A modern day witch hunt

Oh, yes the tabloids have it in for Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross after the “manuelgate” incident. I read “manuelgate” on the front page of the mirror – not mine I have you know. For my readers outside the UK, you won’t have a clue who and what I’m talking about, sorry. A quick ‘Twitter’ line about the story – “Two comedians on the BBC made foul remarks about an ageing actors granddaughter on a radio show. One resigned and the other suspended for three months”. Not really a big deal, they have both apologised and the granddaughter is over 18. Apparently only two complaints on the night about the incident. Then the tabloids got involved, obviously a light week in the news front (not forgetting the US presidential vote and wars still going on in Iraq and Afghanistan) but hey, The Daily Mail and The Sun have to find something to write about. So since this story went all high and mighty the complaints soared to 27,000, Russell Brand quits, the Radio 2 Controller resigns and Jonathan Ross is suspended for three months.

I have read a few articles about this and most of the complaints are actually because it is the BBC and “we” pay for a TV license for the privilege of watching TV. Saying that the presenters are over paid and should be sacked. Does this mean that if this had happened on Channel 4 or on Five then it would never have gone this far? Now there is a fear that the BBC will start controlling comedies more, which just means boring Sunday afternoon comedy shows instead of comedies like The Office or Never Mind the Buzzcocks. I am sure that the granddaughter has made her fair share of money out of this story, selling her side of the story to The Sun. She will most probably be on Celebrity Big Brother next. Shame as comedy is the only good thing about TV.

Being Halloween I should be writing about some of the true ghost stories I know but those will have to wait for another time as I have about five different stories that have been told to me over the years and now they have all merged in to one! I’ll sort them one day just like my home filing system!

Conor Oberst set list

Since seeing Conor Oberst live at the Electric Ballroom in Camden in August, (blimey was it that long ago), and I wrote about the night on here, the phrase “Conor Oberst set list” or “Conor Oberst setlist 2008″ is one of the most searched terms that people use to find my blog. And I didn’t even have a copy of the set list until one kind person called Jude commented on my post with the set list. So I can’t even take any real credit for having the set list. That post is my top post of all time with a total of 292 hits (so far), which isn’t a lot in the world of blogs but I think that is quite a lot of people out there all looking for the same thing. So this is for all those searching for the Conor Oberst set list as I have a new one which is from the Minneapolis show (29th Oct) that Mike went to. He managed to get this from the sound man and passed it on to me (thanks Mike!). Four new songs and a bit of mix to the London set list. Enjoy and whoever is looking for this, hope you have a great time or had a great time, like I did back in August.

1. Nikorette
2. Sausalito
3. Get Well Cards
4. Central City
5. Cape Canaveral
6. Moab
7. Slowly
8. I Got a Reason #1
9. Spoiled
10. Corina Corina
11. I Got a Reason #2
12. NYC
13. Souled Out
14. Milk Thistle
15. ??????????
16. Sundown
17. Kodachrome
18. Hospital
19. Breezy

A kidney or two?

As part of my ongoing soap opera called the White Coat Syndrome, I had my third test this afternoon to find out why I have high blood pressure. It was a scan on my kidneys. All I can say is that it was odd.  It was a really strange experience and now I have to wait 10 days to find out if everything is OK. The lady who did my scan didn’t even tell me if I had two kidneys.  And apparently my kidneys are under my ribs (not sure if that is normal) but she really had to push down hard to find them.  I bet I end up with bruises on my back. I just wish they could tell me the results there and then!  Oh well.  I have just two more tests left but I’m still waiting for those appointments.  I just hope everything is sorted by the end of the year.

Oh, but I did managed to go for a run tonight albeit a short one and in the freezing cold. I’m trying to get back on track with my fitness and my studying.  Having all these tests and worries has really sapped my physical and mental levels so now I’m trying to sort it out. Exercise, chocolate and alcohol are all part of the plan. So, we will have to see how it goes.

