go if I remember to.

Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 01:22 p.m.

I am slightly tired today as I got little sleep due to a small amount of alcohol being imbude last night which was much needed with the mood I was in. So I'm currently tanking myself up with tea to make sure I can get through the day without falling asleep at the keyboard.

Friday, September 13, 2002 - 06:38 p.m.

I'm not saying anything - "Anyway I may never get married as my view is still that it is a waste of time and just a piece of paper. We are only making a committment by getting engaged."

Friday, September 13, 2002 - 11:15 a.m.

Dear god my housemate has just gotton engaged, ummmm not sure what to say about this just now but it's the last time I believe anyone who tells me they never want to get married as obviously all these people are complete liars and do actually secretly want to get married and tie their partner down so as to curtail their liberties to be who they want to be and be with the people they want to be. I'm gonna be single for the rest of my life aren't I?

It seems weird this announcement, I mean all I ever hear from her is complaints about him, about his drinking, about the mates he hangs about with. She was gonna split up with him only a few months ago until we talked some sense(??????) into her, and now this. I do honestly feel happy for her but at the same time I have my reservations about it all which I can't really tell her about. I hope this isn't a mistake, but I do know the wedding won't be till long in the future so hopefully I'll be proved long and their bond will be stronger by then.

So another friend is heading away to married life and for some reason I feel like I am being left behind, that I am the kid in all this as friends go onto great jobs and live with wonderful people, whereas I am in an admin job at a council and completely and utterly single with few friends to speak of. My social ineptness seems to be coming more to the fore the older I get as friends branch away to other people and other relationships, whilst I'm still hanging onto the past, desperate not to lose the few people I know. Look at this trip around Britain, I'm desperately trying to get hold of people I haven't seen in years, trying to convince myself that I do actually have some friends in this world. And even if they all say yes I'm only going to see about 8 people (2 of which I've never met so not even sure how we'll get on, and which I'm nervous as fuck about), what does that tell you about 25 years of life? In London I've been here two years and I've not really made any friends. Jenny is the only one who I've spent any time with, and that's mostly down to the fact we went on a few dates, whilst the other few have been those I've met from diaryland. Now even though they are all wonderful people I wouldn't really call them friends as we don't see each other often enough to develop any sort of relationship. I'm not blaming them, it's just the way life is. I just miss the days when you were a kid and could turn up at your mates house unannounced, knock on the door then go out and play. Now if you do that people think you are some weird freak, you have to plan 'meetings' weeks ahead, people have to check their diaries and with a million different people, and then....and then....and so on...

As for relationships since I got down here, I've had the messy break-up with her, and the complete failure with Jenny, that's it. In my whole life Emma is the only serious relationship I've had, which I threw away like a piece of trash. I don't even chat people up as I'm fed up of the rejection which is bound to follow, especially with my complete lack of wit or intelligence. I'm just not the type of guy who can chat someone up in a pub or a nightclub, all the girlfriends (that makes it sound like I've had a lot, HAH) that I've had have come from friendship first of at least getting to know them slowly before anything happened, how the fuck is that going to happen now when I don't meet new people or ever go out?

I don't even know why I am feeling so pish about all this, I mean I'm the cynic right, the one that doesn't give a fuck, the one that is happy not to be tied down, the one who happily sits in his room alone every night with nothing but his music, movies and computer for company. I'm an adult with a teenage kids view of life still, I missed all the relationship stuff at that age as I was the social outcast at school who no girl would go out with as they would have been an outcast too (although more probably because I was a wanker back then too), I'm still playing catchup. Just call me Seymour eh?

Welcome to Stevie's wonderful world of Friday the 13th.........

Wednesday, September 11, 2002 - 09:44 p.m.

And we've won, 2-1 to the Tangerines. Thommo for Scotland. My sister's been to two games in the last 25 hours and see two victories, she must be a happy lass. Pity we have to play Dunfermline next who are a cracking team and demolished Hibs who already are looking like relegation candidates. Everton lost though, booooo. Man Utd are losing though, heh!

Wednesday, September 11, 2002 - 09:04 p.m.

Dundee United are currently 2-1 up but we should be further in the lead if Thommo hadn't missed another sitter, he made up for it with a cracker of a second goal by the sounds of it though. The keeper cocked up though to concede a goal, so straight away the commentators started slagging him off and questining his inclusion in the Scotland squad. They were doing the same with Thommo when he missed the sitter, but by half time they were pushing his as starting for Scotland. Who said commentators were fickel?

Wednesday, September 11, 2002 - 12:31 p.m.

This one goes out to the people who are struggling to get through today, my best wishes are with you.

I just had my eye test at work and apparently I have really poor long distance visions in my right eye, even with my glasses on. She said that it was actually below standard, yet she's not gonna send me for a proper eye test for new glasses as short and mid distance vision is fine. I only had an eye test 4 or 5 months ago, my eyes can't have detiorated that badly over that time could they? I am genuinely worried that I'm gonna be fuckin' blind by middle-age if this carries on. Great, something else to worry about today.

