I’m currently on a train to Plymouth to meet up with a couple of my best friends from high school (and being very thankful for the at-seat power supplies so I can connect my MacBook up!). Unfortunately, while I have power, I don’t have internet, so I thought I’d write out a little off-line blog post to upload when I get home (or when I find a BT WiFi hotspot).

So what’s up with me? Pretty much the same as was last time I updated, unfortunately.

I’m managing to grab more overtime, so I’ll be able to make rent, thankfully and should be able to pay for my Summer in the City myself, instead of having to ask for it as a birthday present! (Birthday is August 17th, incidentally). I’m doing my 1-Star BCU kayaking certification at the moment, or to be more accurate, I’m RE-doing it, as I did it for the first time when I was somewhere between the ages of 12 and 15!

I keep getting a sharp jabbing pain in my right arm (which is on the arm rest) and as it’s metal, I’m hoping it’s not some kind of shock from having my metal macbook on my lap and plugged into the wall socket, hmmm.

So I’m off to Plymouth to meet Rachel and Will who were some of my closest friends when I was at Exmouth Community College and who have since moved off to various parts of the country (namely Wales, lol). Rach is married and Will is working, so I don’t get to see them as much as I’d like, but they’re both down in Devon at the same time for a change, so we snapped up the opportunity to meet up for the day! We’re meeting in Plymouth cause it’s a semi-mid-point between where I live and Exmouth (though not really, because they’re leaving at the same time, yet are getting in an hour earlier than me *grumbles about Cornwall being so separated from the rest of the country)

Right, I’m going to stop now, because that electric shock is worrying me, hehe, but I’ll upload pictures from today to my Flickr when I get home, so I’ll be linking those on Twitter I imagine :]

I’m an Apple fanboy.

Most people who know me could tell you that; it’s hardly a secret and I’ll proudly shout the virtues of iProducts from the rooftops. It wasn’t, however, always that way. You see, the dirty secret behind my suave mac-user exterior is that I used to be an Apple hater.

I got my first real computer when I was about 14 (let’s not count the huge grey box I had when I was eight that ran BASIC) and because I was a teenager who wanted to play games like I did over the network at school, it was a PC (a no-name brand, at that). My mother’s then-boyfriend who was funding the purchase did nudge me towards the iMacs and while I loved the aesthetic, I wanted to be able to play games.

I shan’t delve in any depth into my device history, but since that point, I’ve owned two PCs, two Windows laptops and a shamefully large number of Pocket PCs and Windows Mobile based phones and PDAs. When the iPhone came out, I had a swish Windows Mobile 5 based phone, with all the bells and whistles. I looked at the pretty iPhone case and all I could see were its failings compared to the feature set of my beloved phone; no expandable memory, no GPS, lack of slide-out keyboard.

Going to university is what it took for me to realise the error of my ways. Being on a photography course, we naturally had a suite of iMacs and Mac Pros and I loved their slick interfaces and the fact they didn’t crash half way through editing an Illustrator project. Much to my shame, while I loved the Macs at university, I was still in the mentality that the spec/cost ratio was the most important thing about a computer and so instead of sensibly investing my student loan in a MacBook, I instead sunk the money into a HP powerhouse desktop.

By the time I entered my second year, I realised my mistake. I was sick of the fact that my powerhouse had started to lose power, full of bugs, a faulty graphics card fan and half the RAM always being in use. But I was stuck. I couldn’t afford to replace it and I certainly couldn’t afford to get a foot on the Apple ladder. So when I headed off to the US for the summer, I bought a cheap HP laptop (courtesy of some conveniently timed inheritance). I took one more computer gadget with me however: an iPod touch. I found myself strongly resenting lugging the heavy laptop around with me, barely using it and using my iPod for most of my needs.

I’ll skip most of the rest of the story, but it ends with me dumping my PDA for an iPhone 3G and my noisy laptop for a unibody macbook.

