the past goes unnoticed..

I have previously 'harped on' about the usefulness, or perhaps interest is more accurate, of blogging as a means of looking back on myself in years to come, but I was just thinking about how much I actually miss out.

Like my parents moving out of the house which they lived in for most of my teens and all of my early twenties. (See picture yo).

Or the fact that Anwar and Han are having a baby.

Or a mulitude (host?) of other minutiae and bigutiae that clutters up my life but somehow not my blog.

If anything that's kind of fun. Big stuff I would probably remember anyway, but would I necessarily remember an evening of procrastination (there's so many).

Anyway.

Sublime

David Ford's second album. The so-called 'difficult second album'. Was it going to build on the first? Was it going to move on whilst retaining the raw emotion of the first? Was it going to alienate the hardcore fans?

A number of the new songs have been played live for a while now. Couple this with the fact that Ford bootlegs are readily available and seemingly encouraged and you'll find a double-edged sword. The songs are familiar and loved, but will they be too familiar for the album to have an effect?

On first listen, Songs for the Road reveals a less sparse approach in comparison to I Sincerely Apologise.. The upbeat, almost perky Decimate, the out-and-out raucous jam of Requiem's outro, Nobody Tells Me What To Do's clap-happy pub-along (definitely one to be belted in the face of anyone enforcing last orders) and the gospelish groove of Train all tip the nod to a more grandiose arrangement than before.

However, take a closer look and the intimacy and simplicity of the earlier material is just as prevalent. In particular the closing track ..And So You Fell, sister song to If You Only from the first album, makes you almost feel he's there in the room.

In fact generally this album seems to be one thing in one light and then the light changes and you see different reflections that you didn't realise were there. For instance, a charge often leveled is that of being miserable. But look again and you'll find the hopeful survivor in I'm Alright Now, the defiant romanticism of Song for the Road or the "there for you" love in Decimate.

I think it's safe to say that Songs for the Road delivers and delivers well.. If you already love David Ford it's a great step on. If you've yet to hear of him, it's a great place to start.

how to write a song..

- wait for wifey to go out

- pour yourself a glass of wine

- eat some toast

- stick on a dvd

- go and have a look at a webbernet

- sit at piano

- play a game on your phone

- pour some more wine

- have a wee

- look at another webbernet

- get lyric books out

- get the guitar out

- play 'the entertainer' on the guitar

- play someone else's ballad on the piano (badly)

- look at lyrics

- get some more toast

- webbernet

- stare

- blog

- wine

- toast

- new dvd

- sleep

I'm quite surprised at myself for sharing with you my most secret and secret methods. Before you know it you'll all be writing chart-toppers.

overandout

subjectivities

Heylo my freunden.

I received a compliment on my poor spellingness today. What fun!

What? Fun?

Anyways. I'm about to expose my jaded side and for that I truly apologise. We know it happens, but that doesn't mean we should revel in it. I will no doubt be berated by the misses.

Anyway.

I find the education system to be a little confusing at best. There seems to be so much that's imposed from outside/on high that talks of aiming high, of making sure that the best that can possibly be achieved is achieved, that results go from strength to strength and so on. Yet for all that (and here comes that subjective, jaded opinion that's gonna get me busted) it feels to me like the country gets more and more mediocre.

Further to that (and boy do I really despise the fact that I'm getting on this bandwagon, but what can you do?) it appears that to satisfy this endless target setting grades are getting better, but standards appear to slip. Which leads to a situation where you're telling an ongoing population that is getting dumber (just look at reality tv if you don't believe me :P) that they are getting smarter.

That's some scary sheet right there my friend. It's almost as if someone wanted us to be subdued whilst making us think that we're not. Not that I'm a conspiracy.. um.. ist?

What I will say, however, is that we're training people to look like they're doing the right thing, sound like they're saying the right thing, and appear to tick all the boxes. Surely that's got to be good for something?

Right?

