Pub urinals
I always come up with the best possible ideas for things to talk about.
As any guy would tell you, if you are of the female persuasion (or of the male persuasion and never use public lavatories), it is a vital, unwritten rule, that one must not be too close to a fellow man while going to the toilet. Unless extreme circumstance forces your hand, you must wait if there is the slightest hint of invading another mans relievment zone.
And, at the pub, a place of some testosterone, and a lot of drink, this is even more true, and even more urgent. So why on earth does your average pub have three urinals in a row, REALLY close together? What of course happens is that one guy takes the left, the other takes the right, and the rest.... well they either go to the cubicle (or cubicles, if you're in one of those fancy pubs), or they queue. Thats right, no-one is going into that middle urinal! You have to be insanely desperate to go to that middle urinal, or really drunk.
Really, pubs do not need that middle urinal. They could have two, but spread out, maybe with a barrier between them. Its a waste of pipes and...... uh, whatever urinals are made out of.......
Kieran Martin- making a stand against toilet wastage!
Freeing Tibet
Again, please go to
www.savetenzin.org and do something to help this guy- you might just help save his life; it has worked in the past, and hopefully will work again.
Anyways, as a way to promote this, we are having a showing about the guy's life- wednesday, 3:15 in 4E 3:38 for those who are interested- please come along, we'll have letters for you to sign afterwards which we will fax direct to the Chinese embassy. Uh, please come along if you go to Bath university.... asking you to come from across the world is probably a tiny bit too much to ask......
Anyways, we were putting up posters to advertise this (myself and Ben, the head of Students for a Free Tibet), and we split them in two and headed off, with our little guide of allowed places to put posters; apparently just plastering them over student accomodation, as I was up for, is not on, so approved places it was. This led to quite a search. Some boards did not exist anymore- they had been torn down long ago, by mean hearted lecturers or drunken students. Probably the latter, but sometimes the lecturers get this funny look in their eye....
Worse yet, one of the locations did not seem to exist. Bottom floor of the maths department, it claimed. I went there to find three rooms. None of which were described on the sheet. After wondering round aimlessly for a while, I finally figured out that they
actually the second floor. Bastards. But, such is the life of the politically active one.
Grah, apparently we are getting some coursework in statistics. This is a blow, as I picked my modules to
avoid coursework, so imagine my surprise when the lecturer himself did not know we had coursework, so it was not mentioned in the sodding course description. I detest coursework- it takes up valuable time, and it ALWAYS coincides with the tests themselves, which is painful.
The corporation
So yeah, apologies for that rather inane post. I was, as I said, rather bored, and rather unexciting.
As I mentioned, I went to see the Corporation last night. Amazing film. I really feel it should be compulsary viewing for all. Its a well argued case, carefully documented with experts from various fields talking. While its pretty clear that is not pro-corporation, it does allow CEO's from companies to have their say. It may be that some of the arguments in the film may be argued against, but to me they were very convincing, and well and clearly constructed. There is, at least, a lot to think about, and a fair amount to shock. The US patent office will allow the patenting of an living thing other than a human baby. Thats incredible.
There are a list of scandals coming from each company- pretty much every company has been fined for something. Its thanks to the design of the company, which basically pretty much forces them to make profit above all else they do. They must be controlled- it will be difficult to do so, but another message of the film is that the people have power. Real power. Its an inspiring message, and one that has certainly inspired me- I am endavouring to become more and more politically active, and I hope to even get a job somewhere in politics after university.
OK, more will be written later, but I have to go now.
omfg
I don't have anything to write about! OK, some of you might be thinking that normally I don't anyway, but....shut up. Thanks to obsessive HL2 playing, my life is currently non existent. I did, however, write a lot of letters and emails last night, so I feel virtuos. My list of things to do is looking notably shorter.
Hmm, hotmail isn't working right now. Thats really quite frustrating. Oh,
www.dec.org.uk and give some money to help the people suffering in the Sudan. Go people! Now!
Hmm..... trying to think of something to say....... ooh, I'm going to see the Corporation tonight, so then I should have something to talk about. 'Tis all about fighting the man, and one should always fight the man. He's up to no good.
Admittedly, the only reason I am posting here is to avoid work, a hideous reality that blights us all, especially those of us who would prefer to spend all their time, and I mean all, playing HL2.
OK, I really have nothing I want to talk about. The logical thing to do would be to stop talking I guess. So I will. If you're bored, you could always check out
www.adventuresareus.8m.com or join
www.uff9.net/forums or read through
www.elfonlyinn.net
Please help
This is imporant, so please do this. Go to
www.savetenzin.org and send an email to the Chinese minister. This guy is going to get executed for a crime he did not do. I'm not saying you're email (or letter if you feel up to it) will make a difference, but its worth a try- it has worked in the past, and can work again. Please, its a few minutes of your time versus this mans life.
delay
So I come back on friday, all set to write an exciting and entertaining blog post, when lo and behold, Fred has got a new computer.
Well, theres only one possible response to that, and thats to play Half Life 2 on it. Oh god yes! Oh god that game! YES! The only slight flaw is that it has huge loading times, and this is on a high spec machine, brand new. But its so worth it. This game is amazing fun. So much better than any other FPS out there its unbeilevable. I would say any game, but I'm still fond of Civ 2.
Ah, my meals are legendary. I have four different types. The pasta with dolmio sauce, the meal in a tin (chicken casserole or beef? Oh the choices!), pizza thats on special offer, or, on very special days, sausages AND beans on toast. I'm in a crazy mad preperation mood when I make that final meal.
These meals are all fairly cheap (usually costing just over a pound), and, more importantly, insanely simple to make. which is why I love 'em. Annoyingly, a lot of them involve washing up, damnit. I fully intend to find a nice, cheap, easy meal that involves getting nothing dirty other than the plate and knive and fork. Ooh, if I make it finger food, I could save on cutlery too! This gets better and better. Not that I know of a meal, but it will come, it will come.
