Take These Storms Away

Shamelessly pilfered from Susie... who pilfered it from Aimee

2010-04-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

Pilfer is a good word.

GET TO KNOW
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Time started: 22.06
Name: V
Single or Taken: Single
Sex: Female
Birthday: 6th September
Sign: Virgo
Eye colour: it changes, but Gustav Wood blue
What are you wearing: demin shorts, red bra, knickers, medibracelet, paper wristband from Swansea, LP plectrum necklace, big cut-up purple MISSION DISTRICT tshirt.
Where do you live: Hertfordshire, England
Righty or lefty: Righty
FAVOURITE
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Where is your favorite place to shop: Hotel Chocolat.
Colour: Purple or blue. I don't mind which shade.
Number: 42
Boys' Name: Iunno. Something from mythology, or with a cool meaning.
Girls' Name: See boys' name. I like Adalia.
Animal: Cat or horse
Month: August
Movie: I can't pick just one! Maybe Mean Girls or Avatar.
Juice: Pomegranate
Breakfast: Cooked - scrambled eggs, beans and potato scones (i had them in Scotland, nomnomnom)
Favorite cartoon character: Lisa Simpson, Cero from Cardcaptors, Bakura from Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series ;)
HAVE YOU EVER
———————————————————————————————

Given anyone a bath: Yes, my cousin's little boy
Smoked: nope
Bungee Jumped: I wish!
Gone skinny dipping: No
Eaten a dog: ... No.
Put your tongue on a frozen pole: Yes. It's not good.
Loved someone so much it made you cry: No
Broken a bone: Not yet!
Played truth or dare: Yes
Been in a physical fight: I don't think so... well, only with my brother.
Been in a police car: Nope
Been in a hot tub: Nuh uh.
Swam in the ocean: Well, the sea...
Fallen asleep in school: All the time
Ran away: Not properly
Broken someone’s heart: I HIGHLY doubt it
Cried when someone died: Of course.
Cried in school: Yeah
Fell off your chair: Mmhmm
Sat by the phone all night waiting for someone to call: Nope
Saved AIM/MSN conversation: Yes, once.

WHAT IS
———————————————————————————————

Your good luck charm: my LP pick that tBO Bob gave me :)
Best song you ever heard: Horrid question. No idea.
What’s your room like: walls painted with murals from when I was a kid, lots of cuddly toys, posters on (starting to fall off) the ceiling, stacks of old magazines.
Last thing you ate: Bourbon biscuit and a cup of tea
What kind of shampoo do you use: Whatever is next to me at the time.
Do you believe in karma: No, but I like the concept of it.
HAVE YOU HAD
————————————————————

Chicken pox: Yes. And then I had shingles too >.>
Sore Throat: Of course
Stitches: No, but I;ve had steri-strips.
Broken nose: No

DO YOU
——————————————————————

Believe in love at first sight: I'll believe it when I see it
Like picnics: of course!
Like school: No
What schools have you gone to: Beechwood Park Prep School, St Albans High School For Girls
Would you eat a live hamster for $1,000,000 dollars: No wai, man.
Who was the last person that called you: Unknown. And then... probably Aimee.
What makes you laugh the most: jokes with my friends when we're all sleep-deprived.

LAST PERSON
———————————————

You yelled at: Probably Mum.
Who broke your heart: Never had my heart broken :')
Who is your loudest friend: Torii.

DO YOU/ARE YOU
——————————————————————————————

Do you like filling these out: Yeah, they're fun.
Do you wear contacts or glasses: No, luckily. Apparently I might need reading glasses when I'm older though >.>
Do you like yourself: Sometimes.
Do you get along with your family: More often than not.
Obsessive: I don't think so.
Compulsive: Not sure.
Anorexic: HAHAHAHAHA no.

FINAL QUESTIONS
—————————————————————————————-

What are you listening to right now: The news.
What did you do yesterday: went to school, had lunch, had more school, came home, watched TV, played Peggle, had tea, had a bath, did homework, went to bed, played Pokemon, went to sleep.
What car do you wish you had: That one powered by liquid hydrogen. Is it liquid hydrogen? It's liquid something. It's gorgeous and totally eco-friendly.
Where do you want to get married: Not for me.
If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be: I'd have naturally blonde hair so it's easier to dye crazy colours, and I'd be more focused. I procrastinate too much.
How many remote controls are in your house: TV, DVD, digibox, other TV, other digibox, remote games controllers for Wii x2 and PS2.
Last time you took a bath: yesterday
The last movie you saw at the cinemas: Avatar
Do you like scary or happy movies: Happy :)
Black or white: Black please
Root Beer or Dr.Pepper: Neither
Vanilla or chocolate: Vanilla
Silver or Gold: Silver ^^ But in terms of Pokemon, Gold.
Diamond or pearl: Diamond.
Sunset or Sunrise: Sunset
Sprite or 7up: They're both teeth-rooting lemonade. So both :D
Cats or dogs: Kittehs!
Coffee or tea: depends on my mood
Phone or in person: In person
Are you the oldest, middle, youngest or only child: Youngest ;)
Indoor or outdoor: Indoor
Time ended: 22.38

If there's anything else you want to know, leave a question :D

Carnage and Glitter

2010-04-19T05:12:00.000-07:00

So I wrote a story at 2am, and one person liked it, so I'm going to post it here:

Once upon a time, the world ended. It was not big, or showy; it was not a grand procession of colours and light and magic, moving in some pre-determined order to meet the end. There was no symmetry, no neatness, no slow stirring music to serve as a soundscape to rolling credits. The world ended, and there was nothing in the galaxy, in the universe, to show we’d ever been there at all. It was just carnage and glitter.

I watched my daughter sleep, the light from the moon reflecting off the metal posts of her bed. She insisted on keeping the curtains open, in case something happened outside and she missed it. In the summer, she looked at the stars from behind glass. In the winter, she sat on her sill and crossed her fingers and wished seven times for snow. She was the most curious, philosophical, naïve sixteen-year-old in the world.
I moved to close the curtains, and one of her eyes opened.
“No, Mum,” she murmured, her voice a hazy blur. She could still be dreaming. “No…”
“It’ll be warmer in here if I close them, honey,” I said softly. “I’ll wake you so that you don’t miss anything.”
She regarded me, her cynicism and lust for excitement balanced with that warm dozy feeling of sweet dreams.
“Promise?” she said, her voice beginning to slide.
“Promise,” I said, as she closed her eyes and turned heavy and limp, asleep. I closed her curtains.

Ring a ring a roses, a pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down.
“Mum, why were the roses in rings?”
“They were like daisy chains.”
“…”
“…”
“Mum, what’s a posy?”
“A little bunch of flowers.”
“Mum, why were there ashes?”
“Because everyone was a heavy smoker.”
“…”
“…”
“Mum, what’s the difference between fairy tales and real life?”
“Fairy tales are things adults made up to make their kids behave, and warn them about what can happen in real life.”
“Mum, what’s the difference between being awake and dreaming?”
“Dreams are things which never really happen.”
“But – then, Mum – how can dreams come true?”

The Chav looked at the Goth with an expression of supreme superiority.
“I’m better than you,” he stated in a nasal tone.
The Goth smiled.
“Is that so?” she asked, light and cheerful. “Can you tell stories?”
“No, but – ”
“Can you sing?”
“No, but – ”
“Do you think of death as the end of meaning or as a means to an end?”
“I don’t – ”
The Goth smiled at the Chav, regarded coolly his branded tracksuit trousers and hoodie, his oversized trainers and fake gold chains. Her rings sparkled. Her teeth seemed to glow against the black of her lipstick.
“Then why, uneducated sir, do you think you’re better than me?”
He pulled out a knife.
“Oh, please. Stop perpetuating your negative stereotype.”
And that was how it began: the beginning of a world where Chavs and Goths became separate races, and their children avoided eye contact on the street, and wars were fought not on battlefields but in boardrooms; and if a Chav ever won an intellectual battle with a Goth, then people in black took him or her away, and nothing was ever said of it.

“Mum, where are we going?”
“To the doctor.”
“Why? You’re not ill.”
“…”
“I’m not ill!”
“It’s a special kind of doctor, love. It’s a different kind.”
“NO!”
“What is it?”
“NO! Mum, I know what it is!”
“What?”
“You’re taking me away!”
“Honey, stop being ridiculous.”
“You’ll take me to a psychiatrist. And he’ll tell me – he’ll say I’m crazy, because that’s what they always say.”
“I don’t think you’re crazy.”
“If you don’t think I’m crazy, why are you taking me to the psychiatrist?”
“…”
“…”
“It’s to help you.”
“They can’t help me if they lock me up.”
“They won’t lock you up.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
“Good. Don’t lie.”

I watched my daughter talk, and I couldn’t believe what she said. She spoke calmly, relaying everything to the doctor who sat there and nodded and made notes; he asked questions, she was flummoxed, and she couldn’t understand why he didn’t understand. Then she started questioning him, and she wouldn’t stop. Later, he took me aside and looked at me sternly.
“Your daughter seems to be unable to tell the difference between reality and dreams. Fairy tales. Nursery rhymes.”
I blinked. Were there tears, waiting to fall? I prayed not. I didn’t want to cry in front of this man, who had cross-examined my daughter like he was a lawyer and she was a hostile witness in court; this man who had made her cry so the invisible jury would talk.
“So,” I said, hating myself for it, “what can we do?”

I woke up. I opened my curtains. I looked at the frost on the ground. I looked at the shattered glass at the top of the window and decided to ignore it. I sat on the windowsill and counted the stars. I pressed my nose flat against the glass and breathed until all I could see was steam. I ignored the constellations with the stupid names and made up my own. There were hundreds of patterns in the sky. It’s just that nobody ever sees them, because they only look at what other people have seen. Nobody opens their eyes.
“Honey,” Mum said, “it’s late. You should be asleep.”
I looked at her.
“Mummy?”
“What is it, baby?” she asked, sitting down beside me. She pulled me into her lap and looked out with me. She hummed a nursery rhyme under her breath, watching me. She tapped her fingers on the metal bed frame. She waited for an answer. When she gave up, she opened her mouth, and I answered her then.
“Mummy, don’t let me grow up.”

It’s happened, you know. The end of the world. It happened a long time ago, but far away. And because the world is so big, it’s taking a long time for us to see it. But the order is breaking down, everywhere you look. Even the stupid are asking questions, and there aren’t enough men in black in the cosmos to stop them. The light is seeping in through the cracks and everything obvious sparkles; everything obscured casts eerie shadows.
This is how the universe ends. Everyone goes to sleep, so they don't see it anymore. We all live unhappily ever after in carnage and glitter.

blatently.

2010-04-12T15:14:00.001-07:00

I have one thing to say today.

WHISSIS.
What happens in Swansea, stays in Swansea...

Script Frenzy... Day 2

2010-04-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

Script Frenzy has started, which I am almost inevitably going to fail... mainly because I have no inspiration, and my laptop's mouse keys are broken.

So I'm sitting here reading through my script wondering what the hell to write, and whether I have time to scrap this and start again. I'm not going to bed tonight until I have reached seven pages. I'm on... two and a half.

This can only end well...!

(In other news... Slam Dunk looks amazing, I can't wait for the new Sonisphere and Slam Dunk festival announcements, and I am going to Reading festival. Wins all round.)

If it matters at all.

2010-03-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

What's one thing that matters to you? Just one thing. One thing, no matter how tiny and insignificant. One teeny weeny thing that you could write pages and pages on - or one huge thing, whose significance to you is impossible to articulate.

I could tell you about anything.
Spotify. Gigs. Wikipedia. Rainbows. Manga. The NHS. The number 7.
Supporting unknown bands and discovering new music. Windows. Wrapping paper. Tutus. Boys' jeans. String. Hair dye.
Idividuality. People with big noses. Toothpaste. Text messages. Scars.
Geodes. Shoelaces. Smiles.
That feeling you get when you see someone you've been missing.

So right now, I am going to tell you one thing which matters to me. Words.

Think about it - ha, see, you've already started. We think however we like, in colours or shapes or numbers or feelings or sounds, but as soon as we start to try and describe it, we have to use words. Words do their best to take all those impossible things and wrestle them into submission so they make some sort of sense. Words convey impossible thoughts and ideas. Even if you can't describe something in English, there will be a word for it in some other language. The way perfume smells as it lingers in the air, the smell of it leaving - it's a clumsy sentence in English, but in French you have "sillage".

Words create my favourite things in the world; lyrics, poetry, novels, articles, websites. You can explain to people all kinds of abstract ideas. The way you phrase things can change people's moods, and different words can carry different connotations.
"The weather is fine" makes you think of a clear day. Maybe a bit grey. But a typically British, "fine" day. Compare it to -
"The weather is balmy" makes you think of gentle warmth. You can taste the ice lollies and tissues and sunshine like a watery egg.

Words matter to me because without them everything would be done in pictures and sounds - which is all fine, but why do we teach language to children? So they can communicate. Music and pictures speak in ways language can't manage, but words can explain things that music and pictures can't.

So, if you've just read this, leave me a comment about one thing - anything - that matters to you. And your favourite word, while you're at it. Mine is "mellifluous", which has the same route as the name "Melissa" - Greek for honey. Mellifluous is a word to describe things which flow like honey; so, the word mellifluous is itself mellifluous. Aren't words fun?

The beginnings of Casper's story

2010-03-20T18:54:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to write the beginning of my weird "humans vs vampires in a world war" story. Here is what I have managed to write so far. This is a rough draft done late at night so don't be expecting anything Nobel prize winning. Here you go:

I had figured that there were three possible ways for me to die. I hadn’t expected this to be one of them. For a start, I never thought I’d live to be dead.

The first way I had imagined was what I expected to happen, had life remained the same. I expected to grow up, get good grades, go to university, and end up in a dead-end job anyway. After a string of whirlwind romances in my early twenties, I would have settled down with a polite, well-bred man, ten years older than me, with thoughtful eyes and curly hair. We’d have a few children; they would grow up and have children of their own who I’d dote on, and we’d holiday in Tarriland or the Bai’lai Islands every summer. My husband would die at seventy years old of a heart attack; I would move to a little country house, where my children would visit me every week, when they remembered. After being cooked dinner, I die in my sleep on the morning of my eighty-fourth birthday. Oh, the joys of suburbia.

The second way I had imagined was that my punk band, Everything Sarah Said, became huge after our debut album – recorded when I was sixteen – became everyone’s new favourite record. Our sound developed from snarling punk into snarling alt-rock, and we became a cult band for the first six years, and gained amazing influence. By the time I was twenty, I’d sold two hundred and fifty thousand records, and yet managed to keep my private and public lives separated. Finally, at age twenty-nine, after a night out drinking with the girls, I accidentally crashed my motorbike into a tree. The whole of the Vessenian speaking world mourned my loss, and I was hailed as a real rock star. That’s the dream, anyway.

The third way was what I was now ninety-nine per cent sure was going to happen. Since the war with Jesnar started, and all the conscription started, I am now sure that I will die on the battlefield, blown up by a Jesnari bomb in Intoh or Genoland. Maybe I’ll be captured and die in a prisoner of war camp. Maybe I’ll be hit by shrapnel or fall from the sky in my shot down aeroplane. In any case, I will die fighting for my country for values I don’t believe in. But I guess it’s better to be killed in battle than be shot for treachery. Maybe I’ll object on moral grounds and die doing hard labour, or run away to West Seminor on a boat. But more than likely, it’ll be this: I will die making sure that Jesnar does not take over the country where I was born.

Well, that was what I assumed would happen, anyway. But it turns out that I’m not allowed a nice, neat death like everyone else. But before I go any further into the present, allow me to explain the past.

Writing!

2010-03-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

So I've managed to get some writing done today, in my Physics class of all places.

Only... instead of managing to write anything interesting and fictional, I wrote a load of cheesy song lyrics.

Well, it marks a change. I have progressed from whiny emo to cheesy pop. Or is that a regression? Aaaaanyhoo, I may stay up late and just do some writing. Because I'm really liking my Vamps-At-War universe, and I need to get fleshing it out.

Stop dreaming. Start (writing) something!

2010-03-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

So after a stresful day of French orals (my teacher said he predicts a high A or low A*) and swimming (coming in late and spending ten minutes treading water "playing" water polo), I came home to discover that my 32 Lostprophets posters had arrived from eBay - win.

And that there was a huuuuuge box of French Lindt chocolates that needed eating up... Of course I didn't eat ten of them in one go *cough*

And then, when I booted up the computer, I worked out what had been bugging me for the past week: the Wicked New Writers' Competition. Premice is simple: write a 750-word short story. Deadline closes in July sometime. But that reminded me: some people get their game on - I need to get my write on!

So I've already started trying to puzzle out a plot or something. Thing is, everything I come up with is more suited to a novel rather than a short story.

But I do have another universe worked out - humans at war with vampires. Government conscription means sending more people off every year to "fight" the vampires - really, they're just human sacrifices to appease the vampires and stop them invading. Conscription has certain get-out clauses, depending on whar job you do: think WWII rules... only mean. Convicts got sent to battle. Back home, all the orphanages are full, so prisons are being converted into orphanages. Main character is Bella, a.k.a. Caspar (because she feels like a ghost). I haven't worked out a plot for her yet, but I rather like her universe! ^^

So, expect quite a few writing-orientated blogs while I try and warm up. Also, I have Script Frenzy coming up in April (writing a 100-page script in 30 days). I may make Casper's story into a script. Y'all think she should have a play, a movie, a TV show... what? Feedback in much appreciated, I need to get my arse back in gear for writing!

(P. S. This blog is dedicated to Kath because she told me to go write one, in as many words. I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY NOW!)

one craaaaazy man...

2010-03-10T11:48:00.000-08:00

Have a very short blog today.

Eddie Izzard is truly amazing. Actor, comedian, transvestite; one of the few comedians who can crack me up with almost anything he says. He learnt French and German, so he can make audiences laugh in their own language in Europe.

And he ran 1,160-odd miles for Sport Relief; 43 marathons in 51 days. That's a marathon, every day, six days a week, for seven weeks. And despite all the pain and obstacles, he didn't give up. I can remember looking through all the tweets at the time, thinking he was crazy. Well, yes, he really is, but he's also really amazingly brave, and touchingly funny the whole time too.

Just watch this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00r8zr8/Eddie_Izzard_Marathon_Man_Episode_1/

And if you can, text EDDIE to 70005 to donate £5 to Sports Relief, plus the network rate of 1 text.

But, yeah. All I know for sure is that next time Eddie tours the UK, i am gonna be there, laaaaaaughing. Chicken a la arabiata, anyone?

I'm sleeping so little these days, I guess this is growing up...

2010-03-03T15:34:00.000-08:00

Fuck growing up. I wanna be a teenager forever.

Yes, I have developed Peter Pan syndrome at age 15. I have less than 2 weeks till my GCSE French Orals and I don't know a bloody word. Every lesson I have, homework is being piled onto us and we're expected to do it, and be grateful for the experience - nay, pay for it! No, seriously dude, if I was forced to bring 2 hours of work home with me after a paid day of work, I'd be pissed.

See, I've got to grow old (unless I die before then o_O) but, as a great man once said, growing up is optional. I'll probably remain kidlike forever, whining about irrelevant stuff, craving attention and getting pissed at how much money footballers earn (seriously, what the FUCK?!). I'll spend all the money I earn on gigs - though with any luck, I might be working in a career where going to gigs is my job. (That reminds me, I still need to find that business card.)

But yeah. I'm overworked, stressed, and craving someone just doing something nice and unsollicited. I mean, it's all very well saying I want a hug and getting a hug, but it's totally different just getting one spontaneously, you know?

Lastly, I'm pissed I'm missing Ispystrangers in Luton, because I don't have anyone to go with. Graaaargh. But I have Don Broco and my wife around on Friday, and FTSK on Monday. That should cheer me up aye?

