Alex Harries's diary

I'm off to start a bit of jury service today, so keep an eye on the site for me. The key's under the mat. Remember to flush, and keep the plants watered.

I'll write about the new NUS registration system soon if I don't manage to land myself in contempt of court first.

C ya! /al

(Sorry about the gash title! ;o) )

I made it onto the decks for a couple of days last week and recorded some of my latest and favourite tunes on my favourite (and totally underused) toy - Final Scratch.

There's about 7 hours of music to wade through, and it's split up into a chilled mix of laid back house, three commercial/chunkier mixes, and a threesome of dirty house to finish off with. There are some random suprises in there, and I'll sort out a track listing shortly, but for now you're more than welcome to download the demos (but remember there's a bit of small print below about copyright and usage, etc - please read it before you download).

Oh, and I'm ashamed to admit my DJ name at the moment is "Chopper Harries". Honestly, it's the best I could think up...

Download...

• 1: chillification (159Mb)
  
• 2: semichunkification 1 of 3 (159Mb)
  
• 3: semichunkification 2 of 3 (137Mb)
  
• 4: semichunkification 3 of 3 (80Mb)
  
• 5: chunkification 1 of 3 (159Mb)
  
• 6: chunkification 2 of 3 (159Mb)
  
• 7: chunkification 3 of 3 (133Mb)
  

(Everything's recorded at 320Kbit/s).

Small print...

Downloads are offered as-is and are provided solely for the attemped whoring of my DJing abilities (or lack of). Copyright remains with the owners of the tracks where appropriate. Files are not endorsed or hosted by UPSU - for comments, complaints, enquiries, etc, please see www.DJstalker.com.

Oh, and I didn't go swimming today - Fraggy dragged me down to Route last night and I am still, as I type, working from home thanks to having spent most of the night trying not to drive the big white porcelain bus. While Fraggy reckons it's down to my impending old age, my inability to handle my drink is entirely down to genetics. And being a wuss... ;o)

Max, the Andrex puppy doppelganger, is writing a blog. All say "aww"...

(Swimmingly off-topic... Sorry...)

I've decided to start swimming again.

I can hear the shouts of "big deal" from the back of the class, but I care not. This is my blog (technically it's a work blog, but I don't do much work, and certainly nothing a real person would consider interesting), so I may as well relate some of my boring non-work experiences too. That's my justification, and I'm sticking by it ;o).

I haven't swum in probably about 8 years. I used to swim regularly and at one point, some misguided soul in the ATC thought I should represent my wing at swimming. That, thankfully, only lasted a night - I much prefer messing about underwater to the science of thrashing up and down a pool.

As with any reasonably new experience, it's always good to start out with a recce, so I dropped into the baths yesterday morning to check on the prices and times. Truth be told, I'd taken my swimming kit in case I decided to take the plunge - pun intended - but chickened out at the prospect of scaring any small children ("Look mummy, it's Big Foot!") and in any case, I'll deny I was ever there for anything other than a recce. So there...

This morning I dragged myself down to the pool and, armed with baggy shorts, a towel barely larger than a flannel, and more than a little apprehension, I turned up and paid my £1.70 £2.00 £2.50 ("But you said it was £1.70 yesterday...?" "That's after 9am" "And you just asked me for two pounds, so why did you only give me £7.50 change from my tenner?" "I didn't say two pounds - I said two pounds fifty" "Uhhm, ok").

The first thing I noticed, apart from the impending sense of doom that I'd probably take in at least two lungs-worth of water before anyone decided to fish me out if it wall went fubar, was just how badly smoking has affected my lung capacity - I used to be able to quite easily swim 50 metres underwater from a dive. Today I managed little more than 15.

After 14 lengths of the 25-ish metre pool, and having played "chicken" with a couple of old boys who I assumed were on the wrong side of the lane - and later found out it was me who was swimming "European", I decided to call it a day before my arms lost the strength to pull me out of the pool. I remember being fit enough to swim up and down the pool all day long, and managing only 14 lengths before the survival instincts kick in is gash.

The good side of this all is that I'll be getting fitter into the deal, which is definitely no bad thing, and I'd always recommend swimming over other forms of exercise - apart from anything else, no-one can see you sweating when you swim ;o)

I'm going back tomorrow. At £2.50 a go, and with 14 lengths taking me about 15 minutes, I reckon the £10 an hour is close to the price of a premium gym membership and might even start looking at gyms with pools in the area if it helps to motivate me. For now though, I'll be happy to make it back to 20 lengths without suffering a coronary, and might even give up smoking if it helps.

Maybe...

(More non-news) In a random few moments of boredom yesterday, I've been trawling through a few blogs looking for more reading material. While the majority were dismissed without having to scroll down the page, a few stood out and I hacked through their archives yesterday evening...

• littleredboat.co.uk is a blog I've probably mentioned previously. It's written by occasional Grauniad contributor Anna Pickering, and is a brilliantly funny, off-beat look at ... Well, anything and everything. Check it out - go on, you know you want to...
• girlonatrain.blogspot.com is one I admit I haven't really read a lot of yet, but it looks like it might just be a worthwhile browse (just maybe).
• universalsoldieruk.blogspot.com is another blog I've been drawn into. It's no secret I like Andy McNab's writing style, like Bravo Two Zero, if only for the grim - but very very good - Army humour he writes with. Universal Soldier is a blog written in a similar style - again, it's more about the comedy than any gore - but you might still want to use a spot of judgement before clicking around it, just in case...

p.s. a big "hooray" to Fraggy who has finally updated his blog after months of neglect. Fraggy mate, if you've ever considered buying plants or a pet, please don't - they'd be dead for weeks before you missed them ;o)