Be Excellent To Each Other

Following Hearthly's roll of dishonour in the car thread, I was reminded of how often I'm amazed at the volume of stuff we get through. So how does your life stack up, if distilled down to a cataloging of things you've owned or experienced (or as good as owned)? e.g. you probably didn't own your first car, it was probably your mum's. But it counts. You didn't own the first house you lived in. But it counts.

I can't be bothered listing every item (but by all means do), but to add some colour, I'll list the first and last.

Cars: 6 (First: Vauxhall Nova. Stank of shit. Ran like shit. Never heard of sat nav. Belonged to mother. Last: Skoda Yeti Urban. Smells perfectly nice and surprisingly nimble for such a heavy thing. Awful, awful sat nav. Nice DAB.).
Houses: 14 (First: 3 bed in Peckham, parents sold it for around £50k. Worth £700k now. Last: 3 bed in Hove. Overlooks the crown court, so excellent views of murderers and paedophiles).
Pets: 3 (First: Sam, a black cat. Miserable. Last: Eddie. A grey female cat we thought was a boy. Expensive castration. Back legs too long to walk properly. Sapphic relationship with mother. Died too young.)
Loves: 3 (First: My first real girlfriend of any substance at 18. Took her for granted for two years. Drunk and inconsolable for two years after we broke up. Last: My wife, the funniest person I know.)
Deaths: 7 (First: my grandfather. Impossibly hard hearing my grandmother in church. Happily, he wasn't alone for long. Last: my great aunt, who managed a staggering 96 and is my daughter's first knowing interaction with a funeral and mortality).
Gaming contraptions: 9 (First: Atari 2600. Simply awful. Yet somehow The Real Ghostbusters absorbed hours of our lives. Last: PS4. It's great. But I've never got as much enjoyment from a console as I did from my original Xbox.)
Serious injuries: 1 (Sprained my ankle while in a severely lubricated state last week. Not broken a bone. Yet.)
Gigs: No idea how many, but the first was Rage Against the Machine, the last was Future Islands.

Obviously lots of other things one could list, those were just the ones that sprang to mind.

Cars: 23 (from a Ford Fiesta to a Nissan LEAF)
Abodes: 9 (from my parents' 4-bed terraced to Jem's 2-bed semi)
Pets: 6 (my dog Odie through to Ripley, the British Blue shorthair kitten Jem got me for Christmas)
Loves: 5 (from my ex-wife to my soon-to-be-wife)
Deaths: 3 (all grandparents)
Gaming contraptions: Not sure, around 10-12 (from the ZX Spectrum through to the SteamLink (if that counts))
Serious injuries: None, unless you count my recurring back problem.
Gigs: No "proper" ones, but have been to 4 or 5 "pub" gigs.

Cars: 4 (Mk4 Cortina, Nissan Bluebird, Sierra, Fusion)
Abodes: 6, 4 of which have been in Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Pets: 4 dogs, 3 cats, a few fish and three were a couple of mice, but they ere my sister's. Currently 12 fish
Loves:4, of which 3 were unrequited.
Deaths: all grandparents and both parents (mum when I was 11, dad when I was 21)
Gaming contraptions: A Wii and an Atari ST520 which is still in my loft, although my kids have had some others.
Serious injuries: apparently I pulled a pan of boiling water over myself when I was a toddler, but I don't remember anything about it. Apart from that, none, apart from a broken little finger.
Gigs: The Moody Blues, Family (many times), Darts, John Martyn, Crosby, Stills and Nash, the infamous Oz Magazine benefit concert in Hyde Park, headlining Grand Funk Railroad and The Pink Fairies, Simply Red (under duress), Brand X (in their post Phil Collins era), The Bootleg Beatles, Jethro Tull, Seahorses, The Stone Roses (John Squire was my next door neighbour for a while), Tears for Fears, The Musical Box (Genesis tribute band), Andy Fairweather-Low, Spandau Ballet/Go West, Ozric Tentacles, Steve Hackett, Helen Shapiro, Kiki Dee, Sailor, Fischer Zed, America, Jimmy Nail. There may be others that I can't currently remember.

