Tomorrow is the big day when I finally enrol for my course so I have decided that I'm going to start making Vlogs because University is certainly a one of thing for a couple of years and its going to take a big chunk up of my lifetime. I started recording some yesterday and I hope to continue to do at least a couple of times a week but, I feel like that might not always be possible when my workload increases with all of the coursework and practice.
This is just a short update about that plan really, I will insert a link to my first Vlog once it is uploaded to YouTube. All of my Vlogs will be on my second channel which only exists because I have a google account.
First Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7thClW3zxzU
Vlog Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC391tScGRQc7HKYFRAZ9pVQ
Sunday, 25 September 2016
Monday, 12 September 2016
Beer and the South Coast
This time last week was holiday week. Time for a nice break before starting a new chapter, quite skilfully placed a couple of weeks before starting University. This could take a while to get through as it was literally a week and I do want to write about as much as I can remember for each day because this was my first experience down the south coast of the UK. Normally, when I holiday with my family we tend to go to places such as Skegness for the day, Mabletherpe or Bridlington but not this time and I think that was a good choice.
We arrived at Beer Head Caravan Park on Saturday 3rd September around 12 midday. We knew that they we're running a little late with sorting out the static we would be staying in due to a cleaner being off so we had to wait a while to collect the keys. We parked up on site and walked down towards the village of Beer. The route down was a rather steep hill, thankfully we were walking down it to get there. The village isn't very big but, was very cute and tidy. Most of the buildings were beautifully old and very quite impressive. There is a steam that runs through the main street leading onto the road to the beach and the whole place was just very pretty. We wandered around the few shops for a couple of hours and onto the beach and then around half past two we were heading back up to the caravan park. The climb back up the hill felt a lot steeper going back up and took a lot more effort. I managed it but, I think my mum, dad and auntie were all struggling, all with their own reasons. We were in the van before 3pm and as we go settled it started to rain. Harder and harder. I think we got back just in time.
On the Sunday we were all up and about for about 9am (which is the norm on a family holiday) and the plan was to go into Seaton for the day. When we got their not much was open with it being Sunday but we saw the old trams about to start service. The four of us went on Seaton Tramway, boarding the old pink tram, travelling through Colyford to Colyton. It was quite a long ride, very slow and very wobbly but we had the best driver, Dave to keep us company. He was very comical and talkative, the kind of guy that is easy to get along with. We stopped at Colyford where the road crosses over the tram way and he was telling us that his best record of how many cars stopped at the crossing was 26. There wasn't many of us on the tram on the first run up as it was only 10am. It took about 20 minutes for us to reach Colyton and when we got there my dad decided we were going to explore. We walked out of the tram station and around towards a junction which turning right lead into the town. When we got there, there wasn't much open but it was again a very pretty town, very small and tucked in. We walked around for a while, acknowledging the closed shops and then eventually travelling in a circle leading our way back to the tramway. When we got back there we had a nosey around the gift shop. We knew that we would be coming back on the tram again later because we could go back and forth all day, so none of us brought anything and we Caught the Tram back to Seaton. When we got there we found that a few shops had opened up. Not that many of interest, The Original Factory shop was one we noticed, The Wishing Well and a shop called Allsorts where I found a Tardis puzzle in a tobacco tin. I had to buy it. We had dinner in a well recommended chippy called Frydays, a clever play on words. It was lush, very tender fish. The type I struggle to keep on my fork but it really was lovely. After food we went back on the tram again just for the fun of it. When we got to Colyton, this time we crossed over the tramway to go to the vintage shed. Coming back we did but a few items from the gift shop, I brought myself a bookmark and a fridge magnet. Before we went back to the van we nipped to Tesco's to get some essentials.
Monday was a little different, putting the trams aside. My dad drove us all to Lyme Regis where we parked near the pier. An unusual wonky pier that had a strange slope to it. We walked into the town across the beach and mostly just wandered around the shops. There was a lot more open as it was a usual business day and my dad had set himself a mission to come back with a fossil. Nothing to specific, just something to say that he's been to the Jurassic coast. We ended up touring all of the local shops that sold fossils, some were really impressive and quite surprising that it had also been found locally. I do think that it was this day that I enjoyed the most just because I felt a lot of disappointment after the next day or so, which I will tell on later. We had lunch at a small pub this time that was very cosy and I had my usual of Hunters Chicken. The lady that served us thought that I was still in school and couldn't apologise enough for the assumption but, it lead to a nice conversation about what I'll be dipping my toes in soon, the whole going to Uni experience. We brought a lot of fudge from Lyme Regis. I say we, I mean my dad. All of it was homemade. I distinctly remember one shop, Roly's making the fudge in the side of the shop, it was fascinating to watch. We did walk along that wonky pier by the way and it was a little scary. There was no guard rails to hold onto, if you fell.... basically you fell. Thankfully none of us did and all of us made it back to car at the end of the day. Going back to the car I was scrolling through Facebook and more recently I've been seeing posts from either David Tennant fan pages or Doctor Who. Literally everyday, I can't get away from it now though I'm not complaining but, scrolling through I noticed a post from David Tennant's fan page stating that he had been filming Broad Church this morning in West Bay which at that point after working it out on Google maps was about 24mins away. I was so excited and I just had to tell everyone in the car and drop hints that we should go. I don't think they were anywhere near as bothered as I was and they seemed to just shrug it off but, it was a very exciting feeling to know that I wasn't really very far from him and would have just loved to meet him.
