Shock and Awe

Shock 1
Actually not really a shock - a pleasant surprise. Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the name of" reaching the no'1 spot in the UK singles chart for Christmas - all in aid of stopping another bland Simon Cowell X Factor "song" from taking the festive spot. Okay, I'm pretty sure some people reading this blog won't be fans of ROTM's music (and I personally would've loved a Christmas song to be the anti-Cowell weapon), but Cowell had to be stopped sooner or later and the smash the system theme of "Killing..." captured the imagination of the public. ROCK ON!!!

Shock 2
The tragic news of Brittany Murphy dying at the age of 32. A total shock.

Shock 3
Again not a shock, more of a "sods law". I (and several members of my family) have the flu just in time for Christmas. At least there's a couple more days to get it out of the system and on the bright side I've finished my shopping and have nearly wrapped up all the presents!!!

Awe
Awesome actually - less than 100 days to go until I'm in sunny Florida for the 6th time!!!!! Yeah for me and my family too!!!!!

Feeling festive?

Little Ben's got in the spirit. Frequently throughout the day he walks up to people and says "oh oh oh, erry mistmas!" Bless :-)

Here's a picture of the festive little fellow last Christmas (at the grand age of 1)

In writing mode

After a few years out of the habit I've started writing again.

Writing time has always been limited, but with the two nippers running round the house and increased day-job demands the small amount of time available became almost non-existent. During the past 6 years I've written a few stories here and there, but they've felt forced, and the end result was stories I wasn't happy with and didn't have the time to work on them properly.

The challenges of parenthood has brought opportunities too. Over the last year I've somehow found time to write a couple of very short stories (for the young picture book market) and these went down well with the boys.

It's only recently that I decided to revisit one of them and put some effort into refining it and submitting it to a publisher, which has given me the buzz I've been missing.

Yesterday I sat down and wrote a new picture book story in 30 minutes, and after a review with my in-house Editor (handy having a teacher for a wife!) it was refined to the point of being fully satisfied with the story within 2 hours. A publisher has been identified and I'll be submitting that story in the next couple of days.

That'll be 2 submissions in a week!!! The only pain is waiting 6+ months and potentially never hearing anything.

Still, that gives me plenty of time to work on the next stories. I've already got 4 more in the pipeline and hope to complete them by the end of the year! :-)

The stories are now written for my boys; getting published will be a bonus! :-)

Visit MaJaTo Scribes

Wear your old band t-shirt to work day! 4th December 2009

BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq has declared December 4th as the second Wear Your Old Band T-Shirt To Work Day. Oh, man, too much choice. Carter USM, Pixies, Frank Black, Nirvana, Pop Will Eat Itself, Mudhoney, Tanya Donelly, Honey Buzzards, Kingmaker, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins.....they're only the ones I can remember off the top of my head.....the list goes on and on and on....!

Remote Control

Here's a quick breakdown of how the remote control is used in my house, in order or intelligent utilisation(in my opinion.)

1) Me. I rarely watch TV yet I know the numbers of all channels I like to watch, and know my way around the control very well. This is so that whenever I'm in the room and Wendy is watching some rubbish programme I can quickly change the channel to something I want on whilst she's out of the room (and back again!)
2) Wendy. Given the high volume of TV she watches in the evening the remote is not far from her reach, so she is pretty much the controller of the control.
3) Luke. Knows how to switch the TV on and knows he needs to key in some numbers to get his programmes (Ben 10, Star Wars, Mickey Mouse, Imagination Movers etc)
4) Ben. Uses the remote to whack Luke over the head.

And who achieves the most with their use of the remote? Ben, of course!

He gets what he wants:-
- Attention (for kids bad attention is on a par with good!)
- Inflicts pain on his big brother
- Gets Luke in trouble if Luke retaliates

Baby talk

Little Ben has a reasonable dose of words splattered amongst the babble, and generally when we point to something and say what it is he'll repeat the word quite well.

However, there's one we figured he might've got by now....

