I wanted to pay tribute to the portugese footballers, but all i could find was the diving team

Yes i know it's not particularly clever or funny but it had to be the title, in true honour of those portugese players who leapt, jumped and generally flew across the pitch last night. Thank goodness they are out! There must be some justice in this world!

Here are two fantastic clips of the match...(and did you know that Deco's first name is Art?)





Nothing else to say really...thanks to all who commented a number of times yesterday. Today i had the most pointless interview in the world. If there is one thing that really gets to me it is incompetence!! I mean who in their right mind would advertise a job as temporary, read your CV which clearly states your available working dates, and then still proceed to interview you, for a job which turns out to be full time!! Pure insanity and one biiiig waste of time! gggggggrrrroowll

Thought for the Day: If you are going to do something, at least do it well. (thanks Deco!!)

Well this is still nice...

Yes, 100 blogs later, and pigeonboy is still cooing away in the blogging world. It started just 8 days under 7 months ago, on the 16th December 2005, and who knows just how long it will go on for. There has been a thought for they day on all but 4 of the written entries, and NO thought has ever been repeated (Wear sunscreen was indeed part of the title of one early in January, and despite the fact that i have quoted that song 4 times as a thought, i have NEVER used the same line!).

Just thought i'd clear that up. Maybe i ought to collate all my thought for the days...make a book and become rich! lol. Well i have to admit i am suprised that i had the comitment to keep this thing going, and also that people are bothered/bored enough to read it! Well i shall leave you now and go and blow up some balloons or something. Maybe even throw a party. Not sure who to...and i don't want to go and drop it now do i...

Thought for the Day (i saved my fav. til now!!):

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest,
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes,
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest, it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of Kings:
But mercy is above this sceptred sway,
It is enthroned in the hearts of Kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore Jew,
Though Justice be thy plea, consider this,
That in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation:we do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer, doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea
Which if thou follow, this strict Court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the Merchant there

Today is rather unsuprisingly Tuesday

I awoke today, with all expectation that it would be a Wednesday. However, the ever predictable nature of time prevailed and it is only Tuesday. I don't know why i wanted it to be wednesday, in fact Tuesday it seems is a rather exciting day, but something inside me hoped for a wednesday. Well at least tomorrow my wish shall be granted, unless by some strange irony tonight is when time decides to change. I will be most annoyed if tomorrow turns out to be a Thursday. It'd jus be rude really.

Today i have been into town. In the holidays when i have nothing else to do, it seems to be a frequent 'last resort'. I am still open to suggestions of stupid things to do-up until Thursday, when alas i may actually be employed. I will post any reply i get from the LTA following my letter to them regarding their treatment of pigeons.

Right well must dash. I have a lot of nothing to do for the next 2hrs before i go off to Katherine's for the evening. Busy busy eh.

Thought for the Day: Wear sunscreen. If i could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. (no seriously otherwise you will get burnt and look like a lobster-its not pretty!)

Here's another Sunday Morning Call

Yes, although it is indeed monday, i have chosen to base my blog around Oasis' best ever song!

'Slip your shoes on and then out you crawl' thats kind of how i feel right now. Having missed a lot of sleep Saturday night (because i was helping at my old youth group's sleepover) and having been fairly busy yesterday, i am now absolutely knackered. Just to improve things, i was really breathless last night, so could hardly get to sleep. I feel slightly better this morning as i type from my bed, but still quite breathless.

'And in your head do you feel, What you're not supposed to feel' well now there's a story of life. I dunno, jus recently i have been struggling with negative thoughts. Lack of patience towards people, getting easily annoyed and generally being inwardly 'arsey'. I don't know why, maybe it's just because i am tired, or readjusting. Its almost as though at times my evil self takes over my brain temporarily.

'You take what you want, But you won't get it for free' We can't do things with a short term perspective. A short term solution is most often a long term problem, as there are always consequences of what we do 'for ourselves' in the here and now. Sorry if this seems irrelevant, jus wanted to share.

'But it's ok. It's alright' yes indeed with all the predicatability of one of my jokes, life goes on. The sun is shining, and i have a day of glorious nothingness ahead of me. So i shall leave my bed, have a shower, and venture forth into the day! Tada!

