*::An Escape Pod For Intangibles::*

im on my days off (tues, wed, thursday day) and so thought it would be good to hook up with my buddies at Beesands Rovers Football club, for the last pre season friendly before saturdays first league game. Understanding that i might not even get on the pitch was fine, but when i was brought on at the start of the second half i was pooping myself to be playing proper competitive football again for the first time in quite a few years.

At my request i was put up front as a second striker and quickly found my feet again, Kingsbridge and Kellaton Utd's defence were slow on the counter attack and they were leaving me to make runs and worry them. The Bees are a young but solid team, good tackling and passing in the midfield with good width via the wing back system we play (in a 3-5-2 formation) After 10 mins i still hadnt had a proper touch on the ball when we won a free kick on the left wing. I saw Ben Bromfield look up to see me looking back at him from just inside the area-looking for a back post ball, ready to snatch a goal. He hit a perfect cross over most of the pack in the middle, meeting my head perfectly as a ran to meet it. I didnt have to make much effort at all as the quality of the ball in was so good. Still, it felt good to get a goal on my debut!

I gained confidence and was getting more involved from then on, but my fitness is really bad at the moment, so i was soon struggling. However id obviously done enough to convince our manager Pete, as he asked me to sign up for them after the match. Happy days. Ill probably only be able to make home games because of work, but its still nice to be a part of, as they're all good guys there, most of whom ive known from before.

I have graduated from uni with a 2:2 in media. Im very proud.

Now back i devon, working lots and lots, trying to get work experience in radio at the same time. Aiming to be leaving for brizzle or london by next summer.

CB are 3 members, Kris and Mark left, we're all friends, but the future is uncertain, i want a proper band!

the cornish and i are doing well.

iam happy, just a bit tired.

ive got a uni radio show!

you can hear my partner in crime alex and i spin some tunes between 10pm and 12am tonight and every thursday from www.xtremeradio.org, just click on the listen now button (although the webstream is a bit sketchy at the moment, but iTunes support and podcasts are fast approaching)

www.myspace.com/theirritablesloth

first KISS, and now pirates. Hollys early birthday party will bring pillaging and plundering on a large scale. Arrrr!

...with my stomach. The beer race is on wednesday, we and my comrades will be dressing up as KISS. And we will win.

back in swansea, swapped rooms with Dan so although i have less space, iam on the second floor and without constant light of the street and noise of people walking right by my window.

This year (my final uni year) seems to be possibly the easiest and most fun, i knew there was a point to all this, radio and TV production courses are imminent, and is something im becoming increasingly interested in, Journalism was more than a bit rubbish.

My 22nd (yeesh) birthday was lovely, not least because Amy and Becca arranged a surprise party at our house, which was awesome. Amy had bought us tickets to see the chariot the day before my birthday, but they cancelled which was gutting. However my family meal was awesome and drunken. I basically got mostly money, because there was nothing i really wanted that mum and dad could afford, so ive put the money away towards a new Amp head, and ill be selling mine on as soon as harry has sorted himself out.

Gaz has been giving me a bit of an on going Converge lesson, which is proving fun, interesting, and noisey.

Got a lush Billabong snowboard jacket from Amys shop for £63!! Bargain!

Practice with Team CB this weekend, which should be good, i miss my boys.

This is my back yard. I think its nice. I go here when i need to unwind, although the surf isnt really big enough in this picture to get me excited. I once held an under 18s record time for swimming around the island.

tuesday:
After work devastation at fusion. £1 vodka mixer? a price usually unheard of in my neck of the woods. Got a taxi home with Jeff and 2 girls who are holidaying in Bantham, went back to their house at 3am for tea and chat. Jeff and 1 girl left soon after arriving, leaving me and the other to chat til nearly 6am. She went to bed, i passed out on the sofa.

