Jamie R

[I'm sorry for the length of this post, it just got a bit out of control!]

Well at the end of the day a blog is somewhere where one can convey his thoughts, so I thought I’d do just that. Some would say I’m far too open about stuff, and randomly post it on the Internet. However, I’m me. I’m just me…

Christmas…

My Christmas was fairly boring in parts. I can’t really say I did much, other than just the usual Christmassy things of seeing family and friends, unwrapping a few presents and indulging in far too much food and alcohol. Ah well. Now I’ve got to loose it all.

I got some really awesome presents for Christmas. Laura made me a really fantastic little boxy thing with lots of lovely bits in there. She also gave me a new lava lamp (just what I needed cos I’d broken my old one) as well as a hand decorated cup and mug. It was really, really awesome of her. It’s all so awesome. She’s really creative creative like that. Danke

New Year…

I spent new year round Nick’s house in Frinton. Me, Nick, Alex, Lloyd, Kris, Graeme, Jamie, Alarick and Ross had a proper good time and saw the new year in with lots of booze and loud music. It had to be done. Some of the antics we got upto were rather amusing. Let’s just say, J knows not to be the first one to fall asleep at a party

New Years Day was welcomed by a trip down to a cafe in Frinton. Full English breakfast (it’s bad, read below) all round was duly deserved after the drinking that went on during the previous evening. All sorted lads.

New Years Resolutions…

I’ve been thinking about what I would class as a “New Year Resolution”, and I can’t think of one single thing - I can think of lots of things. With most people breaking them within a month, I guess there’s no real point in actually making a few. However, I am going to do so. There are a few suspects which I guess I could call a suitable candidate for being a NYR. Unfortunately, it won’t be anything that special or fancy, but they are connected with me, and only me in a way. I guess, for the 5th or so year running, the main one that I would call NYR is to loose weight. I’m pretty annoyed with myself, because in the last two months (well, counting from the beginning of November), I seem to have put on about a stone. Now, due to lack of decent scales I haven’t weighed myself yet. I’ve been about 16 stone for the last couple of years (yeah, it’s scary), but I think it’s increased. I can no longer get into *three* pairs of jeans that I could fit into 2 months ago, nor can I get into my Vans t-shirt.

Now the thing is, I’ve said that I will try and diet countless times in the last few years. Yes, I have lost small amounts of weight here and there. However, I’ve never really properly dieted. I guess one would call me a bit of the lazy side. However, I want this to be the last year that I have to say “I’ve said that I will loose weight as a new year’s resolution for the last 5 years and it hasn’t worked”. I want to actually make a go at it. I don’t want to loose much, only probably a stone or two. I want to be able to get back into them jeans. I want to be able to bike around without feeling out of breath. I want to do it for myself.

I really want to make a go of it. Anyone who will know me knows that I can be a bit of a slacker at times. I have motivation to do things that other people have told me to do (for instance, if someones needs help with something), and all that kinda stuff. I however have little motivation most of the time to actually do anything that concerns me. I guess you could call it that I’m slowly pushing a self destruct button.

I’ve been saying that I’ll try and loose weight for ages. I’ve also been saying I’ll try and get a job for ages. I really need to actually change my attitude towards all of this, because at the end of the day, no one else can. Only me. I guess this blog post is a way of trying to kick myself into actually doing something about it rather than sitting on my arse and doing nothing about any of it.

Self motivation?

Self motivation is one of the demons of Jamie R. I battle with it. Half of me says, stuff it. Do it tomorrow, and I’ll go back to the forum that I’m currently browsing or continue a half witted (or sometimes deep, complex) conversation with someone. The other half of me tells me to get on with it. It’s like college work. I’m in the middle of getting my examination prep. work done for Tuesday. I have a 20 hour examination (over 2 weeks) on Microsoft Excel (of all things…) starting on Tuesday. I guess I shouldn’t be here now writing this blog post, but to be honest, I’d rather do this.