Thought for the Day: Slip your shoes on and then out you crawl into a day that couldn't give you more but what for?

One of my parents proudest moments...

So, 22 years later and my parents finally reap the full reward for the effort they have put in. On the same day, their eldest graduates from the University of Durham with a 2:1 MEng and their second eldest finds out they got a 1st in politics and philosophy at the University of York.

So excitemement levels are high. Their first graduation ceremony. My mum hasn't been able to sleep. She is babbling with excitement and keeps laughing almost hystrerically! The whole experience is something new for them. A novelty, a first time, one of the most important moments in their life.

What it is to be first child...Not that i doubt the equality within my family. I am old enough to realise there are no favourites. But it can be hard being the third, and my sister the fourth. Nothing is quite so...exciting...new...novelty. I will be their second durham graduate, they will be used to the cermony, been there done that, and bought the photo.

So what do i conclude from this? Well of course i look to others for support. Of course i aim to make others proud and happy. But as soon as i make that my focus in life, i am doomed to fail. There are only two people i am accountable in my life. Me, and God. I have my own goals, i have my own aims, and i strive towards them with all i am. They are not aims to do better than anyone else, or get one over on anyone. They are signs of me fulfilling my potential and working to the best of my ability. And sometimes (very often) i fail. And when i do, i get straight back up again and keep on going, without even a glance to anyone else. That is how i try to be....

Thought for the Day: 'This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man (Hamlet)

Alas poor Yoghurt

The famous lines from a forthcoming production of Hamlet, set in a fridge. It's called 'Omlette' and features such characters of the culinary kind. Coming to a cinema near you. In other news, today the academic year finally came to a close, with the release of the results. Glad to report that it seems to have been good news in general. Another sign of the next year approaching is the fact that as of tomorrow we will be paying gas and electricity bills, and rent will follow soon!

Today has been a day of strange but pleasant nothingess. I got up for 9:30-extremely early! Because Katherine finished work at 9 and wanted to come round. So then we just spent the whole day doing nothing really. Twas great fun. And now i look forward to an evening of nothing. The nothingness was broken briefly to find out my exact mark breakdown. 81% in the IT & Skills exam-wahoo! though i wouldn't be surprised if they boosted my mark just because i complained (kind of as a silencing method!!)

I have decided that i will officially start taking suggestions of stupid things to do this holiday to pass the time. So come up with suggestions and they shall be done with pic/video proof! Im that bored! Right onto important things!

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hrmm Mr Brightside just came on...*sigh* the memories...

Thought for the Day: He who searches for contentment will never find it

24 is officially the best thing since sliced bread!

In fact no....it was still the best thing before sliced bread. Sliced bread merely created a temporary diversion from the truth. Right, anyway yes 24 is officially the best thing ever! I have just finished watching the las 6 episodes of 24 season 5, which i managed to download when i got back from Uni, though it did take about 3 days! Anyone who has not seen 24, then watch it!! And that includes those still catching up from series 1!

Hrmm, well i shalln't dwell on that for too long, seeing as none of my blog readers are particularly interested in 24! The trut is however that it has been the main occupant of my time today. I took a brief break from watching it t go and meet my school friend Ruth for a coffee. (She's the Cambridge one i have mentioned before). I also went shopping briefly and actually applied for a couple of semi-jobs, though I'm not sure I'll get any of them! Once again i am faced with the dilemna of wantng mone from work, but realising that no work=lots of sleep and laziness!! I guess i shall just have to wait and see what happens. I'd better go and leave my room now and convince my family that i do still exist!! Tara now

Thought for the Day: Success gains worth with failure (suitable perhaps for tomorrow!!)

Either today or yesterday, depending on whether i can be bothered to post later

Well hello there, strange people from distant lands and mythical dimensions. Welcome one and all to the madness of my blog. My blog is in fact now officially ancient having reached it's 93rd post today. What's perhaps more incredible is that so much can be written about so little. So, what fun things have i encountered since the sun last passed this way. Well i had a glorious lie in this morning. I rolled out of bed at 12ish to check on my 24 downloads.

