Chinese Soup

I just don't understand it.

For the last 30 years, my mum has tried to convince me that drinking chinese soup can quench thirst. How the heck can a substance, which contains salt, quench my thirst?

When I eat, I always have to have a drink available, whether it be ribena or Coke or water. My mum (with her eagle eyes!), stops me before I start drinking my drink, and tries to convince me that soup would be better.

I can understand "Tong Soi" (er, chinese sweet desert soup) in a way, but not Chinese soup!

Is it just me or does any one elses mother have the same theory?

Xbox 360

Check out this Xbox 360 on Ebay

Ebay Xbox 360

Crazy! Althought, the bling part of me thinks it looks quite cool and unique!

Korean films

Besides from the obvious few (Infernal Affairs, Kung Fu Hussle, or SPL), how many Hong Kong films made in the last few 5 years, really stand out in your mind?

I can't think of many.

Yet, in that same time period, I can name loads more Korean films which I'd privileged to have in my collection, such as

• My Sassy Girl
• Bittersweet Life
• My Tutor Friend
• Nowhere to hide
• Sympathy for Mr Vengeance
• My Wife is a Gangster

There seems to be (well, in Europe and the U.S) anyway) a buzz about the Korean movie industry right now, and there are some films in the process being re-made by Hollywood (I personally don't mind re-makes - unlike some, I'm quite willing to judge them once I've seen it, rather than just assume that Hollywood automatically butchers anything it tries to remake).

While the "My Sassy Girl" genre is getting a bit overused by the Koreans at the moment, most of the time, the films produced seem to show a bit more imagination and originality than those being chucked out by the HK industry (quality always beat quantity). In South Korea, they have a quota requiring that cinemas show South Korean movies 146 days a year - maybe this has spurned filmakers there to produce high quality movies? I don't know. Maybe its something they put in the water over there!

Maybe its time for the HK movie industry to have a re-think on where it wants to go? I for one, dont want to watch Twins Effect 3.

If anyone wants to borrow some of my Korean DVD's, give me a shout.

Belated Birthday

If Bruce Lee had still been alive today, it would have been his 65th birthday last Sunday.

I wonder what the world would have made of him if he was still around - would he still be revered as the icon that he is now? What kind of films would he have made?

I was watching Enter the Dragon on Sunday night (Channel 5 had dedicated that evening to him), and there was a moment in the film, when I just thought "My god, how cool is this guy" (a bit like Elvis in his leather outfit!). And its those iconic moments that stand out for me - the things he done, were just...cool.

I bet you that in 30 years time, no one will be saying the same thing about any "martial arts" star around now.

Geek Posts

Just some interesting links i found tonight

Who's Afraid of Google? Everyone.

The Mother of All CPU Charts 2005/2006

Ok, the second link is uber geeky, but interesting if you like tech.

Not going too well

God, losing weight is difficult at this time of the year - everywhere I look, I see edible substances.

Ok, brainy people, invent the "Kill Fat Fast" pill please! Something which I can digest at night, and when I wake up, I have skinny hips like Mike. Or snake hips like Simon.

Anyone have any suggestions (besides going to the gym) please?

Xmas Wish List

Ok, due to popular demand (er, Mike in other words), I've put up my Xmas Wish List for those interested in buying me a present (its ok Johnny, you don't need to!) - I've included the links so you can order them online for me.

Dream List

XBOX 360 (it would seem these are quite popular at the moment)
Audi RS4
Short Sun Holiday - not fussed where - as long as its warm!
All expense paid day out to Stringfellows- for research purposes
New PC - sigh, laptop just isn't up for it anymore

Reality List

Box of blank DVD's
Freakonomics
At the Abyss
Tummy Trimmer

Actually, I can't think of anything else at the moment, but I'll add more to my list later.

Rubik Cubes

Read that the world record for solving a Rubik cube is just over 11 seconds! 11 seconds! Thats nuts - bloody hell, thats faster that me putting my jeans on!

Records can be found here (on the left hand side of the page)

http://www.speedcubing.com/

Ok, a bit sadder still, is the fact that the record for completing it one handed is 22 seconds!

Updates

Er, looks like i've forgotten about my promise to update my blog daily!

Anyway, everyone knows what happened this weekend, so I'm not going to go into detail about it, but I'm still knackered from it!

Read this story on the BBC website about a woman who suffered salmonella poisoning after eating a meal at a Chinese restaurant. Poor woman. I caught salmonella 7 years ago, and my symptons were nothing like this woman. Just makes you think about what you're eating while out.

It's Simon's birthday this Saturday (12th), and he's 32 this year. Ignore what he says about him being 25 (yeah right!)

Long day

Geez.

I've had such a surreal day today. It goes something like this.

Woke up at 4.30am to pick up my sister from the airport with my dad. Told my dad that we didn't need to leave too early, but he insisted that we did, "in case the flight gets there early". End up waiting nearly a hour for my sister.

Get back to my parents house at 6.45. Sit around until 9.30, before parents decide that they want to take me and my sister and my niece to Tescos.

I waffle around Tesco's like a zombie, wishing my mum wouldn't examine an apple like the way that a weapons inspector examines a weapon of mass destruction. We leave Tesco's at 11am.

My dad then takes me to Lambeth town hall so that I can get a parking permit. Lambeth, in their eternal wisdom, decide that a staff of two is sufficient enough to handle parking inquiries in the second biggest council in London. End up queuing up for half a hour.

By then, I'm not in the best of moods.

Anyway, I go back home to have lunch. My sister, her husband and my two nephews turn up to visit my sister. Kids at this point turn psycho and decide to run around the living room like maniacs. At that point, its decided that we'd go to the park to let them run round and exhaust themselves.

At Battersea park, we try to find the adventure playground for the children. Somehow we end up walking around the park, and the adults suffer from exhaustion and delusions of life without children. Still, watching the kids play makes up for our suffering.

We get back home, and my brother in law suggests going out to Chinatown for dinner. So, we head off into town, all looking forward to a lovely meal.

Which we didn't get.

Food was disappointing, Elliot was crying non stop in frustration as it was way past his bed time, Tobey decided that running back and forth to play with the restaurant fridge was more fun than sitting in his seat and everyone else was just plain knackered.

Now sitting back in Woking, watching the telly. I think its the most relaxed I've been all day!

Lose weight, NOW!

God, I really do have to lose weight - at the moment, I really do feel like the Death Star now (thanks Mike for that quote, you git!). In the past, disregarding my body size, I've always been quite a naturally healthy person - for example, ive got natually good stamina, and I'm hardly ever seriously ill, but now it seems thats all gone down the pot now.

So now, its time to reclaim my health (and to regain my youthful good looks that attracted many a young lady). I'm going to join a gym, and i'm going to cut out my junk food. I can't keep going on like this, otherwise, i'm going to be a dead Biffy!

