you know you're chewing bubble gum, you know what it is but you still want some

hello there

well, this is slightly unexpected. i did not think i would ever feel compelled to write about the subject of toothpaste ever again, look you see. quite a few years have passed since the dark days of being involved with the murky (if not seedy) underworld of smuggling toothpaste what had love beads rammed into it for no given reason. yet here i am, or but here we are. 

mostly this stems from me wishing to get a modest size tube of toothpaste for my recent travels to go and see Holly Johnson. it seemed a bit ridiculous to take a "regular" size tube with me for one night, even if in this ludicrous century it is so that toothpaste has become the main victim of "shrinkonomics". off i went shopping to see if i could find one of them quite small packs, meant for people intent on travelling as lightly as possible. no luck, alas. surprising, really as since we are in "summer", or at the least a time when people are off on holiday, i had assumed the usual shops where one gets such things would have them out (so to speak) for sale. won't be surprise if they only appear for sale around October or so, and then at a "reduced to clear" price. 

that there above is the only tube of toothpaste what i could find that i deemed small. well, not, not the only one. beside this "peaches and cream" flavoured one they also had a lime one. neither, to be honest, seemed like good ideas for a toothpaste flavour, but this appeared to be the lesser evil. oddly, going on how many packets (or boxes, or tubes) of each remained on the shelf, the lime one appears the more popular. just who is it that brushes their teeth on a frequent (or regular) basis and has been saying that they wished the experience was more lime? well, the marketing types heard them. 

provenance of this peaches and cream toothpaste? after trying a number of shops more renowned for stocking medical and/or health stuff, it was Poundland where i found this. yes, indeed it was one of the items which they still sell for, as the name of the business suggests and used to confirm, £1. whilst this tube was somewhat bigger than the "travel" one i wanted it's entirely possible it was cheaper than what i would have likely paid for that which i sought, so there is that. 

above is my trusty and now (exceptionally) well travelled Bowie bag. i bought it a few years ago when there was the rare instance of a "sale" on the official Bowie website, which meant prices of items were slightly reduced to be closer to the real world cost of items, rather than what Iman (or whoever) thinks they are. quite a few of my friends (i don't have too many) were surprised when i went with this one, resplendent with a "Japanese" style, expecting me to go for a more well known, or if you like classical, design. this one just "spoke to me", and to be fair it has won many over. also i have had conversations with people about it, as people observing me wandering around find it quite striking. striking enough, at the least, to have speaks with me. 

of the many class qualities this bag has, and yes i appreciate it seems i am side-tracked from toothpaste but hold on for it will all make sense (kind of), size and space is not, alas, one of them. when it landed my immediate thought was that it was somewhat smaller than i had hoped. doesn't even have pouches or pockets on the sides. decent "kangaroo" pouch (with zip) at the front, though. my dedication to using it does have a price, then, and that cost is having to be very selective about what i take with me in it on my travels here and there. hence me looking for a small tube of toothpaste. 

it actually took me a lot longer than you might think (or reasonably expect) to confirm that this peaches and cream flavoured toothpaste was even toothpaste. not sure if you can see in the first picture, but the front of this tube makes no reference to it being such at all. on the back it does, in quite small print, but don't strain to look as it's unlikely you can make that out in VHS mode. you shall just have to chance it here, take a little risk and trust me. curious that they should hide this.

so how was it? as in (or i mean) using the toothpaste? well, it got the job done, which is all i really expected. very foamy for a toothpaste, if i am honest. also the taste was, pretty much as i had anticipated, something that created the sense of brushing your teeth with gum, be it bubble or chewing in nature. unusual, but not all that bad. as i am both cheap and not keen on waste i suppose i will end up using all of this, mostly to get rid of it as throwing it out feels just wrong. 

did the best i could to get a picture of the peaches and cream toothpaste "on the brush", so to speak, and that's what you have an image of there. i took it as a given that no good could come from me attempting a selfie whilst using it, and i certainly was not going to go around the hotel asking anyone if they would like to come back to my room and take a picture of me brushing my teeth. 

risking sounding like my Dad and his fetish for the love bead loaded toothpaste i am rather surprise and certainly disappointed that spearmint flavoured toothpaste appears no longer to exist. normally, or usually, i would just get "whatever" toothpaste as a preference, usually just the cheapest of the known named brands. of late i have had a weird inkling to use a spearmint one, yet cannot find such anywhere. maybe they have rebranded it and i missed out on hearing the new name. strange that somehow there exists a market for peaches and cream (and lime) toothpaste, yet none no more for spearmint. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

holly johnson tour 2025

welcome

so yes, then, this post shall do what it says on the box, or if you will the title. more or less, at least, for it is all about the one night of the tour i got to go to, look you see. which was the gig in Newcastle at the city hall (or 02 or what they call it now, but everyone knows this legendary venue by the original name) just one week prior to the date of this being published. 

indeed, as something of a warning, there is some video of a poor quality. there is the odd snatch of fury in them where the footage is not bad but the sound isn't great. should you be looking for videos or other such recordings of the gig (or any of the other nights from the tour) i would suggest having a look somewhere else, as undoubtedly people with (much) more better phones will have done a (considerably) better job of it than moi with my rather lacking device. 

for a confession, or maybe a declaration of shame, i did hesitate about going to this gig. it was on a sunday, which is both unusual and, at the time for my verk stuff, a bit tricky as i would have needed to take a week off from being sent all over the country. the sense of doubt passed relatively quickly, however, as i remembered more of who i am, and a Holly Johnson gig would and should be more important than anything else either in this world or the next. also, or further, went right ahead and purchased one of the "VIP experience" tickets, which was kind of twice the price of a regular one. yes there was some hesitation with that too, but then i went if not now then when. more on that, in particular what you got for that cost (just somewhere north of £100, from what i remember), as we go.

mostly, though, what you got was a "priority seat" with what they said would be a really good view. i am guessing my hesitation cost me a seat in row A or B, but then as you will see from the pics, my seat in the centre of row C meant i had a full tilt face on right up and close view of Holly. so that, in itself, meant that i got exceptional, worth every penny value off of my ticket. the shame of even doubting going ahead with that will linger for a while. 

