Quiet Sunday

Had a generally quiet weekend here - yesterday was mainly blogging or reading the news or playing one of the empire building computer games (geez, even I think they take forever sometimes, when I would just like the game to go on autopilot and not make any decisions myself LOL).

Today was kinda more of the same - is going to be another tight crunch to budget for the next week and a half, damn my magpie tendency for nice shirts on Wednesday. So I did go out and see a movie (The Island) and had lunch out, even though I was stuffed to my eyes with popcorn and wasn't actually feeling hungry, but as for general shopping, no, none done at all. Maybe next weekend, IF I have the spare cash. Or perhaps better to save any spare cash as savings but where's the fun in that LOL.

The Island itself was really good, it surprises me how badly its opening weekend was in the States last weekend. Well, apart from basically giving away 90% of the plot in the advertising campaign, but it was better than the advertising indicated. Or maybe I'm a sucker for sci-fi. Although there was a bit too many car crashes and chase scenes for the brainy bits, but it is a Michael Bay movie, and overall it was good. As usual, Steve Buscemi gets the two best lines in the movie. Maybe a fuller review to follow shortly.

I was doing a count earlier today and I have seen twenty six movies in just over six months - basically one a week, apart from three weeks. Last week was one of those misses, but when the main choice is between Nine Songs and Longest Yard, and you are having a poor weekend, can you blame me for missing? The other two weekends I missed were when I have been with V, and hmm, I did want to see Wedding Date or In Good Company when I was in Melb, but to go see a movie and either leave or take the sister with us, hmm. And of course, the weekend I was going to see Friday Night Lights, we had a funeral to attend, much more important than a silly movie about American football.

V and I are talking again, kinda sorta kinda. On Thursday I was so ancient history, but over the weekend she was in Melbourne, and remembering our time there in May, and wanting my company again. But yes, it is going to be tough regaining the level we were at before Bloggate, but we are willing to give it a go. She kinda sorta kinda thinks I should find someone closer in location, but I don't think I need to.

See how things go (and yes, everyone I know DOES hate that saying LOL). We both want things at the level they were a week ago, but it will take time.

Michael Schumacher got pole at Hungary yesterday - the first Ferrari pole of the year. Can't actually link to any of the stories about it, because the race is underway currently, and the telecast is slightly delayed on TV here and I don't want to have the first half hour of the race told to me before actually watching it LOL.

Cute kid and wild animal and beer story for the day here - Vancouver Island off the mainland, and a cougar attacked a four year old. Cougar gets hit by cooler bag with a four pack of beer in it, and stops the attack. I can see either a Molson's or Labatt's ad coming out of that LOL.

Okies, Formula One coverage about to start, later peeps
Pauly

World's Shortest Personality Test...

You are happy, driven, and status conscious. You want everyone to know how successful you are. Very logical, you see life as a game of strategy. A bit of a loner, you prefer to depend on yourself. You always keep your cool and your composure. You are a born leader and business person.

The World's Shortest Personality Test

Wisdom

I haven't been on Aurelius's blog for a while, but was scanning just about five minutes ago, and please forgive me for not being on for a while. In a post about the July 21 London attacks, the following comment was made -

'A fortnight after the attack on London the organisers are being rounded up and arrested. Four years after the New York attacks, the organisers are free, and reaping a bonanza of financial and recruitment results, courtesy of the US response.

Which seems to be working better?

It's not just in the production of quality comedy that the British have it all over the Yanks.'

Now that's wisdom LOL.

The Israeli's complained to the Vatican about Benny Sixteen condemning the London and Sharm el Sheik bombings, but saying nothing about the Palestinian attacks on Israeli soil. The response to this initially unanswered question was that the Vatican condemned Israel for the responses it undertakes to abovementioned Palestinian attacks.

'In a 1300-word communique, the Vatican said: "It has not always been possible to follow every attack against Israel with a public declaration of condemnation."

It said one reason for this was that "the attacks on Israel were sometimes followed by immediate Israeli reactions not always compatible with the norms of international law... it would thus be impossible to condemn the [terrorist operations] and pass over the [Israeli retaliation] in silence."

The statement also expressed irritation with the reaction of the Israeli government to the Pope's original comments and said it was not prepared to "take lessons or instructions from any other authority on the content and direction of its own statements."'

If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it, and if something nice hasn't been said, there usually is a reason, oh Israeli Foreign Ministry people LOL. How soon before the Pope's Hitler Youth past is raised again?

Hmm, would love to comment on this story, but since I am in the industry, albeit at a low low rung, I shouldn't. Delta airline hostesses, Washingtonian interns anyone?

And no, before I did my space the final frontier piece in the previous entry, I had not read John Tierney's piece in the NYT about what the shuttle is doing in orbit for the moment (have just heard in a news update that the shuttle will stay in orbit a couple of more days doing even MORE safety checks) -

'The Discovery, meanwhile, is gazing at its navel. The astronauts' primary mission is to discover, with the aid of new cameras trained on the shuttle, whether it's safe for them to be up there.

The answer was clear well before the latest bits of foam fell off. Sending astronauts on the shuttle isn't worth the risk, and not simply because of its design flaws. For all its problems, the shuttles have safely returned from 98 percent of their missions, which may well be the highest success rate of any exploration program in history.

The real problem with this exploration program is that it doesn't explore anything. Three decades after going to the moon, NASA is sending astronauts a few hundred miles above Earth to conduct high school science experiments. Can you name anything - besides repairing the Hubble Telescope - they've accomplished?'

Geez, just imagine being given the job of sorting out your government's policy on an uninhabited 100 metre wide island in the wastes of the high Arctic. That must sound like career advancement on a grand scale LOL, although in actuality, Canada and Denmark are having a major argument about Hans Island, between Ellesmere Island (Canadian) and Greenland (Denmark). And a citizen of each country has bought the top Google advertising spot when Hans Island is searched for. And how much tax revenue is Hans Island going to bring in for either country? Irrational stupidity is the explanation perhaps LOL.

Oh, and one possible reason for all this is just in case oil or minerals are found underneath the place. Don't tell the Washington Beltway that, or they may do a pre-emptive strike on Copenhagen or Ottawa LOL.

Talking of the States, is it just me or does the politics in Washington seem to have calcified somewhat, in a Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire kind of way? I know I can't really comment on it in a historical perspective, being in the here and now, and outside the Beltway the USA seems to be as dynamic as ever, although more feared and less respected than say before March 2003 - but just look at two examples.

The Sinophobia in Congress is against the principles of free trade - ie, if the customers know the company is Chinese owned, let them decide whether to buy their products or not. Secondly, the whole stem cell thing is leaving the USA behind other countries that don't have as many hang ups on the whole research thing - again with the whole freedom of choice thing, some scientists wouldn't want to do stem cell research, others would. So there you go, two quick examples where politics gets in the way of economics and science.

Again til later peeps
Pauly

We Want Some Pumpkins

Hmm, and I thought that musicians were all about adulation, no matter which direction it came from, but no, Billy Corgan threw a tanty at one of HIS OWN CONCERTS when fans asked for some Smashing Pumpkins songs. Now, I haven't heard anything from Billy since Mellon Collie, I missed the whole fuss over Adore, but I hear he thinks he is avante guard or something nowadays. Well, if you piss your fans off like you seem to be doing Mr Corgan, you will know that avante guard is shorthand for very few fans - you dickhead LOL.

And hmm, if three fan comments (for the Pumpkins) can be heard clearly onstage how dead and quiet was the concert anyways?

The Crazy Frog song is Number One on the Australian charts. How the hell did this come to pass - the Aussie charts don't include downloaded music or ringtones yet, who the fuck is buying that crap? Not that the song it displaced, Akon's Lonely is up to much chop either, but the order of the universe is that yes, European countries can have ditzy brainless tunes at the top maybe once or twice a year (ah, Xmas hits of the UK, shall we count the inanities LOL), but rock loving Australia? No, never, surely not. The marketers did hit one thing right on the head though, in the Crazy Frog video, it is basically a hunt for the most annoying thing in the world - yes, I concur LOL.

Ooh ooh! A 'space the final frontier' moment! Ignoring for the moment the London arrests of the suspected July 21 bombers, or the associated story of the Brazilian guy who got shot by twitchy London police (grr!), but the line 'Astronomers detect 10th planet' is enough in itself to have me delay the moment where I actually go into the story. Yeah, sad huh.

Okay, I'm in. And it is as exciting as I thought. It is bigger than Sedna, or Sebna, that near enough Pluto-sized rock that was discovered last year, and it is currently more than twice the distance that Pluto is - wow, there was enough excitement about Sedna being found, and there were questions about it being a planet. This is apparently bigger than Pluto, so we have a new planet people - I am sure the name 2003 UB313 will soon be something appropriately Roman goddish. Vulcan or Hades perhaps? The last planets were found in 1846 and 1930 respectively - we have a wow moment people.