Lunch with Simon

Just came back after having lunch with Simon in Ealing. Had quite a good time - we had a chinese lunch, and I tried to convince Simon that having a stud muffin reputation is far more interesting than having a boring dependable friend reputation!

Then I tried to find a suit, and discovered that its really hard to find a plain navy suit :(

On the way home, I saw a little bit of sun, so I thought I'd drive back to Woking with the hood down - little did I know that as soon as I hit the M25, it started chucking down with rain!

Soaked, cold, and annoyed now!

Fear.

What fears do you have? And what have you done to conquer them?

I fear that I'll become as paranoid as my mother about life in general.

I don't know what made my mother into such a paranoid person, but she goes through life, thinking the worse, and worrying about the world as such. Hence why she installed these values into me and my sisters while we were growing up. We weren't allowed to go and play with our friends after school in case we were kidnapped, and I wasn't allowed to go out clubbing in case I was recruited as a triad (*groan* my mum thought Johnny was a triad as he had a perm and a mobile phone!)

I've tried not to think paint the world in such a dark colour, but in a tone more akin with hope that tomorrow brings more possibilities. I try to be as optimistic as possible about things, even when the world is collapsing around me.

Honestly, unless you've suddenly been told that you have a week left to live, nothing thrown at you is ever that bad.

Even marriage!!

Buying a House....

God, at times, its like being in a third world country. The whole market is unregulated, and the amount of paperwork involved is horrendous and having to pay stamp duty amounts to being "legally" mugged by your government!

I don't know - why can't buying a house be as easy as buying a car or a pair of shoes?

A quick Hi to

my friend eunjung!

Some interesting links......

Too tired to write anything interesting so here's a few links to some interesting news stories.

Aids virus 'could be weakening' - samples taken two years ago, found to be weaker than those from fifteen years ago - signs of a possible cure or vaccination?

Smart beer mat! - get your glass refilled automatically! How smart.

The Myth - new Jacky Chan film - bit different from his usual slapstick

Noble M400 - my next car :)

Mercedes A-Class

We picked up Karen's mum's new car on Saturday - cor, i'm well impressed with it. Its such a smooth, quiet and relaxing car to drive, and you could really do some serious driving distances in it without feeling like you've just had a ride in a tumble dryer (i'm referring to the MINI here!).

Although, at nearly £17K, it should be good, for what is basically a high class Golf!

The stereo in it is quite fantastic - we purchased the upgrade package and you get an uprated stereo with it. The clarity and precise sound is great, considering that its a factory installation.

I wouldn't give up my Honda for it, but i must admit, that in the rain, on a horribly cold day when you want a bit of peace and quiet on the journey home, that the A-Class might be the first set of keys that I go for!

The Rainmaker

Watching this film on ITV at the moment - if you haven't seen it, its a cracking! Very funny but more important, very thought provoking in regards to the insurance business and the ethics of solicitors/lawyers who defend such morally irrehensible clients.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119978/

Actually, I've just realised how bad "The Firm" was - this was the first John Grisham film to be made into a movie, and at the time I thought it was pretty good, but on retrospect, it now seems more like an "entertainment" film, rather than a serious law movie.

Promise to myself

I shall update my blog every two days at the very least.

There. Thats a promise!

Speed cameras

Just wanted to add my thoughts about speeding in the UK, and especially speed cameras.

Its my personal belief that speed cameras do NOTHING in regards to saving lifes lost due to dangerous driving.

I mean, I could be drunk, smoking a spliff, reading a newspaper, cutting my toenails, or curling my eyelashes (er, i don't do this by the way!), or playing my PSP, or surfing the internet on my laptop, YET, as along as I'm driving below the speed limit, then thats okay because the speed camera doesn't know that im doing so.

So whats the more dangerous then? People who driving a few miles over the speed limit on an empty motorway at 4am in the morning, or people doing the things i mentioned above in busy traffic?

I'm all for putting speed cameras and speed bumps near schools but on any other road, they just smack of revenue generation.

Most people I know, on the sight of a camera, will just slow down, and speed back up again - is that a deterrent? I don't know. Can all road deaths be simply put down to people driving fast or are there any other factors in this?

Maybe through better education of drivers, and increased Police presence, then road deaths can be cut (2003 = 3508 deaths Department of Transport figures), but I just don't think speed cameras are the way to do this.

A bit of bling for my car!

Before



After



There. Doesn't that look better now!

But what a nightmare trying to take off the original radio door! I nearly lost my right hand, trying to get the pins out of the door, and then I had a nightmare trying to reattach the spring.

Why was this designed to be so tricky?!

Job hunting today

Ok, after a month of doing nothing but watching Friends, Top Gear and Mushy Movies, I've decided to start job hunting today.

Er, funny thing is that I don't know what I want to do.

I mean, my first port of call would be towards the I.T industry. Its what I know, and for some reason, I can be strangely good!

But is it what I want to do? Is it enough to get me out of bed?

I used to have a saying that if a job can get me out of bed willingly in the morning, then it must be a good job, but I dont think I've ever had that feeling - that motivation to WANT to wake up and happily whistle my way into work.

Anyway, I'll worry about it later -first thing to do is to get some cash! Outgoings far outweight my incomings!

Romantic Films

Ok, I've spent the last couple of days watching romantic films.

List of films

• The Family Man (IMDB link)
• Serendipity (IMDB link)
• Only You (IMDB link)

Am I the only guy in the world still interested in this genre? I was talking to Julie about this a couple of months ago, and I got the impression from her that guys who liked romantic films were a bit limp wristed!

Maybe its true - maybe guys who watch and enjoy romantic films have this touch of femininity inside of them which they don't mind tapping into from time to time. (god knows what it says about you if your main source of entertainment is Van Damme and Stallone!)

The strange thing is that I don't think I'm a romantic person -at least not anymore. I mean, I don't mind buying flowers from time to time, and that type of thing, but I'm certainly not going to fly to Venice to find my soul mate (plot of "Only You"!)

I guess we can't all be "Mike Ch'ngs"!

Bruce and Jo's Reception

Photos uploaded here

http://photobucket.com/albums/v85/andrewman/Bruce%20and%20Jo%20Reception%2011th%20Sept%202005/

Some of the photo's didn't come out too well - I think the camera needs a bit of fiddling and adjustment in order to ensure that indoor photography comes out clearer.

You think your computer is fast?

Then check this out!

http://atomchip.com/_wsn/page4.html

Look at the spec of it!

Memory - 1TB (Terabytes)
Storage - 2TB
Speed- 6.8ghz

Geez.

The average laptop has 256mb of memory, 40gb storage and 2GHZ processor.

The link above doesn't have a price tag but I suspect this laptop may cost the same amount as a medium range car.