Tuesday soon came around and was a lot more touristy. The main thing we had planned was to visit the Beer Caves which no, isn't a cave full of beer but a very large, vast cave that was used to quarry stone. It was quite an interesting tour, lead by a man named Oliver who seemed to have all of these stories and facts packed inside his head, very intelligent. He guided us through 2000 years worth of history and I was quite surprised just how large these caves were. Very impressive. The tour lasted about an hour and it was very could down there, that cold that they do actually offer fleece ponchos to go down with. I decided not to take one but, then again I would, wouldn't I. I was quite cold when I came out but, I didn't take long to warm up. The sun was shining and the weather was still holding out for us. From there, we went to a place called Pecorama which essentially was some fancy gardens with a miniature railway running through it also with a cafe and a exhibit. Once we had our tickets we went through the exhibit first, which was of model railways all of which were very well made and well cared for. We had a short walk around the gardens before deciding to wait for the train, the driver was on his lunch break when we sat down and joined the line. We had to wait about 40 minutes in the sun and the most unbearable thing for me was that there were loads of wasps around, it was the same near the caves too. I hate them at the best of times and am quite terrified of them so to be stuck with some for two thirds of an hour was quite a challenge of not to break down in tears (That does happen when they buzz around my ears to much or just don't leave me alone). The train ride was rather enjoyable though, I'm not sure if it was worth the wait but, yes it was very pleasant. For the rest of the day we went to into Seaton again. I had spotted a shop last time that wasn't open on Sunday that sold games and gaming merchandise called ItemDrop, it was there that I brought my Charizard hat, a couple of Zelda keyrings and some mints packed into a Hylian shield for a friend. I didn't buy much else from Seaton, we nipped to Tesco's again briefly for a few other little bits and then we went back to the van.
By Wednesday I was starting to feel quite upset that we still hadn't visited West Bay and that they chance of that happing was dropping faster than then chance of dry carpet in the bedroom. We had a leak in the van and could not for the life of us work out where it was coming from apart from some plumbing of some kind. Whatever it was made both my mum and dad's room's floor wet and mine and my aunties and that was getting rather annoying too, stepping onto wet carpet wearing only socks on my feet and the water it was wet with was starting to smell too. I'm still feeling rather upset that we never visited West Bay if I'm honest and this whole Wednesday felt the same. My auntie decided to stay at the van, I don't blame her to be honest because she didn't really miss much. I went to Sidmouth with my mum and dad which I must also add is the complete opposite direction to West Bay. It was ok there but, it wasn't West Bay... do you know what I mean? I'm not sure I wanted to be there either, not West Bay, Sidmouth. The place seemed quite bland and straight for a sea front town, it was defiantly alive just a little... boring. The museum was interesting though, like Ilkeston but with added fossils. I brought a few souvenirs from there, I found a book on the periodic table of elements and a mall soapstone Dinosaur that I rather appropriately named, "Sid". I ate pizza from a bakery for lunch and managed to find some Doctor Who books and other little bits in the charity shops, I also found a new one in The Works. No, I'm not sure I was particularly interested that day. Later that night I almost choked to death, can't forget that one.
For quite a few days of the holiday, myself and my auntie had started going on walks after we got back to the van. She was trying to challenge herself a certain amount of steps per day and just wanted to push them over. The first night we walked up to the top of the caravan park which is is an even steeper hill and then again with my mum too. We start to walk across the fields using the footpath given but turned back, we went that way twice. The first time we only got to the bench at the top and turned back but then went on into the village of Beer discovering a flatter toe path that leads most of the way. The aim was to go up the steps that we could see from where we was on the caravan park as they went rather high up into the trees. We did make it in the end, I can't really remember which day we did what and I didn't write everything in my notebook just the main things. We found a few rope swings up there that were quite fun, a little scary mind with the height you could get of the one we both sampled, a good couple of metres. Thursday soon came around and it was home time, proper home time. We packed up in the morning and left Beer about 11am, it may have been a little earlier. We stopped at the services half way, the opposite side to where we stopped on the way there and enjoyed some lunch. I had a large sausage roll and by "large" I don't mean length, I'm talking width. They were an unusual set of services but very lovely. The had a large cafe, a smaller on-the-go cafe, toilets and made complete with farm shop. Adorable. The long drive home wasn't too bad either, I started to feel a little more at ease as I started to recognise places vaguely and the motorway. I was still a bit miffed about not going to West Bay and I still am but, I think what bothered me the most other than that was that I had one last day to myself before having to go back to work. Oh, the chore!
