Aug 27 2007

So as the dust settles from the mad festivities of August, I am finally starting to settle back into normal life. Wacken was absolutely immense, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the bands and spending time with good friends (Tom, Sophia, Joss, Gil, Ross, Sam, Nestor, Maren, Luke, Laurie etc. etc.). An excellent festival by any counts, and I will certainly be there next year.

I spent a few days in California after that doing a hard slog of work, but came back in time for Bloodstock Open Air, which was fun, but having Wacken fresh in the mind sort of dampened how good it seemed. It was OK - quite a few good bands (Korpiklaani, Freedom Call, Sabbat, a few others) but rather annoyingling I missed Testament (and all other bands) on Thursday due to being stupidly tired (same as Gemma!).

A small rant now….. I enjoyed marching around the camp-site with randoms, various chants and shouting and boozing. I was extremely disgusted with a group of people that burnt the god damned wheelie bin. Seriously, what’s the point? It’s dangerous for starters. I was in a group of people who kept marching, I turned round and noticed a lot of people had stopped, so I went back and saw what was going on, at which point, I hurried off. Disgusting behaiviour, and ruins the family-friendly environment that Bloodstock tries to implement.

Anyway, next year I shall probably give BOA a miss - the ticket prices will be going up apparently, and I really can’t afford to go to both Wacken and BOA. Unfortunately for BOA, Wacken gets my pick - everyone is so friendly, it’s much more of a holiday for me (getting away from the British people helps alot), and I can stay drunk for longer (turning up at Wacken on Tuesday evening is always good).

Last Monday was Gemma’s birthday, where we got horrendously drunk, and ended up at Alex’s flat at the Deco, which was fun and good to catch up with him after BOA. A few days of work followed, and came Friday - Tom/Sophia/Phil came over, had a few drinks and watched some films. I fell asleep though due to tiredness, and then Saturday we went to England’s Medieval festival which was fun. Watched a battle re-enactment and a massive loud cannon. Nice. That evening was Aaron’s 21st - more drinking until the small hours of the morning, and a few arguments and more (eep!).

Today Gem and I woke up about 10:30am, I took her to work, and then went to meet my sister, Finley, Katie and Collin’s mum on Hill Head beach. Then went to Stubbington fair to see the last Donkey Derby race, and generally had an afternoon of relaxation which was nice. So that brings me to now, where I sit contemplating cooking dinner!

Until next time peeps…

Aug 14 2007

So I finally have the software release ready, and hopefully after this I’ll never have to do this piece of software again to the intensity I have been, and do my proper job title at last. It will be glorious! I hope…

So my taxi leaves here in one hour, and then I shall be on my way home to sunny (Hah!) England. I’ll get back Wednesday afternoon, taxi back to Portsmouth, and settle in with a nice meal - not sure what yet, most likely a ready meal. I’ll be waiting for Tom, Sophia and Harry to turn up in preparation for Bloodstock Open Air.

Unfortunately, we have to get up at 6am on Thursday to make it to Guildford to pick up Tom’s gazebo, tent and chairs before Gil leaves for work - a bit of a pain, but we will survive. If any of you read this and want to meet up at B.O.A., send me a message with your number and I will reply in kind.

Well - I have a few more little bits of work to do, so I had better get on with them in this nice icy cold laboratory. Brrrr….