28.11.05

How to Lose 2 stones in a year .. and KEEP IT OFF!

Hey, thanks to big brother Miles for pointing out how I can now make my secret diet absolutely accessible, and for absolutely FREE to millions! Start today with absolutely no obligation, no money required and results absolutely guaranteed.

Or as the Herbalife badges used to say: "Lose weight now? Ask me how!".

Canaries Fly into Europe!

Canaries Fly into Europe!
Originally uploaded by Nick Seecharan.

24.11.05

You remember the days when ... well forget about football - this is my first ever negative scanned on my new Nikon Coolscan V!! Bought for me for my birthday from my family, this is the first of what I hope will be many great memories shared!

I spent 5 hours last Saturday organising over 17 years worth of negatives into some semblance of an order that I can tackle. My filing isn't great and my efforts may well have been wasted since the black marker I used to tag the negatives has started to rub off! But it's a start! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU everyone xx

ps - this image was taken in 1994 .. 11 years ago and not a scratch or fungus spot in sight! God bless "Digital ICE"!

16.11.05

Bitter flames of cup final defeat extinguished by Green & Yellow Storm!

We did it! My Sunday league team became the first team to beat our formidable cup final opponents, London Hibs, in almost two full seasons. Read the match report here.

16.11.05

Wo meine Leute sind?!!

(rough translation: "Where are my people") ... In Germany, that's where! Following on from my 12.11.05 post about Trinidad & Tobago's World Cup qualifier, I am thrilled to point out that they beat Bahrain 2-1 on aggregate about 15 minutes ago, and now progress to next summer's Football World Cup 2006 in Germany! So, now I have a dilemma on my hands .. who do I back in the final? Mum's England, or Dad's "Sweet, sweet T & T"? Yeah, right (but what if they are pitted in the same group??).

"With a population of just over one million Trinidad will be the least populated country taking part in the 2006 finals in Germany"

Well Done Triiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinidad! JUMP HIGH, JUMP LOW .... we supporting Trinidad and Tobago!

15.11.05

Happy Birthday to Me. Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiirthday Dear Nick-i, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me!!

Would you believe it .. 34 today! So much, so young! Miles wanted to buy me these, but since I have not seen them yet, I think he must have decided to keep them for himself! (you have GOT to check out that link .. preferably with the volume up for the soft-porn 'Effek'!

Well you probably won't have seen my 11.10.05 post (Reality Bites), but if you had, you will know that my life has changed! My family clubbed together and bought me the Nikon Coolscan machine that will turn a lifetime of negatives (gathering dust under the stairs) into accessible digital files that I can share here, on my Flickr site, or get re-printed etc.

How am I going to focus on my final year of studies now! Similarly Jo has produced an epic pressie and - amongst other things - got one of my favourite souvenirs framed (a batik from Thailand trip, 1997) so that finally, after 8 years in a plastic bag, another little memory gets to see the light of day, to share with our nearest and dearest.

I've been completely overwhelmed by everyone's effort and generosity (sorry, Mum - I still guessed everything!) so thank you all from the middle of my heart! I've been on NHS placement today and so not been able to receive calls/ messages and have not spoken to anyone all day, so if you read this here first - apologies, I'll be calling you all tonight.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Lots of Love, Nick xxx

12.11.05

Where are my People?!

C'mon Trinidad!! (& Tobago)!! Playing the opening leg of their World Cup Qualifier versus Bahrain tonight. Should they succeed, it will be the first time in history they'll have made the World Cup.

The Soca Warriors have been punching above their weight for several years now and are not too far behind traditional big guns Mexico, the United States and Costa Rica. Two victories in June propelled T&T up 14 places to 63rd in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, making them the zone's biggest mover

Come on you Warriors! Or, as their official website puts it, Jump high, jump low, we supporting Trinidad & Tobago!

08.11.05

Some light airport lounge reading.

The true costs of success - an epic tale of power, intrigue, murder and corruption! Or it could be, if only it weren't a depressing reality for 20% of the global population. Not much more I can add to this story really to register my disgust. Disgust at the free-market pragmatists, both inside the Chinese corridors of power and those outside, desperate to get their own piece of the action in this particular emerging market. Check out the last line of the article:

Microsoft stops internet users searching for the words for democracy, freedom ...

America's No. 1 standard-bearer of economic power and success, Microsoft, defiling the most sacred (or at least most self-publicised) of American principles, to ensure their greater slice of the Chinese (American?) pie.

I'm extremely curious to find out what America's No. 2, Google, and the Chinese communists have agreed constitutes an objectionable link in order that Google gets to enter the market? But I guess the Chinese that choose to toe the line will never know/ see the difference. And the oppression is too subtle and too under-reported for it to remain on the radar of our collective conscience here in the West. So it's business as usual for the Googles and the Microsofts who will continue to be admired with awe for their ingenuity and wealth creation. And business as usual for the tortured, the executed, the oppr-/ repr-/ suppr-essed and the censored in the greatest market on Earth.

I really wonder how some people sleep at night.

Oh hell! this is a Google-owned service - oh dear, have I just created an objectionable link? Will I now have to be excluded?

05.11.05

Seal off the US-Mexico Border!

I read with some amusement (bemusement?) about a Californian republican congressman's proposal for an $8 billion, 2,000 mile long, dual-layer fence construction with electric sensors, to be built from the Pacific ocean all the way to the Mexican Gulf. The purpose? Keep out the Mexicans, who are apparently funnelling into local american communities and adversely affecting their way of life. I stood on the other side of the river from where this picture was taken in Lajitas (i.e. the US side) back in February 2001. The only difference between this image and back then is that this image is positively overflowing with people!

