This doing nothing at the weekend thing is a bit of alright isn't it?

Two whole days of pootling around, getting up when I like (actually 8am as my body clock is now set to this time), not leaving the house much - and getting back to work on a Monday morning feeling refreshed and perky.

I've finally got my PC up and running again - eventually it turned out it just needed a ton of extra RAM, and I managed to get another 512MB exchanging old games and DVDs at Computer and Video Exchange on Rathbone Place. I also treated myself last week to World of Warcraft, the latest huge multiplayer online roleplaying game.

It's been a while since I've been able to get into a PC game, but this one has definitely got me hooked.

This is the first online roleplaying game I've really played, and the experience is fantastic. The game itself is wonderful - and absolutely vast - and it's only augmented by the multiplayer aspect. I got to one particular quest - killing a load of little monsters in a mine - and found I just couldn't do it alone. Luckily there was another player nearby and we teamed up. We covered each others' backs and kicked monster butt (actually we shot them with blunderbuses while our respective pet bears clawed them to death).

Turns out the other guy I was playing with was a 30 year old married guy from Harstad, Norway. After we'd sated our blood-lust and gathered a load of treasure and experience points, we had to go offline as his wife was calling him to make lunch. Just as we were getting friendly too.

It wasn't all hard-core geekery though. Oh no.

I tried to stay in all weekend. I really did. I couldn't quite manage an entire weekend at home though, so I went down to the local leather club on Saturday night. As you do.

It'd be nice to be able to say I'm turning into a total geekslut, but really, I'm crap at the whole '-slut' side of things. Didn't get up to anything in the club, just stayed for a couple of drinks and went home.

Back in the virtual world though, my Dwarf, Gruthar has met a lady dwarf called Axissa, and they're getting quite friendly. Oh well, at least someone is getting some.

posted at 11:14 AM •

You're an astronomer working at an observatory. You are suddenly alerted to a massive asteroid on a collision course with earth that has somehow managed to evade detection. The collision is unavoidable, and will strike in half an hour.

What do you do?

posted at 4:48 PM •

When facts con be distorted to present any reality, what is reality anymore - and what is 'foolish' about gonzo journalism that subverts the traditional course of reportage?

Take this crass, Daily Mail style piece of 'news' from news.bbc - a site I'm slowly starting to despise for it's bland, lazy style - it's like a blog written by committee. It seems that the media glare is coming to bear down on piercing. A week ago there was a story in the Metro (Associated Press) abut a young graduate who nearly died, supposedly only after she had a piercing.

The story on news.bbc reports that apparently people with genital piercings (and other 'intimate' places, it reports) 'suffer in silence'. The story is spun out from a study of 146 men and women with nipple and genital piercings.



So - let's look at the figures. 66% of people with nipple piercings had developed health 'problems' - which the parameters of the study include 'sensitivity, skin irritation and infections' - all minor problems that occur when proper aftercare procedures aren't followed.

75% of the people in the study had nipple piercings - which gives us 109.5 people. 66% of those had problems - 72 people (I'm going to round numbers from here on). So, of those 72 people, 27 experienced sensitivity, 15 experienced irritation, 15 experienced infections, and 15 experienced other problems. Of those people only 2 or 3 sought medical advice.

The story tries to create a health crisis out of nothing - 'a majority of people developed problems' - yes, if you include sensitivity and skin irritation. This kind of reporting only creates hysteria and propagates ignorance about personal health - "oh my god, I've got a skin irritation, I must see my doctor at once."

I've had a nipple piercing and a septum piercing (which I really don't wear that much any more but like the feeling of the keeper) - in the case of my nipple piercing, I followed aftercare to the letter. I experienced some sensitivity - what else would you expect after you've had a piece of metal permanently introduced to your body? There was lymph discharge and occassionally in the first few months there would be some irritation.

I carried on with the aftercare and didn't go to the doctor. Any inflammation disappeared after a couple of days, and now 5 years after I had this piercing I very rarely experience any adverse reactions.