wednesday:
Woke up feeling tired, stumbled through the 100 yards back to my own house at 11am, to be greeted by a slightly anxious mother. Went back to bed til half 1, where an hangover attacked me like an angry badger (badgers dont like me, ive been attacked by 2 now). Went to the weekly 5 a side football fest, where i played like a man swiftly losing the use of his legs.
Got a call whilst driving home from mum, who advised me to take an alternative route because of a fire at the pub. Only when i drove into the village did i understand how bad it was. Although not huge, the chefs grill had decided to go on holiday, and a flame wrapped around the front and set alight to the greasy filters of the extraction system. This fueled the fire and transported it up the side of the pub, also setting light to the little roof of the kitchen and the bottom end of the restaurant. 7 fire engines turned up but only 2 or 3 were used. Needless to say the kitchen will be out of action for some time, putting me out of a job, possibly for the remainder of my stay before i go back to uni.
In order to "celebrate" this, myself and my workmates who were there decided to gather as much alcohol as possible, and ended up drinking and crashing at Georgia's house, where i slept on another (and infinitly more comfortable) sofa.

today:
Went down to help with the clear up, and took my first look at the damage inside. Because the electrics were damaged, all the fridges and freezers in the kitchen were off, so we lost a large (and expensive) amount of food. Its going to take a while to get it up and running again, im going back to swansea in less than a month and i reckon it will take at least a month to it back to how it was. Will be going back tomorrow, its not going to be cool. This evening i trained with a local football team (Beesands FC), whose squad has a number of my mates in it, a move that will hopefully help out with my fitness while the surf remains shite.

---

through Whale's recommendations and CD lendings ive been listening to bit of glitchy electro stuff, which is proving a nice change. Ive been enjoying Chris Clark and Nathan Fake alot, as well as the very un-electro Do Make Say Think and the daily run through Mirrors By Misery Signals(:the best album in the world)

had another lock in last night with chris and a few others, his manager was down who has managed/is friends with Johnny Truant/RagingSpeedHorn and Irohn Monkey to name but 3. This knowledge in mind i scurried home to grab one of my few remaining CB EP's for him, you never know, it might bring the band a bit of luck...

a strange night.

after serving close to 150 people food in my little village pub (and finishing the final part of 10 hours of work today), i sat down with some work mates with a pint to see a familar face who had been on Jo Wiley's show (doing the live lounge segment) on Radio 1 roughly 10 hours earlier. Chris Peck is the frontman of Boy Kill Boy, whose parents are mates of my parents, and he is a lovely chap.

check me out name dropping, however, you will never catch me doing lounge jazz covers of Nelly Furtado's "man eater".

Ive been pretty busy at work lately, so many people have been coming down for holidays and a day at the beach, so there are tailbacks up the road for a mile some days.

Amy has gone back home to start work, but she'll be back at the start of september which will be lovely. Got a couple of surfs in over the last week which was ace as well.

Went to Cheltenham on tuesday for yet another Crisis Blessed gig, this time at the hub, opening for Exit Ten, Mea Culpa and andtheywillriot!. Was a fantastic night, good fun and we played well i thought, and got very drunk after. Had a little dance to Beloved with Mr Devereaux and Mr Groom before they went home as well. Got the train back on wednesday and chilled out for a few hours before going into town for the now regular wednesday night 5-a-side football sweat fest.

Im already looking forward to going back to swansea, and my birthday as well, for which i will be:
(1) watching The Chariot in Cardiff,
(2) Returning to Bantham for a family based celebration,
(3) Going to London with amy for a shopfest, TommyB and CP visitation, and a Carnaby St. Vans store visit to satisfy my rapidly increasing thirst for interesting slip-on colour ways (i have recenty acquired some yummy new perforated black leather/white sole ones).
And (4) some form of Swansea based debauchery.

new misery signals album out Aug 22nd, im already in line (even though ive downloaded it already)
still desperatly seeking that BB imogen porn vid.

Been back in devon for a while, working my arse off down the pub. Amy was down last week, has gone to Newquay for a week, and then comes back here for a week before going back home. These last few days have been glorious, both yesterday and today i have been straight down the beach with work mates after the lunch shift, using jeffs dingy to get round to the rocks and little mini beaches where no one goes around the point. We jumped off high rocks into deep water, and today had an awesome barbeque. Im a little burnt, but its well worth it. The new people at work are awesome, and all is well, but its just a little tiring.

