The Stickman Chronicles

newer digs

2011-12-21T14:38:00.001-08:00

moved house, new people, new responsibilities, new drama, less people, new experience, change house, new housemates, more drama, more responsibilities.

life in the last year has been nothing short of completely off the wall. people have left... important people.

some new people have come along, for sure, and not with a whimper but with a bang. I've been transposed into another life where mum's the word, shoulders are lent and the sword of Damocles sways threateningly in anticipation of the oncoming storm.

The next thing to happen will be huge.

Mistaken Identity

2009-07-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday Evenings

2009-07-06T13:22:00.001-07:00

update to come

2009-05-23T10:45:00.001-07:00

Wow but it has been a long time since i've updated this... i'll update soon.

And i promise it wont be just a load of apple eating and what not!!!

24 Hours

2009-03-29T16:02:00.000-07:00

This time tomorrow is going to be freakin sweet!!!

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88Mph

2009-03-26T05:22:00.000-07:00

I had this really strange dream last night.

It was actually strange from the beginning because it started with me in my bed, waking up after having slept. One of those typical movie situations where the dreamer can now never know if he is awake or if he's still sleeping because everything seemed so real in the dream.
So, I'm awake, and I hear this noise outside the window.
Now, the way my bed is positioned, you can look out the window without having to get out from under the covers (one of the few advantages of having the smallest room EVER).
So i take a look out the window in much the same way as i actually have done the past two nights in a row, both times because i heard noises attributable to my neighbours ongoing feud. Once it was loud disco music that weaved into my dream before waking me up and left me thinking a large monster was bashing down the estate, the second time it was more like Jamaican music... but I am sure that was actually a dream.

ANYWAY, looking out my window i see that the noise was my car being stolen!!! F#*k.
Actually i remember thinking "woah... how weird, my girlfriend has recently had a dream where my car got stolen!!!"
By the time I looked out the window it was gone.

Ah, but all was not lost. For you see, in order for someone to come to this house to steal my car, they had to bring a car of their own... and not being able to drive two cars simultaneously, they had no choice but to leave behind their own car. (why they left it unlocked with the keys in it i don't know, my brain didn't have time to work the answer to that into the dream before i had inspected the car)
So i figure, "well, this is my car now", and when i open the door, i notice the door opens upwards, and not sideways.
"WTF??" i take a step back and see that i am now the proud and rather confused owner of a Delorean. They don't even make those things anymore, but what the hell... test drive time!

So i get in, take it for a spin up and down the estate. I notice and realise 3 things.
1. The steering is REALLY heavy. Seriously, if i have to make a sharp turn at speed, i have no chance.
2. Testing a car on the estate is annoying at best. There are so many speed bumps and ramps that you cant really get beyond 2nd gear. Also there was a slow car in front of me. That's when i decided to find a motor way and take it there to really open it up. and;
3. There is a speedometer, but there is no indication as to how fast you are going as all the notches on the speedometer are unmarked (i guess Marty had a digital dealy installed by the Doc.)

I also remember that at no time whatsoever did i believe that hitting 88mph was in any way significant, but i wanted to anyway.

So i took it onto the motorway, the steering is still a problem, and i put the foot down. Maaannnn, that motor way was so full of crazy drivers. people driving the wrong way with trailers attached, people either going 5mph or 500, there was a Jeep driving sideways somehow... i thought they were doing it to block two lanes and stop me from passing, but they sorted themselves out by the time i got to them.
I don't know if i ever reached 88mph. I would say that i did because i was going pretty fast, but like i said, the speedometer was unmarked and hard to follow. Also i was keeping an eye on the road because there was some really mad people out there (including me i guess, speeding down the road in a Delorean)

I kinda want to test a Delorean for real now!!!

What a dream... strange. My car was nice and safe this morning as it turns out. Also, seems that 88mph is close enough to 140 Km/h!

And that's it. Woke up, had breakfast and delved straight into study. I have that exam now in the next few days, so its head down and no re-surfacing until its over, (unless its for eating, sleeping or checking on the continued existence of my car)

TTYL.

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Studying

2009-03-15T03:35:00.000-07:00

If someone were to ask me if I did much study yesterday, I could honestly say that i did!