Cars:5 Escort Estate, Corsia, 3 Skoda's 2 of which I have now (one is my wife's but I paid for it!)
Abodes: Lots of Rentals but 2 purchases
Pets: Family dog as a kid and 3 cats, now 1 cats and a few fish in my pond
Loves: 3
Deaths 5: All Grandparents, Great Aunt and one Uncle (my mothers mum died 3 years before I was born)
Serious injuries: None but had 2 disc operations on my back in the last 12 years
Gaming Contraptions 9 C64, and Mega Drive years ago, now all 3 Xbox's, PS3, PSP, Wii, DS
Gigs: Queen in 1986, Queen last year with Adam Lambert, Damien Rice, Perl Jam, Sinead O'Connor. AD\DC, Ah Ha

Cars: Personally owned 2. An R-reg Clio 1.2 (the cam belt pinged) and an 04 Xsara Picasso

Houses: 8 (first: Parents' 3 bed semi in Whinney Banks, Middlesbrough. Current: 5-bed semi in Wirral)

Pets: No actual pets of my own. We had a few dogs when I was kid, but seeing Gizmo our 8 month old Labrador get hit by a car put me off ever having a pet of my own. Maybe when the kids are older.

Loves: Truly, 1. MrsPaz. Couldn't function without her and she gave me other big loves, MiniPaz and MicroPaz

Deaths: Nothing truly close to my heart so far aside from a family friend. All my grandparents went before I was born. I've lost numerous Uncles and Aunties but I was always too young to have known them as real people.

Gaming contraptions: Not counting a constantly-in-flux PC, 7. (first: Commodore Plus-4. Last: Xbox 360 and the PC)
Serious injuries: One broken collarbone (age 20). One broken hand bone (4th metacarpal on my right hand, fact fans) (Age 19). One badly twisted knee at age 14. Male Pattern Baldness.

Gigs: Loads of gigs at Uni including Space (remember them?) and a few big arena gigs (Zutons, The Killers) as I've aged.

I love rubbish like this. I can't express my burning jealousy at some of the gigs above though, particularly Stone Roses and Future Islands.

Cars: 0 — Drove my dad's car for a bit. Otherwise I'm a public transport wanker.
Abodes: Owned: 0 / Rented: 8 / Moved: 19 — Three continents and four major cities later...
Pets: 5 — Two goldfish, Mulder & Scully, one snapping turtle, Glowie, one black cat, Billy, one chihuahua/pom cross, Chichi. Latter two live with my parents.
Loves: 2 — Was in a long-term relationship as a teen into my early 20's, and Gary, the bellend I currently date. As for magic number... well... more than 2
Deaths: 4 — Distant or estranged relatives, no one close.
Serious injuries: 0 — I've been in hospital a lot for asthma though, once in ICU.
Gaming Contraptions: 10 — PC, Sega Genesis, Gameboy Colour, N64, PS2, Wii, DS, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360,
Gigs: 100+ — Too many to count, big stadium gigs, festivals, raves, pubs/bars, clubs, etc, etc. Big name highlights: Queens of the Stone Age, Dizzee Rascall, Flaming Lips, Prodigy, Disclosure, to name a few.

ETA: Crystal Castles & Bombay Bicycle Club are possible two of the best gigs I have ever been to.

Cars: 5 from a G reg metro to a Corsa. My favourite being my Toyota Corolla I had in my early twenties. A proper 'fanny' magnet!

Abodes: 4 from my parents old semi, then to parents detached, onto a rented house (which I barely stayed in) back to my parents to the house I'm in now with the family. I love it.

Pets: 2. Both hamsters which I bought with the wife. Both died. I doubt I'll ever have a pet again unless the wife and kids over rule me (which is very possible)

Loves: 4 I think. I probably told more people I loved them but you know, a guys gotta do what a guys gotta do. Anyway, the love I have for my wife and kids is easily the strongest feeling that I've ever had and makes all the other times I said I was in love seem a bit silly.

Deaths: 6. 3 grandparents, one uncle and just recently, 2 former band members. Both within the space of a year. Neither were very old but both were alcoholics it seemed.

Gaming contraptions: Not sure but I'm looking at my TV now and I can see 16 consoles under it and there's about 8 or 9 handheld consoles on the shelves behind me ranging from a Virtual Boy to a Neo Geo CD. There's also an Amiga and various Atari computers in my mom and dads loft so yeah... loads.

Serious injuries: I had a ganglion when I was younger which I thought was serious. It probably wasn't. Apart from that, nothing.