Makes me wonder why all of NASA's money seems to go into the shuttle, which is basically a glorified cargo plane that can only go into orbit. Yes, manned spaceflight is a nice thing, and it would be cool to have a 2001 A Space Odyssey kind of space station to visit (never mind Clavius on the moon, or the whole manned trip to Jupiter), but for wow factor compare the mission Discovery has at the moment - dropping a module off to the ISS, making sure that the shuttle doesn't break apart, the phrase 'two million working parts all made at lowest cost with 1970's technology' keeps coming into my head - versus the Cassini mission, photographing Saturn and dropping Huygens onto Titan. Or finding a new planet with either earth based or orbital telescopes. I dunno, maybe I'm too idealistic about the whole concept of discovering new things versus the realpolitik of keeping the Russian space scientists working and not creating better V2's or Scuds for North Korea et al.

I could stay in the space stories all day - this one from two years ago says that something strange was happening to Pluto's atmosphere, and the possibility that the entire atmosphere freezes the further away from the Sun it gets. I'm trying to think of a phrase that will indicate how unimportant Tom Cruise's love life or Australian Idol or most things are, but I just know I will end up being hypocritical sooner or later and be immersed in some trivia LOL, so I will shut up.

As if rugby could ever be unimportant LOL - first Tri Nations test in Pretoria tonight yay.

Two feet of water fell on Mumbai/Bombay in one day. It is monsoon season, but still, that is the most rain ever reported in one day in Indian history. Last I read, about 900 people had died either due to the flooding or landslides triggered by aforementioned flooding. And despite being India's most advanced city, the infrastructure ground to a halt, and the article I linked to is about 'ordinary citizens' sorting through the mess themselves, without help from the authorities.

Back to the arrests in London, it does look like all four suspected bombers from July 21 are in custody - the 'best day' since the bombings for the police forces trying to play catch up to the terrorists. As the Brazilian shot dead at Stockwell station is buried back in his hometown. Oh, and the IRA announced the end of the struggle in Northern Ireland, and will decommission. Got to wonder whether they made that decision so they don't get obliterated by force if another IRA attack took place (I'm thinking the UK has very little patience for any sort of terrorism at the moment), or the fact that Sinn Fein could possibly be in coalition government in Ireland with a few more good PR moments. Or a bit of both.

And was it just two cells in London or more? Yesterday the Met flooded the Underground and other public transport options in London with 6000 police, half of them armed, to send a message to the terrorists. That message of course being, lie low for a few months, we can't keep up cancelling all leave for our staff forever - no, I'm being too cynical there. But I would NOT feel reassured with all those extra guns around, with everyone being twitchy to anything out of the ordinary. I am sure that rucksack sales have plummetted in the UK the last month or so.

Ooh, and as well as space and current affairs, I am a huge history buff - and this story has found a two foot head underneath the Roman Forum. Has been confirmed as a bust of the Emperor Constantine, stuck in an ancient sewer system - placed there deliberately it seems, obviously not by a loyal subject LOL. But to find a 1700 year old artifact after all this time, in the heart of Rome, is amazing - especially being the size it is, it's not as if it was just a stray coin LOL.

More soon fingers crossed
Pauly

Trauma

Tears stream down, pooling at the chin before dripping onto my top. My heart feels like it is an onion, peeling layer after layer until the core of me is completely open and vulnerable. My fingers seem numb, and my nose is cold. The phrase 'too late' rattles in my skull over and again. The phrase Gotterdammerung seems somehow appropriate - it reads better in German than the English translation, 'Twilight of the Gods'.

This is it. It is beyond petty justifications and recriminations, he said she thought she said he thought misunderstanding merry go rounds, this is crunch time. No matter what I am going through, she is feeling a hundred, a thousand times worse. I hear the wracking sobs and just want to hold her, to comfort her, and to show her I am worthy - difficult, nay impossible down the phone wires two thousand miles away. I feel so helpless, my heart fallen into the centre of the earth - 'words are cheap' slap me across both cheeks, reddening them like my eyes must look.

'Too late' rises to a crescendo. But yet, but yet, this cannot be the end. It just cannot be. I reach out as far as I can, to give up the problem issues for you, no, not only for you, for us. We will know shortly whether it has a hope of working or not, or whether the matter is settled and lost already. Too late, a whisper now, perhaps of what might have been.

I dread the crying I cannot hear even more so than that I can.

It was not a productive day at work.

Disruption To Service

Well, it finally happened - one of the important people in my life that didn't know I had a blog went and found it. And of course it happened just a couple of days after the first time in like two years that I have actually been out and kinda sorta flirted. The phrase about the butterflies in my last entry in hindsight wasn't the smartest either.

I will be picking up the pieces over the next wee while I am sure, trying to make things right again - could take a while but. And my blog, my pride, my joy, will be neglected for a while I feel due to real life issues. And when I do come back, I may be even more circumspect than I initially already was. Let's start the latest roller coaster ride, step right up...

Paul

Butterflies

I went to sleep last night with butterflies in my stomach. Nervous excitement about the day ahead, and such. I just imagine the robot out of Lost In Space (not that I ever watched the show, but I remember clips of the robot) saying 'warning, warning' - I usually run away from situations that include butterflies, and even more so when workmates are involved, but we will see how this one runs for at least the time being.

Is there such a word as trichotomy (as opposed to dichotomy?), because if there is it could describe my day today. Before heading to work today, I was talking - well, ranting - to one woman about the injustice of an innocent man being shot in London, thinking of another as I put one of the CDs she burned into my discman, and thinking of a third and how I would word the email I would send to her. Bad bad Pauly. Those damned butterflies LOL.

Got on the train to work, had a horrid flash to thinking about a guy being shot in the head in front of me (for some reason much easier to imagine that than the whole suicide bomb thing), and clicked on the Michael Buble CD. And was suddenly transported into a smooth smooth world, music to woo and err do other stuff to, I bet he gets all the girls - and in interviews he just seems to be the class clown, and a good Canucks supporter (hockey is back, yay). There is an interview with him on one of the Saturday morning music shows next week, hmm getting my Medicare card or watching Mr Buble, not a tough call to make LOL.

'Thank you...

...for an enjoyable night on Friday - most fun I have had going out in months. Just thought I would send a quick note of appreciation.

Next time I will wear my party clothes (as opposed to the pipe, slippers and newspaper fancy dress I was obviously doing) and have more money to hand - in case of cab home instead of depending on the trains. Of course, if there is a next time...

I hope you enjoyed yourself as well :)'

And I don't mind telling you there was a lot of thought that went into that short message. Many brain cells died for that faux relaxed casual angle LOL. Lots of nerves to actually hit the send button, and many nails bitten (figuratively) waiting for some response back.

Which came exactly thirty five minutes later. I won't write exactly what she said, but she apologised for making fun of my dress sense (not at all, not at all, I was horrified by the grey jumper myself, and wondering whether I could just leave it somewhere - lol, maybe if it wasn't partial cover to my icky olive pants LOL), and that she had fun, and that she was sure we would do it again. And I may not have been able to stop smiling since LOL.

She came over later in the day, on a trip to the kitchen, which is in my direction, and said hi, with a big smile on her face (although mine may have been bigger) and that she was disappointed we had lost the others, and put her hand on my back. Now, if you remember back to earlier entries, actual touch is a rare thing for me, and err can sear itself in my head (in a good way), and this woman freely gives it out - it wasn't a back rub so much as a lingering pat on the back but it was another Moment. And I completely forgot to say that losing the others was a good part of the evening - which may have been a good thing, not admitting that.

Combined with music by Buble, and the buzz of turning a customer who 'had complained to the Fair Trading Office', whom I was able to calm down, assist, and resolve her issue, and my greater patience for crap customers in general, the day flew by in a happy cloud. I was humming a Buble tune when getting dinner tonight, and my mother asked why I was in such a happy mood - eek, was it that obvious LOL.

More flashbacks to Friday - extra songs at Belushi's have come back to me, Put Your Ass Into It by Ice-T, and Trick Me by Kelis. That latter song I remember a Guardian reviewer about ten best songs to err have sex to or something, Trick Me is one of the few songs that actually sounds like the act - or maybe my memory has warped that article's take on the song perhaps LOL.

And also the visions of silver, strappy, spangly shoes with an inch and a half heel and the feet in almost plain view. I remember looking at her shoes a few times during the latter part of the night. Lopsided grin here again.

Pauly

It Hits The Fan

Oh. My. God.

I don't even know how to start to react to the news that the man police shot dead from point blank range at Stockwell tube station was NOT a suicide bomber, was NOT an Arab or South Asian, but was instead a Brazilian electrician who had been in the UK legally for three years. His only mistake, that cost him his life, seems to have been running away from twitchy (I'll give the police some credit, I won't say trigger happy) armed plain clothes police.

Apologising to the guys family today, after advising that even if he wasn't one of the bombers he was directly related to the plotting yesterday. Grrr. Not that suicide bombers should be allowed to detonate themselves, but it seems Baghdad rules of engagement have come to London - ie, shoot first, ask questions later.

But I do kinda sorta sympathise with the Met at the moment - the pressure on them all, top brass and street bobbies must be immense at the moment. But please rethink the shoot to kill policy, please.

Another carbomb in Baghdad - 22 police killed. This article in the New York Times today basically asks has Iraq already slipped into civil war? Sunnis and Shias killing each other, with the more occassional attack on the Kurds. The country could be fracturing into a larger version of 1980's Lebanon? Thinking especially the suicide bombings on the US and French barracks in Beirut. Icky icky thought, but is almost there or thereabouts already.

