(-A-) Interview 3

This is a follow on from interview 2 and the last one in the recruiting office. If there is any topics that still need to be discussed or explored a bit more before setting the date for ADSC (Army development and selection centre) they arrange this interview, basically after my last interview i went away and took the time to have a solid three job briefs and write up my icebreaker so these just needed to be sorted out basically, as they then write up a report recommending me for ADSC, so as it's on there recommendations they want to make sure your not going to flop out on them.

The recruiter i was with was a Warrent officer 1, basically your top ranking non-commissioned officer, (highest rank i can get to) he went through the same topics as before essentially, however phase 1 and 2 training was looked at in much greater detail, as he believes there are 3 kinds of people who fail and drop out,

Unprepared Physically, basically your not going to be getting a 5 star pampering treatment, i can't think of words to put this into persective of just how tough phase one training will be, they turn you from being a civilian into a fighting soldier, imagin a man turning into a werewolf but draged across 14 weeks, thats no painless transformation ha You'll be put through army PT circuit training, assault course's, 10-20 mile runs in all conditions and it goes on. You will be suffering from sleep deprivation, sever exhaustion and your expected to learn a lot in a short space of time too, from weapons and grenade handeling, to field craft and basic medical treatments. it's going to be intensive to say the least.

Injurys, Unfortunatly not much you can do about this one, but once in the army they have some of the best medical care available to get you on the mend

Mentally, if you have an attitude, answer back, are lazy, or are a bit of a loner type and not team player, there's the door, i'll be assesed on this throughout selection and they will push you to breaking point to see what happens. If you show any of the above your assesor will flag you up, they won't tell you they will just show the results to your interviewer at the end and it will effect your score. One of the things i was also told is if you are asked to do something in the army by a higher ranking person, you can question the methods to how you do it if you think there could be a better way, not what your being asked to do and end of the day, if he says your doing it his way, you do it and show him the results when your done. Also one of the things they do is get amputies into the field craft exercises and slap them up with seriously realistic wounds, screaming etc to de sensitise you to that kind of thing too, scary stuff.

Not understanding or knowing, The army is a lifestyle, as the army comes before any personal needs. people who don't realise this generally will drop out of army life pretty quickly, i also found out if i did leave after 4 years min service, for the 12 years of the contract i am part of something thats know as a liability reserve, in other words if we go into world war 3, i will be called on and don't have a choice in it, after those 12 years i'm at whats called a man in control point, if i leave there are no tie's at all.

Anyways, basically i pro'ed it, did my icebreaker too and nailed that and my date for selection is the 25th of january, if i pass that... i'm in.

xo

This is what i have in store for me, now these videos are a little sugar coated as not to scare people off but still.

Snow

So good, Recorded last year in fern cottons kitchen at there christmas party, i love trading the ipod for Radio 1, i'll post properly soon loads is going on yet again

Songs of desperation, I played them for you

Fitness being the key to my life recently, heres plenty of song's that have made it onto my ipod, All are drum and bass, as its great music to run to, not listen to as a normal person sat in a chair and if you don't like pendulum ish music, basically go make a cuppa, stick on the tv and noboff my blog (Loads of other stuff too but popular stuff that everyone's heard anyways, also cancer bats made it onto there too, to keep certain others smileing, i'm not that corrupted)

Friction vs Camo & Krooked - Stand Up ft. Dynamite MC


Tony Anthem, Axl Ender, erb N dub & HD - Move Down (feat. Harry Shotta & Darry Dee)


The Qemists - Hurt Less


DJ Fresh & Sigma - Lassitude

(-A-) Interview 2

I've finally had my interview!
I last updated my progress into the army back in august after taking my barb test, my plans are still relatively the same but i'll explain as i go

basically this interview is for me to discuss different topics with the recruiter to make sure i'm eligible and he then gives his recommendation based on my knowledge, attitude and approach to the army, he wrights up his report and if the MO at the office thinks there is anything else to explore i'll have a third interview with him, to then set a date for ADSC (Army's development and selection centre)

So heres how it went, Dressed up in my shirt, tie and clean as shoes i sat down at 9:30am in the office as i have before, i have a new recruiter called phil who's just about as down to earth as they come as my old recruiter went back to his regiment

He went through personal circumstances, i.e partner, family background, finances etc which was relitivly straight forward, no problems

Then achievements and interest, i.e employment, hobbies and any responsibility's i've had. Again straight forward and no real surprises

After came fitness, which probably took up half of our interview, I had to give details of my current fitness:

• 1.5m time is currently 10:10
• Sit-ups: over 72 (classed in the top 1% who join)
• Press up's: 20-25 (classed as slightly below average)
• Heavies: 11-12 (classed as good)

Then i've kept a diary of everything i do in the gym and run times and he's happy there is a clear progression, then had to say if i take part in any extreme sports, unfortunately i don't yet i intend to do them with the army but got on to talking about cycling to which i'm kicking his ass for time by about 5 mins, he was a tad gutted.

Same topic of fitness but i've been curious to this for a while so brought it up whilst i was there, Protein powders. Many people i see in the gym from the year below use them (and look hench) i've always taken the high road of they can't be good for you there all chemicals and bad for you without question. steak, fish and other such sources of protein are more natural without actually finding out about the powders first. Turns out most of the recruiters use the protein shakes, not often but after a gym session they can help a lot with muscle rebuilding and help to recover from the huge aching feeling your muscles have after going. Also a thing i've been recommended to use is a thing called BCAA (Branched chain amino acids) they help to prevent catabolism (where when your body runs out of fat to burn during cardiovascular training... running and such, it burns muscle instead, not good) so next pay day i'm on the invest into these things to hopefully train to a higher level a little quicker

Anyways, hes happy but wants my run time to come down, so no more running the 1.5, i'm going straight for endurance and the plan is to start at 6 miles straight through to hopefully in the longer run bring down my time

From fitness to Military awareness, things like my general knowledge, what will the training involve, do i understand i'll almost certainly go on deployments? whats my current view of the army through different sources, like tv, newspaper, the general media etc. Now this wasn't to much of a problem but i sliped up on a few key things, like for instance why are we deployed in Afghanistan in the first place? seems so silly but could you tell me honestly why we are there right now? i could remember Iraq, and the invasion there, i don't think anyone hasn't seen a certain youtube clip from around that time caught on a camera phone by a soldier but couldn't think of Afghanistan. i know now as it was explained after but i intend to research it all a bit more later on and update this.

