Imperial Wax Solvent

I'm keeping this blog alive for archiving purposes, I think. Battles have a new album out, that's pretty good. And I'm trying to become a teacher, mayhaps.

Heavens to Betsy

EDIT: Sod it, this is about my trip to Americaville.

I'd spent the night in a Travelodge in Manchester. It was a touch seedy, the breakfast was shit, but it was breakfast. Not much to write up about apart from 'it was shit' (worst scrambled egg ever, really). Tramping back up to my room I tested my fairly new netbook, praying it wasn't damaged by the previous night's shampoo disaster, which involved loads of shampoo spilling into my luggage. It was alright, thankfully. But still...

I got into a shuttle bus taking me to the airport. It was mostly pain-free, as was checking in, although I stuffed my hand luggage with more stuff than I could chew. I'll just purchase water & stuff in the lobby next time. I found a nice quiet spot in Terminal 3 waiting area in Manchester; it's right by the window and nearly nobody bothers you, it's bliss. Perfect for reading or collecting your thoughts. Granted, it's also an entrance for one of the 'planes but it was spot on when I was there. The flight to London was fine, but that's probably British Airways for you. Cool, I'm sucking up to BA now.

London Heathrow Terminal 3 is a shitty place to be. The main seating area is surrounded by people and shops all the time; I've no idea how people doze off in this area, you feel...watched. I know London is full of thieves and all that jazz, but I think I'd feel uneasy if the Terminal were in another heavily populated airport. Eugh. It didn't help I was hanging around for 5 or so hours, I just found a place next to the floor-escalator thing which was moderately quiet and started playing Castlevania: Dark Shadows (or whatever it's called) on the DS. It's proper cack.

Time didn't fly. I eventually trundled along to the holding pen for all peeps to travel to the far-off land. Only I got in there and there was no loo. And I needed to go. So I enquired and was told about one outside the area, but was told I would be searched when coming back. I complied, because you would if you needed to relieve yourself, wouldn't you? Annoyingly I needed to go again a bit later on, and was told I would be patted down again regardless. I complied again, got back quickly, kicked my shoes off because they checked that before, but was told it wasn't necessary the second time. Quite why airports can't do what the Israelis do and train staff to have a decent inquisition I'll never fucking know. Flying will get more and more tedious as long as there are determined individuals out there, at least with the current methods employed. Baaaah.

The flight to Chicago was terrible. While it was nice to see The King's Speech as the in-flight film, I couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep. That and I didn't have one of those doughnut-shaped pillows. I had a perfect position too; near the loos at the back, window seat, nobody sat next to me so I could get out easily. There were crying children though, gaagh. If I had children, they're not flying until they're 5 at least. Or flying for very short periods. Anyway. That was 8 hours worth of toss. It went incredibly slowly.

Chicago O'Hara Airport is quite a nice place. Busy, but enjoyable. The staff who work their are great to along with. When it came to questioning for my stay over, I couldn't remember the address I was staying at, so I left it vaguely filled in.

Inquisitor: What address is it?
Me: Huh
Inquisitor: What number is it on this road? It could one of thousands!
Me: Oh, truth be told, I'm very tired and cannot for the life of me remember...
Inquisitor: Okay, I'll let you by. How long are you staying? By which I mean you're staying less than 90 days, aren't you? You're not going to run off and stay here a while with someone?
Me: Probably not, no.
Inquisitor: You have to give a more concrete answer than that.
Me: No! Maybe...I need to be more assertive...
Inquisitor: *Laughs* This place you're staying, is it residence? Who are you staying with and how do you know them?
Me: I know her from the internet...
(Inquisitor raises eyebrows)
Me: Oh, I've known her for a while now, 2 years at least.
Inquisitor: That's okay, if it was like 1 month, I would have been a touch alarmed...okay, you're good to go through.

I was told that was supposed to be hell, too. Was a cakewalk! Granted, it was the middle of the night and there was no rushing since I was the only one in the 'International' queue.

