I've quickly adjusted back to University life and am enjoying being back in Leicester. Of course, I miss home, High Wycombe does tend to hold some happy memories for me, and as much I miss my family and friends, I know there is a job to complete here. The culmination of four years of good work, needs to be seen through to the end and I'm not going to start letting people down, as perhaps, I have done in the past.

Tuesday 2nd October 2003

So an new month dawns, and September disappears into the abyss. However, with anything records remain of the past and they come back at times to haunt you, at times to bring joy to your heart. A incident when I logged back into my University account was to check the contents of my network drive the home drive (H:\). Browsing throw the folders, I discovered an old excel spreadsheet with details of my MP3 database. I checked the date, it was 31st May 2002. My mind instantly flashed back to that time and how wonderful life was. I had just finished my exams and the World Cup was a mouth-watering prospect, with a few days away from England's first group game. The file took me to a life, which now seems to be a completely different from where I am now and where I am heading. The most extraordinary fact is how my MP3 collection has grown, since the end of my second year and how the content of my web blogs have gone from a few lines detailing updates to the site, to an opportunity for me to tell the world what is on my mind.

487 days had passed since the date recorded on my MP3 database. In that time, my MP3 singles collection had grown from 1282, and increased by over double in the space of 16 months. The most dramatic rise is in the album collection. In May 2002, I had 37 albums. I now have 152, which is an increase of over 4 times. I have updated my Audio page to reflect the latest information with regards to my MP3 database. Due to University commitments, I will update it on a monthly basis.

Not sure if any of you have seen the latest Party Political Conference Broadcast from the Labour party. It did indeed make me chuckle. I would use the word that they use, but it is more borrow the idea of the classic MasterCard advertisements. However, the tagline changes to the comical: "There are some things a government can't do. For everything else there's Labour." Interesting, very interesting but I'm not sure the most ideal marketing tactic for a political party heading for some rough times in the coming parliamentary session. Of course, time will tell.

Friday 26th September 2003

Nights out have been the subject of many of my blogs. Usually, I try my best to give you an insight into the events on a night out on the tiles. On this occasion, I take one step further. I am back in Leicester and I am not alone. But loneliness is a strange beast and at times, you can feel lonely, even when surrounded by some two thousand people, out for a good time. Why can this be? How can you feel this way, when all those around you are having a good time? Perhaps, because as much as your surroundings have changed, amid a few familiar faces, you don't feel you belong. Nonsense, how can this be so? You are a student, just as much as anyone else. A friend of mine would say, well rather a few would say actually, it's all about confidence. The confidence, that was so instilled in me, on my night out in Bedford on Saturday 22nd February, had vanished and instead, I felt an emptiness. The reasons for this at the time to me were extremely unclear. My mind was clouded, much like the dance floor, with all it's new unfamiliar faces and smoke rising to the ceiling to the sound of some heavy R'n'B.

It was later that I realised why, I felt the way I did and my night out had ended in such a negative and abrupt fashion. Our memories are made up of names, faces and places. Nothing else matters, nothing else ever will because that is all that will be left. When the night draws to a close and the people head home, the evening is nothing but a memory. A distant memory. I try my best to remember this. It is my Final Year and my life as a student is rapidly passing me by. I will do my best to record all the events, good and bad, with success and failure along the way, in my web blog. It will be a true record of my time in Leicester, reflecting my moods and times. Of course, every story has a soundtrack and I will endeavor to bring you the greatest soundtrack to my life here. Have I let you down in the past?

I left Zanzibar, on Gravel Street, opposite the bus station, towards the north of the city. The heavy crowds had disappeared and a handful of taxis, eagerly anticipated their fare for the evening. As I enter the cool September night, and the icy night Leicester air, overwhelmed my face, I headed forward and steadily rushed past Creation. Yet another popular student night spot. What song could I hear, blasting through the thin glass windows of the club? MC Metz & Trickz with their song Aja Mahe. One of the few desi tunes I had been blasting on my commute to and from work, since March 2003. (When my dear friend Sippy, happened to FTP the tracks down to me in High Wycombe!)

If you can recall the lyrics from Baz Luhrman's song, "Sunscreen" from 1999, he offers some comments on 'advice' and it's merits.

Be careful whose advise you buy
but be patient with those who supply it
Advice is a form of nostalgia
dispensing it, is a way of wishing the past from the disposal,
wiping it off... recycle it for more than it's worth.

I firmly believe there is a time and a place for advice, particularly on sensitive subjects, close to one's heart. I was given two pieces of advice which, with the power of hindsight (an exact science?) seem very profound comments. "Much better... more suitable..." Sure, perhaps I can agree with the generous donor of such advice, wholeheartedly now. As they reference a part of my life, which is in the past and but a glimmer of a memory, of a time and place. It's difficult, but the comparisons are there with the song, by Busted.

Along She Came, with her picture
Put it in a frame so I won't miss her
Got on a plane, from London Heathrow
Seems such a shame...

Where is the shame, when I feel nothing, but miss something, long gone, so much!

"Heard she's engaged...no ones to blame, that's where it all ends..." and it indeed it has but then why, do I feel the way I do? Leicester, the memories come back and "words cannot describe the way I'm feeling..."

Friday 19th September 2003

I moved into my student house, in Leicester on Monday morning. It was a struggle against time to get all my bits and pieces sorted, packed and loaded into my car for the journey up to the East Midlands. Leaving early, I made good time on the motorway. Rather than go the conventional route of M40, then M25 and finally M1 northbound, I take a quieter journey to the city. My taking the M40 northbound and taking the junction 15 exit, I head onto the A46. This goes around the outskirts of Coventry. I then pick up the M69, directly into Leicester. The journey, allows you to make excellent time and also the A-roads break the two large motorway junks into more manageable pieces. I made great time, having left High Wycombe at 8am, I was in Leicester just before 9.30am.

I spend the rest of the day, organizing my room and getting a feeling for my new surroundings. This will be what I call home for the next nine months or so. It is great to be back in Leicester. Although, there are still many students to come back, it does feel strange but I'm trying my best to switch back into student mode.

I was adjusting back to all the local radio stations in the area and life without all my favourite London based radio stations. However, it was 11pm and Late Night Love was on Leicester Sound, (part of The Mix Radio Network) and as I turned the volume up, a familiar song filled my room. Human Nature by Michael Jackson, I was back in Leicester and the final part of my journey has began!

Saturday 13th September 2003

I was in central London on Thursday. In the British Library, doing some family research. Anyway, while I waited in the lobby, I heard a very familiar voice. A voice I would hear, on a daily basis, but this time, it was coming from a few feet away. As the voice, and it's owner came up the stairs, I noticed it was Jeremy Paxman, of BBC University Challenge and Newsnight fame. I avoided the temptation of asking for a autograph, and just enjoyed the moment. As expected, my brief encounter with fame, was brief. Within a few minutes, his conversation ended and he rushed to the exit.

I was watching Football Focus on BBC One, this lunchtime. At the end of the programme, Ray Stubbs contemplated, with the final stage of European Championship qualification a month away, the last time three home nations competed in a international tournament. It was the World Cup, with England, Scotland and Northern Ireland in contention. It was 1986. As they should the clips from Mexico, there was only one song they could use as a soundtrack, A-ha's - The Sun Always Shines On TV. Breath taking, absolutely breath taking. Seeing some the magical moments from the tournament and even that, "Hand of God".

When you talk about television for the 'teens', there are many shows that instantly come to mind. If you can over look the fact that the majority of the programming is from the US, you note that some of the best shows that you watched as a teenager, are still in some shape or form on the box today. On my quest to discover more information on these shows and the entire Engel Productions empire, I stumbled upon a great site. Now many sites, tend to be more show than 'go'. But with the site I found, content is indeed king. Ian Ball's TV Page provided detailed episode guides, production notes and background information on all the big teenage shows from the past ten years or so. Everything is there, from classics like Saved By The Bell and California Dreams, to recent shows such as USA High and Hang Time. Ian has spent a considerable amount of time and dedication amassing a huge FAQ on every single show and detailing every episode and when it was first aired in the US and then subsequently in Europe and the UK on satellite. This is a great resource, if you are looking for the little bit of information on a particular episode or show. Some of the information provided on Ian's site, is more detailed than on the Internet Movie Database.

I have been busy looking at my Links page and sorting out all the hyperlinks. Broken links have been removed and all links have been checked.

I am back in Leicester next week and hope to get my new website 'live' by the end of next week. Until then, hope you all have a great weekend.

Sunday 7th September 2003

So September comes around again. An important time for us all. Summer has come to a close and we look forward, with some optimism to the new academic year. For me personally, September, will always been a special time of year. As summer drifts into oblivion and becomes nothing but a distant memory, I look ahead and see the challenge that lies before me. My Final Year at University. The feeling I had, three years ago, when starting University for the first time, is something that will be extremely difficult to match. The feeling which I had then was something unique. It is difficult to express how I felt during late September and early October 2000. I suppose I could describe it as some 'baptismal' experience. Given the opportunity to start again. Indeed a fresh start was what I needed. Slowly I'm coming to terms that a similar, yet unusual feeling comes over me once again, as my mind drifts towards Leicester, De Montfort University and my computing course. Perhaps again, this is a new start for me. So much in my life has changed. A year out, has not just opened my eyes to how cruel the real world can be but also a realisation of how much you should enjoy student life. I can only label the entire placement experience as a great motivator. With hard work you can achieve anything. I never thought I would be going back to University in such circumstances, I had planned for something different entirely. No planning can compensate for the harsh card that life can deal you, at the most unexpected of times. That is not to say, we proved people wrong. Indeed, even doubters will have had to thought twice. How did this guy do it? We were sent to destroy his soul.

My MadAsAFish Web Account was officially closed last week. However, you may find that the website currently loads. I will be contacting the support team to shut my website this week.

No major updates to the site yet. I am working on added a host of new links. I'm also still working on a brand new version of the site. I will hopefully have it live by late next week.

I have been listening to Human Nature from the record breaking Thriller album, by Michael Jackson. I mentioned on my update, almost a month ago on Tuesday 12th August, that Jason Nevins had sampled the 80s classic for his summer dance anthem, "I'm In Heaven". Looking back over a year in my life, I see that I can clearly place many of my actions, responses and feelings on human nature. Telling those that needed to know, was the difficult part. I suppose, as events folded out, I was more concerned with the final outcome, rather than the why anything was happening and why I was feeling the way I did. No one was asking me the question, "Why" and I had very little time to contemplate it for myself. Now given the opportunity to reflect upon events in my life, and having the luxury of time, I find myself not asking questions but finding answers. What is meant to be, is meant to be. Of course, this may be the case and everything happens for a reason. That is not to say, we don't deserve answers from those, we place our faith in. But if those people cannot provide us with answers and more importantly the answers we seek, we must uncover them on our own. I have found this journey to be one of the loneliness in my life. Looking back and not seeing familiar faces, you had expected to always to be there. Instead, a crowd of new faces and faith in people you unsure you can trust. Trust is extremely precious. We should be careful, for those we trust and have great faith in, can turn out to be our greatest doubters. For whatever reason, they want to make life difficult for you and prove their personal perceptions of you correct. You were a loser and always will be. For some the road is too long and the struggle far too challenging. They do have their souls destroyed.

For some, soul destroying maybe. For others, character building... After all, whoever wins is the Hero... Have I done enough for you yet?

Sunday 31st August 2003

End of the month already and I'm back to University in a few weeks time. The summer is quickly coming to a close. Arsenal, came from behind to beat Manchester City, 2-1 at the City of Manchester Stadium today. A stupid mistake by Lauren, which meant he scored an own goal, gave the Blues an early lead. A little nudge from Trevor Sinclair, was missed by the referee. However, after the interval, Arsenal came up, firing on all cylinders and it was only a matter of time before they would bring the game level. Wiltord scored a great goal, after the Man City defence were unable to clear their lines. Then, later into the game, Freddie, came to the rescue, as Seaman had come out to take the ball from Pires, but the loose ball was picked up by the Swede and driven home for the games winner.

I'm busy trying to get myself sorted out for University. I start in a couple of weeks time and need to get myself organised. I'm looking forward to going back. Having been in Leicester on Friday, it was a great feeling to be back there. I've sorted out accommodation now, so it is just a matter of time, before I'm back, in lectures, in the labs and of course the library.

I've finally closed my MadAsAFish account, as of today. It has forever given me problems. The spam and access restrictions meant that I was no longer able to use the service via my FreeServe broadband connection. So I've moved the site across, however this is only a temporary measure, as I hope to have my own web space at some point in the near future.

I have loads of new websites that I want to add to the links collection, they include sites for Mr T, American Teen programmes we all grew up with (Saved By The Bell, California Dreams and Sister Sister). I'm working on getting all these sorted out for my update, next weekend.

Typical - guess who is the player of the month on my 2003 Arsenal Calendar? Of course, it could only be Lauren! ;o)

Wednesday 27th August 2003

Unfortunately I have had to move my website from MadAsaFish to my family website (www.tegala.freeserve.co.uk) This is only a temporary measure, until I can purchase or borrow some web space. I am closing my MadAsaFish account at the end of this month. There are several reasons for this move. I have been receiving far too much junk mail on this account in recent months. On one occasion I received over 300 spam messages. The other reason is the change in their terms and conditions which I mentioned in my updates previously. I was no longer able to retrieve my e-mail by connected to other accounts or access the FTP to my website.

So my the address tegala@madasafish.com will no longer be active from the end of this month. All e-mails should be directed to my Hotmail or Yahoo! accounts. Details of theses are on the Info page.