What I’m really like…

I guess for the people who have never met me and don’t know me personally, their only idea of my personality would be through my website - predominantly the content of my website of my blog, and the style of my writing. You will probably see that the website doesn’t get updated much and that there are things which say “will be done soon” or whatever. I’m not gonna make any excuses, like I’ve done in the past. This website doesn’t get as much attention as it should. This website doesn’t have half the stuff on it that I like it to have. However, I just don’t have the time anymore. I don’t have the time, and to be honest, I stopped doing most of my web development related stuff coming up for 2 years ago. I guess you could say that was my old life. I’ve moved on.

Moving on…

On the subject of moving on and change. I was thinking the other day about how things are generally in my life now, and from about the beginning of 2006. That’s a whole 2 years ago now. Thinking retrospectively, a heck of a lot has changed. Not just with my life, but with people and their attitudes in general. At the end of the day though, it has to be said. People get older and people move on. Maybe that’s what I don’t like. I don’t like people moving away from me. I like the people who are close to me to stay close to me. I don’t like drifting apart from people. I guess the whole talk of university and everyone going their separate ways puts me in that frame of mind, I don’t know.

Laurababes…

This year, Laura will be off to university. I don’t know what’ll happen between us after then. All I can say is that I hope we stay together. She means the world to me, I don’t know what I would do without her. She’s just everything to me right now. I guess the three weeks apart from her while she’s been in Australia has done me some good. Whilst I’ve hated it because I’ve missed her, it just makes me realise how good the last 15 months has been with her. She’s back from Australia soon, so I’ll be able to hear all the tales she has to tell. I really can’t want to see her, she’s back on the 7th. Maybe that’s why I’m so happy atm. Ily

10 years time…

I wonder what my life will be like in 10 years time. I’ll find out in 10 years time. Will I be single? Married? Have my own place? Know many of the people I know now? Will my mum and dad still be about? What kind of job will I have? How much money will I have?

Career…

I guess one thing leads to another there. However, I really want a career in IT preferably, doing network administration / management etc. A position in a large company’s IT department as a network administrator / technician would be awesome. At the minute though, I need a contracted job, but I’ve got to start small. I do freelance(ish) IT work for a few small businesses where I live and support a few private people I know. It’s a start in the IT industry and it provides me with valuable experience. Also, when I was helping out at my college, it was really invaluable. I learnt so much there.

Theatre Tech…

I guess I’ve come to the conclusion that although I love doing lighting/sound etc for shows, concerts etc, it probably won’t be a career path for me. I don’t know why in a way. I absolutely love doing it. Something just doesn’t feel right about it. I think I’ll always end up doing it here and there as a hobby, but I don’t think it’ll be a career. There again, I might be doing something totally different in 10 years time!

2008…

I think 2008 will be an extremely important year for me. I will:

1. Turn 18. Will be good,apart from paying tax.
   
2. Start driving (some of you may remember that I took my first driving test in August. I’ve now failed 4 times. I have bad concentration sometimes, and during that kind of test, it flattens me)
3. Finish sixth form education. Do I go to another college? or uni? Depends on the next point
4. Hopefully get a full time job. If I succeed in getting a decent job then I won’t go to university. I’ve applied for the 2009 season anyway.
5. Hopefully shed a few stone, but that down to me I guess. As are 3 of the above points.
6. Hopefully go abroad. I’ve never had a proper holiday abroad, so it’d be nice.
7. A few other bits…which I can’t really discuss here because it’ll just cause problems.
8. Lots of other stuff I can’t think of. It’ll come to me - there are other things, but it’s 3:25am.

A good kick up the arse is just what the doctor ordered…

I’ve had enough of saying to myself that I will do something, and then not do it. I want to actually make a go at doing the things that I keep on kidding myself at. Loosing weight is the main thing. I know I can do it. Everyone says I can do it, it’s just…doing it. If it took 5 minutes, it wouldn’t be a problem, but that’s not the case. It takes will power, iron determination and a good kick up the arse. I start dieting, but then I revert back to when I’m bored or a bit annoyed, I’ll eat. I’ve done that since I was 7 years old. I’m fed up of it. I’ve promised Ems that I will try, so I have to now. I’ve promised…

Why so long?

