I thought it would be good to post a catch-up post, to collect together all my recent adventures. However, do not worry, I am still working hard on the India entries, and hope to post another entry before the weekend comes to a close.

September is my favourite month of the year. The presumption most people make when I tell them this is that they assume that my birthday is in the ninth month of the Gregorian Calendar. They would be wrong, for this selection actually goes back to my school days. I was one of those kids that actually enjoyed going back to school after the summer break. In our household, September meant a shopping trip to Argos and WHSmith to get new rucksacks and stationery. It was perhaps the only thing that could get me going up to my birthday in November and then of course Christmas. Autumn is also one of my favourite seasons, sure I enjoy the sunshine and heat of the summer, but autumn is beautiful. The leaves falling onto the ground and the gradual change from green to brown colours everywhere.

Now being a grown-up September has a very different significance. It is the month when life returns to some sort of normality. Colleagues have had their summer break and are now back at the mill, refreshed and keen to make some progress. Sure there are some people that still take time off in September (and how I would love to be in the group, I can assure you!) but the majority are back. I enjoy this return to reality and the runaway train which takes us all the way to the end of the year. There is just one more call before that final destination. Someone is about to enter the final year of their twenties!

Driving back from the gym on Sunday lunchtime, I put on Radio 1. Wake Me Up When September Ends is my second favourite Green Day song of all time! (21 Guns is top of my list!) An absolutely classic anthem, but there is no need for me to sleep through this month, I actually quite enjoy it, even if it rather sleepy itself as we all drift into the final quarter of 2010!

Did you catch any of The IT Crowd in June or July? Sorry to mention it now, but just as the show came to an end, I was the other side of the world. I never thought they would be able to make two series, let alone four! However, they seem to keep it fresh by coming up with new ideas, although I felt Series 4 was perhaps not as good as Series 3. Having said that, the highlight episode, came early on within the second week. The concept was clever and I really enjoyed some of the great little touches they included.

You may recognise, Ivana, played to perfection by Gemma Chan. She appeared on a television commercial for Bing towards the back end of last year! Or you may recognise her from one of the final Doctor Who specials in 2009, with Tennant making his final swansong as the Time Lord.

The annoying thing is I had tickets to see one of the episodes filmed at Pinewood Studios on Friday 23rd April, but it was oversubscribed, so we did not get in. I was gutted at the time, but it meant I could get priority tickets for another show later in the year. (The story of that misadventure deserves a blog post of it’s own). The most annoying thing, was I had left work early and Michelle only lives a stone’s throw away from the world-famous 007 Soundstage, there was no reason for us to be on time and still not get in but I suppose people had realised that to get into this popular comedy, you had to queue and queue early!

I must mention a talented young female rapper who is releasing her debut album on my birthday (in the US at the very least, unsure of international release dates). I mentioned Nicki Minaj’s song Your Love briefly in a post from July but promised myself I would revisit the topic for fuller discussion. The moment has come. Nicki first came to my attention in the fabulous Bed Rock video in the rap collective Young Money. However, she did not really click back on my radar, until I heard the song Your Love. I believe it was in the car, listening to KISS but as usual, I missed the DJ giving the song name or artist details. It sampled an Annie Lennox track and it took me a while to link the two together. Thank you to Wikipedia that I was able to join the dots. I really think she is a bright young talent and considering her life story I am proud that she stands moments away from greatness. The video for Your Love is creatively a work of art and sure the lyrics, to some may sound rather cheesy and lazy, but I really like the fact that young girl has some depth. This is just the start, we can only expect more in the coming months, to that all important launch date. She performed at the MTV VMA Pre Show party, with her new song Check It Out (which samples Buggles – Video Killed The Radio Star). Before you get carried away into labelling Nicki into a box of unoriginal samples stealing wannabe Lil Kim, let me say you need to give her a chance. There is plenty more to come and there is quite an A List group backing the record. Well for me, every Friday is Pink Friday but for Nicki, I am sure my birthday can be pink but only just this once! 🙂