Still here. I have just been very busy.

I have nearly finished the Shuffleathon review.

Another day, another bit added to the Shuffleathon 2008 review. My problem is that I keep adding and taking bits out. I think the technical term is 'rewriting'.

It will not be a "Chinese Democracy". The review will be finished before the end of next week. Has to be finished, really. We are off to London on Friday.

There is work to be attended tomorrow morning, then shopping in the afternoon and then tomorrow evening I am out with an old blog buddy seeing James at the NIA.

Back on Sunday.

Very tired. Nose running. Headache this morning. I could have done without going out to a family meal to celebrate Sister 3's birthday, but at least there I was able to sit Niece 2 (3 months, 3 weeks old, approximately) on my lap and make her laugh by doing duck noises. Highlight of my day. Really.

I have not forgotten the blog. I went to see the Fratellis and have a story of idiocy to tell. I have been listening to the Shuffleathon 2008 CD, which is a quite interesting set of songs. I have been writing some emails and doing other things. I have just not been writing about them.

By the way, "Iron Man" is magnificent on Blu Ray. Just thought that you should know that.

I am going to lie down.

Last night did not quite happen the way I expected it to.

Jennifer was ill, so she did not go to the party. The bus was late and we did not arrive home until late. No time to do anything but eat, watch "The Quiller Memorandum" on the V+ box (dated, sure, but Pinter's dialogue still sparkles) and go to bed.

There will be no time this evening, either (I am going to see the Fratellis with my Brother), so this quick post, on a Company computer - ooo, eee - will have to be it.

Have a good weekend, all. Catch up later.

No time! No time!

Saturday. Went to work and saw a Scottie dog attack a bus. Evening went to see the Stranglers. I have written a review in my notebook. I need to type it up.

Sunday. Went food shopping and then went to see "Saw V". It is rubbish. Did the whole review in the notebook thing. Evening. Did a stack of ironing while listening to the best of the Mamas and the Papas. Watched "Burn Notice" and "Breaking Bad".

Today. Went to work. Watched more people be made redundant, including Jennifer's nemesis. Jennifer said that she didn't like the person, but it still made her feel sick. Evening. Cooked, washed up and watched "Spooks".

Phew!

Back tomorrow. More time.

Tuesday evening was spent

1. Eating food. We had a Chinese takeaway. We were so knackered by an apocalyptically bad day at work, we decided that the mountain of fresh food we had in the fridge could go hang.
2. Watching the first episode of "Breaking Bad". I thought that it was very funny. I laughed all of the way through it. I will definitely watch the rest of the series.
3. Installing the software for Jennifer's tiny Creative Zen MP3 player. (Tiny? It was so small I thought it was an After Eight mint.) A stressful experience to say the least, mainly because Jennifer kep hanging over my shoulder asking me what I was doing.

I have been writing a largish post catching up on all of the film reviews I have thus far failed to post. So, if you will excuse me, I am going back to that.

I hope everyone is OK.

What was that line again?

'I will be back on Friday.'

Okey, dokey...

Oh, well. Couldn't be helped. In between TV ("The X-Factor", "Burn Notice" and the finale of "Alias" - FUCKING HELL!) , movies ("Gomorra" and "Nights In Rodanthe"), shopping, eating and general dossing about, I did not so much as go near the computer in days. If it helps, I did feel guilty. Hey! Not that guilty.

I am off now to do important things.

Tomorrow I will be going to see the England Under 21 squad run rings around the Wales Under 21 squad at Villa Park, so... wait for it... I will be back on Wednesday.

Just checking in. Actually it needs to be a very quick checking in. Jennifer and I will be leaving the house in 21 minutes. This afternoon we are going to see the Pacino/De Niro thriller "Righteous Kill", then we are eating out and then we are going to see Van Morrison at the Symphony Hall. I am not completely au fait with everything Van Morrison has recorded in recent years, but he was one of those artistes that I have always wanted to see live.

It has been a busy week. No time for anything of substance. Certainly not blogging.

I have been getting up at 5am to get to work by 7am. It was tiring and it was draining. Many years back, when I was a young computer operator, I had no problems with the very early mornings. Times change. I was glad when I stopped doing that job and I wouldn't want to go back. Now I find that early mornings are OK in short bursts, but I find that at the end of the week a recovery period is required. Last night I struggled to keep my eyes open watching "Cor Blimey!" Nothing to do with the movie, as it was very good. When I finally did get to my bed, I slept for 10 hours.

