Notebook

I'm going though a bit of a vapid phase today, and I'd appreciate it if somebody could tell me what vapid means. True to form, I have now got a notebook for writing down the thoughts that are in my head, and true to form as well, I haven't written anything in it yet. This doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Sods law usually comes into play in this kind of situation, and has a habit of pissing me right off. It goes something like this:

"...I really wish I had a notebook cos blimey, I have SO MANY thoughts that as soon as I think of one, another plops right out of my ear, and it makes me so upset to not be able to remember everything." "Why don't you get a notebook Tim?" "Good idea. I might just do that, if I can remember it, which might be difficult, seeing as my head is so jam-packed full of brilliant stuff all the time, but yes that would be good!" "Oh look, now I have a notebook my head is completely empty, isn't that great?" "Not really, sods law is rubbish isn't it?" "Yes Tim, it really is."

Something like that. So I'm going to be spending the rest of this week coming to terms with the fact that now that I can write things down, I really have to do so. I have to unlearn what I have learned. Kind of like trying to use an electric hob when all you're used to using is gas.

Work is absolutely rubbish. I would go in to greater detail, but I honestly believe it wouldn't do me any good at all. I'm trying to adopt a karmic approach to it, whereby the less stress and anger I pump into it, the less stress and anger it causes me. I'm hopeful that this will do the trick, and I have to say that it sounds good in principal. I now need to learn self-control. Might be hard. Patience alone took me 22 years.

We were relaxing yesterday for the second time in the week. Isn't it terrible that it has become so hard these days to find time to actually properly relax? Real energy-saving time when you can forget about all the dross and boring things and focus on recharging and enjoying life. Day 1 was spent down the beach (sheltering from a somewhat cool wind behind a wooden groyne) and lapping up the sun. It was lovely, and we watched some chap kitesurfing, which looks like loads of fun, but rather scary. I heard some guy in Wales last year got yanked up in the air by his kite - they are quite big - and twatted into a wall. Nearly died. I'd have to get comprehensive insurance before I attempted that kind of thing I think. Christ, even talking about insurance makes me feel old. This is the man who went to war-torn bombed-to-fuck woken-up-by-tankfire Israel without any travel insurance. How times change. What was I talking about anyway? Yes, we relaxed yesterday. We didn't go to the beach as it was pissing it down, so we stayed inside and listened to oldish music. Some songs that really made me remember being in my late teens and early twenties. Here is a cobbled together list of the highlights:

The Orb - Little Fluffy Clouds
Leftfield - Melt
Sabres Of Paradise - Smokebelch
Future Sound Of London - Papua New Guinea
Nuyorican Soul - I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun
Bomb The Bass - Bug Powder Dust

Great stuff. And it reminded me of how much I've changed, taste wise. I still absolutely love all of these songs. I love tons of dance stuff. I went through a phase where I wouldn't listen to anything other than drum'n'bass (lasted about 3 years, and as shown by my Desert Island Discs selection, I would still rather listen to LTJ Bukem than the majority of most other things), but I suppose what I'm getting at is how drastically my musical radar has shifted in little less than two or three years. Apart from Underworld and Orbital, I really haven't gone near my old dance records since I went to London. Have I grown out of it? Has dance music got worse? What's going on?? One thing I have found, is that there is just so much bloody music available now, it's getting really quite hard to work out what to listen to. And then I have to decide what to buy. This is so hard; I used to work in HMV and that was like being let loose in a candy store, especially when I took advantage of the 30% staff discount. Thirty percent! And now that we have ridiculously fast broadband access you'd think that I would be downloading music like there's no tomorrow, but you would be wrong. With this I really do not know where to start. There is so much EXTRA music available; so much to download; so much to sift through; just so bloody much! I'd be useless with an iPod because I wouldn't know what to listen to. It's difficult enough for me finding an album I'd like to listen to, but trying to come up with a suitable playlist of various artists? Sod that. I went through my making compilations every day phase when I was thirteen. Been there, done that, and don't want to go back thanks all the same.

Must listen to that Bukem album again sometime.

Macaroni cheese for dinner tonight, with a sprig of rocquet on the side. Mmm tasty.

Here's a cool and very cute thing I found on Caterina.net which I just have to share. Aren't penguins just sooooo lovable?