Deaf Havana - live in Manc, CD signing

Today I met the heroes of which make up Deaf Havana. Had a brilliant time so thought, hey…what not blog.
 

                So the day started out getting up later than planned (having the day off work= instant refusal to get out of bed before 9:30am) and catching the train into Manchester Victoria. I’ve been looking forward to this day for some time but it never even registered in my head that ‘hey Carys, you don’t know Manchester at all, why not look up the address’… but luckily the extremely chatty man in Starbucks gave me wonderful directions (I don’t do directions well at all – or maps – so well done Starbucks man!)

            After getting to HMV way too early, the time between then and the acoustic set was spent buying headphones, drinking bobo tea and meeting up with people who are going to Uni in the city – all in all pretty productive, but let’s move on. We returned back to HVM at half past four to try miss the flow of traffic that would be turning up at five and queued for a half hour. One of the greatest things I found about people who listen to Deaf Havana is that they’re so friendly. I didn’t meet one rotten person in the que/inside. Everyone was lovely and helped each other out (a big thank you to Aiden who let me stand in front of him so I could see). Going in alone was the most terrifying thought but I met two other people on their own and we stuck together and chatted as though we had met before. Lovely!

                To get in, you basically used Deaf Havana’s new CD (Old Souls) sort of like a ticket, you showed that you had it on the door and went into the little staging area. It was such a cute little space so the acoustic set really did feel pretty intermit. I absolutely fell in love with James Veck-Gilodi’s stage presence just by the way he talked between songs.

                Happy to say I have a few half decent pictures and videoed a few songs. You can really tell when my arm starts to go dead in all the video’s I recorded, but the achey arm was definitely worth it to get a little memento – especially seen as they played one of my favourites (Hunstanton Pier).

                The signing was great, my cd case now looks all decorated. And talking to the guys while getting it signed was wonderful. I love when bands really interact with their fans and they really did seem so humbled by the amount of people who actually came to buy their album. It’s always refreshing to see that people still care about the music they produce and about those that listen to it.

I’m glad I didn’t say anything too awkward, though. I’ve met guys from bands before and blurted out the uttermost bollocks that has just pooped into my head. The most I said was ‘I really don’t know how to talk to you, little awkward’, in which James responded ‘HEY ME TOO! Hence my ramblings between song just now’. I politely asked to take pictures and BOOM, the day was over.

           The Ringmaster Festival of which I was going to for my birthday got cancelled this week so I’m really glad I managed to get to see Deaf Havana today (seen as they were in the line-up for next Friday). All in all, pretty happy.

18th Excitement

I’ve never been one for birthday celebrations. I don’t know why exactly, it just never appealed to me. So much so that I used to say ‘I don’t like my birthday, it’s too much fuss over what is essentially just another ordinary day’. I think I really did have a hatred for my birthday at one point. I’ve never wanted to grow up – much like the female peter pan. I want to be as young as I am for as long as I can – impossible, though I can always dream.

But this time it’s the ‘big one’. My 18^th. I don’t think that it’s much of a big deal over in America with the drinking age being at 21 and all, but over in England it’s definitely the biggy. I don’t know though, so if I’m wrong and it is a big thing, I’d love to hear about it.

So as expected, I have everyone at work, all my family members and my few friends asking the question: ‘SO WHAT HAVE YOU GOT PLANNED?!’. Until now, nothing. It’s seriously not really even crossed my mind that I might actually do something. At one point, I kind of gave in to the guys at work and just let them plan a night out and I’ll just tag along and we’ll all say it’s for my birthday. That’s how all my nights out go – I’m not much of a planner.

Though lucky me, I managed to come across a website for the Ringmaster Festival which just so happens to be the day after my birthday and include a line-up which I’m in love with (featuring bands such as Deaf Havana, The Blackout, Hadouken and We Are The Ocean). I managed to coax a friend into coming with me and camping and I have to say I’m dead excited. I really can’t wait for my birthday to come around and it’s a wonderful feeling.

I really had forgotten what it felt like to be genuinely excited for something. And it seems as though all the things that make me happy are coming in leaps and bounds. I’m in love with music so my next few months are packed with bands, gigs, and appearances which I’ll be sure to blog about and document because hey…it’s so much easier to write about something you’re passionate about/enjoy.

I’ll leave some links bellow to some of the things I’m going to just in case anyone out there wants to tag along too.
·        Thursday 19th September – Deaf Havanaacoustic set and cd signing
·        Friday 27th September – The RingmasterFestival
·        Tuesday 22nd – Shinedown, Alter Bridgeand Halestorm (Manchester)
·        Saturday 15th – A Day To Remember(Manchester) 

Those Nights

'I remember when We used to laugh About nothing at all, It was better than going mad. From trying to solve all the problems we're going through, Forget 'em all. Cause on those nights we would stand and never fall. Together we faced it all. Remember when we'd;
[Chorus:]
Stay up late and we'd talk all night, In a dark room lit by the TV light, Through all the hard times in my life, Those nights kept me alive'

These lyrics are by Skillet – Those nights. Coincidently, this is a song that I sang when I was in year 10 (15 years old) on stage in front of my friends and family along with a school band for my Music Diploma. I could relate to it then and I can relate to it now.  I’ve not listened to this song since I performed it, until tonight. And it’s started to make me think back to the nights that have really kept me strong. Just thinking about ‘those nights’ really does make me feel blessed.

