...and I couldn't be more miffed about it. I've been off work this week and had an absolutely fantastic time, and it's ludicrous to me that it is already Sunday and that I'm back at work tomorrow. Sheesh. Anyways, here's a blow-by-blow account of my awesome week:

I had a rather lazy day on Monday; spent it mostly showering, straightening my hair, reading comics, and packing for the upcoming week of UK tripping. On the evening, I met with Rich and we went to see The Get Up Kids at the Academy 2. They were really excellent live, which was cool because I didn't really know anything by them; I just went because Rich really wanted to go. The support act were pretty rubbish, but like I said, The Get Up Kids themselves were aces. Unfortunately, Rich and I had to skidoosh a bit early (though they had played the whole of the album Rich had gone there to see, and a few others to boot) as it was far hotter in there than usual, and we both felt a bit ill/tired cos of it.

Tuesday was THE SHIZ. We got a coach down to London in the morning. Now, Rich had discovered the previous weekend a new milkshake place called ShakeAway, better than CookieShake, in Stafford. We discovered that there was one in London, just one Tube stop away from Kings Cross, which is where we were staying for the night, so we decided to swing by there before checking in to get some milkshakey goodness. It is SOOOOOOOO much better than CookieShake! I had a Fruit Salads shake (yes, the old school sweets Fruit Salads blended into a delicious shake) and LOVED it. YUM.

Me enjoying a rather yummers shake.

After that, we checked into the worlds most rubbish hotel (tiny, boiling, no air conditioning, windows that somehow amplified the sound of the main road outside to louder than it was when we were actually walking down said road, a sliding toilet door that would not shut, rubbish left around from the previous peoples' stay...) where Rich had a nap and I started reading Lord of the Rings again. Third time's the charm... We ate in the hotel in a money-saving venture (Sainsbury's tuna sweetcorn pasta is pretty damn nice, yanoo) before setting off to the O2 Arena to see PEARL JAM. Yes, that's right, PEARL JAM. Firstly, holy crap, the O2 is HUUUUGE. Never before have I had to take two escalators to find the block I'm sitting in, then climb two flights of stairs to get to my seats...

Yikes, this is high... And it actually goes up further behind us...

We caught Gomez's last couple of tunes, then there was Pearl Jam. OH MY GOSH, they were totally awesome. I'm not even exaggerating, this was one of the best gigs I've ever been to. My only regret was that we couldn't get the standing tickets, or at least tickets a little closer to the stage. But still, they played a cracking 28 song set of pure awesome. LOVED IT.

Quite proud of my camera for zooming this far...

After the gig, we had the worst nights' sleep ever in the hottest noisiest hotel room EVER, then got up to head off to Edinburgh. We arrived not long after 4pm, went the wrong way toward the hotel but eventually found it, checked in, then set off for exploring. We had a delicious meal at an Italian restaurant (biggest calzone ever defeated me...), hit two great pubs then headed to the Underbelly for Richard Herring's show. I love Richard Herring, have I mentioned this before?? The theme of his show was him trying to reclaim the "Hitler moustache" as something good, because it was Chaplin's first and Hitler ruined it for everyone. It was absolutely hilarious, and after the show I picked up a fake toothbrush moustache, which there will probably be a photo of me with at some point as long as no-one gets offended :P We had a much better nights sleep in this hotel, being quiet and cool, and we ended sleeping in a bit and missing breakfast. D'oh. Our plans for exploring and possibly going to see Edinburgh castle were scuppered when it started pissing down. It may surprise you that I was not fully prepared for this, even though Scotland is known for it's rainy times, because all forecasts had informed me of an unnatural heatwave sweeping the whole of Britain. We ended up spending the morning in Starbucks/the bar at the Underbelly, before seeing a live recording of the Collings and Herrin podcast.

Richard Herring and Andrew Collins recording their hilariously mental podcast.

I don't think I've laughed so much ever. I love a good belly laugh, as I told Richard earlier that day, and I got plenty of it that afternoon. After their recording, in a rare spell of not-rain, a group of us along with Richard Herring and Andrew Collins headed down to The Tempting Tattie, a baked potato shop that Richard Herring frequents whenever in Edinburgh.

The tatties here are awfully tempting, though the lack of garlic mushrooms came as a slight disappointment.

I tell you, I can totally understand why, cos that was the most badass spud I've ever eaten. After getting Richard to sign my programme from his show the night before, and not having the courage to ask him and Mr Collins for a photograph with me, Rich and I headed to a pub called Whiski, where Rich got mock-offended that I wouldn't buy him a £25 shot of Johnnie Walker Blue Label whiskey. We had intended to do some more sightseeing, but alas, it began to rain again as we left the pub, so we headed off to the train station where we partook in the sipping of coffee before getting the train home. I did manage to get one not-rainy touristy type photo of Edinburgh before our departure, though:

Pretty, innit?

The train, being cheap, made a million stop offs, and so it took us a little longer to get back to Birmingham than it had to get from London to Edinburgh, and we arrived back at my house at around 11pm(ish). 

