RAILS ARE SCARY...

...Snowboard rails scare the shit out of me.  If you fall one way you land badly.  Fall the other way and not only do you land badly but you land badly on a metal rail!  It doesnt help that I'm shit at doing them either.   Definietly getting some body armour.

Just tested me new Technine Jib board at Chill Factor E.  Its sweet as.  Its the best board I've ever had, even if it is only my second board :P

Feels like I've just broken my ribs snowboarding at chill factor e in manchester.  Owe.....

GOT MY NEW BOARD!

My new (and first) snowboard came today ^_^  Got me a rome agent 156 with burton tria d bindings and 32 lashed boots.  I could have got a board more suited to progressing like the rome solution but at £273 for the agent in the sale it seemed silly not to spend the extra.  Same with the bindings.  Cant go wrong for £126 and they should have loads of resell potential.  Got the 32 lashed because they were cheap on ebay and there nice and forgiving for my first trip on a mountain (less than a month to go!).  Picture coming soon.  The flash made my eyes glow like i was the spawn of satan and i was pulling a spazzy face :P

...Shouldn't have played guitar hero before going to bed.... :(

Went rock climbing at awesome walls in liverpool tonight.  Blitzed all but 2 of the top rope walls.  Gonna try do a lead climbing session next month.  We were meant to be going at least once a week, not sure what happened to that :P  Best not mention I've not been the gym for over a month :P

Snowboarding lesson again tomorrow, gonna nail them toe edge turns again ^_^

Went to liverpool today to try on snowboard boots.  Only i ended up talking about boots, bindings and boards and forgot to try on the boots :(  You cant really go back in after you've walked out the shop.  Have to go back next weekend.

Another week another snowboarding lesson.  Negatives; I fell on my left arse cheek and it fucking kills!!  Positives; I can now turn on my toe edge and link turns ^_^  I rock the party!

Went to Runcorn ski centre yesterday for another snowboarding lesson.  The instructor bumped us up to the next course cos we kick ass!! Ok maybe not kick ass but definitely getting into it.  My  Brother Alex started in the beginers course to.  Cant wait to go back to the indoor snow dome in February!

...Bit sore today tho :P

The wait is over!!!

Described by some as the one of the most important events of our lifetimes!  Heat magazine is  claiming it to be one of the most talked about events in heat's history.

Ok so its not heat magazines most talked about events but the wait is over!  Yes thats right folks, if you haven't already guessed, 'skip to the end' is blogging again (cue loud applause).

I wanted to get this going again just to have something that friends could read and comment on.  I also wanted to show all those people who aren't my friends what a fantastic life I'm....er.....having?

Anyway...Just a quick catch up really.  Currently working for the government as a lacky in an office.  Not big business but just about pays the bills.  Had a couple of days off this week.  Me, Will, Gary, and Matt went to the new snow dome in Manchester.  Its amazing but I suck big time at snow boarding.  Just booked in some more lessons at the dry ski slope in Runcorn this saturday (It's a damn site cheaper than Manchester and nearer to where I live).  My brother Alex is coming down with us to to learn.

Thats about it for the first post in 4, yes 4 years!  I hope it was worth the wait.  Stay tuned for more writings from the secret life of Robin Bamford 

woo hoo, woo hoo, woo hoo(please allow me to introduce myself) woo hoo

After aquiring the guns n roses best of album 'sypathy for the devil' and 'you could of been mine' have adorned my winamp playlist (although i prefer the original rolling stones version).

Since getting back from America ive done relativley little, university has seen lessons canceled hear and there and although i seem to have alot of free time i dont seem to have any at all or get alot done. Ive got so much work to catch up on. Still, it beats working full time.

