Keep off the Lawn!!!

Today I scored a historic victory in the ongoing war against the mindless zombies; although impressive, it is but a small contribution on the whole scale of things. I planted, I mowed, I was extremely patient watching my plants grow and I treated them with the upmost respect. That's what won this battle, but it won't win the war. Plants vs. Zombies; you wouldn't expect it, eh? Those brainnumb critters haven't lost their taste for veg yet, even if their ultimate aim in traversing my plant-obstacle strewn lawn is to munch my own precious grey matter. But they have been stopped in their tracks. Peas, sweetcorn, potato mines and cabbages were all valuable weapons in this fight and I won the match. Even with all the ladders, buckets, pogo sticks and bobsleds; if the enemy could think, they'd be best seriously reconsidering their options before jumping into my backgarden again.

Now I can be left to potter round the garden tending to my crops in peace. Well...except for the next door neighbour anyway....we all know he's crazy.

Alsoooo

I forgot to mention how awesome this octopus is!! Enjoy :D

Moviesss

I went to the cinema for the first time since the summer holidays today. It was awesome, but suprisingly empty. We nearly had the whole room to ourselves! Would like to go more often. Saw 'Where the Wild Things are', it was brilliant in it's surreal storyline (It's one of those books I always used to see, but never picked up - may have to now!), flashy CGI and its magnificant musical soundtrack(written by head singer of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's, Karen O). So yeah I reccomend it. It's also given me a new year resolution to chase after. I want to find somewhere I can scream to the world without feeling judged by anyone or anything, to let it all out and recreate that classical movie scene. Garden State is the film which springs to mind the most here but I'm sure there are others. The world is overwhelming, BUT overall it's been a good day.

Review of 2009 : Albums

Well I said I would; so, after I drawl on about life you'll see what I recommend as the best albums that came out this year(that I remember and have listened to of course!). I am currently procrastinating from an essay. Essays themselves appear sporadically in my life: very few and very far between. This means that when they eventually do come around, I find myself very much out of my depth - writing in a specific way, in a specific style about a specific thing (certaintly a specific thing I don't have a humongous interest in!) is not something I particularly find easy! I generally find myself instead immersing myself in culture, whilst having at hand the materials to do with the essay, wherehow tricking myself into thinking I am working by seeing that they are there (*looks across at soil profile diagram and sees that it is there*). I think; and hope, that starting it will be the hardest part and all will fall into place when I begin. In other news, I finished reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy last night.It paints a very dire picture of the of the world and it is very sad, but also very good, managing to mix hope and hopelessness as well as keeping it personal through a very impersonal dialogue. Highly recommended. I tell you, keep on carrying the fire.

Albums of 2009

1. Lungs by Florence and the Machine
• Notable track: Hurricane Drunk
  
2. It's Blitz by Yeah Yeah Yeah's
• Notable track: Head's Will Roll
  
3. Under The Pavement, The Beach by Deportees
• Notable track:  Will You Talk (If I Listen)
  
4. 11:11 by Rodrigo y Gabriela
• Notable track:  Triveni
  
5. The First Day's of Spring by Noah and the Whale
• Notable track:  Love Of An Orchestra
  
6. Tongue N'Cheek by Dizzee Rascal
• Notable track:  Holiday
  
7. Duke Pandemonium by Marmaduke Duke
• Notable track:  Kid Gloves
  
8. Far by Regina Spektor
• Notable track:  Machine
  
9. Tonight by Franz Ferdinand
• Notable track:  Turn It On
  
10. New Boots by Wallis Bird
• Notable track: To My Bones
  

Yawn!

I AM TIRED.THERE HAS BEEN PLENTY OF TRAVELLING AND IT'S BEEN GREAT!

