"Our soul's desire is perfection. The last thought or desire that we have as we are leaving our physical bodies, that (thought or desire) is the motivation for rebirth. It's alright going through your life forgetting about God and then, as you are dying, hoping to be able to remember Him then, or remember something that is liberating. You have to practise all your life as you are likely to be in great pain as you are leaving your body - which could be at any moment. I mean I don't want to be lying there as I'm dying thinking "Oh s--t, I forgot to put the cat out" or "I didn't get a Rolls-Royce" because then you may have to come right back just to do those things, and then you have got more knots on your piece of string."

You know what I'm tempted to do? Actually go through every summary item listed in the previous entry and explain all of them. Shall we go for half today? Okay... but I warn, not going to be nearly half as interesting as you may be hoping to expect. Onward!
Compu-near-death/computer deprivation - Got a virus that disabled my antivirus system and made Windows eat itself.
New antivirus software - The remedy, Norton 2005.
Two rats settling well - Mercutio and George! Ah, they're great, and doing well. They like bread and chicken.
"You're not an admin!" - Basically all my computer would say when I tried to install things/modify stuff. But it wasn't that cheery, it would just make up errors that didn't exist. Thought 'must format', bought a 256MB flash pen to store all my important stuff... couldn't install it. Because I wasn't an admin.
Flash pen thing - cost £33, couldn't even use it. All okay now thought.
Yellow Submarine Caldendar (I Love You Dave And Steven) - My Christmas present, presented to me at work on Thursday. I owe these two people lots.
Alcopops - Gifts to friends.
Name tags - To make the above gift more personal.
Cutting glue - My new manager thinks I'm mad because I told him I got glue-cut. "You know, like a papercut, but with sharp glue."
New managers - Chris, took over from Cliff. Thinks I'm mad.
New house - At Thorpe End now, it's quite cool. big conservatory, housewarming coming soon.
New drawings - When aren't there?

Beatles = 47 times
Ringo = 25 times
Lennon = 22 times
Paul = 19 times (Merton not counted)
George = 19 times.

Alright:

"But anyway, I actually had a really long Beatle-filled dream, but I only remember two parts. One was me, George and Paul (I think, it was either Paul or John, we'll assume the former) walking into a petrol station, and there was something like an ice-cream tub full of pennies and stuff. Paul says "Go on George, take a few. There's mints over there." This convinced George, who sifted through the pennies in search of twenny pence pieces. He looked up momentarily and said to the old woman at the counter: "It feels unfair for me to go through your penny dish here, but the mints are rather nice." Then a cheeky nod, and back to rummaging.

So then we walked through this petrol station which also turned out to be a café, and it turned out that George had an obsession with peas. Peas, okay. Then Dad came out of nowhere and sat next to me, and I was trying to convince him to be nice to George, but he wouldn't. I left with George and Paul, and we could see an upper-class couple waving down a coach. Alright...

Next thing I know, I'm at home in the kitchen. Richard's there too, and in the front room I can hear Charlotte, her friend Kate and one of Kate's male friends. I can also hear the TV on, and apparently it's A Hard Day's Night they're watching, but it clearly wasn't. The dialogue I could hear was:

John: I don't want to try it, I might not like it.
Paul: Of course you'll like it. If you like tomato ketchup, you'll like this.
George: Can I try it?
Paul: No, you wouldn't like it.

Turns out it was Paul trying to convince John to try tortillas and salsa dip, how random. I think I know where this came from, too... reading on beatles-discography.com, John was telling someone to 'do something' with his voice to make it different, including "smother it in tomato ketchup". And as for the rest of the dialogue, it's just like the bit in Help! where they go to Scotland Yard:

Detective Inspector: It's for you, the Famous Ringo.
John: Hang on, it's them! Only me and Paul know we're here!
George: I know we're here.

Well, that's how George piped in. Second thoughts, it's more like the airport bit:

Paul: We're not going there!
John: We only put it out that we're going there.
George: So people would think we were going there?
Ringo: I'd like to go there.
George(?): You wouldn't like it.

Now I really want to go watch Help!, but I'm supposed to be getting on with Art. Hmmph.

It is a very, very good film though..."

- Updated site (new pictures, ooooh)
- Saw Newert and Dad last night, Newert somehow convinced me to let him stay round last night - he's still here
- Going to Brickmakers tonight, cos I'm a glutton for punishment
- Bringing aforementioned brother along, should be fun
- Got more Art inspiration in terms of presentations
- Forgot to chat to Mr. Walters about lesson changes, dammit

Arf, Arf, he goes, a merry sight
Our little hairy friend
Arf, Arf, upon the lampost bright
Arfing round the bend.
Nice dog! Goo boy,
Waggie tail and beg,
Clever Nigel, jump for joy
Because we are putting you to sleep at three of the clock, Nigel.
~ "Good Dog Nigel", John Lennon

[Listening to: Beatles - Free As A Bird.]

