As I have a free period, so to speak (multiple cancellations as per), I thought I'd keep this going regardless of quality. The current aim is actually (as I notice some others do) raise the standard of what I write to a level that hopefully will be able to be used by a magazine somehow. I do already write professional articles, but do so much online that I want to write on anything people want me to. So if I can make a typical day in North London interesting, I may have cracked it.
I've just had a meeting which may define my immediate financial future, I'll have to wait for the decision, but there's a chance I'll lose most of my income as a result. I'll be able to survive for a while, but looks like the need to write for money could be a pressing one now. I'll just have to accept whatever happens as it's totally out of my control.
Otherwise, one more possible from the notorious dating site, my luck is she'll now find this (God knows how, but you can never tell) so I'll just say (honestly) she seems really nice, and I'd be breaking the terms of blogging if I left anything out from it. I'm leaving the site this week as it's outlived its (high) price now, and they would be unlikely to get many new members if I hung on another month and then another. If missie from the last time on the dating site somehow finds this I'll just say 'Cheer up, you seem like life has totally worn you down'. That or she was born like that, who knows? But even on the phone it rubbed off on me, and was even worse in person. That taught me a lesson about tolerance, ie it has its limits! Looks certainly aren't everything.
I have just invested £1 in what looks like a grey intestine that keeps my cables tidy, I remember when they used to cost about £15 in a mail order catalogue, but are now quite easy to get elsewhere. Life's often about the little things, and you can rely on me to tell you about every one of them. Well, until I start getting laid again regularly that is... Any offers?
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Electrical equipment
This is boring, but I have to finish the story. 1st, I discovered the right digital converter for Grandma, and though sold at John Lewis, was in their warehouse rather than their shop. The next day I was in Sainsburys for tea and my father said maybe they've got digital TV boxes. Not only did they have them, they were the same as the ones from John Lewis and £5 cheaper. It's now up and running perfectly.
I also re invested my £20 in a normal black and silver keyboard with chunky keys, an arm rest and hot keys that had a very rough CD installation (crash!). Now half of them work, but I can live without them if I have to.
Otherwise my car is in the garage for 24 hours so anything I need to do in the house may actually get done at last.
I also re invested my £20 in a normal black and silver keyboard with chunky keys, an arm rest and hot keys that had a very rough CD installation (crash!). Now half of them work, but I can live without them if I have to.
Otherwise my car is in the garage for 24 hours so anything I need to do in the house may actually get done at last.
Saturday, August 21, 2004
Oy gevalt
Other Jewish bloggers will know what's coming from the title, others will work it out from reading it. I've had a good, old fashioned bad service/quality day today, one just like the worst I've ever had. The combination of my grandma asking me to buy a digital box for her 20 odd year old TV and the fact my flat keyboard that's designed for use by pixies is slowly packing up, I went to the Staples Corner retail park down the road from me in Cricklewood to check out one of each.
The only keyboard in the shop I liked was a cordless one, which I see no use for, but was as cheap as the versions with a tail, so I went for it. There was only one left, in its box, which some pikey had already ripped open to check out as they hadn't bothered to put one on display.
This turned out to have a broken input plug, so that's on its way back tomorrow.
The lovely people in Curry's (name and shame) insisted, not only before I told them my Grandma's TV had no scart socket, but after 3 hours of fiddling and calling customer service to discover that their box wouldn't work without one, that it would, but gave me a refund as they probably thought I'd chuck an eppy, as an old friend of mine used to say. Cretins. I'd never used them before in my life and probably never will again. So now I have to shlep to John Lewis, who do one that will work for double the price.
So Grandma will have to wait for a digital service for a few days, and I'll have to look for a decent new keyboard as the broken one was probably the last one left in the country, from the relief on their faces when I took it off their hands. Well mine's coming back guys, so you'll have to look at it again. I've had days like this before, and for nothing to work at all, combined with bad advice that wasted half my afternoon shows what sort of shops and service we have here. The only good news on that front was a few weeks after I said the digital radio advertised didn't exist it arrived in every shop in the country that sold them, and I drove around an 80 mile round trip to Crawley so I could save £20 on mine. It's humming away next to me now, and I managed to get a ram card of 4 hours for the price of a 2 hour one so I can record overnight programmes etc. I had to balance the bad day with the good, as I have to be fair.
