Another constructive day

Today was supposed to be a more constructive day where I was supposed to do constructive things and somehow it didn't happen. I hate the feeling of wasting a day (but love jamie days).

Today I:
-talked to Megann on the phone. She again beat me to calling. Why is that? Why? (Mental note - call Megann before she calls you. Take turns, it's only fair)
-got songs on to mother's new phone. Unfortunately these had to first of all go on to my computer. Can't imagine Paulo Conte or Charles Trenet ever making to a playlist.
-watched more daytime TV. The Price is Right really is the worst and best TV show ever made. Today he guessed wrongly the price of an oven and didn't win the kitchen applicances. Gutted for him.
-slept in the afternoon. Shut up, daytime TV can be taxing enough. Today there was some serious stuff on This Morning that I needed a rest from.
-Added another friend to my My Space. That'll make 2 then, no, really. I don't get it!

Nothing on my to-do list actually got done, like:
-unpacking from Autumn Soul
-calling about my lost driver's licence
-writing a thank note that father has been on at me to write since time began
But I'm ever hopeful because tomorrow is another day!

Oh just thought of one constructive thing I did! I wrote a reference for someone. Ha ha and I thought I wasted my day. Although, fair enough, it would have been better to have printed it and even have sent it.

Tomorrow I'm back in work and getting my eyes tested as per the letter they sent me telling me I needed to. It's all go at this end I tell you.

The Soul of Autumn

I’m off today. Yay. This is my first proper jamie day in a months, so I am celebrating by watching daytime TV (currently Countdown, but previously the last fifteen minutes of This Morning, Loose Women, The Price is Right, and Murder She Wrote. I’m too long out of Neighbours to understand it now.)

Anyway, Autumn Soul was good. I didn’t really experience it as a punter but then that’s not what I’m paid to do. I was pleased with how my end of things went. Registration was on the whole smooth, I loved fast track registration. Centrepoint was crazy with people at times but everything I felt everything was under control.

My own personal highlights were mostly Sweeney related – Jud’s interpretive dance, Owen's mood when we were counting money and the traditional Sweeney sponsored Centrepoint game of Charades (Owen’s forty five minute mime of Anchorman was legendary). I also enjoyed the walkie talkie fun on Satuday night, and even though I had seen it before the Team on Mission video was hilarious. One slightly depressing note was that I didn’t recognise myself in the montage at the end, so rough I looked.




Pam working out how many words in 'The Lion King'.

Love shine a light.

Boy Band linky arms wave thing. Hilarious.

Me and my best friend at the weekend, my walkie talkie. I felt naked without it when I had to return it.

Team Steward. Really good group, not like they haven't been ever.

I heard that there were 300 balloons in the release. How come it looked like 50?

But there were holy moments too. This was the first proper time I heard the Autumn Soul Band and I thought they were brilliant. So holy moments then. I didn’t hear much of Brian Heasley but I did hear the ‘breathe in breathe out’ bit which was simple yet genius. I loved that the girls from youth fellowship were there and to see them worshipping God in the real, truthful and sincere way they did was just fantastic. So they inspired me too.

And a good time was had by all.

Yes!

Woo hoo!

Let it be known

That on this day, Wednesday 25th October 2006 I was in work not only on time, but at a colour of the morning I don't even want to mention incase I have a panic attack.

I have also discovered the secret to getting a space outside my office.

(I'll take any colour of star you like, but I'd prefer gold.)

Bebo: Bringing people together

Tonight I was out with a girl from school. We haven’t seen each other since we left, although we were pretty friendly at school. It was great to catch up with her and hear all that’s she’s done since. She’s married now and doing really well for herself. I was especially pleased because she had a particularly rough time during school.

As we were leaving, she hit the remote central locking revealing her car. Yeah, she’s doing really well for herself. (I don’t know a whole lot about cars but even I know it’s a nice car when it’s that low to the ground and only got two seats.)

It was the personalised number plate that made me smile the most though. It is the perfect two fingers to everyone at school that made it a nightmare for her.

Photos from my (soon to be old) phone

I had the most frustrating day where O2's superior customer service shone through again and they blamed everything on the couriers.

Anyway I am currently taking everything off my phone before it is exhanged sometime tomorrow. Even in the few shorts weeks I had it there were a few classics that never made it here. For instance:


The most perfect rainbow across the Carrick skyline (please note, despite what it may look like I pulled over for this. I would never drive and hold my phone. Never.)


