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.
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.
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-
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.
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.
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.
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]
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.
---
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, 31 December 2009
New Years Resolutions 2010
#1 - Stay Single
Of all my resolutions, this one comes with the most caveats. This past year saw the end of the longest relationship I've ever had. I think I need to give myself plenty of time to settle in to being me for me's sake. If I meet someone with whom I share many common interests, of course I'm gonna spend time getting to know them. I may even go on a date or two. But I'm not letting myself get deep in emotionally unless we get on well just as "guys hanging out". Besides, I think this way I'm likely to generate more genuine friendships with people regardless of the boyfriend angle. This is definitely a good thing.
#2 - Do at least 12 videos on YouTube
I really want to get to a point where I feel capable of talking randomly and still being understood. Unhelpfully, I tend to mumble to fill holes in my logic and grammar. When I do videos, I realise this and try to do something about it. My last video is a clear case of me failing. Towards the end even I can't figure out what it is I'm trying to say. I even reduced the background music in the edit but to no avail. This annoys me and practice make better so I'll do twelve videos this year. Important to point out that I'm not necessarily doing them monthly. That's a very failable goal.
#3 - Go to a Gathering
In the past four months I've seen at least 6 gatherings appear on my radar and pass by like an annoyingly high plane that I have no hope of communicating with. For the first couple I'd considered I wasn't even working, just too broke to travel to them. This year, I'm going to at least one. Hell, according to facebook, I'm "Attending" Summer in the City 2010 but I think I need to break into this whole "meeting-people-that-so-far-only-exist-on-my-computer" thing sooner. Hopefully before Easter.
#4 - Catch 'Em All
Over the past two years I've spent at least 500 hours playing the current generation of Pokémon games. My current Pokédex collected count is 448/493. The majority of the ones left are simple jobs but there are some awkward ones left, and #493 hasn't been officially released yet. By this time next year, without cheating, I will have a full Pokédex. Or I will cry.
#5 - Never Spend Everything
The majority of my working life has been defined my utter lack of saving. I tend to always be at the end of my funds and never have a backup. From now on, I'm keeping some money in the bank at all times. And that amount will only get bigger as time goes on. Until I move back out of my parents house at least. It's about time I had my own failsafe.
Of all my resolutions, this one comes with the most caveats. This past year saw the end of the longest relationship I've ever had. I think I need to give myself plenty of time to settle in to being me for me's sake. If I meet someone with whom I share many common interests, of course I'm gonna spend time getting to know them. I may even go on a date or two. But I'm not letting myself get deep in emotionally unless we get on well just as "guys hanging out". Besides, I think this way I'm likely to generate more genuine friendships with people regardless of the boyfriend angle. This is definitely a good thing.
#2 - Do at least 12 videos on YouTube
I really want to get to a point where I feel capable of talking randomly and still being understood. Unhelpfully, I tend to mumble to fill holes in my logic and grammar. When I do videos, I realise this and try to do something about it. My last video is a clear case of me failing. Towards the end even I can't figure out what it is I'm trying to say. I even reduced the background music in the edit but to no avail. This annoys me and practice make better so I'll do twelve videos this year. Important to point out that I'm not necessarily doing them monthly. That's a very failable goal.
#3 - Go to a Gathering
In the past four months I've seen at least 6 gatherings appear on my radar and pass by like an annoyingly high plane that I have no hope of communicating with. For the first couple I'd considered I wasn't even working, just too broke to travel to them. This year, I'm going to at least one. Hell, according to facebook, I'm "Attending" Summer in the City 2010 but I think I need to break into this whole "meeting-people-that-so-far-only-exist-on-my-computer" thing sooner. Hopefully before Easter.
#4 - Catch 'Em All
Over the past two years I've spent at least 500 hours playing the current generation of Pokémon games. My current Pokédex collected count is 448/493. The majority of the ones left are simple jobs but there are some awkward ones left, and #493 hasn't been officially released yet. By this time next year, without cheating, I will have a full Pokédex. Or I will cry.
#5 - Never Spend Everything
The majority of my working life has been defined my utter lack of saving. I tend to always be at the end of my funds and never have a backup. From now on, I'm keeping some money in the bank at all times. And that amount will only get bigger as time goes on. Until I move back out of my parents house at least. It's about time I had my own failsafe.
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
Made of Tired
It's official. Coming off a week's holiday to a Late-Early is knackering.
I'm not saying that this is insurmountable. I could go to bed right now. But MSN is calling. DailyBooth is staring. The pile of clean laundry is casting a shadow of scorn at me. I wonder which of those will be resolved before sleep.
A week ago I'd all but finalised my New Year's Resolutions. Right now I've little to no idea. Tomorrow I'll cast them in internetty stone and I'll be stuck with them. I think I'll try not to set myself anything that can be failed easily. At the very least I'll try to keep it to things which are actually positive if kept or lost. Though this does mean I'll have to sort them before I leave for work tomorrow. So another reason for bedtime.
New travel pass card thing has arrived today. I wish they'd have mentioned they were stretching the photo and not cropping it like the web gadget suggested. The picture looks very odd. I'll have to take a funhouse mirror every time I want to catch the bus. The card starts 5 days from now so I can't really get an interim week pass like I'd originally planned. Only way to make the whole travel thing remotely cost effective now though is to gage the traffic and my timing each day and pick the best of the three options. Yet another reason to sleep and get up early.
So what am I gonna do, brother?
Talk to people on the internet of course.
I'm not saying that this is insurmountable. I could go to bed right now. But MSN is calling. DailyBooth is staring. The pile of clean laundry is casting a shadow of scorn at me. I wonder which of those will be resolved before sleep.
A week ago I'd all but finalised my New Year's Resolutions. Right now I've little to no idea. Tomorrow I'll cast them in internetty stone and I'll be stuck with them. I think I'll try not to set myself anything that can be failed easily. At the very least I'll try to keep it to things which are actually positive if kept or lost. Though this does mean I'll have to sort them before I leave for work tomorrow. So another reason for bedtime.
New travel pass card thing has arrived today. I wish they'd have mentioned they were stretching the photo and not cropping it like the web gadget suggested. The picture looks very odd. I'll have to take a funhouse mirror every time I want to catch the bus. The card starts 5 days from now so I can't really get an interim week pass like I'd originally planned. Only way to make the whole travel thing remotely cost effective now though is to gage the traffic and my timing each day and pick the best of the three options. Yet another reason to sleep and get up early.
So what am I gonna do, brother?
Talk to people on the internet of course.
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