I've been neglecting Livejournal, I know.

Since I neither have much interest in posting here, nor do I have many readers (big surprise there), I think I'm just to going to leave this blog alone.

However, I am keeping up with updates on my writing blog- A Strongly Worded Letter

I've posted every chapter I have so far of last year's NaNoWriMo project (Pulling the Strings) there, and if you want a read, by all means have a look.

Unfortunately I have come to the conclusion that I shouldn't stray from I'm used to writing... and that's Science Fiction. Pulling the Strings was the first time I had attempted anything in the Horror genre, and it's been slow going. so it's taking the back burners while I prepare for this year's NaNoWriMo.

That's not saying I'm giving up on it. I'm rather pleased with it so far, but I'm rarely in the mood for it. So it will be officially labelled a 'pet project'.

On matters of life in these grey isles, I am after a fashion, still unemployed. The good news is it seems not for long.

I begin a trial at a microbiology lab soon, after which I hope they'll say- "You can stay." I hope that'll be followed by- "... and we'll actually pay you!" Which would rock.

So, as a concluding statement, I'm keeping this blog, since my mood will likely pick up once employed and I'll be back to my usual self.

Plus, seriously... check out my writing blog. I could use comments, criticism and all the gubbins.

Cheers,
Mike

Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Emotional Designation: Ignored. Typical Current Auditory Information: My own thoughts. Crikey I wish I knew what tags: job hunting, livejournal, microbiology, writing

So it's been a month and a half since my last update.

I don't know why, it's probably because my life isn't very interesting at the moment...

Sounds about right.

Well, as a quick update- I have an interview tomorrow... in Merseyside. So I've got a full day of travelling ahead. Joy-of-joys.

Still, it'll give me plenty of time to compose myself, and since I'll be getting there 2hours early (it's either that or get there 10 minutes early), I can find the place then go for lunch.

Also... apparently the world is going to end this year. Figures. We're all waiting for the end of the Mayan calendar (in 2012 or something), and armageddon comes along 4 years early. Great, there's always someone who wants to push in the queue.

Cheers,
Mike

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Now playing: Nightwish - Cadence Of Her Last Breath iTunes
via FoxyTunes    

Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Emotional Designation: nervous Current Auditory Information: Nightwish- Cadence of Her Last Breath tags: job hunting

Well... Now it's New Year coming up. Of course, due to the Christmas period, I'm still jobless (the deadlines for most of my recent applications are actually after new year... Blast! Foiled again! I would've succeeded if it weren't for those pesky holidays!), but I suppose it could be worse.

A little bit of good news (if you're into this kind of thing... I'm not myself, but it helps if I stay optimistic and open-minded), is that starting February 7, the Year of the Rat begins. So 2008 should be a prosperous year. I may even get a job!

I hope to get a job before February, mind.

Now, I am going to have a little rant here, but I'm... my music has stopped, hang on... I'm... did I just pause in a blog entry? Oh never mind. Anyway, I'm going to get it out before New Year. (Shut up... no double entendre for you!)

I went to fix my watch strap yesterday. Earlier this year, the snake clasp broke, but it was during my final year project, so it was forgotten about. I went back to the shop I bought it, as they were the ones who had expanded the strap for me in the first place (as they should have, I'd just bought it from them).

They told me they couldn't do it, but they could send it off to the manufacturer for repair, which would take two weeks. I said no thank you, and wandered off to Timpson's (they fix watches there...).

They said that not only could they not replace the snake clasp (they didn't have any to fit the strap), that because of the way it had been designed, it had to be sent back to the manufacturer for repair. Personally? It's easier to buy a new watch (I had some money for Xmas anyway). Of course, I still need to send it away for extra links to be put in (I'm officially Big Boned. It's a pity I'm fat on top of that...), but that's free, so I see no problem with that.

It's a nice watch though... and, like my last one, it has a 10-year battery on it! Good stuff. The clasp looks sturdier as well.

Have a good New Year!

Cheers,
Mike!

