Life in Brum: 2008-2009
This is just for Kylie.
October 2008
Moved to Brum, into fucking gorgeous, SPACIOUS flat with Becca. Went to Halloween gig at Wagon & Horses, where we were the only two people dressed up.
I have a PhD in horribleness...
November 2008
Started work at Heartlands Hospital, in Orthopaedic Rehab Unit (Elderly Care). I Fucking Love It. Since being there, I've had my work/attitude appreciated by managers, doctors, matrons, relatives and most of all patients. I've connected with loads of patients, cried when they left, been told I'm their "favourite nurse", been sent sweets in the post, been told they want me as their private carer etc. etc. It makes me pretty fucking happy, and it's nice to know I'm doing a good job, coz the whole reason I'm there is to make life better (or at least bearable) for the patients. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of shit that goes with it; being sworn at/hit by abusive patients, hassled by irritating relatives, shat upon by colleagues (more in May), crappy hours and sickness policies, but it's all far outweighed by how much I fucking love it.
Me + Becca had our flatwarming party on 15th November, with mates from Brum, one from Aylesbury, one from Manchester, one from Telford. It was pretty fun :)
December 2008
The first Xmas I spent working. Went to Mum + Dad's on 23rd, Becca came down on 24th, and I was driven back to Brum on Xmas morning, to work a late shift. Then worked through to New Year, but had NYE + NYD off. We ended up foing exactly the same as we had last year - going to the Ivy Bush and then back to Ben's. Fucking brilliant night :)
January 2009
Erm....... did anything monumental happen in January? Don't think so.........
or Feb, March, April...
May
Me + Becca both had annual leave in the first week of the month. IWW Mayday Party on Friday 1st. Becca's birthday celebration (Drop Beats Not Bombs) on the Saturday, RECOVERY on the Sunday, then in the middle of the week we went to Mum + Dad's. At the very end of the week I went and got not one, but TWO more tattoos.
"Sisters" (Native American symbol): the X with a small circle represents woman-ness, female power, fertility and compassion.
Side-by-side, these symbols represent two women bonded in a relationship of the soul - sisters.
The positioning of side-by-side is very important as it indicates a union, bond, equality - a sharing in the journey of blood.
The circle around the two female symbols signifies family - family ties, family blood, clan closeness & protection.
The circle that never breaks - it holds that which can never be broken - the bond of souls, the bond of blood between this female relationship.
Also significant as XX in Roman = 20, and my birthday is 20th June :)
At the end of the month, things came to a head at work with a band 6 (sub-manager) who'd been bullying me for months. On one shift, she took me into a closed room (the 3rd time she'd done it) and berated me for shit like walking too fast (no, I'm serious) and generally picked on perceived character flaws, most of which had nothing to do with my work. Anyway, she made me cry (and I don't usually cry when someone criticises me, coz I either take it on board if I think they've got a point, or disregard it if I think they're talking shit. But this woman was relentless). I put in a letter of complaint to my manager (band 7), and in the end it went to the Matron, and to HR. We had a "mediation" session where we talked through our problems etc. And she ended up in tears. Anyway, since I handed in the letter she's been painfully nice to me, almost to the point of brown-nosing. It's pretty fucking wicked. The moral of the story: DO NOT FUCK WITH ME.
June
MY BIRTHDAY MONTH! In the week that ended with my birthday (which was a Sunday) off, and went to France, all on my tot. Becca was really impressed. I'd wanted to go to France coz I missed actually speaking French (I really enjoyed it at college), and also I wanted to go somewhere seasidey but quiet. So I went to Le Touquet-Paris-Plage. And it was fucking lovely. I drank a lot of cocktails, lay on the beach smoking pollen and listening (and singing outloud) to my mp3, ate loads of chips and sorbet and walked around a bit. But mainly the walking was looking for the next bar or chillaxin' spot. It was fucking lovely.
^ That was in the "international cuisine" aisle of a supermarket
I got back on Thursday eve. Friday was Sam's birthday, so we all went out to Scruffy's, then me, Becca, Ben + Dick went to Big Dave's. Big Dave's parties are always MENTAL and go on till about 7am. The only bummer was that I sat in a chair that had red wine spilt on it, and I was wearing a white cocktail dress, which by the end of the night was covered in wine, blood (my own; I had a bleeding hangnail) and fag ash. As Becca said; "How goth". Luckily, Vanish works really well, and it was whiter than white after washing.
