Boo.

Back at the flat. Got scared shitless by that fucker Jo who hid in my room and screamed as soon as I entered it. Made me shriek like a little girl, bastard. I paid him back though. He went to try the microwave and as he was standing there looking at it I crept up behind him, poked his sides and screamed BOOM! He almost shat himself. And I did it a second time in less than 5 minutes. Red, 2; Jo, 1.

Installed Call of Duty 4 today. Great game, but I still have to get used to it. Wasn't able to connect with Jo and Luke though. That's bad because I want to play with them, but it's good because I don't want to die all the time. So I'll just play the single player mode, crybaby-easy level.

The University lecturers are supposed to boycott tomorrow's opening day for us freshers. Thanks for the warm welcome you greedy assholes. Well I have a week of running around the campus going from one stand to another, listening to meeting after boring meeting. If the lecturers continue to strike for a couple of more weeks I'd be able to take my driving license exam. Whoop-dee-do.

This is going to take some getting used to.

I unexpectedly went to Malta yesterday to check out my friends' band The Imagery at Poxx Bar, Paceville, who were followed by a classic rock cover band, Overdrive. Both were talented and lively in their own ways, not really comparable though due to their different styles. I spent the gig downing Brain Damages and Jack Cokes with Alan, singing to their songs. Then the heavily tipsy Alan insisted on playing Anarchy in the UK with Overdrive's gear and I had to snap him out of it. I met up with some of Metrokueen's guys to whom I promised I'd see at their next gig. Sorry guys, another time for sure though.

We went to a couple of bars after that and I saw Alan with a bottle of wine in his hand. Needless to say, Alan and Neil eventually ended up throwing up in the streets of Paceville. An all too common sight. We found them a taxi at like 3am, then we went to some place (Havana?) and I got bored as hell and almost fell asleep standing up. We got to the flat 2 hours later (TWO HOURS) and I'm telling you, I never found my cheap single bed so inviting.

All this travelling to and from Gozo really upsets my stomach. I've had an uneasy stomach for like 3 days now. Surprisingly, I haven't thrown up once. Alcohol really doesn't help either. 6 Jack Cokes, 4 Brain Damages and 2 beers last night. Damn the thought of it makes me feel sick.

Supposedly the last weekend before university starts.

And I'm back in Gozo for the weekend. Hooray. If it weren't for my girlfriend and my dirty laundry I'd have no reason to return to Gozo every weekend. And driving lessons. I have one at 11am today. I'm so close to taking the driving exam. Fuck, I can't wait.

Watched a couple more movies at the flat yesterday. The Prestige and The Departed. Both have great storylines. The Prestige's ending was one of the best ever, it was so unexpected. Fallon was a twin. Who knew? As for The Departed, so many great actors put into one movie just made it even better. Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Anthony Anderson. Whoa, it's like an all-star game of actors.

On a side note, I still haven't found a supermarket in Malta that sells Budwieser yet.

And VERY IMPORTANT note to self: Never down a cheese baguette with chocolate milk in the morning. I feel like hurling right about now.

University Student Recipe No. 1: Minced Chicken/Beef with Red Beans

N.B. Please read thoroughly before doing anything. I'm not responsible for your kitchen blowing up.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized onion, chopped
• 2 red of green bell peppers, chopped
• 2 garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 800 grams minced chicken or beef
• 2 cans red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can crushed or chopped tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

Instructions:

1. Put some water in a pan.
2. Add onions, then garlic, then bell peppers and cook for about 3 minutes.
3. Add chili powder, paprika, coriander and cumin and stir well.
4. Add chicken or beef and stir and cook until brown.
5. Add beans, crushed tomatoes and tomato paste and cook for about 15 minutes.

Serve with rice, pasta or noodles.

Rise n' shine.

I was supposed to wake up almost 2 hours ago. I just showered after waking up at 10.15. I'm quite aware of what I like to call my heavy sleeping disorder. Joseph has it too, he's still asleep as I type. We were going to go to the grocery store this morning. I need Corn Flakes. And I really need to buy a six-pack of Budwieser.

I watched The Shining last night. I guess it's true that the novel is always way better than the book. The movie wasn't half as scary as the book makes it. And it ended way differently. Hell, the movie sucks. No living topiary animals? And wasn't the hotel supposed to blow up?

