The graduation itself was pretty boring, it was fun wearing the fancy graduation robe, but my part went quite quickly… a bit too quickly one might say, I was literally the SECOND person to receive my certificate. First class students get to go on stage first ;). But yeah the rest of the event was spent listening to a bunch of imbeciles hoot their fellow students when they received their awards, I mean, it’s a formal event, we’re at the Barbican, dressed up in robes and hooting? wtf? Ah well. The highlight of the graduation event (me picking up my award aside) was the fact that Mark Shuttleworth (founder of ubuntu) was there to make a speech! That was pretty epic. I spoke to a few students but kept it simple.

We went to hardwok cafe afterwards, Alice had never tried it and it was lunchtime so it made sense hehe. We managed to get the last of the yummy hardwok food, I had a Thai Red Curry (per usual) and Alice had a chicken in black bean sauce. We ate outside the place and had Krispy Kremes for dessert. Alice finally understood why I kept raving about hardwok cafe (if only the rest got it). Later on that evening we met up with Jason and Rachel for ANOTHER Royal China. We went to a Caffe Nero beforehand since it was a wee bit early and there we talked about how “judge judy” was the ONLY famous judge. Rachel said that there was another famous judge called “judge brown”. It was hard trying to make her crack that it was a lie since she kept building up a more and more elaborate lie about who judge brown was and what he did that made him so famous, it got to a point where Rachel said she was in contact with him and that he was her father. After a the battle of judge brown we headed to Royal China for our grub. This time we ordered a half duck to feast on as well as some dim sum dishes and awesome seafood noodles / ho fun. The meal was epic as ever (especially when we got ourselves some scallops action too) and though it was about £20 odd per head, it was a yummy meal! Afterwards we settled in the Natural Cafe and had a lovely chat like before.

The next day we had a meal at Wagamamma and spent the rest of the day at Central London, I took Alice to loads of places including Cyber Candy at Covent Garden and the Apple Store (beautiful landmark). It was disturbing how we managed to get a lot of things done, we also went to china town and got ourselves… ANOTHER duck haha, this time I went into a restaurant and ordered one cut up for din dins, it came to £14 which was amazing! We went to picadilly circus to so Alice could take the ubiquitous shot of the lights (not as epic as times square though).

Sunday we had a lovely meal with my dad and then spent the rest of the day watching Harry Potter (we managed to watch Sliding doors at one of the days too, it was a must!). We also watched Kill Bill and had a lovely meal at home. The next day Alice went back up north and I went to work again, it was a lovely day but it was always a bummer going to work and ONLY just departing with Alice. Ah well

Yo Sushi and a very late stu

Upon arriving fashionable late I met up with Kazzie and got a seat at Yo Sushi! We were still waiting for Stu to arrive so we just sat around and drank some green tea, I ordered some cold dishes so that they were immediately ready when Stu was about and Kazzie ordered a chicken yakisoba to eat. The wait was pretty long as I believe Stu was almost an hour late. We eventually got nice and cosy and ate our food, Kazzie promised Stu that if he came today she would eat a Salmon Nigiri so we ordered just that (I persuaded her to do it so I could have her nigiri if she couldn’t finish the other one off hehe). The dish arrived and kazzie actually kept her promise and ate the thing. Though it’s nothing for us (me, alice, inn, kev and loads others), it was quite remarkable that Kazzie did eat raw salmon when she didn’t like fish in general!

I ordered a salmon skin hand roll, a tamago nigiri and a beef ramen which kept the bill nice and small (should of got a rainbow combo to be honest). I mentioned the gig I was going and Kazzie and Stu were pretty much up for it, we were then contemplating what to do between the gig and after Yo Sushi! After paying the bill and leaving victoria we headed off to the Apple store in Regent Street to have a look at the new ipods as well as perv at the iMacs. Stu did some research and found out that imax were showing Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix in a hour and a bit so we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon watching Harry Potter! The difference was that it was at the imax (one of the biggest screens in the UK) and the last battle scene was in 3D! I think the idea of watching it all in 3D was too much to miss so we went to waterloo to pay imax a visit.

mmm Dumbledore in 3d

We were given large specs at imax and were able to buy decent tickets to the show and all. We were also able to catch a few 3d trailers to really enjoy the 3d experience, it was amazing! Things were popping out right in front of you and stuff, it just made us desperate to see what 3d harry potter had to offer!

The film was amazing, if you exclude hermione’s moving eyebrows, kazzie’s constant giggling about them, the large number of discrepancies from the film and the book and the fact that our seats were slightly to the left. The 3d bit however was flawless, it was amazing watching it all in 3d. The best bit was when Dumbledore was fighting Voldermort. Stu laughed at Dumbledore’s whipping wand technique and I was just gormless when the the glass at the ministry of magic shattered. It was all pretty jaw dropping when it was in 3d.

We are Physics! Did they goto the imax too?

After the film we decided to head off to the buffalo bar at Highbury Islington station. Stu decided that he was tired after watching Dumbledore in 3d so we left us at Euston. Kazzie brought her dslr camera so we were ready to take some lovely photos of the band at it. We met up with Michelle (who was with Caff) and headed to the venue to go check out the band. They were pretty amazing, really reminded me of Polysics as they were really jumpy and fun to watch. Photo taking was slightly tedious since the lighting was inconsistent and all. However with the help of flash I was able to take a few decent shots. The guitarist was wearing 3d specs which led me to believe that they might have went to see Harry Potter too haha.

After the gig there was also another band playing but due to time we had to leave at 11pm, was a shame since I wouldn’t mind watching them myself (they’re headling and all). But yeah, the venue was pretty far away from where I lived so it was best to call it a night instead of risking taking a painful night bus back home!

Meeting Up and getting some grub

People were arriving at weird times and all. Kev was only joining us later on so we were going to meet up with him at some point. I spent most of the morning lounging about at home since Stephie was staying in a hotel near Fulham Broadway, this meant that travelling was awfully easy to her place (since Fulham Broadway and Southfields are pretty close to each other). I eventually leave the house with all my stuff (including several Yo Sushi! Rainbow vouchers and my dslr camera for taking photos of the gig) and went to fulham broadway to meet up with Stephie. I did leave pretty late since I managed to meet up with inn at the station instead of meeting Stephie first. We took the bus to Stephie hotel since Stephie was too lazy to come out and meet us (tut tut). Upon arriving the hotel room we soon discover that Stephie actually had a double bed and single for the room she booked. It was pretty nice since me, Inn and kev were hoping to sleep there (though I’m more there for show since I could easily pop back to my place hehe). We had a quick friendly banter and soon afterwards we were heading off to meet up with kev. Around the time of meeting up with kev I soon discover that I have left my Yo Sushi! vouchers in Stephie’s room so our plan on having Yo Sushi! today was slightly foiled. Trying to be sneaky I persuaded everyone to goto Nando’s in Brixton instead since it’s so close to the venue which makes it a more relaxing experience. Inn complained for a bit since she had her heart set on Yo Sushi that day but we all agreed that Nando’s was more convenient as well as me telling her I’d get her a chicken using my loyalty card.