Today already feels strange, there is a weird atmosphere about the place with everyone's minds wandering to things other than their work. I wasn't actually thinking about it too much this morning, but as soon as I got to Kings X there was a security warning as someone had wrongly parked their car, perfect time for me to get off the train huh? I'm glad I don't have to go on the undergroud today, but I still have to tackle one of the major rail stations in Britain so nerves shall be a little on edge. And why is it that they have removed bins from train stations in case of bombs being put in them but still keep them installed on trains?

I really don't feel like doing any work today, I wish I had taken the day off or something. I keep going to check the news every ten minutes in case anything has happened. This is stupid as it is exactly what the terrorists want, us to be in all a panic. Does this mean they have won without having to carry out another attack?

Tuesday, September 10, 2002 - 05:02 p.m.

I need to start focusing on things rather then scanning over a million different things and never really taking anything in. Not decided yet what this means but it at least sounds like the start of a plan.

I do know that I need to start learning things, and since night school is out this year (although if I stay with the council I will use and abuse it's system for subsidised learning) I need to start using freedom4all as a tool which can help me learn, and get me writing again. I've been meaning to use this site for ages now and although I do occasionally add to it it has as yet to take off (apart from the start where I had some very interesting discussions with her).

Nanowrimo is getting ready for applications this year (1st October for 1st November start) and this year I am going to do it, even if it means chaining myself to the desk in my room.

There is something deepling disturbing about listening to 10,000 kids scream out "All day I dream about sex" repeatedly, I mean I do dream about sex all the time but they can't be old enough yet can they?

ITV are showing the four Star Wars movies from tonight, I hope they are using the original versions and not the fake "Special Edition" ones with all the crap added to them.

Tomorrow is gonna be strange, even the last couple of days everytime I hear a low flying plane a shiver goes down my spine. I don't actually think anything will happen tomorrow as security is going to be so tight, but I ain't tempting fate so will keep my gob shut. I do not want to have to go through what I did last year, although at least this time I am on home soil and not thousands of miles away.

Work is having a minutes silence tomorrow for all that died last year on September 11th. In my silence I am including the thousands of innocents that died in Afghanistan as a result of the war that was never won.

I think Jenny has left work (the first one, not the second one) as some new guy brought the invoices down yesterday....that sucks. We were actually talking about her the other day and we had to work out a code as currently we know 4 Jenny's, all of them good looking as well, so if you ever have a kid and want her to be pretty you know what to do.

With all this anger against the American/British war that is soon to destroy Iraq we have to make sure we remember that Saddam Hussain has done atrotious things to his country and his people. It is too easy to forget when you are aiming at other targets, but something has to be done to try and help the people of Iraq. War and trade blockades however are not the answer.

Monday, September 9, 2002 - 07:44 p.m.

This is stolen from her:

Your Existing Situation
Impulsive and irritable. His desires, and the actions involved, are paramount, with insufficient consideration being given to their consequences. This leads to, or arises from, stress and conflict.

Your Stress Sources
The existing situation is disagreeable. Feels lonely and uncertain as he has an unsatisfied need to ally himself with others whose standards are as high as his own, and wants to stand out from the rank and file. This sense of isolation magnifies the need into a compelling urge, all the more upsetting to his self-sufficiency because of the restraint he normally imposes on himself. Since he wants to demonstrate the unique quality of his own character, he tries to suppress this need for others and affects an attitude of unconcerned self-reliance to conceal his fear of inadequacy, treating those who criticize his behavior with contempt. However, beneath this assumption of indifference he really longs for the approval and esteem of others.

Your Restrained Characteristics
Feels that he is burdened with more than his fair share of problems. However, he sticks to his goals and tries to overcome his difficulties by being flexible and accommodating.

Feels that he is receiving less than his share and that there is no one on whom he can rely for sympathy and understanding. Pent-up emotions and a certain egocentricity make him quick to take offense, but he realizes that he has to make the best of things as they are.

Your Desired Objective
Urgently in need of rest, relaxation, peace, and affectionate understanding. Feels he has been treated with a lack of consideration and is upset and agitated as a result. Regards his situation as intolerable as long as his requirements are not complied with.

Your Actual Problem
Wants to be valued and respected, and seeks this from a close and peaceful association of mutual esteem.

Your Actual Problem #2
Disappointment at the non-fulfillment of his hopes and the fear that to formulate fresh goals will only lead to further setbacks have resulted in considerable anxiety. He is trying to escape from this into a peaceful and harmonious relationship, protecting him from dissatisfaction and lack of appreciation.

As glitterscars noted it is spookily close to reality, although I would have to disagree with part of 'The Existing Situation' as I feel "His desires, and the actions involved, are paramount, with insufficient consideration being given to their consequences." is not true.