Saturday (my birthday), Sam was holding a cocktail party at hers and boy Sam's new house. Me + Becca were both in a pretty fragile state all day, and as soon as we got there (about 7pm), I wanted a cup of tea more than anything else. For the rest of the night we had cocktails, but I was totally shattered, and am very proud to say that I went to bed at 11m on my 19th birthday. How rock 'n' roll am I? Anyway, the next morning (and afternoon), the four of us (me, Becca, Girl Sam and Boy Sam) sat around watching extras and drinking lots of tea, then at about 4pm Girl Sam went out to the shop and got us some fake sausages etc. and we had a proper cooked breakfast :)
At the very end of the month, I got yet another tattoo.
^ Slogan of IWW. Especially appropriate since a) I work in healthcare and b) I'm a compath (ie. I get rashes, headaches, tummy aches etc. when other people have them, and if someone mentions painful things, I can imagine the sensation. It's especially bad if it involved lady parts; just the words 'female circumcision' have me crossing my legs and bending over in vicarious agony).
July
At the end of the month, we went to Derby with the family (incl. Ben + Harry ♥)
Becca + I went to Go Ape - a high-ropes tree-top assault course type thing. It was fucking brilliant, except we got thunder and lightning when we halfway round it. The last place you want to be in a thunderstorm is at the top of tall tree, attached to metal cables... but it was really fun, and then afterwards we went down into a cool cave with pretty rocks, a lot of which were incredibly phallic.
On the Thursday we went to Alton Towers with Ben. Which of course means FUNGASM. I fucking love Alton Towers :)
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, and involved me + Becca + Ben trying to interact as little as possible with the rest of the family...
August
Not a lot happened in August, except... on the Sunday before the bank holiday (30th), Becca was away, and I was working an early. I invited Al round in the evening. We watched some Buffy and some Spaced. And then Al stayed the night :D
For fuck's sake, we'd been arsing around, not doing anything, since I moved to Brum. I liked him, he liked me, everyone else knew it and was waiting for us to get our act together. I guess we were the last people to know that we should be together. But hey, we are now. And oh my fuck, I am happy. Too fucking happy for words. Al is the only person in the world who shares my obscure sense of humour, and vice versa; if either of us were to start a conversation on a weird tangent with someone else, it would stop after two minutes. With each other, it'll extend into a ten minute discussion. Plus he's just a sexy bastard.
September
Nottalotta news.
October
THE MONTH OF UNBELIEVABLE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!
Becca and I both had the first full week off.
On Saturday and Sunday we went to BICS (Girl Sam, Al + Tom came on Saturday). On Sunday, we watched Gary Leach (who we'd seen last year) do a live airbrush cover (no digital safety net). At the very end, he took questions, and I asked "How much are you selling it for?" He laughed and said "10p?" As he was packing up, I went down and asked seriously if I could buy it off him. He said "you can have it", and then he signed it for me. YAY! :) So the best, most original thing I got at BICS cost nothing. Sweet.
On Monday we went to Alton Towers with Ally, Matt, Girl Sam + Boy Sam. FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN. I fucking love Alton Towers!!! Fun fun fun fun fun fun.
On Tuesday, Becca and I went to Amsterdam. I will not report on it. Because this is the internet. But needless to say, it was a fucking brilliant week (except for the journey back, when we missed a train, and so had to buy new Eurostar tickets @ 200 euros each. The only upside was that it turned out to be cheaper to get first class tickets, so we got a free meal and all the vodka refills we could drink in the journey).
Cool grafitti
View from hostel window
Pretty tree in Vondelpark (taken from lying on the ground)
Red blood cells painted on the walls of Homegrown Fantasy
The best thing we saw all week: Yam Yam Sexshop (those not from the West Mids may not get this...)
On 21st we went to see Therapy? in Wolverhampton. Fucking brilliant. Considering we hardly ever go to gigs any more (we haven't been into punk, much less the punk scene itself, for a long time, and all the gigs are the same few bands doing the same thing. It takes a great band to get me or Becca out of the flat...) it was definitely not disappointing. Amazing. :)
On 24th we celebrated our 1 year anniversary of living together, with a candlelit dinner (vegan fish - yum yum yum) and DVDs.
At the end of the month I accompanied Al's new band to Evesham for their first gig. Man, they are fucking awesome, and I'm not just saying that coz I'm sleeping with the bassist...
