Unveilling My New Blog Header

What do you think? Pretty snazzy ay? Thought it was about time I spruced up the ole blog with an amazing header.

Created it with entirely with Photoshop, which I'm not really a master of, but know how to do basic designing. I’m not good with tutorials, but if you want any tips or want to ask how I did certain bits of it. Just ask.

Took me a few hours of design work (and neglecting my girlfriend) to complete. This was my first idea on how I wanted it to look, but somewhere along the way I deviated and wanted a kind of Out of Bounds lion lying out of a picture look…. A few minutes into that idea, I opted to go for a similar but effective approach, which looks quite snazzy.

The pics are from left to right. (1) a great pic I found online of a lion and cub. Thought it would be great to have (me being the lion and Kallam, my son being the cub) (2) A pic of me and Louise (my girlfriend, and fellow blogger – if you are wanting some nail tips visit her blog here) and (3) a great pic of me at Edinburgh Museum posing with some fellow lions :¬)

I think the header gives my blog a professional but fun look and I’m proud of it :¬)

My week in insta-matic-vision

Thought I would make a blog centered around pics I've taken during the week and tweeked with the amazing app Instagram. Here it goes:

1. thumbs up

Took Kallam for his lunch as per usual to his fave cafe, where he is always welcomed with a smile. the waitresses love him as he always has something funny to say and is well behaved :)

2. Cool kiddie

Loves his shades. This pic was taken at the Town Park in Runcorn. We both went there recently, making the most of the sun... while it lasts

3. The road to ruin

Its a quiet place. a lot less hustle and bustle then there used to be, but its greenery is great. loads of trees and fields, as opposed to that of my home town Widnes, where it is all built up save for the occasional park. This pic in particular is of the High Street.

4. Peaceful canal

Runcorn has many canals. Me and Lou went for a walk this weekend along the canal when the sun was out, on way to go get ourselves some Sunday dinner. was a great walk :)

5. Beauty and the Bridge

Pic of Lou with Runcorn Bridge behind her. I love taking pics of it, even though its outdated and always being fixed.  Love her so much, best thing that's happened to me in a long while. We have so much fun, because we have the same personality. Life without her would be dull and boring. :)

6. Spoilt history

The muriel shows a fountain that once was outside of the town hall, moved or demolished probably because youths dirtied it up or was victim to soap powder like the Widnes one, which was also removed.  The graffiti shows how many chavs, destroy things that would be best left untouched.

7. Calm Casper 

He loves lazing around. Oh, what a life a cat has. That's all he does. Maybe I'm jealous. I'd love to just laze around. :¬)

I'll do another one of these next week now I've found out how to do a picture grid. Took me a while. Blogger just didn't want to arrange them in any kind of order. Found a great App for Android that helped me out called Photoshake. Check it out.a

Housemate Blues

I really feel for my housemate........All he wanted was no ties fun and frolics with one or two girls/women: he made this perfectly clear from the start of their affair. Yet when he goes and calls it quits after them apparently wanting more then just sex and developing feelings, he gets the hang mans noose around his neck for this and they take it more then just to heart, they are properly depressed. As can be seen from multiple Facebook statuses ranging from ones showing their anger at him to ones wanting to slice of his genitalia and put it through a blender.

IMO he did nothing wrong: maybe he talked too much to them and got to know them, maybe he was there for them when things went wrong in their lives, or maybe he just gave them the idea just by being caring. One of these girls is a friend of mine and she took it quite badly. Ooooh, badly isn’t the word I’m looking for. she took it so badly that she’s moving from the neighbourhood and is going to live elsewhere. She’s a nice gal too, has a bubbly personality and is good looking. I’d have asked her out myself had it not been for the fact she has really low self esteem and seems to be putting herself down all the time. A girl with issues. The other one he was seeing on the side is a nice one too, has a bubbly personality and seemed to me one who would have been happy in a casual non relationship. Can’t always count on feelings staying out of the equation. Anyways, my housemates left town for a week to take a breather from all the mayhem, maybe its for the best.

