So, being in Kent was cool. The Alternative Freshers Ball was a lot of fun, it was good to see (and get drunk with!) a lot of people that I haven't seen for ages. As Jess said, it was my 5th Alternative Fresher's Ball ... I feel this must be some sort of record! The Eurofair was also good, although there didn't seem to be as much food sampling as last year; also we were really hot and tired. We did buy some stuff: I bought two bottles of lovely spiced cider, we bought some venison sausages which we had for breakfast the next day, and we also bought some seafood ... cockles and baby octopus. Katy didn't like the cockles much, so we decided to take them home to make a soup out of (which Katy still didn't like, although I thought it was nice), and the baby octopus wasn't that great, apart from the fact that it was purple and still had tentacles, it had this bizarre sweet taste which didn't seem right.

We also went to the cinema to see Dorian Grey (I enjoyed it), wandered around Westgate On Sea, and hiked about three miles down country roads on a boiling hot day to get to the farm shop at Quex Farm, only to find we could have got the bus to within about 5 minutes walk of it. Ah well.

I also went back to 22 Headcorn Drive to get my CD which got sent there by mistake ... the hallway looks really different now, its all blue! And there's a partition between the hall and the living room. I was afraid the people who lived there might be huge and scary, but they seemed nice enough, even if I did wake them up (it was about 11 on the Sunday morning I went over there, so its not like I tried to get in at the crack of dawn).

And now I am back home again!

I have a job interview! It's just for Christmas work doing mail sorting, but its still the furthest I've got into the jobhunting process so far!

A lot is happening this month, on the 19th it is mine and Katy's 2 year anniversary, then I'm going to see Green Day on the 24th, then it's my birthday the next day, then Katy's on the 28th, then Halloween of course. I don't know what I wanna do for my birthday yet, I'd like to see friends, its just annoying that some of my closest friends are scattered all over the country! John and Frances, your birthdays are coming up soon, do you have plans of any kind?

Hey kids!

It seems that I haven't posted in the last two and a half months! Because I haven't been successful in finding a job yet (I've sent off between 20 and 30 applications, and haven't had a single interview yet ... in fact, I've only received about 4 or 5 replies, all in the negative), you'd think I have all the time in the world to write LJ posts, but no. Here is what my general daily routine consists of:

Get out of bed between 10 and 11am.
Eat some breakfast, and try and watch some of the tonnes of TV programmes I have piling up on Sky Plus.
Go on the computer, listen to an album as part of my "Listen to 220ish albums released this decade in order to make a list" project.
Listen to some more music to familiarise myself with it before I listen to it properly (reading the lyrics along with it) in order to rate it.
Usually about lunchtime by then.
Afternoon usually consists of either jobhunting, exercising, attempting to tidy up/ organise my room, reading, or very occasionally going out somewhere.
Dinnertime.
Evening consists usually of playing some computer games, watching TV, reading, or some exercise if I haven't done any that day, until my 14 year old brother goes to bed (as he tends to hog the computer in the evening), then going back onto the computer, probably listening to another album, then spending the rest of the evening til about 2am either playing computer games, messing about with general Internet stuff, watching a film/TV, reading, or writing (I'm currently attempting to write a collection of short stories ... I'm up to about 4000 words so far, or halfway through my first story, so I've got a while to go yet!).
Bed between 2 and 3am.

Rinse and repeat.

I get to spend about half the time with Katy though, either here or in Margate, while both of us are jobless, so thats a definite silver lining. When we are together we do loads: go out in Croydon (usually to the Black Sheep) or in Margate (usually to Totally Wired), go to London; we also went on a weekend away to Manchester to see Pearl Jam, which was awesome. But when I'm not with Katy I barely leave the house: I manage to get out to see friends about one every couple of weeks, but most of the time everyone's different lives don't quite give free time at the same times. Other than that, unless I force myself to the shops, just about the only time I leave the house is to go to the Jobcentre once a fortnight. It gets a bit frustrating, and I really miss being able to hang out with everyone in Canterbury just about all the time.

Jobhunt as I said is very unsuccessful, I've mostly been looking at administrative jobs, and I've also become rather taken with the idea of becoming a library assistant, which a vacancy appears for every few weeks or so. But something seems to be stopping me from getting those jobs, so I might have to branch out a bit both with the kind of job I'm looking for, and the location I'm looking in (maybe going into Central London would be more successful?)

Next weekend I'll be back in Canterbury for the Alternative Freshers Ball on the Saturday, then the Eurofair on the Sunday, both of which should be awesome! I'm trying to organise to go to the pub with some friends tonight, but even that simple task is proving difficult ... damn people not responding to texts, and those that do having to get up for work in the morning!