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Now playing: Staind - Schizophrenic Conversations (Album Version) iTunes
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Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Emotional Designation: Grapefruit! Current Auditory Information: Not what's on my blog entry... it's changed since that was put on. tags: job hunting, new year, xmas

It's upon us again! I'm always a little confused at this time of year. It's supposed to be a time of peace and goodwill, but somebody obviously forgot to tell that to the last-minute shoppers. Whether it's gift buying or food shopping, or simply walking down the street, people are very rude at this time of year, aren't they?

Luckily, I got my Xmas shopping out of the way earlier, so the only reason I went to the shops was for some ginger wine. It took me nearly an hour just to get out of the supermarket... I got what I wanted though (Four bottles of decent ale, although they'd run out of 'Bah Humbug', a bottle of Stone's Original Green Ginger Wine, and a small block of Wensleydale with Cranberry).

But anyway, no problems. For the next few days (aside from the dreaded Job Hunt), all I need do is stay at home and relax. I suppose that's one benefit of being unemployed (the only benefit so far, that I can see), not having to work Xmas day.

Hopefully I'll have more luck in the Hunt come the new year. The deadlines for some of my applications were in January anyway.

Merry Christmas!

Mike

Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Emotional Designation: peaceful tags: job hunting, xmas

Another draw back to being unemployed- being unable to afford any decent gifts because you need to save for your first month's rent when you finally do get a job.

On the bright side, I got a letter from an NHS trust I applied to! The down side is, it said I hadn't been selected.

Damn.

Ah well, I'm still applying, and it's nice to receive some form of response, even if it is negative. So far I've only got metaphorical blank stares. Possibly a few sniggers as well, but my ears aren't good enough to hear what's going on 70-odd miles away.

I'm still waiting for the deadlines on many of the vacancies I've applied for, and it feels like I'm waiting for a dental appointment (which technically I am- originally I had one in October, but I had another appointment. So they changed it to November, but now my dentist has left the practice, so my appointment is now in January. With a view to change. Typical). I've applied to a part-time position and a temporary position, which if I get either will provide some form of income. Of course, I've got to get the job.

Oh and NaNoWriMo? Failed. I've got just over 20,000 words at the moment, with just over 1 day to write the remaining 30,000. Never mind, there's always next year. I'm going to finish the story though. It would be almost criminal to simply stop were I am and give up.

Cheers,
Mike

P.S. Is anyone else cold? I'm cold.

Transmission Origin: Gainsborough tags: job hunting, nanowrimo, nhs, wordcount 07, xmas

Cadbury's Wispa is back on the shelves! I've been craving it for a decade now, and I finally have to the chance to feel well again!

So where, pray tell, is it?

After searching the usual locations, the supermarkets, newsagents, WHSmiths, the weird-looking man who stands and stares at the end of Ropery Road in Morton (where the hell did he come from? Nobody knows... Who is he? Why is he there? And why does he feel the need to watch a junction all day long?)- I decided to hunt for my beloved Wispa.

So I geared up- backpack, mobile phone, pencil, water bottle, notepad, knotpad, Gnatpad and bedpan; my trusty sewing kit (for threatening... I mean, trading... yes... with the natives), a compass and my magic train ticket (it takes me anywhere for the price of a train ticket! I bought it from a weird-looking man who was standing and staring at the end of Ropery Road in Morton for three magic beans. Worth every penny).

With my equipment in tow, I set out into the wilderness. I endured many harsh times. Running dangerously low on food and water, I was wondering how I would survive the trip past next door. I was attacked by vicious twigs, which were determined to ruin my boots, and battled through Morrison's during it's busy hour.

But alas, I was unable to find my prize. Defeated, I turned back to my home. Then, realising that pretending to be a house wasn't going to get me anywhere, I walked home.

Where my mum told me that they were sold at B&Ms in the middle of town. I never think of that store!

Cheers,
Mike

P.S. My sucky little word count for NaNoWriMo now stands at 9,758. See A Strongly Worded Letter for more details.

Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Emotional Designation: crazy tags: crazy, nanowrimo

Lincoln, like many cities, has a reasonable population of Gulls. I'm no expert on them, but I can see two distinct species- Black-Headed Gulls, and non-Black-Headed Gulls.

