Matt Charlton

So here we are, 2009 is upon us – in fact we’re almost through an entire day of 2009.  Which means that there are only 364(ish) sleeps till Christmas, don’t worry – I won’t be counting down properly until December. 

I usually take New Years resolutions with a pinch of salt, I find them to be meaningless and a bit of a fad.  Just the fact that people “can” break them makes them a little pointless.  So instead, I’ve come up with some New Years targets.  Yes, that’ll do for now.  Targets. 

I want to get back on the losing weight wagon, I’ve been off it for some time and the daily trips into Halifax town centre to either Greggs, McDonalds, KFC, Burger King or Sainsburys haven’t done me any good whatsoever.  In fact I’ve put on a lot of weight since I left Hanson – even with the mile and a half brisk walk round trip to town I take every day.  I really want to get back into my old trousers – the ones I’ve had to buy since don’t really fit me at all, they’re far too big, but I’m far too big to fit into my trousers, so that’s that. 

I’m really not in a happy place weight wise at all.  The plan with buying a load of t-shirts from Florida the last time we were there was that some of them didn’t fit me, but I was losing weight so they’d fit me inside a couple of months and give me something to wear.  That didn’t work out as planned and some of the t-shirts that did fit me don’t do so any longer. 

I know I used to use my blog to record food diarys and weight loss updates and things.  I think I’m going to sign up to WW online and use their online tracking system – that’ll let me record my weight and food properly and will also show me snazzy things like a progress chart.  I will of course post updates here, I’m sure at least one or two people will be interested. 

From the look of it, there are no really great deals on Weight Watchers online membership – just a two week trial and then a tenner a month (after they hit you for an initial £40-£50 for your first three months).  Once that’s out of the way, £10 a month isn’t really something I’m going to miss all that much.  We should be good to go – especially seeing as though the mortgage payments are coming down a fiver as of this month (yay for new lower fixed rate deals) and the sofas are paid off in April – thats another £50 a month we didn’t have before. 

Financially we’re not in too bad a place at the moment, jobswise we should both be secure for the foreseeable future – the only concern is the Disney Vacation Club loan which is in USD – with the exchange rate being at it’s lowest in a long, long time I’m paying about £30 a month more than I was when I initially started in May.  Again – it’s not a big deal because we’re okay financially. 

Speaking of Disney, I can now officially say that we’re going back next year!, yay! That’s something to look forward to now

Part of the motivation behind the weight loss is so that I can go on the mummy ride – I couldn’t quite get the test vehicle lap bar down (well I could, but it wouldn’t have been very comfortable for the duration of the ride).  The really cool log flume at IOA was out completely – I couldn’t even get into the sodding log.  I’m not sure just how much weight I can lose in just under 14 months but I’m going to have a good crack at it. 

The experiments with the beard/goatee have now come to an end.  I’m sick to death with people taking the piss and calling it ginger.  You can all fuck off.  I haven’t shaved it off because it’s ginger, I’ve shaved it off because I was subjected to more than enough bullying and piss taking at school for me to be arsed to endure any more of that. 

It’s like the whole PS3/Xbox 360 thing.  People will swear blind that their console is better than yours because that’s what people do.  I’ve got both of them, I know how it is and I can give a balanced opinion about it.  The PS3 is a bag of wank as far as games are concerned.  The Xbox 360 is great for gaming.  The PS3 is great playing Blu Rays.  It might have superior technology powering it but none of it is being used at the moment, with games (fallout 3) looking best on the PC, followed by the 360, followed lastly by the PS3.  Fanboys piss me off.  Unless it’s the film fanboys, thats a great film and worth watching just to see Kristen Bell in a Princess Leia slave outfit.  Awesome.  That’s out soon. 

Also – Yes the iPhone can’t forward texts, nor can it Bluetooth.  Who gives a flying fuck?  Seriously.  It does exactly what I want it to do (apart from being able to forward that text I wanted to last night).  Belittling someone because something they’ve bought isn’t as good as something you have is exactly the same as waving a giant e-penis around.  Nobody gives a shit.  At all. 

So, rant over.  Everybody just play nice with your own toys and don’t rip the piss out of people for no reason.  Or if you are going to rip the piss out of them, do it once, twice maybe, but not persistently all night at three separate family get togethers over the duration of a week.  It gets real old, real fast.

As soon as I stopped this week I came down with something nasty.  I thought it was a cold, it was very flu like – runny nose, achy limbs, didn’t feel like moving around much.  Tuesday, woke up and was much better – in fact all the symptoms had vanished.  Wednesday, I was better still.  Woke up this morning with some fluid on my chest and was very cold.  Spent most of the day feeling dizzy and a little out of it – feel much better now though.  Probably has something to do with having something to eat.  It’s just typical that as soon as I get some time off I get ill. 

Tried some of my humour tonight.  Sue’s mum was looking for the rum, I said “Why is the rum gone?”.  Nobody got it.  I had to retell it to several people before someone picked up on it being a Pirates quote.  Gutted. 

