A Year Of 2020: Summary

I haven't posted much this year as I have't really had a lot to talk about. Due all the restrictions due to the pandemic, my field has been limited. Also, I realise, it really has been a while this time. The last time posted was mid-August which seems ages away. It's been a long five months and I've been struggling - If I'm really honest. My job security is threatened (retail). My industry is dying (entertainment, live music & performances) but on the plus side I've had my fair share of support.

I see myself as an open person - I mean I blog and often type reasonably personal things on here, or what some may consider. I knew something was wrong for a while, to the point that I've been dabbling writing about it at times already but when the first lockdown hit the alarm bells rang clear. Nothing really made sense anymore. For those few months I felt like my life didn't really have a meaning anymore. Everything I find pleasure in had been taken away. And yeah, I get it - everyone else had to go through the same thing but I was spending the majority of my time in my house playing Animal Crossing. (No shade on AC, it's a good game to help deal with this sort of thing) My point is, I wasn't really doing anything productive. I just remember feeling so frustrated by the whole circumstance - I mean, I still am to a lesser extent. I've felt so angry to the point that I've wanted to use violence (but haven't) and that's just not me. 

This year has just been super stressful and I never want another like this again. At the moment it's looking like "lockdown 3" is going to last until March time. That's another 3 months without gigs, without being about to make any plans without the fear of having to cancel.

Thankfully, I've still been able to see a handful of my friends over these strange times and hear from a few others. Those folk are the ones that have really kept me sane as well as 4 months of meds and a fair amount of counselling sessions. I need out of retail in 2021 - or at the very least out of a supermarket name brand. I've felt like just a number this year and it's absolutely shite. The lack of care is fucked. Make one wrong move through a rough patch and rather ask whats wrong they throw you under a bus. Twice. Yeah, fuck that. I need better for 2021 and I know I can do it. (...hmph) But no, really... I've been talking to a careers advisor and he's helping me realise my potential and give the polite kick up the arse I need. That's one positive at least...

Pumpkin picking in October must be one of the few highlights of the year. Oh, and maybe the time me and a few friends had a cheeky night out (when it was legal) and the sneaky trip to Alton Towers. There's were a few other highlights before the pandemic hit the UK hard. Pendulums Fall's penultimate show at Alberts, Nottingham. 

Watch here: https://youtu.be/iOQKEZLAKeQ

...Kill the Moons gig at The Chameleon with support from Desenitised, Alice's Ants and Red Puppets. Our final gig of the year at Grantham in March (takes the piss...)

I became quite an obsessive collector this year too. AC Amiibo Cards, Video Games - my fave to collect being 3ds & GameCube. Nintendo is my absolute bae this year. I see it as an investment though, maybe one year I'll lose intrest and have £££s worth of games to sell. I know there's a handful in my collection already that sell for way above originally RRP - Pokemon Soul Silver (£90), Majoras Mask 3DS Special Edition (£80?ish) - there's too many more to mention. In some way this is my positive. Not the most healthiest positive but it's also allowed me to restart my YouTube channel and reinvent it with some fresh content such as show casing my collection. I started a series called "Retro Games & Collectables" which I'm hoping to start to make on a weekly basis (since we're still in lockdown) who knows, if YouTube's algorithms pick it up it might be a nice little earner.

Retro Games & Collectables playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu1IpTgNg0_KU67gmzjFkvJm3_RrW1QGa

I've been brainstorming a few other new ideas to use on my channel - I won't share just yet as I've not quite worked it out but it's one of the few things keeping me both excited and motivated, even if the views I generate for now are dismal with only 55 subscribers.

I promise to blog much more this year as it seems already that I will have a lot more to talk about.

Stay safe! - Kim.

Worst week of the year...

It's only Monday and I can already say this quite confidently, although I guess some of the problems started a few weeks ago. I've always been open here and that will never change as it writing posts like these help me work things out and figure out my next moves. I had a plan for ages that I've never fully executed but maybe now the timing is right. I'll be closing a few doors this week, definitely at least one anyway but maybe it will help me move forward. Maybe it's best.

