Hello SG,
Does anyone use MyFitnessPal? It's a website for people who want to keep fit and lose weight. I have been on there since August last year as I want to lose weight for my wedding. Anyway I have made a goup on there called The Geek Squad and it is basically for group for AWESOME PEOPLE.
The group already has 147 members and it's only been going for 4 days. It would be nice to see some SG people on there as you know I never really get to come on SG anymore (or facebook for that matter).
Some of you know I have an issue with food so I am also going to post something below that I have already posted in my main blog last mouth but I thougth it would post it here too (in full).
Click on the link below to read the original post..
Nil by Mouth
Posted on January 18, 2012
..or carry on reading to view it on SG.
Does anyone use MyFitnessPal? It's a website for people who want to keep fit and lose weight. I have been on there since August last year as I want to lose weight for my wedding. Anyway I have made a goup on there called The Geek Squad and it is basically for group for AWESOME PEOPLE.
The group already has 147 members and it's only been going for 4 days. It would be nice to see some SG people on there as you know I never really get to come on SG anymore (or facebook for that matter).
Some of you know I have an issue with food so I am also going to post something below that I have already posted in my main blog last mouth but I thougth it would post it here too (in full).
Click on the link below to read the original post..
Nil by Mouth
Posted on January 18, 2012
..or carry on reading to view it on SG.
Guess who's back!
For some for the past few months I couldn't rejoin SG since original card had expired.
I tried my new card. No dice! again... nope... and again... uh uh. I then get a phone call from Barclays FRAUD department (bless them). Apparently a "SG Services" has been trying to take money from my account (no shit), and could I confirm that this transaction was from me. Yes, it's me! hence, TA DA! i'm now back! Thanks Barclays!
For some for the past few months I couldn't rejoin SG since original card had expired.
I tried my new card. No dice! again... nope... and again... uh uh. I then get a phone call from Barclays FRAUD department (bless them). Apparently a "SG Services" has been trying to take money from my account (no shit), and could I confirm that this transaction was from me. Yes, it's me! hence, TA DA! i'm now back! Thanks Barclays!
On Monday 22 August 2011 my fiancee and I offically started;
"OPERATION: GET SKINNY FOR THE WEDDING"
We had started another OPERATION: GET SKINNY a few years ago but failed. It failed because we didn't have any real motivation or reason to lose weight. We didn't have a goal or anything to work towards, so after a few months we lost interest with the idea of dieting and going to the gym and we ended up putting back all the weight we lost, plus more (eek). However that was over a year ago and since then we got engaged (see post) so as we are now getting married, we now have a goal and a reason lose the weight, and so OPERATION: GET SKINNY FOR THE WEDDING was born.
So the plan is simple. We are getting married in a year (Saturday, August 25th 2012) and want to lose some weight and look AWESOME for the wedding.
My starting weight on Monday 22 August 2011 was;
12 st 3 1/2 lbs (That's about 78 Kg or 172 lbs)
I want to get down to;
11 st. (70 kg or 154 lbs)
You can follow my weight loss progress with the tracker below;
Can I do it? Is it possible? Who knows, but I have a year to find out and this blog will tell you how I do.
Check out my profile at www.myfitnesspal.com for more.
"OPERATION: GET SKINNY FOR THE WEDDING"
We had started another OPERATION: GET SKINNY a few years ago but failed. It failed because we didn't have any real motivation or reason to lose weight. We didn't have a goal or anything to work towards, so after a few months we lost interest with the idea of dieting and going to the gym and we ended up putting back all the weight we lost, plus more (eek). However that was over a year ago and since then we got engaged (see post) so as we are now getting married, we now have a goal and a reason lose the weight, and so OPERATION: GET SKINNY FOR THE WEDDING was born.
So the plan is simple. We are getting married in a year (Saturday, August 25th 2012) and want to lose some weight and look AWESOME for the wedding.
My starting weight on Monday 22 August 2011 was;
12 st 3 1/2 lbs (That's about 78 Kg or 172 lbs)
I want to get down to;
11 st. (70 kg or 154 lbs)
You can follow my weight loss progress with the tracker below;
Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Weight Loss Tools
Can I do it? Is it possible? Who knows, but I have a year to find out and this blog will tell you how I do.
Check out my profile at www.myfitnesspal.com for more.
Something is missing from this picture...
Can you guess what is missing?
It's an engagment ring.
Why?
Because it's on my girlfriend's...(wait scratch that) my Fiancee's finger.
Yep. That's right.
I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!
Can you guess what is missing?
It's an engagment ring.
Why?
Because it's on my girlfriend's...(wait scratch that) my Fiancee's finger.
Yep. That's right.
I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!