Once in Nando’s (we’re now in Brixton) we ordered our food (wings for me I believe). Twas quite a lovely meal and Inn didn’t seem to mind having the free chicken (well she hardly paid a penny for her meal haha). Me and Stephie quickly popped round to the venue to pick up her tickets she booked and after having some Tetris battles and bantering we went straight into the venue (slightly late since we weren’t too keen on the support). We found out that Michelle and Caff were actually coming to Silverchair too so I contacted them to see if we could meet up with them inside the venue and all.

The dangerous Wheat Free Soya Sauce

We eventually left Nando’s and headed into the venue to catch Silverchair. I was once again able to smuggle my DSLR camera into the venue, this was however a close one since the guy was able to actually feel the camera in my bag. He was quite determined to find the source of what I was hiding however I told him that it was just padding. He did give the bag a proper search but failed to find the camera. After getting passed the guards we discover that kev was having problems getting in. The guy who was searching for my bag was now pretty pissed and was getting more arsey than ever. He found kev’s Wheat-Free soya sauce he had in his bag and was going to confiscate it since it could be used as a weapon, he demonstrated how it could be used as a weapon by holding it from the neck and pretending to hit kev on the head with it hehe. Eventually they let kev through on the condition that he put the bag in the cloakroom. Was quite an embarrassing moment for kev as he joined us shamefully to watch the gig hehe.

The gig was fun, Silverchair weren’t that bad though I didn’t know many songs from them so it wasn’t as fun as it could have been. We met up with Michelle and Caff during the gig and eventually I also departed the crowd and went to take photos of the band. A lot of squeezing in was involved and eventually I had a lovely spot for photo taking. Quite a nice evening, ended with some glorious Tropicana drinking. We went back to Stephie’s place and enjoyed some Tetris’ing and TV. Stephie got quite addicted to Phoenix Wright as she borrowed kev’s DS Lite to play with it.

Yo Sushi and Somerset House

Though there was a Yo Sushi in Fulham Broadway, we were hoping to have the rainbow combo in Victoria so we could meet up with Wincy as well as Lindsy. I took a quick detour back home before meeting everyone back at Fulham Broadway station! and heading to Victoria. Once there we lounged around at Wetherspoons for a bit to wait for other people arrive, once everyone was there we went straight to Yo Sushi! and got tuck into the Rainbow combo action. Food was lovely once again though I pretty much ordered the same food since I’ve got my combo down to a science. Afterwards we did some lounging about in Leicester Square since Stephie and co needed to do something else whilst I was going to the somerset house to watch 2001 Space Odessy. I eventually left everyone and they went and saw a comedy event which sounded pretty awesome.

Somerset House was pretty amazing. I’ve been there last year to see a double bill and this year I was watching 2001: Space Odessy in the daddio screen! Jason and Rachel were slightly late and I came to the venue slightly unprepared. All I had was some food bought from the newsagent, a towel brought from the venue and a very thin shirt (it got really cold near the end :(). When Jason and Rachel arrived we had a fun time playing a bit of Tetris and Mario Kart. I let them double team me at Tetris DS which was fun but I won most of the time.

The film was pretty amazing, last time I saw it I fell asleep near the beginning since it was far too long and dragged on for a bit. This time I finally got to watch the intense parts of the film involving the computer rebelling against the people. I took the train back to Wimbledon with Jason and Rachel and went back to Fulham to see the rest of the gang. I told inn to buy me some food since I was pretty hungry after that film, she kindly got me a sandwich and some rice cakes, twas pretty yummy. More Tetris action for the rest of the evening and Stephie also completes the second case in Phoenix Wright. Bless her.

Random park strolling and GBK

The final day left and we decided to go to stroll in Hyde Park whilst Stephie went to meet her Uncle for a bit. We went passed some Jewish Festival and lounged around the Princess Dianna Memorial place (was a fancy fountain place) and got our feet wet. More tetris DS’ing involved and eventually we met up with Stephie again and went to GBK in Soho for some burger action. This was the first time kev and inn had tried the burgers at GBK so they were quite excited for it. Kev ordered a bunless burger since he couldn’t eat wheat, I ordered milkshake too and had a classic burger. It was all yummy and nice. Kev eventually left us all to go back to Leeds and we soon left GBK to do some random internet browsing and eventually heading back to the hotel room. That was pretty much it. I packed up and went back home (which was disturbingly quick hehe).

A lovely weekend filled with loads of nice things to eat and all.

Goodbye kev

Anyway, right after seeing Alice off I went straight to Oxford Circus to find Stephie, Kev and Kiernan since that was where they were heading. Unfortunately they weren’t there so I had to try phone them up to see where they were. Most of their phones were knackered, batteryless or just nonuk. I had to phone Stephie’s phone to be able to get them, and that really hit my credit haha (though I didn’t really use any credit the entire weekend since I used other people’s phones to phone people or better yet, I just didn’t need to phone anyone since they were always next to me haha). I managed to get hold of kev on Stephies phone (it’s weird when you phone people’s mobiles and someone else picks up) and he told me that they were back in Kings Cross station! So I quickly got the tube back to Kings Cross where I originally was (should of just stayed put). They were located at McDonalds so I managed to meet them there. Everyone seemed to have eaten something at McDonalds including Kiernan who was supposedly banned from eating food that was available in America. I didnt eat anything since they were just about to leave and say their goodbyes to kev (not to mention I hate McDonalds).

Kev was slightly worried about where Leon was since he couldn’t get in contact him so he just left without him, it was funny saying goodbye to kev, I just gave him a man hug and not long after that he departs into the carriage and the train leaves (good timing!). We then head off to Oxford Circus again (eurgh!) where Stephie wanted to buy some makeup at Mac. They pretty much knew where they were going so I let them lead the way, once there Stephie said she’d only be there a few minutes (ie pick up the makeup and bam, gone!). Now when girls say that, do not believe them. It’s all lies! Stephie took longer than expected, Kiernan went off to use the bathroom somewhere whilst I was sat with all my stuff looking at my photos I took for Muse (they looked amazing on the small 2.5inch LCD haha) but eventually my camera batteries died! I could no longer take photos for the rest of the day! (Doh).

I phoned up Kazzie telling her to bring a spare charged battery for the gig since my camera was dead as well as bring some stuff I forgot to pick up, including my gamecube memory card and my watch! She said she’ll charge them straight away and it should be ready for when she meets up with us. Right now Kazzie is back home relaxing a bit and preparing herself for one more day.

Once stephie was finished we then proceeded to do all the touristy things that Kiernan wanted to go to (well not wanted to, but you know, you’re in London you do all the tourist stuff!). Our first trip was Picadilly Circus, she took photos of the lights and went into the gift shop to buy some additional gifts from London. We then went into funland where I quickly demonstrated my DDR skills to Kiernan, I was really tired so I decided to play easier songs rather then killing myself with my usual level 9 song haha. Stephie did notice that I was playing an easier song but Kiernan was still nonetheless impressed of the dancing.

