Blow Out.

Bank holiday Monday has been and gone; the last one of the year until Christmas!

Despite being worried about getting approval from my client for the commission I managed to complete- I had a lovely bank holiday, whiling away a few hours with Markuuuus by the canal in Hopwas. 

I can barely believe my six days off work have been and gone! Here they are in bullet form:

Wed- Flight over to Belfast, EasyJet, annoying child on plane and a very angry, huffing-puffing butch lady.

Wed night- Nine Inch Nails gig in Charter House Square. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

Thur- Titanic museum and flight back home.

Fri- Work on commission- it does NOT go well and I swear a lot.

Fri night- traditional Friday night drinks with H; scarily quiet for a bank holiday weekend. Cocktails are consumed. I pretend not to have noticed the incompetence of the barman as he spills half a daiquiri onto the bar in front of me. He looks mortified. I watch the TV above him to save him further embarrassment.

Sat- Work on commission. It goes better. Less swearing.  Good gym session despite nearly fainting at one point due to the heat.

Sun- Commission is completed. Email sent for approval. Nervous wait so car is washed, tea is eaten and a big session at the gym is undertaken.  I am buzzing... so much so that I return home and eat a bag of doritos and a slice of cheese cake.

Mon- Still hungry from the gym and fuelled by nerves from the lack of contact from my client, I meet Markuus for bank holiday drinks in Hopwas.  Beautiful day for it.  Sun, wasps, half a roast chicken with chips and an eton mess for dessert interspersed with drinks and a hot choc.  Bliss. Approval comes in the form of a lovely email from client. So once home, commission is baked, finished and boxed up for delivery.

Tue- Back to work to find no handover after 6 days, a chocka email account thanks to the bank holiday, a four hour meeting to prepare for and complete minutes for, hardly any staff, my colleague off work so I have to take on her work load also.  Stress.  Stress. Stress. 

That's it.  In a nutshell. It's just flown by! I fully expect that by the end of the week my head's going to explode. And its only my first day back.  :-(

Hurt 2.

I managed to pull a tendon in my arm at the gym last night.  Perhaps doing two nights at the gym in a row was a bad idea. 

However, I am managing to shoulder press about 5-6 8kg weights before my arms die and I have to revert back to 6kgs.  It's a marked improvement from when I started on 4kgs though and my arms are much more toned for it.  I feel stronger, legs are firmer, and generally I'm pleased with my progress so far.  I need to work on breathing for cardio- although since I'm not trying to lose weight I limit cardio to warming up and cooling down exercises only.  I'm also embarking on a 30 day squat challenge from next weekend to further tone up.  :-)

In other news I have a new favourite song- Copy of A.  Obsessed with it at the moment, mainly because it reminds me of the gig, but it's just IMMENSE.  It fuels me.  Love love love it.

Hurt.

 

You could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way.

Came Back Haunted

And now the come down.

On wednesday morning I was sitting in Birmingham Airport awaiting my flight to Belfast to see Nine Inch Nails. It's hard to believe that it was a whole three days ago!

 

After checking into the hotel which was a stones throw from Chapter House Square where the gig took place, N and I went and got food in a nice little gastro-pub round the corner. We started queuing shortly after to ensure we got a good spot.  And I have to say I got THE BEST spot I have EVER EVER had at a gig.  Running down one side of the big courtyard where the crowd gathered, was a "VIP" area which was raised up about three feet. People had paid an extra tenner for the privilige but I would suggest it was debatable wether it was worth it.  Running along this was the normal security barriers which come with handy steps for security to step onto to lift people over.  This would become my position for the night.  I sat on the ledge for the first two bands, both of whom where better than anticipated- local bands Little Matador and And So I Watch You From Afar. I was particularly impressed by the latter who sounded like a more lively Maybeshewill, with tinges of Steve Vai.  I've yet to check out their albums, as I expect they may sound better live than on Cd. We managed to make an aquaintence of a strange character from Canada called Darren who flitted between seeming like a harmless, lonely drunk to being slightly dark and a bit mysterious.  However, when the music started, his attentions were quite rightly focussed on his idols.

