Girls and Philisophy

It always boggles me, how many times history will end up repeating itself, but then again, history is anything that happened a second ago. So history repeating itself could simply just be waking up at the same time every morning to go to work. Anyway, in this case I'm referring to the simple fact that I am once again with someone I can't actually be with, and so I'm not actually with her.

For those of you who are confused, which I imagine would be most of you, I should probably explain, so I'll start at the beginning. About nine or so months ago I got with a girl called Lydia, her mum hated me because I was eighteen, while her daughter was sixteen, and so me and Lydia were forced to part. But then in September Lydia found a way to communicate with me, and tried to restart a relationship between us. Which failed, because I'm an asshole.

Anyway, this has happened yet again, only this time not with Lydia, but someone else who was forced to part ways with me for the same reason, but since we both have smartphones now, we can easily communicate, which sparked an unofficial relationship. One which has escalated quite dramatically, but she still says it isn't a relationship, because we can't find a way past her mother.

So now that has happened/is happening, my brain has gone on a weird loop. My thought process is flicking between self hatred, and questioning the finer points of philosophy. Currently, I'm in the more philosophical mood, with a strange question in my head, one that I just had to make a philosoraptor meme for.

It was the first thing that came into my head after I put my guitar down about half an hour ago, and it is just floating around at the forefront of my mind. The question is going to bug me all night, but thankfully, I don't need any brainpower at college tomorrow, and so I can try and answer my question.

Anyway, I've had a surprisingly good week despite all the downs, I haven't needed to be in college! To make things better, my timetable has changed and I now have days a week off instead of just one. So I get to spend Fridays sleeping in through the morning. Either way, I'm going to enjoy my new timetable.

Modern Technology

I have been gifted with a smartphone! I don't know what I'm going to do with my smartphone, but I've got one now, which is definitely a nice start. I have to say that it a weird thing, it's grubby, and it has a cracked screen, but it was given to me by a plumber, who has just bought a Cat work-proof phone. It may be work proof, but I can pretty much guarantee that it is not Dion proof.

Anyway, the smartphone I received is a HTC Desire S, now I have never heard of HTC before, so I don't know if that means I am simply just out of the loop, or HTC are so bad it was probably a good job I hadn't heard about them. Either way, only time will tell.

Naturally the first thing I did on this phone is disable the auto-correct feature, I have received enough poorly written Skype messages to know that auto-correct is a very bad idea. After that I performed a factory reset, to cleanse it of all the old account details that can't be removed any other way. Then I installed Snapchat so I could annoy Nath's cousin.

My current opinion of this thing is that it's okay, but the battery seems non-existent, by the time I've loaded up my music the battery is has lost 30% of it's charge (exaggeration), my old phone may have been pretty crappy, but I only needed to charge it once or twice a week, this looks like it'll be on charge every night.

I was initially very skeptical of this phones alarm system, I had tried to listen to Iron Maiden through the phones speaker as a test, and I discovered that the speakers were very quiet, but when my alarm went off this morning it pulled me out of two dreams, for I was dreaming in my dream, and being pulled into the real world from two dreams is a very strange sensation. I suppose it also helps that I have a very loud song set as my alarm.

My only quarrel is that it is outdated, and so some of the games I wanted to put on it aren't compatible, which is a shame because Boom Beach looks pretty good. But I've got 9GAG, Instagram and Snapchat on it. I also have an app called SoundHound, which answered the question that has been plaguing me for three years now.

The question was: what is Bernard Doherty's theme song for Listomania (a radio show on Planet Rock)? This question has been bugging me for ages, because I have never heard it played before, and so I couldn't read the song name on the LED screen, thankfully Soundhound allows you to hum, sing or play a song/tune and it will tell you the song title. The song in question was Love Spreads by The Stone Roses, now I have the title, I can get to learning it on guitar.

I guess I have now joined the countless ranks of teenagers who are glued to their phones, or have I? Only time will tell I suppose.

Happy Horrors

This week has been one of those awesome weeks, filled with dark secrets, happiness, and horror. Since that makes no sense, I'm hoping you are now more inclined to read on. Since they are called secrets for a reason, you won't be reading about those, but I will start off by talking about the horror of this week.

So awhile ago I ordered a Harley Benton RB414CS from Musikhaus Thomann in Germany. The bass arrived this week, and I was extremely happy, especially since I was trapped in a bus with my scariest ex-girlfriend just moments before. Before my feeling of self hatred was lifted, I opened the box and discovered that the bass inside needed replacing, there was a problem with the plate the bridge pick-up was attached to.

