jt all the way

uni

2007-01-05T20:08:00.000Z

Did three years at Uni seem to fly by for anyone else?!

They are honestly the best years of your life

celebs

2006-10-19T14:23:00.000+01:00

Added someone to my celebrity spot list today. The list is growing. It's all very exciting.

Matt Allwright
The Corrs
Jon Snow
Michael Buerk

in the sky

2006-10-16T08:58:00.000+01:00

I saw a shooting star on Friday. It was more exciting than I thought it would be.

sausages

2006-10-12T15:35:00.000+01:00

There’s something that cracks me up:

Every morning I walk past a hut on the side of the road that sells sausages. It’s called… wait for it… ‘The Sausage Hut’. Just can’t help but laugh! Admittedly, the name describes exactly what it is. It’s a hut that sells sausages.

weekly update

2006-10-12T10:56:00.000+01:00

Last weekend I popped to Portsmouth to enjoy a night in the Union with Kester, Matt and Hannah which was (already hyped to be a good night) turned into an even better night when it turned out that the DJ was quite a whiz with the decks.
Also managed to make an appearance at the rowing club to witness the rowing induction for the new year. It was then that I realised how much I miss the rowing club, but at least Kester can keep the dream alive for the Margate house.

The rest of the week has been fairly standard. On Sunday night I popped to see Alice to wish her good luck in her new job; I know she will be great at it, but it’s sad not having her close by in London.
Mark moved into ‘The Nest’ this week as well as having another fellow Bury St Edmunds member sleeping on the couch has made the flat a lot busier than it was last week when I was the only one there!

After mine and Marks debut run through Dulwich, we have decided to join the local running club to show them a thing or two, so that should be quite interesting and hopefully get to meet some people from the area. And furthermore on a fitness note, Mark has installed a pull-up bar in the flat, just as you enter the kitchen, so the rule is no pull-up equals no entry.

JT

the nest

2006-10-03T14:07:00.000+01:00

Finally moved into our new flat in Forest Hill last weekend. There’s just something about it that feels so homely; it’s truly a nice warm place to be. It’s probably best summed up by the name of the house ‘The Nest’.
Some what of a coincidence, I moved into the flat on the same weekend I moved to uni exactly four years ago.

Forest Hill itself is not a bad area, has a villagy feel, but with that it lacks much nightlife… consists of several independent bars, some really nice looking restaurants which I have yet to try and a Wetherspoons.

The commute to work has also been shortened as mentioned before. I can now comfortably get up at 7.30 and be at work by 8.30. I can also now be at home by 6pm, leaving me with the evening free to do things, unlike before when I was still on a train until nearly 8pm!

I’m looking forward to the winter now so I can wrap up warm in layers for the walk to the station and also I can start doing some late night runs when it’s cold outside.

I like winter.

security checks

2006-09-26T16:36:00.000+01:00

I was meant to write about this a few weeks ago, but it wasn’t until last night that I remembered. I was talking to Alice about the security checks that are being done for her new job and I was saying how stringent the checks were that I went through… well kind of.

For my new job I had to go through checks for the FSA, which are fairly stringent to stop fraudulent activities etc. Well the external company employed by my employer to undertake this task seemed to do so quite quickly. Within only a few hours of providing them with the details about my history and personal referees they had already contacted them.

However they started to phone me up quite regularly quizzing me about my gap year and also querying my A Levels results, as they couldn’t get in touch with my old sixth form due to it being summer holidays. Anyway, they phoned me up once again and asked me to fax copies of all my certificates and my passport stamps to prove I had been where I said I was in my gap year. I said I would, but I didn’t. I had honestly forgotten.
The following week, another consultant from the firm phoned me again requesting all the information and even followed up the phone call with an email, to which I responded acknowledging my delay in faxing the information. – These phone calls had started to become quite annoying by now.

Well the end of the story is, I still have yet to fax any information and they have stopped contacting me AND I still have my job.

I would like to point out that I actually don’t have anything to hide. I’m just a tad lazy.

X-Factor II

2006-09-24T19:06:00.000+01:00

X-Factor gets better every week. I didn't know there were so many people who *thought* they could sing. Shame the auditions have finished, that's the only good bit of the show; watching people making birks of themselves.

X-Factor was always a cult evening at Uni, everyone (including our house) used to delay going out in the evening just to watch it. Just isn't the same watching it mum and dad.

thursday already

2006-09-21T09:19:00.000+01:00

Hopefully by Monday or Tuesday myself and Mark should be moved into our new flat in Forest Hill. That will be tremendous stuff, not only is the flat really nice, but it will also cut my daily commute by 90 minutes in BOTH directions. Jurassic Park!

Last weekend I popped to Dartmouth for the annual South Coast Rowing Championships, which was a fantastic weekend away and was certainly what I needed. The rowing was excellent; we came 2nd in our invitation event, which was far better than expected as I have been out of training for easily over two months.
Dartmouth was also a lovely venue for the racing, the river is calm and the town of Dartmouth itself is very inviting and quaint. I really enjoyed last weekend, and wish I could do it again this weekend. Spending a few days away from home makes the weekend seem longer and being surrounded by friends who all share the same enthusiasm for rowing that I do, really did make for an extremely enjoyable time.
(Although I still feel sorry for Sam’s mum after what me and James did in their house!)

This week has been just full of work, but has meant that the week has past quickly and it’s hard to believe that tomorrow is Friday, where I have a ‘graduate’ day at work, which should be highly enjoyable, or maybe not, but at least a free lunch is thrown in.

Also this week, I went for a walk after work on Tuesday where we managed to find the only bowling green in the city! However, next to the bowling green is what can only be described as an old cricket pavilion which has been chopped in half next to the green, which at first looks like a club house for the green, but as you get closer, it turns out it’s actually a wine bar. The inside of the bar was full of suits and people were pouring out of the door onto the path around the green with their drinks to take advantage of the warm evening and it was such a nice thing to see. It reminded me why I really enjoy being in London and hopefully I’ll get to visit that bar soon.

Also lets not forget my very nice, but short stop over in Portsmouth on Sunday night a la Kester and Matt. Thanks for the fully fledged roast dinner.

Current song on the pod: Ferry Corsten – Punk

winter II

2006-09-11T21:18:00.000+01:00

I posted something about my warm thoughts in cold times a few days ago, but since then I’ve had another ‘warm thought’.

I remember when I used to go to London on a Friday night to meet Alice, I used to get the same warm feeling whilst sitting on the train (normally with a can of Strongbow) listening to some classic trance on the iPod, looking out of the window onto a cold dark night with illuminated houses and villages flying past, then arriving at Waterloo with the mayhem and excitement of people trying to get home for their weekend. It made me feel so content with everything that was going on.

I’ll probably never forget these memories that filled my time at University. They are also getting more surreal as they progress further into my past, especially now that I am in London everyday. But I think it is memories like this that made University what it was.

There is just something about a cold, dark night that makes me feel warm.

It’s already September, so not long until the dark and cold nights arrive.

