Day 171 - Weekend please | Featured Beard - Reggie Watts

Now I know everyone says you shouldn't wish away your week and look forward to the weekend, but I can't handle it anymore. Early mornings and working days are very overrated. Don't get me wrong, the money is great, but I'd much rather hate my entire week and then have a big blow out on the weekend, instead of pretending to enjoy my week. So if this weekend could actually hurry up, that would be great.

We have a pretty monstrous plan for the weekend. Friday, me and Jonny are buying pie and punch. That's a steak pie for tea and a cherry pie for after, with punch in between. Then we start drinking properly, I'll love to say I'm going all out and buying some nice pre-drinks but I'm not, I'm sticking to the Hock. Then we want to head out pretty earlier than normal and we're heading to a bar which had table tennis tables. I know this could be interesting. After that we're heading to the old classic Drydock for a few before "finishing off" in Fuel. That is when Andy will have finally arrived from London and he can join the party. Now when I say finish off in Fuel, their is a high chance we will go to a late bar after that, we've never made it until the end of the Escobar, but I think this Friday will be different and we'll be partying until the very early hours. Most probably finish off some drinks back at our house as well. The comes the insane hangover on Saturday. We need to plan what takeaway we're ordering from and what film we're putting on. Then hopefully when the hangover has run its course, we have band practice on the Sunday and Monday. one hell of a fun weekend!


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Pretty sure you can tell that I spend a lot of time on YouTube. It's a great website, full of great videos, but that's another story. I recently got into TEDTalks, and found a comedian doing a talk. But it isn't your normal TEDtalk show. This guy purely uses his voice to entertain, by using different effects and singing styles. On top of that he can speak in many different languages and is a very clever guy. This is Reggie Watts.



Not my usual beard choice, but I watched a few more of his videos today and thought "why the hell not?". Again he is going for the full beard look with the attached Afro which sits perfect with his beard. Of course with hair and a lovely beard like that you are not going to go unnoticed. Especially after you see his performance, just check out the link below to see what crazy stuff he can do purely with his voice. He is a fantastic singer, clearly a smart guy, and great songwriter and can captivate an entire audience with his performance.

I guess this feature isn't about the beard as such, as manly as it is, but more about the talent of Reggie himself. Both amazing feats in my opinion.

Tomorrow I'm going to do another one, it is a bit of a jokey kind of a one. Here is a few clues: Character from an sitcom, set in the UK. He is also obsessed with stories "during the war".

Day 170 - Nearly half way there!

Day 170. 12 more days I'll be half way through my year of blogging. It does seem pretty crazy saying that, last year I didn't care for blogging and after a little thought and some inspiration from others I went for it. I think the closest I've come to forgetting an entire day is when I went out and ended up doing one slightly drunk at 3AM. Still counts!

All round it has been a really nice day, I actually managed to go outside for a long period of time without a jacket for the first time this year, I might even brave it on the way home and go for it. Might be pushing my luck though now the sun is starting to go in. The sun really does get me in the mood for festival season. Glad I'm not missing out this year on the festivals, not sure what I'll be doing next year mind, I said once I went to Glastonbury I'd call it quits for festivals, but next year it is looking like Fleetwood Mac are pretty much confirmed. Speaking of Glastonbury, we've had some clues about the infamous Saturday night slot. Apparently it is a band, no that rules Prince out (GOOD), and they have apparently sold millions of records. So by my calculations it is looking like Metallica are dead on for that slot. I want to be really excited about seeing them again, but the reason I got a Glastonbury ticket was to see different acts that I wouldn't normally see. But still, Metallica are a great band and I'm sure they'll go down well at Glastonbury. Anyway, the rest of the acts get announced in a few days so some other great acts will no doubt be added to the already pretty decent line up. Bring on June.

We've decided to go for a 12 man tent, we thought about the while teepee idea but they won't be very waterproof if their is some rain around, which I imagine we'll have some rain. So we went for a big 12 man tent which is totally sealed up. Really need to buy it soon though so we can have a test run of putting it up. We don't want to be in the middle of Worthy Farm with no tent.

Day 169 - Early start | Featured Beard: Harley Morenstein

Going to do this post nice and early. I'm determined not to forget because it's the start of the week, and I'm going to do a nice lengthy beard post as well to match. None of this start of the week forgetting it going to stop me this week!

After a weekend of early starts, the start of the week was of course no different. We all decided it would be a good idea to get a really early night last night to get us back in action for this week. It was a really good call because I had a cracking 10 hour sleep compared to the 10 hours I had in total over the weekend. Think I still need another early night to get me back to normal, it still was really hard to get up this morning. Woke up at 6AM with a killer illness that was driving me insane, I actually thought I might have to ring in but after a while it wore off and I managed to get myself ready for another long ass week. I've got a feeling this week is going to be really bad in regards to work and getting up early, because I know this weekend is going to be very good. I'm willing to pay for a crappy week in work for one hell of a crazy weekend, old fashioned student night out style. Good training for Glastonbury and good training when next year haha. The trains were kind to me this morning, probably because I've updated my playlist with a Bowie album, "Aladdin Sane". We all sat down and listened to it on vinyl on Friday and I've not looked back since. I've never been a massive Bowie fan but after sitting down and listening to an album in full I've come away a pretty big fan, I get why he was so big. He was totally different but still had those classic elements of rock and glam. I think I'll go for another album on the way home.

Been a pretty crazy rock and roll weekend with no sleep and endless studio hours. We all put a lot of work in this weekend even though some of us didn't even have to be there. The songs are sounding the sick and the video is going to be unreal. But we're all a little nervous because we don't really know what to expect seen as though none of us have done anything like this before. Should be fun though, hopefully the production company will understand we new to all this.

