Stumpaloo

So today was the first day of the Easter vacation, and when I woke up (make that 3pm) there was only one other flatmate around. Oh, yes, it's going to be lonely around here, but it's nothing new to me. I've been alone for most of my life (only son) and I'm used to it... but for some reason I really started to feel alone. All my mates have left already, so I don't really have anyone to fuck around with. Ryan left at around noon (and apparently knocked on my door for quite a while but I wouldn't wake up) and so did James... and Steve left yesterday.

So what do I do on my first day off? Well, I turn my computer on, as usual. I'm gonna do some "stuff" (yes, Erc, I'll keep calling it that because I cannot admit to anything else... for my own security) but then I notice that it's 12 degrees outside... and sunny! I can't stay in on a day like that! So I get ready and go out. Hmm... I should've probably thought about where to go before I left... but well, since I have nowhere to go I decide I'll just walk along the Quayside. So I do. The day was beautiful... it felt so warm! I was only wearing my hoodie, yet I was sweating... how neat is that? After walking the Quayside I thought I'd sit down for a while and enjoy the view, so I did. For quite a long time. I've got to say, though, Newcastle was mad! So many people out! I hadn't seen it that busy ever. I guess I wasn't the only person that figured it might be a good idea to go out because it was a good day...

After sitting around and watching the girls... erm, view I mean, I thought I'd go visit the New Castle. I hadn't been there since my first days here when I was given a short tour of the city. Although only the castle keep is left, it's quite a nice view and place. I then afterwards continue exploring unexplored areas of Newcastle until it starts to get dark. I then head back to the flat (and there's nobody around! So quiet and nice!).

After all I've done is just watch telly and "stuff." I was actually quite knacked from the exploration thing... oh, I'm so out of shape. But well, that's how I started my Easter holidays. I'll keep you updated one what I do, although there might not be posts every day as some of them will be quite uneventful. However, I should be going to Manchester next week and then to Essex afterwards, so keep coming back for updates!

People Are Strange

So today I'm free. That's right, I'm FREE! I don't have to attend uni until four weeks from today, which is a very welcome break. Although I only had one lecture today (and a seminar to which I went to but left as soon as I saw that nobody was there... didn't want to be the only one there as I didn't know what we were supposed to be discussing), I couldn't quite start my "vacation" early as I had some work to do for that day... yep, thanks a lot, procrastination!

Anyway, it has been a very eventful day. Ryan and I decided that we should go out as today was the end of term. It would've been unstudentlike to stay in. So well, we go out quite late and our plan is to go to the Percy for a few drinks and then head to Legends (much like last time during St. Patrick's). However, we're both hungry so we decide to skip the Percy and look for some food. Ideally we'd eat at the Gallogate Flame, which offers very good food at a very reasonable price. I'm not sure where it is, though, I ran into it once but I wasn't paying attention where we were walking. So we head down towards Central Station but then I realise that we're going the wrong way, as the Gallowgate Flame's close to St. James' Park. So we turn around and start walking in the other direction and the first thing that we see when we turn around is the Gallowgate Flame! So I might've not know exactly where it was... but hey, we found it!

We head to Legends after eating, and upon arrival we're asked for the 2 pounds entry fee. I had anticipated this before going out and had collected the 2 quid on change. So when I approach the girl, I hand over a bunch of coins. "You're joking?" she says and then laughs. So she goes through the process of counting it all, but then she tells me that I'm missing ten pence. Although I'm almost sure that it's all complete (I double checked before going out) I don't want to argue with her, and there are people on the queue, so I take out two one pound coins and hand them to her. She laughs and says "you had those all along!? Just move on!" and keeps laughing silently. Very nice girl, I must say.

Once we're in, we decide to get some drinks. We usually go to the bar on the far side as it's usually less busy (because other people can't be bothered going to that one unless they're over there). We get our pints and then it's time to start exploring the place (you know, to check out if there are any chairs, people we know, etc). The first thing we noticed was that there was a fucking rave going on in the sideroom. That was kickass. We stayed there for about a minute appreciating the beauty of it and we even thought about staying and... erm... "experiencing" it, we decided we better move on to the main room.

