The End of the Silver Lining

Well, today certainly put pay to my optimism last night. I woke up feeling okay and got to watching Top Gun for no apparent reason (ive never actually seen it yet). After about 38 not-so-sly homosexual undercurrents (45 minutes) I was racked by the worse pain I've ever felt in the base of my stomach. Once it was clearly there to stay I phoned NHS24, being somewhat less patient with their dithering around about whether I'm breathing and such; once I got through to a nurse she was wholly apathetic about the excruciating pain thing, telling me to take some paracetamol and that there's nothing else they can do. After about two hours of writhing around hoping it would pass I managed to find the number for the local GP, where a doctor came out almost immediately. Turns out it was nothing to do with the pain I've had for the past few days; that's still an acid problem, whereas today's was a kidney stone. The doctor, a woman, likened the pain associated with a kidney stone to giving birth. The injection she gave me definitely worked because the pain disappeared very soon. The better part of today came as news from Anthony Lane, the director of the zombie film I'm helping on. He's managed to secure one of the main parts to be played by Zach Gilligan; famous for playing Billy, the main guy in the Gremlins movies. I was inconsolable for a while because I love gremlins and the idea of working on a film with the star is incredible. Song of the day is sh-boom (junkie xl mix) by the Crew Cuts. I'm currently really enjoying modern remixes of old songs and this is one of my favourites.

Silver lining: part two

Today turned out to be a pretty decent day. It started acceptably as though I was still in a bit of pain, the tablets I got from the doctor were clearly working as I wasn't crippled by every movement I made. However the decision had been made by my parents that I was not going to work, probably a wise decision since I haven't slept for two nights and it still hurt doing physical tasks, but i was gutted because being a bank holiday I would have got paid time and a half today. I spent the morning pretty bored, attempting to surf the internet on my slow phone connection. The surfing was successful because I discovered play.com are selling the fabled Beats by Dr Dre Studio headphones for £179.99; £100 cheaper than I've seen them in stores. After much inner termoil I bit the bullet and bought them. Now I'm already dying waiting for them to arrive 12 hours later. Lunch featured my first attempt at cooking spaghetti. Essentially it is pasta which I'm familiar with cooking but due to it being so unwieldy ill say its different. On one hand I created perfect al dente spaghetti, but on the other hand I hate al dente so it was a mixed success. Later this atternoon we finally got Sky installed! It's taken 6 weeks of screaming down the phone but finally I am able to watch TV. I spent the evening doing so, revelling in the mindless pap of Jedward moving out of their home, middle aged men playing with cars and countless countdowns of the very best *insert ambiguous genre* music videos. On that note I was horrified to discover that VH1 did not include Oingo Boingo in alternative 80's. This brings me to song of the day. Now last night I had a bit of a moan about unoriginality in modern music, and after posting it I realised that I had find off on a complete tangent, making a rambling point that I don't actually believe. That's the problem with blogging late at night: I can sometimes do what is scientifically referred to as 'talking shite'. I suggested that music used to be exciting and ever changing whereas now its rehashes of the same old stuff. Not true. It's always been, and always will be, that the majority of music conforms to pretty basic compositional structures, very often a pop structure of verse, chorus, bridge. This isn't necessarily boring though, because its up to artists to either write something that catches your attention or employ new sounds to shake the dust off the basic bones of a song. Even music that has more complicated composition, based more on classical music, can become boring if artists don't shake things up a bit. However, back to the point, very very rarely does any music come along that's totally different, its all about trying out small new things. So to summate, everything I said yesterday is wrong. Song of the day is something I heard in the godawful top 10 singles chart. It's Yolanda be Cool and D-Cup's "We no Speak Americano". It's ridiculously short and verges on being annoying but theres something I found really catchy about it. It just makes you happy.

Silver Lining

Just a short post today. I woke up finding that the pain in my abdomen hadn't passed so, due to no local doctors being on call at the weekend, had to go to A&E at Raigmore. Finally I saw a doctor who thinks its some sort of acid reflex and gave me some tablets. Thus far the tablets have had literally no effect, and currently my skills include walking hunched as I can't stretch to a proper posture, breathing awkwardly because deep breaths feel like being stabbed with a chainsaw and walking really slowly. But its not all bad news: I found a fiver in the pocket of a random pair of trousers I put on to go to the hospital. This pretty much balances everything out in my eyes. Song of the day should really be another Oingo Boingo one because they're all I'm listening to just now, but a different track came along on my ipod as I was writing this: Messages by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. It has an immediate pang of eighties-ness from the first synth sound that kicks the track off, but I like that, and imagine how groundbreaking it must have been for people back then. It's this that I find disappointing about modern music; there's hardly ever anything truly new. A not-so-rare occurence is a band or artist putting their own twist on something or combining genres in a new way but I really struggle to think of anything genuinely never-seen-before in music of the 2000's; pop and other genres. It's a shame. Though if someone disagrees it'd be awesome if you discuss it on my Facebook. I'd love to have something to give the 'noughties' some identity beyond commercialism ruling.

THE PAIN!

This morning I woke to ridiculous pains in my abdomen which, long story short, I phoned NHS 24 about where I spoke to a doctor at raigmore who didn't think it was anything major, so I was to spend the day eating nothing and drinking only water, topping up on gaviscon and paracetamol. This turned out to be rather unpleasant. I went along to the Highland Games which were pretty sparce, probably due to the weather. This evening I went to the cinema with Danny, Lou, Angus and Matt to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the world. It wasn't as good as i expected, lacking a decent plot, but the stylisation and comedy were very good, making it an entertaining, highly original, but somewhat empty experience. 7/10. After the cinema we went to pizza hut where I was starving so had a small quantity of pizza. Cut to now, two hours or so later, and I'm in worse pain than I woke up with. Awesome. Song of the day is No One Lives Forever by Oingo Boingo. Off of the genius Dead Man's Party album, its a great catchy song with the classic Boingo darkness. I essentially love everything about the song so if you listen to it, every second has another reason for its choice.

Banter: achieved.

Today turned out to be excellent banter hence, with it now being 2:30am, I shall be keeping this blog brief. First part of the day was a general day off, plus I went to the school to look into uni applications. it was great catching up with some of the teachers I got on well with, but I hate going back to the school. This evening was "games night" which was okay; hardly anyone was out which meant it was far less of an event than previous years, but with darroch, Angus, drew and liam I had a good time,.especially on a new ride called jumpin', which I went on three times. After this e went to the poachers briefly which wasn't great so we headed to the Ben where Jonathan joined us; it was far better here, and afterwards I went with Drew and Jonathan to Drews for "kitchen banter". This is what pulled the night into the early morning and it was amazing banter so I couldn't leave until we were evicted but I'm knackered. Song of the day is the short circuit 2 end theme, because Drew did a really strange but cool vocal sound to it by holding his phone speaker up to his mouth: its hard to explain but mark my words it is a life changing experience.

Boredom reigns

Today ended up being one of those totally pointless days where nothing particularly exciting happens and nothing is really achieved. The highlight of the day was watching Speed Racer on a TV that somehow "upscales" any source to 3D. It was awesome and I was paid for the privilege, so can't complain about that. Nothing bad happened either today, the day just seemed to float along with no consequence. The boredom continued with a poor episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer before I made some dinner. Lastly I watched Sherlock Holmes with the family; the Guy Ritchie one. I enjoyed it again, repeating my previous cinema experience of screaming at the brief scene featuring my actor cousin. It's a good film on repeat viewing, just I discovered that I remembered the second half too well. So there's a boring day summed up in a rather boring blog. Apologies, must try harder in future. Don't of the day reflects me getting back into Oingo Boingo. It is a song called Pedestrian Wolves, and its from their last album, an album which divides their fans with le on the side of loving it. This song shows such a variety of influences all mashed up into something that sounds unique; a general punk tone with complete polar opposites in funk sounds and almost barbershop style vocal harmonies at times. A really wierd song, definitely not to everyone's taste but I like it.

