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October 12 Ok... I have a Twitter thing set up. Currently it is not finding me on the people search, which is more than a mite annoying, so me being the helpful soul I am, I shall provide you with a link. It is here For the moment, I have to say, I am disillusioned although, even as I type, I am led to believe my exposure has been... err... increased.... and I am now findabubble! Much new here? Not really. A few nights out have stretched funds a bit, but as the nights draw in, the likelihood of the pair of us wandering the mile and a half trek to the pub very often is diminishing as quickly as the light. Had a wander into what was The Duke in Leiden. Having been refurbed and now run by Marko from Bad Habits it's reopened as The Duke of Oz. An Australian bar in Leiden. Might seem a bit of an err... upside down (onderstboven??? sounds like that anyway lol) idea but if they get some atmosphere going in there then you never know. Marko is a decent genuine guy, so good luck I say. Oh, I savaged the house again. Moved the shelves from the kitchen to the bedroom to create what actually looks like a cool clothes rack! The kitchen is now slightly baron looking but... such is life. Am pleased with the bedroom now. After quite a lay off I picked up on the Dutch again. Not much but enough to sort of stimulate an effort. I have a gazillion books i need to be reading, not least an Egyptian Prayer Book sent to me by "Her Holiness, Sekhenet-Ma'at-Ra Setep-en-Ra User Hekatawy I, Nisut-Bity of the Kemetic Orthodox faith" (may your god bless copy paste and wikipedia), so there are umpteen distractions, but it seems that almost every other bugger is on a course over here to learn it. I suppose I should make more of an effort, but again, motivation lacks. Not spoken to Es's parents since the birthday debacle so it's not like I see anyone I actually need to speak Dutch to, and the "because I can" motivation just isn't me. I suppose I shouldn't allow the "everybody else is doing it" thing to get to me either, but sometimes I guess it's not that bad to be led a little. Deezer is still messing with the playlist on here... so I apologise if you end up listening to something odd! Oh.. and the geocities site is closing. This sucks. My page has been on there for many years. http://www.geocities.com/aliwiseman1974/ Lots of info, some quite personal stuff too, and links to stuff like the old amazon reviews... all about to get eaten unless I can transfer it to somewhere new. I've seriously debated buying a domain name, more specifically "One-With-Myself.com" so that I can have the email address I-Am@One-With-Myself.com but am not sure I can justify the outlay when most people just pass through here and can mail me via Facebook, here, or gmail (all aliwiseman), as well as now Twitter! However... the email is still cool! Ok, it's decended into darkness as I've been typing and the wife has vanished within it! Away with me and salutations to all whom pass through. Until next time.... October 04 Winter comethSo, what's new in the world of Wiseman? Well... Julia's funeral was all that it could be really. The music was suitably ouchy, but the service was pleasant. It reflected on positives, good memories, and generally left more smiles than tears, which is a testament in its self. The boys held themselves together really well. I don't know if it is my place to be proud of them, but I am anyway! Not that it makes a difference I guess. On a personal note, I suppose I was hoping that to at least be able to contribute in some way, maybe they might want to lean on me a little. Instead of which, there was a demonstration of strength which fills me with confidence that, they will be ok. I'll happily forgo usefulness for that knowledge! I think I managed to attain, and I use this word grudgingly, closure, of a sorts. I was reminded a little of when Dad died. I'd already said my good-byes to him years before, and any other encounter would've been seen as a bonus, so to speak. The same went with Julia, in that, when I moved from the UK, good-byes were said, and it was entirely possible I'd never have seen her again. Since then, yes we'd met, and I'd introduced her to Es etc etc... even scoffed some of her battenburg.. but again these were like bonuses. The difference is I suppose, I still maintained a relationship via the internet with Julia, whereas with Dad, the only other time I saw him, I was on the streets in Crewe having not eaten for a couple of days, and he pulled a typical West Street Church move, stuck his not insubstantial nose in the air, and walked off. Most days there were interactions with Ju, even if they were just competitive quiz results posted on facebook! That, and the fact that I actually valued Ju being about, made the loss impact me rather more than when Dad died. And of course the shock factor. Dad, I was ready for. Ju... well, i still maintain my original thoughts. It's wrong. Out of order. But, irreversible. And. I wouldn't be me if I wasn't true to how I approach things like this, which is, ask myself, "Can you do anything about it Ali?", answer "No.", and then say, "Well then... move on and deal with stuff you CAN do something about!". And then I hear lines like "I miss your happiness my friend", from Stalks of Last Years Fruit by Penelope Swales, and just for a few minutes the strong tough unemotional Ali is nowhere to be found, and instead it's nose blowing time! Anyway.. on to merrier things. While over in sunny Crewe, i managed to spend some quality time with young master Mike! Some friends you don't have to see for ages n yet when you do bump into each other, things are pretty much as they were. We sat, had a laugh, a decent waffle n chuckle watched a bit of footie, and caught up a few years! A beer or too with Tony (grr... i mean Anthony!!) and a chance to catch up with Dave from the Cat / Sharon over some beers too, made for a good eve. The afternoon the day before I had a meal with Shaz which was good too. Been a fair old few years since her and I had spoken, and it was really good to just sit and chat. Funny how all those years ago we never had a meal together! I also kept running into Tony Baker, and Joanne's mum... 3 times!! Eventually I managed to catch up with Jo herself, which was nice! lol. Been a bundle of years again since I've seen her. A few days later and I'm sat on the pc eyeing the thrillingness which is Facebook and Sheridan posts that she is in Hamsterspam. More precisely, she is stuck, due