Journal Entries
A rather eventful summer
Posted Sep 6, 2004
Hi everyone!
Various things have been happening over the last couple of months ... I'll see what I can do to put them all into a journal entry!
First things first, I've been house-sitting for my family for most of the time while they've been away on holiday, so I've had the pleasure (or horror! 
) of looking after the two cats, Willow and Cody/Jesus/Winston (depending on who you are in my family). Willow has been reasonably well-behaved, but Cody (his official name, apparently - according to my mum, anyway) has been irritating the hell out of me - trying to eat my meals before I get a chance to start, running around the house at breakneck speed, waking me up far too early in the morning, licking me(!) and digging his sharp claws into me. Apart from that, it's been nice having the house to myself and just one of my sisters ... although being the nicely-behaved boy I am, no house parties took place! 
I also did some valuable research work before I had a week off in August - I'm making progress, but I'm now panicking about getting my end-of-year report *and* presentation completed in time for the end of this month! The main reason is that my supervisor wants me to go to Italy for a course on two-phase flows - which reduces the time I have to write the report (about two/three weeks now) and arrange the presentation by a week! However, I know more or less exactly what I want to say and what references to put in, so I shouldn't have too much trouble completing both of them in time. (Here's hoping!)
During my week off, I finally went back to Esperanto House in Barlaston to do some more cataloguing work while the Esperanto Summer School was taking place. It turned out to be a very productive week - I managed to add 1773 books to the concise catalogue I'm compiling and a group of Esperantists from Cambridge added another 1119 items over a weekend - so lots of the catalogue got done! The summer school was also quite lively this year - there were quite a few strong characters, both amongst the tutors and the students, particularly a lady from the US who bought a couple of hundred pounds' worth of books from Esperanto House and had a particular interest in the erotic/rude stuff! 
In fact, someone wrote a poem about her for the entertainment evening ... hopefully, it should be printed in the next "La Brita Esperantisto", so I'll be able to see how good it was!
Finally, a bit of sad news ... Darren and I are no longer b/f's. 
Basically, the continued separation because of me living at home in Congleton meant that we only got to see each other once a fortnight ... and the spark in our relationship fizzled out, basically. So we decided to end it last Friday - we're still good friends, though, so I'm pretty sure I'll still get to see him fairly regularly. However, now that I've become single again, there has been some new interest in me ... it's still too early to say exactly what is going on, but I'll let you know next time!
So that's it for now ...
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Latest reply: Sep 6, 2004
Back home again
Posted Jul 1, 2004
Hello! Once again, I've let time slip by since the last Guide Entry and as a few important things have happened recently, I thought it was about time to update my weblog.
First things first ... I've finally moved out of my Manchester house for the summer. 
Basically, the rent agreement ran out yesterday, so we had to clear as much out as possible (either taking home or throwing away) and clean the whole house before we could all leave. When this finally happened, it was half eleven at night and I was absolutely shattered once I'd driven myself home with my bits and pieces. So until September, when I go into a hall of residence (for the first time, would you believe?), I'm gonna be living in Congleton and driving to Manchester or going up by train (when they *do* run - not very often this summer 
) to do my work over the summer.
In other news ... I'm still with my b/f Darren - it's now been four months since we became proper boyfriends and we're still absolutely crazy for each other. Although now I'm living back in Congleton, it makes visiting each other more difficult - because I'm not out to my entire immediate family and not all of those who know I'm gay know I have a b/f, it makes going up to visit Darren more difficult and him visiting me almost impossible. However, most of my family will be going on holiday for fairly long periods of time this summer (3-4 weeks), so it shouldn't be too bad.
Also, my sister Amy has finally completed her English Literature degree at Lancaster Uni and got a 2:1! So not only does it mean I get to see her in a silly gown and mortar board , but she can also go to Birmingham in September to do the law conversion course she wants to do so she can train as a solicitor - so 
to her!
Anyway, I think that'll do for now ... 
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Latest reply: Jul 1, 2004
Doesn't time fly when ....
Posted May 7, 2004
Hi again!
It's been quite a while since I lasted posted a Journal Entry, so I thought it was about time I wrote one to let everyone know what I've been up to.
Well, first things first ... I've had some stuff at uni to deal with: management diploma coursework and exam (which went reasonably OK), a presentation about my research project at a technical meeting (which went well - my supervisor received a number of positive comments about it), sorting out my technical courses for my doctorate etc. 
But the good news is that we're finally going to start field tests in East Kilbride on Monday - I've been asked to produce a web page and a presentation based on the results, so I'll have plenty to do next week!
As far as music goes, I've performed in three concerts over the last month or so, with one more tomorrow evening. All of them went pretty well, and I'm looking forward to some of the music I'll be performing this summer: it includes Saint-Saens' "Carnival des Animaux" and Shostakovich's 5th Symphony, two of my favourite pieces.
Last weekend, I finally went to the Britsh Esperanto Congress in Felixstowe, which I enjoyed in spite of the 5+ hour drive to get there on the Friday and to get back on Monday. The play I was involved in went well - I managed to get my lines out without making any mistakes, I won a raffle(!) 