A friend suggested I learn to cook the other day, when I mentioned I was becoming a tinsy bit tired with my current meal choices. The fool! If I learnt to cook, then I would have to put much much effort into making my meals, which is clearly the opposite of my clearly stated meal goals. He clearly understands nothing of the modern man....
Making friends
Sigh, I'm so absolutely amazing sometimes, I wonder why I don't expire of amazigness.
Or, you know, inability to spell.
Anyway, I was going to say, I'm really poor at making new friends. The problem is, is that I have a tendency to very insular with people I don't know very well. I catch myself doing it- ignoring new people in favour of just chatting to my friends. I do try to stop, but its very hard.
Today was a classic example. I had gone to munchies. I had been too lazy to make my lunch so I was eating there with Toby. It was very busy, and we were unable to get a table. Suddenly a table was empty. I struck, like a bat, or some other creature of appropriate name. There was a bag bagsying a seat. Screw that, I decided, we need a table. So I sat. A few minutes later, a girl sits down- Toby was away getting food. It was she who bagsied the table. Now, it would be appropriate, even polite, to say SOMETHING here. I don't. I munch on my wrap, and look away.
Way to go Kieran! To be honest, I suspect its a very British thing to do, the old pretend no-one else exists move, but its one I do possibly a little too much.
Dumb And Dumber
I finally watched this film today. I say finally, as if its a film I've been intending to see for ages. I haven't- i've been deliberately avoiding it. But Toby, a huge Jim Carey fan, made me watch it (actually, I think I might have said this.....)
Anyway, its actually surprisingly funny. It doesn't rely on gross out that much- only two scenes are really, the rest is actually quite solid, fun, humour. I hate to say it, but I really enjoyed watching it. Carey didn't even overact that much- this was before his fame so clearly the director must have reigned him in a little. Not to say that he can't act- Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine showed this adequately- but he does tend to overact insanely in his comedies, which often ruins my enjoyment. I still hate Liar Liar, after having given it a sum total of three tries. The jokes are just too overeked, and depend on one character too much.
But yeah, I would actually recommend this film. Perhaps I have misjudged the Farelly brothers.....
Late
Tis quarter to 4. I probably won't be going to my tutorial tomorrow.....
I got up at 9:20 today for my 10:15 lecture. I panicked, thinking I only had ten minutes to get ready, then remembered that Toby would be here to pick me up at 10 to. So I trundled downstairs 5 minutes later. Paul was not in his room. I assumed he was in the bathroom, and got myself food. I looked upstairs. Paul was not there. Paul had left without me. What? Oh yeah, he went in an.... hour...... earlier......with......Toby.
Shit.
So I was late for my lecture. I would have made it if the bus hadn't chosen to stop TWICE on the way up to campus, pausing for about 5 minutes each time. There was no-one there. It just did. I guess it was keeping to some timetable, which is mighty rich for a service that consitently fails to do so.
So yeah, Amnesty led to club, which led to Alex's house and watching the start of Shaun of the Dead. Which led to lateness. i had planned to skip the club, but I didn't because, uh..... actually, no, heres the reason! Its a good one too......
See, it was already 10 to 11. Now, if I went home, I would be obliged to go to my tutorial, and be exceedingly tired. However, by going to the club I accepted that I really wasn't going to make my tutorial, as I never do, and thus allow me to sleep longer!
A plan only foiled by the lateness of the hour.....
Bladder control
I have absolutely appalling bladder control. As with all good problems, I blame this entirely on my parents. They were always encouraging the younger me to go when I had the opportunity, mainly because at that point I had a tiny bladder, as appropriate to my tiny size, and no adult wants a kid complaining about needing the toilet.
A sensible precuation, perhaps, but they did not anticipate the psychosis it would give me. I know I actually have reasonable bladder control. When I am at home, with the toilet always at easy access, I rarely go. But when out, and theres an even 15 minute period in which I might not be able to reac the toilet, I become obsessed. Obsessed I tells thee! Films are the worst. At a certain point in my life it became stupid. I went half way through X-men 2. X-men 2 for christ sake! Hardly the longest film in the world.
I have become determined to do better, as theres nothing worse than missing a bit of a film, so I exercise self control- I even survived Return of the King. Although I didn't survive without laughing. To be honest, I kind of feel those films were over rated. They were enjoyable, certainly, but very empty films, I felt, and certainly over long. I didn't care that much about any of the characters. And the homo-eroticism between Sam and Frodo gets ridiculous at some points- the last 20 minutes or so of Return of the King is scattered with moments where one of them should say "Kiss me, you crazy fool!
I dunno I enjoy fantasy and sci-fi. I think. But theres too much spectacle in those films for me to enjoy. LOTR is a hulking beast of a book after all. Skipping some sections is essential to ones enjoyment.
My life? Crazy shit as always. I got up too late for the tutorial, then missed the lecture, and stayed home until late. Toby was the cause of the missing lecture. He had, and I quote "a bad head". Pathetic, I know. Countless times I have gone in hungover. Actually, no, I miss lectures when hung over.....but thats clearly not the point!
Busy busy busy
My sister came to visit this weekend, hence the slight inaction. I know, a whole day without a comment from me. What are you gonna do?
Yeah, twas a crazy weekend. Went to see Finding Neverland, aided by the female company so I didn't look like such a girl. Its not a film you're meant to admit wanting to see if you are male. Theres emotions and stuff, and a distinct lack of swearing, or even someone pulling out a gun! For the uninformed, its about J.M Barry (which I have doubtlessly spelt wrong, displaying my suprememe ignorance of literature), the author of Peter Pan, and the family that inspired him to write about it. Its a really sweet and moving film that I feel is very much worth watching, although I imagine it is not for everyone. Great performances are had by all.
