Once you have recovered your data you can establish whether you hard drive is in fact failing or it just has corrupt files and can therefor be fixed by a reinstall. There are a bunch of free hard drive diagnostic tools on the internet (you can probably run it while it is connected via USB to your working computer). Everything should be in warranty if its less than 1 yr old, so a call to the manufacturer technical support line should end up with a fix to any broken hardware. They should also be able to walk you through a reinstall. I'd definitely get my data off as a first step though. Diagnostics are quite intensive on a hard drive and can cause it to fail further.
Once you have recovered your data you can establish whether you hard drive is in fact failing or it just has corrupt files and can therefor be fixed by a reinstall. There are a bunch of free hard drive diagnostic tools on the internet (you can probably run it while it is connected via USB to your working computer). Everything should be in warranty if its less than 1 yr old, so a call to the manufacturer technical support line should end up with a fix to any broken hardware. They should also be able to walk you through a reinstall. I'd definitely get my data off as a first step though. Diagnostics are quite intensive on a hard drive and can cause it to fail further.
This is quality - thanks for such a detailed post, especially as I don't know you and, ahem, only met you once on the SPT Brighton final table.
Thin brag over. I'm away from that computer today but am going to get on it tomorrow - thankfully (?) the computer is about a month old and been used less than a handful of times so tech support/warranty-type stuff shouldn't (hopefully) be too much of a problem.
Then my computer froze. So I restarted it and it froze again. It's practically brand new, this computer, and none of my work was saved elsewhere and I couldn't access it or do anything with my frozen, stupid computer.
when this happens its almost always a failing hard drive or corrupt operating system files, or both (a failing hard drive can easily end up corrupting files). Brand new hard drives can fail. If its not a solid state drive corruption could also have been cause by an impact. Solid state drives tend to fail completely, all at once vs a disc drive that tends to fail more gradually.
The most simple way to get data back would be to plug the hard drive into another working computer using a USB cable (assuming you don't have a desktop - you can usually plug it straight in to a desktop without a usb cable by opening the case and finding some spare cables inside the box). This way the only files/parts of the disc that need to work are the parts that store your data instead all the operating files too so its much easier to recover files. It should act like any other USB drive.
There are a couple of different types of connection your hard drive can have, but the most common/likely is SATA. There is a link to a SATA to USB cable below.
I went to the waxworks in Blackpool as a youngster, and had my picture taken sat smugly next to Jimmy Saville. That really touched me. My brother enjoys posting it on my facebook wall each and every birthday.
Six and a half hours to go until I find out whether or not my radio play has been accepted for broadcast on BBC radio. Let's face it, it's not going to be. And if it is, I'm going to write a formal letter of complaint to the judging panel. Yep, it was that bad. Yep, I'm getting my digs in first.
Poker's going well, though, with 9/9 winning sessions this week. Going well, but I'm not putting in enough volume. Going well, but I'm not putting enough effort into winning flips on final tables. Out of the last handful of tournaments I've played, I've finished: 5/235; 6/74; 7/221; 33/67; 6/100; 6/244 and 4/76. Must do better - at getting bigger-stacked towards the late stages of tournaments, winning flips towards the late stages of tournaments or, preferably, both.
Priority is looking unlikely with my shabby volume. Thinking about shelving my 'reach prio' idea and letting it join the other clutch of things I've failed at this month. Stupid goals. Stupid, public goals.
It's this book, see, that's taking up a fair amount of time. "Concentrate on your book," @Donttelmum said to me on the tables a day or so ago. Now, he's either saying that because he's terrified of being on the same tables as me (unlikely) or because he thinks it's more beneficial for me to be working on this book at the moment, rather than straining to making priority (far more likely).
I'm with James on this one. Good old James.
Oh, and a boring computer update: I was sick as a pike yesterday and spent the whole day in bed away from it. Still sick today, and couldn't face battling it. Tomorrow, though.
Poker's going well, though, with 9/9 winning sessions this week. Going well, but I'm not putting in enough volume. Going well, but I'm not putting enough effort into winning flips on final tables. Out of the last handful of tournaments I've played, I've finished: 5/235; 6/74; 7/221; 33/67; 6/100; 6/244 and 4/76.
Poker's going well, though, with 9/9 winning sessions this week. Going well, but I'm not putting in enough volume. Going well, but I'm not putting enough effort into winning flips on final tables. Out of the last handful of tournaments I've played, I've finished: 5/235; 6/74; 7/221; 33/67; 6/100; 6/244 and 4/76.