to cancellations of flights. Being only a 20 min train ride away, Es and my good self head up to keep her entertained. Sheridan was exactly how she was back in Crewe, bouncy, fun, slightly bonkers, and great company. Several hours, and several beers, plus a meal later we send her on her way on the airport, Esther having made a new friend and me having renewed an old one. On returning to Leiden, we wind up in the Kings Bar, and I feel a tad odd. Not liking that, we head home, only for me to wind up with man flu for a few days, and Es to get it pretty much one day behind me. Fortunately it was probably swine flu, so the symptoms were reasonably mild, and it was done in about 4-5 days. Twas liberation celebration over this weekend here in Leiden so there were much festivities happening here. Es still being flued up, I headed out alone, only to bump into Denny and Mei, so we took a wander around the fair. Denny being Denny wanted to have a bash on the rides, and me being me jumped at the idea. Not been on rides since Glenda in Oz.... hang on no... that came out wrong... I mean since Glenda took me (steady people!!!) to Dream World (it's a theme park dammit lmao), so this was muchos funos! Then heading back to the afore mentioned Kings we had a drinky or two. There are some pictures of this mayhem ready to surface, which i shall link to when they appear! was all good fun! Okies.. time to fly again. Watched Arsenal take apart Blackburn 6-2 but now there are two books (David Icke and Robert Rankin) sitting looking accusingly at me as I've not done the mastermind thing... I've started but not finished. With two more Ashers, the new Steven Erikson, and the new Pratchett book also waiting... what am I doing tapping away on here? Toodle pip! lol September 15 Julia HortonI have been wondering what exactly to say about how I feel about Julia having died. Then I read what she said about me when i moved away, and thought, this pretty much fits. I retain the font she wrote it in because I know she used it to make me growl at its awkwardness.. lol... to be able to elicit a response is something she loved, even if it was a growl! For over four years (Closer to 7 now... my insert)I have been ... sharing my life with someone....though not in a romantic, loved up sense. Throughout that time people have looked with quizzical eyes at what they thought they saw and drawn their own conclusions. A few have dared to ask the question..."what exactly is your relationship together?". This usually greeted with a smile and one asking the other "do you want to try and explain it". Generally the answer being no. On one occasion I have attempted to answer and the only description that came to mind - you can't really get much closer without being in the same skin. Robin Hood......would you die for? Well, it's not an impossibility. The term soulmate doesn't always have to have romantic connotations. We've laughed a lot, bickered, cried, incensed, listened, switched off, cared and got verra verra drunk more than a few times. There have been times when even hatred and spite have been there too....but even in those times, and through all the other times....it's been known without it being spoken of who'd be there to turn to, who'd be the one to stop you hitting the ground when you fell. She went on to say how she wished me well now that I would be in another place. I guess i'm not the only one now. I'll miss you. (transposed to something more readable.. lol) : you will have surmised that there had been a parting of the ways of some sort. You'd be right in thinking that....sort of. For over four years (Closer to 7 now... my insert)I have been ... sharing my life with someone....though not in a romantic, loved up sense. Throughout that time people have looked with quizzical eyes at what they thought they saw and drawn their own conclusions. A few have dared to ask the question..."what exactly is your relationship together?". This usually greeted with a smile and one asking the other "do you want to try and explain it". Generally the answer being no. On one occasion I have attempted to answer and the only description that came to mind - you can't really get much closer without being in the same skin. Robin Hood......would you die for? Well, it's not an impossibility. The term soulmate doesn't always have to have romantic connotations. We've laughed a lot, bickered, cried, incensed, listened, switched off, cared and got verra verra drunk more than a few times. There have been times when even hatred and spite have been there too....but even in those times, and through all the other times....it's been known without it being spoken of who'd be there to turn to, who'd be the one to stop you hitting the ground when you fell. September 06 GrumblingsCor, two blog entries within the space of two days. What's up with me? Well, I can tell you one thing which is... it's the lack of an exclamation mark on this here wireless keyboard. Why is there no exclamation mark I here you cry? Well, it's cos the good woman spattered it with pear cider lol. Unintended I know, but grrr... I LIKE to use exclamation marks. I could've used several already. Arrggg... So, tis Sunday and am mentally psyching myself up for my wanderings around Manc and Crewe. Of course, I still have no idea of exactly what I am going to do with regards the reason why I am going over, because yet again Hamish hasn't gotten in touch about the books. It's frustrating as it means if i don't sort something out, I've spent our money on something for me, which hasn't happened, because yet again someone else has let me down. Speaking of letting down, I hope the trip to Dantes doesn't follow the same fate. I know of at least one person now who's pulled out, which is a shame. It will be nice to be back across the water for a short while. An indulgence of pie, real beer, and possibly more pie is impending. I think also it's good to get a little blast of the Uk to remind me how much better off I am over here. The politics, the atmosphere, especially in Crewe, will be apparent. The prices of things I will try and not look at, due to the massive rip off over here. If i don't notice the differences like that, I can't grumble about them. Much. Maybe. Speaking of grumbling, Esther is away tomorrow for the week away on her assertiveness/manipulation techniques thing. Now, I'm not grumbling at that but, I am grumbling at what exactly has gone on with the organisation of the course. Get this : Es normally works a 9 hour, 4 day week, where by overtime is