The Judist

Come on down!

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:00:00 UT

The sensational band that I'm in, Cold Forge, are playing a gig down here on Thu 25th Feb.
It will be a variation on the lineup though, as our singer thinks he's Dave Lee Roth or something. You should definitely come and watch, I don't want any excuses this time!
We'll be doing all our greatest hits, hehe, and from rehearsals already I can say we are sounding pretty excellent. Think Cream meets Neil Young via The Jam.
We're supporting a band called Bad For Lazarus. You can buy a ticket from me in advance for £5. It'll be the same on the door but it will make us look better if we can sell from our allocation of tickets.

After rehearsals I'm finding my throat feels pretty trashed, so I'll have to actively remember to warm up and warm down. There's a brand of tea I've heard Billy Bragg say that he drinks that got recommended to him by Madonna for helping singers; it's called Throat Coat.

I might get some, thanks Billy. He's been doing some good work of late in the press
http://onionbagblog.com/2010/02/07/laughing-all-the-way-to-the-bank/
That's the spirit!

F1 2010

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:53:00 UT

Reigning world champion Jenson Button in the McLaren (left), M.Schumacher in the Mercedes.
This week testing began at the Valencia circuit for most Formula 1 teams ahead of the new 2010 season that becomes go go go at the Bahrain GP (March 12 -14th).
The new cars look interesting; new for 2010 are narrower front tyres, and due to the ban on race-refuelling, larger fuel tanks mean longer cars in many cases. Some seem to be sporting scaffolding above the drivers' head for some reason.
Above is the new McLaren-Mercedes MP4/25. Mercedes are still supplying engines to McLaren in the light of their own new team. The McLaren looks nicer though, and in testing has done faster lap times. Although it is hard to read into what the lap times mean when there is such a big variation in fuel loads. So far the only faster lap times have been done by the new Sauber car, driven by Pedro de la Rosa and the spectacular Kamui Kobayashi, and the new Ferrari.
One team that has intentionally missed this test is Red Bull who should have a very quick car as well. The next test is at the Jerez track again in Spain next week, where rain is forecast.

4th Annual Djiminho Awards©

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:45:00 UT

It is with great pleasure to announce that patrons of freewebs.com/djimipaij will annually recognise excellence in the fields of its interests.
Award winners are as below.

Song Of The Year 2009
Single released, or a promo released to radio, during 2009.
*"Uprising"; Muse*

Album Of The Year 2009
Album released during 2009.
*"Abnormally Attracted to Sin"; Tori Amos*

Gig Of The Year 2009
Performance in concert witnessed at first hand by patrons of freewebs.com/djimipaij during 2009.
*Neil Young, Jun 27, Hyde Park*

Car Of The Year 2009
New passenger car model first put on sale to the general public during 2009.
*Porsche 911 Turbo*

Racer Of The Year 2009
Professional motorsport driver of race/rally car or racing motorcycle during 2009.
*Mikko Hirvonen*

Footballer Of The Year 2009
Professional footballer competing during 2009.
*Lionel Messi*

ah nuts

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:24:00 UT

Click to read newspaper article about this phenomenon.
Earlier this week I burnt some food. I still ate most of it that was ok. Later on I was chopping a carrot and ate a raw piece. It was a bit bitter. Carrots can be like this at times so I carried on cooking and ate me dinner. Most of the way through eating and afterwards, I still had this awful bitter taste. I tried an apple later, and it tasted like hell. Thinking the burnt stuff might have somehow contaminated plates, knives and chopping boards or something, I threw some sponges away and rewashed everything, and rinsed with vinegar to make sure of getting rid of whatever it was. The next day I was made my lunch and was eating it when I realised this taste had come back and it was horrible. I thought it can't be good, whatever it is, even if it isn't poisonous. I chucked most of it away. Later on I did more scrubbing and washing of stuff, switching detergents in case that was it. But at dinner the horrible taste was still there!!! What the hell is going on? What is wrong with me?
Before I phoned anyone I thought I'd check online if anyone's ever had this.
It turns out I've not been alone! The problem of having a bitter horrible taste in your mouth when you eat is down to having eaten pine nuts recently. It twigged, I had bought some mixed nut and seed thingy from chAvda, and I looked what was in it and yes it was there. It's going away now, and I won't be eating them again anytime soon if I can help it.