The BH gulls tend to stick around Brayford Pool, the large body of water in the middle of the city. The non-BH gulls, tend to stick around the river and canal sides.

I went to grab a 'special' notebook from WHSmiths today for NaNoWriMo. It's a lovely mock-suede A4 notebook, with decent quality paper so I can use a rollerball pen without the ink soaking through.


I also grabbed some lunch, and went to eat it by the canal side, on Waterside South.

Now, a year or two ago, me and my parents were sat on the benches on Waterside South, eating chips and feeding the non-BH gulls, pidgeons and starlings. There was one gull in particular that we noticed- a juvenile, which was clearly the same species as the other non-BH gulls, but had a totally different cry. Less high-pitched, and more throaty, like a crow. It was getting angry because the other gulls were trying to steal its chip, and eventually chased a few off. Whilst it was doing that, the starlings stole the chip and flew off.

A couple of weeks ago, my dad had to go to a training course in Lincoln, so I took the opportunity for a lift into the city. After a wander round, I caught up with my mum, and we grabbed a cup of coffee, and went to sit down Waterside South.

There was an old couple, feeding the pidgeons. And on the canal side railings perched a single non-BH gull, cawing like a crow. It sat on the railing and glowered at the pidgeons. As neither of us had seen another gull in Lincoln (or anywhere else, for that matter) with that cry, we were, and still are convinced it was the juvenile was saw a couple of years ago.

My mum came to the conclusion that it had perhaps been hand fed too often, which is why it never entered the fray to grab some food for itself. It just kept fluffing up its feathers and cawed. However, it look very healthy (a gorgeous bird, it was), so it was obviously getting its food from somewhere, and I somehow doubt it's from the other gulls.

Today, when I sat down, the non-BH gulls were squabbling on the railing over some flakes of pastry somebody had dropped. The crow-cry gull suddenly cawed and barged between them, nearly knocking them off the railing, and chased them off.

I think I'll call it Nigel (not knowing its exact gender). I want to take it home. But alas, I think the council might have something to say about kidnapping gulls.

Cheers,
Mike

P.S. I now have a total NaNoWriMo word count of 3,421. Not spectacular, so I'll need to give myself a kick up the backside.

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Now playing: Apocalyptica - Resurrection iTunes
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Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Current Auditory Information: It's paused at the mo...

I got 2,194 words. THIS MORNING. I was supposed to get past the 2,000 word milestone yesterday.

Ah well, it'll get better (before it gets worse).

Cheers,
Mike

Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Emotional Designation: disappointed tags: nanowrimo, wordcount 07, writing

It's begun. NaNoWriMo is here.

I'll keep updating my NaNoWriMo blog (A Strongly Worded Letter) during the month, but as I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo as well as Job Hunting,  this one'll will probably be left for a little while, unless something really grinds me.

To compensate, I'll be posting word count updates.

And my computer is cocking up constantly at the moment. If it doesn't get its act together I'll defenestrate (Muahahaha... new favourite word) it.

Cheers,
Mike

Transmission Origin: Gainsborough tags: beginning, nanowrimo

Are spammers getting more idiotic as time goes by? I understand that a majority of email spam originates from outside the English speaking world, so the spammers are unlikely to speak English as their first, or may even second language.

Word of advice spammers? Don't send spam in a language you obviously can't Speak! I wouldn't even think about writing in French until I was confident I wouldn't make a fool of myself. Never mind try to scam a Frenchman in his own language.

I'd like to direct your attention to an email I received on the 19th (to an email address I don't check very often).

It's subject was 'rolepses'. I'm assuming the original spammer meant to say 'Rolex's', because the online dictionary thought I meant either 'prolapse' or 'releases' when trying to find out the definition of this bizarre mauling of the English language.

Don't they realise they could easily get an English spell checker (like the one I'm going to use before I post- and English is my first language)?

What I find even funnier is that the actual body of the email has nothing to do with 'rolepses'. It contains some delightful advice on stocks! The company exists (to my surprise), and the body of the email has no spelling errors, or even grammatical errors that I can see at first glance. However, it does read like it has been 'cut and paste' from another source.