Bourmouth Pictures

Can be found here

http://photobucket.com/albums/v85/andrewman/Bournmouth%2021st%20August%202005/

PSP part deux

Ok, just did a tour of Surrey to see if I could locate the F1 Grand Prix game.

I'm a fantical F1 fan - even though the last 5 years have been awful in terms of racing, I still have a love affair with F1.

I mean, its silly - my PSP came

• TOCA Race Driver 2 (British Touring Car racing game)
• Lumines (horribly addictive Tetris type game)
• Spiderman 2

Yet, I still managed to drag myself around Surrey to find the F1 game!

Anyway, I'm at home now and my packages are spewed all over the bed. I know its not the first time i've had a PSP (I had two of them in February, but these were for trade purposes), but its the first time i've had one for MYSELF.

By the way, all the hype about the PSP being sold out was bollocks - considering its still half term, there was hardly any kids there, all pestering their parents to buy them this wonderful toy! I suspect that the pricing might have something to do with it - £180 is £100 more than a PS2 at the moment, and I think that unless they drop the price closer to the £120 mark, sales of the PSP won't reach the heights that Sony want it to.

Photos of my PSP can be found here

http://photobucket.com/albums/v85/andrewman/PSP%201st%20September%202005/

PSP time!

*groan* Woke up around 20 minutes ago. Am just about to leave the house to go to Guildford to pick up my PSP.

Will update later, when i'm a bit more alive.

Wikipedia

Has anyone used the Wikipedia website before?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

It's an online encyclopedia but, more useful and far more diverse.

In many ways, its far more useful than Google in terms of research. I've been using it quite regularly for the last two months, and during my last month at Chohung Bank, I was using it VERY regularly in order to kill some time.

For example, if you want to know the ending of "The Fast and The Furious", type it in, and it'll give you a plot summary and the ending.

The beauty of Wikipedia, is that it has been written by its readers - its also being constantly edited and if you feel that an entry looks wrong, you can edit it yourself. How cool is that!

Anyway, things i've been using Wikipedia for recently

• reading analysis of movies i dont understand!
  
• looking up old Sinclair Spectrum computer games
• doing some research into Chinese history - just realised that for a Chinese person, I don't know that much about my history

In some ways, I think my generation missed out by not having the Internet when we were in school/college. Geez, i mean, think of the kind of information available just by typing in a few words in your browser. I doubt even my school/college library had this much information so easily available.

And there's another factor too - its fun! I mean, its great to be able to research into rock formations in Bolivia, but two seconds later, you can also read up retro gaming on the Commodore 64!

So get researching! Find out something new that you didn't know. This link should take you to a random article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

A Ten Year Romance

Er, I've been watching a lot of "Friends" this week.

And something which I've always thought was a tragedy, was that it took Ross and Rachel 10 years to finally realise how much they meant to each other.

Ten years! And throughout those years, they both went through their fair share of partners, and you know what? None of them had the chemistry or the dynamics with those partners that they had each other.

Even in the last episode, it wasn't known if she would be off to Paris for good, so leaving Ross with nothing but thought of what could have been.

So they got together at the end. But look at the time they wasted!

Van drivers and tailgaters

What is it about them?

Yesterday, I was tailgated by 3 of them on the A3 back to Woking - its pretty hilarious being tailgated 100 metres before a sensitve speed camera actually! The van drivers are so close behind you, that you can see the anger in their eyes, and their frustrations at me not breaking the speed limit just before a camera!

Of course, once you past the camera, you can just drop down a few gears and totally slaugher the imbecile in the van. And then slow down and let him catch up with you. And then be prepared to receive the "finger"!

You have to laugh, especially when the van is bright pink, and driven by a guy with a skinhead!

Talking to Bruce about this, he pretty much summed it up when he said that he "didn't use the brake pedal"!

Don't people get nervous when they're tailgating someone or, driving very close to the person in front? I always try and leave a two car space between myself and the car in front - hear that Julie? :)

p.s Johnny, have fun with your new phone - and Julie, back off! Leave my Best Man alone and stop picking on his phones!

Its a hard life

It was sunny.

And the last time it was sunny, i remember Mike had the day off, and he sent me a picture of the pint of Stella that he was consuming.

I was in the office that today, and I swore I'd take revenge.

So here it is Mikey! I might take a picture of me having a bath in Stella later.

Went back to the office today to pick up my pc's - my bedroom at my mum's place is now a graveyard of PC's and screens, and I swear my mum is giving me dirty looks everytime she walks in here!

Whats on my agenda today? Well, im taking my mum out shopping later - she hasn't been in the Honda yet, so that should be fun! Also, I received my external hard drive today (the one that Mike, Josephine, Bruce, Jo, Julie and Karen got for my birthday present - if you didn't chip in, why not?). I think i'll spend the whole day backing up my files.

Oh what a hard life this is!

Last Day

End of an era really.

My boss took me out for lunch today, which is good, because otherwise I wouldn't have ordered the £5 lychees (abusrd isn't it, that a restaurant can charge that much for something which came out of a tin!). He also mentioned to me that I could take home the computers on my desk! Which isn't absurd - althought, I know have more computers than shoes at home.

I started this job 6 years ago, and I thought it was going to be the job which would set me on the path of prosperity and immense wealth.

Er, neither of those two have come my way. But I do know what food to order in a Korean restaurant!

And I do know which toilet to avoid in the men's!

Its so strange that I've come out of here, after 6 years feeling that my career has just stagnated working here. I've come out of here with a greater knowledge of I.T and Banking, yet because of the lack of business here, there's been no need to put my knowledge into practise. It's like being a doctor, yet having no patients to work on.

Its very strange leaving a place when you've been here so long - and althought I leave here with lots of negative thoughts, there has been some positives, and throughout the years, I did make some good friends who made the journey here somewhat more bearable - Carol, Ashley, Garry, Maria, Mercedes - thanks guys for providing some much needed laughts and for introducing me to drinking at lunchtime!

I'm coming back into the office tomorrow as I have to pick up my new goodies. It'll be a good feeling though, to know that I dont have to come in for work purposes!

Last Day Eve

Am frantically backing up all my data onto cdrom. 6 years, I've accumulatd gigabytes of data and I dont want to lose some of this stuff.

Its very strange doing this. Just hope I don't miss anything!

Desk looks very strange at the moment - i've never seen it so clean before.

Did I tell you guys that I got a Nintendo DS on Saturday? Its a fantastic machine, and I love it to bits.

Problem is - that there's no games available for the damn thing! So its going back for a refund next Saturday :(

Ode to Johnny

Remember a couple of weeks ago, i dedicated a blog to Julie - well, here's one to my good friend Johnny.

