ANDREW WATERHOUSE’S BLOG

My Desert Island Discs

If you have visited my site before, you may find the blog is tidier. Gone are the summer camp posts, only rambling posts like this remain. The summer camp stuff has been moved to a new dedicated website – theresnoplacelikesummercamp.com. And with their move to a shiny new home, so too comes a fresh swathe of summer camp podcast content. Coming January 2020, is a series of weekly podcast episodes all revolving around Camp America and summer camp in general. Each Tuesday, I hope to provide something special and filling in a niche that I so know and love by providing entertaining podcast content.

And speaking of podcasts, I’ve been listening to Desert Island Discs over the past couple of years. I’d like to divulge what would make it over to my Desert Island, after two years of thought!

Champagne Supernova – Oasis

8687 300x300 - My Desert Island Discs I remember Champagne Supernova being one of those songs I stumbled upon while downloading songs from Limewire in the early 2000’s. It felt as though I had found a hidden gem of a song, and stuck with the long seven minutes while no one was aware that such a tune even existed.

Of course, I was wrong, for this absolute blast features in many ‘Top Songs of Oasis’ charts. But as a thirteen year old, stumbling across this was like stumbling across a diamond in Minecraft. It felt like my MP3 player took me on a journey that others were oblivious to.

Champagne Supernova opened the world to me, experiencing something other-worldly. It made me a die-hard Oasis fan, and this is the one that makes the cut to my Desert Island.

2. All These Things That I’ve Done – The Killers

temp 300x300 - My Desert Island Discs You’ll find a trend in my list that I love a longer song. There’s just something about an artist going on a rift, like watching a surfer catching a wave. There’s a flow state where they can do no wrong, taking the audience on a captivating ride.

All These Things That I’ve Done by The Killers is more than a ride, it speaks to who I am as a person. I remember watching Stevenage FC play as a teenager and swiftly putting my iPod Classic on after the match. Again another song that was downloaded from Limewire out of sheer curiosity of the band who made Mr Brightside, if they had more to offer. When this song came on, it spoke to me. My hairs stood on end. I felt the journey this song went on, going through the tough times, but the essence of you remains, no matter how the outside world tries to bring you down. The doubts you have, being overlooked, growing up and moving on from the past. This song got me through a breakup but I also felt rejuvinated too, like it was my purpose in life to try things. Whether that be watching a boring game at Broadhall Way, going on experiences or starting new exciting projects. To me, All These Things was someone looking back on their life and this was the music it matched up to. I want this tune on my playback of life too, being proud of the accomplishments I’ve made and the troubled journey I’ve taken.

In 2018, I saw The Killers live in Manchester. Holy fuck was it the best thing I’d ever seen. This song has soul. And The Killers are one hell of an experience to look back on when I kick the bucket.

3. Vertigo – U2

temp - My Desert Island Discs I’m seeing a trend! This is another song that I used to have on my MP3 player. Perhaps I found this one because their Beautiful Day single was used as a soundtrack on The Premiership back when football highlights were on ITV.

U2 are a band I’ve also grown to love, in my top 5 bands for sure. And I admit, there are tunes that I love more than this song now. City of Blinding Lights, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Where The Streets Have No Name and You’re The Best Thing About Me to name a few. But Vertigo takes the chalice.

It’s because I have memories of playing Vertigo on repeat with the volume at MAX. I’d press the earphones into my ears so I could hear every drum beat and guitar string plucked. I remember saying “If I go deaf for this, fuck me it’s worth it”.

I guess there’s nothing topping that!

4. Lose Yourself – Eminem

There’s not much detail I can divulge on this one. But let me put it simply, this got me through some extreme times. It’s a superb song to get you pumped up and ready to fight for your life – something you will need on an island too!

I’ve been trying to master the lyrics of this song for many years I’ve listened too, I think I’m about 60% of the way there. And what better place to get it perfect than on a Desert Island.

5. Rhythm Of The Night – DeBarge

temp 8 300x300 - My Desert Island Discs I never would have thought a song like this would make my island if I had been writing this blog post when I first pondered my Desert Island Discs.

This got into my Island because I was having the time of my life in Amsterdam with childhood friends. It was only last year we went Amsterdam for a long overdue weekend away. We were in a club at the tail-end of a bar crawl. So much was going on, which I’ll leave to the imagination(!), and when this song came on, I felt out of this world. It was the first time I’ve ever felt like I could dance, and by dance, I mean dance. All of my awkwardness was out the window and as I danced, it felt I was in the truest sense of flowstate I’d ever experienced. Rhythm Of The Night came on at the most opportune time, and spoke the story I saw before me.