GIQ, MBN, YBA, etc.
PS - well done on the tome.
Thanks Tikay - had to look up YBA because I didn't know what it means and, after looking it up, still don't know what it means.
Poker's going well, though, with 9/9 winning sessions this week. Going well, but I'm not putting in enough volume. Going well, but I'm not putting enough effort into winning flips on final tables. Out of the last handful of tournaments I've played, I've finished: 5/235; 6/74; 7/221; 33/67; 6/100; 6/244 and 4/76.
GIQ, MBN, YBA, etc.
PS - well done on the tome.
Thanks Tikay - had to look up YBA because I didn't know what it means and, after looking it up, still don't know what it means.
It's just an ironic comment, one much used by Mr Channing - you'll be alright.
Poker's going well, though, with 9/9 winning sessions this week. Going well, but I'm not putting in enough volume. Going well, but I'm not putting enough effort into winning flips on final tables. Out of the last handful of tournaments I've played, I've finished: 5/235; 6/74; 7/221; 33/67; 6/100; 6/244 and 4/76.
GIQ, MBN, YBA, etc.
PS - well done on the tome.
Thanks Tikay - had to look up YBA because I didn't know what it means and, after looking it up, still don't know what it means.
It's just an ironic comment, one much used by Mr Channing - you'll be alright.
It's street, see?
Love it, going to start using it. You are the streetiest. Happy weekending.
i.Six and a half hours to go until I find out whether or not my radio play has been accepted for broadcast on BBC radio. Let's face it, it's not going to be. And if it is, I'm going to write a formal letter of complaint to the judging panel. Yep, it was that bad. Yep, I'm getting my digs in first.
ii.Poker's going well, though, with 9/9 winning sessions this week. Going well, but I'm not putting in enough volume. Going well, but I'm not putting enough effort into winning flips on final tables. Out of the last handful of tournaments I've played, I've finished: 5/235; 6/74; 7/221; 33/67; 6/100; 6/244 and 4/76. Must do better - at getting bigger-stacked towards the late stages of tournaments, winning flips towards the late stages of tournaments or, preferably, both.
Priority is looking unlikely with my shabby volume. Thinking about shelving my 'reach prio' idea and letting it join the other clutch of things I've failed at this month. Stupid goals. Stupid, public goals.
It's this book, see, that's taking up a fair amount of time. "Concentrate on your book," @Donttelmum said to me on the tables a day or so ago. Now, he's either saying that because he's terrified of being on the same tables as me (unlikely) or because he thinks it's more beneficial for me to be working on this book at the moment, rather than straining to making priority (far more likely).
I'm with James on this one. Good old James.
Oh, and a boring computer update: iii.I was sick as a pike yesterday and spent the whole day in bed away from it. Still sick today, and couldn't face battling it. Tomorrow, though.
i. Come on @SR23 - you wouldn't have submitted it if you didn't think it was worthy, right? I know pessimism is the antidote to disappointment but have a little faith/belief/confidence in yourself/your work... it's not necessarily a slight on your talent if it's not selected anyway - have you heard some of the stuff on Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra? ... wow! glgl
ii. Fantastic. Well done. Those factors will essentially be what it boils down to (re the MTT's), you're right - you can't be getting that deep so consistently and be doing much wrong... how flippy were the FT flips though? Were they mandatory get-ins? Were you getting it in first or calling off? How short were you exactly compared to the table? I don't want to insult your poker intelligence and these questions may well be (unintentionally) doing exactly that, plus it is always hard putting these questions to people in the right way when I am far from being a good MTT player (you could very easily be better than me anyway) and am probably still making tonnes of ICM mistakes myself... Having recently been looking at ICM at FT's though (yes, contrary to what some people will have you believe, ICM considerations can and should be taken into consideration even in £5 MTT's with £10/£15 pay jumps and "all the money up top"- ladders/pay jumps should be looked at in relative terms to the buy-in amount not the actual cash value. If you/me/anyone plays 1000, 2000, 3000 £5 tournaments a year those £10/£15 (2x/3x a buy-in) mistakes really add up and this can often be where a players profit margin is hurt most without them even realising (also goes without saying that once this mistake is made and you're out, you then have no chance of making the big money up top anyway, so the mistake costs you the immediate ladders and potentially 3rd/2nd/1st) I was/am punting at FT's thinking the spots were/are standard and am just now starting to realise how wrong I was/am... this may all be redundant and your spots were probably all standard... Clearly if you have a micro stack and are cut adrift from the rest of the table then your hands are tied and you have to be YOLO'ing, but if you have ~10BB and a single double up puts you back in the middle of the pack it's really surprising just how patient you can and should be sometimes (especially in these non ante tournaments).