Back in January 2011 I paid over £500 to get my 1997 Ford Fiesta to pass its MOT. This is a lot of money, and as it turns out more money than the car was worth. Even the mechanic was trying to convince me that it wasn't worth it, I should just have the car scrapped and get a new one, but at the time I wasn't prepared. I hadn't had a look around, I didn't know how much money I could scrape together, but I did know that I had £500 and that I needed a car to get to work everyday. So I got it fixed. I needed that car. That car was like my Herbie, my Bumblebee. I had owned it since about 2002 and we had been through a lot together, It even had a name, 'RoOkar'. The car had seen lots of girlfriends come and go, helped me move house a few times, carried my amps to gigs, never really let me down, and it went like grease lighting! Okay, okay, I know it was just a car but my point being, to me it was special.
So anyway, my car was now road worthy but I was aware that it was on its way out and this would be the year that I would have to start looking for a new car. I looked on the usual websites and glanced at the cars in the forecourt of garages, getting an idea of what I would buy next. I have always bought Fiesta's in the past but I knew I wanted something bigger this time, so I set my sights on a VW Golf. I had always heard good things about Golf's and so I then whittled down my options. Firstly as much as I would love a brand new car, I knew I couldn't afford one. I didn't like the idea buying anything on finance so I knew I had a budget to stick to. I didn't want the car to be more than 7 years old. I wanted a 5 door car as I am planning on having the car for a while. 3 doors are nice but what if I have kids in the future? I could imagine trying to fit a child's bumber seat in the back of a 3 door car would be a bit of a bitch. I would mainly use the car for getting to work and back and I knew that would pile on the miles so I thought it would need to be a diesel engine. I would want it to be quick so it would have to be a turbo diesel. I didn't want to travel miles to buy it, I wanted it to be in at least a 20 mile radius from where I live, and I wanted it to be blue, as 'RoOkar' is blue (I know, I know the colour isn't that important, but you know) so anyway, there was my list;
1.VW Golf
2.Less than £5k
3.No more than 7 years old.
4.5 door
5.TDi
6.within 20 miles
7.Blue
I did a search on http://www.autotrader.co.uk/ and the results... ZERO.
I changed a few of my options and found a few cars but none of them really too my fancy. It didn't really bother me, I was in no rush. I had just spent £500 on getting my car going, what would be the point of buying a new car now anyway. A few months went by. I would have another look, but again, nothing really took my fancy. Then in June 2011, I found it. A blue 5 door 2004 VW Golf 1.9 TDI SE for less than £5k just down the road. However, there was a problem. I had spent some of the money I had been saving up. I had bought myself an iPad 2, a few guitars, splashed out on things that I probably shouldn't have. Could I still afford a new car? Probably not... But hey, there was no rush. I would just have to give up on the idea of buying that one.
I was still thinking of this VW Golf while driving to work one day in early July 2011. Maybe I could get the Golf on part exchange? I started to hear a little clicking noise coming from RoOkar. It was like the little Fiesta was tutting at me, like it knew I was thinking of getting rid him and replacing him with another. The noise got louder. I turned off the radio. The noise wasn't coming from radio, it was coming from the engine. Then the car sounded like it was trying to transform but couldn't. It also started shaking like it was trying to throw me out. All of sudden there was a bang and a huge cloud of smoke from the exhaust. The car stopped vibrating but was now cruising along, loosing power and leaving the smoke trail that started to cover the whole of the busy dual carriageway behind me.
It was either one of two things;
1. My car after all these years was indeed a Transformer and had spotted a group of Decepticons on our trail. It was going to transform into a giant robot and kick some ass but was worried that I might die in the fearsome battle that followed and it so decided remain in its car form and fire out a smokescreen to cover our tracks while we slowed down to blend in with the other cars and hide from our Decepticon pursuers.
or
2. My car was not a transforming robot but just a normal car. A normal car with a fucked engine, which was spewing smoke and slowly losing power.
As much as I wanted to my car to turn into a heroic Autobot and had to accept that it wasn't and that I needed to get off dual carriageway as quick as possible as I was accident waiting to happen. By luck I was close to a junction and pulled to the side, the only issue was making it up the off ramp with the power it had. However it did it. It rolled to the top and died...
There was nothing more I could do. I phoned work to tell them what had happened. I phoned my roadside assistance and waited for them to arrive. I recorded an audioboo the pass the time, and phoned a garage...
"Hello, do you still have the blue, 5 door, 2004, VW Golf 1.9 TDI SE? " "you do?" "That's great, I might be over later today for a test drive."
The roadside assistance arrived about 30 mins later and had a look. He confirmed my suspicions. It would need a new engine. We both agreed that this would be a waste of money. RoOkar was dead. Now the question of where to take me and the car. There was no point him taking me and the car to work. If he drove me home, what would I then do with the car? I wouldn't be able to drive it anywhere and it would probably cost me more money to then have it taken away so I asked to be taken to a scrap yard. I phoned ahead and they offered me £100 for it. £100 was better than nothing. He loaded the car onto the back of the truck. The only thing left on the road now was an oil stain. It was like the last drop of blood after RoOkar's heart had exploded...
