Not working yet and not going to Uni either can be so extremely boring! I’ve been sat in bed all day doing nowt but a little thinking about stuff like what I’m going to do with Piccolo and PicoDebian in the near future. I’ve finished Max Payne 2, Half-Life, Half-Life: Opposing Force, and Half-Life: Blueshift in the last couple of days so I’m all out of games to play too. Where’s the fairness in all of this?!

I suppose it has led to a little more activity than usual on this blog, but now I’ve written about the boredom I can’t write about it again! I even tried to do a minor redesign today, by changing a few fonts here and there, but didn’t like it in the end. Go figure.

We’ve been out for a couple of nights to a nice new bar in town called, strangely enough, Mymou. It’s a lovely little place that’s got room to seat maybe 35 people or so, decorated in a very modern sort-of-unfinished look with a mish-mash of nice furniture and a great atmosphere. The first time we went they were playing Kung Fu Hustle on their plasma screens, which freaked me out a little, and last time it was (we think) House of Flying Daggers, but I was facing away.

Of course, the sound was down and they were playing some good music. One particular track caught my attention, which has led to me buying Mind Elevation by Nightmares on Wax (not off iTMS but in town, was cheaper).

They are also one of the few places in town that serves Hoegaarden on tap, which is particularly nice but does tend to lead to some particularly nasty hangovers. I was lucky enough to escape this morning, but some people were not (no not Jess)! They also have a lovely cider called Olde English and plenty of other bevvies for a reasonable price.

OK, enough of that, it’s starting to sound like they’ve paid me to write all this… Shame we can’t take this place down South with us tho.

Pending firm confirmation—and paying the deposit!—we have a nice place to live in Barnstaple. Jess’s parents were kind enough to visit a couple of places that we flagged up and it sounds good. It’s a 2 bedroom terraced house behind a church (we seem to be making a habit of this…) that’s been recently refurbished. It’s unfurnished so we’ll have to get all our own stuff, nice and personal like, except a sofabed that’s been given to us.

As you might expect, while Jess has been looking at furniture and other things on IKEA’s web site, I’ve been busy trying to scout out the ideal broadband ISP! Even with the help of ADSLguide, there’s just a huge number of ISPs to choose from and even more differing opinion about them all. And that’s not to mention the ISPs that resell connectivity to other ISPs, with different packages and prices. Where does one even start?! Having gone through the incredible palaver of getting a phone and ADSL set up two years ago in Reading, we’re going to try and get it mostly all done before we move in. Ha!

Everyone important has been told now (unless we’ve forgotten someone), so I might as well brag about my new job online! I’ve been employed as a Linux Systems Administrator at Abacus Tree, in charge of a farm of Linux servers in a couple of locations. I don’t know all the details of the job yet, but I obviously can’t speak about it all anyway!

The job description is nigh-on perfect for me, especially since it’s a medium-sized company where I may be roped in to help out in a few other areas as well. For some reason I quite like the idea of that. Add to the mix that we’ll be down in North Devon, a positively beautiful area of the country, and it’s an offer I couldn’t possibly refuse. Lots of seaside activities and generally much better weather than up north usually means lots more fun! I’ll have to give that whole surfing thing a shot.

I start on the 5^th of June, so I’ve got about 2.5 weeks left up in Huddersfield before I have to say my bye-byes. Jess and I will go down the weekend before I start, but Jess will come back up here to finish up a few things in York. Once we’ve found a nice place to rent I’ll use one of my long weekends (two and a half days! yesss!) to move all our stuff down.

So here begins step 2 of my life.

I only just got out of my last exam, and boy does it feel strange. I don’t think I’ve ever quite felt like this actually, it’s like moving on to another stage in life, my education basically being over and done with. Of course there’s still results day and graduation (that I most likely won’t go to), but that’s that: all that’s left is a lifetime of work. My not quite 22 years of preparation for the rest of my life is over, and I can now look forward to 43 years (probably gonna change!) of work. What a strange, peculiar feeling. I’ve been through a lot of changes over the years, including finishing school, leaving home, going to Uni, and more recently meeting my true love Jess, but none has felt quite like this. It seems as though every time the feeling gets weirder and more intense as I move along.

I’ll be the first one to say meeting Jess was probably one of the biggest events of my life, and this has definitely moulded and shaped my life into what I am now, and for this I will be ever grateful. As you all know Jess and I will be formally tying the knot, as it were, just a little under a year from now. I am looking forward to this day more than anything in my life at the moment, even more so than starting work.

And as for graduation, it’s all a big farce! We’ve got Patrick Stewart as our Vice Chancellor, so going to the ceremony would maybe (if it’s on the right day) let me shake hands with a Trekkie God, but it’s not as if I’m a Trekkie in any way and I’m not one to name-drop. What else happens there? You parade about in a crummy graduation gown and get handed a rolled-up piece of card that isn’t even your diploma, that gets sent in the post… Oh, and anyone who goes is sat so far away they can hardly see you without binoculars. It’s really rather crap. So I won’t be going.

Now one reason we’re getting married on the 5^th of May 2007 is that it’s the closest Saturday to the 7^th of May, which happens to be our anniversary! Today marks the 3^rd year we’ve been ‘going together’ as some may say.

Jess and I were going to have a nice romantic picnic up on Castle Hill since the weather has been so nice the last few days, but just to spite us today is really cloudy and dingy. Apparently, the rest of next week is going to be really lovely as well, so we’re really disappointed in the weather. Instead we’re cooking a nice pissaladière, one of our favourite dishes.

In case you don’t read Jess’s blog, or haven’t spoken to us for a while, we have a bit of an announcement. Jess and I will be getting married in May 2007, most likely on Saturday the 5^th. Everyone keep your calendar clear that weekend!

I realise there hasn’t been a post on this blog for a very long time… We’ve had a bit of a busy time really, so no time to write blog entries. Let’s have a recap since the last post:

• Went for an interview with a small company down in Devon. The job sounds ideal and I’m really excited about it.
• Spent 4 nights in Paris! We went up the Eiffel Tower, had a boat trip on the Seine, and did lots of other touristy things. Great!
• Worked my a*se off finishing an assignment and my final year project (dissertation), both due last week.
• Went back to France last weekend for my dad’s birthday party (his birthday was actually in December). Good fun and saw most of the family.
• Had my first exam, for my Artificial Neural Networks module, yesterday.

How’s that for a lineup of happenings in a two week period?! And there’s more to come!

• Tomorrow I have my Computing Mathematics exam.
• On Friday I give my project presentation.
• On Monday I have my Language Specification & Implementation exam.
• Next Thursday I have another interview down in Devon.
• The Monday after that, my final exam, for Artificial Intelligence.

Maybe after all that I’ll be able to have a break, who knows…

And in the mean time, here’s an article that may make you think twice about throwing innocent pieces of paper away: Q. What could a boarding pass tell an identity fraudster about you? A. Way too much.