Bath is horribily busy on saturday. You would think, getting up at about 1 and getting into town at 3, that you might be able to get into pizza hut (yeah, I really treated my sister!), but no, there was a huge queue. We had a super duper saver lunch thingy from boots though, so that was alright. It chose to rain all day, to add to the pleasentness. But it is Bath, the home of rain, so thats hardly surprising.
We got back to get invited to see the Incredibles. Two films in one day! Surely it could not be done! Determined to fight the nay sayers, we boldly and forthrightly agreed to go see it. It was awesome, very funny,very enjoyable. I really don't see how anyone could not enjoy this film. Admittedly a few of the jokes are predictable, and the plot reasonably so too, but theres enough invention in there to keep you happy. You can just tell people are holding their breath for Pixar to mess up. After all, Disney did so quite spectacularly. Lets hope that never happens- I would probably say this is the best Pixar film, although when you compare a pixar film, you compare it to every film ever made..... A kill bill reference. Heh, great fun.
Speaking of Disney, after seeing the Incredibles we went to Ben's and watched, Robin Hood. Thats right. THREE films. I'm actually surprised no-one died from film over exposure, but everyone managed to pull through. Its a wonderful thing, watching old adverts. Honestly everyone should do it- get out your old video tapes and just watch the ads. They're, at best, hilarious. The anti-smoking campaign at the time in particular ("you know what it means if you blow smoke in a boys face? What? It means you like him!") is sure to make you chuckle.
I do wonder about the stringency of the anti-smoking campaign sometimes. Is there truly anyone left who is not aware of the danges of smoking? Also, more importantly, who chooses which slogan to put on the ciggerettes? It says surgeon-general's warning- how much time does he spend choosing on whether to put "smoking harms unborn children" or "smoking causes impotence" or "smoking gives you wings". No wait, I'm getting confused aren't I?
Now its 10 to 6 and I STILL haven't done the algebra sheet I'm meant to be doing. Possibly sitting at this computer writing this blog doesn't help much.....
The return of the blue screen of death
Before I get down to the anecdote, having a look at the lancet report, I feel quoting the 100,000 death figure happily to be a little uncertain. There is quite a wide confidence interval for the amount of deaths. But it is certainly VERY high- the survey excluded several places because they were seen as anomously high......
Anyways, yes, I hadn't seen the blue screen of death for a long time(if you don't know what the blue screen is death.... do you never use your computer? Its the blue screen that appears with an error message and refuses to ever go away....), but today it made a long awaited return. Half Life 2 was the lucky application to cause it to do this. See, I decided to try it before I bought it, as there was a high possibility that it would not work. So I installed it. This took ages.
Brilliantly, if you attempt to install Half Life 2 without counterstrike, it will fail. Theres a bug in it so it messes up when you attempt this... but not until you've almost finished installation. Bastards.
Anyways, so I install and load it. I fiddle with the graphics options... and it crashes. So far so good....... So I load it again and set it as I like, managing not to break it this time. And start the game! Wooh! OK, first thing I notice, the sound is really poor.... for some reason it doesn't like my speaker system, which seems unfair- normally its my graphics card that messes with it! But I can survive- I'll turn on some subtitles (which then show an entire, huge conversation I couldn' hear, and appears to be happening somewhere a large distance from me...). The game looks.... ok, on my machine, with the lighting being bizzare. But its Half Life 2! Slowed down Half Life2, but still. And then, it hits. The blue screen of death! Randomly, for no reason, its strikes, the results devestating.
I'll wait til Fred gets this new computer of his.......
The trials and tribulaions of the late night snack eater
I am a compulsive snacker. Actually, I'm a compulsive snacker while at home. While on campus,I can resist, possibly because it generally involves spending money, and I am quite tight (there is a fine balance in my mind between laziness and financial responsbility).
But at home, the food, in a way, is free, because I've already bought it. However, in an effort to stop matching the compulsive eating with compulsive growing, I tend to not buy snack food apart from fruit. Which, as I have mentioned, I devour quickly. So generally I move on to bread- carbohydrates are very important in my late night snacking craze, and meat is the preserve of when I am truly desperate.
So imagine my horror when it came to an appropriate snack point (i.e., I was near the kitchen), and I discovered only two slices of bread left, and, I realised, I would need those for lunch the next day. I was tempted for a while to just eat them and shop for the bread, but I knew I would be hungry the next day, so in a rare part of forward thinking, I abstained.
There was only one solution- steal food off my flatmates! Paul always has stuff... unfortunately he was in the room at the time. After some begging for some delicious chocolate or crisps, I finally got him to give me a slice of bread. He keeps his bread in the fridge......... I ate it though, in all its hardness..... Because I am THAT desperate when I get like this.
Activism
I love being political- I feel that getting active, and working with other like minded people to a common, achievable goal, is what university should be about. I know I've mentioned this before, but I do think its true.
The wednesday talks from one world are conflicting beautifully with me getting my work done. Thing is, is they shouldn't. I should, ideally, get up, go to my 9:15 tutorial, then spend the rest of the day on campus getting the work done. Unfortunately, thanks to Amnesty and Alex, I have spent pretty much every tuesday evening out drinking, meaning that I miss my tutorial, get up late, mope about a bit then head up to campus for the talk, meaning I don't start work until 4, already tired, and not really feeling that productive. Ideally, one of these nights when I am invited to stay up just that little bit later, I am going to say no, and then NOT stay up anyway. It would be an intriguing experience, having enough sleep on a day other than a weekend. Might be fun.... but then I would miss out on all that vital stuff I do in the early mornings, like, for example, read webcomics. Oh yes, I really HAVE done that before.
Its sad, I know. But also quite enjoyable, in a "I can't believe I'm fucking doing this I have to get up at 7 tomorrow" kind of way.
