Pre-Advent Ramblings

I'm so terrible at keeping up to date with this blog. It's quite interesting for me though, seeing what I thought several months ago.

Well it's been a hectic, fascinating year since my last Blog. Death, new colleagues, football, change in work and broken bones!

Since my last Blog, things went downhill quite quickly. I moved house, during the worst March I've ever known! It was snowing, so everything slipped and slid. I now live in Huddersfield, and I'm enjoying it to be honest. It's a nice distance from Bury and Leeds, but has access to countryside and nice areas. I need to explore it more.
After the move (a couple of weeks), my Uncle Nigel, who was suffering from Senile Dementia at the age of 66(ish) died from an illness. To be honest, it is better that way as to lose your mind at that age isn't nice at all. I played the organ at his funeral, which was nice.

After that, my minion, Beth, got head hunted by a company she used to work for, and she left work in June. We got absolutely screwed around with her replacement, and right at the end of September, I finally got 2 minions working for me: Pete and Samson. They're doing well; Pete was a student technician for me so knows the job very well (he won some award at his graduation and got one of the highest grades for his degree) and I'm not worried about at all. Samson, well, he's new to the college, so I appreciate he needs to learn a lot, but, well, we'll see.

In August, I broke my left ankle whilst at judo. I thought I was being thrown to my right, then suddenly went left. I had my weight on my left foot, which didn't move as I fell and gave me a hairline fracture. It wasn't fun being in Pudsey, needing to get home to Huddersfield. Luckily someone drove me to the hospital in Huddersfield where I then waited for 4 hours (got home around 1:30am!). The pot was on for about 7 weeks, and came off about 6 weeks ago. I'm just about back to normal now, and hoping to start running again (I say again, I just mean being able to run). I'm hoping to go back to Judo, but I'm now thinking that Pudsey is a bit far, especially if I hurt myself again! Huddersfield has a club, but I'll have to see if I want to join them, it might be weird.

I decided to buy a season ticket to Bury FC over the summer! They had a great offer for students, which I can claim, so I went for it. It gives me something to do every other Saturday, so that's been fun. Well, when we win haha. I've also joined Forever Bury, where you buy a share in the club and get given a money off card. I can use it at a local motorcycle school, where I get 10% off my CBT. This now means I am going to do it. Finally!

Change in work, well, this is down to whether or not a bad decision goes through. It looks like the Macs will be taken off me and given to IT. I'm not happy as the Macs are working seemlessly this year, and that's thanks to me! Not happy at all, especially as I've not had any pay increase since starting the Mac network.

Anyway, I've rambled on, and I don't like that. Basically, I'm a little better off than I was last year. I've paid off my Graduate Loan, I even got PPI payment back which has helped. I have to pay off a credit card still, but once that's done, I am really going to save up for a house. I really want to get out of rented accomodation, but it will take time.

Take care!

My 'Welcome 2013' Post

Well once again, it's been a while since I last posted, and my how things have changed!

I'm now a Red belt at Judo, and on my way for my Yellow belt hopefully. Absolutely loving it, made some friends and I think I'm getting a little fitter.
Also, I'm moving house! My housemate has bought a house, meaning we're all off separate ways. I'm currently looking in Huddersfield for places there as it's nearer Bury, and not too far from Leeds. This also means I'm more likely to get my motorbike license, as commuting into Leeds by bike is by far the easiest way to commute.
Lastly, I finally got the balls to ask my friend, Elin out for a drink (even though she has a boyfriend). She was very polite and turned me down, saying the James was the one for her. She was flattered though, and we are still friends, so no harm was done. I'm gutted though, I still like her, as she just seems the perfect person for me (very similar taste in everything we do!). Never mind, a new year, a new idea.

Once I've moved house I am starting my '5 year plan'. I hope to pay off most of my debts soon, and save up for a house. I have to do it, as I need to be thinking about the long term future, and I'm just not happy renting houses when I could have my own house for less money. It WILL all fall into place. It has to.