The Secret Blog of Michelle Best Aged 35 and 3/4

Unlike Adrian Mole I haven’t ever painted my bedroom black nor have I ever had a secret diary. This blog is the only diary I have ever written and being a blog that is published to the world then it isn’t really secret either. Occasionally I read other random blogs on the WordPress website and quite a few of them are “secret”. Secret in the sense that it is written in a pseudo-name and the writers don’t tell any of their friends or family about it. Sneaky or therapeutic? Do we sometimes need that secret place to write about our inner most thoughts? Thoughts that we couldn’t tell even our closet friends or partners. Are the sneaky blogs, the ones about friends, colleagues and family just a bit of fun or could they cause actual harm if found out?

Sometimes I think a secret blog could be really fun and depressing at the same time. I could write about what I done that is bad, what I shouldn’t have done, what I should have done, my desires and fantasies or just how I’m feeling right now. Thoughts that I could never write on my normal blog. Even my day dreams I wouldn’t write about on here. On the secret blog I could get advice from complete strangers to help clear my confused head. Much of this is my own doing, just like my high blood pressure – if I didn’t get nervous before going to the doctors then it wouldn’t be high and then I wouldn’t be having loads of tests. Writing two blogs would be just too much work but my secret one wouldn’t have to be written everyday unlike my rule that I have to write this one everyday. The funny thing about writing about this “secret” blog is that whoever reads this will never know if I do or don’t have one!

Sleep

One problem with winter and the long dark evenings is how sleepy it can make me. Then I have the problem where it gets to about 10pm and I suddenly wake up and then I can’t get to sleep. Then I’m really tired in the mornings and an invisible arm keeps hitting snooze on the alarm. When I’m tired it takes me twice as long to make any decisions so deciding what to wear in the morning takes me longer. Getting my brain going at work when I’m tired is tough but normally after my tea and toast I get going. I can also get grumpy and miserable when tired. I can worry more about things when I’m tired. I also find it hard to write interesting stuff on my blog while I’m tired. So on that note I’ve got the dishes to put in the dishwasher and then I’m off to get some sleep. Maybe tonight I will get to sleep straight away and not have any weird dreams so I will feel rested and wide awake tomorrow. Goodnight all and sweet dreams.

A typical Sunday…

… with an extra hour to top it off. The weather was rainy and cloudy which meant it was a dull day. Which for me made the day rather dull and boring. Even with an extra hour didn’t seem to help. Spent a couple of hours practising my HTML and CSS skills (I need much more practising!). Two hours around Ikea didn’t help matters. Ikea turns in to a kiddies playground on a Sunday especially on a wet day. But I managed to get a new desk so I can study in the spare room instead of using the dining table. Typical for Ikea, the chair that I would have liked to purchase wasn’t in stock. So now I have to plan another trip to Ikea! Then it turned dark at around five so spent the rest of the evening doing typical Sunday stuff – emptying the dishwasher, having dinner, sorting out the washing, watching TV, reading the papers etc. Oh, and of course a bit of blogging. Now it is nearly ten o’clock but it is really eleven at night so no wonder I feel tired and not really having any creative thoughts for my writing tonight. So with that thought, nighty night!

Saturday’s thoughts – Electric Proms and “chick lit”

The Electric Proms on the BBC, five nights of new music at three venues in the UK. Not all of it is new music as The Streets, The Last Shadow Puppets and Oasis are all playing as well as lots of artists that I don’t know. Last night I watched the Last Shadow Puppets and they were excellent. I’m listening to it again while typing this, courtesy of the BBC. I just wish I could get the audio version of this performance on my iPod. Listening to live performances is great and just adds another dimension to the records that I may or maybe not already know. Alex Turner from the Last Shadow Puppets (and the Artic Monkeys) is the only man I know who can pull off the roll neck and suit look – he just looked so cool! Just for that it is worth getting the album, so I’m going to download it later. Oasis are playing tonight so I might very well watch that later.

