Welcome to my on-line Diary. This diary was created to help build upon my writing skills and to allow me to express my thoughts and opinions on everyday life. A recent University graduate, I've now entered the IT contractor market and I am having to deal with such hurdles in life as becoming domesticated, taking care of paperwork and avoiding purchasing those cute slippers with the zip in the front. Here is my story.

Decided to see The Matrix on the big screen after seeing it only on the small PC screen previously. Since I purchased my Virgin cinemas unlimited movies pass I've been seeing a new movie almost every day. It is possible to get bored of the cinema you know. No seats are that comfortable either.

The Matrix was not to bad on the big screen. After coming out we were greeted by screams in the street outside. A girl was lying on the floor in her stocking'd feet screaming at the top of her lungs while her boyfriend was yelling for someone to get her some water. Her girl friend stormed off saying "sit there and die then" or something similar and some boys passing us by just said to ignore her and not to worry about it. The police were just pulling into the street at that point so we left them to it. My guess would be that she took something that she could not handle. Those screams from a grown woman will definetly make you reconsider doing anything as stupid as she may have done.

Plenty of work today, which is how, I like it. Time flies by and you do not get bored. Later I ended up in a bar with a couple of colleagues chatting about life, bills and spiritualism. The latter just happened apparently when I went to the gents. Got back and the topic had gone from VAT to vivid dream interpretation. It turned out that my fellow colleagues practised New Age techniques amongst other such past times as tarot card reading and seances. Handing over my granddads watch which I often wear I received what can only describe as an interpretation of my life based on what the reader could gain from holding the watch (other than the time of course). I was informed that my granddad watches over me and is proud of my achievements and that to get where I am today has been an uphill struggle. Not sure what to make of this I just smiled and got the next round in. Maybe the agnostic in me was sceptic but it was a nice thought to think that your granddad still exists in some form and is proud of you.

Afterwards we headed for the kebab shop where I managed to shock my colleagues by announcing the fact that I had never had one before. The meat on those rotating heater thingies always looked unsanitary to me. I am still not too impressed. The chicken tasted like mince but the salad was ok. The most embarrassing moment was when a colleague tried to heal my aching back (too much weight lifting) by channelling energy through my Chi much to the amazement of the kebab shop staff.

Hing came down to Ipswich with his cousin Ricky in tow. They wanted to visit London and I was asked to come along. I have been there a few times in the past when Koony was on placement. It is large, expensive and easy to get lost in, which we promptly did. Trying to find Buckingham Palace should be an easy task but we managed to get completely lost and ended up at the MOD building. Ricky and Hing did their tourist thing with the camera while I gazed at a "game for anything" blonde climbing upon the black statues to pose for her friends camera. It was a nice hot day so I gazed around not caring that I was near the Queens residence. Royalty means very little to me.

Walking from Piccadilly Circus to Leister Square, we stopped to take in some street music. Two guitarists were playing a Mexican/Cuban style fast-beat guitar piece. A girl in a thin blue dress with an appropriate long slit up her left side started to dance flamenco style which met the approval of the male members of the crowd including yours truly.

Whiled away the wee hours in the Trocadero. I did really badly on a jockey game and probably looked a complete idiot but I was passed caring. I was impressed with the two lads playing a new game where you have to dance on arrows in a style reminiscent of Parappa the Rapper. It was so hot that I kept needing a drink, which proved expensive in London. 1.25 for a strawberry slushpuppy!

We missed our train by a minute due to a delay on the underground so I headed to the Bonaparte bar in Liverpool Street station and ordered up a pint of Murphy's. I swapped SMS messages with my sis for a few minutes before noticing a train heading to Ipswich on the overhead screen. It was due in earlier than the advertised one so I finished my pint and we headed for it. The train journey proved uneventful so I passed the time listening to girly pop and Japanese pop music on Hing's portable mini-disc player until we arrived at Ipswich.

It was not a bad day, I did enjoy myself and window-shopped most of the day as well as spending an hour in Tower Records where I bought an Italian CD I had been looking for, for about a year. Ricky did not speak much English and I could swear that Hing was being stingy on the interpretations. I would ask Ricky if he wanted ice in his coke, Hing would then interpret by which they had a long conversation after which Hing would turn back to me and say "yes".

