The Blog of Lone

It's been slow on here for a while now, too quiet for my tastes.  But on the Other Blog, there's been a sudden flurry of activity, a positive downpour of fiction and a growing puddle of poetry.  So check it out if you like, the link's at the top.

In other news: I went out for a beer, and came back with a 2nd job.  Good stuff.  I've also made the decision, and am going to do a month's course in London so I can teach English to foreign peoples.  Feels like a weight off my mind.

It's been quiet, far too quiet, this week in Blogland.  The last bus has stopped, they haven't yet built the train, and the only bicycle has a puncture.  No one comes to visit.
Tumble weeds roll across the unvisited Blog, dark clouds gather ominously on the horizon, empty comment boxes bang together in the forsaken wind, and quietly, in a corner, Lone cries.


As it has been a lonely week for the Blog, so it has been for Lone's life.  Very dull week, nothing special, few days of serving grannies tea at work, and one evening at the Caxton pub quiz.

So amidst all this doom and gloom and loneliness and 'why the hell do we bother?', I thought I'd inject a little love into the situation.

Here's a few links to some of the stuff I look at to cheer me up when I'm down.

Only some motivational posters of my favourite man ever....Hunter S. Thompson
Everyone loves hobos, especially when they have a sense of humour and you have no conscience.
And here's some Banksy, because we all like to pretend we're cultured.
This right here is a cool site:Environmental Graffiti, personally I love the idea of making reverse graffiti by cleaning a picture onto a filthy urban wall.

Well, that's cheered me up enough to crawl out from under my bed.  Please leave some love in the comments.  At the moment it's all a little post apocalyptic, last man on earth, is anyone else still alive? HELLO?!?, at the Blog.

Hello my lovely little Blog monkeys, I trust you are all keeping well?

Have had a busy week, what with diving in and out of London, painting everything in sight, and keeping (or, more accurately, getting) fit.  Was down the gym and then went for a swim yesterday.  Very tiring if a little relaxing.  Gave me some time to think, and I really need it at the moment.

So, I'm desperate for a job, as you probably will have noticed.  On Thursday I went down to London for an interview for a recruitment agency.  Now, I've done plenty of these in the past, but this one was a little special.  The main part of it was a video interview in a little sound proof booth, which they will then send off to interested clients.  Personally, I'm not sure whether seeing my ugly mug will put people off or not, but it's worth a shot I guess.

The other news is that the job in Saudi Arabia, the one job from the Guardian Job Fair, has got back to me; and they want me!  Now I've been looking for work for months, and am getting fairly desperate, but just how desperate is now a crucial question.

The job looks amazing.  Good pay, no tax, free accommodation, free transport, some free food, free insurance, £250 towards getting the TEFL qualification.
The only drawback is I'm not sure I can live, or, what I'm really trying to say is, survive, out in Saudi Arabia.

This is a country where alcohol is banned, and being drunk will get you flogged in the street.  Dating is a serious crime.  Cinema is banned.  Adultery will get your hand chopped off.  Accidentally killing someone, for instance in a car crash, has the family of the killed deciding your punishment.  Practising any religion other than Islam is a big no no.  Sharia law is certainly tough.  Will I be able to survive for 11 months without falling foul of it and losing some vital extremity?
Add on to this the fact that it's bordering on Iraq, and that part of the world isn't exactly too happy with us Brits at the moment, and I've got a tough decision to make.


This is an interactive Blog, so please feel free to chime in with any thoughts, could really do with some advice right now.


Peace

Seeing as the Blog is now internationally world famous and all that, averaging about 5 people a day (who I love by the way!), I thought it was time to shamelessly plug the Other blog.

Shelved Dreams (there's also a link at the top of the Blog homepage) is my little arty vanity project, where you can find most of my writing that's not horribly commercial and sometimes perhaps even slightly entertaining. 

I've recently put the entire mutant beast that was my short novella 'The Diary of a Heretic' up there for all to see.  Feel free to pop over, and indulge your brain.  Use the links on the side of the Other blog, otherwise you'll be reading it all backwards, although this will make only marginally less sense than reading it the conventional way.

Enjoy.

Not a huge cigar, but London, where I've been today.  Called such because, presumably, it's big and being in it for any length of time has the same effect on your lungs as smoking aforementioned huge cigar.

The train journey was expensive and dull as always, but pretty uneventful.  Spent most of it listening to my recently rediscovered mp3 player.  It's amazing what you can dig up from the bottom of your drawers. 

Anyway, the reason I was in London (somewhere I normally avoid, too many people, not enough green), was the Guardian Graduate Job Fair.  I'm looking for a job, there's a fair full of the things, seems to make sense, huh?  <Kenneth Williams voice>Oh, noooo.</Kenneth Williams voice>  That would be far too simple.

It turns out that the Guardian Graduate Job Fair does not in fact offer information and options for a range of jobs.  Of course.  Why would it?  Stupid of me to think so.  Instead, reflecting the current Graduate employment situation, it offers a vast number of universities, colleges, and companies who, if you pay them £6000 for a 3 month course, will add some more capital letters after your name in an educational manner.

