If Carlston Made Blogs

A General Life Update

2011-07-17T17:10:00.000+01:00

I've moved to a new house. I've rented a spare room in a house where a course mate lives with his friends. It's nice, bigger than my old house, and more homely. We have a garden with a barbeque, and a firepit. Yeah, I said firepit.

I have a summer job. It's until September, working in the local hospital. I move around medical records and archive them in the library. I've completed a week of it, and have another 8 to go. It's good because the work is mindless and I get some kind of sick kick out of organising things.

I have noooo money. This is because the previous letting agency are taking their time about sorting out our bonds to return. A highlight of my week was finding a dinner in Sainsbury's that cost a total of 30p ($0.48). BOOM!

I've just got Google+. I would give you my url, but I don't know it. I'll try and link to my page and you can all put me in a Circle named AWESOME. As soon as I signed up, Blogger looked different, and I'm not sure if it's cos Google are updating it, or if it's cos I got Google+. I spend most of my online time on Tumblr. My site is not safe for work, but I think it directly reflects how I tend to think, as I'm generally not a wordy person. Could you guys let me know if your Blogger dash has changed at all please? Also, comment if you'd like an invite to Google+.

Cheers

Is Blogger...

2011-07-16T19:21:00.001+01:00

different for everyone else too?

I'm soo confused

project deadline

2011-04-09T18:48:00.002+01:00

Okay, so i got the project handed in with 10 minutes to spare.

I then slept for 13 hours last night, and got up at half three

Im tired, but relieved its all over

2011-04-07T06:43:00.000+01:00

Okay, so this will be a very quick post.

I have a major project deadline due tomorrow at 12:00.
I have had since October to do the work, and I'd not really started it until about a week ago.
I have a page limit (guideline) of 60 pages, and I've written 45 pages this week, which i think is impressive, considering I've had to actually do the research as well during this week. If I don't get the grade, then I've failed the degree that I've been working towards for the past 4 years.

I could say that I've become nocturnal, but I haven't. Instead, I've given up sleep almost completely. I've slept for about 4 hours a day, from about 9 am to 1pm, on average.

I really am enjoying working through the night. there are far fewer distractions so my work actually seems to be getting done. The problem is that I'm so tired all the time. I keep making silly spelling mistakes, and I'm sure my supervisor at university will notice and mark me down every time he sees the word teh instead of the.

The thing I'm finding about my research project, is that now I HAVE to be doing the work, its not that difficult to do. And what's more, I enjoy it.I kinda wish that I had kept up to date with my work, instead of leaving it to the last minute, because there are so many places I can go with what I've done.

Anyways, I still have a, experiment, a discussion, a conclusion, an introduction and an abstract to write in 15 pages, and only 29 hours 17 minutes to do it in.

Wish me luck

2011-03-18T13:27:00.000Z

This is actually how my life has been going for the past few months

I have 3 weeks to write a dissertation that I've had since October to do.

Self imposed FML.

(click the pic to link to the source)

House

2011-02-14T19:48:00.001Z

I just signed for next year's house.
I feel indifferent

My Absence

2011-02-14T13:14:00.000Z

Hey guys, I'm still alive.

My absence on here has mainly been due to a massive amount of work to be doing and the recognition of a site called Tumblr.

I set up a profile. I find it much easier to post my random and quick musings on here than I can in text on Blogger. A lot of the things I post are simply other people's pics and videos that I feel relate to me, or make me think in some way.

Be assured, as soon as I get some proper time, I will be back on here with another of my thoughts that I can express aptly in words.

Much love, here is my site carlston.tumblr.com

Ahhhhhhhh Headfunk

2011-01-22T23:25:00.002Z

Notice how I dodged the use of the word fudge there. It was subtle, but also awesome.

I think me and Lil may have just fallen out? Not entirely sure. We had a disagreement, over instant messenger, and it's left me really not wanting to carry on any work. Unfortunately for you guys, you're gonna hear all about it...

Okay, now the background is, I've started following a couple of people's Tumblr accounts, and was thinking of getting one myself, and be all official and that 'n' such. Coincidentally, Lil recently signed up to Tumblr, and has her own page. Please follow it, it would make her happy (poisoned-eden.tumblr.com/). She's been telling me about how the site works, and what you can do on Tumblr.

Anyways, she said "I was wondering when you were going to start following me on Tumblr", which kind of annoyed me. It felt like she was expecting me to follow her because thats the kind of thing I would do, 'cos I need to know what she's up to all the time 'n everything.

In the past, she has had a blog that she'd hidden from me because she thought I'd be concerned about some of the things she wrote about. I ended up stumbling over the blog by clicking on a mutual friend's Blogs I Follow. I wasn't intentionally searching for something that Lil might be up to, it was just a "This sounds like a cool blog, I wonder what it is..."thing.

The conversation tonight got on to the discussion of would you follow someone's Blog/Tumblr/website, just because you were in a relationship with them? My point of view was that if it's nothing to do with me, and it's not the kind of content that I want to be following, then no, I won't follow the site. If it's something I want to learn more about, then yes I will follow it. Her view was that I should be following it because we're in a relationship, and we should want to know about each other.

I refrained from saying the next bit, but I think that if you've been with someone for 4 years, then you should be at the stage where you can tell them things, or spend time with them, rather then having to catch up with them through messenger, Facebook, Blogger or something else.

About this time last year, I used to write posts on this blog about how I felt in our relationship, knowing that although Lil was a follower, it was private because she only ever checked the site every 6 months or so. Eventually she checked them and didn't have any notion about how I was feeling until then.

My head is messed up, and I know there are a lot of spelling and grammatical mistakes in this post, but this is what happens when you wear pink pyjamas and a white tee.

What do you think people? Should I follow the site because it's Lil? Should I join Tumblr at all? Do you follow your partner's or relative's blogs or sites, and why? Should I just forget about it and carry on doing my Sewage Treatment Works revision for my exam on Monday? Answers on a post card.

Ohh yeah, and as I dodged it earlier. FUCK

Streaker Fail

2011-01-18T10:59:00.000Z

The tennis players actually have inside knowledge of what is about to happen :)

i chuckled

Hello All

2011-01-16T23:02:00.000Z

Wow, that last post seemed to get people interested. I should get spammed more often!

Anyways, I'm currently in the midst of exam preparation for my uni course, so I'm spending a lot of time of blogger, facebook, xkcd and all the others to avoid revising. If you send me a link to your blog then I'd be very happy to stop revising and learn about real life.

I've got my first exam tomorrow. It's business management. I really hate this subject, its about marketing and organisations, HR and Personnel departments. (All the jobs that nobody wants to do, apart from maybe marketing).

After that exam I'm going to be pretty busy revising as I have exams on Wednesday morning, Friday morning and the next Monday too, so I won't be posting until after that final exam. However, as I said I'd be delighted if you could point me in the direction of some entertaining blogs/sites/movies/people etc

Happy Holidays y'all

Okay, so its not holiday season any more, but I really just wanted to write y'all.

picture from: http://chicagomontreal.wordpress.com/2009/03/01/why-structural-engineering/

Cheered me up

2010-12-09T21:02:00.001Z

Hee hee!

Someone tried to send a link on my page to their site, as a spam thing!

What kind of self-respecting spammer tries to publicise their site in my comments? Nobody looks here!

I should reply to them telling them to use hotmail or myspace or something at least worth spamming

This has really given me a smile : )

###UPDATE###

Okay, I wasn't clear with this...
It wasn't someone trying to get me to read their blog by adding a comment with their page details below, it was someone posting something like this...

"Wow, I just bought a pair of these amazing Ugg Boots and herbal Viagra and earnt $1248 dollars a day sat at home, and I think you could too. Just check out my website makemillionsinuggbootsandviagra.com and I'll show you how!"

It was one of those links. I see now that some of the fun was lost by my very poor description of the spam

Student Fees and Structural Analysis

2010-12-09T18:38:00.000Z

Today has been a horrible day, for me, and for students all around Britain.

This afternoon, I sat in my Structural Analysis lecture trying to follow the work that the lecturer was going through. The work waas quite complex, and although in my own time I would comprehend the work, his explanation just made it worse.

I sat there, and it just suddenly hit me. "What am I doing here?" I have no money to buy Christmas presents with and I am really behind with my coursework and projects. The coursework is easy to fix as it doesn't affect anyone else. The problem lies with the money situation...

I have £103.51 ($163US) to survive on for 3 weeks, buy all my family Christmas presents and also take part in two Secret Santa's that I can't afford. Expect £15 a week to live on, £25 to travel home to Shrewsbury for Christmas and the rest for presents. At the very least I have to get my mum and Lil something, I couldn't face the world without that.

Anyway, I left the lecture during the interval, I felt trapped in there, like I waas following a path I didn't want to be part of, and claustrophobia set in.

When I got back home I made myself some comfort soup (chunky carrot and lentil) and sat down with the news on. The British parliament have just voted to increase student fees in England to an upper limit of 3x the original amount. This will not affect my student loans fees, but I disagree with the way they've gone about it.

As a background, last summer, the reigning Labour Party were kicked out and a coalition government was set up between the Conservative (Tory) Party and the Liberal Democrats (LibDem). The LibDems were a leftish party who had as one of their main pledges in the run up to the election that they wouldn't raise student fees. Now they're in league with the Tories, they have voted (323 to 302) that they will increase fees. This is wrong, as I feel they have won a lot of votes including mine, on false pretences. Many of the LibDem members either declined to vote or simply resigned from their positions so they didn't have to stand up against their party leader for the values of the party.

When a member of parliament has to resign from their post as voting against the leader would lead to their sacking, democracy has failed us. I've lost confidence in a lot of things today, but the act being passed through by a majority of 3% really capped off my day. I'm going to wallow in pity now for the weekend.

Hey, I'm sorry this post isn't the nice shiny happy one I'd promised, but I got home today and felt like I needed to tell someone how I felt, and this just seems a good way to vent my frustrations. Next post will be shiny:happy:bubbles.

C

Hellllllllooooooo again!

2010-11-30T21:32:00.000Z

Okay so here goes...

Watch this space, in the next few weeks or days of so I will be updating this blog site with a new layout, format and content.

I'm not saying it will all be done immediately, but I will be bringing you new things to read and enjoy, and hopefully comment on.

I really wish I had the time right now to write a proper post, but instead I have to work out how much a car park I've designed will cost. I look forward to getting to spend some quality time on here.

See you all soon.

C

Wow, What Traffic

2010-11-05T11:30:00.000Z

Hey?

I'm not really sure what's happening, but I logged in to Google Analytics today and found that I'm getting an average of about 45 hits per day on my blog?

I'm confused. When I was posting on here I'd only get about 3 or 4, and most of those were from me.

