San nin fai lok.  Gung hei faat choi, lay sei dow loy.

Translation: “Happy New Year.  Congratulations and be prosperous, now give me a red envelope!”

I know I’m late but still…it’s the thought that counts. ^^

Who knew not carrying around a mobile would cause such hassle – I’m going to use the word ‘hassle’ lightly as it’s a little hyperbolic in this case.

Today I went to the NEC in Birmingham and took the train to get there – it’s just easier and more time efficient than driving.  Upon entering the “out” train I realised that I had forgotten my mobile but it wasn’t too bothersome, in fact it was quite blissful¹.   The only problem I would have come across was reaching my friend, whom I was meeting up with at New Street to then head to Birmingham International.

I got to the station and used a payphone to call my mum so she’d know I got to Birmingham fine, without being kidnapped or not making it².  Turns out she left me a text and when I hadn’t replied she grew worried and even went back to the train station to ask if I had boarded the train.  One of the staff members had no recollection; I had purchased my tickets from the machine outside so I wasn’t surprise.  It’s safe to say she was relieved when she picked up the phone to hear my voice.  She thought someone had taken me.  Whoops, sorry Mum.  Don’t mean to do this kind of thing to you.

Didn’t the payphones used to cost 20p/min a call?  I put my money in and dialled but the phone kept saying: “more money needed” or something along those lines.  The call ended up coasting me about 50p! O.o Oh well, I suppose it’s worth it.  Had I not called the police may have been involved.

This kind of mobile incident had happened times before but this is the most recent one.

Have you had any similar experiences or stories you want to share?

1. Yes, I have issues with the technology. [↩]
2. O.o [↩]

50 books to read before you die:

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy – J.R.R. Tolkien ((Read the first one but haven’t read the other two.))
2. 1984 – George Orwell
3. Pride And Prejudice – Jane Austen
4. The Grapes Of Wrath – John Steinback
5. To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8. A Passage To India – E.M. Forster
9. The Lord Of The Flies – William Golding
10. Hamlet – William Shakespeare
11. A Bend In The River – V.S. Naipaul
12. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
13. The Catcher In The Rye – J.D. Salinger
14. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
15. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
16. The Diary Of Anne Frank – Anne Frank
17. Don Quixote – Miguel De Cervantes
18. The Bible – Various
19. The Canterbury Tales – Geoffrey Chaucer
20. Ulysses – James Joyce
21. The Quiet American – Graham Greene
22. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
23. Money – Martin Amis
24. Harry Potter Series – J.K. Rowling¹
25. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
26. The Wind In The Willows – Kenneth Grahame
27. His Dark Materials Trilogy – Philip Pullman
28. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
29. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
31. The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time – Mark Haddon
32. On The Road – Jack Kerouac
33. Heart Of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
34. The Way We Live Now – Anthony Trollope
35. The Outsider – Albert  Camus
36. The Colour Purple – Alice Walker
37. Life Of Pi – Yann Martel
38. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
39. The War Of The Worlds – H.G. Wells
40. Men Without Women – Ernest Hemingway
41. Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
42. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
43. Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
44. Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
45. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey
46. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
47. The Count Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
48. Memoirs Of A Geisha – Arthur Golden
49. The Divine Comedy – Alighieri Dante
50. The Picture Of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde

I would highlight the books I have read but it’s quite embarrassing².  Think I’ve got a lot of reading material for the holidays/rest of my life.

How many have you read?

1. Okay, I didn’t read it technically.  I attempted but it didn’t really capture my attention. [↩]
2. Doing it anyway – talk about contradiction. [↩]

You can include early November in this…forgot it was December.

The not so good things:

• Why tax payers are working their butts off, only for their money to get squandered like this?
• People who would rather point a finger at others rather than taking responsibility for themselves.
• The fact that sometimes just to do something simple – let’s say…pay off a holiday – takes 10 attempts and three different numbers and a few hang ups.
• Driver’s who put on their high beams unnecessarily.
• Mobiles.  Sorry, I’m never going to get along with them.
• I lost my ninja bunny.
• John Terry.

The good:

• Michael Bublé.
• My favourite season is here.  Please let it snow.
• Faster and more efficient laptop.  I upgraded the RAM from 512mb (I know, I know) to 2gb.
• Trip to Munich is finalised.  It’ll be the first time I go travelling with a friend and I can’t wait.
• Matrix (jewellery-specific CAD program).  Rendered images more pleasing to the eye than my sketches.
• Novatech (suppliers of PC components).  Ordered a lot from them on Monday, chose the following Monday for delivery (it was free then) but got it yesterday (Wednesday), I didn’t get charged.
• My friend, who kindly allowed me to get the CPU stuff sent to her house.  As usually no one is home at mine and I hate being a pain in the butt to delivery men.
• Pasta, just because I love my Italian food. :9

Today I got an email from Thomas Cook, reminding me that I’m still due to pay the rest of the costs – for the trip to Munich.  So, I followed the instructions; called the given number.  Was taken to those automated voice thingys, pressed the options, only to be met with: “Sorry, we cannot…[..]…please go to www.flythomascook.com and go to My Account…”  To top it off, without me speaking to anyone: “Thank you for calling Thomas Cook…” and get charged 44p for the call, which involved me thinking to myself.

I did go onto the site but apparently my reference code is not recognised.  On the same information/alert window it tells me to call such and such number.   I did that, after getting back from uni. but the office was closed. :/

Hey ho, I’ll try again tomorrow.

Anyone else had/been in an unhelpful situation?