31.01.06
The Event of the Year!
Feels like Christmas/ or New Year's eve for a football fan ... the final few hours of the transfer deadline (no, too complicated to explain to my north american chums who may read this -- ask if you really care two cents). Norwich have already signed 3 players this afternoon alone, after having a whole month to get to to it (sounds like one of my essay deadlines!).
But what's really caught my eye is the 'entrepreneur' (i use the term loosely) in Norfolk who has hit on a money spinning way of bleeding even more cash out of the misguided football fan's totally irrational devotion to his/her club. He wants us to pay to prove how much we love our club more than our local rival team.
Hmmmm ... pay him money, to adjust the 'crappy lack of effort and creativity that has gone into his sh*tty half-penny jpeg' images. Whoopy fucking dooo.
I do however take comfort in the fact that, at time of writing, the scummers (ipswich) are running neck and neck with the norwich idiots (oops, I mean fans) in covering the image in their chosen team's colours, even though there are only 4 'scummer' donors so far, to Norwich's 26.
Does this mean that we (norwich) are all tight-fisted 'SOBs', or just that "fools and their money are soon parted"! Who cares ... "event of the year" my arse! I'd like to find out how the site that inspired this idea made a $1 million in two weeks ... Hollywood Baby! Only in America ... unless of course, it's a site dedicated to the Arts (darling) and people are paying to unveil (in their name as principal sponsor of course) some previously undiscovered (and now remastered) Rembrandt, previously thought ravaged and lost through conflict ... whatever .. what a crock!
ps -- excuse any 'acerbic-ism'. I wanted to write something evil and abusive here about my university lecturer, but I am going to suck it up and move on ... one look on my flickr website reminds me that life has so much more to offer.
N xxx
Friday, January 27, 2006
27.01.06
Role with the punches, tomorrow's another day.
After all, there are so many people who are so much worse off than me and my trifling inconvenience and dumb-ass pride. So, onwards and upwards - already looking forward to what next week's got in store! Something as invigorating as I feel in this "man from Kouros" snap, please?!
Bon weekend tout le monde!
N x
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
24.01.06
The Horror ... the horror
Unbelievable. Disastrous. Humiliating. FUCK. Thought of so many ways on the 30 minute cycle home just now, to express my despair, disgust, frustration, shame. Had imaginary conversations with the lecturer involved, justifying why she's a fucking unhelpful whore and I have the moral highground. Struggling to find the eloquence or prose though ... so simply put, I fucked everything up.
Failing this practical exam a second time, means I cannot qualify this summer. It may also mean I have to put the remaining elements of this final year on hold. If this happens, I will have to cancel my February placement and do it during the World Cup summer, when I should be reflecting on 3 years of hard work, but gratifying results. I may also have to scrap the dissertation and do again next year - the whole of next year. Oh shit ... can I even graduate with honours?!? FUUUUUUUUUUCK.
Without any sense of over-confidence, I felt I had breezed it. There was no indication during or after the exam that I had hurled myself into the abyss. She'd only seen me a week earlier on placement and knew the consequences/ situation -- could she have done a little more to coax me back from the edge. Absolutely, as I'd witnessed with the two others in the exam group. Does it matter? No. The nuances of the situation that make me feel so aggrieved about how much more support I might have had are sounding, even as I think about them, like sour grapes.
I only have myself to blame clearly; if you can be blamed, that is, for having an Achilles heel.
I have browsed the demotivation posters to see which one best applies to me - Failure (when your best just isn't good enough)? Losing (if at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style)? Defeat (For every winner there are dozens of losers. Odds are, your one of them)? For some reason, Ineptitude seems to carry the most valuable learning lesson for the future (the way the future feels to me right now):
If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly.
Nice lesson. I wish I could enjoy the way I am feeling right now, so dammit, I'm going to learn how.
For Fucking Christ's sake.
The Horror ... the horror
Unbelievable. Disastrous. Humiliating. FUCK. Thought of so many ways on the 30 minute cycle home just now, to express my despair, disgust, frustration, shame. Had imaginary conversations with the lecturer involved, justifying why she's a fucking unhelpful whore and I have the moral highground. Struggling to find the eloquence or prose though ... so simply put, I fucked everything up.
Failing this practical exam a second time, means I cannot qualify this summer. It may also mean I have to put the remaining elements of this final year on hold. If this happens, I will have to cancel my February placement and do it during the World Cup summer, when I should be reflecting on 3 years of hard work, but gratifying results. I may also have to scrap the dissertation and do again next year - the whole of next year. Oh shit ... can I even graduate with honours?!? FUUUUUUUUUUCK.