X-Factor

2006-09-10T17:12:00.000+01:00

Whilst eating breakfast this morning, I had the repeat of last nights’ X-Factor on. I wouldn’t make the habit of watching it, but if it’s on, it does normally provide some light hearted entertainment.

Anyway, Simon Cowell actually had me laughing out loud when he commented that one man

"couldn’t win the competition even if he was the only one in it"

I thought that was genius.

run

2006-09-08T16:58:00.000+01:00

Took full advantage of my lunch hour today especially as it was sunny, and went running. – It was extremely good fun, not only did I enjoy the run, but I also got to see some sights.

The best thing though is runlondon.com, which provides detailed routes to run and you can also plot your own route to measure the distance. I ran from Liverpool street to Tower Hill, along the Thames to Embankment, over the bridge to Waterloo, back along the Thames to London Bridge, then back to Liverpool Street via Tower Hill, a journey of 8.73km.

One thing though, there are plenty of tourists ambling around the sights to slow down the trek, so don't get annoyed if your minutes per mile rate is slower than average (although it is very frustrating!).

working

2006-09-07T21:35:00.000+01:00

Almost 3 weeks have passed and I’m still loving it.

I couldn’t wish for a nicer bunch of people to work for. It’s odd as when I thought about joining the corporate world, I always presumed people were hard-going and always stern, but it appears that isn’t always the case.

The two-hour commute to and from London each day is wearing thin and makes the day really long, but I think it’s definitely worth it.

I still have a lot to learn, but I feel that I have settled into my job really well.

I’m currently sitting on the train, on my way home as I write this.

Current song on the pod: Ernesto – Dark Side of The Moon (classic trance)

Time taken to do my daily SuDuko: 9 minutes (finished it before the train even left the station!)

Lovely stuff.

response

2006-09-04T21:09:00.000+01:00

Just watching a documentary on 9/11 and they have given me an amazing statistic. Within the first 15 minutes of the awful events unfolding, 235 fire fighters had already arrived at the World Trade Centre. That's phenomenal.

(That's 1 every 4 seconds)

winter

2006-08-31T23:01:00.000+01:00

Whenever I’m feeling a little down or sad I always think back to rowing training; it’s full of so many happy memories.

I don’t think about beautifully warm regatta days, or a perfect outing on a Saturday morning when there is mist over the sea and the water is like a millpond. I always have a very vivid image in my head of running around the long common on a winter’s night, wrapped up warm with several layers including a hat, knowing that after the run the warm boat house will be there to greet me and that after the rest of training I will cycle home in the cold weather, but when I get home I will enter into a warm house full of friends enjoying themselves.

It’s such a happy image and it’s hard to explain, but even just thinking about it fills me with content and happiness.

In fact, one of the most odd things is that when I think of times that make me feel warm inside they are nearly all set in the winter time when the weather outside is cold. There is just something very comforting about being wrapped up in lots of layers on a cold winter’s night.

londres

2006-08-30T19:31:00.000+01:00

So there it is. I’m working in London!
Had a very manic and crazy first week and a big thank you goes out to everyone who looked after me last week.

Whilst me and Mark are house hunting I am now living at home and commuting, not the easiest of journeys, but luckily I can sleep anywhere.

My job is an ideal fist job, working within the market research/analysis department for a large asset management firm and I get to work with some really nice people who have been very kind to help me settle in the past week and a half.

It’s nice that I have a few friends in London and hopefully soon I will get to meet more, but one good thing is that not only is Mark trying to get a flat with me, but there are also several other people from home and Uni looking to move to London within the next few months, so London may become like a home from home.

Things aren’t going too bad at the moment, but could always be better. One downside about work is that they have blocked online messenger services and Gmail. The buggers.

SICK' FEST 06

2006-08-15T10:08:00.000+01:00

Sicklesmere played host to the annual festival hosted by Tom which was full of farmer types (including George trying his best to look like one) and plenty more people including us lot.

The rain certainly didn’t stop the football and swing ball which continued for several hours in the rain. There were even a number of dedicated supporters!

Classic night, but pleased I moved into a tent and didn’t continue the sleeping under the Gazebo – Howard and Ando got wet, cold and no sleep!

Since Sick’ Fest I have accepted a job offer for a graduate scheme that I was offered and start Monday 21st(!!) so need to find a place to stay pretty sharpish otherwise it’s hotels for me. Hopefully Davies is making the move to London in the near future so we can find a larger place to stay.

Fingers crossed it all goes according to plan.

coffee coffee coffee

2006-08-09T16:14:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was a good day (for once).

Leon kindly let me stay with him for two nights at his pad in Lee, just next to Blackheath.

Had a job interview in the morning, but the interview was over by 11am, so the rest of the day was spent filling in the gaps between meeting Alice for lunch, then Leon for lunch, followed by dinner with Alice. I had a few things I needed to buy, but I spent the majority of the time buzzing from coffee shop to coffee shop and racked up 6 large coffees in the end, including one which tasted like warmed up dish water from Planet Organic. Needless to say, I was a bit jolty.

A two hour après dinner walk around London slowly making our way to Charing Cross gave me the chance to diffuse some of the caffeine and I arrived back at Leon’s to be greeted with dinner and a beer. Perfect way to end the day and was ready for bed after my two lunches, two dinners, six coffees, two hour strole and two beers.

mento!

2006-08-09T16:00:00.000+01:00

Everyone has seen videos on youtube of what happens when you combine mento’s and coke.

The other day, without realising what I had actually done was to consume half a box of mento’s followed by a 500ml bottle of coke. – not good for the stomach.

where the hell are you...

2006-08-04T11:15:00.000+01:00

Kester has been away for a couple of weeks and he provides nice round-up emails with shorter follow-up emails to provide information about his evening antics.

What the hell is Ian doing? He left for New Zealand months ago. Haven't heard a word.

that's life

2006-08-04T11:02:00.000+01:00

Things aren’t brilliant at the moment. The worst thing is, the only person to blame is myself; which makes dealing with everything so much harder as there is no one else to blame.

I managed to ruin the best thing that ever happened to me because of my own stupidity and short sightedness. Although I know things will get easier with time, for the time being anyway they are definitely getting worse and I feel everything is just at a standstill.

Your mind can play terrible ticks on you, especially when tired or just lazing around in bed. Luckily I am fairly active. I run and cycle everyday and of late have been swimming too, which helps to take my mind of things, plus as always Kester’s stories from his travels have me laughing.

I know things will work out in the end. Probably not how I want them to, but things will end up being OK. I am excited about moving to London, which should be within the next few weeks and Leon has already offered me a place to stay for a couple of weeks while I look for something more permanent.

I would like to refer back to a recent past blog in which I described Uni:

[it ends] Thursday, June 22, 2006 – “Alice, the most wonderful girl I have ever met, and would have never met if I had not studied at Portsmouth”

If there is one positive thing I can take away from everything it is that I had a brilliant time at Uni and at least I have met the most wonderful girl in the world. Not many people can say that.

I think that’s enough of the feeling sorry for myself stories. Time to actually do something this Friday: Town > Coffee > Frisbee > Swimming.

