Berlin, Stress, Karaoke

20 May 2006 Time to move on? Part 2 Category: Blogging This is my first “my space” blog, all previous ones have been copied over from blog.co.uk.      If you have been reading previous blogs, you’ll know that I applied for a job in Blackpool; well next Friday I have an interview. I feel very grown up for getting an interview for a job advertised in the guardian.  I don’t think Ill get it but Im going to give it my best shot.  The fact that I have an interview makes it feel like a real possibility that I will be leaving Newcastle.   As I mentioned in previous blogs I havent been looking to leave and if I allow myself to think about it, I know I could convince myself that leaving this city I love is a really bad idea, especially as I have made so much of a life for myself, with so many really close friends.  Once word got out that I might be moving, I was surprised at how many people seemed genuinely upset.  But the way I look at it, Id rather be sad to leave my friends but excited about having a new adventure, than regretting not going for it.  I do try my best to seek out new adventures without worrying too much about the consequences.  I know this is a foolhardy approach but its worked well for me so far.   But I am getting ahead of myself, because although I will give this interview everything I’ve got, I don’t think I’ll get the job. At least Ill have a night out in Blackpool out of it.  Don’t get me wrong, I am really going to give it my best, which means I have allot of prep work to do this weekend. I have to give a presentation as well as research the job itself. so thats me busy for the weekend, which is a good thing because the last few weekends have been a bit…..wild and I need an excuse to put the breaks on for a while. Having said that, last weekend was FANTASTIC, and thats all I dare say about that.     Ok thats all for now P.S. Dr who has been a bit rubbish over the last 2 weeks, sorry but the new cybermen look naff, next weeks looks good though.  20:47 – 0 Comments – 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Time to move on? Part 1 I have decided to move my blog to my space, i’ll see how it goes and if its no good i’ll be back, but for now my blog can be found here: http://www.myspace.com/kevhickeyuk 7:59 – 0 Comments – 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Time of the month

This week i am going to be lazy and just copy accross an email I have sent to my mate Teresa

Hello m’darlin
well whats my news?
ok, first of all I am having a period at the moment. I had stomach cramps over the weekend and yesterday I had hot flushes, so obviously it must be my time of the month. thankfully I seem to be over it today, which is a shame cos i wanted to go rollerskating and parachuting like in the adverts.

Next, I have finaly got my finger out about looking for another job. Although I still like this job I feel as though its time to move on and progress my career. so last week I applied for a job as an e-learning advisor in Blackpool. Although I wasn’t thinking about leaving the north east, this job looked ideal, and i do like Blackpool. The thing is now I have opened myself up to the possibility of living away from the north east, i have started to applying to jobs elsewhere. I have decided, no matter what the job is I am not going to move somewhere I hate (sorry London, Surrey and Birmingham).
I hope i at least get an interview in Blackpool, I’ll make a long weekend out of it.

No men on the horizon what so ever at the moment. Not a problem, can’t be asked.

as for my musical career, last night my and a few guys from the office got together and had a jamming session. well Mr Anderson ( Chris, but Mr Andrson sounds better in a matrix style) demonstrated that he could actually play drums and guitar while Dan and I demonstrated that we couldn’t. Mind you I am slowly getting the hang of these chords which is all I want to do.
Had a good Sunday night karaoke session, lots of ROCK songs, loads of fun.

and that’s about it from me

best get back to work

OK love you bye bye

Kev

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Sex, drugs & karaoke

It’s all over, after 2 years of getting stressed about writing assignments, I have finally finished my PGCE (FE). I had my final observation on Monday and within a few hours it was written up, added to my portfolio and handed in. I think that means I can get on with my life.

Last weekend this involved several wild nights (hence sex, drugs and karaoke)and as its bank holiday I guess this weekend might be the same.

One thing I did last week was randomly get a guitar. well it was cheep in the market and i though it rude not to. I snapped a few strings trying the tune the strings to the wrong notes (i was looking at the book upside down) but I have got there and managed to have ago at trying a few chords. My poor house mate must be fed upon the noise.