Nicky's hand shaped to look like a butt. At least I hope it was his hand.


My 10000th mile. Again, pulled over. Must get that speedometer looked at.


Adam TOM (the official addition to Team on Mission names in my phone, like Smash Hits' posters 'Ben A1') pretending to be a tortoise in the office. In this one cardbox box impression he demonstrates the difference between my old place of employment and my current.

I never had to return a Nokia

I always prefer phones that make noise or shake when someone calls or texts. I also like it when you do happen to notice when someone is calling you can hear them and they can hear you.

Yes, that's right, my new phone has stopped working. I have to return it and get another. Grr bloody grr.

I am seriously dossing this afternoon, I have to prepare YF and while I largely know what I'm doing the finer details have not been finalised (ie discussion questions, bible verses and the like) so I thought I'd share my frustrations re. the ongoing saga of my phone. But must go, washing to be done. Told you I was dossing!

I used to not like Jo Whiley

I’m still not that sure about her, I think she can be smug. I have no time for smug. But over the course of the past few years I’ve heard more of her show and she’s warming on me. I like Changing Tracks, I like Rocks and Sucks but I love, love the Live Lounge. It is the best thing she does. So I was dead excited when she ran text polls a few Christmases ago to get listeners’ opinions about what should go on a compilation album. Twenty two months later and it’s out and I have it.


It’s brilliant. You should buy it.

So with that in mind, here is October’s playlist:

1. Welcome to the Black Parade – My Chemical Romance (one of those songs you liked ages before you realised you liked it)
2. America – Razorlight (damn Jo Whiley got me into this song too)
3. Set Fire to the Third Bar – Snow Patrol & Martha Wainwright (love her voice)
4. Buck Rogers – Feeder (player player player player player player…)
5. How to Save a Life – The Fray (ah the brilliant Grey’s Anatomy, brilliant programme, brilliant music)
6. Wonderful World – James Morrison (one of those songs you think is all lovely but isn’t)
7. Song 2 – My Chemical Romance (not the original but a great effort)
8. Romeo – Basement Jaxx (love them, this is brilliant live)
9. Push the Button - Orson (different, definitely different)
10. The Scientist – Coldplay (how do you make a beautiful song better? Sing it live of course)
11. Gold Digger – The Automatic (makes me laugh out loud)
12. Love Machine – Arctic Monkeys (same)
13. Hey Ya – Will Young (my first memorable Live Lounge)

They haven’t made it yet, but I suspect they might, Love It When You Call – The Feeling, I Write Sins Not Tragedies – Panic! At the Disco.

I’m also fighting the temptation to get McFly’s new song. I swear there are endorphins realised through it, it actually makes me happy. But I think it might be a little too pop for me to have. Maybe Jo Whiley has every right to be smug afterall, I can’t imagine she’d be the biggest McFly fan.

How does Ireland function as a country?

Last week Pam and I were talking about Ireland and how amazing it is that it manages to work at all. I mean they’re successful players in the EU, they’ve won (and even hosted) the Eurovision, they are the roaring Celtic Tiger, they gave the world Westlife, they have modern technological industries, and of course there’s Guinness.

But how does it do it?! Harsh, I think not. We put it to you thus:

• There's not enough digits in phone numbers, eg 012 34567 (that said I am always amazed at how we need eleven digits and ten does all of America)
• There's not any sort of code in the address, and unless they live on an actual street in Dublin or Cork they don’t even have house numbers. ‘Beacon House, Tamlaght, Co. Cork’ is enough. How does that work?

I have discovered something else which makes me wonder how they’ve made it this far. Signs.

As you probably know, I am not well travelled in Ireland and so when Jose declared his desire to go to the Guinness Storehouse I reluctantly agreed. Only because I know how much his beloved brew means to him.

Most people would have researched the trip thoroughly. Oh no, not me. I was furiously tidying last week and had a series of late meetings that meant I was not well prepared. I have driven my way through America and even through the Nation’s capital, I am a road trip master. I am fearless when it comes to a roadtrip. Nothing scares me. I have a good sense of direction and, sure there’s always signs.

No, no, there’s not. Not in Ireland. Sure, they might have one to get you on your way, but after that it’s all guess work, or you can take a chance with the left/right game. Last week I preferred the drive-straight-until-you-see-something-vaguely-familar method. To get to the Guinness Storehouse, it was basically drive until you cross the river, then turn right. And that’s what we did, and it worked. Although I really don’t think Jose knew how much I was winging it.
On the way home from Dublin, I discovered something that they do actually codify. Roads. No place names, or general clues as to what the N1-32 might take you to. No, no, just numbers as if you are supposed to magically know the route they take. So we followed signs to the airport, that was until they stopped after the second one. To be honest, it was a miracle we made it out at all.