Another reason I'm doing this post so early is that I know for a fact that I'm going to have a lot of work to do today, and I'll just end up finishing it all and just wanting to leave without blogging. So this way I can get my hands in the mood to type and then crack on with work. Speaking of typing I did finish off my assignment before the weekend and I have Terri proof reading it for me. What a star ey? haha.


----------------------------------------BEARD TIME-------------------------------------------

Today we're going for another YouTube sensation. The host of Epic Meal Times. The man that eats an obscene amount of food and then does it all again the next day. He started out as a teacher and in regards to the amount of bacon he eats he is actually Jewish. This is Mr. Harley Morenstein.

 

Just look at the size of that. This is yet another full beard, a very full beard. You can clearly see that all the bacon and other meat products have started to form into a thick beard around his mouth. A triumph of style.

He is no stranger to large amounts of food and he is certainly a large man himself. He isn't overweight, he is insanely tall, or burly as I like to say. He is the perfect burly man. Here he is with a giant burger.

 

All round he has the classic full beard, but he pulls it off like no other man. He is a giant man, with a giant beard. All hail Harley and his luxurious beard. I will make it my life goal to run my fingers through his beard. 

Day 168 - Studio day two

Wow these new songs are sounding more and more professional. I say professional, they are really raw and grundey but still have an element of professionalism. Like we know we're not tight and playing to a click, we're just jamming music together. It's a really cool vibe I really like that some bands have.

Our producer for the new material said that he knows a few labels that might really like out stuff, so hopefully when they're finished we can get somewhere with this band!

Just got in, and we're all so tired and messed up. Considering just getting into bed right now and just waking up dead early the next day. Might even be a good start to the end, because I know the end of end of it is going to be one hell of a mess end to the week haha.

Day 167 - Studio day one

Was in the studio dead early, not nice on a Saturday but it had to be done. Also will be getting down tomorrow morning as well, not looking forward to that.

The new songs are sounding really sick though, really happy with everyone's takes and they're really coming together nicely with a few extra parts.

Anyway, I need an early night!

Day 166 - Today has gone too quick

I got into Huddersfield with good time this morning, so see as though it was Friday I thought I'd go all out and start my day with a Subway. Like everybody should. Then after a few meetings and some work it is now almost 3PM, what is going on? I am seriously not complaining because that means I'll be home in no time. No rest for the wicked though, we're back in the studio this weekend bright and early to finally finish off these new tracks we started a few months back. Hopefully we'll be able to nail everything this weekend so everything is ready for mixing and the track can be sent off to the production company that is doing the video for "Burn". We have a weekend set a side for recording in May. This is something I've never done before but I'm sure it is going to be a lot of fun. It should all go to plan, the production company are very professional and they have a few other videos that seem brilliant. It will actually be really nice to have some physical copies of the EP and a music video to go with our little portfolio we have been working on. Planning on making a promotion portfolio to be sent out to promotional companies and maybe even a few labels. The plan is next year to play gigs like crazy and maybe even do a little tour around the UK and maybe a few places in Europe depending on times and costs. But yeah, it is all coming together nicely.

In regards to work, I've been put back on Photoshop duties and I'm creating a few posters for the campaign we've been managing, the ball is well and truly rolling and it is a little difficult to keep up with all the demand but I think both me and Rob can manage it ourselves nicely, and it is nice to know so many other staff members are about to help us out if needs be.

Wow, after blasting through my 6,000 words essay this week I am finding is hard to type for long periods of time. I find myself having to take a break every 10 minutes or so. It is probably a good thing though, not a fan of getting RSI early in life. What with me playing guitar and using computers a lot I will be prone to it in later life, so I think the odd break will do me good in the long run, even though it means work takes twice as long.

Yesterday I finally got round the listening to "AM" by Arctic Monkeys, I've had everyone tell me that it is different but still a really good album and after giving it a full listen it very much easy. You can tell Josh Homme had some input in the writing as well, very Queens of the Stone Age, but I'm not complaining. On the subject of music, I was looking through the Glastonbury rumors and saw a band name that jumped out at me "Fat White Family". Now with a name like that you have to check them out, not knowing what to expect at all, I was no disappointed. I don't even know how to describe them, they're kind of punk haha. I watched a set by them at SXSW on YouTube and within 10 minutes the lead singer is in nothing but his smalls on stage. I also gave their debut album a listen "Champagne Holocaust", yup the names get better. Again it very different, has a few songs on there I can listen to again but I think I need to give the album another listen. Probably will go to see them at Glastonbury, just for the crazy stage show alone.

Well I best crack on with some more work before I leave for the weekend. Not really looking forward to getting up early on a Saturday and Sunday, but I guess it beats having to come to Huddersfield to work.

Day 165 - Fail fail fail

I've really failed to keep up with the blog this week, been forgetting left right and center. I do have a good excuse though, I guess? Haha. I've had my assignment and it's been stupidly busy. But, I've finished off my assignment this week and it's ready for proof reading, yeah I'm going to proof read this essay haha. It's hit home recently with Terri finishing off her disserstation and her case study and the amount of proof reading and stuff she did to make sure she's get the best grade possible, so I think it's time I start before I have to start all of that next year. Also I was pretty close to the bad side of grades with my last report so hopefully with a little time to double check I can make sure it is perfect ready to submit on Monday. It is a nice feeling though when you know your first draft is done. That's the biggest amount of work out of the way. 

Actually not blogging at work, yet again. I'm sat waiting for a train at Hudderfield. It's going to be another late train with no seats and full of rude people. I don't know what it is about people and trains stations but it turns people into idiots. So many times I've been barged into and nobody has said sorry. It's like they're purposely out to annoy everyone else because they're running a little late. Makes me wonder what life would be like without time. I won't go into that though haha, that'll be a longggggg post haha.

