La lal laaa
Yay, singing again!
Went to MK Chorale rehearsal this evening, was great! I've missed singing so much. This is my 1st time back at a choir after losing my voice through glandular fever. Seemed to hold up OK (will see if I can speak tomorrow) but I've definitely lost some range... might get it back, you never know!
But it was such a buzz and they're a friendly lot as well - went to the pub after - something I never did at the Leeds Phil... they were also really welcoming and friendly which was just what I needed after the way I was feeling this afternoon.
House hunting is just so crap! Bah!
But no - I will not go back to this afternoon's depression I've been singing Handel's Messiah....lal lal laaa....Yay!
I can't snowboard
Went snowboarding for my birthday.
I fell.
My hand hurts.
I landed on it... I know, I know, it's a bad idea to put your hands out when you're about to land on ice but when you're spinning over sideways in mid-air, trying not to dislocate both legs at the knee it's not the 1st thing that comes to mind.
What came to mind was 'stop this spinning business - now.'
Unfortunately my arm was linked to that thought and so took the brunt of things.
I must remember that falling is the last option not the 1st...
I have a bruise. Luckily there was a ready supply of cold stuff to put on it.
This was what I felt like:
This was what I was actually doing:
I think someone must be trying to tell me something. The last time I went snowboarding I spent half the session holding a bag of snow against my head after stopping the poma lift with it. An irregularly spaced pole came round and bashed me on the side of the head, knocking me over, making a noise which was loud enough to cause the nearest attendant to run and stopping the lift.
Lord only knows what I'll be like by the end of the week - going to 2 contemporary dance classes on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
As long as I don't do a Dad I'll be happy.
(he broke his leg playing soccer the day after turning 53....)
What a cutie!
Caitlin - Jane and Justin's daughter is soooo cute... she slept on me for a while, nestled into my chest, burrowing, she's just gorgeous....
New music!
Really liking this:
Bola is the artist, Soup is the albumIt's lovely and dark and atmospheric and light and mysterious and creepy and beautiful and all sorts of things...
I really like it.
You can tell.
This is SO cool!
Cool touch screen interface - demonstration movieI want one!
I also really like the track that's playing in the touchscreen demonstration movie (would quite like that too - if anyone's feeling generous it's Who Am I? by Peace Orchestra and it's the first track on
The Animatrix soundtrack and it's on my Amazon wish list. If only the touch screen could be put on an Amazon wish list...hmmm)... OK, rambling, back to work!
Bah!
I want one of these shirts!!!
(look closely at the small print on the shirt)
Tooooo much wooooork!
Very busy.
No time.
All the stuff I could say is boring work stuff anyway.
CarsCarsCars
Well I knew I would be learning a lot.
It's started already.
Was quite certain I would face some embrrassment too as I've never paid any attention to cars ever and am totally ignorant of them and everything that surrounds them.
Well, here it is, my 1st embrrassment. 1st lesson in owning a car.
I noticed a flashing red light on the dashboard. Glancing down at it whist driving I assumed it to be the oil warning light.
I emailed a colleague to ask 'what should I do about it?' since he's familiar with this car and knows a lot about cars in general. He said 'call someone and don't drive it'.
I thought a swear word (I was at work)
(I may even have whispered it).
So. talking about it with my immediate colleagues I started to wonder whether I'd properly identified the problem.
I hadn't.
It wasn't the oil warning light it was the engine temperature light.
Quick trip out to the car identified the problem. The coolant reservoir had leapt out of its housing and was bouncing about in the engine. Needless to say the cable connecting to it had detached.
So I now know a few things:
- That light wot wos flashing - it's not the oil warning light
- The identity of the 'real' oil warning light
- The location of the coolant reservoir
I also know that this is not going to be my only embarrassing moment where cars are concerned.
At least I avoided the
huge embarrassment of calling a breakdown service for a detached coolant reservoir!
(Iknownothingaboutcarsneverhadoneonlybeendrivingfor2weeks)
Since last Saturday I've driven 240 miles!
Great fun!
When you feel the need to waste time that you can't afford to waste, have a go at this:
HammerheadIt says on the website:
HammerHead is a simple TR-909-like drum computer program aiming at the dance-scene. You can use it to create perfect Techno loops, Jungle patterns or House beats, but it's also suitable for Hip Hop, Triphop, Rap, Industrial and almost any other music you can think of. HammerHead features six separate channels, 29 built-in drum sounds, six complete breakbeats and the possibility to import six samples of your own. You can save your patterns to completely noise-free CD-quality wave files to use them with your sampler, tracker or sequencer program.
It's great fun!
To be cold no longer
I want one of these!
It's called a selkbag I will not be camping.
I will be wearing it about the house and I will be cold no longer!
I love driving
Driving's great!