very strange (indeed) to be seeing Holly Johnson in concert without Uncle Colin being stood (or sat) right there next to me. famously he was there for the two previous ones, all the way back in 1987 (see any post i have gone done on January 10 just about every year i have done this blog) and then a couple of years ago (here). certainly i asked if he wished to go again, but he politely declined, speculating that there was every chance they'd be away on holiday at the time. also, if we are being honest, he isn't quite as big a fan of either Holly or Frankie as i am, and seeing him twice is likely twice more than he had ever anticipated in his life. still, not buying two regular tickets, with my mental gymnastics, kind of meant that one VIP ticket was "same difference". 

not that i was "on my own" at the gig as such. but yes, i do (rather) like going to gigs (and the cinema) on my own. people suspect that this is "loneliness" but not really. i am off to see a live act, or watch a film, not chat to a friend. for this one the legendary g-man had arranged a get together before the gig, and as it turned out we all had seats reasonably close to each other. truly a fantastic bunch, with all of us remaining passionate about a band what ceased to exist 38 (or so) years ago. of the gang (so to speak) one had come all the way from America for (mostly) the gig, and one had a VIP ticket for each and every night of the tour. respect, man, respect. 

quite some way into this post and i haven't really said much about the actual concert, have i? nothing new there with my usual approach. all i can give is an entirely (purely) subjective review, and that is it was breathtakingly amazing. when he (Holly) came out (so to speak) and i was right slap centre full tilt in front of him as he did Welcome To The Pleasuredome, the tears welled up in my eyes, i am unashamed to say i felt a level of joy, elation, euphoria and a "high" if you will like one seldom ever gets to experience. my wish in this world is that everyone has something in their life that they are just as passionate about and they get to experience what i did that night. 

ostensibly the tour was to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Welcome To The Pleasuredome album, despite this year (2025) being the 41st anniversary of it. well, the last tour was kind of presented as a similar form of celebration of Relax and the Blast album but was also a year out. does such matter? not really, just thrilled that he's taken a shine to being out (so to speak) performing again. 

got a bit distracted there. well, no, he did not opt (or elect) to play the whole of that album in full. for a start something like, for instance, Ballad Of 32 might not have gone well, and getting a (then) Prince Charles impersonator (unless it was really him on the record) to discuss orgasms might have been a bit excessive. still, we got Black Night White Light from that album, which was ace. further we got Wish which was otherwise a live rarity, and then Happy Hi, introduced as a fan favourite and was the b-side for the Welcome To The Pleasuredome single. alas, no Krisco Kisses or (my personal favourite) Only Star In Heaven, but cannot argue with what we got. 

in respect of Holly's solo material, not as much as on the previous gig. hopefully this was purely down to the tour being what it was and no adverse reaction to those numbers, as they were great. we got the four singles off of Blast, plus Penny Arcade. for the latter, Holly has spoken of his disappointment that it never really took off as a single, for he was always proud of it. rightly too, as it really is a brilliant song. from Frankie's second, less ("fewer") well received album, Liverpool, just Rage Hard and then Watching The Wildlife, the latter feeling like being another song Holly seems rather prouder than proud of. some expressed "surprise", if not quite disappointment, that there was no Warriors Of The Wasteland, but you can't do them all. as a frame of reference, when The Stone Roses did their thing way back in 2012, it is not like loads of people got all upset with the sparse selections off of Second Coming.

for talking in between songs, Holly remains his beautiful, unfiltered, honest, direct and unapologetic self. unsurprisingly the most well received comment was when he spoke fondly of the last time he played a gig in Newcastle. this was (he was assured by a friend) in late 84 or early 85, when Frankie delivered a blistering set for The Tube's Europe A Go Go thing (there are good copies online). mostly he shared this as means of an introduction to Born To Run, which they played then, but he did say that his favourite memory from that gig was "going cottaging in the town". 

risking the (not entirely unfair) accusation of simply showing off, a gander, then, at my VIP stash bag, plus the other "merch" purchased, and one exceptionally special item. 

with regards to what your VIP experience ticket got you, that would be the smart black bag, the lanyard, the enamel badges and (shown below) a signed print of the tour poster. for the "merch", well, an absolute immediate purchase was the scarf. not only do i (appreciating it is summer right now) likely need a proper scarf, it was the BANG! branding stuff my heart craved back in the 80s but never got. sure it's the Holly logo rather than the Frankie one in the equation, but still. since they never go up to my more generous side i didn't immediately purchase the t-shirt featuring the same equation. however, on reflection, i was sure i would regret not getting one. besides, my present health plight means that i seem to be losing weight, by default or design. might be it shall fit one of these days. 

extra special shout out to g-man, and indeed his extremely talented son, for the glass coaster you can kind of see at the bottom left of the t-shirt. to commemorate both the gig and the rare get together of so many of us fans he had his lad make some of these, individually numbered, so we would always have a keepsake from it. blown away by the generosity, the sentiment and very much the high grade quality of it. 

have no idea if anyone wishes for a closer look (or gander) at the signed print, but here you go. just an initial for the signature, then, but that's cool. after all i do have other signed things off of Holly, with one of them in particular being rather special to me, forever. 

here you go, and you have been warned of the quality, with the "best" of the video snippets i took. these are the ones that seem (or appear) not too bad, which speaks a lot of the quality of the ones i discarded. since the gig commenced with Welcome To The Pleasuredome, so does this set of videos. 

my good friend Codename : Magic would have got reasonably (if not quite) cross had i not sent him a clip of Americanos, so indeed i forwarded one and here it is for you too. 

as i have mentioned before it is, for some reason, that most people consider Americanos to be the best or most memorable one from Holly's solo career. it's not bad, but i have always loved Love Train more, which is indeed the next clip for you. 

final three (3) videos are, unsurprisingly perhaps, the "big 3 (three)". starting off, then, with the brilliance of Two Tribes. need i remind you this (in 1984) stayed at the top of the charts for a then remarkable record setting nine (9) weeks, at a time when people had to actually go and buy the records to get it chart. 

it was never at number one as long but Relax remains the biggest selling single, and likely the one song that Frankie Goes To Hollywood shall eternally be remembered for. and why not. very pleasing indeed to see if not the same then similar leatherman doing boss dance moves on the backing screen for this, as was the case at the last gig. 

ending the gig, and indeed this run of (poor quality, sorry) videos, is of course The Power Of Love. the third (and sadly final) number one for either Frankie or Holly, and then just for a week, right before the Band Aid single came along and changed everything. should you play this next clip do note that you get quite a bit of the audience, in particular one enamoured lady, singing it. and singing it at different times to what Holly is. 

