Delivery companies

What is it with delivery companies? They clearly are not what they say on the tin.

For domestic deliveries, it is rather unreasonable to assume that nobody has a job and will of course be at home on any day during office hours. I mean, what kind of weird-ass assumption is that? They'd actually deliver more of there packages if they ran a weekend extended running hours, and certainly on a sunday; as it is, it seems that they manage to fail to deliver almost every single package.

So, you can either ring to arrive another delivery time, or come to the depot at your own inconvenience. Why not ring to arrange a delivery time in the first place? Save your company a lot of petrol and man-hours. Likewise, returning stuff to the depot makes a mockery of the idea that 'home delivery' is a convenient way for the busy worker to do shopping, since you then have to devote actually more of your free time to picking up said package.

Ridiculous. Supermarkets seem to manage to deliver in the evening, why not everything else? I will now have to spend saturday morning riding to Basingstoke for about an hour to pick up some bike cleaner. Utterly ridiculous.

Spare half an hour

Well, I've got plenty to blog about, and a spare half an hour before I go dashing off to rehearsals, so here goes nothing! It's a bit of a cop-out, but I thought it was about time for another of those questionaire jobbers.....

What is in the back seat of your car right now?
Car? Waste of two wheels (:-) In the last car I had there wasnt much on the back seat, but my first car when I cleaned it out contained newspapers, socks that had gone mouldy and a neat pile of chicken bones.

When was the last time you threw up?
I dont honestly remember.....I was probably a little bit drunk at the time, though.

What age will you be next birthday?
I'll be the ripe old of 29....in previous centuries I'd have been classed an old-timer....I feel it, too.

What's your favourite curse word?

I dont like to think that I swear, though I know I do; 'fucking' passes my lips more than I'd like it to. Bollocks is an old favourite though.

Name 3 people who made you smile today?
Not seen anyone yet, so no-one. Maybe it'll happen later.....

What were you doing at 8 a.m. this morning?
Showering. I think. Either that or snoozing.

What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Riding. *enormous fat grin*

Where were you born?
North Tees General, by C-section......from mother's womb untimely ripped, though actually I was 2 weeks overdue because they had to reschedule it or something....

Have you ever been to a strip club?
Nope. Dont think I'd want to, either.

What is the last thing you said aloud?
'Bye'....was telling workmate that I dont need a lift on Monday!

What is the best ice cream flavour?
Depends on the mood....though I'm more likely to pick something fruit-based than chocolate-based.

What was the last thing you had to drink?
Cup of coffee? Seems likely.

What are you wearing right now?
Clothes, dur.....actually, it's my bike thermals and a T-shirt.

What was the last thing you ate?
Leftovers of last night's dinner....though I'm about to wolf a sandwich down too!

Have you bought any new clothes this week?
Nope.

Where were you last?
Little round-trip over Hogs Back.....Surrey generally....

What's the last sporting event you watched? Who won?
Rugby world cup final. South Africa, curses.

Who is the last person you sent a comment/message while blogging?
No idea. Not commented in ages. Dont read so many blogs these days, since everyone gave up!

Ever go camping?
Yes. I didnt like it all that much.

Where do you live?
The warm heartland of Tory Surrey.....Bagshot.

What song are you listening to?
Right now, nowt. Been playing Sondheim recently though.

Do you have a tan?
Nope. Natch.

Do you drink your soda from a straw?
No.

What did your last text message say?
Ummmm.....delete them, so cant remember!

Who's your best friends?
Ignoring the incredible bad grammar in that question.....I dont really know. Friends seem to come and go like the seasons......I'm very bad at staying in touch....
What are you doing tomorrow?
Work. Rehearsals.

Where is your mom right now?
Technically, nowhere. Even physically I'm not sure! She died back in 2003 and was rapidly oxidised and the resultant carbon deposits scattered.

Look to your right, what do you see?
My telly. And a big pile of my crap.

What colour is your watch?
Who needs watches?

What do you think of when you think of Australia?
Sunshine.
Ever ridden on a roller coaster?
Many. Coaster-freak, if I get the chance.

What is your birthstone?
I've been told many things....it's all a bit pants.

Do you go in at a fast-food place or just hit the drive through?
I do, though I'd usually rather not....though it is an occasional guilty pleasure.

What is your favourite number?
The next one.

Do you have a dog?
Nope. Not a dog person, really.

Last person you talked to on the phone?
T. For those of you who know her! Workmate, she be.

