So today I was staggering around, all dizzy and enjoying the vertigo love that the migraine meds I take bring, when I realised I was actually being followed around by someone that was talking at me, and I had no idea what they were on about.

This got me to thinking about the number of conversations I’ve been part of where my mind is wandering off all on its own somewhere and whilst a speaker appears to have my total, undivided attention, theres a very good chance I’m thinking something either entirely unrelated, or inappropriate.

Thoughts

The above is an example, borrowed from the wonderful folks at www.xkcd.com below I’ll illustrate a few more real world examples for your amusement.

“…and so I need to access the system before my exam…” – I pity the boyfriend who has to hear his name squarked out by that voice in the heat of the moment

“…printer isnt working….” – Oh wow, Star Trek Online….

“..You’re never going to believe it, but…” – it isnt as cool as the clouds outside my window..

“..Im in the first floor print room…” – I’m trying to write on my blog ffs…

“…If you tell my wife or kids I was looking at gay porn, I’ll kill you!” – I’ve already told them, and over 1000 random people on the internets.

“…and he seemed really distracted…” – Because your chest is hanging out

“…this is really vital, its imperative you get this sorted now!” – Christ… We’re in the 21st century!

“…I think the conference is going really well” – Wow, you really do look like a poodle.

“…and she’s just found out she’s pregnant…” – I can smell sausage pasta…. good sausage pasta…

“…so we really need you to look into this for us” – omg Python… its like being able to fly.

“…Whats the weather like today?” – I wonder what it would be like if we all got turned into our mmo characters. I could have Castle Gear and GM skills again…. for real!! /@summon Cornish Pasty

“…I have to wait 20mins right?” – Nope, its done now, I’m just making you wait because I want to mess you about.

“…and so I said to her blah blah…” – Maybe the golden ratio is actually a strange attractor….hmmm

“…and then they said…” – Howduuuken, Dragoooon Punch!!

And so on….

Needless to say, my mind is usually off on a tangent somewhere. There are give away tell’s on this which you could look out for, but wheres the fun in sharing them.
As a rule of thumb, if you’re talking unless im engaged in the discussion with you, I’m probably trying to listen, but have random thoughts getting entirely in the way.

Here’s a couple of pics from the recent trip to north wales, on 22nd and 23rd of April… enjoy

Originally i’d gone up to meet some of the folks running the first commercial aquaponics center in the UK, in Anglesea, and i managed to scrape some time to enjoy the scenery.

On the way up i hit Harlech Castle where a very close friend and adopted family member had been buried. Sadly didnt get to visit the grave, but i did get attacked by a raven inside the castle, which given the person, i think is probably pretty fitting.

Overnight I stayed at the Nant-yr-Odyn Hotel (or something like that) in Anglesea, which is a lovely hotel, home to a cook who probably doesnt get paid nearly enough, and im very happy to recommend it.

On the way back, I managed to visit a number of places, such as Porthmadog, Betws-y-coed and the surrounding parts of Snowdonia, which I actually stayed at for a while as a kid almost 25 years ago.
Sadly the place is almost unrecognisable now, and the giant cookie shop opposite the bridge in Betws is long gone. As a tourist trap its not bad and still very beautiful, but i cant help but feel the area has been spoiled in favour of backpackers, day trippers and campers.
Still it was a special part of my childhood, and I will always love forests and mountains because of my experiences back then.
Visit the place before its a concrete, camping themed megamall, you won’t regret it.

Given that i update twitter far more often than i manage to update the ole blog, I might experiment with posting a few short kinda “extend-o-tweets” on here and see if that gets me posting a little more.

As a kinda first attempt, some site news….
Google ads. Yes, ive given in to temptation and added a google ad. If you click it, i make some cash from them for my very own. Needless to say, click the damned thing from time to time!!! lol

*nb* im not actually allowed to pressure users into clicking the link under the terms of the adsense eula, so instead assume all comments regarding broken limbs are in jest

Twitterfeeds – since im twittering more than blogging, i added a twitter feed to the site that picks up the latest handful of thoughts from me and shares them at the top right of the screen. Read, rejoice and enjoy.

