jeezus!!

Thanks to my mate for putting me onto this site. Glossy US Popbitch with pictures.
Usually I'd put a link in for him too but he's given this ol' blogging malarky up.

yep.

gay.

Anyway, I followed a link... and found this.

fuck I said. there's not really much more I can say really...

another confusing day as people tell you stuff that ain't exactly true:
"That's the bus stop" (true-ish. I'd asked about buses to Flores and they point at a bus stop. It is a busstop if not actually the right one)
"Do you sell tickets?" "No" (not exactly true as I buy tickets from his colleague hours later when wandering and wondering where to buy tickets).
"It will pick you up from the hotel" (not true - I have to make a mad dash in a taxi to catch the bus about to leave from the bus station)

sigh. I guess this is what all tourists feel like when people try to be helpful... and I'm only moaning as this place is constantly pissing with rain - I need sun!!

And sun is what I get in Flores.
As the name suggests a really pretty little place. Tiny in fact. So tiny that I managed to get lost as the map gives a false sense of scale. still, as I say so small that you can't really get too lost, merely disorientated.
Flores is an islet (is that a word?? I mean a small isle at the end of a prominitory in a big lake. Its whatever one of those are.
Glad its off season as its a quiet place and would be far less relaxing with tons of people all trooping around doing the same thing (ie either catching a bus to, or getting off a bus from, Tikal).
Instead its quiet and easy to relax looking over the lake with a beer.
And hot. Not overpowering or particularly burning (which for me is a big deal being a ginga) but bright and exactly what I needed.


This is a jumping off point for Tikal, a collection of Mayan ruins that I'm really looking forward to.

how much more..?

Just had a look at my Guatamala diary and realised I'm only up to the "caves" bit. Jesus this is taking ages to get through. Not because there's a lot of it just cos I'm so bloody lazy in writing it up.

Hopefully I'll finish before I go to Aus otherwise it'll start getting weird with Aus and Guatamala stories overlapping in some kind of Potter-esque storytelling.

That's Potter as in "Dennis" not "Harry" obviously...

The match, the reaction and the news....

well, I thought I'd blogged my thoughts about the match but it seems I didn't. Must be the alcoholic haze I'm suffering. last night was out again so gotta ease off Mr. Booze this weekend...

anyway, as for the match, I'm pretty sanguine about it. We were better than them for the first 20 mins. Jens deservedly got sent off and we played doggedly for the rest of the match. I continued to think we could win it all the way through, but I was always fearful of the last 20-30mins when they could send on fresh legs.
Ref did get decisions wrong but at least one of them benefited us (our goal from a free kick where Eboue dived).
So - we lost but played with real spirit and I'm proud of what we did.

Really surprised about Henry's moaning but just shows how much he cared and how exhausted he was. Yeah, he came off worst from the refs mistakes, but not like him to whine...

Mind you, the news coming out this morning is fantastic, but I'll wait till there's ink on paper before I explode with joy.

Hopefully that'll coincide with me sobering up from last night.... I'm knackered

well, tonight's the night

As you may know or care less, I support Arsenal.
There are just sooooo many places to get more informative, exciting punditry, views and opinions on footy than me (though that won't stop me from bending your ear in a pub about it). Visit the Arseblog link on the right tomorrow for what will no doubt be good stuff. Though he'll be suffering a hangover no matter what happens.

However, I won't bang on hear about the match tonight - suffice to say I'm beginning to get excited.

It was a bit odd this morning walking into work. Very very quiet. Hardly anyone around on the canal to Angel, and the canal itself was eerily flat - first time I've seen it like that.
Made me think that the place was just holding its breath.

I didn't see any magpies, in case you were wondering...

I'm becoming random. Nerves setting in.
I'll get me coat.....

my ignorance

So back to the Guatemala diaries.....

Its good to get your expectations exploded.
I'm sitting in a dreary town called Coban. Its raining. Its always raining apparently. Yesterday was an 'exceptional' day in that it wasn't and was instead gloriously sunny and beautiful. But today is like any normal day here, mild (it is kinda winter) and drizzly.
Its a small town where its very easy to feel like you've seen everything worth seeing in about 20mins. And I've been here 2 days.

I've dived into a cafe and opposite me is a 'typical' american. Fat, out of breath, wearing typical fat-american clothes and he's been offhand with the locals from whom he's just ordered a beer.
Typical.
We're sitting opposite each other in front of an unlit fireplace that promises warmth, but I won't bank on it. I'm feeling pissy. I don't enter into conversation with this guy even if he is the only other person here, we're in each other's line of site and is the only guy who's first language is English that I've met in days! Instead I just sit and feel superior... and then he starts 'conversation' by saying:
"Hmm, that food smeels good"
(I'm eating crappy nachos and he looks fat and hungry. Sod off they're mine)
"Yeah"
Weirdly within a few minutes we're drinking beers together and he's saying things like:
"How much do you know about neo-liberalism?"
Actually at this point I was foxed as I know sod all about anything, but tried to save some face by saying "weeeellllllll.... possibly its more useful if you define what you mean".

yup - a born consultant.

Anyway, this guy has lived in Guatemala for 10 or 20 years off and on. He's a University lecturer in Latin American studies, although annoyingly for him, his linguistic skills in being able to speak some native Central Amercan languages means he's often stuck in the languages department of different universities.
This guy is not typical. Maybe no one is...

Anyway, I get a lesson in Latin American politics, neo-liberalism (to which my comment "hm, seems like a banker's solution" gets a snort of agreement so I guess I at least learnt what he meant by neo-liberalism) and modern history (after the IMF attempted to fix things here by demanding on a neo-liberal agenda of pegging currency to the dollar, sorting out the economy and waiting for everything else to fall into place - the country has a wider gap between rich and poor, the poorest are poorer if fewer).

and I learnt what I couldn't learn from the web. Max (for that was his name) answered my unGoogleable ponder - what the hell was the guy selling rocks at the market doing??

gotta go. If you care you'll read on...

back again....

Well, this could've been a lot odder than it has been.
So - What am I talking about?
(btw - I hear that comment a lot)

Well, I started a contracting job last week at the company I left last October!
(I've discovered that one or two people actually do read this nonsense but there's not much to censor comment wise as I like to think I left on good terms with the company).

I left because I was tired and lost me mojo. Also, structurally, the company wasn't quite right for me. But I did feel it could be in the future, so (hopefully) left on terms where I can keep an eye out for how things might change, as they do do some 'fun' stuff here. It was just frustrating that I didn't seem to be able to do any of it and I felt I wasn't learning enough. Anyway, for the first time in my life I have a vague plan for further forward than the next day: Contract, find out how other companies 'do it', get a permanent job at the end of the year, buy a place next winter. However, if some other offer comes up... well, that's just good luck!

One of the things I do need to do though, is to get in or leave for lunch about 10-15mins earlier than I have to. This is because I keep bumping into people that I know and like from before and end up chatting on stairs and outside of lifts while my stomach rumbles!

how happy..?!!!!?!!

Well how happy do you think I am????
can barely type I'm so drunk/ ecstatic.
and "ecstatic" took ages to type!!!!!!!!!!

I won't go on about hat tricks, last day at Highbury, last game for Denis, last this-and-that.

we're in Europe regardless of the result in Paris!

as I walked back from the pub I was grinnning soooooo much!
mainly women smiled back and guys kinda put their heads down.
dunno what this says about the Female/ Male divide. Or about women liking manic shaven headed fools and men quite rightly not knowing whher I was Broadmoor bound or not.

anyway. More pints with me mate needed!