#becauseoflostprophets

2010-02-28T16:42:00.000-08:00

#becauseoflostprophets I am who I am today.
#becauseoflostprophets I have been to Birmingham, Edinburgh and Cambridge and met some absolutely awesome people :)
#becauseoflostprophets I now have an English essay to finish, because I was too busy seeing them gig in half term to do any work.
The world is a better place #becauseoflostprophets
I can honestly say I developed an unhealthy and expensive love of Welsh bands #becauseoflostprophets
This is weird. #becauseoflostprophets is 2nd in the UK but nowhere worldwide, and #becauseofjls is 7th worldwide and nowhere in the UK. wtf?
#becauseoflostprophets I have changed my trending list from Worldwide to UK, just so I can see them in the TTs :)
#becauseoflostprophets there is an amazing Welsh music scene :) Though that might not all be just their cause haha
#becauseoflostprophets I sort of want to get the last train home.
#becauseoflostprophets I giggle whenever I have a plastic knife (and I get weird looks)
#becauseoflostprophets me and @PositivelyLost have found Superman ;]
#becauseoflostprophets I have danced on stage in front of 3,000 with @_telenovela
#becauseoflostprophets I had my eyes opened to a wider world of music.
I am currently procrastinating #becauseoflostprophets (and formspring)
#becauseoflostprophets @Cherifly thinks @jockojohnson is a sexy beast. Hooooooo dear.
#becauseoflostprophets my Kitty Hat has become nicknamed The Mouse Hat.
#becauseoflostprophets @VeryWittyName read my blog and became a good friend of mine :D
#becauseoflostprophets I had awesome-fun Travelodge Timez (tm)!
#becauseoflostprophets I now have a really spammed Twitter Feed. Sorry!
#becauseoflostprophets I had discussions about pews flying everywhere via a church moshpit with @PositivelyLost sitting on my lap :D
#becauseoflostprophets Ian Watkins told me off for being unable to stop giggling at a joke that @rubberubberduck made about flying pews. :')
#becauseoflostprophets we have too many injokes. JAM AND CREAM!
#becauseoflostprophets being the number 1 TT in the UK, i am now neglecting my homework. My teacher would feel so #thebetrayed ;D
#becauseoflostprophets My wife just tweeted "#becauseofmywife" and made me giggle so much that it's now obvious I'm not doing my coursework
#becauseoflostprophets i have skipped 2 days of school and probably failed my maths test as a direct result :'D
#becauseoflostprophets @_telenovela tweeted something which made me choke on my cup of tea and start crying in laughter
#becauseoflostprophets I spent my entire February wishing I was somewhere else so I could see them live.
#becauseoflostprophets I know all the words to #thebetrayed and got such happy looks from @LeeGazeProphets for singing along so loudly :')
#becauseoflostprophets far too many teenage girls (and boys) want to do bad things to @ian_watkins
@Cherifly #becauseoflostprophets all people from Birmingham are now known as DIRTY BRUMMIES. I blame #sturichardsonISsuperman.
just typed "she had demonic possesion #becauseoflostprophets" in my english essay. FAIL.
because of my #becauseoflostprophets tweets, @rubberubberduck may soon have a broken keyboard
#becauseofStephProphets #becauseoflostprophets is a trending topic. YOU GO @STEPHPROPHETS COCO!
4 FOR YOU STEPH COCO! RT:@PositivelyLost #becauseofStephProphets #becauseoflostprophets is a trending topic. YOU GO @STEPHPROPHETS COCO!
... what's a rower doing above #becauseoflostprophets?
#becauseoflostprophets i now groan every time I hear the word "rinse".
#becauseoflostprophets I have the confidence to be myself and not follow the crowd :)
#becauseoflostprophets I have something beautiful to listen to while I fall asleep #thebetrayed
#becauseoflostprophets I'm not afraid to dance like a loon and sing my heart out at gigs :')

... I have a lot to thank them for, don't I? And, judging by the fact it reached Number 1 TT for a while, I'm guessing a lot of other people do to <3

It's Friday I'm in love... (never mind it's now Saturday)

2010-02-26T16:11:00.000-08:00

This blog comes to you in three parts.

Part One: Edinburgh
I should really post my Edinburgh tour blog, but... you know when you don't want to put things into words because it devalues the event? Edinburgh kind of feels like that. I've posted all about Cambridge and Birmingham (the best night of the tour for me), but Edinburgh, though it was more low-key, is something i'm not sure I can describe because it was so unlike a normal gig day.

Part Two: my bank account
Speaking of gigs, there is a good reason why my bank account is currently so empty (read: i have about £100 in there. That's the least I've had in there in about 7 years. This time last year, I had nearly £500. I get maybe £150 a year in christmas/birthday gifts). I have spent almost all my worldly wealth on seeing my favourite bands. This wouldn't be so bad... if I wasn't a student without a job. As soon as I turn 16 I am going to annoy everyone I know until I get a job. Before that - well, I don't know. Bank of Mum and Dad is getting seriously overused. I may have to try babysitting or something equally as atrocious. I know I can't legally help out at most gigs for money until I'm 18 because of insurance from venues, but maybe I'll have a word with my bosses and see if they know anywhere I could get paid grunt work.

Part Three: just general stuff
I miss my friends. I miss some of the most incredible times I've had.

The past year has been the best year of my life. I've made so many great friends, met so many amazing people, seen so many wonderful things. I've had the best nights of my life topped and topped again, and I've got to know myself better. This time last year I was pretty shy and reclusive, but I also had no concept of limits. I'm more confident now, but also more respectful.
It's also been the worst year of my life. Hormones have hit me hard and I can recall a lot more dark times in the past year than I can at almost any other time. I might be a more confident person but I don't know if I'm a better person. I'm also more arrogant, and I've stopped caring how people (except those close to me) see me. I'm eternally stressed now, whereas I used to be carefree. And I've lost some people very dear to me and I don't know how to rebuild the bridges, or if there's even much point if they won't be willing to try and rebuild them too.

I miss being able to be silly and free, and I miss not having things to look forward to. Does that make sense? I used to love just hanging in the present day. Now I'm always thinking about the future, anticipating the next time i get to see the people i love and the next time I'll get the adrenaline rush of live music.

This blog was utterly pointless but hey, maybe reading it, you'll get to understand my mind a bit better.

"STOP TRYING TO MAKE FETCH HAPPEN, ALED!"

2010-02-22T14:51:00.000-08:00

So right now I am holed up in a three star hotel in Edinburgh.
Wow. Wow. Lostprophets in Birmingham. This is tour blog 2/3. Just... wow. Okay, let's see what i can manage.
(Note - this post was done in two parts... and I am now no longer in the hotel.)

Pre-gig:
- Getting up at 8. A positively late start.
- Reaching Brum at around 11 in the rain and sleet and crappy weather
- Getting stranded on the wrong side of the junction and having to beg Kath to come walk me across the underpasses to the Academy
- Realising very quickly that Birmingham in the rain is naaaasty
- Meeting various awesome people who I hadn't met before properly ^^
- Large fries and a muffin in Macdonalds. Nom.
- Getting very wet and sheltering with the Boys Like Girl queue because there was cover!
- Going to Macdonalds again and drying off hoodies/hair/hands under the hand dryers
- Kath passing out on a hand dryer.
- MEAN GIRLS QUOTES ALL DAY!
- Giving up and slumming back to the travelodge witth Aimee and Susie
- Susie dying for an hour.
- Getting back to the gig to a surprising lack of rain.

Gig:
- Getting in to be front row on the left, probably in front of Stu. Pretty decent.
- Slapping the security guard!
- "I love this girl. She has ISSUES!"
- Sharks sounding like The Clash. Pretty decent
- The, um... interesting dancing of the guitarist
- Wondering how old Sharks were (they looked like they were skipping school)
- Spending the entire set trying to work out who the lead singer reminded me of and I still don't know

- Aled being aliiiiiive in Kids' set!
- Having a good ol' fashioned dance and singalong
- Calling various friends and hoping they could hear it
- Mean girls quotes!
- Susie ending up with Aled's stomach in her face and commenting on its lack of squishiness
- Still not beating Leeds in the singalong (BOO!)

- The eternal cheering for Jocko!
- The whole atmosphere... it was amazing.
- "THEY WALKED ON STAGE" - Zoe's contribution to this blog.
- START SOMETHING!
- "Jocko! Jocko! Jocko! Jocko!"
"If you love him so much then why don't you get on stage and encircle him?"
- Getting lifted onstage by the security guard with the lobster red arms (he was the one we'd slapped) and getting deposited in front of Mr Watkins
- Ian staring at me as I scrabbled to my feet most inelegantly.
- Getting dragged onto the riders by Jay after I got lost
- Susie coming up too and a girl called Jad
- Epic grins from all the band
- Jocko being just... excited!
- Ian telling us to sit down and the three of us flatly refusing
- Jay laughing at my DANCE JAY, DANCE! sign
- Doing the Jay dance and singing along to Town Called Hypocrisy and generally making a twat of ourselves infront of 3000 people
- Being filmed by KEITH! (who is rad)
- Getting ushered backstage off the stage
- Adam the barman. A guy who knew all the words. EPIC.
- Moshpit for Shinobi!
- The Light. Just... words cannot describe. <3

Post-gig:
- Begging a plectrum off the security guard :D
- Confusion and hanging out in the wrong place for an hour >.>
- Meeting up with Fran, which was rad, and eating pizza.
- Going round the back and finding everyone
- Jay's drunkeness and general awesomeness... including nearly getting run over, and physically becoming speechless when he talked about wounded soldiers.
- Jocko literally running away but stopping to give me a hug
- Lee stopping to give me a hug and have a very quick chat. I gave him my letter but I have no idea if he's read it or not. Ah well.
- Jay yelling at Sketch and Zoe for getting cold. It was amusing. He practically offered them money for Travelodge rooms.
- Wandering back to Travelodge for sleep and managing to fit 8 people into a room. GOOD TIMES.

And that's about it. I think.
It. Was. AWESOME.

(I Want You To Be) Mine

2010-02-16T14:56:00.000-08:00

I started humming something earlier which was kind of catchy, and I had some words floating around my head, and this was the end result. I think the melody and rhythm rips off Paramore of The Audition or someone like that but hey, it worked out fairly well...

Dedicated to my best friends in the world. You all know who you are.

(I Want You To Be) Mine

I feel like I’ve known you all my life
Like I’ve been in your company
For seven years now
I feel like I could hold you tonight
For a month or a century
You are my dear now

I know that I shouldn’t wish away the days
Until I see you again
And I know it’s selfish but I want you
All to myself
I want you to be mine

Dance, dance, dance with me for a weekend
With me until we can’t walk
On our own two feet
Laugh, laugh, laugh with me behind your hand
Break it down for some small talk
With strangers we meet

I know that I shouldn’t wish away the days
Until I see you again
And I know it’s selfish but I want you
All to myself
I want you to be mine

(You are my best friend
You are my best friend)
Dance with me, dance with me, dance with me,
Dance, dance, dance
Be with me, be with me, be with me,
Stay with me
I don’t care what we do
As long as I’m with you
It’ll be just like heaven

(You are my best friend
You are my best friend)

I know that I shouldn’t wish away the days (you are my best friend)
Until I see you again (you are my best friend)
And I know it’s selfish but I want you (you are my best friend)
All to myself (my best friend)
I want you to be mine (my best friend)

Reasons why I want to be on tour...

2010-02-16T09:07:00.000-08:00

After 2 gigs in 4 days, I'm now looking forward to 2 gigs in 3 days. Lostprophets are playing 4 gigs in 5 days and I'm going to 3 of them. This makes me more excited than I can articulate.

So, Tour Week started off yesterday with Cambridge.

Pre-gig:
- Getting woken up at 6am... then 6.05... then 6.10... then 6.15... then 6.20... Finally getting up at 6.25
- The mad panic of leaving the house at 7am to get to the station in time
- Trying and failing to fall asleep on the 7.27 train to Cambridge because someone was eating almonds really loudly behind me.
- Free extra cream and chocolate on my latte at Cambridge station (win)
- Walking down to the Junction before realising this meant I'd gone 20 minutes in the wrong direction
- Arriving a bit after 9 at the Corn Exchange
- Realising I knew Annie and Chloe at the front of the queue
- Huge, free tour posters being given out XD
- Ian Watkins' HAIR HOTLINE. "Hi, you have reached Ian Watkins' hair hotline. Press 1 if you think I looked awesome with a fauxhawk. Press 2 if you think I should wear a hat more often. Press 3 if you loved my blond stripes. Press 0 at any time for more options. Press 4 if you love my quiff. Press 5 if you think I have dandruff. You have pressed 5... I DO NOT HAVE DANDRUFF BITCH!"
- Buying a 5ft Welsh flag at the market for eight quid XD
- More coffee with free cream!
- Susie (KATH!!!) arriving with far too much Valentine's stuff for me :')
- Giving Kath her Valentine and watching her face light up
- Panda arriving!
- Jay and Jocko walking past but too quickly for me to give them my letter.
- Frequently getting asked by people if we were protesting (I love Cambridge) snd only being asked if we were homeless when we said no.
- Chatting to a gay guy in Lush about Lostprophets and how he went to the same high school as Stu. His dad worked at the same place as Stu's dad, too!
- "I feel so old!" "It's nostalgia night at Lush!"
- Buying Millie's Cookies, and Kath buying a huge multicoloured hoodie from a sports shop. Good times.
- Having Panda do my makeup
- Getting covered in glitter in the toilets
- It started snowing... "OMG IT'S IAN WATKINS' DANDRUFF!"
- Eating really nice food (pizza, dough balls, and chocolate fudge cake) for a tenner at a little restaurant opposite the venue. Did I mention I love Cambridge?
- "Eat?" "Why, are you trying to fatten me up?" "Yup!"
- Being the first into the gig and walking to the barrier. Not running. Walking.

Gig:
- Laughing at We Are The Ocean and spying Jocko and Lee sidestage
- Getting metal hands and a huge grin off Lee \m/
- Getting metal hands off Alfie, the guitarist
- Calling Sam for a couple of songs
- Poking Dan in the leg every time he came and sang on the barrier in front of us
- Dan crowdsurfing... and getting lost in the crowd... and re-appearing 10 minutes after their set finished

- Aled not being quite as dead in Kids' set!
- Calling my friends and having an awesome singalong
- Jocko laughing from sidestage at me and Kath doing the macerena
- Shay grinning madly at everyone who was dancing
- "We have a singalong challenge every night. So far Leeds are winning. You beat them in education, can you beat them in singing?" "FUCK LEEDS!" "Alright, calm down love!"
- Kath putting up the Valentine's card I made her with Sunshine lyrics on it and turning it over madly so it matched what Aled was singing
- Singing "Monday" instead of Saturday
- Getting a setlist :D

- Befriending a photographer and getting a sort-of job offer from her magazine - I have her business card with a photo of Jack Barakat on it.
- Lee stealing Ian's white jeans XD
- Epic fun just... dancing and singing and waving various Welsh flags
- Ian's reaction to my sign
- Mike seeing my sign for him and just shrugging in response. Yeah, I'm too cool to wear Nikes...
- Getting splattered by Ian spitting out water. Yay... wet
- OMEN! It's an omeeeeeen!
- JAY'S EPIC DANCING AND DRINKING
- Spending A Thousand Apologies just air-scratching records
- Getting mega-huge grins off Lee
- Stu spending the whole set looking like he needed his Superman cape billowing behind him, just grinning like yeaaaaah
- Yelling random shizzle at Ian and having him stare at us... so Panda got into an argument with him. And won.
- Happy birthday to Keith!
- Jocko giving me a wave when I spent half one of the songs just grinning at him
- "Can you play ballroom music on there? What about bar brawl music?" "No but I can play this!"
- Last Train Home... too beautiful
- "PLAY GODZILLA, DAMMIT!" It started off with just me and Panda, but we managed to get the chant going enough to get them to play Godzilla. Hellyeah!
- Ian pretending to be deaf when the crowd cried for Shinobi
- The Light That Shines Twice As Bright as the encore, holding Kath's hand and calling Vikki. <3

Post-gig:
- Kath finding an LP plectrum on the floor
- Walking past Joel at the doors out
- Phil coming up to Kath and telling her that he loved her sign ^^
- Chatting to Aled - I got a cwtch and my setlist signed,
- Aled proceeding to wish Kath a happy anniversary for her 10th show and signing her valentine's card and sticker... when really Shay should've signed her card XD "He's the only guy you'd ever go straight for!"
- Having a long and detailed discussion about the Hertfordshire music scene with Alfie from We Are The Ocean: "You've got Hitchin at the top which is My Passion country, St Albans in the middle which is Enter Shikari country, and the south is..." "Watford, Gallows country!"
- Alfie guessing I was 18 or 19... he's only just turned 18 himself, bless'im.
- Chatting to Dan about getting lost in the crowd and laughing at him

All in all, it was a mighty, mighty good day.
And I want it to happen every day for two weeks, for a month, for half a year. I want to get a job as a tech and scramble around gathering up cables and adjusting mikes. I want to be a merch girl, sorting out the tshirts and hats and display board. But most of all, I want to be a journalist and document my travels with whichever band I end up with. I want to tell the world about every amusing detail I can find, so that everyone else who wishes they were on tour too can feel like they are.

One day I'll be on a tour. I promise. For now, I'll have to put up with the £200 or so of expenses that comes part and parcel with Tour Week.

And I cannot bloody wait.

Apparently my ideal life centres around my husband and nothing else.

2010-02-12T16:44:00.000-08:00

Lostprophets was too awesome for words, so I may try to articulate it tomorrow. Today, you get a rant.
Yay? Have you missed them? If you have then... I'm not sure whether to be honoured or sad.

But first, a sidenote - I fell asleep in the brown chair in my living room today and had the best dream I'd had in a while. Yeah, it involved the LPizzles. Stu got a cape and turned into Superman; Ian ended up protecting the modesty of girls wearing skirts in windy weather; Lee had a huge grin all over his face, and of course all the 'Prophetlets had started a band at the tender age of a couple of weeks/months/years old (seriously, there should so be a Lostprophets Junior with their kids. Lee's son Daniyal is destined to be an epic drummer).

Today, in PSHE (Personal Social Health education... basically everyone talking to each other about "issues" and pretending not to feel awkward), our lesson started off by everyone lying down on the floor. Everyone sat there looking heartbroken for ten minutes whingeing about the crumbs while I was lying on my back having a nice doze. By the time everyone had spread out and settled down, our teacher decided to take us on an "imaginary voyage" through our dream life.

Right, I thought, this'll be fun. I instantly pictured myself beside a tour bus, laughing with one of my favourite bands as their friend or tech or both. I was cheerfully getting lost in my daydream when I heard my teacher's voice.

"Imagine your ideal man. Your potential husband."

Fuck, I know I'm not getting married! And though if I do end up with a long time lover then, though it'll probably be a guy, there's a pretty good chance it could be a girl as well. This, and who said my dream even involved being romantically involved with anyone anyway? I could just be single, footloose and fancy free, for the rest of my life. So straight away, I was pissed off with this. Our teacher assumed that, in our ideal life, our careers and ambitions played second fiddle to getting a guy.

Well... Okay, I could just about put up with this. I guess a guy could be part of my dream. I conjured up an image of my current biggest crush (Gus, OBVS), and settled back into my sleepy daze.

"How would he date you? How would he propose to you? What would the wedding be like?"

Um... what? So this isn't our dream future life, it's our dream future life if we were living a hundred years ago when all we had to hope for was a nice young man and a nice house. My dream future is so much more than just a lover. Sure, I've never been in love, and it'd probably be pretty damn rad, but would it really dictate my future life? If it was a choice between my friends and my love, well, I'd go for my friends as I love them all so much, and who says that friendship love is any less than romantic love anyway?

"Where would you live after you got married? And maybe, after a few years of being together, you'd have kids? Have many?"

Um, did you notice the whole I'm-not-getting-married thing? And kids ~after I'm married? What if I want kids and never want to get married? Does that make my life not ideal, not my dream, less than anyone else's dream just because they're conventional and staying within the non-controversial bounds of accepted society? Besides, if I ever felt maternal, I'd adopt. There are enough kids without homes in the world. We should sort out them before we start bringing more children into the world. And now on another note:
My cousin got pregnant at 19 and had a little boy, the best thing that ever happened to her. She got married at 23 to a man who is not his father, and now she's expecting twin girls. My point is, her life isn't conventional. She didn't get married to the first man she slept with. Maybe it didn't work out exactly as she planned it, but it's still her life and as long as she's happy, what right has anyone got to take it away from her?
This, and I was still lying on the floor, wondering why nobody had mentioned jobs yet. What am I going to do, raise the kids while my husband goes out and earns money? Hell no!

