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.

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

Saturday 12 June 2010

Things That Occured To Me Today

I like this blog.

I like writing lots of stuff with a modicum of purpose and I'm a huge fan of re-reading something I wrote in the past. So I figured that I should get to writing more stuff.

I like people.

I like talking to people online and I like seeing people in person. It's dismaying to realise that I'm not likely to see any internet people in real space until the beginning of August due to lack of money. It does, however make me want to visit my generous grandparents, so that's a good thing.

I like not-people.

As mush as I enjoy seeing people, I don't like it when people feel like I am in anyway their concern or responsibility. I realised that after the escapades of last Saturday (http://dailybooth.com/u/37k0h), Tino was put in a position where he was made to feel guilty for putting himself in (relatively marginal) danger and therefore not looking after others. I don't think I could have took that criticism as graciously as he did. I would have told everyone to leave me to my own devices and trust that I can look after myself and said that others should be capable of doing the same. Though admittedly I'd have probably phrased it into the far more succinct: "Fuck off". I kind of expect people to trust that I'm able to look after myself and not hold themselves in a worry state over whether I'll make it from one day to the next. Simultaneously...

I would like to have a someone.

As much as the "Stay Single" resolution has resulted in mucho friend making and easy outs at times; I feel like I might make the complete opposite resolution next year. I don't think it'll be easy to find someone with the right temperament to match my own contradictory mental barometer but I'm certain I'd feel better having someone to talk to and cuddle and... other things. Though, if I'm honest, the "other things" are actually the least pressing part of the hope. I really feel that I'm getting too boxed in here, in spite of my many jaunts elsewhere. The somewhat inevitable move out of this house in January will hopefully help, as will the full realisation that...

I should be looking for a different job.

I need more stable hours and/or more money and neither will happen at my current place of work, ever. Plus, in September I'll have been in my job for five years. Time to go, Little Miss Muffett counting down from 7-3-0.

I think that helped. I like to talk in first person about myself. Someone stab me with a sharp truth before I get an ego.

Sunday 11 April 2010

What should I be doing?

My time on the internet recently has felt a lot like wondering around a bric-a-brac stall, endlessly searching.

I look for the end of the subs box on YouTube, I look for the glint of insight in a tumbl or a shining ray of beautiful inquiry on formspring. I think I'm desperately seeking some kind of thing for me to latch myself onto.

I have started frivolously spending my money as I go out with my friends from the "real world" and I have enjoyed myself. But it has left me sat at home wondering when money will return so I can do it again. It has left me financially moored in dry-dock waiting for a bus that accept seashells as fare.

Any interaction online is free and requires little personal preparation or timekeeping. Yet I long for something more personal and physical to happen in my life and I long to consume media with friends.

I long for house parties and time spent in pretend and displays of false reality that dazzle and confound in equal measure. I long for a day-to-day that can be both intriguing and thoughtful while displaying wit and charm and repartee.

I think I should probably be trying harder to change things in my life to make them better. "But I don't know how".

"Join the queue, Dave! Many people have been waiting in this boat for years and you think you can cut in line with your fancy rhetoric and verbose floundary?"

True, imaginary ship captain, I am by no means the only one in my situation. But I am the only one who is me. I wonder if I can find another.

Until I'm next drawn away from constantly checking for replies to comments I haven't made, I wish you all of the wish that you desire.

If that wish is me shutting up btw, wish gr-

Saturday 3 April 2010

Doctor of Who!!!

New Doctor Who!!!! [He exclaimed, with both necessity and frivolity]

I enjoyed it. Let me list things that I liked about it.

...

Oh yeah this is my blog, I don't need permission! ^_^

First things first; I like the new titles. Something about the font and the images brought to mind the New Adventures books and that is a #VeryGoodThing. Not sure if it was our sound settings but we had a couple of comprehension issues with the sound, therefore I'm not yet certain if the new theme is housed within my memory yet and therefore I'll comment on that later.

I'm not sure if it's wholly to do with the HD-ness but I'd say I certainly felt that the whole thing had a book-like atmosphere to it. Again the New Adventures feel buzzed over me and there was a very completely realised yet very "fantasy" world feel to the whole thing. Equally, there were references to all the social networking sites, internet porn, computer viruses and the completely modern-world-ubiquitous camera-phone.

I feel like Stephen Moffat is making a very beloved series into a very well crafted tale of legend.

As it should be.

