Playing Catchup

Oooh I am soooo punny today that it hurts...

Obviously - and due to the complaints I've been getting - 0ddness hadn't been updated for six days.  Shocking, I know, but I did have things to blog, I just never got around to doing it.

For one, I've been staying with Kellie over the weekend, and Thursday I was with her too for her dentist appointment.  Yes folks, someone more of a coward than me.  Before then, I was with Ruth on Wednesday, Kellie again on Tuesday, and...

You know, I'm not actually sure what I did on Monday.

This weekend just gone was really nice once again.  Friday we spent the evening at her local with her friend Kerry and her family...  We weren't there all night, as the kids were with us too (her kids of course, mine were sold off to a rich family in need of chimney sweeps) but had a great time.

And me as ever forced myself to talk and be social, which didn't actually take that long to get into.  I was greeting strangers, talking about pretty much everything, answering questions about me and my life... Oh, and me and Kerrys geek of a brother talked WoW for a while too ;)

Saturday day time we had a wander around town, shipped her kids off, chilled out (watched a chick flick!) and then got ready to go out for the evening.  All afternoon the girls were debating what to do, while me and Kerrys other half, Paul, pretty much nodded and agreed.  We opted for the cinema, and went to see Hancock which was excellent.  Think a fair amount of people didn't like it, but I loved it.

Up yours movie critics.

Sunday was spent lounging in bed till close to midday - watching politicians on the TV get asked a simple Yes/No question, and give a five minute rambling speech that didn't actually answer the question.  Then we showered, shopped, pissed around in the kitchen till I had to come home...

And here we have another pissy moan about the bus company.  As it happens, the last bus I keep missing - they changed their timetables a week or two back - but failed to update the time table at the bus stop.  AND the time table on their own web page.  The drivers were more pissed off than I was thanks to all the complaints they are getting!  However, after a bit of digging, I found a new timetable on a third party website.

So thanks First Bus.  You suck.

Anyhoo.  With Jaysen finishing school tomorrow, the summer holidays are so close I can almost taste them.  And much to the chargrin of the population of Canvey, I am spending the first week of the holidays there. 

Jo and myself have been chatting about the kids and the holidays, and we've worked out we'll pretty much be having both kids together at the same time for a week each.  So, on my way home yesterday I stole both monsters, and Jo will get them back next Sunday.  Easy Peasy.

Except.

Well, this week is going to be AAAAAALL over the place.  Jaysen is at school tomorrow.  Then once I have everything sorted and together, I'll be heading to Kellies.

With Jaysen and Tam
And a suitcase.
And a buggy.
And Sally Dog.

All on the bus.  Yes folks, I intend to get all THAT on a bus, AND to not have any problems.

Wednesday, Kellies kids are at school for their last day, so we'll be out an about.  Then in the evening we're at a kids birthday party.  Then we have to keep them occupied till Saturday - at which point, Kellies oldest is off to his dads, then my lot, plus Kellie and her little one, all my shite - BACK to Basildon, to mine, dumped off here, sorted out, then off to Gemmas for Zóés naming thingiemajigg... 

Yeah, it's exhausting me just thinking about it!

But that's not all - I've got to get the house as tidy as can be in the next fourteen nanoseconds as tomorrow... BUSY!  Up and out, school run, then to Sarahs to... Shave her dog.  Then it's into town and shopping with Ruth.  Then home, with as much clearing up and sorting out as possible before the school run...  THEN to Kellies...

Wish me luck on that...

And lastly, please raise your middle finger in salute to my local council for royally bending me over and inserting things into deep dark holes.  Thanks to them being the most unsympathetic people sitting behind desks, I've not got to sell a couple of kidneys. 

Thanks guys!

Lé Weekend

I had an extremely great weekend. The kids had a great weekend. We chilled out Friday, Saturday was manic with football practice, walks to the beach (and subsequent wet kids), walks home, then Kellies best friends kids were over for the night. Kellies eldest boy went to his dads, which put the household on two adults, my two kids, one of Kellies kids, and three of Kerrys kids. 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 10 years of age.

Plus me and Kellie.

