The Secret Life of Andrew

I've been having a jolly old time with my days off. I'm so glad that I have another week off. During my last days of work I had an unbearable time and I'm still quite tempted to jack it all in and run away. James has suggested we run away and go travelling since his contract runs out on 1st October. I wish I could! I do just want to be doing fun stuff instead and (although I got my new inflated pay check yesterday), this job is killing me and my brain cells. And there's sod all to apply for. But hey, I'm not worrying about it for a week.

On Thursday we headed to Knaresborough. I have been going on about it for a while, just because I really wanted to go. So we did, and it was lovely! The view of the bridge is really amazing and we had a really nice wander around. Louise at work had given me tips on where to go, including telling me where the butcher was that my old line manager once bought a rabbit from, got pissed and then left the dead rabbit on a train. Yeah, not nice for the poor sap who opened that bag! We walked around the ruined castle, the gardens, had lunch by the river, went to the museum and then over to Mother Shipton's Cave. The oldest tourist attraction in the country apparently! It has a petrifying well, quite big, which overflows and anything you han over it gets wet and then petrifies. Weird but very interesting. There's a tiny museum there which has random stone things in including Agatha Christie's handbag! Knaresborough is very hilly so we hiked back into the town where we ate dinner and then went for tasty ice cream afterwards. Mandarin and black cherry - yum! A lovely day.

On Friday we went to Skipton and had dinner in Bean Loved with James' Mum. There are painted sheep sculptures about, like the ones in Manchester from a few years back (one of which I got told off by a policeman for sitting on) so we did the sheep trail and got our hair cut. We took a photo of all 25! It's a great idea for a tourist place though. Talking to our hairdresser, Alison, different people have to pay for different sheep. So the one on Coach Street, she had to chip in for! £120! And she didn't get a say in it either. Not sure what would happen if she refused to pay. We went to the Green book shop too obviously. The best shop in Skipton and I do miss it. I got three Miss Marple books, a novel about a moving zoo and another about a librarian, the latter of which I am very excited about! James found it and thought of me clearly.

On Friday evening we had another leaving do to go to! Honestly, there's hardly anyone left at the LSC now and I do wonder how we'll meet up when it shuts down. Anyway, it was Vikki and Bev D's leaving do at Gourmet Burger Kitchen. We ended up at the end with Charlotte and Rich which was fine. I had a chicken burger with camembert and cranberry sauce. So good! Being stuck at the end though, we hardly got to chat to some people. Briefly spoke to Harvs and Amy and also Helina, who's just come back from three and a half months in south east Asia so I wanted to talk to her more! Still the whole night was really fun. After the meal we went to Revolution, Millenium Square and Bourbon. Much to everyone's amusement, Charlotte and Sarah paid £15 for a pitcher of strawberry Pimms in Revolution and then, when we got to Wetherspoons. the same pitcher was £6. Haha, mugs! Seriously though, there's nowhere to dance in Leeds. I was really up for dancing too but there was no pop to be found. Bourbon were playing The Postal Service though, but alas it was dead, probably because all the students aren't here.

Saturday was a quiet one and today we briefly met up with Lucy. My plans always fall apart with Lucy, I have no idea why, it's really not because I'm unorganised! Things usually work out! Anyway, we went to Light and got treated to a bridal fashion show! Honestly, I treat people to THE best places in Leeds. Anyway, it was lovely to see her again, and I still can't believe that she didn't know that Lord Mandelson was gay!

