¡Adios Muchachos!

That’s right, as of tomorrow it’s a week of solemnity and quiet for the blog (which, let’s face it, isn’t winning any awards for being updated at the moment), and a week of rest, relaxation and fun in sunny Spain for me. I think everything’s sorted out, at least I hope it is. My mental checklist for the really important stuff has been like this for the last week:

• Passport
• Currency
• Travel Insurance
• Car hire

All of which I can happily say are covered, complete and present. Now all that remains is the small stuff like packing(!). There’s also a whole heap of other bits and pieces to remember I have stashed away somewhere just behind my consciousness which includes:

• Frisbee (very important!)
• International roaming for phone
• Phone
• Phone charger
• iPod
• Books
• Copious amounts of sunscreen
• Hat
• Sunglasses
• Camera

Some of that would probably be covered in most peoples’ idea of packing, but my idea of packing is usually much more simple and non-descript. The great news to me is that one of the friends I’m going with has secured three inflatables for the pool – a ring, shark and crocodile! We fly at 7.30 in the evening which is great as it gives me the rest of the day to pack whatever I forget to pack tonight. Tonight’s going to be busy enough as it is I think, there’s TSD, then some packing and then straight out to a local Rock night with my training friends. I’ve not had a decent Rock night in ages now and it’ll be a great way to start my two weeks off.

In other randomness, I managed to break the Bass pedal for Rock Band last night. During a particularly heated rendition of Train Kept Rollin’ by Aerosmith my foot was thumping away and the next thing I knew there was no pedal under it. It snapped clean just above the hinge at the base of the pedal. Being the enterprising sort of chap I am though, and armed with a roll of duct tape, I was able to get it working again. It’s not ideal, but I called EA last night expecting an hour on hold, miles of red tape and an agonising wait for a replacement and the hassle of sending the broken one back. Boy was I in for a surprise! The phone was answered within 30 seconds, they took my address details and told me that a replacement would be with me within a week, and that I don’t need to return the old one… you could have knocked me down with a feather – kudos EA for some awesome customer service there. Luckily the pedal broke after the mission I gave myself that evening, to tame the beast that is Vasoline by Stone Temple Pilots on Hard. That song has taunted me with its lack of high-score and lack of being completed for a few weeks now, so I was determined to break it. When you fail a song in Rock Band it tells you how far through you got, and thanks to the off-beat bass drumming in that song it’s always been a pretty low number in the past. Nevertheless I was determined last night to up that percentage little-by-little, just as I remember doing the first time I beat Bark At The Moon on Guitar Hero. Still the game mocked me, showing my feeble progress with each and every failure – 29%, 32%, 32%, 32%, 35%, 32% – you get the picture. Then, as if being suddenly injected with some kind of rhythm serum, I was no longer feeble and the pain-in-the-ass chorus section all fell into line and Wham! (no, not that Wham), I completed the song on the very next attempt. The feeling of success and achievement when you crack a song like that is enormous. Ok, so I’m a further two cities into my Hard career now and completely stuck again for the time being, but still, my bass drumming was to Vasoline as the horn was to the walls of Jericho – down it came!

The next time this gets updated I should be golden brown, thoroughly chilled out and ready to get stuck back into stuff. So with that in mind I expect I’ll see you here in a week, sun-burned, knackered and ready for another holiday ;).