Wednesday 20th August 2003

I do not think I have mentioned the legend that is Tommy Boyd. By chance, about three years ago I started listening to TalkSport during the weekend evenings. This was to become something of great importance in my life. I was hooked every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Tommy Boyd, would dispel his wisdom to his avid listeners every weekend. The jewel of the weekend was the Sunday evening phone-in. Calls would be aired directly onto the studio, no producers or assistants screening calls. The would result in some hilarious radio for about four hours. Callers would ring up to play, pre-recorded audio, or say some stupid line or whatever. It was an example of democracy on the radio, and people had the opportunity to get take out their angst against the world. After all Monday morning was glaring on us all, and was as inevitable as the sun rising. A great site would his dedicated to Tommy Boyd and his life.

My MP3 collection has grown dramatically over the past few weeks. I now have over 140 albums and over 2500 songs. My Audio page has been updated to reflect his.

Tuesday 12th August

I was in Leicester today. I happened to walk past my old student house on Cambridge Street, just off the famous (or infamous, depending on your view point) Narborough Road. It brought back so many memories of my second year. It seemed such a long time ago, even though to me, it feels like only a month or so ago. The surroundings may have changed, but to me Leicester and De Montfort University will forever hold some great memories. There are of course far more memories to add to the collection, as I my time at University is far from over. I look forward to my final year at University. I know it is going to be strange to switch back to student mode after a year out in industry, but I'm relishing the challenge. However I think it's given me that additional motivation to get down to work again, after experiencing the 'real world'. I am also looking forward to seeing all my friends again and catching up on how things went for them on placement.

Each summer has it's soundtracks. Do I really need to mention annoying songs, that suddenly become themes for those lazy summer days. A song from the mid nineties, would be Macrenena by Los Del Rio and a recent novelty song would be Las Ketchup - The Ketchup Song. With the start of the football season only a few days away, you must have seen the Sky Sport commercials on television. Starring Elton John with his 1977 song, "Are You Ready for Love?" It has been remixed by Fat Boy Slim and will be released on his record label on Monday 1st September. It's quite a catchy song and has grown on me over the course of the summer.

A song I have been listening to recently is Human Nature by Michael Jackson. This is from the his record breaking album, "Thriller". A moving song, with powerful lyrics and vocals. It was sampled by SWV in the 90s, on their song with the title, "Right Here". As recently as this year, Jason Nevins sampled the score for his summer hit, "I'm In Heaven". The name, Jason Nevins should sound familiar, if somewhat faintly. Remember the hit from 1998, Run DMC versus Jason Nevins on the number one track, "It's Like That".

Wednesday 6th August 2003

Not been able to dedicate as much time to my website, as I would have liked in the past few weeks. With the heat wave, hitting our shores this week, it has made it unbearable. I just couldn't sit inside, on lovely sunny days, working on my computer and let the beautiful days pass me by. The days are passing us by, and the summer is going extremely quickly. You notice that how quickly, the summer is going, when you suddenly notice the appearance of the dreaded "Back to School" advertising campaigns. It's only the start of August, and they can't wait to get rid of the little kiddies back into the classroom.

As I mentioned in my previous update was that I'm working on a brand new version of this website. However, there is still plenty of work to do on getting that site up and running. My plan is to have the site, 'live' before I go back to University in September. I also am planning to move ISP. Although I have enjoyed my time with MadAsAFish, it is time for a change. I receive over 200 spam e-mails every day. Plus, due to changes it their setup, I will no longer be able to access my FTP server or mail remotely. Resulting in me being forced to use their dial up service. I may, temporarily transfer my website over to Uni space and run the site from there. Watch this space, I will keep you informed.

For the time being, I've cleared up my links page. It is now more organized and less of a clutter as it was before.

Fame Academy has come back to our screens. It feels like only yesterday, that I came home that Friday evening (October 4th 2002) to watch the show. I remember thinking how amazing the prize is, the life of a pop star for 12 months. The format of this year's show has been much better, with 25 students whittled down to 12 for the academy, and of course, having former Bee Gees member, Robin Gibb, on board as a judge has proved to give the show more creditability. I'm looking forward to, this evening show, with the last 6 students battling it out for the last 3 available places in the academy. The quality of the talent, has been extremely hard and it has been difficult to chose which students deserve to enter the contest.

The web master of the BBC News Centre, James contacted me a few days ago. He has created a banner for his site, and I have placed this on my links page. I must say, he has an incredible knowledge of BBC News and Weather presenters and is working on adding BBC World Service and News 24 presenters details to his website. We look forward to seeing this very soon. I never thought I would find someone, so 'obsessed' with the BBC News team, like myself. Oh well, you know what they say, with the internet, you can always find someone who shares your interests, not matter how weird or wonderful they are.

Thursday 31st July 2003

Another month, disappears into oblivion and August will be upon, with the blink of an eye. I still find it difficult to come to terms with the fact that, a year ago, only the first month of my industrial placement had just flown me by. Unaware, was I then, what events would unfold, within the coming few days, and subsequently overshadow, the following months, until the end of year.

However, that is far behind us now. We look forward to the future, with a sense of both optimism and anticipation of the year that lies ahead. My final year at University and then, into the big wide world of work. As many of my elders will say, not a minute to soon. But I'm going to try my best to enjoy my final two semesters at De Montfort University, for I know, that never again, will this opportunity lie before me, and that I should grasp it with both hands and make the most of what remains of student life. As always, everything, well, almost everything will be documented on here, as it has been for the past three years. Indeed, it is the 3rd birthday of my site tomorrow.

When it comes to news, as a matter of choice, I only really watch the BBC network. Although, Sky News is a fantastic news channel, I prefer the homely feeling, of the BBC News Team. They have personalities, which are far more visible on screen, than any of their news channel counterparts. On this subject, I stumbled on a website which documents, not just the history of some of the BBC's flagship news programmes but also the lives of their presenters. The BBC News Centre brings together, intros, sound clips, biographies, clips advertising the shows, history of news teams, particular partnerships and other very useful information.

Channel 4 for sometime, have provided the best Friday night viewing. One of the highlights of their slots has been Ali G. Everyone out there, know how much of a big fan I am of Ali G. However, another show, which has grown in popularity is Bo Selecta. I watched parts of the first series, but it wasn't until the second series, which aired from June this year, that I have become a fan of the show. My favourite character that is satirised is Michael Jackson. Now christened as Michael Jackass, the amazing stuntman. Each week, we follow his exploits has he attempts a new humanly possible stunt. Previous exploits include Blind Boxing and Sky Diving (as Peter Pan)

It was difficult to find any great sites on Bo! Selecta. The official Channel 4 mini-site is quite limited in terms of content. The two sites I would recommend are:

Bo Selecta Morley (that's in Leeds)

MJ's Crib

Sorry, I haven't got time to say update the site anymore, but I am still working on the new revamped version. Hopefully, should be online within a few weeks or so. Take care for now. Look forward to hearing from you soon.

Friday 25th July 2003

Another week, rapidly comes to a close and the weekend is here to bring us some sanity.

It is strange, how friends come and go, and only those small few remain with you during the course of your life. A strange incident, occurred when I was chatting to one of my old college friends, Pav, last week. He explained that he was talking to Joe and in an instant I asked for the .Net mail address so I could get back in touch with him. Joe was one of my friends from College. My most vivid memory is going to see Star Wars - Episode 1 "The Phantom Menace", at the Showcase Cinema, on the outskirts of Reading with him, and a few of my other college mates back in July 1999. Putting in down in writing, makes it sound like a long long time ago. But it feels to me, as if it was only a few weeks ago, rather than just a few years ago. But the conversation would reveal the true passage of time.

Chatting to him on MSN, I discovered that he had just successfully completed his Computer Science degree at the University of Essex. He had made loads of new friends while at University and even created a website to document their antics. This website as only just been successfully uploaded, within the past few days. Joe is busy working on getting everything up to date. He assures me that there are loads more photographs to be uploaded.

Of the various articles on Joe's site, my particular favourite is the "Installing Windows Montage". Those of you out there with a broadband or other high-speed connection, should consider downloading the 40mb file. It is in DivX format, so you will need the codec from www.divx.com.

Drowning Squat, Nicknack Baby, can be found at http://nicknackbaby.orbust.net/

Not much else to report, I'm afraid. Will update the site, over the course of the weekend.

Wednesday 23rd July 2003

I have been busy, this week, downloading more Mp3 albums from eMule.

You've waited a long time for it. The Audio page hasn't been updated since 8th June. Some of the individual mp3 listings haven't been updated since 15th May. I have been very bad with regards to updating these. I've finally got around to it, as I have now got a great PlayList generator. It is a plug-in for Win Amp. It is called, EZ Playlist. I now have over 118 albums. Over a year ago, my total collection Mp3 albums only covered 10 650mb CDrw. I now have some 26 CDrws, each holding some 700mb of quality albums.

However, I received an e-mail on Tuesday at 7.16am from Nehal Patel, with regards to comments I had posted on my website. He appreciated my comments but had a few corrections with regards to my posting. Firstly that his surname is Patel, and the actual full name of his website is, "My Sangeet". Sangeet is the Hindi for song. Nehal pointed out, that although there is substantial amount of 'copying' which takes place in Bollywood, there are many musical composers who are original. The following, have produced soundtracks that are less than 5% copies of Western songs:

A.R. Rahman
Ismail Darbar
Aadesh Srivastava
Anu Malik - used to be a big copier but has been "clean" for a few years now and has created amazing tunes on his own
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Mr. Patel, was also able to provide some much needed statistics with regards to this copying phenomenon. In general only about 15% of Hindi songs are copied from western sources. Another 15-20% are copied from Eastern sources (mostly Pakistan and Persia). So actually 65-70% of Hindi film songs are completely original.

Some original soundtracks include:

1) Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam
2) Taal
3) Rangeela
4) Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
5) Hum Aapke Hain Kaun
6) Devdas

I would like to send my best wishes to Nehal Patel, and ask him to keep up the good work. He has obviously been doing his research, and knows his subject well. Thanks for the feedback. It is much appreciated.

Not been up to much recently. Just trying to get other things sorted, like mountains of paperwork and post, in anticipation of my Final Year at University. I must say, that I am looking forward to it. It will be a bit strange, switching back to student mode, but I'm sure, once I've settled down, the work will get in the way of everything that I want to do.

Still looking at a new ISP, as the spam situation with my mailbox with MadAsAFish is getting out of control. I hope to have something sorted by the weekend. It cannot come soon enough!

Sunday 20th July 2003

Sorry in the delay in updating my website. I am still considering on the revamp of the website, to co-inside with the 3rd birthday of my website. This may also involve a move of ISP. MadAsAFish have noticed that I have been accessing and retrieving by the fantastic service, Mail2Web. This web based service, lets you manage your POP mail account and ideally remove any messages that you do not want to download to your PC. From 16th August, I will only be able to access the mail, by dialling into the MadAsAFish account. Another reason, to move ISP is the substantial amount of spam or junk mail I have been receiving recently. Over three days, I totalled nearly 250 spam e-mails. Time to move ISP I feel. If anyone out there knows of a great ISP please let me know. I may temporarily move over to my Web UK Online account before finding a new home for my website.

Do not despair, I will keep you all closely with the decisions I make.

I have been busy focusing on the album side of my MP3 Collection. I have now over 110 albums in my collection and this continues to grow at a rapid rate. My single collection is also growing, but I haven't downloaded many songs this week. In an average week, I would be exposed to nearly twenty hours of radio and would hear several new songs that would need to be downloaded. Unfortunately, as I am no longer commuting some 600 miles a week, I do not listen to any radio at all. I therefore, have been downloading songs, as I hear and see them on the numerous music channels on Sky Digital. Surprising to see the number of times videos are repeated during the course of the day. And they call this interactive television? I will update the Audio page to reflect changes in my collection soon.

This was one of the weeks that will go down in history. For some of the most tragic news, scandal and lies. Never have I ever noted to see such events unfolding on our TV screens. My feelings are that there is far far more to this than meets the eye. This is not just the heartbreaking death of a decent MoD expert, but more of the undoing of this Labour government. More will come out, and heads will indeed roll.

Someone is responsible and someone should pay... someone already has...

Tuesday 15th July 2003

Again I apologise for the long delay in updating my website. I have to confess that I have been making the most of the hot weather, now that my Placement has finished. I still have loads of things to do, and loads of bits and pieces to check up on. I want to get this site sorted and my Placement page, finished before August, if I can.

As always, something that seems too good to be true, often is just that. Or in the case of BraveNet, just doesn't last. I am extremely disappointed that BraveNet have decided to suspend their free counter service, with a standardised button, text and graphics. I was considering upgrading to the Pro version of the counter service, but was shocked to find that the cost of this is $99.99 per a year. That is far far far too expensive. So I am also on the search for a quality new counter, which again, has full visitor statistics. I may have to program one myself if my search does not provide a worthy replacement.

I have been downloaded several albums over the last few weeks. This has been mainly due to the fact, I have found a fantastic new peer-to-peer file sharing/swapping service. My friend, Darren, recommended Emule to me. It uses the eDonkey network and is great. Most users, share albums has compressed, zip or rar files, so there is no desperate searching around for that elusive final track on an album. I have downloaded a handful of albums, mostly recent news and I will be updating my Audio page to reflect this. The only problem is that most warez / mp3 groups enjoy placing their signature on the albums they are downloading. So you have to go and rename files and ID3 Tags, however, that is a small prize to pay.

