For the love of Canada

Morning all.

I'll get round to writing a bit more later, I've still got a fuzzy brain after a three day bender and a weird green drink which knocked me off balance for a while.


Saturday, as you all already know, is Canada Day - there are a whole bunch of celebrations all day Friday in Trafalgar square, but that isn't the actual date so we're boycotting it (Well, we can't get time off work).

I'm not entirely sure what the plan is (because there never is one) - but we're aiming to be in or around the Maple Leaf in Covent Garden for a few hours on Saturday. Sunday, I'll probably be looking for breakfast/lunch somewhere.

So for all you London-based lot - Let me know on the old electronic mail if you fancy joining in. I'm specifcally thinking of Huw, Deanne, Léonie and Astrid - but hell, we'll accept anyone!

The choice is yours

I'm completely stumped as to what to write about at the moment. Something that was said to me at the weekend triggered my mood to swing from 'Bloody Happy' to 'Angry and reflective', and that's when I feel least creative.

So, I've come up with a few topics for you to choose from. I'll post again once I get at least 11 votes cast (and If I catch anyone inventing a new bl*gger identity to vote again, there'll be trouble). In the event of a tie, I'll probably just write something completely different. If there are less than 11 votes, I'll go get drunk and tell someone random instead.

So here we go:-

a) My Coke addiction
b) I've woken up next to more blokes than women in the last two years (no brokeback)
c) I attract more women when I'm hungover
d) I'm all talk
e) My drink problem

I'm still suffering from the guilt on a Wednesday which isn't normal. As a result, these stories all generally have a negative vibe to them (sorry about that). That might change if my mood improves.

Some topics will be more interesting than others...

Happy voting. I'm off to score some coke.

Some words of wisdom

Always look where you're going when walking down the street, don't try and look cool by walking forwards and looking in a completely different direction - you will end up walking into a big metal fence.

Don't tell stoned people that the little lump on the back of your head is your unborn twin brother named Philip, they will believe you.

If you're going to meet a friend and his cute American girlfriend, don't get so drunk you can't remember any of the conversation. Make sure they have a camera to capture some of the laughs for you.

Don't listen to the Prodigy straight after listening to the Beach Boys, the change in pace of dancing might make something 'ping' on the back or your left knee. It will force you to walk like a tool for the rest of the day.

Don't fart just before kissing someone goodbye. They won't enjoy it.

When playing cricket around the office, don't make a cup of tea halfway through the game. It will get knocked over and soak some important documents. Wait until afterwards, like the professionals.

Straight Tescos vodka ISN'T suitable for a Sunday lunchtime, you will say things you didn't want to come early evening. You'll also vaguely remember saying something else bad towards the end of the night, but probably won't remember what it was or who you told.

If yo'ure the guy on the left in the picture above, you don't want to be doing that to the guy on the right. It's best to run away, he finally realised this after being unceremoniously thrown to the floor several times.

If you're tired and in a little bit of a bad mood, don't watch your country get thrashed in the sport that you love. You will get angry and walk out, then you will become infuriated further because you missed two good tries right at the end.


If you're going to have a barbeque on the beach, go when the sun is out - it'll be considerably warmer.

Don't juggle glass beer bottles in your bedroom, eventually they will hit each other and smash, you'll then get stabbed by a shard of glass that you didn't spot on the carpet. There will be blood.

Eastern Urges

I woke up with a bolt last night, sweating, my heart racing, the lot.

"Shit Shit Shit...." Was the first thing I said.

I had to ring my buddy, Sud. I grabbed my phone from the side of my bed and rang him - luckily for him, I had run out of credit (I'm cheap like that). I thought about sending him a text but I was completely unable to do that in my half-asleep state. At this point, I was standing up in the middle of my room at a loss what to do - I still had to ring Sud. Five minutes later and out of ideas I gave up and reluctantly climbed back into bed.

Can you guess what I was going to tell him?

"Mate, we HAVE to go to Slovakia - NOW!"

I still want to go today, for no reason at all. I just feel as though I should be in Slovakia.

I'd love to know what goes on in the depths of my head sometimes.

*UPDATE*

We've been playing with the new google calendar, it's great fun. If you're trying to get hold of either Bledd or Curly, here's our schedule for the weekend. Bledd is in Green, Curly isn't. Note that it doesn't say 'Going to Slovakia' at all. I'm a little disappointed with that.

(Click for big version, as usual)

Jeez Louise

G'Day all.

Nothing out of the ordinary to report I'm afraid.