Afterwards, everyone was asked for various details. In a class of 14/15 year old girls, everyone had got an idea of their dream man. Fair enough, so had I at that moment in time, because Gus is beautiful inside and out. But nobody else seemed to have noticed the whole job issue. Out of 21 of us, I would say that 16 or 17 had mentally planned their proposals, already got their wedding perfectly planned, and worked out all the other details: "I want two kids, one for each hand. Girls, not boys." Everyone mentioned beautiful weddings and living in huge houses out in the country.

"What about you, V?"
"I'd get a cosy little flat near a tube station. Maybe in Edgeware or a nice part of London. Or maybe Cardiff. I don't know, I'm 15. Why would I have my life already mapped out?"

Everyone just looked at me like I'd told them I planned on spending my adulthood swallowing living kittens for a living.

So, that was my rant for today. My ideal life may involve a lover, but s/he will not be the be-all and end-all. And I think our society should stop encouraging girls to think like drones, a school of thought perpetuated by things like the Twilight saga, and let us be free. I bet if you'd done the same experiment in a boys' school, nobody would have all that all mapped out. My brother doesn't even know where he wants to go to uni, and that's six months away.

My dream for my life is this: be a rock journalist. Have fun. Laugh and sing and let everyone know I don't give a shit what you think of me. Screw marriage, screw a house in the country, screw kids who'll inherit my greasy hair and sore lips. I don't know what life will hold for me until I get there, and I certainly don't want to ruin it by planning too much.

An apology

2010-02-09T11:45:00.000-08:00

Yo bitch,

So you've read my blog on how the world is going to pot and instead of focusing on the main point of it - the fact that we are all doomed - and decided to focus on the fact I called everyone at my school a wannabe chav in order to make a point. You then decided to take this personally.

Um... no. Look here dumbass, maybe I shoulda said prep. Frankly I don't give two shits if you're offended or not. You're still a shallow, annoying idiot who calls me by my full name and still cannot pronounce it correctly (it apparently ends in "aaaaaaar").

Lead a good life, and I hope you go to heaven, because I sure as shit don't want to see you while I'm partying in hell.

THE EPIC ADVENTURE OF THE YEAR 2010

2010-02-08T14:33:00.000-08:00

My French is all about Young Guns.

Right now I am on MSN talking to Vikki and Sam about Lostprophets and Young Guns in Cardiff. It is gonna be THE EPIC ADVENTURE OF THE YEAR.

I will soon be going to bed, listening to Lostprophets and chilling out with an awesome Jodi Picoult book.

I have Lostprophets on Thursday. It is meant to snow, but I will get into London if it kills me on Thursday.

I spent Physics today doodling, and got out of doing History notes because my arm was killing me.

On Wednesday I'm going to dye my fringe again and potentially kill it.

Despite the fact I lost a lot of important stuff on Friday, I learnt my lesson and I found one of the things (my pick) on the driveway, and I'm buying replacements for Hoppy and Happy. They won't be the same but I'm sure toys can be reincarnated, so I'll stick to believing that. Crazy? You know it.

I hate the roundhouse, and my hatred of the concept of fanclubs still hasn't rebated, but if you're in one, I don't hate you. I may have issues with you, but as long as you're an awesome person I'm not that concerned really (:

All I can say now is - BRING ON THE EPIC ADVENTURE OF THE YEAR 2010! CARDIFF HERE WE COME YOU NOT-QUITE-MERTHYRDUCKERS!

As long as there will be rain...

2010-02-02T13:19:00.000-08:00

...there will be clear skies after. Hope that's true for my sake, as my Thursday/Friday/Saturday will be spent being very cold and getting very wet. Today's blog comes to you in several sections: pondering, pissed off, and... um, some other word beginning with p. P-amusing?

PONDERING
Life gets ups and downs, but it'll always be better. I guess you've just to grin and bear the rain and wait for the sunshine afterwards. Or just find a way to get yourself some instant sunshine, talking to friends or listening to a favourite song.

In other unimportant news, I frequently end up in awkward conversations. I just got the following tweet from a friend o'mine, Zak:
"personally one would think that gay guys would like skinnier cocks. less chance of hemmeroids that way"
And I have no clue how the hell to reply. Perhaps, "not being a gay guy, I wouldn't know either way"? I always have to be kinda careful about what I say to him though as he's going through some tough times - the rain. But apparently my English optimism always cheers him up.
Edit - now we are discussing my sexuality. I can summarise by the way my friend described her sexuality: "I like pretty people". Screw if they're male or female, so long as they're pretty, musically talented and nice people, I'll probably like them. That said, I don't like every pretty, musical person I know... Yeah, I'mma shut up about that now and go onto something else.

I've made so many new friends, and - weirdly - a lot of them actually seem to genuinely like me. I find this incredible, and very strange. Some of them, without any prompts, have just randomly said they love me and they're glad I'm friends with them. I'm normally the person saying that, and to have it the other way round is really touching.

PISSED OFF
Now I have an Ethics presentation to continue all about poverty. Dear overpaid footballers: you get £160,000 a week for kicking a ball around. Do us a favour and give that to the 90% or so of the global population who do real work and get appitance for it. I don't care if it means you can't afford a new car, there are people out there who can't afford to EAT. And dear all governmnets everywhere: sort it out, mmkay?

I'm studying the Arms Trade. It's really rather depressing. The small arms trade feeds off vulnerability; people don't have money, and that makes them feel weak. So what do they do? They buy something to protect themselves; arms. Crime rates rise through illegal trade, and with crime comes injury and death and a whole vicious cycle of poverty. And the global arms trade - well, it's one of the most expensive industries in the world. Governments, especially those of poorer countries, are spending so much on weaponry that their people are suffering. Godammit, it's like the Cold War all over again. Spending billions of weapons you'll never use and bankrupting your nation means a lower standard of living, higher poverty rates and general doominess for all involved.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE...
I... um... Dammit, I'm so pissed off thinking about the arms trade that I'mma have to shut up now and do my ethics! Seriously, governments, what the hell? You need food, not more friggin missiles!

We just have to try and understand the problems from the past and make it through all the bloody problems we're facing now, because tomorrow can only be better.

When I was a kid I filled bottles with messages of hope
Now I wake up clutching broken glass
Cause all my questions have been answered by the flood
Even those I never asked

All the storms that I've seen
Are countless reasons not to believe
But I know that as long as there will be rain
There will be clear skies after

Every day under the sky I stood, arms raised in imitation
Watching birds in flight
Now I'm older youth has passed me by
But I'll keep reaching till I get what's mine

All the storms that I've seen
Are countless reasons not to believe
But I know that as long as there will be rain
There will be clear skies after

No matter how far I go
I know that you are by my side
Together we'll see this through
As long as I am still alive

All the storms that I've seen
Are countless reasons not to believe
But I know that as long as there will be rain
There will be clear skies after

There will be rain, there will be clear skies after
There will be rain, there will be clear skies after

Bringing In The New Noise

2010-01-30T14:25:00.001-08:00

Today's blog comes in a normal rant about the media, music, mainstream-ness, and how nobody has any free will about what they listen to anymore. Oh and me pimping out one of my favourite bands that you should go listen to NOW (actually, if you're reading this blog, you probably already like them...)

I got on Facebook today at around 10pm only to be confronted by the following statuses:

"Batchwood was awesome :) x"
"JEDWARD WAS AMAZINGGG. BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE <3"

... So what? You saw Jedward at Batchwood, and it was the best night of your life? Seeing a pair of blond people who cannot sing, did not even win XFactor and probably didn't come out and see their (screamy fangirly and almost certainly fucking terrifying) fans?
Really? Did it beat all the nights you hung out with your friends and cracked lame jokes? The days you spent shopping or chilling with people you love?
Seeing some Sean Smith wannabe twats sing autotuned songs written by underpaid people with more rhyming dictionaries than braincells? Really?

This is what I posted on Facebook in response:

"Dear all those who love Jedward and saw them tonight: Fuck off. Go see a real band, one who've had to work and didn't get by on hair and bad acting. See a band who have fans who've followed them for ten years and know every word to every song they wrote themselves. Go see a real band, and not some talentless gits who just got a lucky break."

This all goes back to the whole Rage Against The Machine thing. The 'machin'e is popular media, and 90% of the population will follow exactly what they are told. It's up to us, the 10% who got away, to rage against it and to spread the word. If you turn on most radio stations they will play the most popular music, and you will get sucked into a never-ending cycle. All popular music is on the radio, and you will get to like it by listening to it, so you will go out and buy it, hence it will become more popular and get played more. So more people will listen, and like it, and buy it... It's a vicious cycle.

To be honest, the music industry is turning to shit. I want to work for a magazine like Kerrang! or RockSound, one who support the little bands struggling to make it because they have all the talent and none of the backing.
You want to go see a new band? Go see Young Guns, with a lead singer so beautiful and talented he will make your heart race, and songs big enough to land aeroplanes on. Go see My Passion, with electro grooves and a rave vibe. Go see Deaf Havana for a good ear battering, or Don Broco because they are a hip-hop/hardcore crossover with amazing results. They are bands who have, with almost no press behind them, worked hard and slummed it. They have built up fanbases through original songs and hard work and through talking to fans like they're old friends, earning money by playing gigs and selling merch.

Young Guns are giving away their new single Winter Kiss as a free download. Even if you've never heard them before, go listen. It's all about spreading the word. And they were selling a bundle for £6. Poster, hard copy single, tshirt. They earnt no money from it whatsoever. They just want to get heard, and they bloody well should be.
Whoever you are, go download their single. It's fucking amazing. Better than any Jedward cover you'll ever hear, and that is a FACT (Fucking Amazing Clear Truth).

This is a shoutout to my twinny Laura, who is currently in Southampton or going towards it. It was great to see her agan and I'll see her next week at K! tour, where the mighty My Passion and Young Guns will, of course, be playing!

Music Friday III: Black Market Music

2010-01-29T14:58:00.000-08:00

Today, by request of my darling Kath, I am reviewing BLACK MARKET MUSIC by Placebo. So, shall we get started?

Ooh, a nice little guitar riff to get us going... Aaaaand drums. So far I'm liking this. Stripped down retro feel. And... um, a synth? Maybe? I can't tell. Yeah, this is my first time listening to TASTE IN MEN and already my mind is getting fucked up. Brian Molko's voice is freaky, as haunting as ever. The song is dark, as with most Placebo, begging someone to coming back to him. "I'm killing time on Valentine's", croons Molko. Don't worry sir, I'm sure you'll get plenty of offers. It's a nice opening, fairly low-key but building nicely. And a burst of static to end...

DAYS BEFORE YOU CAME has a similar inital vibe, broody and grungey and rather desolate. I mean, any song with "freezing cold and empty" as the second line is probably not going to be cheerful. For some reason it reminds me of The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance, despite being far more stripped down.

SPECIAL K starts with a soft (acoustic?) guitar, and then breaks into a still rather subtle guitar/drum combo. Mm, it's still slightly depressed, but in a different way. The breakdown, which has a major harmony in it (I think... music technical stuff isn't a strong point of mine) helps to move the song along and the quiet "ba-da dum-da-dum"s in the background actually enhance the mood instead of seeming like a cheap marketing gimmick.

I hear drums. And somethign almost nu-metally. This is SPITE AND MALICE, with vocals quiet enough for me almost not to hear them. Yes, I was right - some rapping has slipped into the middle of this song. It now seems like a slightly dispirited Rage Against The Machine. The swearing seems out of place, but otherwise the song provides a more energetic contrast to the previous album tracks.

On PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE we are back to a mellow song, with a spoken-word echoing beginning to build mood. On this song, Molko proves he can put aside the whiney tone of voice and actually pull out some really pleasant sounding vocals - Oh, no, just at the end of words, it sneaks back in. What a shame. At 5.23, it is quite a long track a little repetitive but it does develop in a nice, laid-back-slightly-depressed way (if such a way can be called nice) and seems dreamily wistfull.

BLACK-EYED certainly trumps the Peas of a similar name. With some slightly creepy techno creeping into the background and Molko proclaiming to be the "product of a broke home" it is, like all Placebo, not an easy listen , but it does seem more optimstic than other songs - or is that just my twisted mind?

And now... is that a piano? It reminds me of another song, which I can't place. "It sounds pretentious, but it's true" claims Molko. Mm, that could be said of a lot of Placebo's music. BLUE AMERICAN - ah, the odd references to "Mom" and "Uncle Tom" make sense now. Not the strongest song on the album, but an interesting continuation of the same mental health theme explored in a different way.

SLAVE TO THE WAGE starts in a squeal of distorted guitars. Calling Margaret Thatcher a bitch was quite an amusing turn in the song, and yet the message - that work and life in general is a race of rats to die - resonates rather well and provides a nice refreshing change from the generally introverted musical theme.

Now this doesn't sound like Placebo at all, actually. COMMERCIAL FOR LEVI seems like a continuation of the previous song, in a way. It is, so far, the most cheerful song on the album. "Please don't die". Yeah, I like that. It's a good idea, and also merrily tells us to stop doing drugs. Thanks for the advice, Brian - but you could've taken it yourself. Where did the title of 2006 album Meds come from again?

Now, the biologist in me is pondering whether HAEMOGLOBIN really is the key to a healthy heartbeat, but the clasutrophobic atmosphere of the song works will with the idea of being cut open and examined by strange doctors. It's a somewhat uncomfortable listen, but well worth it.

I can't help but wonder where Mr Molko gets his ideas for titles from. NARCOLEPTIC? Is this a song about narcolepsy? Why have you gone back to mentioning words and books like in BLUE AMERICAN? And now we're being warned of ending up as a wreck... the song develops nicely with a storyline behind it, though the ending seems to be repeated a few too many times for my liking. Yes, we get the idea about never making up, and you don't have to send us to sleep.

PEEPING TOM is a melancholy ending, with reverberating synths and lyrics that seem reminiscent of hearing voices. It's a subtle end to what has been a generally understated, grimy yet somehow magic album.

Reading this review you might think I'm being critical of Placebo. Well... I am. But that's because those are just the things I could find to say. Just saying that every single song is a disorientatingly simple journey into your own head would be the easy way out; dull to write and dull to read. Picking apart flaws is just another way for you to appreciate the dark beauty and majesty of an album which is 11 years old, and yet continues to be relevant and haunting. 8/10

Minor scahdenfreude is perfectly normal...

2010-01-28T15:41:00.000-08:00

Yes, the title is something I said trying to comfort one of my friends. Yes, I am crap at giving advice. I'm always good for people to tell problems to, just don;t expect anything useful on the whole "making-you-feel-better" front.

So, tomorrow is Music Friday III. Any idea what I should do? I was thinking I'd review a (new, maybe) album, one I haven't heard before - thoughts and ideas?

Today's blog is actually a non-blog. I have nothing blogworthy to talk about apart from my usual minor gripes of homework, which nobody really cares about, and being told to do more flute practise by my "I-was-a-wonderkid-who-did-grade-8-at-the-same-time-as-my-GCSEs-and-also-invented-a-cure-for-the-common-cold-while-i-was-at-it" music teacher.

This entire week, I've been convinced it's Friday every single day of the week. Ergo, as it really will be Friday tomorrow, it is guaranteed to be a massive letdown, as I have to do all my homework for the entirity of next week (minus my English coursework, which will get done at exactly midnight of the day it's due in... which is actually a couple of weeks away). Today's homework was Maths (torturous, confusing and most likely failed), Music Theory (which I had to restrain myself from doing in case I accidentally burnt it into cinders) and RS (which was fun, because I did it while listening to Journey. On three now: DON'T STOP! BELIEVIN'!

It is a week until the Epic Camden Campout. This time in a week, I will be on a street in London, shivering my arse off in seven layers and a sleeping bag, and yet I am possibly more excited for this than I have been for anything in a long time. The week after that, I'll be in Brixton, chatting to LP after the gig (hopefully), or if not befriending security. Or being on the way home. Any which way, the next two Thursday evenings will be EPIC FUNTIMES.

Also, my friend Kath and I have made a pact... if ever one of us becomes stuck in an unhappy marriage, we will keep other other on speed-dial so the non-trapped one can "swing by your house with dynamite, bust you out, and take you to a Welsh gig ASAP".
It sounds like a good plan to me.

So, leave a comment telling me what album to review! And good night y'all, see you on the real Friday!

Depressingly pensive and terribly written.

2010-01-26T16:03:00.000-08:00

So many people can fall apart in the middle of the street while so many people can just walk on by.
So many people can fall apart at home with nobody to help.
So many people can scream their frustration across the world on the internet, but even with the whole world on the other end of the line nobody takes the call.

And while all these people are falling apart, be it next door or in a different country or in a different fucking galaxy, there are all the others who carry on as normal.
So many people notice, but are scared of getting involved.
And so many people walk on by without realising what's going on.

And then there are people who say everything is fine, and maybe it is just below the surface, but they're falling apart inside.

Human emotions are wonderful, beautiful, awful things and the world is a wonderful, beautiful, awful place. There seems to be no such thing as balance.

And in the end, we all fall apart.

NICKNAMEZ

2010-01-25T14:34:00.000-08:00

So Kath and I have decided we need to invent some more nicknames for everyone on the Kerrang! tour so we don't get confused. She, of course, is Kath.

We started this off when we realised we could tell the difference between Simon Young Guns and Simon My Passion without writing Simon YG or Simon MP. So we shortened that into Siyg and Simp!

And then we decided everyone needed a new nickname. EVERYONE! And so, we have...

MY PASSION
Laurence = Dinosaur
John =
Jonny =
Simon = Simp

YOUNG GUNS
Gustav = Noweigan Wood
Fraser =
Johnny =
Ben =
Simon = Siyg

THE BLACKOUT
Sean = $ushi
Gav = XRay Eyes
Matt = RiffBoy/Sad Puppy
Snoz = Teddy
Bob = THE FURY
Rhys = Spoon/Rhys Withaspoon/Prom Queen

ALL TIME LOW
Alex =
Jack =
Zack =
Rian =

Expect this blog to be filled in with more nicknames and the names or random people too xD Oh, and Lostprophets and KIGH may well end up getting NickName'd too... depends how much time we have on our hands XD

Plot blog for those wondering will be finished maybe tomorrow or Wednesday assuming I get time... o.O

BECOMING PERFECT: PLOT NOTES

2010-01-23T16:45:00.000-08:00

This blog will be of absolutely no interest to most of you (hey, but that's most of my blogs anyway ;D) as it's being used as a place for me to work out what's going on inside my head re. latest story idea.

BECOMING PERFECT

In *insertcountrynamehere*, all people have 2 names: a Child Name and an Adult Name.
The Child Name is a name given to them at birth by their parents, e.g. Chance, Fate, etc. It is used from birth to age 18 and may still be used by family members/close friends after the Adult Name has been adopted.
The surname is formed by mother's Adult Name + -ken for a girl (e.g. Kindken, Hopeken) and father's Adult Name + -kin for a boy (e.g. Righteouskin, Bravekin).
So my main character's Child Name is Chance Hopeken (daughter of Hope Loveken and Brave Bravekin).

The Adult Name is a name given to them by The Trusted (evil dictator stalker government type thing which is considered to be perfect). The Trust monitor the person's progress and send out a List to each person on their 14th birthday of their 10 potential Adult Names. Adult Names are a characteristic or trait (e.g. Perfect, Hope, Optimist, Lonely). The recipiant's Adult Name will be one of the ten on their List, and they have from between their 14th birthday to their 18h birthday to aspire to gain the best Adult Name on their List (so, if Perfect was a potential name, you would aspire to become perfect to be given that name. Hence the title, Becoming Perfect).

In this country, there is only one way in our out and it is closely guarded by The Guards (the military). No flights go over the country, and nobody in the country is aware that anywhere else exists - they believe they are the only people in the entire universe.

Chance Hopeken is 14 and she's been having bad dreams for the past year or so about being taken away, but she's always brushed them off as nothing. She receives her List on her birthday which gives Perfect as a possible Adult Name. Chance, being the perfectionist she is, instantly aspires to be Perfect, which means that over the next 4 years she cannot do anything wrong. She was to become Perfect.