Seen as though I've been eating pretty good this week I think I'm going to go all out tonight and make it a pizza night. Last night me and Terri made a fry up for tea and it was beautiful! So worth using all of her bread up for haha. Still no decided what topping I'm going to go for, and when I say topping I mean what am I going to jam on top of the pizza haha. Everyone needs to try it one day!

Day 164 - I nearly forgot... | Featured Beard: Tormund Giantsbane

Well I didn't blog at work but I'm going to do a bigger blog using my phone instead. I've had a super busy day what with meetings and finishing off my assignment. I'm on about 5,000 words, I need 6,000 words and I've still got another section to go so I think I'll manage it. The content on the other hand is another matter haha. I think I've done pretty well on it though, not really one for putting my heart into an essay but I think I've done pretty well on it.

So I'm cutting the diary entry a little short and I'm going to show you a beard. A very night beard!

----------------------------------BEARD TIME--------------------------

Tormund Giantsbane!

What a name ey!? This is a chactorer from from Game of Thrones. Tormund is a wildlings who lives north of the wall. So to be fair, he is an total badass, who is even more badass because he has a massive beard.

Just Game of Thrones in general has some pretty great beards. I was even thinking of going through Game of Thrones picking out every beard haha, but I think that might take me a long time what with hour long episodes and the insane amount of beard in that show.

The actor that plays Tormund is called 

Kristofer Hivju, again a pretty badass name. I've not seen him in much else but he handles a beard very well. You can see from the picture above he has gone for the full beard. Extremely well rounded ginger beard, usually not a fan of the ginger beard but Mr. Hivju holds it well. He looks even better in a suit...

I think I'll pick a few more out from Game of Thrones, I have a few in mind!

Day 163 - Knew it!

I knew I'd forgotten to do something at work today and it was blog. As always the start of the week forgetfulness strikes again, god damn it. I had an epic feature lined up and everything, so it's going to have to be a boring old phone post, with my battery slowly ticking away before it runs out.

Well I cracked on with my assignment which is the good news, managed to get down a solid 4,500 words, just need another 1,000 and I reckon it'll be good to go. Actually going to proof read to hell on this one though. What with final year coming up and a dissertation I end to start taking care of my wording and making sure I get the my full potential in a report or essay. Saying that I'm sure they'll be tonnes of mistakes in all my other blogs posts, as well as this one. But I'm only human.

It's actually a lot hard to blog on a computer rathe than a phone, I've become so dependant on auto-correct that I just slam in words without even thinking and they just magically pop in for me. Thinking about it, although it can be a great time saver, it's probably making me more and more lazy with spelling and punctuation that I have no reason to think twice about it anymore. Maybe I should turn it off for a few days and see how I go. Probably end up getting ran over whilst I'm texting and walking because I'm too busy checking my spelling.

5% damn!

It's payday tomorrow and although I have rent and bills to pay I can actually get some good food in. What with paying for glasto and putting money down for a house it has been a difficult month. Luckily I have a shed load of rice which I've been eating for two weeks, but today I went all out and bought a pizza. Luckily as well it's loan day coming up so I'll be back to my normal self in no time. Woo! Well after the insane hangover on loan that is. Got some friends coming up and we're going to party on when it's loan day haha.

I WILL BLOG PROPERLY TOMORROW, WITH A FEATURED BEARD!

Day 162 - I've finally done it

I told you today was the day. I've finally caught up with the latest Game of Thrones and holy hell what an episode it was! I'm not going to go into details about, even though their are spoliers littering the internet now a days. I managed to stay well away from them over the past few days but judging by people's reactions I kind of guessed what was going to happen. It was a great episode though, not just because of the obvious, but because it was a good classic episode all round, really looking forward to putting on another episode tonight and have the whole house watch it to the same time. Nobody is at different points anymore so we can all talk freely about it.

Well I best make the use of the rest of my final day of Easter before I go back to work. The plan was to do something productive but I can't see that happening anytime soon to be honest haha. 

I'll be getting back into the length weekly blog starting tomorrow, no doubt moaning about my assignment which is in for next week!

Day 161 - Its Easter I'll do what I want

Totally forgot again and ended up leaving it dead late. Going to have to go short again what with leaving it dead late, it is the weekend and Easter so I guess I can cut myself a little slack on the details.

What I'll do I'll make Tuesday blog a big post about what went on over the weekend, that's providing I actually remember to do that because I know what I like when it comes to doing it at the start of the week. Haha.

Day 160 - Surprise visit home

Decided that I would go home for the night. Seen as though it is Easter I should spend some time with my family, plus I didn't feel like spending a night on my own in the house so I think a night with the family was perfect. We're watching The Boat That Rocked, forgot how good it was.

This is going to have to be majorly short because I've left it so late and we're half way through a film. I'll do some lengthy featured beards next week to make up for it!

Day 159 - Happy Friday

Never felt so amazing being able to sleep in during a day of the week. Truely amazing.

Got up dead late, as planned. Made my way to Terri's and we've had some wraps and now we're watching some TV. Just watched Googlebox, at first I was a little unsure if I enjoyed it or not but it has really grown on me! It is pretty funny. Now we're watching some Graham Norton with a hero of mine on the show Mr Ricky Gervais. So I'll leave it at that now it's just started haha.

Day 158 - And so the weekend begins | Featured Beard: Shay Carl Butler and Casey Lavere Butler

I have to say I'm pretty proud of my last blog post, if I'm honest that was probably my best one and maybe even the best one I'll ever do. Still going to carry on the featured beards, so I'm going to ride this wave and carry on doing them through-out the week. I think I'll try do one at least once a day if I actually remember.

