captainwalrus

captainwalrus @ 2009-10-01T23:17:00

2009-10-01T22:36:45Z

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?

captainwalrus @ 2009-09-20T13:07:00

2009-09-20T13:14:16Z

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!

captainwalrus @ 2009-07-06T11:57:00

2009-07-06T11:04:30Z

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!

Thursday:

Tristan, Rob and I spent most of the night wandering around the village, drinking lots … I discovered the morning after that I’d had 11 can of Strongbow over the course of the day. We went on the Ghost Train, which was utter balls … the scariest bit of it for me went as follows: Tristan and Rob got in a cart together first, and as they went off, I grabbed Tristan’s cowboy hat that he was wearing all weekend …. And since the cart he was in was moving off, he was powerless to grab it back. So I put it on my head, and get on a cart, and the ride starts … a few badly painted skeletons here and there, like I said, utter balls … but then, there is a bit where you go through a sheet of canvas, which is pushed over your head by the force of you and the cart … well, as this was going over my head, I felt it pushing Tristan’s hat off! Just managed to grab it before I lost it, that was a close one. I also won Katy a teddy by playing darts. We then went to the Tuborg tent, where there was some DJing going on, and proceeded to drink and dance (and other things in Rob’s case :p). Then, at 2am, we headed over to another tent for ….

Ultimate Power – A DJ set that was essentially a mix of Cock Rock and other power ballads … how could I not love it?! :p They kicked off with Bat Out Of Hell … we watched in disbelief as some kids started doing their stupid slam dancing to it, so we decided to show them how Cock Rock is done properly … air guitars out, throwing shapes, down on our knees for guitar solos, that sorta thing … we soon won them over, I seem to recall being in the middle of a circle of people for a particularly awesome guitar solo, and then got a cheer from the crowd afterwards :D I just about remember that loads of Cock Rock classics were played … The Final Countdown, Crazy Crazy Nights, Jump etc. and then some power ballads … Nothing Else Matters, Bring Me To Life, and just as I was about to head back to the tent at 3am, Always by Bon Jovi, which for me of course was the perfect end to the night!

Friday:

Steadlur – Tristan dragged me along to see them, but I only watched a few songs before I felt like wandering off and getting some drinks tokens. They seemed pretty good, fairly decent sleazy-ish hard rock, although nothing new or original.

In This Moment – Caught most of their set, they were a bit different, female fronted, but sounding less like either the Within Temptation/Nightwish/Evanescence/Lacuna Coil group, and more like … I dunno, a female fronted, somewhat lighter/poppier version of Killswitch Engage. Although there was less screamed vocal parts than KSE have, they still had them, and they were done pretty well, considering you don’t really hear women doing them all that much … the frontwoman wasn’t quite Angela Gossow, but she did have some edge. I quite liked them actually. Although I have to wonder if the large crowd they drew was mainly there to try to see up the frontwoman’s short skirt. I’ll give them 3.5 / 5

Billy Talent – I only saw them do a few songs, ‘cos I don’t think they sounded that brilliant. Got to see them do Devil In The Midnight Mass, and that hit off their first album … (goes to Wikipedia) … Try Honesty, I think it was. Then I wandered off to go see ….

Dir En Grey – Who I only saw the first few songs of cos they came on a lot later than I expected. I’ve never really heard any of their stuff before, but I thought I’d give them a look seeing as everyone seems to like them. What I saw was impressive … heavy, uncompromising, epic rock. Of course, seeing it was in Japanese I didn’t understand a word, but the music itself was captivating enough to transcend that. I shall really have to check out some of their music.

Killswitch Engage – This is the 3rd time I’ve seen them at a festival, and although they are great live … sounding every bit as powerful as on record, and with Adam D’s amusing puerile humour between songs …. Its been pretty much exactly the same every single time I’ve seen them. And while the new stuff they aired also sounded really good (I had the chorus for new single Starting Over in my head for ages afterwards), it also sounds exactly the same as Rose Of Sharyn and My Curse and whatever else. So I wandered off again, although I did see most of their set. I’ll give them 3.5/5, it probably would have been higher if it had been the first time I’d seen them.

Limp Bizkit – Starting off with DJ Lethal playing some weird samples, before the rest of the band came in and kicked off with (if I remember rightly) Break Stuff, they actually put on a good show. I expected Fred Durst to really be the weak link in the live band, but he was actually a decent frontman most of the time, his vocals were pretty much spot on, and stuff like singing the entire of Eat You Alive from the crowd barrier was just cool. Hands down though, the best bit was when they got two random people from the crowd up onstage, who proceeded to go absolutely nuts all over the stage for the entire next song, even taking over vocal duties for some of it, prompting Fred to say “someone put these guys in a band, now!” There were a couple of weird bits at the end … like Take A Look Around being introduced as “the first song off our new album”, and Fred telling the audience to quiet down during the breakdown of the same song, staring out almost sulkingly for ages waiting for them to comply … but otherwise they were actually better than I thought they’d be. I’ll give them 4/5.

Korn – It was cool to finally see them, having not managed it in at 2007’s Download on account of them playing on the second stage, which was a tent that year (it’s now a full size stage), and it being so rammed that I couldn’t see a thing. I can’t entirely remember many of the specifics of their set, I just remember really enjoying it. I do remember that I especially enjoyed Blind, Coming Undone, and Here To Stay (probably because they are the three Korn songs I’m most familiar with), but overall, I actually think I enjoyed their closing cover of Another Brick In The Wall (which I’ve not heard before) most of all, that was just an awesome way to close their set at a British festival. I really do need to listen to more Korn. I’ll also give them 4/5.

