Thanks for the memories, but it's over

This is a bit of a different blog. It's not a detailing of my life as such, but instead, it's the closing of one door in my life. Admittedly, this is a door that's been left open for far too long, and I fear that behind that door, there are plenty of skeletons. In fact, I can prove this quite happily by having a quick look through. There aren't skeletons as such, but there are definitely messages from my past.

In case you hadn't guessed, (admittedly, I doubt you have...this has been a bit cryptic so far) I'm deleting my Myspace account. I imagine there may be one or two of you thinking "Why is this worthy of a blog entry?" and to an extent, you'd be absolutely right. BUT...think about it, Myspace was a big deal 4 or 5 years ago. For many people, it was the beginning of the social networking revolution that started off in dark corners of universities in America and whatnot. Admittedly, there was Bebo, but that was a pile of crap and I don't think anyone really figured ou what the purpose of Bebo was apart from to prove that Myspace was easier to use.

So like I say, Myspace was the beginning of the social networking revolution for many. A quick look at my page suggests that I had 119 Myspace friends. I knew most of them, but by the end, a good sized portion of them were wrestlers and bands. A good mixture, and I guess that actually reflected who I was at the time.

One last read through the wall posts. There's nothing there of great significance to me that is worth saving. There's stuff from exes, a girl who was in love with me and people I haven't spoken to in a long long time. If I'm honest, I can live without reading that again. I've gone the last two years without reading it, I'll manage the next few decades.

Myspace really died a death when Facebook took off. I took quite a long time to make the switch, and if I'm honest, it probably wasn't until around mid-2008 when I got Facebook and started using that instead. There was a brief transition, but I guess once you realise once you've made friends on Facebook with the people on Myspace that you actually knew, there was no reason to keep using it. Of course, Twitter has now come along and that's HUGE stuff. I'm on Twitter (@tkayll) but I still use Facebook. There are many people who don't really like Twitter for various reasons. I like it, I've had interaction with famous people and I've discovered loads of interesting stuff. I mean, without it, I probably wouldn't have read as many interesting articles as I have done, I wouldn't have enjoyed the recent Ashes series as much and I wouldn't have discovered as many new bands/podcasts as I have.

So Myspace has been something that's lay there a few years, a bit sorry for itself. It's tried to evolve and keep up with Facebook, but if there aren't people using it and continuing to make it relevant, it'll die out. There was news earlier this week or last week that Myspace was closing its Germany sector. People in Germany can still use the website (if they want to) but there isn't anyone running the site from that country. It'll effectively be left there to die with an occasional glance from the American admins.

Anyway, on with the actual point of this blog, which is the deletion of Thomas Kayll's Myspace page. I'll be honest, this is a difficult process. Myspace clearly don't want anyone to leave and they're making it as difficult as possible. You have to know exactly where to look: Account Settings. Then, there's a button to cancel your account. Once you tell them you want to cancel your account, they ask you WHY you're leaving. I kid you not, this is directly from Myspace:

We're sorry to hear you want to leave. Please let us know why. You can really help us improve Myspace!

Bored
Spam
Privacy
Email

It then asks you if you want to keep your account, just in case they can trick someone who is deleting their account for a reason that isn't listed there. Personally, I've gone for "Bored" because well, I'm writing a blog about it. When I click to tell them I'm bored of Myspace, I get another box:

Myspace works best when you are connected to things that you are into. Go discover some cool stuff:

Listen to Music
Checkout Movies
Play Games
Browse People

They REALLY don't want people to leave, do they? I've discovered cool stuff like music, games and people. It's called Twitter and Facebook. Please, I'm begging you now, let it go. Please. But no, looks like there's one last hurdle to overcome. They want comments as to why you're leaving. You know something, I'll give them credit for trying, and I'm almost tempted to keep the account as a reward to Myspace for their efforts. I won't though. That's it now, surely? I've told them why, I've told them I don't want to find new stuff on Myspace and I've left them a comment. That's enough.

No. No it isn't. Apparently, this is only a request. They've sent me an email saying that I've got to now confirm my request to cancel my account. Holy shit. They're making me work for this. I'd be reluctantly sat by the door, offering to fetch my coat and maybe save my favourite photo or something while I'm at it. Since I've shared everything else, here is that final apologetic email from Myspace.

