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Split personality? More like age!
On Saturday, we had a fun day doing not very much, but it struck me that it was also a rather bizarre one, in a way. Topper and I went for a wander to a local independent coffee shop for lunch and then stopped off at our new Co-op Late Shop for some dinner ingredients and a Guardian. Later on we discovered the joys of NTL's 'on demand' movies by watching The Machinist. All very grown up and sensible, you may think. Yet on that same day, we also popped into Woolworth's for copies of Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story and Wario Ware: Touched, and later on in the evening watched The Spongebob Squarepants Movie courtesy of 'on demand'. On Sunday I read the Observer and then got first prize in another disc competition with my Nintendog, Lucky.
Who says I can't have the best of both worlds? There are benefits to being grown up, and also benefits to being under-12 so I guess wanting both makes me one of those 'kidults' I keep reading about in newspapers and magazines. That's where money really can buy happiness because I could pay for someone else to do all the boring adult stuff for me (do housework, find a better mortgage deal, tax the car etc) and stick to playing computer games, watching cartoons and taking photos all day. Cue another Monday day-dream...
Posted on October 31, 2005 | Comments (3)
Cutest animal ever?
In this week's Popbitch email was the line "Move over otters - here's the cutest animal ever", and when I clicked on the link that followed, I was inclined to agree. I wonder if I can get one in Nintendogs if I get enough points...
Posted on October 28, 2005 | Comments (3)
Makes all the difference
As described previously, I bought some tickets to see Depeche Mode in March next year but was considering selling them on eBay. I decided to go ahead at the weekend, had no bids after a couple of days and then got a message yesterday from someone asking if I'd consider a 'buy it now' option. I pondered this idea for the rest of the afternoon and then decided to go for it, adding a 'buy it now' for the price I'd initially paid (including booking fees and postage), and she snapped up the tickets straight away.
I then spent all night wondering if I should have just left them on auction in case I got more money, but I just checked my webmail and she's said getting the tickets has made her year. I feel better now. A nice email really can make all the difference. Let's hope Royal Mail keep their part of the bargain now.
Posted on October 26, 2005 | Comments (4)
Strangely addictive
Topper bought me a great present recently - an Nintendo DS. The main reason for this (apart from him being lovely) was so that I could play Nintendogs rather than simply going "aww" every time I saw an advert for the game, or read a review of it. Well, eight days on and my miniature schnauzer has come first in the beginners and open class for the obedience trials, and I've remodelled my house once. It appears that Lucky and I are getting on rather too well though, as today I found myself worrying that she'd gone without her lunch time walk, so I took my DS off to the ladies for a quick feed and stroll (with the sound turned down as who knows what colleagues would have made of barking noises coming from one of the cubicles). I may be sad, but at least the dog won't die if I get bored of it. And I haven't had to wash poo out of the carpets once.
Posted on October 25, 2005 | Comments (9)
Moan moan moan
For ages I've been getting annoyed about things, saying I'll complain and then not doing it. If I had a pound for every complaint letter I've ever said I'd write and then didn't, I would probably have enough for a Canon EOS20D at Jessops' new lower price. Anyway, last Thursday I finally decided that enough was enough and I fired off a couple of emails to some people who've been annoying me for a little while - one to Photography Monthly for featuring nothing but landscapes every month, and one to Sky One to tell them to lay off the football - and Sky replied to me yesterday.
OK, so all the staff there are probably having a great laugh at my expense, the way I chuckle at the silly complaints the BBC get (passed on to me by my friend Pete), but I don't pay to get extra channels in order to watch football. If I wanted to do that I'd pay for Sky Sports or PremPlus. So, I told them to ditch the UEFA football, The Match and Football Icon on Sky One so that I can watch my Simpsons, Nip/Tuck, Brainiac and Weeds in peace. After all, I didn't get the option of watching the 'making of' programmes on Wallace & Grommit's film as they put that on Sky Movies 1. Talk about double standards. Anyway, they are probably laughing at me as I type this, but at least I got an apology. Perhaps I should finally write that complaint letter to Peugeot now after they nearly killed me this summer.
