The Best of The Muppets

I

2008-01-10T02:21:51Z

So apparently

2007-12-06T03:46:33Z

MY LIVEJOURNAL IS BORING?!

It's a mistake, but who knows?

2007-11-25T14:20:38Z

Essays are the least important thing right now.

More important is a gig report. A long one.

So, Lauren gets to Falmer Station (the University of Sussex station) at 11:45 p.m on the thursday night. I'm not there, so I get shouted at down the phone. I'm wearing my long coat so I feel like I look cool no matter what. I pick her up and we noodle our way back to my flat, to my flatmates, who I forgot to tell that she was coming. Score social communication points for me!

After talking for a bit, we go into my room and mess around on the computer and unpacking. Soon afterwards, we get geeky and sit in bed all cuddeled under the cover playing Mario Kart DS and Legend of Zelda battle mode on our Nintendo Ds's. By now it's about 2 o clock, I have a presentation in 7 hours. Yet we probably don't go to sleep for about another hour.

Sleepy-time falls, and every hour I wake up thinking shit omfg I've missed my presentation only to look at my phone and see it's only 5:30, 6:45, 7:30. So I get up at 7:30, have a shower, look over my notes, make myself look smart, text my presentation partner See you in the room 10 minutes early so we set up and sort out who says what.

I leave late, get there at 9 on the dot, he doesn't turn up 'till 9:15 and he doesn't have his notes, so spends another 15 minutes printing them out. Not a good start. While we're setting up the powerpoint presentation, Polly the seminar tutor asks Have you got a handout for the class, guys? and I jump in and say WE HAVE...um...it's just on the computer, we were going to e-mail it to everyone which seems to satisfy her in a grumpy way. Fair enough.

So, the presentation starts, I'm literally wetting myself, I hate public speaking.

But it went ok. We didn't really base our presentation around facts that we'd researched, it was all our own ideas on the subject which was Questioning Media Practices: Ethics surrounding the production of media. We started off kind of broadly talking about what sort of choices people make in the production of different media like reality television, but we focussed on photojournalism. Which gave us the opportunity to talk about controversial photos (falling man, vietnam, burning monk, Abu Ghraib) and digital manipulation which I love. I remember there was a point where I felt like I was just talking to myself instead of in front of an audience, which really calmed me down. And meant we could do our little uplifting joke at the end without worrying, where we photoshopped Polly's online profile photo and turned it into a police mugshot to emphasise our point about digital manipulation. The rest of the seminar was pretty much about the photos we used in the presentation, our aim was to make a memorable presentation and I think we did just that.

I meet Lauren near the union shop and we go shopping and buy lots of food which comes to a lot more than it should have done. But I have food, and it feels good that my cupboards aren't empty.

We go back to my room and occupy ourselves for a while.

We eat microwave burgers, and I head off to meet my video workshop group to work on editing of our documentary. I tell lauren I'll only be 45 minutes to an hour. I'm there from about 2:15 to 4:00. When I leave, I phone up ticketweb to say my ticket for Queens of the Stone Age hasn't arrived and the gigs on monday and what can I do I want to go. But I'm on hold for about 20 minutes. And when they pick up, I say my name, confirmation number, address and that my tickets haven't arrived and they say I'll just get them reprinted for you. Sorted. I pick them up at Brixton Academy on Monday.

Back at my room, we get our stuff ready to go see QOTSA (yes I'm seeing them twice in the space of 4 days, go away) and head off to catch the train. Armed with a packet of kettle chips and a bottle of water.

We get to town at about 4:45, and head off to find where we're suppose to queue up to get into the Brighton Dome concert hall. We see two guys waiting, and we figure that's where it is. Doors don't open until 7, so we go off to get food, and ask in the box office if they know which door. I get a couple of slices of take-out MEAT FEAST pizza. Lauren wants noodles, so we go to this little japanese place called POMPOKO, she gets chicken noodles and some prawns. We go and sit by the stage door of the Brighton Dome hoping we might catch a glimpse of someone cool. We don't, but it's nice anyway.

I text ben and I'm all like yer, I'm seeing QOTSA tonight, and then on monday, and then again in February and he's all like fucker. I shall be seeing him in a few weeks, haven't seen him for about 2 or 3 months.

