Tonight I burbled on about WGT to Florian.

Florian then continued this by showing me an article in Der Spiegel on WGT which he got me to translate a bit of. I think from reading it Simon (Cecile's bloke) got spotted in the place with his beige suit on.

So if you are learning German and interested in Cybergoths, take a look at Der Spiegel...

*pokes community*

Hmmm. Seems rather dead... Oh well...

Here, found this a few years ago and just had to share. It's a spoof episode of the classic kids TV show, 'KNIGHTMARE'.

Museums night seems like a good idea but not when u have to stay in a museum on saturday from 10 till 9pm.  This means I am working Monday to Saturday and then SUnday pm (for a nature festival)
Could do with a little time off especially as I also got the stomach bug that is going around.  Humph.
pets are having an expensive month this month.  2 gone down with a nasty cold £41 then my rescue Nimbus has decided to grow a tumour like a golf ball in less than a month.  So treatment will be £130 ( on the bright side this does mean I can get him de-cushioned at the same time)
So my plan to go out more this month just bit the dust.  Grump

Today has not been good. Another job for Monday and Tuesday has been cancelled. And I'm still waiting for my results from LAMDA.

Didn't get out of bed until 2pm, and even then I had to force myself. I've slipped into a "there's nothing to get out of bed for" mindset. Took myself outside to try some social contact, only to discover that today I'm wearing my "moody bastard" hat.

Was in Caffe Nero earlier, and I decided to run home and compose a depressing dirge on my keyboard. Well, I got home, turned the thing on and did a little bit of tinkling - trying out some of the drum voices I'd never used. Within about 10 minutes I was deeply uninspired. Back on with the keyboard cover...
I'll need to get my creative sap rising in time for rehearsal tonight.

I think I need a holiday, or a break away from London for a couple of weeks. My parents have said I can go to their apartment in Majorca, once I've finished "Dial M", but I'd rather perform self-immolation than get on a metal bird and go to a sun bleached island.

Today I was back to work.

I was up with the alarm for once, rubbed myself down with cream, got dressed got ready and was actually in work on time for once.

I was surprised I had 125 emails to plough through and soon I was ready to work.

Did some work (but feel a bit almost day after drinking feeling from tiredness).

The Leipzig reviews are beginning to appear (congrats to Rupert for being the first), which is nice.

I'd been ringing Jodie for nearly 3 days and thought she may be ignoring me. I thought I'd drop her an email (luckily I also have her email) and got replies quite quickly - seems her phone is on the blink which is a relief and we both wondered if the other wanted to go to a gig at the weekend. So looks like Saturday and Sunday I'm going to a gig. I'll see Jodie Saturday and who knows maybe Sunday aswell, though she has some other plans for then. Phew...

Anyway back to reality - I'm thinking I really shouldn't have booked a German lesson for tonight as am shattered.

Can anyone recommend somewhere which does decent art evening classes? Trying to make myself get back into art without someone to give me a kick up the arse is proving very difficult... I've got Art A-Level and *used* to be a pretty prolific artist, etc so probably not looking at any of the "beginner" courses (of which there seem to be a lot). I don't want to just go along to one-off life drawing classes - I tried it but I was too rubbish and lazy to go back! I think I want a bit of a smaller class and some kind of structured teaching.

Thanks!

Pagan Market,  Bands in the Monument, Absinth, Darkflower...

Is this Saturday (in case you dont know already) http://www.fonc.org.uk/ and these events always turn out to be enormous fun.

Hope to see some of you there, drop a line if you want to meet up...Be there for around midday myself.

 Friday: this was my music day…a Kohlrabizirkus day

Great steampunk article

http://thephoenix.com/printerfriendlyB.aspx?id=61571

Oh lord. I managed to put my bank card into the ticket barrier at Marylebone station this morning, and someone had to open the machine and get it out.

My horoscope in the Metro said "anything technological that can go wrong probably will." It seems they were right!

