Whatever happened to....

.... my long weekend?

It all just seemed to fly by and now I am back at work already. I hate it when that happens, most depressing!

Nothing to report from The Asylum really. La Grande Cabbage continues to be the bane of my existence and I think I am only a few steps away from sending my CV out to various agencies!

All being well we'll get our re-org tomorrow so we at least know where the balance of power is and I can ascertain whether or not I'm in for a completely miserable existence or not!

It was great to get home and relax. I spent a couple of hours on the five string bass running through some Orpheum stuff and also getting my recording rig back up and running. I never seem to have enough time for these things.

Once Sam had returned home from college we caught up with WWE Raw and Tough Enough before embarking on a rare early night!

Another chilled out day

Bank holiday Monday so let's do nothing for most of the day! Nothing is GOOD!

In the afternoon we went back to Toni's and the clan gathered. Toni, Sam, Jade, Aaron and Gemima and I all had a curry whilst watch watching Back To The Future! Was nice to have gathered almost the entire clan under one roof for a short while.

A great way to end the long weekend!

Relaxing, Camelot, dump, relaxing and Drive Angry

There was another change of plan today. As Toni was still in decorator hell we decided to skip Gotham Lite (so named because the real Gotham XII has been postponed until December and this was a make shift substitute event)

So, the order of the day was relaxing. We got up at a not too unreasonable hour, had some breakfast and watched the first couple of episodes of the new Camelot series and then did a run to the dump to get rid of a few things.

We then went back to the old relaxing! As Sam was working we grabbed kebabs for dinner and continued watching Camelot.

Toni read while I caught up with some Orpheum and Edinburgh Capitals web stuff.

We finished the night watching Drive Angry. It's one of those so bad it's good films. OTT and ridiculous but actually quite entertaining!

Visiting Scarlett, change of plan, TV & films

Breakfast and a WWE Smackdown catch up was followed by Toni, Sam and I heading to Chelmsford to see Shane and Scarlett. It was good to see them again and thankfully Scarlett seemed much more settled and wasn't acting silly and shy. She's really coming out of herself now and is a proper little chatter box.




After seeing Scarlett we had a change of plan. Due to the decorators arriving Toni and I decided to opt out of Theatre Des Vampires and stay at home instead. We then spent the afternoon watching TV shows and films. Game Of Thrones, Dr. Who, Carry On Up The Jungle and The Mummy were there for our entertainment while we dined on some very delicious steak.

It has been a very nice relaxing day :o)

No news is...

...quite frankly, no news which really sucks! It was with great disappointment that we ended another week without actually having the results of the re-organisation released to us. We received an email on Monday apologising for the delay and assuring us that we would know this week! Company FAIL! Here's hoping that they can announce something on Tuesday otherwise we'll have another week with people not actually knowing who their managers are and just twiddling their thumbs because they have no direction. It can't go on like this much longer as people are starting to get pissed off with it all, sort it out please management!

Flappage was minimal in the daily routine which was just about acceptable.

Bad news today was Toni having the car taken in for a clutch problem which has just generated a nice expense of £300 between us, just what was needed after getting tires down and Road Tax being due as well. Oh well, we can't do without it so we'll have to suck it up, bloody thing!

To make up for all this misery I treated Toni, Sam and I to Rockit Pizza for dinner. Toni was delighted as she loves their gluten free pizzas. Psychoville and South Park provided some visual stimulation!

One step closer, soggy soggy and five strings

Well I think today we moved one step closer to our re-org being completed at work. By all accounts we should have an announcement tomorrow and then finally we'll be able to start moving forwards properly! We even found out what the hold up had been about! It's been a long time coming but we are almost there now! Overall it wasn't a bad day. El Cabbage was slightly less annoying than usually although he still managed to be ineffectual! Time to man up mister or you'll get cut adrift!

Poppped out at lunch time and it was a little wet. When I left at the end of the day the rain was torrential and I was even treated to some thunder and lightning. The only downside was being completely drenched by the time I reached Liverpool Street station so it was a VERY cold and soggy ride home.

When I got back to SWF Nick dropped off his five string bass which he has very kindly lent me to see how I get on with it before I consider buying one. Have to admit that after an hour I could see the advantage although it does take some getting used to and a lot more practice would be in order!

Finished the evening off watching I Am Number Four, a few episodes of South Park including the latest episode Crack Baby Athletic Association and the latest instalment of Psychoville!