It was a lovely holiday anyway.
We arrived at Beer Head Caravan Park on Saturday 3rd September around 12 midday. We knew that they we're running a little late with sorting out the static we would be staying in due to a cleaner being off so we had to wait a while to collect the keys. We parked up on site and walked down towards the village of Beer. The route down was a rather steep hill, thankfully we were walking down it to get there. The village isn't very big but, was very cute and tidy. Most of the buildings were beautifully old and very quite impressive. There is a steam that runs through the main street leading onto the road to the beach and the whole place was just very pretty. We wandered around the few shops for a couple of hours and onto the beach and then around half past two we were heading back up to the caravan park. The climb back up the hill felt a lot steeper going back up and took a lot more effort. I managed it but, I think my mum, dad and auntie were all struggling, all with their own reasons. We were in the van before 3pm and as we go settled it started to rain. Harder and harder. I think we got back just in time.
On the Sunday we were all up and about for about 9am (which is the norm on a family holiday) and the plan was to go into Seaton for the day. When we got their not much was open with it being Sunday but we saw the old trams about to start service. The four of us went on Seaton Tramway, boarding the old pink tram, travelling through Colyford to Colyton. It was quite a long ride, very slow and very wobbly but we had the best driver, Dave to keep us company. He was very comical and talkative, the kind of guy that is easy to get along with. We stopped at Colyford where the road crosses over the tram way and he was telling us that his best record of how many cars stopped at the crossing was 26. There wasn't many of us on the tram on the first run up as it was only 10am. It took about 20 minutes for us to reach Colyton and when we got there my dad decided we were going to explore. We walked out of the tram station and around towards a junction which turning right lead into the town. When we got there, there wasn't much open but it was again a very pretty town, very small and tucked in. We walked around for a while, acknowledging the closed shops and then eventually travelling in a circle leading our way back to the tramway. When we got back there we had a nosey around the gift shop. We knew that we would be coming back on the tram again later because we could go back and forth all day, so none of us brought anything and we Caught the Tram back to Seaton. When we got there we found that a few shops had opened up. Not that many of interest, The Original Factory shop was one we noticed, The Wishing Well and a shop called Allsorts where I found a Tardis puzzle in a tobacco tin. I had to buy it. We had dinner in a well recommended chippy called Frydays, a clever play on words. It was lush, very tender fish. The type I struggle to keep on my fork but it really was lovely. After food we went back on the tram again just for the fun of it. When we got to Colyton, this time we crossed over the tramway to go to the vintage shed. Coming back we did but a few items from the gift shop, I brought myself a bookmark and a fridge magnet. Before we went back to the van we nipped to Tesco's to get some essentials.
Monday was a little different, putting the trams aside. My dad drove us all to Lyme Regis where we parked near the pier. An unusual wonky pier that had a strange slope to it. We walked into the town across the beach and mostly just wandered around the shops. There was a lot more open as it was a usual business day and my dad had set himself a mission to come back with a fossil. Nothing to specific, just something to say that he's been to the Jurassic coast. We ended up touring all of the local shops that sold fossils, some were really impressive and quite surprising that it had also been found locally. I do think that it was this day that I enjoyed the most just because I felt a lot of disappointment after the next day or so, which I will tell on later. We had lunch at a small pub this time that was very cosy and I had my usual of Hunters Chicken. The lady that served us thought that I was still in school and couldn't apologise enough for the assumption but, it lead to a nice conversation about what I'll be dipping my toes in soon, the whole going to Uni experience. We brought a lot of fudge from Lyme Regis. I say we, I mean my dad. All of it was homemade. I distinctly remember one shop, Roly's making the fudge in the side of the shop, it was fascinating to watch. We did walk along that wonky pier by the way and it was a little scary. There was no guard rails to hold onto, if you fell.... basically you fell. Thankfully none of us did and all of us made it back to car at the end of the day. Going back to the car I was scrolling through Facebook and more recently I've been seeing posts from either David Tennant fan pages or Doctor Who. Literally everyday, I can't get away from it now though I'm not complaining but, scrolling through I noticed a post from David Tennant's fan page stating that he had been filming Broad Church this morning in West Bay which at that point after working it out on Google maps was about 24mins away. I was so excited and I just had to tell everyone in the car and drop hints that we should go. I don't think they were anywhere near as bothered as I was and they seemed to just shrug it off but, it was a very exciting feeling to know that I wasn't really very far from him and would have just loved to meet him.
