Week End

My oh my...the titles just get more imaginative *grin*.

Friday night we had youth. We took about 25 of them to Lazer Quest in town. First of all we went to the Quasar around the corner, but since it's shut down, we realised that we'd booked it at Lazer Quest. I'm pretty sure this confusion happens every time, only the other way round. I didn't go in and play because I'd just driven back from London, plus I get very confused in there. The teams are red or green and are decided randomly by the computer as you swipe your key-tag on the gun. The way you know what team you're on is because the LEDs on your gun/shoulders/chest go red or green. Since I'm red-green colourblind, and LEDs are one of my problem areas, this becomes a problem when I'm trying to decide who to shoot. Last time I did it I just shot everyone, and if they were on my side, it would tell me *grin*.

After Lazer quest I went home and watched telly a bit (as previously mentioned) and went online and blogged. Slept quite late on Saturday (mmm) and went shopping with Adam and my bro in the avo...luckily it was a practical shopping trip and (cuz we're blokes) we were in and out pretty quickly after only a few shops. I bought a couple of shirts/ties for work (and got to use Owen's student discount...wahoo!) and a new Animal wallet, cuz the zip on my old wallet broke. When I got home I watched my new "The Butterfly Effect" DVD. It's the director's cut, and it had a different ending!! I didn't realise this until the actual end which was nice. That film is just cool anyways. In the evening we ended up going around to Nig & Esther's and brought with us a surprise guest! I think even the guest was surprised. Tried to watch "Spy Game" on telly, but gave up 'cuz we were all chatting and so we played Uno instead. 'Twas a good evening followed by some chatting on MSN when I got home, and a smatter of sleep as a closing gesture for the day.

Sunday was church which was pretty cool. In the morning, Darren was talking about Angels and the supernatural realm...we really have no awareness of that kinda stuff in this country...I mean even though I know it's there, it's really hard to visualise. The devil really has done a good job of that..which is why my fave quote is my fave quote:

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. . .and like that, he's gone"(Usual Suspects)

In the avo I went home, ate food and went on MSN again! Nice lazy afternoon. Yipes, I *just* realised that Sunday was yesterday! Annyways, Phil lead worship in the evening for the first time since he got back from Manchester (Phil and his wife Kate were up in Manchester helping with the Manchester church plant for a few months). It rocked. Didn't really get a good monitor mix though, so was hard at times when Phil was playing songs we didn't know, LoL..managed to blag it tho...it's lucky "Harriet" is so good or else I wouldn't be able to copy what he's doing once he's figured it out!

Stayed up late (or early, depending on how you look at it) chatting to a pretty cool Random Individual...was really nice to just chill, chat and just be silly :-)

Because I was up so late/early, I made an executive decision to call in sick to work today to catch up on sleep. Woke up around 12 and lazed around a bit, trying to motivate myself to clean my room. I am now sitting ina tidy(ish) room with a black bag of rubbish behind me and a load of washing on (in the kitchen), with 1-2 more loads waiting to go in (in the corner of my room). I've also decided that since my photos page is wayyyyy out of date, that I'm gonna try and spend some time updating it. I've dragged out my PC, hooked it up, and am copying my photos directory (1.5GB) on my mp3 player so that I can put them on my laptop to upload. Whether I get it done or not is a different question...but I shall try.

Tonight is worship practice, but I'll be going 'round to Joe's house first to have a look around. I'm going to be living there next year, so I'm gonna be choosing my room, and hopefully send off my deposit this week sometime...moving date: August 1st.

Listening to: Tim Hughes - "You" (Soul Survivour Live 2004: Living Loud)

Week

Hallloooooooooooooooo! After a week, and due to popular demand I'm back! That and they kicked me out of London :-( I've had a spectacularly interesting week learning all things administrative and Oracley and databasey. Bizzarely enough, I'm quite looking forward to going into work on monday to find out just how badly our database is performing.

Ahem...anyways...each day was roughly the same this week, so here's a summary of the Average London Day for Tristan.

0745 - Alarm. HIT SNOOZE!
0754 - Alarm. HIT SNOOZE!
0803 - Alarm. HIT SNOOZE!
0805 - Jump out of bed and realise I need to leave quite soon!
0825 - Leave house for Tube station
0831 - I lose the first round of 'Sardines' (attempted to get on train...denied...too full)
0835 - Success. Manage to squeeze into train by moulding myself into the curve shape of the door.
0850-55 - Arrive at training centre and sit down.
0900 - Training begins.
1010 - Coffee break
1020 - Training continues
1210 - Lunch - in a canteen with some v.nice meals...all included in the course. Had a pudding one day called "Queen of Puddings" which was basically jam roly-poly with custard...mmmm
1250 - Training continues
1330 - Doze off during training due to reallocation of blood from head to stomach
1410 - Coffee break
1420 - Training continues
1630 - Head "home"
1700 - Get "home"
1700-0000 - Help Jess with her homework (I'm sure I wasn't doing stuff like she was doing when I was eight), watch TV, practice piano, read, relax, chat eat (in no particular order).
0000 (ish) - sleep.