Apparently now I find I was suffering in silence.

posted at 11:04 AM •

Far away nearby - Marc Cohn

A little boy sits by the light of the moon
He knows that he’s lost something precious too soon
But he’s quiety singing a nursery tune
He sings for whoever may hear him

But one day he finds for whatever it’s worth
The moon and the stars and the blue spinning earth
They’ll all come and go through death and rebirth
And the ones that he’s lost will be near him

No matter the distance they’re putting between us
Whether on earth or on high
I’ll send up a prayer, if you blow me some kisses
From the far away, nearby
Bye
Bye

This song gets me every time.

posted at 10:45 PM •

Was just having a bit of a blogsurf and came across this guy in San Francisco's blog. I'm reading his post from yesterday commemorating the anniversary of his mother's death in 1978 and I had a sudden realisation.

It was Mum's birthday yesterday - and I forgot.

Well, I didn't so much completely forget - I was well aware it was coming up, but I didn't think about her at all yesterday. I woke up with a nasty stomach-ache that didn't go all day, and I had a hundred and one things to get done. Work, grocery shopping at lunchtime, home, take laundry round to next-door neighbour's, get back, eat, hang washing to dry, get some paperwork done - I didn't stop.

And knowing Mum, if there is some part of her watching over me, I reckon she preferred it that way - no tears, no self-pity - just getting on with life.

Happy belated birthday Mum, I always was rubbish at remembering wasn't I?

posted at 1:25 PM •

Motor Accident Information Form
(Annotated version)

The accident occurred at approximately 4:45pm on Thursday 13th January on Hackney Road, E2 (A1208) - immediately after the junction with Teesdale Close. The road conditions were dry and good, streetlights were on although there was still some light, and I was riding with my main headlight on dipped. I was riding in light traffic, a safe distance (approx 20-25 feet) from the vehicle in front of me, a blue van similar to a Ford Transit.

There was no big red shiny London bus in front of me.

The speed limit for this road is 30mph, and I was travelling at a speed of approximately 25mph. There were no vehicles behind me, and there was a light flow of oncoming traffic. I was wearing full protective clothing - padded leather trousers, armoured and padded cordura (textile) jacket, motorcycle boots, helmet and gloves.

Just after the left-hand turning with Teesdale Close, immediately after a split pedestrian (zebra) crossing with a central island, the blue van indicated left and manoeuvred to a parked position in front of a black Peugeot 307. I remained a safe distance from the vehicle, positioned centrally in my lane. I had a clear and unobstructed view of the road ahead of me and there were no other vehicles in my lane either ahead or behind.

Again, still no London bus.

As I reached a distance of approximately 6 feet from the rear of the black Peugeot, the driver of this vehicle signalled his right-hand indicator and immediately and at a high rate of acceleration manoeuvred directly across my path in a u-turn.

Somehow the London bus which wasn't there had stopped to allow the driver of the vehicle to perform this manoeuvre, despite the fact that most London buses (of the real variety) often don't even stop at designated bus-stops.

I collided with the front right-hand corner of the vehicle, and my motorcycle was knocked over to the right.

All the time while staying in my lane of traffic, which is interesting as the driver of the other vehicle swears blind I was overtaking the bus that wasn't there.

I sustained bruising to my right hip and right leg as I hit the road and the weight of my motorcycle fell on my leg. My helmet was knocked and damaged as I hit the road. The black Peugeot stopped and my motorcycle came to rest lying diagonally to the left of the central road markings.

The London bus which so far has doggedly refused to be there is still not there at this point. Just as well, because if it had been there, it wouldn't have been able to move out of the way or in fact move anywhere as it would have been blocked by the Peugeot 307.

Within 30 seconds of the accident a police van passed the scene and two police officers (one male officer and one female) attended.

Oddly, they didn't see a bus either.

No other vehicles stopped.

And you would have noticed if it'd been a bus.

One officer started to assist me in moving my bike, but as it was leaking fuel onto the road he stopped and called the fire bridage to attend the scene.

The fire brigade didn't see a bus either.

A witness who had been stood on the opposite pavement came forward at this point.

He didn't see a bus.

I was unable to get the details of the police who attended the scene as they left once the road was cleared and I was badly shaken by the accident, although I visited my local police station that evening and a check run on the black Peugeot 307 returned a report of a Person Injured for the time and date of the accident which I assume was logged by the two officers.

The police officers in attendance performed the exchange of details between myself and the driver of the Peugeot 307. I spoke to the other driver at the scene of the accident who stated that he had not seen my vehicle, and he had thought the road was clear.