Before finishing up the movie Joseph and I spent some time printing old funny pictures in black and white and putting them up on our room doors. They're kind of like flashbacks of yourself to remember before walking into your room, like walking out of the past and into your future. That's how I like to think of it. Even if my past consists of edited pictures of me as Che Guevara, a chef, and one of the Beatles.

Tomorrow I shall post up a recipe which Jo and I used yesterday. Chicken or beef with red beans. My mom gave it to us, it's pretty simple but really good. If you're a university student you might like to try it out instead of having noodles or pizza again.

Home away from home.

Mmm finally, internet in Malta.

First night at the flat has passed. Watched Saw with the others and then I watched Click because I couldn't sleep. Saw has a pretty awesome ending, I was so not expecting that "dead" guy to be Jigsaw. I also liked Click's moral of the story, you know, putting family before work. Touching.

Today I watched V for Vendetta which is also a great movie. However, I learned that you should never tell your friends what movie you're watching. Why? Well, there I was, minding my own business watching the movie when I received an SMS from Joseph who was in his room saying "V dies :D". The fucker then came into my room grinning cheesily so I flipped him off.

The university campus is still one giant maze to me. I can't get used to the damn thing. We Bcom students start lectures on the 7th of October. Booya.

Spore is quite an interesting computer game. The other guys love it but I'm not so keen on it. Guess it's because it would be easier if I had a mouse for this laptop. Oh yeah, note to self: get a frikkin' mouse. But no I don't really like the game anyway, not my kind of thing.

The beginning of a new chapter.

Well today's the day that I leave home for Malta, I'll be staying there till Thursday evening. Hmm, what to take. Laptop. Check. Guitar. Check. Skateboard. Check. Clean underwear. Check. A large pale thing by the name of Luke. Oh wait not yet.

In other news, my band Chapter 13 broke up. Saw it coming, but oh well. We're all still friends though. I'll just write music on my own for now and in the future I'll try to start up a new Malta-based band. A sound along the lines of Funeral for a Friend, Fightstar and Boxcar Racer. That would be so badass. I'm sick of everyone covering Pink Floyd.

In some actual important music news, Travis Barker was recently involved in a plane crash.
Excerpt from Wikipedia:

"On September 19, 2008, Barker was injured when the Learjet 60 in which he was a passenger crashed outside of Columbia, South Carolina. The jet was headed for Van Nuys, California. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane was departing the airport when air traffic controllers saw sparks emanating from the plane. It went off the runway, smashed through a fence, crossed a nearby road, slammed into an embankment and caught fire. Barker had performed the night before at an event with former Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell, Gavin DeGraw and DJ AM. Barker was transported to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Georgia, where he is listed in critical condition. DJ AM was also injured in the crash and was also listed in critical condition. Four others were killed in the crash. Two of the deceased were crew members, and two were passengers, including Chris Baker, Barker's personal assistant. On September 21, Dr. Fred Mullins, medical director of the Burn Center reported that Barker sustained second and third degree burns on his lower body and torso and was expected to recover."

That's some scary shit. Glad he's okay, I feel sorry for those who died though. But we know Travis is invincible. Besides, he's not allowed to die until we see a Blink-182 reunion.

Hey that's not what I ordered.

My mom made chicken wings today. I hate chicken wings and she knows that. Not only that, she made a whole pan of them, enough to feed like 10 people. Sure I love chicken breast but that's the only chicken I'll ever eat. To top it off, there's nothing else here to eat. This happens a lot, she cooks something I don't like and she makes too much of it. Okay so maybe everyone else likes it, but why make so much? I need to eat too damnit.

I'm eating Corn Flakes now. No way in hell I'm eating wings. If my dad gets pissed I'll tell him to bugger off. I can't wait to start my university diet. Noodles, pizza and burgers. Oh wait, I've been doing that my whole life.

Nostalgia Pt 2.

I'm down to Episode 50 of Series 1 of the Digimon Series. Yes, 49 episodes in 4 days. I want to finish the series tonight. Ah the memories.

I've been playing some old Playstation games lately. The Crash Bandicoot series, to be exact. The first three, the ones by Naughty Dog. I never beat the first 2 though. The first one is extremely hard as hell, and it's annoying to save the game. I almost beat the second one. I beat the third one in a day last week, it's my favourite one of them all. The first game I ever bought, actually. Definitely a classic. Thanks to my friend Andrew and his blog (check the blogs I follow) for rekindling my interest in the game.

