Stuff 'n' Shiny Things

"I grew up on the street...er...Sesame Street that is..."

2009-03-05T18:03:00.005Z

Being a Grouch is definitely a dirty job...Oscar rocks my socks =)

...and only Mike Rowe could get away with saying "I always wanted to go in the back door..." on Sesame Street...

...not that I'd expect anything less...

meh

2009-03-01T22:18:00.000Z

Why is it, when people want something from you they are on your back 24-7, even though you're doing your best to help, but the minute you need their help they are no where to be found? What is it with people?

What makes it worse is when the help you need from them, is for a project you are only doing to help them out in the first place. People are idiots. Selfish, self-obsessed, idiots.

Absolute Filth!

2009-02-28T05:18:00.011Z

If you haven't seen Dirty Jobs, with Mike Rowe....well, then you obviously sleep at night and aren't up at 3am watching the Discovery Max Channel...unlike me.

As the saying goes "It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it" - From cleaning up sewer explosions to sexing baby chickens, Mike Rowe has gotten his ~~hands~~ entire body, dirty with best of them, joining hard-working everyday men and women around the globe who earn an honest living doing the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us.

It's the entire reason they invented Sky+ ...watch Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs, 3am on DMAX, Sky channel 144.

The New Sad =(

2009-02-25T13:39:00.006Z

*sigh* Well, I guess it's the end of a very long era as one of my beloved Ladies, dons some clothes, and decides to wind it up ='(

From www.bnlmusic.com:

A MESSAGE FROM BARENAKED LADIES
By mutual agreement, Steven Page will be parting company with the remaining members of Barenaked Ladies. Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart will continue recording and touring together as Barenaked Ladies. Steven Page will pursue solo projects including theatrical opportunities while the band enters the studio in April 2009, and hits the road in the fall.

Page says "These guys are my brothers. We've grown up together over the past twenty years. I love them and wish them all the best in the future."

The band also wish Steven well in all of his endeavors. Ed Robertson says: "It's the start of a new chapter for all of us. Here's to the future!"

Everyone is looking forward to making new music and thanks their fans for their support.

I know right now this is probably best for everyone concerned, but....it just won't be the same ='(

*gutted*

Updates Shmupdates!

2009-02-24T17:37:00.020Z

I cant believe it's been so long since I updated this thing last. Even that wasn't much of an update.

Well, to compensate, I've just added a Twitter box to the sidebar so you can see I'm still alive, and stalk me, even when I'm not around this so called Bloggersphere.

So what's been happening in the shiny life of I? Well...let me tell ya...

Since last we spoke, I've...won a new tv, moved to a Mac, lost 3 stone, watched CSI Vegas...yes...all of it, discovered Dirty Jobs and fallen in love with Mike Rowe's sarcastic witty banter, added 15 John Candy movies to my collection, started using Twitter, finally got to see Duke Special live, bought a new Camera, dyed my hair bright red (again), decided I got the wrong name on my Giants shirt, managed to have coffee with Lu...twice (she's illusive), remembered how much I love Cadbury Creme Eggs, remembered how much I love Matt, spent new years with some of my bestest friends, started drinking Diet Coke, rediscovered the local music scene, produced an entrance video for the Belfast Giants game nights, persuaded Odyssey staff to remove the 5 year old gum from my season seat, been forced to use iMovie, learned how to light an Aga, chipped a tooth, been let down by people, been let down by myself, panicked about everything, been proud of my work, stood up for myself, felt like I knew what I was doing, found a sleeping pattern...then promptly lost it again, cried at an episode of ER, realised peanutbutter & jelly is a good idea, found the whereabouts of the Doctor that helped save my life when I was 3, chickened out of contacting him, handed my memory over to a whiteboard checklist, been mesmerised by a Snow Dalek, interviewed Paul Sample in his Tighty Whities...twice, become addicted the HOTD games on Wii, managed to lose my season ticket...at home, became an Auntie 3 times, and found a new house.

So I think that's us up to date in a nutshell. Well, mostly anyways. Normal service should resume shortly.

Everything Old is New Again...

2008-09-07T20:56:00.010+01:00

It's all a bit of a dilemma.

Three screen-printed shirts that I swore I'd never buy...until they gave me a team full of names that I'd be proud to display on my back.

Yes, a team full. That's 18 names to pick from. This team is tipped to be the best Giants squad since the 3rd season when team captain Paul Kruse led us to Play-Off victory for the first and only time in Giants history.

Man, those were the days. Big personalities on and off the ice. I think that's a big part of what we've been missing for the last few years. The fun.

Last night could certainly be described as fun. Exhausting and stressful are also words that could be (and were) used...but definitely fun.

It was the first home game of the new season. New coach. New team. New year. New attitudes. New approach to everything.

Awesome.

Ok...I only want one shirt, so I guess it's gotta be the Black 'Season Ticket Holder Exclusive' 3rd jersey. And one name. It seems too soon to decide, but I should probably go with my gut on that, right?

GTV is back!

2008-07-22T23:24:00.001+01:00

With the final two signings for the 08-09 season roster announced this morning, GM Todd Kelman gives the shortest speech of his Belfast career...

Inner Diablogue

2008-06-19T17:44:00.001+01:00

*Anyone else remember when Pickled Onion Monster Munch used to be in a red packet?*

Inner Diablogue

2008-05-20T18:19:00.001+01:00

*So many updates and so little time...meh...soon* =(

Excuse me doctor I'm bluescreening, would you mind restarting me?

2008-04-02T19:05:00.011+01:00

So out of all the things that I had planned to do today, spending a few hours in the ER department of The Mater Hospital was not one of them.

But of course my body, or more specifically, my heart, had other ideas.

It's not the first time either. Last November I had just returned to my seat for the 3rd period of a Giants game when out of nowhere my heart starts dancing at 196 beats per minute. Was this a particularly exciting game you may ask...as did the doctors...but no, as I told them in the ER it was a rather dull mid-afternoon jog up and down a hockey rink whilst Ed Courtenay practised his passing skills with the other team. Had I been drinking? Nope. Not a drop. I mean we were losing the game, but Matt had just handed me a bag of Minstrels so life wasn't all that bad.

And today? Well... I sat down. Yep, that's what I did right before it happened this afternoon.

I hadn't been doing anything. Besides eating lunch. Neighbours had just finished and I figured I better head back to my desk. Now, granted, it's their annual cliffhanger week, but really - the thought of Libby dying in an old abandoned warehouse / come dance party venue just doesn't keep me up at night. Honestly.

Today I had just 'sat down'. And unless you count the only common denominator of 'sitting' - once again, it's onset was entirely random. Thankfully however, Today, I knew what I was dealing with.

That night in November, I had been diagnosed with a condition known as SVT. Supraventricular tachycardia. I've included the link to the Wikipedia article, but in short, it's rapid heart palpitations that can last anywhere from a few minutes up to a few days...tho I'm guessing it would be best never to let it run that long. No, the doctor told me at the time, if it ever happened again and didn't feel like it was stopping any time soon, to come straight back in. So that's what I did.

It had been going for about 20mins before I called Matt. I had tried all the methods that the Heart Specialist had showed me to regulate it and it just wasn't working. When we arrived at the Mater they swung me straight into Resus. It had been going for around 45mins by this time and after an ECG or two and some various other tests, they shot me with a dose of Adenosine which had nipped it in the bud the last time. Basically what that does in this case is slow the flow through the AV node of the heart to reset the rhythm. Or in other words, it rebooted me.

It's the most bizarre feeling in the world. Feeling like your whole system is grinding to a halt. Then as fast as that happens, everything kicks in again. The nurses all referred to it as "the injection of doom". Lol. Yeh, good job I'd had it before...you, um, really don't want the patient to panic whilst they have a BPM of 212! =P

Anyways, a couple more hours, a few more tests, some oxygen and a bag of saline later and I was feeling much better. I was still a little dizzy, but well enough to be let home.

So here I am. Still finding little sticky ECG pads stuck in random places on my body. Seriously, check out the photo of the bounty so far! I mean, how many do they need?? =/ lol

It's been a long day.

I didn't get the new Gtv edited. I didn't get to the bank. I didn't get Play-off supplies. I didn't get, well, anything done that I had originally set out to do.

But...I did get complimented on my She-Ra t-shirt by almost every member of ER staff. Oh yes. It rocks ;o)

Incidentally, Matt has never heard of an inappropriate time to take a photo. And you guys think I'm bad? =P

RE: George at Asda

2008-03-31T14:30:00.010+01:00

From ELITE League Forum:
http://www.eliteleague.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=24665

(click to zoom)

Well, if he wasn't the real George, the makeup was pretty damn good! lol

...wonder who they thought it was?! =/

...answers on a postcard....

Geeoooorge...at Asda... Episode Two

2008-03-27T20:03:00.001Z

Camelot! ...it's only a model =(

2008-03-25T23:47:00.005Z

*sigh*

Its scenes like this that make me seriously miss Third Watch:

Meh. Maybe one day they'll release seasons 2 - 6 on dvd, but in the meantime I wish FX would start running it again...perhaps from top to bottom this time...none of this getting to the middle of the 3rd season then starting all the way from the beginning again nonsense, eh guys?

Currently listening to:
Track: About Love
Artist: Minus Ted
Album: Hope & Damage Revisited

GTV

2008-03-24T14:19:00.000Z

Finally I managed to battle my way through the 'advanced procrastination' that had been plaguing me all weekend, to serve up the last GTV of the 07/08 regular season.

Here's to the Play-offs boys!

Meh

2008-03-22T21:19:00.006Z

I was just reading Shinys LJ. It seems we're taking our "sharing a brain" thing to the next level.

We're now past the 'finishing each others sentences' and 'saying the same things at exactly the same time' ...now were even having the same moods when we're nowhere near each other. Eesh.

Yeh, so, unmotivation seems to be today's theme.

Seriously, there are so many things I was determined to do today. So many things I really wanted to do....but I just couldn't bring myself to do any of them. It was like a repelling force.

I'm even surprised I'm blogging.

...but of course, that wasn't on my list.

Meh.

The one thing I did manage to though, was yell at Sky. No, not the telly box...the customer service department of the company.

Ok, not in person. They won't speak to me, I'm not the account holder, so by email. But considering my dad couldn't get anyone to speak to him without passing him on to another department...by email was the best anyone could do.

So anyways, just before Christmas we took the "recommend a friend" deal from them - we recommended someone for Sky+ ...and when they take out the contract, we both receive a free Sky+ box. Great. Except the friend got theirs before Christmas, and we cant even get someone to decide which department we need to speak to in order to get the damn engineer booked to come out in the first place. It was hard enough for them to even give us our special code to quote for the free box. They had first tried to fob us off with M&S vouchers. Um, no...that wasn't the deal mate.

Seriously, I am actually wondering if this is just some big ploy in order to gain new customers and alienate existing ones...after all, they have our subscription already. It must be 13 years or so since we first got Sky in. Freaking ridiculous.

Meh.

Geeoooorge...at Asda...

2008-03-17T21:04:00.002Z

Thanks to everyone who helped out with this...

...and yes, I think I'm funny =P

Inner Diablogue

2008-03-06T16:11:00.000Z

*Drawing is fun* =)

Awesomeness!

2008-02-21T00:19:00.002Z

Paul Moran (aka Mopes) of the Belfast Giants - uncut and definitely a little unhinged, singing "The Bad Touch" by The Bloodhound Gang at the Belfast Giants Official Supporters Club "Stars in Their Eyes" event...

Inner Diablogue

2008-02-13T14:57:00.001Z

*Meh...I just cant be bothered* =(

The Shiny Side of Life

2008-02-11T18:12:00.001Z

Matt says my blog is starting to sound angsty.

He's probably right. Or at least while he has a rather large gash in his head, I'll let him think he is =P

So, with that in mind...I'll steer clear of talking hockey, politics, money or electronics, and instead skip to the wee things that cheer me up after furious in-head battles with the aforementioned affairs.

1. Lush baths.

The shiny bath bombs you get from Lush are the best. Followed closely by pretty much all of their other bath products. I smell nice now. Um...not that I smelt bad before....I just smell nicer now.

2. The West Wing.

I love the West Wing. Ok, vaguely political reference here...but TV politics isn't real, so that's ok.
I'm only a recent WW convert. Only started watching it after Studio 60 got cancelled and Mum bought Matt WW Season 1 to stop him crying. Now it's our nightly cheap entertainment; The West Wing, some munchies, a cup of tea and a snuggly blanket. Luffly! Here's one of my favourite scenes:

3. Mad TV's Parody of The West Wing.

If you watch the WW, you will appreciate it ;o)

4. Two Songs by John Mayer.

"No Such Thing" & "Serendipity". Go listen to them.