Today is the day. Today is the day that the four day weekend officially starts, and I've never looked forward to a long weekend so much in my life. After working 9-5 for a good few months now it has really taken its toll on me. I think if I carried on I could slowly get use to this lifestyle, it's just that I know next year is going to be back to "my normal" lifestyle of a stupid amount of sleep/food/drink/nights out/parish/bedlam/burger time and so on and so on. Although I did them all heavily in the first two years of my university life it was good to take a year off and take a little time to see what is going on in the "real world", and in that year of me doing this I realised that I am probably not fully ready to commit to such a workload, and I still need a bit of time to grow up and go a little crazy. Because in all honesty, I would actually HATE to do this for a living. I know they're bold words, but I find the working lifestyle of the average person the most boring goal to achieve. Why would I want to wake up early every morning and work for nothing but money. Why should I have to do that? I know it's the easiest option, but I want more than that. Yeah, everyone says get a job, get married, have kids and grow old. That isn't how I see life, I want to have some stories, I want to be respected for what I do, I want to enjoy to I do. I don't want to sit in front of a desk day in and day out. I think a lot of people don't see that there is so much more for people to do and for people to achieve. So when they don't see that that's what they teach their kids, and that carries on. Leading everyone into the boring day to day lifestyle. I don't want to be another guy climbing a ladder which I one day I might find myself up and go "shit, how the hell did I get here?".

Okay, that's the end of that haha. Didn't realise how long I was going on with that haha. My four day weekend starts tomorrow, so here's the plan. Lots of Game of Thrones, will be fully caught up by Monday and can finally find out what everyone is so happy about. Spending some time with Terri before she goes home for Easter, and I'm also going to break in my new fur coat which arrived yesterday with plenty of time to spare for Glastonbury! But that's enough about that my plan is, it's time for another episode of BEARD TIME.

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We're actually getting two beards today. Two brothers that are both YouTubers and do daily vlogs along with other projects surrounding the wonders of YouTube. This is also another kind of request from my very own Terri Woolford! We're both pretty big fans of them both.

So, here they are Shay Carl Butler (left) and Casey Lavere Butler (right)

The photos on Google don't give their beards much justice. But I can assure you that they are magnificent and very deep!

Both Shay and Casey grow up in Idaho as young Mormon boys. Shays actions of YouTube first came apparent when he was promoted by Philip DeFranco. Shays following slowly grew before he focused his YouTube career on his Family and starting his new channel The ShayTards. The ShayTards became a success and has quickly become a well known YouTube Channel. Shay committed himself to post a vlog everyday on his channel, he successfully managed to post a vlog of his life everyday for five years and was later awards by Maker Studios (the production company that Shay Carl co-founded) and by YouTube themselves for reaching over one million subscribers. Because of his success and the well known names of his family, almost each family member has started their own YouTube career starting their own daily vlogs, Including Mr. Casey Butler.

Let's talk beard. As you can see from the photos above they both go for the full beard effect. Both chin and moustashe have a perfect balance of hair resulting in the well balanced full beard look. Although Shay himself is prone to trimming, and sometimes a total clean shaven look he still has the amazing ability to grow a full beard within a few weeks. As does Casey. Casey has gone for many different styles in the past from the soul patch to the chin strap, he currently goes for the well trimmed beard. Which in my honest opinion has nothing on the mighty full beard of his brother.

Day 157 - Busy. Busy. Busy | Featured Beard - Gandalf (Special request by Jonathan Youdale)

It is really nice to be actually working through-out the day and not just sat her looking at pointless websites and checking every five minutes to see if another rumor has come through for Glastonbury, or they might have actually released the full line up. Along side the big project me and Rob have been sorting out we have now been given another smaller project to be working with along side that, which also means I get to say down in the marketing office for as long as these projects go on and everyone is happy. Especially me now I don't have to sit upstairs with people I don't get along with.

Speaking of Glastonbury, planning has officially started. I think the plan still remains about getting one big tent, but instead of a tent we're going for a teepee style of tent. I've actually never put up or camped in a teepee before and I think what with some of the crazy antics we'll be getting up to it will be perfect. We managed to get a rough idea of what travel we're looking at along with times and what not. It's looking like a 2AM start on the Wednesday to get down to the site nice and early to get a good camping spot. Exciting times.

I've not really been up to a great deal today so I'm going to jump straight into the featured beard

---------------------------------BEARD TIME-----------------------------------------

Today we have a special request from a friend of mine Jonathan Youdale. Jonny was actually the man that came up with the idea with the "featured beard". I like to think that I have bought the light of the beard to Jonny, whenever we watch a TV show or film we are forever picking out epic beards that we see, and I don't see it stopping any time soon.

So lets crack on. Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit is a fantastic fantasy novel and film set in Middle Earth. Both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings features swords, drinking, fights and of course the most magical of all ingredients when it comes to fantasy based films...the beard. Although many beautiful beards are shown through-out the duration of both sets of films, I am picking this for both its own qualities and to the request of a dear friend of mine.

This is...Gandalf!

To be more specific this is actually Gandalf the Grey. Gandalf does eventually come Gandalf the White, but we'll talk more about that later. Gandalf is a fictional character created by the wonderful mind of J.R.R Tolkien. I'm not sure on the exact age of Gandalf through-out Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but if I remember correctly he is VERY old, and he is also a wizard, which gives me 10+ cool points in my book. In the films Gandalf is played by Sir Ian McKellen, who isn't that well known for his bearded roles, but Gandalf is a totally different matter.