Most of you out there, will be unaware of the phenomenon which is the Bollywood movie. I am not a fan of this genre of cinema at all. Long gone have the days when I was seven, or eight and watched these movies, with an awe and twinkle in my eye, mesmerized by the action on the screen. But now, the fact that our hero, always seems to win, against unbelievable odds, get the girl and wins the heart of the family, all appears to be very superficial. There is no way, that our hero, only armed with a knife and defeat 23 villains all armed with sub-machine guns, pistols and grenades. It just simply, isn't possible. When will these Indians learn? Another lesson, which they are far from heeding is that of their choice in songs. Well perhaps not so much, songs but rather backing track. As far as I can remember, Indian films have never had an original soundtrack. Quite funny, when you look at Western soundtracks which are always labelled, "OST - Original Soundtrack". Bollywood films, also borrow something from western songs. It could only be explained that Indians, feel that Copyright, is having the right to COPY! On my search on the internet, I found a site by Nehal Sangeet, where it takes this subject that provides a list of songs and their western counterpart on which they are based. The website is aptly called, "Hindi Copied Songs". I contacted Nehal and explained how grateful I was that someone had finally come around not to ask the question but also carry out the research. The research to link, western score song, to a Bollywood hit song. He mentioned that there is a much more comprehensive resource out there on the web, which also includes Real Audio of some songs. The site is I2FS - Inspired Indian Film Songs

I am working on getting some new photos on the site. Please bear with me. Hopefully, I will update the site later in the week. Take care for now everyone and enjoy the sunshine.

Friday 4th July 2003

This is the first major update to my site for at least a month. I've been extremely busy with work recently. As my placement draws to an end I have been under the pressure to tie things up and pass the 'reins' onto a worthy successor. I look back, some 12 months and still fail to comprehend how much on various levels, my life has changed. I suppose, the fact that things took an unexpected turn and left me at odds and ends, was the only reason I was able to achieve what I was able to achieve. I try my best not to really think deeply about those incidents. It's just a shame that things tend never to pan out as expected, especially when you have the whole summer in front of you with nothing but distant thoughts of University, which would only come back to haunt you in the autumn of 2003, over a year away. I suppose I was blind, rather than naive but as soon as I opened my eyes, I saw the path I wanted to take and the road has served me well. Indeed, only time will tell.

Now, enough of reflecting upon the past. Let us, look to the future, together my friends, on this Independence Day.

My audio collection has been growing at a rapid rate, and I have not been keeping accurate records on my website. So therefore, I have updated all the listings on my Audio. I am still tinkering with my XP configuration and for this reason, I have not installed all the latest programs from my previous hard disk. I want to get back to the drawing board with regards to a refresh look on my website. There is also the hot topic of my placement website that needs to be cleaned up as a matter of urgency and then 'sealed' before I begin dismantling it for it's final incarnation - presenting my final year project.

Sunday 29th June 2003

My sincere apologises, yet again, but I'm afraid there is not going to be a big update to the website this week. I've been tied up with various activities over the weekend and due to problems with my PC, I've been unable to dedicate as much time as I would have liked to my website. Also there is major problem with the playlist output in WinAmp 2.91. When the HTML page is generated it includes the numbering of the tracks in the playlist, which is going to be a real pain to remove.

Hopefully, I will find some spare time this week to update the site and get some fresh new content loaded. I can't believe that it is the end of June already. July is upon us, so soon! I started my Industrial Placement some 12 months ago, this week. It is amazing that the time has flown by, ever so quickly. I will do my best to update my Placement Site also, it is badly in need of some attention, but at the moment, I just do not have the time.

Sunday 22nd June 2003

I am sorry, it seems like an age ago that I actually updated my homepage. I've been extremely busy dealing with some of the technicalities of having a home computer, which you rely upon more than life itself. I took the plunge on Friday 19th June, and formatted my hard drive and installed Windows XP. I can therefore spend most of Friday night, tweaking and messing around with settings to make sure the new OS installed perfectly and was still 'personalised' the only way I like it. So, the space available on my C drive is looking much more healthy, than the conclusion which would have been drawn from my update on 5th June.

A strange phenomenon I have noticed re-emerging recently is the football shirt. I've been the duly noting this observation, subtly for several years. As soon as the domestic football season ends and we are have the onset of a summer without any football tournament, the football shirt begins to be worn extensively in higher numbers than during the whole course of the season? Is this just me, or have others of you out there noticed, it?

Not much to report, I'm afraid, extremely busy and haven't had much time to dedicate to the website. I have so many plans for the website, but at the moment, they are taking a backseat I'm afraid. I really want to upload new photographs and other content, but preparing this offline is turning out to be quite a task. I will try and update during the course of the working week, depending on how much time I have available.

Take care of yourselves. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Friday 13th June 2003

Supposedly an 'unlucky' day for some, but I must say that Lady Luck has been shining on me for the past week or so. I knew, that the week that lay ahead, was going to be hectic and challenging. Having to organise an event for work, later in the week, was going to take up a considerable amount of my time, but this didn't mean I would be able to lose focus on my main job role. However, the weekend has arrived again and it is for us to make the most of it.

My sisters will be returning from University this weekend, and how my thoughts drift back to some 12 months previously when I too, was coming back from University. Life, my life was so much different then, and I had no idea. No idea at all of the mountain that lay ahead and the struggles that would need to be faced. I was caught up in the hysteria, that is the greatest show on Earth. The FIFA World Cup 2002. Looking back now, I feel I made the right decisions and followed them through to the end.

As always, there was a turning point in my week. It was aptly Wednesday evening, as I drove home. My Punto was in for its 36k service, so therefore I had a courtesy car. It was an Active Sport Punto, in Spirit Blue. (HGT wannabe anybody?!) Not too bad, and quite nippy, mainly as its a three door. I wasn't intending to drive over to the Stevenage office that day, purely because I hadn't considered the journey when refueling that morning. However, due to circumstances beyond one's control, I was compelled to make that journey and provide my services. The England game was on my mind most of the day, along with the the 43288 jobs that needed to be successfully completed for Thursday evening. I hit the motorway, in good time to make it home, with time to spare for the big qualifier. As you will note from my previous web blogs, I've started to listen to BBC Radio 2, and happened to be flicking between BBC Radio 1 with Chris Moyles. I was just cruising on the M25, past junction 20, for the M1, I heard the beginning of a song, that I hadn't heard for several years. Immediately, my mind was filled with thoughts from 1999, and my time at Henley College. A song, that is able to numb your senses in such a way, is truly magical and an amazing piece of work. I recall vividly, this song being in the charts, and the album, also being extremely popular. In my mind was a picture of me, holding a copy of this album in my hand, not in the trusted compact disc format, but my friend, David Wynn's Mini Disc. It was one of the few original MD's that he had actually bought, along with HIStory by Michael Jackson. If I was to look back my life now and cast heavy judgments on all the years of my life, 1999, would be one of the few years when I would take a step back, smile and say, "It was great... it was better than great... I began to learn the lesson...the lesson of life..."

England were lucky to beat Slovakia on Wednesday evening. What now has become, somewhat customary, I viewed the game, next door at my neighbour Dave's house. The first half was a very poor performance from the home side and all the threatening that the Slovakians had been making, provided them with a goal. The crowd at the Riverside were harshly silenced and I began to wonder if England were going to make any impact in the game whatsoever. There were further moments of nervousness as the away team had another three clear chances of scoring. There was a need for a change, and bringing on Owen Hargreaves for Danny Mills, provided the impetus that had been so lacking. The second half, was much more entertaining, with two great goals from Michael Owen. The penalty decision was debatable (highly in my opinion) but there are times when England need some luck and for a change, the referee was willing to point to the spot. One nil, but the second goal was a much carefully worked affair, with Gerrard crossing the ball, into the air, with Owen, making clear contact to send the ball into the back of the net. After comments from the commentators that England were lacking aerial superiority, with players such as Ferdinand and Campbell missing, Owen was there to prove them wrong. A great way to celebrate your fiftieth game for your country.

Busy weekend, but I will update more over the next few days. Take care for now.

"Live your life without Regret... Don't be someone they Forget..."

Sunday 8th June 2003

The menu has been reformatted, from being applet based to being a rollover scripted. This is to make the menu load up quicker and also make sure that those grey boxes so closely associated with JavaScript applets do not appear. I think the rollover images are much more easier to work with.

Not much updated, I'm afraid, I'm busy working behind the scenes on the next version of this website, so that is taking up more of my time. However, the audio page has been updated with the latest details of my MP3 collection. Coming close to 2,400 songs now and growing on a weekly basis.

I found a great site, on my surfing around the web recently. The main purpose of the site, is to place your vote for the greatest albums of all time. However, there is a nifty little feature on Album Vote which allows you to enter in any date, and discover what records were number one, in the UK, the USA and Australia. Great stuff! I've going to find out what was Number One on my birthday.

I will try my best to update later this week, most likely after the England game on Wednesday night. Take care for now people.

Saturday 7th June 2003

Some of the music I have have been listening to the last week or so has been mostly dance / trance music. Although, I haven't been listening to BBC Radio One at all since, January, I have tuned in a few mornings and particularly in the afternoons. On Friday 29th May lunchtime, I was listening to BBC Radio Two, when Jeremy Vine was speaking to a woman, who had been subjected to some hate mail, with reference to the caravan she owned, parked outside her property. The letters stated that if the caravan was not removed, the writer would take more "direct action". A few days later, the caravan was gone. I then quickly jumped over to Radio One, to hear Mark & Lard, discussing the same subject for their daily news quiz. Mark felt that the 'criminal' had done the neighbourhood a favour. Obviously he was distancing himself away from the subject of theft, which of course he cannot condone. I was in stitches, having just heard the distressed owner of the caravan, spilling out her anger and bitterness towards the individual or individuals responsible. While, the other side are humouring themselves and their audience on the same subject!

On the subject of television and music themes, I was having a deep discussion with Sippy, regarding this. When I finally uncovered my Themed MP3 CD-rom, I talked to my friend, about a show, I remember from my childhood. It was in the early 90s and this show would be on ITV, around 5pm on a Saturday evening. It was one of my favourite shows as I grew up and the star always left me amazed and dumbfounded. He has of course now moved onto bigger and better things but you never know, they may rejuvenate the series. With this discussion, Sibtain commented that he would contact Bravo and ask if they would bring back the show to their channel on Sky Digital. As if, answering our prays, I was amazed that the following happened. It was Monday evening, 2nd June and I was channel-hopping before Eastenders was due to start at 8pm. I scrolled across to Bravo and was amazed to discover that the show in question was on. I quickly got on the text and informed my friend Sippy, who was over the moon. Well there is a much bigger fan in his household! :o) The show we are talking about? MacGuvyer, starring the legend that is Richard Dean Anderson, now part of the Stargate series.

I have been busy, working a few design ideas and concepts for the new site. There's plenty of work to do, so don't expect any major changes, at least for a few months. Looking forward to the rest of the weekend. Take care for now. Will update soon as always.

Friday 6th June 2003

Normal service resumed, well to some extent at least. The last couple of weeks have been extremely hectic, and I have not been able to dedicate the time my website deserves. So I am making up for it now, with a major update, on various levels and regarded a wide range of content of the site. So let's start and get this show on the road.

England played their friendly, warm up game before the Euro 2004 Qualifier against Slovakia next week. Overall, it was quite an average performance by the team, giving the opposition of Serbia Montenegro. When Gerrard scored, I thought that this would signal, an onslaught of the Central European teams goal mouth. However, this was not the case, and Serbia, to their credit muscled their way back into the game. Winning a corner, and England's lapse in concentration giving away a disappointing goal. Such incidents should not happen at international level, and are more common on a school playfield. However, with Mr. Eriksson ringing the changes at half-time, it lead to a exciting game, unlike in previous friendlies when all ten outfield players are substituted. A player, who I feel deserved more time on the field, out in the Far East, came on and scored an amazing goal from a free-kick. I suppose, it wasn't too bad, taking into account, that our Free-Kick Specialist, was unavailable for selection :o) So looking forward to the qualifier on Wednesday evening. England should beat them, and beat them well.

I went to see The Matrix Reloaded on Wednesday evening (4th June) and was completely blown away. It is one of those films that has been experienced on the big screen, purely to give the film justice. Visually, it was absolutely stunning, and the story provides multiply points for consideration. If you consider the film in relation to the Animatrix series that has been screened late into the night on five, there are even more questions that remained unanswered. All this, keeping us fans anticipating the "Matrix Revelations" out in November. Oh well, only some eleven months to wait...

Thursday 5th June 2003

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the long delay in updating my site. I did actually begin a web log on Friday evening, but my train of thought could not find a suitable station, so therefore, I didn't bother uploading my thoughts, until now. So, this web log is a mixture of thoughts, as we transcend from May to June...

So, the end of yet another 'eventful' month! I've been on my placement for the official 48 weeks, and could technically finish working as of 5pm this afternoon (Friday 31st May), but something tells me my job there, is far far from done. After all, in IT, you'll always find yourself something to do...

I enjoyed watching Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade on BBC One, on Monday (26th May) evening. The chemistry between Mr. Jones and "Junior" is truly magically. I look forward to Steven, resurrecting this franchise for a whole new generation to enjoy. ;o)

What a week! Being only four days, means that before you even enter the week, on Tuesday, there is the added pressure of getting the work of five days done in four. However, I had quite a straightforward week, as I was already on top of everything. It is extremely satisfying to say that it is all under control, and "I've already done that..."