*cringe*

It is, of course, the case that a well dressed vampire can get photographed like silly when away at WGT.

However I see this very simply.  People should ask before they snap (OK, they may be German but the word 'Foto' and the indication of a buttoned device with a lens mounted is enough to bridge the language barrier).  

Also, again very simply, anyone that cares enough to get a 'good' photo is inclined to stop you and ask so you can compose yourself.  Anyone that does not care to ask and would care to snap away without permission when you are talking/eating/smoking/walking/carrying your shopping back obviously does not care enough to get a good photo...so therefore I would rather not have this photo taken thankyouverymuch.  This irritates me and there should be a law against unsolicited photography.

On the subject of photos I do beleive there's some Steampunk coming later this week, I've seen some previews and I'm quite excited about getting to show them to you all.

This morning I found out that "The Cainian Chronicle", an album by the Norwegian black metal band Ancient, is based on the Book of Nod (as in the White Wolf book)!! I find that utterly amusing for some reason. Hoorah for geek references in songs! I am now thinking this album should be played at all Sabbat games :D The worrying thing is, I never noticed it before, despite liking this album since it came out in 1997 (this is what you get for listening to stuff where you have no idea what they are saying, and then only just reading the cd booklet when bored whilst ripping the cd to sneaky-drive to listen to at work)...

I am generally a massive fan of references to random stuff I think is cool in songs, most of my music collection probably mentions most of my book collection. If I had a band the songs would be unbelievably geeky :D

Apparently, it would take 15 and a half days to play the music on sneaky-drive, and that is just the stuff I have sorted through enough to have on my itunes playlist. There's that much again of unsorted stuff :O

Damn you brain. There's no way on earth I'm going to write Cowley/Aziraphale.

Honest.

*goes back to NOT writing Professionals fic*

I'm back, finally, from Leipzig. This should have occurred about four hours earlier, but our plane fell apart and stranded us at Altenburg in a shed-sized airport terminal for most of the afternoon.

Here come the bullet points:

• Good WGT, aside from a couple of logistical hiccups, which I'll explain in full later, and from some friends from last year being absent.
  
• I saw more bands than I did last year, possibly due in part to the abovementioned absent friends. Das Ich, Covenant and Fields of the Nephilim in particular wowed my muffin.
  
• My blood is now toxic sludge. It's horrible. And I'm due back at work in the morning, which is a nasty thought.
  
• I met some lovely people and also said brief hellos to other people who I know from London. Sorry that the hellos were, for the most part, so brief. I spent much of the time there totally off my head and/or in a rush to be somewhere else. No offense was intended!
  
• While I was gone, my book has finally become available on Amazon. There's not much information up there about it yet, but there will be.
  
• WGT in 2009 looks almost certain to happen, although I don't know if I'll use Ryanair and Schlafgut Apartments again. As soon as I know of viable alternatives, I'll let you know. As for other festivals this year... there seem to be a few good ones on the horizon, such as Castle Party or the next Whitby, but we'll have to pass on them for now. There's simply too much else going on and I don't have enough funds/holiday to stretch that far.

I have been given a mission - to choose the music for the funeral. It is good to feel I can contribute somehow. I know roughly what to have (all classical stuff as that is what my dad liked), but it's going to make everyone cry loads (I nearly cried when looking through music)! But then people will cry anyway so that doesn't matter...

We were looking at a flowers brochure earlier, and I am sure the flowers must be forged from solid gold judging by the amount they cost. Madness! I should just pick some from the garden, actually that's not a bad idea, much more personal I suppose :D

Work people keep commenting about how normal I seem, I am still being bimbly and foolish as usual. I guess my brain is still in limbo - none of it seems real really. I will probably be super-wonky at the funeral/just after it though, I have the feeling it will serve as some sort of realisation/concreting scaryness. I am not looking forward to that at all. I think a crate of wine will be required for my personal consumption. Or a few bottles of gin. Perhaps both...