Still, they had a great time, were fed, staggered bedtimes starting from eight in the evening ranging till ten. Then it was adult time time for us to chill out. I wrote "adult time" then realised how it sounded... Ya damn pervs!

Sunday morning was even more amusing - six kids plus me and Kellie to get sorted, all needing food, then a rather "Had One Too Many Last Night" best friend needing a coffee. I was all sweetness and light and didn't make any loud noises or anything... *ahem*

Then it was off to the fair with everyone, meeting family and friends and extended family, food, drink... Oh and a close shave with Sun burn ;)

As much as we hated to go, we left around five ish, and went straight to Jo's parents so I could drop off an exhausted Tam, then me and the boy had the grand plan of walking home.

Half seven we got in last night.

Tiiiiired much!

Still, I am chalking this weekend up to "Full of YAY!" and hobbling the boy to school...

The Posh Palace

Having finally returned to the degenerated town of Basildon, I am had my feet up for a little bit, kids are put to bed and I've stolen some milkshake. My nerves are now settled enough to discuss the goings on of the weekend.

The journey up there was a breeze. What should have taken two and a half hours took just under two thanks to the wonders of trains being waiting for me as I arrived. Result. Of course, while heading up there and getting a text from Mand asking "where are you now" the only reply I could give at that moment, considering I was on a train in a strange county, not near anything resembling a village or town, with no one around me was "on the train".

I have been told there are aspects of the weekend I am not allowed to talk about, but nodding to someone and actually obeying... Well, different things really aren't they.

The biggest hamper on me personally this weekend was the Germs. Yes, that cold I shook off re-emerged Friday morning and by the afternoon I was all croaky and crap, something that got worse over the weekend. My manly voice was replaced by the sound of a lad who's voice is breaking.

First hurdle was meeting the hosts and their wee one who is a mini dynamo. That was fairly easy as I've spoken to Mand on messenger and the phone, and Jack on the phone a couple of times.

That evening, we drank fake Jack Daniels and played computer games. Which, I hasten to add, caused me to be beaten by a girl. However, just admitting that makes me even more manly. Some time between the hours of 2-3am we all started yawning and called it a night. I hit the sofa, staring at Mands dirty hole.

Oops, I wasn't supposed to mention that..

Then the following day came more people. The first bring Jennifer who I'd never met. She, like me, was a Southerner so we were the "Common as Muck" brigade with constant smutty comments and taking the piss. A while later Lynzy and Bex turned up, a pair of northerners that sounded very, er, northern ;) So us southern sorts too the piss out of them for a while too.

With the troop assembled and the wee one shifted off to a grandmothers house, we started to drink, have a lot of laughs and drink some more. We hit the pub. We drank more. Four of us hit a club while the other two went back to the house. We continued to drink and things started getting very fuzzy and blurry. At one point I thought I was having some sort of seizure, but lo-and-behold, I was on a dancefloor. Bex is only tiny, but she MADE me do it.

Plus I was too pissed to care at that point ;)

We got a cab back to the Palace a little later on, and ordered delivered fast food. Burgers, Kebabs, Chips - that kinda thing. I remember eating it, I remember dropping it Mayo-Side-Down onto my mobile phone... The next thing I know, it's half seven and I am laying on a two-seat sofa with a duvet thrown over me. One girl asleep on the mattress on the floor, another on the big sofa.

I did the Post Heavy Night Of Drinking checks.

- Still fully clothed: Check
- No spill/splash marks on chest or legs: Check
- No lumps of food in nose: Check
- No hangover: Check
- No unexplained injuries: Check
- Check calls made on the mobile: Check
- Check messages sent on the mobile: Check

Being that I was dressed, albeit in last nights attire, I was able to sit up and not make a bigger fool of myself. No sign of sick, the world was completely stable and sounds didn't bother me - though Lynzy's phone with Jim Carey screaming "Alrighty Then!" made me defecate myself. Still, I had no Booze Bruises, and hadn't done anything silly on my phone. Except make it smell like a cheeseburger.