What I find strange is that this person is promoting shares for an existing American company, uses a totally irrelevant subject line in very poor English, and then doesn't mention how I'm supposed to get the shares. Usually, this is some sort of scam- "Click here to buy shares" - but this one has no link.

As this one contains no link, it leads me to conclude it's nuisance spam (as opposed to scam-spam).

I'm still getting emails claiming to be from a certain bank (several of them), which I don't even use. It's the old 'we need to confirm your details- click here' scam.

I used to love those emails. Every day, I would get a paragraph from Stephen King's 'Misery' (they'd use it to get past the spam-blockers). I was starting to enjoy reading the book in a randomised order, when they decided to use some form of programming language as their block-breaker instead. That's not fun at all, I can't read code. I'm not even certain of what they're trying to achieve with the code. It's just plain text, not in program or web-page format.

Perhaps I should get it translated- maybe they've had to encode Misery so that Stephen King won't find them and break their legs or something!

Although I'm not even sure what language it is. each section starts 0x, and then has a seemingly random selection of numbers (e.g. 0x4435, 0x33).

Anyone know?

Cheers,
Mike

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Now playing: Tristania - ...Of Ruins And A Red Nightfall iTunes
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Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Current Auditory Information: Tristania... something by them. Yeah. tags: spam

I got a new razor the other day. Well, not exactly, more of a new razor handle. I'm sticking with Wilkinson Sword, because their razors are decently quality for a decent price.

It's the new 'Quattro Titanium Energy' powered razor handle. It said on the front- 'No Irritation, Guaranteed! or your money back'. And as I tend to suffer pretty bad razorburn, I thought I'd give it a go (Wilko's had it on offer at half-price, anyway).

I had a shave, and no irritation! It works wonders! Of course, I still hack half my skin away on the right of my neck, but that because my skin isn't exactly smooth at that point.

So aside from the usual occurence of haemmorhaging, my skin remained unaggravated. So, I'm certainly pleased with that purchase.

On another subject, I went into Lidl today for a jar of jam. I walked to the till and what do I find? Crates of Hobgoblin Ale (my favourite) stacked up with huge 'special offer' signs on them. The bastards. If I had a job, I might have bought every crate. But since I don't, I'm restricting any alcohol drinking to when I'm meeting my up with friends (which happens about once every six weeks so far). Because of this, I'm going to miss the offer! Morrisons usually has it in, but in such an overt location, where I would have to pass the damned stuff to get to the checkout.

I swear, they're taunting me...

Ah well, never mind. It'll happen again. It's not like Wychwood Breweries are going to stop selling one of their most popular ales any time soon.

On yet another subject- apparently a week or so back, my parents decided, with a spontaneity I don't often see in them, they'd buy me another pocketwatch (true, it was on a rediculously low special offer, but that doesn't make it any less surprising). It's a beautiful silver-plated mechanical watch, with skeleton dial (so you can see the mechanism). It's got a gorgeous four-tick second that reminds me of a Seconda mechanical wrist watch I once had when I was younger.

Three totally unrelated subjects for the price of one!
Cheers,
Mike

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Now playing: Evanescence - October iTunes
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Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Emotional Designation: thirsty Current Auditory Information: 'October' by Evanescence tags: drink, shaving

I am currently being plagued by a moth. Just the one, and a very small one, but it keeps floating in front of my face as a type. Not many people know this, but I hate moths. Or rather, I'm moth-phobic. I don't know the term. But as I have no reason to fear moths (in fact, I used to like them, more so than butterflies), it's irrational and therefore a phobia. The strange thing is, as stated, I used to like moths. The change happened literally over night. Moths went from being my favourite to most hated winged insect in just one day.

And I've no idea why. But it keeps trying to land on my hand, and I keep getting up and moving to the otherside of the room, where it will follow me. It won't land, so I can't capture it with a glass or something, and I hate squashing bugs (I always apologise afterward, not that it matters to the bug- it's dead! But I always feel guilty after killing a bug, other than a mozzy or fly, needlessly. I give female mozzies just one warning- leave and I won't hurt you. Male mozzies aren't blood suckers, are are fairly passive, so they're okay in my book. Flies deserve to die though, especially bluebottles).

