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.

Expensive Workout

James was my driver into Norwich today. I didn't recognise him at first because of his bus driver's uniform.

Met Tom along the way to the Buddhist centre. I told him about not being able to find anyone to write me a reference for my course application. He told me he might be able to help. It's a big problem for me. I never stay in touch with people and when it comes to recommendations or applications I'm screwed. I believe in Japan being recommended to people is important. If you are introduced to someone the person introducing is giving their endorsement that you are ok to do business with.

One of the order members suggested that I go live and work at the retreat centre.

After I done my bit at the centre I purchased return train tickets to Birmingham for the weekend at 65 UK pounds. It's not something I can really afford, but I'm going no matter what. This weekend will be the underground computer security conference 'Brumcon.' It should be better this year because a group of german hackers will be attending from the 'Chaos Computer Club.'

I spent a further 4 pounds for a bus to the University and back. And then more money for the Gym. Though it was all more money than I should spend it was good to be doing some exercise. On the bus back into the city centre, the driver had a shouting match with another road user. He got-out of his seat and opening the car driver's door shouted and then slammed it shut. Getting back into his cockpit the car driver got out and had a go !!

Unfit for Duty

Woke up late today and when I finally made it outside there was light rain. By the time I had walked into town the rain was hammering down, I had to hide in a phone box while I waited for the bus.

I had lots of time to kill in the city. Walking around I was only shouted at twice by two *cough* ladies on two separate occasions both calling me a wanker... one was silenced when a policeman appeared on a bicycle. The other, walking out of Mc Donalds and bumping into me managed to drop her drink on the floor. I'm sorry but I don't give a fuck about them.

Also while I killed time. Some bloke stopped me and explained his story. He has just come from Nottingham to see his girlfriend who he found cheating on him. He then went on to explain that he's just been released from the police station for beating the crap out of someone. As proof he showed me his jeans saying, " look, I've still got the gizzas blood all over my jeans." He wanted two pounds off of me so that he could get to North Walsham and pick his car-up.

In the coffee shop I read in the paper about a streaming website that you can stream to from your mobile phone's camera. Eventually if your channel becomes popular and professionally made you may make some advertising revenue off of it WorldTV

I was feeling hungry, I thought I had better eat if I was going to do training. I ended-up at the City Gate pub. Not much has changed here since my last visit. Except there's now a stage. While I drank my orange juice and ate my chips the band warmed-up. I sat eating my chips whilst having to listen to the song 'Hotel California.' I wished I was dead.

I made it to Budo training at the OAC where there were about twelve others. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. It wasn't much of a shock to find-out just how unfit I've become. After training everyone went to the bar. I was invited but I had to leave to catch my train home.

I keep sending people emails damnit but they aren't receiving them. And I can't get the Bicycle Mark website..what the fuck is going on..GGGRRRRRRRRRrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!

DF'ing

Mark picked me up to goto Narc. He had a friend with him who also holds a advanced amateur license.

James has been living away for awhile in Manchester. I think it was because he'd been doing a Finance degree at University. James is also a bus driver and works with Mark. At the club David the chairman gave a presentation about DFing 'Direction finding' contests. Some equipment was shown and stories told of last years competition. Last year they had the beacon on a boat, supposedly this caused some problems because of the signal interference with the water making it hard to locate. It's always funny when they hand around large directional Yagi antennas because of the possibility of someones eye being poked-out...Hahahah Nice.

David has had some kits made for the competition in June. What's good about this is that DF'ing can be done with just a receiver..no TX needed... Allegedly you're not meant to call it fox hunting anymore..but because of that reason alone I want to keep saying it out loud and as often as possible.

Moo BahhhHHH !!!

I scrapped my car today. Though I know there was no reason for keeping it; it wasn't in any fit condition for the road. I remembered all of the trips I took down to Newquay surfing, to Blackpool for conferences and the Isle of Wight visiting relatives. The times at the local beach after a surf session, resting in the sun, feet-up on the dash.

The other day I made some enquires about a 'Electronic Engineers' position in Great Yarmouth. The woman from the agency said she would obtain my details from their Norwich branch and phone me back. Unsurprisingly I haven't heard anything.

After taking a different route to the Buddhist Centre avoiding Jonathan's trap to prevent me from getting there. I cleaned and dusted the shrine room. During tea we spoke to Tom about his canvassing in the local elections.

I happened to look at the Oriental Arts Centre website and noticed they run a Bujinken Taijutsu class on Thursdays. As I hadn't much to do I walked to the OAS but it was locked. I wish I could make it to Lowestoft and train with my old sensei but it's too far away. When I went to Lowestoft College last week I looked to see if the old training hall was still there, it was, but just barely, the windows were boarded-up and it looked in need of some repair.