Friday was very much an excuse to relax and recover from all the travelling about; after Rich had gone home (very early, in order to home in time for the cricket), I did a bit of a Rosemary Conley workout, showered, read some stuff, straightened my hair, then headed out to Wednesbury with my Ma for the fourth Addistock. Adam Boucher made a triumphant return which resulted in a load of us doing backing vocals rather terribly on stage:

Whoa oh oh! etc

Fun times were had by all, though Stoif, Mom and I had to leave before the end of the last band's set though, because of having to get Metros and buses and such.

To top off a wonderfully fun week, last night Rich, his Mom Pam, Sarah, my Mom, Mary, Keith and I went out for a meal to celebrate Pam's upcoming 60th birthday. I had a delicous garlic mushroom pasta thing and the world's most choloatey yummy dessert. We all had a really good time and a right laugh, and upon returning home I topped the fun off with a couple of episodes of Flight of the Conchords, as well as a bit of a reply of Sugarlumps (Good heavens, it should be illegal to be so damn gorgeous whilst singing such a ridiculous song about yer man-bits!)

So there you have it. I have very little planned today; probably read some more comics, or some more Lord of the Rings, watch some more Conchords, be sad about having to go back to work tomorrow... I seriously cannot believe it's Sunday already. After such a great week you'd think I'd be OK with that, but the thought of going back to work only fills me with a slight sense of dread. Plus, I really wish we'd have been able to take more time off work in order to spread out the travelling-for-hours-on-end and spend more time in Edinburgh. I loved it there. I swear, if it had a ShakeAway, it'd be perfect and I'd move there now... But hey, I won £17 on the EuroMillions this week, so I'm getting closer to retirement...

I'm also feeling a little blue because my wonderful paranoia is coming back (at least, I hope it's paranoia, and I'm not actually right about one of my favourite people being pissed off with me...) For those that don't know me that well, I've had a lot of "friends" who turned out to not really be friends after all, and as such I've become slightly mental when it comes to buddies. The sensible part of me is thinking this current situation is probably nothing, but the bigger, not-at-all-sensible part is thinking that something iffy is on the horizon. Here's hoping anything that may be going on is sorted soon, eh?

I guess that's all the rambling I should do for now, except to say that you should all come to the next Addistock on Sept 26th, as I may well be performing at it. I don't have anywhere to house you, like, and can't help you pay for travel or hotel costs, but surely seeing me make a tit of myself on a stage is worth it, right? :P

• Rich and I are officially house hunting. I'm 99.9% excited about this, but still 0.1% nervous and stuff. I've never lived anywhere other than this house, I'm a terrible cook, I don't know how to use a washing machine cos my Nan (who only works two half days a week) does all the housework when everyone else is at work, and I'm quite scared for my Ma. I know it's going to be really difficult for her to be living with Nan and Grandad once I'm gone; partly because Nan and Grandad have several annoying habits (loud nail biting, squelchy loud lip picking, weird finger clicing etc) that have been driving us both nuts but also because I think it'll really hit home that she's not moved out and got a place of her own when both her children have, you know? And that's not to put my Ma down; the only reason she came back home was because she left my Dad cos he drank all their money, and since then Mom hasn't had the funds to move out alone, but similarly doesn't know anyone who doesn't have a partner that she could move in with. I fear she will be really sad when I'm gone... That being said, I am very ready for moving in with the Richnerd and I can't wait to start poking my nose into some houses :D
• I just sent an email that could turn out to be quite important. I don't want to say anymore yet, because I may well jinx it, and there's every possibility that nothing will come of it, but I have my fingers crossed for something...
• Iz is coming down this weekend. Wooooooot! :D We're going to go to the Sea Life Centre, cos I'm lame and love fish :P
• I watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 last night, and fookin' LOVED it. I really don't see why people rag on it. OK, the effects maybe aren't as good as the two previous films, but the Turtles are still awesome, and there's time travel, samurais, battles, lessons learned and Splinter with a lampshade on his noggin. I don't see what there is not to like!
• I also watched Terminator: Salvation this week. TURN AWAY NOW, FOR IT IS ABOUT TO GET VERY VERY SPOILERY IN HERE. YOU CAN'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU IF YOU READ AHEAD AND GET ANNOYED AT MY SPOILAGE. I suppose I could put it under an LJ cut, but I've forgotten how to do that, so SPOLIER CITY AHOY! OK, I think you get the picture. Still here? OK, then I'm spoiling it; the film immediately annoys anyone who has seen the 2 original Terminator movies, as the first part is set in 2003. Why's that shit, I hear you ask? Well, because Judgement Day happened in 1997, and everything went to shit after that, so why are prisons still running smoothly in the wake of a machine-y apocalypse?? But that's OK, you think, maybe there's a reason for this. Oh no, there isn't. There's also no reason why the Terminators don't just kill Kyle Reece (or is it Reese) or John Connor on sight, as they had ample opportunities throughout the course of the film. Or why they built Marcus with a chip in his noggin that is so ridiculously easily removed. At least place it behind the scary metal skull so he can't get in there and pull it out. Sheesh. There's also no explanantion for why a lady is pregnant. (I understand how ladies get pregnant, you know, but you'd think somewhere it'd get mentioned. Like, I dunno, when said lady is in a helicopter flying to the scene of a raging machine war in the heart of Skynet, perhaps? Just a little hint that maybe she shouldn't be heading there, as she is carrying what I can only assume is John Connor's sprog as it was never actually identified as such. And on top of all these plotholes (and more, but I can't be arsed, really) there's some pretty mediocre-to-shoddy acting by Christian Bale, Sam Worthington and Bryce Dallas-Howard. In fact, one of only two highlights in the films for me was Anton Yelchin, who played Kyle Reec(s)e with more emotion and believability than any of the rest of the cast seemed able to muster. The effects were pretty craptacular, too, some bits not even looking as good as the old Terminator movies. Oh my. The other highlight, which was pretty much the coolest moment of the film; John Connor getting attacked by naked Arnie Terminator. I think I've ranted enough about this now..

