It's been quite a while since I last wrote here (in fact, it's a month exactly, ooooooooh). As usual, that's due to the fact that there's been a lot going on, which is something of an ironic situation. Well, for the most part anyway - I've also been my typical lazy self. Woop.

So for the benefit of anyone who cares to read this, here, in summary, are the events of most interest since my last update:

- I went to France for Christmas. It was cold, slightly desolate (the house is in a tiny hamlet called Murat) and very French. Despite being as fun as un Noël français can be, I think if we'd stayed any longer I'd have gone slightly mental.
- New year's eve, and the couple of days after that, were spent at Jonny's house in Ashdown forest with a few of the peeps. I had a lot of fun, but I also learned a few valuable lessons: Desperados (beer 'infused' with tequila) is not as good as I initially remembered it to be; wear sensible shoes if you are to go out walking in muddy conditions just after midnight on new year's day; and in addition to the previous point, bring a spare change of socks with you if your shoes are a bit on the holey side. Needless to say, those shoes still haven't quite recovered. Ooh, and photos of said funtimes can be found here.
- Ben, Joe and I embarked on an epic road trip from Bournemouth to Leeds so we could hand in work for last week's deadlines. On the way we stopped at the National Space Centre just because of the name (and the little rocket symbol on the road signs), but they were closing when we got there. It was still some of the best 10 minutes of my life though. We managed to get to Leeds in record time as well.
- I wrote a rubbish composition in the style of the late James Brown for one of my assignments, and to be honest it was probably so bad that he's turning in his grave as I write this. Sorry Mr Godfather of Soul!
- I wrote a load of crap about, err, guitars and that, among other things, for one of my many essays. That wasn't too fun. I strongly dislike essays.

Whilst I was in Leeds I decided I needed to speak to one of my course leaders about the course. You see, I wasn't feeling very confident doing Music Production, and I'd been asking myself for a very long time whether it was the right course for me - even if I was to get a hang of the tech-y side of things, my heart wouldn't really be in it, but that's not the point, as I'm simply not enough of a tech-head. I had a meeting with Craig, who was very understanding, but I also made it clear that I very much wanted to stay at Leeds. I had been secretly hoping to switch to the Popular Music Studies degree, as not only are 3 of the modules the same, but perhaps more importantly for me, it's a performance based course, and I love playing bass, as any of my flatmates would testify (sorry for playing Jamiroquai basslines at 4am, Joe!). Craig sensed this, and asked whether I'd consider moving, to which I of course said yes. He said he'd discuss it with Danny, the pop course leader, and he'd let me know as soon as possible. It was reassuring to hear that I'd said the magic word, 'bassist' (there's a shortage of bassists on all the performance courses), and that it might be possible to move in time for the upcoming semester.

Craig e-mailed me a few days ago with the good news - it is indeed possible to move in time for the next semester, and all I need to do now is talk to Danny about what I need to catch up on. Hopefully that won't be too much! I also have no idea what my timetable will be like now. I will be so happy if I don't have that horrible 9am seminar on a Monday like I used to!

So yeah... I'm now playing bass for my degree! I can't wait to get started. I'm a bit disappointed that I wasn't doing so well on production, but now I'm starting to think I should have applied for this course in the first place. At least I've managed to change now. I really do think it's the right choice, and funnily enough, most of the people I've mentioned it to have told me that they wonder why I didn't apply for a performance based course initially. Could have pointed me in the right direction when I was applying, then...

I know this is quite a considerable switch, and without meaning to sound too dramatic, something of a life changing decision, but it hasn't really sunk in yet. I guess it will when I go back. I'll have to start making more friends too, as Ben is one of the only people I know on the pop course. Not that I have a problem with that, though.

Oog, me sleepy. I'm not as nocturnal when I'm at home.

Goodnight.

Thought I should write a lil' entry before I bugger off to the land of frogs tomorrow - I'm spending Christmas in my family's house, slap bang in the middle (heh, what a great phrase) of France. Just me, mum, dad and Harry. Oh, and I guess I'll see the crazy neighbours every so often as well. However, it doesn't seem like we're going to see that much of civilisation for the next week, aside from the occasional restaurant and trip into the nearest town. Thankfully, I don't think there will be too much Scrabble involved - we have a supply of DVDs to keep us entertained when it's just too cold to go outside. And I expect it might well be so most of the time!

