My search for a tiny yet affordable laptop is over. For the last few months I've been looking for a laptop I can surf the net on in coffee shops, isn't too big or heavy and has an office package for work/creative stuff. I was willing to fork out £700 for a Macbook but the Asus EEE PC is nearly half the size of the smallest Macbook model and is only £200. It's just perfect. I'll be buying it as soon as it comes on the market here (or can be imported via eBay).
Yesterday's interview went well. There was some minor warning signals such as "I think you're over-qualified for the job and you may find it boring" and "£26k is quite a big leap from what you're currently on" (despite grossly inflating how much I'm on now). The early morning shifts (6am-2pm. Eeeep!) aren't as frequent as I was lead to believe during the first interview, and it seems a nice place to work. I'll find out towards the end of the week whether I've got it or not as I'm up against five other people for two positions. I'm going to apply for a couple of other jobs in the meantime. And I kinda regret not going for that job in Barking as it sounds like it had career potential. But it was in Barking. I just don't do Zone 4.
I think I've said it a couple of times now but I need to stop looking at flatshares because I keep finding places I <3, but I can't move in for another three weeks, and sensibly I should hold off until moving until the back end of August to avoid paying rent on two places. Tonight's Lair of Love is a newly built residential block, decent sized room and a gym in the building (included in the affordable rent). Of course it's mid-way between Stockwell and Brixton (like being stuck between two levels of Hell) but I have no objection to either locations. There are good and bad things about nearly every part of London, and I'm all about the bipolar. I just want to be able to move already. Otherwise I might channel my mid-twenties crisis into something unhealthy like starting a relationship with someone. Urgh.
I have photos of my trip to Parliament Hill Fields on Saturday but Vista is being pissy with my camera. In all honesty it was a bit anti-climatic as all the trees were leafy and thus obscured part of the view that was so breathtaking at the beginning of the year. It was still very cool. And I went to Cybercandy and Muffinskis on Saturday morning to stock up on junk food (the diet is over. For now). On Sunday I found a new coffee shop in the middle of Piccadilly which is a lot quieter than it has a right to be. I suspect I'll be frequenting it quite a lot. I also spent my Waterstones vouchers on a few cookbooks, including The Silver Spoon and 50 Great Curries from India. Yum. I'll have to make an effort to invite people round and cook for the masses at some point.
"He hasn't been so evil since he became a Jehovah's Witness"
Not had any feedback from yesterday's interview, which is BAD (although they did say it might be a few days. Me=paranoid). But I did get one piece of overdue mail today (£50 of HMV/Waterstones vouchers from Norwich Union. Huzzah!). Only two more pieces of overdue "yay mail" to go (money laden birthday card from parentals and gig ticket). And with regards to the job interview I'm playing it safe and applying for other stuff. But later, after watching the final part of "Silver Nemesis" (yay for Nazis, Cybermen and witches).
I keep getting e-mails from people trying to whore their flatshares at me with the idea of an immediate move, despite it blatantly saying on my profile that I don't want to move until 18th/19th August at the earliest. I was briefly worried about not finding anywhere, but a quick look on Gumtree has found me a huge room in Vauxhall for the same amount I'm paying now. Granted, it's with heterosexuals but no lair is perfect. And it's better than moving somewhere like Camberwell.
Work is still pants. I'm stuck in an office on my own in the middle of the ground floor warehouse, which is nice and quiet but operationally a million miles from where I need to be to do my work. Not being monitored by various South African spies also means there's a great temptation to slack off. Today I perfected my TV pitches - one is for a Channel Four reality TV series where 5 former public schoolboys go on what seems to be a free holiday to Poland, except they have to fight to the death for the return tickets with 5 desperately poor Poles who want to migrate to the UK. Hosted by Davina McCall, of course. And the other show is for Living and is a chat show hosted by Madeleine McCann, simply called "Maddie!" The host will of course be channelled by medium Derek Acorah.
I can't believe "Umbrella" has been #1 for eight weeks. I attribute the success of this song to the bout of bad weather we've been having lately. I think we need to appease the rain gods by ritually sacrificing some of the dumb twunts who've gone out and bought this piece of shit.
It's my birthday at the weekend. I'm feeling a twee bit sexually frustrated so everyone should chip in for a male escort (or get one of my pretty friends really drunk). You would if you loved me.
Hmmm, so, long time no update. Very little is new, but things are progressing.
The landlord is indeed selling up, and we've handed in our two month notice of fleeage which means move out deadline is the end of August. I've had offers for loans for deposit money from my parents and from a friend (Bear), which means I can take my mind off that particular problem. As for location I'm not adverse to staying in the East End but I'm looking in the Vauxhall/Kennington. However the central-ish location means that I need to expect a potential increase in rent if I want a room that isn't a box, but theoretically I'll be earning more. It's also an opportunity to develop something resembling a social life (at the expense of my liver. Poor lil' blighter).
