Retroexposure

Chapter 16 - November's End

Tuesday 6th November 2007 2:11pm
DAC is now single again. The jerk that used to be her fiancée, walked out on her last Thursday. She still has feelings for me and I still care about her. I guess I'll be her stopgap boyfriend again until someone in her area becomes her next target of affection. I don't mind. I like a harmless bit of flirting!
I had a takeaway last night and although I enjoyed it, my eyes got too big for my stomach, which subsequently caused me to lose part of it later in the evening! And here's my cure for an upset stomach: A small portion of popcorn chicken from KFC! I think it's the spicy ingredients that settled my stomach!!
I played PES 2008 on an XBOX 360 at Virgin/Zavvi earlier. Considering that I've never played on that console before, I think I did all right. I played two games against other customers in the store. I won the first 2-0 and lost the second 3-0. I thought that it was a very good game, apart from the fact the football club teams had to be made up – well some of them anyway. I think that that is it's only sore point. 2:21pm

Wednesday 7th November 2007 2:06pm
A couple of Jehovah's Witnesses came around this morning, doing their 'doorstep preaching' duties. Now they are witnesses that I've seen occasionally since I moved to this area. They know I'm Catholic, and know that I have no interest in changing religions, but I am willing to hear what they have to say. This time, though, I'm glad they turned up this morning because after what I read in the newspaper, about a young Jehovah's Witness woman who refused a blood transfusion and died from complications after giving birth to twins, I wanted to hear from the Jehovah's Witnesses the reasons why the woman did what she did.
Stupid thing is, after having had a healthy debate about it, I had completely forgotten what they said! Well most of it anyway. They have their beliefs and I respect that. However, I do think that certain exceptions should be made.
A woman - a girl - younger than me ought to be given a chance to live, especially as she had just given birth to healthy twins. I understand from what the JWs said, that doctors could override parents' wishes if the patient was a minor. (Does that mean under-16 or under-18? Because 16 year-olds are certainly old enough to make up their own minds.) The only reasons I think that a decision, like refusing blood transfusions, should be allowed is if the patient is either over a certain age, or has been in a terrible accident and lost too much blood, so that a blood transfusion would be unlikely to make a difference in the final, but tragic outcome.
I mean this is only my opinion, so I don't mean to cause offence, I just think that it was wrong to let a young woman die and not be there for her newborn children. Because I can imagine that at some point down the line; her husband, the children's father, may, albeit briefly, resent the fact that they are alive and his wife isn't.
As far as I'm concerned, I would do anything to help my wife, even if it was against our religion. Am I being selfish? Yes, maybe I am. But I just couldn't let the woman I love, die without at least exhausting all possible options. 2:30pm
　
Thursday 8th November 2007 4:29pm
I've just sent off an application letter and CV for an editorial assistant's post working for the British Psychological Society's magazine. I'm quietly confident that I'll get a response from it, but whether I'll get it or not is debatable. I have two factors going against me; the fact that I haven't worked in just over four years and that I have a criminal record. This moment of stupidity has prevented me from working for the last few years, and no one seems to want to give me a shot at proving myself.
The last interview I went for, I disclosed my offence, and had an ok interview. They told me "We'll be in touch within a few days."
Two days passed, nothing and then a week later, again no response. So I rang them up and asked to speak to the necessary personnel. Unavailable. Can I ring again later? Then another week passed, so I rang again. I was then told that if I hadn't heard from them by now, then the job had been filled. I accepted that, I was just annoyed that they'd promised to ring back and failed to do so. I think it must have been down to disclosing the offence with them. If that was the case, why didn't they just say so?
Ever since then, every time I filled out an application form, and the form said 'If you have a criminal record, please leave details,' I did. So people would've already made assumptions about me without ever meeting me. Then, when I was advised to be vague about my offence, i.e. 'Will discuss more at interview' I'm sure the employers are already wondering what it is I could've done that was too sensitive to be put down in the application form. At the moment I seem to be screwed either way! 4:44pm