She has a big brother aged 20 called Benevolent Bravekin. There's a rumour that he has been invited to join The Trusted as their youngest ever member, but rumours are very quickly stopped by The Trusted (by people with big guns and sunglasses...). She also used to have an elder brother whose Child Name was Gamble, but he died (note - "died") before he could be given an Adult Name.

While aspiring to be Perfect, Chance is taken aside one day by someone claiming to be a member of the Police, though she clearly isn't. She also asks Chance if her name is Eliza Carter (note - this sounds absurd to Chance. All names are *a word* plus *parent'sname*-kin/ken, so neither name registers as a real name) or if she knows anyone of that name. The "Policewoman" also makes some reference to Eliza being taken away, which sends alarm bells ringing in Chance's head re. her weird dreams - she worries that she is going to be taken away.

Time passes. Chance continues having weird thoughts, and we find out more about her family - especially her big brother Gamble, even though her parents dislike talking about him and it obviously makes them uncomfortable. Her mum lets slip something that suggests his death wasn't an accident, and more hints are made about Benevolent maybe being introduced into The Trusted. Chance continues trying to become perfect.

Chance runs into more people who ask her strange questions if she knows anyone, and she meets the Policewoman twice more. The second time, the Policewoman asks her more about The Trusted and Chance is baffled by her accent - she has accidentally started talking in her normal American voice instead of the voice of this country. The third time, Chance is very suspicious but allows the Policewoman to tell her the story of Eliza - a girl who was born in the US and stolen from her parents to be part of a government-sponsored experiment in a foreign (currently hostile) nation, who were trying to create a perfect society and wanted to bring in an outside influence, the daughter of two doctors, to see how she developed in society. There is a hint that the Policewoman is more interested in this case than just professionally.

Around two years after the story starts, Chance is seized. Physically grabbed and bundled silently into a van, where she finds the Policewoman who explains everything to her - Chance is Eliza, and the Policewoman's name is Jenna. She is Eliza's big sister. While trying to absorb this, Chance/Eliza is brought to a Secret Headquarters which has somehow been concealed from The Trusted (don't ask me how, dunno yet). Jenna explains she is part of a top-secret operation by the CIA to try and bring down The Trusted, and the only way to do it is to infiltrate The Trusted somehow. Eliza then meets the native leader of the operation - Gamble, whom she thought died 5 years ago.

With Gamble, Jenna, and other people's help, Chance starts to question Benevolent more carefully and find out more about The Trusted and where the headquarters are. Then, she is asked by The Operation to follow Benevolent into the base, and she hesitates, weighing up her quest to become perfect versus the fact that The Trusted are evil twisted dictators, and after a bit of a dilemma decides to follow Benevolent.

Of course, Benevolent knew about it the whole time, and Chance gets kidnapped and taken before The Trusted, who reveal that they know everything that is going on and were just letting The Operation carry on it could be stopped. Chance is told she is going to be executed publically, which will bring shame to her family. Benevolent, realising this means The Trusted have tricked him and he wouldn't be able to become a member, frees Chance and tells her to run.

Benevolent is killed for his betrayal. Gamble and Jenna, outraged, lead a seize on The Trusted, creating enough of a distraction for Chance to sneak inside the base. Gamble and Jenna find they can't kill The Trusted; inside, Chance finds out that each member is actually a hologram and the whole country is a mass social experiment as run by the Americans.

Jenna and Gamble decide to leave for America to try and stop the secret organisation. They tell Chance to come, but she decides to stay in the country and try and sort out a new government. The first thign she does is get rid of the bizarre naming system, and starts by chosing her Adult Name herself in a speech to the country: she says she is a proud person, and is proud of all her faults, and so choses the name Imperfect.

It needs a bit of work and will no doubt get drastically edited, but that's the basis of it. Huzzah!

Music Friday II: The Garage Gig

2010-01-22T12:23:00.000-08:00

My monkier for my weekly Friday segment needs work. Music Friday doesn't quite work. I'll think about it, or you can tweet me some suggestions xD

So, here's your journalist-honing torture - i mean treat - for today:

LOSTPROPHETS AT RELENTLESS GARAGE, 18/01/10

It's all very well to be let into a venue at 6.45, but having to wait on the barrier for nearly an hour and a half to see your favourite band can be dull. Sure, you're in the warm, but it's cramped and hard to move around and the music is so loud that talking can only be achieved by shouting directly into somebody's eardum. The atmosphere is annoyed, but excited - soon, a behemoth of British rock will be onstage.

All irritation leaves the crowd as soon as the Welsh band take the stage in their first gig of the new decade. Tearing straight into TO HELL WE RIDE, the one-man-down 'Prophets start as they mean to carry on: powerful and punchy. DSTRYR/DSTRYR and IT'S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD (BUT I CAN SEE IT FROM HERE) remind the assembled throng why they're here - because today, Lostprophets have released their first album in 4 years and by golly it's a corker.

For just over an hour, the band sing, thrash, headbang, banter and, um, towel each other off. "We last played here in 2000! Who was there?" asks Ian Watkins. Half the crowd screams. "You liars!" he adds, laughing.

The highlight of the set is hard to chose; maybe the beautiful WHERE WE BELONG, which can compete with perrenial classic Prophets classic ROOFTOPS in terms of singalong value and began with an argument about the name of the girl on the phone, a girl who is now forever to be known as Kath. The other contenders were the epic SHINOBI VS DRAGON NINJA, which inspired much 2000-esque nu-metal dancing; and of course, the unified headbanging to BURN BURN.

Lostprophets are not a new band, and they have never claimed to be cool. A lot of people tonight were here just because it was free. But for the dedicated masses assembled before them, Lostprophets put on their usual spectacular show, and you know what? It rocked.

9/10

Missing people who may not even remember me.

2010-01-21T14:15:00.001-08:00

All my friends know who they are. I love them all, no matter how much I moan and bitch and threaten them and how much they may hate me.

The thing is, I'm having another crisis of confidence. I feel like this more than I wish I did, hence why people have given up reading my blog because they know I just whine about my feelings and my very comfortable situation in life in a vaguely emo way.

My main problem is that all my friends are friends with each other in a much closer-knit way than I am. Sure, i'm the newbie. I've always been a n00b, pretty much, but I still end up feeling kind of left out. Nobody really wants to be with me. They just put up with me, when they'd prefer to be with someone else.

The only person who ever wants to hang out with me is my cousin, who is awesome but lives in Edinburgh. I miss my family too, and I've already mentioned how much I'm going to miss my brother.

Anyway. Basically, my friends have better friends. Best friends. So if they're together and I;m with them, I am a third wheel - totally and utterly useless. Which just leaves me feeling... well. Positively lost. I float.

Still, there are worse things to be than floaters, eh? At least I do have my friends. Dear everyone reading this - I miss you. Come hang sometime?

And then there's the people in the title. The bands I see. Lostprophets, The Blackout and Young Guns are the main offenders. I mean, they remember me when they see me - or to be more accurate, they remember my hat (Lee: Oh, it's YOU! I didn't recognise you without the hat) - but none of them know my name. I plan on teaching it to them in February and seeing if they remember it. Some members also owe me various things - Ian owes me a picture in my hat, and Fraser owes me a stint as merch girl with Young Guns.

So. Comment below about the people you miss maybe? :)

Two weeks on Friday seems so far away.

2010-01-20T13:45:00.001-08:00

Right, so, I have decided today will be a highlights blog of Tuesday, and Friday is going to be my Do-Something-Vaguely-Journalisty day, so I'll be trying my best to do a review of Lostprophets on Monday's gig, and probably have a little ramble at the end about the other random shit that happened that day.

So, Tuesday was pretty fun...

- Dad getting lost driving to Hitchin and ending up driving around the Sainsbury's carpark about seven times
- Getting to the right street. Not being able to see the venue - then "WAIT! Stop here!" upon seeing Si (Young Guns) standing by a van. And realising I was first in the queue o.O
- Running up a slope to find Young Guns unpacking their van, and Gus seeing me and stopping in his tracks to give me a hug (like almost every teenage girl to see Young Guns, I love that man).
- Reminding Young Guns that I hadn't seen them since last decade
- Forgetting how bloody skinny all of Young Guns are
- Gus appearing out the venue...
Noisy people: Who's that?
Me: It's Gus.
Gus: Yes, my dear?
Me: *bursts out laughing and falls off the wall*
- Befriending the guy who owned Club 85 by being quiet and polite, and persuading him to let me into the warmth. So I was sitting in the sort of anteroom for a bit, thinking "this is nice"... then getting told I could go into the venue as a "friend of Tam's". So I walked in, and ended up befriending the sound guy as well...
- Getting creeped out by the sound guy... quite a lot.
- Not having to show a ticket or ID and getting stamped as an over 18. So I just claimed to be straight edge for the night. Which is almost true.
- Hanging out at the merch stand with Young Guns for about an hour with nobody else around.
- Calling Laurence "Cruella de Ville" to his face, which made him laugh, and then we had a chat about being short. "Oh yeah, I was short... when I was seven."
- Bagging front row centre when I realised that other people had walked in too.
- Spending all of Adam's set wondering where I knew him from.
- Tweeting during Kyra's set and getting manically told off.
- Young Guns owning the night and having mad face-pulling competitions with Ben, Gus and Johnny while they were onstage.
- Gus's total blindness when I asked him for water. "I don't have any!" "Yes, you do... over there... *facepalm*" "See, we're nice guys really!"
- Seeing Matt, who is still known to me as the Raving Rabbit.
- Being addressed by Kyra's drummer as "hey, Straight-Edge Girl!"
- Spending My Passion's set having a bit of a rave. They always put on a good show, top guys.
- Spending from when the gig ended until we got thrown out with Gus and Ben at the merch stand discussing pretty much everything.
- Gus: So many people preordered Winter Kiss, it was insane! We were up for twelve hours yesterday sending out all the orders...
Me: So you sent them out yesterday?
Gus: Yup. Did you order one?
Me: Yes! When will it get to me?
Gus: About two days, I think.
Ben: Oh no, not hers. We burnt yours, so, you know... Tough luck.
Me: Aaw, and I was going to wear it to Kerrang! tour and everything...
Ben: ... We bought you a new one?
- the sound guy really starting to scare me properly, so I ended up hiding in the merch cave behind Gus.
- Johnny and Simon bullying me into putting my hat back on
- Gus and Simon jointly deciding that Young Guns would adopt Annie and I as big brothers.
- Security guards: Alright, time to go everybody!
Me and Annie: Noooo!
Guard: *to Annie and I* Alright, move it.
Gus: *grabbing our hands* No, they're with me!
- Gus and Ben doing pictures and leaving Annie and I in charge of the merch for about ten minutes (which was hilarious to say the least)
- Packing up all the tshirts, telling Gus where everything was, unpicking all the tape... yes, we turned into merch girls :P
- Fraser promising to take me on tour as a merch girl
- My dad getting lost on the way to Hitchin... again... and Young Guns looking after me till midnight, when they had to leave. They promised to come hang with everyone in the queue for K! tour though, if I bought them food in return. Fair deal, if you ask me.
- Gus claiming the good ol' "bad back" excuse as a reason for not doing anything.
- "So, if Lostprophets are my fathers, and Young Guns are my brothers, what are My Passion?" (Annie) "Your lovers." (John Be).
- Chatting to John Be at midnight about guitar strings rusting from sweat...
- Laughing at Stape and John trying to load up the van.
- Laurence threatening me if I didn't say hi to him at K! tour, and giving me a warm get-home-safe hug.

So, yeah, Good night. I think I'm now more excited about seeing Young Guns again than any other band, though. They're just such sweet guys.

Lastly, I found out a coupla girls who were camping for K! tour in my year are planning on "stealing someone's van"... not realising that they don't know the bands in any way, shape or form. Hearing this made me laugh so much. Get over it, girls. I've met three of the bands enough to be remembered by them, and I somehow doubt I'll manage to get into their vans to sleep. Yes, that sounds kinda arrogant, but it's more just an assertion of confidence. I may not be as rich as them or as nice as them or as slaggish, but the bands always ask after me and my hat and who knows, maybe they don't mind having me around. So good luck getting into their vans, girls. You'll fucking need it. Otherwise bring duvets, shut the fuck up and camp.

2010-01-17T06:16:00.001-08:00

So today my mother told me that my brother wasn't taking a gap year before university - which really startled me. I'd always assumed that he'd take a year out, but no, apparently not - he's planning on finishing school this summer and starting Univeristy this October.

Where he goes depends on his results, but it looks like it'll either be Bath, Southampton or Birmingham, none of which are too far away. All of them are fairly easy to get to, and assuming he's allowed people to stay the night, there's a sort of unspoken agreement that if I go to gigs nearby I can just crash at his digs afterwards.

So, being a younger sister, you'd think I couldn't wait to get rid of my annoying big brother? Well... no. He's my big brother, and I've grown up with him. I can remember the fights we used to have about who sat where, hurling insults at each other until one of us snapped and made for the other (I was usually the one who snapped first, to be honest). I can remember when we were little and had our own made-up world. Nowadays, I'm older but no less annoying, and he just takes it all on the chin. He's great with small children because he's so much more patient than me. I'm impetuous and restless with a temper about as long as my fingernail. I always get ill and overact; my brother never does. He always gets him homework done on time, only ever got a detention once for something which wasn't his fault, and never causes my parents any trouble. He's practically perfect.

And I'm gonna miss him. So I have eight months before he leaves in which to annoy him as much as possible before he disappears for weeks or months at a time.

In other somewhat-related news, my father's coming home today. He's been in his childhood home of Bawdsey, which is a little village near the Suffolk coast about a hundred miles away, visiting his mother (my granny). My granny had a fall on Tuesday and fractured her ankle and knee, and my dad went down to visit her on Wednesday. Her leg's in plaster from toe to knee, and she's now got someone staying with her for the nights so that if she falls over again, they'll be able to do... something.

It's been really weird not having my dad around to threaten me with things if I don't do my homework, or yelling at me to stop winding Mum up, or telling me to stop whistling. But he's been worked up for a while now because of his mother. He'll probably take another few days off work to see her next week, too.

I'm not sure the point of this blog, other than the past few days have reminded me how much I love my family, even if I do moan about them and they do piss me off. I mean... family is family.

The Cheated. The Mislead. The Deceived. The Obsolete. The Broken.

2010-01-15T05:33:00.000-08:00

And at a guess, Jocko would be The Misunderstood.
They are The Betrayed.
Have a very amateur album review, done track-by-track as I listen to it:

Right. I hear the sound of drums. Catchy. And there's some pretty heavy, sweet riffage going on. Yes, this is IF IT WASN'T FOR HATE WE'D BE DEAD BY NOW, a song named after its first line. Lyrically the song is quite aggressive and dark, which sets the tone for the whole album and even the album design. Ian Watkin's voice is a snarl, which works well with the general song's attitude, and he manages it with some nice melodies.

The song segues perfectly into DSTRYR/DSTRYR, another angry tirade - this one directed against religion and nonbelievers (presumably in Lostprophets). The gang vocals - "Destroyer! Destroyer!" - work really well in added extra power, and the refrain of "Destroyer, destroyer, we live inside the fire, we live inside of you" builds into a powerful climax. Cue another nice riff. The only thing I would mention is that the song seems a little derivative in parts.

Aah, another interlude. This album flows very well. And now... morse code? Can anyone translate that? Ah, I hear familiar chanting. Yes, it's IT'S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD BUT I CAN SEE IT FROM HERE, the radio-friendly lead single from the album which describes a "city of your dreams" as it "crumbles into hell". The chances are you've already heard this song round and about. Big hooks, and typical singalong choruses as we've come to expect from the Welsh guys.

I'll take this moment to praise Stu Richardson for his production capabilites. The album is polished, yet raw enough to command respect. Oh, what's this? Second single WHERE WE BELONG is probably the most poppy song on the whole album. Swap the headbanging for your hairbrush, line up to the mirror, and practise belting out the soaring hooks while marvelling at Watkins' falsetto.

After the anthemic feel to the previous song, the vicious opening to NEXT STOP ATRO CITY might catch you by surprise. This song reminds me of their first album thefakesoundofprogress - the beginning especially is rather similar. The drumming matches the frantic pace of the song. My only comment would by the slightly suspect chorus - "We've got velocity/Next stop Atro City"? Unintentionally amusing.

Isn't the beginning of a song by The Audition? Wait, who's Simon? Why's he lying? Are the Pontypridd boys after Simon Cowell now? Maybe. FOR HE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELON returns to the bouncy-rocky-metal tinged formula and inserts random names in for good measure. So, Mikey, where did you get those Nikes? I bet you stole them off Sean Smith, didn't you? Add a good dose of "whoa"s too, and you get a cheerful song which fights off the chance of a mid-album lull.

I hear synths now, and some drums? Jay sounds like he was having fun. This sounds like something out of Muse if they toned down the scary technicality a bit and stuck it in a blender with some tar. Dark and sticky - hey, when did the drums stop? Static crackle - and this, according to the tracklisting is A BETTER NOTHING. Oh dear, more falsetto. I'm getting a 4am Forever vibe. Another reference to a city being destroyed here, too. I'm not really feeling this song as much as some of the others yet. Come on boys, impress me. And... Oh, they got so close, but the slightly spooky, atmospheric vibe they injected just didn't quite take off.

Now, to cheer you up, you get some cheerful jaunty piano and Ian talking about - guess what? - a city. Well, the streets anyway, in STREETS OF NOWHERE. I guess Ian hates Pontypridd more than he lets on. It's happy and another great song to have a bit of a dance to, but there's a dark undercurrent lurking just beneath all the merry lyrics about inside jokes and monotony. Ooh, and you get some fun "la la la"-ing going on.

The song ends rather abruptly and we're thrown straight into DIRTY LITTLE HEART, a rather more melancholy song. This is the compulsory love-and-loss song, and it's actually pulled off rather well - the almost ska-like guitar in places adds a different spin on the music while keeping it light. Oh look, a reference to streets. Either this is supposed to be a concept, or that rhyming dictionary went walkies... I jest. It works well, and the song seems quite poignant.

And now, a dark prog-rock interlude. I hear lots of drums. Ooh, a piano. And synths. Was Jay feeling under-appreciated? There's something ominous about this interlude, and the hissing does nothing to ease my mind about things to come. And then DARKEST BLUE starts, a title accidentally stolen from Jack's Mannequin (Dark Blue). The guitar riff here again deserves special mention, and the song - with rather a more hopeless feel than the rest of the album - serves as a nice counterpoint to all the happy, saccharine moments. Were they all a facade?

Guitar. A slightly haunting background synth. THE LIGHT THAT SHINES TWICE AS BRIGHT is here, the epic swansong of the album, which had all of Lee's guitar parts and Ian's vocals recorded in one take. If you thought that falsetto was impressive before, try listening to it here. Lostprophets claimed to have put their heart and souls into this album. And hear that, which sounds like drumming underwater? That is their heartbeats, recorded and used as a drumbeat. Nifty idea, which has a really great effect on the ending epic song. The whole thing feels like the calm before the storm - and the thunder starts rumbling at the end. "This is how it feels" claim the band, as piano re-arrives from nowhere. Then the synths take over again, and there's a weird buzzing, which all fades away gradually. Listen carefully, and you can make out something like footsteps under the sound of someone getting an error message on the computer.

Ending thoughts - Hmm. It's two and a half years late. It's cost them over half a million dollars. It's been a labour of love, to say the least. And was it worth it? It sounds like their three previous albums have been analysed, dissected, and the best bits of each taken and liberally doused in bitterness and anger. There's heavy guitars, chants, sing-a-long choruses, and refrains that will get lodged in your conciousness and drive you crazy. So, overall - yes, it was worth it. It's the album for the disillusioned, the frustrated, the downtrodden.

It's an album for the betrayed.

I've got some real weird friends and such good times...

2010-01-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

Yay for blatant ripping off of You Me At Six lyrics!

