Just seen the Transformers movie and...

...I can now die happy. I know it's a term that's thrown around too freely nowadays, but I ACTUALLY mean it. You could hold a gun to my head right now and all I'd be thinking about would be "What if that car behind you could transform? That would be cool." Seriously. Gohan and I accidentally went down to the car park of the cinema and we just stared. Vehicles look different to me now. More.....awe-inspiring. I walked outside and saw the trail from a plane above and just stood there, hoping it would drop a bomb, fire some lasers and transform. I wouldn't give a damn if it landed on me even. As long as I saw it.

I know this all sounds far fetched and that I'm exaggerating. But you've got to see if from my perspective. This is the culmination of my childhood all wrapped into an adult shaped body. My dreams come to life, yet at the same time it's put a taint on reality. I can't help but think about how much it sucks just to be a human and not a giant robot.....I wish I knew robotics.

The film itself was amazing (spoilers ahead). The effects were out of this world, the little things made it. A hidden Decepticon symbol here, an unexpected profanity there, a bit of giant robot slapstick. I was really worried about the whole ideal they'd planned about revolving the story around humans, but it worked amazingly. For Gods sake, they only had three transformers for the first hour or so.

One criticism I have however (and you know how easy it is for me to pick faults at anything), is that once the Transformers got into a hand to hand scrap you could barely tell them apart. Their designs are so bizarre yet similar they seem to merge somewhat. But when you put that side by side with the slow motion firefight with Ironhide, or Starscream transforming for the first time, it pails into insignificance.

Oh, and the voices are spot on. I was disappointed that Frank Welker (the original voice of Megatron) wasn't involved, but it works (and at least he's voicing Megatron in the game). Starscreams voice is, wow. That reminds me, apparently the game is a big steaming pile....but you know me. I don't think I'll be able to resist...and talking about not being able to resist.....I think I need to buy all the toys. I don't think, I know I'll have to. Damnit, I'm never gonna get my room done out at this rate haha.

A trailer before the film was for an untitled project (see it at http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/11808/), which looks interesting. Godzilla maybe?

Also, Will Smith's latest looks really good. It's called 'I am Legend'. Have a look at the trailer:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/iamlegend/

Oh, and Simpsons is a big pile of shit. I wish I'd watched that before Transformers and not the other way round, but what you gonna do?

Monk Hunt over???

No one bothers to do a drum roll when you ask them, so I'm not going to bother and I'll just come out with it.

THE MONK IS ALIVE!!!!

He's texted me, and in typical Monk'y fashion is avoiding the subject of what he's doing at the minute. As much as I'm overjoyed to hear from him, I was looking forward to the hunt. Maybe we can still do it. We could even invite him along to put posters up.

Next thing on the list, actually trying to physically see him in case it's all a dream.

Work developments

Work's gotten very weird, but in a good way. In the past three weeks or so I've managed to change roles 7 times. That's right, seven. But each time I've remained a standard agent. Let me think. I went from phone agent, to Quality monitor, to shadowing my manager, to running systems training for a thing we use, to the Duty desk which is kinda the operational hub, to being the Gatekeeper (and I do like that phrase), then to doing the Duty desk and being the Gatekeeper at the same time. My head's pounding at the end of every day, but I'm sure that'll pass and it's all really good experience. Looks like I'm finally beginning to be able to get somewhere.

There's a managers job coming up soon, but I don't think I'm gonna go for it. It's too soon since the last one I went for and I don't think I've gotten enough experience in the areas I've been lacking in order to be successful. So, instead of looking like a chump (again), I'll probably just sit this one out and wait until next time (although God knows when that'll be).

MaL Monk Hunt 2007 update

We've had a slow, but good start so far. We've got things in the work at the moment. I just thought I'd let you know that we've added a new stage to the Monk-a-Licious Monk Hunt 2007. Stage 3 is now asking a ninja where the Monk is. For those of you who don't know what I mean, check this website out:

http://www.askaninja.com/

Fingers crossed he'll answer :)

Monk has evaporated

HEY MONK!!! I know you're out there. I know you check the blog occassionally.

*Does the 'I'm watching you' motion*

Just to get everyone up to speed, here's "what's happening", the 411, or whatever you want to call it. I was right. Despite his futile lies, the Monk hasn't kept in touch. Not even on scheduled meetings. He won't answer the phone (but then that's nothing new), and to be honest, people are getting worried. That's right Monk, we do care, even if we're not classed as your "real" friends. I've tried ringing, I've tried texting (and if declaring Johnsons' love for you isn't going to help then nothing is), so what can you do?

