19 Mar 2006
Time for a change don't you think?
Well, I do and it's my blog so there. Now do yourself a huge favour and follow the following link to The All New Machinations of a Dibbie Mind at http://www.dibbie.com/weblog
dibbie 19 Mar 2006
0 comments made Post/View
Comments
15 Mar 2006
I've looked it up and I now know what a "computer" is and also what "the internet" is. I will use this information wisely in future interviews.
The applications are complete and sent and contain terms like "concise and coherent" and "vital and dynamic" and they both apply to me... Yes they do!
Thankfully nobody seems to have noticed that I had spectacularly failed to fix my gallery last night even though I claimed that I had. I spent a feverish couple of hours last night beavering away before giving up and starting again this morning. The result is a fully working but demonically bland gallery.
Right, moff to watch telly and contemplate the state of the world of IT...
..."Computers" indeed, next thing you know they'll be giving women the vote!
Later
Dibs
dibbie 15 Mar 2006
0 comments made Post/View
Comments
15 Mar 2006
It's like being a student again...
I have application forms to fill but I am desperately not doing them! I am trying my hardest but there are so many other things I can find to do instead... You may notice that the smileys are working again as is the gallery! My mp3 collection has never looked so well tagged and I have even gone so far as to edit away unwanted bits of noise or delay! Sad I know
I had a job interview last Thursday and I'm pretty sure I screwed it up. I can't go into detail as yet because I haven't heard the decision yet - lets just say I made myself sound stupidly untechnical
Anyway, I can hear my bed calling me so I'm off.
Later
Dibs
dibbie 15 Mar 2006
0 comments made Post/View
Comments
06 Mar 2006
It was Oscars night last night so I want to congratulate the cast and crew of "Brokeback Mountain: Crouching Cowboy, Hidden Sausage" for making a film worthy of the title of "Oscar Winner*"**
Anyway...
"Holy ducking shiv - they played Kashmir! Holy ducking shiv - Kashmir is recognised by predictive text (but predictive isn't)"
What could possible have prompted this predicive-text-based rubbish? Well:
I was moving to musical Birmingham from the culture-lite(c) atmosphere of Swansea so the most sensible thing to do would be to look up local events. On top of the list (along with an advert for Depeche Mode - Sarah doesn't like them so I probably won't be going) was Jethro Tull who were set to play Birmingham Symphony Hall. I have been a huge Jethro Tull fan for as long as I can remember and I have been lucky enough to be around people who appreciate them as much as I do (if not more in some cases). Not only did they help to shape my interest in music, they were also the soundtrack to the caravan years and will always find a very special place in my heart. So I jumped on to the internet only to find that there were no tickets left! Not a one! Except for ebay but they were too expensive. I was upset but I survived - I've seen them before but it would have been nice for Sarah - they were going to do the whole Aqualung album after all. And that is where the story should have ended but...
Symphony hall is a palacial venue in the middle of the International Conference Centre just a stone's throw from the city centre. It's too lovely for the likes of me and a couple of thousand other like-minded aging (and, as Tull have been around since the late 60's I MEAN aging) greasers but it was the chosen venue and you can't argue with the band! Due to it's proximity to the places that I have needed to be for the last few weeks I tried on a few occassions to coax any spare tickets out of the staff of the box office with no great success so I gave up - this simply was not meant to be. Ah well, you can't win 'em all.
I was set to meet Sarah after work (she is working as a temp in various Birmingham locations) and having spent the morning sorting out my CV and generally working out how to find gainful employment I decided a shower would be in order. It was lovely too - one of those where the temperature is just right so you settle in for a luxurious half-hour or so. I was suddenly disturbed from this luxury by my mobile phone and the kerfuffle that it sparked. In all honesty I didn't hear my phone and would have left it to go to voicemail but Sarah's Mum is a little more concerned that phones get answered than I am and, not being overly au fait with modern telecommunications, handed it to Sarah's brother. He was able to determine that it was Sarah calling urgently. To my mind it couldn't have been that urgent - I was going to see her soon - so I finished my shower, grabbed an ill-fitting towel or two and picked up the message. How wrong can one person be? This was URGENT...
"Dibs! There are tickets! I don't know what to do! Call me NOW!"
The next series of events was a bit of a blur but here is what I remember:
I was clad only in the aforementioned towels running around the house like a madman. Sarah's Mum and her friend Beryl were trying to have a civilised conversation about the location of Dudley and I was desperately trying maintain my modesty whilst calling the ICC box office and simultaneously trying to buy tickets over the interweb (my call was very important to them but there is no waiting on the internet). I finally managed to get through to a lovely fella who told me to stop trying the internet because it is thick and won't give us the best seats despite being told that it should! He then tried to give me seats further back in the theatre than the computer had! After a little bit of haggling he came up with two plum seats which weren't too close to the speakers and weren't too far from the stage - brilliant, I snapped 'em up.
By this time my phone had rung itself into a technological stupor with both Sarah and my voicemail trying to contact me!*** It turned out that Sarah had been desperately trying to reach me to tell me she had tickets reserved but had not bought them yet - she just needed me to say yes! JOB DONE - brilliant!
Somewhere around this point I left damp towels on Sarah's bed and this eventually led to an argument that nearly resulted in a trial seperation! I apologised eventually and now we are happy again.
Words cannot describe the gig so I won't try except to say that there were a couple of surprises:
They had a young violin player called Lucia Micarelli who added a whole new dimention to the set and they played a lot more classical numbers than I am used to.
They played Led Zeppelin's Kashmir!! It turns out that Miss Micarelli is a fan of classic rock and has composed her own arrangement - it was amazing.
The good news is that Sarah, having had real misgivings once she saw the age and sex of the majority of the audience (50+, male), really enjoyed herself. I have even seen her listening to Tull of her own accord on her mp3 player.***
Travelling on the train to and from Brum is never short of interesting - you generally see fair-dodgers being thrown off during the day to the tune of their own mindbending excuses - but night time travels are about the weirdest thing you can do sitting down. You are pretty much guaranteed some pisshead muttering to him/herself and just on the verge of going nuts but you are also pretty much guaranteed one or two of these:
These are the most annoying things in the world! You know crazy frog? He is far less annoying than these little bastards. The reason? Well, when I was a young lad experimenting with drugs and mischief I did it quietly so as to avoid any kind of arrest or violence. I would never disclose the name of my dealer for fear of recriminations/not having a dealer anymore. If I had any drugs on my person they were as sacred as my "person" and would not be flashed about in public. This doesn't apply to these morons though. After just a scant few seconds of them entering the train I knew where I could score some Valium (their weapon of choice) and I knew that they were happy to lie about the drugs that they had pretended to be injected for "oooh sometime now". Seriously guys, just get on the train, shut up (or talk about normal stuff quietly) and start talking again when you get off!! I don't object to you commenting on the news in a self-important manner - I do that too - but if you're going to break the law try not to be a twat about it!
That'll do pig, that'll do.
I'll pour a cup to you my Darling/Raise it up/Say Cheerio
Dibs
*A new definition of this term has been submitted to urbandictionary.com and will hopefully appear soon.
**Ok, Crash won but the point still stands.
*** There was a brilliant message left on the landline which said something along the lines of "What are you doing on the phone when I need to speak to you right now? GET OFF THE PHONE!!!!"
dibbie 06 Mar 2006
4 comments made Post/View
Comments
27 Feb 2006
Broadband woo!!!
More later
Dibs
dibbie 27 Feb 2006
0 comments made Post/View
Comments