Hopefully normal JT will resume soon.

jobs

2006-08-02T18:26:00.000+01:00

I have been trying fairly hard to find a job in London since leaving Uni, in fact I was looking to find one at easter too.

I hadn’t heard from the agencies that I had registered with for about a week, although I had had a couple of interviews a fortnight ago. Today however, three of the agencies whom I am registered phoned me and each of them had at least one role they want to put me forward for and one of the agencies had two ideal jobs for me. Let’s hope I get called for some more interviews.

We shall see. Fingers crossed.
I need to keep busy.

adsl

2006-08-02T18:23:00.000+01:00

My internet hasn’t been working for almost two days and I have been connecting to my next door neighbour’s wireless.

I thought that the problem might simply be a small snag with Virgin as the problem that was occurring I had had before with another service provider. … Anyway, it still wasn’t fixed this afternoon, so after an hour on the phone to the support people who informed me there were no service issues and that the problem must be at my end, I informed them of the procedures I had been through in order to rule out different pieces of software/hardware.

They [Virgin] politely told me that the problem was at my end, but they would look into it, but they hastened to add that they doubt they would find a problem at their end.

10 minutes later, my internet if running fine.

graduation

2006-07-27T15:32:00.000+01:00

Alas, there is now a new way to get hold of my blog, just visit allJT.com for easy direction.

Graduation has been and passed. A very surreal, yet extremely proud moment. Here’s the photo to prove that I did actually graduate!!

I have loved Uni and most of my recent blogs have been based on stories that have developed at Uni. However, it is now time to move on and find a job (not as easy as it sounds!).

There will be plenty more to write soon, including a full write-up of Horr’ Fest 06, but it the mean time I have some things to attend to.

glasses and women

2006-07-03T19:18:00.000+01:00

I wasn’t in a hurry at Sainsbury’s today; Good job too.
Women. You know you are going to have to enter your PIN number when you hand the cashier your credit card, so why don’t you find your glasses before you’re told to enter your PIN.

I approximate this simple action alone could have saved me 3 minutes today.

it ends

2006-06-22T10:02:00.000+01:00

My time at Portsmouth has come to an end. Three years have flown by with help of all the new friends I have made and housemates I have had the pleasure of living with (well they’ve had the pleasure of living with me!).

My finals have resulted in me having a 65.7 third year average which I am fairly pleased with as it gives me a solid 2:1.

I think I have enjoyed every day in Portsmouth, there is always something happening and thanks to a fantastic rowing club and three awesome crews I have rowed with, there has never been a dull moment. This years rowing has certainly been the best (currently leading the JS championship). I joined UPRC a novice and will leave a senior whilst also having the delight of being Vice-President for the past two years which enabled me to enjoy and have a laugh everyday at training and not forgetting the drunken UPRC Wednesday’s in the union.

All is not over just yet though. This Saturday I get to go on holiday with Alice, the most wonderful girl I have ever met, and would have never met if I had not studied at Portsmouth. After the holiday I get to enter a few more races before I depart my JS crew and also get to attend my graduation and grad ball where I will officially become a graduate in
BSc(Hons)(Econ) Economics, Finance & Banking.

This is all splendid stuff.

It will be sad not to be living in Portsmouth after building a life here, but on a philosophical note, I know there is plenty more ahead of me and I am excited about the prospect of getting a job in London and living the city life.

1 thing I will miss: The sea
1 thing I will NOT miss: Chavs

toughy II

2006-05-23T11:39:00.000+01:00

How many times do you masturbate a day?

A) Fifteen: Oh Christ that is way too much, you must be ever so sore. It also makes you sound like a weirdo.

B) Once: That is so pathetic; you know I can spank myself four times in one day easy, your balls must be huge and full.

C) Wanking is directly linked to cancer: Grade A answer. This will not only halt conversation due to its serious nature it will also make the questioner extremely worried. Perfect.

tough question

2006-05-22T18:22:00.000+01:00

What would you say if you got asked this question:

Do you sometimes do a fart into your hand and smell it?

A) Yes: There is no way you are ever sleeping with me, that is pure filth.

B) No: why not? It’s just rectal gas and it causes no harm to anyone. Plus it’s your own gas so you can do whatever you like with it.

C)Yes and No: Fantastic answer, this is highly philosophical and will completely silence the questioner because it doesn’t make any sense.

I must admit this is not something I have come up with, although I will take the credit in sharing it with all of you. Original credit must go to Leon who's bizarre mind is something to be perturbed by.

(Another one same time tomorrow)

bum

2006-05-19T20:51:00.000+01:00

I have just realised. I have no job lined up, so as of the 7th of June, I will officially be a bum.

No more lectures.
No more essays.

Just Alice, rowing and the internet. That's all I need to survive.

snakey II

2006-05-18T22:55:00.000+01:00

There have been no more sightings of the snake, which I am calling Sid.

The bath was removed and EVERY hole in the bathroom has been filled and blocked, so the snake (which we are guessing is still underneath the floor boards somewhere)is never getting out. I imagine that there is a plentiful supply of mice for it to eat, so by the time Sid manages to find a way out, it will be up to the new tenants to remove him permeantly (and to convince our landlord that there actually was a snake!).

snakey

2006-05-15T18:25:00.000+01:00

We have a snake. Where? Hidden behind our bath at present. It is over 3 feet long and is in a place that is unreachable to the friendly guy from the RSPCA.

We have no idea where it came from, but it is big and looked scary. Whilst casually popping to the toilet I noticed the long patterned shape along one of the pipes in the bathroom and thought it was a practical joke, but after closer inspection I noticed definate movement and proceeded to retrieve Tony for assistance, to which he replied to after being told to come and look at the snake "Shut up, don't be stupid". Well I proved him wrong.

The RSPCA man had caught hold of it once, but the snake put up too good of a fight and the snake took its hiding place. At present we are try to lure the snake out with a hot water bottle.

There will be an update to this. My last toilet trip took 15 minutes (6 mins cycle to the rowing club, 2 mins to use the toilet and 6 mins return journey). Tonight could be exhuasting at this rate.

Photo of the nice RSPCA man:

(I was too scared of entering the bathroom for a better picture in fear of being bitten)

exam advice

2006-05-12T09:11:00.000+01:00

Good advice has been provided for exams by my lecturer:

- Paper provided is a free good
- therefore: Qd -> infinite

Use as much as you like.

carbon neutral

2006-05-09T13:03:00.000+01:00

I wouldn’t really count myself as ‘Green’, although I do cycle or walk most places, but something that got me thinking was carbon emissions. Were you all aware you can actually trade carbon emissions? Well you can, but that’s not my point.
This year for our holiday me and Alice are going to Spain, my return trip will create 0.31 tonnes of CO2, so for the first time ever, I am going to offset my flight by paying £2.36 to help and promote more efficient energy usage and the plantation of trees. Nothing is going to stop me enjoying my Boeing 757 trip, been looking forward to it for some time (although kinda wish it was an A318; actually, I wonder whether they take the aircraft type into consideration? an A318 would surely produce less emissions than a B757 per passenger?), anyway, now I know that I am going to be carbon neutral means I will enjoy it even more.