And that was pretty much my week! They got us all to fill in the names of ourselves and 3 collegues at work so they could SPAM them, and enter us into some kind of prize draw...I won a cheapy digital camera/webcam!

Today - we finished around 1330, and I went straight to Hampstead High street to buy some thank-you presents for the people I stayed with. Then I went "Home" and started driving back to Bristol at about 1500. Managed to get lost a little bit (as usual when I'm leaving London), but due to traffic didn't hit the M4 until 1600!! Got home around 1800...chatted to Ma a bit, had a wash and went out to help take youth to Lazer Quest. Got home around 2300 and watched "Road Trip" (v.funny..plus Amy Smart is sooo hot....grrr...BAD Tristan...bad thoughts....).

I finished my Michael Crichton book this week ("State of Fear"...v.interesting, plus not a bad read...you should read it...though I have no doubt that it'll be made into a film..hopefully better than "Timeline"..book was great...film was pants). So I started reading a book that I borrowed from Adam called "Wild at Heart". I've almost finished it and it's been really good! I usually don't get on well with the non-fiction Christian "self-help" type books (much prefer the fiction), but this one has been a real page-turner! Given me lots to think about - well worth a read. It's all about how God intended men to be, though I'm pretty sure that the ladies should check it out to try and get an inside look into how a man ticks.

Right - it's late, this has had the desired effect of making me sleepy, so I shall say farewell to thee.

Listening to: Laptop fan humming

Out-of-blog Autoresponse

Hi,

Thanks for coming to my blog. I am currently away on a training course and will not be blogging for another week. In my absence, please visit some of the following blogs to keep you entertained. And remember kids...blogs are people too.

(Alphabetically)
Emma
Jen
JM
Lozza
Mafia
Tom (even though he never updates it)
ValancyJane (last, but certainly not least!)

Happy blogging!

T

Jimmy The Penguin

Earlier today I found what is possibly one of the coolest websites on the planet. The Eddie Izzard Website! It's got lots of cool sound effects and the best (random) background comments of any tetris game I've ever seen!

Last night was youth homegroup. We basically just chatted for a bit about sharing the gospel and just making steps of faith with our friends and people. I think we were quite real about it though, cuz it's flipping scary and really hard to actually do a lot of the time...I guess that's where the 'taking a step of faith' part comes in. I left at 9:45 and dropped Luke off home. Normally hang around for a bit afterwards, but there was no way I was going to miss Desperate Housewives at 10pm ;-)

This week has been mostly quiet at work. The stressy project team managed to get their own office, so there's been much less stress, lots of laughter (at nerdy IT-related jokes). I'm giving Dan another bass lesson tonight, closely followed by a whole bunch of us from work (about 15 of us + my bro) going to the pub quiz. Again. Should be quite cool. The pub is called "The Jolly Sailor", and they do amazing burgers called "Jolly Burgers"....sooooo good.

I can't really think of much more. Bob told me today that he got to Grade 5 violin when he was younger! He said he's always wanted to play guitar, but been put off by his left-handedness - he reckoned that it would make it harder to learn! I told him that's a load of rubbish, and so I think he's going to bring a cheapy guitar to Bristol in the next couple of weeks. I'm gonna re-string it to be left-handed and give him a couple of basic lessons. I ain't no expert, but I'll be able to show him a few basic chords to be getting on with (hopefully).

Texting is sooooo cool. When I'm on my course in London next week I'm staying with some family friends (as I probably mentioned before). Anyways, I forgot to email them last week, and while I was emailing them yesterday, I realised they were in South Africa and wouldn't get it until 5 hours before I arrived at their house - and that's if they check their email as soon as they get in! So I decided to text them aswell, and got a response! I mean, how cool is that...sending a message to someone in South Africa for 10p (well...free for me cuz I got loadsa free texts :P). And cute lil Jessica (10 year old that I'm going to steal one day) sent the reply text - "See u sun love jess". Awwww.

Grrr - was just on MSN Web Messenger and the stupid thing stopped working. Time to go home now anyways....inabitinnit.

Listening to: Joss Stone - "Snakes And Ladders" (Mind, Body & Soul)

An Actual Conversation I Heard

I know, I know - I'm copying VJ by putting up a conversation I heard. But I thought it was funny...

Bob (humorous guy who sits opposite me) is on the phone to support person 3 rooms away...