 

It rained a bit, but fortunately I had my trusty cardigan with the goblin hood to keep the rain off, and so I took my position in anticipation of Nine Inch Nails coming on stage.  I could see the whole stage and was close enough to see the bands faces- including the face of the GENIUS Mr Reznor, the whole crowd in front, aside and to the back of me... it was immense.  And then it just all happened.  I was just elated and enthralled through out the whole set, taking photo's and videos without getting knocked about.  I just soaked every second of it up. 

Highlights for me were Copy of A which was their opening track- the energy from the stage and crowd was just epic; Closer and Hurt.  Hurt was just incredible- hearing the crowd singing along in the darkness... I felt quite emotional and just about managed to stop myself welling up like a total saddo.

The night was finished off with a NIN themed Guiness and a JD and Coke in the hotel before retiring to rest our weary heads and prepare for the post-gig come down.  Whilst I am THRILLED to have seen them, I am running out of "Bands to see before I die".  I only have one (kindof) left- A Perfect Circle/Puscifer and I have a feeling I will have to travel a little bit further afield to see one of those two as they rarely tour, let alone outside of America.

The day after the gig, we had a couple of hours to kill before our flight home so we took a look round the new Titanic museum.  Wierd building, but fairly decent inside, however in my opinion they should have made more of the tradgedy and focussed on the mass death a bit more, not in a morbid way you understand, but more to get an idea of the scale of the disaster.  Understandably, they focussed it on the building and construction, as the museum stands on the docks where the Titanic was built. I dunno- maybe I just prefer a bit more punch and drama in my museum excursions. Hehe.

Busy-ness.

Has it really been two weeks since I blogged? cripes.

It's been busy! Work is manic, with stress levels hitting new heights.  The good thing about the people I work with is that as stress levels rise, so does the sense of humour and mischievousness so we've had two weeks of intensely hard work flanked by points of hilarity, practical jokes and lots of laughs.  Too many laughs at points, with me getting told off for laughing too loud while a colleague was on the phone. 

I've been working hard at the gym and also went for a run with my chum H this week.  I was crap at it, having to run for short bursts and then walk in between.  Today, I've finally managed to do a set of six 8kg shoulder pressed weights which is a big achievement for me and a sure sign that my little spaghetti arms are getting much stronger.  I feel more toned and solid.

I've spent this weekend doing some sculpting, and I have to say despite the slow pace, I'm pretty pleased with the likeness I've achieved in the face of this commission.  It's been a really productive weekend- buzzing... and the best is yet to come.  I have a two day work week this week because....

... It's finally arrived.

This Wednesday, I will be watching Nine Inch Nails in an open air gig in Ireland.

Holy Fuck.

This is going to be... Epic.

Another Busy Weekend...

It's been a very busy couple of weeks at work.  Things are building up again and my days can be long and draining.  Booking leave is getting tricky lately too, I've had some refused recently and had to get my Inspector to intervene and let me use up all the hours that I work over my contracted time.  When I do get a day off, I make plans to meet people I haven't seen in a while or cheer up lunches for people having a much worse time than myself so even my days away from work fly be without me noticing. I'm even struggling to fit the gym in recently. 

I get tired.  I could do with a lazy weekend watching films and slobbing out in PJ's for a while.  But alas, my next few weekends are all booked up and I somehow have to fit in a new cake topper commission into all this.  Fortunately I think the bank holiday weekend is going to have to be allocated to some serious sculpting time.

This weekend, I've been on a mini road trip up to the mysterious and strange lands of The North.  My friend L from Uni was celebrating her 30th birthday so N, Markuus and another uni chum Adam travelled up to sunny Hull to celebrate with her.  Aside from my taxi rage ( having to wait nearly two hours for a taxi is NOT, I repeat NOT, good for Slinks stress levels) it was good to have a good catch up with friends over a LOT of cocktails. 

My traditional weekly Friday work-de-brief drinks with H will be instigated again this week after a two week hiatus.  However, we're having to divert from our local due to an unwelcome invasion so we're heading a bit further north for our night out.  Gutted, as it's my local pub and it's become a regular feature of my post-working-week drinks over the last few years, but hey ho, I'm not going to let a particular nasty individual affect my night.  I shall party on elsewhere.  :-)

Time is steadily ticking by and it will be TWO weeks on Wednesday until I'll be flying over to Ireland to see Nine Inch Nails.  Oh my god.  My heart skips a beat every time I think about it.  I simply cannot wait and am counting down the days.  It's going to be so immense.