And that was this morning. We gradually got ready, some taking longer than others to do so. The Northern Girlies had to shift off early ish for their train back to the land of Coal Mines, Bitter and Whippets, so we said bye bye to them, had lunch, then me and Jennifer decided to head off too - we went together as we both needed London, so we continued our reign of terror down the spine of the country (well, more it's spleen).

Being as we got on the wrong carriage and got sick of trying to walk the length of the train against the flow of people, Jennifer decided we'd be EXTRA classy, and she paid for us to be upgraded to First Class. Wot wot wot. Two common-as-much sorts sitting in the first class carriage of a Sheffield-to-London train.

Of course, I think our laughing and less-than-quiet topics of conversation got us some funny looks, but still ;)

Once we arrived in London The St Pancras International, we strutted through the very posh area, browsing and perusing the stores till we had to part ways, and from that point on, the train system fought against me. There were massive delays and issues on the Circle Line - I think because of some party/protest thingie the night before, but the train was taking forever. In the end, I got off four stops early and walked for half an hour through London to where I needed to be.

Silly Underground.

Once I got to Fenchurch Street, it was clear sailing through again.

Got to Basildon, kidnapped the kids, walked home with them, got in, put away laundry, put on wash load from the weekend, put kids to bed, and now here I sit. Knackered.

Of course, being so tired, I am struggling to remember a lot of what went on, in what order. There are things I've been told I have to post about though...

- I did in fact lose on a computer game to a girl.
- I flaked out first in the house Saturday night.
- End famine in Africa by giving them all vibrators so they are having fun and not breeding, and thus not creating a strain on the food supplies.
- Mand does have a large dirty hole. That we all saw. And it's a bit flaky around the edges.
- Mand is better than me because she has a license, but kept having panic attacks while driving. And stalling.
- The first drink spillage was Mand, caused by her trying to hide from people while she SMOKED. And she kept stealing peoples cigs to smoke during the evening.
- Someone needed to re-dye their hair quite seriously
- Mand and Bex had a slight fight against gravity on the dancefloor. They lost.
- Jenny has one topic of conversation. Sex. It's all good.
- Bex decided to buy an airbed. No pump. Guess which spanner ended up doing the majority. I still think the previous attemptees didn't open the valve though.
- Me and Jenny being left at the Palace on our own. Long Distance phone calls, Pay Per View orders, rummaging through underwear draws.
- Lynzy trying to convince me that her land of Coal Mines and Bitter isn't quite true, and that they don't always make up words. Bex then asked if "anyone wants owt" Owt?!
- I got to meet the Posh Parents in the new family Posh Pub. The Fox and Hounds, Bedford. Very nice (See that, free advertising ;)
- Mand needs to clean up her bedroom.
- My laptop didn't get fixed. Have to phone Fujitsu-Seimens (*snigger*) and hope it's under warrenty.

I have a sneaking suspicion that others will be back here to correct me on my notes, and prolly add some to the list. But suffice to say, I had a bloody great time, everyone was most excellent and great fun, and can't wait for it to happen again!

Big thank you to Mand and Jack for putting up with me, plying with food and drink, and having a great time!

Re-Emerging

This evening, I had an epiphany. A word which I spelled correctly the first time. Go Me.

Anyway, I was sitting, and thinking about today. I have been, shall we say, a wee-bit nervous about going away this weekend. And while sitting here watching the fish, listening to music while I chill out and relax, it sort of came to me in a big fat lump of "snap out of it you tard".

This isn't me. I'm not a nervous, quaking-in-my-boots kinda guy.

Back in the day, when I hung wit me homies While I was growing up as a teenager, I used to go out randomly all the time. I used to chat to people I didn't know. I used to go places that were new to me. I was the only person out of all my friends that played around on the internet so there was no online-planning skills. There was certainly no such thing as teens with mobile phones, so no texting to chat. Once you left the house, it was either know what you were doing, or get to a phone box. Assuming, of course, you had the brain cell power to write down a friends phone number, and assuming of course, that friend was in.

I used to travel to Kent every week for about three years, on my own time, to see friends, live roleplay, hang out... Sometimes a person I barely knew would get me in his car and drive me there. We'd chat and talk about nothing. Sometimes Jay would come along, sometime Gemma, Pogo, or whoever. More often than not, I was on my own with just my mix tape for company.

