Counter and Groove

Trade-off

2007-04-24T16:16:00.000+01:00

Back to the blog - it reminds me of more exotic times.

Time spent out of the office, out of the house, out of the country in fact. Time spent.

These days I'm working 9-5.30, monday-friday, 48 or so weeks a year. Friday after thursday after wednesday after tuesday after monday I engage the ultimate trade: time for money - my time;their money.

retonne du la mon homme

2006-09-14T19:50:00.000+01:00

eep! soz for not blogging in china - i tried so many times and just could not access blogger! even the one post i made i didnt think worked - i could never, ever get it load!

dunno if the chinese goverment internet blocking theories are accurate or not like!

ni hao. no pot in china.

2006-07-11T18:07:00.000+01:00

greetings all! as promised to the glamage, i hath updated mon blog!

Right now, im in china, and have been for the last 6 weeks. Not sure when i'll return to the uk...i'm avoiding facing the horror of getting a job, being homeless, and being a few thousand quid in debt :P

apologies for not keeping all ye informed of my wherabouts and goings on. i'll post soon to let ye all know what the last 6 weeks have brought!

fairwell 2005, I knew ye well!

2006-01-01T19:35:00.000Z

Hallo!

I've a pretty rad' xmas and new year! Tis indeed the season to be jolly ^^,

Last thursday my lovely other half headed off on her 2 week trip to cambridge and then Switzerland (unrelated, just linked by the unforgivingly sticky glue that is time). I ended up going for a train ride to York with her to bid her fairwell, as opposed to bailing out at Scarborough. It was pretty wierd to see her off actually, after spending the last 2 months with her nearly 24/7..and it got me thinking, or dreading, about what's gonna happen when she goes home for summer - back to China..and worse still, once she graduates.. oo er :/

New years eve rocked ^^, I avoided any parties and such, and instead grabbed a handful of old friends and crashed at my sub zero student house :/ proper cold it be! We missed the countdown like, and instead spent those precious seconds consuming the mound of chips and pizza that I'd cooked.

Hope everyone had a decent xmas and a jolly new year :) Time to get cracking with some uni work...argh..

Metal Axemas one 'n all!

2005-12-25T18:45:00.001Z

Oioi! Wishing a festivly frollocked merry xmas to one and all!

Silence to my ears...

2005-12-03T01:24:00.000Z

A deaf guy came up to my band after our gig tonight and signed/gestured how good we were. He also suggested that we were too loud.

Ah, the true sense of enjoyment :)

i quit

2005-11-01T04:52:00.000Z

right, i'm quitting smoking as of tomorow. The catylist that made me do it has since extinguished. So, nicotine, meet my motherfucking will power (and refusal to buy my own cigs ^^, ).

a rocky road awaits yours truly - sadly i'm not talking about going cold turky or whatever :/

ecstasy-posting

2005-10-25T04:32:00.000+01:00

oh my god..I never thought the word e-poster would hurt so much when one's arse becomes violently raped by it's seemingly pointless necessety. riiight, i just started mine today at about 1pm, before having to bail to band practice at about 6, and then finally resuming it again at about 11pm. I'm still kicking now, slowly tapping away a never ending stream of digitized, textual bollocks.

Anyway! on a lighter note, my band played a gig last night (sunday), which bloody rocked. Probably teh best gig we've done to date, despite the relatively low turnout - thanks a lot all you lot who did come though, much appreciated! And luke, you beast, that was some top banana dancing! Rock on! I'm really looking forward to the next time we play in scarborg, it's gonna be great fun to grab you all again (hopefully on a friday/saturday night this time!).

..just a quick stab at the blog for now, gotta let it know i'm still ticking ;)

The Drunk Philosipher

2005-10-19T01:18:00.000+01:00

I got a call yesterday from a close mate from school. He was in a phonebox, in scarborough, and said he wanted to meet up to chat. Turns out he's bailed on uni - he was studying law and is now 'taking a year out'. It seems pretty, erm, stupid, to me: such a rash decision 'n all that. Yet he fully justified it, saying that if he stayed there he'd just fuck it up and screw up his chances of getting a degree. Makes sense, really.

Though I think it's a pretty bad move, I kind of admire him for it. I've been feeling much the same way lately, though would never make such a decision - I bloody hope that my current mind-set doesn't do that for me ><, (I'm studying now! working on my project!).

Anyway, we grabbed a pizza, a few drinks, a pack of cigs and hit my room for a lenghty chilled-out catching up session. He seems to have it all mapped out, what he's gonna do this year and how he's gonna get 'back on track', and I'm positive that he'll stick to his words.

Tonight I had an interesting chat with a busker. I was pretty bored so went for a wander. The distant melodies of his guitar playing caught my attention, so I headed over and gave him some change. He seemed thrilled, and we struck up conversation - nothing meaningful, just pointless, meandering shite. From the sound of it, life's treated this guy pretty badly. It made me reflect on what a lazy bastard I am and how I'm wasting the oppertunities that I'm getting day after day - uni, friends, family..all that stuff.

A pretty crap post, just recording my thoughts after the two different yet similar encounters.

BB wars!

2005-10-18T01:46:00.000+01:00

My housemates have a thing of having a daily bb gun battle that usually lasts at least an hour. Having had my tooth shot in half at the age of 14 by my twin bro, I'm kind of scared, nay terrified, of bb guns so often sit back and laugh at the sound track of "bang! Argh, you fucking bastard..Bang..argh, bitch! bang, bang, bang!"..and laugh. A lot.

However, I was a bit bored tonight so loaded my bb gun, stealthed downstairs, and peered through the door of my housemates room - he was studying at his laptop, back niavly turned to the door. *Bang!*, I capped the bastard in the back! woo! then legged it upstairs and pinend the blame on my other housemate. Bad move: he has a bb machine gun, which he loaded up and charged me. Look at the fruits of his quest! Look at my arse! every red dot is infact a metaphor for 1000 years of pain!

Come on Eileen, too-loo rye-aye!

2005-10-16T11:11:00.000+01:00

Last night I played my first 'official' gig with my cover band, 'Diversion'. We played at a pub in a small village. It was bloody heaving and I'd say there were around 150 people throughought the night. The audiance were really good and interacted a lot with the band: "Come on Eileen, too-loo rye-aye" anyone?!

Two of my housemates decided to come along too, which rocked! They were both surprised to find out that we wern't a metal/heavy rock band, and said how much they'd enjoyed it. My German housemate seemed to love it especially, despite the lacking of any Hasslehoff in our setlist :p Regardless, he bought me a pint or two throughout the night to keep me going...3 pints and I could still play, sort of! ^^,

A highlight from the night had to be when we were playing pool before the gig started: my friend and the German dude were on the black and he missed a real easy shot that cost him the game. In a furied storm of rage, he shot up and exclaimed "Nein!", to which the pub went silent and looked at him. We pissed ourselves with laughter.

Good fun. We're playing at Murray's on Sunday Oct' 23rd, I hope to see you all there!

Closure

2005-10-15T03:51:00.000+01:00

Tonight I closed a door that was technically never open.

A tricky situation to reach, but i somehow managed it. Regardless, that door is now shut.

Shit happens, I guess.

Happy Memories/I'd Rather Forget

2005-10-12T19:25:00.000+01:00

We all have a weakness. Mine is that I kiss things until they hate me.

I think.

Poles apart

2005-10-08T04:12:00.000+01:00

Today my housemate and I went on a mission to buy me a lamp. I never got my lamp, but instead we returned with a pack of 40 glow in the dark alphabetical letters for magneting to one's fridge. They've been put to excellent use so far, mostly by the guest visit form my bro' Dan. I just went to grab some food now after my friend had left and spotted the joyous, neon halo of words including: pump, dump, undies, girraffe, beard, toast, and more that I can't seem to recall yet :p Oh, for the record, 'Girraffe, Beard, Toast' is the name of our home-made game - kind of a spin off of rock paper scissors...

It was pretty cool to see dan again. I cooked a hefty stir fry and noodles for him, Annie (his girlfriend) , one of my lady friends and myself. It was infact rather spiffing. After this we chilled in my room - chilled as in listened to metal on my ultimo-beast new speakers and jammed on guitar 'n bass like t'good ol' days. Good fun indeed.

Dan and his missus bailed about midnight and myself and my friend decided to watch a film..before long I'd began teaching her bass guitar, which was good fun.

..argh, i'm off to bed..a busy day of total nothingness awaits me, gotta get slept-up yo!

Got no Pocket.

2005-10-05T02:43:00.000+01:00

hmm...I'm getting a bit concerned about my study now. Admitidally it's a bit late to start fretting, but in the name of all things cliche I guess it's better late than never.

I don't know, I just cannot seem to commit to my course; I can't seem to get into the groove of study, wherever that groove may be.

On a related note, I'm a bit concerned that my cover band's getting too intense for me too - 2 practices a week and at least 1 gig a week, wiping out the best part of 3 nights a week...

Argh!

Anyway! Tonight I had a band practice. Later I met up with a friend and chilled out, though she seemed pretty vacant. When I got back I decided to have a jam with the funk that is study, though no real luck. Instead I stumbled upon my mate's veil of salvia and whacked up some of that shit - nothing illegal, no crack or anything, just a pretty hefty dose of burn-in-the-bong chill-the-fuck-out juice.

Tik Tik Tik: the faint metronome of self concern, pulsing away, edging me to study... here goes nothng.

I are Shithead

2005-10-02T04:12:00.000+01:00

Saturday! Chilli day! The day my housemate reels off one of his epic chillies!

I invited a 'friend' round to join us..sadly I'd sort of forgotton the fact that she doesn't eat beef (minced beef in chilli), so that wasn't such a brilliant start. But on a lighter note: The chilli rocked, though it was pretty spicy...infact arse destoryingly spicy - I'll have to wait 'till the morn' for a confirmation :/

After eating, the 5 of us planned to head out to the fair - it's in town, kids! Sadly, the rain trashed such plans, so instead we bailed into my housemates room to chill out. It was at this point that his bloody bb gun came out..and my trousers came down - I have a bad habbit of letting him shoot my bare arse, which absolutley wrecks to say the least :/ Not long after we decided to hit up a few rounds of 'Shithead' - a card game that decides which one of you, aka the loser, deserves the grand ttle of 'Shithead'. Needless to say, I was crowned king-shithead once or twice :p

My friend had to leave at around 3.15 am. I waited outside with her until the taxi came. I waited outside for a bit as it drove off. A bunch of drunk students walked by and started chatting to me about hanging baskets, before trashing my neighbours potted plants. I really should have told them to fuck off or something, but kind of watched as they scattered the small tree accross the rain-wet road. Though once they'd gone I did take the mauled tree corpse back to its pot...but still, its pretty shitty that i did nothing to stop them :/ Even shittier that they did that. Bastards.

Anyway, I don't really feel like sleeping right now, so I guess some music and a good cuppa seem like the perfect time-killer :)

Sugar? Milk? how about that bbq..?!

2005-09-30T01:21:00.000+01:00

oh bollocks, i'm back!