We drove to the scrap yard. Now normally the roadside assistance only drop you to the location you requested and that's their job done, but the guy felt sorry for me and phoned his boss to ask if he could drop me home after the scrap yard. He said that was fine. The time at the scrap yard was brief, I just had to sign a few forms, while I was doing so the man from the roadside assistance had loaded all my personal belonging from my car to the truck (what a nice man). He then took me home, and helped me carry my belonging to the front door (again, what a nice man). After he left, I then had to plan my next move. Buying a car. I checked my bank balance and transferred all the money I had from savings accounts into my current account. I could buy the golf if I haggled. I then made my way to the garage to take the Golf for a test drive.
When I arrived the car salesman just handed me the keys and told me it was down near the end of a long row of cars. I could see a car poking out of the row, as if it was a little lost puppy trying to say "Hello, here I am! Please take me home". It drove like a dream and had lots of buttons and features, cruse control, automatic headlights, automatic windscreen wipers, alloy wheels as well as lots of things that most people are used to but I have never had in a car, electric windows, power steering, central locking. Even though the car was almost 7 years old it felt like a car from the future. Ok, there were a few little things that needed to be sorted, one of the interior door trims was slightly damaged, and latch of the glove box was broken, but these were just minor things that the garage said they would fix or replace. To me it was the perfect car. I had a chat with the salesman, got as much money as I could off the price of the car and the rest we say, is history! So meet RoOkar 2 or as I call him... Rolf the Golf!
Isn't he cute!?
This post can be found here...
When my car went boom!)
So anyway, my car was now road worthy but I was aware that it was on its way out and this would be the year that I would have to start looking for a new car. I looked on the usual websites and glanced at the cars in the forecourt of garages, getting an idea of what I would buy next. I have always bought Fiesta's in the past but I knew I wanted something bigger this time, so I set my sights on a VW Golf. I had always heard good things about Golf's and so I then whittled down my options. Firstly as much as I would love a brand new car, I knew I couldn't afford one. I didn't like the idea buying anything on finance so I knew I had a budget to stick to. I didn't want the car to be more than 7 years old. I wanted a 5 door car as I am planning on having the car for a while. 3 doors are nice but what if I have kids in the future? I could imagine trying to fit a child's bumber seat in the back of a 3 door car would be a bit of a bitch. I would mainly use the car for getting to work and back and I knew that would pile on the miles so I thought it would need to be a diesel engine. I would want it to be quick so it would have to be a turbo diesel. I didn't want to travel miles to buy it, I wanted it to be in at least a 20 mile radius from where I live, and I wanted it to be blue, as 'RoOkar' is blue (I know, I know the colour isn't that important, but you know) so anyway, there was my list;
1.VW Golf
2.Less than £5k
3.No more than 7 years old.
4.5 door
5.TDi
6.within 20 miles
7.Blue
I did a search on http://www.autotrader.co.uk/ and the results... ZERO.
I changed a few of my options and found a few cars but none of them really too my fancy. It didn't really bother me, I was in no rush. I had just spent £500 on getting my car going, what would be the point of buying a new car now anyway. A few months went by. I would have another look, but again, nothing really took my fancy. Then in June 2011, I found it. A blue 5 door 2004 VW Golf 1.9 TDI SE for less than £5k just down the road. However, there was a problem. I had spent some of the money I had been saving up. I had bought myself an iPad 2, a few guitars, splashed out on things that I probably shouldn't have. Could I still afford a new car? Probably not... But hey, there was no rush. I would just have to give up on the idea of buying that one.
I was still thinking of this VW Golf while driving to work one day in early July 2011. Maybe I could get the Golf on part exchange? I started to hear a little clicking noise coming from RoOkar. It was like the little Fiesta was tutting at me, like it knew I was thinking of getting rid him and replacing him with another. The noise got louder. I turned off the radio. The noise wasn't coming from radio, it was coming from the engine. Then the car sounded like it was trying to transform but couldn't. It also started shaking like it was trying to throw me out. All of sudden there was a bang and a huge cloud of smoke from the exhaust. The car stopped vibrating but was now cruising along, loosing power and leaving the smoke trail that started to cover the whole of the busy dual carriageway behind me.
It was either one of two things;
1. My car after all these years was indeed a Transformer and had spotted a group of Decepticons on our trail. It was going to transform into a giant robot and kick some ass but was worried that I might die in the fearsome battle that followed and it so decided remain in its car form and fire out a smokescreen to cover our tracks while we slowed down to blend in with the other cars and hide from our Decepticon pursuers.
or
2. My car was not a transforming robot but just a normal car. A normal car with a fucked engine, which was spewing smoke and slowly losing power.
