A Lot Can Happen In 7 Days

Ok, let’s see what’s been happening this week?

Well, I was on retreat last weekend. My annual Tai Chi weekend at Braziers Park. All went by fairly quickly and quietly (for me, anyway), and I’m happy to say they made a real effort with the food this year.

When I got back I put my car in for repair. Took them 3 days (I had to get the train in to work Friday which sucked ass) and cost me £400, but they did a good job and I was quite pleased. I say was coz the rear bumper is scratched again already! What the hell, man?

Also had some life coaching this week. It was… interesting. Not gonna go into too much detail on that as it was for my benefit only, and if I’m honest I wouldn’t know how to define it anyway. Suffice it to say it gave me a few things to think about, and it was as helpful in ruling out what I don’t want to do as it was in helping me decide what I do.

Thursday, one of my pics got ‘explored’ on Flickr.

It garnered me loads of views, 18 favourites, and even a few new followers. Pretty satisying considering the day before I took it my views, comments, and favourites for that day were a big fat zero! And I only went out with my camera because I was bored and had been stuck in the house all day. Just goes to show, eh?

Other than all that I’ve just been online, monkeying around. Came across some choice stuff on Found Magazine including this dude, the A1 prom magnet of all time!

Prom Magnet

And I’ve been listening to what I affectionately refer to as ‘hillbilly radio’ from WMMT 88.7 in the Appalachian Mountains in America. It gives me a chuckle to hear traffic reports from some small town I’ve never heard of. It’s a whole other world. And my favourite quote so far?

“When you’re fat your chances ain’t too good. But when you’re fat and ugly you’re in trouble.”

Now ain’t that the truth! ..lol..

No developments on the big trip front yet. Hope to make some inroads this week. Going to have to call Canada, as they obviously aren’t going to respond to my e-mail. Then once I get paid I can start booking flights.

Also, hand my notice in at work in a week’s time. Can’t wait to do that. I’ve had it up to here (holds hand way above his head) with watching TV for a living!

But The Worst Of It Was…

I think you’ll like this.

25 years ago, in a far away land called Cumbria, a 12 year old me (at the urging of his Grandma) entered a short story competition on local radio. There was but one criteria for the story, it had to end with the line,

“But the worst of it was I was eating a chocolate eclair at the time.”

Now by the time I got my entry in the ‘competition’, such as it was, was over. But they liked the story enough to get me in to record it so that they could play it out on air. I did, they did, and said Grandma (being quite a wise and proud Grandma) recorded it on audio cassette to enjoy again and again. (NB: for the very young out there here’s a link that explain what an audio cassette is.)

Fast forward 25 years. The recording manages to make it’s way off of tape and onto CD, then from CD to MP3, finally coming into my possession via the wonders of DropBox. This is where, for me, the true magic happens.

In a space of 2 hours I found, installed, and operated, some audio editing software to cut the 25 minute bit of radio down to a more palatable (and relevant) 2:32. I then found somewhere online to host it for free, and discovered a way to embed it into this blog, all so the world can have a laugh at my expense. Isn’t the internet a wonderful thing!

So, without further ado, I present to you:

“But The Worst Of It Was…” by Keith Dickinson (age 12).
 

 
Man, how bad is that! ..lol.. I honestly can’t listen to the whole thing anymore, it just makes me cringe. And it’s doubly weird for me, coz the voice I hear isn’t mine but that of my twin brother. Seriously, is that what I sound like? It’s all just too confusing for me!

Still, I’m glad I got hold of the clip. A nice bit of nostalgia to start the year off with. My first foray into the business of show. 25 years on I’m still writing, and still unpublished, but the dream remains alive.

Maybe one day I’ll get on the air again. Bloody hope so anyway. I’d hate to think I’d peaked at age 12!