You're… leaving us?

Sure you're ready to let go of your friends, music, and that profile design you spent so much time creating? Canceling your account means your profile and all your content will be removed from Myspace and you can't get it back!

Why not preserve your profile, playlists and photos by deleting your friends and changing your privacy setting to "Only my friends?" That way, you can still enjoy using Myspace Music and Video and if you ever want to come back, it's here waiting for you!

If you're sure you want to let go, confirm the cancelation of your account by clicking the link below. Once clicked, we will schedule your account deletion, which may take up to 24 hours.

We hate to see you go, but we hope you have fun out there.

See you around,
Your friends at Myspace

Yes, I'm leaving you. Move on. If Myspace makes a return like 80s dance music, the Mini Cooper or Michael Schumacher, I'll come back with my tail between my legs and sign up again. I'm pretty confident though, so it's gone. Clicking the link (which I removed) then asks me to enter my email address to confirm my request and again reminding me that I'll lose everything on Myspace forever. Seriously, I get the point. I'm sure you do too. I'll live though. With my email address entered though, I've FINALLY reached the end of the line and cancelled the account.

That, ladies and gentlemen, was one of the most tiresome and frustrating things I've ever had to do. Neil Young's song Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black), and perhaps more famously Kurt Cobain's suicide note, said "It's better to burn out than to fade away". Myspace should have heeded these words and have sold itself to a Bolivian drugs baron or something and gone out in a blaze of glory. Instead, it sits in a darkened corner of the internet next to dial-up and is forgotten about.

Thanks for the memories Myspace, but it's over.

Tom

A two parter, and it's not the most cheerful of blogs

It's been a while since I last made a blog entry. In fact, looking at my blog, it's been the best part of a month since I last sat down with this website open to scribble down some thoughts. So...I hope everyone who reads this had a very good Christmas and an enjoyable New Year. I know I certainly did. 2010 was a bit of a heavy year, and quite a lot of stuff happened throughout the year so that it was certainly one of the more eventful years I've had. The month I had off from university was a month from December-January that I was quite thankful for. It just gave me the chance to do nothing and recharge my batteries. With a bit of luck, the batteries are charged up again and I can have a pretty good year.

We'll see though. I'm considering changing the old set of AAs in me. Who knows how I'd go about doing that though. With a bit of luck though, I'll have a productive year with university, friends, home life and the world in general.

It's a crazy world at the moment though. I mean, there's the floods in Queensland which have wreaked absolute havoc to the people there. They've ruined so many lives, though I have to admit that it really is awesome to see so many people doing their best to try and help out in any way they can. The cricketing world has stepped in, and at the first T20 with England and Australia,, they raised well over $20,000 among the thousands in attendance. There's charities and donation sites set up which are getting press all over Twitter and Facebook to try and boost their status and raise as much money as they can.

Then there's floods in Sri Lanka which have left hundreds of thousands people homeless. Of course, Sri Lanka isn't as strong a country in terms of economy and whatnot, and they're having major trouble. As if that weren't enough though, there have been floods and landslides in Brazil as well.

EDIT: I'll stop you here and fill you in on some stuff. I wrote this on Monday afternoon but didn't get round to posting it because it wasn't a complete entry, or so I thought in my eyes. It's now Wednesday morning, just after 8am. I've woken up and there's new stuff on my mind which I feel needs writing down. Back to the blog...

I've just had one of the most bizarre sequences of dreams I can recall in a long time. I guess this is why I wanted to write this down so quickly because often, people can forget dreams ridiculously quickly after they remember having them.

First one was about being at uni and getting an email sent through about having not sent in any work over the last semester. I'm not sure why this one bothered me so much, but it really did. Maybe it's because I know that I did send in all of my work last semester, and it was always on time...in some instances, it was comfortably in on time with a day to spare. Of course, I'll now be incredibly paranoid about the idea that I should have actually been sending in all of my work online as well as in person for the entirety of my first semester, but that's something that I'll just have to live with.