If someone could enlighten me, then I'll give them a hug and a toffee apple.

Thanks for reading.

C

And now, the end is near

2010-06-13T10:34:00.001+01:00

Hi all.

I think this should be my last post of this blog. I don't intend on moving to another blog, but maybe in a few years time I might start another one up.

I feel that the things I've wrote on my blogs have been largely irrelevant to most of you, and the posts in the last few months have not been great for me to read, or those that are dearest to me.

I thank you all for your comments and your kind replies to what I've been writing, and I'd like you to know that just knowing that someone had read what I'd written made me feel really great, and that's why I started blogging.

I'm going to keep this up here for a few days, then delete the blog. I'm not sure if the posts I've already written stay up there in the cloud so you can all read them, but I'm not going to be posting any new ones.

See you in another life, brother

Very Short Post

2010-06-10T13:31:00.000+01:00

So short in fact, you'll eat your own head!

Okay, I have no computer at home, so I don't know when I'll be able to post properly again.

Also, I woke up at 8:39 this morning, and managed to make it to work on time for 9:00. Winner

Do You Still Find Me Attractive, Cos You've Been on Your Period Since February

2010-05-31T19:53:00.000+01:00

This post is one that I've been thinking about for weeks. It's had several different titles, before one morning in the shower I thought of the gem-of-a-title you see above. I've had "Sex", then "Sex and love", which I decided to condense to "Relationships" before the 'February title came along. It's sad because it's true.

Relationships have been on my mind for a while now, particularly the relationship between me and Lil, my "Long Term Life Partner" (to the politically correct) or "girlfriend" to my family, or "friend" to Lil's father. We live at a reasonably long distance and we don't see each other very often. I love her with all my heart, and she's definitely my best friend. However, the two things I think we don't share enough of is sex, and most importantly, time together.

What is sex? I think its when two (or more but we won't consider that here) people are physically attracted to one another, and let their overflowing carnal desires release in a passion that consumes them in a relentless lust. I think that this can happen between two people that are just friends or acquaintances often without many repercussions before or after, but that the real love that arises (for want of a better word) during sex between two otherwise romantically congruent people will always outshine that of the temporary lust between two others.

Sex between people that are just good friends (fuck buddies) just can't be good for either of them, at that time nor in the future.

Love. It's the happiest time and the biggest roller coaster of your life, sat next to your significant other through ups and downs, twists and turns and occasionally loop-the-loops. It's when just seeing someone, or a photo of them, or their voice on the phone just makes you smile until you realise that you need to respond with "hi" or you're just a creepy weirdo.

Loving someone and being in love with them are however very different things. If a relationship becomes dormant, then it could be that they still love each other to no end, but the je ne sais quoi has gone. They are just plodding through their time on earth content with what they have, but not aspiring for any more.

There is of course platonic love, the love that Plato had with some other dude. It is, or course, the origins of the term "I love you man" and "brother from anuvamuva". Lets ignore Platonic love.

What is a Relationship? For me, a relationship is to share your experiences in life with someone who appears to be going the same way. Finding out you're in a relationship is the best feeling (athough it will result in a heavy overdraft on your bank account),and leaving relationships can be mixed, to find that this special person is actually not so special after all.

This can happen abruptly, or sometimes inevitably, and very occasionally gradually. This is where you find that the similarities you have do not include the love you both seek, or thought you had.

I think at the moment my relationship with Lil might be like this. I feel we want different things from life and the lack of contact between us has acted as a lever to the crowbar prying us apart, preventing us from communicating our wishes, and desires. I wonder what the next step should be from here?

I think I've just come to a daunting reality that I will wish I never had thought, never mind posted on the internet for for both to reflect on.

I think the main reason for this post was so I could clarify that love is complex, and deep and with meaning, yet sex is its polar opposite - cheap and meaningless without the love. I don't believe I've actually managed to convey this in the post. Therefore - blog fail.

Running Note

I wrote this post whilst on the train from Shrewsbury back down to Swindon on some paper, intending to type it upon my arrival home, which I have done. After writing this though, I answered a call from Lil on the train which made me regret almost everything I'd written. It really was the whole her voice on the telephone thing that made me realise just how much I love her, and want to spend years and years with her doing things we'd never imagined.

If you read this Lil, thanks for that call, it meant so much. x

Empty

2010-05-23T21:32:00.001+01:00

Today I feel empty, dead inside and I know exactly why.

There is nobody I can really tell about precisely what I did. All those close to me would completely look down on me at the very least, abandon me is more plausible. I just wish there was something I could do, I want to let my heart and soul out to somebody who either didn't know it was me saying it, or someone who couldn't give any repercussions.

I feel ~~dirty~~ ashamed of myself for getting into the situation where it happened. I knew it was a bad thing to do, yet I carried on like there were no consequences.

I want to spend time with my family right now. They would not like what I've done, but they would stand by me I think. I love Lil, but recently I feel like we're completely apart from one another. I text her earlier and it's like were strangers. I don't think she's the one to talk to about it.

I'll keep myself busy - work tomorrow and I have my university tutor visiting this week so I need to get my arse into gear.

Hopefully I'll be back to normal, and a lot less self obsessed for the next post. Thanks for taking the time to read this. C

My Own Death

2010-05-21T07:35:00.000+01:00

Recently, I've been thinking about my own death a lot. Well not really my own death, but the future of my life, and where I can go from here.

I'm 21, young, happy(ish) and full of prospects. I don't want to grow old to the age of 90 or something like that. I want to get so far in my life, and consider "I've done what I want to, now it's time to go". It sounds sad, but I have a list of things on my wall to do before I'm old/boring/dead, and I want to do them all. I intend to see my country win the world cup. I fully intend to throw a TV out of a window and I will get a tattoo.

My point is that when I can sit there in my beanie bag rocking chair and say to my kids, and possibly grand-kids, that I've lived a life I'm proud of, I've succeeded in my career and made some money for my retirement, I've taken a few years out of my life to work for charity and also bought my mum that bungalow she wants - there's nothing more that I'd like to accomplish.

As I complete these life goals I will have travelled he world a bit. I want to live an alternate life and not just 9 to 5 for 40 years. I want to have accomplished something that I'm happy of.

And in the end, I've decided I want to go down fighting, like this:

Do other people think about their future so much, even whilst being so young?

The Key to Blogging

2010-05-18T08:07:00.000+01:00

courtesey of www.xkcd.com/741/

Katy Perry

2010-05-09T19:32:00.000+01:00

Hi all, not much of a post from me this week. I saw this a few minutes ago on youtube and I couldn't help but laugh. I'm sure most of you American people have seen it before, but its just funny.

They really put too much explosives in the box, it's no wonder she fell over!

I Got a Friggin' House!

2010-05-06T06:53:00.003+01:00

Okay, this is the post from my journey home from Cardiff after being there for the day. It's going to be posted on Thursday, but was written on Tuesday evening. Sorry for the lack of colour, it was late, I was tired...

By the time I got home, I'd walked 15,365 steps. I know it's not that many steps and I should really be averaging that daily, but at the moment I only walk around 4,000 a day as I'm sat down all day at work. New shoes are comfy though : )

Bank Holiday

2010-05-05T08:21:00.000+01:00

Hello all! I hope you had a good Bank Holiday this weekend.
Below is a post that talks about Amsterdam, Brussels, cake tins, leaving work early and Victoria Sandwich cake. I hope you like the planty things I drew on the train :)

Okay, if you comment on what you did over the weekend, then the whoever I think did the best will get a post written on whatever they want. Get thinking!

Please step away from me

2010-05-02T17:22:00.000+01:00

I'm fuming. I don't even know how to describe how I feel, but fuming will have to do.

I was in the kitchen whipping/whisking some double cream to make whipped cream for a cake i was baking.

The housemate comes down and starts to prepare her dinner.

She keeps mocking me and asking questions which are either irrelevant to her or just questions to belittle me.

Do you EVEN know who you're living with next year? (I'm moving back to uni soon and looking at houses next week with friends)

Do you often spend hours whipping cream? You should use a larger bowl.

I was trying to answer her politely and non-confrontationally, despite the fact she was questioning pretty much everything I was doing. She came up close to me and carried on asking questions about what I was doing, in a kind of YOU'RE INFUCKINGCOMPETENT way that she does. I eventually couldn't keep trying to deflect my responses and quietly and calmly said:
"Please move away from me, or you may end up with cold lemon tea and a bowl of whipped cream on your head".

On reflection, the sentence "Please move away or I will not be held accountable for my whipped cream related actions" would have been much better.

She then replied with a sentence to the affect of "Do it, but then you'll never be allowed to work with children on account of the assault charges".

This wasn't a clever thought, because I'm an engineer, and engineers do not work with children. In fact, the only work place I would consider less likely to have children in it is an investment bank in the City.

For the next ten minutes, she carried on mocking me. Waiting in suspense as I unfolded my new silicone cake tin hanging on to the tiniest shred of hope that the cake will all fall apart whilst I'm doing so.

I know this is a bit of a non-post. Sometimes I just get so wound up with Chloe, and there really isn't anything I can do. Technically she's not doing anything wrong, so I can't complain. She just knows that she can irritate and antagonise me to the point where I just am close to breaking down. It's horrible.

I understand that what I said to her, although calmly and carefully said, should not have been said at all. I feel like there is nobody that I can go and bitch about her to, to get things off my mind. Lil would be the ideal candidate, but she's busy revising and the walls in this house are paper-thin.

I'm looking forward to going back to Cardiff.

C

I Bought This Because It's Called GUNPOWDER!!!

2010-05-01T19:15:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I went to buy some shoes after work. I went everywhere, and couldn't find any I liked in my size. Refusing to go home empty handed, I bought this!

Then today, I worked, so I wrote this :)

Following your input on 20SB, I've tried to make the post larger. I'm also about to make the blog page itself wider. i hope this works. Once again comments are always welcome.

Bigoted Woman!

2010-04-29T07:42:00.003+01:00

It's Thursday morning, and I'm sat in my dressing gown.

The reason for the title of this post is because currently in the UK we have an election going on, and its prettych a three horse race, between the current Prime Minister, the Posh boy and the guy nobody ever thought of; Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg.

Yesterday, during a rally, GB came across a lady who asked him questions on immigration, and also on other sources. After the interview, GB got in his car and basically complained at being put up against this woman to his "minders". The shit storm arose because he still had a Sky News microphone on, and just didn't realise it.

This is frustrating because I know GB isn't really good at.. well... lets say he's not a people person. I plan to vote for the third guy, Nick Clegg, because I really don't trust the other two. I just wish that this thing that is being called "bigotgate" by the press, had happened to the posh one.

