It has been one month, to the exact day, since I last updated my blog. There hasn't been a new post for numerous reasons. One reason is that I am back at school so the only times I can update the blog during the week are after 4PM, but I am busy for two hours on a Monday and Wednesday so that also takes up time. Then taking homework and other daily tasks into account, I only really a have a few hours each day that I can update the blog.

Another reason is that I still don't have a good idea for a blog. I don't want this simply to be a diary of events in my life, following the format of "Today I did this, then this, talked to him, talked to her, went to see film x, then went for a meal at restaurant z..." because that isn't interesting to write about. I apologise to all two of my followers for the lack of updates, assuming you even care or noticed lol. Right now I've got a history essay to write but I think I have an idea for something to write about so I'll see how that develops and will possibly update later this evening.

Maybe I'm just neurotic. Maybe I'm not. Maybe it's actually something that is actually bothering me and something to genuinely get upset about. Or maybe people just don't really understand me.

I fucking hate this house. I hate it so much. It’s a complete impossibility for at least one day to go by in this house without some argument breaking out and everyone in the family becoming enemies. You know it’s actually really hurtful to see a sibling treat a parent like shit then see that parent completely break down right in front of you. How the fuck are you supposed to react to that? I have never been scared of my parents doing anything very extreme but today I don't know what the fuck happened. I don’t care if you laugh at me and say I'm stupid and blowing something completely out of proportion or getting worked up at the slightest things but trust me you don't have a fucking clue how I feel.

I'm quite scared that something serious is going to happen here. I hate it when my family argue; I just don't see what the need is. But today I’ve realised that everyone in this house is stupid. Even me. For the sake of not naming these people I’m going to keep them known as A, X and Z.

A is a selfish prick who constantly has to borrow money from people and get them to do things just so that he can hold his head above water. I gave A £100 last September because A had no money when A came back from America because A didn't have a job. A's had a job since around November. I'm still waiting on that £100 which is a fucking joke. But I've realised A’s a selfish prick who only really gives a toss about A’s self and as long as A’s ok and fine it doesn’t matter if A has to take money from other people and let them land in deep shit so I’m not going to bother helping A unless A really needs it.

Another member of my house, X, happens to do too much around the house which means X’s just piling on the stress and give going to give X’s self a fucking heart attack. X just gives and gives to the A all the time which has left Z with no money to pay off bills and debts and stuff. So because A is a selfish prick who has no conception about money management and because X just gives A money all the time X is going to end up in deep water.

Then we have Z. Z isn’t stupid like the other ones. Z just ends up making things worse between X and A when they argue. Which happens like almost every week at least once. After all of the arguing Z ends up shouting at X and getting very angry at him which doesn’t really improve things. Z also doesn’t really help because Z constantly does fuck all around the house which leads to X getting stressed and more arguing breaks out. There is other stuff but I'm not really going to post that online for the whole world to read about.

Then we have me. I’m stupid because I actually do stuff for A when A asks and A does fuck all for me. I get pissed off at X when X tells me to do things and because I don’t jump up and do them instantly I get my fucking face destroyed for nothing. I get on rather well with person Z but when Z gets drunk Z becomes a complete prick and I end up arguing with him.

But today all hell broke loose. I’m not going to go into details cos I really cba but basically I have realised that this house is stupid. People don’t bother to think about things enough and they are really most of the time only out for themselves. They get worked up at the most ridiculous of things, they don't give a shit about how they talk to people, they verge on alcoholism, they do stuff that has no need, and they are all fucking pathetic just like me.

Oh well, I don’t really care what you think tbh. If you read this and think I'm stupid, pathetic or anything insulting then fine. Have your opinion. I honestly couldn’t really give a shit right now cos I’ve got a hell of a lot more important things to worry about that what some person sitting at a computer screen has to say about me. You can only really judge me if you know me and there are only a few people out there that really know me and really know how I am, how I react to situations etc. And also you don’t know shit about what has happened so if you knew that it would help. But that’s not any of your concern and there is only one person who is reading this blog who will know what has happened. Maybe they will understand. I might end up telling someone one day if I’m drunk cos I tend to spill things to people.