Understanding my terms and conditions came next, things like bullying policy, alcohol and drugs tolerance, but what interested me was the details on the contract you sign, as many of you know your minimum service is 4 years, however the contract you sign is for 12 years. basically at the 4 year mark you can opt to leave, giving a years notice, so if you intended to leave dead on the 4 years, you'd have to tell them a year before. also there is a compulsory 28 day training period and then your given a window in which you can opt to leave the training if the army isnt for you, after this window though there is no going back and you can't buy yourself out of the contract anymore. I can undertand it as the army invests a lot of time in the recruiting process, look at me it's taken months if not well over a year now for me to get to this point, they have payed for my medical information and imagine if you turned around and went for the door and essentially bye mate, wouldn't be good.

Final bit is your job briefs and icebreaker, where you stand up and present each of your jobs including all the details about them from memory, and the icebreaker (you have to stand for 2m and talk about yourself to everyone else on adsc) your going to read when you get to adsc from memory. Now this is where it got a bit complicated for me, My job briefs are Armourer, Para's, and infantry. My reasons for these i'll again post in another one as this is getting a bit of an essay to say the least but it came out that it wasn't clear which one i wanted to go for 100% out of para's and armourer, they where both equal, my recruiters issue is you get marked on motivation towards your jobs at adsc, so i need a clear mind frame not one with doubts, so i've come away for a week, hes holding his report off and given em a few more options to consider as well to go alongside armourer and my reasons for joining there, to go away and research, two of the bigest i'm researching at the moment is military intelligence and ammunition technician (or to you bomb disposal, same job title) so we shall see, i'll post again tomorrow before work hopefully the details on that

so that's that, i'll get back to phil in a week's time to let him know whats going on or if i need a bit longer to think it over, i need to write my icebreaker yet too :/ but yeah finish the interview and then its plain sailing i hope from here on in

xo

I'm affraid of what i'll discover

I'm classed as suitable, never thought being called suitable would put a smile on my face as it's not really the greatest word out of the dictionary but still, the medical forms came back clear so i'm being rung over the next couple of weeks to arrange the final interview, the news was delayed as my recruiter who owns a very heavy welsh accent (reminds me of reading fest security guards tbh, although there mainly Scottish) anyways he is heading back to his regiment so has had to pass over all his recruits (ie me) over to a new person

So at present i'm still on track to go in january, good times

After working all of Sunday, cycle home and bed at 1am... well did watch Hancock too but still, to then be up at 6am to then cycle to work and be on the bar through till 4 today, i'm exhausted. I'm currently slumped with a Cuppa, duvet and listening to a secret London gig for radio one that's being streamed online live, can't think of a better way to spend a Monday night right now ...

Perfeck :)
xo

Although your gone, Your with me every single day, believe me

I can juggle like a pro and life is good at the moment

Working 40 hour weeks, back at the gym and still have time to drink like a russian... Good times.
This is more a post to show i'm still alive as i haven't been online/blogged in weeks, but i've been payed, sorting my phone out tomorrow and have put away my first £300 now for the skydiving, only another £1000 to go :/ ha maybe a few months yet till this plan comes together

Nothing new on the army front either, still waiting on my medical forms to come back but i have learnt the ranks off by heart (roughly) now so i know how to address people when meeting them

I've done nothing today but sit and watch toy story on video with my little brother, complete win but relaxing and updating my music at the moment with a cup of tea as standard as i haven't for a while now, this is whats currently playing... Also i'll post next when something actually interesting happens in my life haha



I've missed zane lowes radio sessions as well. I used to listen to radio one on the way to the gym and generally like him as a dj as he was incredible at the warrior dance festival, but this is from his blog.



As is this

When two worlds collide

Just when you have a moment in time you wont forget, you know exactly where you were, what happened and the exact feeling, this was the soundtrack to that, just what happened to be playing.

Peice by Peice

I've had 6 double shifts in a row, yesterday was surposed to be the 7th, i've spent more time at work than i have at home, i do 40- 50 hour weeks but i gave up the evening shift yesterday so i could go to the fair, although it rained so i laowed and stayed in as a family friend came over which in turn worked out really well. I also probably shouldn't be spending any money right now, for two reasons:

First, i'm paying £300 pounds in rent, which to me has been frustrating, i don't have a room, i sleep on a futon in my brothers room, i don't eat at home, i barely spend time there at all nowadays with work, i don't have the computer in my room anymore, on my 1 day off a week i get, or possibley a few mornings like this week, i have to do everything of my own, like washing, cleaning etc especially work clothes and can't just relax, then desperatly need to go back to the gym to carry on with army training although where i'm going to fit it in without having no sleep i don't know yet, then trying to fit some time for a social life? that just won't happen anymore. so when you see others having it so easy, where they don't work for it, they have it all done for them it drives me insane because i took it as that that was the normal, i shouldnt have to do this. i shouldnt have to have this much responsibility.

After sitting down and talking about it all yesterday with mum and our friend realised just how much things cost and how selfish i was being though, i'm not like the normal people, and some others have it far tougher than this and i just stoped careing about all the above. That 300 only just covers everything, like half of the water, electric, council tax etc, not including half the rent for the house and only has to happen until january, hopefully.

Secondly i want to save and finally put a plan into motion, i want to do all 8 levels of a skydiving course, it will take me 2-3 months of working none stop to pay for this, rent and the gym but i want to do something worth while, that and i consider my summer over after reading festival, that was king of the peak to my summer, everyone else leaves for uni after, travelling or other stuff so i dont really intend to go out and about anymore, that lifestyle is good for the summer time only really
(i'll also post about both festivals later on as i've had the double shifts, i've had no time)

So yeah, thats just whats been on my mind, now i've stoped careing it feels like a huge weight has gone, its odd to describe.