Monday, September 9, 2002 - 04:15 p.m.

This just worries me more:

"Iraq COULD produce a nuclear bomb within a matter of months IF it were able to obtain supplies of radioactive material, according to an assessment of Saddam Hussein's weapons programme."

"A wide-ranging report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London concludes Iraq has PROBABLY been successful in hiding large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons from United Nations inspectors, as well as a small number of long-range missiles."

On the good side though:

"But the IISS does not believe that Iraq yet has the necessary fissile building-blocks for a nuclear bomb."

Although Bush may accidently skip that bit.

Then some sensible words which will probably be carried out in the wrong way. By all means get rid of the weapons, but that doesn't mean you have to blow the country up:

"Returning from Camp David, Mr Blair said he and President George Bush had developed a "shared strategy" based on a determination that the country's weapons of mass destruction must be destroyed."

"Mr Blair will say that, while the United Nations should deal with the issue, Saddam Hussein cannot be allowed to flout its resolutions "year after year, after year"."

All this is based on satellite photo's of buldings being constructed so how Bush can use this as information to start a war? We don't even know what is in these new buildings yet, but hey the guy has his presidency to keep so why should we stop him killing thousands of people and putting even more in danger just because it makes the American people feel good about themselves?

Monday, September 9, 2002 - 01:10 p.m.

Korn were good last night, not great but still good enough to have a good laugh and jump about like a moron for an hour and a half. There were way too many kids though and at times they weren't jumping about enough so the atmosphere seemed a little flat (not helped by the horrible vanue, London Arena). I did manage to end up beside the slam pits as usual and even ended up in the middle of one by accident, heh. Puddle of Mud should be shot, why were these people worshiping them? They had one ok song, but when they started destroying the memory of Faith No More the blood inside me boiled and I just wanted to kill all around me who were clapping this cod-sub-nirvana crap. The only old people seemed to be adults with their kids (or those like you two, snigger) who stood near the back, but I was amused to hear one dad (who was nearer the front) tell his kids to just 'jump up and down lightly and don't move too far from me'. Within seconds of the first song I was about 10 yards forward from them so I have no idea if these little kids were able to keep in the same place. Old people can be so naive at times.

We signed up for cinema passes with UGC so for £9.99/m we can see as many films as we want. Add this to broadband and my life will be spent in front of screens for the rest of eternity. What's sunlight and fresh air again? Although I will still go to gigs I suppose so I will have some forms of human contact.

We started the cinema passes with a trip to see Insomnia yesterday and although not as good as the director's last movie Momento (which apparently if you get from the US you can watch the movie backwards so it makes more sense, typically the version over here doesn't do that) but it was still enjoyable. Al Pacino was as great as ever, brilliantly portraying someone struggling to cope with the 24 hour Alaskan daylight and the effects insomnia has on you. Robin Williams was also good but, without giving anything away, it's hard to picture someone so cuddly as being the bad guy. It was a little slow paced at times but well worth watching.

The Scotland football team managed to humiliate themselves by playing absolutely pish and undeservingly drawing with the fuckin' Faroe Islands on Saturday. What a disgrace that team is to us. I still feel that Vogts should be given a chance, but his tactics seemed to be non-existant on Saturday and there was no fire in the belly until the second half where we had to fight back from two goals down. Our defenders were pathetic (sorry Sis but Dailly again showed his frailties) and would struggle to man mark a cardboard cut-out as it would probably move about too much, and the attackers offered little penetration, not helped by the complete absence of any width on the park (although to be fair there is a lack of wingers in Scottish football overall so no blame for the management there). I wish time was on our side, but with a trip to Iceland next month the only thing I can envisage is a soul-destroying defeat. One month into the season and already all I can see is doom and gloom around me, being a footie fan is so much fun.

Another sport started this weekend, the NFL. San Fransicso got off to a good start last Thursday and I feel they can make it to the Superbowl this year as although they are yet to be the finished article, they have a great defence and teams will find it difficult to score points against them. The Chiefs were luck you.

For some reason I have been a little bit snappy with the housemates the last few days and I'm not sure why. I've certainly raised my voice in reply to questions to Mike a couple of times lately for no real reason, and I nearly did it with Maz last night when she said she wasn't going to the Korn gig. Part of it is down to them always complaining about never going out, and then either not wanting to go out or complaining when they are out but that is no reason it get snappy. Hmmmm.

Sunday, September 8, 2002 - 05:23 p.m.

I am leaving to see Korn in half an hour and unsurprisingly Maz has pulled out at the last minute and I am going all by myself. Mike can't join me as he is off doing other stuff so yet again I am the sad loner at a gig.....won't anyone be my friend?

Friday, September 6, 2002 - 12:25 p.m.

Tiredness kills.......HELP!

Sometimes I wonder why I bother with people.

I was a little bit of a wanker last night at one stage, sorry.