Settling in for a late night I hear what sounds like someone rolling a metal bin down the road. I go to the lounge window and draw back the curtains and find myself suddenly blinded by a bright light! I realise that it is thundering and lightning outside and I've only just noticed. I power down my PC after remembering that Ziploc recently lost his due to heavy weather. I turned off the rest of my appliances and plugged those that I could not turn off for too long, into a surge protector unit I had recently purchased.

I decided on an early night and grabbed my coke on the rocks and watched the almost horizontal rain sweep down the road while lightning kept striking all around the house. I have never been this close to lightning before! It was hitting the large aerials on the nearby houses. The flashes were so bright that the room lit up even with the curtains drawn.

Recently I was reading the adverts at work for items employees were selling. I spotted an advert for a weight bench for sale. I contacted the guy and he brought it in for me to see. It was a WEIDER bench press kit with flyes and leg extension/curl attachments and came with a barbell, 2 sets of dumbbells and a pile of weights. I snapped the lot up for twenty quid. Then the next day someone offers me a rowing machine that looks pretty unused. It has the LCD rep/time/calorie counter and hydraulic oars. I snapped that up for twenty-five. It appears as if I'm building my own gym in my home without loosing space because they all fold away out of sight. Now I have no excuse not to train when away from the gym!

After work I went to a Tai Chi class. I was told that Tai Chi helps an individual's flexibility. I was not to sure about this though as its very disturbing to be among a whole bunch of strangers being really quiet as they move like choreographed trees. I think I need to incorporate more stretching techniques into my body program and I'm not sure if Tai Chi fits the bill. One lesson is not enough to gauge something so I'll see how next week goes.

I bought this leather jacket recently. No idea why other than I guess I looked good or at least felt good in it. So I bought it. But I've discovered that in the heat of the British summer it has a tendency to excrete its die onto the undergarments. My favourite white top became almost ruined and I had to soak it overnight before washing it in order to get the die out. Now my dilemma was that I had no evidence to prove that the leather jacket was defective so come saturday I put it on in the summer sun over a white shirt that I was about to throw away anyway as it doesn't fit properly anymore. As I expected the jacket leaked its die and I had proof when I arrived at the shop. I played the upset customer to a tee but the Asian businessman was not having any of it saying that I had intentionally wet the jacket on purpose. I was mad! "So if it gets wet it is supposed to excrete its die onto your clothes is it?". Not to be moved he offered to replace the jacket next week saying that it was not defective so a refund was not possible. He also pointed out that he would not refund the damage to any of my own clothes. So next saturday I have to return the jacket and obtain a replacement. This predicament has seriously pissed me off and next time I will pay by check so that I can bounce it if it doesn't pass my wearability tests straight after purchase. I'm also contacting trading standards to brush up on my rights.

The weekend is so near that I can taste the morning lie in followed by a big breakfast before I decide to figure out how to work the washing machine. Before that though I head outside, step into a 325i BMW and head out onto the motorway. You see a friend of mine told his mate (the cars owner) that I was interested in buying a BMW now that I am apparently a "man of means" (do tell my bank manager that, he loves a good laugh). The car is great to drive if you can just figure out the foot pedals that seem to be offset to the right. Damn I hit the brake again. I'm probably scaring the hell out of the daily commuters as I fly down the motorway in this nice piece of german engineering.

I've changed my diet so that I am only eating about 1500 calories daily now and 30g of fat max. This when used in conjunction with exercise should help reduce my beer belly, which I am trying to get rid of as part of my overall fitness plan. Working out in the gym may increase muscle mass (if done right) but it will not make you fit. You must bring down the amount of fat your body is carrying around to improve circulation and so that you can work at strengthening your torso to lift more weight. I joined the aerobics class at lunchtime and was amazed at the amount of fit women in attendance. I was happy to be at the back watching them do their workout until the instructor turned us all around 180 degrees so everyone could see me make a complete arse of myself.