Matt Smith -is- The Doctor. Manners and all. He doesn't appear to be acting at all which is wonderful.

Karen Gillan is very confident in her role and I look forward to seeing her tackle the variety of positions that her companionship will throw at her. I think we may well see her shine when Amy is emotionally challenged.

Very right of them to have a new set of directors this year and I definitely felt that the whole of it was shot for shot, visually interesting and well framed. Again, storybook with depth is screaming at me like a harpy ^_^

In short, I loved it and am very pleased that it's here and in it's present form.

Tuesday 30 March 2010

Blurb away from blurb

I woke up today feeling a little bit ill.

Coincidentally, I wasn't feeling great before sleep either.

I'm not sure why I'm doing this typing here as I have nothing of special length to go on about but I kinda feel like mixing it up a bit today.

I Walked with Pokémon during my day of work. This was fairly productive but I can see the value and shine wearing off sooner than I'd like due to the fact that levels gained while walking don't give you new moves or evolutions. That said, I am getting trade fodder and items that I can't buy. I wouldn't say that I walked much more than usual though. #NintendoSurreptitiousKeepFitFail

When I'm visualising things I stare into the middle distance with my eyes held remarkably open. [He remarked.]

I still haven't read any of the books I got boothers to pick for me in January. I stopped about three chapters into Pride & Prejudice & Zombies due me not quite being able to visualise who was who and realising that the bits that I found hilariously juxtaposed to the source material were actually fixed into the rhythm of the book in a semi-predictable manner and had therefore lost their bite. *inhale*

I really need to work on my sentence length. And my drivelling-on length.

If this fairy has offended, think but this and all is mended: I like your face.

Monday 29 March 2010

So this is Easter, and what have you done?

I've spend the past week attempting to be a little detached and aloof from/towards the internet. It has made be feel a bit weird.

I've caught up on tv quite a bit, I've spent time in the company of my parents, I've played a fair bit of Pokémon and I've generally felt a little more laid back. It's kind of like what Peter Serofinowicz said on Twitter earlier about Facebook being a part-time job. I wouldn't say that the people I've come into contact with through the many mediums of the internet are a burden. You are all the exact opposite. You make me feel more connected to the world and you make me feel very lucky to have that connection.

I do feel sometimes though, that the connector to this world of people being such a steadfastly plugged in appliance drags me away from a great deal of other things.

That said, there is little to no chance of me prioritising a laptop purchase over the many other things that are on my calendar because in so many of them I get to meet the very people that make me want to sit in my room, jacked in.

All of these connections are being limited by the funds and the time available to me. The time is something I am privileged to be able to flex around events if need be. The money, not so much.

I've been in the same job now for four and a half years. In that time, I have gone from simple receptionist up to person in charge, only to find that I couldn't take the responsibility and step down. Now I am the most over-qualified receptionist there is. I know everything there is to know about nigh on everything in the building and can fix many problems with a couple of taps, a flick and a flourish. But I still don't feel I have the stability in my confidence to step up to be in charge. My steadfastness is based largely on my mood and what I've consumed during the day and that is far too inconsistent to put myself into difficult situations with customer facing responsibilities.

So I'm feeling kinda stuck. I need to push myself to find something more rewarding in the long term. I'm finding it difficult to push myself to complete important short-term commitments such as filling in the form for my new passport or making my room a place that I can take pride in.

And that's what's been going on with me recently.

Tuesday 19 January 2010

Fell, hell, bells ring-a-ding, birds sing but not for me.

So I was thinking. And then I stopped thinking. I had an amazing day Saturday and the reaction I've had to my pictorial rendition of it on DailyBooth has been really wonderful. Then I come into work for night shifts.

8 hours of sitting doing relatively little and using the internet seems like a laugh, doesn't it?

Except when you've spent a day being hugely social and meeting new people, you want to keep being social with these new people. Instead I'm sat looking at American tweeters whom I don't really know and hearing my thoughts echo round the inside of my head whilst somewhat random European music batters the outside of my head. It's a lonely period.

I don't mind spending time alone. It gives me a great sense of adventure and calm and all manner of freedom. It also can be like a torture when your tied into doing almost nothing through a less than obliging IE6 powered interface.

Every night I arrive and set-up for the night ahead. Once I'm settled, it's guaranteed that the first thing I see on Twitter while getting comfortable is "goodnight" from most of the people I could want to spend time talking to.