Funnily enough, later he changed his story and claimed that he hadn't seen my bike because it was obscured by a bus. A bus that myself, an independant witness, two Police officers and a fire brigade crew couldn't see. Only him.

I experienced soreness and stiffness for four or five days after the accident.

posted at 2:32 PM •

Shoddy customer service from Tescos online electrical retail.

While the staff at Tescos are enjoying their share windfall, one angry customer is sitting here with a dwindling supply of clean clothes and no washing machine.

Yes, it's another setback for me in what I'm starting to call The Labours of My Ace Life. The washing machine packed up over ten days ago, probably as a result of my over-enthusiastic Chechnyen cleaner's habit of overloading the thing. Well, it was in the flat when I* moved in nearly 6 years ago, and I have no idea how long it was there before then. It's been on my list of things to replace for a while so I wasn't too bothered, except about having to cope with the additional expense.

So, after a quick consumer comparison phonecall with the consumer watch-witch, I got myself to Comet.co.uk and ordered an Indesit WI121, costing £195. After delivery charges were added, the total rose to £230 - but I placed the order and had a confirmed delivery slot.

As soon as I'd completed the order I remembered I hadn't checked Tesco.com, finding it there about £10 cheaper, and with bonus clubcard points. I quickly cancelled the order with Comet, and switched over to Tescos, where I was given an estimated delivery time of 22nd February.

I didn't hear any further information from them and so yesterday, the day before the estimated delivery I called Tescos to check what was going on. I was then battered with a stream of excuses that I wouldn't be getting my washer tomorrow, and it was the supplier's fault not theirs They explained they were having problems with supply which they'd heard about on Friday - and I would have been informed within 4 working days - 2 days after the estimated delivery. One particularly truculent headset-jockey informed me that the confirmed delivery date I'd received from Comet was a fabrication too - apparently an expert on the inner workings of a rival company's supply chain.

They argued that their estimated delivery date is worked out by some sort of average supply lead time, it may arrive earlier or later - you just have to wait for the supply company to call, and then negotiate a delivery time with them.

I'm sorry - if I'm ordering £200 of white goods, I'd like that bloody well done for me, and I'd rather not have your excuses hidden away in small print. Absolutely shoddy.

End result - no new washer, and I've gone back to Comet and received another delivery date for next Tuesday. And no clean clothes - if you see me on the tube, avoid.

posted at 10:57 AM •

Fantastically amusing news that Paris Hilton's t-mobile account was hacked over the weekend and it's contents smeared all over the internet. Her personal photos, notes and address book containing dozens of 'sleb contact details.

I'll not post a link to the hacked content - I don't want to be complicit in this awful criminal act (poor Paris) - you'll have to find it yourself. Needless to say I've seen the address book myself, and it's fascinating.

Email addresses and phone numbers for Eminem, Vin Diesel, Christina Aguilera - all probably changed now after getting thousands of crazed phone calls over the weekend. Looking through her address book is better than rummaging through her knicker drawer (which I've not done) - trying to work out who various entries relate to. Oo look - there's the phone number for Dr Frank Ryan, plastic surgeon to the stars.

The entries for full names are fun enough, but it's the cryptic ones that offer most sport - Rumer - probably Rumer Willis? Just who is Party Guy? Hmmm...

posted at 1:12 PM •

Really interesting feature over on the website for upcoming film biopic of Doctor Alfred Kinsey. Kinsey published a study of sexual behaviour in 1948 which famously 'discovered' that ten percent of American males were homosexual. That figure has been much derided and argued against over the years, but Kinsey's findings on sexual behaviour arguably changed American culture.

Over on the website they are conducting a simple survey based on Kinsey's theory that people's sexual orientation lies on a scale of 0 to 6 (0 being exclusively heterosexual, 6 being exclusively poofy - or dykey). It's certainly not a scientific study, but the results are pretty interesting.

Of the 40,000 people who've taken part, 9% have selected 'exclusively homosexual' - very close to Kinsey's original findings. The really interesting part is that only 40% have selected 'exclusively heterosexual', meaning that 60% of the people taking the test report some homosexual feelings, tendancies or activities.

posted at 12:01 PM •

I'm thinking of starting a "DON'T SAY SORRY, KEN" campaign. Tony has jumped into the argument in his capacity as obsequious people-pleaser and urged (or has he ordered?) Ken to apologise.