It hits 6, and we decide to go and queue up. There's a crowd of about 6 or 7 people, so we just jump on the end. We stand around for ages trying to warm our feets on the ground lights, which did seem to defrost my toes a bit.

Finally, we head in, Lauren goes off to look at the merch and get me some cider while I wait by the main doors. I then head in and nab a spot front-row-center, Lauren follows spilling cider everywhere. And there we stand. I go off to the toilet, and then can't go because two guys come and stand either side of me at urinals. So I manage to get a bit out, then head back to the stage. After another 10 minutes, I realise this was a bad move and that now I desperatly need the toilet. I head back, and find a cubicle, HUZZAH. Then head back again to the stage. We sort out lauren's cameras for taking gig photos, which it's not great at but by the end of the gig I'm getting some ok photos.

The 80's Matchbox B-Line Disaster come out, and they're pretty good. Their sound isn't really loud enough and some twatface behind me is heckling them for half of their set which kind of puts a downer on it. It's awkward when the band thinks that noone wants to listen to them, but everyone was dancing and jumping apart from this shouting twat.

Though they didn't really fill the stage. It seemed too big for them, I'd like to see them in a smaller venue in brighton like the Engine Room or Concorde 2.

I'm pretty bad at describing gigs, as if you read my last entry, I often go into a little musical wonderland. I did in this gig a few times, to be rudely brought back by Lauren. Which was good.

So on come QOTSA, to "Dance to the Music". Everyone is so immensly excited you can feel the crowd buzzing. We're pretty much in the gap between Troy van Leeuen and Josh Homme, infront of Dean on the keys who is a bit further back, giving Troy the opportunity to come and stand right infront of us for a lot of the gig. Setlist:

Hanging Tree
Burn the Witch
Into the Hollow
Misfit love
Do it Again
Go With the Flow
You Can't Quit Me Baby
In The Fade
Little Sister
Battery Acid
Make It Wit Chu
Tangled up in Plaid
Turnin' on the Screw
Sick Sick Sick

No One Knows
Song For The Dead

Photos

Just a few of the few decent ones I got. The gig really was immense. Got completely pulverised though. I kept making eye contact with Troy throughout the whole gig, and at the end I pointed at him in sort of a "YOU THE MAN" sort of way, and he looked at me, nodded, and threw his plectrum to me. Which flew in the complete other direction. Luckily a kind security guard got me a plectrum. That's one from Josh (100 Club) and one from Troy.

Aftergigwards, we sort of hung around, saw some people from the RR forum but didn't go and talk because I just think that would be awkward. So we headed back to campus after some shit about donuts and costing too much. Went back to my room, then headed off to find Katy and Oli, who were with other delightful univeristy people. We didn't stay very long though, Lauren was knackered.

Roll on Monday. Not only do I get to see QOTSA again, but I get to go home for the evening.

I like to....

2007-11-20T20:30:55Z

listen to frank zappa really loudly

I think my flatmates plan the days that I choose to do work and stuff to go out. I mean...I'd like to go out with them. They just don't say they're doing anything 'till the evening.

Well, this essay and presentation needs to be done anyhow.

Is it possible?

2007-11-15T14:00:12Z

My eyes closed, I savour every single second. I'm in a field. I'm on the beach. I'm 15 again. There are no sounds apart from the music. Maybe I can hear a breeze or wind blowing, or perhaps even a distant thunderstorm. But not here. Here is perfect and I don't have to worry about anything else.

A passing thought - Do I look strange doing this? - shoots through my head.
This is irrelevant , because I'm sure anybody else in my situation would feel the same.

I breathe.

A camera flashes. For a moment in time, I can't see anything. My eyes are open now, but yet to adjust. They focus. I feel shut in. Trapped. I look around at all the other people, for some room. Space to breathe. Then I remember where I am. Slowly, I sink back into the music.

This must be the reason why music exists. To have bands where they work as a whole being, an entity, you can see how much emotion they put into their music and that it really means something.

I close my eyes.

I'm just trying...

2007-11-09T01:24:17Z

For the past year of my life, I have had no life. Pretty much. No social life. I had an amazing gap year though, I wouldn't have really changed it.

Let me start again.

