What other title could I possibly have used for such a day? The cynics reading this may wonder why I am writing this as it slowly shifts over to the official day of Christmas, but I would argue that what better time to consider my feelings about such Christmas issues, like the ones I'm going to be covering in this post?
Christmas number ones have lost all meaning in recent years. It may be true that the last number one to have actually meant anything, was actually a close call between the years of 1994 and 1995, East 17's Stay Another Day and Michael Jackson's Earth Song respectively. The former, though technically just another song, still retains the aura of being a festive single even after all these years have passed, regularly getting played around the month Decemeber year after year, while Michael Jackson had a go at criticising everybody for the cost of what we're doing to our planet. Both songs I will happily admit to enjoying, both because they bring up special memories of when I was younger and more innocent. However, recent years have seen such reality crap take over the charts, starting with Girls Aloud and currently standing with Leona from X Factor, using a completely un-Xmas related tune to secure the top spot. I hope she regrets that, and hope that if the formulaically created popsters that churn out from the many series continue to take the pole position in the charts on the big day, let's hope they at least make an effort to include some bells and references to Santa and/or mince pies.
Does anyone go to Church on Christmas Eve? I haven't ever been with my family, as we wouldn't really consider ourselves religious, but I know there are still some out there who religiously [The pun was completely unintentional, but I left it in even after I noticed ;) ] attend midnight mass. I ask this because I am intrigued about what it means to them. I find it much more difficult now than when I was a youngster because I know stuff about the birth of Jesus being on a different day, possibly even a different month than the day we celebrate it on, and know how it has, despite my enjoyment of this very fact, become commercialised in the worst sense. They even have a Christmas 2 sometime later in the year, but thank god people haven't really accepted that. Maybe that's on Christ's real birthday, who knows? If you do have an opinion on this subject, feel free to leave a message or comment.
I have been roped in to work on Boxing Day, and all I know is that I really should be doing it as my current financial situation is a bit of a struggle. I do have a job, and I will be getting a job when I get back to University, but for now I must play the waiting game as the payment for my good labour has yet to come to fruition. It's tough. Those who have jobs don't really appreciate them until they lose them and are searching for another, and when you're moving back and forth between different countries, corporations aren't very helpful [I was looking for a better word to use here, but I am at a blank at the moment!] in being accomodating to this fact, even when it's in the same Kingdom! As evidence of the fact that me and jobs just never were meant to get along, I turned up yesterday, or Christmas Eve Eve as it is also known, to work at 6pm. I even turned up a little early, but the big surprise was that my boss had told me the wrong time to work, so I was sent away, no lift arranged and no money on me, hoping to get a lift home when my Mum had only just gone far out of her way to drop me off there. What a bastard. And I'm not even getting paid that much now because of it.
Illness is a big part of Winter, but why god why does it have to fall around the same schedule of my Christmas? Not that I, as of this very moment [meaning I am not subject to the Law of Sods, by stating something only for the opposite to come true], could be considered 'ill', but the rest of my family is. One has a headache, throat infection and neck stiffness combination, one is coughing and sniffling and sneezing their way through a bad cold [Had to be the youngest too, who hasn't quite got the sense to cover her mouth and wash/wipe her hands after getting phlegm all over them X-( ] and frightening the life out of me everytime she handles communal food such as the box of maltesers/chocolate snaps :p, one has a ear infection thing, another has migraines and a milder but still phlegmy cold and the other is generally tired and downtrodden. I've had minor headaches and a very mild blocked nose syndrome, but as long as I get to tomorrow and taste my wonderful Christmas Dinner [Which my Mum makes the best of!] and watch the cheesy trash that is on in the evening and spend the whole day not throwing up, I will be happy as a man can be, and that is the truth. be bloody grateful if you have a completely healthy family this Christmas!
And this is all I'm going to write, as I've spent more time on this than I planned to, and my lovely warm bed is calling out to me, ready for the sleep that will take me straight to Giftsville. Have a good day, or as they say in my country, Nadolig Llawen!
