Rambolic

Oh yes, he’s here:

It seems I’m getting a lot of hits from people looking for Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw’s Zero Punctuation.  Completely not by design my domain seems to attract people looking for his website, presumably because his personal website is Fully Ramblomatic and you crazy people seem to have a habit of typing Rambolic.

I’m actually a big fan of his work and I have a link o’er yonder, but if you’re looking for him and you’ve found me, well, I’m not him and you need click him over there in the links bit.

Does anybody else move their arms above and below their waistline to watch the blood run to your veins and back out again?  Maybe it’s just me.

I’m getting slack again with the blogging.  Hey well.  A brief history in time (a book I’ve not read but keep meaning to, after I’ve read the book currently on my bedside cabinet – The Fabric of The Cosmos… going slightly off-topic) would involve me explaining the themed international housewarming I went to a week last Saturday.  Clare’s just bought the house she was renting so she decided to throw one of her infamous themed parties.  I had weeks of notice but ten minutes before leaving I still had no idea what to go as, so I went as Baghdad.  As Tom said before I arrived, “wouldn’t it be hilarious if he turned up covered in bags and pictures of his Dad??” which just so happened to be what I did.  It was a bit of a late affair, the latter of which I don’t recall.  Anybody who has me on Facebook will see the pics.

No more gigs have been watched, unfortunately, and I’m staring to miss live music again.  I need to pick up my guitar more often.  The Mac’s still broken and I want it replacing, though that’s increasingly unlikely.  I still need to order the warranty.  I must sort that.

I’ve been playing a bit of GTA IV this week – recommend it to anybody – it’s a great storyline and very amusing!  The map it huge and I bet I’ve only seen about a quarter of it.  I also saw Iron Man last week – excellent movie!  But then I like most of Robert Downey Jr’s stuff.  Can’t wait for Tropic Thunder!

Today I ordered pizza and the delivery guy turned up and pointed at my t-shirt (it has an Edimax logo on it) and proceeded to converse with me.  He was deaf, so it kind of reminded me of working with Bijan years ago.  It was kind of odd to be honest.  It’s not often you stand on your doorstep talking to random delivery drivers, but to converse with a deaf guy when you don’t know any (British) sign language… well, it’s tricky.  I really should learn to sign.  Maybe I’ll look into that.  He was a sound guy anyway.  Oh, talk about unintentional bad taste pun of the week.

Following last week’s escapade watching a friend’s band I decided to see the Four Fighters on Friday.  It was good to see Clare and some other friends again.  I was also challenged at Guitar Hero.  Oh, they’ll crash and burn, don’t worry (actually, I’m not sure since I hardly play these days!)  Anyway, for those who hadn’t guessed, the Four Fighters are a Foos tribute with quite a good name for themselves.  I think I’m supposed to be designing and maintaining their website, but it changed recently since I’ve been slack and I need to double check said arrangement.  Requests were being yelled by the crowd, and it seems my opinion is valued since their singer, Iain, decided to ask for Big Al’s opinion.  “Hey, Johnny Park” was played.  Oh yes – I had spoken.  Anyway, I stood in the least ear-friendly position in the house and came out profoundly deaf.

Saturday I remembered I was supposed to collect a PC for Ste from work the day previous, so at 4:50pm I broke the land speed record and saved the day.  Phew.  That night was spent being fed by Ste (again) and playing some Viking and GH2 and GH3 before heading home at 2am.  Since it’s about an hour away, and in another county, I got home around 3am.  I then remembered that the clocks went forward, and 3am became 4am.  It was even stupider o’clock than I’d thought.

Sunday we went to see Gogol Bordello, gypsy-punk beat combo extraordinaire.  I have to say that I think they’ve got to be one of the most entertaining, if not the most entertaining bands I’ve ever seen.  I severely exceeded my jumping quota.  Apparently Simon from work was there, but despite his efforts I didn’t see him.  Seriously though, if you ever get a chance to see this band, go.  So much energy.

In other news, I’ve been struggling at play catch-up at work after James had skivalitis on Thursday and Friday.  In his defense he processed some claims.  I spoke to a customer I was dealing with a few weeks ago who happens to be an old TV presenter from Magpie, the cool kids’ Blue Peter.  She’s sound enough.  I have many other customers to call back tomorrow.  The joys of pretending to be management – yay.

Okay, so I won the Legend battle, and I haven’t heard anything from them since. What I neglected to post about was my ongoing legal battle with Shah Jahaan, one of the local curry houses. Their driver wrote off my car in July 2005. After many many months of giving statements and postponed court dates, etc, they decided to settle out of court.

PIPEX are still nobs. I told them to take the money I owe them but they’ve yet to do so. I got a letter from them the other day admitting it was their fault, and they were going to take the money. If they delay any longer I’m gonna tell them I’m gonna pay it a fiver a month or something – they’re taking the piss.

Anyway, money’s going on a new axe and a bike. Thinking of getting a Line6 Variax 700 acoustic. What d’you think? I’m also buying the Line6 Pod XT Live to replace my Pod XT as it has a Variax port. Should be fun. I’m looking at Rock Lobster bikes at the moment. I want to get one built for me, but I need to research and make sure I know what I’m doing first. If anything breaks I wanna know how to fix it.

Anyway, I need to do some tidying, and some important Guitar Hero II-ing.