Well, finally, the weekend is here. I’m sitting here in front of my PC, listening to some mixes by Jonah and Gabriel, you can check em out at http://stickybeatz.com/wordpress/ for the awesome funky/tech/house mixes they post online. My favourite at the moment is Stickybeatz Volume four, about 37 minutes in. There’s an awesome tune that still gives me goosepimples!
Anyway, the babe came over tonight, we watched some Simpsons, had dinner together, and just talked about a few things I’m not going to type here. That was cool, great even. Got to go and photograph some hedgehogs tomorrow afternoon, but before that, my favourite weekend activity (church excepted) - Mountain Biking!! There should be a group of us, so that will be good. It’ll be good for me if this blooming headache goes away!
The nervous thing is that I’m meeting the girlfriend’s parents this weekend. That could be interesting, and we’ll see what happens. My parents seem to have taken to my babe, and they ask after her, how she’s doing. They’ll probably get her something for her birthday no doubt. It’s something of an occasion for me to have a girlfriend, so I’m sure they’ll do something. No worries if they don’t, but that’s my personal hunch. If my parents are reading this, don’t stress about that last part!!
Today in work was cool, just trying to figure out some custom code to do dynamic dropdown searches on specific table entries in MySQL. What do you mean that’s easy? Try that with someone who’s had to do a ‘Teach Yourself PHP in 24Hours!” in order to figure this out. One day I’m sure I’ll be figured out for a sham. I’m not a trained Web Developer, but I’ve self-taught myself what I needed to know. It’ll be interesting meeting one of our clients soon - he’s a Linux user! Hurrah! My first real contact with another human who uses Linux. Although he was surprised that I use it for a desktop environment - he asked me if I did everything on the command line!! I said I do a fair bit there, but also a fair proportion graphically. That’s the beauty of Linux, especially Ubuntu - you can choose to do things the graphical way, or dive into the machine and command line it all the way.
Anyway, my beer’s finished, and I’m going to bed.

Yes, I know… You can’t love both emusic and God… Only kidding! If emusic continue to release the christian hiphop from Cross Movement, Ambassador, Da Truth, etc… then I’m still subscribing!
This week I bought Ambassador’s ‘The Thesis’, Da Truth’s ‘Open Book’ and Flame’s ‘Our World: Fallen’. The choice tune at the moment is Ambassador’s ‘Crown Him’, which is a pretty hardcore and aggressive look at how much Christ should rule our lives.
I can’t wait for the next release from Da Truth, especially as I’ve had the video from a track on my Ipod for some time.

**edit**

I actually have the track and the album mentioned above - it’s Da Truth’s Open Book, and an awesome album it is too! Well worth the purchase or download. NP - Cross Movement : HIStory

My babe came over tonight. My flatmate went out. We had food. Watched a movie. Cuddled on the sofa. She bit my finger. I gave her stubble rash (I haven’t shaved in 48 hours!).
It’s a crying shame she was tired and had to go home early. <
Still, if it means a good nights rest and she'll be fresher tomorrow (we're babysitting for a friend) then that's groovy.
I'm now chilling out, listening to some ambient I got from the Serein netlabel. A duo calling themselves 'Nest'. Looky here : www.serein.co.uk/nest and I think you’ll agree. Well worth the bandwidth. Gonna try and update some more album art on my ipod and get to bed. Gotta be up early to get into town and get a few things sorted.

Well, I now have another job - Customer Service Advisor for a multinational company! I start at the end of february, so that’s pretty cool… Gives me a month to get nervous! I went around the facility, and the office and recreational stuff too, and it seemed pretty cool. Hopefully I’ll get to know some of the 2000+ that work there!
On another entirely different front, I congratulated myself by going shopping, picked up ( ) by Sigur Ros, 2 albums by Fiona Apple (excellent voice), and the first two DVD’s of Ghost In The Shell - Stand Alone Complex : 2nd Gig (which must be one of the longest titles ever!) All for less than £20! It’s bad news being so close to some quality stores in the city, plus there’s a good Pen/Filofax shop near the station too. Time to start collecting those Lamy pens!
Well, it’s a quick post to update y’all, and I’ve got to go get some dinner and go out to homegroup (a church thang). I’ll post again soon!

