Nice Tighty Whities, nerd!

I missed my first bus, made it into town to watch the bus pull away from the bus stop. The next bus took the long scenic route. It was two hours ten minutes to Norwich and there were lots of old people.

Helped clean at the Buddhist centre, and bought a new book...

I've been looking at this website:

http://www.securitytube.net

which is nice...

At night I watched the whole series of The Inbetweeners' on 4OD. I'm not it's target audience but thought it was good. Kinda like an updateD Adrian Mole.

Mucked about on Second Life with some friends.

Something's Snapped

A couple of weeks ago I dropped my laptop. Ever since, the display hasn't been working. Today I took my little laptop apart piece by piece and finally found one of the wires connecting the motherboard to the screen had snapped. I guess it must have got caught-up with the laptop hinge. I resoldered the wire and also removed the built-in 802.11 G mini pci card ( I never use it.)

I also did some practice in the garden using my bokken. Not interesting but true.

Hope people in japan are ok... I've been trying to follow what little news there is. Nine people have died.

STS-124

I watched Nasa tv all of today. The Space shuttle Discovery returned today after it's mission to deliver the latest International Space Station's construction 'Kibo', the largest part of a Japanese pressurized Laboratory module also known as 'hope'.

If Al Gore was to start a hippie dance group, it would be called, 'Al Gore Rhythms' !!!

I just read Bicycle Marks blogg about his recent visit to the killing fields of Cambodia... It has made me think seriously about going to London to demonstrate against George Bush's visit, if only I had the money to get there.

The other day I travelled into Norwich to collect some laptop memory. While I was waiting for the bus home I noticed just how bad my walking boots had gotten. Pfff!! I forgot about the bus and went to the outdoor shop 'Cotswolds'. I hate buying new shoes, I never see anything I like, but settled for a a pair made from pig skin. I feel so guilty buying pig skin, and the leather smell permeates my bedroom reminding me,making me feel ill.

I went to eat noodles at the chinese internet place. There was an old guy with walking stick asking where the toilets were. He was told it was upstairs. Noticing he would have difficulty I offered to help him, but he said he didn't want help. About twenty minutes latter he came back down the steps sitting on his arse. I got-up and tried to help. The woman behind the counter seeing this came rushing-over pretending to give a fuck.

Walking through Anglia Square I noticed my old electronics tutor Fred Wheeler. As I walked past Fred he was crouching down messing with some bags. I called Fred, but he didn't look-up..I called again and still no reply. I decided he was ignoring me so I carried on my merry way..

I'm now waiting for the bus again, and notice and friendly asian guy I use to work with. He is now a bus driver ( Hahaha!!! ok, so I speak to alot of bus drivers :) ). I stood chatting to him about meditation when this other rodent face looking bus worker starts grappling with him. At first I thought ..ok, this is what they do, it's a joke. Then after about half a minute I start to think maybe there is more to this than meets the eye. Eventually they stop, but the gang of school children err... sorry bus drivers take his baseball cap and start throwing it around. I think this guy has had to put-up with this shit for four years without complaint.

Damn you marketing people...why the hell can't I go anywhere and not have to hear the song Hotel California and have people try and get me to drink Pimms No1.... and why the fuck has clothing with Japanese kana become fashionable...allright maybe the kana stuff is ok.

Your Wet!!!

Ill prepared and wearing dirty walking boots with holes in, I went for the interview at UEA. It has rained all day today and my feet were soaking.

I was given a tour of campus by a girl in her third year of Psychosocial Sciences. I remember having to act interested because- of course..I've already seen all places at the University, and there wasn't anything else new to be seen. Bless...

I wasn't happy with the interview. And from the comments made I'm not confident I will get a place. I have to go on Monday and present photocopies of some exam certificates. OK ..what the fuck is plan B going to be :(

Tear it up!!

Caught the bus to Norwich complete with Bo staff... All of the journey was spent talking to an old lady about how rubbish England is. Towards the end of the journey she had told me that all criminals should be hung and there are too many immigrants. What was odd was that she had tears coming from her eyes. Not that she was crying..but like her eyes were malfunctioning. Don't think I said anything to upset her.

Walked around the city drinking coffee waiting for my Yoga and martial art class to begin.