And for the record, I decided to write this rather long, kinda varied blog post rather than what I did last year because I wanted to do something different for a different year. It’s a new year, and a very different one. A lot of things are going to be different this year. A lot of things are going to change. I’m fairly sure that some of the people I knew last year I won’t know by the end of this year. In the same context, I’ll meet a lot of new cool people this year. 2008 is a new year for new experiences and new challenges. I want to leave the shit behind that’s plagued me over the last few years and start afresh. I find it hard to forget the past, but I want a fresh start in a fresh year.

My friends…

I have a lot of awesome friends and I thank them for being them. The usual sorta thing. You know who you are, I won’t mention names this year.

Learn from the past, look to the future…

Anyway…as my college’s old slogan was “Learn from the past, look to the future”, I’ll take that…and somewhat agree.

Well if anyone actually reads all, or even any, I thank them. Please leave a comment if you want to. I think I can safely say I’ve written the longest blog post ever.

Have a good 2008. Have fun!

Best wishes,

Jamie R.

Enter Shikari on 6th November was bloody awesome. I couldn’t keep up with the fast moving energetic crowd and had to get out of the pit a few times. I lost Weston, but then found him again, he couldn’t survive it either. After getting lots of free water from the bar we went back in for a bit and endured a load more 14 year old wannabe-emo kids smashing into me. It was an awesome concert, but I don’t think I’ll see them again for a while. Don’t get me wrong, they are a FANTASTIC band live, who play FANTASTIC stuff and the atmosphere at the gig was awesome, it was just too violent in a way! I can survive a Metallica gig no problem, but 4,000 young people crammed into the Brixton Academy isn’t really a nice thing, especially if you’re at an ES gig! Too hot!

For you lampie folk out there, this page describes the technical side of the concert. Equipment includes High End Systems Studio Beam washes, Martin Mac 2000’s, Martin Atomic 3k DMX strobes and a Flying Pig Systems Hog 3 iPC for control.

Christmas is, at writing 20 days away. Laura’s off to Australia for Christmas and New Year, she’s leaving on the 14th, so no Laura for 3 weeks. I wish I could fit in her suitcase. Meh ah well - I’d happily trade in most things to go out there with her! What are all you lot doing for Christmas? Going out and getting sloshed? Staying at home with typically-Christmassy chestnuts and mulled wine? Going to Florida or Sydney or wherever? I reckon I’ll just be staying at home - might go and get my pipe and slippers as Nick would say - “fetch me my pipe and slippers young chap, I am a MAN now!” lol.

I found a really embarrassing photo of me at PLASA 2007 on the Avolites website earlier today. Man I look awful. It’s alright though, I found an equally bad one of Ricky at PLASA 2004 (I didn’t find any of us at PLASA 2006)…he’ll hate me

My college’s sixth form revue is on Wednesday 19th, which will be fun. I’ve been busy getting things ready for the lighting side of things. Should be good. This year’s theme is aliens and sci-fi, so I’m thinking lots of green/purple/strobes/whatever I can get my paws on. Hopefully everything will go to plan.

In terms of site news, I’ve added a donations page. Anyone who likes what I do and would like to contribute something to my PayPal account, they can do so through my site. Anything, however small will be greatly appreciated. I’ve also added a new section called “Essex Stage Crew” which is an area of the site which will be detailing more of my theatre work in the future. It’s not up yet but it will be soon!

Over and out

Jamie.

Hey

Today (October 8th) is mine and LJ’s first anniversary. We’ve officially been going out a year It’s awesome, I’m really surprised she has stayed with me for a year, lol (given my obscure ways sometimes!), but she has, and we’re really happy. I took a trip up to Colchester and met her after college which was cool - we wandered about for a bit, did the usual Monday afternoon ritual of going into Costa or Starbucks and drinking Frapuccino (iced coffee).

