Universal Monsters - The 69 Eyes

I love it when one of my favourite bands releases a new album! I get so excited :)

The 69 Eyes released their new album Universal Monsters on the 22nd of April 2016 and I snapped it up ASAP!

Photo http://www.nuclearblast.de

I will admit that I wasn't the biggest fan of the last album (X) but this one is all class! Usually when I listen to any music its on my iPhone and I put it on shuffle for a random mix. When a new album comes up I turn off the shuffle setting and just listen to the album as the band have put it together for us.

Jet Fighter Plane was released first as a single. Not the best song on the album but still really good. 

My favourite song is Blackbird Pie! When I was young, Sing a song of Sixpence was something I heard a lot coming from an English family and I liked it. I still do :) I have to say though, I like this version better!! My next favourite song has to be Blue (I do love me a good power ballad) with Never rocking in a close third.

Overall, I love it, Love it, Love it! I've lost count of how many times Ive listened to the album this week... Damn, I could listen to that man sing all day.

There are only a very select few albums that I have come across in my lifetime where I like each and every song on the album. This album can definitely be added to that list.

This is the playlist on youtube for the songs and 'making of' videos with a few extra's thrown in, if you're interested :)

500 Before 50 Bucket List

OMG! WTF have I got myself in for??!?

A few years ago I put together a 40 before 40 bucket list type thing. I figured that I had several years to do it all and there was only 40 items - I should have NO problems getting all of it done! Right? Well, I recently turned 40. I got six things done on that list.... count em... SIX!!

I decided that instead of trying to complete the list this year, which was never going to happen, I would just re-vamp it and expand upon it. I am of the belief that with a relatively short list (40 items) and a long time (3+ years) to do it all in, I felt I had "heaps of time" to do it so I kept putting it off and eventually stopped looking at the list all together.

I dont want that to happen again so I am taking inspiration from this lady (Pam?) and her 400 before 40 and 500 before 50 lists. Yes, I have ten years to get the whole list complete but that means doing one a week or so. Its no longer something I can put off. Im hoping this will give me some extra motivation.

The biggest problem Im having at the moment?? Coming up with 500 items to go on the damn list!! Why is it such a hard task??? I need to get over this "Oh I wont have the time/money/ability to do that" crap and just add things to the list. I'll have a go at everything and see how far I get :)

This is my list so far....... any suggestions??

1. See a Cirque du Soleil Show
2. Private List Item (Sorry)
3. Private List Item (Sorry)
4. Read a top 100 booklist 
5. Random act of kindness for a stranger
6. Go to the theatre
7. Re-Establish my Fish tank
8. Pot some indoor plants
9. Re-Paint a room
10. Buy a cat :)
11. Go to a Medieval Faire
12. Go to a comic con
13. Spend a day at the beach
14. Buy a dishwasher
15. Crochet a Tea cosy
16. Get a tattoo
17. Average 3 Concerts a year for 5 years 
18. Go Whale watching
19. Visit every Australian state capital
20. Completely fill an art journal
21. Go to Ruisrock music festival in Finland
22. See Nightwish play at Hartwall Arena
23. Complete "read 30 books in 2016" - In Progress
24. Read Every Clive Cussler book in print as at 31st March 2016
25. Private List Item (Sorry) - Completed April 2016
26. Private List Item (Sorry)
27. Plant Front Garden Out
28. Spend a Day at the Day spa
29. Eat Fully Raw for 10 days
30. See Stonehenge
31. Read Ulysses
32. Complete NaNoWriMo at least once
33. Enter a story into a contest
34. Write a book
35. Take a drawing class
36. Learn to speak Finnish
37. Learn to speak German
38. Make a pie with fruit I've grown myself
39. Drink nothing but water for 10 days
40. No sugar for 10 days
41. Attend 30th High School Reunion
42. Volunteer for a charity
43. Buy a singing bowl
44. Go on a spiritual retreat
45. Hand write a letter every month for one year
46. Anonymously buy a meal for a stranger
47. Complete 2 crafty swaps per year for 5 years
48. Take a nutritionist course
49. See Children of Bodom play Live
50. See 69 Eyes play live
51. See Within Temptation play live
52. See Def Leppard play live (Again)
53. Open an Online store
54. Take a photography class
55. Take a dietitian course
56. Blog three times a week for a year
57. See the Aurora Borealis in Finish Lapland
58. Throw a dart at a map and go where it lands
59. Visit Uluru
60. Visit Singapore
61. Visit Hong Kong
62. Ride the Indian Pacific
63. Go on a cruise
64. Private List Item (Sorry)
65. See Cats on stage
66. Ride the Orient Express
67. Private List Item (Sorry)
68. Private List Item (Sorry)
69. Private List Item (Sorry)
70. Do something that scares the shit out of me!