Yeah, so it was a talk on Iraq, that got me to change my mind. I like to think I am actually fairly open to an opinion change on most things, and this was one. Basically, I have felt that the occupation probably does need to continue to prevent Iraq collapsing into chaos. But it IS in chaos now, and suffering badly- thanks to the prescence of the millitary there. Iraq is actually quite an educated country, and if we pulled out our army (and privately owned companies.... haliburton, I'm talking to you!) but kept giving economic reperations... it would be chaos. But at least there would be a chance, a good one, of the people of Iraq pulling the nation together. Assuming that they need our help to be civillised is really the height of arrogance. We do no good by being there, in fact we do bad. 100,000 civillians killed is a huge figure, and it IS a trustworthy one, despite the nonsense some government officials are spouting about it.
But yeah, so that was cool, then I came back here and worked for a while.
Oh, and as I've mentioned, I played Half Life 2. I suspect the universe actually exists to create that game......
HALF LIFE FREAKING 2
I've played on it. Only the start, but the start was freaking awesome. Awesome I tell's ye! It looks really, really good, although a little jumpy thanks to the best computer in our house only barely able to run it. I'm gonna test it on this pc, but I suspect it will not work...... Sigh, my lifes mission is to complete that game. I can here Fred playing it.... it sounds awesome......
I've gotta get dressed and go to campus now. I guess......
Disabled parking spaces
God I hate the people who complain about disabled car parking. "Its never full" they cry. "So unfair" they shout. And so on, and so on. Its this bizzare idea that in the hip new modern age, the discrimination isn't against the minority, its against the majority.
OK, ramps, not being able to park close to the supermarket, etc, are a little inconvinient. But they are a hell of a lot less convinient than not being able to use your legs! We have to suffer 5 minutes inconvinience, they suffer a whole life times. Have a little perspective!
The best one is this constant complaint that privately educated people are being discriminated against. Riiiiiight. So thats why a disproportionate amount of them get into universities, specifically cambridge and oxford. Sorry, but a pathetic little directive calling for more students from different backgrounds is not discrimination, its unblancing VERY unbalanced scales.
And don't get me started on reverse racism.... yes, it does exist, but generally, I am not going to be racially profiled, am I? So grow up, political correctness started for a reason- it is better than hatred and discrimination which you seem keen to promote.
(you, you undefined target, you)
LINKS!
Look to your left... no, not out of the screen, moron, on the left hand side of your screen... thats right, now scroll down....links! Links beyond your wildest dreams. Your dreams suck.
Halo 2
This was the reason I did not post last night. Going to an Amnesty conference could not stop me, but Halo 2 did.
I got up nice and late on Sunday, and failed in spectacular fashion to do any work, then played Halo 2. See, Paul got X-box live which meant we can play with other people, all around the world. Sigh.... so much fun, so absorbing. It did break the internet first of all, when we were setting it up, which is another reason why I couldn't post, but we finally got it sorted and were gunning down American's, Europeans, Asians..... its very inclusive stuff. This continued until 2 in the morning, and as I had a 9:15 tutorial this morning, I decided to go to sleep... after reading for a while, of course. One must always read for a while before going to bed.....
Sigh, I just managed to get to the bus this morning- well a late bus anyway, and enjoyed an almost completely pointless tutorial- she decided to tell us the full answers to last weeks sheet, but considering, of all the problem sheets that I did not do last week, this is the one I actually did, and did fairly well, this was exceedingly dull. Sigh, I wish I had fore-knowledge as to whether going to my tutorial was actually worth it.
Amnesty
Amnesty rules. I got up stupidly early this morning, and went to the student conference in Bristol. It was amazing. So many like minded people, working together to actually make a difference. There is a stupid amount of apathy amoungst students, this smug idea that one cannot change things so why even bother. But its nonsense. On the very small scale, Amnesty has saved many, many peoples lives, and got people released from prison thanks to its hugely succesful letter writing campaigns. On other fronts it campaigns to spread awareness and change attitudes on such issues as violence to women (look out for the new Amnesty campaign!) and asylum.
I really do think this is what students should be about- doing something about the issues that bother you. Its an amazing feeling, talking about all these issues, and seeing the good that Amnesty can, and does do.
So yeah, I really enoyed the day. The lowest point was when we were sitting, deciding to wait for the queue to die down for dinner (which was included in the low low cost too! And it was really tasty- all vegetarian, which was cool), and these two girls asked to join us. We agreed, and then after a while, went to get food, asking them to save our seats. As soon as we hit the queue they stole our seats! Evil girls. Clearly not in the spirit of Amnesty.
Afterwards though we did a candelit vigil against violence against women. I say vigil, it was more a march. I had a gigantic hand to carry, which led to me making hilarious puns. HILARIOUS puns.
After that there was the columbian hip hop band who spoke totally in Spanish, which was actually really cool. We had to repeat things they said, and for all we knew they could have been insulting us for their own amusement.
We headed back earlier than we needed to as we missed the bus we intended to catch, so we got some chips. The guys gave me 5 Irish pounds as change! I switched it for 5 english pounds, you know, the sort thats legal tender.
There was loads of interesting stuff that arose from that, but I will spare you for now. I would really encourage you to be politically active though- it is possible to make a difference, and its amazing when you do.
Lectures and tutorials.
Who needs 'em eh? Ironically I actually got up just in time to get to my first lecture... if Toby had arrived. But as he didn't, I decided to call today a bad day. Which of course means my problem sheets won't get handed in, but as I haven't done them, thats not a real issue. Course, I will be on campus later on, for another social with Amnesty, which will be fun.
Umm.... Halo is surprisingly addictive just to watch......
OK, I have nothing interesting to say right now. I'm gonna go take a shower.
Dark times are ahead
Finally, the day of reckoning has come. The four horsemen of the apolocalypse ride, the skies cloud over with blood. For Halo 2 has arrived, and never again will our television be free.