Without any sense of over-confidence, I felt I had breezed it. There was no indication during or after the exam that I had hurled myself into the abyss. She'd only seen me a week earlier on placement and knew the consequences/ situation -- could she have done a little more to coax me back from the edge. Absolutely, as I'd witnessed with the two others in the exam group. Does it matter? No. The nuances of the situation that make me feel so aggrieved about how much more support I might have had are sounding, even as I think about them, like sour grapes.
I only have myself to blame clearly; if you can be blamed, that is, for having an Achilles heel.
I have browsed the demotivation posters to see which one best applies to me - Failure (when your best just isn't good enough)? Losing (if at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style)? Defeat (For every winner there are dozens of losers. Odds are, your one of them)? For some reason, Ineptitude seems to carry the most valuable learning lesson for the future (the way the future feels to me right now):
If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly.
Nice lesson. I wish I could enjoy the way I am feeling right now, so dammit, I'm going to learn how.
For Fucking Christ's sake.
Monday, January 23, 2006
23.01.06
Excuse my French
but what the fucking hell is going on??? According to the university website, I got 10% in my practical re-sit. TEN FUC*ING PERCENT????!!!!!!!! Don't know whether to laugh or cry. Surely this is a mistake. You get more marks for writing your name at the top of the piece of paper. And my re-sit this time was watertight by general consensus with the student pals I conferred with afterwards. The lecturer didn't grill me either, like they tend to in a practical exam when they want you to recall the correct answer/ procedure. She barely asked me any questions at all ... I just don't get it.
I have not yet been able to reach the lecturer in charge, but when I do am very much hoping she will tell me it's a slip of the finger and that she meant to hit the 4, above the 1 on the keyboard (I can only get a flat mark of 40% because it's a re-sit). All will be revealed shortly, but until then .. no fucking sleep for me .. and the prospect of returning to Uni (after everyone else qualifies) to do another semester of exams, coursework and ... the practical ... F****************************CK.
Excuse my French
but what the fucking hell is going on??? According to the university website, I got 10% in my practical re-sit. TEN FUC*ING PERCENT????!!!!!!!! Don't know whether to laugh or cry. Surely this is a mistake. You get more marks for writing your name at the top of the piece of paper. And my re-sit this time was watertight by general consensus with the student pals I conferred with afterwards. The lecturer didn't grill me either, like they tend to in a practical exam when they want you to recall the correct answer/ procedure. She barely asked me any questions at all ... I just don't get it.
I have not yet been able to reach the lecturer in charge, but when I do am very much hoping she will tell me it's a slip of the finger and that she meant to hit the 4, above the 1 on the keyboard (I can only get a flat mark of 40% because it's a re-sit). All will be revealed shortly, but until then .. no fucking sleep for me .. and the prospect of returning to Uni (after everyone else qualifies) to do another semester of exams, coursework and ... the practical ... F****************************CK.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
14.01.06
Do you think there are people in Rwanda with fucking lactose intolerance?
Great comment from Chris Rock' s stage show Bring the Pain, on the West's self-indulgence, in particular when it comes to our attitude towards (and management of) the way we eat. Miles asked for this DVD for Christmas and from a quick viewing I have to say what an excellent choice Miles. Read the commnents in above link for more.
I stupidly missed the rebate deadline on my current phone plan and am now £45 ($80) out of pocket. Amazon also refused to cover costs of returning the order they sent me twice over christmas, because it's my fault (apparently I accidentally hit their "one click" function while browsing) .. that's another £6 ($10). For the past 5 months I have been getting charged double by my mobile phone insurance company (£5.99/mth twice) because they don't consider it their responsibility to inform me (an existing customer) that I am paying twice for the same service.
As they pointed out, I could be family man who has several plans running concurrently for different members of my family. Fair point I suppose, but how about a single line of text in their new bill information they send out to say something like:
"are you switching your sole telephone contract? If yes, you may be paying your insurance provider twice for the same service - call us to find out"
Would be a great leap forward in customer service, but God forbid they would risk the chance of making extra cash from unknowing and powerless customers.
Their Loss -- about a week later, I was about to order some pet insurance (at £120/ year) when I noticed at the last moment, it was owned by the same company, Allianz Cornhill, with whom I will never do business again. Drafting a letter to advise them that their outright refusal to refund me £30, in good faith has cost them £120 x the number of years we have pets in the future. Keep you posted on their response .. twats.
Sounds like small potatoes, right? But I have no income while I focus on my final 6mths of the degree and even haemorrhaging little dribbles of cash like the above will add up to a summer of debt and crappy jobs instead of the summer of love & the World Cup that I am secretly planning (Jo doesn't read this site anyway!). I can't afford this shit!
