I spent a good portion of today annoyed. I've been annoyed by lots of different things, some important, some not important. Non of these things really matter, not in the long run any way. They just seem important at the time.

I've said it time and time again and will probably continue to do so, but I love how listening to music can change your mood. There's nothing else like it as far as I'm concerned...you put on an album you love and it can lift all types of doom and gloom and makes things seem so much better in just a few short minutes.

Right now, and for the last few minutes I've been listening to the instrumental version of Imogen Heap's 'Speak For Yourself' album - I'm fortunate to have this as it's not really widely available. It's a truly beautiful album...and whilst a BIG part of the album is Immi's wonderful voice, it's also an amazing piece of music without her voice. So many intricacies that you just don't notice on the normal version because of the layers of vocals that hide things. 'Just For Now' is a masterpiece, and the strings and orchestral parts throughout the album are nothing short of stunning. I've known this for a long time, but Immi is a genius. She's also one of the kindest people I know to.

Today I received an email via her website from dance tutor - one of the tutor's young students has recently been killed in a car crash - the student was apparently a big fan of Imogen's and performed several dance routines to her songs. The tutor emailed us asking if there was any way she could get hold of an instrumental version of the song 'The Moment I Said It'....apparently this song was a favourite of the student, and her family had asked that a video of the student's solo be played at the recital to honour her, with the instrumental version of the song as the music.

Now, Imogen has had a bit of a rough ride in the past few days, but despite all of what she's had going on personally, she still responded very quickly and asked me to send the track. Whilst this may not seem like a big deal, it's just another little example of what a special and caring kind of person Immi is. Someone I'm glad to call a friend. Bless you Immi x

• You are rather pleased with yourself having bought new garden furniture.
• You are dismayed when you discover that removing dock leaf plants from lawns can be very hard.
• You enjoy 'pottering' in the garden, instead of going to the pub for the afternoon.
• You get excited when you find gardening tools on sale.
• You find yourself thinking "We must go to the garden centre to pick up a few things".

Steph and I are definitely now the wrong side of 25, but we like it! [tags]Gardening[/tags]

We're back from HESFES and I survived the week camping. In fact, I quite enjoyed it! I don't holiday very often (the last one was 4 years ago), instead I tend to go to festivals, or spend my money going to dozens of gigs throughout the year, but whenever I do go on holiday I always realise how much I need a holiday and how refreshing a break can be. We spent the majority of Friday travelling, it took us around 5 and a half hours to get to Mersea Island including a food/toilet stop, and several severe traffic jams. We arrived around 7pm and quickly assembled 'Camp Clarke' - our section consisted of 3 tents, a gazebo, 2 cars, and a trailer worth of camping gear. We also had two other families we knew camped either side of us, so we had a nice little mini-community set up, which was great for borrowing milk! The week was spent dodging rainstorms, soaking up the sun, going to the beach, cooking on gas stoves, drinking overpriced coffee, eating vegan cake (it was delicious!), staying up late, getting up early, watching Jordan partake in activities in the Marquees, seeing 'An Inconvenient Truth' in a solar powered cinema, then listening to someone from Friends Of The Earth talk about climate change, getting muddy, getting clean, getting muddy again, going to the beach some more, and generally sitting around chatting to people about all kinds of wonderful things; some of which we knew about, and some we didn't. I'm still not convinced that camping is my holiday of choice (unlike Steph, who announced she wants to live in a tent!), but it wasn't as bad as I had expected - the weather was bearable despite gale force 'sea breezes' and quite a lot of rain...I think if you gave me a tent somewhere warm and dry (the south of France maybe?) I'd be happy to camp more often. 'EUROHESFES' anyone? All in all it was very relaxing and both Steph, Jordan and I had a great time. Wild horses couldn't keep Steph & Jordan away from HESFES 2008, so I'll be there too! You can see just a few of the 100s of photos Steph and I took here. [tags]HESFES 2007,HESFES,Home Education,Camping,Holiday,Mersea Island,Colchester,Essex[/tags]

There's not really much I can say, I'm gutted. Sure he was controversial at times and some people disagreed with his methods. But I loved him....I thought he was great, what he did was great and what he stood for was great. His enthusiasm and ever-lasting smile made me smile whenever I spotted him on TV, and I'd always stop what I was doing and watch him for a few minutes. The world needs more Steve Irwins. R.I.P. Crazy Steve. [tags]Steve Irwin, Irwin Steve, Crocodile Hunter, Crocodiles, Australia Zoo, Stingray, RIP, Discovery, Animal Planet, Conservationist[/tags]

I have decided to try and stage an adult sports day for my friends this summer! I was inspired to do this after attending sports day at the school of my girlfriend's son a couple of weeks ago. I had forgotten what fun sports day at primary school used to be and lots of memories came flooding back to me, including one where my best friend and I were disqualified from the three-legged race, despite our best efforts to keep our legs together after the rag tied to our legs fell off! (I don't think I ever got over that one.) The plan is to arrange a day when everyone that is game can make it and the weather is nice. We'll go to a local park, take some beers and a picnic and the games will commence! I'm yet to convince everyone about this idea, but I'm sure with some gentle persuasion and the lure of food and drink I can get enough people to make it worth while. So far I have come up with the following events:

• Three-legged Race
• Pickled Egg & Spoon Race (in honour of Dicko's love of pickled eggs)
• Sleeping Bag Race (replacing the sack race)
• Wheelbarrow Race
• Beanbag Throwing
• Piggyback Race
• Tug Of War

I'm currently trying to come up with a couple more events that are easy to put on, can include people of all sporting abilities and don't involve taking lots of equipment. All suggestions are welcome, so comment and let me know yours! The date and location are yet to be confirmed, but get in touch if you're interested! We will of course be filming the event as well! Watch this space.

