On the plus side...

Recently, it was brought to my attention that my iPod lacked Paul Simon. Well, to be fair, I had 2 Paul Simon songs on it. That's not very many, considering I'm a huge fan and do actually own at least 2 albums (one of which is Graceland, possibly the greatest album of the 80's - discuss).

Well, this got the ball rolling. You see, as I mentioned in my last post, I've been ill. I'm not one to succumb to boredom easily and ill = bored as far as I'm concerned. Drinking lemsip is fun, but doing it compulsively can lead to liver failure faster than downing pints of Jack Daniel's & Coke for breakfast. So I decided to update my iTunes music library and iPod. I hadn't really done so since upgrading to a new iMac and a 20gb iPod. I had a lot of cds and stuff kicking about that I'd just plain forgot about. More fool me.

Obviously Graceland, The Rhythm of the Saints and Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard went on first as they were fresh in my mind. But this was merely the tip of the iceberg. I found my copies of John Lee Hooker "Mr Lucky" AND his Greatest Hits - bring it on (Mr Lucky is playing as I write this - man was a genius!). Then John Mayall & Eric Clapton Blues Breaker remastered from the original 1966 master tapes. JJ Cale... well, lots more blues...

...then on to Jazz: Duke Ellington's Newport recordings from 1956, Miles Davis Sketches of Spain and Birth of Cool, Herbie Hancock's bizarre but brilliant Sextant, Bird, Mose Allison (who kinda bridges jazz & blues).

Every cd I put in, I'd listen to a couple of tracks and get absolutely blown away, not just by brilliance but by the raw, simple edges on the blues riffs. Guitar strings plucked right down to the bone (John Lee Hooker's Crawlin' Kingsnake), horns that brought tears on tendrils of stale cigar smoke (Miles Davis's Concierto de Aranjuez {Adiago}), the softer riffs of J J Cale - it was like an adventure. So I decided to change tempo a bit...

I'm an old school East Coast Hip Hop fan. From back in the days of Run-DMC, through the Beastie Boys, and, for the sophisticated rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest & De La Soul. Did I have any of these loaded up? Of course not. I'd just forgotten how good they really were. So, starting from the beginning, Ultimate Run-DMC. Run's House hit me like a ton of bricks wielded by some... well, brick-wielding behemoth. It was a combination of nostalgia, rediscovery and the realisation that it was a genuinely awesome tune. More re-discoveries followed - A Tribe Called Quest's Beats, Rhymes & Life is an unjustly overlooked album; the Beastie Boys' Check Your Head & Ill Communications are so good on so many levels (instruments, scratching, lyrics and the ferocity with which they spout them; these guys invented nu-metal/nu-punk and so far no one else has been able to it right). Brilliant but time for a change of pace again...

London Calling... The Clash
Early Days... Led Zeppelin
Anthology 2 disc set... Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Blue... Joni Mitchell
Sea Change... Beck
5... J J Cale
Single 45's and Under... Squeeze
Harvest... Neil Young

There were so many. I feel like I'm in some sort of aural haze but it's brilliant. It doesn't matter if you don't have an iPod or anything like that - just look at your cds and pick a few you haven't listened to in ages. It's great for what ails you. But be warned, it will take time!

I shudder to think what my post will be like when I start to re-read Shakespeare...

More illness.

Well, a bit's changed since my last post.

Ok, not much really.

First of all, I'm sick again. This time it's a chest infection. Now, for those of you who only know me through this blog, it will seem as though I'm a bit of a hypochondriac. I can understand that. I've only posted 5 times now and 2 of those have centered around me being unwell. Well, let me assure you all that this is not the case. I am rarely sick; indeed these last few months have been more sickly for me than the last 10 years. Which is concerning as I think my general lifestyle is actually a great deal healthier than it was 10 years ago. 10 years ago I was drunk every day and chain-smoked any cigarettes I could get my hands on. The vast majority of my exercise was lifting the next pint to my lips. My diet tended to be deep fried, battered and saturated, regardless of what the original foodstuff was. Now I don't smoke (over 3 years now), my drinking is held in check, my diet has improved considerably, I've been training for a rugby 7s tournament for the last 2 months, I think I've lost about a stone and a half (over the last 18 months) and I'm suffering from the bloody plague.