The last year with Miss Laura-Jade Klée has been fantastic LJ spent the last three months making me an anniversary gift which was a complete secret until all was revealed today. She made me a story book, with pictures and paintings of us and our adventures over the last year. She also wrote a song which accompanied the book - each page has some lyrics on it. The whole idea is that you listen to the song and turn the pages in accordance to the lyrics. The Story Book Song is fantastic, and it really brought a tear to my eye when I saw what she’d spend the last three sold months making! I’m so grateful, she’s just fantastic. Thank you so much babes! I love you

I have more than one reason to be happy. My hosting company emailed me earlier and notified me that my web space has been increased from 500mb to 1GB without any extra charge. I’m damn happy, cos they wanted a shed load of cash for extra space (£10+ vat per year for 100mb!).

I’ve uploaded PLASA 2006 and 2007 pictures to the gallery. I went to PLASA last month. I went for 2 days out of the 4 days that the show was on. The opening day was DJ day, so there were a lot of kids etc there who were DJs. I wanted some kind of T-shirt that said “I’m not a DJ!” I also went back on the closing day (Wed 12th Sep) to find a much quieter exhibition - just what I wanted. I actually had a chance to talk to company reps about stuff, meet people etc and get decent practice/play time on different products. I got over an hour on the Avolites Diamond 4 Vision, which I was pretty happy about seeing as I didn’t get much of a looking on Sunday 9th. For people wondering “WTF has he just gone on about”, the PLASA show is the Professional Lighting and Sound Association’s annual trade show up at Earls Court. It’s where exhibitors from the entertainment industry all come together to show off their new products. It’s a fantastic show, and I recommend anyone who’s interested in lighting, sound, AV etc to take a treck along to next years show.

In other news, soon you’ll be seeing the launch of a new part of my site. I’m gonna add a section about the theatre work that I do and the kind of things that I have lit and done technical stuff for before. Wait and see.

Anyway, take care!

Jamie.

Posted for a while, so here I am. I guess it’ll be a long one, but I’m bored and I think I might as well write something here. Post a comment if you’re gonna read it!

I’ve been doing a fair bit of stuff lately to be honest, which probably kinda explains the lack of work on the site and blog posts. Right now I’m watching Panorama on BBC One into the whole “computer revolution” and a study looking into whether there is a clear link between WiFi and health problems. Roughly every school, a lot of homes and work places are now installing wireless networks etc. It’s looking into whether there’s an impact on our health caused by mobile phone technology and wireless network technology. There are a lot of debates either side of the argument - should we have and use WiFi (particularly in schools) or not? I think we should, from what I’ve seen, there have no adverse effects to the use of WiFi, however I do see both sides of the argument.

There might be a few people around who “have” been affected by the use WiFi about, however there amount of use and coverage it has now, it’s pretty much unavoidable. If there was really a problem, then surely there would be a far bigger outcry and public response from it? Maybe my view is wrong, but it’s what I think. Surely, if there was a problem, a *lot* of people would have symptoms and problems about it. One woman on the show is apparently sensitive to WiFi and has undergone tests. It’s true, there are electro-sensitive people, however the UK doesn’t recognise it as a disability, whereas for instance, Sweden do. Also, don’t you think that they would be affected by standard phone masts and radio stations?

In terms of what I’ve been up to, I guess it’s a fair bit. Last month (well, 22nd April,) LJ took me to see Trivium at Ipswich’s Regent Theatre. It was an awesome concert, and although it was in a theatre, really exceeded my expectations. I really enjoyed myself and have uploaded a few photos to my picture gallery. Also, me and three of my buddies have gone and got tickets for Metallica’s July 8th concert at the new Wembley Stadium as well, which will be extremely good seeing as it’s Metallica’s only gig in the UK in over 16 years I believe.