One of my housemates seems to be a bit down lately so 3 of us decided to hold a bbq for her. After a trek to the shop and a quick poke aorund we emerged with a couple of arms full of frozen meat and bbq goodies. However, we were lacking a bbq, so I scarpered off to Tesco to buy a disposable one. Shock! The bastards no longer retail bbqs, opting for the more seasonal halloween shite, you know like full-man pumpkin outfits and such? Returning empty handed wasn't a choice, so I compromised and grabbed a shitty bag of charcoal and £1.10 block of cheese. Anyway, I got back, only to remember that we didn't have a bbq - it was time to call for the milf-next-door; borrowing her bbq was my plan!

She leant us the bbq, which was a bit good. We got cooking, had a nifty meal, drank a lot, cheered up the housemate, and polished off the last of my cherished ganj supplies.

Right now I'm sat at this bloody internet, glued to it as i was many (few..less than 3/4) moons ago. It's kind of depressing actually. Though I'm listening to some Sabbath, which is always good :) I've also been watching some crappy videos of my school-freinds, who've all gone off to uni..gah i miss those cretins, ARGH! My mofo'ing skylight window just pissed a massive stream of icey rain water onto my keyboard ><,

I'm gonna smoke. Oh yeah, i seem to have started smoking, which is fucking bollocks. A bad habbit from hanging out with a girl I know.

returneth

2005-09-29T23:57:00.000+01:00

wow my internet connection works at my new house. I'd forgotton how shite the feeling of being glued to msn was. Gonna kick that habbit before it starts...I hope ;)

however! will continue to nurture the blog. Lots to tell, know-one to to listen, plenty to read, I hope.

reverse de ja vu

2005-09-23T13:11:00.000+01:00

a few months back i wrote a short story titled 'nicotine rush', available at all good counterandgroove blogs ^^, (click here). anyway! last night I was hanging out with a girl in my back garden and we pretty much acted out the entire story, short as it is.. kind of wierd, infact it almost seemed scripted! haha, who knows ^^,

gotta dash for a class... :/ would love to explain more though! maybe next time ;)

-over 'n out.

2005-09-20T13:00:00.000+01:00

greetings sweet blog childs of mine! apologies for not feeding the beast that is for such a long time!

argh, so much stuff's happened in these last two weeks... where to start?! well, seeing that a class of some sort starts in a couple of minutes, I'll keep it short :p

Summer's over = :(
After an epic 2 week conclusion to the summer, I finally accepted the fact that it has indeed come to an end :( Most of my mates have migrated accross the country to uni. The lucky one's destined to far-away adventures, the not so lucky in for another year of uni with moi ^^,

Uni's started = :/
fun to see everyone; shite to be back in the mundane routine of education)

I've moved out = :D
I'm sharing a house with 4 students. It's great fun so far. I spent pretty much from 8pm friday night until..well..last night playing SNEs and drinkning beer. All I can say is that I've began as I plan to continue ^^,

I havn't internet access as such, so the blog's gonna go on a bit of a diet for now :/I'll be sure to throw it a tale or two though!

Forever Autumn

2005-09-07T01:56:00.000+01:00

Forever Autumn

That quiet afternoon I saw a stray golden-brown leaf caught up in a gust from the early-autumn winds. Kind of funny, really, how those leaves spend all year preparing for the freedom that Autumn promises. Strange, perhaps seemingly pointless, but a forever repeating cycle none the less. Reminds me of a radio station, come to think of it. A song starts, plays through, and ends. Another fills the sience it left. Song after song, day after day, Autumn after Autumn. Forever the same.

"Autumn's here" she sighed, staring out of the window just as I was. "summer didn't last long, did it?" she added with a sarcasticly comic tone.
"Nah, it didn't, did it?" I replied. It was true, the summer had flew by, and other than stating the fact, I didn't know what else to say. I sat quietly, staring at the dancing leaf. At that point the song on the radio ended and a short silence followed.
"I love this song", I explained as the opening meoldy of the next song filled the room. "It reminds me of tomorow". The curious look on her face was a clear invite to explain further.
"I used to play it when I was feeling down. sometimes once through, others on and endless loop". A small fold appeared at the bridge of her nose, just as it always would when she was perplexed at one thing or another. Perhaps confused at the fact that a song could remind someone of tomorow. 'Tomorow', a descriptive word for the next 24 hours starting at midnight tonight. An entirely fictional concept, essentially the unknown future described in just 7 letters. Again, her expression did all the talking, and I continued to elaborate.
"It inspired me. Listeneing to this song made me dream, it gave me ideas" I said
"Idea's for 'tomorow'?" she asked.
"kind of. But more than that" I tried to explain carefully, "Afterall, inspiration isn't just something saved for tomorow, right? "
"mm, I suppose.." She reasoned: my statement was justifiable, yet completely rediculous - how could the present possibly remind anyone of the non-existant future? "so, are you inspired now?" She asked curiously.
"not so much, actually.." I replied, stretching the words as I considered how to explain further.
"oh.." she interrupted. The fold in her nose intensified.
"I guess it only makes me dream when i'm down". I suggested. A pretty realistic thought, come to think of it.
"That figures" she stated, nodding her head slighlty for confirmation. "I mean, why dream if you're already dreaming?" She was right - why dream if you're already dreaming? Or for that matter, why grow new leaves if Autumn's already here?

I reclined back into my chair and stared outside again, focusing on the leaf. It slept quietly until the wind took it away, bringing with it two or three fresh leaves. I sighed quietly, and she cast her eyes upon me. At that point, the song ended. A short silence followed and the next song kicked off.

lost. and found.

2005-08-23T23:44:00.000+01:00

Lately I'd been feeling a bit shite and decrepid, and after a weekend of 1 gig, a lot of binge drinking and tv addiction one can only emerge at a lower state of self joy. Sad but true it is :/

But on an up note, I've figured out the optimum method cooling beer in a freezer AND have watched the first 26 epidoses of Lost.

Oh, and I think my ear's fooked; I can't hear out of it, I think it's an infection as my throast hurts and my sense of taste seems to be a bit off. Though I have an appointment with matron in the morning :/

Anyway! I had no intention of feeding the blog at all tonight; none of the events or findings of the last few days were tagged as blog food. But! I got a rad' email with this cherr-upper-of-a-pic from the neeltron! It's me doing the secret manouevre *yang yang yang*! so here it is, thanks ^^,

ooh, chinese take-out's here. Time for eating + film with a few friends! Oh my, grab the beer form the fridge ol' chap!

night out (working title)

2005-08-20T03:53:00.000+01:00

oh man. what a fucking shit night i've had. i'm pretty drunk, but cabn't seem to clear my mind for long enough to sleep - cue the blog: the beloved filtration device that separates one's working mind from all troubles via a simple yet lengthy stream of text.

Today i've been feeling pretty down in genral. my friend must have sensed this and took advantage - he pushed me into a night out on the town with him. I really didn't want to go but ended up doing so regardless.

having arrived in town, i bumped into a few friends that i've not seen in ages (2 or 3 years). we rocked out and got rather pissed togather. I had a pretty cool time, especially considering that tonight was the club's metal/rock night, meaning that the surrounding noise pollution did indeed hold some appeal to my metal loving ears.

time ticked on and blood alcohol levels rose; the night was looking good. But aFTER NOt so long the banshee that is my mates ex began to harrass him in many unspeakable ways. Following which, she hurled a load of drink at him, and he hurled a load back - not only was i metaphorically in the middle, but quite literally, thus taking a harsh blow from the tides of alcoholic waves thrown by each party. The hill had, at this point, began to slope downawards. And rather steeply at that too.

anyway, i decided it was a good time to bail out and so reounded up my friends. as we were leaving, trouble erupted (once more) and the security threw in their unwanted and unvoiced opinion. Shjortly after which, my mate got arrested, leaving me a friend and his newly aquainted laDY FRIEND alone.

totally untriumphant.

i qwent out with 1 friend, met a few more, had a good time, got beer threw at me, lost half my shoe, watched my mate get arrested and chatted about badgers in teh taxi ride home. an interesting night. a definate aggreeance on my pessimistic views on the human race. kind of fun, at parts, but on the whole a bit shite, really. wouldn't want to repate it that's for sure.

i think i'll regret posting this in the morning, but hey, i wanted to share that right now. alcohol sucks, as does clubbing. i shudda just stayed home :/

--oh wait, my arrested mate just rang me. looks like the plot of the night's events just thickened. looks like my role is indeed incomplete as such.

a level results

2005-08-18T23:16:00.000+01:00

10am-ish today:

*knock knock knock*

"Ben, you awake?"
"no, not really"
"oh.. I got accepted!"

Dan got accepted at Nottingham Uni (his first choice), studying cell biology of some description! congrats' ^^,

argh it's going to be wierd once september creeps round, his course starts and he heads off a few (hundred) miles south ><,

bleak window; cold winter

2005-08-16T23:51:00.000+01:00

tonight i feel like a window: a window of a warm house: a warm house in a cold winter: a cold winter, pressing against a bleak window, forming millions of tiny bumps of condensation, each totally different, yet seemingly the same.

that's what i feel like. tonight, for now, at least.

and to think I thought I couldn't put it into words. how wrong i was.

..and to divert!

2005-08-14T21:49:00.000+01:00

man, last night rocked!

It was the bday party of my mother, who'd recently turned 50, and my nephew, who'd turned 9 on the day. A strange combination indeed, though the crowd was surprisingly good!

The party kicked off around 2pm with a large bouncy castle and lots of party game things for my nephew. The bouncy castle was cool. My friends and I, being the oldest there, decided it'd be a shame not to torment the fun-loving kids - all would be explained if only I could upload video files to my blog! Oh, and I learned a hard lesson: it's not a good idea to show off to kids - I tried doing a back flip on the castle and, well, landed on my neck and it bloody wrecked all night.

As day turned to night the crowd grew in numbers and the party morphed from a 9yr old's do to a drinkning free for all, driven by some hard rock from the lovely "Diversion" (my cover band). It was our first gig, so I was a little nervous. Fortunatley my kind peers had some nerve-settling herbs which were appreciated; Having rolled, we were now set to rock, and rock hard too baby!

We opened fashionably late - almost 90 minutes. Following a hefty soundcheck we were ready to go, and kicked off with a U2 song (Vertigo). I can't really remember what songs were next, though I know we played Zombie at some point and ended with a Foo Fighters song (Best of You). Then an encore of 2 or 3 more songs including Whiskey in the Jar, which I pissed up pretty badly towards the end ><, Actually, I pissed up quite a lot... argh! ><,

Anyway, a diverse set for a diverse crowd - kids, teenagers, adults (I think I'm in this category), pirates... (haha, thanks for fancy dressing zack, neeltron, luke, faith 'n john!). Regardless, the crowd seemed to enjoy the band, I know I did :)

Ah the band had finished, but the best was to come! My drunken haggard sisters stormed the mic' and started singing madonna's 'like a virgin'. What a bloody slice of fried gold that was, they rock!

Following the band a few people left. I'm not sure what happened after..I think I was trying to stop my 9yr old niece and co' from lynch-mobbing 'funky-pirate-man' Zack. I was hoping dangling the little beast above my pond would make her stop, but no such luck. I think Zack enjoyed the attention though, haha.