Gigs: Loads. Off the top of my head I've seen The Spice Girls, Slipknot, Steps, Slayer, The Foo Fighters, Weird Al, Fun Lovin' Criminals, Beck, Atomic Kitten, The Gorillaz, Kylie and Jason (separate occasions) Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, Travis, Oasis, Happy Mondays, Stereophonics, Paul Weller, Matt Berry, and hundreds of other bands. One of the best nights was when I went to see Taylor Hawkins (drummer from the Foo Fighters) play with his band. It was only £18 a ticket and it was a relatively small room. Half way through the set, he invites Roger Taylor and Brian May from Queen to join him! Absolutely amazing. I still get shivers thinking about it now. I've also played in bands since I was 17 so the amount of rubbish young bands I've seen is far to numerous to mention.

Ah, Space. The most scouse thing ever to come out of Liverpool. Apart from that bloke on the advert for a crime reality TV show set in Merseyside, and his comically disbelieving protestation of "Murdeh??!!!" to a police officer.

Cars: 7 - Honda Concerto 1.5, Mazda 323, Honda Civic (my wife's current car - 'The Undying') Seat Ibiza 1.4s, Mazda 323f 1.6, Seat Ibiza 1.9tdi Sport and my current Seat Leon 1.9tdi se.

Houses: 5 in my hometown and 3 in Leeds

Time completed Bayonetta: 3

Games consoles owned: 11 maybe more.

Gigs:shit loads, er... Dr & the Crippens, Dinosaur Jr, Dr Phibes & the house of wax equations, Orbital, Magazine, The Fall, Prince, Beastie Boys, the Phantom band, James Taylor quartet, Corduroy, Arcade Fire, Ozric Tentacles, Eat Static, Squarepusher, Dj Shadow, Tales from the woodshed, The White Stripes, Interpol, Blonde Redhead, Kings of Leon, prodigy, Desmond dekker, wonder stuff, new fast automatic daffodils... off the top of my head. Various small festivals and raves etc.

Oooh, nice thread.

Cars: 7 - Fiat Panda 1000CL, Citroen AX 1.0 Debut, Ford Ka 1.3, Skoda Octavia Mk1 Elegance TDI, Skoda Octavia Mk2 Elegance TDI, Fiat Bravo Dynamic TDI, Skoda Octavia Mk3 Elegance TDI.

Motorbikes: 8 - 2x Peugeot Speedfight 50, Gilera Runner 125 SP, Yamaha SRX400, Yamaha Thundercat 600, Honda Hornet 600, Vespa GTS300, Kawasaki Versys 650

Houses: 3 - 1 bed Semi bought for £43k, 3 bed Semi, 4 Bed Townhouse.

Cats: 5 - Excluding family cats, Cally, Kryten, Pringle, Smithers, Morbo

Loves: 3, with a few more girlfriends along the way.

Gaming contraptions: 9 - Excluding handhelds PCs and stuff, and ones I've bought later on as retro consoles, Dragon 32, C64, Amiga, PS1, X-Box, Wii, PS3, 360, PS4

Serious injuries: 1 Broke my collarbone aged 3 and can still feel a lump in the bone.

Gigs: Lost count a long time ago but probably around 200. The first two were Erasure and Metallica - bit of contrast there. Last was Bowling for Soup.

Risky stuff, especially at rush hour.

Cars: 7 as of tomorrow. The only ones worthy of mention are the Mk2 Volkswagen Golf GTI 16v, Renault Clio RS 182 and the imminent arrival of my Honda Civic Type R (EP3). The rest were either dogshit or boring.

Houses: 10! Lived at home in Southampton for 19 years before inexplicably upping sticks to Nottingham. There I lived in seven rental places in eight years. Then bought a house with the now ex-wife. Now I live alone in my awesome bachelor pad (so lonely).

Pets: 7. Five guinea pigs, one cat (that adopted us) and a hamster. Nothing currently although I desperately want a dog at some point.

Loves: I fall in love way too easily so about a billion? Honestly I can think of about eight of the top of my head...

