Malta and music

Well not that my readers noticed due to my not so regular posting schedule but I was actually away on holiday with my family for two weeks in Malta. We stayed in the south east this time in a place called Marsascala. The apartment wasn't as big as the place we stayed last year and maybe not as fancy but it was very nice. It had a lovely balcony with views over the marina, a mini swimming pool and sun loungers where we spent a lot of time relaxing in the sun. We went in September last year and I think it was definitely hotter at this time of the year although there were a couple of days where it was very windy which cooled us down a bit. It was a very relaxing holiday and we didn't really go out much apart from out for dinner and even then we had quite a few take-aways and a few bbqs.

View from the upper balcony and pool (stolen from trip advisor)

It has been a busy week as we flew home late on Tuesday night and on Wednesday and Thursday me and my brother attended the first two days of Tennants Vital. Whilst the line-up wasn't as impressive as last year it was still very enjoyable. On the first day it started off with the Minutes who played last year as well and hadn't improved any, not really sure why they were booked. It was even harder to like them given that the singer kept saying "we are the f****** minutes!!!!" over and over and that was just at the end of the set. The Undertones famous for their song Teenage Kicks was the second band on and were decent enough but they are getting on a bit and none of their songs really has the magic of Teenage Kicks. The Vaccines were the main support and were very good. It was the second time I'd seen them live this year they also played Radio 1's Big Weekend. Kings of Leon were headlining day one and it was the first time I'd seen them live. They were very good and seemed to be enjoying themselves. The second day started off with Foy Vance who we missed but who I've heard is very good and I love his song-Be the song. Then we had Kodaline who seem to be the next big thing and I enjoyed their performance as did quite a few people apparently given the amount of people singing the lyrics to their songs.Jason Miraz was on next, I guess he was ok, wasn't really my cup of tea. The headliners were Snow Patrol who seemed to be a bit of boring choice given how many times they have played Northern Ireland before but it was made up by their great performance and the fact that its their only gig this year. Unfortunately on both nights it rained, whilst it wasn't too bad on Wednesday night, On Thursday night it absolutely poured down, we were soaked despite our waterproof coats. I was glad I wore my wellies, as a lot of the place was flooded and I dread to think what it was like for the third day (Tinie Tempah and other artists which didn't interest us).

New songs sounded pretty good as well

Thanks for reading.

Upgrade-Part 2

Back in a previous post I talked about all the problems I had trying to upgrade to a digital aid. The problems have finally mostly been sorted out and I have now been wearing my digital aid full time now that I don't need to swap back to the analog aid to be able to connect to my laptop or mp3 player. To be honest I don't think there is that much of a difference between them although the digital aid might be slightly better. That said there are still a few problems, firstly for whatever reason the middle setting on the audio receiver no longer works properly, instead of just letting me hear my mp3 player or laptop or whatever only I'm getting all the normal background noise as well. Its exactly the same as the third setting which is just slightly louder. Secondly whilst not having to take the shoe on and off to change the battery is great, the receiver doesn't seem to stay on completely tight so I have to push it back in and I'm worried about it possibly falling off. Thirdly I'm not sure if the second audiologist who sorted out the attachment turned off the mute program even though my mum told her not to or whether that was turned off before but I now cannot mute the hearing aid. This is a bit of a problem as there is no on/off switch (to turn it off you have to open the battery compartment) and the volume is controlled by buttons so you have to remember how many times you turned it down or up to get back to normal rather than just setting it a specific number.

Whilst these are annoying problems they are not major, what is more annoying is what we (mainly my mum) have to deal with from the audiology department. In the Part 1 I mentioned how the first audiologist had sent me away with the hearing aid full of programs which he knew wouldn't work with my type of hearing and then sent us away with the attachment for the digital aid which needed nearly microscopic screws to attach. There is also the revelation that I can have a second digital aid which nobody thought to mention when we were faffing about trying to get the analog aids repaired whenever they broke, being told that the were limited parts as they weren't made any more etc. Not to mention how rude even the secretaries in the department are with my mum facing an inquisition as to what she was there to collect (the second digital aid), who was it for etc. I think people who work in hospitals and especially what you would think to be less stressful departments such as audiology would be more polite and empathetic. They need to understand that people generally don't want to be there, they are taking time out of their day and nice manners go a long way. Another department which isn't great is eye department in which each time you go you have to talk to a different member of the consultants team and explain your medical history over each time. I think it is ironic that the most pleasant department(s) is the school of dentistry. Lets face it most people are like me and they hate going to the dentist/orthodontist but the people there whether they be secretaries, nurses, dentists or orthodontists are also polite and friendly, other departments could definitely learn from them. That said I know all hospitals are likely to be different but as I said I think hospital staff need to remember that people generally don't want to be there so they shouldn't have to deal with rude, unhelpful and frustrating staff as well.