It was getting late(r) and some more people had to leave. I sort of got roped in to walking home a friend. A nice walk, and some, erm, 'reflective' chatter was had. We got to the house. And talked a bit more. Then I left. She went in. D'oh!

I finally met back up with my friends, and we visited a local childrens' play park for some tokey-toking.

I got in at about 1ish and collapsed in bed. I slept pretty shite, and woke up around 4am. I was totally restless. The night's events ran through my thoughts, seemingly unreal as with all good times.

Poison, Party, Practice.

2005-08-09T23:54:00.000+01:00

Standing in the valley of shelves
I looked up in awe
at the morning sun
that glistened above.

A marvellous sight.
The memories came flooding back
as it's warm glare poured down on me.

Ahhh, sah hi, thoust ist my poison.

-----

last night I went to Annie's partay (my bro's girlfreind). I wasn't sure of what'd be there, or what was in store but decided to go anyhow. I was greeted by a pair of bouncy castles, a lush array of bbq food and a load of people I'd never met before, or seen before, for that matter. It was a cool night, and really made a change to go to a party that *wasn't* driven by alcohol (or guided in the slightest!).

I left with 8 pickled cucumbers. A poor man financially I am, though rich in pickles I was. They're all gone now, but I know the recipe, I can build more, and I shall.

----

I band practiced tonight - the last before our first show on sat' 13th. It went well, though there's still 3 songs I don't know... hmm, it's going be pretty fun on saturday. We're all in store for a very pheonix night methinks.

canary toast

2005-08-07T04:21:00.000+01:00

argh. good. night. out.

wanted to sleep, but urge for toast and hot-choclate prevails.

Today was the carnival of my village - an annual one-night festival, featuring crappy blue-peteresque floats, live music and lots of drinking.

It all kicks off around 2pm, though we decided to head up at 9ish once the bands were in full swing and the place was busy. A good call - by 9, the bands were in full swing. and the place was busy.

It was ok, though only 3 of us went up. After not long we bailed. Though I decided to come back up later on my own. Kind of bored, and a bit lonely, I strolled the packed festival like a sheep with a broken road map- unsure where to go or why for that matter.

"ben, ben..ben!" I heard from behind me as I walked into the pub, "ben!". It was my guitarist and drummer, enjoying a pleasant bevvy or two at the pub. They caleld me over and effectivley pushed me into getting a bit pissed. Not too much though. After maybe an hour, I decided to bail home - I had a huge urge to eat cereal, and the pub could not help me there. So I went home, ate cereal and became confused. Fortunately my friend called, and declared that he and 2 others were heading out for the afore-mentioned carny. score.

plenty of carny themed fun persued. then a fatty-bum-batty sealed the night.

the curious bat

2005-08-04T23:54:00.000+01:00

I was driving home from my mate's house with friends at about 3am this morning. It was was like any other night: dark and cold. I spotted a bat hovering around a street lamp, hunting out the fiery white pulses of moths drawn to the artificial lighting.

I thought it was pretty amazing that the bat had taken full advantage of the scummy light pollution that we were pouring into his neighbourhood. Either it was a clever-arse mofo of a bat, or simply coincidence. Or perhaps it was (and is) pissed off at the light that forever casts an eternal sunshine upon its natural darkness but just lives with it. Come to think of it, I've never heard a bat complain. Maybe they're infact happy with the lighting, sort of seeing it as some kind of alien-built moth bait. If this is the case, how would the bat cope without that light? Has it indeed become dependant on human intervention, much like the bird that passes up on migration in favour of hanging out in your snowed-over garden, surviving on what you give him throughout the icey months of late winter?

who knows.
evidently, further research is needed.

pirates, karaoke and a splash of dry-red'

2005-07-29T20:19:00.000+01:00

Last night was fun.

Luke had a gathering and 7 or 8 of us shown up. We kicked the night off with a crap, erm brilliant, Pirate film - a jolly good musical set in the dream of an 80's bikini babe, featuring pirates and policemen. Next up was an awesome real-life beavis/butthead sort of film titled 'Napoleon Dynamite'. All the while we were merrily drinking; mine's a lager and glass of wine, Garcon!

A string of short comedy sketch shows followed the films, including classics such as 'The Young Ones' and 'Peep Show'. Not long after these ended it was nearing the last train, meaning that a couple of the group had to bail. The remaining people decided karaoke would be a good call to round off the night. I totally agreed.

So, the karaoke began. And the drinking continued.

Karaoke rocked, I really love it though I'm absolute shite at pitch, remembering the words and singing in general. However, my singing seemed to be getting better as the night went on: a bizarre see-saw effect as the wine level in my bottle deplenished.

But alas, my singing was too good - or should I say, my brain was dying from alcohol poisoning, rendering my cat-like wails into angelic harmonies. At that point I decided it'd be a good idea to quit drinking, though it was too late: my fate of oncoming toilet-hugging was sealed. The next hour or so aren't so clear - the only images I can vividly recall contain a sickly stream of crimson vomit as I hacked up the once delicous wine from my defiled stomach, before deciding luke's bog would be a decent bedroom, and the toilet itself a decent pillow (which it was).

I woke up at about 5am, had some water and decided it'd be a good time to bail. Not far from Luke's house I collapsed, again. This time in someone's bush. I spent maybe 10 minutes in the bush, collecting my thoughts, and fortunatly not sharing any of them with it.

A few dry wretches later and I was set to go. I got home at about 6.20am, chatted with my dad for a bit, had a burger then went to bed.

A good night out. Minus the overdrinking. Never again. At least Until dinner, which was 8 hours ago.

PS, whilst at my dad's house I found a pile of golden oldy pics, including the following one that ties in to this post in an ironic, future-predicting sort of a way...

Doggy Heaven? I hope so ><,

2005-07-27T19:41:00.000+01:00

My dad's dog, "Tess", got "put-to-sleep" yesterday :'O( I didn't want to blog it, but I think that it's respectful to do so looking back to all the meaningless, uneventful things I've commented on in the past :/

Tess was a pretty rad' dog actually. One of those mutt's that's rescued from the RSPCA, you know the kind of mongrel that comes with as much emotional baggage as it does fleas? He had it about 8 years and treated it awesomely, before fate struck with a hefty blow of cancer to it's front shoulder. The vet said, as they often do, that nothing could be done, just a matter of waiting for the inevitable. Waiting for the inevitable, now there's a cliche :/

Anyway, the waiting ended sometime yesterday. My dad seemed pretty upset on the phone (havn't seen him yet). He's buried her in his parent's back garden.

Tess, 199?-July 2005 :'O(

Camping/Dan's 19th

2005-07-24T22:55:00.000+01:00

I spent last night drunk in a field on the top of a cliff.

It was my friend dan's 19th birthday on friday, so 12 of us decided to chill-the-fuck out on the cliff top in an epic bout of camping.

The night began with a few rounds of American footy. I throw like a girl and catch like a one-handed Jeremey Beadle, but still it was fun.

Shortly after this we broke out the 'Wild Shot' - a fucking beast of a 3 man catapult. As ever, harmless fun was had by hurling heavy objects into the unseen horizon..which soon evolved into childish foolery. Harris took a hit:

Following which we swarmed the fire. Aided by laughter, beer and..erm..some ganja, the night flew by. Good fun.

A decent night indeed. The morning wasn't so pleasant: Fending off an angry farmer on a hangover isn't the best way to start the day ><,

---
on an unrelated note: happy 50th to my mother! ..i mean, happy 25th part 25 ^^,

Nicotine Rush..

2005-07-22T02:48:00.000+01:00

"you know, I'm trying to quit these" she stated, gesturing casually with a near-empty pack of ciggerretes clutched loosely in her right hand. The faint hum of background chatter entertained the scene. The strong scent of coffee filled the air and a stray wisp of pale grey smoke from the girl on the next table danced gracefully above.

"..I've wanted to quit for ages. I just can't. I wanted to tell you that" she informed him. "my weakness, huh?" she added. Pre-occupied, he missed the point of her outpour.The thin flume of smoke filtered out all traces of colour and depth from the scene, reducing it to a flattened greyscale of its' past-self. He remained silent, waiting for the moment to pass. She assumed silence, waiting for him to acknowledge her struggle - a shrug, a grunt, anything. Nothing.

Driven by the awkward silence, she began to caustiously fumble the rectangluar box. The fumbling quickly twisted into an anxious shaking. The shaking esculated into a staccatto beating as her free hand tapped rythmatically against the half-empty carton until finally she could take no more: The lid exploded open as she flicked it back with the thumb of her right hand. She swiftly extracted the second to last ciggarrette and rushed it to her pursed lips. Her right hand darted clumsily within her pocket, frantically searching for a lighter. She soon located the lighter and thrust it up to the ciggarrette balanced between her lips. The harsh gritty sound of the churning flint-stone polluted the quiet scene as she repeatedly attempted to spark up. A sound gritty enough to suppress the calming background hum and sharp enough to cut through the veil of smoke, yet still unable to break his fixation on nothingness.

"hah, I guess I won't be smoking tonight.." she informed him, humouring the situation. She tossed the empty lighter onto the table, slumped back in her chair, and reached for the ciggarrette trapped in the corner of her closed lips. Instinctivley, he reached into his chest-pocket and extracted a lighter. He raised it to her mouth and flicked back the flint-stone. A spark emerged and a flame soon followed. The flame maticulously carressed the ciggarrette for a brief moment before dissapating into the invisible silence. A dim, orange glow suspended itself upon her lips- the only reminder of the flame's existance. The dark orange soon twisted into a brilliant sunburst yellow as she inhaled, sucking back the calming vapours of the lit ciggarrette. She held her breath and reclined back into the chair. Her hands rested peacefully upon the table. Her pains were soothed, her tension smashed.

"..last one, ok?." she gasped before reaching up to grab the ciggarrette as she expelled the smoke from her mouth. But before she could do so, he plucked the sparkling ciggarrette from her lips and drove it into the ash tray, pounding the glowing orange to a charred black stub.

"yeah, last one." he aggreed.

"you know, you're fucking wierd at times..." she said with a tone of genuine interest. "fucking wierd".

***
Nothing to do, thought I'd write something. Based on an event in a cafe not so long back. She was was a non-smoker, though....
**

The Humerous-Pain of Realisation...

2005-07-19T23:46:00.000+01:00

Tadaima! Just returned from a most triumphant band practice - all went well and we managed to nail a further two songs: U2's Vertigo and The Foo Fighters Best of You..admitidally not quite to my musical taste..well far from it, infact, but still, awesome to jam out to ,,, ^^, We're sort of upping the gear now as we're booked for a gig on Aug' 13th...in my back garden. Naturally you're all invited, and naturally there'll be beer and a BBQ ^^, Oh, and an 'adult bouncy castle' (that's what it's labelled as, how much does that rock?!).

I've been doing a lot this past week. Well a lot in the sense of not a lot, yet seemingly much, at the same time as doing something but not quite anything, in a sense, sort of.

I've learnt how stupid an idea it is to pull up to a roundabout in order to let your friend get out to chase the rabbits that live upon it. I've spent a decent day out with some girl I hadn't seen in quite some time. "some girl" he says. Some girl, indeed. I've become addicted to collecting seeds from assorted fruits. And growing them. Now I have 11 pots with baby watermelon in. And 9 baby apple trees.

man, if you can boil your week down to a small collection of unlinked, pointless facts you know you need to get out more.