Afterwards we went to find the Hard Rock Cafe which was located in Hyde Park Corner, so off to Hyde Park Corner via the Picadilly Line, Kiernan said we should of got off at Green Park but I insisted we went to Hyde Park Corner. Upon exiting the place I asked for directions to Hard Rock Cafe and some lady selling stuff by the station exit helped me out with that. After walking around the direction the lady pointed out I sort of guessed the whole thing, I was slightly lost near the end. I used bus stop maps to find out where we were but couldn’t really find it, I was very sure I was near it but I just couldn’t put my foot on where it was. This was where I took in Kiernans advice and went to Green Park to find Hard Rock Cafe instead. Stephie then said she had to leave since she wanted to pack up and get to the airport early in case anything bad happens.

We said our goodbyes at Green Park station, me and Kiernan continued our journey to find Hard Rock Cafe. Kiernan used Google Maps on her phone to try and find the way. Eventually we found the way, Kiernan quickly dashed in and got the presents she wanted (shot glasses) and we left the place soon after, Kiernan wasn’t one of those shoppers who took their time looking for things to be, she knew what she wanted and got it straight away. Good thing since we didn’t have time to do a big sightseeing tour of London. Afterwards we just went to all the sightseeing places including: Buckingham Palace, Westminister Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Westminister, Millenium bridge thingy and Big Ben, I even made her take the ubiquitous shot of Big Ben and the underground sign haha.

Going italian with Nero and Pizza Express

We soon after chilled out at Caffe nero which was located next to Westminister Station where Kiernan bought some iced tea and I got myself a Frappe Latte and coffee beans (was really getting into them thanks to Alice). I asked Kiernan to try the Frappe Latte but she wasn’t too keen on it because she didn’t like the taste of coffee. Soon after Kazzie phoned us up telling us how she nearly drowned in her own bathtub because she went to sleep during her bath, but now she’s heading into London and all. We met her at Euston and began heading our way to Old Street, it was quite a journey I must say. We had to take the bus since parts of the northern line were suspended. Along the way I met my friend from uni who I havent seen in years, was weird meeting him there I must say. He was taking a gap year before finishing his final year next year and all, I said bye to him and continued waiting around in the bus for our stop (we had to look at each bus stop to see if we’re at Old Street Station). We eventually got to Old Street and used Google Maps to find the venue. We were however a bit too early. Kiernan managed to catch her mate hanging outside the venue and had a chat with him and what she was up to etc. We were very hungry and decided to go hunt for food. We eventually found a Pizza Express (which Kiernan has never been too) so we decided to eat there since it wasn’t a place Kiernan could go to eat in America (so I wasn’t breaking any rules). I doubt we could have found anywhere else to eat really, there was a Miso (japanese and chinese fusion restaurant (gotta love fusion restaurants) but nobody was really keen on it.

Inside I ordered a lovely American Hot Pizza, Kiernan ordered an American pizza (in which I quickly pointed at her pizza and went “an american” and then pointed at her and went “an american” when the pizza arrived hehe) and Kazzie ordered a plain tomato and cheese, I also ordered Tiramasu for dessert hehe. Me and Kiernan had a lovely chat about food and the weekend, Kazzie was super antisocial throughout the evening and was talking to Adam on msn via her mobile, at one point I took her phone away and wrote to Adam “brb, i’m being sociable and talking to my friends now” hehe. She continued for a bit and I just shook my head and rolled my eyes (Kiernan did the same). Kiernan showed Kazzie all her photos in London whilst Kazzie had one eye on the photos and the other on the phone hehe. After dessert we left Pizza Express and headed back to the Bar and Grill place (that was our venue!) to see the band play.

I had to pay

Damnit, we didn’t get guestlisted for this gig so I had to pay for it, this was the first time I had to pay for a gig the entire year! Doh. Though I was really keen on seeing this band anyway so it was all good. We got in just in time and they began playing. I immediately got into photography mode and also gave Kazzie some tips on shooting gigs and all whilst she wielded her camera and joined me on a photography fest. A weird surprise was that another muser on the board, “:James:” was actually at the gig, Kiernan mentioned this to me and I immediately pointed out a kid that I presumed was the muser, I dunno who asked him but he replied yes that he was :James:. Small world eh? Anyway, the band was awesome live, I really enjoyed the gig and had fun shooting them

After the gig, Kiernan had a quick word with Josh the singer and we eventually lounged around for a bit before it was time for us to head home. We took a random bus to the nearest station we found and took the tube back home. Eventually I said my goodbyes to Kiernan and Kazzie and that was the last part of the meetup. I managed to get home that day and instantly went nuts on photo uploading and talking to everyone who already got home safe.

Afterwards I went to Stockwell to meet up with Michelle and co, they were quite late, I had nothing to do so I quickly took random photos of the tube, one in particular was this shot

Arty? Haha, anyway, Michelle and the gang finally arrived and we went to the venue, it was a pub :O haha. Did sound like one to be honest haha. Michelle brought along Caff as well as her friend Shel and Bucjo (from the museboard). Pleasant girls, Shel in particular said how Michelle mentioned me a lot and said I was a cool guy *nods*, that I am Michelle, that I am haha. We missed a few tracks but still managed to catch them at it, was nice. The band after that (Yunioshi) was really good too so I took some photos of them too :D, typically we’d leave after the gig but I stayed a bit longer with the band and had a chat with Kris and Michelle, was a nice evening, got to know them a bit better and all. I left soon after due to last trains etc.

But yeah, some photos.. during the gig I thought my photos werent sharp enough so I started tweaking the shutter speed at like 1/250, was a silly idea, turns out I had alot of light going on and it was sharp. Damn funny eyes haha

Oh and a disco ball came out of nowhere, was random!

Here’s the photos for Yunioshi, they’re really cute hehe

Anyway, we quickly made our way to Camden Town, the gig was in Mornington Crescent but that station was closed off due to engineering works and all. Once we were there we had a nice walk all the way to the venue. We were slightly worried that the gig would start before we have arrived since we got there at around 9:15 odd. Turns out the band wasnt there still! Michelle and Caff managed to get aftershow passes with their guestlists. I did contemplate whether or not I should go, Michelle did tell me she probably could get an extra aftershow pass from someone but suddenly the thought of travelling back home in the middle of the night on a sunday using the night buses suddenly brought shivers down my spine. No way was I going to take the night bus, so I decided to just leave the thought of going to the aftershow and just enjoy the gig.

Anyway, I managed to catch max and aino at the venue, they were pretty much hanging back for the gig whilst I had an urge to get to the front, and so me, Michelle and Caff went to the front :P. The funny bit was when I told Aino that I was heading to the front, I said “right we’re going to head to the front”, and she must of misheard me because her reply was “oh its ok, I dont think we’re going to goto the front”. So i told her that I was going to the front, not them haha. Was fun.

We managed to mingle our way into the front (always take the sides). We reached a point where we couldnt go any further and all. Was pretty close to the stage, about 2 layers of people in front of us. Sadly the front was infested with quite alot of tall people.

Howling Bells finally arrived on stage, the crowd roars and the band goes right at it with “The Bell Hit”. The gig was amazing, I was so glad I managed to see them play again. I was very disappointed when I was late to see them at Wembley Arena. I must say, some songs really started to hit me as being really good songs, in particular “Blessed Night” and “Setting Sun”. I really like how she uses a distorted mic (or perhaps a talk box modulated mic) to sing them. She sings it in a funny way too.