Tuesday soon came around and was a lot more touristy. The main thing we had planned was to visit the Beer Caves which no, isn't a cave full of beer but a very large, vast cave that was used to quarry stone. It was quite an interesting tour, lead by a man named Oliver who seemed to have all of these stories and facts packed inside his head, very intelligent. He guided us through 2000 years worth of history and I was quite surprised just how large these caves were. Very impressive. The tour lasted about an hour and it was very could down there, that cold that they do actually offer fleece ponchos to go down with. I decided not to take one but, then again I would, wouldn't I. I was quite cold when I came out but, I didn't take long to warm up. The sun was shining and the weather was still holding out for us. From there, we went to a place called Pecorama which essentially was some fancy gardens with a miniature railway running through it also with a cafe and a exhibit. Once we had our tickets we went through the exhibit first, which was of model railways all of which were very well made and well cared for. We had a short walk around the gardens before deciding to wait for the train, the driver was on his lunch break when we sat down and joined the line. We had to wait about 40 minutes in the sun and the most unbearable thing for me was that there were loads of wasps around, it was the same near the caves too. I hate them at the best of times and am quite terrified of them so to be stuck with some for two thirds of an hour was quite a challenge of not to break down in tears (That does happen when they buzz around my ears to much or just don't leave me alone). The train ride was rather enjoyable though, I'm not sure if it was worth the wait but, yes it was very pleasant. For the rest of the day we went to into Seaton again. I had spotted a shop last time that wasn't open on Sunday that sold games and gaming merchandise called ItemDrop, it was there that I brought my Charizard hat, a couple of Zelda keyrings and some mints packed into a Hylian shield for a friend. I didn't buy much else from Seaton, we nipped to Tesco's again briefly for a few other little bits and then we went back to the van.
By Wednesday I was starting to feel quite upset that we still hadn't visited West Bay and that they chance of that happing was dropping faster than then chance of dry carpet in the bedroom. We had a leak in the van and could not for the life of us work out where it was coming from apart from some plumbing of some kind. Whatever it was made both my mum and dad's room's floor wet and mine and my aunties and that was getting rather annoying too, stepping onto wet carpet wearing only socks on my feet and the water it was wet with was starting to smell too. I'm still feeling rather upset that we never visited West Bay if I'm honest and this whole Wednesday felt the same. My auntie decided to stay at the van, I don't blame her to be honest because she didn't really miss much. I went to Sidmouth with my mum and dad which I must also add is the complete opposite direction to West Bay. It was ok there but, it wasn't West Bay... do you know what I mean? I'm not sure I wanted to be there either, not West Bay, Sidmouth. The place seemed quite bland and straight for a sea front town, it was defiantly alive just a little... boring. The museum was interesting though, like Ilkeston but with added fossils. I brought a few souvenirs from there, I found a book on the periodic table of elements and a mall soapstone Dinosaur that I rather appropriately named, "Sid". I ate pizza from a bakery for lunch and managed to find some Doctor Who books and other little bits in the charity shops, I also found a new one in The Works. No, I'm not sure I was particularly interested that day. Later that night I almost choked to death, can't forget that one.
For quite a few days of the holiday, myself and my auntie had started going on walks after we got back to the van. She was trying to challenge herself a certain amount of steps per day and just wanted to push them over. The first night we walked up to the top of the caravan park which is is an even steeper hill and then again with my mum too. We start to walk across the fields using the footpath given but turned back, we went that way twice. The first time we only got to the bench at the top and turned back but then went on into the village of Beer discovering a flatter toe path that leads most of the way. The aim was to go up the steps that we could see from where we was on the caravan park as they went rather high up into the trees. We did make it in the end, I can't really remember which day we did what and I didn't write everything in my notebook just the main things. We found a few rope swings up there that were quite fun, a little scary mind with the height you could get of the one we both sampled, a good couple of metres. Thursday soon came around and it was home time, proper home time. We packed up in the morning and left Beer about 11am, it may have been a little earlier. We stopped at the services half way, the opposite side to where we stopped on the way there and enjoyed some lunch. I had a large sausage roll and by "large" I don't mean length, I'm talking width. They were an unusual set of services but very lovely. The had a large cafe, a smaller on-the-go cafe, toilets and made complete with farm shop. Adorable. The long drive home wasn't too bad either, I started to feel a little more at ease as I started to recognise places vaguely and the motorway. I was still a bit miffed about not going to West Bay and I still am but, I think what bothered me the most other than that was that I had one last day to myself before having to go back to work. Oh, the chore!
It was a lovely holiday anyway.
Wednesday, 31 August 2016
Stafford Driving Experience 2016
Today was a very different kind of day, one that should have probably happened months ago. Brought for me as a Christmas present last year, I finally got around to doing my experience day. In all honestly, I wasn't really looking forward to it at first especially on the way their but, as I we got closer to the site (My dad was driving us) I couldn't distinguish what it was I felt between a mixture of feeling nervous, excited and scared.