To be fair on Paul, he showed some marvelous restraint. After our test (which went... not too well. I KNOW I messed up at least one answer.) we went for a celebratory drink, skipping our lecture. We then headed down town and got Halo 2, and I got the new manics album (which I haven't listened to yet, actually!) Then, because Paul insisted, we headed BACK to campus for our stupid 5:15 lecture. Which was dull (Toby and I played Advance Wars. One of the best games ever, incidentally).
Intending to head back straight after, Alex persuaded us to stay for a couple of drinks. Indeed, I ended up staying for several more, but Paul finally burst and rushed home to relieve his Halo 2 urges. To be honest, Alex would have been all by himself (although he never finds it TOO hard to find someone to hang with), so it was fair enough.
I didn't actually get back til 9:30, a little drunk, of course, to see Halo 2. I'll admit, its pretty awesome. They've touched it up from last time, it works very well. We tried out multiplayer, which is freaky because ALL the weapons have been changed. The pistol is now petty pathetic, the rocket launcher is amazing (it locks on to vechiles!), the assault rifle cooler, there are new guns.... ooh. The vechiles are cool too, although the tank appears to be frickin' invincible. If it was not for the ability to climb onto it (hehe) it would be stupid.
But yeah, have to get up stupidly early tomorrow. Hopefully tomorow I'll put some shiny links onto this site, as I have now been told how, so that will delight you all, I'm sure. You read about my life on here, now you can see the peoples lives
I read about.
2.8??
Mathematicians are bastards. I know this, because I have to do the damn subject. They seem to have a preference of picking symbols that look practically identical, or are impossible to draw. For example, I am just doing some integrating here (maths talk for adding up equations. Kinda. Well, not at all.), and in a row I have u,v and w. Now, those are some pretty similar letters. Then when they throw the greek symbol mu, a u with a little tail on, it can become VERY annoying. I don't even know the name of some of these insane symbols I've been made to draw. Honestly, I think one of our lecturers is starting to make them up. They're insane! Every now and then I snap and just put a instead of zeta, and pay for it later on when revising. They enforce cleverly, these psychopathic mathematicians.
On a different note, how do I put links on this page? I feel churlish getting Rich to link me and being unable to do the same.... Not that churlish, but still a teeny little bit churlish.
Sigh, I have revised today. Truth be told, the exam doesn't look too hard, so I should be OK. I have probably played more GTA than I have revised this evening though, because, well, GTA is more fun. And also this is the last night before the dreaded Halo 2 is released and the sitting room becomes the Halo 2 room. Have to back to me ol' teeny tv up here.
Yeah, I missed my tutorial this morning. Alex texted last night, inviting us round, and I texted back saying we were gonna go to bed early cause we needed sleep. I then managed to stay up until 1, which is really quite poor as I actually MEANT to go to bed at 11. Well, blame GTA and Paul and Fred refusing to leave my room. So unsurprisingly I did not go to the stupid 9:15 tutorial. I did go to campus though, for a talk on Cuba, which was interesting. Its a well off country, certainly, although it does have a poor humans rights record. One cannot tell if its an economically succesful example of communism as the US has been conducting a ridiculous trade blockade against it for over 10 years. Now I'm not saying Castro is a great guy- he isn't, although hes a damn site better than the corrupt dictators the US backed BEFORE him- but these sanctions only hurt Cuba... and, for that matter, the US by losing trade.
It is a scary prospect though, that of the US invading Cuba. I shudder at the thought, I really do. I wouldn't think it likely, but then I wouldn't think a full scale conquest of a country complying with demands from the UN after increased pressure would happen. Will there be another war soon? With Iran, North Korea, or Cuba? No-one can tell, we can only pray that the Americans really haven't screwed the world THAT badly by voting for Bush.
Uh, to be fair, thats 51% of those who voted in America. Not everyone there.... Course, everyone knows why Bush won... he promised the fundementalist right that he would "deal" with the gays, and get rid of abortion. I find it scary that the world can be controlled by fundementalists.....
And I can't spell.......
Funniness abounds on the internet
I found this while searching up the origin of a quote of Family Guy. Its much funnier than I could ever hope to be, although Toby may, of course, disagree, me being a joke an' all.
I'm really meant to be reviising now, so this is just a short post.
http://www.solidsharkey.com/ is brilliant. I found it by going to the route of this
http://www.solidsharkey.com/ffquotes.html , a set of very amusing quotes from an IRC channel.
Heh
As I signed onto msn just now I was quite excited to discover that I had 9 new emails. I normally have 3- 2 from bbc and new york times, and one either junk (READ THIS. NOW!) or something that I'm apparently subscribed to (apparently this includes EA. I don't have any EA games!). So that would be a grand total of 6 unexpected emails! Surely something exciting there? Nope. Rob, the head of Amnesty, somehow managed to send the same email 5 times. Sigh, there goes my hit of excitement. Talking about emails, Dabs should have refunded me for that damn wireless router ( see
http://http://funnylonelylife.blogspot.com/2004/10/damn-you-stupidity-damn-you.html and
http://funnylonelylife.blogspot.com/2004/10/damn-you-stupidity-part-2.html). Ben said he would have just sent it by royal mail and not have to pay £10 to return it. But he's a smart arse.
I totally agree with a recent letter in Impact, Bath universities excuse for a newspaper (I'm just riled at it cause it keeps printing right wing fanatics in the comments page. Where's the left wing students??), which basically stated the university is over crowded. Which it is. Bath keeps taking in more and more students, and when I say more we are talking thousands extra each year, but does not improve its facilities. Last year we had every single lecture in one of two lecture halls because the entire class could not fit in anywhere else. This year, thanks to everyone having more choice, the locations are a bit varied, but the crowdedness of the university shows up in other places. The huge queues for buses which ARENT frequent enough. Basically, if everyone who needed to get to campus for a certain time got to the bus stop for the right bus at the right time, some would be left behind. I know because it has happened to me several times, and this is with most students probably just staying in bed! Also, the library is stupidly full most of the time- usually you can just about manage to get a free computer if you go all the way to the top floor. And wait. But getting a seat to work at is quite difficult at times.