I could use this as an opportunity to do all that work that's due in at the beginning of January...

...the emphasis is definitely on 'could', though.

Oh, and I got the bass. It's fucking ace! And now I have no money...

Joyeux Noël, et au revoir!

P.S. There shall be raves aplenty when I return next Friday. Oh yes!

Isn't it funny how I only just started feeling Christmassy whilst listening to this album? Why is that? It's not like any of the lyrical themes relate directly to the holiday season. I didn't feel at all festive whilst in Leeds, and I've only felt a slight pang of Christmas cheer since I've been home, but as soon as I put on a bit of Arcade Fire I feel a sudden urge to wear a silly hat, consume vast quantities of mince pies and mulled wine until I'm sick and/or pass out in front of the TV in true Christmas day style.

I'll tell you what though - Winter Pimm's is as good, if not better than mulled wine! I kid you not, it's incredible.

Anyway. HELLOOO! Indeed, I am home now, and have been since Saturday. Ben, Joe and I had the most hilarious, death-defying car journey to Joe's house on Friday. The majority of our problems were caused by dodgy windscreen wipers, which are the last things you want when it's dark and cold, it's raining like a bitch and you've taken long enough to get out of Leeds as it is. Consequently, our journey home (well, to Joe's house in Bromley) took about 10 hours. How? I'll explain.

We were almost killed by two non-consecutive windscreen wiper related events. The first occurred when the wiper on Joe's side went mental and decided it would be a good idea to remove itself from the windscreen, and instead start flapping about by the right-hand side of the car. This happened whilst we were driving on the M1 in particularly treacherous weather conditions. As Joe was trying to sort this out he was looking everywhere but the road, and we almost went into the back of the car in front that happened to be decelerating. Thankfully, a domino-like pile-up was avoided thanks to Ben shouting "AAAAHJOESTOPTHERE'SACARINFRONTOFUS!" and Joe's quick reactions*.

After pulling into the hard shoulder and putting the windscreen wiper back in its proper place, we decided we should try to sort it out more permanently at the next rest stop. Unfortunately, tightening the base of the offending wiper made the other one loose, leaving it flinching at the bottom of the windscreen. However, as we thought we'd fixed the original wiper, and as it was undoubtedly more important, we thought it best to just keep going.

This proved to be very stupid. Barely a minute after we'd got back onto the motorway, the right-hand side wiper was swept off the windscreen again, and it very quickly became impossible to see anything. We barely managed to pull into the hard shoulder, at the annoyance of the lorry driver behind us who almost took out the entire right-hand side of the car (well, at least the mirror) as he went past blasting his horn. Joe called the AA, but as we sat in the car, a truck pulled up behind us, inhabited by what seemed to be some sort of motorway patrol. They told us it was safest to get out of the car and stand away from it (in case something crashed into it, I presume), and they gave us those emergency blankets you see athletes in at the end of a marathon, and on people in, well, emergencies. Subsequently, we spent two hours in the freezing cold, looking like robots, albeit wet, miserable and windswept ones. Personally, I think I would have had to cut off my foot if the AA man had been any later.

To cut a long story short, we were towed off the motorway by said AA man (who incidentally was one of the least conversational people I have ever met), where he fixed the windscreen wipers and charged the battery, as leaving the hazard lights on for two hours had almost drained it. Thankfully, upon arriving at Joe's house at about 1am, there was quite possibly the best feast I have ever had there waiting for us. Joe's family are awesome!

I can't wait for our road trip back up to Leeds in January.

In other news, I haven't been up to that much since getting back home. Met a few peeps in Twickers for some drinks and merriment on Saturday night (I never realised how much of a lightweight Ashley is, but I suppose he can be excused for eating nothing but soup that day). Aside from that, I've realised I need to stop being so damn lazy - today I merely contemplated shaving and going out to do Christmas shopping (and get a duffel coat, because they're awesome). So far I have done neither. I really do need to shave as well, as in my current state I could be mistaken for a fisherman called Lars, an inhabitant of a small Swedish fishing village called Smögen.