As much as I wanted to my car to turn into a heroic Autobot and had to accept that it wasn't and that I needed to get off dual carriageway as quick as possible as I was accident waiting to happen. By luck I was close to a junction and pulled to the side, the only issue was making it up the off ramp with the power it had. However it did it. It rolled to the top and died...
There was nothing more I could do. I phoned work to tell them what had happened. I phoned my roadside assistance and waited for them to arrive. I recorded an audioboo the pass the time, and phoned a garage...
"Hello, do you still have the blue, 5 door, 2004, VW Golf 1.9 TDI SE? " "you do?" "That's great, I might be over later today for a test drive."
The roadside assistance arrived about 30 mins later and had a look. He confirmed my suspicions. It would need a new engine. We both agreed that this would be a waste of money. RoOkar was dead. Now the question of where to take me and the car. There was no point him taking me and the car to work. If he drove me home, what would I then do with the car? I wouldn't be able to drive it anywhere and it would probably cost me more money to then have it taken away so I asked to be taken to a scrap yard. I phoned ahead and they offered me £100 for it. £100 was better than nothing. He loaded the car onto the back of the truck. The only thing left on the road now was an oil stain. It was like the last drop of blood after RoOkar's heart had exploded...
We drove to the scrap yard. Now normally the roadside assistance only drop you to the location you requested and that's their job done, but the guy felt sorry for me and phoned his boss to ask if he could drop me home after the scrap yard. He said that was fine. The time at the scrap yard was brief, I just had to sign a few forms, while I was doing so the man from the roadside assistance had loaded all my personal belonging from my car to the truck (what a nice man). He then took me home, and helped me carry my belonging to the front door (again, what a nice man). After he left, I then had to plan my next move. Buying a car. I checked my bank balance and transferred all the money I had from savings accounts into my current account. I could buy the golf if I haggled. I then made my way to the garage to take the Golf for a test drive.
When I arrived the car salesman just handed me the keys and told me it was down near the end of a long row of cars. I could see a car poking out of the row, as if it was a little lost puppy trying to say "Hello, here I am! Please take me home". It drove like a dream and had lots of buttons and features, cruse control, automatic headlights, automatic windscreen wipers, alloy wheels as well as lots of things that most people are used to but I have never had in a car, electric windows, power steering, central locking. Even though the car was almost 7 years old it felt like a car from the future. Ok, there were a few little things that needed to be sorted, one of the interior door trims was slightly damaged, and latch of the glove box was broken, but these were just minor things that the garage said they would fix or replace. To me it was the perfect car. I had a chat with the salesman, got as much money as I could off the price of the car and the rest we say, is history! So meet RoOkar 2 or as I call him... Rolf the Golf!
Isn't he cute!?
This post can be found here...
When my car went boom!)
Hey SG,
Lots of things have happend since I last blogged. I was part of @tw1tterband & raised over £2500 for charity...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/mar/02/tw1tterband-johnny-marr
but I don't really want to blog about that, I want to blog about you.
There are things you must know about me... I'm shit at blogging. I am also shit at staying intouch,
but to me you are all special.
That probably makes more sense to me then it does to you. I guess I am a person who has no concept of time when it comes to friendships. There are people out there who I would still call my close friends who I haven't seen for over 5 years. I just assume that our friendships will never fade.
Is that strange?
In some ways I feel like the Doctor with my TARDIS and compainions, and i'm not saying that because I think i am as awesome as the Doctor, because I am not, just that it works as an analogy. The Doctor has no real sense of time, he comes into your life and then leaves and when and if he does return it could be years after you first met him but to him it will always feel like yesterday, because to him it probably was... and that's how I feel. Make sense?
In fact I have another analogy (also doctor who based) on how I feel that works the other way round.
I'm an old compainion, that once travelled with you but now I have my own life and my own problems. I just watch from a far as you go out and save the world, hoping you will return one day...
meh, actually that doesn't make as much sense as the first Doctor Who analogy, but it has more sentiment to it. I think that's what I am also trying to say. I am very sentimental and now and then I am reminded of you guys and I miss you.
I went to a Tweet up, a few weeks ago which was a leaving party for one of my twitter friends as he is having to move back to America. There was a lot of people there and one of the conversations was about turning up to a pub to meet a group of people who you have never met in real life but who you only know online and how strange it can be, I mentioned to them the SG meets I have been to (I never normally mention SG to anyone) and how some people are exactly how you imagined them to be and how others are nothing like how you pictured them. One girl in the converstation made a derogatory comment about SG, and I felt like I was being judged for being a member of this site, I defended SG and I remembered a comment that CreamyGoodness once made about SG. "You come for the boobs & stay for the people". It's very true... and I think that's why I will probably always stay on SG (even if I only visit the site once in a while) is because of you guys.