Grrrr at work, WWE and eBay

Work continues to get more and more frustrating. A certain member of the management chain is driving me insane at the moment and it's almost reaching the point where I am considering my options! Neither hands on nor a manager so makes me wonder how he go the job! I was left with a real Grrrrr feeling today!

It was a relief to get away at the end of the day I can tell you.

My evening was, thankfully, less stressful. Caught up with WWE and Tough Enough and managed to get all my eBay items packaged up and sent.


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Last.FM listening post

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:


Top weekly artists:


Overall top tracks:


Overall top artists:

Madness at The Asylum, meeting dad & The Princess Bride

Life and times at The Asylum are hitting a real low at the moment. The re-org seems to have slowed down so we really don't know what going and I continue to be astounded at the level of incompetence and ineffeciency that El Cabbage continues to display. It is most disconcerting :o(

On the plus side I did get to go out at lunch time and meet up with dad for a coffee and catch up. It doesn't happen much these days since he moved Ooop North so I am glad we managed to match schedules when he was down in Londinium for some meetings.

After work it was back to Eltham for snuggled with Toni. A HUGE mixed grill and The Princess Bride finished the day off very nicely before it was time for snuggles :o)


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World Goth Day @ The Devonshire Arms

Today was World Goth Day. To celebrate Toni and I went to Camden. We did of course, make some sort of effort for the occasion.



We started off with a yummy meal in our favourite restaurant Qing (of vegetarian shock horror fame). Suitably stuffed we then headed to The Devonshire Arms for the Dominion Magazine organised event for World Goth Day with Dutch Order, Devilish Presley and Rhombus playing.





Whilst we enjoyed a nice drink we watched various members of Rhombus getting incredibly grumpy with the way the set up of the gig was going and the fact that everything was running behind schedule.


DUTCH ORDER
Another feisty set from Dutch Order with their post punk style getting everyone warmed up and dancing about.




See all the DUTCH ORDER pics here: 220511DutchOrderTheDevWorldGothDay


DEVILISH PRESLEY
This was an interesting set for Devilish Presley tonight. Not only was the majority of the set list decided by the fans through a Facebook poll but they were playing tonight with no drums or backing, just Jackie and Johnny on vocals with Johnny providing guitar. It was a great set nonetheless and DP never disappoint and always put on a fantastic show. I was particularly happy as they did You Can't Spell Rock N Roll.




See all thr DEVILISH PRESLEY pics here: 220511DevilishPresleyTheDevWorldGothDay


RHOMBUS & FRIENDS
Despite the trials and tribulations of the pre-gig set up Rhombus hit the stage in style and then proceeded to have all sorts of technical difficulties. You couldn't help but feel their pain. Simon Satori (from Rome Burns) came on stage and did a cover of Non-Specific Ghost Story and Shove It Up Sideways. Sadly we had to leave before the rest of the guests had performed but what we saw was a great set despite the technical hitches.





See all the RHOMBUS & FRIENDS pics here: RhombusFriendsTheDevWorldGothDay


All in all it was a really good event, a little bit different but a jolly good night out!

Visiting Scarlett

Toni, Sam and I went over to Shane's today to see Scarlett. Like last time she was a bit clingy but it didn't take her long to settle down and play normally. Was so nice to see her and hear her chattering away. Thank you so much to Shane for once again making sure that we can see her regularly.

Cabbages, bass practice, Full Metal Alchemist and Psychoville

Work is just driving me loopy at the moment! The re-org still hasn't been finalised so we are still partially directionless and it's difficult to make informed decisions when you don't really know who is going to be working for who under the new structure! They really need to get all this sorted out ASAP as there is only so much flapping from a wittering cabbage one can take before one has to consider one's options!

It was a great relief to get home where I took myself upstairs and did an hour of bass practice, it's amazing how much Orpheum is making me have to step up my game! Nothing wrong with improving and being challenged but it's hard work!

Sam and I caught up with WWE Smackdown and RAW over a lovely spaghetti bolognaise and then spent some time with the Full Metal Alchemist!

Evening was nicely rounded off with the latest episode of Psychoville before hitting the sack as I was feeling a little under the weather.



NOT NOW SILENT SINGER!

Good news and tattoos

Only a half day at work today but it was certainly another mad flappy one! Re-org is slowly working it's way through as two of the at risk guys have been told they are now safe. Hopefully everything will be announced tomorrow on exactly where things are at. It will be good when it's all done!

In other good news, Gail was discharged from hospital today. She is doing well although I don't think she'll be too impressed having more modifications to her diet.