Though I’ll leave you with this anecdote. My mother and I both got new computer system; I got my MacBook and a 22″ flatscreen to supplement the MBs 13″ desktop real-estate and my mother got an HP Touchsmart PC (a sleek 22″ all-in-one touchscreen system she fell in love with in the store). Now we got the MacBook first and as you’d expect, the box was tiny, about the size of a large briefcase, a couple of Kgs, if that. Next we went to pick up the Touchsmart and were amazed at the sheer size. Now fair enough, the Touchsmart is a bigger beast, but this thing came in a box that was about 2.5x the height and width of the MacBook box and about 3x the depth. This thing weighed about 15Kg.

We got them home and I unpacked and set up both systems. MacBook of course had very little packaging inside the box and in fact, 95% of the original packaging is still in the box, which fits nicely under my bed, should I need it. The Touchsmart box was a whole other story. The box was filled with foam, cardboard and something approaching one-hundred cubic meters of plastic, wrapping and covering every surface. So while my MacBook box slid neatly under the bed; the Touchsmart filled half of the living room with cardboard to be disposed of.

The point I’m trying to make is that you can throw the price vs spec. argument around all you want, but you have to acknowledge that the Apple experience is so much more than the hardware and software; you’re paying a premium to have a fun and easy digital life. Speaking personally, that’s a price I’m more than willing to pay.

Buggered if I know. Do you want me to update more?

I’m hearing yes, so I shall try to appease you!

So lots of my friends are doing BEDA (Blog Every Day in April), but I have neither the time nor the inclination to do that. Besides, I don’t think my life is interesting enough to blog every day, all I do is sit at my desk, it’s not exactly titillating.

Okay, so I guess you want to know what I’ve been doing in the umpteen months since I last posted a proper blog? Well…

• I got into the University of Plymouth to do a BA in Photography. Start in September… long summer to pass until then.
• I’m currently not earning enough to make rent, which is pretty worrying. Not enough hours at work, means I have to get another job somewhere :[
• Speaking of money, I'm doing my student finance applications and I have to provide proof of my reasons for leaving my last course - which should be fun. Or not.

Other than that, the most exciting up with me is meeting awesome new people on DailyBooth.com! If you've not got an account, you should sign up and follow me! Linky: http://dailybooth.com/jerryhcooke

I'll try to keep this more up to date for you guys. Promise :]

001. Real name → Jeremy Hilliard Cooke
002. Nickname(s) → Jerry, Jez, Jer, Jem, Jearbear
003. Zodiac sign → Leo
004. Male or female → Male
006. Middle School → Topsham Middle School
007. High School →  Exmouth Community College
008. Hair color → Dark brown
009. Long or short → Mid-length (for a guy)
010. Loud or Quiet → Depends
011. Sweats or Jeans → Jeans
012. Phone or Camera → Camera, cause I’m a photographer, innit
013. Health freak → Not really, I eat crap, but I DO skate, run, climb, etc.
014. Drink or Smoke? → Rarely and never.
015. Do you have a crush on someone? → Not really, I did, but, things changed.
016. Eat or Drink → Eat, cause I can eat ice for my liquid intake!
017. Piercings → None!
018. Tattoos → One, an orange star on my left wrist.

HAVE YOU EVER?
019. Been in an airplane → Yep, across the wide Atlantic ocean.
020. Been in a relationship → Yes
021. Been in a car accident → No
022. Been in a fist fight → No

FIRSTS:
023. First piercing → Never had one.
024. First best friend → Hmm, can’t remember quite far that back.
025. First award → Probably a swimming certificate.
026. First crush → Sorrel Meechan, I loved her, lol
027. BALEETED?!?!???!
028. First big vacation → France when I was bout 10

LASTS:
029. Last person you talked to → My mum
030. Last person you texted → Sophie from college.
031. Last person you watched a movie with → Eveyone in sheffield.
032. Last food you ate → A crunch corner
033. Last movie you watched → Watching Stardust right this seccond.
034. Last song you listened to → Making Me Nervous by Brad Sucks
035. Last thing you bought —> Apple juice
036. Last person you hugged → Ma madre

FAVES:
037. Food → Pasta salad with pistaccio nuts!
038. Drinks → Apple juice
039. Clothing → my asscention jeans any anything by threadless
040. Flower → Tulip
041. Animal → Platypus
042. Colors → Orange
043. Movies → Amelie, The Truman Show, etc.
044. Subjects → Photography, Media, etc.