So after an hour suffering Jasmine, I have to face disappointment. Typical. Anyway, Thomann have been nice to me and will exchange it, but first I have to get UPS to pick it up and send it back. That doesn't bother me since it's already been paid for.

Anyway, this week has thankfully included more happy things than bad things, for instance I ended up watching all three Little Mermaid films on Monday, on Wednesday, I picked up the Royal Blood album for a fiver, and just yesterday I finished working on this damn acoustic guitar which has been getting under my skin since me and Nath took on the damnable project.

More importantly, this week came with new guitar strings. So far I haven't found a sensation I like quite as much as the feel of new strings. Annoyingly I ordered the wrong set of strings, but that doesn't bother me, they still feel incredible, I'll just have to triple check next time (since my double check didn't work). In case you are wondering I ordered D'Addario Chromes Jazz Lights (I wanted the Extra Lights), the Jazz Lights are still awesome though, and if you haven't tried D'Addario Chromes I'd recommend you give them a shot.

Along with the strings I also ordered some Gibson Pump Polish, and some Planet Waves Lemon Oil. I'd recommend both products for those of you who like your guitars looking their best. I also get the feeling that I won't be buying anything this year I appreciate even half as much as that Lemon Oil (unless I buy the Ashdown Little Bastard).

Yes, I like buying guitar things, I'd also recommend that you guitarists get your hands on a string winder and a good set of wire clippers. I also can't stress the importance of buying a good strap (and if necessary, a set of Schaller Strap Locks) and also a decent lead, such as the Fender Performance Series leads.

I feel like this has been a massive advert, So I'll leave you with one last thing: beware of shoggoths, and avoid rutabagas.

Forwards

I realised when I posted my last column on Bronies UK that I missed out last weeks post, So Happy New Year everyone, I hope you all got wasted and had lots of fun, and I also hope that you can't remember all those naughty things you did that night. Joking aside, I have quite a lot of plans for this year, mostly centered around my band: Reincarnated Love.

I get the feeling the skeptics reading this are laughing, and have probably made a mental comment about me saying "joking aside," but I don't really care about what those skeptics think. No one can tell me with any certainty what will become of the band,  It's not likely that we'll make it, but you never know. And unless the band does get anywhere, I still aim to have a steady income from elsewhere.

I also get the feeling there are others who have read my previous posts thinking something along the lines of "I thought he wanted to join the army," which is true, I do want to join the army, but I want to join as a musician. I position which will be pretty hard for me to score, especially since I can fill only one of about forty-five slots. Other things that will get in my way include the entrance exam, audition and the simple fact I am ungraded in my instruments.

I am actually confident in my audition, I'm working on the two pieces that I have to perform. I am grateful that I can chose the two pieces of music, as long as they contrast. The word contrast is what worries me the most, to me it could mean many things while referring to music. So I'm just going to have to hope that they accept the contrast I have chosen, and also hope they don't ask for the names of the pieces. Anyway, I try not to think about those things, the more I do, the less confident I feel, and a lack of confidence will obliterate my chances of success.

Anyway I seem to have sidetracked a little, so as for the band, we intend to get a four track EP recorded so we can stick it on ReverbNation and hopefully start gigging. We currently have a friend of ours working on our publicity for when we do get everything ready, but until then we can only practice what we have and write more.

The four tracks for the EP have all been written, one of which is even loaded with a solo from each member of the band, but since we no longer have a rhythm guitarist, Nathan will have to record the second guitar as well as his own, and hopefully we can train up a fourth member soon enough.

We will face a few difficulties when it comes to gigging, the first of which being we are a member down. But more than anything our current biggest problem is that we don't fully know what kit we will need, we do know that we can currently only play somewhere that already has a PA system, our amps are loud enough even if they don't get mic'ed up, but we only have 3 amps big enough to use: a 100 watt Trace Elliot Commando bass amp (solid state), a 100 watt guitar amp which we can't find any information on (also solid state), and an 80 watt Marshall Valvestate (which as the name suggests is both valve and solid state). The Marshall may be smaller than the others, but it is still very loud and will be perfectly usable in conjunction with the others.

The next problem will be transport, neither me, Nath or Phil can drive, and so we'll have to pack the majority of the kit in Nath's dad's van, once that is filled with the amps, and the drum kit, and the guitars, there probably won't be enough room for all of us. so my guess is that some of us will have to go in Phil's fiancée's car.

The next problem would be the sound tech, we don't have one of our own, and so we'll need to use whoever is at the venue, that is of course if there even is someone at the venue. So yeah, if you haven't guessed, being in a band is a lot more than most idiots expect it to be, and so we as a band have a lot of things to sort out.

This year is going to be fun...