The most interesting parts of the weekend included:-

Me taking around 90mins to make a groundbreaking culinary delight in the form of chilli pineapple. It didn't look nice, but tasted interesting to say the least. From the moment you put the food in your mouth you get a cool, coconut and pineapple taste with a zest of a couple of spices. Then you taste the chilli, it warms the inside of your mouth, making you eat more pineapple to cool it down again. Something wasn't quite right with it though, and I don't know what it was.

Another run-in with the man they call Ninjah (right). Sud managed to annoy him by telling him that Toy Mic Trevor was a bigger celebrity around Cardiff. We then drifted into a big conversation discussing the merits of drinking virgins blood, his main argument was that it made you feel young and alive - We couldn't provide a rebuttal to that, having never drunk virgins blood.

We also went to see Vibration White Finger play in Callaghans, they were great as usual.

We watch a young Welsh squad come agonisingly close to beating Argentina in their own back yard. We finally went down 27-25. Two men getting sent off late in the second half didn't help much. Still there's always next weekend...

Local band 'The Automatic' reached no.4 in the charts with their new single, 'Monster'. We went to see them back in November... I've gone off them since.

Sorry, that's pretty much it. Oh, remember a few weeks ago I had a massive red lump on my head? It turned out to be a cyst, the doctor gave me some cream to put on it, which was great until my hair started falling out where I'd applied the cream... I didn't know how bad it was until I shaved all my curls off on Monday night... there's now a big bald spot right on the back of my head. Mega attractive. I went to the Doctors yesterday, and pleaded for them to do something about it - I even tried to gain sympathy by saying "But I have girls to impress, I can't do that with a bald lump on my head" - the Doctor was female, and didn't show any sympathy whatsoever. I would show you a picture of it but it's kind of embarrassing, and gross. I now officially have no trust in healthcare professionals anymore, due to this adventure and the crap dentist I saw a while ago.

Ballsack. As Afe would say.

Top 40

As I was growing up, I wasn't really exposed to any music barring the occasional Cliff Richard record that was given as a Christmas present by my Gran. My parents, big music fans in the late sixties and seventies, just didn't have the time to listen to it anymore once I came along in 1982, shortly followed by my Sister and four years later, my brother. I started listening to various records that lay around the house around the age of nine or ten. The Beach Boys 'Pet sounds' and Adam & The Ants 'Stand & Deliver' kept me occupied for hours, as did (and I'm ashamed to say it) a copy of Shakespear's Sister's 'Stay' in 1992. Eventually I tired of 'Stay' and around the same time I started noticing the works of Freddie Mercury and Queen.... I was hooked, I didn't want to listen to anything else. Mercury had died before I knew what Queen were all about but every time I saw a tape of theirs, I had to snap it up quickly and listen to it as soon as possible.

The early nineties saw the rave scene explode in the UK. Far too young (at 12/13) to go to any of the raves, I didn't really get what it was all about. I liked the tracks that made it into the charts - this was my preferred genre to listen (and dance) to. Most other kids had got into Take That or East 17, who I absolutely despised. At this point I noticed kids at school splitting into groups according to the type of music they were in to. There were the usual Pop-tastic girlies, the rockers and the occasional cool-kid that had heard of a band called Green Day. 1995 however saw my interest in dance music grow even stronger and I seemed to be the only one in my year group heading in that direction. There were a few kids older than me that lent me CD's to listen to, but as a general social rule we didn't speak to the older kids as they were bigger than us.

Around 1996, I started listening to other types of music again. Mainly Steve Lamaq or John Peel on Radio One. One night, Lamaq played a track that changed my perspective on music completely, 'Susan's House' by Eels. I remember thinking "Holy crap batman, there's a whole other world out there that I haven't even begun to scrape the surface of" (I probably didn't say 'batman' in that sentence - but you get the idea right?). From that point on I listened religiously to the radio, borrowed CD's from as many friends as possible and even went to the lengths of getting my brother involved in music too - so I could then borrow his CD's. I ALWAYS listened to the Top 40 singles chart on a Sunday too, just hoping that a song I liked appeared. I was usually able to recite the entire chart, from forty all the way down to number one.

At some point though, I stopped. I grew to loath the charts as they continued to fill with absolute pap such as the Spice Girls, Boyzone and Westlife. Discussions on the school bus with my buddy Vaughan usually went along the route of the new Idlewild, Stereophonics or Manic Street Preachers singles. By the time I'd reach the age of 18, even those became too 'mainstream' for me. It became a case of "Ah yeah, Idlewild - they're good, but have you heard this by (insert name of obscure band)".