This second one is the one that's really bothered me. I'm not even sure why I had it and couldn't tell you what it means for the life of me, or what I think it should mean. Essentially, I was grown up...maybe another 10 years older or so and was in a different building (we'll call it my home) and there was a woman there. Obviously, I'm not so bothered about this. If there's a woman living with me in my future (forgetting the fact that this is a dream and not realistic at all) then that's surely a positive sign. What bothered me though, is that there were no traces of my childhood or youth to be seen anywhere. Nothing remotely fun, and perhaps the thing that really got to me the most is that there was no trace of Froggy or anything like that.

It got me thinking...when do people decide they have to grow up and let go of their younger years? I'm trying to avoid saying "childhood" as much as possible because Froggy isn't part of my childhood at all, I got him when I was 15 or so. It was August 2007...so that's 15, right? But that's completely beside the point. To me, he's still one of the stronger links to being young and the excuse and opportunity to be a bit ridiculous and have a laugh. Being completely honest, I really don't want to grow up. This all sounds a bit ridiculous at quarter past 8 in the morning, and there's a strong chance I'll come back to this later on today or something, read through it again and go "Dude, what the hell were you thinking? People already think you're strange enough as it is..." That, however, is a risk I'm willing to take.

I don't though...well, that's not completely true. I want to grow up in the sense of having independence and whatnot, and being able to live on my own or with other people, which is what I'm already doing to an extent. The part of growing up I don't like the idea of doing is having to become really mature and act my age. I don't want to do that. I'm not completely immature, but I like having my silly moments, and they're something that I cherish. I think everyone does and if they don't, they should ask themselves why they don't.

There'll be another blog coming later on this week. I know exactly what I'm writing it about already, it'll just be a matter of sitting down and doing it and publishing it. A rather suitable quote to finish things off though:

“If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older.” (Tom Stoppard)

It doesn't really feel like Christmas...though that could be because it's still a week away.

It's just over a week to Christmas, and I've been back home for just under a week. It still seems a bit strange to be sat in my own bed and writing a blog entry, since this is something I haven't done since the very first entry that I wrote the night before I went to university. Well, I've made it to the end of the first semester...and I think I've done alright for myself. I won't be going reflective and making comments about how amazing things have been, because I should hope that the other entries have rather covered that.

I'll be brutally honest, it hasn't been the most exciting week in my life. The vast majority of it has been spent at home, though I don't mind that. It's quite nice to just sit around the house and do nothing of great significance or importance, knowing that I can afford to take a few days and relax. On the plus side though, I have managed to complete Call of Duty: Black Ops. As a result, I never need to play that game again, and it can return to my brother's room. I'll be concentrating on F1 2010 once more.

Well, I say I've been relaxing, but I have been working to an extent. Regardless of whether you do or don't know, I have my flute diploma on Wednesday afternoon...and I don't think I've been as nervous for anything else before in my 19 year existence. That might be a lie, and it probably is, though my mind doesn't quite extend to remembering such things these days. I tend to focus all of my brain energies on remembering the important things, such as where I live, which bedroom is mine, trying to figure out how I can make some relatively easy money next semester without resorting to illegal tactics, and what the snare pattern for Batucada is.

Either way, I'm nervous, and it's partially down to how much money this is costing. To do a diploma, it will set you back around £170. That's a hell of a lot of money, so as you can imagine, I'm only getting one shot at this. If I mess up, I mess up. Then, because the exam is on the 22nd, it's ridiculously close to Christmas, so I'll probably spend the rest of the lead up to Christmas in my room huddled in a corner. Still, if that happens, I might get a visit from some festive ghosts. The ghosts of Christmas music past, present and future. Obviously, it'll be a bit of a twisted vision, since I'd imagine the ghosts won't actually be played by dead people. I imagine Christmas music past will be played by Cliff Richard, Christmas present will be played by Simon Cowell and his collection of X Factor number 1 records and Christmas future can be played by an obscure song from the 1980s that Facebook has decided will be appropriate for 2011. In that case, I really hope it's Billy-Ray Cyrus. That's right folks, I'm pulling for Achy Breaky Heart for Christmas number 1 in 2011. You heard it here first.

