My subconscious...

...(sorry, no time to actually post anything from the last few days- but-if you are interested - ) while the "Master Control Program" is idling, the background engine in my mind seems to pick random snippets from my experience to echo, I've been half heartedly keeping a list (for about a month now), so if you would like to peer therein (during downtime), see the list below -

• Various tunes from the Zelda series, especially "Ocarina of Time" (N64)
• The opening tune from Final Fantasy VII (PSOne) called "Prelude" (midi version you can listen to in that previous link)
• The line "lotsa times, when a body comes out of the water, there's like, leaves and thangs in the mouth" from the autopsy scene in "Silence of the Lambs" (yeah, odd, I know...)
• The theme tune to the 80's TV show "The Smurfs"
• Occasionally a pop song or other from the radio that wakes me up in the morning (but rarely)...most notably "Play that funky music" by Wild Cherry...
• Two lines from "Day of the Dead" - "It's the R Cortex, Sarah, that central piece of primordial matter that controls our baser instincts. It's the motor that drives them..." (in a posh English accent) and "My job is to fly the whirlybird...and I'm doing that job just fine" (in a strong Jamcian accent)...
• The words "Hoy!!! **CANADA**!!!" (being yelled in a strong Japanese accent) from the anime of the manga classic "Akira"....
• Arnie saying "Sarah Connor?"

But, the undisputed winner, popping in at least twice every day -

• "So long, and thanks for all the fish", the *incredibly* catchy theme music to the recent movie version of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (which must, by now, be very annoying to the people that work around me!)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Not long now, November 18th release date for the new movie! Can't wait...!

Official site here...

Mars

...is clearly visible, and extremely red-looking in the sky in my garden right now...with a big telescope you could get an awesome look at it...BBC article here...

Oh, and some really bad news, had the heating engineer in this morning (a mate of Flyingpops' dad) and he basically said that our boiler may well need to be comdemned...price of the replacement - £1500.... :(

Why do these things always happen -

a) Just before Christmas
b) Just when you thought you were (just about) getting your finances sorted out
c) Already 99% financially commited elsewhere

Arse.

Oh the irony...

...took the day off today to have a good chance to catch up with my movies and zoom through a bit of Quake 4, got up at the usual early hour with Flyingpops and kindly drove her to the station to pick up her train, drove the car home in really high spirits and sat down to play Quake - then, inexplicably, a big blank - woke up about 3 hours later on the sofa feeling totally sick and suffering with the worst headache I think I have ever had, managed to drag myself upstairs to be sick, violently, into the toilet, sweating profusely...threw my clothes off and ran a bath and sat in it for ages, even though it got cold, the world spinning...was woken up by a phone call from Flyingpops (again) asking me for the name of a movie we recently watched (which had been "bothering her") forcing me out of the water...

Frankly, there isn't a chance that I could have worked today, feeling so good first thing this morning, the total transformation was actually quite staggeringly frightening....what if I had been sat at my desk when the illness hit? What about the train? Knowing Londoners I would probably have woken up in bloody Bedford...

And "work" probably would have called an ambulance had I collapsed thusly at my workstation...it's a bit scary! Really, this kind of thing has never happened to me before...either it comes on fairly slowly, giving some warning, or I'm okay...

And how funny for it to pass so quickly..? It sounds like bullshit...I'm feeling fine again now, I'm wondering if it wasn't something I ate maybe? Still, deeply, deeply unpleasant....Jinx came over in the afternoon and I sort-of moaned, sort-of tried to eat (only because I really thought I should), drank a load of water and (quietly and haltingly) discussed -

• The Nintendo Revolution controller
• How sick I was feeling
• How much I want a PSP
• How sick I was feeling
• Comedy greats
• How sick I was feeling
• What I should be watching on TV to make me feel better
• How sick I was feeling
• Disguising the fact that I had been too ill to put out the bloody washing until about 4pm from Flyingpops (and mechanisms to achive this)
• The fact that trying to watch "The Woodsman" was a bad idea when you are feeling ill anyway
• How sick I was feeling
• Should I cancel my folks coming over for a takeaway and a movie tonight?
• Frozen chocolate pudding, old saucepans of vegetable soup and caloree counting diets
• How sick I was feeling (after all that...)
• Bus times

Odd though, but give it an hour or two and I was feeling loads better...even enjoying some Chinese food and a drink with the family...it's just so strange! Never had a bug like it...

However, I'm going to see how I feel tomorrow before I count *anything*....

Service Industry Bloggers

Just taking my lunch break, working from home today but not going to say why...(Flyingpops!!)...anyway, Nate made a post the other day regarding this guy (among others)...it prompted me to leave a comment on his blog, but I thought the memory merited a repeat posting here...

