A Week Away

Just back from my week at Josh's place.

It was a good week.

But my week actually started the day before, at Anfield in Liverpool. My dad and i went to see Liverpool vs Valencia. We won 2-0 which was good but i was mostly bothered about being sat in the Kop which is something i can tick off my bucket list (not that i plan on dying any time soon)

Obviously, it was just a friendly match and the atmosphere wasn't as good as it probably is for big matches but that doesn't bother me a jot.

While we were at the match, my mum and sister went into town to see a film and Liverpool's Gay Pride was on at the time but if they seen any of the festivities, neither of them mentioned it.
Anfield is a bit further from the city centre so i didn't see anything either.

Anyhoo, after this i was dropped at Josh's. Was about 30 minutes from Liverpool.

There were 6 people there that night and it was, in all honesty, the best night of the week and this was before the week even began :P

Josh was there of course, Nicholas was staying for the full two weeks, Rob arrived the same day i did and two other friends (who i wont name to keep names to a minimum) were there, too.

It was quite a crazy night, but that's coz we pretty much had a whole house to ourselves.

Basically there is the main house, then a little annex behind it and a two floor converted garage which was left to us, meaning we could stay up till whenever and be as loud as we liked. We did exactly that. Plentiful supply of alcohol as well. Must have had 7 bottles in 2 or 3 hours as well as Josh's dad providing some whiskey.

Needless to say, i was sick again and i apparently threw a whiskey glass at a wall but whatever :P


The two nameless friends left the next day and i think the effects were felt immediately. It was way quieter. I have to say that mine and Rob's arrival were probably a breath of fresh air to everyone else who had spent a whole week with each other but we were down to four.

The first couple of days were quite enjoyable, just getting to enjoy the place and the area. We went into Liverpool itself one day but it was a bit disappointing because all the shops closed really early due to the fucking disgraceful riots.

We still bought NERF guns and had a battle back at the house coz we're so awesome liek \m/

Went into Manchester another day, without Nicholas coz he's a lazy shit :P

I slag it off sometimes coz i support Liverpool but i don't think i'll knock it again. It seems a really open and diverse city. As soon as we got out the car and turned the corner, we walked straight past an LGBT bar and in the beer garden there were two guys kissing. It was really sweet :)

Never seen anything like that where i live. Truth.

I thought we were about to immerse ourselves into Manchester's gay district which i hear is quite large but that must have just been the edge because we headed right into the town centre and done some window shopping. Went to a milkshake bar. Yes, a milkshake bar. Where i had a skittles milkshake and played the owner at Street Fighter. He won but it was still awesome.

Apparently, there's some free tasting day this Thursday and i'd love to go but obviously i can't :/

That's all the city-seeing. Most other days we had things like food eating competitions, more gun battles, annoying Rob :P

Josh's dad got it right; Rob is the whipping boy of the group. We always take the piss out of him!

Josh's dad himself is honestly is one of the most legendary dad's on the planet - excluding the fact that he left Josh's disabled mum on her own - The amount of hassle is must have been to have a group of 17 years olds staying and getting food and drinks for everyone must have been insane but it didn't seem to phase him. Apparently we weren't a bother ^_^

Another running thing was having bacon everyday and playing a game of Monopoly. Josh's dad cooked all our meals (coz he's a god) and because he was stuck one night, he just put bacon through the mash potatoes. Words cant decribe :')

Also, with Monopoly. We all won at least a game each but Nicholas won 5.

A true reflection of his real life: having insane amounts of money, possessions and luck.


Towards the end of the week, things got a bit more tense. Everyone was getting on each others' nerves and we all kinda just wanted to go home. I had a stupid argument one night with Josh about music then another night about a new guitar he bought. Pointless shit.

In the midst of this, Rob, who never drinks, got drunk! Bloody hell it was funny and it was one of those "I was there moments" coz he is usually very anti-alcohol and afterwards said it would never be happening again.

We shall see about that.

Anyhow. The day before we were all due to come home, shit hit the fan. Nicholas and Josh really fell out and Nicholas left along with Rob and got the train home. Simply coz he wanted to go home and because he had enough money to do so.

