Hmm....

I am in what you might call a state of mild confusion. I'm still sat in Liverpool, at the same desk i've been sat at for three years, wondering what on earth is going on here. In my house, two old housemates are leaving which is a bit of pain but hey, thats normal. However by the end of this week those two housemates will have left, their replacements will have arrived, and... and we will also have two other guys living in the house. This is cool/ok etc. The new housemates are guys i've known for 3 and 4 years, and the 'extra', 'temporary' housemates are/ should be good fun. But theres so much people moving going on right now that I feel disorientated. I wake up thinking 'Who's living in my house today?'... Odd.

The mild state of confusion also continues into the world outside of 31 Hallville Road. I have no idea who is living in Liverpool right now. Some medics I think... Now and again some guys will return/are returning to move stuff from house-to-house, go to church or just generally get some time away from home.. But again its disorientating - you run into people unexpectedly (though this is very cool and very much appreciated when it happens) and then theres no guarantee that you'll see them until September. I find this a weird way to socialise.

I guess what i'm craving here is some kind of stability. Whilst all this 'people moving' is going on I'm feeling increasingly under pressure to start producing work wise and its not easy. When your academic life involves virtually no connact with anyone, socialising takes on a new precedence. It is your life-line to normality. A bit overdramatic maybe but i feel its somewhat justified.

I'm also missing key people in my everyday life. At least one, maybe two, are not natives of this fair land and are in Ohio or Russia. And i am missing them dearly. Others are dotted around the UK, having either graduated or being on holiday. Its a real bummer to be honest. But hey there are worse things to deal with in life.

On a happier note I rather unexpectedly ended up in Brum (Birmingham) yesterday and I really enjoyed it. It is a vvvvvv nice city (i'd never been before - always associated the place with Spaghetti Junction, and dilapidated industry) - so, so nice. I ended up there as part of the ongoing Evans Felix Sarpong birthday celebrations. We were planning on going to Alton Towers (big theme park) but aborted on route and headed to the Brummie capital. Wise move. One of my good friends from Uni happens to live in the vicinity of B and after Evans gave him a call, Woody came down into the city, gave us a guided tour, and then we headed over to his home town and chilled out... Nice..

OK.. Time for work or something.. Oh and last night I had the hottest Chicken Tikka Masala I have ever had in my life. Soooooo hot - I got the feeling the chefs might have put in some Vindaloo curry sauce for a bit of a laugh... Hmmm....

Its all about the shadows..

Its all about the shadows... So. Whilst pottering around at Fountains Abbey - see below - me and my best mate from Uni (well - undergrad degree anyway) went a bit nuts on the old photography. Why? Well we enjoy it I guess...

Whilst scrambling around in one of the buildings I found myself standing in a huge old window and noticed the shadow being cast on the ground in front of me. With the midday sun at my back my silhouette was being projected perfectly into this amazing medieval setting. Anyway being an arty type I thought this was pretty cool and took a picture.. And I really like it... Laters...

Fountains Abbey...

So this is Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire, England (for Americanos out there), and it is an awe-inspiring place. Say what you want about monks, monasteries and old, imposing churches, but this place is amazing. Built in a time long, long before Columbus sailed in the ocean blue, Fountains is a HUGE structure. Soooo big... Sadly this photo doesen't show that too well but it is a beautiful place and I think the photo does show that. Anyway...

Photo

Yay!!! I can post an image on my blog.. Hopefully it will work for others to see. I took this picture from our house the other day and i just think its cool.. Reminds me of Gods amazing creation. Anyway enjoy... R

Spiffing day old bean...

If you read the preceeding post then.. well i'm moaning about my day and how tired i am..

However i've actually had quite a nice day. Started by heading to a very nice coffee shop on Rose Lane where I had a bagel with jam and a cappuccino with an old mate of mine named Phil. Phil is a sound guy who i've not seen for a while so it was cool to meet up, plus he invited me to his wedding in September which is great. Really looking forward to it. Anyway yeah it was a great way to start the day.

Then, after watching Shrek 2 (great film) I've just been chilling out, listening to great music, watching the fine game of cricket, and taking in this fantastic weather.. Nice...

Sledge hammer

At the moment i feel like i've been hit by a sledge hammer.. Why may you ask?

Well the answer comes in two parts. Firstly I have been defeated by the might of pollen.. My body has reacted very badly indeed and has resorted to doing strange things. This in turn has kept me awake at night.. Bummer..

However i have decided to fight back. First off i will get some allergy tablets pronto. Secondly i've just blitzed my room with a hoover and duster in the hope that removing dust will make a difference. Wishful thinking maybe but good non-the-less. Though i didn't really appreciate just how exhausting cleaning my room could be. By cleaning i mean proper cleaning - moving (shock horror) furniture etc to get all the dust etc. Man - it nearly killed me. And it took hours.

