Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Paul's LiveJournal:

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Friday, January 18th, 2008
10:45 pm	Bah Anyone got a template for a letter of complaint to an airline? I think I need one for BA. The short version is that the outbound flight this morning was cancelled (the reason varies depending on who you ask). however, we now can't find any hard info as to what's happening. Some sources say the flight is rescheduled for 10:30am tomorrow. Others say there is a flight leaving, but that's the standard one which just arrived. BA UK have said yes, this exists; BA Bangalore have been trying to book people on other flights (possibly with other airlines). The words "piss-up" and "brewery" come to mind, and I am Not Happy. ETA: and a third-party website is showing the 7:30am flight departing at 3;15pm. This is really screwed up... (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
11:33 pm	I've been in Bangalore for about a week now, flying back on Friday morning, and I've noticed something that seems a little odd. Most of the people - certainly most of the women - in the adverts on TV, magazines etc. are extremely pale. Almost white, in fact. Given that most of the population of India is, well, not white, this seems a bit strange. On the other hand, I guess a number of people in Europe (certainly in the UK) seem to obsess about having a tan. It's not quite the same thing in reverse though - the bulk of the people in the media aren't hugely tanned, at least not permanently. (I'm excluding the Cuprinol set of David Dickinson, Dale Winton et al for these purposes, since those people aren't *any* natural colour.) Current Mood: curious Current Music: VH1 Classic - Phil Collins, "Another Day in Paradise" (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 16th, 2007
11:55 am	Thanks all Just wanted to say thanks for all the comments on the last entry - they're much appreciated. Turned out I was more than "slightly drunk" - I think the last two pints had delayed action or something. :) Nothing a paracetamol couldn't handle though! Right, now it's everyone else's turn for a while. :-) Current Music: X-Files (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 7th, 2007
10:03 pm	Dear Hotel Just because I didn't choose either "fold shirt" or "hang shirt", doesn't mean I wanted the hidden third option of "lose shirt". Thanks, Paul (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 20th, 2007
8:07 pm	Random thought It does amuse me to see people requesting Ayn Rand's books on the book newsgroups (and other people posting them). You can't help wonder what Rand would have made of the whole thing. Somehow I don't think she'd have been amused... Current Music: SSX-3 Soundtrack - Do Your Thing (Jaxx Club Remix) (Comment on this)
Thursday, August 30th, 2007
9:52 am	Whee The certificate and last set of results arrived this morning - I've passed (got? whatever) BSL level 1. :-D Current Mood: pleased Current Music: deep dish ft stevie nicks - dreams (radio edit) (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, August 11th, 2007
12:42 am	I Aten't Dead I've been a bit quiet lately, and more important missed some significant entries on friends journals - sorry about that! In my defence, this is what I can remember the last 6 weeks containing, in no particular order: finishing a level 1 BSL course trying to find a level 2 BSL course going to some signing groups/deaf clubs around the area so I don't forget everything I learned in the previous two items (those are the fairly easy items, but probably the most fun) decorated a new house moved into a new house - two of us (for now), going from a 4 bed house into a 3 bed house. Fun. cleaned the old house thoroughly, since we really wanted the deposit back dealing with odd bits around the new house (such as the sitting-room door handle not working properly) work's suddenly gone really busy, including a reasonable chance I'll end up being sent to Israel for a few days (not that I have any actual expertise in the problem, but I'm as close as we've got right now) It doesn't seem that much laid out like that, I'm sure there was more. I've also only had working broadband back for a week, which didn't help with the whole keeping in touch thing. Plus the new curtains are quite thin, so when the sun's up the room gets really bright. From past experience this tends to make me tired most of the time (since I tend to be go to bed late-ish and wake up about 9am), and sure enough it's happened again, which as you can imagine helps with the whole work thing. Note to self, go buy curtain liners... Related to all that, I haven't signed into World of Warcraft for about a month now, I think. I'm a long way from an addict, but I kind of miss playing the game. I think I'm going to have to take some me-time tomorrow, both for that and just generally decompressing a bit (even though the garden needs doing, and stuff needs tidying, and repairs still need making, and...) Sorry, that kind of ended up rambling a lot more than I expected. Told you I was tired. On that note, I'm going to bed... Current Mood: tired Current Music: Queen - Now i'm here (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, August 10th, 2007
1:19 am	"Britons injured by Arctic glacier" boggle I mean, how? What did it do, sneak up behind them and hit them around the back of the head? Glaciers aren't exactly noted for being fast or quiet. Was it wearing a hoodie at the time? Only the British could go abroad and get attacked by an essentially stationary part of the landscape... Ha. The music was random play, I swear it. :) Current Music: Guns N' Roses - Out Ta Get Me (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 9th, 2007
12:11 pm	Idle question How many other people, whenever they hear the start of Drinking in L.A., feel the urge to reply "Hi, Stereo Mike!"? Anyone? ... Okay, just me then... Current Music: Bran Van 3000 - Drinking In L.A. (Comment on this)