Sunday 11th November 2007 5:13pm
Remembrance Sunday. Armistice Day. Poppy Day. That's three ways to describe today. I think it means so much more when the 11-11 falls on a Sunday. And today at church, we even managed to get a 2 minutes silence in a t 11am. First time that's happened in more than 3 years I think. As well as having time to mourn the soldiers of war, the priest and deacon go around the local cemeteries and bless the graves of parishioners' relatives' graves too. Being at the bottom end of the cemetery, we are usually last to get Dad's grave blessed. And also, in the last couple of years it's been the deacon that's blessed the grave. Today though, it was Fr. R. And for the first time ever, as well as saying a prayer for Dad, he also included a prayer for Christopher too.
Mum got quite emotional, and she told me afterwards that when I put a comforting arm around her, she nearly lost it completely! Mum hates to cry in public! 5:30pm

Monday 12th November 2007 1:49pm
I weighed myself last night and I am now UNDER 24st! It's happening, slowly but surely, I'm losing weight! It's the lowest I've been for more than 3 years! To celebrate, as it were, I decided to do 10 squats. You know what I mean, back straight and then move into a sitting style position, where you are practically sitting on your heels. Well I did that manoeuvre ten times, and now, today, my quadriceps muscles, are absolutely killing me!! When I'm walking, I'm in a half sitting down, half standing up position. Even going to the loo is an initial pain, until I do manage to sit down, then I'm ok. Then I have difficulty getting to my feet! 2:01pm
　
Friday 16th November 2007 4:34pm
Sorry I haven't written in the last few days, there was just very little to report. Actually, that's not quite true. On Wednesday I traded in a string of games from my PS2 and PC collection, just so that I could get the new wrestling game and new football manager game. I traded in roughly 16 games, just so I could get two! That sounds crazy when you think about it!! But never mind. Sadly though, the Football manager game isn't compatible for my PC (it's a Windows 98 and the minimum requirement was an XP) So I need to try and get back into the village town so I can return the game and get my old football manager back, as that was one of the games I traded in!
So we come to yesterday. I'd been catching up on TV that I taped from the night before, and then played my wrestling game. Mum was just coming from the bathroom when she called me. It's a good job she did as a few seconds later she practically passed out against me. I managed to lead her back to her bed, and she took her blood pressure with one of those home version monitors. Her pulse was apparently almost three times as fast as it was earlier in the morning. So I let her rest for the rest of the afternoon.
Later in the evening it was my turn! We were busy searching for some stamps, and Mum, with her back to me, was looking on the sideboard while I was searching near the settee. Suddenly I started to feel faint and before I knew it, I'd hit the deck! I must have banged my head, cos I didn't respond to Mum's pleas to react. I know I definitely hurt my hand, as I know I banged it on the side of the chair, and while lying on the floor I was getting pins and needles in my right arm. I felt a little woozy after that!!
To be safe, I didn't go and see L, my probation officer, today. Which was rather irritating, as I had other things to do as well as see her, including getting my game replaced! But I hope to see her next week in the afternoon after I've signed on. So as well, as the job centre, I'll be able to tell L how well my job searching went this week! Talk again soon. 4:54pm

Thursday 22nd November 2007 1:16pm
It's been almost a week since I last wrote. I think partly because being without my Football Manager fix, I haven't been sitting in front of the computer thinking about things or listening to the radio. I have since replaced the new football manager game with my old one and because of the cost of the new game; I had almost £30 credit. So I was able to get three more games for my PS2! The Singstar Rock Ballads game, which I'd been after for ages, Pro Evolution 6, which was last year's game and a Western style shoot-em-up called Gun. It's two years old, but I remember playing it the first time around, and enjoying it, but couldn't afford it. So in the end it was a good deal. I got my old game back and 3 others to replace the game I couldn't play.
Last Friday was Children In Need. It's a yearly fundraiser where celebrities do little party pieces and the public raise money for the special cause. Each year they always seem to better the previous year's total. I do find that highly suspicious, in my opinion. What also baffles me is that considering how much debt this country is in, we always seem to raise millions for these charities. And every second year, we have Comic Relief too. And in recent years Sports Relief has been created. How can we donate to all these charities if we, the public, struggle to pay for ourselves? I know I'm being Scrooge-like, and with Christmas in 32 days, not that I'm counting, it's a choice turn of phrase to use! I just think we should just have one mega charity event that can fund all the three charities. I'm not saying that it's wrong to do these events; I mean I find them enjoyable myself, but I do think that it's hard to keep donating every year.
One minor charity that has suffered over the last few years is the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal. If that had half the kind of money these children's charities raise, then I think veterans and victims of the wars over the last century could get the proper care and attention that they richly deserve and need. Instead, this charity gets its press when some lowlife steals a poppy collector's donation tin. 1:45pm

