The Black Star

A blog dedicated to the series of unfortunate events that always happen around me. Not so much unfortunate, more like funny.. but unfortunate sounds better.

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Saturday, November 26, 2005

Rock @ the Arena

So I watched the Van Halen tribute yesterday. It was really good. Perhaps not as good as the Kiss tribute in the entertainment department (the Kiss guys were dressed and everything... even did the blood and fire tricks), but musically they were near perfect. The guitarist was amazing. Aside from one or two bum notes he was flawless. He nailed Eruption with no sweat, and his tapping technique is almost as good as Eddie's. Okay, so maybe not... but still, amazing. The only thing was that for the last two songs the guitar/amp went "pffff" and the sound then sounded more like a twit. The guys took the piss out of themselves, but it was hilarious to listen to the solos... aside from those technical difficulties it was more than a worthy show. Best part? It was free.

Today I went to the Arena as there was a Classic Rock night. Well, perhaps it was less classical than I hoped for, but it was still better than many of the places out there. There was plenty of AC/DC, so that was well encouraging. Also a lot of Motley Crue, which I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not. But no Zeppelin. But to be fair, as soon as I got there I didn't expect them to play any. I still requested it, but in vain. Didn't get Hells Bells either, the bastard, but at least we got T.N.T (which was requested by Ryan at the last minute!).

At the Arena there was this "dude" with shiny vestiment, long white hair, and these shiny disco boots. At first sight we concluded it was a girl, but then when looking at "his" face we could tell that undoubtedly it was a bloke. Disturbing as hell.

Friday, November 25, 2005

I-I II

So I forgot to mention a few things yesterday. But can you blame me? We were in the process of being invaded by Irishmen. And, talking about that, the invasion's not over yet, in fact, they have come to stay for a while apparently. Anyway, right after I finished typing yesterday's entry, James came over to watch a DVD. But, of course, that was not possible because the Irish had taken over the common room. So I decided I'd start teaching him a bit about the ways of the force, so I played him the most famous Led Zeppelin songs. After his breaf lesson, everything went quiet; the Irish had left! So we go out to watch the DVD, and we find that the girls (from the flat from above) were in our common room, and as soon as I set foot in there they're all like "James, James! Did you see what the Irish did!?" I figured they had shagged them all, but then they point to our window. It turns out that while drunk (duh!) one of the Irish had the marvellous idea of punching the window to see what happened. So yes, the idiot broke it. But he also got a souvenir: cut his hand. I wonder what he was thinking "hmm, it looks like I'm strong enough to punch through this window all right! I rule! Oh, shit... my hand's bleeding..." Moron. They fixed it this morning, but like Ryan (one of my flatmates) and I said yesterday: "We're not paying for that shit."

Last thing on the Irish. Ryan made this hilarious remarks about them yesterday before the whole incident. I told him that the Irish invasion was just starting, and he says "yeah, I can hear their voices... it's actually pretty cool when you only hear their voices... it makes you think they're leprechauns..." Fucking class.

So yesterday I also did something really stupid. I agreed to become a slave for a day in the name of charity. Yep. Someone will bid for me and that money will go to Cancer Research while I'll do some dirty work for that person. I seriously don't know what I was thinking, but then, I had just gotten up. Plus I didn't want to disappoint the girls, for the moment being they think I'm a nice guy. But well... I hope nothing too bad happens to me. Right...

So not much has happened today. Gonna go watch a Van Halen tribute band later today, should be good. I hope they're as good as the Kiss tribute band. Oh, yeah. According to the forecasts, it has been snowing for the past three days. What's happened in reality? There's been sunshine. And today there were no clouds in the sky. Talk about being useless. I was so disappointed... I was looking forward to hitting someone on the back of the head with a snowball.

