Ben Oliver Artiste takes a picture everyday!Ben Oliver Artiste takes a picture everyday!I am taking a picture of something everyday, just to see what changes! Articles
Day 262 - 12th December 2007
2007-12-12 23:42:00 The bacon double cheeseburger; widely regarded as the 'holy grail' of the burger industry, I decided to attempt to reproduce this symbol of burger perfection. In the picture lies the finished product, it looks pretty good; it tastes bloody great. The tallness was a slight issue as I couldn't initially get it under the grill, but the problem was quickly solved and I had managed to make yet another great tea. By some miracle I managed to do an essay in a day, but I'm not convinced it's of brilliant quality; oh well, it's not going to be the end of my life. Right now, I'm watching Ocean's 12 and I'm typing through the annoying break they put in for the news on ITV1; why show a film if you're going to stop for half an hour to have the news? Last night we watched Groundhog day, I'd seen it loads before but it just reminded me about why it's one of my favourite films; we all came out feeling really cheered up, brilliant. Tomorrow is Thursday which is always bad, but I can st... More About: December , December 2007
Day 261 - 11th December 2007
2007-12-12 00:19:00 Unexpectedly, today was a bit odder than most days. We had a party before the Christmas holidays in my Italian lesson so people were drinking at 10am; lovely. What's more is that there was lots and lots to go round, about six glasses of wine each, I stayed for one then went home, but the teacher did it three times over for each different group! I went upstairs at 1pm to collect a paper and there they all were, red faced lying on the sofas! This was all very nice, but we had an assessment with her later on, in an hour in fact. It was a 'Question Time' set up, which would have been great if we could get a word in edgeways. All the groups had a go on the panel and she was quiet until ours, which was a topic she enjoyed so she decided to go on for a bit, luckily the examiner gave us some marks for the sentence we got in each... This made for quite an odd day I must say, considering I also finished watching 'The Godfather' before the assessment. However, on the way to the party was ... More About: December , December 2007
Day 260 - 10th December 2007
2007-12-10 23:36:00 What exactly gets classed as 'work' nowadays? I'm not sure I know anymore as I slip off to bed to watch 'The Godfather' as part of research for my mafia looking into stereotypes. Aside from that, the French grammar test this morning had a few stinkers in but I think it went OK, and the Spanish culture exam was rather odd but I managed to make it up based on personal experience; I think I might just pull it off. No amount of exams could have made today a bad one though, once again the sun shone and made me remember why I so love winter. Crisp, cool, yet beautiful, just how I like it; can't say how long it might last, they just predicted -5 on the TV tonight! So long as it doesn't rain then we're all fine, fat sods like me are insulated against the cold. Tomorrow, more stuff shall happen for sure. How interesting this will be remains to be seen, but it shall nevertheless get written about as ever. Until then, it's time to watch the film; I hear it's an 'epic' which means I... More About: December , December 2007
Day 259 - 9th December 2007
2007-12-10 00:04:00 Oh que la vie est belle. Yes, the sun shone today. I didn't feel like I couldn't go out, it's been a good Sunday. Sadly, nothing happened again, although I got quite a bit of work done. Tomorrow I'll be taking two tests, one of which I think'll be OK, the other is destined for almost a surefire fail. Oh well, I haven't met anyone on the course yet who thinks they can pass; you never know, they might take a class average if we're lucky. There's not much more to be said. Goodnight. More About: December , December 2007
Day 258 - 8th December 2007
2007-12-09 00:38:00 Now, I know it looks like sick but believe me; the dish pictured here was truly delicious. Yes, maybe there was too much, but I stuck some in the fridge so you can rest assured that I didn't actually eat all that. I haven't given it a name yet, the ingredients are top secret, but I'm thinking of baptising it 'Maurice'. Yes, I'd love a plate of Maurice please; tasty. So, apart from creating Maurice, nothing much happened of any real interest. We went out for a pint at a great pub on the canal, now I'm off to bed. What else is there to say? Life is nice but dull and the weather is shite. Actually, the weather is becoming rather a problem. It's now starting to get to the point where it would be a wise move to stay in instead of step outside; next week looks pretty bleak too, should be fun. More About: December , December 2007
Day 257 - 7th December 2007
2007-12-08 00:50:00 One day, one essay. It was a challenge to get it done, but I did, and I'm quite pleased with the result. I also had a listening test which was quite tough, but I think I did fairly well. Altogether a good day then, apart from the continuous crap weather. I stayed in with some mates tonight, although some of the flat did go out; I haven't been out in a while, mind you, I did go for that meal on Tuesday, but the uni definition of 'going out' is actually clubbing. It's very late now, so I'm off to bed; tomorrow I can take it easy, just as well I guess... More About: December , December 2007