How much carbon are you producing this year? www.climatecare.org

no bowling

2006-04-23T20:41:00.000+01:00

As I’m bordering on being 22, I’m sure I should no longer find things like this amusing, but I just can’t help myself.

When I’m back in Bury St Edmunds for the holidays, myself and a few friends normally go for a game of lawn bowls to keep ourselves amused on the nice summer afternoons… however not this Easter.

My friend who had got back to Bury a week before me went to the Abbey Gardens to see if the bowling green was open for business, only to find out that it was closed for a few days… a little odd I thought when he told me as it normally only gets closed after heavy rain fall, so I decided a little spot of research might shed more light onto the situation.

This is where my juvenile side comes into play. I still don’t think I’ve stopped laughing after I found that the reason the green was closed was not due to heavy rain, but due to the fact somebody had drawn a massive penis with lighter fluid in the middle of the green and set it a blaze for all those in space to see.

There is now a burnt penis shape stopping play until the grass has grown back.

Picture included:

(not the best picture, but all I could find on the internet)

photos

2006-04-23T20:23:00.000+01:00

¡Apenas un recordatorio que mi página del flickr está siendo constantemente actualizada!

---

Juste un rappel que ma page de flickr est constamment mise à jour!

---

Just a reminder that my flickr page is constantly being updated!

JT @ Flickr

shifty mover

2006-03-27T11:33:00.000+01:00

Cracking good weekend in London. Celebrating Alice’s 20th was extremely good fun!
Friday witnessed early vodka drinking with Alice’s brother at 4pm before drinking more beer on the train to London. Got to On-and-On by half past six where we were met with free beer and cocktails provided by Alice’s work.
After several hours of free drinking it was time to visit the toilet, which may sound simple enough, but On-and-On is a maze of several floors with little passages leading to many secluded little rooms and dance floors – by now my toilet trip was taking well over half an hour… yes I was lost(!), very lost. After sending an SOS message to Alice, she managed to send out a search party consisting of Gary and Will, although both had no real intention of trying to find me as they were both occupied with a couple of Sambucas.
Anyway, I managed to find my way back and enjoy the rest of the night.

Saturday took the same form, but we ended up in Loop Bar off Oxford Street, where house music was being played all night long much to my delight and we managed to have several hours of partying with Alice’s friends and siblings whom I must say thank you to for plying me with a drink or two.
However, the best part of the night was still to come. Its 12:35am, we’re on Oxford Street. The last train back to Knockholt leaves Charring Cross at 12:50am. The tubes are closed and we have no money for a taxi and there are 5 girls with high heal shoes on. There’s only one answer: off with the shoes ladies and run like hell. They did, they ran like they had never ran before with shouts of encouragement from startled onlookers. I never knew how much noise 5 drunk girls could make.
12:49 and 45 seconds we crash through the doors at Charring Cross where I instruct the platform staff that the train must not leave without Alice and Co.

2am: Bed.

PS. I also decided this weekend that I want to buy a watch with built in compass.

warning! danger danger!

2006-03-11T12:41:00.000Z

How could I resist blogging this?! Whilst washing may hair this morning with a children’s 2 in 1 shampoo (it's nice and gentle on my soft scalp), I though I’d have a little read of the back to see how they make it smell so nice of Melon's and Pear's and there it was: WARNING: Keep out of reach of children.

Surely a child should be using a child’s shampoo? I then looked on the back of a L’Oreal bottle and no warning, just the generic, keep out of eyes.

I've got a photo to prove how silly it is:

Marvellous

pat sharp

2006-02-27T10:44:00.000Z

Why is he still about? Saw him again on Saturday and believe it or not, it was worse than last time. He must nearly be hitting the mid-40's by now, but not to make him look older than he is, he's highlighted even more of his hair. - Yes Pat, now you look 20 again.

I've included a photo to illustrate the story.

Umm, I do wonder though, how much money is he getting for turning up at 12, playing a few tracks, signing a few autographs, saying a few sleazy remarks about the twins, but still back in his bed by 2? I hope it wasn't much!

set

2006-01-24T13:07:00.000Z

A nice piece of irony, for those that didn’t see last night’s episode of Balderdash.
The word ‘set’ has the largest entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, yet ironically is one of the few words that people know the meaning of and therefore is infrequently looked up.

classic

2006-01-13T12:08:00.000Z

I do have one funny little story to share told by my housemate Tony, which I found rather amusing. The text service AQA 63336 tries to answer any question you text them (very handy for pub quizzes and what not). When out in Chester over the Christmas period this is a conversation that took place between Tony and AQA:

Tony: "What is the cheapest pint of beer in Chester?"

AQA: "A pint of Fosters is £1.65 in Society Rooms."

Tony: "Actually I am drinking a £1.10 pint of Tetley’s in Last Orders in Chester."

AQA: "AQA apologises. AQA thinks you have done very well to find a pint of beer for £1.10 and suggests you take advantage of this deal."

If only all text services were this friendly.

hola

2006-01-13T11:47:00.000Z

Por requerimiento por Matt, he puesto más foto incluyendo la ' colina del ángel ' encendido a Flickr.

JT

photo central

2006-01-11T18:07:00.000Z

It would appear that my blog has turned into a page where I post my lastest images... I'm going to try and get away from this habit, but before I do, here is another photo that hopefully some will like.

(3:2) (4:3)

Nobody probably will, but in the event someone would like a higher res verion of any of my photo's of which I have them up to 2560x1920, then please feel free to contact me.

JT

Happy New Year

2006-01-10T09:26:00.000Z

2005 was a fantastic year!
The Christmas break was splendid, especially the Robinson visit to Bezza. Robbo, you may be living in Spain, but in Bezza we know how to do authentic tapas: Cumberland sausage style.

Anyway, made a couple of 1024x768 wallpapers using a little style that I like, thought I’d post them in case anyone liked them.

JT

exilim III

2005-12-29T17:21:00.000Z

(is it obvious my Christmas present was a Casio Exilim?)

exilim II

2005-12-29T17:20:00.000Z

new exilim

2005-12-29T17:13:00.000Z

Some little pictures i took and thought i would share.

JT

boris is back on the frontbench!

2005-12-10T12:49:00.000Z

I thought BBC's interpretation of the conversation between new Tory leader Cameron and Boris Johnson which saw Boris being given a new frontbench job probably wasn’t too far away from the truth:

Cameron: "Now then Boris, you're a good chap and a first class brain and I am going to give you the job looking after Britain's universities, including the places where sound chaps like us go after Eton.

"But please, please, please, no more gaffes. No more dissing Liverpool, no more affairs, a bit less telly and larking about and a bit more knuckling down. OK, what do you say?"

Johnson: "Gosh. Absolutely. Will do. Suitably grateful and repentant and all that.

"Suppose the day job will have to go. So it's thinking cap on and best behaviour from now on."

Glad to see Boris back.

if you want to live, don't buy a lottery ticket

2005-10-27T16:48:00.000+01:00

Current statistics say you are 176 times more likely to be murdered than win the national lottery. Easy… keeping this ratio, if less people bought a lottery ticket, it would decrease your odds of being murdered!