This is a review of the recently listened to Airways Nova Teeth, by the Drone Forest collective.

This is drone ambient. Very nice drone ambient. Not the sort which seems to focus on smooth sounds, boring long textures, or tunes where nothing happens (except someone hitting a key and pressing record), but this has texture to it. Even in some cases has tune, sounds of variable pitch, discernable differences.
This album(?) has three tracks : 1:thast wayheaven, 2:wairstay haven, 3:rayweave save. With a total runtime of around 48 minutes, it’s listenable in a lunch hour and can totally spook your afternoon!
The scope of these tracks go from dirty drone to evocative atmospheres, and in such a way that they never seem to get boring. It would be interesting to understand the sources for these sounds, as they seem to be almost human in places.
This is quality drone music with a tinge of darkness to it. It gets high marks from me, and reignites my interest in drone ambient as a valid, interesting form of music.
More on Drone Forest can be found here.

Well, it’s the new year and resolutions are made - do we really know what Resolution really means? This is a pretty cool descriptions pulled from Dictionary.com - 4.the mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose.
Why am I even going on about this? Well, I want to be fitter, and lose the belly. People have mentioned this to me, even from circles I never expected. How? Well, by starting the RCAF’s 5bX plan, which I went on before, and with some success, before cycling became my occupation. I would love to be fit again, and I am announcing it on my blog as yet another thing to keep track of…
So you on the interweb are my witnesses, and I will keep posting blogs to let you know how I get on…
On the music front, currently hitting the playlists are 3tronik, from Sutemos, and due to hit my earlobes in an ambient/noise kind of level are Drone Forest, but I”ll be reviewing once I’ve downloaded the collection… It’s late and electro music from 3tronik is starting to cut through my wine-addled head… Time for some zZz’s and then wake up to some 5bX
Peace out people.

Altus, a great musician of wonderful talent, has released a new album for download, called ‘Winter Embrace II’. But I warn you, it’s a pay-for mp3 release. I will be happily buying this release soon, and if it is anywhere near as good as Winter Embrace (available free), then I will be very happy. Review here when I get it. BTW, if you haven’t heard of Altus, he is a great ambient musician, creating a lot of very orchestral-like ambiences, and my personal favourites are : 24 Hours, The Elements : Air and Black Hole. You can download his tracks from his website at : Altus Music

By the way : Spheric Lounge have had a few sessions since I last mentioned them - link on the right. Worth checking out!

Well, for that I apologise. Here is the latest updates for what’s been going on in my life. I’ll apologise if this is in any way jumbled up, because I have just received a stinking cold and I’m still tired from the works Christmas party last night. (I think I ended up in bed around 3am, and still got up late for work the next day
I am finally finishing nearly 10 years service in my current company, as I was head-hunted for a new post in a company that distributes hand and power tools. I will be the returns and repairs manager, dealing with all the returns and repairs to and from various trade and retail outlets… The money’s better, it seems a very company with many prospects, lots of long-term staff (a good sign), and gives me weekends off for things like church and mountain biking. More money means I may go out to the odd restaurant at the weekends for a bit of ‘culture’.
The news of my resignation came as a complete shock to almost all the staff, and seems my lack of self-worth was unjustified, as a lot of people want me to stay. I feel it’s right to move on, try something new, as I never even intended to stick around in retail at all, let alone DIY retail. So there. Now you people who read my blog (who are you anyway?) know too!
Other things going on : Mint DJ at www.mintdj.com has some awesome mixes online, read his blog too. It’s quite interesting… I’ve just downloaded the TWBP mix , and this has some really nice mellow progressive house. He’s pretty much dominated listening on my PSP at the mo, except for this : Serein, another nice ambient/electronic/experimental netlabel. I got wind of these from my father, and most of this is very good. But the best I’ve gotten round to listening to is release SER001 - Muhr : We Are Dissolved. There is some great ambient there.