I have endured a long weekend, traversing the country in search of both frolics and fun. Leaving just after one on Friday afternoon I have visited, swtiched trains at or stopped off at 8 different stations(2 of which are the worst in UK apparently) and even seen 2 different countries in the process! This was my itinery, (colour coded in terms of counties in case you wondering how much of a procrastinating Geographer I was):

Burley Park--> Leeds-->Birmingham New Street-->Aberystwyth (fun!)-->Shrewsbury-->Crewe. (2 hours later) Sandbach-->Manchester Piccadilly (Rodrigo y Gabriela)-->Sandbach. (Sleep) Crewe-->Manchester Piccadilly-->Leeds-->Burley Park. (Blog)

So you can see I've been busy, of course this hasn't bidden well for work productivity, but what the heck - you only live once! & Rodrigo y Gabriela were fantastic, they far exceeded my expectations, and I knew they were brilliant to start with!! There are only a couple of weeks before Christmas now and I am muchly looking forward to the annual mince pie eating contest on Thursday after the Carol Concert at Uni. My clarinet is primed and ready, and although I have dreamt about it breaking I  shall stay positive and hope my loud high pitched squeeeks don't break anyone's ears!

In other news, I have found a mathematician far cooler than myself. She takes her calcuulator to gigs and festivals. Regardless of whether she got a chance to use it or not it's a lot cooler than me....

&Finally, I have a new spotify playlist for you. Check it out here, there will be a top 10 of 2009 and maybe a top 10 of the decade soon!


 

Chocolate helicopters...

First watch  THIS . This is going to take over my life for a while...after all I don't want to fall foul of the impending apocolypse do I! That's right I am now the proud owner of Left 4 Dead 2 and it is rather awesome! But very hard, the zombies are scarier, there are more of them and the US airforce seems intent on causing even more civilian casualties,me being the big target and loser here.

But there is one thing that will keep me going. One thing that allows me to keep raising my cricket bat and bringing it down time and time agian, agaisnt the infected. That thing? Well that thing is THIS.

Now if you excuse me I need to find that chocolate helicopter....whatever it takes to find it...I will go through with.

Strokes

"Gordon Brown says:

Is this it?

Yes it is."

Comment

On BT putting on a workshop about filling in online applications.

"HR People are IDIOTS. These type of things are more useful to a generation unaware of the capabilities of the online world surely? Though I guess it goes both ways as our generation are more liable to use various forms of shorthand and online speech, which you warily guys find far too informal, if you can even make any sense of it.

There is your short essay on what it'll be about, not forgetting the customary cup of tea and goodie bag of BT pamphlets at the end of course!

I don't need information about how to fill out application forms. I need to find the confidence to believe in myself, that I have certain abilities and that I am competant and capable of utilising them. Which is going to take a bit more than a chance meeting with the BT HR department."

Sorry if you are in or want to go into HR, but I haven't had good experiences with those i've met from inside the industry and after starting reading Lynne Truss's excellent Eats, Shoots & Leaves I couldn't help having a little bit of an angry rant!

In other news I am blogging again! Despite it only having taken four months to come up with some new material for your internet ears, I am back and most filled with enthusiasm.

Here's the customary song of the week: the brilliant Mathilda by Little Comets

See you in bits :)

Eeeeps

What is going on with this not so very English weather? I know that Leeds is dryer than Barcelona by statistics, but this isn't Spain and I'm unfortunate enough to not live near a beach to enjoy this properly! Whatever the weather would be though I'd have to complain about it especially with types like the dissapointing storm of last night, so much thunder but no rain! That's just the British way.

My head is a bit worse for wear at the moment, I've spent most evenings of the week intoxicating my brain with booze! Which has been fun, though expensive. Unfortunatly it also means I haven't had any chances to talk to my lovely housemates who seem to be internet nocturnal at the moment- sorry guys!

But enough of that, life is good- though far too warm and humid and there is much to look forwards to! (should it be forward or forwards? I can never decide) Driving lessons(and tests), Birthdays, holidays, results and sun, sun, sun. Can't wait to move house on Tuesday either and to see the new one, it is tres exciting :)


Here's a new song of the week for you, A Message to you Rudy- The Specials heard it on Glasto Tv, Friday and it is a favourite. Gutted I didn't go and see them when they played Millenium Square now!

Packtastic

Things change and come and go as they please. Even what we believe we have control of, can take its own course sometimes. Today my house has started the epic task of cleaning and packing away all our messes and things. It's a tad sad, though it's not the end yet. Still kind of surreal that second year of uni is done and that the third is waiting round the corner! I got my maths results back yesterday and I passed everything which is great, just need my Pyschology and Geography results back now, but I believe I am now on a solid 2:1. Hopefully I can bash up the marks next year and have a chance at a first! We shall see.