I would go to the occasional party. I would very occasionally go from one party and crash another. I'd go to a club or a pub. I'd chat to people there, at the bar. I'd chat to people at the burger/kebab van. I was independent.

And I have NO idea what changed. I can't even place it, so have to think that over the years of living with Jo and having her talk to people, ask questions and what-not, I think I slowly stepped back into the shadows a bit. Now, don't take this that I am blaming her. I'm not, not even a little bit. It was one of those things, and soon, I loathed groups of people, hated meeting strangers, hated social situations, new places and everything else. After my back "went" I hated going out, hated socialising even more, hated talking about me... Working for Telewest killed my will to live, being stuck in a call center for 12 hours a day, five or six days a week. Even today, I can't answer the phone if I don't know who's calling for fear of, I don't know, something...

When Jo left, I decided I needed to pull my socks up a bit. Before, I couldn't walk into a restaurant and order, couldn't get drinks at a bar, couldn't ask a shop worker where something was. But over the last few weeks, not only have I HAD to do it, but I've been forcing myself to do it. Ordering my food AND whoever I was with their food. I've chatted and bantered with the people running tills, shared a laugh with a barman, and quite often, if someone near me sneezes, I'll say bless you.

OK, it might sound completely stupid to you, but trust me, it's a big thing for me.

Now, back to the point at hand. I have been completely, utterly and fully dreading this weekend. I intentionally booked my train tickets well in advanced so I couldn't use that gem to cop out. But it didn't help with the fear factor. No, this was going to happen, even if it killed me.

My issue was stupid to a "normal" person, but a massive deal to an idiot like me. I'm going to a place I've never been before. I'm going to meet someone I've only chatted to online, plus her hubby that I've hardly spoken with. On top of that, they also have three others coming to stay with them (plus me!), people I hardly know. PLUS we're all going out Saturday night to a bar that will be full of people.

I've been screwing about it, more so the last few days.

But, while watching my fish, I decided enough was enough. No, actually, as I sent in a message to someone earlier...

"Fuck this nervous shit. Fuck it in the stupid arse. I'm better than this. I used to travel all the time, talk to strangers all the time, go to the pub and hang with people I hardly knew. Balls to it. All of it. I can bloody do this. AGAIN. This isn't a New Dan, this is the ORIGINAL Dan!"

As I say, this might sound completely stupid to most of you, but those that know me in person know I am really shy and nervous a lot of the time. But Internet Dan and Personal Dan ARE the same person - just the Internet version of me is who I really am.

Who knows, once I'm completely out of my shell, I can work on the other shit that I deal with! Yes, like Shrek, I'm like an Onion...

For The Enquiring Minds...

Those of you that have poked me and asked questions on Facebook, yes, it is true. I went out last night. I had beer. I played pool. I had a bloody good time.

This morning I had text messages, three emails and a couple of MSN messages asking the where/what/who/why series of questions. I never knew people we so interested in my social life! Still, last night, I was out with my friend Ruth, her friend Sarah (who is very short), her husband Mark (who is very tall), and their friend Kevin (who I met for the first time). We decided to pile into the local Pool Hall that has been there for years, but none of us - all being Basildoids - had ever been in there.

We all joined up (and got swanky membership cards!) and booked a couple of tables for a few hours. Someone usually milled around drinking while the other four played, and then we kinds switched so all had a laugh and drinkies. No one was keeping scores, though I did win a couple of times, and generally much mirth was had.

It's the first time in a long time that I have been out, and the first time as a singleton. Of course, the main question I was asked was "Did you pull" which is a Basildonian way of says "Did you meet a nice young lady and discuss life over drinks" or there about.

No, I did not.

Not that I would tell if I did, but none the less...

After playing pool and drinking beer, we decided the next course of action, of course, was greasy food. Cheese Burgers, Kebabs, Chips. All good stuff. We walked and scoffed and laughed and joked back to Sarahs, where the coffee was put on, and we sat chilling out, laughing with Sarahs kids babysitter and playing with the slightly mental dog that eats mobile phones.

