October and November.
As you may or may not have gathered, I generally don’t use Tumblr anymore. I find it a bit boring, however I really miss writing. I’ve got a bit of an urge lately to write, so I thought I’d write a blog, alongside writing poems to put in the Christmas cards of my friends and work colleagues. They’re quite insulting, so please don’t be offended when you read yours. Writing a poem about how fabulous you are and how much I love you would just be boring.
I’m very much looking forward to Christmas, but as always it’s the build up to Christmas that’s the fun part. Seeing all the Christmas displays in shops, choosing what pack of overpriced Christmas cards to send out this year, hearing Shakin’ Stevens for the first time on the radio and seeing our fridge at home get full of awesome food. Food. Something I’ve been depriving myself of of late. That sort of sounds like I’ve developed an eating disorder - I haven’t - but I have been dieting, and getting some very good results. I’ve lost 10lbs so far and I intend on doubling that figure.
Alongside concentrating on dieting, I have also, as usual, been giving myself lots of lovely things to do and things to looks forward to. As a Christmas treat to ourselves, me Adam, Aimée and Laura are going to London for the weekend at the start of December which is going to be fun, alcohol fulled and full of lolz. Alongside this, it’s my birthday next Friday and I’ve managed to plan what I hope is going to be a very good day. I’m going over to Birmingham with Aimée in the day to visit the German Market and then we’re heading to one of my most favourite places ever - The Electric Cinema - to see (ahem) the new Twilight film, accompanied by cocktails. Then later that evening me and approx. 20 of my nearest and dearest friends are going for a curry and then we’re going to go and get disgustingly drunk. Well, I am anyway, it is my birthday after all!
But yes, speaking of The Electric, I’ve had some lovely evenings there in the past few weeks. Me and Lou had one of our infamous dates in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago, which consisted of Latin-American eats in Las Iguanas and drinks at The Sunflower Lounge, finishing off with the last showing of Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia at The Electric. It was absolutely stunning in every aspect, visually beautiful as well as the narrative. I have also recently been to see John Carpenter’s Halloween with my friend Sam, we booked a sofa which is always ace and it was beyond awesome to see one of my most favourite films in a cinematic atmosphere. Most recently, I visited The Electric with James on Thursday to see We Need To Talk About Kevin. I read the book before seeing the film, and the book was one of the best novels I’ve read. So brilliantly written, and the characters are built up fantastically. Needless to say, I had very high expectations of the film but for once, a film based on a novel actually delivered. Kevin was exactly how he should have been, as was Eva, Tilda Swinton’s character. I’d thoroughly recommend reading and watching the aforementioned.
Besides cinematic niceties (which have also included the very disappointing Paranormal Activity 3 and Contagion), I have also been indulging my musical senses by going to see a decent amount of live music. Now, rock/indie or whatever you want to call it will always be my musical calling, however I am currently enjoying dance/d’n’b/dub or whatever the hell you’d class it as. The music snob will instantly reject anything of this ilk, but my GOD it’s fun and I love it, and as a result I’ve been to see Nero twice in the past fortnight. The first gig was at Birmingham HMV Institute in Digbeth which was just fantastic. The crowd was really good, we got pretty damn close and just danced the whole gig away.
The following Friday we saw Nero in closer proximity, at the colly in Coventry. What a difference that made. It was the 14 year old’s big night out, and it was just ridiculous. Now I know at that age, actually being allowed to go somewhere such as a nightclub was a big and exciting deal but now I understand now how fucking annoying it is to those who are older. In no exaggerated terms, me and Aimée were easily two of the oldest people there, at the age of 22. And obviously, the kids did what they think is etiquette at a gig - shove each other, kick each other and just generally dick about. Yes, I am aware that mosh pits occur at most gigs but this was something else. We were packed in to the point where people were stood against the door entrance to the room, if you wanted to get to the bar you didn’t stand a chance. I spent a good deal of the gig picking up kids off the floor and babysitting, but after a while I just let them get killed. People were jumping OFF THE BALCONY into the crowd below which was pretty terrifying to see, but once I stopped babysitting I actually enjoyed it. In Birmingham I didn’t really *see* the gig due to one reason or another (only Aimée will know what I mean by this, ha!) but at least in Cov I could actually watch the stage show, as eventually me and Aiméé stood on the DJ stage at the back of the room. So yes, same artist, two VERY different experiences. I also saw Katy B the evening prior to Nero in Coventry, and she was also very good. It was the first gig I’d been to at the new academy in Birmingham - what a load of crap that place is! Literally as much atmosphere as the inside of my wardrobe. Oh well.
I’ve missed out a load more of what I’ve been getting up to, but for now I’ve satisfied my writing urge!
