<b>Time/Date</b> 02:51:09PM, 17th/Sep/2008<br><b>Subject:</b> Camping a washout, 20 odd people sleepover, and a planned trip to Liverpool<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>What can I say about the camping weekend... It was a total wash out!!! It rained from the moment we left home to the moment we left and still didn't stop. We got there and set up anyway, which took around 3 hours to get 4 tents set up between the 6 of us. The wind and rain persisted the whole day. To make matters worse, my tent broke. One of the zips got caught in the material of the tent and no matter how hard I tried it wouldn't come free, so I pulled harder and harder, and it still didn't come free, but all the pulling made the zip split above the zipper fitting. My cousin suggested we pry apart the zip fitting and then put it back on properly, but in doing so we snapped (clean!) the fitting! That left me snookered. It was suggested I try and get hold of some safety pins and just pin it closed for the night, so I went to the local co-op, but all they had was paper clips, but I bought those and tried anyway, but they didn't last long before the wind caught it and it flapped open again. <br> <br>Anyway, later in the evening the wind started to pick up, and the rain got heavier. The other 2 groups of people turned up about an hour before it got dark and decided they wouldn't stay, it would be pointless trying to set up only to go home the next day, so they decided to drive home straight away, but not after stopping for some fish and chips first. The bill came to £42 for 16 meals! <br> <br>In the morning we decided to go back to my aunties house where we would enjoy the rest of the weekend dry and warm! We packed up the tents and went back to hers. We all had a nice warm shower and a change of clothes, and then we continued with the party (it was supposed to be my cousins birthday camping trip). We got all the food we were supposed to be BBQ'ing and cooked it all for the party. As we were doing that, the people who went home the night before turned up, along with another 8 people! It was hectic but very very fun. After the party ended, some people went home (8 people went home) but the rest stayed the night at my aunties. The guys (me, uncle, cousin and grandad) stayed up till about midnight but the girls stayed up till the hours of the unknown! (Literally, they really didn't know what time it was they went to bed!). <br> <br>It was all a very fun weekend, but I was glad to get away from the screaming kids thats for sure! Early afternoon Sunday, everyone left for home. Surprising how tidy my aunties house still was after everyone left as well! <br> <br>Well, onto other matters now. In early October I'm going over to Liverpool (well, Wirral) again, to see my Mum and my friends. Not sure where I'm staying yet, its still got to be arranged. I've managed to book a few days off work though so I can go over, which is good, since I don't have to worry about that now. I've asked Dave if he can arrange a LAN party too, if he can thats going to be really good. Even Ben said he might turn up!!! Even if he doesn't I'll see him anyway. We'll probably go for a rag in the cars (lol, I say rag, I mean drive really... no really I do!). Got to show him the "amazing power" of my dirty diesel turbo anyway. <br> <br>I'll have to get in touch with Tom to see if I can stay at his house again. I would stay at my Mums but you know me, we'll be up till all hours and my Mum wouldn't appreciate that. I still have orders to visit her of course, probably go round for tea one day, or possibly stay the night the night before I go home, who knows. I stayed at James' house last time, which was the first time I had done so. It was fun however, and we stayed at Toms one night, as we had planned to do. That reminds me... *Note to self: Do not let Tom near my air bed!* Most people probably know what I mean by that but for those who don't, last year Tom decided it would be accidentally fun to put a nice knife slice in my air bed while I was still on it... I still never forgave him for that. Funny tho, the air bed is still in his room under his own bed. No idea why, it doesn't stay up longer than 20 minutes anymore, even with the fix I tried doing which involved gaffer tape, a bike wheel inner tube and lots of glue... Still, it was funny afterwards! Everyone always wets themselves laughing whenever I mention it... *rolls eyes*. <br> <br>Anyway, you're probably wondering how my new job is going? Well, its going better than I ever expected it would. In fact I'm enjoying it a hell of a lot! I thought it would be a boring job but its not, every day is different, and there is always something to talk about. Each shift I'm on I'm usually on with someone else, so it means I have to tell the stories several times, but you always get a different response and a different conversation out of it. Its great. Me and Anita seem to work together the most, and we seem to have the most laughs and conversations too. Mind you, Lynn laughs a lot too. She's the one everyone thinks is horrible but she's nice really! She seems quite intimidating at first but once you work with her for a shift or two you realise thats just whats on top, and you need to bury through that and get to know her more. I'm working with her next week I think, on a morning shift, so thats probably going to be the last one before her holidays. <br> <br>Anyway, talking about work, I was doing some cleaning the other day (2 of us work the afternoon/evening shift, so we all have to do our fair share of work). I was cleaning behind the counter, so I could still serve customers if any came in. I thought the till touch screens needed a good wipe down, since they had grubby finger marks and all sorts on it. I got a cloth and some cleaning spray and got to work. Nobody was using any pumps so I was OK wiping the screen over in case I hit any buttons. Anyway, I did hit a button I shouldn't have... And it was a good job nobody was on the pumps... This one was the big "STOP ALL PUMPS" button. Nightmare!!! The screen turned into lots of red dots saying "PUMP STOPPED" on all 12 pumps!!! I nearly crapped myself, I really did. I tapped pump 1, and it said restart on one of the buttons, so I pushed it, and it went back into an idle state. Thank God for that! I did it for the remaining 11 pumps. As I was doing it, Lynn came over and asked what I was doing. I told her I hit the stop all pumps button while cleaning the screen. She burst out laughing. Oh nice, I thought. Then I joined in. She said "Welcome to the club, we've all done it before!!!". I thought she was going to scream at me but she just laughed! Ah well, all fun and games I suppose. Thats one of the reasons I like it. <br> <br>Anyway, one damn huge entry again. I'm still breaking that promise to post more often! <br> <br>Till next time...!<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 01:12:08PM, 02nd/Sep/2008<br><b>Subject:</b> Part time job, new car and camping<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>Well what do you know, almost a month has passed since the last entry yet again. I'll never learn! <br> <br>Some great stuff has happened over the last 3 weeks anyway. I have a new part time job! Its nothing special but its something at least, and gets me twice what I would get from the Job Seekers allowance. Its a part time job working in a petrol garage just down the road. Its a great job actually, a lot better than I thought it would be. Its a great atmosphere, the people I work with are great! You meet so many different people every day its uncanny. Some are miserable but some are very chirpy and have a nice little chat while paying for their stuff. Some even have a little laugh with you as well which is nice, it certainly cheers you up, especially when its a 6am-2pm shift! Thats right, I work 6am-2pm and 2pm-10pm shifts, depending on the rota. Its bloody awful doing a 6-2 shift sometimes because you're rushed off your feet and you're tired. It makes the day drag on quite a lot. 2-10 shifts aren't too bad, its a lot more laid back, and there is plenty of time to sit down and relax when there are no customers. Even though you still have to do work around the shop as well, like cleaning, stocking and newspaper sorting, its all easy enough to do and you have 8 hours to do it in. <br> <br>Basics of what I do in work are:- <br>2pm - Serving on the counter for a while. <br>3pm - Mopping and general cleaning. <br>4pm - Stocking of crisps and chocolate, and stock rotation. <br>6pm - Close and clean kitchen. <br>7pm - Sort the newspapers and remove out of date food. <br>8pm - Bring in the flower stand and clean the forecourt. <br>All Day - Keep checking the drinks fridges and restock them when needed. <br> <br>All the time in between is spent on the till, or when necessary on the till, e.g. a long queue. There are two of us to do all this work in the afternoon/evening anyway so we're always busy doing something at some point. Nobody likes to spend all afternoon on the till so we have a rota on the jobs. We just offer each other the jobs and the other person does it (usually!). <br> <br>Anyway, onto other matters. I have the new car I mentioned in the last post! Its in so much better condition than my other car and just about everything works. The heater blower isn't quite 100% but it does a good enough job. I'm going to work on that when I have a day spare, since the whole dashboard pretty much needs to come out to fix it. Its great though, the turbo diesel engine really has a punch to it, although if I keep using the turbo the MPG drops to about 20-25! It should be nearer 40, like the other car. Remember its the same engine but with a turbo slapped onto it. Its amazing what a difference it makes. 