Cycling to Paris

i lied. tonight, i need a shower.

a rare treat for you people: a picture of my new guitar.

apologies on the quality of the picture, and i'll try and get a better one up soon.

long time no speak.

i love the french language. it's free-flowing, great to have little conversations in, and fun to insult each other with. but i hate my french teacher - with a vengeance. she's a kind-of good teacher, but she is, well, a crap teacher. she has the mother of all mood swings and she seperates the sylfaenol people from the rest of us, as if there's something wrong with them.

i might have a go on cool boarders 3 in a bit. lol, what a game. one of my favourites. i really want to learn to snowboard. it would be very cool, cause to be honest, how many people can honestly say they snowboard? no-one i know can snowboard. so yeah. snowboarding. one day.

on saturday, i had my first practice with the new band. the problem is that the guy that thinks he sings for us. the long and the short of is that we don't want him to sing for us because he has a history of fucking up. but we don't really want to chuck him out over nothing, cause that would be unjustified and rude. so we need to do that at some point. and we need to name the band... but going back to the practice, it was quite good, and even though we only really managed to work on one song due to time restrictions, it was productive and fast. and i had a chip bap, which always helps. we just had to spend ages working on what would be our verse, and after several attempts, i think we've got a verse. i could be wrong, mind you.

and i'm now a 16 year old, which isn't as good as it used to be, but still, it beats 15. and i've got a big hole in my fence lol.

i need to go shower.

things are gradually getting worse for me. schoolwise, i'm fine; up to speed on everything. but i don't have a clue as to what's going on in my personal life. it's all a fucking mess. it's like i'm stood there, watching everything fuck up around me, and i know it's happening, but i don't know what to do. and girls aren't worth the effort. 100% effort = 0% response. takes the piss.

i sound like a bitter and twisted old man. surprising, cause i'm only in my teens.

i really can't be bothered with talking to girls though. or the girls i like anyway. i need to lighten up.

and mark ronson is showing me the way lol. mark ronson + kasabian = part-time happiness.

here i am, rock you like a hurricane.

lol. damn right.

i need a holiday. anywhere. sharpish.

until 2 minutes ago, i'd forgotten how good smoke on the water is. i'm tired. i think that big rant has dried up my talking resources. i can't think of anything, except for moaning.

i haven't even got the get-go to moan.

anyway, that concludes tonight's exciting broadcast.

actually, no it doesn't.

i had a new song idea for the new band, and i'm quite happy with it. it's similair to banquet, but not as dramatic. i have a love/hate relationship with audacity. when i was recording the song idea, it picked up the first guitar really well, but when i did the second guitar, it was crap. if anyone wants to hear it, go here. so yeah, excuse the not so good sound quality on the second guitar.

perhaps you're wondering how on earth could i follow up the rant below?

i will at some point, don't worry. but not today. no, today's post is dedicated it to Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole. i only found about him today, but from what i've seen the guy was cool. he was from the coolest place, hawaii, and he played a ukelele. what more could you ask for?

to be honest, i was surprised after watching like a tribute video because it showed the scattering of his ashes, and the amount of people that were out in the water as it happened was impressive. it was nice to watch: all the people out on their surfboards.

so, there we go. another post draws to a close.

this is perhaps to be the longest post yet.