I feel good!

Well my degree is over and I finally got my results last week. I've ended up with a 2:1 degree which I'm very happy with (for those who don't live in the UK, degrees here are classified with 1st being the best, then 2:1, then 2:2, then 3rd and finally pass). It ended up that out of our original group of eight friends doing the degree all of us got 2:1s apart from one who got a 1st. It was a tough and at times long three years but it has been a very good experience and I'm very happy that I chose the subject and even more pleased that my hard work has paid off especially in this years research project which I got a first in.  The only thing left for me to do is to graduate and the ceremony is next week and if my brother's is anything to go by its a rather dry affair but ours has the bonus that one of my heroes-David Attenborough is meant to be receiving an honorary degree and giving a speech which should be great.

Legend! I just hope I get to shake his hand

To add to my good mood I also found out that I have passed my grade 6 guitar exam much to my relief after being quite nervous in the exam. I've been told that my mark was well above that needed to pass which I'm very pleased with. I'm also very happy that I was able to get together with two friends from high school and another student from my music school to perform at my music school's summer concert. It was nice performing and practising with people around my own age rather than having to depend on the teachers at the school who often have loads of pieces to learn. We debated song choices among ourselves before finally settling on Nirvana's In Bloom. I really enjoyed the performance and it's probably the most relaxed I've been, hopefully we can play together again in the future.

How I currently feel

Here is a video of our performance at the concert:

In other news

Whilst the majority of my time since finishing my exams has been spent relaxing, the day after my last one was spent at the Radio 's big weekend festival. It is a 3 day festival and this year it took place in Northern Ireland in Derry-Londonderry. You could only really get tickets for one day and me and my brother went on day 2.  There was the main stage which was outside and also the indoor arena which had been built specially for the city of culture events which more importantly had tiered seating at the back and allowed us to rest ourselves for a bit during a very long day. We saw quite a few bands/artists, Two Door Cinema Club (great but for some reason were bottom of the bill), Laura Mvula (not my usual type of music but decent enough), Foals (pretty good), Conor Maynard (can't see why he is so popular but at least he is better than Justin Bieber it seems), Kodaline (only two songs), The 1975 (seen them once before this year, didn't enjoy them as much this time, their songs seem a bit samey), Kendrick Lamar (not my cup of tea but made laughably bad by the robot/alien backing vocals), Ellie Goulding (ok its just a shame the way she decided to dress with all the young girls at it), alt-J (not sure what the hype is about), The Vaccines (great, but was at an awkward time, sat and had dinner and watched them from a distance) and of course the fantastic headliners Biffy Clyro who we had already seen once this year. It was a good experience but a very long day, with a long drive to start and end the day with. I'm not sure how anyone manages to do a proper three day festival like glastonbury as I was knackered after one day and we didn't have to camp out. Like radio 1 it was a mix of great acts with some not so great acts. The time between acts also seemed to be a bit too long but I guess it was to give people time to move from one stage to the next.

Moving onto movies now Iron Man 3 was awesome, a great follow up to the Avengers. It had action, humour, spectacular set pieces, comedy and great acting. There was a great atmosphere when I saw it in the cinema and people were laughing out loud at several points during the movie. It was a whole lot better than Iron Man 2 and makes me excited to see Thor 2, Captain America 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy (all part of marvel phase 2 along with Iron Man 3 leading up to Avengers 2).

Think I prefer the Avengers suit

Star Trek Into Darkness, was also very good but maybe less impressive after seeing the first one and kinda knowing what to expect. Benedict Cumberbatch was very good as John Harrison, he deserves to be in more films now. Noel Clarke (Mickey from Doctor Who) also had a small role which was nice to see. I'll be interested to see how J.J. Abrams manages directing the new Star Wars, hopefully it will have the great substance that the older trilogy had as well as the great special effects and lightsaber fights that the prequel trilogy had.