BDB was very good but his set was too short. The other two bands were ok but just now I don't have the energy to write about them. I am currently running on about 4 hours sleep.

Everyone is else is being negative so my prediction for this weekend is a 2-0 win for Scotland, but if we score early it could be more. We just have to not let nerves hit us and go for it. SO COME ON THE TARTAN ARMY!!!
We're the famous Tartan Army and we're off to Portugal, Portugal, Portugal
We're the famous Tartan Army and we're off to Portugal, Portugal, Portugal

I am being a big wuss and using flexi-time to take this afternoon off as I am struggling to cope. I was ok when I first got in, but tiredness has just slapped me round the face hard and my body is all strung out and useless.

Thursday, September 5, 2002 - 01:02 p.m.

Molls, thanks for the thoughts. You're right I didn't think of that, and that's partly because society still views child rearing as being the woman's role. I think most men would baulk at having to bring up a child, but personally if I did want to have kids and I was asked to bring it up I wouldn't mind doing it, work is not that important to me so taking time off to rear a child would be no bother to me (I'm never having kids though so this situation shall never arise). In the end the whole situation needs to be discussed between the two partners to decide how to bring up the child, whether it be one of them or a nanny (which I'm not a great fan of myself). So how many of you men then would take a 'career break' to raise a child then? And no-one has yet answered the question on why women are choosing not to have children or less children?

First stage of broadband complete, just another 10 days to go before take-off. We now have pet names for ourselves from this process, special prize to those who can guess what they could possibly be.

We're off to see Badly Drawn Boy tonight which should be fantastic. Me and Maz are grabbing a curry first as well so I'll be able to fart in tune to his music.

Why aren't people signing up to my notify list? Loads of you complained that you didn't check my site because you didn't have a little red indicator and now I offer a solution and you ignore it, I'm all sad now. You two I love though.

I have also added an updated wishlist to the left of the screen as well, just in case anyone out there loves me :o) I was trying to think of music to add to the list and it was impossible, and the stuff I have added will probably be bought before anyone gets a chance to purchase it anyway so maybe I should have just stuck with DVD's and books?

Finally finished Glamorama last night and it has to be the worst book I have ever read, it was complete and utter pish. I am thinking of hunting down the people that voted for me to read it and exacting my revenge in ways even BEE could not imagine.

I have no work to do and have been dossing about all day, this is the life.

I had a quick look at how much a car would be to rent for two weeks and it's about £300, and that's before petrol. See, trains are cheap.

Wednesday, September 4, 2002 - 03:41 p.m.

Some of this could come out sounding really sexist but who cares, I'm not afraid of a little flaming every now and again. I mentioned earlier about the article in The New Statesman and how more women are having less babies now as they are chasing careers instead of families. Now I agree that everyone is equal and we should be able to do what we like with our lives, but is this lack of babies now causing a problem? Due to science taking over our lives and extending our lifetimes we now have a rising and ageing population that somehow needs supporting. Now if women continue to go for careers rather than having babies is this problem not going to continue? Part of the problem is that companies do not offer sufficient help towards women who do want families, such as creche facilities or job share, but surely there must be more to it than that. Nearly every woman I talk to now says they do not want to have children, why not? What has happened culturally to cause the shift from previous generations which had large families, to now where both men and women don't want any? Contraception has obviously been part of this, but I don't believe it is the main cause.

A reason for the 'older' population increasing is this complete fear of death we seem to have, which is completely irrational as it is one of the only certanties in life so why be bothered by it? So to chase this fear we flood more and more resources into preventative and curative sciences that drag out our lives for maybe 6 months, or 2 years or 10 years, but in the end we are going to die anyway. We have forgotton how to accept death as being part of life.

So how can we support this ageing population? One way would be to try and encourage women to have more babies, but this could cause problems in that already the population of the planet is rising and current resources cannnot cope (although with proper distribution and use of resources this should not be the case, but that's another rant in itself). Also, without help from businesses it would be risky financially as families incomes would fall and businesses could lose valuable skills and intelligence.

Another alternative is immigration. Surely one of the best sources of creating the age range western societies require is to allow people from poorer nations into our countries, to get them to create the wealth that is required to support those no longer able to work. Daily Mail readers will currently be throwing their arms in despair going "what is this guy talking about", but can they tell me another solution? These people will try and tell us that they bleed us dry and suck up all resources, but that's simply not true. We live in one of the richest countries in the world so surely we can spread wealth about so as to support rises in the population? We also constantly hear about shortages in certain skill areas that could easily be filled by people from other countries should they be given the opportunity.

Wednesday, September 4, 2002 - 12:47 p.m.

