25 – 26: the review

Thank you to everyone that passed on a birthday message, they all brought a smile to my face and was incredibly impressed at the people who fired them off at midnight on the dot!

So, I’m another year older but am I now wiser? The last twelve months have to be the most complicated of my life so far, with no particularly clear direction for many things.

Many of my relationships with people seemingly broke down this year. I’ve let a lot of people down and there’s little I can do to correct the situation. Some gave up on me and I’m guilty of giving up on others myself. Flipping relationships on their head, I’ve also met a large number of people and my head’s still spinning from the encounters.

Losing a much loved job was a significant low-point during the year. Being made redundant so early on into a flourishing career is something I would never wish upon others. It’s soul destroying and leaves you in a state of denial and panic, only to be followed by acceptance. However, being the optimistic and glass is half-full kind of guy I am, there’s a positive side to everything. There’s more to life than just being a suit, and many of the new faces and people I have gotten to know better would not have happened had I have not been laid-off.

I apologise if this entry does not make much sense at all, but it’s merely me verbalising what’s been going through my mind for the last few days. Tis also what happens when you’ve been drinking every day for ten days straight!…

The Sugar’s apprentice

It’s that time of the year when my Wednesday evenings have meaning again because The Apprentice is back on our screens.

Starting off with a shock revelation (which was revealed weeks ago on various news sites) that one of the men had already dropped out at the very last minute.  The after show didn’t take too kindly to this and all commented on how he should have made the decision months in advance because he’s cheated somebody else out of the opportunity.

The contestants look like a great bunch of characters, though I do get the feeling that the candidates come across as people who were deemed too bright for Big Brother.  I already can’t stand Philip, the estate agent.  Howard put himself up for project manager and Philip did nothing but undermine his authority and advice.  Everybody else on the blokes team seemed alright though but I’m sure time will reveal all their true colours.  The girls team has already been divided, with Mona and Debra clearly at loggerheads with each other.  Debra looks like she could be this year’s ginger Jenny, stopping at nothing to get her way.

The task got me quite excited since it prominently featured Volkswagen Transporter vans!  They looked like quite a good spec too from what I could see, possibly 130ps engines.  Yes, I am a van geek due to my job.

Where, oh where has my weekend gone?

Now that I’m working, I’m sure some devilish fiend out there is stealing my precious weekend away from me.

Anywho, what did I get up to in the last 48 hours? Saturday was spent in town shopping though I didn’t actually buy anything. I went to GameStation to place a deposit for a 360 Elite and whilst I was at the desk, Khang kindly reminded me to put down a deposit for the Halo 3 Legendary pack. £22 and nothing to show for it, at least not yet.

The rest of Saturday was spent playing Halo 2 on legendary mode. I’ve only completed Halo 2 on normal before and thought it’d act as a good refresher to prepare me for Halo 3. It still ends just as abruptly as it begins and it has its problems with game mechanics but for now, it’s still the definitive Halo game until part 3 comes out at the end of September.

Today was spent re-collecting all the costumes in Dead Or Alive Ultimate and going to see The Simpsons Movie. It wasn’t bad at all and like most people have said, it plays out like an extended episode. Having said that, the first half is definitely more entertaining than the second; Homer’s dumb-ass antics started to grate on me after a while but thankfully it’s a short flick.

Only 120 hours to go until the weekend’s upon us again…

The Illusionist

Rented this out the other night along with The Hills Have Eyes 2 and boy is it good.  Ed Norton is fantastic as “Issenheim, the Illusionist” who…  Well, I can’t actually say anything without spoiling the movie!  Go check it out, it’s well worth your 1 hour and 45 minutes.

On an entirely different note, I almost wet myself laughing during my training session at work yesterday.  We were all being told the names of some of the American board members and one guy’s name came up…  “WILLIE DAUGHTERS”.  Yes, somebody actually exists out there with a name as ridiculous as that!