Anyway, I have to go for a meeting now, so I'll shoot off, but hopefully update in the near future.

Laters!

Hopeful October...

Autumn is my favourite season. The night folding in on the day, the smell in the air, the beautiful colour of the trees; all of this brings me a nice feeling.

It's not been the greatest summer really. Not having the warmest weather meant I didn't get out as much as I'd like. Work has been a bit mental, and burying Uncle Terry wasn't that pleasant.

However, good things have come from this that I'm hoping will lead to a slightly nicer future. Work for instance, has been mental, however I've got all the computers working brilliantly so far, and I'm hoping that I don't have to worry about them this year. Also, my friend Elin (who I like, but shhh she has a boyfriend) and I are getting quite close, which makes me happy (More about her another time). Financially, I've nearly paid off my car and my credit card and my graduate loan. About another 12 months and I should be debt free for the first time since 2001 when I went to Uni.

I'm hoping to organise a trip to visit my cousing in Northern Ireland with my Aunt Claire, as every time we all meet up seems to be due to a death, so it will be nice visiting them.

I turn 30 next year, so I think I have a few things I want to do before then. I've started my Judo course - it's awesome! And I think I'm feeling better because of it (something to do on Monday nights is a nice thing). I'm really wanting to do my CBT and then my motorbike license as it's something I've always wanted to do, and I think if I can do it before my 30th, that'll be good. Also, that leads me to my last plan, to live by myself again. I've had fun (and saved money!) living with people, but I'm getting a bit tired of it. Too many 'rules and politics' for my liking. I feel like I have to socialise all the time, and to be honest, I'm getting a bit tired of it. I'd rather be watching films, playing playstation and going out for a bike ride, but I feel I 'have' to socialise. We'll see, but if I get a motorbike license and a bike, I can commute from a bit further afield, which can see me getting a really nice house for a lot less rent. We will see, I'm sure I'll come back to this in the future.

Thanks for reading :o)

Sad News

Got a phone call from my Mum last night with bad news. Turns out that my Uncle Terrence died in his sleep on the night of 27th August.

This has come as a great shock, as he was my Mum's younger brother, so he must have been about 56/57, not old at all! He only got married to my Aunt Claire in 2005.

I don't deal well with deaths really. Not in an uncosolable way, more in an awkard sense. On the phone to my Mum, all I could say was 'Oh dear, that's a shame' as I don't know what else to say. Yes I'm sad, but these things never really 'get' me.

I've been called 'cold hearted' in the past, I can see why really. I have a very dark and twisted sense of humour, and deal with situations like this in a very different way to others. It's not that I don't care, not at all. It's just that I don't really know how to react.

Anyway, Rest In Peace Uncle Terry. I'll certainly miss you and your quiet, 'dry-as-a-desert' wit xx

Getting Fitter

I think I must have banged my head a few weeks ago, or maybe it's because of the Olympics (though it's been going on since before they started), but I really want to get fit again.

As I said last time, I'm starting my Judo lessons in a couple of weeks which should really improve my fitness. I've also started swimming again, something I haven't done since I was about 16 and went with a couple of friends to have fun at the weekends.

My friend is competing in loads of 10k runs, trying to do 10 of them in the year raising money for charity. She was talking to my minion, Beth, about one coming up in November that they are both entering, and it got me thinking, 'maybe I should try entering a run'. I've tried getting back into running too, but it's a bit more difficult than I'd thought. I'll try going out again at some point this week. This all got me thinking though, if I can get back into running and swimming, and I already do the cycling..... maybe I should enter a Triathlon!

So, my plan now is to try and enter the Abbey Dash in November, to see how I get on with that, and try and go swimming every weekend (I would try going more, however I don't think there's any swimming pools open to the public in Leeds, they're all private gyms that I know of).

I think I'm trying to improve my fitness more so that it gets me out of the house more. I seem to find that every day now I'm going to work, coming home and just watching TV. Then at weekends, I pretty much stay in, or just walk aimlessly around town. Seems to make much more sense getting fit than getting bored. Plus, I know I'll enjoy it once I get into it!