Anyways, something much lighter, i've currently run out of series to follow and we also don't have sky anymore so have resorted to pushing the boat out for over breakfast entertainment and have been watching "The secret diary of a call girl". It's awesome for so many reasons. i intend to go and buy the box set of rambo or something simliar to man up after i've got through all the series but until then, sex and prostitues will have to do

Alan can go do one.

FUCKING READING TOMORROW! ... cough, i have the beer (being 2 crates, one fosters and one strongbow), food and supplys, just the packing to go... yeeaahh i'll get on that later

In the mean time, love example, i'll post about the HUGE adventure that was V next week plus the adventures of reading as i'll be bored as hell then

Blink 182, Biffy Clyro, Lostprophets, Billy talent, Young guns, You me at six, Pendulum, Enter shikari, Sub focus, Hadouken! Hailey Williams ... ;)
Then knee deep mud, rain, cold and general festival smell. However there is, and always will be a a cure... Alcohol :)

S-C-A-N-D- to the A, to the L-O-U-S.

Haha, i was cycling back from work one of the evenings and i usually have my headphones in and sing to whatever as it's gone 12pm and no-ones around, its proper cycling music, i.e pendulum etc but i didnt realise a car had slowed up behind me and had rolled down the window to basically be pricks and do "bus wanker" or something. I was listening to hadouken and they came along side, at that moment it droped into BOMBSHOCK and naturally not seeing them shouted it, he shit himself, swerved and so nearly went up the curve. Jokes :') Be epic to see Hadouken at reading again too

Anyways, Loads has been going on, Mostly drunken adventures but hey, thats what the summers for

After adams birthday on the friday (last post, on like the 6th?) had work on the saturday and cycled the 7 miles in a thunderstorm, imagin i've fallen into a river and you've just about got the look i had going as i walked through browns ha, would of been fine but the rain had got to the white shirt and ruined it, the only spare was my bar managers "xs", i got into it for a laugh but they basically said, we'll be cool tonight you can go home, so headed back to the bystander as they where throwing a big do there and had a stage etc in the garden, mine and sams family where there (this being the ususals from oniells including members or breeze) + ash and all my old work friends so was an awesome night

Sunday, hit up tennis with ash at the leisure centre as usual, only mention this as it was such an epic game, 6-2 to him first set, 6-3 to me in the second, that and i ran, triped and went straight into the side netting, so funny to see.

The monday talia got back from her travels so red lion as standard with everyone, although i did get found out for destroying the vodka, really thought they would be none the wiser... lol, then headed to bridge which was a little tense for a second with me, being banned and all but it was different bouncers who didnt even take a second look so win, theres photo's of the banterous good times but after was bad, talia had gotten her drink spiked so had to carry her out, nice role reversal tbh ha but still, branos trip with harry, then la roux stole my superdry jumper, don't you just hate it when that happens? really bad times ;) ahaa

The wednesday was next, headed to pt after work to find out about events after i'd left harry at branos, i'd forgoten the golden rule of never leave drunken harry on his own, in the space of 5 minutes between seeing me and going to see talia at the bus station he had got surrounded by 6 guys who wanted his phone, he said no and got beaten up, broken nose and black eye style, bad times, besides this it was mutiny times as usual :D i haven't put the pictures up for this yet, i'll get round to it in a bit but also saw felicity too and had epic storys with a random guy outside and then the slaps game was invented, oh joy haha.

Friday, had a day shift so headed out to go and replace alice's ross's vodka from the "monday bridge tail" gave her a text and they where all having a chillout session with chinese at alice foremans summerhouse before going out, but i got a text from greg and felcity as they where heading to town, greg = priority always, so headed to the three goats for sticky toffee pudding and alpine. win
11 missed calls later i got to alice's with the plan of stick around till they left and not really drink as i needed to save funds for the festival season... however, persuation and banterous times plus 7 bottles of wine, one bottle of apple vodka, one bottle of absolute, another game of fuck you and attempting bar flare later, we all headed out to oxford. god sake, my friends are bad influences but i now have an hour gap around here where i disapeared off but re surfaced at kukui with everyone later on, theres again pictures of kukui, i like having a camera, after headed back to alices, there was lots of fighting for the sofa, red wine and eating of jelly beans but woke up in the morning and was looking for my phone (i've now lost it) and found a penalty notice in my bag for:

Urintaing in public, causing alarm and distress.
where: Mr shoe, george street
when:11:25
Details: two female members of public pointed male out to officers, male intoxicated.
Locality excluded from: Oxford and cowley
Route to leave: george street to park end... "thus rejoining and ending up in kukui" haha

£80 fine.

Wasn't smileing to much then but i do still intend to frame this under the title of "Lad", it seems to be the story of my life.

Yesterday i finally did the reading/v fest shop (although im heading to v just to sell the ticket, but taking festival stuff just incase i can't and will just have to go anyway) and managed to get everything besides a grill to go over an open fire or the chairs as they had sold out in tescos... so instead i bought a hammock. Now have you ever seen a guy try and cycle home with 2 bags full of stuff, not talking about the plastic bags, i'm talking about the big ones the super markets encourage you to buy to be greener plus a hammock. i got lots of funny looks and nearly an audience outside tescos ha

didnt do bridge monday, to which everyone was out for a friends birthday, didnt do wahoo bar with breeze and to save funds and wont be doing results night either.

however did do the pt yesterday, most was spent with ella, antonia and mike plus loads of others for bits of the night so it was just really good times.

Right, i'm heading to southampton tomorrow at 8:15 armed with the camera and festival supplys to begin my coach adventure to v, ...

Cool beans

Also two classics,
I'd put vlad the impailer but if noel fielding shows up and i sell the ticket when kasabian are headlining V, i'll hate life.

