2 decades old!

Hello blog!

Wish me a happy birthday, but hurry up, there's only six minutes left!

So, I'm finally 20...oh yes, that moment I began to dread on New Year's eve has finally dawned, I'm no longer a teenager...I can't blame anything on that anymore...I might even have to GROW UP. Nah.

Seeing as it doesn't feel any different, I'll stay the same, age is just a number after all, until you get to 25, and then by the X factor's standards, you become OLD. In the OVERS category. I'll panic then I think!

So, I celebrated last Saturday, no idea why, seeing as I had to take a day off work, and I do absolutely nothing on Wednesdays, but anyway, I took seven of my favourite people off to the Red Hot Buffet, which actually, puts a lot of spice in all the food, you'd think I'd guess from the name, but no, I didn't and the malibu and coke I ordered with my food was definitely not enough to suffice! And plus half of it was in my hair, which I was absolutely gutted about. Not even two sips and I trip over a bloody INVISIBLE step and send it all flying into my newly straightened/volumised/perfect hair, leaving it smelling of alcohol all night, feeling like I'd glued it, and by the end of the night looking pretty shabby. Why is it always my hair that pays the price? And just a note here, but whoever makes them stupid upwards dryers that are in all the posh toilets, they are no good for drying hair. At all. Fix it.




Anyway, so the food was alright, a bit spicy, but some people prefer it like that, so I won't complain, and it was really pretty in there! The only thing I'm gonna moan a little about is the service charge. I would've tipped anyway, I always do, but a little choice would have been nice. And I have no idea how we managed to work the money out wrong so many times, I guess out of the eight of us none of us can count. Andri went to Merchant Taylors, but she was in the toilet, I suppose I did 'higher tier' maths back in the old days, but that was four years ago, I've forgotten it all now, and plus, I have no idea how I ended up in that class anyway, but I do remember getting 8/40 on a mock paper once.

So, after food, we headed to Scream to meet Abbie, Hannah, Sarah, Day and Carver, and it was FREEZING. I remember really wishing I had a nice denim jacket at that point, I could've totally been rocking the double denim look instead of the ridiculously cold and goosebumpy one, and then people decided to stop and get money out, so we split up, to get two taxis, but then realised we'd split 6/2 rather than 4/4 so we'd have to wait for two anyway. So Danni, Andri, Vicki and Caroline got in the first one, and Me, Jess, Donna and Hope waited for another one, and had a bit of a race with a woman in a lovely red jacket (warm red jacket) for the next one. Danni phoned me to make sure we'd got a taxi, and asked, 'Are you in the one behind us?' to which I replied 'Is it a silver one?' (Psst, Heather, she doesn't know, she's INSIDE it). And then 'Are you by a load of trees?'
I think I was breathing in the malibu fumes from my hair.

Our taxi for some reason beat theirs to Scream even though they got in one like five minutes before us, and we found the others sitting by the door (always a good idea) and me and Hope went up to the bar, only for me to discover I didn't have ID, I had my work card. To give an idea of how COMPLETELY STUPID that is, here's a picture.

>>


Hope bought my drinks for me to avoid this scenario:

"Any ID?"
"Yes, I am HEATHER *Flashes card*"

Seriously though, White card with bar code and name/Green card with a load of writing and terrible picture...how hard is it to pick the right one?

I got my Dad to bring my actual ID in. I love my Dad, how many people would actually do it? My Mum would just tell me to piss off or something. Thanks Dad :D


The next part of the night is pretty much a blur, but invloved a lot of walking, arguing over where to/not to go, and bumping into Phil from camp 2 years ago, oh, and tequila, which tequila virgin Vicki clearly did not appreciate. Followed by more walking, Danni leaving to go and see Jake, more walking, stopping, more walking, going to Baa Bar, not waiting in the queue, splitting up, and Me, Hope, Donna and Andri going to Chameleon where we drank cocktails and stole toilet roll. (Well actually, I can't drag Donna and Andri into that one, they were innocently dancing with two men with boss Afros at the time). We bumped into Casey and Jay a couple of times too.