Saturday just gone saw the arrival of 2 many Dj's at bugged out at the liverpool carling academy. I cannot stress how could they were although the odd song got played twice, we danced, we drank, we danced somewhere, then we drank again before leaving and climing a statue. It was just one of those funny nights where everything seemed to click, the atmosphere, the people, the music. On the gig list next is the super furry animals, then Bill Bailey's part troll tour, followed by Ross Noble's noodlemeister tour then last but not least The Red Hot Chilli Peppers. As can be seen the next few months are gonna be filled with many a fine event and many a fine good night out. Of course it doesn't end there, Glastonbury tickets come on sale at 8am on the 1st of April, sadly you can only buy 2 at a time and you can only pay by debit card but as long it shouldn't be a problem, im sure i can get someone to buy 2 tickets aswell so atleast four of us can go. Also with the leeds carling weekend being late on in august and the virgin festival just a few weeks earlier, it all equals one big summer of fun!!! now thats real magic, shazam!!

Well I've been back for over 2 days and as a result of the difference in climates and possible as a result of being awake for 35 odd hours over sat/sun I seem to have developed a fully fledged cold, still, you gotta laugh!

Partly prompted by the fact that im still working on American eastern time and therefore not tired and partly by mike i thought that i would recall a few things from my holiday to florida (i only got back on the 15th of feb). I think the first thing worth mentioning is the fact that it was a fantastic holiday, it sorta feels like a dream at the moment, like i went to bed and I've just got up. It felt like 2 weeks whilst we were over there (we being my mum, brother and sister) but upon returning its like...i dont know, weird i suppose is the best way, a sort of feeling of acomplishment aswell that we actually did it, went all that way and did what alot of people i know have done. Its the family holoday that you have to do, and being twenty years old or older shouldn't stop anyone, i mean i was buzzing with childlike excitement when they did the special night time parade at the magic kingdom, and the fireworks at cinderella's castle where, without doubt the best firework display I've ever seen.

We got a fantastic deal on the holiday, for well under £400 we got the flight (virgin transatlantic) and 2 weeks accomidation in the Disney resort area, staying at the pop century hotel. The hotel was basic, room, two double bed's so we had to share but it was ok, i mean when your on a holiday like disney you dont spend alot of time in the room anyway and the beds where big so we had loads of space, my mum snores tho so that annoyed my sister a fair bit. What was great was that we had 2 week passes to everything disney so we could go anywhere without having to rush. Also because of the time of year we never had to cue for more than 20 minutes, most of the time the most we cued was 5 mins.

What i was trying to lead onto though is that fact that a disney holiday doesn't feel like a holiday at all, your in this world that they've made and your part of it, take the rides for example. The rides at disney arn't just rides, you become a part of the the story that the rides about. The Rock n' Roll Rollercoaster has Aerosmith in the recording studio and they invite you to come to their gig so the manager organises a limo for you (obviously the rollar coaster). Universal was the same aswell, they had some great rides, more on that later though. Disney even call the staff cast members, even the guy selling sweets in a shop, the whole vibe is that your in this world, its great, everything has a theme. It puts any theme park in this country to shame, i mean all you get at Alton Towers is "dare you ride the oblivion" i mean thats shit, disney puts so much effort into their rides.

I think, no i know my favourite park in disney was disney mgm studios, it was just more geared up for an older audience, bigger rides (tower of terror, rock n roll roller coaster) plus they had star tours which was ace, especially when they show the safety bit and chewbacca is there putting his seat belt on, quality stuff. Naturally alot of money was spent in the starwars shop between me and my brother. I think it was around $130 i spent, the most ive ever spent on starwars stuff in one go (although ive got my eye on the lego AT AT) I loved the japanese shop they had at epcot aswell, both mike n sy sadly I was running out of money quickly at the times we visited there, specially as on the 1st day i did spend loads at star tours.

The other parks all had there quilities, animal kingdom whilst not the best park had some cool stuff. The animal safari was cool, going back to everything in disney being an adventure there was a story to the safari where you have to rescue an elephant from poachers and at one point the bridge 'breaks'. I mean its just little things like that which makes the experience more enjoyable.

Epcot was not what i was expecting, mission : space was a whole new experince, Neil armstrong actually worked with disney whilst designing the ride to make it feel like you were actually travelling in space. The only bad thing about epcot was the 'land' attraction which, whilst going through the green houses they tell you that they use, lets say methods of growing crops that i dont agree with, especially when your not told about them whilest your eating the food.