I remember when I used to feel something, But now i'm just cold inside.

Friday night was so good there aren't words to describe it, besides maybe banterous haha
There where about 3 or 4 different groups of friends out which is always a going to be a good start

Firstly, Four candles for adams birthday, although walking in there the doorman was the same guy from the "bridge monday tale" so complete fail there, but yeah, everyone from mathew arnold was there basically including some very old faces and an ex partner in crime too, there plan was to head to thirst later on so me + the other o'neills usuals headed there for a bit in the mean time as "hustler", a band pretty similar to breeze where playing, so stoped there for a drink, i then left them to watch the rest of the set and catch up later whilst i headed to thirst to go and see a friend who's just got back from down under after 10 months, i thought it would be weird to see someone after such a long time but it just wasn't, shes exactly the same as before just plus tons of storys and a slight auzzie accent. good times, i didn't drink here as i had work the next day but after yet more dancing headed to branos for not one, but two rounds of chicken ... i ask myself why but i really don't know, it tasted good at the time, Then droped hannah, harry and sarah off home, then headed to pt til the early hours with katy and chris, and seriously danced the night away, pictures are up and picture time with the benton is really quite something to behold. So have a gander on fb if your bored but this is the best out of all and sums up how much you missed out ... This is chris hamblin

Anyways, more music as usual, i should just not bother posting anything else but music, its what seems to take up this blog now, that and i think i'm the only one left here ha, not that i really care, i like having something to look back on

Video to this is dam good, This is the edited one, in the actual one she puts the cat in the oven and turns it on instead of the lyrics, What. a. Bitch



I think my music taste has taken a turn for the worse recently, i'm going to load up the ipod with classics this week but still theres something strangly addictive about this

(-A-)

Its been like May since i've updated this i think, never the less i've now completed my army tests

Barb test is very easy, you are timed and there are 5 stages on a touch screen computer, the practise one is up online to find out the details but i sliped up on about 4 or 5 occasions from just being tired but came out with 64, you need above 26 for the infantry and above 50 for any other job in the army essentially, however for medical jobs or some other specific area's you would need experience to back this up

Then theres the literacy and numeracy tests, again very easy its basically to check your not mentally retarded in some way, .. some how i passed both ... ha

Currently on the armys grading system i'm on an A, this means i'll be in the top 3-4 people when applying for jobs that are available, (if i pass medical and physical tests and keep it at an A)
hes given me a list of 97 jobs that are going to have places coming up in the coming months along with tons of information, dvd's,booklets etc to go away and read and learn

Next stage is to get my medical forms out of the way, where they check in depth into my family history, they are looking for hereditary problems, things like heart disease that would effect you joining so i should be ok, next:

• Interview with my recruiter, to which i need to know everything about my chosen jobs, the three i went for, top being armourer, (the next two will be changed but it was just to fill the space) is infantry and third the para's
• Pre practise selection in bicester with the rifles, lasting just a day but covers everything i'll go through on selection like the physical tests, ice breaker and some other tests too
• Head to the dentist and opticians, just to check theres nothing up before going on selection
• Go to selection in pirbright in surry, for my medical, then all the physical and mental tests over the 2 days, to which i'll have my final interview to find out if i've passed and if i'll get an offer of service

I mentioned about the job list and it includes armourer, the entry date for training is the 16th of january, this is why my recruiter is adiment on rushing me through to make this place, so thats the date i'm now aiming to leave on, but its a long way to get there yet and more a rough idea at this point

If i make this date, this is whats instore for me:

• Theres 3 and a half months of phase one training in either catterick or pirbright, covering all basic infantryman skills with a weeks leave in the middle as a break
• pass out parade on completion and a few weeks break
• Then 8 months in hampshire for technical training, Plus i want to do specialist courses on the 50cal machine gun, 300mm cannon fitted to mechanized tanks, challenger 2 tank cannon and the apache 120mm chain gun plus lynx 50 cal machine gun
• After this, well i could be posted to any unit, anywhere in the world, but intend to do the all arms commando course and P-coy over this period, and 4 years on intend to apply for the helicopter pilot course

So thats the plan

xo

So make your siren's call, And sing all you want, I will not hear what you have to say

Well this one's going to be fun haha, There was always going to be at least one night this summer where i got disgustingly drunk and completely over shoot my limits but still, i'll get to that, also i'll throw in some songs i haven't been able to get out of my head this week

Not to much has been going on since the warrior dance festival, Working mainly, seen chris for N64 times, played tennis with ash, football up the field as standard and i've done my army exams (i'll leave this for another post because not everyone wants to hear it)



Saturday was such a good night though, sam returned from Majorca so met him after work at 12 and headed to wahoo bar as it was free entry, it was someone's birthday so loads of others where about but we laowed and caught up outside till around 3am? ish, was jokes but after headed to sarahs and watched superbad over banter with alice, harry and rich (he went to sleep first, consequently had a cock drawn on his face and walked home through oxford with no idea, jokes)

Me and harry walked alice home down the river to iffley which is a nice walk down memory lane tbh and would of been pretty picturesque at 6am in the morning, if we weren't all shit tired ha, but she cooked us a win breakfast (including nesquick) and we then ventured home, got back at half 9, left at 11 and had work at 12. Loved my life that day haha, it was the staff party as well that sunday, but just thought nooo so not happening and crashed out when i got back at 7



Anyways, brings me on to monday, started off by heading out to kennington in the afternoon for playfield times, although i ended up playing in socks as topman shoes as it turns out aren't meant to be used for sport and tore straight down the middle, they only have to last till friday aka payday so it isn't so bad.

home, change and quick pit stop and drink at browns to drop off my work stuff for the following day and cycled to alices in summertown for pre drinks. It was banterous times as usual, but i'm going to skip to the day after when i heard about things that went on ha