Harpsichord!?!

This morning started off strangely as I awoke to find myself hardly able to move my arms or legs. Eventually I became mobile, but I spent the day aching for absolutely no reason. Other than that minor setback work was okay. Completely dead again I spent the day working through my section, charging up all the batteries to the cameras and camcorders. Whilst "testing" the cameras I discovered that I love the Panasonic G2: It's a great camera to use, and in the near future I want o see how the photos from it come out on the computer. The afternoon was largely taken up with setting up a 3D tv. Three of us were doing so, or perhaps me and another salesman setting it up whilst the day's manager was running around like a child on Christmas morning in expectation of watching monsters vs aliens 3D; the movie Samsung package with the BluRay player. Eventually we got everything working and anyone that groans at the mention of 3D tvs genuinely has to come into Currys and see it in person: it is brilliant. Anyone with two functioning eyes must be at least slightly impressed by it. One thing that overshadowed a lot of today was talk of the woman who put a cat in a bin. You know what I mean. Obviously it is really sick, and completely incomprehensible an act to do to a random cat right at its own house, BUT I do feel that its all been blown out of hand a bit. I mean, step back and consider the fact that the cat has suffered no harm, beyond possibly being a bit scared. But a crazy lady scaring a cat surely isn't the most heinous crime committed today. Itxaso made a point that a while ago a group of kids sellotaped fireworks to a cat. This made minor news; more an afterthought whereas this story made front page news. Again I don't begin to comprehend the woman's reasoning at the time but surely other people can see its a bit low level? Anyhoo, on to song of the day. Today is "on the path to fury" by Fairyland. One acceptable reason for it being chosen is its a great symphonic power metal song, but most importantly, if you skip to about the two minute mark you'll hear a harpsichord solo. A harpsichord solo. That is all there is to be said.

Harpsichord!?!

This morning started off strangely as I awoke to find myself hardly able to move my arms or legs. Eventually I became mobile, but I spent the day aching for absolutely no reason. Other than that minor setback work was okay. Completely dead again I spent the day working through my section, charging up all the batteries to the cameras and camcorders. Whilst "testing" the cameras I discovered that I love the Panasonic G2: It's a great camera to use, and in the near future I want o see how the photos from it come out on the computer. The afternoon was largely taken up with setting up a 3D tv. Three of us were doing so, or perhaps me and another salesman setting it up whilst the day's manager was running around like a child on Christmas morning in expectation of watching monsters vs aliens 3D; the movie Samsung package with the BluRay player. Eventually we got everything working and anyone that groans at the mention of 3D tvs genuinely has to come into Currys and see it in person: it is brilliant. Anyone with two functioning eyes must be at least slightly impressed by it. One thing that overshadowed a lot of today was talk of the woman who put a cat in a bin. You know what I mean. Obviously it is really sick, and completely incomprehensible an act to do to a random cat right at its own house, BUT I do feel that its all been blown out of hand a bit. I mean, step back and consider the fact that the cat has suffered no harm, beyond possibly being a bit scared. But a crazy lady scaring a cat surely isn't the most heinous crime committed today. Itxaso made a point that a while ago a group of kids sellotaped fireworks to a cat. This made minor news; more an afterthought whereas this story made front page news. Again I don't begin to comprehend the woman's reasoning at the time but surely other people can see its a bit low level? Anyhoo, on to song of the day. Today is "on the path to fury" by Fairyland. One acceptable reason for it being chosen is its a great symphonic power metal song, but most importantly, if you skip to about the two minute mark you'll hear a harpsichord solo. A harpsichord solo. That is all there is to be said.

Harpsichord!?!

This morning started off strangely as I awoke to find myself hardly able to move my arms or legs. Eventually I became mobile, but I spent the day aching for absolutely no reason. Other than that minor setback work was okay. Completely dead again I spent the day working through my section, charging up all the batteries to the cameras and camcorders. Whilst "testing" the cameras I discovered that I love the Panasonic G2: It's a great camera to use, and in the near future I want o see how the photos from it come out on the computer. The afternoon was largely taken up with setting up a 3D tv. Three of us were doing so, or perhaps me and another salesman setting it up whilst the day's manager was running around like a child on Christmas morning in expectation of watching monsters vs aliens 3D; the movie Samsung package with the BluRay player. Eventually we got everything working and anyone that groans at the mention of 3D tvs genuinely has to come into Currys and see it in person: it is brilliant. Anyone with two functioning eyes must be at least slightly impressed by it. One thing that overshadowed a lot of today was talk of the woman who put a cat in a bin. You know what I mean. Obviously it is really sick, and completely incomprehensible an act to do to a random cat right at its own house, BUT I do feel that its all been blown out of hand a bit. I mean, step back and consider the fact that the cat has suffered no harm, beyond possibly being a bit scared. But a crazy lady scaring a cat surely isn't the most heinous crime committed today. Itxaso made a point that a while ago a group of kids sellotaped fireworks to a cat. This made minor news; more an afterthought whereas this story made front page news. Again I don't begin to comprehend the woman's reasoning at the time but surely other people can see its a bit low level? Anyhoo, on to song of the day. Today is "on the path to fury" by Fairyland. One acceptable reason for it being chosen is its a great symphonic power metal song, but most importantly, if you skip to about the two minute mark you'll hear a harpsichord solo. A harpsichord solo. That is all there is to be said.

rain, rain, go away...

Today turned out to be a much more run-of-the-mill day than yesterday, albeit very damp.Work went by with hardly any customers, let alone annoying ones. Calvin came in towards the end of the day which was cool; other than that I spent my day starting charging up every camera in the store with background music courtesy of MTV hits' rundown of the top 40 best selling songs of the noughties. as a sidenote I will add that "noughties" is a term that really annoys me, but there is no alternative. It was great for nostalgia purposes, with all the songs featuring somewhere in my childhood or teens. Though I was gutted when number one turned out to be Will Young's Evergreen. An atrocious song that makes me ashamed to have grown up in a decade represented by it. After work I got properly hooked on Buffy the Vampire slayer as I am now watching the final season, and finally got into it, remembering why I loved it so much years ago. Lastly I watched a Korean film called Hansel & Gretel. It's a pans labyrinth style fairy tale for grown ups. The plot becomes very confusing towards the end but after a few minutes discussion as the credits rolled we came to a suitable conclusion that makes the film a very haunting story. I won't explain the plot at all because its got strong elements of mystery to it. The thing that struck me most was the visual style of it; colours were graded in a very fairytale style, with warm glowing happy scenes and dark, shadowy creepy scenes. The camera work was very photographic, with the majority of shots clearly well though out, adding a very polished stylized feel to the film. It's worth a watch to anyone who likes unusual films, and since I sit firmly in that category I give it 8/10. Song of the day is No Quarter by Alestorm. It's an instrumental track and keep an ear open for He's a pirate from Pirates of the caribbean.

MORE CAFFEINE!