Since 6th form, being the september 2004 to july 2006, I had no social life. I barely even had any friends. I don't know the reason why, but I got really excluded really quickly from the 6th form "cliques".

or, I might know the reason why.

So...why in any way or form should I feel bad for going out and getting drunk with these new people I have met that I might just dare to call my friends? I'm just having a good time, it's been so long since I've been able to sit around a table with people that I feel completely comfortable with.

I can't solve anybody's problems, especially if I'm hundreds of miles away.

I hate livejournal. I dislike it when people have conversations over livejournal, or leave entries specifically aimed at one person. Being a hypotcrite there. It's like...our own problems, it just makes it worse if you know that they've technically been bitching to strangers also. "Strangers" being usely used there. Personal Strangers, ha.

It's not easy to change. I can't just click and be different. It's been a long time since I've used a certain four letter word to anyone, and I don't know if I can use it anytime soon. It's too confusing. And I feel terrible about it.

Heroes is a pretty fucking cool tv show.

A month at university. Nearly

2007-10-17T00:49:18Z

So I'm sitting here. It's, what, half past 1 nearly. And I'm thinking...is this really what university's about? Something inside me wants more lectures and things to ensure that I actually do work, I am really not very motivated. I went out saturday night, sunday night, last night. Only got a bit drunk last night out of all of those nights, but getting to sleep at 2 really renders the next morning useless as I don't get up 'till half 12 or so. And then before I know it, I'm going out again.

Tomorrow night's a "big" night at the new club Ociana...Oceana....whatever. I don't care. But everyone is going, almost every single person I've met is going. So I feel pressured into going, though I have a 9 a.m lecture on thursday.

I'm heading home for the weekend, after a "big" family get together in London on friday night. It's like...every 6 months, me, my sister, my mum and my dad actually seem to all go and have a meal. But this time, me and my sister will have our OTHER HALFS with us. It'll be the first time I meet the elusive "ED".

I can't tell if that smell is my socks, or the weed-smoke seeping out of the room next door into mine.

I've been having a pretty fucking cool time here. Met some really great people, and I'm getting into my course now. I start filming my 2 minute practise documentary tomorrow, I'm going to try and commendere cameraman role. I never realised how much setting up a camera shot is like setting up a photography shoot. I mean...I know it sounds obvious, but I've always distinguished between still and moving images in a big way.

It's definitely not my socks.

And I'm in Brighton. I love Brighton ina big way. Went exploring again with my new friend Katy and we went to all the music and comic shops and stuff. I really hope I don't end up boring the people I have met her, I do have a tendency to run out of things to say and then panic about it.

So tonight the girls had an Ann Summers party and all bought dildos. And some penis soap. Cool, I guess. Then they all came down to our flat and we had a party for Michelle, who lives in the flat opposite. Though...she's been gone for about 3 hours, noone really noticed. The girls all got wasted, the guys got wasted, but I drank little so I could document it all with my canon.

Which brings me onto Clifford.

Clifford is a skull. A plastic, hollowed out skull, with a spinal chord. Which gets used at every party for downing drinks. Through the spinal chord. So, I had some cider and shared half a can of beer from Clifford

"CLIFFORD, CLIFFORD, CLIFFORD, CLIFFORD"

which wasn't that bad. I don't like beer, but when it's open your throat or spit it everywhere, you open your throat. Anyway, I think I got a shot of almost everyone at the party drinking from Clifford. Perfect facebook material. Oh, how hard it is to be a student.

Ten when the drinking was done, the hotboxing began.

Now, I'm not a big weed-smoker. At all. I'll admit I've done it once, and I hope my family never read that. Which I guess shows that I'm kind of ashamed because my mum makes a big deal of it, but the act itself doesn't bother me. Well, they plugged the smoke detector in one of the bedrooms with condoms and put a sock over it and started smoking weed. This was ok, but then everyone moved in there...I didn't really want to be left on my own

PEER PRESSURE, no?

So I went in and sat down, the lights were turned off and we listened to some music. As I said, I'm not a smoker, so I decided to leave after this girl tried to shove a spliff into my mouth, after about 15 minutes being in there. I'm not a smoker, but I'm not really against smoking that, but I'd prefer to, if ever, do it with people I'm really comfortable with, rather than just on a whim.

All I can say is my eyes are tired. Not really like in Amsterdam when I felt like I just needed to eat chips covered in mayonaise.