Printer-Girl..

2005-07-10T23:32:00.000+01:00

Whilst in Japan I met a rather unusual girl: She was an American English professer, late 20's and was in Japan on a project to study the Japanese author "Haruku Murakami". Oh, and she was carrying a A4 computer printer around with her. See, I didn't label her as unusual for nothing.

I'd read one of "Haruku Murakami's" books in the past and so was able to strike up a meaningful conversation (admitidly this didn't last long and the subject soon turned to something useless..). But anyway! During this conversation she highly highly reccommended a book. I made a mental note of the title, and decided I'd check it out when I got back. However, I soon lost my mental note and so had no idea on which book to get..and actually had no intention of getting that book even if I could recall it's name.

..skip forward a week, and jump 200 miles south..

So, I'm enjoying my time in this new city, just hanging out and doing nothing in particular when I spot her - it's printer girl! I immediatly shout her over and start chatting about how good this place is and how strange it was to bump into her - she agrees fully and soon diverts to her beloved conversational theme of books. During which, she mentions the book "Kafka on the Shore" (again), and (re-)iterates how I should read it when I get back to the UK. I make another reminder note, this time with a pen in my notebook, fully intending to check it out when I get back.

Anyway, big up the relavance! I was bored shitless sometime last week so went up to the library and managed to get a copy of this book. I finished reading it today and was pretty impressed. It follows the path of 2 main characters, and is structured in alternating chapters: one's a 15 year old runaway, intent on finding his mother, and the other's a 60-odd year old guy who can talk to cats. The two characters are linked in numerous ways and their paths intertwine heavily, yet they never meet. The overall theme of the book seems to be about the importance, no, necessity of memories..I think. Read and and see what you reckon. Though it's really quite bizarre and is extremely non-linear..minus the intentional linear parts, of course ;)

There's a phrase in the book: "Even chance meetings are a result of karma", which is quite an ironic statement in regards to how I heard about the book (both times). Though I must ask, what the hell did I do in a past life to 'earn' this meeting?! must've been something bloody cool, like building stone-henge or something. Yeah, that must be it.

check it out if you're ever bored - I'm just sorry that you had to hear about it from some boring guy on the internet and not the lovely yet eccentric printer girl in the heart of Japan.

Lukes 20th

2005-07-05T11:05:00.000+01:00

Argh! No longer a teenager! The Fozzer's turned 20 ^^, congrats dude!

Yeah, went to Lukes 20th bday yesterday night - such a cool time, thanks a lot for the invite ^^, The night's BBQ rocked (WOW! cooked meat, and at a bbq of all places?!). And it was excellent to meet new people as well as meeting a few guys/girls I hadn't seen in some time (varying lengths of!). A lot happened, though my memory fails me after committing to my 2nd beer or so..haha ><, Regardless, the night progressed bloody fast, though, and before I knew it it was time for myself and 2 others to bail (sadly, we had to leave early!).

As a welcome to manhood, yours truly presented Luke with a fine gift indeed: A vodka-themed, greeting-engraved, saussage-cherry-cheese-bearing water melon. Sounds wierd? Well it was ^^, Strangely, and I jest not, I dreamed this magnificint beast up on sunday night - well that's my only explanation: I woke up monday morning knowing I just had to make, nay, build one! And build one I did!

I forgot to take my camera, but hopefulyl I'll get some from some other party-goers! until then, here's a pic I took of mega-melon before heading off to the party. (c. B Fox July '05).

peace out ..\/, ^^,

Back in black (and white, too!).

2005-06-28T12:30:00.000+01:00

The summers coming; my chinese friends are leaving! And last night, to celebrate it, we had a party! A party fuelled by Chinese dumplings, wine, beer and garlic! Good fun :)

Today I did fuck-all. Well I went to a music shop 10 miles away with my drummer, only to find it was shut.. so we returned home and in a rage of red-neck idiocy discovered what foods we could and could not deep-fry. since then I did fuck all.. well actually, we found a black-and-white setting on my camera so decided to piss around with that.. fun fun fun indeed, following which, I really did do fuck-all.

None of the pics were any good, really, but this one made me laugh:

it's titled "Startled cretin".

...*silence*

British Beef

2005-06-26T23:21:00.000+01:00

Hey! I had a BBQ today! And on such a delightful day too: The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the beer was flowing ^^,

As ever, I adopted role of maternal father and ultimately head chef:

which reminds me of a question my chinese friend asked me last week: "my friend says that to be a good father a british man must be a good bbq chef... Is that true?"

"hell yeah!" I replied...not that I'm getting broody, of course!

The bbq rocked; we all had great fun!

Afterwards I went to a friends house, armed with 'Kung Fu Hustle' (thanks Tom!). On the way I heard some idiot shouting 'konnichiwa!' and turned around to see my mate who I havn't seen in months (as he's been at uni). The following scene as we rejoiced in happiness, running to greet one another must have been like a beachless, babeless baywatch intro. It was good. Trust me.

Yeah a cool day ^^, again ;)

Double Dutch

2005-06-23T19:44:00.000+01:00

while I was in Japan I got talking to this Dutch guy:

"it's strange, you know, I'm visiting all these beautiful temples here yet back home I just walk straight by our Churches..Maybe I'll check them out when I get back?"

..and that made me think: Yeah Japan rocks, it's beautiful. But how about England? How about North Yorkshire? There's gotta be some cool stuff here. There just *has* to be! So, armed with my camera I grabbed my bike and headed out into the (relatively) unknown...

After not so long of cycling down deserted country paths I spotted vast blankets of green feilds: usually ignorable, but after just 3 weeks in the concrete jungle it's pretty striking.

(excuse the image quality, my resizing skills are shit).

Shortly after this I spotted an interesting looking sign:

That's right, a public footpath! I decided to haul my bike over the fence and go investigate...there were lots of nettles and stinging plants, which aren't any problem unless you're wearing shorts, which sadly, I was. Regardless! I pressed on and eventually found a forest clearing that looked pretty rad in itself:

This place is pretty cool: it looks great, smells great and just has a really chilled out feel to it! I used to go here with friends when we were younger - just to hang out and such really. Good times indeed ^^,

So I guess there are decent things in this area. And what's more, it's not a case of "if you look hard enough" :)

Anyway, that's today's reflection on hunmnaby, n.yorks! I hope it touched your hearts in a way you never thought feilds, signposts and bushes could.

And on that note, I'm off to jam out at some bloody heavy metal with my band |,,|/ ^^,

Honey, I'm home ;)

2005-06-19T07:18:00.000+01:00

Greetings! I'm back in the UK! Well actually, I was back since 11pm on thursday but.. ha

I'm still a little jet-lagged, infact I only got about 3 hours sleep last night. I've been feeling pretty shite too, sort of sad to be back into the routine of nothingness that I held before leaving for Japan. Oh dear ><, Anyway! In a rather camp attempt to try and distract my homesick-mind from my beloved Japan, I decided to cook. For some reason I made a bunch of brownies: they taste great! However! The mind was not quenched; the beast still festered! So I went for the jugular and whacked out a recipe for okonomiyaki that a Japanese friend recently gave me.

Okonomiyaki is like a pancake with stuff in, I had one in Osaka with friends so it would kick-arse to re-visit that legendary dish.

Dead easy to make and pretty rad tasting! You'll need

an Egg
Flour (1 cup)
Water (1 cup)
Cabbage (shred finely)
Onion (shred finely, use cabbage:onion ratio of about 4:1)
Bacon (1 rasher, cut it up)
Worcester Sauce (spices things up. Warns off the undead, and pinkeye)
Mayonaise (pah nah mah nee nee nee, mayo!)
A pan
A spatula

Ready to rock? Let's cook, biotch!

1. Prepare the batter by combining the egg, flour and water: mix it to a fairly runny consistancy, similar to pancakes!
2. Heat the pan and pour in a tiny bit of cooking oil
3. Pour in some batter: just enough to form a circular base (about 10-15cm diameter).
4. Sprinkle a load of the shredded cabbage/onion on top of the disc of batter.
5. Place the chopped bacon on top of the cabbage/onion.
6. Pour some more batter over the cabbage/onion/bacon.
7. Allow to cook for a few mins.
8. Flip it over
9. Repeat steps 7+8 until it's done
10. Rescue from the pan and deliver to the safety of a near by plate.
11. Apply ones desired sauce: Worcester and mayonaise rock.
12. Enjoy!

Note: this recipe is a loose guide! use whatever fillings you wish

Yeah, give it a go and see what you think!

Sayonara

2005-06-14T13:51:00.000+01:00

Oh my, my last night in Japan..this kinda sucks to tell you the truth :'( Nothing much is going on tonight, and I've not enough Yen to venture out to Shibuya (Tokyo) for one last party.. plus I gotta pack stuff. I guess the epic night out on saturday will have to suffice as the fairwell do (I say that so unenthusiastically, though I really mean it!).

Anyway! I reckon I should make some kind of a conclusion to the beast of an expodition that was Japan '05: may 25th-June 15th.

hmm, where to start?! I've had such an amazing time. Everything has rocked; nothing has sucked. I've done so many things, seen so many sights, ate so many foods, drank so many drinks, met so many people...oh the list goes..yet the list will never feel complete! I feel as though I've missed so much, though clearly that's a good thing as it means a return to Japan is vital! Vital to what?! Who knows, who cares, just so long as I'll be back here sometime sooner or later!

Argh, I'm really gonna miss this place and its people - both the natives and the travellers ><, anyway, I should keep this post short... Thanks a lot to everyone who's made the trip all the more enjoyable by sharing your company with me, it's been immensely cool :) I just wish I could say "bye" to each and every one of you in person before getting on the plane to England ><,

thanks again, and keep in touch,
-Ben

Gone Fishin'

2005-06-14T11:19:00.000+01:00

Wow, had a cool day today! Got woke up by a dutch guy at 5.30am asking if I wanted to head out to the Tsukiji fish market: the worlds largest fish market, I believe! I aggreed and hastily got showered and dressed before going to the station to meet two other guys.

We arrived at Tokyo station (near the market) about 40 mins after and grabbed a bus bound for the market itself.

Upon arrival we were greeted by an immensely hectic network of transporters and people dashing around to collect/deliver fish and various other sea-dwelling creatures.

The variety of creatures on sale was vast: fish, octopus, squid, sea urchins, shellfish: basically, if it's from the sea, it was there! And the amount of activity was going on was equally vast: I even got splashed by a drip of fish blood as the guy next to me carved up a fish of some sort.

The four of us happened to bump into a Japanese stall-owner (selling raw tuna) who could speak some English: he called us over to chat about England and such, Anyway, after not so long he was showing us his collection of money and articles from around the world so I gave him a UK penny that I happened to have on me. He was extatic and ran to the back of his shop, picked up a bloody huge sword/knife and charged back at us. Panic kicked in. Well I lie, in his other hand he had a huge chunk of dead tuna which he slapped down and began to disect into small cubes: the dude was indeed prapring us some fresh tuna sashimi (raw fish)! He then grabbed a pot of sauce and insited we ate some. IT was pretty good actually! Shortly after he whipped out some ocha (green tea) that he'd just brewed. Ah, such an unusual breakfast!