Simple.

best way to make money

2005-10-26T18:34:00.000+01:00

I don't normally make posts like this, normally leave things like this to Kester, but its funny. For Prince Harry's 21st birthday the Royal Mint are producing a limited number of commemorative £5 coins. But i quote from BBC:

''£5 brilliant uncirculated coin, priced at £9.95, comes in an edition of 10,000.''

I study Economics so realise about supply and demand... yet a coin with a face value of £5 is being sold at a 199% mark-up!
O hello there nice Mr Shopkeeper, don't worry about giving me £10 change, i'll just take a £5. Rubbish.

If you're bright enough you'll know what not to buy! - And btw, don't get me started about coin collectors!

final year

2005-10-12T10:53:00.000+01:00

So back at Uni, final year. Old housemates are swaning around in Europe.

Started lectures on Monday, excellent fun, yet in a lecture yesterday with the course code RALE, which could stand for a number of interesting things, turned out to be an acronym for Regional and Local Economics, not the most exciting of topics. It got worse. The lecturer seemed to be very enthusiastic, always a plus, but he mentioned that the course was very similar to a human geography module that is taught at the University. Pathetic. I’m doing a mathematical based Economic degree; give me some maths, you can keep your human geography to yourself thank you very much.

Be back tomorrow...

holiday

2005-07-01T20:39:00.000+01:00

Finally got to go away on holiday with Alice. We went to Moraira, a place in Spain on the Costa Blanca. Very nice. Very good weather and even better company. Some people would think it mad to go running in that heat, but it didn't stop us.

Not much new here, went to see my sister graduate Durham University yesterday which was very nice, especially the champagne tent afterwards!

We won our first junior rowing race, that made 3 wins on the trot, sadly my holiday meant rowing was put on hold for a week... next regatta tomorrow, lets hope for another win, then the home Southsea regatta on the 9th which if anything like last year will be awesome.

Almost forgot to mention the IFOS, the fireworks were out of this world! So great to see so many war ships in one place, truely a sight you must witness with your own eyes! - didn't see the Queen though :(

twenty-one

2005-04-26T12:09:00.000+01:00

So I’m twenty-one. A great bbq party, in fact the best party I have ever been to. Brilliant. Thank you to everyone who sorted it all out. And a big thank you to alice for making it such a lovely day and evening.

I will certainly not forget the UPRC lot cock fighting with balloons in my living room! Haha. Poults on the bbq, Matt the bartender, and everyone else just drunk. Awesome.

The day was also good, head race in Soton, out of ten crews, only came second by 1.4seconds, still annoyed by that, but the winners were on their home turf and to be honest 1.4seconds is piss nothing! Especially when the race was timed by hand. O well, regatta season to start soon, so junior champs by the end of the season for sure!
Another note, my ladies crew that I am coxing appear to be doing very well for themselves too, very proud of them, the time they have been putting in is definitely paying off. Should see them junior by the end of the season too :D.

JT

eggcellent easter

2005-04-02T13:38:00.000+01:00

What a good easter. Didn’t have much time at home, but had a real blast visiting Alice. Went to Tunbridge wells for Alice’s birthday, which was really good fun especially Coco Lounge.

I had a nice thought on the journey back to Uni today: I am over half way done of my course! It was also a nice feeling to know that everyone is going well so far. My marks are generally good, especially the maths based exams, and I am also pretty much up-to-date with the coursework assignments (so far). – Just the rowing season to contend with now :P

Easter was so good this year that I didn’t want to leave. Nothing beats a Thursday night in the DnP and then Brazilia’s. You can try, but nothing will ever come close. In both places I recognise, if not know about 80% of the people, which makes for a great night out with the guys, especially TC, Steve, Cooke, Jambo, Poults, Sam and Davies. Just have to wait until the summer now until it can be done again.

I guess coming back to Uni isn’t that bad though, Portsmouth isn’t the worst place in the world. It gets pretty hot here and the beach is fantastic, not to mention Southsea common for BBQs and Frisbee.

Time to leave and get settled back into the house.

JT

easter

2005-03-21T14:19:00.000Z

Why are there so many people drinking from cans of lager at train stations? Presumably they’re all banned from driving.

Enjoying the next couple of days at Alice’s house, which shall be very pleasant, especially as not only can I hear, but I can also see approaching Heathrow traffic. LOSER.

Getting excited again as the coastal rowing season will be upon us when I return from the Easter break… many trophies and junior status will be won by The Fantastic Four (TFF)! The crew from bow: Me, Sam, Benn and Alex. Only two of the original VAC(04) members, but we have an awesome crew this year. Take time to check out the results at the UPRC website.

JT

sad i know

2005-03-01T16:30:00.000Z

My last post was just for the geek in me. If you like i could have told you how the ATM came about?! - That's what i learn't in our latest Banking lecture.

JT

airbus a380 test flight

2005-03-01T16:24:00.000Z

Some interesting facts about the A380 test flight. Quoted from airliners:

''Besides the pilot and co-pilot there will be 4 engineers on board. All will be wearing helmets and parachutes. One of the lower cargo doors will be armed with explosives so that they can eject it. This opening can be used to jump out of the plane if they encounter a live threatening problem.

The A380 MSN001 with registration F-WWOW will be caring 20 tones of test equipment. They can meassure 15000 different parameters. These will be sent online to the ground for instant and later analysis. The 4 engineers will also monitor data and try to smell, hear or see any abnormalities. That is why they will each be placed at different locations within the plane. So they will work as human measurement equipment.

Short before the take of the entire Toulouse Airport will be closed. Only a Corvette private Jet owned by Airbus will be allowed to start. This Jet will check if the A380 is loosing fluids or if something breaks of. The Airbus photographers will also be onboard in order to capture the first in flight pictures of the A380. They will start in northerly direction in order to avoid the city of Toulouse. They will fist fly the aircraft with the gears lowered for one hour around the airport in companion of the Corvette so that they can return quickly if they encounter any problems.

If everything is OK they will say goodbye to the Jet and climb to higher altitudes and fly to a French Military restricted airspace around Brest.

The first flight will be flown by "direct law". This means that the pilots will fly the A380 directly with no computer corrections or flight envelope protection. Only acoustic signals will warn of stall or max speed.''

Nice

JT

Gizoogle

2005-02-23T13:21:00.000Z

4 those dat r down wit it:

Read my blog Gizoogled.

Also why not read BBC News Gizoogled?

blinded by the formula

2005-02-22T11:47:00.000Z

I quite like the title. Something one of our lectures said during and INTMIC lecture about seeing the formula and not being able to understand and interpret its true meaning. Something that I think is a good analogy with many things in life.

I am constantly tired at the moment which is a pain in the bum to say the least. I may be what is known as an ‘idle toad’ according to our fat Irish lecturer.
Been spending a little more money than I would like recently, keep buying clothes and food… but I guess food is vital.
Second week of the new semester and I have already missed some seminars, but nothing that can’t be caught up on. I decided though I would take the first two weeks easy as unlike some, I didn’t have a break between my exams finishing and new lectures starting.

