Happy Christmas

This is my last post before christmas, and its going to be quite short.

Happy christmas everybody.

I've decided not to send out christmas cards this year, and the money I would have saved will be going to Christie's, a charity that supports Christies Hospital in Manchester, one of Europes largest Cancer treatment hospitals.

This therefore is my electronic christmas card to you all.


ps. We have snow (it works on my pc, but it might not be working on internet explorer. If its not working, then there is a single snowflake in the top left corner of the screen. if it is working, you should be seeing a minor snowstorm across the page. download firefox to see it)

Shiny Shiny: iPod Boxer Shorts

yet another in whats likely to be a long line of pointless ipod add-ons.



only $22, hunky model probably not included

ps Sally, if no one buys you one (an ipod not the ipod boxers obviously) for xmas, treat yourself they don't cost that much :)

the ipod cross

You know you want one

So what does google think I need?.

Shaun needs the funding to support training the people working with him
: excellent idea. train everyone I work with to work my way.

The sudden and unexplained outbreak of zombies is just what Shaun needs.
: No thanks, we've got enough zombies already. Seriously, why would anyone want more?.

Shaun needs to sort out his life. "Google knows me so well" 
Shaun needs to be banned. "Hey! If you dont like the blog, you dont have to read the
blog"
: somewhat alarmingly, those last two already had the comments in "". They seem like things I might have written though.

Shaun needs Money
: while more would be nice, I think I already have enough for the lifestyle I'm happy with.

Shaun needs to send Sterling approved text. (Text should have logo)
: Ok I will try to do that in future. BTW who is Sterling?.

Shaun needs to place guild info onto a CD for John and bring it to the
: bring to the what?. If it told me where to bring it I might try to. 

Shaun needs more experience with City in Europe, although by rights he
should have more under-21 caps under his belt. I cannot understand why David
Platt ...
: Apparently I don't have enough European experience to play for England yet. I'm trying hard. I've been to Copenhagen + Roskilde in DK, Amsterdam + Alkmaar in NL, Paris, Italy, been through Belgium, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I'm getting there. Give me a few more years, and I'll have it covered.

Shaun needs service report form 4a
: I've filled in forms 1-3a-f, sections x,y and z, and they still want me to fill in 4a. Sigh.

Q: Coach, do you think Shaun needs to add weight? Being eighteen years old that is kind of natural. Since he graduated, he has already added eleven or
: I've checked, and I think I have enough weight already thanks.

Shaun needs $25000 for his "gene therapy" treatment in China so we are holding an auction to help him raise these funds.
: I'm worried now. Whats wrong with my Genes?. They seem ok to me. Would like a trip to China though.

naughty bunny

Ok so I don't blog that often but every now and again I come across funny things worth sharing and these two caught my attention on someone else's blog. Saw all the baby bunnies and thought that was the funny bit. After a couple of minutes of gazing whilst waiting for something else to load, the second part of the joke suddenly hit me....



This second one amused me too.

You know when you've spent too much time in GB OPS when...

...you leave an answerphone message on your parents answerphone and end the message by saying "Shaun, Out" as if it was a radio message...

Greenbelt '05

2004's GB kind of passed me by without registering, and the only bit of the festival I can really remember is watching No More Horses on mainstage. And some great alcohol-lubricated conversations. This left me feeling quite sad/depressed/drained at the end of that festival.

This years was sooooo much better. Its was greatly helped by the wonderful community, laughter and friendship within the ops team, especially the interrupting cow (which also works quite well as a knock knock joke), and countless moments of mirth shared with truly fantastic people. If only I could remember why some of them were so funny at the time....

There were inevitably some low points too, for me the loss of the bandstand was the worst, as it didn't feel as if there was a central focus to the festival anymore and quite a few other people shared similar sentiments if truth be known.