The hallway reeks of pot, I hope it's gone by morning.

I proceded to lay around in my flatmates room while her and this spanish-english guy Ettienne phoned random numbers on the phone. We got Simon, who wouldn't tell us what he was wearing, and Claire who spoke to everyone but hung up when I spoke to her. Utter, utter bitch. I hope I never fucking meet Claire.

But to be fair, it was 1 in the morning. So I don't blame her.

I have Closer by Nine Inch Nails on repeat. It turns me on. Srsly.

I'm worried by the fact I probably drunk more in Freshers Week than I have done in my entire life. Still waiting for that excuse to get that hammered again. Maybe Saturday, back in the 'stone, I think me and Lauren are gonna hit the pubs for real. Not clubs though, because the ones in Maidstone suck.

My sore throat felt a bit better after sitting in that room. Medicinal, eh?

FUTURE LIVING CONDITIONS

2007-09-18T23:24:31Z

I'm going to university in about 5 days.

I have a wierd mixed feeling of anxiety and hope.

It's been a long time

2007-08-16T22:34:50Z

Ok.

So, I'm just realllly bad at updating this thing. Just...really bad. Kinky.

So...it's been a year. Almost a year exactly? To the day maybe. A year since I thought I'd completely messed up my life for good.

I got BBC as my grades for my A-levels, when I needed BBB to get into the only university I had put down on my UCAS, being Sussex.

I was majorly depressed. It opened up what seemed like an endless void in my life...as I just hadn't planned for not getting into Univeristy. Completely messed me up.

Really, it has been an excellent year for me. Having to take a gap year really has made me a better person, I feel.

I've learnt to drive.
I've done work experience at a television studio and photography studio
I've travelled on my own to various places, something which I used to dislike. Cambridge, Amsterdam, I've stayed in London about 3 or 4 times.
I've got a real job
I passed my History resit by mainly self-tutoring

It's really all given me a massive confidence boost, and I feel a lot more prepared for going to univeristy this year than I was last year.

Which is Sussex. I totally feel like getting into University this year has been almost like a reward for not wasting my year. Apart from the first few months of my gap year where all I did was sit around in my pyjamas, not shave and watch Dragonball Z.

But yeah...I'm totally getting a karma vibe from the last year. Good things happen to good people, and when the bad things happen...everything happens for a reason. And literally...everything is connected to me. The amount of coincidences in my life are astronomical.

Taking just today for example...I was thinking about a holiday to Cuba I took and about how I didn't have a cigar from Cuba...then my friend Dom gave me a cigar for a late-birthday present. Also, I was thinking about how the guy I was work shadowing at the Maidstone Television Studios had driven me around this particular part of maidstone...and then I saw the receptionist from the Maidstone Studios.

So strange. Also some fortune cookie stuff which literally isn't important.

Tomorrow I go on holiday to Hong Kong and then onto Australia. So excited and scared. Haven't been away from home for that long in ages. And then only 2 weeks 'till I go to university when I get back. One of which will be without mah bestest buddy Lauren =( And then all the weeks after that 'till the christmas holidays or whenever.

Boo.

Oh well. This is life, this is how we choose to live it. And as I said...everything happens for a reason.

an update

2007-07-08T22:21:53Z

another monthly update to be coming soon

I'M ONE OF A KIND

2007-06-14T19:14:34Z

My second, no, third Muse related break is coming up.

First takes me back to Reading Festival in, ohhhh, twenty-OHHH-six. Stayed in London and got the train to the Reading Festival site for the Friday (for sexy Eagles of Death Metal, Gogol Bordello, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Mark Lanegan) and Saturday dates (for Muse).

Had a great time apart from those bands though. Great atmosphere there.

Number 2: The Wembley dates, November 06. 22nd and 23rd, the middle and last date. Once again, stayed in London and tubed it around to meet people and get to wembley. 22nd, kind of pushed in the front of the queue by joining onto Sophi (harmonic from the muse board)s group of friends. We being Lauren, Max, (Celtic) Rose and I. But the people behind us got to the front of the gig next to us anyway. That was an amazing night, despite the fact I thought it would be lame that they played Black Holes and Revelations all the way through.