Deaths: Just three that stick with me. My paternal grandfather (grandpa) died when I was 14 in his early 70s from cancer. He was one of the greatest people I knew so it hit me hard. My maternal grandmother (gran) died when I was about 18 or 19. We later found out she'd been keeping correspondence from my mum's estranged father from her. So I will always hate her for that. The other was my ex-wife's cousin's husband. The week before he died we'd been up there to see them and had a good time and a laugh, and it was an absolute horror to find out he'd had a heart attack while driving. It obviously hit her harder than me, but it really did put life into perspective. You never really know how much time you've got. And there are at least two deaths of friends that are likely to happen from cancer in the next few years, which is a bit of a bummer truth be told.

Gaming contraptions: 20 I think. First was an Amiga 500 which obviously still has a special place in my heart. My latest is an iRacing terminalgaming PC.

Serious injuries: none really. All my injuries tend to be emotional or mental.

Gigs: Hundreds and hundreds. My first was Eternal in 1996 (oh the shame) and my most recent was last Sunday (Weezer at the Manchester Academy).

What do you expect, for me to do it at home?

Cars: mum had tons growing up, but mine: Skoda Fabia, Honda Jazz, YELLOW Skoda Fabia
Houses: 3+ growing up, rented 4, bought current semi
Pets: oh god... growing up we had dogs, cats, birds, fish. In the space of the 12~ years since moving out of home I've owned or lived with 5 cats, 10 guinea pigs, 3 rabbits and a tarantula.
Loves: several non-serious, 1 I-thought-it-was-love and then the love of my life, who has completely redefined what love is
Deaths: 4 grandparents, 1 brother, a few internet acquaintences
Gaming contraptions: every major Nintendo console from the NES to the Wii.
Serious injuries: I think I fractured bones in both my feet with running but I could still use them so not sure it counts as serious.
Gigs: only pub gigs

Cars - 3 Ford F150 V8. Ford Taurus 3.8 V6. Hyundai Tiburon 2l DOHC.
Houses - 12 Mitcham Surrey, Brixton London, Pilesgrove NJ, Hammonton NJ, Woodstown NJ, Glassboro NJ, Chilicothe OH, Easton MD, Mays Landing NJ, Barnham West Sussex, Corfe Mullen Dorset, Aldwick West Sussex (current)
Pets - Seriously too many to count but I would say that it's probably around 30 cats all of which I have had to rehome so now I have none. But they were all semi wild cats, mostly Bengals Savannah and Russian Blue.
Loves - 4 Won't go into detail but I've only been truly in love four times.
Deaths - 7 My father when I was 7 (heart attack), my best friend Colin (suicide) my friend Yogsi (suicide) my uncle Rob (cancer) Two nans (one heart attack one stroke) and one Grandad (stroke). My other grampy died before I was born.
Gaming contraptions - LOL seriously you would ask me that question?
Serious injuries - too many to list Got ran over by a car the year my dad died and spent three or more months in hospital in traction (shattered my themur). Have broken most of my fingers, one wrist, an ankle, fractured skull etc. Being me I'm very clumsy.
Gigs - 1 HFStival Baltimore MD. I only went because Social Distortion were playing.

How many times have you completed Bayonetta 2?

Cars - 8 in total Renault 19 (bought and sold for roughly the same as i paid for it) - Astra (failed MOT's after i got hit in the back at a roundabout and they did a runner) , Rover 214 (killed through too many miles - somewhere around 150,000) , Volvo 840 (killed through too many miles - around 170,00) , Astra LPG (killed through too many miles around 190) , Citroen Picasso LPG (killed through too many miles 236,000) , Renault Megane ( died with faulty fuel injectors after only about 8 months of use) , Skoda Fabia (still going right now - bought with 50k miles currently at 140k)
Houses - 3 with parents , and now on my 5th rented place (2xSouthampton, 1xFareham , 2xAbingdon)
Pets - 1 cat when i was very young , a dog who we had from when i was 5 till i was nearly 20 , and another family dog a few years after that but not 'mine' , rental places and work means that its not been practical for a while but I'd love to have another dog.
Loves - 1
Deaths - 5 , 4xGrandparents 1xUncle
Gaming contraptions - waaay to many but going back to Atari VCS / Nintendo game and watches and my first computer was a ZX81
Serious injuries - None really , asthma and eczema cause problems on and off and I tore the ligaments in my ankle many years ago but nothing major.
Gigs - I never went to gigs when I was younger , and the ones I've been to now were much more my girlfriends choice , so i think the first one I ever went to was Scissor Sisters