Today turned out to be a rather odd day. It started off disappealingly as I was completely zombified where i usually snap out of it after half an hour or so, it lingered. So I went to Costa and had a large amount of caffeine. Coupled with another large dose on my break I ended up spending the afternoon feeling like I was going to die at any moment: I was still extremely tired but the caffeine had given the effect of a very artificial hyperness which made my mind and body try and work three times its usual rate but falling over itself due to the physical tiredness. It was unpleasant but it helped me defeat a bizarre customer: she bought a radio for £20. Not exactly sale of the week, but obviously I was being polite and all that. I offered her a bag and after a period of ficklety as to whether or not it was required she decided "yes, ill have a bag." So I packed her radio into a suitable sized bag. Her reaction was that of disbelieving, amused disgust: the sort of time someone snootily laughs at something so outrageously disgraceful. I was at first bemused, as she said "oh my. I won't bother if that's all I get." I still didn't quite follow and she continued "you'd think, spending all that money, i'd get more than THAT." as she unpacked the radio and started storming out. My hyper mind went into overdrive fury, reacting with venemous sarcasm, shouting after "no, you can have any bag you like, here, even one this big" as I pulled out a massive bag large enough to hold a number of laptops, let alone a radio. By this time she had already left but I was pleased with my diplomatic handling of the situation... After work I met a couple of guys who were a few years below me in school and started college today. I can't remember their names but they're sound. A little way along the bus came to a halt where I looked ahead to see a stream of stationary cars, headed by a smashed up car that had literally minutes before hit the verge and rolled. As for the rest of the blog, my phone deleted it again and I'm far too angry to retype it. The driver was apparently fine, walking away after being freed. Song of the day is the buffy the vampire slayer because I've started watching the last season and was reminded how awesome the theme is.

MORE CAFFEINE!

Today turned out to be a rather odd day. It started off disappealingly as I was completely zombified where i usually snap out of it after half an hour or so, it lingered. So I went to Costa and had a large amount of caffeine. Coupled with another large dose on my break I ended up spending the afternoon feeling like I was going to die at any moment: I was still extremely tired but the caffeine had given the effect of a very artificial hyperness which made my mind and body try and work three times its usual rate but falling over itself due to the physical tiredness. It was unpleasant but it helped me defeat a bizarre customer: she bought a radio for £20. Not exactly sale of the week, but obviously I was being polite and all that. I offered her a bag and after a period of ficklety as to whether or not it was required she decided "yes, ill have a bag." So I packed her radio into a suitable sized bag. Her reaction was that of disbelieving, amused disgust: the sort of time someone snootily laughs at something so outrageously disgraceful. I was at first bemused, as she said "oh my. I won't bother if that's all I get." I still didn't quite follow and she continued "you'd think, spending all that money, i'd get more than THAT." as she unpacked the radio and started storming out. My hyper mind went into overdrive fury, reacting with venemous sarcasm, shouting after "no, you can have any bag you like, here, even one this big" as I pulled out a massive bag large enough to hold a number of laptops, let alone a radio. By this time she had already left but I was pleased with my diplomatic handling of the situation... After work I met a couple of guys who were a few years below me in school and started college today. I can't remember their names but they're sound. A little way along the bus came to a halt where I looked ahead to see a stream of stationary cars, headed by a smashed up car that had literally minutes before hit the verge and rolled. As for the rest of the blog, my phone deleted it again and I'm far too angry to retype it. The driver was apparently fine, walking away after being freed. Song of the day is the buffy the vampire slayer because I've started watching the last season and was reminded how awesome the theme is.

MORE CAFFEINE!

Today turned out to be a rather odd day. It started off disappealingly as I was completely zombified where i usually snap out of it after half an hour or so, it lingered. So I went to Costa and had a large amount of caffeine. Coupled with another large dose on my break I ended up spending the afternoon feeling like I was going to die at any moment: I was still extremely tired but the caffeine had given the effect of a very artificial hyperness which made my mind and body try and work three times its usual rate but falling over itself due to the physical tiredness. It was unpleasant but it helped me defeat a bizarre customer: she bought a radio for £20. Not exactly sale of the week, but obviously I was being polite and all that. I offered her a bag and after a period of ficklety as to whether or not it was required she decided "yes, ill have a bag." So I packed her radio into a suitable sized bag. Her reaction was that of disbelieving, amused disgust: the sort of time someone snootily laughs at something so outrageously disgraceful. I was at first bemused, as she said "oh my. I won't bother if that's all I get." I still didn't quite follow and she continued "you'd think, spending all that money, i'd get more than THAT." as she unpacked the radio and started storming out. My hyper mind went into overdrive fury, reacting with venemous sarcasm, shouting after "no, you can have any bag you like, here, even one this big" as I pulled out a massive bag large enough to hold a number of laptops, let alone a radio. By this time she had already left but I was pleased with my diplomatic handling of the situation... After work I met a couple of guys who were a few years below me in school and started college today. I can't remember their names but they're sound. A little way along the bus came to a halt where I looked ahead to see a stream of stationary cars, headed by a smashed up car that had literally minutes before hit the verge and rolled. As for the rest of the blog, my phone deleted it again and I'm far too angry to retype it. The driver was apparently fine, walking away after being freed. Song of the day is the buffy the vampire slayer because I've started watching the last season and was reminded how awesome the theme is.

Shoveling decomposing rubbish. There's no witty remark to be made.

This morning came around unexpectedly quickly after hardly any sleep, but I was out not long after peeling myself out of bed, to my grandparents', helping them sort out the chalet they're letting out. My task was clearing out my Grandad's old shed which was filled with rubbish almost as old as myself. Due to this is was a mission; an unpleasant one at that. Eventually I got it done and spent the rest if the afternoon helping with various other tasks. In the evening we were still at my Grandparents' experiencing the novelty it watching TV as Sky still haven't installed anything. Unfortunately it was Last of the Summer Wine which I haven't seen for years. It has become atrocious; I didn't laugh or even smirk once. 0/10. When we got home we watched The Crow which I somehow hadnt yet seen. It started off pretty poor, with all scenes being far too brief, literally summarizing the purpose of said scene, nothing more. But after the first 15 minutes or so it gradually picks up into a very good film. The look and tone of it reminds me a lot of Tim Burtons Batman which isn't a bad thing but also isn't exactly unique; the grittiness mixed with larger than life characters, dark humor and a very urban-gothic visual style were very reminiscent throughout. The plot is little more than a revenge mission but it is conveyed in a way that holds a lot of emotion, enhanced by well written characters. Brandon Lee makes a great lead, and watching it has made me have a little less awe at Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker in the Dark Knight; in so many scenes I kept seeing the Joker in the Crow. Another thing that isn't really a critical point but an observation is that knowing Brandon Lee died making it gives it an even darker tone, and it feels at times, especially in the final monologue, as though it has been polished into a bit of a tribute to him, beyond the dedication in the end credits. Everything considered its not a masterpiece but a powerful, entertaining revenge picture with a central character that carries the movie with ease. 8/10. Song of the day is People are Strange by Echo & the Bunnymen, because its from Lost Boys, the soundtrack to which I'm obsessed with just now, and its a song I've only recently appreciated. I like the quirkiness of the music mixing with the melancholy of the lyrics, creating an almost sinister yet incredibly catchy song.