Other stuff. Im working far too much, having major issues sleeping and fear my homicidal tendancies and general malice have been cranked up to 11. Im also really fed up for some reason.

In 5 hrs its payday.

anddddd at some point, ill remember to add a photo gallery to this thing, someone remind me at some point if you get a spare few minutes…

Also, im updating the events calendar on the left all the time, so if you want to know where to find me, try clicking on a date listed in red to get an idea.

Im off now to find nicotine, caffiene and stricknine (the latter being handy for noisy animals)

ttfn

Some of you have asked about the keg.

What is sinister about the keg? You ask.
Could a keg contain anything but beer? You said.
Tell us about the keg? You queried (when prompted )

Let me tell you about the keg!

The Sinister Keg!!!

It looks normal enough. Wooden. Round. Full, you might hope, of the juices of inebriation and happiness.

You are wrong!!!!

Take a sip, take a couple. Before long you will find yourself dazed, confused, high atop a mountain top, pantless and surrounded by a small army of sword weilding psychotic Angmarim, all trying to figure out if they like what they see, if they want to jump on what they see, or if they should kill what they see.

Stupidity asides though, whoever thought up the idea of the sinister keg must have been taking Cyth pills, and definately deserves an award for most suprising and amusing festival item ever.

The sinister keg is an award presented to any player on Lotro who is able to complete the spring festival labyrinth in less than 3 minutes whilst totally plastered. You may then take a keg of your very own, plant it in your house and drink from its never ending supply of joy.

Over indulgence however, is dealt with in an impressive manner. The drinker is instantly teleported to a random location within the game and left there, sans-trousers, in a completely paraletic state.

To translate it to real world terms, it is very much like taking an 8 year old, handing them an american flag and an unloaded assault rifle, and then telling them theyre off to play cowboys and indians whilst dropping them in the middle of a contested area in Iraq.

Ironically, this might actually be an incredibly good idea of dealing with drink drivers, chavs and other undesirables in modern society anyway, and I’m happy to endorse any endeavour with this in mind

Asides from this, very little i can report at the moment, as im stuck in the labs. Again. Trying my hardest not to ritually slaughter any students… Again.

I may post later, who knows. In the meantime, have fun

Been about a month since I last posted here, kind of lazy of me, i admit, but then the domain of this site should have given you some kind of indication as to what to expect really.

The last month has been a busy one, and as some of you probably noticed, I levelled up on the 11th during the middle of my trip to bonny scotland, and am now, in theory, older and wiser than ever before.

LOL

On my trip to scotland, i was accompanied by the internet, via my new iPhone, which allowed me to keep twittering, msning and otherwise remain connected with the world whilst out and about.

For those that hadnt already found me, you’ll find me twittering under the name “Adramelech” which was a change of identity chosen with no small measure of sarcasm or tongue in cheek humour, as Adramelech, for those who arent fans of either biblical texts or google, was the original demonic king of flames.

Needless to say, it seemed like a fitting name to use to spread the joy and cynicism that is me to the masses.

Back on topic then and the Scotland trip… loads of pics on Facebook for those with access, though they largely consist of pictures of random areas of snow covered terrain and views from the window of the car as we drove around Loch Ness.

We flew up to Edinburgh on the Sunday, with a Captain Alexandra (i resisted the temptation to re-enact Bill Baileys aircraft conspiracy nuts) who was a very no nonsense female pilot, of the “Fcuk it, Im landing this thing NOW!” school of flying. No bouncing, barely any flaps on the wings, just a spine shattering bang as she forced the plane into the floor in a similar manner to that employed by German Stukka pilots in WWII.

Ironically, it was the day of the Wales vs Scotland rugby match, and so the first accents i heard in Scotland were welsh… this, i felt, was not a good thing. After checking in at the hotel, we managed to cram in a ghost tour of Edinburgh and the old crypts under the South Bridge. The scariest part on the tour was probably the realisation that i had to walk up hills of over 50degrees, in ice and snow, whilst wearing boots with so little grip they’d probably have stuck to the floor better if i’d sprayed them with teflon. However i managed the tour unscathed and without becoming another resident, and enjoyed it muchly. Sadly didnt see the hill of corpses, as thats a feature of a tour run by a rival company, but we did get free drinks at a bar at the end, which made up for the high price of the tour.
The following day we took a wander around Edinburgh, and walked up to the castle, which was interesting.

