Recently there has been a flurry of activity around YAIH, the band I am in. Mainly from the recording we have been doing. But we have also decided to get band t-shirts. We're all going to have shirts that have a lyric or often used phrase on it all with the same colour scheme and font etc. I got mine today and felt duty bound to model it.

It suddenly struck me how emo this t-shirt made me look. It is black and snug fitting and my current hair length complements this style. I took the photos with this look in mind.

Here are the pictures I took:

This one was ok. But I felt it was a bit too normal and that I could coax out something better. I had only just started so in any case the best was yet to come.

I went for the happy approach but this didn't seem to convey the right feeling. In any case, my eyes are most certainly not sharing the emotion of my mouth.

There is a lot of angst in emo music so I also tried the angry approach. I couldn't help but feel that this approach might create an awkward first impression.

Back to square one. Although you can actually see the shirt reasonably properly now. However, I had other tricks up my sleeve (not literally, the sleeves are too short to hold decent tricks)....

Aha! I had my hair parted on the wrong side! Once I flicked my hair over to the opposite side the magic started happening...

Look at that magic.

And again. Jackanackanory.

So yeah, if any of my band are reading this, thats what the t-shirts look like.

Here are some stories from my day

Mouse

There is a dead mouse in the office. Totally rank. It died behind a wall panel so it is smelly but unremovable for the time being. The picture not of the actual mouse, its just a mouse.

Lunch

Today I went for a Boots lunch rather than an M&S lunch. The meal deal costs £2.99 but they let you pick almost anything so I found all the most expensive things of each category (sandwich, drink and snack) and had those. I thought I was getting a good deal at first but then I realised that my usual M&S lunch costs me less than £3 and is nicer so while its a good deal at Boots its not really a universally good deal.

Music

At work I have been listening to Girls Aloud. Their new album is really good, apart from the ballads which are shit. While I am not particularly fond of reality TV talent shows I think Girls Aloud - and their producers and songwriters - are well ace. Personally I think those sorts of shows are all about the big audition shows at the start. The rest seems like a convoluted exercise to justify holding those auditions.

I don't know which one is my favourite. I don't think I have a favourite yet. I am sure they are equally lovely.

I hope you liked those stories I might write some more soon. Bye

I think these things are well shit but I am so bored today that I think I will do one. The list of questions is taken from quite a few other people's blogs.

1.What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before?
Got a fulltime job.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Did not make any. No.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No

5. What countries did you visit?
None

6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
A good haircut.

7. What date from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory?
7/7. Graduation day. Other events left me with mixed feelings about the day. At least Americans can remember this day without ruining it with their dating system. Unlike the 9th of November.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Graduating. Although steering Plinth to rock idols round 2 was no mean feat.

9. What was your biggest failure?
There were some pretty ropey blog entries.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
New guitar. Peavey Wolfgang. Ace.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
The bassist in Your Awesome Intergalactic Heroes summed up one drunken evening with the following: "I don't remember the next three hours but I wasn't clothed for any of it". Hahaha. Class.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
See answer to 12.

14. Where did most of your money go?
To other people, shops and the taxman.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Glastonbury.

16. What song will always remind you of 2005?
Do You Want To? by Franz Ferdinand.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? happier
ii. thinner or fatter? thinner
iii. richer or poorer? richer

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Drugs. Exercise.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Sleep. Using the internet.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With family.

22. Did you fall in love in 2005?
No.

23. How many one-night stands?
None.

24. What was your favourite TV program?
Extras. Spooks.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No.

26. What was the best book you read?
Music of the Primes. Its about prime numbers. I am a geek and I like these things.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Girls Aloud.

28. What did you want and get?
Longer hair. A degree.

29. What did you want and not get?
Kylie at Glasto. The implemenation of my new system that would make democracy work and make the world a better place in general. New wiper blades for my car. A robot.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Met up with friends. 21.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Entering Metro Joe in the Eurovision Song Contest (and either winning or scoring less than 1 point). Or getting paid to write my blog.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005?
Comfortable and lazy.

34. What kept you sane?
I have not shown any signs of deteriorating mental health. My lifestyle does not need an element dedicated to keeping me sane.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Kylie.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
I was surprised to learn that David Cameron likes the Smiths.

37. Who did you miss?
Kylie at Glasto.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
All of them. Apart from the pricks.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005.
Sales is for pricks.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"Heavy words are so lightly thrown" - What Difference Does it Make? by The Smiths. Not really summing up my year. I can't really think of a lyric that can live up to that task. But that one's a good lyric and I like it.

Cast your minds back here: http://www.blog.co.uk/index.php/christov/2005/12/03/dave~358342

There has been a new chapter in this saga - the end of an era, some might say. Today, Dave called me by my actual name, which is Chris. This was totally unexpected because neither I or anyone else in the office had corrected him as far as I know so this was unprompted.

But what do I do now?

Do I call Dave by his actual name?

Or do I put him through a few more weeks of Dave as revenge for all those days when I was 'Richard'?

Perhaps I should turn the tables and start calling Dave 'Richard' instead.

I was back at work today. This was something of a shock, mainly because I woke up at 8am after spending the past 10 days or so waking up at around 2pm. I am not proud of this lateness or the way I didn't even set a time to get up, other than "first Neighbours o'clock". Shameful. Sometimes this clever plan fell through because I wake and there would be no Neighbours (e.g. Christmas eve) and I would not know what to do. Despite having got up about 6 hours earlier than usual, I am feeling normal.

I drove back to Nottingham yesterday. Three points made themselves clear over the course of my journey. Firstly, I hate people who drive too slowly. No excuses to drive slow on the motorway, its big, there's hardly any bends, even my 1.1 litre Clio does 70-80mph easily and its also really boring so you might as well get it over and done with. Secondly, driving behind a gritting lorry is scary. Because grit goes everywhere, at speed. Thirdly, driving in the dark when theres only your headlights and cats eyes is also quite scary.

Christmas was ace. Especially on the guitar front. I cannot wait to get a picture of my pedalboard. It is totally ace. Totally. Cynics will say it is pointless, but I say cynics are pointless.

New Year was also ace. We went to a jazz night. There were some bands and a buffet as well as music and drink. I am not a huge jazz fan but it was a good atmosphere and I could certainly appreciate the music of the bands if not actually like them. For some reason my main memory of this night is this: the records the dj was playing kept on skipping. I later observed that in between changing vinyls, he was holding on to the records with his mouth. He must have been getting teeth marks on the vinyl or something because a lot of records skipped. Poor show. I sound quite negative about this but at the time I thought it was really funny and if anything made the event more ace.

Don't chew your LPs or 45s, kids.