Steel Wheels

Today started with me pretty miffed at having almost two hours in town before starting work. It turned around though when I found the last season of buffy the vampire slayer in oxfam. I used to love that show but for some reason I never caught the last few and for however many years its been I've managed to avoid spoilers as to how it ends. Finally ill find out. It got even better when I wasn't charged for it, only paying 99p for the other stuff I got. As the day went on however, my moral self disgust grew to the point where next time I'm in town I physically HAVE to donate some money to atone. Just before work I went to heroes for sale, the comic and movie stuff shop where an awesome guy came in, 50 years old with a ponytail behind a half-bald head. He proceeded to play with a Darth Maul toy making lightsaber noises as it defeated predator before turning round and looking at my power quest t shirt and remarking on them being a great band. This is pretty big because he is the first person I've met who is an established fan of them, and I only the second he has met. Work, while brief in my 5 hour shift, was busy and actually annoyingly stressful due to a few completely, impenetrably stupid customers and the tills being so old and worn out they kept going wrong. I survived though and spent the afternoon wandering around town, meeting Lou, resulting in incomprehensible conversations to any regular "normal" human. I got home with enough time to get changed in order to go to Carl's leaving party. It started at the Ben which was great, and proceeded to Pepe's house where it was like our old house parties; amazing banter. After a good while we headed to the Poachers Inn which is where the banter slowly faded for me. I can't really put a reason to it but there's just something about the place I don't like. One good thing came from it as I met a guy called Peter who transpired to be another Power Quest fan. Two in one day; ridiculous.Eventually giving up I walked home still satisfied from a good evening but knackered from a fairly busy and long day. Song of the day is, predictably, by Power Quest; ill go for "Civilised?" because its one of my favourites.

A tardis of boxes.

It was a pretty productive day today, even if a bit boring. Having managed to find the shelves I wanted in an actual B&Q store (it seems impossible to buy stuff without internet), we put them up which allowed me to sift through some of the boxes that were encompassing my room. Even after one afternoon my room looks three times its previous size. Other than this I spent ages playing God of War 3 which I'm properly hooked on now and I watched The Story of Anvil again. I haven't seen it in ages and I forgot just how unlikely the whole movie is, yet a quick Wikipedia check proves they truly do exist and its not a hoax. Amazing documentary because it completely draws you into the characters and makes you truly care about them trying to make it. Not just for metal fans, its a movie id recommend to most people. And so now I'm shattered and have to go to work tomorrow so that's it for tonight. Except (of course) for song of the day which is metal on metal by anvil. To reiterate the above I have no idea how they never made it based on music like this because they clearly influenced all the greats: the greats openly admit to that. Well I guess that's just the nature of the music industry; even talent requires a bit of luck to make it big.

An unfortunate ipod incident.

Today continued the trend of work being quiet, but acceptable banter meaning the day doesn't drag too much. There were no annoying customers at all; even the tourists who couldn't speak any English were cooperative as opposed to the usual method of screaming at me in whatever language they speak in the hope that the trauma will unlock some subconscious multilingual cortex of my brain. One guy brought in an ipod that had been broken and was covered by our warranty. In returning it I had to enquire as to the fault for the paperwork and he explained that it simply didn't work at all after being out drinking one night. Towards the end of the process, as I was preparing his replacement, he decided to inform me not to directly touch the ipod or generally get too close to it as the true nature of the fault was, whilst drunk, various bodily functions had occurred on it. He had taken the care to eradicate the vomit and urine from it but the lingering smell was quite unpleasant. Nonetheless, the insurance is called "Whatever Happens" and in this case "Whatever" certainly did happen. I only feel for the guys in the depot that unwittingly recieves the foul smelling package in the next few weeks. After starting at 8:45 I finished at an oddly rota'd 3:45 giving me time to wander aimlesdly around town. The red cross guys were out harvesting direct debit details and one of them terrified me by addressing me by my name. I then remembered the name badge I wear but still, its a strange thing to do. Once home I played God Of War 3 which I bought today. It's stunning in its scale: your character is running around atop other mountain-sized characters which are moving and acting out a storyline, fighting with other similar sized gods, with you interacting and assisting. It is an enjoyable game in general but the size of it is breathtaking at times. Later I watched Tokyo Gore Police. It's a bizarre Japanese movie set in future Tokyo where the nationalized police are hunting 'engineers'; criminals genetically modified such that a wound reforms into a weapon. For example the opening scene seen a man's arm removed which regenerates as a fleshy chainsaw. It is one of those films which exists solely for the gore scenes, which manage to repeatedly outdo the last. By the halfway point it seems pretty twisted but still it becomes worse, slowly becoming the most twisted, sick, goriest film I've seen. And as such its great fun. There's no sense of realism in anything that happens and some set-ups are so outlandish that it is laugh out loud funny, and sometimes so deeply twisted that I was staring at the screen in disbelief. It is really a film that must be seen to be believed; to explain some scenes would not only spoil the fun, but would be impossible as they are so unthinkably strange. 5/10 because while it was entertaining it was by no means good, but I'm so shellshocked by the wierdness that I don't quite know what to give it. Song of the day is Mr Crowley by Ozzie Osbourne. It's a true classic with an incredible intro. I also find it interesting that the subject, Aleister Crowley, dubbed "the most evil man to ever live" lived about 15 miles away from my house in his day. A very strange man whether you believe in evil or not.

Ra ra ra-ra-raa; Want your bad covers.

Today was another quiet day at work but was less tedious than yesterday; once the regional manager had left with mostly praise in his wake, everyone was much more relaxed so there was a lot more banter to be had. America was poorly represented again today, by another elderly woman who asked for a battery for her watch. Quite justifiably I asked what model battery she needed. "I don't know." She proceeded to say "well in the states, I just go into these shops and the people are capable of getting me a fresh battery straight away and fitting it for me." This statement firstly clarified that she was again in an inferior, underdeveloped civilisation due to my impractice of occlumency to have discovered what battery she needed before she even entered. Secondly I was astonished that even in the land of the free, you are able to walk into an electrical store and have a watch repaired by salesmen. To prevent further confusion and aggravation I apathetically directed her to a jewellers. Another customer today became a perfect example of how to deal with an arrogant snot. As a salesman I adopt a relatively cheery, agreeable tone that shows unquestioning agreement with customers' personal situations and requirements. This tone is often a thick mask to the mental cursing happening underneath. The gentleman was inquiring as to a TV; reduced from £300 to £200. After confirming its availability he suggested a wall mount be thrown in. He did so in a manner that wasn't the acceptable request, in the thesis of "dont ask, don't get", but was more of an expectation. I (truthfully) told him I was unable to, as there was already a huge saving so further discount would not be allowed. He kicked up a fuss about it only being a tenner, which surprised me because most of them are much more than that, but out of principle for his tactics I stood my ground. He apparently calmed down and I offered to collect the TV for him to which he had a childish tantrum "no; I don't want it if you won't give us a mount." At this point my cheery front actually increased, but now rather than being my salesman persona of pleasantry it was the result of the deepest burning disgust, manifesting itself in cynical sarcasm. Clearly expecting me to grovel at his boots, he was notably lost when I happy agreed "okay then." and walked away. Song of the day is Bad Romance by Glee because it is one of the worst things ever committed to soundwaves. I had actually forgotten a out Glee's existence until, talking to Mhairi on the bus home, the topic arose of how much we both hate it.

