Stray Dog Strut

I promised myself I would write atleast one blog a day but I seem to have neglected that promise for over a week:-S So what have I been upto? Well…

Falling’s 21st birthday – I travelled to London on the 2nd for Falling’s birthday. Falling got on the train at York and the first ‘highlight’ of the weekend came when the brakes slammed on just before Doncaster and we came to a sudden stop – little bit of a suprise!:-S

Turns out we actually hit something on the track but it must’ve been tiny as we weren’t derailed (luckily!). The train ended up being over an hour late as whatever we hit had damaged the underside of the carriage we were sitting in so we had to be evacuated to first class (Trust me, it’s not that great!) and after the driver made a temporary repair we carried onto London 10mph (miles per hour) slower than normal.

When we finally got to London we had a great weekend. I think Falling loved what I got her – a picture of these cartoonish cats behaving like humans in a Chocolaterie, it’s one of a limited number of prints by a local artist – you’d have to see it to know what I mean – we were in The Cat Gallery here months back and Falling said she liked that style of art so I filed that piece of information away and got it for her birthday – i think she was suprised I remembered:-)

This was all so long ago now I can’t remember what I was doing after that weekend:-S We’ve been puting all the Christmas decorations up at work – the ‘best dressed desk’ on tuesday wins a prize. My teams theme is Winter Wonderland but it’s not very good. We have no hope of winning but it’s been fun – we’ve hung cotton wool balls from varying lengths of thread to make it look like snow, and the dividers between the desks have sheets of cotton wool along the top like snow too.

Ross and Oliver (I’m printing their names as I can’t think of nicknames and they’re not relations/close friends so I don’t have to protect their identities, lol) have started the craze of making spoon ski dudes. Basically you get a plastic spoon (We got them from the cafeteria), you wrap brightly coloured paper roung the body, make a paper criss-cross scarf, stick a face on the spoon head, and tape skis (made from very large paperclips wrapped in paper) either side of the bottom of the spoon. They’ve also added arms and ski poles. Ross has Woody Allen and Oliver has Nemo from Finding Nemo, lol

My own spoon guy isn’t much of a spoon guy as he has no spoon!lol I have a spoon but it won’t work very well with what i’ve made so I’m going to miss is out. I’ve stapled a picture of the Glasgow Celtic football strip to cardboard and cut it out, then I fixed the head of King Kong to the top, lol. I’ve made the skis and now I just need to figure out how to do the legs – I might use large paperclips again. Although Ross and Oliver seem to have plenty time to mess about in work I never do since I’m on mail sort – but as of monday i’m getting put back on actioning, yey! I’ll tell you all more about my job another time.

I’ve also signed up for the Secret Santa at work – where you draw someone’s name out of a hat (I got a complete stranger) and buy them a present to the value of £10. I got mine Jamie Oliver’s Italy book – I wouldn’t mind it myself although I don’t like cooking. We get our presents on tuesday:-) I’ve also got my team’s Christmas meal on tuesday – you get an hour and a half instead of the regular hour – we’re going for a Chinese meal, lol, as there are hardly any eating establishments near my work, it’s more of an industrial estate.

I helped JP build a cupboard on friday, lol. Despite him and Muffin apologising for me always doing some form of DIY when I visit, I like it. I’m really lazy at home but I seem to enjoy doing DIY for other people, and it’s a good way to practice for when I get my own place. Not to mention the fact that I can recall these favours from JP when I need to;-) So far my list of credentials has grown to: fitting a shower (everything from the plumbing, installing a power switch, and fixing the shower, except adding a new breaker to the Ciruit Box as Muffin won’t let us near electricity!), removing a bath (removing the actual bath and cutting off the water supply to that room), building fences, building sheds (my passion according to the guys at work!), building furniture, laying laminate flooring, tiling, and wallpapering.