'Despite these gloomy trends, American commanders have continued to hint at the possibility of at least an initial reduction of the 140,000 American troops stationed here by next summer, contingent on progress in creating effective Iraqi units. Some senior officers have said privately that there is a chance that the pullback will be ordered regardless of what is happening in the war, and that the rationale will be that Iraq - its politicians and its warriors - will ultimately have to find ways of overcoming their divides on their own.

America, these officers seem to be saying, can do only so much, and if Iraqis are hellbent on settling matters violently - at the worst, by civil war - that, in the end, would be their sovereign choice.'

Hmm, my mind goes back to the alleged Colin Powell doctrine on Iraq in the early days of the war - 'you broke it, you fix it'. Now if only others in Washington could even consider taking responsibility for their actions, eh Karl Rove LOL.

Oh goodness - an Iraq related story that got a smile and an actual laugh out of me. Nine people, five activists and four journalists, are going to court in Arizona for trespassing on government property and harrassing army recruiters. The activists were women in their 60s or 70s wanting to enlist so that their grandchildren could come home from the warzones. The army is saying that they should be writing to their congressmen and women instead of annoying enlisters. Hmm, I would say with the failure to hit recruiting targets they should sign up anybody who wants to be - even if they are kept in the States behind a desk somewhere...

Hmm, another NYT article here, saying that the insurgents, suicide bombers and other assorted 'dead enders' (copyright Donald Rumsfeld 2004) are running rings around both the American military and Iraqi government in their presumed intention to sow chaos. The Americans still apparently have no intelligence assets of any worth within a country they have supposedly managed for two and a half years.

Hmm, the NHL have changed their logo - I hadn't seen that yesterday - went and searched for a copy of the old one, before it disappears for all time. Something about traditions and all, and the initials not being in Silver Surfer colour and going the wrong angle LOL. Also have the German Grand Prix on in the background, which has been distracting me the last wee while.

Later peeps
Pauly

A Little Good, A Lot Of Bad

First the good news - the National Hockey League is back. A collective bargaining agreement has finally been signed, after a season's lockout, and the NHL players will go to the Olympics at least until 2010 - all the silly contract mumbo jumbo I'm not interested in, but there are a couple of rule changes that are interesting. Two line passes will be allowed, and there aren't going to be any ties anymore, hockey will go down soccer's route and have a penalty shootout after one period of extra time. The managers apparently didn't want Olympic participation, especially after the year long lock out, but the players did, and it is nice easy public relations for hockey.

Now the bad. A man was shot by police at point blank range at Stockwell tube station in south London. He had refused to stop when asked to by police, ran into the tube station, jumped the ticket barriers and ran onto the platform. Wearing a bulky jacket, he tripped as he got onto a Northern line train - the police ran into the train, machine guns at the ready, kept the guy on the floor, and one of them shot him, five times, in the head. In front of all the passengers in the carriage.

Panic ensued, as the passengers either ducked for cover because of the shooting, or ran for fear of a bomb going off. One of the few good things about it was that it did not happen in the middle of rush hour, instead at the relatively quieter time of 10am.

The man had come from a house under surveillance related to Thursday's attempted bombings, but was not one of the alleged bombers (I say alleged, because we do still have innocent before proven guilty don't we?), whose CCTV pictures were released later on Friday, UK time. Reading far and wide on the newspaper websites, no I haven't gone to blogs to pick any of this up, it appears he was either a relative or a friend of someone under suspicion in the house under surveillance who the police may have tried to 'turn'. He got nervous and ran.

Apparently the new police rules (since February) allow them to shoot if they believe an imminent threat is in hand - and, with instruction from Israeli police, have been informed that if a suicide bomber is still conscious of making decisions or pushing a trigger with their hands, then they are a threat at all times, even if they have surrendered. There are queries in the British press about whether this means a shoot to kill policy. And how many people AREN'T nervous when police are questioning them?

More so than the actual bombings, which apart from the suicide angle have occurred in Britain before, this shooting may be the UK's real initiation into the war on terror. Police haven't shot people from point blank range in front of civilians before, or so I have read. The Prime Minister advised on Thursday to go on with lives as per normal, but when the Metropolitan Police have cancelled all leave, have got their officers on twelve hour shifts, and a possible shoot to kill policy, how normal can anything be?

'Has London become Belfast or Tel Aviv?'

More bombings on the Egyptian Red Sea coast, after last October's attacks on Israeli targets there. At least seventy five dead. Also bombings in Lebanon, riots in Yemen, the daily carnage in Iraq. I could go on, for instance the possible famine in Niger, but will stop there for now, was draining reading as much as I could about what is happening in London lately.

Later peeps - at least the hockey is back...
Pauly

Another Good Evening Socialising

Hey all - well, I am coming in very close to broke before fortnightly pay next Tuesday, so I don't think I will be going out later in the weekend (no, not even to a movie), but wow, I had a good night last night. And I was tight for budget even before last night, so good time at low cost LOL. Was UPE's leaving the company dinner and drinks thing, she is going back to university full time and apparently part timing at another job.

Now, as LDU said when I said I was going out yesterday, she didn't think I knew UPE that well. Well, we have never been in the same work teams or in contact regularly, but it just seems that with the work socialising things, official and unofficial, we constantly bump into each other, and so easy to talk to and such, and we have racked up a few frequent flier points by the amount of time we talk at social gatherings. And I was very happy when the invite came through.

We were supposed to be going to a Vietnamese restaurant in Fortitude Valley ('the Valley' as it is known locally), but the email went around yesterday morning that we had to book somewhere else, because the Vietnamese place had been booked solid two weeks in advance. Apparently one of the guys at work has a relative own the place that was overbooked, and when that fell through advised UPE to make a booking at The Golden Arches, and she had been looking at the online White Pages and everything trying to find the place, while the guy that made the suggestion cracked himself laughing. He meant McDonald's of course LOL.

So at quarter to sixish, we wandered from work up to the Valley and the new venue (not the golden arches LOL, a Chinese BYO place), and at this stage there were five of us, myself, PMA, UPE, LMA and MGR. UPE bought two white and three red wines before getting to the restaurant - she wouldn't take money from the rest of us, but our thinking was that we would buy the drinks from then on.

Sat between UPE and LMA, the latter saying do you feel a stud sitting between two beauties, I demurred a bit and said I felt very lucky LOL. We were waiting for another five or so people to turn up and they were taking their time, we obviously hadn't drunk enough as there was still talk about work and all, and we got an entree round of spring rolls, both vegetarian and meat (we had a vego at the table).

SPE and her boyfriend turned up, and JSO and her former flatmate/current friend obviously (whose name I have misplaced somewhere in the old brain), and we were only waiting for TDE, but JSO and her friend were only having a quick dinner and goodbye before heading to a hen's party in the suburbs. So they ordered, which got us ordering - the waitress must have the patience of a saint, between UPE asking for the dish that had lettuce and mince (which was in the menu after all as lettuce, mince and fried rice LOL) and LMA asking for about five different things without advising how many serves of each and talking over each other, the rest of us being quiet and letting them talk over each other - in the nicest possible way of course.

And then in the middle of us ordering, TDE sent UPE a text on the mobile saying she wouldn't be able to make it, now all the others seem to know each other much more than I do (I am a very recent addition to the group) so when that came through there was a shocked silence that TDE wasn't turning up. UPE was not happy, and flung the mobile, text screen up, across for LMA to read. And still the waitress is trying to get us to organise an order LOL.

And then TDE comes through the door, about two minutes later, her text had been a great giggle LOL. Well, for the rest of us apart from UPE, but she just did the mock anger thing before dissolving into giggles as well. Eventually, don't ask me how, the rest of us ordered, while JSO and her friend were probably about halfway through their food - we got a plate each basically and grazed across the lot, well, apart from PMA the vegetarian, but she was enjoying herself as well.

Food was nice, but the thing about Chinese, even in sit down restaurants, is that nothing comes out and stuns you in a nice way, so you can go through the dishes and all in detail, but it all merges together on the tastebuds, as well as in the memory the next day. There was Szechuan chicken, and the lettuce mince things, BBQ pork, lemon salt and pepper calamari, garlic honey prawns, and steamed rice. And other bits and bobs, so that's the food out of the way LOL.

Talked about work for a bit as you do with workmates, and then talked about Big Brother, everyone at the table was a fan apart from PMA - well, I think fan is a bit of a stretch this year, it is an endurance race rather than entertaining most of the time - I am sure previous series were more entertaining. There were mirrors on the walls (I was against the wall, so I didn't turn around and gawk at myself), but TDE was and said she would be forever looking at herself in the Big Brother mirrors, did a hair flick, and winked. I think it was to the general table, but she is a good winker LOL. Later in the meal she winked again, after making a joke, and hmm, I think that was for me alone (gulp!).

JSO and her friend left for the hen's party, and more of the wine was drunk. Somehow I had switched from white to red (I hardly ever drink red, and only with food), and I had had enough red, but there was still a whole bottle to get through LOL. SPE did her best by sculling a whole glass, and then got another glass put in front of her for her troubles - maybe we didn't need that fifth bottle, UPE was a bit unsure of that, but also was unsure whether we would need MORE bottles LOL, lucky we didn't go with the two thirds bottle per person thing.