*shudder*

Then it was home for us - being that everyone else is old they wanted to sleep - so I got in, had a cheese sandwich (I had a hankering!), pissed around on Facebook, then went to bed. Only to get up at 8am.

No, I didn't have a hang over.

At midday I decided that as the weather was going to be crap this weekend, I would clear up the front garden. Picking up leaves and rubbish soon became weeding, mowing the lawn, trimming bushes, sweeping the porch, banging the doormat, putting some compost in plantpots and being a busy boy.

Now, of course, I am knackered. So I think it's Warcraft for the rest of the day!

But only because I cleaned up the house yesterday ;)

New Year Roundup

First post of 2008. Go me ;) Only sixteen hours into the day - think I need a prize or something.

So, I've been contemplating what to write for this post, but I figured I wouldn't go into too much detail until certain other "things" have been covered elsewhere. That is, I'm not going to spoil someone elses story. You will get the gist of it from my points here.

And in order to protect the innocent, I've not actually named-names of the guilty, bad or anything else. Because, you know, blackmail is sooo much better ;)

• Me, Jo, Steve, Amber and Pete got ready at ours last night. Fat Pirate, Wench, Skinny Pirate, St Trinian's, and Cross Dresser respectively.
• We got a little "lubricated" before we left.
• The pirates got more strange looks than the man in a dress-wearing-large-boots-and-fake-tattoos.
• We got to the party around 9pm.
• Aside from our host, Jim, it was quickly apparent that Me, Amber and Steve were the only people over 30.
• It was also apparent that our group of five were the oldest there period.
• Aside from our host, there were about 25 people at the party. A fat pirate, a skinny pirate, a cross-dressed-man, a monk, a clown, a gangster and a guy in his pants ("The Rock" apparently) making up the entire male population.
• The pole dancing kit was erected by three drunk guys.
• My words of "We should video this because it'll come down and hurt someone and be a YouTube classic" echoed around us as a girl span, the pole collapsed, and smacked a girl right in the face.
• I laughed.
• We were well tipsy by midnight and everyone kissed everyone else.
• "The Rock" received a near-perfect Atomic Wedgie, and was perfectly exposed to everyone.
• The Wenchs boobs kept slipping free.
• The School girls bum kept being flashed.
• Cleopatra fell asleep in the corner.
• Someone dared someone else to drink a copious amount of vodka in one hit.
• Several minutes later, the "someone" was very very drunk.
• It took two pirates to walk someone home - a fifteen minute journey took almost 45 minutes.
• Someone ended up very very poorly.
• A patrolling police car pulled up, and didn't ask about the poorly someone, but asked where our parrot was, and what dock our pirate ship was in!
  
• I sat up till nearly 0430 this morning making sure someone was OK.
• By now I was fully sober.
• I dozed off in bed around six-ish, and was up again just after nine this morning.

So, as you can tell, an amusing party, some amusing costumes, and lots of laughter/drinking/fun. The falling girl was fine, the clobbered girl probably has a black eye this morning - it started going last night before we left. I only had a few drinks, no where near enough to get me drunk. "The Rock" was our old roommate, Dave. He looked most amusing in his pants, but the wedgie nearly cut him in two.

Despite being firmly entangled in her corset, Jo's boobs kept making bids for freedom, much to my pleasure. Added to this, Amber failed to take into account the shortness of her skirt, coupled with where her stockings ended. Every time she leaned or bent, someone got an eyeful.

My costume just made me feel ick - especially as the bottom-half of it were, and I hate to admit this - but they were jogging bottoms, an article of clothing I loath with such passion, I very very nearly refused to go out. Oh, you fellows across the Atlantic known them as sweat pants. Blergh.

So, here we are, January 1st 2008. Steve left for home, and I set to clearing up the house a bit - putting stuff away and pottering around when the phone rings. Another "Someone to remain nameless" had a computer problem. Yes, already. So I spent an hour on the phone, giving my not-so-expert assistance. An hour later, he calls back - still broken. He speaks to PC World customer support, and bearing in mind the warrenty ran out last month, AND bear in mind he cancelled the additional support thing because he has me, I wasn't sure what he expected. They told him to talk to the tech guys but it was up to the manager to offer any sympathy or whatever.