It was quite a shock but i suppose spending two weeks living like a pig with the same person can get to you. I didn't like him leaving like that, without saying thanks to Josh's dad, but i understand why he did.

Rob has no excuse. He begged Josh to come down and after finding out he could, he leaves a day early.

It may also be the last time we see him for a good while as he won't be coming back to school. He left that early as well.


So Josh and I spent the final night adding the finishing touches to a song we've been working on which was interesting but challenging. From that alone, i can see how difficult it would be to actually be in a band.
Just difference of opinions on what sounds the best really but in all fairness the song is originally mine and Josh was just adding his input.
I've changed it about a little since then and i like it but it still isn't finished. It is indeed, the first song i have ever wrote.

I still don't even know if Josh and I are a proper band. I play bass obviously and he's a drummer but we both dabble in guitar and he got a new one recently...

The song we wrote is actually all distorted bass and drums with a little bit of synth in it and it still sounds good so we're debating whether or not a guitarist is needed. If it is, then we plan to approach Alex coz he's rather talented.


The next day it was time to go home and i saved over £50 in doing so.

As Nicholas left a day early, he left his original ticket behind so i used that and called my mum telling her so. She can refund the ticket i didn't use!

Either way, i didn't see one conductor on that train (a VIRGIN train) for the whole journey so i could have had the journey for free anyway. Good thing Nicholas did go home in that case or i might have actually wasted my ticket altogether.


That is really about all there is to tell. It was a good week, as i said, but i was a little disappointed from all the wild stories i've heard from previous years. Probably coz there were more people before. If the two friends didn't leave then it would probably have been better, or if other people were allowed to come.

Alas, it seems 4 people in a confined space can be difficult to deal with for a whole week. I'm still glad i went even if it probably was the first and last time i go - Josh's dad plans to sell the house -  but for now, i'm just really happy to be back in my own house and can't wait to sleep in my own bed after i click "Publish post" in a few minutes time :)


Rowan <3


Below is a band i have recently discovered after Josh told me about them and after i found they were playing Reading and Leeds. They are called Death From Above 1979 and consist of a drummer and a bassist only and is why Josh and I question if a guitarist is needed in our band as the music these guys make is amazing... and also rather insane! As a bassist who enjoys his fair share of distortion, i admire the bass playing for DFA and i simply cannot wait to see them in 11 days time.

Holiday Part 5 - Life's a Beach

In light of all the drama round here at the moment, i'm continuing to post about my holiday :)

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This post begins on Sunday 4th July.

We got up, farted about for a bit and headed to our favourite, new Scottish bar for a good ol' British breakfast, which went down very well.

We took the bikes and worked off breakfast on our cycle to our favourite beach area of the island which was about 2 miles away.

We came across it last time we were in Lanzarote and if we ever go again, im sure we will return.

It's a nice little secluded place and doesn't get too busy  -

Bet i looked like a right perv taking that photo :P

We brought lilos with us and we rode the waves on them, that was the highlight for me, im not a big sandcastle fan. Also, laying around in the sun was awesome but had its consequences, i thought i had applied enough sun cream but obviously not as i found out afterwards.

Oh and I was left cursing my lack of knowledge in the Spanish language department when 4 boys (clearly Spanish) wearing just shorts showed up and started kicking a football around.

That irked me, need to stick in with my languages...

When it was time to leave i soon found where i was sunburnt :/

Get this, the tops of my feet are where i got it worst. My back had random red areas and so did my chest, leaving me looking like a red cow on later inspection.

Cycling back was ok, it hadnt affected me too badly yet but we got back to our apartment and i dived into the pool to try and cool the burns.

It was soothing for a while but i should never have agreed to cycle down to airport where you can watch planes fly over your head by only a handful of metres.

A special video for you -

Yes, that is me laughing ^__^

Well, ok, maybe the pain was worth it but the rest was bad... sorta... not really.

We went to an Italian restaraunt and got a MEGA spicy pizza. *licks lips*

Delicioso.

Oh, and i swear two of the waiters were gay! They kept looking at each other with a sly smile that said "i cant wait till we close up here tonight"

They were really hospitable too tho, so that was enjoyed immensely.

I hated having to leave, pushing myself as far as i could on the bike, through the pain on the tops of my feet. But strangely, when we got back to the apartment, i pretty much feel asleep right away... somehow.