We paid the bill, not allowing UPE to put in anything, apart from a bit of change for a tip - oh, the staff were interesting enough to watch in themselves, if there hadn't been the sparkling conversation at the table. There was an older Chinese woman in red there (staff) who went off about four times LOL. We left, MGR had been texting MCU and they were at the RG, Royal George, had a spare table for us to turn up.

Now MCU is about the only one of the 'old gang', my social group from our initial intake, left at the job, but we hardly talk or go out anymore. Things change I guess, and we hardly talked last night either, but we wandered around to the RG and MCU and LBL were there (the first casualty of the cull that happened to our group, was let go last December, I am sure I wrote about it). Was nice to see LBL, but again, I'm not sure what we had in common in the first place, she is so err scatterbrained, and so unlike me, and again, we didn't really talk that much last night.

I was feeling the red wine course through my veins and head, so I was on the water for a bit. Was a quiet patch of the evening, as conversations pulsed around me but I was hardly involved. Just information gathering about my new group I guess, TDE has a teenage son, and I'm like OMG, not only is she very attractive but she is so young looking as well (confirmed that she is young later in the evening) - not living with anyone either. PMA is partnered up, and apart from that and the suburb she lives in, the back of beyond, basically in the Gold Coast hinterland she made it sound, didn't get too much out of her. LMA is married, was a prefect and cheerleader at school ('back when I was as skinny as TDE' LOL), but not to MGR - married that is, despite the way they act around each other.

UPE, well, previous evenings I have learned heaps about her, but last night she is doing a Bachelor of Communication Studies or something, and she wants to make documentaries, one of her pet topics is why do people join the army, ESPECIALLY in wartime, as Australia kinda sorta is at the moment (troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, can't get more at war in the West than that currently). She just was unsure why anyone would join up, KNOWING that they would get sent overseas on a combat mission - peacekeeping and any sort of peace time she could understand kinda sorta.

I had a bourbon and coke as the last drink at the RG, just to get the taste again - love bourbon LOL. SPE and her boyfriend left - the girls wanted SPE to make a night of it, but the boyfriend had the money this weekend, and it was enough of a victory to get him to the RG. And we headed to err the Elephant and Wheelbarrow, which was UPE's choice, as earlier in the night she had seen a hot Irish boy at the ATM next door I think - yes she is that impulsive. It's below the main youth hostel in the Valley, and I have never been in there before last night, so let's just say the expectations weren't high.

Just a side thought on the whole youth hostel thing populated by Europeans and North Americans here and such, do they feel as excited being in Australia and doing the local pubs and bars thing as I was when I was over in London? I guess so, but it's such a strange thought thinking of my local city as being seen as exotic and exciting - well apart from social evenings out like last night LOL.

Elephant and Wheelbarrow was OK if not great. MCU and LBL had come in with us but were hardly seen again after we got in. UPE was only with us about half the time as she barrelled into groups of men and just started chatting - she's like that LOL. There was a live band doing 80's ballads and Oz rock as most of their repertoire, and I was SO not dancing to that. Grabbed a Kronenberg (yum, always takes me back to Contiki 96, and especially the Beaujolais chateau/hostel), and just passed the time.

TDE asked my age, and said that what I was wearing aged me - I was so thinking that it would be a quiet evening out and not kicking on anywhere, and had looked in my wardrobe for good clothes but I was just slumming it lol, especially the monochrome grey jersey, should have worn my Matrix like woollen jacket, it is winter after all, even here in Brisbane, but that would have meant I would have to had good pants. Had an olive green pair that I have had for years, and all my fashion choices for last night went from there. I should have had my party clothes on really, with the fun I had last night, just would have been that extra boost of confidence I would have needed to REALLY kick it on.

The Aussie Rock finally finished, and they put on the turntables, or whatever newfangled DJey kind of stuff they have now, and something came on that make us go up to the dancefloor - by this stage PMA had bailed as well. Now I can't remember the first song that we went up for, and not knowing annoys me, because I want to remember what we were dancing to, but it morphed into the latest Britney song 'Do Something'. MGR and LMA were dancing together, and I had UPE and TDE both dancing with me. Was VERY nice, especially when err, I was between the two of them, UPE at my back and TDE in front of me. Surprisingly that was not the highlight of the night, although most nights it would have been LOL.

And then the band came on, and we went off the dancefloor again. Round of drinks, TDE is a rum and coke girl, and I think I got UPE one as well, and I had a coke - not only was I drinking very responsibly last night (well, after the red red wine), but I was counting my dollar coins as well - no one counts pennies anymore do they? Wow, what a great job that would be at the British Treasury, you could say you were really counting pennies with that one, unless they no doubt have a HAL 9000 installed for it now LOL.

The band did Green Day's 'Basket Case' and we were back on the dancefloor - for me, it is just an endorphin releasing song, with the other songs beforehand, was dancing taking notice of the people/women around me, whereas Basket Case I was just bouncing around, singing at the top of my voice - as were the others I think, or at least it didn't affect how they thought of me after my Green Day release LOL.

Oh, speaking of the phrase it affects you how, earlier in the night we were voting on which pub to go to, I said I would vote for Logan David, a la the mid week eviction show on Big Brother, got a laugh out of that LOL. Oh, and another phrase of the night, 'it's all about UPE' as LMA did her usual thing of trying to control the evening's agenda (nice enough girl, but she is so bossy LOL).

LMA and MGR bailed, not sure whether it was before or after the Green Day song, but anyways, left myself, UPE and TDE. UPE had a sit down, looked tired, TDE was going to get her a drink of water, UPE said I need some fresh air, I said sure, go outside, stand beside the entrance, I will go get TDE and come back to you. Found TDE, she said she would come out after going to the bathroom, I went outside.

And UPE was nowhere to be seen.

I went up the street about 100 metres, and down to the traffic lights, just a couple of shops down the other way, but no, freaking, sign of her. The girl who we had come out for had just seemingly gone. I went back inside the pub, looked around, but couldn't see her. Came back outside, saw TDE, said UPE seems to have gone. I was feeling a bit guilty for losing her LOL, but not really that concerned - maybe she had seen that cute Irish guy from earlier in the evening and followed him up to his hostel room, she would be like that actually. Didn't really think she was in danger or anything, just felt guilty for losing her.

TDE took charge of the situation and said, well now we can do what we want to do, and took my hand - I think she had earlier in the night, but something about her taking my hand at that point has stuck in my mind. I very rarely have actual touch contact with ANYONE, so even a hand hold can burn itself into the back of my brain :)

She said where do you want to go Paul, and I demurred, saying suggest where you would like to go and I'll see how that sounds. Belushi's came up in conversation, and I nodded my head, saying that would be good - yes, I don't mind R&B in reply to TDE's question about whether I knew what I was getting myself in for. So we headed up Brunswick Street Mall, hand in hand basically, and god am I glad I didn't get blotto last night and can actually remember all this, to get into Belushi's. That time of night, they were supposed to have a cover charge, but we got in fine enough.

Got a beer and another rum and coke, and headed out to the dancefloor, and at this point the highlight of the night started. Dancing with TDE. Dancing close. Very close at times, thinking her back to me (smiling here, remembering). And good music as well, the most memorable ones were 'Let's Get Retarded', Black Eyed Peas, 'Jump Around', House Of Pain, and 'It's Getting Hot In Here' by Nelly. The last two have previously been associated in my mind with MHA fellow barworker in London (for the former), and St Patrick's Day in Saskatoon the latter. Maybe they will have to get an update in my thought association LOL.

Hands touching at times as well, while dancing. TDE said she felt old dancing at Belushi's (is mainly a young crowd there), but I was very happy and kind of proud to be dancing with her, and she shouldn't have felt old anyways. And unlike dancing with LNE and JPH a couple of months ago, TDE didn't have a husband either dancing with her or in the pool hall below LOL.

Was mentioning this to LHO on messenger this morning, how good my evening had been, and LHO said this girl seems to have been keen on you at least somewhat to be dancing and holding hands and the like, and you didn't even say to her anything about kissing? Yes, I am a dolt LOL. But I just don't consider myself kissable material, and have never thought that actually. When I was in London the point of flirting in bars for me was to get phone numbers, not to bed a girl (stupid stupid I know).

And TDE maybe could be long distancing with a guy in NSW - she was texting some 'hot guy' at times throughout the evening. And I wasn't wearing my good clothes, and if I am dancing with a very attractive woman who works on my floor at work, I am sure that there will be other opportunities to dance etc when I do have just a smidgen extra boost of confidence.

But LHO, saying 90 to 95 percent probability that girls say yes to kisses in that situation hmmph. Dolt dolt dolt - talking to myself here.

And I do admit I was thinking where the evening could lead, stuff the last train LOL. Been a long time since I have even thought of contemplating like that - missing the last train I am meaning.

TDE suggested we get something to eat, I said sure, let's go, after dancing up quite a sweat on the dancefloor LOL, and we went to New York Slice. This girl likes the bar I do, she likes the take out place I do - and hmm, even before I knew what she was ordering, I picked the same type of pizza slice as her. I wanted a change from the normal house special, so chose pepperoni. We ate sitting down on the bus stop seat, and TDE went and got another slice - she had just picked at the food at the Chinese restaurant earlier in the night, getting in basically after we had ordered.