It should be noted that since Saturday afternoon when I got back i have been downloading the remaining 7 episodes. The good news is that over 50hrs later, we are 50.3% done! Wahooo!
I ventured into town earlier in search of the all elusive job. Alas once again it got away. So predicatbly the purpose of today is carried over from yesterday much like a rogue ten, carried over in a basic addition, once all the units have been counted. Anyway i digress.

Hrm well as the edgy silence not too dissimilar to that experienced between two males making conversation descends upon me, and it dawns on me that i have nothing left to say....i shall hence depart to my bed. Goodnight.

Thought for the Day: Jaffa Cake- Cake or Big stick?

So that is that (a.k.a just because i don't cry doesn't mean I'm not upset!)

Today, Thid Floor became no more. Never again will we grace that corridor as residents, this year is well and truly over. But what a year it has been. To try and reminisce would be pointless, as to do the year any justice would take far too much blog space. 1000 posts could not accurately describe the amazing things that we i have done, friends i have made, lessons i have learnt and ways in which I've grown. So instead I'm going to talk about bourbon biscuits...hmmmm yum yum, you've gotta love a good bourbon biscuit.

No seriously, a whole blog on biscuits would be way to crumby, in the same way that a blog about stilton would be overly cheesy and a blog about pistachios would be nuthing exciting to read. I guess (to return to a rather forsaken point) that i am a very different person now to the person i was this time last year. University seems to consist of roughly 10 years 'normal living' experience condensed into one year! So what now? well it is with regret of course that i wave goodbye toThid Floor and slowly unpack for another 3 months, but also a realisation that looking forward, change is not a bad thing. It's a very difficult thing to let go, to step out and embrace change when we are comfortable, but it is through change that we grow, and i strongly believe next yearwill be equally amazing as this last year has been-if very different.

I leave you with two thoughts which personally i think say a lot about our journey through life

The road goes ever on and on,
Down from the door where it began,
Now far ahead the road has gone,
And i must follow if i can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say
-------------------------------------
There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under the Sun.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to rebuild,
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to lose.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak up.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.

Another week, another blog

So there flies by yet another week of the calendar year (that is a human year, as opposed to a dog year). it's strange how we talk about dog yars. i mean what's going on. Do they actually orbit the sun faster than us?? Does Clifford shoot off now and again for an orbit or two of the sun? I know he's big...but not that big. In conclusiont he whole idea of Dog years is silly!

THis week has been great. I haven't done much and maybe that is why it has been great. Who knows...This week promises to be very very busy but also good fun. We have Mildert day amongst other thins to look forward to. It's kinda sad that this is the last week we shall spend together like this-but i am resolved to enjoy every moment of it-down to the last second.

Thought for the day: God grant me the serenity to accept the things i cannot change. courage to change the things i can, and wisdom to know the difference

Angel Delight Part 2

On Friday night i went to the DUS debate on fairtrade versus freetrade. An interesting debate especially as i am a fairtrade maniac as my friends will testify. The freetrade economists spoke only too predictably about how freetrade had lifted people out of poverty how it had 'made everyone richer' and 'given us more choice'. Obviously this man had been living in a sealed box buried 20ft underground for the last 30 years. Richer??More choice?? What a shamefully 1st world opinion. I wanted to shoot the man.

Still i guess he was right about one thing...fairtrade is idealistic. It is, because by nature we don't want to be fair. We don't want to be equal. That's why free and fair cannot co-exist, because people who are free do not choose to be equal! Either there is choice (freedom) or enforced equality (no freedom). It's a tricky one to weigh up. Life is by nature unfair, so why should we try and work against the system to make things fair when we know they never will be?

My brother, whom i have discussed this with many times, would point to socialism as the answer and suggest politics should move towards socialism. But alas i fear that this system relies on perfect, agreed justice and law. And if 'fair' is not achievable then how can justice be? So the situation we are left with is one where justice does not exist-a world where the innocent suffer and the guilty go free. So what's the point in this? Why should we consider trying to work towards these goals? I guess it depends on your reasons for doing so. If you do so just to achieve justice then all is lost, but instead if you decide how you are going to act regardless of the situations around you, then lack of justice towards you should not bother you, and you will already be doing everything possible to try and create a just world for others through your natural actions. I guess it all depends on your perspective.