Accursed tourists

Today work was pretty quiet, most likely because all the schools have gone back. A year on, I kind of miss the banter associated with school but overall I do think its much better in the 'real world'. Im also looking to next year when I hope to go to University which should incorporate the social aspects of high school in a much more mature and varied surrounding. Sounds good to me. However, back to present day, the day dragged in the quietness and most of the day was spent preparing the store for a visit from the regional manager. Apparently there was a cruise liner group in town today which definitely explains the plethora of people shouting at me in German waving a camera in my face, refusing to adapt their conversational methods in light of my English language. While the majority of non-german-cruise liner customers were fine, there was another lady who really badly annoyed me. I'm not one for American-bashing but this lady, in her 50s I'd say, was the entire personification of most peoples problems with them; she was so ignorant and clearly believed America was the complete pinnacle of human civilisation. On asking for an SD card I told her the price was £12.99. She immediately replied "Yeah and what's that in REAL MONEY?", as I had the audacity to quote her in this countries currency. Fair enough, I took it as a joke at first but the way she went on about me not knowing the current precise exchange rate in order to quote her in her beloved blood and oil stained dollars it was clear she wasn't joking (Disclaimer: the above was America bashing, I.e. the country, politically. That is acceptable. The people however are largely very nice in my experience, save this bint). She finally decided to buy it and on calculating the price in dollars she winged about the expense, adding "well that'll teach me to buy technology in strange countries" as though she was haggling with a witch doctor in deepest Africa. Even after it was paid for I had to open it and put it into the camera as she was convinced I was lying to her, perhaps selling her a worthless piece of plastic. My day lightened when she left, to look on the bright side. Tonight I watched Loch Ness Terror, an American b movie about Nessie eating people after having migrated to Lake Superior via a network of sub-oceanic tunnels. Naturally it was atrocious, with a very bare plot that still manages to have black holes of logic and continuity. Effects are also horrendous with the monsters being greyish green in CGI and a baby rabbit type pink in puppet form. Acting matches the rest of the efforts, and the resounding worst point is the sound; talky scenes are enfuriating because they havent cleaned up the sound so there's a constant him in the background that is occasionally muted and pops back in, and some lines actually cut in half a syllable late. All said it has a throwaway laughable entertainment quality to it, so I give it 2/10. Song of the day is Robot Rock/Oh Yeah by Daft Punk fron the Alive 2007 album. It's the excact same set they played at Rockness 07 so the album always brings back great memories, such as today, when I listen to it.

It's just a jump to the left wing...

Today I went back to work: the early start came as a shock to me, but I found energy drink 3 for £1 at poundland which rectified my tiredness. Work was fairly busy today, so it went pretty quickly. There were no annoying customers, so todays anger came courtesy of the Daily Record from the other day that was sitting in the staff room at my break. It was the general tabloid concoction of celebrity worship and 1970's working class opinions on everything else. One reader had written in about how the government needs to keep doing more to prevent extreme alcohol consumption, irked into writing their letter by the abhorrent sight of a cider advert on tv. Thus came the same old statements about cheap booze and underage drinking etc, etc.To say cheap alcohol encourages teenagers to drink is irrelevant; if they're under 18 they can't buy it, and if someone else buys them it they're breaking the law. Raising the prices will also make no difference because these teens 95% of the time live on "pocket money"; they have no bills or monetary responsibilities so the only people who lose out will be the adults who live on a budget. Moving on to the points of the dangers of heavy drinking, surely people old enough to buy alcohol are also old enough to make their own choices. I like drinking alcohol at parties or at the pub, and I'm totally aware that if I go out three nights a week getting totally wasted, there will be consequences in the future. Educating people on this is fine, just so people are aware of what they are risking its their choice, but constantly nannying people is ridiculous, like putting the biscuits on the top shelf so the kids don't eat too many and get sick, people are trying to make alcohol harder for grown adults to acquire for the same reason. It's ridiculous, and at what point will the nanny culture end? Already smokers are becoming a seperate race to the ordinary humans, along with fat people and whatever else will become a sub-human offence in coming years. Will the day come that you go to the registry office getting married, but before you sign you have to sit with an official for half an hour discussing whether you REALLY want to get married; are they the right one? And any potential downsides to the choice you've made. Will we have to claim our car keys off of a local authority, after being questioned on how far we need to go, considering that perhaps we could walk, cycle or take the bus. What people do is their choice; if you let them know the possible consequences, then only they can decide if its worth the risk and they deal with what happens as a result. Once this tantrum passed I went home where after relaxing for a while I had to search the Drum Woods for my brother in the rain because he'd gone off with friends totally losing track of time and apparently space, as he was well beyond the fair boundaries he was given by the parents. Lastly I watched Rocky Horror Picture Show, a movie which I think gets stranger and more entertaining each time I watch it. Naturally song of the day is Time Warp, the quintessential track from the movie. I'm pretty chuffed with myself for the title I just came up with for this as well.

French robots?

Today I went with my family to Fort George for a massive event they were putting on this weekend: it was the general reenactments as they often have at the historic Scotland sites but this one was on such a major scale; there were reenactment groups from all over the UK, covering wars from 900AD to present day. I found the first half more interesting with the swords, axes, flails, hammers and all that because I hate guns. But towards the end even the guns were pretty cool when there was about 40 soldiers lined up firing muskets st the crowd. It wasn't some mass genocide; they were firing blanks. Like I said the scale was massive; two arenas, camps dotted everywhere to meet the performers and look at / handle weapons, and right at the far end was the 1940s section with a full size stage for a full brass band and a dancefloor accessible to the public but also featuring professional dancers. The highlight was what was billed as a flyover by a spitfire. Turns out it was an original spitfire pilot who was doimg all sorts of tricks over us for ten minutes or so. Extremely well done to whoever organised it. After there it was a pretty low key day; buying shelves at B&Q I noticed they were a bit scratched so I haggled the price down with my mad skills. In getting home I realised my arms have been completely cremated in the sun. Not to complain about the awesome weather today, but I spent this evening trying everything to keep my arms cool to no avail. Pretty decent day, there's nothing really to complain about; even the sunburn is a slightly inconvenient side product of the amazing weather so doesn't really count as a downside. Song of the day is Veridis Quo by Daft Punk. I usually listen to music when writing this and I out on the Discovery album (one of my favourite albums of all time btw) and had totally forgotten about this tracks existence. Really nice instrumental; relaxing but also with a subtle undercurrent of power that gives it a half dreamlike, half inspiring quality. It's not often an instrumental dance track has that effect, which just goes to show how great Daft Punk are.

God save the gracio- DEEEH!