Sunday, July 8th, 2007
12:50 am	Painting. Well, today we started painting the new house (since it's easier when there's no furniture in it). Starting at 2:30 and finishing at 7:45 or so, we did an initial coat on one room, as well as removing various screws and tidying some cables up. This could take a while. Ah well - 2/3 of a room down, 3 1/3 to go... Current Music: Fates Warning - The Eleventh Hour (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 17th, 2007
5:09 pm	"Did you mean to type ... aardvark?" Occasionally, I have to wonder just what Amazon's search engine is thinking. Search for In the Red in DVDs, and you get the following results (top 4): Fun in Acapulco Mortal Kombat - Annihilation The Woman in Red Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines Now, The Woman in Red I can kind of understand; number 1 and number 4 I guess it's keyed from "in". But for the life of me I can't work out why Mortal Kombat should be a result at all, let alone the second one. Particularly when there are much closer (albeit still wrong) titles further down. Ah well. At least there's still a place for humans for a while yet... Current Mood: curious Current Music: Megadeth - Symphony of Destruction (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007
3:04 pm	As an antidote to the Hello Kitty Hell posted by oletheros earlier, may I present Hello Cthulhu? Current Mood: amused Current Music: Torn - Trine Rein (2 Comments |Comment on this)
2:40 pm	Sometimes you can't help feeling maybe you were born in the wrong country. Current Music: Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd (Comment on this)
Sunday, April 29th, 2007
11:59 pm	The "2-Variable Intuition Test" I don't actually believe it, but it's at least nice to have a test call you "unusually smart". (Mind you, quite how they get the marker over the half-way line from 35% is anyone's guess...) ( Results here ) Current Music: Mike Oldfield - Children of the Sun (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 25th, 2007
11:23 pm	20 songs... Bit later than expected, but here they are. I think most of them were got in the end. Probably the most obscure were Kaskade and Show of Hands, but both have had at least four albums... Pink Floyd - The Happiest Days Of Our Lives R.E.M. - Belong N-Trance - Electronic Pleasure Baz Luhrmann - sunscreen Song Weird Al - Livin in the Fridge Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds Elvis Presley - One Night With You The Turtles - So Happy Together Evanescence - Bring Me to Life Bob Marley - Jamming Iron Maiden - Wrathchild Huey Lewis and the News - The Power of Love Meatloaf - Cry to Heaven Pink Floyd - Keep Talking Kaskade - I Feel Like A-Ha - Forever Not Yours Show of Hands - Maybe Talking Heads - Animals Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon Current Music: Dr Strangelove (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 24th, 2007
11:41 pm	I forgot to say when I posted it, but in order to avoid things dragging on indefinitely I'll post the answers sometime tomorrow afternoon. That should give people enough time, hopefully, though I suspect I've got all the answers I'm going to. (I'm surprised nobody's got 17 though - of the remaining ones that's probably going to be the most well known...) Current Mood: Meh. Current Music: Guns N' Roses - Estranged (1 Comment |Comment on this)
11:24 am	20 songs meme is here again Blame gwendraith. I didn't do it the first time round, so I figure I'm entitled now... Rules: Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random. Step 2: Post the first line from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song. Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from. Step 4: Strike through or similar when someone gets them right. Step 5: Looking them up on Google or anywhere else is CHEATING! I've cheated slightly, in that I haven't included the instrumental songs that played. I figured those might be a bit hard. Looking at the list, I'm not convinced winamp is as random as it should be, really. ( Read more... ) I'll be a little surprised if all 20 of those are identified, even given the eclectic tastes of my flist. Current Music: that would be telling :) (30 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 1st, 2007
12:57 am	A thought, prompted by a trivial act Life is about making choices, and then paying the price demanded by those choices. The price may not be what you expected - it may be higher, it may be lower. Nevertheless, having made the choice, you should accept the bill. Choices are not always what you think. They don't always come when you expect, or in the form you expect. This just adds to the entertainment. Right, I'm going to leave that there. I'm currently about 6 pints less than sober; no doubt tomorrow morning I'll read this and wonder what the hell I was thinking. But at the moment, it seems good. Current Music: Henry Rollins - Eric the Pilot (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, March 23rd, 2007
1:25 pm	Go away, GoDaddy. So far, they've sent me: a 30 day expiration notice a 15 day expiration notice a 5 day expiration notice another expiry notice a final notice to renew another notice a "last chance to renew" (after the final notice; note to self, they don't mean it) and yet another notice just now. Sooner or later, they'll presumably get the hint that I no longer want the domain... Current Music: Moby - Lift Me Up (radio mix) (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, March 18th, 2007
11:58 pm	Two (unrelated) things. 1/ there's something mildly amusing in the fact that while entering the Guardian online password into my keyring app, I managed to mis-spell Guardian... (No, not as Grauniad.) 2/ "Warner Bros announced it is reinventing Sherlock Holmes as an action hero." Oh, dear gods. Have these people no shame? Wait, hang on, I know that one... Current Music: Mozart - Sym No.25 in g, K.183 (St. Martin-In-The-Fields) (8 Comments |Comment on this)