have you ever felt like you've been caught in a moment where you feel like the problems in your life seem so insignificant compared to those of someone you've just seen in a film or read about in a book? have you ever felt like you've wasted moments of your life despairing over something that in comparison to the problems of these characters are nothing? i have. it happened recently. well, not too recently, but still. but now i feel the need to question the purpose of those moments in films or books or wherever/however you experience them. to some people, i might by wasting my time, but i want to know why these moments are shown to us. are they shown to us so that we get that odd feeling where we feel like our lives aren't as bad as we think? if so, then the more the merrier. bring on those moments. or are they shown because the people who conceived those ideas want us to reflect on how small our problems are compared to such problems as death, for lack of a better example. if this is true, then perhaps it is important to make clear that despite the fact that our problems, like relationships breaking up, may not be as big as those that we see, but in our lives these smaller moments are the equivalent of those that we see in the cinema or whatever. for us, those moments are the ones where you would want a song playing the background; music that would reflect the tragedy of your situation. again, i'm going to be a little bit self-concious and worry about what people would say upon reading this. my guess is that most people would simply say "you're pointing out the obvious." if that is the case, then why does no-one talk about these things? surely if it is something so obvious, then it is worthy of being discussed. my second guess at people's reaction would be that someone would think that this is either an attack on someone that has let me down, or that i'm a little bit bitter about something that has happened to me and that's why i've written this. i don't doubt that that would be an obvious road to go down, because i think that i would think the same if i saw someone having such a rant as this. but i stress that this is not the case. this is merely what i feel like i need to say. it is not a personal attack on anyone, or a form of revenge or bitterness. it is only what i want to say. nothing more, nothing less.

that is the first rant over.

now for the second.

what is wrong with 'indie'? why does 'indie' have so many followers and haters at the same time? why do people aspire to become 'indie' only to shunt the glory when it has been achieved? has it let them down? i don't know. what i do know is that it is a group, a gang, a cult, whatever you want to call it, that is incredibly important to the lives of young people today. i should know. in my school, in my year there are two groups main groups that you can divide the students of my year into. the first is the chav group. the second is the indie/cool group. that may sound lame, but it's true. the indie/cool group are, surprisingly, a group of people who are the group you aspire to be in. they are the group that have the parties everyone's talking about, so it's easy to see why people want to be a part of that group. and in that sense, i think it's fair to say that that is the general feeling towards 'indie' on a wider scale: everyone wants to be there. however, the 'indie' following has a brutal tendancy where it rears its head and rejects itself for what it has become. people aspire to be 'indie' but once they've achieved that status, they begin to think that it's now not cool to be 'indie', and that you're only truly 'indie' if you hate the status of being 'indie'. where is the sense?

i've lost my drive to rant now, so this is the end, but anyone who reads this should not be disappointed: this is the longest post to date. chin up.

quick one. an extract from black books:

Bernard: "I want a drink."
Fran: "You always want something. You know, in Tibet if they want something, d'you know what they do? They give something away."
Bernard: "Do they, do they? That must be why they're such a dominant global power."

the genius of dylan moran.

i should go wash my teeth.

i might do in a minute. that or get a drink of water.

the bioleg was too easy. i'm not being cocky or anything, but they gave the answers away in the questions. and yet the step up from sylfaenol to uwch is immense. i could live on sylfaenol exams forever. sylfaenol exams and lebkuchen.

it rained like there was no tomorrow this morning. takes the mick. luckily my hair kind of shielded most of the rain off my face.

the highlight of the day was the arrival of my new guitar. it's a beauty. fender telecaster 72 custom. black. rosewood neck. so smooth compared to my other guitar. which i hate. it started playing up again. the jack is getting loose again, so there's no continuity in the sound. and now the a string is really low down to the fretboard, so it's starting to scuff whenever you play it. i was surprised with the fender though. the body is quite heavy. and the ironic thing is that i've got a fender guitar and i'm using a gibson strap. the excitement.

i feel like i'm falling behind in german again. the other two always seem to have their work done, and then i'm left to copy up because i've either forgotten or i choose not to do it. i think it might have been a mistake doing my a-level a year early. only because i feel like i'm only just keeping up.

at some point, i've got to do some research for my welsh coursework. my title is something along the lines of "violence is becoming more apparent in our society. there's no stopping it. discuss." a bit doom and gloom, but i remembered a clockwork orange, and so i'm going to say that's where our society is headed. ever the optimist.

i should revise for my bioleg exam, but i can't be bothered.

bloody typical. i go to training tonight, and because of the rain, the pictch is deemed unusable. i respect mickey and his opinion, but i wanted to train. instead i went swimming. i never knew how knackering real swimming is. only recently have i been doing real swimming. before i either didn't swim or just mucked about. but i kid you not - it is hard.