62BHP to 109BHP simply by adding a turbo. I have a glow plug out at the moment, which means the car splutters and smokes when I start it from cold. No biggie but it will start to damage the catalytic converter soon, and if I lose another glow plug the car might struggle to start at all. At £32 to replace the plugs, I'm going to leave it as long as I can since I don't really have the money to spend at the moment. If you want to see pictures and specs of my car, click on the "my car" link on the left. <br> <br>I'm going camping later in the week too. Going with about 16 people!!! Yes, a huge trip, even if I do say so myself. If you look on the August 2007 camping pictures, thats the same place as we're going this time and with the same people, plus more. Same people, plus my cousin, his partner, and his 2 kids (my 2nd cousins). Also my Mum, her husband and my brother are possibly coming over as well. They haven't confirmed it yet but I hope to find out in the next day or so if they are. It should be great fun with so many people I know there. Its not often we get together as a big group. I hope the weather stays fair too, last time it was nice during the day but awful during the evenings, which forced us to all sit round the fire, each holding an umbrella keeping dry and warm! Still, that was fun in itself, as everyone else on the camp site went to bed. I will of course have pictures at the end of the trip and uploaded by mid-week next week =) <br> <br>Anyway, I have work to go to in the next 30 minutes, 2-10 shift. Hopefully it won't be busy so I can have a nice sit down and a chat. I was absolutely knackered after the 6-2 shift yesterday and I'm still tired now, despite lying in. Ah well, I'm off from tomorrow for just over a week so I can have all the lying ins I want! <br> <br>Ciao!<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 09:38:09PM, 11th/Aug/2008<br><b>Subject:</b> New car and new jobs? Perhaps my luck is changing!<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>Wow, I have managed to remember to make a more regular entry. Maybe my luck really is changing. A fair bit has happened in the last 2 weeks or so. I've sourced myself a new car, my Mum, Beother, Auntie, Uncle, Cousin and Grandad went on holiday and I have got myself another interview. <br> <br>2 weeks ago I went to see my cousin Matthew with my Grandad to deliver a few shelves and possibly get myself some new tyres for my car. It turned out I didn't need the tyres in the end but it was worth the trip to see my Matthew's new house. While I was there he mentioned he was selling his car. While almost identical to my current car (a Peugeot 306) this car was the model up, much newer and in much better condition. This car is a turbo diesel edition, while my current is only the standard diesel edition. It's also a 1997, where as mine is 1994. The condition of this car is also much better than my own. After viewing it I decided I would buy it off him for the very fair asking price of £500. I was only able to do this because of my savings for car repairs and insurance etc. Since my insurance was no-where near what I expected it to be this year it was a blessing and I was able to use the money to put towards the new car. Well I have paid for the car and its currently sitting at my aunties house until I pick it up. I haven't picked it up yet because my current insurance still has another 2 weeks remaining on it. My Dad said why bother insuring on it now when you can wait another month and get, in effect, another months worth of insurance. He also doubted whether I could be insured on two cars at once but that didn't matter since I agreed with him. Anyway the car has had a new clutch, new radiator and a turbo refurbishment in the last 6 months. Its has a service every 6 months and regular maintenance such as fluid checks and regular washing and waxing. Its also been in the family all but 1 year of its life. My Uncle bought it when it had just 10,000 miles on the clock (1 year old) and he owned it for 8 years or so before selling it to his son (my cousin) and then him selling to me. Because of this is has a full service history! Wonderful. <br> <br>Anyway onto other things. My Mum and her Husband, Brother, Auntie, Uncle, Cousin and Grandad have all gone abroad together. I forget where they went (I'll try and remember to add that fact later when I find out). A few days into the holiday I got a text saying my Uncle had broken his foot!!! Very clever of him. From what I have heard, they were stepping over a wall and there was a small hole the other side, which he stepped in, lost his balance and his foot took the force, breaking it. Not a nice thing to have happen to you when you're abroad thats for sure. Thankfully they had travel insurance or they'd be paying a hefty sum for the medical care. He has it in plaster now anyway and I presume he has crutches so he can still at least enjoy the remainder of his holiday to some extend. I expect he will be annoyed with himself over the whole incident. Not because he has "ruined" (well not ruined but disrupted) the holiday but also because he won't be able to go back to work when he gets home. It'll be a huge blow to him. Oh and he won't be able to ride his motorbike either! They're due back this week some time, probably the weekend. <br> <br>Jobs... Yes I'm still looking. Yesterday I went to the local garage to get an application form to work there. My Dad mentioned they needed staff the day before so I thought why not. I need a job desperately and I need to take advantage of every opportunity. However thinking about it, I would probably enjoy working in the garage because I enjoy serving customers, handling money, and I like talking to and meeting new people. I do this when I help a friend out and its somewhat pleasing. Anyway today I handed the form back in today and as I was leaving the supervisor asked to have a quick word. She called me over, had a quick look at me and a quick look at my application form. Without hesitation she invited me for an interview later this week. I was amazed at how quick she invited me for the interview. I'm guessing they're either desperate or they are just keep to take me on. Who knows! I will find out later this week and let everyone know as soon as I do. <br> <br>Some sad news now. I was recently informed by a friend that a friend from college, Ian Jackson, died in a climbing accident in the French Alps last week. He fell 160feet down the rocks/cliff he was climbing on because of a technical fault wit his ropes. His parents are over there to bring him back this weekend. I may not have known you well Ian, but rest in peace, you will be missed by more people than you can imagine. He didn't deserve this to happen to him, but you always think it will be someone else and not you or your friends and family, unfortunately this time it was...