So I'm listening to Lostprophets in preparation for seeing them on Monday... because basically, I am beyond excited. If I had the physical capabilites to do backflips and raise the roof via only the power of my own happy thoughts, then I would. I was excited weeks before I saw LP for the first time - from around the start of October onwards, despite all the other gigs I had, I was most looking forward to the 'Prophets. It's quite a small venue too, which makes it better. I mean, I've seen a couple of other big bands in pretty small venues (All Time Low at McClusky's, and The Blackout at Barfly/McClusky's/Clwb Ifor Bach... and the video shoot was pretty small really) but I'm still more excited about this than I have been for pretty much any other gig I've ever been to - save perhaps the two Blackout December shows (originally Portsmouth, but then the excitement got transferred to the Caerdydd show XD). But roll on Monday - I'll get to hear tracks from The Betrayed live again, hopefully having heard them on CD beforehand, so I know the words a bit better XD

And now for something completely different...

A question I was asked on my FormSpring reminded me of The Interesting Thoughts of Edward Monkton. Quirky and usually funny, and unusually philosophical for greetings cards, here are a few of my favourite designs:

Good day/Bad day?

2010-01-11T13:22:00.000-08:00

Good day
Bad day

So I started off with a French mock
It went better than expected
Then I had a listening mock... which went worse than expected.
But I had a thermas of hot summer fruits for lunchtime. Which was warm.
English and Physics, boo hiss.
But I managed to turn a skydiver into Batman
Detention after school... was boring and had to write an essay.
Then I had to walk down an icy hill to get to Gran and Grumpa's, where Dad picked us up
But Mum bought me Hotel Chocolat on the way down the hill
Then I watched Being Human and had French Toast for tea.
And realised how much homework I had.
Then I checked my emails and found out I HAD WON TICKETS TO A FREE LOSTPROPHETS GIG! *does a dance*
*does more dancing*
*dances some more*
Then I found out the You Me At Six at Brixton has sold out.
Then You Me At Six sold out while I was ordering my ticket. Graaaargh *stabs Seetickets*
And there are two girls going who only found out about the gig thanks to me who are really smug about it and actually mentioned my name... Which annoys me >.<
But I will be seeing Lostprophets on Monday!
*megadance*
Now for homework

So... good day, or bad day?

Jonny "Itch" Fox Is My Favourite Poet

2010-01-10T07:55:00.001-08:00

So, sitting here, praying that I will get snowed in tonight, I find myself pondering music and procrastinating furiously.

Right now, my favourite band is probably The King Blues. In all of their songs, there's always at least one line which gets me and makes me smile, or makes me think, or makes me mad at the government.

I guess I can't really explain it, so I'll just post the lyrics to Out Of Luck. Admitted, it's so much better sung, but still. If this song fails to move you, consider transplanting that heart of stone somewhere else.

With a red scrunchie for a birthday gift
She scrapes her hair into a Croydon facelift
Punch drunk love at sweet sixteen
She thumbs a ride to Gretna Green
Leaving something old for somewhere new
To be with someone battered black and blue
She turns out her light with a song to sing
Grabs her shoulder bag and an Argos ring
And she says,

"Without a penny in my pocket
I'm out of luck in this kind of town
But I've got you right by my side
So I won't let them drag me down."

He turned from Jack the lad into Jack the dad
His heart was pure, but the town was bad
He had a broken heart from a broken home
She heard his breaking voice through a broken phone
He said, "For you girl I'd walk a Swedish mile
For a Glasgow kiss and a Chelsea smile,"
So he drove until it was morning light
And the birds will sing him to sleep tonight
And he says,

"Without a penny in my pocket
I'm out of luck in this kind of town
But I've got you, right by my side
So I won't let them drag me down."

I hate February

2010-01-09T06:49:00.000-08:00

So many awesome bands.
So many gigs.
Not enough time, money or parental concent.

So far the plan is:

Feb 5th - K! Tour, Camden
Feb 6th - K! Tour, Camden
Feb 10th - Cobra Starship, Shepherd's Bush (hopefully)
Feb 11th - Lostprophets/Kids In Glass Houses, Brixton (hopefully)
Feb 15th - Lostprophets/Kids In Glass Houses, Cambridge
Feb 17th - Lostprophets/Kids In Glass Houses, Birmingham (hopefully)
Feb 19th - Lostprophets/Kids In Glass Houses, Edinburgh

Now... add to that:

Feb 6th - All Time Low, Kingston
Feb 8th - You Me At Six/Young Guns, Highbury and Islington (hopefully)

Basically by the end of February I will be dead.

Last note. It was something someone mentioned - would you pay £30 to have the chance to meet your favourite band face-to-face (amongst other stuff)? So that got me thinking. Of all my favourite bands, who would I pay that much to meet?

The answer came up... Well, My Chemical Romance. And that's about it. But that's more because there's pretty much no other way I'd get to meet them. Most other bands: well, I sort of assume that I will eventually get to meet them, if I hang around for long enough. Arrogant? Maybe. I prefer optimistic. God know it's the only thing I am optimistic about. I've already met Madina Lake, The Blackout, three of Papa Roach and four of Lostprophets more out of luck than anything else, as well as All Time Low at a signing. Sure, it'd be lovely to meet them again, especially Madina Lake, but I can manage without it.

I guess I admire people for having the dedication to a band to spend that much on them. Me, I just float... My favourite band can change on the spur of the moment. And when I look at £30, I see two gig tickets right there. Perhaps the moral of this story is that I need more money. Which makes me sound arrogant, again. *sigh*

February could potentially go very well or very badly depending on what my parents say, how cold it is, and how good I am at deceiving them. Wish me luck with all three, hell knows I need it.

Snoooooooooow and other business

2010-01-07T13:18:00.000-08:00

So there's around three inches of snow outside my house - which is enough that school has been closed for the past two days. I was meant to go back on Wednesday. I'll actually be going back tomorrow - Friday - assuming that the roads aren't too icy. But as tonight is going to be the coldest night for yonks, and the ice will freeze solid, I'm too petrified of getting in a car to consider school. But I'll probably end up going in anyway... Bloody parents. Bloody school for being open.

Other business, let's see...

I feel compelled to say something about The Hustler Club, despite not being a member, because it's taken over my Twitter feed a surprising amount. I don't really have anything to say, other than as much as I love ATL, I don't have the money to spend on joining their fan club.
The other thing are the early entry offers given out to fanclub members. I had to contend with them at Brixton for Papa Roach and my friends had to put up with them at Paramore. To be honest, something about the principle of paying to be able to get in earlier just rankles with me. I understand the logic behind it, and after 12 hours on the streets of Camden I'll probably wish I had entered for early entry and won it, but as it is I'm just against it. And that's all for that.

I'm listening to Katie P's Rock Show right now. She played Young Guns, which was awesome, and mispronounced my username, which made me laugh. But I'm liking the playlist - it's a bit heavier than what I usually listen to, but it's pretty damn awesome.

Lastly, my hair is annoying me. It's a bit too short on top and the fringe is just an awkward length. Give it a week and it'll be fine. Also, the back of my neck is funny - I had my hair clipped along the back, so it's fuzzy. Properly fuzzy. And now I've mentioned that I can't stop stroking it. And that sounds far dirtier than it is.

Four weeks tomorrow till K! tour. That means four weeks till I see All Time Low for the 3rd time, The Blackout for the 7th time, Young Guns for the 5th time (by then), and My Passion for the 9th time (by then). The plan seems to be to beg one of the bands to let us sleep in their van.

Bring it on.

The Old/Young Powershare

2010-01-06T12:15:00.000-08:00

The young are in charge. Or they will be.

I, being born in 1994, am part of the Hoodie Generation. I have grown up knowing how to use email and mobile phones. I can remember the excitement of Pokemon Red and Blue on the Gameboy Color, and the phenomenon of the Gameboy Advance and DS. I know people who shop at Topshop and H&M and River Island; I know people who buy most of their clothes exclusively online or on merch stalls after amazing, sweaty gigs. I've grown up worrying about the environment and the economy; in the midst of the recession, I spend more money than ever but I feel bad about it. I'm already panicking about university tuition fees and wishing I could go back to being five years old, playing with lego.

I am one of the youths. Adults in suits might rule the waking world, but we are in charge online and after dark. And even if we're not now, then in twenty years' time we will be. There's a worrying chance that one of my brother's friends will end up in charge of the Tory party. We are the young, and we understand that the old, the ones in charge, are making a bloody mess of the country. We can't wait to be old enough to sort this country out ourselves.

The thing is, the old are trying to become young. And they're stealing all our hobbies. And by the time we are twenty or thirty, able to make a difference, we probably will have forgotten everything we wanted to change and been brainwashed by the rest of our grey community.

I'm not quite sure of the point of this blog, other to muse on something that I saw on The History Of Now (an awesome programme on the 2000's currently on the BBC iPlayer). An expert, or a magazine editor, or something, who was being interviewed or asked for an opinion on there said something to the effect of "There is a war going on between the old and the young. The old have the power, but not the longevity, and the young don't have the power, but they'll be here tomorrow".

But even if we are in charge tomorrow, what are we going to change? And is the world going to go from just being crap in the hands of old people, with people born in the 90s complaining, to a world in 2030 being crap in the hands of the present-day youth and people born in 2010s and 2020s complaining?

Basically, I think we're all doomed.
And I really bloody hate the Tories.

Another one bites the dust...

2010-01-05T13:47:00.000-08:00

And another gone, and another gone, another one bites the dust...

Yes, I'm listening to Queen and bloody proud. I'm not sure why that's the title of the blog today, but it seems sort of accurate.

Today is the last day of my summer holiday. So, what have I done?
- Gone to the doctors' surgery and been given antibiotics (my second course in just over a week... *sigh*) because my chest is still infected.
- Got my hair cut shorter - fringe trimmed and generally cut short. I look... well, much the same, just a bit neater
- Realised I can't sit on the sofa because the cushions have been cleaned, so watched TV from the floor with my back against a very wet cushion
- Rewatched the latest Doctor Who, plus watched Doctor Who Confidential and Doctor Who's Greatest moments
- Tried to do my Drama essays... managed one
- Looked at my Latin and considered crying
- Did some flute practise
- Bought some Young Guns merch, and accidentally bought a shirt far too large for me which I am trying to refund
- Started writing this blog

That's pretty much exactly what I have done today.
Oh, and wondered what I'm doing about the ATL acoustic instore. I'll buy the album because I want it, ask for the ticket, and then on the day decide if the people saving my space in the queue are trustworthy enough for me to disappear off to Kingston. To be honest, I'll probably end up going anyway.

Goodbye, Christmas holidays. Hello six weeks of torture, punctuated with French mocks and gigs.

2010: A Late Start. And 2009: A Retrospective

2010-01-03T13:20:00.001-08:00

2010 began with lots of family gatherings.
Having just spent six days (28th December - 2nd January) with one of my best friends in the world, I feel I now ned to collate everything together.

So, to begin, 2009 stats:

Novels written: 1
Best addiction: Gigs, with lattes in 2nd place
Best live band: The Blackout (x6)
Worst live band: Strange News From Another Star
Most Seen Bands: Saving Aimee (x8), My Passion (x7), The Mission District/The Blackout (x6)
Bands I wish I'd seen more: Lostprophets, All Time Low, Young Guns
Favourite bandmember met: Rhys or Snoz from The Blackout
Best adopted big brother: Snoz fo'sho
Longest time spent without sleep: 25 hours in Brixton
Longest time spent queuing: 13 hours in Brixton
Best position: Lostprophets, October 22nd (front row just off centre)
Best hugs: Three-way tie between Jacoby Shaddix, The Blackout and Madina Lake
Best possibly-gay cloakroom owner befriended: Slug
Most famous person in kitty hat: Probably Jacoby Shaddix
People who have worn the Kitty Hat: I can't remember. Around 80.
First gig of '09: Saving Aimee/None The Less/This Part Is Us
Last gig of '09: The Blackout/Dopamine/Ispystrangers
Best month: August/October
Worst month: November
Things I should've done: finished my novel (probably won't happen now D:)
Most missed people: (in no real order) Ashleigh, Panda, Bee, Susie, Vikki, Annie and pretty much everyone else crazy enough to put up with me :)

So that's sorted, this is something I've stolen off Susie to start 2010 with: a profile of me, so I can see how much I've changed by the start of 2011.

Name: *sigh* Veronica Sylvia Margaret Wells
Age: 15
Birthday: 6th September 1994
Hair colour: Brown with a few very faint orangey stripes in my fringe
Eye colour: Blue/grey
Glasses: No
Braces: No
Vegetarian: Pescatarian (no meat, animal fats or gelatine, but fish, eggs, cheese etc. are fine)
Shoe size: 3-5 depending on the shoe
Favourite band: Lostprophets or The Blackout
Most seen bands: See above
Favourite TV programs: Doctor Who, Torchwood, Scrubs, Being Human, The Simpsons
Favourite films: The Simpsons Movie, Finding Nemo, Four Weddings And A Funeral, Bridget Jones' Diary, About A Boy
Favourite book: Too many. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Favourite colour: Purple
Favourite sweets: Well, Hotel Chocolat.
Favourite school subjects: Drama, history
People I already miss: See above

See you later in the year. Peace out.

"Do a U-ey! DO A U-EY!"

2009-12-30T08:54:00.001-08:00

Thanks, Rob Brydon, for the quote of the day...

So, Cardiff was megafun and needs a supermassive black bloghole to prove it.

- Started off at 8am and no maps. Left at 10am, and spent three hours singing and dancing to The Audition.
- "HEEEY, MISS MERTHYR CAN I? HEEEEY, MISS MERTHYR CAN I? TAKE MY SHEEP!"
- Deciding to make video diaries every hour (fail) and trying to get as many people as possible in them (more on that later)
- Arriving at the venue in the middle of a fucking blizzard and standing with about 7 other people
- Going to Wetherspoons for cheap as chips... well, chips and warmth!
- There were drink holders in the cubicles!
- Vikki's gormless "I'm putting on my makeup now" look
- Hearing a beep,and then jumping when we saw something moved. It was the airfreshener.
- Seeing Susie for the first time since September and meeting her crazy friends
- Chatting to The Blackout while we were cold - lots of warm hugs, and Bob recognised me and sight and asked how my arm was, then cutched my head.
- Giving Matthew the evil Blackout cupcakes
- Going to Costa... and having Bob stalk us there.
- Getting out Sharpies in the middle of Costa and sharpie-ing tattoos on each other!
- Talking to the Blackout while freezing (seriously, Gav stood on my foot and I didn't notice)
- Getting into the venue and standing by the heater to unfreeze
- The guy at the desk being blind enough to miss A. Luff and Vikki panicking
- Walking up three flights of stairs with dead feet
- Getting Jay in the video diary
- Showing Jay all the sharpie tattoos and seeing him eye up Vikki XD
- Ispystrangers were pretty good, lead singer was epic...
- Meeting Marianne Harris in the gig
- Dopamine being interesting
- One of the techs looking like Matthew's nerdy little brother
- The fucking Blackout finally getting onstage
- "We'd really like it if you'd sing along to this one. If you don't know the words just make them up. And if you can't make it up then just mime it, or snog the person next to you"
- "Naah, Goffs don't enjoy Christmas. They only enjoy being sad."
- The immense pain of Save Ourselves where Vikki got stood on the head.
- Ringing Sam for the last three songs and having Sean hang up by licking my phone (eewww, STIs)
- Vikki getting a solo in Children Of The Night
- Matthew looking dead (he had a lethal cupcake?)
- "Come and party like a chav!"
- Fucking crowdsurfers trying to kill us >.> They did our heads in (literally)
- STAGE INVANSION! On stage, next to Sean, screaming into his microphone with him
- Getting massive Jay hugs, and Vikki bagging free badges
- Snoz and Rhys on the video
- Showing Snoz the tattoos and him looking confused.
- Getting a picture with Rhys: "Cuddle me, bitch!"
- Giving out presents to Panda, Ashleigh and Bee (who I didn;t really get to talk to... but hopefully things aren't too bad)
- Failing at sneaking into the afterparty
- Walking back to the TraveLodge and meeting Rhys and his girlfriend on the way back, who asked if we had enough money for our rooms and was really concerned.
- Bending the truth... "Yes, Dad, we're at the hotel now. Hi". And then leaving the hotel ten minutes later.
- Kettle Chips: Saviours
- Trudging back to the venue feeling anticlimactic
- Waiting outside with Frances and a Polish girl
- Everyone loading into the van and giving us warm cuddles
- Snoz: What're you doing here?
Rhys: I thought you went to the Travelodge
Me: We did... we came back. My dad thinks we're in bed.
Snoz: Good stuff, good stuff!
- "Jay, can you pan the camera around in the back for the diary?" (me) "Nope, they're all having sex." (Jay) "True." (*sex noises* Bob) "Do you remember when you nearly got arrested for making sex noises?" (Jay)
- Elton John getting stolen by the Polish girl from Jay, who offered her silver hairspray (spray paint) and a punch in the face is she gave him back
- Singing allong to The Fratellis as Jay drove off and nearly crashed
- Waiting in the venue - yay, heater!
- Homeless dog outside ripping apart paper bags
- Rupert/Mikey White, from Ispystrangers, hanging out with us.
- Being selfconcious with the kittyhat and wanting to see the picture
- Befriending a gay cloakroom manager, called Rhys Lewis (or Slug) - ("Is that a homeless snail or a naked one?")
- Slug writing V + Vikki: FABULOUS on his hand
- Being little meet and greeters to improve the ambiance and making lots of friends, shaking hands and getting hugs and wishing everyone a happy new year
- "I never take off my beanie... but I will for that kitty hat!" and talking about the guy he chucked out
- Learning Welsh words... "Caerdydd" is Cayer-deethhhhhh"and learnign the Welsh for "up the bum no baby"
- Vikki convincing Slug she was from Glasgow (he guessed she was Scottish)
- "Now, stop with all this self-depreciation, we're all fabulous people"
- The careful description of a blue Barber jacket for a guy who'd lost his ticket
- Seeing the security guard turn his back and legging it into the party!
- The bloody empty bottles against the wall
- Seeing Ian and Sean DJ... hahahahahahaha
- Finding the girl who bit Meg
- Aled "Le Tramp" Phillips on the tour diary, and "Calvin with a Klein"
- Back to Slug for chats
- Missing Yan because of Slug
- Mobbing Sean in the alleyway
- "Your phone number is 0800-STI-STD"; "Don't rape Sean!" "I won't, I don't want the STIs!"
- "Put a serious face on, we're Goffs and we hate life"
- The silver sharpie being a source of fascination. Well, simple minds...
- Mikey hugs (he picked Vikki up and ran off with her, then picked up Panda and felt her arse) and Slug hugs (he picked me up and swung me round)
- Eyeing up Sean's car:
Vikki: Oh you don't earn much then.
Crowd: Oooh!
- Vikki getting the last hug, with a hug face-off and a My Passion Simon impression
-Sean actually trying to run me over. It was terrifying. He had his teeth gritted and looked like someone had just told him Ian Watkins was straight.
- Racing Sean down the road and winning, and him either waving at us or swearing... then realising he had gone the wrong way and reversing up the road again
- Profusely singing "4AM FORRREVEEEERRR!" walking back to the hotel
- Being unable to open the door due to early-onset zombification (or concussion)
- Quick snooze
- The mental images... Snoz as a bouncer, them all as waiters serving us Sean and Rhys stew, and working out which of the guys was the best big brother (Snoz)

Just found all the guys on Facebook and added them, and Mikey has come said hi to us already :) And we sung The Audition and Lostprophets all the way home XD And "A Little Piece Of Heaven" as a tribute to the Rev.

Scrooge time!

2009-12-25T17:04:00.001-08:00

Huzzah, Christmas has ended for another year. All things in bold are things I didn't ask for, and all things in italics were things italicized on my Xmas list, ie things I really wanted:

Present haul:
- This Is War by 30 Seconds To Mars
- Absolute Boyfriend manga, volumes 5 and 6
- The Sims 3 World Adventures (not useful... see below)
- Laptop carry bag
- £40 in cash, £15 cheque, £15 gift card (to be exchanged for cash)
- An Abundance Of Katherines by John Green (finished)
- Rainbow legwarmers
- Purple leopard print tights
- A mini slab of dark chocolate + 6 dark chocolate rum truffles (I hate rum truffles)
- Deathnote manga boxset, volumes 1-12 (I own volumes 1 and 3)
- Purple spray-in hairdye
- My laptop fixed in time for Christmas (hasn't happened... but at least it's being fixed. However the CD of The Sims 3 was still in there, meaning not only can I not play it but I can't install it on Dad's computer either)
- The Blackout in Portsmouth with Vikki

Yeah, about that last one... The gig got cancelled.
£120 in hotel fees, £40 in train fairs and £60 in gig tickets... gone. Unless I get refunds and I have no idea if half the places even do them.