over the years Holly has spoken of how this one (The Power Of Love) is his favourite, of how he would wish it were this song that he is remembered for. quite rare for any artist, in any medium or forum, to single out just one work so, and from what i recall of (reasonably) rare live performances by him during the 90s this was (i stand to be corrected) the only song he would perform. i shall forever remember him for every excellent song he shared with us, to be honest. 

beyond the ones already given here a couple of special shout outs. first, in a couple of senses, Lee Griffiths. he was the support act (at the personal invitation of Holly) and was remarkable. gifted guitarist, brilliant songwriter and a wonderfully, witty and engaging person. i was delighted to get the chance to meet him after the set, get one of his tapes (discs) and he signed it for me. really hope that i have the opportunity to see him again one day. huge shout out to Holly's support band, each of who(m) was in blistering form, and whichever gifted artist (or artists) was/were responsible for the most impressive visuals on the screen. 

and a big shout out to Newcastle. wow. it's always been a fantastic night whenever i have been there for a gig, but just how orientated they are to all having a good time came to the fore. not only was Holly playing the (brilliant) City Hall, there was the matter of Sam Fender playing a (presumably sold out or damned close to it) gig at St James Park. how the city coped is a lesson to all cities for big events, with particular emphasis on that there London (innit). all bars and what have you were heaving, but service was not a problem, and all there in whatever capacity were friendly, co-operative and determined that they would have fun, everyone would have fun. 

right, that's probably quite enough for this post, even if i have somehow managed to not write all that much of the gig itself. hey ho. 

shall i get the chance to see Holly Johnson again? who knows. i never expected to see him, or any Frankie, ever again after the split in 1987, so will gladly take these two recent opportunities as some of the best bonuses life has thrown my way. not sure the budget shall allow for another VIP experience if he does hit the road again, but you never know what's hanging until it drops. 

many thanks for reading, and if you went to this or any other gig on the tour (or all of them), really hope you had the same blast i did!

switch off your shields, switch off and feel. 

ipod resurrection

now then

much of this post shall be, in truth, quite the rarity. this is because i am going to give a fair bit of compliment and credit to Apple. as in the technology company and not the class record label, look you see. well, for a sense of perspective, praise for what Apple used to do. undoubtedly there shall be a bit of a chance for me to make some derogatory comments about them along the way. 

not so long ago, as in within (say) the last couple of months i came across a device that i hadn't used, seen or even thought of for close on a decade. that would be one of the first ipod things what came out, the ipod shuffle. as you will see in the picture below, one of them "USB stick" looking ones, with an at the time pretty remarkable capacity of 512MB. with not all of that dominated by sh!tty Apple operating software. from what i recall my (former) (considerably) better half got it with a phone contract or similar. just as well that she is highly unlikely to read this and ask for it back. 

would, after all this time (and less than pristine or considerate storage) would the thing still work? that's likely the most pertinent question, and the answer is yes. not straight off the bat, of course. i had to charge it up, but was most delighted to find yeah, it charged, and it worked. retained all of the memory too, which we shall get to. or i will, you can to if you continue reading. 

credit where it is due, then. not only for building a device that has worked and remains working for over two decades (!), but for the quality of sound. if you accept that the mp3 format sacrifices quality for the sake of convenience then absolutely no device plays these files as well as an ipod. yes, i have tried a number of different mp3 players, used high quality headphones and not one comes this close. rather a shame, then, that they ditched it. their business model is, of course, to get you to buy one of their phones at least once every two years and pay them monthly for the hideous thing that is "streaming" music. don't even get proper headphones anymore. by the way, yes, these are the original headphones that came with it too. also high quality. 

on switching the device (the ipod) on and pressing "play" after charging a bit i was quite impressed to find, or if you will hear, that it really retained memory. the first thing i head was not just Speed Of Life off of David Bowie, but that song about a minute or so in. wow. assuming that the battery was going to be none more dead, that's some hardware they came up with to retain that. unless it's all a lot easier than i, being non-technical, would presume to assume. 

just look at that above. yes, it is what you think - an Apple product with a regular, normal, actual USB connection thingie. how splendid. this was of course all before they insisted on developing their own such things to connect devices. simpler, happier days. quite easy to just plug it in and charge. 

it was not, of course (we are talking Apple here), so easy to access (or "see") the music on it. my memory was that this device was one you could just plug in to a PC and "drag and drop" files without any sh!tty Apple software being required. either my memory was wrong or things have changed. at first i just got a blank folder when i plugged it in, which had me fearing it was "blanked", but then i went hang on, how could i have heard Bowie if so. reluctantly, then, i installed the dreaded "itunes", and after that had to install some "special app" that allowed itunes to access the ipod. they really don't like anything about customers other than their money. which, i suppose, is true of any business. 

entirely fair to say that Apple now reflects the very worst of our world. that's the instant gratification, immediate and ready disposal attitude which prevails. quite rare that any of their "new" products are all that much of a leap forward or enhancement on the previous, but still people driven by the illusion of aspiration the brand has carefully (and ingeniously) cultivated want "the latest". i rather preferred them, even liked them, when they simply made an outstanding product that did the job better than anything on the market and let you get on with it. 

perhaps the main overt difference between Apple then and now is buttons. from what i recall that supposed genius what established the company didn't like buttons, and so decided that no one else could like them and sought to get rid of them. again, exemplary reflection of how the world now seems to think. but, look at those buttons there. well, yes, ones on the front too. on the back you get a nice slider sort of thing that lets you move between off, shuffle and play in order, and a helpful button to give an indication of battery left. for the latter, no matter how long i leave it on charge it appears to remain red. oh dear. still, so far on strolls (not long or far) it has held up. 

a really big plus with this model iphone is no audio (or volume) limiter at all. you just keep pushing up on the volume button and up it goes, right to the point that either the headphones blow or your eardrums bleed. from what i recall it was the French, or if you prefer les connards, who insisted on a volume limit getting forced on to the devices. quite typical of them. they did, after all, foist the horrors of "scart" ports on videos and teles across Europe too. who on earth would play any French music loud, anyway? oddly i ended up doing so, now that i think. 

quite class to see my "playlist", or if you like "mix tape" from quite a few years ago......

