Clare_Bear's smiley happy thread

Bucket · August 2016

This guy.

One of those voices that is just so amazing all you can do is laugh in incredulity. Staggering.

Bucket · August 2016

Been in Stockholm for a few days. Dad's here on business, so my mum, my sister and I have tagged along because it's a new city we've never seen, and a nice hotel for a few nights. I've been checking out the guitar shops, and over the past two days here is what I've found. There isn't half some stuff here...

A massive shop full of CS Fenders, Gibsons, Music Man, PRS, Ibanez, Charvel, Gretsch, of which I particularly liked:

- All of the SIX blackguard CS Teles on the wall
- A gorgeous lightweight Candy Tangerine Strat
- A black double-bound Tele Custom with a maple neck
- Another of the above in Firemist Gold
- A Gretsch Brian Setzer Hot Rod
- A Warren DeMartini snake-print Charvel
- A Music Man Majesty
- A Music Man Luke with a roasted maple neck
- A CS gold-top Gibson Flying V
- What I believe was an R8 but in solid black
- A PRS SC245 goldtop that I started a thread about up there ^
- A Taylor 12-string
- A Swedish-made Hagstrom Super Swede bass (similar to that used by Rutger Gunnarsson on ABBA's biggest hits)

Then today, checking out the vintage shops I played...

- A 1962 Epiphone Coronet
- A 1967 Epiphone Olympic
- An old sixties Burns
- A sparkly silver Danelectro baritone
- A 1952-reissue Les Paul (what were they thinking with that bridge...)

Other stuff I saw but didn't play:

- Various 60s Fender amps - a Tremolux, some Twins, Supers, a silverface Princeton, among others
- An original 1971 Marshall Plexi with orange Tolex
- A re-finished 1973 Super Lead with purple Tolex
- A CS 1961 reissue SG
- A 1964 Firebird III
- A 1963 SG Special
- A 1965 SG Junior
- Another 1962 Coronet
- Various 60s and 70s Strats
- Various old AC30s
- A genuine 1950 Fender Broadcaster in a glass case
- The new John Petrucci signature Boogie amp
- A fair few Two-Rocks
- A couple of Evil Robots
- A few Suhr guitars
- More FX than you can shake a stick at - there's a shop called These Go To 11 which specialises in boutique pedals

And all the staff are very friendly and open to stuff being picked up and played. And they all speak perfect English, which makes me feel even guiltier for not having a clue how to converse with them in their own language when visiting their country.

snakemanStoo · August 2016

Had a roll tonight with one of the team GB judo squad (What didn't make it to the olympics). Was really cool, he's a great guy and he beat the shit out of not just me but the rest of the guys we were training with. It helped him that he weighs 135kg!!

Bucket · August 2016

My sister got an A and two Bs in her A levels, and is off to Manchester uni. She worked her socks off, so proud of her

Bucket · August 2016

God am I the only one who keeps this going? Come on folks!

I just met my godfather and his wife with their new daughter for the first time - they adopted her a few months ago, she turns six on Thursday. She's utterly adorable.

viz · August 2016

Everyone else is too busy posting in the 'other' thread! Oh and, that's great news

Grunfeld · August 2016

I got an email from one of my sons who had gone out of his way to find somewhere with an internet connection in northern Kazakhstan of all places just so that he could wish me happy birthday.
Also just watched the latest video (albeit shot a fortnight ago) and kinda impressed by the spirit of adventure.
https://www.facebook.com/101damnnations/

stickyfiddle · August 2016

Well, my 97-year-old Nana died at the weekend, and I didn't get the promotion I busted my arse for because HR are dicks,so I don't have too much happy. But I will be meeting my twin nieces for the first time the day before the funeral, which is excellent, circumstances aside.

Might also buy a pedal for the first time in about 18 months, if I can find anything that takes my fancy.

mike_l · August 2016

Having not been able to play much due to a fucked shoulder, tonight I managed about an hour of riffing like a demented riffer.
I can get on with learning the leads from "Don't believe a word".

mike_l · August 2016

And I'm off to see Queensryche on saturday.