Anyways, in other news: The US are planning to burn off the oil that's leaked from their well. What absolute fucking idiots! How did they not think about this earlier, like when the fire first started? Now they're worried about damaging the ecology of Venice, Louisiana. This is one of those times where I just want to shake someone whilst shouting - "WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING".

One last thing: It's definite. Me and Lil won't be living together next year. I'm a bit upset, but I saw it coming frankly. I'm just trying not to think of it, and focus on living with the people I am living with. Good times :)

The link to the picture is here: http://garybarker1.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html

Bad Romance

2010-04-27T07:22:00.001+01:00

The Lady Gaga song Bad Romance has been playing all weekend, and given the lyrics, I think its a little apt to call this post bad romance.

I hope you liked it. Comments are always welcome - it reminds me that the world is bigger than this. C

House or Halls?

2010-04-26T13:18:00.001+01:00

This was a post I wrote when I couldn't sleep on Saturday night. I thought I'd try and let Lil get some rest by just leaving her room and writing what was on my mind.

I think this post asks for your opinion on the subject (I don't read the pages through after I write them in case I make any changes to it). If it doesn't, then I'm formally asking for your inputs. Thanks everyone. C

Picnic!

2010-04-25T17:19:00.001+01:00

Once again, I'm just going to upload the page I wrote on my way to Cardiff yesterday for a picnic with Lil. Enjoy!

I hope people have had a good weekend. Tomorrow and Monday I'll be posting the other two posts I wrote during my stay in Cardiff.

Frustrated

2010-04-21T22:12:00.002+01:00

think I'm going to write a post to tell you all what i feel. I apologise in advance about any spelling or grammatical mistakes, but I want to focus on the thinking, not the layout of this post.

I've been living in Swindon since August now. I admit I'm not the best person at making new friends. In fact many would say I'm distinctly antisocial. However once I make friends then I'm fine, and I calm down and get along with people.

Its a spring evening here in sunny Wiltshire, and I've sat in my room all night on blogs and Facebook. Lil has been working solidly(ish) for as long as I remember, and I feel in desperate need of spending time with people I love. My friends, my family and others I recognise.

The nearest person to see is Lil, in Cardiff. The problem is that she's revising for her exams and also working on some essays / reports recently. I love her so much, but I just wish I had more time with her. I dread to think how many missed calls she has from me in the last month. Sometimes I wish instead of just not picking up; that she'd answer and say she was out with mates, because its frustrating to just be in ~~Swindon~~ limbo here.

I dunno. I just want to be happy again, like I have been in the past. As the title says, I'm just frustrated and dying for personal contact. To talk with people face to face. To have any time with friends or family would be great.

~~Some times~~ Often I think that this year as a placement student was just a bad move. I have gained experience in engineering, but not in life. I feel like I've gone and taken Maslows heirarchy of needs and just picked and choosed which qualities I want.

I have No sex. Little sleep. No security of body. No family, No friendship, No sexual intimacy, ever decreasing self esteem and confidence. Little respect from others (well at least those who matter).

I do have morality. I'm working on the creativity. I'm trying with spontaneity (See this post for details). I do my best not to be predjudiced and I do accept the facts. I am achieving at work. My job is secure, as are my resources (This year I've gone and become loaded). Homeostasis is getting ever more difficult (with the lack of sleep).

Here's the picture, courtesey of Wikipedia.

I know this is a bit of a rant, but I just dont feel happy with my life and myself anymore. I'm keen to change this, but it seems all the ways out are blocked by one thing or another.

The Virgin London Marathon

2010-04-21T19:09:00.000+01:00

I know what you're all thinking... "Three posts in one week?"

Well this post is important. A friend of mine is running 26.22 miles for the Virgin London Marathon this weekend, and she's raising money for a local orthopaedic hospital; the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry, UK.

I'm not just mentioning this because I want to tell you all I know a marathon runner, I'm telling you because I would (and I'm sure she would) like you to donate. No donation is too small, or too big, and the money is going to a great cause. She has a target to raise £1500 ($2311 or E1725), and so far she's raised £1213 ($1869 or E1395). Please help her beat the target. The marathon is this Sunday, but I'm sure you can still donate retrospectively!

I know the traffic on my blog is absolutely overwhelming at times, but it would be nice to find that someone has donated and given money to the charity as a result of this post.

Here's the link: www.justgiving.com/samanthamorris88

Thanks for your time

From the top of Everest - "I love you"

2010-04-19T21:48:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the bad handwriting, I was on a train. It's kind of two half posts. The second kind of drifts away from what i was trying to get at. I hope you all enjoy it.

Carlos

Chewbacca makes me smile, I wanna give him a big hug!

2010-04-18T22:29:00.005+01:00

This post is handwritten, I hope you enjoy it.

Carlos

Friggin' Ivy (May not be suitable for minors, or miners)

2010-01-20T20:46:00.003Z

Do you know how difficult it is to get a decent picture online of ivy these days? Well I'll explain...

But before I go on, I must mention that I'm well aware that I haven't blogged since probably before Christmas, and I do as a resut have a lot to say, but unfortunately, now is not the time....

I'm trying to make a small piece of art for my bedroom, which involves using a silhouette of ivy on a green background, to show the ivy. I signed up to Deviant Art to try and find a picture that I could use for this, because I'm not a very arty person and can't draw for toffee (or treacle). Anyways I signed up, and searched the word "ivy" in their search bar.

Who would have known that every sexy female baddie in comics, films and games is called ivy? Well certainly not me. I was presented with a million or so pictures of Poison Ivy from Batman (with Harley Quinn), Ivy from a game called Soul Calibur and many many pictures of female models calling themselves Ivy.

Now I'm not that opposed to seeing many many pictures of naked ladies flaunting themselves on the internet, in fact, in some cases I encourage it. But when I'm actually trying to be productive and do some non-porn related internet browsing, I do not want to be confronted with the pictures as below.

Anyways, I managed to find a decent picture of some ivy after about 20 pages of searching through this waffle above. I admit that the artists are very talented and that they must have spent a great deal of time working on these "artworks", but I can't help but think that their art is somewhat misguided (I'm not sure if misguided is the right word, but you'll have to just go along with it if it isn't). I think that if they were just to create art that is just as good, but not so pervy, then they would possibly improve as a person.

Anyways, as I'm not entirely sure what I'm trying to say, and because I now have the ivy I wanted, as below, I'm going to go. It's half 8 and I need to go do a 2 mile run tonight. I'll fill you all in on the reasoning behind this shortly. Please let me know what you think of the post, and I'll stay in touch on here.

Here are the links to the pictures used. The author profiles can be visited from there:

Soulcaliber IV IVY

Ivy

Ivy and Wall

Library

2009-12-19T14:38:00.000Z

My week in short:

My computer broke, which ruined my christmas shopping. Now I'm in the library using the public PC surrounded by people of many different ethnicities and racists. All of them are on their phone. I'm tempted to tell the people of Swindon that libraries are places where you shut the fuck up, but I don't think they'd understand.

Proper blog will come soon, or if not soon, then at least before Christmas.
Missing hoem, my family, and Poison. x

I baked cakes - cos I'm Really Masculine

2009-12-03T21:24:00.000Z

Hell yeah I can (kinda) bake!

Last week I visited Lilith's house and Craig and Emily were baking for a cake sale the next day. They inspired me to bake as soon as I got back to Swindon. The problem with that was that I didn't have any ingredients.....

So I looked up everything I needed to bake cakes, and started to buy them over the next few days. Then I came to another barrier to my baking, although I now had the ingredients with which to bake, I didn't have any of the utensils, equipment needed to bake with. Over the past week I've gone out and bought: cake tin, paper cake thingy's, a mixing bowl, a whisk, a sieve and scales just so I could get my bake on..... worth it.

Here's what to do.... to make a dozen cupcakes / fairy cakes

Ingredients

6 oz self raising flour, 4 oz caster sugar, 4oz butter/marj, 2 eggs, a large bar of dairy milk.

It's really complicated to make, basically, get all of the ingredients and mix them together in a mixing bowl. Remember to sieve the flour into the bowl and crack the eggs. I cut up a large bar of chocolate and stirred it into the cake mix, and ate loads of the chocolate in the process.

Put the paper cake thingy's in the cake tin and dollop (yes i said dollop) the mix in. Cook it for about 20 mins on 180C or gas mark 4. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a cooling tray.

Tadaa, you've learnt to bake!
It's really fun and you get to eat all the left over cake mix whilst the coakes are cooking. Here are a few pics I took whilst preparing the cakeys. Thanks very much to Craig and Emily for the idea, and the recipe.

I lined the cake tin/tray thing. measured out the sugar and butter, and sieved the flour into the bowl.

I whisked the eggs and added them to the mix, and stirred them all in. There's the leftover cake mix and the finished product. (half chocolatey, half plain)

Here's them being portioned out and just as thay all went into the oven.

I really enjoyed baking, and I was too impatient to wait for them to cool. Make sure you leave them to cool for about 20 mins after cooking before eating, they'll taste much better that way.

Enjoy!

The Happiest Time of My Life

2009-11-26T20:55:00.000Z

Yesterday was mine and Lilith's anniversary. It's three years since she asked me out and we went to watch Jackass Number Two at the cinemas.

This year I didn't have much money to go out or to treat her like I usually try and do, but we had a great time. I finished work on Tuesday and went straight to the station to go and see her. That train jolurneyt was one of the longest I've ever been on, not least because of a signal failure.

It was just great to veg around with Lilith and not have anything to do. Usually when I see her I need to go early the next morning to get to work for 9, but this time was great. We just relaxed around for a day and a half and spent time together, which is what I've really been missing. I was introduced to the show Veronica Mars, about a young detective who's still at school, and we watched how to lose a guy in ten days, a real chick flick.

I had such a great time. I can't wait to get home for Christmas so that we can chillax all together again.

OOOO I also learned how to bake cakes, thanks to Emily and Craig :)

I am Carlos

2009-11-17T21:09:00.000Z

I am Carlos

I am unfit

I will change this

There's a pledge and a half. That means I either have to get healthy and fit, or die. Now is the tough decision.....I've decided to get fit.

I've been planning to get fit for a while, but I've spent so much time planning, that I never actually got fit. I'll be in bed in less than an hour to get plenty of sleep, and I've been eating all my vegetables so I can grow up to be a big strong boy!

The belly thing is starting to drive me crazy. Ohh, if I haven't mentioned the belly thing its: I have a belly.

When I was in high school, I had a fucking six pack. A SIX PACK!! Without trying. That's five more packs than I have now. I did sit-ups for fun. Now I can do about 5 sit-ups before I decide that sit-ups arent the right exercise for me. Then it gets worse. I tried press-ups. Lolsies. I just couldnt do press ups.