I think I might have a shave then...

* Incidentally, as this event unfolded I was in the back, half paying attention whilst grooving out to Michael Jackson's seminal 1979 album, Off The Wall, which was a little too bass-heavy for my liking where I was sitting, as there's a massive sub-woofer in Joe's boot.

So, it's my birthday today. It's been quite good so far, considering I wasn't particularly looking forward to it. I mean, what other day of the year am I going to receive a whole cake in the post? A chocolate and pecan cake (candles included) to be precise! It looks quite buff. Thank you Mrs Gill's Cakes of Dorset (haha) and most importantly, thanks mum and dad. Hehe.

According to my flatmates tonight is going to be awesome. I should hope so.

Aside from that, I cannot fucking wait to get home this weekend! We're actually leaving on Friday, but we're partying chez Joe that night. That is also going to be awesome.

Awesome to the max.

(Oh my word I actually just cleaned up my room! Well, a little bit. But I hoovered an' all!)

Ooh ooh, and those two nights we played at Mio Modo (Italian restaurant) went very well. The first night we got free pizza. It was seriously the buffest pizza I've ever had! We'll have to see whether we're playing there again, but we might have some more gigs lined up for the new year. This probably means I won't have to get a job, HAHAAAAAA!!!

Fauré's Requiem really makes journal writing a lot more dramatic, even if I'm essentially only doing this as procrastination. I really should do a bit of work, as all my deadlines are creeping up, but you know me - I'll do it last minute as usual.

Time-wasting notwithstanding, I've had a pretty good weekend. Yesterday myself, Sam and Ollie did indeed play a gig like I said we would, but it wasn't the one that we'd been booked for. It's a bit complicated, but I'll try to put it simply: we were booked by this restaurant to play background music for an hour, between a salsa band's two sets, but they pulled out and weren't very good at letting the manager know - he only found out at the last minute and had to book a jazz trio instead. This meant it would be too difficult for us to set up and so on. We only found this out when we got there with all our equipment, which was annoying, but at least the manager was very apologetic and said we'd probably be able to play there in the new year.

Meanwhile, Sam was so determined to play a gig somewhere that he went straight into an Italian restaurant across the road to ask if they'd like some live music. Unbelievably, he emerged a couple of minutes later telling us they'd moved some furniture aside for us to set-up and play. Initially the manager said he couldn't really pay us, but we'd get free drinks and if they liked us we'd most probably get invited back. In the end we did get paid, we got loads of free drinks and we're playing there again next Friday and Saturday, and we'll be getting £50 each. Bahahahahahaha.

Perhaps next week we'll be able to get a free meal as well...

This is still hard to believe. We're not doing any gigs after that for the time being, but it seems likely that we could end up with a residency there every weekend! That would be incredible.

We do have to learn a shitload of songs though, as we're doing a 4 hour set each night. Erk. Of course we won't be doing a set one night then a completely different one the next night, but we want vary it up a bit (without having to resort to cheesy jazz versions of Christmas carols).

OK, tomorrow I'll actually do some work. Erm...

My sleeping pattern is slowly returning to normal - I'm starting to feel tired before 4am now. Yay!

There's a dispute going on in our flat - Ben seems to think Hovis is the best bread there is, but I'm arguing for Kingsmill. In reality I don't care at all, but I like to try to prove him wrong. So far it's not going so well - he's got thick sliced. Damn.

I potentially have some very good news (for me at least), although I don't want to get too excited now in case it falls through. That said, it seems like I have a better chance this time than I've had before - I'm (most likely) going to get a Musicman Stingray bass! FINALLY! I can't remember for how long I've wanted this bass, but if all goes to plan I'm going to get it very soon, thanks to my brother - a workmate of his is selling his one and he's asking £700 for it. Considering I've had £600 or so in my savings account for a while, I can stretch the rest of it with the remainder of my loan for this semester and still have enough to survive on. The bass itself is 10 years old, and according to Harry it's in very good condition. He's also played on it and says it's awesome to play. I should hope so.