I wanted to take this opportunity to write about some seen as I no longer keep a written journal/diary for numerous reasons.

My first memory will be one of my most recent. Trampoline-ing at 3am in the pouring down rain. Given that I was slightly drunk, I’ve never really experienced something like it. I was with the people I’ve only met once before - That in it’s self is enough to make me smile ; that people I had never met before would talk to me and make me feel involved and comfortable…and I could then hang out with the same people again and feel as though we've gone back years. (I don’t know, I don’t make friends often so everything excites me I guess.) But the night grew later and I was feeling like a little social butterfly as I fluttered between crowd to crowd and talked about life. It got until 3am where I found myself out side in the middle of a thunderstorm with a cigarette, looking up into the sky and getting truly drenched. That was lovely. I was gathering my thoughts and sobering up to the sound of raindrops hitting the glass table top – bliss. But out came a guy that I get on incredibly well with, let’s call him ‘Dylan’. ‘Dylan’ grabbed me by the hand and pulled me across the wet lawn (I wasn’t wearing shoes mind, so my socks clung to my feet like mad) and up onto the trampoline. And we bounced. I don’t know how long for, it felt like forever, but it also felt like it was over too soon. But, hand in hand, we bounced. And bounded. And bounced. We laughed like hell and got soaked through under the early morning rain clouds. Right then is when I could say I felt truly happy. There’s something just so exhilarating about being out in the rain. We fell at one point and just laid there, flat on hour backs, laughing like we had lost all sanity as the rain began to fall on our faces. Yea, I like that memory.

My second will be another late night story with, let’s call him ‘Zack’. We ate curry with my family and sat and talked until it was time for him to get the last bus to the next town along. Long story short, we missed it. Lucky enough, my mother actually likes ‘Zack’ so offered him our spare room for the night. Though instead of going to bed, we stayed up in my downstairs living room with the TV on, talking until 5am. I got excited cause I found that I actually had SkyDisney so all I remember is being sat side by side, completely engrossed in Cinderella. How cute. After that, I fell asleep on his shoulder, and he was too much of a gentleman to wake me up or shove me away. But when I did wake, it was to The Descent where we sat and laughed and made ridiculous running commentaries. The best thing about that night was staying up and talking about anything, everything until the early hours - Just being completely comfortable in someone else’s company.

 A third will be something that’s hard to explain why it was so brilliant. It’s nothing out of the ordinary but it meant the world to me anyway. My parents recently went away for two weeks and left the house and cats for me to look after. I absolutely hate being alone. I don’t know what it is but it just makes me panic-ey and emotional. And my wonderful friend knows this all too well. I love him to bits – let’s call him Alex. He came over numerous days and cooked for me after work…chicken…brisket…you name it. Such a good little cook he is. But some nights, practically for a whole week I think, he stopped over and just kept me company. Being a couple of introverts, it was up our street to sit in with a Chinese, watch films and do nothing all night. One night we sat up and made Cookie Dough Pizza while we watched the amazing Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act. I couldn’t ask for anything better. I will cherish my lazy nights with him for always.

Writing these stories has really brought to light the amazing people in my life. I could never thank my friends enough for being there when I need them. I always make myself think that I have to stand by myself and go through things alone, but when I think back on all my amazing memories and past experiences, it’s really not the case. I’m so blessed and so thankful that I’ve met the people I have and have experienced all these events to date. It’s nights like this that make me take a step back and slap myself for being so closed minded about my problems and issues, because I know I’ve got it a lot better than some people. So if anyone I know does actually read this, I just want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart and that I cherish you beyond belief. 

Mid-Year Fave's

The new ‘Maybelline FITme! Anti-shine stick’

I’ve been testing out different brands of foundation and going from creams, to mousses, to liquids but came across the TV advert for the anti-shine stick at 3am one day. Don’t know what caught my eye about it but I was interested and found myself buying it at Boots a week or so later. I’m incredibly impressed to be honest. It’s small and compact so I can throw it into any of my bags that I take out, because it’s in stick form (much like the consistency of a tube concealer) it’s non-mess and it’s super easy to blend. The colour, surprisingly, blends into my transparent skin tone incredibly well so any of you pale ladies (or gentlemen, I don’t judge), I would really recommend this product to use as a daily foundation.

Got2b powder’ful

For anyone with short layers/short hair especially, this styling product is fab! It’s definitely made hair styling in a morning before work quicker and simpler. Just a little sprinkle, rub it together in your palms and tussle…or sprinkle it straight to your hair and ruffle and walaah! So now my layers are shorter, it’s a great quick fix for my hair, though I did use it when I had longer hair too. You know when you have freshly washed hair and it’s too clean to do anything with? This is great for that. Sprinkle some powder near the routs and backcomb away, brilliant for those flyaway days.