Got some good shots too. Then the next day was meet-up day, which involved pissing about on tubes for ages and Stu, Johnny, Lauren and I sitting around in Nandos waiting for the other 10 people.

Then went to Muse just before they started and got quite close to the front. That was also cool.

Both of these trips involved various amounts of fuck ups by Lauren and I regarding tube times and train times and running and missing last trains.

I can only hope this one will be more relaxing. I'm not bothered about getting close to the front, it's a bloody stadium and there are about 15,000 people queueing up from about 8 in the morning, or the night before apparently. There's also going to be not only one, but two golden circle areas based on a first come first serve basis. I mean, it would be ace to be at the front. I just want to enjoy the gig though, not spend the whole day sitting through bands I don't like keeping my place secure.

It's gonna be great, hopefully get to meet a load of people I haven't met before.

Race to slip into whatever fits you

2007-06-01T08:55:15Z

First

journal

entry

since February

So, what did I fucking leave unresolved in the last couple of entries? I'll summarise.

I passed my driving test, which I was complaining about back then. That seems like such a long time ago now.
I've left my job at the lowly barcode-scannerless Spar for a job at the prestigious Leeds Castle...working in a food kiosk. No bar code scanner there either, but it's not needed because the till has all the items of food labelled on it. And that's going pretty well, apart from they've been paying me under 18 rate, which I've sorted, and I'm being taxed, which I shouldn't for I am a student. But I'll get both of those moneez back eventually.
Finished my photography coursework which went pretty well, it's not marked yet. I'm going to go pro on "Flickr" so I can upload my projects on there.
Got my bloody Canon 400D, after about 3 years of whining for a Canon. It's so fun, and the first day I used it was at the...
February International Muse Meet. Which was also stupidly fun. I'd post photos but it was a really long time ago, so there's no point really.
Gig-wise...My 2 trips to see Eagles of Death Metal were beyond amazing, I got to meet the almighty Devil himself

which was pretty cool. They played some great songs, the Cambridge gig was really small and close. I loved it.

65daysofstatic were also ace. They pull off their songs live really well. Had a cool trip to london that day also, met up with ol' Max and Aino and ate chicken. And Jordan and Anneke, who I hadn't really spoken to since the end of school in June last year.

But by far the highlight of my months of absence was getting tickets reserved for me (as in...personally, my e-mail address was put on a special list) to see Queens of the Stone Age at a tiny gig at the 100 Club in London. Best feeling of my life ever. I'd tried to buy tickets when the gig was announced on the radio, and failed. Then i got an e-mail through saying "You Are Special" and it explained itself to me

We on the rekords rekords forum figured it was because some people had entered a compition that only people in the U.S.A had won, so this was our prize.

It was pretty intense, got my legs all nice and bruised and fell at Josh Homme's feet a few times.

And coming up, I still have Muse at Wembley, which will hopefully be amazing (for meeting people also). They've recently started to spice up their live set, including some old songs. I pray to something that they've given themselves a kick up the arse. All their set lists just started looking the same, and it's not like they don't have a massive back catalogue of songs or anything. Hopefully they'll play a few good'uns.

But this always happens, I always get my hopes up and nothing really comes of it. Though admittedly, I have seen some awesome Muse songs in my time. Earls Court probably being the best for the range of songs they played, not that I knew many songs then.

And...then I've just ordered tickets to see Queens of the Stone Age in Amsterdam. Should be going with Ben, unless he fucks up, and then I'll either have to find someone to go with or just sell the tickets, which would be lame. Well, yeah, this amsterdam trip is replacing my trip to either Sweden, Germany or Spain that I mentioned a while back. As a matter of fact, if you've got to this point of reading, you should probably just go back and read my old entries to see what I'm talking about.

AND finally, on the gig front, I'll have the pleasure of going to see Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell at the Southbank Centre in mid-july

And I think that's everything covered

I'll try and keep this more updated. I'm not sure if anyone ever reads it, so leave comments to
show me that I'm loved.

And now, as I depart for more History revision, I'll leave you with
a few of my favourite photos that I've taken
with
my
Canon 400D

and a few shameless plugs actually...

Hey, I'm...

2007-02-08T00:00:02Z

updating my journal =)

real one tomorrow.

Don't you just love it

2007-01-16T00:17:37Z

When you add someone on a networking site like facebook or myspace and they don't know who you are.

