I’d just heard that the Missus had been diverted and was AWOL somewhere in France. She should have been in Poitier, but fog caused a diversion. My mind was elsewhere when I received a phonecall from RB, a man to whom I had applied for the position of Technical Writer – writing and compiling instruction manuals. Getting the call, you immediately begin to think that maybe an interview might come out of it, but at the back of my mind I didn’t like the tone of voice Mr B was adopting. From his voice, I deduced that he was a cocksure cunt and I soon realised that no job was forthcoming. He asked me about my experience of heavy machinery. Of course, I had none and said so adding that I was an adaptable worker and willing to learn about his products. But no, Mr B wasn’t having any of it and explained that he was looking for someone who had an engineering apprenticeship and wasn’t taking my application any further. With that, I thanked him for his time and ended the call. Well excuse me for applying, Mr B, but you asked for someone who could write, research and compile instruction manuals and I believe I can do that. His job advert should have said “Engineer Wanted – Will be Required to Write”.
Oh well, it’s the first time I’ve ever got a job rejection live and direct over the telephone and let me tell you this, I’ve had way over 300+ job rejections. (When I went through my first period of unemployment in the 1990s, I kept all my correspondence and it totalled well over 200 rejections). I thought getting a rejection letter was deflating, but being told over the phone that you aren’t good enough is positively demoralising. Oh well…what can you do about it, eh?
Later on, The Missus called and told me of her journey from Hell, being taken to a different airport, getting a bus to Poitier airport and then getting the train to her destination, arriving so late that she couldn’t make dinner with the clients she was interviewing. Why put yourself through this nonsense, I say? Stay at home…it’s less stressful.
Category: Diary
Today I received a letter from the company handling the debts for Highbury House/Highbury Entertainment/Paragon Publishing, asking me to submit any unpaid invoices to them. I doubt this means that I will get any cash, but it is probably so that all the debts can be totted up. And so I need to go through my files and print out those invoices again and post them off. It’s never a pre-paid envelope, is it?
Sad news today is that Henry McGee has passed away. For those of us of a certain age, he was the actor that appeared alongside the Honey Monster in those iconic Sugar Puffs adverts from the 1970s. He also appeared as straight man to Benny Hill and was in many classic comedies as an accomplished character actor. Let’s hope that Reg Varney is still alive, eh?
Meanwhile, over at Google Video, there’s absolutely loads of Pink Floyd clips to watch and download. Man, I just love the WWW.
Yesterday, I did another sift through the crates of my CD collection and sorted another hundred or so titles that can be sold off. It’s funny how quickly you can pick up a CD, look at it and discard it, realising that you’ve only listened to it a couple of times.
Meanwhile, news has just come in that The Missus is now lost somewhere in France after her plane was diverted due to fog…
Oh well, the incident known as “The Great Chapman Stick Debacle” is over. After much humming and ahhing and gnashing of teeth and impotent frustration, I reluctantly sold the instrument. Today it will be winging its way to a new owner and I managed to make a £100 profit to boot. Oh well, every cloud has a silver lining. As I have been a little preoccupied with said 10-string beast, I’ve not been doing much recording (even with the Stick). A night or so, I started a doodle. It’s another sketch and I doubt I’ll be able to make anything decent out of it.
Direct download: CLICK HERE
Managed to sell nearly the whole crate of CDs on eBay. There’s been an awful lot of envelopes to stuff and stick – almost a cottage industry. Going to do a second sift of the collection and see what else can go. Whooppeee!
For many years I’ve been fascinated by the Chapman Stick. It’s a strange instrument that requires the player to touch the strings onto the fretboard. For about ten years I’ve been trying to get hold of a cheap one. Last week, I was lucky enough to nab one on eBay. It arrived on Friday and I have spent the weekend experimenting with the instrument. It’s a lovely, wonderfully crafted instrument. Here are some pics:
Unfortunately, two factors have caused me to put the item back up on eBay. The first was that despite being able to play rudimentary basslines on it, I just couldn’t find a way of integrating into my existing setup. It sounded too…well, like a Stick. It was obvious that I hadn’t thought this through. I like my bass to sound like a bass and this just made me sound like Tony Levin. Did I really want this? The second factor was Highbury House being put into receivership, which was also announced on Friday. Oh the irony. When the going gets rough, the unnecessarily expensive instruments go on eBay. It’s a shame…I don’t want to sell it but I keep telling myself that it sounds rubbish and doesn’t compliment my music as a way of softening the blow.