Onto myself anyway now. My Houseparty went well, I got drunk and had fun. The entire amount of visitors seemed intent of cramming themselves in the kitchen, small as it was, so i joined them. My mate Adam showed us how bulb in a microwave party trick and I provided the tunes through my ps3. It rocked. Everyone said they had loads of fun thanks to some party beer drinking cards. lots of flirting went on and I can't remember any of it. It was one of "those nights". 

The following morning was a sight and I left tidying up for another day and spent the day recovering. :P

I was told at the weekend, that the barmaid I asked out the previous weekend had been asking for me. I heard all this off my dad as she had been asking about how I am and that she was worried that I got the wrong end of the stick when she told me that she was only 18. It turns out it was more of an approval question then a statement. She thought I’d be against going out with someone that age. Its unknown territory for me, but anything’s worth a shot. Might be something there. I’ve asked my dad to try and get her number, as I’m unable to get to the pub after work. (I hate busses). Whether it’s on their list of priorities I don’t know. We’ll see.

I’m still working my way through Dan Browns book. It’s got me glued to it every lunchtime. It’s full of interesting facts, action and suspense. I’ll write a review when I get to the end.

Thats it for today. ciao

Stuck in the Mud

I get so bored in work. I guess i'd be more happy in a creative job, photography, design, anythin other than this. This job feeds on your soul. Hense, my attempt at creating a hat for my little mascot Neville the Nut. I think its quite fetching......help!

Maybe I'm over-reacting. Its a cosy job, I sit around all day, just type letters and thats it. I'm in a warm office and the pay is better than average. I have the feeling lately that I simply can't stay in this job forever and maybe its time to move on.

On the other hand, I'm thinking its too late to enrol at college. I should seek advice on that point by someone at the local college to see what my possibilities are. I wouldn't mind learning photography or design, its a big risk and I not be able to pay my way like I do now. I guess I am not happy with big changes. I'll request another prospectus from the local place and see what they have on offer for how much. Thats another thing; for adults to enrol they need to pay in excess of £100 for any one course. It seems things are stacked against me on that front.

Another thing that has been weighing me down, moreso lately, is driving. Every morning and evening on my way to and from work, I have to look at all those happy drivers in their swank cars and wish that it was me. I would love to drive to be able to travel to pick up my son, go visiting people who live far away and more. But again, this comes with a big gamble. I pass all tests.....then what. I can't afford a proper car, even if I save for a year or somethin. I'm impatient and I would like a car the second I pass. This makes me put it off even more. I need motivation if I want to fulfill any of my long-term plans, which I seem to lack at the moment.

Life has been great lately apart from the two set backs above. I've been seeing my latest fling, who I shall call.......Shoe Girl....... the only name I can think of at the mo, as she loves shoes. :¬) We've been hanging out most nights and they have been great. Just what I need. Most of the time we listnen to tunes, watch films, but more importantly talk about random stuff. Good times. Shes going through confusing times at the moment and whichever path she chooses, I sincerely hope shes happy. Shes a great lass and with the amount of care and happiness she delivers out to others, she deserves some herself.

Payday is upcoming and I hope I can keep some money back to last me the month, which I seem to always have a problem in doing. I buy things, which I really shouldnt. I'm spoilt, I know. I need to buy things this month however. Glasses, a new coat, and shoes. Maybe some t-shirts and jeans. All of which shouldnt be a problem as I'm Mr Cheapskate and only buy bargain, discount clothes which look cool lol

Will update ya later.

the weekend update

Hello all, Nice to see you again.

I really appreciate you coming along to visit my blog. Thank you very much

My weekend went by quite fast. Mostly due to my only waking up yesterday (Sunday) at 2pm lol I must have needed the sleep.

It all started off well. I joined some friends on Saturday in attending a rock gig. Playing at the gig was a band I used to follow, but due to the fact they sounded real bad and tension had formed with them and friendships had turned sour, I left them to their own thing. On Friday however, I was prepared to give them another shot to see if they had improved their performance. They still sucked. Each to their own, but I enjoy good music. I went to the gig with two close friends Kate and Chris, two friends that I don’t really see often enough, but plan to in the future.