Thought no. 2 – reading a book that you don’t want to read but have to because someone has lent it to you. My sister-in-law came round ages ago and brought two books with her for me to read. Great, I thought (not really!), especially as I’m still in the middle of getting through the 100 Big Read. They were both “chick lit” books – something to do with a Chocolate Lovers Club. So they went on my bookshelf to collect dust. Now she wants them back so her friend can borrow them and now I feel I have to read them (or at least one of them!). Started it yesterday, and God, it’s boring, and if you ask me(!) it seems to be based loosely on Sex and the City but in London and with chocolate instead of Cosmos. So I’ve read about 80 pages (skimmed them really) and now searching on Google for a full book review so I can blag my way by saying that I’ve read it. I don’t read “chick lit” books – the only ones I have read were the Shopaholic series but that is mainly because it involved shopping. I’m much more of a murder mystery type of reader or anything with a real storyline!

University/college – is it worth it?

This actually comes from a conversation I had a work the other day about college fees in the US of A. Firstly, I must point out the difference between school/college/university between our great countries. It seems to me that in the US school and college both mean the same thing – university. When an American colleague said to me earlier in the week that his son was now at school and thus his wife and himself could move out of NY state and move somewhere else, I thought maybe they had sent him to boarding school at the age of five. Then I find out he is eighteen, so that must mean he is now at university. Now it makes sense! So I found out that it costs $10,000 for state schools up to $40,000 for private schools per year, just for tuition fees. On a lot of films it always mentioned “the college fund” – that is a lot of money to either save up for or find when your kid is eighteen. I had a quick look on a government site about the UK fees. It is £3,000 per year for tuition fees.

When I could have gone to university it was free. Obviously I didn’t take up this offer – I did try but that was in Fashion and Textiles in a kind of a whim by one teacher I had at college. I was utterly under-prepared for it and to be honest I don’t think I really wanted to go. Also, if your parents don’t really encourage you to go then it’s quite a hard decision to make at 18. So that was my chance gone and now I’m paying for it (in money and time) by starting all over again with the Open University. Also, I can go on again about how useless my school was – since I have left I know of at least two friends who now have degrees while studying part-time and working at the same time. None went straight from school or college to university. From someone who didn’t go to university I can only say that I wish I had gone just for the experience of going. I can’t have any regrets otherwise I wouldn’t be where I am now! So is college/university worth it? I would say yes, but then again I don’t have any children to pay for. Maybe the only option is to be a pushy parent and hope you get your kids a scholarship.

Too late to write anything interesting

I had wrote half of a post on the train earlier but I was out tonight with a friend so with rushing around when I got home and going out again, meant I never got to finish it. Now I’m back home and just don’t have the ability to finish off my earlier post without making it sound rubbish. I will finish that post tomorrow. So not a real post/story today. I did have a nice pasta dish out tonight with my oldest, oldest friend ever – I was about a year old when she was born and we grew up together living opposite each other. Ahh, the classic pictures of us in matching outfits in the 70s are priceless. Hope everyone has a good evening or if you are reading this on Friday, then have a Happy Friday!

Big fun!

Is everyone having fun?! Sounds like something a DJ would say at some nightmare of a nightclub. Anyway, at work today, a friend mentioned about having fun and I replied “fun, what’s that”. Funnily enough I have quite a lot of fun at work but it got me thinking about what “fun” is as an adult. At the weekend I was round a friends house who have two small kids, the big brother was chasing his little sister around the house with a toy light saber and the little girl was giggling hysterically. To me that’s fun. Everyone has nice days out, or happy moments with friends and family but I’m talking about that really fun time where you laugh uncontrollably until you have jaw ache. One of the last times I have laughed in that uncontrollable way, where I couldn’t catch my breath was on a Bouncy Castle (inflatables) about three/four years ago. Being an adult with friends on an inflatable is such a good laugh, also fantastic exercise. We just had to push the one-year-olds out of the way! One other occasion was out with old school friends about eight years ago and I just remember laughing a lot with tears running down all of our faces.

Maybe as you get older and everything is so serious that behaving like a complete loon isn’t acceptable unless you are with old friends, who have seen you act like a complete twat when younger. Obviously alcohol can help for a fun night out but you always need good friends/company to make it really fun time. One particular fun time (it might actually be a couple of times but my selective memory has placed them all in to one story) was at work a few years ago was with an ex-colleague and we fabricated stories about some other colleagues that involved rocket launchers and living in a drain like a ninja turtle! I can still giggle about those stories now!