That's all I have to say really except I have become a fond fan of tea in recent days. Here to keep you entertained: The Lancashire Hotpots - Mek Us A Brew and my track of the week Right Said Fred - Bernard Cribbins or even more funtastic the lego version here. Enjoy!

A certain amount of tomfoolery

Boys are stupid. It is a statement which has rung true and true again in the last few weeks and without diverging any of the specifics I admit my own stupidity has been projected to a number of people. But my question is this: If someone can recognise their own idiocy, without any hints or pointers to it from any environmental factor or any person's words, actions or expressions except from their own, are they in themselves less of an idiot than they at that point therein percieve?

The same arguement can be expressed elsewhere, for instance. If a man believes he is insane, is he not also in someway sane; in order to recognise and express the insanity from which he ails? But if is able to recognise this and express it freely then his mind is not so corrupted as he first thought and he is in fact sane! What becomes of these irrational arguements?

I must also apologise for the slight archaic style of my post today, which is very much influenced by my reading of the great Edgar Allan Poe's short stories. I have not witnessed anyone with such inginuity and control over the use of the English Langauge as he and although a pleasure to read it is slow reading and takes much effort. I have been reading in chunks since around September time and am only just past half way! But I shall make it! & then make a start on all the other books I have to read!

There were too many songs last week, so I'm not giving away any music priveleges this week. Now eat your gruel!

New post, new month.

Ok firstly, I've moved some bits and pieces around on the right hand side- i hope it still looks aesthetically pleasing. Please note the shiny Wolfram Alpha box and if you haven't checked it out the link to my blog linked spotify playlist is also there. I usually add a track a week, though there have been many updates since my last entry. More of that a little later.

Secondly, I must note that I have become bored of fridging. not enough of my friends have joined fridge and the only comments that have been left seem to offend various members of my family :(. So I'm temporarily disabling my account.

Now to the serious issues! I didn't post last week because I was too occupied with fridge and I had many uncomfortable exams, for examples of it's badness I refer you to the below comics made from boredom:


To clarify, there are two seperate 'stories' going on here. One focussing on heat exhaustion and heading to the Majorie-Ziff building to cool down(It's really very nice in there!!) and the other about undetermined endpoints in a book. If you're in desperate need of a transcipt for my appalling scrawl I can offer one, but not unless asked. Any opinions? Where does it fit on the scale from trash to mildly amusing?

Also I am now 1) free from exams for a while! 2) Have less than a month till my birthday! These are truely exciting times and I have managed to find some time today to start reading my pile of books and grab some tasty apple dougnuts from Somerfield, which sadly is closing very soon(to become a Sainsbury's!). People have started to filter out of my Leeds house which is quite sad, but we'll all see each other again so it's all goood. I need to catch up with some people before I inevitably leave myself!

I know this has turned out to be superlong, which is the unfortunate consequence of having not been on here in what i'd call a while; and of also telling you all sorts of things you either a) don't want to know b) know already! So I'll leave you with my new songs. There is a live version of You Will You Won't- The Zutons , who are one of my favourite scouse bands. Then on top of that Lifeboats- Snow Patrol , fom their newest album. I really like the bridge and the way the melodies and stuff work at such a slow pace. Finally I leave you with something from Daniel Merriweather's(he sang on Mark Ronson's version of Stop Me[Originally by The Smiths]) new album, Change- Danniel Merriweather. It's a little jazzy, funky and delivers a strong message.

That's all folks!

Blogging

Blogging is soo last year! I mean seriously, the internet? Lame. But fear not, for hope is not lost. I bring to you the latest in social communications technology and the new phenomenon of 'Fridging'.
It's soooo simple and easy to use! All you need is a pen and a piece of paper, which you can then upload to fridge with your 'fridgit' (message on fridge), what's better is that all your friends can reply to your fridgit in their own witty way! (this may take several hours, days or never happen depending on where these so called 'friends''of yours live and whether you feel the need to invite them to fridge)

Our latest estimates suggest Fridging is already more popular than networking sites Myspace and Bebo, especially with the demopgraph of the population not yet connected to the internet! Projections predict that it will only be a matter of days before Fridging takes over from the social network giants- Twitter and Facebook and that it may indeed replace the blogosphere. The Fridgosphere as it has been termed is an innovative place connecting the blogosphere to the biosphere, which could lead to some exciting possibilities.

