India: Part I
# 24 May 2008 19:18
So, first impressions of India after the 8hr flight, plus at least an extra hour of flying around in the stack waiting for landing permission at Mumbai, and another 20 mins sat on the ground waiting for a space for the plane to pull up and let us off:
Mumbai airport is basically a dump. My initial reaction was that they haven't finished building it, and then as I went inside I thought maybe we'd stopped at some disused terminal as the building was grotty and the walls were plain untidied concrete with a ceiling that looked like it was supposed to have suspended ceiling tiles, but instead had electrical cables hanging down from it.
Security coming into the country seemed almost non-existant: A quick look at my passport, then claimed my baggage and that was me free to roam India. lol
Anyways, so I get outside and as my dad had said their driver, Sheike (sp. to be corrected later, lol), was there to pick me up, holding an A4 sign with BEARD written on it. Fair enough. Then I had to push my way past (the words 'excuse me' did nothing) to reach him then came the 3 hr drive from Mumbai to Pune.
What an experience. At first I had thought "oh they drive on the left like us", but now I know better: Sure they drive on the left; but not like us. lol. Driving in India is dangerous, IMO. I felt like I was risking my life--not that the driver was bad, just that nobody seems to have any road-sense.
In most places there were no road markings or pavements at the side of the road. People drive wherever they want, and people walk around the edges of the road and cross without looking all the time. Other road users are an equally hazardous thing too; with cars weaving in and out of eachother, constantly beeping their horns to get past, say thanks, or just plain say 'hello', it seems. Traffic lights do not seem to mean anything either as they appear to be mostly ignored. Pedestrian crossing might aswell not exist.
I can't adequately describe the roads in words; it is something you have to see for yourself to believe.
There is also a randomly large amount of wild dogs roaming the streets, but they don't bother you at all. Less can be said of the children begging in the streets downtown, who will hound you until you enter a shop and wait til they pick on someone else to make your escape.
Other than that it's nice to be with my family again, but I am missing David terribly. So that's abit of a double-edged sword, really. :(
Jenn's birthday today... 18, woo! Got to sleep first though, so I'm not entirely sure what we are doing tomorrow, although I think we will go to the local bar, which should be interesting...
At some point I need to check out the local McDonald's which doesn't serve meat other than chicken, apparently. Also there is a pizza place nearby that apparently does a Hawaiian pizza, but fails to mention that there is no ham on it....so it's a ham & pineapple pizza without the ham, basically. Oh and no tomato sauce on the base either... Crazyness. Indian's obviously haven't got the hang of pizza yet. lol
We had Chinese today, which was nothing special. I wouldn't be surprised if it was wild dog meat instead of chicken though... Hmm... lol
Anyways, hope you are all missing me ;)
Laters!
Andy xx
OMG: It's a blog post!
# 22 May 2008 23:24
Yeah, so I'm currently at Birmingham Airport... which sucks.
It's like half midnight and the whole place is closed... Not really sure what to do lol.
I want a drink but the Costa Coffee that seems to be open has nobody there to serve anyone; which is great. and stupid me forgot to bring any change for the vending machines... yay!
Also, airport internet is REALLY expensive! :(
Anyways what else can I say seeing as I have 20 minutes left and I'm rediculously bored already and my flight isn't for another 6 hrs...
Oooh yeah, my new job!!!
Finally managed to leave McDs after 8 years, thankfully before I lost my marbles completely... lol
I'd seen "Internet Moderator" advertised on Fish4jobs and decided to apply for it... cos--let's face it--what do I do in my spare time anyways?
So I applied and they were impressed and I got the job!
I am enjoying it too which is always a bonus. I do miss some of my friends from my old job though, but still managing to get the occasional drunken night out with them... and many of those with Duane lol.
Went to see Iron Man the other week... it was pretty good. Will look awesome on Blu-Ray lol. Talking of Blu-Ray I just bought the Sweeney Todd... Typically it's due to arrive tommorrow while I'm in India... Oh well...
Ooh and sneaky mister David booked a hotel in Earl's Court last weekend and took me to see Avenue Q! It was pretty good....very funny, lol. So now my ban on sneakiness is lifted so I must thing of something...
