A List Of Things That Happened
So sometime just after three on Wednesday Steve called with a "little job". True enough there wasn't that much to it, but it was partly in Sheffield and then Manchester, a round trip of over 320 miles! I did most of the driving that day, and although I didn't get back home till just before midnight I had a good day!
Thursday was my surviving Grandmothers 80th birthday, so there was a bit of a family get together. There was a surprising number of cups of tea (in this weather!), and a nice cake. We went out to lunch at the Hampton, a local hotel/restaurant (where Ronnie used to work! So it's reputation preceeded it somewhat...), which is frankly the last sort of place you should go for a special meal, but there we are. Stu came back to the house and we hung out in the garden for a bit, which was really nice. Shame we scared Archie half to death though, poor little mite. Stu also donated his GameCube and games to me, 'cos I'd had to get rid of mine! That was super generous of him. First thing I played was Rogue Leader, and the first level of that, the Death Star attack... my godit's STILL amazing! So immersive, so brilliantly done! And that's just the tip of the iceberg of 'cube brilliance! A lot of games to rebuy there eh? hehe
Today I was driving again! Almost all the way to the seaside too, a bit disappointing that my first delivery was just 12 miles shy of the coast, but then beggars can't be choosers, can they? I had another local job this evening, then we went off down our local pub for the first time! It was quite nice, there didn't seem to be a negative atmosphere, and we had a good time inventing new drinks to confuse and terrify the bar staff (vodka slushies, for instance). Then on the way home I ran into traffic (okay, there was only one car) to save a hedgehog from being squished. I know that probably seems a little daft, but I just couldn't stand there and watch it die. Stubborn little bugger though, really seemed very reluctant about the whole "being saved" thing. Maybe it was a suicidally depressed hedgehog and I did something terribly wrong....
Unexpected Delay
Van-boss Steve who was gonna be taking me on today is in London on a job, and won't be back until this afternoon, so I unexpectedly have some time to kill.
Hmmm.
Yeah.
Hadn't really expected this.
So, ermm... I don't really know what to get up to.
Y'know though, what I'd really like to do is steal Ronnie from work and go to the beach for the day, that'd be great. What with it being the hottest day since records began and all that.
See, my job hasn't even STARTED yet, and I already want the day off! hehe
End of an Era
All the things that I started this journal to moan about have all gone away. I'm in a happy and stable relationship with a woman I love, I live in a nice house in a nice part of a pretty decent town, we have a cute little cat, and I have a job. Weird huh?
Looking back it's hard to see how any of this happened, I certainly haven't blogged of my tremendous efforts (although there have been some), so it all looks (and admittedly, feels) rather fortuitous. But hey, it'd be nice to be lucky too!
So what've I done with this last day of arsing about? Remarkably little, truth be told: I got up at the usual time to get breakfast for Ronnie and help her off to work, got Archie his breakfast and let him out to play, and came upstairs for a cuppa and to read my webcomics (finally caught up with
Questionable Content! Woohoo!). Then I pottered off down the bank, hunted around for a new fan, and then met Ronnie for lunch. After lunch it was off to a different bank, then back home for a long, leisurely bath (and reading!), and now it's now: not a lot to show for a day, but then I guess that's the point of lazy days.
I've decided that I'm gonna keep (and frame!) my rejection letter from McDonalds. I'm not sure why, or what it's supposed to remind me of, but it just seems like the sort of thing that is so ridiculous one should keep it, so I will.
It has been another insanely hot day today (hence the need for a new fan) and tomorrow is, we are solemnly promised, going to be the hottest day in Britain EVER. Or at least, so far. If this is global warming in action, then I suggest we put a stop to it now, 'cos it's far too hot to be bothered to do anything very much, which is unfortunate as tomorrow I start my courier work! I'm pretty excited about that, although I don't know if I'll even have anything to do or not, or whether I'll just spend the whole day sitting about, being "on call" and wondering if anything is gonna happen.
I've pondered whether to end this blog, either altogether or in favour of starting a new one with a less lazy title, but I figure that when I'm working finding the time to be idle will be even MORE important, so things will stay precisely as they are. Well, not precisely, I won't be able to post in the middle of the day anymore, but pretty much the same. And from tomorrow I won't be complaining about not having a job, I'll be complaining about having one!
I'll let you know what happens!
Job-alanche!
Well, after the minor league depression of the past week, something bizarre has happened: I've got some jobs. Two to be precise, both before lunch time today. I'll be being a van driver for a couple of weeks, before I start working in a call centre at the end of the month. So that's pretty exciting.
And it's hot and sunny and my brain is very tired.
And this isn't making sense anymore!