We found these very nice seats in a corner of the club, and we decided to sit there for a while. It was quite close to the rave thing, so every time the song changed, you could hear the music from the rave. Amusing. Must go to a rave sometime before the end of my uni years. After a while of sitting, we agreed to just call it a chill night (that's right, at a club) and we stayed (for the most part) in our comfortable seats watching all the action in the dancefloor and around. That action included a pair of lesbians that kept hugging and kissing each other... and touching each other! That was definitely the highlight of my night. Mmmm... just thinking of it makes me... hmmm. Anyway... I also saw a bloke that looked just like Robert Plant in his Led Zeppelin days. I thought about going up and asking him for an autograph, but I figured I'd probably get a punch out of it instead of an autograph so I didn't do it in the end.

So here's where the strange bit happens. Ryan and I are just there, drinking and singing and fucking about, and this girl just comes over and sits on our table. We both look at her with confused looks, and she just says "I'm going around from table to table" and then gives this explanation of how she's with a friend but she doesn't know where he is and yada yada yada she touches my hair. Just like that. Without a warning. I just look at her, and then she tells me that i have great hair. I accept the compliment, but I'm still stunned and a bit annoyed. Although hundreds of people have touched my hair, a complete stranger has never done so, or at least not in that manner. I wasn't being too friendly anyway, I wasn't in my most sociable mood--I just wanted to chill--and she kept on going on and on about some stuff I couldn't even hear due to the loud music. So once seeing that I wasn't very friendly, she moved across to Ryan's side. And that's when everything went tits up.

I'm not too sure what was going on--all I could see what that she kept on talking to Ryan and laughing and whatever. I didn't pay much attention, I just listened to the music and looked at the girls (and the lezbos) and shit, but then I was forced to pay attention when a bunch of guys started coming to our table... all because of the girl. And I must say, she wasn't the most attractive of girls... not even in the top 100 that I've seen here in the UK. We had 5 different guys come over (and sit down, much to our disbelief) all apparently hitting on the girl. At one point Ryan was putting his arm around her, which is a shock as he's always been very faithful to his girlfriend back in Manchester.

The girl leaves to go to the loo, and just as she does the music stops and the light come on. They're kicking us out. Ryan just tells me to hurry up and I follow him. He practically runs up the stairs and then starts walking fast outside the club. When I ask what's up, he tells me that the girl was hitting on him and he didn't know how to tell her to go away. Nothing new there.. but then he tells me that she was rubbing his leg under the table. Well, that's something I didn't know. She asked for his number as well, and he gave her a wrong number. This was to not make her feel bad (you know, by not giving her a number) but then I tell him that she'll feel even worse when she tries to call him tomorrow and finds out that it's some girl's number and not his. Meh, whatever.

It makes me wonder, though, why strangers keep approaching me. Always when I go out a stranger ends up intruding. Ryan says that it never happens to him when he's on his own, and it always happens to me when I'm on my own and usually when I'm with Ryan (or somebody else)... so I'm guessing it's my curse. And why? It's not like I'm the nicest guy around--and in fact, I make it clear that I'm not open for conversation yet they keep insisting. Friendly people, eh?

Who's next?

So you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know what I've been doing today. Aside from that, though, I also went to lectures for the first time in... a while (by my standards).

We had a guest lecturer from Morgan & Stanley giving us hints on interviews and a bunch of stuff. She was a woman (don't say!), and a very attractive woman, in fact. Those that no matter what your taste is, you'll find very very good looking. And you could really tell. Everytime she made some kind of "funny" comment, or tried to make something humorious (you know what I mean) every guy in the lecture theatre (including our professor who was present) would just laugh and laugh--while still starring at her. Ah, us guys... what the fuck's wrong with us?

As soon as my lectures were over I came back to my flat to do "stuff." Ah, happiness. The only problem, though, is that I cannot exploit the network as much as I'd like to, as the software that I'm using to screen has a certain bandwidth and can't download any faster than that... which makes things download quite slowly (by the standards I'm used to here at uni)... but hey, freedom!!!