I didn't see anyone or anything of note on either side of the river for miles; or in fact in most of the whole territory of Western Texas on our route to Big Bend from Houston. For the imaginary hordes teeming across this river, they sure have a long walk before they will even find a community to affect adversely, with their offers of below-minimum wage restaurant (and any other dirty) labour that the law-abiding local folk don't want to do.

I wonder how much of the $8 billion will be used to throw up the Lajitas/ Big Bend section of this ingenious creation? Well, as long as it's cash being diverted away from the murderous campaign in Iraq (and elsewhere around the world) great ... in fact, while you're re-allocating your national debt/ priorities, why not throw in an extra $60-odd billion, build an extra 15,000 or so miles around the entire union, barricade all y'all's republican asses in and create what will surely be a win-win solution for everyone!

Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts.

Play-Off Final Day, May '02
Originally uploaded by Nick Seecharan.

When you're down, isn't reminiscing about happy thoughts supposed to gee you up? Well the Play-Off final weekend back in May 2002 certainly fits into the happy memory category (well, until the final result anyway, which Norwich lost on penalties).

I was working in Houston, Texas at the time and flew back for the weekend to join up with the family ('for the weekend!' I love writing that .. so glamorous and hollywood, just popping over the atlantic for the weekend!). Not quite the whole family - Anna was studying in Austin, Texas at the time and was not 'mooo-neeey' enough like me to make the journey ... although, If I had been really all that 'money', I guess I would have paid for her to come too - not so hollywood after all ...

Anyway, the whole family camped in the Brecon Beacons the night before, at the site in the picture about an hour from Cardiff. Had a barbeque and drank beer and - if memory serves me correctly - played 2-a-side football in my underpants till about 3 in the morning in the pitch dark!

We were surprisingly upbeat in the pic, considering our hangovers, then travelled convoy style into Cardiff for the Division 1 Play-Off Final against Birmingham City. Despite scoring first ('I-wan Robeeeeerts, Waaaaaaales Number 9') and me going mental because I thought the golden goal rule applied, they quickly equalised and we lost on penalties.

From the family perspective, one of those days none of us will ever forget, in spite of the alcohol! Everyone put in so much effort (except the penalty takers!) and it all came together perfectly. Thanks for the happy thoughts everyone!

04.11.05

Does exactly what is says on the Tin!

Further to my mini-rant about my doctor on 01.11.05 (footnote), she saw me for 5 mins following a 1hr 40 min delay (no apology); tried to carry out a throat inspection from the other side of the room, using a maglite (didn't know they were built for the clinical setting!). Then gave me a drug that the leaflet in the box says people with a past history of glandular fever (me) should be cautious about taking, if at all (she didn't ask about my past medical history before prescribing).

The medication? Co-amoxiclav, like the Ronseal ad says, it does exactly what it says on the tin:

Among the side effects listed for my latest antibiotic for the throat infection are: upset stomach, diarrhoea, indigestion, nausea, headaches ... and guess how I've been spending the last 4 days? upset stomach, diarrhoea, indigestion, nausea, headache!

No sore throat however!

This really isn't a hypochrondri-blog I promise. After 5 years on an organic, veggie diet I really very, very rarely get ill, so when something insidious like this throat ulcer/ infection does crop up, I'm really not good at handling it, or just building it into the usual list of daily lifestyle symptoms (lethargy, poor skin, heart burn, you know the stuff) because I don't experience those things anymore thanks to the stuff I eat.

But it will all soon be over soon, because if the infection doesn't take me down, then it looks like the drugs for it just might!

01.11.05

Remember, Remember ..

the 15th of November! Of course the original saying mentions the 5th but it's my birthday 2 weeks today, which makes the beginning of November (the best month of the year dummy!) one of the year's 'calendary' events, so allow me the indulgence!

For anyone tempted to go see a movie based on the "expert testimonials" you see embedded in the ads and trailers, here's a little warning example/ lesson for you, taken from my Sunday League team's match report of our victory at the weekend:

Seecharan's effort .. spectacular in the final execution.

What they really said about me:

Seecharan's effort was as spectacular in the way it was carved out as it was shocking in the final execution.

You've been warned! And at all costs, AVOID Bill Murray/ Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers as if it were the plague! I'm not into big movie reviews like my big brother so you're going to have to trust me on this one. I just think they took the essence of what Bill Murray and Sofia Coppola achieved so well in Lost in Translation .. and flushed it down the toilet accidentally, early on in the making of this hour and a half of torturous theatre viewing!

Anyway back to more important matters, you can see the rest of the glowing testimonial about my weekend's performance on the left-midfield here!

Footnote: on 03.10.05, I made a quick post about being struck down by some mystery infection that knocked me sideways:

my sore throat became a throat ulcer and infection. I have not been able to swallow even my own saliva without excrutiating pain, and that was while on a 4 hourly regime of nurofen, paracetamol and benzocaine antiseptic throat spray. Nightmare.

Well, it never really went away fully, with mild throat discomfort first thing in the morning and last thing at night but it was bearable. Anyway, now one month down the line the original problem is back .. what the hell is going on?? Loss of appetite for almost a month, having 'the runs' every other day and now the primary throat and ear thing is back. Well - perhaps my GP will spread some light on the matter later this morning. Or maybe not, as they didn't even do a physical examination to explore my thoracic symptoms 2 months before I ended up in Accident & Emergency with a stomach ulcer diagnosis. As the NatWest ads go, 'my GPs are having laugh. My health? exhausted; my GP? switched!'. Chance would be a fine thing .. I had to jump through hoops just to be added to the register of my local health centre, but don't get me started on an exploration of the state of our National Health Service ...

Anyway, screw all the above - it's the 1st of November! The beginning of the best month of the year! N xx