paid at 1.3ish on any time over that. Now the course which she is on, requires her to do an 11 hour day, for 5 days. So, the difference between 9*4=36 and 11*5=55 is 19 hours. If we say Es earns 15euros per hour so that increases to 19.5, multiplied by the 19 extra hours, equates to 370euros owed. Will she get that? Nope. Instead they are telling her she WILL have the time back, i.e. she can take a day off, to compensate. So, the monetary value of that is 9*15=135. That is a discrepancy of 235euros purely from that aspect, but I think it is wrong they tell her that she has to have a day off at all. What they have have done is con her out of a shed load of money, and somehow made her think that is ok. If that isn't an example of manipulating someone, I don't know what is, so at least it would appear that the people running the course know what they are doing. Right, the next load of washing is crying out to be done, so am away again. What's good looking and hangs up.....? Ok.. maybe that only works on a phone. lmao September 05 RamblingsWas pleased to get a text today simply saying Happy Fathers Day. I assume it was from Glenda otherwise I may be in trouble! hehe! Went out yesterday intending on just letting off a little bit of steam and wound up being out way too late. Bad me! Had fun though, waffling to Denny, his brother, and Karen about all things odd! It is nice to be able to talk in English with people over here in an environment where by I don't feel guilty at not using the local language. Sounds silly but it's true. Finding out my mate is talking about getting divorced, i took time out to look at the stats again and things really don't look good for marriages in general! I guess if Es and me are to remain Es and me (refusing to put Es and I!! lol) we have to become almost statistical anomalies. My family is hardly a great example, Dad divorced twice, Mum once, and 4 other divorces in the immediate family. I was reading too about humans as a species from an article Here and how human nature is disregarded at your peril. This is something I've said about for ages. If you acknowledge that something can effect you, it is easier to prepare for it, then deal with it. But.. what do you do when it comes to something like marriage? If you know that the chances are, you will divorce, (and if you believe the stat thrown about which says 1 in 2 do then you don't need to be a maths genius to work out the probability... especially if both parties have not been divorced before), then why enter into a marriage in the first place? It's a curious question and very valid. In truth I don't know the answer, but being married I can speculate I suppose. I think part of it is security. There is something about the institution of marriage which gives a stability to people. The one person knows that there is always another who will be there for them, or at least, that is the idea. And, as with other types of jobs, we sign a contract accordingly! However, to continue the job analogy as so often happens once the security of a contract is signed, or if boredom within the job sets in, or indeed if another offer of a better job comes along, the contract becomes almost irrelevant, In fact, not unlike football transfers, all a contract does is allow for the compensation of harmed parties before transfer of "ownership" is passed on. And in all fairness, anyone who "loves" someone (and i use quotes for that because i tend to question "love" as a descriptive given its lack of parameters) would surely wish the best for them, and would forgo their own wants in order to not stand in the way of the other moving onwards and upwards. I think wishful thinking plays a part too. Some people just know that the partner will be moving on and maybe subconsiously try and trap them / make it more difficult for them to leave. People want things to work though, and as long as both people want something enough, it's mightily difficult to get in the way of that. However, peoples wants change. I refuse to use the word "needs" in any of this. The only "need" involved in the whole thing is biological. The need to pass on your genes! But, as i say, peoples wants change. Be that through maturity, through self esteem issues, where by someone suffering will take something, rather than live with nothing, only to find as their self esteem improves, what they then want out of a relationship, is more than what they initially settled for with the person they're with in the now. Of course there is a problem with this in that you can quite easily create a self fulfilling prophecy, and actually sabotage a relationship by forever thinking that it is going to die. Tis almost a guaranteed way to do so! I suppose that is why the expression "Healthy amount of scepticism", contains the word "Healthy"! Overdoing anything is dangerous. Tis again tied in with self esteem I think, although, in some cases when it is so obvious someone will move on that obviously plays no part, although living that way can't be good for you. So what conclusions did I draw at the end of this? Actually not that many really. I guess what's in your hands is in your hands, and what's not, you can only accept, deal with, and if called for, move on. And suddenly I'm back thinking about it being Fathers Day again, and how I've dealt with that. I think the ability to make myself hard enough emotionally to deal with pretty much anything was probably something I learnt when I was very small indeed. Has it made me a better person? Debatable! Has it allowed me to still be relatively sane and still in the land of the living? Quite possibly. Does it give me the confidence to deal with what's to come, irrespective of what that is? Yes, I think so. And that can't be a bad thing, because I know I can rely on me! I've trusted me with me for some time now, and as I sat here typing this I can look around me and think : "What's not been in my hands is beyond my control, be it my not having spent more than 10 days with Jack in nearly 7 years, or the Deb abortion, or many other things, but when something has been within my ability to grasp, generally I've made the right decision and done all I could, and had the courage to put myself in positions whereby it requires trust in myself in order to survive and actually live." At this rate I might make it to 80 after all! lol August 28 Happy Bday Es!Tis Esthers birthday! 