I know that diamonds mean money for this art

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:49:00 UT

No, I didn't get the gig at the council.
The feedback I got on why is because I resemble Kimi Raikkonen they thought I might leave them to go rallying - never mind getting thrown out of strip clubs. They didn't think I sold myself well enough. I gotta say, I have a new found respect for prostitutes. At least they don't lie to themselves about what they are or what they're doing and why.
I think the council have a moral responsibility to have given me that job, unless it went to someone who'd been unemployed longer!
What kind of behaviour is this anyway? When a job is being offered, then generally there are several people applying for that same job. That's like jackals fighting over the same piece of meat. Is that natural? For animals, yes completely. For he/she who manages to get the job, they are "the survivor of the fittest" and all other people who didn't get the job are losers. If the newly appointed 'winner' doesn't care about them, then they're happy to have gotten the job. But that's incredibly narrow-minded behaviour. An appalling lack of empathy and compassion. That's behaviour kin to that of a psychopath or a sociopath. And we call that normal?
On the brightside, last weekend I was in the casino and I won a net £16! The game of course was Blackjack, which gives you the best fighting chance statistically to get one over on the house. I did pretty well considering I'd only looked into it a little. There are techniques around for card counting and everything, this site is good for the basics and more http://www.blackjackinfo.com/blackjack-rules.php. My friend who I was with was rubbish, but that's because he didn't apply any technique, or very little. I was lucky to be sat next to the female equivalent of Mr Miyagi who gave me some good advice. Don't worry, I won't become some kind of addict, because that's not the shape of my heart!

Hong Kong calling

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:10:00 UT

On my all-seeing-eye privileges I can see that I've had some visits from an internet user in Hong Kong. I think I know who it is. I don't believe in coincidence theories. Quite why they're looking online so much is a bit worrying. You should be out there enjoying the warm temperatures. Now where the hell's my postcard???
They sold me the pictured V-brake pads for my mountain bike. I will not be having discs on my bike, and definitely not hydraulic ones. These red pads are ok in the dry but have a real drop-off in performance in the wet. As I ride around town a lot and often it is raining, it's a bit like having no rear brakes at all sometimes, especially when you first use them after having left it locked outside in the rain when visiting the shops. I guess people shouldn't sell each other crap. However the Smart LED front light I sold them is acceptable, otherwise Smart wouldn't have just updated the same body but with a single white LED and have that on the market still at a reasonable price.

Of late, my Omega has had an added throatiness to its exhaust note, which I've quite liked. Obviously it meant something was wrong, so a couple of days before my interview I checked underneath. The cause was clear - the exhaust pipe was broken and hanging off the silencer. Rust was the culprit, I know short journeys are not good for your exhaust. It's been replaced now which is good for the car and continues the wallet-llightening.
As for the interview, well I got there just in time. The Council building has a canteen, and people swan around like they work for the BBC. In the interview itself, at the start I was asked to go over what work I've done in my career up to now. After that, it was all lighting questions, none of that "where do you see yourself in 5yrs time?" stuff. It was only near the end where I was asked why I wasn't working. I think I managed to 'answer it without quite answering it' enough to not scare them. We'll find out next week.

What do I do again?

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:44:00 UT

Later this week I have a job interview. Wish me 'luck', whatever that is. It's for a job in the public sector, so in a way getting the post would be not too disimilar to winning the lottery.
It's been a while since my last sit-down interview so I'm gonna have to draw on my memory banks on what's gone well in the past. It's a good job I'm not a mobile phone user, because they have shocking memories. As well as awful memory recall abilities, boom-tish! (That NEVER gets tiring lol).
And I was getting so used to all this free time which would be reduced to a fraction with a full-time job. If I do get it, I'm getting myself a twin-neck guitar to compensate.
Speaking of musical instruments, there's a competition to win one that's been scribbled on by the bassist of an interesting rock trio from London. Feel free to enter and give it to me if you win it.