the presence of Beautiful Thing off of The Stone Roses says that the last time i plugged in this ipod and updated it was 2016 or 2017. quite likely i did so for strolls around the village, in those long since gone days prior to my era of exile. 

having taken the ipod with me on strolls now (2025) it's played a decent random (shuffle) mix. on my travels it has played Emotional Rescue off of Stones, the just mentioned Beautiful Thing, Hot For Teacher off of Van Halen (the drum intro was where i discovered no volume limiter), Six Months In A Leaky Boat off of Split Enz and the Carla Bruni recording of Absolute Beginners. yes, she is partially French, but not entirely from what i remember. oh yeah, also I Want To Live In A House off of the soundtrack for Star Struck (proper Australian 80s film of that name). whilst listening to that i had to remind myself that i was out in public and perhaps shouldn't be singing along. 

somewhat confused to see i added If I Can Dream by The King, Elvis Presley to it. were we to take it as a given that all of his songs are excellent, this is not one i have ever felt a need to play on all that frequent a basis. oh. 

a few shall (undoubtedly) scoff, scorn or mock the idea of "only" 512MB of memory on anything. the default these days is all in GB if not TB. you know what though, like the 90 minute blank tape (or 80 minute blank CD for that matter) it means you have to be careful with what you add on. one has to consider choices and select (or curate) only really boss vibes. having access to absolutely every song ever made sounds quite class, but what's better is just taking along the ones you dig. 

yes, my plan was to get this ipod working and then create a whole new playlist (or mixtape) for my present day strolls and occasional train ride. to be honest, though, for now i think i will just get my groove on to the vibes i have found on it. it isn't a bad collection at all, if i do say (type) such myself. well, maybe some slight tweaking, but mostly i think i can just dig all these tunes for a bit. 

do i think there will (or shall) ever be a full tilt ipod "resurrection" or revival? as in lots of people all of a sudden wanting to use them again? no. the "comeback" (or revival) of records, tapes and, quite interestingly, compact discs is because those physical formats contribute to and enhance the music experience. an ipod was always just the convenience, as brilliant as the sound is and as excellent and robust as this model remains. still, i am happy to have it all armed and fully operational. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

reports of my death are greatly exaggerated

greetings

well, yes, it was me (or if you will moi) that kind of sort of "reported" on my death, as it were. mistaken, i appear to have been, look you see. for those at a loss as to what this is all about, other than my use of a literary quote for a title (well done if you know the source), it's more or less (as in actually) a follow up to my recent medical incident and subsequent plight. quite likely that, if you are of a mind to do so, reading about that before reading this is a good idea, if you like things to make at least vague sense. so, to that end, here is the link to my account of that. 

this is all intended as a sort of follow up, since i kind of (more or less) suggested i would do so. also it's somewhat easier to put the story here for all of interest to see rather than repeating the tale again and again. yet note it is rather wonderful, and unexpected, to have the level of care and concern expressed in my direction with regards to all of this. no, i would not have thought i was worth all the effort of being kept as a going concern, but here we are; here i am. 

let me try and give some updates in a vaguely organised (if not structured) way, then. no, please note, absolutely none of this is me throwing punches around and preaching from my chair. mostly, as i mentioned just a little while ago, this is for the benefit of friends and family around the world concerned about me. equally, i suppose, it is to distress those that care not for me and would really rather i was no more. i am of no position to lecture or "tell" anyone how to do anything. perhaps, though, if someone in the seven billion or so of us in the world is going through what i am, well, if this offers some help, so much the better. 

eyes and feet

during my second or third medical visit, although i think third (after blood tests so yes), when i got told what, exactly, had mostly gone busted with me (undiagnosed and thus untreated diabetes, for those who have declined to read the initial post), i was somewhat confused, bewildered, (partially) unwashed and somewhat slight dazed. whilst i took in, or absorbed, all that was said, i didn't necessarily grasp or understand it all immediately. one of the more confusing things was the line "you have diabetes so you need to have your eyes and feet tested". this was information i set aside until a letter came in the post advising me of the number to call to make an appointment. which i did. 

on making the appointment, which was indeed for both my eyes and feet (well both eyes and both feet) i was told to rather not drive to it and also (or further) to bring some sunglasses, for it was quite likely my eyes would be very (as in extremely) sensitive after the tests. which brought to mind certain ideas of just what, exactly, laid in wait for your humble narrator. 

it turned out all to be not quite so dramatic as the (if i have the spelling right) ludovico technique, and no there were no films to watch. but also no, they were not kidding about my eyes being left quite sensitive after it. 

being somewhat unaware, if not negatively ignorant, of what exactly diabetes was beyond a general understanding i was somewhat lost as to how something that (ostensibly) related to blood made the state of my eyes and feet so pressing. as it turns out diabetes can f*** with your eyes in a sneaky way, as in it does damage "to the back" of them, and can leave one blind without any warning. oh. for feet and, apparently, due to circulation or what have you, us diabetics don't necessarily feel all cuts or abrasions down there. no, not "down there" in that sense, lower, still talking about feet, thanks. it is, then, important to check them (feet) every day,  to make sure all is well. should it be that not all is well then medical assistance is required, with the alternate being possible toe loss. 

a nurse had the rather thankless task of checking my feet. whilst i do try and keep my feet in a reasonable condition i wouldn't go so far as to say they are presentable or particularly interesting to look at. the tests on them were of a "pin prick" or if you will tickle nature. for these i had to sit with my eyes closed, and indeed i did take my glasses off for good measure, and play "say when" on each instance of me feeling something touching my feet. 

passed the test, my feet did. don't really think it is right (or correct) to say i did, although of course yes my feet are part of me. a text message came in (as has been the way of all recent diagnosis) to say that i was considered to be at "low risk" for foot damage, so long as i looked after them. to this end the advice i got, and as you can see above acted on, was to purchase some aqueous cream (and/or E45) and apply it daily to my feet after washing them. so i bought one of each, but am only using one at at time. rather unlikely that anyone will be all that interested, but now on a morning i shower, put some of this on and lay with my feet up reading as it dries. a cautionary word was given to me to not get or leave any between my toes, as i would likely not feel it, and left there could caused damage. quite certain there was a line in French Connection about picking (or checking) between toes. wearing comfortable, proper fitting shoes is also important, so just as well i got them air max earlier in the year, despite the headache of the predictable IOC ban as a consequence. 

should you not like seeing images of moi, and no one could blame you for having disdain for such an idea, then you are not likely to care for the next image. 

