2007 In My Own Words

The Blueberry Breezers are flowing and I thought it would be an ideal time to post my own perspective on the last 12 months.
Well it's been a rather interesting year although it didn't necessarily all go as I would have liked it too.
An OK-ish start although things really started to get into the swing of things in Spring. Shane Meadows "This Is England" was in the cinemas and I'd just brought what I'd consider to be the best book about radio in the form of Peter Stewart's "Essential Radio Skills" and getting to meet the author later on in the year was rather impressive.

At Smoke we managed to pull off what I'd consider to be our finest week of broadcasting under the banner "Smoke's Out 4 Summer" which included what I'd say was the best show I've ever done in the form of "Sun Sea And Soul" partly because of Sam helping out with the presenting. That was bloody lucky.
This was followed by essentially two weeks of constant partying at various houses and finishing the year with a rather large bonfire at Harrow Halls followed by a visit from the fire brigade and the police!

After this it's where things started to get a bit pear shaped as I didn't have a job all summer and spent all the time reminiscing.
Well, that's not quite true as I did make a short visit to London and Radio 1 and getting a bit too over-optimistic about our chances in that years Student Radio Awards. In all honesty I was getting to over-optimistic about everything which resulted in me getting sent to St Martin's Hospital where I was diagnosed with hypermania.

Following this and a disastrous return to Uni in September it meant I had to postpone my final year because of the side effects of my mania.
It wasn't good. I changed drugs from Olanzapene to Respiridol which meant for most of October I could hardly sleep or relax or lie down. It was fucking awful not just for me but for Mum and Dad as well.

I've also found myself watching more television, especially the most recent series of Strictly Come Dancing.
Although to be honest the success of the show for me is all down to Bruce and his rather bad jokes he does in between the performances. The old pros are the best.

Something else that brought light relief from my illness was this excerpt from the CBBC series "Chute" and this amusing take on Mika's "Grace Kelly".
It could be improved however on the line "Violet sky" by having a photo of Violet Berlin from "Bad Influence" followed by Skye from Morcheeba.

So overall I'm hopeful about 2008. I'm hoping to get my radio show back on the air on returning to Uni although there's so many people involved with the station now. But even if I do say so myself it's just not the same without an hour of musical positivity every week! But apart from the two theory modules I've got this semester it will be tricky finding other ways of occupying myself.
Well, there is another Incognito gig which I've booked tickets for in January and I'm hoping to go and see Richard Herring's "Oh Fuck I'm 40" at the Battersea Arts Center in February.

I'm confident things will improve after a rather traumatic few months and I hope that goes for anyone else feeling the same. Happy 2008!

Alone In London

I'm back in London again and have managed to see how those from my own year have been getting on, who are now editing their 15 minute features.
My main aim for this visit was to sort out the modules I'll be doing after Christmas and that went well without any major problems although I'm still a tiny bit nervous.

To be honest though, there's not really a lot happening and I'm getting rather bored here although I'm planning to come back on Monday where hopefully I'll be DJing at the Smoke Radio Xmas Party at the Undercroft.
Hopefully they'll be a few familiar faces popping in and I'll try and get to know a few of the first years as well.

December Dilemmas

I'm planning to go back to London this Friday to sort out the plans for next semester and if I'm going to be returning or not. I've also found out that Smoke Radio will be doing another night at Happy Mondaze next Monday and I've posted on the wall for the event asking if it will be possible to spin the disks for part of it.

And I've also agreed to help Concha with the Christmas shopping this Saturday so if things go ahead it will be a case of back and forth which sounds rather unnerving when putting it into perspective. Overall I'd really like to make the effort to try and get to know a few of the first year students as well as being brought up to date with the others and how they're getting on.

Hopefully a few things will come out of it eventually and I'll have a clearer idea on what I want to be doing.