Typical

I couldn't have posted two worse bets up on here, what an idiot!! That's the story of my gambling career!

Scrap that

I just read Alex's blog and he had put the City bet on before me, so I'm going to have to do a different one!

Aston Villa to beat QPR

£5 at 1.54

First bet

Manchester City to beat Brighton in the Carling Cup this evening.

£5 at 1.53

Challenge

Alex and I have agreed to do a little gambling challenge where we each start with a £20 kitty and see how much money we can make from doing £5 bets. Each bet will be published on our blogs before the event in question takes place, and if we go broke that's the end of the challenge.

Just a little something to break up the monotony of my blog!

Curry later, but have to get up at 3.30 tomorrow which is a shame.

-J

Arsenal v Sheff Utd

I'm taking my mum to the Emirates this evening to see the Carling Cup game. She's never been to a football match before so I thought it would be a nice treat (I don't think I've ever treated my parents to anything ever before). Alex alerted me to the fact that tickets for the game were on general sale (a rarity) last week, but by the time I checked it out all the ten quid tickets had gone, so I had to get some twenty quid ones in the upper level. It's a shame that I have an early start tomorrow otherwise we could have got a few of the lads together and had a big night, but on this occasion mumsy will have to do.

I was thinking of putting a saver bet on 0-0 just in case of a boring, shitty game so I could get my money back. However I really don't think that will be the case; in these kinds of games absolutely anything can happen. I was a bit disappointed to see that Nicklas Bendtner is the only player in the squad tonight that my mum will probably recognise but hey.

I do want to put some kind of wager on but just can't decide what. The odds all seem to suggest that there will be a lot of goals, and that virtually any player on the pitch could score. The half-time/full-times all look to be crappy odds so they're out the window.

An interesting thing I saw on Betfair today was Kevin Keegan at 2.0x to become next Newcastle manager.... surely, surely that's a lay?! I've never had much luck on the manager markets though so I won't pull the trigger just yet.

-J

Back to the grind

Yesterday was my first day back at work for over two weeks, and I definitely wasn't excited about it. I knew it was going to be a bitch going back, but I didn't forsee just how low my motivation would actually be. That will teach me for taking time off! Once I was there however, it wasn't that bad.

I don't have anything big to look forward to at the moment, so it looks like I'm going to have to book another break for some time in the not-too-distant future. I find it hard to operate in life without having something to work towards, like a holiday or big event or whatever. I was talking with the boys the other day about our holidays in the future. I told them that I felt I was 'past it' with regards to the classic lads holiday (sleeping all day, drinking all night every night nearly to the point of death) and suggested that next year maybe we get an all inclusive deal at a nice hotel. We'd splash out a bit more to begin with, but at least all the food and drink in the place would be free. This would definitely result in a bit more relaxation taking place, though the opportunity to get drunk would still be there with the free bar and all that. This is definitely the kind of holiday I want to do next time I think.

Darts. Gareth dominated me the other night and although the final score was 16-12, there wasn't really a moment where I felt like I'd win. I went 3-0 down straight off the bat and I never saw any light in the tunnel from there on to be honest. This weekend is the 'UK Open', a knockout tournament which will be held on Sunday afternoon. We did the draw on Saturday and let's say some people have a much more favourable draw than others!

Gambling - I just placed a bet on Strictly Come Dancing (I know, I know) as posted on Kickingbets.

Thanks for reading

-J

Yoga

Boy, reading that last post back to myself I sound utterly pathetic.

I just looked up some basic yoga on the internet (I know, what the....!) and did a little bit and it's actually very relaxing. It has definitely eased my stress a little bit, I thoroughly recommend it. Be careful on shoulder stands though; I nearly killed myself.

I think this stress has been brought on by boredom, getting back to work will probably do me good.

Jaded

I'm still extremely tired from holiday. My body still feels kind of beat up, and mentally I'm feeling quite disillusioned and distracted. It feels like I need another holiday just to get over this one. The thought of going back to work is depressing, and it feels like I need a change in life. Another fifty years of this is not on.