The next two days were the worst of the holiday, and perhaps two of the worst of any holiday.

Monday consisted of doing nothing - I couldn't walk. I couldn't lie comfortably. I just had to sit in the shade and watch everyone else in the pool. I also started feeling very lonesome coz i still knew nobody around the place. The folks from Liverpool had gone home, so i didn't even have them to talk to.

Take it from me, sunburn can ruin a holiday.

So, when you're feeling sore and down in the dumps what do you do?

You drink.

And i did, but only coz it was free! Don't get too upset. I didn't get drunk that day... that happened the next day, on the Tuesday :D

It's the only time i've ever been drunk and i wasnt even proper drunk.

But Tuesday was still a bad *day*... day

Still feeling sore and lonely, i also lost some money and received some bad news when i braved the complex's computers. I just wanted to be home and nowhere else, regardless of the weather.

I trudged along to watch Uruguay vs Holland in the bar, mum got me a beer (the first of quite a few) and headed off for a while.

What do you do in a bar full of guys when there is football on? You talk about football! And luckily enough, the guy i plonked myself beside, at random, was a Liverpool fan! Woot \o/

John must have been in his 40's but he was lovely, he was hilarious and we had a great chat, barely any football was watched. But this is where my fortunes changed. At half time, an older guy and a boy my age sat down near us - they were obviosuly father and son -  but I didn't think much of it coz I was talking with John and a few of his friends (great names btw - Antoinito and Angelo)

However, slowly but surely we all got talking (about football) and found they were from a place in England called Coventry.

The second half started and John's mate Angelo ordered one too many beers by accident, he didnt even intend to get me one in the first place but i ended up with two :D

Then mum came back O_O

Angelo was rather worried lol but i finished one, i told mum the other was the same beer she got me earlier lmao

...and she believed it!!!

I finished it and she got me another!

That's when i started to feel it. Getting dizzy and not being able to focus properly. Walking from one end of the bar to the toilet was quite a challenge :P

But anyway, the father and son i was talking about earlier. The mum of the family came back and got talking to my mum and all of us ended up sitting in the bar way past the football. It was just great. Beer was flowing, so was the conversation, no pain in my feet, or back, or chest, and i got talking to someone my age for once!

He was called Ross, and his dad was Mark. Really nice people. We arranged to play water polo in the complex's main pool the next day. Apparently, it was on everyday, but due to sitting at our pool, i didn't know about this.

We said our goodbyes and i felt happy with how the evening went. The night was a complete opposite of my day. I knew people now!

And in that knowledge, i staggered off to the apartment, played some cards and feel right asleep, a happy *half*-drunk.

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Please don't criticise me for getting drunk :P (or half drunk)

It was once and it happened on holiday, it is not a regular occurance :)

Anyhoo, Queen poll is up, vote for your favourite track off "News of the World" It's multiple choice so my votes go to Sheer Heart Attack, Spread Your Wings, Get Down, Make Love, and All Dead, All Dead. I have to pick 4 coz the album is so good!

More to follow soon...


Hugs,
Rowan


And just coz i had sunburn, here is a little song called Sunburn, even though it has nothing to do with it.

Holiday Part 1 - Travelling to (and being in) London

3 weeks tomorrow is the day that my holiday started. That would be Thursday 24th June.

I'm not going to do a post covering each day coz then that would be about 18 posts lol. I will post a few days into one post, so some might be lengthy and some might not.

This post covers the first few days.

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Day 1

I don't remember a great amount of detail about everything as this was almost three weeks ago now but travelling to Liverpool was really nothing amazing. We got in the car just after lunch and not long after we were there. That's it lol.

We planned to visit the Liverpool FC store when we got there but it was closed and i wasn't too happy about that :P

As everyone one of us were tired, an early meal was in order but it wasn't just any meal (well, i suppose it was) but there is a pizza place in Liverpool that my family *always* go to when we are there coz the pizza is simply amazing!

So we took our pizza back to our hotel (i say hotel, it was a basic Travelodge...) and we ate while watching some World Cup game on the tv, i've forgotten which.

Bed followed not long after.