Day 256 - 6th December 2007
2007-12-06 23:55:00 Thursday bloody Thursday. When will this run of crap Thursdays end? Today, for some reason, I was really tired during my last seminar; I started to feel a bit weird! At least I got a good mark for my coursework... I don't know who came up with my timetable, and I don't want to bang on too much about it, but when the weather is so shite, one can only complain. It's not easy to make out in the picture, but the path that bends off to the right is actually made purely of water. It's been raining hard for six hours now; at least I was lucky though, it started when I just got in, not when I just went out for once! What a huge relief to find out that Thursdays are funny on BBC2, Buzzocks and Lead Balloon soon cheered me up, and I think I'm really starting to get into the Mighty Boosh. Oh joy, more TV less work. More About: December , December 2007
Day 255 - 5th December 2007
2007-12-06 00:22:00 Isn't something meant to happen on the 5th December ? I can't quite remember but the date rings a bell; I'm sure it does. It's getting late to try and start guessing now, the day's almost over! Wednesdays, like I say every week, are always great; even shopping didn't seem like too much hassle today. This relaxing kind of day is just what I love, but it doesn't make for very interesting pictures. This led to the construction of a rather odd picture; try not to look too much at the Thomas the Tank engine advent calendar. Actually, it might just detract from the frosties and the cowboy hat. More About: December 2007
Day 254 - 4th December 2007
2007-12-04 23:33:00 It was a easy day today, what with a film viewing and a cancelled seminar; I can't really complain. I got my poster through the post today which was nice too; I've got two on the wall now, it's really made the room a nicer place. Spooks is getting really good now, it's becoming truly unmissable TV; everything is getting so tense it's almost unbearable! What is bearable however is seeing Stoke win 0-3 to Sheffield United. A great result which now puts us up to fifth place in the league; premiership here we come... More About: December , December 2007
Day 253 - 3rd December 2007
2007-12-04 00:36:00 Yesterday I thought that today would be a good day. I was almost right. For most of the day it was cold and windy, then when I stepped out for my two surprise nightime lectures it decided to shit it down. What's more, the guy in the last lecture over ran by a very long way. I could go on with the depressing tone, but we did go out for a meal which was nice. The picture I took on the stairs seems to make the place look like a diner, but it was actually quite a nice place. Well priced, good food; who can complain? Some people expressed regrets about not going to the Christmas ball, but sod 'em; tonight was better than any Christmas do I've ever been to, they're never quite as good as people make out. Again, it's the old case of having to be pissed to have a good time; one of my pet peeves. So yes, a good night was had by all and I really need to go to bed now; it's not that late but I've a tiring day. At least I can go to bed safe in the knowledge that Christmas doesn't seem ... More About: December , December 2007
Day 252 - 2nd December 2007
2007-12-03 00:31:00 Christmas. For me, the build up started yesterday on the 1st December , which is my rule; anything about Christmas before then just annoys me. Dressing up as Santa for three hours does kind of start it with a bang, but coming home today I found a seven foot tree standing proud in the kitchen, which only heightened the Christmassy feeling. I like this picture, it has a certain air about it; makes you feel all warm inside. Now, imagine if you will, that you had a massive group of people who were all piss poor but up for a good time at a Christmas ball. You'd maybe book somewhere nice and cool, or go local to save cost. Whatever happens, you'd have to make sure it was cheap whether that means compromising the food for a good location or going local and having decent trimmings. I can't quite grasp then whose idea it was to charge college members £35 to go and have a meal. What's more is that it's all happening in that world famous party venue; Chorley. None of us wanted to pay £35 ... More About: December 2007
Day 251 - 1st December 2007
2007-12-01 22:02:00 Ho ho ho kids! Yes, that's right, it's Santa Claus time. This morning I had a nice lie in and played on the PS2 for a while, then it was time to get ready. I went off to the hall where the fete was taking place, snuck off into the toilets and tried on the choice of Santa outfits. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that Santa didn't wear rugby shirts underneath his red jacket so I had to wear a smaller jacket backwards underneath the long cloak one which you can see. This didn't help for the heat issue. The hall was boiling hot and I had two beards on, I can't think of a time I've ever been hotter. That was the bad side of it, which means I now come to the good. I wasn't expecting it to be in any way fun at all, but I was oh so wrong. It sounds foppy I know, but when I saw the smiles on the little kiddies' faces light up, it made me truly happy again. Anyway, the hot red face looked like rosy cheeks behind the beard, and the sweat looked like 'twinkly' Santa eyes, so what's t... More About: December , December 2007