Have you met anyone famous?
Dave Parlett. None of you have heard of him. Stephen Briggs? Likewise! Walked past Magnus Magnusson in a corridor.

Any plans today?
Rehearsals, and always more rehearsals.

How many states have you lived in?
Two. Her Majestiey's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island, and the Bundesrepublik. Though that second was illegally for about 2 months!

Ever go to college?
Yus, for a very long, long time.

Where are you right now?
Home. Where the heart is. Or rather, it isn't, in this case, since that lives about 40 miles away.

Biggest annoyance in your life right now?
That I have had to incur debt to afford my new bike. I love it to bits (and will be keeping her in better nick than the other) but am gutted it was forced on me.

Are you in love with someone right now?
Yes. Though sometimes he pisses me off somewhat (:-P

Are you allergic to anything?
Something. I have histamine response to certain situations, so there must be some kind of allergy somewhere.....nothing in the 'eat a peanut and DIE' scale.

Favourite pair of shoes?
My bike boots. Though not really shoes, and not exactly things for a formal occasion!

Do any of your friends have children?
Plenty. But then several of my friends are quite a bit older than me. In fact, some of my friend's kids are technically in my generation, which is a bit weird.

Do you eat healthy?
Yes and no. I tend to cook from fresh most things, so I score highly on the no additives-and-salt front. But I cook and eat lots of things that are bad for me. Delicious, but bad.

What do you usually do during the day?
Eat. Drink. Talk. Work. Piss.

Do you use the word 'hello' daily?
But of course.

How did you get one of your scars (if you have any)?
The one on my inside leg? Jumping over a sharp stick at age 4-or-so. Remember it being very painful.

And that's the lot! Not very interesting, but easy for me to do. And that's good enough for me, for now.

Mad time

Time for a bit of a dribble, in terms of dribbling out a bit of story.

Spent this weekend at P's, as the last one, after the small incident of the roof leaking into his kitchen and ruining almost everything, coupled with less than helpful letting agents. He asked me for some cheering up and I hope I obliged, though no doubt he'll tell me otherwise (:P Interesting trip on the way there though, as I came via a different route than normal which can always be quite interesting, and since not in a hurry was to be enjoyed. Except for the fact that the trains seem to be on turbo-charged heating, just in time for the warmest January days on record, nice one again the train companies! Reason for detour was to go and look at a particular bike that I have now put a deposit down on and am looking forward to riding the hell out of the coming weekend, once I get insured and bank funding sorted for it. Have also the desire to spend a lot of spondooliks on a new riding suit, but I really cant stretch to it. No, I really cant, much as I'd like. Bloggardes, please all forbid me to buy as I'm lacking the willpower.

Anyhow, it's a GSX750F a little like this one, though this is a 1-year later model, and mine is a lighter shade of grey.















So Jon-ster is all happy, and hopefully the lack of red will stop him going faster. Not least because the insurance is also going to cost a pretty packet, what with my decision to go for a fully comp. lot for the reassurance. Also need to buy paddock stand for occasional bouts of chain fiddling. Will once again be able to go where and when I want, and a little of this spray will keep the rust down too, buying food never held such fascination before! Already planning a nice long summer of riding, riding, riding.....bonza (:-)

Work has been slow today, what with arriving slightly late on the train looking dishevelled - badly needing a shave here - and working up two reactions on the trot, what effort! Tuesday is to be spent working harder, though obviously the bike errands take precedence. Feeling quite on top of things, though I'm getting the feeling that the next few months or so will be spent not doing very much (wet) chemistry at all, I'll be running about doing modelling and the like.....fun. Well, it probably will be, but I think my days will be very unstructured and you knows how I likes to have plans, and my little lists.

No real other big news to tell, still verging on the porky side of porky, still not meditating (big news), still not doing lots of reading. But on the other hand, I've dinged up my alt shaman in WoW to a respectable lvl 46 in less than a week of playtime, so it's not like I've achieved nothing at all........

Needing new experiences to have something interesting to talk about, really. Hence need for bike-age. And hopefully soon, a long-planned trip to the capital.

Oh yes, and the Sweeney Todd film is very good, if a tad grand guignol and lacking in character development. Enjoyed. Recommend.

Laters......

Geeeeeeeek

The world is an incredibly small place. Or at least, my life leads me to find snippets of info about people who are all assosciated with my work. For instance; several of my friends I have met by means electronic, but in the process of finding these friends I have met an inordinate number of other chemists. This is not because I've been in some freakish chemistry chatroom (does such a think exist? I'll have to go look now), but because I clearly have some kind of talent for finding other homosexual chemists. Go figure. Do I really give off a 'come talk to me about oxidation' vibe? Probably, knowing my past record.