Day 2

Early start on Friday morning... 4am.

Why so early?

2 reasons. We wanted to avoid traffic as much as possible and we were going to Thorpe Park (an amusement park which opens at about 9am)

Groggily, all 5 of us piled into the car and off we set. I don't normally sleep well in travelling vehicles of any sort but i got a little doze on the way to London :)

As early as it was appropriate, i text Lauren to tell her we were on our way :) (she would be arriving later that night)

I also got some glorious 20 minutes of wi-fi at a Starbucks when we stopped for a while.

Anyhoo, we got into London at about 8/9am and were greeted by our cousins who live in France, along with their parents and my aunt and uncle who live in California.

So, hugs and handshake all round lol

We checked in to our room etc but we didn't dilly-dally, we headed straight for Thorpe Park - 9 of us in total went ; 2 of my uncles, myself, my brother and sister, my dad and (what we call our cousins who live in France) The Frogs -  not that it mattered tho, the queue was still about an hour long. We didn't get in till about 11am...

Now. I ask the question, is it better to go on a big water ride at the start or at the end of the day?

I ask coz the water ride was the very first thing we done and my hair got destroyed!

My lovely straightened hair was a curly mess for the whole day :'(

Ho hum, i didn't actually care that much, just would have preferred to go on it at the end.

Right, i'm not a huge fan of crazy, scary, make-you-shit-yourself rides but i was dragged on this contraption called Stealth.

Yeh...

Little did i know it was Europe's fastest rollercoaster (0-80mph in 2 seconds) or that the queue was an hour long for a 10 second ride.

Anyway, needless to say, i was a nervous wreck for about an hour and my bladder almost killed me but that's another story.

I got the ol' butterflies in the stomach just before it was our turn to go on but when it was i just got on like any other ride. We took our seats, i was beside my Froggy uncle and a few seconds later... PHWOOSH!

... and 20 seconds later i was standing up again.

Here's a better idea for you :D

That's me screaming btw ;)

After that, we just kinda did a tour of the park, went on a bunch of other stuff and had a wonderful time.

Had a quick shower, tidy up etc. when we got back to the hotel and then everyone went to this pub/restaraunt in the evening.

I wasn't very hungry coz i knew that Lauren would arrive when we were there, it was just a matter of time. Every car that pulled into the pub i was like "Is it her!?" lol, even thought i had no idea what the car looked like :P

Must have been there for a good hour or so before Lauren and her parents did arrive and there were more hugs and handshakes when they did.

This was followed by general chit-chat and MONSTER desert!

They did not get finished...

Not long after, we left, we got the bum's rush. J/k.

I got in a car with Lauren, a French cousin of mine (who is known as "TCWSTT" on here) and Lauren's dad, who drove of course.

Biffy Clyro's "Only Revolutions" was in the cd player and so there it went. A bit of "singing" commenced and that was quite funny. There's also this thing in my uncle's car where you can connect your phone to the dashboard through bluetooth. We did, and the dashboard says the name of the person you are trying to call in my uncle's voice. So he called Lauren's mobile and he has her listed under "L Mob" and then you just here this thing from the dashboard blurt out "ELLLL MOBBBB!!!"

It's one of those "you have to be there" moments i suppose but i'm sure Lauren will know what i'm talking about.

Anyhoo, nothing much else happened worth speaking about. We returned to the hotel and went to our separate rooms (which, btw were waaaay too warm) and i had to share a bed with my brother. Why my mum didn't book two separate rooms, i'll never know but there you go.

Regardless of the warmth in the rooms, i fell asleep fairly quick, it was a long day and i knew i needed some decent slumber for meeting the rest of my family and the birthday party the next day.

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It's a good thing i have all this to talk about or i probably wouldn't have much else interesting to say lol.

Erm... i got a new mini-fridge...?

Oh, actually there is someone i need to say thank you to. One who goes by the name of Chris Bright. I haven't seen you around here in months Chris but what you sent me at Christmas, i put into use yesterday and well... thanks a lot :)

Just remembered something else actually lol

The poll. Queen won with 53% of the votes. Other came in 2nd. Muse 3rd. Rage 4th. Wolfmother 5th. And Kasabian were last with no votes :(

Poor Kasabian. I'll just say one thing. I watched the highlights of their show at T in the Park and they were epic, so there! *blows raspberry*

Anyway, i thought Queen would win, so now i am going to do another poll :D

"What is your favourite Queen album?"

