a tweeting obsession

A friend of mine recently got using Twitter recently. I've used (and still use) Bebo and Facebook. I use Bebo predominantly for friends and colleagues I know vaguely through work and Facebook tends to be people I have known for a lot longer and know a lot better. The thing is I'm not, and never have been interested in joining groups and poking people and having full blown public conversations with people. I've always used them as a tool to stay in touch with people not really much more. My favourite parts of both these sites was the status updates, the one line people would write about how they feel, what they're doing or just something funny. Twitter is just that, just one line - well 140 words. I started following a couple of friends and now I follow people like Stephen Fry, Adam Savage, Charlie Brooker and Penn Jillette. There are funny, interesting, mundane and silly posts. I enjoy keeping up to date with my friends during the day and i enjoy following the famous tweeters too. I know it's sad but it makes you feel like you have a personal connection to these people. And if they reply to one of your 'tweets' it makes you feel like you have become a friend to the celebs. I know you don't have to say it!!

I tend to follow it a lot during the day and it is becoming more and more like a way of life for those who use it. The plane crash in the Hudson river had pictures posted on twitter from the plan and from the rescue services. During the inauguration people were watching and 'tweeting' as the speech was made it's like a huge international conversation. I believe that Twitter is going get bigger and bigger and people will start to communicate with each other in 140 words or less and through twitpic.

So get Twittering and follow me @weedief

Accepting my inner geek

I've been working a lot overtime lately, this is due to: 1 - it being available and 2 - me needing money. As a result of this I have been recording lots of stuff on TV and have realised that I am struggling to catch up. So today, due to migraines and a touch of laziness, I took today off and have spent the day watching pre-recorded stuff and it made me wonder what people do without technology. I don't consider myself a geek, I have friends who are waay geekier than me. Some like sci-fi, some like gadgets, some like sci-fi and gadgets but I have always considered myself the least geeky. However I am slowly coming to realise that I am a bit of a gadget freak. I have sky plus, nintendo wii, iphone, digi camera, guitar hero world tour. I can't imagine not having these things, like really I think I'd need to move into a cave or something.

Also, something I was always aware of is my little obsessions. Basically I start enjoying things and become unhealthily obsessed. My current obsession is Fame, I grew up watching it, I wanted to be in it. I wanted my school to be like it and all the memories came flooding back when someone in my work randomly lent me the DVD of series 1. Unfortunately I can't sing, act or play an instrument so my dreams were not going to come true. Yesterday we went to see the live show which was a great fun day out. Today - yes I'm watching the DVD and singing along.

OMG I am geeky beyond belief, I may have to finally come to the realisation that I am not the coolest person in my circle of friends :)

Where did it go

Over the past year, the creative types at ITV and Sky have spent hours/days/months coming up with some new shows - Gladiators and Krypton Factor!!

The thing I don't understand is, if they were cancelled first time round what makes them thing they are going to be popular this time round. Gladiators never did that much for me but I do remember watching the Krypton Factor with my mum when I was young. The thing that was great about the Krypton Factor was that it challenged everything. The rounds consisted of Mental Agility, Response, Observation, Physical Ability, Intelligence, General Knowledge. Now, the two best rounds were always Physical Ability where the contestants ran and real army assault course, and the Response round which involved on a flight simulator landing a plane, this was always entertaining, especially when they crashed.

The remake is a disgrace, firstly it is now hosted by Ben Shepherd who has the personality of a cabbage. Secondly, the Physical Ability round isn't an army assault course any more, instead they've built their own assault course in the cotswalds which involves a 'tunnel of mud' What next? Are they going to be gunged as they cross the finish line? Thirdly - the response round is gone, GONE! Krypton Factor without the Flight simulator is NOT THE KRYPTON FACTOR.

Why can't TV execs come up with new ideas instead of revamping old ones into a show that people watch almost for the kitsch value for a few episodes and then remember it wasn't that good in the first place and the remake is worse.

If a show is successful and people want to watch it, it is less likely to be cancelled (US networks aside). Countdown is been running for almost 60 seasons, 60! They've had a couple of duff presenters since Richard Whitely died and now Carol Vorderman is gone but they've now brought in a very good new team and have stuck with the original, successful format. Countdown always was, and continues to be low budget but that aside everyone likes it. It's one of these shows that if it's on everyone will quite happily sit and watch it.