So, we head to PCWorld where we explain everything. They say "Hard Drive failure" so he gets a new hard drive. When deciding what he wanted in regards to capacity, e asked what size MY hard drive was. "250Gb" I reply. So he gets the 400Gb, discounted by the manager to £64.

We go back to his. I open the computer, swap the drives, and unamazingly, the same error. So I go through everything and place the error to be either RAM or the Motherboard - I'd stripped everything else out. Still nothing, so BACK to PCworld. Guy we spoke to before was "unavailable" so explained again to a different guy, who trys to tell me the error is my fault as I am doing the install wrong. Riiiight, a computer crashed, gives an error message, and the new drive gives the SAME error because of - get this - how I put the windows disc in.

He offers the only other solution - to book the computer in for diagnosis (£70), to have the Restore stuff put on the system (£30), and if it happens to be the RAM, the memory upgraded (£20 PLUS the cost of the memory itself).

So now I am home, trying to chill out, tired and hurting like an absolute bitch. Happy New Year indeed :D

So how was YOUR New Year celebrations, and what's your impression of 2008 so far?

I Made It

I Made It?

A few years ago, a friend of mine started blogging. Her blog was a general day-to-day journal of stuff; thoughts, rants, humour, news stories - whatever sparked her interest, she'd blog it. I started reading it and a couple of her friends blogs, and thought "I can do that!"

So, using some other platform, I started blogging. I can't actually remember what my blog was called, but I do remember wrestling to hell and back with the layout code. I chatted and ranted, and had a couple of readers.

And then I forgot about it.

Fast forward a while longer, and I decided I actually DID enjoy it, and even though I couldn't remember anything about my other blog, I set up a new one on BlogSpot.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, brings me back to the point of this post.

This is post number 1000.

I've hit four-digit post numbers. Now, granted, some of my posts have been nothing more than a few lines or a picture or whatever, but never did I think "This will bump my post count" or "I'll post it for the sake of posting". And I can honestly say - even with the long hiatus I took after losing Bethany, this blog has been a lifeline to me. I don't know what I'd have done instead of blogging, but what if's and maybes - I tend to ignore them.

And in 1000 posts in almost four years, I've covered plenty, from the emotions of a newborn and losing Bethy, ranting about people or the weather, or about people moaning about the weather, the kids escapades, stupidity, bravery, injuries (personal and otherwise)... I think I've covered a lot. Even my writing style as changed - looking at the first posts from December 2003, I was writing in all lower-case.

Since I started blogging, so much in my life has changed, from family, employment, sickness... And over that time, the blog in it's many incarnations has been viewed, as of this morning over 43,000 times. I didn't get my first comment until August of 2004 - I think back then I had a hardcore reader base of about three people.

So, to you, my readers - Old and New alike - I thank you. Thanks for your visit today, thanks for reading, and thanks for being out there letting me know I blog for a reason - to entertain you. If you weren't out there, I'd probably still blog, but not as often. And to all my fellow bloggers, keep up the good work.

As an aside, and as everyone loves comments (especially me!), post in the comments section, say Hi, let me know how long you've been reading, and if there's anything you'd like to see!

Once again, thank you for being there for me.

-Dan

A Solution!

It can be said, that some of mans best ideas come from a night of drinking. Granted, some of mans worst ideas probably stem from the same place, but in general, you can bet that drinking will usually cause some kind of brainwave. How to make a light sabre, how to measure the speed of dark, why certain words like "flammable" and "inflammable" mean the same things.

Well, after spending the better part of ten hours drinking, I have a solution. You see, over here in Jolly Old Britain, the papers are always on about the dangers of Binge Drinking. It leads to fights and assaults, not to mention the classic "Sleeping Outside the Pub" and "Passed Out in the Middle of the Road" assaults. Well, I can cure that.

Stop making everyone try to lose weight! No, bare with me on this. You see, I am what you might call a bit large. You might also call me Moby Dick. Er, no, let me rephrase that. I could lay on a beach, and Greenpeace would turn up, throw wet towels over me, and try to roll me into the ocean.