This may have been boring to read, but just think how lucky you are not to have had to gone through it all. And I've still got to queue up tomorrow, a Saturday, with all the chavs, general public from the London NW2 district etc to hopefully get my refund on the fercuckter keyboard, no better off than I was at the start of today. The only good bit was I could take my Grandma shopping and spent the afternoon with her, as she'd have been alone all day if I hadn't come round with the wrong item. But had I been given the correct advice by Curry's, that would have been it. And no more cordless keyboards for me.
The only keyboard in the shop I liked was a cordless one, which I see no use for, but was as cheap as the versions with a tail, so I went for it. There was only one left, in its box, which some pikey had already ripped open to check out as they hadn't bothered to put one on display.
This turned out to have a broken input plug, so that's on its way back tomorrow.
The lovely people in Curry's (name and shame) insisted, not only before I told them my Grandma's TV had no scart socket, but after 3 hours of fiddling and calling customer service to discover that their box wouldn't work without one, that it would, but gave me a refund as they probably thought I'd chuck an eppy, as an old friend of mine used to say. Cretins. I'd never used them before in my life and probably never will again. So now I have to shlep to John Lewis, who do one that will work for double the price.
So Grandma will have to wait for a digital service for a few days, and I'll have to look for a decent new keyboard as the broken one was probably the last one left in the country, from the relief on their faces when I took it off their hands. Well mine's coming back guys, so you'll have to look at it again. I've had days like this before, and for nothing to work at all, combined with bad advice that wasted half my afternoon shows what sort of shops and service we have here. The only good news on that front was a few weeks after I said the digital radio advertised didn't exist it arrived in every shop in the country that sold them, and I drove around an 80 mile round trip to Crawley so I could save £20 on mine. It's humming away next to me now, and I managed to get a ram card of 4 hours for the price of a 2 hour one so I can record overnight programmes etc. I had to balance the bad day with the good, as I have to be fair.
This may have been boring to read, but just think how lucky you are not to have had to gone through it all. And I've still got to queue up tomorrow, a Saturday, with all the chavs, general public from the London NW2 district etc to hopefully get my refund on the fercuckter keyboard, no better off than I was at the start of today. The only good bit was I could take my Grandma shopping and spent the afternoon with her, as she'd have been alone all day if I hadn't come round with the wrong item. But had I been given the correct advice by Curry's, that would have been it. And no more cordless keyboards for me.
Thursday, August 19, 2004
Criticism already!
Well, my mother's just read all this, and says it's depressing. Now as it's a diary and not a work of fiction, what am I meant to do? I live in a situation that's depressing by its nature, and until I either share my house, or at least get a girlfriend and hopefully one of my old friends back on the scene (no, they don't hate me, they just went abroad) this means that whatever I write will be based on this fact.
I wonder how many people live alone by accident rather than choice, and would like someone else around again, whether it was with their family or partner in the past. People with big families who often had to share bedrooms are sometimes happy to get their own space at last when they get their own place, but if they keep this up into middle age I think it's suspect. Fear of failure and selfishness are more likely to motivate most of these people to stay alone than actually liking it, whatever they say. Like most married couples, few people are going to admit things aren't as they'd like, especially when they've always said it was what they chose. That, to me is far more of a failure than sharing a house with someone and it not working out. I've had tenants for 3 years in the past, and it's nothing like living with friends or family, it's sheer chance who you get, and if you pick a random person on a train you try living with them for a year and see how you get on.
As I know they sometimes read this I will say many of my forum friends from across the Atlantic and elsewhere could probably make very good housemates for me, and this year one almost did (you know who you are of course!). And when I met 7 of them recently it confirmed they are exactly as interesting in person as they seemed online. So any comments on living alone here will be welcome, and I've decided to post it all on a forum now anyway. See you at www.jimmyvincent.com in the family affairs forum.