I first met Johnny in Hammersmith College in 1989. I used to pass him in the corridor, and we would give each other a dirty, mean look, just to try and intimidate each other, but I guess we both probably looked like we were suffering from constipation.

Actually, seeing that I was dressed like a Bros (80's boy band) groupie (blue torn jeans, blue denim shirt, red bandana), I guess it wasn't a surprise that he was eyeballing me up. But then, seeing that Johnny had a wavey perm with a middle parting, and clutching a mobile phone, I thought he was recruiting for the triads! (perm and mobile phone was standard equipment in those days).

In Hammersmith college, people tended to hang round their own ethnic groups - so one end of the college would be populated by the chinese people, the other one by the Indians guys, and the other end by the black guys. So Johnny would be there, with the other Chinese lot. I wasn't part of this "elite" group, as I was hanging around with this girl that I fancied (i thought there was a mutual feeling, seeing that I used to borrow her money all the time). Everytime I walked past, I could feel the dirty looks aimed right at the back of my bandana.

I think we started talking because of a mutual friend - someone I knew was in one of his classes and introduced me to him (er, also she fancied the nuts out of him!). And we both realised we had a lot in common. We played a lot of snooker during college time, and hanged out a lot in the local KFC. (hence why i got expelled i think!).

Also, several months after talking to him, i suddenly aquired the nickname "Biff" - and the weird thing is how quickly it got adopted. I've got a very mild stammer, and at times when I talk, words come out very quickly and rushed. Hence Johnny noticed that the sound that came out of my mouth sounded like "biff buff biff buff buff biff". I used to think it was a curse, but then i slowly realised that it was a great way of introducing myself to women!

• Girl "So, whats your name?"
• Me "My friends call me Biff"
• Girl (giggle) "Thats a strange name, how did you come up with that?"
• Me "Lemme tell you the story"
• Girl (giggle) " Oh thats funny - can i buy you a drink?"
• Me "If you must"

Strange that this guy who I thought was a mini gangster and who thought up this crap nicname for me, ends up being my best man, 16 years later! The secret to a good friendship? The ability to laugh at anyone and anything!

32, and proud of it!

Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday dear Andrew/Biff/Cheuk Fai,
Happy Birthday to me.

Pleased to announced today that my body has again, gone through ANOTHER cycle of the Sun - this in turn has killed off a few more brain cells in my brain, caused some more blood cells to switch off and slowed my heart down a few more beats.

Actually, being in my early 30's hasn't bothered me as much as I thought it would - other people i know my age have been quite depressed and see it as a curse in their live.

To be honest, I'm bloody happy that I reached this age!

When you think of all the dangers you face in your life - all the potential risks that in a mere flutter, can take away all that you hold precious, you'd realise that life is such a miracle.

I mean, lets start at the beginning.

Starting with fertilisation - geez, think of how small a sperm is - its microscopic! Now, think about how far it has to go up the vagina wall to reach the fallopian tube - its like miles away if you're the size of a sperm. And if it reaches its target, it has to bind and fuse itself with the egg in the woman's womb.

And within this fusion of sperm and egg, lies a future breathing person - one who's dreams have yet to be shaped.

When I was an baby, my parents were quite worried about me - i was very overweight (i was so fat, i couldn't sit up straight!), I was prone to fevers, and I had loads of skin rashes. I think I must have seriously given my mother a load of sleepless nights!

If you know my mum, you'll know she worries about EVERYTHING! :)

Yet, I managed to survive it all. Later in my teens, i was diagnosed with colour blindness, and my eye sight had gotten pretty short sighted, yet it was nothing that couldn't be fixed (despite Johnny's jokes about my telescopic glasses! Git!)

And through all that, I'm sure I must have crossed a thousand roads, driven my car hundreds of times and flown a few dozen times.

Yet I'm still around!

Hence, why I'm going to be celebrating my life and what I've done and achieved. Ok, I haven't gotten a masters in adult movie reviewing yet, nor have I driven a Ferrari, but er, I've managed to do other worthwhile things, which matter to ME :) Such as sit on a rollercoaster, or snorkel (er, don't say a word Johnny!), or to ski.

I want to quote that famous philospher, Mike Ch'ng (he of the white jeans fame)

http://k-lye.blogs.friendster.com/klyes_pad/2005/08/people_rants.html

"Most of our daily issues are nothing more than ripples on the ocean and moaning about it won't fix it. By all means, vent if you have do, but then do something about it!"

So, get on with your life - and most importantly, enjoy your life.

You're only 32, once in your life!

Wing Men

Hahaha - forgotten that in my speech to the guys on Saturday, I said that I'd have any of the guys as my "wingmen" anyday!

Must stop quoting the film "Top Gun"!

Stag Summary

Ok, I'm not going to repeat what happened, word for word, but somethings need to be mentioned;

• taxi drivers -geez, 9 out of 10 taxi drivers there all tried it on - before you get into the taxi, its best to negotiate a price first - only problem is that most of them wanted us to pay 350CZK for a 10 minute taxi ride - thats nearly £8.50 - and this is in a country where a steak cost less than half that. The worst one of all was the one who wanted £12.50 from our hotel to the central square - granted, it was the middle of night, but its a 10 minute journey! Don't talk about taxi drivers to Yang - he's like a volcano waiting to pop when it comes to taxi drivers!
• beer - cheap. Beyond belief! 50p for a half litre of beer is just amazing, and its not a bad beer either to be honest. The great thing of all is that you can drink loads of the stuff without getting too drunk, and as far as I'm aware, there are no hangover effects either.
• food - cheap too. Probably not a great place to go if you're a Vegi, but for a meat lover like me, its great.
  
• lap dancing - wow! Enough said!
• our hotel - absolutely rubbish! No aircon, wash basin was small beyond words (even a midget would have had problems using it), hard beds (a plank of wood basically), and the most evil looking receptionist ever.
• my friends - brilliant. All my friends were just amazing and very much all up for a laugh - and laugh we did. Sure, we went to some scummy places, but we always made the best of every situation.
• Gatwick airport - sort out your passport control please. What a mess!

I'm sure I must have left something out, but I'm still in a daze. Im just too old these days for 3 hour's sleep a day weekends. Still, big sympathy for Johnny - we all had a day off except for him. God knows how he survived!

Tired. Beyond words.

Not writing much today. Got home last night at 11.30pm, got back to Woking at 12.15, went to bed at 1am, and woke up today at 1pm.

Will write some more tomorrow, but here's some quick stag data -

Drank - 9 pints of Pilsner, 1 pint of Gambinios, 1 Kamikaze, 2 Red Bulls/Vodka, 4 large Martini/Lime

Slept - Friday night - 3 hours, Saturday - 3 hours, Sunday - 3 hours

See you guys tomorrow.

Uplifting

I met a one year old girl yesterday with Down Syndrome.