5. Jeff Dunham.

Or "Jef-f-f Dun Haaaammm" as he might be better known to some. Too funny!
For those of you know don't know who he is, he drives a powder blue Prius and plays with dolls for a living.

Check out more from him HERE.

6. Craig Ferguson

Ok, I'm convinced he's Americas best talk show host. That could be because he's Scottish an doesn't really give a crap, I'm not sure. Either way, he makes me giggle. Thought I'd cross over this vid with my love for The West Wing and include Craigs Feburary interview with Bradley Whitford...

Right, I think that's about enough cheerness for today. I'm away to do something more constructive.....actually I'm probably just gonna chat to Shiny on msn for a bit...and then eat tea....but still...I'm going!

Don't Give Up The Day Job

2008-02-09T20:51:00.000Z

This evening I caught about 10 minutes of a reasonably new ITV show called 'Primevil'. Much like Chicken Pox, it's something I never ever intend to catch again.

I remember the trailer looking kind of interesting, but seriously, I'm convinced this bunch of so called "actors" go some way towards making up the 2007 reject list from 'EastEnders', 'Corrie', 'Hollyoaks', 'Brookside', 'Emmerdale' 'Casualty', 'Holby City' and 'The Bill'; with audition reels so terrifying they probably couldn't even snatch themselves a part as an extra in that other woeful UK series, Doctors.

I'm not even gonna bother to IMDB it to see if I'm right. I'd rather blank it all from my memory and move on.

Inner Diablogue

2008-02-08T16:15:00.000Z

*LONGEST. DAY. EVER.*

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

2008-02-07T23:29:00.000Z

So today marked the start of the Chinese New Year. I was reliably informed by a bi-lingual Malaysian 4 year old that it's now the year of the rat.

I forgot to mention...

2008-02-07T00:52:00.000Z

...Raj bought me the season 1 & 2 boxset of Spaced for Christmas...I finished watching it in a week of "just before sleeps". I keep forgetting to tell him.

I had entirely forgotten how funny it was and am re-adding Simon Pegg to the list of Gingers I fangirl.

Spaced Episode One - "Beginnings"

Anyone Got The My Time?

2008-02-07T00:24:00.000Z

I don't blog enuff. I wish there was more time. Being busy has quite the double edge. Tripple if you count the bags under my eyes.

In other news, freshly made pancakes topped with vanilla ice cream and maple syrup RAWK!

Inner Diablogue

2008-02-06T00:44:00.000Z

*People are ungrateful moody bastards. Period.*

GTV in Fundalk

2008-01-31T13:16:00.000Z

Giants GM Todd Kelman talks to Stevie Lyle & Mark Dutiaume after their 5-1 win against the Edinburgh Capitals in Dundalk.

Latest Giants TV

2008-01-21T18:37:00.000Z

GM Todd Kelman talks to Mark Morrison and Carlyle Lewis straight after their 6 - 2 win over the Manchester Phoenix.

New GTV

2007-10-29T00:25:00.000Z

I haven't really whinged on here a lot lately...or even at all, but those of you who know me in the real world have probably had to listen to me going on and on about our "goalie situation" over at the Giants....

Well Horrah! We now have a brand spanky new goalie by the name of Stevie Lyle! And yes...due to him and a few other line-up changes, we are now on a winning streak. Well, ok, so far it's a 3 game winning streak....but it still counts!

You can check him out (in what ever way you please) in my latest GTV vid (hosted by the lovely Coach Debbie Maguire from the G-Crew cheerleading squad), along with 2 of our other 07/08 newbies: Pete Campbell and the returning Shane Johnson.

Love, peace & badgers...
Jo xx

Mmpphh...

2007-10-23T15:02:00.000+01:00

...I don't blog enough anymore =(

New Giants TV

2007-09-13T17:05:00.000+01:00

...here's the latest video blog...

...ps...sorry about the video still nige...youtube did it! *runs away*

Once Upon a Time...

2007-09-10T16:40:00.000+01:00

...there was a young princess, living and working in a beautiful castle in a very shiny land not so far away. The princess didn't normally mind working from her castle, because the walls were reassuringly wide and there were lots of shiny desk toys and a tv to keep her amused when she needed a break.

In fact, all was fine in the Land of Shiny, until one day a giant hammer-monster took up residency in the castle beside the princess. It was rumoured to be the biggest and most fearsome hammer-monster in all the land. The princess didn't know what to do. She had never actually seen this hammer-monster, but every day for the past month she had listened to its mighty roar echoing through the once peaceful walls of her castle.

"Oh no!" she cried, "If I don't get some peace soon, I don't know what I will do!"

New rumours started circulating around the Land of Shiny that this monster not only had a booming roar, but that it also had magical powers. Powers that could make even the strongest of minds explode under its awesome pressure. Soon all the news headlines were full of amazing tales of how this monster had eaten children and made coats from their puppies...but still no one had actually seen this creature.

Each day, like clockwork, the roaring continued from morning to night. The princess wondered what reason this creature could possible have for making such a racket for such a long time?

Days passed until they turned into weeks, and the poor princess's head was starting to spin. How could she work with all this noise? Lack of concentration during the day was topping her stress levels at night.

She had tried sending a pleading letter to the monster, but the roaring didn't stop. The headache just got worse and worse.

Suddenly she sat bolt upright. This couldn't go on any longer. Her eyes were pulsing and something inside her throbbing head snapped.

Leaping to her feet she ran straight out of her castle, across the grounds and over the hammer-monsters drawbridge. By now night had fallen and cast a spell over the monster. She was sure it was asleep.

Quietly she crept inside through a small open window. Everything was dark and still. She carefully cracked open a door to where the monster lay sleeping. There it was. Sleeping. How very nice for it she thought.

It's giant hammer tail lay curled around it. She crept towards it, keeping her mouth closed in case the noise of the intense thumping inside her head would accidentally wake it before it was time.

Her eye twitched as the pain spiked across her forehead. It was time. Carefully she grabbed the giant hammer tail, and beat the noisy monster to death in its sleep. She felt better.

The End.

One More Sleep Till Hockey!!!

2007-09-07T15:36:00.000+01:00

Just a small update on that note...

In GM Todd Kelman's latest 'View From The Top' blog update (which can be read in full here), he says:

"I always said that Giants Fans don't need players to watch, they need entertainers that keep them on the edge of their seats, they need heroes to admire and role models to look up to. I am sure that this team has a good mix of all three.

Open your hearts to these guys and they will play theirs out for you. It's time for Giant Hockey to become what it should be... The best show in town. We are all a part of this from here on in; it's our GIANT NATION and it's time for this show to begin..."

Good lord this man's good! I almost shed a small tear... *cough*

*bounces* ...not long to go now!!!! =D *squee*

Hockey's Back in Belfast Agaaain!

2007-09-05T12:41:00.000+01:00

After a roaring couple of pre-season games held in Dundalk Ice Dome, The Belfast Giants return to their beloved home ice in The Odyssey Arena this coming Saturday where they face off against the Edinburgh Capitals at 7pm.

For fixtures and ticket information go to www.belfastgiants.com

Also check out their brand new Official YouTube channel HERE

Meh

2007-07-21T00:22:00.001+01:00

I'm really starting to hate the rain =(

Which Canadian band do you belong in?

2007-07-06T19:32:00.000+01:00

Which Canadian band do you belong in?

You belong in Barenaked Ladies!You're a geek and proud of it! You think clothing should be optional and you spend your free time either watching porn, playing video games or watching hockey.
Take this quiz!

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Obviously thats me down to a tee....y'all know how I love my porn.
Not sure about the hockey tho... ;o)

I'm bored...

2007-06-16T16:52:00.001+01:00

Right...it's that time again.

"The time where One can't actually be arsed with owt else?" ...Um, yes, that one.

...It's...*drumroll*...the Moosical Quizy Thingy! Wooooooo!

C'mon, I know you're excited really =P

Anyways, for those of you that don't remember from last time, the idea is I hit shuffle on my iTunes library, pick the first 25 tunes that appear, write down a line (that doesn't include the title) from it, and you lot guess wot the song is...WITHOUT using Google cause that's just no fun now is it =P

When a correct guess is made I'll put a strike through the line and list the song title below it along with the name of whoever got it right so's you can show off to all your friends. All good?

Ok then, moosical knowledge at the ready and we shall begin...

1. "Gettin' old, gettin' grey. Gettin' ripped off, underpaid."
- "It's a long way to the top" - AC/DC (Shiny)

2. "I can promise you tomorrow...But I can't buy back yesterday."
- "I'll be there for you" - Bon Jovi (Kaz)

3. "Yet I still recall as I wander on...As clear as the sun in the summer sky."
-

4. "For here in my arms is your place. When the night grows cold and I want to hold you..."
-

5. "Wish that I could cry, Fall upon my knees."
- "Superman" - Five For Fighting (Shiny)

6. "Quicksand steals my shoe."
- "F-Stop Blues" - Jack Johnson (Shiny)

7. "As we danced, I could see in your eyes, You and me as senior citizens in love."
- "Conventioneers" - BNL (Matt)

8. "The better part of this heart's bitter land."
-

9. "It changes shape and shifts, it takes you over."
- "The Writings on the Wall" - Tea Party (Matt)

10. "Walk the cramps off, Go meander in the cold"
-

11. "Rise up, let life's kiss send us reeling."
-

12. "Oh and your sweet and pretty face, in such an ugly world."
-

13. "It's more or less the same as the things that you said."
- "Riverboat Song" - Ocean Colour Scene (Raj)

14. "If I pack the car and leave this town, who'll notice that I'm not around?"
- "Pinch Me" - Barenaked Ladies (Shiny)

15. "Your face it dances and it haunts me."
- "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You" - Colin Hay (Raj)

16. "But first you must learn how to smile as you kill, if you want to be like the folks on the hill."
- "Working Class Hero" - John Lennon (Shiny)

17. "I just want you closer, is that alright?"
- "Last Request" - Paulo Nutini" (Matt)

18. "I'm gonna swear so loud, I'll strip the silver lining from a cloud."
- "I'm Gonna Do it All" - Karine Polwart (Shiny)

19. "You swim like you're on fire, live like your last day, drink like its water..."
- "Colorful" - Rocco DeLuca & The Burden (Shiny)

20. "An enigma wrapped in a mystery, or a fool consumed by fear."
- "For You" - BNL (Matt)

21. "Buying bread from a man in Brussels...He was six foot four and full of muscles."
- "Down Under" - Men at Work (Raj)

22. "So keep your head up, keep it on, just a whisper I'll be gone"
- "Trippin On a Hole in a Paper Heart - Stone Temple Pilots (Matt)

23. "They sold us out and they sold us short and we're the one's who'll have to pay."
-

24. "Sweet like candy to my soul, Sweet you rock and sweet you roll."
- "Crash Into Me" - Dave Matthews Band (Raj)

25. "Push the pedal down, watch the world around fly by us."
-

Mat Kearney & Tyler Burkum

2007-06-08T15:39:00.000+01:00

...I luff this song =)

"Nothing Left To Lose" by Mat Kearney

Mat's MySpace
Tyler's MySpace
(check out Tylers solo stuff...he's great!!)

Enjoy! xx

Hmmm...

2007-06-01T21:59:00.000+01:00

...I really need to update this thing....

...and I will.........soon!

But in the meantime, check out m'new widgetybobs in the sidebar, to find out if you amuse quite as easily as I do =)

Birthday Blues

2007-05-04T21:14:00.000+01:00

Did I mention it is my birthday on Sunday?

Well it is. And I've decided this year that I'm not gonna celebrate it.

I mean seriously, what's the point of celebrating getting older? No, instead I've decided to celebrate on Saturday and party out my last few hours of still being 26 in style.

Well...if you consider having a BBQ with a few friends "in style".

*sigh*

Ok then....lets re-phrase; I'm gonna comfort-eat away my last few hours of being able to say I'm "mid twenties". How bout that? Better?

Meh. I feel old.

Barenaked Ladies in Dublin

2007-04-28T03:17:00.000+01:00

What a Letdown.

No, not the concert! Eesh no! That's the name of the song I cant stop singing from the 'Barenaked Ladies Are Men' album.

*squeeeeeeee* =D

I'm seriously having to resist melting into "fangirlyOMGijustsawthebarenakedladiesliveforthefirsttimeafteralltheseyears" mode. And I'll try my best. But I can't promise anything ;o)

After a very late (and very much delayed) flight back from Nottingham the night before, we dragged ourselves outta bed and headed down to Dublin at the crack of dawn. Well ok...it was about lunchtime really.

After Captain Planets being a massive disappointment last time, we decided to head to the world famous Eddie Rockets for some very disgusting, yet very very good diner food. Mmmm foot-long Chilli-Cheese Dogs, Garlic-Cheese Fries and Onion Rings, followed by the yummiest Oreo Malt-shake ever! We are all such incredible pies!