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Party
Time for the Sort-Of-Paradox-Thing-But-Not-Really-One-Of-The-Day: Have you ever tried using the search engine Google to search for Google? I did, and I found it incredibly weird. It also gathers approx 979,000,000 results too, one of the most amounts I've ever recalled.
Party. As in the title. I'm referring to Catherine's big Xmas bash last night, which was a resounding... drunken evening for me at least. It began about 1:30, when I was on campus in the SU General meeting room, somewhere in the depths of the campus architecture. I was holding another of my film meetings for The Rabbit, except I didn't come prepared at all, but we came up with the idea of a Best Films of 2006 feature, an awards feature if you like, called 'The Carrots' so look forward to that in the future.
After that, and sitting in on another meeting to kill a little time, it was off to the bar to meet Roxie, except luckily I bumped into two other girls sitting on the corner sofas as Roxie didn't turn up for another 45 minutes. We made Christmas shapes using some tinsel type things, it felt like an arts and crafts lesson. Then we spent some time listening to music, with me trying to surprise Cat with some good music, which worked as she particularly enjoyed this one band, and liked some others. When Roxie finally turned up, with some others in tow, I had to head off as I realised my next engagement had been pulled forward by 2 hours, so I was in a particular rush.
Needless to say, it was a good party. Drink was drunk, pictures were taken, somebody kept hassling me all night but all things considered, I think cat herself should be proud. Even managed to meet a couple of new people though I'm not too fond of the impression I gave them of myself. Maybe they'll understand it was the alcohol. I'll chuck a few of the photos up now, so you can see for yourself how interesting it was.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Nature
This has nothing to do with me becoming a hermit, or even self sufficient, it's just a nice little link in with a couple of things that have happened over the last few days.
I was walking back between lecture the other day, deciding it would be better for me productively to go home to attempt the summary sheet, rather than try and do it in Labs on campus and get extremely bored. As I got outside, the possibility of rain loomed above, waiting to rupture the dry spell and pour down, but I had a perfectly decent hoody on me, so I chucked it on and let the light shower carry on. However, only two minutes away from my house, the skies really did open up and water cascaded down onto me, and absolutely drenched me. At first, I felt myself get a little edgy, possibly even a bit annoyed, but then I realised that this was what I had always hoped would happen someday; I was finally completely soaked through and had nowhere to go. It was time to feel completely free and childlike again! I jumped in puddles, I went out of my way to wade through deeper water and I was laughing and smiling the whole time. It was, for a couple of minutes, pure bliss.
Today saw the first experience I've had of a blackout up here in Essex. Excuse me, I should mention that it's not the case that I've never been in one before, just never up in Colchester. It brought up very interesting memories and happenings. If you live in Greenstead, I sincerely hope you have your internet/electric back by now.
Lectures are done for me, as far as I'm concerned now, and so the rest of the week is all about enjoying myself. This is possibly the last Christmas with my good friends, as most will be leaving at the end of next year, while I'll hopefully be in California studying maths and also living the life. It's difficult to even contemplate not seeing them again for a good long while, as it turns out they've become a staple feature in my life. Even today, which had to be the most tame outing with the Chloe, Phil, Sam and Phil household was still great fun. Thanks for an excellent night guys, and an awesome year too, without you it would've just been another boring term. Same goes for a lot of people actually, but here and now isn't the time or place for long winded thank you's.
Time to wrap this up. Over the holidays, here are my plans:
1) Take some time to make further progress on my piece of literary fiction
2) Working on improving the show Future Sounds by creating jingles, samples and general cool stuff
3) Get a Xmas job, make a little cash
I was walking back between lecture the other day, deciding it would be better for me productively to go home to attempt the summary sheet, rather than try and do it in Labs on campus and get extremely bored. As I got outside, the possibility of rain loomed above, waiting to rupture the dry spell and pour down, but I had a perfectly decent hoody on me, so I chucked it on and let the light shower carry on. However, only two minutes away from my house, the skies really did open up and water cascaded down onto me, and absolutely drenched me. At first, I felt myself get a little edgy, possibly even a bit annoyed, but then I realised that this was what I had always hoped would happen someday; I was finally completely soaked through and had nowhere to go. It was time to feel completely free and childlike again! I jumped in puddles, I went out of my way to wade through deeper water and I was laughing and smiling the whole time. It was, for a couple of minutes, pure bliss.