<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 02:02:29AM, 24th/Jul/2008<br><b>Subject:</b> Nearly got a job, MOT, road tax and insurance<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>Another month since my last post again. I really should post more often! I know I keep saying it but you have to admit it probably won't happen will it! <br> <br>Well another month, and another set of problems. I nearly got myself a job. Thats right, nearly. I'll explain... <br> <br>A company called Insight Marketing had their ad at the job center, advertising that they needed someone to do Web Design and Technical Support. I thought "fab!" since thats exactly what I wanted to do. I called up, got an address to send my CV to and then I waited. A few days later I got a phone call arranging an interview for the job. A few days later, the interview came and I got my shirt and tie on. The interview only lasted about 20 minutes and not a lot was said which I found surprising. However the interviewer said I would get a phone call within the next week. Well, 2 days later, I got a phone call asking if I could attend a second interview that same day! I said told them yes it wasn't a problem. A few hours later I suited up again and headed off for a second interview. There they asked me a few more questions, reviewed my portfolio, showed me around and introduced me to the people I'd be working with. I thought it was a great place to work and with great people. At the end of the interview I was told they would like to trial me for a 1 month period on minimum wage before proceeded to full employment if I met their requirements. That was a brilliant outcome and I started the next day! <br> <br>The next day came and I got there early but waited around a bit anyway so I didn't look "too" keen! You can't look too keen or you end up being the company geek! Anyway I got there and they had a PC set up for me so I got it up and running and changed it to how I like. My first task was to create a brochure using Adobe InDesign, a piece of software I'd never even heard of until that day. I had to take a badly made word document and make it into a nice brochure. I had to keep asking for help because I'd never used the software before and I hate doing that (asking, that is). Anyway I struggled along and produced something I was happy with. I showed it to the person who wanted it and it was nothing like they wanted. They said it lacked character and interest, and the person reading it would get bored after the first page. <br> <br>The second day there I ended up redesigning the brochure from scratch with some inspiration from other brochures they had lying around. This time, 5 hours later, I came up with something that the person liked so I finished it off, perfected it and then send it over in a PDF form. One job completed, with difficulty. My second job was to create some website designs for the company website which needed an overhaul. Great, something I can do. I sat down and for 4 hours I worked away making 3 templates. The guys I was working with kept going on at me about how I should be using Dreamweaver and other crap like that, but they obviously fail to understand that not everybody works the same way as they do. All professionals have their own methods of getting to the same conclusion, the method they are happy with. Anyway despite that I came up with some designs I liked. At the end of the day the Managing Director had a look but he didn't seem impressed. I don't know if it was the colour scheme, the look, or what. He never commented except for "so this is going to be the new company website?" with a sort of frown in his look. Anyway, I took it as a very firm "this is not what I wanted" way again and went home. <br> <br>The third day (after the weekend) I continued working on the designs and also some additions to the brochure I made and a few e-shots (HTML e-mail templates). I was barely spoken to by anyone except the two guys I was working with that day until the end of the day when one of the "boss's" called me into her office. Basically what she said was that she was told I was struggling with the tasks I was being given and that I wasn't doing them to any standard they had ever seen (e.g. crap compared to what they wanted). Of course I was struggling, I had been given tasks to do that was completely out of my range of abilities. I had done a few hours of web design, the rest was doing this brochure or some random research on the cost of laser toner. She then told me that the two guys I was working with were going on holiday for 2 weeks and that because I was struggling so much I should take the same time off too (without pay as well I must add) and come back when they do. Obviously I agreed since I couldn't really say anything. I went to my car and rang my Dad who said it was very, very unprofessional to do what they have done. They knew they were going on holiday yet they still started me as soon as possible instead of waiting until they got back. Me and my Dad think they did this so I could take over their job for 2 weeks, which just wouldn't happen and I wouldn't take that responsibility on anyway, even if I was asked to, not after 3 days. Anyway, I was sent home to think about it and to come back in 2 weeks if I was prepared to. <br> <br>After some lengthly discussions with my Mum, Dad, Grandad and friends, I decided it was obvious I was unable to do the job at hand and that I should spend my time looking for another job, one that I can do. Everyone except my Mum and Grandad agree with it. They think I should stay on no matter what but what they couldn't seem to grasp was that I could not physically do the job! What use would I be sat there doing something I couldn't do? I'd rather voluntarily leave than be dismissed from a job I knowingly can't do. Anyway, I decided that I wouldn't go back, so yesterday I let them know and they said they were fine with that and that they were happy they could at least give me the opportunity to try my hand at the job. They also said I would be paid for the 3 days I worked there too which was very good (and as I would have expected also). <br> <br>So, now I'm back to job hunting again. I have bitten the bullet and got an application form for ASDA. I am dropping that into the store tomorrow and then I'm going to hope they have work. I heard they had night shifts shelf packing so that wouldn't be too bad. At least its something I could do and the money wouldn't be too shabby. <br> <br>Anyway, enough of jobs and onto other topics. My car has its MOT, road tax and insurance all due in a 1 month period of each other. Its a financial nightmare! Well, it would be for most but I think I have it covered, thankfully. I got the MOT done yesterday. It failed the first time on a frayed brake hose but that was repaired and it went back in for a re-test and passed. It does have a few issues such as the exhaust that has a small leak, the suspension has some oil spray on it and a small oil leak that the car has had for a long time. £100 later and it was done and dusted for another 12 months. Next I have the tax, which is going to be £180 (yep, that much, I'm on one of the highest tax groups), and insurance, which hopefully is going to be under £1000 this year. I am going to change to a non-restricted insurance this year so I have no time restrictions on when I can drive! At the moment I'm on something called "drive-time" which means I can only drive between 6am and 11pm or I get charged £25, like a small fine. This is for the advantage of knocking 30% off the price of the insurance, which was a great help, and I rarely need to drive after 11pm anyway. Having no restrictions will be great. It means I can come and go as I please from my friends houses etc, travel at night if I ever wanted to and become a private taxi for my Dad and his mates on a Friday night at midnight! <br> <br>Anyway, I think thats a long enough post for this, err, month can you call it? Thats the main highlights of the last month anyway so there wouldn't be any more to say even if I wanted to. Keep an eye out for the next post (probably in a month knowing me!)<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 10:15:18PM, 23rd/Jun/2008<br><b>Subject:</b> Car broke again, and still no job<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>It's been over a month since my last blog post again. I know, I know, I should make more of an effort like I said I was going to when I first started it. Well usually I forget to make a post. I think about it and I tell myself I'll do it soon, but it never gets done and then I completely forget I even have a blog until one day I click onto my own website and see "Blog" written on the navigation. And unfortunately that's whats happened today. But, I have quite a bit to say today so that's not so bad. <br> <br>Carrying on from my last entry, I said I'd fixed my car. Well, its almost broken again. The re-oiling of the fan simply didn't work. Now when I try to use it I get a burning motor windings smell. Its very unpleasant but worst of all I can't keep warm when its cold! I'm going to take it out and shove it in a bucket of oil for 24 hours, that ought to do it! <br> <br>Jobs... Jobs, jobs, jobs. Where do I start. Well I've been looking since I left my last job (still can't say why I left though. Anyone who knows me knows why). I am now on job seekers allowance, which is low but it gets me by. £47 a week bar a few pennies. Its barely enough to pay for food let alone to live the rest of my life. I'm still looking though and I do have some promising leads. I'll try and remember to keep you up to date on here! <br> <br>Now, onto serious matters. I seem to be in a phase of losing my online friends at the moment. Just last week one of my best online friends Dan decided it would be time if we didn't speak to each other anymore. We had another pointless