So, back to reasoning. Last night, I started drinking at about half eight. I started on the beer, and worked up through the beverages available. After beer, me and Ruth at two bowls of alcoholic jelly. Actually, they were very alcoholic jellies. Which we started eating, then doing shots, then mixing. After that, I had some more beers, and then went onto the vodka and red bull, the last of which I finished at 4am.

Ruth and Jo were giggling by about 11pm, and Paul was a bit worse-for-wear by about 1am. But me? I got to tingly (at around midnight) and tipsy (at about 2am), but all in all, I was making the drinks, getting the towels for the constant "Ruth kicked over her drink again", making coffee, tidying up the empties...

We walked home, and I expected the fresh air to kick the booze into action, but to no avail. Flopped into bed at half four, got up at eight. No hangover, no delicate tummy, not suffering from Beer-Monkey-Breath, nor suffering from the Sahara Throat. Just got up like any other day.

And I am certain it's because I am a fatty.

So, back to the plan at hand. Stop the healthy eating campaigns, stop serving fruit in MacDonalds (I mean, you eat in there, you KNOW it's bad for you!), and stop advertising healthy oils to cook with. That way, the binge drinkers will spend all their money, kick over a few drinks, but go home without picking fights with lamp posts...

And yes, we had a great night :)

Head From Hell

Now, yesterday can officially be put down as a Really Shit Day. It wasn't bad enough that every part of my body hurt, but around lunchtime, I started smelling things. Icky, nasty things that no one else could smell.

I had a migraine coming.

Now, sometimes it gets to the stinky-smell stage and hangs there or fades. However, yesterday, it rapidly went from stinky-smell stage into headache stage. And it built rapidly from there. By four in the afternoon, everything was too bright, everything was too loud, and I felt like shit.

Skip forwards to 11pm, and I'm laying in bed, headache still building, nothing touching it, and it progressed to the "being sick2 stage which I hate. After half an hour of being ill, I somehow stumbled into the lounge and collapsed on the sofa. No pillow, no covers, I just flaked. 6am, I wake up, no headache, back screaming, and made it back into bed.

Half one this afternoon I manage to wake up and get up. No headache, just lots of back and leg pain. But that I can deal with - I'm back on the sofa, armed with laptop and kids TV. I've even put the webcam on!

Thankfully, it was last night I felt rough - tonight, Jo's mum has the kids, and we're going to Ruths to have a boozey evening.

Yay to be adults for a change!

Edit: I think I'm being a bit thick, but I can't get my webcam to connect to the web on my main PC, so no cam :)

Oopsie

So, the journey here wasn't too bad - most connections were straight there and no faffing, no delays. There was a security alert one station from us, but it was fine and dandy and nothing came of it.

We spent the afternoon sitting and chatting and having a real laugh and talking about everything. We had a near-perfect lasagne for dinner and carried on chatting into the night. Rolling onto 9pm my head felt funny, then crappy, then bad, then just plain awful. Finally, just after 11pm it developed into a full-blown migraine. It was awful, and I ended up having an early night, being a complete party pooper.

Booo!

Anyways, I crawled out of bed just after five and have sat here playing WoW with them! And - shock horror - Jo is up before 8am!

Hell Hath Frozen Over!

Commence Radio Silence

In the next millennium hour we'll be leaving to go stay elsewhere in the country. Everything is pretty much sorted; Tam and Chuck Norris have gone to Jo's parents, Jaysen is at school (and hopefully will be collected too!), the dogs are just getting a bath before going to stay with Cel (who also drew the two-vists-a-day short straw for the cats!), and the last of my clothes are drying off now.

Yes, I am still doing laundry. I meant to put it on to dry last night, but forgot all about it, so have a few more items drying as I type this. And then, it's off to the train and away we go.

There appears to be little - if any - delays on any of our lines (bonus), but of course, going through Waterloo, we do have to go directly past the looming form of Guys Tower. The childrens ward has moved from there, but the memories of the past are burnt in there. Phone is loaded with loud shouty songs, books are packed, so hopefully I'll be able to ignore it.

Pfft who the hell am I kidding.