I had to get a new phone, as my P910 smartphone decided to throw a big wobbly and stop trying to find my mobile network. So I’ve got for the Motorola Razr V3i, and a nice phone it is too. It just doesn’t feel like a phone due to the thickness (or lack of), the interface is cool, and the camera is a bit substandard, but hey, I’ve got 2 SLR film cameras for real pictures, so it’s not the big issue here.
Other news… I’m looking forward to Christmas, as I’m getting to go up to Liverpool (well, just over the Mersey from) to see my relatives and family for the 2nd time in 10 years. That’s what retail does to you. That should be good, as I’m travelling up by train and coming back with my ma & pa. I’ll be spending new year with them as usual. So there will probably be no blogs posted by me between 23rd and 28th december.
So to the mystery blog-readers, merry Christmas, and have a good time over the festive season.

My holiday has been screwing around with my mind. I do actually like the night, sometimes I’ll be up as late as I can, other night’s I’ll want to sleep. Tonight’s a mixed night. I’ve been up till 3am the last couple of nights, and haven’t felt the worst for it. Although I have been getting up about lunchtime. It’s mixed because I want to stay up and go to sleep. Not much choice really. I’m downloading some updates for Bibletime, an open source bible reader for KDE, and may go to bed once that’s set up. Got some ambient music going, namely Spheric Lounge, two notable tracks called ‘Strongyle’ and ‘Sunrise Ahead’. Both run around 20-22 minutes, and are great. Strongyle has this wonderful guitar melody, whereas Sunrise Ahead has a great rhythm and pace to it. Plus some awesome vocal samples taken from the real world…

I watched a lot of Simpsons today, and some episodes got me thinking about my current spiritual state (i.e., non-existent). It’s not to say that it’s there in the back of my mind, but yesterday I wanted to give my faith in God another chance. Only if He decides to talk to me a bit more than occasionally. It’s hard to explain what or how for trying to rationale how God speaks, but He’s able to. I just need to stop being so big-headed and listen to Him. Maybe I’ll give church a go this weekend. It’ll be strange. After two months of not going, it’s gonna be real strange to get into the building and meet loads of people I’ve previously refused to speak to recently.

Depression doesn’t help either. Still I’m on meds, and getting therapy. Something struck me which I’ll share with my counsellor : I watched Hulk this last week. Some people may hate it as a film, but I quite like it. It wasn’t ‘AWESOME!!!’, but it’s a darn fine effort. The effects of emotional repression that Bruce Banner had to go through are similar to what I have done. My life is one misunderstanding of human emotion, except on a fairly basic level. I can show happiness, fear, excitement (just get me watching some motorsports), but my biggest downfall is intimacy and compassion. I can do these on a very limited level, but I never feel sorry enough for those whose relative die, for example. Death of a relative is a fairly abstract term to me, and based on my life, and those who know me, the experience of losing a loved one has been diluted.

I remember splitting up with my girlfriend many years ago. I was initially angry (she finished with me), even though to her I had been agreeable, tried to resolve what was causing the split. My initial anger (which I hated) gave rise to a six-month depression. That’s my only experience of personal emotional pain. Still, I am convinced I can grow from this, and move on. Get my life in order, and start to actually acheive.

You might as well know, I am somewhat socially awkward. As I explained before, certain emotional responses I don’t have. Like a replicant (!) … So I am on an internet support group for Avoidant Personality Disorder. I hate being in groups of more than one or two. Church is awkward when trying to talk to people (everyone’s talking in large groups), and if someone I don’t know comes along, I want out, I want to leave in the other direction. I’ve lost cound of the times I’ve just left church straight after a service because I didn’t want the hassle of talking to people. Still, this is an area I need to improve. I don’t know how. Some of this blog will be about getting on in a world where you think everyone knows everyone else but you…

Other times you’re convinced they’re talking about you.

It’s been a long post, Bibletime’s nearly finished, I’ve got a glass of Vodka to finish, and then go to sleep.

BTW Spheric Lounge - check out the site.