Thats about it for a general update I think, not all that exciting!

Today so far I have discovered the joys of Spotify. Free legal music for me! :p

I have also written the first part of my Download review, comprising the Thursday evening (the journey there was mostly uneventful, Tristan drove us there, and apart from the fact that the exit we needed to take on the M25 was closed, forcing us to make a detour of about an hour and a half, and almost getting us lost, it was fairly straightforward) and the Friday. It'll be behind a cut below. Over the next few weeks I shall be trying to a) finish the Download review, b) write a review for Bruce Springsteen, c) do that retrospective of the decade thing, d) review Nine Inch Nails with Jane's Addiction when that has happened, as well as e) continuing to tidy up and organise my room, and f) find a job. Fun times!

( Download 2009 review part 1: Thursday evening and Friday )

Current Location: Croydon
Current Music: Was listening to Five Finger Death Punch a minute ago

So, like many before me, I have now left Canterbury for good! I can't believe the 4 years I've spent there have gone so quickly .... I know it's cliched, but I really feel that being in that city, and all the experiences that have gone with it, have really helped me to grow into the person than I am today. Maybe I'll retrospective back over my time in Canterbury at some point ... actually, hang about, wasn't I doing a retrospective of every year of this decade? I guess I can combine the two :) Although that'll mean I actually need to write it ...

I'll miss living in Canterbury ... I'm living back with my family in Croydon, which is sometimes proving difficult, but is mostly alright. Still, I'm sure I'll be back to Canterbury at times, and will definitely have to keep in contact with lots of people!

Moving out of our house was chaos, I think I should have got someone to come and pick up my stuff earlier ... fortunately I finally managed to get everything packed, loaded into the car (after virtually playing Tetris with it all to get it to fit), and my room all cleaned and hoovered (well, as much as possible seeing as the hoover was dying a little by that point, having hoovered the entire rest of the house).

Since moving back home, I have very slowly been unpacking and tidying up ... I need to sort out my whole room by August in preparation for Katy to move in with me. I'm also supposed to be looking for a job, but I haven't made much headway with that ... I can't really do much until I can get my computer up and running, as its got both my CV, and my Government Gateway logon (for signing back on with the Jobcentre). Also, I have no idea what I want to do, but I'd like to, if possible do something that I'm vaguely interested in, although the fact that my parents say I need to have a job before Katy can move in means I'm a bit under pressure to get one, so I might have to just go with anything for now.

I have also purchased a ticket off eBay (for £68!) to go see Bruce Springsteen at Hyde Park on Sunday, something I've been umm-ing and aah-ing about for months ... which should be cool!

Have started writing a Download review, first bit of it should be up soon

And thus ends Download 2009!

I had an awesome time, even if it was the first festival I went to without Matt. Tristan and Rob (as well as at for brief moments Ali, Gabi, Adam, and their other two friends who I forget the names of) were great company,

A proper review might follow (I remember that I never actually finished a review for the final day of Rock Im Park last year, but suffice to say I left the festival filthy, exhausted, battered, sunburnt, and ROCKED.

A brief rundown, which I would cut for length, but I can't seem to find the option to do so while using this computer):

Bands I saw:
Friday:
Steadlur (a few songs)
In This Moment (most of their set)
Billy Talent (a few songs)
Dir En Grey (the first few songs)
Killswitch Engage (most of their set)
Limp Bizkit
Korn
Faith No More

Saturday:
Ripper Owens (most of his set)
Devildriver (a few songs)
Pendulum (most of their set)
Thunder
Chris Cornell (most of his set)
Marilyn Manson (the last few songs)
Slipknot

Sunday:
Stone Gods (a few songs)
Tesla
Skin (a few songs)
Black Stone Cherry (from afar)
Journey
Logan
Dream Theater (from afar)
Shinedown (while in the queue for cup recycling)
Clutch (while STILL in the queue for cup recycling)
ZZ Top (a few songs, because I was in the cup queue for so bloody long!)
Steel Panther (a few songs)
Buckcherry (most of their set)
Whitesnake (a few songs)
Therapy? (almost all of their set)
Def Leppard (almost all of their set)

I have to say, even I was apprehensive about Def Leppard closing Download, but after a slow start it really worked. They linked it back to their last show at Donington in 1986, which I believe was their first show after Rick Allen lost his arm, and it just seemed fitting for them to finally headline Donington (apparently they were only 3rd on the bill last time.