Today saw the first experience I've had of a blackout up here in Essex. Excuse me, I should mention that it's not the case that I've never been in one before, just never up in Colchester. It brought up very interesting memories and happenings. If you live in Greenstead, I sincerely hope you have your internet/electric back by now.
Lectures are done for me, as far as I'm concerned now, and so the rest of the week is all about enjoying myself. This is possibly the last Christmas with my good friends, as most will be leaving at the end of next year, while I'll hopefully be in California studying maths and also living the life. It's difficult to even contemplate not seeing them again for a good long while, as it turns out they've become a staple feature in my life. Even today, which had to be the most tame outing with the Chloe, Phil, Sam and Phil household was still great fun. Thanks for an excellent night guys, and an awesome year too, without you it would've just been another boring term. Same goes for a lot of people actually, but here and now isn't the time or place for long winded thank you's.
Time to wrap this up. Over the holidays, here are my plans:
1) Take some time to make further progress on my piece of literary fiction
2) Working on improving the show Future Sounds by creating jingles, samples and general cool stuff
3) Get a Xmas job, make a little cash
Monday, December 11, 2006
Diary
Well its about high time for another dose of Epiq adventure I think, and yes, the pun was intentional. Congratulations already to those who've made it this far! You deserve much praise, but I digress, I will begin this post proper. I have had a good couple of weeks.
Since I last wrote, I have been enjoying my time here in Essex, but also spending a lot of time mulling over life and occupying my time in a very relaxed way. Such things include reading, playing the old computer games, the internet (which I will come back to in a bit) and playing poker for no money.
The biggest event, which has been documented via the magic of Facebook (again, I will come back to this later) was the trip to London on wednesday, more importantly the Paolo Nutini gig. It was such an awesome day. It started quite worryingly, as after being only 5 minutes late to the bus stop, we narrowly missed the bus to North Station, and instead of the usual service of one coming along every 20 mins, we had to wait another half hour to get the next bus. This put us already so far behind, but we were determined to enjoy whatever time we had! An amusing train journey followed, which included a great piece of artwork by myself and Cat of Gordon brown (You must ask to see it, it's very funny!) With just over 5 hours in london, we managed to fill it up with a bucketload of stuff including Hyde Park, Harrods and Krispy Kreme's, Tower Bridge, Christmas lights and Oxford/Regent Street. We also saw, not met but saw, Richard Ayaode of The IT Crowd fame on the tube a.k.a Moss. We got to the gig about half hour before doors opened, and despite feeling we were quite behind, we were in the front third of the queue by the time 7PM rolled along, and in we got while I held us a good spot at the front while Cat WC'd it. Holding onto my spot despite Cats protests, we stuck it out for approx 3 1/2 hours when we finally gave it up 3/4 way through Paolo's set. Got some great pics, if you want to see them ask myself or leave a comment.
Facebook. What a wonderful site, and a multiple of time better than myspace could ever be. I spend a lot of time on there, and it is such an easy way of spreading news of a party or event, and also a fun way of keeping in touch with old friends and current ones. Only today, I have found a number of people from my old primary school in Kingsbridge where I used to live. The only bad thing I can think of to say about it, and this is a universally known fact, is that it is way too easy to get lost on there for a long time, browsing other peoples photos, nosing on their walls, reading their notes and generally searching and enjoying all the stuff on there. I spent a good hour on there in total today and I feel a bit dirty because of it.