Flashback Friday - Nightwish 2016

I remember it very well (lol) it was boxing day 2015 and I was sitting here doing my usual we browsing/facebook/you tube watching type activities when I came across the tour poster that Nightwish had uploaded to their Facebook page. You should have heard the yell of excitement in here when I realised that there was a Perth concert!

Nightwish.com

omg!omg!omg!omg!  <-- Yes, just like that!

Of course, being one of my favourite bands, I went straight to the ticketing website and got myself a ticket! No, I wasn't paying attention and almost missed it. No, I had nothing on that day anyway. No, I cant afford the ticket. Yes, I went anyway!

Nightwish dont come to Perth all that often.... it is a long way from Finland ... so I have to take advantage of it when they do.

Skip forward a couple of weeks and the day has arrived! The concert was on a Friday night so I left work early to get home, shower, change, eat and get back on the train.

Of course, I got there stupidly early and had to stand in line forever but looking at how long the line ended up being, I am so glad that I got there when I did.

Our beloved local band Voyager were on first and damn they were good! They played for about an hour and it just proved to me that I don't get to see them play anywhere near often enough. I would love to have asked the drummer how he can see anything under all that hair? How does he not get his drumsticks all tangled up in it??

There was a bit of a wait for Nightwish to come on but it was fun watching the guys set it all up. There were so many people in Metro's that you were afraid to move in case you lost your spot.... and I had a great spot!

I couldn't possibly tell you which songs they played or how many. They played for almost two hours, thats as close as I can get :) The sound system was crap, but the band are always awesome! This is the first time I've seen Floor Jansen live and I have to say, I think she's the best singer they've had yet! Emppu was doing his usual thing, flicking his guitar picks into the crowd. I copped one to the forehead but wasn't fast enough to catch it unfortunately.

Tuomas

Floor

Emppu

Tuomas, Marco and Floor

 Even though I will go see them every time they come to my city, next time the come to Australia I am very tempted to fly to Melbourne or something and see them play there as well! Just once I would like to see them play live outside Australia. They're not allowed to use their pyro in this country and I would love to see the whole show!

A Tarot Reading from Kelly-Ann

Lately Ive been feeling a little stuck and ill at ease with the world. Ive tried for at least a good few months on my own to work my way through it without any success so I decided to get some help. I needed someone to point me in the right direction and as I suck at reading tarot cards on my own I decided to get a tarot reading from Kelly-Ann Maddox. I've followed her blog and youtube channel forever and now that I felt the need to ask for a reading to help me, she was my first choice.

I chose the Deep, Wild, True reading as it covered the most bases for me and I set about writing notes that i thought Would be helpful and useful to Kelly-Ann. Less than a week later I had my reading in hand!

I have to say, the reading I received was bang-on the money! Without me being overly specific with the notes I sent, the cards that were pulled and her interpretation of them picked out certain points that really resonated with me as being correct for my situation. Not only do you get Kelly-Ann's interpretation of the issues as seen by the cards but she is a trained counsellor so she also gives you a list of tips and tricks to work through these problems and move on to bigger and better things.

Overall, I found the reading to be extremely helpful, well written, easy to read with easy to follow tips and exercises for me to work through. I'm part way through this process now and it really is making me think :)

If you are in need of some guidance in any area of your life, I would highly recommend that you go to Kelly-Ann's shop and see what she can offer you. Please done forget to read the policies and ethics page first! Its important! :)

Thank You Kelly-Ann for the awesome reading and for all the tips and suggestions for lifting myself up and working through my issues. I will definitely come back to you again!.

You can find Kelly-Ann here:

Website/Blog
Youtube
Instagram
Twitter

Its Time..... again...

I keep trying to find a blog that 'fits'. This time I'm hoping I've got it right!

The first post is always a 'nothing' type post that just sits there while you get the rest of your shit together :) I have a list of things that I want to post, so Im just going to keep typing and start scheduling things and see where we end up.