Hey Jude, Don't Make it Bad....

My niece, Jud (16), god love her, has taken the first step in discovering Beatledom and is currently teaching herself about anything Beatles. It makes me so proud, being a big Beatles fan myself. It all came about when she chose to study the Beatles as an art project and has been looking through album covers and artwork done by Lennon and so on. She has now ventured into teaching herself all there is to know about them. Go her!

In steps good ole uncle Mal with his many books on the Beatles, including the sizable Anthology, which weighs a ton. She has asked for them so she will receive along with any info I can give her myself. Only last night she was asking about Lennon’s death, which she seems morbidly fascinated with lately and I answered what I could. She asked about Sean and Julian, Lennon’s sons and what they did after he died and whether McCartney made amends with Lennon before his death. I was happy to help out.

One thing that perturbed me was that she mentioned that she and her friend had been debating about who was better John Lennon or Kurt Cobain... What! I was flummoxed about why anyone would even side with Kurt when Lennon’s on the table too. There’s Lennon who had 20 years worth of performing and making a difference by trying to “give peace a chance”, whereas Cobain had a very short period in the limelight, most of it he spent being depressed and wasted. The Beatles influenced nearly all bands to follow for years and decades to come. Nirvana influenced some but not all bands and his death carries the most importance when remembering Nirvana. I could argue all day about it, but is it worth it?

Luckily Jud stuck up for Lennon and is carrying on debating for me against her friend. With my tid-bits of information given to Jud I hope to help her win. Out of interest... What are your views? Cobain or Lennon?

Thinking back to around 2001, I remember taking my first Beatles tour of Liverpool with Jud and my ex from TX who I was with at the time. I was 18 and Jud must have been around 7 ish. We struck a friendship with a shop owner from Matthew Street because we visited that area a lot around that time. He agreed to personally take us on a tour of all of the major Beatles landmarks. It’s a shame I don’t have any photographs. I took some good ones of Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane. It had a lasting impact on Jud and she still remembers it all to this day.

I myself have been a fan since I was 8 when my dad first let me listen to The Beatles’ Red Album compilation of all of their number ones and I was hooked from then on. I, like Jud took it upon myself to learn more and more. I have a few LPs, Hard Days Night and an untouched Sgt Peppers (unfortunately it is a reissue). I have the anthology Beatles book, which I’m going to lend to Jud plus all of their albums on CD. I did have my own website that I made on Homestead around when I was 18 called From Me 2 You, but it’s been deleted since.

That’s my Beatles history. Nothing to report on, lonely nights, watching TV, films and music, which is why I’m going over old ground again. It’s good to reminisce and I hope I’ve give you an insight into one of my interests. Thanks for reading.

Tic Tac tooooow!

Thought all you visitors to my blog would enjoy a game of tic tac toe. I've programmed it so it cannot be beaten. Try it.

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I'm so cruel ain't I. April Fools! hahahaha!

I'm very much into practical jokes. Been doing them on unsuspecting family members and friends for a while now, but I've kinda stopped in recent years. I thought about putting cling film on the toilet this morning, but I'm sure my dad and his g/f wouldn't have appreciated it. There was always salt in the sugar pot, but nah, I would have only got a really good shout at for all my efforts. What I needed was someone my age who I could have scared the be-jesus out of. The funniest prank I scared on was one that actually backfired. I was hid in a laundry basket when I was around 8 years old and my sister was walking past. I jumped up so hard out of it that I fell out of it and cracked my head on the sink. Safe to say my sister was scared, and later on scared for me, who by that time was nearly unconcious lol

Referring to my previous blog post, I think I'll stay with Blogger. I found a part of blogger that helps me post more accurately called Blogger In Draft. I think its a way for them to test prototype features before they put them in regular blogger, I'm not sure, but I like it and its convinced me to stay. Go me. I have still been working on the header for the blog, but I keep getting sidetracked by doing designs like the one to the right.

I could do much better then this and its frustrating that my mood allows me to settle for something less then perfection. I get really frustrated when I don't have the motivation to do stuff I normally do. My horoscope mentions something about my creative cycle coming to an end, maybe that has something to do with it.

A creative cycle is coming to an end, so it's a good idea to finish up old business prior to starting something new. Be careful, though, as it's easy for you to overlook what's really happening because you want to have an optimistic outlook. But being eager for success is not a good reason to idealize the current situation. You will be best served now by seeing things as they truly are and not as you would like to see them.

I'm not a strong beleiver in many horoscopes, but the one I normally look at hits the nail on the head on most days and often has things I can relate to in them. I get this one from Tarot.com, which has a widget on my goodle (my way of saying google) homepage.

Speaking of goodle, I have been addicted to the program Google Earth. Its an awsome program where you can visit and learn about places around the world, complete with 3d buildings and street view. Its like a suped up version of the browers google maps. I was exploring Liverpool, being a newly visited city by the google team and I was amazed by the detail. Below is a pic of the 3d model of Liverpools Liver Buildings.

Plus if you look long enough, you can catch some candid moments like this one of some tourist kissing one of the city's Superlambananas. Whether it was done for the Google team, I don't know, but I wouldn'd be suprised if they did it just for their own photo colleciton lol

Battle of the Blogs

I've been getting bored of Blogger lately. Its been frustrating posting blogs in the level of quality I want. The WYSIWYG editor doesn't always translate what I type in the screen itno HTML properly for some reason (line breaks and basic formatting).

That being the case, I ventured towards the Wordpress website.....

I havn't made my mind up yet, but it seems organised enough and has some benefits, but something just ain't right... its like walking into familiar terratory, like your living room and seeing everything too organised as if a cleaner with OCD has moved everything around and taken some stuff for herself. I'm not sure I like it, but.... i'll give it a go for a post or two to see what it is like overall. Give it thorough going over with a toothcomb and I will let you know what I discover.

