Well, as usual, it's been a while since I last posted anything about my life, so I figure today I should (I have 30 minutes to kill before a meeting with my boss, so I can't really start anything constructively here).
So, Christmas and New Years have been and gone. They were.... eventful. Gran died on Boxing Day (As sad as this is, I'm glad it's happened, and that she died peacefully in her sleep. At age 94, and not even recognising her own sons or daughter, or even her own name, her time was definitely up. Also, it takes a lot of weight off my Mum's shoulders.) and we buried her in the New Year. I didn't do anythin on New Years Eve, I'm not a massive fan of makin a big deal out of it really so wasn't too bothered.
Dad got admitted to hospital for 3/4 weeks a few days after Gran's funeral, he fell in the shower onto his back and broke 4 ribs. Poor bloke suffers from COPD, so he struggles to breathe at the best of times, so he was in agony and couldn't move. Anyway, after a day in hospital, he developed something called Massive Subcutaneous Emphysema. Basically, air was escaping from somewhere in the lung/wind pipe and getting under the skin, so he quickly inflated. We all got called to the hospital on the Sunday evening, as doctors were worried about how his throat was closing up, and couldn't promise us that he'd be ok. Dad was fine though, he didn't even know it was that serious and was having a nice joke about things. He couldn't feel the air at all, well, he could when he touched his skin, but he wasn't in pain from it. The doctor put a camera thing down his nose/throat, and said it was looking better in there. Dad asked me if I'd looked, and then (typically) said I should have asked haha No thanks Dad.
Anyway, he's home now, but has to have a canister of oxygen as getting up and down stairs is a chore for him. It's the mornings that he's at his worst. Hopefully he'll get a little better over time, as his ribs heal. I keep thinking of suggesting to Mum that they try and find a little bungalow to move to, but, I don't think they can afford to and don't know how they'd take it. Mum needs to get rid of a lot of her old teaching crap first lol

Anywho, that's me done for today. I think that I'll try and post up some point later this week maybe explaining about what I've been up to recently. Not that it's much, but I suppose I should mention me.

In a bit, y'all!

Well, today I have been helping my lovely friend Harrietty with directions around Londonia. She has been queueing for the last few hours waiting to watch the program X-Factor (Nobody's perfect!), and first off they wanted to buy something to sit on. I looked for camping shops, Tescos, Argos's but to no avail. They then heard that there was an IKEA nearby, so I directed them to that.
They bought some cushions.
I've now just given her the directions to the hotel she's staying at. I hope they get there ok.

This afternoon I went to help my friend Jason move a carpet out of his new flat, but he wasn't there. Turns out he'd locked his car keys in the car, and as he lives miles away in Staleybridge area, someone had to take him home to get the spare set. He did manage to block in about 6 cars in the meantime though. Nice one, Jason! haha

I've decided to give up on looking for a house to rent for now. I really can't be bothered as I have far too much to be getting on with. Plus, if I moved out now, I'd be moving out on the 27th December, which would be lame with a capital L.
Can someone lend me £5k so I can buy my own place? Thanks.

Great sounding band...

Well, this isn't normal for my type of blog, but I'm going to throw 2 other bloggs out there today.
First off is my good friend Paul Marshall, who has written a good article about what he considers a 'Great' album currently out/released in the last 10 years. He talks about a band called Duels, which I've listened to their MySpace page and have to say, it sounds amazing. It had me tapping the foot under the table whilst getting on with some work.
Anyway, have a read of it. Also check out his band, Lone Wolf, hopefully you'll hear 2 new bands that you can get into and support. Tell your friends, tell the world!


The second one is of a tattooist that I've just 'discovered' who lives in America. He's called Tanane Whitfield, and he produces what I personally think are some of the most amazing tattoos I've seen! Apparently he's only been tattooing for the last 2 years! He has a style which I just love, and I have been in touch with him to ask if he comes over to the UK at all. He responded, quite quickly, saying that he will be over next year for Tattoo Jam. I'm hoping that I can get a session with him. I want a tattoo of a Kicking Mule, one of his quirky/comedy type ones, on my right leg (Side of calf) as I think it would be amazing.
Anyway, check out some of the artwork on his blog, and also his website, but hands off, I want to be first in line! ;o)


Take care

I've still not got into the hang of updating this regularly. I really want to, but I just keep forgetting.

Well, a few things have changed since my last post. I am now the acting Director of Music at Bury Parish Church for the forseeable future, due to the new lad only lasting 2 weeks before getting fired. They have agreed to pay me monthly though, which is something I won't turn down! I'm quite looking forward to what will happen, I'm in the process of getting the music list together for Christmas, which is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.