Although cos of this trip to India I won't get to see him again until his birthday on 8th June... will have to make it extra special! ;)
Oh yeah, that thing about Costa Coffee reminded me... I've started on coffee again, but hopefully I'll be able to keep it in moderation. I haven't been having ANY hot drinks at home recently, so it's just work that must be a bad influence. :P
Anyways, I'm running out of things to say... so... seeyas!
'til next time (whenever that may be--I'm not doing too well on this once a month thing, lol).
Take care,
luff yhooz!
Andy xx
Labels: coffee, david, dreams, drunkeness, family, films, friends, london, travel, work
Happy New Year 2008!
# 04 January 2008 16:11
So, I kinda forgot to do me usual summary of last year post.
2007 went pretty fast... lets have a mini summary right now...
Started off abit rubbishy, and the first half was littered with Hollyoaks-style boy problems, hehe.
In May I went to Los Angeles for Star Wars Celebration IV... There were supposed to be a bunch of us meeting up but in the end it was just Ana and I, lol, oh well we had mucho fun driving around to random restaurants and forgetting to take return directions! hehe
In June one day I got bored and on a spur-of-the-moment decision I decided to drive down to Enfield in London to meet a lovely guy I had been talking to online for a month or so... Best decision I ever made! Six months later and we are still together and wouldn't want to be with anyone else. We are still separated by distance but we do our best to see eachother as much as we can. It's difficult sometimes - but who ever said love was easy? We got to spend New Years together... Yay! :D
I've also had a couple of chances for jobs during this year but am somehow still at McDonald's... oh, yay. lol
And New Years Day I had an argument with a bush alongside the Warwick Bypass just after taking David home... Whoops! So missed a DOUBLE-PAY day at work and had to spend £50 on getting my car fixed... all because I SNEEZED! I mean, honestly... How on earth.... *sigh* lol oh well all is good now.
So then, goals for this year:
1. Get new job. (or win lottery, lol)
2. Move out.
3. New car.
4. Spend lots of time with David
5. Post on my blog at least once a month.
I have a special couple for work while I'm still there too:
1. Be a bastard - no more mister nice Beard! :P
2. Re-organise stockroom (whether people like it or not)
hehe
so thats it in brief.
Hope veryone had a good Xmas and a happy new year!
Take care!
Andy
xx
Labels: boys, car, Celebration, david, family, friends, new year
So this is the new year...
# 23 January 2007 01:43
...and I don't feel any different.
Kudos to Death Cab for Cutie for the title. lol
So righty then, we're what, 3 weeks into 2007 and I haven't really noticed any major life changes yet. pooey.
FINALLY sorting out my room! I have awesome plans for the redecorating of it, and seeing as i have actually spent 3 days tidying and sorting out my crap so far my mum is starting to show some interest in helping me lol, I think she didn't believe I would ever get round to it. Gonna take forever to sort the junk though. Moved my computer 3 feet across to the right earlier and it took 3 bloody hours. The furniture decided to fall apart when i moved it... And then about another hour to figure out where all the cables went.
Mysteriously, my flash card reader has started working again... dunno even why it stopped. oh well, can't complain. Now my comp has the following drives: A C D E G H I J K X. lol well wasn't that interesting? No? Well I don't care. :P
ANYWAYS. the whole coming out thing seems to have settled quickly. no repurcussions or however the hell you spell that word. All seems good, yay. :)
Hair cut tomorrow. might be different for a change... hmm. maybe. Then on weds we are having a new ISP computer installed and it's my close, so apparently I get to close an hour earlier than usual... YAYAYAY!!!
Currently I am mostly feeling abit "meh". Just things and stuff getting on top of me that usually I am good at keeping at bay. Tut. Oh well, I'll survive lol. I've been worse. :P
Bored now. lol
til next time, whenever that is.
Andy
xx
so...
# 09 January 2007 02:02
I just came out to my parents.
hardest thing i've ever had to do. and i emphasise EVER.