argument, as friends do. I realised I was going to far and suggested I should stop before someone blocks each other, and I guess he had had enough because he said "let me be the first" and blocked me. Shortly after he went onto BetaArchive and removed his mirror server from our lists, pronounced he wasn't going to be around the forum much more and sent me a PM stating that he thinks its for the best and good luck with the site... That's not how I wanted to end a friendship, especially not with Dan, who I have known for at least 4 years now. He's given me so much in life and I've never been able to return it... He's given me a life's worth of sarcasm, whit and humour, advice on what hardware I should get for my new pc, suggestions for new music (pendulum) which I love, website coding tips, joining him on online gaming... Practically everything a friend should share... There isn't much I can do about it though. I can hope he see's sense and unblocks me and we become friends again. I told him I'm not going anywhere... Who knows what the future holds... <br> <br>On the same matter two other best friends online (who I won't name) are also feeling the same way but towards everything in their online life. They both want to give up their life online because they're too stressed over it. If they do that, I don't have many other people to look up to online, and as people who know me will be aware, 95% of my life is spent online. I have very few friends on this side of the country so its not like I choose to be alone and spend my time online... its because I have little choice... But I don't want to lose two of the best influences of my online life. I already lost one (Dan) and I don't want to lose two more... I know you're reading this guys, so just think about how many lives you will be affecting if you decide to go offline completely...<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 11:50:21PM, 15th/May/2008<br><b>Subject:</b> No job and car fixed<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>Well its been yet a long time again since I last made an entry. In that time I've resigned my job for reasons I won't write here. Put it this way, it wasn't a nice experience and things are still going on regarding it. <br> <br>I now have no job. I'm looking though, but thats not easy with the economy's state at the moment. I have signed on (that means I get Job Seekers Allowance). This will at least help me for the time being but I don't want to be on it forever obviously. I have found a few jobs and had an interview for one of them, but as of the present moment they haven't decided if they want to take me on. I did the interview last Friday, and was told I would be phoned on the Monday to find out. By 4pm I hadn't had anything, so I rang them. I was told the decision still hadn't been made. Its now Thursday and still nothing. I don't know if I should ring up and find out if they have issues the job or not yet. <br> <br>I don't know if I am going camping or not yet still. Its only just over a week away but Tom still hasn't confirmed if we're going. My Dad has offered to help me out with the cost of going until I can pay him back which is cool. At least I won't miss the trip if it does go ahead. I'll have to ring Tom and find out if he knows yet. Its so hard to get info out of him! <br> <br>Me and Aaron fixed my car today and Aaron fixed his too. Just a few things needed doing on mine. When I was over in Liverpool last, we were down the prom and the waves were crashing over. I, plus Ben and Danny, sat in the path of the crashing waves. I was in my car and had the fan on. As the water crashed onto the windscreen it managed to get into the heater fan assembly and get it wet. The next day it stopped working. Since then its been sat dead. I took the fan out a few weeks ago to find it rusty and stiff. Me and my Dad freed it up and it worked again. Put it back in the car and it didn't work. Something else was broken. We checked the resistor and it seemed dead. Today me and Aaron bypassed one of the resistors on it (which may not be a resistor now, it might be a thermal fuse). We put it back together and it works perfect again. <br> <br>The other fault was the handbrake. It worked but it could have been better, so I took the center console off and adjusted it so instead of 6-7 clicks to get it working, its now 3-4. <br> <br>So, apart from having no work and in some debt, life is good... Lets hope it gets better.<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 09:05:43PM, 15th/Apr/2008<br><b>Subject:</b> No money, no friends, nothing to look forward to...<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>Its been a while since I posted an entry in the Blog. Probably because I have been so bored out of my mind it never crossed it to make an entry. Well here I am now. I'm in my room. Its dark, cold, and my music is playing quietly so I don't disturb my Dad relaxing downstairs. Its the perfect combination for depression. Know it? Thought so. We've all been there, and I'm there now. <br> <br>Its been a long time now since I had money to play around with. I got myself a new PC (£550), a new laptop (£450) with money I had saved up. Easy come easy go as they say. Well, its not easy come at the moment unfortunately. Not going into detail on my public blog but the way it stands at the moment I might not have anywhere to live come next week, let alone anything to eat. So yes, its bad. <br> <br>My server payment is due in a fortnight. Will I have the money to pay for it? Who knows. If I don't this site and all of my other sites will disappear until I can afford to pay for it again. £50. Its a lot of money when you don't have it. When you do it seems insignificant. Makes you appriciate the true value of money when you think of it this way. Money seems to be the way to my happiness at the moment. Having no friends kind of promotes that. <br> <br>I have nothing to look forward to until May 25th or there abouts. We go camping for a week then in the school holidays. I'll need money for that. About £200. I don't know if I'll have it. That dream of going camping with my "real" friends from Wirral could be shattered for another year. Last year I got my job at the time we were due to go. I didn't go. I worked all week instead. Camping is the only time I get to really enjoy myself. Doing what I enjoy doing more than anything else. It was thanks to everyone on the Wirral that I got into camping, and thanks to my family that I got everything I need to go. But without money, I can't even enjoy it. <br> <br>Moral of my depression is that I need money to be happy. Everyone will disagree. I know one person who will, and that person may well read this and lecture me again over how money is not the road to happiness. I believe it is in this case. You need some, not a lot, to be happy. If you have none, you'll find life very hard like I am now. <br> <br>Life will go on... ...for now...<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 09:30:13PM, 25th/Feb/2008<br><b>Subject:</b> The last month and a half...<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>I've just noticed its been over a month and a half since I last made an entry so I thought now would be a good time to catch up on things I have done. <br> <br>Having finally got over the two norovirus infections, it seems the epidemic in the UK has passed. I haven't been ill since so all is well. <br> <br>Not an awful lot has happened since my last entry. Dave has been over for a few days last month. While he was over his car decided to overheat and then we suspected the head gasket had gone. No idea what it was but it got him back home and he now has a new car. <br> <br>I never mentioned in my last entry but in late November I got myself a Macbook. I thought it would be nice to get to know how they work and get to use one properly. I only got the base model but it was still a good spec. Unfortunately it started to do my head in and last week I got rid of it. I paid £700 for it and got £550 back by selling it on eBay. I then incurred £30 in fees! £20 from PayPal and then £10 from eBay. Ridiculous. Still I am still £20 up from what I really paid for it, since £200 of it was an x-mas bonus. <br> <br>Hopefully with the money I have from selling the Macbook, I can get myself a new laptop and also with the money I have saved up, a new Desktop PC for gaming. I don't know what spec I am going to go for yet but its definitely going to be a core2duo. <br> <br>Now we're into 2008, me and some friends have been having talks about organising some more camping trips this year. The May trip is almost 100% confirmed. I have got the time off, and as far as I know its going ahead as planned. I just hope it doesn't do the same as what happened last year where I never got to go because the date was changed 2 times, leaving me no time to plan. Plus I had just started work which didn't help. However we had already been camping a fair number of times during the year (as can be seen by the pictures on the site). I hope this year will go smoother. <br> <br>We are planning on going to a site where they allow open fires because they set the scene a lot more than a little barbecue does. There is one site I've been told of where they use old tractor wheel rims as bases for the fire. All you do is supply wood/charcoal and et viola, fire. <br> <br>More than likely I'll be going on Caving trips with Aaron again. They're more fun for him than me but its still a camping trip so its worth every minute. <br> <br>While we're on the subject of camping, Grandad gave me a fluorescent light which he got, but it broke. He wants me to convert it to LED's for him. It sounds an easy job but I have to dissect the circuit board, remove the inverter that powered the fluorescent tube, and then wire in a board of LED's that I have made. I hope it won't be too hard as he wants it back in time for camping this year! <br> <br>Righty, I'm off to "Push the tempo!" with Ben since he's just quoted it to me...