I wonder how many people live alone by accident rather than choice, and would like someone else around again, whether it was with their family or partner in the past. People with big families who often had to share bedrooms are sometimes happy to get their own space at last when they get their own place, but if they keep this up into middle age I think it's suspect. Fear of failure and selfishness are more likely to motivate most of these people to stay alone than actually liking it, whatever they say. Like most married couples, few people are going to admit things aren't as they'd like, especially when they've always said it was what they chose. That, to me is far more of a failure than sharing a house with someone and it not working out. I've had tenants for 3 years in the past, and it's nothing like living with friends or family, it's sheer chance who you get, and if you pick a random person on a train you try living with them for a year and see how you get on.
As I know they sometimes read this I will say many of my forum friends from across the Atlantic and elsewhere could probably make very good housemates for me, and this year one almost did (you know who you are of course!). And when I met 7 of them recently it confirmed they are exactly as interesting in person as they seemed online. So any comments on living alone here will be welcome, and I've decided to post it all on a forum now anyway. See you at www.jimmyvincent.com in the family affairs forum.
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
more assorted stuff
Good news: My 5 seconds on TV were repeated on Sunday on Channel 4 - proper television! This is the first time my face has been on TV in 30 years, and some people I know saw it, though a couple didn't even catch my fleeting view.
Otherwise, little to report. Still at square one on the dating front, nothing new there, and blitzing the dating sites hoping the next one will have more things we can both talk about. I am also going to use this and other snippets I've written over time to submit to some magazines, as I spend so much time writing already that I ought to get paid for some of it. It's what I've always done, and having been published a number of times on professional and supernatural matters, am now ready to talk about almost anything. I just hope I don't need to find an agent as the last time I tried I was treated like a leper with B.O. , a gun in my hand and plans of Tony Blair's house in my pocket (if anyone's seen the news yesterday). Seems unless these creeps get a blow-job they won't touch anyone with a barge pole unless they've got a title or are related to someone famous. Being a profession that needs no qualifications they've created a set of their own, and I can't qualify on any of them.
If I can think of some more professions and people to slag off next time I think it'll be fun. If you want to suggest anything in particular I'll have a go at them as well.
A picture of me on Big Brother will appear as soon as it's been transferred to disk.
Otherwise, little to report. Still at square one on the dating front, nothing new there, and blitzing the dating sites hoping the next one will have more things we can both talk about. I am also going to use this and other snippets I've written over time to submit to some magazines, as I spend so much time writing already that I ought to get paid for some of it. It's what I've always done, and having been published a number of times on professional and supernatural matters, am now ready to talk about almost anything. I just hope I don't need to find an agent as the last time I tried I was treated like a leper with B.O. , a gun in my hand and plans of Tony Blair's house in my pocket (if anyone's seen the news yesterday). Seems unless these creeps get a blow-job they won't touch anyone with a barge pole unless they've got a title or are related to someone famous. Being a profession that needs no qualifications they've created a set of their own, and I can't qualify on any of them.
If I can think of some more professions and people to slag off next time I think it'll be fun. If you want to suggest anything in particular I'll have a go at them as well.
A picture of me on Big Brother will appear as soon as it's been transferred to disk.
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Big Brother 5 experience
Well, having been a fan since day one I'm now an official part of the programme, as in being on it with a housemate. As I went to see who was leaving at the end of last year's series, as I live near Elstree Studios, I discovered they have a party facing the road and I saw all the BB4 housemates through the window.
This year had few people in the party, but apart from 3 who had left, many others were still inside being interviewed. And then Kitten (one of the housemates) came out to speak to our little crowd of people watching over the railings, as she said it was more interesting than the party. I'd actually met my first ever BB member! We asked her to send some more out, and Becki soon followed, and then Jason came outside and we called him over, and finally Dan was being interviewed for TV, and came over and spoke to us, and we were all asked what we thought of the programme, and then Dan and his family were filmed together where we were standing.
Knowing how much material ends up being cut out, I reckoned maybe a 50-50 chance I'd be on, and the cameramen were uncertain when it would be shown as well. I set my video to record the first E4 (satellite only) 10 minute long BB winners week, hoping I'd be seen talking to the camera with Dan, and discovered Jason was being filmed as well! They showed Jason coming to see us, and included a 5 second clip of me when he came and shook my hand. They'd all talked to us, but unfortunately though they showed Jason's side of our conversation they'd cut out the bits where I replied, but that was a very small loss compared to being on Big Brother with a housemate. I have to admit to having dreamt for at least the last 2 series of being part of the programme, so actually being there even for 5 seconds meant I was now one of the many 'plebs' who had been on the programme with the real house participants and presenters.