Monday 26th November 2007 11:42am
I'm just listening to the radio and had just heard Live To Tell by Madonna. It's an awesome song and it has to be one of my favourite Madonna tracks. There is a new Lottery show called Who Dares Wins (Why they named the show after the SAS motto, I don't know. Maybe Andy McNab has given up being an author and become a TV producer!!). In the show, you are set a question where there are lists of answers. For example: How many Madonna Top 40 Singles can you name? I think I could do quite well on a quiz like that! With that in mind, I thought I'd write down a few lists of my own. I initially was going to include a top 10 list for every subject, but there are some, where I might even struggle to name 5!

Top 5 Actors (according to my DVD collection)

Tom Cruise (18 films)
Mel Gibson (11 films)
Michael J. Fox (11 films)
Tom Hanks (10 films)
Robin Williams (10 films)

From that list you can tell the type of films I like! Action and Comedies.

Top 5 Actresses (according to my DVD Collection)

Sigourney Weaver (6 films)
Meg Ryan (5 Films)
Whoopi Goldberg (4 films)
Winona Ryder (4films)
Neve Campbell (4 films)
There were several others with 3 or 4 films on my list, but I included the first 5 that came to mind. However if I were including TV shows on the list, then technically Alyson Hannigan (7 series, 3 films) and Sarah Michelle Gellar (7 series, 2 films) would be at the top of the above list!

Top 10 Favourite Movies (according to my DVD collection)

The Shawshank Redemption
The Green Mile
Greyfriar's Bobby
Moulin Rouge
Die Hard Trilogy
American Pie Trilogy
Back To The Future Trilogy
Good Morning Vietnam
The Secret Of My Success
Dirty Dancing

I picked those 10 as I've seen them more than 5 times. And when you consider I have near on 500 DVDs, then that's definitely a favourites choice!
　
　
　
Top 5 Authors

Stephen King
Dan Brown
Ben Elton
Belle De Jour (autobiography/diary)
Billie Piper (autobiography)

The reason behind them, particularly the top 3 is because I have more than one novel of that author's work. The other two are just personal favourites.

Top 10 Favourite TV Shows

Buffy, The Vampire Slayer
Knight Rider
'24'
The A-Team
Crime Scene Investigation
CSI Miami
CSI New York
Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip
Friends
Doctor Who

There are loads of others, if I really thought about it, but those on that list are shows that, if I had every single one of them on DVD (which applies to the first 3 already!), I could watch them all day! I love my TV shows. '24' is a show made for DVD! It is structured in such a way that you can't just see one episode at a time!! Studio 60... has yet to be released on DVD in this country, and when it is, I hope I can find a way to buy it! Same for Heroes, I know I didn't include that on the list, but it only just missed out! It's structured like '24' too. One episode is never enough! It's just a shame that the Writer's strike in Hollywood, has caused such a stink that Heroes might find itself forcibly axed, as it's part way through it's second season in the States. Even '24' has been shelved for 6 months because of the strike. It'll mean that fans won't get Day Seven till 2009. That's ok for me! I haven't got Day Six yet! By the looks of it, so I understand, the likes of Lost and ER haven't been affected by the strike because they are filmed outside of Los Angeles. I think the same applies for the CSI franchises too.
If I think of any more lists, I'll be sure to tell you about it! 1pm