Bob : "I have a problem, I can't use email because Outlook isn't working properly"
Support person: "Could you send me the details in an email?"
Bob : "Uhhh, no. I can't use email because Outlook isn't working properly"
Support person: "Ohhh..."
**Bob hangs up phone**
Bob : "That bloke's a f***ing idiot."

Listening to: Foo Fighters - "Doll" (The Colour And The Shape)

Chunder Monkey

I have no idea where that title came from - it was just the first thing that came into my head.

Last night we (as in, people from work) were meant to be going out for a drink because Dave's leaving....wasn't really awake enough for it, and was going to show my face, but it was cancelled anyways.

After work I went home, got changed, and went up to church to practice piano before my lesson - managed to get about an hour in because "Harriet" was running late! Have learned my first Grade 2 piece, except that I haven't got the articulation down yet and there's a few bars in the middle that I struggle to keep in time with. Apparently it's one of the same pieces that "Harriet" learned for his Grade 2 piano! Except he was 8 at the time, and I'm 24. Had a bit of a chin-wag about stuff, and then went home.

Got home around 7pm, and went to the cinema wiv my bro to try and catch the 7:30 showing of Ocean's 12. Got there and while we were waiting in the queue it sold out. Again. So we decided to see "Ray" at 8pm instead...which was just as well because it left me with time to go to KFC and get some munch....mmmm....Daddy Burger. It was well funny in KFC because this small oriental woman was serving us (who was apparently "Customer Service Manager"), and she kept shouting back to the kitchen-type area things like "Two Daddies", and "Daddy, Daddy!!". Eventually she just went back there and made the burgers herself - much to the amusement of the 2 kitchen staff! The order took more than a couple of minutes to get for me, so she also gave me free chips as compensation. Not that I minded the wait, she was just being cool...mmm, free chips.

Ahem - "Ray" was quite cool. Makes me want to buy a Ray Charles album - might just get the movie soundtrack or something. When I got home, I chatted on MSN for a bit, and then went to sleep.

I think tonight there's youth homegroup...I'll have to ring Nige in a bit to find out.

Oh, and a miracle happened.....apparently Tom's got himself a car........

Hallelujah!

Listening to: Steve - "Zealous Core" (Falling Down)

Ironic?

If you know me, you know that irony is something that I'm pretty sure I know what it is, but find hard to define, and I believe it is something that almost everyone gets wrong most of the time (including myself). That being the case, I propose the following to be truly "ironic". Whaddya think? I found the story here.

--Quote
Stand-up comedian [Chris] Rock, whose films include Head of State, Bad Company and Down to Earth, will host the Oscar ceremony on 27 February.

Rock, 40, told US magazine Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview that he had rarely watched the Oscars, and called award shows "idiotic".

He said: "Come on, it's a fashion show

"What straight black man sits there and watches the Oscars? Show me one.

"And they don't recognise comedy, and you don't see a lot of black people nominated, so why should I watch it?"

Some members of the Academy have reportedly called for Rock to be removed as host.
--End Quote

Listening to: United Live - "Sing (Your Love)" (More Than Life)

Ding Dong Merrily on High

Good day to you all! How are you in blogland this fine day? At this moment Bob is making fun of me for typing so fast - he reckons that I'm not really typing anything, just hitting random keys. About right really.

This weekend was The Gathering in Birmingham - a Christian youth conference with 2000 kids/youth leaders coming together from around the country. Fifteen of us went to the event - thirteen in the minibus, and we met some up there. The whole thing kicked off at 9pm on Friday. The worship was great - it was really good to be able to just be in the congregation and not worry about playing bass. There were some bands there too - "Green Jade", "T-Girl", "The Band With No Name" on Sunday morning, and "Steve" on saturday evening. Steve were great - their bassist was amazing. During the weekend, they always got the youth to go to the front and form a kind of mosh pit for the worship and bands. I always stayed in my seat, because otherwise I'd just end up crushing/maiming/killing youth by jumping around. But when Steve came on, I couldn't see the bassist properly, so I gave in and went down the front...just to watch the bassist! He also had a MusicMan Stingray; the 4-string version of the bass I want to get (a MusicMan Stingray-5)...mmm....bassy.

Nigel and Esther skanked the whole of Saturday by going shopping, which left Rach and myself to look after the youth (piece of cake....it's just like hanging out with mates really). There were seminars, concerts, and an outdoor activity thing that had loads of inflatables and bungee-type-things...they even had inflatable Quasar (going around shooting each other with laser guns)!! I managed to get a little bit of sleep over the weekend, but on Saturday night I was so tired that I was acting really silly...and then we went for a late-night walk in the country. We walked up a muddy hill-path-thing, got blown about by the wind, fell over and looked over Birmingham at night, which was almost as nice as looking at the stars - millions of 'em! I love just looking at the stars. Sometimes you can almost get a clear night in Bristol, and I go out onto the roof terrace thing at the back of our house to just lie there and gaze. It's good because there aren't any streeet-lights in my garden.