Day 250 - 30th November 2007
2007-11-30 21:55:00 Home again today, after a nice train journey home I found that someone had bought me a Stoke hat; lovely. Before that came the lessons of course, and I actually did some work for a change. Tomorrow it's time to play santa so I'm getting an early night. More About: November , November 2007
Day 249 - 29th November 2007
2007-11-29 23:42:00 Agh. Thursday. How I have grown to hate this day of the week, everything seems to go wrong on a Thursday. Today, as ever, was just like every other Thursday at uni; this morning there was no hot water, so I had an ice cold shower followed by a freezing cold walk up to my first lesson. Next thing I know, it's film night, which means that the day ends very late, instead of just late. Fortunately, there were some pancake makers in the bar tonight, so I had a rum and chocolate one; it tasted just like Christmas. This is theoretically a bad thing if you were to go by my 'Christmas starts in December rule', but it tasted so good that I just can't complain. Anyway, it's home time tomorrow for me once lessons are over, I'm already preparing to slip into the Santa Claus role; I draw from all kinds of inspirations, Pacino, Bogart, Roberts, I think these could come n handy when it comes to present giving. More About: November , November 2007
Day 248 - 28th November 2007
2007-11-28 22:28:00 Nothing in the world could possibly destroy a Wednesday, and today nothing did. I've probably said this before, but my favourite lesson early in the morning, followed by sweet nothingness all day is sheer bliss. Nothing much else went on today but that doesn't really matter, the sun shone (how couldn't it? It's Wednesday of course!) and all was well with the world. Someone has just died their hair, from blonde to brown. It doesn't seem that interesting really, but I'd never seen anyone doing this before and I was fascinated. You can see the before and after picture; it's a good job I think, the girls managed to successfully avoid the deadly ginger colour you so often get with dying. Thursday lies ahead tomorrow, it's likely to been quite bad. More About: November , November 2007
Day 247 - 27th November 2007
2007-11-27 23:44:00 It's not been a bad day today, although I was really happy to receive a CD in the post. It's a Christmas disc by a Brighton guy who calls himself 'The Brigadier', and it's simply brilliant. He added me on MySpace a year or so ago and I liked it so much I bought his CD. Now he's got a Christmas one out and when I got it, I was surprised at the quality of it. Unlike so many modern Christmas discs, the songs are not at all sarcastic yet all completely original; I've never heard a Christmas album before which captures the spirit of the season and gives you a warm feeling inside, without a hint of Christmas cliché. You can get this at www.thebrigadier.co.uk ; the album's called '6 Christmas Tales'. Talking of Christmas, the flat went out to buy some decorations today and came back with a 7 foot tree! Thank heavens it's not real, I'm ignoring it all until the 1st of December though, that's my rule; no Christmas until December starts. More About: November , November 2007
Day 246 - 26th November 2007
2007-11-27 00:59:00 Sleeping in is not a habit I usually get into, but today I just really wanted to to stay in bed when the alarm went off. What's great is that I could actually stay in for 1 1/2 hours, which I almost did. When I started walking around at about 0945am, I noticed the sheer volume of propaganda posters and stained bedsheets strewn out of windows. Thursday is the day to vote for members to be on the college council. By the end of the day I was rather fed up of seeing loads of posters everywhere, so I thought I'd make my own, posing as an alias, Dick Flannel. It's a bit strict maybe and yes, I know there's no position of 'emperor' available; in fact I don't know why I bothered, it seemed funny at the time. Anyway, there's one up on the main door and once I get hold of some sticky tape I'll put them around the college. This evening all the candidates for each post presented themselves so that we can make our minds up on the day. I only went because a friend was doing a short spe... More About: November , November 2007
Day 245 - 25th November 2007
2007-11-25 23:30:00 I don't want to go on for long today, I've just done a brass band concert and my hands are bleeding from having to carry the tuba a huge distance to the venue. The picture has nothing to do with this, at lunch time I made a lovely pasta, egg and bacon concoction and I took a picture of it; that is until someone managed to cook a perfectly square plate of spag bol, appetising... More About: November , November 2007
Day 244 - 24th November 2007
