foreign post...

Ok, not that foreign, i'm just in Bristol again. I'm due back on Sunday so dont worry. I'm sat in the Geography Department computer room of Bristol Uni, with a baguette and some humous fraudulently being on a computer.. what a badass. I'm like when Mistique (X-Men) gets into the Whitehouse files, or when Hugh Jackman in 'Swordfish' is hacking into the Penatgon in a club, getting a blowy and with a gun to his head...This week has been a bit weird, the week before weirder still.. I'd say i have been pretty busy:

I worked the Isle of Wight festival in which the pinacle shifts was a crushing 17 hours long with a 20 min break to catch a couple of songs by The Police and have an argument with my girlfriend, then make up. I was a tough slog that festival, but hey, you gotta help family out from time to time and earn some money so you can eat and other things that being alive requires.

Second, i came home in the middle of the night on monday (from IOW), only to have to get a train to my parents on tuesday morning, needless to say i was pretty pooped. This was also the first time my gf was meeting my parents so nerves were high and hours on the train were higher. A few landslide 'Top-Trumps' victories later and the visit actually went well, i managed to get a bag for 7 quid and my pops cooking is always a treat. beers and food and laughs were afoot and then more beer and the laughs were at more and more risque jokes. The way an old school night in should be. Everyone seemed to get along and my dad and i drank whiskey until the early(ish) hours. still, no sleep for ben for a week and a half so far... and they seemed to like her.

Now i'm sat here having had 2 consecutive full nights sleep, feeling chipper and i have a ball to go to later to test out the new suit (see previous blog).

Righto i had better split, the security guard is eyeing me up and i dont think holding my thumb over 'UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH' on my ID card will blag this bristol based, computer room security cop a third time round..

adios.

the dreaded..

There i was, standing in an unfamiliar city, gun in hand, a man on his knees, back facing me. was i going to do this?.. nope.

I was in Bristol this weekend as i was meant to meet the better half's parents for the first time (properly). There had been a breif encounter of about 5 minutes some weeks earlier but that doesnt count on the account that i barely said hello. So you should know that they live in Wales. a solid 3 hours or more from mine, so it's not likely that i see much of them. But yeah.. we went for a 'meal'. i dont know why i put it in inverted commas.. we went for a meal.

To add to the pressure of this meeting it was also the birthday of said half..

'oh hello ben, what crummy present did you get for my daughter whos knickers you have undoubtedly wormed your way into?' i thought may be the initiating question. i was wrong. we were taken to a backstreet italian restaurant.. not unlike ones where a mafia boss might do a person, capiche... then ended up enjoying a delicious meal and drinking plenty of wine and having a lovely laugh. I have to say, they are a very nice bunch that family. So what did i decide to do? oh right yeah.. tell a story about how i accidently drank from a pint of an unknown donors luke warm vomit. GOOD ONE BENNY BOY. you know when you are saying something and everything in your body is shouting 'shut-the-shit-up-you-massive-bastard!!' ?.. that's exactly what happened. But my mouth and tongue kept formulating the story words.

Still, this story actually sat quite well, unbelievable.

I have since been informed that i had done well and i seem like a really nice lad according to a reliable source... what a winner.


in other news... i bought a new suit, i have applied for a job as a caretaker, a debt recovery person, and an exam invigilator. versatile eh?

Finally back... apologies

Well, well. Here I am again! i will apologise for my lack of this blog but hey, no one reads this apart from al and maybe jane, and then me to correct the mistakes they decide to point out to me.

So, exams are over, summer is here, as i look out the window to see a dreary moist day in fair old Plymouth. This town has been through a lot. I'm feeling pretty reflective at the moment, lots of my friends are leaving to go back to their respective home towns, im heading to Bristol for a few days, and when i get back it will essentially just be little old me. Do i sound sorry for myself? I dont knwow whether to be, to be honest. Uni year is over, i have a chance to try to get into work i should really love, unpaid or otherwise. Also the chance to recoup some of my debts to start again next year. With buddies, families and hoards upon hoards of womens (this part might be a lie a bit) in other cities and towns that i can visit... why should i feel glum? who very knows?..