Anyways, after grabbing a cup of coffee to stop Matts head essploding, we headed round to the Olympia Theatre, where BNL were due to be on stage in about 2 hours time. We had planned to meet up with Carolyn, a friend of Matts from work, and her boyfriend, but for the life of us couldn't find the bar they were in. In all fairness, Carolyns directions leave a lot to be desired! =P lol

After a brief search for the mystery bar, we returned to the theatre and headed upstairs to take our seats. Yes, seats. Matt's old and Sarah has dodgy knees.
The place soon packed up and the lights dimmed down.

They bounded onto the stage with One week and the Old Apartment before going into an adlib about Ed's overindulgent eating. Apparently either the Bangers or the Mash would have been fine...but both together was a mistake. I knew how he felt! And anways, the best gigs always seem to be performed on overly full stomachs...a la Dave Matthews, who had the same problem with the Duck and the Lamb.

Many fantastic numbers followed, including a fantabulous acoustic version of "For You"...one of my fav BNL songs, "Twister: The Musical", and perhaps the highlight of the evening - the "Angry People" Dance =D Too funny! (You can see it HERE from their Brighton gig, or HERE in London.)

(clicky for bigger pics!)

I can't believe I fiiinally got to see them live =)

And the best thing about their concerts is that you can take it away with you. Literally...on a little USB stick. They record every gig they do, and you can pick it up from the merchandise stand straight after the show. How rockin is that?! And...even if you don't feel like queuing, you can take the slightly different route of downloading it from their website...complete with cd cover art. Sweet, no?

You cant beat them with a big bad barenaked memory stick!

Anyhoo...I'm gonna stop rambling now *looks at watch* mainly cause it's 3:52am and way past bedtime! Check out their audio site if ya fancy a listen for yourself. I'm off t'bed. Nighty!

Play-Offs

2007-04-17T15:04:00.000+01:00

So yeh, I cant quite believe it's taken me this long to get round to a Playoffs update. I'm not even sure if I've fully recovered yet to be honest!

I think every year the weekend just gets better. We get to know some more new people, and catch up with the lesser spotted old friends. Everyone from every team gets together and has a right old knees-up. I'm telling ya - more fun than you could shake a big goalie stick at!

Anyways, despite the disappointment of losing to the Nottingham Panties after penalties in what I considered to be a pretty slow and evenly matched evening semi-final game...we still managed to have a blast all weekend. Now, although the temptation to start the first of 5 really long posts about everything that happened in full glorious technicolour is really clawing at me...I'm going to politely decline this year, and instead opt for just posting a fantabulous slideshow of all of the photo's I took with my shiny new camera ...mainly due to the fact that I've left it so long and also the immense headache I woke up with this morning.

So here it is =) :

You can check out Shinys Blog for a full run-down of the weekends Panther Porn-a-rific highlights HERE =D

(ps...thanks to Shiny & Mom for the couple of pics I yoinked! xx)

bounces

2007-03-26T17:18:00.000+01:00

I love to have my Canon EOS 10D camera with me everywhere I go, but it's big, the lenses are bigger, and I have to make sure it's always protected from knocks'n'bumps as well as the elements. So, most of the time, in everyday life, it's just not possible, or feasible to bring it. Of course, these are usually the times when I most regret not having it with me. Typical eh?

For example...last Monday was a bank holiday, so Matt and I went for a drive up the coast. When we left my house it was pissing down with rain so I decided not to bring the camera as it was unlikely I'd even step out of the car.

Thing is, the night before it had snowed. It hadn't lay on the ground around Belfast or any of the other coastal towns we passed through because of the rain...but as we took a detour inland over the Antrim Hills, the rain disappeared and low and behold we had the most beautiful snowy mountains.

Me? Regret not bringing my camera? Why yes...yes I did. I took some with my phone camera, which turned out ok...but at 3.2mpx, it's just not the same.

Anyways...to my point...

...The Elite Ice Hockey League Play-Off Finals are nearing, and every year I carry my camera round Nottingham...to the arena, to lunch, to the shops, and most importantly, for the best in "drunkin fan photography", to the bar. But it's getting to be a hassle. Not taking the photos...that I love...just the taking the big camera out of the bag to shoot, then putting it away again so's it doesn't get covered in Ketchup or beer.

I even bought a small Crumpler bag for it at last years Play-Offs before the first game - so's I didn't have to carry the big Tamrac backpack with me everywhere. Admittedly, this made life much easier...and will once again be the plan for the games. BUT...for everywhere else a new and shinier plan was needed!

And I have just that very plan. A lovely shiny new compact camera that takes fantastic pics, but can be kept in my handbag without the worry of it being getting damaged, or being too frickin expensive to keep out in a bar!

Just this afternoon, my new baby arrived. It's a Canon Powershot A640 and I luff it! =D

It's full spec can be found here, but briefly it's 10mpx with a 4x Optical Zoom (35 - 140mm), Carl Zeiss F/2.8-4.1 Lens, ISO 100 - 800, 9-point AiAf, 2.5in Vari-angle LCD display, and a 30fps Movie Mode. It's also TV, AV, and completely Manual modes as well as a load of pre-sets.

I haven't had a chance to give it a proper test drive yet, but from the short play I had, it seems great. A good buy for my handbag, and any camera that can capture Tyson in motion is all right by me! lol

(click pic to enlarge)

Warner Bros...The Lost Boys Plot

2007-03-24T16:13:00.000Z

So how many of you, much like me, were, and-or, still are a huge fan of the 80's cult classic,The Lost Boys?

Have you heard the nonsense that is spewing out of the Warner Studios? Surfing Vampires.

Yes, Surfing vampires. Seriously.

They are planning a straight to dvd sequel to a movie, that firstly had all it's infamous vampire antagonists killed off by the end scene, and secondly is deemed as a cult classic and should not have its memory degraded with a cheap and tacky attempt at a fast buck.

All I can picture is a young Keanu Reeves type actor, with half the acting ability, unwittingly or otherwise, hanging ten with a group of knarley vamps led by some shaggy haired blood bank robber who sky dives and yells "via con dias" as he attempts to slay the young protagonist...who has probably fell for the head honcho's girlfriend....

...or something.

Either ways, the so called "plot" outline that they've put out just goes to show that there is no imagination or creative skill involved in the movie making process any more. It's just dumb.

It's so dumb in fact, that there is actually a petition against it. If you have any respect for the memory of David and the cute little fuzzy one from Bill & Ted...go sign it!

Surfing Vampires? GET LOST!!

My, My, My, It's a Beautiful World =)

2007-02-26T01:50:00.000Z

So last night we - Matt, Shiny, Raj, Matt's parentals (for whom we'd bought tickets as a Christmas pressie) and Myself, trundled off to Belfast's Waterfront Hall to see Dave Matthews perform an acoustic set accompanied by his buddy, Tim Reynolds on geetar.

(Dave Matthews)

Fan-tastic. I don't know what else to say...besides "Dave - having the duck and the lamb, is probably never the best idea!" Anyhoo, I'm sure Matt's blog will be full of the joys of Dave in the next day or too so you can prolly read more over there.

On Sunday night Matt & I went to see Colin Hay (a la 'Men At Work') play in the Black Box in Belfast, as part of the Belfast - Nashville Music Festival. This was the one I was waiting not so patiently to see. Now, don't get me wrong...I was looking forward to seeing Dave too...but there's just something special about a much more intimate gig in a small venue, listening to someone who you never thought you would ever get to hear live. For me anyway.

There is just something about his voice; Smooth, yet it has weathered enough over the years to give it this finely ground texture. Like when you finally get your cookie dough mixed to perfection.

We were a little early for the gig, and when we arrived in the venue he was still sound checking, so we propped up a wall at the end of the bar until the event organiser eventually asked us if we'd like to go on ahead and buy tickets so's we could take a seat. I tried desperately not to reveal me inner squee as Colin walked past and said hi. *hangs head in shame* I'm such a girl.

Before the main event there were two local performers...Sarah Lyle (along with her stepdad who looked remarkable like Guy Siner, who played Lieutenant Gruber - the remarkably camp one in 80's tv show 'Allo Allo') and Tim Cobain. Tim had a superb voice and was giving away free ep's...which somehow we missed, bah!

(Tim Cobain)

When Colin took to the stage, I guess I just expected it to be like any other singers performance - a little bit of chat...some music...a bit more rambling and then more music again; but instead it was like watching a singing Billy Connelly! He went into all the ups and downs of his life and career in a brutally honest, totally relaxed, and hilarious stand up style of comfortable conversation with the crowd.

(Colin Hay)

He was superb, and had everyone joining in and cracking up at his "Are you lookin at me pal?"stories in broad Scottish and perfectly mimicked Aussie diction.

He hung around for a while after chatting to everyone and was saying about how he met this young guy 'Zach' in a bar...and how instrumental that meeting was in restarting his solo career at a point when he'd started to accept his time was up. It's funny...he said it himself, and he was right...Scrubs was the main reason half the audience knew who he was. Although I knew him from Men at Work, it was hearing his solo stuff in the episodes My Philosophy and My Overkill that really caught my attention. And Matt had never even made the connection until one evening Raj's dad, Nigel, mentioned how different the solo sound was from the old Men at Work days.

Anyways...the craic was fantastic, the beer was...um...well...whiskey actually...and I got to hear "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You" live. =)

(Colin & Myself)

Well...it had to be done. My inner squee got the better of me, what can I say.

Whats That Coming Over the Hill......Is It An Update? ...Is It An Updaaaaate?

2007-02-24T17:30:00.000Z

Well...I'm back. I'm not sure where I was, but it was dark and not the least bit shiny.

Anyhoo...upon request of Blu and threat of death from Dermo, I'm now gonna attempt to update my poor little blog with the many *cough* excitements of my life over the past few weeks. Aren't you all so very excited? Hmmm....well, no matter...I'm gonna tell yis anyways =P

Ok, lets see, what comes first? Oh, I guess it's gotta be my newly acquired Driving Licence! Fiiinally after almost 10 years of being too chicken to take the test...I passed!

Yes folks, as of the 5th Jan, I have been released onto the worlds unsuspecting roads. I received my lovely pink full licence t'other week, and I must say...it matches my new handbag just lovely! *ahem*

In other news, Matt has been playing geetar for a singer / songwriter called Allan Ellingsgaard, and performed with him at his 'Going Home' Album Launch last night in Ballymena Elim.

Check out dermo.co.uk for a couple more pics.

We also took another wee trip to down to Dublin to see Peter Mulvey. He was superb as always, and was joined by Irish musician Clive Barnes...an absolute magician on the slide guitar!

Poor Peter however is about 3 years behind the rest of the world...as we discovered from his many many many quotations throughout the night from the "Chuck Norris Random Fact Generator" such as "Chuck Norris' wristwatch has no numbers on it. It just says, Time to kick ass. " and "Giraffes were invented when Chuck Norris uppercut a horse". But, ya know, whatever keeps him amused! ;o)

I myself am much more partial to the Jack Bauer Random Fact Generator...I mean, did you know that Superman wears Jack Bauer pyjamas? ...well he does!

With this in mind, I decided it was about flippin time we had a Kiefer Movie Night. Cause...well, cause Kiefer rocks!

So last weekend, when my parents, Sarahs parents and Raj's parents all took themselves off to watch the Giants lose badly in both Hull and Shuffield, we elected to use that weekend to party, let loose and generally have a good time.

Well...we did have a good time...but whilst our respective parental units spent their time rollin in and out of hockey bars across England....we watched movies and ate salad. How feckin rock & roll are we, huh?

Ok...we didn't just eat salad. We actually had a rather lovely winter BBQ on Saturday at mine, thanks to Matty. But I did make a salad to go with it...and it flippin well rocked ok!!!

*sigh*

Anyways...despite there being beer in the fridge, wine in the rack and whiskey ~~in the jar~~ under the kitchen table, we all remained perfectly sober to enjoy 3 of Kiefers finest: Phonebooth, The Lost Boys, and Flatliners. Man I had forgotten just how much I loved The Lost Boys! Such a cracker movie =)

We decided we'd probably have a 'Kiefer: Part Two', as we only had time to watch 3 films...and we have still the likes of Young Guns, Stand By Me, and a few others to introduce ickle Sarah to ;o)

Anyways, Kiefer Night quickly morphed into Kiefer Weekend as we ended our celebrations on Sunday evening at Raj's, where he cooked us a beautiful Sunday Roast followed by a screening of The Sentinal on his lovely big new flatscreen.

Cue Movie.
Cue Sarah discovering that when she watched this on a plane she actually missed over an hour of it, and then finally realising why it never made any sense to her.
Cue at least 20 consecutive bellows of "Holster your weapon!!!!"
Cue 4 happy contented smiles.