<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 11:08:14PM, 12th/Jan/2008<br><b>Subject:</b> Norovirus after Norovirus<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>Its been a while since I updated the blog I know. Its been busy times and I guess I just keep forgetting. However being ill for the last 48 hours has allowed me to gather my thoughts and remember these small things. I really should make it a weekly habit of making an entry... <br> <br>So, what has gone on since November. Well Christmas has come and gone, as has new year. <br> <br>Christmas was spent at my Aunties house in Duhram this year. There were at least 10 members of the family there including my cousins and my brother. As Christmas day usually is apart from the presents and the huge lunches it was pretty uneventful. I got some new camping gear, consisting of a new 3 burner stove, and a wind up torch too. I also got a new air bed and pump to replace the one Tom punctured earlier last year. In addition to the camping stuff I got a book, a cd, chocolates, some clothes, a new watch, and various other things, too many to name them all. <br> <br>New year consisted of a small party at Toms house. Not many people there but enough to eat the £50 worth of food we put out! Me and Tom mainly stayed upstairs or out of the way until midnight when we all went down the prom for the stroke of midnight. Fireworks, cheering and lots of hugging saw the event come and go in no more than 5 minutes! <br> <br>This week however has been bad for me yet again. In december, a week before Christmas I contracted the Norovirus, which is a stomach flu, often called the 'x-mas bug'. Fine, OK, common bug, anyone can get it. I sat out the 2 day illness and 2 day recovery. I managed to go back to work for one day before we finished for Christmas. <br> <br>We went back to work this week, and I go to bed Thursday night, only to be awoken at 3am with the same symptoms. Stomach pains and the urge to throw up... so I did. Several times an hour for around 8 hours before it started to ease off. It was around 18 hours after first getting hit by it that I was finally able to drink sips of water and being able to keep it down. I didn't dare try and eat anything. It was bad enough throwing up but it got to a point where there was nothing TO throw up, so it just added to the pain. <br> <br>Yes, it sounds like I'm over exaggerating. I'm not. You really do not want to go through this. I've had it once, had it twice, in fact, the august illness might have been the same thing as well. So lets say 3 times in 6 months I've had it now. Once is bad enough, believe me. <br> <br>Anyway, I'm on my way to recovering. I managed, after 30 hours of no food/drink, to eat some breakfast and drink a few pints of water. Later this afternoon I ate some ham and cheese on toast. The stomach pains come back sometimes, but thats to be expected. <br> <br>Anyway, enough said I think. Probably too much detail that most people didn't even read this far. Oh well... thats life...<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 02:50:18PM, 29th/Nov/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> 400 miles in a weekend<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>I made my first long distance trip alone last week. I thought it would be a nice idea to go over to see Tom, Dave, Ben etc in Liverpool (well, the Wirral to be exact, but not many people know where that is). Everyone wanted me to go so I thought why not, and arranged a 4 day trip over. <br> <br>It takes around 3 hours to get there by car, which to be honest isn't too bad. Its about 150 miles one way. Apart from getting a stiff neck in the last hour of the journey its quite a pleasant drive over. <br> <br>Before I went over I arranged some breakdown cover with the AA for just under £8 a month, which is great value if you ask me. This gives me cover for any breakdown in the UK and allows me to get transported to any other UK mainland destination. In my case I wouldn't continue to Liverpool, I'd go back to Middlesbrough where I live and have my car fixed there, since my Dad can help me with most of the labor in most cases. If I went to Liverpool I'd have to fork out ridiculous amounts of money for parts and labor. Thankfully, however, my car is extremely reliable so I hope I never need it. <br> <br>I set off at around 9.30am on the Friday morning. It wasn't too cold, so this helped a fair amount. I packed the car and then tried to turn my GPS on. Dead. OK, plug it into the car charger. Dead. It wouldn't turn on and the charge light was flashing on and off. Damn I thought. I had an idea though. I went back into the house and got my car jump start pack and power inverter. I also had to find the GPS's mains charger to use. I got back to the car and wired everything up, plugged in the mains charger, tried turning it all on, and whey! It fired right up and worked properly. Thank god for that. I wouldn't be able to get there without the GPS. <br> <br>Now that was over I programmed in Liverpool and set off. I only had around a gallon of diesel left so I made a stop at the garage to fill up. £1.079 per litre! Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. I stuck the nozzle in and filled her up to the top. £56.22. Should get me around 550 miles. I went and paid (in cash not card!) and got back to the car where I saw Aaron who was on his way to Uni. Funny seeing him at the same station at the same time isn't it. Not often that happens. Anyway we exchanged hello's and off I went. <br> <br>It was an uneventful journey over. Slight cross winds on the motorways, lots of idiots and plenty of "I'm going faster than you so move" incidents. <br> <br>When I got to Toms I pretty much relaxed and talked to him and his Dad. We went for a quick drive down the prom so he could criticize my driving and then back to his. <br> <br>We did loads of stuff but most you wouldn't find interesting. We went to see Ben and took him out on a road trip to Biston, where Tom fell asleep in the back of the car (aww, lol). One day we also went out with Dave. We went to Mc Donalds for something to eat, then back to Toms to pick up Daves car, then we followed him to the Sand Dunes down the promenade. We stopped there for a bit and had a chat from car to car (yeah how sad, lol). Messed about with the cars for some reason (lights, fans, start, stop, fans, start, lights... yeah also sad). Then we drove back after Tom decided to sleep and get car sick. Then I had to suffer because it was too hot for him. So on go the fans in cold mode and also my window had to be opened (his doesn't work). Made it back in the end but it was all good fun. <br> <br>Me and Tom had good fun making a fire in his room (proper open fireplace, don't worry, lol). Then he had good fun laughing at me when an ember flew out of the fire and melted a hole in my "less than a year old" sleeping bag. Still, its not affected its ability to keep me warm. I was lucky though, I got to laugh at him when his Dad went on a rampage of bad language and shouting as loud as possible, but thats another story entirely! <br> <br>All in all it was a good trip. I left Toms after he went to college at 9am. I left his house around 10am. His Mum has invited me back at New Year to celebrate with them. They always have some sort of party or drinking session so why not. Always an excuse to go over and see them. <br> <br>One highlight of the trip was finding out my cars top speed. Flat out on the motorway I managed to hit 95 according to the GPS. By the sound of the engine I think I was hitting the mechanical limiter too. Anyway it is a diesel afterall so its not designed for speed, more