Having said that, you can't have it all..

what is the sound of one hand typing?

Hey there yogi bear!

Typing whilst teeth brushing (grammar? El?). Always a charm.

To sum up:

- half term good
- david ford good
- fizz moved to the 'cup
- tommorrow is always too soon to go work
- nick sorted us out with some tasty birds tonite (rock-n-roll-ized versin of the story)
- sleep good

timeout. over

Driving in your car.

After a slight kerfuffle over our (free) tickets all is good. We're on high. He's in the middle on the piano FYI

then again..

How's it going my inter-buddies. Time for your daily (ahem) dose of Toby.

Went out to 'the shopping' yesterday. In Brommers. Bought me some shoes, a shirt, a belt and some rings. All at 'knock-down' prices. Caloo Calay.

Tonite it's back to the foop-ball. Let's see how 2 weeks of inactivity will go down. I'm guessing bitter. All the way down.

What is it in human nature that is attracted to the bitter-sweet? Dostoyevsky said "Man is sometimes extraordinarily, passionately, in love with suffering..." I'm taking it that he meant wo-man too. Ho ho. Anyway. It is a strange thing when you think about it. I'd be interested to hear religious people explain it. They can be good at that..

That aside, I wonder whether and how the human tendency to find definition and/or character through suffering has an affect?

I couldn't tell you. I'm all about the questions. Hee.

Anyways. Gotta eat to live, gotta stop blogging to eat. Otherwise this would go on.

Wrong!

Buh. You can't have it all.

PERSPECTIVE

Oh gosh it's just like they said it would be in Design and Communications lessons.

Forgotted

I saw these shop mannequins with unresolved anger issues on Monday. Check their fists man. Also, the word forgotted was in my phone's predictive text but not the word mannequins. But of course.

web dizzy(ne)

Oh gosh.

Web design is one of the most infuriating things I have chanced my hand at. You think you've got something nailed but then you look at it in a different browser and BAM! Added to that I was trying to edit a Flash 8 file using Flash CS3 which was mostly fine but there were one or two things that just weren't as they should have been. Something which I can only guess at attributing to the discrepancy between the two versions..

Still. I think I'm done now. Until I get another raft of changes that is, I suppose.

Anyways.

Half-term is lovely thanks. Got band practice tomorrow, something else on Thursday, the usual on Friday and ohmygod David Ford at Shepherd's Bush Empire on Saturday. Hella.

I suspect it's all going to be over far too soon.

But I will enjoy it!

overout

reasons to be cheerful Pt n

Part n^n. That's a lot of n.

- it's half term huzzah!
- Megs, Malcs and Charlie are here.
- I just had porridge with choclit
- We had lasagne last nite

You see despite appearances and cynicism I iz Glass Half Full typa guy. It's true I am. I am a walking contra-muh-diction. But I'm ok with it. Life's a good laugh.

That aside, it's looking like we're going to be hanging out at Bluewater today. So I will be looking at lots of things and not buying them. Uh-huh.

Must be time for getting dressed.

what a sport

Hiya!

That one's just in case Nigel reads this. Oh ho.

So now. Here's what has all gone down in these last couple of days. (day's - day is?)

Yestermahday we played in good old Islington. Very good fun. Surprisingly the voice held out. The just boiled water wins the day hooray. Although I was discussing the relative merits of different brands of honey with someone in one of the other bands beforehand. Very rock and roll.. Actually, I can make that statement more rock and roll quite easily. Watch and learn:

I was talking about honies with someone backstage before the gig.

I win!

Today has been a lazy-ass day (lazy ass-day?). Which was nice. Then I watch-ed the rugby. In a kind-of reverse situation to the one that Rants was facing. In that we were a room full of brits with one Saffa. The Saffa no less. I've never watched rugby before. It's pretty brutal. My ambition now is to watch an Australian Rules game. Cos I hear that's even more brutal.

I digress. (Cos I haven't used that phrase - to death - before).