Herpes eye is still herpetic. Need to book to go to docs, because it's getting silly, but I really doubt there's a lot they can do about it, other than give me prescription specs, and I'm not ready for that yet. Distinguished I might look with glasses, but I really cant be doing with having another item to tote around all the time. Plus getting prescription lab specs would be a right pain.

Funny little incident in the toilets at work the other day (oh, yes I hear you mutter), guy who is friendly enough but who I never actually talk to - he's a tad football obsessed - strikes up a convo at the urinals. What are you supposed to do? Ignore them and carry on pissing? Unlikely, can require a degree of concentration (and lets be honest, having that quiet 'aaah' moment to yourself can be somewhat pleasant), and in any case, I'm not used to having a talk with someone with my knob out, unless of course shagging is in the air and then you've usually got your mouth full. So have to pass some comment, but I think this business of cheery cameraderie in the bogs is not on. Far better to be quiet and let everyone just do their thing. Sometimes I really appreciate privacy, and having shy willy is really not fun.

Had another accident with a razor the other day, managed to dunk the blade right through my fingernail. Ouch. Not something I can recommend, and the bugger is it'll take the time for my nail to grow before it heals.

Just a quick update, not much else....back later....

Quickie

No, not that kind of quickie. Just a brief posting!

My herpes eye appears to be properly up and stonking, I've got terrible vision in that eye and it feels irritated. Not good. A trip to the docs next week may be in due order, but it's not good to think I may have flare-ups thrice yearly or more for the rest of my life. Still, there are worse medical complaints around! Just so long as I'm not actually going blind or have diabetes or something.

Yesterday was a particularly decadent evening, or quite slobbish if we're being realistic. Had a bath whilst eating pizza, quite a fun thing to do as long as you're careful! Unfortunately the pieces I saved to eat for lunch today weren't quite so tasty, the base whilst bready enough hot, aquired a more pastry-like consistency on cooling, which doesnt really sit well with the pizza theme. Nice in itself, but it could have used more liquid filling to perhaps make it less snappable and more chewy-rippable, if that's not writing rubbish!

Today was a bit of a slow one again, it's meetings galore and so I've not actually been doing reactions. Next week will hopefully be a bit better, I feel the need to crack on with working somewhat.....but this will be the case tomorrow, since I'm going in super-early with my lift who wants to be there super-early.

Time for bed now, then! I'm that tired.....

Accident with a razor

Bit of an embarrassing moment yesterday. Well, quite a lot of them, really; more of a day-long experiment in humiliation. Not that it was that bad, but quite a faux pas on the bathroom front.

I always shave in the shower, both noggin and chin (chinoggin?), because it's so much easier and the compounded hair-and-shaving-gunk washes away nicely down the drain to block up my pipes. Usually goes very well, feeling your way for the smoothness [the very nice, sensual smoothness :-) ] and retouching where appropriate. No need for a mirror when you've got your fingers. I should really do it more regularly for the cleaner, more professional look, but in all due honesty, most mornings I cant be bothered. Not that it is a long or arduous task, just that it's a bit of fiddling I cant be having with. I'm sure you all have simillar pet-not-quite-hates. So often as not I have nigh-on a week's growth up top and on the jowls, giving me a more hirsute look. Since I find this look more than a little bit horny (*blush*) it tends to stay longer than is convenient for the next scraping of the chinoggin, usually resulting in a sore scalp from having to retouch bits repeatedly to ensure complete depilation.

Anyhow, yesterday was a scraping day so I do the usual palaver - less fun at the moment since my shower will not product hot-hot water and in the current cold weather you feel distinctly chilly standing in the flow after a while - and scrape off all the hair. Or so I thought. Men, you know that little nook in the corner of your jaw, just by your ear? That's right, the most fiddly bit to shave. On my right-hand side, I somehow managed to miss this area completely. Coupled with the shave-by-feel tactic (and the fact I never look in the mirror), I thusly went out to work with a nice freshly shorn pate and face (bar the goatee), except for a nice tufty bit in the corner. A nice tufty bit in the corner that was dead obvious owing to the lack of surrounding hair, or at least dead obvious to everyone apart from myself.

*cringe*

Well, worse things happen at sea, I guess (even though as a truism that's absolute rubbish, far worse things happen in your own home where you least expect them) - no-one ever really died of embarrassment and I've done plenty of those sorts of thing in my time.....pick your own from your personal knowledge of me, bloggardes....

