Journal – September 2004

Welcome to another instalment of posts from my journal. This month has basically been spent looking for work, getting hooked on a new PlayStation 2 game, and buying more DVDs and CDs. So it’s nowhere near as eventful as the previous month, but I hope you enjoy!

Wednesday September 8, 2004

The BBC did another of their Test The Nation quizzes over the weekend, and it was all about popular music this time. I got 42 out of 70, so I’m pleased with that. I entered via text message. It hadn’t worked in the past, but it did this time, and they eventually sent my result at 8:30am on Sunday morning.

Our builder has gone now, to give us a break for a few weeks. He’s pretty much finished Mum and Dad’s bedroom, and it looks really good, plus he’s done some repairs to our roof. He’s also put 4 new shelves in my room, so I’ve put all my CDs on to a couple of them, and there’s still lots of room left, which is great.

I’ve got another appointment with Louise, my Work Prep advisor, tomorrow. It’ll be a big 2-hour meeting looking at jobs. I’m going to look on the web at some today as well, to give her an idea of the sort of job I want.

Thursday September 9, 2004

The meeting with Louise went fine today. We looked through some job websites so that she could get to know more about me, particularly the sort of job I was looking for. I’ve got an application form to fill in as homework, as I’ve never had to fill one in before and wanted the practice. I found her office alright, the bus journey was nice and easy. My next meeting is next Tuesday. That’ll be to check over my practice application form, and finish off the initial personal development. She’ll then start to try and get me a placement within 4 weeks, although she said she’s going to start making phonecalls now. It might take longer, but she reckons it shouldn’t be too hard to get a placement somewhere.

Dad also had to go out to the hospital today, to see the eye specialist, and he was there for a while. His eyes aren’t very good, as he’s got a cataract in his good eye now, which is a bit of a worry. He’s been prescribed some drops for now, and he’s been advised not to go back to work. The dizziness is still slowly going, but now he’s got something else to deal with! Let’s hope they can do something about it. Still, at least they’ve found it. If he hadn’t become ill, he wouldn’t have had the eye check-up, so it’s been lucky really.

Tuesday September 14, 2004

I saw Louise again today. She was very impressed with my sample application form, meaning that I’ve picked out the right points in order to ‘sell myself’. Obviously reading all the career material I’ve picked up has proved useful! The countdown to a placement has, therefore, now begun. She’s going to try and find the best placement she can for me, and not just give me the first one she finds, which is good. I can relax for a little while.

I’ve also placed another Amazon order, while still waiting for the last one to arrive, containing Blondie – Live By Request, Dad’s Army – Series 1 & 2, and Oh Doctor Beeching! – Series 1 (a relatively little known comedy about a railway station, which is quite good from what I remember). There’s a lot of decent DVDs coming out in the next few months, after the sparse release schedule over the summer.

Thursday September 16, 2004

Dad had his appointment today. He’s going to have laser treatment on the eye with the cataract, to try and preserve his sight as long as possible (he’s been blind in the other eye for years already).

Burnout 3 arrived from Amazon yesterday, along with Bottom – Series 2 and Not The Nine O’Clock News – Volume 2. So I started looking at Burnout 3 last night, and it’s an awesome game! Sometimes you wonder if reviews exaggerate the greatness of a game, but they haven’t done for the GTA series or this one. It’s fast, it’s frantic, and it’s a lot of fun! It’s a vast improvement on Burnout 2 – it’s a fairly different game, really.

I’ve decided to go through and unlock the Crash stages first. I won’t aim for gold medals in them immediately, although I’ve already got a few. I just want to open all 100 up first, and then aim for the big medals and high scores. I’ve tried a couple of races to practice too, and they’re also great fun. The crashes in all modes are just superb. Plus, you’re told how to unlock things, which is a great idea.

The only issue I might have is with the music – it’s great to drive fast to, sure, but I wouldn’t listen to it otherwise. That’s the only advantage I can see with the Xbox – custom soundtracks. It’s a pity the PS2 can’t do that. Still, it’s a really minor niggle, and doesn’t detract from the gameplay at all. So on the whole, it’s a great game.

Wednesday September 22, 2004

Burnout 3 is still great. I’ve done quite a few races now. They’re not too hard so far, but can still be quite a challenge. I’ve already got a fair number of gold medals, so that’s good. Some events are very fast indeed, which isn’t always easy, but they often result in great crashes.

There are so many great DVDs coming out at this time of year, I’m going to be quite busy watching them over the coming months! I’ve watched my new DVDs of Not The Nine O’Clock News and Bottom. I’ve also now received the DVDs for Dad’s Army and Blondie. Oh Doctor Beeching hasn’t arrived yet, but I’m sure it will soon.

I saw Blondie – Live By Request last night, and it’s a superb DVD. It’s a great live show recorded earlier this year in New York for the TV, where fans could ring in with requests, and it was done because Blondie had recently released their first new album for a few years (The Curse Of Blondie).

Browsing the web today, I’ve also just noticed that Queen’s new DVD comes out on November 1st (the same day as Live Aid). It’s called Queen On Fire – Live At The Bowl, and is a concert done at Milton Keynes. There are some interviews and other concert tracks as extras too. A CD of the concert will also be released. I can’t wait! I might get some other CDs soon too.

Not much else is happening at the moment really. Dad’s still at home, gradually getting better still. I haven’t got a job yet, but that’s not a problem. With the new DVDs and Burnout 3, how can I get bored?!

Friday September 24, 2004

I’ve ordered some more CDs and DVDs:

CDs:

• Suzi Quatro – Greatest Hits
• Blondie – Greatest Hits
• Blondie – Live By Request (to accompany the DVD I got earlier this week)
• The Who – A Quick One (their 2nd album, to carry on my collection)

DVDs:

• Suzi Quatro – Leather Forever (a live DVD)
• Blondie – Greatest Video Hits
• Kenny Everett – The Complete Naughty Bits
• Minder – Series 9

See what I mean about plenty being out that I want? I think I’ll be buying CDs more frequently in future now I’ve got room for them. If I like Blondie’s Greatest Hits, I might get their Singles Box Set. And I want to keep getting The Who’s albums, then move on to someone else, perhaps Status Quo, as I’ve got some of their stuff already. I might get their new Greatest Hits, as my old one isn’t in great condition, and the track selection is a bit different this time.

Wednesday September 29, 2004

Louise has got back to me with an offer of a placement! The local council are starting a new project in their finance department, and believe they could use me for 8 weeks. Having showed an interest, they want to meet me. So, on Friday I’ll be going down there in the afternoon to talk to them. They will explain to me what the project is all about, and just get to know me properly. All being well, I might start as early as next week. That’s assuming I pass the interview of course, so let’s hope that goes well!

Apart from that, Nan’s coming down on Saturday to stay for a little while, so that will be good. We can all celebrate together if I get my placement!