I took quite alot of photos, most of them were bad, the initial batch were bad bad, but slowly I managed to squirm my way a bit closer to the stage, one of the girls in front of me thought i was leaning my arms on her friends back to take photos and told me off, silly blind bint haha.

I eventually stood behind some tall girl and her mate who were constantly dancing to the songs the band played. Nobody wanted to stand behind her because she was ridiculously tall. Taller then me!

Anyway, I managed to squirm a few shots whenever her head moved to the left. I’m getting alot better with photo taking since I rely on shutter speed settings and really keeping my hands steady when taking the photos. I’m really happy that I’m making full use of my compact camera since I previously wouldnt have used the shutter priority functions, it would have been hardcore automatic all the way.

During the photo taking, the tall dancing girl in front of me kept wiggling her butt at my direction. It was rather distracting whilst I was taking photos and enjoying the gig haha. She did it about 7-8 times, was practically a lap dance. She was ok looking so I didnt tell her off haha

Howling Bells were fun during the gig, so were the crowd, occasionally the crowd would heckle and the band would reply to them, one in particular was a guy going “I want your babies” to Juanita, obviously it was directed at her but the guitarist replied “do you want my babies?” whilst Jaunita continued to joke around and ask the guy in the audience whether he wanted his babies and how that could be arranged.

Juanita even managed to tell a story while the band was sorting out their gear, she asked the crowd “do you want to hear a story” and the crowd jeered “yeah”, she quickly replied “i dont have a story, but if you give me a topic I’ll make something up really quickly” haha. She talked about how she didnt like potatoes, how she took a photo of a giraffe in the zoo and how psycho britney spears has become haha. So yeah, we all had a laugh and the gig ended pretty nicely (with Low low low low low happening).

Afterwards Michelle and Caff needed to use the toilet but since there was a queue we decided to loiter a bit. When the queue died down a bit I told her I was going to head off since I was pretty much wrecked from a two day meetup anyway. Not to mention that… DUN DUN DUN! I had ANOTHER howling bells gig to attend to tommorow!

So yeah, I pretty much dashed back home after the gig, Michelle did send me a text during my journey home saying how she managed to get an aftershow pass, but by the time that text arrived I was pretty much in Victoria station, the point of no return haha. I was glad I didnt regret not heading home, I really needed that time to relax and sleep from a hectic day.

Rightio…

Howling Bells part two!!!

I cant remember what I did before the second howling bells gig, I think I pretty much slept till the time I needed to get ready haha. Howling Bells was doing a signing at Virgin Megastores and Michelle had got guestlists for the signing. This meant we were allowed to watch the gig down at the side of the stage, it was a slightly fancier place but still *shrugs*.

Today I went all out and brought my DSLR camera. Since it was an instore signing there was no way I was going to get turned down for carrying my camera. This meant I can really take some nice shots to make up from the slightly shabby shots from the previous night.

Me and michelle met up at the back of Virgin Megastores where we got our guest passes, we were then sent back into the store and went down to the basement for the gig. My pass was a “Guest” pass, and it appears that photographers had “Media” passes. So I guess I was out of bounds with the photo pit people haha. After a wee bit of waiting and bantering with Michelle Howling Bells arrive on stage. Juanita wasnt wearing her crazy leopard print dress and red sparkly head band (well she wouldnt would she? she’d stink if she wore it a second time and people would say nasty things about her haha). This time it was a black jacket and some black top type thing.

During the gig, I used my new 55-200mm lens to take photos of the band from the side since the front was riddled with band photographers going nuts at the band. It was harder taking photos at this angle but the plus side was I got to shoot the entire band from this angle, and they were pretty neat.

Anyway, the snapping was awesome, I felt quite alive taking photos with my DSLR camera, its a different feeling compared to snapping them with just a shabby compact.

Eventually Michelle persuaded me to just ask the security guard whethere I could goto the pit and take photos there. The beauty of it was that you didnt need to say “could I get in, I’m “media” “. I just asked if I can get in, not telling him that I am a press photographer or that I have a guest pass instead. So yeah, he pretty much assumed I was one of them and let me in the photo pit, with the other lions snapping at poor Howling Bells haha.

I managed to change my lens back to my 18-55mm lens since I was pretty close to them. The photos were so much nicer when you’re only less then a meter away from the band.

So yeah, those are some of my photos I took for the signing. The gig itself was amazing and we managed to hang around and get a few things signed, including setlists and my album. The day was pretty nice I must say. Got quite alot of positive comments afterwards from flickr about my photos. You can compare these photos to my previous night photos or even to my photos of howling bells during placebo.

After waking up we were STRAIGHT AT IT with super smash brothers. yet again it was a two on one situation. It was particularly funny how stu just jumped STRAIGHT out of bed and went straight into gaming mode. It was proper intense, I got a glass of tropicana to drink whilst playing (was good shit, woke me up like a motherbiatch).

Kazzie and adam were pretty astonished to see us at it STILL. Adam did join in for one bit and surprisingly won the game by beating me. Of course, one has to remember that I was playing against adam and popey (dunno if inn was there, i think a computer was playing too) So i had to kill off 10 or 15 peeps out of the 5 lives I had. The end was annoying because i actually landed on a bomb which is why he won. Now he’s all smug about it. I think they were all starting to get smug at it, but not until they started giving me one on one matches where I showed them who’s boss haha. With stu i managed to kill him with just one life (didnt lose one), with adam I only got hit 5 times whilst he managed to lose all 5 lives.

Inn played a bit more too and then eventually it was time to pack it in and all. We were all up and ready to start packing things up and tidying things so that we didnt trash up kazzie’s house and all. I was in a tantrum trying to find my lens cap haha. Adam recalled seeing it somewhere but then kazzie was far too lazy/not bothered to help me find it (grr). Eventually I gave up on the idea of finding it and just started to pack things up. Kazzie brought my some rice cakes that she forgot to show me last night. I managed to munch a few down that time haha.

Anyway, after all the packing up, pissing about with kazzies 55-200mm lens, (taking photos of her cat haha), we were heading back to London for some more meetup action. I had a wii, and a dslr camera to take care of which meant I had to split up with everyone to go home, have a bath and meetup with them all.

This time kazzie decided to drive us to a decent station this time, Brent Cross station. Adam managed to lead us to the wrong station and got us a bit lost and all. Was tedious but at least we didnt have to take the watford route and all. The whole journey was painless and I managed to get home quite quickly and all.

This is where I lounge about for a bit, surf the web, take a bath, charge as much battery as I can, and get changed into a new attire, this time I was sporting some stripey green top.

Everyone else was partying it up at funland whilst I was getting ready and all. I left at about 3pm but was informed that they’ll be in nando’s so theres no point in me going to funland anymore :(. So yeah, quick travel to nando’s

Everyone met up, popey, inn, kazzie and adam all arrived late due to the fact that people were far too tired and lazy to wake up early and get to the damn place. people mingled but apparently they were all bored until I arrived haha (kidding).

I got straight into business and ordered some nando’s. The waitress was weird, her name was Serena and she seemed to be a trainee at nando’s, during my order she was complaining about being tired and was frustrated when we’d order things AFTER she has taken the order. Kev wanted to tap her.