Faith No More – I didn’t know what to expect from FNM, but them coming on all looking incredibly respectable, all in suits and with really short hair (apart from the drummer, who still has waist length dreads and rock attire), starting off playing an easy listening number, before having Mike Patton shuffle in on a crutch was probably not it. It was only when they got to the chorus of the song … “Reunited and it feels so good” … that it became clear where they were going with that. After that, they launched into one of their songs (I forget which one), and the show finally got properly underway. Despite all looking remarkably middle aged, they still had tones of energy, especially Patton, sometimes spitting out the lyrics like a madman, jerking and spasm-ing about like, well, a madman, and for some reason during We Care A Lot doing an exercise routine. His between song banter was at times hilarious (“This is a festival for people who like heavy music right? That’s the general idea? So where are all the fat people?”) and at times a bit weird (bluntly declaring “We used to be good”). But generally, their run through almost all their classics (From Out Of Nowhere, Evidence, Last Cup Of Sorrow, Midlife Crisis, Easy, Surprise You’re Dead, Be Aggressive, Epic, We Care A Lot, and others which I wasn’t familiar with) was awesome, and having the Limp Bizkit - Korn - FNM line up of who influenced who was a masterstroke IMO. Just two minor gripes with FNM’s set … one, that Patton didn’t entirely seem to enjoy playing their biggest songs (Epic and We Care A Lot), reverting to some oddly distorted style of singing where it was almost impossible to hear what he was singing; and two, that the set was possibly a little ballad heavy. But overall, I shall give them a 4.5/5.

So, in 2005 I saw The Pixies, in 2008 Rage Against The Machine, and in 2009 Faith No More … that’s a fairly good run as alternative legends who have split up go! What does the next year/s hold … crosses fingers for Soundgarden! :D

After Faith No More, I was shattered, so decided to get an early night, ready to get up nice and early to go get some cash and then go see Ripper Owens at 11am tomorrow!

captainwalrus @ 2009-06-25T00:55:00

2009-06-25T00:07:06Z

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

captainwalrus @ 2009-06-15T18:10:00

2009-06-15T18:10:56Z

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

captainwalrus @ 2009-06-04T13:10:00

2009-06-04T12:25:57Z

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:

50. Max Payne (PC)
49. Super Mario Brothers 2 (NES)
48. Sonic The Hedgehog (Sega Mega Drive)
47. The Legend Of Zelda (NES)
46. Ristar (Sega Mega Drive)
45. Mario Party series (N64, Gamecube, Wii)
44. Metroid Fusion (GBA)
43. Devil May Cry 4 (PS3)
42. Super Metroid (SNES)
41. Final Fantasy X (PS2)

40. Mario Kart series (SNES, N64, Gamecube, Wii)
39. Perfect Dark (N64)
38. Metroid Prime 3 (Wii)
37. Day Of The Tentacle (PC)
36. Eternal Darkness (Gamecube)
35. Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast)
34. Super Mario 3 (NES)
33. Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Seasons / Oracle Of Ages (Gameboy)
32. Final Fantasy IX (Playstation)
31. The Secret Of Monkey Island (PC)

30. Worms Armageddon (PC)
29. Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube)
28. Metroid Prime 2 (Gamecube)
27. Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Gamecube)
26. Legend Of Zelda: Majoras Mask (N64)
25. Yoshi's Island (SNES)
24. Sonic The Hedghog 2 (Sega Mega Drive)
23. Pokemon Gold and Silver (Gameboy)
22. Resident Evil 2 (Playstation, N64)
21. Final Fantasy VI (SNES)

20. Lylatwars (N64)
19. Banjo Kazooie (N64)
18. Grim Fandango (PC)
17. Metroid Prime (Gamecube)
16. Resident Evil Gamecube remake (Gamecube)
15. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
14. The Curse Of Monkey Island (PC)
13. Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Gameboy)
12. Pokemon Red and Blue (Gameboy)
11. Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)

10. Monkey Island 2: LeChucks Revemge (PC)

9. Super Smash Brothers series (N64, Gamebube, Wii)

8. Final Fantasy VIII (PC)

7. Sonic 3 + Knuckles (Sega Mega Drive)

6. Super Mario World (SNES)

5. Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past (SNES)

4. Goldeneye 007 (N64)

3. Super Mario 64 (N64)

2. Final Fantasy VII (PC)

1. Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time (N64)

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!

captainwalrus @ 2009-05-22T00:29:00

2009-05-21T23:32:15Z

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

captainwalrus @ 2009-05-04T11:28:00

2009-05-04T10:43:56Z

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!

captainwalrus @ 2009-04-02T20:07:00

2009-04-02T19:17:31Z

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

captainwalrus @ 2009-03-26T16:51:00

2009-03-26T18:10:34Z

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

captainwalrus @ 2009-03-05T19:48:00

2009-03-05T19:50:30Z

Chris Cornell at Shepherd's Bush Empire, Monday 02/03/09. It was bloody brilliant! I managed to be almost right at the front on the very left hand side for most of it, which gave me a fantastic view, but I had to move further back about 3/4 of the way through, because I was literally right next to the speaker stack and it was hurting my ears!

Both the man and his band had terrific stage presence, making full use of the entire stage, jumping up onto raised platforms at either side, and just generally giving a far more energetic performance than when I saw him at Hyde Park Calling in 2007. Chris's voice is still spot on, even 19 years after some of the songs were recorded, and some of those vocals are pretty punishing! The only problem I had with the sound was that it went a bit funny half way through for a few songs, leaving Chris's voice sounding horribly digitised, and resulting in a performance of Rusty Cage where I didn't even realise what the song was until right at the end.