The problem with instances like this is that there is no real telling what is the right thing to do, or what really would be the best move going forward. I feel like I have so many ideas yet not many real opportunities and most new work places demand experience over qualifications which is a ridiculous expectation of the young - something I'm growing apart from being. 26 isn't old but it's somewhere in that weird in-between bracket when no one really cares, or at least thats how it feels. I'm thankful that I have at least had some highlights for this year as I imagine many haven't really had any because of this damned global pandemic and the paranoia. That scares me more than the virus, everyone living in fear that they may catch it and allow it to spread. These are strange times. I feel like I've worked hard though this but now I'm facing a disciplinary at work. I guess I can finally mention it and talk about it a little more freely since my hearing is coming up. I'm not worried about my job. I was, I really was when the investigation process first started but now I'm not so sure as it's brought out so much upset and anger in me. I couldn't stop crying at first, it took me hours to settle down and I had no choice but to come home from work early. Colleagues have been asking about me, those that were there on that afternoon. I appreciate the concern because all leadership can say for themselves is that "it's only policy."

I feel so done in. I've had sleepless nights - last night was on of them. The funny thing is that I try not care too much but then I get angry with myself and make myself more upset, like I am doing now. As hard as it may seem I need to try to focus on the positives. I do still have other things planned. If I lose my job (which I doubt) I can look for another, sign on for a short while while working on new projects. I feel like everyone else has had a break except me (which isn't true, I know, others have worked throughout this shit storm of a situation) Maybe I have one thing to look forward to this Friday. A friend of a friend has booked me as a photographer for a car shoot. I'm not really sure how that's going to go but it will be a little extra cash for me. Not a lot, no doubt it will probably go into my games collection. I have moved on from Amiibo cards now, although I am still collecting them. I just can't bring myself to pay stupid money for a bit of card board, no matter how cute. I do have some that are valued up to £55 (eBay prices) which is mental but I could never pay that sort of money myself. I just can't justify it. It is another thing that makes me sad though, knowing I can't complete my collection just yet and I'm convinced that prices are only going to get worse.

About my games collection though... that's really coming along to the point that I now need a bigger bookshelf to store them all. For now, I'm just juggling them between different spaces so it still makes sense but I'm going to have to invest and build soon. My latest additions are Sonic Adventure 2 Battle NGC and Spongebob Squigglepants 3DS - which is basically a Warioware rip-off. Gamecube and 3DS games are my favourite to collect at the moment, although I've been playing my Gamecube games on my Wii as my original console is old and battered. I think it's the laser, that or the disc spin motor that's wearing out. My poor baby. I do have a weird connection to these things and they have been helping me lately, even if it is mostly to zone out and chill out - forget about all the problems in the world. Some of them I could easily repeatedly replay unhealthily. I'm not 100% sure why, I think it's nostalgia related but the first couple of Harry Potter games really hit the spot for me. 

No doubt, I'll give an update soon on the proceedings of this week. I'll have other bad news to announce formally later on in the week too but I can't really comment on it yet. Also, it's a little late but, happy 3 years Kill The Moon!

Good Luck Never Lasts

I got stupidly lucky last Friday and I didn't even realise until a few days after when I received a message from Guitar Gear Giveaway. I had entered into a competition to win a Boss ME-80, something I had wanted for the last couple of years. I brought two tickets which cost me £1.99 each. I think it was 250 cap ticket draw so I figured I had a good chance and so be it - I won. My prize was delivered from GAK a few days later. In fact it's arrived quicker than my eBay item that I won, that still hasn't arrived which is disappointing.

Me holding my prize, the Boss ME-80

 

I've only really had a few quick plays with this so far but from what I've heard I've liked, I'm most enjoying the tera echo delay setting - it makes my solos sound amazing. Not really figured out the wah control yet, it was set as volume control and I'm not sure how to change it yet. I think it's something to do with the dial right next to it but when I last tweaked that nothing changed... hmmm... I am very impressed with this unit though. It's certainly an excellent piece to add to my collection. If I ever find myself in a situation having to play an ampless gig, this has me covered.

As I mentioned I'm also waiting for another, this one is a Zoom GFX 707. It's the same multi-effects unit my dad brought me when I was first learning. I only got rig on my last as it was in poor condition. The one thats on it's way looked to be in good condition and the price was fair, hopefully this doesn't turn into something that I have to dispute with eBay or PayPal, although PayPal are supposedly really good at handling these things... I guess I might find out soon. I really don't want to have to do that though as I have enough to deal with this end as it is. I'm currently doing some "homework" for work but the copy of my handbook was published in 2011 - which is the one I received upon first starting in 2015 (o.O) I'm amazed - have learned today that I need to ask for a more recent print.