After ordering food I got nice and comfty with the likes of kev and co and got down to the crazy array of challenges

Tetris challenge
Not exactly a challenge but we had 5 ds’s going playing tetris ds, was pretty fun. I managed to kick everyones arse at it haha. People were clueless about the items option and better yet, kev (the second best player there) is a nobody in my books haha (22-1). haha thats pretty harsh, but you know, I have played it for a long time haha.

Wasabi challenge
hm, I went to yo sushi to get some sushi and wasabi to do the wasabi challenge (was very successful the previous day and it ACTUALLY has some levels of difficulty and all!)
So yeah, ordered 4 maki cucumber rolls and 2 salmon nigri. I asked the crowd who wanted to participate and got the 6 people i needed (next time i’ll buy more haha). The participants were:
Me, Mona, Kev, Adam, Abbey and Aino.

I managed to ooze out as much wasabi goodness out of the 4 wasabi satchets I ordered. Me and mona picked the salmon nigris and we all ate the sushi at the same time. The best bit was the aftermath, cameras going wild whilst we take photos of everyone’s reaction to the sushi.

It was explosive. Me, Mona (and apparently kev) were cool with it, Mona still being the true winner since she actually ENJOYS the wasabi haha. The other two went running away like little 6 year old pubescent girls as the wasabi started to hit their noses, causing them to either spit it out or just cry in their nose.

Salmiakki challenge
This was the highly random and unpopular challenge made by aino haha. She made a few participants eat some of her random sweets and stuff. I managed to dig them into my nando’s chicken and eat it some time later when i was eating my chicken haha. Uhm…. yeah, the wasabi one was better haha.

Mona’s “I’ve never” game
Mona managed to do a quick game with everyone which involved revealing stuff people have or have not done. I won’t explain the rules since its tedious and confused kev but yeah. This game we get to discover hardcore muse fans, and other forms of muse board mind games. The game got a bit tiring since it was suppose to involve people drinking whenever they have done that particular thing, but uhm. we stood up each time and it ended up being too tiring to play haha (kev moaned).

The concoction game
A very spontaneous game I made up on the spot when people were trying hard to find a game to play haha. Rules were to pour stuff into a glass, and drink it, the next person then adds something else into the glass and drinks it, and yeah, its just a test of who dares to continue to drink it.
All sorts of stuff were added, including; salmiakki crap, salad leaf, peri peri sauce (extra hot), olive oil, ketchup, chips, coke, PEPPER! cheap nando’s mayonaise sprinkled with peri peri spice and all sorts of shit haha.

It became pretty vile, and then I wagered £5 for someone to drink the glass of vile. Abbey was brave enough to accept the challege and drank the whole damn glass (well, ALMOST). It wasn’t a good sight haha, she went to the toilet to puke it all back out haha. She was definitely brave for doing it and i felt slightly guilty for making the bet haha (though i was hoping someone manly like kev or chizzleface to actually accept the challenge (panzies))

Nando’s chicken wing challenge
This was meant to be the main challenge that everyone planned to have but it didnt happen, people started leaving too quickly and the other challenges were crazy enough, this meant I didnt get any free extra hot wings to eat off people
Other bits and bobs in nando’s
Nowt much really, michelle and caff later on joined us all but sat on another table and drank red wine, Michelle got a bit tipsy from it all bless her. Meanwhile back in our table, some truth or dare questions were asked, quite alot of table slamming and phoenix wright style pointing were made

Alot of greasy chicken was consumed. Well the annoying thing was that I couldnt eat my food in peace without people playing that damn “I never” game haha.

The waitress, “serena” was a bit arsey haha, i tried to dare her to get someone to drink that glass of vile for a pound haha.
We stole some nando’s cocksticks on our way out mwahahah, now I have two haha.

Randomness outside
After nando’s a few people left and we were wondering around for stuff to do. We eventually went to play DDR where kazzie wanted to challenge me into a game of DDR.
Played a few songs and it was fun. Wincy tried the other DDR like game made by konami, it required the use of your hands to dance as well. Its not as funky as the one you see in funland where people try to make something cool out of their hands by doing alot of unneccessary bits and bobs but yeah.

Kev and strippers
We were walking down soho where kev was trying to find some gash, he did go into a “friendly society” which was apparently a nice bar instead of strip club. A few strip club ladies wanted to entice kev to go in, we even got a 3 for £10 deal going on but we eventually passed haha

Pub
We eventually went to a nice pub called Ben’s Crotch (Croutch, whatever). And settled in for a bit of ds lite action, well lite and phat, wincy had let us down by still owning a crappy ds phat haha (though she bought a lite later on). Anyway, games that were played were mario kart and good old tetris. With mario kart I managed to win the first two races and then came second for the other two. It appears that some fucker kept throwing red shells at me so I couldnt overtake kev. Twas pretty unfair but meh, least i didnt lose to him haha.

We also played tetris, whoever played me kept going “shit, wtf?!?” as I pounded them with multiple tetri, it was only at the last game where kev suggestion slightly tipsy michelle to distract me whilst I was playing. I was groped senseless during the battle and lost to kev of all people eurgh haha.

We had some more banter, and finally the goodbyes and all. Loads of man hugs, girl hugs and banter near the end.
This was where me, michelle and caff said our goodbyes as we went to see Howling Bells live. That will be on another entry since its a gig of its own and all.

Michelle and Caff joined in too. The gig was pretty awesome, I had all the freedom I wanted to take photos, pretty much my little photo pit haha (except I wasnt with other peeps). I had a word with the band and they told me to go nuts on the photo taking and even if it needs be, I could go on stage to take photos haha. So yeah, was pretty awesome knowing that I had that freedom and all.

The gig was pretty awesome, the photos were pretty good. The venue only used blue lighting so I was pretty restricted in terms of lights.

I loved making the keytar look like some space weapon of some sort.

Some panorama esque photos.

After the gig, we went to a pub to see Stevie, I havent met him in ages, it was his birthday and a load of his friends were there to celebrate with him. It was quite, we didn’t talk to most people (Stevie included) but it was fun nonetheless. I’m usually good at finding things to do when I’m bored haha.

Earls Court Hotel lounging
Anyway, the day starts off with me waking up in my nice single bed at Earls Court haha. Enjoyed having a bed all to myself, and I also enjoyed the fact that I could take a shower in their hotel room too (after Stephie haha). My boiler in my house was broken so I couldn’t really take a bath or shower there, so thank god there was a shower there haha, Can’t goto the muse gig smelling like alcohol and emo kids haha.

Shower was refreshing, stole Steph or Kaz’s shampoo and condition (Brilliant Brunette, i did feel like one too!). Think I stole whatever I saw in the shower haha. I accidently left one of my magnet bracelet on the side of the bathroom when I exited the bathroom. Around that time Steph was still prancing around and getting ready. Guys take about 1 or 2 minutes to get changed (2 being the most for a guy, ever). So I was able to sit around and play with Kaz’s Canon 350d camera haha (Did a bit of that last night too).