It's looking likely that we will be getting broadband for the house soon, yipee. We are just trying to work out how to network our two computers so we can share the internet access at the same time. Who wants my life as I think it may not be needed soon :o) Also, if anyone wants to buy me a 100Gb HD that I can put all the music on that I will download I would be most appreciative. [a few hours later] It is reasonably simple to set the network up so we are going to sign up tonight and get the phone line tested before buying all the equipment next week sometime, high quality porn music at the touch of a button, oh yes.

Nigella Lawson is signing her new book somewhere in London but Maz can't remember where, argh! So guess what I'll be searching for on the web later. Should I tell him as well or will he just try and steal her away from me?

The Korn tickets finally arrived this morning so panic over. I have a dilemna though as I don't really want to see Puddle of bleedin' Mud in support but I want to get near enough the front to have a good time. I suppose I should see what Maz wants to do as she probably wants to see them. I think the other support are Trust Co.(?) which I know nothing about at all.

QOTSA have announced there London date and it is on the 27th October, two days after I am meant to have left for my trip around Britain. I think some changes may have to be made to my itinerary.

There's another cute girl downstairs who works in admin for another section, but I'm not gonna say what her name is as you'll all think I am making it up. Are there any ugly girls with this name?

Heh, up to 7.3 on HoN but still no girlies wanting to meet me. Saying that I was skipping through them last when waiting for other stuff to load and most of them are quite mingin' anyway (so PC aren't I). I just want to find someone I know so I can scare them by clicking yes.

An article in the New Statesman last night got me thinking all about gender roles and I wanted to write about it in here, but can I remember what I was going to write? I knew I should have fought off the sleep last night and written it then. I know it was an article by a woman writing about why she hadn't yet wanted to have a baby as her career would not fit into that lifestyle, and I know I was going to link it to some piece I had read about immigration on the web, but beyond that my mind is not very clear. I'll try and think about it and come back to it before I upload this.

I went home last night determined to get some letters written and to get through some of my magazines. All I got done was one email. At this rate I'll only be travelling to B'Ham, E'burgh, Glasgow and Forres if I don't get a move on. I may however book a B&B in the Lake District for a couple of days on route if people do say they aren't free as I've always wanted to visit there.

I downloaded a new screensaver of Arwen last night for my computer, is it wrong to want to shag an elf? Ooohhh, those pointy ears ;o)

Tuesday, September 3, 2002 - 07:03 p.m.

Look kiddies, a nice new notify subscription box to the left of your screen. You can now sign up and be notified when I add some lovely words to this 'ere site. Just type in your email addy and your away.

Tuesday, September 3, 2002 - 06:06 p.m.

All you cool kids out there need to buy the new Breeders single as not only is it a song by The Breeders, but on the B-Side you get their cool version of the Buffy theme tune. It's a little short but ace none the less.

Tuesday, September 3, 2002 - 05:53 p.m.

Panic over, I have now acquired a copy of the second issue of The Filth and I can now sit down and read all three issues in a row later.

Tuesday, September 3, 2002 - 01:03 p.m.

Why did no-one remind me to talk about the new Dave Gorman show yesterday? You lot aren't very good are you. Well, the comedian has finally gone mad and decided to run a show about how different his life would be if he followed his star sign for 40 days and 40 nights. So he has basically gotton his twin brother to live a normal life, and then compares it to that of living by the stars. He has chosen twenty different astrologers and picks instructions out of them each day and has to do what they say, with expected hilarious results. It is in the same sort of format as the original Dave Gorman Show (where he travelled the world trying to find loads of other people called...Dave Gorman), and just as funny. Best moment this week was when he was told purple was his lucky colour so he went to a charity shop and came out completely decked out in ill fighting purple clothing. Quite spooky too was he was told his lucky number and should go for broke so he put a bet on two footballers and ended up winning over £400, weird. So at least one good programme is still on on Sunday's after West Wing and The X-Files finished. So would any of you go that far with your stars? I certainly wouldn't have followed the stars that my sister and Mich used to write for the school paper anyway.

The new series of Uni Challenge started last night and it must have been an easy episode as I got around 6 or 7 questions right which is much higher than normal.

I have not got any tickets or confirmation for the Korn gig on Sunday although I am positive I booked them, I need to check my bank account and everything at lunchtime to make sure everything has been booked or Maz will go bonkers. The Bright Eyes tickets arrived this morning though which was good ;o)

Work is now too slow again since Lana came back, I'm sure I could actually manage to both of our jobs without any hassle. Who say's Council's over employ?

Dundee United have had to change their game against Aberdeen to a Wednesday as the Tuesday night clashed with an Oasis gig, I presume that would have prevented all the hooligan sheep shaggers going to the game eh? Why would that be a bad thing exactly?

Time to get serious now. Electronically tagging children, madness or complete insanity? Do these parents who are trying this out truly understand the consequences of this technology? Do they really think that being able to 'check up' on your kid is the only function that it will be used for in the future? It is a step towards complete surveillance which is the complete crime against human rights. Some of you will probably be thinking I am being completely paranoid but just think, once kids grow up and get used to it being there what's to stop the authorities saying you might as well leave it there? Do you want someone knowing where you are 24 hours a day? And don't forget to think about children's development and how this will add even more layers of cotton round kids who will soon not know how to deal with real life as they are cushioned from the reality of it.