Me (pointing to Mummy):- "Ben, who's that?"
Ben: Me Mummy!
Me (pointing to me):- "Who am I?"
Ben: Daddy!
Me (pointing to Luke:- "Ben, who's that?"
Ben:- Jukie!
Me (pointing to Ben):- "Okay, what's your name?"
Ben (patting his tummy):- Baby!!!!!

He does it on purpose nowadays because he knows it gets a laugh and from time to time we do get a "Ben", "Ban" and on one occasion "Bum"!

For no reason....

..here's somefunny cat clips.

Things to know about Norwich

I've decided to add an extra dimension to my blog by blogging about the City (Norwich) and the County (Norfolk) where I live.

This doesn't mean I'm going to stop the usual mixed bag of football moaning, kid frustrations, music videos, humour and general opinion. It's just something else to throw into the mix. :o)

So, let's start with the Sea Henge. Yep, Sea Henge. Everyone in the civilised world has heard of Stonehenge, but have you heard of Sea Henge?

Discovered in 1998 emerging from a beach at Holme-next-the-Sea this 4000 year-old timber circle dates back to the bronze age.

It had beeen covered by a peat dune but Sea Henge became exposed when the dune was swept away by winter storms.

Unfortunately leaving it exposed would've caused Sea Henge to be destroyed by the sea, so it was moved to the King's Lynn Musuem.


Image Source: http://www.geocities.com/jilaens/stones.html

Manta, Seaworld, Orlando

I am soooooooo looking forward to riding this next year!

check out this video I found on YouTube.

Jeez...

...It's been a long while since I posted my last entry.

I figured I'd return with a youtube video about the search for intelligent life.

yay!

We're off on holiday for a week, to the good ole Lake District - "Wainwright country"

I probably won't be posting any photos as my camera's broke (and my camcorder is a bit rubbish for pictures.

Sir Bobby Robson

The world has lost a true legend today.

Sir Bobby played for West Bromwich Albion from 1956 to 1962, playing 257 times for the club, scoring 60 goals and going on earn 20 caps for England.

But it was a manager that he'll be most remembered by everyone. His stint as England manager was unrewarded with a trophy but it is looked back as a high point for the home of football, with Robson being the most successful since Sir Alf Ramsey won the World Cup in 1966.
Indeed it was only dishonest conduct from Argentina's Maradona that denied England progress in the 1986 World Cup, and in 1990 they lost to West Germany in the Semi-final of the World Cup. The most important trophy in the world would've looked great being held up by one of the best managers ever to grace the game.

And a club level too he had geat success. No-one had ever heard of Ipswich Town Football Club before Robson took from nowhere to winners of the oldest and most prestigious football competition (the FA Cup) and then the EUFA Cup in Europe too, before moving to the England post.
Successful spells in Europe followed at Barcelona, PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon and Porto, before joining his boyhood team Newcastle United, where he took them into the top 3 sides in England before he left the club 5 years ago at the age of 71.

What people will miss the most is the man himself. Reknowned as a true gentleman, whenever you saw him on TV you knew is a man you could talk to. What is less known is his fight with cancer, the disease that finally overcame this true battler.
Sir Bobby was first diagnosed with cancer in 1991, and over the last 18 years he has been diagnosed with 5 different types of cancer, battling each one face-on.

Sir Bobby Robson. Legend. you will be sadly missed.



Sir Bobby Robson Foundation

Michael Jackson's arcade

check this out!

Michael Jackon's Neveland ranch arcade

Laurie Cunningham 8 March 1956 – 15 July 1989

It's 20 years to the day that Laurie Cunningham died in a car crash in Madird.

Laurie joined West Bromwich Albion Football Club in 1977. Laurie broke a lot of round as a player and a man. 30 years ago it was are for black players to be playing professional football and racist abuse from the terraces was shocking (a bit like being in Spain or Eastern Europe nowadays). So, Albion had three black players in the shape of Cunningham, Cyril Regis and Brendon Batson this was unheard of. It coincided with a period of time where Albion were one of the best footballing teams in Europe.