iii. I hope you recovered in time for the weekend (?)
i.Six and a half hours to go until I find out whether or not my radio play has been accepted for broadcast on BBC radio. Let's face it, it's not going to be. And if it is, I'm going to write a formal letter of complaint to the judging panel. Yep, it was that bad. Yep, I'm getting my digs in first.
ii.Poker's going well, though, with 9/9 winning sessions this week. Going well, but I'm not putting in enough volume. Going well, but I'm not putting enough effort into winning flips on final tables. Out of the last handful of tournaments I've played, I've finished: 5/235; 6/74; 7/221; 33/67; 6/100; 6/244 and 4/76. Must do better - at getting bigger-stacked towards the late stages of tournaments, winning flips towards the late stages of tournaments or, preferably, both.
Priority is looking unlikely with my shabby volume. Thinking about shelving my 'reach prio' idea and letting it join the other clutch of things I've failed at this month. Stupid goals. Stupid, public goals.
It's this book, see, that's taking up a fair amount of time. "Concentrate on your book," @Donttelmum said to me on the tables a day or so ago. Now, he's either saying that because he's terrified of being on the same tables as me (unlikely) or because he thinks it's more beneficial for me to be working on this book at the moment, rather than straining to making priority (far more likely).
I'm with James on this one. Good old James.
Oh, and a boring computer update: iii.I was sick as a pike yesterday and spent the whole day in bed away from it. Still sick today, and couldn't face battling it. Tomorrow, though.
i. Come on @SR23 - you wouldn't have submitted it if you didn't think it was worthy, right? I know pessimism is the antidote to disappointment but have a little faith/belief/confidence in yourself/your work... it's not necessarily a slight on your talent if it's not selected anyway - have you heard some of the stuff on Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra? ... wow! glgl
ii. Fantastic. Well done. Those factors will essentially be what it boils down to (re the MTT's), you're right - you can't be getting that deep so consistently and be doing much wrong... how flippy were the FT flips though? Were they mandatory get-ins? Were you getting it in first or calling off? How short were you exactly compared to the table? I don't want to insult your poker intelligence and these questions may well be (unintentionally) doing exactly that, plus it is always hard putting these questions to people in the right way when I am far from being a good MTT player (you could very easily be better than me anyway) and am probably still making tonnes of ICM mistakes myself... Having recently been looking at ICM at FT's though (yes, contrary to what some people will have you believe, ICM considerations can and should be taken into consideration even in £5 MTT's with £10/£15 pay jumps and "all the money up top"- ladders/pay jumps should be looked at in relative terms to the buy-in amount not the actual cash value. If you/me/anyone plays 1000, 2000, 3000 £5 tournaments a year those £10/£15 (2x/3x a buy-in) mistakes really add up and this can often be where a players profit margin is hurt most without them even realising (also goes without saying that once this mistake is made and you're out, you then have no chance of making the big money up top anyway, so the mistake costs you the immediate ladders and potentially 3rd/2nd/1st) I was/am punting at FT's thinking the spots were/are standard and am just now starting to realise how wrong I was/am... this may all be redundant and your spots were probably all standard... Clearly if you have a micro stack and are cut adrift from the rest of the table then your hands are tied and you have to be YOLO'ing, but if you have ~10BB and a single double up puts you back in the middle of the pack it's really surprising just how patient you can and should be sometimes (especially in these non ante tournaments).
iii. I hope you recovered in time for the weekend (?)
(i) I haven't heard 'pessimism is the antidote to disappointment' before and whilst I'm (generally) inclined to agree, I'm not being entirely self-deprecating in saying that my play wasn't up to scratch. I did rush at it a bit. It's a bit clunky. It's just a bit...off, for want of a better word. But I didn't write it for broadcast, not really, it was my first stab at a radio play and, perhaps more importantly, I wanted to prove that I could set myself a writing goal and achieve it. My past is littered with half-finished/abandoned writing projects. It's certainly galvanised me and I feel confident about getting this book done by the end of the month. Good times.
