I just don't know what to do with myself lately.
I kind of feel like it's a little bit of a lack of "gatherings" that's bringing me down. I don't see very many people socially at home and I don't do it very often. My attempts at out-reaching online is stymied by the fact that most of my interactions in person are started by me being a little bit OTT and bouncy and full of open body language (mostly). The content is rarely something I put thought into. Online this does not work.
Online, I feel like I have to get past several formality barriers before I actually get to just chatting, if indeed the capability to chat uncharacteristically emerges; like a sober monologue from some alcoholic, drug-addled and hyperactive comedian that may or may not exist because he's just being used as a simile.
I suppose it doesn't help that the most recent person I started talking to online was a guy who lost his mother a week previously. I didn't know this until a few sentences in and given the various things that surrounded that, I was left with a massive hole where (I presume) normal conversation would usually lie. I asked him how his day had been and I got a "don't ask". I asked what he enjoyed doing and I got "[housework]" and "Sleeping".
The issue doesn't just run with new people though. I have at least a dozen people on Skype and MSN who I have previously spoken to at length, both online and in person. I find it almost impossible to actually start talking to them. I still leave the programs open in some hope that maybe they might see me online and be all: "Oh hey, there's Dave! I like him, we should totally talk!" (because they clearly all talk like me/the cast of Clueless). Yet still I get no conversations going.
I know that they are probably having conversations amongst themselves and not really giving this much thought. I know that I have no right to impose any sort of guilt upon them by posting this (which, sidebar, I had not actually intended to post when I started typing but I feel like I'm likely to when I'm done). I know that there are some people who I have made it awkward to talk to by my actions in the past. I know that were I to get past the starting and awkward formalities and get onto a topic of some sort, the rest would likely form itself.
Finally in the list of things-that-were-in-that-last-paragraph but is really too large an item to be in said paragraph: I know that there are a couple of people that do take the time to speak to me when I am online and I don't appreciate them as much as I should because there is often no flow in the interaction and I'm more concentrating on those people who I'm -not- managing to have an interaction with. I like that they like me but there is a key element missing from all of them that cuts it short of it feeling like a proper chat. In some cases I know what this is. In others I don't. It sucks that all things aren't equal, huh?
tl;dr
Dave knows how to write very long sentences but not how to talk to people online.
Tuesday 15 March 2011
Sunday 27 February 2011
My views on Fandom
The internet is full of enthusiasts. Enthusing over many things. Sometimes they praise things I like, sometimes they praise things I don't like. Sometimes they apply their enthusiasm towards the dislike of something. It seems to me though that regardless of the topic enthused over, some people are rather enjoyable and some are just incredibly annoying.
Take John Green's sport-based twitter account. I have little to no interest in sport, but his enthusiasm for it is really very pleasing to read (to me at least).
Now take a variety of posts about Harry Potter from Tumblr. And if you don't mind, I shall take a deep breath and adjust my seating to make myself more comfortable. Some of it is enjoyable, such as the multiple layers of fun derived from screencaps by -morning. Some of it is legitimate "Well done JK for writing a great series of books, I have enjoyed them and this is why", which again I can respect and feel content about.
Then there are those posts which are obsessive.
Posts saying "OMG That's So Ravenclaw!" (which is not a 'thing', but I wish it was cause I just thought of it and it's funny ofc), or more specifically spazzing out over how amazing something is because it's related to the films or the books. Posts that go to great lengths to say why a particular house is amazing because of this and that and the other and how they still now read and reread the books to prepare themselves for the final film.
Now, don't get me wrong, I have read all of the books and watched all of the films thusfar. I will be going to see the last one when it comes out at the cinema. I have enjoyed much of it (though the ending of the Chamber of Secrets movie is the most horrifyingly cheesy thing I have ever seen). I just hate to see people speaking in reverential terms over fiction, I guess.
I have a similar problem whenever I've been to a gathering of Doctor Who fans. When I went to get my copy of The Writer's Tale signed in Birmingham, I was surrounded by obsessive fans who spoke reverently over little parts of the canon and of seeing and meeting various Who alumni. Some were enthusing over the costumes that they were wearing and some were dismayed that they has chosen not to bring and therefore not showcase a particular outfit. But to put myself in context in that scene, I was the only one anywhere near me who had actually read the whole book and I was incredibly starstruck at the thought of coming face-to-face with Russell T Davies. I got all of the little references that the people around me were making. I more than once restrained myself from correcting them because they were quoting things wrong or drawing incorrect conclusions. I still found the whole mindset repellent.