for pulling, which it does brilliantly. After a few minutes at 95, I'd had enough. Its too fast to drive at all the time, plus, its over the speed limit (naughty me, lol). Anyway some idiot was behind me wanting to go even faster than 95 so I pulled over. <br> <br>Oh and that reminds me. We got stuck in a slow moving jam on the way back too. Some woman in an Audi decided it would be fun to ride just 3ft from the back of my car when were moving. So I eased off the gas, and the gap closed to 2ft, and then 1ft, so I thought she was going to hit me, pulled off a bit, and stuck my fog light on to irritate her. Man did it irritate her. She stuck her arms up in a "shrug" position and then slammed her foot down, undertook me and then pulled in front of me. I wasn't having that so I dropped a gear, flat out, pulled out, undertook and then pulled in front of her. Then I slammed the anchors on for a second or so, and then put my foot down again. I'll tell you now, I've never seen anyone go white that quickly before. From that point onwards she was more than 4 car lengths behind anyone she was near. That will teach her not to mess about with other people like that again. <br> <br>Anyway, it took me 2 3/4 hours to get back home, which isn't too bad considering I was in traffic as well. <br> <br>All in all a fun packed weekend. I'd do it again any time!<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 07:50:09PM, 19th/Nov/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> Dreams and Alarms<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>Last night was a wierd one. I had a really odd dream, but the only bit I remember is where I somehow cracked a tooth and half of it came out! I do remember it was a molar and in the dream I ran my tongue over it and it was dead smooth. I have no idea if that would happen if I ever did crack my tooth like that. <br> <br>The other thing was for the first time EVER I forgot to turn my alarm back on, on Sunday night! I've never ever forgotton to do this. Suppose there is a first time for everything. I only woke up at 7.15am when my Dad closed the bathroom door. Very lucky I thought otherwise I'd have been late. I turned it on as soon as I realised it wasn't on. <br> <br>I just put another 2GB of RAM in my work PC today. Now I have 3GB total. I turned off the paging file because without it, it goes even faster. Photoshop seems to work like a dream now which is great as I can get things done faster. <br> <br>Well, I'm off to Liverpool this weekend. I'm going over to see Tom and other friends (Dave, Pxi, Ben etc) and also my Mum at some point. The LAN Dave was planning got cancelled earlier last weekend due to people working and Dave decorating but that doesn't mean we can't have a little LAN at Toms! <br> <br>Right, TV to watch, people to talk to on MSN. Bye!<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 05:27:43PM, 01st/Nov/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> Camping in October!<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>I went camping a few weeks ago. We went to the Yorkshire Dales again, not far from Ribblesdale. It took us 5 hours to get there!! Aaron put his GPS on scenic route *tut*. <br> <br>It was bloody freezing at night. It was -5*c both nights! The first night wasn't too bad but the second I found it hard to get to sleep. Not only were my feet cold and my face cold, but the campsites dogs kept barking every time they heard a noise or a car went past. My ear plugs were useless. They're not as good as the ones I used at Toms. I'll have to see if he has any more I could have. I do have an eye mask which helped when it was light outside (eg 5am) but not time to get up. <br> <br>I took my laptop on this trip too. Crazy you might think but I took my 90Ah battery and inverter to run it too. I charged it off the car on the saturday morning. On that morning the camp site owner came over and asked if I was jump starting my car off of the 90Ah battery. I said no, other way round, im charging the 90Ah battery! <br> <br>It took ages for the engine to warm up because it was -5*c outside. It took 20 minutes to get up to 70*c, not even enough to blow a decent amount of hot air into the car. I had the fan on 2/4, and it was pushing more hot air into the car than the engine could produce! After 30 mins I turned the car off since the sun had come up and it was pretty warm. <br> <br>During Saturday Aaron and Chris went caving but me and Jonny stayed at the campsite. We slept most of the time which was nice. <br> <br>Sunday morning came and 7am, a guy tried to start his car. He had a flat battery. He got some jumper cables from the camp site owner and some guy parked next to him helped him jump start it. Well, tried. Sparks were flying and they melted the cables! The guy of the good car put the +ive on the -ive of the battery! What an idiot. I went and got mine and offered to help. When he got his car started, the guy of the good car took the cables off and let them touch! IDIOT! I shouted at him not to let them touch just as he did it. It was pretty funny the way he jumped when it sparked. <br> <br>Sunday we went home, but Aaron got in a mood and took Jonny with him. I took Chris home. It took us only 2 hours using my GPS! It actually took us on the dual carriage ways etc. <br> <br>Fun trip overall. I put £48 of diesel in my car on the day we left. We did 300 miles on the trip, and I have now done 550 miles on the same fuel, with 1/5th tank left still! Not bad eh!<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 10:40:13PM, 12th/Oct/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> Birthdays and postal strikes<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>It was my birthday a few days ago :-) As per usual I got money and the odd little present, but this year it was different. We have had a postal strike and it was on during the week of my birthday! That means half of my cards haven't even come through yet. The one from my Mum and brother came through today, 2 days late, and thats only because they stopped the strike for a few days. It starts again on Monday. <br> <br>I got paid for the first time the other week. Unfortunately despite getting all that money, most of it was gone instantly. :-( I have to give my dad nearly £350 of it for lodging and next years car insurance. Then what I have left goes towards diesel, £30 a week max I'd think, and also I have my server to pay for, £60 a month if I get no donations, and then I get spare money which comes to around £30-£40 a week. Not a lot overall but then we all have to start somewhere don't we. We can't all go into the multi-million pounds a year business! <br> <br>Christmas is coming up soon and people have been asking me what I want, and to be honest, I don't have a clue! I do know one thing I want and thats the last two Red Dwarf DVD's, series 7 and 8, to complete my collection. Thats it. I can't think of anything else. I suppose I'm at the age where I have pretty much everything I could want. Or have I? Someone will think of something I'd like, they always do. However, NO MORE DEODORANT! I have tonnes of the stuff. Despite using it daily I never seem to run out of the bloody stuff! I think over the past 2 years I've thrown just one empty bottle out (missing out the time I used a whole can of Lynx Africa to start a fire with Tom). James hated me for that; Africa is his favourite of all the Lynx deodorants! <br> <br>I tell you what I would like. A new PC. This one I have now is beginning to get painfully slow compared to new PC's. I mean its a celery (celeron ;-)). Nobody should be buying celery's these days, it should be Core2Duo's or Core2Quads, the two best CPU's around at the moment. Also more RAM. 512MB doesn't cut it now. 2GB should be the minimum, but the more the better. I also would like a decent graphics cards so I can actually play modern games without lag. Even LFS lags on my PC and it works on anything as low as a Pentium 2! Shows how bad my PC is. <br> <br>Anyway, I'll leave this entry here, even though I don't often post. I'm definately going to have to post more often. Maybe I should set myself a reminder to post weekly? Who knows. I'll have a think about it...