Went to the speedway track tonight. Ipswich vs Eastbourne. SKY SPORTS were there to cover the race for their 2nd channel. It seemed a farce at the start as the track was too slippy and the riders kept falling off but the track dried out and the racing got under way. We won of course and before the last lap I casually strolled over to where the camera crew and presenters were and stood behind them at the fence grinning into the cameras. I noticed a TV by the presenters feet which appeared to be the live show so they could follow when they were on I guess. I waited until it was a shot of the crowd before I started waving. Not sure if I've succeeded getting on the TV but someone at work taped the program and has lent me his copy. I'll scan through it tonight looking for yours truly!

Note to self: Suzi Perri looks much better in the flesh!

I'm in Norfolk visiting my folks who are holiday'ing here. It's a break for me in a way. These last few weeks have been nothing but paperwork and work daily. It seems like I no sooner get home on an evening and fall asleep, that I'm up again doing it all over. At least one advantage is I don't get much time to eat big meals anymore. As long as I can resist the temptation to snack I'll be all right.

The rather large barbecue we had makes me feel guilty and on my first day of my holiday! So I get in a few games of tennis, badminton and volleyball. I also went mountain biking. My folks brought my bike with them in the caravan after much persuading from me. It's been about 2 years since I rode it but I had the foresight to grease all the metal parts before putting it into storage. It's still in good working order and I test it out as me and my two young cousins went for a cross-country trip. The baking hot sun soon got the better of us as we stopped at a church in the middle of nowhere. While resting up we noted the really old gravestones compared with the new. Statisticians today tell you that people are living longer these days with our new medical practices. However the gravestones told a different story. From the 1700's to the 1800's the average age seemed to be about 77. The newer graves seemed to predict an average age of 47-67.

I'm heading back today but before I leave I take my family out for a meal at the "Family Pub of the year 1999". It's my dad's birthday so I figured I'd treat them. The pub had a pool table but the pool room was in darkness apart from a few blue UV lights. I ask the bartender where the light switch is and he says the pool table does not need one. Confused, I put my money in the table and started to set up the rack. All the balls were illuminous! There were red and green balls with the white as a yellow ball and the black was blue. It made for a novel game anyway until the white (I mean illuminous yellow) would not come back out. The bartender came over to sort it out after I explained the problem. He appeared to be sorting out some keys on a chain as he strolled over whereupon he glanced at the table, gave it a swift kick and said, "that's how we fix it here". The ball got stuck again later on and I firmly deny all knowledge of who kicked the heck out of that table. Honest.

Moved in to my new house today!

I drove back home last night so I can get my results from university today. I got the grade I wanted!

Went to the gym for the first time in ages and it felt good. I knew I would ache in the morning but hey, you pay for most pleasures in life the next day.

Woke up to find the world still in existence. Looks like Nostradamus took a dive on that particular quatrain.

Previously I'd answered an advert for a room to rent locally. When I went along it looked to good to be true so I said I'd take it. Something started to bug me later on. It was the fact that a young couple (beautiful girl) were renting a room out when they obviously looked like they did not need the money. Mentioning this to friends generated possible scenarios involving threesomes, a camcorder and some lubricant. Feeling slightly guarded I was happy to discover that they were a nice couple and I made friends almost immediately. They turned in early but I stayed up watching Die Hard 2, slowly caressing the remote. "Oh how I've missed you".

I'm forced awake at 2am to the sounds of heavy weather. The tent is taking a right beating from the rain and the sound of thunder is incredible. I peep outside and get a shock when a fork of lightning comes down into the next field across. I poke my head out further and discover that lightning is coming down all around us! I close the tent door and try to get some sleep but I look up at the two big metal tent poles with the metal crossbar and can't help but wonder how good a lightning conductor they are.

So I'm in the shower block.. Ok, call me a scaredy cat but it was like heavy weather dude. 8) Anyway, I listened to the rooster and geese complain about the rain while deciding that I've had enough of living in a tent.

Solved the ant problem in the tent. I chucked a bag of toffees a few feet away outside and they all swarmed over that and no longer considered me and my tent their personal larder that they could just pop into whenever they felt like it.