From the picture above you can instantly see the stunning length of such a beard. Myself I'm not a fan of the grey beards, but the length and depth of this beard has no bounds and makes up for the grey colouring entirely.

The beard around the chin itself is a eye catching selling point of this beard, but the moustache cannot go unnoticed, although it may be faint in this photo, it is the perfect aid to a truly epic beard. Let's look at some more pictures.

Here we see Gandalf the White. And although in the story Gandalf becomes more powerful at this point (I think), you can see his beard growing abilities have been sub parred to his magic abilities. Gandalf has clearly been working to hard on his magic and let his beard grow out of hand, which then led to him trimming way to much off of his beard. Although still a magical beard, just not has magical as good old Gandalf the Grey.

Here is a high quality image of that wonderful beard that Gandalf the Gray is packing. Any man that can pull of the wizard robes, wizard hat, a badass staff and that majestic beard has earned my full respect. I like to think that maybe one day I could get to that stage, but I feel that with my shy amount of hair thus far, it will never happen. But lets not darken the mood...

Here's the man himself with an AK-47. Life ain't nothing but bitches and money ey Gandalf?!

Day 156 - "Start" of the week forgettfulness

It was a pretty busy day at work today so I ended up not blogging, as usual when it's the start of my week haha. So I'll do a short one today and then I'll do a long one and a featured beard for tomorrow, I promise. I've actually had a request from a friend of mine to do a certain beard, all will be shown tomorrow.

To say it's been a busy day at work it was actually a great day. Thought I might end up being moved upstairs but actually  it all went well in some meetings got plenty of work to be cracking on with and can stay sitting down in the office. Yay!

Pretty sure I can finally catch up on Game of Thrones this weekend because I also got told today that I get Friday and Monday off. Also going to re watch The Office and Extras, probably my two all time favourite sitcoms, with a mountain of food as well!

Day 155 - Busted my knee!

So the knee injury from yesterday isn't getting much better. It was a bad idea to ignore it and carry on being a child haha. Getting really hard to stand up but I think a bit of rest will sort me right out.

It's going to be another short one because I got back home pretty late and we're all set up to watch another episode of Black Sails tonight and then I need to seriously catch up on Game Of Thrones. I'm determined to be caught up by the next episode to avoid spoilers at all costs. I will do it!

My coat for delivered today but I missed the post man so now it's coming Wednesday which is a bit annoying, but I'm going to wear it to hell this coming weekend haha. I need to break it in ready for Glasto. Speaking of Glasto we're planning our transport tonight with a friend down in Bristol.

I'll be all on my own this weekend, everyone is going home for Easter but me, but I'm sure I can find something to so. Stupid amounts of TV and maybe some beer. Perfect 4 day weekend!

Day 154 - Adult problems

It's been another great day the weekend, and the best part is I don't actually have work tomorrow! Hooray. It might be another small one tomorrow, unless I get home early.

We had a pretty chilled out day until my little cousin arrived and then we had to go to the park. I always like to act like a bit of a kid when I'm with my little cousin, mainly because I want to and I miss being a kid haha. But I'm not what I use to be, and I ended up pulling my knee, like a fool! Still be a great day even though it's stupidly hard to stand up haha.

Day 153 - My grandads 70th

It's be a bit of a mental day so I've a little behind on this post. Woke up earlier than normal to say it's a Saturday, but it was all good because my nan made her classic bacon sandwich to start the day. Then we did what we always do and went for a walk. Then had an epic meal with the entire family, which was a really good laugh.

Happy birthday to my amazing grand partners!

Day 152 - Home day!

It is almost time for me to leave work and set off back home, and then set off back to my home-home! All in one weekend haha. Really looking forward to it as always, had a last minute late night panic pack of clothes. Had to bring them all to work which was horrible, because if a packed train wasn't bad enough, being on a packed train with a giant bag is so much worse.

Was going to watch another episode of Black Sails last night but decided against it and we all went to bed really early like good boys. I watched another episode of Game of Thrones, and it is seriously hotting up in season three, hopefully next week I'll have finally caught up. After one episode I was falling asleep and it was only 10 o clock. Considering I use to be able to stay up all hours of the night back in first year I can tell the working life is changing me, and not for the better. I want to say that I'm not ready for the world of work, but I actually think that the world of work isn't ready for me yet...ha whatever, I'm just a immature fool.

After a stupid amount of sleep I actually got up at 7AM feeling super refreshed, had my morning tea and did my final checks. I always end up forgetting something major, but I think for the first time I have actually managed to pack everything I will need. Even considered packing my sunglasses just in case, but I know for a fact if I would of done then it would be crappy all weekend. So I thought I'd leave them out. So you're welcome for the nice weather this weekend.

Managed the full week without being moved back upstairs, but I do have a meeting with my boss next week, and I know she's going to end up sending me back upstairs which I am not looking forward to. I need to find a way to try and dodge the question of moving. Maybe I'll just run out the room when she starts talking about it, it seems like the only way I am going to get away with it. I have such a good system going on down here though, I work, I blog and then watch some of the daily vloggers I follow on YouTube and then go home. I have it perfect. None of that will be happening upstairs, blog posts will be cut down, I'll have to watch YouTube videos on non-work times, what a sick world we live in.

Day 151 - Going home | Featured Beard - Ewan McGregor

I noticed after posting yesterdays post that I didn't explain the title of the post at all. I'll back track a little "Knew it wouldn't be too long", this was a little reference to the post before that. I've had a good few days this week and I knew all of a sudden something was going to happy to mess it up, everything started fine, went to Subway with Jonny and got ourselves a fantastic breakfast to start the day, but I couldn't pay for it. My card which I've now had for more than three years finally gave up, so now I have to go a week without a card. Which is proving to more difficult than it sounds.