I also discovered my dad's edited version of my Xmas list (which was written in order of what I wanted, and italicized items were what I *really* wanted)

The Betrayed by Lostprophets and Hold Me Down by You Me At Six preorders - nope, they weren't done.
Crash Love by AFI - no.
7 gigs which I wanted tickets to (won't list them all, but there were 7, all italicized) - no (seriously? Not even one?)
Paper Towns by John Green - no (fair enough, not sure if it's out in the UK yet).
The Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger - no (Oh come on, you can get a used copy from Amazon for about 50p)
Fruits Basket manga, volume 10 onwards - nope

You know why I didn't get much? Because my main present was Portsmouth with Vikki... which has just got effing cancelled.

So, other miseries then:
- Getting to sleep at 3am last night, waking up six (it was more but I lost count after six) times during in the night, waking up properly at 6.45 and my brother refusing to get up till 7
- What I assumed was just a cold breaking down into a suspected throat/sinus/chest infection, which lead to all breathing, talking and swallowing being immensely painful
- Pain in my throat, chest, nose, ears and sinuses being compounded by period pains and rampaging hormones
- Not being able to eat much because my throat hurt so much, and what I did eat having no taste
- Not being able to eat Christmas pudding
- Falling asleep on the sofa numerous times
- My gran and great-aunt asking me if I ate sausage meat (hint: I haven't eaten meat for the past 4 years, nor have I eaten turkey. So no, I do not fucking eat it)
- Taking an hour to find all the relevant medication I needed before bed (inhalers, pain killers, mouthwashes, other mouthwash, cough syrup, cream for my dry skin)
- Blowing my nose/coughing up horrible yellow gunge all day. All. Bloody. Day.
- Sneezing up blood
- Portsmouth gig being cancelled

Mm. I think that's everything...

Merry Christmas. Hope you had a more fun one than I did.

Christmas Eve Playlist

2009-12-24T09:16:00.000-08:00

Inspired by the lovely Tiernan Douieb (he's nice, most of the time, go find him on Twitter), here is my own Christmas Eve playlist... it's not very festive, mind. And it's not so much a playlist as just random songs that I thought were vaguely in some way appeo

1. I Got Love - The King Blues
2. Sunburn - Muse
3. Heartbeats - Jose Gonzalez
4. Love Like Winter - AFI
5. You're Gonna Go Far, Kid - The Offspring
6. I'm A Riot? You're A Riot! - The Blackout
7. Konstantine - Something Corporate
8. The '59 Sound - The Gaslight Anthem
9. First Day Of My Life - Bright Eyes
10. Just Like Heaven - The Cure
11. A Praise Chorus - Jimmy Eat World
12. Don't Stop Believin' - Journey.
13. Rock N Roll All Nite - KISS
14. Where We Belong - Lostprophets [or, as it's not on my Spotify, Rooftops - Lostprophets works nearly as well]
15. Reasons Not To Be An Idiot - Frank Turner
16. House Of Cards - Madina Lake

And, to sum up my sentiments and finish off my playlist...

17. Happy Holidays, You Bastard - blink-182

So maybe I'm turning sentimental...

2009-12-23T13:31:00.000-08:00

But I make no secret of it: I love Christmas. I love feeling like a little kid again, unpacking the boxes from the attic and putting up decorations. I love stringing up tangled fairy lights all around the house. I love watching Mum get all the Christmas card precariously balanced on the sideboards. I love over-eating until your trousers are too snug to be comfortable.

I love getting up at 6am with my brother and getting the stockings down from above the fireplace and emptying them out our parents' bed while they wake up and complain.

I love tearing paper off presents with rabid enthusiasm. I love giving presents to others and seeing them beam. I love the way that my parents are so sleepy that they don't argue until at least 10am.

I love Mum's annual panic about turkey and her failed attempts at gravy. I love my Gran's insistence on doing everything, despite the fact that we stopped eating at her house because it was too much stress for her. I even love the way she always asks me why I'm not having turkey and refers to my pescatarianism as "a phase" (which has so far lasted 4 years).

I love seeing my great-aunt, who I see twice a year, makes a habit of insulting me and my beliefs, and then smiling indulgently at me and saying she loves me and is proud of me.

... No, wait a minute, I hate that bit. And come to think of it I hate being bugged about not being turkey.

And I hate getting presents I didn't ask for which I didn't ask for for a reason: because I didn't want them.

I hate the way we have to squish together on too few seats, and I have to sit on the floor or offer cake or just be a good little hostess girl and offer cake and tea.

And I hate the inevitable arguments about the petty trivial things and the way everyone just gets riled up and at each other's throats.

And despite all that, I still love Christmas. Merry Christmas, everybody, and have a fucking awesome new year - I know I will, because I'll be in Portsmouth partying with Vikki, Kelly and Annie, and six Welsh BAAAASTAAARDS!

Chin up, all, it's nearly Christmas!

Happenings: Part I

2009-12-22T09:12:00.000-08:00

This is the first part. To be honest, it breaks at a weird place because that's just how much I can fit onto the image canvas I created. Click the picture to read the story.

A Short Story: Happenings (the process)

2009-12-22T08:36:00.000-08:00

Here was the thought process behind this short (4,095 word) story:

2am, December 20th: I have this idea. It's annoying me. I can't sleep.
3am, December 20th: Hell I'm going to write this down.
5am, December 20th: Story is written. It's a pile of crap but at least now I can go to bed.

All day, December 20th: I must not read what I wrote or I will edit it into oblivion. I know it's crap.

Some point, December 21st: Read my story. Dear God it's so awful that I can't edit it or it'll lose all meaning.

4pm, December 22nd: Read the story again. Actually it's not too bad... just needs some tweaks.

NB - I have noticed that this blog is defunct as I cannot copy and paste any text... so I will have to find another way to get the story up. It might take a while.

Formspring II

2009-12-20T15:15:00.000-08:00

Q: What is your quest?
A: To be loved. To be remembered. To create something beautiful and be rewarded by people appreciating it.

Q: What is your name?
A: V. Haha thought I'd tell?

Q: What is the average air speed velocity of an unlaiden swallow?
11 metres per second or 24 miles an hour. And I <3 the Monty Python reference.

Q: If you could stand on the rooftops and scream your heart out...what would you scream?
A: I would tell everyone to buy the new Lostprophets album ;) "FUCK, I KNOW I'M DIFFERENT AND I FUCKING LOVE IT. IF YOU DON'T LIKE ME FOR WHO I AM THEN YOU'RE A TWAT. I'M NOT GOING TO CHANGE FOR YOU."

Q: Ever had a girlfriend?
A: No, but I do have a lot of wives.

Life is random and good.

2009-12-20T15:10:00.000-08:00

So I read over the story I wrote between 3am and 5am. Aaah it was cringeworthy. And about a random Motley Crue-esque band, so kind of cringeworthy for all the boozing and sex.

Aaaaanyway...

RAGE MADE NUMBER ONE! BOOYAH!
And Lee Gaze's wife (I'm terribly sorry, I have no clue what your name is) had another baby 'Prophetlet, a little boy. We're rooting to call him Tom or Zach in honour of RATM's Xmas Number 1. Lee's had an awesome day, clearly.

The tree is up, I've drawn more pokemon on Paint, and my cat is happy. I've booked tickets and trains to Portsmouth, so I'm going to Portsmouth on NYE. And it looks like with a bit of work I'll be going to The Party on the 29th...

Life is fucking good.

Writing!

2009-12-19T19:20:00.001-08:00

Wahey, it's 3.20am and I'm writing. I'm fucking freezing but I'm writing.

It's not even anything important - just an idea that was niggling and I needed to get down. I'm guessing it'll only take about 4,000 or 5,000 words to finish off, so I'll do it all tonight before I go back to bed. Hopefully.

Maybe I'll post bits of it up here once it's done - not that anybody would read them.

If this blog doesn't make sense then it's because I'm sleepy.

Oh, and lastly: if Rage Against The Machine aren't number fucking one then Joe McEldoofus is gonna receive some serious hatemail. Not from me, just from all the fellow RATM campaigners. Like Lee Gaze. God he's a monster on Twitter.

Winter

2009-12-17T06:57:00.000-08:00

You know it's nearly Christmas when:

- You get round to seeing friends you haven't seen for months
- You can't turn on the radio without hearing Mariah Carey or Wham!
- The Radio Times and Kerrang! bumper issues arrive
- Christmas cards are up on the sideboards
- There's only a week of shopping days left before Xmas and you only have 4 presents bought
- You're ready to get a Christmas tree
- All the wrapping paper mysterious appears from nowhere
- It's raining

You know it's going to be a fucking odd Christmas when:

- It starts snowing
- Your friend a hundred miles away has snow
- You don't actually want snow yet

Thanks to the unseasonably wintry weather, I am now petrified of queuing overnight. Solution? Persuade my dad to buy me a pop-up tent for gigs. He's thinking about it.

I must be mad.

2009-12-15T12:33:00.000-08:00

So I have an odd amount of bands/people I might be travelling for. By "travelling", I mean further than Cambridge. I mean places where if I say "I'm from just north of London", people look at me in surprise (happened at Colchester, and to some degree in Surrey).
So here's the list of possibles as it stands (with all train fairs in advance) as of today, 15/12/09:

23rd December, GBGR, Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach, £5/£6 gig, £33.00 train fair
31st December, The Blackout, Portsmouth Drift In The City, £28ish gig, £18.45 train fair, £60 accommodation
17th February, Lostprophets, Birmingham O2 Academy, £28ish gig, £29 train fair
19th February, Lostprophets, Edinburgh Corn Exchange, £28ish gig, £13 to Edinburgh + £20 home

The Blackout, Cardiff... when they next play there on a Saturday/in the holidays

Bloody hell, all the bands are Welsh.

Odd Thoughts For My 100th Blog

2009-12-13T12:18:00.000-08:00

Well I finally reached three figures of blogging. And I thought to celebrate I should do something useful...

Then I remembered that it was ~me writing this blog, and instead I decided to fill it with some odd things.

- When listening to songs, change the word "heroine" to "heroin" in your head. It yields some odd results... basically everyone just turns into a druggie.
- If one siamese twin commits a crime, can the other one testify against them... and if the one who commited a crime is found guilty then does the innocent twin have to go to prison too?
- The epic facebook group of "The hilarity of Harry Potter quotes when changing "wand" to "willy""
- How many contexts can the word "up" be used in?
- My parents are going deaf to the point that they no longer notice the pinger going off. This works to my advantage most of the time.
- How much ribbon would it take me to corset the Winter Kiss Young Guns tshirts?
- Why couldn't I hear Metallica from my house last year when they played Sonisphere?
- Why, when I hear the word "stoked", do I do think of fires?
- If I ever had someone pretending to be me, I would be flattered that people thought I was respectable and interesting enough to be worth impersonating.
- Why does the second helping of something never taste quite as good as the first?
- When I am on twitter, nobody tweets. As soon as I start doing something else, all I notice is the little tab heading on my browser telling me that there are (5) (7) (132) new tweets.
- Twitter tonight can be divided into 3 distinct camps: OLLY TO WIN!; I LOVE JOE!; and Fuck off, I don't watch X Factor.
- Why is the word "merry" only applied to Christmas?
- Out of iPlayer's most watched programs on 12/12/09, 6 were comedy programs, 2 were distinctly comedic (Jonathon Ross and Top Gear), and the remaining 2 were episodes of Eastenders.
- The awesomeness of the Rage Against The Machine for Christmas Number 1 campaign.
- 12 days to Christmas; 18 days to New Year's Eve; 19 days till 2010.

That's all the totally random stuff I can think of right now. Merry holidays!

Formspring: the first 2 questions

2009-12-11T16:34:00.000-08:00

After much confusion and much help by Ashleigh, who is far more sensible about internet matters than I am, I have worked out how to answer Formspring questions...

Q: why did my husband forget his house keys meaning I have to stay up?
A: Hello, big cousin. Well if I knew the answer to that I would be a much better cousin, but as it is I will say "because he had a temporary blip of memory when he left the house".

Q: Pokes. Do you love meeee?
A: Not totally sure who this is, but why not? Yes, I do love you.

Bandwagons, editing, and old school music

2009-12-11T16:12:00.000-08:00

Today's blog comes to you in three parts.

1) Bandwagons

As much as I told myself I wouldn't, I did. I got myself a FormSpring. Which I am incapable to linking to... Well I doubt anyone would use it anyway. Check my twitter (twitter.com/ObliViVion) for link if you're interested. Note: I have yet to work out how to answer questions on it... Yes, I fail at the internet.

Other than that, i've been pretty good at staying away from bandwagons... though the JAGK shirt, sadly, may be another one. Oh dear, impulse buys are sure to cripple me and my bank account. Must... resist... urge...

2) Editing

It's December. It has been for quite some time, so I should really be trying to edit my NaNoWriMo novel. However, I've become more occupied with finishing it.

Editing is my downfall. Sure, I can edit as I go along - hence why NaNo is so hard, because you have to kill off that Inner Editor, or at least give him/her some industrial strength chloroform - but as soon as I get to the end and see a whole great chunk of 3,000 (English essay)/50,000 (NaNoWrImo 2007/2008)/65,000 (NaNoWriMo 2009) words in front of me, I panic and just don't bother.

I was meant to edit my English coursework. Of course, it was due in on Monday 7th, and I was still writing it on the night of Thursday 10th. I just got my parents to read it and make sure it made sense, and had to try and explain what a Byronic Hero was.

Basically, if I'm ever going to cut it as a writer, I need an edior, or to pull my socks up and try and edit myself - meep.

3) Old School Music

Motley Crue are playing Sonisphere Festival. Better than the fact it's in the UK, it's in HERTFORDSHIRE. I am seriously excited and I am going to beg to go even if it cripples my bank account further.

More bands are going to be announced, but I'm definitely most excited about the 'Crue. Oh... and IRON MAIDEN! My cousin will have three kids by then, but I'mma beg her to come down and see them with me because it's their only UK gig of 2010.

And in other news, I'm just been listening to lots of pretty old music. Journey, New Order, Joy Division, The Smiths, Motley Crue, The Carpenters, Sisters Of Mercy... It's fun.

Pride and Prejudice... and Zombies

2009-12-09T14:34:00.001-08:00

So if I had picked up Pride and Prejudice of my own accordance, maybe I would have liked it. As it is, being forced to read it has sucked all enthusiasm I may have felt for it right out.

I still have roughly half of my coursework essay on it to do, and it was supposed to be due in tomorrow. Yes, it's going that badly.

As a present a few days ago, my Dad bought me a book. It's called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and it's hilarious. The furthest I ever read to in Pride and Prejudice was Chapter 15, by force, in three weeks. I am at 28 in ... and Zombies in the space of about three days.

I think I will "forget" to bring in my essay tomorrow and hand it in on Friday instead, and finish it tomorrow night.
Speaking of Tomorrow, I am doing my drama coursework mock performance tomorrow. I'm bricking it, and excited, at the same time. I get the whole day off lessons. If nothing else, it should be a laugh.

I over-indulge in brownies.

2009-12-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

Life is still going on in a very similar fashion:

- saw my friend Tally for the first time since July 08. Will next see her June 2010 earliest, probably not till November or until 2011.
- got back the mark from my practise French reading. 30/50. Lowest in the class. Second lowest was 38. "Oh did you find it really hard then, V?" No, I thought it was a breeze, hence why I didn't even break the forties...
- had a drama runthrough. Went better than expected.
- there are two five question ethics essays requiring my attention. Fuck if I'm going to do them while I'm still this sleepy.

8 days till school's out for winter.
10 days till Heaven's Basement and I see Adele and Jasmin again, along with Kelly and Annie... and did I hear Vikki was coming?
17 days till Xmas.
23 days till New Years Eve.
24 days till the end of the decade.

Various minutiae.

2009-12-07T14:57:00.000-08:00

Life is going fine... Nothing particularly remarkably has happened/is happening.

Everything's normal:
- having a French reading mock. Once it was finished, I texted Vikki - who was in a chemistry test (oops)
- spending lunch running around like a headless chicken on speed trying to sort out drama tech rehearsal
- random twitter conversations with my friends about music (what else?).
- trying to catch up on my Ethics homework at 11pm and failing miserably.
- recording Daniel P Carter in Radio 1 at midnight till 2am so I can hear Winter Kiss by Young Guns
- trying to cheer up my friend who is moping about an ex boyfriend (and failing miserably)
- arguing with my parents to try and persuade them to let me come to more gigs (and failing miserably)
- continuing the Epic Poke War on Facebook with my cousin and my friend Ben
- avoiding all forms of work and exercise as well as possible

Things that are happening:
- getting French oral marks tomorrow (meep)
- finishing the drama tech rehearsal
- drama dress rehearsal
- drama proper performance on Thursday
- Heaven's Basement next Friday

Everything else is kind of Next Year.
Except the most important thing of all...

Tomorrow, I get to see Tally, who I last saw in July 08. Looking forward to seeing that Australian kid. It might not be for long, but I'll see her again at some point. Maybe when I'm 16 or 18 or out of school, I'll fly to Oz to go visit her.
I'm excited.

Laaaazy day

2009-12-05T14:09:00.000-08:00

I have spent all of today on the sofa watching telly or iPlayer.

Day well spent. I've only been up ten hours. Might go and cut up my Exit Avenue tshirt now.

Hooray for broken technology!

2009-12-03T15:19:00.000-08:00

My headphones are broken. All songs sound like they have an echo and I can't make out any vocals... on the plus side, I'm really getting to appreciate the music behind the lyrics.

And there are white lines on my screen. They flicker.
It's really very annoying.

Happy fucking holidays.

2009-12-02T15:09:00.000-08:00

Today is December 2nd. There are 23 days until The Big Day.

Frankly I'm not feeling it yet. No advent calendar, no xmad decorations and no xmas music = it still feels like November, except for the copious lack of NaNoWriMo.

I'm going to take a break for a few days, probably write more on Saturday/Sunday.

There was no real point to this blog... Oh well.

NaNoWriMo 2009: The Summary

2009-12-01T13:58:00.000-08:00

IN THE NOVEL

Words written: 70527

Word lost: 6251

Official end of month word count: 64276

Most words written in 24 hours: 7846

Average words per day: 2142.533

Words needed to finish draft: around 15,000

Chapters: 40

Deaths: 1

Unexpected plot twists: Too many to mention

Near death moments: 2

IN LIFE

Write-Ins attended: 4

Lattes drunk: 10

New friends made: 3

Most played song: Where We Belong - Lostprophets (108)

Gigs attended: 5

Welshmen molested: 7

English essays ignored: 1

Levels of stress reached: new highs

French orals failed: 1

Nights spent writing until 2am: At least 4

Near death moments: 4

And so ends NaNoWriMo for another year. More tears, more coffee, more RSI and more stress.
But I wouldn't have changed my November for the world.

And people tell me I'm scary

2009-11-29T08:07:00.001-08:00

(peoples' usernames changed)
From twitter:

someperson: is really worried about @missiondistrict guys tweet and let us know you're okay please! xo
Retweeted by aslightlyscaryfan

The band hadn't tweeted for 5 hours. They're playing a gig today in a different country.
So, it;s currently 4pm.

What they are most likely to be doing:
- Sitting in a place with no wifi access
- Soundchecking
- Travelling through a place with no wifi
- On the ferry... with no wifi
- Being busy

What they probably aren't doing:
- Drowning in the Irish ocean
- Ignoring you
- Thinking about obsessive fangirls

Before you start getting OMG THEY'RE GONNA DIE, just think first...

60K

2009-11-28T17:08:00.000-08:00

I have finally reached 60K in my NaNoWriMo document.

As a celebration, I bought myself a Jac Vanek bracelet. And 4 others as Xmas presents.

Dammit, just realised I shoulda bought another one while I was there.

NaNoWriMo day 28: coffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffee

2009-11-28T09:26:00.000-08:00

I was at another write in today. Just me and Zoe (Sailor-girl on NaNoWriMo forums) for the third time out of the last 3 write ins I've been to.