Afterwards we went to the imperial palace (again), followed by a trip to the Sony building in 'Ginza'. Pretty interesting stuff there ;)

Anyway, I'm off to meet some friends for one last drink or something - tonight's my last night in Japan ><, tomorow night I'll be in the airport waiting for my early morning plain. Argh, so sad..

quick update!

2005-06-13T09:48:00.000+01:00

oh busy week indeed! Just realised I hadn't fed the blog for some time, so decided to log in and update! I'll try and keep it brief!

monday: checked out a few more temples in kyoto, including the very impressive kiyomizu-dera temple: a huge temple set in the steep hillsides of kyoto, featuring an impressive balcony that overlooks the enitre city (pretty much!). The night was spent in the communal living area, aided by various japanese snack-foods and cheap japanese beer. Good fun!

tuesday: bummed about most of the day as it was extremly hot (32 degrees C plus), and we were due to take an overnight bus back to tokyo. We decided to check out a few more temples though..so many temples indeed!

wednesday: a warm yet early welcome to the energetic metropolis that is tokyo. Later on we met up with some 'old' friends that we'd met in tokyo, and decided to head out to a local raamen bar (like noodle soup, very tastey!). It was a good laugh, and excellent to meet up with 'old friends' again!

thursday: hung out with the canadians as it was their final day of Japanese life: we bid them fairwell with an outing to a local burger shop. Pretty fun actually!

friday: By now most of the friends I'd made had fled Japan, and a lot of the new arrivals seemed a bit geeky (including a mass of american anime geeks who dont take kindly to pokemon jokes..). It was pissing it down with rain too, so I wasn't too chirpy. Fortunately I remembered about a map some guy had made me a few weeks back: a map to 'ochanomizu', a district of tokyo packed with music shops. So, with map in pocket I hit the rain filled streets in search of some jamming. And jamming I found!

Saturday: Hung out with a group of strange finnish guys - great fun! On the night 8 or 10 of us decided to head out and party and the infamous 'Roppongi' seemed to be the favoured destination...initally I wanted to bail, but decided it could be fun..good call! The brief night out quickly evolved into a 6am train home, featuring numerous bars, plenty of alcohol, lots of people, strange japanese guys, assertive japanese girls, a massage parlour...oh the list goes on! Probably stories best told in person ;)

Sunday: along with a fellow Brit I'd just met, 4 finnish guys and 2 Americans, I headed out to the district of 'Harajuku' to spot the goths, lolitas and other strange creatures that systematically emerge every sunday. It was an impressive sight actually, and cool in its own way to see everyone having a laugh in their bizzarre clothing and make up. Afterwards we visited a park which again was populated by goths but also some live bands - an excellent atmopshere, reminded me a lot of my fun time in osaka! There was also a large group of teddy boys which was hilarious!

Shortly after enjoying the numerous bands we spotted a bunch of university basketball teams preparing for a match: a match that would kick off in 30 minutes, so we grabbed tickets and ran into the impressively scaled stadium. Ah, my first basketball game, and in Japan of all places! The game was great, and the crwod were strange: supporting their teams in a polite and ordely manner..a total contradiction to the 2 Americans sat with me: "woo! You suck" ..and so forth, haha.

Today: not done a lot really..moved to a new hotel, and it seems pretty decent here actually! Due to meet up with some friends for more raamen in a bit!

2005-06-06T02:52:00.000+01:00

Woo, another cool weekend in Japan!

Saturday was a really enjoyable day - to start it off 5 of us headed an hours train journey away from kyoto to the city of Nara which is renowned for its temples and shrines. And its deers too!

The temples were beautiful (as ever) and were cloaked in lush blankets of forest and numerous water features, all sprinkled by the golen light that managed to distill its way through the thick canopy above. Ive been taking pictures and will upload them when i get back to the uk!

On saturday night we decided to grab some beers and jam at cards in the communal area. After not so long the plan evolved and we were soon on our way, in a drunken fashion, to the distant district of Gion to find some bars and such. Oh yeah, we bought some fireworks on the way too.
Anyway, once at gion, the bars seemed to lack somewhat, and instead we spotted masses of teenagers hanging out on the riverbank and pissing around with fireworks and alcohol themselves - it was the perfect unspoken invite!

We had a great time overall. My friend lost his shoe in the river, and then, in what i can only label as an act of hugely admirable stupidity (sort of), unclothed himself and swam in after it. He entered as a drunken fool, and emerged a dripping hero. haha

Didnt get back until about 5.30 am. the next morning was hell - myself and my mate were due to meet two japanese girls in the distant city of Osaka. However, he was too ill after beer and, erm, swimming, to go, so I headed out into the unknown alone..... eep!

Needless to say, I got lost at the station where we were supposed to meet. Very lost indeed ><,

once we finally met, though, it was time to visit a japanese restaurant for some okonomiyaki - sort of an omlette, only much nicer! After this we decided to visit Osaka castle, though by the time we arrived the main bit was due to close - no worries though, the courtyard and surrounding grounds were so calming that we were happy to just chill out there!

There were a bucnh of awesome bands playing live on the streetside too, really, really cool!

By this time it was getting late and my train home was due shortly, so we went to (another) restaurant, this time for some spaghetti style food, which too was excellent! The conversation and general atmosphere was great, I really enjoyed the company! But alas, the clock was ticking and I had to get home ><,

Anyway, im off to a few temples in kyoto today, was just waiting for my mate but hes here now, so bye for now :)

Girls (and guys), just wanna have fun!

2005-06-03T02:45:00.000+01:00

After an uneventful day yesterday, my friend and I finally left the hostel at 3.30 into the pouring rain of kyoto to meet our friends from tokyo at 4pm. However, we got lost on the way and ended up arriving 30 mins late - thank god they were patient!

after meeting, we wandered the streets for a place to snack: we were going to meet two japanese friends at about 8pm and figured itd be good to all eat together.

8pm came around pretty quickly, and after 20 mins waiting at the station we finally hooked up with Tomoko and Mai, our two japanese friends. It didnt take long to realise that everyone was hungry and a trip to a restaurnt would be needed, so we followed the canadian to a 'near by' spot he allegedly knew - it turned out to be 30 minutes walk away. The meal rocked and was of the style of an all you can eat buffet. Very nice.

the restaurant atmosphere was great too and it was excellent to socialise within a large group of such diverse people. I made a horrendous cultural mistake though when Oz, the canadian guy, passed me some food with his chopsticks: i accepted them with mine, something thats associated with funerials i believe and is a huge, huge taboo. I had no idea until the japanese girls jaws dropped (and i thought they were impressed at my chopstick skills). Shan't be doing that again in a hurry..

next up was karaoke! My first time in japan, or on earth, for that matter! Karaoke really did rock, we had so much fun. We opened up with girls just wanna have fun: a long, long story why involving a german guy and a buddist temple.....another time, right?

Todays been cool too - we checked out a few temples in kyoto and i decided that my memory alone was not a suffiecnt tool for recording such beatuy, so we went to a huge electronic department store. In the end i picked up a pretty rad camera for the equivalant of about 150 quid - 5megapixels, lots of other things i dont understand, a case, a 256 memory card..and more stuff :P

anyway, theres a few of us gathering in the hostels communial area - were cooking a stew, so id best go help out! After wards we're heading out to a japanese reggae bar. haha, itll be reet fun mon!

Kyoto

2005-06-02T03:08:00.000+01:00

Boarding a bus bound for Kyoto, we left Tokyo last night at about 9pm. We arrived at about 5am, so it was a pretty hefty journy to say the least! There wasn't much to see along the way, though Tokyo offered a pretty impressive sight with it's irridescent neon lightscape (did I make any of those words up?).

It was rather sad to leave tokyo as we'd formed a strong bond with 3 other Europeans: Yoshi: a swiss-japanese guy; Christian: a german; and John: a brit halfway between oz and the uk: Team Euro indeed.

our last day was spent trekking the imperial palace in tokyo: jesus, such a bloody impressive place! Absolutley picturesque in every aspect, I really enjoyed it there! I guess it's impossible to scale its beauty in words or even to pick out certain areas, Though the koy-populated streams and ponds had to be the highlight. Well worth seeing if you're ever in the neighbourhood ;)

My friend and I were set to leave at about 7.30, so the 5 of us (team Euro) headed to a store for some noodles and beer which would ultimately form our fairwell meal: the last supper, if you like!

Anyway, just a short blog here to track my geographical status in a sense! we're hooking up with the afore-mentioned Canadians in a few hours, havn't seen 'em since Tokyo a few days back, so it'll be fun!

Japanese ho-district: no fun.

2005-05-31T17:34:00.000+01:00

man this fucking sucks. Ill apologise now: this is not a pleasant post, ok.

Tonight a few of us went out for a meal: great! then went for beers: great! Then decided to head across the city to the clubbing area of Roppongi: great, i thought.

So, having arrived at Roppongi, we got some beers at a cheapish pub and left 30 mins later. On our exit we got got dragged by some dodgy nigerian guy into a upper-class whore house. no shit.

The place was nice, but populated by japanese salary men, laced in an array of prostitutes spanning the globe over. my friends liked the spot; i did not. They were having fun, and didnt want to leave so soon, but the place was shit so i left early.

Cue a 20 minute walk around an alien metropolis, and the quite literal constant harrassment of people offering me free drinks at their bars, massages or more. Seriously, this section of tokyo is fucked up. Loads of fucking nerdy foreigners looking for japanese birds; loads of nerdy japanese salary men looking for whores. Man, this is notwhat i came here for. Roppongi is a fucking shit-hole.

anyway, i found an internet cafe thanks to myprimitive japanese skills and managed to get online. Gotta wait till 5am for train home now.

im pissed. end of post. sayonara roppongi, you fucking whorehouse.

Argh! It hurts!

2005-05-31T10:18:00.000+01:00

Oh for fucks sake! Myself and 3 friends were just shaving before getting in the communal bath - a pleasant experince with 2 fellow brits and a german guy I thought! ;)

However, the german guy made me laugh, and as a result I've hacked a huge chunk of skin from beneath my lip - it fucking recks! So now I've a large wound that'll scab up like some gonorea ridden herpe patch. and i missed my communal bath in the names of all things sanitry.
anyway, just passing time while they have watery fun and soapy frollocks. Damn, i want to bathe too!

><,

The English Bar

2005-05-31T04:28:00.000+01:00

ah yesterday was an emotional time! 3 of my good friends (wow thats bizarre, having good friends after 3 days?!) left the hostel in search for adventure: be it in their home town of Texas or the distant splendour of the ancient Kyoto.

Anyway, to bid them fairwell a group of 7 or 8 of us headed halfway accross the subway line to seek out an Irish bar that one of the group highly reccomended. The end result was, as expected, and irish themed bar, hideously caked in tacky shamrocks and sickly shades of green yet still offering a sense of genuinity to it! They seemed to fully pimp guiness, though the prices were definatly not Irish (no offence to those green shoed peasants), ie we're talking 900yen a pint: that's about 4.80 quid. ..Dan, you'd be screwed! :P

the bars here are pretty decent, but the western style ones are questionable: there's a few japanese integrations that bug me, for example people coming to your table to ask what drink you want..it's a pub, not a restaurant! and fish and chips here...my lord. I mean come on, we don't do sushi that bad in the UK!