I was a bit apprehensive when I heard he was going to be playing his entire new album (which hasn't even been released yet), I figured it would probably be the whole thing in sequence with a few older song tacked on at the end, and indeed it was at the other London show he played last week ... what I got was an incredible setlist with only about half of the new album (and not all in a row either!), and songs from every album he's released since 1990 (except for the third Audioslave album). If you are a fan of his, then witness this awesomeness:

Part Of Me
Time
You Know My Name
No Such Thing
Gun
Spoonman (w/ Good Times, Bad Times [Led Zeppelin Cover])
Hunger Strike (with Tim McIlrath of Rise Against)
Show Me How To Live
Exploder
Be Yourself
Billie Jean (Michael Jackson cover)
Ground Zero
Never Far Away
Gasoline
Rusty Cage
Can't Change Me (Acoustic)
Fell On Black Days (Acoustic)
Dandelion (Acoustic)
Like A Stone (Acoustic)
- Band Jam -
Cochise
Watch Out
Burden In My Hand
Pretty Noose
Arms Around Your Love
Scream
Outshined
Jesus Christ Pose

Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin Cover)
Disappearing One
Like Suicide

That's 30 songs and 2 and a half hours of nonstop alternative anthems. Fucking brilliant. 9/10, for sure

captainwalrus @ 2009-02-27T00:19:00

2009-02-27T00:20:16Z

So, me and Katy and John and Frances purchased packets of each of the new flavours of Walkers Crisps, and sampled them, and gave our verdicts. What follows is my personal ratings:

Roast Duck with Hoi-Sin sauce - Had a good taste of Hoi-Sin sauce, but the flavour was nowhere near strong enough. No taste of duck either. 3.5/5

Onion Bhaji - Genuinely did taste of onion bhajis, a bit of a poppadum like taste. Not amazingly innovative, but quite well done. 4/5

Fish and Chips - Mostly just tasted similar to Salt & Vinegar, but with a little tiny hint of fish, like the Scampi And Lemon flavour Nik Naks, but way weaker. Again, not enough flavour in general. 3/5

Builders Breakfast - Possibly the most interesting flavour, you could genuinely taste the eggs and bacon (and John swears it had an aftertaste of buttery toast, but I didn't detect that). As usual, wasn't quite a strong enough flavour, but it was the one which managed the most different amount of tastes. 4/5

Chilli And Chocolate - Tasted mainly of chocolate, with a hot chilli aftertaste ... didn't really do it for me, although the chilli was nice. 3.5/5

Cajun Squirrel - Dunno what I expected this to taste like, but it was really just like Roast Chicken flavour but with a few extra herbs and spices. Quite nice though, and a decent amount of flavour. 4/5

So really, the main conclusion is that Walkers Crisps don't have a strong enough flavour, and that I liked half of all the new flavours pretty much equally, thus making it a bit difficult to vote for one. Ah well.

In other news ... well, not much out of the ordinary has been happening really. Pancake Day was fun, with our house being the most full its been in ages, with all five of us as well as Katy and Alyx there. There was much making and eating of pancakes, and it was fun. The night at Megan's and then Ciaron's as mentioned in Jess's LJ post was also fantastic, one of the best nights out I've had in a while, and I wasn't even sick the next day! Awesomeness.

Tomorrow me and Katy are heading to my house in Croydon. Katy will be there for a few days, and I'll be staying til sometime next week, as I'm going to see Chris Cornell on Monday. More awesomeness!

Bye now

captainwalrus @ 2009-02-01T14:32:00

2009-02-01T14:33:43Z

So, this is my retrospective of the year 2000 (what I can remember of it anyway), as part of my "retrospectives of this decade" series. It's pretty long and probably not very interesting, but it was interesting to cast my mind back to and write ... hear you go:

Paul's year 2000

The decade began for me, perhaps unsurprisingly, at a Millenium Party. It was a family party, where all the adults chipped in to buy a firework that cost like £60, and was supposed to be 200 fireworks in one package. When the time came, it was lit ... and one solitary firework went off, and that was it. Starting the new Millenium off with a bang then :p

I was 13 and 14 in 2000, and in year 8 and 9 at school. School was school like, I think that was about the time that a couple of my friends (one of whom was a little bit of a mental case) were properly fighting over who I liked better. Weird. Also in 2000 I went away with the school to Holland, which was fun. The main thing I remember about it is the disco on the last night, where we all got extremely high after drinking too much Coke, one guy had a panic attack, and there were rumours the hotel was being broken into. My friend Matt decided he didn't want to partake in the disco, so he stayed up in our hotel room, reading. Consequently, when the rumours began to fly about people breaking into the hotel, I got so worried about Matt that I ate the playing card that we'd all been given one of in order to exchange for a free soft drink. It made sense at the time! I also went on holiday to Majorca with my family, and spent most of the time on my Gameboy playing Pokemon, or re-reading the 4th Harry Potter book. And swimming, sunbathing, and all that normal sort of holiday stuff.

I was also in the school play, which was called The Good, The Bad, and The Notorious. It was basically a sketch show, with some of the pieces being serious and some comedic; showing various good, bad, and notorious moments from history. I was in two sketches, the first a serious one about children being forced to work in coal mines; and the second was a lighthearted look at the future, including an intergalatic fairground. Fun stuff :)

2000 would also be the year that I developed a crush on a girl in my class, which continued for pretty much the next two years, with me barely speaking a word to her that whole time; even after everyone found out that I liked her due to the habit I had of sort of staring at her. Oh yes, make no mistakes, I was the most awesome of kids. And most certainly not a loser in any way, shape or form :p

In 2000, I was mostly playing Final Fantasy VIII on the PC, and Rogue Squadron and The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask on the N64; and reading the Animorphs series of books, the Star Wars New Jedi Order series, and the 4th Harry Potter book.