The magical kingdom was a cool. We were there on a really hot day aswell which made us all tired. Again it was more geared to kids but still great all the same, the parade had me buzzing with excitement and to an exstenct there was that feeling of magic, i know its childish but hey. Pirates of the carrabian was great, specially as it's so old. Unfortunately my mum got the shits that day and after getting off that ride disgraced the nearest toilet. The new 3D cinema they've got there is freakin awsome, its called disneys phillermagic, whilst not as good as shrek is still damn close, all the great disney storys like lionking, peter pan, aladin, they all come to life, i mean you actually felt like you were riding aladin's carpet it was that good.

Downtown disney, whilst not a theme park still had some good stuff, especially disney quest - an arcade where they have all the biggest and newest arcade games and there all free - inc. continues, they had an 8 player link up on daytona, it was great. My brother became addicted to outrun 2 which they also had at the arcade in our hotel. It also had the best restauraunt I've ever been to - the rainforest cafe. It was crazy, they have all these electronic animals that move and look at you and they have thunderstorms in there, its great, the foods excellent to. Unfortunately as we were on a budget and new to the tipping thing we didnt tip that much, i think the most we ever tipped on the holiday was $7, in the rainforest cafe aswell. We also went to planet hollywood there for my sisters birthday on the last night. We saw 50 first dates there aswell at the 24 screens cinema.

Blizzard beach was great fun, me and my brother did the huAge slide there, my sister bottled it. The wave machine was great although nothing compared to the wave machine at Wet n Wild on internatinal drive which was amazing.

Personally i enjoyed the parks outside of disney more, my mum's favourite was going to seaworld, the day we went was seriously hot, in the 80's, so maybe gettin soaked on journey to atlantis wasn't such a bad thing after all! Wet n wild, again that was another scorching hot day and a fantastic water park. Both universal studios and Islands of adveture where my favourites. Some of the stuff they've got is amazing, shrek 4d was the best at universal studios, naturally we did the jaws ride, and all the other stuff like MIB, twister, back the the future, T2-3D. At Islands of adventure the marvel area is quality, the hulk is an excellent rollarcoaster although you do come off feeling slightly disorientated. The spiderman 3D ride was fucking cool as fuck, combing a 3D experince and a ride, unforgetable!!

We sort of chilled out the last few days, just tying up things we hadn't previously done, like honey i shrunk the audience which i know is old but was nothing compared to the other 3D cinemas, especially shrek 4d and spiderman.

At the end of the day it was great, it cost alot, we spent alot but it was great, everyone really enjoyed it and everyone will have some great memories for ever, because lets face it, you have to do something like disney as a family, I'ts just one of those things. We did all the big rides and all the parks apart from tampa bay which, because of travelling difficulties we couldn't do. The weather at its hottest was in the 80's but most of the time it was pleasent. It was cloudy the first 2 days and towards the end of the second week but that didn't matter, the important thing was everyone getting a well deserved break and having a great time which we did. I just wanna go on holiday again now, think I've caught the travelling bug!!!

if you take things to seriously you will get hurt

Today we went paintballing which was ace. It meant getting up at 7 in the morning, something im not particulary fond of but definately worth it for the day we had. After getting our equipment, getting our team colours and listening to a brief safety talk we were ready to go. We were against some friends from uni but they had 2 teams of every colour so we teamed up with the other oranges and the whites teamed up with the other whites, it was ace, 16 people each side charging at each other through various scenarios.

The first few times i was shot it did'nt hurt then i recieved just above the nipple, shortly followed by one to the inner thigh which hurt like hell, i mean these things can come out at 140mph (ouch!). The most painfil game i played was a free for all at the end in which i was shot repeatedly in the back and thighs, even in the back of the head and i now have some funky looking injuries to show off. Suprsingly our team not only won the whites (who at one point had 5 people drop out of the team) but we also came top over all! certificate n all.