Today I woke up feeling atrocious. I find it quite irritating that after drinking a lot and having three hours sleep I'm feeling great, but after an early night in a warm comfy bed I wake up feeling as bad as everyone around me looked the morning after the party. Not to winge, its just frustrating. Due to this I called in sick to work, admittedly being a little bitch in the process. I spent the first good watching some of the ridiculously intensive making-ofs on the Lord of the Rings boxset. They're really engrossing, even from a film mking viewpoint for people who arent keen on the movies. Once I tired if this I sat with my brother and mum and watched shock treatment, the little-spoken-of sequel to Rocky Horror. It was arguably wierder than the first, but still very entertaining. It is a satire of TV, largely reality TV meaning it has somehow become much more relevant since it was made in 1981. In retrospect I feel it might have been a warped view of TV going "a step too far", but to a modern audience such as myself this "step too far" is extremely close to shows that populate our screens. Enough deep talk though, its a really dry comedy with no jokes that fell flat to me and the music is very good. It's not a masterpiece in any respect but its an entertaining, really strange film without being the modern type if strange where its trying to be kitchy and hip, or infuriatingly pretentious. It's just unashamedly odd. I give it 6/10. I decided this afternoon that it was silly to sit at home all day feeling sorry for myself so I had a cycle round Drum. It was on my return that I was assured not going to work was a decent idea because I pretty much died as soon as I got off my bike. I did manage to become less so in time for going to the cinema though, with Danny, Duncan, Ewan, and Jamie Miller. We saw an advance preview of The Expendables. That's right: two movie reviews. I went in expecting no more than throwaway entertainment. I certaintly got that but the over the top action was nestled amongst a decent movie. The plot is pretty original but in essence it does conform to the general action movie fare of dictators, corporations, big guns, explosions and man-on-man "boss battles". There are occasional moments where the action stops to allow either some character moments, one carried off stunningly by Mickey Rourke, or for some genuinely well written and well timed comedy relief. As would be expected by the exhausting cast list the action is brilliant; fight scenes are frequent, extended and very large. Naturally as the film goes on they get larger and more unapologetically crazy. It never loses control though, the plot is never neglected for a shiny fight scene, so you're kept hooked on both levels. In summary it works as a standalone movie and as a worthy tribute to the 80's style action movies that made most of the cast famous. If I have to complain it would be for the poor CGI; I found it distracting and a bit unnecessary really, but luckily it was very infrequent that such a shot cropped up, so I still give it 8/10. It won't win oscars but it does what everyone wants it to do and a good bit more. It was a good night, made better by the presence of Darroch and Drew on the bus who were a bit disappointed at having seen Knight and Day with Beast and Steph. The banter on the way home was extremely bizzare, ranging from Neo-Nazi gift shops in Portsmouth that Darroch had inadvertently visited, to truly horrific things that must not be comitted to a hard copy, lest they be used against me. Song if the day is the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers theme. It must be one of the best tv themes ever: its genuinely great. It's choice is due to me listening to it when getting ready to go out and being stunned at just how good it is.

Ring of Fire

Last night I went to Aidens house for a gathering/party; it was here that I was introduced to a drinking game titled Ring of Fire. Two games of it left us with 90% of the alcohol in the premises consumed and I found myself getting progressively rather drunk on a thoughtless mixture if beer, jagermeister, rum, vodka, cider and anything else that was being passed around. Hence the extremely short post last night. It was incredibly acceptable banter and I went back to Drum this morning, getting a lift from Stephen. One thing I was most pleased about was my lack if a hangover; Calvin's miracle hangover prevention clearly works as I definitely ought to have had one after last night. This afternoon I watched Triangle; a genre-twisting psychological thriller of sorts. I had medium expectation of it and got a bit nervous when I realised it was low budget with some really sub standard CGI at many points. However, it turned out to be a very clever, thoughtfully executed film. The low budget curse of a film purely looking cheap was avoided with inventive camerawork along with grading that gave the visual side of the film a really professional outcome. The plot is impossible to sum up without major spoilers, but suffice to say that it is twist-ridden and has you really scratching your head for the most part. The final section of the plot is very different to anything I as expecting, and genuinely impressed me in the way it was carried out. Obviously the writer/director (same person) is to thank for a large portion of the quality but equal praise goes to the leading lady who portrays a very complex character whilst maintaining an air of mystery and intrigue about her. All in all it wasn't without its flaws but everyone has clearly worked hard for it. I give it 8/10. After this had finished I went with Drew and Darroch to the school in order to assist with filming of Milk Paton. We got a number of decent shots and it was nice chilled out banter. Song if the day is Heart - Alone. Thus is because I've listened to it a fair but over the set few days then suddenly I saw Florence tweeting the lyrics. This conicidence already seems much was exciting than when I first found it bu there we go.

postponed until tomorrow.

tonights blog will be postponed due to a large number of drinking games having been played tonight at aidens house.

An atrocity parading as a phone.

Today turned out to be a day of failure. It started with me trudging to the bus stop in the torrential rain only to have my bus not turn up. Phoning stagecoach I was informed that it was late. Still nothing until a different bus appeared; but it wasn't the bus I was waiting for. This one was supposed to have gone past at 8 but it was now 9:20. Turns out they both broke down before even beginning their days' service. Once I got to work, just in time, it was dead. I did have a whole blog here but my phone decided to delete it again and it was all nonsensical babbling so Meh. Song of the day is My way by Northern Kings. Of the countless renditions of this song I've heard this is by far my favourite. Not just because its metal but it remains respectful to the original and has great vocals.

He's not the messiah...

This morning for me was one of those mornings where you acknowledge that you absolutely have to get up immediately, with no choice in the matter, yet you are physically unable to extract yourself from the bed. Eventually I plucked up the momentum to haul myself out and mobilize my limbs to carry me to the bus. Here I met Jamie who apparently had had a similar morning experience. Once in town I hardly felt any more awake so I went to Costa and had my usual vanilla latter only with extra espresso and less milk to boost the caffeine shot from it. It did work because not long after I was actually feeling quite good and I didn't crash at all for the entire day. Work was pretty dead for the morning, so I was glad when my break came around, giving me the opportunity to wander around town a bit. I did discover that it is near impossible to get a catalan phrasebook in preparation for my trip to Barcelona next month. Looks like i'll have to suffice with the less impressive Spanish. Heading back to work, a subway in my grasp, I encountered a large group of people. I inquired into the center of this gathering to find a man with a megaphone preaching about Jesus. He wasn't 'jesus guy' with the plaquard by the way, a totally different person. My views on religion, especially Christianity, have been made clear in here, but I as getting more and more annoyed as he delved into the sacrifice Jesus made in being crucified for us. I reached the point of shouting out from the crowd that it was ridiculous to make such a claik because he was resurrected 3 days later. He naturally ignored my point, reiterating that Jesus died for US. Again I strengthened my point by agreeing that dying for others is a huge sacrifice; the ultimate sacrifice any person can make, but the fact that he was back alive days later totally negates the point, because there has no longer been a sacrifice. This never sunk in so after further intellectual heckling I walked off where I entered a lengthy debate with one of the Christians on his own wfter he approached me. It was civilised as this guy had more reason in his discussion though I still entirely disagreed with his thoughts on the Bible and all that. There was another guy standing nearby through this conversation, in his early twenties, looking increasingly desperate to join the conversation. Eventually it got too much for him and he politely but urgently butted in, revealing his thick Australian accent; "hey mate, I see youve got a subway: can you tell me where the subways is?" After I gave him the directions he was genuinely grateful and hurried off in the direction I sent him, with the parting words "Cheers mate, have a good day" before addressing the Christian fellow "and good luck with the sell!" This perfectly timed, totally unexpected dry sarcasm really hit me and I couldn't stop laughing. The conversation ended on decent terms but soon after i met the 'Jesus guy' with the plaquard restablilising my repulsion of Christianity along with most other religions. The remainder of work went fine; it did pick up a bit, but most customers were browsing or buying annoying small items. One lady had a faulty laptop just within 12 months and I'm glad I pay attention to laws because she was crafty in quoting all these laws that suggested she was due an immediate replacement, laws that apply to the first 28 days after the purchase I pointed out. After work I went to Dannys for a while to catch up more from his american trip and to poach some internets. My night ended relaxedly, playing Guitar Hero and blogging with a glass of mead and power ballads playing. As such song of the day is Dead Ringer For Love by Meat loaf & Cher. It's great, and a mind blowing pairing of vocal talents.

