Little Catch Up

I really neglect this blog, last time I wrote anything I'd just been to Camden Crawl, that was like a month ago, so I should update everyone on what's been going on since then.

Firstly I tried to get fit and healthy. This mainly involved me not drinking and putting my new running shoes to good use around Regents Park.

I managed 3 full weeks with no booze, which isn't easy when you live in Camden, work for a company that embraces a drinking culture and class the Hawley Arms as your second home. I managed to slowly start getting better at running, although to be honest my lungs felt like they were going to implode. I haven't smoked for at least 7 years, and even then it was never much, but oh my god my lungs don't like exercise. Never the less I was loving popping on my ipod and trying to find my 'power song'  to run to, so far it's a toss up between half the songs on the new Lily Allen album and Gallows 'The Vulture'. It all went tits-up when a gig I was going to on Monday got cancelled, Skint & Demoralised at the Camden Roundhouse, and we ended up having a bit of a drinking session with Mr. Skint himself, Matt Abbott. We got a rather intimate spoken word session with him in the beer garden (see video and ignore my ridiculous laughing and cackling in the background).

So that was the end of my health streak. I've not had a hangover like the one I had the next day for years. You don't even want to know how ill I was. I wouldn't mind but that much alcohol wouldn't have had much effect on me 3 weeks earlier so trying to be healthy actually made me sick....well that's my excuse anyway.

I also managed to catch a really odd gig on Tuesday night with my mate Sam. We went to the Lock Tavern to try and see Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong do a dj set but ended up leaving after the first two bands. The first was great but we didn't catch their name, bloody typical, the second was called something like Sparky and the something or other deathcap. Oh my god it was the most surreal experience of my life, he had an OHP! So we left and got chips instead which just fucked up my diet even more....along with the pint of cider.

Next came Gallows at Kentish Town Forum. Fucking amazing, out of this world, perfection! That band are fantastic live, they give everything and Frank Carter is so engaging. The only down side was we were up top and you can't stand up up there, we eventually did for the last couple of songs but I'm sure it was way more fun down the front. I managed to spend £30 on merch and have a pint so this time my purse was feeling the pain as well as my liver. I left adamant that a Gallows tattoo is the way forward and I'm searching for a great lyric and an image to pull together as a start of my sleeve.

I also went drinking Friday and Saturday, as well as shopping, so I pretty much cleared my bank account and the health streak is dead and buried. Next steps? Polish off the vegan cakes I bought yesterday, finish this blog and go for a run. Well, maybe I'll have a nap first. 

This week maybe wasn't my finest, god I did some stupid things, but it sure as hell was a lot of fun.

Camden Crawl

Last weekend saw my beloved Camden host its beloved Crawl. We had weekend passes and so did our friends so my flat was like a hostel with two bodies on the sofa bed and a body at the bottom of our bed. Cosy. But I tried to be a good hostess, I made tea and toast on Saturday morning. Sunday I was tired and grumpy so everyone had to fend for themselves. Sorry guys.

The problem with Camden Crawl is you think it's going to be a whole day long event but actually you get your map at 11am and then have to find something to do until the bands start playing at 6pm. Sure there are things going on during the day but they're not promoted like the main acts so I'm sure we missed a few hidden gems. Thank fuck for the Halwey Arms is all I can say. Lovely Dougie treated us like rockstars (Halstars ;)) and gave us some free drinks and let us queue jump lots the whole weekend. Thank you Dougie. The Halwey had loads of live music throughout the day and I managed to catch Sam McCarthy's set both nights, featuring Dee Plume (wearing and amazing Kiss jacket) on Saturday. We also trotted around aimlessly and managed to bump into George Craig which was quite random but a nice surprise.

We were adamant we wanted to see General Fiasco at Dublin Castle as our first proper gig on Friday and so got there about an hour and a half early. We were first in the queue at the doors and then 10 minutes before the gig starts they tell us all to get out as the queue will start outside. Bastards. This meant the people at the back were now at the front and by the time we got outside we were right at the back. We managed to finally get in and caught the last 3 songs. Luckily GF were playing Saturday at the much bigger Electric Ballroom and so we managed to catch them there. They were great and I'm looking forward to seeing them back in London on the 6th May.

Next up we went to see Skint & Demoralised. I'd only ever heard one song and was really surprised, Matt Abbott is much better live and we managed to catch him on the Myspace Bus too, although we were outside.
Skint & Demoralised

I think we'll go and see him when he hits Camden next, I'm now following him on Twitter and find his rhyming tweets hilarious. I know I'm a loser and I have been told off already for liking S&D. The only other band I saw was Daniel P Carter's band Hexes. Oh my god they were too good and if you like a bit of hardcore I'd give them a listen.

So that's it really. Throw in a few badges, some humous and chips, a lot of cider, a Subway, late night McDonalds, running down Camden High Street (twice, don't ask), getting asked for id at KOKO and probably a million other random things and you have my Camden Crawl weekend. I'm sure I could have seen more bands and made the more of it but we had a laugh and the sun was out so it was all good.

Soon To Be A Camdenite!