Anywho, I'll try and keep posting about how I get on with running, cycling, swimming and judo...ing.

Laters!

Summertime Mayhem

August is always a funny time at work. I say funny, but I mean stressful.

When I was a student, I always thought of the summer months as being quiet, relaxing and fun times. I never really appreciated what went on at the universities around the country. Whilst the students are away, people are busy beavering about the place, fixing things, building things, cleaning things and buying new things. All so that it's nice and shiny for the return of the people paying our wages.

We've got a lot on this summer, but it's nothing compared to last year. I have a 'nice' amount of work, where I'm busy, but I'm not busting a gut. I have a feeling that it's going to get worse though if I'm honest. We shall see.

Quick updates: Mum got better and has been home a few weeks. My car failed it's MOT and cost me a further £500 but not for the faults that Vauxhall mentioned. Choir is going ok, though due to lack of numbers, I've decided that I'll pick nice, simple pieces that don't need a lot of practise (or people) to sing well. This means I can cancel the practises for today and next Friday, and go to the pub. Awesome.

Tattoo's have taken a back burner for a while, whilst I am working hard. I pretty much get home and flake out. I'm quite set on an anchor now, and I may try getting something organised for the next month or something.

I went cycling up in Scotland a few weeks ago and it was awesome, I had a really good time. I did, however, fall off. At least twice. The first time, I managed to jarr my wrist, meaning I could barely move it. But, unditerred (I know I've spelt that wrong, but meh), I carried on. Then later I managed to fall off again onto some wet, slippy wood and slid down it. That left a beautiful bruise on my entire arm (the other arm that I fell on earlier) and thigh. The bruising has just about gone, but it's still swelled up a little.

Lastly, I've just signed up to a Judo Beginners Course in Pudsey near Leeds. I'm quite excited about this as i think it will be really good for me fitness wise and it's a new hobby! I used to do Judo when I was about 7, but I stopped when we got a new Sensai who wanted us to perfect a certain move that is considered the beginners move. When you're 7/8 and been there a year, you want to learn a few new things, so needless to say, i got bored and left. I'm really looking forward to this though, so will keep you posted on how I do.

Sorry I've waffled and that it probably isn't that interesting, but you've probably just been updated on more of my personal life than a lot of my friends know (or care) about.

Take care :o)

Morning!

Well, since last writing my blog, a fair few things have happened.

Firstly, on the tattoo front, I went to the Bolton Tattoo Bazzaar at the Reebok Stadium on Saturday, it was fantastic! Got to meet lots of artists, and saw some great artwork being done. Took a few cards of people whos work I was interested in, especially one artist that drew a cartoon koala on someones calf, it looked awesome, and is in a similar design to what I want my 'Kicking Mule' to look like. Anywho, I didn't get anything (I'm looking at having an anchor put on my right arm, part of a half sleeve of classic tattoos) as I don't really have the money at the moment...

I'm broke, because my car is rubbish. The alternator went the other week, which cost £240 to replace, and then Saturday morning, it went in to Vauxhall, as they were recalling all Astras between 2004 and 2008 to have a circuit board for the horn to be replaced. Anyway, I asked if they could look at the Air-Con and also that after driving for about 50 miles, it starts to judder and misfire when accelerating.
Well, they replaced the circuit board, to find that my horn doesn't work and needs replacing. Then they found the Air-Con needs a new board replacing, that there's a fault in the diagnosis so further testing needs doing, 3 of the tyres are illegal and need replacing, the brake pads need replacing, the rear discs need replacing and the Tie Rods need replacing! All this a week before its insurance is due, and 5 days before its MOT! I've got it booked in to a garage, so that's getting sorted in the morning. I shall be looking at replacing this car when I finish paying for it!

Anyway, moving away from cars, my Mum is currently in hospital with an enflamed pancreas. She had pains on Sunday and has been in ever since. Makes a change that it's not my Dad in there, but can't be nice for him as he struggles by himself. She's keeping me posted via texts though, so she will be fine.