We got back yesterday at about 3:30pm. I went home, caught up with my parents for a bit, and then went to church. Church was church (pretty cool). Andy preached and kept going off the point. At one point he was talking about why you don't have anything called "Chicken Ministries" (as opposed to "Eagle Ministries"). I can't really explain it, but the whole thing was very funny I can assure you.

Ooooh yeah, a cool quote from the weekend. Some australian guy was talking about being bold and standing up for Jesus and he was talking about how silly Political Correctness can be. He said:

"Political Correctness is the human equivalent of Mad Cow Disease"

I thought that was pretty funny cuz I tend to agree. Political correctness can be so stupid sometimes - I mean I'm not saying that everyone isn't equal, but people are inherently different. They were taking the mick out of it in Desperate Housewives last week. One of the mothers running the school play thought that Little Red Riding Hood was too violent, so she changed the ending; the reason that the wolf was angry was because it had a thorn in its paw, and instead of killing the wolf, the woodcutter would remove the thorn from the wolf's paw and he'd be happy! Stupid or what (one of the main characters managed to change it back to the original ending though - yay!).

Ahem - anyways - went to Pizza Hut after church. Lucy's mum drove my car back to her house so that I could sit in with Lucy on the way to Pizza Hut and then pick up my car when Lucy drove home (she hasn't passed her test yet). After that, Jacob and myself went to Lucy's, and I helped her re-string her guitar (she's had it for a year or two and has never put new strings on it!). It was stupid really, because it meant I didn't get to bed until 1am :-S grr...need morrrrre sleeeeeeeep.

Tonight there's no worship practice; instead we've got a bit of a social. Most of the team are spending time with their spouses because of Valentine's Day, but us singletons are going bowling. Should be a good laugh. Right, better get on with work now...I'm sure I get paid for something ;) plus I think I've chatted enough rubbish for now. Sorry it was all a bit of a random order, but I think you'll understand most of it, so that's ok.

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Listening to: Franz Ferdinand - "Auf Achse" (Franz Ferdinand)

A Bit Of A Downer

Well, last night was quite nice. Just chilled out, did some washing, chatted on MSN and watched "Desperate Housewives". I had tried to get people at work to go to the cinema, but most of them just wanted to watch the footie.

We had a meeting at work yesterday afternoon where we were told that the perception of some of our customers is that we are "Incompetent". Slightly unfair I feel...a lot of it has got to do with miscommunication and us taking the blame for a lot of other people's mistakes. Our bosses didn't think for a minute that we actually are incompetent, but now we have to be úber proactive in order to change the perception.

Got into work, and found out that one of the key people in our team has handed in his notice. Couple that with the fact that one of the project teams moved into a different office (it was way too crowded in here) and the mood is very sombre. I can't say I'm surprised he's leaving (he'd been moaning for ages), but it's a bit of a shock. Things aren't going to run nearly as smoothly here when he leaves. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of others left - I mean I've already considered it by applying for the UWE job!

Aaaaanyways, on to less depressing things. I'm giving Dan a bass lesson tonight (we'll see how well he's getting on with his Green Day), maybe teach him another new song. After that, Tom, Mark, "Dennis", myself and possibly Joe, will be getting together for a bit of a music practice. I'm not really sure what you could call it, cuz we can't use a drum kit or many instruments (couple of acoustic guitars), but we'll be sharing songs and chatting about what we could do with them.

Right - I haven't got any cash on me, so I'm off to ASDA for lunch. Nope, now I'm not - Bob said he'd lend me some dosh, which is good because I really can't be bothered to drive to ASDA. Grr, I've changed my mind again - I'm off to ASDA. Inabitinnit.

Listening to: one of my managers behind me talking managespeak

Lunch

Two, Four, Six, Eight, Who do we appreciate...

Lunch!!

Lunch is great. That's where I'm about to go. Just thought I'd do a quick blog while everyone else is finishing up.

Yesterday I went on MSN for a bit before I left work (BAD Tristan) and chatted to Mafia & Jen for a bit which was cool before heading home for piano/cinema/sleep.