I was surfing the web yesterday, and I found this guy who was selling a chopper on eBay for 5 million dollars, I think it was. I sent Erc the link, just because I thought he'd be interested in a chopper. It reminded me of quite an amusing thing that had been sold on eBay. There was this guy from Newcastle Uni that was selling himself on eBay for a pound, I believe. He wasn't actually selling himself, he was just asking for sponsorship "for the tough university life" and in exchange he would keep his "buyers" completely up to date with emails and post on how he was doing and stuff. He had collected 15 pounds by the time of the publication. I thought that was a very good idea, especially for me. See, I post every day what's going on with my life... for free. I would just have to copy and paste (and delete some things in the proccess) from the blog and then email the people. Very simple. And even if I only make ten quid, it's still something, seeing I'm not really doing anything.

Or perhaps I could sell the address to the blog... that way I could make some money off of this. That sounds like quite a good idea, except that nobody would read it if they had to pay for it. But hey, depends on what I have to offer, right? Hmm... Erc, this is blog is my greatest invention.

Right, I'm off to do "stuff." Thanks for reading, guys!

Going down

So yeah, I think I'm now officially a bum. Yesterday I pretty much took the day off, and today I took the day off. I only had one lecture, I think. It could've even been possible that that lecture has been postponed. To be fair, I woke up on time to go to the lecture... and I even got up! I turned on my computer to check my email (always check my email before leaving... just to make sure that lectures are still on or if the locations have been changed or whatever) and I see that its 0 degrees celsius... I said fuck it and I went back to bed. No way I was gonna go out with early symptoms of the flu when it's freezing.

I ended up waking up at around two, I think. The rest of the day is history... Ryan and I went into town to check out the music sales. I only knew of one, but we decided to check the other stores just to make sure. Turns out that the sale I knew about was shite, and the other ones were really good. I ended up with two records to add to my collection that keeps expanding at an alarming rate.

While out and looking at records and stuff, I came up with an idea--a way to download "stuff" without the proxy flagging me. Could I be a genius or just a fool? I decided to try it as soon as I got home. To explain things without really explaining them (for disclosure reasons), Ryan uses this software to play World of Warcraft that blinds the proxy... I figured that I could probably use it to blind the proxy while I was using some... erm... software. I tried it and it wouldn't work... for some reason it wouldn't connect. However, after extensive efforts I made it work, and voila, I can download "stuff" now! My life is now complete! I may have sold my soul to the devil (again... I wonder how many times I can sell it without *it* noticing)... but it's all good.

The only problem now, though, is that I'm sure that I will run out of space the jPod. I currently have 3GBs (give or take) of free space, and I made a huge list of things I want... what am I going to do now? Ah, I'll figure something out when the time comes :) So well, I'm almost 100% sure that I will have filled the jPod by the end of Easter. Oh dear, oh dear.

So this brings up a very important issue: ethics. I know I shouldn't be doing this, especially because I'm a computing student. It's perhaps one of the worst things I can do--abuse the resources for my own pleasure. But hey, my ethics lectures are after the Easter break, so until then I guess I can get away with it because "I didn't know"... or "wasn't aware of it"... Damn, I'm a bastard, no one's ever going to employ me...

A small pony

So today's not been an active day. And I mean it with every sense of the word. I had a lecture followed by a tutorial at 11am (which is quite late compared to what I'm used to) and when my alarm clock went off at 10, I snoozed it 30 mins. That should give me enough time for a quick shower. Then when it went off again I snoozed it for (around) 15 minutes... who needs a shower, right? When it went off again I just decided to sod it off. I can make the tutorial afterwards. I put the alarm for thirty minutes later. When it goes off, I decide I can miss the tutorial as well... so I do. Fuck.

The thing is that potentially that was the last programming class for this term, as he had told us that if he got through enough material then he wouldn't teach from Wed on (well, or get someone to do it for him as he's off to somewhere)... but now I don't know. I figured I'd ask James, but he decided to sleep in as well. Fucker. He told me I had no right to sleep in, but of course I do! He doesn't it much more often than I do... I deserve to sleep in once in a while! So yeah, I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow, because that's my only lecture (and at 10)... so if I wake up for it and there's no lecture I'm going to be very pissed off. Fuck. I'll figure something tonight.