Try as I might, I’m finding it difficult to get into his writing (not Nate's, but the Waiter blogger)…the typical entry length is just perhaps a little long for my taste (as I tend to blip in and out of reading) which doesn't help (even though I can be guilty of the odd long post or two), but I think the key issue, perhaps, is that I’m finding it difficult to relate to his world...I've only worked in one proper resturant (Redhill chip shop aside) and that was “La Barbe”, a French place in Reigate (Surrey), doing their washing up, so not even public facing…

I was still at school, yet they fed me wine, beer and extremely smelly cheese, called me “Fronk”, spoke virtually zero English, got me to wash up garlic snail dishes (which smell yummy btw) and clean range equipment with strong acid (with holes in my rubber gloves. which hurt btw), kept me working until 2am on some nights and forced me to spend my working hours in the same kitchen space as the desert chef, who was French (obviously) but was totally obsessed with George Formby…”when eem clean ze window, Fronk, zis is the ‘ight of Inglish culture”…the single "Formby" CD he owned was on repeat all night long…every night...(AK!)

Anyway, make your own mind up...he certainly has a good style...perhaps I'm just being too picky... ;)

Denial...

...isn't just a river in Egypt...

Hehe, great line from 'Glue'...Well, it made me laugh anyway... ;)

Update - actually, that should be, as I really ought to quote correctly -

"As they say, denial isnae jist a fuckin river in Egypt", but I am afraid the context is too rude to relate in a public forum... ;)

World War I photographs

Boing Boing just posted this amazing link to a Flickr account containing a load of previously unpublished German soldier's photographs taken during WWI...(which has also kind of killed that Flickr server with massive traffic), so check a bit later on...interesting stuff...

Beware though, it's warts and all...

Google Base

Wow, lots of buzz in the blogosphere about Google's new offering - Google Base - see the best current summary I can find here.

Effectively though, it looks like Google is going to try and kill every other part of the internet off (dating, classified ads (ebay), job searching, etc., etc.,etc.) in one fell swoop...

This is scary! Goodbye eclectic "internet", might as well just say "I'm going to surf the Google today"...

Sleep paralysis

I was reading "New Scientist" the other day and came across a letter about Sleep paralysis and realised that I have actually experienced it (at least twice)...

One of the occasions was when I was a young child, at that time living in a commune in Wimbledon in South London (where the tennis comes from)) I can't remember the start of the dream, only slowly bringing myself round because I could hear a telephone ringing, and managed to reach, I suppose about 80-90% conciousness as a result. In this state I was still *absolutely* convinced there was a telephone in the room (there wasn't really) demanding to be answered (I could *hear* it ringing, and I could see it in the shadows, but the whole room appeared to be oddly distorted, it looked more like the hall by the front door than my bedroom, but wasn't quite) and I also appeared to be floating slightly above it (although I did have a raised bed, which may account for that)...No matter what I tried I couldn't move a muscle, my body was still fully asleep and I just couldn't understand why, it was so frustrating...! According to the Wiki article on this, apparently it only really lasts for a very short space of time (like seconds), but I definitely remember it taking ages, felt like hours before I woke myself up enough to realise it was an hallucination...weird eh?

The second one was dreaming it was christmas and there were presents all over the place, but I couldn't move to pick them up to remove the wrapping...not scary at all (like the more commonly reported versions, which classically feature a feeling of threatening figures in the room, and a fear of immenent death) just a really odd experience...when I realised what was going on I was really, really dissapointed, like when you wake up thinking it's Saturday and you can have a lay in, but then the alarm goes off and you realise it's really Tuesday (or something)...

This, apparently is where Alien abduction experiences are born, in the doubt after a particularly trippy sleep paralysis episode, sometimes the hallucination can be reinforced or solidfied afterwards if a sufferer then seeks to probe the event using hypnotherapy...interesting stuff... ;)

Dodge the cracks...

Dodge the cracks
Originally uploaded by finkangel.

Just to warn you, I caught myself, without any good reason, avoiding the cracks between paving slabs today...*slap*

Rotten Pumpkin...

I'm rather pleased I didn't put my pumpkin outside now...(apart from the very real risk of theft by ADHD kids high on Cherryade) the Kings Cross one (that I spotted a few days ago) is now absolutely *swarming* with insects and in a state of rapid decay! I think perhaps the 17th was rather too early for them to carve...(hope mine stays scary looking until Monday, no room for it in the fridge)!

Forgotten ticket...