Which ambition will happen next I wonder?
This year had few people in the party, but apart from 3 who had left, many others were still inside being interviewed. And then Kitten (one of the housemates) came out to speak to our little crowd of people watching over the railings, as she said it was more interesting than the party. I'd actually met my first ever BB member! We asked her to send some more out, and Becki soon followed, and then Jason came outside and we called him over, and finally Dan was being interviewed for TV, and came over and spoke to us, and we were all asked what we thought of the programme, and then Dan and his family were filmed together where we were standing.
Knowing how much material ends up being cut out, I reckoned maybe a 50-50 chance I'd be on, and the cameramen were uncertain when it would be shown as well. I set my video to record the first E4 (satellite only) 10 minute long BB winners week, hoping I'd be seen talking to the camera with Dan, and discovered Jason was being filmed as well! They showed Jason coming to see us, and included a 5 second clip of me when he came and shook my hand. They'd all talked to us, but unfortunately though they showed Jason's side of our conversation they'd cut out the bits where I replied, but that was a very small loss compared to being on Big Brother with a housemate. I have to admit to having dreamt for at least the last 2 series of being part of the programme, so actually being there even for 5 seconds meant I was now one of the many 'plebs' who had been on the programme with the real house participants and presenters.
Which ambition will happen next I wonder?
Friday, August 06, 2004
Funtrivia pic
Here's a picture of all my 7 funtrivia friends who I met last Saturday.
Bloomsby, Mrs Tellywellies, Sue943, Copago, Tellywellies, Sypher, Tabby Tom
Now you'll have to go to http://www.funtrivia.com to see them all in action.
Bloomsby, Mrs Tellywellies, Sue943, Copago, Tellywellies, Sypher, Tabby Tom
Now you'll have to go to http://www.funtrivia.com to see them all in action.
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Peace and quiet
I'm glad to say I have absolutely nothing special to do beyond the usual this week, at least. I met 7 members of funtrivia.com for the first time on Saturday, where I've been a member since February 2000, as soon as I got my computer. It was like meeting old friends and it was exactly as if I'd known them all in person for the same amount of time. Now I hope to make this a regular feature of membership- it was a member who told me about blogspot in the first place, and all I need now is to meet a girlfriend there, which almost happened to me once, and has to others already. The photos will be coming in over the next week so I'll post a few here as well so you can see my friends, some of whom came a very long way.
Otherwise, I am assimilating my data on how to understand women. It's very interesting and logical, though written by a man. I suppose it takes an outsider to explain something new where a woman wouldn't know how to analyse what seems normal (ha ha ha!) to them. My original view that we were two different species was spot on, as apparently women's brains could be further from men's than camels or chimpanzees. This didn't clearly come as much of a surprise to me, as sadly the few women I have met that think more like men nearly always look more like men as well. One actually had an excess of male hormone so I'm not even exaggerating, much...
I have also met someone else with an experience of someone with no regard for other's feelings, and apparently they do all seem to come out of the same box, some of the observations I made of similar people I've come across were incredibly familiar to him, and we're currently mulling over whether theses types can be reformed at all, and if so, how.?
Otherwise, I am assimilating my data on how to understand women. It's very interesting and logical, though written by a man. I suppose it takes an outsider to explain something new where a woman wouldn't know how to analyse what seems normal (ha ha ha!) to them. My original view that we were two different species was spot on, as apparently women's brains could be further from men's than camels or chimpanzees. This didn't clearly come as much of a surprise to me, as sadly the few women I have met that think more like men nearly always look more like men as well. One actually had an excess of male hormone so I'm not even exaggerating, much...
I have also met someone else with an experience of someone with no regard for other's feelings, and apparently they do all seem to come out of the same box, some of the observations I made of similar people I've come across were incredibly familiar to him, and we're currently mulling over whether theses types can be reformed at all, and if so, how.?
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