I finally looked at my watch for the first time in about three hours, and was very surprised to see that it was ten to one in the morning. THEN I started thinking about the last train option again, and TDE came back, sat down, offered me the first bite of her pizza mind you, and said was I fine on getting home, and if I wanted to go she would be fine, she was texting LMA I think to come pick her up. I thought it over for a few minutes, before deciding not to take a potentially serious risk of reading the earlier signals wrong and saying yeah I will head home.

She offered me the first bite of her pizza though, even with her thinking of my well being on how I would get home - trying not to think she bailed on me, although that was my initial first impression when she said it. Living again to fight another day I think is the appropriate phrase, or discretion being the better part of valour. In real life I am so cautious around women, to the point of stupidity sometimes.

At least I didn't get drunk however - and I got to hold TDE's hand for a good part of the evening, and she said that the girls (LMA, UPE and herself) had talked about me. Curiosity of course was piqued, but didn't press her on anything more than the whole 'nice guy, good value to have on a night out' summary.

At least with not getting drunk and/or overplaying my hand on the flirting stakes, Monday should come around with no damage to the potential friendship with TDE and lots of positives to take from last night. Another person to give a 'special' smile to in the mornings LOL. And yes, I do overanalyse everything, don't I?

Back to the real world with my next post I am thinking - bombs in London and Sharm El Sheik, and England being hammered in the Ashes again - but will hold onto last night's memories for as long as possible.

I had a good one.

Pauly

The Cricket Ground On The Hill

AKA Lord's the home of English cricket. Must be the only test match cricket ground that has a slope LOL. First Ashes test has started tonight, and I have it on in the background here - Australia currently 150 for 6, Gilchrist out, and Shane Warne playing entertainingly (an over of four, four, french cut, missed edge, four, run out attempt - you get the drift) - but must stop thinking in one day mode - 155 for 6 is NOT a good score. Where are the days where teams could get near 700 over 3 days hard graft and then skittle the other team without raising a sweat (apart from Bangladesh of course) - well, apart from Australia over the last decade I mean.

Hmm, James Doohan, aka Scotty off Star Trek, has died at 85 - this is a good take on the whole Star Trek phenomenon. It got caned in the ratings against Bewitched apparently in the three years the original show went, but one of the first examples of life after cancellation I guess. Fave episode of the original series, and I think the silliest, was Trouble With Tribbles - LOL fluffy slippers attack Kirk et al, and then to make it sillier, Deep Space Nine went back in time to spice the old show with their characters LOL.

Hmm, more emergency scares in London today - 'incidents' at three Underground stations, and a bus taped off. From what I can see and hear on TV at the moment, and BBC is reporting that it seems detonators only have exploded at Shepherd's Bush, The Oval and Warren Street - possible nail bomb at Warren Street, and apparently someone dropping a bag in the train and running away. Reports of gunshots at Warren Street, and also University College Hospital, near Warren Street tube station, being sealed off by armed police.

Also a No. 26 bus in Hackney had an explosion on the upper deck, not ripped apart like at Russell Square two weeks ago today (has it only been two weeks?), but windows blown out, and the surrounding area has been evacuated. Speculation on the news feeds so far is that the detonators could have been attached to bombs that didn't go off - and hmm, some of the cops going down into the tubes are wearing chemical suits.

As two weeks ago, very jumbled at this early stage. Only one injury reported so far, and no mass of paramedics around the stations. More will become apparent shortly no doubt.

Back to the cricket, 7 wickets down, Shane Warne is out, 178 for 8 wow. The other wicket must have fallen while I wasn't looking. LOL I was wondering how SBS would juggle the Tour de France and the Ashes, two sessions of the cricket live and then the Tour, with frequent news from Lords. Only four more days to go of the cycling juggle though, and then five other test matches all live no doubt.

Hmm, so much news, so little attention span LOL - John Howard, the Australian PM, is doing the grand coalition of the willing tour this week - was in Washington earlier in the week, is now in London. He met the two Australians still seriously injured by the July 7 bombings, and got ambushed by one, who asked, in front of the media and cameras and such, whether the war on Iraq was one of the things that caused the bombings. For once, I saw Howard lost for words - he came out with the line everyone is entitled to their opinions, but that Al Qaeda was around before Iraq got invaded. No, won't even go near the topic of Saddam was supporting Al Qaeda, won't even LOL.

Oh, and I completely forgot the timing of Howard's trip - he will be able to watch the test at Lords no doubt. Must be good to be a world leader :)

I won't go near the Afghanistan Al Qaeda Iraq link, but an interesting (from a liberal pinko point of view of course, and yes I am being self depracating there LOL) article in the Guardian here, about the mess that is Afghanistan currently. Are the Canadian troops still there? I remember Chretien basically promising the troops to Afghanistan, and in no way did he do that to avoid sending the forces to Iraq LOL.

'In Bush's 'global war on terror' (Gwot), Iraq and Afghanistan present one extended battlefield against a common enemy - and the strategy is and must be the same. So far as Bush is concerned, it's always either the day after 9/11 or the day before the Iraq invasion. Time stands still at two ideal political moments. But his consequences since are barely managed chaos.'

Latest from that other theatre of the Gwot is that another couple of diplomats have been kidnapped by the insurgents, this time the Algerians have been targeted. A 'quiet' day in the civil war around Baghdad - five soldiers (all Iraqis), a policeman and two civilians killed in attacks today. I say civil war because the Sunni insurgents seem to be deliberately targetting Shia and Kurdish targets, it's become more apparent over the last couple of weeks.

In Washington, Bush has put forward John Roberts as nominee for the Supreme Court. Who, I hear you ask (or, actually the majority of you I am sure are saying who cares), he seems to be fairly conservative, but doesn't seem to have actually made too many rulings on contentious issues. Hey, Democrats and liberals, it could have been worse, and he is only fifty, got years and years for him to be seduced to the left LOL. Hell, when Alberto Gonzales' name came up, I was thinking at least he is a known quality - aargh, how rightist I am becoming in my US thinking LOL.

Bush avoided another chapter of the culture wars by this nomination, as David Brooks says in that op-ed piece I linked in the above paragraph. I haven't really heard any feedback from the religious right about the nomination, so maybe that is a good thing LOL. A nominee that is acceptable to the Dems as well as the Republicans in the Senate - and as Brooks says, it will be interesting to see which Democratic party comes out at the confirmation hearing, the nutter 'woo of death' Deaniac side, or the pragmatic boring Clintonites. Or the wiffle waffle Kerry mob LOL.

And when on earth did Niger become the next Sudan or Zimbabwe with the food shortages? Under the Western radar indeed...

'Mr Porter pointed out that Niger's crisis "began at precisely the time of the Live 8 concerts and the G8 meeting at Gleneagles, yet the world could not find the money needed to intervene. It is sad an unacceptable. There is no war in Niger, no rebel groups, no despots, no problems getting the aid in, it is just poverty. And kids are starving to death...'

Apparently the harvests failed.

And Indonesia have had their first human deaths due to bird flu - all poultry at affected farms are to be culled now. Previously it was only the sick birds themselves - yesterday they were reporting that the three deaths they had they weren't sure whether the victims had exposure to poultry, and the worrying implication that there could be human to human transmission. Very very scary - question of when, not if, it blows up and do the full human to human transmission thing.

Wow, the US Administration and the protectionists and the anti China brigade should be a bit happier this (North American) morning - China have said they will drop the yuan's peg to the dollar, and are revaluing as of today by 2.1 percent. There goes the budget deficit LOL just like that :)

Oh, I found that article I was looking for the other day - is a piece on how successful Subway is in the UK - in five years they are saying it could be the biggest chain in the UK, even bigger than McDonald's. I had a meatball sub today for lunch, even after reading the following description a couple of days ago -

'The meatball sub sauce is indeed flavoursome, but in the same way that McDonald's hamburgers or Starbursts are - there's a tanginess that your saliva glands leap into action without you honestly being able to identify an actual taste, though I presume the Trades Description Act requires that it has had, at some stage, a passing acquaintance with a tomato. I unpick a meatball and HL Mencken's famous description of hotdogs as 'the sweepings of the abattoir' springs to mind. Ditto when I look at the slices of ham and turkey in my second sub, which clearly haven't been carved directly from a pig or poultry carcass, unless someone has invented a rectangular species of each without telling me.'

Hmm, in the cricket, Australia all out for 190, England are already 11 for 2. Some dedication guys please? It is the Ashes?

Am too tired to do much apart from link to this story. An immigration detention story from Sydney, where the two children were detained at the Villawood facility due to a misunderstanding - the minister is saying that the children weren't 'technically detained', merely that the mother was and the kids wanted to visit her.

Eyelids are falling here, and Howard is doing the side by side thing at Blair's press conference about the latest incidents in London. Where's that remote for the cricket or Tour de France LOL. Some funny - as in peculiar - footage coming from Whitehall, some guy being led away in handcuffs. And still those stories that University College Hospital is in armed police lockdown as well. Will hear more of the story tomorrow morning I am sure.