Happy New Year!!!

2007-01-02T16:00:00.000Z

Wow! I can't believe it's 2007! Seems like only yesterday I was still penciling 1989 on my primary school books =/ Time's been flying so fast.

Anyhoo...I trust everyone had a good Christmas?

Mine was pretty good...bit busy, but still really good. We had our friend Steve from Manchester over staying with us, and somehow he managed to get me skating again (first time since the "getting my finger skated over" incident about a year and a half ago!), which was scary as hell, but good fun and a huge relief to get over the fear.

We had a couple of Giants games over the Christmas period too...but they must have been a little over stuffed with turkey as they didn't do fantastically there, but getting to see everyone in the bar afterwards and celebrate Mums birthday at the same time was great...which, by the way, went without a hitch; She decided not to break any bones this year...ya know, just for a change =P

Steve returned home on New Years Eve and was replaced by Shiny Sarah who joined us for a shindig in Matts bro's house. Lots of fun was had...and lots of dodgy phone pics were taken...

...ahem. One thinks One will refrain from posting anymore *cough*

Anyways...hope everyone had a good one, and here's to a fantastic and very very shiny 2007!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

2006-12-25T02:37:00.000Z

The Shiny Stars

2006-12-16T15:01:00.000Z

I took some photos of Shiny Sarah all dressed up in my goalie gear last Sunday night as part of a hockey themed photo shoot...

I've decided She'd make a great addition to the Giants next season lol ;o)

Poopid BBC

2006-12-09T12:53:00.000Z

Bastards took Monk off again.

Gettin' Older

2006-11-27T12:27:00.000Z

Happy birthday baby! xxxxxxx

(photo "half-inched" from Shiny)

I Should Be Working But...

2006-11-24T22:11:00.000Z

...instead I stole this quiz thingy from Shiny Sarah.

The Romantic
Thanks for taking the test !
you chose BY - your Enneagram type is FOUR.

"I am unique"

Romantics have sensitive feelings and are warm and perceptive.

How to Get Along with Me

* Give me plenty of compliments. They mean a lot to me.
* Be a supportive friend or partner. Help me to learn to love and value myself.
* Respect me for my special gifts of intuition and vision.
* Though I don't always want to be cheered up when I'm feeling melancholy, I sometimes like to have someone lighten me up a little.
* Don't tell me I'm too sensitive or that I'm overreacting!

What I Like About Being a Four

* my ability to find meaning in life and to experience feeling at a deep level
* my ability to establish warm connections with people
* admiring what is noble, truthful, and beautiful in life
* my creativity, intuition, and sense of humor
* being unique and being seen as unique by others
* having aesthetic sensibilities
* being able to easily pick up the feelings of people around me

What's Hard About Being a Four

* experiencing dark moods of emptiness and despair
* feelings of self-hatred and shame; believing I don't deserve to be loved
* feeling guilty when I disappoint people
* feeling hurt or attacked when someone misundertands me
* expecting too much from myself and life
* fearing being abandoned
* obsessing over resentments
* longing for what I don't have

Fours as Children Often

* have active imaginations: play creatively alone or organize playmates in original game s
* are very sensitive
* feel that they don't fit in
* believe they are missing something that other people have
* attach themselves to idealized teachers, heroes, artists, etc.
* become antiauthoritarian or rebellious when criticized or not understood
* feel lonely or abandoned (perhaps as a result of a death or their parents' divorce)

Fours as Parents

* help their children become who they really are
* support their children's creativity and originality
* are good at helping their children get in touch with their feelings
* are sometimes overly critical or overly protective
* are usually very good with children if not too self-absorbed

The Enneagram Made Easy
Discover the 9 Types of People
Harper SanFrancisco, 1994, 161 pages
Link: The Quick & Painless ENNEAGRAM Test

Wow. That's actually pretty dang accurate =/

Halloween "Party"

2006-10-29T01:20:00.000Z

(Bill perusing the Argos Catalogue back at Raj's)

...well that was a bust.

Yaaaarrr tis a good job I cheered myself up and made the effort, eh.

Bah!

**In other news, after a swift telling off from Raj, I'm now using Firefox. I like it. It's shiny.**

Bah!

2006-10-28T16:55:00.000+01:00

So...today I feel like crap. There is a halloween party tonight and no one seems to be going. Now I don't feel like going either. Poo.

Well...no amount of chocolate in the world seems to be able to cheer me up, but just incase there's anyone else out there with the blues, here's a little something to induce a giggle or two.

From the previous "Music Night at the Cardwell's" evening, Matt & Myself (...after a whisky or two I might add...) ~~giggling~~ singing If I Had $1,000,000...the Barenaked Ladies we are not!

(Click here if you can't see the music bar)

Apologies to every Canadian I've ever met or known for the truly questionable accents.

...Quick! Get out the cheese!

**EDIT** My bad...actually chocolate does help a little. Esp when its poured through your front doors letter box when you least expect it! *blushes* Thankies Matty =) xx

Gary & Lyndsey

2006-10-03T23:02:00.000+01:00

So, this evening my little cousin Gary tied the knot with his lovely missus Lyndsey.

The happy couple.

Lyndsey looking stunning.

Their ~~tornado of a~~...~~mental~~...~~mischievous~~...erm...lovely little daughter Brooke =)

My uncle Joe all proud of his newly wed son Gary

Peter Mulvey

2006-10-01T03:11:00.000+01:00

(I meant to post this aaages ago...but then I forgot. Umm, pretend it's the 18th of last month so's I don't have to re-type, k.)

How wonderful is this guy? Ya know, I think if I was bound to only listen to one voice for the rest of eternity, I'd want it to be his...tho only if he could bring his guitar too...

So, yesterday Myself, Matt, Sarah, Raj and Paul took a wee trip down to the fair city of Dublin to see Peter Mulvey at the Temple Bar Music Centre. Now, the last time I saw this guy play I didnt want the gig to end...I had a feeling this time would be much the same.

We were the first there...which was surprising as it took us about two and a half hours just to get through to the town center due to All Ireland Final being played in Croke Park. But still, we made it to the music centre with ten minutes to spare...and even got to move one of the big comfy seats from the back, to the front of the room. Cause we're special.

His support act was a last minute stand in by the name of Peter Doran. The 22 year old Mullingar based musician, did a fantastic job at getting the small, but perfectly formed, crowd in the mood for the great evening to come.

Click on the above links for a sample of his music over on myspace.com, then go buy his album cause he's great =)

Peter himself was fantastic as expected. He sang his way through old favourites, classic covers and a few from his new album 'The Knuckleball Suite'...all whilst mumbling something about Sean Connery's blatant speech impediment, battling with the Star-Wars stylee laser lights, and promising to cut down on making fun of the pope.

(Left vid: Matt's phone vid from gig - "Road to Mallow"
Right vid: "Sad Sad Sad Sad" Live at Folk at One)

After the gig we fangirled for a little (did I mention how luffly he was?) ...then headed for some food before the long journey home.

I must now insist that if you have no idea who this guy is, you should go straight to his myspace and listen to his music, do not pass go, do not collect £200! Also visit his website at petermulvey.com and buy lots and lots of stuff and things. He's a great guy and if he comes to your town...go see him play!

**Incidentally...I was experimenting with some different camera settings for gig photography...lemme know wot yis think!**

I have the cold =( sniffle

2006-09-29T23:58:00.000+01:00

So...ya know when you're sick, your dreams are always a little bit off the wall...

...last night I drempt I worked for Wolfram & Hart. How bizarre.

Man, their filing system was a mess.

*choo!*

Anyways...

Things That Make Me Smile - Part II

2006-09-12T23:27:00.000+01:00

I never felt I had the words to describe the exact process of taking childrens portraits...thankfully, the Mad TV gang did it for me.

This is documentary footage people! This is what it's really like taking photos of kids...

My bad.

2006-09-10T17:23:00.000+01:00

I thought I was going to watch hockey last night. Turns out I was just going to watch "referee" Mike Hicks, take the piss out of these new 'zero tollerance' rules.

The official Giants site reports: "The game was a penalty filled affair as both teams struggled to adapt their play to reflect the league's new zero tolerance rules designed to improve the speed and excitement of the game."

Balls. "Speed and excitement"? Ha! They must be on crack =/ I have never, in my entire life, seen a slower game full of random and usless stoppages. The new '3 fights and you're out' rule is a little pointless if they cant even brush past each other without getting sent to the bin, don'tcha think?

Everyone was completely baffled (pictured above) by the extent of the so called new rules. They really need to sort out what is deemed an acceptable hit and what isn't, because if you cant check or put a niggling opposing player back in his place, then you aint playin hockey.

Later in the bar, Matt asked a slightly tiddly JB* if he was glad he didnt have to play in that shambles...he said it was worse having to watch it. No kidding, eh.

On the upside, our Lucky Looney (again pictured above...no, not Matt...the coin), burried at centre ice, held true for us and we won 4-3 after a penalty shoot out, with goalie Mike Minard deservedly receiving the Man of the Match award.

*Ex Philly Flyer Jason "JB" Bowen was one of the original Giants, and a key member of the team through 5 seasons. Last month, according to the Sunday Life, he was 'dumped' by email. Nice.

I have new hair! =D

2006-09-09T11:23:00.000+01:00

And for some reason I have the Muppet Babies theme tune in my head.

...And did I mention there was hockey tonight?? =D

Things That Make Me Smile - Part I

2006-09-08T21:11:00.000+01:00

Yes folks, a spangly new feature for the old blog, which I'm pretty sure is quite self explanitory.

The first, is a clip from Mad TV, where President George Bush (Will Sasso) teams up with WWE's Triple H.

Enjoy!

3 Days to Go!!!

2006-09-06T18:53:00.000+01:00

I felt myself becomming a little distracted today...

=(

2006-09-05T22:05:00.000+01:00

*sigh*

Steve Irwin

2006-09-04T13:34:00.000+01:00

22 February 1962 - 04 September 2006

I couldn't quite believe what I was hearing this morning. Mum was telling me The Crocodile Hunter was dead. The Crocodile Hunter? Steve Irwin? Dead?

I still cant believe it :'(

The man who risked his life everyday to rescue and relocate crocodiles, and save many other endangered or distressed creatures, was killed in a freak stingray attack while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. He was only 44.

Irwin was at Batt Reef, off the remote coast of northeastern Queensland state, shooting a segment for a series called "Ocean's Deadliest" when he swam too close to one of the animals, which have a poisonous bard on their tails.

"He came on top of the stingray and the stingray's barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart," said his friend and colleague John Stainton, who was on board Irwin's boat at the time.

Stingrays have a serrated, toxin-loaded barb, or spine, on the top of their tail. The barb, which can be up to 10 inches long, flexes if a ray is frightened. Stings usually occur to people when they step on or swim too close to a ray and can be excruciatingly painful but are rarely fatal, said University of Queensland marine neuroscientist Shaun Collin. Collin said he suspected Irwin died because the barb pierced under his ribcage and directly into his heart.

His death was only the third known stingray death in Australian waters.

As I am sitting here typing, I am still so stunned that this has happened. Steve has been in my living room almost every day for the past decade and I can't quite shake the feeling that I have lost a member of my own family as my prayers are with his. A feeling like something will never quite be the same again. There has never been anyone like him and by crikey I doubt we'll see another. His excitable, passionate and lovable character will be remembered by millions for many years to come. G'day mate.

Jo

Somewhere over the rainbow

2006-08-29T17:56:00.000+01:00

I've decided I'm gonna stop apologising for not updating. I appreciate everyone who's emailed or pm-ed to see if I'm still alive...and I may still, on occasion, apologise to them....but on mass, I feel it is pointless and indeed repetitive. Lets just face facts...I have lost my blogging skills. My ability to post relentless amounts of incredibly random (yet ever so shiny) crap, has been sent on vacation and gotten lost.

Oh, I still hear from it now and again...a postcard or two, arriving whilst I'm in the cinema viewing such classics as "Snakes!...on a plane". It gently reminds me why I need to post, and that I must share with you all the fantastic reasons I came up with as to why Samuel L. Jackson should never attempt 'dramatic'...why David R. Ellis should stick to stunt coordinating, why Bobby Cannavale should be much more careful when jumping outta helicopters, and most importantly, why, even after the terrible acting and the steady 5 minute shot of some girls nakid tatters, I still liked the damn movie!

...and I would have...but I forgot.

My mindless blogging ability, which I shall henceforth refer to as Falcor the Pink, has let me down. When I sent him on a journey of spiritual growth (...otherwise known as me telling him to stop bugging me while I needed to work...) has become tired and fidgety.

But it is my own fault. I accept responsibility. As the old saying goes "All work and no blogging makes Falcor the Pink a dull boy". Maybe if my mindless blogging ability was a female figment of my imagination things would be different...or make more sense...or make any sense...or...something... *sigh* ...but never mind. On we go...