I had to cancel the choir singing at Evensong last Sunday due to lack of numbers. Can't say I was happy about the decision, but it had to be done. I played for the said service, letting Elin (our Organist) have the evening off, so she could stay with her boyfriend in Manchester. Have I mentioned Elin? She's lovely. Really lovely. Sadly she's with James. Ah well.
Still went to the pub on Sunday with Harriet and Dave, and had a nice time :)

Speak soon!

Slow Monday

Well, that was a rather uninteresting but eventful weekend.

I went into Manchester on Saturday and looked around a couple of the tattoo parlours, but none of them really caught my eye. There's one in Afflecks Palace which does Sailor Jerry tattoos, which I'm interested in, but I don't know what the quality of their work is.
Sunday, I played in 3 services at church. The morning service didn't go to well, but nobody minded. In the afternoon, East Lancs Air Cadet force had a flag interred in the church, so I played for that and all went well. Then in the evening for evensong, we sang Bruckners Ave Maria, and I decided to sing the psalm acapella, which turned out to sound fantastic! The choir responded really well, and really blew me away, it was an awesome experience!

I'm sat in work at the moment, waiting for an operating system to install on a mac. Not sure what my last update was on work, but I'm now in charge of all the college's studios and Macs. In September, I will have 8 recording studios, 3 mixing rooms, 2 Mac servers and 110 Macs. Sadly, students can currently carry on booking rooms, which is a real hinderance to our work as I don't know which rooms we need to be in and when. I have a minion (said in an affectionate way) called Beth, who is working hard organising things whilst I build up the images to be deployed for the Macs. I do sometimes question my own managing skills, I feel I need to be more active and start doing more, but there's just a part of me that can't be bothered/is shy. Ah well, I'll get there.

The Mac has just finished its installation, so I should get back to that really. I'll update soon. I'm going to by a notepad to try and sketch some rough ideas out for tattoos. I'm crap at drawing, but I feel if I give it a go, I'll maybe be able to give some people ideas.

Laters!

Seems to be an annual posting..

Well, it's been over a year since my last post!
Update: Dad's ribs have healed, he's a lot better now, though has his bad days. He's been in hospital a couple of times, but usually out the next day. I think it's taking its tole on my Mum though, as she's beginning to think that Dad is losing his mind, like my Gran did. I hope he isn't, but I don't want her stressing over it as I feel she will go the same way.

Anywho, the last year has been interesting. I got put in charge of choir again as Matthew left (if I haven't updated as to who he is, well, never mind). Then Marc started so I was back to singing Bass. However, he left in May, so it's me in charge again. Don't know how long for, but it could be a few more weeks.
I do like being in charge of the choir, I would happily do it full time, however I'm always put in charge at the worst moments. Summer is terrible as everyone goes on holiday, so I'm left with a dilapidated choir that sounds half as good as normal, and I feel that people blame me for it.
Anyway, they're paying me a proper wage now, so this is helping out financially. Hopefully I can clear some debts, and start getting some tattoos!

About tattoos. I really want some. I have quite a few ideas now, including anchors, navigational stars or compass, tribal, japanese dragon and I still want my custom 'thekickingmule' on my right leg. If anyone can draw, please, please get in touch! I've found some really good artists as well, so I don't think it will be long now.

Anywho, I've written a bit of an essay here, so I think I'll leave it there and hope to update relatively recently. There's a lot to talk about, my job, my car, my lovelife (the family-show version ;) )... we shall see.