But it won't leave my room, so I'm unlikely to sleep tonight. I'll be hunting it down, trying to kill the damnable thing.

Cheers,
Mike 'A Moth Once Ate My Dog'

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Now playing: Within Temptation - Destroyed [*][Demo Version] iTunes
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Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Current Auditory Information: 'Destroyed' by Within Temptation tags: fear, flies, moths

Everytime I start up firefox, it saps so much of my RAM just to start that FreeRAMXP Pro kicks in with a little audible blip and tells me to click it. It keeps screaming "ClickmeclickmeclickmeclickmeCLICKMEEEEEEEEE!" Until I give in and click it.

What does it do? It saps ALL of my RAM and redistributes it so that more is free. During this process nothing works. If I was using the regular windows shell, nothing would work for up to 5 minutes afterward either. But I'm using the mighty LITESTEP! And it actually works in compliment with my other programs. Occasionally, I can use my computer whilst FreeRAMXP Pro is doing its business. Not that I condone it taking a crap in my laptop, but it seems to make windows work smoothly, so who am I to complain.

I'm in desperate need of a credit card holder. My old one disintegrated two years ago, and I've been using its inserts to hold my cards together. So essentially, I have two card holders, each capable of holding two cards. I understand many people keep their cards in their wallet, but I'm not comfortable putting everything there. Afterall, if someone steals my wallet, they'd have everything. It's called not putting all your eggs in one basket, damned egg thieves.

But anyway, card holders are virtually impossible to find, which is irritating. I saw a card holder and wallet set in Argos, and I went for it. My wallet was starting to fall apart anyway.

Guess what? The wallet has no coin section, and the card holder? The slots aren't big enough to fit any cards in... Bravo, Argos. There isn't a maker's name on the product, so you can take the flak for selling such a stupid and useless product.

Ah well, this is the first time they've let me down, so I'll forgive them. Of course, they don't sell any other card holders, so I'm going to have to go elsewhere. Woolworths sell a similar (but not the same) package, so I may try them, although my local store is tiny so I'll probably have to pay postage to get it, on top of the fact that it is more expensive.

Cheers,
Mike

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Now playing: Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody iTunes
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Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Emotional Designation: peaceful Current Auditory Information: Bohemian Rhapsody.... tags: computer, freeramxp pro, idiocy, litestep, shopping

Status: Still jobless. Life: Mind-numbingly dull.

NaNoWriMo is livening things up a bit, but it ain't november yet.

I received word of a graduate fair in Sheffield, and my uni is providing a free bus! Huzzah! So I go check what companies will be there, and here's the thing. There are at least 4 companies that are looking for folk with my qualifications.

The bad news? They're not showing on the day the bus is going there. I need to make my own way there.

That's about typical. And despite that I can type at 70 words a minute, firefox is displaying 1 letter a second. Woooo.... the thrills!

I requested a application form from one of NHS Trusts I'm applying to. Except their email isn't working. As it turns out it would be impossible for me to get there anyway if I did get an interview (I'd have to leave the day before, essentially, if I went by train), so I'm going to just leave it.

I've also expanded my searches to Medical Laboratory Assistant, which is a step or two below Trainee Biomedical Scientist, and hopefully I'll have more luck there.

Why did I leave university? Why couldn't I have gone straight into post-graduate studies? Or deferred a year? That would make things so much easier.

Ah well, back to being bored. Bored and blocked sinuses. That's a winning combination!

Cheers,
Mike

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Now playing: hania - boom iTunes
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Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Current Auditory Information: 'Boom' by Hania tags: job hunting, nanowrimo, nhs

Well, I'm entering the (Inter)National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo!

The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month (November). Should be fun!

Anyway, instead of clogging this up, I've set up another blog for my progress- http://fpduck.blogspot.com/

Cheers,
Michael 'What the hell was I thinking!?' Barlow

Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Emotional Designation: sore Current Auditory Information: Headache. A very Bad headache. tags: beginning, nanowrimo, writing

I'm not referring to this post... I'm referring to to items I received this week via snail mail.