Party Hard

This morning I awoke to discover that my low mood last night had magnified into what is essentially a relapse into depression. I had all the symptoms I haven't had for a very long time; couldn't see any point in getting out of bed, completely terrified about being around people at work and feeling utterly hopeless. To cut an incredibly self indulgent story short it seems my time at the psychiatrist is definitely helping because as the morning progressed I slowly cheered up whereas in the past feeling like that took me weeks to overcome. Another thing I attribute to my speedy attitude change is Andrew W.K. because I discovered that when listening to his music it is impossible to be entirely unhappy. By the afternoon work went fine: it was a somewhat irritating level of business where there was always a few people milling around but very little sales going through. When I approached one guy to see if he needed a hand he turned around, clearly preemptively amused with himself, and lold, "oh so you've got nothing to do then". I looked at him unimpressed and simply stated " I'm a salesman, I'm serving customers; do you need a hand?" Turns out he did and I spent the next 20 minutes answering his questions. Another couple approached me with major complaints about a TV that has stopped working and they were unhappy with the repair procedure that is currently underway. I was confirming that they will have everything sorted out for them under their guarantee but they insisted on quoting the sales of goods act and other regulations, to which I picked apart each section of relevant trading standards, either proving why it didn't apply to them or showing how they were being adhered to. The husband was a massive skinheaded glaswiegian in his 40s who looked like he might kill me, but when he interrupted me at one point I, purely by reflex, snapped "well if you could let me finish...". Interestingly this seemed to gain their respect and by the end of the conversation they were laughing and joking with me thanking me repeatedly. For my customer service I'm getting a pay rise, lol jk, I'm completely ignored by the company. Oh sorry, I digress. After work I met Michael Wedge in town who's doing great and then at the bus stop met Alice, Connor, Sapphire, Vicky etc. This lead to an enjoyable if totally manic journey. In the evening me and my family went out to the retail park again. To counterbalance the boredom I decided to go to Costa. Their credit card machines were down so I headed off for the cash machine. In leaving the store I noticed another handwritten sign informing patrons that their coffee machine too had packed in, leaving coffee off the menu. Still I decided i wanted something so carried on to the cashpoint only to find that out of order. At this point I completely gave up on the whole affair and sat in the car hoping no more technological failures would impede my evening. Thankfully the car did make it all the way back to Drum where my mixed day came to an end. Song of the day is called Stereo Love by Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina. I think that's what I wrote down anyway, because it was playing at work and its the first time I've heard some sort of accordion in dance music. Once I got over that I found it be really nice background music. Perhaps if I heard it properly it will be awful but I liked it at the time.

Like Knowing, it was good, but shame about the ending.

This morning saw my relatives leave after their stay. After that was the cleanup operation to try to resume normal functioning after having a number of people living in the house that far exceeds the number it was built for. I also decided to have a cycle around Drum as part of my low level fitness reboot. It was actually really nice going up round balmaccaan and down lewiston, forming a fairly large circle starting and ending at my house. Then we headed to town where my parents did the food shopping in the absence of internet to have it delivered. I find Tesco an acceptable place to kill 10 minutes or to have banter with friends but it is a horrendous place to be for an extended period of time. By the time I left I had almost forgotten there was actually a world out there. This evening I went to the Benleva with Drew, Darroch and some people visiting Drum from Germany. It was actually a really good evening, then Rebecca joined us briefly, followed by two catalonian girls, one of whom, by sheer coincidence, had done almost the exact tour of Sri Lanka that darroch had done a couple of months previously. Even as a clueless onlooker their conversation was fascinating and made me even more sure I want to travel in the immediate future. After leaving the pub a few of us decided to break off from the main group, having to work tomorrow. This made us understandably unpopular but it was unavoidable really. A bit disappointed with the low note of the end of the night, I got home to stuff I won't go in to but to be honest I don't know how ill manage the next year in Drum. I just have to be so thankful for a few good friends also being stuck for the next year. After that I'll be happy to get away from everything here. Sing of the day is My Way by Northern Kings. It's great, with amazing vocals, that is all.

Anything less than the best is a felony

Today came off to a decent start as the bus driver gave me too much change meaning my journey literally cost me pence. Arriving late for work due to the even more unreliable than usual Saturday service I was told "you'll have to take 20 minutes off your break... haha, only joking." and that was the last I heard of my lateness. Just shows how much more laid back it is there because in my previous job a lateness, even outwith your control, could lead to forms, disciplinaries and general beuracratic madness. The day turned out to be completely dead, most likely due to the currently occuring Belladrum which I'm not at all disappointed to be missing given the line up. a reasonable flow of banter kept the day from dragging too much with notable highlights including me threatening to "destroy" a colleague who is highly trained in kickboxing and a few of us deploring the French to a French colleague. Soon afterwards he sneezed the most French sneeze I have ever heard. Honestly, imagine a comical attempt at sneezing in a French accent and that is how it sounded. At lunch I discovered that someone had refunded some intermittently faulty beats tour headphones; the slightly less extortionate, in ear version of the ones I am trying to hunt down. They were pretty Damn good for in ear ones; very clear and extremely rich with everything clearly audible. My only complaint might be that the speakers are a little small making the sound quite small at times but that can't be avoided, and the full versions must be incredible. My last customer was the most difficult experience of my time at currys. This was because I spent the time answering his question stifling tears of hysterical laughter. He was beyond stereotypical Texan; slicked hair, floaty blue jacket with high collar, silver oval belt buckle suspending high riding, tight, brilliant white jeans, and cowboy boots. Out came the thickest Texan accent imaginable. LlHe spoke like the guy with the guns in the simpsons, only with an even stronger accent. I managed to compose myself for long enough before collapsing as soon as he exited. After my bus journey home I was pleasantly surprised to meet Stephen Mould who I was unaware is up for the weekend. After that my evening was pretty quiet, spent with my visiting relatives on their last night up here. Song of the day is ice ice baby by Jedward, because looking through photos tonight we came across my x factor ones, bringing back the whole brilliant yet surreal experience.

Here comes the Gallileocopter

Last nights blog was rather short due to my phone deleting the majority of it on a whim. In tiredness I got enraged so couldn't be bothered rewriting it. The main missing points were two customers; one was a stout highlander who took a disliking to me upon hearing my english accent and the other was a funnier, less ranty story. He was buying tapes for his camcorder when his friend came over deploring the stuff I was selling. I foraged around for an acceptable retort, finding the statement that JVC invented that type of tape so they should be good. He replied in a half joking manner; "Gallileo invented the helicopter, doesn't mean his was any good." After giving him a second to be pleased with himself I looked him in the eye and told him DaVinci actually invented it. His face droppped and he faltered before deciding to walk out, followed by my warning for him never to ride
Gallileo's helicopter. His friend, the original customer, was killing himself laughing as he carried on paying. Now for today. I had a day off which was spent with my relatives staying with us. We went to Nairn as my cousin (who is 3 as opposed to the 2 I reported last week) wanted to go to the seaside. Unfortunately this seaside was deeply unpleasant as it was cold, grey and raining. We soon retreated to the Museum which was pretty good, with an awesome temporary exhibit on Automata; those little animatronic models people make. It was extremely cool and I was mesmerized by everything, especially those little music boxes with a sort of metal comb played by a cylinder of embossed metal. I find them fascinating. Other than that we didn't really do much as it seems every time I go to Nairn more buildings are boarded up; in a few years it'll be a ghost town by the rate its going. A good relaxing day, and back to work tomorrow. Song of the day is On the Path to Fury by Fairyland. It's by no means the first fairyland song ive had but I rediscovered this one today as one I hardly listen to, shocked to discover a harpsichord solo a little way in. That alone justifies its selection.