Having now, become one of the more 'experienced' drivers on the road, I continued to be baffled by some of the driving, I see on my weekly 600 mile trip to work. It's amazing how some drivers will push both their cars, and their lives to the limit. Of course, they pull off their manoeuvre, and survive to "Die Another Day". One particular 'move' was on Tuesday morning, when a sliver Vauxhall Astra GSi, overtook a lorry, myself and another small vehicle ahead of me, with a heavy goods lorry heading straight towards him...

Just a quick message to the MAIN man, Sippy! Well done for getting all your EXAMS done this week! Man of leisure now... enjoy!

Been pondering the future of this site, and have decided that it needs a complete overhaul. I want to re-design it from the bottom up, using some fancy new programming language, such as XML, PHP or ASP. I'm also then going to attempt to get some paid hosting. Don't worry though, this is something that is a) going to take some time and b) take a considerable about of thought, time and patience on my part. Afterall, I got to learn the language first, but we shall see.

I apologise that this web update isn't very 'meaty', however, extremely busy at the moment. I promise that I will make up for this lack of updates in the past few weeks, over the weekend. Got an extremely busy weekend ahead. Really want to sort out some of the collect that has collected itself onto my machine. I may even go the whole nine yards and re-install Windows 98 SE. The reason? The saying goes, that a picture speaks a thousand words. Well I'll leave you with the images, that explain it all... ;o)

Sunday 25th May 2003

I was in for a heavy week at work, having had the previous week off, to complete my assignment, I knew that a big mountain of a week lay ahead of me. However, I not going to let it phase me and prove myself, more than able to meet the challenge!

Last Sunday (18th May) was an enjoyable day. I tried to make the most of the day, driving into Reading and spending sometime with some old friends. I returned home that evening to find the second installment of the Indiana Jones trilogy, on BBC One. The Temple of Doom, was great to watch again and took me back to my childhood days. How life was so much different then, perhaps because your life is so much more structured and planned for you, its so much more easier? Looking forward to the Last Crusade, tomorrow night, which is my personal favourite!

My music, affected me emotionally this week. I began the week, looking back to the summer of 2002. It began with so much anticipation and expectation, but leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. :o( The song, which became a bit of anthem for me, was the dance cover of the Bryan Adams, classic - "Heaven" by DJ Sammy. It will forever, remind me of driving on the A505 to Aylesbury. Between Leighton Buzzard and Wing, I recall this song blasted on my stereo as I overtake various vehicles, cruising in the summer sunshine and looking forward to the evening that lay before me.

I began to learn the truth that Pain is Love... Unfortunately we can't have one without the other, but then if we experience true love, we will eventually feel enormous pain. So those that bring so much love into your life, also bring with the opportunity to cause you great and significant pain, and there is little you can do it stop them. Just remember that love is everlasting and pain comes and goes, and can be somewhat succumbed.

So, I went from DJ Sammy to Pure Pop - "The Boyz Strike Back" and was listening to songs which again, hold great personal memories. Such as Westlife - "If I Let You Go" and Backstreet Boys - "Drowning", but by the end of the week, I was turning to my Hindi remixes and burnt a CD especially to listen to them. The problem is that as I only, like a selection of Hindi songs, I was hunting high and low to find the songs and burn a special CD for my car!

There are times when you look at someone's website and it takes your breath away. There is one person, who I know will be reading this. Who has the ability to push the goal posts out beyond the realms of belief. His website, DemonNet Productions continues to show off his web design talents in various ways and its great that he is finally finding the time to update the site regularly. Check out www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~c00sb/ and let the guy, Sibtain Bandali, know what you think of the site. I know I will be... :o)

Other exciting news - my website has just recently smashed the 2000 visitor mark. I now have over 30 visitors a week and some 120 plus visitors a month and the site continues to grow from strength to strength.

I can't belief its nearly the end of the month! I starting to wonder, where all the time has been going? The football season, is over, with the final playoffs taking place this weekend. A dull time for any football time, while you are left in a bit of bewildered desert, waiting for that Saturday in August, when the roller coaster season starts all over again! :o)

Saturday 17th May 2003

Looking back at my week off there appears to be 're-occurring 80s theme'. I must have chosen, the best week to take off work, being a big fan of 80s music, and 80s related material in general. It started subtly on Sunday evening. I didn't get a chance to re-visit my childhood, but I do regret not finding the time to watch the epic film. The film in question? Indiana Jones and The Raiders of The Lost Ark. What took me back to my childhood, was the theme. Unfortunately, I had deleted my Themed MP3s from my hard drive and archived them to CD-rom. Thinking that this would be a clever thing to do! (Why?) I then had to search around for this elusive CD-rom, unable to find the score, by the famous, man of many themes, John Williams. Eventually, I did find what I was looking for, and have done the right thing and copied the Themes back to my hard drive. However, the 80s theme was to continue for throughout the week. Magic, the easy listening music channel, had an Ultimate 80s week. I saw, my favourite music video, on Chart Show TV, when they counted down the album chart. I also, saw Knight Rider, and in this particular episode, they were able to slipped in the name of John DeLorean. Interesting indeed. The good news is that Indy will be back on the small screen tomorrow evening, in the second installment, the "Temple Of Doom". I must remember to find the Sky Remote Control and hide it somewhere...

The man, who most deserved a goal in the FA Cup, got exactly what he deserved and provided us Gooners, with the only silverware of the season. A season which as always started with so much promise and hope ends, on a high, but somewhere, you feel, we deserved much more... Looking back at my life then, I see myself struggling to come to terms with events taking place before me. In a way, these events still cast a shadow over me now. I am unable to put into words, the reasons for this, having spent far too much time searching for answers. But I feel that looking forward to the future, I am destined to have these questions answered. Or perhaps rather, THE question answered. It was great to see Arsenal lifting the trophy, again, particularly after watching Robert Pries, being stretched off, against Newcastle last season, in the same competition. He will forever be, the midfield maestro and does nothing but expel true class when on the football pitch. Perhaps, one day, I'll watch an FA Cup Final... from the comfort of the stadium...

Music wise, my Audio page has now been fully updated. I had been listening to R Kelly, at the beginning of the week, but recent additions to my play list, include, Shakespeare's Words, by the vocal harmony group, One True Voice. Strange, how the score to this song, sounds very familiar to some 70s police/detective series, particularly when it ends. Another is a trance/techno record from Foundation (no not the Motown group, The Foundations) but a debut release called "All Out Of Love". It has a great piano score through, and great vocals... and yet again, proving to reflect my mood...

Thursday 14th May 2003

Having a week off, is quite a luxury. Particularly if it means, your driving mileage goes done considerably. I haven't really had too much time to enjoy my week, until now. I've been busy working on my assignment which is due in tomorrow. Got it all sorted out by last night, so it's with the 'real network' and making its way to sunny Leicester.

I thought, I would let you know that I have created a page of new photographs. It does sound quite clichéd but this is my Best Friend's Wedding This is for you Dave, hope that you and Lisa are okay with them so far. Please remember, the page is under major construction, so I will add some more happy snaps, later.

I usually like the UK number single, but this week, it has been something special. My friend, Daz, had the R Kelly album, and he offered it to me on Good Friday (18th April) but I didn't get a chance to listen to it. On my scans through the Sky Digital Music collection, (you know the drill boys and girls, 440 and upwards) I kept seeing, R Kelly's video, to Ignition (Remix) but I never got a chance to listen to the song and give the song, and video the justice it deserved. It wasn't until this weekend, just passed that I saw the video in full, and listened to the song that I fell in love with. The video, also, is hilarious, you need to watch out for a particular, dancer. ;o)

It was also, the ideal opportunity, to burn an MP3 CD (how could I resist!) and my RnB in the Mix, was well due a re-issue. I have lost count, but I have a feeling this is version 5. Plus, there were another songs, to add to the now crammed collection, 50 Cent - In Da Club and Sean Paul - Get Busy, so it wasn't just the single song, I was adding to collection.

Not much else to report, I'm afraid. Not so much busy, but loads of things to get done. The usual thing, as one headache ends you find yourself facing another 23 headaches, in the not too distant future. Oh well, so is life. Take care for now. Peace, until my weekend update.

Sunday 11th May 2003

People often ask me about my tastes in music and who my favourite artists are and which music genre's I prefer to listen to. This is a extremely difficult question to answer. I purely base this on my mood, there are times, I enjoy my heavy trance (not too heavy mind!) and then there are times for some soulful classics from the 60s. If you were to base it on my now, "world-famous MP3 collection", the most popular artist, is or rather are, the fantastic Temptations, with no less than 21 tracks is my collection. And although, I have listened to the majority of 2300 plus songs in my collection, there are always surprises, and I have to at times, double-check: "Did I really download that?" Audio page updated, with the HTML versions of my database updated also.

Talking of music, a topic which is often debated, is the cover version. My own personal view on this is on my music page. However, there are some exceptions, particularly as I have noticed, Jennifer Ellision has done a cover of the Transvision Vamp classic rock song, "Baby, I Don't Care", having seen the video on Flaunt (from one of the many new Music channels on Sky Digital) I have to admit, its not a great cover, not an amazing original video, but then the jump from soap star ("Brookside") to the pop world, is such a mountain to climb, and only some specially talent artists can climb. Kylie Minogue, must be the most successful to do so. Long live Peter Waterman and his "Pop Factory". But do you really think that the pop fat cat, risked everything with Stock, Aitkin and Waterman, to push Kylie into the pop world? Indeed, we shall see how successful, young Miss Ellision fray in the pop world is...

Not much to report really, extremely busy, as always and forever trying to get 328494929 things done within a extremely tight deadline. We will of course, persevere!

Wednesday 7th May 2003

Just a minor update, to a few pages and few tweaks, here and there. I'll spend some more time on the site, over the weekend.

I just thought, I would let everyone know that as an Arsenal fan, its quite a grim time for me, particularly, with some pleasantly arrogant colleagues, whom just happen to support Manchester United.

Music news - I've been rinsing the Club Mix MP3 CD (v2) (Yes I did go back to the drawing board and create version 2) Have found yet another song, which will continue to be an anthem for the remainder of the week. Plummet - Damaged. The song has two videos, the one shown on the MTV channels has two mannequins, on opposite sides of a high street, coming 'alive' and going out for a meal together. While the tamer video, shown on Chart Show TV, has twins of Chinese origin, finding each other, holding balloons and also a young toddler. Very strange indeed! But hay, the music video continues to be an art form. Its just a shame that there are those artists, whom make it a theatrical experience, and others, whom budget on a shoe-string and still produce an amazing concept. The Q Mixes, are also going down well, with Michael Jackson - Bad versus Ray Parker Junior - Ghostbusters, really taking me back to the great 80s. All I need to do now is shout out, "Turbo Boost, KITT" and hope my car kicks the turbo in....

I have found out that www.teg.net comes up for a renewal on 22nd November 2003. (How ironic, the day before my birthday!) I may put in a bid, if it is available. Its a shame, I may loose my national identity, which I have with this site, as a .co.uk but .net is in, and I hate the hyphens in-between my name in my current URL. I may even go the full distance and but in a bid for www.teg.co.uk and take it away from the The Electronics Group Bulletin Board.

Anyways, have fun, I'll update again at the weekend.

Monday 5th May 2003

My dear friend, Mr. David Jones, has finally taking the plunge and if I may be so bold to use a Welsh, or rather Wrexham saying, "applied the handbrake" To those of you, unaware of the meaning behind this, he got married on Saturday. I must say, that this being my first experience of a Christian wedding, being thrown into the deep end (just a tad!) by being Best Man. It was a day, I won't forgot for a long, long time. The church, St. Paul's was set, high up in the Welsh valleys and you look across and down into the town of Wrexham. Breathtaking stuff, and indeed a very surreal experience. Mr. Jones, is the last person, we would have thought would be taking such a step, at a tender age of 21. Who, am I, to stand in the way of one man's happiness. Happiness is such a unique commodity and one, when we find, we should endeavour to hold on to, regardless of others view of such things. After all, we should remember, to not allow anyone to come in between our happiness.

I wish Dave and Lisa the best for the future and do hope they build on the happiness they have found and find nothing but success lights the way.

Photographs to be uploaded to the photos page, within the coming week.

Not much to report really. My weekend mileage, was considerably lower than last weekend, clocking up a total of 400 miles, which was in fact reasonable.

Music wise, I was keen to watch the Q Music channel, which was having a Q Mix week. Having already downloaded the classic, mix of Bee Gees - Staying Alive, Britney Spears - Slave For You and Shakria - Wherever, Whenever, last year. I was keen to hear some of the latest mixes that had been produced. I was keeping my eye on the play list, at the bottom of the screen to see what the channel had to offer. To my surprise, there was Craig David versus Survivor. Well the latter artists' song was an easy guess, "Eye Of The Tiger", but I was searching through my head on which tune, would be fighting the soundtrack classic. I didn't need to think for long, the next song to came on, was the one in question and it was Fill Me In. My mind flew back to October 1999, when this song was in the charts. Such a different time in my life. I was in college, I was driving for the first time and life was considerably different. How times and circumstances change. The song however, still holds something special place in my heart, if not for the time and place, but more for the people whom were so much a part of my life then.

Another, so called comeback. No, comeback is not the correct word. Return, return of an amazing dance artist. Sonique, whom I recall watching live at Party In The Park, back in 2000, which was my first year at the event in aid of the Prince's trust, organised by London's Hit Radio station, Capital FM. Her song, "Can't Make Up My Mind" will be one of the anthems for the car this week. Looks, like I need to go back to the drawing board with the Club Mix MP3 CD.

