I’m glad Christmas only comes once a year! I’ve just finished off my Christmas shopping today and it was tiring to say the least. I had brought most things from Amazon at the end of last month (involving a total of 5 deliveries!), but I still had a get a couple of little somethings (mainly for my GESF and her flatmate).

Whilst Leicester town centre wasn’t too crowded, I did find some people annoying. My “normal walking speed” seems to be 50 to 100% faster than others, hence when I get stuck behind people and they just don’t move I get slightly annoyed. Oh – in the town centre, there’s a kinda “mini-theme park”: the standard “crane grab” machines, “hook a duck” and what’s termed a “Bungee Ride”. Basically you (and up to one other person) sits in this cage and it fires you up into the air (over 60ft) at over 8G’s. Wow! I didn’t have a go as I needed to do some shopping…

Anyway, after having a turkey lunch in Woolworths (not too bad for £4.99), I then grabbed some more cash and went up to Boots to grab a few prezzies. I just hope my GESF and her flatmate like them – the only thing is that due to how they “work” Christmas (they both go back to their individual parent’s houses), I’ve got to ensure the prezzies get there before Sunday. If I send them recorded post tomorrow morning then they should (fingers crossed) get to them on Friday…

I grabbed a few other things, grabbed a paper and then popped along to Maplins to look at a couple of prices. My printer (HP Deskjet 845C) ran out of blank ink late last week (so much for the “running low” warnings) and I had just used my final CD-R (around 60% from a batch were fault ), so I needed to grab those. Maplins price for a black ink cartridge (HP order code 15) was £24.99 and a “cake” of 50 CD-Rs (without cases) was £19.99. Not too bad, but I thought since D.A.Computers was just over the road, I’ll pop into there to compare prices (as I’ve been a customer of theirs for over 10 years, been ‘aware’ of them for around 15 – and, in fact, brought my monitor, current computer and printer from them). Their prices? £22.33 for the ink cartridge and £18.22 for a cake of 50 80-minute CD-Rs.

Well, now I’ve just got to wrap everything up and get it ready for posting…*grr* I hate wrapping as well Oh well – “Hi Ho, Hi Ho – it’s off to flibblepenguin we go…”

*sigh* I’ve just been speaking on the phone to my GESF (Green-Eyed Southern Friend: see previous entries). Second time in two days and fourth or fifth time in a week. She really knows how to brighten my day – I just called her to see how she got on earlier today (she had to go for a Doctors checkup) and we chatted for around 30 minutes or so (yesterday we talked for around an hour). I was laughing most of the time at the things she was coming out with.

At one point I managed to steer the conversation over to the emails I’ve had from Someonelikesyou.com. A bit of background about SLY (good acronym really ) As detailed elsewhere on the net, this service works by you entering basic details about yourself (name, age, hair colour/color, eye colour, email address) and then 5 email addresses of your friends who you have a “crush” (yuck!) on. They then get an email pointing them towards the site and have to enter in 5 email addresses of people that they think may have a crush on them – and so on. After entering 5 email addresses in, they get 1 clue – another 5 and another clue and so forth.

SLY therefore gets a whole heap of marketing data and a list of verified email addresses (as they send the emails to your potential “crushes” before giving you your clue: if the email bounces, you don’t get your clue). Very “spammy” way of doing business…

What’s this to do with my GESF – well, let me explain…
» Read more: Personal: Thoughts about my GESF

[Updated: 24/Dec/2002 00:35: The CDs were sold for £22.35 all inclusive. The cheque is waiting at the bank to be cleared and I'll send them all off as soon as the post offices reopen]

I’ve decided to clear out some of my music collection and sell it via Ebay. If you are looking for brand-artist name singles to help build, complete or start a pop collection then head on over to Ebay and check the list! Auction closes on the 18th of December…

With a reserve price of just £11 for 35 CDs: how can you miss such a bargin – especially with payment being accepted via Paypal, cheque, postal order or banker’s draft? UK posting and packaging is just £3.54!

All 35 original CD’s come in their original packaging/case – with a few including posters and ‘reader survey cards’. A number of the CDs also have bonus tracks.
» Read more: Life: Ebay Sale: 35 Pop CD’s

I’ve just found out who sent me the flowers on the 6th of November.

My blinking ex-girlfriend. *grr*.

She came round today to drop off a book and video that an old friend borrowed (Hellraiser video and Tom Sharpe’s Indecent Exposure by the way). We started talking about her new boyfriend etcetera and the conversation just slightly drifted. She then told me she had a confession to make and that she was the one that sent me the flowers (“to play with your head and hopefully get you back with me”).
» Read more: Life: Really p–d off at ex-gf

I went out “on the town” again on Saturday night. Unlike Monday, I didn’t get k-lined/drunk but I still had a reasonable night out for not much cash.

As I had an £7.50 drinks voucher for Zanzibar, I decided to go there. I called a local taxi firm (as I knew the chances of me catching a bus into town that late were nil to non-existent) and got into Leicester city around 9.45pm. Paid the taxi driver (£6 – although the fare was only £5), grabbed some cash from the nearest cash point and wandered down Churchgate, up Mansfield Street and down Sandacre Street to Zanzibar (little local historical fact for you, the site on Gravel Street/Sandacre Street where Zanzibar is used to be a bus station – even though St. Margaret’s bus station is just opposite – and then it turned into a rollerdrome during the day and Zanzibar nightclub at night: now it’s just the night club) and I went in.
» Read more: Life: Saturday Night Partying