And finally, 2000 was both the year that I first saw what became one of my favourite films, Tremors, and first thought "that's awesome" when the guy jumps off a bridge and rolls under a lorry in the video for It's My Life by Bon Jovi ... the first time that band ever really came to my attention. And then I decided it was a great song, and the rest, as they say, is history! Also, 2000 would be when Mission Impossible 2 was out, and mainly because it sampled the Missin Impossible theme, I took a liking to Take A Look Around, by Limp Bizkit, from the soundtrack. And these two things were the progenitors of me getting into rock music, whereas before I'd mainly just listened to stuff from film soundtracks and the 'hits' of the time, regardless of genre ... thank God that changed, eh? ;)

captainwalrus @ 2009-01-21T22:37:00

2009-01-21T22:37:18Z

Braces relegated to just being worn at night now, yay! Also I have finally ordered myself a new phone, after my parents giving me the money to get one for my birthday, which was just over 3 months ago now. Excitement excitement :)Ordering a phone on the 02 store online is stupid though ... you can't get it delivered to anywhere other than your card billing address. So I'm going to have to hope that it is delivered before I decide to come back to Canterbury, otherwise I'm going to have to get my parents to post it to me. Which isn't exactly tragic, but still, unecessary hassle.

captainwalrus @ 2009-01-21T14:04:00

2009-01-21T14:04:34Z

Here's some stuff:

Hades the other night was cool, I was only there for about an hour and a half (went to the Beercart first), but it was good to see a lot of people that I don't see out all that often. Talking to Minty and Graham was fun, as was first losing and then winning table football :D Was also cool to see Tristan

Got to sleep at about 1:30, then had to get up at 7 for work, which wasn't fun. Work is going alright, not much to report there really.

As it's the last year of the decade, in addition to doing my thing where I'm picking my favourite CDs, songs, films, games, and books of the decade, I'm also going to post a retrospective thing for each year to 2000 - 2009 on LJ. Just another thing that probably won't be particularly interesting to anyone, but meh, what else is LJ for? :p

And that's about it. I'm at home in Croydon at the moment for an orthodontist appointment today, hopefully i'll get told that I only need to wear my retainers at night now *crosses everything*

Peace out

captainwalrus @ 2009-01-04T12:56:00

2009-01-04T13:15:43Z

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Graduated Uni, worked in an office, went to a festival abroad, went abroad without any parental / school supervision, went abroad on two seperate occasions ... maybe others

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I can't remember making any New Years Resolutions last year ... um, the only resolution I can think of for next year is to sort out a list of favourite albums / films / computer games / books of the decade. I know, I'm unusual

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My cousin did. The baby is called Bean! :-)

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No *touches much wood*

5. What countries did you visit?
Germany, Spain, and I was in France and Belgium briefly on the way to Nuremberg

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Erm, I dunno ... financial security, a permanent job, and an idea of what I am gonna do when I move out of my house

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
October 19th (mine and Katy's one year anniversary), July 6th (which I think is the date of Graduation), 4 - 9 of June (Rock Im Park festival)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Graduating with a 2:1 and travelling abroad without supervision

9. What was your biggest failure?
Er, I dunno actually. Generally it's been alright. Maybe getting too drunk sometimes. Actually, succumbing horrendously to anxiety was kind of a failure

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Much hangover sickness, a cold, fortunately that was the worst of it ... I did get diagnosed with both Restless Leg Syndrome and Anxiety though, but they were already there

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Gig tickets, erm ... I dunno what else!

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Why would you celebrate someones behaviour? I'm not gonna throw a party because someone helped an old lady across the street!

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
No one especially

14. Where did most of your money go?
Food, drink, gigs, rent

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Lots of gigs!

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
That's tough. Lots of songs might, I guess time will tell

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Hard to say.
ii. thinner or fatter? Fatter I think :( Not a ridiculous amount though
iii. richer or poorer? Poorer I'd assume, but I do have a job now, which is nice :)

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing songs, learning keyboard, listening to music

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Being horrendously anxious - it really fucked me up at the end of August, most of September, and still does on and off. Arguing. Procrastinating.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
With my family - Mum's side of the family on Christmas Day, Dad's on Boxing Day

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I already was :)

23. How many one-night stands?
None

24. What was your favourite TV program?
Doctor Who I guess, I don't really watch much TV

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Er, not that I can think of!

26. What was the best book you read?
... Twilight or New Moon I think. They're not new books though. Actually, the entire Twilight series. And I read all 5 Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy Books, so that was cool. And lots of Star Wars books. Never The Bride and Something Borrowed were great too. Oooh, and Wicked. And The Book Thief. This, evidently, is rather difficult for me. I also read Catcher In The Rye for the first time, which was pretty good.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Protest The Hero, The Gutter Twins, and Innerpartysystem. Also, I discovered that new GnR are great (not as good as old GnR, but that was pretty much a given), and that Wednesday 13 does have some good songs

28. What did you want and get?
For what? The whole year? To get a 2:1, to get a job

30. What was your favourite film of this year?
The Dark Knight, Sweeney Todd, Twilight, Quauntum Of Solace, Indiana Jones

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
22, I had people round for a cheese and wine party, drunk many vodka martinis, and watched Casino Royale

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More of the answers to the good questions in this meme, and less of the answers to the bad questions

33?

34. What kept you sane?
Katy first and foremost helped me through a very bad time. My friends, distractions, and hope

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
*shrugs*

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Various things like unemployment, crime etc. (I decided I might write a manifesto of my policy ideas), and the US election obviously.