I was late picking people up for cinema. My piano lessons with "Harriet" are meant to be 45 mins, but they always seem to last at least an hour cuz we just chat and stuff (oh, and do a bit of piano). Anyways, the piano lesson went quite well...must get some practice in this week. Left from there to pick people up and wee got to Showcase just as the film ("Ocean's Twelve") was due to start. When we got in the queue it said "Few" next to the film, and as we got to the counter, it said "SOLD". Arrrrrrrrgh. A snap decision was made, and we chose to see "Meet The Fockers". Tom and myself had already seen that, so we convinced the youth to see "The Aviator" instead. I really liked it, Tom said it was better than "Meet The Fockers", but the youth didn't really like it at all. Not surprising really - it's a biography of Howard Hughes that was 3 hours long! The acting was great, and some of the flying scenes were really cool. Parts of the story reminded me of Richard Branson's autobiography! They both were successful businessmen, both tried to break into an established commercial flying industry, both faced heavy opposition from the established airline and both faced bankrupcy & slander as a result! Right - I fear I'm boring you with this, so I'll stop there.

We went to Maccy's afterwards briefly, and then I dropped people home. When I got home, I went online for a bit before going to sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Right - well, lunch is gonna happen now...mmm, baguette.

Listening to: Doves - "Rise" (Lost Souls)

Crazy Mean Desperado

In tales of great legend, there is often a hero, a villain, and a lady. They are legends because it simply doesn't happen in real life. Real life is much better. You don't have to try to exchange notes with crazy priests or have to drink poison to pretend you're dead and meet up with your wife. Or husband. Yes, real life is much better. Sometimes.

Last night I accomplished a legendary feat - I resisted going out after worship practice! I went home, surfed the 'net for a bit, read for a bit, and fell asleep just before 11pm. Wow! I can't remember the last time I went to sleep that early! Another really rare thing happened last night too - Tom updated his blog! *claps* keep it up dude!

Anyways, I got home from work last night and didn't sleep at all. I watched most of the episode of Desperate Housewives before having some tea. Then ended up chatting to my step-dad for about 45 mins about stuff in general. It was really cool - don't it that often and it was really nice; especially as he's practically living in Cambridge (he's home for two weeks at the mo cuz he's been called up for Jury duty). I missed the worship leading session that "Harriet" was running before worship practice because of my chatting, but it was worth it. Worship practice was pretty cool - we did a "Dancing Generation" by Matt Redman from the Soul Survivor 2004 album. It rocks so much! It has a really nice bassline too - but then I always like that *grin* - fun to play and worship too..that's what it's about (if you play ;-) )!

Today is going quite well - not really that much to do at work to be honest. I think I'll ask Bob if there's anything he needs me to do.

Tonight I got my piano lesson (need to do some practice first - haven't started the piece I was given last week :-S). There's also a few cars of us going to see "Ocean's Twelve"...yay! Hopefully it'll be good. A couple of people have said it's worth watching, and another has said it was just boring. I'm hoping it'll be good.

Goodbye (too boring)
Peace out (that really doesn't suit me)
Inabitinnit.

Listening to: Offspring - "Gone Away" (Ixnay On The Hombré)

Yay, Hometime!

Ahhh, today is over...I get to go home and crash in front of the telly. Mum taped last week's episode of "Desperate Housewives", so I need to catch up on that...either that or sleep :-)

Wonderful!

Was listening to: Jars of Clay - "Like A Child" (Furthermore - Stage)

Burning the Candle at Both Ends

Good day to you! I'm on lunch right now, so thought I'd blog for a bit. I have had a weekend without much sleep!

Friday Night
Lets start with just after work. I popped into the church to meet "Harriet". Basically when Mark is leading worship, we have two extra monitors on stage. Since Jen became pregnant, she found out that the unborn baby shouldn't really be subjected to noise above 100db (fair enough really -that's quite loud). She brought the sound-meter on-stage and found out that we were at about 110db!! "Harriet" and myself were meeting up to try and get rid of some of the excess sound - which involved giving the drummer headphones (we have an electronic kit already to help with the noise - a set of Roland V-Drums), as opposed to a big speaker. This also had the added bonus of being able to give the guitarists the spare monitor (which would be facing away from Jen). Finished that at about 17:30, and had to go home, shower, pick up Phoebe and get to youth for 18:00. Impossible? I didn't think so, until I got home and discovered my step-dad was still fitting the new bath, and the water was still switched off!!! Noooooo. I can guarentee that a *lot* of deodorant and aftershave was used ;)
Then; youth came, youth saw, youth conquered. Yup, that's right - youth happened as normal. We didn't really do anything much afterwards. I completely forgot that it was Phoebe's birthday on Thursday (I even reminded myself on Wednesday!), but her and some of the girlies went for a curry at about 21:30, so we were down a few helpers towards the end. Luckily that was quite close to the end, so no harm, no foul. We didn't really do anything afterwards (just chatted for a bit), so everyone was home before midnight (new record! LoL).