We've been trying to catch up on taped stuff as well. Watched an episode of Swedish Wallander today which was brilliant, proof that everything is better when it's Swedish. Also watching Brothers and Sisters (shouldn't be good but somehow it is), and The Golden Girls whic is so damn good. We watched a little of Betty White on Saturday Night live the other night. So funny. I can't believe that she's the only one left :(

Apart from work which is hellish at the minute, things have quietened down for me recently. December's often like that though. There's no theatre to go to because of pantomimes and even music buying is taking a backseat as there aren't any albums being released. Not that this is a bad thing of course. With Xmas to buy for the money's gone to that instead. I'm nearly done actually which is a nice change. I need to find something for my sister of which I have no idea and I need to find maybe two more things for James. I've just found out that there's a Peggle update for the Xbox 360 which would be great. If only you could wrap virtual gifts. Gah. Might try and get Lego Indiana Jones 2 if I can find it for around £20. Hmmm. Anyway, we put our tree up at the weekend. It's looking good although it could do with a bit more tinsel. The lights are always my favourite though so I'm sure I'll cope.

We went to Greg and Rich's flat warming on Saturday. This was good as their flat is around the corner from our house. Most of James' workmates were there which was good. There were lots of other people there too which would have been fine apart from not being introduced to them, so mingling was limited. I didn't really care but still, it might have been nice to meet some new people. So we mostly hung around with Little Bev, Jay, Sarah and Vicky. No bad thing. Their flat is great too. It's lovely and new and with there being three of them it's slightly bigger. It's not much bigger than ours though, just the living room. The party did feel a little like going to a party when you're 17. If it wasn't people making out in the kitchen (get a room!) then it was Big Bev's 'scandal' that Rich and Greg's house mate is bisexual (oh puurlease). But the best bit was when we were leaving. Little Bev and Jay went to get their coats and seemed to disturb some randoms taking drugs in there. Actually, written down it doesn't sound particularly funny but I assure you, seeing poor little Jay going 'please can I get my coat' to some 6ft red-eyed loser was quite funny. It's a house-warming party for fucks sake! But yes, despite my moaning it was fun.

We watched Happy Go Lucky the other night. I was convinced that it'd be right up my street and when it was good it really was up my street. However, I couldn't help but find Poppy incredibly irritating sometimes. She's played brilliantly but she's on the border between annoying and cute. At her worst she sounds like Ricky Gervais. This is never good. There's also no plot so there's not a whole lot of point to it all. Despite all the negativity though, it's still a three out of five affair I think.

We watched the finale of Ugly Betty Season 3 last night, great stuff. I do love it so. I love that it's so ridiculous. I think the fact that the episode was written by the creator showed too. Other than that it's been Medium and lots and lots of Arrested Development. Amazing.

I've just finished my Q Electro-pop special from a few years ago (ordered on back issue) which made for a very good read. I really want to buy a load of 80s Best Ofs now but I shall refrain and stick with the ones I've got!

I can't believe that I forgot to mention going to the cinema last Wednesday. We went to see District 9. Despite it being out for over a month the cinema was still nearly packed which was a surprise and I really enjoyed it. It was one of my films that restored my faith in film-making, simply because it wasn't set in America, was done on quite a tight budget and yet still had the best CGI I've ever seen in a film. I was convinced that the 'Prawns' were half CGI, half animatronics but no, they were all CGI. Some of it was quite grim and the 'baddie' was lame, however it was generally really compelling and really well done, I recommend it.

On Friday night we were out as more of James' workmates are leaving. They're dropping like flies. Sarah is off to do her LPC which is a crazy price and sounds incredibly hardcore. It makes my course seem like a cheap walk in the park! And Rich is off to work elsewhere. It seems that Rich and Charlotte are officially an item. They took their sweet time about that, but I'm glad they are, they're such a sweet couple. Charlotte reminds me of Miranda loads and Rich is so dozy. He's not stupid though in the slightest but, yeah, they work well together. Office romances seem to be quite common at James' place, I suppose they're all of a similar age. We started off at The Palace and stayed there for a good while. Silly really as we were having to buy crazy priced wine as all the cheap stuff had gone. Then we went to Smokestack which was a fruity jazz bar. Well, I suppose it was playing motown so maybe not so fruity or jazz. Nice place though. Then it was Fibre, possibly the first 'gay' place we've been to in Leeds, and it's round the corner from our flat too! Lame. James was at a work do the other week with Rich and Greg and they were telling him what a good night out Queen's Court is, adding that it was wrong that two straight guys were telling a gay guy where the good nights out were. We fail at life.