Last week sometime I got a call from my Richnerd, saying that the girlfriend of a friend of his (who I've met a couple of times and she seems pretty cool) had won tickets to go to a little intimate Maximo Park gig/signing at the Kerrang! radio studio in Birmingham on Tuesday 19th. Thing is, her Mr (who is the bigger Maximo Park fan of the two and pretty much the reason she entered) couldn't go as he had to go to Drayton Manor on a school trip (he works in a school). Ste had phoned Rich knowing he's a huge fan, but Rich had a meeting, so he called to see if I wanted to go. After a frantic text to my lovely boss Lorraine asking for the Tuesday afternoon off, I accepted. (Did I mention that Lorraine is lovely?) So, I met Yve at St Pauls' Metro stop yesterday afternoon and we wondered over to the Kerrang! studio. Bloody hell, did it rain! (The answer there is yes, yes it did. Quite a lot.) After a rainy 40 mins wait outside the studio (second in the queue, get us), we were led into the dinkiest room I've ever seen a gig in, and I barged my way to the front (normally I'm not so much of an arse, but these two hugely tall dudes had gone to the front to stand with their very short lady friends, and I wasn't getting stuck behind those giants!) Before the gig even started Yve managed to win a copy of the new album, Quicken the Heart (which is already a contender for Stacebob's Favourite Album of the Year with no other competition at all). I've come to think of Yve as the world's luckiest person, and I may get her to start entering competitions for me all over the place :P
 

Me and Yve getting excited before the set
 

Anyways, Maximo Park came out and played a five song set of pure unadulterated awesome. All were trackes from the new album; Let's Get Clinical, Questing Not Coasting, A Cloud Of Mystery (my favourite from the album and the highlight of my day), I Haven't Seen Her In Ages and The Kids Are Sick Again. Frankly, I cannot describe to you how amazing Paul Smith's voice is. He's just stunning to listen to, and never ceases to amaze me with his relentless energy and consistent brilliance.

Paul Smith being all awesome

It was a sort-of-acoustic affair; no drum kit could be found, but the guitar stuff was electric and the keyboards were present and fantastic.
 

Maximo Park! Squee!!

Lordy, I love this band. After their set, to which I bopped and sang along happily snapping photos all the while, we were ushered into a semi-orderly queue for the signing. I had lots of things in my head to say that would've made me seem all awesome and funny and stuff, but as soon as I was about 2 people away from the band in the queue, I got totally totally starstruck. When I got to the table I pretty much just placed my stuff for signing down, asked for a photo, made a lame joke about wearing Paul's hat, then went as red as my hair. I tell you, I've never been so embarrassed for myself in all my life. Unfortunately, I couldn't have my picture taken with the whole band as they were very spread along the table and unless I got behind there it wouldn't have happened, so I settled with a photo with Paul. I felt quite sorry for the rest of the band actually, no-one had pictures with them, as far as I'm aware.
 

Me and Paul Smith, and I'm slightly starstruck here...

Yve had brought a load of Ste's vinyls for signing and so I stood like a total lemon at the end of the table collecting her stuff for her as it got passed down the band for signing, just bright red, embarrassed and kicking myself for being such a lame-o. Still, despite my lameness, the gig was awesome, I got all of Rich's stuff signed and I got a veritable bevvy of great photographs of the band, so all was not lost. I'm still kicking myself today though, I tell you... Anyhoo, I walked Yve back to the Metro stop then faffed in Birmingham for a couple of hours before meeting Rich, Addis and Lesley for the Maximo gig at the Academy on the evening. I was quite chuffed because although they didn't play my favourite tune from the new album (A Cloud of Mystery), I'd already seen them play it earlier, and they did bust out my favourite from their previous album Our Earthly Pleasures, By The Monument, which I went crazy to. Amongst other things :P I don't have any photographic evidence of that part of the night (aside from the following picture of Addis in a hat made from an Academy leaflet :P), as I was dancing too much to even think of taking pictures, but suffice to say that everything was bloody amazing.
 

Addis is just sad cos he didn't get to meet Maximo Park like wot I did, innit!

I'm quite sad this morning, though, because a) I'm back at work, b) I'm not seeing Maximo Park today and c) I'm still mortified at my proper starstruckness from yesterday. Note to self: be less of a twat next time (if indeed there is a next time).

Oh well, better get to work...