Passed all but one of my modules this year, but i just have to submit an essay again to pass, so that will be ok. Apprently im only at 2:2 level at the moment, ideally id like a 2:1 by the end of next year, but im def not a 1st grade type of student. Im already looking forward to september for getting back to Swansea and my birthday, for which i plan on doing lots of fun things. 1st Sep Shai Hulud are playing in Newport, which is stunning so Team CB will be journeying up in the Green Goblin, and then the day after is CB's performance for the Whalestock micro festival, which should be a debauched affair.

naptime now. zzz.

...my 2nd year of uni is finished. which is crazy. my exam this morning didnt go amazingly well, but now i have 3 weeks of total leisure before moving back to devon. which is lovely.

mallys optimus prime tattoo made me moist. It really was a superb evening, loads of people turned up, all the bands were ace. Owen was on top form, a fitting send off for a lovely young man (who is actually a day older than me). People sang along to TSD songs, which made me a happy man indeed. As of the 29th we will be brothers in acoustic tunage, and inky skinage.

We will miss you owen!. x

well , we went and saw 65daysofstatic who were stunning. Retreat!Retreat! had me in fits of joy, and Harry and I made clouds of herbal smoke in the cramped cardiff barfly. Got quite drunk then somehow on the journey home, my phone was lost/stolen/ or ran away. After calling train and cab services with no luck i went to the orange shop to lock the phone down, and after thinking about it for about 5 seconds, set up a contract for a new one

Fast forward to last night, went to Escape after watching an impressive band of dads specialising in Led Zep and Lynard Skynard covers in the Office pub. In escape i sat down on a raised bit of stage, and got my phone out of the my pocket cos it was sticking into my ass, only to find the LCD screen had a huge crack in it. superb.

Called the nokia insurance people today and apparently what happened doesnt cover the phone for a free replacement, que andy shelling out £70 for a replacement. again, superb.

Bristol tomorrow, and a TSD in the croft for owens last show.

MONDAY = THE RETURN OF PIZZA CLUB! YES!

cross your fingers i keep my new phone safe.


P.S -> my almost homoerotic respect for Bob Ross and his Joy Of Painting programmes spurred me on to make this playlist

too much time on my hands, and a superb night out gave birth to THIS

new tunes are here. www.myspace.com/crisisblessed

iam in the darkest depths of Gloucestershire this week, recording CrisisBlesseds first CD, with Jonny from DevilSoldHisSoul. Monday was immense, Tom laid out the drums something fierce, needing no more than 2 takes per song to make Jonny happy. The pleasing pace continued as me and harry also managed to beast out all the guitars, pretty productive.

Last night got absolutly out of my mind in the fez club in cheltenham (got chatted up for the first time ever, by 2 girls at the same time: intimidating.), i swear im never drinking again, i apparently had alcohol poisoning this morning, too many trips to the toilet (ergh). So therefore this morning was not good at all. Arrived at the studio half an hour late today, all feeling like death, but mark managed to finish the bass, and we started on vocals. Kris was really nervous, as it was his first time in a studio of any kind, so it was clear from his first few takes that something wasnt right and for some reason his throat was fully opening out to deliver what we all knew he was capable of.

So after a completly life saving pub lunch (amazing sausage caramelised onion and dijon mustard sandwich with enourmous potato wedges) me and harry did most of ours and we'll go back tomorrow to hopefully wrap things up. Its sounding pretty damn decent at the moment, im well happy how everything is going, im just completly shattered and been smoking a little too much, but ill be fine when in back in swansea.

ive taken afew pics and videos, so they'll be about on the interweb next week, hopefully along with some rough mixes.

...sung with Ella

:o)

Got woken up at half seven this morning with my mum asking me to get out of bed, which instantly had me on edge, this has happened a few times before when dad had big seizures, but this wasnt the case this time as my uncle had unexpectedly passed away. Its such a shock, i only saw him the other night when he was in the pub while i was working. He was one of the nicest people ever, a soft spoken, hard working and funny man, my mums favourite brother and my favourite uncle. Had a bit of a cry this morning, and wasnt sure what to do, but mums friend Lynne came down and she was wonderful and stayed with us til she got back. Was gutted for mum, shes been through so much, it takes the piss really, its always the undeserving people that get the shitty end of things.