What has been learned in the past month, is that looking back, although does so much for your soul, it does little for your heart and therefore we must do our utmost to keep looking forward, and indeed keep on moving....

Sunday 27th April 2003

Taking into account the amount of mileage, I do purely for work purposes, you would think that I would have some sense, to keep my "Social, Domestic and Pleasure" mileage, to a bare minimum. Having a hectic weekend planned, and having a tight (very tight) schedule, I was looking at matching my weekly commuting mileage (over 600 miles) with the journey I had planned from Friday through to today! :)

As I parked up outside Dave's flat in Wrexham, my trip computer, ticked over to 300 miles EXACTLY! It was Friday 25th April, 20:30. As I cruised and pulled into my drive, a few hours ago, my mileage had reached 601 exactly! I think, I will need a week to recover from my driving, let alone anything else.

Great to see Dave, again. Had the fitting for my 'threads'. "Looking quite FLY", as DJ would say. Getting me extremely nervous now, particularly, as the big day is less than a week away. It was were I stayed Friday night and spent the evening reminiscing about the past, present and future. Then, after the fitting on Saturday morning, it was a quick pub lunch, down the local. I also saw the kick off to Bolton versus Arsenal, before I had to jump back onto the motorway, for the next part of my superman mission! :) The missions you do, when you suddenly become BEST MAN! :)

Then, off to MK, for the third time. What can I say? An experience? Again, this was a works do, organised by the Social Coordinator, (Under 30's division) so when you see him, please tell him, to sort things out, so they run a lot more smoother. We can't have everyone's vehicle being ticketed, by those lovely MK traffic wardens. Its such a disappointment.

The only other disappointment, was the venue. (Well our intended venue, was to be Oceania) Unfortunately, the dress codes for some places, seems to have hit the roof. You even have to be labelled up correctly. "We don't do Rockports!" was the explanation, from the bouncer. I felt close to saying something like, "Is it coz Is BLACK?" But hay, you have to get the dress-code correct, yourself. A collar, which I thought, took you from casual, to smart. But unfortunately, you need to have the right labels as well. So does that mean, if you haven't got your Happy Shopper threads on, they just won't let you in. You never know, they might start saying that if your glasses aren't the correct label, you got no chance either. Do I see a case for discrimination coming along?

Hero worship? Well there are loads of heroes out there in our small little worlds. But for me, there are certain people you just worship, and look up to. Even if its just because of their extended knowledge on OMS. Jase, nice to see you out in MK, its a shame, you didn't get me a drink, but don't worry, I won't hold it against you. I hope that you still have my business card! :)

Audio wise, I've 'burnt' my club mix MP3 CD, and also another to my Pure Pop collection. When did I get into Boy bands? Well, there was only 1 song, from 1999, that got me into the 'genre'. "I Want It That Way", by the Backstreet Boys. Being their first, slow song, I suddenly became a semi-fan, while my sisters had been raving about them since 1997. Just my chance, I downloaded that song for my Pure Pop MP3 CD (disc 2 of 2) and found a rare re-mix. The song and score are exactly the same, the lyrics are slightly different and of-course there is a heavy bass line! :) This put into my head, the fact that I needed a Pure Pop album, "The Boyz Strike Back". Then they all started coming out the woodwork, New Kids on the Block, Take That, Boyzone, to recent great boy bands such as 5ive and Blue.

Don't expect any further updates to this sight for the coming weeks, I've had to schedule this update in my diary. (In between all the directions to Wrexham, MK and High Wycombe!) Take care of yourself and I'm sure I will have a massive update from the big weekend, yet to come! :)

Oh yeah, I've forgotten to mention something. I had the full DEMO, of the Fiat Stilo Abarth on Friday! I haven't even been for a test drive yet, but it looks like the Honda Civic Type-R, has been blown out the water. Unless the "Power Of Dreams" can suddenly give me enough gadgets to run a business from within my car. :) Thanks to Dave and the MAIN man, Baz.

Thought of the week comes courtesy of birthday boy, Mr. Eddie Standen: "Image and no substance", we will endeavour to not live up to this, cliché!

Wednesday 23rd April 2003

A mid-week update to keep you all amused, until the weekend! :) Very hectic weekend coming up, well the next two weekends are extremely hectic! So, I think I may not even be able to update the site, until next Wednesday. But I'm sure I can make time on Sunday.

Just finished watching the titles for Doc Hollywood, on Five. Now this must be at least the fifth time, I have seen the movie on the terrestrial channel, but its not the film that makes it so special. It's not even the fact that it stars by 'hero' Michael J. Fox. It's because of the title credit song, "The One & Only" by Chesney Hawkes. Now, for those of you whom remember, this 'pop idol' from 1991 (some 12 years ago!) your reaction will be to throw your monitor out of the windows, disconnect your modem and banish my website from your Favourites forever! Indeed, you may say why, WHY do I like this 'one-hit wonder'. Correction, if you check the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles, you will find that Mr. C. Hawkes has three entries. Yep, THREE! Then people say to me, often "Andrew" why do you surround yourself with such 'failures'. Indeed, another of my 'interests', if we can call it that. Is the DMC-12, or DeLorean Sports coupé. (Yet another Michael J. Fox connection!) I feel that sort of judgment is ill founded. Indeed, I feel I do perhaps surround myself with the 'wrong' kind of success. But then, can success be wrong or right? I will have to be really big headed and say, "Only God can judge me...."

Not much to report really. I've updated my Audio page, with the latest version of my MP3 database. Includes all my albums. Talking of music, in my car over the past week, I have listened to quite a mixture of music. I was aimlessly, listening to Win AMP and allowed it to 'shuffle' my "noughties" collection and soon the sounds of a ultra cool band filled my room. It was Liberty X and their song Doin' It from their album, "Thinking It Over". I made this an ideal opportunity to make yet another MP3 CD, but a full complete album of "Pure Pop". The other artist? Well, I didn't think about it much, but it was the former Go Go girl, Berlinda Carlisle.

I feel, my music collection is in need of a Club Mix album. As much as I want to use the CDA format, I feel that only MP3 can do the number of tracks to CD ratio, any good. Plus, I have so many dance/trance tracks that I want, its at least 100 tracks and counting at the moment.

Take care for now. Not much else to add to my 'blog' at the moment. I'm still waiting for some of my boyz, to update their web blogs. Well I say boyz, but I'm talking about the MAIN man, Sipz! :)

Sunday 20th April 2003

A week is a long time in politics, as the saying goes, but even in my life, a roller coaster can take place within a series of a few hours, let alone a few days. Looking back at the week and how I feel now, I can only try and recall a weekend, that nears such 'perfection'? Of course, in recent times, there is the weekend of Saturday 8th March of this year. However, you have to go back to October 1999, for my last 'perfect' weekend! It was Saturday 9th October, to be exact! I had just passed my driving test, that Wednesday (6th) and was looking forward to a weekend, cruising around the town. What we planned, in the end was a trip to the faithful, Wycombe 6. (Then under the management of UCI, and not under the guise of the Film Works, as it is now!) We went to see American Pie, and I recall, in a way that is so remarkable that I met, a group of friends of my old school, Sir William Ramsay, leaving the cinema, as I entered with my college crew. Among the old flames, was Ben G, with whom, I spent many an hour, battling our GCSE Business Studies and Information Studies (as IT was referred to back in 1998!) The contact was brief, and we just kept it to the formalities of hello, how are you?

This weekend, is beginning to live up to that autumn night, back in 1999. Saturday morning, we had a photographer around for some family photographs. Then, the afternoon was spent down at Adams Park for my third Wycombe game. Having, had my arm twisted by Trig, next door, I went down, hoping to watch some entertaining football. Unfortunately, Wycombe, proved themselves extremely lucky to walk away with a draw. Cheltenham, were the much better side, and hungry for much more than the Chair Boys.

Then, in the evening, I went out into Wycombe for the first time, since December 2001. The weather was dramatically differently from the Friday and symbolically, I felt cold myself. Cold, because of two individuals who will remain nameless (you know who you are!) were unable to make it, and I wasn't in a mood to enjoy myself and instead, looked forward with great anticipation to the following weekend, which again, holds much promise! There was something, that I needed to get out of my system. I still hadn't been to the one and only nightspot in my great hometown. Time (the club) and Here & Now (the bar). An old friend, had referred to the place, in his personal review as: "Club Eden, with a lick of paint..." Although, I can say little to not justify, my friend's comments, I feel there are various factors which ultimately influence your night out:

Friends
Venue
Quality of Music

I was just heading out of Time, having to a certain degree, had enough. When I suddenly, heard the cry of "Andrew Tegala" from a all too familiar voice and beginning to wonder, what the hell I've done wrong! It was my old school friend, Helen and within a few moments, several of my old friends from SWR, started appearing from the various corners of the nightclub. Indeed, it was turning into a bit of a mini-SWR reunion. It was heart warming, to be received by friends, who have nothing but admiration for your achievements and your goals. That brings me to quote, a line from a song: "Understand, that friends come and go but its the precious few who hang on". The song? We go back to 1999, and Baz Luhrman with Sunscreen. It strange to think that we left school, only 5 years ago and so many are still in the beautiful town. Out of choice or necessity is another matter. September 1998, was the last time, until yesterday afternoon, that I went to a Wycombe home again. Symbolically, this was exactly the time, when most of the friends, I met yesterday evening were making decisions, as to which path to follow!

Thinking back now, I know I have chosen the right path. Perhaps my feeling previously, was that the path I had chosen wasn't suitable for me. I look back now and think that was stupid. I think, I haven't lost focus on what matters, which is the destination. I am doing the right things, making the right decisions and ultimately enjoying my success! :) And I now have found the people, with whom I want to share my success, a question is answered and another thought/feeling boxed away for good!

Happy Easter and good luck to you all.

Saturday 12th April 2003

Easy now....! I watched, the return (fourth I believe) of Mr. Ali G, onto the small screen on Friday night. Personally, I was in 'stitches' with some of the material that he came out with. Interviewing American's must be so much fun. And I'm sure there is a saying that 'ignorance is bliss'. You could the see the wannabe 'cop' come out of G, when he was running around the training plot of the police, only waving his 'gun' about! Borat, again was amazing, and the classic line was, "I'm looking for a lady with 'PLOUGH experience', perhaps only 1 year?" Classic stuff. The critics would say that Ali G has lost it? I think that there is plenty of live left in the character, plus if he keep inventing ones, like the Austrian fashion reporter, Bruno. He will become an unstoppable force in the comedy scene! :) Some other classic lines were, when interviewing astronaut Buzz Aldrin, part of the Apollo mission to land on the moon, in July 1969. He called him, "Buzz Lightyear" at the end of the interview. Plus also, when introducing the programme, he referred to, the Native American, who still needs a policeman, and men from the military and navy, to go out!

Arsenal have a tough week, coming up. With the semi-final against, Sheffield United tomorrow afternoon and then the 'big-boys' Manchester United. A do or die match. Who will be up for it? Arsene, make mine a double, again? :o)

Other news? Not really, much to report unfortunately. A busy month ahead. Easter next weekend, and then we have the fun 'wedding' to look forward to in May. Should be interesting...

Not updated my website much really, just a major update to the audio page, as expected. Way too busy to dedicate that much time to this. :o)

Wednesday 9th April 2003

I suppose, I've almost reached a moment in my life, that years ago, I thought would be 100% unattainable. But then, I think tomorrow morning, I'll begin, to a certain extent to, 'Live The Dream'. The dream, goes back to the summer of 1999, but ultimately, the autumn of that year. To read how I felt about the dream then, click here.

I don't suppose, many of you can recall a commercial, or rather television advertisement off the top of your head? Well, back then the Fiat Punto (mark 1) was coming towards the end of its production life, and the Italian car manufacturer, was keen to clear out its last stock, that year. How would they make this a sure sell with the British, car buying public? They would bring create the ultimate dream for both the male and females of the world. Location, location, location - there could be only one place - the romantic Italy. The concept - summertime, girls and boys. Need I say anymore? However, the marketing guru's at the ad firm, were missing a vital ingredient. Music! Cue, the 60s legend, Andy Williams and one of the smoothest crooners ever! The song title? Hello? There can only be one, "Music To Watch Girls By". This song, originally from 1967, was remixed especially for the commercial. The commercial and song became so popular, that a single was released. For further on this and my other two UK single purchases, please click here.

Well, tomorrow morning, I'll be listening to this song (full blast) and hopefully, I'll be noticed by 'others' rather than just be noticing others on the street or in their cars. The irony? I'll be driving a Mark II, Fiat Punto. The other classic moment, is a reality, but its more of a gift from the company than anything else. We shall see how the, perhaps not 'new' Teg, but more a re-conditioned Teg is perceived on the streets of High Wycombe, through Hazlemere past my old school, Sir William Ramsay, up into Amersham and onto the M25 and beyond....

I would like to thank Mr. Dave Maher, for his help in making my dream a reality. Onwards and upwards, as the saying goes. Still got my eye on that beautiful light blue, Fiat Stilo Abarth.

Dave: "Give it time, my son...give it time..." :o)

Sunday 6th April 2003

Another weekend, slowly bites the dust... however, again my mood changes from being quite melancholy on Friday evening, to a jubilance on Sunday evening, with the long week ahead staring back at me...

Had to go into work this morning to carry out some jobs, which could only be done, with a certain 'lack' of user activity.