(ii) The flips were reasonably flippy/standard: calling 10bb jams w/AQ, jamming with 12 bigs over a min-open w/TT, lumping in my remaining 6.5 bigs bvb w/K7s - that kind of thing. I think (?) it was on @Duesenberg 's thread where you and I were inclined to agree over a bubble spot that was considered standard and I tend to lean towards anti-YOLO'ing and questioning/looking at 'standard' spots with some scrutiny. TBQH, I wasn't really giving too much thought to my play this week and just kind of sailing along and consider MTTs more of a fun diversion from cash and play them more for pleasure than for any sort of profit. That said, I think they could well be one of the more value-y forms of online poker around at the moment so I might put more work into my MTT game. Let's see.
(iii) Still a little under the weather, but with my recreational peccadilloes that tend to come out at the weekends, this is something of a blessing, especially if I want to carry on this industry until the end of the month.
Come play live this weekend @SR23, you know you want to
Might come down tomorrow night Ging-pronounced-king, but I've been a bit under the weather the last few days. Are you still crushing down there?
Hey, yeah the game has been decent the last few weeks! Although we bricked twice in the last 2 days in massive multiway potswith 2 overs + OESD twice where I had 15+ outs twice which would have given me some monster sessions, but it was not to be
Come play live this weekend @SR23, you know you want to
Might come down tomorrow night Ging-pronounced-king, but I've been a bit under the weather the last few days. Are you still crushing down there?
Hey, yeah the game has been decent the last few weeks! Although we bricked twice in the last 2 days in massive multiway potswith 2 overs + OESD twice where I had 15+ outs twice which would have given me some monster sessions, but it was not to be
See ya soon mate
Sad times. I'm planning a big April down there - well, a medium-sized April.
Have you abandoned your diary? Perhaps a resurrection including more live spots/discussion?
(i) I haven't heard i.'pessimism is the antidote to disappointment' before and whilst I'm (generally) inclined to agree, I'm not being entirely self-deprecating in saying that my play wasn't up to scratch. I did rush at it a bit. It's a bit clunky. It's just a bit...off, for want of a better word. But I didn't write it for broadcast, not really, it was my first stab at a radio play and, perhaps more importantly, ii. I wanted to prove that I could set myself a writing goal and achieve it. My past is littered with half-finished/abandoned writing projects. It's certainly galvanised me and I feel confident about getting this book done by the end of the month. Good times.
(ii) iii.The flips were reasonably flippy/standard: calling 10bb jams w/AQ, jamming with 12 bigs over a min-open w/TT, lumping in my remaining 6.5 bigs bvb w/K7s - that kind of thing. I think (?) it was on @Duesenberg 's thread where you and I were inclined to agree over a bubble spot that was considered standard and I tend to lean towards anti-YOLO'ing and questioning/looking at 'standard' spots with some scrutiny. TBQH, I wasn't really giving too much thought to my play this week and just kind of sailing along and consider MTTs more of a fun diversion from cash and play them more for pleasure than for any sort of profit. That said, I think they could well be one of the more value-y forms of online poker around at the moment so I might put more work into my MTT game. Let's see.
(iii) iv.Still a little under the weather, but with my recreational peccadilloes that tend to come out at the weekends, this is something of a blessing, especially if I want to carry on this industry until the end of the month.
Thanks again for your post.
i. I might have made that up
ii. Ah, I see, makes sense. Congratulations on achieving that goal and (rightfully) feeling good about it - I hope you can resolve your computer complication and make some progress with the book also. I'm not a writer. I wrote a book novella short story once. My German girlfriend had informed me that she wasn't actually prepared to make a go of our long distance relationship after all, I had stopped going to lectures at Manchester Uni (Manchester Met - I couldn't get into Manchester University) I was drinking lots (not in the normal/sociable way you're supposed to as a student) I would sit in my room (at the halls of residence on Daisy Bank Road) surrounded by bottles of cheap Rioja, listening to stuff like The Past is a Grotesque Animal (of Montreal) Gloomy Sunday (The Associates) In Shreds (The Chameleons) I'm so Tired (Fugazi) Needle of Death (Bert Jansch) and reading Moon Palace (Paul Auster)The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Crime and Punishment, Der Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse), The Pigeon (Patrick Süskind) and Hunger (Knut Hamsun)... the story was great I'm fine now, I haven't written since
Come play live this weekend @SR23, you know you want to
Might come down tomorrow night Ging-pronounced-king, but I've been a bit under the weather the last few days. Are you still crushing down there?