I need hugs. :(
x
Two Thousand and Six (plus one)
# 31 December 2006 11:46
Well 2006 has been a strange year, a bit of the old but lots of the new. It's been pretty good overall, which has got to be a first... I mean the last few years before now have been pretty shitty to be fair. 2006 has been the first year that I have been comfortable with myself for a long time, and I've actually made a few accomplishments and new friends that I plan to keep.
Lets see what happened this year?
Hmm, in January I had my SCARY First Aid Course at Kidderminster College with Sam, as part of my promotion to Shift Manager at McDonald's. That was a nerve-wracking experience, but wasn't so bad and definitely can?t have been bad for my confidence.
February saw me actually go get my eyes tested and get some glasses, while March saw talk of the family moving to India, and a certain troublemaker who shall remain nameless finally quit at McDs - much to my joy. Lol
April brought my Shift Management Course at the Hamburger University in London, with Sam. Much fun was had by us down there and on the Tube. Was quite an experience and although I thought it would be scary it actually wasn't.
May was the month I started cutting down my coffee, and me and John broke up. I also had the start of my nightmare closes at work, with the Bitch Brigade out in force on my early ones to make my life hell, lol. And then there was the open that sent my on a mission to find a key in Anna's house and get back home for about 2 hours sleep before work. Oh god, what fun that was.
Then we get June, and the dreaded 06/06/06... Look up the blog post if you want, but it's where the catchphrase "it could only happen on an Andy Beard close" came from. I also got pissed off when my phone died after I got it slightly wet. And let's not forget that I came out to my mates at work, which caused less trouble than I thought it would? So I actually spent a lot of time worrying about nothing? Hmm, I can see a pattern emerging here lol.
In July I was feeling a bit down, cos my birthday plans were all turning from crap to crappier? Then I got together with my first proper boyfriend, Ashley, which totally changed the outlook I had on the year and lifted me out of my little rut and gave me another confidence boost.
August and September were actually pretty good, as I was seeing Ash, but it got crappy at the end with what was undoubtedly my worst week EVER, where everything I had planned to do on my week off went completely wrong and lasted until the beginning of October when Ash broke up with me. So that little crappiness overload dropped me back down into that hole again, but my mates helped me up out of it. Yay for them!
Also in October I started getting more into Numerology and stuff like that - it's interesting, I think, lol - and had a few drunken nights, experienced general crappy feelings on and off throughout the month and was made Co-Forum Manager at JPLegacy.org (the web's largest Jurassic Park information resource - yes, I'm a geek, so the fuck what? lol).
And on to November... Hmm, was a tough month with things going on in regards to work, friends, and guys, where I didn't know what was going on and stuff, but I got through it in the end. Think I've talked about some of the events enough so I don't see need to continue further about it.
Lastly, December comes along, and to be honest, it seems to have been the best month of this year. I've done things I thought I'd never do, and things I rarely do, and apart from the ever-present crappyness at work things went pretty good.
Hehe, so that was my year in brief. I've met a few new people who have affected me greatly in this year. Strangely I got to know them all through MySpace.com lol
Firstly there is Andy, who used to live in Stourport but moved to Brum, to go to the College of Cakes. Almost had a thing going on with him towards the end of the year but that didn't work out because of distance, and other things. But he's been a good online friend throughout the year, although I actually never managed to meet up with him.
Then I met Ashley in Game in Kidderminster, and later on MySpace too. We got talking and eventually started seeing eachother, and for the first time I was actually in a relationship with someone I could actually be with, hold, and was truly happy with. Things didn't work out, however, but we're still friends though so that's all good.
The third good friend of this year is Anthony from Redditch. He has been a really good friend and helped me out a lot despite the fact that we only ever spoke online for most of the year, dunno what I would have done without his advice really. Also he led me to...
...the last but definitely not least, Jon (aka Billy), who is an amazing guy who I really love spending time with and hope to spend lots of time with in the new year. He has become such a good friend in such a short space of time
So, yeah, 2006 certainly has had its ups and downs, but I've pulled through it and think I actually have become a stronger person for it. I've changed a bit too; personality-wise I'm still the same old annoying Andy B, lol. But I seem to have more confidence than I did at the start... Basically because the events of the year have required me to build some up.