In a rather delightful festive twist, it's been snowing for the last hour or two. The weather forecast has changed repeated throughout the day, and it'll probably continue to do so as well. Seriously, it must be a great time to be a weatherman. You could say virtually anything and there's a strong chance that it'll either be correct at the moment or be correct at some point within the next few hours. No word of a lie, I've looked at the weather forecast a couple of times within the last hour and a half, and each time it's given a different forecast, both for the next 24 hours and a longer term forecast.

How I long for the weather in Australia...plus I'd also be awake during the cricket. That'd be rather nice. I'm still hoping (perhaps rather blindly) that England can have the Ashes wrapped up and delivered for Christmas...they probably still stand a better chance of doing so than Royal Mail do of delivering everything on time. Andrew (who I've renamed Eskimo Joe) has been waiting for a parcel for getting on two weeks, and Mum had some Christmas presents ordered to be delivered to work a while ago...they didn't come either. So she won't get them until January, which is obviously after Christmas. Great job mail men.

The snow's rather scuppered my plan for tomorrow since my rehearsal with the pianist in Manchester has been cancelled. A rescheduling for Monday has been made...with the weathermen seemingly deciding the forecast based on what they've pulled from a hat (or maybe it's what their Christmas crackers are saying), no one can be sure what the rest of the weekend will bring. As long as the weather is good for Wednesday so I can get to Manchester and back in one piece, I don't mind. I might not be in one piece mentally on the return journey, but it's the physical appearance that counts. Or something like that.

I've been skipping on the quote at the end of a blog entry, and since I don't have my lovely inspirational quote poster behind me, I'll leave you with this one. Until my next entry (which will probably be midweek), enjoy life you crazy people. You only get the one opportunity.

Love is rarer than genius itself. And friendship is rarer than love.
Charles Peguy

Weather chaos...really? All I see is people having fun.

The vast majority of the country has been covered in some delightful snow over the past week or so. From what I've heard though, there hasn't been that much in Liverpool over the past few days. There certainly wasn't any snow last week when I was at home...though that added a level of awesomeness on the train journey back. Through Liverpool and Manchester, there was no snow, but then as the train got closer to Yorkshire and Leeds, the amount of snow started to increase until I got into Leeds. It was pretty funky.

Of course, since then, we've had a couple of days of it snowing on and off. It's absolutely nothing to other places around the country. Sophie showed me the scene outside her flat in Sheffield yesterday, and it looked as though a car had been effectively buried under the snow. THAT is cool, though I imagine it's highly frustrating for the owner of the car, and it probably doesn't actually do any good for the car.

Yesterday was glorious though. I had to get to uni to do the planning for the podcast assignment, which actually looks really cool. If things go as well as we're hoping with the planning, it could be really good and we should get a really good mark. Result! As I left the flat though, it started to snow. And it didn't really stop until mid-afternoon. It was strange to see how the city almost ground to a halt. I had an epic moment of glory on the way to a quick visit to Tesco with Rachel and her flat. She threw a snowball at me, and I distinctly recall telling her on Monday to not do such a thing, otherwise I wouldn't hesitate in taking her down in the snow. So naturally, I obliged and went to take her down...thinking it'd be a simple trip of some sort. Seems I pretty much picked her up and slammed her to the ground in a sequence that Cain Velasquez would be proud of. Ich fuehle mich so maennlich!!

It's a bit mental though how we get some snow and the country descends into chaos. We had a similar scenario earlier this year, and if this is all down to climate change, surely we should be expecting much more of this sort of thing in the future. So why don't we begin to prepare for this sort of thing? If, in 5 years, we still have a country that stops completely when there's a few inches of snow, this country is in major trouble. I'm not the man to fix the problem, but I'll be more than happy to point the problems out and then sit back and have a sleep while someone else who can do a better job sorts everything out.

It's finally December, and this means that we're just 29 short days away from 2011. That's a bit crazy! What have I done with the other 336 days? I'll definitely be doing some sort of end-of-year blog entry...maybe. I'll have to actually sit down and think of things that I've done with my year though, my mind isn't great at remembering things these days. Oops!

It is December though, and this means that Christmas music is now socially acceptable to listen to. I celebrated this fact by putting a Christmas album onto my iPod bang on midnight. Anything called "We Wish You a Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year" must equal win.