Well, as usual, it's been a while since I last posted anything about my life, so I figure today I should (I have 30 minutes to kill before a meeting with my boss, so I can't really start anything constructively here).
So, Christmas and New Years have been and gone. They were.... eventful. Gran died on Boxing Day (As sad as this is, I'm glad it's happened, and that she died peacefully in her sleep. At age 94, and not even recognising her own sons or daughter, or even her own name, her time was definitely up. Also, it takes a lot of weight off my Mum's shoulders.) and we buried her in the New Year. I didn't do anythin on New Years Eve, I'm not a massive fan of makin a big deal out of it really so wasn't too bothered.
Dad got admitted to hospital for 3/4 weeks a few days after Gran's funeral, he fell in the shower onto his back and broke 4 ribs. Poor bloke suffers from COPD, so he struggles to breathe at the best of times, so he was in agony and couldn't move. Anyway, after a day in hospital, he developed something called Massive Subcutaneous Emphysema. Basically, air was escaping from somewhere in the lung/wind pipe and getting under the skin, so he quickly inflated. We all got called to the hospital on the Sunday evening, as doctors were worried about how his throat was closing up, and couldn't promise us that he'd be ok. Dad was fine though, he didn't even know it was that serious and was having a nice joke about things. He couldn't feel the air at all, well, he could when he touched his skin, but he wasn't in pain from it. The doctor put a camera thing down his nose/throat, and said it was looking better in there. Dad asked me if I'd looked, and then (typically) said I should have asked haha No thanks Dad.
Anyway, he's home now, but has to have a canister of oxygen as getting up and down stairs is a chore for him. It's the mornings that he's at his worst. Hopefully he'll get a little better over time, as his ribs heal. I keep thinking of suggesting to Mum that they try and find a little bungalow to move to, but, I don't think they can afford to and don't know how they'd take it. Mum needs to get rid of a lot of her old teaching crap first lol

Anywho, that's me done for today. I think that I'll try and post up some point later this week maybe explaining about what I've been up to recently. Not that it's much, but I suppose I should mention me.

In a bit, y'all!

Well, today I have been helping my lovely friend Harrietty with directions around Londonia. She has been queueing for the last few hours waiting to watch the program X-Factor (Nobody's perfect!), and first off they wanted to buy something to sit on. I looked for camping shops, Tescos, Argos's but to no avail. They then heard that there was an IKEA nearby, so I directed them to that.
They bought some cushions.
I've now just given her the directions to the hotel she's staying at. I hope they get there ok.

This afternoon I went to help my friend Jason move a carpet out of his new flat, but he wasn't there. Turns out he'd locked his car keys in the car, and as he lives miles away in Staleybridge area, someone had to take him home to get the spare set. He did manage to block in about 6 cars in the meantime though. Nice one, Jason! haha

I've decided to give up on looking for a house to rent for now. I really can't be bothered as I have far too much to be getting on with. Plus, if I moved out now, I'd be moving out on the 27th December, which would be lame with a capital L.
Can someone lend me £5k so I can buy my own place? Thanks.

Great sounding band...

Well, this isn't normal for my type of blog, but I'm going to throw 2 other bloggs out there today.
First off is my good friend Paul Marshall, who has written a good article about what he considers a 'Great' album currently out/released in the last 10 years. He talks about a band called Duels, which I've listened to their MySpace page and have to say, it sounds amazing. It had me tapping the foot under the table whilst getting on with some work.
Anyway, have a read of it. Also check out his band, Lone Wolf, hopefully you'll hear 2 new bands that you can get into and support. Tell your friends, tell the world!


The second one is of a tattooist that I've just 'discovered' who lives in America. He's called Tanane Whitfield, and he produces what I personally think are some of the most amazing tattoos I've seen! Apparently he's only been tattooing for the last 2 years! He has a style which I just love, and I have been in touch with him to ask if he comes over to the UK at all. He responded, quite quickly, saying that he will be over next year for Tattoo Jam. I'm hoping that I can get a session with him. I want a tattoo of a Kicking Mule, one of his quirky/comedy type ones, on my right leg (Side of calf) as I think it would be amazing.
Anyway, check out some of the artwork on his blog, and also his website, but hands off, I want to be first in line! ;o)


Take care

I've still not got into the hang of updating this regularly. I really want to, but I just keep forgetting.