Got my 4th 6-string.

I went to Malta today to check out some amplifiers at various music shops. I learned a few things. Epiphone makes amplifiers. Good ones. Marshall amps pretty much suck with Fender guitars. Mediocre clean tone and very muddy distortion. Bleh. I'm still searching for a decent guitar amp.

Bose music shop. Very close to Knight Music. Packed with badass Ibanez guitars and Marshall and Vox amplifiers. Great shop, you might think. One problem. The owner practically left everything there to gather up dust and rust without ever seeing any care whatsoever. It's such a pitiful sight, all those beautiful guitars with a thick layer of dust and extremely rusted strings. Hmm, I want an Ibanez 7-string. Not from there though.

I bought a new electric acoustic from Knight Music. It's a Tanglewood, and it's pretty damn comfortable. I couldn't find any Fenders with a cutaway so Tanglewood was the only way to go. It's got a built-in tuner and beautiful inlays on the fretboard. It's my fourth guitar so far, and the one I'll be using at the flat in Malta.

Still need a decent guitar amp though.

Nostalgia.

Last weekend I spent till 2am talking to my bumchum Paul about pretty much everything. Including watching old television series like the Power Rangers and Digimon. So well, nostalgia kicked in and I decided to start watching the Digimon series all over again on YouTube, the first 3 in particular. I'm at episode 14 of season 1 right now. I watched 10 episodes in a row last night. Might do it again tonight. Kthxbai.

Don't touch the hair.

These past 3 months I've been sporting the "Jesus" hairstyle, after returning from Austria. Last week I went back to the old fringe-in-face style for a couple of days to see how I'd look again, since it's been a while and I hadn't cut my hair in ages. So I was left to compare this...

with this...

I think I'll stick to imitating the second coming of Christ, fringe is way too long and I don't feel like cutting it.

Today is going to completely be about hair. Not my hair now though, the opposite sex's. Women don't like to reveal their age, so they say, but for the vast majority of Gozitans, you're over 40 if you have that typical short middle-aged woman haircut. I guess when you're married and no longer in your 20s and 30s you don't bother to look attractive anymore. So you go with hair as short as your husband's and dye it weekly or something. My mom has it but she doesn't dye it, my grandma has it, aunts have it, family friends have it. Jeez.

Then there's the teenage girls with the Rihanna hairstyle. Okay it's not a bad hairstyle, but should every girl have it? Long hair is pretty sexy too you know. And for the record, watch Rihanna at this year's MTV VMAs. Ha. Now run off to the hairdresser's.

Hibernation.

Today was (supposedly) my last day of work with my dad. It took its toll on my lungs and throat with all the flying dust. I think he's planning on asking me to work a couple more days next week but that's not happening. I'm going to spend next week chilling out and sleeping a lot. I'm coughing, my throat kinda hurts, my nose is a bit stuffy and my eyes burn. One way to celebrate the end of work.

Short blog today, and I might take the weekend off from writing to gather up some thoughts to write about later on, even though I still have saved articles waiting to be published. Don't miss me too much.

Honour the fallen, for we will never forget.

If there's one thing I've developed over these past seven 9/11s, it's the respect for the firefighters who were at the World Trade Centre and the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 who did what they could to overpower the hijackers.

An excerpt from Wikipedia:

A total of 411 emergency workers who responded to the scene died as they attempted to implement rescue and fire suppression efforts. The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) lost 341 firefighters and 2 FDNY paramedics. The New York City Police Department lost 23 officers. The Port Authority Police Department lost 37 officers, as well as a K9 dog named Sirius. Private EMS units lost 8 additional EMTs and paramedics.

These people, inlcuding emergency workers who survived, are my true heroes. My heart will always go out to those who lost their lives on this day 7 years ago and their relatives.

A tattoo is an art form and the body is the canvas.

Everyone should be able to express their individuality freely, no? I think body art is a great (but not the only, of course) way of doing that. Tattoos, piercings, implants, the whole lot. It tells you a lot about the person. No I don’t mean that the person is a rebellious punk in a biker gang. Even though body art can give you an impression of someone, don’t judge a book by its cover.

