coxy's blog

If you're a regular reader to my blog, you'll probably notice that most of my blog posts consist primarily of pictures or imagery with some words accompanying said imagery. Usually, the words are few and far between - I'm not one for writing big essays about certain subjects on my blog because I don't think that's really what people are interested in reading. However, tonight shall be different.

Tonight I present to you a big long blog post. I'm in the mood for reading something long and informative and I thought what better thing to read that's long and informative than my own ramblings. It might not be interesting to everyone, but it may be to some of you. So, if you do read this blog post, it would be nice to receive some form of comment - if you have nothing in particular to say, just say hello or post a smilie - I'll appreciate it.

Right now I'm typing away on a little laptop. This is something I ordered a few weeks back, but was delivered yesterday; a Dell Inspiron Mini 9. Basically, it's a 9" laptop sans CD/DVD drive and it's really cool. So far tonight I've used it to stream Last.fm Radio to the kitchen speakers whilst I was cooking, watch and episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, full-screen on the BBC iPlayer, whilst eating my tea and now I'm listening to the latest episode of the Andrew Collins and Richard Herring Podcast.

I guess I'll just be using the mini-laptop for surfing the web when I'm not sat in front of my desktop computer. Also, I'll probably end up installing a Commodore 64 and Sega Mega Drive emulator, get a few good roms and use it to re-live my childhood gaming days. I didn't have a specific reason for buying the laptop other than the want to spend some money on expensive technology - it was preemptive comfort shopping too.

See, I'm officially no longer in a relationship with Vikki and today was the day that she moved out. Although what we both had together was good, we decided it was time to call it a day and so the past few weeks have been spent discussing things, moping about and also arranging for Vikki to move out and into a new house.

Although it was pretty much a mutual decision, our relationship was in no way bad - the idea is to move on and not ever let it get to that stage - but it is very strange to essentially lose someone who you've spent so much time with and around. But, it's all done now and I'm not going to talk about it much on my blog, I'm just going to have to adjust to living on my own in a big empty house - urgh, doing grown up stuff sucks.

I have loads of things to do at the minute; the kitten needs to be neutered, I need to make too many websites for people, I've just started a photography project of sorts, my Xbox 360 Elite needs to be fixed, I want to redecorate or rearrange the decor of this house, I finish working my notice period on Thursday and start a new job not long afterwards, people are coming to visit / stay over. Maybe this is where I should start to use my calendar, set myself deadlines and make sure I hit them.

coxy (left) and Gerry McLaughlin (right) of Channel M

The other night I went to see a few bands play at Night & Day Cafe - playing that night were Sky Larkin, Elle S'Appelle and headlining, Hot Club de Paris - it was hosted by Channel M (a local television station for Manchester). It's been a while since I've seen Hot Club de Paris, and they've recently returned from Chicago where they recorded the follow-up to their debut album 'Drop It Till It Pops'.

So far as the bands go, I can't say I'm a fan of Sky Larkin. I've heard the name banded about for a long while, but I've just never taken any notice of them. I don't think I'd been missing out on much. Elle S'Appelle were good, as usual, but sounded a bit more 'noisy' than previous gigs. And Hot Club were... good... but I was slightly disappointed that they rushed through their older material. It was nice to hear the new songs, though.

The whole night was filmed by Channel M and will be broadcast over the next week, shortly appearing on their website after that, no doubt. In the meantime, you can watch this video of Elle S'Appelle on Channel M.

After the gig, Mark, Holly and Neil departed and Vikki dragged Hannah back to our house where we stayed up far too late and watched Ghost World. Well, Hannah and Vikki did. I fell asleep. Zzz.

Tags: night n day, manchester, music, gerry mclaughlin, channel m, tv, tele, drop it till it pops, hot club de paris, hot, club, elle sappelle, sky larkin, gig, ghost world, movie, mark dormand, holly, neil, hannah eacock, vikki lea clarkson, vikki

Today has been good. After failed attempts of arranging a holiday in advance for this weekend, Vikki and I decided to take the inpulsive route and go wherever the mood may take us. Today; that was Blackpool.