Sorry for the length of the post peeps, will try to limit my interests to five topics a post perhaps LOL.

Pauly

Central Station

The lunch time crowd.

It is a different feel to the false confidence of the morning rush, or the measured exhaustion of the evening. It seems a feeling of awkward startlement, a sense of surprise at being in such a place in the middle of the day.

Bright Hawaiian shirts over white t-shirts, over pot bellies. Wrinkled faces, puckered mouths, huddled over a packet of French fries, seemingly befuddled minds wondering what to do with the day, the week, their lives.

The staff at the fast food counter, with endless customers, smiles and patience. I cannot imagine dealing with the avalanche of humanity they handle daily. For five seconds, a girl looks tiredly at the ceiling – five seconds longer than the franchise allows for contemplation I surmise. I catch fragments of conversation ‘I started at 6.30…’ - she is thinking of finishing her shift, her crystal eyes blue as her uniform.

The teenagers. Shouldn’t they be in school? The couples, the boys’ arms protectively, possessively around their partners’ waists, while the girls suitably attached preen themselves like peacocks. I wonder what such young love must feel like, and whether teenagers are as cynical as popular culture imagines them to be.

The children - the wandering, inattentive, magpie eyes - the sense of wonder you see in most children in public places. Some of them are seeing things for the first time - what an amazing feeling that must be.

Lifestyles Of The Rich And The Famous

Sent out one of those every six monthly 'I am still alive and my email account is still active' type emails yesterday to the lesser lights on my email address list. Lesser lights of course being a bit of a misnomer, apart from emailing news stories I like to my closest friends, and those being directly from the newspaper or media websites, I have hardly emailed at all in the last two months LOL.

Anyways, sent one of those generalistic, this is what I am doing but I am not going to be too specific kind of emails, to about thirty five or forty or maybe even fifty on my list, and have got a few interesting replies, in amongst the generalistic my life is just as exciting as yours sounds kind of replies.

The best mate I made while I was in England in 97/98 (he got me tickets to Wembley and included me in his group for an away Crystal Palace game, and also watching World Cup 98 with his mates, damned Argies LOL) is now a British Transport Policemen (BTP as the parlance seems to be), based in London, and yes, he says he was in the thick of it ten days ago. 'Bloody terrible scenes' is a direct quote - would love to ask more, being the info hound that I am, but maybe too soon to press...

Another email I got was from a girl in Auckland that I had a kinda sorta date with a couple of years ago while I was singleish LOL - we had met online (as I did back then), talked on the phone, found a mutual love for the first series of Secret Life Of Us, and I was going up to Auckland for a work thing and we arranged to meet. We saw Serendipity, which as stupid rom com was a silly choice for a first movie to see with a potential err whatever potential there was - but we are both John Cusack fans.

Movie went OK, but then had a couple of drinks at a bar off Aotea Square and the night fell flat. When I got back to Wellington, next time on the phone was don't get ideas above your station Pauly, and things drifted from there dammit. Anyways, got a reply email from her, and things are going well, enjoying life, and it sounds like I am enjoying mine - wow, it's so easy to make your life sound interesting, or is it actually because I may be a good writer LOL.

Both V and LHO have commented positively on my writing, and I have been thinking the last couple of days that that may be a goal I could possibly set myself in the next wee while, doing a writing course, either creative or journalistic - I would love to break into that. Or do you have to do an apprenticeship in Boring Suburbs Weekly before getting onto the Guardian and New York Times LOL. And is blogging the new journalism anyways (not with my readership stats it isn't LOL).

Hmm, I had a good article in the Guardian I think yesterday, and now I can't think what it was or what it was about aargh hate it when that happens - may find it, may not LOL.

Later peeps
Pauly

Quiet Weekend

After the storm that was Friday, have had a quiet weekend just gone. As I had already seen the movie of the week on Friday night, did not need to go out again at all (plus I had spent enough money already LOL, damn my DVD addiction), and yesterday was just a computer game, one of those control a country for 100 or 1000 year things, put on pause for lunch and dinner, and then to bed.

Today was an even quieter day - got up at 11am so really didn't have that much of a day to chew up the rest of it. Before I knew it, I was doing the cooking for the evening - chicken and tarragon pie out of the Woolworth's Great Taste magazine. Was very yummy, and got the big tick for a next time - I seriously need to put some good recipes on here, get the whole Martha Stewart crowd in to become my fanbase LOL. As I have said before, I don't believe in splitting my thoughts between several different blogs, lol this is my political blog, this is my bitching about work blog, this is my recipe blog LOL - nope not gonna happen.

This is a good op-ed piece from Frank Rich in the NYT - about the whole Karl Rove trashing Ambassador Wilson and his CIA operative wife thing. It isn't about Niger or Karl Rove, it is about Iraq and President Bush, and when his staff will have to start falling on their swords. So Nixon broke into the Democrats hotel, so what LOL, it's not as if 1700 soldiers and counting died because someone tried to assassinate your Dad forever ago, hmmph.

'The morning after Mr. McClellan went mano a mano with his tormentors in the White House press room - "We've secretly replaced the White House press corps with actual reporters," observed Jon Stewart - the ardently pro-Bush New York Post ran only five paragraphs of a wire-service story on Page 12. That conspicuous burial of what was front-page news beyond Murdochland speaks loudly about the rising anxiety on the right.'

John Stewart, gotta love him LOL, if only we could get the Daily Show here - what, it's on Foxtel, yet another reason to get it - that and the Super 12 rugby of course. If only :)

Further on the actual story, apart from trashing Mr Wilson and his wife, when was the last time the possibility that Saddam could smuggle a uranium bomb into the US and detonate it raised as a reason for the whole invasion of Iraq? What, you mean there weren't WMD's in there ready to fire within forty five minutes? Ohhh, WMD thoughts that would take months or years to come to fruition even if the CIA and MI6 weren't breathing down Iraq's neck. Oh, but I have forgotten, the whole rationale has changed to fighting terrorists there instead of in the homeland. Umm, for some strange reason, I can't see any US city becoming as much a warzone as Baghdad, even if Al Qaeda was given passes to Disneyland.

Another day of carnage in Iraq today, three British soldiers killed, one American, and 98 Iraqi civilians (death toll so far) blown apart as a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a fuel tanker and possibly also an explosives depot. Only the worst of fifteen suicide bombs in and around Baghdad within the last 48 hours.

Just a quick one this evening, just to advise that I am still alive if nothing more :)
Paul

A Wacky Wacky Day

Strap yourselves in, this is likely to be a long one. First off, I saw five ayem in the morning for about the first time in at least a year - had swapped scheduled days off with a guy who had his kids (divorcee I'm guessing) today as opposed to Wednesday two weeks away, and I was doing bugger all with my time off, but as part of that swap had to take his actual shift for the day - and people actually VOLUNTEER to get up that early in the morning, for chrissake it was still dark outside LOL.

And hopefully it will be another year at least before I wake up that early again LOL. The whole atmosphere of the quarter past six in the morning train was almost that of an overtired airport lounge late at night or early morning, five or ten timezones out of whack - you know, the neon lights, the people trying to doze with their necks in bad positions, and just the overwhelming sense of jetlag around the place. And trying to avoid the nutters nodding, shaking their heads, smiling and winking in their sleep LOL.

Sat in the park outside our building for ten minutes at lunch. Just in major relax mode. Looking up at the sky through the branches and palm fronds it was pure azure (if I have the right word) - the kind of blue you only get on beachside holidays or on jigsaw puzzles. Not a cloud in the sky, the sun a white spot but not hot, just enough to keep the chill off. Looking down, the grass had been neatly cut, with an ibis looking to see whether I was likely to give food, before wandering off to find a better food source. I could almost see the bird giving me a cheeky grin as it nosed around - and it had a mate scoping me out from the tree as well. Ibis as lager louts, well it could happen couldn't it LOL. The light scent of the flowerbeds - just one of those near perfect moments. If it wasn't for the sound of the traffic (downtown central Brissie) it could almost have been perfect.

Got back into the office and the afternoon went pear shaped big time. When a customer rings in and says they have been trying to talk to someone about their problem for five hours and haven't gotten anywhere, should you really transfer them through to the 'appropriate' section, or should you take ownership, especially if the problem is something you can fix? And then, on a secondary and tertiary follow up call now that the customer has your name, are you really going to fob them off at that stage, even if it is a more complex issue? Especially if the change that went through yesterday (from the 'appropriate' section) was fucked up in the first place grrr. And on those secondary and tertiary calls, she did not have my number, the people who took the calls put them in the too hard basket and I'm obviously an easy touch. Grr.

The thing was that it needed further investigation, that would require a follow up section to sort it out - now me being primarily on the phones, I had done my bit of investigation getting the initial (minor) query sorted out, anything more goes to the follow up section, by rerouting in our work queues. Now even with the best will in the world, you can't do that major an investigation in half hour blocks, which was how many times this customer was ringing back (and no one else knew how to do anything?). Sure, I admit I made a mistake in not taking the issue to a superior as soon as it got complicated, but hmm, around lunchtime on the floor, team leaders are a bit thin on the ground. Anyways, when I did take it to the team leader, on the third call when the customer was screaming at me (hate it when that happens), the team leader made me feel like I had done something wrong by taking ownership in the first place, and for not forwarding it directly to the people that fucked the order up in the first place.