I was at Guy's Hospital, visiting my mother, and in the bed next to us, was a woman visting her mother.

Anyway, this girl had really big blue eyes, and she couldn't stop smiling - honestly, she had the face of a little angel. So as I usually do when I see cute babies, I pull weird faces and make funny sounds at them, and the little girl just started chuckling.

Her mother said that the girl was born two months premature and that she had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome.

You could read about it here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_syndrome

When I think of the struggle that this little girl, who gave me the cutest chuckle ever, has to face in her life, it makes you realise how amazing some of the parents who have to deal with this are - the woman saw her daughter as a blessing, and quite unique.

And after seeing this little girl smiling, I think I agree with her.

So, Biff's saying of the day;

"seize the day".

Stag Weekend Minus One Day

Oh my god.

I'm started to get a bit excited about the whole thing now! I guess because of all the things going on in my life at the moment, I haven't really had time to get excited about it, but I'm now smiling at the thought of a 80p half litre of beer!

Also, at this point, I start to get anxious.

Do I have everything? Most important thing is passport - check, i always remember that, unlike Mikey. Have I printed off the Easyjet/Praguepissup documents? Check, just done that. Do I have a change of underwear? Check, oh yes sir, I have that all sorted out.

Its strange because I normally don't use the organiser on my phone - but at the moment, its absolutely filled with things such as "don't forget the imodium", and "remind mike not to leave me naked in prague".

I really hope that everyone enjoys themselves - in the last couple of weeks, me and my best men Johnny and Mike, have done a lot of research into Prague's nightlife (not THOSE kind of places Josephine!), and my one true fear is people not enjoying themselves.

I guess if they don't, then I'll just have to strip naked and run up and down in Prague!

Mobile Phones Round Up

This seems to be a day about Johnny!

Anyway, after seeing Johnny's Nokia 7210 yesterday, I just thought I'd do a round up of phones out at the moment, or about to come out.

Sony Ericsson W800



The first Sony phone deemed worthy of the "W" (Walkman" tag. Encased in a tasteful orange shell, this phone is near identical to its sister phone, the K750.

It has

• 2mp camera
• 512mb memory stick
• 30 hour playback for music player
• FM radio

I've had a play with the K750 which is its sister phone, and the user interface is much better than the previous Sony Ericsson phones. Response time is neary instant, so eliminating the previous lag that these phones used to suffer.

A big thumbs up to this phone.

Nokia N91



Something a bit different. Nokia have placed a 4GB (the same size as a mini ipod) hard drive into a 3G/GSM smartphone.

This phone has

• 4GB hard drive - enough capacity for around 2000 odd songs? Or if you don't want ot use it store music, you can use it as an external hard drive
  
• 2MP camera
• FM radio

This phone won't be out till around late Autumn/early Winter, but rumours suggest that even with a subsided pricing plan, this phone will still be quite expensive. Also, personally, I have to ask myself, how long will the battery last for, if you're using the music player AND the phone all day long?


Motorola PEBL V6



Julie will like this - Motorola's latest stylish offering resembles....a pebble, hence the name! Function wise, it isn't exactly state of the art (no megapixel camera, no expandable memory, etc), but it should appeal to those who deem fashion more important than functionality.

Phone has

• 0.3 megapixel camera
• smooth silver finish
• 5mb memory

Er, and thats it!

SonyEricsson D750



Johnny, why don't you consider this? It's near identical to the W800 - all it lacks is the memory stick (which you can pick up cheaply in eBay or HK), and the headphones.

Phone has

• 2mp camera
• 30 hour playback for music player
• FM radio
• 64mb memory stick
  

And its going to be a lot cheaper than the W800 at first - the hype of the W800 is increasing the basic price of it.

Do your own blog

Johnny - do your own blog!

Its dead easy. Go to Blogger.Com. Sign on for an account. Choose your layout and name of blog. Sorted! Then just write.

You don't need to write about anything remotely intelligent or witty - you're a funny guy and you have enough funny stories about people in general to write a dozen blogs!

Give it a try - and don't take it too seriously!

If you need a hand with things to write about, I'll talk to you about it this weekend in Atlas Bar, Prague!

Prague Countdown

3 days to go!

List of things to do

• buy shower gel
• bring imodium just in case
• pack passport in a place where I can remember to get it
• charge batteries for camera

Go on, give a damn please

Overcooked, still stuck together and filled with a substance they called pork.

What am I talking about?

The dumpings (Gyoza) I had yesterday in a Japanese restaurant.

They were so overcooked, that they had just stuck together - so with one prod of my fork, I could have picked up all five pieces. Separating them from each other involved simply destroying the dough in order to loosen them all up.

And they had the cheek to charge £3.50 for this.

Earlier we had ordered some chicken wings for my niece to eat during the main course. And when did they turn up? Just after all the plates had been cleared up.

And they had a cheek to charge a 10% service charge for this.

Now, this isn't an accusation about the Japanese, because to be honest, I dont think I've ever had this kind of service from a Japanese establishment - its more an accusation about resturants in general, but dont they realise that this kind of sloppiness puts people off from going to there again?

I don't know- maybe I'm being sensitive to things like this, but I view eating out as an experience, and I love my food. "Little" things like this, irritate me, and makes me wonder about the business ethos of restaurant owners like this.

Dancing

As Karen has told me many a times, I can't dance.

When the music starts, and everyone starts getting down, I reluctantly walk onto the dance floor - my feet start to shuffle like a duck, and then my arms move around the top of my head, like I'm suffering from a fit.

In my head, I have this vision of women dancing around me, all lining up to dance with me, but I guess in reality, they're all lining up to claim compensation from me when I end up bashing them in the eye with my flailing elbows!

But the thing is, I hate dancing. Its just something I'm not interested in. When I listen to music, I dont instantly feel an urge to start spinning on my head, I just feel an urge to eat a pizza. Its just not me, and I always found it annoying when your in a club, and someone keeps bugging you to come and dance - I know they're just being polite, but NO means NO!

When I was in my twenties, I used to go clubbing quite a bit - me, Johnny and Matthew used to go every Friday to Maximus in Leicester Square, and it was just hilarious. I would be doing the "running man" for 4 hours straight, Matthew would be doing his russian square dancing, and Johnny would be doing something he learnt off a rap video. And the funny thing is that we all thought we were quite hot!

I'm suprised we didn't start strutting out of the club, like the kids from Fame, and start dancing in the streets, such was our euphoria!

But I guess there got a point, when I just didn't enjoy it anymore. And I'm now old enough to not care about dancing in clubs anymore. I'd rather just drink and watch everyone else dance.

p.s Happy Birthday Ju-Lun Ju Par Fang!

Friday night

Oh boy.

Must make a mental note to myself

Stop mixing my drinks.

