Saturday, August 25, 2007

Just an update to keep you informed.

Over the past three days (Tuesday-Thursday) I have been to see the band Tool THREE TIMES on the run. Twice in London at the Brixton Academy and once at the Manchester Apollo. All of course, as part of Gary's birthday present. We had an ace time, staying in a hotel just two minutes away from Victoria station and we got to rediscover some of London's age-old haunts. I especially enjoyed re-visiting Camden Market where I got a pretty green dress covered in butterflies, which we managed to haggle down to £10 from the £15 they wanted to sell it us for. Ooh and we also visited a sushi bar.

Yo!sushi is a pretty interesting place, I'd seen it before last year in passing, but to actually go in there this time and eat lunch was something special. Me and Gary went there on August 22, for his birthday lunch. We found out you can get unlimited miso soup for £1.50, so we got that with vegetable maki, edamame beans, agedashi tofu and then we shared all of this with some vegetable yakisoba. It was a splendid meal and only came to £18. What you do is, you choose the dishes you want and the colour of the dish corresponds with a price. So a green dish would be £1.50, an orange dish would be more expensive and a pink one more expensive than that and so on and so forth.

It was really lovely anyway and a nice experience, away from the traditional fodder.

So...how were TOOL you may ask? Well, having been a novice at the beginning of the week (in terms of never having seen them live), I can see they were beyond BRILLIANT. They kicked off every show with 'Jambi' from the new album 10,000 Days, then they played 'Stinkfist' off the album 'Aenima' and then this is where it might vary, depending on the night they played a number of classics, Lateralus was played on all three nights, but on the second London night, they played 'Rosetta Stoned', 'The Pot' and '10,000 Days', numerous others and then ended that night on Vicarious. But something special happened on the August 22nd gig. Herman Lee from Dragonforce came out and played on the solo to the song 'Lateralus' and made it something quite rare to behold. It was awesome. The only thing that was upsetting about Wednesday night's gig however, was that the fanbase seemed to be a lot more immature. Starting a moshpit in the middle of a Tool gig?! It made no sense. They're not that type of band. They're very visual...they had loads of images at their gigs...on screens, lasers, videos etc. They were just AMAZING, I was pretty awe-struck to say the least. By the end of it, I did feel as though I'd experienced multiple spiritual orgasms!

On the last night I saw them (Thurs 23rd) at the Manchester Apollo, I was soo exhausted. We had travelled all the way up from London to Warrington, on a five hour coach journey...and then we got the train back into Widnes, dropped off our luggage and rested for a while. Then went out again, bought 8 bottles of Carling and got the train to Manchester Oxford Road, then a taxi to the Apollo. I saw Vix outside just as I was queuing up, so I called her and a friend over and we were chatting for a while. It was good to see her again, it's been soo long! Then we met up with Paul and Gray and a few of his mates who were there and we went into the venue with them.
At every gig, there was a policy of no bags, chains, alcohol, no cameras or pictures to be taken (I think these are the band's orders though, as they hate pictures being took of them) and anyone who flouted these rules would be ejected. Oh and also no moshing or crowdsurfing was to happen either. But of course, a lot of this did happen and people did smoke in the crowds, given the chance.

The band were amazing that night. They ended on 'Aenima' like they did on the first London night. So it was all good. By the end of the gig, I was exhausted and felt like seven shades of dead had been knocked out of me. It could've had something to do with the effects of alcohol and lack of dinner as well...but, me and Gary persevered on and ended up, completely by chance, meeting up with Jonno and getting a lift home. Went to bed that night feeling like a wreck.

...and woke up feeling even worse!! Arh-hah. The hangover was intense and felt never ending. Not until midday did I start to feel like my normal self. Yesh.

Friday was spent largely relaxing and just chilling out. I sorted my room out a little. Oh and I now have the book I can give to Gary as part of his birthday present (it arrived off Amazon the other day, whilst I was in London). So that will be a-given later on.

I plan to spend today, working out, reading...I'm in dire need of a shower, so that'll have to be done...and then 'm off out around Gary's for about 4'ish and to go the Kray probably later on. If we do decide to go, which we probably will- it will be for the first time all year! (If I recall correctly, I haven't been since just before Christmas?! or maybe slightly after...my memory is a bit hazy now).

I have 'American Psycho' to read soon. Can't wait to get started on that gem.

Hmm and what else? Oh...I sat my first driving test the other week. Unfortunately I failed over a turn in the road! (I'm usually very good at them, but this one was very deceiving and had to be taken in five turns instead of three) and yeah...I hit the kerb. Oops. Other than that, I would've passed as I only got 3 minors, for speeding and going over 30 a bit. So I'm pretty gutted that I didn't pass, but I'm going to try again before I go back. As I'm soo close now. However with Lady Luck not being on my side this year, I now have to resit my theory test as well, since it ran out...on Thursday :( boo. So all of this is pretty unfortunate. &I suspect that there will be a couple of weeks/months waiting list before I can take the driving test again, unless I get a cancellation and can come back of a weekend or something like that.

Anyway, that's all I have to say really. There will be more when I think of it, but I'm in a bit of a rush this morning to do things, so I best leave it at that.

I've wrote a new poem and I'm working on another one, so I'll post them up the next time I write.

Kudos.
xxx

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

All is back to normal again. Well, fairly normal. I got my phone back :) about two weeks ago. Yay. Turns out Roadkill did have it after all. Hmm what else...the weather has been all over the place and I've been staying in a lot lately.

I haven't been to the pub in a good few weeks now, mainly because of being a wee little busy-body regarding everything in my life.

I have got some new stuff like clothes and an ace pair of boots though, which look very bootiful on (hehe, see what I did there) :p

Still awaiting my NCTJ results, the likes of which I have no idea when they will be sent out. But I'm guessing soon as they can't keep us waiting forever....*sigh* or can they?? I guess I'll have to see. I will keep you posted however.

Hmmm and that's about it really. For now.

x