Note to Joey: Yes, we can have booze anywhere we like. And I thought you would've known this by now, but I'm not in freaking London!!! Contrary to popular belief, the UK isn't only London.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

The Irish Invasion (I-I (pronounced "ay-ay"))

So I remember what the comment that almost made me cry was. The guy was going on about how Starbucks had saturated the market and how they had taken over everywhere, ripping off customers of all ages. But then he told of of a place down close to Leeds in Yorkshire where they actually have two Starbucks locals in the same street. That's not it, though, they're right in front of each other. He enlightened us by telling us why they had done that: to rip off persons with Alzheimers. Why? Well, they go into Starbucks and have their coffee with their breakfast and stuff. Then when they come out the first thing they see is a Starbucks, so they go "ah, Starbucks!" and go in to have something. Then when coming out it happens again. And again. And it's a vicious circle of ripping off.

Anyway, I had an event that I wanted to write about today, but I've forgotten now. What I can tell you, though, is that I ran out of bread and had to go get some at the convenience store. So what, you say? Well, it was 1 degree, and the winds were strong as hell (I put my hood on and the wind blew it off!). But, all in all, it wasn't as cold as I expected it to be. Very bearable, actually. But yeah, I was nuts enough to go get bread in those conditions.

Well, today my flat has been invaded by Irish guys. And by invaded I mean 9 Irish guys came in and took over the common room (which is only fit to fit around 7 people). To do what? Play footy on the PS2 and drink. They brought with them a case of 24 pint cans, and by the time most of them left (that would be around 45 mins later) they were all gone. Damn. At the time of writing there are still 5 of them (including my flatmate) out there, speaking in their own incomprehensible language. I do understand a bit, though, and as it turns out it is my flatmate the one that has the worst accent.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

The icing on the day

So what I had planned today was to attend this "battle of the bands" sort of thing at the University of Northumbria (yes, sadly). It was only £1 to get in (again, because I'm special) so I decided what the hell, might aswell give it a try, right? But well, something better came along. An ice hockey match! So I went to watch the Newcastle Vipers play the Edinburgh Capitals (original...) with Ryan (my flatmate) and James.

It turns out it was very entertaining. Perhaps that was because we got in free (again, I'm special... really special), but Newcastle destroyed Edinburgh, and we enjoyed every bit of it. I was yelling and jumping around as if I knew what was going on (and apparenly I got away with it... either that or people are very tolerant) and there was this bloke supporting Edinburgh a few rows behind us (probably the only one there... not kidding) and he kept yelling abuses at the Newcastle players (calling them "Geordies"). It was hilarious... and it really entertained us (everyone else).

That's pretty much it for today, really... oh, well, I bought some DVDs online: the double DVD set of Led Zeppelin live (the actual price is £26 and I got it for £15 in the website) and AC/DC Live at Donnington (just because Angus fucking rocks). Yep, treating myself to some gifts, seeing everyone else is in their Christmas spirit. But to be fair, I haven't bought any entertainment things like that ever since I've been here... no DVDs and no CDs. Only the speaker system.

Anyway, now I can start educating James in the ways of the Force... although I won't use the DVD until I've exposed him to the studio's first. I can't wait to get high on the Led Zep DVD! 5 hours 20 minutes worth of dope... and then over two hours of Angus. Really good stuff. The problem is that I have to wait 3 days for them to deliver it. The store is a 10 minutes walk away, yet I have to wait that long... bastards. But well, it's free shipping, plus cheaper prices than at the store, and aside from that I got a 10% because I'm a student! There's nothing better than being a student here in England!

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

So I went to the comedy thing yesterday. Why? Simply because it was free. Turns out it was great; hilarious. We all laughed our guts out. Especially when the guy kept picking on the lads from the front row, labeling them as extrovert gays. He told us to expect a public orgy from them. Ahh, what a bastard. But the bastardest of all was the last one, who especifically picked on one of the guys in the audience, telling him that he shouldn't go out because he would get beat up by everyone. When asked what he studied, he responded with "I'm doing a PhD." "PhD on what? It might be on something totally shite. Is that your pickup line? 'I'm doing a PhD.' Gotta do better than that, mate. You're not getting laid, are you?"