So then it was to the K, where despite protesting for just about 365 days, I knew I'd end up in, but only after goodbyes to Donna and Hope, cos someone had work at seven (and still stayed out till like 2, I LOVE YOU HOPE!), and once we were up there, I just remember a lot of screaming, OH MY GOSH YOU'RE HERE! (Er, no way? It's not like they're out for your birthday or anything...) and then mucho dancing, and general merriment until the place shut, which is getting to be a bit of a habit of mine! Then I think we got talking to some people from Leeds waiting for taxis, and got home to morning sky, and me and Vicki saying we'd got to McDonalds for McMuffins at half ten.

Then I was woken up by by Mum, shouting me for tea. Oh well, you only turn 20 once!

Baa Bar...badddd

It's May!!!!!!

That means, end of term, Birthday, holiday and er, exam, but scratch that last one for a sec!

This is the first guilt free blog I've written in a while, I usually do them when I should be essay writing, but, oh yeah, none left! I love it :)

So, as promised, I'm gonna tell all about the Baa Bar gig, alright, I know probably an average of three people will read this, but I want to write it down anyway.

Soo, GREAT night...yeah, not really. I think it'll go down as one of those to look back and laugh at, but laughing's always good.

We got to sound check at half five, and I swear, I am never stressing out about a sound check again, because we didn't have ours (well, if you want to call it a sound check)until right before we went on, at about twenty to nine...there's three hours I'm never getting back! And then, the sound check wasn't actually a sound check, it was the first bloody song, unknown to any of us. So we 'sound checked' Jenny, like always, and then as it turned out, we just had to carry on with the set, so if anyone who was there actually ever reads this, for the record, turning round, and looking at the other guys like a rabbit in headlights isn't my stage thing or anything, I just thought they were going to stop halfway through and didn't want to be that idiot that carrys on when the music's stopped.

So after Jenny, we're told to just carry on. Cue a lot of arm waving, hand gestures, eyebrow manouvres and whining from me, I must have looked really peed off (which I was) because Danii came over to see what was wrong.

I'll tell you what was wrong, okay, Jenny's just a song, like the rest, but we have an order, seeing as Chris and Tom aren't onstage for the acoustics, we do them first, so that Chris and Tom don't have to leave the stage halfway through, then they join us for the covers, which are next. Then we play Jenny. And then Not About The Girls, that's just the way it is, for now at least until our new stuff is ready. We ALWAYS close with Not About The Girls, always have, but the order was messed up and we closed with the acoustics (which weren't actually acoustic) and Chris and Tom did have to leave the stage halfway through.

So after Jenny, I was pretty annoyed, and I think you could probably tell if you watched me, (sorry), and I think it threw the others as well, because it wasn't exactly the best we've ever played. But, it was nobody's fault, we only knew about the gig two days before, and had no practice time in between (which is pretty important)!

So now, no more gigs until July, really this time. I've written loads of lyrics recently, and the others have wrote loads too, so we should have loads of good material by then, and maybe I won't end up getting completely drunk and fall down the stairs next time.

Seriously, drink is not the answer, if you play a bad gig, let it lie. I have a graze on my knee to show for my stupidity!

Mojo!

Okay, so when I said, 'I'll write tomorrow about the gig' (or something to that effect), I actually meant, 'I'll write a week later about the gig and various other things.'

So first things first, the Mojo gig.

It was alright. It wasn't the worst gig I've done by a long shot, yes, Windsor after Barfly/Zanzibar I mean you, and yes, The Cavern AKA Heather-here's-a-song-we-wrote-yesterday-I-know-we're-on-in-an-hour-but-just-take-the-lyrics-on-stage-with-you-it'll-be-fine, I mean you as well. But I think it may have been behind those two, for one thing I couldn't hear myself at all, and think I may have ended up battling with the guitars to be heard, resulting in some very shouty covers. Also, the fact that I went straight to Donna's to get ready from Uni and was already rushing when I got a stressed phonecall from Chris saying I needed to be there NOW when I only had one half of an eye made up and wasn't even half ready, with wet nail varnish, and horrible uni hair, well that kind of made me a tad hulk like. I've apologised to everyone I might have terrified in that hour, but I'll do it again now, I AM SO SORRY, like really. Sorry for being a bitch. I'm not usually a bitch.