Think I'll go and lounge about some more, won't have the luxury of doing nothing during the week soon!
Shoes and Ships and Ceiling Wax, Cabbages and Kings.
It's been a weird couple of days. Firstly I didn't get the job at McDonalds, although this may be the first time I'll believe the "You're too good for them" sympathy thing: I don't think they were keen to have a graduate with ten years of management running around in the crew pit. Ah well. Today I had an interview with a company called Diligenta, the job I'd gone for basically being a call centre one, but in a call centre like no other: they work strictly office hours, Monday to Friday, offer lots of on site benefits, a decent rate of pay and work in an architecturally insane building! The reception hall is all big and bright, but is surrounded by corridors that look like the crypts of a medieval church (low ceilings and all), which then open out into what appears to be a chinese tea house. That was as far as they'd let me go wandering!
After I'd failed to get the McJob I was pretty upset, I figured if I can't do that then I'm probably not much use to anyone, but Ronnie took me out for a day of fun.
We went to Woodgreen animal shelter where we saw lots of cute animals that needed homes! My favourites were a little cat called Pepsi, who was so adorable and sweet that everytime you went to see her she'd come right up to the glass and rub her face against it like she could actually get her scent on you. And I also liked two dogs, Sonny and Missy, a pair of Staffordshire Bull Terriers who were very friendly and likable. I'm not normally a dog person as you know, I prefer the aloof independance of cats, but I guess I can see the appeal of dogs and their slavish devotion to you...
Then we went into Cambridge for a bit of shopping, and spent tons of money we don't have in the Hotel Chocolat, which is pretty much exactly like the chocolatarie in Chocolat (the movie anyway, not read the book), and had some super-yummy things in it, which we are eating oh so slowly! Then we had a bit of a Disney movie fix, and watched Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. I'd never seen Lion King before, and it was very cool, I must (grudgingly) admit.
Yesterday we finally saw Superman Returns, and whilst it wasn't really Ronnie's sort of thing, I absolutely adored it! I know Bryan Singer is a total Superman geek, and it really shows in the way he's handled and presented the character here: he really captured the sheer otherworldliness (not sure that's a word) of Kal, whilst retaining the essential humanity of Clark. Brandon Routh was stunning in both roles, at times it was scarily like looking at (or listening to!) Christopher Reeve; there were a couple of times where his mimickry of Reeve's interpretation of Clark was really, really eerie! The action set pieces were totally unique, the sort of thing you can only pull off in with Superman, and the emotional core of the story really worked, with a nice surprise along the way. Overall, I'd have to recommend that EVERYONE see it! But then I really like Superman, the teaser trailer for the movie (y'know, the one with Marlon Brando doing his "They are a great people Kal-El, they wish to be, they only lack the light to show them the way" speech) always brings a tear to my eye, so you should take that recommendation with a pinch of salt! For me though, it beat Pirates of The Caribbean hollow.
Archie was a dirty boy this morning (we used the phrase "Is that cat pooh?" a lot!), so this evening to make him clean (and possibly to teach him a lesson!) he had a bath! He didn't really enjoy it at all.
I like this pic a lot, he seems to be wondering why nobody will help him.
This one is just a weird trick of the light, but pretty cool nonetheless. And he looks all miserable and bedraggled!
Bright Light! Bright Light!
Saturday night/Sunday morning I had the great good fortune to be visited by one of my rare-as-a -blue-moon migraines. As usual it took me far too long to work out what the hell was going on (I just thought I had a bit of a headache, some nausea, occasional blindness and I couldn't stand up!), and I then spent the rest of Sunday in bed, wearing an eye mask 'cos the blinds don't keep out anywhere near enough pesky sunlight. Monday I pottered about a bit, wobbled my way through a few application forms, and then had a bit of a snooze. Today hasn't been much better (the sun is altogether too bright and people too loud), although I've at least spent the morning doing my volunteer job.
Ah yes, I have a volunteer job, you didn't know that, did you?
It's for a charity called Age Concern, and the store I volunteer at is in the same building that Ronnie works in, so she can take me with her to work in the mornings, and bring me back at nights. I only go two days a week, but it's a start, right? Actually the boss there got me an application form for a job in the newsagents next door, 'cos she'd heard the current deputy manager was leaving, which I thought was really nice. Made me feel like I am good at my job after all.