The title of this post at moblog today made me think back to when I first used the internet. It was some time around '94 or '95, I was 13 or 14 and my Dad (always being an early adopter of new/computer technology) told me we were getting 'the internet'. I had no clue what on earth this was, but after a brief explanation it sounded cool. Soon we have the 'Compuserve Internet Browser' installed on our desktop PC in the kitchen and the computer was hooked up to the phoneline, which seemed a little strange. It amuses me greatly now that the only thing I was interested in doing back then was downloading and printing off reams of Nirvana photos and lyrics! I remember seeing things relating to 'email addresses' and not having a clue what it meant. My Dad told me "We haven't got one of those yet". Thinking about it...who would I have emailed anyway?! I spent ages doing searches (using compuserve's primitive search engine - because Google (I suspect) was still a twinkle in someone's eye back then...or a program on a PC in someone's garage at least!) for all of my favourite bands and finding photos of them...after all, there wasn't that much around on the internet back then, was there? Well there may have been...but at that time no one had a website address! You didn't see them printed on everything, or advertised on TV, and I'm pretty sure there weren't any major marketing campaigns in the UK for websites back then...I certainly never saw any or can remember any! Yet 10 years later I spend all day, nearly every day connected to the internet. It's my workplace as well as a place of leisure. I get the majority of my news through it as well as a lot of my music (if not buying/downloading, discovering new music). I spend way more time using the internet (not including work time) than I do watching TV. The television seems so boring and one-way these days, as does radio. Why be spoken at when you can be spoken to, reply and interact? (Interactive TV my arse!)....why wait for the news to come on a 'x' O'clock when it's sitting there waiting for you to find it, being updated every few seconds? I communicate with my friends and family through it, some local and some far away and every day I learn something new about the world and the people that fill it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the internet has had a MASSIVE affect on my life, just like the majority of other people on this planet and I for one think it's been a good affect. I'm glad I was exposed to it so early on and at a young age - and also that I'm one of the people can remember 'Life B.I.' - Life Before Internet. My 16 year old brother can't remember ever not having the internet at his disposal, which freaks me out sometimes. Thanks Dad [tags]Internet, Compuserve, Dial-up, ISP, Nirvana, MoblogUK, Email, Dad[/tags]

I just read THIS STORY on BBC News and it made me realise that there are still some people on this planet who want to use their vast wealth for good, as opposed to bad.

I've not blogged much recently. I've been pretty busy with work and play and I guess not having the time to blog because I'm busy doing other stuff is good, right? Last week I went to London for a record company meeting, which meant a 10 hour round trip for a 2 hour meeting. Gotta love public transport! The meeting was successful and lots was discussed, I also gained some inside Foo Fighters knowledge randomly, which was also good! I'm going back down tomorrow for a meeting and for Imogen's gig at The Scala, which I'm really looking forward to - I have fond memories of the two Dum Dums shows at The Scala, and I don't think I've been back there since the Dum Dums played there in 2000, so I look forward to returning! Turns out Steve is working for Immi at the show, so he'll be there too which is cool. Looks like we'll be driving back late tomorrow night, so we might miss the aftershow party, but such is life! I spent most of the weekend on Steph's sofa, both awake and asleep. We ate good food (she's a proper little master-chef-ette), watched a total of...6 films in 48 hours (although Steph slept through a couple of them!)...we watched A Mighty Wind, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, Empire Records, Team Amercia, Jack Dee Live and Dogma...and generally hung out while being entertained by the whirlwind of energy that is Jordan. I cried my eyes out with laughter at some of his antics, especially his dance routine to 'Big Butts' by Sir Mixalot - it was possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen! All this while I tried not to die from the bastard cold of got. I watched Batman Begins again last night - such a great film....I think it's my favourite Batman film, although I now plan to re-watch them all. It seems that the world has gone a bit crazy this week, all kinds of mad stuff going on - I sometimes wonder why people can't just chill the fuck out and not lose the plot the instance someone says or does something they don't like? Everyone should be more laid back, like me. Or maybe not quite as laid back a me...but more laid back than they are. Just let people do their own thing and stop trying to force your opinions or beliefs on them, and general get on with each other better. And if Sky try and show me one more advert for season five of 24 there's going to be big trouble! I had to cover my ears, shut my eyes and scream 'lalalalala' the other day so I couldn't see/hear the advert. The cat was NOT impressed by this. I seem to have been abusing my moblog in the last week too, no posts for 6 days. I did lose a couple of days due to illness so I guess it's ok. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some good moblogging opportunities. Oh and finally - I see the British music buying public are as fucking stupid as the Ordinary Boys think they are. The band/label re-release a shit song because Preston went on Celebrity Big Brother, and all those dumb fucks who watch BB and read The Sun go and lap it up, putting the song in the top 5 on the chart. Whatever England, Whatever! At least Kerrang radio are taking the piss out of this re-release. End of transmission.