During the whole getting changed period, Inn phoned up several times, she was getting closer and closer to Earls Court so Steph or Kaz had to meetup with her in case she gets lost and all. I cant remember what I was doing, most likely packing up ready to get back home and everything. Inn got a bit lost and even ended up walking the opposite direction in Earls Court and all. She managed to find her way and all from very useful landmarks (Nandos and KFC) and eventually met up with Steph (who JUST managed to get ready and all (rushed version anyway)) to escort her back to the room.

One of the first things I’ve noticed about Inn was that she wore a hat. That was quite funny hahah, since everyone stopped wearing them ahaha. But anyway, said hello to inn for a bit. Bummed about for a bit in the room and headed off back to home.

Back at home
Not sure what I did when I was at home, did the usual battery recharging stuff as well as banter about on the Muse board. I was yet again pretty relaxed from everything. Think I listened to the Muse recordings a bit too. Didnt do too much at home but somehow I get the feeling I was lounging about in my room way longer then people thought. I did book reservations for Nandos, was pretty awesome booking a large table for everyone haha, I reported back to Kev in case he had already booked a table, but turns out he’s done nowt. Eventually, Inn phoned me a few times wondering where I was, so I guess that was the call for me to head off. Took the tube straight to TCR. Was quite a quick journey I must say, I miss using the tube for prolonged uses (ie owning a a week tube travel card).

Random synths, sushi and crazy car problems
I managed to meet up Inn and Steph at Sound Control. Was pretty glad (but it WAS kinda predictable) that they were sitting around there, I was able to piss about on the synths like I usually do. As soon as I got to the bottom floor of Virgin Megastores, I instantly homed myself to the synths, had a quick jam and sighed, knowing that I had to be polite and meet up with Inn and Steph haha. Them two managed to spend their time pissing about at the PostSecret gallery. I did want to go and all but my iRiver wasnt fully charged then so it wasnt a good idea haha.

Upon meeting Inn and Steph, I heard bad news about Kaz’s car being towed away, was quite a shock I must say. The amount she had to pay was crazy (£200). It was to a point where Kaz wasnt able to goto Nandos, as well as seeing Muse. Inn managed to persuade her to try her hardest to come back to Wembley and all though.

After a quick banter and chat at the good old Costa Cafe down at Soundcontrol it was time to head off, but not until I showed Steph and Inn some of my keyboarding skills haha.

I managed to play both Take a Bow and Hoodoo, I used some random E Piano sound instead of the Grand Piano (couldnt find it) and it was pretty nice, Hoodoo in particular. I did some thrilly bit at the top where I kinda play two notes and just twiddle around throughout. Sounds pretty nice. I managed to kinddda play Space Dementia but Inn dragged me out so we can eat at Wasabi.

Wasabi was a delight as usual. I really wanted to get some Yaki Soba but knew what was planned later on haha. So I got two prawn nigiri’s, 2 California rolls and some random rolls that had fried prawns. I also bought a packet of Wasabi (skipped the soy sauce). I cant remember what Inn bought but she did choose quite alot too, most of them were maki rolls which was a bit silly (since the Nigris were obviously better value and all).

We didn’t eat them at the restaurant since we were running a bit late so we took them to go. Our next stop was BACK to Earls Court. I think people had to drop off their stuff or something, but nonetheless, we had to meetup with people etc. Apparently, there was an accident at Earls Court, which meant the Picadilly line was closed and the district line was delayed quite a bit. We were aware that Kev was in London and was heading over to Earls Court. We managed to get him to stop at South Kensington rather then Earls Court (since he was on the Circle Line anyway and it didnt stop at Earls Court). The guy announcing stuff at South Kengsinton had a rastafarian accent, not sure why but I just random spoke to Kev on the phone with that accent as well, was bored and everything.

Meeting more people
Eventually, Kev managed to arrive at South Kengsington in one piece, immediately Inn was taking photos of him with Kaz’s Canon 350d (ah, thats another reason why we had to go back, drop that off and everything). Strangely, kev was caught reading this…

This was him using his news paper to shoo Inn away, he was on the phone at the time and Inn thought it would be funny to have a camera frenzy on him. Did not go down so well I must say.

So after all that dilly dallying, we were sort of on track to where we were going. We took the district line to Earls Court and went straight back to hotel (this was where I was able to get my bracelet back haha). Everyone wanted to look at Kev’s room (just to see if his room is cooler then Steph’s as well as us knowing what room number he was in). His room was small and depressinng. Was perfect for your typical room youths would book after running away from home so that they can slit their wrists and listen to some emo music… hope Kev didnt do that. At one point, kev came into Steph’s room going “has anyone managed to lock themselves out of their room yet?”. Was probably one of the best lines kev’s said on that day. Bless him.
After a nice long banter at the hotel rooms we were running VERY late for Nandos. (I think we were out of the room at about 6 (yup, people were entering Wembley Arena whilst we were still waiting to head to Nandos and everything)).
We went straight to Earls Court to catch the train to Wembley Central (which was closer to Nandos compared to Wembley Park). At this time, B managed to have finished her college, get back home, get changed and all that stuff and meet me up at Earls Court. We were also waiting for Miss Blee to meet up with us as well. But kev sort of met up with her and showed her to the hotel and everything.

So yeah, it was all quite confusing at Earls Court, more people were tagging along to head to Nandos and everything. B managed to work out an easier route to get to Wembley Central (involved going to Paddington station and all) so we all followed her lead on that one. Kev did try to make a few team leader decisions but were soon disregarded due to the fact that me and B knew more about London then he did.

I had a quick game of Tetris DS with Kev during the journey. I whooped him silly (naturally) in front of everyone. Was quite fun I must say haha.

Ooh I forgot to mention, Kev bought his jacket from a charity shop. Twas the most suave he could be for a meetup. I mentioned that he looked like he had just broke up with some emo chick hence the clothes haha. Most of the meetup was there to joke with Kev, no idea why he suddenly became that guy everyone makes fun out of but thats life I guess. I also forgot to mention how we’ve managed to blame Kaz’s car accident, how late we were etc all on kev. Purely because he was team leader haha. Thats life… if things go wrong, you blame others. Kev made me look after his DS Lite… cant remember why, thought he had pockets for it. but nonetheless I looked after it in my bag.

Nandos (finally)
After a semi painful journey to Wembley Central, I managed to instantly sniff out Nandos, it was pretty far, but somehow I managed to sense the resturant anyway. Wasn’t as awesome as the Sheperds Bush one but you know. Beast Love and Popey were all waiting at Nandos already so the seating arrangements were all sorted.

So yeah, here’s most of the gang at Nandos; there was BOD, Ploy, Popey, Beast Love and Pryo girl.

Was very surprised that BOD was there too, no idea why, but I kept laughing at him haha. Think we got straight into business and ordered our food. I managed to get the usual (10 wings hot, 1 large fries with peri spice and, 2 peri dips, 1 soft drink) as well as a free quarter chicken using my Nandos card. Was semi pissed off that I couldnt give it to Inn to use since they’ve spotted me passing it on haha.

That was pretty much my food, was quite an awesome portion haha. Kev had to pop off and fetch his sister (who was still lost as ever haha). B managed to remain sociable (but on the phone) and walked outside of Nandos to continue her phone antics. Kev mentioned later on that she was there when he left, and was still there when he came back.