What's with the fake policemen in London? Apparently the Met are training up a load of people to be able to carry out simple policing tasks on the streets, this is absurd is it not? I don't want people who have little training being able to arrest people and hand out fines (don't get me started on my thoughts on 'on-the-spot' fines). It is a cheap way of getting out of employing real policemen and creating a false sense of security. These people aren't allowed to carry out all the tasks of a real policeman so how is that going to make people feel safer? I'm presuming they'll be wearing different uniform so people will just ignore, they'll be like officially paid up vigilante cops. The law suits will be interesting.

President Mugabe, you are an idiot and a murderer so please shut the fuck up. Britain was wrong in imposing itself in Africa in the past but you are doing the same in reverse by persecuting everyone who is white. Yes something had to be done about giving Black African's a share of the land, but the way you have created hatred is not the way it should have been achieved. And why do all these African nations support him, are we in the civilised world really that reviled that they accept murder as a solution?

Final word of anger for now goes to Mr Bush. Laughing and joking about bombing Iraq infront of the media is sick and disgusting, if someone had done that about the WTC last year you would have gone ape shit. Yet again double standards by the stupidest man on the planet.

Your music is on the way, hope you enjoy it.

Monday, September 2, 2002 - 10:29 p.m.

This is a really good article on one of the problems facing the comics industry just now. It concentrates mainly on the economic cost of the situation, but I like the way they have broken down the cost of each entertainment area per hour.

Monday, September 2, 2002 - 04:46 p.m.

Another lazy weekend where I didn't get any of the things done that I should have, oh well. I did however watch LOTR on DVD which was just as ace as it was at the cinema, just on a slightly smaller scale. There is also much less walking than people seem to be going on about, I mean that's like complaining there is too much driving in Thelma and Louise is it not? Also sat and watched a couple of hours of extra's on Sunday night, some of them were quite interesting, whilst others like the Enya video could have been avoided. You also began to notice that all the programmes were put together from the same interviews and you could slowly start to quote the script before the people actually spoke. Also watched The Royal Tennenbaums which was ok, there were some funny moments but at times I felt like the writer was just trying to be too weird with the characters. Gwyneth Paltrow was very good in it though, and she looked the best I've ever seen her, especially standing naked in the window :o) Why is America suddenly churning out so much media about completely dysfunctional families all of a sudden? I mean we've always had show like Married with Children and such like, but now we have Six Feet Under, King of the Hill, The Simpsons, The Royal Tennenbaums etc. Is there a reason for this? It started off being quite witty, but '6FU' is just pathetic as the characters are all just too weird, and the same problem hit 'TRT' at times. Yet again the money men see one idea working and stretcg it till breaking point, who cares to bet on the number of '24' clones in the next few months? Already we have another mob story coming out in America, possibly influenced by Sopranos? And count the number of Sci-Fi films and shows after The X-Files hit it big? We are also inundated with Reality TV just now, whilst a while back it was DIY Shows. Do the TV men not realise that they will make more money from coming up with the original idea rather than just making the poor quality clones?

*24 Spoiler Alert* Finished watching 24 on Saturday night and in the end wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. It had some good action bits, and the story lines at times were interesting, but you could tell they were struggling to drag the show out 24 episodes by the end. I mean what was with the Amnesia, and the kid being kidnapped AGAIN? The Palmers also got irritating, but that was just 'cause the wife was an evil bitch. Who said power corrupts eh? I just wish she had been in the way of the exlploding phone, that would have been amusing. I preferred the ending they used to the Hollywood one they had in reserve, to let his wife lived would just have been too corny and would have put people off the next series.

Friday wasn't too bad in the end, but I think people mey have gotton the impression I was ignoring them, heh. I did walk in and head straight over to the bar without even saying hi which was a bit naughty, and then I dragged a few people over to another part of the bar and spent my time talking to that lot instead of mingling with all the idiots. There is a couple I should have said hi to but I just couldn't be bothered and they just ended up leaving or ignoring me (including Mercedes, oops). Kicked Mike's arse at Table Football, but he gained revenge at Connect-4, although how he did it when he could just about keep his vision focused I don't know. Then off home where they decided to cancel trains and generally cause chaos, so my couple of pints turned into 6 (including freebies from the lovely manager) and a return home at 12:30am.

Today has been hectic as I am covering Lana again as she is off and there has been quite a bit of work to do but that's not really the problem, the problem has been covering two phones and trying to answer questions on subjects you have no idea about. I had to run and get my manager earlier and in the end it was the most simple thing that had I known anything about the subject I would have answered quickly and easily. I think I should ask for some stuff to read during all the spare time I have.