November
Nottalotta news
December
After replying to an ad on Gumtree, I auditioned to be the new vocalist for a metal band. I missed singing, so decided I wanted to do something with a band. I've been back twice more since, and basically they've said they like me, I just need to be a bit louder and angrier in places (although apparently I'm getting better), and am possibly the forerunner for the position - there's just one other guy they're gonna hear again in January, then they'll let me know.
Thurs 10th was the Christmas work do. Fucking brilliant night. I got very very drunk. But so did everyone else, including my manager. I may have lap-danced one of my (female) colleagues. When I say may have, I mean I did. On the way home, the taxi driver said "Hey sexy, how you doing?", so I launched into a feminist rant about how he shouldn't be addressing women as "sexy", particularly his customers; that he should treat all his customers the same, regardless of gender, age, appearance etc.; and that he might upset people in the future, as not all women like being called sexy by strangers, least of all cabbies. When I got in, I collapsed straight into bed, very drunk and happy. I woke up at 3am, still fully dressed, although I had removed one shoe and one leg of my tights. Thankfully I had the day off, and Al came over to hang out with the hangover.
Since I'm working Xmas day, I went to Aylesbury on 14th, and had Xmas day on 15th. Got pressies off the immediate rels (mainly DVDs), had yummy Xmas dinner and mince pies, and walked Harry in the rec. I LOVE THAT DOG. He exceeds the boundaries of traditional cuteness. There are no words. he is just Too Fucking Cute.
Had Xmas with Becca on Mon 21st; we exchanged pressies and watched the first ep of Being Human (one of her pressies to me) and ate Xmas pudding. The Sams, Ben and Al came over on Tuesday after my 3rd rehearsal with Only The Good (the band who are thinking about taking me on) and we exchanged pressies. Becca's gone down to Aylesbury today, and I'm working Xmas through to 30th. We're having Xmas dinner with Gordon + family and Ruth + family @ Gordon's on Monday evening when Becca comes back. Then on 29th we've got Xmas with Steve and Jane. And on Wed 30th Becca + I are going to see Avatar. So I have about 8 Christmases, or Xmas-related celebratory days. I have NYE + NYD off again, and the whole lot of us are going to Sam + Sam's.
2009 has been fucking brilliant. Best year ever. And I know 2010 is only gonna be even fucking better.
October 2008
Moved to Brum, into fucking gorgeous, SPACIOUS flat with Becca. Went to Halloween gig at Wagon & Horses, where we were the only two people dressed up.
I have a PhD in horribleness...
November 2008
Started work at Heartlands Hospital, in Orthopaedic Rehab Unit (Elderly Care). I Fucking Love It. Since being there, I've had my work/attitude appreciated by managers, doctors, matrons, relatives and most of all patients. I've connected with loads of patients, cried when they left, been told I'm their "favourite nurse", been sent sweets in the post, been told they want me as their private carer etc. etc. It makes me pretty fucking happy, and it's nice to know I'm doing a good job, coz the whole reason I'm there is to make life better (or at least bearable) for the patients. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of shit that goes with it; being sworn at/hit by abusive patients, hassled by irritating relatives, shat upon by colleagues (more in May), crappy hours and sickness policies, but it's all far outweighed by how much I fucking love it.
Me + Becca had our flatwarming party on 15th November, with mates from Brum, one from Aylesbury, one from Manchester, one from Telford. It was pretty fun :)
December 2008
The first Xmas I spent working. Went to Mum + Dad's on 23rd, Becca came down on 24th, and I was driven back to Brum on Xmas morning, to work a late shift. Then worked through to New Year, but had NYE + NYD off. We ended up foing exactly the same as we had last year - going to the Ivy Bush and then back to Ben's. Fucking brilliant night :)
January 2009
Erm....... did anything monumental happen in January? Don't think so.........
or Feb, March, April...
May
Me + Becca both had annual leave in the first week of the month. IWW Mayday Party on Friday 1st. Becca's birthday celebration (Drop Beats Not Bombs) on the Saturday, RECOVERY on the Sunday, then in the middle of the week we went to Mum + Dad's. At the very end of the week I went and got not one, but TWO more tattoos.
"Sisters" (Native American symbol): the X with a small circle represents woman-ness, female power, fertility and compassion.
Side-by-side, these symbols represent two women bonded in a relationship of the soul - sisters.
The positioning of side-by-side is very important as it indicates a union, bond, equality - a sharing in the journey of blood.
The circle around the two female symbols signifies family - family ties, family blood, clan closeness & protection.