You are all awesome.
Lots of things have happend since I last blogged. I was part of @tw1tterband & raised over £2500 for charity...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/mar/02/tw1tterband-johnny-marr
but I don't really want to blog about that, I want to blog about you.
There are things you must know about me... I'm shit at blogging. I am also shit at staying intouch,
but to me you are all special.
That probably makes more sense to me then it does to you. I guess I am a person who has no concept of time when it comes to friendships. There are people out there who I would still call my close friends who I haven't seen for over 5 years. I just assume that our friendships will never fade.
Is that strange?
In some ways I feel like the Doctor with my TARDIS and compainions, and i'm not saying that because I think i am as awesome as the Doctor, because I am not, just that it works as an analogy. The Doctor has no real sense of time, he comes into your life and then leaves and when and if he does return it could be years after you first met him but to him it will always feel like yesterday, because to him it probably was... and that's how I feel. Make sense?
In fact I have another analogy (also doctor who based) on how I feel that works the other way round.
I'm an old compainion, that once travelled with you but now I have my own life and my own problems. I just watch from a far as you go out and save the world, hoping you will return one day...
meh, actually that doesn't make as much sense as the first Doctor Who analogy, but it has more sentiment to it. I think that's what I am also trying to say. I am very sentimental and now and then I am reminded of you guys and I miss you.
I went to a Tweet up, a few weeks ago which was a leaving party for one of my twitter friends as he is having to move back to America. There was a lot of people there and one of the conversations was about turning up to a pub to meet a group of people who you have never met in real life but who you only know online and how strange it can be, I mentioned to them the SG meets I have been to (I never normally mention SG to anyone) and how some people are exactly how you imagined them to be and how others are nothing like how you pictured them. One girl in the converstation made a derogatory comment about SG, and I felt like I was being judged for being a member of this site, I defended SG and I remembered a comment that CreamyGoodness once made about SG. "You come for the boobs & stay for the people". It's very true... and I think that's why I will probably always stay on SG (even if I only visit the site once in a while) is because of you guys.
You are all awesome.
Hey SG,
So it's been two months since I last wrote on here so it's time for an update. Firstly thank you for all your kind words and messages about Dawn. It meant a lot to me. Death is a difficult thing to process and knowing that I will never see her again feels strange, but knowing she was murdered is worse. I don't think I will ever come to terms with that. Things like that only happen on TV and films, not to a friend, not to Dawn but it has.
You can now imagine a pause here. A pause that lasts about 15 mins. I didn't want to start writing about Dawn but I have, and now I don't know how I can write about anything else in this entry without it feeling forced. I need tips from news readers, they seem to be able to move from death to a story of a cat being stuck in a tree with ease. Anyway...
The UK was covered in snow a few weeks before Christmas and work closed for a couple of days. It was so pretty that it was a good excuse to try out all of my iPhone camera apps...
Christmas and New Year was fun. I think I drank my weight in Bailey's. Tesco had a 2 for £20 deal on and at one point I was buying 2 bottles of Bailey's a week, so actually my statement about me drinking my weight in Bailey's should read; 'I drank my weight in Bailey's so now I am twice the weight I was'. I have indeed put on weight. One of my Christmas presents was the driving game 'Gran Turismo 5' which I am now addicted to so I rarely leave the comfort of the sofa. I have also discovered the 'B-Spec' races, which is racing for lazy people. You just have to pick the Car and let the game do all the driving. So you just start the race, go away to eat some cake and then when you return you've one the race. Genius! I think more racing games should be like this.
I am on leave this week to celebrate my girlfriends birthday. We went to Brighton and stayed at the Drakes Hotel. I love Brighton so It gave me another chance to try out all of my iPhone camera apps... *cue photos*
As you can tell I love my iPhone camera apps. All the photos you see were taken using instagram, which I highly recommend if you do own an iPhone. It's a great way of taking pictures and sharing them. If you do sign up you can find me on there under the username 'rookin'.
During the past few months I have also been to the cinema to see a few films. Two that stand out are 'TRON:Legacy' and 'The Kings Speech'. One which was very very good and the other which was very very bad (but had amazing effects and soundtrack). I will let you guess which is which.
...and that kinda brings you up to speed. There is a party this weekend and then it is back to work on Monday.
Fun times. Fun times.
EDIT: what on earth is going on with SG changing and adding extra characters? it's becomes it'Ãâ¬Ãâ¢s for example? WTF is that all about?
So it's been two months since I last wrote on here so it's time for an update. Firstly thank you for all your kind words and messages about Dawn. It meant a lot to me. Death is a difficult thing to process and knowing that I will never see her again feels strange, but knowing she was murdered is worse. I don't think I will ever come to terms with that. Things like that only happen on TV and films, not to a friend, not to Dawn but it has.
