New Flat!!

So after all the grueling searches, I've finally found a flat. About time 2 Yes's matched up. I just moved in today. I'm banking it being a diamond in the rough. A bit of work needs to be done such as a new boiler being installed right now, and some furnishings to make it homey. I haven't met my flatmates yet but I know it's an American and Italian girl, both in their late 20s so the landlord seems to think we'll be a match personality wise as he did the screening. My room is cool as it's pretty darn massive. Only thing with the flat is there is no living room, but the kitchen is large enough to make it a nice common area and we have a large covered balcony, so I'm sure things will be fine. There is no net connection as of yet, will have to discuss with my roomies what they want to do, but I'm sure we will hook stuff up. I'm pretty excited to have roomies as I've never had them before :)

The area is in Finsbury Park, North London. Its a 5 minute walk to Finsbury Park Tube Station and there are a few butchers and nice pubs and restaurants in the area. Finsbury Park is really close to the cool Northern London areas of Kings Cross, Angel, Islington and near Crouch End. 5 Stops (8mins) to Oxford Circus, so really central. This is the closest into London Ive lived (coming from SouthEast BlackHeath and Forrest Hill, yuck!)

For those that may want to post me something here is my new address:

170a Tollington Park, London N4 3AJ

phone number the same as always, in London: 07999694911 or if your calling international its
001+44 7999694911

dtm

DTM Belt's it out

I don't know if I should laugh or cry, but I'm sure you'll do one of them. Here I am, exposing myself to the world. Enjoy. (Note the dude coming over to 'turn down the volume')

http://www.biznatch.net/Dan%20Kareoke.wmv

Simon Cowell I'm ready for you!

dtm

School Disco Times

I'm still waiting for the pics to come in (or maybe not!), but I went to a 'London Experience' for a friends going away party a Saturday Nov 18:

Ah the Good ole Days of School Disco:

http://www.schooldisco.com/Home/disco.aspx

Remember the days of the jocks, nerds, political activists, hippies and home eccies all subdivided by the cognitive perceptions of each others alter realities. Where each patch on the gymnasium floor was a microcosm of homogeneity. That, my friends is School Disco.

At first we were embarrassed to go to this thing, albeit urged on by Matt (ie his going away party, his call). We kind of felt like a bunch of pedos, ah screw it, you only live once!. It was a blast going with friends, there was 10 of us. There really wasn't any inter-mixing going on at the club, but if you go with your friends its bound to be a laugh. The venue was the Hammersmith Palais which is about 4 times larger than the commodore. They only let you in if you're proper dressed up. Angus Young and Britney Spears style. I had to buy a tie because they wouldn't accept my plain old red tie. So I succumbed 6 pounds to my purchase of a 'striped' school disco tie. I never wore a school outfit during my younger years, so what did I know about a striped tie!
It was a bit of a commercial cash cow, but least to say I did enjoy dancing to the sounds of Electric Light Orchestra, America, Wham, and Oh What a Night.

dtm

The Cap-e-tan

The Adventure of Captain Stabbin and his sidekick Scotty.


Excerpts from the Cap-e-tan:

Scotty: - 'Captain, we've been blown ashore!'
Captain Stabbin: - 'Arrrrr Scotty, Have ye not been blown before?'

Captain Stabbin: - 'Scotty, Hotdogs for me grub?'
Scotty: - 'But Captain, the Cods just come in!'
Captain Stabbin: - 'Arrrrrrr I'll take your mayo on that!'


Stranded Female: - 'But Captian, that ain't no fishstick'
Captain Stabbin: - 'Arrrrrrrrrr, and that ain't no tar-tar sauce either!'*

If the Captain was dressed up in a Santa Outfit:

Female on Santas Lap: - 'But Captain, that's not snow!'

Captain Santa: - 'Arrrrrrrrr, and that ain't no Egg Nog Either!'

Always a Good Catch.


dtm

*Meesh and Solymosi Special

Ahhh the Good Times!...

Man I miss this, won't be too much longer now, just a little bit.......

dtm

Recalling some old Work...