Now as for 2007, I plan on finally getting away from McDonald?s. Have grown so fed up of the place now it's unbelievable... Still the same old shite as ever, being under-appreciated and underpaid as ever, so the time has come.
Also I plan on moving out of my parents' house, although this will prolly depend on me getting a new job first so I can afford it. Lol
Don?t plan on any new relationships, I'll just wait and see if anyone comes along. Just looking for new friends and such for now. If I met the right person I'm sure I could make an exception though.
Want to go out with my friends more too, don't seem to do that enough despite having good times.
Soundtrack of the year would definitely be mainly made up of Snow Patrol and Death Cab for Cutie for me... heh, how depressing. Add a dash of The Boy Least Likely To, and My Chemical Romance ;)
Hope everyone has a great night tonight, and hope 2007 gets off to a great start for you all!
Take care,
Andy
xxx
Labels: boys, crap, family, friends, music, new year, websites, work
10 Statements
# 14 October 2006 02:24
Write 10 statements for different people.
Don't say who each one is intended for.
(gotta love copy and paste from Word. Sorry about the mess)
1. You are a good person, and you need to stop being so hard on yourself. I'm still your friend if you want me to be, but you have to realise that it's not going to be more than that. I know that may be hard for you to hear, and I honestly don't want to hurt you, but it's just not going to happen.
--> -->2. You are an amazing girl. For someone I only know from online and a few telephone calls we have been through a lot together. You're always there to help me when I need it and I'm eternally grateful for that. I definitely owe you big time.
--> -->3. A lot of the past five years has all been your fault. So it's a good job I've enjoyed it. You're great, and I'm glad you found someone who brings happiness into your life. It was awesome to finally meet you last year, and I hope we meet again some day.
--> -->4. I care about you so much, but at the end of the day I can't argue with anything that makes you happy. So I'm content with being just friends. You've had a bigger impact on my life than I think even I realise at the moment. Just remember that whenever you are in need I'll be there for you because my friends are the most important thing in the world to me.
--> -->5. We really need to get drunk soon.
--> -->6. It's crazy that we have known each other so long and yet don't really talk that much. Thanks for joining my new forum though. lol
--> -->7. One of these days I'll have to meet you because you're a pretty awesome guy. I should have come to your party, but oh well, I guess I'm boring!
--> -->8. Just keep that nail-gun away from me. And be on MSN more.
--> -->9. You've been a great friend to me in recent times. My greatest regret is that I didn't get to know you better sooner. And stop with the llama song, please. lol :P
--> -->10. One of these I will actually manage to go out in Brum. And probably get drunk and make a fool of myself, but it'll be all in the name of fun. So it's all good.
If you figure out which one is for whom, don't say it here.
It'll kind of defeat the object.
Take care
x
happy families
# 27 September 2003 22:24
Damn, I just love my family. And I just really love the way we all get along. Shit.
Just got back from my cousin's wedding. We weren't expecting anything that followed protocol, because thats just not the way he is, but everyone seems to delight in bitching about everything that is even remotely bitching-worthy.
All I have heard all night is about what my cousins have done and why they don't deserve anything, why we hate out aunt, and why our nan must be blind. I'm just so goddamn sick of it I'd fucking walk out and never come back if I didn't care about them so much.
Urgh. What did I do to deserve this wretched existence. I can't wait until death, it has to be more enjoyable than this.
Don't worry, I'm not going to go out and kill myself or some shit like that. I could never do that - it would cause more pain to the people I love than it would relieve me from. I can put up with it. I'll get bloody pissed off, but I'll put up with it.
Now, gwyn sent this email today which really hit home. I'll copy and paste it here as my final message. Hey, a moral to the story? *shrug*
There once was a little boy who had a bad
temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails
and told him that every time he lost his
temper, he must hammer a nail into the back
of the fence. The first day the boy had
driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next
few weeks, as he learned to control his
anger, the number of nails hammered daily
gradually dwindled down. He discovered
it was easier to hold his temper than to
drive those nails into the fence.