I ended up having my ear talked off by Nat, Ian's girlfriend, for bloody ages! She's one of those people who is really clever and yet still comes across as a bit dim. She's nice enough but I couldn't see myself getting on with that much outside of social situations we're not thrown into together. Life's too short! It was a good night though, even if we didn't get to do any dancing. No matter. We paid for it the next day though. Lack of sleep and too much to drink = not good.

So the weekend was a rather lazy one. We had the misfortune of watching Camp Rock which had rubbish songs, rubbish preachy overtones and rubbish characters. When you start shouting 'throw a potato at her!' or 'stab her in the face' you know it's not good. To remedy this we watched High School Musical 3 - tonnes better. At least it's actually funny. And it wasn't nearly as predictable as it could be. The songs weren't quite as good as the second one though, too many ballads but it was very good overall. Oh, there weren't enough Zefron topless shots either. I'm loath to admit it but he really is very hot. I think he's a good actor too for what it's worth.

Sad news now - our DVD player has packed in. It keeps skipping discs which is damn annoying as we've only had it for two and half years and we use it for reconrding TV stuff too. However, it does mean that we've had to move the Xbox to the living room so at least I can play games on the big TV. Yay! I had to put up with James playing Peggle which I was on the phone to my family last night. I think I'll be seeing all of them by the end of the month. My Mum, Dad and sister might be up in a few weeks and then Jonathan's coming to the computer game convention the week after. Good stuff! Especially as my Dad still hasn't seen the flat. James' Dad hadn't either until yesterday when his family visited. We went for lunch at Bella Italia. I had pasta with sausage in a tomato sauce with peppers. Tasty goodness. This was followed by a Lemon Tart. Om nom nom.

I must mention Chris Packham's controversial comments about letting pandas die out because they're in an evolutionary cul-de-sac. Now I know it's a bit harsh but water his comments down a bit and he's not entirely mad. I mean, the EDGE project lists the top 100 mammals/reptiles that need saving and one of their criteria is that they are evolutionarily unique/valuable. i just thought it was interesting. I really do think though that all government initiatives are gesture. Environmental concern is all so slowly done, it's like nobody really can be arsed to do anything about it. Now I'm not one to bang on about this type of stuff. It is important, but I think that it's the governments job to impose the solutions on us. Still, when they try and do that you get people stockpiling lightbulbs banging on about how they couldn't possibly live with a little less light. Sometimes I think that people deserve their fate. Gah!

Has anybody seen this?:

Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Common-People-Brit-Story-Box-Set/dp/B0027WJEDS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1245756031&sr=8-1

I ordered it yesterday and it's a pretty good compilation. I'm not quite sure why I'm so excited by it as I own most of the stuff on it already but it's compiled by Bob from Saint Etienne and the booklet is a mini-Select magazine! It also doesn't ignore the late-90s which I much prefer musically to the mid-90s. I might buy the Britpop issue of Mojo to read while I listen to it and then I pretend I'm 13 again - while still giving intermitant spins of the Little Boots album which is really very good.

Last Thursday me and James went to Skipton. I had a haircut so I'm back to it being shorter again. The experiment didn't last that long it seems, plus it was getting difficult to see. Not good. It was funny being back. I've not been back since we moved and I don't really miss it at all. It's a nice place to visit. I don't regret not moving sooner really although it would have been good to have done it earlier, but then we wouldn't have got the flat we did and it's not like we didn't go anywhere when we were in Skipton. But I'm much happier in Leeds now. Anyway, we met James' Mum, had lunch at the Canalside and then went to Carleton. I was feeling a bit weird for reasons I won't go into apart from saying that it comes from me and James having a slight 'rough patch' which is all sorted now. I use that term loosely as it's really not a big deal but I'm glad it sorted out. I like going back to James' old room, it reminds me of good times (ok, that sounds wrong). It reminds me of visiting him and for some reason it reminds me of summer, probably because I stayed with him for a week there once a few years ago. Good times.