IN 2008….. I

045. [x] kissed someone
046. [ ] celebrated Halloween
047. [x] had your heart broken
048. [ ] went over the minutes on your cell phone
049. [ ] questioned someone’s sexual orientation
050. [ ] came out of the closet
051. [ ] gotten pregnant/got someone pregnant
052. [ ] had an abortion
053. [x] done something you’ve regretted
054. [x] broke a promise
055. [x] hid a secret
056. [x] pretended to be happy
057. [x] met someone who changed your life
058. [ ] pretended to be sick
059. [x] left the country
060. [x] tried something you normally wouldn’t try and liked it
061. [ ] cried over the silliest thing
062. [ ] ran a mile
063. [ ] went to the beach with your best friend(s)
064. [x] got into an argument with your friends
065. [x] hated someone
066. [ ] stayed single the year

CURRENTLY:
067. Eating → Nothing
068. Drinking → Nothing
069. I’m about to → Go to bed, after this movie
070. Listening to → Nothing
071. Plans for today - Well, it’s 23:25 - so nothing much
072. Waiting for → to hear from unis

YOUR FUTURE:
073. Want kids? → Eventually
074. Want to get married? → Yes
075. Careers in mind → photography!

WHICH IS BETTER WITH GIRL/BOY?
076. Lips or eyes → Eyes
077. Shorter or taller? → Than me? Slightly, but not much, shorter.
078. Romantic or spontaneous → Romantic
079. Nice stomach or nice arms → Both!
080. Sensitive or loud → Sensitive
081. Hook-up or relationship- Relationship
082. Trouble-maker or hesitant → Mix of both plz

HAVE YOU EVER:
083. Lost glasses/contacts → Nope
084. Ran away from home → Nope
085. Hold a gun/knife for self defense → In the UK? Not likely!
086. Killed somebody → No
087. Broken someone’s heart → Yes, unintentionally
088. Been arrested → No
089. Cried when someone died → Yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
090. Yourself → Sometimes
091. Miracles → No
092. Love at first sight → I used to.
093. Heaven → No
094. Santa Claus → No
095. Sex on the first date → Personal choice I guess.
096. Kiss on the first date → See above.

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:

097. Is there one person you want to be with right now? → I wish I could nap with Liane in NY again, I miss her.
098. Are you seriously happy with where you are in life? → Pretty happy, yas
099. Do you believe in God? → Nope, no way.
100. Post as 100 truths and tag 10 → Nope, no I haven’t

I’m in a very chipper mood today, as I have been since Friday. I got my new iPhone 3G. I woke up at about 6am the day I got it, out of sheer excitement and had to pass the time until the O2 shop opened by doing word puzzles and drinking sugary tea. I walked down at 9am, bought the last one they had in stock and had to wait around for ten minutes or so before they got it all activated. First thing I did on the walk home was to load up Google Earth and kick the GPS in, it located me super fast and the 3G loaded the maps up almost as fast as WiFi does! I’m a very, very happy chappy - best tech decision I made since I bought my iPod Touch. Incidentially, the iPod Touch now belongs to my mother, who hasn’t set up iTunes yet I expect, but still - I hope she’ll come to enjoy it as much as I did.

Guitar Hero arrived later in the day and I’ve been playing it every day since, inciting early onset arthritus I expect, but hey, it’s fun. I’ve just completed Medium and about to go onto Hard. Finding it so much harder than playing Frets on Fire on Hard (which is twice as fast); it’s having to move the hand up and down the neck of the guitar I think.

I ordered christmas presents for my mum earlier, from Amazon because they gift wrap awkwardly shaped objects that I’m not good enough at wrapping to do myself (I shall embelish on their work with glitter, etc). I also ordered a little present of myself (yeah, I know, another one); a Kodak Zi6 HD pocket camcorder. It shoots at 720p at 60fps and 16:9, so I can banish the black bars on youtube and get the ‘View in HD’ option to boot!