The first, was my provisional driving licence, which arrived surprisingly quickly. It was a nice surprise, although I have no idea when I'm going to be able to afford driving lessons. At least I have some form of government issued ID now.

The second, was my graduation certificate. Which took THREE MONTHS AND THREE <CENSORED> DAYS TO ARRIVE! According to the certificate, it was issued on the 26th of July. I received it this morning. Considering that this certificate is the ONLY official proof that I have completed my university course and what grade I got, they took their sweet <censored> time sending it. Bastards.

On another note, I'm still looking for a job. I'm still applying like fatman on his way to a bake sale (hey, it's the only exercise I get... just kidding), but being that there aren't many jobs in private industry that I'm qualified for, a majority of my applications have been within the NHS. And one of the NHS Trusts recently took two months just to tell me that I hadn't been selected. Nice.

Seeing as I have no money to spare for leisure (virtually  everything I get from the JSA is being saved for accommodation when I do eventually get a job), I've been bored out of my skull. None of the local charity shops are looking for volunteers (although I'd have to inform the Job Centre that I had a volunteer job if I did find one), not to mention I tried shop work during my work experience in year 10. It really wasn't for me, as I'm not much of a people person. It was my second choice anyway, I had originally applied to do my WE in the Retford museum. But they took six weeks to get back to me, so I had to scuttle around Retford looking for an alternative.

The shop was nice though, as was the woman who ran it. It's gone now though. Shortly before I left for UNI it was replaced by a Golf shop, which didn't really last very long.

Ah well, I'll get a job eventually.

Michael 'Perhaps Scooping A Hole In My Skull With A Toothpick Would Be Fun' Barlow

P.S. I've been watching Ghost in the Shell on Veoh... and have been enjoying it very much. I tried watching Akira too, but turned it off after twenty minutes because I thought it was a steaming pile of manure. Maybe I'm weird.

Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Emotional Designation: bored Current Auditory Information: The sound of a toothpick trenching my skull. tags: graduation, job hunting

I feel great today, for no apparent reason. I've been contacted by another recruitment agency (good Monster. I'll get a cookie for you), and I've sent them my CV. I went to grab a photograph for my provisional driving licence (I need some form of legally recognised ID, but I'm seriously considering learning to drive), and buy some new razors. I didn't realise they sold razors in photobooths.... I suppose it's in case people don't like their photograph...

Guess what? Gillette do a shaving gel for 'Tough Beards'. Great stuff! I'll be trying that. Perhaps I can put the angle-grinder away!

Tomorrow I've got to go and have my photo signed, and I think I'll get some films developed. I have six films that need developing, I really can't afford to have all of them done. Disadvantages of using 35mm and not having a dark room, I suppose. I'll develop the most recent two, because they're from my graduation ball. It'll be interesting to see how my camera performed in low-light conditions

Something weird I discovered just a few minutes ago. Me, my sister, and my mother were all born under a waning crescent. My dad was born under a new moon, but having three of us born, different months, days and years, all within the eight days between the last quarter and the new moon (my dad was born just on the waxing side of the new moon), is rather strange.

It may also explain my mood swings! I've done this before and noticed I feel a lot better toward the first quarter and full moon. Today, is two days before the first quarter. So I may be feeling better for the next few days!

Hopefully.

Cheers,
Michael 'Don't feed me after midnight' Barlow

Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Emotional Designation: chipper Current Auditory Information: 'Eva' by Nightwish tags: crazy, job hunting, job monster, shaving

Well, I went to the interview preparation, which was great. Birmingham is a nice city.

I graduated Wednesday! I am now officially Michael Barlow, BSc.

The ceremony was great, except my hood kept sliding off my shoulders. I managed to beat the crowds and get my photo done before any queues.

But, horror of horrors, I forgot to bring a pineapple. Damn my memory.

Thursday evening, and I was dressed up and ready to go to the graduation ball at the Engine Shed. So I went out, checking the time on my pocket watch, and went immediately to the Glasshouse. Luckily, this wasn't a mistake as I was meeting my former house-mate there for a pre-celebration drink. THEN we went to the Engine Shed.