I think this is a point where one should stop trying to read too much meaning into one's circumstances. Were I to take this as some sort of indicator as to my behaviour, I would immediately regress to my state 10 years ago. And no one wants that, I assure you. So my slow regime of self-improvement will continue, and I will allow my sense of irony to revel in the occasional misfortune that falls in my path. Besides, the rugby's tomorrow... but that's another post.

Illness and Karma

I'm writing this in a state of recovery.

Yesterday, without warning and in throws of DIY triumph, I fell horrendously ill. It didn't take very long; only a space of about 15 minutes from gazing proudly on the desk that I'd just created from scratch (well, a carefully prefabricated selection of parts) to desperately trying to keep my gorge from rising while sitting on the toilet. None of my usual remedies worked. Water, rest, cursing my place in the universe. Slightly feverish and lying in bed ready to leap to the bathroom at the meer hint of a twitch in my guts it occurred to me that it was my day off.

Today, I am working an evening shift. 2-10. It will probably be busy with customers I would rather not serve. And I feel fine. My boss just called, saying that if I needed some more recovery time that was cool. And I don't. One spectacular chunder before bed last night and I feel totally human again.

What's up with that?

Why did it have to be on my day off? Why did the vast chunk of my 24 hours of freedom get flushed down the toilet? Is it Karma? Was I some sort of horrendous maniac in a former life? Is it vengeance for everytime I've checked my personal email at work? Is this some sort sarcastic HR deity, a la Catbert, that notes any time wasted at the workplace, tallies it and inflicts debilitation digestive disorders on days off to right the balance?

If so, I think it's time for self employment. Or retirement.

Spring is here... sort of...

Spring is both magical and incredibly frustrating. In my neck of the woods (St Andrews, Fife, Scotland) the sun is shining gloriously, the grass is an amazing emerald green and one is tempted to charge down to the beach, frisbee in one hand and beer in the other. And there you'd be, laughing and drinking and throwing the disc around until dark, which wouldn't be until 8 in the evening. Idyllic?

I'd say so.

Anyone who said it wasn't would be a puritanical bore no doubt, claiming that such behaviour was the road to communism and satan.

There is another, colder side to the story. And that is the bloody wind that thumbs its ephemeral nose at the sunshine. We're talking gale force, white horses on the water sort of wind. They call it a lazy wind up here, because it can't be bothered to go around you. It just goes through you. And it is bloody cold.

So we're at a sort of half-spring point of things. They've got the aesthetics right but the heating hasn't been switched on yet.

So in the meantime I've been getting into shape. Well, trying to. You see, my lunatic friends of mine and I have decided once again to throw caution to the wind and compete in the Ma Bells 7s Rugby Tournament. For me, being 3ish stone overweight (1 stone = 14 pounds), this is requiring a certain amount of memory jogging for my body.

Running for instance. It's hard work, but it seems to be working on a number of levels. One is that it actually feels good. I know, I know, so does sitting in the pub, deciding which pint number you're on (it's the higher number), but this actually makes you feel you've accomplished something. Though, admittedly, to start with that something is "very little", because if you haven' run properly in, say, 10 years, you've got a lot of work to do.

At least it's keeping me warm!

A Valentine's Rant...

Perhaps it is because it is a Monday. Or maybe it's because I have a massive amount of IT responsibility over the next few months. It's possibly due to the bitter cold and gale force winds. But I am really, really, hating Valentine's Day this year.

Forgive the cold cynicism, but doesn't it seem the antithesis of romance for couples throughout the Western world to have a set date to be romantic? And for them all to exchange flowers, cards and expensive, candlelit meals?

Surely romance is about passion and spontaneity?

Or is this why I've been single for 2 years?

Hello and welcome

Hi all,

This is my blog. I'll be using it as a sort of public diary and as a venting of literary steam that's too random or misguided to be put to better use. Hopefully it wil be amusing, insightful and informative. However, it is more than likely to be random, silly and a place to waste time when your boss thinks you're working.

Maybe it will be both.

Ciao,

Richard