Anyone who reads this and is in Leeds, this part is for you. If you're elsewhere in the country, feel free to read it, but I'm shamelessly plugging an event in Leeds.
Honeydrum are having their Christmas party/Winter Feast in the Riley Smith Theatre in Leeds University Union NEXT THURSDAY (9th) from 7-11. There's a couple of hundred tickets available for this, and they're at the amazing price of just £2. Come down and get involved with singing, dancing, drumming, a raffle, food, fun and more. It promises to be an utterly amazing evening. They'll be in the union on Monday (and Tuesday...I think) selling tickets and advertising Honeydrum in general. If you're free, head down and check them out!

Can't I just protest from my bed?

If I were a good student...actually, scrap that. It's not quite correct to say that. I am a good student, I get my work done and hand in assignments and essays on time, and on work that I've had returned to me, I've not done too badly. So we won't suggest I'm not a "good" student. I am. Try again...

If I were a more stereotypical stu-...you know, again this is probably true to an extent. I'm not getting anywhere with this. I'll cut to the chase. Currently, there are plenty of student protests going on around the country to go with Cameron and Clegg (I might call them Los Conquistadores because it's amusing). Anyway, I won't try and tell you what Los Conquistadores want to do with students and tuition fees, you should really know about that. It's all over the news. Have a look, just make sure you come back and finish the blog.

There was the option and possibility for me to go and join in with the demonstration/walkout/protest. BUT...I woke up this morning to find that my room was very cold and my bed was very warm. It's a foolish man who leaves the warmth and comfort of his own bed to be in a cold room, wander through the city and be outside. Alternatively, I could stay in my flat, drink some coffee and write a blog entry and then do some music. It's really not much of a competition for me today...

AMAZING NEWS! I've been interrupted by Rachel. Complete change of stance on this entry now. It'll at least make her happy and keep her quiet for a while. She's always complaining that she doesn't get a mention on the blog. Well here you go Rachel!!! This shortened entry will now consist of you because you said you wanted to go and make some rice pudding.

Apparently, I need to be there as well while she does this. Strange.

The Ashes start tonight, so I'll be awake for that, or at least until I get ridiculously tired and need sleep. I might turn into something of an Ashes Zombie over the next few weeks, which could be interesting to say the least. I may write another entry and complete what I was on about later tonight.

Tell a friend about the blog, tell them to find me on Facebook or Twitter (thomaskayll).

Stay safe!

Reading Week and not a book to be seen

Reading Week is very nearly over, and I'll be completely honest...I've not done too much reading. Then again, I've not really done a lot of the things that I planned to do. The original plan was to sit in bed and sleep for long periods of time, watch my Tagged Classic DVD (No Way Out/Backlash 2000), Survivor Series 2002 and the long awaited Chris Jericho boxset and then maybe do a little bit of work to celebrate my laziness.

However, it is now Thursday night. I've not even looked at a wrestling DVD and thought "I'll watch that". Instead, it's been a case of gazing at them and dreaming of having time to be able to watch them in peace and without a million other things to do. Saying that, this week has been a brilliant week...strange how that coincides with not having to go to Uni and work!!

On Sunday, I made a bold decision and something that I don't often do, which is to not watch a Grand Prix live. Obviously, this is partially down to not having a TV License and the licensing people being all over our backs and saying they're going to come and visit us. We don't have a TV, they can't get us that way, but I have watched some GP stuff live because it's just much better than watching it on iPlayer. BUT...this was also motivated by the fact that I was already going to be up and around at this time since I ended up going to university at 10am for library opening time in order to copy some papers for an essay I needed to write (and still need to).

Why didn't I watch the race live then? I went on a walk with some Honeydrummers. It was a glorious day, the sun was shining and creating that sort of really funky autumn atmosphere that is so amazing. We went along the Meanwood Valley Trail, and it really was a glorious walk. If you've seen my Facebook page, I took some photos of the views and bits of nature, and I'll be honest, I think they're pretty good photos.

I had no idea this sort of thing was in Leeds, and it really is in Leeds. Just a short walk from the university, and if you follow the trail for the entire 7 miles, you can end up in the Dales and in the middle of nowhere. I may well have to give that a go at some point!!!