I guess society still frowns upon body art to a certain extent. The police force and military don’t allow it. You’re most likely not going to give a good impression at a job interview either. It’s not fair really. I remember when I got my first tattoo; everyone was like, “You, of all people? Well that was unexpected!” Hey, I’m still the same guy, I just like to express myself a bit differently.

I have 3 tattoos so far and counting. I plan to work in the business sector after university. Is it impossible? I’m going to have even more by then. And here’s what I’ll do. If I ever get treated unfairly because of how I look, then I will take a stand until there is justice. My appearance won’t make me any less capable of being a good employee.

Besides, my tattoos wouldn’t show under a suit. Ha. I could probably be doing your year-end accounting and you’d never know what’s under that suit. Double Ha.

Red is red.

A day at the feast yesterday, a day in Malta today. My face took quite a beating from the sun, curse you UV waves. Now I'm sitting in front of the computer after a 4 hour nap. Yes, 4 hours. From 4.30 till 8.30. I have no idea how the hell I'm going to sleep again tonight. At least maybe I'll wake up well for work tomorrow for once. Only 3 days of work left this summer. Then I'm going to take a week off before spending a week prior to the start of university at the flat in Malta.

Speaking of Malta, I had a taste of what it's like to be a Gozitan student today. I had to go to Malta with some friends to hand in a couple of forms. It took a total of 6 people less than 60 seconds to hand in their forms before realising that our purpose of going to Malta was already fulfilled. Well that sucked. They should have had someone in Gozo accept the applications on our behalf. I guess that was too much to ask for.

So by 2pm I was home, by 4 I was in bed resting and by 4.30 I was snoozing. When I woke up I looked out the window and thought, "...What time is it??" I thought it was like the middle of the night or something. But it wasn't, and it still isn't, which is why I'm here typing. Yawn. I still have a couple of saved articles to post up eventually, I think I'll use one of them tomorrow. In the meantime I'll try to write some more articles to publish later on.

I need to read a new book, I'm dying to read something good. I've had some good recommendations, including "Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini and "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. I'll get down to those within the next few weeks. Any other recommendations are welcome.

The pride and joy of our village feast.

Well it's already past 7pm and I've only just started writing today's entry. I guess it's going to become increasingly harder to update every single day, especially with university life coming up pretty soon.

The reason I didn't update earlier today though was because I spent the afternoon at the feast march. Oh boy what I have to say about feasts.

Personally I think some people take feasts so seriously that they forget what the main aim of the feast is, which is to praise the patron saint of the town or village. What, you didn't know that? Of course not, you thought that feasts are all about jumping around, clapping your hands, drinking beer and competing against other villages' marching bands and fireworks.

In other words, a lot of people here are hypocrites. Your so-called patron saint becomes your method of competition to belittle other villages by saying yours is the best, and that your village has the best fireworks. I bet God does a facepalm everytime he sees the fighting between the supporters of Santa Maria and Saint George. Can't blame Him, can you. It's like, you put boxing gloves on the saints and throw them in a ring and begin chanting them on to see who knocks out the other first.

So there's the processions, where everyone dresses formally and prays and follows the statue. My dad always says that that's the only real feast, because it's the only actual praising of the patron saint.

I'm on my way out to the feast in under half an hour. I'm going to be honest, I don't go to praise the saint. But unlike most of you, I don't go bragging about being where I'm from, and I don't chant songs which I don't even know who they're directed at. And I don't think my village is better than anyone else's. Hell, if I wanted to brag about a place I'd brag about Manhattan, where I was raised.

So here's the thing. Go out, have fun, do whatever you want to do. Just don't go saying your village is better than anyone else's, or your patron saint is the best. It's not about being the best. Let everyone else have a good time too.

Personal Review of Metallica's new album "Death Magnetic".

Probably THE most highly anticipated album of the year, "Death Magnetic" is Metallica's 9th studio album set to be released on the 12th of September. Not surprisingly, it got leaked on the internet before the release date so I'm sure many Metallica fans have already listened to it in its entirety. Surprisingly, Lars Ulrich is totally cool about it and isn't being a dick.