34 today! Catching me up she is! Increasing her percentage of my age so that statistically, we will be the same age soon, and if she keeps up this rate of increase she must surely pass me within the next 20 years! She's off for a hair appointment thing at the mo! Looked fine to me but what do i know... lol So what's new? Not vast amounts really. I had a fluffed attempt at wallpapering the new bedroom. Point blank wouldn't work. Was it me, the wallpaper, the paste? Who knows! Either way it tore every time so I was not best impressed. My shoulder still hurts. I went back to Ninjutsu probably too early and annoyed it again. I think it was slightly dislocated before, but who knows. It's sure as hell taking its time sorting its self out. In actual fact I'm a touch disillusioned with the training anyway, but that could just've been my mood. Sleep disturbed nights due to mosquitoes don't help! I'm off to the uk in the next couple of weeks. The plan is to collect a bunch of books, and get them posted over to here. Whether that comes off is kind of dependent upon others though, so I'm not going to get my hopes up. Staying with Les in Manchester for a few days, hopefully including a visit to see Mammal, and then taking a couple of days in Crewe, and there take in the sights of Dantes, the new rock bar there in place of 21-12! Esther is away on a work dohicky for a few days too, so the timing is good as Es wouldnt be here anyway. Then she's flying over for the weekend. Am quite pleased with how the moving of the stuff round the house has worked. Seems we have more space than we thought. Ah i forgot! Deezer has messed again with the music on here so the playlist you'll get playing here isn't exactly how i set it up. I think it's still the same songs.. but it appears to be on random, which i suppose makes it interesting if you call back to the site a few times! Thinking of music.. a big shout out should go to Denny... who sorted my guitar strings! Ta muchly! Hmm.. i was going to have a rant about enforced flu vaccinations which are just around the corner.. lol... but i sharnt! Is sharn't a word? I don't care! All I'll say is they won't be sticking me full of needles any time soon! I see Scottish water has been unfortunate enough to be deigned to "need" fluoridation! They managed to do it so it didn't go through the parliamentary debate! Cleverly done. Whisper was the Nazi's had plans to add fluoride to water supplies so as to keep the population supplicant and pliant. No Alistair No... this is to be a blog free of rants and angst! Hmmm.. I think the last sentence has cramped this blog somewhat! So, all that remains to be said is, nice start to the season Arsenal (and Crewe), keep it up in Mancville! Am thinking I may not take my shirts with me to Manchester. Better a live chicken than a dead hero! Till next time July 30 bye bye julyWell, it looks from this that nothing happened at all in july here in sunny Leiden, but that's not really true. We've bought a laptop, mostly so that we can connect it up to the big tv, and watch streamed stuff in divx on a good size screen together without having to fart about either sitting at the pc or moving the pc to accommodate the tv! First up was an episode of Psychoville, which i have to say was just as odd as i hoped it would be, it being the new offering from the League of Gentlemen, with the addition of dawn French, which is generally always a good thing. Of course, to go with the laptop, we needed a wireless keyboard and mouse, so that moving from the sofa was never ever needed again! However, as the dongle thing is a little fragile it seems only right to protect it by plugging it into the main pc when the laptop is not in use. Hence.. I'm now sat on the sofa typing to the main pc, cant really see what i'm typing and am hoping a good bout with the spell checker afterwards will amend all of my errors! We hit the Hague on the weekend, in the hope of buying some stuff from the British shop there. Frankly the place was god awful. The Tuckerbox in Leiden is excellent for British goods, and with the exception of lockets has most of the stuff we're after, cept for good pies, but then this place had none either. One bottle of real ale was all they had in the way of.. err.. real ale.. (well ok then bottle conditioned but you get my drift!!) yet the website promised much much more. Kelly's is the name, and my review of Kelly's British shop Den Haag The Hague, would consist of a couple of words, "Ropey", and "Pants"! However, our journey was not in vain, as the American book shop (not store dammit! lmao) housed many a treat. Robert Rankin books, of which we brought home "Necrophenia", David Icke books, of which we brought back "Infinite love is the only truth, everything else is illusion", and Neal Asher books, "Prador Moon" finding it's way into mijn zakje! There is also a pub in The Hague called the fiddlers arms, which allegedly sells hand pulled cask conditioned ales. So, we saught that out, only to find that there was a sign on the front saying "closed for july!". Not impressed. So, we headed home rather disillusioned (or just illusioned if you believe mr Icke) with the trouble we'd gone to only to find that both reasons we went to The Hague in the first place let us down. However, upon our return we wandered into the Kings in Leiden for happy hour beers all day monday, only to not get out of there until closing in on 12 midnight after playing several hands of the old poker! And, a good time was had by all! Previously on the Friday, i'd been feeling a bit blurg for no particular reason. Isabelle, a lass from the pub was leaving Leiden, and after much deliberation about bobbing down for a farewell pint, I did, leaving Es at home. It should be pointed out that, it was nearly 11pm when i went out, and, at about 12.15a.m. with the pub supposedly emptying I headed next door to Brothers of Beer (now with the label HardRock Cafe Leiden bestowed) for a reflective bottle and to head home. As it happened I wound up chatting to Remi til gone 3a.m. who mysteriously conjured beers for me, and even a shot or two of something which I didn't ask questions about. So, I wandered away from there far later than intended only to see lights still on in the Kings! So, back in I wandered. After being invited to smoke weed and watching a possible fight fade away, having a good waffle and chuckle, it turned 6a.m! Now, the last time I was out til that time was probably New Year in the Giff, and I most certainly wasn't married! Still, Es was awake when i got in, and i think was startled by my coherence. I think it actually did me good. I didn't exactly let off steam and get drunk, but i did