Well, a few things have changed since my last post. I am now the acting Director of Music at Bury Parish Church for the forseeable future, due to the new lad only lasting 2 weeks before getting fired. They have agreed to pay me monthly though, which is something I won't turn down! I'm quite looking forward to what will happen, I'm in the process of getting the music list together for Christmas, which is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.

I've still not found anywhere to live yet. Well, I have, but I have a couple more houses to look at, and then I will have to make a decision. I'm hoping that my current landlord won't mind that I'm only giving them 3 weeks notice, but as it will be the end of my contract, I don't care that much, I just want to move out and settle into somewhere else before Christmas.

Still no movement on my tattoo either. I still want the cross, but I'm not sure how to edit it in Gimp. I might just take the photo of the cross to a tattooist and see what they can do. I was looking at a tattooists website today of someone called Tanane Whitfield in America, and I have to say, I love his style and technique. It's such a shame he's in America though, as I'd love him to come up with a design for my 'thekickingmule' logo (similar to the one I use on here) and put his own touch on it. Check out his website here: www.tananewhitfield.com

Anywho, I shall run off to church in a bit for some practise. If anybody does read this by the way, leave a comment, I'm curious who it is reading about my life.

Take care

Well, I think I've got everything ready for tomorrow. If not, then I don't care really, I've done all I can, so they should be thankful! Coming in on a Saturday isn't my idea of fun really. I must remember to fill in the overtime claim form!

So, I've been so busy with work I haven't had a chance to update. Well, that and the fact I keep forgetting. Quite a bit has happened, as I pointed out, I now need to find a new place to live, I just hope I can find somewhere soon. I have a place in mind, but need to get some time off work to go and see it, it's even cheaper rent than where I am at the moment!

I've been thinking about getting a tattoo again. My friend Paul has got a fantastic one on his chest/arm/back and it looks great, and I was talking to my friend Rachael about a cross I've found that I would like on my arm. I just need to alter it a little bit, and I think I might get that done. I've also found a picture from about the 16th Century of a rich man in hell looking up into the heavens which I like the look of. I might see if I can get that altered and customised to suit me. We shall see, it's been a while since I last thought about tattoos properly, but over the last month or two it's been on my mind a lot. I really want another!

Right, I shall leave it there for now and update soon.

Well, I need to find somewhere new to live now. My landlord wants to knock through walls, and extend their house into the one I'm currently in. They said that nothing will happen before the new year, but to be honest, I think I'd rather move out as soon as I can.

I've been looking at buying a house in Leeds on the Government share scheme. I'm not sure how it works to be honest, as I don't understand mortgages at all (having never really needed to), so I'm just getting my act together as it might be a good idea.

Work has changed a lot, I'm now a boss! Dan left (*sniff*) and his replacement is now my beeatch haha She's called Beth, and nobody at work believes me that I chose her for her abilities! Never mind, I'm sure it's going to turn out ok. I'm in work today, trying to get everything finished for Monday as that's the first day of term, in fact, I should really be getting back to it now as I don't have long left!

I shall update soon, I think I will be able to a lot more often, as it looks like facebook at work is going to be policed, so Blogger may have me now haha

I haven't been on here for a while (again!) So I think I will update my life a little.

I've moved house, I now live in a little cottage up in Pudsey. I really like it, but it has no central heating, so we will have to wait until the winter to see what it's really like. I've been on a couple of runs around the local area, I've found a nice 4 mile loop, which I plan to run every Tuesday at least for now.

Also, I got a new car. Not through choice really, my Punto died spectacularly from it's MOT. They told me it would cost about £700 to pass it, then another £700 advisory work, and they couldn't guarantee it would pass again in 12 months. So, with many thanks to Bank of Gran, I now have a nice Vauxhall Astra :)

Recently I met a girl!!! We've had one date so far, which went really well, and she wants to meet up again. We're going to go to a Go Ape! near where she lives. I hope this goes well, she's really nice, very pretty and I like her quite a lot. I won't get my hopes up though, it seems to be going to well, so I will just enjoy it as it happens.