Our analysts suggest you listen to this: Beirut- Cherbourg and have a nice day!

It's the Music that drives me...

People are finally cottoning onto the fact that Bonkers by Dizzee Rascal is the hit song of the summer(see first blog entry). Unfortunatly i've listened to it so much, I'm getting a little bored of it- and it's not even released yet!! Fortunatly I've decided to treat myself to music this week and have purchased a grand total of 4 new albums!

I was in town doing my weekly shop and on the way to morrisons I decided to have a quick sneaky look at how Zavvi ( though it's called Head now for some bizarre reason) was handling the recession. Almost everything was reduced. Not great for them, but huge fun for me! I managed to spend at least half an hour scouring the shelves for obscurities and bargains amongst the music shelves. I decided to finally purchase the Neon Bible- Arcase Fire, which has been on my list of albums to get for a long time(years?!) and I also picked up Missiles- The Dears, who I managed to catch word of through myspace. As I prepared to leave I noticed a bargain bin(shelf) displaying a prominent sign of "cd's from 99p". As a bargain lover, I had to look and I decided to pick out something new. I found the colourful looking sleeve of Pain Dissapears- Mlle Caro and Franck Garcia for only £1.99. It's a beautiful album, no songs stand out as anthemic, but as an album it is perfectly fluid and a real pleasure to listen to. Also I got it for a margin of what amazon was trying to sell it off for! Win!

The final album I got was from this month's mojo magazine- a free folk giveaway cd. It's celebrating one of the most prominent record labels of all time- Island Records, signing artists such as Bob Marley. I rather liked it, though my housemates didn't seem all that impressed! So I retired to my room to revise(procrastinate), immerse myself in music and lyrics(procrastinate) and write this blog(procrastinate).

I therefore leave you between the click of the light and the start of the dream. No Cars Go - Arcade Fire.

Losing the plot

Where are my axis? I'm too far from the origin, my graphs are scattered and I'm lost in the Euclidean space. Everything was Dandy whilst Newton controlled my mechanics, but now hes being taken over by the complexities of Lagrange and Hamilton! Seriously, I feel a little bit out of my depth. Almost gone mad in the last week!

Everything's stressy. Module choices. Exams. Finishing off this years modules. Sorting out groupwork. Social situations. Messes cause stresses and I'm in a mess. A bit of clarity would be useful right around now. Why am I here? What should I study? Will I be alright at it and find it interesting? Will it help me in the future? Will it detriment my future? Do i have a future outside of university? What do I want to do? What do I not want to do? Can I trust myself with these decisions?

I had a lecture on depression yesterday in Evolutionary Psychology, fun times yeah? What did it teach me? That i am now a self diagosed depression (depressive and manic(bipolar)) sufferer as I could associate myself with almost all of the items noted as being prevalent in these type of people. 1/4 of people get depression at some point in their lives at least once, but really is this the most appropriate time?!! So im doing my best to stay on the manic side. Dont give up on me!

In other, rather more positive news their was an awards social last night for lsrm and it was rather fantastic. I won two awards and ate them happily :D Also the food was absolutely fantastic. I do very much recommend la Besi to anyone who reads this!!

And yeah to keep myself from screaming ive gone a bit old school. Here's Genesis- There's a job to do . I've got a lot on you!

M M May I ask you a question? (P P Pick up a penguin!)

MAYDAY
In 1620 the Mayflower took 102 pilgrims across the water to the US of A. How many actually reached land?

MAYQUEEN
En France sur le premiere le mai, that is the firsst of may, some males may give french ladies 'lillies of the vale' which are a type of flower, why?

MAYHEM
The tallest maypole was 143ft high and stood for 56 years before it was felled. What are the pieces thought to have been used for?


Wasn't that amayzing. Maybe you thought so, maybe you didn't. All I know is that I'm dismayed I didn't see any penguins that needed lifting. They could all see fine- I'd have only been getting in their way!