Future Sounds. Now, a little trivial piece of information before I go ahead with writing this. I spent about five minutes writing this whole post, possibly even more time than that, before I pasted the wrong piece of writing into it. Clicking ctrl and Z brought me back to the beginning of this paragraph, everything after it deleted, so I tried to recover old post, and whoops, another chunk of my writing gone, so I had to start all again. Don't you just hate it when that happens? Anyway, that little bit saved me from once again bigging up mine and PJ's radio show, as I always tend to do when the topic of Future Sounds comes along. instead, I will sell it to you short and sweet; Future Sounds is a radio show, on every thursday 8-10PM on RED AM, in which me and my co-presenter PJ play some good futuristic sounding music and generally banter and humour the audience. Now, there is a reason for writing all of that, and this is as follows; we have our very first clip up on the internet. In fact, by the time you read this we'll have a couple up, so go ahead and check them out at the following link:
Future Sounds
If you want a taster, please watch out for a future video which we will shoot to promote the show (Assuming PJ is up for it!)! For now, here's a direct clip to one of our clips, enjoy ;)
And finally, just in case you weren't aware, next week is the FINAL week in Uni of this term, and so will be full of special goings on. Parties, good nights out and general antics are going to be around, so keep an eye out for plenty of photos over the next few days :)
Since I last wrote, I have been enjoying my time here in Essex, but also spending a lot of time mulling over life and occupying my time in a very relaxed way. Such things include reading, playing the old computer games, the internet (which I will come back to in a bit) and playing poker for no money.
The biggest event, which has been documented via the magic of Facebook (again, I will come back to this later) was the trip to London on wednesday, more importantly the Paolo Nutini gig. It was such an awesome day. It started quite worryingly, as after being only 5 minutes late to the bus stop, we narrowly missed the bus to North Station, and instead of the usual service of one coming along every 20 mins, we had to wait another half hour to get the next bus. This put us already so far behind, but we were determined to enjoy whatever time we had! An amusing train journey followed, which included a great piece of artwork by myself and Cat of Gordon brown (You must ask to see it, it's very funny!) With just over 5 hours in london, we managed to fill it up with a bucketload of stuff including Hyde Park, Harrods and Krispy Kreme's, Tower Bridge, Christmas lights and Oxford/Regent Street. We also saw, not met but saw, Richard Ayaode of The IT Crowd fame on the tube a.k.a Moss. We got to the gig about half hour before doors opened, and despite feeling we were quite behind, we were in the front third of the queue by the time 7PM rolled along, and in we got while I held us a good spot at the front while Cat WC'd it. Holding onto my spot despite Cats protests, we stuck it out for approx 3 1/2 hours when we finally gave it up 3/4 way through Paolo's set. Got some great pics, if you want to see them ask myself or leave a comment.
Facebook. What a wonderful site, and a multiple of time better than myspace could ever be. I spend a lot of time on there, and it is such an easy way of spreading news of a party or event, and also a fun way of keeping in touch with old friends and current ones. Only today, I have found a number of people from my old primary school in Kingsbridge where I used to live. The only bad thing I can think of to say about it, and this is a universally known fact, is that it is way too easy to get lost on there for a long time, browsing other peoples photos, nosing on their walls, reading their notes and generally searching and enjoying all the stuff on there. I spent a good hour on there in total today and I feel a bit dirty because of it.
Future Sounds. Now, a little trivial piece of information before I go ahead with writing this. I spent about five minutes writing this whole post, possibly even more time than that, before I pasted the wrong piece of writing into it. Clicking ctrl and Z brought me back to the beginning of this paragraph, everything after it deleted, so I tried to recover old post, and whoops, another chunk of my writing gone, so I had to start all again. Don't you just hate it when that happens? Anyway, that little bit saved me from once again bigging up mine and PJ's radio show, as I always tend to do when the topic of Future Sounds comes along. instead, I will sell it to you short and sweet; Future Sounds is a radio show, on every thursday 8-10PM on RED AM, in which me and my co-presenter PJ play some good futuristic sounding music and generally banter and humour the audience. Now, there is a reason for writing all of that, and this is as follows; we have our very first clip up on the internet. In fact, by the time you read this we'll have a couple up, so go ahead and check them out at the following link:
Future Sounds
If you want a taster, please watch out for a future video which we will shoot to promote the show (Assuming PJ is up for it!)! For now, here's a direct clip to one of our clips, enjoy ;)
And finally, just in case you weren't aware, next week is the FINAL week in Uni of this term, and so will be full of special goings on. Parties, good nights out and general antics are going to be around, so keep an eye out for plenty of photos over the next few days :)
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