<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 09:33:28PM, 28th/Sep/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> Driving is fun<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>Driving is so fun now I'm used to the car. But man does it lack power. Flat out I've seen better acceleration from a snail! Still, its a diesel, and it was free, so who am I to complain. It does its job getting me from a to b, then to a, back to b, to c, d and e then back to a again =] OK, over exaggeration but you know what I mean =] <br> <br>I'm doing an airport run tomorrow. Taking my Uncle Alan and I think his friend to the airport for his flight abroad. No idea where they're going yet, but I guess I'll find out tomorrow on the way there. It'll probably crop up in conversation. I'm getting £25 for doing it as well, a healthy amount of diesel money. We'll need to get some diesel before we go too, only got about £5 worth left in it! <br> <br>I've just reconditioned my laptop battery again today for the third time. It wouldn't charge past 72%. So, I flattened it with the laptop till it turned itself off, the I got an LED light that uses 60mA of current and connected it to the battery to totally flatten it to the point where the on board circuitry cuts off the power. It took almost 24 hours to do that. Its now back on charge so hopefully it will start to charge properly and I'll get my usual hour and 30 minutes out of it again. If not then never mind. It is old, about 4 years old actually. Its the original battery so its done really well. I do have my external battery I could use but its not charged either. Cost me enough to buy that external battery as well, £80! Still, its universal and fits most laptops (Except Dave's just to be annoying).<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 05:51:10PM, 10th/Sep/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> Got a job, and my car is finally on the road!<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>I finally got myself a job, and doing something I actually enjoy as well. Web designing and fixing computers/networks :-) I could call it heaven but some days when no work is in it can get a little bit boring once the jobs that are in are finished, or you're just sitting at a Windows XP setup screen for an hour. Still, thats life :-) <br> <br>Finally got my car on the road too and I've already been stopped by the police for a producer. What a nightmare that was. Still, nothing really, its standard procedure. <br> <br>Got a new battery for it which needs fitting as soon as I get some new hoop connectors for the lights, which I should have some time this week :-) <br> <br>I've been invited camping in the time since the last blog entry but unfortunately due to work I couldn't go to it :-( Never mind eh, always another time to go :-) <br> <br>No much else to say now so I'll wrap this one up here :-)<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 04:00:48PM, 19th/Aug/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> Job interview and back from camping<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>My job interview on Thursday went well. It sounds like the perfect job for me and the guy has decided to give me a 2 week trial to see how it goes, and if he likes what he sees, he will take me on full time! I start on Monday for the trial, but I hope it doesn't take 2 weeks for him to decide if he is going to take me on or not. Of course the sooner the better. <br> <br>I got back from camping today. We left on Friday and got there by 2pm, which gave us all day to set up, chat and have a nice BBQ dinner curtsy of Paul the master chef! In fact we had Paul as the master chef both nights (and we had a BBQ both nights too). <br> <br>Overall it was a great trip. There 15 of us, with 5 tents and 2 van's to sleep in. I slept on my own but everyone else had someone in the same tent as them. True, I also had the smallest tent as well so its really only big enough for one person anyway. Saying that two people have slept in it before. <br> <br>It was very uncomfortable for me both nights. I'm just not used to such a thin and hard bed. I'm going to have to get a thin air bed I think. The ones from Asda are a bit too thick for my tent so I'll have to have a look round for a thinner one. It has to be a single one too, a double won't fit, even though its a two person tent.<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 11:40:59PM, 14th/Aug/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> So much going on recently...<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>I've had so much going on recently I totally forgot about the blog. I've been sending CV's out all over the place, ringing about jobs, getting a few interviews etc. Its been hectic. <br> <br>Nothing much to say about that but I do have some other things to talk about. <br> <br>My sister (Isabella) had her christening on Sunday just gone. It was a great day, well, at least for everyone else it was. However I was ill from mid afternoon onwards. I started to feel iffy right from the beginning when I was eating breakfast. I didn't eat it as fast as normal and didn't enjoy it like I normally do. By 11am I was getting stomach pains, which I thought nothing of as I do get them sometimes. Thinking it was wind I took some gaviscon and was done with it. <br> <br>By 12pm we were in the Church and I was starting to film the christening with my Dads brand new camcorder. I did well for 10 minutes then we went to do the actual christening itself. When we were doing this I was stood up but leaning against the wall. It was fine for the first 5 minutes but then I started to feel faint and then my vision started to go blurry and my hearing went muffled. It was then I realised I was blacking out. I stopped filming because I just couldn't keep my hand up any more. I started to feel weak at the legs so I started taking heavy breaths and I bowed my head forward in the hope to regain some energy. I was like this for a good few minutes before my body kicked in and realised what was happening. I sweat like mad to cool me down and then I was fine again. This I assumed was caused by the 24*c heat we had inside the church. I started filming again and managed to last to the end of that part. We walked back to the front where we sank a hymn, which I also filmed. Then we left for the party. <br> <br>When I got to the party I was mostly OK. This was around 2pm ish. I started the music going and then went and got a drink in for Ashley and myself. We sat chatting away and then the food was open for everyone to get what they wanted. By this point I didn't feel hungry so I just left it. By 4pm I was feeling really bad. My stomach was cramping, as were my bowels (if you'll excuse the detail). I stuck it out hoping it would go away but it didn't. By 5pm it was worse and I was in agony. Luckily most people had left by this time and we were due to leave too. I packed up what I could of the music system (laptop, 2x100w speaks and an amplifier) and then I got taken home by a friend of my Dads. <br> <br>As soon as I got home I went straight to bed but I couldn't sleep. I had some water to drink and then tried again and managed an hours sleep before my Dad came in waking me. He asked if I was OK and I said no, and asked if he could bring me some paracetamol, a drink of water and some food up. So he did that, I took the paracetamol and at the banana he brought up. 10 mins later I felt a lot better but not enough to get up so I just slept. <br> <br>By 8pm I was feeling better so I went to watch TV and ate some more food, this time another banana and a buttered bread bun. I felt better again so I assumed it was lack of food from throughout the day causing the cramps. Thinking nothing of it at 10pm I went to bed. 11.30pm came and I was in pain again. This carried on till midnight when my body gave up and I chucked the lot up into the toilet (bit graphic, sorry!). I sure as hell felt better after that. To be safe I went and got a bucket in case I needed to chuck up again. However I was fine (thankfully). <br> <br>Morning came and I was really hungry so I managed some breakfast, albeit a very small amount and I felt fine, so I had some more. The day went on like this and then I went to bed at around 11pm. This morning I woke up at 5am with cramps again which were down to no food in my system. 6am came and I'd managed just a few minutes sleep in that time. 6am to 7am was even less. 7am my alarm went off. I had to get up for a job interview. I got up, but in pain and slowly, and got dressed. I went for breakfast and I managed to eat it but again I started to feel awful again. By 7.40 I said I wasn't going to the interview. I rang the guy up and rearranged for Thursday. This gives me 2 full days to recover, of which I am very very grateful. <br> <br>I managed something better to eat today. Beans on toast for lunch, cheese on toast as a snack, and chicken, chips and beans for dinner. Perfect. It looks like I'm on the mend. The cramps have got less and less through the evening and I'm starting to feel like my old self again!