Fair enough, it's been like...13 years or something, but we were really good friends. As a matter of fact, I was the only person she'd talk to because she was so shy.

Well, there's nothing I can do about it. 2007, away!

It's looking pretty good so far. Got 3 gigs planned for 3 of my favourite bands, 65daysofstatic, Eagles of Death Metal and Muse. Really want to go to some smaller gigs though, there's just not much music I've found which interests me. Really need to get my new camera and laptop sometime soon also.

Also, trip-wise, should be going to either Germany, Spain or Sweden at the end of June and either Australia or China or both in August. It's all cost a lot, but it's gonna be so cool. Especially with a decent camera. And if I can be bothered to take my laptop around. Probably not though.

And then there's the all mighty international-meetup in february.

I think this is the second "oooh, 2007" entry I've made, but I need to make up for that absolute shit of a ramble that was my last entry. I really should try to not get worked up like that, it doesn't suit me.

He took down the tire from the pepper tree

2007-01-09T00:33:59Z

He has no children of his own, you see.

Bleurgh, new year SHIT

So since the lol-lington-filled new year has started I've spent "money" on a lamp that is broken, which is shit, and also I've been fobbed off from my job.

WELL, it wasn't even a real job. It was "work experience" that they paid me for. So, I was there from september to december, which was the "christmas period", and now the buys time is over, they don't want me anymore. WHICH IS FAIR ENOUGH, tbhIMOlol. But it's just shit, because I needed money. no, I need money. To pay for replacement lamps, fair enough, I'm getting a full refund on the broken one, but it was in a 20% off closing down sale and if I buy it anywhere else, I'll have to buy it full price. Which is too fucking expensive. It's so hot though, in a sexy lamp kind of way.

Driving is shit. I'm going to fail my test.

Work is shit. I have to start revising for my History re-takes that are in june because I'm not at school so therefore not being taught which means I have to re-teach myself everything, AND MORE because the syllabus has expanded since last year.

So, all that's really keeping me occupied is

a.) We ♥ Katamari - Got it from play.com last thursday, and I LOVE IT. I'll take a video and youtube it so that anyone who reads this can MARVEL!

b.)Invader Zim - God bless someone on youtube who has been uploading all the episodes. I'd be so bored if I wasn't filled with cartoony goodness

c.)Working at Spar - I need to find a real job. This is sort of my back up job, which now I have lost the one at the photography studio, is my main job. Which means I shall work whenever I can probably, so I can get some money. But it's mind-numbingly dull, standing at a till manually ringing up items.

INVEST IN A FUCKING BAR CODE SCANNER. I don't know if it's the guy I work for or the SPAR UBER MULTI CORPORATION, but everything has a barcode on it, you have the same stock ALL THE TIME so surely you can just program it all up or something. I don't know, nor care. Though I do care, because doing it manually takes ages, especially packing a bag and ringing it up.

and then there's d.) which is - work on photography coursework and history stuff, but I can't be bothered!

The Dark Tower comic books made by Marvel Comics should be out soon-ish. Hope I can get them or something.

Wow, this entry makes me seem like a complete layabout who just plays games and watches cartoons.

Fuck.

Well, I won't get fat. Or spotty. I saw an advert for an exercise bike that costs £34.99 from sainsbury's, I might have to buy one. I'll earn most of that tomorrow working 4 hours at spar. That's about £25 I earn. IF I COULD BARE to work longer, I could be so rich. SO SO VERY RICH.

The thing is, most of the time, noone comes into the shop. I DON'T EVEN GET A SEAT. I just have to listen to classic FM and stock the shelves.

Well...that's that. No photos this time, as I haven't really done anything for the past week. Everyone's gone back to university.

I'm not going to fail my driving test either. I'm pretty good.

I'LL TELL YOU ONE THING,

HE'S NOT BUILDING A PLAYHOUSE
FOR THE CHILDREN

I SWEAR TO GOD I HEARD SOMEONE MOANING LOW

AND I KEEP SEEING

THE BLUE LIGHT
OF A TV SHOW

What a difference a day makes...