The gig went well overall, met up with Chris and Kate a bit early at the venue and had a laugh and a drink and went to get seats outside, as the gig was outside of the club. My ex and her friends arrived shortly afterwards and sat somewhere else. I got occasional looks from her as the night went by, which didn’t really bother me as I was having a laugh. Miss Purple was there (as mentioned in previous blogs), she came over to say hello and tried to make small talk. Asking questions like Why I had left without saying goodbye the previous week (she was off talking to others and I had had enough of tweedle dum (my ex) and her friend tweedle dee). She also asked if I was going to her housewarming. I had already promised Kate and Chris that I’d be sleeping over at theirs, plus it would have been awkward with my ex and her friends going also.

As the night went on, Chris had to leave to go and attend his mate’s party, which left me in Kate’s company. She has a thing of getting quite close and touchy, which confused me at first, but not for long as she spouted out all night long how much she loved Chris. I think she was sat so close to annoy my ex, as my ex had called her some names in the past. It worked. My ex text me if I was seeing her, which made us both laugh. There is no way I’d date a friend’s girlfriend especially one as good as Chris and she definitely isn’t my type. Kate is a rock chick, but dresses real gothic and smokes a bit too much. We have a laugh though and I consider her to be a good friend. It was good to see my ex jealous, even though I hadn’t planned on it. I text her back saying nothing was going on and that I couldn’t believe she had even asked lol

The night went on and I got wasted and had a laugh with kate and then we went back to hers for some more drinks with her and he brother and his mates. Everything was alright apart from the average testosterone show you normally get with teenage boys trying to show off to their female visitors. Quite like how gorillas would fight off new contender’s to keep their place as leader of the pack. Kate’s brother tried in vein to make fun of me, but I gave as good as I got and equally made fun of him, which at one point I thought he was going to start a fight and he was a big and muscly dude, but he just sulked off somewhere. Must have been the beer giving me some courage.

After I had proved that I was in no way one to mess with and my place in the household leader board was set, I settled down for drinks with the other teens and got to know them and had a chat with Kate and one of her next door neighbours outside of the house in the back garden. Chris came back later one and we retired to the living room and watched Silence of the Lambs, which was very surreal.

Later on that day, I woke up in a totally alien place. Their house, unknown to me, had three floors. I got lost easily and walked into a bedroom by mistake. I panicked, but I was alright eventually as I got my bearings and just chillaxed on the couch, where I had been sleeping. I also got lost trying to get out of their neighbourhood and to the local shopping centre to catch a bus. My head was elsewhere and I looked a mess, but after trekking and numerous back tracks, I made it out and caught a bus to my ex’s to collect Kallam.

When I got there, I stayed a bit to see how Rhys (my step son) was doing, but also trying to ascertain why my ex was being so nice. A friend of mine seems to think that she wants me back, but I needed to know for sure. When chatting for a bit with her, I came to the conclusion that she might, but I cannot be sure. I’m more naive then most and probably can’t spot the signs, but everything just seemed friendly (which I must admit is weird, especially for my ex who in the past has treated me like something that was on the sole of her shoe). My conclusion, even if she is being nice to get me back, I wouldn’t even entertain the idea. I’ve moved on and realised that whilst we had some good times when we were together, the love that I felt wasn’t as strong in the last year that we were together. I recall many times when we were together, before Kallam was born contemplating ending the relationship, but put the idea on the backburner when Kallam was born.

The day with Kallam went well anyway, I took him to get his hair trimmed. I wanted it cut short, but the ex wanted it just trimmed. For the rest of the day, we spent most of it at mine just messing about and cherishing the time we had together. Normally, I would hate the bus journeys there and back, as they take in excess of an hour each time, but I was surprisingly alright, mostly due to having a new music player/phone. I recently won on auction a Sony Ericsson W850i for an amazing price of £53 and now have all of my songs on it. It makes the trips a whole lot shorter that for sure. I can’t live without my music.