Other things we did:
- Was part of the Guiness World Record for most people doing Air Guitar (which is why we missed Dragonforce, although I like to think we acheived something
- Went to a DJ set which was essentially Cock Rock with some more ballads in there, and through our awesome rocking out, convinced some kids to try another form of dancing rather than their gay slam dancing
- Saw the thoroughly bizarre (and incredibly homoerotic) Luche Britannica Wrestling
- Got sunburnt
- Travelled to and from a festival by car for the first time. Apart from the diversion we had to take to get onto the M1 on the way there which added about an hour to our journey, it wasn't too bad. Getting out of the car park this morning was actually really quick and easy.
- Overheard the following conversation this morning:
- Person 1: "What do you have against Dougal?" (I assume they were talking about the Magic Roundabout character)
- Person 2: "Dougal's gay, and takes you to all the populist gay sights!"

Which was rather amusing

I am very excited for the new episodic Tales Of Monkey Island and enhanced remake of The Secret Of Monkey Island :D

As such, I composed a list of my top 50 favourite computer games ever, for something to do. It's not exacly definitive, as usually when I look back over these things, I think "Now, why did I put such and such above other such and such" or whatever, but it'll do for now:

( Paul's remarkably exciting Top 50 Favourite Comouter Games EVER list: )

You can quite clearly spot my fanboy trends :D

Hopefully a proper update should follow later today or tomorrow, it's gonna be a busy couple of weeks!

Would anyone happen to have, or know someone trustworthy who has, a spare Download weekend and camping ticket that they're willing to sell for face value? If so, please let me know! If no one does, I'll see about posting to some LJ groups

I'm overdue a proper update I think, not that a whole lot has been happening recently

Things I like:

- Sunshine
- Bank Holiday Mondays where I can just laze about, listen to some music, play some Final Fantasy VIII, watch some Ashes To Ashes, and do a bit of excercise
- My new haircut, WHEN it is being co operative
- Having tickets to see Nine Inch Nails, Green Day, Download, and soon Pearl Jam :)
- The fact that finally this month some of the albums I want to get begin being released
- The fact that I have something on the horizon. In this case it is just moving back to Croydon, and although I love Canterbury, I am actually looking foward to it.
- The game A Vampyre Story, the closest thing thats been released to a Lucasarts adventure game since Monkey Island 4

Things I don't like:

- Ants. Little bastards
- Not having John's huge TV in the house :(
- The loss of Fright Night and Cock Rock. Sure, I know I'm moving back to Croydon next month anyway, and I know the Beercart was overpriced and tended to play the same songs a lot, but I just have so many great memories there. At least I got to DJ there once before the end. I'll definitely be there tonight and Wednesday to see it off.
- Swine Flu. It's good to know that it seems to not be doing much real damage, but the whole thing hasnt really been doing wonders for my anxiety.

Bye now!

Have been in an extremely bad / unsociable / angsty mood all day today. Apologies to my housemates for shutting myself in my room all day, especially to John who has had to talk to me through a door

Hello there El Jay!

Life recently has been, as usual, a series of some ups, some downs, and a whole lot of fair to reasonable inbetween. Seeing Gabi & The Whoremoans play at The Foundry last night was good, but then as well I suffered from some large attack of social anxiety, and subsequntly got into a bit of a bad mood. I hate social anxiety in general ... makes me feel like I'm never good enough, and I always feel like no one's ever really pleased to see me, or particularly wants to be in a coversation with me, because I'm not always witty or entertaining or know what to say. And thus I close off more, and the vicious circle completes itself.

Stream of conciousness rant over.

Not a whole lot ION this month, my general week has pretty much settled into a routine at the moment. Not that its so bad, I just wanna do something noteworthy ... well, I might be going to the theatre next week, then will be going to see InMe at the end of April, so there is some stuff on the horizon. Plus my family came over for Mothers Day, and we went to Broadstairs and ate in Prezzo, but I dunno how much that classes as "noteworthy". About the most exciting thing I've done recently is watch the entirety of Life On Mars, after my intitial apathy it turned out to be a very good and gripping programme.

Also, should I finally manage to coax myself into buying a Download ticket, I may end up going by myself, due to Matt's lack of funds. Damn students! I'm sure that should he not be able to go, there'll be some people there that I know and can hang out with though.

Somewhat of a odd post it seems, ah well

EDIT: I tell a lie about having done nothing noteworthy, it somehow completely slipped my mind that I DJed with Neil at Cock Rock at The Beercart last week, that was great fun, even though a) I spilled a drink which flowed underneath the decks (thankfully no permanent damage was caused), and b) it seems to get deader and deader in there every week