I'm soooooo appreciating having the use of a car! I passed my driving test on 25th Jan and I think I've driven about 180 miles since then (13 days). I've done 135 since Saturday lunchtime and it's Tuesday morning.
I've driven back from London by myself (m25, m1) and it's a 30 mile round trip to work and back so it quickly adds up.
Mind you that's only counting driving Michelle's car - I've also had a 3 hour pass-plus lesson with driving instructor...
Although I love driving this morning I wasn't impressed. Michelle's car is very heavy when you're not moving fast (it's an F reg Golf GTI) and I'd overslept so I was in a hurry, the road I needed to drive onto was closed but I was on the other side of the barrier - so for me it was closed in both directions!
Then after someone had moved the barriers (just another person trying to get through, I said I'd put them back) it must have taken me 10 minutes to get out of the parking spot because I only had a foot to move in at the back and at the front (in a car with very heavy steering!). My arm is killing me now!
Had to take alternative route into work, not a problem, done that route before and it's not so narrow as the other route so was thinking I'd be able to make up some time.
No chance. Horse transport, all the way to the A5. At least I made up some time on the A5.
Fastfastfast
Woooo! It's all going spinny!
OK, I'm really going completely mad now.
I just can't stop my list of things to do from growing! At work and at home things are just exploding and it's just about all I can do to remember everything, let alone do anything!
Yikes. What on earth can I do???
Oh yes, now there's a thing - write things down! Then I don't have to keep them in my head.
Oh. well. thanks. Tried that. Work and home lists started to share the same space and then they fought and it was ugly. I've had to separate them. They are now confined to their own pieces of paper but won't stop growing. I'm not feeding them, honest!
What does it take!?
AAAAAARGH!!!
I can't believe something so simple can turn into something soooo complicated!
I have a savings account which contained my tax money. I had to pay my tax money over the internet using a debit card which my savings account doesn't have. So I used my current account. No problem I think, I'll visit the bank my savings account is with and ask them to transfer the money to my current account.
They can't. Can't make transactions at all on the type of account it is. OK, how can I get my money from there to my current account. They can issue a cheque. Good.
Bad. My current account is an internet only account - no branches. I have to post them the cheque. I don't have any of the required slips or envelopes to do this and would rather not wait for them to post me some, for them to receive the (not insignificant) cheque and wait for it to clear.
OK, no problem. I have another current account with the same bank as my internet account - transfers are immediate and there are branches for that account. Oh dear. The closest one is in Northampton - 40 minutes drive from here.
OK, no problem, I have a further current account - it has a branch in Milton Keynes, no problem. I pay the cheque in there thinking - phew, glad I still had this account!
OK. Today the cheque has cleared. I'm visiting them for a finanial review anyway so I think; I'll just queue for the cashiers after and transfer some money so my current account (which all my direct debits come out of) stays OK.
They have a system problem. I queue for 15 minutes - no joy. A lady comes out from behind the cash desks and asks people what they are queuing for and helps some people out. When she hears what I'm there for says, oh I'm sorry you need to queue, I can't help with that. I queue for over 10 minutes more. I get to the desk (I'm being nice I can see they're busy and stressed - another queuer had been complaining loudly). I state my desire to transfer money and hand over my card (plus the destination account card) only to be told that they can't do that there, I have to go to reception!!!!!!!
Plus, it will cost me 10 pounds to transfer the money because you can't transfer to accounts held at other banks for free from them!
I had 2 transfers to make, to 2 different accounts.
!###xf!@##f@!
Needless to say I didn't go and queue at reception and I did look and sound extremely pissed off!
This has not been the best day I've had. This could, in fact, go down as a pretty poor day really.
Oh well, I did have a very good driving session - 3 hours, varied drives, went up and down the M1 to Luton and back. At least that was good.
But oh, blackblackblack is the mood.
Very dull.
Not shiny.
Not in the least.
Still doing things!
It just doesn't stop but we're making progress!
You wouldn't believe the 2 rooms at Michelle's now, 2 weeks ago they were empty with bare walls now they're wallpapered and painted with furniture in (which is all thanks to the 3 of us coming back from work and going straight to work, stopping to eat dinner at 10, going to bed late getting up, going to work and then doing it all over again!).
So we're all kind of knackered and well, it's alright for some - Michelle and Mike are going to Brazil on Saturday so they're winding down.
Unfortunately - I have to keep going because my list is getting longer.
Get my bike from its temporary home and have it serviced and get it to my temporary home, make a website for someone (not a small job either), update a website for someone else, make my own website (plus 1st I have to get my own computer sorted) and find somewhere to rent are the next things on the agenda....So then I'll have to move again. Oh Joy! At least this time I'll be able to drive my things about myself...
But this list all fades into the background at my excitement of
@media2006 which I have got confirmation of attendance at! I'm very, very excited!