So anyway – targets. 

I’m going to lose weight.  I’m going to join Weight Watchers online and go to the gym in order to help this.  If I can’t go first thing in a morning because Sue is working nights then I’ll go at lunchtime or (god forbid) after work.  I don’t like the gym after work, it fills up with all those people that love themselves.  It’s not too bad in a morning, not sure about lunchtime, but it’d mean eating a sandwich on the fly, running over to the gym, working out, showering and getting back to work inside an hour.  It’s possible I guess. 

At least the personal trainers should leave us alone now.  Arsehole.  If it wasn’t for that incident a few months ago I probably wouldn’t have stopped going.  I know I went a few times after but it’s never been the same. 

I think I’m going to weigh myself on Saturday morning.  Saturday can be my new weigh in day.  I’m also going to start eating cereal for lunch, I’ll also try and make time for a proper breakfast in the morning – even if that means getting up that little bit earlier.  It’s not like I’m that late to bed most nights. 

I’m really looking forward to getting home.  It feels a bit like I’ve been non-stop this last week and a half.  Doesn’t feel like I’ve had any time alone with Sue either – we’ll have to make sure that Sunday is spent watching films curled up on the sofa together (not gouging on chocolate, because chocolate is bad – and pointy). 

Everything will be pointed and counted.  I’m dreading just how many points I’m going to be able to have actually, it’s scary to think that I’ve put weight on and I’m in a worse place than I was the last time I decided to try and lose some weight (probably around this time last year actually).  We were really good up until we went to Florida, we fell off the wagon about the time we got off the plane and never got back on the wagon when we got back. 

This way, when we go to Florida next, I won’t be able to eat half as much food as we did last time (nor will we be purchasing the deluxe dining plan – we had 30+ meal credits left!!)

I’ll post up my weight on Saturday morning.  I guess it’ll be weekly postings after that (the first week’s post will be loss due to water retention obviously)  We’ll see. 

Smaller trousers and smaller t-shirts here we come. 

Bring me that Horizon.

Working this close to Christmas sucks, we’ve still got another day after this one too

Ah well, it’ll soon be here, the beer will flow and it’ll be time for Honey Roast Potatoes (awesome)

Last night, at the Frog Christmas party at Jongleurs, I ate three sprouts. 

In fact, it may have been four sprouts. 

I ate three of my own accord and for some reason, Andy decided it would be a good idea to pick up one of the remaining ones from the serving dish and made me eat it.  The things you do when you’re slightly tipsy :-/

It was a fairly good night, although the company was far better than what was up on stage for the most part.  The warm up act/master of ceremonies – Roger Monkhouse (no relation to Bob I’m told) was fairly pants.  He didn’t really capture the attention of the crowd, his jokes were pretty piss poor – most of the stuff he did involved heckling members of the audience. 

The first proper act, Daliso Chaponda was absolutely fantastic.  I’d pay to see him again.  Delivery was great and he got the whole crowd going.  I believe he could probably carry a whole show on his own. 

Pierre Hollins was up next complete with guitar, again he was very good, had a couple of songs that were impressive and again the delivery was spot on.  Putting the fun back into fundamentalist – awesome.

Roger Monkhouse did bits and pieces in between and he did improve a little bit towards the latter part of the show.  There was a 15 minute interval before the headliner. 

Headliner my arse.

Tom Stade introduced himself as an American having lived in the UK for about 7 years.  Spent about 10 minutes talking about Brits going crazy when a guy sells meat out of the back of a meat van, some more time talking about chavs in Wolverhampton.  A little more time about being married and something about Argos – I’d stopped listening by this point. 

When I’ve been to see comedians before they generally do a little reading up on the local area, they’ll take the piss out of some of the worse-off areas or areas with a reputation.  Talking about Wolverhampton to a crowd in Leeds who were all from Bradford/Halifax/Huddersfield way was a little lost on them to be honest.  Completely disconnected from the crowd. 

Looking around the room, there were a lot of people that were just sat looking at him with an expression of “wha?” – he got a few laughs from the merrier parts of the crowd (the booze was flowing freely by this point)

They should have had Daliso or Pierre on for longer – they were certainly much, much funnier.  It might have also been an idea to get Aisling up on stage, her heckling was much funnier than the comedian (the staff at Jongleurs didn’t think so – they had a word).

I’d probably go back to Jongleurs, to see Daliso or Pierre perform, perhaps some others too.  I’ve always liked stand up comedy – but it’s got to be funny for it to work….

The meal was quite nice.  There was a choice of either melon balls or paté for starter, turkey or nut something or other for main and christmas pudding or cheesecake for dessert. 

Not liking either Paté or melon left me with a predicament for the starter – I decided to go with the melon balls which weren’t bad actually, I’ve figured out that I dislike certain colours of melon more than others.  I had the Turkey (of course) for main and the cheesecake for dessert.  Rather nice. 

