My Swedish Shoes

I couldn't sleep last night because I have a wisdom tooth coming through on my jaw-line. It's not only the pain that pisses me off, or, that I don't need anymore teeth in my overcrowded mouth; but this evolutionary throw-back is ruining my entire bottom row of teeth. This being the bottom row of teeth that I had to have braces on for 3 years! Welcome back to that stereotypical British smile. So I decided to get up at 6.30am as Stuttgart and Barcelona were playing and it was on TV and I couldn't take the constant numbing pain (I'm usually doped-up on pain pills). I've been sat on the internet for about 3 hours doing nothing, waiting for Ingrid to get her lazy arse out of bed so I can workout in our room.

As I was doing my usual rounds on the internet on Saturday I saw that United had an early kick-off at 12.45pm against Everton. I couldn't believe my luck - I'd be able to see two games in one week! I managed to drag Ingrid out with me, sink a few pints and mingle with a few fellow Mancs who congregate there. Alas, I wasn't so lucky as we lost 3-1; a rare occurence. Who knows what will become of our season? We show some rare glimpses of genius, but largely we're not on top-form, albeit hanging in there still. At least Liverpool are shit.


I've clocked-in a couple of shifts at work but not started getting into the swing of things. My hours are starting properly next week and then hopefully by March I should be doing full-time hours or at least something resembling full-time. I went in yesterday to complete the last bits of paperwork so I can get paid and to pick some of my uniform. My allowance is a pair of shoes and three garments. The best thing about this is that's it's free and I get to pick whatever I want. Most people usually pick two t-shirts and shorts but I'm allowed to wear my jeans as well. I'm not a fan of shorts - I'm a serious man and shorts are for laughable characters and weak people. Anyways I picked a pair of shoes (for free) and thought about going the safe route...but then my head said to me 'fuck it man, they're free!' So I went for something a little more risqué. I usually play it safe when it comes to shoes, something white or black does the job well. So I got them home and was quite pleased with myself when Ingrid, rather begrudgingly pointed out that they have the same colours of the Swedish flag. Freud would have a field-day with that one! I calmly noted that if they had them in the colours of Norway I would've got them; but, to be honest, I wouldn't.

They remind me of an early Nicktoons cartoon. Maybe 'Angry Beavers'?

I managed to finish the Francis Drake biography in a little under and a week and promptly headed back to the history section of our fair City Library here in Melbourne. I was tempted to get another biography of a Tudor seaman but thought better of it and stretched myself a bit. I ended up with Henry Kamen's 'Spain's Road To Empire.' I'm familiar with Kamen from my degree and it was his name as well as the subject matter that caught my eye. He takes a slightly different approach in this book where he details Spain's expansion into Europe and the rest of the world through the 15th to the 18th century, detailing it's rise, dominance and steady decline. I've been getting into my history a lot more recently and I think it's time to start a more serious preparation for going back to university, whenever that may be.

Me and Ingrid are about to come to the end of a long, drawn-out project we started a few weeks ago. I'm not usually the most responsive person to cultural-happenings and such, and it takes me a little while sometimes; but, I've finally got into the TV series 'House'. We're currently on Season 5 and burning through it fast. All I'll say is - you know you've watched too much when you find it weird to hear Hugh Laurie's real, English accent.