So, I tried really hard to keep still while Hope put my face on, while Jess simutaneously straightened my hair (which was horribly flat, Donna was going to volumise it but no time...or so we thought), and tried not to be too horrible because those guys are all my friends and I was really grateful for them all supporting me, even if I didn't show it...and then we phoned two taxis, one of which took about half an hour to come, we could have walked there in less time, and the other which didn't come so Danni, Andri and Jake had to walk anyway.


Anyway, I finally got to Mojo, squinted round for the band, expecting them to be fuming, and on stage or something, but all was well! We hadn't even soundchecked yet!!!!!! :/ In fact, we didn't soundcheck for about an hour and a half after I got there, so I could have had fab hair and not shouted at everyone. No idea why people thought we were going to have a disaster, with no singer, but there you go.

So the actual set, me and Sean opened with an acoustic cover of Last Nite by The Strokes, then performed my favourite of ours, Love In The Eyes of A Lonely Hearted Girl (Just so you know, I didn't come up with that title, I'm far too macho for that), and they went well, apart from a bit in Last Nite when I thought we'd finished, and Sean didn't (I suppose that's what happens when you come up with a song the night before and don't practice ever) but people said nice things anyway, and I caught Andri singing along to Love In The Eyes.

After the acoustics, the rest of the band joined us on stage, and we did the covers first, which personally, I hated. The verses in Lost In Stereo are pretty low down in my range, and it really could have done with some backing vocals, which I thought were gonna be there. The Great Escape was okay, I just felt like I had to shout a lot over the music, just to hear if I was in tune or not.

Jenny and Not About The Girls were good. Everyone did really well with their solos, especially Liam on the drums. I think that was actually my favourite part of the whole set, but overall on our songs, I think there was better energy and all of us really got into them. Especially NATG. So yeah, good gig. And Hope was brilliant as the photographer, I haven't saw the pictures properly yet, because it's everyone's last week in uni, and we both have millions of essay dealines, but she really put in the effort, getting into tiny little corners and stuff to make sure she got everyone on, and doing the group photos afterwards. And she did it for free. It's not like she was obliged to do it or anything, but I bet they'll be our best pictures so far.

So we've got another one on Sunday now, we were meant to be taking a break to write until July, but this one came up, so looks like we're doing it! It'll most probably be the same set, considering we don't have lyrics for the new song yet, in fact I haven't heard it yet, but Chris and Liam both said it was sick, and I believe them :P, so maybe the covers will be decent this time. I want us to be amazing, and I know how well everyone can play, so there's no reason for us not to be good, if we get a good sound. Still can't wait for July 10th though, by then we should have some really good new songs, and will be completely used to playing together, as long as there are no major changes in true Dear Chicago style!

You know what, this is a pretty long post, so I'll prattle on about everything else another time. Probably after the Baa Bar gig, or when I should be doing an assignment (like right now).

Ahh! I forgot! I just wanna thank everyone for coming down to support us, I really appreciate it.

Mum, Dad, Donna, Jess, Andri, Danni, Jake, Alex, Day, Kev, you're all the best!

Danii, amazing manager
Hope, amazing photographer

Liverpool, Ormskirk and Back Again!

Okayy, so today, Thursday 22nd April 2010, is officially the busiest day of my year so far! And this morning I got lost, hopefully not a sign for the rest of the day!

Soo, this morning, I toddled off to the Liverpool World Museum, not holding out much hope, I mean, without it, I could have had an extra couple of hours in bed, before my lecture this afternoon (Okay, I would have been up in uni instead but let's just forget that for a second...) and I missed the train, or you know, two trains. Note to anyone who ever has to wake me up...half an hour before I have to leave will not work, I need to press snooze at least twice before I'm fit to function. Anyway, then I had to sort all my stuff out for later, seeing as I'm going straight to the wonderful Donna's from uni, which is a challenge when your room resembles a demolition site. (My Auntie Sue actually got me a door hanger once that read 'Warning! Demolition site! C'etait moche. Okay, it was quite funny, but so...)
So, there I was, packed bag, made up face, awful wavy hair (cue hat), and ready to leave, and it was only half past 9! Except no, it wasn't, it was twenty to ten.