Hey, yeah the game has been decent the last few weeks! Although we bricked twice in the last 2 days in massive multiway potswith 2 overs + OESD twice where I had 15+ outs twice which would have given me some monster sessions, but it was not to be
See ya soon mate
Sad times. I'm planning a big April down there - well, a medium-sized April.
Have you abandoned your diary? Perhaps a resurrection including more live spots/discussion?
Update coming soon, hand histories & all I promise
Comments
Thin brag over. I'm away from that computer today but am going to get on it tomorrow - thankfully (?) the computer is about a month old and been used less than a handful of times so tech support/warranty-type stuff shouldn't (hopefully) be too much of a problem.
Thanks again.
Six and a half hours to go until I find out whether or not my radio play has been accepted for broadcast on BBC radio. Let's face it, it's not going to be. And if it is, I'm going to write a formal letter of complaint to the judging panel. Yep, it was that bad. Yep, I'm getting my digs in first.
Poker's going well, though, with 9/9 winning sessions this week. Going well, but I'm not putting in enough volume. Going well, but I'm not putting enough effort into winning flips on final tables. Out of the last handful of tournaments I've played, I've finished: 5/235; 6/74; 7/221; 33/67; 6/100; 6/244 and 4/76. Must do better - at getting bigger-stacked towards the late stages of tournaments, winning flips towards the late stages of tournaments or, preferably, both.
Priority is looking unlikely with my shabby volume. Thinking about shelving my 'reach prio' idea and letting it join the other clutch of things I've failed at this month. Stupid goals. Stupid, public goals.
It's this book, see, that's taking up a fair amount of time. "Concentrate on your book," @Donttelmum said to me on the tables a day or so ago. Now, he's either saying that because he's terrified of being on the same tables as me (unlikely) or because he thinks it's more beneficial for me to be working on this book at the moment, rather than straining to making priority (far more likely).
I'm with James on this one. Good old James.
Oh, and a boring computer update: I was sick as a pike yesterday and spent the whole day in bed away from it. Still sick today, and couldn't face battling it. Tomorrow, though.
Tried a cold shower today (not by choice) while sleet came down outside and I'm based in Newcastle. Never again, never ever again.
Poker's going well, though, with 9/9 winning sessions this week. Going well, but I'm not putting in enough volume. Going well, but I'm not putting enough effort into winning flips on final tables. Out of the last handful of tournaments I've played, I've finished: 5/235; 6/74; 7/221; 33/67; 6/100; 6/244 and 4/76.
GIQ, MBN, YBA, etc.
PS - well done on the tome.
Did you feel better *after* the cold shower, though?
It's street, see?
i. Come on @SR23 - you wouldn't have submitted it if you didn't think it was worthy, right? I know pessimism is the antidote to disappointment but have a little faith/belief/confidence in yourself/your work... it's not necessarily a slight on your talent if it's not selected anyway - have you heard some of the stuff on Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra?
ii. Fantastic. Well done.
Those factors will essentially be what it boils down to (re the MTT's), you're right - you can't be getting that deep so consistently and be doing much wrong... how flippy were the FT flips though? Were they mandatory get-ins? Were you getting it in first or calling off? How short were you exactly compared to the table? I don't want to insult your poker intelligence and these questions may well be (unintentionally) doing exactly that, plus it is always hard putting these questions to people in the right way when I am far from being a good MTT player (you could very easily be better than me anyway) and am probably still making tonnes of ICM mistakes myself...
Having recently been looking at ICM at FT's though (yes, contrary to what some people will have you believe, ICM considerations can and should be taken into consideration even in £5 MTT's with £10/£15 pay jumps and "all the money up top"- ladders/pay jumps should be looked at in relative terms to the buy-in amount not the actual cash value. If you/me/anyone plays 1000, 2000, 3000 £5 tournaments a year those £10/£15 (2x/3x a buy-in) mistakes really add up and this can often be where a players profit margin is hurt most without them even realising (also goes without saying that once this mistake is made and you're out, you then have no chance of making the big money up top anyway, so the mistake costs you the immediate ladders and potentially 3rd/2nd/1st) I was/am punting at FT's thinking the spots were/are standard and am just now starting to realise how wrong I was/am... this may all be redundant and your spots were probably all standard...