That’s it for now. Update ya later

Lunar Lunacy

Everyone knows theres some idiots out there, but this one takes the biscuit. The moon was mistaken for a "bright, stationary" UFO which had been loitering for at least half an hour, by a confused local in South Wales who made a 999 call to the police. Ok, the only similarity I see is that its in the sky and is bright lol. Some people can be extremely dumb. Other bizarre calls cited by the police force included someone asking for help voting for Rhydian a contestant on The X-Factor and another requesting a pound coin for their supermarket trolley. Conclusion: Some Brits are dumb.

Latest news: I'm overcoming my confidence issue more then expected. I seem to be coming out of my shell a lot lately and I feel really good about myself. I'm realising this bit by bit as the days go by, mostly through noticing that I'm talking to more people without threating over saying the right words and more recently phoning someone I have the hots for, who i met over the net and have been flirting with since around Nov 07. It was a big thing and I was told I came across quite well. Sucess! lol

My ex messed me about again today. *sigh* The story goes as follows: I realised early morning that there was no where to take the kids. This was due to the fact that all my family members had plans and plus it was raining heavily. I therefore phoned her to ask if it was possible to have the kids next weekend. This caused a tirade of nasty texts to be returned. Eventually, i phoned her and came to an agreement that I would take the kids for her for four hours at the local kids play area I've mentioned in previous posts and that she would pay. She seemed quite desperate to get rid of the kids, even though it was only for four hours. Five mins after collecting the kids we had a text argument (we text more then phoning, always have), which went like this:

EX: "C U at usual time 5. Take them park" (its weird how that little text caused me to go from calm to angry in a very little timeframe.)

ME: "How dare you change the time after I took the kids off you. That is not on. As the limbo players say, How low can you go?" (i thought that was a good retaliation at the time. sounds childish now)

EX: "lower then you mal. Your a selfish guy"

ME: "How dare you turn this around so I am the bad one. Its all you, you bitch"

EX: "bring them bk at 3pm, i am running late as it is"

ME: "No, 2pm, like we agreed"

EX: "I said 2.30pm. It cums to sum things wen i have to force you to have your own son"

ME: "No, its being reasonable, not forcing. Them glasses you have are obviously bitch goggles, you see stuff which ain't right" (i felt this was OTT and sad, but i was really angry)

EX: "lmao, you are so sad" (sad = lame, I agree that last comment was lame lol)

ME: "you are sadder then sad" (even lamer I know. I was fuming mad at this point)

EX: "take kids park till 4pm"

ME: "no, you said 2.30pm and that is what time I'm bringing them back, like it or not. Its been raining and the park will be wet".

EX: "it won't be mal. I've gota do two more trips"

ME: "yes, it will. It rained quite hard before. Will be taking them yours at 2.30pm, be there." (It felt good texting be there. Quite like a hollywood film)

EX: "k***head"

ME: "will you be there or not"

EX: "no, but my fella will be there" (first time shes ever referred to her "lodger" as being her fela breakthough in closure methinks)

ME: "will be there in a mo"

I got to her house after a long bus ride to be greeted by "her fella". Its good to finally label him, as for a long time he has just been a good friend, although I knew that he was seeing her and living with her. He doesn't seem a good enough role model for my son or stepson. Worse thing is i can't hate him. Hes cool. He goes concerts, he likes gaming and he has an ok personality. He seems to be a lounge about and a scrounger though which is bad. I remind myself though its her thats causing me the grief and so i should focus my defences and counter attacks at her if needs be.

Anyways, when i drop kids off, she is in her pyjamas and chilling with her friend Amy (as mentioned in previous blog about hospital trip). Seems that she has been at home all day. Which seems to back up my assumption that she lies to me and uses me.....a lot. Not good.

Anyways, that was today over with. A nightmare of a day followed by a highlight tonight of finally talking to an online friend over the telephone. It was cool.

I'll leave you with this funny pic i found online entitled "If your ex girlfriend had an IMDB page". Its quite suitable but not all of it relates tome. i hope it gives you readers some giggles.