My point is that television was a bad influence because not 5 minutes after the match we found ourselves in a big-off scrap on the landing. There was some scrumming, a lot of sean-piling and some definite crash-bangs. The funny thing was that the Saffa was the one that (undeliberately I *think*) ended up with a black eye. Ho ho.

Was good though. Not had a decent scrap probably since I was living with the Badger and the 'Noock. Maybe since I was in the studio.

So there you have it. Conclusive evidence that TV can make you do stuff. Or somethings.

ovorondout

some days all I do is watch the skies

         


         


         

steaming

Back to work today it was.

Not too bad. Still fightin this chest infection madly yo.

Now there's a song I haven't heard in a while. Just Jinger's I Like You Madly. Check it out if you get the time.

Today's post is a little freeform in its.. um.. form. So whilst I'm thinking about freeform, check out Flight of the Conchords on youtube. Specifically this song. Brilliant.

You'll also notice that I have been checking out radiohead's new album. I love it. I paid a fiver, but I would have paid more had I had more money. It's very atmospheric. I like music you can get lost in. Radiohead are good at this. As is Nitin Sawhney and also for me, Lemon Jelly. I need to find more like this though.

I made a new strangeday website as well. Check it out. There's some hidden pages in there. I'm going to try and make it more and more labyrinthine as it goes on. Whilst not trying to rip off radiohead too much. Although their web presence presented me with some influence for my confluence yo.

Speaking of strangeday, we have a gig this Friday. Hopefully this one will be quite important for us. Which is why it's so neat that I have a chest infection. Which is why I gotta be leaving you to stick my head above a bowl of just boiled dihydrogen oxide.

What fun.

Peaceoverandout

of iced tea and poisoned fingerfoods

Hello and good morning one and all.

We've got a lot to get through so sit tite and hold on.

First and foremost I would most definitely like to say that I'm very sorry to have missed such a special date yesterday. I can only guess how terrible it must have been for all of you sat there waiting at your computer screens, fingers poised quivering above the refresh button. A drop of sweat hits the desk as you feverishly press that key over and over whilst muttering to yourself and wondering, wondering, wondering..

Truth be told I was ill and lost track of dates somewhat. In all honesty I'm still not better but I'm sitting up, and they tell me the worst has passed.

Now.

I've been laid up for a while so watching films has been the order of the day(s). I can taste your expectation even across the webbernet so I won't hesitate, deviate or repetition.. myself.. um.. I'll get right into telling you what's going down.

Little Miss Sunshine.
What a great film. This was right up our street. Quirky and all about the characters.

Pay It Forward.
Also a good film. That Osment kid sure had it. Good ending as well.

Crash.
Holy carp there's the hattrick. This was also. A good film.

Jurassic Park - The Lost World & Jurassic Park III
Oh. Well, you know.

I was also gonna have a little chat to you aboot ideas. I think it's weird the way ideas come upon you. I've never particularly been one to work hard on ideas. I either just have them or I don't have them. I don't know if that's everyone's experience. Mostly I think for me this relates to songs that I write. I can't really sit down and bash them out. Usually when I write them they just occur. So I'm not going to be running any songwriting seminars anytime soon.

But so I wonder what ideas might be to come in the world. I read about that one guy with the million dollar webpage just sat there and worked backwards from a million dollars. I don't think I have that approach.

But maybe, just maybe an idea will just hit me and you'll be reading about me in the Times or the FT yo yo. Just maybe.

Anyway. I'm out.

and over.

my illustrious foop-ball career

This one's for you Ant.

c. Primary School age
Very dedicated foop-baller. Sadly no skill to speak of whatsoever. I went to training on Saturdays and school training. I even went on foop-ball courses at Center Parcs when we went for a holiday.

Highlights of what I like to call the 's***' era include playing one game for my school team. As a substitute defender brought on in the second half. I think they basically felt that a kid shouldn't come to pretty much every training session and never get a game. Nice Mr Cheetham.