College is going ok. We’ve signed off media now because we’ve done all the work for this year and have no summer exams in it. I had a general studies exam today, as I did last Monday. I’ve only got IT left now, which will be a 15 hour exam spread over 2 weeks.

I also went upto Duxford at the weekend (Sunday 20th May) and went to their Spring Air show. It was the first air show I’ve been to this season so far, and hope to go to a lot more. The theme of the airshow was to commenenrate the 25th ending of the Falklands War, so it was a rather moving and rememrable display. I was surprised to see a Bell UH-1H Helicopter there, which to be honest, was unknown to me before the airshow. The UH-1H Iroquois, more commonly known as G-HUEY or “IROQUOIS” - serial number “ 13560″ was the star of the show. It was a “trophy” of the Falklands, seeing as it was captured from the Argentine Army and brought back to the UK at the end of the war. Now it’s owned by three Huey enthusiasts and looks forward to a good display season. A full write-up and pictures are coming, I’m in the process of sorting the photos out.

My driving lessons are going rather good at the moment, got another one on Wednesday after college and then I’ve got my theory test booked for Saturday 2nd of June. I’m happy with the way it’s going at the moment, my driving instructor Paul says that he reckons I can do my test at the end of June. I’ll get it booked up soon when he thinks I’m ready for it, and will see whether the little men at the DSA wanna give me a licence or not! Laura’s also started driving now, so hopefully we’ll be both soon be driving about!

The summer is on the way, and I hope will be fantastic. As you can probs gather from blog posts last summer, summer 06 was the best summer I’ve ever had, and I don’t know whether I’ll ever be able to beat that experience again. It really did rock - I hope this summer will be just as good, if not better. People will be driving and it’ll be good. Me, Bryn, Dean, Ricky and whoever hope to go on a few roadtrips etc, which will be schweet! If I pass my test that is.

Anyway, I better go. Have fun people!

Jamie.

Firstly, a belated Merry Christmas! I would have posted stuff on here earlier but I’ve been pretty busy over the last few days with Christmas and things..y’know how it goes. In fact, it’s new years even now. I first thought that I’d do a blog post on the 26th (belated even then), so I’ve been one hell of a lazy bastard. Oh well…

I hope you’ve had a good Christmas this year and have had as much fun as you possibly can. My Christmas has been alright as it goes, far better than I expected it to be. I got quite a lot of stuf in the end, which was good. This is a collective thank you to the people who did buy me stuff

Well, as the end of 2006 approaches, I look at 2007 being a big pain in the arse. I know things will go good in 2007, and I will learn a lot, will experience a lot and it’ll help me in life, but I can see it being a big pain in the arse. Well, every year is like that tbh! Lemmie fail my A-Levels first I guess, then I’ll decide!
I’ve learnt a lot in 2006 and have experienced a lot of stuff. It’s probably been the best year of my life in terms of what I’ve done, who I’ve met and what I’ve learnt over the course of the year. I passed my GCSES and didn’t fail a single one, I had a great summer - probably the best summer ever, and I started dating LJ in October. I’ve learnt a heck of a lot when it comes to IT and technical theatre. I’ve gained a lot more experience in the areas of things which I enjoy doing and have an interest in, so generally it’s all been good.

In 2007 I wanna focus more on doing what I enjoy. I want to get more involved with theatre work and also wanna do more in IT. I guess I’ll also have to find a job somewhere before long because I’m unemployed atm!

I guess I could write a lot more, but I’m not going to. Just have fun, take care and I wish you all a happy new year and a good 2007. Don’t get too pissed, and don’t end up in some strangers bed, car or lying in the gutter on new years day!

All the best,

Jamie.

Yo

Sorry if it’s taken a while for me to get this put on here, but I’m happy to say that the Up and Comin’ gig, or most of it!! was a success! yay…

I’ll firstly tell you about what went wrong: Everything was fine until 1/2 way through one of APO’s songs, lead singer Tim Marsh decides to go and fall over. Lol, this was funny…Screamo falling over on stage whilst screeeeeeeammming! hehe.