I suppose in a way, it's about expressing enjoyment without making a fool out of yourself. I suppose in a way, that last sentence was extremely pretentious. I just think it's possible to say how much you love something without vomiting rainbows over it. Without gushing openly like a New York fire hydrant smashed open by a great piece of media and somehow henceforth being infused with a potent overdose of caffeine, cocaine and golden syrup.
See also; My views on religion. Oh wait, you just did.
Take John Green's sport-based twitter account. I have little to no interest in sport, but his enthusiasm for it is really very pleasing to read (to me at least).
Now take a variety of posts about Harry Potter from Tumblr. And if you don't mind, I shall take a deep breath and adjust my seating to make myself more comfortable. Some of it is enjoyable, such as the multiple layers of fun derived from screencaps by -morning. Some of it is legitimate "Well done JK for writing a great series of books, I have enjoyed them and this is why", which again I can respect and feel content about.
Then there are those posts which are obsessive.
Posts saying "OMG That's So Ravenclaw!" (which is not a 'thing', but I wish it was cause I just thought of it and it's funny ofc), or more specifically spazzing out over how amazing something is because it's related to the films or the books. Posts that go to great lengths to say why a particular house is amazing because of this and that and the other and how they still now read and reread the books to prepare themselves for the final film.
Now, don't get me wrong, I have read all of the books and watched all of the films thusfar. I will be going to see the last one when it comes out at the cinema. I have enjoyed much of it (though the ending of the Chamber of Secrets movie is the most horrifyingly cheesy thing I have ever seen). I just hate to see people speaking in reverential terms over fiction, I guess.
I have a similar problem whenever I've been to a gathering of Doctor Who fans. When I went to get my copy of The Writer's Tale signed in Birmingham, I was surrounded by obsessive fans who spoke reverently over little parts of the canon and of seeing and meeting various Who alumni. Some were enthusing over the costumes that they were wearing and some were dismayed that they has chosen not to bring and therefore not showcase a particular outfit. But to put myself in context in that scene, I was the only one anywhere near me who had actually read the whole book and I was incredibly starstruck at the thought of coming face-to-face with Russell T Davies. I got all of the little references that the people around me were making. I more than once restrained myself from correcting them because they were quoting things wrong or drawing incorrect conclusions. I still found the whole mindset repellent.
I suppose in a way, it's about expressing enjoyment without making a fool out of yourself. I suppose in a way, that last sentence was extremely pretentious. I just think it's possible to say how much you love something without vomiting rainbows over it. Without gushing openly like a New York fire hydrant smashed open by a great piece of media and somehow henceforth being infused with a potent overdose of caffeine, cocaine and golden syrup.
See also; My views on religion. Oh wait, you just did.
Wednesday 23 February 2011
Talking about myself when tragedies are happening worldwide. As we all do, daily, all the time.
Today I worked an extra hour and stayed later than that even to book the many days off I have planned for the next few months. By the time I finally reached the halfway point of my journey home and ran for and missed a bus I decided; fuck it, I can walk home and I could do with the exercise. For balance I bought a bag of chips and spent an hour walking back home while only three buses passed me.
Why am I telling you this?
Because in the first 20 minutes of that walk home, I'd actually come up with the opening few paragraphs of what could have been this blog. Unfortunately/fortunately, I was distracted by music and the built up prose dribbled out of my ears, lacking long term traction. Excuse me while I try to do it's (lack of) memory justice.
---
I'm a busy guy. It doesn't really occur to me until other people comment on it but it's true. I have some sort of plan for at least half of the days off I'm given and my evenings are often spent keeping up with Twitter and Tumblr while consuming media with the appetite of a starved and angry badger. Yet it took a day of unfulfilled lazing in front of the TV for me to realise that my new found busyness is just one aspect of a person that has really changed in the last two years.
A little under two years ago, me and my boyfriend split up. In the time since I've made almost all of the internet friends I have now, have travelled up and down the country (mostly down) to see them and have 'mastered' my finances and general planning of my life. Admittedly, I'm still not the greatest at being on time and I rarely organise any successful social events of my own, but you can't have everything. In the nearly elapsed two months of this year alone I've been to London, Sheffield, Stafford and Heathrow. A good time was had in all. I've sent and received Valentine's cards for (I think) the first time ever and [segue] yes Simon, it was me who sent the banana-based card and no, it doesn't matter that it wasn't reciprocal and I apologise for anything inappropriate I did when we were drunk (because alcohol is totally a valid excuse) [/segue]. I have so many more things planned for this year and I'm starting to get metaphorically itchy feet whenever I'm not moving or planning or accomplishing because I daren't let the momentum wane.