Alnico · August 2016

You've got more Jam than Hartleys !

Wow from me, dead jealous.

mike_l · August 2016

@Alnico I've had my share of bad luck, I'm enjoying life at the moment.

Alnico · August 2016

mike_l said:

@Alnico I've had my share of bad luck, I'm enjoying life at the moment.

I know mate.
Dead jealous because i'm not going but dead happy for you man and it's nice to see you enjoying life.

Bring a guitar and a little amp round sometime after the concert for a jam and tell me all about it man.

Bucket · August 2016

Just back from a date with a girl I've been talking to for weeks. Was actually a bit awkward, not much of a spark really but it was alright. I'm kind of glad to be a bit deflated though, because she's about to move to the other end of the country so it wouldn't work anyway

ESBlonde · August 2016

I have been on holiday and met up with two elderly aunts for lunches plus a couple of my cousins sons (for ale), one of whom is a volunteer lifeboat crewman, so we had a private tour of the Clovelly lifeboat station.
Lovely part of the world and nice people to be around. I have smiles.

Bucket · September 2016

So in the last week I have moved to London, and am in a lovely flat with my three bandmates, close to everything I need to be close to.

And I've just sorted out a new job. It's a transfer admittedly, so I still work for the same company but am in a different store with different people. And it means I won't have to travel back home on weekends for work as I had planned to. And my hours are different - no early starts, more shifts during the week and Sundays off. I am so fucking chuffed, you have no idea.

stickyfiddle · September 2016

Bucket said:

So in the last week I have moved to London, and am in a lovely flat with my three bandmates, close to everything I need to be close to.

And I've just sorted out a new job. It's a transfer admittedly, so I still work for the same company but am in a different store with different people. And it means I won't have to travel back home on weekends for work as I had planned to. And my hours are different - no early starts, more shifts during the week and Sundays off. I am so fucking chuffed, you have no idea.

Nice!

ESBlonde · September 2016

Bucket said:

So in the last week I have moved to London, and am in a lovely flat with my three bandmates, close to everything I need to be close to.

And I've just sorted out a new job. It's a transfer admittedly, so I still work for the same company but am in a different store with different people. And it means I won't have to travel back home on weekends for work as I had planned to. And my hours are different - no early starts, more shifts during the week and Sundays off. I am so fucking chuffed, you have no idea.

And you're free of the knobhead manager. Yeah!

Alnico · September 2016

Bucket said:

So in the last week I have moved to London, and am in a lovely flat with my three bandmates, close to everything I need to be close to.

And I've just sorted out a new job. It's a transfer admittedly, so I still work for the same company but am in a different store with different people. And it means I won't have to travel back home on weekends for work as I had planned to. And my hours are different - no early starts, more shifts during the week and Sundays off. I am so fucking chuffed, you have no idea.

I remember the feeling well.
Enjoy it and don't let some girl fuck it all up - they will do every time.
No matter how great they are, someone somewhere is fucking sick of them,.......remember that.

Have a great time kiddo.

Which part of London are you in?

Bucket · September 2016

ESBlonde said:

Bucket said:

So in the last week I have moved to London, and am in a lovely flat with my three bandmates, close to everything I need to be close to.

And I've just sorted out a new job. It's a transfer admittedly, so I still work for the same company but am in a different store with different people. And it means I won't have to travel back home on weekends for work as I had planned to. And my hours are different - no early starts, more shifts during the week and Sundays off. I am so fucking chuffed, you have no idea.

And you're free of the knobhead manager. Yeah!

She's gone anyway. She wasn't in for ages because her husband was having a lot of health issues, and he died not long ago. I feel for her - she was a knobhead to me before all of this happened of course, but no-one deserves that.

@Alnico Cheers man! Yeah, I'm hoping for a bit of time being single and living the life really, not looking for anything at the minute. I'm living in Kilburn now, five minutes up the road from ICMP.