I am an old a mature man. (My Dad used to say that a man is only only as old as the woman that he gropes. Ha!)

Gotta go.

I know, I know. I said that I was going to write about work yesterday, but I didn't. The weekend has been frantically busy. I am really tired, so this will be short.

Jennifer and I were at work on Saturday morning. Jennifer, desperately trying to get certain things completed before her week off, drafted me in to help. I think we were successful enough, but her boss will still moan on Tuesday morning that we could have done better. Bollocks to him. I have no respect for a man who is a brown nose and an arse licker, with no concept of the difference between really easy problems, more difficult problems and really difficult problems. He thinks that they are all the same. Total ass.

Nicer things.

Yesterday afternoon I met Niece 2 for the first time. Niece 2 has lots of black hair, hazel eyes, is more Mediterranean coloured than pink, and is already working on a pretty good pout. She is very small, but weighed a ton when I picked her up. We made a little bit of a connection. Niece 2 looked straight at me, gave me a serious frown, yawned and then fell asleep. It is hard work being a baby.

The treat for my Nephew (Niece 2's Brother), was to take him out to see "Hellboy II: The Golden Army". Just him and me. We had a good time. Nothing in the world like seeing a film like that with a pre-teen boy. I will write about what I thought of the film, next time.

Yesterday evening. Mostly we dossed in front of the TV. "The X-Factor". "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". "The Thomas Crown Affair" (Brosnan and Russo version).

Today, haircut for me, shopping with Jennifer for hours. "Casino Royale" in the evening. Food in between.

Tired, tired, tired.

Tomorrow we are taking Niece 1 and my Nephew to see "Kung Fu Panda" at the IMAX. It is not a film I was bothered much about seeing, but Jennifer insisted. She wanted us to do something together with the kids. I think she just wanted to see another film on that huge screen.

Short of time. The Pistols await. I am due on the bus at... 17:44!

Better get a move on then.

The checklist.

Nap. Check.

Food. (Eggs in egg cup and toast.) Check.

TV. ("Lost".) Check.

Shave, poo, shower. Check.

Tea. (No red bull in house.) Check.

Gaze at girl sunbathing in bikini in neighbours garden. Check.

Post on blog. Check.

My work here is done.

They all seem so young on this clip, but what a song this was.

Lazy Saturday morning at home.

OK. Maybe not so lazy. I was up at 6am. Watched some TV. On the bus at 8am. At Sainsbury's at 8:10am. Back on the bus home at 9:10am. Having breakfast with Jennifer at 10am.

I think I need to have a nap. We are out this afternoon watching the legend that is Tommy Steele in "Doctor Doolittle". Jennifer's choice. I am sure that it will be great, but I must avoid the urge to fall asleep during the show.

I have all of the blogs I regularly read as feeds on Google Reader. Over this weekend it has shown very few new posts.

People have lives. That is good. I have not posted much myself. Have I (gulp!) got a life?

Friday evening I watched "Epic Movie" on cable. It is a howlingly, astoundingly bad and unfunny movie. An hour and a half of my life that I will never get back. I hope I don't regret it. I might need that hour and a half in the future. I must see "Meet The Spartans" when it gets released over here. According to IMDB it is 0.1 point worse than "Epic Movie", which I find very hard to believe.

Saturday morning I went to work, because Jennifer asked me to. Nothing much to report. I didn't complete a single thing that I wanted to complete, and so have nothing to show for the overtime. Managers will moan but, hey! fuck 'em.

Saturday afternoon I went to see my Mom to pick up Jennifer's presents, from my family, for her Birthday on the Monday after next. (24th March 2008. She will be 48, but don't say I said so.) I didn't stay long. The house was too hot and smoky and I was tired and feeling ill. The cold is hanging on.

Saturday evening I watched lots of television. I cannot remember any of what I watched except for "Love Soup". Very sly, brilliantly written, total genius in fact. Saturday's episode had a particularly melancholy denouement for anybody who watched the hour length episodes, a couple of years ago, and wondered what had happened to Gil Raymond.

Today I went to see "The Cottage" with my Brother. I will write about that tomorrow.

This evening I did intend to write a review of "Margot At The Wedding". I knew exactly what I was going to write, but I suppose that it can wait until another day.

Instead I have been replying to emails and publicising this new blog to some old friends. (Other old friends to follow in the next day or so.) It took a lot longer than I expected, which is a good thing. Lots to say to old friends.