I'm going to leave this up till next Friday evening and you can select multiple albums if you like. (but don't be a tool and select all of them, just 2 or 3 will do)

Let's hope this one goes well, personally, my vote goes to "A Day at the Races"

What's yours?

Hugs,

Rowan

This is one of the songs that Lauren and I "sang" along to :P

Brokeback Mountain

Last night i watched Brokeback Moutain for the first time :D

I didn't know what to think of it beforehand to be honest coz i've not really heard much about it before. I knew what it was about but not much else.

I really enjoyed it tho, i thought it was great, i can see how it won so many awards.
Jake Gyllenhaal and the late, great Heath Ledger were superb.

I wanna talk more about what happened lol, but obviously there will be people reading this who haven't seen it before, so to those people i do recommend the film.

I was reminded of the film a few days ago by somebody and then i said to myself "Oh yeh, i still havent seen that"
So i proceeded to download the film off Rapidshare (forgive me) but then i remembered my mum came in with a copy once she got from a charity shop, asked if anyone was interested to which everybody politely refused :P

This was ages ago but i wondered if she kept it or not and voila, it was there, in the depths of the DVD collection downstairs.
Had to do some digging around to get to it.
Made sure i returned it properly.

Something quite strange happened today tho.
Me, my mum, dad and uncle were all in the living room waiting for the Liverpool game to come on and dad was flicking through the tv schedule and said to my uncle "There's something you can watch when you get back home"

I looked up to see it was Brokeback Mountain he was talking about, coincidence or what? :P

So my uncle just laughed and then that made my mum bring up when she brought the DVD home from the charity shop. (Strange or what?)
And she said, "I havent watched it, has anybody?"
My uncle said tht he knew my brother had. Dunno how he knows that one, but from my knowledge, my brother has never watched it.
My dad said he never has any intention to watch it.
Then attention turns to me....
So i said that i've watched it before :P
Didn't say when tho but it is quite strange that the topic of Brokeback Mountain should come up less than a day after ive watched it.

My dad gave me a strange look and, with a slight grin, i asked him if there was a problem, he just turned away and said no....

Mum and my uncle didn't say anything but my mum said something during the football which made me think i might have got my impressions about her wrong....

At some point, like during most football matches, two players went in for a tackle and ended up tangled together.
Commentator said something then my dad said, "I'm sure he doesn't want his butt in his face"
My mum said "Not unless they're a couple of gay boys"

....

:(

Maybe i do have my mum figured out wrong....
Maybe this was just a one-off comment....

I dunno but it definetely put me on a downer.

At least Liverpool won the game tho and are through to the semis :)


But back to the actual topic of the post.
If you haven't seen the movie, i think you should check it out, regardless of whether you are gay or not coz the whole movie isn't just about gay cowboys :P
It's a love story, and of course, with love stories, there are always difficulties and this is no exception.
So yeh, go give it a watch if you can.
I'll post the trailer below too :)


Love you guys,
Rowan

Football sucks

Football (or soccer for any Americans or Australians) is just shit.

Sorry for my bluntness but it really is.

Tonight's Champions League didn't go well at all.

I like seeing British teams do well and none even won tonight!

Rangers 1 - 4 Unirea
AZ 1 - 1 Arsenal

but the worst of the lot :

Liverpool 1 - 2 Lyon

I really like(d) Liverpool and it was the biggest kick in the head when Lyon scored their 2nd into extra time.

I don't usually give up on things easily but following Liverpool doesn't have it's advantages. Recently they've been playing awful and this was just it....i can't take it any more. I couldn't care for football right now.
Furthermore, Liverpool's next fixtures are rivals Man Utd and then Arsenal next week. Not good. Liverpool are currently on 4 losses in a row and it wouldn't surprise me if it was 6 by the end of next week.

Football just depresses me, so i'm going to forget about it for a while.

I do apologise if you,

1) Don't like football
2) Found this post depressing

But i had to mention this and there we are, i'm off to bed......

Rowan