And lunch time.... now queuing for lunch should not affect me, as I make my lunch off campus, but unfortunately for me, Paul and Toby don't. And they frequently go to munchies to buy drink and food. And Paul complains about how poor he is because he hasn't received his loan yet.....
Not that I am perfect with the budgeting. Probably my biggest drain would be fruit. Specifically, apples. I snack on apples like some people snack on crisps, which isn't unhealthy, but can make your bill shoot up. I do try and buy from the greengrocers to cut costs (the local one is a chain. It somehow seems wrong for greengrocers to be chains), but when you go through sometimes 6 apples a day, then the prices add up.
And all the booze doesn't help either. I was good today though, I didn't buy the best of the Super Furry Animals, even though I was oh so tempted..... but I'm being a good boy, I guess. I need to get the new Manic Street Preachers album, as it is out now, and I'm going to see them at Wembley (not Cardiff, despite it being stupidly close to me. Adam phoned me up and pressured me t agree then, and, without checking, I did. I am a fool). Of course, I would have a sodding test on that day. Or have I mentioned this? Its hard to keep track......
We had a Kill bill fest on Saturday. Both films in a row, cutting off before the very last revelation from Bill in part 1, and skipping the flashback scence in part 2. Its awesome as a complete film actually. I still liked it anyway- I know a lot of people did not like part 2, probably because they were expecting an escelation of the fighting from 1. But that isn't what part 2 is about at all- its the emotional core behind the film, its Tarantino being chatty, as he always is. And the reaction of the Bride as she enters for the final showdown... amazing, and deeply touching, with the fore knowledge that the audience already has.
Incidentally, there are some amazing direction pieces in this film. Tarantino has always known how to make his characters look stupidly cool. Theres this amazing bit in Vol 1, in the fina showdown scence (I cant' remember what its called. So shoot me) before the fight kicks off. Theres just an awesome continous shot (the camera follows the motion, without switching to a different shot) which goes on for ages. Its.... good. So good. I'm gonna be getting it when it comes in a nice shiny box set, hopefully with a Tarantino commentary.
Rock hard algebra
Apparently many others found the Algebra sheet stupidly hard, so its not just me. Its a little sad cause Algebra is the course I probably enjoy the most, for all its difficultness.ness.
We have a test this thursday, and the prospect fills me with all the glee you might expect. Of course, our delightful lecturer, Mr Shouty Man (I have no idea what his name is. He didn't really announce it very clearly at any point, and so he got dubbed mr shouty man for his habit to be ear piercingly loud all the bloddy time), decided to set a problem sheet ALONGSIDE the bloody test. Becuase I actually have infinite time. I mean, yes, yes, theoretically I have all these evenings free, but to be honest I find it very difficult to get any decent work done late in the evening, especially after a hard day of work. I figure its time to relax past about 7. I have worked late in the past, but normally my answers become stupidly sloppy. Productive time for me is really on campus.
Oh Mr shouty man is annoying. Other than loudness, he sets stupidly hard and long winded problem sheets (even if you know what to do, they will take you hours), draws the most ridiculously small diagrams you have ever sodding seen (you cannot see the labels quite frequently), and never finishes on time.
I swear though, getting out of bed is a constant struggle. This morning, to avoid getting out of bed, I tried to convince myself to
give up the course. I am horribly lazy. Thing is, is I was fully awake... ok, partially awake.... at the time, and was sitting on my elbows, partially dressed. There was nothing to stop me getting up other than the incredibly powerful lethargy that afflicted me.
We went to the Livingstone last night, our local pub. Its very much an old mans pub- everyone in there must have been over 70, other than us hip cool 19 year olds sitting in the corner. They were friendly enough though. 's a nice pub. I've started talking about this and realised I have nothing at all interesting to say about it whatsoever. Nothing all that amusing happened.....
Uh.... yeah. The problem with doing a maths course is not that much exciting happens that often. Having said that, this wednesday theres a talk on Cuba, and then on the weekend theres an Amnesty international conference. Those should spice things up.
The power of christ compels You
To go to James' site
http://www.driftingaway.co.uk/ . Come on, check it out! Its pwetty, and theres photos and music. Whats not to like?
Text rejection
So I decided leaving it in the air was stupid and asked Jo whether she wanted a second date. Unsurprisingly she said no.
Specific words were "not really, your a nice guy but I'm not really up for a "relationship" at the mo. Still friends though yeah?". Roughly translated this means "God no, you're hideous. I'm interested in a relationship, just not with you. Still, you might be useful to bitch about REAL men to."
Heh, perhaps I am a little over harsh, but meh. It is true that the things we say at the end of relationships are lies. But then, probably, so are about 90% of the things said early on in relationships. And some of the wedding vows people parrot are probably not taken to seriously. Course, the new modern hip vows get rid of "to honour and obey". They've gotta obey you, damnit!
I kid, I kid. A little bit. Sigh, I've been spending today attempting the rock hard Algebra sheet. Its always annoying, doing university maths because in comparison, GCSE and A-level is SO easy its unbelievable. Oh well, hopefully teh Toby will provide answers.
Toby is an evil, evil human being, incidentally. He passes exams with huge scores with close to no revision. He currently has, like, FOUR women with a crush on him (and has the cheek to complain about it). And to add to it all, he is annoyingly funny and easy to get along with, so much so that he mocks me and I do not crush him with my mighty powers.
If you look at the comment pages closely enough, I'm sure you can spot the Toby. I'll give you a hint... something to do with monkeys....
Clubbing
Yeah, I really can't dance. I really, really can't dance when sober. Basically, because I'm too aware of the fact that I look like a complete moron. Another problem with me and clubbing is I've seen Spaced, one of the best British sitcoms of all time. More specifically, I've seen the clubbing espisode of Spaced. Until I find a club JUST like that it will always pale in comparison.....