In less than a week I move to Camden. This has been a dream of mine for about 15 years and it's finally coming true. I can crawl out of bed and walk to work (10 minutes), drink in the Hawley every night if the fancy takes me (which I'm sure it will) and buy pink tutu's from the market to my hearts content. Unfortunately I first have to get through the stress of the move. We've been living in the words smallest flat surrounded by rather large boxes for weeks now. We have no sofa as we were running out of room to hold the boxes so we took it to the dump, this means sitting on rather horrible wooden chairs, not what you want after a long day at work.

I also had a rather strange girl knock on my door yesterday asking if this was the flat up for rent, when I said it was she asked to look around and promptly grabbed her mum and her nan, who had been hiding around the corner, and came in. Since, as previously mentioned, I live in the smallest flat in the world and it's full of boxes there was a moment of panic as I tried to fit them all in to my tiny bathroom. Suddenly I realised they weren't here with the landlord (my brother-in-law) and I'd usually be at work at this time of the day (I happened to have a hospital appointment so was working from home), so why the hell were they here? I had visions of being tied up as they pinched all my MCR merchandise, the nan stuffing my Gerard Way doll in her handbag, or the dim daughter stealing my prized "New Kids on the Block" vinyl and chillin' to "I'll be loving you forever" whilst I'm still bound to the radiator. I hurriedly got them out, they weren't impressed with the flat anyway, surprise surprise, and I called my brother-in-law. Turns out they were legit and were simply meant to be looking at the outside, they'd knocked on the off chance someone was in. Phew!

So now all I have to do is ditch my car (anyone want one for scrap?), call the utility companies and get through what may turn out to be the most stressful week of my life. Then the gigs start!!! "The Bronx", "General Fiasco" (with my mates band "Acacia Snow" as support - woo!, "Scarlet Harlots", "Gallows", more "Acacia Snow" and then Camden Crawl. I can't wait. If you see a tattooed, drunkard walking the streets of Camden over the next few months or slouched in the Snug at the Hawley it's not Ms Winehouse, it's moi!

Goodbye 2008...

It's New Years day and I'm sick in bed debating whether to go to the doctors tomorrow or not...and I'm a little bored to be honest. I feel I've neglected my blog for a while so I'm going to try and get something down.

2008 was a good year for me, I'm not sure 2009 holds as much promise so far but then I am the worlds biggest pessimist so we'll see. "What was so great about 2008?" I hear you ask, well let me try to tell you.

First off things took off for me at work. I started at Band & Brown in September 2007 as an admin assistant and I can honestly say it was the best job I've ever had and I think I ever will have but in 2008 I got promoted to the CEO's Research Assistant, it was a huge leap for me and it's a role that has since opened a lot of doors for me and seen me take on yet another new role as a Project Manager for Brando Digital. After spending three and a half years in limbo living in Coventry and feeling I amounted to nothing 2008 really made me realize I could achieve something in my career. Plus I work in Camden which is home to me, I swear I spend more time there than I do in my own flat. On that note the Hawley Arms was rebuilt! After the terrible Camden fire in February the iconic pub's future was really uncertain but it reopened at the end of October and I couldn't be happier. All our friends are back and I can enjoy my favourite houmous and a pint of chips every lunch time again. I even managed to have my birthday party there and it was brilliant.

Secondly my favourite band, 'My Chemical Romance', had a quiet year for the most part which meant I had a lot of time to listen to new stuff. In April I found 'One Night Only'. Now I've said it before, they're not the best band in the world but they make me happy AND it's not just about them it's everything that goes with them. Through going to their gigs I've met some amazing people that I can't imagine my life without now. Friends that I now wouldn't dream of going to a gig without and that I spend hours talking to online and texting when I don't actually get to see them. I've also met friends that I can talk to about music and tattoos and share stuff with and I know they won't judge me, friends who have really inspired me and continue to try to introduce me to cool music. So through a band that nobody else seems to like I've really gained something in my life.

But I've not forgotten 'MCR' and I've had two new 'MCR' tattoos done this year that mean a lot to me. I think I'll write a post about the meaning of all my tattoos later but I just want to say that in a year where 'MCR' have been really quiet, doing their own personal stuff and just getting on with their lives they've still managed to be important to me, inspire me and keep me sane.

2008 saw some awesome films come out too. 'Dark Knight' was out of this world and I'm so gutted that we'll never get to see Heath Ledger play the Joker again. The Joker is the best villain ever...EVER, and I think I'll be getting a Joker/Harley Quinn tattoo at some point in the near future. 'Twilight' was cool too, although the books are a million times better. The film was a pretty honest adaptation and I think any flaws with this one will be ironed out in time for 'New Moon' which should be ace.

I never usually do new years resolutions but I think this year I may try. I'm going to try my hardest to move to Camden by April at the latest, this will give me more time to spend with my friends and loved ones rather than being sat on a train commuting. I'm going to lose a few pounds, the diet has started and my new tattoo on my ribs is the perfect excuse to get trim and toned for the Summer (not that I'll be flashing my ribs off, I stopped all that when I hit 21). I'm going to work my arse off at work to really try to prove myself and get the most out of having a career. Most importantly I'm going to stay true to myself this year, I'll stay the same little tattooed, pierced, obsessive little Camden freak that I've always been and not care what anyone thinks of me. Maybe 2009 won't be so bad after all.