On The Go

Facebook

2011-07-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

Facebook

is rubbish compared to Google+. Once that bad boy gets going - you know, with more people - it's going to wipe the floor with the old school fascist state that is Facebook. Oh and the Android app pisses all over the FB android app.

love it.

New Guitar Amp...

2010-12-12T09:09:00.001-08:00

Ok, so this is really just a test, a copy of a post I just made on twitter and the FB.... but still.

Amplify’d from www.facebook.com

anyone want to give me a guitar amp? ...please? go on!!
Read more at www.facebook.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/dwxc

Searching dream

2010-07-11T01:29:00.001-07:00

I stood on the ramp leading to the front door. I looked left and saw her standing on an identical ramp some 500 meters away. She waved and I heard "meet me on the patio for sandwiches."

I walked in the door at the same time she did. I was met with gardens, stairway and rubbish chutes. I walked up the first flight of stairs, slid down a chute and walked through a doorway. I looked around, I couldn't see her. I bumped into an old friend, asked if they'd seen her, explained the situation, but met with a negative. I pushed on. Stairway and chutes followed too numerous to mention. I called her name five, six, seven times, each met by a reply of my own echo cascading off the walls.

I entered a room, the doors faded to nothing, I looked around, found a bike and peddled hard, the walls gave way, I found myself outside, no patio, but I looked up and saw a fire burning on a balcony. I called out, a man with green hair leaned over and shouted something, I saw a rope, struggled to climb it. As I reached the balcony he took my arm and helped me over. "you think you stand a chance?" He asked.

I nodded, he sat me down by the fire. "you'll need this," he said handing me a basket. "good luck."

I climbed through an open window, looked around and went down a chute. I saw her, ran to her, arms out to embrace and hit my own reflection. I called out, nothing. I opened the basket and peered insude, a red checked blanket covered empty space so I climbed inside and there she was, naked and waiting. She handed me a pipe, "this will warm you," she said. I took it, inhaled, choked and put it down.

Charity shop dream.

2010-07-08T11:04:00.003-07:00

we walked up the road, her cycling, me dragging a pair of ancient speakers. her car was parked outside of a charity shop, covered in unsold items and a note that said "you can't park here." we went in.

"can I help?"

"just browsing."

I walked up the stairs and headed for the records. I pulled out a complete discography and set it on the table. I climbed out the window to find her, I swung around the tree branch, stumbled over the aging tiles and dropped down into the back garden, finding myself in a little kitchen, called her name and told her about the discography I'd found. she asked to see it, I told her I'd left it upstairs. we went up and it was gone. I searched the box again, and the table and then left via the window again. a man with a beard showed me his fangs and then walked away. I went up to the woman that ran the shop, asked where the records were and she said in the speakers outside and that they take cards if I was planning on paying.

I went upstairs to my friend, exited with her through the window once again and stood admiring the sunrise.

we jumped to To the floor and went to her car, all shiny and new looking. I pushed she pulled and we listened to the records on a player made from a tin can.

Model Railway - Pt1

2010-04-25T12:39:00.003-07:00

Hello world. I've decided to build a model railway. It's something I've always - secretly - wanted to do. Since Kai getting a trainset for his last birthday, that interest has been piqued and having spent the last two weekends helping him to complete his layout, I decided to start my own.

It is going to be a shelf layout, roughly 56cm wide and 2 meters ish long. It is going to be a factory scene with one main track, a turn around and two sidings, one for the locomotive with an engine shed and one for the rolling stock. At the far end, there'll be a tunnel to disguise the fact the track goes nowhere. In the image above you can see the sidings and the board that foms the front of the tunnel. The frame for the tunnel has been formed out of wire mesh (not shown) and will be coated with modelling rock before being covered in grass scatter (bits of green glued to it). There will be a loading platform at the other end next to the run around and a factory building as well.

I'm excited about this, and also aware that it is possibly the geekiest thing that I have ever done, but so what? I don't care!

I got the track from freecycle and spent a few days cleaning it up as it was heavily rusted. To do this I soaked the track pieces in white vingar and then rubbed them down with a track rubber, which is an abbrasive stone for removing grime and rust from the track. I got the controller from my parents house from my old layout from when I was a kid. The baseboard is chipboard.

Weird Dream

2010-04-22T05:20:00.001-07:00

I sat on the bus, fifteen to twenty other people were on it all waiting for the dentist to call us back into his operating area. The bus sped down the road, but the toilet was out of bounds, I don't know if it was broken or not, but we certainly weren't allowed to use it as a thin ginger teen found out when he got a shock from the handle.

I was called to the back, the dentist beckoned me into the operating area and instructed me to sit on the chair. I sat, lay back and the chair moved itself and me into a laying position. The dentist told me to open my mouth, he checked my teeth and sent me back to the front of the bus.

I took my seat and tried to fish something out from between my teeth. One came away in my hand, I looked at it all rotten and decayed, blood around the root end. I screamed a little, rushed down to the toilet, jumping the three steps down to the door. I opened it, there was no shock, and went in. Pulling the light switch I looked at the gap in my mouth. In the gap, hanging down I saw what looked like white right hand train points from a model railway layout. I pulled one out, shouted "it looks like a fucking train track." I closed my teeth together and peered into the hole. As I looked into it I fell into it as a train, a small steam loco, came belting towards me from the back of my own throat. My eyes strained and it hit.

New Glasses

2010-04-14T08:49:00.001-07:00

Well a week and a half ago I had to get my eyes tested, and low and behold my eyes got worse, meaning new glasses. And this is them. Tommy Hilfiger, well posh. It's taken me ages to get used to them and they still feel a little uncomfortable.

No Room At The Inn

2010-03-06T17:15:00.001-08:00

I guess it all comes down to the fact that you just have to accept that you're average and really aren't going to amount to much more. Sure you can look around the internet and convince yourself that you're actually really good, but it's only fleeting, it's not going to last. You're never going to get anywhere, simply because luck just isn't on yourside, so why bother? To pass the time? To give it a go, regardless? There is so much mediocrity out there being passed off as greatness that there is no room left at the inn. Simples.

So what are you going to do about it? Why not take your grand delusions and turn them into concreate solutions? Unless you try you're never going to know, but then you've been trying for years, and where's the recognition? In a saturated market, the only way to win is... what? No, seriously, i'm asking you. What can be done? Post it on MySpace, Facebook, follow every nutter on Twitter if you're lucky you'll get a few followers, and doesn't that label make you feel like the messiah? I have followers!! Wow, that's big man, but a few ain't gonna make you rich, ain't gonna make you famous, and it won't get you paid either.

There is no room left. What're you going to do about it?

Wooo

2010-01-24T11:57:00.000-08:00

Ok, so the snow has gone, and now I've got a million or there-about hours to make up at work, which is what I'm doing now, *waves from work*.

Is there anything new to tell the people? Well...

www.alangoodenough.com is now live with a portfolio of my photography. Good times.

I've switched to Linux (OpenSUSE 11.2) on my main computer, still using Windows 7 on my netbook though, primarily because there is no software available to tether my phone's internet connection to it if I did.

so...

Snow!!

2010-01-05T14:47:00.001-08:00

I love snow. Snow is awesome. Me n Fi went for a walk into Abingdon town centre and i took my purple picture making machine armed with a bright eyed cyclopse daylight emulating machine (*cough* you sound like a twat, just say Holga 135bc and a flash). Took loads of photos. It's beautiful out there. Will post some photos when i get them developed, hopefully tomorrow!

How are you enjoying the snow? How cool is it!!!!!???

Christmas!!!!

2009-12-28T03:48:00.000-08:00

Well, I'll start by asking if you all had a good Christmas, so, did you all have a good Christmas?

TV was a bit lacking this year, but then it has been for a while! Dr Who was bloody awesome though. John Simm is a f'kin maniac!!

Got some great pressies and used the money I got to buy a netbook, which I'm using to type this.

I got:

Cajon Drum
Socks
Cheese Slicer (this is awesome)
Jeans
Jumper
Plates for mine and Fiona's new house
Battlestar Galactica Complete boxset all five seasons!!! That'll keep me occupied for a few weeks!

All good then. TOday I'm back to work though, so i guess this means that Christmas is officially over :-( oh well, it'll be my birthday soon!! Yippie! (18th Feb, mark it in your diaries and get your credit cards out!)

Cajon Drum = Emense Awesomeness. Half snare, half bass drum. In a wooden box you sit on! I sat on it to eat my Christmas lunch. All good!

Kai Rocking Out At School Nativity

2009-12-16T06:47:00.001-08:00

Photography

2009-12-05T12:43:00.001-08:00

It's been eight months since I last held an SLR camera. It's been even longer since I did any "serious" photography. Now the passion is back, for both "serious" photography and more experimental photography. I've ordered a new holga 135BC and today picked up a Sigma SA 300 film SLR. I've also won an eBay aution for a Zenit 12XP and ordered a Canon 1000D digital SLR. I think all my bases are covered.

Picking up the Sigma SLR brought a rush of excitement, just the feel of the camera, bulky, heavy, in my hand felt good. Running a test roll of film through it felt even better. I think I can safely say that my passion has returned.

So expect lots of new images.

Going to a wedding today

2009-11-28T02:24:00.001-08:00

I'm off to my mate Paul's wedding today. I've not seen him for two years, the other guests that I went to school with even longer and the last time I was probably very drunk and annoying so today is starting with a lot of nervous energy. I'm looking forward to it though.

Click Here To Listen

2009-11-25T07:21:00.000-08:00

So I've been working on some new music, this is the first track, it doesn't have a title yet.

So anyhow... click the title of this post to listen!

(c) Alan Goodenough 2009

New Old Record Player

2009-11-20T08:37:00.001-08:00

I've been given an old HMV HI FI record player. It's beautiful. The sound is amazing, so rich and warm. And the speakers are huge. It's a little crackley on the volume sliders, but then it's not been used for years. But the sound...

As I write this I've got some Nat King Cole playing and it's just beautiful. Beautiful I tell thee.

I've got some leads on order for it that will allow me to connect a CD player and my iPod to it and have them come rushing out in warm vintage tones.

This is awesome.

thursday morning ramblings

2009-11-19T03:21:00.001-08:00

So I've not updated this for a while, but I'm not too sure anyone cares that much. :-)

I was particularly struck this morning by the news that a drug that works effectivly on liver cancer isn't being made available on the NHS because it COSTS TOO MUCH. Are these people serious? The severity of and the suffering caused by every form of cancer affects millions of people and a drug becomes available that can treat liver cancer and people can't access it on the NHS because it is expensive. I guess there really is a price on life. I've no link for this, but you can probably find it on the BBC website.

Ooo, Barry Bostwick is on Ugly Betty...

Making A Sandwich!

2009-11-10T03:46:00.001-08:00

Well I was hungry, so I made a sandwich.

Step one: get two slices of bread.

Step two: get cheese, tomato, spread & spring onions

Step three: spread butter on bread and cut the cheese (*snigger*) and lay on the bread.

Step four: slice the tomato and place on top of the cheese.

Step five: cut up the spring onion and sprinkle on top.

Step six: place second piece of bread on top and press together.

Step seven: slice sandwich in half.

Step eight: write pointless blog entry.

Step nine: eat sandwich.

Wednesday Morning Random

2009-11-04T02:39:00.001-08:00

Check out that sky, man, it's awesome.

Well, it's Wednesday today, I'm working till five, but that's cool, not sure what the plan is yet, but something will come up.

The only problem so far at work is that the sleep-in bed is a little uncomfortable, from now on I am going to be graciously offering it to other members of the staff team and I'll have the sofa, thank you very much.

All my phone needs now is a vst enabled sequencer, amazon mp3 downloads, a way to copy mp3s to my iPod (iTunes for Android? I can't see Apple going for that, imho) and a video editing suite a là Adobe Premier and I think I could do away with my computer. It'll never happen, but who knows, with the rate that mobile phones are developing by the time it comes to upgrade they'll probably be more powerful than my PC anyway. Here's hoping!

I still can't get over how clear and blue the sky is at the moment, it's beautiful. If it was a little warmer I think I'd need to grab my guitar and sit by the river.

I'm off to the London Eye on Saturday for my Dads birthday. Should be fun. Lots of picture taking I think!

So what do you have planned today? Anything cool?

Weird Dream Last Night.

2009-11-03T01:56:00.001-08:00

My forest was flush with pine trees, a woman with bright ginger hair walked into the center of it where I sat at a desk with a pad of paper writing random words in circles in green ink. The woman looked at me and said that I should be using a pencil. She clicked her fingers and giant trucks with pencil sharpeners on the back decended from the sky. The woman clicked her fingers again and teams of men climed down from the cabs of the trucks, not one stood more than two feet tall. Hundreds of the little men began to pull up the trees and feed them into the pencil sharpeners on the backs of their trucks. Soon my desk was surrounded by nothing but pencil shavings. The woman handed me a pencil and then left laughing. As she walked away her skirt blew up from the wind, she turned and smiled and then continued on her way.

First Shift and more

2009-10-31T16:54:00.001-07:00

Well that's the end of my first shift, all that is left to do is go to sleep. I've had a bloody excellent day.

Ok, otherwheres, life is cool.

Have a wikid new app on my phone that takes lomo style pictures, currently in love with the polandroid setting, which makes everything look like a polaroid!! It's funny how polaroids make everything look arty. I've put a few togethert at my deviant art site, http://alidamnit.deviantart.com/ and also on my facebook page, they're the same images on each site, but hey ho what I'm giving you is choice. Choice, goddamnit. I'm also trying to make them as pretentious as possible as there is nothing like a bit of pretension mixed with lo-fi art.
The camera app, called simply FX camera, also does lomo style shots, processing images to like cross-processed (for example shooting slide film and processing it like negative film) and warm, sharp and you can also set vigenetting levels too to get that kick arse darkened corner look. And for free! Unlike those tight-wad lomo types charging 100+ pounds for an old film camera. Don't get me wrong the Lomo LC-A kicks butt, but at 100 a pop.....
So go and have a look at http://alidamnit.deviantart.com/ and then also wish your job was as good as mine *rasp*
The end, my only friend, the end.

Uncomfortable Eyebrows

2009-10-26T14:56:00.001-07:00

For some reason my eyebrows have been very uncomfortable today, I can feel every individual hair in them and it's been rather distracting to say the least. Now, I have a thing with my eyebrows, so perhaps it's psychosamatic (add that to my list of words I don't care about the spelling of). I don't like the long straggly bits, the rub against my glasses and that is annoying. I have them plucked semi regularly to remove the giant hairs, but they're not even long right now.

So why are my eyebrows uncomfortable? @shellrawlins (look it's a twitter thing) thinks it's too much caffine whereas @julie_moore thinks I'm just weird. I'm tempted to go with @shellrawlins opinion, but I've a feeling @julie_moore is closer to the truth.

Todays lunch is Salad!

2009-10-26T07:10:00.001-07:00

Look at that! How awesome is it?? Italian leaves with cherry tomatoes, olives, brie and grilled vegetables. Yum. Hopefully. Oh it is, I just took a bite.

At work today, knee deep in risk assessments. And loving it!

Checkout the faux polaroid pic of my lunch. I got a new camera app for my phone that emulates polaroid, cross processed film, stereographs and some weird Andy Warhole setting that doesn't quite work!! Still it's gold.

Well this weekend marks the arrival of the person that I'm going to be supporting. I'm a little excited about it too.

I had thought of something else to write here, but I can't remember it now, oh well.

From My Time In Cleveland

2009-10-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

That's Cleveland, Ohio not Cleveland in the North East of England.

Just a quick funny story I remembered whilst I was taking Kai home today.

So, I was staying with my then fiancée and her family in a small town called Willowick, some twenty or so miles outside of Cleveland. She was working one day in the City and I was left to my own devices to wander the streets and explore the city. I went to the Rock N Roll hall of fame, and after that I tried to order a bottle of water from a street vender, it was hot and I was certainly bothered by what I had seen in the alleged Rock N Roll hall of fame. Madonna? No? Really? Oh....

Anyhow, before I digress more, I walked up to the street vender, with his little cart and cardboard price sign. "Can I have a bo'le of wa'er please, mate?"

"Pardon?"

I repeated my original question, again he said pardon. "Can I have," I began slowly, "a bo'le of wa'er, please."

"Pardon. Are you French?"

"No, I most certainly am not." So I thought maybe he speaks French! "Une bouteille de l'eau, svp." Did it work? Did it hell, he just looked at me as blankly. In the end, my thirst getting the better of me, I just pointed to the sign and intoned "wa'er." Finally I got my bottle of water and went on my way. One other thing nobody told me, other than that street venders don't understand English, is right turn on red. That's a fun little rule that SOMEONE should've told me! So I press the button to cross the road at a crossroads, sipping my fresh cool water, and waited. Eventually the walking man appeared, thinking that meant "walk" I put one foot into the road, followed by the other and then BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP said the giant ass truck that came around the corner with the driver shouting obcenities at me from the cab. I jumped back on the path as quick as I could, my bottle of water rolling under the truck where I had dropped it in shock. So not only was I still thirsty, I had a need to change my trousers.

Anyhow.

More New Albums!

2009-10-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

To add to my ever growing list of new albums, today I bought that The Doors two disc set that I was on about the other day, as I needed change for the car park. As it is pay day I also treated myself to the following:

The Unthanks - Here's The Tender Coming
Billy Bragg - Talking With The Taxman About Poetry
Portico Quartet - Isla

And, I also just found a CD that I received a few months ago as a free promotion from Real World Records, Dub Colossus' A Town Called Addis.

These are exciting times we live in. I live in, you're probably bored by now but I don't care. OK, I do care, I care a little, we care a lot. Faith No More. They were good.