Simon’s Cat….I so want to see more of these, certainly gives GARFIELD a run for his money!

Purrrrrr Genius!!

You know what? I am FUMING!!!

Here I am, on the opposite side of the planet, I get through to the nurses station of the ward my mum is on, and they tell me I have to use ‘Patientline’ to speak to her….I politley explain to the nurse that I am calling from New Zealand and can I not have a quick chat on the phone at the nurses station?…”No, it would be too difficult to get mum to there….”, ok so mum is physically impaired and can’t move much, but it’s not impossible! I was given no option….this amounts to physical discrimination and institutionalisation on my mum’s part, since I am the calling party and incurring no cost on the hospital…..

Thanks for FUCKING NOTHING…..NHS…..

I apologise for swearing so clearly on my blog, but I had to illustrate how strongly this MADNESS incenses me. I will wait till the morning, and try once more when a new shift of nurses are on….but there’s is no force on earth that will make me phone through Patientline from New Zealand, it’s bloody extortionate in the UK never mind from abroad?! Load of Crooks!!

To quantify it, to speak to my mum for just 5 minutes on one of those devil-lines would incur a tariff of over $6 not to mention any surcharge my local carrier would levy since this is not your average UK landline.

There’s got to be a better system guys, it’s about time Labour pulled there socks up with their social responsibilities or got out, and lets face it, they aren’t far off the door now! I’m so glad I’m not in the UK any more. The system is sapping it’s people - in fact the whole system is broken in my opinion. Funny really? In a bygone age when governements got into such a mess the opposition would call for a vote of ‘NO CONFIDENCE’ and a new government would be built. The more I see, the more I believe democracy in the UK has become flawed and corrupt.

I was once proud to call myself a loyal subject of the British nation; but now, I am ashamed…

EDIT - OK, so whilst I have my consumer bee in my bonnet; and the soap-box is still warm, I have taken the liberty of getting in touch with ‘patientline’ to ask if they can explain to me, how they reached the tariff figure they currently charge so watch this space…..if I get a response I will post it here for all to see.

On the news of my continuing exploration of the art of …er…. moving pictures; and my increasingly lack of any acting ability I have decided to invest in a piece of software by Sony called “Vegas Studio Platinum” as this is the most affordable step in the right direction for me, ok so it isn’t a top of the range Mac with ‘Final Cut Pro’ but it comes with multiple audio and video track editing and over 200 odd special effects and transitions!

Once I have this we will put to the test, whether better software truly does mean better videos! Or whether I’ll simply remain CRAP!

Well, what can I say - I have such great taste in friends, ok so I work with him too! Me and J hit the town last night, and it was steaming…. literally, I lost count of the number of bourbons and coke after the first 10 minutes?! I got home some time after 4am and that signalled the start of the worst best day of my year so far….yeah confusing huh!

So, when I woke up today (and missed the W.O.F. testing station for my car damit!!) I decided to go for a walk - this is at about 2pm. I don my MP3 player, with some ambient tunes weaving their way into my ears. I walk. No where in particular but with just one thing on my mind, the ‘now’, or rather it’s relation to coincidence and fate if any. Before I know it, it’s 3pm and I have walked halfway round Lower Hutt in a world of my own. Within myself, and yet so far divorced from the physical aspect of me, that it was really quite exhilerating!

In order to bring myself a little closer to planet Earth again, I decide to watch - ‘The Incredible Hulk’ in the cinema - and BOY what a better effort than the first reprisal a year or so ago! With some great cameo appearances including Lou Ferrigno the original HULK! (even providing the voice of Hulk!) and a short appearance by Marvels own Stan Lee who gets a little taste of his own medicine shall we say! All in all, one of those ‘yeah I’d watch that again’ flicks….

then I walk home from the cinema (since my car is currently off the road until I renew the Warrent of Fitness) which at 3km or so, takes me around 30mins, and here I am sat typing this, feeling the lack of bourbon return to my system =p

In other news I just found out that my brother’s mother-in-law just passed away, and that our own mum is back in hospital, my faith in the UK Social Services is increasingly diminishing! - what a downer!

Such an intriguing point of view. Throw ego out the door, quiet your mind, and forget about the past and the future, all that matters is - THE NOW!

Regret, Hope, Fear, Stress, Anxiety - ALL by-products of living outside of the NOW.

Although I can’t tell you how to get there, if you can find your way to the NOW, in body, mind and spirit - you’ve found the holy grail of exisistence my friends!

It’s time to turn the page, are YOU ready for a new chapter?

…Ok so I may not be the Captain of a star-ship, but this is my personal log of a sorts…lol!! Well, wadd’ya know!! Just finished watching “The Wrath of Khan” directors edition for old time’s sake and to keep trek fresh in my mind ready for the new installment, and that scene towards the end where they fire Spock’s inanimate body off still manages to bring a lump to my throat!

Meh!! I’m only human.

‘The needs of the many, out-way the needs of the few, or the one……you have been, and always shall be my friend……live long and prosper’ - Captain Spock

who says they don’t kill off the main characters in Star Trek eh?! ok ok….it doesn’t count cos they brought him right back in the sequel….oh well….that would soooo not have happened to ‘Ensign Spock’….now come on be honest!

Ok, so I’m definatley no Ross Whedon, Peter Jackson or Stephen Speilberg - but, I’m moderatley impressed with what can be done with a simple digital camera, a little ’stop motion’ know how (ok maybe need a little practise but this ain’t a bad first step!) and some open source audio from the archive.org and simply - microsoft movie-maker to chuck it all together…and what do you get??

Why this of course!

Oh and in other news? I watched ‘1408′ the Stephen King Thriller the other day, and although I must admidt I haven;t read the book, and though I must admidt also I ‘DID’ enjoy and like it, there was an almost autobiographical feel to it where the main character get rapped on his head by the surfboard. Which tells me this book was probably written after Stephen King’s dance with fate a while back! Well worth a watch this film, even so!

This is me, signing off for the weekend. Wehich in my case is now over, and enjoy my latest um…er…..effort!

And YES!!! I do realise there is a deliberate spelling mistake in the end title sequence….. =p

Sigh….

It would appear - that my excitement over ‘Firefly Season 2′ may have been a little over zealous and premature….the afforementioned website is over a year old, and in most of the forums I have looked there is little to confirm this as fact. No comment from the actors and actresses and nothing from Joss Whedon.

So….I guess if anyone can kill the signal in the ‘verse’ ….Fox Media can….