Hey, if a customer has been trying to talk to us for five hours, in my book that is a customer of our company, not each individual subsection GRRR. To external customers I thought that we were supposed to give a seamless company experience, sure transferring is fine, but not to any extent.

Second thing to go wrong with the afternoon was, again, an issue with customer ownership - one section rang through to me, saying that the customer on the other line wanted something that I knew a secondary section was supposed to do - oh, they had already spoken to the secondary section that had advised that I was the best to talk to. I said can I talk to my team leader about this, to which the reply was oh the customer has been on line for a while, can't you take the call and figure things out from there, stupid muggins here said sure, again taking ownership for something that wasn't particularly mine, and the stupid bitch brought the customer through with the phrase 'Hi, I've got Paul on the line to help you, and he will put you on hold before being able to do your order'. I was just in TOTAL fucking SHOCK at that, whatever we say to each other internally you do NOT say that sort of thing in front of a customer GRRRR. We are a call centre, we do NOT open with the line we have to put you on hold right from the start.

And the cherry on the top was me making a stupid mistake (as usual), not checking an order fully - yeah, I will take it on the chin and such, but the person sent the notification of my mistake back by email with the title 'this isn't the first time'. Now how the HELL am I supposed to react to that? Is it like a threat? Will the Krays do me over if I do it just one more time? Krays as in sixties London gangsters LOL. How fucking rude LOL.

Vented to KRE a bit, who agreed that the only mistake I made today out of those three cock ups was not to take the first case to a team leader earlier. And LDU who had been sick the past three days was at work today, and basically said what are you doing helping that customer, it's not ours, and later in the day was a hint of I told you so about the whole thing. I was near meltdown by the end of it, and am I the only one in the company that takes ownership when a customer is unhappy LOL? Man, I was steamed by the end of work, and just remembering it all even this many hours later still has me hot, obviously.

Let off a bit of steam by catching Sin City at the movies half an hour after work. Was a bit of legwork to get there on time, and I missed half of the first trailer (Wedding Crashers, had seen it last week) but got there in time from then on in. Sin City is awesome, simply awesome. Took a couple of scenes to get into - Josh Hartnett, despite Pearl Harbor, is actually an OK actor, and the prelim Bruce Willis story I was still getting used to the black white and colour (think Pleasantville with ultraviolence LOL), but as soon as Mickey Rourke's storyline came on, with the violence and action and all, I was sucked all the way in.

Also could have helped the gratuitous g-string shots LOL, mmm Carla Gugino, major eye candy find of the movie LOL. And yes, there is a string of drool coming from my mouth :) Clive Owen is having a blinder of a time at the moment movie wise, and Elijah Wood is totally creepy. Oh, and THAT'S where I have seen Nick Stahl before, Terminator 3 and Carnivale. Much more a comic book turned into a movie than a movie based on a comic book, if you know what I mean. Very much a boys movie - guns, gstrings, bullets and boobs.

Had a quick three minute raid into JB's after the movie - ten minutes to my bus with walking time to JB's and back as well, the bus had arrived by the time I got back. This week's selections are Black Hawk Down and 2001 A Space Odyssey, and yes, two more different movies you could not get I am sure. Got home and got most of the way through Black Hawk before parents decided to go to bed (well, Dad, as Mum isn't into war movies).

And on here, and still venting big time about the work thing :)

Pauly

Weekly Midpoint

Yes, the inspiration for titles is already used up this week LOL. Work was good, SGR showed that she had listened to me yesterday, asked how V was and whether I had spoken to her since Monday evening's argument. Yay me lol, SGR is eye candy central at the moment - too bad she is taken LOL. And ASI, one of the few remaining from my recruitment group, asked me how V was going, and whether I was cutting off other options - I had to confirm what she had said - 'well you are a good person and I would hate for you to be cutting your options off, you deserve a good relationship' - quoted verbatim. Geez LOL, my low self esteem recoiled at that one let me tell you :)

Hmm, Britain is in the middle of a nightmare scenario. It does appear that the attacks in London were suicide bombings, and not only that, the perpetrators were born and bred Brits, although of Pakistani descent, and seemingly middle class as well. Now the police operation is trying to track down the bombers associates and masterminds behind the attacks. Three of them caught the train from Leeds to Luton to meet up with the fourth, and then caught on CCTV at Kings Cross station at 8.30 on Thursday morning.

News all over the place at the moment - just an article on the news at the moment about the Supreme Court vacancy in Washington DC. Conservative and liberal pressure groups are just going to get more and more feral I am sure LOL - just given a short view of some of the ads and campaigns and hmmph even though I am more liberal than conservative (though basically mainly anti-Bush) I am just sick and tired of these culture wars. If only I could resist reading as many international newspapers as I do...

And Australia is sending another set of troops - 100 special forces, approx 50 engineers - to Afghanistan. But only for one year mind LOL, as if Afghanistan will be fixed up by this time next year - and the Iraqi contingent (of Australian troops) is there until the job gets done. If I were in power - of course, with the little REAL information I currently have - I would put a time limit on the Iraq thing and let Afghanistan be ongoing. And I am sure the armed forces over here are in recruitment overdrive...

Later peeps
Paul

Top Of The World take 2

Good paragraph LOL - at bottom of last entry - having posting difficulties.

Hmm, it looks like it was Karl Rove that leaked the name of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative - and the White House has suddenly gone quiet on the whole full force of the law being applied to whoever leaked the thing. The White House press spokesman said Rove didn't actually leak any name, but to say Ambassador Wilson's wife, the one with the agency - oh, of course, you mean the travel agency that booked the Niger trip LOL. How stupid does the Administration think the general public are? Oh, but that's right, we can gag the media by arresting them instead of whomever is putting CIA operatives and their contacts at risk. Grrr.

Just saw Bush on SBS news before, doing a speech to someone in Virginia (think it was an FBI graduation or something), and he was saying we have to stand toe to toe with the terrorists, we can't back down, not on my watch blah blah blah. The thing that irked me specifically from that story (as Dubya generally irks me) was the whole 'not on my watch' thing. Not only is it one of the stupidest of cliches, but umm 9/11 didn't happen on Clinton's watch, may I remind anyone. And all the world's goodwill that America had on September 12, and even during the first months/years of the Afghan war (since it is another campaign that goes on and on and on), has just been pissed almost completely away.

And don't even get me started on the whole WMD to democracy and freedom ringing to fighting terrorists there instead of at home morphing justification for the whole Operation Iraqi Freedom thing. Don't even.

Had a good convo with SGR at work today, highlight of the day - I was basically feeling like a stormcloud all morning about the whole V thing of last night, and had to eventually vent a bit. Had a nice chat with SGR all up, and hmm, maybe humanised myself a bit (by talking of my actual personal life I mean).

Oh, that was another thing I was going to write last night, LHO was reading my blog the other day and said that with my 'reporting' on Thursday night, in the hours immediately after the London bombings, that it was a pity I had never done a journalism course. I said was it good, or even potential rough diamond, and she said I have told you you have a good writing style before. And I still am surprised by it, it's not fishing for compliments or anything. I would LOVE to be a journalist :)

Okies, enough for now methinks
Pauly

Top Of The World

Good start to the evening this, with a story about cleaning up rubbish on Mount Everest. Not so much the cleaning up angle to the story (although the Everest junk into Kathmandu frying pans thing is intriguing), but just the fact that there have been over 2000 people get to the summit is amazing - including forty five people in one day a few weeks ago, including a marriage. Geez, next thing you know Contiki will be up there LOL. Almost 350,000 tourists went to the Himalayas in general last year - amazing that, especially since Nepal is in the middle of a not-so-civil war.

And of course talking Everest takes us to New Zealand's most famous living person, Sir Edmund Hillary. Living legend indeed, and yes, it was a joint effort to get to the summit with Tenzing Norgay, but give us Kiwis our little bit of the sun please. We have our sporting people, our actors (although we tend to disown Russell Crowe LOL), even eek our politicians, and Lord Ernest Rutherford discovered the atom, but Sir Edmund is the biggest umm person in the country - celebrity just seems such a stupid word in the context LOL.

The authorities have identified the first victim of the London bombings - official death toll thus far is 52, while there are 76 police liaison officers assigned to families of the dead or missing. There have been raids in Leeds in the first directly related police actions on the London case. I can just imagine the British cops smashing the doors open as in so many cop shows - and being armed to the teeth.

Oh, and this report is interesting - the Spanish seemingly have no idea of what the British are all about (I thought that was only the French LOL). Whereas millions of people held vigils for the Madrid bombings last year, London put out the business as usual sign yesterday, after the chaos of Thursday and Friday.

'"The feeling that people had reacted in an orderly manner was a point of pride in people's conversations in a country where the word 'emotional' is used to indicate a personality defect," El Correo's London correspondent told readers.'

Spicks And Specks

Or I could have titled today bits and bobs, but feeling in a Bee Gee first Australian hit kind of title mood LOL.