And well, the ultimate reason why I decided not to wake up was because I wasn't feeling at my best. I did manage to make my marketing lecture, but that was at 4pm (and right next door). My nose is running again, fuck. So yeah, I've just been resting up, just watching the telly and fucking about. I really can't believe it... before coming to England I had gotten sick about 5 times that I can remember (yep, all my life.. or my concious life... make that since I was 12) and since then I've been sick about 5 times. I blame the weather, but it might also have something to do with my diet. Hmmm. Oh, well, it'll go away.

But due to my inactiveness, I thought I'd respond to some comments, seeing it has become a practice for my readers to leave comments (yep, if you see carefully, you'll see two comments per post... lol). Thanks guys.

Starting back from my Wednesday post (pictures): Yes, Tiny, I would've joked with her if I was not drunk... but do I look sober? Do you think I would've gotten my bloody face painted had I been sober. Do you think I would've let someone take a picture of my painted face had I been sober? I don't think I remember how I got home (I definitely don't remember now... but maybe I did the day after that, who knows).

Re: Friday (St. Patrick's): Very kind of Erc to welcome me to his Old Boys Club (OBC). I'll be awaiting my official membership and the cheque that comes with it. And Tiny: Yeah, I guess I could've sweated some of it off, but I don't think I was sweating at all... it was fucking cold! I asked Ryan how many beers he had had and he said he had 9. I know I had one less than him so it was definitely 8. The reason why I wasn't feeling the effects though was because we drank them quite slowly and over an extended period of time. Liver digests 1 beer per hour, doesn't it? I'm guessing it's not a pint per hour, but the tolerance accounts for the bit left over... even if I haven't been drinking for a while. Tolerance doesn't get reseted, does it? Damn, I wish it would... that'd be well fun!

Re: Chavez (Sat): I think we've lived through quite a few things we can tell our kids about. There's the solar eclipse we experienced back in the day (not that we remember much, but we can make up stuff for them... what do they know? Kids are stupid), there's Bush (the tale of how such a moron could be elected US president... twice!), there's Chavez himself (I won't even bother puting an explanation for this one), Freedom Fries, and I'm sure some others will follow. If they don't then I'm sure we can make some stuff up.

Re: Foot scenario: I'm quite sure that if I tried both feet at the same time the best outcome would be me being knocked out for a couple of days. I might try it during Easter as I'll have plenty of time...

Re: horny girl: I don't think she was coming on to me, she was coming on to Tom (she made that remark to him, anyway). Although I've always thought that she fancies me (different stories... one of them walking her back completely pissed and the other the day after) but hey, it's not like me to go after girls that fancy me, is it? That would mean I'd be happy... I'm not happy. She's not the fittest girl ever, but she's not bad. She's better than I first thought (after practically exposing herself in front of us that night I got to notice) but hey, what do I know?

Fairies Wear Boots

So today was that special day--the day when I do my laundry. But not only that, Laudry Day coincided with Clean Up Day, which meant that I had quite a few things to do. Fucking hell, don't try doing both the same day, I can't tell you how knackered I am. I had two huge backs of laundry to do (massive bags... so much dirty clothes) and my room was so dirty that if I drew an X with my foot on the floor, you'd be able to see it (that much dust). So well, I took the dirty clothes to the laundry room and left them there while washing and came back to clean up. I practically moved everything from in here to out there (even though it also happened to be Clean the Flat Day) and then vacuumed. Before I could put my things back inside I had to go put my clothes in the dryer. So I go and come back. But I'm hungry so I get something to eat. And then it's time to pick up the clothes. It takes me at least 30 mins to take the stuff out of the drying because I have this obsession of folding my stuff as it comes out and neatly putting it in the bag (lol, you never thought you'd see me doing something like that, did you?). So by the time I get back, it's time to attend my 5 o'clock lecture. I didn't get any breaks. I left my door open, my window open, and all my stuff in my room (laptop, the jPod, wallet...) and didn't lock it. Not locking it wasn't the problem, I know my flatmates won't take anything, but leaving the window open is a big risk, especially if you're on the ground floor. But, oh well, I took the risk and I was relieved to see all my stuff there when I got back an hour later.

So what happened in lectures today? Well, one of my professors was saying some stuff and he got stuck. He tried sign talking, but still couldn't come up with anything, so he just said "thingy." Yep, just like Calabria. It's just weird to see people being influenced by Calabria...