, I rang some handbells, I counted votes for the Esperanto Association's AGM and I did a version of a Monty Python sketch for the closing ceremony.
And last (but not least) the love-life! 
Yes, Darren and I are still boyfriends and still very much in love ... we try and see each other at least once a week (if not more frequently), although now he's had his outgoing phonecalls restricted and his broadband internet connection removed, we can't speak to each other as easily as we did. However, I'm still gonna see him tomorrow night (after the concert) before I take the train to East Kilbride the next day.
So that's about it, really ...
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Latest reply: May 7, 2004
The worst date ever?
Posted Mar 25, 2004
In an effort to try and see more of each other, Darren and I decided to meet up last Tuesday evening, but to do what? The original plan was that we would go to Poptastic's 8th birthday party - only *that* fell through as Darren would not be able to afford to go. Then, when I went to the UMIST LGB's Late Lunch last Friday, they came up with the suggestion of going to the Odeon in Manchester to see 'Mona Lisa Smile'. Although we didn't get to go as a small group, I still decided to go along there anyway with Darren.
So we got to the Odeon, bought our tickets and stuff to eat and drink, got into the screen room itself and sat together right at the back. We were all ready to cuddle up together for the duration of the film, when about 5 minutes before the feature started (during the adverts), a group of six people came and sat down next to us in the same row - so no kissing! (Although we did hold hands for most of the time. 
) As for the film itself ... it wasn't very good! In spite of the great actors involved, the script was not up to scratch and the whole film seemed to drag on for longer than its advertised length (of about an hour and three-quarters). I actually spent more time watching Daz than the film itself!
When we finally got out of there, we got some food from a chippie in the centre of town before getting back to my place on the bus ready for a reasonably early night ... Unfortunately, at about half three in the morning, we were woken up by very loud music coming from one of my housemates' rooms - this guy had bought a surround-sound entertainment system and in his drunken stupor (egged on by another housemate) had put the music on full blast! 
I couldn't get up to tell them to turn it off (as I wasn't wearing any clothes!), but the housemate in the room next door to me had a real go at those two - she even threatened to call the police!
What that meant was that both Darren and I had to stay in bed for longer than we originally intended - not necessarily a bad thing, but we *did* need some more sleep. However, we professed our love to each other in a multitude of ways while we were there ... So at least it all ended well!
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Latest reply: Mar 25, 2004
It's finally happened!
Posted Mar 1, 2004
You might be wondering what I've been waiting for all this time - basically, I have finally got a boyfriend! Here's what happened ...
In my last journal entry, I mentioned that I was going out for drinks with someone I'd met off Faceparty and had spoken to online (and also on the phone a couple of times). Well, I met Darren - the guy in question - outside Spirit (on Canal Street) and after buying drinks at the bar, we sat down and chatted for quite a bit about things. We were both rather nervous, but we started getting closer and closer to each other ... Eventually, I gave him a peck on the lips and that finally removed the tension between us, as we then started snogging and cuddling up together. (Although someone passing us while we were snogging shouted: "Get a room!" at us! ) Originally, Darren had to go to the bus stop for the last bus to Leigh at about 11:10pm, but he just missed it, so we went into Manto for more drinks, kissing and cuddling, before getting something to eat. After that, we went into the Thompson Arms for another drink before his dad came to pick him up in his taxi (who saw us hand-in-hand and kissing before Darren finally got in).
Naturally, since we'd got on incredibly well that night, we decided that we'd have to meet up again ... so we decided (both on the Wednesday night and in subsequent phone calls) to spend that Saturday evening together at his house in Leigh. So, bringing a change of clothes, a toilet bag and a bottle of Lambrini and following his directions, I eventually reached Darren's house, where he cooked some mince, carrots, peas and chips for dinner and a chocolate sponge pudding. We then watched "Beautiful Thing" while cuddling together on the sofa and after that, we basically made out for quite a while until the bed sheets had dried so that we could go to bed. No further details on what happened will be placed here, but basically we didn't get out of bed until about noon the following day. And we still really liked each other ...
We agreed to repeat this the following Saturday evening (i.e. a couple of days ago), so I arrived back at his place at about half four in the afternoon. After working up an appetite (), he started to put dinner on before we went over to his parents' house just over the road so I could meet his mum, sister and grandmother (who were very nice, BTW). Afterwards, he finished making Shepherd's Pie and once we'd eaten, we curled up again on the sofa to watch an episode and a half of the US version of "Queer As Folk", before we decided to go back to bed. While we were there doing what we were doing, Darren asked me a question (which he said a couple of days earlier he would be asking) - whether I'd be ready to be his b/f. I nodded ...
I'm still missing him terribly, although I'm gonna get to see him on Friday when he comes over to watch Gilbert and Sullivan's "Princess Ida", which I'm playing in the orchestra for between Tuesday and Saturday, and then stay the night with me. (I won't get to see him for two weeks after that, though. ) In the meantime, I've got a toothache and two management lectures to contend with, so I've got enough to deal with before I see Darren again (roll on Friday!).
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Latest reply: Mar 1, 2004
Mikeo the gregarious
Researcher U201990
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