I have omitted, something very important from my last update. England's performance against Turkey, at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday evening. This, was the true 'test' for Erickson's England, and I'm sure he is both proud and delighted with the performance. It was great to see such a passionate performance from the young gun, Rooney. As the commentators, fanatically say, "He's one for the future..." But let us not take anything away from the Evertonian. The boy, "done good". Turkey are by far the toughest opponents in our group, but then I'm sure they will seek revenge on their home turf later in the campaign.

I have to mention my format dilemma again. I have now, got so used to the MP3 CD format, that I have partial neglected the great CD. I'm going to burn a few more .cda extension files in the coming future, because there is still plenty of life left in the format! :) Talking of diminishing formats, I was quite interested to read some articles in a PC magazine, that the floppy is dead! I feel that this is far from the truth. Some manufacturers, may decide to ditch the format, but then it still has a use in this day and age. Plus, in a technological era when we will soon be talking about terabytes of data. The 1.44mb floppy, can be so useful, to hold that 32k report and a few other word documents and still fit handsomely in your pocket, without crease to your suit. Something that other media formats, could never emulate. I may start a "Save The Floppy" campaign! Watch this space!

Funny, that I was talking of the Leicester's second citizen, Mark Morrison, only on Friday and on Saturday, I noticed Kiss were doing a Story and showing all the 'old skool' music videos (early to mid 1990s) and there was the main man himself! That was 1996, but I remember it as if it was yesterday :o)

Not much else to report really...

Oh yeah, nearly forgot. I've been asked to be David Jones' best man at his wedding next month. Oh well, never mind....

Friday 4th April 2003

I start writing my weekly updates, late on a Friday evening. As there is only an hour of the day (or date rather) left, I usually don't bother using the 'official' date heading. However, today, is different and so is my update.

What a week! A week, which I had anticipated to pan out very different from what did actually occur. Perhaps, it is true, that the best made plans fail, but when you hope for a 'change' that you don't get and a return of feelings that you hoped you had 'boxed' away for the foreseeable future, the outlook looks unclear, if not heavily foggy. It is not for me to inadvertently offer any reason for this, but as you can see, its a new month and perhaps, my luck is changing to a certain extent. The direction of this change, is for yourself to decide...

I made a spontaneous decision on Sunday afternoon. The sun was shining, and it was turning into quite a nice day. I wanted to go out and make something of the day. Time wasn't on my side (it rarely is...) I drove to Henley and parked up by the River and re-visited my past. A place that holds so much power and grace, that I can hardly put into words, how I felt walking across the park, where on Friday afternoons, I would play football with my friends from College. The emotion of the occasion, came into its own, as I made my nonchalant way towards the town centre. People stared, but as usual, I did not care, for I was alone, once more. Benches, which had once held me, for afternoons spent, watching the Thames calmly pass away, now looked empty. I knew their importance, but for the passerby, enjoying the Oxfordshire sunshine and pastures green, thoughts would be on tomorrow and the future, and not the past. However, I was, perhaps looking in a different direction, if only for a few hours, this was something that needed to be done. I knew, following instinct was the right thing to do...

As I entered the town, so much had changed, so much had happened here. News camera crews, been and gone, for Dusty, and our dear friend George, wishing the world peace and happiness. I, then needed to face the challenge, that lay before me. I knew, I could at any time, walk away and head for my car, the park and enjoy the few hours of the afternoon sunshine, rather than chase a cold and empty building, hoping to find something that still haunts me, to this day. Hiding, was something I had done for weeks, and I'd also had dear friends, for whom, my action would mean an achievement. I was not going to let them down, for, it perhaps them, that connect us.

My memories, flashed to my dear friend, Vicky. A girl, whom I'd know for over 4 years at Primary school. I can recall, like yesterday her first day at Lansdowne. That was way back in 1990. Fate, destiny, or even in God, if we do trust, brought me back together with Vicky, some 4 years later, in the September of 1998. Almost ten years almost exactly since we had met for the first time. It was perhaps a power, far beyond us mere mortals, that wanted me to make something of this final meeting. How was I to know, that I would never get a chance to say, goodbye? Looking back, now with the power of hindsight, her tragic death brought me happiness, but at what price can we make happiness our own? A lyric from, the song Affirmation by Savage Garden, springs to mind, "We place our happiness in other people's hands..." My mind then drifts from this, to friendship. A fragile entity, indeed, but we should do our best to keep, the box the right way up. For we never know, who can suddenly turn from friend to foe. Wondering why, can be too much. We just pick up the pieces, and move on. And looking around the bare walls of the college buildings, I forever feel a sense of regret. Regret, that I didn't make the most of my time here. The college flag, begins to sway, as a cool, Spring breeze, fills the emptiness, I feel in my heart. As I look around, I can only ask myself the question why. Why, I feel so much bitterness and pain, when the reality is, I'm beyond this and getting on with my life? That is a question that would remain unanswered until later in the week.

The feelings ran too deep, and as I walked out of the college, I felt a sense of mixed feelings. Regret was turning into sweet contemplation. The past is over with, let us get on with our future. When that "Us" turns to "I", you feel that indeed, you are alone.

Feelings were running high, again today and as I listened to the 1996 hit by Mark Morrison, "Return Of The Mack", and realized that a much tougher challenge lay ahead, some one hundred miles away, and amazing, the hometown of the singer, I was listening to. Perhaps I could draw strength from his words, which prove to sooth my mind, and keep me focused.

I saw a 'unusual' site on my drive home on Thursday evening. Just before I headed past Amersham & Wycombe College, I saw a 'boy racer' AX. However, there was something that didn't quite make this picture complete. There was the blatant 'L' plate on the bonnet, and a concerned father looking on in earnest over the driving of his son. Someone's street "cred", just hit rock bottom. This incident closely links in with my next door neighbour - Dave. The connection? There can only be one: "The French Connection". Not quite, FCUK, but more a case of the Citroen AX. He is the proud owner of a M-reg (1995) small green car. He has kindly donated his personal views on football for my England page and will be providing additional material (mainly photographs) to keep this page up-to-date. I will of course, keep you updated on the situation, once he gets around to writing me some material, when he is not changing nappies, running around for Mrs. Maher, or watching England games with his son, Nathan.

By chance, I picked up an old Zip disk, which I hadn't used for several months. To my amazement, I discovered a collection of a dozen, MP3s, on the media, with some surprises. My mind flashed back to an on-line conversation, with my friend, Ian. He had recommended a band, called Sister Hazel, and the song, "Champagne High". This is where the MP3 format comes into, own. I was amazed, to hear this song again, and watch, almost effortlessly, as the pieces of the jigsaw fall into place.

Indeed, my life has been a series of "Champagne Highs" but....

"......where will I be, when I stop wondering why?"

Sunday 30th March 2003

Another great weekend! Getting loads done, and sorted out, shame the weather hasn't been has good as last weekend, and earlier in the week. However, this doesn't stop us from having a good time... :o)

It's a shame that the 'cowboys' out there, are never able to admit that they are providing such poor quality of service. Whatever you do, never let them get the upper hand, and throw them to touch! :)

England put in a solid, if not great performance against Liechtenstein. This of course, wasn't the great test, that is yet to come. It was indeed a contrasting match, the little man, Owen scoring from a header. And Captain Marvel (version 2.349) working extremely hard and scoring a 'Becks Special' free kick.

Audio page updated with the latest details on my now 'world-famous' MP3 collection. Click here to see, how much my MP3 collection has grown....since the beginning of the month! :o)

On the recent discussions of Miss. L. Pausini, I have discovered there are two different videos for her forthcoming single release, "Surrender". Although, I do prefer, the version shown on the Box on Friday, during their Super Fresh programme. The 'US' version, although clever, is no where near the uniqueness of the 'European' version... If you haven't seen the video yet, I recommend, you check out my links below.

Laura Pausini - Official Website (www.laurapausini.com) - * ADSL / 56K version of the 'cool' video *
Artist Direct - Pausini Profile (www.artistdirect.com) - * Surrender 'butterfly' video *

All will become clear once you enter those URL's into your trusty Internet Browser window.....

Take care for now. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

"I always made it on my own I always thought that I would keep control You've changed everything I believe in And now I just can't fight this feelin' Baby! I raise my hands and I surrender...."

Thursday 27th March 2003

There are moments in your life that you never forget. There are also moments where magical things happen, with no logical explanation and remain with you forever.

One such moment occurs regularly in my life. Let me take you back to the beginning of the year. It was the evening of Monday 26th January. I had been forced to take the motorway route, due to road works to my A-road route. Although, motorway driving doesn't bother me, and I quite enjoy it, my music is the thing that keeps me going.

However, by the time I reached junction 10, I was stuck in heavy traffic and it wasn't going to clear for sometime, from what I was told on the TA (Traffic Announcements) anyways! So, I dug in for the rest of the evening. I was listening to BBC Radio 1, in an attempt to move away from my now tired set of MP3 CDs and also well used 10 disc CD changer. I listened to Steve Lamacq, on his evening show which starts at 8pm. (Please note, I am usually home by 7.15pm (at the latest!)) After the initial chit-chat, he started to play a song. Instantly, I put the volume up. I new this was a song I would like, and I hadn't even heard the first lyric yet! The song in question, was indeed, "In Da Club", by the Eminen prodigy "50 Cent". I'm not a fan of Eminen at all, but I must admit that this song, bangs in my car (if not my club!)

A similar scenario, like the above earlier this week. Tuesday, I feel was the day. I scanned through the usual channels, of Sky Digital. I came across, an amazing music video and also the lyrics, just took me away. I was luckily able to see the artist name and details flash up on the screen as the song came to a close. Laura Pausini (definitely Italian) and song was called, "Surrender". I got the opportunity to see the video later in the week. It is extremely refreshing to see a record label and team spend money, and I mean a substantial amount of money on an artist. The video is what can only be described as unique and breathtaking. As for the artist, she sings the song with so much belief, strength and conviction that you feel unable to stop yourself from "raising your hands in surrender" to the pure talent. I do indeed, hope that Laura gets the opportunity to shine. Pure, genuine talent such as this, is hard to come by, in a very brand/product based music industry.

Take care of yourself and each other. (As the grey man, Kilroy says on the his show!)

Wednesday 26th March 2003

Just wanted to wish my younger sister, Samantha a happy 20th birthday for tomorrow.

I thought I would give you an insight into some of the songs, I have been listening to during the course of the last few weeks. Last week, I was in rock/pop mode, and was listening to 80s classics, "Crash" by The Primitives and also the head bangin' to "I Don't Care" by the beautiful Transvision Vamp.

This week, I've had to put together a more dance based MP3 CD (that still sounds amazing!). If you have seen the hilarious Lynx commercial which has been having substantial play on all the television channels, both terrestrial and satellite. Well the song, "Make Luv" by Room 5, has a catchy lyric and heavy bass line. The dance, well I won't comment on that until I see the affect it has on the dance floor.

Puretone have made a comeback with a fantastic single, "Stuck In The Groove", which is also the name of their forthcoming album. Again, taking us from where we left on in their debut single, "Addicted to Bass", with a fantastic car chase. I'm not a big fan of the BMW Mini, but the Cooper S, is shown off in great style. Both its power and nippiness as the lead singer, dodgers the Mad Max reject 'baddies'.

Plus, I'm getting into summer mode, and mood, listening to my classics: Starship, "We Built This City" and also Huey Lewis & The News - "The Power Of Love". I may go and work on a Summer MP3 CD now....

Take care, may God bless, or the man upstairs, or whatever power you believe in....

Sunday 23rd March 2003

The lesson of this weekend and previous week? There are only certain ways of answering your critics.... Working hard and playing hard too!

Another great weekend - this is turning into an enjoyable habit! My friend from Uni, Darren came over to Wycombe on Saturday. He is currently also on an Industrial Placement with Viglen, based in Wembley. It was great to see him again and spend some quality time on the weekend. Doing the usual things, exchanging music and software - as you do. Plus, backing up my now legendry world class MP3 collection to... wait for it! DVD! Now, I have a gold standard backup, safe and secure. So now, no matter what happens to my hard drive, I will be covered! :o)

Getting things done, so getting all kitted up for the summer. Just a few more things to sort out and I'll be all set! :o)

I just wanted to say a big extended hello, to all my cousins out there in the sub continent of India. Especially Pooja, who has started e-mailing me on my Yahoo account. :o)

Today was a relaxing Sunday as always. However, there was the momentous cloud of the Premiership hanging over me, as a Gooner. Manchester United may have enjoyed a few hours 'on top' but it was Arsenal that had some points to prove. Indeed there is only one way of answering your critics. Winning, whether in the style or with a dogged performance. Everton have proved to be one of those teams, that can grind out a result. But as always, we were able to rise above the negative backlash connected to defeat or even a draw. Just the small occasion of the FA Cup on Tuesday.

Not much of an update to the site at all I'm afraid. Very busy at the moment. Will update next weekend, expect the MP3 collection to GROW... and I mean a major increase in the album section in particular.

Sunday 16th March 2003

Another great weekend! Sunny weather, and getting stuff done, which always feels good! :)

Was in PhoneLand in High Wycombe, with Radio One playing in the background. An intro filled the shop, all to familiar, but when the song kicked in, the vocalist that greeted my ear was Beyoncé Knowles and not 50 Cent. Indeed, it was one of those response songs that are now so common. If you recall, back in October 1999, TLC made a brief comeback with the single, "No Scrubs" and the album, "FanMail". A group of boyz from the hood, called "Sporty Thieves" came up with the response, "No Pigeons". Another response song, of more recent times is to Shaggy's - "It Wasn't Me". This was done by Lady Saw, and it was the female response to the song!

Life is good, and the fine weather brings with it the thought, "Summer is just around the corner...." Take care for now. Very busy, so no real updates to the website.