Saturday
On Saturday I had to get up early and head for the city centre. Some people from church were doing a prayer walk around the city centre and wanted to kick it off with a few songs of worship, and had asked Mark and myself to play our guitars. I picked up Tom, went to Maplin's on Gloucester Road to get a mono-jack to stereo-jack converter (for all you PA people). We met by the fountains in the city centre and started singing in the rain. Was quite fun, but I wasn't impressed that my guitar got wet :-S ach well, no pain no gain! LoL

After that, I left my guitar in my car, and Tom and I went into Sound Control (so I could get some strings and an extra tuner for home...which is currently sitting next to my other tuner at church. How dumb is that, LoL). On the way we met a homeless guy called "Josh" who had just come out of rehab and straight onto the streets - if any of you out there have time, it'd be great if you could pray for him :)

Met up with Adam after that, wandered around town for a bit and then the three of us went back to Adam's and watched Ocean's Eleven while I re-strung my guitar for church on Sunday. Can't wait to see Ocean's Twelve now!! It had better be as cool as the first one or I'm going to...uh...sue George Clooney!

Went home for a bit, had a shower, and then went out. A friend from uni ("Jim") had just got a house in Taunton with a couple of other guys, and they were having a house-warming party..so I drove down to do some catching up! I intended to leave at 11:30ish, but I made the big mistake of trying the punch - whew - it had some kick to it! I decided to wait for the alcohol to clear my system, and tried to make my getaway at about 2am, but one of my friend's drunk housemates was trying to make me stay. When I finally got out the door, "Jim" was thanking me for coming, and offered me some coffee...which I thought would be a good idea, so went back in the house...LoL. Drank my coffee, and ended up leaving at about 2:35am. Motorway driving at night is soo cool; no traffic! Got home and hit the hay (finally) at about 3:45 *shudder*

Sunday
Got up at 08:45 - I had to be at church for 9:15 to briefly sort out some PA stuff for Mark - had a shower which bizzarely woke me up, and went to church. I was really, really awake, but couldn't really concentrate for very long. The guitar playing was quite cool. Since Mark was leading with an acousitic, it meant I didn't have to worry too much when I messed up cuz Mark could carry it through. It was also fun trying to do some picking (which I can't really do) over the top of what Mark was doing.

I went home and got a couple of hours sleep. My parents had cooked a roast lamb, and had it ready well before I had to go to church (a rare occurance!). Mmm, hadn't had that for soooooo long. Then went to church where we had "Let Us Entertain You"; our monthly evangelism meeting. Our dancers danced at a church in Easton once, so they came and danced last night, as well as this young guy singing some songs (he had a really great voice!).

After church a bunch of us went back to Nige & Esther's for a game of Risk. My brain wasn't really working, so I just decided to be awkward for people and make it hard for them to take continents (as opposed to having a plan). Unsurprisingly, I died after my second go, so I went to make the teas. I stuck the kettle on and watched Risk for a bit more. Went back to the kitchen, made 3 teas and a coffee. As a I was almost finished, I noticed that all the water I had used was cold! I found this incredibly funny (I get in a really silly mood when I'm over-tired), and told everyone, who didn't find it quite so funny. This time I decided to actually plug the kettle in and re-made the teas.

After Nige's I went 'round to Phoebe's to watch the Superbowl with; Phoebe, Tracy (Phoebe's Ma), James (Phoebe's b/f), Pierce (Phoebe's Bro) and her older bro Jesse (and his g/f). James was itching to place a bet on it, so Tracy got us to make a bet that didn't involve money; if the Eagles won I'd have to drop off/pick up James & Phoebe from the cinema. If the Patriots won, then James would have to come and help out at Youth. It was a pretty good game...slow start, but had some good stuff in it. I don't really watch American Footie that much, but know enough to enjoy it. A couple of years ago I told my Dad that I wanted to learn the rules so that I could know what the heck it was about, and we ended up going to a game (after watching several on TV) - so I saw the Green Bay Packers get knocked out by Atlanta which was cool (not that GB got knocked out, but going to the game!). Anyways, the Eagles went ahead 7-0. Then the Patriots came back to draw, and then go ahead. At half time, the Eagles had pulled back to 14-14. The final score was 24-21...to the Patriots! Woohoo! No driving for me!! It did make the game more interesting..was good fun. Tracy made a huge mountain of chilli, potato wedges and rice, as well as having masses of crisps. Mmmmm. Lots of fooooood. Food goooood. The game ended at about 3:30am...ugh. I must be mad. Normally I start work at 07:30am, but I'd managed to swap with someone else, so I ended up getting into work at about 08:40 this morning. Surprisingly I am still feeling quite awake! I really don't know how....all I know is that I need to get to bed well before midnight tonight. Must..not..go..out..after...worship..practice.