Laurie was the first black player to represent England at any level, and also the first to represent them in a competitive international.

His skills as an Albion player got lots of attention and in 1979 he was the first English player to sign for Real Madrid for £995k.

Desipte early success in Madrid he didn't quite recapture the form that made him one of Albion's greatest ever footballer and he had a bit of a Journeyman career, but was looking forward to facing Madrid in the Spanish topflight for local rivals Rayo Vallecano; a club he had just helped gain promotion.

Still, for those of us who saw him play, he will live long in the memories, and twenty years on his magic is missed.

A couple of years ago I showed the video below on this blog, and you can see how great a player Laurie Cunningham was. you will also notice the aforementioned racism from the crowd.



And the strangest thing is when walking into work this morning I was thinking about a close friend who died in a car crash less than 2 years after Laurie (before I realised it was the anniversary of Laurie's death.)

Pesky bugs

After spending an enjoyable weekend in the garden, I have 4 large bites on my right leg.

Two of them ar absolute buggers!

The one near my ankle is so easy to scratch, and the one on the back of my thigh is so big it is painful to site dow properly.

I think I need to invest in a bug zapper of some kind

I've just ran a little experiment with my favorite Michael Jackson song - Ben.

I played the video (below) alongside the Marti Webb version (also below). Jacko's is slightly faster.






It's worth watching the following video too to.

When I bumped into a friend...

...this morning, the end of our brief conversation went like this:-

Her: Which way are you going?
Me (pointing): that way, to the bank. And you?
Her: I'm going to meet the Duke of Edinburgh at the bus station.

Nice.

Snot funny

I had a trip to the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor today. He had a camera like the one in this picture that was shoved up my nose. 12 hours on and it still feels like the camera's stuck in there!

Iranians protesting abroad

Have I got news for you

Triple-decker bus!

My blog entries are like buses: you wait ages for one and then three come along all at once (well, in the space of 24 hours anyway.)

At Football today Luke did his usual; he refused to take part in the matches unless he's allowed the yellow bib.

Aidan Davis, Flawless, Diversity

Check out these dance acts for Britain's Got Talent.

Aidan Davis
audition
Semi-Final

Diversity
audtion
Semi-Final

Flawless
audition
Semi-Final

There are some great singing acts in the final too (I think everyone in the world has heard of Susan Boyle) but I'd really like one of this lot to win.

Loadsa words

Ben is stringing words together like no-ones business. okay, most of it seems like gobbledegook but the he put such meaning into his expressions when he's saying it that there's gotta be some meaning behind it!

Okay, there are quite a few clear ones coming through now (on top of the Daddy, which he's been saying clearly since before he was 1, and Mummy, which he says ever so sweetly.)

And then there's a bunch of other words which Mummy and Daddy can understand but not every one else. For example, babir=blackbird. bro-ah=brother uke=Luke aye=mine, and of course humph=I'm angry (Okay, that's not a literal translation but it's what it means. the arms are either crossed or slapped onto any object to emphasise the point!)

Ben's new trick

"Ben, where's your tummy?"

Cheeky grin creeps across his face, pulls up his shirt to reveal his podgy belly and pats it, proudly chanting "pat pat pat."

Earlier this morning we were looking at some old holiday photos (me in Florida in 1994) and he spotted his good friend Mickey Mouse. After a bit of pointing and squealing he said "Mmmm. Mmuh. Mic....key!"


Image sourced from Disney Records

The philosopher

This morning I was jogging around the lounge (WII Fit, of course!) and Luke asked: "Dad, what are you doing?"

I replied: " jogging around in circles."

Luke's instant response to this was: "don't go around in circles. You'll end up back where you started."

Football bloopers

I watched some football bloopers on the telly this morning -and thats why I stuck some on here. THe quality gets a bit grainy at times.

More pics

chuffed

I found out today that passed the Diploma in Business Systems Development specialising in Business Analysis. Yay for me!!!!

Finally, some Eurodisney pictures

Meeska Mooska.....Mickey Mouse!