The circle that never breaks - it holds that which can never be broken - the bond of souls, the bond of blood between this female relationship.
Also significant as XX in Roman = 20, and my birthday is 20th June :)
At the end of the month, things came to a head at work with a band 6 (sub-manager) who'd been bullying me for months. On one shift, she took me into a closed room (the 3rd time she'd done it) and berated me for shit like walking too fast (no, I'm serious) and generally picked on perceived character flaws, most of which had nothing to do with my work. Anyway, she made me cry (and I don't usually cry when someone criticises me, coz I either take it on board if I think they've got a point, or disregard it if I think they're talking shit. But this woman was relentless). I put in a letter of complaint to my manager (band 7), and in the end it went to the Matron, and to HR. We had a "mediation" session where we talked through our problems etc. And she ended up in tears. Anyway, since I handed in the letter she's been painfully nice to me, almost to the point of brown-nosing. It's pretty fucking wicked. The moral of the story: DO NOT FUCK WITH ME.
June
MY BIRTHDAY MONTH! In the week that ended with my birthday (which was a Sunday) off, and went to France, all on my tot. Becca was really impressed. I'd wanted to go to France coz I missed actually speaking French (I really enjoyed it at college), and also I wanted to go somewhere seasidey but quiet. So I went to Le Touquet-Paris-Plage. And it was fucking lovely. I drank a lot of cocktails, lay on the beach smoking pollen and listening (and singing outloud) to my mp3, ate loads of chips and sorbet and walked around a bit. But mainly the walking was looking for the next bar or chillaxin' spot. It was fucking lovely.
^ That was in the "international cuisine" aisle of a supermarket
I got back on Thursday eve. Friday was Sam's birthday, so we all went out to Scruffy's, then me, Becca, Ben + Dick went to Big Dave's. Big Dave's parties are always MENTAL and go on till about 7am. The only bummer was that I sat in a chair that had red wine spilt on it, and I was wearing a white cocktail dress, which by the end of the night was covered in wine, blood (my own; I had a bleeding hangnail) and fag ash. As Becca said; "How goth". Luckily, Vanish works really well, and it was whiter than white after washing.
Saturday (my birthday), Sam was holding a cocktail party at hers and boy Sam's new house. Me + Becca were both in a pretty fragile state all day, and as soon as we got there (about 7pm), I wanted a cup of tea more than anything else. For the rest of the night we had cocktails, but I was totally shattered, and am very proud to say that I went to bed at 11m on my 19th birthday. How rock 'n' roll am I? Anyway, the next morning (and afternoon), the four of us (me, Becca, Girl Sam and Boy Sam) sat around watching extras and drinking lots of tea, then at about 4pm Girl Sam went out to the shop and got us some fake sausages etc. and we had a proper cooked breakfast :)
At the very end of the month, I got yet another tattoo.
^ Slogan of IWW. Especially appropriate since a) I work in healthcare and b) I'm a compath (ie. I get rashes, headaches, tummy aches etc. when other people have them, and if someone mentions painful things, I can imagine the sensation. It's especially bad if it involved lady parts; just the words 'female circumcision' have me crossing my legs and bending over in vicarious agony).
July
At the end of the month, we went to Derby with the family (incl. Ben + Harry ♥)
Becca + I went to Go Ape - a high-ropes tree-top assault course type thing. It was fucking brilliant, except we got thunder and lightning when we halfway round it. The last place you want to be in a thunderstorm is at the top of tall tree, attached to metal cables... but it was really fun, and then afterwards we went down into a cool cave with pretty rocks, a lot of which were incredibly phallic.
On the Thursday we went to Alton Towers with Ben. Which of course means FUNGASM. I fucking love Alton Towers :)
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, and involved me + Becca + Ben trying to interact as little as possible with the rest of the family...
August
Not a lot happened in August, except... on the Sunday before the bank holiday (30th), Becca was away, and I was working an early. I invited Al round in the evening. We watched some Buffy and some Spaced. And then Al stayed the night :D
For fuck's sake, we'd been arsing around, not doing anything, since I moved to Brum. I liked him, he liked me, everyone else knew it and was waiting for us to get our act together. I guess we were the last people to know that we should be together. But hey, we are now. And oh my fuck, I am happy. Too fucking happy for words. Al is the only person in the world who shares my obscure sense of humour, and vice versa; if either of us were to start a conversation on a weird tangent with someone else, it would stop after two minutes. With each other, it'll extend into a ten minute discussion. Plus he's just a sexy bastard.