Also, we had sound problems (or more precisely, crap microphones) which I had to spend 10 minutes at the start of the show sorting out, so things were a little delayed. There wouldn’t have been any problem if I (and the band members and people who I had got to help) were allowed out of more than one lesson out of five. Well, I was out lesson 2, half of lesson 4 and lesson 5 (lesson 4 because I kept on winging at the amount of set up time we had left…). Ricky stayed in the hall most the day rigging our lights whilst I was in and out of lessons. I managed to get some people out lesson 2 as well, but this was tough and I had senior management on my back, again…

With restricted set up time, it made mine and Ricky’s job harder as the techie guys. Although we got everything sorted in the end with the time we had, it meant that Ricky couldn’t do the programming he wanted and I couldn’t get a decent sound check. Oh well, next time I’ll really annoy ‘em!

What did go well however is what you (or whoever actually reads this, if anyone), will want to know. The bands themselves played really well, and for The Popes Main Rival’s first major gig, the audience loved them In terms of the slightly more hellraising screamo band Another Pointless Outlook - the long hair gentlemen of hardcore, they certainly left an impression!

I’m sure the audience really wanted to see my ugly mug up on stage introducing everything etc, but y’know, you win some, you loose some hehe! Everything was going *okayish* until the end, when the audience started shouting “SING SING SING”…ut oh. I didn’t wanna let them down, so I sang (a bit, the bit that I could remember) of Bohemian Rhapsody..like I can sing!

If you want to know all the lighting and sound gear that we used:

Lighting:

• 4 Howie Battens
• 2 Acme iSolution iRock 6B barrel Scanners - 5 channel DMX
• 2 Acme Dynamo mirror scanners - 4 channel DMX
• 2 Chauvet Intimidator mirror scanners - 5 channel DMX
• 4 Acme Magic Gobos - 3 channel DMX
• 2 UV cans
• Le Maitre Neutron XS Hazer
• 6 CP62 Parcans 1000W (with blue and red gels)
• 4 Strand Quartet 650W fresnels
• Zero88 Sirius 24 Analogue Lighting desk
• Acme DMX Master (DMX controller for up to 12 DMX fixtures. Each fixture can have up to 16 DMX channels assigned to it)
• A lot of Socapex cable and socapex spiders
• DMX cable etc

Sound:

• Behringer EuroPower PMH3000 powered mixing desk
• 2 Peavy 300W Club Speakers - 15″ cabinets
• Multicore
• 25 meter speaker leads
• One corded Microphone and one wireless Microphone

It was great fun, and I’m glad that we put the whole event together now. We raised nearly £200 for charity which I’m extremely pleased about. We’re hoping to do another one down at lower school someone in the next few months if it can be arranged

A BIG thanks to my friend Ricky for helping me with this gig - getting stuff to and from the gig, setting up etc and taking time off work to help! Cheers mate.
Anyway, photos…the best bit - Erm well, you can find photos here (I’ve put them up on Jamierees.net ’cause I’ve run outta disk space here)
Jamie.

Haven’t posted for a while…so here I am…

I’ve got an extremely busy week ahead of me, what with Frinton Musical Theatre’s Summer Show all this week as well as my school’s annual fashion show. The summer holidays are coming near so I WILL (that’s WILL) be able to do some stuff to the site luckily. I want to get this done, as my website is a major project and past time of mine so it’s a shame to let the site go to ruin and not get anything done or updated on it.

Duxford Flying Legends was friggin’ excellent, I’m happy to say. Although I only went to the second day (Sunday 10th July) I still saw heck of a lot. The review is coming so watch out over the next 2 weeks. Also I’ll be sorting out the whole design and content side of Jamierees.co.uk Aircraft which needs to be done as it has been waiting for a long time for an overhaul.