The result? I feel like i've been hit by a sledge hammer.

Twidling my thumbs...

I'm bored. Like really bored. Since Monday things have got a whole lot quieter around here. Its nice in some ways - I can get more work done for example (600 words today already - Nice) and there are still some quality people around to see or catch up with. But i'm still bored..

Vertigo: a sensation of whirling and loss of balance, caused by looking down from a great height...

So on Wednesday I had vertigo... Well not quite...

Rather, I was fortunate enough to be at the City of Manchester Stadium to watch Bono, the Edge et al perform in all their might. And man do they put on a show. So, sooooo good.

Our merry band, consisting of myself, Mr Jack Sykes, Mr Steven 'Naked' Attwell and Mr Peter 'Swanny' Swan, arrived at the gig late afternoon just in time to hear U2 end their practice set, buy a tour t-shirt each (well pretty much) and then head into the stadium to get a good spot for later in the night.

Fortunately because we were pretty early we managed to get inside the 'inner corden' that was the section of the arena around the stage, fenced off from the rest of the pitch. Little did we know how good this would be a few hours later. Anyway, we settled in nicely with Idlewild (cool Scottish indie band) and then Athlete (equally cool English indie band) providing an entertaining warm up. And then the fun began...

Things started to get interesting before Bono and chums even got near the stage. Being a little bored waiting for drum kits to be changed, guitars to be tuned and mics to be checked, a few of us started to randomly cheer, wave and well have a laugh. Recognising that this was a good plan more and more people around us joined in until we turned to the stands and beckoned our fellow U2 fans to join in with the cheering and arm waving. And sure enough within a matter of seconds we had a huge mexican wave going around the stadium.. V cool... We even applauded them since we were so impressed.. Anyway...

Then U2 arrived and they were amazing! Vertigo started us off and people were soon 'in the spirit', having a bit of a dance, screaming along etc. Good stuff. What followed was essentially a succession of amazing hits both old and new, backed up by a spectacular light show. Musically everything was great. Larry Mullen (drums) and Adam Clayton (base) happily sat back and kept every song ticking over. The Edge played some amazing riffs on his many, many guitars bringing every song to life. Bono - well - the guy is a legend. Such an awesome entertainer. Everything he did, said, even sang just had the audience in the palm of his hand. Incredible.

The highlights? Well musically I was pretty 'stoked' by the tracks 'One' and 'Where the Streets Have No Name' because I like them really, but to be honest every track was great. 'Beautiful Day' was pretty awesome too, just becasue of the way they got the suspense going. We (the audience) where pretty fired up for the chorus and then, no, we'll keep it chilled, da de da, dum de dum.... CHORUS... Nice.

Away from the music then there was a really cool bit where Bono was like 'Everyone take out your phones and hold them up'. So we did. Then the lights went down and it was so good. Think looking at the stars but in the stadium. If you're sceptical, then trust me, its very effective and cool to see. After that we were asked to text our name and the word africa to a number. So I did and soon after my name (along with others) flashed up on the big screen. Interesting feeling seeing it up there but definately a good one.

Other cool bits included Bono giving someone his coat, swapping his shades with a lass and then getting another lass up on stage in 'With or Without You'. Good stuff..

The main highlight though? Well, it had to be just being where we where in relation to the stage. Put simply we where probably 30ft from the main stage, and 10ft from two small stages linked to the main stage by walkways. This meant that we had an amazing view throughout the night, and, that when the band headed out onto the stages, which they did a lot, we were 10ft from Bono, the Edge, etc... VVVVVVVV cool...

So all in all then a vvvvvvvvv good night.... Go and see U2! NOW!

Brittney...

See The Challenge...

This week...

Aside from my little challenge theres a lot I could write about here in this blog of mine. A LOT.

I could write about the very sad feeling that I had on Sunday because I realised that a number of quality, amazing people in my life will be leaving shortly either for a month and a bit, or, for good (at least in the long-term). By this I mean those known as the 'Agape guys' or simply the 'Americans'. Not good. Going to miss you guys...

I could also write about the oddities of my home town, a place I was frequenting earlier today. I could write about the friendliness and warmth of the people, the local delicacy that is the 'meat and potato pie', the beautiful countryside, the history etc. Or I could mention the industrial wasteland, the scalliest scallies in all the land and the sheer numbers of miserable people that inhabit the place. Seriously I was humming and whistling away in the town center today, happy and joyous for all that we have in this world etc, and all I got in return was looks of fear, horror and disgust from my fellow st helenians... Anyway...

I could write about the fact that I'm going to have one of the oddest weeks of my life probably in seeing U2 on Wednesday with 60,000 people, only to be at a funeral within less than 24 hours...

I could write about the amazing people in my life that I sometimes overlook and who I'm just so thankful for. And I believe some of them have actually read this blog (not you B and D - there are others apparently - SHOCK HORROR)..

