Tweet tweet

I love Twitter. It's so quick and easy to use. You only get 140 characters so it can be quite a challenge to fit what you want in. I have been known to continue on a thought on subsequent tweets. Well, like my bio says, when something's funny, life is too short not to laugh at it.

I also like reading tweets. I like the people I follow. Some are people I know, most are 'celebs'. I am in charge of who I follow. I've been following Alan Sugar for a while. Mostly because there was a bet he had with Piers Morgan, but his tweets became so full of hate I had to stop. One of my favourite celebs is Dave Gorman, he is brilliantly clever. I could probably stop following both Barack Obama and Stephen Fry, but that might be rude because both the President of the USA and the President of Twitter follow me. Awk-ward.

Of late I have noticed myself rolling my eyes at two particular kinds of tweet and I think here is a safe place to rant about them. I don't know why, but I suppose writing it on Twitter might be a little bit rude. (Please don't be offended if I follow you on Twitter and these are something you have done. This has taken months of build up.)

1. Something + something = something else.
Yawn. If you're going to get mathematical at least make it a more complex sum than something a P2 would do. You could subtract something. Or for real A Level maths tweets why not introduce a bit of < or >? Or how's about a ≠. Go on, if you're a P2 maths tweeter, branch out and put a little thought into your maths based tweets.

2. Something something. That is all.
You just wasted 12 whole characters telling me 'that is all' when one full stop already told me that was the end of your thought.

And just while I'm ranting, can we get some sort of ruling on smileys that go the wrong way. The eyes should clearly be first, thus ;) I think people who do the smiley part first s: should have their face made to stay that way.

So that's Christmas for another year

After a disappointing November, December hasn't turned out to be any better in terms of blogging. I thought I had it cracked, I had things I wanted to blog about and nothing. No blogs happened. Much like writing my dissertation. I'm looking forward to 2011 because (hopefully) this thing will be done. Although it's hard to imagine that right now. Agh. Motivation, where for art thou?

So today I give you my new year's resolutions:

1. Write

This applies to both here and dissertation. I like writing my blog, I should write more often. I like learning stuff, I should write about what I'm finding out.

I said resolutions plural, but I can really only think of this one. I'm not going to start crazy projects (let's not mention the dismal end to project 365. I liked it, but blogger don't really make photos easy anymore.

Right, if you'll excuse me I must go and do something constructive to my dissertation. Well, the best resolutions are the ones you start immediately.

Surely the reason the internet was invented

I don't quite know how they did this and managed to get all the people they did, but this is hilarious! I don't want to spoil it too much for you, but any video that unites Glenn Close and Gordon Kaye of 'Allo 'Allo fame is worth a watch.



Just when you think it can't get any odder, it does.

There is another one where they sing 'We are the world'. But I prefer this one, for its we-all-sing-a-line-but-we're-together-on-this-beach quality. Very X Factor charity single. If I was wearing a hat, I'd take it off to Gylne Tider. Whoever you are.

Knee news

I can't believe in my November update post I forgot about my knee. It turns out that I was very lucky I wasn't sportier earlier in my life as I would have had much more serious problems than I do now. It turns out a lot of things were conspiring against me, I have crap feet, rubbish hips (I'm as surprised as anyone with this news about my well cultivated hips) and, to quote the physio 'a tiny little patella'. That's the medical term for the knee cap, don't you know. No wonder it was so sore, it was just wobbling about in there.

One doctor was very surprised I've never dislocated my knee before and made it sound like I was about to walk out of the surgery and it would happen at any moment. The physio also told me I had the same thing as Rafa Nadal! Who would have thunk me and Rafa would have something in common?! I have to tape my knee just like he does when I do sport now.

I'd have been less impressed if Big Head Federer had this injury.

It's nice to know why it's so painful, but I guess that's it now, I'm old. It's all downhill from here on in.

November

Where has the month gone? I was very close to not actually blogging at all this month and I think that that would have been the first time that would have ever happened. But fear not, here I am with a last minute attempt at saving November. So what have I been up to since last I wrote. Well let's see shall we?

Feet Up Friday
A couple of months ago Greg James was in Belfast for Feet Up Friday. It was the day after my birthday and I was going out that night so I didn't want to apply because it'd be too hard to organise it all, you know, because obviously I'd get to go. So when Greg announced at the end of October that they were doing another one out and about, I thought there was no way it'd be Belfast again. But it was. And I applied. Next thing was I got a a phonecall from Radio 1. Ha! They always say to be really enthusiastic and interesting on the phone, so I did my best. Apparently it worked! So off my lucky friends and I trotted to Blackstaff studios and met Greg James, Producer Neil, Producer Sarah, and Scouting for Girls.

Also there, although I didn't get to actually meet him was Hugo Duncan! Oh glory. I wrote about him on my web form, you know, to make mine stand out, rather than writing the usual sort of stuff. I might have actually said he was 'a complete Northern Ireland legend'. Well, it worked didn't it.

Before I even got into the studio though I got to meet a Northern Ireland legend. Paul Clarke!

He was as surprised to meet me as Clare Balding was.

Greg plays the tunes, Producer Neil scratches his head.

Scouting For Girls were brilliant! They played about 2 metres in front of us, singing a medley of their songs and made one up about Belfast.

Writing
Not my blog evidently, but I have been working on my dissertation. Next.

Cooing over my niece and nephew
They're incredibly cute. John is very funny now and Kiera is still gorgeous. But other people's kid stories can be dull, I know that so I won't bore you with detail of how John gave my mandarin to Nanna to peel for because earlier she had peeled his. Ah, we laughed! But dull to you. Next

Baking

I like baking. This past while I have made banana bread, banana and chocolate bread, banana cake (there were a lot of bananas about to be thrown out), brownies, and most excitingly of all, a birthday cake for Karen Marathon.

I thought I would try to base it one of her pieces of art and this was my best attempt. (The cake is on the right, just in case you couldn't tell.)

Boyce Avenue
I went to see them in Belfast. It was a good night and they were really good live! If you haven't heard of them you should You Tube some of their stuff. For convenience I'll include my favourite cover they do.



Funniest thing of the night was the dry bar.

Well it's hard to take a Mi Wadi bar seriously.