In Hoose Entertainment

Laughing is ok, I like it and if you don’t then maybe you should.

a brief update as I can’t remember much of what has happened over the past 8 days but thought I’d better blog it to get it out of the way. then maybe I can start blogging properly again…

Well, maybe.

Monday I met with my supervisor to discuss my PhD. It’s going ok at the moment, but I really mean “ok” as opposed to “Well” or, for that matter “Badly”.

You see my PhD falls into several categories:

1) I have to produce a survey of the history of the problem to give it some context. This should actually be fairly interesting and not take too long.

2) Result 1 : The Only Rule (via Ex.). pretty complete.

3) Result 2 : The Only Rule (without Ex.). 80% done.

4) Result 3 : SPIR. 40% done and very very very very irritating. This is the part I really hate.

5) Result 4 : Another probability relationship : pretty complete.

6) Result 5 : Weak Irrelevance Principle, a Work In Progress. (better get cracking the WIP, eh? Sorry). 50% maybe

7) Result 6 : Some smaller results… probably 75% done but needing a lot of tidying up.

8) Odds and sods : 0% done. (i.e. technical introduction, references etc etc…)

Right now I’m working on sections 1, 6 & 7.

In the evening I danced the Rumba & Quickstep.

Tuesday I can’t remember. Wednesday I can’t remember. Thursday I can’t remember. What a memerable week.

oh! I played footie on Thursday. that was good fun.

Friday I laughed a little as I took Sarah on a secret date to the “Frog & Bucket”. Unfortunately the comedians weren’t much cop - but the date was good!

Saturday, and indeed, the whole weekend was taken up by marking. fortunately I am now more than half way through. It is very dull.

England drew 0-0 with Israel in a supremely insipid display.

The Cricket World Cup is underway and I am enjoying it immensely.

Today is Tuesday. Yesterday I mostly sorted house stuff out and then went and danced the quickstep & rumba again.

Plans…. well I’m lining up…

1) A trip to Basle (early April)

2) A Poker Night (late April - interested? contact me)

3) Bratislava (late May)

4) Beer Walk (Early June)

5) England v West Indies (Mid June)

and possibly some other stuff, so stay tuned.

oh, and hockey or frisbee or something should start soon, The weather is nice and the hour has gone forward.

Byeeeeeeeeee….. (for now)

This is what happened!

on Monday we went to dance in Sale… the Cha-cha-cha and Waltz again, we stayed for the long lesson this time, it was pretty good!

Tuesday we lost to but totally outplayed Barcelona, and overall we went through on away goals, which was nice.

Wednesday we had a “Stats” breakfast in the Barnes Wallace Refectory - quite nice actually - before teaching again. Wednesday evening I worked very very late on a proof.

Thursday was a pretty normal day with nothing of note.

Friday I spent a relaxing night in at Sarah’s place

Saturday I went to see Wigan v Fulham - a terrible game - but I had a great time. Good atmosphere, Good pies and a generally good experience. Didn’t cost much either. The evening brought the Mugss gentleman’s fare, I couldn’t possibly say what happened for I was cooking my steak at the time. I left earlyish.

Sunday I did some marking and had a fine sunday roast cooked by Sarah.

Today is monday.

My life is falling into a pattern at the moment, but that’ll be because I’m pretty busy with my PhD so don’t really have time/money/inclination to fall back out of it again. this will probably lead to fairly dull blog posts like this one, but thems the breaks. I’m quite happy with how things are (of course, I’ll be happier when the PhD is done!)

So Tuesday liverpool went through. nice one.

Wednesday was my demonstration class as usual. In the evening I cooked pizza.

Thursday I stayed in for a change.

Friday was secret date day… Sarah had actually lined up a trip to Liverpool to stay in a fancy hotel - the brand new mal maison on the docks.

It was ace!

We ate in the resturant there and went to some fancy bar where we had a private booth that backed onto the bar and a few cocktails - the real star was the room itself though - with it’s huge bath and brill shower.

Would recommend it to anyone!

Saturday was spent getting home, then playing poker and watching football including real madrid v Barcelona (3-3).

Sunday was spent watching sport, lots of football and a 6 nations match between England and France (we won) whilst I did some marking. Rosy cooked a roast. We won the quiz (again).

And that brings us to Monday. I’m in work, and will shortly be trying to prove something.

the date on friday turned out to be a meal in a nice resturant near Deansgate.

After some shenanigans getting there (initially heading off towards the northern quarter) we found it with time to spare and it was really very nice indeed!

I had King Prawns followed by a loveley (and large!) piece of sea bass and cheesecake for dessert. Sarah’s meal was less impressive but still nice and we both had a great time.

Afterwards we went to Sarah’s local pub for the first time since she moved there, for a quick pint before closing.

All in all, a really good night out.

Saturday Was dull by comparison, I had a headache pretty much all day and got some stuff sorted around the house.

I played some poker in the evening - generally playing well but making the occasional stupid mistake that cost me overall.

Watched some of match of the day but was feeling pretty run down, so went to bed early.

Sunday involved going to the trafford centre with sarah. We had a lovely lunch at a noodle bar and I got a CD and a couple of books.

After a wonderful lasagne for dinner (with coconut biscuits for dessert) we headed off to the Four in Hand for their sunday quiz. Also present were Leoni, Erica, Martin & Adrian.

we won.

There were only four teams and we only scored 38/60, so it wasn’t a very impressive win, but a win none the less - and it comes with free pintage that might mean we return the week after.

after sunday came the laborious onset on Monday and a real early start to get to my meeting with Jeff.

That done, I coasted through the rest of the day and then went dancing with Sarah. Really enjoyed the cha-cha-cha but didn’t like the Waltz so much.

Back fairly early and an episode of the west wing later and I’m asleep.

