IPOD
RADIO
Hi.
I'm fine, thanks. How've you been? Good, good. Yeah the new icon does rock! Thanks though. Halloween party, you know. I went as Spider. Spider Jerusalem? He's a comic book character - it's called Transmetropolitan. They're awesome, I'll lend you some.
Same old, really. Life, work, sleep, wild socialising. Well, maybe not so much of the last one. But enough to keep me going. Money worries, but what's new? I handed in my notice on my job - yeah, long overdue. You're right. Nah, don't have another lined up yet. Fuck knows what I'm gonna do but I have to get out of there. Something will come up.
Oh, ok! I'll see you around then.
Auf wiedersehen.
I'm fine, thanks. How've you been? Good, good. Yeah the new icon does rock! Thanks though. Halloween party, you know. I went as Spider. Spider Jerusalem? He's a comic book character - it's called Transmetropolitan. They're awesome, I'll lend you some.
Same old, really. Life, work, sleep, wild socialising. Well, maybe not so much of the last one. But enough to keep me going. Money worries, but what's new? I handed in my notice on my job - yeah, long overdue. You're right. Nah, don't have another lined up yet. Fuck knows what I'm gonna do but I have to get out of there. Something will come up.
Oh, ok! I'll see you around then.
Auf wiedersehen.
Well, what is this? Could it be?
Yes. It could. An entry not copied and pasted from my LiveJournal. Brace yourselves.
Although no doubt this will be moderately boring... my bank troubles have resolved themselves, which is possibly the most interesting thing to happen this week. Otherwise I've bought various gig tickets (realising too late that the Alkaline Trio gig coincides with a gig of my own in Coventry, dammit), done a bit of reading, watched Lost and fooled around online.
Oh, and that work stuff. Bleah.
Make me smile in some fashion. Outrageous flattery and lewd images are acceptable.
Now, dammit!
Yes. It could. An entry not copied and pasted from my LiveJournal. Brace yourselves.
Although no doubt this will be moderately boring... my bank troubles have resolved themselves, which is possibly the most interesting thing to happen this week. Otherwise I've bought various gig tickets (realising too late that the Alkaline Trio gig coincides with a gig of my own in Coventry, dammit), done a bit of reading, watched Lost and fooled around online.
Oh, and that work stuff. Bleah.
Make me smile in some fashion. Outrageous flattery and lewd images are acceptable.
Now, dammit!
The last week or so has held the following items of interest:
- Recovery from InFest.
- My bank screwing me around with cards and overdraft facilities, leading me to further depths of poverty. For once I didn't scream at them.
- Strange things happening in tender parts.
Overall, not the best week. But I'm surprisingly chipper.
I'll leave you with the glowy thing I made at InFest.
- Recovery from InFest.
- My bank screwing me around with cards and overdraft facilities, leading me to further depths of poverty. For once I didn't scream at them.
- Strange things happening in tender parts.
Overall, not the best week. But I'm surprisingly chipper.
I'll leave you with the glowy thing I made at InFest.
The time beckons once more for another mammoth entry that most of you will pointedly ignore. First off we'll cover the stuff that may be of interest to people who haven't heard of/don't care about InFest. I had my DJ trial at Fab and it went pretty well - from an empty floor I had people dancing to everything I played after the first track. I meant to write down a setlist so you could see the kind of stuff I'm planning on doing, but then promptly forgot amidst the nerves and adrenaline. But like I say, it went well. A little bird (well, Karen) has informed me that it's basically between me and Alicia, who also trialled that night. In addition, there may be several other spots opening up at Fab so my fingers are still firmly crossed. I really could use this one.
My house is now slightly more entertaining since CJ moved in last week, and well as considerably more full of random bits and pieces from his family's old house in Lytham! Still, it's cool to have him round (and therefore Kim also). We were also joined by our mutual friend Jenny last Wednesday, which was very cool since I haven't seen her in many months. Otherwise it's been work and various small tasks - that is, until the arrival of Mortimer on Thursday. We pointedly did nothing that night, knowing very well the next few days would be hectic. A review of InFest, you say? Very well then...