I wish there were some sort of neural relay I could use to play computer games out of sight, or one of those feedback loops they attach to CCTV cameras in films so I could sit here reading a book or using my DS. It's an irritation that I have little of consequence to accomplish right now.

And now I've just had a slight distraction via someone actually coming to the desk but it's all over so quickly. I return to a tweet about a great sounding night out with a fit ginger guy involved. It's really lame.

Skimming over my rota, I see little opportunity for a night on the town. But then again, I've got a massive weekend that will be awesome at the end of the month so maybe I should be less down.

I will make this time worthwhile. Somehow. And the future weekend will be made of awesome.

Or I will cry.

[/emo]

Wednesday 13 January 2010

OkGo Gig is Awesome

And the title pretty much sums it up. Thanks for reading. Bye!

---

Oh, you want more? Actually I suppose it's up to me isn't it...

Tonight I made up for missing the last two tours and saw OkGo at the O2Academy in Birmingham. I was very late getting there due to me faffing about trying to get things to work for YouTube and generally being useless at sticking to a schedule. I left the house about an hour and a half late and ran to the train station as quickly as my non-stick shoes would allow. I then waited for 15 minutes for a train.

The train was of course a little late and as I arrived on the least helpful of platforms to my cause, I sprinted along it, leapt up the escalator and travelled swiftly through the concourse. No one checked my ticket.

I dodged taxis outside the station, I dodged traffic on the dual carriageway and I ran alongside some buses as they crossed a major crossroads. Scooted under the blessedly less flooded than normal subway and almost slipped on the heavily used road surface outside the car hire depot but I was finally there.

I got into the stairwell to the venue and was pleasantly serenaded by a band I'd never heard before. I'd made it! One overpriced pint of Strongbow later and they were setting up for the main event.

It took almost a whole other pint for the roadies to finish setting up and sound checks. For some reason I've yet to fathom, their longest job seemed to be fiddling with a laptop and getting a pedal to cue up some Daft Punk. I wouldn't have minded but I didn't hear the Daft Punk stuff at any point in the set so I'm a little confused.

Finally the lights go out and out come the band. First the bass player, Tim Nordwind, comes up and puts on his bass only to start playing a big drum that's been helpfully set-up near his mic stand. Then the front man, Damian Kulash, gets his guitar and starts playing one of the songs from the new album. It's quite tranquil, and the rest of the band; multi-instrument guy Andy Ross and drummer Dan Konopka, get in position and the music starts up louder. Nice gear change.

The majority of their set was new stuff, which I found odd considering the album only came out yesterday. In spite of that hurdle the new songs was very well received by the crowd and it was really nice to hear them in a different format after the single listen I'd given the album before coming out.

Something I found odd when I went to a signing with them in before was that Tim and Andy seemed quite stoic. This continued tonight but in context it made a lot of sense. They are both very talented at their instruments and Damian is very good as a front man so the dynamic works.

I think in Andy I've found a new thing to fancy about a man. Outwardly I don't find him all that attractive; his hair's too long for starters. But watching him playing guitar, keyboards, pipe bells, tambourine and cowbell with proficiency and accuracy made him rather irresistible. The suit trousers helped, obviously.

I also re-realised that I tend not to sing along to the main melody in most songs. I've kinda always known this but when the backing is so integral, as it is in OkGo's songs, it brings it into the light. I really enjoy singing to these songs on the album and joining a crowd sing-along with a backing vocal gives me a fuzzy feeling inside. It just feels so right.

On then to the highlight of the gig. In the middle of the main set, they brought out a table, lay a sheet of foam on it and covered that with a red tablecloth. Then they brought out a lot of handbells. They proceeded to play, on the bells with little amplification, 'What To Do' from the first album. I've always loved this song and tend to sing it most times that I'm at a loss as to what I should be doing, but this version was beyond either of the versions I have on disc and any version I'd imagined. Please click here and enjoy. (Not the same gig as mine)

Overall, they very much earned the £12 I spent on the ticket as well as the further £12 I spent on a copy of the new album after the show. I will never miss their gig again.

Thursday 7 January 2010

Enjoying the day. (Minimal Snow mention, I promise)

Today was full of much. I will commence writing about said day, now.