The Gig-goer's Worst Enemy: Booking Fees

First of all I would like to say that I have no idea if Gig-goer's even makes sense. But basically for you rather silly people out there it means someone who goes to gigs.

This morning when I was thinking about something to write about I looked at my bookmarks bar on Safari and saw “Ticketmaster” and suddenly the idea hit me to write about how much booking fees annoy me. And possibly millions of other people who go to gigs/concerts/events around the world.

As an example to prove my point I’m going to go to Ticketmaster and pick an artist who I could possibly go and see at some point this year or next. For the sake of not being able to think of anyone that great I’m going with “Trivium” who are playing a show at Barrowland next year in March. To start off with a ticket costs £16.50. This is a reasonable price for Barrowland because it’s not a huge venue and its standing only. I’ve selected 1 ticket and after going through the near impossible CAPTCHA checks I’m taken to the page where I select my postage method. At this point it displays the service charge and postage costs with the service charge being £2.75 and postage being £2.50. That means that the £16.50 ticket I want to buy actually costs me £21.75 which is £5.25 more expensive than I thought. £5.25 might not seem like a lot but it’s almost one third of the price. As an actual percentage it’s 32% more expensive than I thought. So it’s as near as makes no difference 1/3 more expensive than I thought which is quite annoying.

I don’t understand where the hell they get £2.50 for postage from because it’s standard delivery. Not special delivery which would cost me around £5. I don’t where they get their stamps from but someone is being ripped off. And that someone is us, the gig-goers.

Let’s try another artist, someone who will be playing at a larger venue, for example, U2 at Hampden Park.

For this event the only tickets left are £150 each which is a fucking rip off in itself before we even get to the service charge which is £13.50. Because this is a large event I am being forced to choose the special delivery postage which is £4.95. So the total is now standing at £168.45. when you consider paying £150 for a ticket I'm sure that if you can afford that £15 pound won’t be too much of a reach into the wallet but that isn’t the point. The point is that you have to go through pages of information and filling in details to find out at the end that your tickets are costing you at least 10% more than you thought.

Maybe everyone should take notice of the Kilimanjaro Live event organisers. They are the people behind Sonisphere, the rock/metal festival touring across Europe this year. A weekend ticket cost £67.00. With no booking fees. I don’t know why they chose to leave out the booking fees but there is an article in Classic Rock magazine that explains why.

I don’t know how well I have put across my point, probably not very well at all, but what I am trying to say is that booking fees are ridiculously expensive and just an excuse for ticket sellers to make a tasty profit. When booking through Tickets Scotland the booking fee for larger events peaks at £1.50 from what I have seen. Even though it is still a booking fee it is nowhere near as ridiculous as £13.50

So people maybe if you complain a little and tell a friend to do so we might get somewhere eventually. Postage costs also need to be brought down, I mean how dear can a stamp really be?

Facebook & Things

I worry myself at times. I sign up to way too many websites for my own good. Seriously. In the past year I must have joined almost every popular site there is. Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, and also this one. What the hell is it about these sites that I, and other people, like so much? What is it that draws us in, makes us feel warm with its friendly interface and then gets us addicted with all its features to be discovered?

Its easy to understand why YouTube is so popular. It has a a simple concept: people can upload videos to the internet and they can watch other videos uploaded by other people. If you like a particular user's videos you subscribe. And then you think, oh this is good to have a few subscriptions. Then you see your subscription box is blank and go looking for other videos. You watch related videos, featured videos. Before you know it your subscriptions box will never be empty!

MySpace took off in America very early but I don't think it quite caught on as well here in the UK. Again it is a simple concept however with the HTML customization etc. some people are thrown off.

Step into Bebo which is a very simple site. It's now owned by AOL and has changed very much since the takeover but the same idea still remains there. You create a profile page, find friends, a cool skin, write a bit about yourself, write a blog post here and there. Search for videos, leave comments and Luv. Then they introduced the apps to try and copy Facebook. Facebook's apps are so much better.

Facebook... I don't really know much about this one. I'm new to it but already I fell like im becoming as addicted as I did with Bebo and Twitter.

Twitter is a very simple concept: post what you are doing in less that 140 characters. But its not just what you are doing. You can post links to YouTube videos, blogs, general internet stuff! And the fact that a lot of YouTubers use it is good for me, because I like to know a bit more about people outside their YouTube world. Celebrities use Twitter too. Like @StephenFry for example.

