One rule for you/Joy.

Ok so you might need sandwiches and stuff for this one, as its quite long and well if I’m honest I’m trying to shoot from the hip rather than over polish like I normally do, why? well read on all will be explained.

The name game isn’t in play as I’m going to explain all about it straight away, it’s a single by a band called After the Fire it was released back in the heady days of 1979. I paid the grand sum of 25 pence for it, bright red vinyl if memory serves me right, oh yes I liked it so therefore it barely charted, I saw them at a Christian rock gig sponsored  by the YMCA they were good for a three piece, (please don’t worry I haven’t lulled you into a cul de sac to try and convert you to Christianity) to be honest it was the b side that got my attention like Rick Wakeman meets the Dickies (there’s a description for you) they opened with it, I wasn’t really bothered about it at the time it was a soppy ballad (now I have to admit to liking it, old age and all that) but as soon as I realised what the b side was I had to have it, and I played it to death for quite a few years, why do I mention it, well actually I was flicking through YouTube (as you do) I came across a video for  both songs and I was tempted to get my Christmas pressie from last year (the turntable that connects to your computer come on you lot keep up)  but as I looked through my singles I couldn’t find it, I was devastated, my singles mean so much to me, I could part with all of my music but I have so many memories wrapped in my old 7 inch singles. I can just about remember specific days, what the weather was like, who I was with, my moods, losing a single like that is really like losing a close family member, no use crying over spilt milk, but I was devastated.

So the week progressed and after the last blog (which would appear to be a hit) I started playing about with technology (excel spread sheets) to see if I could divine what makes a good blog, as opposed to a bad blog, what makes the numbers rise and all of that. I was soon sucked into lists and numbers and it was pretty obvious I was blogging way too much at the beginning and I was shocked to actually see what the actual numbers were, I started to obsess( me with my reputation), it wasn’t the titles it was literally time and date of posting that dictated what happened, if I over populated the page well people may like what I write, however there is only so much that people want to read, Ok so point proven, I started to redefine the blog and what I intended to do in future (cunning plans) with the blog and stuff that I published, I will say that I am a rank amateur when it comes to technology and wizardry, but it makes for interesting reading, don’t worry I will not kill you with a PowerPoint presentation, it’s just interesting to see if the magic I have gleaned can be used to my advantage!

While I was doing that I was checking through a small pile of music that I had been given from a friend at work (93 gigabytes) so as I was doing my techno wizardry with Excel, I was plodding through all of these bands (about 93% of who I had no idea who the hell they were) and I soon got a rhythm for what I liked and what I didn’t, there were an awful lot trying to be like Kyuss, Metallica, Iron Maiden and the such like, rule of thumb shite vocals and they were gone, there was some awesome tunes but then the cookie monster started growling well it was oh dear goodnight Josephine, some was rather spiffing some were poor and some were absolutely shocking, obviously paid for by the bank of mum and dad, Oh dear some of it was new some of it was old some of it got about 30 seconds before deleting it forever!

Some of the good stuff, well I got the Scorpions 50^th anniversary (I forgot how much they rocked) stuff Magnum Discography (I forgot how awesome they are) Nordic Union ………. simply class look out for it, The Cult’s new album not a band I care much for, yet this release is simply a cracking CD, Masterplan, Annihilator, Black Sabbath the end, the tracks should have been on the 13 album that’s how good they were, and the list goes on I’m down to about 47 gigabyte left, I will still whittle that down some more, some artists definitely cack some simply stunning (Paul Gilberts being the pick of the crop…. album of the year already).

Then there was actual life and all that goes with it, my sleeping was sporadic and it has affected my mood and again the wife has corralled me to a safe harbour when she could, I had a full weekend to look forward to at the asylum (thankfully now over and rather uneventful for us, 3 arrests 19 banning’s, 6 ambulances 4 junkies, an autistic child in full on attack his carers were superb, one fire alarm, 32 complaints and a member of staff bitten on the arse………………..oh and no traffic issues go figure) work is just grinding away not helping, but not diverting me away from reality if you get my drift! Then my black mood caught up with me and as usual the wife thinks that it’s her, yes she has pissed me off (I’m way to bitter to write about it) but no my mood is all mine, she can’t steal the glory for it, the black dog turned up on Thursday and has shadowed me all the way to where I am right now, as I sit here typing this drivel he’s curled up at my feet, I feel way to close to this to write about it, these are indeed dark days of my own making, with langoliers(it’s a Stephen King short story) of torment ripping at my thoughts and waking and some unwaking moments, I have deployed everything in my arsenal, but this is not for the faint hearted, if you have not gone through something like this it’s very hard to describe, I’m not having the best of times with and consequently it spills over into everything else!

To compound matters, I have been bitten by a computer virus that my supposed anti-virus software seems incapable of shifting and it’s starting to annoy me tremendously, me addicted to reading stuff on the interweb thingy majig noooooooooo go figure, it doesn’t take much to send me off on a down ward spiral technology is one thing that kicks me in the slats every time!

The harbour walls are being battered by the strongest of tides, but I shall endeavour to overcome, I do not want people to be worried, I am confident that I can resecure my moorings in this thing we call life. The blog has been a great success and has helped me to great dividends and a lot of people recognised their questions etc etc, I will try to do it again, it just depends on what you send, the numbers are good and going in the right direction, so I must be doing something right,   I will only blog once a week unless I win the lottery and I wish to tell you all about, with that I’m back off to YouTube to rewind back to 1979 when I had a full head of and waistline and not a care in the world until the next time Toodles!