Plus I think I like a girl at work. We’ll see. Doing so much overtime means I see said girl every day. I’m liking work every much, incidentially, spending pretty much equal time between being a cashier, operating the cigerette kiosk and supervising. I’d idealy like to be working 100% supervising. I’m getting more confident working on the customer service desk, working the phone and tanoy system as well. Good timeeees.

Going out with some work friends tomorrow night and then going ice skating with them Tuesday morning. I haven’t gotten my ice skates out since Lena was here and I can practically hear them pining for rink time from the closet!

So I’m very cheerful today and I wanted to tell you all exactly why. So here, in order, are the reasons why life is awesome right now:

1. With the help of my grandfather’s will and my mother’s generocity, I’m now debt free (with the minor exception of my student loan, which doesn’t really count because that’s a government debt and part of the tax system)

2. When I got to work I was called into the managers office where I was told I’d been awarded a shining star (these are awards Sainsburys gives to colleagues for exemplary service, etc.). Most importantly, it comes with a £10 gift voucher, which I used to buy Green and Blacks gingerbread chocolate for my mother, permanent markers, jelly tots, a krosswords book and two scratch cards (neither of which were winners, alas).

3. I got off work an hour early.

4. Tomorrow the PC version of Guitar Hero 3 (geeetar included) I ordered will be delivered! I got one-day delivery free with an AmazonPrime trial! Whoo!

5. I get paid tomorrow and the moment I get up, I’m rushing to the O2 store to by an iPhone 3G (8GB on pay as you go, because I already have a contract phone with Orange), very exciting, I’ve wanted one for ages and O2 give free 3G data for a year with it!! I’m giving my iPod Touch to my mother, since it’d be rather redundant to have both an iTouch and an iPhone!

6. I’m only working four hours tomorrow (from 6pm till 10pm)

That is all. Three weeks from today will be Christmas.

Copied this from Liam’s blog, because I’m bored. Working 3-11 today, gah.

1. What’s your name?
Sir Jeremy Zaphod Hilliard Cooke Woolner, Esq.

2. What is your favorite thing to wear?
Skates on my feat, 32 long boot cut black jeans, tight teeshirt with some kind of funny design or slogan on it.

3. Last thing you ate?
Cheese, Twiglets and then white farmhouse bread with lashings of honey!

4. One place you will NEVER eat at?
Anywhere the serves exclusively meat, lol

5. I say Shotgun, you say:
I see you don’t have you shoes on, your shotgun is therefore invalidated. SHOTGUN!

6. Last person you hugged?
My mum

7. Does anyone you know wanna date you?
Possibly, who knows?

8. Would you date anyone you met online?
Have gone!

9. Name something you like physically about yourself:
Legs, 19 years of skating gives you great legs!

10. The last place you went out to dinner to?
Little café the other day where I had a great chocolate fudge cake!

11. Who is your best friend?
Sarah, naturally.

12. What time of the day is it?
13:41

13. Who/What made you angry today?
Bioshock refusing to load!

14. Baseball or Football?
Neither, though baseball is slightly less full of pampered idiots I guess.

15. Ever gone skinny dipping?
Strangely enough, no.

16. Favorite type of Food?
The pasta salad I invented, but pretty much any kind of pasta salad!

17. Favorite holiday:
That one where I spent five weeks in the states with my best friend!

18. Do you download music:
Nope, not usually, borrow some from friends mostly.

19. Do you care if your socks are dirty?
Depends how dirty, clean for preference. Thankfully, having nearly thirty pairs of socks mean I don’t have to face that very often!

20. Opinion of Chinese symbol tattoos?
Depends, if it’s originally inspired, sure. A tattoo should mean something to you, in my opinion.

21. Would you date the person that posted this?
Well, Liam is quite a catch, but I prefer my dates slightly more.. female.