But i would hope that they would then have no follow up questions.
Yes I studied. I cleared off the mini-desk in my room (first post about resolutions), which as it turned out had an awful load of junk on it. Said junk migrated to my bed for the day. In a way that was rather clever... not only did i have a table to study on, but i didn't have a bed to retreat to should I get really really lazy.
And then the studying began. I studied a chapter of my book, I studied the movements of a white van doing the rounds in the estate my window looks out on, I studied the cloud formations. I then proceeded to study the Irish rugby match.
So yes... Plenty study done yesterday. Proud of myself, not particularly, but off to study a pint or two of Guinness anyway.
Ah, but not straight away. I knew if I came home 2-3 pints the richer I wouldn't be too impressed with a bed full of junk to clear off. Who knows, at that stage I'd probably clear it off in a kind of hap-hazard manner, leaving half of it on what little floor i have, another bit on my chair, with the remainder on the lovely biannually clean desk. So I had to set about clearing off the bed first.

Arrived back here at...i don't know, i think it was a respectable one in the morning and straight to bed with me. Well... not 'straight' to bed, I had to walk 'Indiana Jones' style across what little floor I had, balance some clothes precariously on my junk filled study chair as there was precious little space anywhere else as the stuff that was on my bed did indeed make it to the floor anyway, and then reflected that if i cleaned off my bed AFTER I got home, it really couldn't be any worse than it is now.

And so another Sunday is upon us. Study time again. Desk clean, bed a mess, no white van patrolling the neighbourhood. Conditions are perfect for learning.

Laters.

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Tri-Lingual Birthday

2009-03-12T12:07:00.000-07:00

La Breithlà Sona Duit
Happy Birthday To You
Tanti Auguri al mia bella ragazza
Happy Breithlà a Te.

(Photo taken with self timer)

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Age?!

2009-03-11T14:58:00.001-07:00

These past 3 days I've been trying to decide if i feel old or not.

We have this Kid in the office now (slang for child, baby goats eat our paper work) and it's been up to me to give him jobs to do and generally give him the office experience.
Unfortunatly, that charge comes with a side order of Dispensing Adivce.
So, right, I have to find jobs for him to do. Which went well, for about the first 3 hours of the first day. After that, i had to get a bit creative.

Right, so, you'll sus from previous posts that my life aint a rollercoaster at the moment. I mean, 2 posts that rely heavily on Apples to fill the blank space doesn't exactly scream "time out, i need a break", does it?! Thats because at the moment, i really have to keep the head down and be as uninteresting as possible. I've got an exam at the end of this month and I pretty much have to put myself in the mindset that this room is all that exists in this universe (i study in my room).
Actually, that has some advantages if you like meglomania, my room being the size that it is, i feel like a pretty damn important figure in the whole of the universe. Much like Zaphod Beeblebrox mush have felt in the Total Perspective Vortex. Yup, i sure do know where my towel is.
But all this has the consequence that my imagination runs at a minimum. Lacking certain stimulus that can only be found in the small new experiences that one finds every day tends to do that to an imagination.
Case and point, back when I was in college i remember a few weeks of cramming (barely) during which, one night, i dremt that I was sleeping.
So, what jobs can i give this new kid, especially since the machine he has been using up to now has broken down and so I dont even have a fall-back job to give him.
And so, I've been chatting to him about the office, life in an office, the particular job. Tips and tricks, things i've been told... pretty much anything really. Sometimes i think "oh my God, i cant believe i'm saying these words, am i...teaching someone???" Or at least imparting some kind of quasi-wisdom.
Thats not my place, i'm just a young'un... or am i???
He's going to be with us untill Friday, i'm sure i can think of some jobs for him to do that reflect well enough what it is we do in the office. I hope anyway. In the meantime i'll try not to get any worry lines or chest-warmer pipes, (i already have the slippers that have a tatched pattern... they are my favourite actually).

Right, i think it's time to get a little something to eat before i go to bed.

Laters

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Apple Progress and Five A Side Maddness

2009-03-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

I learned two important things yesterday!
One is that it is actually quite hard to eat an apple while walking if your nose is a tiny bit stuffed
The other is that I am absolutely no good whatsoever at 5-A-Side-Football.

I learned these two things within 12 hours of one another.