2007-01-02T00:59:41Z

*dun dun dun dun*

"What does the G stand for?"
"...I don't know"

heheh, fucking Nickelodeon only releasing Invader Zim on region 1 dvds. I've been scrounging the internet for sites, but everyone's taken down thier episodes since the dvd has been released.

SO it's 2007 at last.

New Years resolutions and stuff. Mine can probably be descriped as

fitter - i'm not happy with my current weight, ha
happier - not really, just to stay as happy as I am
more productive - DO STUFF. 2006 was great, but 6th form made it a bit shit. So I'm going to be more positive and actually do things this year to try and better myself. 2007 has to be better.

That song title was the only way I felt I could describe my feelings.

After all, it started this morning with me on the phone to people I like well-wishing them in a drunken fashion. I should have phoned more people, but who I did phone was fun.

As was last night. First real New Years Eve away from home, which was spent walking around town, shaking hands with drunk people then getting back to the lodgings for the night and drinking lots of vodka. Really quickly.

And today, went for a coffee A.K.A hot chocolate with Ben and LONG-GONE suave-dom (and lauren...she was added on at the end). Dom asked me a few days ago if I wanted to meet up as it's been about a year since we'd seen each other, so I thought "I KNOW, I'LL ASK BEN IN SECRET." So Ben was thoroughly surprised when I took him to meet Dom. Oh, how we've grown up but have technically stayed the same.

HOW UNIMPRESSED DOES LAUREN LOOK WITH BEN'S PRESENT? It's some documentary or film about fighting in Tunisia during World War II. I, on the other hand, received a battle axe and shield from Ben. AN AXE! Not real, but I'm not a real viking, so I'm not complaining. And there's Ben modeling a wafer. YUM

SO, it's off to bluewater tomorrow. Going to try sushi for the first time at Yo!Sushi. Should be a hoot ha ha. And I WILL spend my HMV vouchers.

And I can't believe that some of the message I left on Helen's phone last night was about how hot Max is. I'm not gay. Honest.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE THAT WILL EVER READ THIS
which is like 2 or something like that

Don't you just love it when...

2006-12-31T01:55:58Z

SOAKED

ABSOLUTELY SOAKED

Bloody London.

Took a train up to London at about 3:15, got there at 4, was getting pretty dark already, very windy also. Then the rain started.

Alas, I only had my compact samsung which isn't very good in the dark, so you can't really see anything haha.

My mother, sister and I slowly walked our way along the Thames to get to Wapping, where the "theatre", ha, was. We went past Tower Bridge where a loud mouth girl tried to tell me that I had her phone, and it was actually my camera. We saw her about 5 minutes later ripping an umbrella apart by standing on it and pulling it

ANYWAY, the rain cleared, with some BEAUTIFUL effects. If only I'd taken my Kodak camera, or if I'd bought my Canon (or Sony =P) by now...would have been great.

Shame, because as you can kind of see, it was pretty surreal. Twilight blue sky with big rolling clouds passing over

We continued along till we got to the Wapping area, and we found a lurvely little italian type restaurant called "Pizza Paradiso" or something cheesy like that. It was like Pizza Express, but a lot nice. Dough Balls and Americana Pizza WIN, while stealing some of the family's food (duck breast and prawn/squid spaghetti)

The rain had stopped, but TWICE did the door blow open and sent the christmas tree flying towards me at quite a speed. It fell over before it reached me the first time, and the second time I caught it.

When we left, the rain had started again, and we all got absolutly soaked. Thus the beginning of this entry.

And then it was onto "Faust". Bit strange getting there, it was in an unmarked warehouse that we found by luck. We didn't really know what we were looking for.

Got into the front, and it was explained that we'd be going down to the basement and to relax until the show started. Down we walked, and found ourselves in a sort of 1950's small town bar where a country/blues band started playing. After a few minutes, we were invited to join another group because there was some free space. We walked through some curtains and were given these white masks that look like the masks in the ballroom scene in "Labyrinth", except without glitter and things. We were told to get into the cargo lift and "Jed" would explain everything to us.

Jed was a very crazy american, a kind of sleazy lift operator who told us there were 5 floors. Basement, Ground, First, Second, Third. All of which were more than settings for a play, but actually the real locations. Basically, you can describe this "installation performance" as a puzzle. You start off, and you have to explore all of the floors to get the story. You can either follow one character round (if you can keep up with them haha) or you can explore and try and get more of the story, which is what we did. I mean....by going to this sort of thing, you know you're not going to get to see everything, but ultimately it all unfolds as you'll generally find the major scenes because of a big crowd congregating or by following a character there.