And all this on top of my lactose intolerancy -- there just can't be anyone, anywhere in the world who's worse off than me right now ... ; - )
Do you think there are people in Rwanda with fucking lactose intolerance?
Great comment from Chris Rock' s stage show Bring the Pain, on the West's self-indulgence, in particular when it comes to our attitude towards (and management of) the way we eat. Miles asked for this DVD for Christmas and from a quick viewing I have to say what an excellent choice Miles. Read the commnents in above link for more.
I stupidly missed the rebate deadline on my current phone plan and am now £45 ($80) out of pocket. Amazon also refused to cover costs of returning the order they sent me twice over christmas, because it's my fault (apparently I accidentally hit their "one click" function while browsing) .. that's another £6 ($10). For the past 5 months I have been getting charged double by my mobile phone insurance company (£5.99/mth twice) because they don't consider it their responsibility to inform me (an existing customer) that I am paying twice for the same service.
As they pointed out, I could be family man who has several plans running concurrently for different members of my family. Fair point I suppose, but how about a single line of text in their new bill information they send out to say something like:
"are you switching your sole telephone contract? If yes, you may be paying your insurance provider twice for the same service - call us to find out"
Would be a great leap forward in customer service, but God forbid they would risk the chance of making extra cash from unknowing and powerless customers.
Their Loss -- about a week later, I was about to order some pet insurance (at £120/ year) when I noticed at the last moment, it was owned by the same company, Allianz Cornhill, with whom I will never do business again. Drafting a letter to advise them that their outright refusal to refund me £30, in good faith has cost them £120 x the number of years we have pets in the future. Keep you posted on their response .. twats.
Sounds like small potatoes, right? But I have no income while I focus on my final 6mths of the degree and even haemorrhaging little dribbles of cash like the above will add up to a summer of debt and crappy jobs instead of the summer of love & the World Cup that I am secretly planning (Jo doesn't read this site anyway!). I can't afford this shit!
And all this on top of my lactose intolerancy -- there just can't be anyone, anywhere in the world who's worse off than me right now ...
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
10.01.06
Onwards and Upward - 2006!
Happy New Year! just re-surfaced from a couple of weeks preparing, writing and (just) meeting the deadline for my latest (and largest to date) assignment for Uni. This was a toughy, the last couple of days especially with a couple of 16hr stretches at the computer, trying to slay the beast!
So this is the year I qualify ... only 6 months, two more essays, 1 placement and a dissertation stand in my way! My reward? the WORLD CUP! What perfect timing, and what a conicidence! I couldn't have PLANNED this past 3 years any better .... ahem ....
Had a great 2 weeks out of London, away on my christmas break in Wales, and then a relaxed New Year's with Jo and her parents in La Manga (SW Spain) .. links in Dec 22 post. Back now, and in strict chronological order:
Staying Afloat!
09.01.06 - am
The use of Manual Hyperinflation on an acute head injured patient on ICU (the intensive care unit) ... exciting stuff.
Holy Crap that was close! Sitting at home on my computer at 1.15pm doing the spell check on a literally-just-completed essay that needed to be handed in 45 minutes later ... Uni is about 30 mins cycle away. Essay emailed to Uni mate (no call to my mobile en route means the printers at Uni must be working today .. I have been caught out before). She prints it out (bless her!) and I hand it in at 1.57pm. If you miss the deadline you get ZERO, as I mentioned in my 13.12.05 post.
After a week in Spain where I spent 3 hrs a day researching around the subject, and a good week of preparation between October-December for this assignment, I really had hoped to be better organised this time. And yet at 0135 this morning I had still only completed 1,400 odd of the 3,000 required words (you are docked 10 marks if you are over 10% above/ below the target number of words set by the department). Over the previous 3 days, I spent between 8-16 hours a day, but by mid evening on the 8th was still at around 850 words. Nightmare. Somehow it all came together between 8am-1.15pm today, but this really was a very, very close call.
I am never ... NEVER letting this happen again (Seecharan, 2003)(Seecharan, 2004)(Seecharan, 2005)
References:
Nick Seecharan (2003-05) Sure Nick, I haven't heard you say that before! Bu**shit publication, London.
Isn't life great, when you have the security of knowing that some things will never change!