going back to my eyes, then, and no, they were certainly not p!$$ing about when they said that my eyes might be sensitive after the tests on them. effectively this test involved putting some rather sharp liquid in my eyes, which smarted a bit, leaving it to dry or "settle" whilst they checked my feet. after the feet test it was off into a chair with a device and a really blinding light set off. which turned out to be the flash to capture an image of the back of each eye. hence me giving a rare outing to my outrageous and yes, indeed, sexy sunglasses. never ever have my eyes felt so delicate and fragile. thankfully that sense passed after a few hours. anyone who considers driving after that eye test is completely, as it totes, f****d in the head and needs their licence taking away. 

very happily a letter, or if you like another letter, arrived, telling me that the results show no signs of me having something called diabetic retinopathy. which is rather fortunate, as i don't wish to go blind and, as some may recall, there's a suspicion that they worked out i had diabetes north of ten (10) years ago but kind of forgot to mention it. so, all good for now, but i do have to go back and get both eyes and feet tested every year. or annually, if that sounds more better. 

cigarettes

there was a very great and real fear (or hope, for some) that in my follow up appointment, which happened a month or so after all of that incident and subsequent diagnosis, that i would get told that i would need to quit smoking. no, as it turns out. well, yes i should stop, but no, not instructed or ordered to do so in any "or else" way. from what i could tell the nurse was well aware of just how passionate and enthusiastic i am about smoking (sorry), and thus concluded that there was little chance any instruction or advice to quit would be paid the respect it should. clearly i am, after all, intelligent enough to know it's both stupid and bad. that said, it has been suggested that i cut down considerably. perhaps i will. 

medication, testing and treating

i am aware of some people (some i remain eternally fond of) who(m) get despondent, sad and, if there is a difference, depressed at the prospect of needing to take medication "for life". this i get, but do not feel myself. taking pills daily does not mess with my schedule too much. even if it seems like a really, really formidable amount of them i need to take. 

quickly doing some adding up, using fingers and my head, says that on a "maximum pill day" i need to take 9 or maybe 10 a day some days. mostly these are all in the morning, so get taken with coffee after breakfast. yes, as you can see, i have them in separate boxes, labelled with what i need to take when. also i have some paper on the fridge (not a euphemism) where i jot down what i have taken and at what time, so i don't lose track. so long as i remember to write it down. 

certainly, or for sure, i would agree it's not all that great to be taking a whole raft of pills daily, but then i am also aware of what is likely to happen to me again if i do not. on balance, then, a reasonable ask of me to keep going. so far as can be told, they are working. possibly one negative (as such) to the pills is that at my most recent appointment it was decided to keep me on the "temporary" ones, the name of which begins with "g" and the remainder of the name is not possible to pronounce by mortals, for another couple of months. i did have a "milestone" of sorts in place for that, with the idea being that i would only take it for a month and then that was crossed off the list. hey ho. 

above, in the symbolic format of VHS mode, is a puncture mark and some bruising off of my most recent check up. it was, for reasons of no need to be referenced here, necessary to take blood from both of my two arms. initially i was going to call his my "heroin chic" look, but that would be incorrect as it assumes heroin is the only drug what someone would inject. so i shall just have to refer to it as my "junky chic" look, for anyone who really wishes to look at my arms. 

something that does annoy me, or was at the least getting me down, was the persistent blood testing. yes, i know it's important to measure that my blood sugar is remaining at the right level, but this one really is a routine breaker and maker. currently, or presently, they have me testing it 7 - 8 times a day. 

my fingers, and i sort of "rotate" between two on one of my hands (not saying which), are taking some strain from the frequent picking. also, this something i have to do from waking up right through to the point of retiring for the night (going to bed). indeed, yes, first world problems, "oh you think that's tough you should see what so and so has to go through", not much of an ask to help keep you alive, etc. fair points, each of them and all the other criticisms of my complaint that i have failed to list. however,  all i can do is comment on my experience. 

for the "score" i get on the tests, as an ideal (as in it must be this) the reading needs to be between 6 and 10. mostly, with the medication and the changed diet (of which more later) i am getting this. oddly the biggest problem has been it going lower than 6. should it fall below (or "fewer") than 4 i was told to take immediate action to fix, but no one said what that action was, exactly. also i did not ask. should we pretend there was a film called Godfather III, which we are all agreed it is better if there is not, then just maybe i remembered a scene where Michael Corleone had a "diabetes attack" and ate chocolate to fix it. with that the only theoretical reference, on the day it dropped to 1.1 (!) i immediately got a mars bar to  see if that would sort it. yes it did. 

it would appear, going on not being told to cease, that this testing is carrying on for a while yet. perhaps forever, or so long as i live. hopefully, mind, not as frequently as i have been doing it for the last, what six or so weeks. 

wee wees

bit of a delicate matter, this, but all the same likely important. for a couple of years now it has been that my body gave no warning when i needed a bathroom in order to "spend a penny" or, if you like, go for a gypsy's kiss. all of a sudden it was "go now, or trousers will be wet". this was something i wrote off as being one of those unspoken changes that come with age (since i am north of 50), or possibly that prostate cancer thing which i haven't had a test for. as it turns out no, this was yet another warning sign off of my body that something was wrong, with the thing being diabetes. all things of this nature have, merrily, returned to "normal" with the medication. should i need a bathroom (not in the way Spiros does to make short term yet mutually beneficial friendships) my body gives ample (or fair) warning. 

diet

weirdly this has been the easiest thing to change and, in truth, adapt to. everything about my general physique says no, i would not usually eat "healthily". of late, however, i had found myself leaning towards healthier options, but still laced with "treats". clearly, as with the bathroom stuff, it was my body raising all sorts of alarms with cravings that i more or less ignored. 

over the last month or so i have probably eaten more stir fry than i had in all of my existence prior. it is with great thanks to young William (that one) that i have learned how to make such a dish. yes, for those of you reading this thinking "but it is simple", once you know how to it is, but if you have never ever gone done it before then you need to be shown. 

great joy is to be had making a stir fry. for a start, i do love mixing in a variety (or variations) of herbs and spices, with none of them "danger stuff". letting you know the secret what William let me know is that adding copious shakes of a jar (or tube or what have you) of onion granules is the proverbial "game changer" for a most excellent stir fry. usually it is a chicken one i make, although for a change i did go and do a steak one a couple of weeks ago. steak is totes ludicrously expensive here at the moment, mind. i have considered a pork one, but i am somewhat reluctant in case i f*** up the cooking the pork part. eventually i shall be brave and give it a go. 

