Stagnation

Buggery. Where has all my time gone to? When was Christmas?

It's great to read on rockit that Nat is gearing up for London next year. I don't know how (well ok I do, there was ALOT of hard work involved) but she and I seem to have stuck to this ludicrous 3 year plan we cooked up before I left Cape Town and are about to see it to fruitition. So life at the moment is quite odd - after 3 years of maintaining a long distance relationship all of a sudden said relationship is about to become manifest. It's a very cool, very surreal, and quite a scary time in my life. But I can't wait for it. There are a million plans forming in my head of things we can do and stuff to show her in London. Places to eat. Towns and cities to visit. Nat moving to the smoke also brings with her what is to be my first experience of living with someone on a permanent basis. It's a pleasant prospect. There are some sacrifices which I guess will have to be made... like half of the matress (and a quarter of the oversize duvet)... but so much to be gained too. Like someone to warm up the sheets in winter before I get into bed. Someone to make coffee for. Someone to snuggle with while watching DVD's. I could go on.

To sum it up, life is about to make a big turn-around.

So that's what occupies my mind at the moment. Besides those thoughts my life has been one big rush for the last 2 weeks. Work, last minute Christmas party at Claires', work, another party at Claires', work, sleep, work, sleep, and soon New Year. All of a sudden I'm not working on the night itself anymore and need to find something to do. It looks like it's going to be a night out in Balham with Claire.

But before any of you start wondering, Claire is my childhood best mate, we kind of drifted during high school and university, but now that she stays 2 stops on the Northern line away from me we're sort of rediscovering our friendship. It's very cool.

And that's all folks. Will write more later. Proper work begins on the 5th of January, which is yet something else I can't wait for.

Eight Ball

Last week at I was given the best secret Santa present ever.. a magic eightball! Since receiving it on Saturday night it has already managed to aquire an almost cultish guru status in my life. In fact in a few short days I have managed to offload all decision making responsibility onto my little black Stussy wannabe friend. Should I get out of bed now? Forget about it. Should I call in sick today? Yes. In fact should I just lie around the house all day doing absolutely nothing constructive? Absolutely not. Well then, should I go to the pub? Looks good to me. Ahhhh... you see, it knows what's best for me.

Ok, I'm exaggerating a bit but I do ask it questions all the time. If it agrees with me well then that's concrete affirmation that I'm doing the right thing. And if it doesn't... well... I shake it a couple of times and ask it again. With more emphasis.

Other than that I'm having a rocking time working behind a bar again. In fact I've offered to carry on working part time in the evenings once I start with GlaxoSmithKline in January. It's just such a good vibe in there. Live music, a good crowd, relaxed atmosphere... it's a nice way to unplug really.

And other things to comtemplate at the moment: Jimmy Eat World; Good Charlotte; Feeder; REM.

Nothing

Flu. Such bad flu. Coughing all the time. Splitting headache. Those combined are not good. Missing work. ALOT OF PARACETEMOL! Slept the last 2 days. Home office goodies arrive tomorrow (supposedly). Hire car to be delivered to me on the 4th compliments of new company. Just to drive 30 minutes to company HQ in Brentford... to pick up company car?! WTF. Brit comedy awards presenters complete shite. Sleep now.

Tafelberg

It's been a long wait but 2 days ago I managed to crack the official nod from the new company and recieved my 'formal' offer of employment. I'd already been offered the position via telephone, but still, there's just something a little more concrete about a letter that you have to sign and return. So beginning of January it's back on with the suits and a little more meaning in life again. I can't wait.

That letter also means I can get on with organising my room here in SW19. Currently my floor doubles as a filing system and computer desk, while my walls are bland enough to be right out of a hospital ward... none of which is ideal in my world. So I'm currently trawling the net for desks and searching a mate's website (he who also happens to be a damn fine photographer) for decent pics of Table mountain that I can have printed (if I find something I like I'll ask permission before printing dude!). But you know how it is when you have an idea in your head and you're trying to find something that matches it... it's just not happening. My idea is a twin set of shots of the Table (from a particular angle), one at night with the spots shining on the mountain and one during the day. It's either that or a photo which incorporates the mountain along with a stretch of white sand and those small yellow flowers that grow on the dunes. I have a postcard of exactly what I want. But that's no good really.

Perhaps if I get home in Feb on my current ticket I'll be able to do the photography myself. That would be quite rewarding methinks.

Michael Schumachers Sekret Diary

It's been far too long since Michael last let us know how things were going, so it's with great peasure that I read the latest installment of his sekret diary on P-F1.

Favourite clips include:

"It was funny to read in the paper Hans Stuck criticising Kimi Raikkonen for going on a drinks bending session in Tenerife and losing his legs. Hans is saying that Michael Schumacher would not do such a thing. This is not true at all. I have had my own share of outrageous behaviour that is thankfully going unreported in the daily gossip papers.

After my fourth World Championship I can remember going back to the Ferrari motorhome and having two halves of lager and lime with Jean Todt and getting completely wrecked and on top of my tree. I was a wildman that night, oh yes, my last vision as I staggered out of the door to be driven back to my hotel, was that I had not left the towels in the bathroom straight."

...and...

"This Christmas, as usual, I will be spending in Norway with Jos Verstappen and his family. It is nice to get away to a snowy environment and spend a traditional Christmas doing the same old things – sledging, having snowball fights and toasting marshmallows over a roaring log fire.

Often when I have overdone the toasting of a marshamallow I show it to Jos and say "Look, that's you in the Benetton at Hockenheim, that is," and we both fall about laughing."

Everytime I read that final sentence I burst out laughing myself. Sometimes I think I have the strangest sense of humour.

Surgeon General Health Warning for male laptop users

I've just read this while sitting in bed with my notebook balanced across my thighs... where it's been for the last 2 and a half hours. In all honesty my thighs are frying, but... *let me just check*... yep, my dangly bits are still the same temperature.

Yet more fucking useless research.

Mythic Norms

All the online personalities that I know seem to have their favourite cartoon/sketch sites they frequent. For instance Natalie over at rockit digs diesel sweeties, explodingdog, and her!

Ok, so maybe it's not everyone I know online, but still. Not wanting to break a norm, here is my favourite. Probably thanks to the fact that this panel came out shortly after I resigned from Gallaher and pretty much summed up exactly how I felt.

Other than that bit of arbness, I think I may go whore myself at Gap tomorrow.

Back on the horse

After a week and a bit of waiting I finally cracked and called up the agency handling the Glaxo account to try and find out the status of my application. At first all I could get was, "Well, you haven't been rejected yet," which in itself was quite reassuring.

Of course being called back about 20 minutes later to be formally offered the position was substantially better. I start on the 5th of January, kicking it all off with another induction week (just like with Gallaher), although I still have to get all the paperwork outlining where this is going to take place.

It's fair to say that my mind is finding it's way slowly back to a relaxed state after spending a bit over a month being rather very urelaxed, unhappy, and
unemployed.

Welcome back world.