Blogger is self explanatory, although I struggle to find interesting things to write about. I might do an app review one day for Pocket God for the iPhone/iPod Touch. Or I might write about some crazy adventure I go on, if that should ever happen.

Well, by now I've realised what I have said might be a load of bollocks but oh well. And just for the record, I don't think I'm some sort of crazy guy who knows everything about all the latest websites because I'm not. I'm just one of the sheep who joins the latest craze. But I actually continue to use it after it dies so I'm a little bit of a different sheep. I keep on going when its not "cool".

Tbh, if you think I'm stupid because I use a particular site that is perfectly fine. I won't really care much because at the end of the day it comes down to this: I do things in life to please myself, not to please you, pal. So if you think I'm uncool because I use Twitter or have a YouTube account or use Facebook rather than Bebo I'm really not fussed because as I said, I'm not doing any of it to please you.

Goodnight people, or goodbye depending on the time of day/night.

Chicken or the Egg?

The Egg.

Eggs have been around since dinosaurs existed so the egg came first. Unless people are talking about an egg which hatches into a chicken, in which case I'm not sure. But people don't really specify which kind of egg. It is logical to think people are talking about a chicken's egg, but they only ask about "the egg" which refers to eggs in general.

I actually found something interesting on Wikipedia which shows a few valid points about the argument with regards to what is regarded as "the egg". Here is is.

But what do you think?

Quick Question

Chicken or the Egg?

DISCUSS

Religion and how it is fucked up.

Religion is fucked up. And it is also full of flaws, as are religious people. Well not all religions are, but at least the most well known ones are.

I have noticed that a lot of Religions have a set of rules which people are encouraged to follow if they want to avoid a date with the Devil when they pop their clogs. They also have a list of things people shouldn't do to avoid this date as well. Here are a few examples.

In Christianity, in the Bible, I am sure that there is something which condemns homosexuality and says that homosexual people are sinners. It also says that you should not murder - which I agree with, for some people anyway - and that you should on the 7th day that people should rest and should not take part in any form of work or that you shouldn't use the Lords name in vain.

People who follow the religion of Islam are forbidden from drinking alcohol and taking part in sex before marriage. If you do and you want forgiveness you need to pray to God. Who doesn't exist.

So there I have presented you with a few examples of "laws" which religions have in place. If you don't stick with these laws you’re going to piss off the Big Chief and when you get to the Pearly Gates you better be saying your Hail Mary's.

But one thing confuses me, it shows complete idiocy and lack of logic and I really don't understand in the slightest. It's another question and one that I would like to present to some high up religious leader one day, just to see what his answer is. Here it is:

If God does not want people to do these things which are sinful, and wants people to follow his every rule then why the hell would he give us the ability to break these rules?

It defies logic! The guy is a bloody tool! I mean he can create a whole planet in 7 days so don't you think he could take maybe a few minutes of his time to make it impossible for people to do any of these things that make him so mad?

If anyone can answer my question then please, PLEASE do so. Because I am clueless as to why this great powerful man can't even take the time to perfect his planet and its people

Another thing has just popped into my head that also kind of proves the Bible is flawed. What the hell happened to the dinosaurs? I know we didn't know about them back then when the Bible was written but surely there would be some mention of them? I don't know what religious people say about dinosaurs but the fact that they existed and didn't get a mention in the bestselling book of all time is a bit disrespectful.

I mean Mr. T-Rex and his buddies didn’t really have a choice when that meteor hit the Earth a few years ago but it would have been nice to give them a little dedication in the bible. Maybe Jesus didn’t die on the cross but maybe he got his head chewed off by a Velociraptor. Shit I forgot, Jesus is a fictional character in a book.

I'm sure there are more flaws out there with Religion but I’m getting bored picking them out just now so I’ll leave you to go and do whatever you want now.

Lend a fellow blogger a hand?

Blogging isn't easy for me. I think the reason for this is that I can never find anything interesting to write about. I don't really want this to be a blog about my life where I give an account of what I do each day because that isn't very fun to write about. Perhaps I should write about something I am passionate about? Or something I feel strongly about? If anyone ever has any good ideas for a blog please let me know because I am truly out.