my breakfast has seen something of a change. outside of fancy hotel breakfasts (gone now that i do not travel these lands for verk so much any more) my standard was croissants. these would be 'posh' freshly done ones as a weekend treat, and a bag of (no doubt highly processed) 'regular' ones during the week. now, as you can see, a bit of a difference. 

at first i just had some cereal which, according to the label on the packaging, was low in sugar, adding in some plain "Greek style" yoghurt. credit to Gill (of NZ) for teaching me the art of buying frozen fruit, nuking it (as in putting it in the microwave for a bit) and mushing it in. the above picture shows a mix of strawberries and blueberries for this, but the number one to do it with is easily raspberries. 

so as to (in a proverbial or actual way) mix things up from time to time i shall still pan (stir) fry some chicken, but instead of full tilt stir fry i will do a "mediterranean roast veg" mix. no, never did i think i would actually eat either my "5 a day" or an amount in excess of that, but here i am. oddly i find myself actually looking forward to these meals, rather than seeing eating as a formal necessity. which kind of indicates how i had let eating be a simple, whatever, means to an end. 

beyond that, other changes have been to dramatically reduce sugar intake. not remove entire, as that is not the demand or requirement. coffee now sees me have one or just one half a teaspoon of sugar rather than two (or more) and usually tea is now a sugar free thing for me. also, as things presently stand, the last takeaway i have had was that one Burger King (sorry to single them out) on the afternoon of the rather dramatic medical incident. have neither missed nor craved them. for dinner (or "lunch" if posh or southern) i still go for a supermarket meal deal, only selecting the "healthier" options. unless my blood level score prior to purchasing says "consider a mars bar". 

exercise and appearance

there has been a friend or two of mine who(m), even allowing for a sense of the theatrical, have wondered just how, exactly, i was still alive when my three digit (!) blood sugar level was of a nature that would normally only be recorded by someone that was in a coma, dead or moments from death. a kind of regular exercise appears to have been my saviour if not salvation. each day i would usually walk at least a couple of miles, sometimes more. without this it is likely i would have been proper f****d quite some time ago. since i am not going to start going to gym (they don't have ashtrays or what one would consider natural smoking areas) i shall just make sure i keep the walking up. 

looks have not, if we are honest, ever been all that much of a strong point for me. not traditionally handsome was a wonderful description someone once gave of me. but, in terms of weight and appearance, well, over the last two to three years i had for some reason been losing (not "loosing") weight, possibly down to all the walking and eating slightly better. all i know is that i have to keep purchasing smaller sized trousers, and belts. t-shirts will always be long baggy ones, i love them. 

final picture below is a selfie, you have been warned. 

i am also getting told that i am looking "a lot more healthy", sometimes (every now and then) with qualifications such as i "have colour back". and things like that. with my penchant for selfies i suppose someone of a mind to do so could go through the previous posts here and look at pictures over the last few years, comparing them to the one above, taken really recently (at time of writing). i would suggest that i am indeed feeling better, but then i was feeling not too bad at all right up until the point of that episode what required medical intervention. 

yes, for those who do look at pics of moi and have paid attention, the ridiculous, large, growing for over a year beard has indeed gone. i did one of them video call things with Mum and she absolutely knacked me for the state of it, telling me to get it shaved. so i did. you are never too old to get knacked off of your Mum, or ever too far away, apparently. keeping the long hair, for now, mind. i always wanted it as part of my belief in rock and roll, just not had the patience before. 

right, that's it for updates, or at least that shall do. more than enough, i think. apologies for this not being quite so exciting as the last update, indeed sorry for it being boring. what has not been boring, though, has been the monumental, unexpected level of messages of support and all the offers of help. thank you all, it means a lot and has made quite the difference. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

laundry again

hello there

at the very great risk of turning a quite significant percentage of posts this month into being ones pertaining to cleaning stuff, here we go. once more, as the title gives you every indication, i went to the laundry. why did i go? to do laundry, look you see. valid question, mind, for as someone what gone done aged if not (entirely) grew up in the 80s, well, my generation was taught that a laundry was a place to go specifically to take your clothes off with some boss Motown music playing. so no, i did not, as point of fact, Nick Kamen it.

for what reason do i use a laundry to do, well, laundry? not all of my laundry requirements are done there, as it happens. if you have not read previous chapters of laundry adventures and further have no intention of doing so (but still here and here if you do have intention) i make use of such a facility primarily (but not exclusively) to do bedding. garments i can pretty much wash (and dry) at my lodgings in my place of exile, but there's simply no space to dry big massive bedding items. so, when rather than as and when i change bedding, i go to the laundry to wash and dry it. perhaps i could wash them in lodgings and just use the dryer machine, but that would involve carrying wet laundry just south of a mile. no, thanks. 

in the last two (2) instances of this, which i think (or believe) happen to be the first such ones too, i seem to recall doing two (2) sets of bedding. this time it was just the one, which i had recently changed. for some reason i was a bit irked (not annoyed, but still) at leaving unwashed (if not particularly badly soiled) bedding at home. having found myself awake at a quite silly (as in early) time one saturday morning i figured, since i had gone done breakfast, blood test and a disproportionate number of pills ostensibly keeping me alive, why not take a walk and just go get it done. with a couple of towels. 

having arrived mere minutes after (or past) the designated opening time of the laundry i found that i had the place more or less to myself. well, not entirely, the chap what runs it (manager, i suppose) was there, and it was so that we exchanged pleasantries. jolly nice fellow he is too, providing me with a basket to transport washed items to the dryer. mindful that i never doubted (or questioned) the veracity of the statement, what that one patron told me on a previous (i think my second) visit appears true; it is better to go early when few ("less") are around so as to avoid any politics of who(m) is using which machine. 

video? video. 

someone else, another patron, did indeed arrive to make use of the facility, but it was as i had reached the business end, or if you will climax, of my need to be there. he had come in, as i have seen many others do, just to use the tumble dryer. there are several signs warning customers that those what are here to gone done use the washing machines get priority use of the tumble dryers. merrily this was no issue, and no quarrel, for my bedding (and towels) were already in one of them and, unlike my previous excursion there, more ("greater") than one of them was armed and fully operational. or working, in basic, straightforward language. 

