Saturday 29 September 2007

I'm back (no thanks to aol)

VampJack is back......welcome to my new lair!!!

AOL well & truly screwed up my house move so I had to wait until this week to get my broadband back on, they very nearly lost another customer. The only reason I'm still with them is that I managed to speak to a customer service agent NOT based in india who actually knows what customer service is. When will companies realise that just because you can get some poor idiot in india to work for pennies does not mean customers will accept speaking to someone who can barely speak english, why do they think some companies have based a lot of there advertising around the fact that they have UK only call centres.

 

So on to all my news. The house move was a pain in the arse, it is a nightmare trying to move with a 6 month old baby who's teething. The first 2 days when we actually moved our stuff Jack spent with his nanny & grandad but after that it was a real pain trying to sort everything out with a screaming baby demanding attention every 2 seconds. The house itself is nice, we are no longer right near a railway so we don't the train noise all day & night, we also live away from a main road so we don't get to hear the sirens of police/fire/ambulance all night long. We have a bath which is a real luxury, sometimes it would be easier having a shower but we have really missed having a bath as the last house only had a shower. It is so much easier bathing Jack Jack without having to get his baby bath out, especially as he outgrew the baby bath a coupla months ago. He loves having a bath as well, he likes having more room to play & splash around.

While I have been away from j'land Jack Jack has learnt to walk with the aid of his Tigger ride on toy, he holds on to the front of Tigger & walks pushing it along. He is so fast when he's crawling as well, his favourite things to do at the moment is either playing with any wires he can find so we have to watch him all the time, the other thing is switching off the Sky box (not a bad thing sometimes but a pain if something good is on).

The cats are getting very wary of him now, he hasn't quite grasped the concept of stroking the cats, he thinks he's supposed to grab a handful of fur & hold on tight. Angel tends to stay away from him when she can, Bailey on the other hand is a bit more tolerant & lets Jack grab him sometimes.

Jack Jack no longer gives me gummy smiles when I get home from work, on 31st august his first tooth came through, quickly followed by the 2nd & we think the 3rd is about to put in an appearance. My son now has teeth! Jack has taken to using his dummy again, he did stop for a while but I think he just loves chewing it to be honest. Occasionally we get bitten, he seems to think it great he can now bite anything in the house. At meal times we either have to take it in turns eating or we sit him in his high chair between us with his own dinner. If we don't do this he stands in front of us with mouth wide open like a baby bird expecting to be fed, he also tries to grab our dinner so meal times can be real fun in our house at the moment.

BIG NEWS:

Jack Jack can now say dada. I was so emotional the first time he said it. The novelty seems to have worn off with him now but for a few days no matter what he was doing he would be shouting dada dada dada all the time. I have captured this most treasured of moments on film, i think i must have shown it to nearly everyone i've talked to at work but what the hell, its a proud moment in a dads life. Nic has been trying to get him to say mama, her mum has been trying to get him to say nanny & grandad has been trying to get him to say grandad (i think he might struggle with this one) but his daddy is his first word & no one can ever take that away from me.

It seems that in the last month Jack has made so many advancements, he really is learning so much with every new day. Can you believe he was 7 months old last sunday? Just this last week he has learnt to clap his hands & he can now wave (as opposed to randomly throwing his arms around like all babies seem to do). The nights have been a pain since he's been teething as he was back to getting us up 2 or 3 times a night, luckily the last few nights he has slept through until at least 7am and he even goes to bed earlier now as well. Nic gets up early for work and Jack has been waking up just as she's about to leave so I get an early morning wake up call each day, its not so bad though, she only works 3 and a half days a week so I get a bit more sleep on fridays when she doesn't have to get up for work.

We've been into town today to try & get Jack some winter clothes, we have a few bits but he really needs some proper thick winter coats & jumpers before the weather turns any colder. The range of boys clothes is appalling. If you have a little girl you are spoilt for choice but if you have a little boy....tough! We have been in bhs, woolworths, adams, primark & boots. They all have only a small selection of baby clothes for boys, tomorrow we are going to go to matalan to see if we can do better there, asda is nearby so we will no doubt try there as well. Okay I know that people say you can dress girls up more than boys but honestly, do they really think we will buy only a couple of items of clothing to last the whole winter? Or maybe they think what few items they have are so good that we will want to buy loads of the same thing so he can wear them each day, if so they are dead wrong, who the hell designs these clothes. I think some ceo with no morals has found that he can get clothes designed for next to nothing if he sponsors the local mental institutes.

Anyway enough of my incessant babbling. I hope you are all well, I will have to catch up with all your journals over the next week or two. Enjoy the rest of your weekend & I hope you like the new pics...VampJack x

 

Thursday 20 September 2007

PEPSI TATE 1965-2007

My broadband is still not connected at my new house & my works computer resource policy forbids me from using my pc to update any blogs...but today I really need to express my grief over the loss of my friend. I wrote this entry last night at home & today I really don't know why I came to work.

 

Today is a bad day, I found out a friend of mine died yesterday morning. Pepsi Tate was the bass player in the rock band Tigertailz. I met Pepsi years ago when I was just another fan & we became friends. He would always put my name on the guest list for Tigertailz’ shows all over the country, one time when I went along to the soundcheck during the day he asked if I was coming to the show that night, when I told him I couldn’t afford it he told me not to be stupid because I’m always on the guest list, I explained it was the taxi fare home that was the problem. I did go to the show that night, Pepsi had insisted on it, he gave me the taxi fare home himself. 

 

Each time they toured I would go to as many shows as I possibly could, and I was always on the guest list & each night I would get to go backstage after the show. Pepsi always recognised me every time I turned up to the first night of the tour, sometimes he’d write letting me know about the tours in advance so I could let him know which shows I would be at.

 

I have not spoken to Pepsi for a while as we lost touch but he still remembered me when I got in touch a couple of years ago. We’d talk on the phone sometimes & we’d write occasionally (this was at a time before email made keeping in touch easier) but I would not consider it a close friendship. This made it all the more surprising today when I heard the news, I was stunned & had to take some time out from my desk to gather my thoughts. I feel so empty, I have lost some very close friends in the past so I am no stranger to grief but today I feel a great sadness. Pepsi was larger than life on stage & that is how I will always remember him, but I will also remember him as a Pepsi Tate the man. Pepsi died yesterday morning after losing his fight against pancreatic cancer.

 

It is difficult for me to share my feelings sometimes but I feel so emotional at the loss of my friend that if I don’t open up to someone I think I will start to slip back into depression. I suffered with depression for years but have been okay for some time now & do not want to go back to the fragile person I was when my depression was really taking over my life.

 

Pepsi you will be missed by a great many people. Goodbye my friend. 

 

19th September 2007

Tigertailz Band Picture

 

Tigertailz

 

Pepsi & Jay

My journal entries will resume once my broadband is up & running, today I don't care what my bosses may say about me updating the journal. Some things are just too important

 

Pepsi live 2007