And on the job front I've got interviews lined up next week. Two are only telephone interviews, which is good in a way as it saves me from doing an initial interview at agencies. I'm sick to death of taking (and pwning) Excel/IT tests. One of the actual interviews next week is a big deal as it's a second interview (oooh, shortlisted) and the salary is above my expectations. Being practical I suppose I should apply for other jobs just in case.
Weekend. Tra la la la. I shall be busy being frugal (see above re: moving house), whilst making the most of the potentially nice weather. And maybe going out tomorrow, which doesn't tie in with being frugal but there are limits damn it! And I suppose I should be getting rid of all the crap I've accumulated over the last 18 months but there's plenty of time for that.
Yesterday I taught the “meaning of capitalism” to the Poles who work for me. The Southampton NU branch decided to reward all my “hard work and effort” in helping them with their project by giving me £50 in vouchers (I chose Waterstones, being a book geek and all). When originally asked if we could accommodate the increased workload from them I just said “yes! We’ll be happy to do all this excess work for free for you” and then just passed it on to my minions, because that’s the wonderful nature of delegation. So I’m being rewarded for all their hard work. I made a point to tell them all about it by opening with “welcome to the West. This is as good as it gets”.
I’ve been looking at “gay flatshares” on Gumtree as it looks like I’ll have to find somewhere new to infest in a couple of months (the landlord appears to be selling up). I’ve just had a big argument with my liver about living in Vauxhall but we’ve agreed to hold off on settling on an area to live until I know for certain where I’ll be working. I’ve also made my wallet make jingly sounds, which is the international call for parental financial assistance with the deposit/first month’s rent. They may turn round and say no (as SheBeast is unable to work due to her ankles giving out under her tremendous weight) in which case I’ll have to do what I did in the summer of 2005 and inhabit someone’s couch somewhere until I get my deposit back from this place. The nerves in my neck are quivering in anticipation.
Last night was “The Personality Test” recording at Broadcasting House. Although it was as good as ever I really don’t like Edwina Curry. She’s not a very nice person, but then again she is a self confessed Thatcherite so that’s not very surprising. Sue Perkins was in good form as usual, as was Robin Ince. Next week is Andrew Neil, which could go either way. Like with Edwina I have spare tickets but finding anyone to accept them will be difficult. Perhaps Ben can ask some of his Lib Dem Youth & Student cohorts to come along. Because politics geeks are fun.
Pride weekend imminent. I enjoyed myself last year but it was my first so I’m open minded about this year (alcohol will put a stop to any doubts though). Plus it’s the series finale of Who, which must be watched at all costs. Do they still sell those really tiny tellies?
I have an entire mug of espresso [MINE! ALL MINE!]. I bought an espresso maker at Waitrose this afternoon, because it looked pretty and I don't think I'm as caffinated as I could should be.
I went out and "did stuff" today. I saw the new Wellcome Collection on Euston Road. I really enjoyed the "Heart" exhibit and the permanent collections. I want the bookshelf of huge volumes of genome sequence patterns. I also went to the New London Architecture place off Tottenham Court Road to see the "Shop" exhibit about new retail space in London. I like the idea of "Stratford City", but only because it's paving over all the old crap, much in the way of "Delta City" from the Robocop movies (and because we need more ED-209s). I braved the hell of Oxford St to buy a new TV aerial so I can actually watch telly in my room and not have to torrent it or interrupt my housemates' viewing.
Ridiculously later than everyone else I've started to get into Regina Spektor. I've had "Begin To Hope" on my PC for ages but only got the chance to listen to it today after randomly uploading it to my MP3 player. She's very, very good and I'd like to have seen her live later this year but she's already sold out. Still, I have the almighty Aimee Mann to watch at the indigO2 next month. Huzzah!
Fifteen minutes until "The Sound of Drums". Uber-w00tage.
Argh! I've just had to refresh a couple of times because the banner ad at the right was just so fucking offensive - particularly the paedotastic 3D animation of a sluttish pre-teen advertising some online chat service. Oh, and in answer to the Maddy sighted five times in Malta story that's doing the rounds: that's only accurate if "Malta" means "under my patio".
Work is becoming beyond farcical. Two people are suspended with firings pending for forwarding an e-mail to a few people internally with a photo of a man hanging from the ceiling by his bollocks. It's considered "pornographic". I nearly got suspended for the duration of my notice for making a jokey sign with a colleague's name on it. My humourless South African boss didn't see the joke and thought I was bullying my co-worker. When called on it my co-worker agreed it was a joke and something we call "office banter" over here but The South African still wanted to suspend me. Then it was pointed out that his daughter-in-law calls several people in the office "cocksucker" as part of said banter, and he quickly changed his tune. Yes, nepotism still rules at CompuGlobal.