The lows were swiftly brushed away by the highs though, and the absolutely best bits of the festival for me personally were (best first):

1. Becoming so totally immersed in the music whilst Emiliana Torrini sang on mainstage that everything and everyone else around me faded completely into the shadows. I could easily have spent the rest of my life just listening to her infectious voice.
2. Juliet Turner playing two songs just for the ops team in the white room.
3. Making new friends. Martin (who I have known since Dean Park days), his wife Sally, Becky, Zoe, Anthony and Dave (again known him from the Bandstand days at Dean). They came as early birds and helped myself and Stick with sign putting up (and moving about), and were really warm, friendly and welcoming whenever I joined them later over the weekend (normally in 4))
4. The Organic beer tent. Spent way to long in there, so much so that I only drank 4 of the beers I bought with me
5. Seeing old friends again. Met up with Gayle, Steve (now "Orc Walker" for some reason?!?), Mark and others I went to school with. Its great to see them again after all these years, and to catch up with them again.
6. lots of other little things too numerous to remember, or too personal to share.
7. and this kind of made me smile to, when the girl I had spent most of the weekend trying to get to know better revealed that she was actually more interested in the cute barmaid in the Org Beer Tent. Typical :|

Again I felt very sad as tuesday morning dawned over the last morning, although this time is was mainly regret that it would be several months until I saw some of those faces again, and almost a full year before we return to that priceless little corner of Cheltenham.

took stuarts quiz thingy and...

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. Emergent/Postmodern 54% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 50% Modern Liberal 46% Classical Liberal 46% Neo orthodox 21% Charismatic/Pentecostal 21% Reformed Evangelical 11% Fundamentalist 11% Roman Catholic 11% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

I've no idea what its significance is mind

My computer exploded

Not sure why but as I was playing a game last Friday, there was a large bang, a puff of smoke and a kind of tczzzkzkscht!### noise from under the desk and the powersupply to my pc died kind of horribly.

Hence why I've not posted sooner since the festival.

All fixed now, and the only casualty seems to be a slightly dodgy connection between one hard disk and the mother board. Its worked long enough for me to copy everything on it onto a different disk (see liz there is a need for a terabyte of HD space afterall...)

Festival fever

Its fair to say that the majority of people who are linked from this blog are actually now on site and openly commenting that I've not posted anything recently.

bucking that trend, I thought I would post from the festival itself. Which none of them have done yet..... Wonder how long until they notice I have ?. Probably a while although I will save a choc chip muffin for the first one of them to post a comment!.

Its been nice and sunny today, which has allowed lots of stuff to be done. I'd be more specific, but I wasn't paying much attention to be honest, and can only see the back of front desk from here.

Probably more windy tomorrow which will be fun but our squad has grown to 12 for that so I can supervise from the comfort of the production office.

Joke Zone

A police officer pulls a guy over for speeding...

Officer: May I see your driver's license?

Driver: I don't have one. I had it suspended when I got my fifth DUI.

Officer: Can I see the registration for this vehicle?

Driver: Oh, it's not my car. I stole it.

Officer: The car is stolen?

Driver: Yeah. Oh, but come to think of it, I think I saw the registration in the glove compartment when I was putting my gun in there.

Officer: You have a gun in there?

Driver: Yes sir. That's where I put it after I shot the lady who owns the car. She's in the trunk.

Officer: There's a BODY in the trunk?!?

The officer tells the man to hold on, backs off carefully, and calls for backup. Quickly, the car is surrounded by police, and the captain approaches the driver to handle the situation.

Captain: Sir, can I see your license?

Driver: Sure, Officer.

Captain: Hmm, this license is just fine. Whose car is this?

Driver: It's mine, officer. Here's the registration.

Captain: Could you slowly open the glove compartment, please, so I can see if there's a gun in there?

Driver: Yes, sir, but there's no gun in it.

He opens it, and sure enough, there's no gun.

Captain: Would you mind if we opened the trunk? I was told you said there's a body in there.

Driver: No problem.

The trunk is opened, nothing in there but a spare tire.

Captain: The officer who stopped you said you told him you didn't have a license, stole the car, had a gun in the glove compartment, and that there was a dead body in the trunk.

Driver: Yeah, I'll bet he told you I was speeding, too! "

Lost in translation

Should you ever need to explain what some of the common British slang terms actually mean to those from far off places, you might find this website useful. Dictionary of English slang and colloquialisms of the UK

Even if you don't its quite relaxing to browse through when you have a few minutes spare. You might even discover some new ones to use in conversation!.

Beer makes you clever: official

Good news today for all those who, like me, dapple in the odd drink or two. Beer makes you clever. Its official. Its even on the BBC news website so it _must_ be true.