2007-11-25 00:08:00 From a weather point of view, today was pretty crap. Otherwise, it was an OK day for me, nothing much happened though. I noticed that I had a lot of downloaded shows to watch so I did that, still got about 20 hours of footage left! When we went to the shop tonight, it really shat it down, luckily it stopped by the time we were out, so I took a picture of a big uni building; still don't know what the hell goes on in there. Spoke to Mum on skype successfully, free calls at last. Tomorrow I'm filling in the bass part in a brass band concert, I'm a bit nervous; I haven't played in months! We've only got a supporting role so it shouldn't be too bad, wish I'd had a bit more time to practice the parts though, I only got them today! Nobody is to blame though, I'm just happy to be playing... More About: November , November 2007
Day 243 - 23rd November 2007
2007-11-24 00:08:00 What a better way to start the day than checking through a translation about, what else, Napoleon. Typical French I suppose. Nothing much else went on, but it was a very good day; the sun was shining and all was well with the world. There's not much more I can say, I suppose it's been a dull day; nonetheless a good one. What is it makes me feel good I wonder? Why does doing exciting things sometimes still not cheer me up, and yet a crisp sunny morning and a bacon and egg sandwich made the day. Odd. More About: November , November 2007
Day 242 - 22nd November 2007
2007-11-22 23:23:00 The new flats have now been booked, and we're all happy with how it panned out. This, however, did not come easily. My whole day was wasted queuing to sign my contract, some flat members had gone very early to reserve some places and pay the deposit, but we still needed to all be there in person eventually. A friend and I started to queue at 10:30am; we got out at 3pm. This four and a half hour marathon queue was pushing for a record. I didn't like the prospect of it, we were moving about four feet an hour, but the actual experience was rather different to what I expected. In the true British fashion, we made sure the line was straight and started talking between ourselves, finding common ground at every instant. We made 'queue buddies', sharing our boredom between ourselves; we even noticed an odd leaflet entitled 'rules of good badge care', which at the time seemed quite funny. It's not that interesting to talk about really, but it did get me thinking about queues. They're... More About: November , November 2007
Day 241 - 21st November 2007
2007-11-22 00:41:00 Where to start; it's been an exciting day. After my Italian test and a meeting with my French tutor, I went out to lunch with mum; always quite nice. In the car, I saw a business card with Spiderman's name on it, so I took a picture. Then came the play I went to see, which was pretty interesting; it had a different setup to most, I won't go into detail but it did involve having quite in depth conversations with the cast. Now, for the horrible news. England failed in their attempts to qualify for the European championships. This is the worst thing that has happened to England in my lifetime. We lost 2-3 to Croatia in a win or draw game. At half time, we were 0-2 down, then Beckham came on after half time which boosted everyone up a bit. We got a penalty which Lampard scored followed by Beckham setting up Peter Crouch to make it even. Croatia scored a good goal and we couldn't catch up. It's worrying really, but on our performances we didn't even deserve to get through. I don'... More About: November , November 2007
Day 240 - 20th November 2007
2007-11-21 00:56:00 In a day when there's not much to talk about, what do you say? I've got an Italian test tomorrow which explains the picture (I can't explain why it's red though), so I've been revising for that since the early evening. Prior to that there was a boring housing talk of which I got a picture but it wasn't too clear; hence today's choice for a photo. Otherwise we have started talking about where we want to live next year; scary stuff considering it's only week 7. Everyone has decided that we should stick together, a decision which I'm happy with, mind you, I wouldn't really care if I ended up in a flat full of strangers, the only thing would be that I would miss the lot I'm with now so I'd rather not have to change. Looks like it'll all be sorted soon and everyone is happy so what more is there to say? Nothing except goodnight. More About: November , November 2007
Day 239 - 19th November 2007
2007-11-19 23:46:00 This particular culinary masterpiece looks and smells good in the flesh even though the picture isn't that appetising. Behold, the ommburger! Yes ladies and gentlemen, I have successfully combined the wonders of two butcher-made burgers with your everyday eggy favourite, the omelette. I need to be careful, I have already caught wind of foreign secret services attempting to purloin my classified recipe; with this ommburger we must tread carefully my friends. So maybe I overdid the whole burger-omelette story somewhat, but the only other story of the day is that with the blowing gales, an ariel is loose on a building and a barrier has been put up around the walkway; right in my daily path. I agree that this isn't entirely health and safety gone mad, the gable seems to be collapsing too and I don't particularly want a brick falling on my head, but as I walked on the grass around the sides I slipped and nearly broke my neck. It's irony at work isn't it? More About: November , November 2007