maintain 7 hours of conversation to people other than her for the first time in a while. It was, oddly, a healthy experience. Jacki from the Kings has also buggered off! Denny has gone to climb a mountain somewhere in Thailand, so in reality this month has been a set of goodbyes. Tuesday saw the anniversary of dad dying! The time has flown by. I don't really know how the others were and didn't ask. Probably safer for me not to get embroiled in that again. No whisky in the house for it, which is an oddity in its self as there is usually some in somewhere. I would be lying if I said I miss the guy, cos simply, I don't, but I do wonder sometimes what he would've made of me being settled and married. Or even married and settled! On the subject of family, (gee) Lois has appeared on facebook. Andrew is on there too, and has accepted Iain and Hamish's friend request but not mine. However Lois isn't on his list either so i should probably not read too much into that! Might be a case of locking the door and leaving the window open! Did a Skype waffle with sis a few days back about this that and possibly the other too. I've mangled my arm a little at ninjutsu. *rolls eyes* Didn't hurt until after so I think it's just internal bruising, but it's kept me from training over the last two Mondays! Very annoying. It's not a sharp pain, and I've done all the angulation and rotation stuff, so it's not broken in my humble opinion, unless it's something like a hairline fracture. It's shoulder / collarbone so I guess it's possible, but there is no way I am paying for a doc to send me to the hospital when all they'll say is rest it. Actually I'm a touch mad about that! It's another Dutch thing. Apparently I can't just go to A and E, I have to see a doc who will refer me! I feel like catching the bus to Dover and getting it checked out there! grrrr! Oooh, and I nearly forgot. Neal Asher again. Picked up Orbus for about 13 euros. that's probably about 17euros less than it's normally priced over here, (Gabbleduck is 30+), so I was a happy bunny! The Rankin book I mentioned earlier was a full 20 euros cheaper than when I saw it in Amsterdam too, a few weeks back. Ah.. and we hit the cinema somewhere over the month too, to watch "Drag me to Hell", which was excellent. I duly went along with Es too to see the Harry Potter film, which I thought was pants, asides from a certain Fast Show member making me laugh from memories of performances past! And so on the 28th, after the riveting goings on, I did something I'd been thinking about for a few weeks. Moved the house around. Where once stood a fridge and dryer, now resides a bed, and a clothes rail. The computer desk moved rooms, second sofa pushed forward and the dvd rack went missing like Alex Hleb at Barca! Interestingly this worked out rather well, means the bedroom is now smaller and easier to decorate, and, we have a spare(ish give or take the fridge/dryer) room which could house a guest whereby they could get to bathroom/loo/kitchen without having to come past our bedroom, or of course, it could become a nice little room if we decide to increase! The house feels fresher again. With the addition of some pictures, and possibly a lick of paint or maybe wall paper it will be ready for another winter. Ok.. this has turned into something altogether too lengthy, something which I know can annoy.. lol... so am away. Happy August people! June 30 So where do I startAh it’s been a busy couple of weeks! So, what’s gone on, i hear you the reader cry, avidly leaning forward to gulp in what’s new in the world of Wiseman. Well, we did go see Cat, Fox, and the Style dogs who were not bad. Denny couldn’t be heard which sucked but the music was fun. I think we had an indian again in Everest in Lieden, which was excellent. Prawn Cylon i seem to remember. All good stuff! I found me a dojo. Nimpojutsu in the same group as Alf’s in Crewe. Went down for a night to try it out and enjoyed it hugely. The first guy i spoke to was italian, and spoke little dutch, and everyone else there spoke english to me and made me feel welcome. Excellent. I get home, to find that a friend has been online and asked if i’m interested in a full time job at the pub i frequent! An interesting idea, but one loaded with choices to go with it. Full time would interfere with the new dojo training. It would also mess with our tax system, which at the moment benefits us quite nicely. The money, although probably better than what i’d get in the uk for the same hours, is ok, but not actually needed, as we’ve survived happily up until now with no problems. Plus, we’d be going from us being at home together 7 nights a week, to my training taking 2 nights, and then the pub taking at least 3 more! Quite a change in the dynamic of the way the house exists. So i had to sit, and think about it. In the meantime a few more training sessions happened, ending in me winding up having a drink afterwards with two guys from the club. Good fun! And i was reminded of the last time I tried to get back into martial arts, and wound up living in the Kings Arms in Crewe and not being able to train! And so the time came for me and the chap who offered the job to chat. I’d decided that, after having talked everything through with the wifey… I was going to say no to the job, but felt abit crappy really as this guy had gone out of his way to offer it to me. I explained out my reasoning, and he then offered me the position but with more managerial orientation. Again this appeals to me. I’ve managed pubs before. Lived in, run them, ordered and audited, stock controlled and staff rotated. I loved it. But was it worth upsetting the status quo at home, especially after having been training, each time I’d come home late Es was still up/awake, yet had to be up early for work next day herself. Again he said think about it, and i put it to a couple of people I know. Most said, you know what’s more important to you, the job or the life you have and the now new social aspect of the martial arts as well as the training. I’d be lying if i said the choice was easy straight away, but in hindsight, it becomes more sensible the more i look at it. The issues with tax and insurance benefits etc were factors, but at the end of the day if something isn’t broken there’s no need to fix it, and so I turned it down. I hope I didn't piss the guy off too much by not taking the job, it was great that he thought of me! So i shoot off to the next set of training, only to rip my pants clean open at the crotch! Now.. i don’t