Harry thinks i didnt drink to much, i let him believe this as a) it wasn't my vodka b) he believe ester drank it all ... cough ... yeah haha, i don't usually touch the stuff as reading festival a long time ago got real messy and my body generally goes "what, are you joking? get that stuff away from me" when it catchs the smell, but absolute vodka you just can't taste, so empty stomach, half and half mixers + beer not realising how much i'd actually got through and playing the lovely drinking game of Fuck you... well got there at 9, banterous times till half past, delay of 15-20 minutes, i was gone when we left at 10. i draw a blank from here on in, how i cycled to town i don't know. Bad times

Sam Ella and Harry have filled me in on events inbetween, basically i'm banned from bridge now for a few weeks, sam as much as he tryed on our merry walk, couldn't sober me up enough to get me in and i kept trying, bad times but other stuff included playing man vs bus and giveing sam a mild heart attack and giving a lady friend from MA a head massage whilst her rugby boyfriend was stood literally next to me watching, oh bad times haha

Scary part of this night was from 12:22 onwards, i remember looking at a text at that point, it was like waking up from a dream and being given a minute or two to figure out what the hell is going on before i slip back to being completely car parked, ha then wake up again as if time had just skiped, that was a mind fuck especially at one point where i woke up mid way through being really upset for no apparent reason, i have been teased for the man tears, again harry believed it was because i didnt get into bridge, i let him believe this, but what came next was i woke up mid way through eating chicken with curry, trying to explain to harry where my bike would be, but i genuinly had no idea or memory of it, then from the taxi ride home onwards was fine



Just the phrase "drink a can of..." needs to be inserted here,

haha i love my life



spent the night at alice's after we drunkenly cooked pasta and watched porn with some mild facebook rape. Woke up the next day from the cat licking my face with no real hangover at all, watched robinhood, men in tights on video, such a win and had pizza, nesquick and lemonade for breakfast after a trip to tescos (to which i bought a cornetto as well, had to be done) whilst cleaning up the bomb sight that was alices garden and kitchen... however alice did the garden, jack her dog hates men, especially me and harry, every time she left the back door open we shit ourselfs basically as he does just leap and bite aparently



Tuesday at work was fun to say the least too haha but i did hear about all the antics at the sunday staff party, to which a friend also got banned from a pub, for the second time ha, so its not just me

anyways, won't be here now for a good few weeks, next week i have loads of paperwork to do + a friend comes back from traveling, week after im in southampton before v fest, then week after im in shropshire before reading festival, then busy from there on doing army related stuff so yeah, thats the plan for the rest of the summer

Laters
xo

Even if the sun sets I will start a fire, To change your mind

You know what I'd like?

Jack Sparrows compass, although right this second it would point straight to the cake trimmings downstairs on the side, never the less i can't wait for the 4th movie "On Stranger Tides" to come out next year, Theres some pictures of Penelope Cruz dressed up in pirate gear on set but no trailer yet as far as i know

well, the compass or Bernard's watch. Lets be honest though, everyone has had the conversation over a pint of "what would you do with it?" ...

Anyways only reason for this post (also the 100th, YEEAAHH, go me :) was this, a friend goes by this quote.

Sticks and stones are hard on bones
Aimed with angry art,
Words can sting like anything
But silence breaks the heart.

Also i'm house bound for the next week, so expect more posts as ill be on the computer most of the time (practise barb test is online) until next Wednesday as thats when the army tests are, Finally . However this doesn't bother me as Young Guns Debut album ""All Our Kings Are Dead" is not only pretty sick, but has been on full blast all of today, win





xo

Time for a catch up and round up of recent events i think... that and i have to many bruises and scraps that have emerged after The prodigy (which i'll get to) on sat so am putting off general movement today so doing this fits in well but its been about a month or so now? so round off of category's i think,

However, i warn you now to get a cuppa, maybe some food, my suggestion would be a cornetto and get comfy.

WDF: New addiction for the week, Does it Offend You, Yeah?...



Army
Tests are on the 4th now as i missed the last ones due to having the bike stolen so nothing to much on that front right now however i do now own standard issue US marine boots (there just better than the British ones) that you could happily crush something small and innocent with. Got them for training as its a trade up from running in running shoes and shorts to then use boots and combats. Teamed up with the 85l Bergen i bought ages ago its quite a funny sight, i'll get a picture or something soon.

WDF: Plan B showed up to perform with Chase and Status... (all live videos are shit but they played this)

Home stuff
Well moving out now isn't happening, i didn't get the place in Jericho but it worked out for the better. Me and mum live in a private rented house and housing benefit cover the rent basically in full based on my mums wage, however what we didn't realise was with me coming out of education and having an income mine has to be taken into account as well and they see it as i should be paying towards it. They have cut off all benefits until they back date it and i need to help out a lot with footing the bill, so my rent is around the 250 mark just to help her through the next few months, but i do have my room back now so good times but its just going to be a tough few months for finances

However, she is re-applying for a 4 bedroom council house, but filling in forms for both oxfordshire and back up north, now me and her both know there's sod all her in oxfordshire so its 90% likely she will be going back up north nearer to my grandparents in the coming months, this probably wont effect me as such as it should be around 6 months before i leave for the year and a half training stuff (if i get in) but does then mean i'll probably never return to oxford besides to see friends. bad times but thats pretty much whats going on there

WDF: Seeing what the Sony cyber-shot can do...


Work
Pretty win at the moment, i can work both bars and know all the basic cocktails, was getting a bit cheeky yesterday and nearly droped a whole bottle of gin but besides this its just fun, also for anyone whos been up to browns we have a bar area and i'm starting to get to know the locals who tip rather generously, good times, i work with a guy called Archie as well who's Russian and used to work at bridge, we have had many a conversation as there are some huge cultural differences but yesterday was pretty funny, he doesn't understand the concept of champagne and hates the stuff.

This being in a club setting, in this country if someone buys champagne there out to impress and look like the big man, lets face it and theres plenty of women fickle enough to fall for it and the bullshit that follows. he was telling me a story of how cheap people would go into the toilet with crap champagne in bridge and go and put it into a Don Perignon bottle just to look good, now if you don't have the money why bother to act like it? if you want to impress and show off, go buy a Bentley or a yacht. he was also telling me how another guy came in, bought 4 bottles of Don Perignon, drank it, said thanks and then just went home tiping all the people on the bar, no ladys and with no other reason than he enjoys the taste. what a dude.