37. Who did you miss?
The people I care about who I wasn't with at the time?

38. Who was the best new person you met?
I seem to have met very few new people this year ... I can't think of any interesting Freshers that I've met yet. Oh, perhaps some of the people I haven't met before from the Jovitalk meetup, like Emil and Deb, they were cool

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
I'll actually give you a few:
1) Sometimes, things do go better than you expect
2) Not worrying about things that make you anxious but that you can't change is one of the hardest things in the world to do, but it's really worth trying
3) A change of perspective can often help a lot

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Again I might give a few

From Scraped, by Guns N' Roses:
"Sometimes I feel like
My life's a catastrophe
Can't understand why
It seems like it has to be
Sometimes I feel like
It's all opened up for me
Nothing's impossible
I am inconquerable"

From It's Not My Time by 3 Doors Down:
"Cause it's not my time I'm not going
There's a fear in me it's not showing
This could be the end of me
And everything I know
Oh but I won't go"

From It's The Only One You've Got, also by 3 Doors Down:
"Have to try
And you won't have to fail
If you're afraid to fight
Then i guess you never will
You hide behind your walls
Of maybe nevers
Forgetting that there's something more
Than just knowing better
Your mistakes do not define you now
They tell you who you're not
You've got to live this life you're given
Like it's the only one you've got"

From Keep The Faith, by Bon Jovi
"Lord, we've gotta Keep The Faith"

From Let Me Sign, by Rob Pattinson (at least, my interpretation of it)
"Standing by, broken she
Has her arms twisted
Is pointing at me
I was damned by light
Coming over all I see
She spoke with a voice
That disrupted the sky
Said walk on over, yeah
To a bit of shade
I will wrap you in my loving arms
And stay
Let me sign"

From Gypsy Woman, written by me:
"When I'm sucked down to Hell,
She's the one who's got the spell
To set me free
Oh, Gypsy Woman
Only you can take my pain away"

January:
I HATE WRITING ESSAYS SO BAD!!!!

February: Grrrrrrrr

I genuinely was going to go to my European Law seminar for the first time since like November (actually I haven't been to any seminars for that long ... they seem rather pointless), but then I couldn't find a pen, or my writing pad, and then the landlady arrived to collect my rent... and by this time it was 10 to 5, I still hadn't found a working pen or a pad of paper, and I just couldn't be bothered to practically run up to campus to get there in time. RAAAAAR.

March:
In response to Katy's post, just say no, kids

April:
I am the stupidest person alive.

Today, I found out one of my essays, which I am still working on, was due in 3 WEEKS AGO. For some reason, I totally didn't read the deadline date, and just assumed it was the end of term. Even worse, it's for one of the only 2 modules I'm doing this year where that one essay will count for 50% of the marks for the module.

May:
Raaah, I am bored. Revision is boring! And I haven't even actually done any today yet. But just the thought of it bores me

June:
Well, tomorrow I will be heading off to Nuremberg for the Rock Im Park Festival! The travelling is most likely going to be a nightmare .... 16 hours coach on the way there, and 20 hours on the way back! Madness

July:
Katy has gone home now :( In the past two and a bit weeks of her being here, we / I have ....

August:
Ahoy Livejournal!

Things of note:

1) Last week I was in Margate visiting Katy. It was fun, we went around Ramsgate and Broadstairs, saw some of the Gay Pride celebration, did some cycling around Margate, went out for a meal, cooked dinner a few times, and other such things. It was nice that the weather was so awesome that week, Seaside Town + Sun = Good.

September:
And now for a small rant

October:
Well, it's been a little while since I updated, eh? This update is brought to you mainly by the fact that I have been relegated to using the computer in the Library, due to my computer monitor catching the bubonic plague and me being too lazy / indecisive / unwilling to part with money to buy another one. I booked an hour slot on this computer, and now after 21 minutes I have pretty much run out of stuff to do. So you get this.

November:
Today, I got my braces off! Braces which I have had since February 2004 ... which is a long time. It feels incredibly odd

December:
Coheed And Cambria Neverender: Good Apollo Volume 1 - London Astoria - 03/12/2008

These are a bit late cos my computer is virused to high hell, and I've been having some difficulty turning it on. Possibly because my Norton Internet Security subscription expired in November 2007, and I never bothered to renew it. Well, now I have a new Internet Security package (Kaspersky), and am running a virus scan with that, so fingers crossed!

Me and Katy spent NYE at Megan/Mark/Alley/Brad's place. It was quite a good night, Ciaron was there, as was Jerry (fairly randomly, but it was good to see her as I haven't since June). At midnight, instead of singing Auld Lang Syne, we saw in the New Year with a rousing rendition of the pirate song, which was cool! And I wasn't even particularly drunk, so there was no spending New Year's Day throwing up for me!

Oh, and in my last entry I mentioned having to get up at 5:45 am to get back to Canterbury for work? Well, due to the fact that Monday evening, after failing to last more than 5 minutes in the car without needing to be sick, we went back home and I slept for a couple of hours, I was unable to sleep at all on Monday night. I mean literally, zero. So, needless to say, Tuesday at work was fairly grim! And Tuesday and Wednesday the offices were so understaffed that I got there at 9am Wednesday morning, and no one else was there and I couldn't figure out how to turn the lights on. So I had to sit there in the dark, by myself, for like an hour til someone else showed up.

And apart from having been reading Slash's autobiography and watching Indiana Jones, that's about it for now!

captainwalrus @ 2008-12-29T22:11:00

2008-12-29T22:11:59Z

So, I was fairly drunk last night. Twas a good night ... went out to the pub with some people I haven't seen for a while, did the pub quiz, then my best mate Matt came back to my house, and we drunk lots of JD and cider/beer, watched youtube videos and listened (pretty quietly obviously) to music until about 6 in the morning.