...I'll tell you what we can do....and yes, I've thought about it far too much. Here's my itinerary:

1. Post a blog on myspace asking people to slag off the Monk in order to bring about the "tight lipped anger" state and bring him out of seclusion. Three responses to that so far in a day. Not bad, but we can do better people!

2. This is the stage we're at now. I'm posting this message here, not only as an update, but as a declaration of intent. I know Monk won't do anything the easy or obvious way, so I'm going to have to play up to his sense of dramaticism and mystery (does he in fact live alone?). As a side note, please feel free to post your comments of support here, and slag him off on myspace. The ying to this yang.

3. You didn't think I'd stop there? You know I'm too bull headed for that. Three is one of my favourites. We're going to set up an only petition to try and show how much we want Monkle back. Once that's in place we're going to create a youtube video asking people to keep an eye out for him and report any sightings. Especially round about the Greggs on Northumberland street.

4. Yep, still going. People want me to skip straight to this one, but that would be too easy. We know roughly where he lives (within a few miles or so, unless that was an elaborate lie), so we're going to canvas the area with posters asking if you've seen our lost Monk. Don't worry I'll find the most embarrasing photo I can.

5.........I'm hoping 4 works, otherwise I'm going to have to think of a 5. But in the mean time I'll be looking for volunteers to post the fliers when the time arises, and anything else you think you can contribute. Hell, we could have a canned food drive or something.


So there you have it. My plan of attack as it were, and you can stop it Monk. At any time. All you have to do is contact me or pick up the damn phone. From here on in I'll be making one phone call attempt before each stage, just to give you the chance.

Who said I wasn't fair?

Oh, and I almost forgot. For such an event we need a name. That name?

The Monk-a-Licious Monk Hunt 2007!

Now that's MaLTTM

The field of ant war

I don't much feel like it, but I promised you news about insects. I knew I should have done this the other way around.

Yesterday I got one of those ant landmine looking things. I'm not wanting to go into too much detail (mainly because I fear they're reading this), but it's filled with poison that they take back to the nest and kill their families with it. Forced regicide. Awesome.

.....although they're not seeming to take the bate. Maybe they're on to us. Maybe they just found better tasting food to take home. THIS ISN'T OVER!!!!

Depression

I think I've had/have depression. Yes, I know. Yay he's finally posted, and what a riproaring hoot this looks like it's going to be. I promise I'll talk about my fight against insects in a little while, Boy's brigades honour. That's right, I was in Boy's brigade, but I'm not religious, ooh what a hypocrite. Anyway, I digress.

Having never had depression before (at least as far as I know), I'm not entirely sure that I've correctly diagnosed myself. It feels like I have. Basically (although who am I kidding? When do I do anything basically?), a few weeks back I woke up one day and realised my world wasn't right. I couldn't put my finger on it, but nothing seemed to gel together. What I was doing, where I was, where I thought I would be, nothing seemed to make sense. I wasn't happy with where my life was going (and lets face it, we all know you can never predict where my life is going). I seemed to be just existing, and that wasn't good enough. I felt like I needed to do something about it, but I had no idea what. It felt like I was wasting time by just staying the course my life was on.

I felt like I was losing touch. Not just with myself, but with everyone else. It felt like I hadn't seen most of my friends for an age, and it's more than likely true. Because of this, I felt hollow, less of a person.

It got to the point that it took my a couple of hours to get out of bed, no matter what time of day I was starting work, just to force myself up. I dreaded the thought of going anywhere and doing anything (which of course is counterproductive to the whole 'losing touch' thing).

I knew something had to be done, but what? What worked for me in the past? Not having anything this severe to base my theories on I was stumped for a while. Even being bullied constantly as a child I hadn't felt this low (of course back then I just substituted any possible sadness with wild, hate filled rage, most of which is still buried in a shallow grave, waiting for hte soil to be disturbed).

Then one day it just clicked. I'd stopped doing my weights, mainly (I'd convinced myself) because fo the crazy shifts I'd been working. I'd forgotten about the weird joy they'd brought me. So I started again, and I instantly felt better about myself. Along with this sudden pleasure I'd rediscovered when improving my physical image, my mental self felt better. I rationalised my life. I came to the conclusion that things could be much worse than they are. I've got a roof over my head. I like my home (dispite the obvious illogical, but well chosen choice to stay here). I love my friends and family. I have my health, and......you'd think that would be enough. Call me selfish, but so is the world. We as a species strive for more than we have. That's how we evolve and move on. How we progress. So yeah, life is good, but it could always be better. It's this thought right now that dominates my mind. I do want my life to be better, and it will be better or I'll die trying.

Still, it somtimes comes back. That sadness.

I definately need to do my weights more regularly.