We had a guest lecturer (one who looked like he came from the Matrix due to his very long leather jacket and Matrix-like hairstyle... three people thought about that simultaneously) who was a psychologists and he gave us a talk about the psychology of programming. Quite an interesting lecture, but the best part was his name: Greathead (pronounced "Great-Head). It's funny that a psychologists bears that name, but one of my mates thought about it in another context: "that's quite a name... I wonder what his wife thinks, it's a name you have to live up to..." Indeed.

In my programming lecure we were talking about searching algorithms and how you'd do to search some complicated stuff. He gave an example (this is Mr. Rasmuson with an southern English accent) that Dr. Phillips (my ex-programming professor that looks somewhat like the Emperor) used before, one where he uses his database of climbed mountains to see which ones he's climbed that are taller than Y, or which ones he's climbed that are at least Z of X (you get the drift). And he tells us that he's not quite the mountain climbing afficionado that Dr. Phillips is, perhaps because he isn't as fit as Dr. Phillips. And then he goes on to say "but well... we both climbed something yesterday."That was so out of place... so out of place. We just couldn't help but look at each other in horror.

You all know by now that my new found loves are Jaffa Cakes. I'm so addicted to them that I'll go out at 9:50pm in the rain (and the store closing at 10) to get some just because I got an urge (true story). Well, now not only do they come in orange flavour, but also in lemon & lime! I found out about this about four days ago and I've been meaning to go get some to try them, but I just haven't had the time (they're not in my local store, I've obviously tried there). But today, whilst at the Union looking for some food, I spotted some. I didn't hesitate to get them. I've just got to say that if I was addicted to the old ones, I'm fucking in love with these new ones. You all know how much I love lemon! Ah, if I had billions I wouldn't buy a football club, I'd buy McVitie's and keep a constant supply of Jaffa Cakes coming to my flat (or mansion in that case)...

I've been suffering from those days when you just can't seem to type anything correctly, you know which ones I mean. I can't believe I've written all these entries, I could've probably written three times as many any other day with the time it took me to write these. But hey, my debt is paid. And again, I'm sorry to disappoint. Thanks for reading!

Fuckin' Up

So today was one of those footy days that I tend to have every weekend. I went to the pub to watch Newcastle play Liverpool, followed by Fulham vs. Chelski. However, Newcastle were so poor (or should I say Boumsong's such a twat) that I left halfway through the second half. I got back and started messing about, and decided to check the footy scores some time later. I then see that Fulham had managed to beat Chelski 1-0. I mean, what the fuck!? I can't believe I missed that! It's just my luck.

You know you have a gambling problem when you lose twenty (20) pounds one night at the casino and you don't give a fuck. Even Oliver, who was the culprit, admits it. But he still goes off three times a week to play. But, to be fair, he usually ends up making profit for the week. For this week he won 130 quid the first night, then broke even and then lost 20 quid. So in reality he didn't really lose 20 pounds, he just made 110. But well, he saw it as a loss, even if he was aware that he had done really well in previous nights. But still, to lose 20 pounds and not to care? What the hell's wrong with these people. It seems as if everyone's going to the casino nowadays... and winning!!!

So I found out something new about myself. It's not so much that I wanted to, but I was curious. I was remembering a conversation a long time ago about how usually people don't know which foot they put into their jeans/shorts/whatever first. So, remembering this conversation while I was taking a shower, I decided to give it a shot right after. So I dry myself and whatever, and then I'm put my underwear on and I notice that I put my left foot in first. Good, so mystery solved. But wait, I do everything with my right, shouldn't that mean that I should put in my right foot first? Well, let's give it a try. I try putting my right foot in first on my shorts and I miss. Hmm. I try again and I lose balance. Fuck me, this is surreal. I try again and I completely lose balance, to the extent that I fall over on my side and almost hit my head on the sink. It's fucking ridiculous that I can't put my right foot in first, only my left. So I guess this is the ONLY case where I'm "left only."

In other news, my sleeping disorders are back. Yep. After working so hard to get my sleeping schedule back on track, it just took two days to derail it again. Go me!