Bassey - A Beat.. (STKMY REMIX) Track Preview

OUT NOW! 

Stream the full album here... 

SPOTIFY 

https://open.spotify.com/album/4hhvYA... 

APPLE MUSIC 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/a-be...

Bassey - Hollow Man (STKMY Remix) Track Preview

Here's a preview of what's to come - soon to be released! It's been great to be a part of this project and I can't wait to be able to share the full track with you all.

STKMY Feat. On New Bassey Album

ONE MAN TWO SONGS THIRTEEN PRODUCERS 

A song might be the creation of a songwriter but it’s the producer that develops it. As a singer/songwriter Bassey has got to know plenty of producers and so decided to try something different and this project is the result. Handing the song over with no rules to an eclectic range of renowned production talent, they had final say on the end product. 

The full list of producers is Nation of Teflon Souls, Toronto Blessings, Antonio Zee, Richard Thompson AKA Mr Ribbon, Scott Makepeace, Claudine West, Dickie, Russ Forster, Steve Turrell, STKMY, Brad Westby, David Fagin and Fatbwoi. Each version of the song has been recreated in their own vision creating this unique collection. 

‘Hollow Man’ and ‘A Beat...’ will be available on the usual streaming platforms, search ‘Bassey’. 

Fixing My iMac - HDD Replacement & Fresh OS Install

I finally got around to fixing that massive paperweight I bought last year. it only needed a new HDD. Thinking of selling it though as I don’t really have a need for it (originally was going to be some kind of back up machine but I don’t really have the space here) 

Mid 2010 model
Specs currently (might salvage RAM):
21.5inch screen
3.2 GHz Intel Core i3
8GB Ram
Seagate 500GB HDD
ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB graphics
MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6 (Can potentiality install El Captain, 10.11.6 which may run better)
Disk drive/SuperDrive- working

This was my first time doing this and my main reference was a guide on YouTube. I had to remove the glass and screen to access the HDD behind. The glass, being a 2012 model just simply pulled off but the screen was screwed in behind, held by 8 screws, some ear magnetic points which made it difficult. To get to the HDD I had to disconnect a few cables (vertical sync, backlight power, display port and temperature sensor) so I could access where I needed safely without damaging any components or stressing any of these cables. Once I had removed the screen I set it to one side, out of the way where it wouldn't get damaged and started to disconnect the HDD. 

 

    For those interested, the new HDD I was replacing the old one with was a Seagate 500GB capacity. Think it was some model from 2015, I don't know much more about it and I brought it second-hand from Cex for £8. The original drive was also manufactured by Seagate - apple licensed, certain to be the original from its release in 2010, which is why I went with it.

 

A few more cables to note here the HDD sensor cable and bother the power and date cables. I unplugged these before removing the screws holding the bracket the HDD was secured into, once this was loose I could then tease the HDD out of it's slot and remove the bracket completely from the drive. Once the drive was free, the Bracket then needed to be fixed onto the new HDD and the support feet needed moving over too - the support feet just slot into the little holes at the bottom of the space for the drive once attached. This was probably the easiest part of the job. Once the bracket and feet were in place on the new HDD it was time to physically install it into the original slot. Feet in first comfortably, then I made sure the sensor cable wasn't trapped before screwing it securely back in place. From this point onwards it became a series of back tracking anything connection that had been unplugged to get the screen ready to be fixed back into place but giving it a good dust before hand - I don't think this Mac had ever been serviced in it's life. I had the most trouble with the display port ribbon cable but otherwise it was easy enough.

 

    It's important to make sure all are fitted back in securely before closing up. When closing up, we aware of keeping the screen level and not grind screws against the metalwork. The best way to do this is to find an angle to lift the screen slightly, comfortable to get the first few screws in place but do not tighten them all the way, best to start with the ones not near any magnets to avoid any frustration.