Even so, the New Years Resolutions I accomplished so well during the last year have not really been taken up so well this year. Again in the barely two months of this year, I've not been swimming once. Nor have I made a YouTube video [He said, forgetting that he posted a pointless little vlog that was unplanned and not all that great.]. I've kind of saved some money. I've been to a couple of new places and future different journeys are planned so that's a winner I guess. I've caught up tremendously with Sentai also; being as I am now only 50 episodes behind (up from 80). Sadly the Sentai speed will slow now because the new team that I just started watching, Goseiger, are a bit badly written and the actors are uninspiring.
I have tickets to see comedians and an eye on tours as yet unannounced. I have a list of the various boxsets and series I hope to get watched this year. And yet I have a fairly limited communication with the people I want to spend this time with. I have a complete disjoin to the Birmingham bars and people I used to go out with locally. I have a generally adjacent view to everyone I encounter on a day-to-day basis and I rarely make the encounter when the situation should call for it.
Again, I'm just belly-aching that everything isn't perfect and a little bit "Why don't I have something into which I have put no effort? Waah!" but I feel a bit lonely sometimes when half the people I'd like to speak to are far away and most of the methods of which to start that conversation without travel appear to me to be an invasion of me upon them and therefore unwanted and "Waah! No one wants to talk to me even though I make no attempt to talk to them! Waah!".
So yeah. I blogged about it. Maybe the above'd be a little shorter if I regularly got these feelings out in the open, say with a picture attached. I wonder where I could do that...
Why am I telling you this?
Because in the first 20 minutes of that walk home, I'd actually come up with the opening few paragraphs of what could have been this blog. Unfortunately/fortunately, I was distracted by music and the built up prose dribbled out of my ears, lacking long term traction. Excuse me while I try to do it's (lack of) memory justice.
---
I'm a busy guy. It doesn't really occur to me until other people comment on it but it's true. I have some sort of plan for at least half of the days off I'm given and my evenings are often spent keeping up with Twitter and Tumblr while consuming media with the appetite of a starved and angry badger. Yet it took a day of unfulfilled lazing in front of the TV for me to realise that my new found busyness is just one aspect of a person that has really changed in the last two years.
A little under two years ago, me and my boyfriend split up. In the time since I've made almost all of the internet friends I have now, have travelled up and down the country (mostly down) to see them and have 'mastered' my finances and general planning of my life. Admittedly, I'm still not the greatest at being on time and I rarely organise any successful social events of my own, but you can't have everything. In the nearly elapsed two months of this year alone I've been to London, Sheffield, Stafford and Heathrow. A good time was had in all. I've sent and received Valentine's cards for (I think) the first time ever and [segue] yes Simon, it was me who sent the banana-based card and no, it doesn't matter that it wasn't reciprocal and I apologise for anything inappropriate I did when we were drunk (because alcohol is totally a valid excuse) [/segue]. I have so many more things planned for this year and I'm starting to get metaphorically itchy feet whenever I'm not moving or planning or accomplishing because I daren't let the momentum wane.
Even so, the New Years Resolutions I accomplished so well during the last year have not really been taken up so well this year. Again in the barely two months of this year, I've not been swimming once. Nor have I made a YouTube video [He said, forgetting that he posted a pointless little vlog that was unplanned and not all that great.]. I've kind of saved some money. I've been to a couple of new places and future different journeys are planned so that's a winner I guess. I've caught up tremendously with Sentai also; being as I am now only 50 episodes behind (up from 80). Sadly the Sentai speed will slow now because the new team that I just started watching, Goseiger, are a bit badly written and the actors are uninspiring.
I have tickets to see comedians and an eye on tours as yet unannounced. I have a list of the various boxsets and series I hope to get watched this year. And yet I have a fairly limited communication with the people I want to spend this time with. I have a complete disjoin to the Birmingham bars and people I used to go out with locally. I have a generally adjacent view to everyone I encounter on a day-to-day basis and I rarely make the encounter when the situation should call for it.
Again, I'm just belly-aching that everything isn't perfect and a little bit "Why don't I have something into which I have put no effort? Waah!" but I feel a bit lonely sometimes when half the people I'd like to speak to are far away and most of the methods of which to start that conversation without travel appear to me to be an invasion of me upon them and therefore unwanted and "Waah! No one wants to talk to me even though I make no attempt to talk to them! Waah!".
So yeah. I blogged about it. Maybe the above'd be a little shorter if I regularly got these feelings out in the open, say with a picture attached. I wonder where I could do that...
Sunday 2 January 2011
New Year's Resolutions 2011
It's now 2011. This seems somehow both wrong and tremendously novel. I should get used to this happening annually but I can't. DOES THAT MAKE ME AN ANIMAL?!