Today at work was good - SGR said I was a 'wonderful, wonderful man' for putting together an Excel spreadsheet for her, she was stressed, having moving and boyfriend troubles, so that was nice, put a smile back on my face. Is batten down the hatches on the other side of my cubicle, LDU has had system issues since we upgraded the computers eight months ago, but the last two weeks just as she is getting the problems fixed they are getting worse, if that makes sense, and she is making sure everyone knows about it. It's obviously hurricane season in my part of the office LOL.

Also of note in the office today one of the guys had had chicken pox diagnosed since last Thursday and was still coming into the office - interesting choice, he has had heaps of sick leave already, but I think chicken pox is better fought at home than in the office. By having that discussion, it kicked off another argument about who was overhearing whom, hmmph, felt like the World War One trenches at that time, artillery lobbing overhead, sometimes hitting me LOL. Oh, and also discovered that I have my first younger boss than me in my life thus far, by only about four months, but still, it's the start of the slippery slope Pauly. Soon they will be half your age LOL.

Central Birmingham was evacuated on Saturday night - 20,000 people moved out of the pubs and clubs district while police did a few controlled explosions (false alarms though apparently). Britain is still very jittery it seems, even with the stiff upper lip fight them in Flanders and on the beaches we will never surrender attitude. No apparent leads on the perpetrators of the bombings, and the death toll is now around the 70 mark - the forensics effort is still going on, with a 'fingertip search' at the bus bombing, and the Kings Cross Piccadilly line still ongoing.

Grr, just had an argument with V - too tired to basically even think, just enough time to come back on here and press publish LOL.

Later gaters
Pauly

A Quickie

Australian TV has come through, kind of, a week late - giving a full extra three and a half hours of Live8, Channel 9 is, new coverage that wasn't part of the 'best of' package it felt we got last week. Of course, the context, especially from Hyde Park, is completely different to last week, but still, is good to see Joss Stone and Robbie Williams and even the big acts that were on last week doing more than one song each.

OK, the scoop on the London bombings, updated from the first few hours as I last posted on Thursday, was that there were four bombs, three on the Underground, one on a bus. All could have been placed at Kings Cross station, two Circle Line trains and a Piccadilly Line one, and the No 30 Hackney to Marble Arch bus. The death toll thus far is 49, with more bodies, possibly 21, on the Piccadilly train, and possibly more victims to be discovered at the bus bombing (ick, if they haven't discovered them yet, can just imagine what condition the remains would be in).

This is a good, though disturbing, piece on the recovery effort on the Piccadilly Line - the bomb went off in a single train tunnel with only six inches clearance between the train and the walls - so the emergency workers and forensic staff and whoever else has to go down there has to go in and out through the front or back of the train. And the heat from the explosion is still captured in the blast zone to an extent - and just think of the conditions of the bodies hmm. Not nice thoughts.

All the Tube bombs went off within seconds of each other, not the twenty five minute timeframe that was originally thought - the two or three bomb remains they have found indicate it could have been ten pounds (five kilos) of explosives, easy enough to hide in a large book or small rucksack, no sign that any of the explosions were by suicide bombers, they have found timer materials. So the bombers (or even lone bomber, if all the bombs were planted at Kings Cross) could still be wandering the streets of London, if they didn't catch the Eurostar or go out to Heathrow straight away. Scary thought - and when they tracked the cell down in Madrid they blew themselves and the police up rather than be caught - how can we get through to these people? Even the thought that someone who has trained themselves up in Iraq came to Britain to put the bombs together.

And of course, the Blitz and IRA campaigns are brought out, with the stereotypical British bulldog spirit evoked as well, even by the Queen in a speech at one of the hospitals - well, she didn't use the exact phrase. And didn't Ken Livingstone sound like Churchill the other day? This was not against the presidents or prime ministers, this was against the working class of London - blacks, whites, Muslim and Christian etc - hurrah for Red Ken. All joking aside though, he did very well, and much better than George Galloway, basically blaming the bombing on British participation in Iraq, and being the only dissenting voice in the House of Commons - we are all thinking it George, but there's no need to say it out loud...

Although when you are thinking of it, playing the odds, even if the death toll does near 100, and the Met doesn't think it will get there, out of a city of eight million, and even with say a thousand casualties, playing the odds, just hoping you aren't the unlucky bastard whose number comes up. Just being honest in the thinking beyond the initial shock of it happening.

More tomorrow
Pauly

Mid East Visions

That was what I was going to mention about that Russell Square bus bomb - it reminded me of so many scenes from Israel where the buses are just torn apart - but just because it looks like a suicide bombing doesn't mean that it is (all bets are off at the moment though). Would be the first in Britain if it were, and is the first bombing of a bus as well in the UK, apparently.

And all the happiness on the front pages of the British papers about the 2012 Olympics are just so much fish and chips wrapping at the moment. Hmm, can I say myself how I liked that turn of phrase in the last sentence LOL.

Pauly

London And Other News...

Before getting back to the big story of the day, will note a couple of other stories that caught my interest - another good battlefield piece, this time from Afghanistan, where a member of the 82nd Airborne describes this tour of duty as the worst of the three he has had in Afghanistan a couple of years ago and Iraq last year. Good descriptive piece of a firefight that is just part of everyday life over there - wasn't in the news before now, no US casualties.

Is there anything Nelson Mandela could not do if he just wished it? This piece said that the Murrayfield leg of the Live8 concerts yesterday was hushed and enthralled when he spoke by satellite. As opposed to my thoughts of Bob Geldof and to a lesser extent Bono meeting George Bush at Gleneagles, hmm Geldof or Dubya, who is the bigger dickhead LOL. Whereas let's crown Mandela King of the World immediately, emperor for life perhaps.

More worrying bird flu news - there is transmission of HN51 between wild birds, they don't need chickens or other domestic fowl to infect them. It will be no time at all between it jumps another species barrier. Did I hear this morning in my dreamy sleepy state that some Chinese authorities said if the flu gets out it could affect a third of the world's population? Surely my sleepy dreamy state - I was plucked out of a dream where I was part of Mr and Mrs Smith 2 or something LOL, mmm Angelina...

Back to the main story of the day. I heard on SBS just before that the latest death toll was 50, although that's still unconfirmed. Confirmed at this stage is still two dead at the Aldgate bombing, and Kings Cross station is still an active rescue zone. One hospital was saying they had ten critical and another said they had four or six critical, and saw some coverage from BBC World of a badly burned guy having his heart pumped as he was wheeled from the ambulance to the hospital...

That bus at Russell Square does look like it was opened up like a can of sardines, as an early description of it on the BBC was. Let's hope there weren't too many people on it or around it. But one of the eyewitness reports here say that the buses on that route were packed - eek.

More again soon
Paul

Madrid Redux...

London has been hit by a series of bombs.

Breaking story and all, possible train crash at Kings Cross station, bombing at Aldgate East station, a bus has been ripped apart in Tavistock Square. More reports coming in, several people injured at Aldgate, probable fatalities at Tavistock, the central city is basically locked down by police and medical staff. The Underground has been closed down, all Zone 1 and 2 Tube stations are closed, all Zone 1 buses have ceased. The mobile phone systems in south east England are crashing...

My first thought when I heard the news an hour ago was of the bombing in Madrid. Especially with no warning, whereas if it was the IRA they would give warning, could be Al Qaeda. Early minutes and hours yet though. Channel 7 have cut into the cricket coverage to cross to Sky News UK - was watching the ABC before.

What with 10,000 cops being in Scotland to protect eight men, maybe London was a bit lightly policed - I can just imagine that maybe half of them are heading down south as we speak. And just after the wonder of the announcement of the Olympics decision yesterday, and Hyde Park being the centre of the universe last weekend, has brought Britain back down to earth I think.

The thought was always 'when, not if' with a big terrorist attack on London, and just had the Met Commissioner on the TV saying that there were six bombings, five at Tube stations and one on a bus. And African debt and climate change and the Olympics are just going to slide way off the radar at Gleneagles.

Two dead and ninety injured at this stage, and I think that is only at Aldgate. No, update that, up to twenty dead now. And three buses were bombed.

I need a scrolly thing at the top of this blog, feel like I am doing a news report or something.

More to follow shortly.

The Best Of Sport, The Worst Of Sport

Not that I was especially bothered either way which city got the 2012 Olympics - it's not as if I am going to compete there when I am err 36, but for SOME reason I got a real charge out of London getting it over the French. Maybe it is because Jacques Chirac has become even more of a wanker the last few weeks LOL. Should be a good G8 summit between those two - add in Vladimir Putin, who thought the bid was so important he gave his first ever English language speech (those times spent training the Stasi in East Berlin obviously came in useful for something LOL), and George Bush, who probably thinks that the US can still have its very own Olympics in New York in 2012, perhaps inviting Afghanistan and Iraq, and there will be hardly any time at Gleneagles for Africa, climate change or farm subsidies LOL.

Maybe Paris 2016? Have the fun of the winter nominations for 2014 to look forward to now.

Aargh, Queensland got annihilated in the State of Origin, 36 to 10, and it was only the last ten minutes where we actually did any good. I am much more a rugby union boy nowadays, and I will get over this sense of impotent frustration after a good night's sleep, but grr grr grr, it was a pathetic display for sixty minutes - worse than the Lions were in the test in Christchurch, yes that bad LOL.

Later taters
Pauly