I got a call this morning at 7am from work. At that point I'd been asleep for less than 4 hours. Needless to say (but I will anyway) their interruption was not pleasing in spite of the fact they called with the intent of giving me an extra day off. I told them I'd call them back after think about it when I was more un-asleep, but almost as soon as I was asked I knew I didn't want to do it. I'd much rather be in work bored than at home doing stuff. At least bored at work I get money that makes stuff possible. And I have the internet there.

So my minds pretty made up when I get another call from the office at noon. I chose not to answer cause it's about time they realised that it's my day off. From the message left it seemed that they'd done a total one-eighty and now not only wanted me working but they wanted me to do the 7am start. So I rang them back and everything was back to the original plan of me doing the 3pm shift.

Two phonecalls, two breaks in my sleep, and two paragraphs have happened but nothing has changed. Typical.

So I got up, finally gave final utility meter readings to the providers I've not used for over two weeks and mustered up the willpower and awakeness to go round my Grandparents and take down the Xmas decorations. Except at this point all I actually had to do was take the drawing pins out of the wall and drink tea. It seems my Nan got bored in the week she's been waiting for me to find the time to help out. It was nice anyway to see that both of my Grandparents have recovered a little from the winter injuries and illness that they'd suffered over Xmas.

Anyway, the reason I bring the visit up was that my Nan asked if I'd seen the Doctor Who regeneration. Of course we both knew it was a rhetorical question so she went on to say how she liked it and thought it was funny how he thought he was a woman. It was really cool hearing how my 70+ year old Nan had enjoyed watching the biggest geek event of the last week. I told her of my position on the whole regeneration, and how I was a fan of the show first and foremost and she agreed with me and told me how she'd watched it since William Hartnell. It was a wondrous thing to hear from a woman who I'd say was an average viewer. How she's kept watching it and enjoyed it right though. Now I wouldn't say she's a massive fan in those terms but she's a viewer and she's kept up with it and that to me is marvellous.

Onwards from there with the promise of future sausage rolls and I was on my way to Birmingham to meet Stuart for food, catch-up and Sherlock Holmes. Irritatingly I found as I sat waiting for the train, my DS battery was to the point of Red Light. So I switched to my phone to occupy myself on Twitter and the battery on that was pronounced "low". I sat with at least an hour of travel time there and back lying ahead and I was sans applications. Not only that, but my attempt to coral snow into a ball was a complete fail due to the whole lot being more powdery than a dressing room of paranoid actresses who heard that heavily Talc'd faces were all the rage.

So I spent the first and shortest journey sitting on my hands and go to meet Stu at the cinema. We get tickets and go to the traditional catch up and eat place, The Pub. We had a fun chat and remarked on what we were planning for the future and how things are in our new homes and all was fun and then we went to see Sherlock Holmes.

We went to the Odeon, where all food and drink costs more than anything I could've bought in the pub. We were shown to our screen only to find that in spite of there being a Premier Seat Option the room itself was quite small. Seems that the Premier Seats were just slightly larger with more leg room and a head rest. Not worth paying extra really. Thankfully, I didn't.

During the stunning trailers (Clash of the Titans looks Awesome), I realised why me and Stu had stayed friends. We still have the same in-jokes, we still find joy in silly little inflections and we can still really enjoy spending time together. For this reason I am glad that we're keeping in touch.

Sherlock Holmes was a brilliant film that I felt filled the percentage bar of complete triumph pretty completely. Suffice to say that if you haven't seen it yet, you should. We left the cinema and made a short stop in Tesco. Stu bought two magazines based purely on the attractive men promised inside and we both learnt that Hall's Soothers have literally no medicinal value whatsoever (seriously read the packet) before we left there and went our separate ways.

A short wait in the cold and I'm on a 40 minute bus ride back to Dudley. I try my DS and get one puzzle done on Rittai Picross before it dies and I sit somewhat contentedly on my hands in the warm seats next to the engine.

Arriving in Dudley, I'm reminded of how the chip shops of the Black Country are characterised not only by greatness but also by early closing times and I text my mate Tom to see if they're still drinking in town. Thankfully just before my bus rounded the corner I was told that there was actually drinking happening across town and made it there just in time for last orders.

It's nice knowing that drinking with my old friends is so accessible now. I used to go a whole year without seeing them. In the case of James I could happily never see him again but on the whole it is win-worthy that we get this chance so frequently now. The conversation is a little loud due to (I assume) their drinking and attempts made to speak over each other. It doesn't matter. The conversation goes a little beyond my musical experience but thankfully not too far past my knowledge so fun is had. And I got complimented on my video and my ability to look good in a photo which I didn't know I had.