We've back 8 days and already the memories seem hazy.

So, rather than the detailed account I'd planned here's a bullet-list of the good, the bad and the Francais!

Bad points
1) We arrived slap bang in the middle of French National holidays. Parks and hotels were packed. There may also have been other European holidays going on at the same time because there was a fair few Dutch and Belgians at our Hotel.
2) Being English, manners/politeness and the ability to form an orderly queue are second nature (okay, we have some "elements" of society who let us down but it is a minority). Let's just say our European cousins don't share the same good standards.
3) Smoking. Disney put lots of designated smoking areas in the parks (too many). These are well adhered to in Florida - but not in EuroDisney. All the French (not finger pointing but 99%+ of the attendees were French) completely flouted the law, even smoking in queues. With high volumes of smokers in Continental Europe you were never more than a couple of metres away from someone smoking (I'm not kidding.) Nasty.
5) Food. I almost died. I have a nut allergy and an innocent purchase of pasta at an unnamed global franchise resulted in an adverse reaction. I managed to avoid needing medical treatment by drinking over 2 litres of water really quickly. I could only assume they had cooked using pesto. At another restaurant I almost selected pancakes and cream for desert -I'm glad I didn't because the cream was laced with nuts. I had similar issues in America and other Countries, so, I've concluded eating outside the UK is dangerous for anyone with allergies!
6) Hotel - Disney's Hotel Santa Fe - not great. Expected better from Disney even though it was 3star. At breakfast-time it was like a free for all in a crowded mental asylum.
7) Currency - poor exchange rate. Everything was really expensive.
8) Atmosphere. As Russ Abbotts said, "I love a party with a happy atmosphere." And at parade time it did - but overall there was something lacking. Perhaps I've been spoilt by 5 trips to Florida...
9) Train journey going home - Waiting in a massive queue (like good Brits!) that was so long it went down a flight of stairs. On thejourney back passport control caught some immigrants [actually, that should be a good point! :-)]
10) Upkeep of the parks. Pot holes and cracks everywhere.
11) Some of the rides were completely "en francais", and others were a mixture of English and French.
12) Characters had a siesta that lasted until the following day. THe characters had photo shoots at certain points thoughout the morning, but none of them were available after 1pm.
13) Albion lost - bah!

Good things
1) I wasn't a work. Yay!
2) Luke didn't find out where we were going until the train departed Lille on the final leg of the journey. He went mega nuts with excitement (although he thought at first he was off to Florida...)
3) The boys loved it!
4) The boys behaved really really well (okay, Luke had a couple of incidents and got too excited at times, but overall...)
6) I was so cream-crackered everyday that I fell asleep before 11pm (ever happens at home!)
7) Weather was good for this time of year.
8) Parade was good, and Mickey's Winter show was great- I got some good pictures and video footage of both.

Photos to follow....

Bonjour!

Okay, at this time of night it should be "bonsoir!" but I'm too lazy to change the title.

So, It's late February and this is my first post of 2009. Pretty pants eh?!

As ever work pressures have kept me away from blogging and other things, like having a life. Any spare moment is definitely spent with my little boys.Priorities right, and all that jazz.

LATEST MAJATO NEWS

Unfortunately I've had to remove my Christmas Eve message because the cool video (which was someones Xmas lights set to Jingle Bells sang by the Bare Naked Ladies) has been removed from YouTube. Bummer.

Luke is 5 in a few weeks time. Blimey - the past 5 years have gone mega fast.

THis time of year I start to get Disney withdrawl symptoms, but as I can't really afford to go to Florida again this year, we're off to EuroDisney next week for a short break. And the best part? Luke won't know until we get on the EuroStar!!! He's gonna go nuts. Mind you, I'm soooooo looking forward to seeing Ben's face when he sees Mickey Mouse for real. When we went to Floirda last year he wasn't even 6 months old, so didn't quite take it in. So, now he walk up to a 7 ft mouse he's gonna be totally chuffed. Either that or he'll be scared because on TV Mickey is only 30cm height at the most.