The only really annoying thing about the night was that the music in between the acts was played at stupid volumes – it’s the same thing I’ve said before regarding Family parties and such – a conversation I had again with Adam and Andy as we walked back to Leeds station last night.  What made things even worse last night was the music didn’t have a point – as background music it was fine, but as anything else – there was no point, tables took up the entire floor space so there was no room to dance and you couldn’t talk to anyone because they couldn’t hear you.

ATTENTION DJ’S

WHEN AT A PARTY, PEOPLE GENERALLY WANT TO TALK TO EACH OTHER – PLEASE SHOW A LITTLE COMMON SENSE AND KEEP THE VOLUME DOWN UNTIL WE’VE FINISHED EATING AND START DANCING.

Thankyou.

/rant

We came home not long after the comedy (hardy ha) had finished.  If I’d not been relying on Sue for a lift home I might have stayed out longer.  Felt like I missed out on a lot of the company party – the real thing started once the comedy had ended I guess.  I didn’t get to say bye to a lot of people which was also annoying.  It was so rammed in Bar Risa or whatever the hell it was called that it was a case of weave your way through the crowd, say bye to the people you passed and get the hell out of the door. 

I’ll definately be going on future nights out – it’s great to be able to talk to people you don’t have time to talk to at work when you’re all so busy.  It also helps with team bonding and such. 

I’m ready for Christmas now – bring it on.  Just a few more days at work and we’re done.

I’m reliably informed by my “Sleeps till Xmas” app on the iPhone that it is now 11 sleeps till Xmas. 

Most of the shopping is done, need to pick up one or two last presents from town this week.  Work Christmas party on Friday – should be a laugh.  It’s at a comedy club afterall.  Just looked at the comedians that are on, don’t recognise any of their names.  Why should I have heard of any of them?  I guess most of the big names have their own shows and are touring on their own.  What it does mean however is that there could be an up and coming talent on show.  I’m looking forward to it.

They’d best be funny.  And they’d best not take the piss out of the audience.  I mean – if they get heckled then sure – take the hecklers down a peg.  But I’m not taking a Nutty Professor-esc (Eddie Murphy remake) piss take performance.  God help anyone that tries that shit on me.  I can come up with some fairly witty retorts

Been watching Fringe tonight.  Bit of a cross between the X-Files and erm, I was going to say CSI but after watching a couple of them, it’s nothing like CSI.  It’s X-Files for the 21st century, but the lead actress isn’t as hot as Gillian Anderson was in the 90s

Hopefully it’s going to start winding down at work this week.  Most schools should break up on Friday, it “should” mean that the following Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday(Xmas eve) are next to dead.  Been told that next year Support are more than likely going to be working over Xmas (excluding bank hols).  Something I have no problem with at all – so long as we get additional holidays to compensate.  Can’t imagine we’ll get any calls though.  I know from experience with working at a school that Xmas is the only holiday where the building shuts down for the entire holiday.  I guess there could be people working from home….

I’m knackered. 

Hopefully over this holiday I should get the chance to do some single player gaming – Fable 2, Fallout 3, Mercenaries 2 are all crying out for some attention.  Theres also some other games I’m sure I have in my drawer that need a play through. 

Hoping for a decent night’s sleep tonight, a decent week at work, a fairly good weekend and then a decent Xmas and new year.  

I don’t want much do I?

Right then, this strange episode of Fringe about pregnancy terms that last 5 minutes and cutting up people’s gums and cutting out bits of brain is almost finished.  It’ll soon be time for bed. 

G’night

Update on the Rick Astley Campaign from the Facebook group::

????????????????????????????
????????????????????????????

OKAY GUYS HERE IT IS THEN!!!!

HERE IS YOUR CALL TO ARMS…

WE HAVE BETWEEN SUNDAY 14/12/08 to SATURDAY 20/12/80 (23:59) TO GET THIS DONE!

UPDATE your own groups…change the logo again if need be…MESSAGE everyone you know…CHANGE your status (and keep doing it)…LINK this group everywhere…COMMENT on the YouTube videos…go on various forums…HIT the ‘SHARE+’ button loads…COME ON LET’S DO IT!!!!!

Your links to a historical chart placing are thus – ONE PER COMPUTER OR IT WILL NOT COUNT:

7DIGITAL
(Remember to click track#1 ONLY)
http://www.7digital.com/artists/rick-astley/whenever-you-need-somebody/
OR text TRACK to 78789. You will receive a 7digital voucher code – enter this in the voucher area below the basket on this page.

iTUNES
(you’ll need iTunes installed on your computer – click BUY SONG on track#1)
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=255991760&id=255991758&s=143444

PLAY.COM
(tick track#1 in the orange section)
http://www.play.com/Music/MP3-Download-Album/4-/8065711/3-Originals/Product.html

TESCO DIGITAL
(Again, click on track#1)
http://www.tescodigital.com/Store/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?mode=Albums&product=2%3a2900355

TUNETRIBE
(it’s WMA but 49p – BE CAREFUL it’s not the first track?)
http://www.tunetribe.com/product/index.html?id=245580