 

It became problematic for me when I realised the new drive I had brought was in Windows format so when I tried to boot up the iMac for the first time after closing up I got the error message "BOOTMGR MISSING" which bricks the keyboard. I looked up various ways around this, thinking at first I'd hit another dead end. Most of the search results I came across were about Macs running Windows, which wasn't really what I was looking for advice on. I stumbled upon a command from a forum tread, CMD+R. This when held at the start-up chime boots up Internet recovery. At first I tried via WiFi but this gave me a time est. of 24hrs and eventually failed anyway. This model iMac has an Ethernet port on the rear so I decided to dig out an Ethernet cable and that's where I found success. 

 

Originally, my plan was to simply format the new HDD but for some reason it would not let me from disk utilities after Internet recovery. I had a time capsule prepared of a backup from another Mac. Again, this was not my original intention to have to use this but it was what worked for me. The New HDD was still a problem so the time capsule had to be stored in a new partition on the external hard drive that it was originally from. It seems like a long loop but bear with me. The size of my time capsule was around 280GB so it took around 6 hours to complete the recovery. When this had complete, everything was as normal (compared with my other 2009 iMac) except it was running off my external HDD still. It was at this point that I was able to format the new internal HDD (still not 100% why I couldn't before this point but it wouldn't let me mount it at all before) I then decided to shut down the system once the internal drive was formatted, unplug my external drive and power the iMac back up again using internet recovery (CMD+R) and this then allowed me to install a fresh copy of High Sierra 10.13.6 - none of my data had ever been on the iMac just the external drive 

 

Please not that if you use my short guide, my aim was to fresh install not to back up or recover any data. I hope this helps someone. It's a good feeling to be able to fix something like this by yourself and I'm quite proud. There probably was a better way around this regarding installing a fresh OS but this worked for me, it took a day or two but it worked!

 

Plus, either way it’s been a good project that’s kept me busy over my “holiday.”

Any questions, ask away! I may be able to help :)

 

Life at 26... almost

Well, the world has certainly changed over the last three months. I'm sat here at my Mac, trying to make plans to move forward with releases both external and through my own label Niahas records whilst the idiot minority dive to the beaches. The Black Lives Matter movement has been massive and thankfully all of my friends have reacted positively to the current climate with no racist remarks, in fact it's been nice to mostly see positive posts in my my Facebook feed. Social distancing is still a thing, although not to some apparently. Boris relaxed the rules a bit but said it has to wait until the 4th of July when the pubs and hair dressers reopen but I think the ignorant believe it's no longer exists. I've been in situation where I can't, mostly at work but I'm not mad paranoid like some. If I see friends, I ask them what they are comfortable with. It feels like common sense.

Enough of the depressing stuff, my gaming habits have again changed. I've not been playing so much recently because I've been working on some remixes that will be released externally soon (will mention more about it when I have more details) I've been playing The Last Of Us (the first part) on PS3 to catch up for if I ever play the new release. I'm ashamed to say I had not had a proper run through before but I'm enjoying it and I'm at a point where it is a bit terrifying. I had to stop playing one night because of the bloater in the hotel basement, although I have since got past that point and I'm now out of the sewers and in a hostel neighbourhood with a cosy sniper.

I'm not planning on doing much tomorrow, I can't really anyway! We're having burgers for lunch and I'm loading mine with peanut butter and jam - Annie's style! It would be nice to get a take out from there but it's just too far and they're not properly open until next week. I don't have any other plans, I might get to see a couple of friends but I'm mostly just bracing myself for all the Facebook posts on my wall. I'm ahead of myself, I've already thought about what I would like to buy with my birthday money, admittedly it's mostly games. I wanted to invest in more music tech this year but at the moment can't justify it with the social restrictions. I wanted an 8 channel interface so I could record more instruments simultaneously but that means more people and I hardly have any space in my room as it is. Plus, I was hoping to grab some gear from college but that plan fell apart. I might message AO soon though, I keep thinking about it.

Anyway, I've drawn up a plan for the rest of this year concerning my music and I'm happy with it. It's given me a new focus and it's probably something I should have done a few months ago. My issue is, I keep holding back and I need to start pushing forward. I was doing so well and I feel like I've fallen behind (I don't blame the video games at all, it's a personal choice) I need to focus on myself some more. The only thing I can announce right now is to expect some tracks from me this month. Two external releases and a remaster of a track I can't get enough of.

I hope I've given someone something to look forward to.