Cars - at least 25.5 An Austin Maestro, a Vauxhall Nova, a Datsun Cherry, two Ford Fiestas, a Ford Sierra, a Ford Scorpio, a Ford Orion, a Suzuki Samurai, a Rover 220, a Rover 627, a Peugeot 307 (I think - some estate thing), a Fiat Ducato Maxi minibus, a Ford Transit minibus, a Discovery, a Range Rover (later to be a Tomcat, I'll count that as half), a Jag S-type, three Ford Focus's's's, a Mazda 6, a Mondeo, two more Focus's's's, a Ford Puma. And almost certainly some more that I've forgotten. And a tractor.

Houses - 7 the one I grew up in, the one I moved up the road into, the one I moved into with Mrs Grim... a bit further up the road, the first one flat in Bermondsey in London, two glorious flats in Deptford, and the house I live in now.

Pets - 3 a shetland called Bracken, and two mice called Guinness and Carlsberg.

Loves - 2 so far!

Deaths - 4 Grandparents

Gaming contraptions - fuck me - loads.

Serious injuries - 0

Gigs - loads and loads.

It was only released on a dying format.

The Ozrics AND Eat Static. Damn your eyes.

I forgot to mention two fabulous gigs:

1. Bruce Hornsby and The Range. They started their set list, then started taking requests from the audience, including several songs not in their own repertoire, and they played the lot seamlessly, as well as swapping instruments a couple of times, e.g. drummer swapping to bass, etc.

2. Procul Harum, with the Halle Orchestra and full choir. Couldn't believe my luck with that one, as the Manchester gig was the only one on that tour with a full orchestra and choir.

Also, an amusing story about one of the Simply Red gigs. Four of us went, but we couldn't get seats together, so my wife and I weren't sitting together. The support act was Terence Trent D'Arby, and it was not long after his big single success. After his set, during the interval, I met up with Mrs. W for a drink and asked her how she liked the support act. She hadn't heard the MC introduce them and asked who it was. When I told her she said, 'But he was black.' For some reason she'd never seen him on TV and assumed he was white. How we laughed.

You just reminded me, I wrote that band name down years ago after I heard something by them on the radio, but never followed up on it. Now you've reminded me, I'm off to the Spotifyatron.

I think the early stuff is the best, but then he became Bruce Hornsby without The Range and I was less keen after that.

And thats just the way it is

o/

HUH

Same night AND first disco biscuit.

Cars: First was a red VW Polo. Then got a blue Nissan Almeara. Now driving a reasonably-priced silver Chevrolet Lacetti.

Houses: Growing up, I only lived in two places and the first was only for my first four years. Had a succession of student digs then rented shared houses before renting alone. Now own a place in the Garden City/Boom Town of North-East Oxfordshire.

Pets: One hamster; two guinea pigs. The guinea pigs would roam free in our garden and live happy, long, and fulfilled lives there. At least until a fox got to them.

Deaths: I only ever knew my maternal grandmother. Other than her, I've lost three uncles.

Gaming contraptions: First computer was a BBC Micro. Then Amiga 500, before the progression from 286 to today via a 486. Bro donated a PS1 to my first student digs, but other than my Ipod I don't have a dedicated 'gaming' device. Unless you mean the cardboard kind.

Serious injuries: Apparently I ran onto a frozen lake when I was two, and the ice didn't hold.

Gigs: Did a lot of classical concerts during my teens, including a Duke Ellington Prom in 1999. First non-classical gig was British Sea Power in 2008. I've also seen Josh Ritter (thrice); Lucero (country/punk band, in a venue off Brick Lane where in my cordrouys and shirt I stood out amongst the big scary country/punk fans with tattoos and shaved heads); and Frank Turner. I also had a backstage pass to Womad in 2014 and saw some great world music acts whose names escape me.

MATHS

Oh yes, my mistake.

Cars: 3

Houses:12

Pets: 3

Deaths: 4

Gaming contraptions: 7

Serious injuries: 1

Gigs: 6 + 1 festival

MATHEMATICS

Sucks to your mathsma

Ozrics and Eat Static.... Awesome mate!!
Heh only yesterday I was listening to Pungent Effulgent in the car to Cambridge and back. For me, these were wild, wild, almost constantly smoke infused times, the early 90s