how long does all of this laundry stuff take? well, if we limit that to time "on site", so as to exclude travel there and back, a bit north of one hour. the washing bit takes around half an hour, more or less the same for drying (unless you want to do some extra minutes for luck), and then there's loading, unloading, moving, loading, unloading, folding and bagging. whilst the machines do their thing, as in during those 30 minute (or so) bouts mostly, to pass the time, i read whatever paperback i am busy with. yes, i did that with this trip. sure, every now and then i shall step outside momentarily (sorry), but reading would be mostly it. quite like the clear time to do it (read) with no distractions. 

for some reason i have an idea (or notion) that in the previous posts on the subject of laundry visits i didn't pay all that much attention, or give too much information, on the tumble dryer side of all of this. very doubtful that i will give all that much more here, but all the same the remaining two (2) images and further (final) VHS mode video are of the tumble dryer. should that please you, well, so much the better. if not you can just skip the rest, i suppose. 

which do i prefer, going to the laundry or making use of a car wash? both have decidedly positive qualities to them. for the car wash side, well, verk pay for both that service and for my time getting it done. there's some amusement in pretending you are a goldfish, or in a boss submarine, as the water splashes all over the windscreen, but "some" in this instance is not that much. laundry visits give me clean bedding, some time to read and the opportunity to stand and smoke somewhere different (sorry), but does cost me. ultimately, though, i think laundry wins for reasons listed already here. if we are to be honest i really could not give a f*** what state a vehicle is in (so long as the tape deck works) and if they didn't pay me to use it and pay for the service it most certainly would not be getting done. 

bit surprising, all things considered, that the tumble dryer (or clothes drying) part of the entire experience is the cheapest. costs £1 for 10 (ten) minutes, and so far i have only had to use it for 30 minutes (half an hour), with me sometimes putting an extra 50p in for luck, or to make sure it is all done, or purely for the sh!ts and giggles. should you have not read the other posts, the wash part costs you either £5.50 for the moderate machine (which i used here) or £6.50 for the full tilt massive industrial scale one. my guess, based on the heat they generate, is that the tumble dryers likely cost more to run than the washing machines, and with more people using them alone it is a wonder they don't charge more. not that i would wish for them to. 

earlier, rather than later, i mentioned further video would feature. and here it is. 

can't imagine anyone is all that interested, but for clarification it is indeed my "Grogu" out of that boss tele show (and soon film) The Mandalorian bedding getting washed. as it happens, or for any sort of peculiar record being kept, i believe it was sold to me branded as featuring "The Child", for it was manufactured prior to them revealing his name in the show. likely why it was so cheap. 

no, i am not going to look this up, i am going to assume that the person what named a tumble dryer what it is was some smarmy "marketing" (or advertising) executive that got paid a ludicrous six figure sum. perhaps i should have had more of a go at a career in advertising, but i really don't like horn rimmed glasses and cocaine always struck me as something to leave to tales of rock legends rather than to do on a regular basis. how difficult was it to name a machine (or device) that dries clothes (or in this instance bedding) whilst they tumble about? no doubt it first got called "tumble dryer drum" and then the executive got a bonus for thinking to remove the last word. believe me, i have spent long enough in corporate circles to know that many people get paid ludicrous money for utter sh!t. 

i don't, in all honesty, think that anyone is going to find this post (or ones like it) all that interesting. perhaps i just write them for my own peculiar amusement. that said, if someone out there is really all that interested in impersonating my life, well, this is quite decent research material to do just that, i suppose. one cannot really understand why someone would wish to impersonate me; one cannot really imagine that they would do all that much worse with this life than i. 

right, with nothing else to add in relation to tumble dryers (or any other aspect) that's that for this post on a laundry visit. yes, probably, is the answer as to if there will be any more of these in the future. since such already exists in the past. likely not for a bit, though. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

quite decent

now then

once more i've watched a few films and (thus) fell compelled, if not obliged to post comment on them here. four (4) in total, look you see. although some of the more pedantic brigade might (and to a degree they are right) suggest i watched just three films and one (1) documentary. indeed i could well have been reading instead of watching movies, for i have a large pile of books which appears to get no smaller that i wish to read. yet the same is true of the number of videos (discs) what i have sat here. 

as usual indeed it is so that i have a pile of either celebrated classics of cinema sat here, or more recent (or modern) films which are generally praised. i have, however, elected to watch films that many would suggest are not quite so good. that said it was merrily so that most of them exceeded expectations, even if the bar was reasonably low. certainly, or at least i think this is true, all of the ones watched felt like a considerably less ("fewer") waste of time than the last three what i watched. 

yes that is just a "normal" picture rather than one taken with one of the "apps" i have on my tiresome phone with the (rather) poor camera welded to it. no, that isn't the order in what i gone done watched the films, and it's a bit of an accidental accident that the 4th one is what it is. nice accident, though. 

from what i can remember, though, the look (or comments) on each film comes along in the order what i did gone done watch them. and yes, outside of some "screenshots" (as well as one image taken from the screen, as it were), indeed it is so that using them "app" things seemed best. 

i started off this batch (i think) with one called Earth Alien. at least that's what it is called here in the UK, or 'England-land' as i am led to believe some in America refer to us as. my understanding is that this is one of them films what got different titles in different countries. as for what that other, alternate or perhaps original title was (or is), so far as i can tell it is Endangered Species. 

considering my (sole) motivation for tracking down and watching this film, it actually turned out pretty decent. the plot is some coppers hunting down a "mass killer", so to speak, as some chap with apparently super-human strength is going around shooting lots of people. it turns out that super-human translates as "other worldly", and there's a quasi space copper (more game ranger) also on the scene hunting them down. 

this film has many restraints, and all of them are financial. you can tell it was made on a budget that didn't quite match (or get close to) the ideas. worst of all is the "end reveal" of the alien, with either special effects or turn of the century (quite cheap) CGI being so awful that you kind of wished they had just left the alien looking rather human. and yet this was all very entertaining. 

can't really see the sense in lying about my reasons for seeking out this film. above is (i think) a still which i can "get away" with adding here. i happened to see a scene of very nice nudies on the internet, so worked out it was this film and decided yes, for a reasonably low cost off of the great virtual car boot venue of the internet i would have that video (disc) in my collection. on that note there are three (3) scenes of quite class nudies, all female and all most agreeable. 