The Friday dawned pleasantly and we mooched around for a while before heading off to Bradford. We arrived and made our way to Arkwright Hall (where we had a room booked) without any trouble, and then I wrangled quite badly with the receptionist who took umbrage that two people dared share a room. Since last year I shared with 4 people and they didn't bat an eyelid, this came as something of a surprise. I got pissy, she got pissy and eventually I managed to drag the keys out of her with pure bloody-minded indignancy. I did inform her that she was in for a long and stressful day if she insisted on dressing down everyone for this matter, since I was fully confident that probably more than half of the people coming would have booked a room for more than one person. Next door, as it turns out, was taken by four young ladies and so I was proved right. Ha! The room turned out to be a significant improvement on last year, with a shower and toilet of our very own. This is VERY USEFUL at InFest.
We got glammed up and headed out to the first evening of festivities. We found good folk fairly swiftly and chatted some before I raped the Music Non-Stop CD stall. Then we went to catch the first band...
UNIVAQUE - I seem to be in the minority here, but for me they were one of the festival highlights. Extremely cheesy synthpop in an Echo Image style, which I'm kind of a sucker for. Always good to see a keyboardist in a cowboy hat, too.
POW[D]ERPUSSY - These guys were quite fun in a very poundy way. A little more variation would have been welcome, but for a two-men-behind-a-machine act they got me moving and curious to hear the recorded stuff (which I managed later that night after Mortimer bought their album). If nothing else, you should all go download 'Cryogenic Pussy Lover'.
FIXMER/MCCARTHY - I quite liked these fellows, which surprised me since I'm not a huge Nitzer Ebb fan. We were pretty tired already though, so we headed to the back and listened more than watched. The frontman was giving it some welly, which is always nice at these events. It did slightly irritate me that the vocals overpowered everything else, mind. This would in fact be a flaw behind a lot of the band's sound over the weekend.
Sometime during this we managed to link up with Asha and Wolf and catch up, then dance a little bit before we tumbled back down the hill and into bed. Bumped into jruske on the way, which was a cool sidetrack back to last year. We arose thoroughly knackered on Saturday morning and headed into Bradford town for some browsing and a nourishing Burger King. Passed the day in the company of the same people, but different bands. Funny, that.
TIN OMEN - Missed a significant portion of their set, in fact I'd go so far as to say all but about a minute of it. It sounded fair enough, and certainly the most guitar-driven band of the weekend. If I'd have had my wits about me I'd have caught more and thus gotten a brief injection of RAWK but it was not to be.
THE AZOIC - The Azoic are troopers, no doubt about it. A singer performing with a dislocated finger, struggling through sound problems and various tour woes. They sounded good though and made me want to grab an album sometime. It was quite samey stuff, although I get the feeling they may suit me more on record. Had the crowd in the palm of their hand, moreso than perhaps any other band of the weekend except for Saturday's headliners...
H.I.V.+ - Harsh Industrial Virus Positive, if you must know. A crazy man and a crazy woman wearing very little between them (the woman wore but three plasters, I believe), producing some crazy ambient noise and juddering around the stage in bizarre robot dances. Their projections were very cool and they enthralled me somewhat, although Mortimer was entranced. Certainly interesting. I thought the guy must be gay until someone pointed out he was French. That explains it then.
DECODED FEEDBACK - This made me feel like it was InFest 2004 again. Much more the typical sound of last year, throbbing EBM held up by raging vocals and bouncy rhythms. Enjoyed it quite a lot, and danced vigorously.
PUNCH INC. - Noisy, very noisy. Very VERY noisy. Too noisy for me. Walls of feedback and white noise amidst fervent beats that gave me bowel cancer. Cool stuff, but I found it a bit drab and monotonous. If they'd spiced it up a bit I might have been interested, but frankly it just made me want to leave before they transmitted a frequency matching the molecules in my bones and disintegrated me. So I did.
COVENANT - Oooh, yes. Band of the weekend for me, somewhat predictably. The watercooler gossip has it that they were mostly prerecorded, but I found it hard to care up front. The frontman was superb and his compatriot on the left was good also (his vocals coming through a gargled razorblade effect that was amazing, although overused) - the reject from Suede playing keys on the right and serenading the frontman in an off-key warble every chorus was less welcome. Would have liked less new material as well, but it's enough that the bridge to 'Call The Ships To Port' blew the roof off the place and wrapped everyone in a blissful euphoria that was perhaps only slightly related to the drugs in most peoples' systems.