I have decided that it is imposable to play most of the chords with only 5 fingers on each hand so I’ll be looking for songs that only have the few humanly possible chords. I am getting there although there is a 5 min gap between chords. Still I am confident and have booked the telewest arena for this time next year.

Right I am going to get back to the guitar.

Other news in briefs:
- I have a new mobile (nokia N70) which does everything you could imagine, include tune the guitar (not joking)
- I have booked jet another trip to Berlin for June. Is 3 times in 7 months a bit obsessive?

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nothing to report

Nothing to Report

My initial plan was to write something on this blog every week, but to be honest there is nowt going on in my life at the moment worth talking about other than:

- Uni work. I am busy finishing my last 2 Assignments for my PGCE. Thank god I have finished all my lectures. I have a bottle of champaine in the fridge waiting for the day i hand in my last assignment.

- Gym. I have thrown myself into going to the gym. I am going most days doing either a weights routine or the medevil torture that is a spinning class. This has been going on for 3 weeks or so now, and so far i think i have put weight on. maybe its muscle? i’m not conviced

I hope that once my works out of the way normal service will be resumed.

I have been told that i should fill my blog with my thoughts, ideas, etc. rather than rely on whats going on around me, however i am far to shallow to have any, but don’t worry,if i get one, you’ll be the first to know.

I almost forgot, New series of Doctor Who starts saturday, can’t wait.

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time to de-stress

About 10 years ago i was told that i was very Irish as far as anger and stress. I allow lots of things to wind me up and, without noticing, I bottle it all up until I snap. 10 years ago this led me to shouting like a mad man over who had eaten the last jaffa cake, and last week it led me to walking out of a uni test, going down the pub and staying out drinking till half two in the morning. A combination of work, uni and other bits and pieces had got me into that state all mixed in with my roman catholic guilt, that I am forever carrying around. Sorry.

So here is my plan of action for making sure things dont get on top of me:
- Give up coffee. I used to drink 3 or 4 cups of very dark coffee a day. I gave up a week ago and have finally got past the cold turkey headaches
- Exercise. I rejoined my old gym on Wednesday, did a work out yesterday, can barely move today.
- Vent my spleen. I wrote a 3 page letter to the Uni pointing out everything that was wrong with the course.

Right what else has been going on? Well last weekend I was back in brum for my Dads surprise 60th birthday party. Despite dreading it, I actually had fun. Dad really had no idea, in fact he almost walked out the bar because he could see there was a private party on, before the penny dropped. He had a smile on his face all night long. His girlfriend had organised the whole thing and you could tell she was relived that all the planning and secret phone calls was now over. Although I have met his girlfriend a few times this was the first time I had met the rest of her family, and seen how Dad was part of it. Through her he has a pseudo step son, daughter, son-in law, daughter in law and 5 amazing grandkids, who all seem to adore him. I guess part of me felt jealous, sad or even relived that Dad now had this ready made family that I could never give him. But then I remembered how shallow I am and got on with enjoying the party.

I had invited my best friends Teresa and Elizabeth (sisters) who where the only ones there who know Im gay. Being the friends they are they did their best to make me revel my secret identity. While chatting to one of my dads work friends I could see them out of the corner of my eye, encouraging me to join in the dance routine to the YMCA. They were also there while various uncles and aunts asked if I had a girlfriend and how great it would be to have a wedding in the family. My standard reply was why dont you renew your vows then?

Before I drove back the following day, I popped round to see Teresa and Elizabeths family, including Elizabeths baby daughter who had her mothers big cheeks and big eyes. She looked permanently shocked, and beautiful with it. So then it was a 4 hour drive back to brum while practicing I dont want to miss a thing for the evening karaoke session back in ncastle

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just another saturday

Its Saturday morning and I have just enjoyed the Doctor (pertwee) attack werewolf with fire extinguishers in several parallel universes.

I have given up trying to figure out how to post pics on here so if you want to see my Berlin pics you will need to go here http://kevhickey.fotoblog.co.uk

Well this week I managed to finish my latest assignment early so i can chill out this weekend. Hoorah.