If a formula remains popular leave it on the air, if it doesn't cancel it and leave it the hell alone. I don't want to see shows like 321 coming back.

No matter how much you tidy......

My boyfriend and I split up after 13 years together a few months ago so my life has been a little......odd to say the least. Against all odds we are managing to be pretty amicable (for the moment). Anyhoo, we have a priority in selling our flat so that we can clear all our debt and both move on.

The thing is, all I seem to do now is tidy, clean and organise. How is it that no matter how much I do it never seems to be done. I thought I was organised except for the superficial stuff like plants and flowers and smellies but I got a call from the estate agent yesterday to say we have a viewer coming tomorrow, so I decide that to give myself the best chance of him being interested that I need to clear the cupboards out properly. This took me all day all freakin' day. How come nothing is ever finished? No matter how much I tidy, clean and organise if the estate agent comes up or I get a viewer I spend the entire freakin day cleaning - how come. I'm live on my own and I work all the time or go to other people's houses so how do I need to spend and entire day tidying and cleaning every single time. It's not even a big flat.

Anyway the guy's due at 1pm tommorrow - keep things crossed for me.

G.T.F.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7818980.stm

This is great - Christian Voice, get a grip

Please buy my Flat

So my flat is on the market, it's only been on for a month and as we know no-one buys property at Christmas. Unfortunately, no-one is buying property at all right now. They want to, but the banks won't give them money to do so. It kinda annoys me because it's all down to banks apparently 'not trusting each other'. Property is a long term investment, people who don't have a spare 10 grand can't afford to buy now but that pretty much rules out first time buyers. How can anyone afford property now unless they save through their twenties and probably into their thirties.

Anyhoo, I need to sell mine for personal reasons, renting it out is not an option for me so in the meantime, I need to keep the place spotless and live like a hermit.

Starting a new life is difficult until you get rid of your old one. Up until now i've had something to work towards something: holiday, getting the flat done, Christmas, now - waiting for someone to buy. Living in limbo is pretty crappy and I'm hoping the flat will go but am not overly optimistic especially after talking to my estate agent this morning!

So happy new year everyone, please buy my flat: http://www.slaterhogg.co.uk/content/006_Results/002_Property/property-sales-rpsSLA-EAE080722-1229428253

In Mourning

Last night while watching inane rubbish on television my Sky + box switched off mid show. When it finally decided to switch back on my Sky + planner was empty, EMPTY I tell ya. Now I must've had around 30 hours of TV recorded over Christmas on it. Devasted is not the word.

I had a couple movies, the Soccer AM new year edition with the annual Dance Off, some general rubbish that I record to fill time when nothing else is on and the worst thing.......all the christmas specials I had recorded but not had a chance to watch yet.

I had some that I was keeping to show other people, but several that i had still to watch myself. The most upsetting aspect of all is I lost the Dr Who episode 'Blink' which I've been trying to see again since it first aired. It finally came on again, I recorded it and just haven't got round to watching it again and now it's gone......GONE! 30 hours of TV for me to watch GONE. Also it wouldn't let me record anything else. Or pause or rewind. How was I going to survive.

This morning I spent 15 minutes calling various numbers and plowing through automated menus until someone finally sorted the problem which means I can now record, pause, rewind again but they can't restore what I've lost. I then spent two hours setting up shows to record in the future - trying to remember what rubbish I watch.

The most disturbing thing about all this is that I genuinely am upset about losing my recordings. Just how did people live when they had to actually be in when a show was on to see it. Even living without the pause function was making me angry. It was at this point I finally gave in to the fact that i am a slave to technology and there is just no denying it anymore.

New Year - let's try blogging

So it's a new year, my life has changed in the past few months and after getting over the initial craziness I'm looking forward. A few people I know have blogs so I thought I'd give it a go.

Now the problem is, I have no talent, have nothing interesting to say and go through many phases of obsessing over one particular thing (at the moment it's Fame). So in light of this I'll probably do this for about three weeks, get bored and give up.

So here's my ramblings while they last.