Well, 6 weeks – i told you i was busy. To recap:

1. Bank account fraud!

2. Partying

3. Women

4. Work

From the top, since returning back my life has generally revolved around Work during the week, interweaved with 2-3 footy games and the occasional NFL Game in January, and week day Premier league / champs league. Other than that, i’ve been studying more networking joy – from TCP/IP and NFS to MHSRP and EIGRP in a performance environment.

I had the fun pleasure of being defrauded in February, somehow someone gained my bank account and sort code numbers and managed to set up a fraudulent paypal account along with a direct debit to rinse me over £1.5K – thanks guys! Got it all back instantly, i cannot honestly say enough about Barclays, their customer service is second only to Apple.

Partying has been going well too Had an amazing night out for Lockwoods birthday in Reading, with the usual lads plus Robin, Russell etc it was superb – one of the best nights ive had. Other than that, we’ve doing the usual routine of nandos, drinking, nandos – including a lovely valentines day which Raj spent wearing a “Worlds best wife” badge Lockwood so skillfully bought- the Friday night before i spent being wined and dined by a new female acquaintance in High Wycombe, fun times but she doesnt let me get much sleep – the problem with these older girls (just kidding!).

Other than that, i guess the only real news is that my parents have finally decided and formalised that they are moving to Australia. I’m now left here trying to ponder how i am going to help my brother, who is at Oxford until 2012 – who will probably need holiday accomodation, storage, etc. Along with having to help my grandparents and family in Manchester etc. This “growing up too soon” / “young tory” rap i seem to have is being swiftly justified.

So, to summarise – earn the money in the week, blow it on drink and women at the weekend. This is truly the year of self destruction, along with a little bit of protocols and possibly a CCNP sprinkled over the top. Heres to even further independence and better prospects.

Sam “Stringer Bell” Marsh (Yes I’ve been watching “The Wire”, and String is the man!).

Wow, 3 weeks since i last blogged, i’m starting to think about canning this old girl!

The weekend of the 20th didnt really contain much, did some xmas shopping, wrapping paper and the usual crap and spent it packing for my journey home on Wednesday. The journey was a nightmare, with the frozen ground providing no end of problems for trains etc meaning i nearly missed the last train home and would have had to sleep in a station – fun fun.

Xmas eve i went bowling with the family and cousins etc which was fun, i even won the first game by a point which annoyed my dad and brother no end given i am totally round armed! For Xmas we had the usual Xmas dinner, presents etc although a little belated as my mum was working until 12. I got the usual socks, smellies, books etc plus a new iphone alarm clock w/ dock as my current one is ultra low tech!

For Boxing day we went round to my aunties for a buffet and a few drinks, which was fun given the ice on the paths was ridiculously thick! Nearly fell over about 50 times, so suprised i didnt break my neck!

From the 27th-30th we were up in the Lake district, however we couldnt really go on any long walks as the ice and snow had made all the paths too dangerous to walk on, so we had a wander around Cartmel and spent the rest relaxing and driving to Kendal etc where i bought a bottle of Balvennie 15 year single malt, yum yum!

The night of the 30th, on a spur of the moment, myself and Matt booked hotel rooms in the Midland hotel and met up with Joe Joe for a night out in Manchester for old times sakes; the rooms are normally £300 apparently but we picked them up on laterooms.co.uk for just £70 which was awesome. We met up with Emma in town after a nandos and proceeded to do the usual Printworks circuit of Lloyds, Norweigan Blue and Opus before Emma made her way home and we made our way to the strip club which was closed. On walking to Deansgate locks we met a guy who said he knew a strip club that was free in and round the corner, so we followed his advice and what a night it turned out to be! Place called Silks Gentlemans Lounge, pretty nice inside (no laminate for starters!) and the girls were unbelievable. Needless to say we had 4-5 bottles of beer and a few of the local produce before stumbling back to the hotel for 5am.

NYE rolled around and in my hungover state i made it home to pack for Raj to pick me up for our journey to a house party in Cheltenham at my old housemates Shauns. Raj turned up in his new Alfa Romeo GT which made the journey down to Cheltenham via Locky in B’ham a breeze. We picked up a Maccy D’s before setting about drinking the earth dry until about 3am, where we crashed – only to be woken up by a naked Locky and Signorelli, i still have nightmares! Waking up on a floor as Raj and Soph had taken up the bed, i sobered up enough to go to Nandos and then the cinema watching Avatar before me and Raj headed back to the home land of Reading where from now on until work on Monday im doing washing, cleaning and general house shit, not fun.

Anyway, its Sunday so that means Nandos, the boys and back to back NFL on the 37″ baby. God i love this decade!

Sam.

Well since the 4th quite a bit has been going on – most of which i cant be bothered to write about

My TV arrived at the weekend, which was amazing – promptly watched the scousers get beat on it before heading out with Siggy, Raj and Noad to Revs which was an amazing night however brutal it was Sunday was spent recovering at Nandos which hardly any of got ate (that is indeed sacrilege).