You can now imagine a pause here. A pause that lasts about 15 mins. I didn't want to start writing about Dawn but I have, and now I don't know how I can write about anything else in this entry without it feeling forced. I need tips from news readers, they seem to be able to move from death to a story of a cat being stuck in a tree with ease. Anyway...
The UK was covered in snow a few weeks before Christmas and work closed for a couple of days. It was so pretty that it was a good excuse to try out all of my iPhone camera apps...
Christmas and New Year was fun. I think I drank my weight in Bailey's. Tesco had a 2 for £20 deal on and at one point I was buying 2 bottles of Bailey's a week, so actually my statement about me drinking my weight in Bailey's should read; 'I drank my weight in Bailey's so now I am twice the weight I was'. I have indeed put on weight. One of my Christmas presents was the driving game 'Gran Turismo 5' which I am now addicted to so I rarely leave the comfort of the sofa. I have also discovered the 'B-Spec' races, which is racing for lazy people. You just have to pick the Car and let the game do all the driving. So you just start the race, go away to eat some cake and then when you return you've one the race. Genius! I think more racing games should be like this.
I am on leave this week to celebrate my girlfriends birthday. We went to Brighton and stayed at the Drakes Hotel. I love Brighton so It gave me another chance to try out all of my iPhone camera apps... *cue photos*
As you can tell I love my iPhone camera apps. All the photos you see were taken using instagram, which I highly recommend if you do own an iPhone. It's a great way of taking pictures and sharing them. If you do sign up you can find me on there under the username 'rookin'.
During the past few months I have also been to the cinema to see a few films. Two that stand out are 'TRON:Legacy' and 'The Kings Speech'. One which was very very good and the other which was very very bad (but had amazing effects and soundtrack). I will let you guess which is which.
...and that kinda brings you up to speed. There is a party this weekend and then it is back to work on Monday.
Fun times. Fun times.
EDIT: what on earth is going on with SG changing and adding extra characters? it's becomes it'Ãâ¬Ãâ¢s for example? WTF is that all about?
Dawn was one of my best friends at school. We were in a band together. Sophie sang and played bass, I played guitar and sang backing vocals, and Dawn played the drums. We were called 'Lizard Skin' and were a lo-fi punk rock band. This was 1993 and Grunge had hit the U.K. We would always meet at Dawns house, whose parents didn't seem to mind their daughter having a full size drum kit in her bedroom. It was a small bedroom and after the single bed, drum kit and a wardrobe you couldn't fit anything else in it. As it was so small, Sophie and I couldn't even fit in the same room. We stood in the landing and played our hearts out, recording our noise into a hand-held cassette recorder. We were as lo-fi as you could get. We wrote songs about anything that came into our heads, whether it be a song that we learnt in our Chinese lesson (yes, we studied Mandarin at school) or a song about 'Nuclear Chocolate', named after the time that we bought a giant bar of Dairy Milk which we then constantly spilt equally between ourselves until there was nothing left, just one atom of chocolate. An atom which we would have to split between us. The chocolate atom bomb. Simple times.
We played lots of gigs in the local area, and even ventured up to London to do a gig at a pub in Camden. It was my favourite band. There was something so naive and innocent about us. We would constantly turn up to gigs without any instruments, borrowing kit from the other bands. I don't think we would have gotten away with the stuff we did if we were band made up of egotistical pretentious young boys. But we weren't, we were Riot Grrrls... Well Riot Grrls and Boy. Being the boy in a band with two girls was probably the best thing about being in the band. It was like I had two sisters. Two sisters who I loved very much and two sisters who could kick my ass if they wanted to. It was no secret at the time that Dawn had a crush on me. When she asked me out or got someone else to ask me out I would always say no. I would turn her down by saying that it would get too complicated with us being in a band. It was very flattering. I've never seen myself as someone who was attractive to opposite sex and I had no confidence with girls when I could sense that there anything more than friendship. I would never chase after a girl because If I did chase them, then they might know that I liked them. I was much happier listening to The Smiths in my bedroom, whimsically waiting for the day that the girl of my dreams would come along and notice me. Dawn was not the girl of my dreams but had noticed me. Dawn had confidence. She had broken that playground rule that it's only the boys who do the chasing, and knowing that she thought I was good-looking gave me confidence.