As I'm too knackered to go running when I get home from work, and too tired to go at stupid oclock in the morning. I've decided to take a change of clothes to work, go running straight from the office and then get changed back into the shirt and tie for the walk home. That also means I'm running on flat ground (I live at the top of a hill).

I'm going to post this now, before I collapse from inflated arteries or cheese hamwich to the brain.

PS I have plans to join the gym, but I'm putting it off until the new year when they reduce the prices.

Cardiff Central Train Station, 06/11/2009

2009-11-08T21:08:00.001Z

I think it's just best to read the page. I'm not sure how well it will show up though. Click on the picture for it to enlarge.

I Apparently Hate Jade - A story of a breakup

2009-11-02T23:28:00.001Z

Here's a page that discusses all that is wrong with young relationships. I don't really know what to say....follow the link, I'll bake (and post) you cookies.

That may or may not be a good thing, what with the postal strike and my complete lack of baking experience.

http://ihatejade.com/?id=3dqhotp396s9fvuch7vxq9msd8pc2n

My First Affair

2009-10-24T10:25:00.003+01:00

The AD: Male, 21, looking for good clean fun in Swindon, easily pleased.

The Call

Caller: Hey, what are you into?

Me: All I'm after is a stable relationship with daily pleasure for us both. I want to be able to press all your buttons and just flick those switches that really turn you on.

Caller: And what do you want from a potential...match?

Me: One of my favourite things is quite steamy to be honest. I like to be sprinked or sprayed upon from above.

Caller: Really?

Me: It sounds a little weird at first I know, but its completely normal. I'd say it happens in 80 to 90 percent of households.

Caller: Do you like it hot?

Me: Sometimes, I certianly don't like it cold, that's for sure. To be honest I like it quite hot n steamy, but not like scalding or anything, that's just too far for me.

Caller: Ohh, right. Well, what if I can't .. you know go?

Me: What do you mean?

Caller: What if I can't perform?

Me: Well that's why I'm after a stable relationship. I want to be able to turn your knob and you sprinkle all over me, on a daily basis. It's best in the morning for me.

Caller: Oh right, I didn't realise you were after a guy for this... I erm... was thi

Me: A guy? What made you think that? I just want to have a nice hot shower in the morning, in a shower that doesn't change temperature at its own whim! What did you think I was into?

Caller: Well you posted the kinky ad, I was just responding to it.

Me: Kinky?

Caller: Yeah, you know "good clean fun in swindon"? The one you placed in the personals in the Swindon Advertiser?

Me: Ohhh, I think that may have got placed in the worng section, I was after the Appliances and Fittings section.

Caller: (no answer, just a dial tone)

That my friends, was the fictional story of my first affair. I thought of this whilst stood in the shower waiting for the brief moment when it goes from being scalding hot to mains-water-line cold. I think it actually hates me, hence why I'm seeking a new partner to shower with. I should probably just get in touch with my landlord about the shower.

I hope you liked the post. Gimme a comment on what you think, or, alternatively, don't :)

BIG EDIT: This isn't an edit like just a slight change of wording, or a response to something, this is a Vista Service Pack One edit. I really fucked up. I spammed this post everywhere asking people to comment, and then somehow lost the ability to comment on my blog. I don't know how to fix it either, which sucks like a Dyson.I wish I hadn't got so cocky and tried to learn how to use html, or I probably wouldn't be in this mess.

Also, whilst I'm editing, I'd like to clarify that in no way do I want anyone to perform a Golden Shower on me, or anything else that may be seen as someone pissing on my or anything like that. I was posting bacause my shower (as in, in the bathroom) does not want to work. Also, since I posted this, the bathroom and boiler have started occasionally shaking uncontrollably.

If you'd like to leave a comment, email me at carlston1988@gmail.com, and I'll keep trying to work this out

I am God

2009-10-22T08:18:00.001+01:00

I'm going to celebrate having another follower today! and by celebrate I mean I'm going to have a hot lunch instead of a pureed tuna sandwich from Tesco's!

I'm really genuinly happy :)

Thank you Trouble.Thinks for making my day (at 8am as well)

I'll post properly later

A was asked why I was wearing a poppee today

2009-10-21T22:25:00.000+01:00

I've never considered it before. At lunch, I paid my £2 into the collection pot and took a poppee and a ~~death javelin~~ pin from the counter and struggled to put my poppee on.

About ten minutes later, I was sat at work and a guy there asked me about why people have these flowers? He is a foreign guy, so I thought maybe he didn't know, and I'd explain to him. I said to him that it's a poppee that people wear on their tops this time of year, to commemorate...

to commemorate...

I went blank, I could not explain why I'd bought the poppee. Not only that, but I've bought a poppee every year since I can remember, its one of the few things that I'll always donate for. Some years I've even bought several poppees to make sure I had them on all my clothes.

I felt really bad, I knew it was for a completely worthy cause, and that it was for some old people, but I couldn't explain. It ended up after a long pause with just me going errrrrrrr ummmmmmm with a guy sat next to me also asking. He's Italian, and all I could think about was "The Allies, The Allies", and that HE couldn't be part of it! Someone else helped me out and I finally got there.

The poppees are given in return for a donation to "The Poppee Appeal", a charity set up by the Royal British Legion (I believe) to commemorate those who fought and died, and also the veterans of the two world wars. The reason it's celebrated (for want of a better word) at this time of year is because on November the 11th marks the anniversary of the end of the First World War. Apparently a treaty was signed at 11am on November 11th. Notice 11:00 11/11.

I really hope I haven't got any of my facts wrong. God bless all those on both/all sides of the war who fought for their Nations. I'd like to pay my respects on 11th November and also on the following Sunday at the services.

I'm Well-rounded, just ask those guys chasing me

2009-10-20T20:17:00.000+01:00

~~Shampoo shower gel mix~~

~~well rounded, oblong, not line~~

~~Running again~~

~~mousse not shaving cream?~~

~~jungle book shower gel!~~

~~Being more well rounded~~

Okay, the problem I have is that I have my best thoughts for the blog all come in the morning, either when I'm on my run or in the shower afterwards. This is exactly the time when I don't have time to write a post. This morning I decided to quickly log in to my blogspot to jot a few things down so that this evening I've write about them for the blog.

Fistly, being well rounded! One of the things I intend to do during this year away from everyone is to become a more well-rounded person. I wanted to get fit, blog more, learn a language, and generally be more social, whilst improving my engineering skills tenfold. Right now, on the scale from line to circle of being well-rounded, I'd say I'm at the oblong stage.

I've started to get fit. I go running in the mornings at stupid o'clock just as the sun rises so that I can miss it because I go running in a wooded area that you can't see out of. On the language front, I've started to learn HTML, which is a bit of a cop-out on the language front, but I'm still counting it. I was hoping to take up Spanish lessons so that I'm back up to speed with what I used to know by the summer. More social-not happening. Improving engineering skills? I appear to be learning from my mistakes, and deciding that everything in engineering can be done on a spreadsheet, God bless Excel!

The shower gel I have at the moment is just a tesco's home brand one, but it smells exactly the same as a Jungle Book aftershave I had for my 8th birthday in Spain. It said "El Libro De La Selva" on the front. Jungle Book in Spanish! Its weird when you remember smells from years gone by, or when there are certain things that you see and just think to another time. I'd be interested to hear of any instances that you readers have of similar events. :)

This morning, my train of thought about the jungle book aftershave then progressed on to what I did with it. Being 8 years old, bored and not needing after shave at all. I decided to basically make a mixture of most of the toiletries in the bathroom in a large jar that I had, the size of a fishbowl-ish. I thought I could make a concoction that I could use to clean everythin with. The jar had, shampoo, conditioner, sun tan lotion, hair gel, mousse, aftershave, toothpaste, water, mouthwash and a few of my sister's things from the bathroom in. I though I was a genius making this mix for random ~~shit that I found~~ bottles. When my mum found out she wasn't happy, I just said I was inventing stuff. It was at this point I found out that...

My mum's hair mousse that I'd been putting in my hair to look cool at school for the past few months was in fact my dad's shaving cream. I'd been happily styling my hair for two terms of school using shaving cream! I denied it all, I said that it wasn't me using it and Dad's beard was a thief! Pride in my appearance-gone.

These are the kinds of things that have caused me to be the person I am today. I may not have been all to proud/happy/reflective at the time, but now I'm seeing all these silly events from my childhood as a key to how Carlos Sainz-Simmonds became possible the most ~~well-rounded~~ derranged person he knows.

Speak soon. x

In the Doghouse

2009-10-18T20:49:00.012+01:00

just had to come upstairs cos I'm in trouble with Chloe. She got upset with me because I closed a drawer in the kitchen. I had to leave the kitchen because I thought she was going to cry if I stayed there. I'm really not sure what I'm doing wrong. I can't wait to get out of this house. I might try and look for a new place to live after the initial 6 months are over.

Anyways, I wanted to post a Tim Minchin video that I like, its called storm. Have a good evening all. C

The Jack-Of-All-Posts

2009-10-18T14:23:00.001+01:00

Right, now I'm going to go on random meanderings that's going to make this blog really long, possibly.

The first thing I wanted to ask about is my Last.fm player in the sidebar. I wanted to include it because I like listening to good music when I read. The only thing is, I get the distinct impression that people who read blogs aren't into my kind of music. This makes me think that I'm forcing my taste of music on other people, which I don't wanna do, in the same way that I don't have many religious views, but I'm not gonna make any comments or try and alter anyone elses. The analogy sucks a little, because there's a big difference between people's faith and whether or not they think hip hop is pants.

I want to know whether people like me having a music player on the blog or not. If you do like that it's there, then do you think that I should get the music to autostart - bearing in mind that some people are probbly already listening to music and this really just funks things up? I encourage you all to comment now on the player, in fact, you're not allowed to read any further until you've done so. Yeah, I did it!

Okay, thank you for commenting. You're gonna help my blog formation from now on :)

Next, Lilith! She came over here on Friday after work and stayed. It was fucking great to see her. When I found out she was on her way I actually started jumping around on my bed - in a shirt and tie. I then rushed to the shop to buy us some tea/supper and I actually had to stop myself from smiling because people walking towards me must have thought I was some kind of Aardman comic's grinning weirdo! (see below)

Anyways, it was really great to see Lilith and I can't wait to see her again next weekend. The only regret that I have is that I hadn't planned anything so we could have gone out for a meal or for a night out or something. Next week I'm thinking of taking her climbing at the Link Centre. I've heard it's quite good there, but then again, nobody is going to market their climbing wall as "alright, but there are better ones".

Okay, I don't really like Soulja Boy, or Chipmunk, or Akon ~~I fucking hate Akon~~ or similar music, but I am a big fan of Travis Barker, the drummer from Blink 182. I like that he takes part in a huge variety of music styles and is just really good at what he does. Obviously from a punk rock background, he manages to make this track into a really good song. I love it!