Like I said, how does it function at all?

I could have been on TV

Today Chris B came into the office and announced that he had just met Graham Norton. He was filming Who do you think you are? outside the Primary School Chris was in this morning and so he had a wee chat with him. They even filmed a wee bit that may or may not be used (depending on how stuck for material they are much room they have).

Later that day in the office I was telling some the TOM Chris' story, and Graham H announced that he was in fact named after Graham Norton. No, seriously he is. (Some connection with their mums and an aunt that I couldn’t detail with any degree of confidence.) Graham said that he would love to meet him and tell him he’s named after him.

So cut to me driving home along my traditional route of Sandy Row. At the ‘You are now entering…’ mural I saw a film crew so naturally looked to see which small fish of a TV reporter it was from BBC NI or UTV. But you know what is coming, it was Graham Norton.

Naturally, I did a u-turn in the road and drove past him again. Then I did another, this time taking out my phone to get a picture. In the end I turned in the side street to take it. If he wasn’t doing his bit to camera I might have got out and had a chat myself, but driving past him four times I already felt a bit wick. Plus I swear he was looking right at me when I was taking the picture so my embarrassment led me home.


Today was also the day I discovered that my phone doesn't have zoom. (And dammit all, it's too late to return now.) But I promise you, that group is the film crew and Graham (or as t'other Graham called him earlier, 'the flamboyant homosexual'). But I know you believe me, like I could make any of this stuff up!

Driving home though it suddenly struck me that had I got out and talked to him, I could have been a modern day Cilla/Jimmy and got the two Grahams together. And it would have made at least one of the Graham's dream come true.


That definitely would have made the programme. I so could have been on TV.

Where’s my stuff?

Before I came home, you’ll remember that I sent a lot of my stuff home. I have now discovered my big mistake. As I wasn’t wearing shoes. only flip flops (how I long for sunshine) I thought I’d be smart and stuff my socks around the gaps in the boxes. Nope, not so much Tina.

Day 48 and the sock shortage continues.

The final instalment

The parents are watching the Antiques Roadshow, booooooorrrrrrriiiiiinnnnnnggggg! So I thought I'd take this opportunity to blog.

I forgot to put these on a good while ago so here for all the fans of Church signs out there, here's the final instalment (at least until I next go back to America).


See what they did there? They changed air conditioned for prayer conditioned! Brilliant!


So I wasted my time cutting out those coupons? Rage.


If you ask me, Double Springs Baptist Church weren't even trying with this effort. They need to talk to their brothers and sisters from Harmony Christian Fellowship. They know how to get the funny in their signs.

Out of nowhere

Most mornings start the same and you have no idea what the day is going to bring. That’s why it sssuuuuccccckkkkkksssssss when you have a pisser of a day.

If I had had advance warning about today, I would have made my excuses and stayed in bed.

Tomorrow morning though, I will get out of bed simply because you can’t tell when a good day is coming either.

Here’s hoping.

Sony Ericsson 1 - 0 Blogger Beta

So last night I was playing with my phone and discovered I could blog from my phone! Except that I can't transfer those blogs to Blogger Beta only the old Blogger. Grr! So you can go here to see what I put up!

No seriously, sign up for Blogger Beta, it's great.

Blogger Beta Appeal

So last night I signed up to Blogger Beta and on the whole I am quite pleased. The layout works well and you don't need to know HTML (or in my case guess at HTML) to modify your template. You'll also notice the wonderful new labels and archiving system and you can change the heading fonts and colours easily. Publishing happens more quickly and you can see how many comments have been made to each post on your edit post list page. The only slight minus I came across (until now) is you have to work on your template if you have links, clocks and weather ladies.

There is a bigger downfall in the plan for me now. With Blogger being part of the Google empire it would have made me sign up for a Google account. Perhaps all Greek to you I appeciate, but basically because I already had a Gmail account, that is now what I sign in under, not my old Blogger ID.

And here lies the snag. Blogger Beta and Old Blogger are not compatable and now I am unable to make comments on others' blogs if they aren't on Blogger Beta. Neither can I sign in under my old Blogger ID.

So in the long term, if you have a (Blogger) blog that I comment on from time to time, sign up to Blogger Beta and then you can still value from my witty comments and pearls of wisdom.