The taxi home cost me £10 due to change-fail but I am now promised a drink in future, and on the whole I had a great day.

My night since returning has been crisps and typing this. It's all good to me though. Recounting fun times is fun. And if you're still reading this, thanks. It's nice that you care so much about my massive blog post. I will also accept it being nice that you are this bored and have chosen to spend the time reading the above. I would suggest to either group that you actually stalk me. It'd be cool for you to get out of the house at least.

Monday 4 January 2010

My Journey Home

As I came to the end of my shift today, I felt I had a bit of time to relaxedly tie up remaining loose ends of jobs before I went and got changed to go home. I had a thought that perhaps I should check the bus timetable and find out exactly when I should be at the bus stop for my bus and so I did.

I had 4 minutes before I missed that bus.

Knowing, as I do, my average landspeed with a backpack and the approximate time it takes me to get out of one set of clothes and into another I was quickly aware that I had actually missed that bus.

From a quick check of another timetable I was racing up to the locker room in the hope of catching another semi-regularly used bus option but alas as I turned the corner it passed on by my stop. It was no use. I would have to get an awkward bus and walk back from Dudley.

Determined not to let the cold get me down like it has everyone else in the known universe (read: Twitter), I got onto the bus and sat down to read my book. The heater came on as we pulled away and I dived into the brilliant set-up to the Battle of Hogwarts, occasionally glancing up at the surroundings to see whether I knew where I was yet.

The bus approached Dudley with me as the only remaining passenger. I heard from the drivers cabin; "Where are you going, mate?"

I informed the man that I lived near the depot and he offered to drop me right around the corner from my house. We had a brief chat about jobs and busy-ness of said jobs and I arrived at home barely chilled.

This isn't very interesting but it does lead me to be thankful of all the little blessings. The heater, the book, the driver and the fact that the type of bus he was on placed him on a direct route past my house on the last route of his day. It all added up to me having a nice journey and a relative warmth, both physically and personally.

Simple pleasures.

Saturday 2 January 2010

The Art of Recounting

My parents had people over for dinner today. I was very glad as my dad tends to make excessive amounts of lovely food when this happens. This time it was Chinese.

I go in to refill my inadequate bowl and on the way out overheard my mom tell a story to her guests. A story involving me and my sister. A story I don't recall happening at all.

I wonder whether I forgot this incident. The tale goes that me and my sister got t-shirt paint out that required supervision and proceeded to get it all over the carpet. Being the eighties, the paint was dayglo and so after my parents pulled back their rug (which I don't remember us having), the paint shone brightly in the neon-esque living room lighting (which I also don't recall).

I was three years old when we moved to this house. I have decent memories of the move and many things that happened before and since. I'm starting to doubt the integrity of my mother's dinner party story.

I suppose we all do this to our stories. Embellish them to make them more interesting. It's strange though, hearing a story that you're in but have no memory of occurring. It would be less weird if it were a story of things I did while of drinking age but I must have been theoretically quite young by the sound of the story.

I wish I had felt able to go into the room and inquire further as Dad's sounds of agreement validated Mom's story. Truth be told though, a good story is made great by the telling of it. Whether this story is now true is irrelevant. It came from some real place and has since being finely carved. For me to have gone in with an inquisitive mallet would have spoiled it for everyone.

And besides, I quite like the idea that I once ruined the carpet with Turtles' paint. Perhaps I'll restructure the tale from my perspective for the next time it's brought up.

Friday 1 January 2010

Doctor Who is Dead. Long Live Doctor Who.

We have a new Doctor.

It's sad that David Tennant has gone but to be honest as much as I loved him before and during, I'll be a fan of the show first and foremost. I'm grateful that we were able to have him to make the role so amazing and give us his astonishing talents for 4 years. I'm also so happy that he's extended the appeal of the show by just being an amazing person outside of the show.

In short, David Tennant is amazing. He always will be and I'm proud that he's been The Doctor.

But there's a full new series on in 3 months time!

There are going to be new stories written and masterminded by one of the best showrunners in British TV. There's going to be a new Doctor and a new TARDIS and a new companion and new monsters and River Song in an appearance from earlier in her timeline. There is going to be newness all over the shop.

I think this is a *good thing*.

The past will never be forgotten but the future will never be a repeat. There's always something new to see and in Doctor Who that's ten times truer.

Proud and excited. That's me.