I made a stat-counter on my site last weekend, and I realised unless I continually log into the stat-counter site, its useless to me. The reason being that whilst I'm editing my blog, I flick back and forth through the finished page and the editing. This means that I'm aquiring 80%, yes 80% of the blog hits by refreshing the page myself! This either suggests that I'm either not very popular, or that I refresh the page shit-loads. I can assure you, it's both.

I think I'm going to go on a blog purge, the reason being I just don't have enough time to keep up with all the blogs I'm subscribed to at the moment. This all started because some people I follow decided to go on holiday, leaving a little free time for me to subscribe to new blogs that I liked. Then they decide they wanna come home from their holidays and expect some of my time! tsh. Also, one of my favourite bloggers has gone global so she's posting about 12 times a day(ish) and the posts really lead on from one another. If your number of followers drops, then I'm sorry, but I still love your blog.

I've got a mountain of work to do, so I'll speak to you guys soon. C

Another Run, at 6.40 am!!!

2009-10-12T21:19:00.000+01:00

It was so ~~cold~~ dark this morning, I ~~couldn't see my penis~~ had to put on light clothes for the run so if I fell in a ditch they would find me whilst I lay there dieing. I also made sure I took some form of ID incase I got kidnapped like a helpless jogger at 7 in the morning.

All day I've had loads of things just popping into my head that I really want to write about. Snippets here, extracts there and boom! Now I can't remember a thing.

I've been talking with Lilith tonight and I really can't wait to go and see her tomorrow evening. I've got a seminar thing to attend in Cardiff after work, so I'm goin' to pop up the road and say hello to my second favourite student (after Neil from the Young Ones). Click on the name Neil, your lives will be enriched greatly.Anyways, I think I'm going to stay in Cardiff and travel to work in rush hour on Wednesday morning...possibly.

OOOO I thought I should mention this, as it may ease my guilt. I shouted at some kids today. I feel so so old saying that. I was walking home with my shopping on the phone and I heard a very loud, abrupt "Excuse me!". I turned to see too kids on their bikes behind me, cycling into my heels (possibly). So I said to them, {and it's important to take into account the case in which this is written} "I'm sorry, THERE'S A ROAD OVER THERE!" implying that maybe seen as they were at least 12 years old, that they should be ridining on the road like I did when I was 12, and obeying the law.

Anyways, I'd better go now, I have an early night to get and as part of my commitment to becoming a better person, there are things I need to do before bed, like read ur posts!

Night night. C

Hey

2009-10-10T22:07:00.000+01:00

I've just gone and stumbled across something that I shouldn't have on blogger. My mood has gone from average to good to really self-hating and I really wanna cry. I'm writing this because it refers to the person I'd usually tell this to and I really can't let them know what I've done.

I have a continual guilt in my mind that a certain person makes decisions that greatly affect her life in order to be with me, and yet I don't want to be that person.

Fuck it.

It's Alice. Three years ago when we were coming to the end of college, I had decided that I wanted to go to Cardiff University instead of Manchester uni, which was another uni that I could have chosen from. Alice had a similar thing, but she wanted to go to Manchester because she liked the city more. She took a gap year after college and before uni, so she had an extra year to decide what she wanted to do, whereas I went straight to university.

In the end she chose Cardiff. She said it's because they have a better psychology department there, but I don't think that's why. She had her heart set on going to Manchester and was looking forward to it. I think she came to Cardiff because of me, and she denies it because she doesn't want me to feel guilty about influencing her decisions.

That is something that has always haunted me and I hate the fact that I've done that to her. I want her to be the person who makes her own decisions, and not based upon where I am. I understand it would have been really difficult living so far away from each other, but we've done it for so long now that it's almost the norm.

Anyways, I knew that Alice had another blog that she didn't "advertise" to me. Basicly it was something that she wanted to keep to herself so that she could feel more open to talk about certain things. Tonight I was looking through a friends profile on blogger and clicked on a blog she follows. It was Alice's.

I read it.

Although the posts themselves didn't really have too much that I shouldn't know about, the sidebar had a list of things for Alice to do, as in a "Things To Do Before I Die" list.

Looking at the list, it seems like there are quite a few that Alice would have, and could have very easily done if it wasn't for me in her life. It's along the similar lines of going to Manchester, but using other examples.

I feel like a terrible person, like I've been so selfish throughout that I'm stopping someone from living the life they want to lead and causing them to change their decisions all because they want to be with me.

I want to cry, but I can't I know if I did then I'd be letting it out, and would then let me talk with Alice and sort things out.

I think I'm going to try and actively work through the things to do with Alice. There's a couple on there that I actually already had planned but I obviously couldn't spoil the secret.

I'm going to go and wallow in self-pity now.

Carlston

I told my boss I had a stiffener, he played it cool

2009-10-10T16:09:00.002+01:00

That, above me is completely true, I said "Darren I have a stiffener" and he just said "Okay". In particular I was asking for help as to the bearing stiffener and the bottom flange of a beam I was assessing.

Anyways, neither my flange or my stiffener have anything to do with the reason I'm writing this post. I've survived through 2 weeks of manflu/possible sinusitis and I decided that I should probably get back into the whole posting on my blog thing that I used to do (what seems like years ago).

I went out for a drink with some of the guys after work yesterday. I've always wanted to say that. I possibly may have drank a little too much for 6pm on a Friday, but it was good. I revealed that I had actually this week bought a copy of Heat magazine. fml. Anyways, we parted company and I think I'm going to try and arrange something similar for next week. It was good to get out of the house.

Okay, now to the reason I posted. Before I got unwell, I asked Allie from Hyperbole-And-A-Half to draw me a picture in MS Paint of her drawing me a picture in MS Paint. As of yet I haven't shown any appreciation for the picture. It is awesome and thanks very much Allie for the picture. I hope everyone likes the picture.

Okay so I'm going to go now. Mr Canuckitude, I'll be finishing the post from a couple of weeks ago tomorrow. Sorry again for the mahusive delay.

I'll take a Large order of sickness with a side of lazyness please.

2009-10-08T08:08:00.000+01:00

Would you like fries with that?

Okay so I've been a very, very naughty blogger. Absent in fact. I would give the reason that I've not been too well over the past couple of weeks, but I stopped blogging practically mid-post.

Anyways, I'm starting to feel better so hopefully by next week I'll be posting every day or so.

Whilst I remember, I thought I'd better mention that a lady walked past me the other day, and whispered, yes whispered "good morning" to me. I struggled to hear her, but replied in a booming, Brian Blessedesque "GOOD MORNING TO YOU TOO".

I'm going to go and put some socks on now and go to work.

Until next time

Is a Dirty Pint still Dirty if it only has Fosters in it?

2009-09-28T21:50:00.001+01:00

Here's how much I'm a bad blogger. On Saturday, I started writing a post for my blog. Then Poison called and I ran off to see her, leaving half a post. Seen as I started writing it, I thought I may as well post it, and be truly lazy. If you'd like me to finish it, comment with the word yersh.

Is a Dirty Pint still Dirty if it only has Fosters in it?

I finished work slightly earlier yesterday, it being Friday and work being generic and all. Went for a jog then gave Will a call in Cardiff. I knew he'd had a busy week because its fresher's week and he's now president of CUMT (Cardiff University Mountain bike Team), but I thought he'd have time for me.

Anyways, things unfold, and 50 minutes later I'm on a train to Cardiff to go see him, and go out to Solus, the university club for a right good night out.

Here's the problem, I don't really drink that often, so when I do, I am the person who gets really drunk and does really stupid things. 2 pints of cider, a can of Fosters and 1 dirty pint later we head over to the union via a house party from a random guy named Red-haired Alex (as opposed to Black-haired Alex).

Is a Dirty Pint still Dirty if it only has Fosters in it?

I very quickly get to the stage where Will is giving me glassed of water in between drinks, then we go dancing to wear off the alcofrol (yeah I said alcofrol). We met some great people who we used to share halls with in the first year, Sian, Rob, Rob and Nic. There were a few others but I don't want to keep listing things in this post. It was really great to see them, especially Sian, who was one of my best friends during the first year at uni.

We were dancing, and we see the return of Black-haired Alex (who, for the purposes of this post, will now be known as...Alex). He's about as drunk as I am, but he's planning to get with the ladies tonight. He dances with Sian for a while before we all kindly turn him down, then he tries to kiss Nic, who also pushes him away.

Alex then gets it into his head that he's gonna go and find some ladies, and I could be his "wingman"

Three Things never to say to your boss

2009-09-25T08:34:00.000+01:00

Hey this is just a quick post I thought of whilst getting ready to work. I have a fairly liberal boss, but there are some things I would just never say to him.

1. "Where am I?"

Preferably whilst scratching my head and rifling through all the paperwork on my desk.

2. "Have you ever drank your own urine? I hear there are various medical benefits."

Ideally have a cup of apple juice on the desk, sipping it at the end. The reason I put this one up is because in between engineering stuff, it was a topic of conversation that really has rocked the office this week.

3. "My bum hurts"

This one is a bad-boy comment, and should be said whilst sniffing your fingers and grimacing.

Anyways, that's your fix of Carlston this morning. I'll be back with a proper post later. The inspiration for this post is a show on bbc called "How Not To Live Your Life". It's brilliant

I did a run today

2009-09-24T00:03:00.001+01:00

At this part of the post, I'm meant to write a brief summary of the post in a short paragraph, like they do in the papers, so people can decide if they do or do not want to read on. This part should probably be in a slightly larger font or in bold. Lets try that.

I'll now try and do a jump break to that those of you who want to read on, have to press a button to do so.

You read on! Unfortunately there's no secrets under here. If there were, then they'd surely be in a message instead of a blog post.

Anyways, I've been trying to increase the traffic and possibly the popularity of my blog recently. I'm not sure why, but it's nice to think that somebody actually reads the things that I post on a near-daily basis. I signed up to Feedburner, which is apparently as encouraging as your old cross-country coach from school. It just says I'm not good enough and "I'm never going to make money like that". Apparently my cross-country coach wanted me to be a delivery guy, by foot!

Anyways, on the run today, I had a really good time for several reasons. Firstly, its actually a short step closer to getting fit. I'm hoping that as I'm going to see Poison less and less often, she'll notice the difference in me from a skinny guy with a fairly apparent belly to someone with not muscles, but a healthy body.

The second reason that I enjoyed the run is because it means that I'm getting to know Swindon a little bit more. I think every few days I'll run for half an hour in a direction I've never been before, then try and circle back on myself. I found the path that Petra had mentioned a while ago, and its really good to run or cycle on. I did however notice I was the only person ~~stupid~~ clever enough to be running uphill, which I really enjoy doing.