We arrived at the site not long before 1pm and not long after sorting little bits of paperwork at the reception, I was off in my first car. The first one was a passenger ride where the guy driving me was driving a manual Lotus while explaining to me how to drive on the track, pointing out that I should aim for the green cones and brake past certain points which had big boards up either side saying it anyway but, the cones where a little trickier to spot. It became a case of looking for a green glint between orange in certain places. It doesn't particularly help when the track is surrounded by grass which is also green.
The first car the I had the chance to drive myself was an automatic Audi R8. All of the cars I got to drive were automatics so I won't bother mentioning that again. This car has always been one that I've liked the look of and it was very impressive. With it being my first couple of laps I was a little tense and didn't really manage to break out of my comfort zone with it although my driving was still complimented at the end by my instructor with a percentage score of 86%.
The second car that I drove was a Porsche and is my easy favourite from the whole day. The controls were slightly different from the last but, once I got used to them I felt fine with it. The R8 had flappy paddle gear controls where this Porsche had buttons that you either press down on the front of the steering wheel to chance up or sort of flick up from behind the wheel to change back down. I did get it wrong on the first corner but, everything went fine. No crashes or anything! The instructor that I had for this car was probably the best I had all day. He was quite comical and talkative so he was a lot more encouraging for me to put my foot down on the accelerator. One of the first things he said to me was "Can I call you Kim? It that okay? I prefer less syllables, its just a lot easier if we die." He was great.
Next up was the Nissan GTR. I wasn't really sure about this one. It was back to the flappy paddle controls which were alright but felt a bit heavier than the Audi and looked a lot more mechanical. I feel like I probably did my fastest lap in this car as I had a lot more confidence about me and I'm sure it was this one that I managed to overtake two cars in one lap. It might not have been the most prettiest car that I had driven today but, that doesn't mean that its not impressive.
Finally, the last car of the day that I got to drive was an Astin Martin. When I realised that that was what I was going to be driving I did get a little more excited. A lovely silver colour. It was very fast just like the others but, I did work out that the breaks did have to work a lot harder... and so did my breaking foot. A lot of the time I under braked and then had to break harder last minute but, this car was so much heavier. A very impressive drive though otherwise. Between all of the cars I think I managed to reach between 80-90mph on the track. I was kind of hoping for more speed and I think my dad was too but it is only a short track with two straight runs.
All in all, the whole day was a big success for both myself and my parents. I think my dad was quite proud that I came out alive and with no scratches... on the car that is. We collected all of the photos on a disc from the booth and I even got a free print of one of the photos that was in with voucher. We ended up being all finished by about 2pm which originally by the itinerary should have been when we started because we arrived quite early! On the drive home we stopped off at KFC for food and eventually got back home at about half four.
Here is a link to an album that I have created on Facebook with photos from this awesome day!
https://www.facebook.com/thekimkeeton/media_set?set=a.10204848347168104.1073741849.1821894295&type=3&pnref=story
We arrived at the site not long before 1pm and not long after sorting little bits of paperwork at the reception, I was off in my first car. The first one was a passenger ride where the guy driving me was driving a manual Lotus while explaining to me how to drive on the track, pointing out that I should aim for the green cones and brake past certain points which had big boards up either side saying it anyway but, the cones where a little trickier to spot. It became a case of looking for a green glint between orange in certain places. It doesn't particularly help when the track is surrounded by grass which is also green.
The first car the I had the chance to drive myself was an automatic Audi R8. All of the cars I got to drive were automatics so I won't bother mentioning that again. This car has always been one that I've liked the look of and it was very impressive. With it being my first couple of laps I was a little tense and didn't really manage to break out of my comfort zone with it although my driving was still complimented at the end by my instructor with a percentage score of 86%.
The second car that I drove was a Porsche and is my easy favourite from the whole day. The controls were slightly different from the last but, once I got used to them I felt fine with it. The R8 had flappy paddle gear controls where this Porsche had buttons that you either press down on the front of the steering wheel to chance up or sort of flick up from behind the wheel to change back down. I did get it wrong on the first corner but, everything went fine. No crashes or anything! The instructor that I had for this car was probably the best I had all day. He was quite comical and talkative so he was a lot more encouraging for me to put my foot down on the accelerator. One of the first things he said to me was "Can I call you Kim? It that okay? I prefer less syllables, its just a lot easier if we die." He was great.
Next up was the Nissan GTR. I wasn't really sure about this one. It was back to the flappy paddle controls which were alright but felt a bit heavier than the Audi and looked a lot more mechanical. I feel like I probably did my fastest lap in this car as I had a lot more confidence about me and I'm sure it was this one that I managed to overtake two cars in one lap. It might not have been the most prettiest car that I had driven today but, that doesn't mean that its not impressive.