It took us a long time to build that cupboard – it was actually quite complicated! We started at 7ish and didn’t finish until 1:30 in the morning (six and a half hours people!). I did talk on the phone to Soul for about 20mins in the middle though, and we had to redo some bits we’d put the wrong way round, lol, but it does take a long time because of all the little fiddly bits that you have to do. It’s a beautiful Nordic style cupboard, a vibrant reddish brown colour, and it smells lovely!lol

Yesterday (after only 6 hours sleep and aching hands from all the diy) I helped dad take some tree trunks to the dump (rubbish tip? refuse recycling centre? or whatever is the proper term for it). Two were a customer’s (My dad is a self-employed Gardener) and the rest were JP’s. They were all heavy, especially the two from the customer – definately a two man job. We also took lots of concrete and broken patio slabs we needed to get rid of, then in the afternoon we went to a nursery he does the grounds for and cut down some trees that were getting tangled up with telegraph wires. Dad actually had the folding ladder close on his wrist so he’s still in a bit of pain – the force was strong enough to break the strap on the silver watch he was wearing:-S I cut the rest down with a bow saw after that as dad wasn’t able to use the chainsaw because of the pain when he tried to lift things, and I don’t like using the chainsaw really.

We stopped when the light levels got too low and went home to get changed: we were going for Christmas dinner with my sister and her fiance, their bairn and the fiances parents. We ended up being late thanks to mum who decided to go shopping on the busiest shopping day of the year and dad was struggling to find a cash machine (atm) that wasn’t empty. We found one at a petrol station en route to the pub/restaurant but it swallowed dad’s card and I had to look up the helpine number for his bank on my mobile’s internet. Thankfully they stopped the card and when he checked his account this morning no money had been taken (The machine had said ‘processing’ just before it decided to reboot and eat his card).

We had a nice meal, except for the fact that Baby kept crying at the waitress, lol. We then went back to ours and dad got out the karaoke machine he got for his 50th last month. I don’t normally sing in public but alcohol helps, so me, my sister and here fiance were belting out the likes of the BeeGees Massachusetts and Britney Spear’s Hit Me Baby One More Time aswell as many other golden oldies. Dad caught us on the video function of his digital camera much to my embarrassment this morning:-S

I’m okay today, I got off lightly after last night’s revelling – I only had headache but I took some paracetamol and four glasses of water so I’m all better now – Falling is jetting off to our brothers in arms, the good old US of A. She’s going to New York with her mum to do some shopping and see the sights. She comes back on Christmas Eve. I hope she takes lots of photos, especially of Central Park – it looks so big on the map. One day I will go to America with Falling hopefully…

Well, Glasgow Celtic are Playing Inverness Caley Thistle today – the game actually kicked off 25 minutes ago but I wanted to finish this. JP has loaned us Madagascar which I’m looking forward to watching later as I haven’t seen it yet. When I get paid on wednesday(I’m trying to stretch that £6 in the bank until then) i’m going to get some ‘gifts to the famil
y’ such as War of The Worlds and Star Wars etc. I’ve seen them all but I haven’t bought films in so long.

I rarely buy anything for myself and yet I always run out of money?! It’s my curse I’m sure. I was taking a look at the Maplin Electronics website the other day and they are selling a book about micro-controllers so I was thinking of getting that as a Christmas treat to myself. Micro-controllers can take instructions like a sort of mini computer and they are used to make robots among lots of other useful things (The book says “a toaster that tells you when your toast is ready”, lol). Admittedly I don’t know alot about them but that’s why I want to learn, and the kit comes with one for you to practice on so watch this space.

Stomach’s growling and the first half of the match will be over soon so I’ll leave you for now. Hope whoever reads this enjoyed my update. I’ll try to post regularly again I promise. I have my last Spanish class of the year on tuesday (we’re having a party, woohoo!) and i’m meeting Soul to swap Christmas gifts on wednesday. I also have to post out all the Christmas cards Falling and I wrote:-S

See you later alligator.

The boy used to spend long summers clambering over a disused steam engine pretending to be Indiana Jones. Other days he would go climbing with his friends in the sunshine and picnic on rocky ledges in a nearby quarry. Closer to home he played Hopscotch with his sister and a tin of shoe polish. On rainy days he would be found drawing or inventing something. They were good days.

The boy grew into a man.

The man looked out at the world and saw children driving mopeds and scratching people’s cars. Some would climb onto people’s sheds and shout abuse. Children young as five would get Xboxes and Playstation 2′s for Christmas and would spend hours in front of the television filling their minds with junk.