Saturday evening also held brief meetings with folk. Sunday we woke even more tired and blearily stumbled into the town centre again for more browsing and Burger King. More stumbling was done back to the venue and the final bands of the weekend...
DEVIANT UK - Ok, so we missed them completely. Seen them twice before though so not too bothered, and the reports haven't been very complimentary.
FINAL SELECTION - More cheesy synthpop! Only without any charisma, or talent, or hooks, or melody. And the added bonus of a shite singer! Avoid.
IRIS - In two minds about these guys. They certainly had me tapping my toes and they were relatively entertaining to watch. On the other hand, they were very... nice. Now don't get me wrong - I may be a doom and gloom merchant, but I like a happy bouncy tune as much as the next guy. I love Jimmy Eat World, for crying out loud. But Iris are SO chirpy they may appear on the soundtrack to Hollyoaks some time soon. If they'd have sang a song about Jesus I wouldn't have blinked. Maybe one to catch up on in a recorded form.
KIEW - Another band that has divided all who saw them. What some other people saw was a highly influential noise/industrial band playing a storming set in front of their first UK audience. What I saw was some gimps leaping around on stage to no particular rhythm, making squealing noises and poorly synthesised beats creak out of their machines while the frontman occasionally shouted "Ich!" through unprocessed vocals at an incredibly loud volume over the top of the tune. And that's BEFORE the ZZ Top guitar started. If anyone out there loves me, make sure I never see this band again.
BLUTENGEL - Picture the scene if you will. The entirety of 'Ride Of The Valkyries' by Wagner is played. A projection screen starts showing images of flames and vampire girls drenched in blood. These words appear: "Something is coming... Are you ready? Prepare yourself for... BLUTENGEL!" A voice with an extremely heavy accent creaks over the mic with the words "Hello InVest. Ve are Blutengel. Ve are from Germany." Yeah. No shit. This was darkwave to the utmost, complete with writhing naked gothy girlies, men in priest robes, chalices of blood and leather gloves. It was like a Halloween special of Eurotrash. Fantastically amusing for all of about four tracks. Then we retreated to the bar.
As for the rest of Sunday, we had a ripping time. Lots of people to talk to and carouse with, plus I managed to put together an elaborate sculpture out of glowing things that seemed to gather a far large crowd than was strictly called for. Their cheers when I managed to get it to stay up brought a flush to my cheeks, let me tell you. We danced a lot more in the evening than previously, including a stretch where Mortimer, Asha and myself got our groove on rather spectacularly. My glowsticks threatened to self-destruct in an alarming fashion at one point, but despite their tendency to explode like an overloaded Buckaroo I got them back together successfully. I particularly enjoyed throwing shapes to 'Mindphaser' by Front Line Assembly, oh the memories.
And so the festival was over. We retreated a while before it officially wound down, then spent a pleasant time on the grass outside watching a couple of guys playing with fire - eating, poi, breathing, staffs, the lot - Tryste would have been squealing with delight, methinks. After crucifying me for slagging off Kiew, of course.
Then, the next morning, we went home. We had intended to attend the barbeque extravaganza of DJ Cheeky, but were paralysed by exhaustion. A great shame, since I really wanted to go to shoot the shit with all and see off Geth and Manda. To sum up, then. A good weekend, and although the music wasn't in the same league as last year (but then, last year had Assemblage 23 and Suicide Commando) it was great to see so many of my disparate friends in the same spot. Back again next year? Oh yes.
And since then what have I done? Fuck all, apart from seeing Mortimer off on Tuesday morning. And I'm STILL tired.
My house is now slightly more entertaining since CJ moved in last week, and well as considerably more full of random bits and pieces from his family's old house in Lytham! Still, it's cool to have him round (and therefore Kim also). We were also joined by our mutual friend Jenny last Wednesday, which was very cool since I haven't seen her in many months. Otherwise it's been work and various small tasks - that is, until the arrival of Mortimer on Thursday. We pointedly did nothing that night, knowing very well the next few days would be hectic. A review of InFest, you say? Very well then...
