A busy few days.

It's been a busy few days. On Thursday, I was drafted in to a footy competition in work, which was enjoyable even though we were eliminated in the early rounds and didn't get anywhere near where we'd hoped to. Still, if it is run again, I'll definitely put my name down.

I've been to Wembley and back, to see the Foo Fighters (it was totally excellent) and had the proposed night out with D and that crowd (no FBS though).

We met a couple of girls at the concert and ended up having a couple of drinks with them once we got back into the centre of London. Despite one of them talking about a boyfriend, FP was convinced there was potential there between me and the younger of the two girls, but I was just enjoying myself and wasn't really interested in taking it somewhere physical. Mind you, had she made an offer, maybe I would have thought differently.

E's home in two weeks, so I really need to pull my finger out with regards to getting her birthday present sorted.

The internet...

Looking for a song? Not interested in torrents or entire albums?

try:

http://worryaboutyou.com/

Memories

The sun was rising over the mountains to the east. The sky was clear and even though it was not yet 8 AM, it was obviously going to be another clear, beautiful day. I stretched out my legs and settled back for the journey, putting in my earphones and selecting shuffle on my iPod.

As we entered the mountains, on one of those winding roads you rarely see outside of a film, a new tune started playing. "Everything goes around the water" by The Delgados. It was a song I'd forgotten I had, but it just seemed so apt, musically (though maybe not lyrically). I was halfway through my trip and the tricky two weeks that I had been travelling on my own was at an end as I'd be meeting up with E later that day and another friend of mine the next day. I was chilled, happy and looking forward to the last phase of my travels.

That's the memory that stirred today when, just like above, I had the iPod on random and "Everything goes around the water" appeared once again. I remember reading one post on Belle de Jour's blog that just reminded me of something really cinematic and my own memory above is exactly the same (probably made even more so with the added soundtrack).

More!

More contact today, this time from E. We chatted on Skype for an hour or so and I re-enforced my desire to see her when she comes home in a few weeks. I got good vibes off of that and it looks like I might get to see her quite a few times that week - a day on our own, doing our normal birthday stuff (drink, shoot pool etc.), plus she's got other mates visiting from all over the U.K. which will mean at least one night out to celebrate her birthday. I'm looking forward to it!

Contact and social life...

Things have been relatively busy, hence my lack of posts here. To be honest, there's not a lot to be said either!

Contact from others has been very sporadic until this week. Earlier in the week, I got a text from AM, which looked as if it had been written two weeks ago and today I got a very stressed looking message from QC2 who is juggling career, home and education life at present, but promises to get in contact in a few weeks once her last piece of coursework is completed and submitted.

The next few weeks are shaping up to be great. E's home in about three weeks, there's the aforementioned potential meeting with QC2 and I'm off to see the Foo Fighters at Wembley next weekend. I had toyed with the idea of trying to meet up with A or UHSW this time around, but I don't have the time. It's literally in to the city, concert, hotel, home. I can't even meet with the old school mates I have there.

There's still this night out with D, FBS etc. that we're all planning, but no-one's nailed down dates yet.

Still, with a football competition on the horizon, things are looking quite good for June. The only blip is that an attempt to expand my social circle and increase my activity/fitness (and my time out of the house) by getting some guys off of a local forum to play football on a semi-regular basis is probably going to die a death. can't complain too much though, eh?

General stuff.

From my printed and online presentations, I've selected some photographs and uploaded them to Facebook to give some of my acquaintances the chance to see my recent holiday snaps.

I'm not expecting much in the way of comments, but it'll be interesting to see what, if anything, FA2 will pipe up with. Out of everyone I know on Facebook, only her and BW have any real reason to pass comment (BW will just make himself look like a fucktard as usual and FA2 will bemoan a lack of visits from me while I was travelling).

I've also sent an email to QC2 to see when she's finally going to be available, but I have yet to get a reply. I've also made tentative arrangements to see D and FBS (amongst others) within the next few weeks which should be a good night out.

Getting old...

While my exercise has increased somewhat (I'm now playing more rigorous football twice a week and doing plenty of walking) there is a downside. I've got this strange pain in my knee. My knee isn't sore all the time, but if I sit in a certain way, the pain appears. It's not normal pain either... it's like a tightening of the skin and the pain only appears when I cross my leg (or more accurately, cross my right leg over my left). When I touch the painful area, it initially appears numb and if I apply pressure, then there's a shooting pain through the knee.

I only noticed it earlier today, so I've no idea how this happened or even if it's sports-related. However, if it's still painful after I next play football on Wednesday, then I'll think about heading to my G.P. for a prognosis.

Ooooooh!

I have a printed copy of my travel project that I took into work recently to properly show off my holiday. It's hard to describe the reception that it got, but is was hugely positive. My co-workers were not only gushing in their praise of the presentation, but also of my actual photography. 

There were more than a few compliments about the high quality in general of the shots and specific praise for some individual shots (and it was nice to see that the most praise was heaped on my two or three favourite shots). Even SSCW was gushing with her praise and it's fair to say that she's not one for giving out praise or compliments too easily. She also mentioned that she thought E was very pretty (that kinda came out of left field... not that I think E's unattractive cos she isn't) and that I should do whatever was required to tie her down (not in a sexual way, but in a relationship way). 

Of course, she assumed that the purpose of my visit was to see E because she thinks, I dunno, that I went out there purely to sleep with E or something. Still, it was nice to get the praise that I feel my online presentation failed to receive from most people (but having had a look at the viewing figures, I really don't think too many people have even bothered to look at it and that's a disappointment in itself).

In other news...

Chatted briefly with E today, but not via Skype. We IMed instead which isn't ideal but seeing as she's not usually online on a Sunday (she was calling her Dad as she hadn't spoken to him this week - see other posts about E's ties to her family), I took the opportunity as it was presented.

I've managed to talk her in to coming out when she's next home in a few months time. We can have a few drinks, grab some food and catch up. I'm much better in person at being chatty. Online, I tend to keep quiet and listen (especially in Skype calls and phone calls). Still, I'm looking forward to it.

Websites

Here's a few fun websites for those of you with pictures you like and a large wall upon which to hang huge things:

http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/

http://www.blockposters.com/default.aspx

Both are great fun. Some bloke's even using one of these sites to sell pictures on eBay UK for £10. That's a "scam" and a half!

Work.

It's Sunday, it's glorious outside and I'm sue in work today. Why? Well, it's because my boss either doesn't listen to me or he does and is afraid to rock the boat further up the food chain. Either way, it's not a good thing and my pondering about whether to ask for a transfer has finally reached a decision, I think. All I need to do is wait until I am eligible for transfer, which is later on in the summer.

I'm really pissed at his handling of this project though. He's known for ages this would happen and I've made no promises about deadlines given my superiors' own blatant disregard for them (by handing in finalised specifications only days before supposed handoff etc.) and the fact that I cannot allocate my time 100% to this project as I have others on my plate of equal or more importance.

We're due to have a chat tomorrow, so let's see what happens here.