Angel Delight Part 1

I was stuck for a title for this entry, so i thought i would find a word that summed it up. Bland, slightly weird consistency, nobody's really bothered about it, and yet it continues to exist in large quantities and numerous flavours.

Indeed this entry does exist in two parts!! Yes i have done so much these last few days that i will need two entrys to describe them. That or i'm bored. So today i watched some football and then watched some more football then watched some more football. In between that i had a BBQ which was nice! Yesterday i was in Darlo for the day which was great fun. Basically consisted of going to Emma's house, having lots of nice BBQ food, drinking a lil and sitting round lots all day! Now that's the kind of productive that i like! I like Uni, but sometimes it is nice to escape from the little bubble of Durham and experience real food, sofas and real houses!!! As well as families which are of course very nice too.

On Saturday i watched lots of football, and watched the mildert cricket team play Hatfield in the semi final of the 20-20. I strangely feel as though i had a busy day, though of course in reality i sat and watched cricket, sat and watched football and sat and ate. Not overly productive. I did manage to get spectacularly burnt knees though. No other part of my body-just my knees!
Ah well.

I should also mention that last thursday, MUFF had their first outing in the beginners tournament and won an impressive 2 out of 3 games! Hoorah!

End of Part 1

June has arrived!

And hooray to all the june madness and sunshine. This is the proper first weekend off after exams, and so its parties and bops etc all round. The sun is shining, as it has been for a long time now, and the sky is blue-and i have played a lot of ultimate frisbee. Well not that much-just about 4hrs yesterday-and i now have blisters from wearing uncomfortable shoes for that length of time!

Last night we went into some of the college bars, collecting for bolivian prison children-children whose parents are in prison, and so have to live in prison themselves as their is little social security or services. It's amazing who gives and who doesn't. Well actually it's amazing how stingy people are full stop. Give them a bar and they will spend like there's no tomorrow, ask if they want to give some money to charity and suddenly the free spirit diminishes. So why is it that a group of collar-up, shirts and shoes, gentlemen of castle find it so hard to give?

I should point out it is by no means just the richest, or just people from Castle that don't like to give. Though strangely there is a trend whereby the people with less give more and the people with plenty give a little. Have we totally lost our perspective? Has our cooped up little world of Academia failed to show us the world outside? I understand there are plenty of charities to give to, and so it may be that all those people had already given half their life savings to a different charity-it just seems unlikely from their reactions. Ah well, it's always the way i suppose.

Thought for the Day: It's not how much you can give, it's how much you can keep

Time to spare

Well what to write about. As i type i am revelling in the boredom that comes from having done nothing for the past 2 or so days. That two full hard days of nothingness. It is actually quite tiring! Of course that isn't quite true. I have been keeping myself busy in one way or another, even if the things i am doing do seem rather pointless! So here i am, sat in my room...the sun is shining, and i am inside. Hmm i guess exams aren't quite over yet. bring on the day we can all sit outside and make as much noise as we like.

Last night i watched Brassed Off. It's a fantastic film, and one line stuck in my head. It was the one at the end, where the conducter talks about the fact that if it were seals or whales everyone would be up in arms, but because it was humans in need, no one cared. I think this has a hard hitting truth. How bothered are we about other people? excluding the annual tear jerk of 'Children in Need'. For instance.... ever heard of Fruit of the Loom? No probably not but you wll find their label in any item of stash you buy. so who are they? well they are an ethically awful company who exploit their workers in many countries worldwide. But nice hoodie....

How many times do read apatheticly about different people and couldn't care less. It's worrying how we can numb ourselves against emotion to the extenet that we do not care. Anyways, just a thought or two

Thought for the Day: What's worse-ignorance or apathy?

Alpha Centauri is the closest star to the sun!

So Ha! to whoever it was who recently tried to convince me otherwise...
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/
Not to prove my poiny-just because it's one of my favourite websites. Whenever i need to escape or get a perspective on things i think it can help. And it has a new one each day!

Today is my last exam. wahoooo though i expect peple are fed up of people saying that now. Especially those who have not finished yet. IT&Skills shouldn't cause too many problems and should hopeflly wrap up what has been, bar one, a very satisfactory exam period. I should only have one resit (if any!!) and so things have gone seemingly well.