Saturday was quite laid-back really. We went shopping which was pretty much the highlight, and failed again to get any balcony furniture. Summer will have gone before we find any decent stuff! Sunday involved lunch at the Leeds Museum with Vicki, Bev D, Charlotte and Sarah, followed by bowling. Now I know that this is odd but I've never been bowling before so I was prepared to be really, really bad at it. However it wasn't too bad. I came fourth which was happy about. I even got a strike! Go me! It was pretty fun all round. The weather was good too so afterwards we went home and played Boggle on the balcony. Good stuff! Oh, and I won, I must mention that.

We plan to watch the new Terminator film this week so we're watching the previous ones before we go. So far we've seen the first two, both of which are very good although they're both very different films. The first one is very much a thriller but the second seems to have more to it, and it's funnier too. I couldn't decide if there's a little too much humour which takes away from the the scariness of it though. Mostly I couldn't quite get over the transformation between the Sarah Connors, they are such different characters, and yet still Linda Hamilton. It's the third one tonight. I might do my job application form while watching it as I'm not expecting much. :s

Oh, I almost forgot, I'm going to Leeds Party In The Park! Yay! And it's free! The line up is a bit hit and miss but I can't complain. I can have a wander about when Tinchy Stryder and Agnes are on and then come back for The Noisettes and Little Boots. Those last two are probably the most exciting but thre's enough there to keep me entertained :D 

Because my last posts have been about rambling on certain topics I've neglected to actually update with news. Firstly, books! It was my book group last week and we read Marcus Zusak's 'The Book Thief'. It was very good and I have to say and it was interesting to see WWII from a German point of view. I loved that it was narrated by Death and it was very skillfully written in that it was quite easy to read, and not particularly depressing. However, when it hit, it hit hard. The ending was especially horrible, but I never found it a chore to read. Great stuff. I'm whizzing through books at the minute which is good. I read Armistead Maupin's 'Michael Tolliver Lives' which was a joy to read. Technically he's not the best writer but he has such a skill for making wonderful characters and observations on people. He always has some wonderful quotes. The one that's stuck with me is about getting older - 'You don't have to keep up, you just have to keep open' which I think is very true. It was odd seeing the characters from the series set in the modern day, but it did make me realise how much I'd missed them. It was also surprisingly sex filled. No bad thing! Haha. I'm reading Harlen Coben now which I'm enjoying despite having it forced upon me!

Music news now and I have booked tickets to see Saint Etienne play all of Foxbase Alpha! Yay! Although I have to say that I prefer their stuff really, they're very good live so I know they'll be good fun. It's at the Sheffield Leadmill too so it'll be nice to take advantage of the living in Leeds! And of course go back to Sheffield. I my devouring 80's music quest I've just got Erasure's new Best Of which I'm loving. I was surprised by how many I knew actually and this is solely down to my Mum (again). She used to listen to them a lot when I was little. It's funny how much music I absorbed without realising it. Are there any other 80s bands that I should delve into? Note - they do need a Best Of for me to sample!

Moving house is turning out to be quite stressful. We got a removal quote through this morning. Not pretty. And I'm slowly realising that I can only cope with two large things going in my life. Those spaces are now full what with work and Uni. I can't cope with anything else! However, things have got better but I'll just be glad to get there now. It is a hassle.

On Tuesday night we went to see Othello. I'd been for a work three-course lunch for dinner at Live Bait so I didn't want anything to eat really, so we went to the Playhouse and hung around there. Lenny Henry was Othello and he was fairly good. He did have a tendancy to shout his way through it and I do find the play itself to be a little wordy and hard to follow. The worst thing about it though was the stupid audience who seemed to think that because Lenny Henry was in it it must be comedy. It's a harrowing play and so how people could laugh at lines where Othello talks about killing his wife and how Iago is an honest character is beyond me. And it was very irritating. The play itself was good though, it's a tough one to do, but it was Northern Broadside so it ws reliably good.