Consequently, I've been throwing up all day :( And was supposed to be going back to Canterbury today, but after about 5 minutes I was pretty certain I wouldn't survive the journey. So I'm gonna hsve to get up at like 5:30 tomorrow morning to get back to Canterbury for work at 8:30ish. Fun stuff

Work is going alright ... I haven't got used to the early mornings yet, but the actual work is not so bad when I've actually got some work to do. It's a bit like detective work, trying to track down if we;ve been given any information as to where and when people have moved and stuff. And I get a dual screen computer! It's rather exciting

That's all for now!

EDIT: Hehe, I've just discovered the post I made at about 6am this morning ... I totally don't remember writing that!

captainwalrus @ 2008-12-29T05:49:00

2008-12-29T05:52:31Z

I am up at 5:49 am. Just thouth I'd run that past y'all

Have had a GREAT night. Rocking out with my best mate to various songs at my house = extreme win

2008 retrospective post is imminent. You will love it. Or else

Nighty night LJ

captainwalrus @ 2008-12-14T22:51:00

2008-12-14T22:53:51Z

Starting work for the Council tomorrow. Eeeek!

captainwalrus @ 2008-12-05T12:57:00

2008-12-05T13:16:27Z

Coheed And Cambria Neverender: Good Apollo Volume 1 - London Astoria - 03/12/2008

Good stuff:
- Great songs, and great performances of the songs (always a good start :p)
- The band, rather obviously, are great musicians
- Claudio is a good frontman, his odd movements and of course various things he does with the guitar are really cool to watch
- Claudio solo with the entire audience singing really loud for Wake Up.
- Even the songs on the album I haven't paid much attention to (like Crossing The Frame or Once Upon Your Dead Body) were more rocked up and exciting than the studio versions
- The first 15 minutes or so of The Final Cut ... the song itself, the extended guitar solo outros, the guitar duels between Claudio and Travis, Claudio playing the theremin (and the rather amazing spectacle of Claudio playing the theremin with his face and hair while still playing the guitar, and the drum and bass jam ... was awesome.
- Cover of The Trooper in the encore

Not so good stuff:
- No visuals. Is it just me who really thinks this band would benefit from imagery being played on screens, like Tool or Muse for example do? Especially since there is an entire accompnaying comic book series ... just saying. That said, the lighting was decent, but still.
- Following the first 15 minutes of The Final Cut, we were then 'treated' to a 10+ minute drum solo. Believe me when I say this seemed to drag on forever. I have nothing against drum solos, but I think 5 minutes of it is about my limit.
- As is gonna happen whenever a full album is played, some of the songs just aren't as good, so the show did drag a bit in places.
- An encore where I only knew two songs (the cover of The Trooper, and A Favour House Atlantic, which I'm not actually too keen on), but that'll be my own fault for not owning the first two albums yet :p The encore was cool though in the way that they just played song after song after song almost as if it was one big medley.

So overall, really good. I shall bestow upon it an 8/10

Last.FM.

2008-11-27T16:45:47Z

Seeing as I have no friends on Last.FM., add me!

captainwalrus86 be my name

captainwalrus @ 2008-11-26T12:59:00

2008-11-26T13:45:26Z

Today, I got my braces off! Braces which I have had since February 2004 ... which is a long time. It feels incredibly odd

A green bird just flew past my window, how random. It might have been a parakeet. Maybe, I'm not an ornothologist

I've got a job with Canterbury Council, but don't know when I'm gonna start it yet ... whenever they get my references through apparently. So currently I'm just waiting about.

May do an update of highlights from the last however long it's been since my last update at some point, but right now I need to head back to the orthodontist to get my retainers. Great.

In the meantime .... have a quiz!

1. ONE OF YOUR SCARS: HOW DID YOU GET IT?
The only scar I have that I know about is on the index finger of my left hand, and I have absolutely no idea where it came from :-/

2. WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR ROOM?
In Croydon: Silver Graffiti, a Mirror, some posters (although most are on the ceiling), a calendar, and a Bon Jovi Gold Disc. In Canterbury: A calendar and many posters

3. DO YOU SNORE, GRIND YOUR TEETH, OR TALK IN YOUR SLEEP?
I think I snore and talk sometimes, dammit!

4. WHAT TYPE OF MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO?
Rock, Metal, Alternative, Indie, and sometimes things that actually have nothing to do with Rock

5. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN?
00:09

6. WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW?
Eh, I dunno. A life without stress and anxiety

7. WHAT DO YOU MISS?
Ignorance of some stuff. A life with slightly less stress and anxiety (if such a thing ever existed. Which it probably didn't)

8. WHAT IS YOUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSION(S)?
Er, I dunno. My computer has lots of important stuff on it, so maybe that

9. HOW TALL ARE YOU?
6 foot 1 ish

10. DO YOU GET CLAUSTROPHOBIC?
I might in a box that was like 2 cubic feet, but otherwise not really

11. DO YOU GET SCARED IN THE DARK?
.... Sometimes. Mainly because a little light is comforting, it's nice to be able to see.

12. THE LAST PERSON TO MAKE YOU CRY?
... Someone I care about. Obviously

13. WHAT ARE YOUR INITIALS?
PSB

14. LIKE MUSIC?
Music likes me

15. MOST LISTENED TO BAND?
According to last.fm., it's AFI, but in my entire life almost definetely Bon Jovi

16. COFFEE OR ENERGY DRINK?
Coffee, but each has its moments

17. FAVOURITE PIZZA TOPPING?
Hmmmm .... something with chicken, peppers, onions, sweetcorns, and some kind of sauce ... maybe BBQ *drools*

18. IF YOU COULD EAT ANYTHING RIGHT NOW, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I guarantee almost everyone will answer this question with "Pizza" after the last question

19. ??
??
??
?!?!?