WDF: Zane Lowe played this, there's no other song that would get 65,000 to drop everything and rave all at once before The Prodigy...



Social shizz
Everything from Crabs legendary bbq, Bridge Mondays, Pt times, Birthdays, Pubs times, Leaving and coming home party's, ... all many excuse's to go out for banterous times and get crunk :) Throw in seeing a few old faces and thats pretty much sums it up, although in the comings weeks is V festival (im going on my own but to see kasabian? who gives a fuck, that and raving to Cheryl Cole? :P) im heading to shropshire for good times, heading to southampton and then comes reading festival and chris camp to top off the summer, awesome

Warrior Dance Festival ... YEEEAAAAHHH

I went with hannah and her family, she drove us all there and it was just good times, bands banter booze and ... food, win



It was Incredible. The stage alone was something to behold, the lighting was insane, they had ambulances suspended on the stage fitted with strobes etc, they did a lazer show mid way through the set ...



I'd been raveing at the front (well second barrier as for the first you needed wristbands, they only had 9000 and we didnt know this, fuck our lives) for pendulum's and enter shikari's set (to which for "I'm sorry your not a winner" i was in the human pyramid, win) so was battered up as it was, theres three rows of people on the barrier then behind these was just mosh pits, there was about 4 or 5 pits side by side behid the three rows that stretched along the whole right hand side of the second barrier, you couldnt go forward into those three rows without being crushed and if you went side to side you'd just fall straight into another pit, you just had to roll with it or get back ha but caught the first 4 songs off the barrier for the prodigy, in the mosh pit, as standard but then headed out this time around so saw everything and didnt get crushed or distracted, i've never danced so hard with complete strangers in my life!



They even played "Out of space" to finish.

I fucking love my life.

The memories, I hope they'll never fade

I'm so going to be late for work at this rate, again, said i'd post, didn't, to busy and again to much going on. To finish off the story of the bike though i have a new one and it's insured to the teeth, so all is well Also this won't make sense to anyone either, all you need to know is it always has and always will make me smile. I mean come on, skateboarding rocks ;)

laters xo

...? ha

My bike got stolen again. The thief left there bike unlocked where mine would have been, its bright pink. How he/she got into the chain i have no idea but he/she ... going with she left that there too.
FML

I'll post properly soon, far to much is going on
xo

Also this will make no sense as to why its here but to me, to everyone else you'll lol heavily at this, so much easyer if you don't ask :)

INVADERS MUST DIE

I was going to blog, then got an email from The Warriors Dance Festival saying my tickets have been dispatched, ... took me a minute (from being hung to the over) to work out it's The Prodigy gig at milton keynes that i posted about ages ago now. Ok maybe like 4 weeks away still but it looks fucking insane, they have added another area called the "boneyard" with a second stage, Tattoo tent and market stalls, it really is going to be a mini festival rather than a gig, just without camping. Check out the website if you have a spare minute for the video, its pretty awesome

The Warriors Dance Festival "and over the last couple of years the team have been running a tea dance, in middleton hall which has proved extremely popular ... :)"

So in the spirit of this watched old reading fest videos, Loudly. I mean Really Loudly. also miss my bass guitar now as i could play a far few prodigy songs, not well but yeah. enjoy

I am my own worst enemy

So much again over this week and i'm way to tired to remember everything but i'll go with the last 3 for ease

Sunday, nothing really, working and half way through asked, why the hell is it so busy today? "Chris you do know it's fathers day? right?" ha so we got hit hard all day, but there offer was giving away half a pint of pilsner to every father, me and chloe took full advantage, pilsner and steak. win

Monday started off by rolling out of bed 15 mins before i needed to head out and play tennis with ash, was all good besides missing breakfast and until we turned in the car and went "so have you got any tennis balls, no, do you, shit?" ... never the less went on a hunt in botley with no real luck but rikki's back and just round the corner so headed to his for a catch up and to steal his balls ... :) ha.

Played for 30 minutes at westminster but these are court's we aren't surposed to be on, never been caught before but being summer there starting to watch the courts now i think so we got asked to pay £7.50 (yeah laow) or leave, so took the latter option but she was lovely about it. Anyways this was followed by food shopping, and sneakily adding to the trolley prawn crackers and a pasty for brunch, then out to playfield for football times with sam adam etc always fun times, cycled back home to sort myself out, sweaty muddy football look isn't really in this year ...

15 mins later meet up with harry + his nans own alcohol concotion and cycle it in.
Chilled at sarahs with the usuals + wine,
headed to red lion + rose and saw tash kaur and alex which was cool as its been ages.
Then briskly off to bridge for free entry + double vodka's and lem, shots and 2 friends birthdays, yeah i was out £10 and managed to get a little messy, thats bad but bridge was just so so good :). Although event of the night was one of those moments that when you hear about you shouldn't laugh but you just do, about half way through the night, the friend on her birthday got messy, as you do but triped on the outside stairs at bridge, fell penguin style downwards and spent the rest of it in a&e getting stichs. Just Oh bless

Today, woke up hanging, badly. Really badly. helped around the house and finishing moveing rooms around now my sisters is painted, this ment dismantling, peice by peice, the hefty bed of jennys, lame but then doctors, the lump on my face i've just decided to leave there for the time being, i can't be arsed with it anymore but made it worth while as i got my hayfever stuff ... well i would of done but i didnt realise i have to pay for it, as i'm now 18. fml but football at playfield, bbq by the river with matt, then sams for whats known as a burnout session, this means gossip and catch up on recent events, our new plan for the summer? he has a hot tub, we are going to get in the chinese whilst in the hot tub before any night out, take a stroll down the river in the sun and get on it ... same goes for after getting on it, hot tub in the early hours with chinese left overs? i can't think of any plan better than this.

