arfsblog

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A cooool -6 here today.

I could quite happily live in a climate that gave out these types of temps on a regular basis. Love it.

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Just been down a bit of a rabbit hole on the queue system for entrance to Wimbledon. The charts for entrance time which = position in the queue is interesting.

A pretty good account to follow here for live updates: @ViewFromTheQ

Queuing for Wimbledon is something I haven't done since I was 17 (I think) and I've never been on Centre Court, which is a definite bucket list item. It will be done in the near future.

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A jaunty track to go share as this year's EP. However it has not managed to become an EP and is a "single". There were many ideas that couldn't develop, for reasons such as the idea was too weak, it couldn't/wouldn't develop any further or I already had songs that it sounded like.

I was getting so frustrated after I had just given up on idea #8 that I had recorded on my phone. With the capo still on 4th fret, I began strumming just for my own amusement at how annoying this is. There was something about it I liked and kept playing through, and when the time came to search for a chorus, it literally wrote itself. So much so that I didn't even write a lyric for it, and the second chorus which is slightly different was just ad lib but I loved how it came out so it saved me having to do another take.

I don't want that to cheapen the song at all as this is how great songs have been written and it's just one of those things. Not that this is great, but for the first thing I've written in about 12 years or so, it's ok with me.

Artwork is a zoomed in photo of my parents Christmas tree from 2012 I think. Minus the red squiggle, I have no idea what that's doing there, just an error from editing the photo, oh well, that can stay on as well.

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Reaction/Unboxing of the latest @bloodredblues Xmas EP

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Christmas is all around! The great festive film guide 2024 | Television & radio | The Guardian

For reference. Lots in here I'd love to watch.

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Definitely still looking very good. Enjoying my hair at the moment, not even doing anything with it, other than a little ruffle after the shower, no product. Though sometimes a spray of olive oil hair stuff just gives it some added sheen. I can get some longevity from this as well.

I have decided I want big hair for Oasis. Let's see.

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Boybands Forever. What a fantastic documentary series. It is produced by Louis Theroux I believe, and he has plenty of other documentaries which he has produced which look equally as interesting.

As with most people, I'm a sucker for nostalgia. Even if sometimes I can accept that, as is a 1975 lyric (I think), nostalgia is an illness - and I get that too. We need to look ahead and enjoy the now rather than pining back. But also, as with my earlier post about Christmas, taking yourself back and holding on to some of the memories that still give you that warm fuzz is absolute gold.

I'm very lucky my childhood was full of happy memories, so nostalgia hits everywhere, from sports, music, TV, even sometimes something as simple as the weather. And now I must ensure that it is passed on to my kids. That's probably the whole point of everything.

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The older I get the more I like to remember the things that brought me comfort and happiness at Christmas, and this was definitely one of them.

It's nice to share these things with the family and pass on some traditions like highlighting programmes we want to watch.

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Gorge-ous: the world’s grandest canyons – in pictures | Travel | The Guardian

Love things like this. You tend to consider Canyons being a north American thing down the west coast but there are plenty of beautiful ones around the world.

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Best Christmas desserts to buy 2024 UK

For reference.

Must be noted I want 1, 2 and the Waitrose Tiramisu.

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Wild hair is back.

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This is so cool. I'd love to sit and watch the whole thing, the sound is pretty poor but it's a snap shot of a moment in time. The eye of the storm. This is how it happened.

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This is probably my favourite Ryan Adams era. The band, the hair, the look. It all built up to this, and probably fell off afterwards or not long after. The band complements the song so we'll, yet Ryan is playing some distorted lead guitar parts not in keeping with the song but it just works. That was the magic he had back then.

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Over the past couple of days I've been sorting out the attic. It's a job that gets done every couple of years but this time it was in a terrible state. The middle section is now well organised, the Christmas section is also ready to go, the clothes are a work in progress but should be fine once I've sorted what I'm getting rid of. The best part about going through all that stuff is finding little gems that I'd forgotten about. The travel box has loads and loads of memories from the US and other parts of the globe. I'm impressed with myself that I went to that extreme to actually keep receipts from restaurants and room key cards etc and tape them all to a journal and write about it. I'm so glad I did it. It goes deeper than photos can ever get. I forgot I had chips from MGM Grand and other Vegas casinos. Loads of stuff like that. Genuinely priceless.

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Autumn Skies

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Out of absolutely nowhere, the back garden lawn actually looks great. Not everywhere but that's due to work I've been doing in various places. I have to say, this is ALL down to granular fertiliser with a high nitrogen level. It's pretty amazing actually. I'll take this as a big win and use this knowledge next spring and summer.

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Very happy to have received this.

A time capsule into a world that doesn't exist anymore. Doing "the 92" is a bucket list item for me, rather than a long process, I think I'll just get it done over the course of a season in the future (distant future).