So, after being stuck behind the slowest people on the escalator, I finally got into Liverpool, (Liverpool? Since when have I used Liverpool when I mean town? I guess uni's affecting me!)

FINALLY I get to the Museum, which I struggled to find, cos all the big buildings round there look the same, and I nearly walked into the Library next door, it was only when I was turning in, did I see the big lit up, multicoloured MUSEUM sign...sigh. And museums are pretty big, I had no idea where everyone else was, so I just kept walking up stairs. In the end I wrote an emergency status on facebook, on the offchance someone from my course would see it and help me, but then Nicki rang and told me they were in the bug section.



So between now and 6th May I have to write a short story on something that inspired me from the museum, and I have a problem because the main thing sticking out in my mind is the stick insects.

Me; Wow, is that one?
Hayley: No, that's just a stick...that's a stick insect
Me (thinking): They look exactly the same...how do you know?

Anyway, that was my morning, if you want to know what else happened, I got inside a stem, became an Anglo Saxon and smelt virtual flowers. No doubt I'll be back tomorrow with an update of how my gig went!

The April Blues

Okay, I confess. Out of them all, April is probably one of my favourites. It's when the sun usually decides to shine, we get Easter holidays, and it's my Birthday soon, but as with most things, there is a downside. FRIGGIN ESSAY DEADLINES.

In the same way May is let down by exams, April is packed full of essay deadlines and revision malarky. And in the last four Aprils, my laptop has packed in three times. Well, I say laptop, but I mean laptops. I ended up with a new (and seemingly invincible) laptop after the nervous breakdown enducing time that was April 2008. Turns out, laptop number 2 is not invincible after all, it was just saving itself so it could pack in at THE MOST INCONVENIENT time of all. I have an essay due in in two days man! One that counts for either 60 or 70% of my module. Either way it's not looking good, and I am sat here typing this on the slowest Computer in the world. (Okay, that's an exaggeration, but it is shocking after becoming so used to my poor laptop.

Anyway, I got up early today, especially with the aim of getting this essay done, but within seconds I realised, 'Oh yeah, the laptop packed in last night!' So I took out my frustration on the treadmill, whilst ringing around most people I know asking for a Windows Installation Disk, which doesn't seem to exist.

So, in total, I have spent twelve hours in the Computer room today, listening to the same songs off my Iphone, before resorting to listening to the best of 2002-2008 (only 2008 because I downloaded a load of stuff last time I resorted to this PC), reading old stories I'd written, wishing people Happy Birthday on facbook and post it noting my research material. Oh yeah, and now posting this.

I need to do some actual work, but I can't bring myself to start all over again!

Bring on May. I don't care if I'm going to be a twenty something anymore, as long as I have a laptop and no essays!

Oh, btw, this song is 'mazin. Downloaded it off itunes last night right before my laptop died. There goes 99p!

Men :(

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a big fat stinking MAN. Except, I'm not big or fat, and I don't think I smell.

Turns out though, apart from my love of all things girly, like teddies, make up, dresses and high heels, I'm a lot more manly than many of the supposed 'men' I know.

I've always been an emotional wreck when handed a good old chick flick, and I've always been a sucker for the quiet and sensitive type, but recently UGH. No. GET SOME BALLS! STOP being so damn WET! Please don't agree with me because it's easier than getting into a heated debate on date #2...FYI, I like a good old debate. Sure, you might really really like that girl, she might make you smile, but is there any need at all to put it in such wussy terms?

Please, for the sake of humanity, men, man up!

Because as much as equality is great, and well in to the Suffragette's getting us the vote and all, but it doesn't mean men have to get all ladylike on us. We can do that perfectly fine on our own.

Wow...

 


Cannot believe how young we look in this picture!

Believe it or not, I'm 17 here (just), but Miss Panayi must have been fifteen! Oh how the times have changed! Look at us all wide eyed and innocent...not knowing all the potato fun we're going to embark on in a few years time!