Oh. On typing that I turned into a zebra. Luckily my keyboard has been similarly transformed into a hoof-friendly giant size so I shall continue in my usual manner. By which I mean sporadically and with weird tangents, similes and references by the kilopound. It's a cool thing I do. It's not cool to say I do cool things is it? Fine, I'll get on with it.
Last year I posted (on this very blog) my resolutions for the year 2010. I passed all five of them. Therefore, I'm seeing if lightning can strike not only twice, but continually over a period of two years. I have always longed to be a lightning rod.
These are my New Year's Resolutions with my reasoning and other commentary. [/barely necessary description]
---------------------------------
1: Go swimming at least 50 times
As a man with a body, I have on occasion considered that said body could look better. In particular, I'm often given far too much credit for looking good from people who have just seen me at favourable angles. Unlike me-in-photos-taken-by-a-internet-friend's-DSLR, I photograph pretty well but I sometimes am put in a position where I move a lot and I feel my lack of physical tonality all too well. To this end I knew I had to make an exercise-based resolution. I enjoy swimming and it's much cheaper and well rounded an exercise than I'd expect to enjoy at a gym so I've decided I should go regularly. I like to quantify my goals so I've set once-a-week with 2 weeks off. I like to reduce the possibility of unbeatable failure so I've flexitized the goal to 50 times.
---------------------------------
2: Make at least 12 videos for my YouTube channel
I made and completed this resolution last year and I was looking for a resolution to do with making videos. I considered some sort of specific goal that would make them easier to produce by upgrading things but in the end, as long as I'm making them, I'll fix things as I go anyway. Hopefully I'll fix my webcam so I can use it's helpful accessibility. Maybe I'll find a reliable tripod-esque option for my phone. Maybe (hopefully/probably), I'll get a new computer with a capacity to handle editing better files from start to finish. All of these things could (and hopefully shall) come from me just getting down to it and making videos.
---------------------------------
3: Save money each month
I said I like to quantify my resolutions. You may have noticed that this is fairly unquantified. I figured that quantifying stuff to do with my finances online reveals more than I'd like to about the cashflow in my life. I have set a minimum amount per month and an overall amount I'd like to see in my savings account by the end of the year but I'm going to keep that in my mind and in a file on my computer. I will be sure to inform people if I have failed though.
---------------------------------
4: See people outside of London/gatherings
Last year, one of my completed resolutions was to go to a gathering. I managed this within the first two weeks of 2010. Over the past 12 months I've been to many gatherings and made lots of friends, even more acquaintances, a couple of people with whom I have a mutual recognition of but mutually little to say and (AFAIK) zero enemies. In making friendships with southern peoples, I have developed a habit of popping to London on a semi-regular basis. In fact I have visited London eight times since August's Summer in the City gathering. This isn't a bad thing at all but I feel like I should spend some time seeing the other people I converse with that aren't the type to spend their spare time in London or at (what are primarily considered to be) YouTube gatherings. Therefore, I'm hoping to entice some folks to my neck of the woods, and to travel north, east and west to the peeps who I see less frequently but are no less loved. Again, this resolution seems a little unquantifiable. Again, there is a number of times I have fixed in my head and on my computer.
---------------------------------
5: Get/keep up-to-date with Super Sentai
I love and have always loved Power Rangers. The idea of transforming into a superhero though motions, words and button-presses is a fundamentally joyous and exciting fantasy in my psyche. I stopped watching the show when I became a teenager because I stopped getting up on mornings that I didn't have school and I didn't enjoy Power Rangers Turbo conceptually. Then a few years ago, I was faffing around with Sky and discovered that Jetix showed continual repeats of current and older series and I got back into watching them again. Yes, some of them were bad (Wild Force), but some of them were brilliant (Time Force, Mystic Force). Then after some time, I found out about the original series that spawned the Power Rangers franchise was called Super Sentai and was still produced and broadcast weekly on Japanese television. Then they did a massive crossover episode for their 30th anniversary and I found a site that subtitled the episodes and made them available to download: TV Nihon. After just one (relatively out-of-context) show, I was tremendously excited all over again, and started to watch the franchise from Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger onwards.