In the short term, Rosstopher I want to see your holiday photies!

Thank you.

PS fully marks to Blogger for this ingenious idea of getting more people to sign up to the new version. Manipulative gits.

Oh lordy

I've updated blogger and in the process lost my links, weather girl and clock!

As if being a Monk wasn't already a life of sacrifice

My parents are being tourist guides this week to people from England. All well and good I thought. That was until I met them. Don’t get me wrong, they’re lovely people and all, I met them last night when they came over from dinner. But it was like dinner with Wallace and Wendolene. They didn’t ask for Wensleydale or anything but I was expecting it, they sounded exactly like them. The funniest statement of the meal though came when Wendolene asked my mum as she was pouring the Shloer did she make it herself! Have they never seen it in Yorkshire? Is it not a staple of Christmas there? But most obviously, did she not see the big massive label that would rule out any home brewing of the fizzy apple juice?!

If know me at all, you’ll know I hate noises eating noises and the like. People hitting cutlery off their teeth, slurping drinks, and generally eating like a donkey grates on me like nails down a blackboard to other people. A few seconds into the dinner last night I turned to see what the noise was to discover it was Wallace sniffing. He carried this on every other second of the entire meal. And where was Sniffy Snifferson sitting? Right beside me of course. Believe me when I say I could not get to a snuffle free environment quick enough, and I internally cursed my mother when she presented the dessert. Food fans will be pleased to hear that I endured the intolerable sniffing for a further five minutes to enjoy the best apple pie in the world…ever.

In other news I got a new phone. Last year I didn’t have much choice in turning my back on Nokia, this year I did and I switched to Sony Ericcson. I feel like I am cheating on Nokia, really I do. There are a few annoying things about it, like I can’t seem to change the left and right menu buttons, I press the wrong buttons all the time, ‘bt’ comes up before ‘at’ and most worrying for y’all, I may have to take photos with the phone sideways which will give away the game for the old surreptitious photos.


I can’t decide if I like the red or not. Technically I can still return it if I don’t like it so all is not lost for Nokia.

But I do think it’s relatively easy to use, it’s got a good clear screen, and how sad am I – like the font. Ruth has also shown me the cool animation things you can add to messages. So all things considered it’s not bad.

One thing though, in predictive text why does ‘nun’ come up before ‘mum’ and ‘sacred’ before ‘scared’? Why would the inventor of predictive text put those first? I can’t think of one instance in my life when I have needed to write ‘nun’ in a hurry. Nope, not one. Neither can I think of a sentence where I would put 'sacred'. ‘Holy’ maybe, but not 'sacred'. Also ‘monk’ isn’t a known word? Seems a little unfair to me. If I were a monk I’d be writing a sternly worded letter. Maybe I’ll petition on their behalf. Or then again, maybe I'll not.

Blogging on the Sabbath

I feel I have neglected my blog the past couple of days. I really haven’t meant to, it just worked out like that. For a start I have been busy, I have a job, I have friends, I have a social life, in short I have a life, but here I am, making an effort on a Sunday night to update you on my life once again.

So my second weekend home was good. It started with a trip down memory lane with a night out with the girls from my group of friends from school. Some of them I haven’t seen the day we got our A Level results, and some of them I see weekly. It was strange to look around the table and see the same faces that I saw everyday for about six years. At the start of the night I thought everyone had changed so much, more grown up looking and more life experience under their belt, but it only took about an hour before I realised that everyone was pretty much the same, except we all looked more grown up and had more life experience.

On Saturday morning Karen Next Door and I went to our photography class. Oh lordy, what have I done? We saw the coursework of someone from last year, this is not some sort of dossy course we’re on. But I am looking forward to actually understanding what it is we have to do and getting cracking on taking some photos.

Saturday night I went up and saw Lynsey’s new apartment. This only proved to make me want to move out of the parental home even more. I love my parents, really I do but it’s time. Plus this way I wouldn’t have to actually tidy my room, I could just start over with a new one. Plusses all round then.

Today I went to church, like the good Christian girl I am. Then I went to Tescos like the heathen I am (not). I got stuff for my lunches this week. Ne pas de money so having things in the office will avoid buying sandwiches from Centra, although I’m still hopeful of the odd Globe trip.

This afternoon I successfully managed to avoid tidying my stuff from America and now I am about to go out to YF. And I’m late as usual. Told you I hadn't changed. Although I do look more grown up and I have more life experience.