At 19, I went to Australia. I'd been abroad before and had been exposed to music in those countries, unfortunately those countries were France, the Netherlands and Germany - known better for Jean Michelle Jarre, 2 unlimited or Die Toten Hosen (the Bad Trousers). In Oz, I witnessed the massive beach culture they have over there - acts such as Powderfinger, Ben Harper and a then-unknown guy named Pete Murray provided an amazingly relaxed influence to my tastes. I even got into country for the first time, Kasey Chambers being the catalyst for that. Upon my arrival back home in the UK, I tried forcing these acts on my friends - none were interested. I realised that the music that I was interested in was my own, my own to discover and my own to enjoy. From that point on, whenever I was asked "So, what kind of music to you like" I just replied "Oh.. you know... stuff" (but at the same time thinking "Ha, I'm not going to tell you - because it's all mine").

I continue to indulge myself in new music all the time, unfortunately this means that I rarely listen to any great musical acts of the past such as the Beatles, Rolling Stones etc.. Although I still completely love the oldies, I'm just driven by discovering more and more.

With a musical appetite including The Undertones, The Clash, Eva Cassidy, Idlewild, The Manics, Tennage Fanclub, Kasey Chambers, Radiohead, Nelly Furtado (new stuff is crud), Sublime, Bob Dylan, Groove Armada, Strip Squad, Tanita Tikaram, Q-Tip, Anti-flag, Fiona Apple, Ash, Dr.John, Robert Johnson, Sam Roberts, Armand van Helden, Ben Harper, Sigur Rós, Tom Jones and way more that I could possibly fit in here, my tastes are extremely varied... I have no friends that I could discuss the whole range with. I often find myself wound up with excitement about an up-coming single, album, gig or tour, followed by a deflated feeling as I find that no-one else seems to share the excitement too.

Obviously our musical journeys are completely different as we are brought up in different areas and at different times. Groups of friends share similar tastes, but I'm sure that in every group of Punks, there's one that likes All Saints - in every group of poptastic teeny boppers, there's one that listens to Guns N Roses and so on and so on.

But I was wondering, do you think there's anyone in the world with exactly the same tastes as you?

And to make this more interesting (for me, on a Friday). Is there any song or artist which you loved so much, they completely altered the type of music that you listened to? (Even Take That fans can join in)




(I've never written a post this long before - I started thinking about it while having a bit of a schmoke last weekend)

Same again?

Monday morning.

The alarm on my phone was telling me that 7:45am had come around, I greeted the news with open arms and a giant smile... okay I didn't, it was more of a "For FUCKS sakes" followed by a groan. I'd only got to bed a couple of hours earlier. My mouth felt dusty and dry like the inside of a 3000 year old sarcophagus, which of course had been opened and I was now cursed to feel like a blundering idiot for the day. I slid out of bed, spent a couple of minutes locating my socks and then walked straight out of the door (after walking into it). It was a quick walk to Cardiff central station, where I sat and collapsed onto a bench to wait for the train. I had a quick glance around to see if I could locate my random Monday morning friend, Claire, but she wasn't around to talk to so I just drifted into a coma-like state and continued to wait.

Finally the train arrived, I hopped aboard after whispering any swear words I could think of at the people that were in my way. It's not that I was in a rush to climb aboard, but people on the train at that time in the morning always seem to be five minutes behind where they wanted to be. They all pile out of the train and push past eachother, trying to be the first outside the station and the first into their office. At the back there's always the small person with the biggest suitcase, struggling to get it out of the door, no-one offers to help of course, they just shake their heads disapprovingly.

On the train, I located my favourite seat and fell onto it. It's a seat right in the corner of the carriage, it's the darkest area and there's zero risk of someone resembling King Kong climbing into the seat behind and kicking it every two seconds. Within a couple of minutes I was asleep, I'd soon be back in Swansea and everything will have calmed down again.

This is the usual Monday morning routine when I've spent time in Cardiff. Only hours earlier I was tucking into the rarest of steaks, there was blood everywhere - I was eating it because I was drunk and I was hungry. We'd had another bbq, Steve was the host this time again, it was pretty busy and a whole load of George staff were already there chatting away. Charlie , Oz, Mads and myself went along but were later joined by Dave and Simon who'd been off gallivanting somewhere else. As usual with this bunch of people, the laughs kept on rolling throughout the evening. My favourite line of the night was from Dave, who suddenly came over all serious...