After school, priorities changed. I was now in college and had other bands on the go. Priorities changed for everyone and although we were still friends rehearsals became few and far between until the band became just a memory. In 1998 I left Bracknell and moved to Chichester, in West Sussex. Years would pass but Dawn and Sophie were friends who were burnt into my heart. They were friends who to me would always be my friends and every time I saw them it felt like we had never spent a day apart. But we had spent time apart and had lives our own. Sophie got married in 1998 and I got to be her Best Man/Maid of Honour. They separated years later and Sophie was now with Matt and had recently given birth to little girl, Dawn had also got married & had two children. Everyone was growing up, everyone except me, as I seemed to living my life in a time loop.
Earlier this year I went to see the film Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. The film is based on a comic about a young man called Scott who has to fight against the seven evil exes of the girl of his dreams. This part of the story didn't remind me of Dawn but the fact that Scott was in a lo-fi band with a female drummer with attitude, did. Dawn had attitude. Watching this film made me reminisce about the old days, and the good times we had growing up. I would chat to Dawn on Facebook now and then whenever she was on but recently I had lost interest with site and something that I used to use everyday a few years ago became a once a month occurrence. The last Facebook message I got from Dawn was on October 25th this year. She was wishing me Happy Birthday.
On Tuesday 16th November I came home from work and found several missed calls on my phone from my brother. There was also a message to say that an old school friend had left me a message on Facebook. The news from both was that yesterday Dawn had been murdered. It was news that didn't sink in. I was in shock. I looked on the internet for further information, but there was none, only that a Bracknell woman had been found dead. That could be anyone, sure the photo attached to the article showed Dawns house but just because it shows Dawns house it doesn't mean that the woman was Dawn. Maybe it was a neighbour and as her house was shown in the article it had people jumping to conclusions. I looked at Dawns Facebook profile. She had only updated it the day before.The day she had been murdered. Maybe she is staying at her parents house and she would soon update the page to show that news of her death was a little premature. I was still in shock. I need to phone Sophie, I thought. I pressed the 'S' on my phone and Dawn's name was one of the first names that came up. I still had her down as Dawn Simms and not Dawn Clinton. Simms being her maiden name and as Simms started with a 'S' it was listed in my search. I paused for a moment. Should I ring Dawn? What if I call and no one answers? I decided against calling her and called Sophie. Sophie didn't answer but Matt did. I had never spoken to Matt before but explained my reason for calling. He too had heard the news but Sophie was out with their daughter and as far as he knew she hadn't heard. I needed to speak to someone so I spoke Lynsey on the phone. She was the old friend from school who had sent me the message about Dawn on Facebook. I was still in shock. Lynsey confirmed that it was Dawn and that Jon her husband had been arrested for her murder.
That night I couldn't sleep. I sat at my computer and tried to find more information.
http://www.getbracknell.co.uk/news/s/2082315_man_arrested_after_womans_body_found
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-11763939
When I did sleep I had a dream that Dawn sent me a message on Facebook telling me she was ok, and that like I had thought earlier that she wasn't at home and it was a neighbour who had been killed and she had only just managed to get online to tell everyone that it wasn't her. This dream gave me false hope until they finally released the name of the victim. It was indeed Dawn.
http://www.getbracknell.co.uk/news/s/2082434_suspected_murder_victim_named_as_dawn_clinton
Dawn has been in my thoughts ever since. I had not seen Dawn face to face for almost 10 years but I have this huge feeling of loss. I don't know how to deal with it, I assumed I would know her forever. I look at her Facebook profile and see messages from friends, and messages from strangers. Is my grief too much? How do you grieve for someone you haven't seen for years? Someone who was such a big part of my life as teenager but who had little input in my adult years. I have been reading articles about her everyday since I heard. My thoughts going out to her family and friends.
Dawn was amazing. She is part of who I am and my life has been forever changed from knowing her. On Facebook she summarizes herself with these words;
"I will skid broadside into Hell, thoroughly used up and worn out, with a fag in one hand and a coffee in the other screaming 'Whoa, what a ride'!"
What a ride indeed. Dawn, you rawk. I love you x
Drum solo!
We played lots of gigs in the local area, and even ventured up to London to do a gig at a pub in Camden. It was my favourite band. There was something so naive and innocent about us. We would constantly turn up to gigs without any instruments, borrowing kit from the other bands. I don't think we would have gotten away with the stuff we did if we were band made up of egotistical pretentious young boys. But we weren't, we were Riot Grrrls... Well Riot Grrls and Boy. Being the boy in a band with two girls was probably the best thing about being in the band. It was like I had two sisters. Two sisters who I loved very much and two sisters who could kick my ass if they wanted to. It was no secret at the time that Dawn had a crush on me. When she asked me out or got someone else to ask me out I would always say no. I would turn her down by saying that it would get too complicated with us being in a band. It was very flattering. I've never seen myself as someone who was attractive to opposite sex and I had no confidence with girls when I could sense that there anything more than friendship. I would never chase after a girl because If I did chase them, then they might know that I liked them. I was much happier listening to The Smiths in my bedroom, whimsically waiting for the day that the girl of my dreams would come along and notice me. Dawn was not the girl of my dreams but had noticed me. Dawn had confidence. She had broken that playground rule that it's only the boys who do the chasing, and knowing that she thought I was good-looking gave me confidence.