Think I just ate haha, occasionally bantering with everyone. I did manage to shake everyone’s hand and say hello. Was nice seeing Ploy again haha, she was fun. So yeah, lots of bantering until Kev arrives with his sister. They immediately ordered their food since they were running late and all.

The food kev ordered was horrific. I mean, I can eat alot but boy did Kev go all the way. Was proper savage (not in the good sense that Stephie uses in her general dialogues). We did our usual challenge of eating EXTRA HOT (and beyond) nandos wings and see who would give in and drink water. This time there was a bit of a kick, Inn thought it would be funny to smear wasabi sauce all over the wings haha. It was horrific (in a bad way!)

You’d think it was spicey by ordering Extra Extra Extra Hot wings, but putting Wasabi on was simply a bad idea. Not in a spicey way either… me and Kev tried it and couldnt taste a thing haha (probably because our senses were dead from the prior nandos munchings). We both tried to look non challant as possible, but I’d say that those wings would have killed if we ate them first, not to mention that fact that they were dry instead of soggy. I’ve noticed that things are much spicier when they are dry and charred haha.

More visitors and the journey to the Arena
At some random point, Max arrived at nandos with CottonCandy. Twas funny seeing her, her trousers haha. She kept offering people random sweets known as “Satan’s Sperm”. They taste weird…. according to everyone else. I didnt try them because they look very mank haha. Kev seem to likes them for some reason (weirdo).

Think that was it at Nandos I must say, I started to tell everyone that he HAD to head off due to us having a possibility of missing Muse (the actually point of meeting up ahaa). So yeah, most people began heading off, twas funny how kev almost did NO leadering whatsoever, just give us shit advice that noone listened to (mainly directions haha).

So we all headed out of the building, some people took toilet breaks and all. I was one of the first ones out and out of nowhere, I head a noise….. sounds like a dropped something. Hmmm, wonder what that was haha. Seems like my bag was wide open and kev’s ds lite fell out of my bag haha oops. I did tell kev about it but he wasnt so piss (but I think he cried inside a bit, his sister said he was all protective over it when he had it haha (its like my life mirrored haha) ). Yet again, we were doing more detective work as to where Wembley was, I was leading once again but was told a gist of the area. So I just followed it, was pretty easy to find since its next to Wembley Stadium.

At once random point me and B were actually skipping to the venue, kev thought we were mental, but we’re used to skipping to gigs haha. Was awesome, kev was losing his breathe all the time and everything haha.

Getting in the damn venue
Painfully, we were REALLY late haha…. the band didnt start, but then there was a queue for the gig. We waited like everyone else, but when it was our turn…BAM! The tickets were all gone. They had ran out of guestlist tickets….this meant that they had to print more tickets out for us to use. The problem of that being what ticket numbers were they going to print. It was pretty funny how it kinda went real messy at that point. ALOT of waiting was involved. We were somehow allocated with tickets that were located at block N3 (alot closer to the band and all). I think we missed about 3 songs of the gig. Was pretty annoying. You could hear it from where we were standing. We were all also contemplating about stealing some aftershow passes since they were just sitting there and the lady just disappeared out of nowhere to have a chin waggle. When she was actually sorting out the tickets Kev just threw tonnes of abuse at her “Come on lady, faster!” etc. Was quite funny haha, kev hurling abuse to a lady, behind a counter type thing where she couldnt even hear her. Proper manly.

Overall the whole waiting and all was frustrating and evil. People behind us were proper pissed off at us (The guard didn’t really explain the fact that there wasnt any tickets for them to give out, so I assume they thought we were slowing things down). So yeah, everyone rushed to Block N to get some Muse action.

Muse gig, finally
One of the things I noticed was Matt’s clothes… he wore red…. just as I prophesied (black for day 1, white for day 2, and hmm, what colour does matt also like wearing?). People were lounging about having no idea where to sit down and eventually they just sat whereever, we were unfortunate to sit on some proper lousy seats (was better then the others in terms that it was closer to the stage and all)… we had some random security guard ask us to check our tickets, we showed them and he tried to locate the right seats for us. The thing is though, he really shouldnt of bothered us, noone was challenging our seats, customer wise, so why is he bothering us? It was really tedious. He made us follow him in and out of the bloody block. Disturbing everyone and all. Eventually he found the seats that we were suppose to be allocated and guess what? They were already taken, the people on those seats had the same ticket number and all like us. So the guy had no idea what to do. B just ignored him and went back down to some random standing area to watch the band. Was really annoying because the guy was proper confused on what he was doing, so yeah… I’ll just shorten the story about our seats because it was simply frustrating, but there was one point where they took us out of the block to go to another block with apparently better seats. But then it just got real confusing and we eventually sat back where we sat at first. Really ruined the day I must say. (Which I shall blame kev for, for making us late and everything). But I’d blame the damn security guards as well for not treating us like proper paying customers, we werent trouble making so why are they disrupting everything.

The photos were ok, there was some random pillar in the way so that was a bit of a bummer, but at least it was real close to the band.

Oooh forgot to note, the last photo is the legendary supermassive mosh hole. People would leave this space empty, and when the song REALLY kicks in, they’d mosh like crazy. At one point Matt dedicated a song (Stockholm Syndrome) to them crazy moshers haaha. He loves making fun out of them.

So that was it, the setlist was a bit shabby for the last day, they played Knights of Cydonia first and Take a Bow last. I preferred the second date the most, it was such a perfect setlist, greatest hits and the whole tracklist of Blackholes and Revelations.

Aftershow antics
So the hard part was over, the next bit was for me to work my magic and get about 12 people into the the aftershow. Kev was useless haha, all he could do is phone Tom, but my first plan of action was to simply get everyone going to the aftershow area, at least you could stand a chance of meeting Tom…. or if not… get some passes from other people who left the gig haha.

Me and B were running straight to the gig and all, I texted Kev to head to that direction so I think he managed to tell everyone where we needed to go. Remember that the goal was to simply get into the aftershow party…. (just keep remembering this point haha).

We met up with Michelle, Caff and Gem during our journey to the aftershow area, and they tagged along with us. Seemed like them lot managed to get ok seats, perhaps none of this would happen if Kev got us to the Arena early ahahah. So yeah, we eventually end up at the waiting area for the aftershow place. This is where it got REAL exciting for me (and me only haha). Anthony, a friend of mine who I’ve met several times at several aftershows saw me waiting outside, last night I asked him whether or not he’ll be coming tomorrow and he said he wasn’t as he was seeing Julliet and the Licks. But yeah, he managed to turn up, we had a quick talk and all and it turns out he was invited by Chris to play footie with him at some random place. I explained him my situation and to my surprise, he offered me an aftershow pass!! HAHAH. THAT WAS IT!!! I got my aftershow pass sorted, the guy had 3 strips of it, I tried to ask for another one but he saw SO many people waiting with me that he thought “nah, just one, i dont know the others”. So yeah, guess I was stuck with just one aftershow pass.