The Friday dawned pleasantly and we mooched around for a while before heading off to Bradford. We arrived and made our way to Arkwright Hall (where we had a room booked) without any trouble, and then I wrangled quite badly with the receptionist who took umbrage that two people dared share a room. Since last year I shared with 4 people and they didn't bat an eyelid, this came as something of a surprise. I got pissy, she got pissy and eventually I managed to drag the keys out of her with pure bloody-minded indignancy. I did inform her that she was in for a long and stressful day if she insisted on dressing down everyone for this matter, since I was fully confident that probably more than half of the people coming would have booked a room for more than one person. Next door, as it turns out, was taken by four young ladies and so I was proved right. Ha! The room turned out to be a significant improvement on last year, with a shower and toilet of our very own. This is VERY USEFUL at InFest.
We got glammed up and headed out to the first evening of festivities. We found good folk fairly swiftly and chatted some before I raped the Music Non-Stop CD stall. Then we went to catch the first band...
UNIVAQUE - I seem to be in the minority here, but for me they were one of the festival highlights. Extremely cheesy synthpop in an Echo Image style, which I'm kind of a sucker for. Always good to see a keyboardist in a cowboy hat, too.
POW[D]ERPUSSY - These guys were quite fun in a very poundy way. A little more variation would have been welcome, but for a two-men-behind-a-machine act they got me moving and curious to hear the recorded stuff (which I managed later that night after Mortimer bought their album). If nothing else, you should all go download 'Cryogenic Pussy Lover'.
FIXMER/MCCARTHY - I quite liked these fellows, which surprised me since I'm not a huge Nitzer Ebb fan. We were pretty tired already though, so we headed to the back and listened more than watched. The frontman was giving it some welly, which is always nice at these events. It did slightly irritate me that the vocals overpowered everything else, mind. This would in fact be a flaw behind a lot of the band's sound over the weekend.
Sometime during this we managed to link up with Asha and Wolf and catch up, then dance a little bit before we tumbled back down the hill and into bed. Bumped into jruske on the way, which was a cool sidetrack back to last year. We arose thoroughly knackered on Saturday morning and headed into Bradford town for some browsing and a nourishing Burger King. Passed the day in the company of the same people, but different bands. Funny, that.
TIN OMEN - Missed a significant portion of their set, in fact I'd go so far as to say all but about a minute of it. It sounded fair enough, and certainly the most guitar-driven band of the weekend. If I'd have had my wits about me I'd have caught more and thus gotten a brief injection of RAWK but it was not to be.
THE AZOIC - The Azoic are troopers, no doubt about it. A singer performing with a dislocated finger, struggling through sound problems and various tour woes. They sounded good though and made me want to grab an album sometime. It was quite samey stuff, although I get the feeling they may suit me more on record. Had the crowd in the palm of their hand, moreso than perhaps any other band of the weekend except for Saturday's headliners...
H.I.V.+ - Harsh Industrial Virus Positive, if you must know. A crazy man and a crazy woman wearing very little between them (the woman wore but three plasters, I believe), producing some crazy ambient noise and juddering around the stage in bizarre robot dances. Their projections were very cool and they enthralled me somewhat, although Mortimer was entranced. Certainly interesting. I thought the guy must be gay until someone pointed out he was French. That explains it then.
DECODED FEEDBACK - This made me feel like it was InFest 2004 again. Much more the typical sound of last year, throbbing EBM held up by raging vocals and bouncy rhythms. Enjoyed it quite a lot, and danced vigorously.
PUNCH INC. - Noisy, very noisy. Very VERY noisy. Too noisy for me. Walls of feedback and white noise amidst fervent beats that gave me bowel cancer. Cool stuff, but I found it a bit drab and monotonous. If they'd spiced it up a bit I might have been interested, but frankly it just made me want to leave before they transmitted a frequency matching the molecules in my bones and disintegrated me. So I did.
COVENANT - Oooh, yes. Band of the weekend for me, somewhat predictably. The watercooler gossip has it that they were mostly prerecorded, but I found it hard to care up front. The frontman was superb and his compatriot on the left was good also (his vocals coming through a gargled razorblade effect that was amazing, although overused) - the reject from Suede playing keys on the right and serenading the frontman in an off-key warble every chorus was less welcome. Would have liked less new material as well, but it's enough that the bridge to 'Call The Ships To Port' blew the roof off the place and wrapped everyone in a blissful euphoria that was perhaps only slightly related to the drugs in most peoples' systems.
