Zap-Robo.Net

I called in ill for work - I didn’t get a bit of sleep all Friday and it was far to distracting. Well, I say called, I actually contacted my team manager by MSN. Joy of a technologically sound company.

Been taking painkillers and swilling my mouth out with antiseptic mouthwash all weekend but hasn’t got any better - I may have to do the calling in ill thing again, and see about harassing a dentist to sort the whole bally thing out for me.

We’ll see how I feel in the morning.

What? You thought that because I replaced ZRN with a blog that I’d update it any more frequently? Foolish, foolish people!

Went to the cinema this evening with my housemate for the thoroughly enjoyable V for Vendetta. I came out of the cinema “singing” da-da dadada-da da *boom*. If you’ve seen it, you may know what I mean Had some very nice Orwell’s 1984 analogies - I’m going to have to read the original comics now though, to see what about the big screen implementation irked Alan Moore.

On a bit of a down side I have a swollen mouth, caused by something to do with a wisdom tooth. I’m either going through teething again, or I may (I suspect) have some kind of abscess which is playing merry hell with me. Going to take a painkiller and go to bed soon.

If it hasn’t cleared up by the morning I’m very tempted to call in ill to work (even though I’ve only just started) because it is far too distracting to concentrate, and is interfering with speaking.

Well, I’m awake - had a lie in and feel slightly more awake for it though no less depressed. Yes, i got depressed last night. What else is new.

While having my morning/afternoon bath I finished Angie Sage’s Flyte - her second book about the boy-wizard Septimus Heap. Yes, it is a book aimed at children, but because of it it’s light reading and allows me to fit it in nicely when I have the odd-half-hour. Was leant to me by a dear friend - she recommended them to me.

Tonight shall mainly be taken up with laundry for work on Monday, and possibly having something to eat. Although I’m still mostly full from the green thai curry Ni cooked last night.

If you’re wondering about the lateness of this post, then wonder no longer - next door sound like they are having a bit of a tiff, and the banging on the front door and shouting woke me up!

Been a little bit depressing tonight - I got in fine from work but almost immediately went to bed and only woke up long enough to have a quick phone chat with gentle^star and to eat something. Bit of a non-evening really.

Course, now I’m awake at almost 3am, and I have to be up at 7am. Crap.

Was my first day at the new office today - it went well. After having a talk about the company direction and business plans it was to the desks to listen in on calls and shadow a few of the existing guys.

Seems like something of a reunion - all the tech staff worked for ClientLogic at one time or another so it’s actually very comfortable. I have a project or two that I may be able to take under my wing already so I’m off to a reasonable start.

Not quite used to the early mornings yet though!

Well, with only two days or so until I start my new job at Griffin. I’m both looking forward to it and apprehensive - been years since I had to start a new job. I was so glad that I’d found a new job a few months back, but now I find myself minorly stressing again. At least Ni (my housemate) is staying on at ClientLogic so there isn’t a worry about meeting the rent.

Last night I watched Corpse Bride and Wallace and Gromit’s Curse of the Wererabbit. For all I didn’t like the premise of the Curse when I saw it in trailers but I found myself really enjoying it. Although Corpse Bride wasn’t on my to-watch list it was excellent! Tim Burton animation is always deliciously freaky.

Back to today, I watched Scream with gentle^star (I say with, she watched her copy in the States, I watched mine in the UK) and thoroughly enjoyed that too! Alas, she was called into work so we didn’t have time to do anything else fun.

This evening is being taken up with watching the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica and chatting with folk online. Going to have to be productive tomorrow though, to be ready for Monday!

Had my groceries arrive from those lovely people at Tesco.com today, and it appears that they dropped two packs of Actimel (that darn “friendly bacteria” drink) into my order. Well, always up to try something new, I took a sip. It was awful. And not just yuck awful. See the post subject!

On the up side, I spent this evening in the company of Amber and Al - close friends of mine I don’t get to see as often as I would like. Their kids are adorable - Cerys has grown into a right little chatterbox, and while Harry didn’t initially like the look of me, he warmed up after watching a game of catch I played wth Cerys. Went over for a nice meal and after the kids went to bed a couple of board games.

Was good to see the pair of them again - I’ll be seeing much more of Al since he already works at Griffin, and hopefully means I’ll bump into Amber and the kids a bit more too!

That’s better!

I tried reading Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code before, but couldn’t get into either the characters or the flow of the novel. Now, having read Angels and Demons it was much easier and only tooke me a few sessions to read form cover to cover.

Again, not a breath-takingly awesome book, but very enjoyable. I did enjoy the twist as to who the mastermind was and I can genuinely say I didn’t see it coming. Although, I have been under the weather recently

After I finish my current Dune Saga re-read, I’m wondering what to move on to next!

Pending any upsets with the closing date next week, this was my last night working at ClientLogic. Obviously, there’s the leaving party on Thursday but that’ll be it. I confess, it does feel like the proverbial “end of an era” - I got a lil nostalgic looking around the building before I left.

Luckily, the CL Derby Yahoo! group should enable me to keep in touch with everyone post-party.

Left a goodbye note to the people on the newsgroups - much as people have complained to me about their customers, I never really found the job as a chore. I only lament my inability (during my 4-5 years tenure) of telling them everything I knew, and having to tow the company line.

Hopefully I’ll enjoy my time at Griffin half as much and I’ll count myself lucky.

A while back, in my fit of trying to find a MMORPG to follow post-suspension of Imperator I set up shop temporarily in NCsoft/NetDevil’s Auto Assault forums. I decided against the US servers since there was to be a simultaneous US/EU Launch and set to creating a clan.

Unfortunately, the interest was relatively low and while I left the site and forum languishing I had little more to do with it as my involvement with the City of Villains beta drew my interest and recaptured me (I had gone stale on City of Heroes).

I meandered across the forums of Auto Assault UK again today (browsing through my links in Firefox) and found there’d been a little further interest in my Biomek Clan. I’m sorry people, it’s not going to happen - I have now removed the (sub)domain and site so that people can’t get their hopes up.

Kinda lost all interest when I got in on one of their beta weekends, and just didn’t enjoy the game much. Probably because I’ve never been much of a racing game fan, and hence am “missing out” on the driving fun part of it. Too complex driving in one direction and attacking 360 degrees with a turret as well.

I think Tabula Rasa is going to be the next game I look in depth at. Reminds me of Planetside, which I loved. of course, need more details first!