There is no mention of whether certain brands or flavours are more beneficial than others. Personally that is an experiment that I am prepared to be a lab rat for. Although I might need to call in reinforcements for some of the alcopops and the like.

On its own this is perhaps not too beneficial, however if you include the following recent research articles, beer is less fattening than wine, helps you to escape avalanches, and helps you to fight off cancer, alcohol consumption is positively beneficial.

Make mine a double!!.

Is this how iPod shuffles are made :D

Think Geek's iCopulate

# Features of the iCopulate™ include: Works with any second generation iPod® or later with a dock connector (will not work with the iPod Shuffle®)
# Transfer audio tracks and files directly, faster than real time
# Includes one 1.62 volt watch battery for up to 8 months of sustained iCopulation™
# Support for single track and album transfer, entire playlist transfer, or transfer of all songs and files on the device
# Unique, ribbed, Latex sleeve surrounding embedded electronics for enhanced iPod® safety and increased user comfort
# Includes one 8oz tube of non-toxic strawberry scented iLube™

Other similar items available for today only from here at Think Geek

After much thought....

...answers to Sally's [slightly more than] Five questions ;)

1. What makes you really angry, and how would we know?
People making decisions on my behalf (that I am perfectly capable of forming my own conclusions/decisions about) without consulting me first. Pretty much anyone trying to limit and/or restrict my [human] rights to have my own identity and opinions, to believe and like or not like what I decide to etc. I'd go on but I've stood on this soapbox before.

To be honest I can 't really think of anything else at the moment. I don't really get angry about much. I guess I feel frustration much more often. Theres a big long list of things that frustrate me....

I think I broadly come in two states, "laid back relaxed" and "I'm going to kill someone [or break something]". The is a large amount of pressure relief space in the "laid back relaxed" state so its very rarely that I flip into the other mode. The transition is rapid however and its unlikely that you would know until you found the trail of dead. That or very loud thumping music. Probably mainly the latter :D

2. If you had to describe yourself for an on-line dating agency, what would you say?
There is so little chance that I would ever do this kind of thing. Very very small. Well in fact its _never_ going to happen. I will try to answer it though.
"Quiet, reclusive, thinker. Reads lots of books and always listening to music. Hates being the centre of attention. Doesn't do sunday mornings. Can be very internalised, and reluctant to lower barriers. Likes Cats."
I don't sell myself very well do I?. ISTP fits quite well I think.

3. What did you have in your test tube today?
I think I set the steady march of scientific progress back by atleast six months today. I mixed this compound (nice white shiny crystals), with this other compound (also nice shiny crystals) then added a bit of solvent and some hydrochloric acid and heated it for an hour intending to produce this really novel anti cancer drug but instead formed an intractable gum, or as it is known in chemistry circles, sticky black stuff. I decided then that it would be better if I put down the chemicals and stepped away from the fumehood. So I did.

4. Which are your 5 favourite bands of all time?
This is the hardest question for me to answer. Very very hard. Actually not that hard to write once I got into it, but still hard to choose. I have so many bands and albums to choose from and so many ways of grouping them into favorite 5's that it is well nigh impossible to choose the top 5. It depends very heavily on my current mood and the time of day, and the weather, and all kinds of other factors too.

Top 5 bands by number of their albums I own.
The Smashing Pumpkins, The Levellers, The Beautiful South, AC/DC, Metallica

Top 5 bands I never saw live but wished I had
The Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Pulp, Black Sabbath, Rage Against the Machine

Top 5 bands I have seen live
Therapy?, Bush, Carter USM, Bjork, The Polyphonic Spree

Top 5 weird Scandanavian artists:
Stina Nordenstam, Emiliana Tourini, Bjork, Royksopp, Sigur Ros

Top 5 Singer/songwriters
Bob Dylan, Jewel, Tom Mcrae, Beth Orton, Kate Rusby

Top 5 folk/country
Bob Dylan, Kate Rusby, Cara Dillon, Levellers, Laura Cantrell

Top 5 things to listen too when I feel like crying
The Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Kate Rusby, Jewel, Beth Orton

Top 5 things to listen to when I need to escape
Blur, Muse, Gomez, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Reindeer section

Top 5 I've bought this week
Ameliana Tourini, Beck, Idlewild, Eels, Belle + Sebastian