27th May... Doom :/

I was up with the alarm call, so I went down and had breakfast. I bumped into Clive in there but it was packed.

I then had a bath and must have fallen asleep cos as I was drying myself and it was Yusef to say he was outside my hotel where was I? Still in my room. I got dressed and started hurling everything in my bag when Alan phoned to enquire where I was. I said I was still at the hotel then killed the phone.

I packed in 3 mins, then jogged to reception. By now I was out of breath so it took 3 attempts before they realised I wanted to check out. I paid (ouch) then jogged to the station. Yusef was outside and we clambered up the stairs fast. I phoned Alan to enquire which platform and as we were late we clambered on the train and walked down it.

We found the others (yay) and sat down. I was dripping with sweat from the day and it took quite a while for the aircon to fully kick in. Soon we were in Berlin, then on a local train to the airport.

We got to the airport, checked in (luggage was 19kg - that was close) then went airside. We grabbed something to eat, then we went to the duty free. They called our flight so we went to it then we were soon put on the aircraft. Surprisingly they still had some empty seats on the plane, which given it is a prime flight for returning from Leipzig is surprising.

Our flight was early, so we were soon through and onto the bus to the station. Yusef and I caught a fast train to Kings Cross then got on a surprisingly quiet tube home.

Once home I had some veggie food at last, then caught up on emails and reading lj then unpacked and called it a night. Mum liked the stuff I'd gotten her which is good.

Monday I woke up at 11 and by the time I'd bathed it was 11:45. This was handy as Morisson's opened at 12. I was there while the lass who works behind the bar started setting it all up. I ordered breakfast and watched the world go by with a beer. Trish and Roger came past but weren't stopping but Trish reckoned my Stroganow looked good.

A bit later Alan, Heather, Markus and a lot of the mob joined us later with Trish and Roger joining them.

I was off to do a bit of shopping then I dumped the stuff at the hotel and headed for the Agra, getting there later than planned. Wendles and Simon I bumped into as I got to the entrance and we got in as the first band had nearly finished. I got some Wikingerblut then ambled around bumping into Andy. Sel joined us a bit later followed by Paul, who did Air Hurdygurdy to Folkstone much to our amusement. I got them onto the Wikinger blut which they both enjoyed.

I think it was Ingrim where you couldn't hear the one medieval instrument above the racket from the guitars and drums. What's the point of that???? For some reason Yusef decided to join us and he hated the music. He went off to see other bands but was back by the time Saltatio Mortis were on.

Trobar de morte were amazing and had a stunningly beautiful singer. They were probably one of the finds of the festival to me, so I got the cd in their third song telling the others so they didn't miss out.

I did a lot of chatting and driking Wikingerblut. Spent a while talking to Darren, Audrey, Aly and Rob outside with Ade and Andy joining us later.

Faun were amazing as usual and I had a great time. We went outside afterwards and bumped into a shattered happy looking Clive. I thought I'd get a last Wikinger Blut before the belly dancing and fire show, but they'd sold out as some git had drunk it all (Sel reckoned that git'd be me).

Yusef and I got a good spot for the fire and belly dancing show. Now I must admit we'd been surrounded by some stunning and very sexy looking women all weekend, but somehow they managed to get some even more attractive ones and they did fire stuff and belly dancing. Twas a pretty good show and Yusef was clapping hard.

I found the others at the back and we watched Corvus Corax from there, who were brilliant. However we realised we didn't want to get stuck with the rush for the tram, so the group of us left at what we thought was the last song. I talked to Aly and Rob all the way to the Mouritzbastei where I headed to Morrison's. No one I knew was there, so I headed to the Mauritzbastei where I bumped into Andy Ravensable, Cecile and Simon. Chatted a bit then thought I needed a beer so headed downstairs. You could barely move in there and it was roastingly hot. I saw Rob, Aly and Tom before I gave up and headed upstairs. No one I knew was there, so I drank my beer and popped into Morisson's.