In the afternoon I went to Rochester with Toni and Jade. We had a nice cup of tea in the shadow of the church (and castle) before mooching charity shops and then heading to Diablo Tattoo. Jade was there for sone major colour work and Toni and I made arrangements for us to progress having out joint tattoo done! I am really excited about having it done! Although not quite complete Jade's piece is looking awesome.






Later than planned I headed back to SWF where Sam had dinner prepared for me and we watched some WWE and South Park.

After Sam had gone to bed I dragged the bass out and did sone long overdue practice before finally hitting the pit. Much needed hair wash will have to wait until tomorrow!



- Posted using BlogPress on my iPhone

Last.FM listening post

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:


Top weekly artists:


Overall top tracks:


Overall top artists:

Mega busy day and relaxing with Bridget Jones

Well the workload isn't getting any lighter at the moment! Still swimming in a sea of backlog! Things aren't likely to improve any time soon so it's just a case of knuckle down and get on with it!

It was a relief to finally leave and go back to Toni's to unwind. Lots of little things happening that will make our lives easier which is a good thing!

Dinner was a yummy mixed frill with salad and roasted veg and we enjoyed the company of Bridget Jones (much to Aaron's disgust LOL)

Hospital fun and games

Things didn't go quite as planned today!

After a nice lunch out, Toni got a call saying that Leanne was bringing Gail back from Bexhill and they needed to call an ambulance on their return to take Gail to the hospital.

Toni and I whizzed over and waited for Gail and Leanne. Once the bag was packed I went to King's Hospital in the ambulance with Gail and Toni drove Leanne afterwards as they had to sort a couple of things out first.

It was an interesting ride in the ambulance. Various dashes with blues and twos blaring and the odd probing question from Gail as to whether or not I planned to marry Toni all paled into insignificance with what happened next.

We had almost reached King's when there was lots of banging on the side of the ambulance. We heard voices saying there was a man laying on the pavement with blood all over his face. The crew decided Gail was stable enough for the moment and went outside to attend to the guy on the pavement. It was then decided that they would stick him in the passenger seat and take him with us to A&E! Most unorthodox!

Once we'd got to King's it transpired that our pick up had actually escaped from A&E and had collapsed not far from there. Seems he'd bailed out 6 times in the last 12 hours! LMFAO

After this excitement it was down to the hospital nitty gritty!

Whilst various tests were being done and chest x-ray taken we enjoyed the delights of the family room..... What's wrong with this picture?



.....the answer is:



DOH!

On a positive note Gail is stable and although she is being kept in overnight she doesn't seem to be as bad she was when she was admitted five weeks ago.

She certainly wasn't backwards in releasing unwanted 'air' much to our delight although I did find a way to combat this:



After four and a half hours Gail was finally move to a ward so that they could start dialysis and we left her in the hands of the nurses and doctors.

Oh what a night!


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Short Circuit Festival @ The Roundhouse

Sam and I hit The Roundhouse in Camden to go to the Short Circuit Festival put together for Mute Records artists.

Apologies for the poor quality of photos this time round but we were sitting in the circle for this gig rather than in the pit!


LIARS
Liars were the first of the evening festivities and had an interesting sound. Choppy dance punk rhythms with a very art rock style. They were OK, got a lukewarm audience reaction and Sam certainly wasn't a fan!




THE RESIDENTS
Stage was nicely laid out like a living room complete with very nice imitation fire!
We were told 'spooky tales' against a sonic soundscape of keyboard and guitar noise. Sam's view "They're a bit odd aren't they?". Well yes they are but highly entertaining too!








Andy 'Fletch' Fletcher got a great reaction with his DJ set through the next break.


ERASURE
Erasure were fucking fabulous. Pomp, circumstance, camp and splendour. We were treated to three Yazoo songs with Vince and Alison Moyet. Andy Bell then took the stage and we had some Pop!tastic hits. The night ended with Feargal Sharkey guesting and singing Never Never (from Vince's The Assembly days)!
Fantastic stuff but an hour wasn't long enough!

Alison and Vince reunited:





Erasure







Erasure & Feargal Sharkey


Fletch filled the gap again with a less inspiring DJ set than last time although he did redeem himself with a Depeche Mode dance mix at the end.


LAIBACH
First song was very atmospheric and I was really looking forward to their set. Sadly we had to make an early exit as things were running very late which was a damn shame.




A very entertaining night and Erasure & Friends definitely stole the show!