Sunday night we (myself and housemates + Alice and friend) ventured to Pizza Hut for a nutritious feast of pizza and ice cream which left me with some undesirable side affects…

Time to get back to the latest and best Margate 94 craze: noodles in pita.

And if you ever get the time… try and watch a BBC2 documentary on the current Tory party leader, Michael Howard. – Now there is a 21st century leader…

JT

local radio

2005-02-12T19:29:00.000Z

Even though the window stickers are always incredibly tacky and are only on show on old Escorts and Astra’s, the output is never that bad.

I would say that more than anything else, local radio is at the heart of the community. Rubbish you say?! It’s up-to-date gossip… for example I now know that John from Portsmouth has won two tickets to take his valentine out on Monday night to the cinema. I’ll never know who this John guy is, but I know what he’ll be doing on Valentines Day.

They always have stupid names though: Ocean, Power, SGR, Vibe and Wave, to name just a few. All *really* bad. Yet when I come home from uni I always know that I’m home when I here the Vibe FM jingle.

Another one thing all local radio stations have in common is a terrible breakfast show consisting of one male and one female host, with the female early twenties and ditsy and the guy late thirties trying to be young again. No matter where you are in the country, before 10am you would never know what station you were listing to until you heard the station sample.

One thing local radio does do though is get the masses of restaurant, office, construction and shop workers through their working day.

JT

Nonetheless, some are still better than others: KISS100 Galaxy105

struck with perhaps ignorance?

2005-02-08T11:34:00.000Z

Watching the latest tribe last night and was completely taken back by one of the questions Parry asked a village elder, well it wasn’t the question, but the answer that surprised me. He asked one of the village elders from the Sanema tribe if their tribe would ever be happy to sell some of their land to a neighboring tribe, a tribe which has received government grants in the past and has a doctor on hand to help with distributing medicine and advice, a service the Sanema tribe travel miles for. The answer from the village elder was that rather than selling their land to local tribes, they would prefer selling it to a western company who could come in and clear away some of the forest to create a village with houses, hospitals and schools. They want westernization.

I found this extremely strange to even think about. These tribes that have been there on their own for so long actually want input from the outside world.

It should though, if they are not exploited, be a massive boost to their life if it does ever happen.

boobies!

2005-02-04T18:51:00.000Z

It would seem that I haven’t blogged for over a week. What I have I been up to? Nothing. When I should have been revising for exams I have actually been doing nothing, nonetheless I have been seeing a lot of Alice and have been going out a fair amount.

Decided to make preparations for my future company after I finish my degree. Came up with a pretty good name I think: kJAM. It will specialise in investment portfolios etc and hopefully in a few years, venture capital and private equity etc. (big hopes I know).

Luckily enough after this week coming I will have no more exams for about three months, so plenty of time to start enjoying uni again, especially Wednesday night rowing pub crawls!

QECON3 here I come!

The title of this blog is merely to get your attention!

JT

freerunning and tribe

2005-01-25T17:05:00.000Z

It would appear that I have nothing to write about.
What have I been upto? Ha, well myself, Matt and Kester have tried our hand at free running, which is actually good fun… check out some of the photo's.

One thing I have been doing, well watching, is the Docu series on BBC2 called Tribe. – It’s extremely amazing to see how people, some of whom who have had no contact with the outside world before act and live. It would seem that they are the same as us, yet more active and ingenious. It is also noticeable how each tribe that has been visited is welcoming changes to their life, and how contrary to most peoples’ belief, they are actually wanting contact with the outside world, as they see it as making their life better.

Two weeks until exams, and I think that my exams must be the last Uni exams in the country, but at least it’ll give me more time to get prepared I guess.

virgin atlantic and the a380

2005-01-18T21:42:00.000Z

I honestly can't wait to see the new Airbus A380 in action early next year. One thing apart from its amazing ingenuity that makes it exciting is the quote that Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic gave at the rolling out ceremony:

"The A380 can seat over 800, but we're aiming for 550. We'll be using the extra space to improve our offering. For instance we'll be having double beds - more double beds. There'll be a gym. And a beauty treatment area. We already have a stand up bar, but it will be bigger. And there'll be a casino. With the double beds and the casino, you might get lucky!"

Going to be a whole new era of air travel...

JT

a new year

2005-01-05T11:12:00.000Z

Two thousand and four was an awesome year for me and I hope that 2005 is even better. I’m not one of those people who make New Years resolutions. They seem a bit pointless to me… better to just have one aim of making this year better than last.

Before I can start to really enjoy this year, I have, like most others at Uni, got a month of hell, full of exams and assignment deadlines. Nonetheless, when February hits, I’m ready to enjoy the rest of the year including my 21st birthday and hopefully becoming Junior Champs (we can do it!).

In essence there are lots of pleasantries ahead, and I for one can’t wait!

Happy New Year

JT

O christmas christmas christmas!

2004-12-13T14:40:00.000Z

That time of the year already? Crazy

So have yet to do *any* Christmas shopping and have spent the last two weeks doing coursework using the fourth moment to prove the kurtosis of my probability density function… dull I know.

The UPRC Christmas party was a true messy affair this year, plenty of beer and yards of ale. A complete comical evening I would say.

Time for another lecture now, why I’m bothering on the last week before Christmas is beyond me.

JT

politics and animals

2004-11-30T13:11:00.000Z

Animals was one of the funniest things I’ve *ever* seen, so I couldn’t wait for ‘Ricky Gervais live 2: Politics’ to come out.
I watched it for the first time a few days ago when in a little bit of a bad mood and didn’t find it overly funny and thought that it was a little racist and offensive… then on Saturday after being in the pub for a few hours, then buying a bottle of vodka and consuming half of it, I watched it again and OMG, not sure if it could have gotten any funnier!! Seriously I couldn’t stop laughing, especially when he was going on about how Steven Hawkings got his bruises – must be all the skateboarding he does.

Genius Ricky. Genius.

JT

eg. Watermelon

bluetack models

2004-11-27T19:04:00.000Z

Another link from matt. I think this is one of his friends at Bath Uni... very interesting Bluetack models!

Models

JT

nice matt. nice

2004-11-26T19:30:00.000Z

Matthew does make a good point!

eMatt: You can do me, i'm safe

JT

o boris

2004-11-15T11:18:00.000Z

Boris, Boris, Boris. What has come of my idle?!
But let’s think about this seriously, if Boris Johnson can have an affair, there’s hope for the rest of us!

Good to see though that the jolly nice people of Henley, for whom Boris is their Conservative MP, have decided to give him another chance. – Take that Mr Howard; The party leader that nobody likes.

We certainly haven’t seen the last of Boris. Excellent.

JT

travel

2004-11-13T08:46:00.000Z

I bloody hate trains… why say anymore?

This week has been good actually, made all of my lectures up until Friday, then had to sacrifice Quantitative Economics 3 for a train home (oh no!!). In fact, that’s probably the only thing that is making this train ride better, knowing that my lecture would have been even more boring.

Thank god for computers and iPod’s… the only two things keeping me sane on the way home.

