good? bad? ugly? decide for yourself-comments please

It was in the news today that Ian Watkins, the lead singer in the band The Lostprophets has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for horrendous pedophile crimes. The young lady who sits opposite me at work said that she has binned all her Lostphrophets cds and things. To be honest I don’t think I have heard the band. I asked her if he had been found guilty of murdering someone would she still listen to his stuff. She thought for a moment and that she would. Phil Sector was found guilty of murder (I think) but his stuff is still played on radio. But when a rock star is found guity of a pedophile crime he (not sure if there is any she’s) is shunned and his stuff is never aired on radio (or anywhere again). It seems that harming a child is seen as a greater crime than taking a life. In a way harming a child is killing his/her childhood.

But still-what do you think?

Ok I have started to get the US dollars-so I’m building up the cash. I have Sue and Gabriel# to thank for pushing me into going with the initial plan. So now I am deciding the plan-things to get,things to see,PEOPLE to see-to be honest that’s what I am looking forward to most. I am  hoping I can get a new lens for my camera cheaper over there too. Of course I’ll be looking for tacky stuff too.

Christmas FM –I am scunered*  with it (well actually by the 2^nd day). I never thought I would be fed up hearing “Fairytale of New York.” And to make matters worse I am hearing ones I had hoped would never be heard again, like Dana’s “It’s Gonna Be A Cold Cold Christmas.”Bad thing here is she was quite pretty back then and there was a girl in my class at school who looked a lot like her too (insert sigh emoticon) Unfortunately I am yet to hear “Grandma Got Run Over By  A Reindeer.” Or  “Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me”-but then maybe that’s really a good thing as I would be turning the radio up and singing a long.

I know it’s been out a while-but after getting the US Dollars I treated myself to a limited special edition of David Bowie’s “The Next Day”-has extra songs/remixes and dvds. Listening to it as I type this and it’s pretty good stuff indeed.

Merry Christmas folks – just in case I do no more before then. Hope to a better attempt at 2014 than I did of 2013-maybe I’ll get some tips in the U S OF A. I’ll leave you with this….well I sort of HAD too.

By the way I would love to hear your comments on the Ian Watkins thing-if YOUR favourite singer was found guilty of murder or a pedophile crime-which one/both would make you dump all there stuff-or in fact would you even dump it at all?

# Gabriel-met him on an ICS cylcling holiday 4 or 5 times. He is everything I am not-very serious and “normal.” But we get on really well-almost a double act. I was told that he said he was envious of how I rattle the jokes off at a moments notice. I hope to meet up with him in Dublin the night before I fly out. Well Gabriel reminded me I was meeting up with Marni-another ICS companion from DC who I still enjoy keeping in touch with.

* Scunered-A term commonly used in Ireland (mostly northern Ireland) it means pissed off, bored, agitated  for any reason whatsoever

the good bad et the ugli (the editor's cut)

The Good

Well all the official stuff for my impending trip to America is paid for , Got the visa last week. So now it’s the serious bit of working out how much daily cash I need. Of course I’ll be armed with my trusty credit card and also my starbucks and subway “loyalty” cards in the hope that they still work over there. For the 9 odd days I am there I am thinking about getting £700-£800 in dollars. This, I hope, will cover any tours,coaches, trains and little things I may get. Hopefully my American friends will advise me here.

Now what to get when I am out there? You won’t get my humour here-but I am the sort of person who would travel out there and just come back with something silly-that I could have easily got back home-like a comb or packet of razor blades. But in saying that I have a few ideas:- gaphic novels,bobbly hats, cds (if possible of bands I see in pubs), a memory card for my camera, travel mug with some American symbol on it, somethings really tacky too etc etc. Gonna do some tours, but than I said that already.Much that I enjoyed the TV show I am NOT doing the Sopranos tour.

My sense of humour-people are baffled/impressed at how I can chip in with a joke during any conversation (more in ugly). It’s just key words that seem to spark something in my memory. But ask me to tell some jokes and I am in a quandary. It has to be spontaneous for it to work. Sometimes I am actually surprised myself.

Lightroom 5 (more in ugly)  This is another off shot of the mighty photoshop-it’s said to be better than elements and nowhere near as expensive as the full photoshop programme. I bought it (and a book) 3 or 4 months ago-but via some free discs I got with camera magazines I am slowly learning how good this is.

Been asked to take some photos of my sister in law’s friend’s daughter –who wants to become a model-I don’t feel confident enough to do this, too much pressure etc etc-but it could be a good experience and I could also use it as an excuse to take some family shots too.

The Bad

Even though I have paid for the flight,visa and hotels in both Dublin and America-I could still cancel the whole thing. You don’t know the way my mind works. Sorry folks –it would take to explain this. Well actually won’t take that long. I am still very very uncomfortable with the idea of being in the air for such a long period of time, and twice at that. And the fact that on one cyling holiday that started in Cork someone who flew there from JFK that morning was there before me and I was on bus from Derry. Despite the fact I will be meeting at least two great people-maybe more, you never know-for the life of me I am questioning why am I going to two big cities when I would be just as happy-even more so heading down to the free state and chilling out in a couple of medium sized towns with decent bands playing in pubs that serves the drinks I know and like. If I can cancel the hotels and not loose any money this could still happen-so do not be surprised if you see post saying “it’s all off.”

Only last week I discovered that it is possible to put my bobbly hats on back to front.

Somebody sitting down beside me on a bus when more than half the other seats are totally empty. Of course this does not apply if it is a Zoe Deschannel or  similar babe lookalike.

And the Ugly

The Advent calendar at work did not last long-did not blend in with my grinch (grinch?) attitude to the whole Christmas thing.Maybe if I had a more me advent calendar like the sugababes or judge dredd or the pre-change Scrooge  it would have lasted longer.AND NOBODY IN MY SECTION IN THE OFFICE HAS NOTICED IT’S GONE!!

Lightroom 5-yeah I know I said it was good but there is something I don’t know how to “fix” –but I think I know how to stop it happening again.And I STILL don’t like being hunched over a computer working on a photograph.

My remembering jokes thing-sometimes I wish I could adapt this “triggering” system thing to serious things like my job-and if I could have used that when I was at school-well what odds. I am actually flattered when people say they wish they could run off the spontaneous jokes like I do.

And here is a picture of a bobbly hat –as I think they are called something else in the states, in fact most people call them something else here too-happiness is a tight bobbly hat-that’s what I say.