Saturday evening also held brief meetings with folk. Sunday we woke even more tired and blearily stumbled into the town centre again for more browsing and Burger King. More stumbling was done back to the venue and the final bands of the weekend...
DEVIANT UK - Ok, so we missed them completely. Seen them twice before though so not too bothered, and the reports haven't been very complimentary.
FINAL SELECTION - More cheesy synthpop! Only without any charisma, or talent, or hooks, or melody. And the added bonus of a shite singer! Avoid.
IRIS - In two minds about these guys. They certainly had me tapping my toes and they were relatively entertaining to watch. On the other hand, they were very... nice. Now don't get me wrong - I may be a doom and gloom merchant, but I like a happy bouncy tune as much as the next guy. I love Jimmy Eat World, for crying out loud. But Iris are SO chirpy they may appear on the soundtrack to Hollyoaks some time soon. If they'd have sang a song about Jesus I wouldn't have blinked. Maybe one to catch up on in a recorded form.
KIEW - Another band that has divided all who saw them. What some other people saw was a highly influential noise/industrial band playing a storming set in front of their first UK audience. What I saw was some gimps leaping around on stage to no particular rhythm, making squealing noises and poorly synthesised beats creak out of their machines while the frontman occasionally shouted "Ich!" through unprocessed vocals at an incredibly loud volume over the top of the tune. And that's BEFORE the ZZ Top guitar started. If anyone out there loves me, make sure I never see this band again.
BLUTENGEL - Picture the scene if you will. The entirety of 'Ride Of The Valkyries' by Wagner is played. A projection screen starts showing images of flames and vampire girls drenched in blood. These words appear: "Something is coming... Are you ready? Prepare yourself for... BLUTENGEL!" A voice with an extremely heavy accent creaks over the mic with the words "Hello InVest. Ve are Blutengel. Ve are from Germany." Yeah. No shit. This was darkwave to the utmost, complete with writhing naked gothy girlies, men in priest robes, chalices of blood and leather gloves. It was like a Halloween special of Eurotrash. Fantastically amusing for all of about four tracks. Then we retreated to the bar.
As for the rest of Sunday, we had a ripping time. Lots of people to talk to and carouse with, plus I managed to put together an elaborate sculpture out of glowing things that seemed to gather a far large crowd than was strictly called for. Their cheers when I managed to get it to stay up brought a flush to my cheeks, let me tell you. We danced a lot more in the evening than previously, including a stretch where Mortimer, Asha and myself got our groove on rather spectacularly. My glowsticks threatened to self-destruct in an alarming fashion at one point, but despite their tendency to explode like an overloaded Buckaroo I got them back together successfully. I particularly enjoyed throwing shapes to 'Mindphaser' by Front Line Assembly, oh the memories.
And so the festival was over. We retreated a while before it officially wound down, then spent a pleasant time on the grass outside watching a couple of guys playing with fire - eating, poi, breathing, staffs, the lot - Tryste would have been squealing with delight, methinks. After crucifying me for slagging off Kiew, of course.
Then, the next morning, we went home. We had intended to attend the barbeque extravaganza of DJ Cheeky, but were paralysed by exhaustion. A great shame, since I really wanted to go to shoot the shit with all and see off Geth and Manda. To sum up, then. A good weekend, and although the music wasn't in the same league as last year (but then, last year had Assemblage 23 and Suicide Commando) it was great to see so many of my disparate friends in the same spot. Back again next year? Oh yes.
And since then what have I done? Fuck all, apart from seeing Mortimer off on Tuesday morning. And I'm STILL tired.
A couple of things. My department got it's compliance check results back this morning. For anyone unfamiliar with the thrilling world of financial administration, this basically is a regular analysis of whether recent work has conformed to guidelines, regulations and laws set down by the company and by governing bodies. You're generally expected to be doing alright if you're above 95% at least. My department in general got 97%, which is pretty good really. My team got 100%, which I thought was mildly cool until it was pointed out by my team leader that it was basically down to me - compliance checks are completely focused on money laundering, which I handle all of for my team.