Oh and some pictures that just aren't fb worthy and some You me at six. night




























The theres about 10 others that are just colours like this:

I’ve a smile on my face

Ok i'll do this now as i'll be working most of the week and just wont get round to it, here's the post but with some added phone pictures as i've finally stumbled across the USB lead for it, also you know when you come across a song you won't get out of your head for the rest of the day? i came across this and had to put it on repeat, loudly. Click here.

Haha, here's one that sums up the morning of last weekend. Death, slightly warmed, this being after breakfast, Rawring at milk? Yeeaah

Thurs, Fri basically just work, Sat was a little different. Had work from 5 but it was the first england match of the world cup, bit lame i missed out on heading to Adams with everyone for it all but they have a mini tv behind the bar at browns so watched it on that whilst having a laugh with some of the customers, mainly at englands expense, 1-1 to the usa? fuck that but yeah was cool, i got invited out to a work friends 21st birthday do at Milano's down cowley? I have no idea what or where that is but i didn't finish till 12pm so laowed, Adam and his general group where heading out after the england game and sam fancyed man banter times so funded me to come on with after work (as i have no money for a few weeks) and headed to Thirst. Everyone was beyond smashed but it was dam good times.

A few jager bombs later, left them to it and headed to kukui to meet harry and a few others, they had closed the doors but i managed blag not only entry ... but free entry ha Then me and harry blagged free beer and shots. Win so raved it up there till early hours

Met back up with Sam after and headed on down to ali's van. Ali is a legend to us as we went there all the time last summer, he only had a dribble of curry sauce left, so gave us another box of chips for free. The headed on down to sarah's as she offered a mini house party and then beds, although it was many a banterous time before we actually got there and met up with her

She then couldn't get harry or esther to open the front door, as they couldn't hear us and where more than likely in the garden, so not really thinking me and Sam went straight into action, he boosted me over an 8ft fence, to which i then scaled 2 back gardens, but just as i was jumping off into her garden, Sam and Sarah came through the back door and met me, harry let them in, so was completely pointless ha but pretty fun.

Plan changed, Sarah was heading to Esther's house, so after more banterous times out the front with harry, Sam, Esther and a random Australian (waiting for Sarah to, well, i'm going to go with pamper her nose whilst Hugh helped haha) me and sam set off back to kennington, add in being followed by chavs and nearly being arrested we didn't get in till around 5.30am at least, next day had to leave at around 11ish to walk it on back to work for 12 - 6. Longest walk and shift of my life to then get home and have to paint my sisters room pink. Wonderful

Today I've sat around and done sweet fuck all as its my day off from work, well mainly sweet fuck all, i did fix both snapped cables on the bike, so no walking back from oxford anymore and blog, productive enough for me today

Oh here's some others pictures too, All terrible quality being phone pictures

Drunken man banter with Chris and Greg between pubs?














When ella came to visit














Random ones of the Courteeners gig with hannah ages ago at the 02 Oxford

Your a Catastrophe ... Well your Redonkulous.

I was going to blog... then cba and watched Shrek: Forever after or the 3rd one,
Credits always = win



xo

I'm a bartender, Not a clown

So much has gone on over this weekend its insane, so this will all come out in a jumbled and long arsed mess probably as i remember stuff, so get some tea if your planning to read and good luck

Friday, work then plan was to meet up with people in uni parks and chill in the sun but idea's that happen spur of the moment the day before tend to flop as this one did, so laowed headed home and mum was planning a bbq with family friends, with me as the cook, win. chris came up to as a similar plan of his flopped, had pimms and beer and put a ridiculous amount of bacon on the bbq, as any true man should to make the man burger, it had A LOT OF BACON ... and cheese ... and MORE BACON, Yeeah

Saturday, Work, then cycled home, changed, cycled back and met up with esther, sarah, alice (ross) harry and mel at red lion. Instantly though me and harry laughed as we had both busted out the shorts, win. They where just finishing up lunch and plan was to go back to sarahs and then onto a house party, so me, harry and mel did a beer run, now i've been pouring peroni all week but hadn't actually had the chance to drink one, being on limited funds, but we pooled what we had together and came out with 4 big bottles of peroni, vodka and coke and red bull for sarah as currently she can't drink. headed to hers and it was just nice and chilled, music drinks and laughs, love these times and its just like last summer, apart from the group will get bigger as people get back from uni etc, also most of the photos are on fb already and they are BUFF ha

Finished up and headed out to the party, we got out the front door and a group of people ran past shouting "quick we need to get to thirst" ... if only harry had kept his mouth shut haha, he went "what, they wont get into thirst" ... she was small, black and came at us all with the attitude, "what you chattin about?, you don't know neffin, wanna see my ID" ... ha, but one of the boys pulled her away to which harry mentioned he'd only just got out of prison, lovely but by this point me and esther where in fits of laughter, The girl heard this as she got a few metres away and came back, "what you laughin at", esther ran and closed the door, i stood in the way and she went straight for the nipple push ha, she cleared off after this and it probably could of turned ugly at any point but at the time we where all laughing to much to worry or notice, just not many nights start like this ha

headed to cowley and found zak along the way who not only had busted out the shorts but the same ones as me ha, primark ftw, but it was pretty much your standard house party, lots of random people, beer pong, lots of booze (although rum was a bad idea), richard castle, music, pretty standard night, but headed on back to sarahs with some others in the early hours, guestimate of around 4-5am (not sure when though as i passed out on the sofa basically on arrival).

Sunday, 7am in the morning = looking and feeling like death. The just ill feeling, but harry cooked an uber breakfast and i set off by 8:30 back home, changed showered etc, then back to work for 12-5 ... longest shift of my life. Got home chilled and watched the finale to 24, i haven't watched the series really but wanted to see how they finished off jack bauer, one of the hardest men on tv, ... tense, clever with hard man moments but he didn't die, should of watched the series as it would of made more sense and seemed less lame of an ending.