wear underwear, so imagine how fortuitous it was that, in a strange air of inexplicability, i donned a pair of undies before heading out! Fortunately I was leant a pair of pants to go home in. Actually since then, we had a really good night out, part in the Kings where the job was offered, and part in Brothers Of Beer in Leiden (next door near enough to the Kings n spitting distance from Everest), where by i finally got my pool game together and won somewhere in the region of 12 games in a row, much to the annoyance of the barkeeper, as he was one of the thwarted! All this after having spent the day in Amsterdam and having had Beef and Yorkshire pudding in O’Rileys and kilkenny! All good stuff. Twists and turns are always interesting. I wonder what i’ll think when i look back in a year at this. Hmm! Asides from all that, my sister called by to say hi, along with 4 of her kids and Paul. They called by again the next day too.. and are apparently heading over on thursday for another flying visit. That’ll take the total number of visits from Su to the same as all of Esther’s friends visits (and she didnt want to borrow the playstation! lmao) and outdo the majority of visits from Esther’s family too. Not bad considering they live 1500k’s away instead of about 30! It still baffles me how it seems ok for us to go over there about once a month but not the other way round. It baffles me more that Es is ok with it too, but then i suppose I cant exactly comment on relationships with family! I guess i just want more for her than what’s gone on with my lot. *rolls eyes* That’s not hard though in all fairness! Right my back hurts and this regularly doesn’t post so.. let the battle commence to publish my musings! June 02 Rabbits and hares Ok... so it's a day late! lol! Well, what's new in the world of the Wiseman? Not vast amounts. Upon retun from Vegas Es had a few days spare still and so we wound up out and about, one night having a seriously good curry at a place called Everest Tandoori in Leiden (search engine promo lol). Then, a couple of days later we watched Middlesborough get rellegated and ended up watching Angels and Daemons wth Denny and May, and then winding up in Brothers Of Beer next door to the Kings Bar! Surprisingly neither of us had a tan from our Vegas exploits, but now we do. Well... more of a burning actually.. lol. We went for a wander at a place unpronouncable through some woodland and dunes and got shallow fried! Considering the temp was at least 10, closer to 15f less than Vegas and we were only out for a couple of hours it was bafflingly impressive. Me being me, took the camera with me, in a bag on my back. The consequences of this are now there for all to see should i bare my back (like in the gym). Suspicious looking lines where the bag straps were. Suspicious in that... it loooks like i have a bikini line! grrr! lol Es has similar, but with slightly better reason than me!! Seems like we have a band to go to on friday. The afore mentioned Denny is playing lead for a band called "Cat, Fox, and the Style Dogs"! Should be a giggle! Then off to Es's mum's birthday. I forget her age.. i think it's 60 this time but it might be 59! Probably best i find that out beforehand! lol Right.. machine is beeping at me so best sort the drying out before it shouts at me. Is it amused? I didn't think so! May 15 Vegas : The Wiseman’s return!Mutters... ah this has changed formats again so I can no longer add entries on dates gone by, so i'll have to log dates as I go! Okay... So... We're back! Alive, well, no pig flu, standard sore throat from flights but that's it! I have a bit of a browning going on, as does E, but no major burning which is surprising as there wasn't a day under 90f and at least one day at100f +. Monday : So, we headed out to Hamsterspam Airport on the Monday a.m. Heading to the Irish bar on the airport i had a breakfast of Murphy's stout and sausage sandwiches with Es having coke and something not quite as palatable, so I've forgotten it! Flight to Philadelphia was fine although landing was pretty bouncy due to turbulence! Filled faces with Fish and Chips and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale at the Olde Philadelphia Tavern on the airport where we bumped into Tamara and Adrian, one a WOW fan, the other a published Egyptologist known formally (according to wikipedia) as Her Holiness, Sekhenet-Ma'at-Ra Setep-en-Ra User Hekatawy I, Nisut-Bity of the Kemetic Orthodox faith, and founder and current head of Kemetic Orthodoxy and the House of Netjer, which is nice! We waffled for a good while about alsorts of stuff until twas time to wander away, only to find that our gate had been changed! Still all was well and we headed off into the sun! Hooora! (heavy on the "Ra" for our earlier company's sake!). Face broke out again but managed to contain the infection. was mostly gone by Friday Landed happily in Vegas, watched a house episode in flight from my phone, trip to the hotel on the bus was eventful as there was a merry ole lass at the back of the bus being loud and playful. Checked in at The Sahara Hotel & Casino, where by our room was instantly upgraded upon mention of how far we'd travelled, so that, when I said "I'm led to believe if we ask nicely you might upgrade us" the person behind the desk said "Tis already done!". Sorted! Ripped! Lets Off Road!! The room its self was... absolutely fine. Two double beds instead of a king, but wasn't a problem. One bed housed our "to hand" stuff", the other, us! The TV worked well. Cable gave us Law and Order, Boston Legal, Grey's Anatomy etc etc! All good. No sign of bed bugs, nor dirt, a bath, a shower, all clean fine and dandy! We grabbed a drink, had a wander, then curled up for the night!
Tuesday : Off to McMullans Irish Bar / Pub at silly o'clock for Arsenal v Man U! Took a bit of getting to but got there in the end! Caught the monorail to MGM and then discovered we "couldn't walk it" so wound up in a taxi! Frankly we were awful! I hope Arsene Wenger takes some notes from this as we have been deserving of a sound lesson for some time now to show quite how far off we are from the top teams! Had a laugh with other fans there, had Boddies to drink, and a steak and mushroom pie for me, steak sandwich for Es. Then, off to the Las Vegas outlets, where Es found.... not lello, but PINK bars! grrr... zx7020s! And cheaper than a cheap thing at close to £20! Also found a dress in the Adidas shop, which was cute too! Day was spent wandering here and there and generally just relaxing!