( It doesn't look so bad either... )

I wonder how many entries have been written about this bass. I'm just a bit in love with it - as if you didn't know already. I promise I'll shut up about it once I actually get it and rave about how amazing it is one more time. Honest.

Aaaah I'm going through another Jamiroquai phase! That's about the third in as many months. Help me, at least for Joe's sake - I'm probably keeping him awake right now with their flavoursome funky grooves. Sorry Joe. It's like crack for me!

I'm going to bed now, for I am talking le bollocks.

xxx

P.S. Shit! It's December! I keep forgetting I'm going to be 19 in a matter of days.

I don't want to be 19 - it sounds like a rubbish age!

Woe, woe - why are the drying machines here so bad? My washing would have been done hours ago if it weren't for the bane of my life that is damp clothes. Oy.

Apologies that it's been a while since my last update, but to be honest nothing of actual interest has really happened. However, one W Donbavand (esq.) was so insistent that I should write something here that I shall right now, if only to pass the time whilst I wait for my laundry to be done. And it had better be fucking dry...

In summary, since my last update I:
- went home, but not for nearly long enough, and I was actually quite homesick once I returned to Leeds. Ho-hum. At least I'll be home again soon enough!
- nearly went insane working all through the night on an essay, and consequently discovered that it's actually quite difficult to write a mere 1500 words on the technological, social and political factors affecting the development of rock 'n' roll BECAUSE IT'S SUCH A FUCKING VAGUE ESSAY TITLE (although it could be worse).
- slept.
- (possibly) got a gig! That's right - myself, Sam (drummer) and Ollie (saxophonist) will hopefully be playing an hour-long set at some restaurant this Saturday. It's only background music too, so that'll be a doddle (ha, doddle! Who even says that word anymore?), i.e. chilled out jazz standards. Unfortunately we'll only get about £20 each but there's a chance of residency, and I bet after a while we'll be able to request a slightly bigger fee (and a free meal if we're going to be totally cocky about it). A regular income, perhaps? That would be convenient, and it could possibly mean the end of me getting a proper job ever again! (As if I ever had one.)
- slept some more.
- slept through most of a three day-long music technology conference held at LCM, against the recommendation of my course leaders. I did, however, go to the presentation by Andy Barlow of Lamb fame, which was pretty damn awesome, and I'm not saying that just 'cause I'm a fan. Contrarily, the only reason I actually bothered to go to that one was because I'm a fan. Also, it was in the afternoon, so I was actually awake for it. Just about.
- actually went out last night, for the first time in ages, or so it seems. As a result I was suitably sauced - my hangover this morning being a testament to that. I think Joe's more of a lightweight than me! Haha.

Hmm, my clothes must be dry by now. I'll go and get them...

Yes! Dry, warm (though somewhat disconcertingly so, as in "Hmm, let's hope the prolonged, er, dryer-ing has not had a shrinking effect on my") clothes! This has improved my mood, although that is marred to an extent by the undeniable truth that those machines are an absolute fucking rip-off.

Now I can sleep!!!

P.S. Alles Gute zum Geburtstag Ian! (for yesterday) and Feliz Cumpleaños Tom! (for today).

P.P.S. That might not be the correct way to say Happy Birthday in either language, but hey, at least I tried.

My composition is finally done! Did I say I had to compose a 3 minute song in a popular music style? No? Well I did. And it's done. Pretty much. I would have liked to add more but my computer is frustratingly slow, so much so that I wanted to smash it to pieces at times. Also I'm lazy and it's due in tomorrow. I mean, later on today. I just say tomorrow out of habit, but really I seem to be in my own time zone, or something.

Sooooo. Listen! If you'd like to. It's the top one, "Scherzlectro". Bear in mind it's a bit daft, and I blatantly ripped off some particular artists - Squarepusher, Justice and Jamiroquai are the obvious ones. There's also a bit of bass wankery, but this is ME we're talking about.

Next time I'll compose something better, honest.

Fuck knows what style it's in though. Electro Funk? Dirtyelectrofunkydanceycrap? Actually, that's not a bad song title...