Monday, was just one of those bad days that you just can't control, just have to shut up and get on with.

first off i nearly ended up in A&E, Headed out for work at 12 coming down cumnour hill at really fast pace, car didn't judge it right and pulled out where the speed camera is, to go across, i pulled on the back brake i have left and managed to miss it by a few inch's but the cable snapped. If there was any traffic that day i'd of gone clean into the back but there wasn't, someone likes me up there i guess, feet out but i didn't stop till the seacourt bus stop, then walked the rest to work and bit taken back by it.

Got there and they had a Spanish tour group of 70 people booked, jesus christ is all i have to say. It was insanely busy to the point me and chloe where out waitering food and cleaning the tables to help, then doing 50+ coffee's when the machine can only do 4 at a time, so lame. but there was 8 bottles of wine left over, the waiter who's table it is gets to decide what happens with it, he took 2 and left the rest for everyone else so i got a bottle of red, little win for the day. At 4 headed off on break to uni parks with the same crowd as sarahs + curry, hugh, alice (foreman), hannah (collier) and harry (score) they where pre drinking before bridge so generally just more laughs, again another little win for the day, Got back to work for 6 after 2 carlesberg to again another fully booked restaurant. lame

One of the biggest groups in the evening was a 19th party for around 20-30 of them, this is when it dawned on me just how preppy/rich kid infested browns is, some of them are lovely but some are very stereotypical and in a word cunts (leaving aside the fact the phrase "i would" came up a lot), but want to know how much there tab ran up to? ... take a guess and i'll post the answer in the next one, but they had both red and white wines, 2 courses and numerous beers and champagne cocktails. anyways i was supposed to leave at 9 - 10ish for bridge monday and to catch up with a friend for her birthday and got offered to. but heres a question i put to you, what would you do?

• Say ok, change and head off to bridge and the birthday, when both you and your bar manager know you would be leaving them in the shit as the big party wouldn't finish till half 10, adding in you need the money for a flat and your mum would castrate you if you lost the job. but you wouldn't get to go out to bridge and see a certain someone you like and enjoy a birthday with a close friend letting her down, and shes not the understanding type.


• Say no, stay and work till 12 to help them out, to be in your managers "my god i owe you a favour" book. giving up bridge (miss free entry, no funds for later) and seeing the person you like, then let your close friend down on her birthday.

I took the second as much as i didn't want to and worked till just up until midnight, finished up and tryed to ring jennie/text to find out where they where, no reply to which i realised i had a bike with no brakes, so had to trek the whole 8-9 miles home on foot, it wasn't just raining it was pouring and only work stuff, i'd had nothing to eat all day besides sugarpuffs and 2 carlesberg, so just so epicaly uber lame. but thinking back, on long treks all you can do is think really, i like to think of it as the more mature choice, putting responsibility's over social life, then got a text saying "I hate you." ... oh good times :/

Tuesday, again work in the morning and asked to do the evening as another favour to help out, so 2 hour break, on break i just read a book mum found on the parachute regiment to kill time, dam interesting as it tells you why the army did things the way it did in Afghanistan and the thinking and logic behind it, or the lack of it in some cases from higher command but yeah. Evening shift though it dawned on my just how much i love my job, and how much i'd learnt in the week i've been there. I've been given crash courses in everything, been thrown in the deep end and can do everything on the restaurant side of the bar now, i know all the wines, champagnes and the mixers, i.e pimms royal, bellini etc beers, soft drinks, how to make all coffees, i have my own card for the tills and can work them, i'm dealing with all orders on the coushty bar (hes Czech and loves that word, and its his side of the bar) which is basically the bar area, where i deal with customers and waiter all the tables there. but I'm just excited to get there and learn something new, sounds a bit gay but still, oh and having made latte's for all the kitchen staff when they want i get free food now when ever, win. but i start on the cocktails properly next weeks so ill post how to make them as i go when i get davids bible as some are dam nice.

Today, done fudge all. literally, although i think its well deserved, hannah (brookes) popped over for a catch up and now its time for me to clean up my room and do something productive besides blog ,fb, doctor who and listening to music

laters

xo

Rise of the Vulture

Laptops on 10% from chilling in the garden so this is going to have to be quick

But i'm back from my mini adventure to wantage and it was pretty awesome, Wootton - Wantage = Such an easy bike ride too, maybe around 12 miles but its just one straight road so i was there in no time, averaging like (major guestimate) 20-25 miles an hour which is always fun. theres something about going fast on a bike

Anyways went there to go and see a friend katy, we basically just had a huge catch up as its been years and i got shown the joys of wantage, blockbuster is the place to be however ha just because it has sash who i haven't seen for ages either, i didn't realise they knew each other till about a week ago, small world but had pub times at the swan, park times and even played in the sprinklers, like the ones in abingdon. yeah we are that cool but made the most of the sun. It was just an all round good time. Stayed at there house and in the morning i got introduced to Bizarre ER, pretty self explanatory from the title but its so bad in some places just from showing horrific wounds but is so intriguing and pretty funny, it hooks you in, watch it on bbc i player. I would be but i'm watching outnumbered. I also had a few bits of katys stuff round my house still from ages ago but forgot to take the labyrinth with me, i remember not liking it to much first time round but not much else about it, so watching it again tomorrow

I also didn't realise just how badly burnt my neck was until i cycled back home today, its rather sore and just as i get back the last of the aftersun is gone. lame

Anyways, watching that and heading to bed as i start full time work tomorrow at browns, i rang and accepted the job, i did have the interview with the royal oak and it went really well. I was supposed to go to the trial shift today but i'd just much rather have the chance to do bar work than chef work so didnt go. There looking for bartenders too so might ring her back, apologise and see if she needs some more part time, just to get more hours. Also on that front a company called Silver servers (Catering company who do events, waitering chefing, bartending) rang me up today (i applyed online last week) to arrange an interview, i'll talk to them properly tomorrow but be the same thing, part time for more hours.

So yeah, laters xo

This kept me cycling, fast! ha as did the whole album, Bring on reading :D