DESTROY!

Today was an early start at work meaning I was even less coherent than usual, feeling pretty sorry for myself after poor sleep all week. This all changed when I walked past subways though. I decided that a veggie patty sub was an excellent idea for breakfast. Turns out I was right and I was in such a good mood I would have skipped to work was it not for the social inhibitions indented into my brain by society. I did write a full blog but because my phone is going to shit to put it eloquently, it got deleted so I am in too much of a tantrum to rewrite it all. Song of the day is Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon because I unlocked in guitar hero 5 and its a lot of fun to play.

Oh god, the playstation's on fire...

After my post last night I had an awful night, lying awake most of the night but too tired to actually do anything. This set me up for being in a pretty dire mood at the start of today. Sure enough I was cursing everything I encountered at work, even though nothing particularly unpleasant happened. Somehow though as the day went on I cheered up to the point that when I left work and walked along the high street in the pouring rain I was having a great time. Everyone was hiding in shop entrances, huddling in jackets or sprinting to avoid the rain but I leisurely strolled down the middle loving it. I have no idea why; I hate the rain usually. After wandering town pretty aimlessly I met Alice and Tom on the bus home. Tom being better known as Goth Tom due to his being a goth. This lead to an eventful journey home, with us singing various metal songs about drinking, amd generally being those annoying pricked at the back of the bus. I then went to Drews to assist with Milk Paton filming, which turned out to be nothing more than banter; we didn't film a single second of footage both due to the front of the shop being overpopulated with tourists and the fact that we felt it a blow too strong for our pride to be seen lying on our bellies in the road, pushing a milk carton around with a face drawn on it, filming it. So I went home to watch a movie with my family; we started Juno; a film I really like, but the parent disapproved after not very long so we went on the Be Kind Rewind. This went down better but a fair way through it my playstation started making a horrible sound as though its overheating. Pretty gutted about this really, ill have to see what can be done. Song of the day is Happy Little Boozer by Korpiklaani. It's one of the ditties we sang on the bus.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD, TRAVIS BARKER.

Today was another day at work which was really quiet, but with so few staff I wasnt standing doing nothing all day; unfortunately quite a few of the customers were pretty annoying today - refusing to give information the company needs by law to process the sale, refusing to comprehend that I don't speak Italian, and general petty annoyances that could be avoided so easily that it seems as though people are going out of their way to be specifically awkward. Still it was an okay day, and something interesting came to light this morning when pay changes were being processed, as is happening across the company, my employee number was causing problems. When the manager contacted someone higher up about this it turned out that somehow it was on file that I worked for Dixons; a retailer owned by Currys' DSGi group that stopped trading in high street stores four years ago. No idea how this happened and why it hasn't created problems up until now, but it should be sorted by now fingers crossed. After work I met Megan and ashley with whom I discussed how much I hate Starbucks, especially their mind-numbingly irritating Frappuccinos. They had contrary opinions. This evening I watched Fun with Dick and Jane; I was a little bit disappointed as I remembered it being much funnier and less silly than it is. However I forgot how good the last act is so Meh, it balanced out. Though it probably sounds like it was a slightly stressful day I was in a great lold for the majority of it so wasn't fussed by the grievencies for very long.

Off with her head!

Today I was at work again which went okay. It was pretty quiet but I didn't realise that today was a bank holiday meaning I got paid time and a half. huzzah. At my break I discovered that with macdonalds being next door I could access their free WiFi on my phone. This will prove most useful in my absence of internet. After work I spent the evening at home, playing Burnout Paradise City again with the classical music blaring out. I decided to do a random bike ride after tea as living in Drum and working in the centre mean I am not forced to do exercise which in coming weeks will result in me blobbing out. So I have decided that I am going to do regular bike rides as I love riding my bike around Drum. Lastly I watched the new Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton with my family. I actually liked it more on the second viewing as I didn't have to spend any time adjusting to wonderland's oddness, and was able to pay full attention to the clever details that are present throughout. A decent if largely uneventful day. Song of the day is 'the king under the mountain' by windrider. I doubt that it'll be on YouTube but it will be on his MySpace, as he distributes all his music freely. I say "he" as it is all one guy. It's a great album, with this being one of the better songs; it has the unavoidable production of a no budget album, but somehow he has managed to avoid the common blandness and weakness that it often present in low budget metal. It's got a quite unique laid back power to it that I find both envigorating and relaxing. Perfect for early morning bus journeys along Loch Ness.

(grunts) you got... friend... urgh.. me.

Okay, last nights shitstorm did settle down eventually; due to it though we had to spend.the majority of the day clearing out junk from our old house and cleaning it for someone staying in it for a few weeks. After this I was knackered so played burnout paradise. I was amazed to discover, after skipping through all the emopop and generally shit songs, that there was a whole portion of the soundtrack dedicated to classical music. Somehow it made a beautiful experience blasting around a city causing major accidents whilst being soothed by some Tchaikovsky or Claire de Lune. To make amends for last nights blog, here is a belated review of Toy Story 3. I went in having heard it was great etc etc, but this is the critical viewpoint of each and every pixar film released in the last few years, so I didn't have sky high hopes. However it started off as an engrossing family movie, developing into a really gripping action, ultimately coming to a genuinely heart-wrenching ending. While it is commonplace for Disney / Pixar movies to tug at the old heartstrings its been a while since one did it as effectively as this. But coming back to the movie as a whole you actually tend to forget that it is a bunch of toys populating the screen; it is not like a standard kids' movie, pixar have clearly noticed that the original's fanbase are now in the region of 18 years old so have created a much more mature movie. It has an easy to follow but still constantly moving storyline with multiple things happening at once, backstories and genuine tension in many places. All the characters are very well written, and its not a spoiler to say this, because everyone who's seen the trailers knows that many of the new characters show a very dark side. This brings me to the next point; the mature theme is carried most clearly in a few really dark scenes. It's not new for Toy Story to be a bit unsettling, with Sid doing his experiments back in the first one, but this time there's some really freaky scenes, notably including a monkey with cymbals who screams with his eyes popping out at intruders, lit in such a way that it is pretty horrific, and secondly in a baby doll with the traditional gammy eye. It's appearance alone is creepy but one scene sees it sitting on a swing at night and when alarmed its head rotates 180 degrees and the whole thing plays out like a horror movie. It may be that you only notice these things when you are older, similar to the endless smutty jokes in shrek, but its of no detriment to it; it should be applauded that pixar have done what they have no obligation to so; take risks and push for more. For the majority of the film I was feeling a 9 but the final act gave me the wow factor required to bump it up to a 10/10. Song of the day is related to burnout; its the Aquarium from carnival of the animals by camille saint-sæns. I, ignorantly, always thought this piece was written by Alan Menken specifically for Beauty and the Beast, but in playing burnout it suddenly came on with the details below. This adds another section of the carnival of the animals to some of my favourite classical music, so I'll have to investigate the whole piece when I have internet back.

no blog

Today work went fine and this evening was great; I went to see Toy Story 3 with Danny and Lou, but I've just come home to a Hell of a shitstorm so I have no interest to blog any further tonight.