Tongiht it is planet. Probably gonna be one of the best nights of the year what with the whole end of exams thing and the fact that it is a while since we have all been out properly.

Thought for the day: Ours is the age that is proud of machines that think and suspicious of men who try to.
H Mumford Jones

Things i have learnt in the last few days...

- Balancing After-Eights on your forehead and then getting them into your mouth without using your hands is doable and fun!

-If i were a Disney Princess i would be Belle

-MSN + University network = Hours of annoyance

-The Schroder-Bernstein Theorem. Shame my exam was a week ago.

-Rats can swim

-I.T and skills is a very annoying module

-I have every reason in the world to be happy and thankful

Apparently Z*8 is isomorphic to Z2xZ4

Apparently. But fear not because this trivial piece of knowledge bears no relevance to me anymore! The exam is done and today i bathe in the content which comes having had a hard week of exams. With 4 down and two rather easy ones to go-it's time to wind dow to the summer! Although ironicly having tried to cram my head in vain with all kinds of mathematical and geographical knowledge, im now having problems forgetting it. This may seem unimportant however when you have the same pieces of knowledge floating round and round in your brain, it can ge annoying!

In other news-my door ripped my shirt last night which was very traumatic, and we also went to POS which was relatively empty but good fun! Plans for today involve town, and food! Tara!

Thought for the Day: Do not read beauty magazines they will only make you feel ugly (sunscreen)

If, iff and only if

What if? The inevitable element of regret. It's always there; no matter how content and happy you may be i find there is always room for a a few 'if only's. Still i guess the fear of regret can be a good thing, as we make decisions in the present. Just thinking about it, it reminds me of a poem i once read... 'two roads diverged into a yellow wood'. I think a healthy amount of fear of failure, when put in perspective can be very constructive. Besides if we never experience failure, how will we ever triuly appreciate success?

That all brings me very nicely onto my next word-Iff. This may seem like a typo to many of you, but in fact it means 'if and only if' in maths. And it is maths that i am desperately trying to revise. The distractions of cricket and msn are often proving too much. With my first exam looming on Monday a step up to the next gear is required. However there is also football on this afternoon. Oh dear!

My third if (first in the title) refers to the poem 'If' by Rudyard Kipling. I was reading it again yesterday and it struck me just how true it is. I guess i apsire to many of those 'ifs' but it would take a far better man than me to be able to tick even half of them off. Still we can but try.

oh for all those procrastinators who have not already heard...try searching timocracy on google

Thought for the Day: Ok...what's weird is that while searching for the first poem on the internet, the first page i found, contained two poems, the other one being If! So i think that link shall be my thought for the Day! http://www-personal.umich.edu/~darenber/WORDS2LiveBy.htm

So it begins

We come to it now....the time of reckoning. The drinks have been downed, the glasses cleaned, and the books opened. Yes alas it is true that today it starts. Lastn night was the last proper full on night out before our exams and what a way to go. Planet was phenomenally amazing. Think perhaps it was the best POS i have been to. The cheese room was as ever god, but the added bonus was the trance set downstairs. Barbers Adagio for Strings kicked off the best trance set i have heard since i have been at Uni. I doubt i will ever be able to suffer an R&B session at Studio again. My eyes have been reopened!

So now its head down for the next 3 weeks-in theory. In reality there will still be trips to the bar and other colleges, and the place will by no means be lacking fun-however the examse definitely seem to be looming. With 9 days until the first one, revision needs a bit of a kick start. However i am still in a good modd which is obviously...good. This term has been great so far-long may it continue. I must leave now and revise some more. How dull.

Thought for the Day: Honesty without tact is like jam with no bread.

Long time no speak

Well here is a blog to keep you all going a little bit longer! Life at Uni this term has been good. I have managed to get my head down a bit and do some work-which is all good. This is the last timetabled week, so revision plans are being drawn up as i speak...

Nothing much else to report really. Life goes on in the big wide world much as it has doen this pat year, scarcely aware of the outside world!

Thought for the Day: Say what you mean and mean what you say