Dave: Steve?
Steve: Yeah?
D: Can I ask you a question?
S: Okay.
D: I want you to answer seriously.
S: Right.
D: Seriously okay? It's a personal question.

At this point everyone had tuned in, eager to hear Steve bare all.

S: Go on then.
D: Now, a lot of people say 'no' to this... but I want the truth.
S: Uh huh (looking slightly worried)
D: Okay. Steve..... Do you own a hover-board?

The room went silent for all of two seconds while everyone tried to process Dave's sentence, then it erupted into a roar of laughter, I was on the floor.. my stomach muscles were as tight as they'd ever been - I was laughing so hard. I think Dave tried to explain his question but no-one was listening anymore, all you could hear in between the laughter was the occasional "What the fuck?". Oz gathered himself together and lit another spliff....

It seemed to be the theme of the weekend again, randomness, beer and stupid jokes. Great. Saturday saw the boy wonder, Sud, come up to Swansea. We sat in the sun, drank beer all day then walked the five miles to the Mumbles where we met Huw, Tom the Swan and the lovely Lanette (who is visiting from Texas - the sixth bl*gger I've met in person now!). Sud and I were quite well on our way when we found everyone, but it was a pretty fun night all the same. I was in full-on party mode and talked like there was no tomorrow, followed by walking down the street greeting all the girls that walked past with a swift palm to the arse - they all pretended to be annoyed but secretly enjoyed it I'm sure...

I don't know how much later we left but we'd lost Huw, Lanette and Tom so Sud and I decided to walk home after getting a curry. We walked back along the beach, or at least what I thought was beach. I'd wandered onto the mudflats so my trousers had become caked in mud, then when I found my way onto the dry sand, it of course stuck to the wet mud... leaving a nice sandy paste behind. This mixed with some of the earlier curry meant that my jeans were in a little bit of a state when I came round in the morning... nevermind, eh? It's all in the name of good fun.

Same again next weekend it sounds. Wales also play Argentina so I'm pretty excited about that with all the young players going on tour. It should be a good one.

The letter M

Sup.

It's been a hectic weekend again. The Sun, giant bloody steaks, firelighters & vodka bottles and free pints have all been added to my 'things that are good at the moment' list.

I can't possibly begin to write about my recent activities until tomorrow or Wednesday (once my eyes get back into focus and my head stops pounding) so here's a meme (from Teri) to read in the meantime. Lovely eh?

Ten things about Curly, beginning with the letter M:-

1. Magical - I can't turn anyone into a toad, or make broomsticks and buckets come to life to dance around, but I do have an uncanny ability to arrive at train stations with five minutes to spare before the train leaves without any thought or planning.
2. Memory Loss - It happens a lot. I only have finite brain space and I have to be selective in which part of a night out I remember. I don't usually save the best parts, there's just too much information to store it seems.
3. Monkey - I will get away with things that others would get into trouble for. I have a cheeky smile that's definately got me a few places in life.
4. Mmmm - That's the noise I make when I'm pretending to listen to you but I'm actually watching the squirrels play in the tree outside the window, or wondering who the hell you are.
5. Magnetic - I attract similar people, I have a solid bunch of mates that all seek attention just as much as I do, which makes for great pub chat.
   
6. Malacophonous - Soft voiced, when I'm not showing off. I have a radio voice apparently. I'm often mistaken for a Southern Irishman, I'm not one.
   
7. Mental - . 'Slightly mental' and 'not quite right in the head' have been used to describe me on more than a few occasions. This has often just been a case of never having met a Welshman before.
8. Muse - I'm not very original, I borrow heavily from whoever I'm talking to. Right down to their mannerisms and their accent. I'm not influenced when I'm in point no.6 mode, that's me - but you won't get to see that often.
9. Mindboggling - I'm easily confused. Like an excitable puppy haring along a field chasing a stick which the owner pretended to throw, I'll go off on one then turn round and say "Yep, you got me. Don't I feel stupid now. Throw it again? Please?"
10. Mystery - Very few people actually know me extremely well, this is due to me moving around all the time. But just when you think you've got me pinned....
    

The Beach

We are so god damn lucky here. I went for my usual walk on the beach last night to take in the sights and for the first time this year, there were loads of other people down there still at 8pm. There was a whole bunch of bonfires and barbeques surrounded by people generally enjoying themselves. It made me insanely jealous, but it's even warmer today and I'm now bunking off work early so I'll soon be down there stuffing my face with as much bbq food as possible.

Great.