Well this week my best mate from Uni became a daddy, wow big news. also my dad is 60 this month. I guess these 2 facts mean i should think about the passage of time and reflect on my life passing me by. Thankfully I am far too shallow to be bothered about any of that nonsense.

I have been trying to get a proper website sorted but its not there yet, watch this space. Nowt else going on

so Ta Ta for Now

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Last day in Berlin

On Sunday night i looked thought the free magazine to see what was on. I had a choice of karaoke or a naked sex party. Obviously I went for the karaoke. On the way I stopped in several bars that I hadn’t tried yet. As it was a Sunday evening most of the bars were really quiet. There was a real “slaughtered lamb” moment when I walked into a relatively busy bar and everyone went silent and starred at me. I think it was more a case of check out the fresh meat than youre not from round here. On my travels I found a lively bar where I bumped into Naked Guy. This time wearing boots, the hat and jeans. I was a lot more comfortable chatting to him now he wasnt so naked.

A small group of queens had spotted me from the other end of the bar and were obviously talking about me. One was really cute, however sods law, it was his mate that came over and chatted. He told me that he used to go out with a Scottish guy who he dumped because the Scottish guy could not speak good English. An annoying pop song came on and this guy was distracted enough to go for a bit of a boogie, halfway through he bounced over and kissed me, naked guy seemed put out, so he kissed me as well.

I joked that was popular tonight, naked guy didnt see any humour in this. With a shrug he explained you are young and look healthy. Despite the overwhelming flattery I moved on to the next bar, Hevan. A lot more relaxed and less cruisy. I stayed for a few drinks and chatted to a guy who explained that his home city of Munich was very conservative although everybody sunbathed naked in summer. Naked and Conservative are words that should not go together, think john major, Ann Widicome, ect. Although I was getting on well with Munich guy, my karaoke cravings took over and I headed over the road to a club/bar called WoWos.

It was a small tacky bar with less than a dozen customers. The drag queen hostess, sat next to me and repeatedly asked what I was going to sing. No one had sang yet and I wasnt going to be the first, despite the fact that I was on my 7th bar and was more that a little tipsy. Eventually the karaoke started, mostly German songs but a few I could understand. It seemed that everyone was singing relatively quietly and sombrely, even the drag queen. One guy sang raindrops keep falling on your head, which, thanks to his accent now included the line my arse are turning red.

So it wasnt long before I got up and showed them how to do it. Ahhh the confidence you get with alcohol. My name was called up and but it took them a while to find my song, so while I was stood on the stage the drag queen was joking with the crowd (does 12 people constitute a crowd?) she turned to me and explained we have decided you have to do this song naked. Thankfully for all concerned she did not hold me to this.

As I blasted out too funky the drag queen decided to be one of the supermodels from the video, first dancing behind me, then all over me. I sang my last yeah yeah, the crowd cheered, and I decided it was time for my bed.

Monday morning I enjoyed a lie in before I packed my bags and left, my flight wasnt till the evening so I stored my luggage in a locker at the station and decided to join a walking tour of the city for the day. Over the next 3½ hrs a group of Americans, Irish, Canadians, and me, were entertained and shown the sites by an enthusiastic New Zealander called Mike. Highlights included:
The Brandenburg Gate
The Reichstag
Hitlers bunker
The new Holocaust Memorial
Potsdamer Platz
The Berlin Wall
Checkpoint Charlie
And of course the hotel window where Michael Jackson dangled a baby.

So other than getting lost on the way back to the airport and several single friends I didnt get round to mentioning, that was berlin

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Berlin Day 3
Category: Travel and Places

 decided last night to leave my comfort zone, this meant trecking over to the other side of the city in serch of a bar called roses which has been recomeded to me. I got as far as finding the street but couldn’t see anywhere called roses. I did see a cafe/bar called bierhimmel with a rainbow painted on the window, so i popped in for a beer. It was very busy but I managed to get a seat at the bar. I plucked up the courage to chat to the couple next to me who told me that roses was the bar a few dors down, with no sign on the front. They also advised a few other bars and a night club, called the powerstation… or something like that.