We've got our tickets for kyoto ourselves now: the fruits of a 1 hour trek accross the city and a rather large confusuion on my behalf resulting in me buying the wrong tickets; but I easily corrected it..by going back and telling him he did it wrong, at which point my intended ticket to kyoto became my deserved ticket to hell..possibly.

Right now i'm in an internet cafe. It was a tough ordeal to get online though as the staff don't speak English and my Japanese is a bit shite...well ok, total bollocks ;) haha, but we managed! There's a pool table here too, and a few Japanese dudes/girls there too: I'll go challenge them on behlaf of england, show them how skilled we brits are at pool ;) booyakasha *clicks fingers*

no real plans for tonight though..maybe head out to one of the party districts of the city before leaving tomorow night for kyoooto to hook up with the lovely canadians and hopefully some Japanese friends too!

over n out,
-Ben

Japanese Weekend part 1

2005-05-30T07:15:00.000+01:00

Argh! Excellent weekend!

Hmm where to begin?! it's been so eventful! ...ok, friday night: let's rock!

Firday daytime: Jet-lag was still kicking my arse, so I went to bed at about 6pm. I later woke at about midnight, and whilst brushing my teeth started talking to a Japanese dude amed Yoshi (well he's Swiss but has Japanese parents). Anyway, we got on well and decided to grab a beer from the local vending machine (yeah, Japan rocks, I know!) and headed out to the streets in search of a park. We hit the parks about 30 mins later, crashed out on the swings and chatted about shite in general. Good fun.

Saturday: Whilst sat in the communal lobby, I noticed 2 new arrivals at the hostel: a Canadian couple. Myself and my friend soon befriended them and decided to show them round the local sites and such, including a massive temple and a 100yen shop: Both spectacular in their own rights!

Saturday night: The jet-lagged Canadians bailed early, so I decided to hnag out with 3 Americans and a Japanese girl. We decided to ignore the pub in favour for a few rounds of vodka-and-coke. Needless to say, I didn't stand for long ><, Shortly after, we headed out to a pub in order to continue the drinking. Fun indeed.

Sunday: Myself, my friend, the 2 Canadians and the Japanese-Swiss guy headed out to the area where the Uni' is to check out the fashion-hotspots (we were curious, ok!). Man, it was heaving. The fashions there were so extreme: Literally everyone was dressed to impress; it was hard to believe that people would put so much time, effort and ultimately money into looking 'cool' on a daily basis! Though I have to say, all the fashions were a little strange in the sense that 95% of it are styles form the UK/America 5 or ten years back. We saw a few Japanese goths, too. Very cool looking actually! Though I cannot imagine how they endure the Japanese sun :/

Sunday night: Time to party! 8 of us hooked up and tooka subway to 'Roppongi': the party area for foriengers and Japanese alike. Excelent fun, met some really cool Japanese guys and girls! Will be sure to get in touch with them again for another night out!

Today we visited Tokyo centre to get bus tickets to Kyoto. We're heading out there on wed (or thursday?) and will meet up with a few friends, including the 2 canadians again! Cannot wait!

Anyway, gotta dash! Wish I could go into more detail on things, but no time sorry ><,

By the way! I love japan, but apples here are so expensive! ><,

konnichiwa!

2005-05-27T05:17:00.000+01:00

Kooooooonichiwa!

Reached Japan! The flight rocked - met so many strange people on the way and had the pleasure of spending the 14hour flight next to a lovely Japanese girl! ^^,

There was also an old women who I sort of befriended by giving her water (she looked very thirsty). As a result, she harrassed me throughout the flight. I soon became intimidated, nay, terrified, of her inquisitive gestures and asked my friend iff he thought I was being stalked. The heartless bastard replied: "Dude, I told you not to give her any water".

The people of Japan rock. They really do kick arse, especially the older ones! Though they don't speak English, they seem to love me. Case 1: In the cue for train tickets I let a stray old lady past to join her pod of fellow oldies. She gestured thankyou, so I replied "daijoubu desu!" ("it's no problem!"). At which point I was engulfed by the entire flock of grannies and hammered by a rapid beat of super-fast Japanese. I used my skills (term used lightly) to describe that I was lost, at which point she legged it accross the station, shrieking, in a highly effective way, "Sumimasen, sumimaasen!" ("excuse me!") at a station gaurd. Very funny, extremly useful. So many similar cases, including asking some local punks for directions to a guitar store, recieving choclate treats for saying thanks in japanese at a local shop..the list goes on! Time permits not though sorry!

So yeah, Japan is really cool. though contradictionally extremely warm ;). I'm drinking so much water it's unreal. I really hope I can adjust to this climate, and quickly at that!

Havn't hit any clubs yet, though we've visited a massive shrine/temple which was pretty good.

Anyway, gotta dash!

Ja mata ne

Hey, hey, hey. What's in your head?

2005-05-24T20:32:00.000+01:00

"I love it when a plan comes together" as spoken by Murdoch: how true are these words? Strangely, for once, they're very true. Infact, I can almost taste the bitter-sweet scent of a victory cigar right now. Oh yes.

I'm finally (almost) ready to depart the UK and to head East to the land of the rising sun.

I've spent most of today scouring the shops of scarbrough for a number of items to systematically cross off my 'Must Get!' list, including, but not limited to: a bag: to store stuff in; some Japanese Yen: you *can* buy happiness, but only if the currencie's right; toothpaste: a smile's worth a thousand words, so long as it's gilnty-fresh; a Japanese maple tree: for my brother. He likes trees; and so much more! My god, my bank's taken a right arse raping these last few days, but I can somehow justify it.

Yet amongst all this hustle and organised chaos I was somehow able to cram in one last jam with my beloved band tonight: All went well, we nailed a few songs before concluding with an 8minute version of 'Zombie'.

Anyway, the plan for the next 48 hours are roughly as follows:
* grab a train to Manchester. Do not forget bags, passport, tickets, toothpaste etc.
* emerge at Manchester, hook up with my bro' in law. Head out to his pad and chill with he and my older sis'.
* get up at some fucking gruesome hour in the morning on wed' (5ish). Head out to manchester airport, wait for our flight.
* fly to Paris. Admire the hairy-armpitted French babes. oh-la-la.
* fly to Tokyo
* get off plain. Ask oneself "what the fuck am I doing? Where am I? Which way to Takeshis castle?!" then scream "higai!" and charge for the nearest obstacle course.
* somehow find our hotel. Befriend the locals. Get some sleep and food. Head out to partay, and, as they say, the rest shall be history!

Should be interesting to say the least.

..and your thoughts on the future are, Ben?

2005-05-16T04:44:00.000+01:00

I went camping last night up on the North Yorkshire Moors with a few friends - for anyone unfamiliar: the N.Y. Moors is a vast, vast area of mountainous valleys that are blanketed in heather and seemingly populated by nothing much beyond hordes of curious sheep. It's also bloody cold at the best of times.

Anyway, we got up there, set up camp and headed straight into the pub whos garden we were nested upon (coincidentally the only pub for miles. Good call). From here we ordered a meal and I had a moving chat with a stranger about mountain bikes. After the meal, we hit the sack (around 10pm). It was bloody cold and socialising wasn't really on the cards. I was slightly miffed as my viens were running with the urge for adventure of some sort as I'd just finished reading 'The Beach' a few hours earlier. So I went to sleep feeling unfulfilled to say the least.

Strangely I woke up at some unknown hour for some reason or another. I could hear the crackling of fire and the dull hum of distant laughter from the other end of the field. I checked my phone: it was 2:50am. I decided to get out and go see what was going on: there seemed to be a gathering of some sort, so I woke up my mates, none of whom were interested in exiting their sleep and ultimately the tent (and quite frankly pissed off at me for waking them up).

Regardless, it was adventure I craved and adventure I would have - I grabbed a few beers and cautiously mulled my way across the field and towards the flickering silhouettes of the unknown figures.

20 meters: A dark, blurred outline was all I could make out along with some faint chatter.
10 meters: The harsh outlines gained some features from the fire's illumination.
2 meters: Ah, the sickly-sweet aroma of weed hit me. Eyes squinted and arms stretched out, bearing the beer-themed peace offerings, I introduced myself:

"Hi, mind if I join you?"
"no man, take a seat"

Fucking A, I'd found the only hippies on the entire moors! Woo! Well I say hippies, that's maybe too strong a term, but they seemed to represent everything hippyish I knew, bar the dreads and so forth.

We had a pleasant chat about anything and everything - mostly of a forthcoming-doom nature revolving around what the future could possibly hold, or more to the point, what it wouldn't hold. Pretty interesting stuff. Regardless, I had a laugh and a good think, as I'm sure they all did too.

Time flew and the dark-sky was starting to light up as the sun apparantly answered its cue to emerge from beyond the horizon. And, respectively, the fire was on it's way out: It was time to hit the sack, again.

A decent night. Not quite an adventure on the scale of 'the beach', but certainly good to meet new people and shoot the shit in such unexpected circumstances.

Oh yeah, regarding 'The Beach': It's an excellent book. I strongly advise it to anyone who's not seen the film; and I advise it more so to anyone who has seen it and thought it was shite (like myself).

Sunshine Lollipops and,..

2005-05-14T02:21:00.000+01:00

Crrent Time:
---------------
"Argh! Pain!It burns, it burns! Curse you bringer of life, curse you! "

Prelogue:
-----------
I got the book 'the Beach' on wednesday and decided to check it out straight away.

"Oh, the weather's nice, I'll go read outside" I decided. -Strike one.

Picture it: An unusally sunny and summer-ish day forms the backdrop to the story; a plump-looking patio decking chair offers the comfort; and 'the Beach' acts as the afternoon's host.

So, having got a few pages in, I decide it's a decent read and continue.

"shit, it's warm." I think. I engage shorts and continue reading. -Strike two.

Wow, the beach book really is a great read - extremely immersive: I could feel the Thai sun beating down on me.

"shit, it's so fucking hot" I remind myself. In response, I remove tshirt and collapse into a sprawled heap, hoping that nature will do the cooling for me. -Strike 3.

..anyway, I got hauled in by the books style. 3 hours later, realising that it was infact the UK sun beating down on my semi-naked self and not just a mental illusion from reading, I decided to retreat in doors to the less-hostile shade. It's at that point that I noticed my slightly pink looking knee, and slighly rosey looking breasts. I kid not, the sun had indeed crushed the glowing figure that is yours truly into a fucking pink-breasted clown. I looked like a strawberry mini milk, minus the wooden extrusion of course.

And now, 2 days later, my knees are still small red globes and my chest still resembles that of the aptly named robin red breast. Man this sucks, it's so painful and irratating,

Curse you bringer of life, curse you!

A Happy Byrd-Day Indeed

2005-05-10T16:02:00.000+01:00

At 2.30ish pm the call came; it was the prompter of Joy, Luke J. Foster himself:

"Dude, it's Chris' bday, wanna come to the Curry house tonight?"
"shit, can't sorry, gotta band practice"
"argh.."

sadly, I had a band practice booked and couldn't bail on them (again), after slefishly cancelling in favour of exams and such for the past few weeks. And then it came, part 2 of 'the call':

"..we're off to a club or something after if you want to meet up?"