So yeah, we went out last night, as it was Steve's birthday. And fun was had, but Babylon (the club) was a little poor. At least they weren't playing cheese. God I hate cheese. I hate the ironic "oh its funny and brilliant because its bad!" No, no it isn't. Its just bad. Every now and then, it is true, jumping up and down like a drunken idiot to some terrible track from the 90s can be terrible fun, but as the majority of music at clubs is cheese nowadays it loses its appeal. Actually, at campus THAT IS ALL THEY EVER PLAY. At least, that was true last year anyway.....
Grah, its annoying, how the mainstream manages to remove the fun from things. They've made irony popular! Goddamnit, whats the point in being a cynical, ironic bastard if everyone gets it! The only way out is to actually genuinely like cheese, and.... thats never going to happen.
Bablyon does have self control over cheese, it plays drum and base and even has an alternative night (for alternative read metal. With a side helping of ska). The drinks cost a fortune though. I love clubs, because you actually stand in line to pay money to get into a place where you pay more for drinks...... And, unless you are an attractive male (I hear these exist) who can dance (apparently these too) , the odds of you meeting a girl are really quite close to 0.
But yeah, clubbings fun.....
Amnesty......
It looks like I'm not getting a second date, annoyingly: she is busy on friday AND the weekend. Apparently. I guess she could be telling the truth....
Anyways, had an Amnesty meeting last night, on Tibet.
http://www.freetibet.org/ for more details on the issue. You should of course sign up- theres pretty much no reason not to, other than apathy, which is not an instinct you should encourage. Afterwards, of course, we went for a drink. Well, a LOT of drinks actually. There was this great girl there, but as great girls tend to, she has a boyfriend. Damn her black heart. So I got really, really drunk. So drunk that when I got home I babbled on to my friends and had to be told today what I had said. Yeah- not good.
Of course I got up for my lecture this morning, depressingly, and it was, well, painful. I was heavily hungover- the stand in cure of a bacon sandwich failed magnificantly. This led to me failing in y boycott against coca cola when I got some coca cola water from the dispensing machine. What makes it all the more pitiful is if I had waited 5 minutes I could have bought water at the SU. And for cheaper, for christ sake! I am ashamed.....
Heh, we didn't get a lift this mornign because apparently Toby has hurt his back, so we had to catch the bus (we being myself ad Paul). So we headed off.... and found a bus on the way to the stop. The guy let us in for free! How cool is that? Super cool, I would be as bold as to suggest. My bus victories are awesome. I'd prefer, you know, victories on other fronts, but if thats what I'm being given, I'll take it.
Shout out to Eh Steve, as its his birthday today! Fireworks night, I know....
GTA:San Andreas
Now for something completely different.
This game freaking rules!
I was a fan of this series since the start anyways, so I was bound to enjoy this. At first glance it hasn't changed much since Vice City. The graphics are a tiny bit more polished, the music much better, and the story line awesome. But once you've done a few missions, you start to learn new things. Theres a few gimmicky things, like working out and the like, but there also lots of fun ideas, like you getting a girlfriend and taking her on dates, and you spraying graffiti tags across the city. But especially, brilliantly, taking territory. You see, the gang you are a member of starts off with only a few holdings, and once you complete a certain mission you can then go and take over enemy territory. Whats more, gather enough respect and you can lead your gang members into doing this! SO much fun. Honestly, I spent about 4 hours playing it today! I did some missions, but spent a large amount of time enroaching on enemy territory.
Oh, and you can go dancing. You play a little rythmn game. Oh, and the targeting system is better (but not perfect). So many little things add up to a brilliant gaming experience.
A post
My feelings on politics, taken off
www.uffsite.net/forums posted by myself
"Were the Iraqi people better off before the invasion? Possibly, actually. I know its apparently evil to say anything was good under Hussein- it wasn't that great. But Iraq WAS a secular state, and was... alright. It had problems of opression, and poverty, but those have only been increased by the invasion, with a cut off in water supply etc.
Now, that is actually to be expected. Of course war brings with it destabilisation. The thing is to see whether the Iraqi people are better off 10 years later. Now the reason I was against Iraq, other than the main reason being presented being a falsehood, was that there was no explicitly stated plan. The thoughts of the Bush administration were hopelessly naive, and led to the instability that continues today. Now, because there is some international attention, there is a vague hope that Iraq might pull itself together. That is, if you ignore the contracts quietly going off to American companies like, of course, Haliburton. Also, believe it or not, Iraq is still paying reperations for the damage Saddam caused. Whats more, its paying reperations to incredibly rich companies like freaking Walmart, for crying out loud!
The war on Iraq was never about liberation of the Iraqi people. It was about distracting the American people from the domestic situation where Bush has done his best to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor. It was, at least to an extent, about opening up some of the richest oil reserves in the world. It was also about a neo-con belief, the Project for the New American Century, written in the late 90's and signed by several members of the Bush administration, which calls for an American millitary presence in the middle East.
Imposing a government on a people when you are not sure what they want (the majority of Iraq might even want a theocracy. You can't tell without asking them all....), and trying to force their culture to evolve through war is a dangerous strategy. It worked in Germany and Japan thanks to EXTENSIVE effort, and a HUGE siphoning of resources from the UK and the US.
THAT is why Iraq was such a huge mistake. And America is paying for that mistake. Also, its not to be ignored that Iraq is a spawning ground for terrorists, so Bush has actually worsened the problem. I do not see how one could trust him to protect his country. Under him, after his direct actions, he has had over 1,000 American people killed in Iraq. Killed by, as I believe some term them, terrorists. His so called security measures have merely been horrible restrictions on freedom which no person should ever stand for. Guantanamo Bay is an outrage.