There were so many funny memories made from the friends I had known for well over half of my life. And not only was the song telling the story of my best friends before me, but it also felt like a turning point. For few years I had struggled with mental health issues and this song felt like a message from God. “Forget about the worries on your mind (you can leave them all behind)” is just one lyric that resonated with me that special night.

Rhythm Of The Night as I’ve come to learn, is a common name for a song. But this particular one from DeBarge brought friendship, memories, mental health and travelling all into one perfect song. That trip in 2018 will live long in the memory.

6. American Pie – Don McLean

temp 2 300x300 - My Desert Island Discs Continuing my fascination with the longer song, American Pie takes its well-deserved spot on my Desert Island. This song takes me back to when I was a kid, growing up in Cubs and Scouts gathering around the campfire. The same friends I mentioned on the Amsterdam trip were with me here, and often we’d go on these campouts. One of the most iconic songs sung at this time, was American Pie.

My friend Ian would pick up his acoustic guitar, and we’d all stare blissfully into the flames; singing the song almost out of sub-conscious.

I’d need this song with me on the desert island. Not only for the campfires, but to remind me of home.

7. Fairytale of New York – The Pogues

temp 3 300x297 - My Desert Island Discs OK! OK! I hear you!

What on earth is a Christmas song doing on this list!? I hear you cry.

Well, there’s some logic.

Fairytale of New York is my favourite Christmas song. Every time it comes on the radio, I cannot help but sing along. I’ve got this one 95% nailed, and I’m better as the female lead.

I’m a massive Christmas fan, and I start to get excited as soon as September hits. My thought for adding this song to my desert island is that not only is it one of my favourite songs, but for near enough half the year, I’ll be in a Christmas spirit!

There’s no taking this one off the list I’m afraid!

8. Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough – Michael Jackson

I got to here and didn’t have any more songs that hit a sentimental note. So I went for one of the King’s greatest hits. It was a tossup between Michael Jackson, Queen and Meat Loaf.

When this song comes on, you cannot help but tap your feet. Your body wants to groove and I think a tune like this will be a great addition to my Desert Island.

Book: Aesops Fables

temp 6 195x300 - My Desert Island Discs I thought for a while about which book to bring. And I settled on something that’s a bit religious. It’s not like I don’t read – on GoodReads this year I’ve read 6 books. But I didn’t really see the point in bringing something like the 12 Rules for Life with me to an island. Aesops Fables though, has some value. It teaches you in a way how to live a good, rounded life. Teaching you the morals that have been passed down through the generations and the reasons for it. I felt that a book like this would not only be easy to read, but I’d be able to ponder on it too.

Luxury Item: Either a Gameboy Advance (with all games and batteries), or if that’s not allowed, a stationary set.

temp 5 200x300 - My Desert Island Discs My thinking for this, is that I’m a gamer. And if I need to wind down after a hard days graft, then what better than some retro games. A Gameboy Color is a sturdy thing, with plenty of classics I can spend my time within. If however, electronics are not allowed – then I ask for notepads, pens and pencils (a stationary kit if we are being pedantic!). I like to journal and writing down things I have accomplished to look back on (hey, are you seeing a connection between this website and that notepad? 😉 ).

Having a stationary set also means I am not limited to just the pen. It means on one day I can try my hand at drawing, painting or playing games with whichever inanimate friend I create on the island.

Anyway, there’s my third blog post for this year! It’s been a quiet year on this blog, but holy heck has 2019 been a good one. Sometimes, things like this site take a back seat which is okay.

I like to have each of my blog posts with a moral. What’s this one? Be yourself. Don’t be afraid to share who you are, whether there are questionable choices on your desert island or not.

Merry Christmas and I’ll see you in 2020!

Dare to Fail

This week marks the last that I own the website thatsyourbestbet.com. It’s been one the first projects I started back in 2012 but fast forward 7 years and I’m closing it down. So, what’s happened?

History of That’s Your Best Bet

That’s Your Best Bet was a project of curiosity. To start a website was something I had never done before. It was a time to learn a new set of skills and by venturing in to the world of running a business on the side, it excited me too. It was by no means a simple act of curiosity that started it’s journey though. For I was inspired by my uncle to start a casino website after hearing his success of adventures into the online world.

Seizing the opportunity, I dived head first into owning my first website and on a grander scale, my first business. I started with minimal experience in web design but my passion to learn and create was there. It meant that the site went through plenty of iterations as I optimized, learning new skills and wanting the best for the project.

The first iteration of That’s Your Best Bet was made using a now defunct WYSIWYG editor, iWeb. Dragging and dropping text boxes, navigation bars, images, banners and buttons I put together a site that I was proud of. I tinkered around with the site which in turn meant that my HTML, Javascript and CSS skills were all brushed up too.