The food was nice, but I actually had to tell the bar staff on TWO occasions what the hell rosé wine was. The last time, they had run out, so I went for a Brut sparkling wine instead. Not bad. Doesn't mix with Guinness very well though.

After the meal, some wierd stage act came one (the sound man/resident DJ had also decided that everything would be so loud that we couldn't hear what was being said directly into our ears, or understand what the hell was comming out of the speakers), a 'magician' who regurgitated things. Not a bad idea, and very cleverly done, but the bloke sounded like a <censored> and I couldn't stand the way he was performing his act. So I stayed outside for a majority of his act (as did a lot of people, I noticed). Then a band came on, who I couldn't understand at all because the speakers were crap and too loud.

At that point, however, me and my former house-mate decided to make a swift exit, mostly because we had our fill and both had to be up the next morning, but also partly to avoid the people who couldn't hold their drink, staggering around and trying to start fights with anyone who looked at them.

So, we grabbed a quick bite from the last place open at 2.30am, and I went back to my room in the student village, as I needed to get up at 0700.

This morning, I got up on time, still swaying, and trying to regain my voice. I cleaned myself up, was picked up by my parents, and came home. Well, after a fashion. I had to go straight to the job centre for my JSA sign-on at 0910 (24 format is so much easier to type, ain't it?). I then walked home, freshened up, had breakfast and poured witchhazel in my eyes (it's great- a 1:9 solution freshens your eyes no end).

My parents were then kind enough to take me the 70-odd miles to my interview.

Which went better than I was expecting... much better.

I feel a little awkward though... I'm not sure why.

Michael 'Don't talk to me, I'm educated now' Barlow, BSc

P.S. I think also, part of the awkwardness is that I'm competing with one of my coursemates for this job. Not the nicest of feelings. Still, the potential employers say they might be taking two on, so it may still work out!

P.P.S. I really, really hope.

Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Emotional Designation: blank Current Auditory Information: 'I don't like mondays' by The Boomtown Rats tags: graduation, job hunting, suit hire

Yeah!

Erm, anyway. I submitted my CV to a recruitment agency yesterday morning, who had contacted me about a job. A rather nice person responded by phoning me up  and advising me on how to spruce up my CV before they submitted it. I did as she requested, and she submitted it yesterday afternoon. She also arranged for me to have a mock interview with them so that I can prepare myself for any future interviews, which is nice.

She called me up this morning to inform me that I had an interview... on Friday! The 14th, that is, not today. Great stuff!

So basically, my week is now planned like this-
Monday- Go to Birmingham to meet with recruitment agency.
Tuesday- Get new batteries installed in pocket watch ready for graduation ball.
Wednesday- Graduate.
Thursday- Book eye test, get sloshed at Graduation Ball 'till 3am. Try not to ruin rental suit.
Friday- Sober up quickly, get back to Gainsborough, sign on for my JSA at 09.10, return rental suit, and travel 72miles to an interview.
Saturday- Invent revolutionary new vacuum tooth implant, but tell nobody.
Sunday- Die of exhaustion.

Surge!

Damn I feel good today. I walked outside, without my coat on, and on the floor!. That's right, ladies and... invisible person, I walk, even in summer, wearing my coat. Normally this isn't a problem, but today there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and it was blisteringly hot. Yeah, so hot it required colourful text to describe it. So I walked without my coat, and I think the sun did me some good. Usually it just beats me up and takes my lunch money. You have no idea how painful it is to have the crap kicked out of you by a G2V-class star. Especially when it takes an escape velocity of 620km/s just to run from it and has an effective gravity of 28g.

Anywho, so here's hoping this interview goes better than the last.

Wish me luck! Well... on Friday, anyway.
Michael 'Call Me Tony 'Hello Dolly' Greenway' Barlow

Transmission Origin: Gainsborough Emotional Designation: peaceful Current Auditory Information: 'Voodoo Child' by Rogue Traders tags: good things, graduation, job hunting, job monster, suit hire, travel