I haven't seen a TV in awhile now and I've never read so much in my life. I decide to go to the cinema to see Cruel Intentions but I ended up entering the Twilight Zone. There's nobody here! Must be something on. Can't be going back to the tent as there is nothing left to read so I put my feet up, open my bag of sweets and do my best Barry Norman impression as the film starts in a large cinema with only me in it. Was the film good? Yep, it was great. Especially without anyone talking nearby! Just as well it was not a comedy coz you need an audiences laughter to add that extra zing to a film.

Drove back through the peaceful Suffolk countryside with the sunroof and windows open and Doro Pesche screaming about raising hell on my tape deck.

Living in a tent in the Suffolk heat may appeal to the adventurer in each of us but after a while it's just not practical. I was getting up early in the morning thanks to the rooster that was a permanent resident on the campsite. "I'll cock a flipping doodle do you in a minute mate". Roosters should come with snooze buttons.

I'd trot across the field to the shower block where I'd insert my token and have 5 minutes of shower time starting.. NOW! Bloody hell! Quick get that shampoo on.. now wash with the soap quick before.. damn I dropped the soap.. got it.. now rinse the hair before.. aGGGGGHHHHHH! After 5 minutes the water did not turn off. No no no. That would be too humane and a tad inconvenient. What happens is the heat goes from hot to Antarctica in 0.3 seconds! So as all thoughts of Catherine Zeta Jones disappeared rather quickly, I head back to the tent where I must kill some more invading ants before straightening my tie.

Hing popped down yesterday to join me in the hunt for a place to live. In a bid to cut costs we are going to share accommodation. We ended up seeing two places that we liked with each liking the opposite to the other. It started to rain so we pulled into a McDonalds and argued some more while eating. The arguments went on until this morning when I gave in. It turned out that the estate agents were already processing another application for the property so we said we wanted to know our chances before we handed over any admin fee. We were told they were in favour of the other interested party so we walked away. Hing set the paperwork in motion for the second choice while I went to work.

My first day at work. It seemed to go well and afterwards it was back to house hunting. Looking at houses isn't so bad if they are interesting but I ended up seeing some right dumps, which had the same asking price as similar sized places that were fully furnished with all the mod cons. One place had just pipes sticking out of the walls where the sinks and conveniences should be.

I was packed and ready but I would not be making this journey in my Cavalier. All said and done it had proved a pretty reliable car but being stolen and being driven constantly by me had taken its toll. I was offered my dads Saab that he was selling due to buying a newer model. I'm not to fond of Saab's though; I just don't like the shape. I could not afford anything else so I took it off his hands convincing myself that it was a practical decision and that I'd replace it when I had the funds.

After saying my goodbyes I headed south in my new car. It's not too bad to drive, very comfortable in fact. It's a 900i if that means anything to you. It's very heavy and with its low profile wide tyres it grips the road well. However it does not do to great on fuel but it does have electric windows and a sunroof.

I pulled into a campsite on the edge of Ipswich. This would be my home for a while. I'd decided to brave the elements and live in a tent until I located suitable accommodation. With what was left of my bank account after student life had almost emptied it, I could not afford to stay in a B&B. The tent would hopefully suit my needs (cheaper) and the hope that my folks would tape all my favourite TV programs helped me forget about missing my electronic entertainment systems. Later on I'll check out the estate agents. Just gotta catch a few rays first..

Originally my folks thought that after my exams I'd have time to catch up with things for a bit. That was not gunna happen. I started work in a few days' 250 miles away. Sometimes it seems as if life is passing you by and other times.. time flies.

Exams are over and I couldn't wait to get out of the last one. My nerves were shot and I was starting to feel claustrophobic. I calmed down once I was outside and started to think about how I felt I'd done overall. All said and done, I've probably passed but I was not too sure about whether I had achieved the 2:2 grade I was aiming for. A 2:1 would have been nice but that would be pushing it.

I met up with my friends and we had a good old natter. I guess that the underlying feelings were that our exams are over and what now? The results would be posted in a few weeks and they would determine what we do next.