I've applied for a couple of jobs and been put forward for another that I really want. And I'll be gutted if I don't make the interview stage for any of them. My CV is more fantastical and fictional than Conservative environmental policies but after a major re-work this week it's a fucking masterpiece. I'm trying to go for jobs in the administration side of project management departments. I'd love to become a project manager as those people are on ridiculous amounts of money for doing nothing more than creating flow charts and spouting buzzwords. First though I need to get a job with "Project" in the title and then I need to get professionally qualified at Buzzword University.
I have no idea about this weekend. For the first time in months I have nothing planned and that suits me perfectly. Spontaneity is the watchword.
Some of us are generally unpleasant people who always want the bad guy to win in movies. Indeed, that's why Hannibal Lector is such a popular character. So I was intrigued when I heard the premise for Dexter - a serial killer who works as a forensic examiner. Unfortunately it's not that cool as he only kills other murderers and (in the few episodes I've seen) they never actually show what he does to them so he's more of a vigilante than an anti-hero, but that may change as I watch the rest of the first season. Definitely a recommendation though.
No work today, so I went to the NHS walk-in clinic about my ManFlu, because as I suspected (correctly) it wasn't a cold but a chest infection, which I'm prone to because I was born with crap lungs (stupid premature birth. Clearly an indication that I wanted to get as far away from my mother as possible at a very, very early age). Anyway, no antibiotics unless it gets worse, despite me telling the doctor that I couldn't sleep last night due to sweating and chest pain. Pah! Fortunately the clinic is close to a job agency so I handed in my CV and even looking/feeling like crap I charmed the pants off them and have a job interview on Thursday. w00t.
I've really let my photography slip and haven't taken any snapshots in the past fortnight. I really need to do something about that, but the weather isn't helping. I mean really, it's going to be 16C on Saturday. What's that all about?!
Having heard rumblings in the press and on a couple of forums I decided to check out the new Whole Foods [super]Market in Kensington. I expected it to be full of overpriced shit and pretentious Chelsea-dwellers. I was right about the kind of people shopping there but I was very impressed with the products on offer. OK, there was an aisle full of "Dr" Gillian McKeith's "wonder crap" but on the whole the products were either sensibly priced organic goods or exceptionally high quality food with prices reflecting the quality (ie: not organic but fucking good). I was especially impressed by the selection of wines and cheeses (alcoholic Cancerian=adoration of wine and dairy products). And bonus points to the checkout girl who clearly didn't want to be there and so didn't weigh half my loose products. Thanks to her I think I must have saved a tenner (and thus I spent that saving on a new jumbo sized cafétiere from M&S). We need a Whole Foods in the Docklands. Now. Still got ManFlu (ie: the sniffles). I haven't helped myself by going out last night and wandering around the Kings Road and Chelsea/Kensington this afternoon. *whines* I want to be healthy so I can go running again! Thankfully I'm off work tomorrow but I doubt I'll be resting at home as I want to try out the food at The Narrow (Gordon Ramsey's pub off the Limehouse Basin). I'm looking forward to the opening of the Wellcome Collection on Thursday. I <3 free museums, particularly those with late night opening.
Jesus, I seem to be stuck in some sort of *poking* causality loop on Facebook. It got boring a couple of days ago but now I'm keeping it up for the amusement value. What's scary is that I don't think the other people involved are taking it as lightly as I am (but they are quite hot).
I finally got round to getting Vista (my wallet would be on codeine if I didn't have one of those "saving account" dealies). Eh. It's OK. Not really worth it. And of course I learned too late that the OEM version can only be installed on one PC, which is irritating as I'm due for a major hardware upgrade (owing to the imminent release of a new UT game).
I've had another job offer, although it's only for £19k (boo!) being a Customer Service drone (double boo!) at the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (yay!). The benefits are absolutely amazing - good pension scheme, BUPA, life assurance, discount gym, seriously discounted fees on their courses, free flu shot (erm...). Despite the cut in pay I'm going to give it serious consideration as I really have to get away from CompuGlobal and working there whilst finding something else will give me time to recharge my sanity. And bonus points for not feeling like I have to spend every working minute multi-tasking a billion things at once whilst deflecting the knife blows in my back from various (South African) colleagues. But I have a few more weeks to find something before I need to settle so we'll see what happens.
Bugger all else is new.
I don't think I've ever laughed so hard at live comedy. Ever. Lorraine Kelly is such a filthy (fantastic) bitch.