The summer is over.

Yes folks, thats right, as always the blazin hot sun lasted about 2 weeks then burst into lashings and lashings of pouring wet horrible icky rain. And lots of it. Just in time for the Milk Cup. Fantastic.

For those of you who don't know, The Milk Cup is a world wide youth soccer tournament that takes place around the North Coast of Ireland every year. It has spawned many a footballing legend over the years and is in fact the only tournament which old golden balls David Beckham has ever won as team captain. A great week was had by all, despite everyone being repeatedly soaked by massive amounts of rain...

...and milk!

Other highlights from the beginning of the rainy season that has now become Autumn, included a visit to a convent for a wedding shoot. Now I must admit, I've never been in a convent before...and the idea of it worried me slightly. Visions of Nuns running around, habits flowing in the full force gale, singing about the hills being alive sprang immediately to mind. Thankfully however, only one of them had anything blowing anywhere and the hills were more sapping wet than alive with anything. Did I mention the huge vertical graveyard or the overflowing open-plan crypts? No? Anyhoo, despite all that...and the masses of mud...and my lovely new shoes getting completely ruined...everything went to plan and the day was deemed a success.

Don't they just look luffly?

What else? ...Oh yes! It was wee Amy's 2nd birthday t'other week. We got her a dog. A toy dog. But a really really big one. *grin*

It's about 4 times the size of Amy, and her dad, Nathan, thought it looked better as a hat. Umm, not quite wot we had in mind, but I guess maybe she'll grow into it.

Connor also had a birthday last week...and although much older than Amy, invited a couple of kids along to his party anyways...

Yes Matt and Bill, I'm talkin' bout you two! In case you cant quite make out the videos, they are having a balloon fight in the first. Thankfully the video is short, but this went on for hours...or what seemed like hours anyways! And in the second, Bill entertains us with a reenactment of a scene from "When Balloons Go Bad". And yes Raj, before you say it, you are entirely correct; From now on they'll be doing their balloon fighting...in jail! *cough*

Anyways, apart from squeeing about hockey season starting up again in two weeks time *cough* first game on the 9th *cough*, I can't think of anything else particularly interesting right now...mainly due to it being tea time and it's been way too long since lunch. So I'll leave you with a pic I snapped on my phone yesterday just after we finished building our ark.

Bleedin' Cullybackey country folk...first they take our tractors, then they get their very own pots of gold. Its so not fair!

An Apology...

2006-07-08T12:39:00.000+01:00

...to Matt, who was very upset that I didnt mention the fact that he managed to find a place down south (a Spar none the less) that sold Tim Hortons coffee, even once in my last post. So here ya go hun:

Actually, it wasn't just the coffee...it appeared to be the entire Tim's range of donuts, lunches and Timbits. It seems the Canadians may be trying to take over the world through and caffein highs and yummy glazed tartlets! Oh the humanity!

Journey South

2006-07-05T17:16:00.000+01:00

So how is everyone? I've just noticed it's been a while since my last post. I seem to be on the net less and less lately.

Anyhoo, I've totaled it all up, and I'm pretty sure I've spent the majority of the last week down in Southern Ireland. Now dont get me wrong, I see this as a great thing...the place is absolutely fantastic...spectacular views...

...but I'm now officially wrecked - and I wasn't even the one driving!

Ya know I got up at 6.30 this morning with the best of intentions of getting everything that needed doing, done and out of the way, and it was all going great until I sat down just for a sec on my nice big comfy sofa. That was at 9am. The next thing I knew it was noon! Eek! I had completely conked out =/

This damn heat isn't helping. And all the stupid hayfever medication. I mean, how's a girl supposed to stay awake?!

Bah.

Anyways, yes, down south.

Last weekend started off nicely with a trip to Westport, Co. Mayo, which is on the west coast of Co. Mayo. Now any other day we would have found this place no problem; Common sense suggests: head straight to Sligo and there'll be a straight route down. But this day was different. Matt had printed out a map from Mircosoft Auto-Route. Now you would think that He, of all the Mirosoft hating people in the world, would know better than to use a Microsoft map and expect it to do anything less than figuratively blue-screen the entire time. But no. *sigh* We go sooo lost! The map made no sense whatsoever...it took us on the most bizare route through random countryside ever...but even so, Matt was determined to see it through! lol Of course bad mapping is never helped by the fact that road signs in Ireland are easily spun around by local youths!

(The Google Map - As the Microsoft one shoulda looked!)

Anyways, after stopping the only English person within miles (much to his amusement) to get directions, we eventually just doubled back and headed for Sligo like we shoulda in the first place. Et voilà, next thing ya know, we're sitting in a lovely wee pub called The Towers in Westport eating dinner and watching the England side get booted outta the World Cup. Noice!

We spent the rest of our time there on a wee beach near by, toasting Sarah's 18th and upcoming trip to OZ M&S style, with a bottle of Champers and 'not just any ordinary' fruit mixer...

We had sooo much fun...and had noo problem finding our way home after having ditched the Microsoft map! =)

Enjoy the rest of the photos from Westport and the next installation of 'Journey South' will be coming very soon!

Mmmmmm Pie...

2006-06-16T13:38:00.000+01:00

Ok...I'm pretty sure this post is gonna get confusing, so I'm warnin' y'all now.

It was originally gonna be about spending last Wednesday at Shiny Sarahs, and how we had a lovely girly day eating far too much Cherry Garcia, deliberating the wonders of home made cherry pie and watching Truly Madly Deeply followed by our much anticipated Mini-Monk-a-thon; but then somehow I got side-tracked.

I'm not sure what it was...or even what I was looking for in the first place (something to do with pie I'm sure =/ ) ...but somehow I stumbled into this random website from a link somewhere. Now that site isn't particularly important in the grand scheme of things (it's not about pie either), but I happened to notice a photo of the site owner posing with a familiar face - actor, Scott Grimes.

Now there's a backstory to why in particular this photo caught my eye. The long and the short of it is, due to Stanley Cup excitement and my recent obsessive complusive watching of Monk, I took the head-staggers a couple of nights ago to re-watch Mystery Alaska (in which Monk star Jason Gray-Stanford plays Bobby Michan)...and this guy Scott Grimes played Brian 'Birdie' Burns in it. I guess a lot of people will know him better from the likes of ER and such, but for me it's always gonna be the hockey movie.

Anyhoo...my curiosity elevated slightly, I continued to nosey on round this site a little and came across some photos taken on the set of one of Scott's music videos, in which I noticed another familiar face - Jason Gray-Stanford. It appears he played the lead character in the vid; I guess the two have stayed friends from back in the day. Nice.

Anyways, you can watch the video HERE in a nice little window, and may I also recommend going to Scott's My Space and listening to his song 'Livin' On The Run' which totally reminds me of my last couple of years of high school when my best friends big bro would sit and play me a variety of bon jovi songs on his beat up old acoustic geetar =) I dunno, it just has that old skool summery vibe to it *happy sigh* good times =)

And back to Edmonton we go... =D

2006-06-15T22:30:00.000+01:00

Holy mother of Gretzky, that was the best shorthanded breakaway goal EVER.

That is all. =)

Blogpatrol

2006-06-05T13:11:00.000+01:00

Was having a look at my Blogpatrol stats yesterday...thought I'd share the list of keywords that have most recently led unsuspecting travelers to my humble abode.

Went to see the X-Men...

2006-06-02T13:04:00.000+01:00

You Are Wolverine

Small but fierce, you're a great fighter.
Watch out! You are often you're own greatest enemy.

Powers: Adamantium claws, keen senses, the ability to heal quickly

Which of the X-Men Are You?

*squee* I always wanted to be like Wolverine wen I was little.
...course I always wanted to fly too...and to be able to become invisible...and to have x-ray vision...and to be able to control the weather....and to be able to morph....and...umm..well, you get the idea! ;o)

*does Wolverine claw noises "whaashiingg!"*

I Heart Monk...So I Made Avvys!

2006-05-31T18:59:00.000+01:00

(Clicky on my results to take the Monkish quiz!)

Capt. Stottlemeyer: [holding the police sketch of the suspect] You've never seen this guy before? In the store, hanging around the parking lot?

Young Cashier: I don't think so, but I see a lot of faces.

Capt. Stottlemeyer: Sure.

Lt. Randy Disher: It looks like Kiefer Sutherland.

Capt. Stottlemeyer: [pausing] Yeah, I guess it does.

Lt. Randy Disher: It wasn't Kiefer Sutherland, was it?

Young Cashier: No, sir.

Capt. Stottlemeyer: Here's a receipt. This is from your cash register. This is him, right?

Young Cashier: Mm-hmm.

Capt. Stottlemeyer: Eight items at 89 cents.

Young Cashier: Yes, sir. Eight candy bars.

Capt. Stottlemeyer: Eight candy bars?

Lt. Randy Disher: It really looks like Kiefer Sutherland. You know, maybe we should - before we distribute it - write across the bottom "not Kiefer Sutherland," just so that we don't disturb Mr. Sutherland.

Capt. Stottlemeyer: [sarcastically] That's a really good idea.

Lt. Randy Disher: You think so?

Capt. Stottlemeyer: No.

Enjoy! =)
Jo xx

(Feel free to snag any of the avatars, but please remember to credit 'snoopy45' and absolutely NO hotlinking!!)

You Doctor, Me Patient!

2006-05-24T14:31:00.000+01:00

So the other week I got a call from my GP's surgery telling me that the doc wanted me to make an appointment to discuss some test results that I'd gotten recently; so this morning I dragged myself into Belfast in early morning diverted, and ergo extra-congested, rush hour traffic only to be kept waiting for a further 20mins when I got there.

Now this is nothing new for my GP's surgery. Infact, they're well known for their bad time keeping...amongst other things. Why I still go there after all these years is a mystery to me. I dont live anywhere near the surgery, and the service you recieve from these so called doctors is ridiculous. If they even managed to remember your name half the time (bearing in mind it's written on a computer screen right in front of them) it'd be pushing it for them.

So anyways, eventually I was buzzed to go in. As I sat down beside her desk, she looked at me and said "So what can I do for you today?"

I just gazed blankly at her. "You called me in."

"Oh...what was it for?"

"Umm...I think it was something to do with test results?"

"Oh, right. Can you remember what they were for?"

I stared at her for just a moment wondering if I listened closely enough maybe I could hear the circus music playing out her ears. I held a deep sigh for a second and explained what what was going on. I considered adding in that we were on planet Earth and that she was actually a doctor, but that would be just hearsay.

Two minutes into her oh so pretentiously fabricated compassionate speech explaining my results (which by the way didn't give any clue as to why I had been feeling ill), the phone rang. It must have been either a patient or a personal call, I was trying not to listen in, but she decided to take it and asked me to wait outside. Ok, maybe it was important. Or maybe she was just continuing to not have a clue what was going on around her and didn't realise she was in the middle of surgery. Either way, I sat outside for another 15 to 20mins. I even considered that maybe she meant for me to wait out in reception and they had been calling me there. I checked with them. Nope, they seemed to think she meant outside the room.

When enough other doctors had wondered what I was doing sitting there, she poked her head out and beckoned me in. "Now what was the other problem you were having?" She asked a bit flustered.

"Well, I hadn't actually mentioned another problem, but as you bring it up...."

The phone rang again. She quickly breathed out an 'excuse me', flipped her head away and answered the call. Sigh. I noticed that the door was a lovely shade of teal as I once again tried not to listen in to her conversation. Thankfully this one only lasted about 5 minutes and I even got to stay in the room and feel awkward the whole time.

When she hung up she explained that it was a patient requesting a house call then muttered something about the receptionists not knowing what they were doing.

She smiled. "Is that us then?"

"Um, no, I was about to ask you about hayfever medication." I explained about how bad it'd been over the last couple of weeks.

"Oh right, well what have you been taking?"

She took notes as I listed off all the brands I'd tried over the years. I asked about the steriod injection.

"Oh no no no, I dont like to prescribe that. Too many side effects."

"Yeh, I figured, but just thought I'd ask about it. Is there anything else then, cause it's driving me nuts and I cant be spending every other day dyin' in bed with it?"

I started to tell her how bad it was when I was in school and how it's affecting my work now. "...see if there's a wedding and I'm having to take photo's outside, like in a park or something, and my eyes are streaming and my nose is runny...."

"Do you wear sunglasses?"

"Well yes, if I'm outside and not at work, but I cant if I'm using a camera. I need to be able to see clearly."

"My advice is just to wear sunglasses."

"Yes, but I cant see through the camera if I have sunglasses on."

She sat back into her chair biting on a pen top. A moment of intense thinking later she came up with: "Well to be honest I think the best thing you can do is just stay indoors."

