Try and fail. But don't fail to try...

I'm on a roll with this blogging malarkey but I'm struggling to think what the actual purpose of my musings are.

As I mentioned in my first post the point was for it to be a photography blog that I would update each day with a picture and some wisdom about the day. Eight weeks in and it is clear to see that it hasn't and isn't going that way. 

It's difficult to take one picture that encapsulates your day. It is difficult to take a picture when you are working. And it isn't often that something outstanding happens worthy of a picture and a blog.

Whilst I do have the time to post a blog each day I don't really have the imagination at the moment to create something I feel would be of interest to others on a daily basis for now I am being quite erratic with the content.

However, I am finding that as I post these random little tit-bits my mind is beginning to stir a bit more and I am thinking of more topics and photo opportunities that could just make this work. In particular I am developing ideas from a lot of things I enjoy doing in my spare time. This has led me to think of developing this as a music blog or even a travel blog.

But then I think, why limit it to one of those topics and not just develop a blog about me and my experiences and thoughts in life. Fair enough, nobody knows me so nobody would be interested in me but they may like to know about places I have been and bands I have seen. And the more I babble on about these things, the more people may want to know me. Possibly. It's worked for other folk.

Let's give it a try and see...

Are we human. Or are we dancer?

Brandon Flowers certainly proved he is both with part two of a gig that was first scheduled in November but ended abruptly four songs in with a loss of voice and a little strop at having been made to face the public.

Last time round Mr Flowers seemed to know the show wouldn't be going on and opened up with the ever popular Mr Brightside. This time round it was saved until the end and didn't fail to disappoint. Brandon was certainly back on form and loving every minute of bouncing round the stage to a set full of crowd pleasing hits.

This is a band that knows exactly what their hits are and how to use them to get the best out of the crowd. They know what is popular and so threw out a set that didn't include the obligatory toilet-break-album-tracks, keeping everyone on their toes patiently waiting to hear "their favourite" song.

The set list was as follows: 
Sams Town
Enterlude
When we were young
Smile like you mean it
Spaceman 
Bling
Shadowplay (Joy Division cover)
Miss atomic bomb
Human
Somebody told me
Reasons unknown
From here on out
Dustland fairytale
There is a light that never goes out (the smiths cover)
Read my mind
Runaways 
All the things
Jenny was a friend of mine
Mr Brightside

For a band that claims to have a heavy Manchester influence in their history by covering Joy Division and The Smiths they often lean more towards Pet Shop Boys with the electro-synth sounds of Brandon's keyboard. 

Having formed in Las Vegas in 2011, there's no secret that the band have had major issues and differences within them and it always seems brandon spends most of his time grovelling to guitarist dave whilst on stage. It's like watching the geeky kid trying to be best friends with the cool kids at school. But it's also quite endearing as you see there's still a self conscious young man hiding behind the "front man" persona.

All in all The Killers are a fun band with fun songs. They bring you into their world with story-telling, sometimes biographical songs, the way a good band should do. 

Jaded Youth...

...Were heavily present at The Cribs gig in Preston the other night. As were one too many jaded old folk desperately trying to recapture their long lost youth.

Particularly jaded was the middle-aged bruiser who arrived with his middle-aged trophy wife and needlessly pushed his way through the twenty alcohol infused kiddies waiting patiently in a little huddle in front of the stage. 

As if this pointless act of defiance wasn't funny enough, half an hour from the end, whilst security were dealing with one of the many prolific crowd surfing youngsters, he launched himself over the barrier towards the basin-haired guitarist. It then took five of the security staff to drag him away and eject him from the venue.

Anyway, back to The Cribs. I'm not really a fan but this is the third time I've been dragged along to see them. I got bored a third of the way in but I believe these are some of the songs that they played. 

Come on, be a no-one
Cheat on me
Back to the bolthole 
Glitters like gold
Mirror kissers
City of bugs

I'll be honest. I only vaguely know two of these songs. Which isn't too good considering the band have been "on the scene" since 2002 and for three years featured Johnny Marr on guitar before replacing him with David Jones from Nine Black Alps (when he hasn't got better things to do with his own band.)

Love is the drug I'm thinking of...

And in the case of Taylor Swift, it's a bloody strong drug.

This 23 year old country music starlet already has a list of celebrity ex-boyfriends as long as the list of awards she has won but so long as she has a music career to sustain I doubt she'll be stopping there. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind this young lady. I'm sure having grown up on a Christmas tree farm she's had a very good and stable upbringing within a loving family unit but, blimey, that girl has serious relationship issues!

Glancing through her wikipedia page you can see that she's a very ambitious young lady who forced her family to relocate so she could live in the home of country music. A move which, you must admit, has definitely paid off.

However, being the kind of person who wears her heart firmly on her sleeve, odds are she'll have made it big even if she'd been raised on a council estate in the arse end of nowhere.

And, sadly, so long as there are little boys out there who's hunger for fame is powered by a well oiled publicity machine there will always the "next big thing" ready and waiting for a bit of the taylor-swift-lyric-treatment to boost their rating.

I still can't decide if she knows exactly what she is doing or if she is slightly psychotic and watching her perform wearing a wedding dress at an award ceremony where an ex-boyfriend is sitting in the audience isn't helping her cause.

One step at a time...

At the weekend I finally made good on another one of my New Year resolutions and purchased a new camera that will hopefully turn me into a professional photographer!


I may not have sold a camera to buy a camera but thanks to money raised through Christmas and  a birthday this is a minor technicality. The selling of an old camera will come in time.

So with my new camera in hand I took myself off for a weekend away to one of the country's most beautiful and historic city's and ended up at the zoo...

Six hours later I triumphantly emerged with a camera full of pictures to edit when I returned home.

Let's get physical...

It's been over three weeks since I joined the gym and there has still been no phone call to arrange the personal training session or induction. So I finally made the effort to venture in there this morning and take part in an organised, ladies only legs, bums and tums class...

My theory was that if I was booked onto a class I would have to go and what better way to get started than with a bit of guidance from something organised and structured.

That theory proved successful and I enjoyed the class to the point of planning to partake in it again next week. 

However, I should maybe have considered easing myself in a little more gently as there is a strong possibility I won't be able to walk for the next few days due to the agonising pain I will be suffering.

Here comes the fear...

A recent study has found that fear pushes a person to binge eat on high calorie food. 

Well, that explains me!


I've always dismissed myself and lack of willingness to do things as lazy but as I get older I'm beginning to feel that it is actually fear.

I get scared and panicky at the thought of doing something different and out of my comfort zone. Which is strange because, when I was younger, I was always one of those people who would happily take part in anything and loved a new challenge. 

I could quite happily go swimming or to a gym class without anybody else but now I'm scared to venture to the gym I joined three weeks ago and haven't yet been back to. 

I don't know what it is I'm so terrified of which makes it difficult to explain to people who don't understand how I feel and then seemingly begin to judge me for being lazy. This is probably why I then begin to feel like maybe I am just lazy...

So maybe I should stay here on my own and continue to eat the chocolate and cake.