<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 03:55:37PM, 27th/Jul/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> Back from camping<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>Well I'm back from camping, and what an experience! We went caving on the second day and I HATED it. Aaron told me it was a walk through cave with a "little" bit of crawling and an 11 meter decent down into it. I said thats fine, as long as its not much crawling. So we went down and it was crawling the WHOLE way through, and then we got lost so we had to go back through it all again. In the end we had to ascent back up the entrance we descended down. It took around 30 minutes for all 4 of us to get back up. The next day I woke up with bruises on the tops of both of my legs, my knees were bruised, my arms were bruised and I had cuts on my elbows. Not to mention the aching in my back. <br> <br>So you think I'm a wimp? Well, no. This was the first proper cave I've ever done. The others had done them before so they knew what to expect. Either they never got pains like I did or they just didn't complain about them. Whichever it doesn't matter. 3 days I've had the pains now. Hopefully tomorrow they will be mostly gone, because I can barely walk or pick anything up at the moment. Even typing hurts sometimes depending on how I'm sat. <br> <br>Apart from the caving we had a fairly good time. I won't go into too much detail about one part as Aaron wouldn't approve. But something got stolen from his tent and it really annoyed him. It annoyed him so much that he said to one guy we brought he isn't coming back with us and he then proceeded to remove his stuff from the car. And no, he never did come back with us. He was lucky some other guys we know turned up (uninvited I might add) the day after we got there so he was able to go back with them. <br> <br>We had fun with the car though. Getting the roof box on to the car was Aaron's fun before we left. But we had more fun wheel spinning and handbrake turning around the sodden field before we left :-) <br> <br>All good fun, and we said we'd go back to that campsite again too.<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 01:03:12AM, 22nd/Jul/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> Live For Speed<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>Ive just started playing LFS (Live for speed), a racing game, a lot recently. Its ever since Dan from msn got his new wheel for his pc and set up some servers on his dedicated. This is the "Drift" server. Although its often full of n00bs its quite fun to play on. Ive been playing for almost 4 hours today on and off but most of the time in the last 2 hours. Ive only just come off it a few minutes ago. I've been messing around with different setups and Dan sent me a few too. His are amazing, loads of grip, but he still manages to beat me unless he's using his drifting setup, then I usually come ahead of him. <br> <br>Oh well, no more time to play now but loads of time tomorrow. Im supposed to be going camping on Monday too, but I'm not even sure if thats going ahead yet. Time will tell and obviously if I do go then pics will be posted when I get back as always :-) <br> <br>I hope in the near future to devise a way of commenting pictures on the site so you know what exactly is going on. Unfortunately its difficult to code and time consuming to write the whole pics page by hand so I'll leave this one for a rainy day I think.<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 07:53:38PM, 17th/Jul/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> Migraines<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>I hate Migraines. I just got another one today. Fortunately an hours sleep and a damp tissue across my forehead seemed to get rid of the severity of it, so much that I could get up, have dinner and sit here now typing this blog entry. I still don't know the cause of them but I am suspecting my bad eyesight and me straining my eyes a lot. We shall see. <br> <br>I went up to Guisborough today with Aaron and Jonny to set off some fireworks (well, bangers) that Jonny brought back from France with him. They're pretty cool but you have to be quick with them. Once the fuse is lit you get about 3-5 seconds before it goes off. Unfortunately some of them even go out before they go off making the fuse so short trying to light them again would be plain stupid and dangerous. Still, it was fun while it lasted, and then I got my migraine, so Aaron had to bring me home. <br> <br>It looks like camping has been arranged for 16th August, the same day as results day. So it looks like we're going to pack in the morning, go and get our results and then set off straight away for Liverpool. That should take us 2 1/2 hours if we make good time. There we will meet Tom and the rest of the guys (and gals :-P) going, so from there its another 2 hour journey to the campsite in Anglesy. Should be fun but I'm worried that the amount of driving will be too much for Aaron. Thats why I wanted to see if I could get insured on his car for a week. Shame that the insurance companies only allow 21+ year olds to get temporary insurance. Stupid really. With any luck I might have my car on the road by then. You never know!<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 11:47:54PM, 14th/Jul/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> Been back a week, missing it already...<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>Well I've been back a week and I'm already missing the guys back there. I've been quite bored since I got back. I haven't done much except going to a job interview and sitting here on my PC. Oh and spending 4 hours getting all my websites back online after the main server went down. However I lost two of my domains because of this as I don't own them, someone else does. Because of this I had to register another domain for this site. Instead of being a .com its now a .co.uk. <br> <br>Well life must go on. I am hoping to go camping again next week for a few days. Should be fun. But since I have no income now I have to be tight with my money. I don't have a lot left.<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 12:51:26AM, 05th/Jul/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> Boring...!<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>Last few days have been boring really. We haven't done much except sleep, eat and use pc's, lol. Been to ASDA a few times for stuff; nukable burgers in 90 seconds, kitkat chunky's, pringles and coca cola :-) <br> <br>Im coming back on Sunday, thats been confirmed with the coach company :-) <br> <br>Chow for now!<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 06:27:07PM, 02nd/Jul/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> LAN party over...<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>Well the LAN ended... and at 5am too, for Tom and Me at least. We decided to leave and go back home so we could sleep. Tom decided to take us on a small trek on his motorbike down the prom and past my mums house. On the way back we ran out of petrol so he had to switch to reserve. Typical eh? <br> <br>Managed to sleep OK but it was light by the time we got back so it took me ages to get to sleep, even with ear plugs in to drown out the noise!<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 02:28:44AM, 30th/Jun/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> Slice, hisssss....<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>I hate Tom! He was messing about with a knife today and then I heard a hissing sound and he said sorry. I was like, what? Then I felt my air bed going down. He sliced it with the knife!!! It was 2 1/2 inches long and took loads of glue and rubber inner tube, plus selotape to seal it! Oh well, at least it is sealed. <br> <br> This afternoon we also went to Bidston and made a fire. Tom cooked stuff such as eggs, bacon and toasted bread. He also tried to make tea but failed because for some reason it went frothy :-S We were there for about 4 hours, then we ran out of wood and food so we went home. All in all a fun packed day. You can see the pictures on the june-july hols 2007 page. <br> <br>:-)<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 02:14:13PM, 28th/Jun/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> Arrived in Liverpool<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>I've just arrived in Liverpool, w00t :-) Dave, Tom and Philippa picked me up from the coach station. Dave and Philippa took the luggage in the car and then I rode back on Tom's bike with him. It was so cool =] <br> <br>Too excited to write anything else atm but meh :-) Expect more through the week :-D<p> <br> <b>Time/Date</b> 02:26:39PM, 26th/Jun/2007<br><b>Subject:</b> Welcome to the Blog!<hr color='#efefef' width='750'>Hello and welcome to my Blog. Over the next 'however long I decide to keep this blog', I will be posting my thoughts and things I've done in life so you can see what has been going on. <br> <br> I will also be posting images from things that have happened which you can find on other places on the site. <br> <br>Enjoy :-)<p> <br>
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