By way of background, the promise was an apple a day, falling to a minimum of three a week. Now, so far i am up to two this week and its Tuesday, so i would say I'm pretty well ahead of the game. Another thing worth noting is the 7 rather delicious chocolate bars i have in my little cupboard in this house that i got for next to nothing. (See first post on new years resolutions)
There is an obvious temptation there before i leave the house in the morning. I mean, Apple or chocolate... hmm, and i don't even have to wash the bar under the cold tap you say??? score.
But I've been applying a rather crafty counter-argument in my head that revolves mainly around the perishibility of apples Vs. the longevity of delicious crunchies.

But as i said... it gets a little hard when you're hand is freezing cold holding an apple, you can only breath through your mouth because your nose is letting in as much air as would be displaced by a butterflies wings, and said mouth is full of organic matter.
Oh actually, before i go on... I've decided to bring this blog to life a little, and what better way, that with a picture or two. So let me posthumously introduce you to this mornings unsuspecting victim

That's right, that's this mornings Apple. Unsuspecting and delicious. I briefly thought of putting eyes on it for this, or perhaps a blindfold and a cigarette, but then realised that at some point there I'd have crossed into madness.

12 hours later, almost exactly, i found myself on an AstroTurf pitch, with a football meeting 7 people i had never seen before. Asking myself "how did i get here?? don't i work in an office?!"
Truth is i got a text saying that there was a game and they were short of numbers, could i help them out. I should take offence at that, but i do like the game and thought i needed the exercise and so off i went.
Like i said before... i am shite at foodball. A fact quickly learned by not only me, but the 7 or 8 others on the pitch that day. Ok, ok, so i got a goal, actually i thought it was pretty good... scored it from a quick cross into the box. AND to add to my stats, on a stint in goals i stopped 3 cannon like shots into the goal in quick succession at the expense of the nerve endings in my right leg and forearm. Still... if you could have seen it.
It rained too, heavily, but we paid for that hour damn it, we're not going to stop. Shame i was the only one there with longer hair. I'd be curious to know what i looked like. All i know is that when i turned my head to follow where the ball was, i got a splash of wet across my forehead, back of my neck, and my cheeks. as well as getting a good lock of hair into my eye. Fun times.

I was gonna type that up last night, but i was on the verge of a coma at that stage!

And now dinner be in the microwave. Well, oven, but they double up as the same thing if you press the right buttons. Actually I'm in the mood for something Pasta-like, but i got fish, so I'm gonna eat fish (and chips, hooray)

Laters

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While we're on topic

2009-03-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

On healthy eating.

A good few years ago now i was given a rather interesting and complex psychological defence against having eaten suspect food matter with a sell by date having already past or the likes.

Now, i dont eat a whole lot of food. Well, dont get me wrong, what i do eat i eat by the boat load, its just that i dont eat a whole lot of different food's, if you understand me. Much to the dismay of my parents when i was growing up, shock of my friends and astonishment of my girlfriend i have remained rather stubborn in this regard (though my girlfriend has got me to start eating pizza... so kudos to her there).

Back in secondary school, me and my classmates went to Belgium for a weekend, school tour. I actually confuse alot of it with a separate school tour to wales... in my memories i dont know which was which. That is, of course, with the exception of what at the time seemed like a rather comfy hostel we stayed in, and that our bus driver was able to find by God knows what means (all the streets looked the same). Now i think about it, it wasn't all that comfy... i think the right word would be 'Tiny' in fact. At least our room was. There were 4 to a room, and me and my closer friends had arranged to stay together, in his excitment on getting a room my good friend got the first set of keys handed out by the manager who in a photograph one would think would be a jolly man, actually he was anything but.
What my friend failed to realise was that the rooms seemed to be handed out from the top of the building down. Therefore, we got some kind of attic room that had 3 walls and a roof that came down in a kind of triangular point to meet the floor where you would hope to have found the 4th wall. (my current room doesn't seem so small now).
Anywho, day one of two and we all went down to the 'dining room', which at nights got converted into a quasi-dance/disco floor simply by turning the tables upside down and moving them against the wall.
Thats when our not-so-jolly manager came out and announced to us by way of welcome, that he knew how kids our age think. That if the food looks like something we like, say a hamburger, then we would be more than happy to eat it.
He also announced to us that he knew where all the hiding places in the hostel were, and that he would know if we were sneaking drink into the place. A statement that was taken by all of us to be a challenge.
Half of us interpreted this as a kind of "how many secret places can you find?" quest, while the other half, higher in the social status echelon interpreted it as meaning "go on... try to get past me then".
After which, the staff at this wonderful place gave us each 2 hamburgers, i think, which were gladly eaten by almost everyone (those with the more decerning pallet thought something was up. I, on the other hand, was hungry).
Years later... i can now say to myself, after drinking milk that tastes a bit funny, or eating something that i thought was something else;
"well...i've probably eaten worse in my time".
And so i know that this too will pass.