Once finally at home, I thought I’d check out the new interactive 10 o’clock news on BBCi; the new service that the BBC has been bragging about.
It’s seems they’ve been quite clever! – Once you’ve pressed the red button, you can watch more in-depth news reports etc OR you can replace the news with a behind the scenes look at Little Britain! – Guess which one I watched?

JT

it's mini

2004-11-10T15:10:00.000Z

Yes, my iPod mini has arrived in its shiny silver form and WOW is it good!
It may only have 4GB of hard drive space, but I’d rather sacrifice memory for sleek, sexy looks and style … iTunes doesn’t seem to be too bad either.

Classic stuff

JT

PS. It’s also another fabulous Wednesday tonight!

fabulous wednesdays

2004-11-04T13:44:00.000Z

Wednesday is UPRC pub crawl day…

Started with a pre-drink at 3, followed by the main drinking at 8. A double in every place mixed with either some nice diet coke or red devil.

The night was obviously going to end up a little messy! As well as the rowing crew, Matt and Kester joined and from what I saw, I think they had more fun than the rest(!!), although why Matt was drinking gin and tonic is beyond me. Several pubs later while we were all still drinking either pints or vodka, they had decided to move on to the red wine, yes, red wine during an excessively drunken evening, they thought it’d be wise to start drinking a bottle of red wine!

By midnight we were too drunk to dance, and too drunk to do anything else apart from trundle home … where Matt showed me the red wine he had been drinking (yuk) … where Matt threw Kester onto my bed and shattered a glass everywhere … where Matt was way too drunk to be of any use in a conversation … yes Matt was a mess.

Come on next Wednesday

JT

globalvote

2004-11-02T13:31:00.000Z

This is good:

Global vote 2004

JT

today's outcome

2004-10-29T18:52:00.000+01:00

Reassuring to know that the 'expected' value equals the 'true' value:

E[a] = a

E[a] = Σa.f(x)

E[a] = aΣf(x)

E[a] = a.1

E[a] = a

Thought you'd enjoy!

the meaning of uni

2004-10-29T14:19:00.000+01:00

University is definitely about getting a degree, but incidentally, that’s what I spend least of my time doing!

At uni people seem to move themselves into certain clicks, factions that others that haven’t gone to uni will never realise or appreciate!

It’s about meeting new people, joining new clubs and having a jolly good time while trying to keep pretentiousness (against chav's) to a minimum.

It also seems a way for both men and women to bond in a way that could not be replicated anywhere else, with such a diverse mix of people from every imaginable background… also not to mention the pseudo gayness!

dance for a double

2004-10-23T13:21:00.000+01:00

Haven’t had much time this week to write an entry.

It has been quite fully packed with lectures, training and partying.

On Tuesday, after the first ‘real’ training at the rowing club (I am now running instructor), myself and housemates went to Time for a full night of dancing, where, induced by housemate Ian, it was dance for a double! – He challenged myself and Kester to be the first two people on the dance floor in return for a double vodka and red bull. Easy

Wednesday was Matt’s birthday, so going out was mandatory; it was also the rowing club pub crawl. The night started early and finished late… leading to one thing: messiness.

the orange

2004-10-18T17:55:00.000+01:00

No real blog for today, just a link to another blog which (i think) is a very interesting and thought provoking(?!) as well as a link to a nice article i found:

The Orange Dilemma
Phones filthier than toilets

JT

porn over palin

2004-10-16T21:42:00.000+01:00

Back to normal wellbeing now, so time for a blog!

Downloading is definitely a hobby; currently getting Michael Palin – Around the world in 80 days. It seemed to be taking a while and the download rate was atrocious, only to discover Kester, a housemate, downloading porn at near full bandwidth. – typical. There are more people hosting porn than witty, informative and light hearted Michael!!

Lectures started this week, a nice change from doing nothing, which has occupied me for the entire summer.

I’m really looking forward to working hard this year and getting stuck in to the course (Economics, Finance and Banking). However, I find lectures more about people watching than work. I’d rather watch other people trying to keep them selves awake than I would listen to the lecturer talk about matrices. Watching people’s behavior is so much more fun than work, work that I can easily catch up on in my own time.

ill

2004-10-13T12:32:00.000+01:00

I've been unwell since Saturday with a viral infection.
As soon as i'm back to feeling better i'll be straight back blogging!

JT

freshers fayre part ii

2004-10-07T15:54:00.000+01:00

Easily one of the best days of my uni life so far. The fayre started off slow, but soon had a certain buzz, helped but Domino’s handing out more free pizza, accompanied by Vue giving away bottles of diet coke… o yeah, and more snake bite.

It’s also so interesting watching the different kinds of people at uni, and also surprises me the different types of people that are interested in rowing. I believe we managed to get over 150 people to sign up for the induction day! – Truly a credit to everyone who helped out on our stand.

It also appeared that today there were far more corporate businesses there, which meant far more goodies to be had. Awesome stuff.

Not only the free stuff made the fayre good, but it also gave myself the opportunity to joke and have fun with other second and third years running their stands.

On a work note, I got my class schedule today, fairly happy with it, only one class on a Friday and *none* on a Wednesday (but the other days are some what busy).

I shall be taking a break tonight and will stay in to recuperate from last night and the two full days of standing!

JT

freshers fayre part i

2004-10-06T17:49:00.000+01:00

Finally got under way today and was fantastic. The atmosphere was better than last year and the excitement was obvious, mainly boosted by the amount first year hotties.

Standing all day promoting your club is far more enjoyable when combined with a pint (or 5) or snake bite. Unfortunately, I found out at the last minute that I had a meeting with my personal tutor in the afternoon(!!), which isn’t the best thing when pretty much drunk. – It also turns out that he’s the head of the department.

Tonight is the beach party at the union, which I shall make sure I get there early to avoid queuing in the cold outside. – It should be a very entertaining night.

Up again early tomorrow for another day of the fayre!!

JT

better luck next time

2004-10-05T15:31:00.000+01:00

Last night, Monday, was supposed to be a massive night in the union, packed full of first, second and third years… and well it probably was, but I’ll never know as we got there too late and the queue was ridiculous(!!), it would have taken a good hour or two to get in.

Not to be deterred though, we thought we’d try a new student night being held at Jongleurs, a bar come club at Gunwharf. – This possibly turned out to be one of the worst nights I’ve ever experienced in Portsmouth, which is a shame because the venue is awesome. To some up the night, being promoted under ‘bubbleluv’, the music was beyond poor, and the ratio or males to females was easily 15:1 (not my idea of a good night, despite my camp dancing).

Anyway, not to get too bogged down with that, tomorrow is the freshers fayre where I will be promoting the rowing club with all my energy and hopefully it’ll turn out to be a great day… also in the evening the union is hosting a big beach party, which I *will* definitely be going to especially if I purchase a ticket tomorrow so I don’t have to queue to get in!

Never mind, training awaits, as well as the penultimate episode of NY-LON.

JT

the union has started

2004-10-03T13:46:00.000+01:00

Freshers fortnight has now officially started. Both Friday and Saturday were excellent fun with a great couple of funky house dj’s playing upstairs in the union.