However, as with much of the programmes I plan to watch, I fell behind. I've recently been spurred on to watch more by a wish to finish Engine Sentai Go-Onger before watching the US adaptation Power Rangers RPM. A similar wish (plus a gigantic passionate love of the theme, team and their powers) has made me watch Samurai Sentai Shinkenger at a rate previously unheard of. They've announced that the series starting in February will be pirate-themed and that the team will travel through all of the previous Sentai universes meeting and making use of the powers of previous teams. This makes my brain go wibbly and my awesometer break. Therefore I want to get up to speed so I can watch things as they happen. I had previously considered missing out the year-long series of Tensou Sentai Goseiger as it hadn't gripped me conceptually but the dimension hopping Goukaiger's likely visit of them and some of the pictures I've seen of Gosei Knight and beyond have made me reconsider. So this puts me in the position of having approximately 80 episodes of Super Sentai to catch up with, while a new episode is aired in Japan almost every week. Sounds like a challenge I'd love to accept.
---------------------------------
And there you have it. I may use this blog for more things in the coming year but it will certainly be the place I put the most writing and the detailed list for New Year's Resolutions 2012.
Oh. On typing that I turned into a zebra. Luckily my keyboard has been similarly transformed into a hoof-friendly giant size so I shall continue in my usual manner. By which I mean sporadically and with weird tangents, similes and references by the kilopound. It's a cool thing I do. It's not cool to say I do cool things is it? Fine, I'll get on with it.
Last year I posted (on this very blog) my resolutions for the year 2010. I passed all five of them. Therefore, I'm seeing if lightning can strike not only twice, but continually over a period of two years. I have always longed to be a lightning rod.
These are my New Year's Resolutions with my reasoning and other commentary. [/barely necessary description]
---------------------------------
1: Go swimming at least 50 times
As a man with a body, I have on occasion considered that said body could look better. In particular, I'm often given far too much credit for looking good from people who have just seen me at favourable angles. Unlike me-in-photos-taken-by-a-internet-friend's-DSLR, I photograph pretty well but I sometimes am put in a position where I move a lot and I feel my lack of physical tonality all too well. To this end I knew I had to make an exercise-based resolution. I enjoy swimming and it's much cheaper and well rounded an exercise than I'd expect to enjoy at a gym so I've decided I should go regularly. I like to quantify my goals so I've set once-a-week with 2 weeks off. I like to reduce the possibility of unbeatable failure so I've flexitized the goal to 50 times.
---------------------------------
2: Make at least 12 videos for my YouTube channel
I made and completed this resolution last year and I was looking for a resolution to do with making videos. I considered some sort of specific goal that would make them easier to produce by upgrading things but in the end, as long as I'm making them, I'll fix things as I go anyway. Hopefully I'll fix my webcam so I can use it's helpful accessibility. Maybe I'll find a reliable tripod-esque option for my phone. Maybe (hopefully/probably), I'll get a new computer with a capacity to handle editing better files from start to finish. All of these things could (and hopefully shall) come from me just getting down to it and making videos.
---------------------------------
3: Save money each month
I said I like to quantify my resolutions. You may have noticed that this is fairly unquantified. I figured that quantifying stuff to do with my finances online reveals more than I'd like to about the cashflow in my life. I have set a minimum amount per month and an overall amount I'd like to see in my savings account by the end of the year but I'm going to keep that in my mind and in a file on my computer. I will be sure to inform people if I have failed though.
---------------------------------
4: See people outside of London/gatherings
Last year, one of my completed resolutions was to go to a gathering. I managed this within the first two weeks of 2010. Over the past 12 months I've been to many gatherings and made lots of friends, even more acquaintances, a couple of people with whom I have a mutual recognition of but mutually little to say and (AFAIK) zero enemies. In making friendships with southern peoples, I have developed a habit of popping to London on a semi-regular basis. In fact I have visited London eight times since August's Summer in the City gathering. This isn't a bad thing at all but I feel like I should spend some time seeing the other people I converse with that aren't the type to spend their spare time in London or at (what are primarily considered to be) YouTube gatherings. Therefore, I'm hoping to entice some folks to my neck of the woods, and to travel north, east and west to the peeps who I see less frequently but are no less loved. Again, this resolution seems a little unquantifiable. Again, there is a number of times I have fixed in my head and on my computer.
---------------------------------
5: Get/keep up-to-date with Super Sentai
I love and have always loved Power Rangers. The idea of transforming into a superhero though motions, words and button-presses is a fundamentally joyous and exciting fantasy in my psyche. I stopped watching the show when I became a teenager because I stopped getting up on mornings that I didn't have school and I didn't enjoy Power Rangers Turbo conceptually. Then a few years ago, I was faffing around with Sky and discovered that Jetix showed continual repeats of current and older series and I got back into watching them again. Yes, some of them were bad (Wild Force), but some of them were brilliant (Time Force, Mystic Force). Then after some time, I found out about the original series that spawned the Power Rangers franchise was called Super Sentai and was still produced and broadcast weekly on Japanese television. Then they did a massive crossover episode for their 30th anniversary and I found a site that subtitled the episodes and made them available to download: TV Nihon. After just one (relatively out-of-context) show, I was tremendously excited all over again, and started to watch the franchise from Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger onwards.