Posted on October 24, 2005 | Comments (4)
The end of another working week
Another working week is at an end, and I don't really have much to blog about, so I'll share this tale of woe from my friend Kate in her latest temp job. It's far more interesting than anything that's happening around here...
"I Special Deliveried a package to Ireland containing a client's phone (he is called Happy Murray and lives at Happyacres, I kid you not!). They took the package but haven't delivered it because they can't do Special Delivery to Dublin - you have to send it Airmail. But the 5 different people who dealt with it didn't look at the address, so now it is in Dublin with nowhere to go coz they have decided that they won't deliver it, so will send it back to us in about, um, 3 weeks. "WHY?!", I cry. "Just coz", was the response. Fooking priceless!"
Posted on October 21, 2005 | Comments (0)
On the road to recovery
I've not been well these past few days. My cold returned, worse than before, on Wednesday and I was forced to cut my evening class short due to excessive sneezing and snuffling, which was distracting the rest of the class. So, when I still felt terrible on Thursday morning, I faced a dilemma. Do I struggle in and try desperately hard to concentrate all day, thus leaving me even worse for the evening? Or do I take the day off and try to recover enough that I can go to see Röyksopp at Manchester Academy? I think you can guess which option I chose. Come on, I bought the tickets months ago. Of course, it meant I had to take Friday off as well because I still felt rubbish, but it was worth it. They were fantastic... and my cold's almost gone now. Fingers crossed that I'm still coughing and sniffing a bit tomorrow though, or everyone will think I've faked it completely.
Posted on October 16, 2005 | Comments (0)
Public service announcement
Just a quickie - to the person who Googled for "dave gahan pronounciation":
(a) It's spelt pronunciation.
(b) Imagine Gahan has no h in the middle, just a long a.
Posted on October 10, 2005 | Comments (0)
Why does eBay hate me?
Why is it that, when you bid for something you really want on eBay, you always get outbid? Also, when you bid on something that would be quite nice but you're not really that fussed, you usually end up winning.
I bid on a developing tank for processing my own B&W films for my college course, and then looked at what else the seller had to offer. I bid on a set of multigrade filters for adjusting the contrast of your print and then, after finding only one working example at college, also bid on a focus finder. I was outbid on everything but the filters, which I'd only really bid on to reduce postage from the seller. Damn.
Well, I have today off and have bid on my third developing tank in the hope that I win it this time. Must get housework done, remember my hospital appointment and keep checking eBay. Have given up on the focus finder for now, so will have to fight my fellow students for the working one at college. The rest must have been lost/broken in the move to the new building (see photo). The reason I'm buying a tank is so that I can load my film at home in the darkness of my changing bag. Some numpty forgot to make the developing room light-tight so we're all getting fogged film. It's not that difficult to check that a room delivers complete darkness, is it?
Posted on October 10, 2005 | Comments (1)
Camera heaven?
I went to the NMPFT on Saturday to see the work from the Redeye summer workshops, which I unfortunately didn't get on to. Fellow Manchester lomographer Leanda Ryan did though, and her photos were by far the best (in my opinion, and before I'd even read the list of who was responsible for what). If you can't go along yourself, check out the online gallery at photoeleven.com.
While I was there, I also went round the history of photography gallery again. Found myself spending ages in front of the case containing an Olympus XA and another with a 1960s Beirette... just like my friend Lydia has! It came with a strange fan-like contraption which turns out to be a reflector for the flash bulb. I don't know if she's ever used the flash, but the camera itself is beautiful. They have some gorgeous cameras on show at that museum. A lot of people were going round lointing out the cameras they used to own, but I was also pointing out the ones I want to own. And that was before I got to the digital section. Must try to stop collecting.
Posted on October 09, 2005 | Comments (2)
Found
Have you ever spotted something on the ground and felt compelled to pick it up? My sister used to do it all the time when she was a kid, but I now realise how interesting it can be. Some people even create websites devoted to it. I found this photo on the pavement outside the shops that are outside Whitworth Park on Oxford Road. I wonder who he is?
Posted on October 04, 2005 | Comments (2)