Owen's Blog

Ok it occurs to me that finally I should get around to updating my web log, and as I am off to France on Sunday this is the only chance I have to do it before I jet off to colder snowier climes. That’s right ladies and gents I am off to the Alps to be a ski host. To lovingly accompany groups of Markwaner holiday makers around the slopes. If you want to know which resort I’m off to check it out here. but first I’m off to Val D’Isere for a 4 day training course. So I tell you all this just to make you all jealous, of course I will be working over Christmas so that’s one down side I suppose. But still a job that by definition is skiing can’t be bad.

Needless to say today has been a hectic one, trying to do all the packing I can for 5 months while staying below my 20kg limit. But so far I’m winning. However from the lack of recent posts you may be forgiven for thinking I have been incredibly busy, unfortunately not the case. I have been unsuccessful at finding any temporary employment so have spent the last 6 weeks since I got home, not doing much but sitting around the house. Perhaps I should have posted more but I just couldn’t be bothered.

Anyway to round off the message, a hello to everyone who I didn’t see when I took a UK tour over the last three days. Hope everyone’s enjoying themselves and I’ll try and get a few posts in from Greece.

written while i was away:
When I left to work in Greece I made a promise to keep people and my web site updated while I was out here in Greece, unfortunately with a summer of weak promises it turns out that the one I made before I left was the weakest. I really meant to update the site much more regularly (well it’s pretty hard to get less posts than two in three months!). I would love to say that there was a really good explanation like being cut off from the internet, but no the best excuse I have is that I was working 8 till 6 every day and was knackered. The real reason, I suspect, was that I wanted to cut myself off from home for the time I was out here, just so I could concentrate on making this summer the experience I wanted it to be. Which it has been, there have been some truly great, scary and exciting moments, as well as some depressing, boring and sad moments.

Working for a summer season abroad, no mater what hob you do is always a strange kettle of fish, I noticed it in a smaller way three years ago when I worked for Acorn Adventure for a month, the job is always difficult and badly paid, the days are long and hard in the heat, but eventually you learn that it’s not the job that keeps you there day after day, but the company, the friends you make and the people you meet, no matter if they’re guests or colleagues. To be honest there are a lot of aspects to my job I don’t overly enjoy. The rules on staff are over restrictive, the food is shitty, there is no privacy at all, and the hours are crumby but in the end I love teaching sailing and very few other times am I able to teach in the sunshine and learn to water-ski and play tennis all thrown in, it’s great when you look at it in the right way.

Of the people I have met I have not had one that I haven’t got on with, I don’t truly think I’ll stay in touch with many of them but there are one or two who I will probably remain friends with, such as the girl I am seeing! The world out here is a bit odd really, it’s like a little bubble; you spend all of your time around the same people on the same site. Really you should get to know people really well but to be honest no one is the same out here as they are out in the “real world” so I don’t really know who I know.

As for the summer in event terms there are some strange events that have happened, not least of all was a huge earthquake that hit us in the middle of the summer, which measured 6 points on the Richter-Scale. There we were sitting eating our breakfast (which as usual consisted of a cheese and ham toasty) when there was a roar, which we thought initially was a lorry. Then all the buildings and the floor started to shake although wobble would be a better term as they literally did look like jelly, we all just looked at each other like Muppets until the Greek chef came running out of the taverna and sat on the floor at which point we realised we weren’t in the safest place and moved. Luckily nobody and no buildings were hurt, and we all had fun with all the aftershocks that came over the next week. Can’t say I ever want to do that again.

Overall the summer has been brilliant and as I look back on it waiting to go home, I really am glad I took the time to come out here and experienced it. At least once.

Ok so first of i have spent the last two days installing redhat nine on my home machine, (for those who need this explaining, red hat is a version of linux, which itself is a form of Operating System, ie the software that runs the computer (windows is a popular operating system I hear))

Anyway got it installed and i don’t like it, there have got to be better linux builds out there… anyone who has an opinion on linux please let me know what your fav build is and WHY. I really don’t know what to go with so could do with some guidence. (oh and i don’t like SUSE either!)

MATRIX OPINION AHEAD!
Also went to see the MATRIX: RELODED tonight… boy was i looking forward to this film. My basic feeling beforehand was, ok so it’s gonna be worse than the first film (by definition as the first was unique) but I really liked the look of the trailer so i should enjoy it… BOY WAS I WRONG. This film is drivvel, it really is… no REALLY.

the start is slow and altogether rather boring, ok there’s trinity who looks old and ohhh she jumps too. wow! same old same old. Unfortunatly it gets worse too, the film delves into a rambeling account of what it’s like to be in the world where machines are attacking zion the only sanctuary. only you never feel any anticipation or a sense of impending doom, all I found myself asking was “WHY THE FUCK ARE THEY DANCING? THIS IS THE MATRIX ISN’T IT?” ok so that’s a bit of an overstatement but comon the Zion part is just filler. Ok so i also played and completed the enter the matrix game over the last three days (which is also pants and should have served as a warning) so i had a bit of extra story to keep me interested, but even then it’s just pure shite. Morphius has lost any cool he had and just seems to come accross as a lunatic with his motly crew.

Then we get a nice story tangent as to how the orical is not human and how there are rogue programmes hiding out in the matrix. nice twisting but as of jet no wow factor. We have a nice chase too at some point although it’s just another chase and so soon forgotten about. Suddenly (well not that suddenly but quite quickly) we have a mission to go to the core, somehow we see a power plant get blown up (covered in the game but glossed over in the film) and trinity in danger. it’s all just a load of filler the story threads seem to be picked out of the air at random and placed into the script on a whim!

The bit i did like was with the architect, and the realisation of the orical and Neo’s true purpose, this is a really nice twist, but soooo badly executed. the script seems to try and throw in as much spiralling as possible, why not just say it outrite, that would have more power.

Nedless to say i was left with a sadly dissapointed feeling, where was the action the great moves (even the Computer Generated Images were crap!) it just defied belief. They had too many ideas that they wanted to put in, and only one film to do it (HELLOOOO YOU HAVE ANOTHER ONE ON THE HORISON!!!) hopefully they put all the crap in this one and moved all the good stuff to the finally, cos i can’t take any more of this shite!

Well that’s my rant. Off to bed now to dream of a good matrix 2 script!.