After hearing the full account of what happened last week (or at least Ken's version of it) - I agree with Ken that he shouldn't apologise, and I think it's about time that people make their voices heard over the sad droning 'please like me'-ness of our Prime Minister.

Boris Johnson's on Ken's side too - so that's even better.

The journo scum in question was waiting outside a reception to celebrate Chris Smith's 20th anniversary of being an MP. That much is mentioned in the 'meeja' - but one thing they don't mention is that these receptions happen every week, and they are almost always never covered by the press. So why the interest in photographing every attendee of this reception? Perhaps something to do with the fact that Chris Smith is openly gay?

You bet.

Associated Press were in attendance in case there was any juicy story to break - and where better to find such a story than at a reception for a gay MP? The journo scum in question was just acting on orders of course - and therein lies Ken's insult. To look at it one way, Oliver Finegold the journo scum in question should be even more ashamed of himself as a Jew, working for a group that doesn't exactly stand for multicultural Britain.

If the cap fits Oliver, you don't exactly have much grounds to be offended.

posted at 10:47 AM •

I was struggling for a topic this morning - should I mention more about my fuck-buddy? Should I comment on the Olympic bid or the ongoing bicker-fest over Ken Livingstone?

Well - got into work, and before I even had a chance to make a coffee and have a fag an email popped into my home inbox from John, telling me he'd had a mild stroke at the weekend.

I'm trying not to overdramatise this - my initial reaction was to feel upset, but it was an odd feeling - partly upset for John, partly upset for the loss of the relationship.

And questions: Has it been brought about by his diabetes? Would this have happened if we were together? Is he OK? Is he being looked after? Who is looking after him? How is this impacting on his overall wellbeing?

Feelings of wishing I could be there for him, and sadness that although I have come so far, some part of me still cares for him in a way that he doesn't really deserve.

The email comes as I've received transfer papers from my solicitor for him to sign - I'm not sure whether they're the final papers, but it's getting pretty close. I've been concentrating on moving forward, keeping contact with him brief and devoid of emotion. I've been trying to balance out the last few years of my life - remembering that things weren't all that great with him, but most of all that it didn't matter how much I loved him because he just didn't have the same capacity for love as me.

Anyway, I have to just crack on with the original plan and concentrate on getting my life back under control, and John is no longer a part of that. It does make me wonder why he has told me this though - but knowing him the way I do, it's probably just that he never thought about how this might affect me.

posted at 12:44 PM •

I don't really go in for newspapers. OK, I pick up the Metro some mornings (as I'm still tube-bound) - but generally to read the funny stories, the daily interview and the aspirational London-lifestyle bit (usually some alternative therapy malarky that's been doing the rounds for six months).

If I want news, I go to news.bbc.co.uk, usually making sure I switch on my "journalist integrity" filters - the recent news story on gay penguins being case in point - reports on the bbc website that gay groups across Europe are up in arms about the attempts to turn a group of poofy penguins straight. When you actually try to dig a bit deeper it becomes increasingly difficult to find out exactly which gay groups they are referring to, but the story legitimises the mindset that gays are reactionary loonies who want to see an endangered species go extinct in the name of 'gay rights'.

It's an utterly crass and patronising mindset that dictates to the British public what we should think - but of course some people do go along with it.

The latest furore over the Mayor of London is an illustration of the yawning chasm between pulic opinion and what the papers say. So far I've not come across anyone who's particularly offended about the Mayor's comments. Amused, yes, indifferent, yes, but not offended - and half of my company is Jewish - so there.

I was interested to find out a bit more about the debate, and ended up viewing the Mayor's Tuesday morning press conference live webcast. How very new media - and how entertaining and sensible Uncle Ken comes over. It was most amusing listening to him turning on the assembled Evening Standard and Daily Mail journo scum - by the end of it they were mumbling their questions out and he was beaming and defiantly taking on everyone.

He gets my vote again.

In other news - Valentine's evening was spent with my fuck-buddy. Who I'm ever-so-slightly falling for.

posted at 11:13 AM •

I should just accept my lot as the car-crash blog of the world.

Last weekend I had a read through the last year's entries, and I was amazed with how much happens to me - I got to wondering about other people's blogs. Does the same amount of stuff happen to other people, or do they just not write about it?