Yet again I was reminded of my love of coffee and cookies. Lattes with two sugars, and a soft chocolate cookie, with a fellow insane writer and a laptop. Total bliss.

Clearly by the time I am in university, I will be caffiene dependant. I am never touching an espresso until I know how to drive.

Last piece of not-really-news: I was the first NaNoWriMo winner in Hertfordshire. Nice or what?

INTERNET PARANOIAAAA

2009-11-27T13:58:00.000-08:00

Things happening today reminded me of my old Internet Paranoia.

It's as it sounds. If someone didn't reply to me on msn for a while, i got paranoid they'd left and hadn't told me.
If everyone's talking about something and nobody will tell me what, i get paranoid it's about me.
If i got the wrong end of the stick, i got paranoid everyone is laughing at me.

Various other things, but those are the main ones.
Of course, nobody reads this so nobody gives a shit.

And now to jump on the flamingly obvious bandwagon

2009-11-26T13:26:00.001-08:00

Despite the fact I still have at a guess 20,000 words of plot left to write, I'mma procrastinate and do a quiz.
(Yes, i know I was born on National Fight Procrastination day. I'm a nonconformist... or just lazy.)

What was the last concert you attended?
The Blackout instore in Kingston.

What bands have you seen in concert the most, and how many times?
Uh well my top two are local bands, so my number 3 is The Mission District (6 times) and number 4 is The Blackout (5 times)

Do you have any setlists? From what bands?
None, sadly.

Are there any CDs in close proximity to you? Which ones?
No, none nearby.

What band are you in the mood to see live right this second?
The Blackout, because I miss those WELSH BAAAASTARDS, and Lostprophets, because they blew my mind the last two times.

Have you ever been on a tour bus?
What does a van count as?

Have you ever partied with a band?
I reckon so.

How many states/provinces have you been to concerts in?
London (various boroughs), Essex (Colchester), Cambridgeshire (Cambridge), Hertfordshire (St Albans, Hitchin), Bedfordshire (Luton)... so five.

What bands did you see live the month of May?
Pioneer gig (can't remember who), then Madina Lake/The Audition/Yashin/Flood Of Red, The Audition again, then My Passion

What CD are you addicted to at the moment?
Bleed American by Jimmy Eat World

Who is one band that you used to like, but now you can’t stand?
Fall Out Boy. Oh and Paramore.

Have you ever been on anyones guest list? Whose?
Not technically. Though I might be on Lostprophets' in Edinburgh due to awesome friends and their connections. Fingers crossed.

Last band person that you got a picture with?
Oh dear, mine was Gavin Butler too.

Do you consider yourself a groupie?
stfu.

How old were you when you went to your first concert?
14

Who was it?
Enter Shikari at the Alban Arena.

Which artists havent you seen yet that you want to see?
blink-182, Jimmy Eat World, My Chemical Romance

Are you wearing a band shirt right now?
Yes, The Mission District.

What band do you own the most merch of?
Probably The Mission District.

Do you ever do anything crazy at shows?
You mean other than queuing all day, refusing to leave the barrier on pain of death, singing so loud you can't speak afterwards, winding up various band members and trying/failing to stage invade?

What are your favourite venues to go to shows at?
Camden Barfly and Islington Academy 1+2, HMV Forum for a bigger venue

What band do you have the most performance pictures of?
Probably My Passion or The Mission District

Would you ever get a tattoo representing a band?
If I could make up my mind on one thing.

How many concerts do you average a year?
Think I got 27 from October 8th-October 8th, looks like it'll be more this year

Upcoming shows?
Maybe Gallows, 17th December
Maybe Heaven's Basement, 18th December
Kerrang! tour 5th/6th February
Lostprophets, 11th/18th, maybe 15th and 17th too

Now for an experiment. If you read this, tweet me (@VTheWriMo) the name of someone Welsh.
I'm expecting maybe 2 tweets?

Celebrating getting out of a deep blue funk.

2009-11-26T13:20:00.001-08:00

First, you get an overexcited blog announcing various bits of news that nobody else cares about.

The good:

I OFFICIALLY WON NANOWRIMO. 56,000 words (a 50,000 word document and a 6,000 word document... which may or may not be lost) in 25 days. Get in there.

The bad:

FRENCH ORAL MOCKS ON TUESDAY. The limit of my spoken French is pretty much "Parlez-vous l'anglais? Non? Merde."

The (hopefully not) ugly:

MY COUSIN IS EXPECTING IDENTICAL TWINS. Or twins, which apparently in the early scans looked identical.

Hell yeah.

Oh the joys....

2009-11-24T09:31:00.000-08:00

Pretty sure I have reached the point where anything could fuck me up pretty badly.

If you would like to try it out, feel free to say something blatantly offensive to me and I'll let you know my reaction.

Tired...

2009-11-23T11:52:00.000-08:00

I was planning on being on 57500 words today.

I'm on 50,800. I've barely written anything since breaking 50K. FMN (F my novel).

In other news, I am becoming addicted to Where We Belong, the new 'Prophets track.

HOLD ON, HOLD ON, WHERE WE BELONG, MY HEART, MY SOUL, WE STILL BELONG...

Welsh Weekend: The Highlights...

2009-11-22T05:05:00.000-08:00

Fuck my NaNoWriMo, I'm doing a highlights blog.

20th November: Acoustic gig

- Finding Belgian Chocolate Blackout Cupcakes in Marks and Spencer... and buying them

- Being in the third row through Egyptian Hiphop (they were odd)

- Still in the third row for The King Blues (and being one of only about ten people singing along)

- Sneaking into the first row for The Blackout

- Sean admitting to being utterly terrified

- Rhys playing an acoustic bass for the first time in years

- Snoz's tambouriiiiine!

- Silent (When We Speak) making me burst out in silent tears

- Matthew grinning at me ridiculous amounts for singing along

- Seeing Mike and Jay on the balcony, and getting Jay to wave at me

- Dragging Vikki down the front for Lostprophets and sitting on her lap

- Eternal weird looks from Ian Watkins... his expression was something along the line of "wtf? Why?"

- Ian having a sparkly belt buckle and the eternal must...not...stare...at...it...

- Lostprophets being absolutely mindblowing

- Hearing two new songs which Lostprophets had never played live before... ever.

- The chats with Ian Watkins! He chatted/told off/made fun of pretty much everyone in the front row. Including:
Ian calling my hat a "mouse hat" and then saying "that's debatable" after Vikki and I screamed it was a cat
Telling Ian his collar was up at the back and he insisting it was "like Usher", then telling me off after I called him sweetie ("what are we? Three?") and accepting my apology with a "you'd better be sorry!"
Ian telling me off for laughing so much at what Vikki said and "devaluating all my other jokes!"
Someone pointing out there was a glowing badge and not a bag, and Ian saying "Oh well done, you have successfully identified a badge".
Ian making fun of a guy who had to go to the loo and so holding up playing the last song until he got back.

- A mens' voice choir appearing onstage for about the second half of the set

- Being about the only person who knew all the words to Where We Belong and not just the chorus.

- Calling Sam in It's Not The End Of The World... and bloody hell. Ian singing so high Vikki and I were wondering who had grabbed his balls.

- Lee and I having a nodding match

- Afterwards, seeing Sean (who didn;t hug me but instead stroked my hat) and Rhys (who insisted it was lovely to see me, and gave me lots of hugs)

- Finding Jay outside smoking and sharing odd Star Wars quotes with him

21st November: The Blackout Instore

- Oversleeping and managing not to get out of bed till past 8

- Getting on the same train to Kingston as Laura did

- My Handywork on four of us, drawing Blackout lyrics/song names on our hands (THIS IS A BLACKOUT/WE ARE THE DYNAMITE/I'M A RIOT/TIWWCHNT)

- Running around Kingston trying to find Banquet Records with Laura

- Running around Kingston trying to stalk The Blackout with Vikki, Annie, Caz and a girl I can't remember the name of

- Getting back to McCluskys in time to chat to them... except Rhys and Gav who were nursing killer hangovers

- Snoz signing my hands to announce he liked them

- Sean running his hands through my really short hair to work out how short it was, and pretty much hair raping me

- Photos in the queue!

- Managing to sneak the blackout cupcakes in and working out there were 6400 calories in the box

- An amazing ten song set from TBO

- The hat song! In which Bob grabbed my hat and Sean proclaimed "we don't want that shitty hat!"

- Singing "rhys" in place of the words to the chorus of TIWWCHNT

- Bob managing to trap my hand between the barrier and the guitar... Ow.

- Being asked if I wanted to meet TBO first because I had an injured hand. I declined.

- Fashioning my scarf into a sling

- Gav's face when I gave him the cupcakes. He looked like I had given him the stars. And he gave me an enormous cutch <3

- Having to explain to each member of The Blackout how I'd hurt my wrist

- Bob's expression when I told him. He kept on hugging me and exclaiming how sorry he was and how bad he felt

- Bob apologising to me on twitter too

- Chats with them afterwards, with Rhys agreeing to answer any questions I facebook message him about being in a band, for help with my novel

- Gav agreeing not to

- Matthew thinking that TIWWCHNT was Welsh, until we pointed out otherwise

- Matthew throwing my hat in a puddle (grrr)

- Sean insisting there was nothing wrong with my hand

- Waving goodbye to the van so Snoz and Sean kept on waving, stopping, seeing we were still waving, and started waving again

I miss Lostprophets and TBO already. And especially my wifey Vikki. I'm seeing them all in February, and I cannot bloody wait <3

Grrrr... and NaNo: day 19

2009-11-19T13:54:00.000-08:00

So many gig tickets are on sale tomorrow.

Well, two. Muse and 30STM.

My dad failed at the Muse presale this morning, so fingers crossed he can get me a ticket as an early late birthday present tomorrow (the gig is 5 days after I turn 16. Schweet).

Then there's 30STM... I only know Frances and Vikki who'd be going, so i'd probably be kinda screwed, but I missed them at Koko so I want to see them asap.

So far my wordcount hasn;t changed. I'm tempted not to do any till Sunday so Susie can experience the big moment of 50K with me, but that's unlikely. I'm on 47,696 words. If I don't make 50,000 today I will make it at 2am, staying up till the wee hours to novel for the third time in 3 days.

Yeah, I'm totally insane.

I feel compelled to say...

2009-11-18T15:07:00.000-08:00

As much as I complain about my novel...
As much as I whine that it gives me sleepless nights and uses up most of my free time...
As much as I sometimes wish that I had never started it...
As much as I wish that I was one of those people to whom the idea of writing a novel in thirty days is completely insane...
As much as I moan about sore fingers or writers' block...

... my novel has become the only thing that is keeping me sane. I haven't seen most of my friends since October 24th. That's three weeks and four days. I miss them, and I hope they miss me just a little bit too. I haven't had them to talk to (probably a good thing - it's a bad idea to talk to me in November) and somehow my novel has filled up that gap in my life.

NaNoWriMo means a lot to me. It's given me new friends, new perspectives, new ideas. Thanks to NaNoWriMo I have discovered a lovely coffee shop in Welwyn Garden City, a love of lattes and the fact that yes, I can write 5,000 words in one day if I really put my mind to it.

It's a weird journey of self-discovery, and somehow this year has effected me more than my past two has. I'll revisit this in December (cue groaning) but I know that I need to email the guy who started this, Chris Baty, just to let him know that NaNoWriMo really has changed my life for the better. I know it'll be one of a flood of emails he receives every day about the same thing, but I really do need to get in contact with him and say thank you. Even if he only glances at it, I know what it feels like to be genuinely thanked and I really hope that I can give someone else the honour of feeling like that.

EXCUSES TIME... and NaNo: Day 18

2009-11-18T13:23:00.000-08:00

Raaawr.

So Bee challenged all her read her blog to put an embarrassing pre-teen photo of themselves in their own blog.

Now, as the hard drive of our old computer, containing 6,000 words of my novel and about five years' worth of familt photos, is currently incapacited, this is impossible.

So I will... once I have access to all the old pictures of me.

And have done my NaNoWriMo.
And my Latin.
And my flute practise.

... shiiiiiiit.

NaNo: Day 17

2009-11-17T17:53:00.000-08:00

I'm very bad at getting my word count during the day.

2am novelling it is!

A Lyrics Post - NaNo: Day 16

2009-11-16T11:45:00.000-08:00

Today's blog is dedicated to some lyrics which sum me up. They also all happen to be bands I'm seeing this Friday.

THE KING BLUES

I Got Love
I'm gonna dance like nobody's watching
I'm gonna sing like nobody's listening
I'm gonna kiss you like we are all alone
'Cos this world is ours
We're the have not's but the have all's
At twice the speed of lightning I travel
Through the universe I will run to write
Your name in the stars
'Cos some truths will last forever
Music can bring the world together
I got life man I will use it till they lay me down to rest
So lets party in the supermarkets
Move to the rhythm of my heartbeats
I'll take my tie right off my neck and wear it
Tied up round my head

What If Punk Never Happened?
There's a lesson to be learned, one that I will take home,
When I return to my normal reality zone,
Punk rock has the power to change the world,
It lies in every single punk rock boy and girl,
So don't let anyone tell you you're not worth the earth,
These streets are your streets, this turf is your turf,
Don't let anyone tell you that you've got to give in,
Cos you can make a difference, you can change everything,
Just let your dreams be your pilot, your imagination your fuel,
Tear up the book and write your own damn rules,
Use all that heart, hope and soul that you've got,
And the love and the rage that you feel in your gut,
And realise that the other world that you're always looking for,
Lies right here in front of us, just outside this door,
And it's up to you to go out there and paint the canvas,
After all, you were put on the earth to do this,
So shine your light so bright that all can see,
Take pride in being whoever the fuck you want to be,
Throw your fist in the air in solidarity,
And shout "Viva la punk, just one life, anarchy!"

THE BLACKOUT

I Love Myself And I Wanna Live
You think, you think out loud
Speaking tones you cant speak under control
With what you got you should be proud
You taken you life and filled it with hurt
Stop now and save us all
Because i know you'll be gone by the end of the day
You paint your brains all over the wall
Because i'm tired of waiting

Those were his days
Now he's blown them away

I love myself and I wanna live
I just wanna be awake for your kiss
I love myself and I wanna live
I'll do anything, I'll do anything

LOSTPROPHETS

... Hell, there are too many LP lyrics.

Bring on Friday and Saturday, seeing my friends. It feels like it's been too long. I wonder if any of them have missed me that much.

Will do some NaNo after homework is finished.

NaNo: Day 12/13/14

2009-11-14T18:40:00.000-08:00

Target of 36,000 has yet to be realised... hence why I am up on my half broken laptop at 2.41am trying to type. I didn't do much on days 12 and 13 due to being at gigs. I'll do a highlights blog about them later when I have some photos up.

Some people are crazy for bands. Some peole are crazy for coffee or chocolate. Some people are crazy for their wordcount.

Me, I'm crazy for all four.

You know you're addicted to Twitter when...

2009-11-14T14:46:00.000-08:00

... you write a chapter in your novel entirely through the format of tweets.

If my novel ever gets published, I will have to create all of these twitter accounts... Oh god, that'll be a nightmare.

Holler back if you read this

2009-11-14T09:37:00.000-08:00

Tweet me if you've read this - @VTheWriMo

Basically I'm kinda sad and I figure I can pour out all my depressed thoughts into my blog because nobody reads it. I always feel a bit sad but I don't really want to tell my friends. I'm sure they'd care, but at the same time I'm worried they'd just think it's me whinging to get attention.

Hell, I just think it's me whining to get attention.

So, tweet me and let me know what a douche I am. I feel like I kind of need it...

NaNo Day 11

2009-11-11T15:49:00.000-08:00

I've hit a writing slump.

It's affected me big time - I feel pretty depressed today. Tomorrow is The Mission District though... I hope they manage to cheer me up.

But somehow I think having characters starting to get depressed has rubbed off on me, and as a result I can't write them back into happiness.

I only managed 1,000 words in 2 hours. That's how bad it is. Doing some more writing now, determined to try and claw my way back into 2nd place in Hertfordshire (I dropped to 3rd)

Might sneak up again at night. It's tempting.

When Writing Grinds To A Halt: NaNoWriMo, Day 10

2009-11-10T14:40:00.000-08:00

So this is my current problem.

I'm mid way through the twenty thousand words and I'm just running out of fuel. I know what happens next, but I know that I can't put in most of the plot points until 30K, which leaves me another six thousands words of waffle.

And romantic scenes.

I can't write romantic scenes.

The Insanity Increases: NaNo Day 9

2009-11-09T16:18:00.000-08:00

I reached 20,000 words.

20K. Also known as THE POINT WHERE IT ALL GETS MUCH HARDER.

I've now reached about 22,000 which put me in the top 3 in Hertfordshire - might put me into 2nd place, I'm not sure.

I plan on more sneaking-out-of-bed in a few hours. I must write. That's what NaNo does to you - it changes oxgen into writing, writing into coffee and coffee into air. Did that make sense? Hell no, it's 00.20 and I've had 4 hours' sleep. Not gonna get much more tonight.

NaNoWriMo: Day 8

2009-11-08T15:48:00.000-08:00

I reached 18K today. Tomorrow will be 20K. 20K to 30K is universally considered to be the hardest part of any NaNo novel. Not looking forward to this week. Got to do all my homework for Friday before Thursday, and got to write 4K a day so I can be on 30K before I go and see The Mission District.

On a happier note, I now have a fauxhawk. I think I'll keep for a few weeks, until I next have to wear a hat.

NaNoWriMo: Day 7

2009-11-07T11:35:00.000-08:00

These are the things I learnt at the write-in:

- One of the WriMos works in the same place as Kelly
- One of the WriMos goes to the same school as Bee and is in the year above her
- One of the WriMos goes to the same school as me and is a girl I am somewhat friends with
- Lattes with two sugars are heaven
- Mochachino's is an awesome coffee shop
- Double chocolate chip cookies taste lovely dipped in the foamy bit of the latte
- One of the WriMos wrote her first novel entirely by hand
- If I buy six coffees at Mochachino's I get the seventh one for free

And now I am hoing to try and write my way to 15,000 words from 12,000. Wish me good luck.

Right now... and NaNo: Day 6

2009-11-06T15:46:00.000-08:00

- I want my computer to work
- I want my 6K novel back
- I want to start a band with Mary
- I want to get 2,000 words of my novel written
- I want to sleep until midday tomorrow
- I want Minus IQ and Don Broco to play the Pioneer in May
- I want to see Young Guns, All Time Low, The Blackout and My Passion
- I want money
- I want more cheerios
- I want to see my friends and laugh and have a good time and know that at least a few people in this world are mad enough to love me just the way I am.

So far I haven't written any NaNo. I'm at about day 7 in my wordcount but I need more as I'm having days when I can't write.

Oh, and I'm freaking out about the Pioneer gig in April. I have December, March, and then April. In April, Mary and I will be doing ALL the work. Two rooms, the main room and an acoustic set. With us two doing all the sound, all the lighting, all the stage management and sorting out all the problems. Our bosses are there if anything goes wrong, but as it is we will be responsible for any errors that go on.
I am, to steal Bee's phrase, bricking it.

People I Miss. And NaNo: Day 5

2009-11-05T15:10:00.000-08:00

I miss Jack. He's a nutter and so effeminate it makes me laugh. And he gives lovely warm hugs.

I miss Emma. The last time I saw her we realised we were basically in exactly the same clothes. It feels like too long since I've seen her.

I miss Suzie. I've only actually met her twice but our twitter conversations about gigs and bands always make me laugh and smile.

I miss Tally. She lives in Australia and I haven't seen her since last July.

I miss Georgina. There's something about her which makes me laugh so much - I guess she just has that effect on people.

I miss Sarah. I don't know when I'm gonna see her again, which sucks because she doesn't live far away.

I miss Clara. I miss our mutual hair rape-age xD

I miss Roma. It's funny how people you only meet once have such an effect on you, and I hope I'll see her again soon.

I miss Sam. And I'm sure she misses my lovely warm black coat.

I miss Laura. I miss the way people mistake us for being sisters when we clearly aren't.

I miss Frances. I see her at gigs all the time but it's usually really fleeting.

I miss Vikki. I hate that she lives in Kent because it's so far to go and visit.