So that felt pretty good, although I am somewhat surprised to have not made a single mistake in the entire month of July. But even though I manage a 100% compliance record for the first half of the year, do I get offered a contract? Of course not. Don't be stupid.
In other news, my application for Travelling Man has been rejected. Not even an interview. Considering comic store jobs are always portrayed as slacker fodder in American media, they're fucking hard to get into. Sadly I think now I've done a couple of years of office work that's all employers think I'm good for.
It's a nice weekend, and I'm still inside. This will be rectified soon, and then it's Wendy House tonight. Until I vomit forth my life again, take care...
So that felt pretty good, although I am somewhat surprised to have not made a single mistake in the entire month of July. But even though I manage a 100% compliance record for the first half of the year, do I get offered a contract? Of course not. Don't be stupid.
In other news, my application for Travelling Man has been rejected. Not even an interview. Considering comic store jobs are always portrayed as slacker fodder in American media, they're fucking hard to get into. Sadly I think now I've done a couple of years of office work that's all employers think I'm good for.
It's a nice weekend, and I'm still inside. This will be rectified soon, and then it's Wendy House tonight. Until I vomit forth my life again, take care...
Stuff, and things. I went to Black Sheep on Sunday evening with Jon, and had a good night chatting about various scandalous subjects. We also did our fair share of dancing and were most sweaty when the time came to depart. A few other people were there as well, and so I talked a bit to them before running for my bus (without the need to, naturally).
I had a productive day at work for once (well, productive for the company - not for me) and then dashed around to prepare for a trip to Manchester. I headed down there with Maco, plus new people by the name of Stef and Laura. We managed to find the venue, only to end up waiting approximately 2 hours for Skinny Puppy to actually appear in any form. While we waited we hung around, exchanged views on mutual acquaintances, bumped into various humans and wound ourselves up to a fever pitch. The gig had been moved upstairs to Academy 3, presumably because of a low turnout and the complete lack of a support act. But all that mattered not, since the Puppy were amazing.
All the way through I really wished laneyspeedhorn and Mortimer were there with me, the former for the Nerve Harvest-related inspiration and the latter because she would have loved it. It was a fairly wide mix of their stuff, the highlights for me being I'mmortal, Hardset Head and Worlock - the entire front 20 rows got spattered with large quantities of fake blood, bile and unnamable substances while ohGr & company thrashed around onstage like the demented little Canucks they are. Most entertaining. We left slightly before they finished to ensure we made the last train, and headed home.
And so here I am, having booked a day off work in anticipation of recovery.
September is shaping up to be a busy month for me, I have trips anticipated for the following folk:
- an earnest attempt to be up in Edinburgh for the opening night of Geth's club.
- a voyage from these shores to the wilds of Hamburg to see Tryste.
- rambling down to Cheltenham to spend time with my friend Maz.
To top that off, I have Infest with Mortimer in just over 2 weeks, Black Celebration in London with Geth come November and a semi-formulated plan to follow VNV Nation round on their coming tour for at least 3 dates with Jon. Oh my. Will I make it? Only time will tell.
I had a productive day at work for once (well, productive for the company - not for me) and then dashed around to prepare for a trip to Manchester. I headed down there with Maco, plus new people by the name of Stef and Laura. We managed to find the venue, only to end up waiting approximately 2 hours for Skinny Puppy to actually appear in any form. While we waited we hung around, exchanged views on mutual acquaintances, bumped into various humans and wound ourselves up to a fever pitch. The gig had been moved upstairs to Academy 3, presumably because of a low turnout and the complete lack of a support act. But all that mattered not, since the Puppy were amazing.
All the way through I really wished laneyspeedhorn and Mortimer were there with me, the former for the Nerve Harvest-related inspiration and the latter because she would have loved it. It was a fairly wide mix of their stuff, the highlights for me being I'mmortal, Hardset Head and Worlock - the entire front 20 rows got spattered with large quantities of fake blood, bile and unnamable substances while ohGr & company thrashed around onstage like the demented little Canucks they are. Most entertaining. We left slightly before they finished to ensure we made the last train, and headed home.
And so here I am, having booked a day off work in anticipation of recovery.