22. Has anyone ever sang or played for you personally?
Yep, that’s what happens when you date a musician!

23. Do you love anyone?
I love many people in many different ways.

24. Are colored contact lenses sexy?
I think natural eyes are beautiful enough!

25. Have you ever bungee jumped?
Not so far, hopefully some day.

26. Have you ever gone white-water rafting?
Nope, gone salmon slide kayaking though.

27. Has anyone ten years older than you ever hit on you?
Maybe on youtube, lol

28. How many pets do you have?
None, damn rented accommodation. I want some kittens though!!

29. Have you met a real redneck?
Not face-to-face, but there’s some things I could say about some of the haters on YouTube…

(this was so fitting that I shall leave it)

30. How is the weather right now?
Too freaking cold!

31. What are you listening to right now?
I’m watching Gossip Girl

32. What is your current favorite song?
It changes week on week, at the moment, Mr. Columbus by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

33. What was the last movie you watched?
Eagle Eye

34. Do you wear contacts?
I did for a while, but my eyes are too dry, couldn’t keep up with them. Plus they cost too much to keep up with, my nice rimless titanium frames cost less in the long run!

35. Where was the last place you went besides your house?
Work. It’s always work.

36. What are you afraid of?
Being stuck working in a supermarket forever. Going back to uni will solve that!

37. How many piercings have you had?
none, never seen the attraction!

38. What piercings do you want?
Like I say, never seen the attraction.

39. What’s one thing you’ve learned this year?
Be true to yourself and your friends.

40. What do you usually order from Starbucks?
Something in a Frappucino variety.

41. What Magazines are you reading?
I don’t subscribe to any, I pick up WIRED when I feel like it.

42. Have you ever fired a gun:
Nope, an air riffle once, but other than that. With the exception of FPS, naturally, lol.

43. Are you missing someone?
Sarah, Tina, Liane, lots of people!

44. Favourite TV show?
It swings round and round. Pushing Daisies, Buffy, Grey’s, etc.

45. Do you have an obession with WoW?
Played it once.. didn’t get hooked.

46. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celeb?
Nope.

47. What celeb do you look like?
NOPE.

48. Who would you like to see right now?
All my youtube peeps, in a big ballroom or something.

49. Favorite movie of all time?
Amelie!!

50. Do you find yourself loved?
I really do, I’m lucky to have some wonderful friends who always let me know that they care!

51. Have you ever been caught doing something you weren’t suppose to?
Hmm, yeah, I expect so!

52. Favorite smell?
Freshly ironed clothes, that or christmas scented candles!

53. Butter, plain, or salted popcorn?
I don’t really like popcorn, but butter I guess, cheesy if you got it and toffee most of all.

54. What’s something that really bugs you?
Customers at work, I know we can’t make money without them, but still.

55. Do you like Michael Jackson?
Never been a fan really.

56. Taco Bell or Burger King?
Neither!!

57. What’s your favorite perfume?
Not sure I have one, the one Ellie used to wear was very lovely, but I have no idea what it’s called.

58. Favorite baseball team?
HAHAHHAHAHA

59. Ever call a 1-900 phone number?
Nope, long distance for the loose.

60. What’s the longest time you’ve gone without sleep?
Hmm, like 50 hours I guess.

61. Last time you went bowling?
Um.. in San Antonio with Scarlette and Sarah!

62. Where is the weirdest place you have slept?
um.. floor of the restaurant on a ferry.

63. Who was your last phone call?
um.. the bank, lol

64. Last time you were at work?
Yesterday, 1 till 7 (got there early accidentally). Be back there again in 35mins.

65. What’s the closest orange object to you?
My scissors. Orange is my favoruite colour, so I have many orange things

Had the first day off in a while today, was nice. Went to a cafe and had chocolate fudge cake and hot white chocolate with my mum and then came home, watched a half-dozen episodes of Buffy (season seven) and then Eagle Eye (enjoyed it very much).

I’m working every single day for the next two weeks, which is very tiring, but by the end of next week I should b e completely debt free (with the exception of my student loans), which is very awesome. In other news, I’m planning on buying an iPhone 3G and taking a trip to London to see people (after my two weeks of work, of course).

I wanna havva iPhone!

Especially since my phone was stolen from my bag at work the other day.

I’m working pretty much full time at work (doing £481 in overtime over the next two weeks and in the two following weeks before new years at work I should be able to do as much, if not more, overtime. Therefore; I shall be buying an iPhone 3G when I get paid on January 2nd!