Finally, apparently Bush is in touch with the family man? Nonsense. Bush is in touch with various multinational companies that fund his thinking. His policies favour the rich and screw the poor, as I have already said. And when I say poor i include lower middle class here. Things that hurt education, the environment, healthcare, all effect the middle class and down, while the rich get richer.
Frankly, I find Bush to be a horrific choice.
It must be mentioned that he has won this election fair and square. If Kerry had got Ohio, he would have won on technicality (as Bush did last time), and that would not have been great. Thats the electoral college system for you though....
Oh for.....
Its not very hard America. All you had to do was pick the candidate which won't increase terrorism by going into unecessary and dangerous wars, who might possibly get your economy on track, and not make moves to ban homosexuality........ His name was NOT George Bush. There were only two options! Couldn't you have picked the correct one?
Still, Kerry still has a chance. Albeit a very slim one.
HMV!
I should stop going to HMV, because it depresses me. So many cds and DVDs I would like to buy, and I do not have the money to get them. But today, I did buy a DVD.
Was it a classic film you ask? Perhaps the Godfather, or Alien Directors cut. Maybe even mallrats? Or perhaps it was a series? Buffy the Vampire slayer, futurama, who knows?
Nope. It was better than that BUCKY O' HARE! 13 episodes onto DVD!! For those not in the know, Bucky O' Hare is one of the best children shows ever. I swear, watching it again puts a huge smile on my face. SO much nostalgia in that series.....
Anyway, I have an election to watch....
Novocaine fr the soul
Brilliant song that...
I havent the time to make the post I wanted to as I have to go out to, of all things, watch Disney's Robin Hood. But I will be back to watch the US elections. We can only hope Kerry wins, and at least lessens the damage that Bush has done. Please, let him win! If there are any US visitors coming to this site, I urge you to vote Kerry. But I doubt there are anyway.....
Getting kicked in the balls
Just watched Taxi Driver. Then got kicked in the nuts. I have to say, I much prefered watching Taxi Driver.
That is a great film. 's basically a character study of a very odd new york cab driver. Its quite a hard film to describe, but Robert De Niro's performance is awesome- the man does deserve his status as one of the best actors of all time, despite his recent string of... less good films (what was that one film about that miracle worker and a cloning called again??). And the direction is amazing. I don't really have the language to describe it, but the shots are stunning. My only critisism is that the music is sometimes a little repetitive, a flaw in many older films I find. Its not too bad really, but at the start I found it positively annoying at points. I think it also becomes an issue because there is often no dialogue, so the music becomes more pronounced.
But yeah, that was very enjoyable, and I got to see it on our nice big tv, which is all the better. I didn't even have to beg.... much. Afterwards I decided, foolishly, to tickle Paul's feet. To which his instant reaction was to swing and kick me in the testicles. I really did not enjoy that experience. Its an odd pain, I must admit, a unique pain the body saves for the extra special occasions on which it really, really wants to remind you that doing something like that is NOT a good idea. I really wish pain came in another format though. Like a polite message saying "please don't do that again". That'd be great, wouldn't it? I mean, in battle, if someone blew your leg off, if you just got a little ringing noise telling you that you were in a spot of bother, then you could happily carry your leg back to the medical tent.....
Can't see any problem with that.
work... on course.....
Disurbingly, I appear to be on schedule with my workload. Of course, on schedule involves doing two problem sheets on wednesday and spending tuesday moping about on the internet, so perhaps thats not a surprise. But still, I can pat myself on the back despite being further behind on work than the last two weeks. Perhaps I have finally settled into the mid-term laziness that so characterised my course last year. Of course, this is not a good habit. Generally it leaves me the revision period to learn my entire course, which can be difficult. Still I managed alright last time. This year IS meant to be harder but right now its not showing much evidence of that. Fer chrissake, I actually understand more material than I did last year!
That might have something to do with not playing advance wars during the lectures though. Incidentally, if you have a game boy advance and you do not own Advance wars 2, you are a shameful person. It is simply one of the best games ever. A turn based strategy game that is stupidly addictive, its actually remarkably clever despite its simplicity. Its set in the excitingly titled "Wars World", so you can guess what happens in this universe. Bizzarely, despite the world being made up of 4 different factions, all with their own commanding officers, they are all peacable, and need someone evil (Black hole.... oooh, scary) to stir it up a bit.
Needless to say, the plot is awful. But the gameplay is amazing. I guarentee good times on that game! Buy it! Buy it now!!!
Stupid promotions...
I'm no expert on the world of football, but when you get promoted, aren't you meant to get a few more people coming to your goddamn games? Stupid
www.hattrick.org ......
I was pleasently surprised this morning when I woke up.... well I woke up on time for that matter, but I was also able to pull myself out of bed with a mere 20 minute struggle. AND the shower had warm water! Its very rare, and when it happens it really must be treasured. Course, I then missed the appropriate bus and was 20 minutes late for my tutorial, but.... I got a seat on the bus and missed nothing of importance in the tutorial!
Perhaps today is going to be a charmed day. Hmm, I'd prefer not to curse that though. Too late I guess. Not that I believe in the ability of people to say things that then ruin their day- so called "Sods law". It IS non existant, because you ignore all the times when you say something and nothing happens from it, and you take out of all proportion other cases. If you say "my days going well" there bound to be SOMETHING to spoil it. After all, no day is perfect. Or at least, in my experience anyway.
Hmm, an entirely perfect day..... that'd be great, wouldn't it? Somehow avoiding all the minor aches and pains that you always manage to encounter during a day, and have everything going right. As Alan Partidge would say, needless to say, you would have the last laugh. But life ain't perfect, and sods law is nonsense.
People have a problem dealing with probability anyway, as those who play the lottery show. Or, for that matter, people who smoke- yes the odds are they will die younger, but they'll play the odds! Apparently. The house ALWAYS wins.