Alnico · September 2016

Bucket said:

ESBlonde said:

Bucket said:

So in the last week I have moved to London, and am in a lovely flat with my three bandmates, close to everything I need to be close to.

And I've just sorted out a new job. It's a transfer admittedly, so I still work for the same company but am in a different store with different people. And it means I won't have to travel back home on weekends for work as I had planned to. And my hours are different - no early starts, more shifts during the week and Sundays off. I am so fucking chuffed, you have no idea.

And you're free of the knobhead manager. Yeah!

She's gone anyway. She wasn't in for ages because her husband was having a lot of health issues, and he died not long ago. I feel for her - she was a knobhead to me before all of this happened of course, but no-one deserves that.

@Alnico Cheers man! Yeah, I'm hoping for a bit of time being single and living the life really, not looking for anything at the minute. I'm living in Kilburn now, five minutes up the road from ICMP.

You're living in the city of opportunity.
Make it happen man.

Well done.

stickyfiddle · September 2016

Airport lounge at midnight. I feel like a zombie but I'm sitting at the bar and there is free champagne.

Alnico · September 2016

When life hands you champagne, make an airport..........

or something like that.
Safe flight man !

speshul91 · September 2016

After a shitty few months that included finding out my best friend has got cancer and my future brother in law being killed I've gone from a minimum of a gram of weed a day to having a few drags today. Feels really weird but at the same time hugely proud as it really is an acheivement for me.

Alnico · September 2016

speshul91 said:

After a shitty few months that included finding out my best friend has got cancer and my future brother in law being killed I've gone from a minimum of a gram of weed a day to having a few drags today. Feels really weird but at the same time hugely proud as it really is an acheivement for me.

Admitting that is a big step.

Don't worry about the sleeplessness. It fades into long 14 hour sleeps after the first couple of weeks, it's just something you have to push through.
2 weeks you will sleep without it
4 weeks you will have amazing clarity of vision and mind
8 weeks you will be so far past it as to not miss it and by now you've discovered life can happen without it
12 weeks and it's out of your system entirely

Be warned, anything over 2 weeks and a relapse will hit you very hard. That first joint after any more than 2 weeks off will knock you for six. Then you will have reset everything pretty much after one or two joints so best to avoid that if you can.

Going from being a daily smoker to an occasional one is the hardest, way harder than giving up.
It's possible but the discipline in between smoking is really tough.
If you want to try this, leave a bag in your tin untouched for as many days as you can manage and train yourself to go one more day each time. After a while you will successfully reach a week. Then you're a weekend smoker and have more control over it but the regime to not smoke through the week won't be easy. Not impossible, just not easy.

PM me anytime man, i've got a fuck ton of first hand experience.

snakemanStoo · September 2016

So I've been on a bit of a downward spiral for the last few weeks. I think I've decreased my steroids to quickly (following doctors orders) and so I was thinking about skipping BJJ tonight. Also I'm so tired it took me 4 attempts to spell tonight.

I thought 'sod it, if I need to stop I'll just stop and get my energy back' and off I went.

Good job I did as the bloke in charge decided that tonight was handing out stripes night and I am now the proud owner of sore arms and a stripe on my white belt.

Mrs Stoo just commented that my senseis have put me up for promotion while I've been really badly affected by my illness. It's an odd feeling. But I'm really happy. And knackered.

TheBlueWolf · September 2016

I are getting an elderly cat this evening. Pics to follow.

Bucket · September 2016

I just picked up my Strat and had a quick unplugged jam over "Need Your Love So Bad".

I managed to come up with some ideas I really like, which are restrained and tasteful enough, outline some of the harmony and have nice phrasing, but still sound like me rather than someone else. Maybe there's a grizzled bluesman in me yet

stickyfiddle · September 2016

As well as a Waitrose, I now, quite literally, live above a Nando's

snakemanStoo · November 2016

I got promoted to Area Level Referee. Handily in time for the national competition tomorrow.

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