20. HAVE YOU EVER EATEN A GOLDFISH?
Can't say I have

21. WHAT WAS THE FIRST MEANINGFUL GIFT YOU'VE EVER RECEIVED?
Fuck knows, it was probably years and years and years ago

22. DO YOU LIKE ANYBODY?
Nah, they're all bastards :)

23. ARE YOU DOUBLE JOINTED?
My thumbs do weird stuff

24. FAVOURITE CLOTHING BRAND?
I dunno, I don't choose clothes by brand. The majority of my stuff is probably Cedarwood State (Primark :-D)

26. DO YOU HAVE A PET?
Not since my cats died over the last couple of years. Unless I can claim to be Spartacus's (the tortoise, not the guy) uncle or something

27. WHAT KIND IS IT?
A possible tortoise

28. WOULD YOU FALL IN LOVE KNOWING THAT THE PERSON IS LEAVING?
I might try not to. But how the hell should I know?

29. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO TELL SOMEONE HOW MUCH THEY MEAN TO YOU:
There's a million ways

30. SAY A NUMBER FROM ONE TO A HUNDRED:
73.1062

31. BLONDS OR BRUNETTES?
Red or black preferably. But brunettes over blondes (sorry Rob :-D)

32. WHAT IS THE ONE NUMBER YOU CALL MOST OFTEN?
Home or Katy

33. WHAT ANNOYS YOU MOST?
Lots of things are irritating. Including me. So maybe myself

34. HAVE YOU BEEN OUT OF THE UK?
Aye

35. YOUR WEAKNESSES?
Anxiety, stressing, and shyness. Which actually probably all amount to the same thing

36. MET ANYONE FAMOUS?
Not that I can think of, which is a bit rubbish

37. FIRST JOB?
Yoghurt Boy at Sainsburys. Well, I had a weekly afternoon paper round before that if that counts?

38. EVER DONE A PRANK CALL?
If by prank call, you mean "calling someone and either singing / shouting "Fuck Off!" to their voicemail", then yes :-D

40. HAVE YOU EVER HAD SURGERY?
Only on my teeths

41. WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU FILLED THIS OUT?
Eating a sandwich!

42. WHAT DO YOU GET COMPLIMENTED ABOUT MOST?
*Shrugs*

43. HAVE YOU EVER HAD BRACES?
See above :)

44. WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY?
My birthday's not for 333 days (oooh, that's a rather cool number), I'm not thinking about it just yet

45. HOW MANY KIDS DO YOU WANT?
A few. 2 - 4 mebbes?

46. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
I don't think so. Me and all my brothers have Biblical names, but I've been told that's a coincidence

47. DO YOU WISH ON STARS?
No .....

49. WHAT KIND OF SHAMPOO DO YOU USE?
At the moment, L'oreal

50. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
It's awesome. I have a petition which says so

51. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE LUNCH MEAT?
Chicken

52. ANY BAD HABITS?
Loads. Sometimes I drunk too much, I stress all the time, I can be lazy and put things off as long as possible, I can be a little too sensitive .... but I'm a wonderful person really! :D

53. WHAT CD ARE YOU MOST EMBARRASSED TO HAVE ON YOUR SHELF?
None of them. Not even the Pokemon ones. ESPECIALLY not the Pokemon ones 8-)

54. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
I'd really like to get drunk with me, on account of how much money drunk abi spends. haha.

56. DO LOOKS MATTER?
Of course they do, to say they don't is a lie.

57. HOW DO YOU RELEASE ANGER?
Music usually

58. WHERE IS YOUR SECOND HOME?
Technically .... home (Croydon) is my second home now

60. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE TOY AS A CHILD?
Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles and Power Rangers stuff!

61. HOW MANY NUMBERS ARE IN YOUR CELL PHONE?
I'm not counting. Quite a few. 60+ I'd say

62. WERE YOU A FAN OF BARNEY AS A LITTLE KID?
So this quiz is aimed at people who are currently like 16 or less then?

63. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
Sarcasm, what's that?

64. MASHED POTATOES OR MACARONI AND CHEESE?
Depends on what is accompanying them.

65. WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GUY/GIRL?
Normal sort of stuff. Combination of looks / personality / style / niceness / willingness to put up with me

66. WHAT ARE YOUR NICKNAMES?
Captain Walrus, The Walrus, Butch

67. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE BAND/SINGER?
Bon Jovi / Pearl Jam. There's lots of great singers

68. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE TV SHOWS?
I'm too lazy, so: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=505662491&ref=name#/profile.php?id=505662491&v=info&viewas=505662491

69. pshsss
You what?

70. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE ICE CREAM FLAVOUR?
Mate, Ben And Jerrys Fudge Brownie is heaven in a tub

71. DO YOU HAVE ALL YOUR FINGERS AND TOES?
Yes. I also have all yours

72. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WORKED OUT?
I've done weight lifting and jogging in the last week. Not to a fantastic degree though

73. PLANS FOR TONIGHT?
Probably not much, I don't think I'm going to attempt to rush back to Canterbury

74. WHAT'S THE FASTEST YOU HAVE GONE IN A CAR?
I dunno, 100 or so?

75. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS?
Most people who would already have

76. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO?
Playlist of songs from 2008 albums that I haven't listened to as much, in preparation for my annual "listen to and rate all albums I got in 2008"

77. LAST THING YOU DRANK?
Water

78. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My mum

79. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE IN THE OPPOSITE/SAME SEX?
Their music taste dictated by their dress code/hair. Joe's answer is good. Again. <---- I'll steal Abi's (and apparently Joe's) answer. And whether they wear glasses or not

80. FAVOURITE THOUGHT PROVOKING SONG?
There's loads. All good songs should provoke some kind of thoughts

81. FAVOURITE THING TO HATE?
What a bizarre question. I guess anything I can bitch with people about

82. FAVOURITE MONTH OF THE YEAR?
Probably June or July or August

83. ZODIAC SIGN?
Scorpio

85. WHAT IS YOUR HAIR COLOUR?
Naturally dark brown. At the moment it's some odd mixture of natural, lighter brown, and some inexplicable red bits

86. EYE COLOUR?
Sort of hazelly on the outside and sort of grey on the inside

87. SHOE SIZE
10 - 13 (my current boots are 10, which is the smallest size I've taken for years .... maybe my feet have shrunk?)