There were definately 3 highlights of the day at which i can recall at this moment. The first being early on when chris sneaked up behind the white base and took out 4 of their team before getting shot. The second being me shooting beki in the boob followed by my brother shooting her in the head and the elbow followed by my sister shooting her in the groin!! Last on most memorable was my brothers performance. Whilst shooting from behind a small fence chris suggested moving forward but I had already noticed my bro sneaking in from the outside, he succesfully took out the two people who were shooting at us after previously taking out 3 people, whilst this was going on the rest of the orange team raised the flag and won the game. I can't recomend it highly enough, i might try organise it for my birthday in august and get as many people as possible to come although i know some fucker will give me birthday beats by shooting me!!!

to insanity....and beyond

What can i say its an exciting time,more of kim with the arrival of season 3 of 24 on the near horizon, a holiday of 2 weeks in florida with my family in a weeks time and broadband recently installed, phew!! ^_^ Perhaps when i come back i might be able to get that episode where kim gets trapped in a KY jelly factory and has to take her clothes off, cover herself in KY and battle with sweet lookin lesbo's to escape. Can jack help her this time??? i hope not ;)

Mike will hopefully be coming round whilst I'm away to make sure my broadband subscription is'nt going to waste.

Last sunday me and Sarah went to see primal scream at the manchester apollo which by the way was fucking ace, there was a few hickups, like the tickets not turning up till the last minute, oh and spending 25 minutes waiting to get served at the bar but other than that the rocked. .Just to add to the excitement we also got tickets the red hot chilli pepppers gig in manchester in june!!! So thats the super furry animals in March, bill baily in May, ross noble and the RHCP in June. Of course theres glasto if I and my friends have the money to go, and then the leeds carling festival in august!!

I've no idea where the money's coming from as yet but that's never stopped me before!

flowers are the things we grow, pieces of the things we know

Well again yet another completely late and random post but hey, I've got my reasons. For the last month I've been living the life of a red squirel, jumping from tree to tree, scaring people into thinking i was following them. Unfortuntaley i can't talk about it anymore as it would endanger my family.

For anyone thinking that was a little unbelievable or just plain stupid I've been working at gamestation all over christmas and now that my hours have been reduced im currently spending the mass amount of free time i have sitting on my ever increasing in size arse. So as you can see there's just not enough hours in the day to:

a) make a proper post
b) make a regular post
c) make a post in general

The agenda of this post, im still thinking about it but first heres a few bits n pieces (cue bitsa music and the hands that made things).

The most obvious event of the month was christmas. Nothing special really, the usual, ate far to much until there was no room left then discovered a tin of celebrations, suprisingly i found some un-used room in my stomach. Wash all that down with some turkey and stuffing butties (and a little mustard mayo-yum!), an india jones movie, a lil bit to drink and some festive television.

I did however find this year that the christmas television was...a little weak to put it mildly, offering poor films (apart from a few late night ones, like Terry Gilliams 'Brazil'.

Whilst on the subject of films a must see for anyone, no matter what your taste is 'City of God' The film not only has fantastic cinematography but a constantly moving, funny and emotional script, every second is fantastic, not only that but its based on a true story of one boy's struggle to break free from the slums of Rio De Jeniro without turning to crime but making it on his own through photography. We also see how for the 'hoods' (aka the gansters of the City of God) having a gun and respect is more important that friendship.

Anyway, new series of angel is on, must dash.

stuck in the libary doing an essay that was due in and hour and a half ago. It sort of amazes me the fact that before it was due i didnt't have a clue what to write, now i seem to be reeling off bull shit left right and centre, noonch

You're responsible, sweet, gentle and lovable! You have a loving heart, a great respect for all creatures (human, great and small), and the ability to see the thing that makes each individual special. However, you tend to overlook the things that make you special, and thus, putting you in a position to be pushed around by others. Take some time everyday to reflect on your qualities, and see that you don't have to please everyone and still be loved for who you are. Which Love Hina Girl Are You?

An interesting outcome, more so in the sense that mike also got the same result.