However, as with much of the programmes I plan to watch, I fell behind. I've recently been spurred on to watch more by a wish to finish Engine Sentai Go-Onger before watching the US adaptation Power Rangers RPM. A similar wish (plus a gigantic passionate love of the theme, team and their powers) has made me watch Samurai Sentai Shinkenger at a rate previously unheard of. They've announced that the series starting in February will be pirate-themed and that the team will travel through all of the previous Sentai universes meeting and making use of the powers of previous teams. This makes my brain go wibbly and my awesometer break. Therefore I want to get up to speed so I can watch things as they happen. I had previously considered missing out the year-long series of Tensou Sentai Goseiger as it hadn't gripped me conceptually but the dimension hopping Goukaiger's likely visit of them and some of the pictures I've seen of Gosei Knight and beyond have made me reconsider. So this puts me in the position of having approximately 80 episodes of Super Sentai to catch up with, while a new episode is aired in Japan almost every week. Sounds like a challenge I'd love to accept.
---------------------------------
And there you have it. I may use this blog for more things in the coming year but it will certainly be the place I put the most writing and the detailed list for New Year's Resolutions 2012.
Sunday 31 October 2010
"Expand on your Saturday," said my brain...
This is me dressed as the White Rabbit. Your argument is invalid.
At the time of taking this picture, I had been in costume for twenty hours. Even now, [at time of writing] seven hours later, I can feel the ears as if they were still there and it feels weird to not be wearing a hood.
Typically (or ironically, if you prefer), due to a late night beforehand and an assortment of tube closures I spent most of the early afternoon being late. I got a lot of good reactions before I'd met with a single one of the people I was planning to see in the day and a fair few photos of me with people I don't know are now stored in the cameras, phones and Facebooks of total strangers.
In my last booth, you saw gathering no.1. In the middle of people doing their Apple Store booths from that, I had to run off to the London Bridge Experience where I met up with gathering no.2 from YouTube.
The LBE was fun and somewhat scary and i would advise going but make sure you book ahead as a group cause I wouldn't say it's worth the full standard price.
After we'd eaten, we went to Bermonsey(sp?) Square for an outdoor showing of The Nightmare Before Christmas. The atmosphere was very much the kind of thing I love about these Autumn/Winter months; people wrapped up warm with bobble hats and scarves and blankets, huddling together with hot pork sandwiches and witnessing pretty glowing things. The round of applause Jack and Sally's kiss got was lovely too.
We got the indoors drinking started in a local 'Spoons and as there were many mini-groups of us not going to the same place we all said our goodbyes to various people. Only to then encounter all said people again at the tube station as there was only one open anywhere near us. Another couple rounds of goodbyes later and we headed off to After Skool Klub.
I love this club and I've been there a fair few times but the length of the queue was unprecedented. After waiting for the whole length of it for 45 minutes, Alex decided to go home instead. Tom Webster managed to get in with the ropeiest ID I've ever seen work (though he is old enough) and Jade must have spent more money putting her hat and bag and coat and etcetera in the cloakroom than she did on entry.
The whole night long there were people handing out free sweets and lollipops which helped keep me dancing and the music is always awesome so you're never more than a bar visit away from something worth a dancefloor inning.
It transpired that there was a competition for best costume. I'll admit, I thought I had a shot of winning something even though I'd left the jacket and gloves in the cloakroom. But as the smaller prizes were announced (with Teoh's well composited Edward Scissorhands winning VIP Soulwax tickets) I figured maybe it wasn't to happen. They announced the first and second places and it turned out that the second place person had left the club so they took a couple of songs to reconsider before announcing that I was the new second place winner. Not gonna lie, that was pretty awesome. I am now awaiting an email to see how I get my iPod touch OR £200.
The journey home was less long than Friday but still long. Maz very helpfully assisted in the recovery of my ears after a drunk grabbed them off my head, and my incredibly long day resulted in napping on the bus which became missing my stop by about 15 minutes and waiting to get the returning bus for around another half hour.
Hence the boothed picture. I had to have my own record of this night just in case the rest of the photos taken in the day were to somehow never make their way to me.
At the time of taking this picture, I had been in costume for twenty hours. Even now, [at time of writing] seven hours later, I can feel the ears as if they were still there and it feels weird to not be wearing a hood.
Typically (or ironically, if you prefer), due to a late night beforehand and an assortment of tube closures I spent most of the early afternoon being late. I got a lot of good reactions before I'd met with a single one of the people I was planning to see in the day and a fair few photos of me with people I don't know are now stored in the cameras, phones and Facebooks of total strangers.