You will see I've changed my title to Laid Back Lion. I also got bored with my original title, Life Without an Instruction Book. The meaning was lost on me, mostly because no one really has an instruction book anyway, we all just ride through life making our own in our head.  Laid Back Lion, means something to me however. I'm a leo, I like looking at lions in general and I'm very laid back. I could have chosen the word lazy which would have been more apt, but that would just be putting myself down and I've done enough of that in the past. I would like your views on the new title if possible. Going to work on a new header for either here or wordpress, depends which one I choose.

Last weekend went fine, I went out Friday night to a gig. It was meant to be a few bands on that night, but only two turned up. One being a band I follow on and off, The Loves. I got there, paid £5 to get in and mingled with friends, the band came on, I had a bit of a dance and all was well. Thing is by the time I had to leave, only one band had been on and I had paid £5 to get in. Scandellous! I was a bit cheesed off and stormed off later in the night to get a taxi home.

Had my son on Saturday, went to a children's play creche called Sues Madhouse. Felt weird sitting with loads of mothers and their children. It seemed I was outnumered and could see the eyes drilling into my whenever I went and played with him in the toddlers area. It was a fun day nevertheless and my son seemed to enjoy himself.

Sunday came and I just lazed around all day, playing on my Xbox. I rented a game a few days back, Left 4 Dead, which is a zombie, survival, horror, make your nerves go on edge, kinda game. Thought I would give it ago seeing as though a fellow blogger Xbox Maven suggested I give it a go. I actually enjoy it. I think I'd enjoy it more if I had gold membersip and could play online, but unfortunately, I ain't. I might fork out some money to play online seeing as though I've done everything a single player can do, not sure I would be any good though.I keep getting pounced on by hunters or I am always face to face with the big tank monsters... lol I'm always stealing the medi packs. Good at headshots and bombs though thats a plus.

That brings me to today, which is a new week started and work work work... exciting stuff.  Will update ya later

"You know this much is true"

If you thought you'd had enough when they first came around, be warned Eighties pop group Spandau Ballet have put aside years of bad blood and court battles for a comeback tour to take place around Autumn.

Great, another pip from the past wants to earn more money by reforming. They follow suit from various bands, (Boyzone, Take That, Duran Duran, NKOTB, etc) who have decided to bleed their fame dry from the public like money leeches. Some are successful, like Take That who have managed to produce some very cool songs and have sell out gigs across the UK. The main questions are, does Spandau Ballet deserve a world tour? Were they that good to begin with? I can name two songs in total that stand out when thinking of Spandau (I won't again), True (1983) and Gold (1983), both which topped the charts, which was a really amazing thing to do back then in the time of ridicuous one hit wonders and cheesy dance songs.

Singer, Tony Hadley did not speak to brothers Gary and Martin Kemp for a number of years - but they have now set aside their differences. The last time fans saw the band together, they were facing off across a court room. Hadley, Norman and Keeble sued songwriter Gary Kemp for a £1 million share of the royalties, but lost. There followed years of acrimony in which they communicated solely through lawyers. Journalists at a press conference on HMS Belfast in London, the scene of a landmark early gig in 1980, were told there had been a gradual reconciliation between the bandmates over the last 18 months. 

Whats funny is Hadley was quoted in 2007 in The Daily Express as saying: "I know you should never say never, and bands in the past have said hell would freeze over before they got back together, but in our case I think hell is frozen and we still wouldn't do it." He should have kept to his word in my view, but seeing as they are now reformed like some Spam alternative of music and everyone likes a good sing along to some of their songs *breaks out in a frenzy of singing True*, a circuit tour of the UK would have been more appropriate (keep it contained) then the world tour planned and only then at clubs and pub.

Wind of Change

*Sings and imagines he is a classic rocker with long hair and with psychedelic clothes and leather pants*

"Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change"

Needed to have a sing song there. I'm always singing, so thought why not sing in my blog. I love singing, especially to classic rock songs like that one Wind of Change by the Scorpions.

The song runs true with how I feel recently. Its windy out and peoples hair is blown all about like the rockers of yester year lol, but mostly I feel the time has come for a change. I need to find a new job.

I have been looking around a little bit at the local job search websites for any sign of a job that would be challenging and would keep me on my feet while I am earning more money then I already am. I saw one today that fits the bill. Here's what it said:

Job Title: Customer Service Representative

Wage: Up to 22k (I'm guessing per year, which is 10k then what I currently earn)

Hours: 40 hours per week - Monday to Friday - Between 8am - 6pm

Description: The role of Customer Service Representative requires a candidate to work in the Personal Care / Pharmaceutical sales sector. The ideal candidate will have strong skills and experience within a Customer Service field, but must also have strong administrative skills. Blah Blah Blah.

So, I've applied for it. This could be the change I need and that salary looks enticing. So firstly, i search for some tips on how to sell myself to this company and improved my resume to beef it out a bit. I sent an e-mail enclosing my resume and here's what I responded with:

I am writing in response to the job vacancy advised by (the company) for Customer Service Representative in (my hometown) and I would like to learn more about the vacancy.

I am a currently a legal administrative assistant with extensive experience in customer service, sales, administration and IT. I have over 10 years experience in having worked in call centres, legal firms and general office environments. In these roles, I was required to deal with incoming and outgoing telephone calls, deal with enquiries, meet deadlines, I was required in some cases to promote items for sale to customers and other general office duties.

I feel that my skills in administration, customer services, sales and IT would be an asset in this role.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope to have the opportunity to discuss the opening with you in person.

Its professional and well worded. So lets see if they are impressed by my knowledge and experience and lets how it goes. Fingers crossed folks