So if you want to bid on this item (or know someone who wants to get hold of a cheap Chapman Stick) head over to here. If you mention this website, I’ll knock some cash off as a discount. 😉
Meanwhile, the sale of my record collection continues here.
Now I am off to sulk in the corner…
So Highbury House went into receivership. Well I didn’t see that coming (sarcasm). It was obvious that there was no way the company could survive after such mismanagement and a huge mountain of debt. So where does that leave freelancers like me? Without cash, I guess. Again, this post is a heads-up to those googling Highbury House and receivership. Paragon Publishing, the company I wrote for on a regular basis, was a subsidiary of Highbury and has been bought up by Imagine Publishing, which is owned by Paragon’s ex-owner Damien Butt. Whether or not I get anymore work is debatable (and to be honest, I don’t know if I want to chance my arm again. Once bitten, twice shy, etc). The current issue is the loss of earnings from this collapse. I doubt I’ll get the significant sum owed to me. There’s no protection for the likes of me. The problem is the knock-on effect this missing money has. In the summer (and next January), the taxman will come sniffing around and expect me to pay him. Well I can’t at this juncture. With my salary slashed by this crash and work drying up rapidly like watering hole in the Serengheti mid-day sun, I am well and truly stuffed.
Oh well, you got to laugh, ain’t ya?
I was lucky enough to catch the news that there’s a whale swimming in the River Thames. It’s the first time since records began in 1913 that a whale has been seen. Dolphins have been known to swim in the Thames but not a whale. Of course, marine biologists are worried that the animal might get trapped or beached in the river and are hoping that when the tide turns, the animal will swim back out to sea. Anyway, here’s the clip I managed to nab for the records from Sky News:
In the post yesterday: new guitar strings, some Lil Hum’r Nut Sauce (to stabilise my tuning problems with my Godin XTSA) and a guitar cleaning kit. I changed the strings on my bass for the first time since I bought it. Thinking back, this was probably the first time I had restrung a bass in about 5 years. When it comes to bass strings, I tend to leave them on until they go rusty as I don’t tend to worry about the trebly, bright side of the side, preffering a more muddy sound. The guitar cleaning kit, including some lemon oil for the fretboard, brought a new lustre to the instrument. Usually, I use Mr Sheen and an old rag to clean my guitars, but now I have seen the light.
Got a nice rejection letter from a publisher yesterday regarding “Dead Rock Star” – they said it was an interesting project, but unsuitable for them as they published more literary novels, rather than fantasy-styled fiction. Of course, the cynic in me says that this was probably just a standard letter and some machine spouted it in my direction. But the idea that another human being thought it was interesting gives me a little hope, even it if it is misplaced.
The sunset was a spectacular one again. Despite the day being murky, I suddenly noticed a very red glow spreading across the sky as the remains of the day disappeared into the west. I grabbed my camera, ran into the garden and snapped this:
The sky is on fire…
Meanwhile, Google Video are offering some cool content for download and purchase. But the really interesting thing is that some record companies are allowing their videos out into the public domain. They give you the option to post links on your website of a handful of music videos. And so I present Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” without fear of getting buggered by the RIAA:
This video was one of my earliest memories as a child and because of this Queen were the first rock band I got into. I only really like their first four albums these days, but they were certainly unique. I don’t agree with what’s happened post-Mercury and believe that very often you should let sleeping dogs lie, but I guess it gives some of the younger fans to experience a quasi-Queen concert experience. And now you can witness exactly what Queen + Paul Rodgers is like courtesy of Google Video:
Recently, I have completed the complex purchase of an equally complex musical instrument. More news when the item arrives here in good old Blighty. 😉