In my last booth, you saw gathering no.1. In the middle of people doing their Apple Store booths from that, I had to run off to the London Bridge Experience where I met up with gathering no.2 from YouTube.
The LBE was fun and somewhat scary and i would advise going but make sure you book ahead as a group cause I wouldn't say it's worth the full standard price.
After we'd eaten, we went to Bermonsey(sp?) Square for an outdoor showing of The Nightmare Before Christmas. The atmosphere was very much the kind of thing I love about these Autumn/Winter months; people wrapped up warm with bobble hats and scarves and blankets, huddling together with hot pork sandwiches and witnessing pretty glowing things. The round of applause Jack and Sally's kiss got was lovely too.
We got the indoors drinking started in a local 'Spoons and as there were many mini-groups of us not going to the same place we all said our goodbyes to various people. Only to then encounter all said people again at the tube station as there was only one open anywhere near us. Another couple rounds of goodbyes later and we headed off to After Skool Klub.
I love this club and I've been there a fair few times but the length of the queue was unprecedented. After waiting for the whole length of it for 45 minutes, Alex decided to go home instead. Tom Webster managed to get in with the ropeiest ID I've ever seen work (though he is old enough) and Jade must have spent more money putting her hat and bag and coat and etcetera in the cloakroom than she did on entry.
The whole night long there were people handing out free sweets and lollipops which helped keep me dancing and the music is always awesome so you're never more than a bar visit away from something worth a dancefloor inning.
It transpired that there was a competition for best costume. I'll admit, I thought I had a shot of winning something even though I'd left the jacket and gloves in the cloakroom. But as the smaller prizes were announced (with Teoh's well composited Edward Scissorhands winning VIP Soulwax tickets) I figured maybe it wasn't to happen. They announced the first and second places and it turned out that the second place person had left the club so they took a couple of songs to reconsider before announcing that I was the new second place winner. Not gonna lie, that was pretty awesome. I am now awaiting an email to see how I get my iPod touch OR £200.
The journey home was less long than Friday but still long. Maz very helpfully assisted in the recovery of my ears after a drunk grabbed them off my head, and my incredibly long day resulted in napping on the bus which became missing my stop by about 15 minutes and waiting to get the returning bus for around another half hour.
Hence the boothed picture. I had to have my own record of this night just in case the rest of the photos taken in the day were to somehow never make their way to me.
Saturday 3 July 2010
24 Hours Without Twitter?
Smarting from a lack of money and general interaction with real people, and feeling dismayed at the utter impossibility of popping to London for the CPK gathering and Pride today, I thought I should leave Twitter alone for the day.
Five and a half hours sleep and four hours of work later and I'm seriously considering how long it would take to do a marathon watching session of 90s sitcom The Upper Hand. I consider my options going forward.
- I can give up on the Twit-avoidance and become informed & involved while experiencing marginal despair re: my location and lack of actual nearby people.
- I can document the things that crop up in a blog to get them out of my head while simultaneously keeping said head firmly in the ground.
If you're reading this, I chose the latter. Apparently.
I wonder if I could solve either of the potential despair issues above. In all honesty, my location isn't bad, it's just far away from a lot of people I'd like to spend the day with. Which basically means that I only have one real problem. Hooray for conglomerate problems.
How do I gather with people in my area? The pub works usualment but money may be an issue, given that it's the reason for me not being with other non-West Midlands peeps right now. Also, the bonus money I was hoping to get from Brazil doing well in the World Cup has been stymied to a paltry £5 due to something football related. Silly football.
Perhaps I should outreach to the local people via facebook and resolve to outstretch my thinning money pockets for the greater good. Well, maybe just the personal good actually, I'm not buying everyone drinks.
But how best to express this to those few I know who actually check their facebook? And how to further that into an actual plan?
It's all starting to sound a bit too much like hard work. Which, incidentally, is kind of what I'm supposed to be doing right now but -whatever-.
What I'd like is to have a simple evening in, playing something or watching something. I would also like this to be an activity involving other people. I know not who or what or how to get this concept out into a space where other people that are local (or at least not distant) would be able to build and shape and participate in it.
This is becoming a self-indulgant drivel-y blog. Now I see why I use Twitter. At least then the multiple "I"s and never ending sentences are curtailed.
Exile over. C'mere Twitter.
Thursday 24 June 2010
Waste Of Time That Is Free
In a moment of utter folly, I shall now ramble at length until I feel less scatterbrained. I'm sorry if you're forced to read this against you will. If you are the forcer, might I suggest a more determined effort to enforce more punishing torture upon those you dislike.