Then there was another guy who was doing agriculture. "Ah, studying up to be a farmer... nah, only joking mate" the comedian commented. The guy just shrugged and affirmed he intended to be a farmer. The comedian certainly didn't see that one coming, because he just ended up saying "it's fucking weird when you pick on someone and they just accept it."

There were parts where I was so freaking close to crying. But because I really didn't know the people too well, I tried my best to hold it in. I don't remember what it was that almost triggered the tears, but I wish I did so that I could piss myself laughing again.

Anyway, today I decided to chill and watch the Man Utd vs. Villarreal match. I had originally planned to go watch a film at the cinema (because I'm special I can get a discount, meaning I can watch a film for only £2.50), but I had to watch the game. So that was the first of my things to change (remember I had planned my week completely). Because I don't have a TV, I had to go down to the pub to watch it. A mate came down with me to support my loser team (and his name happens to be James...). So well, I won't comment on the match, all I have to say is what I've said for the past months: Rooney is a fucking genius. In two years time he'll be the best player in the world, no doubt about that... and that probably will mean he won't be playing for Man Utd... but fair enough, he deserves better.

After the match we stayed talking until we were kicked out of the pub. As it turns out, he doesn't know too much about music, but he's pointing in the right direction. My goal is to introduce him to some good stuff by the end of this calendar year. AC/DC and Led Zeppelin for sure. So now I've got goals!

Monday, November 21, 2005

It's one of those days

So, well, today's today. That's perhaps the stupidest thing I've written in this blog, and, mind you, I've written about Tiny (miss you Tiny!!!).

Anyway, I went to exchange the faulty camera today. I got ready for fighting, lots of verbal abuse, and pretty much traced every option to make sure I had a response for anything they said. I wanted my £9 back! So I go in the shop, tell the lady that I bought a disposable camera on Friday, went to Edinburgh on Saturday and it broke down for no apparent reason and that I wanted to return it (that's actually what I said, almost word for word... should've put it in quotes instead of writing this very long explanation). She asks me if I have it and if I have a receipt. I say I do and I give her both things. Without even checking if the camera works, she just enters a couple of things on the computer and gives me back my £9 and apologizes for the inconvenience. Well, I didn't expect it to be that easy, but well... good for me. I bet you're all disappointed because you expected me to have a fight and something... well, so did I... but well, better this way, it means I can go back and shop there!

Well, aside from that there's not much to tell. I donated to charity today ("WHAT!?" you say?) and also read a chapter for Marketing ("WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!? you yell?). Now I'm just killing time in the cluster room until my next lecture. Oh, I've planned my whole week out, which means I'll have something to do every day for this week (Mon-Sun). Today I'm going to a comedy thing at the Union, I'll let you know tomorrow how it was.

Oh, I've also sent the pictures to a selected few of my readers. I read the comments on the previous post after I had sent it, so I didn't send the picture of the girl, sorry. If you didn't receive the pictures then you can email me asking why and I'll reply with a huge print and bold "fuck you!"

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Sunday

So, if you read the title (and saw the entry date) you know it's Sunday... and you know what that means. That's right, nothing happening. And by nothing I mean it literally. I just slept all day, I was knackered from yesterday. I got out of bed at 10am to make myself some cereal and then went back to bed... and then I woke up at 3pm because my momma was calling me, talked to her for a while, and decided to get up. Had lunch, and since then I've just been killing time. Should I be reading? Yes. Will I read? Hell no.

It's a good thing I got the call from my momma, because sometime in the 20 hours I slept (that's right, 20) I had this bad dream (nightmare?) and I suddenly got really homesick. Yeah, I know, don't mock me...

Anyway, I guess that's it... I can't be arsed to write anymore, I'm in this non-working state (worse than usual). Tomorrow I'm gonna complain about the camera, so the entry should be rather interesting. Oh, I did get the pictures for Edinburgh today, but I won't email them until tomorrow... my computer's too slow to download them and re-attach them and send them... plus I'm too tired to do that right now.