Work has all changed too. Dan, my colleague, is leaving. He's got a job at a reputable company, where he's going to be travelling the world and doing stuff he's been wanting to do for years. This means that I'm going to get a new job description, and Dan's replacement will be my bitch er I mean, I'll be their boss ;) Everything's changing, I'm going to be going on training for VLE systems, so, the main crux of all this is - more money! Hopefully it might be a bit of a more exciting role too, which is always a good thing.

Anywho, that's roughly what I've been doing recently. I'll try, once again, to keep this up to date a bit more. I see some people have read my blogs, interesting. Feel free to comment, even if you think I'm a weirdo haha

Take it easy

I ran!

Well, I went out for my first run today. I waited until dark so that I wouldn't be seen slowly dieing whilst running haha. I didn't do to badly I don't think. I ran just under 4 miles in about 41 mins, which averaged out at over 5mph. I really enjoyed it, even when I thought I might die lol

I've just been given some advice on how to warm up and cool down. I did do some small excercises, but what i've been told is quite useful, as it may stop the pains I have now. I'm not in agony, but I can feel the odd twinge when walking. The real test will be in the morning, I have to commute in, which could be interesting.

Start of a new week...

Well, I've decided that I'm going to try and start running in the evenings. I was going to go out tonight for a short run and see how I do, but I was in Tesco a little longer than I had planned (they didn't have any of the small trolleys so I had to carry a basket, then I found a huge trolley so used that lol).
Anywho, I'm determined to go out tomorrow. Near where I live there is a nice park with a lake in it, and I think that a run to the park, round the lake and back should be a nice reintroduction to running. Back when I was in school I was quite good at x-country, so I'm hoping that I can get good at it again as it's a great way to shed some pounds.

Oh, I bought some scales! :o) My first weigh in is 85kg, which is 13.4st. Now, I'd like to get that down to about 11st, but more than that, I'd like to go down from my 35" waist to about 32". Now, I think this is quite a tall order, but it must be possible, as I went from a 32" waist to 35" when I was about 18/19 and I haven't grown since then.

So, we shall see where we can get to in a short space of time!

Night

It's been quite a while since I posted on here, so I shall try and get back into the swing of things.

My PS3 arrived, and I've been playing it a lot, it's great! I'm loving it, though I'm going to be picky about which games I buy, and sell them when I've finished them as I have so many for the PS2 that were either rubbish, or just gathered dust.

My mission this year is to get myself looking good. I've just seen a photo of a member of a forum that I'm on, and he has a fantastic build (in fairness, he's in the army and 21, so has a reason) but he has a thin waist and big chest. I hope I can manage it, I have a decent sized chest as it is, but I really want to go back to a thin waist like I used to have, so my mission is to do it.

Not sure how, but we'll see. More biking and maybe some running too should help. Will have to buy some running shoes though.

Right, I'm off to do some organ practise now. Will probably get bored, I have been doing lately, but that's a different story.

What a truely irritating day!
I ordered a PS3 with Assasins Creed 2 on Thursday last week. The actual item wasn't actually available until today, so I had pre-ordered it. I thought, whilst eagerly waiting for a knock on the door, that I would check out my order status to see where my PS3 was (in transit/Leeds Depot/outside my front door etc) but couldn't log on at all.
So I phoned up the customer services and got through to 'Ray'. Then in mid conversation, the line went dead. So I phoned again and once again, managed to speak to 'Ray'. Then 5 mins later, the line went dead.
Get thoroughly annoyed, I used my mobile this time and got through to some random woman, who went through my details, security questions etc. and then happily said "Ok, yes, I can confirm that your order has been cancelled"

"CANCELLED!?!?"
"Yes, err, sorry, can I put you on hold?"

Turns out that the feckin thing was cancelled and nobody told me about it. I checked my bank balance, and sure enough, it's not left my account.


I've ordered it again now. It had better arrive tomorrow. I've taken the week off work for this!
Grrrr