Stylish and evil, a potent combination!

I also finally got around to watching the Amazing Spider-man and whilst it was decent I thought it could've been a good bit better. I'm sure for those who haven't seen the original movies or those who don't read the comics or have knowledge of the character it is a lot more enjoyable but you can't ignore the old fans just to make new fans. The reason why they made this movie was so as the movie rights wouldn't go back to Marvel (Sony have the movie rights to Spider-man and if they don't make a movie for a certain amount of time the rights revert to Marvel). Sony decided to make a reboot after the mess of Spider-man 3 and this was their first mistake. The fact is they go through the whole origin again rather than say do what Incredible Hulk did and have a montage at the start showing how he came about, I'm pretty sure most people know Spider-man's origin by now. The other main thing I didn't like was the Spider-man humour. In this movie he just comes off as a arrogant jerk and not the guy from the comics who makes light hearted jokes to settle his nerves. I wasn't fussed on the whole outcast/weirdo/skateboarder angle they had going on either or the very cheesy scene near the end.

Hopefully the sequel will be better

An example of how to do a superhero reboot right is Man of Steel which I've just seen. It expands on the superman mythos and it has nods to the past whilst also teasing the future. It is a fresh take on Superman, unlike Superman returns which just tried to recreate the older movies.  It has a great cast and I was pleasantly surprised with how good Henry Cavil is. Some might claim it is too long but I didn't feel like any of it was redundant, in fact they could've probably fleshed some things out a bit more, perhaps a longer directors cut will be released. The special effects are also worth noting and whilst I didn't go looking for trailers I think they kept the best bits for the movie itself, Michael Bay should take notes on how to do spectacle without sending your audience to sleep.

The actual suit was pretty cool as well

Continuing the superhero thread, I watched Arrow season 1, a live action show about Green Arrow (although he isn't really referred to that way). It certainly seems to be inspired by the Dark Knight trilogy, taking a more serious and realistic approach to the character than Smallville (no boxing glove arrows). It also fleshes out the origin across the whole season through flashbacks unlike Smallville which just had one not so great episode. It's a great show and I'm definitely looking forward to next season but I hope they come up with some better original villains and maybe borrow less from Batman's rogue gallery.

You think being how rich he is, he could afford a pair of goggles rather than use the make-up which doesn't exactly disguise him

Doctor Who season 7 has finally finished after starting last September, the mid season break made sense due to the change in companion but it also felt like both halves weren't really part of the same season. It kinda feels like we aren't getting the normal amount of Doctor Who due to these split seasons and I hope once the 50th anniversary is out of the way they go back to full 13 episode seasons without a split. I've already talked about the first half of the season so I'll just say that the second half season was good but also quite mixed at times. The snowmen was great with very funny moments thanks to Strax although the ending wasn't great, The Bells of St. John was great I thought, great banter between the Doctor and Clara and a great baddie, The rings of akhanten was probably the worst episode of the season only saved by Matt Smith's acting, Cold War was decent, Hide was great with some genuinely creepy moments, Journey to the centre of the TARDIS was also good but had potential to be better, The Crimson Horror was decent enough, Nightmare in Silver was good in parts but ruined by the extremely annoying kids and the fact that a cyberman is shown doing something awesome but then for some reason neither it or any of the others do it again, The Name of the Doctor was very good with answers to the season long questions being answered, more questions being asked and a great ending to set up the 50th anniversary special. Of course now that Matt Smith has announced he is leaving after the Christmas special (not a spoiler its been officially announced and you would have to live under a rock to avoid it especially in the UK) there is lots of speculation about who will replace him. Personally I think they should go with someone older, someone who isn't really that well known and maybe someone more serious in contrast to 10 and 11. If they decide to cast a woman as long as they do it well I will probably keep watching that said I don't want somebody like Miranda Hart (too silly), Helen Mirren (too famous) or Billie Piper (for some reason she is apparently in the running for it even though she played a major role in it for a good number of years). I won't even talk about the idiots who want him to regenerate back into David Tennant.