Aaaaaaah I'm coming home on Friday! Who's around at the weekend who I haven't already made plans with?

I'll probably forget to update for a little while, so I'll leave you with BOX FIGHT!

There's been a drought of updating recently, I know. I will actually write something proper soon, but for now this entry is simply stating the following: I can't sleep simply because I can't get over how fucking amazing Squarepusher's new album is*. Of course, I shouldn't have expected any less, but it's just so good, and so different to anything else I've heard recently, nay, ever (save for occasional similarities to his previous work) that I simply can't get enough of it.

Apologies, another (mini) ramble about music. I am exaggerating a bit too, and I probably will "get over" how good it is at some point, but if I'm being really honest, then I'm starting to think the man is a genius - and that's not just because I have infinite respect for him as a bassist, although I suppose it helps. I mean in terms of the music itself - one of the best things about this album (needless to say the majority of his back catalogue as well) are the melodies and harmonic progressions, some of which are incredible in my opinion, and I mean to use that adjective. There's also some mindblowing bass playing, as I'd expect on any Squarepusher album, but it would be just as good without it. Well, almost as good. The only problem I have with this album is the ambient noodling, but only because it drags on a bit in places - mostly it serves as an effective compositional device. Overall, this is still a very solid piece of work. No, not solid... I meant to say it's FUCKING AWESOME.

Haha, it does sound so ridiculous when I read through that last paragraph. Squarepusher, a genius. I'm probably just going through another phase of listening to a particular artist too much (the last one was Jamiroquai) and totally bumming them, before suffering a case of overkill. I can only presume I'll then not listen to him at all for a few months, then I'll re-listen to the album and either realise it wasn't as great as I initially thought, or I'll just write the same rant all over again. Right now I reckon the latter is more probable. I mean, the harmonic progressions! THE HARMONIC PROGRESSIONS!

Ahh I should really go to bed now (and that wins the award for most overused phrase in my journal). I swear all I write about here is music these days - this is quickly turning into a music review page. I am actually doing plenty of other stuff worth some mention here, but I thought I'd spare you the "what I had for breakfast" level of scrutiny, and besides, I never have proper breakfast anymore so that's invalid. Bad example. What I mean to say is, I will write something else here very soon. If anyone reads it. Yes? Maybe. Also, it might be somewhat apparent that I've become even more of a geek since coming here, even in the last few weeks, which, although not really relevant, might explain why I've been bumming Squarepusher so much, as he is such a geek himself. Hmm.

Anyway... goodnight!

P.S. I'm coming home for the weekend next Friday! Wooooooo!

*My insomnia is probably also something to do with developing the worst possible sleep pattern and essentially becoming nocturnal, but that's another matter entirely. It does explain how I've missed too many lectures though.

I've slept through too many lectures this week. Not good. I don't know what happens - usually I'm playing bass (as quietly as I can) late at night and before I know it, it's gone 3am. Then I sleep right through my alarm. However, my flatmates have come up with a solution to this problem - Crazy Anne will scream at me when it's time to get up, not ceasing until I'm out of bed. Seems reasonable enough. Crazy Anne would actually do that too - she's so damn crazy.

Returning to the subject of bass, I think I've improved since I got here. During the summer I went through a slump, not practicing at all, not even learning any songs. I wasn't very confident in my playing when I moved in, but now I think I've got my groove back and I've advanced technically as well. So, er, go me! Heh. I've also jammed a bit with Sam (badass Northern Irish drummer) and a few other people up in his flat. Yesterday's was mental - time signatures all over the place, really locking into the groove, really getting into it. Sam was sweating like a paedo in a playground. Erm. But yeah, it was awesome fun!

Tonight we plan to buy a load of booze with the beer fund we've been saving, play a bit of ring of fire at the flat then go out and crash Danielle's fancy dress pub crawl. We were going to just do the crawl, but it's too much effort getting the costumes and all that, and we'll save money this way. Besides, a fantasy theme will never beat Ghostbusters. That said, I would have made a good pixie...

Hmm. I'm sure I was supposed to mention something else as well here. Oh well.