Day 238 - 18th November 2007
2007-11-19 00:49:00 After an almost sleepless night back home today, I was ready to go back to uni this morning. The train wasn't until the night though so I had to wait a bit. Today really made me think about what I call home though and I realised that after having been in this place after only seven weeks, this is my home. At home in Loggerheads, much as I still love my family, I felt like a guest in a B+B. In the afternoon, it started snowing! This only made me want to be in Lancaster even more, in the snow with my friends... Luckily I wasn't, from what I hear, it's been dull and grey up here all day so I was in the right place. The train back took twice as long as coming up, although I willingly paid the bus fare home this time from the station! After a cramped train journey, I walked in, I think, in a bit of a grumpy mood. I don't know why, because it was an OK trip, just stressful I suppose... More About: November , November 2007
Day 237 - 17th November 2007
2007-11-18 00:41:00 Ah, home sweet home. Getting there wasn't so sweet though. I don't want to bang on about it, but I did have to walk for an hour and forty five minutes to get to the station! The train journey only lasted an hour! What's more is, it was 0630am!It was good to see my old bed though, and the family. Like I said, I'm not going to go on about what felt like my epic journey to Shropshire which leaves me with nothing else to talk about.Until tomorrow then, I'll just play some more playstation with my brother... More About: November , November 2007
Day 236 - 16th November 2007
2007-11-16 23:48:00 Fridays mark the end of the week, which can't be that bad. England beat Austria in a dull friendly and we'll all be watching Russia and Israel tomorrow, if the Russians win, then we're out. Otherwise, the day was pretty dull; there was a slight panic over my mum being ill away on business in Germany; but my dad got there and I think she's back in the UK now. This is handy as I'm off home tomorrow, there wasn't any change of plan from my side, but my brother might have had to come up and spend the might with me; nothing came of it in the end, so everything is as normal. That's about it really, all is normal. There was yet another nice sunset, which came in handy for a picture of the day. It's children in need night tonight; the line up seems pretty horrible, I'd rather go to bed than watch Westlife cover a two year old Michael Buble song. Why have they released a cover of such a recent song? The answer is simple, they are shite and yet, nothing seems to be able to end their... More About: November , November 2007
Dy 235 - 15th November 2007
2007-11-16 00:05:00 After a pretty uneventful day, I decided to go out and find something to take a picture of. Obviously the gods were on my side, look what I came across; a fire! Well, the picture looks all action packed and fast paced, but actually someone burnt some bacon which set the smoke alarms off; calling the fire service to immediate action. Fireman Sam clearly wasn't happy with being there over such a banal issue, so I thought I'd make his day by taking a childish picture of his lorry with flashing blue lights. Anyway, life goes on and tomorrow is Friday; always a nice thought. More About: November , November 2007
Day 234 - 14th November 2007
2007-11-15 00:43:00 Wednesdays are quickly becoming my favourite day of the week. Yes, it's an early start, but the one lesson at 9am is my favourite and the teacher is just what you need to give you a gentle start to the day. Then I have the rest of the day off, which from ten in the morning can't be too bad! Today especially was a fantastic day. I didn't do much, but the sun was out, the sky was blue and off we went to watch the sunset. I like this picture, although others managed to get really orange picture; like off a cowboy film! The cloud seems to hang low at night which just blocks that perfect view everyone wants; one day it'll be fantastic... More About: November , November 2007
Day 233 - 13th November 2007
More articles from this author:2007-11-14 00:29:00 The birthday ego trip continued today with a trip to Bella Italia for a meal, including a birthday song and special sparkling iced cream. I don't normally like using people's faces as a picture of the day, to avoid any embarrassment; but it's a nice shot and it would be a shame for such a lovely night out to be forgotten. Earlier on, I was given a mug with a picture of everyone on it, and an inscription which reads 'George Fox; rapper!' I really liked it actually, I don't know what it was about it but I was touched. Hopefully the birthday stuff ends here, before my head gets so big it explodes! So we all had a lovely night out together; great! Otherwise, nothing much happened today; the others are watching a film but I'm off to bed, early start tomorrow. More About: November , November 2007 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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