Quote of the week.
Sitting quietly in the green room having a ciggie with the TSM (technical stage manager), the head flyman and one of the crew boys when the SM (stage manager) walks in and says:

"Does anyone know if you can stop a rubber chicken from squeeking"

This is the randomness I have to deal with, Is it any wonder I'm slowly going mad.
- posted by J @ 23:03

 
Why do things always come in threes (or fours)
Okay this is a long one so bare with me.

First of all the answers to your questions:

1, Why have I not been posting?
A, Well this is a long story, Last Friday I went to log on to my FTP to upload Markiss's Gold plaque and after having my password rejected several times I immediately contacted my web host and expert assistance (rob) to find out why, He didn't know.
Neither did his server peeps so we started to try and solve the problem which had become a little worse as I could no longer access my site, my clients site or a friends ftp server nor could I access my webpage, robs or markiss's (still had email and internet access though). So after a lot of mucking about resetting things, restarts, turning things on and off, cmd line fiddling and a remote access by rob* we finally admitted defeat.
So from home I can no longer see my webpage. This as you can imagine is a little annoying for checking up on things, so for this week in the spare time that I have had I have been contacting every the forum I know and spending the best part of an evening on the phone to Edmund to try and work out what the hell is going on.
Last night however following a suggestion from a work colleague did the one thing I haven't tried and plugged the modem directly into my comp, WOHOOO it worked, BOOO its my router. Effectively my router has blocked all FTP access from my machine and vickys, now either the router is shagged or this is some new anti work patch that I didn't know about. The up shot being that I need to buy a new router, ARSE! Oh and my optical mouse has decided to fuck up as well so looks like a new one of them is on the cards.

* Just as a side note if you have never had anyone access your comp by remote access it is a little scary. Watching your cursor move around and things open and close without you touching anything (with windows thought this could be construed as normal behavior) is a little disconcerting, The appearing text is just bizarre to watch.

2, Did I receive my phone back?
A, Yes finally! After a phone call to Palmone to find out what the hell was going on and why I had not been notified it was going to take longer than 7 days (15 when I called) to fix I got an email to tell me that I was not to worry as they had not lost my phone and it was fixed they had just not returned it yet as they had a backlog, Two days later I received my phone, It had been overnighted from Prague.
Well I say my phone, if it is my phone it seems to have grown a new stylus (I kept mine when I sent it off), been cleaned and polished, grown a new sim card tray (kept this too), had the little bit of film they put on screens attached and had the screen protector removed just like a new phone in fact.
It wouldn't be that palm actually lost my phone and sent me a new one would it, No I’m being silly.

3, When is my site going to change and be fiddled with?
A, When I get a new router, were you not reading question 1.

4, How's work?
A, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Basically.
Her is a list of things we have to make by Saturday:
Festoon, 100m with 100 bulbs to go inside fruit for a tree.
Festoon, 20m with 24 bulbs to go around an entrance.
Festoon, 50m with 100 bulbs for a light up fairground style oil sign.
Alladins smoking lamp (already made but has to be remade as the designer changed his mind). Aladins flashing lamp (already been made by me 4 times but the designer keeps changing his mind).
A pair of glowing eyes.
6 ladders (scaff squares with a cross bar to hold lanterns)
2 dollys (wheeled boards to hold lighting stands)
3 high watt single source lamps for the shadow puppets

Things we have to do by Saturday:
Prep all the pyro gear.
Prep all the scrollers (scrolls of different gells are put inside so you have a choice of colours).
Cut all the static colour.
Circuit the plan we have not had yet.

Meanwhile:
I am working on shows.
Covering the studio.
And trying to finish poppys room and the rest of the house before Christmas as my mum is coming.

So I plan to have a nervous breakdown about the 10th of December just in time for my birthday as I currently don'’t have time.

- posted by J @ 22:48

 
Hmmm life you say?
I fav talking point of mine has always been philosophy, I have whiled away many an hour sitting and debating the finer points of "Why are we here" with friends and have come across some interesting points and outlook's along the way but my favorite has to be this one:

"Imagine that our world, our galaxy, our entire universe is actually the size of an atom contained in the finger nail of another life form"

Or this one:

"Look around you now at your surroundings, everything you see is a figment of your imagination. It has all been created for you, Everything outside your sight line does not exist. People, grass, air, trees all of it ceases to exist outside your scope of sight. All the people you talk to, see, touch in the course of a day cease to be when they leave your sight.
But you see it's not just you, it is the same for everyone! We are all figment's of each others imagination and that is what makes it coherent"

Have I lost any of you yet or are you all too confused to leave just now...... No good well I have one last one which I heard today, it is a little meglomaniacal (not sure thats a word but ho hum) but I like it.

"The reason that you cannot prove if god exists or not is because you cannot prove you own existence, We are all gods. We are all in charge of our own destiny, of our own world and the things that happen in it. We each make choices that effect others and can cause wonderful of terrible things to happen. There is no single omnipotent being watching over us because gods cannot be watched over."

As I said a little odd but I found it a rather interesting concept. Anyway nighty night just thought I would share.
- posted by J @ 23:01

 
How British are you?
After reading and article on how people seeking asylum are tested on the knowledge of the UK thought I would set some of the questions here and see how people do.

There will be some soil points awarded but this is mainly a bit of fun so try not to use google for every answer.

1: Which of these areas does the devolved Scottish parliament not have control over?
a: Education
b: Health
c: Foreign policy
d: Agriculture

2: Which two telephone numbers can be used to dial the emergency services?
a: 112
b: 123
c: 555
d: 999

3: Match the patron saint with his national day.
1: St Patrick
2: St George
3: St David
4: St Andrew

a: March 1st
b: March 17th
c: April 23rd
d: November 30th

4: How often are general elections held?
a: At least once every 3 years.
b: At least once every 5 years.
c: At least once every 8 years.
d: At least once every 10 years.

5: What is the minimum period you must be married before you can divorce?
a: 3 months
b: 6 months
c: 1 year
d: 18 months

6: Match the country to the patron saint?
1: England
2: Scotland
3: Wales
4: Northen Ireland

a: St Patrick
b: St George
c: St David
d: St Andrew

7: Match these flags to the country's/county's.
1: A white cross on a black background
2: A red cross on a white background
3: A white X on a blue background
4: A red dragon on a half white, half green background

a: England
b: Wales
c: Scotland
d: Cornwall

8: Which day is celebrated with daffodils?
a: St david's
b: St patrick's
c: St Andrew's
d: St George's

9: In spring do the clocks go...
a: Forwards an hour.
b: Backwards an hour.

Have fun, Some are from the survey and some I have added. Please post your answers in the comments in short form i.e. 1b, 2c etc.

*Update: I have been prompted by Pedantic rob to alter some of the questions, this i have now done. No one else will notice, no one else will care so dont worry about it ;)
- posted by J @ 12:40