But today is a brilliant day, I managed to get plenty sorted, the application for my new house is slowing going through and I am going home this weekend to celebrate the 70th of my grandparents. I'm even taking a shirt down with me so I can look smart for a change haha. Yeah, going home this weekend, I've taken Monday off as well to have an extended weekend. The good days should keep on rolling in, hopefully haha.

After finding Jack White was playing Glastonbury this year I've really got into a lot of his other projects today. Of course I love The White Stripes, but I've only ever known the odd single from his other projects. I started with The Dead Weather, his most recent band. I listened to Horehouse on the way to work today, and although it is a bizarre and wacky album, it is a good album none the less. The Raconteurs are another great band he was a part of during The White Stripes, again I know the odd song but I think I'll try get more into them before I see him this Summer. Apparently he plays a few covers which should make his set perfect for a large crowd to sing a long too.

------------------------------------BEARD TIME-----------------------------------------

Today is ladies favorite Ewan McGregor, most probably in my top 5 actors of all time. Definitely in my top 5 favorite beards.




He hasn't always had a beard like that though. When playing probably one of his most famous roles of all time Mark Renton from Trainspotting. He was sporting a total skin head and clean shaven, and even with a lack of a beard he managed to pull that role off perfectly. I think in my opinion, or maybe I'm just being stupid, he most famous bearded role has to be Obi-Wan-Kenobi.

Day 150 - Knew it wouldn't be too long

Day 150, very close to getting to the halfway mark. Still not sure what I want to do when I've finished this year of blogging. Do I carry on, but not daily, or do I just stop? Not sure, but I guess I have plenty of time to thinking about it.

There will be three of us again in the new house next year in Huddersfield, and we've had this idea of possibly starting a weekly podcast. We're all game to do it and have a few features we can have each week, but last night I think we finally agreed on a name. HOWE can YOU COPE? Jonny came up with the idea and I think it's pretty clever, just think we need to find a feature which can match the title a little and then we're good to go. We have ourselves and we have the equipment to record it, so I think during Summer we'll be releasing the first episode.

Been searching the internet for days looking for a fur coat for Glastonbury, but either nobody is selling them because it's coming up to Summer, or nobody sells fur coats on the internet for cheap. I've found the odd one, but I still can't find that perfect, pimping fur coat. It is purely to look like a toolbox whilst at a festival, and to keep my warm on those cold nights in a tent. Might possibly wear it round the house as a makeshift dressing gown as well haha. I've gone too long without one and I think it is finally time to bite the bullet and get a dressing gown (fur coat).

It is my bosses last day in work today, which means two things. My days will be now even more boring, and I have to move back upstairs with a load of other boring people. It is the worst environment to work in, everyone is back to back, nobody seems to communicate, too many power mad staff members. I remember having a talk when I first started about feeling stressed or under-worked. Well under-worked is exactly how when I sit up there, all I can do is sit in front of my computer and work which makes me feel like crap when it get to the end of the day. Isn't a bosses job to look after staff and make sure they are working to their full potential. Apparently not.

Anyway, that's enough of that. Going to finish off the rest of my work and try and lay low in this office for as long as possible haha.

Day 149 - Two good days in a row | Featured Beard - Michael Eavis

Coming up with a new feature to add an extra bit of length to my blog posts today, it isn't going to be a daily feature, just going to add it whenever I like. So the feature itself is something I've mentioned before and a friend of mine actually came up with idea. I've just going to pick some famous beards each time, go into some detail about them and then talking about that persons beard. I'm that bored haha.

Two good days in a row, yesterday was pretty good, especially the train journey home. On the train from Leeds to Burley, and it was totally packed and I was stood right next to the drivers door, so he opens it up and lets a few people in the front which was awesome haha, only got to stay in there for five minutes though, but it was totally worth it haha. An actual decent day which ended with a decent train ride, very rare. Wasn't expecting much from today what with an early morning meeting, but even that went surprisingly well, somehow. Now with all the work I've done today their is literally nothing left of the day. It has gone so fast, which I'm certainly not complaining about at all.

Me and Jonny started watching a new TV show last night which I've only just heard of but apparently started a few weeks back. It's called Black Sails, which is on Starz. It has Toby Stephens playing the main character Captain Flint (Cracking bit of facial hair, by the way). He is captain of a ship of pirates who go round just robbing other ships on the ocean and he comes across some plans for a big delivery of five-million Spanish Dollars which he wants to try and steal, but of course its heavy guards and really hard to steal. I want go into anymore detail in risk of spoiling it for anyone else that might want to watch it. It is a great show though, sort of The Pirates of the Caribbean meets Games of Thrones.
I'm going to try and keep up with Black Sails and Game of Thrones at the same time, but great TV shows on right now.


So here comes the first ever featured beard of my blog. Seen as though we're all getting into the Glastonbury mood it has to be, Mr. Michael Eavis



If you're not familiar with this lovely man, he is the man behind Glastonbury and everything about it. He started Glastonbury Festival back in 1970, well it was actually called Pilton Pop Festival back then, and it is now coming up to its 44th year.



Here is an old-school photo of Michael back in the day with his beard. You can see he is a big fan of the beard and not so much the mustache. I think this kind of beard fits perfectly with his farming background. Even though he has all these multi-ward winning artists that have traveled the world more than once he is still proud of his farming background and as you can tell nothing has changed him what so ever.

Day 148 - A nice Monday

Tried to stay up last night to watch Wrestlemania but I ended up falling asleep really early and ended up waking up when my alarm goes off, but I must have had at least 10 hours sleep which was magical. I woke up really refreshed and ready for another week, which would have been a different story if I would have stayed up.