Very long boring talk yesterday that we wont go into just in case, but work was a bit of a non-starter yesterday. So today I shall of course do double the amount of work to make up for it. Ahem.

Must get on the phone and start ringing round about bike purchases soon, but in my usual inertia I really dont feel like it. All will of course change once the weather turns nice again!

Doo-wop

Pfft. Just finished lunch but I'm in a 'meh' kind of mood, not up to dealing with the afternoon. Maybe tiredness? Likely. My vision is also going somewhat, my right eye is being quite fuzzy to me so I think I may be having a little herpetic episode thanks to my scar jobby. Still no idea how it got there, but it's very annoying. Even a little bit scary, and odd considering my other eye seems quite alright.

First rehearsal of the year yesterday, havent talked so much in a good long while. Quite fun, panto should be good if we get enough rehearsals in...which may be the most pressing issue, there's very little time! Also had to sing again after a long time of not doing so, not pretty. Think the last time I sang in public was waaaaay back just over 10 years ago in last year of school, production of 'Oh What A Lovely War', too long ago. I can fill in a chorus, that's about it....not that I'd ever forget it thanks to lovely digs from a certain person :-P

Have had a reaction go in shockingly bad yield, quite annoying really. Still, have to take the rough with the smooth, so to speak, and on we go......washing up this pm, also hunting out some more tubing.....

Start of the year

Welcome to 2008, bloggardes! Hopefully a year full of exciting bloggage and personal development. If nothing else, a year ful of twittering and pies.

Xmas break has been much appreciated by myself, with lots and lots, and in fact, too much food. This is the first year that I've actually felt dumpy and fat following the season, and my trousers are in fact way too tight for myself. The fact that my father has told me that he went from being svelte to being stodgy around the age of 28 also gives me cause for concern, suggesting that I'm going to swell in the waistline very soon.....and considering that when I went thin (after the post-degree summer of immense walking/dinners of cabbage and rice/working for chain-smoking troglodyte women a la bingo) I moaned like stink about losing my sexy paunch, it is a shocking case study in hypocrisy. Anyhow, I am determined to walk more places this year, and so long as the weather is nice, to always walk to the shops and even start walking to and from walk more often. It may take a long time and be inordinately boring, but it will be good for me. Especially since gym-type activities are so dull. At least I'm not going podgy alone, quite a few friends are also getting the dreaded gut.....

Anyhow, it was a quiet holiday with much watching of immensely trashy TV (Next Top Model, anyone? Those people are absolute loons), much dinging in WoW, and half-reading (still reading) a very interesting book about chinese navigation. No, really, it's quite fascinating! I've also been resting and healing, my arm is now without bruises and only twinges slightly when I try to move it too quickly, sleep on it, or perform small repetitive movements too much. Still will have to go to physio I think (for peace of mind more than owt else). Bike is hopefully still deposited in my street - not that having it nicked wouldnt be a wonderful thing since then I could claim the insurance - and I should be able to quite easily afford something newer and spanky-er in a few weeks when the prices may drop again. Bank loan is liable to be taken to help, so that I dont empty my account though, but I'll probably only have to borrow max. 50% of the price, so Jon-ster in this case is very (:-))))))

Have also bought some nice new kitchenware, though no knives because I already have too many. Kitchen gadgets have also been avoided, though I am currently hankering after an electric waffle iron which seem to be very thin on the ground in this country, the most regularly occuring hit on the internet being these rather natty but expensive catering-size jobbers. No mind, I dont really need....but it's not about need in this case! I *did* get a new cafetiere - my mokka is really in too skanky a state for continuous use, and you dont get coffee-in-a-jiffy with them on an electric hob as compared to gas. Also a butter dish (despite my protestations of slimming above) and a 1-egg sized frying pan, which is most dinky and will be really useful, 'specially if I can squeeze two eggs in there. Also a draining rack for the sink - boring, eh? - and something else I'm sure I've forgotten. It's all languishing with P at the moment since I didnt want to lug all of that, plus my clothes and other presents and the laptop on the way to work this morning. Yes, I've come straight from Brighton to work, with the rather nasty discovery that the train tickets I usually buy aren't valid before 9am. Fucksocks.

And not only are my trousers to tight, but they are now wearing through at my inner thighs! Damn. I'll have to go and buy some new ones at the weekend, worse luck.......

Anyhew, back to the work wotsit.....