The usual Mon-Fri 9-5 ensued but this time with a twist; Wednesday night we went for a TAC curry night in an indian in Wokingham which was very nice, even if the curry i had was hotter than the devils arse (to which the lads reckoned it was mild, im convinced they were winding me up…).

Thursday we had an Xmas meal at work which was pretty tame – still ended up getting in at 1am after missing the hourly train with Gav. Friday night was spent sleeping and prepping for Saturday; which turned out to be a pretty anticlimatic event due to Raj getting a little bit drunk and not making it out! Ended up going out with the HP lads and Gibbs + mates but wasnt feeling it without the boys so made a swift exit around 1am.

The rest of the weekend ive just been pretty much relaxing, watching UFC and playing with hellanzb and lottanzb + Python 2.6 on Fedora 12, trying to get it all automated etc (which i finally have done!) – to which i find out there are 2 f..king RPM’s on a site after 5 hours of blood sweat and profanity.

I’m off to lie down

Sam.

Not much to add since last blogging. Last weekend did very little except sleep and watch sports!

Installed Fedora 12 and spent a while working on compiz which was fun yet frustrating! Went for a few drinks with Jamal on Sunday in Reading but other than that nothing much in my life is going on.

Bought myself a 37″ LG HD TV from Argos which is coming this Saturday before heading out with the lads for yet another mucky night i imagine!

Peace.

Still There by Sam Marsh 2009 (c)

If people show as colours,
you’ll see me show as black,
I’ll shy away from others,
but always smile back.
I hate the way my life is,
See only the negative side,
I’ve wasted many chances,
and let the others slide.
I feel so down and desperate,
so lonely and so blue,
I spent my days just wasting time,
wishing i was with you.
I see your face in my dreams,
everytime I close my eyes,
I know I have to let you go,
to lead our seperate lives.
I have to stop the crying,
the tears and sleepless nights,
I have to stop the dreams I have
about when it used to be right.
I think of all the places,
the things we did and when,
I have to stop myself from wishing,
that we were still back then.
I need to let you go,
and to accept our seperate paths,
but I still find it hard to take
we’ll never share more laughs.
I’ll never slide your hair back,
and kiss you on your neck,
I’ll never buy you presents
and never get one back.
I’ll never see you smile,
or talk of dreams to come,
I’ll never wake to watch you sleep,
and think of things to come.
It makes me sad to think,
that its the end of us,
It makes me sad to think,
that you’ll end it just because.
It drives me insane to know,
that this I cannot repair,
doing what I do for a living
It drives me to despair.
Every night I try to accept it,
And make a deal with the other side,
But every morning I still wake up,
and its your face I try to hide.
Theres nothing I can do,
I know,
to get you back with me,
So I dont know why I’m writing this,
my sad and lonely plea,
you’ll never get to read this,
and know how much I care,
but I wish you did because I wish
how much you were still there.

Sam Marsh 2009 (C)

Well nothing really to update with really. The routine of work Monday – Friday with football in Wednesday has been well and truly established, with Saturday/Sunday being the dedicated lads days!

The last 2 weekends Raj, Lockwood and me have been hitting Reading hard- the first weekend we went to Purple Turtle and Pavlovs and had a quality night chatting to any woman in sight about how old Raj looked with his movember tache and dancing in the beer garden under the heat lamps!

The week just gone we had a works night out in a pub near Bracknell so we ended up sinking about 10 pints of Stella and got in about 1am for a 6am wake up which was not fun (couldnt find our way into the station for about 10 minutes!!). That Friday, still feeling not fresh, we went out to Revs and Sakura with Ste and Nick and there mates and had a class one – blagged our way into Sakura VIP and was drinking Raspberry Martinis all night – no wonder that gay guy kept chatting me up lol. Spent yesterday doing not much, got a taxi to Earley to watch the footy at Raj’s with them lads and walked home which took about an hour at least – now i find myself sat here waiting for the internet to provide UFC 106 news!

Wow, its so crazy to think the last i blogged was on my return from the US! So much has gone on since then its unreal.

The weekend after i went up to Birmingham with Gibbs to see Lockwood and go to some crazy house party which was every bit as crazy as imagined – think 100+ people in a 4 bedroom house with a live band in the front room, it was siiiiiick – gibbs went as some messed up Marcelle Marceaux (sp) , i went as some fat butcher and Locky as the joker, needless to say it was a claaaaass weekend which will definitely live long.

The weekend after (just gone) we watched the Haye fight here before heading out into Reading town for a night out which was a good laugh too, ended up in Pavlovs before heading home at 2ish with Lockwood before grabbing some nosh. 2 nandos and 2 footy games later i am back here, sober and in the working world for another 4 days then i’m off to Birmingham again i think for the Zane Lowe / Scratch Perverts gig in B’ham. Wish me luck!