88. FAVOURITE FAST FOOD PLACE?
Subway if that counts. KFC or Burger King if not

89. FAVOURITE RESTAURANT?
Hard Rock Cafe!

90. DO YOU LIKE SUSHI?
That's like asking "Do you like American food?" I like some sushi, some is not so great though

91. LAST THING YOU WATCHED?
Music channels. Last actual programme was Room 101

92. FAVOURITE DAY OF THE YEAR?
Depends. Out of 365 i usually like to have a few good days.

93. PLAY ANY MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS?
I'm attempting to attempt to learn the keyboard (yes, you read that right), and I also own a guitar and a harmonica which I occasionally mess about with. And an electronic drum pad, but I've lost the plug :(

94. REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT?
If I was American, I'd almost undoubtedly be a Democrat

95. KISSES OR HUGS?
Both

96. RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE NIGHT STANDS?
Relationships. I've never actually managed a "one night stand and never communicate again" type thing anyway

97. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU BOUGHT?
Metal Hammer

98. WHAT KIND OF CAR DO YOU HAVE?
Personally, I don't drive yet

99. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?
Douglas Adams - So Long And Thanks For All The Fish (assuming that's the fourth one, I always get the titles mixed up)

100. DESCRIBE YOUR LOVE LIFE?
I'm happy

captainwalrus @ 2008-09-05T01:46:00

2008-09-05T00:49:45Z

And now for a small rant

I've been in (the metaphorical) Headfuck City for the entirety of this week, and for a slightly lesser extent for a couple of weeks longer than that. I don't really want to go into why, but suffice to say I have been thinking about certain things almost constantly since Monday, and it's making me very unhappy. And making me feel like I am going crazy. I'm REALLY hoping it will get better soon, cos I don't know how much longer I can take it. Partly for that reason, and partly for some other reasons, I'm moving back to Canterbury this coming Saturday, with the hope of taking my mind off stuff. That, and a few other things that will be happening soon, should hopefully restore me to sanity within the next week / few weeks / at least some measurable amount of time. Fingers crossed, anyways.

Right, vagueness over. What has been great about the two weeks preceding this one was Katy staying with me in Croydon. We didn't actually go out and do all that much, but it was still great. What we did do was go out for a friend of mine's birthday; go to London for the day one day, going to Camden, Oxford Street and Leicester Square, before finally having a huge meal in TGI Fridays; and on another day going to the Black Sheep. Twas awesome. I really miss her now though, which is another reason why I'm going back to Canterbury sooner rather than later. Also, I'm bored of Croydon, just about all my friends have gone back to their respective Uni / Work Placement towns already. And even the fact that my brother has got Smash Brother and Mario Kart for the Wii cannot keep me getting bored.

Oh, I also went to a christening of my mum's cousins granddaugher last weekend, which was fun .... me and my Dad and my little brother ended up staying at their house til about 11pm (the christening ended about 1pm, and we went straight to the house after that). I got quite drunk, and my Dad incredibly drunk (and my 13 year old brother was a little drunk I think, having been sipping my wine all night) off of a combination of wine, beer, and brandy, culminating in me having to lead my Dad by the arm on the half hour walk home. Fun times!

Finally got around to seeing The Dark Knight today, it was really good, although my current head craziness did stop me from appreciating it fully. And I also saw Hellboy 2 yesterday, which was fairly good, despite the fact I haven't seen the original

captainwalrus @ 2008-08-11T13:22:00

2008-08-11T17:06:17Z

So, I am back from Spain now! It was a good holiday, very hot ... and then I come back to this miserable weathered country, bah! Bah I say! Didn't do much else of any note for the rest of the holiday, just more lazing about, and some shopping. We were going to go to Barcelona on the Thursday, but ended up not doing so because it was so damn expensive to get there (the bus was 20 Euros per person round trip), which turned out to be a good thing, as my youngest brother later went on to be ill that day, so in retrospect, stuffing him onto a bus or train for an hour and a half probably wouldn't have been a good idea

Me and my other brother came home on the plane by ourselves, as my parents and youngest brother are still out there for another week. Our Aunt and Uncle picked us up from the airport. On the way home, just down the road from my house, outside a pub that I go to, we nearly got involved in a car crash. We were basically just about to go round the corner, when a car came, skidding and spinning, down the road to the right, went right past us infront, and crashed into a traffic island, sending the bollards flying. Four people got out, and miraculously no one seemed to be hurt, although I hope they got arrested ... looked to me like they were drinking and smoking in the car, fucking morons. My brother called the police, and we went home. It was pretty scary, if we'd been like 3 seconds further ahead, they probably would have hit us. Ah well, we got back safely in the end

Right, now I'm going to go buy food!

captainwalrus @ 2008-08-06T23:11:00

2008-08-06T21:13:20Z

Hi all! I am in Spain at the moment! Just seen a flamenco show and at the moment am drinking Sangria! Have also been to the beach, lazed about by the swimming pool, and been to Port Adventura, the big Universal theme park in Salou (where I am), which was cool

That´s all, as I only have 11 minutes left on the internet before my 2 euros runs out!