Whilst Blackpool isn't the most glamourous of resorts, it can make for a nice day out. Ice cream, a walk along the beach, a stroll down the pier, frittering away money on the amusement parks (or winning it) and a ride on the ferris wheel made for a lovely day, which we both enjoyed.

Returning home with sticks of rock, some ace polaroid snaps and the mandatory cuddly toy makes for a satisfying memento of the trip.

So that was Saturday; tomorrow calls for something different. I'll moblog about that after the event too, but expect a full mid-week round-up packed with pictures.

So, most of tonight was spent putting Ubuntu back on my machine. If you remember, my Hard Drive failed towards the end of last week and I lost my Operating Systems - rendering me partially operational. I am back in the swing of things and fully operational again, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know. It is nice to have a clean installation on my machine again - sometimes its good to start over. You learn from past mistakes and learn how to organise things better.

The first thing I did after installing Ubuntu on my machine was to install Opera. I'm now using as my default web browser, RSS reader, Email client and for IRC. Because I had a few quibbles with how Opera handled certain things, I previously used Evolution for email, Liferea for RSS and X-Chat for IRC - but that was until Ramunas shared a few of his own tips and tricks. Props to Vikki for buying me a new hard drive... even it was a selfish act; she just wanted to play Oblivion.

Anyway, geekiness aside, I've got a job prospects to mention.

So, Monday evening I went to Flame Digital for an interview, or a 'chat' as they seem to be referred to in the web design industry. I wasn't too sure of what to expect, but it was quite the pleasant experience; the company is a nice size and the office is a nice space. The overall atmosphere and vibe was a lot better than the other companies I've seen so far, and they seem like a fairly competent team.

Between the nerves and the questions about the salary, the usual questions were batted too-and-throw and I think it all went quite well. I may have chatted on a bit too much, but that can be put down to my nerves too. My options now are to sit back and wait; this is the part I hate most. I know I'm up to the task, and would like to work for this company - the ball's in their court now.

In the meantime, I've found a few things to occupy my time; punk-pop rockers Pickled Dick have asked me to head up their Street Team. I love these guys, and when I was at their Manchester gig the other night, Jhon asked me if I could help them out. Since then I've given their street team a face-lift (it's such a chore to style MySpace profiles!) and am well up for helping them spread the word.

I've also a gig scheduled for next Thursday. Hot Club de Paris are playing on a ferry 'cross the Mersey, supported by goFASTER>> and SSS. It's all being filmed for Channel 4, will be broadcast as part of their 'Secret Gigs' schedule and it's the first time I've ever been to a gig on a boat. I'm quite looking forward to it. I'll take my camera and see what pictures I can grab - but I don't suppose it'll be much, what with an official film crew being there to capture it themselves.

Before I sign off for the day, I'd just like to tell those that are subscribing to this feed via Feedburner (and please do), you'll start seeing links from my Ma.gnolia account. Hopefully this will result in being a good thing, as opposed to bad. Let me know what you think though, because the change is easily reversible.

I hope you all have primarily noticed the new blog design. It was all part of Wednesday's blog post about moving onto better things; and I'll hope you'll agree that this theme is an improvement over the last one. Comments much appreciated.

I went out to The Retro Bar on Wednesday night. There were a few bands playing, and its a law that I have to be at every Pickled Dick gig in Manchester. Entry was 5 pounds and there were four bands playing; the first three of whom I got to see.

I was impressed by The Holy Parachute, who were first on and played some nice ska. Pickled Dick were up next, and they played some new songs that I'd never heard before, and they sounded ace. And Random Hand were really impressive - though sometimes went off on a screamy 'I can shout loud' tangent.

I took my camera along and grabbed some pictures. It's been absolutely ages since I've shot in proper gig conditions and most of them looked good on the back of the camera, but really crap when I transferred them across to the computer last night. I'll see what I can salvage soon and update this or an upcoming post with a picture or two. Expect them to be black and white.

Whilst I'm on the subject of Pickled Dick, they have entered a competition to be in the next Burnout video game. If you would be so kind as to vote for them, you may hear their song on your PS3 / Xbox 360 with the coming release. Non-MySpace account holders need not apply.

Finally, Vikki has asked of your opinion on the tattoo she wants to get next. It's of an interrobang; but should it be horizontal or vertical? You decide.