Finally, the last car of the day that I got to drive was an Astin Martin. When I realised that that was what I was going to be driving I did get a little more excited. A lovely silver colour. It was very fast just like the others but, I did work out that the breaks did have to work a lot harder... and so did my breaking foot. A lot of the time I under braked and then had to break harder last minute but, this car was so much heavier. A very impressive drive though otherwise. Between all of the cars I think I managed to reach between 80-90mph on the track. I was kind of hoping for more speed and I think my dad was too but it is only a short track with two straight runs.
All in all, the whole day was a big success for both myself and my parents. I think my dad was quite proud that I came out alive and with no scratches... on the car that is. We collected all of the photos on a disc from the booth and I even got a free print of one of the photos that was in with voucher. We ended up being all finished by about 2pm which originally by the itinerary should have been when we started because we arrived quite early! On the drive home we stopped off at KFC for food and eventually got back home at about half four.
Here is a link to an album that I have created on Facebook with photos from this awesome day!
https://www.facebook.com/thekimkeeton/media_set?set=a.10204848347168104.1073741849.1821894295&type=3&pnref=story
Tuesday, 9 August 2016
So Much To Look Forward To...
So, as you might have guessed a lot of things will be happening over the next few months and Im starting to get rather excited about it all. It won't be long until I reduce my working hours so that I can get on with uni life and officially become a student again. It is less than two months until I get to meet everyone now. I have spoken with Carol at work, well, while I was just driving out she called me. I had bluetooth set up so now Im offically just working weekends from 26/09/16 as that is the day I have to go to the Broadway Cinema in Nottingham for the welcome event.
There is however something as equally exciting happening in the end of October, shortly after. On the 28/10/16 The Piano Guys are releasing a new album called, 'Uncharted'. Of course, I have already placed my order, I have literally just done it. I have ordered the personalised bundle for $49.95 but then $21.38 shipping on top of that makes that $71.33 total. Oops. I am really excited for this though. The seem to average a new release each year, they are very hard working musicians and I just love and admire them so much for all of what they have achieved. The other day they reached 1 billion youtube views which is insane.
Before all of this I have my experience day driving around in a few sports cars and a short holiday to enjoy as well. Knowing me, I will take most of my tech with me on holiday. We have CCTV now at home but, I still hate leaving most of my valuable stuff just incase. I treated my self to a PS Vita the other week. I had been eying them up for a while and I finally found one at a decent price, the slim model for £90. I had to pay £8 for a 4GB memory card too but its still not bad and the screen is excellent. The battery life if quite impressive too. I've tried the remote play with my PS4 and when it works it is really great its just I don't think my internet speed is really suitable for it.
There is however something as equally exciting happening in the end of October, shortly after. On the 28/10/16 The Piano Guys are releasing a new album called, 'Uncharted'. Of course, I have already placed my order, I have literally just done it. I have ordered the personalised bundle for $49.95 but then $21.38 shipping on top of that makes that $71.33 total. Oops. I am really excited for this though. The seem to average a new release each year, they are very hard working musicians and I just love and admire them so much for all of what they have achieved. The other day they reached 1 billion youtube views which is insane.
Before all of this I have my experience day driving around in a few sports cars and a short holiday to enjoy as well. Knowing me, I will take most of my tech with me on holiday. We have CCTV now at home but, I still hate leaving most of my valuable stuff just incase. I treated my self to a PS Vita the other week. I had been eying them up for a while and I finally found one at a decent price, the slim model for £90. I had to pay £8 for a 4GB memory card too but its still not bad and the screen is excellent. The battery life if quite impressive too. I've tried the remote play with my PS4 and when it works it is really great its just I don't think my internet speed is really suitable for it.
Friday, 22 July 2016
What Am I Excited For The Most?
This is just something I asked myself earlier today and it made me think for a moment. I've got a lot of things happening over the next few months. I have an experience day, holiday and then going back to Clarendon to study. While its all exciting being able to drive a few flashy sports cars around the track and that a nice break from work is always a good thing, it's more the little aspects of getting back into education that seems to excite me the most.
I still don't really know exactly what I want to do with my chosen subject but I already feel confident that at least this time when I finish my degree I won't be stepping out into nothingness. Last time, when I finished my level 3 course I found it difficult to get a job immediately after, in fact it took me almost a year to finally get one. At least for now I can live with the comforts of still working for ASDA part time and as long as I can handle it alongside my studies I'll always feel stable. I've been trying not to rule out any other options that I could go for when I finish but, I've also thought about what I really like doing, what I know I can do and whether I enjoy doing it enough to keep as a potential job. There are three main things really: Recording, Filming and performing.
With recording, I feel like recently I've really taken crafting sounds as a passion and in the process that has made me feel more at ease with music technology. The best part by far is when I manage to complete a song but, coming very close in second would be the very start of the idea for the song or melody.
With filming, I lean more towards making music videos because that is all I know. Even though I don't have much professional equipment to do so, I always manage to 'get by' fairly successfully. I manage to tell the story I want to and I've quite selective of the various takes I usually do.