Did some research on connecting two computers together at lunch time as we are considering getting broadband and want both our computers to have simultaneous connection to the web, it sounds reasonably easy enough to do but we do need two ISP addresses I think. Does anyone know if Telewest or BT supply this? Or are there better broadband/ASDL services out there?

Mike's getting cocky at FIFA 2002 now, I think I need to spend some time with the game so I can kick his arse again. He only beat me yesterday by single goals and already he thinks he is king of the world, payback shall be sweet.

I can't get your diary to work for some reason, not fair as I know you've updated at least twice. Not as bad as being banned from yours for some reason, work must have realised how much he corrupts us all :o)

Saturday, August 31, 2002 - 04:59 p.m.

Another draw for United, pah! What I want to know Mr Smith is why we don't play with two strikers at home when we are struggling to score goals as it is? Call me stupid but strikers are employed to score the goals are they not? So actually play them and we might start getting somewhere.

Saturday, August 31, 2002 - 04:35 p.m.

Smart has been on the pitch for about 5 minutes and managed to get himself sent off, the eedjit. When does the transfer window shut?

Saturday, August 31, 2002 - 04:29 p.m.

My trip around Britain will cost around £150 by train which isn't too bad for two weeks travel. That's including every destination I can think of wanting to go to and I am sure that some people will be busy or will run away scared so expect emails in the future people.

Saturday, August 31, 2002 - 03:57 p.m.

United are still drawing 0-0 at half time, come on. It sounds like we have played well in fits and starts but not been able to maintain any sort of pressure. Come on Miller yuo can pull the Scumdee apart. Caley are 3-0 up though, yes!!!

Saturday, August 31, 2002 - 02:54 p.m.

Mike said he could drink me under the table last night, guess who made sure who got home though eh?

Friday, August 30, 2002 - 05:03 p.m.

I finally got my iconobloc working, I have a (I think 7-sided) block called Jenny which sits in the drawer waiting to be built up. I've already had one questions and just now it seems really exciting, how long before it becomes more irritating than those stupid tamogochi things were? I boosted mine up with love and intelligence so it's just like me really :o)

I haven't given the footie predictions for this week yet have I? Well it is the Dundee derby this Saturday so it should be an exciting one if nothing else, now normally I would say we had a chance of winning but as my sister and dad are going it is more likely to be a loss, but I am going to be positive and say we shall scrape a late win with Wilson setting Thompson up for a late winner that sends the crowd crazy. Everton have a tough match at Man City and after only scraping a draw mid-week I think we will struggle against a free flowing team like Man City. At best a draw but I think we may lose our first game of the season.

Neither Glenn nor Lana seem to think I am shy for some reason, but I bet when I meet any of you lot I won't be able to speak as I'll just crawl into my shell. How strange that some people don't see me in that way, yet strangers would probably wonder why I never talk to them?

Everyone has now gone home for the evening and I have time to kill as I have to stay till 5pm, looks like the web may have to be surfed. This will be the first time I've really done this since joining so I suppose I will find out how much serveilance they actually do???

Friday, August 30, 2002 - 12:15 p.m.

I don't see many volunteers coming forward yet, what's the problem do you not want to contribute to a perfectly legitimate scientific experiment? You're all so boring :o)

Mike should be getting ready to buy tickets for the Foo Fighters right about now, come on.

I watched the Kerrang Awards on TV last night and what a load of crap, they call half of that rock? I mean Ash, Garbage, Sum 41? That is not what I would classify as rock, Amen, Marilyn Manson, Korn, Disturbed etc. that is rock and what I would expect to see in Kerrang. I remember buying it as a kid and it being full of proper metal Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer and Sepultura. It is now as watered down as every other form of music which is quite disturbing to see. They even had Stereophonics present an award there? Now I know they are metal fans but they looked like a bunch of twats there, especially Stuart Cable with his increasingly uncontrollable perm being about as tall as Kelly himself. Poodle rock died in the 80's man. As for Idlewild being up for a nomination with their new material, eh? I love em an all but rock, with that album? You have more chance of moshing to Five.

Can you believe that my sister of all people stole my Sleater Kinney album, Hot Rocks? I have been wondering where it went for ages and she has it....evil woman. I wonder if she has any more of mine?

I got up late this morning as I just couldn't move due to tiredeness so I thought instead of rushing I will take my time and leave whenever as I should be able to catch the postie before I leave and get my first issue of New Statesman through the post since I subscribed. Now normally he is walking down the street as I leave the house, but when I leave 10 minutes later than normal he is nowhere to be seen. Not fair, that meant I had to read Glamorama instead of the New Statesman, boo hoo. I do however get web access to the issue online the day before it is published which is ace, so expect some exclusives over the next year.