After a few more drinks I moved on to roses. from the outside it looked scairy, painted black with a bulldog on the door. But when I went in i was amased. It was fantasicly, gloriously camp. The walls and celing were covered in thick pink fun fur, hanging on these walls a tacky, glowing picture of the virgin mary holding baby jesus was hanging next to a painting of miss piggy reclining on a chez long. I counted 7 chandeleers in this tiny bar, as well as several glitterballs accesorized with rosery beads. the main focus of the back wall was a mirroed crusifix surounded by fairy lights. It might all sound awful, but when something is this camp and potentialy offensive you have to love it. I managed to make a few “single serving friends” (see fight club) and the couple from the other cafe came in and We chatted for a few hours. Its depressing trying to explain to someone who has seen their city change so much in their lifetime and is so effected by the after effects and politics of the wall coming down, that I come from a country where more people will vote for magaret thatchers daugter to eat a kangaroos bollock, than will vote for a political party.

before the couple left they again recomended this club although it wasnt called powerstation it was called beghain, and although it wasn’t far i would have to get a taxi. So after drinks with a flock of jolly lesbians, thats what i did. I started to worry when the taxi driver turned off the road and drove down a dirt track in a very rundown industralised part of town. After a few mins the track stopped next to a disussed warehouse.

“This is as far as I go, from here you walk round the corner and you will see it” said the driver.

Hell, what had i gotten myself into?

I followed his instructions and saw a long queue of young people standing in front of a hudge building, then it clicked. The club wasn#t called powerstation, the club was in an old powerstation. So I joined the queue in the frezing cold. I could see the bouncers were slowly letting people in, in groups of 10 at a time. As I queued for 30 mins I told myself that all these people wouldn’t be so happy to freze there tits off unless it was really worh it.

When i got through the doors I was in a room which was as large as any club i had been in, along one side of the room was a relly long counter, not a bar because this hudge area was just the cloack room. In return for my jacket and a few euros I got a dogtag to hang around my neck, with 1038 printed on it. I walked up a flight of stairs and saw the club in all its glory. BArs around the outside, harsh stone walls, a powerful but uncomplecated lighting rig hanging from the celling. and a sea of young people chearing and dancing to the techno music. On the dance floor I could see groups of straight couples, young queens, gay skinheads (who really didn’t know how to dance), muscle marys and straight lads. all having a great time together. as i explored the building i discoverd staircases, corridors and hanging walkways which lead to smaller bars and other dancefloors. I am sure there were lots of other hiden gems that i didnt discover. There was even a darkroom hidden just off the main dancefloor. by 7am I was flagging & decided to make my way back. as I left people were still ariving. when I got outside I noticed that during the nmight it had snowed which meant that for my train ride back to the flat I got to see the citys sites coverd in white.

It had gone 8 by the time I got back, so you’ll excuse me for not doing much today other than sleep.

Right lets see what tonights got in store for me. Its sunday so i am hoping to find some kareoke action

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Berlin day 2
Category: Travel and Places

I am sure there will be those of you who were shocked after reading my day 1 blog, and to be honest i am ashamed, 30 years old and my spelling and grammer are awful. I will try harder.

So last night i went out and prity much did the same as the first night. Same bars, same drinks, same people, including naked man. Although I almost didn’t recognise him as he was wearing a hat, but other than the hat and boots he was still the only naked guy in the bar. I dragged myself back to the flat about 6am again.

After all the walking and climing i did yesterday, i decided to make today alot more chilled. After dragging my self out of bed I got the bus to Potstamerplatz, which is a really nice modern area with big shiny buildings. I like shiney. I went to the Imax cinema where i put on my 3d glasses and watched the underwater adventure (something like that) It was all narrated in German but from what i could gather it was just about following a turtle as he (or she) swam through the sea. Basickly lots of coral, fish, dolphins and sharks swimming towards the screen.

I did have plans to do other things today but by the time i’d watched that & got something to eat it was pritty much time to get back. Ooh the excitement.