vlogmas – TAPE PARADE

“Hey, I’ve got a Christmas Tree in my hair! Ho Ho Ho!!” – what a twat. So anyway, ICYMI I’m undertaking #Slogmas. I realise that for most people #Blogmas and #Vlogmas will be Christmas – themed and I can tell you right now the “content” I have pre-planned is not Christmassy. No sir. Crime, cakes, tinder dates, race, Steven Universe, homosexual animals, shrunken heads, television, burgers and cartoons, fine by me; Christmas… well there’s this and one other Christmas post, so, not that much.

That aside, I thought why not ease myself in with a simple Christmas list (there won’t be too many of these, don’t worry). By nature I’m a born Scrooge but in the last few years I’ve been trying to change that. I thought I’d tell you about the festivities I have planned for this year; I’m trying to avoid turning Christmas into some kind of task-based checklist, but these are the things I’d like to happen.

1. Buy a Christmas tree and invest in some decorations, then actually decorate my office with them.

2. Watch a lot of Christmas films (I’ve only seen two. Seriously)

3. Write Christmas cards and actually send them to my overseas family!

4. Go to my favourite London spots during weekdays (nobody wants to deal with those weekend shopping crowds) and try to appreciate the Winter weather.

5. Visit at least 3 Christmas attractions.

6. Have a really good night out!!!

7. Cook a special Christmas dinner for all of my closest friends.

8. Try to visit my family.

9. Record a Christmas cover with James.

10. Create a Christmas category on my blog. (DONE) (YEAH BEING PRODUCTIVE…ISH)

At present I have a few gigs planned, but almost no social events due to the huge workload I have over Christmas, but there are a few parties I’m hoping to make if I get the time! What are you guys hoping to do this Christmas? Also – I’ve only planned about 10 days of Slogmas! So if you a request, please make yourself known.

Welcome to the 1st December! The first day of advent calendars, the first day of winter, the first day of #Vlogmas, #Blogmas, and something I’m going to christen: #Slogmas. For #Slogmas, I intend to release one new piece of content per day. There are a few paths this content may take.

I’ve definitely (sort of) got the hang of blogging (sporadically), but really the number of posts I write bears no resemblance to the number of blogs I post. I have TONNES of half-written posts lying around; the few that have made it into actual posts have done quite well and it seems stupid to not have finalised more of them. So: sometimes the content will be blogs.

I’ve also made a few forays into videos over the course of this year which haven’t been massively well-received (or actually, received in any way) but I’m a stubborn creative, and I want to make more; it’s something I enjoy and I’d like to get better. So: some of the content will be videos.

And lastly, and most importantly to me, are my songs. I’ve spent this whole year supposedly trying to finish writing my first album, finish recording my EP and JUST GET STUFF OUT THERE. In the little time I have reserved for my own music I find just getting friends to turn up to a gig is a marathon race and leaves almost no spare time for recording. But I’ve been writing and writing and writing and I want to get these songs out there. It makes me want to cry when I think about how little I share.

Why the slog, I hear you ask? Well, I’m going to do this alongside running Quizcats, fielding four public gigs (one of which I’m directing) and my regular teaching and directing jobs. Through November I’ve managed an average of 1 post a week so increasing that by 700% is more than a little ambitious and I predict it will at times feel like a massive slog. Not even taking into account that it takes a lot longer to make a video or a song than it takes to make a blog.

So, this is completely a personal and creative challenge I’m setting myself, but I hope some of you will be interested in what I have to give! If you want to make sure you’re in touch for everything #Slogmas then you can join me on my blog page, my youtube page or my soundcloud page. Or sign up to my personal Facebook as I’ll make sure everything gets over to there. Alright, let’s do this!!!! #Slogmas #PuttingtheparadeintoTapeParade #ARGHHHHH