The teen years
Gave up on 'playing for teams' or 'training'. Having said that, the presence of indoor nets at youth group and both Saturday and Sunday sports at Boundaries meant that I actually played quite a lot. Around 17 or 18 we started playing kickarounds on Sunday afternoons and I think it was around this time that I wasn't quite as bad as I thought I might have been. True blue.

The growed up phase (to present)
Since returning to the NAG I've been playing fairly regularly on Friday evenings. I also spent half a year playing Wednesday nites too. This is 6 or 7 a side foop-ball you must understand. Which is very different than real foop-ball. For a start I play in trainers. Which are very forgiving. Unlike foop-ball boots which if you get it wrong in you perform 'a slice'. You also cannot 'get away' with toe punts in foop-ball boots. True.

In this era I have made forays back into playing for teams. Starting with a team at GWS. This was a defence position again, but I was not a sub. I also played for my staff team last week in the midfield position. I now have the nickname 'two-goals' Toby. Although I can't see this continuing. We do have some more games lined up.

I'm also hoping to play on another team once a month. Watch this space for more info.


So there.

in the half-light

There's been a lovely twilight tonite.

It made everything feel hyper-real.

I find those times interesting. Often I find it's if there's a strange natural lighting going on. Other times it could be at a party when the music's loud and you've had a couple of drinks. It's funny. Because it feels both real and not real.

That's my observation for you tonite.

foop-ball to come. And maybe poker. Who knows.

o&o

Last nite

She said.

aposeopesis

Life is what happens in the moments in between.

Denied the chance to wander, I chance to dream

Forever

forever

too long
too far

dee eye wiggy

It's been a productive week in terms of the homestead.

I had to fix our shower. That had a lot of wires. Aside from a little smoke (which I've cleared up) it was good and dandy.

Then Keir helped me sort out the downstairs radiators. Which now work. Two years with barely anything done and now suddenly it's all go.

Go!

staying late / extra credit

Calloo Calay.

I'm here today.

I've been thinking all sorts of negative thoughts about society recently. I don't like it much. Having negative thoughts that is. Society's got its high and low points. I just wish people wouldn't be arseholes to each other.

And I wish we didn't have to tear down all the time.

But it's so easy. Everyone thinks they know better. Everyone has a plan.

Why don't we let the journalists run the country? I'm sure they could do a better job.

Actually I don't think sarcasm helps the situation. It does make me feel better for a little bit, but then it tastes sour.

I could spin this out into an essay, but I need to get dressed really. Also, I meant spin in the other sense. Not the newspaper sense.

oberonout

The latest.

I made muffins. Well. El and me made muffins. This is not a picture of muffins. But you knew that you clever people.

Bingo Bango

There is a tide in the affairs of men. It is a riptide.

I feel like I'm running out of steam with this blogging lark. 3 years is a long time to be doing anything. Or at least in my life it is. I had to do a few years of that school business. But they made me.

After that I did:

- church youth worker
- office manager/database programmer
- temp/project assistant
- reprographics technician

currently averaging 2 years per position and haven't spent more than 3 years in any one position. I am a restless soul you see.

As I have stated before it would probably serve better to find a decent subject and start writing about that. But I am a jack of all trades. Not in the good way. I know a little about a lot of different things. I'm quick to pick things up but reluctant to devote too much time to any of them.

I do sometimes stop to think about what I could have achieved had I put the nose to the grindstone a little. But then I'm not that kind of guy. I'm not career minded I suppose. Or driven for that matter. I have a hard time chasing my dreams, let alone a career.

I think life for me, on the whole, comes down to who you affect rather than what you achieve. But that's just me. I wouldn't like to venture a guess as to who I've affected. Hopefully not too many too badly if you catch my drift.

Anyway. I'll try and remember to get on the pictures thing again. They can be interesting. Probably.

overandout