Team Ben: "Fuck yeah". I was in. The plan was set. The clouds had cleared; The joyous rivers of good-things-to come were flowing- and flowing nicely at that too!

So, I jammed and then got my arse to scarborough in record time. Arriving at about 11pm, I was greeted by a room full of people, including the drunken birthday-boy, Chris Byrd himself - at which point I presented him with the fine array of gifts I'd prepared: a huge selection of crisps and 4 cans of Fosters, encircled in several layers of velvety-soft kitchen roll.

Before heading out to a local club, we decided to chill at the Cave of Tom for a bit, allowing time for Chris to bask in the warmth of his close friends and delightful gifts - including a framed picture of his beloved Clair and, erm, I forgot her name, and an onion, I mean, 'Eric', who soon found refuge in his groinal region.

Shortly after we departed and headed straight for Vivas. Coincidentally, on this night Vivas happened to be host to a bizarre conventnion of cross dressers, the local female mafia, ex-wwf superstars..oh wait, it was fancy dress, sorry! Yeah, there were hordes and hordes of trollish monsters caked in makeup and tacky costumes. I loved it, it was like the most bizarre dream I could ever wish for: Hulk hogan to the left of me, Batman to the right, there I was, stuck in the middle of vivas. Fucking A my friend, fucking-A.

Anyway, regardless of the population of the place, we all headed for the bar and got in some drinks (and bday bonus for Chris, of course!). And with the first sip of Fosters, the night commenced (and my fate of drunkness-to-come was sealed!).

Just like every other event I write about, the night was pretty surreal: It just seemed so intense to be immersed in a the hectic scene of the club with the CIC posse, a sea of fancydressers, genuine shot-dispensing trannies, fucking cack karaoke, mortal kombat, chilled beer... ah the list goes on!

2AM creeped up fast; too fast infact. It was time to bail. So we dispersed back to Toms cave, minus the Byrdster who dissappeard off to who knows where ;) Returning shortly after, we sought the olde faithful N64 and it's bigger bro' the GameCube to help us through to the early hours, before finally hitting the sack at some ungodly hour in the morning :intermission of a couple hours sleep: wake up, greet the Fostz0r, bum around for a few hours and then finally grab a bus back to civilization.

Another gnarly night in the company of the CIC posse ^^, We gotta sort out one last CIC-night out before we all vacate scarborg (pre-may24th for me!)!

PS - this entry is dedicated to Chris who was 21 yesterday. And to Matt because he loves my blog.

Walking Dreams

2005-05-09T07:28:00.000+01:00

I happened to watch this film by total chance at a friends whilst enjoying the sweet-yet-sour taste of the aptly titled sweet-and-sour chicken.

I could spend all day trying to summarise it for you and in turn would wind up spending that said day talking complete, utter nonesense. Instead, I'll turn to a scene from the film which pretty much summarised and indeed described itself (at least in my view it achieved this):

"I'm writing a novel"
"what's it about?"
"It's not about anything! It doesn't have a story! It just follows people..."

..only search a bit deeper than the loose, generic term 'people' and instead consider it's other addressed points ranging from the meaning of life, financial entrapment, the potential of thought and you've a pretty sound representation to the whole film right there. Then again, that's my view!

The presentation of the film is again strange. It's so unique and infact rather difficult to pin a definite "so that's how it's done" to it: The style appears to be hand drawn, at times, and at others it appears to be filmed. Almost to the point where it opts for very-realistic animation, or completey unrealistic filming; Surreal to say the least. But for the most parts it seems to be a subtle blend of the two styles, almost as though arguing the hazed feeling of being half-awake after a good nights kip. I think this must have been done by filming and then applying some effects to it later in the editing room - either that or some outstanding artwork within the art dept'.

A really, really strange thing about this film was the way it handled my focus: most, infact all, films seem to strive to grasp and hold your focus; this film seemed to do the oppostie: sort of get your focus, then hurl it to the other end of logic and thought and get you thinking about something totally unrelated, totally incomparable, totally unthinkable perhaps..the number of times I was paying close attention one minute then the next just dazed off in a conscious state of un-focused catatonia. I'm certain that's purposely done - it just fits the whole 'looseness' and expression of the film too well to *not* be that way! sort of ;)

There were a few more scenes, events, characters and quotes within the film that I wanted to comment further on, but as cliche as this may sound, I can't quite form a solid enough reccollection of each to do so! ><,

hmm, I've just realised that this review seems to be circling around a vague, distant point of some sort, yet it doesn't look as though it's due to start spiraling in at any time soon.. maybe I should just retire on the review with the statement "go watch the film if you're up for some thinking- passivley or actively. Just watch it. Live it. Dream it.". But before you do just flick the light switch a couple of times, I think I left it on...

You mean this colour?

2005-05-08T09:02:00.000+01:00

"What you up to tomorrow?"
"shit all"
"wanna go bowling, get a takeaway 'n watch a movie?"
"sounds good yo!"

..and so the plan was conceived by the virtual intercourse that was MSN messenger.

Yeah, pretty decent day today, especially considering I planned to do 'shit all'. Myself and a few friends decided to meet up, jam on some random video game (and perve on the female characters, James), head out for a spot of bowling, catch an episode of the abysmal Dr. Who, dart off to the pub, get in a Chinese take-away and then proceed to watch a brain crushingly euphoric animated film about lucid dreaming. Top banana.

(I've chapterised it for easy reading. Is 'chapterised' even a word? )

Episode 1: King-Pins
Bowling was cool; I hadn't been in about 6 or 7 years maybe! I was the first to score a strike. I was also the first, and only, to fail to hit any pins. I was also the first, and only, to trap my finger in the bowling ball dispening machine. I came 3rd. Out of 4 players. And my lace was un-done. Bummer.

Episode 2: The Waiting for Who(?)
Time to return to the flat of Tom and co, where we passed a few hours of keen anticipation (regarding dr Who) courtesy of the gamecube. I'm shite at video games as I rarely play, but I managed to slay some mere beat-em-up peasants and have a laugh along the way. Cue Dr. Who: a pretty crap science fiction of almost spoof-like jestability, repenting for its sins only in the form of Simon peggs presence as an evil side-kick of some sort. And to think this tv program put a 2 hour wedge between me and my sweet 'n sour chicken?!

Episode 3: For fucks sake, use a fucking pen!
Anyway, dr. Who soon finished, meaning one thing and one thing only: time to get the Chinese in! Now, you'd think this would be a straight forward procedure, at least I would, but nay. Not amongst computing students. Instead, we collected together the groups orders on Jeffs lap top..then ran them through a program that would say them back to us (struggling on 'chow mein'), before realising that was no use and then printing the list.. at which point we added to it with pen by hand (why not a pen and paper from step one, why?!). Oh well, the cause somehow justified the means..in a prolongued, agonising half-hour long kind of a way..

Chapter 4: Trek to the Golden Dragon
Chinese ordered: ben 50% happy. Time to leave the humble cave of Tom and co and to set forth on the epic quest to the Golden Dragon (the Chinese take away). Of course this involved a stop-off at the local watering hole 'peppers' for refreshment and self-preservation purposes. Rather chilly outside in the beeer garden, right Matt? ;)

Chapter 5: Take My Food, Taste My Rain
..no sooner that we'd got our take away from the restaurant that the heavens opened up: almost like the scene form Indiana Jones where he rapes the temple of it's golden mascot causing the whole place to come crashing down in what can only be described as a self defensive mechanism. However, we were faced with getting wet as opposed to being mashed by giant boulders, impaled by thrusting spears and mobbed by a bunch of savage natives (bar the usual wave of chavs?). On a lighter note, I bought some chopsticks for just 80p.

Chapter 6: Salavating Over Chicken Balls
Chinese home, ready to eat. 'nuff said.

Chapter 7: Walking Dream
Ah, the title of the strange film we watched. I'd love to tell more about it, and indeed I shall in a future post! But to summarise it: It's about colour, man, you know like when you have all these colours, and some are the right one to use, but like, some aren't, yet equally they are, if you think, about that colour, that one colour, deep enough, that is, then its all ok as that colour, and not the colour that isnt that colour, is the right colour, the ideal colour, the only colour, infact no other colour will suffice.. It's all subjective, really.

Yeah, I'll review that film shortly I hope!

Gnarly day indeed ;)

The Monotonous Drone of the Undead Crypt

2005-05-05T03:35:00.000+01:00

I paid a visit to the hospital today to try and fix some minor problem with my ear (too much metal). I was shocked to find a room, infact a whole hospital, 99% populated with the old. I understand that they're more prone to attempted visits from the reaper and such, but still, it made me coil back and think over the concepts of prolongued life..

It was really strange actually, surreal in it's own bizzare way, to hear a constant background droning of the chatter between the aged clients. What were they talking about? And to who? Or why, for that matter? Just meaningless streams of words to pass the waiting time?

I can't help but think what it's going to be like in a few years when the life-expectancy crawls way up past 100 - imgaine it: the whole UK will passivley drift into a state of waiting for the inevitable. Aged lemmings on the metaphoric cliff of one big seaside resort, if you like.

The constant drone of the undead crypt
Serving no purpose; following no script
Seemingly pointless, corrupting the peace
Onlookers wait for the waiting to cease
Waiting for nothing, expecting it all,
Willing to wait, not ready to fall.

Yeah, just a bit wierd that, got me thinking.

PS, happy startreek day! (especially Luke and CJB!).

Romeo Must Die

2005-05-02T07:57:00.000+01:00

I saw this film about a year ago with a friend and decided to check it out again tonight. I was impressed. Very much so indeed!

It's basically a modern-day abstraction of the 'Romeo and Juliet' story: Two families; one impossible love. It's set in a U.S. city (shite, I missed which, sorry!) and focuses on the turf-war between the two clashing families: one of black origin and the other Chinese. Jet Li coincidentally plays a character from the Chinese family and Aaliyah plays the daughter of the head of the Black family; these two meet by chance and a bizarre love unfolds (though no tongues..seriously, no toungueage to be seen!). However, the story line isn't as simple as this and a whole network of plot twists and unexpected events unravel throughout...

The action scenes (read: Fighting!) are excellently done and make full-use of Jet Li's skills and the 'Chinese wires' that we've come to love him for. Further more, such scenes are enhanced by excellent camera work and the odd splash of CGI. There are, of course, a number of gun-based fight scenes, though old jetty-boy never makes use of such arms (as the ancient chinese proverb goes: "Guns don't kill people, Kung Fu does"..honestly! [Flora, can we get a translation on that?!]). There's also a number of car-chase style scenes which are visually pleasing and fairly origanal too!

Aalyiah portrays a convincing character throughout in her debut role, including a tag-team effort with Li to bitch-slap some slag that starts on him: "I don't know how it is in China, but here in the U.S., when a girls kicking your ass you don't have to be a gentleman" - Li's views are too strong and he decides not to hit her (..hence no chinese equivalent of Jerry Springer) , and so he employs the business end of Aalyahs boot/fist instead.