Ahhh, well that was my weekend. Stupidly small amounts of sleep, several hours of driving, and guitar playing. OOoooh, I saw the new VW Golf advert. It is possibly one of the best adverts ever (as are all Golf adverts :-P). It's got footage of Gene Kelly doing "Singing in the Rain", and they've computerised it so that he suddenly starts break-dancing! How cool is that!???

Ugh - Lunch time over. Time to work :(

Listening to: Franz Ferdinand - "Take Me Out" (Franz Ferdinand)

Driving Tips

1. Tie ballons to car

2. Drive like a bat out of hell...

3. Watch people freak out !!!!!

Dun, da-da-la-da DA-DA-DA

Hmm...it's impossible to write basslines phonetically. Unless you can guess what that is? I'd been listening to The Killers all day at work, and when I finished yesterday I went straight to church, determined to figure out the bassline (For "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine") and learn it. I spent about 45 mins playing around with it and have pretty much got it! It's sooo much fun to play....awwww yeah.

Ahem

But I digress. I'm not quite sure how that IQ test sees me as a 'Visionary Philosopher'...I mean can you be colour blind and a 'visionary' at the same time!??!? Hmmm.

Last night I gave Dan a bass lesson, and taught him "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (Green Day). Yay! Green day are great for learning bass with..nice simple bass, but fun to play. He learned it quite quickly...I reckon he'll be a good 'un if he gets into it and practices and stuff. I'm not really that disciplined with my practice...I just enjoy playing, so I get my practice in while having fun! In the evening I went to the pub quiz with work - brought my bro 'O' with me and had a really good laugh! We ended up coming joint 8th (out of 14 - I guess colour-blind "Visionary Philosophers" aren't that good at pub quizes :-P), and the other work team came 6th.

Work today has been alright - I ripped my new United Live album ("More Than Life") to my mp3 player and have been listening to that. They do a really worshippy version of Delirous's "Majesty" which is really nice...only 90 seconds though :-( It does have "One Way" on it though - ohhhh yeahhhhhhh!

Got youth tonight. I think I'm on the door for the first half, and up by the tables/table-tennis for the second half. ~Excellent~

Must go - home is beckoning (15 mins to go..yay!).

Listening to: United Live - "Majesty" (More Than Life)

The Classic IQ Test

Tristan, your IQ score is 140

Your mind's strengths allow you to think ahead of the game -- to imagine or anticipate what should come next in just about any situation. Because you're equally skilled in the numerical and verbal universes of the brain, you can draw from multiple sources of information to come up with great ideas. The timelessness of your vision and the balance between your various skills are what make you a Visionary Philosopher.

In addition to your strengths in maths and linguistics, you have a knack for matching and anticipating patterns. These skills and your uncanny ability to detect the underlying blueprint of most of life's situations add to your Visionary Philosopher mind. Two philosophers who share the same combination of skills you possess are Plato and Benedict Spinoza.


You completed the test in 00:13:45. The current average time for completing this test is 13 minutes and 35 seconds.

Listening to: Franz Ferdinand - "Come On Home" (Franz Ferdinand)

Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine

Started listening to The Killers and noticed that the first track on the album is called "Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine".

In light of my post last night about the amount of Jennys that I know, I thought that was kinda funny.

It has a trés cool bass line too....must attempt to learn it (and speed up my fingers to do so...)

Listening to: The Killers - "Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine" (Hot Fuss)

Franz Ferdinand

"Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdiand

This song rocks so hard it hurts. Especially as it completely changes into a different song after about a minute! YEAH!

Listening to: Franz Ferdinand - "Take Me Out" (Franz Ferdinand)

PS - anybody like The Doves? They're playing at the Colston Hall on Weds March 2nd - tickets are £16.50 and I'm booking some soon (if they haven't sold out) for myself and my friend Mike (he loves them). Let me know :)

Scary Movies

Right now I'm sat on my bed typing away at my laptop. I've been home for about an hour. From downstairs I can hear the sound of rushing water as my parents watch "Deliverance" (I bought it for my step-dad for Christmas) and I've just come to the realisation that I know more people called Jen than any other name! I can think of 7 off the top of my head - two of which are related to me (Step-step-Grandmother (my step-dad's step-mother) and a cousin(on my mum's side)), three are at church, one is one of the "Scots" from skiing, and one is Devon Jen who comments on my blog. Blimey. I'm sure I know more...if I think of any while I'm typing, I'll let you know immediately!

Hmm, nobody's online to chat to, so I'm probably just going to blog a bit more, read a bit and then go to sleep. And hopefully not forget my ID Card/Swipe card for work tomorrow!

