Riga-rous.

Thursday evening is bringing with it the beginning of a little trip to Eastern Europe, Latvia to be precise. It'll be the shortest holiday I've been on, in its entirety it'll be just shy of three days. It'll also be the holiday I've prepared least for. My side-kick, Sud, and I booked the flights a couple of months ago and then promptly forgot about the whole thing. I saw Sud on the weekend and he asked the question, "What are we actually going to do when we get there?" I was unable answer, my knowledge of Latvia only extends to knowing where it is on a map and knowing that the capital city is named Riga.

As you may have guessed, my Latvian conversational skills are non-existent. The only real conversation I've had with a Latvian before was with a girl named Evita Peron, we talked, joked, danced and had a burger eating competition - this brought with it something that highly amused me, the way that Latvians pronounce "Burgers". The poor girl must have repeated that word tens of times at my request. Today, I've been trawling through Latvian phrases on the internet and listening to Latvian radio to at least get a feel for the language. The station 'Latvijas Radio 1' reminds me of some of the stations I'd enjoy finding on my Long Wave radio as a kid, it's actually a very soothing language to listen to!

Another wonderful thing about the interweb is the ability to actually see what's going on in Riga via the webcams. For a couple of hours research, I've actually got a pretty good idea of how the city looks and what there is to see when we get there. Whether I'll be able to apply any of this new knowledge, I don't know.

Any tips are very welcome, if you've been before or even if you just know someone that has!

Failing a structured trip, we'll fall back on our always-successful back up plan...

Second bar on the right and straight on 'til morning.

Fuck Off, I'm busy.

Go HERE instead

Still Here

Too busy to write much.

Good stuff is happening.

Been to watch Swansea play, going to watch Ospreys play tonight. Scarlets are giving me heart attacks.

Also, I'm doing a website for some Brownies....

Bad signs of a good night

Walking into two door frames on the way to the bathroom in the morning.

Housemate says "I had to get up and let your mate Andy in at 4am"

Teeth are brushed, there's blood, then mouthwash is downed, like a shooter. I stood there for about two minutes trying to comprehend what I'd just done.

In my inbox this morning, several e-mails in response to my mail at 3:30am. It's widely known that I'm at my most talkative at that time.

Vague memories of a game I invented called "Find a Norwegian", then going to the lengths of asking a tall blonde girl to pretend that she was Norwegian so I could win. The game is similar to my other game "Find someone from Manitoba" but it's not as difficult.

Internet Banking shows -

08/09/2006 Cash Withdrawal -£10.00
ALLIANCE/LEICESTER
SWANSEA-BHS

08/09/2006 Cash Withdrawal -£10.00
ALLIANCE/LEICESTER
SWANSEA-BHS

08/09/2006 Cash Withdrawal -£20.00
NAT WEST BANK
SWANSEA CTY CEN 2

08/09/2006 Cash Withdrawal -£20.00
NAT WEST BANK
SWANSEA CTY CEN 2

After checking my sent text messages, there was one to a friend named Kate which read "Only Joking". I had previously (jokingly) threatened Kate with a 4am phonecall when I was drunk, then said "Don't worry, I wouldn't do something like that". I double bluffed and called her at 3:21am, much to my own amusement at the time.

Personality

You know when you get an urge to dress up in a Gorilla outfit, stay really still for hours in someone elses house then jump up and let out a mighty roar when no-one is expecting it? Well I've got that urge right now and it's bugging the hell out of me.

I haven't been up to anything mischievous recently and it's upsetting me. I haven't made fun of anyone, I haven't used the slightest bit of sarcasm and I haven't played a single practical joke. Despite this lack of self-amusement, people still think that I'm up to something. I am the owner of a smile which just suggests that I'm about to do something completely and utterly devious, which I'm not - most of the time, but you can bet your bottom dollar that I'm thinking about it.

I'm the guy that turns your cigarettes upside down in the packet while you're not looking. I'm also the guy that rings your cellphone using an anonymous number then hangs up just before you answer. I'll chat up your sister, perhaps not for any sexual reasons you understand, but because it'll piss you off. But I've not done any of that recently. That side of me is screaming to get out but the fact is, I've just been too nice and too PC. In an effort to break the cycle, during a recent conversation about global warming, I said to a mate "I'll give you £10 if you steal that womans toddler and run 100m with it" and when he declined I suggested just pushing the toddler into a puddle for a fiver. Then on Saturday night I amused myself by trying to teach a gay guy how to chat up women in bar, which was mightily entertaining. I think that he enjoyed it too so that was alright.

I think that it's all due to the fact that the majority of the people I see regularly in my life have only known me for one or two years, and in that time I've just levelled out a bit after a few years of going a bit nuts. People seem to expect you to be the same sort of person that they first met so there's no room to change dramatically. Friends I know from 3-5 years ago are fully aware what is hidden inside me and are concerned when I'm not laughing, joking or generally being a little off the wall. I don't know about you but I panic when there might be a chance of an old friend bumping into one of the latest lot - I'm often torn between the person I used to be and the person I am now. This can lead to me almost using two different languages at the same time - To one friend I might be scathing, sarcastic, and use swear-words whenever possible yet I'll turn round to the other, smile and offer them a biscuit.

You have to wonder, who is the real you?

Crikey!

Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, has died.

"Steve Irwin, the ebullient Australian TV personality and conservationist known as the Crocodile Hunter, was killed Monday by a stingray barb to the heart during a diving expedition" Herald Tribune

The man was absolutely brilliant, he had one hell of a personality and his enthusiasm for conservation and wildlife was incredibly infectious. Watching him run around Australia Zoo on a Sunday whilst I harbour a massive hangover is an instrinsic part of my routine.

My mate Neil said it best "He spends his entire life annoying crocodiles and he gets killed by a bloody sting ray. That's shit."

Kick off 7:10pm

This won't appeal to many of you, but it does to me.

The rugby season kicks off in earnest this evening. It's been hard living without my Friday and Saturday fixes for the summer. Infact it's probably the only thing I don't like about the summer (apart from old men in speedos), the lack of rugby. If I could afford Sky then I could watch the Southern Hemisphere teams battle it out in the Super 14 or the Tri Nations, but I can't so those games are limited to occasional early mornings in the pub - which are expensive things.

The Blues take on the European champs Munster tonight, it should be a cracking game. Tomorrow, my beloved Scarlets battle with Ulster in Northern Ireland. They've played three friendlies so far but I'm still slightly nervous.

The start of the rugby season also signals the start of the count down to the Autumn Internationals. Wales take on Australia, Canada, the Pacific Islands and New Zealand over four weekends this November - these are usually amongst the biggest events on my calendar. Bigger than Christmas, oh yes. Every year I manage to blag myself some tickets to see New Zealand play Wales, it's by far my favourite fixture as I have a bit of a soft spot for the Kiwis. I've been to the last four or five fixtures between the two rugby-mad nations in Cardiff, it's just an amazing feeling - despite us getting thrashed most of the time!

Also, I had my first McDonalds today since last December - I feel slightly sick.