What Goes Up

Yet again another week in which it has taken me a while to feel 'normal' again after a heavy (and admittedly fun at times) weekend. People tend to laugh and make light of how 'rough' Mondays can be (and Tuesdays, and often Wednesdays) but I'm a bit sick of it so I'm opting to give my body and mind a bit of a break from alcohol for an indefinite time. I have a lot coming up over the next few weeks and a huge chunk of cash going out of my bank account this month so the timing is good. I know everyone says it, but I'm really serious this time. I know how hard it is in reality; a few drinks with friends, a football match to watch, a plethora of birthdays and leaving parties, singing at gigs, etc., but I really, really need a break - and to see if I'm still capable of taking one.

I used to randomly go off drink from time to time when I was younger. Sometimes it was because I was a poor student, sometimes because I was doing a lot of running and had something coming up, sometimes because Uni or school was particularly busy. In saying that, it has been about four years since I have actually followed an utterance of, "I'm going off drink for a bit" with action. Alcohol and our relationship to alcohol is something I think about a lot but maybe something I'll have a few more answers on in a few weeks.

Now that I'm back in the land of the living I have got back to working on songs for upcoming gigs (Friday 20th acoustic set with Kevin @ RMT, Saturday 21st RHCPs cover band with Cheon @ The Rolling Hall). I have A LOT of work left on one particular Chilis song but everything else should be ok. Hopefully. It'll be a different experience singing publicly without the luxury of a few beers to loosen the nerves but that will hopefully counteract my usual habit of making the odd slip here and there. I used to sing dry from time to time with my old band at Uni, 'Day Release'. I actually just received a few pictures from those good old days, one of which I'm going to add here to show you how young I looked as well as my 'special' taste in shirts back then...

Fantastic, eh? Thankfully I grew out of that phase. Some lucky guy had a field day in a charity shop in Canterbury in the summer of 2006, no doubt. Those were very good times and it's always nice seeing old pictures and having a bit of a blast from the past. Of course it wasn't all rosy but we had a lot of fun, were good mates and I wouldn't really change any of it I don't think. I'm looking forward to sending a video of my upcoming attempt at covering the Chilis to our old bassist Gary (far right in picture) because he's a big fan and was always trying to get us to cover them.

I just picked my fantasy football team for the 2010/11 season earlier this evening. My friends and I choose the league offered at www.premierleague.com and I had a pretty good season last time out. I usually think twice about entering because it can get really competitive and time-consuming but that wasn't the case last season, interestingly, when I was actually doing well and could have rubbed it in people's faces for a change! No doubt I'll be boring you with my progress here as the season progresses.

Well, I think that's enough for one day. I'm going to start reading 'David Copperfield' by Charles Dickens tonight and maybe watch a movie if I can root out something good around here. I'm notoriously hard to please when it comes to films, leading many to mistakenly think that I don't like them full stop. I'll write more later in the week. Your comments here or by email are always welcome.