I've been applying for jobs left, right and centre for a while now, and I'm only just starting to get some hits with interviews and such. I had an interview with McDonalds last week, 'cos I figured anybody could get a job with them. But perhaps not, 'cos it's been a week since the interview and I've not heard anything yet, and even if I DID hear something, all I'd hear is whether I'd got an assesment day and ANOTHER interview! I've run businesses with multi-million pound turnovers with less fuss than that. Still, I mustn't complain, 'cos a job is a job and right now all I'm interested in is paying the bills. I have this awful, inescapable feeling of failure, of letting Ronnie down. I keep thinking I shouldn't have come, shouldn't have got her into this, but that sort of negativity isn't gonna help anybody, and selfish as it may seem, right here, with her, is exactly where I want to be. So I just need to keep the faith that she seems to have in me, and keep trying. We'll get there in the end.
We're getting along pretty well unpacking the house. I think part of that is that neither of us can really stand living out of boxes and suitcases, but for some reason, no matter how far we get with the other rooms, our bedroom remains dominated by a tidal wave of stuff we haven't found the energy to unpack/tidy away. The room I'm in now, a combination of mine (computers, consoles, TV) and Archie's (food bowl, his special chair) still needs some work, for instance. Last week I managed to condense three crates worth of computer bits down into a single drawer, which was pretty good, but I think to get any further we're gonna need some more shelves, and shelves cost money... and even then I've got to work out where to put the second PC! Still, that's the sort of problem it's fun to have, isn't it, setting up a new home?
Okay, my new DVD project is nearly finished, so I'll get moving. It's not my most eleaborate (that was a DVD I made of movies and pics of Ronnie's Dad when he was on a driving weekend, that had cool menus and a slide show and everything!), but I'm excited to see how it's turned out, 'cos I've done custom menu music and a custom background! Ooh, it's just finished! Time to go look up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane... ? hehe
Photo Fixed!
Okay, so it wasn't blogger being difficult, I'd just got my firewall set too vigourously. Anyway, as promised / alluded too, here are a couple of our piratey pics from last night. As you can see, Ronnie makes a very hot pirate, whereas I just was hot (and quite sweaty and icky by the end of the night).
Oh look, there's some treasure on the floor by the car, excellent!
Pirates wait in line at cashpoints, just like everybody else.
Yo Ho Yo Ho A Pirate's Life For Me!
There are a couple of ways I could deal with the fact that I've not been able to update my blog for the past month. The first and most obvious is to relentlessly and remorselessly catalogue everything that has happened between my last post and the present. This is both boring, and very hardwork, and will therefore not be happening. What I will do is carry on as though nothing untoward has happened at all, and fill in the gaps as I go along, or when I feel like it. So, to business!
Last night we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Naturally we went dressed as pirates, 'cos how often do you get to do that? I thought Ronnie looked great, she seemed to have accidentally modelled her look on Anne Bonney (although without the hat). I was fairly happy with my pirate costume too, although it did rely heavily on me wearing nearly all the jewelry that I own, for that authentic treasure hungry look. I had a red bandana too. Sadly (or perhaps luckily) for some reason Blogger doesn't want to let me add pictures, so you'll have to let your imagination fill in the blanks. Anyway, so we're dressed as pirates, driving about, going to cash-points to get money, turning up at the cinema, and it's amazing how few people actually had the nerve to say anything at all, or even consciously notice us. I suspect that being dressed as a pirate would be the ideal disguise for robbing a bank, or stealing or car, because when questioned by the police people would say that they don't remember what we looked like 'cos they didn't want to be seen staring. Nobody else had made any effort at all, we were the only pirates there. The staff appreciated that we'd made an effort, and some parents pointed us out to their kids, but that was about it. Still, it was fun, and who wants to dress like everybody else anyway?
As for the film... I was left feeling disappointed. Obviously it can't have the same "bloody hell I didn't expect THAT" effect that the first movie had, and I was really excited about it, but it seemed convoluted, overly long and somewhat repetitive (did we REALLY need five kraken attacks? It's a big monster, I got it already). Jack was less charming this time around, in fact I thought he was a self-servingly callous bastard (which he always was, he was just rather charming about it last time) and it had a feeling of inventing peril for our characters, rather than peril naturally appearing as a result of their actions. That said the movie itself is visually stunning; the sets and costumes just drip with almost Gilliam-esque levels of detail, and the effects work is little short of breath-taking (indeed I can't wait for the DVD to find out how much of certain effects is CGI and how much is make-up and so forth). The soundtrack was great too, it's just a shame that the story didn't seem to be there to give all these elements a reason for getting together in the first place. All that said, I did still enjoy it, I just wanted more than I got. Maybe Pirates 3 will fill in the gaps, but right now it feels more like The Matrix Reloaded than it did The Empire Strikes Back.
The night before we'd gone to see Over the Hedge, and I hadn't expected a great deal from that (I'd liked it primarily because of the "great and powerful Steve" from the trailers), but that turned out to be really enjoyable. I guess high expectations can only hurt you, eh?