Well, yes. 'Thank you for those profound words of wisdom', I thought. I was ready to stand up and applaud, but I just smiled sweetly at her secretly hoping she'd see the look of sheer contempt behind my eyes. "See..." I took a deep breath, still smiling. "...but I cant do that." There was of course the 'everyday life' aspect of things, but I didnt want to confuse her even more, so I launched into a big speech explaining how weddings, landscapes, sports, and even portraits...are mostlly gonna involve being outside.

"Mmmm..." she said still nibbling on her pen, "...sunglasses are probably your best bet."

Will & Grace

2006-05-19T20:47:00.000+01:00

So, yeh, I was watching a couple of epi's of Will & Grace t'other day...season 7...and now everytime I see a pair of gloves it takes me straight into the middle of this scene...I just cant get the clip outta my head; Jack and Grace have just found Vince (Wills cop boyfriend) in an Organic Grocery being preened by a man other than Will. They automatically think he's cheating on Will so they confront him about it, but it turns out he is now working there and it was his boss they saw fixing his hair.

GRACE: Vince, what's going on?

VINCE: I got fired. I'm not on the force anymore. Remember last week, a guy robbed a department store and the cop accidentally shot the cashier?

JACK: That was you?

VINCE: No, that was my partner. I was busy tryin' on gloves.

[GRACE SIGHS.]

VINCE: Since it was my 63rd citation, and my seventh one involving...you know, gloves...they fired me.

JACK: [TSK TSK] Oh dear, you poor thing. What color were they?

VINCE: Taupe with a chocolate cashmere lining.

GRACE: Ooh, they woulda gone with everything. Well...Will doesn't know?

VINCE: No, I can't...I'm too embarrassed. Look at me. I went from a...from a real gun to a...to a price gun. You know, yesterday I busted some guy shoplifting. All I could two mark him two for a dollar and send him on his way.

GRACE: Why, you woulda shot him?

VINCE: I woulda had the option.

(Full transcript here)

*giggles* ...gloves! =D

Oops I Did It Again!

2006-05-18T15:22:00.000+01:00

Yeh, yeh, yeh...I know, I know. First I tell you how sorry I am that I disappeared from interweb existance and that it will never happen again...then straight away I vanish again without a trace. *slaps wrist* Bad Joanne, Bad!

*sigh* Millions of connection problems, 27 dvd's of backed up work, one (almost) major computer catastrophy and a newly re-formatted hard drive later, and here I am. Back once again for your blog reading pleasure. Or whatever.

So the Playoffs then. Yeh, well, it feels a bit pointless doing a whole big write-up (a la last year - post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4, post 5, post 6) on something that now feels so long ago, so I'll keep it short...er...ish.

It was about a month ago, I guess, but the off-season always seems to get longer and longer every year. Thank Crunchie for NASN! *stops self from going into an uncontrolled rant of joy that her beloved Oilers have just reached the Western Conference finals for the first time in 14 years* .... *dances* .... *ahem* .... yeh, anyhoo...

So...Nottingham. We went, we saw, we partied our respective asses off. Unfortunately, our team forgot how to play hockey and went out in the semis.

But seeing as we're from Belfast, we managed to find 101 other things to cheer for...here's just a few (hover mouse over photos for captions):

1. The Ref.

Ok, not the ref from our game. The ref from the final - Moray Hanson. Queue us all raising our right hand (clicky for vid) every time he did (clicky for vid) and of course the infamous 'Hands up for Hanson' chant (clicky for vid). Yeh, he loves us. And despite a shaky start when the other teams fans haddn't a clue wot we were doin', by the end of the game half the arena was joining in.

2. The Steelers

Yes, us. Belfast Giants fans supporting the Steelers. (clicky for vid) Who'da thought, eh? Well, it was like this - out of all the other teams who were there, their fans were the most fun this year. They were right beside us in the arena so it was great craic when they suddenly started chanting 'Giants' as we were chanting 'Steelers'. A sight to behold that will probably never ever ever happen again. But I'm glad it did.

3. The Rat

...on the door stewards head. It's kinda hard to make out in the pic, but holy crap that was a bad toupee!

4. Wally

Graeme 'John-boy / Wally' Walton plodding down the arena steps behind me pointing at my ass and telling his mom to look...which worried me slightly until I remembered I was wearing his gamer jersey tied round my waist. *phew* He looked chuffed to bits I was wearing it tho...which was nice. =)

5. Grafitti I tells ya!

Finding a lovely crayon drawing by Panthers player Paul Moran in the middle of Market Square. Awww bless!

6. Making fun of the Panthers cars...again!

7. Lu's Burger

Yes, we can cheer for food too. One of the best Hard Rock Cafes (for food and service) I've been in, is the one in Nottingham. We go there every year cause England has some funny licencing laws that require you to be over the age of 18 to even order food in a bar, and poor miss Shiny Sarah has spent the last few years being turned away at the door for being too ickle. The HRC, being primarily a restaurant, doesn't have this constraint.

So, if you remember last years playoff post, you'll no doubt be able to recall how strange Lu is. Well this years Lu-ism, is "Don't eat your food - Play with it!" (clicky for vid)

8. The Barenaked Ladies

I just like them, so I cheer. Altogether now... *sings* If I had a million dollars.... (clicky for vid)

9. Barstucks

Breakfast coffee.

Lu wasnt there the morning we arrived, but out of respect we steered clear of any velvet seating arrangements.

10. Balloons.

We wondered if this was how BMIbaby were planning on getting us home.

11. Half Built Hotel.

We stayed in the Jurys Inn hotel this year, which by the way was fantastic. No problems with checkin (unlike the hotel last year), no problems with the rooms being ready (unlike the hotel last year), and massive rooms (unlike the hotel last year). The Jurys is Nottinghams newest big hotel, and as such isnt quite finished...the second half is still completely under construction. So aparently my aunt & uncle's room didnt quite have a window yet, and the running gag was that you didnt use the hotel lift to get to it, you just hopped on one of the cranes outside.

...Well...it was funny while everyone was drunk!

12. Lobby Antics

For some reason our taxi to take us to the airport was a little (an hour) late. The reason being becase the hotel receptionist was a little dense (and possibly hung over) that morning, and repeatedly asked us when we'd like that taxi ordered. Every time we said "Umm, now please" she would wait 10mins then ask us again! The time sitting in the lobby was not waisted however...Bill put it to good use by blattering poor Fish repeatedly over the head with a magazine.

13. Flying Buses

...well, it was an Airbus in mid air. I'm easily amused.

14. Eye Eye Bill

Billinda never letting me get more than the top half of his face in a photo. Damn him!

15. My Swede

My little pet Swede 'Raxy' who as well as wearing his fetching new collar with pride all weekend, manage to freak Lu out completely by proposing marriage to her outside the Bunkers Inn. She's only met him twice!

16. The Toilet Singer

Ok, so I thankfully didnt see this one first hand, but there was a dude in the mens restrooms in a fantastic gothic stylee bar called The Pit & The Pendulum, handing out paper towels and dancing around ragga-singing about how "hygiene is top banana". Quote of the weekend had to go to Raj's dad, Nigel, who walked up to Matt deadpan and said "Here's a pound, go and see the toilet singer" lol...still makes me giggle!

17. Alcohol

Ahh the Berry Juice effect:

If you aren't quite aware of what this is, I shall refer you to last years post, but lets just say it heals a lot of wounds!

The was lots of cheering for this...or should I say because of it! I'll end this completely belated post with a vid of everyone in The Bunkers Inn singing their drunken rendition of 'I Am The Music Man'.

(**The videos located on youtube.com are best viewed at the smallest size**)

What The Hell Is Wrong With Me???

2006-04-20T12:36:00.000+01:00

I haven't posted in aaaaaages! Infact I've barely been online at all these past few weeks.

This is for a number of reasons; Partially because I've been jetsetting around the country to such wonderfully glorious locations as Nottingham, Dublin and the breathtaking Queens Island *cough* ...but mainly because the interweb company Tiscali are all bastards and my connection wont stay on for longer than 15minutes at a time, with large gaps of 3 to 5 hour periods where my poor little router sits on my windowsill and flashes it's poor little LED heart out trying to reconnect. Oh yeah, and they've been overcharging us for (at the very least) the last few months by a tenner each month and refuse refund what they lawfully owe us!!! I want to kill them all. Err...I wont. But I still want to. Damn conscience!

Anyhoo...there will be a good few updates to come in the next few days...connection willing of course. The Playoff finals were two weekends ago; Lots of photos and vid's to come for that. Then we have our easter frolics to Dublin and beyond. Even Steve O'Brian enjoyed that trip, tho we must remember to let him out of the trunk of the car next time...he makes such an awful mess.

Hopefully I'll get to catch up with everyones blog's & Lj's very soon, but for the meantime I'll leave you with a photo I took of Theo Fleury from the Monteith Bowl presentation a few weeks back.

Catch yis later!
xx jo

Ps. Just what on earth were the BBC thinking taking Monk off and replacing it with Murder She Wrote???

**please note: in the time it took me to type this post the connection cut off [3] time/s.**

mmpphhff

2006-03-31T00:33:00.000+01:00

I need to go to the gym. I feel like such a pie. =(

...AND I've just watched "Day 5: 9:00PM - 10:00PM" Episode #515 of 24, and I CANT TAKE IT ANY MORE!!!!! The stress is killing me =/ The last few episodes have been the most shocking (to my system anyways) EVER! And now THIS as a cliffhanger?!? Just what are they trying to do to me?!!!!?

Baaaaahhhh!!!!! I need to lie down!! =/

It's a Jungle Out There!

2006-03-29T16:42:00.000+01:00

Did you know that the official name for my phobia of moths is 'Mottephobia'?

That I also have 'Kakorrhaphiophobia' and 'Mycophobia'?

That Matt has 'Spheksophobia' and 'Sitophobia' (in particular 'Lachanophobia')?

Or that 'Alektorophobia' is in fact a fear of chickens?

Well, neither did I until I had a nosey around the official Monk site (...which is also where I discovered that Lieutenant Randy Disher has a band *ahem*)

*happy sigh*

I heart Monk. It makes lunch worth eating and brightens up my day just that little bit extra =)

...Oh, and incidentally, my favourite phobia name ever is 'Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia'.
It means 'A fear of long words' =D

....Right! I'm off before the old Logizomechanophobia kicks in!

Jo xx

An Evening Of Alan Rickmanaka: The AR Squeefest

2006-03-24T15:40:00.000Z

So last Saturday we had our 80's movie extravaganza. Maaan, reminiscing flashbacks and squeeing galore!

We watched:

A Fish Called Wanda
K-9
Short Circuit
Flight Of The Navagator (...which I had forgotten about when I did the list, but we found in a box set with Short Circuit)
and Groundhog Day

...we had meant to end the night with a screening of Die Hard as the evenings main feature, but unfortunately time just got the better of us.

This, however, wasn't a bad thing; as it then led on to chatting about 'the original action hero' ...then 'the original movie villan' ...then a discussion about it being AR's first movie ...then a recollection of other great AR movies ...then Raj declaring he ~~was besotted with~~ er, wanted to be Col Brandon from Sense & Sensibility. Sarah then managed to shock us once more, with the revelation that she hadn't seen this either! We both looked at her like she had 6 heads.

Hadn't seen Sense & Sensibility? Hadn't seen Die Hard? ...further investagation uncovered she hadn't seen Love Actually either. Just then her oddity spawned an idea; We were to have 'An Evening Of Alan Rickman', later to become better known as 'The AR Squeefest'.

So last night we gathered on the big comfy sofas in Shinys sunroom, floor strewn with snacks, dips and drinks, and settled down to watch the first of our AR movies, Sense & Sensability. Much giggling ensued as Matt once again tried to emulate the voice. It wasn't working lol! =) You know, it's funny; I must have seen this movie a million times, but it never gets old. And as much as I adore it, I'm still convinced the majority of squeeing came from Raj!

By the time the ending credits rolled, it became apparent our late start had meant that once again we were gonna have to cut a movie from the evening's list. An overwhelming consensus decided we would watch Die Hard; Love Actually would just have to be sneaked in during the second part of our 80's movie fest this coming Saturday.

I hadn't quite realised, but I probably hadn't watched Die Hard in full for about 10 years. I had started to watch it in bed a few weeks ago, but it was late and a fell asleep about 20mins into it.

The other major thing that came to light was how much of the movie ITV aways cut out. There was so much of it I had forgotten due to their incessant editing. It was fantastic to see it all there in it's original un-cut glory. All the little things that I didn't quite remember making me giggle: like the FBI guy pricking himself on a hedge outside, or Hans humming Beethovan's Ode To Joy to himself in the lift; a piece which was cleverly reprised throughout the rest of the movie.