With the skeleton technology in place, I had to venture into the curious corners of how the internet to business relationships worked. Affiliate programs were the core of how That’s Your Best Bet made it’s revenue. Providing customers with the latest promotions in gambling, I had to figure out how I could grab a slice of the pie.

Following the path that my uncle had set before me, I joined a digital marketing affiliate company and so the journey began. Starting business to business relationships with the biggest names in UK gambling.

The site in its early days was an great testing ground for me to hone my web skills and test new technologies. With a growing number of clients being a part of my project, the wheels were turning. And in fact, they were starting to spin off…

I found limitations of iWeb where I wanted more functionality. SEO tools were advising me to customise all sorts that I didn’t have access too. It was time for an upgrade.

Part of the journey owning a business is that you have to remain agile. Being open to opportunities means at times out the box thinking can help take you to the next level. I researched my options and plumped for WordPress as being the backbone of That’s Your Best Bet. It offered the right amount of out the box tools and the ability to customise and tweak.

That’s Your Best Bet went from a boring website to one that had comments, its own forum, games and at one point an iPhone fixing service. I know right, I took liberties!

Over many years the site would change size and shape. Becoming ever more optimal in a mobile world, That’s Your Best Bet was starting to feel like a great website to work upon and improve.

ScreenShot2013 04 29at22.55.55 - Dare to Fail

Its Downfall

Focussed on Bingo, Casino, Games, Poker and Sports I created That’s Your Best Bet to be a one-stop shop for all gambling needs. Looking back, this was a bold and risky ideaology that may have hindered its reach. Having a broad site requires a lot of work for it to stand out in the crowded market of casino affiliate websites.

The amount of casinos I’d be approached by while being admin of the site were staggering. Each day I’d receive emails to add casinos that I hadn’t heard of before. Each, I’d make a gut instinct decision upon and more than likely, reject their approach. For I wanted to keep the website specialised to the big names in the industry.

I wanted to make more contacts and represent my business in real-world scenarios. And so, I found a conference in London that is aimed at likeminded people to meet and network in these industry events. It was a great time and I got to meet a few affiliate managers showing off their latest revenue shares with the glitzy, glamourous girls to boot.

I came home with bagfuls of freebies and business cards but I walked away from the event with a low-level of disappointment. For there had been an elephant in the room I wasn’t addressing.

Since its inception, That’s Your Best Bet had problems with staying up to date in a very competitive market. Bookmakers would change their offers all the time to outdo each other and it was up to us affiliates to try and keep up.

With every change to a promotional offer, I had to update the website replacing all review text to match what was now the latest. That would have been manageable with the 30+ affiliate offers I was promoting, but when you add other areas it was near-enough Mission Impossible.

For all the time I had worked on That’s Your Best Bet, I never found a theme, plugin or piece of code that would do the job I wanted. I had gone into the specialty forums, asking other webmasters the same question – how do you keep your websites up to date? The answer, people.

I wanted to be able to update the offer of Ladbrokes Sports (for example) and have it update everywhere across the site where Ladbrokes Sports was. Everything from the text in buttons to the links used to track. Banners around the site would also need changing in at least 3 locations per casino… The sheer frequency of changes these bookmakers were making made it impossible.

I found some workaround solutions to address these back-end issues of the website but deep down I knew the issue wasn’t sustainable. For all the offers, links and banners that were updated; there was one thing missing, readability.

Reviews of casino offers were written by hand at the time of the promo. When offers would be updated by bookmakers, I’d need to go back through the website and re-review their offers and update its page. While it sounds simple enough to do in a blog post, you can trust me that this would be near enough a full-time job.

It was never going to happen.

A new Dawn

When That’s Your Best Bet took me through this journey, one of the things I signed up for was an industry leading gambling affiliate magazine. It was an insightful and interesting read, to see what was upcoming in the gambling space and how others like me had managed the daunting task of running a fully-fledged affiliate business. The fact that plenty had staff working full time on updating the site, running social media and liaising with bookmakers; it was no wonder I knew that deep down the nail was in the coffin.

The gambling industry has the tightest regulations around the world, and for good reason. The affiliate marketing industry over the past couple of years has been at the beady eye inspection of the regulators for the past couple of years. This issue combined with the sheer amount of hours needed to maintain such a website meant that the coffin for me was now sealed. It was time to call it a day.

The cost of running a website isn’t particularly expensive. But it’s the amount of time that it takes to get up to a high standard that means for true quality and great investment. The amount of time I have put into That’s Your Best Bet is astronomical. And to be honest, I don’t regret it at all.

