after quite a lot of upheaval and angst in the latter part of 2007 I finally started to feel comfortable in my new home in a shared house. We got a new housemate and all felt pretty at home together, so you can imagine how annoyed and upset I was to find out at Christmas time that our landlady might want us out - the reason being that the letting agency have neglected the place so much, and so she wants the house fixed up good and proper and then have only two tenants from then, on instead of three (which would make the rent unaffordable to the likes of me). The letting agency refused to give me her contact details, saying it was "confidential" even though it's an offense to withold such information from a tenant (what a surprise), but I managed to track her down on the internet by remembering a little bit about her. She had to come all the way from California to come and see the house and speak to us, all because the crappy cowboy agency couldn't be bothered to return her calls or emails in order to let her know if any of the maintenance jobs were actually being done. Anyway, we met her and made our pleas to let us stay for the rest of the year at which point we'd probably all be ready to move out. She said she'd think about it, but after we'd had a visit from a builder and surveyor (who showed up unannounced of course) she decided to give us notice and we've all got to get out. So I don't know where I'm going to be living in just over a month's time. One of my housemates is going back to Argentina and the other one has just found somewhere to go, which leaves me. It's likely I will find somewhere before a month is up but it is a worry especially as there is so much competition for places in Cambridge and the standard is generally pretty low seeing as the demand is so high... It feels so comfortable here with my housemates that it's hard to believe that it'll all be over in a few weeks and I'll be like a fish out of water again. Still, I'm telling myself (or trying at least, not always successfully) that I'll find somewhere even nicer and it's all a big adventure, like being in the big brother house!

I'm kind of hoping that the letting agency will send round some more unannounced workmen or builders and I'll say "sorry, did we have an appointment? - seeya!"

update: I had appointments to see two places, both of which have been taken before the day even arrived >;(

here's a funny ad. I didn't like it at all till about 90% through then it made me laugh out loud and I had to keep replaying that bit (the bit that goes pffft). After the ad there's a game to play as well though I didn't try it...

I remember mixtapes fondly and they're not necessarily a thing of the past thanks to this gadget (though £18 for a 64mb USB stick seems a bit steep. You could get a cheap one and just put it in an old cassette box - if you can still find one without having been written all over)



more designs here

Interesting article in the Guardian:

Owning too much stuff drives us into a spiral of sadness, says a new book. Or is the real problem "misery-creep", where everyday unhappiness is being rebranded as depression?

My view is that a certain amount of hardship and striving is essential to keep us motivated and stimulated and therefore happy. When your standard of living means you can have all the cars and plasma screens and bling that you want, your whole reason for living can vanish like a mirage leaving you with the realisation that your life is empty and you just own a lot of stuff that in the big scheme of things has no value. It's been shown that lottery winners are no happier after a few months of their win, and quite often are much less happy because they've given up their old lifestyle and with it, their more realistic expectations and aspirations. It reminds me of when I was a kid and I had to save every penny to buy an expensive record from my local vinyl emporium a few times a year and boy, did I treasure them and squeeze out every last bit of enjoyment from them. Nowadays I can get just about any album I want for peanuts on ebay and so I don't really appreciate them (even though I go on buying them, desperately trying to compensate for all those years of coveting the unaffordable) and I kind of wish I could get back that excitement and enjoyment that I had during the lean years... To be honest I don't have much sympathy for majority of people that hit the mall every weekend like a swarm of locusts and then wonder why their self-centred consumerist lifestyles don't make them happy. Also I think it's a fact of life that no matter what your circumstances you can never avoid a certain amount of unhappiness or misery (into every life a little rain must fall etc.) so at least that's keeps us from getting too above ourselves - though it seems that some people think they're suffering from mental illness just because they're not as happy as they erroneously think they deserve to be in the 21st century....

that's the world put to rights again

the contract on my mobile phone is now up and I've had to get a new one for £12.50 a month (after cashback) rather than continue with the current one for £35 a month (no more cashback). It's crazy really, I'd like to keep the old handset and keep paying what I have for the last year but it seems it's not possible. The world has to have yet another handset born into it and a new contract must be entered into, along with all the complications and calls to Delhi.... ho hum. Anyway, I downloaded my address book and crappy photos from my soon-to-be-obsolete handset and a few random shots are presented here in all their lo-res cruddiness for your delectation.

oh look, Jason Statham has got a new film out, called In the name of the king and very attractive he looks in it too (as always). You only have to take one look at the trailer though to see it's more or less an imitation of Lord of the Rings and looks as if it was made by the exact same people (who I read a while back, strangely didn't get the job of making the movie of the Hobbit). Most of the shots look like they were lifted straight from those films. I did really enjoy Lord of the Rings at first but by the end of the third movie I was completely weary of it, and never wanted to hear that theme tune ever again (there are only so many times you can find it "stirring" or feel empathy for scared blubbing hobbits). Still I guess there are fans out there desperate for a fix of something similar...

Have you seen what's happened to Craig David? He always made me cringe (and Avid Merrion's parody didn't help), but when I saw his new video I thought wow is that really him?! He looks FIT - (though unfortunately he does look remarkably like a young O.J.Simpson). While browsing through his videos I came across this one and had to get it from iTunes straight away. The grime-style rapping is not my thing but the chorus is so catchy and Mr David looks cool as a cucumber!