I guess all this finishing, finding jobs, friends leaving, visiting people, exam results blah blaah blaaah is all whirring through my worn out brain and it's taking it's toll a little. Hell at least i can get back on top of this here blog malarky and stuff. Also i get to do a lot more riding of the bike and stuff like that too. In the words of Tony the Tiger's human protoge 'It's gunna taste great!'

Right, im outti, congratulations to anyone and everyone who has completed another year at uni/school/college/kindergarten/homeschooling/appreticeship/nursery/insert your own here.

x

its not that i dont like them...

I really want to sit here and tell you about old people... before i get get so old i become a hypocrit...but i have noticed a curious level of negativity creeping into my posts so i shouldn't. Its out of character for me. i swear. so i will get my complaints out the way first.real quick

i) Psychology department give out extenuating circumstances about as easily and frequently as the guy handing out flyers by Portland Square. I bust my ass at uni to get work in etc, rain or shine, sick or well, hot or cold. Lucky for me i dont do psychology, but i know people that do and also the particular perpetrator who I'm gunna bite my tongue (fingers) not to name. jerk.

ii) Old people need to go shopping when I'm not shopping... ridiculously slow, and for people with a wealth of life experience and knowledge, they don't think very much about whats going on around them.. please, speed up a little, or stick to the edges of isles.

KAY. that's out the way. i wish to make a reference to last.fm, its awesome. like a musical community which offers much more than just a specialised myspace or facebook. If you are interested in an artist it offers a 'radio' which will play a random selection of similar artists. i was listening for well over an hour today so i dont think it has a time limit.. but i might be wrong. Anyways, you can also download the application to your computer, which then logs and charts everything you listen to through itunes or other selected players. This allows you to see what tracks are popular amongst friends etc too. Now, for finding new music this is a fantastic idea so everyone should get it,... or at least check it out.

firstly.. i went with

habitat management. its all about macrobiology.

what to do, what to do.. what. to. do..?

Microbial life or Habital Management?

about 2 hours to decide...

posts, post, postmen...

Yes, I have been lax on the old posts recently, but i have had uni work on etc. That said, i dont feel i am as lax on my posts as my postman is on my post. I used to set dwelling in Birmingham, more specifically Bournville, next to Cadbury World. easy. I used to get up perform the 3 esses (shower, shave, shi...you get the idea) then i'd be like.. 'hmm what did i need to do?'...'Ah-ha!' Eat breakfast, get dressed. This done, I would then check the post, this was pretty much about 8am every day. I would then set off to work trying to figure out how i was going to pay the gargantuan bills i had just recieved. fine by me.

I now live in Plymouth. i get up for lectures at a similar time, eat blah blah (clearly dont shave so often now...). you get the picture. I go down to check post, and of late i have been waiting on some pretty important stuff. So, no post, and this is every day. I go to my lectures, come home for lunch.. no post.. leave the house.. get back, FINALLY the post is here. yes, bills. not what I'm waiting for... that bit isn't the postman's fault.

A neat segway to my point: postmen in plymouth are sleeping in.

Now, lie in by all means, you know what i mean? but surely dont choose a profession where millions of people rely on getting their mail first thing in the morning. I realise there have been pay problems in the past but surely striking insinuates that you deserve big pay rises. I know for a fact posties (thats common for 'postmen') can get up early because i had one in Birmingham, a very friendly one at that. he had a car.. probabaly a wife, kids.. hooker tied up in the basement, i can only speculate. Point is that i got my mail, and that made our relationship work.

I don't know... maybe i am a picky bastard. Maybe i shouldn't expect these things... alls im saying is if i made an appointment with my doctor, i wouldnt expect him to arrive 4 hours late to find me dead on the floor, frothing at the mouth, in a pool of my own blood and urine.