Mathew Browne

I have been spitting venom all morning because - for the second month running - UCL have screwed up my monthly salary. Resultantly, I hurriedly arranged a bank transfer from my parents to cover my rent (due tomorrow) and various bills that have been piling up. I got through to the HR department a few moments ago and asked them to put the money in pronto. I won’t hold my breath for it.

Wales v Ireland was a depressing affair…

On my way in to work I was stopped by a Frenchman (who couldn’t speak a word of English) requesting directions to Rotherhithe from where he was (near London city Airport). My A-level French finally came in useful for something. That, or I told him something like “The library is open. Grapefruit. Go there under car. Ice cream. Eric Cantona. ”

I watched the first 8 episodes of Family Guy series 4 last night. Easily the best cartoon series ever shown. “Quick! To the Hindenpeter!” You haven’t seen it? Bah, the reference is wasted on you.

I was forced to get the Jubilee line to work this morning. It goes through Canary Wharf. Thankfully, rush hour had been and gone, so there weren’t as many mergers-and-acquisitions types about, guffawing about the “bullish second quarter performance”, and how Piers in the next office “only drives a Jag”. That isn’t to say there weren’t any (there always are at Canary Wharf), but their comparative absence was heartening. Did I ever mention I really don’t like Canary Wharf? Not the buildings themselves, but some of the people who occupy them. They’re such… Oh, I did this already…

I just read that a sixth-former at my old school is representing South Wales in the Miss Great Britain competition. Where the hell were the beauties when I was in school?

I have to give a presentation tomorrow, which I am not looking forward to. It’s all about this database I’m supposed to be implementing. Except I haven’t yet. So I’m hastily throwing together some mock-ups in preparation, then making a powerpoint (and working out just what I’m going to say) this evening.

Guns N’ Roses (my favourite band ever, if you’ve never noticed) are going back on tour this summer. I notice that they’re currently scheduled to be playing in Dublin on June 9th, and at the Download festival in Derby on June 11th. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that they schedule a London gig in-between, which would also happen to be my birthday. ROCK!

My tickets for the WWE Smackdown taping at Wembley Arena arrived yesterday - 11th row! Woooo! (Tumbleweed rolls by). Speaking of Wembley, just how fucking stupid are Paddy Power (the bookmakers)? They start taking bets on whether or not Wembley Stadium will be finished in time for the FA Cup, and what happens? A steady stream of men in hard-hats in the Wembley area place huge sums of money against it. Oh, and they don’t receive a SINGLE BET on it being completed on time. And they’re paying up! Excellent job, Paddy Power. By the way, I have some magic beans for sale, if you’re interested…

Can’t wait for the weekend. 48 hours free of work and stress. Looking forward to the boxing on Saturday, though I fear the Skelton-Williams match will descend into a shitty hold-and-grab contest. On Sunday my friend Tom is visiting to watch the Wales-Ireland game. Should be a good’un.

If I was to say I had 2 tracks from “Chinese Democracy” by Guns N’ Roses (over a decade in the making) on my playlist, you’d probably call me a liar. You’d be wrong. God bless CD leakers.

Here is an abridged version of what I’ve been up to lately:

Saw the Superbowl with a bunch of friends from halls. Unfortunately, the owner of the bar acted like a self-indulgent prick who kept giving his own horrendously one-sided commentary, given he was a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. (And I was supporting them too, thanks to a £20 bet)

Saw the Wales-Scotland rugby match with a friend I went to school with, which was nice.

I have to make a presentation about a database I’m working on. Snag is, I haven’t done anything yet - in fact, thanks to a slow moving tech support group I don’t even have the server to play with yet. Unimpressed.

Work is plodding on. I suppose I’d enjoy it more if I had the certainly of a permanent job, but thanks to the glacier-like progression of grants within the funding system, I still have 3 weeks to wait until I know either way.

Generally, life is a little boring. Need something like a lottery win to spice it up. Having said that, I did win £32 on Euromillions last week. (I bought a ticket despite the fact that - according to the bookies -  Elvis Presley is more likely to crash a UFO into the White House then you are to win the Euromillions jackpot. I think I believe them.)

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