I also took my little sister, Julie to Slough for a nice relaxing day. Indeed, the Office, may have been the best thing to happen to the 'Industrial town', but don't knock it too much! Its the only place which I can distinctly say allows people to realize how far away from London I live!

Thursday 13th March 2003

Two updates in a working week? You must thing this is some miracle! Well, I've got a very busy weekend plan (so you ask, what's new?) I wanted to share something with the world too!

Driving home this evening, there was a very different flavour in the air! As I drove across from Bedfordshire into Buckinghamshire, the sun set and guided me in the right direction! As I listened to "Sacred Trust" by the Bee Gees, closely followed by "Cry" by Kym Marsh, I realised that it was all coming clear for me. Everything indeed happens for a reason. What is meant to be, is meant to be! I just hope that, the decisions I make now, are the ones that guide me in the right direction. After all is said and done, I know, I'm the only one! The sun was never setting on my dreams, but showing me that no matter what happens, I'll get what I want... in time....

Doors have opened for me, and others remain firmly open! I am slowly learning, that I have to look after number one, because nobody else is as important!

I will never hear or feel the sentiments of Kym Marsh's song, Cry from my old friend. Although I would now describe them as a stranger but I feel that it is only a matter of time before they realize their mistake and forever consider the, "what if....." scenarios! We all make mistakes, but it is indeed a difficult pain to bear when we continue to convince ourselves that the decisions we have made are the correct ones... only time will tell! You may think it is stupid for me give so much thought to an incident that happened months ago.

As always, we ultimately rise above this, and as the great Usher says, "Pop Ya Collar"!

Wednesday 12th March 2003

A rare, mid-week update! Just got back from Leicester. I had my Final Year Options Module Day. Quite a busy day, with loads to do and loads to take in. Still quite undecided on the final choices I will make. Going to seek some advice from some of my colleagues at Pericom and FWBS!

Just wanted to say a thank you to the following people, for letting me 'crash' at their place and also make me welcome: Sipz, Daz, Shush, Sonia, V & P! Take care guys, and I will indeed see you soon! I'm sure we can do the 'G' thing, and drive up and down Gateway in the Punto again soon! :o) Will it be Scandalous we blast or In Da Club?

It was great to be at Uni again! On the positives, it was great to see my friends, give out my business card and flash the job title, "IT Manager"! On the negatives, I don't want to do the work!!!!! Oh well, I haven't got into all this debt for nothing you know!

Not much else to report really! Arsenal drawing another game in the Champions League again! Apart from that life is quite good! Back into my Bhangra tunes for a while. Don't worry, its only a passing phase that will last for the rest of the week. By the weekend, their will be another song that I will have on REPEAT in my car! :o)

Saturday 8th March 2003

What a weekend! This is turning into what I can only describe as the "perfect" weekend! What a FA Cup game! One of the best football matches I have seen for ages! Arsenal showed what true champions are made of! Going down to a goal, conceded early, the Gooners were able to raise our game and come back into the game. To take the lead was amazing, but of course now, Arsenal did it in style! Henry, taking the ball, with effortless control, racing towards the Chelsea keeper. He then becomes poetry in motion, turning, in such a fashion, to both protect the ball, and leave the goalkeeper stranded! He then tapped the ball with the coolness of a chilled ice cold drink, to calmly place the ball into the back of the net! Breathtaking stuff! The Reds, showing their true class, and in what style! The third goal, never materialized for Arsenal, but the fourth of the game did for Chelsea! After one failed attack to another, the Blues, were able to scrabble a goal into the back of Seaman's goal! A fair result at the end of the day, I have to say! Less said about the whole penalty appeal, the better!

Do you recall a song called, "Days Like That", by a British girl group called Fierce? Well, I was watching Smash Hits on a Friday night (28th February), and I recognized the score, but the female voices were different, although the sound created did to a certain extend match the Fierce version of 2000. Then, as I continued to watch the video, I noticed it was a whole new girl group and a crisp sexy musical movie! The band were the Canadian group, Sugar Jones and we can expect more fresh material crossing to our shores from them very soon!

The only other new songs I have noticed on the Sky Digital music channels, are The Bangles (still going strong after all these years!) "Something That You Said" and also Kym Marsh (from the winning ITV Popstars band - Hear'Say) making her debut single release with "Cry". This easy on the ear, yet powerful ballad, has quite a fresh feeling! But that isn't to say that its a very original sound, it conjures up memories of a similar composition. Who cares though?! Its great to see someone bouncing back, especially after only hitting the headlines for walking out on the reality TV show group.

Just the regular audio page update! Very busy, and hectic weekend! Try and do more next weekend!

Life is good, life is great. I won't speak to soon though! I'll just enjoy the moment as much as I can! :) I made the mistake on Friday, at work, to make the regrettable comment, "Everything is running smoothly today, for a change!" Straight after my lunch break, everything that could possibly fail, did! Server, phone system and internet connection! :)

Friday 7th March 2003

Just arrived in Leicester, literally a few minutes ago. The time is 18:27, and I've just got into the Queens Lab at University. On my drive into the UK's 10th largest city, I felt strange feelings. Mixed emotions, really. On the one hand it felt great to be back in my University city, on the other, I know that I have the hard labour of my Final Year to come! Oh, if only I could be locked in my Placement Year forever! On seconds thoughts, maybe not!

Oh, how things have changed, from the scenery, buildings (new SU is taking shape - and looks - "Impressive, most impressive") to the code on the computer lab door. I'm here with my friend, Sippy. He's "apparently" had the most hectic, demanding and stressful day ever! Then I tell him about the day I've had, and it all falls into place! Then, I discover, the sleepy Sippy has had no lectures or labs today and in fact it is his day off, from Uni today! Talk about cheek! It was great to see him again after so many months! I really enjoyed my weekend with him! We spent a lot of time reminiscing about 'old times' back in the first and second year! It was a good laugh!

Its not like I'm not going to see him again for a good few months! I'm up to Leicester again, on Tuesday night as I have my Module Options Day on Wednesday! I'm looking forward to it, going be extremely weird having to switch into 'student' mode again! Its going to be great to see my friends, Daz, Shush and some of the other guys! I'll be doing the usual things with these 'usual suspects', particular since I haven't seen them for so long! We will be exchanging business cards, and exchanging the stories of who has got the best company car and who's got the most kosher role on placement!!

Saturday 1st March 2003

As a new month starts, I look back as recently as the night before and discover things that touch my heart in ways, I thought they never would. I was never a big fan of the Manchester boy-band, Take That during the early to mid 90s. However, on VH1, yesterday evening, just before the 8pm showing of Eastenders, I saw a glimpse of an ever memorable music video. When the trumpets and great orchestra instrumental began, I knew, this was one of my favourite songs. As the song continued, "We've Gone so far, and we've reached so high and we've looked each day and night in the eye, and we're still so young and we hope for more..." The song took be back to July, 1995. I was on a coach driving back to High Wycombe from Wolverhampton, it was nearly 7pm and the coach driver was playing the Top 40 countdown, I can't recall if it was the BBC Radio One official countdown or the commercial version. However, that is not important. Other songs in the top ten that Sunday evening were, Seal - "Kiss From The Rose" and U2 - "Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" (indeed it was the summer of Batman's third silver screen appearance, Batman Forever starring Val Kilmer, in his lone outing as the caped crusader) If my memory serves me correctly, it was Sunday 30th July. (Don't hold me to that though! I can't afford any law suits at this time!) Take That had reached number one with their last single as a group, and they of course wanted to leave the pop music circle, in style. The single was called, "Never Forget", and indeed we never do forget, its just a shame that at times we are very selective with memories. Some we allow to freely resurface, others remain forever at the depths of our ocean's mind.

You may ask, for the reason I was on a coach travelling back from the East Midlands to the place I call home? It was my cousin, Tony's wedding day. Looking back it was a day full of joy and happiness for two families joined in unison to celebrate the union of their young children. That was eight years ago, this coming summer. Eight years, an indescribable amount of time, in the lives of us mere mortals. And being mere mortals does have its disadvantages. At times, we all feel that we are invincible, but the hard truth to bear is that we are all far from indestructible. God Bless Tony! May he forever rest in peace and harmony...

I have been considering some of the 'categories' of music I should be working hard to compile, in my now 'world renowned' MP3 collection. Obviously, I've been considering some of the following:

Dance Floor Covering - the recent trend to take classic tracks from the 70s, 80s and even early 90s and add a modern dance beat. I, vividly picture some record label suit saying the eternal line: "Don't worry, the kids will buy it..."
Covers - 2002 saw the most number of unoriginal material entering the UK Top 40, in its 50 year history. This would be a large 10 disc compilation! That's one way to fill up my now semi-redundant CD-changer! :o)
Samples - this has been happening for a very long time now, and it would be interesting to discover what great tunes have been sampled by other dance artists. Michael Jackson would be right up there with the best of them! :)

I do not have any other ideas, so if anyone out there has any other good ideas for possible album material, please e-mail me. For reference, you can check my Audio page for a detail listing of my current collection. However please note, as soon as this page is updated, it is out of date, as I am continuously updating, sorting and re-sampling my collection of over 2200 songs!

Eastenders had one of the most moving final scenes, I have seen for several months if not years. We have become accustomed to the soap opera concluding on a knife's edge, with us eagerly anticipating the next installment. However, I think a change of direction was very much needed and the writers, producers and more importantly the directors delivered the goods... I think they realised that, we all do indeed enjoy

A HAPPY ENDING....

Sunday 23rd February 2003

Went out in Bedford for the first time last night with some work colleagues and had a quite a good time. When in one of the pubs in the High Street, I noticed, perhaps not a mass upsurge but considerable interest (mainly from the ladies) for a young man whom, had just entered the establishment. As he squeezed through the crowds of Saturday night revelers, I was amazed to discover it was Kevin Simm from the original (2001) ITV Popstar's runners-up band, Liberty X. It was on his return through the crowds heading out of the public house, that I was able to make eye contact, smile and say "Hi". My thoughts fell back to the MasterCard poster campaign, which had come to climax, for the Brit Awards on Thursday 20th February! The poster has the image of a young teenage girl, at the front of a crowd at a West Life concert, with the classic words underneath: "Star gazing: priceless". An ideal way to describe my experience on Saturday night. Its amazing how much we realize that when we do meet some 'celebrity', that they are indeed 'human' and no different from ourselves. Its just unfortunate, or perhaps fortunate (depending on your own personal view point) that it takes a moment, of 'star gazing' for us to come to this perhaps obvious conclusion.
Audio page - fully updated, with latest version of my now, "World Famous" MP3 Collection!

Saturday 22nd February 2003

It is strange, how quickly the weekend comes around, but just as you get into 'relaxed' mode, Monday, and particularly Monday morning rears its ugly head. But yet we must enjoy the few days that we are blessed with, to do our own. Very busy weekend, loads going on and so much to do. The lovely weather also made this weekend very enjoyable!

Arsenal cruise to another extravagant victory this afternoon. Smashing four goals past incompetent Manchester City, within the first 20 minutes! Final score, 5-1, a defying moment, in our race to retain the Barclaycard Premiership title! I just hope the next few weeks are just as successful for Arsenal! Big game on mid-week! :)

Not much a site update this weekend! I will try and update the audio section tomorrow afternoon.

Friday 21st February 2003

After months of waiting, it has finally happened! Sibtain Bandali, has uploaded the latest version of his extravagant website series. Version Two picks up just where version one left off. Everything has been redesigned, images, style and content. Overall an amazing experience that has to be seen to be believed! Well done Sippy! Keep up the great work and the best of luck hunting down that elusive placement. All your hard work and dedication will pay off in the end! :o)

How's my world? Well not much to report at my end. Work is very busy as usual, but I'm coping as expected. The reason I have not been able to update this site as frequently is that I have been busy re-designing my Placement Website. After several of neglect it appears that I have a mountain to climb, to get my website to the Bandali 'high standard'. We will endeavor, after all, "Whoever Wins Is The Hero". Watch this space [www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~c00at/] for further developments.

Saturday 15th February 2003

I would normally apologise profusely for my lack of updates to my website. However, I will not. It will take far too much time, and there is so much I have to tell you. So much has been going on in my world, and the world around us that there is no time for the formal dignitaries. Instead, let us jump straight to the topics....

Michael Jackson revealing to the world, his lifestyle as one of the richest pop stars in the world. Being a big fan of the 'King of Pop', I was at first, moved by the story as it unfolded on ITV1 on Monday 3rd February. Referencing his early years, as his 'childhood', I feel is unjust. He lives a lifestyle, the rest of us can only dream of, but at what price did he achieve this success? With his father, pushing the five sons, into making sure each performance was 'perfect'. But you feeling of sympathy, or rather empathy takes a dramatic change when you carefully note his behaviour with children, his own and others. I'm a strong believer that when you have already been massacred in the press for 'alleged' child abuse, you do not put yourself in a similar position ever again. Because, as always, once bitten twice shy! It becomes very easy then for the 'gutter press' to assassinate our fallen hero, but perhaps to a certain extent his is responsible for creating this aura around himself! How can I use the adjective, hero? Well, it may be difficult for us in the Western world to understand but Michael Jackson is in a small group of individual whom have the ability to touch the hearts and souls of billions of people around the world. In India, my motherland, you find it difficult to find words to describe how such icons are worshipped by these peasants, who have nothing. They have no aspirations, they have no desire to move up in the world, their lives are molded for them, and they do their best to get on with the life they have been given.