So, to start off, a few general comments before I comment on each track one by one. First of all, many questions were asked prior to the release of this album. Is Kirk Hammett writing solos again? Did Lars get rid of that shitty tin can of a snare drum? Is Rob Trujillo still acting like a gorilla on stage? Well, the answer is yes. To all of those. So far, so good. The album itself has a mix of oldschool Metallica with some new twists and surprises. If I were to place it in a certain era, I would say it should be right after the Black Album. Except for the fact that that would mean that "The Unforgiven III" would have been released before the "Unforgiven II". Aaaaanyway, here's my track-by-track review of the album.

1. That Was Just Your Life. The album starts off with a clean intro which sounds something like off of Master of Puppets or the Black Album and, following the course of such albums, it leads to distorted guitars and drums. It really does sound like the proper Metallica we all know and love throughout the song, with some added flavour. There's the fast palm muting, and the *sigh of relief* solo which kicks in after 5 minutes. It could have been a longer solo, but it's a kickass song overall, great way to start the album.



2. The End of the Line. This song is derived from "The New Song" which was rumoured to be called "Death is not the End". Well, that's not what it's called. It sounds much better as a studio version. The singing could have done with a little more growl, as it's almost a little screechy at times. Fast solo with wah effect, but again, could have been longer in my opinion. The post-solo consists of rather punkish palm mutes followed by clean strumming with soft singing giving it a pop punk feel. It actually sort of reminds me of The Offspring there. It does go back to more agressive singing after that though.



3. Broken, Beat & Scarred. Rather punkish intro, with a more metal feel when the palm mutes come in. James' singing sounds very strong, with somewhat simplistic and almost repetitive lyrics. Overall it has this heavy punk feel to it, and it has a longer solo ending with whammy bar dives.



4. The Day That Never Comes. The first single, and one of the 2 songs to be played live before the release of the album. Keeping the tradition, Metallica made this downbeat song the 4th track on the album. Clean intro followed by distorted one which kind of reminds me of "The Unforgiven II". The same thing with the clean picking which leads into the verse. The heavy chorus brings out James' singing at its best. After the 2nd chorus, the song gets more agressive. The last 3 minutes start off with machine gun guitars, followed by solos and duel soloing, much like the long outro of "One". One of my favourite songs on the album.



5. All Nightmare Long. This song has one of my favourite intros on the album, a nice blend of clean guitar with Rob Trujillo's bass work, before heavy guitars and drums kick in. The palm muting gives it the oldschool Metallica feel. The vocals starting off the verse are a bit unexpected, and it actually almost kills the feel when listening to it for the first time. Chorus has a somewhat punk feel to it, and the second verse starts off in the same manner as the first one. Slight disappointment there. It improves with a long solo and fast palm muting during the second half of the song though.



6. Cyanide. The other song which was played live before the release of the album. The bass line is simple yet very catchy, kudos to Rob. Actually, a lot of the guitar riffs in this song are simple but catchy at the same time. I particularly love the vocal pattern in the verses. The breakdown on the snare drum after the 2nd chorus isn't really that impressive though.



7. The Unforgiven III. A lot of Metallica fans wet themselves when they heard of this song. A lot of ideas began popping up, everyone tried to predict what this one would sound like. Well I'm pretty sure everyone got it wrong. One of the most unique intros ever for Metallica, the first minute consists of melancholy piano backed by an orchestra, leading to clean guitar which would very much indeed remind you of "The Unforgiven" and "The Unforgiven II". The verse starts off with distorted guitars which sort of lose the melancholy feel, but the lyrics are definitely related to the song's predecessors. Vocals over the clean guitar sound much better in my opinion, sounding a lot more like the first 2 versions. There's this eerie sensation of sadness with the lyrics "Forgive me, forgive me not" leading to one of my favourite solos on the album where Kirk Hammett really shines. This song will really grow onto you with time.



8. The Judas Kiss. The intro has the oldschool Metallica feel throughout. The singing is agressive with some softer pop-punkish singing ("So what now...") every now and then. It's a very agressive song overall, with a somewhat creepy breakdown before the very fast solo. There's a second solo not long after that, followed by true Metallica drum and guitar work.



9. Suicide & Redemption. One of Metallica's longest songs ever, clocking in at 9.58. Going back to their roots, this is a completely instrumental song with some significant bass work in the intro. For the first couple of minutes it sort of feels like a St. Anger song (without the shitty drums, of course) and even starts to get a bit repetitive until it changes after 3 minutes. Then the clean guitar comes in topped with some beautiful soloing. Heavy rhythm kicks in with some duel soloing after that. After 6 minutes you get even more soloing from Kirk Hammett. Overall I wouldn't say that this is a bad song; it's more agressive than "Orion" and "The Call of Ktulu" but personally I think it would struggle when compared to them.