I went into Holt chip shop to ask 'Chipshop Martin' why he doesn't go to Bujinkan Dojo any longer(I was told it was because he had a baby.) He told me his brother got in trouble with the police for fighting and was told he couldn't train any longer. He is now a kickboxer.

Good Call

The weeks camping in Devon was fun and interesting, in respect to the fact that it rained everyday.

On arriving at the camp site the first thing I noticed was a young boy wearing a t-shirt with the Bujinkan Kanji..Hooorah!!!

Situated near to the coast with a fantastic landscape view, we set-up camp in gusty storm force winds. It was just good to be with family visiting various places within the local area. My father grew-up in Plymouth during the Second world war and was able to give some interesting history of the area. We visited the sailing town of Salcombe and the beach at Hope Cove.

I woke-up today to the sound of the telephone ringing. Expecting bad news(the bank) I answered and was surprised to find it was the University admissions office. They arranged a meeting for me for this Friday.

Ian Curtis

Went to see the film ' Joy Division' today. It was very good and well worth seeing. I was kinda surprised to find I wasn't the only person there. Though the cinema was small there was about eight or nine other people.

The Benn and jerrys has dissappeared from the Chavafields shopping mall...damnn-it. That was the only thing worth going to, in the whole sick minded hell hole, that is Chavfields. Though I spent some time in Borders reading a book on Japanese street slang. The book said chinchin but I have it on good authority that the word is chinpo... you decide.

while sitting in the Forum having coffee I realised there was two youngish looking men in suits talking to a woman, and maybe her son. They seemed to be talking about religion. The woman was saying to them, " I wish I had your faith."

Before my martial Art lesson I ate some noodles at the chinese internet place, then went for a wonder. Down near the cathedral Riverside walk there was some biker dude shouting at people. He seemed a bit pissed off and I noticed he had scared some of the other people. As I walked past I asked if he was ok. He just smiled and said he was a little stoned. We laughed and I carried on my walk.

There is a new Japanese BBQ restaurant called, 'Sakura'. The friendly lady saw me looking, and came out to give me their menu. I said domo arigatou and she laughed replying arigatou.

I didn't go to Yoga this week due to financial reasons. But in Bujinkan lesson we did some sword work.

I got home to find my dad has changed our internet provider. He was charged 50 quid for some muppet calling himself an engineer to install the router. As I suspected I can now get Bicycle Marks website.. maybe Orange have blocked him.. I'm now using BT home Hub..

Off to Devon camping for a week tomorrow....

Beard Bother

Got the clippers out and had a go at looking less like a tramp. After doing the best that I could I went to the Doctor's surgery in Kelling.

I thought I might start easing myself back into some running again by doing a combination of running and walking. I find that by keeping your shoulders high you can fill your lungs with air better.

Passing Holt railway I noticed a group of young school children. They had all dressed in 1940's style clothing with gas mask boxes slung over their shoulders. Every so often people in Holt dress like 1940's and relive the wartime. It's mainly because of the steam train and the old war museum and lots of old people.

At the doctors I had arranged an appointment for 2:45. Since it would be some time before then, I walked/ran back into Holt stopping on the way to look at the steam trains and an old style double decker bus. As I was leaving, to continue on, I noticed a air raid siren...I didn't, but it was tempting.

I bought cake and pizza from Byfords, and I'm afraid I started to lose it with people again after someone clipped me with a wing mirror from their 4x4. At home I watched some youtube clips from 'Press Gang'. Press Gang was a shite kids television programme from back in the 80s. The character spike in the clip says, " it's nice to be smart, but smart to be nice." I'm not very smart.

After tea and cake I ran back to the surgery then back to listen to Scott Lockman's podcast about his adventures in Second Life.

Gave mark a call just to catch-up. Haven't been to Narc for a few weeks. He's been having some trouble with his car and he and his family have had to start using the bus. Narc have planned an camp event for 7 th 8th June called 'Radio Active Weekend'. It's billed as:

NARC Radio Active weekend brings all together with informal workshops and demonstrations of all aspects of radio & electronics in a large modern building and 2 field day stations close by (one designed for beginners in contesting) with parking and easy access to full facilities throughout the weekend.

Wesak

I woke to the sound of a seagull outside my window. Stephan, as Chi-chan my friend's wife would say, was warning me that I had twenty minutes to have a shower and catch the bus.