Run Kim Run

Or 24 as it is more populary known. Im on the last disc of the 1st series and im wondering what that silly blonde bitch is going to do next, i mean she meats this rick guy who KIDNAPS her, then when she's free she goes to find him and gets caught in the middle of a drug deal (although it turns out to be a police set up anyway) THEN as she's being driven back to CTU (Criminal Terrorist Unit) HQ She's taken again. Where i dont know as thats as far as ive got up to so far but for fucks sake how does she manage to do it. Im sorry kim, i didnt mean to have a go, how i would love to stradle her lovely perk nipples.

I must stop watching 24 and Bo-Selecta. Also it may seem that im doing the wrong course at uni. Well ok my course is pretty cool and i enjoy it but after reading THIS i suddenly found myself thinking "oh, wish i could do that". Incase you dont know what i mean or for those dont care and arn't going to follow the link it regards the part of spending a year in japan in one of their universities. If "Love Hina" has taught me anything than i might be missing the oppurtunity of going to university and marrying the love of my life.

I believe in the philosophy of a ruling class, especially as i rule

Yesterday (wendesday) was my first day and it was cool. I was kept busy all day as there was a massive stock and price sheck to do but as i was busy the day went reasonable quick. So far the staff are pretty cool and dead easy to talk to which makes things alot easier and chilled out. Hopefully they'll keep me on till after christmas so not only will i have a cool ass job but 30% discount aswell as other benefits like free rental at blockbuster :)

After that i spent yesterday playing Rollar coaster tycoon till 2 in the morning which meant i got little sleep as i had to be up by 7 30am to get to uni and am subsequently really tired now so i think ill go watch "24" or read "Love Hina" for a bit.

congratulations and celebrat-ions

Yes Yes, well I'd like to thank my mum and family, also my friends and last but not least all of my cats. If you read Rays then you will already know that I got the job at gamestation in southport. Excellent news i thought and most worthy of blogging. It would have been cool of ray had got the aswell but alas... Anyways im pretty excited about it. I start on wednesday at 08:45 where up i shall recieve my gamestaion T shirts (sweet). This all came as sort of a suprise, i mean the interview did go really well and the manager, she seemed pretty cool but the thing that was bothering me was that i was half an hour late, i did however phone to let them know but i really did think that it would go against me. Well how wrong was I.

Aswell as that my phone also came (although two weeks late) and its feckin sweet. Its just the right size, and smaller and id lose it. To top of this goodfortune i also got into uni again. This time to do a pretty cool course called moving image which is basically how to make independent film. Theres also a screen writing element to go with that so with any luck it should be quite exciting.

It's been seven hours and 15 days

Also i broke up with my girlfriend of 15 months. Im not going to go into detail as i know atleast one family member who reads this blog :| I don't know if we will get back together or not but the most important thing is that were still friends.

And so to end on something not so depressing although it could be argued...spirited away. To those in the area around liverpool need i say more. I mean is liverpool or is it not the new european northwest capital of culture yet we seem to be lacking dont we, if its the capital of culture how can such and acclaimed film not be shown. I ask you why. We know that anime in this country is unprepresented but for gods sake this film, like ray said, has won numerous awards and is on blockbuster status so capital of culture or no capital of culture it should be showing in abundance. Seriously though im thinking of writing to the liverpool echo expressing my concern. Perhaps if we got an online petition (hint hint ). I dont know, as much as i love liverpool maybe it should be stripped of its title and let manchester have it? Ooooooohhh!

Orange trainers train Orange trainers to train Orange customers to train thier Orange phones thankyou!

Just ordered the sagem myx-6 from Orange. Should be here within 2 days but mike ordered the same phone a week ago and it still isn't here??? Nehoos the reason i had to order a new phone is because i splilt milk on my old one on saturday whilst at work. Coincidently i only said a few days earlier I can't be bothered buying a new one because this one still works. Fate it seems is not without a sense or irony.

Also gonna put some pics up real soon, hopefully of short film im making to try get into uni, i have two days to film and edit it all, leaving it all to the last minute despite the fact that ive had almost a week to do it. Meh...