Thursday 29th November 2007 12:15pm
Feeling a bit tired today. Partly due to the fact that Mum had to wake me up at about 4:50am this morning as her bedside table light had gone out. (She has to have a light on throughout the night, whether it's because she's developed a fear of the dark over the years that exacerbates her asthma, I don't know.) Anyway, she woke me up and I realised that the electrics had gone off in my room, so it was obvious that a fuse had been tripped. So when I went to check the fuse box, I switched it back on only for it to trip again with a fairly loud bang. There was a strange odour upstairs and I couldn't place it to begin with. It was stronger in Mum's room, and I soon discovered that it was the kettle that I use for her hot water bottle at night. It had literally blown up. Well, the cordless kettle and its base were both blackened. Mum and I soon realised that had the safety fuse not tripped, that electrical fault could've caused a fire, right next to the canvas wardrobe, right in front of the bedroom door. In other words, Mum would've been trapped and I wouldn't have been able to get to her. Do you know I've only just realised how serious last night's events could've become, but only because I'm writing it down. Anyway, having solved what the mysterious smell was, I went back down and switched the fuse back. But, poor Sven! The fuse blowing for the second time scared the crap out of him, literally! He crapped all over the kitchen floor, so I had to clean that up too!
After that, I tried to get back to sleep, but couldn't so I watched the penultimate episode of the first season of Heroes. I can't wait for the finale next week. I must admit that to begin with, I couldn't get into it, but as I've followed it each week, it improved so I've been very impressed. However, according to reviews in the States, the second season hasn't done very well. So bad, in fact, that the creator Tim Kring had to publicly apologise for the poor episodes, and promised an improvement. Sadly as he said that, the Hollywood writer's strike I told you about, kicked in, so everything is still up in the air.
I love new technology. I was in town yesterday and went into the 02 shop and saw this iPhone that was released a few weeks back in a blaze of publicity. It was amazing. The shop had several demonstration models and they were all hooked up to the Internet. You can watch movies, music videos, have loads of music tracks on its iPod facility and several other features. Sad thing is, it's not a Pay As You Go phone (and with all those features, I don't think it ever will be) and the price is a little out of my price range at £269(!) I could've stayed there all day discovering other iPhone features, but it was obviously frowned upon, as a salesman was sort of looking down at me (arrogant prick!) so I left the shop. Later, I got a service message on my mobile saying that from now till the end of the year, I can access Facebook on my mobile for free. I've only joined Facebook in the last month and I didn't even know that you could even get Facebook on your mobile! I so love this new feature! I'm hooked on Facebook already! I hope it doesn't take over my life like the Internet did a few years back. One good thing about Facebook though, is that I've got back in touch with a couple of old friends. They met at my 21st birthday and subsequently got married and had a couple of kids. Now I hear that they've split up. Which is quite sad really.
He is an old college friend, my best friend in college actually. We always went drinking together and we famously drank 30 pints of lager between us in a 4-hour period. I got totally smashed and it's put me off pints of lager for life! I'll only ever have shandy now or spirits and alcopops.
She is an old school friend who I've known now for twelve years now. She was the first girl I ever properly snogged too! It was on my 16th birthday. I had a massive sleepover. Had some booze at the party, but Mum and Dad were monitoring it, so it didn't get too out of hand. Anyway we had a game of Spin the Bottle and on my go, I got to kiss her. Although I was in love with the other girl at the party, She was quite fanciable too. And a great kisser too! A few years later she helped me with a photography project, the results of which hoped to boost her chances of becoming a model. Whether it did or not, I never actually found out.
Now, I'm assuming she's concentrating on being a mother. I hope we can arrange to meet up one day and catch up properly. He, on the other hand, has met a new girl and got engaged to her. What makes it bad is that the marriage only broke up about 2 and-a-half months ago. About the time I started this diary by the sounds of it. I think he's being a fool personally, but then I don't know the full details of the break up. I just hope I don't have to choose where my friendship lies. But if I did have to choose, then I think I'd choose her. Sorry Buddy, but abandoning your children isn't something I approve of. 2:03pm