Friday night has been dubbed, by me, as snake bite night. – The wonderful mix of blackcurrant, cider and lager make for an extraordinary drink. Many more pints of this delightful stuff will be drunk over the next semester!!

Saturday night was for me, vodka night and made for a different experience with far more dancing than the night before, fuelled by my abundance of vodka, lime, soda and brown sugar drink.

Also to note that there are some lovely new freshers!!

Staying in tonight, but will be out again come Monday.

JT

almost freshers week

2004-09-30T16:27:00.000+01:00

Freshers fortnight starts on Saturday here at Portsmouth Uni. Frankly I can’t wait if last year is anything to go by. – Two full weeks of partying and of course the freshers fayre, which this year I get to take part in as part of the rowing club.

Every night in the two weeks has something different going on, with exception of the weekends were the union tries to promote their regular nights, which are usually also the best nights in freshers.

The first night of freshers, Saturday, will jam the union with every new student being lead around by their organised hall tour, along with almost every second year scouting the new first years.

I’m sure it’s going to be a fantastic two weeks… updates of the week will be posted periodically throughout.

JT

from one to the next

2004-09-24T10:51:00.000+01:00

It would appear to me that blog hopping has become my new sport. The ‘next blog’ button on the top of the pages on blogger is the button that grants you access to an almost unlimited supply of insights into people lives.

Each time I start a new ‘hop’ I always end up finding a fantastic blog to read and always bookmark it... which has now left me with more bookmarked blogs than there are hours in the day.
One of the most interesting blogs is http://fukuokaforeigner.blogspot.com/ , an American girl studying at a Japanese school – very entertaining.

But I believe one of the things that makes them [blogs] even more interesting is the vast diversity. Yesterday I was reading a blog of an Italian film director, and the day before that I was hooked on a blog (http://funwithnames.blogspot.com/) which makes fun of people names. Crazy.

Time for me to go find some more blogs to read…

something only an American would say

2004-09-18T15:26:00.000+01:00

Whilst on the way to JFK airport in the Super Shuttle mini van, people inside were talking about where they were flying to. Simple enough. This was about one week before the Olympics started, so it was no real surprise that a fair few people said they were flying to Athens, but when the person asking the questions got to one particular mid 20 year old, she replied ‘’well NBC have the viewing rights for the Olympics’’. She didn’t, like everyone else, and most normal people, simply reply that she was also going to the Olympics, or even say that she was going to the Olympics for NBC. She had to make the point of who for.

This is a certain type of arrogance, smugness and self-importance that only an American has. – The way that they tell everyone that NBC has the rights and nobody else… why not simply say ‘‘I’m going to the Olympics fro NBC.’’

Don’t get me wrong, I truly love Americans and believe they are full of kindness and warmth, but just sometimes…

time to leave the summer

2004-09-17T12:00:00.000+01:00

So after having an excellent summer of nothing but fun with old friends and new, plus visiting NYC again for two weeks, it’s time to leave for Uni again, and the start of an exciting second year (10x less scary than the first).

The time I spent in New York this summer was some of the best ever, I met some fantastic people and truly enjoyed every minute, I just hope my application for an internship in the city is accepted so I can spend the whole of my summer there next year.

Finding internships to apply for is very time consuming even with the internet and books specially designed for it. I’m looking for a summer placement with a financial institution to gain experience in equity trading. I’ve managed to find several excellent schemes offered by some of the world’s biggest firms, nonetheless, applications for summer interns normally don’t close until late February, so I have a long time to wait to see if I ever get called up for an interview… so until then I guess I just keep applying to more…

The start of a new academic year is to me, very exciting, as during the summer I find my mind becoming numbed by TV and lack of mental stimulation. It’s also the chance to meet up with friends, get excessively drunk [hopefully] three times a week at the least, an generally have a jolly time, whilst finding a little time to attend lectures and finish assignments.

Umm, this year I think I will push myself far more than I did last year to succeed even more. In fact, I think that’s a good rule of thumb. Write that down.

iced tea, but no biscuits

2004-09-15T22:58:00.000+01:00

So maybe yesterday my post was a little different, but I had had a very vivid dream after finishing reading my book and I just had to write down my idea – even though I realise there are several fatal flaws.

So once again, it’s back to the coffee shop again to use the free wireless internet access. Yet also, the staff are very friendly and It’s as if I were surfing at home (although I have to pay for drinks here!!). If anyone wants to use this place, it’s the Lounge Coffee shop in Bury St Edmunds.

I’ve got several things to be doing after I leave here. Mainly, I’m dew to move into our new student house for the year on Saturday and have been given a list by some of my friends already there about what I need to bring, so later I must go shopping for essential items, one of which is a cuddly toy! Lovely.

The other thing is that I’m learning French whenever I have a free minute from a few books I bought. It’s such an interesting language, and after about 30hours I’m getting to grips with it very nicely. – It’s bizarre how many of our words they use and vice-versa.

Right, best get back to finishing my iced tea.

better management

2004-09-14T22:09:00.000+01:00

After finishing my latest book, I got to thinking about the best way to ‘manage’ the country.

I believe that communism; in principle is a good idea, unlike fascism which seems all too elitist in its purist form.

Obviously the drawbacks of a communist state are noticeable and abundant, but there are also obvious advantages such as equalness. Perhaps a more ‘socialist’ state is what i prefer to picture as it is less to the extremes. I do however see how one could ‘leech’ off the state, with little or no desire or ambition to succeed.

Tribes in Africa and the rainforests of South America normally have a central leader, which could be likened too a Mayor, however one who has far more power, almost like an individual Prime Minister of the town, with no one else to look up or answer to. – would this not be a good way to govern our country? If you are a mayor or PM of a smaller town, it would make your job far more personable and effective surely?

Ditch MPs, and replace them with the already established County Council, who have more power to change things. And better still, remove the PM and replace him with a neutral council such like a commission, which the County Councils report to. It would alleviate the strain that a single PM has and would, I think, lead to a fairer government and less biased decisions. I guess it’s a bit more similar to the American system.

(Ok, ok, so I can see a few problems, in that the CC would need to be ‘appointed’ by the people in a way that MPs are, but I think as a general rule of thumb, wherever there is one person in charge, replace with at least three.)

Think I’ll leave this idea here and work on it again at a later stage.

mountain dew

2004-09-14T02:19:00.000+01:00

I get so annoyed when all I want is a nice Mountain Dew… why o why is it no longer sold in the UK?! Guess it’s time for another trip to the states…

music and free wireless

2004-09-14T01:09:00.000+01:00

Just joined the Conservative Party, not sure why, but it would be nice to see what the opposition is planning to do in the future... hopefully one day i'll be featured in their magazine... ummm

Almost time to start University again, which will be a nice change from using the free wireless internet access offered at my local coffee shop in Bury St Edmunds to download music from slsk everyday.

Can't say i've done much else for the past few weeks, except going running everyday, which has now had to come to a stop due to illness.

I think i've said enough for today, but i do think it's exciting that there is going to be a second season of My Resturant Rules!
JT