I knew deep down that it was time to call it quits on this project. For the gambling affiliate space I had once joined was no longer the same. I was hitting the same dead ends that others were struggling with too. And what this had inadvertedly lead up to is monopolies in the affiliate space. Sites like oddschecker would have the resource behind them to snowball and keep up in the demanding market. Sure, I could keep my site going forever but I knew it was no longer providing the quality I want my name attached to.

I know that for years to come people will come to my website, have a browse through my portfolio and be intrigued by That’s Your Best Bet. And it’s a shame that I’ve decided now is the time to hang up that hat. But forever will I keep its files, history and expertise that the website gave to me. It made me a better designer, using technical tools like Photoshop to create ever better logos and artwork. The web development tools and languages helped not only to create websites but also helped with programming in other related projects too. The work and time I’ve put into crafting web design has meant that other places have benefitted from my skill too. The Dame Alice Owens intranet, Travel Counsellors TC Service Status and ebb3 intranet would all have not been created for it not for That’s Your Best Bet. Business-sense and userbility has helped me to become a self-taught marketing genius too. The skills and money that the site made on the side helped to shape me into the person I am today, driven.

Driven for perfection. Driven to be entrepreneurial. And daring to try something new.

Till the next one,

You’ll Always Remember Your First

This one’s particularly hard to write. It was never supposed to end like this.

Since the age of 17, I’ve felt really driven. And part of that is due to my seventeenth birthday present – driving lessons. It took a while for me to pass, at the age of 19, which at the time was mocked by younger friends for taking so long. Nowadays, I know plenty of people who have yet to pass as they approach their thirtieth. And those that once took the mick, have passed at 23.

It’s hard to deny that my drive to drive, so to speak, was weak. And it took a while after passing since I went and got a car of my own – I believe I was 21 if my memory serves me right. I remember going through Autotrader to find the vehicle that would match my budget – a particularly small one for a first car.

I ended up landing a cool black Ford Fiesta, 53 plate and 50,000 behind the wheel. At just over ten years old, I grabbed the car I wanted for £2,500.

It took a while before I felt comfortable behind the wheel. For when I got my first car, I would only drive it on the roads that I knew from growing up in Potters Bar. Together with that mindset and a black box, meant for really quite restrictive drives. But the perks were clear to see, McDonald’s drive-thru was one particular blessing.

I quickly nicknamed my car Liam, after its numberplate. Not adhering to usual naming conventions of calling my car a girl’s name, I couldn’t care. The bond between myself and Liam had started.

Liam had taken me through a journey. In fact plenty come to think of it.

It had taken me to uni on those cold nights to and from the University of Hertfordshire. Where I’d finish many evenings of study in the late evening and it struggled to clear the windows of their condensation.

Liam had taken me to my placement during my sandwich year at University too, introducing myself more and more to becoming an adult. It had taken me to Dame Alice Owens too, where I loved to work as an IT Technician and grow my IT skillset. From all the jobs I’ve had, Liam has been parked outside waiting to take me back home.

Liam’s been around my dating life too, which we won’t delve into much here! A little NSFW but I’ll cherish the memories made between that car, me and X, Y and Z.

Liam took me from Potters Bar to Manchester for my first house move. To the different job interviews I’d attend and nights out I’d spend getting to know new people. It’d take us to five a side football, nights out in Liverpool and exploratory trips up in the north.

It took me to events that I once only dreamed of going to, like a Busted concert, Killers gig, Penn & Teller and V Festival. Countless cinema trips, arcade days out and bowling alley brawls.

Liam took me on memorable holidays away too. Llandudno, Edinburgh, Lake District and Hawkstone which used to mean the world to me as a kid.

Having my first car meant that I could go to holidays abroad, taking us to the airport for Hamburg, Disneyland Paris and a tour of Europe.

Liam has been through his bumps and scratches, all the fault of other people may I add. Yet he powered through, proving tough and resilient – despite what my bank balance would say about the frequent repairs!

I’ve taken Liam from 50,000 miles to 85,000 over the course of coming up to 6 years. And he’s taken me on a wild journey too. From the age of 21 to 26, I’ve kept that car like a brother. It’s with a heavy heart that on 7th December 2018 that all changed. Some pleb overtook into my lane, causing a three car write-off, including Liam.

The damage wasn’t actually that bad. It was all cosmetic, but due to how economical it would be to repair, the insurers wrote the car off as a CAT D.

So it’s with a heavy heart that my first car has now been taken to the scrapyard. A perfectly good car, beside a few bumps, gaffa tape and selotape. It’s a strange world we live in, where disposable cars are a thing.

Through no fault of my own or Liams, it’s goodbye.

I’ll miss you big man. God speed.

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