Clare_Bear's smiley happy thread

Nitefly

Wow for you, @Grunfeld  - "congrats" doesn't seem quite appropriate, though!  OM was convinced she would die before making 60, as her mother died at 59, having never drunk or smoked - she's much more relaxed about the future now.

speshul91

I'm at a festival till sunday

CabbageCat

Grunfeld said:

This is an odd smiley happy.
19,320* days was what my dad got on this planet.  I was 15 when he died.
I've always basically thought "genes will out" -- and I dunno, didn't expect to get this far.  No pension plan; no ties; no commitments.  It hasn't dominated my life but it has always been there, a pressure behind some big decisions.

Today, for me, is 19321
+1

It's the last day I'll count. 
It's an open road now.
 
*52y, 10m, 23d

I suppose that's good news in that you've lived longer than expected but not so great if your retirement plans have been dependant on being dead.

Handsome_Chris

Bucket said:

Handsome_Chris said:

Bucket said:

The date seemed to go pretty well but things have ground to a halt after trying to get a second date organised. 

@bucket, did you try and jack up the second date during the first date?

Not really, I just said something like "See you soon, hopefully?" as we parted. I don't know if that's right or not.

Yeah, that's alright. I know it's a bit of a cliche, but not bring pushy is the right thing to do.

Well done you.

Remember, if she's not into you, you may have dodged a bullet. She may be a fan of serial joke thief Amy Schumer. I wouldn't even wish that upon @Drew_fx. 

Bucket

Handsome_Chris said:

Yeah, that's alright. I know it's a bit of a cliche, but not bring pushy is the right thing to do.

Well done you.

Remember, if she's not into you, you may have dodged a bullet. She may be a fan of serial joke thief Amy Schumer. I wouldn't even wish that upon @Drew_fx. 

Well she's on holiday now, we haven't texted for a few days but she's still Snapchatting me on occasion and I've been replying... might text her at some point but I dunno. It'd be nice to get something arranged once she's back (whenever that is) but I'm not gonna push too hard.

Bucket

I just saw Ginger Wildheart live and got this close:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CoAgQ-_W8AMs_As.jpg

Fucking STUNNINGLY good gig. Absolutely amazing.

snakemanStoo

I turned up to training this morning, and saw the local area secretary of the AJA was here. Didn't think much of it as he likes to gossip with the chap in charge of the judo school I help/learn at.

As it turns out he was there to assess several of the teachers for their coaching qualifications.

So now I'm an AJA brown belt, county level referee and club level coach.

Which in nice.

http://i.imgur.com/6WeApVd.png

And I have a wine.

speshul91

My new fish have settled in and already started doing their jobs. 

Alnico

I managed to find an old and very good friend today who i lost touch with 5 years ago.

All i could get was his address and i only found him because he started a transport company in 2014 and is listed on google because of it but i found him all the same. I will be writing to him the old fashioned way next week.

A former Paratrooper and a proper best mate who I've missed a great deal in the last 5 years. To see his name finally come up on something and know it's him was a real moment and i can't wait to hear back from him. I've looked around online everywhere and asked here and there but one ever knew who i was talking about.
I literally lost all my devices in one go, from one laptop bag in 2012 including the phone with his number and the laptop with his email etc. I hadn't backed anything up and i had no notes or online cloud storage back then. I lost the address i had written down on a scrap of paper and all i had to go on was trawling around guitar forums to see if i could spot him.
Then time moved on and i lost contact completely.

It's a proper good day now.

If there's an outside chance anyone remembers a Maiden Tribute band from around 10 years ago in the NW called 'Two Minutes to Maiden', you will know who i'm talking about.

I honestly can't wait to speak to him.

He once said to me that "Mates don't let Mates down EVER" and i can honestly say that i haven't ever given up looking for a way to find him. I can tell him that i never let him down in honesty when i speak to him and to someone like him, that will mean a great deal.

Bucket

I just saw Frost* live in Islington.

F.U.C.K. ME what a gig.

Bucket

This guy.



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

Bucket

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

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

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

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

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

Grunfeld

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

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

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

And I'm off to see Queensryche on saturday.