10. My Apocalypse. The last song off the album, and the shortest, much like with the album Master of Puppets. Starts off with some oldschool Metallica, I particularly liked the drums which then lead to proper thrash metal with the snare drum. The song doesn't have one of my favourite choruses on the album but the song retains the oldschool feel overall. It feels like a proper thrash metal song.

Well, there you have it, Death Magnetic in its entirety. It has its ups and downs, but I think Metallica did a good job in going back to their roots while not completely becoming an 80s thrash metal band again. It's definitely a huge improvement from St. Anger. I'm sure I'm going to like this album more and more as I listen to it, it does have some memorable riffs. Would I say Metallica are back? Yes, yes I would. This album may not be another Master of Puppets but it is an album where you can say yes, this is Metallica.

Your thoughts and opinions on the album are very welcome, I would love to hear what you have to say with regards to my review and the album itself.

Baby you're gonna be a star.

About a week ago I noticed a chameleon in our front yard. Those things are really damn hard to notice when they’re in the wild, so the first thing I did was take a picture of it. I admired its innocence, just walking up a tree branch minding its own business. As cool as it was, I didn’t want to remove it from there or anything, so I just left it in peace.

Then my dad saw me with the camera and I told him about the chameleon. Within seconds the whole family was crowding around it, shouting and wanting to catch it. Needless to say I got pissed off and told everyone to go away and leave it alone. They did, and now it’s gone off to somewhere else. Maybe on another tree, or even to another house. I don’t know.

I am extremely satisfied knowing that it’s out there somewhere in freedom and not locked up in some aquarium.

Sometimes I wish we could do the same to other human beings and just let them live their quiet innocent lives. I hope I never become famous. I don’t want to be locked up in an aquarium called “celebrity status”. No one should.

Chatterbox.

You know, as soon as I wrote the introductory blog entry I wrote a handful of other blog entries on Microsoft Word and saved them, to post them later on. I wanted to use one of them for today but I thought of so many new things today to write about that I'm just gonna talk about them and leave the other articles for another time.

Hot dogs. I had hot dogs for lunch today. I like my hot dogs in 2 different ways. Either I spread mayonnaise on the bread and put lettuce strips on the hot dog, topping it up with ketchup, or I put baked beans in the bread under the hot dog. With lots of pepper. I guess I picked the latter one up from my brother, it's a pretty good idea actually. I had 2 with baked beans today, yum.

Yesterday I learned the hard way that when you let wet plaster dry on your skin for a long time, it digs through and tears up the flesh. Imagine pulling apart a hunk of cheese. The torn part would be what the flesh looks like. And it burns like hell. Initially I thought I'd say "Oh there's no need to worry, I have nothing serious" but you guys are probably chuckling and saying "Haha it would be so funny if he had a huge gash in his arm or something". Oh you guys, you're such a tease. I wouldn't let a giant blob of plaster settle on my arm for long. I just have a small red painful hole in my thumb. Cause you know, when you're working, you don't really pay attention much to the dirt that falls on you. My mistake. I wonder if anyone out there is thinking that this could be a new sick fetish you could try. Maybe people already do that. Maybe I just encouraged you to try. Oh shit, what have I done. Delete this paragraph from your memory.

Moving on, these past couple of days I've been playing Metallica's "The Day that Never Comes" and "Cyanide" in my head a lot. Like at work, the whole fucking time. They're pretty good songs, ok maybe not everyone is happy with, ahem, Lars, but the drums grew onto me after a few listens. So far I'm quite happy with Metallica's comeback, can't wait to listen to the rest of the album.

Sticking to the topic of music, today I overheard Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" again. I love that song. Hell, I love her music, she's a great singer. Most of you thought, "No way dude you play rock, you can't like that crap"! Well, fuck you. I know how to appreciate talent when I see it. Or hear it, for that matter. I like Leona Lewis, sue me. I also like Amy Whinehouse and Mika. I have great respect for Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. Ooooooh, shocking!