In the space of this week, I've managed to rack up about £400 of debt through things going wrong in the flat. On Wednesday I left a tap dripping in the kitchen which managed to flood the flat below me. Pru, the lady who lives underneath me had to call out the police to break in, and as a result I've got a bill for £100 from them calling out a repair service who made a botch job of re-fitting my back door. I've also got to pay Pru's excess on her insurance of £50.

The next day I came home to find a note from the cleaner saying the washing machine wasn't working. It's been in the flat since the day I moved in five years ago, and for god knows how long before that, so I've had to buy a new one - which doesn't arrive for ten days in any case.

On top of this, I've got to send a cheque for £200 for the excess on the hire bike, which I may or may not ever see again, depending on whether some fuckwits in a insurance claim centre can chase liability for the damages caused. Meanwhile the main insurance claim is lost in liability hell.

On top of that, my PC keeps crashing spectacularly, taking Windows XP down with it - I've been repairing it for the last week, and it crashed again on Thursday, so I've had to reinstall Windows again.

I'm really getting ground down by all this again.

posted at 12:19 PM •

Hundred and one things to do. Work is going well, but I've got a ton of work on. The insurance claim on the bike is getting more and more complex by the day, and with no end in sight at the moment. In the meantime I'm on the tube every day which is actually quite nice for a change.

I'm missing the freedom of being able to get around though, and the additional travelling time is taking up an extra hour or so a day. I've gotten way behind on my DVD watching - I've currently got 3 disks at home - 'Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself', '8 Women' and a Polish film I can't remember the title of.

Anyway - just a couple of links to keep you happy - Canapés and Cocaine, an interesting article on news.bbc magazine about middle-class usage of the white stuff - and Prince Harry's diary:

"Bollocks. Fancy dress shop is out of goats.

I have got it. I have ab-so-effing-lutely got it. I'm going to go to the wedding as Mummy. How much of a tribute is that?"

posted at 3:14 PM •

All hail Charlie Brooker.

Charlie who?

Charlie Brooker - author of the Guardian Guide's 'Screen Burn' column, the acidic tv review column peppered with more scatalogical references and sneering misanthropic hatred than an average issue of Misanthropic Faecophiliac Weekly (an imaginary magazine I just made up, but on reflection wish I hadn't, 'cos I'll be getting Googled for it now).

Charlie also wrote the horrifically amusing tvgohome - a spoof listings magazine similarly peppered with coprological allusions which launched his tarnished star into the ascendant. Scriptwriting soon followed, with late-night spots on Channel 4 devoted to another of his .com endevours, 'Unnovations' - and credits on Chris Morris' 'Jam'. Funnily enough, the latter got a really good write up in his column.

Anyway - I'm not bitter - Charlie Brooker is for the most part genuinely funny - and although there is a sense that most of the stuff he writes is actually aimed at insulting it's audience, it's mitigated by the fact that he clearly despises himself as much as everyone else.

I recommend his book 'Screen Burn' - his collected columns from 1999-2004 - it's a great tube read, as long as you don't mind his slightly irksome reliance on the phrase 'gurning farmhand' (which appears in nearly every one of his early articles) and then liberally punctuates later output. Also annoying is his preponderance with people mutilating themselves with spoons and as mentioned previously - scat. As long as you're OK with this, and also don't mind the fact that once in a while you will literally wee yourself laughing, warm trickles of yellow fun juice running down your legs and pooling around your feet - give the guy a chance.

If you can't be bothered to do that, then at least try to see 'Nathan Barley' - his big break on Channel 4 which starts on Friday.

It turns out that his earlier tvgohome columns weren't at all fiction, just beamed in from the future - as Nathan Barley used to appear in every new issue of the listings. Here's a sample:



There are funnier ones, but I chose this one for a specific reason - it describes what I went through with John to a T.

God, what a cnut.

posted at 3:20 PM •

Me and my bingeing.

I've got a somewhat addictive-compulsive personality. As we've established. This spills over into a lot of areas of my life, such as eating habits (I'll get hooked on the same meal), listening to singles (the same track over and over until I despise it) and of course, recreational substances.

My brain just doesn't seem to work in moderation - neither, frustratingly, is it very good at getting hooked on things like hoovering. Just as well I've got a cleaner now really.