Top 5 albums when I feel the need to break things
Pantera, Rage Against the Machine, The Ramones, Sepultura, System of a Down

Top 5 rock/metal/thrash/grindcore/goth
Marilyn Manson, Muse, Pantera, Metallica, Pearl Jam

Top 5 bands that sound like Pearl Jam,
Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, Nickelback, Creed, Pearl Jam

Top 5 female artists
Beth Orton, Kate Rusby, Jewel, Norah Jones, Laura Cantrell,

Top 5 male artists,
Bob Dylan, Tom Mcrae, Nick Drake, David Bowie, David Gray

Top 5 Antipodean Bands
Silverchair, Crowded House, AC/DC, Midnight Oil, Nick Cave and the bad Seeds

Top 5 bands with People who used to be in other bands
Zwan, Foo Fighters, The Breeders, Gorillaz, The Reindeer Section

Top 5 who I've not included so far but really should have
Tori Amos, Turin Brakes, The White Stripes, Starsailor, PJ Harvey

First 5 Top 5 songs I could think of. (needed atleast twenty probably many more)
Name (Goo Goo Dolls), Disarm (the Smashing Pumpkins), 74-75 (the Connells), Paint it Black (Rolling Stones), Teenage Kicks (The Undertones).

Top 5 album names
Daisies of the Galaxy (Eels), And She Closed Her Eyes (Stina Nordenstam), Origin of Symmetry (Muse), Hats Off to the Insane (Therapy?), Jar of Flies/Sap (Alice in Chains)

Top 5 bandnames
Airstar, Belle + Sebastien, The Cooper Temple Clause, Kings of Leon, Soul Asylum

And to finish a Top 10 bands I've seen at Greenbelt
Billy Brag, Moby, Love Lies Bleeding, Never On a Monday, The Polyphonic Spree, The Porters, Griff Pilchard, No More Horses (when on the bandstand playing their first ever gig), Rick Wakeman, Angel Orange

5. Tell me about your very first Greenbelt, and how you came to be involved in the Bandstand?

I first went to greenbelt when I was 17, in 1990. I had just started going to a local church cyfa group and went along with 30-40 friends from there/school. Only a couple of very laid back YG leaders meant it was great. It was also my first time away with just friends and no parents. It was great!. I slept very little that first year, never getting to bed before dawn it seemed
I remember getting there late on the wednesday evening with the advanced party and finding the best place to camp, then fencing off a large area for the rest of us. Then there was a [moderate!?!] amount of alcohol consumption, that night and over the next six days. Then we went home. To be honest I remember the next years festival much better and much more fondly but hey it was still fun the first time.
That first year we spent loads of time just wandering round and round and round the village. Those days you could just walk and walk in the same direction and end up in the same place, having met loads of great people doing just the same. (I kind of miss that loopy walking with the current R/C site). We'd end up where we started, but it would always be different when we got there. We always seemed to end up (or start) at the bandstand or in the other fringe venues. Some of our friends were playing in bands that played in many of the venues over the years, and were even on mainstage a couple of timest. Might not have been this first year, but they were Detritus and Seventh Angel. Loud metal/goth stuff. Great times. Still see some of them each year at the festival. Some of that initial group of friends still goes to the festival and we always seem to meet up even if only for a short time. A few of them are also venue managers now which is strange. Its also hard because I have lost touch with many good friends, having moved away from home when I was 18 to uni and now more northerly. I rarely go home and I'm terrible at keeping in touch. Even with family.
Back to the first one. I've never been particularly engaged by the seminar side of the festival and I guess it stems from those first years at the festival. GB has been, and always will be for me, about the music and the people you meet. The more religious sides have never been particularly engaging or enticing for me. Having said that I have had some great spiritual revelations there, none of which I really want to go into here. There weren't any that first year, but then I wasn't there looking for that kind of thing either. We spent long hours sat in front of the bandstand, listening to all kinds of music, some good, some dreadful. Some even worse than that!. But thats what we did for the next 4-5 years. Sat around and watched music being tortured but more often played well and relaxed in front of that little stage. It played centre stage in my GB experiences for many years there after, and still to this day to be honest. I even fell in love for the first/last time in front of that little stage. Something that will follow me the rest of my days.