Suprises!

I do enjoy a good suprise! This week, the lovely people of the LSRfm breakfast show gave me a bit of a treat. I was serviced with an online suprise 70 days till your birthday party! It was fanastsic; I got to choose my own songs, the studio was decked out with balloons and birhday signs, the presenters were smiling with their party hats and lazer trumpets and I was completely oblivious to it, before they dragged me in there! I was spellbound and awestruck, it has truely been one of the best moments of my life.

I just never expected anyone would go to so much effort for me- and then broadcast it to the world!(well bits of it!) But using my evolutionary psychology head I can look at it as a recipricol altruistic act. I gave them prizes before Easter for completing my complex quiz and they gave me a super birthday party. And to go onto a tangent of wisdom I guess this links back to my old school's motto, Ut Severis Seges 'You shall reap what you sow'. Do something good and get good returns!

So thanks guys! It may well end up being superior to my real one, certaintly means I'll have to step up the mark if I try and make the real one the best one. This is further exaggerated by them getting me a cake(raspberry sponge :] )with candles and having an acoustic singer (Hannah Brady) in the studio who sang Happy Birthday to me! 65 days to go now; and I hope they go slowly...

Other suprises this week have been the birth of a new cousin of mine-Maread! And also that hazy skies improve plant productivity, as more of the sun's rays are absorbed, due to increased refraction in the hazy sky- a 'mini greenhouse gas' effect if you will.

Finally, this weeks track is the wonderful Rubber Lover-Marmaduke Duke, it's a little bit of a tune. Introduced to me by the LSRfm playlist and Kye's great taste in music!

PS. Also note I have now added a link on the left which will direct you to a spotify playlist containing all the songs of the weeks which are available on spotify!

Food

My washing really seems to be piling up this week! I'm going to have to put down another t-shirt for the cleaning machine, 3rd of the week, due not only to the copious amounts of sweating the awesome weather has provided (ew!) but also becuase I'm a messy cooker!

I like to fry things-it's less scary that way. However, cooked oil love to spit and splutter as does the sauce I added afterwards. As a result there are orangey patches of Rogan Josh Curry Sauce all over me :( I am pleased to announce that it tasted bloody fantastic though and most of the taste that we do is through our smelling, which is why I cook so many spicy, pungent foods. Food is definatly the way to this man's heart :D

Speaking of my mouth-wateringly delicious curry and it's pungent Rogan Josh Curry Sauce, I must rant and rave for the establishment that has taken over the empty space from Leeds' beloved Woolworths. Home Bargains has come to town and it's bloody fantastic. Incidently 'bloody fantastic' is my phrase of the week, just thought I'd like to point that out. The sauce itself was 70ish fine English pennies and of the reputable name- Patak's. Rather cheap indeed. I also managed to pick up a bottle of 7up(which I hadn't seen in ages) for a total of 40 pence as well as 10 sponges for 34p, that's 3.4p each!!! I shall be returning in the near future, that is a fact written and a fact percieved.

I may try and mess around with the layout on here sometime this week and make it a little more/less funky depending on how bad at it I am. I shall leave you annoyed that I didn't write anything of much use and with a track of the week- Arts and Crafts- Red Light Company . It's a pretty one. Bye for now!

And on the 7th day he shall post again...

Happy Easter!

Time is a strange thing and it's a thing i'm running out of. The clock has been ticking for a long time now, but it's only recently I started to take note of what is actually left on the timer. I go back to Leeds this weekend, jump into three hectic weeks of last minute learning as both I and my lecturers panic(hopefully resulting in shortening of my syllabus! :P However unlikely that is) as well as wrapping up the year with everyone at Leeds, some for the very last time(ever!) before diving headfirst into a weeks isolatory revision(in an ideal world) with only hayfever to accompany me(in the not so ideal world). Neither of which will go according to plan. Then there are a couple of weeks of exams and it's all over. Full stop.