On a related note, I was saddened when my mate informed me that she had died since making the film - Her onscreen charisma, warmth and overall presence are so genuine and attainable that it just seems tragic that she no longer exists beyond the realms of celluloid. Very tagic indeed.

The end face-off between Li and mystery perp' X is fiery to say the least. The end itself is a little strange too in regards to Li's fathers actions - though I think it's some sort of twisted 'adaptation' to the climax of 'Romeo and Juliet', sort of.. watch it and see what you think!

Overall an outstanding film! It's unusual to find something that caters to each and every one of my diverse needs: A decent sound track (with kick arse bass: thanks Bootsy), martial arts, good camera/lighting work, crap one-liners and a plentiful supply of easy-on-the-eye chinese ladies - yet it manages it! ^^,

PS - I quit driving today. It finally got to me, I'm useless. Maybe after the summer, eh?

BBQ + Sun + Beer + Friends = Perfect end to a great year :)

2005-04-30T07:57:00.000+01:00

!

The second year of university life and its energy-sapping routine has indeed reached a climatic end! My final exam finished at 11.30am today, giving myself and a few friends an hour or so to forge a plan to storm a near-by a cliff-top for a good ol' BBQ in the name of celebration!

So, one trip to Tesco + £68 on Chris's card later, the coals were ignited! It was a perfectly sunny day, which caused concern for myself who's used to BBQ's dowsed in rain ("The Bringer of Noah!"). But still, it kicked arse! Kudus to Alex and Neal: the master culinary duo. A general 'thanks' to everyone who shown up :) And 3 cheers to Chris's marvellous plan to cool the beer! (and I was but a naysayer! I'm not worthy!). *hip hip hip yo!*x3

Overall I had a great time! Bar falling down a minor trench and into a nest of thorny shrubbery..and being caught with my pants down by some women who *were* enjoying a pleasant stroll in the summer-sunshine (literally..though I'd rather not explain this unsavoury event!) ^^,

But now I feel spent in an almost literal sense: what the f*** am I to do for 4 months?! Anyone read 'Norweigan Wood'? Well I feel like the dude from that at the end when he's trapped in the phonebox and cannot figure where he is - he's spent so much time entangled in the power-struggle that is his his love for a girl with mental issues that he's lost all concept of love and general everyday goings on..replace the asylum with uni, and some nutter of a bird with work, and, well, the result is seemingly yours truly! ><, (and probably the rest of my mates on the same course, ha!).

..I think thats a good anology. Then again, maybe my thoughts have just been warped by Matt's awesome playing of 'Norweigan Wood' on the ol' acoustic guitar?! Who knows, hah!

Out of interest, any idea why Luke had a brolly on him in the glaring sun?! It's just occurred to me how bizarre that was (even though I spent a lot of time basking beneath its shady canopy of tan-dodging joy)? And who kept screaming 'Jah-ming!'? (zack? haha).

Anyway, time to conclude! An excellent end to the year, couldn't of been better :) Will miss you mofo's ^^,

A cloud without a tear..

2005-04-29T07:23:00.000+01:00

Argh, what a complete joke of a day today's been.... Ever have 'one of those' days? well this was that and that was this.

I don't know, I seem to have lost every last drop of motivation and drive in exchange for a misty-haze of total confusion. I'd usually be happy to dwell in such conditions, but I've an exam tomorow and really need to study, so times are bleak.

Worse still, my Twin bro' and a friend got assaulted last night whilst out on the piss: Just leaving a club and strolling down by a take-away when a group of chavvy-bastards decided to land a punch on him for seemingly no reason beyond the fact that he had 'piercings'. Totally unreasonable, resulting in a stop at the police-station/hospital until gone 6am.

They seem fine though, just pissed off: wouldn't you be, though? Hmm, 'pissed off' - a general theme for todays posting ne?

Oh well, I guess the bad days make the good ones sparkle, and a bit of sparkle's what I could use right now, so I guess in that sense a bad day is needed (and indeed a good day?). No wait, the bad days suck fullstop. ,l,, ><, Anyway, I'm out. 1 exam's all that stands between me and a BBQ, 4 months holiday, 3 weeks in Tokyo and who knows what else. Rock on yo \,,/, A Cloud without its sorrow
is a Cloud without a tear;
knowing not of joy
and holding back its fear.

(apologies to those who deserve them).

No Comment(s)

2005-04-28T14:22:00.000+01:00

..quick update: Comments are gone, and will probably stay that way. I figure that this is a blog for posting meaningless shite on, most of which will be incorrect on numerous levels. So, it's probably for the best that I don't invite the views of others in regards to the published thoughts of yours truly...

..any comments? ..oh wait.. man, blogs suck ><,

Heads up Tokyo...

2005-04-26T18:11:00.000+01:00

..I *sort of* blew the remainder of my student loan on flights to Tokyo, today.. ><,

So, Tokyo, You've been warned ;) 25thMay-16thJun; watch out \,,/, ^^,

4 Legged Black Cheese Turns 56

2005-04-25T18:21:00.000+01:00

^^, My Black lab', Stilton, has gracefully turned 56 today! (That's 8 for the non-canine readers!)

*Happy Birthday to you*
*Happy Birthday to you*
*Happy Birthday dear Sti-ii-l-ton*
*Happy Birthday to you*

..back to revsion, cya soon :)

Edit @ half 11 (pm): Oh dear, just found out I'm revising for the *wrong* exam...and i've just 1 and a half days to catch up on 4 months of work. Rock on.... \,,/, ><,

Saturday Night Griever

2005-04-23T20:41:00.000+01:00

Gah! It's Saturday night, aprox' 9.30 pm, and I'm stuck at home doing exam-revision!

I wouldn't normally go out of my way to complain about such a fact, but right now I'm on a 'break' from study, and my blog was calling me! "Ben! Ben! You can tell me how you feel, I'm always happy to listen.." and so on :p

Anyway! I'm pretty pissed off actually ><, I'd organised to hook up with some freinds in Leeds this weekend - check out a few bands, as many bars and down a fair-share of pints.. well ok, 3 pints for me ><, (Ultimate lightweight-drinker as I'm sure most of you can and will vouch for :p Bastards! ;) ). But! I hadn't realised the dates and had completely overlooked the fact that my exams and such are lined up all next week and had no choice but to bail - realisticly speaking, of course!

Ah well, 4 months holiday come friday! Just an exam to get through then the difficult, torturous endeavour that is a BBQ followed by a party ;) ! Hurry up you sexy-biotch of a day, hurry-the-f***-up! :p

ooh, gotta dash*: some girl-type-creatures have just landed at my house ;) *Shock Horror!*

*Dash as in escape.. long story, sort of ties in with my stir fry recipe that I'll publish shortly :p

A bit more about me - Why Japanese?

2005-04-21T12:25:00.000+01:00

After showing this blog to a few friends, the most popular response is 'Hey I didn't know you were into Japanese, why do you study it?'..and then it starts: a whole stream of pokemon related questions follow ><,

I got into Japanese at around May '04 when I was getting ready to leave uni' for the summer and had bugger all to do. I decided to spend the time constructively and wanted to learn a second language: Enter French! You see, I'd studied French for 5 years at school, yet I'd forgot it all; I knew nothing. I'd even forgotten how uninteresting the French parts of the world were and upon rediscovering such facts, my quest ended! C'est tres mauve, non?

Then, whilst strolling my uni one day, waiting to meet a friend, I spotted a series of posters on the notice board that is seemingly stuck in some sort of stasis, shielded from change and the dusts of time alike. I mean, it had an array of posters ranging from ‘have you got dyslexia’ ( I always wanted to make a mock up one of those, riddled with spelling errors...), through to ‘for sale: scuba diving gear’ (I jest not!). Then it caught my eye: “are you bored of England?” “hell yeah”, I thought. “Can you teach?”, she asked (she is the poster, it’s more magical this way!). I replied “yeah I’m sure I could now you ask me such a question!”. She then started telling me all about her worldly offerings, how she needed English teaching staff around the world, and described the adventure that I’d yearned for but up until now had no idea how to reach. Then an enchanting two syllable word gracefully vacated her blood-red lips: “Jah-Pan”. I was hooked. "Why?", you ask? Well, I’ve always had an affinity for the bizarre and consequently for Japan, (no offense, I was educated by Challenge TV [Takeshis Castle], Ju-Jitsu classes and late night pornography about weather women – what else was I to go on?!).

So, to cut an already long story short, I decided this was my calling card; it was my wake up call. Time to do something, time for an adventure my son! This A4 sized print was more than a poster to me for it’d now become my escape; my ticket out of here, if you like. Well, in a sense, at least. So, I (Naively) decided to start learning Japanese. Strangely, I found a great deal of joy from doing so and have stuck at it since.

It's actually a pretty interesting, but rather tough ordeal :p And I've met an assortment of interesting people as a result though it: ranging from a gay Chinese bloke who was determined to train me up into a Chinese-lady-killer (Luke, you can vouch for that ^^, ), through to close friends, spanning the globe a few times over :)

..and then there's chinese! I'm planning to start a chinese class of some sort next septmeber at uni with a few friends. Could be fun, no?

2005-04-20T20:05:00.000+01:00

My lord, today's been such a fun-filled, energy packed, sarcasm riddled day! -_^

5 word summary©: awaken, uni, bank, jam, revision.

Aww, I was sarcastically questioning the value of my day with the '5 word summary', and now I'm a bit down that I actually achieved an accurate account of my day in just 5 words. Toying with unknown forces does indeed lead to unpleasant outcomes ><, I did have a band practice lined up (I play bass guitar in a progressive rock/metal band for the distant readers), but the drummer bailed on us. Also, tonight's a local nightclubs' rock/metal night, though fast approaching exam deadlines and the inevitable accompanying revision hath me pinned to the books and glued to the harsh regime that is study. Hmm, this is strange writing an 'article' that has no one in mind - I enjoy writing, infact I love writing, but I always write to someone and so I kind of know where to 'aim' it..if that makes sense? (Who am I asking that question to? Who am I asking this question to, for that matter?!). This 'blogging' thing seems wierd though, almost like talking to myself: shouting at a wall and awaiting the echoe'd voice to keep me entertained. Somehow, I think.

Anyway! I've not much decent to say right now so I'll go do some work and come back when I've something positive to comment on! Wow, writing this is like thinking aloud, only quieter. Bizarre.
-over 'n out.

A New Age Hath Cometh (0000 ABCD [After Blog Conception Day])

2005-04-20T15:34:00.000+01:00

wow, my first blog *stands back, gaping in awe*.

I always thought blogs seemed a strange, maybe even pointless concept - and now I can share that view, thanks to my blog.

Lately, I've been meaning to get a blog or something where I can note down my thoughts, express my ideas, post my adventures and generally poison the world with brief excerpts of my totally meaningless daily happenings; and that place is here, for here is that place! *joy*!

I know the colour scheme's a bit strange, but the only other decent one, a green thing, is already taken by two of my friends, so.. ><,

Oh, and forgive my poor spelling at times - I'm a computer student... but, the grammar, what i use often, can be proper, so that's good.

..yeah just a few short paragraphs to test my new portal-to-the-world!

*tes*
*tst*
*teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeest*