'I Should Start Doing Work' Blog Post.

As the title suggests, I am typing this instead of doing work, which isn't much of a surprise as I'm a rather lazy bugger. Erm... Not much has really happened since my last post on Saturday, apart from I found out on Monday that I'm the only Banjo player on my course, I've also figured out that I've got quite a few assignments due in in about 2 weeks and I've barely started one or two and haven't started others - In other words: I'm f****d.

But regardless of the amount of work, I went out with Hazel, Ryan, Caitlin, Dani and Rich last night - Was good fun. Went to Wetherspoon's for a few drinks and then to Live Lounge and that's pretty much it in a few words, but we were out for quite a few hours - I think I got to bed at about 3-4 this morning. That's pretty much last night in a nutshell, to be honest. Apart from one thing: Hazel straightened my hair before we went out as she wanted to see what it was like straightened in real life. And here's a photo of what it looks like at the moment:

There's no wonder I got ID'd in Wetherspoon's yesterday - I look about 16 not 19 (Also does anyone think I've lost weight? My Mum and my cousin said that I've apparently lost some weight...). Erm... I don't think there's anything else to add about current affairs, so I shall move on...

I'm looking forward to the Christmas break as I'll be able to see all of my mates from school again and go out for a drink. Also on the last Friday before the break is when I'm doing my ensemble performance - Should be good fun, but also slightly nerve-racking. I'm also very much looking forward to getting another guitar for Christmas, which is an Agile Interceptor 830. And this is a picture of it:

Yes, it does have 8 strings...

Right that was a quick update.

And now I should actually get on with some work.

I shall catch you later *salute*.

3 Months Have Passed... Time Flies When You're Pissed...

Good evening! (Or at least it will be by the time I finish this as I've potentially got a lot to write about - Time now is 16:09). I know where to start with this one...

Uni! - Obviously I've started Uni now, going to update stuff from my last post first: Accommodation - I moved into my accommodation all right (After a mix-up was resolved). I said in my last post that I was in the 10th flat on the 11th floor, well there was a mix-up and I was actually in the 13th flat on the 11th floor - So my then 'new flatmate' (Hazel's her name, I forgot to mention) wasn't actually going to be my flatmate after all but at least I was only 3 flats away so I could meet her. And I have a number of times (A majority of them drunk, but that's Uni for you. There are photos on Facebook if you wish to have a gander). Also, she's now the singer in a band I've set up with my friend off my course (Michael) and friend from school (Gareth) (They happen to be cousins... Coincidence?... Yes). So, basically, I was moving into this flat without knowing anyone in advance... I was kinda nervous that I'd get unsociable flatmates, but I luckily didn't pick the short straw. I don't really know why I used that expression as the people in the other flat are just as nice as my flatmates. One thing I've noticed also is that the people in my flat and Hazel's flat have similar roles: There are two girls that get on really well and are on the course (Beth and Hayley, Vikki and Hazel), there's the funny 'man of the house' guy who'll look after his flatmates (Ryan, Rich), there's a girl that we don't see that much of (Steph, Sarah) and the quiet guy that comes out of his shell once you get to know him and also the other flatmates will go into his room if he hasn't been out for a while (Me, Leon) (Also, kinda strange thing, it was me and Leon that were involved in the flat mix-up).

My flatmates are very sociable and will come into my room if I haven't been out for a couple of hours. There's Hayley (From Surrey) in room A, Steph (From Merthyr) in C, Ryan (From Cheltenham) in D and Beth (From Bristol) in E (I'm in B in case you didn't figure that out). Beth and Hayley are like a troublesome two-some but not that troublesome, but they'll embarrass me about the girl I like (That was before I started going out with her, now I couldn't care =P) and stuff like that. Ryan and I get on quite well, but his sarcasm can be a little annoying at times. Steph's nice but we don't see her that often as she works weekends back in Merthyr, so our first weekend here was just me, Ryan, Beth and Hayley, and we got on really well, so when Steph came back from working on the weekend she felt a bit left out as the four of us had already bonded quite well.

My course at Uni's going quite well, apart from my brain doesn't really work that well with the Musical Cultures and The History Of Popular Music And The Recording Industry modules as it's mainly sociological and historical. Some bits are interesting but the essays are rather boring, I'm just a guitarist =P. I also can't do the Music Technology module assignments that well (My A level results express how good I am at Music Technology - E). The other five modules are pretty good, enjoying the ensemble studies as we're currently practising to perform 5 songs (Sunburn by Muse, Reptilia by The Strokes, Slow Dancing In A Burning Room by John Mayer, Are You In? by incubus and Harder To Breathe by Maroon 5) on the 17th of December. The Music Theory module is piss easy so far, we haven't done anything that I didn't know already from doing guitar grades (Mainly Grade 8 though). Instrumental studies starts after Christmas. Arranging Techniques is good as it's like a puzzle in musical form of having to fill in the blanks in bars with the appropriate rest or note and transposition and stuff, nothing really new yet either, but it's good. Arranging Techniques is pretty good as we're being taught how to write music for different instruments like Trumpet, Saxophone, Harmonica and so on.

The guys in my ensemble group are pretty cool - Michael (Great drummer, he's the guy I've set the band up with), Mike (He has an 8-string guitar... I want one ¬¬), Ethan (Great singer) and Benji (Incredible pianist and bass player). They're good guys, I hang out with Benji and Michael between lectures and shizz, normally go to the SU for chips and a pint in our break on Tuesdays. I'm known as BURT by these guys since an ensemble practice when Ethan set up a microphone and just shouted "BURT!" into it and also randomly during the 2 hour practice.

I think that's a majority of Uni covered, besides the cooking which is going all right... Considering I'm a student.

Off the top of my head not much else has happened really. Apart from I've now got a girlfriend, my 19th birthday was on Sunday (There's nothing different to being 18), had a new phone for my birthday which was good as my old phone was screwing up in the last couple of weeks, including losing all signal for 6 hours during the day even though the mast is about 200 metres away from my flat and Uni, as my Uni's across the road from my accommodation (In fact I can see the mast from where I'm sat right now).

I can't really think of anything else to add to this, apart from - I now have my banjo and I'm also hoping to get an 8-string guitar for Christmas. So I shall leave you with all this new information... Unless you're Hazel, Michael, Ryan, Bowen or Jade as I've probably told you or you just knew anyway =P. And I shall leave you with this picture to sum up the first week or two of Uni for you:

Goodbye avid reader!

See you in another 3 months.

Boredom Is The Fuel Of Insanity...

Hello again avid reader! Just as a little note, I apologise for my last post, I don't really know why I bothered writing it as I didn't have much to say and, in all, it was a bit strange. But anyway, onwards and upwards.

Uni - With Uni, I think all that's left now is to wait for my bank card and all the bits and pieces for my student bank account and I'm pretty much sorted, as I've joined the Student Union and Enrolled on 'Glamlife', I've sorted out my accommodation (I spell that differently every time but luckily where there's a misspelt word there's a spell-checker) and I think I've paid the deposit and I'll be in the 10th flat on the 11th floor of Ty Ponty Haearn (It seems hardly anyone can pronounce Haearn correctly, I've always heard people pronounce it 'hurn' as in 'an urn of ashes'), I also think I've got a majority of stuff that I'll be needing for my flat and in the kitchen apart from pans at the moment (And a mental list of what food I would actually need/want).

All I'm trying to do now is find out (If I can) who will be in my flat. I found one of the 3 girls that'll be in my flat on the Atrium Facebook page earlier (She looks like someone i could get along with so that's one person out of 4 that I could talk to in the flat. Also one of her interests is 'guitar' so that's good haha. Hope she and the others don't mind banjos too...) and I've also found 2 girls, on the Atrium page, that'll be doing Popular Music. I've put my course and flat number on the page in the hope that anyone else will find it and reply as I have to theirs.

Right, other things... Ah yes - This Thursday my parents said that they weren't going to give me a lift, and anyone else who would need a lift, home from Jam Night as they didn't want to stay up until midnight again, and as Prosser's mum was going out that night she couldn't give us a lift back and also Prosser didn't have much money. So Calum, Ieuan and I went over Prosser's and played on the PS3 and drank (He had 45 cans, which is enough for us since Ieuan wasn't drinking) and Prosser and I shared a bottle of Tequila (Which buggered him up the next day). We were there from about 7 until 2 in the morning when Calum and I left to go home but saw the empty park and thought we'd hang around there for a while. Which we did, until around 6 when we walked home and from then on I started to sober up and slowly developed a headache which kept getting worse and worse until about 3-4pm and then it started to die down, luckily, but that's what I get for having half a bottle of tequila, I suppose.

Another little thing (As if you really care =P) - I ordered my banjo earlier today... I don't really know that much about banjos, but I think I've got a good beginner banjo. And I've got the music for Duelling Banjos ready for when it arrives. Here's a picture in case you're curious.

I think this post's been better than the last one. And I think I'll finish about here.

i shall see you later reader.

Last note - Just got a friend request from my future flatmate (Y).

Hopefully This Post Will Be Shorter Than The Last...

Well, it has been a month and 4 days since my last post... And I can't really remember what I've done in that time apart from spend over 200 hours in total on Red Dead Redemption, Fallout 3:GOTY and Oblivion GOTY. But luckily I've spent so long on those games I'm a bit bored of them and now I've gone back to playing some guitar and also practising for when I get the courage to play again at Jam Night at the Bush Inn - Planning on playing Slow Dance In A Burning Room - John Mayer with Macaskill at a Jam Night sometime before Uni (Not sure whether I should try singing too though) and I've been learning Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd (I'm not putting a link for this one, 'cause I'm sure everyone knows it). On an equally musical note, I'm hopefully gona be getting a banjo soon, just 'cause I think it'd be good fun to have a banjo... And I might take it to a Jam Night if I get it soon enough to practice something. And that would take my number of instruments to 7 (Not counting the Stylophone).

Right I think I should talk a bit about Uni I suppose. I luckily got what I needed to get in (BDDE - 100+60+60+40=260+70 (from my guitar exam) =330 points and I needed 320). I've sorted out accommodation (Oh just found my fruit Mentos, yum) I'm on floor 11 (That'll be fun when I'm moving in) there are 5 people in the flat (Including me) - 2 guys and 3 girls. I've also sorted out joining the student Union and something for the Uni with which they'll send me info through emails. I don't really understand much of this Uni stuff at the moment... As you can probably tell.

My mind's in a bit of a fuzz at the moment, so I think I'll end this post now and do another later when my mind's back the way it should be.

Later, sports-fans!

A Short Update...

I haven't done a new post since the 5th of January and seeing as I don't have anything too important to do I thought I'd update whoever might be interested in reading my blog. I can't really remember that much of what I've done between the 5th of January and today (16th of July), but here-goes anyway.

First of all I suppose I should start with school and exams:

Right, this is going to be very vague as I've already wiped my mind of the memories of school. Actually vague's an understatement, I can't really remember anything before the exams in June... I suppose I'll start there. If I remember rightly (which I doubt I do) I had 7 exams - 2 Music Tech, 2 Ffiseg, 2 Electroneg and a DT exam. Apart from the PH5 paper being a bit of a bitch (One question was something along the lines of "Estimate the length of a grain of sand and hence it's size in metres cube") I don't think I did too badly in the exams, I'm just hoping I get the grades that I need to get out of that pit and into Uni. I can't think of much else to say in this part and I can't be bothered to try so I'll move onto the next.

Two days after my last exam there was Prom (I actually remember more of Prom than I do of school since my first day in Primary). My mum and my sister didn't want me going to Prom with my trademark afro just because they don't like my hair in 'fro form, so most of the day was spent sat on the floor in the living room in front of my sister as she straightened my hair... Oh joyous of joys... it's a shame my sister spent so long straightening my hair as it was raining when we walked across the road to Oceana (Where some people couldn't get in as they weren't 18) so I had an afro of some sort by the time I reached Oceana, and people liked my hair in a 'fro... There's a surprise... It might've been because of my 'fro that that girl came up to me asking for a kiss... Who knows? Certainly not me as the music had damaged my hearing so I have no idea, but we still kissed so that sounds the most logical explanation. When Calum, Prosser and I finally left Oceana (I think they were closing as we were being shepherded out... I don't mean just us three, there were other people there too obviously) I think we were the last 3 from our school to leave as I couldn't see anyone else. Before we were shepherded out Calum pulled (Surprise surprise) and when we were standing outside she (The girl he pulled I'm not referring to him as a she) wanted to go to the Live Lounge around the corner and typically on our way in I was the only one out of us to get ID'd and Calum's not 18 until the 22nd of July and my 18th birthday was last November, I was (and still a bit) slightly annoyed by that. As soon as we walked in, they were playing AC/DC - Shook Me All Night Long and me and Prosser were just stood in the middle of the crowd of people while Calum made out with the girl he'd pulled (I can't remember her name, I think it was Laura or Lauren, not entirely sure though), I don't think it was long afterwards that a girl came up to talk to me and it was then I knew my hearing was gone, I couldn't understand a single thing she said, even when she shouted it in my ear as I leant down to try and understand I could hear a word, it was just noise. Prosser could understand her a bit but I can't really remember what he told me that she might've said. I remember saying that I couldn't hear anything after each of her attempts to tell me whatever it was she wanted to say and I think it was the 6th attempt or something like that when her friend came and took her away and I'm not surprised to be honest, to her friend me and Prosser must've looked a bit weird as we were wearing suits and very drunk and quite big compared to the girl talking to us (I should say 'attempting to talk to us'). It wasn't long after that that we left and waited for my Dad to take us home. I can't remember what time it was that my Dad picked us up, we lumped ourselves into the car and we proceeded on our way home. I don't remember much of the journey but I remember Prosser shaking hands with my dad, Calum then me and then he tried to tell me something stuttering as he was trying to make a sentence to which I managed to reply under my laughter "Pross, just go to bed", and he then got out of the car and wandered in the general direction of his front door. Then there's another hole in my memory, I can't really remember Calum getting out but I remember saying to him 'good luck tomorrow' as he was going to Scotland in the car with his family, that must've been fun with a hangover. And then I remember getting out of the car at my house at 3:48am, I was still a bit drunk and quite tired, so I just got changed and went to bed. The next day I had the smallest of hangovers, just had a bit of headache from dehydration, I'd only spent £5 during the night (and that wasn't even on drink) and in total I'd only spent £96 in total for that night, which is a small amount compared to some people there. So all in all, a great night.

Now then, onto the most important bit in my opinion. The following Sunday (after the Prom) I had my RGT Grade 8 Acoustic Guitar Exam... Strangely I didn't feel nervous until I started to shake (more than usual that is) as I was about to play the song in the exam. First song I played was Superstition - Pete Huttlinger which is an acoustic arrangement of the song Superstition by Stevie Wonder, I thought I'd played that OK-ish as I'd played it better. The second song I played was the piece from the book called Coast Road - Stuart Ryan, I didn't play it as good as I think I would've liked and at one point I actually had to stop and think as I'd forgotten the part I was supposed to play next and after that I felt really down-hearted as I couldn't believe I'd messed up at the beginning of the exam. The rest of the exam, I thought, just went down-hill (Apart from the scales 'cause they're piss-easy). I thought the accompaniment was especially bad on my behalf as I couldn't remember the right chord shapes so then I was even more down-hearted and at the end I believed I'd failed when I walked out of the room. And it wasn't until two days ago that I got a call from my guitar teacher to tell me how it went...

When he started to talk after saying Hello I thought I could hear it in his voice that he was going to tell me that I'd failed, but then he told me I got a merit (Distinction is 85%, Merit is 75% and a pass is 65%) and I'd scored 78%.

This is the score sheet that came with the certificate. (By the way the examiner I had was from the West-Country, so if you want to read this like someone from Somerset, feel free)

Fingerboard Knowledge: Apart from some slips in fluency, all presentations were correct (7.5/10).

Performance (Maximum 25 marks per piece): Piece 1 - 'Superstition' - A good rendition but with some slips in clarity (22.5/25). Piece 2 - 'The Coast Road' - Apart from a slip in fluency at the end this was an excellent performance (24/25).

Musical Knowledge: All were attempted but some responses were incorrect (7.5/10)

Accompaniment: A good attempt but this performance was affected by inaccuracies throughout (8/20).

Aural assessment: One response was incorrect, all others were correct (8.5/10)

Total = 78/100.

Also, as this was a Merit at Grade 8, it counts as 70 UCAS points, which should count towards Uni and therefore (If it does count, which it should as I'm hoping to do Popular Music) I now only need to get 62.5 points from DT, Music Tech, Electroneg and Ffiseg. But there isn't a grade that gives that exact amount of points. D is 60 points and if I got D's I wouldn't reach the target, so I'll need C's (80 points). If I get the same grades this year as I did last year and add the 70 points from the Grade 8 Merit I'll have 350 points in total and I need 320 points to get into Popular Music, so I'll hopefully just scrape in.

Just as a final note, I've started putting some of my songs up onto Sound Cloud (Thanks to GAJ for telling me about it) so if you wish to listen click here. And as a final-final note, I haven't put any songs on Sound Cloud for a while now and the songs there aren't the best (Besides Silver Linings, 'cause I love the way that song sounds and it only took me one afternoon to write it from scratch) and they aren't mixed very well, but I'm not that good at mixing, I'm better at playing the music, so I might put some proper recordings up soon... When I can be bothered... Which'll probably when I get a laptop... Which'll be a while yet... Anyway have a listen if you wish and feel free to comment.

Until next time.

Burt singing out...

D'you love me? Are you playing those love games with me? (8)

Not entirely sure what to base this latest post around, but here-goes to nothingness *Raises imaginary glass*. I suppose I should start off carrying on with where I finished in the last post...

That list I compiled in the title of my last post, has now been ticked off completely *tick*. I have a PS3 and I have a pipe also. I've spent quite a lot of my time on the PS3. I have two games at this current moment in time - Killzone 2 and Borderlands - Borderlands is my favourite out of the two, I can't be bothered to go into detail about the game, but basically you pick which of 4 characters you wana play: A big guy that's special skill thing is punching really hard, a girl that's special power is going invisible and moving fast, a guy in a mask that's special power is to send out his pet Bloodwing to attack an enemy and the last guy's a soldier whose power is deploying a turret, and then you can either play on your own, online with people round the world, your friends or multi-player (Offline). I started playing Borderlands on Boxing Day and within a week I was level 33... Maybe 34... Anyway, I've spent too much time on it really, and that's not counting the time I've played on Killzone.

That last bit was written on the 5th of January, says how much I hate my computer. Not really sure how to end it, so I'll just write a bit of a recap. Although, I doubt anyone's gona be reading this...

Anyway, as a few of you know I bought a new guitar in February - A 5-string Bass, from a company called Shine. Set me back £170 (But I only paid £100 of my own money ^.^), I saw it in Cardiff Guitars one day and a week later I went back to get it. My mum had a bit of a shock, not really surprised seeing as I already had 5 guitars, now 6.

Just imagine this in Blue and not in as good condition and that's pretty much what it is. It's quite good for a second hand bass, but I'm sure most of you don't really care. But I likes it.

Haven't done much at all in the past few months apart from go drinking, playing PS3 (Just over 31 hours on Killzone 2 online at the moment) & Gameboy, doing a Rubik's cube over and over (Damn you Gareth!), guitar (Obviously) and I can't think of anything else... I don't think I've really done anything else... Oh yeah, I've watched all 3 series of Mighty Boosh too, I quite like it, favourite character's the Crack Fox.

Anyway, that's all I can be bothered to say for this post, bye for now.

What does a PS3, 7-string guitar, being 18 and a pipe have in common?...

Give up? I shall tell you: They are all things I have wanted for a while now (Not necessarily in that order). So far I have 2 of the 4: 7-string guitar and being 18.

If any of you read my post about my quest for a 7-string guitar, this may interest you. In the end I bought the Agile Interceptor Pro 727 EB Silverburst (For those who don't know, I shall put a picture up). The guitar and case's cost overall is just over £580, which makes it the most expensive guitar I've got so far. I absolutely love it to be honest... It's a BEAST!! That's all you really need to know, unless you really want to know the details and stuff.

Here's the picture...

The second thing (As I said at the beginning) is that I'm 18. It's good to know that I can get alcohol whenever I like, but so far there's only been one occasion where being 18's been quite handy. I am sure that there'll be more before the rest of my friends are 18, seeing as it's only been one week since my 18th.

4 guitars (Well, 5 really) and I'm 18, there's not much else I could need to be perfectly honest. But...

For no proper reason, in the past few weeks or so I've wanted to have a pipe... I don't have a proper reason why, I just want one. I think a pipe'd look cool in the same colour scheme as my Agile (My new guitar that's in the picture in case you'd forgotten).

Hopefully I can have one for Crimbo. Oh yes...

The 4th thing: PS3. It is a possibility that I'll be getting a PS3 for Crimbo. If I do get one for Crimbo, I shall be asking for Killzone 2 ('T'is good) and also possibly Infamous (If anyone's got any suggestions for good games for the PS3, suggest away!). If I do get those other 2 things for Crimbo, there's almost nothing else I'll want, so I think Birthdays and Crimbos are gona be even more difficult for my family to get me presents.

Even though it's only been just over a week since I bought a new guitar, I'm already doing research for my next guitar-related-purchase: A Loop/Delay pedal. I think after I get one of those, I'll be sorted guitar-wise.

So far my guitar and gear list is:

4 x Amplifiers. Use 1 (Marshall MG50DFX). 2 are in my garage (Rockette something and a double Vox amp)

1 x Pedal (So far). Zoom G2.1u - 'T'is pretty decent, but there are better pedals out there, but they cost about 4 times more.

5 x Guitars. Nylon Acoustic Guitar (Don't use it much), Yamaha Pacifica (I've put thicker strings on it for lower drop-tunings for Metal), Ovation Celebrity Deluxe (Acoustic), Fender Telecaster (Blues mostly) and an Agile Interceptor 727 EB Silverburst (Everything else).

Those are the main things that I have for guitar, quite a lot really (especially cash-wise).

I shall leave it at that for now peoples.

I'll probably be doing another post after Crimbo,

unless I have something to say before then... Which I doubt.

One other thing: In my last post I've listed the songs I wrote so far, well I've now got

another two songs, part 17 & 18 (Part 16 is a song that's mostly Calum's for our band).

Catch ya later.

Bye for now.