This weekends plan was to watch Game of Thrones until I was completely up to date, but unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances I was unable to finish season three. But that does mean I have another week to catch up, which is more than do able in my book, so I will be nice and up to date by the second episode at least, which is better than nothing I guess.

Wrestlemania last night. Was not expecting some results that I read about this morning *******INCOMING SPOILERS******** Daniel Bryan is finally the champ, and it is great to see The Beard battling through one other match to get a shot at the title again. I have to admit that the whole Batista winning the Rumble as soon as he comes back so he gets a title shot was a little annoying, but Daniel Bryans hard work paid off in the end. BUT the biggest shocker of all has to be The Undertaker losing his streak. Real sad times, and I'm gutted I didn't stay up and see the look on everyones faces and all the posts flying over the internet. He's had a great run though, probably one of the biggest wrestlers for sure and will be remembered for a hell of a long time. I think, if the rumours are true is that Sting is going to sign to WWE at some point and go one on one with 'Taker before they both retire. That would certain be a match to remember.

So my housemate found me another method of beard growth, it is a little more pricey than vitamin B pills and I'm still a little skeptical about it working. But here it is

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/119463320/beard-growth-formula?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product_listing_promoted_en_gb&utm_campaign=bath_and_beauty_low

It is like a beard soap that you use to wash your beard in. Again, I'm not convinced but the reviews seem pretty good. So I'm going to go for it as soon as my loan comes in and I'll do a little test for it again. Maybe not as long as the previous test. Might jump straight into a 10 day test of using it daily and see how we go. BEARD UP...hopefully.

Day 147 - Fail

I ended up going out in the end. I woke up really hungover, but after a shower and some food I've soon come back round which is weird for our hangover days.

We all got some food and watched Hot Tub Time Machine. I've never watched it before but it's a great hangover film!

Time to try and watch some Game of Thrones now, but it's too late now to watch a full season, I'll have to try and quickly watch a few more episodes just before we all get in from work, it'll be tough but I think I can just manage it.

Day 146 - Feeling crappy

Going have to be a short one, got this mystery stomach pain from out of nowhere. Had this dull pain for a while but now it's in full force and really killing me. To make matters worse as well, one of my housemates really wants to go out, and to be honest, I wouldn't say no, but I need to get myself feeling better if I do go out.

You'll know if do end up feeling better later if the title to tomorrow's blog is something to do with being hungover haha

Day 145 - Weeeeeeeeeekend

Friday has finally arrived. And the weekend gods granted me a nice and easy Friday with minimal work and lots of food at the end of it. Yay.

At Terri's tonight going to cook some food and watch a film I think. It's pretty weird not spending a Friday in my own house with a cuppa in my living room and a vinyl on.

Jonny got 3 pretty good vinyls the other day. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King is one the greats that he bought in the pile. So we had a little record night and chilled out to them.

Game of Thrones marathon starts tomorrow afternoon, I'll see if I can stay on target and finish it all before Monday. Pretty sure I will be able to.

Day 144 - Why do I do it?

Felt like total crap when I got in from work yesterday. No real reason why I should feel like that at all, but I did. I honestly thought it was because of all the food we ate last weekend is finally getting to me, but I don't think it is somehow haha. But still, I was stupidly run down, and it doesn't help that everyone else in the house is feeling the exact same, so something is definitely being passed about. I came up with the idea of going to bed early and trying to sleep it off so I didn't feel like crap in the morning. I did actually get into bed early, but ended up watching a few episodes of Game Of Thrones, so I was up until some stupid time still. Wake up again today and felt the exact same, but after a bit of run and some work I managed to sort myself out again, hopefully going to be able to leave a little earlier today.

Being powering through Game of Thrones still, I think I've finally got into it solidly now, names are starting to stick in my head, that's when I know I'm into a TV series, and their are a hell of a lot of names and different stories to remember in that show. Still got plenty more to watch but I think I can catch up before the new season, easy.

Again, talk about our usual subjects when we all got home. Glastonbury. We think the plan is now to buy one big tent, beats each of us having to carry a tent each and we keep a good social aspect to our little camp. So many names are now self-confirming, which is really good news to see some great bands that will be performing. I still think I'll be just chilling watching some random bands for most of it but they'll be a few bands that I will make an effort to see for sure. It is going to interesting actually having something to do on the Wednesday and Thursday of the festival rather than just sitting in front of a tent drinking, I mean don't get me wrong that's fun, but they'll be lots more going on at Glasto than other festivals that I've been to like Leeds Fest and Download. Both great festivals, but it's purely for the music. Pretty much nothing to do on the other days other than drink. Jonny is pretty excited to be able to try one of the local ales that is always popular their, Tribute. I have tried it and it is damn good, I might have to get a few in when we arrive just to celebrate being there. Also another thing I really want to get is a massive fur coat, no idea why, just think I'll be fun going about a festival in a fur coat and having something to sleep in. So I'll be straight in that charity tent buying the pimpist coat I can find.

Day 143 - No beard picture

This is officially my first proper blog post without me taking a picture of my beard, and this weekend I am going to take it upon myself to shave it off, or maybe trim it heavily. Just looking at it now, I'm sure it just looks weird to other people and I've just got use to it looking so weird haha. Also want to try and properly cut my hair this weekend as well, seen as though I'm not going out yet again I need something to do to keep me busy, and that should keep me busy for a least an hour haha. Along with that this weekend I've been watching Game of Thrones like a mad man before the new season starts on Monday, hopefully I won't get fed up of watching it by then. Getting to the end of season 2 and hoping to finish off season 3 entirely this weekend, it's going to be tough, I'm going to need a lot of food, but I think I have the will power to sit in comfy clothes, eat loads and watch a good TV show for a long time. I see this as training for when I officially become a student again in September, I'm starting slowly with lazy weekends and then eventually we'll get to lazy week days again.