The last reason why running was good is because I got lost after taking a detour from the path, then couldn't find my way back to the path. On my walk home I decided to take another detour, which then took me really close to home. Oddly, it made me soo soo dizzy, because my compass must have been a bit funked. There's a call for me to buy an iPhone if ever I heard one!

Anyways, I hope you've all enjoyed reading about my exciting and magnificent life. If you did, then do us a favour and subscribe please. This will let me know if its me who's rubbish and can't use Feedburner, or if FB's just being a silly benny.

I just thought I should mention the sources for the pictures I used. They came from the websites below, and I joined them and added the text. Thanks

http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/1444/PreviewComp/SuperStock_1444R-251066.jpg

http://www.vincedelmontefitness.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/muscular-male.jpg

http://www.answerfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/guy-with-fat-belly.jpg

Is Ignorance Bliss?

2009-09-22T18:38:00.000+01:00

I'm really starting to get fed up with one of the people I live with. Everything the says is generally really loud, really sarcastic and really in your face. To the point that she actually comes up to within about 12 inches of my face to make a point.

I've considered just ignoring her, keeping out of her way and not having a constant headache at home. The problem with this is that its impossible to ignore someone that you live with in a fairly small house. I don't want to entertain her idiotic ways or really spend any time with her any more, but neither do I want to be rude, ignorant or an ass to her.

I beleive that the case in my house is one of the reasons why I'm missing home and Lilith so much. I just want to see her and hold her and talk to her every moment of every day. I knwo that in doing so I'm stopping her from leading the life she wasnts to lead, and hence, being a right arsehole.

I'm thinking that I keep my head down, wait for work each day and answer her questions, but do not engage her at all. I'll give it a try, and let you know how it goes. Buenas

Second post of the day... what a geek

2009-09-20T18:24:00.000+01:00

Okay so I'm posting for the second time today. This is really cos I'm making up for setting a goal of posting a certain number of times in a week, and not being bothered to do so earlier. It's also Sunday night, which means I have washing to iron and put away .

Okay, I managed to mess up possibly the easiest meal ever thought of, arroz cubano. It's basically boiled rice with a fried egg on top. A tomato sauce should be added to this, in my case I used passata. I messed up because I used about three times as much passata as was required, so I then forced myself to eat loads of tomatoey rice. To make myself feel better, I followed the bad-boy lunch/dinner combo with copious amounts of chocolate fudge cake that I ran to the shop last night to get.

On the subject of running, I'm un-fucking-fit! I planned to get some exercise done over the week, not happened. The nearest I got to exercise was the aformentioned running to the shop at 9.45 to buy chocolate cake before it closed at ten. All the people I ran past were on nights out, and I was in shorts with a cake in a carrier bag.

It's all cos I have no money. That reminds me, I have an important call to make. Speak soon guys and dolls.

Ohh yeah, for the record, the cake photo belongs to this site.

So here's the funking deal!

2009-09-20T14:01:00.000+01:00

I've been meaning to blog now for most of the week. I've been thinkin about Swindon, yes Swindon. On a long long walk to the Post Office yesterday I realised why I feel entirely indifferent about it, and why I prefer being anywhere else, even Newport station (yes I said that). Swindon has no culture! That's what I've decided. All the other parts of the world that I've visited or lived in in the past have something about them, the je-ne-sais quoi if you will about it. No va-va-voom. Swindon doesn't have this. I think that this could be the reason why every excuse I can get to leave and travel home, I do. Anyways, on a lighter, and nicer note; I've been accepted by 20sb as a member. This hopefully means that more people will read my blog and leave me comments... hopefully. On a downside, this has meant me spending way too long in front of my laptop trying to take a photo of myself that doesn't exaggerate my mahusive nose or make me look like I've been blanched. Any free online photo-editing tools in the ether that you know of would be greatly appreciated. If anyone is a member of 20sb, let me know, add me and try some apple pie (if you want to). Have a good day!

Okay, so it was my birthday last weekend

2009-09-14T08:19:00.000+01:00

not all weekend, but yesterday, on Sunday. However the celebrations did last all weekend. I was twenty-one. Not twenty-one again, or still twenty-one. I was twenty-one for the first time ever and I loved it. It means that I'm now officially an adult. This does mean that I can't, or rather shouldn't do many childish things that I do because I like it, like eating vast amounts of pick-n-mix on a daily basis, or wearing a hoodie on a dark night to watch the elderly cross the road to get the funk away from me. No more! I have a job, and a suit and so I need to be an adult!!! On Friday, I knew Lilith had a surprise for me, and it was great. She took me to see Tim Minchin in Cardiff. He's a concert pianist/comedian all at once. His policital/sociological view almost directly reflect my own, and so his show was absolutely amazing. He's on the "Ready for This" tour at the moment around Britain, I recommend this to all. Thanks so much again Lilith. On Saturday night, the whole family went for a meal in Ask, and Italian chain restaurant. My sister's kids are not well trained enough for posh meals, and not calling each other cowboys, but I loved that they came. I finished my meal and ate mine and Lilith's deserts, THEN CAKE CAME!!! I was so full and feeling slightly sickly, but I couldn't resist a slice of my own (and Alice's) birthday cake. Overall, it's been a great weekend. Thank you to my family and Lilith, and all those others who posted on my FB or all my family who sent me cards.

mycharity: water

2009-09-08T22:37:00.001+01:00

mycharity: water

Posted using ShareThis

I know someone who thought that £200 to insure a car was expensive!!! I lolled all the way home

2009-09-08T20:38:00.001+01:00

I've just noticed that the bathroom floor is warm, there is a faint possibility that we have underfloor heating. What are the odds? The main thing that I wanted to mention is that I'm 21 on Sunday (yey go me). I read a post by Kle that highlighted a charity to me. It's called charity: water, and represents one of the few things that I think all people need. The idea of providing people with schooling or with a flat in a better part of the neighbourhood are all good ideas for charity, but the one thing that people need to survive is water. charity: water raises funds by encouraging people to donate their birthday presents for one year to the charity. This year, I'll be encouraging all my friends and colleagues to donate $21 (yes dollars) to my birthday campaign. This will then be used to provide clean water to those without. Alternatively, I think there is a way to donate different currencies. Anything is grately accepted, but ideally $21 or £21 rather than 21 Yen. The next thing I wanted to talk about is my new job. I've spent almost a week just reading induction things and health and safety booklets over and over, but finally I have some work to do!!! I'm assessing a bridge in London to check that it is safe to carry the trains that go over it, and that it's not about to fall down any minute. It sounds boring but I enjoy it. The last thing is that I saw that Cheryl from "Confessions of a Twenty Something Year Old". Its a site dedicated to bloggers in their twenties. It's called 20 Something Bloggers, and I think it sounds like a great idea. I applied to have my blog on their site, but it needs to be grilled first. If you guys are reading this, kudos on the site. Anyways, I'm going to go and indulge my Farmville addiction now. Seeya

Swindon Update

2009-08-31T12:46:00.001+01:00

Okay, so here's the thing. (I'vve always wanted to start a blog with that) Yesterday I travelled to Cardiff to see Lilith, and to help her unpack the things from her van and begin to move there for next year. The other idea was that we'd then come to swindon this morning and drop off the desk at my house, which was great! There was one downside, bank holiday monday... We got up at seven to start to assemble the first desk in Cardiff, which I think went well. We then travelled to Swindon to set up the other desk in my room...Here comes the problem. By the time we arrived in Swindon, it was still faily eearly in the morning, and the people I live with weren't actually up yet (I don't think). So me, Lilith and Wren were unloading so fairly heavy desktop and metal work, whilst simultaneously rudely waking my housemates (we're not really mates) on their bank holiday lie in. I went downstairs later and you could cut the tension with a knife. All three of us doing stuff in the kitchen with not a word said. It was bad, like realllly bad. Petra, I don't really speak to that much, but then again, apart from Formula 1, we don't really have that much in common. Chloe on the other hand had actually been talking since I've moved in. I say had because she's not talking to me now. I think for the next day or two I'll just try and stay out of their ways, and start my new job in silence. Any alternative ideas?

I Can't Wait to Start Work

2009-08-25T12:45:00.000+01:00

Hello, and I'm sure most of you are following this from my shameless plug on facebook that I'll make at some point soon. Anyway, this is my blog and I am Carlos/Carlston/insertothernamehere. I'm going to try and encourage you all to join Blogger by linking to a couple of blogs that I read, and a few other thinks that I take a look at on the internet. The first thing I need to mention is xkcd. It is a site by a tech sciency computery guy who posts comic drawings every few days. It is generally both very clever and funny, and I could spend all day reading the scenarios the stick figures get in. I keep looking at the site every few days to see whats new, but you can also just press the random button to get sent to surprisingly a random sketch of his. www.xkcd.com The next thing to mention is from Blogger itself. Her name is Cheryl and he blog is called Confessions of a Twenty-Something Year Old. She's pretty funny, and I try and keep up to date with her blog. Titles such as "Yesterday, I asked my boyfriend to marry me over the phone and he said no. Asshole." and "If you don't read this post, its about nothing anyway." make me wanna read more. The next blog I read is by Kle, called accidentally kle. She's a Maltese lady who blogs regularly about her life and the interesting things in it. It's difficult to try and describe, but very interesting to read. The next, and final thing I'm gonna mumble on about is Facebook and Farmville. I, until next week, have no job. This means that my life has been taken over by the desire to suceed at growing an imaginary farm and help out friend that I only every see or hear from on Facebook. This devotion to Facebook means that the time I could be out making friends and meeting people is actually spent thinking I'm meeting people and talking to friends about how I scared crows from their farm. Okay, now I've given those who chose to read this a little insight into Blogger, join up. Write about random shit that amuses, tires, frustrates or bewilders you. And whilst you're doing that, add me as a friend on here, then people (me) will actually read what you have to say!!! If you're already on Blogger, let me know about it! Also read a blog called Re://Load. It's by a guy named Chris. For this blog I advise that explicit content may be apparent.