Hanging around outside the shop 'Borders', waiting for them to open, some bloke started to chat to me. He said he was looking for work, and he had just that day finished a two year probation order. I continued to speak with him and began to realise I was giving away personal information way too easily. I wish I could keep my mouth shut sometimes.

Not many people turned-up to clean the Buddhist centre today. And at first it was just me and Suddakani. Though Julian arrived latter. After the usual cleaning and cups of tea, I decided I would return for six o'clock for the Wesak Pujah.

I had a really good lunch at the Greenhouse. I must have timed it just right, as at the end of lunch time my plate was filled with tasty food. I also had tea and a Bakewell tart. I bought an copy of Corporate watch for two squids.

After wondering around for quite some considerable time, I returned to the Buddhist centre for my first ever Pujrah. Wesak is an important date in the Buddhist's calender. I'm told it is to celebrate the Buddha's birth, Enlightenment and Nirvana.

Quite a few people I hadn't met before arrived. Inside the shrine room there was just enough space. The shrine was decorated with yellow flowers, yellow being the colour for Wesak festival..I guess. I knelt listening to the readings and the chanting. It was certainly different and interesting and lasted about one and a half hours. There was also about twenty minutes of 'Mindfulness of Breathing meditation'....Awesome....

After arriving back at home and switching on my PC. I did a netstat -a -b to check for a listening sql port. Only to discover a process running called Kservice.exe. I discovered this is a rather cheeky download sharing service installed by the BBC iplayer.

The Destroyer

After a relaxing coffee, soaking up the sun on Cromer sea front. Me and my 6ft Bo staff, travelled to Norwich. Everytime I'm in the street with my Bo people are always asking, what is it ?

I must be crazy. For some reason I decided to take the Yoga lesson at the OAC. The teacher was very friendly. There was three other males including teacher, ten other females. The exercise was intense and I like to think they didn't hold back for the noob. It was one and half hour of sweat and stretching. Rather predictably I let out a rather large fart LOL lucky enough I didn't give a fuck..and nobody was phased.

Then after Yoga I took the two hour Bujinkan lesson. We practiced some rolls and punching. At the end I said to someone," I'm going to kill tomorrow!!!" I got the idea they thought I was literally going to kill.

Later I will be finding it hard to walk..Feel the burn!!

Allow/Deny..Deny/allow

I cleaned the bogs at the Buddhist centre. Someone left a massive skid mark in the bowl, which I found kinnda funny. :/

Didn't do much as usual; reading about Apache security methods, drinking coffee and eating croissants and trying not to lose it with people.

I've been listening to Rush and System of a Down on the Ipod that way I don't have to hear what other twats are saying...

I plugged the words 'I'm fucked' into the google search engine. Which harvested some interesting result..

Ozric Tentacles

I watched the first three episodes to Monkey Magic a 80's television programme I use to watch as a kid. I always remember the character Pigsy making me feel ill and putting me off my dinner. I also watched a documentary about Gandhi and the shortened version of 2001 Space Odyssey, which reminded me of a band I use to 'Ozric Tentacles.'

Pity the Fool

I turned 35 today. To celebrate I went to meditation class. Coded a PHP mailing list. And ate cake and Chinese takeaway.

Somebody tried to start a fight with me.

I had planned to go to the gym or beach and watch the film 'IN BRUGES' at Cinema City.

You do the Math...

Am I wasting my time? Yes...

I was late for the early train to Ely by two minutes. Running into the station , the departure's monitor was missing from its place on the platform.

I planned on listening to the German Language recordings on my Ipod, but strangely enough there was a young German couple seated next to me for most of the journey. I tried to understand their conversation. On arriving at Ely I bought early morning coffee and waited for the train for Birmingham.

I was feeling ill by the time I arrived in Birmingham. I headed straight to a shop to buy bottled water and Headache Pills. I followed the familiar landmarks to the Menzies Hotel. A sad but true fact was, I knew that I was headed the right direction when I saw the Spearmint Rhino Club. For some reason I remember walking past there last year.