Having kicked one addiction though, I've ended up being a lot more resourceful in knowing how to tackle others. So, in the last couple of weeks I've been trying to cut down on smoking. I'm just about managing on buying one pack of 10 Marlboro Lights (oh, except you're supposed to call them Marlboro Gold these days aren't you?) a day - although importantly, the time of day isn't fixed, so I'm definitely smoking more than 10. Still, the psychology of trying to stick to 10 is helpful - it's all about retraining your perception.

The only problem is I've recruited a helper to divert me from wanting a ciggie: Haribo Sour Mix. Now this would seem like a fairly good idea, except for my aformentioned cumpulsive nature. This morning I managed to chew my way through an entire 175g bag of the stuff. I went out for lunch, and immediately felt totally dizzy - the result of a huge sugar spike and resulting insulin deficiency I think.

I wonder if there's a Haribo dependency unit somewhere in London I can book myself into?

posted at 5:04 PM •

"Yes but how much do you spend on illegal substances? Double standards me thinks, yet again!"

I really shouldn't promote idiotic comments posted by people too afraid to leave their names, but in this case I'll make an exception.

Cognitive distortions are frequent when you have a drug addiction - and I did have an addiction, which I can now look back on and realise was a mental illness. I'm not in any way saying "poor me" - I had a self-inflicted mental illness, as drug dependancies are - but unlike poor judgemental "anon", I now know that this was a manifestation of deep underlying problems. Indeed it was self-inflicted, and that drives one to ask "why?"

The cognitive distortions I suffered during my addiction would on the surface of it seem plainly illogical. I never had any spare money, and indeed drove myself deeply into debt.

I was *deep breath* spending roughly £500-600 a month on cocaine.

I've been scared to tell you that - it's hard to write it down, publish, cached by Google. But, I suppose it's only natural that someone would throw this in my face whenever I write about not being short of money, and the best way to tackle it is to face it head on.

Why did I happily spend £50 on a gramme of coke, but now can't justify £75 for theatre tickets? Partly because I'm now about £10,000 in debt. To say that's all due to my addiction is a simplification, there were other factors, like being in and out of work, and struggling to manage in a household that had previously been run on two incomes.

I'm £10,000 in debt, and I'm in control of the situation. For instance, I really want/need a new jacket - a North Face jacket that costs £150. The old me would have just gone out and bought it on plastic, but now I'm having making myself manage without pushing my debt up further and further.

Double standards? No, my standards were caused by cognitive distortions, brought about by serious mental illness. A by-product of a deep emotional pain - a grief that was exaccerbated when I lost my job in 2003 and John left me.

Funnily enough I was just thinking about lucidity this morning on the way into work. Now 3 months out of my addiction I can actually think clearly. I can think clearly about complex situations, and I can see that usually they don't have simple causes.

I had to go through a lot to get to this point, and it's clear that my anonymous commentator, who incidentally is coming off an IP address assigned to bbc.co.uk, hasn't the same understanding I do.

And you know what? I'm glad I've lived through it and come out the other side.

PS - "me thinks" is one word, dumbass.

posted at 10:33 AM •

I've not got one of those "oh, you look just like so-and-so" faces, so the times I've been likened to a famous person have been few and far between. The above is a sample of a few of the faces people have tried to look-ee-likee me to.

[1] Ian Beale
This one came from my sister - a rather harsh comparison based on the fact that in my late teens I had a truly terrible haircut that resembled the entrepreneur-terrible of Albert Square. There is photographic evidence of said haircut, and it's truly terrible. The hair eventually got shorter, and the comparisons stopped.

[2] Moby
Don't get this one myself - it was hurled at me as I boarded the tube at Marylebone with a group of friends. I guess I probably had recently shaved my hair down to a number 1 crop, and maybe I was wearing my glasses.

[3] Chris Martin (Coldplay)
I only had a vague knowledge of what Mr. Gwyneth Paltrow looked like when someone said this to me a few months ago. Looking through Google I was quite flattered, and without meaning to sound too big-headed, I think this one is closest - ok, with a bit of Ian Beale thrown in.

[4] Brad Pitt
This one came a few days ago, and I'm suspicious as to the motives behind it. No, Luke, I look about as much like Brad as you look like Jennifer Aniston. Much as I would like to believe this one, I'm far too realistic. Well, hmm - maybe if I do the pouty thing and stand in low lighting.

posted at 1:19 PM •