Tuesday is today and contains the small matter of the Liverpool v Barcelona second leg. Can’t wait.

IF anyone is reading this and fancies watching it round my place, bring a beer and make yourself at home.

My weekend update.

On Friday I went to see my ex-singers band, Syrus, at the Night and Day Café. with Pete Gould (who was also in our old band).

They were ok… I felt many of the songs were based on one riff and therefore got a little dull - and some songs seemed to lose the audience. IMO the guitarist relies too much on his Wah (I’ve always had issues with this) and (though I’m biased) I thought polarised had better songs. The mixing was off too, but that’s down to the sound man.

That said, they were tight, generally entertaining and had a couple of belters. Notably “Gemini” which I think you can hear on their site.

Generally decent and a good night out (3/5).

The other bands that played were … interesting. I liked the last band on (though I don’t think Pete was as keen) but the 1st and 3rd acts were both unusual in their own way.

First on was a man and his guitar, singing in somesort of garroulous blues style but with country and western guitar riffs. Not for me, I’m afraid. Third were some Italian band that Pete assures me “Sound like Lacuna Coil”. I’ve never heard Lacuna Coil so I couldn’t possibly comment, they weren’t very good, however.

I may also have shared my withering appraisal of the band with their manager, purely by accident, which I only realised later.

Home sometime after midnight, via a kebab shop, and desperately trying to get Pete to evade the fences / walls / lamposts that sprung up in his drunken path.

Saturday turned out to be Amanda’s birthday (Amanda being a friend of Sarah, who we last saw on the party day sometime in August). We ended up in The Birdcage a new club with drag shows every half an hour.

It was quite entertaining, though I was barely able to walk due to my legs suffering from the previous nights excesses. Towards the end the drag shows seemed to roll into one though, worth a trip for anyone who loves cheese, and possibly worth a trip even if you don’t.

Sunday I cooked a big chicken roast, enjoyed by Rosy, Sarah, Mahinda and me.

Monday and into work… evening off at last!

Tuesday played some poker after work. Lost a bit to begin with (it was the first time I’d played for aaaages!) but made some back with about an hours worth of good play.

Wednesday was Adrian’s Viva… see his blog for more details on that. We all met in the pub. Sarah and I were there first so we popped across to the union and played a couple of games of pool (I won) and on the quizzer, we moseyed back on over to the Kro about 6.

We stayed out to 9, not up for the ceilidhing, which is where the others traipsed off too.

Thursday back to ball-room dancing in Sale. Tango & Jive, both quite fun!

Today is Friday and later I’m off on a date with Sarah. I know not where, though!

I know I haven’t done my diary update from last weekend yet, Perhaps I’ll try and sneak it in later today… In the meantime here’s a little quiz (I can’t resist etc etc….) that I found on Rosy’s blog.

L A S T P E R S O N …

1. You said I love you to?
2. Rode in a car with?
3. Went to the movies with?
4. Went shopping with?

All Sarah

W O U L D Y O U R A T H E R …

1. Pierce your nose or tongue?
Nose

2. Be serious or be funny?
Depends on the situation. What a silly question.

3. Drink whole or skim milk?:
Whole, though I drink semi-skimmed mainly, I HATE skimmed milk - except in tea.

4. Die in a fire or get shot?:
erm, get shot, since you don’t necessarily die.

5. Spend time with your parents or enemies?
Parents. This one is easy.

A N S W E R T R U T H F U L L Y

1. Do you like anyone?
Well yeah, of course I do. I like my family, all my friends and Sarah. I also dislike very few people.

2. Sun or moon?
Both are good in their own special way.

3. Winter or autumn?
Winter by a country mile. Especially Christmas.

4. Left or right?
Right is right, left is wrong.

5. 10 acquaintances or two best friends?
2 best friends

6. Sunny or rain?
Sunny. Though I like light showers and big thunder storms.

A B O U T Y O U

1. Middle Name?
John Michael. Though I only ever use John.

2. First Name?
erm, can’t remember.

3. Where do you want to live?
Mostly Anywhere, though not London or Hull.

4. How many kids do you want?
3

5. Do you want to get married?
yes

6. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it?
twirl.

7. Have you ever eaten spam?
Yes. I particularly enjoy spam fritters.

8. How many kinds of cereal are in your cabinet?
lots and lots, though only one is mine and I’m not eating it anymore for reasons of my own. Rosy tends to leave tiny amounts of each one he eats, so we end up with many many boxes of basically nowt.

10. Do you cook?
Lots

11. Current mood?
Irritated by the amount of work and non-work (house stuff, mostly) that I have to do.

I N T H E L A S T 48 H O U R S H A V E Y O U …

1. Kissed some one?
Yes

2. Sang?
No

3. Been hugged?
Yes

4. Felt stupid?
Yes

5. Missed someone?
Yes

6. Danced Crazy?
No

8. Gotten your hair cut?
No

9. Cried?
No

10. Lied?
Does bluffing count?

S T U F F

1. Have you ever been searched by the cops?
No, though they once threatened me with arrest when I drunkenly fell asleep on a wall outside the pitcher and piano on liverpool street - back in 2001. I was rescued at the last moment by pete and some other people.

2. Do you have a Dog?
No, I’d like to, but it’s not feasible currently.

3. When’s the last time you’ve been sledding?
When I lived in Weighton. Hill Rise would snow over about once a year, and that was quite a good road to go down.

4. Would you rather sleep near someone else, or sleep alone?
near someone else.

5. Do you believe in ghosts?
Not in the Derek Akorah sense (is that his name)

6. Do you consider yourself creative?
Musically and Mathematically yes. Hopefully one day literatively (Mahinda will correct me if I’m using the wrong term here).

7. Who did you copy this from?
Rosy.