exactly what made this film good? all involved appeared to strive to do the best they could with what was clearly a good script. mostly it's the acting which made Earth Alien a decent watch. in terms of the lead cast Eric Roberts out of Dark Knight, John Rhys-Davis out of (i think) Gandalf and Indiana Jones before they went bonkers and made him President Hulk in the most recent one and Arnold Vosloo out of the boss Hard Target were really good. sadly the lady above appeared only to be in the film to do that bit of nudies, but still. 

more or less it is so that Earth Alien (or Endangered Species) is sort of X-Files Does Predator 2, and yet it works. the acting and dialogue are all good, and the action scenes (in particular a hospital chase) were all rather well done. it is (remotely) possible i would have enjoyed this film without the nudies, but we shall never know. overall, 90 minutes of decent entertainment. 

further honesty (for i would not wish to be any other way) would be to say i only bought Terminator Woman off of the market (for about £1) because of the appalling cover art. i had every confidence that such a terrible cover would ensure this simply had to be one of the worst films ever made. no masterpiece, but oddly watchable. 

plot? something something something, really. i think it was all about some American coppers (maybe FBI) who happened to be martial arts / kung fu types taking some witness to South Africa to locate some stolen gold (or something), and then it all being about a rather unpleasant "mr big" style gangster and a people smuggling operation. note i watched the 90 minute version. i believe there's a variation of it called Thunderclap what runs north of 10 minutes longer and sounds like it has some decidedly unpleasant stuff in it. 

knowing that he is in to all of that kick boxing, martial arts and generally any sort of thing which allows him to grapple with men and get sweaty i asked Spiros if he was ever a disciple of any of the Sensei listed in the credits. as it turns out, no, but he did have some fascinating stories about them. sadly i cannot repeat them here as i would likely get sued for libel, or get my f*****g head kicked in off of at least one of them, irrespective of whether the tales were true or not. 

normally i would say i am not too bothered about "martial arts" films, except of course for them proper smart ones what had Bruce Lee in them. and some Jean Claude Van Damme ones, maybe some of the earlier Steven Seagal too. perhaps i was hasty in generally disregarding the genre, as this was, once again, rather decent. this was very much one of them films what you'd take a chance on renting on video in the mid to late 80s and get entertained by it for an hour and a half. might even rewind and watch again before you had to take it back to the shop. oh, the acting was in this instance f*****g awful and the script not up to much, but it was nonetheless compelling, if not engrossing, viewing thanks to a decent pace and the numerous action scenes being really well staged. sadly no nudies. 

also no nudies in The Fourth Kind but all the same i was interested enough in what i saw "online" to give it a go. for, in terms of coins, i think about £2 off one website or another. well, it didn't look like it would have nudies, but then again it has (had) Milla Jovovich in it, and there's always a chance of her disrobing in a film. but she didn't here. still, i saw a snippet on the internet, read comments of how people recalled being rather scared by it when watching it at a young age, so thought why not. 

once more i reference X Files, for this is indeed one of them "paranormal" or alien encounter things what came to be so popular to make with thanks to that (excellent) tv show. also it kind of capitalises on the craze for "found footage" films which, so far as i can recall, regained popularity after Blair Witch Project. none of them found footage films, including this one, ever came close to the disturbing darkness of Cannibal Holocaust; perhaps some tricks can only be pulled once. 

i think the best part of The Fourth Kind, other than really good performances by Ms Jovovich and the usually great Elias Koteas, is how convincingly the film believes itself to be in presenting "real" found footage from "real events". an unexpected, and very clever, twist was (perhaps i should have had a spoiler warning somewhere) was going full tilt "meta". as in you have Milla and Elias explain that they are actors recreating scenes and explaining why. not having any credits for the actors who(m) appeared in the supposedly found footage, nor the usual "this is a work of fiction" disclaimer, was kind of a nice touch to it. 

by no means was The Fourth Kind a bad film, it's just not a great one. perhaps in a cinema, and for that matter 16 odd years ago on release when this sort of thing was in vogue, it seemed better. possible a case of not ageing well, but as i didn't see it at the time no idea. as not even nudies being in it would have made me watch it again is, i suppose, all the review from my perspective you require. 

hadn't ever heard of the last one i am going to comment on here (since i somehow forgot to include the fact that i recently finally got around to watching The Entity). saw it, and for clarification "it" is the documentary All Things Must Pass (being about Tower Records), on sale down at the market and figured it would at least have some points of interest for me. which it did, but not so many as you might think. 

essentially it's a "rise and fall" story, with the story being of Tower Records. just how big this record shop was is somewhat highlighted by it being known worldwide, yet didn't have all that a global range of stores. never, so far as i am aware, went to the London (innit) one. as would be the case with nearly all record stores, they had huge success right up to, give or take, the early 2000s. then internet, then free music, then all of a sudden the constant price increases for tapes (and discs) during the 90s came back to haunt them somewhat. well, no, not haunt, kill. 

despite the back of the box saying "it wasn't just the internet that killed Tower Records", actually yes it was. there really isn't enough of a story to that in itself to fill a 90 minute documentary. so it was indeed the archive footage which i found interesting, like for instance the image above, showing a display for Bowie's Tonight album being erected (so to speak) in a Japanese branch. 

mostly All Things Must Pass felt like a vanity piece to showcase how brilliant the founder was (he was, to be fair) and how much more excellent life was when we had record shops and a proper music industry (it was). the main points of interest (and this is pushing it) are that Dave Grohl once worked for them, Elton John liked shopping there and Bruce Springsteen "appreciated" them selling his records. nothing overtly insightful into the world of record shops. rather possible that High Fidelity was better at telling such a story. still, Tower Records did seem like it was quite class. 

yeah, sure, why not, another image of the best scene from Earth Alien above to close this out. indeed it would be quite true to say it was the best scene in any of these films (and one documentary) watched. cannot promise, but will try and include The Entity (as in the 80s Barbra Hershey one) when i next do a post on films. should you wish to know my thoughts, indeed it was decent. 

from all of these films i think the one lesson it would be class for present day film makers to take would be how the structure / pacing of Earth Alien and (to a lesser extent) Terminator Woman keep an audience entertained despite any budget (or script) limitations. having infinite resources to make films with these days does not mean you should use them all at once to make boring things. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!