why are there no good gigs coming up at the cia? the mighty boosh are coming soon, but the tickets i saw were crap seats. apparently omid djalili is meant to be playing the millenium centre, and that would be good to see. even if he does use the same jokes over and over.

i'm starting to like circuit training. or what we do in school. i was almost dead by the end, and i hate burpees, but still. it was good.

class song. helicopter.

anyway, i'm off to watch MORE black books. i can't get enough of it.

might check my myspace first...

bloc party fan videos are the best fan videos. there's a kreuzberg one which was pretty good, and then there's one for srxt which is alright. i don't mean to be rude but the one for long way round/long way down, where the woman's walking around with the guitar is a bit shite. i mean, fair play to them they gave it a go, but it's really not that good.

watched if today. i'm beginning to think that malcolm mcdowell is my favourite actor. he was really good in a clockwork orange, and he was pretty good in if. i think i understand the film. i'm assuming that the scene where they shoot the people from the roof is like a metaphor for what everyone wants to do sometimes. and then the strict rules of the school represent the prudeness of british society. or what was british society.

i know i'm not the first person to say this, but it's weird how things change. i remember when i was a lot younger i used to watch top of the pops and used to hide when oasis came on. these days, i have an oasis cd sitting proudly in my collection. i remember seeing bloc party for the first time on the telly: they were being covered by newsround because they were tabbed as "the next big thing", after having sent a demo to franz ferdinand. then they played so here we are, and i remember thinking that was such a dull song. now, silent alarm and a weekend in the city are two of my favourite albums.

the next science module exams start next week. i don't know which one we have when though.

that's all i've got for today.

strangely, crumbling mincepies and boiled potatoes are a good combination.

anyway, i was talking to someone that i'd like to call a relatively new friend about things to do after school's finished. and i already had the idea of cycling around france, but i thought it would be great to finish the tour by cycling into paris. the icing on the cake, so to speak. but i don't know how financially viable that would be. it might be better to do after a-levels instead. it's a nice idea though. start out in paris, cycle through france, staying in obscure hostels across the land before returning the bikes in paris.

i want to fast-forward the next few months, and just get to the summer. as does everyone else. i want to get out so much, instead of being in the same routine of school, home, school, home etc. when the summer finally comes, i'm going on a family holiday to france, and then after that i'm going to st david's with some friends. i've been thinking of doing a day in edinburgh as well, but that would cost around £44. it would be good to go up there while the fringe is on. haggis in batter and chips + fringe festival = great.

another place i want to go is the latitude festival. i can't remember where exactly it is, i think it's somewhere like surrey or somewhere else that starts with s. it's great because bandit did a piece on it, and loads of welsh people go there, and loads of welsh bands play there. and arcade fire played there last year. and css.

i'm not going to shut up about 4oD, because it is really good. after watching skins and the 4 series' of the peep show, i decided to watch black books, which was a bit of living-on-the-edge for me, cause i'd never seen it before. my god, have i been missing out. dylan moran is fantastic in it. that is what a comedy program should be. and i was surprised by the fact that it came out it in the 90s. i might watch spaced after i've finished black books.

only 3 weeks left until the six nations starts and we [the welsh] get to see what warren gatland has been able to pull out of the swriling abyss that is welsh rugby. a bit over-blown, but we are in a mess. and what better way to start than against england? that will be a big game. it will be interesting to see on monday who's in the team. i'd like to see henson in the squad. who knows.

today i made the decision to start reading "a tale of two cities" by charles dickens. i was surprised. even though i only read the first 2 chapters, i thought the chapters would've been a bit longer, but they were quite short. not that i'm saying that dickens has let me down, but i expected bigger things. i like how the first page is almost full of his contradictions and how the first chapter is entirley dedicated to laying the scene. i'll try to finish that. and then if i do, i'll finish 1984.

talking of cultural classics, after having watched what i guess was the second half of a clockwork orange, i've recorded if, so i'll probably watch that tomorrow. malcolm macdowell again. can't be too bad.

so yeah. crumbling mincepies and potatoes. go for it.