Finally the day came when the boy didn't
lose his temper at all. He told his father
about it and the father suggested that the
boy now pull out one nail for each day that
he was able to hold his temper.
The days passed and the young boy was finally
able to tell his father that all the nails
were gone. The father took his son by the
hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You
have done well, my son, but look at the
holes in the fence. The fence will never be
the same. When you say things in anger,
they leave a scar just like this one. You
can put a knife in a man and draw it out.
It won't matter how many times you say I'm
sorry, the wound is still there. " A verbal
wound is as bad as a physical one.
# 29 August 2003 22:31
Mum and sisters will be back soon, dad's fetching them from Birmingham New Street station...
Labels: family
Mad House
# 26 August 2003 14:24
The house is a bit crazy at the moment, because my mum and sisters are still down in Bournemouth... Also my dad just can't shop, so the fridge is practically empty, lol.
heh, he left an egg custard on its own, and it was just screaming "eat me" so I did. *cackles*
Uhh... This is basically a post of boredom... *sigh*
Labels: family
Salvadore Dali
# 24 August 2003 19:26
Just got back from my weekend at my Aunt's house in Southbourne. Was good fun, we went down on the Friday, it's a 2.5-3 hour long journey, so my dad brought some cassettes to listen to - "The Best Punk Album in the World Ever!" Hehe, haven't heard that one for a while... tis good.
Anyways, on the Saturday we went into Bournemouth itself. It was packed, and that Darius was playing live, so Jennifer wanted to go see that, so she went down to the pier with my mum and other sister while me and my dad went looking through shops for random stuff.
We also went looking for a hotel to stay in when we go down again in February for my Aunt's wedding. We were given details that my grandparents got from the internet of a good-priced guest house nearby, so we drive down to find it, and the bloody thing wasn't there! It'd been knocked down and had flats built on the site. So obviously we couldn't stay there, lol.
Later that night we all had an Indian takeaway with all various stuff. It was our treat to my Aunt and future Uncle for having us down there. We're always having Indian food at home, and an Indian restaurant is always the first thing my dad looks for when we are on holiday (you don't know how long we searched for one in Orlando last year *rolls eyes* ). Anyways, that was nice. Probably better than the one we usually have at home. Afterwards we were playing a game called "Blind Ignorance" where there was a pack of cards with famous names on them, and that was stuck to a players head so that they couldn't see it, then they have to ask the other players questions to find out who they are. My Aunt was saying about half of them she doesn't know about, and picked an example - Salvadore Dali. Of course, the first round Salvadore Dali was picked so we changed that one for Noddy. Then it was my dads go, and he randomly picked Salvadore Dali out of the pack. We think he's just going to haunt us forever now, lol.
Other funny moments were when it took Stuart forever to get Felicity Kendall - he knew who it was, he just couldn't remember the name. My sister was Adolf Hitler, and she asked "Does it begin with a D?" Well, of course it begins "AD" so that sent us off into fits of laughter aswell. And then when we chose Mr Spock for my dad, who is a bit of a Star Trek fan was the best. After a while he knew who he was supposed to be, but he wouldn't say it because we didn't answer the questions right... Well we aren't all Trekkies, are we?
Needless to say we'd all (most of us) been drinking... I had two pints of Boddingtons and a bottle and a half of white wine.
This morning was a fairly normal Sunday morning, except that we weren't at home. Watched the F1 Grand Prix, same as usual. Had dinner same time as usual. Then me and my dad came home, while my mum and sisters are staying down there for the rest of the week.
We have work to go to :(
Labels: drunkeness, family, holiday
A Grand Day Out
# 21 August 2003 17:54
No, not the Wallace & Gromit animation... Me and my family went to Warwick Castle today. Damn, I haven't had so much fun since our holiday in Florida last August!
Before that though, my sister had to stop off at school to find out her GCSE results. She did pretty well... Way better than I did... Anyway, so we got up to the Castle and the it was a 20 minute walk from the car park before we got to the entrance. It was really cool. I like historical type things, but this was fun as well! The castle dates from 1086 and was used right up until the mid-1970's.
There were minstrels playing 14th century music and a ghost tour, which was hilarious. Also you could walk up on the ramparts and the tops of the tall towers, except my dad was too chicken to look over the edge, lol.