One thing I have noticed is that I like to change the colour and font of my posts a lot. It kind of makes up for the lack of a decent layout for my blog. I think I'm going to go look for one just now, gives me something to do and gives me time to think of something interesting to write about.

Life, and how it confuses me

Life confuses me. There are too many choices to make for everything, sometimes you wish you made a different one. It also confuses me that if you done one thing differently, even something as small as woken up 5 minutes later last Thursday your whole life could be different.

This kind of looking back at life might be considered a “What If...?” situation. People tell me these situations have no point because you cannot change the past but I think differently. Yes, you cannot change the past but by looking back and seeing how you did something and how it affected your life it can help you make better (or sometimes worse) decisions in the future.

Other people just don’t really care and are perfectly happy to “go with the flow”, so to speak. Sometimes it’s better to be like this, because if you think too much about things in the past and how you wish you hadn’t said something to that guy or how you wish you had just gone and done what you were asked instead of procrastinating.

But as I have said before, it can help if you look back at these “What If...?” situations because it can help you be better prepared for life. Besides, can you honestly say that you have never regretted a decision or looked back and thought how things would be if you hadn’t done something?

Another confusing thing about life is the fact that the world is full of some stupid people. I’m not exactly the smartest person around and I at the best of times I don’t really think logically, but I know I'm better than a few people out there.

One example is religion. Ok, so religion isn’t a person but it’s still stupid. Recently I have been thinking about Christianity and how the bible details the 10 commandments. Now I agree with the ones I can remember, such as don’t kill, steal, commit adultery etc. But they have got me wondering; if there is a god, and he has the ability to create whole planets and the people who inhabit it, surely he can take some time to make everyone “perfect”. That would be a logical thing to do. It would have saved the old guy some time trying to find someone to give these commandments to. Of course, if I remember Moses did break the tablets so it was kind of a lost cause really. Except Moses and Jesus and all those people were all just fictional characters. That’s my view people, if you don’t like it then you are going to have to accept that people have mixed opinions.

I’m not going to rant on about religion tonight; I’m going to save that for some other time when I can think better.

Just A Little Something

Once again my mind has gone blank, and I have nothing interesting to write about. I'm not at home just now because I'm going to Alton Towers tomorrow with my Dad and we're staying at a hotel called "European Inn" in Derby. It’s ok but nothing special really, just a standard 3 star hotel. Probably the best thing is the fact that each room comes with free Wi-Fi and a 32" Samsung TV with full freeview.

We left on Thursday during the day and stopped in at Newcastle because my Dad had to see people for work purposes. The hotel there was ok; it was an Innkeeper's Lodge so again nothing special. The food at the place next to the hotel was brilliant, very good for pub food.

Today the drive down was terrible, there were a lot of traffic jams and the bad weather didn't help, but eventually we got here. After bringing our cases etc. we realized we were quite hungry and went to look at some restaurants in the area, eventually choosing an Indian restaurant called Visceroy.

I’m not going to go on about this meal because that would just take too much time, but here is a short summary.

The restaurant looked wonderful; it was very modern but still managed to retain the culture of a traditional Indian restaurant. We went for a 4 course early dinner special which meant we got a Pickle Tray (papadums with sauces), starter, main course, rice and Naan Bread for under £15 each. The presentation of the food was phenomenal; imagine the kind of food you would see in an expensive London restaurant and you aren’t even halfway there. The quality of the food was astounding and for the price it felt like a steal. The restaurant is very deceiving from the outside, it doesn’t look like much but when you step inside it feels like a different town altogether.

So that brings me to my evening, which has consisted of typing this blog, chatting to friends on MSN and watching QI on the TV that’s right above me. When I say watching, I mean listening to it at odd points which can lead to some awkward thoughts, e.g. I just found out that a Sperm Whale has a bone in its penis. Lovely thought.

Well as I have said, I am going to Alton Towers tomorrow. I might send a few updates to my twitter which can be found here, although I can’t promise much. I’ll write about it tomorrow, hopefully it shall be a fun day and the weather stays nice, but after today I’m not hoping for much.