How times change.

Kryptonite – Three Doors Down
It’s My Shadow – Ocean Colour Scene
You’ve Got It Bad – Ocean Colour Scene
Break Me Shake Me – Savage Garden
Temptation Waits – Garbage
Session – Linkin Park
Losing My Religion – R.E.M.
Policemen and Pirates – Ocean Colour Scene
The Power of Love – Huey Lewis and The News
Get Away – Ocean Colour Scene
Warning – Green Day

All the following lyrics are the copyright of their respective owners and will be removed at first notice – but hey it’s free publicity!

Kryptonite –

Never heard of Three Doors Down before, I dug it out to help out Nobleminded but she had already found the track for herself by that time. This is my favourite track at the moment and I’d quite like to see what the rest of Three Doors Down’s stuff is like. That’s what I like about Blogger – the sharing of ideas and interests – we can be on opposite sides of the world but simply by reading someone’s blog we can feel alot closer.

I took a walk around the world to
Ease my troubled mind
I left my body laying somewhere In the sands of time
I watched the world float to the dark
Side of the moon
I feel there is nothing I can do, yeah

I watched the world float to the
Dark side of the moon
After all I knew it had to be something
To do with you
I really don’t mind what happens now and then
As long as you’ll be my friend at the end

If I go crazy then will you still
Call me Superman
If I’m alive and well, will you be
There holding my hand
I’ll keep you by my side with
My superhuman might
Kryptonite

You called me strong, you called me weak
But your secrets I will keep
You took for granted all the times I
Never let you down
You stumbled in and bumped your head, if
Not for me then you would be dead
I picked you up and put you back
On solid ground

If I go crazy then will you still
Call me Superman
If I’m alive and well will you be
There holding my hand
I’ll keep you by my side with my
Superhuman might
Kryptonite

//Oh whoa whoa//
3x


It’s my shadow –

It’s a nice tune. Conjuers up the whole guardian angel image. I’m not a religious person – i’ll save that for the R.E.M. song – but I like to think there we should look out for each other. I have met many nice people in my life and I would gladly bend over backwards to make them happy, especially Falling.

Who is that upon the stairs
acting like he don’t know where
and who is laying down all the cards
and giving me the wrong things to say
and like a wheel on the table
He’s a Cain to my Abel: Oh…..it’s my shadow
A confessor to my dreams casting ribbons round my feet
Oh…..into my day
It’s my shadow

Making eyes until the sun lights the daytime as she comes
Oh….. into my day
Happy in the time when I would have been there to see you
Happy in the time when I would have been there at all
Happy when the night is gone and I believe you
Happy when the night is gone and I need a call

Who is chasing in the wind all the letters never sent
and who is dusting down the stars and giving me the wrong moves to make.
And like a wheel on the table, he’s a Cain to my Abel
dancing upon the floor, its my shadow
making eyes until the sun blinds the daytime as she comes
Oh…..into my day
Its my shadow

Like a willow to my stream casting heaven round my feet
Oh…..into my day.

When you find that things are getting wild is that
the hardest smile that you can ever feel.

Paralysed until the sun lights the daytime as she comes.

And if my shadow comes a creeping
Then I’ll always find me sleeping in the sun.


You’ve Got It Bad –

I need to change these tracks about a bit. I love Ocean Colour Scene but it’s starting to lose it’s appeal. This song is a good motivational one. We can’t always expect help but only try our best to manage on our own. I like the guitar solos in this one (As with many of the Ocean Colour Scene songs).

And if I could hold you
Where would you belong
And if I could listen
To half the words you say
Would your pathway glisten
And help you on your way

Oh you’ve got it bad
But you never should expect cover
Oh you’ve got it so bad
Worse than any other

If I was in your shoes
Would it be the same
Would you sit in silence
While I dish out the blame

And if the world was laughing
Would you close your ears
There is no creed of chanting
To make the world more clear

If I brought you flowers
Would you watch them grow
Springtime is for certain
To follow on the snow

Oh you’ve got it bad
But you never should expect cover
Oh you’ve got it so bad
Worse than any other

Oh you’ve got it bad
But you never should expect cover
Oh you’ve got it so so bad
Worse than any other


Break Me Shake Me -

Hands up, I like Savage Garden okay? My musical tastes are very varied as you can probably tell from the list above, but I won’t apologise for that. I’m not a big fan of men singing with high voices by Darren Hayes pull this off brilliantly. Savage Garden also have some really cool lyrics.