But anyway, I will probably perform some photo-blogging while away with the phone, or if I can steal time on the computers, then I will post, otherwise, we're gone till Sunday!

Have a good weekend all!

Refreshed

I managed to escape the house for a few hours last night. Tam has been shipped off to stay with Jo's mum till tomorrow, Jaysen was put to bed early, and Jo went to bed with pain killers and a DVD, so I went to a friends and managed to chill out some.

Granted, the Friday Night TV she and her daughter were watching was dire, but then I find that's true of most TV - which is why I don't watch it. Ever. It was nice to have a break, not look at something and think "Dammit, I need to clear that up/wash that/tidy that" or whatever. A change of scenery for a few hours.

I got in just after 11pm, checked my mail, checked some blogs, went to bed, and woke up just before 9am. The sun is out (though for how long, I have NO idea!), Jaysen is laying on the sofa, and Jo is still snoring. I'm stress free and ready for another day. Well, until someone phones with a problem, or someone wants me to do something, or the house collapses under the weight of dust.

I didn't get to sleep till late - while I got in relatively early (I've been known to stay out till 3 or 4am some nights!) I sat at my computer watching - of all things - 9/11 conspiracy stuff. I'm not sure why though, but it held me in my chair till I realised "Hmmm, 1.15am - better get some sleep!". I can't decide if they are A) Talking a load of rubbish, B) Right on the money, or C) Just using the existing evidence but using it their own way. Still, very interesting stuff.

Anyways, time to potter around the kitchen and clear up a bit. No doubt I shall return.

Being Social

So last night we went out, and I mean we went out, not going to a friends house for beers. Jo dressed herself up and looked stunning as ever - I threw on jeans and a shirt and looked like Dan. As ever.

Anyways, we went to see a Bon Jovi tribute band, and aside from starting a bit later than we expected, they kicked bottom. The Bon Jovi Experience - lead singer looked a bit like Jon Bon Jovi himself and certainly sounded like him. The band were great as well, and we had a really great time.

Numbers let them down though - Sunday night just seems like an odd night to go out rocking - and even though the venue could hold a couple of hundred, there were about 30 people there. Didn't stop them though.

Of course, I'm currently deaf in the right ear... Occupational Hazard of a clubber ;)

Jaysen stayed with Ruth last night and was good as good for her. She also watched Tam for us, but just after midnight we went back for the rugrat - who was equally good. Jo had worn her very slinky corset that I bought her a while back, and Ruth made mention that she's like to get one at some point. Never a good thing to say to Jo. She promptly removed her corset and slapped Ruth in it. Let's just say, after having breathing issues, Ruth no longer wants a corset ;)

We got in close to 1am and flopped into bed, only to have the alarm clock poke us awake at 7am so Jo could head to Ruths and help her sort the kids for school.

Got a busy one today as well - have a guest travelling cross-country with something for us, so am frantically cleaning house before they arrive. Between now (9am) and lunchtime, I've got to clear up the kitchen, sort out the worlds supply of laundry, as well as get to town, shop, and get to the station to meet said-friend.

Comedy.

Lazy Sunday

We're off out tonight, Jaysen is staying with Ruth for the night, and we're collecting Tam when we're home. Off to see a Bon Jovi tribute band or somesuch. Not sure where or anything, as someone else did all the planning.

As such, we've done bugger all today. Well, that's a semi-lie. We've got someone over tomorrow which should be interesting, so I've been clearing up all morning, got to clean the floor later once the house is slightly quieter, generally playing housewife. Had a shower, and then just sort of sat all day which I never do.

Here's a warning. Never ever hire, borrow, buy, rent or otherwise get a hold of Date Movie. Holy pants and all that is pure, what a pile of Shite. With a capital S. We'd heard it was amusing, and Jo ordered it on Pay Per View. Once I've hidden her body, I'm going after the person that said it was funny.

The astute of you will see that on camera, it's gross weather outside. I've only just gotten dressed (at 3.30pm) and only just looked outside and see the rain, and now it's turning into a thunder storm. The very observant of you will spy the top-right of the camera has a Daddy Long Legs on it.

So, lazy day. I've watched more TV today than pretty much all of September.