They really deserve their own spin-off show

Thanks for reading.

Done and dusted

Well its hard to believe that the three years are over already and that I've finished my degree, now all I have to do is wait and see what my results are and then attend graduation. On one hand its hard not to be nervous, I'm sincerely hoping I have done well, on the other hand there is nothing else I can do and I just need to play the waiting game. I like to think I've worked hard and it would be really awful if I don't manage to get a good degree at the end of it all.


                           

 This final year was hard, our group of university friends was broken up even further due to us doing mostly different  modules and if we did spend time together in uni it was whilst working away on assignments or our honours projects. My own honours project was time intensive and demanding, I was in almost every Thursday and Friday working in the lab from the third week up to the week before the actual practical work deadline (well into the second semester). It meant learning a lot of new techniques, with little encouragement for doing things well but plenty of disapproval from my practical work supervisor if any mistakes were made. Once all the practical work was done then it was time for analysis and of course the writing of the actual report (mine ended up being 30 pages long) as well as a presentation on the project. Morale wasn't exactly helped by the fact that the amount of work wasn't balanced between students, with some not having to start practical work until well into the second semester allowing them plenty more time to complete assignments and revise for the first semester of exams but this was due to the school and the supervisors not the students.

As I've said before I'm not exactly sure what my plans are for the future it may be that I go back and do a masters or a PhD but it would have to be something that I'm interested in rather than doing something just for the sake of it. I'm planning to have some time to relax and recuperate after the exams I've just done and then I will start looking at my options properly. Obviously what I decide will depend on how I have actually done in my degree overall.

Thanks for reading.

Long time no speak

Hello, those of you who have liked my Facebook page will have seen the post I made a while back apologising for the lack of updates, at that time I was in the process of writing my honours project report which was a long and at times tedious process. I will apologise again for not having had any updates since completing it due to revision for exams taking up most of my days so that I wasn't exactly in the mood to write. But now I'm free from the pressures of university, this means that I will have much more time to write and post updates and I've actually got a list of topics and ideas prepared so I cannot blame writer's block for not updating.

Thanks for your patience and I hope to have several updates in the very near future.

Confidence

Being confident has always been seen as a good trait to have but for someone who stands out this can be a problem. I admit that at times I've struggled with confidence due to having Treacher Collins Syndrome and being worried about what people would think of me and also whether or not they could understand me. The fact is as a person who already stands out you will likely stand out more if you appear nervous whereas if you act like confident and like you belong people will likely take far less notice.

As with all things practice makes perfect, the first time I had to give a presentation at high school I burst into tears, I'm not sure what I was worried about but I just got very nervous. As time went on  I got better and became better at getting up in front of people. One of the things that helped me with this was playing guitar. My music school usually has a concert around Christmas and also another one around the summer, my teacher was keen for me to play at one of them and after seeing what it was like as a non-performer I finally agreed. My first performance was at a Christmas concert I was still inexperienced so I only played a simple carol-god rest ye merry gentlemen. The performance went well, it seemed to fly by and I wanted to do more. I did several more performances sitting down either simple songs or grade songs with a backing track.  It finally got to a point when I wanted to do a cover of a proper song and I decided on Can't Stop by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I practised with another student who played bass guitar and one of the drum teachers played drums and another teacher sang. It went well but I was so nervous that my leg wouldn't stop shaking, my mum later commented that she thought I was tapping my foot! Since then I've performed on numerous occasions most recently covering Everlong which you can see in this post.

Playing guitar i with other people n front of an audience has certianly helped my confidence

During my degree I've certainly been glad that I'm a lot more confident than I once was, what with meeting new people, making new friends, group projects and of course several presentations. That said there are still future trials, the main one I'm currently focused on is the presentation I have to give for my honours project. Everyone has to give a 10 minute presentation, without notes on their honours project in front of everyone who is giving presentations that day as well as the people marking, other lecturers and maybe even people from the various labs who have come to watch the students who have been working in their lab. So all that said I'm pretty nervous but I know I can do it and I'm sure everyone else will be just as nervous. There is also the aspect of after university in terms of interviews whether it be for a job or for further learning opportunities such as a pHD. I had to do a mock interview with my honours project supervisor and while it did not go particularly well I now know what I need to do next time round.

Thanks for reading.