Primark Home scented candle

For £2, I bought a decent sized scented candle from my local Primark. I love candles, I love scented items and I love reasonable prices. So this was great in all senses. I’ve been burning my purple ‘juicy blueberry and blossom’ candle every night before bed for the past couple weeks and my room smells gorgeous and I’ve still got two weeks of use left of use in it at least. I’m a sucker for falling asleep to candlelight (unsafe, I know) and it seems to make sleep come easier and more soothing when it’s to such a lovely smell and a dim glow of a flame.

Lush

I’ve recently become a Lush lover. i went in with a friend one day and sat there with one of the shop assistants for two hours just trying things out and her giving me a hand massage with all the different products that she would recommend for my skin type. It was such a lovely experience. You would think a complete stranger rubbing your hands/arms for hours would be uncomfortable, not at all. Lush is such a friendly place. But I do have some products that I’m in love with so far and

these are:
Angels On Bear Skin – this is a facial cleanser that acts as an exfoliator also. It has a strong smell of lavender, with obvious lavender pieces and it just smells refreshing as heck. It’s not like any kind of cleanser I’ve used before. You have to get a small amount of it in your hand and mix it with water until you get it to a paste like consistency before applying to your face. The promises on the lid are that it will ‘evens out skin tone, reduce redness and improves health and appearance of your skin, giving it a natural healthy glow’ and I totally agree. Does everything it says it will, and more – my skin got so soft after using it
Rehab – this is a shampoo which is definitely called rehab for a reason. It’s done wonders for my chemically damaged hair and it’s given my head a lot of life back. It’s a god send and I’m so glad I got recommended it. It’s got a minty type smell and it leaves your hair feeling healthy and shiny.  A definite re-buy and I highly recommend it to anyone who’s got dead or damaged hair – it’s a miracle shampoo.

Retread – ‘a heavier weight conditioner that is there for you in times of trouble’ ; ‘drive your hair in for some serious breakdown recovery. This conditioner is a pit stop for your hair’. Again, I completely agree with the labelling, everything in Lush seems to be described perfectly on the tubs. This conditioner (used alongside my Rehab shampoo) is bloody wonderful and makes my hair feel like silk

Skeleton Hair Clips

I kept seeing these around tumblr constantly and I loved them. So I bought some from a seller on ebay and they’re wonderful. And I love them to pieces. I think look fantastic and they just add something to your hair. I really enjoyed wearing them around work.

Life Is Short

It appears that everything always comes together. Once I hear one thing, then I keep hearing it. Just like when I got my job in the Innovation Team, I kept hearing the word innovation constantly – that example is quite similar to the topic I chose to write about.

                Just recently it’s really coming to light that life really is short. It’s been a year and a half since I left education, a year into my full time job and less than a month until I’m 18. This is a big shock for me as every day seemed to drag and time would move so slowly for me. I used to count down the time until I could get back into bed again and even that felt more like five days, not five hours. Now I complain more about there not being enough hours in the day and everything is passing me by so quickly. That in its self was enough to give me a kick up the arse to start making the most of the time I have on this earth.

                Though there was a few other things that made me change my mind set. I’m making the most of things, keeping myself happy and making sure the things I do are for my own benefit, no one else’s. And these changes were made from the words of a few people. First of being my mum. She’s in the south of France currently, and if you knew her well enough then you’d know that this isn’t out of the ordinary. I make a joke to her that England is more like a holiday seen as she’s never in her home country. She enjoys her holidays and so she should with the stressful job that she has. When she told me she was leaving for two weeks, we got into conversation and one thing she said stuck with me most

                ‘You don’t live long and you only live once, it’s best to make the most of it because you’ll never know when your chances are up’

                Hearing this on a Tuesday morning at 8am set me going through the whole day.  What IF I was to be put on my deathbed tomorrow, would I be happy to have the ‘life flashing before my eyes’ moment? Would I be happy with what I saw? And it got me thinking, I have spent a lot of my time doing things that I thought other people wanted me to do or doing things purposely to make other people smile. It’s all well and good wanting to do the right thing for others, but I then realised how little time I actually spent putting myself first and doing things that made me happy. That had to change.

                The next person that spoke within the same week (two days later in fact) on the same subject was one of the Board of Directors to the company I work for. We’ve just taken on a group of 17 apprentices and they had a one to one session with this guy to ask him questions, learn about the company and to learn how he had climbed the ranks as he started in the same position as the apprentices all those years ago. The last question that someone asked was

‘Would you change anything?’

And I have to tell you that his response was the most inspiring thing I’ve heard in those four walls.

                ‘Well son, there’s three parts to that answer. The first, I’m a man of no regrets. I don’t believe in them. Everything I’ve done has made me the man I am and got me here today. The second, if I HAD to change anything it would be to make more time for the things I loved. I wanted to be a pilot…and it took me until a few years ago to finally put my foot forward and take lessons and now I can fly solo. I wish I would have done that sooner, but I still ended up doing it anyway. And the last, I’ve only ever done the things that made me happy. Life is too short to be miserable, and that’s where your regrets come from – being miserable. The best advice I can give you, if anything, is to make sure you’re happy. If you’re happy then you’ve succeeded’.