On a positive note, I won my semi-final in our long-running darts contest last night. The final is against Gareth tomorrow night in a first-to-16-leg clash which is sure to be very demanding indeed.

I feel like I have a lot to say, but I don't know what. It is as if life is just playing itself on a video in front of my eyes at the moment and I'm just watching it happen.

Maybe I just need to get back to work and give my body a bit of a detox.

What a depressing entry!

I'm back

Thanks for all the comments on the last entry, it's nice to know that people are reading.

So ends my holiday for this year. I don't think there'll be a separate blog about it, as there would be just too much to write. I suppose my personal lowlight was getting with a girl who was engaged, and as she was staying at our hotel I had to spend the whole of the next day trying to avoid her as she kept following us and coming up to our room etc. Thank God that bit is over.

Getting back home from holiday, I really don't fancy going back to work. This has re-lit the fire I used to have in my belly about running my own business / doing a job that is actually exciting. Last time I felt like this was when I was in the unemployed chapter of my life, but I didn't do anything about it. I would like to do something about it now, and I've got another week left before I start work to think about it.

-J

Holiday time

Well we leave for Tenerife tomorrow morning, flying on one of the first flights out of Gatwick. This means I'll be getting up at 2.15am, but this shouldn't be too big a problem due to the shifts I've been doing at work lately.

A point of interest is that apparently our flight is being used for a new TV show called 'Celeb Air', where a selection of Z-list celebrities will be the cabin crew. Alex has said that they'll probably only be dealing with certain passengers who have already been briefed, but maybe this could be my 15 minutes of fame if I fall ill on the plane and force an emergency landing or something, with Michelle Marsh being my nurse.

The weather for tomorrow is set to be absolutely diabolical - I'm hoping our flight won't get cancelled (I've been working all week with cancelled flights). I'm also going to be walking round to Alex's for 3am, so rain definitely won't be appreciated.

The weather forecast for Tenerife is set at around 27-28 degrees every day, but Monday has a black cloud symbol next to it - hopefully this will change....

I'm sure there'll be a few photos and stories to blog about when we get back.

Until then, adios.

Wet

Yesterday one of my mates split up with his long-term girlfriend and wanted a big night out on the piss, so I ended up going to Watford with him and Alex. I had never been to Area before, and will never go again. It was ridiculously busy (MUST have been flouting health and safety regulations) and the queues at the bars and toilets were just stupid. Just getting to the toilet was a half-hour excursion across the 'dance floor', pushing past people and squeezing through tiny gaps. It was impossible to stand still in the place because everyone else was always doing the same; trying to push past you. So word of advice, never go to Area.

Now as some of you will know, I really resent paying over the odds for cab rides. Seeing as most cabbies will charge you over the odds, this often presents a problem. When you put me together with two others who are also against getting a cab, this will result in the prospect of walking home - all seven miles of it. Of course, five minutes into the walk it started raining. Then it started pouring, and it stayed like that until literally the moment we reached Pinner. We were as wet as you could possibly be, although I was quite proud because we set ourselves a target of getting back at 4.30 (2 and a half hours), and we arrived ten minutes ahead of schedule.

Alex took a series of videos on the way back which I think he'll be putting up on YouTube, so maybe I'll post a link here later.

I'm slightly concerned about the state of my nice shoes which I only bought recently; they're currently drying out downstairs. They're kind of suede as well which I hope won't be ruined. Talking of shoes, I went to Eastcote Sports the other day to look for some new trainers (my trusty Adidas ones are approaching the 'unacceptable' stage, though many will argue they've been at that stage for years) and I was shocked at the prices of the bog-standard-looking trainers. Fifty quid at least. Consequently I bought no shoes, and I'm taking my good-old Adidas ones on yet another foreign adventure on Friday.

Three days until Tenerife.