Blog on

2009-08-22T17:19:00.000+01:00

Okay so today's been a little weird. I started it with a breakfast of chilli chicken pizza. It continues... My laptop worked this morning, and instead of complaining about how it's shit on facebook, I decided to try and fix it. This time thankfully it didn't involve trying to take it apart. I'd read that it's often the BIOS that is tits up when the same symptoms happen to other PC's so I tried to upgrade mine. The moral of the story is, you need to pay for upgrades. The upgrades like to restart the computer, which on my PC simply shuts it down, never to return at least for another 24 hours. So since Lilith is coming to stay, I thought I'd sort my room out so it actually vaguely resembles a home, and not just a newly moved into house. I'm all sorted, except that I have a room that now looks empty apart from several stacks of empty boxes. I need some furniture methinks. I'm back at the internet cafe because it's the only place I can get internet access, and boredom has meant that I've read all of the dozen or so books I have. Any ideas? Rant over, same time next time. C

The Cardboard Revolution

2009-08-21T09:07:00.000+01:00

For some reason, I woke up this morning with one phrase in my head repeating over and over, like it was an alarm forcing me to get up. This was "The Cardboard Revolution". I haven't got a fucking clue... Anyways, I thought it may be because all the wrapping paper I used to wrap my crockery in for the move should now be finally thrown away, or more precisely, recycled. That is my first plan for today. Next is to brush my teeth, and then I think I'll advance on to getting a shave and finding a doctor's surgery to register with. Next problem is my laptop. It's being very temperamental, it overheats and when I turn it off I can't be certain that it will ever turn back on again, because it doesn't like to. This makes my revision for the next week or so very difficult because I'm going to have to find a library in Swindon to use. My mum and John offered to buy me a new laptop for my birthday in a month. I had to decline for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I knew that they'd get me the cheapest laptop that was on offer from Aldi of Lidl and think that it was perfectly good to last me the next 5 years, despite the fact that it barely runs now. Then when I'm not entirely grateful for the laptop, they'll notice and I'll feel bad. The next reason is more important, as I've now officially moved out of my mum's house, I want to be independant, and show to myself that I can actually survive without having handouts from very hard-working parents that really can't afford to be subsidising my stupidity. As a result of this, I need to be able to buy my own things, and be responsible when they break, as with my laptop. I think I'm going to get an iMac this time, as they seem to be very simple to use, if not a little different from the pc, and more expensive. Anywayseses, I have to go now. I've just read Accidentally Kle's Technophobia blog, and it's hilarious. I remember the times when I've been with friends and they don't use the same shortcuts as me~~~~~FRUSTRATING!!! Okays, enough for today. byebye.

I'm Procrastinating so much I even remembered to blog!

2009-08-19T15:01:00.000+01:00

It has been a while, and so much has changed.... Okay, Last time I blogged I think I was having driving lessons.... I failed my mock test three times over. I cut a roundabout when I was meant to be travelling straight ahead. I was speeding (38ish in a 30) and not indicating. I passed my test though, which was the important thing. I also took a Pass Plus thing designed to increase the knowledge of the road that can't be developed whilst learning to drive, such as motorways and all-weather driving. I passed that too!!! Anyways, the day after taking my pass plus, I moved to Swindon in order to prepare to start my new job at the beginning of September. I've arrived, partially unpacked and I'm basically going to be spending the next two weeks procrastinating! Swindon is small, but I like my house and I'm trying to get to know the people I'm living with, but they tend to be very busy constantly. Anyways, we're off to the pub later, cos its bloomin gorgeous outside. Send my love to all

Driving Lessons

2009-07-14T14:54:00.000+01:00

It's been a horrible day today. I'ts not even 3 and I've spent almost £350 on fixing my bike, paying for lessons and my driving test. I also almost broke the very expensive mini, crashed into a £60k Mercedes and ran over a lady as I drove over a crossing on red. Also I had seven different instances of people walking in front of the car in the town centre as I drove down it. I was so pissed off at their stupidity. I should have put a big triangle on the top of the car that said I was a learner, ohh wait, I DID! Tossers. Anyways, rant over. I'm going to cycle home now before it rains for the week. Speak soon. C

Drivering and Death

2009-07-10T13:08:00.000+01:00

It, once again, has been a while. I've started the summer, got a house lined up in Swindon and started to learn to drive, and I'm thinking of death for some reason. Lets go Driving, I've followed Poison's advice and learnt to drive with her instructor, Alan Corns from Minidrive. He is a great guy and has a car that is very forgiving of all my mistakes. I've had 12 hours of lessons so far, and he's advised that I book my test for the end of next month, which will be good. I passed my theory test on Wednesday 49/50 and 61/75 on the Hazard Perception, which is okay. Anyways, that's one of the main reasons I've not been online much, because I've been in a car!!! Yesterday I spent the afternoon in Swindon looking at houses. I chose one, and will be moving in in a month's time. I will be living with two females in their mid-twenties, and about 15 mins walk from work, which is perfect I think. The house is really nice and the room I'll be having is of perfect size for me. I've just watched a video on Kle's blog which has made me really sad and grumpy. Its actually about love. The video has made me really sad seeing the couple sat together as an elderly couple. Here's a link to the really nice stop-motion animation video created by Carlos Lascano, I believe it's called A Short Love Story. I'm going to go now before I go on any more. Poison has gone on holiday today and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself for a week, so I'm sure I'll be on here a little more often. Speak soon. C

Download 09 and Half a Sunburn

2009-06-18T15:27:00.000+01:00

The reason I haven’t been able to post my liccle snippets of life, or lack thereof is because I have been camping for the past week. Not only have I been camping, but I’ve been camping with Lilith and some old friends from college, Rhian and Laura. Not only have I been camping with Lilith and some old friends from college, Rhian and Laura, but I also met three of Rhians mates, Shona, andy and Chris. Not only have I met three of Rhians mates, Shona, Andy and Chris, but we were also at the Download rock and metal festival in Donington Park. Its bin happy, sad, tiring, fun, exhausting, drinking and marrying times, and here is a blog bout it. We set off last Wednesday. It was a lovely morning where we started about an hour late, but with everything intact. When I got in the car I was introduced to Shona, Rhian’s friend from uni who happened to live in the village next to the race track. It was good to meet her, and I’m glad I did, V friendly and relaxed person methinks. We arrived, queued for months then decided to set up the tents. I’m glad we weren’t another hour late or we would have got a little drenched. The heavens opened as soon as we got all of our things to the tent. Me and Rhian weren’t entirely getting on to start with. I don’t know why. I’m going to say its my fault, I take a little getting used to, especially when I’m hot and wet (sun and rain, not showering). The next day, Rhiz’ mates arrived, we cleared a space in the area we’d made our home for them to set up their cool pop-up tents. Chris and Andy are brothers who Rhian met on the interweb. To be honest, if I’d known that before I met them I would have been extremely wary of camping near them, as I’d think it crazy to meet peeps from the interweb. Anyways, they proved me wrong, good honest guys who seem to love their music, and a pleasure to know. Also, the showers from Wednesday cleared, and the sky was sunny “scorchio” sunny all day. Rhian got a little burnded on her face and boobies, and we went to the fair in the evening. We went back in the end cos Lilith was feelin unwell. Friday came, we had a lazy morning then strolled over to the arena. The first band we saw from the sidelines was A Day to Remember, which to be frank, I can’t recall much of it. Next were Parkway Drive, who were pretty good and I’m gonna legally download there music when I get a decent connection to the tinternet. Both these bands were on second stage. From here, we wondered down to the main stage to see the arse end of Billy Talent, who were completely not what I expected, and I’m going to download a bit o their back catalogue also methinks. I missed most of Killswitch Engage cos I wasn’t paying attention, and I queued for the loos a little. Limp Bizkit came next, abso-fucking-lutely amazing. The best time in a gig for a long time. I actually think I managed to hold my own in the mosh pit too, which was good to know. Some guy ended up falling over and staring up the leg of my shorts, givin me a lovely black bruise in the process. Worth it! Me n Lilith went home for an early one, whilst the others stayed to watch Mötley Crüe. Me n Lilith were talkin how They are the Slut of Rock and Roll. They’d sleep with their own nan for a can of hairspray. Maybe their nan’s are hot, but I’m not that into Mötley or their family to be honest. Saturday was leading to be the best day for me, the two bands who are the reason I came to Download were playing, Pendulum and Prodigy. We had a little cider whilst listening to Down ands Dragonforce. Chris and Laura made the mistake of mixing their cider with schnapps, and Laura, being fairly petite, may have felt to consequences. That was funny. Anyway after Pendulum followed the massively disappointing Marilyn Manson, the only performer of the weekend who I did not enjoy seeing. He seemed like he didn’t want to be there, and after about half the set, neither did I. Me and Lilith made our way to the Second stage to see the headliners there, the Prodigy. We were stood next to a crazy, drunk-in-a-thong Freddie Mercury who groped a girl and a guy with plastic bottle tied to his dreadlocks. The set was friggin awesome. Promotin their new album and playing a few classics at the same time. The only thing I disliked was that because they only had a limited time onstage, and they have such a collection of massive songs, they couldn’t play some of the likes of Gils and Spitfire, but any show where they open with Breathe and then Omen, and close with Take Me To The Hospital can’t be bad. Sunday-We had another lazy day. Laura’s mate Arm came and we took a look round the shops. We watched a bit of Black Stone Cherry anda bit of Journey, before the sweltering heat again took over, and mid-afternoon, me n Lilith returned to the tent for a bit of shade, which didn’t exist anywhere else in the arena. We missed Clutch, which was a shame, but had we stayed to watch, the heat would have been unbearable. We got back in the evening to the Second stage to see a bit of Buckcherry, then Papa Roach and Trivium whilst taking a look round the shops. Although not previously a fan of their music, Trivium worked the crowd and kept them going really well, and another one to download when i get decent internet again. When we got back it was a little disturbing, we were going to go to the fair but a group of people kept setting fire to tents and we didn’t want ours to go up with it, so we stayed and packed a little. Rain sent the firestarters to bed though, which is slightly amusing. Monday saw us trying to lug have of everything we own through the village and campsite before setting off home. It was one hell of a slog, but Chris and Andy again helped us with our not-so-light packing, and we paid a guy to carry as bit of stuff for us also, our very own packhorse almost. Anyways, we then mad eour way home, I got caught in a hailstorm wearing just boxers, then we had showers. The end That was Download Festival 2009. Sorry for such a long blog. I should write a blog every day of these long trips out, then I won’t post such a mahusive essay on my life. Marks out of ten...8.5/10See you all soon. C

And now, the end is near...

2009-06-05T20:43:00.000+01:00

Will moved out this afternoon, back to his native land of the Somerset. It was a little sad to say goodbye, because I've enjoyed living with him. Thats more than I can say for the others also, which means now for the next few weeks I'll be left with people I'm not that interested in living with, just sticking around until they pay me what they owe me.

I've been slowly packing my things for a week now, and it's gotten to the stage where I either need to just sort things out ready to pack or wait for my mum to arrive with the boxes I need. It's awkward because I'm trying to pack things that I will need during the summer, and things I won't need for a while, and can go to John's house in Pontypool.

Anyways, I should go and pack a little more. I'm going to be back on here soon i think because mostly out of boredom. See you all soon

Carlston

It's bin a while

2009-05-31T10:31:00.000+01:00

Wow, It really has been a while since my last blog, and there's so much to say....I've been a little distracted.