At least at Morrison's Heather and Markus were there so we chatted a bit, then Alan, then Sel and finally Paul arrived. We chatted a bit before calling it a night as the staff had cleared up.

I booked an alarm call for the next morning.

I was up late on Sunday as I didn't set an alarm. I went to Morissons for breakfast as I was up late, and well no one I knew was there and the pub was dead.

I then caught a tram to the Agra realising I'd missed Star Industry :-( Still at least I've seen them recently. I think I spent a while talking to Ade and Andy in there while drinking the Wikinger blut but the bands were only so so. After Fliehende Stuerme came off stage I shot towards the pagan village. I got to the gate of the campsite and bumped into Julian and had a long chat.

I was now running late, so walked as fast as I could across the campsite. I was towards the end of the site when a lass in a gorgeous medieval dress jogged past me saying she was late in German. I asked where Faun were playing and she said she was also going to see them and gestured me to follow her. There was a queue of people paying and she bypassed them and gestured for me to follow. She then showed me which stage, and groaned when she saw the crowd. She then led me down the side and we got 5 people from the front! Not bad at all. She was with friends, and I thought I was missing a drink, so went to the fruit wine stall and got a bottle of Strawberry wine, then tried to rejoin her. I only got to about 10-15 people from the front, and had just poured myself a glass of wine when Faun came on.

There was one thing that was odd and that was they ditched Lisa - the gorgeous smiley hurdy gurdy player and now had a didi violinist. However her voice was pretty similar to Lisa's and she did quite a good job. Oliver later said that was her first gig and also it's the first time they had a drum kit on stage. So all in all it was a good gig and different, but well I think I prefer the band with Lisa in it. During the gig I looked around and saw there were 8 really gorgeous women stood around me, I was drunk and sent the following text to a few people "surrounded by attractive women at the front for one of my fave bands at the pagan village and drunk on strawberry wine. Life is good but wish Jodie was here".

All too soon I'd finished the bottle and Faun came off stage. I then went to the merchandice stand and found I'd gotten it all already. I then shot back to the Agra where I got searched thoroughly and a pack of biscuits removed from my bag.

Samsas Traum were on and they seemed more metally than I remember, and what with the sudden transition from acoustic folk to metally stuff I was underwhelmed. Anki and Yusef were here now (as was Ade and Andy) and I joined them by the chilli stall, with me sitting on the floor.

London After midnight I (and this is pretty controversial) enjoyed as I'd never seen them before. Most people reckoned they were bad. Graham and Lutitia arrived and Yusef decided to go to the Pogo Party with them after London after Midnight. We stayed to watch Fields of the Nefilim, who were on at 1am.

What can I say but Fields of the Nefilim were more metal than I'd seen recorded and well it worked quite well. I really enjoyed them and they were the highlight of the day. Afterwards we hung round to gather the troops which meant by the time we'd got to the gates there were no taxis there and a massive queue for the night tram. We reluctantly joined it, bumping into more people along the way.

A tram arrived 2 mins later and it was just as well it was the new funky tram as we were nowhere near the front. The door stopped directly in front of Steffi who got hurled in and grabbed 4 seats. I was third in the door and got a seat. So we had 5 seats between 6 people. Yay.

We went to the Mauritzbastei, and well we wandered round and the music in all three rooms was bleepy. given we had Dave Exile, Steffi, Anki, myself and Dom we weren't amused. However I did find my female rating had improved as earlier in the day I'd been rated a funf (5) by two German girls, but in there there were 4 women who were very interested in me and seemed a bit preturbed I was sat next to Anki.

Very soon we got bored and decided to leave at which point two girls looked and pointed at me then saw I was leaving with Anki and Steffi and a little cry of "ohhh" went up from them. Steffi and Anki had a chat I wasn't quite sure if I should be listening in on, but it was news to me Steffi was spoken for and it not being Dave Exile who was the lucky bloke.

We walked back to the Novotel said goodbye to Anki, then Steffi and I walked back to the hotel with Steffi.