Quarantine

These last couple of months have been a bit crazy with no need for exaggeration. The mads gone world? Coronavirus has become a massive issue that's keeping us all indoors as much as we can be kept in. I've still been working, in fact I've been working more than ever lately. Work seem to be giving me a guaranteed extra shift per week, then every other week another two days on top of that. I'm ashamed to say that I haven't been very productive over this strange timeframe. I produced a couple of Animal Crossing style tracks and have another in the works but otherwise my head has been away from music and I've been burying myself in video games. Mostly Animal Crossing - across all releases but I'be also been playing Hitman, The Sims (Again, all flavours), GTA V, Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 and a few more retro titles - some of the older Tony Hawk games like THPS4 and THUG.

Soundcloud links:

Midnight - https://soundcloud.com/kimkeeton/midnight 

Nightfall Adventure - https://soundcloud.com/kimkeeton/animal-crossing-inspired-nightfall-adventure

I've been enjoying my time diving back into gaming as I wasn't really able to over the last few years with Uni. I mean, I did indulge occasionally both during and in-between semesters but not enough to cripple my work flow, like now. (Ha) We're having a Chinese takeaway tonight, it's not something I usually do - I'm more of a KFC fan but the ques since the reopening of the drive thus has been ridiculous so I'll be avoiding that for a while longer, maybe save it for my Birthday next month.  

I wanted to talk about something. Has there been an increase in scam adverts on Facebook lately? Only yesterday I saw one for "80% off Lego" - their more expensive ranges. All listed for the same price off £21.99 on a badly written website that suspiciously only takes credit card payment. Today I've seen some weird lightsaber offer that didn't look very convincing, plastered with star wars GIFs and I've just seen an advert for cheating in Animal Crossing, allowing players to buy items thats require a lot of work in-game (which is not so much a scam as an IP issue for Nintendo as it seems to work but has potential to brake the game with duplicated items - and people pay for this!!) Crazy!! I hope this gets sorted soon but I image the current world situation does not help.

Sick Of Being Ill

I't been a while since I've posted again. Lately I haven't had much motivation to sit and compile my thoughts like this plus, I've been fairly forgetful lately. Hy hearing is still only slowing returning to me as I fight of my second cold of the year. I can't seem to get away from illness lately and it's the main thing that is really holding me back. I've been feeling pretty useless because of this. I've been staying up late, binge watching YouTubers, specifically Call Me Kevin, Plumbella, Lilsimsie. Sometimes I'm not even fully interested just stuck on a browsing loop, more so with Call Me Kevin's content. You may have noticed the other two are more Sims-focused. I'm not much of a fan of speed builds but like the odd one or two that have a challenge, but it's the stories and old game replays that have kept me coming back the most.

In other new, the band is progressing nicely. Kill The Moon's next gig is at The Chameleon in Nottingham next week and I'm betting on it being a good night. Certainly on to look forward to but I'm going to have to focus on picking my mood up for it to be really successful. Since about early December I've not even being trying to hide when I'm in an off mood, whether that be because of illness or not to the point that comes through in photos. I want to look like I'm having a good time like I know I am but it's been difficult lately. With a lack of routine except work it's hard to keep busy and adding illness into the mix prevents me even more.

Both of these colds that I've had recently have seen me lose my voice for a bit, coming and going. It's on its way back now but still not quite there. I have rehearsal later and I'm worried about doing more harm that good. I sing more often these days, in fact I'm singing the lead of one of the new songs that we're working on. I actually wrote it almost a year ago now to build up my repertoire for my album project and it quickly became one of my favourite song-babies. It's been slightly restructured to make more sense but I'm happy with it and more so, I'm proud that I now have the confidence to get up on stage and sing - with or without a band behind me. Although it's still not something that I do too often.

That's another thing. I've been wanting to "get out there" and play more open mics. I planned to go to one this Thursday but I don't think I'll be well enough. Plus, now I'll be going to another Notts In A Nutshell night at The Golden Fleece. I got into conversation with Bassey Easton, who wants to develop his sound with other musicians. I told him I'm interested although, KTM will still be my main love and focus. It think it would be good of my head to play something new rather than rehears the same old. I love what we do but playing the same thing all of the time does get repetitive and tiresome.

I can't wait to shake this cold and get back my drive. I feel like I'm really holding myself back at the moment but there's not much I can do about being ill.

Kill The Moon Live at The Chameleon, Nottingham

Event Link:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2975855445791821/