Another couple of hours, another delayed flight (by about 45 minutes). The flight wasn't terrible, it was only 40 minutes, but I really needed the loo so I sneaked to the back for nature. Phew!

I landed, groggy, and met my delightful host after a minute of woozily staring around. :)

Part 2 shall come later...

A new postenger enters

Holy man I need to update this, again again. I went into Probe Records and asked for an EP that was vinyl-only on CD. Ho ho! What a blunder. It was Reso Temjin, by the way.

I need a drink

Came Bridge

Ha ha! That was fun. Actually, it was. Never been to Cambridge before, it's a lovely town. I'm all for new things but it's also nice to preserve the good stuff, though I'm hoping it doesn't lead to complacency for future generations to rely on the past (like ours may already be doing, harumph).

Arrived on Thursday after a 5 hour car journey, including a service station stop and getting pretty lost in the town of Cambridge. Somehow we managed to find the hotel quite easily after getting lost (as you do). Soon, we went to our brother's soon to be ex-place; I knew he wasn't the tidiest man but wooooooaaah messy place. Whether or not the dirt was a collaborative effort I do not know, but it surely could have been a bit tidy. Still, I can't argue since I'm messy myself.

Anyway, the Dinosaur Jr show was soon. Walking up to the pub pre-gig was one of the saddest sights I had seen for a while; a guy who clearly 'wasn't all there' was cycling home, looking rather worried. He tried to cross the road awkwardly and his chain snapped. Now the poor guy was distraught, just not knowing how he could solve his conundrum quickly, and stood with the bike for a while, but eventually just walking with the bike in his desired direction, looking down and hurrying. I really wished I could've helped with that one :(

Eventually, the gig came around. I knew J Mascis was a great guitarist but seeing the man up close was mind-blowing! Granted, his hair was grey and he had a bit of a belly but his skills were beyond, they really were. They even played something from Green Mind! I love that one, even if bassist Lou Barlow wasn't on that album. For the the encore they asked for requests, which was obviously met with a cacophony of noise containing numerous requests. I somehow found a unique pitch for which to shout my request of 'Let It Ride', only for Mascis to say 'I heard someone say Credit Card, what's that one?' No! Gaaagh. Another lass started calling for it so J said 'okay, here's Credit Card' and did a 10 second noodle. That was fantastic, that one! What an awesome dude. Not much for crowd chatting, but nobody cared since his fingers did the banter.

Next day we had a wander around Cambridge, as I said, it's a really nice place. More bicycle friendly that car-friendly, but there's only so much expansion you can do to accommodate cars. Not like I minded, I prefer it that way. Went to a few of the university grounds, and combining that with the fact there was a decent proportion of local businesses seemingly doing well, I just said the place reminded me of Harry Potter. Which it does! One of my favourite sights was a more modern attraction: The Grasshopper Clock. Incredible machine.

I also mulled over a bass guitar which was a replica of Jaco Pastorius' (one of the best) bass guitar and an amp with all the Rock Band effects built in. Oh it looked awesome! But not knowing my money situation fully I decided against it, sadly. One day...we also did a bit of bowling and saw Inglorious Basterds, which is fantastic but you do need an attention span of sorts.

The final day was spent with Ray, Graeme, Jenny (Graeme's lass) and I walking by 'a river' (I cannot remember the name) and spending some time in Kettle's Yard. This was a set of cottages originally owned by a man by the name of Jim Ede, who turned the house into an art exhibition of sorts. He would allow people to view it as a gallery one day a week, until he gave the cottages to Cambridge University in 1966. It was a unique experience and very organic in its role in art (whatever that means, hurr), very interesting exhibitions on display.

Went home soon afterwards with Graeme showing me his various effects pedals combined with his guitar. Showed a very specific whammy pedal which was only produced and released in 1987; it's quality has not been replicated since, not even by the same company. It is a beast. Even with my exceedingly limited skills I felt like a master, playing some of the stuff I did. I might have to turn electric now!