One of my friends from those days, by the name of Steve Croxton, went away for a year in 94/95 to work with/at oxford youth works. There he met up with a certain former chair of the festival, who was in those days leading up the GB fringe (RIP). Jude L was recruiting volunteers for that summer's festival, especially the fringe and Steve volunteered us for the job. I think there were six or seven of us that year who were lured by the offer of a free ticket to the festival in exchange for a few hours work on the bandstand. It was more like a few minutes of work every hour then loads of time to watch bands. Pretty much what we had been doing up till then, but this time we got a free ticket for doing it. It was a fantastic gig!. Over the festival I became friendly with Paul D (him of winnie the pooh story fame), and at the end of the festival, Kaz who had been running the Bandstand, asked the two of us if we would like to run it next year between us, and we jumped at the chance. Little did we know then that for every year (95-2003 minus the first at the RC) we would be doing the same. They were some fantastic years for us and hopefully everyone else who came, relaxed and spent enjoyable moments in front of our little stage over those years enjoyed it as much as we did. For a few of those years it was largely unsupported by the festival at large, but we still managed to get it there every year by borrowing kit or on a couple of occasions paying for it ourselves. It endures. Looking back at the huge number of bands who have gone from playing our bandstand to playing on bigger stages at the festival and beyond or in a few cases rushing straight from headlining mainstage to play to 2000+ six inches away on the bandstand (all star united to name the first I can think of), its made a great and continuing contribution to the bredth of music at the festival. Long may it continue.

If I'm not hidden in the depths behind front desk doing signs (please can I get a window this year, it dark in that corner), thats where I'll be.

Overcoming inertia

I've been quiet on here recently. No particular reason, just didn't feel like saying much. Can't say that I have a lot more to say tonight, but if I don't post something I'll never get round to it and that'll be the end of it.

So, some things I've seen, heard or read recently.

On a t-shirt: "Men are from Earth, Women are from Earth: Deal with it!"

My desk: Its been untidy for the last six months, now its clean and tidy with only two computers and a printer on it, and an empty bottle of wine (st emilion red, v v nice, although perhaps unwise to drink the whole thing in one sitting...)

Listened to: James Blunt "Back to Bedlam". Great album of acoustic guitary stuff. Sort of a haunting mixture of David Gray and Tom Mcrae. I'd highlight my favorite track but I like them all...

Heard: Emiliana Tourini. Another great album. 1/2 icelandic 1/2 italian, sings a bit like bjork, sounds a lot like stina nordenstam or billie holiday. love it.

Read: loads of books. probably getting on for 12 since christmas. scifi to the last. escapist stuff. different worlds. far off places. two different books about first contact with aliens. both aliens utterly different. both revealing similar insecurities in our own existance. neither had obvious endpoints. revealing.

Watched: ER last night. ray liotta starred. enters er with stomache pains 11.24am. dies 12.05pm from liver failure. alcohol. find out in realtime 40 minutes why: painter, wifes death, blames self, young son, starts drinking, kills stranger, prison, drinks more, lonely isolation, grasps own mortality, touches someone elses life fleetingly, forgivingly, dies. I cried.

Slept:

Where did it all go?.

So there I was quietly watching TV when I noticed the date. 3rd Jan already?. This means I have to go back to work tomorrow. where did my restful two weeks of holiday goto?. It seems like just yesterday when I was tidying up at work for two weeks off, and now I have to go back in already.

On the plus side I have hung some nice new pictures up on the wall at home (pics to follow possibly) and cleared out six big bin bags of rubbish, and bought a DAB radio. But thats about it. Oh and I've read three thick sci-fi books, must be close to 1800+ pages worth, so its not all been wasted. I must have slept sometime too.

Happy New Year I guess

Yes newyears eve, and I'm sat alone at home on the computer typing a blog. Sad isn't it. I'm not even been drinking. Just can't be bothered with it all really. That or no invites out anywhere. Everyone I know has gone away somewhere for the week, and I'm sat at home. Oh well.

well its exactly midnight now, as evidenced by all the tons of high explosives [fireworks] that have just started going off all round my house, none of which are anything to do with me I hasten to add. Still nice to look at though. I thought pets were supposed to be scared of fireworks. Mine are sat on the window sill watching them.

What can I say?.

2005 already. [/me sighs and opens a celebratory can of stella, then wanders off into a dark corner to polish it off:D ]