So, the lift reached the 3rd floor, and Jed asked for 4 volunteers. He showed them out of the door, told them not to be scared and then proceeded to pull shut the elevator door, stranding these 4 people, in their white masks, in a dark corridor lit by candles.

We naturally chose to get off at the second floor, as Jed was scary.

So, yeah, we explored a bit, it's so scary walking around in the near dark and coming across other audience members with these white masks on. Especially if you turn a corner and there's one there.

The story unfolded, I can't really be bothered to explain it, but it was great. Not really much dialogue, apart from the preacher with the billboard who walked around preaching about sin and giving out leaflets about Walpurgisnacht. A lot of dancing though, very physical performers.

Exploring was so fun...we came across a scene where the main girl, Gretchen, was messing about with her sister, and her sister grabs Gretchen's diary and teases her. Gretchen snatches it back, and then they get ready and leave that room to go elsewhere. Don't know where, we didn't follow them. We went to Gretchen's bedroom and searched her drawers, found her diary and read it, ha ha ha. Lots of little touches like that made it a real experience to remember.

Also, there's nothing quite like watching a fight and looking out of a window to see all these white masked faces staring back at you.

Pretty damn pretty cool.

Oh yeah, don't you just love it when you're sure someone is making eyes at you? Like...you just keep looking up and they're looking at you and they look away. Unless she was just admiring my scarf and gloves. They ARE FIT. And they're both made for girls. She even looked at me when she got off the train and she blates didn't expect me to look at her back.

Girls, ha ha. I'm better than girls

I am internet

2006-12-29T19:23:37Z

I've been saving up for ages and I finally feel I have enough money to buy one of these absolute beauties.

A Canon EOS 400D. Or a 350D, they're both pretty good. And boy does their advertising work on me *sucker*

I'm also going to be selling a bunch of games on eBay to pay for

Trip to Barcelona/Munich next summer (which might come to about £100 per city, so maybe just a one city trip)
Trip to either Australia or China with the mother next summer (blates not going to be paying for most of this)
Trip to see Mona in Svenska, depending on whether we meet up in London in February
The Shadow of Colossus
Silent Hill DVD
New jeans, jacket and shirts

haha, that's the first time I've listed it all. I'm gonna have to be selling a bit more than games it seems...who wants some loving? Or I can just hang around and make you look dandy. If you pay me.

I also just bought this yesterday, should be being delivered tomorrow, on recommendation of crazy_bob of the muse board. Looks pretty cute, and it was only £16.99 delivered.

New Years is coming up too. Party at lil' pat's or Subs? I'm not a very good club person, and it'll be completely packed.

Oh, that reminds me, got an ace thing tomorrow. Going up to london to see version of "Faust". Really FUCKING amazing thing they've done though is they set the play up in this warehouse complex, where there are all the scenes being acted at the same time, and you start on a random one and follow it round untill you get back to your starting point. I might have that slightly messed up, but it's gonna be cool whatever.

I've got the description here...

"This is one of the most astonishing events, not just in theatre, but in the whole of London. In a 1,500-square-foot warehouse in Wapping, the Punchdrunk company have built an entire alternative world, through which spectators can wander at will

...

There's no offtstage in this superb creation; the scenes simmer away, whether or not an audience stumbles across them."

Apparently the last performance these people put on was "Crime and Punishment" (I think) set in an abandoned abattoir.

TUESDAY is bluewater day to spend my HMV vouchers and to maybe pick out a macbook or whatever Apple's laptop thingies are called.

I told myself I'd never have an internet blog, but I've grown up a bit and figure there's no harm.

Magical

2006-12-29T00:21:03Z

testing testing testing

katamari =D

So, i've finally reached the pinnacle of internet life.

Evolution along the lines of

signing up to ebay ---> signing up to a message board, nay, THE message board ---> signing up to an art account website ---> signing up to an image hosting website ---> signing up to myspace ---> signing up to another message board ---> signing up to facebook ---> watching every single episode of everything ever on tvlinks.co.uk ---> signing up to livejournal

or something like that anyway