Eventually after dinner and moving stuff to Graeme and Jenny's new place, we went to a house party. I've pretty much assured my place as a square after I realised my attitudes during the party; granted, I was a bit shit at mingling (I only really got on with a few people) but my eye-opener was when I was searching for my glasses at one point. I went into the room where I knew they were and saw a guy nonchalantly cutting up cocaine. 'Fuck', I thought. Are these the kind of people my brother hangs with? Granted, I did end up admitting to a few of the people I mingled with about my concerns; whilst it was affirming to know not everyone was in that boat, I just didn't feel comfortable staying. Bit rude, but damn! I actually wouldn't have minded if they had mind-altering stuff like marijuana or salvia or whatever, but I really draw the line at coke. Fuck that stuff. We politely left after a few goodbyes (although forgot to wish the birthday boy a happy birthday, yikes!).

So all in all it was a good trip, aside from the awkwardness present near the end. Oh and I drive very shittly home today, cursing my lack of concentration for nearly hitting stuff. Bonk!

I am me

Oh damn I haven't done this for ages. But I shall continue to preserve this for future generations, a hearty task. I really can't remember everything significant that happened in between now and the last update (hah!) but I have:

-crashed my car (mildly, mind)
-been to paris (la Louvré is overrated in the fact that it's like a pissing amusement park in its busy-ness)
-seen Mastodon play (FUCK YES)
-got a new job role (finally)
-got a job role better than that because I stretched a few things on my application
-still not moved out and still not mey anybody (shit!)

I swear I'll be more prompt this time. Maybe once a month or something, what what.

Darling Balls of May

WOAH. Time to start this again, for some reason. Aye, no-one shall read this thing for a good while or whatever, but I'll just use it as a diary for myself and whoever else.

Anyway, in boring news today, I shall be applying for some job down south, if only because I may have a better chance of getting it than other jobs. Only the trouble is that I will find it difficult to fill in the ruddy form, since it asks for 'moments when you have blah blahed'. Obviously, I haven't the foggiest how to fill these in, but I'll give it a go. Making up stuff is good, or going through old things, I suppose. As long as I can get through the interview, that's it! They never sack you for incompetence. Just everything else, like swearies or being nude or something vulgar like that. OKAY!

#Scatter clues for those whose acquaint the style#

Look at me! I haven't posted on this old thing forever. I came to the conclusion that I am not a fan of really extroverted (or is it extraverted?) people since they seem to be really scared at revealing some stuff about them which they feel could be potentially damaging. It's like this girl at work; she's always really bouncy, but that moment of silence will make you believe something is up. But that rarely comes, and they end up being loud most of the time, even if the loudness isn't irritating. Which is a shame, 'cause they must be livin' on the edge or whatever.

SO ANYWAY, I've started doing yoga now, and that's bloody hard. Next week: take up photography or piano lessons, whichever comes into my walking line first. It's a year of learning, man (and bullshitting on application forms)! Also, I don't know how to get the comment system working...

Wirk

There's really, really nothing to do. Except I'm in a new section for a week, so it'll be okay to piss about on the internet. Here's a picture of the tallest, bestest striker:



In musinews, I've been buying a bit recently. The new album by The Darkness is THE BEST (really, it is) and 'Funeral' by Arcade Fire, which is also excellent. So, my songs of the year, today, without order:

1) The Darkness - Bald
2) Edan - Torture Chamber
3) Beck - Guero
4) Dangerdoom - Sofa King
5) Lots of Artists - Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?
6) The Coral - A Warning To the Curious
7) Kanye West - Diamonds from Sierra Leone (remix feat. Jay-Z)
8) Andrew WK - Kicks and Bricks
9) NIN - The Hand that feeds
10) Foo Fighters - DOA

Excellent factory.