Clearly if you have a micro stack and are cut adrift from the rest of the table then your hands are tied and you have to be YOLO'ing, but if you have ~10BB and a single double up puts you back in the middle of the pack it's really surprising just how patient you can and should be sometimes (especially in these non ante tournaments).
iii. I hope you recovered in time for the weekend (?)
Have a good one.
(i) I haven't heard 'pessimism is the antidote to disappointment' before and whilst I'm (generally) inclined to agree, I'm not being entirely self-deprecating in saying that my play wasn't up to scratch. I did rush at it a bit. It's a bit clunky. It's just a bit...off, for want of a better word. But I didn't write it for broadcast, not really, it was my first stab at a radio play and, perhaps more importantly, I wanted to prove that I could set myself a writing goal and achieve it. My past is littered with half-finished/abandoned writing projects. It's certainly galvanised me and I feel confident about getting this book done by the end of the month. Good times.
(ii) The flips were reasonably flippy/standard: calling 10bb jams w/AQ, jamming with 12 bigs over a min-open w/TT, lumping in my remaining 6.5 bigs bvb w/K7s - that kind of thing. I think (?) it was on @Duesenberg 's thread where you and I were inclined to agree over a bubble spot that was considered standard and I tend to lean towards anti-YOLO'ing and questioning/looking at 'standard' spots with some scrutiny. TBQH, I wasn't really giving too much thought to my play this week and just kind of sailing along and consider MTTs more of a fun diversion from cash and play them more for pleasure than for any sort of profit. That said, I think they could well be one of the more value-y forms of online poker around at the moment so I might put more work into my MTT game. Let's see.
(iii) Still a little under the weather, but with my recreational peccadilloes that tend to come out at the weekends, this is something of a blessing, especially if I want to carry on this industry until the end of the month.
Thanks again for your post.
See ya soon mate
Have you abandoned your diary? Perhaps a resurrection including more live spots/discussion?
It's certainly galvanised me
(i) I haven't heard i.'pessimism is the antidote to disappointment' before and whilst I'm (generally) inclined to agree, I'm not being entirely self-deprecating in saying that my play wasn't up to scratch. I did rush at it a bit. It's a bit clunky. It's just a bit...off, for want of a better word. But I didn't write it for broadcast, not really, it was my first stab at a radio play and, perhaps more importantly, ii. I wanted to prove that I could set myself a writing goal and achieve it. My past is littered with half-finished/abandoned writing projects. It's certainly galvanised me and I feel confident about getting this book done by the end of the month. Good times.
(ii) iii.The flips were reasonably flippy/standard: calling 10bb jams w/AQ, jamming with 12 bigs over a min-open w/TT, lumping in my remaining 6.5 bigs bvb w/K7s - that kind of thing. I think (?) it was on @Duesenberg 's thread where you and I were inclined to agree over a bubble spot that was considered standard and I tend to lean towards anti-YOLO'ing and questioning/looking at 'standard' spots with some scrutiny. TBQH, I wasn't really giving too much thought to my play this week and just kind of sailing along and consider MTTs more of a fun diversion from cash and play them more for pleasure than for any sort of profit. That said, I think they could well be one of the more value-y forms of online poker around at the moment so I might put more work into my MTT game. Let's see.
(iii) iv.Still a little under the weather, but with my recreational peccadilloes that tend to come out at the weekends, this is something of a blessing, especially if I want to carry on this industry until the end of the month.
Thanks again for your post.
i. I might have made that up
ii. Ah, I see, makes sense. Congratulations on achieving that goal and (rightfully) feeling good about it - I hope you can resolve your computer complication and make some progress with the book also.
I'm not a writer. I wrote a
book novellashort story once. My German girlfriend had informed me that she wasn't actually prepared to make a go of our long distance relationship after all, I had stopped going to lectures at Manchester Uni (Manchester Met - I couldn't get into Manchester University) I was drinking lots (not in the normal/sociable way you're supposed to as a student) I would sit in my room (at the halls of residence on Daisy Bank Road) surrounded by bottles of cheap Rioja, listening to stuff like The Past is a Grotesque Animal (of Montreal) Gloomy Sunday (The Associates) In Shreds (The Chameleons) I'm so Tired (Fugazi) Needle of Death (Bert Jansch) and reading Moon Palace (Paul Auster)The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Crime and Punishment, Der Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse), The Pigeon (Patrick Süskind) and Hunger (Knut Hamsun)... the story was greatiii. Ssstandard.
iv. Every cloud