I sit on the brink of a longish weekend which will involve awesome Doctor Who and (at present) little else. I feel like I should be putting together a to do list and planning the accomplishment of goals but above all else I can't be bothered.
I have three days of no work in which I could finish watching HIMYM season four, actually see a film (perhaps, *gasp*, at the cinema), go to the pub with some people or maybe even make some kind of video perhaps via some kind of outdoors endeavour.
Irritatingly, I'm pretty sure that my free time of this weekend will be spent playing on my DS while simultaneously absorbing background Big Brother. Neither thing I dislike but neither thing worth shouting or enthusing about.
It's partially a money issue. I love my jaunts to visit the internet people, but they do have the side effect of reducing my spare funds to a trickle at best and a fully tapped out drought at worst. It's a self perpetuating monster. I work almost all extra shifts suggested to me for extra funds. This leads to staying up late each night catching up with people and the internet in general. This leads to me getting up late for work which in turn leads to having to spend money on the train for the minor added speed burst that gets me through work's doors just in time to not be chastised. All of the above is why I am often rushing and poor.
It's partially a motivation issue. I've had a few ideas recently of videos I could make or booths I could do and then not following through with actually making either. The utterly marginal dedication to anything solid has always been lacking in me and it shows no sign of being cultivated long term. This leads to me being annoyed at myself for not getting anything done but feeling powerless to break the cycle. Getting out of the rut would require a plan that I feel I'm unable to make. I should try and figure out the root cause but again, planning.
It's partially a people availability/willingness/location issue. My local friends are, for the most part, in a job with typical weekday hours and/or in a relationship and/or as broke as I am. This means they have work in the morning and/or prior commitments and/or no funds. This means I have the opportunity to do diddly and/or jack and/or squat. It's not their fault by any means. They have lives and their own concerns and I have a tendency to not plan ahead when it comes to them while also moaning when a plan of their's is short notice and -I'm- working. I also feel like I'm an imposition almost anytime I suggest anything due to the half-bakedness of my plans and the kinds of things I want to do being lame/dull/questionable in their merit.
Put simply, I lack confidence in my ability to suggest enjoyable things and therefore put it off or suggest it very mildly leading to nothing happening at all. This is why I'll probably end up sat in my room for the weekend doing very little.
Help or activities welcome.
I sit on the brink of a longish weekend which will involve awesome Doctor Who and (at present) little else. I feel like I should be putting together a to do list and planning the accomplishment of goals but above all else I can't be bothered.
I have three days of no work in which I could finish watching HIMYM season four, actually see a film (perhaps, *gasp*, at the cinema), go to the pub with some people or maybe even make some kind of video perhaps via some kind of outdoors endeavour.
Irritatingly, I'm pretty sure that my free time of this weekend will be spent playing on my DS while simultaneously absorbing background Big Brother. Neither thing I dislike but neither thing worth shouting or enthusing about.
It's partially a money issue. I love my jaunts to visit the internet people, but they do have the side effect of reducing my spare funds to a trickle at best and a fully tapped out drought at worst. It's a self perpetuating monster. I work almost all extra shifts suggested to me for extra funds. This leads to staying up late each night catching up with people and the internet in general. This leads to me getting up late for work which in turn leads to having to spend money on the train for the minor added speed burst that gets me through work's doors just in time to not be chastised. All of the above is why I am often rushing and poor.
It's partially a motivation issue. I've had a few ideas recently of videos I could make or booths I could do and then not following through with actually making either. The utterly marginal dedication to anything solid has always been lacking in me and it shows no sign of being cultivated long term. This leads to me being annoyed at myself for not getting anything done but feeling powerless to break the cycle. Getting out of the rut would require a plan that I feel I'm unable to make. I should try and figure out the root cause but again, planning.
It's partially a people availability/willingness/location issue. My local friends are, for the most part, in a job with typical weekday hours and/or in a relationship and/or as broke as I am. This means they have work in the morning and/or prior commitments and/or no funds. This means I have the opportunity to do diddly and/or jack and/or squat. It's not their fault by any means. They have lives and their own concerns and I have a tendency to not plan ahead when it comes to them while also moaning when a plan of their's is short notice and -I'm- working. I also feel like I'm an imposition almost anytime I suggest anything due to the half-bakedness of my plans and the kinds of things I want to do being lame/dull/questionable in their merit.
Put simply, I lack confidence in my ability to suggest enjoyable things and therefore put it off or suggest it very mildly leading to nothing happening at all. This is why I'll probably end up sat in my room for the weekend doing very little.
Help or activities welcome.
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