09.01.06 - pm
My first test this evening, and while all around me lost their heads, I stayed afloat! Allow me to explain:
This year, I had planned to repeat my extended period of forced abstinence - Jan-May (4 months) without drinking a drop of alcohol. Last year was my 4th year, and it went directly according to plan. I felt great and was reported to have lost some weight. The reason for doing it though, is the recognition of the need to think about adjusting my drinking habits if I want to live beyond my 40s. What usually happens however is a months long celebration from May onwards, celebrating my abstinence by getting lashed up. I am not an alcoholic; in fact I don't even drink more than about twice a week - but when I do, I am typically making up for the week as a whole. It's getting better; I very rarely drink spiritis these days, which is a change from the heady vodka drinking days that began with the (in)famous '1L of vodka episode' back in Moscow in '95.
Anyway, in a moment of inspiration in sunny spain (agh that's what went wrong .. when I should have been thinking about that blasted essay!) I decided to 'mix it up' a little bit. Instead of complete abstinence, my goal (and I have chosen to accept it!) is not to get drunk for 4 months. Clever, huh! Instead of missing (and then rejoicing in) beer, I will have beer(s) but stop before feeling drunk. Too tough? Like the driver who has a few and then says "I'm not drunk - I"ve only had ...."? Not for me, I have already decided that for this to work, there must be an objective marker - which will be 2 drinks (or shall I make it 3?!!) No! 2 drinks. If I can do this regularly, then it could really turn out to be much more habit-(re)forming, don't you agree?
Wish me luck.
08.01.06
Shock and awe!
My sunday league team just beat our cup final rivals, London Hibs, again and so complete the double over them this season! This is the team that had not been beaten for a season and a half before we beat them on Nov 14th, 2005. This now means that we have taken 9 points out of a possible 12 from the top two teams this season, which is an awesome run of form. If only we had not had a disastrous run to the start of our season, we might even be pushing for our first ever League Championship success (Division 1, that is - we've won Division 2 a couple of times now), but alas we lost against some terrible sides so it's out of our hands and surely out of sight! Still - what a great double, and the only team to beat them (did I mention TWICE!!) in recent memory.
01.01.06
Sack the MC
Who the hell was responsible for Sky News' coverage of the New Year fireworks and how do we get them fired! They must be trying to push the recent re-brand of their website (with the blue world and clouds moving behind the stories) because about half the news screen on the TV was these silly moving clouds on a blue background, with possibly the most expensive (and almost certainly the longest) display London has seen, fizzing away in a little inset. Worse still, there was a second inset of Edinburgh Castle and the Hogmanay display but this ended sooner and so we're looking at a smoky, dark castle. Outrageous stuff. Of course I wouldn't mind so much if my council tax wasn't being used to fund the extravaganza in London. I paid for it - I want to see it!
My family and I (bar miles and his family) were down by the Thames on Milennium eve, New Year's, when the mother of all firework displays was originally conceived as "a 60m high river of fire that will light up along the Thames in 10.8 seconds - as fast as the earth rotated into a new age". This did not happen, however, (7th paragraph of the link) and it appears London has been trying to make up for it ever since. Both last year, and this year I have been blown away by the firweork display centred around the London Eye at midnight but it seems to be lasting longer and longer and after 10 minutes, you can't help but start to think about the extravagance around the amount of cash that is continuing to go up in flames - literally before your eyes. Hypocritical? not minding that 20K goes up in smoke for your pleasure, but 120K and the social injust alarm starts kicking in ... hmmm ... arm-chair socialist with the 'conscious span' of a gnat! Hmmm, just argued my way into a hole .. spade anyone? Happy New Year!
Onwards and Upward - 2006!
Happy New Year! just re-surfaced from a couple of weeks preparing, writing and (just) meeting the deadline for my latest (and largest to date) assignment for Uni. This was a toughy, the last couple of days especially with a couple of 16hr stretches at the computer, trying to slay the beast!
So this is the year I qualify ... only 6 months, two more essays, 1 placement and a dissertation stand in my way! My reward? the WORLD CUP! What perfect timing, and what a conicidence! I couldn't have PLANNED this past 3 years any better .... ahem ....
Had a great 2 weeks out of London, away on my christmas break in Wales, and then a relaxed New Year's with Jo and her parents in La Manga (SW Spain) .. links in Dec 22 post. Back now, and in strict chronological order:
Staying Afloat!
09.01.06 - am
The use of Manual Hyperinflation on an acute head injured patient on ICU (the intensive care unit) ... exciting stuff.
Holy Crap that was close! Sitting at home on my computer at 1.15pm doing the spell check on a literally-just-completed essay that needed to be handed in 45 minutes later ... Uni is about 30 mins cycle away. Essay emailed to Uni mate (no call to my mobile en route means the printers at Uni must be working today .. I have been caught out before). She prints it out (bless her!) and I hand it in at 1.57pm. If you miss the deadline you get ZERO, as I mentioned in my 13.12.05 post.