*happy sigh*

Matt had bought the 2 disk special edition DVD especially for this occasion, so even though it was almost half past midnight, we somehow managed to force ourselves to squeeze in watching the outtakes from disk 2 for a final giggle before we all went our separate ways.

=) Here's looking forward to Saturday!

Jo xx

Die Hard Trivia

Happy Bathday!

2006-03-22T14:41:00.000Z

So, today I gave Tyson a bath...

...and on a completely separate note -

Stuff 'n' Shiny Things is 1 year old today! =)

The Hallway Session

2006-03-20T11:27:00.000Z

¡Hola! ¿Buenas días?

...yes, yes, I know I've been bad and I'm way behind with my updates. But hopefully, you should see my Edinburgh travelogue and Awards Dinner posts popping up very shortly...just as soon as I get a chance to finish them!

For now tho, I thought I'd share some of my latest photies.

I've been very aware lately that my portrait folio has been a little lacking of late. It's been a while since anything's been added, so yesterday I did a bit of an impromptu shoot with Matt.

(click thumbnail for full image)

2006-03-17T12:54:00.000Z

Happy St. Paddy's Day Everyone! =)

Belfast Giants Awards Dinner

2006-03-14T02:43:00.000Z

"Todd Kelman is NOT a sellout!"

Those were the words that rang out across the function room of the La Mon Hotel as Belfast Giants defenseman Todd 'The Killer' Kelman took a swig from his 'refreshingly light, cool & crisp' Coors beer bottle which was kindly handed to him from the general manager of Charles Hurst Used Direct, 'the best used motors in town'. But Todd Kelman is NOT a sellout. So he says anyway...

It must have been about 20 to 8 when we pulled up outside the hotel and made the mad 'nooo I just washed my hair' dash through the rain into the foyer. The place was already buzzing with movement. Players, fans, sponsors and team staff - all dressed to impressed; the girls carefully scrutinizing every aspect of their ~~adversarys~~ peers outfit, whilst the guys spread the word that the bar was open. Sarah and I waited in the hallway until Matt parked the car.

The main room was already packed when we made our way to table 34.

Number 34 is Goalie, Mike 'Mini' Minard's shirt number, and indeed tonight, his table number.He arrived in just after us with his wife, Christine. It was so nice to finally meet her properly. Already seated around our table were Wrighty & Elizabeth, and the Cardwells: Nigel, Kathy &amp;amp;amp; Raj. It was so nice to see everyone all dressed up...for once not in hockey jerseys!

The evening began with a great meal...but that was just for starters. The main course was to be served up by our regular MC, Mr Todd Kelman. Every year he manages to top his last performance as awards night host...and every year his stage entrance somehow seems to top itself.

The Lights go down, the doors swing open, and in growls a 50cc ~~hog~~ scooter with Todd in the saddle dressed as a ~~porn star~~...er...Hells Angel; Monteith Bowl stuffed in a leather satchel slung over one shoulder. Yes, he dropped (and dented) it again, and no, I have no idea what was goin on in the mustache department, but both he and the Bowl sure were a sight to behold!

He was a fantastic host, and this seasons award winners were:

Players' Player of the Year - Mike Minard (*squees* go Mini!)
Best Forward - George Awada (dance George, dance!)
Best Defenceman - Todd Kelman (...and he even stood in the way of his OWN video!)
Best British Player - Colin Shields (...but...but...who stole that lovely Scottish accent and made him look like David Spade? huh?)
Kids' MVP - Mike Minard (I hear he plays a dynamite Santa)
Unsung Hero - Jason "Taff" Ellery, team Equipment Manager (...and all round squishy guy! awww he was so embarrassed *squee!*)
Favourite Non-Giant - Tony "Toe Knee" Hand (last years coach)
Puck Bunny Award - Todd Kelman (who else? will his reign of terror never cease?!)
Coach's Player of the Year - George Awada & Mike Minard (at this point, obviously drunk from excitement *cough* Mini literally swept George off his feet and carried him up on stage...possibly a little too comfortably...)
MVP - Theo Fleury (like it could have been anyone else!)

...but the highlight of the evening, without a doubt had to be Killer's poem*.

*disclaimer - This transcript is just a rough guess at what might have been said by a smart arsed Giant / porn star / Hell's Angel, or someone posing as a smart arsed Giant / porn star / Hell's Angel, if he or she had made a speech to the leagues 'unsuccessful challengers' that evening, and there is no hard, clear evidence to support this nasty rumour whatsoever...

*cough*

*smirk* ...Maaan, I love that totally randomly suggested poem that never actually really even existed, and certainly wasn't written by a Giant. *happy sigh* =)

Movie Night!

2006-03-10T23:52:00.000Z

So we're planning an 'all day movie extravaganza' up at Shiny's house on St. Paddy’s day. There may well be green beer, shamrocks and shillelaghs...but...umm...yeh, it'll be mostly movies.

Anyways, as Little Miss Shiny is just about to turn 18, there are many many great movies that were before her time. Films which left unseen would leave a whopping great hole in anyone’s life...

...well...a possible exaggeration, but still. Must-see movies.

Matt and myself spent about an hour compiling a list, which ended up, like, 3 pages long, so we had to restrict ourselves to just 80's must see movies...um, which ever so slightly turned into 80's/very early 90's must see movies...but still, it's a much much much shorter list.

What your job as a reader is, to choose your 'top 5' and your 'secondary 5' from the list and add any suggestions that I might have forgotten (1980 - 1994 only please). Each of your 'top 5' will get 2 points, and your 'secondary 5' will get 1 point. I will mark votes beside each of the movies as they come in. We will then watch the overall top 5 movies chosen during our St. Paddy's Day movie extravaganza.

Now I'm aware that Sarah will have more than likely already seen a few of these, especially the 90's era ones, so if she wishes, she can let me know and they will be eliminated from the final list.

Here goes:

1980	1982
The Blues Brothers 6 Private Benjamin Caddyshack The Shining	ET 2 Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid 3 Tootsie 2
1983	1984
Trading Places 7 The Man with Two Brains 4 National Lampoons Vacation	Ghost Busters 1 Splash The Terminator Gremlins 1 Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom 3 Beverly Hills Cop Police Academy
1985	1986
Back to the Future Teen Wolf 1 Brewsters Millions Cocoon 1 Spies Like Us Santa Claus The Movie Brazil 2	Short Circuit 8 Labyrinth 4 Jumpin' Jack Flash 5 Platoon 1 ¡Three Amigos! 2 The Money Pit Wildcats Ferris Bueller's Day Off 1 Aliens 2 Ruthless People The Golden Child The Fly Crocodile Dundee
1987	1988
The Secret of My Succe$s Planes, Trains & Automobiles Dragnet 5 Roxanne 3 Dirty Dancing The Lost Boys 1 Mannequin Throw Momma From The Train Spaceballs 4 Predator 1 Batteries Not Included 1 Lethal Weapon	Big 6 Die Hard 10 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 6 Child's Play A Fish Called Wanda 8 Scrooged Twins Big Business Coming to America The Naked Gun 1
1989	1990
The `burbs K-9 8 Parenthood 1 Uncle Buck See No Evil, Hear No Evil 1 Turner & Hooch Troop Beverly Hills Bill & Ted 1 The Abyss Beetlejuice 4 The Dream Team Fletch Lives	Ghost Taking Care of Business Bird On A Wire Mr. Destiny 1 Navy Seals Flatliners Kindergarten Cop 1 Tremors
1991	1992
The Hard Way Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves 4 Point Break 1 Curly Sue Doc Hollywood	The Hand That Rocks The Cradle HouseSitter
1993	1994
Coneheads 3 Groundhog Day 6	Serial Mom Airheads 1 Speed True Lies Trapped in Paradise

Right! Get to it! Go vote! =)

Treacle's Tale

2006-03-07T00:20:00.000Z

Ok, it's after midnight and I should have been in bed an hour ago, but instead I'm covered in cat hair and dyin' to tell you a story...

About 3 years ago I was adopted by a gorgeous little female cat who we later found out had been thrown out of her home across the street from us when her owners discovered she was pregnant. We named her Kitty, a la Monsters Inc.

She settled in our landing, on a nice warm radiator bed by the window, and then gradually entrusted us with the care of her two kittens, who we named Toffee & Treacle - for pretty obvious coulouring reasons!

Kitty was a sweetheart. A real house-cat, and although she regularly sneaked into the livingroom to stare out my cockatiel, she never once mounted an attack. Much to the relief of my bird!

Her kittens however, being that they were born feral, weren't so sure about the whole being indoors thing.

Toffee soon adjusted, and started to enjoy both the heat and the attention. But Treacle remained very wary and prefered to sleep outside in the kennel.

We lost Kitty to some idiot joyrider speeding down our street about 2 years ago. Then Toffee vanished the following December without trace. I still believe he found himself a good home elsewhere.

By this time Sylvestor had appeared on the scene and had taken over the house and the puppy babysitting duties. (I wont go into her story again as it's still kinda raw, but you can read the previous post here if you wish.) Treacle, as always, was still freaking out at even the thought of the backdoor closing him inside.

Four days after Syl was lost, our 16 year old dog, Sam, passed away. We were devistated, and our little puppy, Tyson, was distrought. He was all alone for the first night of his life. His best friend Syl and his uncle Sam had left him. He just lay beside his bed and cried.

I couldn't sleep, so I was periodically going downstairs to check on him. He was still crying each time.

At about 3am I noticed Treacle was sitting on our backdoor step. I opened the door to let him in from the cold for a while. It was freezing outside, but as always I left the door open so he wouldnt feel trapped and bolt straight out again. I left the two of them in the kitchen for a couple of minutes while I went to find some warmer clothes, and when I returned found the two of them snuggled up on Tysons blanket, sleeping.

I quietly closed the backdoor, and that was the first night Treacle ever spent inside.

That was December. He has spent every night since then, inside...and most days too! You would never believe that the cat we have snoozing in the conservatory, and running riot chasing Tyson from room to room is the same feral cat that only a few months back was afraid to eat his dinner indoors without an escape hatch and emergency exit route planned well in advance.

And tonight, for the first time, ever...he purred.

He purred! I almost cried. I guess he never really had anything to purr about before. But tonight as I was about to go upstairs to bed, he padded in and started rubbing himself all over me. As I started to scratch him he got closer and closer, even started rolling on the floor beside me to have his belly tickled! He was almost sitting on my knee at one point...almost - but I guess that'll be the next step for him!

I was just amazed. He has changed so much in such a small space of time. Now he's just a big fluffy lump of a spoiled cat...who has finally found his reason to purr =)

*click for full image*

Treacle vs The Toy Mouse:

Get out the Mr Sheen people...

2006-03-05T20:40:00.000Z

Monty's comin home!!!

He couldn't do it for us as the Giant's coach last year, but with the Edinburgh Capitals beating the Newcastle Vipers 5-2 at home tonight, this years Cap's coach Toe Knee Hand finally got his wish of winning the league title for Belfast!

Cheers Tony!!!

Baaahhhhhh!!!!!!! We won the league! We won the League!! *dances* =D *woot*

*sings loudly* cause weeeeeeee are the champions my frieeennnnd.....and weeeeee'll keep on fiiiighting tillll theeee eeeend....cause weeee are the chaaampions....weeeeee are the chaaampions....

sings ...some people stand in the darkness...

2006-03-04T10:01:00.000Z

So last night I was flicking tv channels (bare in mind I was upstairs and only had 4 to choose from) when I landed on some bizzare sci-fi movie starring David Hasselhoff. Further research this morning shows the film to be "Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD" *ahem*

Due to the fact he was wearing an eye patch I felt compelled to watch it.

It was...erm...like a car crash.

Snow Day

2006-02-28T11:48:00.000Z

So it was the topic of conversation over dinner last night, and then we got into Matts car this morning and the little LCD screen in the dash kindly informed us there was "Risk Of Ice" ...

...Yeh, no kidding eh!!

Doodling

2006-02-24T01:52:00.000Z

So I started to doodle earlier.

Not my finest work I admit, but then again, I guess not bad for ten minutes random scrawl either. It looks like a half viable human being, right?

**edit @ 24th Feb 4:05am**

...just then my obsessively compulsive perfectionism kicked in and I couldn't leave it alone.

K...I'm done now I swear. =/

*click thumbnails for full images*

McFrickin' McMorons

2006-02-21T23:53:00.000Z

So we had a vow - Thou Shalt Not Eat junk Food. But we were stuck. There was no food in the house and Tescos had closed for the evening.

It was our own fault really for expecting anything different, but we like to give people the benefit of the doubt once in a while. A secret hope that things will change, that they will get better.

*sigh*

(That was actually our 2nd mistake.)

Picture the scene: Saturday evening, Matt & I starving because we accidentally got distracted and forgot to eat all day. ( hey, it happens! =P ) Anyhoo, so being that every other option had been fully exhausted, we decided to go for the...umm..."easy" option. Thats right folks, good old Mickey D's.