Maybe they haven't caught on yet.  Graduates, right, people who have degrees, no money, and no jobs.  Graduates go to a job fair, looking for employment.  Instead they are offered the chance for more education, presumably so they can have even more degrees, even less money, and still no job.  Perfect.

As the astute Conor McNicholas of NME said at one of the presentations, graduates are walking out of university into an "economic shitstorm".  My second favourite quote from him was about the modernisation of journalism, and how all the big companies were "running like buggary to catch up" with the multimedia revolution.  When the people there to give you advice are honest and tell you you're pretty well screwed, then you have problems.

But enough griping I did find one job on offer.  One where they really liked me.  One which I have a very good chance of getting.  One which pays very well.  One which is in Saudi Arabia.  Well, there had to be a catch somewhere.

Actually it seems like a great job, being paid by the Saudi government to teach their people English.  The pay is good, housing, transport and food are all included.  The only draw back is that it's in Saudi Arabia.  A country where you cannot drink alcohol.  Hmm.

Will think on it, will see how the interview for being an exciting Classified Sales Executive goes on Thursday.


Peace out.

So, hello to all you little Blog monkeys out there, I do hope you're all well.

It's come to my notice, that, quite shockingly, people are actually reading the Blog.  In the long history of the Blog (and it's quite long, check out the archives), this is an almost unprecedented event.  I'm at a bit of a loss how to respond to this new development, so instead of trying anything drastic and new, I'll just keep plodding along as always.

It's been a dull week.  The family is away, and I'm home a(L)one.  Well, apart from my dogs that is.  I never quite appreciated how much hard work dogs really are.  Got to wake up at 7am to feed them, got to walk them for an hour later, then feed again in the afternoon, and snacks in the evening.  And around all this my little one, who is epileptic, needs his tablets at certain set times each day.  It gets so that you end up working your life around the dogs, rather than them living around you.  But they are great company and good for the soul.

The only real excitement this week has been a day and evening in town with my brother.  We got invited down to the pub he manages for some Xbox action by the landlord.  This may sounds dull to some of you, but seeing as we got to play on a 8 foot by 6 foot cinema screen, it's actually great fun.  Then we gathered some of his kitchen boys and hit the town, eventually ending up back at the landlord's flat.  To cut a long story short, one of the guys made the huge error of passing out, and in true immature style, we abused him mightily.  He ended up with a head covered in marmite, with various things stuck to it, house hold objects in his clothes, and chilli peppers in his ears.  Silly, you might say, but great fun.

On the upside this week, I've got quite a bit of work for the weekend.  Add to that the sale of one of my articles for a nice price, and the week may be dull, but at least it's profitable.

The plan for tonight consists mainly of hanging out with my dogs, drinking beer, and watching Mad Max (a film I love).  Isn't life just thrilling?

Thoughts and love going out to Em's lil' cat, who is mightily cute, but not very well.
Wishing  Big Dom and the lads an awesome time on their party in the Peaks.  Really wish I was going, partying, camping, rock climbing and wild excess is right up my street.

Peace out.
x

And, so, once again, I've fallen off the Blog wagon.

Anyone who's been reading for a while, you two know who you are, will know that almost every other post contains an apology for forgetting to write.  Those of you who have followed the Blog over the years will be sympathetic and understanding about my failure as a Blog writer.  Those who aren't, can go to hell.

So... life, eh?

Let's see...

Since last posting: I've had the fellas down for an evening of much entertainment, drink, and giggling in the big ol' countryside.  Top time was had by all I hope.
Have said a sad farewell to the lovely CJ, whom I drink a lot of coffee with after going for charming walks on the beach.  She's left for the sunnier climes of India where she will be working for Mr Bill Gates for another year.  Kent just isn't the same without her.
Have been up to the Motherland, for the weekend for my very good friend Mr Toby's 24th birthday.  We went clubbing to an excellent 90's Night in a club in Islington, London.  Great times and silly dancing was had by all, made some new friends, and saw someone who I thought I'd lost as a friend a long time ago.  Turns out I hadn't, and she's still as lovely as ever.  Train home at 4am was a little surreal, but no more so then being sent up trees the next day on a wager to fetch lost toys in the park.  Mr Daryl (or possibly Squire Dix), you still owe me a pound I believe!

I've also been looking for career jobs, still to no avail.  Even entry level jobs seem to want you to have at least 2 years work experience.  How they expect you to get it I don't know.  If the situation continues much longer I'll either end up pulling out my hair (or beard) or going abroad to teach Johnny foreigner English.

Anyways, that's you Blog monkeys somewhat up to date.  I'll keep working on the Canada posts, didn't realise there were going to be quite so many.

I leave you with these two very deep and meaningful thoughts.

Thought One
Idiots are idiots the world over.  Nationality doesn't make much difference.

Thought Two
Life's full of little things that can make us laugh and brighten up the day.  (You'll have to provide your own translation, those given are a little shaky.)

Peace.