Haje’s Brain

Last week, on February 20th, I was scheduled to fly from Stansted to Edinburgh on EasyJet flight 233. Despite being a frequent flier, I have to admit I’ll award that flight the dubious honour of being the single most appalling flight experience I have ever had.

Upon arriving at the airport at 6:45am, we discovered that the flight’s departure time had been delayed from 8:45 to 10:00. This, considering how Stansted makes me lose my will to live at the best of times, is, in itself, bad enough. Consider that statement foreshadowing; it gets much worse. (more…)

The other day, I had an interesting discussion in the pub with someone; they called me a ‘nerd’ and then immediately apologised profusely, which had me laughing – call me a dork (actually, no, don’t; that’s not one of my self-identifying traits), but being called a ‘geek’ or a ‘nerd’ is perfectly fine by me. Hell; The geek shall inherit the earth; it says so in the holy book.

Anyway; Via my freelancing work, I seem to be giving people on advice about lots of things which has nothing to do with my official area of expertise, which is being a writer. Specifically, I appear to have carved myself out a niche as a writer about photography; I’ve written, edited, and ghost-written a whole series of books on the subject, and am as we speak (technically, writing this article should probably be labelled as ‘procrastination’, but feh, the deadline is still SEVERAL HOURS away, so all is well in Hajeworld), writing another book, and doing a metric arse-tonne of freelance work as well. (more…)

The fear of buttons on clothing, known as button phobia or koumpounophobia, is an irrational phobia which is, perhaps surprisingly, a fairly common fear.

Most people who suffer from this phobia are convinced that they are the only ones in the world to suffer from such a strange fear, and they are often teased or taunted by others who do not understand or believe that they are telling the truth. (more…)

On the 27th of February, T Mobile charged me for my mobile phone bill. It was £51, and I only had £44 available in my account. However, my bank rejected the direct debit, and charged me £38 for the privilege. So I threw a hissy fit at my bank, but “tough luck” was the general response.

Around the same time, however, the Observer ran an article, “Customers urged to sue over overdraft penalties“. Obviously, these two actions together had to be an omen from the Gods, and I decided to write a letter to my bank: (more…)

Thoughts swirling around in my brain have a strange conformity to them. This only breaks apart when my stream of consciousness gets reduced to a thick-running sludge of semi-consciousness, partially alleviated and ineffectively combated with Lemsip. (more…)

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. So I did. But I got a bit verbal about why I like the various songs. And it makes a half-way inspiring read. Have a look! (more…)

Musings on why no sane people work at Capital One
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Today, when driving home from Manchester at about 10 o clock or so, my driving was not particularly sharp. I had just eaten a massive Indian meal at a nice-looking (but not nearly as nice-tasting) indian restaurant, and my stomach was holding its own private little revolution. It felt as if the stomach acids tried to chew their way through my spleen and onto the car upholstery, to be honest, and I wasn’t having any of it.
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So. You are at a rock concert, and you decide it would be a good idea to let a bunch of people hoist you up on top of all the other people, and get lifted across, eh?
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One of the great things about travelling is that you get to try other cuisines. So it should come as no surprise that if you are invited to a barbecue with a bunch of American expats in Trinidad, you are in for quite a treat. Or should it?
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