Wednesday : Off to MuMullans again for the Chelsea game via Starbucks for breakfast in New York New York! Chicken curry pie for me, and an over dressed Caesar salad for Es in McMullans today! This time Chelsea were robbed! Badly. Another argument for match fixing me thinks! We wandered into The Orleans while in that area, and were so impressed we came back after the game, and wound up watching Wolverine there! Trotted across to the Luxor, which was a bit pants really! Made a new boobs pic in Mandalay Bay, wandered about in Excalibur and had to chuckle as the All Cried Out version by Fink played in the background! Nice! Again, seriously toasty day!
Thursday : Off we trundled to the Premium Outlets shops. Had a cracking breakfast / lunch of spicey chicken / chicken with jalapenos with rice from the food court there! Es got jeans, top and shorts, and I got swimming shorts to save the people from Speedos! Wasn't really anything for me there cos I'm a bugger to shop for! had a shufti in the Riviera and wandered about a bit, then back to the Sahara for slots. Was tired, tried to order a pint from the waitress who claimed she had no idea what a pint was, so Es got a drink and I didn't! Went out to the pool which was lovely. Not too busy, not to big. Actually ideal! Why people on Trip Advisor have moaned about the place I have no idea!
Friday : Made a point of going to the Hard Rock Cafe. For anyone else reading this and considering it.... Don't bother. Boring as Hell, Dexy's Midnight Runners playing wasn't, isn't, will never be hard rock. The cafe it's self is not part of the hotel, and.... get this.. there is a dress code! for a "Rock" place. No vests / sleeveless shirts! Bizarre! Seriously, it's a long way out of the way and is such a let down! Avoid! Instead.. wander over to Monte Carlo's Brew Pub! Music was rock, and the food was great! Prices were a tad steep but that's life! After eating there we headed across to the Venetian, where we grabbed an Indoor gondola trip, while having that song from the Ice Cream advert sung at us by a lass with a seriously pretty voice, and then headed up to Freemont Street for the "experience". The Queen display was good fun! *warbles "We will rock you" and chuckles*. Newcastle Brown to drink. All is good!
Saturday : Asked at Sahara desk if they knew when ESPN zone opened, only for the lass to claim she'd never heard of ESPN and what is it. Now.. asides from ESPN being the major sports channels in the states, and the sports bar in vegas being huge (over 100 flat screen tv's), the woman was sat opposite the Sahara's own sports bar where ESPN channels were in abundance. It was about this time that I was finally really fed up with interaction with anyone in the Vegas "help" type business, because it appears, you have to ask them something at least twice, and then they answer not the question which you asked, but what they think you want to know, eg: "Do you know what time X opens", will gain the reply "Y opens @ 10pm". The answer is a yes or no. It's simple! ArrgggG!! Anyway, the day was spent wandering here, there, and everywhere, drinks in Rock House (Bud Lite Lime!!) Newcastle Brown at Trader Vics again, and a Prime Rib dinner at Circus Circus which was great!
Sunday : Wandered about a bit more ! Breakfast of 2 giant hotdogs in Circus Circus! Big ass hotdogs! lmao! Today was just wanderings really, and sampling of the Sin City Brew Pub Stout and Pale Ale / Wheat beer. Tea at Binions was Prime rib again and was huge!!
Monday : Took in Treasure Island, Caesars Palace, and Mirage, all much of a muchness really. Watched Newcastle v Middlesbrough in Caesars then headed off and watched Star Trek, then off to Tamba Indian restaraunt where we both had Rogan Josh, which was very good! You'll notice that entries for days are smaller now as we'd basically looked everywhere and were just wandering to take in atmosphere!
Tuesday : Knowing this was our last day we thought we'd have a lazy day in preparation for travelling! Headed down to the Monte Carlo for food at the Brew Pub again only to find it closed! grrr! Hit Starbucks instead and had coffee & muffin with Es having Tea and Brownie!, which I followed up with 2 jalapeno pretzel dogs! On the bridge over by MGM Es hand fed a sparrow. Cheaky thing she was too! (Sparrow, not Es lol). Then, off back to the Sahara for the pool and relaxation with cocktails and swimming! Toasted Wiseman's we were! The headed to an Italian restaurant for a pretentiously priced meal, only to wind up eating just the meat as the veg looked like it'd been digested twice already! Esther says her meal was good, but only ate about a third of it, and that two looked like intestines of pig mixed with jellyfish! (Was a lobster pasta thing). The meal cost near on what we spent all day the day before, and for myself i just cant justify it! I'd prefer hotdog and the cash thank you very much but in an effort to be more sophisticated I got my just deserts, which was being blatantly exposed as just not cut out for that sort of thing. I feel sorry for Esther in stuff like that cos i hold her back. Earlier on in the week I'd lost my cool over another meal and left without ordering, telling her she should go do her own thing cos again my idiosyncrasies mixed with eating out problems and issues with cost finally got the better of me. Needless to say we walked about a bit til we wound up going elsewhere that time, but here I just ate the meat and was left looking silly, as i'd already enquired as to what the veg was. Not eating it all further exacerbates my annoyance at the price too. grrr! Then back through the casino, couple of drinks, and back upstairs, where sleep completely avoided me, and Es had a few hours!
Wednesday : 4a.m. wake up. Wash hair and away we go! Flight to Philadelphia was easy! Probably the best flight I've been on. Food in a Rock bar on the airport was burger n chips, and a pint of Bass! Then, with a 2 hour delay and a House episode watched before take off, we headed home. Some drunken fruitcake on the plane was being an asshole, but other than that, all was well.