What a pain in the ass, forgot to pick up my train ticket today (took it out of my bag before the parties on Saturday night)...so had to queue up and buy a standard return (£14, but refundable if I hang onto the ticket and show it again tomorrow with my season ticket, so not a complete disaster), but my ticket wallet is unfortunately also where I keep my swipe card (for office door access)...it wouldn't be so bad but the nearest toilets are behind a secure door...

Prat...checklist before leaving the house definitely shouldn't stop at "Nintendo DS, C500, wallet, book, keys, USB pen drive and umbrella"...

My first pumpkin...

...(I think?) didn't turn out too badly, did it? ;) Actually looks quite scary! :)

Just cooking up a lovely bit of "Tesco Finest" Scottish silverside beef (with brocolli, carrots, peas, cabbage, cauliflower (all steamed), herb roasted spuds, roasted parsnips (oh, and a nut roast for flyingpops)) for tea, so I won't keep you...rather busy... ;)

'Auntie R's' 40th...

'Auntie R's' 40th...
Originally uploaded by finkangel.

...birthday party tonight, and amazingly, this is the second party of the night thus far... ;) The night began at a rather nice flat in Reigate, eating home-made guacamole, and is destined to finish in spectacular fashion in a fairy-lit, streamer-strewn, alcohol-fueled house in Capel, at some time in the early hours no doubt... ;) More tomorrow... :)

What a morning...

...the flash I saw outside the window as I drank my orange juice, was not, after all, the paparatzi trying to get a sneaky shot of me in my smalls, but the beginning of an extremely heavy downpour, which still hasn't quite abaited...It's hard to motivate yourself out into these conditions for the journey into London... ;P

Oh and btw, made the last couple of pages of the quiz last night (by some miracle... ;)

On the way I witnessed the opening of the new nightclub in Redhill (Liquid and Envy (I think?)) -

- utter chaos, it was like being in Leicester Square at a movie premiere, the whole place was packed, loads of police and the queue for entry stretched out of sight! Even though it was freezing cold and drizzling steadily they still had scantily clad dancers gyrating aboard the back of what looked like a converted lorry (into a cage with a pumping sound system)...mad!

Rather late home...

...tonight, sat waiting at Kings Cross with the shouts of drunken football fans echoing around the station interrupting my reading, currently 'Glue' by Irvine Welsh (which is harsh and pornographic and funny in equal measure)...had a great few hours in the company of some of the guys from the office and was goaded, not entirely involuntarily, into staying a while later than intended...the quiz night at the Causeway may be a little outside my grasp now, but I'll have a damn good try at getting there before close! ;)

Google Reader

Looks like Google have taken another step towards "Total World Domination(tm)" with the release of a public Beta of a browser-based feed reader - Google Reader (no less)...

It's easy to get started too, you can import your OPML file from Sharpreader (or whatever feed reader you currently use) and get up to speed right away!

I'm only minutes in and still struggling a bit with the interface (but I don't think I'm not going to ditch Sharpreader in the office anytime soon), but integration of "Gmail this" and "Blog this" options on each story are really obvious juicy benefits already, as well ask being able to carry my feeds around with me painlessly! Nice...! ;)

Wonder if there is a toolbar app like for gmail? That would be really good...I'll have a poke around... ;)

LOST...

On the subject of "Lost"...Gandalf23 made an interesting post, (which among other things) links to this page which discusses the various mathematical peculiarities present in the series so far...fascinating stuff... ;)

There *are* spoilers for those people still watching season 1...so beware...

Charles I and Saddam Hussein

Is it just me, or do we have some similarities here..?

I believe that it's the same punishment at stake, and exactly the same plea and arguement being offered up to the court...See -

Charles I and Saddam related links for background and current story...

Scary...not that it did Charles I much good, nor Cromwell, posthumously (for that matter)...see point 8...

The Policeman's blog...

...blogger has been busted!

I'm a bit behind the game here (been too busy for blog reading lately) but it looks like the Sunday Times and a number of other newspapers published his identity (or got close enough to the mark that his superiors wouldn't have much trouble tracking him down) and also a load of his archive of posts last week (unedited and without permission) as a sort of "expose of grass roots opinion" (as one commentor on his blog put it)...

As a result he was scared into pulling his archive offline and has basically stopped blogging while he seeking legal advice...

From the sounds of things no sacking (or anything like that) has happened thus far, probably because this is going to be a very difficult one for the old boys at the top to handle...(what this will do to the other emergency services bloggers I can only begin to imagine)...but how scary to be in his position and suddenly "outed" without any prior knowledge...that's the stuff of nightmares :(

I don't blame the guy for keeping his head down a bit... :(