Even though my site (www.biznatch.net) is still up and has always been running for the past number of years, I thought I'd revisit some of the older posts I'd made since this blog on the Biznatch:

http://biznatch.net/Gym.htm

Now that I have more of a larger corporate environment type job at BTC, this post is much more relevant:

http://www.biznatch.net/poop.htm

dtm

The 'Oh I'm Sorry'......

I don't get it with this.

It's called the 'Oh I'm Sorry' bit.

I've been thinking about this, and probably for far two long, but two issues arose to make me think more about it.

No one really wants to hear those words. Why be sorry, why lie, why lie!

There are 2 occasions for the 'Oh I'm sorry bit':

1) Story goes. Tmax and I lived together for 8 months and most recently moved out of the Blackheath. We only lived there for 2.5 months and when we split, told the Estate Agents that we had to move cause we split. 'Oh I'm sorry'. That was pulled twice as when the inventory girl came by to check out the unit, asked how long we lived there for and we said 2.5 months, then asked why we were moving out. We split. 'Oh I'm sorry'!

This was also interpreted as 'Awww I'm Sawy'.

2) Colleagues dad recently passed away and we had a card go around the office to write any condolences. Most of the comments started with 'Sorry to hear this'. blah blah blah.

Screw it, its Rubbish!

I know how it feels, both my Grandmas passed away and I was very close with both, so I understand death. And relationships, well, yea death.

But why not put a positive spin on things, like:

1) Just think of all the rack you're gonna sack, all the cock she's gonna block.

2) Celebrate the life lived in full, make your life full of Bull*.

If people were more optimistic, the world wouldn't be full of miserable twats!

dtm


*PS If you're having a hard time understanding point 2, I'm referring to a Bull Market in the Stock Markets, I'd rather be Bullish than Bearish!

Landlords Market

I now understand the rules of this so called Tenants Market. Albeit here I was going to over 15 properties thinking it was I who had the power to pick and choose my home. Little did I know the stats are stacked against me:

in 2003 there were:
3.12 Million Dwellings in London
3.24 Million Households
1.1 Million One Person Households.

Hows that for overcrowding!

It's not the marketing or advertising behind these flats, it the fact that London is plain overcrowded.

I have been rejected twice just by going in, seeing the place for a few mins, having a quick chat and thinking, yes , no maybe. My two yes's turned out to be no's for them, but then again glad the 2 Spanish design students didn't take me in. I don't fancy a household where dinner is 12am and bedtime is 3am, and I have no time for siesta, BT doesn't sanction those.

So after last nights showing, I met two very friendly Brits in their mid 30s who are both TV producers who sat me down for a nice chat to see what I was all about. I didn't have this luxury with the other flats and at this moment I knew each flat I've seen, I was in their mercy. The place was great, doubt I'll get it cause I did get grilled about how long I'd be here and had to succumb to stating min of 6 months. It came out the wrong way. Fingers crossed as they were very cool and the flat\room was awesome.

Failing that, I will crash at the BT flat for awhile until I find a place, I'm sure there won't be too much longer of Johnny and Leah taking me in, as I realized just this morning I snagged Johnnys keys by accident, so I have 2 sets of house keys on me. I have basically locked Johnny in his own home as the locks on the door are bi-directional, meaning you need to lock it from the inside, as well as the outside with the key. Looks like I'm in the doghouse and will be sleeping outside.

dtm

Weekend of Nov 20th - Fridays Move

So Friday night was moving night out from Blackheath. as I haven't found a place yet since the guys at Warwick Ave jammed on me (to you Tossers, I hope you suffer from the biggest toilet leak of the century due to a bad Sunday Night Curry!), I am crashing at John and Leahs in Ealing. After a long evening of packing, we set off in the moving truck to find Ealing. I'll save driving in London for another post, but lets just say it was not an easy journey. I think everyone in London should have to pass some basic geography test of all major motorways. After getting lost several time we finally arrived close to the doorstep of J n L's. I was left up to my own devices to move my 14 small bags and 2 suitcases full of stuff I've collected. This was not an easy task at 12.30am. I had to walk down an alley into a courtyard with an overpass next to a Starbucks. Lets just say it was a very isolated area and no hooligan would hang out there except take cover from the cold elements and rain of London. As I pulled my first load through the walkway and into the underpass there was laughter and yelling filling the air. I turned the corner to discover 6 East Indian fellas drinking some Famous Grouse and Coke. At first they didn't pay and attention to me as I walked past them, to the gate and up the steps into the townhome. After my second trip one of them belted out in thick British tone 'Where'd you go Bruv, holiday', I thought, oh shit, they might case me any moment. 'No just moving in with some buddies' I replied back as I hurriedly moved past them to the gate again. Now I know it's not right to think that I'm gonna get jacked, they might machete me, maybe try and bend me over, I dunno, so I tried to keep positive about the situation, who was I to judge or stereotype. It's the damn media's fault!