Whatever happened to
The life that we once knew
Can we really live without each other

Classy song. Now I'm all caught up in Beatles melodicness and I can't think of anything to write. Hmmm. Did overtime, found a couple of sites displaying the most utterly fantastical Beatles t-shirts you EVER did see... including one that I saw a couple of months ago on some site and hadn't been able to find since! And also, a Beatles hoodie, omfg. A hoodie. With BEATLES ON IT. Shame it was crap, though...

Anyway, I narrowed it down to four. And I need help deciding.

Pros and cons time!

First shirt is the Hard Day's Night one. Kay. Delicious, yes, but at £20 we really need to think this over. It's only available in large, so it's going to be baggy, bit of a problem. Also, I haven't seen the whole film yet, so it's a bit like fake promotion, and I don't go for that at all. On the other hand, it's black, it's simple, and it has front and reverse print. Sexay.

Second shirt is the standard Beatles logo one. Absolutely ideal for wearing with mah military jacket, as the logo can be seen when the jacket is undone, and also a goodun if I want to profess my fandom but don't fancy anything too large or striking. Brilliant because it's actually a girl's fit. Only bad if I DO want to be showy with my Beatlefandom.

Third shirt, wow! Beatles For Sale. Black is good. The style of the print is amazing, I mean multicoloured Beatles! And at fifteen quid, it's one of the cheaper ones. Very, very tempted by this, only problem is it's only in large. Must be said, I'm not keen on bagginess in t-shirts.

Fourth is the one I've been after for months now. The style is unique, Abbey Road is probably my second favourite album, the design is iconic, and it's so DIFFERENT. The fading grey base colour is like nothing else I've seen on a printed shirt, and the way the Beatles are actually cut out of the original pic and put on the shirt is incredible, it's the only time I've seen that done. Twenny quid, and only in large though. If one more vote pushes this one in my direction, I'm getting it.

I'd say the most fierce competition is between two and four, a coupla votes would decide those. As for one and three, a coupla votes and good reasoning would do it.

"And the daftness of things - that was keeping me awake too. You must have experienced one of those moments when life seems limitlessly absurd? Especially with your current sentence of death hanging over you. I find they come most often with me when I am looking from the window of a moving car or train. You catch sight of something perfectly ordinary, such as it might be bluebells nodding on an embankment, or a family picnicking in a lay-by, and suddenly your mind can no longer support the notion of a whole world full of life and objects and fellow-humans. The very idea of a universe appears monstrous and you become unable to participate. What on earth does that tree think it is up to? Why is that heap of gravel sitting there so patiently? What am I doing, staring out of a window? Why are all these molecules of glass hanging together so as to allow me to look through them? The moment passes, of course, and we return to the proper realm of our dull thoughts and our duller newspapers: in less than a second we are part of the world again, ready to be irritated into apoplexy by the stupidity of a government minister or lured into caring about some asinine new movement in conceptual art; once again we become part of the great compost heap. Our absence is so fleeting and our control over it so negligible that an act of will cannot reproduce the experience."
"The Hippopotamus" by Stephen Fry, page 79

[Listening to: Beatles - I'm So Tired.]

I'm so tired
I don't know what to do

Alright, gotta stop miming along and type something. I also need to get on with that picture I've drawn to accompany this song, although I don't know how I'm going to colour it. Cross that bridge when I come to it. Unless I want to do coloured outlines, in which case, I'll have to have some vague idea about my bridge-crossing plan. Like, I'll stare at the bridge from a distance and decide if I want to do black outlines or not, then I'll get to the bridge and before I cross it think "Tool or two-tone shading?" I'll probably be thinking about it until some darkened hour, but it'll be alright because by that time I'll have people to talk to and at the end of it I get a nice picture. As long as it doesn't get cold. But I think I have some control over the thermal goings-on in the bridge predicament of my imagination, and who said the bridge had to be outside, anyway? I suppose it would make more sense if it was, because bridges are usually only there if you need to cross something like water, or traffic. I wonder how many people envisioned traffic under the bridge rather than water? That sounds like one of those psychological windows. But yeah, I think I'd like my hypothetical bridge of thought to be outside, as long as it was a warm night. I haven't stood on a bridge on a warm night before, it sounds like one of those things that needs to be experienced. Hypothetically, there aren't any streetlights around the bridge either, because I might want to hypothetically look at the stars for a bit while making my decision about colouring. Oh, but would I be standing on the bridge? Would I have to make my decision before I set foot on it, or could I go for a halfway point before I made up my mind?