Got a little annoyed at the train station the other day. Every month I have to pay £80 for a train pass, it has to be done or I can't get to work. But paying that amount of money each month must mean I get respect from the train staff. It is stupidly fiddly to get my pass out to put through the barriers and they always have a member of staff at an open gate where you can flash your pass and they'll let you through. It stops me from stopping other people from using the barriers, and it makes the queue go faster, but no. I get talked down to like a child and get told to take it out of my wallet and put it through the machine. The guy even talked me through what I have to do, like I don't do it twice a day everyday. But what really makes me mad is that it goes up in price all the time and I see more and more staff members on trains and in stations who just stand there doing nothing. I understand they need a driver and a conductor on a train, but I saw two conductors on a train the other day, why would they possibly need two?! Seems like a total waste of money to me. Or maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about and I don't see were that extra money I pay actually goes. But I'm not seeing it, trains are always delayed, admittedly through no fault of the train companies. I like how Japan do it, every train leaves and arrives exactly on time, and if a train is delayed then all passengers get their money back, that is a train company really working at its hardest, it seems like we just let trains run and hope for the best here. Its the same with buses but I think I'll stop going on about it now haha.

It's going to be at least another month until I actually go out again, which is kind of a depressing fact but it has to happen or I'll end up in serious trouble. What with paying over the odds for a train pass I have to pay off Glastonbury, so it is going to be a very slow and boring month of doing nothing. Then when that is over we've planned a total blow out night out at the beginning of May. Got some friends coming up and we're going crazy all over Leeds. Going to go to all our usual favorites. Starting the night in Drydock and taking full advantage of that jukebox by sticking Seal - Kiss from a Rose on as much as we can, probably try and slip in Huey Lewis and the News - The Power of Love on their as well. We noticed that the bartender there really likes that song as well, and he has an epic beard. Then I think we'll make our way to Fuel, I don't think we've ever not enjoyed a night out when we go to Fuel, it closes at 3AM which is a little early for most places but we know that most people head off to Escobar just down the road after which stays open til some stupid time in the morning. We'll no doubt stay till it closes and end the night at our house and carry on until we stop. We've not had a night out like that in so long, and I think we all deserve it for being such good boys for so long. Plus it counts towards training to being a student again. I think when we're in Huddersfield we'll definitely visit Leeds a few times for old times sake. It is such a good night out in Leeds, I recommend it to everyone. Just only live there if you can properly afford it, it is a very expensive city. Especially when it gets to after hours. I remember getting a few drinks in for me and some mates and it came to some stupid price and I actually nearly said "forget it". But then I thought of the great idea of unloading a stupid amount of change on them, PAYBACK. Which isn't really payback because then I had £0 on me the next day and I normally like to get a takeaway with all my change the next morning. A takeaway is always needed after a night out, it is our law. And probably any students law really.

Day 142 - Beard test results (finally...)

Totally forgot to blog yesterday what with being at work and then rushing about as soon as I finished work. Going to sort it out nice and early so I have a nice lengthy blog for today.

Yeah, went to see Devvo yesterday night with a friend from college. It's weird because we use to watch Devvo videos in our media lessons at college, and now a few years later we're actually getting to see him. All round though it was a great gig, the guy who plays Devvo is actually a really good actor, he managed to keep up his character the entire night, even when people bumped into him before the gig he was in character and after the gig. The support band was certainly, interesting. They were called Petrol Bastard, five members it looked like all together, 2 "singers", 2 "dancers" and a "DJ". For me they were a little over the top but some people seemed to enjoy it. I got to meet Devvo after the gig, I posted a picture on last nights very late and short blog.

Well I think it's time to see the beard results. So here are the 3 pictures.


Day 1


Day 30


Day 60

You could mix them up and you couldn't even tell the difference between them. The pills didn't work. So it looks like I'll have to find another method to grow my beard. The most annoying thing is I took them three photos in different lights, so they do look a little different. But they're not. I'm doomed with a baby beard for good. Unless I can find another method soon and I'll test that out.

It's going to be weird not taking a photo of it everyday though, I'll have to go through my phone and delete just under 60 photos of my beard, or people might think I'm more of a weirdo than I already am for testing out beard pills haha. It's been fun though, given me lots to talk about on the blog rather than my boring ass days at work or what I didn't do on the weekend.

We watched the season finale of The Walking Dead last night, and all the boring episodes in the season really have been worth it because the finale was rather epic. It was back to non-stop action rather than constant character development. But it was definitely worth it, sitting through hours of talking, now we have so many big characters. *SPOILERS* I knew Terminus wasn't going to be what it was. We have a prediction that they are cannibals and they are leading people to them so they don't have to go out hunting and "food" comes to them. Who knows what could happen in Season 5, but hopefully we'll find out soon. *END OF SPOILERS*

Now The Walking Dead is over I can focus on finishing Game of Thrones in time for season 4 which starts on Monday. I'm half way through Season 2 at the moment and think we're going to watch all of season 3 this weekend so I can be up to date ready for Monday. What with it being on HBO and each episode being an actual hour long it is really hard to watch just before going to bed or something, I always find myself trying to fight with myself to stay awake so I can see the end. Most of the time I do managed to see the end of an episode but their have been times I'll move on and totally forget what the hell happened in the last episode. But hopefully I can binge watch this weekend.

Speaking of weekends, it'll be another weekend of staying in. We all have Glastonbury to pay off this weekend, and it isn't cheap so we can't afford a night out for a while, I think the one we have planned is at the start of May. Which is when the loans come in, good times!