Wednesday April 23
09:03
The Ugliest Band In The World
Last night I went to see what can only be described as the ugliest band in the world - Biffy Clyro. They are, however, a band full of surprises: they are Scottish but sound American; they’ve been going for years and I’ve never heard of them; and, most importantly, despite being hideously ugly - beards, unkempt hair, tattoos, etc and despite me not particularly liking the CDs that I’ve heard from them - they are one of the few bands that has blown me away live. I can’t remember any time in the past when I’ve heard new material at a concert and instantly liked it - usually I need to hear music on CD first.
Maybe now the CDs with grow on me, … though if I can’t get the image of the band out of my head, that’s very unlikely!
Sunday April 13
20:02
It’s Strange The Things That You Miss When You Live Abroad
Of all th thingz u cld ask me 2 bring u over u want me to bring sum collar stiffenerz- weirdo
My family think I’m crazy - but it’s strange the things you miss/need from home when you’re abroad.
My brother is coming over last week. He asked me what I wanted him to bring to Tokyo. My list:
Metal collar stiffeners from Tie-Rack
Non-iron shirts from M&S
A can of Ambrosia tinned rice pudding
The can of rice pudding is for the Japanese who consistently look at me in disbelief when I tell them we have pudding made of rice in the UK. Japanese eat rice every day. They never think about making it into a pudding.
In fairness, the things I really want my brother to bring me, he can’t bring. They are:
Black pudding
British bangers
British bacon
Scottish bread
Scottish rolls
Irish soda bread from M&S
Potato scones
A big juicy yellow mellow
Low-fat hummus from the supermarket
Mr Kipling’s Mince Pies
Not being able to get hummus is one thing that has consistently driven my crazy living in Asia - in Hong Kong, in Korea, and in Japan. In Japan there are a couple of restaurants with hummus, so at least I could get it occasionally. Finally - this month - I found a supermarket that sells it, but it’s not the same.
Mince Pies also are something that I missed. In HK I could get them. In Korea, fat chance. In Japan, I can buy Robertson’s mincemeat and make my own. Except for one thing, Japan is miles better than Korea when it comes to international food - I can even get the English breakfast muffins I so longed for in Korea. What’s the one thing? Sour cream. It’s just thick gloob in Japan. Sour cream in Korea was gorgeous - in big tubs from Hyundae department store in Shinchon.
There is actually a Scottish Pub in Tokyo - or, at least, it claims to be. It’s called Scottish Glamour, which isn’t a good start. In fact, after going and seeing the bar menu, I immediately left. No Scottish beer (which, probably, is a good thing), and a cover charge to enter the bar. Any bar that tried to levy a cover charge in Scotland would be burnt to the ground.
I can’t find the URL for Scottish Glamour - but then since I would never recommend you go there, I didn’t try very hard.
Wednesday March 26
23:49
This Is Becoming A Habit
Last night I went to see The Pigeon Detectives - one of my favourite British bands - in Tokyo.
They played a long set and the music was fantastic, but there were two huge problems.
Firstly, they didn’t play my favourite song “You know I love you”:
You know I love you
Take off your clothes
It’s alright
It’s alright
This is the song that got me into The Pigeon Detectives - a surreal experience of being in Woolworths, possibly the most bland and boring and safe chain shop in the world, and hearing a song about trying to seduce a woman into having sex being piped through the store.
This happened when I went to see Bjork in Japan also - she didn’t play my favourite song. It’s becoming a habit, dammit. Luckily the next band I’m going to see in Tokyo - Biffy Clyro - I’ve never even heard, so no problems there. I’m only going to see them because (a) they are Scottish playing in Tokyo, and (b) my brother will be here at that time, and I want to show him different sides of Tokyo. What better way to treat a guy flying to Tokyo from Scotland than to show him a Scottish band?
But The Pigeon Detectives not playing my favourite song was made even worse by the fact that they didn’t play an encore. So here was me standing thinking “Well, they’ve kept the best till last, right?”
What band doesn’t play an encore? People hung around for over 15 minutes waiting for them to come back out - even the venue owners thought they’d come back out, because they didn’t raise the lights. PATHETIC. Leave lots of little Japanese disappointed - way to handle your international fanbase guys.
Wednesday March 5
17:57
Passion and Fire
When someone talks with passion and talks from the heart, you can feel it.
When they can talk with passion and from the heart, and they know how to drive knowledge into your mind such that you not only get it, absorb it, and internalise it, but you don’t even realise the process is happening - that’s motivational and inspirational.
That’s the kind of person I want to be.
I forgot that for a long time, but recently I’m remembering it. It’s why I started Lick The Lard, to get people who want to lose and maintain weight but are failing, to look at their lifestyles from new angles and have “Eureka” moments, because I have presented thoughts and ideas in ways that strike home to them.
That desire was fired even further today, when I attended a training course. It wasn’t a boring “let’s sit in front of books” passive training course, but an active, involved session, using a variety of techniques and analogies to drive messages home. I remember sitting at break time thinking: “Damn it, do you remember when you had a plan to be a motivational speaker, Alan?”
And then suddenly I realised: It’s not outwith my reach. I’ve done something about it.
I am starting to be someone that motivates others.
Lick The Lard may not seem much at the moment, but I have written (on paper) pages and pages and pages of techniques, ideas, stories, angles to make people think differently, and succeed where they have failed before - assuming they want to succeed, that is. It is the start. It is a seed.
My plan, until today, has been thinking as far as the website only. In the other side of my brain, I’ve also had the thought of wanting to create and do something that will become an alternative career to me, something that I enjoy. I realise now that they are one in the same.
Done right, I can take Lick The Lard - and some of the other projects I’m working on - forward to motivate, and develop motivation into a career that fires me inside, and fires others into action.
Side not: I never realised that “outwith” is Scottish English. Just shows that I’ve not lost all of my Scottish roots ;)