Today has been a day full of worries. I'm not sure what sparked it, but I became quite irrational at 5am this morning. A combination of the early morning birdsong, the boiler cranking the radiators on, the knowledge I was the only one in the house and the possible sound of someone's voice sent a wave of memories and dreams through my mind convincing me there was someone in the house. It jolted my body and I was instantly awake. After several minutes spent straining my ears for the faintest footstep and staring out of the upstairs windows looking for the 'culprits' I had to make a complete tour of the house to make sure I was alone; and even then I wasn't completely satisfied that I hadn't just imagined something. I've heard about 'letterboxers' from crimewatch programmes on tv and I know that burgulars are a creature of oppurtunity trying doors on every street till they find one that's been left unlocked, rather than planned bluprinted action missions- but somewhere in the depths of me I still worry they'll come back. It's one of my biggest childhood fears(other than dinosaurs!) a fear of people I don't know, particularly burgulars who make their way into my sanctuary from the world, this place called home. I eventually trundled back to sleep before the early morning thunderstorms(which I worried was someone moving our bins haha!) and just missed the postman before I started the day properly.

Driving was also a little scary today. At practically every bottleneck I reached in the road I was met at same time by a vehicle from the other direction! These bottlenecks came in many forms: cars parked on the side of the road, lorries unloading, thin bridges, horses and natural bottlenecks(i.e. road to thin for more than one vehicle). It would have been perfect for several driving theory exam videos! I managed to give way to all traffic and I am still in one piece, as is the car, so I guess I did good! Still wasn't easy though! However I am basically ready to take my actual test now and as long as the examiner isn't crazy, stupid or exceptionally scary I should pass this summer :)

Other good stuff? I spoke to my lil bro this morning and he's having a fanstastic time in NZ which is rather ace, really happy for him. I'm also writing again and I'm trying to keep my flow positive, because positivity breeds positivity whilst negativity breeds negativity. I think it's a little obvious which I'd(and probably all'd) prefer! Here's a sampler:

So I'm going to take it all in my stride, I'm going to learn how to master space and time, I ask forgiveness for all the many lies and I won't stop at nothing, it's the greatest crime.

Track of the week is from a band I literally only heard of minutes ago: Deportees- Who Is Going To Meet Me

The link is spotified :P to make it easier for spotifiers. Incidentally if you aren't a spotifier go make yourself one because it's rather fantastic.

I shall leave ye be, there are earthquakes in need of arrest...

Birth a new era?

"Velcommen to ze vorld of ze blogosphere" is the personal welcome I'd have wished for, but it didn't happen. Mostly because I didn't have my speakers plugged in, but also because nobody has been employed for my personal preferences thus far; probably a good thing.

The time is two minutes past zero and my reign of terror has begun. I haven't actually done any writing of any kind (any kind meaning anything other than nonsensical barbage) in a very long time and I shall use this tiny corner of the interwebs to allow myself to spew beautiful poetic lexis to the few people I know and of them, the few who will actually take time out of their busy lifestyles to read what I have to say- which as far as I am concerned is considerably little. Therefore I am expanding my interests, literary and otherwise to involve writing such that I can practise and perfect my ability to write in length and to be able to check my intrinsic writing style against myself(maybe others) for the grand purpose of proof reading and perhaps eventual writings!

It sickens me (ans gives me a profound sense of joy [hehehe]) that I have gotten away with not having to write any more than probably 5000 words (excluding exams) throughout the whole of my university career, so I feel rather inadequate whenever I hear the bells toll announcing the time of writing- thank goodness I don't have to write a thesis eh?

I put this down to a whole host of reasons, foremostly that at heart I am an analytic and have a need to make sense of how things work and why- though often not on a chemical scale! Chemistry gives my brain bad reactions and through them aches. Secondmostly I put it down to my writing style; I like to chuck in plenty of colloquial speak, which doesn't always bode well, especially when I'm trying to write formally and I guess shows that I have my lines of communication all muddled up(as I am a very timid speaker).

Anyhow, that's enough about my vanity of my writing, me and all such clutter for now. The great thing about this post is that it iss the first; and hence should be read the least :D

I plan to post here weekly(as if!) and as part of this grandmaster's scheme I present to you my track of the week. This one's going to big this summer, it isn't yet released but it's already rocking my boat right out to sea!

Without holding it aloof any longer I can reveal to you this weeks dancestep will be to the tune of Bonkers by Dizzee Rascal

!i!i!Grunge out!i!i!