Such a strange time of year. It's funny how everyone seems to feel so much pressure to have a good time 'because it's Christmas' when it's really not that different to any other time of year. I sometimes wonder if there wasn't so much pressure on people at this time of year to have a super-extra-over-the-top good time whether people would actually be able to enjoy it more? My Christmas has been a good one - fairly low key and quiet. I got some cool stuff, slept in late (even for me), hung out with family (but not to the extent where we wanted to kill each other), and generally felt fairly relaxed, so I guess that's half of what it's about. I've missed the family members who have been abroad, but I seem them a lot as it is, and they'll be back for New Year. Unfortunately not everyone has had such an event-free time, so I've been thinking a lot about other people...they know who they are and they will be ok - I promise. Hard times always seem harder at this time of year - because it's this time of year; that old pressure thing again. The past year has been a strange one for me personally, mixed with both good times and bad times...I've managed to keep friends that this time last year I feared I might lose, and I've made friends I hope to keep for years to come. I've not lost any real friends, maybe drifted apart from some friends somewhat, but also got back in touch with certain people - so as ever, it's been a year of ups and downs. I guess that's just life, and you deal with it. Right now I'm listening to some incredibly euphoric music that is filling me full of hope for the coming year - hope for myself, and hope for all the people I love and care about...the kind of music that can both be so uplifting it can make you feel like you're flying and invincible, but also make you stare into space and feel like you're so vulnerable, falling down. I love how music can do that; amplify your emotions or mood, there's nothing else like it. I'm not a religious person, I don't know if I believe in 'fate', and I don't tend to wear my heart on my sleeve, but I do believe in hope. The hope that everything WILL turn out ok, no matter how bad you feel at times, or however much you might think it won't turn out ok. Sometimes you don't want it to turn out ok, because you wish it could have not gone wrong in the first place, and you just want to feel sorry for yourself (I certainly felt like that this time last year) - and that's ok. But don't ever give up on hope. Sometimes it might be all you have, but you will always have it. So keep believing in it. Someone once said: "hope is everything. hope is all we have x" - they should remember that.

So it's now Tuesday evening and the last time I posted was last Wednesday according to my blog. Where did the last week go exactly? I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing that I have to look back through my diary to remember what I've done in the past week? (*See last post for explanation on my memory/posting madness) I've had a relatively quiet week, doing the usual work stuff. Last night we had our first Scrat rehearsal since the gig on Oct 1st and it was really good to be back playing again. Non of us had played together since the gig and apart from the few hours I spent recording drum tracks for our upcoming EP, I hadn't played drums since Oct 1st so I was a little worries I might be a bit rusty, as that was the longest lay off we'd had in the last year. Surprisingly everything came back together quite well. We all managed to remember what we were playing and there were only a few missed beats, chords and words. We were bass-player-less though, so the real amateur in the band wasn't there letting the side down ;-) By the third song I had cramp in my hands and arms...I think I maybe played a bit hard to start with just because I hadn't had the chance to unleash for a while! It was great fun though and we ran through a new cover we're thinking of doing and it seemed to gel really quickly, so I think it could be a key song in our next live set. We've also been thinking about some other covers to do, and Dicko has been busily writing lyrics for more original numbers, so there's lots of work to do in the coming months....I can wait! The only downside to rehearsing after not having done so for so long is that my hands and arms have been aching all day today. My hands are also covered in blisters! But that's ok - well worth it for the fun I had! And (touch wood) my back seems ok, which is very good. As you can see from the photo above we had some snow yesterday, this first of the winter....fortunately it was enough to make everything look nice, but not enough to stop us getting to rehearsal. It still amazes me how crap this country is when we get any type of unusual weather! In most countries people just stick their snow chains on their vehicles and go about their normal business even if there's 3 feet of snow. Here we get 5 inches over 24 hours and the whole bloody country grinds to a halt! People are stranded in freezing cars on moors and motorways! Public transport grinds to a halt and leaves the public stranded in freezing bus stations (unlucky Steph!) and generally everything goes to shit. What a shambles! To end on a more positive note; The last few days have found me re-visiting some albums and bands that I've not listened to for ages...things I own but never listen to and maybe should to more. People such as, Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Talent, Extreme, Faith No more (live), assorted punk covers and also Skunk Anansie - a band I used to love and haven't listened to for *so* long. Their first two albums are really great - such a great sound and upon reading a song title on the back of their debut album (before even listening to it) I had the weirdest flashback to doing my paper-round when I was 15 and listening to that album on my cassette walkman. When the hell did 1995 become TEN years ago? Oh, and I ended up going for a drink with Steve on my own on Sunday night in the end - was good to see him though. We set the music world to right.