Well-groomed man in ostentatious pink shirt on the London Underground, reading a book so the title is visible to all and sundry, albeit partially obscured by his hands: "An Introduction to Homo- Me-"
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Met a beautiful, tall blonde girl with a lovely Scots accent.  And the WORST teeth in the world.  She later referred to her phobia of dentists and, I swear, it took every ounce of willpower to not shout, "I KNOW!  I CAN SEE!"  Which would have made for a short, if audacious, introduction.

Tags: baltax, comedy, friends
Current Music: Deep Night by Les Baxter
Current Location: The 'Stol
Current Mood: cheerful

This sums up my way of thinking.

Tags: baltax, comics, xkcd
Current Location: The 'Stol

I had such an amazing time last night celebrating my birthday.  Thank you to everyone who came and made it such a special day, evening and night...

The partying went on until 5am and then even I had to admit defeat.  Today's all day hangover is testament to that.

Big thanks go out to Becca and Sarah for setting up things at home - the chocolate fountain was the piece de resistance and ensured that the kitchen was the place to be!

Thanks for all my lovely presents and I hope to see you all again soon - don't forget Part II on Friday 20th April in London.

If you took photos I'd be so grateful if you could email them to me so I can put them on my Flickr page.

Tags: baltax, birthday
Current Location: The 'Stol
Current Mood: exhausted

It just rhymes, there are no wigs.  Perhaps there are some Whigs.  But no, not them either.


Saw LCD Soundsystem on Tuesday and truly they did rule.  They performed a lot of their new album, Sound of Silver, which you can listen through some live system here.  The band looked great on stage and the intensity of the tracks grew throughout the set, with Yeah getting the crowd jumping more wildly than I've seen in a while - an immense number to finish with, leaving the crowd wanting much more to rock out to.  But was not to be, with the encore consisting of two slower numbers, eventually playing out to the excellent but too relaxed New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down.

Not so sure about their support band, Prinzhorn Dance School, who came across as trying to be like The Fall, except without the lyrical wit of Mark E. Smith.  Come to think of it, the lyrics were by far the most odd, laugh-out-loud, disappointment of the whole set.  Such as "Sparring Monkey"... <drums>... "BEESWAX!" and various other unusual words which make the band useful to know for the 'unusual words in songs' game.  Which was kicked off by a musing on use of 'ipso-facto' in the Badly Drawn Boy song and whether it was the first occurrence of said word in a pop song*.

Moving on, everyone loves playing the David Caruso game during CSI: Miami of counting just how often he can take his glasses off and put his hands on his hips (the full Caruso) or just one hand on a hip (half Caruso).  The generally funny Weebl & Bob do a very nice homage here.

*The answer is of course no.  Eric the Half a Bee was the first.

Tags: b3ta, baltax, caruso, lcd soundsystem
Current Music: Outsiders - Franz Ferdinand
Current Location: The 'Stol

Here's a little thought to dampen down the high(?) spirits on the lead up to Comic Relief.

Wearing a red nose in Westminster could cost you £1000.

Thanks to bloggerheads.

Tags: baltax, law, politics
Current Mood: surprised
Current Music: Women Is Losers - Big Brother & The Holding Company
Current Location: The 'Stol

You'll be disappointed to hear that I was not belittled by a celebrity, but want to have a little rant about our nearest star, the dear old sun.

For the last few days, the sun seems to have taken a perverse pleasure in shining brightly and warmly from the time I get home in the morning and go to bed, to the point when I wake up and rise, at which point it promptly disappears and that wonderful misty drizzle (for which the West Country is famed) takes its place.

I suppose I'm not really being mocked by a star at all, but at this time of the morning I can't get a double entendre from weather systems.

Tags: baltax, sleep, sun, work
Current Location: The 'Stol
Current Music: Norwegian Wood - Jan & Dean
Current Mood: exhausted

What a crazy few weeks it has been.  After my extended trip to the North, I have been working like nobody's business.  Had a very useful course on interviewing technique ("You did it, didn't you?" repeated 500 times) but then had to work the weekend afterwards, meaning I'm about to do my 17th shift with only one day off in that two and a half weeks.

Not helped by pressure from the bosses to get 'a result' on one of my jobs.  Which has ultimately come to not much at all, with the witnesses nobbled and some criminal vendetta pervading the proceedings.  Essentially, I do a lot of work in a short space of time for little result.

I have been working nights, for the first time in a long time and I'd forgotten how stupefying they are.  I feel like I should be shambling around in a George A. Romero flick.

I've only one and a half sets of shifts left before I move office and a lot to do in that time, so there's no let up between now and the end of the month.  Just to complicate things further, the job offer I had consigned to the dustbin has made a surprising reappearance with a date for a course in July.  This is three months from when I start my new post and I can't help but think it's a little rude to nip off for four weeks quite so early.  But then again, it's my bloody career and the project will just have to cope without me for a month.

As they say, no-one is indispensable.  Can the Baltax juggle everything and come out on top?  Stay tuned...

Next time - the wonderful world of ham-am-dram and a review of LCD Soundsystem, who I am going to see next week and about which I am VERY excited.

Tags: baltax, music, work
Current Location: The 'Stol
Current Music: Louie Louie - The Kingsmen
Current Mood: confused

It has come to my attention that none of us are getting any younger and that opportunities for frivolity are becoming extremely limited.

In addition to this, my 30th birthday has crept up without warning and it has become clear it is time to grow up.

To whit, there will be a Time To Grow Up party on Saturday 24th March.

Realising that the days of clubbing till dawn mashed on a combination of booze and whatever else came to hand are long since over, the not-so-frivolous day will consist of:

1.  An afternoon in the pub.  Drinking real beer.  Or cider.  No alcopops.  Possibly watching the World Cross-Country Championships in Mombassa or even football matches.  Or perhaps not.  In any case, no loud music so we can hear ourselves think and have a conversation without having to shout.
2.  Take-out food and a party at my place.  Again, no alcopops.  Hard liquor permitted.  Extra points for anyone who can find (and dares to drink) a Party Seven.
3.  A bracing constitutional the next morning.  Sensible shoes required.

Dress code: 26-45 age demographic.

RSVP

Tags: baltax birthday
Current Music: Louie Louie - The Kingsmen
Current Location: The 'Stol
Current Mood: accomplished

Oh heavens.  What a relief to return from glorious sunshine and crisp still days and beautiful views of moors in the North to the howling wind, driving rain and 6th floor city-scape of back home.

Um...

Links to enjoy today:

Lenin being cleaned

Shariah Law punishments

Will fill you in on Northern nonsense later.

Tags: baltax, links, russia, shariah law
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Blissful Silence
Current Location: Back down South

I would choose to go travelling round the UK just as the most severe snowfalls in years hit the country and particularly the North, where I am.

As I wrote before, I'm even more glad that the Alfa broke down as the thought of driving through snow in a 35-year old car doesn't really appeal. Not that driving through snow in any car appeals, but I'll feel a little safer in something a bit more modern.

No snow here yet in Manchester. I'll get some pics if some does fall. Anyone else got any photos?

Tags: baltax, snow, weather
Current Music: Take That
Current Location: The North
Current Mood: cold