Inside they had different walks for different times. On the ground floor it was medieval, the first floor was 17-18th Century, and the second floor was 1898.
There was also a small dungeon and torture chamber. Pod would like that. :D
Altogether very cool! :D
Labels: family
# 14 August 2003 21:18
Just got in after a visit round to my aunts house.
It was my youngest cousin's 2nd birthday, so we went round and were suprised to see my two oldest cousins there aswell. We haven't seen them around for a while, because of a few incidents which I won't go into. Ian was there with his fiancee, Claire, and his son Josh. My grandad was obviously trying to ignore the presence of Simon, as he is the root of a lot of family problems. Personally I was glad to see them again, it felt like old times to me, and I look forward to seeing them at Ian's wedding in September.
In the car on the way home, as I suspected they would, my family started talking about the doubts over whether Josh is actually Ian's son. Personally my opinion on this is that if both Ian and Claire are happy that Josh is his then is it really anyone elses business? Is it just me that feels this way?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
# 10 August 2003 15:10
Our fridge broke! ARGH!
Luckily we still have our old one... The broken one is only 6 years old, and it's a fridge and freezer, but the freezer part works fine. So we just got out the old fridge which we normally only use when we have extra stuff in, like more food, drink or beer when we have a load of visitors coming round. It's over 20 years old and still works. lol.
It's really annoying though, because we can't afford a new one right now. Since my dad lost his job last year everything started breaking. We've had to replace the tumble dryer, kettle, washing machine, television, cooker, and now the fridge too. But it looks like we'll have to make do with what we got right now.
My dad is stuck in a low-paying job right now just so we can afford to keep the house, but he has an application in for a design job with some company in Gloucester. I dunno what it is designing, but I do know it isn't what he did before.
I hope he gets it...
Getting Old...
# 08 July 2003 22:50
Well, today I am no longer a teenager, having recieved birthday cards presents and cake for the 20th time.
I have to say this hasn't been the most brilliant of birthdays, it was only mediocre by any days standards, and it went a little something like this...
I was woken up at 11:45am having overslept, although with it being my birthday and all I should think I had the right to stay in bed... But we were going out to the local pub, The Brinton Arms, for lunch. We walked down there as soon as I was ready, and met my grandparents (from my mums side of the family). Altogether there was me, my mum, my sister Natalie, and my two grandparents. My dad was working, my other sister, Jennifer, was at school, and my other grandparents weren't invited because they smoke and we always eat in a non-smoking area.
The Brinton Arms was refurbished last year, and I have to say they have ruined it completly! it used to be like a traditional British pub, but now it's more like a restaurant inside - I know all the old regulars have moved to other pubs like The Stagborough Arms - But anyway aside from that, it is very nice and is well decorated with friendly staff. Unfortunatly though, it is still a Banks' pub, so I had to make do with Fosters lager as I can't stand the tasteless drainwater that is produced for Banks'.
So, we went in and ordered our food and everything. The meal was nice, it was also hot, and I can still feel the burn inside my mouth from that potato... I just had roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. In case you don't know what Yorkshire pudding is, it isn't really a pudding, lol, look it up in Google or something. Anyway, that came with gravy, peas, carrot, boiled potatos and roast potatos. Hungry yet? For pudding I had Chocolate Fudge cake with ice-cream. That was so filling that I couldn't finish it, hehe. So we finished up and went back home.
My nan had brought some old photographs over so we were looking at some embarrassing pictures of me. Thankfully I wasn't the only one there was pictures of - nobody was spared from the wraith of the old photo album... I tell ya, my mum has had some weird hairstyles in the past, lol.
So after my grandparents went, I got bored and watched The Empire Strikes Back until some more people came round.
Umm... That's about it really... I'll I got so far is £90 and a Star Wars Episode II Monopoly game.
I knew there was a reason I treated myself to that Lego Star Destroyer.
| David | Alexander | Ana |
| Amanda | Jon | Theresa |
| Galactic Basic | Jurassic Park Legacy |
© Andrew Beard, 1997—2008.