Beer, vodka with lemonade (it was wrong Jo!), vodka with lime, JD and Coke, red wine, champagne and gin and tonic DOESN'T MIX!

In fact, it just rotates around your stomach and makes you say strange things. I dont think that Brucie's stomach agreed with it too, judging by his reaction when he got home. (he did a "jo"!).

Friday was a very good night - we were celebrating Brucie's birthday at Slug and Lettuce in Covent Garden, and there was a good turnout. I can't actually remember what time we left, and I can't remember saying goodbye to anyone (except for a very manly hug with Mike).

I'm starting to think that I'm going to be feeling very sick in Prague!

The look on Brucie's face!

Just "found" this photo.

Dear oh dear, what are we doing!

Hospital

My mum's in hospital at the moment. She's been suffering from a trapped nerve for the past year and recently, its been getting worse and has really affected her mobility.

So, today, she'll be having an operation to relieve the pressure on her nerve. From what I understand, they'll be donig something to the bone that's pushing onto the nerve! Sounds a bit complicated to me, but from what I understand, its quite a routine operation, and the hospital does loads of them everyday, so fingers cross Mum.

Anyway, onto another subject, I found this on my Internet travels today.








It's a "Hello Kitty" chess set! Ok, normally, I groan when I see stuff like this, but I have to admit, this one looks very well designed.

Althought, you should see the price of it - $330 USD!

http://shop.sanrio.jp/cm/cmc-910457/

Have a good weekend everyone, and Julie, enjoy your Paris trip - hope you managed to get knocked up my dear!

" all you wish for and all you seem "

Just a little review of one of my favourite songs "In the Sun" by Joseph Arthur.

Actually, you may have heard this song before - a few years ago, it was featured in the advert for Davidoff aftershave, Echo. Due to the length of the advert, only a first 5 lines of lyrics were used I think.

Then last year, Tim gave me the Joseph Arthur CD, telling me to look out for "In the Sun".

From the quiet opening of the song, to the beautiful orchesetral ending, the raw lyrics paints an image of a broken man. A man, who's lost someone very close to him. A man, regretful that he took this special someone for granted. And now because of this loss, he's a man struggling to find some purpose in his life.

Personally, I think this song can be viewed from two different angles - it could be viewed as

• a song to give hope and some peace to those having difficulty letting go of someone they once loved
• a heartbreaking song - a song sung with such raw passion is bound to remind someone of a past loved one

There's a point in the song, which I always find stunning - towards the end of the song, Joseph Arthur is singing " may gods love be with you", and he repeats this a few times - in the background, there isn't much music, but then BANG! The music comes back to live with a magical glory, and he sings " cos if i find - if i find my own way, how much will i find ... ".

I personally think that a good song should be like a story. There should be high and low points, and the lyrics should snare you in and take you into a journey of discovery.

And I think this song does this perfectly.

Ode to Julie

Apparently, Julie feels left out, because no one has mentioned her finer qualities in their blog yet.

So as her number 2 fan, I'll try and make an eloquent dedication to our resident style guru.

I first met Julie in February 2004 in All Bar One in Leicester Square. I had come out that evening to meet Johnny, who in turn, was there to meet Julie, his ex work colleague, who in turn was there to be hooked up with! So, after being introduced to her, I finished that evening, with a good impression of this not so young lady. She had seemed polite, funny, quite intelligent and very well spoken.

Also, she had a face and body, which, some people in the Middle East would exchange 10 camels and a pot of Arabic coffee for.

I next met up with Julie again in June. This time, we were in that classy establishment, Moon under the Water in Charing Cross, in order to perform our usual "lets get drunk on a Friday" ritual.

After that, we started chatting a bit more often - she would treat me as her temporary gay best friend (unfortuatenly, not like Will and Grace, more like Batman and Robin - her being Batman), and would nag me about my lack of basic hygiene skills.

I soon found out that she was hiding a very big stick, which she would occassionally pull out and stir the proverbal pot with. This witch would put many an evil ingredient in her pot to stir - such as Mike's "so gay, it makes even Julian Clary look like Stallone" phone, or Johnny's "so old, they were using that phone in 1837" phone, or Biff's "so big, you could stick your phone down your trousers and make the ladies smile for a change" phone. But, I've learnt to appreciate and even enjoy her bitter and evil comments.

Our Julie is very special and possesses skills with a stick that I've never seen before, and everyone who meets her comes out with a great impression of her.

Except for Mike, who had to get a new phone because of her.

Oh I so want this phone!

As I look at you, I sigh with pleasure. The sheer beauty of your face sings a beat to my heart which sounds better than any symphony that I've heard. I touch you, and my fingers start to tingle, and I feel like a man who's love has no limits, yet restrained by the vast distances between the two of us, I can only weep at the injustice of it all. By Andrew Man

Reading the above paragraph, you can imagine the sheer passion involved between the two parties mentioned above.

But, er what does it mean, when this passion is between a man and a mobile phone?


Look at the phone on the right. You may think its a normal Motorola V3 RAZR, but its a bit more than that. It's the 3G version of it.

If you've known me for at least the past two years, you would have seen me with some pretty hefty phones - phones which, if used as a weapon, would pretty much give someone a concussion for the next week or so.

So whats special about the V3x? Well, its a little bit thicker than the V3 RAZR, which still means its thin like hell. Yet, feature wise, it has far more in terms of spec.

How does this sound?

• 2MP camera
• 256k colour screen
• upgradable memory (up to 512mb)
• 125 grammes

Oh I do so want this! The last two years, Ive realised that I haven't had a phone that could do all I want (great camera and music player with decent memory), yet come in a compact format.

On paper, this phone looks like it has all I want. The downside may be the Motorola user interface which really bugs me. Using Karen's V3 RAZR drives me nuts, especially as I'm a prolific text messager!

You can read more about it here

http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_v3x-1120.php

So, Julie, my style guru, does this phone meet with your approval?

"I have lived a thousand lives........"

I found this book by accident.

I was on Amazon, looking for a book (can't remember the details), and on the side panel, there was a message saying that Amazon recommended this book.

So I click on it, and find little about the book, besides from five star ratings and recommendations to read it.

The intriguing thing about this, was that this novel won the World Fantasy Award in 1988, which is like a major sci-fi book award, yet I had never come aross this book - probably because it was out of print, hence the difficulties.

Anyway, after "obtaining" a copy of this book, I started reading it on the tube on the way home. And then I read it while eating my dinner. And I kept reading, until I put it down, around 12am, in awe.

In awe of the ability of a man to write a book with such passion, emotion and heartbreak.

At this point, you might be asking, whats this book about?

Quite simply, its about a man named Jeffrey Winston, who dies at 1:06pm October 18 1988. He wakes up, in 1963, in the body of his 18 year old self. And he's been giving the chance to live his live again.