If you haven't, go and have a look at those photos though. There are some really good shots, and there's an amazing array of colours thanks to the cycle of life.

Monday night was drumming night, and instead of the usual session at Wrangthorn, we did a gig for RAG as part of their fundraising week. They had a bunch of people walking over hot coals, which is a pretty impressive thing really. Slightly spoiled by the rain which apparently took some of the heat from the coals, but it's still a brilliant thing to do. When we played, we really got the crowd going. It seems Honeydrum always gets a great atmosphere going with a combination of singing, dancing and drumming. You really know you're doing something worthwhile when you can play with a big smile on your face, look up and see loads of people dancing along to the beats and enjoying it themselves.

As proof of how warm it was in that building though, when we arrived, I was completely soaked and had very wet hair. By the time we finished, my hair was completely dry.

Tuesday was where the week highlighted, and I went to the Steel City to see another part of the world and catch up with the ever-delightful Molly Toal and the equally-awesome Sophie Moore. Sheffield is a really nice place actually from the little bits that I saw. It certainly seems different to Leeds! But the union was really nice (and they had some cracking food!), and I'll be honest, their flats are MUCH nicer than the one I'm in. I wonder how difficult it would be to commute each day. :P

Molly and I did some wandering while Smoo got a bit closer to being a medic, and it was a really good wander. We ended up in a museum where we were able to fool around a little bit and see some really cool things. They had dressing up as well, so that's also awesome! I put on a carrot costume, we were both Anglo-Saxons, Molly found her true profession as a Victorian maid and we dressed like Inuit people. I tell you, the Inuit clothing was ridiculously comfortable and warm...I definitely want one of those jumpers!

After watching Father Ted (Escape to Victory) A delightful walk to buy fast food for dinner was part of the evening, and then we had a couple of drinks in some pubs/bars around the area, before getting back to Molly's flat and watching some more Father Ted (Kicking Bishop Brennan Up the Arse) before collapsing on the rather comfortable sofa and having some well earned sleep.

In the morning, we went to the union for Molly's morning lecture and had breakfast in a cafe in the union (why don't we have that in Leeds?!). While Molly was gone, Smoo and myself had some typical conversation where we end up getting a bit mopey and depressive...that always happens whenever we end up together and talking. Brilliant. :P

It was a fantastic trip, and I really did realise how much I've missed those two over the last two months. They are pretty much the best friends I have in the world, and I hope I rank pretty high for them too. Hopefully they'll get to Leeds at some point in the near future, though it seems that this might not be until next year since Sophie's timetable is a bit mental! If they'll have me returning, I'll definitely head back to Sheffield at some point to see them again...it's a rather delightful place!

So this rather brings us to Thursday...today. I've now done one of my essays. For something that was only 250 words long, it certainly look me a while to do! Bit ridiculous really, but at least it's out of the way. I've got another one to write at some point over the weekend, and then hopefully that should be it.

I'm back to Liverpool tomorrow (Friday). It seems it may well be a bit of a crazy weekend though, I've got a mental Saturday ahead of me where I'll be in Manchester doing rehearsals for the diploma, but hopefully I'll get some time to play some Xbox, see friends and then catch up on sleep!

I'll probably be back some time next week with my next blog entry, stay safe people!

Sometimes, it's the simple things that mean the most.

I sit down to write this feeling rather awake and refreshed, though my head is still throbbing. I don't like Tuesdays really...they just go on and on and my head hasn't enjoyed this Tuesday. It's annoying really, since I got to bed at a rather sensible time last night and got plenty of sleep and woke up to the thought that it wouldn't be a drastic day. However, since around midday, my head has felt like every single German word I've ever learnt has been trying to explode and escape. I guess sometimes, Tuesdays can just be a bit of a Germanic overload...

That's alright though, because I've had my birthday now. By the laws of logic, this means that I'm probably a little bit wiser, a little bit more mature and a whole lot more awesome. Thankfully, only the latter is correct. I highly doubt I gained much intelligence by adding another year to my tally, I certainly don't feel any more mature, and I wouldn't want to either. As I've stated many times, the day I feel mature and that I should grow up is the day that I give up on life.