I never thought I’d change my
Opinion again
But you moved me in a way that i’ve
Never known
You moved me in a way that i’ve
Never known

But straight away you just moved
Into position again
You abused me in a way that i’ve
Never known
You abused me in a way that i’ve
Never known

So break me shake me hate me
Take me over
When the madness stops then you
Will be alone
Just break me shake me hate me
Take me over
When the madness stops then you
Will be alone
So you’re the kind who deals with the
Games in the mind
Well you confuse me in a way that
I’ve never known
You confuse me in a way that i’ve
Never known

She says I can help you but what
Do you say
Cos’ it’s not free baby you’ll have
To pay
You just keep me contemplating that
Your soul is slowly fading

God don’t you know that I live with a ton
Of regret
’cause I used to move you in a way that
You’ve never known
But then I accused you in a way that
You’ve never known
But you hurt me in a way that i’ve
Never known

Break me shake me hate me take
Me over
When the madness stops then you
Will be alone
So won’t you break me shake me
Hate me take me over
When the madness stops then you
Will be alone

Listen baby
You’ll be you’ll be alone

Break me shake me hate me take
Me make me
Fake me break me shake me hate
Me take me
Break me


Temptation Waits -

Garbage are great. I have the Version 2.0 album and I love this track – Shirley’s accent and the lyrics go well together. My all-time favourite Garbage track has to be Push It (I’m thinking about swapping this one onto my mobile as we speak (type)). It was the intro track to an Ice Hockey game I had and just works well as a feel-good song.

I’ll tell you something
I am a wolf but
I like to wear sheep’s clothing

I am a bonfire
I am a vampire
I’m waiting for my moment

You come on like a drug
I just can’t get enough
I’m like an addict coming at you for a little more
And there’s so much at stake
I can’t afford to waste
I never needed anybody like this before

I’ll tell you something
I am a demon
Some say my biggest weakness
I have my reasons
Call it my defense
Be careful what you’re wishing

You are a secret
A new possession
I like to keep you guessing

When I’m not sure what I’m living for
(When I’m not sure who I am)
When I’m not sure what I’m looking for
(When I’m not sure who I am)
When I’m not sure what I’m living for
(When I’m not sure who I am)
When I’m not sure what I’m looking for
(When I’m not sure who I am)

When I’m not sure what I’m living for
When I’m not sure what I’m looking for
When I’m not sure what I’m living for.


Session -

Purely instrumental, the drums and odd sounds in this track make it a good album filler. Despite all the criticism Linkin Park get they are a really good band – I love the lyrics, the well-planned music videos (In The End) and the whole artistic theme of their projects.


Losing My Religion -

Yes, I don’t have a religion. I completely respect other people’s beliefs though. I was raised Catholic but I don’t believe it anymore, it just doesn’t add up in so many ways and I don’t need it. I try to be a good person and have my own set of morals. I don’t think you need religion to teach you that. I like this track – again good lyrics and a great sound.

Oh, life is bigger
It’s bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no, I’ve said too much
I set it up

That’s me in the corner
That’s me in the spotlight, I’m
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don’t know if I can do it


Oh no, I’ve said too much
I haven’t said enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

Every whisper
Of every waking hour I’mChoosing my confessionsTrying to keep an eye on youLike a hurt lost and blinded fool, fool
Oh no, I’ve said too much
I set it up
Consider this
Consider this
The hint of the century
Consider this
The slip that brought me
To my knees failed
What if all these fantasies
Come flailing around
Now I’ve said too much
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream
That was just a dream(repeat chorus)

But that was just a dream
Try, cry, why try?
That was just a dream
Just a dream, just a dream
Dream

Policemen and Pirates -

I think this was the first Ocean Colour Scene song I properly listened to. I’m sure my music teacher got us to play the chords on bass guitar in high school – she wasn’t my regular teacher (He called me a “stupid boy” for trying to play Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer on keyboard) but she was cool. She also taught us some drumming too. I like the imagery in this song and again the guitar – I definately have to learn some electric guitar.

