Tuesday 29 September 2009

A short tellyrant...

"We've got bikinis, we've got tunes - oh yes, this is definitely what being single is all about!" says the guy in the trailer for "Hollyoaks, Later" on E4...

I hate that guy... I've never seen the programme, and I don't know anything him, but I know that I hate him!

So here's the pretentious twonk bit... He gives a totally false impression of modern youth culture, in my opinion... Not just him, of course - but many of the "young people" TV shows which are on at the moment seem to want to say that life is just an endless round of parties, dates, sex, drinking and shopping... Is it really? Well, to go back to the "Hollyoaks, Later" guy, I've never that that's "definitely what being single is all about!" It's normally more about lonely days and nights, anger and self-doubt, questions, but no answers... Does that sound like I'm wallowing in self-pity, sounding all depressed, or fishing for sympathy? (Don't actually answer that!) I dunno - I'm just a bit annoyed that media like this portrays this easy-peasy lifestyle, which, more often that not, is far, far from the truth...

Enough, for now, I think... :)

Monday 28 September 2009

Regular blogging?

I think the idea is that I post here every day, or just about... Of course, something worth blogging about doesn't happen every day, but most of the time I can normally find something mundane to woffle on about...

Yesterday, I had planned to go to the National Drum Fair in Birmingham, but decided not to at the last minute, because I didn't feel like traveling all that way, or spending loads of money... So I spent the day giving my website a facelift... You've probably seen the results of that already - if not, have a look here and let me know what you think! It's not hugely different - just a slightly cleaner look, in my opinion - but those few small changes took hours to implement! Yes, literally hours...

So, apart from that, I played the piano for a while, and watched the Singapore Grand Prix, and that was Sunday...

Today? Well, who knows what's going to happen, eh?! It's only just gone half-past ten, we've hours of time ahead of us... I know that, at some point, I'll be teaching drumkit in the evening... Other than that, probably more practice, looking after the dog, watching TV, having lunch, and other reasonably normal but unexciting things like that!

Hopefully tomorrow, or the next day, I'll be able to write about something more worth reading about... (If that made any sense?!)

See ya later! ;)

Saturday 26 September 2009

Apple Store, Norwich

I was up early today for all the full frontal geekery of queuing for an hour to get into the new Apple Store in Chapelfield, Norwich, and claim my free t-shirt as one of the first thousand people through the doors at the "Grand Opening"...

The whole affair was an orgy of corporate-based partying... Before the opening itself, all the Apple Store employees ran down the enormous queue "high-fiving" the anxiously waiting Apple fans, and as the huge glass doors slid open, there was clapping, cheering, screaming, chants of "Apple! Apple! Apple!" and - the reason we were all there - the giving out of free t-shirts! (All "large" size, unfortunately...)

Inside the shop itself, there were untold expensive wonders... I was tempted by a nice new leather case for my iPod Classic - until I saw the price was £75! Anyone hoping for a plethora of Opening Day Discounts (as I had been) would've been disappointed... But, anyone hoping for a great range of Apple products and accessories on display, available to try, with friendly, helpful staff on hand to offer explanations or answer questions (as I had also been) would've got their wish...

Apple had really tried hard to create a "carnival" atmosphere for the whole thing - the music, the whooping, the high-fives, the smiles, the cheers - and in general it felt slightly mad, very nerdy, and great fun!

Friday 25 September 2009

First post...

Well, how many blogs start off like this? Quite a few, I should imagine...
Something along the lines of - "hi, I'm Kit, this is my blog; it gives you my narrow and distorted viewpoint on a seemingly unfeeling world, plus all you need to know about my pizza topping preferences and favourite minor celebrities, hope you enjoy it!"

Well, that's all well and good, but how's this for a change?
Something like - "hi, I'm Kit, this is my manifesto for world leader; it tells you all about how I plan to improve your life with handy time-saving initiatives like just-don't-bother and do-it-later and how the trees and plants may look pretty, but they're actually all part of an evil conspiracy planning to end human dominance of Planet Earth for good by the year 2020!"

(All nonsense, of course... But if you stick with this blog, that's what you can come to expect!)

So, I should probably tell you a bit about myself... If you've navigated here from my website (www.manek.org.uk) as is likely, you probably know as much as anybody needs or wants to about me... But just in case you happened to miss it, or have ended up here by accident, I'm a professional musician - principally a drummer and percussionist, although I also play the piano - and I live in near Norwich, in Norfolk... I like red onions, and cheesecakes (although never at the same time!) and I drink far too much coffee... I shout at the TV screen when the adverts come on, because they're all so, so very annoying, and I use too many commas when I write, apparently!

Anyhow, I'm rambling now (a dreadful, yet unshakable, habit) so I'll let you go about your daily business, which, I dare say, is far more important than mine... Check back here every so often, to find out what I'm thinking, have a laugh, pass the time, or annoy your friends, family or colleagues with some of the most dull "reading aloud" material possible! See y'around...! ;)