And it "replays" over and over again - each life lived differently, and with different repercussions on the "reality" he lives in.

I don't want to reveal too much about the book - i started reading the book with little idea about the plot and I think thats the best approach to this book.

Ken Grimwood has managed to sculpture a beautiful novel - easy to read and very thought provoking. I feel like it has inspired to change my outlook on life somewhat.

Heck, even Mike agreed with me, and we never agree on anything!

Terminator 2

Just watching Terminator 2 on ITV2 at the moment. God knows why I'm watching this, as I've got it on DVD already!

But.

I love this film. I watched it when it was first released in the cinema in 1991, and it just blew me away. Even now, 14 years later, some of the effects still look better than the stuff you get on "normal" television!

I guess in terms of shakspearean character development and movie symbolisms, its certainly no Citizen Kane or Gone with the Wind. But I found both of them quite boring anyway.

Should be going to sleep soon - long day ahead - car is going in for a service, and then going to my sister's for a bit of harassment!

Stealing a Nation

Watched Stealing a Nation, A Special Report by John Pilger last night on ITV (this documentary was previously shown last October 2004).

In the Indian Ocean, lies a group of islands near Mauritius, called the Chagos Islands. These islands was a British Crown Colony, much the same as Hong Kong once was.

In the 1960's, the British Government made a deal to lease these islands to the US government - the US wanted to convert the island, Diego Garcia into a military base, and this base is now its biggest overseas installation.

Unfortunately for the British and the Americans, over 2000 people lived on these islands.

The Americans wanted the islands to be "swept" and "sanitised" (in other words, the people removed).

After several attempts to remove them, they were eventually hereded onto boats and dumped into the slums of Mauritius.

John Pilger and producer Christopher Martin have acquired hundreds of astonishing official documents which, in the words of officials and ministers, reveal how the conspiracy was hatched, then covered up.

“The documents show clearly that the conspiracy to expel the population rested on a big lie,” says John Pilger. “This claimed that the population were itinerant workers, when the government knew this was a population that went back generations. Most had never left the islands.

“One Foreign Office document is headed, ‘Maintaining the fiction’. Another says, ‘We propose to certify these people, more or less fraudulently, as belonging somewhere else.’ We have secret memos that propose how the government should lie to the world. I have never read anything like them.”

Here's a quote from a report in the Guardian.

The behavior of the Blair government is, in many respects, the worst. In 2000, the islanders won a historic victory in the high court, which ruled their expulsion illegal. Within hours of the judgment, the Foreign Office announced that it would not be possible for them to return to Diego Garcia because of a "treaty" with Washington - in truth, a deal concealed from parliament and the US Congress. As for the other islands in the group, a "feasibility study" would determine whether these could be resettled. This has been described by Professor David Stoddart, a world authority on the Chagos, as "worthless" and "an elaborate charade". The "study" consulted not a single islander; it found that the islands were "sinking", which was news to the Americans who are building more and more base facilities; the US navy describes the living conditions as so outstanding that they are "unbelievable".

In 2003, in a now notorious follow-up high court case, the islanders were denied compensation, with government counsel allowed by the judge to attack and humiliate them in the witness box, and with Justice Ousley referring to "we" as if the court and the Foreign Office were on the same side. Last June, the government invoked the archaic royal prerogative in order to crush the 2000 judgment. A decree was issued that the islanders were banned forever from returning home. These were the same totalitarian powers used to expel them in secret 40 years ago; Blair used them to authorize his illegal attack on Iraq.

So basically, in order to crush the judgement made in 2000 which deemed the expulsion illegal, the government use the Royal Prerogative to overrule this judgement.

The actions of the government, in order to appease the Americans is just amazing. You can't help but feel anger at the treatment that these people have suffered at the hands of the British, and the Americans.

Its all very well, our government bleating on about human right abuses in Iraq or China, when in fact, they've trampled all over the rights of the Chagos islanders. And to think, that these islanders are in fact, British citizens.

Its a sordid story, which makes me ashamed of Tony Blair and his government.

If anyone wants to watch this documentary, give me a shout.

Further reading can be found here.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3177682.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3583927.stm

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/video1027.htm

http://pilger.carlton.com/

http://www.irr.org.uk/2004/september/ak000014.html

The state of beer pipes, and the state of MY pipes

The thought of going up 30 miles of the A3 last night, and bursting to go to the toilet to do a dump scared the heck out of me.

It usually starts with a little sweat. Things get a little bit warmer.

Then my stomach rumbles, and I feel an urge to loosen my belt a bit.

And then it hits you, BANG! A shot of pain, shoots from your stomach to your bottom at the speed of thought, and you feel your bottom is about to take off into space.

Luckily, this didn't happen. I decided to go back to my house instead of going back to Woking, so that I could be ready for the forthcoming eruptions that I knew was inevitable. Like Anakin becoming Darth Vader, it was my destiny that night, for me to duel with the toilet.

How did I get to this stage?

I really don't know. I don't think I ate anything too funky yesterday. My menu for the day was:

• morning: bacon roll
• lunch: thai noodles salad
• dinner: pork and duck fried crispy noodles

So its not like I ate anything too complicated.

As I was sitting on the bog, contemplating all this, I came up with a new theory.

Beer

Last year, I remember going through a phase when I had to do a dump everytime I had a pint, so I started drinking other stuff - couple of months later, this problem when away. But then I realised that actually, we started going to another place more regularly to drink.

Yesterday we went out for some drinks, but we didn't go to our "normal" place (I dont want to name "names" just in case! I can't afford to be sued!), nor did I drink my usual beer (I usually drink Stella, but I was drinking Carling Extra Cold. Which was a bit bland actually)

Could beer be the case as to why I suffer from such a sensitive stomach? Could it be that one place has cleaned beer pipes than the other? Can the bacteria residing in dirty pipes give me the "runs"? But then if it was dirty pipes, how come no one else had a dodgy stomach? Or could it be that im specifically sensitive to these bugs?

I don't know whats to blame. I really don't. But its put me off drinking beer for a while (ok, until Friday that is). Just another thing to add to my "you're getting old Biff" list .

Luckily, this story had a happy ending (er, in that I didn't have to sweat for 30 miles up the A3, waiting to get home to use the toilet!). But I'm dreading having to go through all this while in Prague.

Live your life by the dice

Currently in the middle of reading the dice man by Luke Rhinehart.

I've been meaning to read this book for sometime now. It was recommended to me around 3 years ago by my friend Lee, and he told me it was "one freaky book"!

So on Monday, whilst browsing in Whsmiths, I noticed that if you brought a copy of The Times newspaper, you could also buy this book for 99p. So I snapped it up straight away. (I love a bargain).