The house caught on fire in the winter
The bosses lay slain
And each of the workers decided to ten-fold their pay
And they saw in the mirror the sun had been shot down in flames
And nobody minded the hole in the sky or the rain
But it doesn’t really matter when the judgements are said
’cos we all take our chances to find out romance is in some others bed
And you might burn your fingers hock your best rings for those
Who’d have you standing naked then publicly auction the use of a hose
All the children were laughing their faces in half at the pain
Of the girl who loved talking to walls and jumping at trains
And the words that ring true in the playground of fools will remain
And nobody minded the hole in the sky or the rain
But it doesn’t really matter when the rights have been read
’cos we all take our chances to glance at the wife in the opposite bed
And I bet nero and pilate could easily explain
How policemen & pirates get stoned in glass houses just finding their way.

The Power of Love -

You know, the song from Back To The Future? It’s fantastic. I like the chord changes in this one and the whole rocking beat despite being about love. Not that love is a bad subject for a song but they are usually either depressing or really mushy.

The power of love is a curious thing
Make a one man weep, make another man sing
Change a hawk to a little white dove
More than a feeling that’s the power of love

Tougher than diamonds, rich like cream
Stronger and harder than a bad girl’s dream
Make a bad one good make a wrong one right
Power of love that keeps you home at night

You don’t need money, don’t take fame
Don’t need no credit card to ride this train
It’s strong and it’s sudden and it’s cruel sometimes
But it might just save your life
That’s the power of love
That’s the power of love

First time you feel it, it might make you sad
Next time you feel it it might make you mad
But you’ll be glad baby when you’ve found
That’s the power makes the world go’round

And it don’t take money, don’t take fame
Don’t need no credit card to ride this train
It’s strong and it’s sudden it can be cruel sometimesBut it might just save your life

They say that all in love is fair
Yeah, but you don’t care
But you know what to do
When it gets hold of you
And with a little help from above
You feel the power of love
You feel the power of love
Can you feel it ?
Hmmm

It don’t take money and it don’t take fame
Don’t need no credit card to ride this train
Tougher than diamonds and stronger than steel
You won’t feel nothin’ till you feel
You feel the power, just the power of love
That’s the power, that’s the power of love
You feel the power of love
You feel the power of love
Feel the power of love


Get Away -

My all time favourite Ocean Colour Scene song. I think I mentioned it before but here it is again. If you want a sample of the excellent guitar solos in Ocean Colour Scene’s work then listen to this. It’s a good one to listen to full-blast on your headphones on the bus home.


Well I used to be a listener – there was nothing left to get
About what you are and what you haven’t been yet
and some of them like to tell a story that is long and old
and couch it in indifference and the wine
that they were sold to get away

Well someone’s got to tell them that its not deserved,
rehearsed or written down by playwrights over time
just picking up on a nerve.
And some of them got a difference that they reserve for you
Well I like them all but I don’t trust any of them
well shouldn’t you, just get away

Well I used to think my freedom was a lot of things I’d give,
demanding on my time but I had so much time to give,
and I used to think that everything was a knee in what you are.
But finding out the truth that hurts
so I never went that far
I always get away

Well it comes down to the fact that I’m now different from the past,
defending all my ideals ju’just trying to make them last,
and some of the things that you say they’re ringing home so true,
I hang my head out of the door and follow you,
yeah I’ll follow you and get away


Warning -

Not my favourite Green Day track – that would probably be Basket Case and I don’t even have it yet – but I like the feel of this one. There’s an air-raid siren in the background and I always think of troops marching when I listen to this one. I like the military idea. The sight of an army marching etc. Not saying I like the end product – the guns and wars and nukes – but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being proud of your countries army. The whole show of strength and unity – I can understand why alot of German people did get swept up in the whole thing, before it all went crazy. I saw a Norwegian submarine docked in the Firth of Forth last month. It had a very distinctive shape but I’ve yet to Google which one it was.