Firstly, I had my four exams for my course. Three of them went well apart from a few silly mistakes. The fourth one was horrible, they asked loads of questions that were not even similar to what we'd seen in the past, and therefore not revised. Although because I'm so bad at re

vising, I revised all the not so likely to come up in the exam stuff, and it came up, so I get a few brownie

points. Anyways, they're all done now and I should get my results in the next two weeks or so.

I finished the exams on Tuesday 19th, then I was free until the Sunday after that. I went home to work a little. I had handed in my notice recently, in order to go on my placement in the summer. Everyone at work was all really nice and seemed sad to see me

go, but happy for me (i think). They all signed

a card and put some money inside it, which will go towards driving lessons this summer. It's really sad to leave, and I didn't want to, but I need to get some experience in engineering and it's the only thing I could do.

Anyways, bright and early last Sunday morning, up and about to go on a field trip with the university. The entire ACE (architectural, civil and civil & environmental) students went down to Slapton in South Devon to study Field Studies of the Natural & Built Environment. This is basicly

a work hard, play hard trip at the end of the year where we run riot on a retired village in the middle of a nature reserve. Here are the tasks:

Environmental impact - We studied an area next to the ley and decided on how we would build a visitors centre in place of the current hut that was there, whilst minimising the effects on the environment. I think we all unanimously decided that it was best left as it was, but we then had to explain why. Followed by a lovely walk in the countryside.
Rock engineering - we travelled to the next beach over to study a quarry and how the rocks had been mined. The premise was that by knowing the angles of the rock layers, we could work out how likely, and which direction they were to collapse in the future. Very interesting and I'd like to do that in the future.
Soil slope stability - We measured the angle of a hill down to the beach, then worked out where it was likely to have a landslide, and why it didn't follow the initial theories given. This was followed by a lovely walk around the cliffside, where we saw seals in the rocks below. I loved this task too.
River catchment - We basicly worked out the cross section or a river and the banks surrounding it, and used the data to work out how high the river will flood on average every year, and every 50, 100 and 200 years. This day was soaking, the rain never stopped. This was good though becsause we were all getting wet anyways, so not too bad. It was a little difficult trying to conduct a levelling exercise when the lens was all steamed up though.
Surveying - We surveyed a hill and designed foundations to go within it. This was difficult because the lecturer had a tendency to walk off without explaining what we were meant to be doing and not coming back for two hours. We made him stay, and it was all gravy. I did do two pages of wrong calculations though, and three people copied me, which meant we had to redo them all. Sorry bout that one.
The last day involved working out how much stuff was needed to clean the water supply from a building site. This was mostly based in the lab with quite a bit to do. Wee worked out that the cleaning stuff would cost about £280k for two years, which was a staggering amount. Because I didn't believe this was right, I edited my results then realised it was right, then had to change them back again.

Now that was the field trip....

Now my course has finished for the year at least, I will be entering the real world as of tomorrow. I've bought a theory test dvd so I can practice, and the first thing I'm going to do tomorrow morning is call various estate agents in Swindon in order to find somewhere to live during my placement. I figure if we get it all done, then it removes my insecurities of having a really good job and nowhere to live.

Wow that was such a long blog, I promise never to do that again.

Good Morning, This Vehicle is Reversing

2009-05-07T09:46:00.000+01:00

Yes it's the week following a Bank Holiday, which means that everything in the world is moving one day behind where it should, at least until the weekend.

Every Wednesday morning I wake up to the sound of "Warning, this

vehicle is reversing. Then the same thing in Welsh." The sound of the bin men "refuse collection agency" is upon us. This is, without doubt the worst alarm clock ever. Not only is it not an alarm that I can

turn off, (well at least not for a few minutes) but it's loud, and reminds me that not only did we not put our rubbish out yesterday, but that I'm going to have to get up now and do it quickly, before they disappear around the corner (cos everyone else lives at the back of the house where they don't hear the lorry).

Anyways, this got me thinking about bank holidays in general, and all the disruption they cause throughout the previous weekend and

following week. It is nice to have an extra day off, or lie in on a Monday morning, but I don't think that really helps me at all. I'm contracted to work on Bank Holidays, which meant that on Sunday I had to travel home for 2 hours just to pick up a 7 hour shift, and then another 2 hours back on monday afternoon

Also it meant that the vital lessons I would have been having on the Monday were cancelled, which is really annoying the week before my exams.

Generally, around the country, there are many businesses that are always working a day behind for the rest of the week, which must

cost the economy millions in global trading.

Mays are the worst, they have two Bank Holiday Mondays!!!!

One good thing about the ol' BH is that B&Q must make a fortune in people doing DIY, as accidentally, kle has been.

What do you think of Bank Holidays? are they a godsend? or simply unforgivable?

Lefties unite

2009-05-05T17:21:00.000+01:00

Unfortunately for all those communist followers of this blog, this is not about the second coming of communism following the fall of capitalism in Europe. This blog, in that case is not for you.

This is about my left hand. I've started noticing recently that I do more and more things with my left hand than ever before? Could I be turning left handed? Is that possible?

I now stir cooking foods in the pan with ma laft hand, and pick up my drinks with my left hand, where as i remember in the past being almost completely useless with it. Texting with my left hand is now a reality also. As of yet though, still only writin with the right one...

I've just realised what an odd blog this is to post, so I'm going to finish now.

Say hi to all your friends by waving with your left hand. It shows you're an equal opportunities employee (of life).

Just a thought - - maybe my sight has just switched round...

A Day of Absolutely Nothing

2009-04-30T18:28:00.000+01:00

Okay so I had a big plan today to get up early, go to my lecture and then get loads of work done in the library on my MatLab work. This quickly went down the pan when I found that my mates were also going to go and do the MatLab coursework. Although they are very helpful when I'm doing the work, I always get frustrated as to why they can do something on the program but I can't, so I prefer not to be with them.

So... I came home to work. I was also waiting for a phone call back from WSP following the interview yesterday, so I was a little on edge because I was quite hopeful. Anyways, no phone call from them, and also very little revision done. :(

To make things just that little bit worse, I now have to work on Bank Holiday Monday, which I was hoping to spend deep in revision mode. The dentist has booked an appointment for me on Tuesday, which I can't make because I have an interview with Caerphilly Council. Its all going tits up. If you know of anyone selling some time, then I'd love it please, willing to pay up to a maximum of £60 per hour ;)

Two more things, I've drank about 2 litres of apple juice today, and I can't work out how to successfully put pictures in to my blogs, any advice?

Speak Soon.

Today is gonna be the day

2009-04-29T21:40:00.000+01:00

Well, I have to admit, that today has gone quite well. I was up very ealry, finished off my research for the company I was due to see, and I had a very good interview with them. I'm quite confident, if at all wary that saying that will probably mean I don't get the placement.

They said that they'd get back to me within 24 hours, which is good news, so far I've been kept waiting for a while following my interviews. I'm optimistic.

The only downside to this is that I had hoped to live in Cardiff during my placement, although I am very open to moving elsewhere. The problem is that Swindon is just out of the distance that I'd be able to commute to. A seasonal railcard for 12 months would cost me over 4 grandsies.

Anyways, I'm off to the cinema now.

Until next time.

Carlos.

Online Personas

2009-04-26T12:10:00.000+01:00

I just went on to an old friend's msn space thing to say hello. I don't usually use it, but i fancied seeing how it had changed in the last umpteen months. Anyways, this friend may be seen as some, indeed quite a few, as physically attractive. Knowing what they are like in person, I don't think so myself, but whatever... Anyways, the reason I thought I'd tell you this is because of a post somebody put on their wall/space/thingyyoucanwriteon which read "get ur fanny out babez", which is amusing on several levels. Firstly, she might just do that... Secondly, it's just a funny, if not very immature thing to say to anyone, never mind a stranger you've just seen a photo of on the interweb.... and thirdly, how on earth does some idiot think he's treatin her, just cos her photo is a holiday snap of her wearing a bikini, he automatically thinks he has a chance! And the line "get ur fanny out" is never gonna get this poor, slow person a chance with any self-respecting person, never mind a girl. The fact that he said "babez" at the end of it all is the most amusing. I'm sure he refers to his own friends as "me ol' china" and other silly colloquilaisms, but any reference to a person that starts with bab (unless they are a child of less than three years of age) is too bad to even try and use. Rant over, next time, I'll use actual paragraphs to vent my frustration.

Haa Haa Boom

2009-04-24T10:27:00.000+01:00

Okay, so it's PDP day. For those millions of anonymous followers of this blog that I know there is, PDP means Personal Development Plan. Its basically us handing in a portfolio of how were developing as engineers and as people. Apparently, from looking at my PDP last year, I am now capable of presenting my work in a good way, as opposed to the previous, barely in the folder approach. Not only that but I didn't have to rush to get all the work done, which is a definite change from last year. I just got on with it. Anyways, the reason I'm really bloggin today was to express my annoyance with my housemates and a certain someone. I really wish that people would just do what they are obliged to do, without being pestered to do it! I'm talking bills. Every month it's a struggle to get money for the bills from certain members of the household. This time it hasn't been so bad because the student loans have come in, and also cos I owed nick money. This meant that instead of payin him all that I owe him, then struggle to get it back, I just paid him everything less the rest of the years water bill, which means no more nagging for him. Cox on the other hand is a different story. He spends all his time sat on his arse failin his degree. He even manages to work, but when it comes to paying £9 a month to me, its like trying to raise the dead. Silly people. Also, when people try and make plans to see you, and so you cancel other plans, its really annoying when you're let down. Rant over.

The first rant of the day!

2009-04-22T09:35:00.000+01:00

Okay, so here goes. I wanted to write a blog about all of the things that annoy me in the current life i lead. I don't intend to offend anyone, or to apologise for what I believe, but similarly i didn't actually expect anyone to read this, it's simply a vent for my frustrations. Its 09.37 on 22/04/09, and I should be in a lecture now. Instead I'm sat here in ma room bored out ma arse with Lillith lay asleep behind me. The reaqson I'm not in my lecture is because they forgot to book the lecture theatre, or rather someone cancelled the booking. Usually I wouldn't mind that, but having got very little sleep last night, then get up for 8am, i don't really like for it all to be in vain. I coulda had a lie in. I've got quite a bit of work to do, and I suppose while I'm in the mood for writing I should probably get on with that. My revision started during the easter break, and now has stopped again, I need to get back on track with that. I think I'm going to go make me and Lillith a bacon sandwich and a cuppa tea, and then I'll tidy my room and then get on with my work. I hope that this blog doesn't simply turn in to me complaining, but maybe if it did, it might be a good thing. Feel free to post replies if you want to, I'll see if I can get back to you on that one. C