I've still not found anywhere to live yet. Well, I have, but I have a couple more houses to look at, and then I will have to make a decision. I'm hoping that my current landlord won't mind that I'm only giving them 3 weeks notice, but as it will be the end of my contract, I don't care that much, I just want to move out and settle into somewhere else before Christmas.

Still no movement on my tattoo either. I still want the cross, but I'm not sure how to edit it in Gimp. I might just take the photo of the cross to a tattooist and see what they can do. I was looking at a tattooists website today of someone called Tanane Whitfield in America, and I have to say, I love his style and technique. It's such a shame he's in America though, as I'd love him to come up with a design for my 'thekickingmule' logo (similar to the one I use on here) and put his own touch on it. Check out his website here: www.tananewhitfield.com

Anywho, I shall run off to church in a bit for some practise. If anybody does read this by the way, leave a comment, I'm curious who it is reading about my life.

Take care

Well, I think I've got everything ready for tomorrow. If not, then I don't care really, I've done all I can, so they should be thankful! Coming in on a Saturday isn't my idea of fun really. I must remember to fill in the overtime claim form!

So, I've been so busy with work I haven't had a chance to update. Well, that and the fact I keep forgetting. Quite a bit has happened, as I pointed out, I now need to find a new place to live, I just hope I can find somewhere soon. I have a place in mind, but need to get some time off work to go and see it, it's even cheaper rent than where I am at the moment!

I've been thinking about getting a tattoo again. My friend Paul has got a fantastic one on his chest/arm/back and it looks great, and I was talking to my friend Rachael about a cross I've found that I would like on my arm. I just need to alter it a little bit, and I think I might get that done. I've also found a picture from about the 16th Century of a rich man in hell looking up into the heavens which I like the look of. I might see if I can get that altered and customised to suit me. We shall see, it's been a while since I last thought about tattoos properly, but over the last month or two it's been on my mind a lot. I really want another!

Right, I shall leave it there for now and update soon.

Well, I need to find somewhere new to live now. My landlord wants to knock through walls, and extend their house into the one I'm currently in. They said that nothing will happen before the new year, but to be honest, I think I'd rather move out as soon as I can.

I've been looking at buying a house in Leeds on the Government share scheme. I'm not sure how it works to be honest, as I don't understand mortgages at all (having never really needed to), so I'm just getting my act together as it might be a good idea.

Work has changed a lot, I'm now a boss! Dan left (*sniff*) and his replacement is now my beeatch haha She's called Beth, and nobody at work believes me that I chose her for her abilities! Never mind, I'm sure it's going to turn out ok. I'm in work today, trying to get everything finished for Monday as that's the first day of term, in fact, I should really be getting back to it now as I don't have long left!

I shall update soon, I think I will be able to a lot more often, as it looks like facebook at work is going to be policed, so Blogger may have me now haha

I haven't been on here for a while (again!) So I think I will update my life a little.

I've moved house, I now live in a little cottage up in Pudsey. I really like it, but it has no central heating, so we will have to wait until the winter to see what it's really like. I've been on a couple of runs around the local area, I've found a nice 4 mile loop, which I plan to run every Tuesday at least for now.

Also, I got a new car. Not through choice really, my Punto died spectacularly from it's MOT. They told me it would cost about £700 to pass it, then another £700 advisory work, and they couldn't guarantee it would pass again in 12 months. So, with many thanks to Bank of Gran, I now have a nice Vauxhall Astra :)

Recently I met a girl!!! We've had one date so far, which went really well, and she wants to meet up again. We're going to go to a Go Ape! near where she lives. I hope this goes well, she's really nice, very pretty and I like her quite a lot. I won't get my hopes up though, it seems to be going to well, so I will just enjoy it as it happens.

Work has all changed too. Dan, my colleague, is leaving. He's got a job at a reputable company, where he's going to be travelling the world and doing stuff he's been wanting to do for years. This means that I'm going to get a new job description, and Dan's replacement will be my bitch er I mean, I'll be their boss ;) Everything's changing, I'm going to be going on training for VLE systems, so, the main crux of all this is - more money! Hopefully it might be a bit of a more exciting role too, which is always a good thing.

Anywho, that's roughly what I've been doing recently. I'll try, once again, to keep this up to date a bit more. I see some people have read my blogs, interesting. Feel free to comment, even if you think I'm a weirdo haha

Take it easy