With performing, its been a while but I certainly do miss it. I feel like it is easy for me to say that it is the thing that I miss the most because the last time I performed on stage was about two years ago. I'm still hoping to play an open mic with Lara soon to get me back into it before I go back to Clarendon.
It really is hard for me to choose out of all of these three as I know they are my main skill set and I feel like the opportunities given to me at Uni might be what makes the decision for me, that or I might just choose all of them because I can. I hope that going to Uni means that I will meet some great people that share the same or similar interests as I do and I really hope that they are not all younger than me, i.e. 19 (The age I would have been if I stayed at Clarendon after my level 3 to do my degree) and I hope I get to work with a nice mixed group. At the moment, I think it is fair for me to say that I am really excited for the welcome day at the end of September and generally starting the course. I can't wait to get back into those band practice rooms and get creative again.
I still don't really know exactly what I want to do with my chosen subject but I already feel confident that at least this time when I finish my degree I won't be stepping out into nothingness. Last time, when I finished my level 3 course I found it difficult to get a job immediately after, in fact it took me almost a year to finally get one. At least for now I can live with the comforts of still working for ASDA part time and as long as I can handle it alongside my studies I'll always feel stable. I've been trying not to rule out any other options that I could go for when I finish but, I've also thought about what I really like doing, what I know I can do and whether I enjoy doing it enough to keep as a potential job. There are three main things really: Recording, Filming and performing.
With recording, I feel like recently I've really taken crafting sounds as a passion and in the process that has made me feel more at ease with music technology. The best part by far is when I manage to complete a song but, coming very close in second would be the very start of the idea for the song or melody.
With filming, I lean more towards making music videos because that is all I know. Even though I don't have much professional equipment to do so, I always manage to 'get by' fairly successfully. I manage to tell the story I want to and I've quite selective of the various takes I usually do.
With performing, its been a while but I certainly do miss it. I feel like it is easy for me to say that it is the thing that I miss the most because the last time I performed on stage was about two years ago. I'm still hoping to play an open mic with Lara soon to get me back into it before I go back to Clarendon.
It really is hard for me to choose out of all of these three as I know they are my main skill set and I feel like the opportunities given to me at Uni might be what makes the decision for me, that or I might just choose all of them because I can. I hope that going to Uni means that I will meet some great people that share the same or similar interests as I do and I really hope that they are not all younger than me, i.e. 19 (The age I would have been if I stayed at Clarendon after my level 3 to do my degree) and I hope I get to work with a nice mixed group. At the moment, I think it is fair for me to say that I am really excited for the welcome day at the end of September and generally starting the course. I can't wait to get back into those band practice rooms and get creative again.
Tuesday, 19 July 2016
Something Different...
Yesterday, I spent most (if not all) of the day working on a music video not for myself but, for my friend, James. We just about managed to film all of it in one day with a little uncertainty as to whether or not we will need any additional actors, even though in the end we managed without.
We had two different locations which were the subway/underpath in Ilkeston and under the A52 bridge near Stapleford by the canal but on the opposite side of the toe path. Once we were on location it didn't take long to record a few takes that we could mash up into the video. We shot all of the intro and verse one in the subway and focused more on verse 2 at our second location. I felt like the second location was a lot brighter because more natural light coming into the shot and seemed to give the video a more hopeful feeling.
You can watch the full music video on Youtube here:
One Last Time M.I.L.L.I.E. - JEM The Ruff Diamond feat. Ali
Check out 'JEM The Ruff Diamond' for photos of the shoot, tour dates/gigs and extra content.
We had two different locations which were the subway/underpath in Ilkeston and under the A52 bridge near Stapleford by the canal but on the opposite side of the toe path. Once we were on location it didn't take long to record a few takes that we could mash up into the video. We shot all of the intro and verse one in the subway and focused more on verse 2 at our second location. I felt like the second location was a lot brighter because more natural light coming into the shot and seemed to give the video a more hopeful feeling.
You can watch the full music video on Youtube here:
One Last Time M.I.L.L.I.E. - JEM The Ruff Diamond feat. Ali
Check out 'JEM The Ruff Diamond' for photos of the shoot, tour dates/gigs and extra content.
Thursday, 14 July 2016
Two Years Of Employment
Two years ago, this would have been my first official day of starting work at the Esso Petrol Station. It does still feel like it was only yesterday (well, there abouts) and I can't quite believe that it has been two years already. I still vaguely remember my training shifts with Vicky, whom I still work with to this day at the now ASDA Petrol Station, and other training shifts working on my own where Ash, the manager would come into the store every now and then to check up on me. I had to be able to work alone because there was never anyone else working with me unless we had a special visit from Mr. Ronson who basically owned everything, bringing flash cars, many guys in suits/ body guards all the way up from London with him. He always took up a lot of space as he trotted around the forecourt, inspecting it and from what I heard about him and his ways I quickly took a disliking to him. I never got a chance to speak to him really, just be in his presence but he seemed to have these old sat ways where he would prefer one or two ladies working on the till to a guy. So, yeah a little sexist but that wasn't a problem for me and those days are over, for me at least.