After Edinburgh we travelled up to Inverness, by way of the Cairngorms, which would have been pretty picturesque if it wasnt pitch black outside the train. The train trip wasnt too bad, the train was delayed due to heavy weather conditions, and was spoiled a little by a couple of idiots who insisted on standing with the carriage windows open almost the whole way, which wasnt fun considering the sub zero temperatures.

The hotel was great, and Inverness, somewhat thankfully, didnt have quite so many Kilt shops as Edinburgh, which could largely be described with the formula “Kilt Shop” -”Souvenier Shop” – “Coffee Shop”. Some awesome shops up there, selling a number of things which we only realised we wanted after we left. If you can think of something random that you probably need but would never think to look for, theres probably a specialist shop for it in Inverness.

Inverness, I must also add, is also home to The Corner Grill. Its an understated little eatery opposite the Ramada Hotel, and in all honesty, it should have more stars than the milky way. The food was of a class all of its own, the atmosphere was great and the prices were crazy cheap. Sadly, i dont think the place is long for this world. It seems like a new start up which no ones noticed, and gives the very false impression of being far more expensive than it is. If you’re in the area, and fancy some world class food at tiny prices, make sure you drop in. My only regret is I live too far to visit it more often.

Just down the road from Inverness is Loch Ness. Out of season it was quiet, scenic and largely under 3 ft of snow. From the tops of some of the hills you could see out over 30miles in some directions, and it was simply breath taking. For those planning a visit, im happy to recommend travelling down the B-roads along the south-eastern edge of the loch, rather than taking the busier A road on the other side. The A road is 33miles of tourist trap, whereas the smaller road is far more scenic and gives the impression of being quite a personal enclosed area.

Asides from this, not been up to much. Work intrudes on most things, and recently the CSA have intruded on a lot of the rest. I’ve given in to a desire of 5 years and finally passed on some very helpful info to some government agencies which should see some very deserving people in court very soon.

I’d love to go on, and had intended to, but sadly im surrounded by idiots and have to cater to their every whim in order to be seen as customer focused.

My final passing thought to folks out there is that for the eReader, Stanza or other folks out there with a desire to read books on one form of electronic device or another, give www.drinkmalk.com a look before splashing out your hard earned readies on something a little pricier than it needs to be.

I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin’ for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.

So yeah, for those of you that weren’t aware, this time yesterday i was in middlesboro, attending a funeral.
Don’t want to go into too many details, as i don’t want to encroach on their privacy, but it was pretty heartbreaking, and im not ashamed to say that i leaked more than a little.
I got to give the mum a hug, and hopefully pass on some comfort, I unno, just be there for them.
I’ve seen many things most people shouldn’t, ive seen corpses, coffins and most of the bits in between, but yesterday i had to watch a coffin that had no right being so small get interred and i dont know which is worse, the memory of that coffin, or the sound of his mum crying through the service. All i know for sure is both things will haunt me a lot longer than anything else ive experienced.
After that was the drive back, through “the worst conditions this country has seen in 20 years.”

It was truely pathetic. Up north daily life continued almost entirely unhindered with around a foot of snow in some places, and the traffic was fine, right up until Birmingham, which many would consider to sit on the UK’s north/south divide. From this point on, the paltry 4 or 5 inches of snow caused all kinds of chaos, and its a funny reminder that the supposedly well to do, grim and determined southerners can be put off by conditions that don’t even cause northerners to blink.

Well i gotta go, im working in the labs today and the students are bound to want something soon. I guess its the bosses trying to be “thoughtful”, by sticking me down here, rather than leaving me on the phones after all that travel and stuff from the past few days, but tbh id rather be upstairs, out of the way, in a place where it doesnt matter so much if yesterday catches up with me.

Take care of yourselves anyways folks.

So I’m sat in the lab, its Sunday and I really don’t want to be here.