After a week in Spain where I spent 3 hrs a day researching around the subject, and a good week of preparation between October-December for this assignment, I really had hoped to be better organised this time. And yet at 0135 this morning I had still only completed 1,400 odd of the 3,000 required words (you are docked 10 marks if you are over 10% above/ below the target number of words set by the department). Over the previous 3 days, I spent between 8-16 hours a day, but by mid evening on the 8th was still at around 850 words. Nightmare. Somehow it all came together between 8am-1.15pm today, but this really was a very, very close call.
I am never ... NEVER letting this happen again (Seecharan, 2003)(Seecharan, 2004)(Seecharan, 2005)
References:
Nick Seecharan (2003-05) Sure Nick, I haven't heard you say that before! Bu**shit publication, London.
Isn't life great, when you have the security of knowing that some things will never change!
09.01.06 - pm
My first test this evening, and while all around me lost their heads, I stayed afloat! Allow me to explain:
This year, I had planned to repeat my extended period of forced abstinence - Jan-May (4 months) without drinking a drop of alcohol. Last year was my 4th year, and it went directly according to plan. I felt great and was reported to have lost some weight. The reason for doing it though, is the recognition of the need to think about adjusting my drinking habits if I want to live beyond my 40s. What usually happens however is a months long celebration from May onwards, celebrating my abstinence by getting lashed up. I am not an alcoholic; in fact I don't even drink more than about twice a week - but when I do, I am typically making up for the week as a whole. It's getting better; I very rarely drink spiritis these days, which is a change from the heady vodka drinking days that began with the (in)famous '1L of vodka episode' back in Moscow in '95.
Anyway, in a moment of inspiration in sunny spain (agh that's what went wrong .. when I should have been thinking about that blasted essay!) I decided to 'mix it up' a little bit. Instead of complete abstinence, my goal (and I have chosen to accept it!) is not to get drunk for 4 months. Clever, huh! Instead of missing (and then rejoicing in) beer, I will have beer(s) but stop before feeling drunk. Too tough? Like the driver who has a few and then says "I'm not drunk - I"ve only had ...."? Not for me, I have already decided that for this to work, there must be an objective marker - which will be 2 drinks (or shall I make it 3?!!) No! 2 drinks. If I can do this regularly, then it could really turn out to be much more habit-(re)forming, don't you agree?
Wish me luck.
08.01.06
Shock and awe!
My sunday league team just beat our cup final rivals, London Hibs, again and so complete the double over them this season! This is the team that had not been beaten for a season and a half before we beat them on Nov 14th, 2005. This now means that we have taken 9 points out of a possible 12 from the top two teams this season, which is an awesome run of form. If only we had not had a disastrous run to the start of our season, we might even be pushing for our first ever League Championship success (Division 1, that is - we've won Division 2 a couple of times now), but alas we lost against some terrible sides so it's out of our hands and surely out of sight! Still - what a great double, and the only team to beat them (did I mention TWICE!!) in recent memory.
01.01.06
Sack the MC
Who the hell was responsible for Sky News' coverage of the New Year fireworks and how do we get them fired! They must be trying to push the recent re-brand of their website (with the blue world and clouds moving behind the stories) because about half the news screen on the TV was these silly moving clouds on a blue background, with possibly the most expensive (and almost certainly the longest) display London has seen, fizzing away in a little inset. Worse still, there was a second inset of Edinburgh Castle and the Hogmanay display but this ended sooner and so we're looking at a smoky, dark castle. Outrageous stuff. Of course I wouldn't mind so much if my council tax wasn't being used to fund the extravaganza in London. I paid for it - I want to see it!
My family and I (bar miles and his family) were down by the Thames on Milennium eve, New Year's, when the mother of all firework displays was originally conceived as "a 60m high river of fire that will light up along the Thames in 10.8 seconds - as fast as the earth rotated into a new age". This did not happen, however, (7th paragraph of the link) and it appears London has been trying to make up for it ever since. Both last year, and this year I have been blown away by the firweork display centred around the London Eye at midnight but it seems to be lasting longer and longer and after 10 minutes, you can't help but start to think about the extravagance around the amount of cash that is continuing to go up in flames - literally before your eyes. Hypocritical? not minding that 20K goes up in smoke for your pleasure, but 120K and the social injust alarm starts kicking in ... hmmm ... arm-chair socialist with the 'conscious span' of a gnat! Hmmm, just argued my way into a hole .. spade anyone? Happy New Year!
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