I miss Panda, Ashleigh and Bee. Two weeks on Saturday until I see them again, and Vikki, and Frances (I dunno why this writing has gone weird).

Roll on 21/11.

NaNo update: computer with my first 6,000 words is still broken. Typing on my laptop. I've written about 1,000 words today, which is awful compared to my target of 2,500. Hoping to write another 500-1,000 before bed tonight. Current wordcount: 10,426.

NaNo day 5: update

2009-11-04T15:14:00.000-08:00

Despite writing on my laptop rather than my normal computer, I managed 3,160 words. I was aiming for 2,000.

This means that today's personal target of 8,500 has been smashed and replaced with a rather impressive 9,411 words. Tomorrow's target was 10,000. Looks like it might be substantially more thanks to this boost.

Also, my hands sum up my feelings today:

Across my knuckles: BITE THIS
Back of my right hand: Hello there, the angel from my nightmare
Palm of my left hand: Goddamn motherfuckers always wasting my time

Good times. Goodnight Internet, I need to go sort out my drama costume(s) and then collapse into bed.

Things that make me sad... and NaNoWriMo: Day 4

2009-11-04T12:56:00.000-08:00

Things that make me sad:

- I Miss You by blink-182. One of my favourite songs. The lyrics are so simple but they get me every time.
- The computer I am doing my writing on is broken. So I can't see it, and I was planning on backing it up today... so I have so guess where I got to, continue from there, and pray m computer gets fixed.
- GCSEs. I don't want to grow up and think about university and a job. I want to be a kid forever and stay how I am right now.
- I miss my friends. It's only been a couple of weeks since I've seen them, but it's another couple of weeks until I see them again. I dunno if they miss me too. I kind of hope they do, but they've never mentioned it.

And now the NaNoWriMo update: um, I haven't written anything yet today. Time to correct that...

In other news - good luck to Bee with her Maths GCSE tomorrow. If she doesn't ace it then there is no hope of the thickos like me getting a good mark, so I am hoping/praying/considering a deal with the devil to make sure she gets at least an A*.

NaNoWriMo: Days 2 and 3

2009-11-03T14:50:00.000-08:00

NaNoWriMo 2:
Saw Michael McIntyre. Got home at midnight, wrote about a thousand words before bed.

NaNoWriMo 3:
Ouch, it starts to get hard today. Managed nearly 2,000 words, so I am about 400 words over my target for today.

Now, in other news: I saw Michael McIntyre. We had shit seats, which McIntyre made fun of. A lot. But he was hilarious, and hopefully if I ever see him again, it will be in a smaller place and hopefully with a better seat :)

And so the insanity begins - NaNo, day 1

2009-11-01T08:49:00.001-08:00

Right, quick recap of yesterday for all those who were wondering around London wearing fake blood and may be vaguely interested:

- Sneaking into a strictly 18+ pub and using the toilets with the blessing of the barmaid
- Queuing in the wrong place for an hour
- Putting a genuine cloak in the cloakroom. A proper badass, red-silk-lined CLOAK.
- Getting lots of happy looks from Zombie Young Guns for singing along to their songs
- Getting a lot of jealous looks for having Zombie Gus staring at me xD
- Z0mbie Saving Aimee all being hilariously drunk and so awfully cheesy they were funny
- Catching the lead singer's fake-bloodstained shirt on a reflex. It stinks of mayonaise.
- Fightstar coming on stage in skeleton suits - Charlie's was clearly too small. It was funny.
- Fighting to front row
- The security guard giving me £4.50 off the floor which wasn't mine. Well, waste not want not...
- Hanging out with Zombie Young Guns afterwards for about an hour and getting very warm Zombie Johnny and Zombie Gus hugs
- Zombie Gus, who had previously told us to "keep our eyes open for shows in January" (K! tour), telling me to "keep my eyes open for more shows before the end of the year... maybe..."

And now that's recapped, I've started writing my NaNoWriMo. I'm going for short chapters so I get more little boosts every time I finish one. Wrote for about half an hour when I got home and managed about a quarter of today's target in 25 mins. Not bad going. Now for the other three quarters...

My twitter life

2009-10-30T16:14:00.000-07:00

I think my twitter sums up my life on a day to day basis. Here are all my irrelevant tweets from today:

ferrero rocher: the only way to combat fatigue?
Just had to try and explain the "well dressed hobo" to my mum. She didn't see the humour in it.
I feel rather dead. Hopefully pizza tonight...!
Really? Your surname is Sykes-Francesci? I dislike facebook namers like that.
Aaah, I'm still ill. Just had a massively greasy pizzaa like I haven't had for two years. I ate 1.5 slices.
"And when the light of justice is obscured by the fog of uncertainty, there is only one solution... HOUSE PARTY!"
Anyone wanna come see Dara O'Briain with me next year, 15th March, Alban Arena?
My mother bought me a box of Ferrero Rochers today. I love her.
trying and failing to do English coursework. Listening to Framing Hanley. This can only end badly for my grades
I hate rewriting. With a passion. If I ever become a writer, remind me to hire someone who can persuade me to do it gaily. I may marry them.
I really want to go to K! tour in Dublin. Why? Well unless I really got my sources wrong, the venue is 850 capacity. Compare to London: 3300
Three weeks until i see (#followfriday) @kingblues @the_blackout @lostprophets again - so excited. Can anyone say MACERENA TIME?!

That sums up my life today. Boredom, illness, hunger, work, music and macerena.

Immature Irritation Time!

2009-10-29T08:53:00.001-07:00

So I've had what I've jokingly called "abandonment issues" for a while. I mean, I don't have any real issues - nobody particularly close to me has died, or anything. It's more just that I seem to have lost a lot of people I've loved over the years, maybe not physically but emotionally.

I pretty much thought I'd got rid of them. But i just got one of those stupid little triggers today which made me annoyed. I mean, it was probably nothing, but I asked some of my friends about something and nobody even replied. Someone else asked one of them the same thing and got a multitude of answers.

I don;t even know why this annoys me, really. Maybe my friends just didn't notice that I'd asked them. Which is more likely than all the rather depressing thoughts swimming around my head like fish in a barrel. Well, if the fish are in a barrel, that makes them easier to shoot...

NaNoWriMo

2009-10-28T16:16:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else heard of NaNoWriMo? Yes? No?

Well, I have, and so have at least the other 80,000+ authors who have signed up for this year's challenge. The idea? Write a 50,000 novel in 30 days. The reality? RSI, frustration, a lack of plot, and the overwhelming sense of satisfaction when you finally get all 50,000 of those annoying little words onto the page, upload it to the website and watch as that little badge says "WINNER".

It's a struggle that is undertaken every November with all the other crazy people around the world, and I have done it and won it for the past 2 years. This year is no different. I have no plot, but a hell of a lot of imagination and crazy friends to get idea from...

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Oh, and NaNoWriMo is a charity. It relies on donations. All the people who read my blog profess to be poor, like me, but just one or two dollars could really make a difference. okay I'll shaddup with the preaching now. Expect a normal, ranty blog tomorrow.

MUSIC BLOG TIME!

2009-10-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

So I'm too lazy to provide links to these things, but if you like the sound go check 'em out... most of them are probably on YouTube haha

10.
Lollipop - Framing Hanley
It's a band with a hot lead singer doing a cover of Li'l Wayne's Lollipop. It's funny, surprisingly good, and just a little bit hot.

9.
Just Don't Feel The Same - The Mission District
Wahey, a bit of cheesy synth pop. Well, less of the synth and more of the pop... who cares. It's fun, and the video's on their Bebo.

8.
PRTY JAM - DRTY LVE
Yeah, it's Sean Smith. Yeah, it's Sean Smith doing a DJ set. Yeah, it's actually pretty funky. This one gets a link. http://soundcloud.com/DRTY-LVE

7.
Save The World, Get The Girl - King Blues
If this doesn't cheer you up, nothing will. Ska punk with ukelele and massive smiles. Good times indeed.

6.
The English Way - Fightstar
There's a mass amount of people who dislike Fightstar. For breaking up Busted, being rubbish live, or whatever they say... But this song is good, man.

5.
Asleep In The Asylum - My Passion
You'll have to YouTube it and the sound quality probably won't be all that great, but the song is good. Slightly nightmarish... then you remember Laurence is singing.

4.
Don't Trust Me - 3OH!3
Kind of annoyed that I'm not seeing these guys next week when they're in London, but I know I wouldn't survive re money/homework/NaNoWriMo.

3.
It's Not The End Of The World But I Can See It From Here - Lostprophets
I saw them only a few days ago (nearly a week, wtf?!) and they've just announced a huge UK tour next year. Score.

2.
Lost In Stereo - All Time Low
They put up a poll asking what the next single should be. If I could have been bothered to vote, I would've voted for this song. OBVS.

1.
Let's Get Outta Here - Madina Lake
Good memories from this song. It makes me happy, makes me smile, and makes me want to find people to escape with. Just go listen.

PS Apparently I have RSI in my left wrist... Damn.

Oh joys...

2009-10-26T15:57:00.000-07:00

So as of the past 2 days, I've been ill. Again. While I'm on holiday. *le sigh*

Being ill this time includes:
- Aching back, feet, legs, head and neck
- Sore throat
- Cough
- Blocked up nose
- Alternatively being too hot and too cold/shivery
- Up-and-down temperature

In other words, I might have swine flu. Damn...

Welsh Bastards All Round

2009-10-23T04:41:00.000-07:00

Thursday was an interesting day. I started writing this on Friday, and it's now sunday evening... thanks to being out/being ill, I haven't managed to do anything.
Anyway, here are highlights:

QUEUING
- Seeing Sam, Nimsey, Adele and Jasmin who'd been there since stupid o'clock
- Panda's amazing wig
- Adele and Jasmin dragging me to Slough
- Meeting Ian Watkins and Jay Oliver briefly
- Having my cooking insulted by Ian Watkins ("Coffee shouldn't be mixed with anything!")
- Snoz's amazing eyesight - "I can see over buildings!"
- Trying pear cider
- Managing to sneak my cakes in by promising not to throw the tin at anyone
- Learning random bits of sign language...

THE NEW 1920
- Girls behind just yelling "GET NEEEEKKID!"
- Fighting for a free tshirt and getting it
- The lead singer's awesome crazy slightly dad-esque dance moves
- Drunk drummer

THE BLACKOUT
- More "GET NEKKKKKID" which was repleid to with "SHUT THE FUUUCK UUUUUUP!"
- Sean doing three front flips in Beijing Cocktail
- Snoz being a MADMAN on the drums
- This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things being absolutely bloody AWESOME
- Sean throwing up o.o
- Rhys being right in front of me (nom)
- General awesomeness in their set

LOSTPROPHETS
- Dancing security guards!
- Too awesome for words to describe, frankly
- Ian: This song is so catchy I dunno what part of it to teach you...
Me: The chorus?
Ian: Who said the chorus?!
Me: *raises hand*
Ian: Oh aye, you wanna get up on stage and sing it then?
Me: Uhhhh...
Ian: Thought not!
- Ian doing the "I'm watching you" thing with his fingers
- "Does anyone remember the year 2000?"
- Jay and Ian cute-ing out over Meg and Kelly holding hands
- Pulling faces at Lee, Stu, Mike, Ian and Jay...
- Vikki getting Stu to give her a peace sign
- THE MACERENA
- Me: (surprised) fuck me...
Vikki: Careful or someone might take that as a suggestion!
Ian: Yeah I might take you up on that, Chuckles
Me: o.O
- Jay being a ninja and going to the other side of stage without us working out how... "What are you doing over there? Back to your post, soldier!"
- Jay's amazing screams in To Hell We Ride and Everyday Combat
- Coughing loads just before Burn, Burn and getting a bottle of water to myself

AFTERWARDS
- Seeing Jay at the merchstand and saying hello
- Being told by Drew from The New 1920 to cut up my free tee and come see them
- Getting Drew in the kitty hat
- Befriending a security guard called Adam
- Awesome cuddles from Luke
- Getting Luke in the kitty hat
- Explaining to Stu who I was ("I was pulling faces at you in the front row!)
- Getting Stu to hold the kitty hat looking really confused
- Train home with Kelly - "Your hat has chlamydia!"

Excited doesn't cover it

2009-10-21T05:42:00.000-07:00

I am so bloody HYPER about tomorrow that I'm doing veritable backflips. Well, not really... if I actually tried to do a backflip I would probably die. But you get the idea.

I stayed up until 2am and got up before 10 so I would be really tired and I'd go to bed early today... problem is I got up, and then fell asleep for an hour on the sofa. Oops.

As it is, I'm sitting on the recliner playing Burn Burn from my laptop on speaker and annoying my brother. I showed him Instant Rimshot today, which resulted in us saying a lot of bad jokes and spamming it. Days like this I love having a brother. I'm also trying not to hype about Jonathan Coulton, because he;s surprisingly unexcited about it. Bloody teenage boys.

In short I ate too much sugar and it's REALLY OBVIOUS.

Promiscuity

2009-10-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

So this is a bit of an odd thing...

I'm not a fan of promiscuous people. I mean I hope that most people who meet me will think that I am an open minded individual, but there's something about promiscuity that I can't stand. At Papa Roach last weekend, Kelly chastised me about being judgemental about the girls that bands invited backstage for a party.

If the girls had been pretty ones who looked like they were there to have fun, maybe I would've been kinder. As it was, the girls were all in leggings, skirts about as thick as a belt and shirts which were really just glorified bras. In mid-October, that isn't just cold, that is nasty. They were the sort of girls who smoked as well instead of eating anything. Maybe that prejudiced me against them as well, but still. They just acted skanky.

Oh, and I wouldn't be able to get away with acting like that (were I old enough) probably just because I'm not nearly skinny enough. And then there was the band, Heaven's Basement. Lovely, totally gorgeous guys, but man did they have a nasty taste in girls. I mean, yeah I know, they're old enough to make their own choices, it's just a bit of fun and nothing more, but something about the idea of it just makes my skin crawl.

Does that make me a really narrow-minded person?

It's A Highlights Blog, Darling!

2009-10-18T08:03:00.000-07:00

So, as I ended up having a slightly different time to my friends last night, I figure they might like to know what I got up to...

- Spending the queuetime talking to Vikki, who I hadn't seen properly (for more than 2 minutes) since September
- Madly unwrapping 67 sets of vampire teeth, and then watching someone go buy more so we could have 69 sets
- Vikki singing a chipmunk version of I Don't Care, which brought back all the brilliant memories...
- Being shunted to the other side of stage by Kelly
- Hanging out on the left side of stage with Vikki
- Suffering through two pretty crappy support bands
- Catching Kelly's eye a lot and doing synchronised dancing
- Being offered beer by the lead singer of the second support band after an extended coughing fit (I politely declined)
- Spending the entire of Panda Police's set talking to Vikki to avoid a faceful of the lead singer's crotch
- Having the guitarist apologise to me for the overeager fangirls behind me...
- Seeing Kate Is The Decoy live from down the front, as opposed to behind the lighting desk. All I could remember was that last time I saw them, John's trousers were only a prayer from falling down.
- Doing the macerena at various points throughout the night for no good reason whatsoever, other than to do it.
- My Passion coming on to a frankly terrifying amount of screaming
- Getting hit by John's guitar a ridiculous amount (my fingers still hurt D:)
- Getting John's crotch in my face at a few awkward moments...
- Putting up my hand to fistbump Laurence and having him grab my hand and sort of shake it around for a full minute
- Telling John it had to be a special occasion because I was in a skirt, and getting a laugh/slightly pervy look
- Buying a new tshirt from Andy and having a nice chat
- Hanging out with Emma, Sarah and Nathalie afterwards
- Realising that Emma and I matched (skirt/black leggings/My Passion hoodie) and then having her put on gloves... which were red and black striped just like mine XD
- Going down a dark alleyway to find the back entrance to the venue
- Finding out the real reason why Simon refuses to be picked up
- Complaining at Laurence for making me climb over a fence in a skirt. He found the incident rather amusing.

Yeah, it was a good night.

By the way, it's worth listening to The News Quiz these days... mainly because it's on series 69.

To Be Funny...

2009-10-17T04:50:00.000-07:00

I've always wished I was funny. Sure, I ca make my friends laugh, but there's a difference between writing something that will amuse two or three people and something that will amuse two or three hundred.

Then again, being funny would be quite stressful. If you had an expectation to be funny permanently hanging over your head like an oversized metaphorical raincloud, then any time you failed in being funny there would be a general annoyance at you. I guess that's true of anything though - i get good grades, and am always expected to do so. Any time I get a B, I am told to "do better", when there are people who would kill for a B.

But back to being funny. I really admire Michael McIntyre, because he seems like one of those comedians who is really happy in real life as well and not just on stage, unlike most comedians. Why are so many of them miserable in their day to day lives? I think it must be the weight of all that expectation. It's one thing to have a cloud over your head for a day; it's another to have one there even when all you need are some sunshiny compliments.

Plectrum status: i put it down somewhere... dunno where though...

How odd...

2009-10-16T07:31:00.000-07:00

So all this time I've been convinced Ozzfest was in Australia.

My bad. Turns out it's in America.

I don;t get why it's called Ozzfest if it's not in Oz, but hey ho.

Being pushed and pushed and pushed...

2009-10-15T13:58:00.001-07:00

You know those serial killers?

Not the ones who are clinically insane, or the ones seeking justice or revenge. I mean the ones who are just normal people who have some people or some things niggle away at them steadily, bit by bit, and then they just suddenly snap and kill someone. The ones who the family always look shocked about, and the friends always say they never say it coming.

I really know how those people feel. Some of my own relations just have this way of being able to get under my skin until the idea of hitting them, or throwing a brick at their head or something, seems rather attractive.

Not that I ever would - I would regret it so much, violence is never the answer - but it's one of those dark thoughts that lingers in the back of my mind.

10 Things To 10 People

2009-10-15T08:02:00.001-07:00

Title says it all. So I jumped on the bandwagon and made one of these blogs. Most of these people won't read it - not sure if any will - but is that the point? I dunno.

If you're in this you probably won't be able to guess. Then again, you might...

1. I love you, and I have more respect for you than you can imagine, but I also hope my life doesn't turn out like yours. You are the bravest, strongest person I think I have ever met, and I hope you cheer up again soon.

2. It's funny. I know you hate me but I miss you. It's funny how you'll still talk to people you're only friends with because of me, listen to music I got you into, wear brands we discovered together. I feel like you stole some part of me when you stopped being my friend, and I wish I knew why. Don't tell me you've forgotten all the fun we had together, all the laughing and longing and heart-to-hearts. I'm rambling now but I guess it's just because I feel like you cheated me. You left me without even a goodbye, and that was what hurt the most. You have nothing to say to me? Funny because there's a hell of a lot I want to say to you.

3. Thank you for always being there and for making me feel appreciated. Thank you for all the hugs that always cheer me up. Just thank you for being my friend. I would be lost without you.

4. I'm proud to call you my friend. I hope you know that, and feel proud to be my friend too instead of just seeing me as the kid that tags along.

5. If I ever come to one of your gigs then you will know who I am because I will be laughing at all the bad jokes. Thanks for all the stupid jokes on Twitter, and thanks for following me back so long ago and making me smile with your terrible puns. "OPRAH IS DEAD! TODAY'S MASSES PREFER LIGH ENTERTAINMENT AND MUSICALS!"

6. I can't wait to see you again. It's amazing how someone I haven't known for long has already made such an impact on my life. I'm looking forward to seeing this new hair of yours too.

7. I feel like we are drifting apart, which sucks as I see you every day. I worry about you a lot, and I wish you wouldn't make fun of my height. You're like an irritating little sister that I never had, but it's okay because I know you don't mean it. I love you, and I can't wait to be well again so I can take the piss out of you.

8. If Michael McIntyre doesn't make you laugh so hard you nearly cry when we go to see him, I may never speak to you again.

9. We've been friends pretty much as long as I remember. I'm already dreading you going off to university because I know I'm going to miss you so much. Trying to convince people we're really sisters... good times. We must do it again.

10. I've only met you once but I, like pretty much every other teenage girl on the planet, want to steal you. Or maybe just try and bottle that feeling you give people when they stand near you... You radiate happiness in gas form. I can't wait to see you again when you're back in the UK.

That is all.