Catching Up

Well, it's probably due a bit of a catchup on what's been happening to me since my last pre-trip blog.

As I mentioned, Chrissi had some family staying with her this time, with her mother and aunt coming with her. This meant I had to act as tour guide for them most of the time, which was a little tiring and wearing. They were not exactly natural tourists, which got to me a little at times - I'm used to travelling, so think that it shouldn't be that much effort to at least know what the currency of the country you're in is and so on.

We ended up doing the typical things that you see and do on a visit to London - tourist sites, Tower of London, Greenwich Observatory, Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Hampton Court Palace, boat ride down the Thames, and of course not forgetting the unmissable conversation with irritating tweenage girls who think they're being so clever and funny by being annoying and talking to you.

It was a good week - if rather tiring!

Filler Title

Hi. I'm back. I was going to write a long blog about my week away with Chrissi, but considering (a) I'm sad that she's gone again and not really feeling like it and (b) Emma would only whine because it's toooo loooong Annndddyyy, I'm going to forgo this for now.

Instead, I will provide you with a link. I know I do this a lot, but this is fantastic. The Daily-Mail-o-matic - pointless right wing rhetoric at the push of a button. The sad thing is, this is probably a more sophisticated procedure than the one really used to come up with the Daily Mail headlines.

Different Countdown

Well, as those of you who have been talking to me of late know, I've been counting down to Chrissi arriving for a while now. She flies in tomorrow and so I'm currently at home - I came back on the coach this morning. An 8:15 am departure which was a struggle to get up for, but a struggle well worth it! I slept mostly on the coach anyway.

So tomorrow I go to the airport to meet Chrissi (and some of her family - her mother and aunt are taking a vacation too, so I will be tour guide I suspect!). We'll be staying at a hotel in London, which should be nice. Definitely looking forward to it very much, January now seems like a long time ago! Only ... 19 hours to go at the current time. Not that I'm counting down every hour, honest!

Moments of Clarity

Sometimes it's odd how things take you. When you're at a certain state of mind, and it's just right for something else to hit you and have an effect, to take on an extra meaning and really either motivate you or throw things into perspective.

It'll come as no surprise to most of you that I've not been sleeping properly of late, this is admittedly neither new nor different. I've probably not been working on my thesis as much as I should have done because I've slipped into a partially self-defeating spiral where I'm convinced it's not going to work and because of this I don't work as hard as I should, and so on. I'm spending time worrying about things instead of being productive and actually addressing worries and dealing with them.

And so at the moment, it's 5:14 am according to the computer clock, and a song just came on in a clip I was watching that made me think and snap out of it for a few minutes. And I feel more awake, with it, determined and focused than I have done in probably two-three weeks because of it.

Of course because it's so early in the morning I can't do half of the things I know I need to - washing, shopping, etc. But things seem more like they're in place.

Musical Themes

I was going to write this a few weeks back but didn't. Or a week back. Or sometime recently at least. Regardless, I didn't. Now I am.

As I've been commenting a lot on music typically the last few months on my blog, which is something I tend to do, one thing I was intending to try and do was to post a list of my own top musical stuff. I never got around to it, so I may as well now. These are just my opinions, naturally.

Best Band: Green Day
Best Live Band: Less Than Jake
Best Album: Lost Prophets' Fake Sound of Progress
Best Song: Feeder's Just A Day
Best Live Song: Less Than Jake's All My Best Friends Are Metalheads

Fact. Or opinion, at least, which is close enough.

Short Maths Comment

This is fantastic, and any mathematician or not will appreciate this. What is the volume of a pizza, with radius z and depth a?

Answer: pizza

Fantastic.

Millenium Magic

So, this weekend deserves a bit of commentary, as I was in Cardiff on the Saturday attending the first day of the Millenium Magic weekend. This was a fantastic bit of fun.

For those of you who have no idea what the Millenium Magic weekend was, essentially it was all six games of the Super League weekly round taking place in succession in one stadium - the Millenium Stadium (hence the name) - over the two days; with three on Saturday and three on Sunday. My Dad and I had tickets for the Saturday, as it was the day St. Helens were playing.

The Millenium Stadium is a superb stadium, and Cardiff seems a really nice place. On the Saturday, there were three games on - Catalans-Harlequins, Hull FC-Hull KR, and St. Helens-Wigan. We got there for the end of the first game, and saw the last ten minutes of it, before seeing the entirity of the Hull derby. This was a good if not great game, and it was great to watch a live game of rugby league as a neutral. The final game was St. Helens vs Wigan, the most important of them as far as I was concerned. Saints started off well and went into a strong early lead, but were looking shaky in the second half. They eventually won with a relatively comfortable margin, but were not looking as comfortable as they really should have done.

Anyway, was a great weekend and if it's on again next year I'll definitely be wanting to go again. Anyone else fancy a trip down to Cardiff next year too?

Ye Accurat Mappe Of The Internette

Now, while I have tried to avoid linking to images overly much of late, because it tends to distract from the rubbish I write. However, I am of the opinion that this image (follow the link below, it's too large to include) is superb. There are lots of lovely touches here.

A Map Of The Internet

Sudden Conversion

I have this morning come to the conclusion that there is indeed a God. And He hates me.

First night in perhaps three weeks I've had a decent night's sleep. And what do I get at 7:45 this morning? A bloody fire drill. Why?!?!