(That, of course, had been our first.)

McDonalds. When you say that name, what does it conjour up in your mind? For me it's 4 things - Untrained monkeys, wrong orders, filthy restrooms, and Disney toys.
Now in all fairness, I'm quite partial to the Disney toys, but the other 3 make me wanna drown the untrained monkeys in their year old chip fat. Harsh? Maybe...but you know if the opportunity arose you'd be only too happy to help.

We pull up at the drive-thru window...

Monkey #1: *in fully millie dialect* "Whaddya want?"

Matt: "Can I get one Big Mac Meal and a plain Double Cheese Burger Meal...that's 'plain' - no dressing, just the cheese please."

Monkey #1: "Aye a'right, whaddyer drinks?"

Matt: "Are your milkshake machines working?"

Monkey #1: "Aye."

Matt: "Great, can we get one chocolate..."

Monkey #2: "oh, wait, der's no chacklat."

Matt: "Ah, right, ok, well can we get two strawberry ones then?"

Monkey #1: "Aye."

*Monkey #1 turns away to ring in the order on the till, then suddenly swings back round to us again*

Monkey #1: "Whaat wuz dat flaver ya wannad again?"

Matt: *looking confused* "Strawberry. Both. Please."

Monkey #1: "Right, 'way on up der t'tha next windie"

*We drive on towards the collection window, and finally arrive at it some 20mins later*

Matt: "Ello."

*Monkey #2 hands us a bag of food*

Monkey #2: "There's no milkshakes, whaddya want ta drink?"

Me: "Could you not have told us that at the last window?"

Monkey #2: "S'brokan. Whaddya want?"

Matt: "It broke in the last couple of minutes did it?"

Monkey#2: "S'gonna coss me five thousan' quid ta get a new'un. Whaddya want?"

Me: "Well, I'm sure McDonalds can afford a new machine *sigh* Fanta please."

Matt: "Two Fanta's please."

Monkey #2: "Der's no faunta. Whaddya want?"

*cue sweet, sweet smiles from us*

Matt: "Well...how bout you tell us what you do have."

Monkey #2: "uuhh...der's Sprite, orange, an' waadder."

Matt: "A Sprite and an orange then."

*while we're waiting I check our order in the bag*

Me: "Umm...they have given us a Double Cheese Burger Meal and a McChicken Sandwich meal *sigh*"

Matt: "We ordered a Big Mac Meal" *hands Monkey #2 the McCardboard Sandwich back*

*she hands us the Big Mac and drinks and we drive home with a distinct look of disdain on our faces*

*We get home and start to re build our disheveled burgers which never look like the one's in the ad's*

Matt: "Oh for fecksake they've given me a dressed burger!"

Me: "Idiots" *lifts the top of my burger bun* "Umm...honey..."

Why yes thats right folks it does get worse - my burger had a bite out of it.
Yes, you did hear me correctly, I said a bite out of it.
A BITE!!!!! Teeth marks an' everything! I mean for fricksake! *rolls eyes*

Anyhoo, I was "prevented" from going down to tear out some throats with the distraction of a milkshake from Burger King, but believe me, photographs and a strong worded letter will be landing on the desk of a McCEO very soon.

(Apologies for the length, I needed a rant. And if you need any millie-speak translated, just ask. I had to learn to speak fluent millie back in the days when I worked in The Moviehouse.)

In need of a spell in detention?

2006-02-16T23:27:00.000Z

Get it? Get it? *goes into Python's 'Nudge Nudge, Wink, Wink' sketch*
Well, no, you probably don't if you're not called Shiny Sarah...and let me assure you - it's really best not to ask.

So, yeh, for some reason I haven't been able to stop giggling wildly at absolutely everything today. Even if it's not really all that funny. I told you I was weird, didn't I?

I think it's probably the direct result of not sleeping for what's now almost 3 months. Yes. That would do it every time i guess. You can only go so long before insanity sets in.

I s'pose it could be worse. I could have been permantly marooned on the island of grumpyness that usually accompanies lack of sleep. Thankfully...that phase sufficiently passed a couple of weeks ago, and for now I've decided to embrace the hysterical laughter that has ensued.
It's much more fun that way.

So, now for a list. A shortened, well edited list, I promise.

Things Wot Made Me Giggle Non-Stop Today.

1. PotterPuffs. Now I know Shiny Sarah showed me these long ago, but I randomly stumbled across the site while I wasnt sleeping, and only now do I fully appreciate their genius.

**click on image for larger view**

2. My convo with Shiny Sarah this afternoon. I shall refrain from detail, due to the "wot goes on in our shiny wee world, stays in our shiny wee world" rule, but I will point out that we now have a 'weirdness competition' due to start during our "We Miss You! *lip wibble* road-trip". Initial plans can be found on Shiny's blog. Refering you to my previous "A British Werewolf in Walmart" post, I'm pretty sure I have a good head start for the win.

3. Watching new Scrubs. Giggles ahoy! Nuff said.

4. Matt using his glass of Fanta to catch the random splodges of rainwater from the torrential downpour, which had bizarrely started to make their way through the conservatory roof and onto his chest as we were watching said epi's of Scrubs. It just made me giggle more.

5. Matt, not content with me crippled on the sofa in a fit laughter, waiting till I was taking a sip of my un-rain-watered-down drink, before he told me to be careful not to giggle while drinking. Guess wot happened.

6. Matts 'Alan Rickman' impression. It sounds nothing like him, and is much more like that dude Kenneth Williams from the Carry-On movies, but it's still hillarious =D

7. Unfortunate Valentines Cards. Yoinked from Shiny's blog, cause it almost made me fall off my chair giggling.

8. Looking through old piccys of "me and my merry band of weirdo's" with Lu, from our old hockey away trips. Yikes they all seem like a lifetime ago.

Here's a few of them to make ya laugh and point...
**click on image for larger view; hover mouse over image for caption**

Anyways, I'll stop now...typing that is, not giggling! =D

Catch y'all later!
xx jo

Moosical Tag

2006-02-15T15:48:00.000Z

It seems I've been tagged by Bill:

The rules: List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

1. Shirt, by Peter Mulvey

2. Lost in You, by The Sugababes ....and yeh, I know I hate them, but I havent been able to stop singing it since I re-watched 'Love Actually' last week... heart that movie =)

3. Beautiful Disaster, by Kelly Clarkson

4. oh, and, Addicted, by Kelly Clarkson ...I'm convinced it should be used in one of the ending montages of an episode of Lost...

5. One Eye Open, by The Brakes

6. The Trouble With Poets, by Peter Mulvey

7. Crush, by Dave Matthews

I Tag: Matt (who hasn't done it yet), blu, bluezzzgirl, Lu, Kaz, and anyone else who feels up to the challange!

Happy Valentines Day everyone =)

2006-02-14T13:04:00.000Z

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking.
It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
I Corinthians 13:4-8

Age does not protect you from love,
but love, to some extent, protects you from age.
- Jeanne Moreau

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

2006-02-13T02:08:00.000Z

Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little! Chicken Little!! =D

It's fun-flippin-tastic! I giggled and squee'd the whole way through...yeh, shocker, I know! lol
Go see it!

xx jo

...oh yeh, and remember...heart the Braff, people, heart the Braff.

Umm...

2006-02-12T02:09:00.000Z

=/ iAttire *blinkblink*

"A British Werewolf in Walmart"starring Alan Rickman.

2006-02-07T00:16:00.000Z

...COMING SOON TO A CINEMA NEAR YOU...

Umm... Normally this is the point where one would attempt to deny the insanity, but no...no, I'm pretty sure I have in fact gone mad.

Ok, well...I'll at least try to explain.

As you all probably know by now, I am once again back in that old cycle of insomnia that seems to plague me on quite a regular basis. I thought I had managed to finally kick it last year, but no. It's back with a vengeance.

So, cutting a long story short, as I hadn't managed to fall asleep before 5am since the beginning of December, I decided to have a girly-relaxie day to see if stress might've been a factor. I spent the early part of the afternoon watching Sense & Sensibility and eating a lovely lunch, then the later part of the afternoon & early evening soaking in our lovely big stand-alone bath for roughly an hour and a half. I hadn't originally meant to spend quite so long in it, but Shiny Sarah had bought me a 'Bath Bar' from Lush which made the water all shiny and bright red. ...and it smelt like cola bottle sweeties! *grin*

Aaaanyhoo, after spending the remainder of the night snuggled up with Matt in front of the telly, I actually managed to fall asleep before 2am. Wow I felt good in the morning. The best I've felt in aaaaages. And I even had time to dream before I had to wake up...

...which leads me to the title of my post.

Thing is, I always dream in movies. Camera angles. The perfect lighting and score. Hollywood would be proud. This years box office blockbuster will most definately be 'A British Werewolf in Walmart'.

...They were everywhere. Running up and down the freezer aisles. Ripping up the bananas, terrorizing the checkout assistants. Then I made friends with one in the breakfast aisle. I had only just started petting it on the nose and feeding it Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, when all of a sudden, Alan Rickman suddenly appeared from the corner of the canned goods section, dressed in his best Colonel Brandon stylee outfit.

Yes. I know. Believe me...I know.

Anyways, I've decided to dedicate this post to Mr Rickman. A fantastic British talent, who turns down movies for theater work, but still has time to star in my head.

So check out my 3 Rickman picks:
(Macromedia Flash Player required to view videos, click HERE to download)

"Stalking Alan Rickman" ( - The funniest thing I've read in a long time)

Turner Movie Classics - Alan Rickman Painting With Light 01/2003

Texas "In Demand"
- music video (...I know, I found it random too!)

Enjoy!
Jo xx

The Dharma Initiative

2006-01-25T16:35:00.000Z

If you've seen any of Lost season 2, you may find this rather freaky!

Eesh...I know I did! *shudder*

(Start by saying 'Hello'...if you dare...*blinkblink* =/ )

http://thedharmainitiative.org

Can I get my shine on?

2006-01-24T18:00:00.000Z

The Word For Today on Urban Dictionary:

1. "get your shine on"

- to unexpectedly exceed the expectations of one's peers in a public setting.
"Get your shine on tonight, Ja'nelle; no one knows you're an amazing dancer because you never get on the floor."

*pout* I want to get my shine on!!

Villan? Moi?

2006-01-23T23:46:00.000Z

...muhahahahahahahaaa....

What Type of Villain are You?

24...

2006-01-22T23:24:00.000Z

...Season 5 = Best thing EVER!!

*cough* That is all.

Stuff 'n' Shiny Things

"I grew up on the street...er...Sesame Street that is..."

meh

Absolute Filth!

The New Sad =(

Updates Shmupdates!

Everything Old is New Again...

GTV is back!

Inner Diablogue

Inner Diablogue

Excuse me doctor I'm bluescreening, would you mind restarting me?

RE: George at Asda

Geeoooorge...at Asda... Episode Two

Camelot! ...it's only a model =(

GTV

Meh

Geeoooorge...at Asda...

Inner Diablogue

Awesomeness!

Inner Diablogue

The Shiny Side of Life

Don't Give Up The Day Job

Inner Diablogue

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

I forgot to mention...

Anyone Got The My Time?

Inner Diablogue

GTV in Fundalk

Latest Giants TV

New GTV

Mmpphh...

New Giants TV

Once Upon a Time...

One More Sleep Till Hockey!!!

Hockey's Back in Belfast Agaaain!

Meh

Which Canadian band do you belong in?

I'm bored...

Mat Kearney & Tyler Burkum

Hmmm...

Birthday Blues

Barenaked Ladies in Dublin

Play-Offs

*bounces*

Warner Bros...The Lost Boys Plot

My, My, My, It's a Beautiful World =)

Whats That Coming Over the Hill......Is It An Update? ...Is It An Updaaaaate?

Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

The Shiny Stars

Poopid BBC

Gettin' Older

I Should Be Working But...

Halloween "Party"

Bah!

Gary & Lyndsey

Peter Mulvey

I have the cold =( *sniffle*

Things That Make Me Smile - Part II

My bad.

I have new hair! =D

Things That Make Me Smile - Part I

3 Days to Go!!!

=(

Steve Irwin

Somewhere over the rainbow

An Apology...

Journey South

Mmmmmm Pie...

And back to Edmonton we go... =D

Blogpatrol

Went to see the X-Men...

I Heart Monk...So I Made Avvys!

You Doctor, Me Patient!

Will & Grace

Oops I Did It Again!

What The Hell Is Wrong With Me???

*mmpphhff*

It's a Jungle Out There!

An Evening Of Alan Rickmanaka: The AR Squeefest

bounces

I have the cold =( sniffle

mmpphhff

sings ...some people stand in the darkness...

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee