In the middle of summer when I decided I no longer wanted to work at the pub I was at in Fulham and wanted to branch out a bit; I had no idea this is where I was going to end up.

Now, I work in a busy pub in London’s West End just off of Soho. I’m currently in the process of being trained up as a Supervisor with possibilities of even further promotion.

This week I could end up throwing all of that away because of one principle — and I’m not sure what to do.

In all my jobs I’ve had in the past I have never taken any time off for myself unless forced to. Some call that being a workaholic, I call it passion. 

Two weeks ago I asked my manager for some time off, mainly because I’d been working 50+ hours a week; but more because the whole time I’d been working I’d missed, not only my sister’s entire pregancy (possibly a blessing in disguise if I’m honest) but also the birth of my first niece. 

However, management have now said that my request may not be possible because someone else booked theirs a few months before me — which is fair enough. What I don’t understand though: is why I was told when I booked the time off that it was OK and not that someone else had already asked for the same time period off. 

The whole time I’ve been with the company I’ve just felt like certain advantages have been taken out of me and that I’m being used. It’s very disheartening and makes me feel like a complete sucker.

I’ve sought advice from lots of different people about what my next move should be with a varied mixture of opinions — one of which being incredibly illegal (I wouldn’t know the first place to get a nuclear bomb, anyway…) but some being quite wise thoughts. I know I can’t leave two weeks before Christmas, that would be madness. The flip side being, though, I can’t stand to be there anymore at the moment — I honestly believe it’s corroding my brain…

I guess I’ll just have to ride this week out and see what the result is come the end.

Today was a huge milestone in the history of my life.

It marked the first time I actually voted in an election. I’m not going to lie: it was an experience.

However, while in the pub watching the exit polls on the TV I got talking to someone who was moaning about a certain party being on top. Politely I asked him if he’d voted and who he voted for (adding that he didn’t have to tell me if he wanted to keep it a secret).

He told me that he hadn’t voted because he didn’t believe in it.

We then got into a mild disagreement (read: me laying into him) because, quite simply, I felt that as he’d not voted and was complaining that said party was taking the lead he wasn’t entitled to feel the way he did. He’d been given the chance to have a voice and totally wasted it. I told him so and walked away from him.

I do hope I was actually in the right…

I was out at lunchtime going down to the local Co-op to pick up some food as we had none in the house and I was starving. There was a woman outside it stopping people doing Market Research. I managed to swerve and avoid her on my way in. Did my shopping and left.

I wasn’t so lucky on my way out and she managed to stop me. Normally I preempt researchers and tell them I don’t have the time or that I have no interest in what they are asking. Today was no different; I really didn’t have the time and their topic for research had no relevance to me.

But, as I said she managed to stop me. I tried to tell her I had to get back to work (leaving out the tiny detail that I work from home). “I’m doing research around the area regarding the amount of people who are unemployed for one reason or another. Mainly relating to the recession for a project. Can you tell me if you are currently looking for a job?”

At this point I was quite taken-a-back which caused me to stutter more than I usually do. “Ummm, no, I have a job… The way you phrased that means you think I don’t have one, what made you ask me?” “Oh. I’m sorry. You just struck me as someone who was unemployed because of how you look and you’re out shopping at this time of day…” I kind of glared at her for a few seconds then explained that I do in fact, despite my appearance, have a job and that I was on my lunch break getting something to eat. She apologised for holding me up and trotted off down the street.

I should point out that I was wearing a baseball cap, jeans and had a little bit of stubble… I guess it would look like I was unemployed… The whole encounter threw me off balance though!

A very peculiar occurrence indeed.

I’ve been anticipating this game since I found out about it. The UK release date had been put back 3 times throughout Summer and Autumn.

I finally managed to pick up a copy on Friday, which I was very excited about; since then I’ve only had the time to play it for an hour so I can’t really comment on how great it is. But, from what I’ve gained from it so far all I can say is that I’m not that impressed. It’s very depressing!

The storyline is very interesting, the graphics are impressive (I love HD gaming!) and it’s staying quite true to the original plot from the films. My only gripe with it is that the controls (for the Xbox 360 version, anyway) are very difficult to master. That’s quite a biased statement for me to make though, as I can never get the hang of 3rd person shooters.

I’m hoping with more play-time I’ll get the hang of it and actually fall in love with it and it will live up to the hype I gave it to myself.

My room is a mess, my dirty clothes sit in one pile on my floor all mixed up and not arranged by colour/fabric.
All of my DVD’s & CD’s are just stacked one on top of the other and dotted all over the house in no order at all.

The only thing I keep in order and neat and tidy is my computer and my iPhone.

I got bored after I finished working and decided to give it a bit of a clean-up.

All of the App’s I use the most frequently are now on the main home page, and the next two pages are arranged by type and go in order of how often I use them as well.

A clean piPhone is an efficient piPhone!

So, yeah. I’ve been bullied into writing something by one of my friends that I work with. Gotta give the people what they want, right?

He wanted me to write about him, but I don’t like writing about annoying little twerps who incessantly stalk me, bug me and generally scare the holy bejeezuz out of me… I mean… LOVE YOU DAN!

I honestly have nothing to update you on. Apart from the fact I have a tattoo. I love it…
One of my best friends has started blogging recently. You should check him out. Tedders and Teffers rocking your blogosphere!

That’s about all… See you next month?

To the citizens of the United States of America, in the light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy. Your new prime minister (The Right Honourable Tony Blair, MP for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a minister for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. You should look up revocation in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up aluminium. Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. The letter ‘U’ will be reinstated in words such as ‘favour’ and ‘neighbour’, skipping the letter ‘U’ is nothing more than laziness on your part. Likewise, you will learn to spell ‘doughnut’ without skipping half the letters. You will end your love affair with the letter ‘Z’ (pronounced ‘zed’ not ‘zee’) and the suffix ize will be replaced by the suffix ise. You will learn that the suffix ‘burgh’ is pronounced ‘burra’ e.g. Edinburgh. You are welcome to respell Pittsburgh as ‘Pittsberg’ if you can’t cope with correct pronunciation.

Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up vocabulary. Using the same twenty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as “like” and “you know” is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. Look up interspersed. There will be no more ‘bleeps’ in the Jerry Springer show. If you’re not old enough to cope with bad language then you shouldn’t have chat shows. When you learn to develop your vocabulary then you won’t have to use bad language as often.

2. There is no such thing as “US English”. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter ‘u’ and the elimination of -ize.

3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn’t that hard. English accents are not limited to cockney,upper-class twit or Mancunian (Daphne in Frasier). You will also have to learn how to understand regional accents – Scottish dramas such as Taggart will no longer be broadcast with subtitles. While we’re talking about regions, you must learn that there is no such place as Devonshire in England. The name of the county is Devon. If you persist in calling it Devonshire, all American States will become shires e.g. Texasshire, Floridashire, Louisianashire.

4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys. Hollywood will be required to cast English actors to play English characters. British sit-coms such as Men Behaving Badly or Red Dwarf will not be re-cast and watered down for a wishy-washy American audience who can’t cope with the humour of occasional political incorrectness.

5. You should relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through.

6. You should stop playing American football. There is only one kind of football. What you refer to as American football is not a very good game. The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your borders may have noticed that no one else plays American football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football. Initially, it would be best if you played with the girls. It is a difficult game. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American “football”, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies). We are hoping to get together at least a US Rugby sevens side by 2005. You should stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the ‘World Series’ for a game which is not played outside of America.* Since only 2.15% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. Instead of baseball, you will be allowed to play a girls’ game called rounders, which is baseball without the fancy team strip, oversized gloves, collector cards or hotdogs.

*QUICK NOTE: Baseball is, in fact, a popular sport in Japan and its surrounding countries. However, as their teams are never invited to partake in the ‘World Series’, your point still stands.*

7. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry guns. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous in public than a vegetable peeler. Because we don’t believe you are sensible enough to handle potentially dangerous items, you will require a permit if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

8. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November 2nd will be a new national holiday, but only in England. It will be called Indecisive Day.

9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean. All road intersections will be replaced with roundabouts. You will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect. Roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips. Fries aren’t even French, they are Belgian; though 97.85% of you (including the guy who discovered fries while in Europe) are not aware of a country called Belgium. Those things you insist on calling potato chips are actually called crisps. Real chips are thickly cut and fried in animal fat. The traditional accompaniment to chips is beer which should be served warm and flat. Waitresses will be trained to be more aggressive with customers.

11. As a sign of penance, 5 grams of sea salt per cup will be added to all tea made within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This quantity is to be doubled for tea made within the city of Boston itself.

12. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all; it is lager. From November 1st only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as lager. The substances formerly known as American beer will henceforth be referred to as ‘Near-Frozen Knat’s Urine,’ with the exception of the product of the American Budweiser company whose product will be referred to as ‘Weak, Near-Frozen Knat’s Urine.’ This will allow true Budweiser (as manufactured for the last 1000 years in Pilsen, Czech Republic) to be sold without risk of confusion.

13. From November 10th, the UK will harmonise petrol (or Gasoline, as you will be permitted to keep calling it until April 1st 2005) prices with the former USA. The UK will harmonise its prices to those of the former USA and the Former USA will, in return, adopt UK petrol prices (roughly $6/US gallon- get used to it).

14. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you’re not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you’re not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you’re not grown up enough to handle a gun.

15. Please tell us who killed JFK; it’s been driving us crazy.

16. Tax collectors from Her Majesty’s Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all revenues due (backdated to 1776).

Thank you for your co-operation and have a great day.

Obviously it was first posted after The U.S elected George Bush for a second term. Nobody on the forum seems to have actually picked up on that fact.

Something I’ve been thinking about lately is moving on from a free account on WordPress.com and getting my own domain. The post yesterday about Geocities got me thinking about how much fun I used to have learning about HTML and the little snippets of PHP I taught myself. It sort of added fuel to the fire.

I really did enjoy the challenge of coming up with new ideas and little things to add to my site. I want to say it was entertaining, but it really wasn’t. It stressed me out. But it was something to keep me occupied. My brain was constantly going over things and I’ll admit there were a few sleepless nights (not from stressing, from ignoring my bed time and opting to spend time up all night coding).

Way back then it was running a fansite for Habbo — and it was fun. I do miss working on Habburgers (if you’re not an old-skool Habboer you will have less than a clue about what I’m on about.) I had a look through the Wayback Machine and this is probably the representation of the style I went for with it.

A lot of the content was encased in images, which the Wayback Machine didn’t save. You get the general idea though? Obviously I wont be putting anything as cheesy like that together again. I will just focus on blogging. I suck at it, but it’s my own little project.

I need to brush up on everything!

Like a lot of people I started out making websites on Geocities. Playing with their WYSIWYG interface and learning all about basic HTML from it. It taught me a lot.

Of course, everything I made looked tacky. Animated clipart here and there. Big bold lettering in generic font as a header. If I could find it on the Wayback Machine I probably wouldn’t share it with you as I seem to recall it was horrendous and embarassing.

<blink>Still, today at 11am I will be hanging my head in silence and paying my last respects to my old mentor.</blink>

I’m so excited I think I might just go ahead and wet myself.

No longer shall I be known as ‘The Macless Fanboy’ nosireebob, I’m going to be ‘The Mac Fanboy who does have a Mac, Motherw00ters’.

The kids at school are gonna be so jealous!