Night (:

Global Warming and Stuff

Please don't let the title throw you off, this isn't some rant about how we should all tackle global warming by using energy saving light bulbs and walking everywhere or just staying at home rather than flying all over the world and spitting some nasty planet killing carbon emissions into the air. It’s just a post about my thoughts on the situation.

People all over the world are basically dictating to us how we should live our lives, telling us to do more to save the planet and stop climate change. But let’s stop and think about this question I have: Is changing our lifestyles to be more eco-friendly going to be enough to stop the planet from "dying”?

First of all I would like to say that we are not actually “killing” the planet. All we are doing is speeding up a cycle which Earth has been going through since its existence. Let me break it down for you; make it easier for the simple kids to understand. ;)

Earth’s Life Cycle

Normal > Warm > Hot > Freezing > Cold > Warmer > Normal etc.

Now I ain’t gonna lie to you here people; this cycle is going to happen forever, or at least as long as Earth exists.

BUT! Don’t go getting yourselves worked up yet and thinking “OMG THE WORLD IS GOING TO FREEZE OVER SOON!!!!!!!!!!!” because that’s not going to happen. This process takes a long time, and by long time I mean hundreds / thousands of years. We are currently between the Normal and Warm stages, but it has only been in recent years that we have noticed the changes.

Secondly, I would like to point out that the planet is eventually going to die some day; everything in the universe will come to an end. The death of the Earth will not be caused by our “bad” lifestyles but will most likely be caused by the death of an important star – the Sun.

The sun is going to run out of energy and one day will shut down, meaning there is no light and no heat to keep us alive. The world as we know it will disappear and instead will be left as a large frozen wasteland, similar to planets further away from the sun.

So, it seems, that the answer to my question no, by changing our lifestyles we cannot save the planet.

Perhaps I am not asking the correct question. Or perhaps these “climate change experts” are looking at things the wrong way and are making us believe a load of lies. If this is the case then we should look at things from a different perspective.

I believe it’s good that people are willing to change to help save the planet but I fell that they are only doing it because they feel obliged to due to the massive amount of pressure from society. And that means they are doing it just for the sake of it, to shut people up and not have to listen to environmentalists’ rants. I think that if you want to change and help the planet, you should do so because you want to, not because some tree hugging member of the Green Party wants you to.

I’m not trying to preach my views on anyone, I try not to do that and if that’s the way it comes across you are looking at things the wrong way, I’m just trying to point out a simple fact that the world won’t die just because that light bulb in your lamp isn’t a funny shape or just because your car is an old model which pumps out a 1000000g/km of Co2.

I understand some people may think I’m wrong about this but oh well; the world is full of things which are wrong. I’m sure you will live. Unless you get hit by a car. Or lorry. Or something horrible happens and you die. If anything does happen, I take no responsibility.

Sunday's Dinner/Lunch

On Sunday I went out for lunch / dinner with my family. The occasion was my Gran's birthday; my brother suggested that we should take her out somewhere since we couldn't do so on the day of her birthday because my Mum and Dad were on holiday.

After driving around for a while and struggling to choose where to eat my Dad pulled in at a place called "Beefeater". Its one of those places that pitches up next to a service station hotel - in this case it was next to a Premier Inn - so I wasn't expecting much from it, just traditional pub food that wouldn't be of any amazing standard.

When we first walked in things didn't seem too amazing, the decoration was ok and we were seated quickly. The waitress seemed friendly and took our drink orders after giving us the menus. She was quick to point out that two options from the menu would be unavailable - Rack of Lamb and Chicken Breast wrapped with Bacon - which I was impressed with because the service in these places isn't usually very great.

For a starter I decided I would have Garlic and Herb Breaded Mushrooms; my brother chose the same, my parents got a Combo Platter type thing and my Gran didn't have anything. We had to wait longer than you usually would for the food to arrive but the quality was actually better than I expected.

Since it was a Sunday I opted to go for the Roast Lamb, with my brother once again choosing the same. My Dad chose Roast Beef, my mum chose Sausage and Mash and my Gran chose Fish and Chips.

Between courses we ordered two more drinks but the waitress forgot and we had to wait about 10 minutes until they arrived. Very poor.

Again the food took a while however this time the quality was not great. My Yorkshire puddings were undercooked as were the Roast Potatoes. The meat was ok but was nothing special; as for the veg, well, it was just veg.