So.. We had fun. Weather was great, Sahara was excellent, I was awkward company at times, but Es seems to like that lol. I have to say, it wasn't as fun as last time. I think the fact that money plays such a huge part in being there played on my mind. The opportunity to buy a meal at $80 is next door to a similar one for $12, as is the chance to play machines @ 1c per spin or $10 per spin. We never saw a show which again i feel responsible for, but i simply don't think $140 for 90 mins is worth while! This serves to remind me at times of the differences between Es and me. I guess I need to work on letting go of some of these things, but to me, it's things like this that's allowed me to survive in this world. And so we're back. Rested(ish) and ready to head back to daily life here in Leiden. No more riding the Deuce, no more Enchanted Unicorn, but two cats and a familiarity of home, where the sound of parakeets drift in through the window and the washing needs to be done. We had fun, as I said before, but in all honestly... it's nice to be home! May 04 FLying this a.m.Up up and away! Off to Vegas. Be back on may 14th in the early a.m. Toodle pip all! April 24 Weight off my mind.Mutters, I’m annoyed with this. It decided not to post the first time I wrote it, so now I have gto do it again. In my quest to manage to get below 12 stone before Vegas, we’re off to the gym again tonight! The all singing all dancing scales seem to fluctuate far to much. One Day I'm 12.5, the next I’m at 12.1. Either way, I’m still not under the magical number 12! Still, there’s a week or so to go, so with a little bit of sweat and work… It’s nice to report that, it appears I’ve finally shook off the scary infection thing that has hounded me for over a year on my cheeks. It manifested its self in all seriousness last time we were in Vegas, so am hoping that this time, it will decide to stay sorted so that, I can grab some pictures without the silly belly, and without the silly cheeks! I can almost see the shaking of the heads…. lol! Off to the grandparents house on the weekend for Opa’s birthday. Handy that, Gran is “Oma”, Granddad, “Opa”. One of the few simple sets of words over here! We were at Oma’s birthday a few weeks ago and it was remarked upon that I was more animated than usual. This was because the in-laws were there, so i had other people I could communicate with. I think I like having grandparents. Especially grandparents who don’t understand me. It makes it less likely I’ll cause arguments! hehe! Okies… well, while fiddling with skype settings I managed to swipe a pic so am going to add it here as the one of me looking like a gnome below is.. well… gnomelike!! Which reminds me, I owe the blog a vogeloozit album! Bad Me! Lets see if it posts this time! grr…
April 22 Windows Live WriterOkies… I’m not entirely sure how this as yet works, so, I’m using this entry as a test to see how widgets and gadgets etc are configurable via this ere tool, so that, in the end, my blogging will be magnifico!
This was taken on our excursion to the bird place. I’ve seen scarier pics of me i must admit! At least the day glow cheeks have gone! April 21 VogeloozitWell, had a good time out and about on the weekend / monday and wound up at a bird sanctuary type place. All good fun. Es had wee parakeets land on her, and it reminded me of trundling around in Wayne's aviary, where the cockatiels seemed to like me! Will sling up some pics as and when lol April 04 Not forgotten, not forgiven, but dealt with.Ah, it's an entertaining world we live in still. March 24 Another year gone!Well, another year has passed. I will be 35 tomorrow and time seems to be flying by. It's been over a year since the Vegas trip, and that just doesn't seem possible! However... as it appears we need a refresher, we're on our way back. We shall be in Vegas from may 4th to 13th, staying at the Sahara this time, landing back in Amsterdam on the morning of the 14th, doubtless more than a little tired, but hopefully toasted nicely! This time there is no agenda, merely rest and relaxation for Es, and a good dose of sun. It would be nice to see the grand canyon but, that's a decent distance away. Going via Philly again but this time we wont have the day there either way, which is fine, as we've no-one there this time to meet anyway! March 07 Happy 1st Wedding Anniversary!Well... we made it through the first year and have stayed sane, and not disembowelled each other as we slept, so am guessing we're doing ok! Heading off to the south of Holland now for a night in a hotel and a nosey at the sea. Still seems that the time has flown by. I wonder if i'll look bacvk on this next year and say the same about the one which is coming? We'll see. It's been a good year. We've progressed, the house has progressed, etc etc. And on that note.. its goodbye from me, and possibly goodbye from her too... although i know better than to put words in a lady's mouth! *winks* March 04 Time flies!Well.... seems like madness that this time last year I was getting up in a hotel in Vegas. Where did the time go? on the 7th we will have been married a year, and it doesn't feel possible. 2 years ago i was cleaning toilets out in order to fund a flat, and yet yesterday i built a desk and a bookshelf to make one of our rooms look far more cosy and welcoming than it was. Besides.. we needed the book space! The computer looks far better now, and the keyboard is at a far better hight for me..although i think we may need a new chair for E as she's shorter than me and used to an all singing farty desk set up at work with ergonomical this, that, and the other! February 11 Family Fun Filled FrivolitySeems deezer is getting cross with the whole playlists thing and has now killed quite a few of the tracks which I had playing. Not impressed! HAd a lovely migraine thing for the last 36 hours and am just waiting for the eye to stab, then it'll be gone. February 06 Looking for me??People are googling me again!! I don't know who you are, but leave me a comment on here etc and I'll get back to you! I've seen several hits in the last few days for the search terms "Alistair Wiseman" + Crewe, so it seems pretty obvious it's me you're looking for! Dont be shy... say Hi! lol |
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