A couple of the guys upstairs are changing departments so this guy baked a couple of cakes for them and he is a trained chef and the cheesecake was just amazing, certainly better than the one I attempted to make. I didn't try the chocolate cake but if there is any left later on :o)

I was having second thoughts about going to meet ex-workmates for drinks but I think I may nip down for a couple, it will be strange sitting on the District Line again after all this time. Am I allowed to practice my killing experiment on any of them?

It is so silent in the office today as Lana is off until Tuesday, I keep talking to myself and singing songs. For some reason 'The End' by The Doors seems to be the one repeated the most. I could finally be going over the edge.

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 04:29 p.m.

She just said she never liked Monty Python.....and that Life of Brian was a crap film. Currently in shock and in need of therapy before I kill my work mate. She didn't like my desk diary either as it is Monty Python. I tried quoting masses of scripture from the hallowed archives of their repertoire but still to no avail, what can I do?

The Kaito EP sounds ace (I listened to it over lunch) so I will let them off for this indescretion, but next time they should warn me as I wasted money that I could have spent on getting a different album.

Since everyone seems to be finishing Glamorama, can one of you PLEASE write something in bookworms or I'll thceam and thceam and thceam till it hurts.

Shons, I will ring you tonight. I have been meaning to for the last few days but the internet would end up on and then I'd just forget. It goes to show you how much I love you eh ;o)

Dave reckons this is a bad idea but I actually think it would be a cool scientific experiment. All I need is a volunteer that doesn't mind being killed.....by me. I just want to know what it feels like to kill someone and whether I could live with it or not as he reckons I couldn't. We could set a book up on it, who wants to work out the odds?

Thursday, August 29, 2002 - 12:52 p.m.

I just spent the last hour talking about footie with an IT guy instead of doing work, it's good to talk to someone who is a proper fan and knows what he is talking about. Pity he was a Liverpool fan though ;o) He actually knew what Scottish football was all about as well, it's not often you can say that about non-Scotsmen these days, but maybe it was 'cause he was Irish and not an ignorant Englishman?

The new Queens of the Stone Age album fuckin' rocks. It is truly amazing and had me nodding and tapping my foot on the train this morning, and totally distracted me from reading Glamorama, shame. When I opened the Kaito CD I noticed that it was only a 7 song EP with three of those songs lifted off their first album, doh. Why charge full price and not put the track listing on the back? Evil people.

Booked tickets for Primal Scream (friday night one torch) and Bright Eyes last night, so even more great gigs to go and see. Foo Fighter tickets go on sale 10am on Friday for those that want to see them, and that should be a great one. The only time I've seen them was at T in the Park in 1996 after their first album came out, so it will be great to see what they are like live now.

This is a major plea to everyone out there, and I really need help with this. If anyone can get hold of a copy of the second issue of The Filth by Grant Morrisson I will do anything* for them. I went into the comic shop last night and they only had the third issue in, so I asked about the second as I had picked up the first only two weeks ago but they had run out. Forbidden Planet didn't have any either, so please, if you know of someplace that still has some left I will send you the money and whatever* else you want. [*this of course is open to abuse, so negotiations will take place before definite acceptance of extra's is agreed and carried out. No sexual or violent tasks shall be carried out in this deal, unless really pretty girlies are involved of coure]

I just had to deal with a phone call of a guy complaining about the medical points he had been given for his housing and him describing all the problems he had and I nearly broke down as it does sound like he has a hard life, but when talking with my bosses it sounds like he makes a lot of it up and they have been dealing with him for a few years. How the hell are we meant to help people if you have people lying to beat the system, I mean these people get GP's and everything to write them letters, how do they do it? Do they not understand that there are people much worse off than them that need help and are being denied it by some people cheating the system? I fuckin' hate this 'me, me, me' society, which I lay fully on the generation before me that allowed Thatcher and Reagan to ruin it for the rest of us.

Rumsfeld was on the TV last night and I nearly smashed it when he started talking. He was trying to compare Bush to Churchill (now I know Churchill had plenty of bad points, but come on) and how Churchill had been the lone voice in warning people about Hitler, and this time Bush was the lone voice. He then went on to say that countries only joined in when their countries were attacked. Well hello America. Were you not the fuckin' country that backed away saying it wasn't their problem? Did you only get involved a couple of years into the war when Pearl Harbour happened? Well fuck you America, you don't make amends for being late fifty years ago by bullying the rest of the world into your own failed way of thinking. Also, you only started taking notice of what happens in the world last September when you were bombed, whilst the rest of the world has been trying to do things for decades. So don't come preaching to us to try and get our support for a stupid war 'cause you ain't gonna get it.

I'm going to go drinking with my old work mates tomorrow as one of the guys that I actually used to talk to there is leaving. It should be interesting to see everyone again although I shall probably be bored within the hour, I just hope I don't get stuck with Jon or I'll just get very pissed and saying something stupid. They had better go to a decent pub as well as they normally go to some horrible up market place that is lacking as much atmosphere as McDairmed Park on a Saturday afternoon.