And everything's different.

"Woo, so, got hit by a car today. :D

Well mebbe that's a bit of a dramatisation. I was going about 30 mph on my moped, and the car in front signals left to turn into the Care Centre. I see the red car waiting to pull out of the care centre is still waiting for the traffic in the other lane, so I move over eversoslightly to the right of my lane and carry on. The red car pulls out while looking left, doesn't see me and crashes into the side of my bike. I somehow go over the handlebars, land several feet away on my back and kind of slide across the road on my head and arm a little way further.

So I'm writhing in pain in the middle of the road, and this bloke who was walking along the pavement runs out to check if I'm conscious and calls 999. He then asks if I want him to call anyone else, my first answer was "Tesco! I need to be at Tesco in fifteen minutes - no, wait - christ - call my stepdad, call Richard." So he does. Keeping in mind I was hit outside of a care centre, I can't move at this point but I hear a voice say "Hello, hello. I'm a doctor." Bit random, but a comfort to hear. This blokey asks if my neck hurts etc, and I'm like "I'm fine, my neck and shoulders are okay, let me take my helmet off." So I do. Doctor checks if there's any major lacerations etc, all we see as far as that goes is a rather large graze on my arm, ambulance arrives, Richard arrives, we go to the hospital. I get laughing gas, it was fun.

Blah blah, spent 2 and a half hours at the A&E, so that's quite good, and considering that during that time I got a load of X-rays, a urine sample taken and my wounds dressed, that isn't bad at all. I can't really walk right now, as although my bones are still in good working order, I have a massive ol' bruise on my lower back which is agitated when I put weight on my left leg. Arm stings too.

So that was my intriguing afternoon. Richard called Andy (my Section Manager's boss) and told him that at the time of the call, I was in an ambulance and therefore wouldn't be appearing to work my overtime shift. Dunno what I'm going to do about Saturday, supposed to be working 1pm-10pm as is the norm, might have to ask to be put on something easy like crisps or toilet rolls for my shift.

But I'm alive, so yaaaay~"

-MSN conversations
- Comic sketching
- Muse-inspired sketches
- Uploading images to site
- Anything Python
- Updating here or at Diaryland

Q: When I grow up I want to be...
A: As cynical and biting as I am now, but with the added bonus of a larger vocabulary.
Q: The person I most admire is...
A: I tend to envy rather than admire.
Q: Who do you think has the best job in the world?
A: Can't really say. What if the job looks great, but they secretly hate it? Isn't that terrible?

Richard: Why do you like whiskey so much?
Mum: It's because of her father.
Me: Whu? Oh, no. I didn't know Dad liked Southern Comfort until I asked for it in the pub one time, then he told me it was his favourite.
Richard: Ah, right.
Mum: Your father lets you have whiskey?
Me: Mum, you know that every time I go to the city via bus, Dad lets me have a little alcohol. He won't let me if I'm on my 'ped, and I have no desire to have it on that occasion, so it's okay. I told you ages ago that's what we did...
Mum: Right. Well, you're father is irresponsible anyway.
Me: Southern Comfort and Coke has to be the nicest drink around though.
Richard: You have it with Coke?! How can you do that? It ruins the flavour-
Me: Richard...
Richard: I can't understand you sometimes. Why would you want to have Coke with it?
Mum: She likes it because it's sweet and syrupy.
Me: Well, not really. It depends how much Coke there is in it. If it's in a small glass, and the Coke is just below half, then it's just nice.
Richard: But how can you have Coke with it? I don't like whiskey, personally.
Mum: No, me neither. That's really more her father's thing.
Me: You really hate Dad, don't you... am I the only one here who likes whiskey, then? Hmm.

Oh no... I just went to get the phone without putting a Be Right Back notice on MSN, and it turned out to be from Bennets, my insurance company - I had to take part in a 10-minute questionnaire, and when I was finished Richard had taken over the computer, closed Dr E's conversation window, and when I checked my MSN list Dr E had gone offline. Oh, that sucks so much. :(

On a slightly less than academic note here, I've decided to broaden my Anime viewing - this is where Broadband and Kazaa unite. 'Serial Experiments Lain' is a very dark Anime, and also one which I have been planning to see for a long time now. I've nearly got the whole of the first episode, and already two schoolgirls have killed themselves. Quite apparent why we don't have it in this country. The animation and artwork is absolutely stunning, which excuses the slow pace of the series. I was fortunate to find a Japanese version with English subtitles, as I've heard that the English dub is horrific. Luckily, the language has been translated quite well, so it is possible to make sense of the subtitles.