Went to see "White Noise" again tonight with Phoebe. She invited along Hollie and two of her mates that I've never met before; Emily and Leanne. It was very funny - they were well jumpy, and since I'd seen it before I could watch them jump at the scary bits. I'm not sadistic...honest! Afterwards we went to Maccy's for a bit (mmm, McChicken Premiere) and then came home. Fun.

Last night at worship practice we went back over Tom's song and Rach's song...it was quite cool. We spent ages trying to come up with a syncopated bit in the middle of the chorus. When the choir came out, it turned out that it didn't fit with a bit that they'd added to the singing, so we scrapped it! LoL. It's going to be my first time playing guitar on Sunday morning (as opposed to bass which I've been doing for about 5 years, LoL), and we managed to practice some songs. My hands were killing by the end of it...stupid bar chords. I was well jealous of Mark's capo by the time we'd finished, but Len & Geoff (guitarists on worship team) were urging me not to join the 'Dark Side', and instead to 'Feel the burn'. LoL. I haven't really got much choice! Must get some new strings to put on before Sunday - mine are a bit old and "Harriet" said they sounded a bit dull compared to Mark's. Stupid guitar strings need renewing too often....bass strings are much better. Although my bass strings could do with replacing too....aaargh! Lucky it's not as often though - they're £20 a pop! I read somewhere that the bassist from No Doubt replaces his strings every day. Excessive methinks...lucky he's loaded.

Ooookay, that's enough about strings...if you're still reading!! I emailed UWE today and they told me that I hadn't been shortlisted for the job. I'm not surprised as I wasn't anywhere near experienced enough for the job, and I'd left it entirely up to God. It does mean, however, that I booked an Oracle DB Admin course for work. It's in London for 5 days in 3 weeks time...I can't wait! Last time I went for a training course in London I stayed with Wendy, Phil & Jessica. She is just the coolest kid in the world. When she was 4/5 years old, she asked me if I would watch a video with her. When I said I would she replied,
"Right, I'll just go an find something appropriate then!", and then trundled off upstairs! It was soo cute! Plus she can read music much more fluently than I can (she's been doing it much longer cuz she's been learning violin for a few years).

It's also The Gathering in Birmingham next weekend (not this weekend, but the weekend after)....it's going to be sooo cool! We went for the day last year, but this time it's for the whole weekend! The Gathering is a youth conference, so we're taking a bunch of youth up to it, and last year it was just amazing. It was really good to just be able to get into God's presence and worship anonymously, as opposed to standing on stage with a bass. Don't get me wrong, I love worshipping on the worship team, but sometimes it's nice to have a break and not concentrate on playing. Tom lost his voice last year and couldn't sing on the Sunday, LoL.

Right, I'm going to sleep now.

Listening to: "Deliverance" making things-getting-smashed-up-in-a-river-while-people-are-screaming sounds

Bandwagon

Since everyone else seems to be doing it, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and post some lyrics that from songs I think are just "Gr't Lush" (How Bristolian is that!!)

"Iris" - Goo Goo Dolls
I can remember a point in my life (about 5-6 years ago) where I really felt these lyrics...

And I’d give up forever to touch you
’cause I know that you feel me somehow
You’re the closest to heaven that I’ve ever been
And I don’t want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
’cause sooner or later it’s over
I just don’t want to miss you tonight


"Walking By" - Something Corporate
Only heard this song in the last couple of years, but I can definitely think of a situation where I knew exactly what these meant..LoL...even longer ago than the last song though...

And these nights I get high just from breathing
When I lie here with you I'm sure that I'm real


"Copper Girl" - 3 Colours Red
I just like these lyrics...

Remember that girl who changed your world some time ago
A butterfly soul, you tried to chase, but eventually let go
An inbetweener, would possibly beat her but I don't think so
Around she goes, stuck in your memory, her voice echoes

Oh oh.. I will wait for that copper girl.....

Remember that girl who changed your world some time ago
Then she flew away, but she never did quite go..


"Soar" - Christina Aguilera
Even if you don't like Christina Aguilera, you'd probably like this song. Not her normal type song...hasn't been released either. Full lyrics are here, but here's the pre-chorus and chorus - fantastic...

In life, there's gonna be times when you're feeling low
And in your mind insecurity seems to take control
We start to look outside ourselves for acceptance and approval
We keep forgettin' that the one thing we should know is...

Don't be scared to fly alone, find a path that is your own
Love will open every door it's in your hands, the world is yours
Don't hold back and always know, all the answers will unfold
What are you waiting for, spread your wings and soar

K - well that's enough from me on that. I might update you later with other stuff. Maybe. If you ask nicely :-P

Listening to: 3 Colours Red - "Fit Boy and Faint Girl" (Pure)