The place is entirely devoid of life, and I’m rapidly discovering the real lack of anything to do on the internet when you’ve been on it long enough to have watched most of the “big things” on it being developed and released.

Today is Gangrel’s birthday, obviously there’s no way I could make a post without mentioning that, and I hope he has a good one

So mostly I’ve been entertaining myself, and as is typical of me, I’ve been doing it at the expense of others.

First of all, it was the security guy. Ironically, for the second time in my life, I find myself in a position where I’m working terminally unsociable hours and the resident security guy decides that for whatever reason, what I really need is the worlds most boring person standing there trying to be my friend.
Some of you may remember the security guard stories from when I worked for QGO, where the somewhat freaky and ever so slightly stalkerish night security guard would spend evenings trying to have a conversation with me about his mobile phone, purely because he’d realised I was living in the office when I could get away with it.

This one is worse, he doesn’t even have some random inanimate object to talk about, and I do find myself wondering if its the kind of work that attracts people with no social skills and all the personality of a plank, or if its the job that turns normal, interesting people into scruffy, social rejects with sociopathic tendancies.

So as an experiment, I’ve been seeing how long i can encourage him to talk to himself with no input from me. As near as I can tell, we’re up to 43 minutes, during which time I left and had a cigarette and came back to find him still gibbering quite happily to himself.

Freaky much.

Asides from that, I’ve been looking at Social Me again. For those not in the know, its a Facebook application that allows you to “tag” peoples photo’s and “about me” info. Its kind of like speed dating mashed up with facebook and some kind of nasty personals site. In all honesty it should be called “Rape me” or something.
As you browse through the profile pics, clicking the next button frantically, you’re forced to stare at horror after horror. 14 year old girls looking for “the one” with dirty pic’s of themselves that are almost certainly illegal to even view on your pc. Women who’s tags scream “Don’t get in touch if you’re after something dirty” when the pic they’ve chosen to post is of their breasts or vagina just seem insane, and the number of under 20’s children who are trying to pass some comment about how long and hard things have been for them is mental. Glazed expression after glazed expression, intersperced with the kind of rabid grin that makes even the strongest man want to back away and call the police. Profiles where the user has opted to shout their own name at you in the space meant for a quick introductory quote make me wonder if the user is infact a victim of BSE. “Ammmaaandaaaaa” wipe up that drool, theres bound to be a surgeon that can reconnect your brain. Theres enough bright orange tan’s to do serious damage to your health, and it often comes as a relief when you do finally find a profile that is actually just an advert for porn.

Needless to say, I need to find something more constructive to do with my time, and Im open to any and all suggestions.

So yeah, the demon plague of 2008 is back, with a vengeance.

It started with a weird eye infection on the 15th, progressed rapidly to my throat over the weekend, and has now turned right back into the head cold from hell I only just managed to shake over the xmas hols.

As u’ve prolly noticed the domain transfers have all been sorted now, and the place has been spruced up and treated to a shiny new .com

Also currently in the works is a Wiki page, which is theming up quite nicely, and should be serviceable for adding content sometime soon. To save messing about with random packages and utilities, ill probably then use it as a cms for the site in general.

Looking forward to getting home, dont feel like ive seen my partner at all recently, and ive spent the last few days just entering rooms as theyre leaving, coming back from a break as theyre heading off for one, or sleeping fitfully worried that my snoring or coughing is keeping them awake, only to find theyre kipping in the spare room so that they dont stop me sleeping with theirs. Working this weekend won’t help, as it means ill miss out on the time i’d usually have to catch back up with them.

Anyhoos, gotta run for now, updates later…

Today brought the terrible news that a close friends youngest son, aged 9, died on Dec 23rd after an accident at home. Due to his age, the police have ordered an inquest, and hopefully they will be released for a funeral in the next 2-3weeks.
I’m not going to name names, to protect this persons privacy, but needless to say I’m mourning the loss for them. They were the friend I didn’t realise I had when I figured I’d lost pretty much everything else, and probably saved my life over xmas 3 years ago with friendship, good company, toast and pate and cigarettes, and are practically family in my book.
As soon as there’s a date set, I’m looking forward to heading up north to see them, and be there for them.