September is shaping up to be a busy month for me, I have trips anticipated for the following folk:
- an earnest attempt to be up in Edinburgh for the opening night of Geth's club.
- a voyage from these shores to the wilds of Hamburg to see Tryste.
- rambling down to Cheltenham to spend time with my friend Maz.
To top that off, I have Infest with Mortimer in just over 2 weeks, Black Celebration in London with Geth come November and a semi-formulated plan to follow VNV Nation round on their coming tour for at least 3 dates with Jon. Oh my. Will I make it? Only time will tell.
For once everything went as planned. The move was alright, the new house is great, all is well. I'm keeping quite busy as the moment too, which is a plus since it prevents me from noticing just how un-driven, un-motivated and single I am right now. I really do think the new place will pick everything up though.
That's all I guess.
That's all I guess.
Once again, I must briefly disappear. My lack of commitment to this site over the last few months has been appalling, and I must apologise to every single one of you. I love you all.
Except you. You smell.
I'm moving to my new house tomorrow, and if all goes as planned my broadband will be connected on Monday. However, this is BT and so there are endless reasons why it might not surface for much longer than that.
I will return as soon as I am able. In my absence - love each other, and don't touch my things.
Except you. You smell.
I'm moving to my new house tomorrow, and if all goes as planned my broadband will be connected on Monday. However, this is BT and so there are endless reasons why it might not surface for much longer than that.
I will return as soon as I am able. In my absence - love each other, and don't touch my things.
My broadband has only just returned from being cut off by my incompetent service providers. The last couple of weeks have actually been really busy for a change, although probably not very exciting stuff to read in a Journal.
Suffice to say I've been out and about a fair bit, seeing friends and not being stressed much. The plans to move had to be put back, meaning I don't actually get to my new house until the end of next week now. I took a trip back to my home town of Blackpool, which was much better than the usual trips are. I got to spend some time with my parents and with old friends, and the stench of the place didn't infest my being too much.
Last weekend the lovely Mortimer came to visit and we chilled out thoroughly. Went to Wendy House, Black Sheep and the local park - which I've neglected visiting in the 8 months since I arrived here, only to find out it has a huge lake, a river and a forest inside it. Dammit. All that time piled on front of my monitor when I could have been bouncing between trees.
My friend Shaun and his girlfriend came over to Leeds last Tuesday to see a gig at The Fenton, which I gladly attended with them. A variety of heavy bands, featuring some amusing hardcore dancing. Somehow I'm never totally impressed when a kid's floorpunching resembles a gorilla throwing a tantrum.
That's about all I guess. I need a shower. Goodbye.
Suffice to say I've been out and about a fair bit, seeing friends and not being stressed much. The plans to move had to be put back, meaning I don't actually get to my new house until the end of next week now. I took a trip back to my home town of Blackpool, which was much better than the usual trips are. I got to spend some time with my parents and with old friends, and the stench of the place didn't infest my being too much.
Last weekend the lovely Mortimer came to visit and we chilled out thoroughly. Went to Wendy House, Black Sheep and the local park - which I've neglected visiting in the 8 months since I arrived here, only to find out it has a huge lake, a river and a forest inside it. Dammit. All that time piled on front of my monitor when I could have been bouncing between trees.
My friend Shaun and his girlfriend came over to Leeds last Tuesday to see a gig at The Fenton, which I gladly attended with them. A variety of heavy bands, featuring some amusing hardcore dancing. Somehow I'm never totally impressed when a kid's floorpunching resembles a gorilla throwing a tantrum.
That's about all I guess. I need a shower. Goodbye.
AN OPEN LETTER TO MY LANDLORD.
Dear Mr Landlord.
A few pointers for the future. Not that the future will involve me, since I am moving out next weekend.
1. When blagging your property off on someone, please do remember to tell them that there is no hot water in the entire building apart from the shower. Also please ensure that the aforementioned shower is actually powerful enough to remove small molecules of dirt from skin. Incidentally, informing someone that the hot water for the shower is powered by a pay meter which absorbs money like a dry sponge would also be a plus. Advertising the property as having an en suite bathroom if the bath can only be filled by the lukewarm shower (resulting in a cold bath, taking roughly 30 minutes to fill) is in fact a lie by omission.