Paid five pounds for Brumcon. Savvy tried to sell me a Brumcon T-shirt. Paid for Hotel room. Went to room for wash. had half an hour to kill before the conference started so went to shops. What was odd was that the woman behind the counter noticed I had lots of loose change and wanted to exchange it. We stood there a few minutes counting loose change.

Sat at the back of Brumcon, the first talk was by Foxwhisper. I can't stand these talks and articles in magazines defining a hacker. But Foxwhisper did bring a interesting perspective into the frame on having a criminal record and trying to find work as a Pentester.

McFly arrived with the other German hackers wearing his dark shades. Someone who sat next to me began to make conversation. I managed to find-out he was working as an Pentester. I guessed the company he was working for...QineticQ. Yes, the very same company that keeps popping into the limelight every so often.

During the break I went to the bar, which on the bad side had a large tv screen showing football, and sold small bottles of orange juice for £1.50. Though the good thing was that there was a cute Asian girl tending the bar. My tv-bgone battery had died. Otherwise that tv would have definetly got it.


During the first break a wedding party arrived outside the hotel complete with Bagpipes player. There was a bit of confusion when one of the Germans not being able to see out the window thought the bagpipes tune was somebodies mobile phone. Reload's wife and a few others peered out the window trying to get on the wedding video.

Later a guy called Les played some live electronic music. It was good but I took the opportunity to go to my hotel room and get my laptop. When I returned les was still playing. Most people where chatting and laughing, I think Les got the idea that people weren't interested, my theory was backed-up after reading his blog entry here. Les said The Better...

Towards the end McFly said a bit about the 'Chaos Computer Club.' He mentioned that the 'CCC' had recently published the fingerprints of one of the German Interior ministers. I started to clap, but I soon stopped after I realised I was the only person. Reload mentioned that they are trying to organized a larger conference like the CCC in 2010.

I left to go eat in a Kebab shop. I had a large pizza and Pepsi for under £5. I then went for a long walk. It's Saturday night so every so often twats in pink Limos, drove past cheering out of the car window. If they had given prior warning I would have arranged for a pole with some rusty nails to scratch their faces off.

I walked past all the club goers to the centre of Birmingham. A stage had been setup for the Birmingham Dance Festival. It had drawn a large crowd. Ignoring the crowd I continued on trying to find the Chinese quarter. During my search I was approached my a girl saying she was homeless.

After I made it back to the hotel I watched some telly and fell asleep. The girl who asked me for money had reminded me of some one in my past, I cared about, I couldn't help thinking I could have done better to help her.

At around four in the morning I was thirsty and decided to go to the shop for drink. Down in the Hotel lobby their were police questioning a woman about an attack. At the shop there was a young guy arguing with the shop keepers. They were arguing about using the phone. When I left the shop someone called out hello. I ignored them and carried on walking. The person persisted and on the fifth hello I turned to see who it was. The black lady said in a Brummy accent," I was beginning to think you were deaf." She then walked with me and started to ask all sorts of questions about where was I from? why am I in Birmingham? Then," Am I walking with you, or wasting my time ?" I said," Pardon?" She repeated the question then said," do you want a blowjob, or some nice sex?" I said no thank-you and walked away. All this within the space of ten minutes of waking-up. wtf ? I ignored the police and went back to bed.

Sleeping Ghosts

Went to the Jobcentre, there were no jobs. Caught the bus from Cromer to Norwich. An old work colleague got on. She is retired now and had been walking along the coast for the day as part of a ramblers club.

It was raining hard by the time we had reached Norwich bus station, so I headed straight for the Forum for coffee. Inside the forum there was someone else from my past also. A girl who was on the same photography course many years ago. After coffee I walked to the Oriental Arts' centre where I could relax with an orange juice from the bar and read the paper.

According to the Guardian newspaper today, digital exclusion has become such a problem that Gordon Brown has provided a minister to set things straight. The Welsh Secretary, Paul Murphy met for the first time with his 'digital inclusion committee' last week. The percentage of excluded individuals has remained around the one thirds mark.

I had a good Budo lesson and much fun was had. One thing, it seems most of the others at the class also study Iaido. They all own good Japanese swords, which of course can't be obtained or bought within England any longer. Therefore England sucks arse !!!

I'm not sure if it's true but I heard that my Lowestoft Budo Sensei has moved on to a different style..a Russian martial art. So I guess he's no longer there anymore.