So yeah, folks, if you want aftershow passes, meet up with people at aftershows, important people haha. So anyway, after celebrating my aftershow passes, I promised everyone I would go inside the aftershow to find Tom to see if he could help everyone out. Though I must say, more and more musers were waiting outside for us, the best way to explain this task was by comparing it to “squeezing triplets back into a woman, and the babies arent even hers” I would have used more babies but that’s just proper cruel to the lady haha.

Having said that analogy, later on I found out that the amount of people ACTUALLY inside the after was similar to 3 triplets inside a woman. At first upon entering the aftershow party, my first reaction was “nobodies”. Noone I knew was around, so it was generally a boring aftershow. Had to wait a bit more until Tom or the band to arrive. I came back out of the aftershow and reported to everyone that it was actually boring and that the water costs £1.90, which was rediculously overpriced. I wasn’t too keen on this aftershow, it was like last nights, only with more people (you didnt know). As well as that, no music and the area became more and more packed with people.

To keep everyone outside convinced that this aftershow was shit, I took some photos of the place to prove to them that it was just a packed up aftershow that wasnt worth going to (not to mention, impossible to get so many people in and all).

I really wasn’t bothered to goto the aftershow, I’ve already went two times in a row, and not to mention the fact that I’ve already checked this night’s aftershow party and found it boring and lacking in people to talk to. The photo above gives you an idea of how packed it was, it got alot worse afterwards, one point it was simply far too packed to even do anything in there.

Most people were not really bothered about going to the aftershow, was glad that so many people were thinking about this. I had previously already told people not to look forward to an aftershow since when I spoke to Tom last night about getting us aftershowed, he was REALLY iffy about (use the woman and triplets analogy again). Michelle received a text from her mates that the band wasn’t going to be in the aftershow party at all, so it was simply a useless aftershow. Though quite alot of people were determined to get into the aftershow party. Gem, Michelle and Caff were sort of in a team since they were all staying at Michelle’s place. They were quite determined in getting in. I tried asking people who were leaving the aftershow for wristbands if they were leaving and all. Eventually I managed to get two from people leaving the building, it happened to be the Editor of NME haha, upon finding that out I managed to quickly plug in my website haha (was funny, in future I should make business cards for the occasion).

Anyway, I gave the first two passes to B and Michelle, in that order (there was definitely alot of politics going on haha). Afterwards, since Michelle was going with Caff and Gem, I had to give the next two passes (which I managed to get from Anthony again when he was leaving the venue and all) to them. And that was it, I felt a bit evil offering the passes to people close to me first, but I did make my point that I was in a very tedious situation, Kev managed to help me up by telling me to give them to Gem and Caff haha, so it kind of made it look like I was actually willing to give it to anyone (which I was anyway, it was tedious already).

So yeah, after all that bantering, we tried queuing up for the aftershow, but the problem now was that the aftershow was simply packed as ever. The security guards didnt let any more people in haha. So all that pass snatching was useless. Gemsy and her friend managed to get in as well. She did the same chewing gum technique and was able to get into the aftershow for a bit (I was cooler haha).

So yeah, at one point I just kept asking the security guard if i was able to get some water from the toilets as I was REALLY thirsty haha (from all that persuading and everything), the bald security guard got proper mad and told me to “F**k off” haha. Ah well.

Leaving the aftershow
I think at some random point everyone just gave up and left, I wouldnt say gave up, since most of them werent really bothered. If we wanted an aftershow party it was defintiely alot cheaper and cooler to make one ourselves, since the aftershow lacked in people we knew, and the drinnks were expensive (as well as no music etc).

We were able to catch the last train back (but only to Baker Street) at the Wembley Park station. Required quite alot of waiting, at one point kev told people that the train approaching was our train back home, it had been “Leader approved” haha… funny bit was that it was a train delivering train tracks.

We did hope kev was going to jump into it and all haha.

During the tube journey to Baker Street me and kev played Tetris DS, I whooped him 4 times in a row, and was almost going to finish him off for the 5th time when suddenly he managed to beat me at it haha, though he was lucky I had cold fingers so he won that time, afterwards I beat him for the other rounds, kev’s not really quick with his fingers. When we arrived at Baker Street, B was able to quickly find out bus back to Earls Court and Hammersmith. We went on the top deck and had a few giggles, at one point I told Miss Blee that I had received a private message from StarSailor, I used my phone to read out the pm haha, I did it in a funny french accent and everyone enjoyed that. B was expecting me to stay over at hers but unfortunately I had to sort out the other people who had no idea of where London was and all. So yeah, I had to say goodbye to B as we got off at High Street Kensingston. Was pretty worried that she was going back home on her own but she’s not 15 anymore I suppose.

The REAL aftershow (with munchies, drinks and rice cakes)
We had a quick trek to Earls Court, was a nice trek. Along the way we managed to stop by at a 24 7 Newsagent and get some food. Me and Inn pitched in for some DECENT Tropicanna Orange Juice (leaving the others with shabby water haha). We went slightly nuts on crisps and stuff, I made sure that we bought some rice cakes (yum yum).

So yeah, our own little aftershow party in Steph’s room.

This one was alot more fun since we had munchies and drinks. Kaz bought some beers, alcopop and assorted food. Stephie started distributing the Absinthe haha, only me and popey (and a few others) were drinking it haha, I was being sly and simply mixed it up with my Tropicanna, didn’t want to end up wasted hahah, that’s just not cool. Kev got changed before joining us, we laughed at his retro old muse T Shirt, he had forgotten the fact that he would be ridiculed for wearing it haha.
Managed to take some photos of everyone using Kaz’s daddio camera (mmm). And throughout the party people were knocking the door. The funniest thing is how everyone darts off somewhere. Either to the bathroom or down on the floor haha, It reminded me of an episode of friends where they just hide when Pete talks to Monica over the video phone.

Eventually the hotel guy DID knock on the door. He asked her how many people were in this room, and Steph replied “4…” expecting the guy to believe her, what with the cameras in the corridors and everything haha. He guy told her that if they were partying then they could use the Lounge and everything. Steph was surprised that there was one (as were we) so we all went up and continued to party upstairs.

The lounge had hot water (should of bought pot noodle haha), an internet terminal as well as some comfty seats. So this was where we partied up the place for a bit. Twas quite sad actually, most people found it more interesting to go on the internet then actually socialise haha. Makes you want to shake your head seeing them and all. I just happily munched on my rice cakes and spiked up orange juice.

The computer was shite, the browser didnt support javascript so we had to disable alot of things to actually make the muse board work. It was horrible. Couldnt even watch youtube videos.

Soon we had to pack up and finish off the party. Blee and her boyfriend went to their room, so did kev and her sister, Gemsy went back to her place whilst BOD, Popey and I left the hotel to go back home. I had a nice chat with Popey throughout the journey hehe, unfortunately, it wasnt one of those deep and meaningful chats you get during random midnights where you would constantly squint your eyes and stare at the other person intently, agreeing with them as they waffle on whilst getting ready to follow it up with some of your own waffle, it was just a normal chat about … stuff, cant remember haha. was glad he was taking the 93 bus too. I eventually got back home in one piece and got some decent sleep in my own bad.

So yeah, that was it. Eventually got a text from B saying that she got back home safe. So that was good.