I remember the the big announcement last year in the end of January that something big was about to happen and then having about an hour long meeting the next month with an ASDA lady. Before everything made sense, I remember a bunch of people walking around the site not quite like Mr. Ronson's but there was one that gave it all away. One of the men was wearing his hi-vis jacket the right way around and it quite clearly said 'ASDA' on the back of it. It wasn't long until one of the others told him and then he turned it inside out to cover it up. I didn't think much of it at the time, just that maybe that was the only hi-vis that he had but no, they we sizing up the place ready for the take over. Making plans and stuff.
It wasn't long from that point that we transferred over to the ASDA at Long Eaton so that they could host us while our store was in the process of being knocked down and then rebuilt. I spent most of my time there working on the produce section quite simply because it was the most fun and the most hard work, lugging vegetables around the place on what they called a 'Dolly'. It was like a trolley but, with a de-tactchable handle. I made some new friends over there, some who even joined us at the new petrol station. Of course, working at a store that just about qualifies as a 'Superstore' isn't the same as working at a tiny little petrol station so eventually we had to go train elsewhere. Woodville.
Woodville was rather nice, I really enjoyed my experiences there even though it was so far away and the tills were very easy to get used to. There was only a slight difference to what I was used to and they made a different kind of irritating noise when the pumps go off. A slight improvement to constant beeping, it was the sound of a males voice that said which number pump not so constantly. I made a few knew friends at Woodville too which I was a little surprised at with the short amount of time we was there. Did I mention that we got paid for travel too?
I had never prepared a brand new store for opening and I guess its one of those things that you just don't do every day! When opening week came, we had a lot of shelves to stick SELS on and then fill up once we had our very first delivery. I remember the first few days of that being literally just putting all the SELS out and then when we had our first Ambient delivery in the middle of the week, it was time to start filling. We got all of the fresh stuff last minute, I think it was the day before we opened so that the shop was all ready on time for its big day. We had photographers from the Ilkeston Advertiser and an adorable group of toddlers from a local nursery to be involved with the grande opening. Its not far off the store's 1st Birthday now (29th July) and I can't believe we've already been open nearly a year! Its been a crazy experience, yet alone with just the transformation of the site (I have still kept my other blog open with all of the photos, http://larklands.blogspot.co.uk ), how well customers have adapted to it. Some still come in through the exit but, we can let them off for that a few times.
I remember the the big announcement last year in the end of January that something big was about to happen and then having about an hour long meeting the next month with an ASDA lady. Before everything made sense, I remember a bunch of people walking around the site not quite like Mr. Ronson's but there was one that gave it all away. One of the men was wearing his hi-vis jacket the right way around and it quite clearly said 'ASDA' on the back of it. It wasn't long until one of the others told him and then he turned it inside out to cover it up. I didn't think much of it at the time, just that maybe that was the only hi-vis that he had but no, they we sizing up the place ready for the take over. Making plans and stuff.
It wasn't long from that point that we transferred over to the ASDA at Long Eaton so that they could host us while our store was in the process of being knocked down and then rebuilt. I spent most of my time there working on the produce section quite simply because it was the most fun and the most hard work, lugging vegetables around the place on what they called a 'Dolly'. It was like a trolley but, with a de-tactchable handle. I made some new friends over there, some who even joined us at the new petrol station. Of course, working at a store that just about qualifies as a 'Superstore' isn't the same as working at a tiny little petrol station so eventually we had to go train elsewhere. Woodville.
Woodville was rather nice, I really enjoyed my experiences there even though it was so far away and the tills were very easy to get used to. There was only a slight difference to what I was used to and they made a different kind of irritating noise when the pumps go off. A slight improvement to constant beeping, it was the sound of a males voice that said which number pump not so constantly. I made a few knew friends at Woodville too which I was a little surprised at with the short amount of time we was there. Did I mention that we got paid for travel too?
I had never prepared a brand new store for opening and I guess its one of those things that you just don't do every day! When opening week came, we had a lot of shelves to stick SELS on and then fill up once we had our very first delivery. I remember the first few days of that being literally just putting all the SELS out and then when we had our first Ambient delivery in the middle of the week, it was time to start filling. We got all of the fresh stuff last minute, I think it was the day before we opened so that the shop was all ready on time for its big day. We had photographers from the Ilkeston Advertiser and an adorable group of toddlers from a local nursery to be involved with the grande opening. Its not far off the store's 1st Birthday now (29th July) and I can't believe we've already been open nearly a year! Its been a crazy experience, yet alone with just the transformation of the site (I have still kept my other blog open with all of the photos, http://larklands.blogspot.co.uk ), how well customers have adapted to it. Some still come in through the exit but, we can let them off for that a few times.
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