After school, priorities changed. I was now in college and had other bands on the go. Priorities changed for everyone and although we were still friends rehearsals became few and far between until the band became just a memory. In 1998 I left Bracknell and moved to Chichester, in West Sussex. Years would pass but Dawn and Sophie were friends who were burnt into my heart. They were friends who to me would always be my friends and every time I saw them it felt like we had never spent a day apart. But we had spent time apart and had lives our own. Sophie got married in 1998 and I got to be her Best Man/Maid of Honour. They separated years later and Sophie was now with Matt and had recently given birth to little girl, Dawn had also got married & had two children. Everyone was growing up, everyone except me, as I seemed to living my life in a time loop.
Earlier this year I went to see the film Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. The film is based on a comic about a young man called Scott who has to fight against the seven evil exes of the girl of his dreams. This part of the story didn't remind me of Dawn but the fact that Scott was in a lo-fi band with a female drummer with attitude, did. Dawn had attitude. Watching this film made me reminisce about the old days, and the good times we had growing up. I would chat to Dawn on Facebook now and then whenever she was on but recently I had lost interest with site and something that I used to use everyday a few years ago became a once a month occurrence. The last Facebook message I got from Dawn was on October 25th this year. She was wishing me Happy Birthday.
On Tuesday 16th November I came home from work and found several missed calls on my phone from my brother. There was also a message to say that an old school friend had left me a message on Facebook. The news from both was that yesterday Dawn had been murdered. It was news that didn't sink in. I was in shock. I looked on the internet for further information, but there was none, only that a Bracknell woman had been found dead. That could be anyone, sure the photo attached to the article showed Dawns house but just because it shows Dawns house it doesn't mean that the woman was Dawn. Maybe it was a neighbour and as her house was shown in the article it had people jumping to conclusions. I looked at Dawns Facebook profile. She had only updated it the day before.The day she had been murdered. Maybe she is staying at her parents house and she would soon update the page to show that news of her death was a little premature. I was still in shock. I need to phone Sophie, I thought. I pressed the 'S' on my phone and Dawn's name was one of the first names that came up. I still had her down as Dawn Simms and not Dawn Clinton. Simms being her maiden name and as Simms started with a 'S' it was listed in my search. I paused for a moment. Should I ring Dawn? What if I call and no one answers? I decided against calling her and called Sophie. Sophie didn't answer but Matt did. I had never spoken to Matt before but explained my reason for calling. He too had heard the news but Sophie was out with their daughter and as far as he knew she hadn't heard. I needed to speak to someone so I spoke Lynsey on the phone. She was the old friend from school who had sent me the message about Dawn on Facebook. I was still in shock. Lynsey confirmed that it was Dawn and that Jon her husband had been arrested for her murder.
That night I couldn't sleep. I sat at my computer and tried to find more information.
http://www.getbracknell.co.uk/news/s/2082315_man_arrested_after_womans_body_found
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-11763939
When I did sleep I had a dream that Dawn sent me a message on Facebook telling me she was ok, and that like I had thought earlier that she wasn't at home and it was a neighbour who had been killed and she had only just managed to get online to tell everyone that it wasn't her. This dream gave me false hope until they finally released the name of the victim. It was indeed Dawn.
http://www.getbracknell.co.uk/news/s/2082434_suspected_murder_victim_named_as_dawn_clinton
Dawn has been in my thoughts ever since. I had not seen Dawn face to face for almost 10 years but I have this huge feeling of loss. I don't know how to deal with it, I assumed I would know her forever. I look at her Facebook profile and see messages from friends, and messages from strangers. Is my grief too much? How do you grieve for someone you haven't seen for years? Someone who was such a big part of my life as teenager but who had little input in my adult years. I have been reading articles about her everyday since I heard. My thoughts going out to her family and friends.
Dawn was amazing. She is part of who I am and my life has been forever changed from knowing her. On Facebook she summarizes herself with these words;
"I will skid broadside into Hell, thoroughly used up and worn out, with a fag in one hand and a coffee in the other screaming 'Whoa, what a ride'!"
What a ride indeed. Dawn, you rawk. I love you x
Drum solo!
One of my best friends from school was murdered on Monday. It's all a bit strange. I don't know how deal with it yet. She left me birthday wishes on my facebook only 3 weeks ago.
Mother found strangled to death
Dawn, you weren't the best drummer in the world but you were my favourite and I loved you for it.
R.I.P
Mother found strangled to death
Dawn, you weren't the best drummer in the world but you were my favourite and I loved you for it.
R.I.P