By the way, The Times does this every week in Whsmiths, so keep your eyes open ok?

So whats it all about then?

Well, its about a psychatrist called Luke Rhinehart, who, bored with life and his daily routine decides to live his life by the dice. Every action he takes is decided by the roll of the dice. For example, in deciding what his behaviour patterns would be like in the next month, he would make a list of six options and whatever number the die would come up with, he would go along with its decision.

The book was written in the 1960's, and its kind of strange to be reminded about the "commie's" and other such remainders of the state of politics in that era.

I'm only halfway through the book, and to be honest, I'm finding it very interesting. Some of the issues raised by Luke, regarding the rules that society dictates or our behaviour patterns are very though provoking.

Instead of conforming himself to what society expects from him, he breaks out and does the complete opposite - for example, he tells his patient that he is Jesus Christ, because the die told him to spread love for a month!

I'll have finshed reading the book in a couple of days, so I'll be able to talk about the ending in more depth.

Why can't chocolates win me love?

I was thinking back to the first girl that I fell in love with.

Picture the scene. A young boy of 13, innocent in many ways, yet wise enough to know that girls had to be impressed in order to get them to notice you!

Back in my youth, I had to attend Chinese school in order to learn the ways of the Cantonese language. The school I went to, was in the basement of St Martins in the Field church in Trafalgar Square, and it was quite a small school compared to the other ones in London. I had been there for a few years now, so I pretty much knew everyone there.

So one Sunday, I noticed a new face there. And then it hit me - here was a girl that I wanted to get to know! Up to that point, I had pretty much treat girls as the "enemy".

But this one was different - she wore pretty dark clothing, and looked incredibly moody, which I found to be very appealing.

I thought about her for the whole week. Usually, I dreaded going to Chinese school, but this time, I was really looking forward to it.

I guess that I thought I was a bit of a smoothie - I was heavily influenced by T.V and thought that my slick approach to winning her heart would "seal the deal"!.

So, the following Sunday, armed with my box of Dairy Milk chocolates, I ask my sister to give them to Wendy with my hand written note.

"I think you're the one!"

2 minutes later, my sister returns with the box of chocolate, along with a verbal message

(for some reason, my sister always quote this in a northern accent! I didn't even know she was from up there!)

"That does it, tell him to get lost!"

My approach had failed. She had scorned my love, and thrown it back at me with a northern accent.

Still, at least my chocolates weren't wasted. I think one of my cousins asked if she could have the box if I didn't want it!

It's oh so quiet in here.....

Monday morning. 9.04am. And it feels like ghost town here at Chohung Bank London.

Its strange to think that at one point, there was 40 odd people working in this branch, and now we have only 6. Of which, 4 have taken a day off today.

If I had known, I would have gone back to bed at 7am for another hour or so!

I've still to make an appointment with a solicitor, in order for him to sign my redundancy agreement (and then I can get my hands on my lovely money!). As I've never been in trouble with the law, or being sued, or made a will, I have no idea as to how to find a solicitor, so if anyone can help me, I'd very grateful!

Was listening to the new Charlotte Church album this morning on me Ipod. Actually, it wasn't too bad, but maybe that was because of my own misconceptions as her as a "pop" singer. There are a few duff tracks on the album, but nothing too bad. I guess its early days, in deciding whether she'll make the transition from child opera singer to hot chick pop singer, but give the girl credit for making the move anyway.

p.s I want a Ferrari F430. If you watched Top Gear last night, you'd have seen the review of it, and one thing stands out more than anything else - the noise it makes! My god, if I had this car, I would never ever use the stereo - i'd be listening to the engine roar through the revs all the time!

p.p.s Oh my gawd - I've been on the internet today for 8 hours! My eye balls are ready to explode, and worse of all, I'm running out of interesting things to look at!

Chinese stares, Jam toast and bloody Brucie!

Its starts with a stare - it lingers for a bit, and they have a look on their face which resembles one of a person with serious constipation.

I'm sure you've (er that is if you're Chinese or of some Oriental origin) had it before. It happens when you walk past a Chinese person.

Why do they do that? I mean, I might pass a quick glance at them (especially if its a really beautiful girl!), but thats it - I've got better things to do than to stare at another Chinese person!

For some strange reason today, I came across loads of Oriental people - first some individuals on the underground, and then when I came out of the station, there was a whole flood of Japanese or Korean folks in business suits - each and everyone of them glared at me like I had taken the last piece of sushi or something!

Next time, I might smile back!

After that, I went to go and buy my daily breakfast. Since coming back from Barcelona, I've been trying to watch what I've been eating. Out went the daily bacon rolls, and in came the jam granary toast. *sigh* I miss my bacon, and the feel good factor that comes with it - I can understand why Jo loves her chocolate so much, and why Simon loves his gyming (and i thought it was because he loved to wear lycra!).

I don't care what anyone says - food thats good for you (salad, pasta, toast) is incredibly dull and totally against my princples as a food loving binge eating junkie! Why can't anyone make the a healthy "bacon" roll! We can perform all kinds of miracles such as DNA sequencing or nanotechnology, but we can't make the healthy "bacon" roll yet.

I think one of the reason why I needed a bacon roll instead of jam toast, was because bloody Brucie texted me at 1.20am last night! I had just hit the sweet spot - that moment just before your body finally relaxes itself - and I heard my phone beeping to inform me that someone had sent me a text message! I had forgotten that earlier on in the evening (about 10pm), I had texted Brucie to see if he was coming out for a beer!

Bah! And it took ages to fall asleep after that! You owe me a beer Brucie!

p.s Wedding Plans - me and Karen have both informed our respective local councils, of our intent to marry. So we now have to wait 16 days to pass before we can pick up our license to marry from Wandsworth council. In the meantime, I'm still trying to find a photographer, a venue for our party, and a place to hire some suits! Will keep you guys informed.

Did you keep silent today?

Today, there was a two minute period of silence for the victims of the last week's bombings in London.

Sometimes, I do wonder - what are we meant to be thinking off, during those silent moments?

• Are we suppose to think about the people who we've never met before, and the life they lived?
• Are we suppose to think about the horrific way some of these people died?
• Should I feel guilty that I was thinking about the stereo I was going to buy for my car

Don't get me wrong - I think about what happened on Thursday 7th July 2005 a lot. I think about it when I hear a strange sound on the underground. I think about it everytime I open the newspaper in the morning. I think about it everytime I watch the news.

And I grief for the people, who were simply on their way to work. And in one split second flash, nothing in their lives, would ever be the same again.

Thats probably why I didn't spend those two minutes thinking about whats happened - because i've spent the last week thinking, about that one hour of hell.

p.s I've decided to get the Alpine CDE 9845RB. Pretty soon, I shall relieve my chav days of past - blasting the stereo up, and pretending to look cool!