September
Nottalotta news.
October
THE MONTH OF UNBELIEVABLE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!
Becca and I both had the first full week off.
On Saturday and Sunday we went to BICS (Girl Sam, Al + Tom came on Saturday). On Sunday, we watched Gary Leach (who we'd seen last year) do a live airbrush cover (no digital safety net). At the very end, he took questions, and I asked "How much are you selling it for?" He laughed and said "10p?" As he was packing up, I went down and asked seriously if I could buy it off him. He said "you can have it", and then he signed it for me. YAY! :) So the best, most original thing I got at BICS cost nothing. Sweet.
On Monday we went to Alton Towers with Ally, Matt, Girl Sam + Boy Sam. FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN. I fucking love Alton Towers!!! Fun fun fun fun fun fun.
On Tuesday, Becca and I went to Amsterdam. I will not report on it. Because this is the internet. But needless to say, it was a fucking brilliant week (except for the journey back, when we missed a train, and so had to buy new Eurostar tickets @ 200 euros each. The only upside was that it turned out to be cheaper to get first class tickets, so we got a free meal and all the vodka refills we could drink in the journey).
Cool grafitti
View from hostel window
Pretty tree in Vondelpark (taken from lying on the ground)
Red blood cells painted on the walls of Homegrown Fantasy
The best thing we saw all week: Yam Yam Sexshop (those not from the West Mids may not get this...)
On 21st we went to see Therapy? in Wolverhampton. Fucking brilliant. Considering we hardly ever go to gigs any more (we haven't been into punk, much less the punk scene itself, for a long time, and all the gigs are the same few bands doing the same thing. It takes a great band to get me or Becca out of the flat...) it was definitely not disappointing. Amazing. :)
On 24th we celebrated our 1 year anniversary of living together, with a candlelit dinner (vegan fish - yum yum yum) and DVDs.
At the end of the month I accompanied Al's new band to Evesham for their first gig. Man, they are fucking awesome, and I'm not just saying that coz I'm sleeping with the bassist...
November
Nottalotta news
December
After replying to an ad on Gumtree, I auditioned to be the new vocalist for a metal band. I missed singing, so decided I wanted to do something with a band. I've been back twice more since, and basically they've said they like me, I just need to be a bit louder and angrier in places (although apparently I'm getting better), and am possibly the forerunner for the position - there's just one other guy they're gonna hear again in January, then they'll let me know.
Thurs 10th was the Christmas work do. Fucking brilliant night. I got very very drunk. But so did everyone else, including my manager. I may have lap-danced one of my (female) colleagues. When I say may have, I mean I did. On the way home, the taxi driver said "Hey sexy, how you doing?", so I launched into a feminist rant about how he shouldn't be addressing women as "sexy", particularly his customers; that he should treat all his customers the same, regardless of gender, age, appearance etc.; and that he might upset people in the future, as not all women like being called sexy by strangers, least of all cabbies. When I got in, I collapsed straight into bed, very drunk and happy. I woke up at 3am, still fully dressed, although I had removed one shoe and one leg of my tights. Thankfully I had the day off, and Al came over to hang out with the hangover.
Since I'm working Xmas day, I went to Aylesbury on 14th, and had Xmas day on 15th. Got pressies off the immediate rels (mainly DVDs), had yummy Xmas dinner and mince pies, and walked Harry in the rec. I LOVE THAT DOG. He exceeds the boundaries of traditional cuteness. There are no words. he is just Too Fucking Cute.
Had Xmas with Becca on Mon 21st; we exchanged pressies and watched the first ep of Being Human (one of her pressies to me) and ate Xmas pudding. The Sams, Ben and Al came over on Tuesday after my 3rd rehearsal with Only The Good (the band who are thinking about taking me on) and we exchanged pressies. Becca's gone down to Aylesbury today, and I'm working Xmas through to 30th. We're having Xmas dinner with Gordon + family and Ruth + family @ Gordon's on Monday evening when Becca comes back. Then on 29th we've got Xmas with Steve and Jane. And on Wed 30th Becca + I are going to see Avatar. So I have about 8 Christmases, or Xmas-related celebratory days. I have NYE + NYD off again, and the whole lot of us are going to Sam + Sam's.
2009 has been fucking brilliant. Best year ever. And I know 2010 is only gonna be even fucking better.