After we had finished our food my Gran complained that her fish wasn’t cooked properly and you could see just by looking at it that it wasn’t. The waitress agreed and quite kindly took the fish off the bill.

Overall, I wasn’t too impressed with meal, it was ok but I have had much better food. The service was ok; I think if it wasn’t for the friendly waitress I would say it was terrible. The food was less than average but what can you expect from these kinds of establishments? Although there is one exception to these places and that was a Premier Inn restaurant I ate in with my Dad a few years ago. For the price, I was blown away by the quality of the place, food, service etc. I actually felt like I was eating in a proper restaurant rather than one in a Premier Inn.

I would also like to apologise for the poor quality of this post. It’s half 1 in the morning and I can’t really sleep so I’m on this. I will try to write something a bit more interesting later on. Goodnight all x

What's on my iPod?

I haven’t had a new post in a few days, either because I’ve been too busy to come on the family laptop and post, or I have had no clue what to write about but the last problem has been solved because of an idea which occurred to me while I was in the shower yesterday. I have decided to put my iTunes on shuffle and list the first 5 songs which play, regardless of how embarrassing they are. I will then write a little bit about the song and will also explain why I have the song. The idea is not mine; I have taken it from a weekly feature on the Roadrunner Records website where a band member from one of their artists has to put their iPod on shuffle and explain the first 5 songs to play. Here it goes.

1. Song – Magnificent

Artist – U2

I bought this song on iTunes when U2 released their new album, No Line on the Horizon. I listened to the previews of most of the songs and was not majorly impressed with any. There were a few ok songs but as a whole the album was not anything special, but when I listened to the preview of Magnificent I thought “this sounds like something the ‘old’ U2 would write,” and I quite like the ‘old’ U2.

2. Song – Lifestyle

Artist – Joe Satriani

This song is from the “Is There Love in Space” album which Satch released in 2004. The track is one of the few songs by Satriani to feature vocals. I have the song because I bought the album a few months ago in HMV Glasgow along with “Surfing With the Alien”. I can’t say much about this track as I haven’t listened to it much.

3. Song – Sidecar - On The Rail Bridge

Artist – Harry Gregson-Williams

This song is from the “Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Original Soundtrack” which I got a few months ago. I have been a fan of the Metal Gear Solid series for a long time now, I think since my brother got the second game in the series. The soundtracks have always appealed to me since I heard the main them so I decided to add them to my iTunes library. I think this particular song is from the part of the game where Snake and Eva are escaping from the Shagohod, although I can’t really remember as it has been a while since I played the game.

4. Song – The Saints Are Coming

Artist – U2 & Green Day

This song was originally released as a single and was later released as part of the “U218 Singles” compilation album released in 2006. The song was recorded after the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans. The song was released as a single and all profits raised from the track were donated to a charity which works to help musicians in New Orleans. I have the song because I bought the compilation album in 2006.

5. Song – Break The Silence

Artist – Killswitch Engage

This song is from the band’s 4^th album “As Daylight Dies” which I borrowed from a friend last year. The song is one of my favourite songs by Killswitch Engage. I can’t really think of much to write about this song, apologies.

I'm sort of new to this blogging stuff. I say sort of because I'm on the internet quite a lot and use a lot of the "popular sites" - you know the ones, Twitter, Bebo, MySpace, occasionally Facebook, YouTube - and some of them have blog elements. Twitter, for example, is - to me -kind of like a blog but you only upload short posts, so I would say I've got a little bit of experience with it.

I've heard that this blogging stuff become addictive, so this is also kind of a test to see if that is the case. If I do become addicted, oh well at least I will have something to do when I get bored. If it doesn't work, then at least I can say I tried.

There is just one tiny little problem with me when it comes to blogging. I have absolutely no idea what to write about. Most of the time anyway. I think that as time goes on I will find a range of more interesting things to write about. For example, next Friday I'm going to Alton towers with my dad, so surely I will be able to write about that.

Ok I am truly running out of ideas, so I'm just going to go now and think of something interesting to write about. If you ever feel like it, why not follow me on Twitter, I'll probably spend a lot more time on that than anything else. www.twitter.com/Gregor123456789.