So on my third journey back from the van they asked me where I was from and I said Canada, at which we started some friendly banter about Crown Royal and Toronto, where some of the blokes have been to. They offered me a drink and I warmed up to them and said I'll be back for one after I finish the move. They offered to help and I said I was ok and didn't want to burden them with my shit.

So after my 5th journey I finally moved all the stuff into J n L's place, said my byes to Tmax and came out for a drink. By this time it was about 1am.

They were a friendly bunch of guys, 1 from Kenya, 3 from Pakistan, and 2 from India. They poured me a stiff Grouse n Coke which I cheerily accepted. Basically we were just poking fun of my situation and discussing places to go out in London and a bit of Canada banter. Then the police came by and kindly asked us to dump our drinks in 10 mins or they would do it for us. One of the guys started arguing with the cops, 'we know our rights, we're allowed to be here', then he pulled out the:

'you're just picking on us cause we're Brown!'

Man I wanted to sprint, I thought, that's it Armageddon's going down right now. I could see the papers now 'Police Brutality Over Color Blindness'

Needless to say they police left and threatened to come back in 10 mins to inspect our drinks.

'Don't worry' they chidded me, 'he's a lawyer, he knows what he's doing', 'We've got an Electrician, a Lawyer, a Shop Owner, a Mechanic and a Pimp' said the ringleader as he pointed them all out.

'Sounds like a Self Sustaining community' I replied.

We all decided it was best to leave the alcohol before the cops came back, they invited me out with them but I was knackered and needed my sleep so politely declined.

It was an interesting encounter out of a city usually so cold that no one talks to you. These guys were friendly and interesting and in no means out for anything but to have a good one with each other. It just makes you look at the other side of things and cut through the media BS.

dtm

Official Weekend in Memory of Tmax

This weekend marked the official separation of Trish and I. So after 3 wonderful years together we have officially parted ways. It's easy to fight about things in a relationship and dump someone for any wrong doing out of anger or so called 'deal breakers'. With us, we never had any arguments, fights or wrong doings if you will. It was just a hard reality that it wasn't going anywhere and we really both needed something more. I've always valued friendship in relationships and agree it's a key ingredient, but there's also gotta be chemistry involved to spark that, and I think we both felt after living together that there was something missing.

It was a bit rough living with each other for the past 3 weeks knowing that this weekend would finally come. A few ups and downs as trying to live separate lives yet still entangled in the same house. Probably the hardest part was the division of material things, you know like the kind of stuff like who gets the 40 year old Virgin dvd, who gets the ironing board, leave my scotch alone!, and the fact that we had to re-meet up to get the HER sports bag which I used to put MY dress shoes in, which she mistakenly took back to HER flat!!

That's the reality when you meet up again outside the relationship and you look at them with fresh eyes and think, goddammit you look fine.......ok out of brain out of brain 'do-rit-do-did-do-roooooooooooo'

It is with mixed feeling but for the best of both of us, and I wish nothing but happiness for her as she moves on. We had a great run and in my heart she will always have a place in it.

dtm

Commuter train Nightmares!

Yikes, you know it get's real bad when for the past 5 days straight the 7:50am train from Blackheath to Charring Cross has been delayed by about 9 minutes each time. Because of this, the train is not only picking up the early comers for that train, but all the late stragglers as well. I'm beginning to lose all faith in commuter people. See what happens is everyone crowds around the doors making it almost impossible to get onto the train. Yet there is tons of room alongside the aisles. There is no reason why people can't just move down a tad further into the aisles so it frees up space for those to get onto the train. Today was especially bad. I've had to revert to just bulldozering people so I don't miss my train. I'm not gonna be late on account of these people hogging all the door space. So I literally take a running leap and just pile into people. the phrase 'move down please!' doesnt mean anything, its a deaf echo. So there I was packed like a sardine between 15 people in a square radius of 3 by 3 feet. The worst thing is I had Hillary Duff - Come Clean on my Ipod blaring a little too loud and I was so packed in that I couldn't even change the song! What am I doing with that on my ipod anyways..... :P

dtm

Weekend Update P2 (Nov 10-12)

..
Continued...

