Can't Take No Mo

I'm not going to run out of these puns on the word 'mo', by the way.

More reflections on the gap between the intended:

(and these are the only circumstances in which "drummer from Travis" will ever pop up on this blog)



...and the reality:



Yes. No. Bad. Still, some good has come of it:

http://www.justgiving.com/js-movember/

I really need to shave. Like I never have before. Even worse than post every festival I have ever attended, more so than the time I grew out the lower lip hairyfur to piss off the women in my life for shits and giggles. We're talking itchy now.

Still, only eleven days to go now. And unless they are reading this (unlikely) I still have some family-annoying to do. Yay!

Aimless Wineshop

I haven't gone into details about the events of this time last year. Remember November 2008? Woolworths, MFI, Zavvi went bankrupt. I was... er... implicated in all that, but didn't blog about it at the time because I was trying to get another job at that point.


I'm yet to describe on here how cack the last days of EUK were. And I'm not going to do that today, either. Instead, 12 months on, I'm going to draw a parallel to another impending closed business and the impact.

Yes, readers, despite the implausibility of the concept, my local offie is closing down.

The parent company of Threshers and Wine Shop somehow couldn't make things add up. This amazes me. Housemate and I almost lived there. Not a watertight business model, but I felt that might be enough.

On my way home tonight I called in, and immediately I was transported to another place: any Our Price, January 2004. Same situation - company clearly dead, customers have lost the will to even try to be polite whilst scalping the dead business for anything they can get. Same tonight.

Ladies arguing that the £25 down to £12 champagne should be £9. Blokes asking where the cheap spirits are. Tramps looking for cheap cigs.

The poor bloke behind the counter - the only one left on shift after everyone else had been fired - was stressed beyond belief. Poor bloke. His shop is closing down, he is about to lose his job, and all anyone wants is a cheap bottle.

I got to the counter and vouchsafed that I had been there when Our Price went down. Being 20, he didn't know what the hell I was on about.

I explained that it was a national chain of shops, specialist like, that had been ground into dirt by the supermarkets.

And then he asked me what I do now.

I told him I now work for Sainsburys.

I think he hates me.

Mo Better Blues

November the 16th: over halfway through the month, and it's fairly clear how this whole moustache malarkey is panning out.

To wit: whilst I would have envisaged something like this...



...the disheartening reality is that we're nearer this.



Bugger.

Mo' Mooey Mo' Problems

FROM THE DESK OF ANDY HEALING

Hi all

Apologies for the bulk email...

Let it never be said that I spend all my time doing good works. In fact, I suspect the last time I did anything worthwhile was Bob-A-Job Week, or a sponsored walk at primary school. So it's not like I'm always emailing people saying SPONSOR ME! SPONSOR ME! I AM GREAT AND AM ON THE FAST TRACK TO HEAVEN LOLZ!

Not at all.

It's almost by accident that I am part of something charitable - inadvertently, as the reason why I'm growing a moustache for all of November (whilst shaving my chin, cheek and jowls to prevent any goatee or beardo action) is that I thought it might irritate people around me - I'm cool like that. Also, it was a dare.

But anyway, all that aside, if you do feel like giving to the pooled fund (it's not just me, it's ten of us at work), then head over to this here website: this here website

There's also going to be photos on there as we progress through - and if I'm honest, I'm more embarrassed about being pictured wearing a tie than having random gingery sproutings fuzzing up my top lip.

So, please give generously. Or don't. Your call.

Hope to catch up with all of you soon. Let's make it December though, eh?

Andy

Movember

I feel at this point that it may appear that I am doing something for charity.

It's not my primary motive, of course; the big one is to annoy people I work with and my family. But if you read this and want to pay to stop it even happening again, go here: Movember

I may never do this again.

Phobia

In almost irrelevant news, it appears that Liam Maher has died.

For those of you who care not for 1992, think on. Maher was the lead singer of Flowered Up. Now he is dead.

Today's timewaster: Tenorium

In the Rather Wonderful department: a Flash-based Tenorium emulator.

http://wonderfl.net/code/f1b3cff1df96019112e67dd4478a0c9efa51578a

The Tenorium is the gizmo that Little Boots plays in concert to distract from her off-key singing.

Within a couple of minutes of mucking about with this, you can build up some very pretty loops, just by clicking on squares at random and listening where the developing tune is heading. Very pleasant.