Now if you'll excuse me, all this talk has made me a little hungry.
Laters

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New years and healthy eating

2009-03-07T13:44:00.000-08:00

That's right, it's March.

And not very early march at that, and here i am talking about new years. To make matters clearer, i am actually talking about New Years day gone, not the one to come, so i am a little closer to the mark already.

Had this New Years Resolution there which didn't go according to plan at all. Come to think of it, they never do... but this year i was determined. After all, how hard can it be to keep ones room clean, ESPECIALLY when the room is only one and a bit times the lenght of your full body, and about as wide as as i am tall as well. Ok, ok, i'm a tall individual, coming in a fair bit over the 6 foot mark, but still, when most of your room is taken up with Bed, a good proportion of the remainder with inbuilt closet and and a decent fraction of the left over floorspace with bed-side cabinet (in this room, just about everything is bed side...apart from the study desk that miraculously fits at the foot of the bed) then you would imagine that it would be no hard task to keep the square of blue carpet... well, blue!

But as i said, it didn't work out so well. As it is, I'm pretty sure my carpet is blue, though I'll get back to you on that one.

Inspiration came in the form of an e-mail i got recently from a good friend of mine. The title was "how do you like those apples".
Now, i don't eat a whole lot of apples.. or fruit in general, but this made me think. It's March, and since I've kept my room about as tidy as the number of apples i have eaten so far this year, then i should be able to switch resolutions without causing any hassle, as I've done as much of one as i have of the other. and so 'poof', now my resolution is to eat healthier, starting with a daily dose (or tri-weekly) of Vitamin apple.
Day one, i ventured into Tesco's on the way home from work and got a punnet (6) of apples saying that i would have one on the way to work as often as i remembered. Sounds good... work is a good 20 minute walk, surely i could polish an apple off in that time.
Great, good start. but so far I've only done half the work so.
we are now 2 weeks into this new and improved resolution, designed to create a new and improved me and i have eaten a total of 2 apples. Still, take that room!!

On a general grocery shop recently, i stopped into tesco's again and told myself it was Apple day (the others gone, not from eating, but from lapse of time) and what did i see there... 5 bars of crunchies for 1.50???? I love those things. They remind me of Fridays, which it was incidentally.

Oh all right, some quick mental arithmetic later i realised that it was about 30 cent a bar, and no one but no one could pass that up. well, no one but someone who had the discipline to eat apples as they had promised themselves.
So i put them in my basket and was about to continue to the interesting sauces for chicken isle, when what did i see.... 5 Bars of Double Deckers for 1.50????? i love those things. They don't even have to remind me of Fridays, holidays, Christmas or anything. And at 15 cent a Deck I'd be crazy not to pop them in.
It's probably a good thing there was no similar deal for those 'Trio' bars i used to love. I don't think that my mind could have taken the simultaneous excitement and strain from the mental arithmetic that would be enevitibly involved

Hmm, basket was a bit full after the interesting sauce for chicken and the plethora of other things i had to get (including a beer not intended for my own consumption, i lost a bet I'm afraid), I'm not sure what cash i have on me, so i better play it safe and not burden myself with 6 whole apples.

And off home to start the weekend.

I'm always a bit nervous at check-out's, I'm trying to think what i would think if i was the cashier and someone came to me with those items. 10 bars of chocolate, a beer and a pretty rudimentary dinner potential... sounds like a pretty wild Friday night, would you like the number of a taxi with that?

Well, even though I've just consumed a Crunchie bar during the typing of this (not to mind, loads left, and the deal is until 10th of this month.. plenty time to stock up) I'm still sure that I'll get this apple thing down.

Wish me luck.

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(oh, and welcome to the blog)