Saturday I met up with Geoff, Haley, Kassan and Aaron with some other friends for drinks at the Australian Pub called the Walkabout. We met up around 3:30, I wasn't into another big night of drinking but it turned out that way. We stayed there until 10:30 drinking pints. I was convinced that either my tolerance to liquid piss has gone up, or they water their drinks down. The Walkabout, well it isn't a very classy joint. It's basically an Aussie Pisstank with cheap beer. I think after 12 pints I still didn't feel drunk, just groggy, tired and bloated. I was convinced that my tolerance had increased until Sunday.

Sunday was good, despite drinking nearly 6 liters of beer, I awoke bright and early for the first day of Winter League Ultimate. It was a 4 game day so we played about 4 hours of Ultimate. The team is called the 'Fugazees' and is ironically comprised of mostly Canadians, John and Leah amongst them.

After a grueling day of running around (and as I write this early Monday morning in the office, I really don't feel like doing much and my legs are killing me) we went in to a pub for Sunday roast dinner and some beers. The team took off after 1 drink and some food and I ran into some guys that are friends of my old boss, big rugby type guys who take the piss out of everything. I joined them and they bought me a few pints which at this stage (I think I had 6) made me feel quite drunk, so I'm convinced this Walkabout place is really garbage for watering down pints! Never make a deal with the devil, and you know when people keep buying you pints, you owe them a favor. Admittedly I do want to try playing rugby, and it's something they now expect of me. Yikes.

dtm.

Weekend update Nov 10-12)

I don't do enough of these weekend updates so I figure I should do more. Not to bore anyone with what I'm doing here, but then again maybe you're curious.

Friday night was a bit of a gongshow. Typical Friday after work with BT friends at the Chapel (local Edgeware Road Pub near Office). On the drink, It's a buddies going away night as Friday was his last day at BT. Kiwi buddy going back to New Zealand. Hockly, you'll be missed, now go home already!

After Chapel we proceeded onto this 80s club called Reflex. Unfortunately didn't get to see the inside of it as the lineup was a bit too long and slow. I almost got into a fight in line as this fat bloke tried to jump the queue. I basically told him to shove it and get back to where he came from. We engaged in some verbal bantering and name calling, his buddies refused to follow his lead which basically proved he was a tosser. Like House of Pain was going to do anything. Since the line was moving anyways we left and went to the pub next door for a few. Ironically I bumped into the Tosser in the pub, shook his hand then he scuttled off out of that pub into some wormhole. After pub we went out into Angel to go to my fav place Beduin, however even that was a sausage fest and didn't prove to be too fun. So at 3am the remaining 2, Andy and the Hock edged off to 24 hour burger joint down the road where I fulfilled my triple burger patty fantasy getting home about 4:30ish after a £25 cab ride (ouch eh!). Boy I miss Dennys!

dtm

Happy Guy Fawkes Weekend (Nov 3-5)

I've never Heard of this Bloke until now. Guy Fawkes was an English soldier and member of Roman Catholics who tried to blow up Parliament, Westminster Palace in 1605 in an attempt to assassinate Protestant King James I. The plan was foiled and Fawkes faced interrogation, torture and execution. The English host a night in honor on November 5th (or weekend of) where each night is a firework spectacle. Each council puts on their own fireworks display as well as most people lighting off their own displays. All weekend it sounds like London is being bombarded by artillery fire!

So the traditional fare is to go drink copious amounts of booze while lighting off fireworks and hosting bonfires. My buddy from work had one such party and I ended up coming out. It was an evening of drinking 'The Famous Grouse', the Baby Duck of Whisky, ugh! After fighting through crowds which remind me of English Bay Symphony of Fire, we went back to Tags house to light the big bonfire, sit around, smoke weed, drink and make shit up. It seemed like such a Canadian thing to do I forgot I was in London!

dtm