2. If a property has electricity provided by a meter, please do not sneakily decrease the amount of electricity bought for a pound coin slowly over the months of a tenancy. Many tenants are not in fact idiots and notice when they're spending roughly double the amount of money on electricity since their arrival.
3. Since there is no hot water, no gas, the electricity is paid for by the tenant and the council tax is covered by the actual rent (since the rent went up when the council tax did), advertising the property as £*** utilities inclusive is, in fact, another lie.
4. If employing builders to change the ludicrously ancient window frames within flats, please give notice more than 24 hours before they have to arrive and gut the rooms. A tenant may in fact have plans for their weekend beyond moving all their furniture and sitting in a dust-filled flat while the aforesaid builders tear down their walls. If you really wish to surprise the tenants in this way, it may be an idea to bring the builders in on your sneaky plans so that they don't inform the tenant that they've known of the job for the last 6 weeks.
5. While on the topic of builders, if contracting them to gut the bathrooms in the house as well it might be an idea to arrange for them to not do this to them simultaneously. This is on the off chance that one of the tenants may want to use the toilet (or the shower) sometime during the 11 hours it will take them to complete the job. Perhaps booking this job for a weekday when more of the tenants are likely to be at work rather than trying to enjoy a relaxing Sunday might also be an idea.
6. Please do not register surprise when a tenant gives you his notice for the third time running in as many days. It's really not that hard to remember, and may cause the tenant to believe you to be a retard as well as an incompetent.
7. Registering surprise may also be out of place in a couple of days when I have failed to pay you my last months rent. It will get to you when I feel like it, you son of a bitch. You may now commence sweating and swearing in frustrated annoyance. This may give you an insight into the mindset of your tenants, which is of course a valuable asset.
Yours sincerly,
Mr Organic
P.S. Bite my shiny metal ass.
Dear Mr Landlord.
A few pointers for the future. Not that the future will involve me, since I am moving out next weekend.
1. When blagging your property off on someone, please do remember to tell them that there is no hot water in the entire building apart from the shower. Also please ensure that the aforementioned shower is actually powerful enough to remove small molecules of dirt from skin. Incidentally, informing someone that the hot water for the shower is powered by a pay meter which absorbs money like a dry sponge would also be a plus. Advertising the property as having an en suite bathroom if the bath can only be filled by the lukewarm shower (resulting in a cold bath, taking roughly 30 minutes to fill) is in fact a lie by omission.
2. If a property has electricity provided by a meter, please do not sneakily decrease the amount of electricity bought for a pound coin slowly over the months of a tenancy. Many tenants are not in fact idiots and notice when they're spending roughly double the amount of money on electricity since their arrival.
3. Since there is no hot water, no gas, the electricity is paid for by the tenant and the council tax is covered by the actual rent (since the rent went up when the council tax did), advertising the property as £*** utilities inclusive is, in fact, another lie.
4. If employing builders to change the ludicrously ancient window frames within flats, please give notice more than 24 hours before they have to arrive and gut the rooms. A tenant may in fact have plans for their weekend beyond moving all their furniture and sitting in a dust-filled flat while the aforesaid builders tear down their walls. If you really wish to surprise the tenants in this way, it may be an idea to bring the builders in on your sneaky plans so that they don't inform the tenant that they've known of the job for the last 6 weeks.
5. While on the topic of builders, if contracting them to gut the bathrooms in the house as well it might be an idea to arrange for them to not do this to them simultaneously. This is on the off chance that one of the tenants may want to use the toilet (or the shower) sometime during the 11 hours it will take them to complete the job. Perhaps booking this job for a weekday when more of the tenants are likely to be at work rather than trying to enjoy a relaxing Sunday might also be an idea.
6. Please do not register surprise when a tenant gives you his notice for the third time running in as many days. It's really not that hard to remember, and may cause the tenant to believe you to be a retard as well as an incompetent.
7. Registering surprise may also be out of place in a couple of days when I have failed to pay you my last months rent. It will get to you when I feel like it, you son of a bitch. You may now commence sweating and swearing in frustrated annoyance. This may give you an insight into the mindset of your tenants, which is of course a valuable asset.
Yours sincerly,
Mr Organic
P.S. Bite my shiny metal ass.
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