I enquired in the 'Learning Shop' to finally try find-out what the code for the course I'm applying for is. Without telling anyone UCAS have seperated the course into three subjects.

1. Business in Information Technology

2. Computer End Users

3. Software Engineering

I will be applying to do the Software Engineer's course.

I walked back through the housing estates, back to mile cross. I looked in a motorbike shop. There's nobody in Norfolk that rents out motorcycles. Why not ?

I then waited at a bus stop for about an hour for the right bus to arrive. It had to be a Sander's bus because I had a Sander's return ticket and the other buses all terminate in Sheringham.

The bus ride home was better than usual. Because of the over 60's now receiving there International free bus pass I think there's more of them making use of the bus service that you wouldn't see normally. Today was fairly warm and the smell from the oil seed rape in the fields though not a pleasant smell made me feel happier than usual.

Broken britain

I can't believe I've seen a BNP part political broadcast aired by the BBC. In the past I have read that television channels have re-editted BNP broadcasts because of the fact that their hateful views were not fit for public consumption. The transmission stated the BNP policy on immigration as," Britain is full-up, it's time to shut the door for good !!"

Today I watched this :

THE CRAMPS

If I was Eighty years Younger..

The new 2600 was in Borders. So I have bought that. I think from counting the last issues I'm the only person buying it. And even then, I'm not sure why ?

On the way to the 'Buddhist centre' I bumped into Jonathan. He was sitting outside the coffee shop on Gentlemen's Walk. Johnathan hasn't been around for awhile. he explained that he'd been away in Berlin and Lubeck. Apparently he had been staying with an old friend who is now married with children, and that, things had gone wrong, as his friend's wife wouldn't let him stay. We spoke about how people change when they take on extra responsibility etc..marriage. On a good note he showed me a photo of his new young boyfriend he met in Lubeck. He's has now decided to move to Lubeck and live. The highlight of our conversation was when Johnathan announced in a loud clear voice, " there's a porn shop on every corner." he then went on to show me the postcard he was writting to his boyfriend, which was of two naked men.

I left Jonathan to go to his meditation class. I walked a couple of miles to the University. On campus I bumped into another person from the 'Buddhist Centre.' I couldn't remember his name as we have only seen each other twice. He was on a lunch break from his part-time course he had been sent on, involving his work as a social worker. We sat outside the music school which was pleasant because of a woman practising her flute ( free live music :) I managed to quiz him on his work and on a science degree he had done. We also spent a good hour discussing Meditation and jobs that are ethical.

After finding the correct department for science I made some enquires about a computer degree. I was asked if I minded waiting in a small cupboard for someone to speak to. After waiting for a couple of minutes, having read all the posters; unfortunately the person I was waiting for was too busy.

I walked back to the city eating cashew nuts and drinking red bull. Bought a book on PHP,Apache and mysql. Then waiting for the bus home my old history teacher from way back appeared. It's hard to tell if he recognised an old pupil from 18 years ago with a full beard; he looked no different, and as I remember he was a fantastic teacher that also taught me to row. I didn't fancy explaining to him what I've done with my life, think I would rather have thrown myself in front of the bus than do that.

At home I installed Apache and Mysql. After getting a working server up I played with some php scripts.

Greetings from a Dead Man...

I got up, had a shower, looked outside. Went to the ATM in town, became very angry. Punched a lamp post. Walked around for a bit. Picked the skin off my knuckles. Played second life. Spoke to some nice people. read a funny email. Went back to bed. Watched 'century of the Self' on google video, by Adam Curtis.

This morning there was ice on the road, but I'm getting use to the varying temperatures we are having. I continue to listen to 'Deutsch Plus' on my Ipod.

Now every time I'm going to the buddhist centre I'm telling myself not to spend two hours talking crap to people, and possibly, keep my mouth shut. This is proving to be difficult. Something takes over, and I can't help but say the most stupid rubbish and it's more from a point of my feeling, ' I'm going to tell you if you like it or not.' Still, you've got to laugh !!!

After cleaning at the centre, I distributed some leaflets, and then, drank coffee whilst reading my new book ' Cisco Routing Protocols.'

The 'Learning Shop' in the Forum seemed to be closed for staff training. So instead I walked to Norwich City College, and see if they could give me advice about doing a degree in computer science. The college had an information centre, and inside a lady talked me through the options open to me. It seems I might either do one year in connection with University of East Anglia and City college which is more tailored towards business and e-commerce. Or, one year foundation course in science.

I bought some cheap noodles off the market and some hot chilli Japanese crispy seaweed. Which was fucking expensive !!! Inside the Chinese shop I was the only white person, I couldn't understand a word of what was being said, which I kinda liked...Hahah I'm special...