No matter what you say about Michael Jackson, you cannot dispute pure talent and genius. The world shall never see such a human being capable, of floating on the stage, and moving in such away that it appears that he is walking on water......

Football - Champions League resumes after the winter break this week! Looking forward to it with great anticipation now, especially since Arsenal, have recently been playing some sexy football. Top of the Premiership, and only this afternoon knocking arch title rivals, Manchester United out of the FA Cup. The least said about England's diabolical performance against Australia at Upton Park on Wednesday 11th February. We were lucky to get away with result that did little to flatter the English pride, already quite hurt by defeats in other sports. So is this final nail in the coffin? England, who gave the world - football, rugby, tennis and cricket, find they are no longer masters of the sports they created?

A big belated Birthday to my dear friend, Sippy! He turned 23 on 13th February! I'm sorry I forgot about it mate, forgive me? Check out his his website www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~c00sb/ (version two currently under construction!)

On Wednesday 12th February 2002, I made the 45 minute journey from the Kempston office over to Stevenage. I was doing so, quite late in the day, and it was 3.30pm by the time I was in my car and on my way. Instead of listening to one of my MP3 CDs (that still sounds amazing!) I decided to listen to Chris Moyles, as this was an irregular time for me to be listening and I could try and discover what the quality of the programming was at the beginning of the show, rather than the end. To my amazing, he played a song from a female group. My mind suddenly came alert to the sound. This sound was very unique, unique to a particular group. They have been missing from our radio waves for far too long! The group are of course, the fabulous RnB/Garage trio - Mis-Teeq Their new single, Scandalous, isn't released until March and is from their forthcoming album "Eye Candy".

I quickly went around some websites yesterday, trying to find news on the girls. The official site, is the usual record label financed flash extravaganza, with the stereotypical content taking backseat to the images of the girls. A band is built on this 'image' and therefore its exploited at every possible opportunity.

One of the better fan sites is by Steve Bevis. Please check this out, as it gets the balance between information and news just right to deliver the Unofficial Mis-Teeq! Link removed, site closed November 2003.

Life is GREAT! Actually it's fantastic, I never thought I would feel the way I do, at this time of year. I suppose, the challenged enforced upon me, has been met with ambitious dedication... and so we face the next challenge that shall fall upon us...

Sunday 2nd February 2003

February already, where has the time gone? Well most of the past week's time has been spent stranded on the M1 motorway! There are currently major roadworks between Aylesbury and Wing. Therefore, for the next four weeks, I will be taking the motorway route when traveling to and from work! Having had this 'journey' forced upon me, I tired to make the most of the situation. However, lady luck was not on my side! On Monday 27th January, I left work, slightly later than usual and didn't get onto the M1 J13 (southbound) until nearly 6pm. This was to be a decision that I would later regret! By the time I hit the major traffic on the motorway, it was gone 6pm and I was nearer junction 11. The radio provided me with detailed information on the earliest time that the motorway up ahead was to reopen and for the rest of my journey to be completed within a reasonable time. This estimated time changed from 7.30pm, to 9.15pm. However, this was not a major problem. Once this build up of traffic cleared, I was back on the motorway and making good time, as I headed off at junction 8.

On Thursday 30th January, I was advised to leave work early, as it had begun snowing heavily in Bedford. I still only left Kempston at 5pm and didn't get onto the M1 until 5.30pm. If only I knew the journey that lay ahead of me! I didn't get off the motorway until 2am. So I spent nearly 10 hours on the motorway, taking hours to move just a handful of miles! I didn't get home until 3am! It's at times like these, that you wonder how this country (which once had an empire on which the sun never set!) copes with anything these days! A small well reported snow shower and the country comes to a stand still! And countries on the continent, such as Austria and Italy, who deal with theses situations on a much more frequent occurrence can have their entire road network, back up and running within 30 minutes?

Back to my website. A few updates but nothing major, too busy trying to get other things sorted! Will try and update during the week if I can! Looking forward to the Michael Jackson interview on ITV1, tomorrow evening at 9pm!

Sunday 26th January 2003

Another weekend comes, to a conclusion as does another month! Looking back, the month started with an optimism that all January's have! Its a new year, a new start and we wake up with a new outlook! However, a few days into 2003, I received some, startling news! However, this was only a minor blip, in the proceedings! However, I feel, for the messenger, this news was of far far more importance! Perhaps even life-changing!

Great FA Cup 4th Round this weekend! Arsenal (as expected!) battered Farnborough Town 5-1 on yesterday. However, I still haven't seen the goals! Oh well, I'll have to wait for later this afternoon when the live matches are shown!

Talking of football, or soccer (as it as internationally known!) Who said the American's can't play? I think we were all proved wrong, during the World Cup! I remember, walking up early (7.25am, kick off) to watch that game in question and the 'pundits' on the BBC not even discussing the opposition playing Portugal. They soon had egg on their faces, with the US, 3-1 up at half-time! One of the hero's from that day in June, was Brian McBride and he now graces the legendary corridors of Goodison Park. If only on loan until 1st April, when he will be back at his native America and playing for Columbus Crew in the MLS (Major League Soccer)

In terms of current music track, on continuous repeat! Well I am listening to 3rd Edge - "Know You Wanna", which has grown on me significantly during the course of the week! So, does this entire RnB MP3 CD (doesn't that just sound soooo cool!) which I burnt earlier in the week! Another song that is growing on me, is Sarah Whatmore's second single, "Automatic". It borrows a similar sound to Mrs. Jennifer Afleck (or soon to be!) However it has the edge, raw sound that I feel that Girls Aloud are going for, but haven't yet been able to achieve! Also, when you see the video, you will ask yourself the question - "Is this really Sarah?"

So we head into February next weekend! Looking forward to the Cricket World Cup and also, England playing Australia at football and showing them how its played! :)

Thursday 23rd January 2003

This was the week, that Mr. Huw Edwards, started to anchor the BBC 10 o'clock News. The Beeb's new, maverick risk taker! The filler, which was shown painstakingly on the BBC programmes, where he proclaimed himself as living on the edge in the news studio, throwing the script back at his producers! Wow! How exciting!

Having heard, Erasure make a fantastic come back with the cover, "Solisbury Hill", I have re-discovered how great a band they are / were in the late 80s and early 90s! I recall how synthetic-pop was such an influence in the pop charts back then!

MP3 database (excel sheet updated!)

Life generally, is very good! Work is going well and indeed so is everything else! Looking forward to every day and facing the challenges that lie before me! Take care for now.

Sunday 19th January 2003

Funny how dramatically things can change for you over the course of a weekend. On Friday, there is the promise that a weekend can bring. By Saturday, all your plans have fallen by the way-side and you are in a really bad mood, perhaps by the circumstances far beyond your control. Yet by the close of the weekend, your on a high. Again, this is a mixture of results going your way, the conversations you have with people, and your general outlook has shifted, positively. Amazing, what 48 hours to yourself can do for the soul.

The weekend started with me watching, Erasure's fantastic cover of Peter Gabriel's - "Solisbury Hill" on TOTP and ended to the confident sound of Usher with "Pop Ya Collar"!

Not much of an update, I'm afraid! Just an update of my MP3 collection. Over 2100 songs now and growing on a weekly basis! :)

Saturday 18th January 2003

Number Five in the Official UK Top 40 singles chart, and the second highest new entry! Well at least Electric 6 didn't make it to that coveted number one spot! Now, of course there will be some of you who say, that only just getting into the Top 5 is a poor result. But for a debut release, its high admirable achievement. Now, this being the first single I had purchased since December 2001, I had to compare how this matched my last single's chart position. Indeed, Chesney Hawkes' comeback single reached the dizzy heights of 74 on Sunday 6th January 2002. Not breaking into the Top 40 is the responsibility of the record label, Arc Records not marketing their star, and more importantly single release prominently, leading up to the end of December 2001. I do recall, a PA from the record company, making a desperate plead, through Chesney's official website. This was urging 'true Chesney' fans to buy at least 5 singles and give them away to friends and family, in order to get the single higher in the chart. This is not 'gentlemanly' conduct of a record label. If you don't like the song, you won't buy the single and no-one should impose their musical tastes on others! However, it must be difficult time to release a single, as advertising shifts from Christmas, to the January sales.

If you were watching Eastenders closely enough on Monday 13th January (either at 8pm on BBC One, or 10pm on BBC Choice) you may have noticed someone quite familiar, in a very different role. No, I'm not talking about Shane Ritchie. Who was the Walford Gazette photographer? Well, lets go back some 9 years. It's the summer of 1994. A very special year, a World Cup year! The biggest international tournament in the world, took place in the big U S of A! I was in the 'no man's land' of summer. But this summer was different, because I had just finished my primary school education, and was off to the big wide world of the sunny secondary school. The song of the time was very much, "Crazy for You" by the three piece, Let Loose. Well, the drummer, Lee appeared in Eastenders, and was the mystery photographer! Let Loose, only released 3 albums, including a best of album in 1997 and soon went their separate ways. They were produced by 80s legend, Nik Kershaw, who also wrote their second biggest hit, "Seventeen" and also played keyboards on that track! Their other more memorable hits include: "Best In Me", "Everybody Say, Everybody Do" and the cover of the Bread classic, "Make It With You".

I apologise for not updating the site for over a week! I have been extremely busy at work, this past fortnight. However, I think I should be resuming 'normal service' from this week onwards.

On Sunday (12th) evening, I went to see Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers, at the Odeon Aylesbury. Odeon have never been my favourite cinema brand, I much prefer Warner Village cinemas. However, I was pleasantly surprised, and it being a Sunday evening, the auditorium was far from full. I enjoyed the film, especially the wonderful landscape scenery, which is beautiful shot and rendered onto the cinema screen. Tempted to even, go and read the novel. However, then I discovered that there are 126 mistakes, as spotted by you the movie buff. However, I think this is a growing tread. People going to the cinema with the sole objective to discover how many mistakes, they can spot and not actually play any attention to the story that is unfolding before their eyes. The website which has highlighted this, and feed the 'hungry beast' is Movie Mistakes (www.moviemistakes.com) Check it out, most popular films are there, and there are Trivia, such as cameo's to look out for!

Wednesday 8th January 2003

A rare, mid week update! Well, I know I wanted to keep to a routine now of purchasing a single, on the last Monday of every year. Well having done that last year (well 2001) I was keen to repeat this in 2002. However, the record label, Data Records, part of the Ministry of Sound empire, made the decision to put back the release of the single I wanted to purchase. This did therefore put in a bit of a dilemma. Do I purchase, another single instead, or purchase two singles? Well I made the decision to wait the week and purchase the single in question the following Monday (6th) However, being at work, and unable to get to a reputable record shop during the day, I would not be able to make my purchase. I therefore, decided to make the purchase via the web. I ordered my CD single through HMV Direct. I must say, I was very impressed with the quality and ease of their pre-order system. They are so efficient, that my single was dispatched on Friday evening, and arrived on Monday morning, for practical purposes the actual day of release of the single. FANTASTIC!

Now, of course you want to know what the single is. Throughout the course of my site updates, over the past four months, I have always been able to link, my feelings and thoughts to a song. Nothing has changed. This song brings back memories of a dance classic, which itself has been resurrected in recent times. But this is not to say that the sound is not original, unique and the vocals purely angelic. Angelic being the most appropriate adjective to use, of course! There are times when we all need, or seek guidance, knowledge and advice. We need to be away from all the tension created by a predicament and taken somewhere else...

"From the tears and the pain, and the fears and the rain...
From the dark to the light, you are one shining light....
Put your hand in my hand.... Put your hand in my hand....
Let me show you the WAY!"

Indeed there are times, when we all call upon some "Divine Inspiration", to show us The Way!

Sunday 5th January 2003

Been quite a quiet weekend, and I have been relaxing after a very busy, hectic festive period. There's been the a great FA Cup 3rd round weekend and generally I've kept myself busy, getting everything sorted for the big week ahead.

In terms of site updates, there is not much to report. I wanted to have more then 2000 mp3 singles before the end of 2002. I smashed this record, and now have over 2050 tracks in my collection. The audio page has been updated to reflect this. I hope to bring the mirror site back up to date, next weekend. Take care for now. Hope the new year is treating you well.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

I would like to wish all visitors to my site, both old and new, best wishes and great success for the coming new year.

So, looking back at 2002, and looking forward with great optimism to 2003. The previous year, has been fantastic. At the end of 2001, which had been quite a bad year, I looked forward to 2002, with a great sense of hope, shared with many of my friends. As usual, my 'significant' blueprints for the coming months, fell by the wayside. That is not to mean, that the year didn't pan out a success. To the contrary, it surpassed all expectations and I find myself, unable to comprehend at times, my luck and how I have been able to bring success from my circumstances. But we must remember, that Success is a journey... not a destination.

Timing, is everything, especially in music. On Tuesday 31st December, I woke up, early (for a change) to go shopping. It was 8.53am. While having my breakfast, I skipped across the various music channels on digital satellite. I switched to VH1 Classics, and heard a over familiar song intro. This took me back to Thursday 28th November (see Saturday 30th November update) Indeed, it was Kirsty MacColl, with "A New England". For the first time, I was actually able to pay close attention to both the video and song lyrics, which by now I knew fluently. Then, from the Number 7 track, from 1985, we fast forwarded 11 years, to 1996 and my favourite Robbie Williams song, "Old Before I Die". For my Robbie Williams', all time top ten, check my Top Ten page.

With regards to site updates, photographs and links pages have new additions. Plus, I will be going over all pages, to ensure that they are all up-to-date. Plus, a new page discussing the Music of today.