We were out last night. It was James' workmate Helina's leaving do and as an honourary LSC members I was invited (nobody else's partner gets to come along to these things!). There were loads of people there, both old and new staff. We first went to Revolution for a few drinks and then on to Akbar's for a lovely curry. I got to chat to most people really and I had a good time. However, by the time we got to OK Karaoke I was a bit tired really. I've yet to sing there but when we can walk home that stage will be mine!

I can't believe I haven't updated for so long for no other reason other than work's been so busy. Now that's not usually a reason for not updating but I've been flat out for the past two days. Monday put me behind as I got to the train station in the morning only to see that trains to Leeds were cancelled. Alternative routes were going to take ages so I 'worked from home'. You figure out what that means. Although, actually I did do some work as I could access the spanking new Virtual Learning Environment. Our team of four had our photo taken for the page so we are online for all staff to see (thankfully this is an internal thing). So yeah, busy but in a good way as our new team are on a four man mission to revolutionise admin in the College. 

Anyway, that's boring. At the weekend Lucy came to see us. We met her from the train station at arond half 6 and she had a mega huge suitcase with her. She assures us that it was full fo sleeping bags but I reckon that it was empty and her comment about us having the 'biggest DVD collection ever' makes me think that she's smuggled some of those home with her. Hmmm. Anyway, we picked up cocktail ingredients on the way home and after our Indian I made, what turned out to be 'Mighty Rand's'. 'Mighty' because they were tasty. To make a Mighty Rand you will need vodka, peach schapps and pineapple juice. You can also make Juicy Lucys which are the same but topped up with Morissons peach and mandarin juice. Classy. So we drank those and played Scattergories. It was great fun actually and it was nice to entertain in our house for a change. 

On Saturday after awakening the cosy Lucy we headed out into town. I don't think Lucy's ever seen so many charity shops. We managed to get some good stuff too. I got some 'Rand' party pickers so now I can hold cocktail parties AND supply people with party snacks. I also went into the library and found a book group to join. Their next meeting is today which wasn't very good but the next one is October so I'll go to that. I hope it's not just full of old people though. I shall see anyway. It only meets once a month either way. We had lovely dinner in Cafe Jaca and then we had a wander to the castle. Lovely stuff. We mostly just talked about Disneyland! Lucy's LJ comments about James being hotter than in photos have made me laugh. 'Lucky Rand!' indeed! It was lovely to see Lucy and I'm glad that someone actually thought to come and see *us* for a change. In fact, it's nice to know that I have a friend out there who gives as much as takes. We're well aware tht we live ages apart but neither of us puts pressure to visit the other and we see each other when we can. I couldn't ask for anything more really.

We didn't really do anything for the rest of the weekend. I've been playing the Broken Sword games because I realised that they'd released some new ones and I'd only ever played the first two. So I'm on number 2 at the moment. They're very funny and still look great. It helps that they're set in Paris (well, the first one at least) which made me feel like I wanted to go back there!

We've watched quite a few films over the past few days. The first one was 'Crank' which was absolutely ludicrous and totally made for 'macho guys'. However, despite this it was quite fun and wouldn't have been anything without the nice direction and editing. It was also really fast paced too and this worked well, much like 'Run Lola Run' or something like that. On the other side of things we've also watched 'Bright Young Things' which I really enjoyed despite the total lack of plot. It's very funny and very Stephen Fry. It's directed well though and doesn't show signs of it being his first directed film. I'm sure we watched another film but I can't think for the life of me what it was!

I have just finished my book on 'The Alphabet' which was very interesting. I learnt a lot considering it was just one chapter a letter. It's fascinating where letters have come from and why we write the way we do. I managed to pick up loads of stupid fact such as that most words in Elnglish start with the letter 'S' and that the least used letter is 'Z' (and also why 'Z' is zee in America and 'zed' in England). The newest letter in the alphabet is 'J' which wasn't fully accepted until the 1850's oddly. Just silly things like that. I'm not sure what to read next really.