Summer Blogging Vacation. July.

This is going to be long. Strap in, folks.

5th: John-Luke Roberts and Jonny Sweet previews at The Invisible Dot HQ.

It was the first time i'd seen John-Luke Roberts and thought he was ACE. I was a little bit worried after seeing Jonny's preview. I shouldn't have worried, the finished show was bloody good.

10th: The Penny Dreadfuls at Greenwich Theatre. Fullmooners at Undererbelly on the Southbank.

I spent the day in Hyde Park with some lovely Watsonians before heading to Greenwich.

A very polished preview by The Penny Dreadfuls; I love Mr. Princess. Steve Hughes, Adam Bloom and Abandoman were the guests at Fulllmooners. Sir Tim saved a tree from catching on fire during the last post - HILARIOUS.

14th: Robin Ince's Bad Book Club at the Bloomsbury Theatre.

Neil Edmond did some brilliant miming while Robin read from his killer crab books and 'The Secret World of Men'. Joanna Neary did some wonderful character performances - she's ace. Ronnie Golden and Phill Jupitus also gave good sets.

21st: Carl Donnelly and Jon Richardson previews at Fat Tuesday.

Carl Donnelly made my face ache from laughter. Wasn't that impressed with Jon; he seemed pretty up tight.

23rd: From Russia With Love at St. Anne's Church.

I went to see the Docklands Sinfonia because Nick Mohammed was playing violin. It was so good! Especially the Trumpet Concerto with Philip Cobb.

24th: Mark Watson - Do I Know You? at Riverside Studios.

A few Watsonians and I went to see one of Mark's last previews ahead of the Fringe Festival. The battenburg and sneezing bits still slay me.

25th: Antiquity Recording at BBC Broadcasting House.

Written by John-Luke Roberts and Gareth Gwynn and performed by Nadia Kamil, William Andrews, David Reed, Tim McInnery and Andrew Sachs. LOVED IT! More please, BBC.

27th: Gutted at Riverside Studios.

This was the second and final full run through of Gutted before they took up residence at Assembly Rooms on George Street. The Penny Dreadfuls and Colin Hoult stole the show - such talented chaps. I had the songs going around in my head for at least 2 days after seeing the show... "no one understands you like we do".

29th: Reggie Watts at the Bloomsbury Theatre.

Holy crap this man is INCREDIBLE! Some amazing physical comedy in between the music/beat boxing/singing/stand-up.

31st: Pappy's - All Business at Riverside Studios.

I find Tom Parry absolutely hilarious. He just has to stand on stage and i'd burst out laughing. The show is such a joy to watch; a barrel of fun. If you don't want to get 'Baby' by Justin Bieber stuck in your head, you probably shouldn't see it.

A few sketches in, Matthew Crosby piped up with "oh, we should say, we can't write sketches".

A thought.

Why on earth would Heidi Montag do that to her beautiful face and body? Plastic Surgery is evil.

Summer Blogging Vacation. June.

It wasn't intentional, but it did happen. Sorry.

28th: Tim Key's Work In Progress at The Invisible Dot HQ.

It was so hot. So, so hot. It wasn't helped by the fact that Key wouldn't let anyone open the door. It was also very long. There was an interval and a set by Tim's tech, Fletch. A gentleman from the BBC had got progressively drunk throughout the course of the evening and started to heckle towards the end of the show.

Best ad lib: "it's so hot in here that Simon has just used the tummy bit of his t-shirt as a face mop".

30th: Karaoke Circus at The 100 Club.

With the Mystery Fax Machine Orchestra! I thought the punters out did the guests on this occasion. Kevin Eldon with 'Witchita Lineman' was a favourite. Oh, and there wasn't enough Tony Gardner.

Best heckle: "you've got clown on you!".

A thought.

I saw Toy Story 3 about a month back and felt genuinely nervous when Andy's toys were about to be played with for the first time in years. A bit odd, really.

Ten-Year Self-Improvement Challenge. Update Four.

Five months in! That went fast. The fourth update is late - no surprise there. My challenges can be found here. Now let's begin.

1) I was half-way through 'Bad Science' by Ben Goldacre and then I bought 'Eleven' by Mark Watson and HAD to read it as soon as possible. My goodness it was good! I devoured it 4 days; taking the bus instead of the tube and even reading before bed.

I thought all the characters were great, especially Xaviour and Pippa. Lots of the characters intertwined without actually meeting which was very clever, I also liked the lovely little descriptions and throw-away facts upon introduction.

A real page turner. I highly recommend it.

2) I'm not doing too well at this. I'm considering dropping it and maybe set a scrapbooking challenge which i've been meaning to do for 3 years. I'm just way too shy around people I don't know and just the thought of talking to strangers makes me panic. I stumbled on my words when asking Reggie Watts for his signature and then beat myself up about it on the way home.

I have kept clippings from newspaper/magazines and concert tickets for aaaaaages and i'd really like to scrapbook them for safe keeping. Organisation will be a self-improvement. Self-confidence will, hopefully, come with time (the weight loss is helping a bit already).

3) Um. This is turning out to be trickier than I thought, there really aren't enough hours in the day. I blogged about Latitude Festival and it received 75 views in 2 days! I was well chuffed.

It's one week until I head up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and i'm determined to catch up on a month's worth of blogging before then. Wish me luck.

4) Need to do better. To be honest, i'm dieting and my thoughts are all about food at the moment...

5) I wrote to my Uncle who I hadn't spoken to in months and months. We're planning to catch up when I go home in March; good stuff. This morning I sent an email to an old friend and got quite a long reply. Not too sure what to say about this, though:

"i joined the liberal party and the young libs so have been pretty busy being involved in all that but i luvvvvv it, its way awes. it is what comedy is to you, to me. i have found somewhere i belong lol".

6) This is going great guns! I have now lost 8 kilos! YESSSSSSS.

A thought.

I'm doing pretty well on my Mark Watson spotting. Bring on Edinburgh, I say. Points, points, points.