I imagine now is a pretty logical time to write about my weekend...it was a pretty funky weekend to be honest. Admittedly, the Friday journey didn't go so well since my train ticket to get me from Leeds to home failed in epic fashion, so I had to pay another £16 to get a new ticket. Douchebags. That's the same price I paid for a return ticket originally, robbing little...

Once I got back though, it was rather epic. My birthday was effectively spread out over Friday and Saturday since I got presents when I got home, and then I had friends round on Saturday. Clearly, this is good...and made the weekend far better than my actual birthday, though that will come towards the end of this entry.

As you know by now, I got the rather amazing caricature drawing of me as a Red Bull Racing driver which was done by Steve from Mum's school. Huge thanks for that, since it really is awesome. Hopefully, this link works, but if not...then it's my Facebook profile picture, you can't miss it!

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I also got a bunch of other cool stuff like the new Jericho DVD (which should be epic), a new hat, the new Smackdown game and grapes. Grapes, for those who aren't aware, is a present based around the love of this particular food by Matt Hardy. Check his videos on Youtube, they're unintentionally funny and brilliant stuff..

Saturday was a cool day since I got to see Cheryl, Joseph and Maisie. And oh, how much Joseph has grown in the last 6 weeks! The dude's huge now! He's what, 6 months old? I'll be honest, it's pretty cool seeing him when I come home, and I think he probably likes me more than Maisie does, or at least did at the same stage. Hopefully, Maisie's decided she likes me a bit more now...she at least speaks to me now, and that's progress from last year. After some Xbox playing, I had people over. We played games, we ate food and we just chatted the usual crap that we do on one of those nights. I've missed those evenings...they're awesome!

Mum made her chocolate cake, which should really be world famous, or at least famous to the continent of Europe and all chocolate cake fans. Combined with more ribs than you can shake a stick at, it was a food-heaven day (and Sunday, since leftovers were my best friend).

Then Sunday came, and I saw KP and Smoo! Again, I've not seen those guys for a few weeks, so it was awesome to see them both and catch up for an hour or so about life. I don't know man, for an hour or so, it didn't feel like we'd been away for a month and a half. It was just like the days of school and just wasting time doing nothing of great significance, but enjoying wasting that time. Pretty cool stuff.

Just before I left to head back up to Leeds, I did the Lantern Carnival with Beatlife. Oh, this felt good to be playing with the full band again. And of course, I saw the ever-wonderful Harley and the magnificant Matthew. Awesome dudes. It was good to play some new rhythms as well, and I think I got away with not doing a single rehearsal with them (admittedly, getting to Liverpool on a Tuesday evening isn't possible), but with the tunes being on the website, I gave them a listening and think I pulled it off. Chris said he might be up in this part of the world soon, so hopefully I'll catch up with him then.

My actual birthday was pretty average to be honest for a Monday. A couple of hours at uni, coming back to the flat and working for another few hours until I've finished my work and then drumming. I guess the differences were that I bought a sandwich for my lunch from Bakery 164. Damn, that food is like crack...addictive stuff and for what it is, rather reasonably priced. I'll be honest, I'm still a fan of the sandwich from Tesco that involves brown bread, ham, cheese, lettuce and pickle for £2. That's a damn fine sandwich, and it's mayonnaise free...which means it's Tom-friendly. Win! As well as the Bakery 164 sandwich, I treated myself to a "nap" for two hours in the afternoon once I'd finished my work. There is no greater feeling than going to bed at 3pm and waking up at 5pm, having some DELICIOUS crumble that I brought back with me from home (more excellent home cooking right there!) and then going to do a few hours of drumming.

Bizarrely, I'm feeling tired once again. I imagine this could be a sign that I'm ill or something, but I'm past the point of really caring too much about that. Instead, I'll just go back to bed, finish listening to the podcast I've got on and wake up tomorrow for the start of a new day.

I usually stick a quote on the end, and since I'm listening to his podcast at the moment, I'll stick on one of Joe Rogan's from an old blog entry of his:
Life can be really fucking beautiful, but man is it a tricky thing to manage.