I could also write about my house which is amazing. We had a house meal tonight to basically commemorate Dave and Machine leaving us and it basically reminded me of how good our house is. So many sound people. Sweet...

And I could also write about how my head is so often up in the clouds these days, and why, though I'll leave that there. But it is and its not so bad... :-)

But on that I'm going to go to bed...

The Challenge

Ok so today I did an odd thing - I will freely and happily admit that this is an odd thing to do.

I went to my local post office and exchanged a remarkably small amount (got to LOVE that exchange rate) of English money for some US dollars. The result? I have $40 US sat in my wallet. Whilst this is nice/slightly unusual/just that little bit different,I have in all honesty simply exchanged good, useful, English money for not so useful American produced bits of paper.

But... There is method to my madness. Well I hope there is. My cunning plan is to hand over these four bits of oddly enscribed paper (with some guy called Hamilton on each one) to a citizen of the United States (or maybe two). As these people will soon be able to use such unusal money in their homeland i'm thinking how good it would be if they could use it wisely on my behalf. Kind of like an agent I guess.

So what do you say B.M.L? How about using my $40 to buy that CD by a stinkin' rockin' band and maybe something cool as well (I don't know what cool is but surprise me - maybe a baseball - thats kind of cool. Or an Ohio tee)? Ah go dude! Please... You could think of it as a challenge - see how original you could be.

Anyway... Go on lass. You know you want to...

An Ode to Mr Temlett...

I'll let the song speak for itself....


Oh Danny boy

Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying
'tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.

But come you back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
'tis I'll be there in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.

And if you come, when all the flowers are dying
And I am dead, as dead I well may be
You'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.

And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And all my dreams will warm and sweeter be
If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me
I simply sleep in peace until you come to me.

Please Note: The lyrics of this song in no way relfect the personal feelings of this blogger to Mr T or any other Danny in this world.

One heck of a 24 hrs....

Ok so i'm tired. Really tired. But in a nice way.

As the title suggests i've had a busy twenty four hours. Well it feels like it to me anyway..

Yesterday I went home. The reasons for this are many and numerous, and not that important, but crucially it allowed me to indulge in some quality 'memory lane-ing' which is always good. I managed to meet up with my best mate from home, a guy called Chris, who is a dude, though he'd probably have a go at me for being too American for calling him a 'dude'. Anyway he's a sound guy and it was good to chill out, swap tales of woe and discuss future plans..

After that I had a wee bit of time to go for a proper fast, country road type drive - all fast, twisty corners and stuff... So good... Also got to take in the joy that is driving past my old high school and knowing that i don't EVER have to be in maths or something equally dull on such an amazingly beautiful day.. Nice.

After that, and a quick trip back to Liverpool to grab some stuff, I blasted up the motorway to the Lake District to meet up with my parents who are at this moment in time on holiday in that amazing part of the world. And that was yesterday.

This morning I arose in a beautiful part of the world and started my day by going for a really cool, chilled out, swim in this ace private, indoor heated swimming pool where my parents are staying.. So good. I haven't been swimming for years and it was fantastic.. Really should go more often..

Then I had some time chilling out with my parents, which was great, just eating some nice decent food that i didn't have to pay for (bonus), and then going for a relaxing walk into the nearest town which was good.. If not a little frightening

The town, Grange-over-Sands in the Lakes, is essentially a Mecca for Old Age Pensioners, and therefore can be quite disorientating for someone in their early twenties. For a good hour today I was surrounded by people who were on average forty or even fifty years older than me.. Scary.. Just imagine people called Ethel or Margerey, doddering around town at 0.000001 mph, saying things like 'In my day' or raising their walking stick in anger at the nearest person without sagging skin, false teeth and a zimmer.. Seriously it has the effect of making you feel like an endagered species when you're young..

After that I headed back to the holiday centre, had a proper Lancashire meal (hotpot - like stew but better) and then headed home (Liverpool) at high speed, and got back just in time to see the sun setting over the city.. Quality...

All in all vvvvvv tiring though... Need to sleep methinks...

Sara and Brittney

Guys. What can i say other than that I officially suck at the old communication business tonight. So apologies....

In my defense I simply turned my computer on, popped downstairs to finish off my Maryland cookies with some milk, watched a bit of tv with Machine and Swanny and headed back upstairs ready to hit my computer. All this was done in the belief that a least one of you splendid people (Brittney Michelle) would be, and I quote, 'up late working' and on MSN.

And yet I get back up here to find not one, but two, yes two, conversation windows open and no-one on line. Dude.. Bummer.. Though for what its worth the dual conversation was very entertaining to read - so thankyou... And apologies guys...

Hope the craic is good while you are reading this. If you are reading this...

Richy, Rich (aka poopstain)