Then there's Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana. Aka the new Britney Spears. Rather than focusing on her music, which I'm not really interested in, this girl's becoming quite the paparazzi's fave. First the pregnancy rumours (which were false), then the "topless" picture, then the uproar about the footage of her and her dad driving in a car without a seatbelt. Good God, give me a break. Well, her a break. You're going to kill her before she even turns 21. And she's only 15. At least you gave Britney Spears a chance. Maybe I should do a Chris Crocker and make a video crying LEAVE MILEY ALOOOOOOOOONE!! but then again I'm not obsessed about her. I just think people should leave celebrities alone.

Enough music talk. Actually, wait. Today I got my new 5-guitar stand, it's pretty sexy. Just wish it didn't take up half of my room, but it'll come in handy when we play live. Jesus Christ my thumb hurts.

Oh and by the way, I didn't get cake yesterday. It wasn't even cake. It was ice cream cake. The problem? Pistachio ice cream. I hate pistachio ice cream with a passion. If there's such thing as good ice cream, it's within the boundaries of chocolate, vanilla, fudge and cookie. And anything by Vienetta. As long as there's no pistachio. Am I spelling "pistachio" right? Ok now I've said the word so much it doesn't even make sense anymore.

Hopefully tomorrow I will put up one of my saved articles which I'm dying to share.

Yowza, what a summer.

So today I received the acceptance letter from the University of Malta. First day's on the 30th of this month. I guess I'll be spending a week at the flat in Malta before, to get used to it.

Preparation for university life was only one of the many pretty eventful things of this summer. Let's rewind a bit to see how the past 3 months have been for me.

Soon after I finished my annual exams at 6th form I got my first tattoo, the Linkin Park one. Right after I finished my Matsec exams I got drunk for the very first (and hopefully the only) time. You can't blame me though, it was that stupid maths exam. Hardest exam I ever did. Thought I'd have to do it again in september.

Then there was the Nova Rock festival in Austria. Best musical experience of my life. Also the only time I spent 4 days without showering. And sleeping with guys. Who didn't shower either.
Anyway, then I hooked up with my current girlfriend exactly 2 months ago, yay me. I checked out the flat around that time too, the one I'll be sharing with 2 of my best buds Joseph and Luke, who are looking forward to making my life a living hell with endless pranks. Yep, best buds.

Hmm, then I received my exam results. Yes I even passed that blasted maths exam. 2 days later I passed my driving theory exam. Took me 8 minutes, booya. Still taking driving lessons though, I have one at 5pm today actually.

Let's see, what else. Well I had like 3 gigs with my band, one of them being pretty much the most awesome gig I ever performed in. Yes, the Wearetheundergound V2.0 one, obviously. Yeah and I made quite some money working with my dad. Painting, plastering, the usualy odd job shit. Hmm note to self, I still need a new acoustic guitar. Speaking of guitar, I got my 2 other tattoos just recently. One of a black cat and the other of well, yes, a guitar. Figured the latter out by yourself, didn't you? You smart thing.

Jeez, I hope I didn't forget anything. Funnily enough I thought this summer would suck balls. Turned out to be the exact opposite.

Now for it to be completely perfect I need to eat cake today. It's my brother's birthday. I want cake damnit.

A new blog is born.

Hi all, welcome to my blog.

This is going to be like, the introductory entry, you know like the first day of school, where all the teachers waste their first lessons with the boring introductions and so on. Well, this is me wasting my first entry.

A lot of things inpsired me to start writing on the internet. First, I've been viewing other blogs constantly for some time now, it's quite interesting to hear what other people have to say. Second, a lot of things have been on my mind lately and I just kept feeling the urge to write it all down and get it out of me. Something like a diary I guess. Not too personal though. Just random thoughts which others can read about and even related to.

The final straw was my writing spree on the internet community, hi5. Sigh, what a crappy thing. I still use the damn thing to communicate with friends since apparently everyone here uses it. So yeah, I started writing blogs about what was crappy about it. Actually, about what was crappy about the people using it. I'm saying crappy a lot. There, I said it again.

Anyway it was fun writing so I said, screw it, I'm starting a blog. And here I am. Writing a blog. Obviously future entries will be a lot more interesting than this incredibely boring article, which you're probably reading with your head tilted to the side out of sheer boredom.

I'll try to write as often as possible, comments are appreciated. Flame me, praise me, worship me, threaten me, it's all cool. I don't mind.

Bye for now.