You are allowed to enjoy this…

I am one of four candidates for a job interview that could change everything really quickly. Dream job? Possibly. Long way to go? Absolutely! But one in four…I like those odds…

After going over old ground and listening to some of my old “albums”, I realise that I have recorded far too much music for one lifetime.

A long time ago, in a different life, I worked at the obscure end of the Teletext galaxy. I was the man that made the words appear on Carlton, LWT and Central (plus GMTV) teletext between 1995 and 2000. When I made my escape, I did it because I knew that the future was limited and I predicted it would all be over in ten years, basing this on the rise of digital television and the increasing limited appeal of the medium. I hate to say it, but I was right.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/jersey/hi/tv_and_radio/newsid_8366000/8366937.stm
It is a shame. It was a pioneering, if often overlooked service, but now it is consigned to the technological rubbish bin along with betamax, the digital compact cassette and HD-DVD.
It was fun and the quickest way to get the lottery results! (And Digitiser was good too).

Received the letter from the Motor Insurers Bureau informing us that they would not cover our loss assessor’s fee – but they would pay £2242.99 towards the £17196.26 costs. The loss assessor bills at 10% of the total claim, so you can work out that this entire incident has cost in excess of £171000. Remember the person who did this only got fined £175!

Shingles are bloody painful and annoying. I knew something was wrong a fortnight ago when the lymph node in the right side of my neck started to hurt. Thinking it might be portent of a sore throat or cold, I didn’t think much of it, but then about five days later the skin on my right shoulder blade felt really sensitive. Then it began to burn.
When the blisters appeared, I already knew what it was. Shingles and stress seem to run in my family. When my grandmother (dear departed) lost her father, she had a bad case of them and I used to help her administer the cream on the blisters. She had them worse than me and I now have a hint of what the pain was like. I saw her cry and it was upsetting, but she still managed to do a day’s work, despite all her work colleagues shunning her because they were ignorant pigs who thought she was somehow contagious. That’s probably why she cried. Friends she had known for ten or so years would get up and leave the staffroom whenever she would enter. Ain’t people lovely?
My grandfather also used to get them, but only minor outbreaks. Again, directly linked to stress and work. I am going through a minor case by the looks of it, but the pain is sufficient to make every movement uncomfortable and I do feel nausea from time to time, but I am hoping that they will eventually go and the scars aren’t too bad.
I just have this permanently erect and painfully sensitive right nipple to deal with. I don’t think our relationship is ever going to be the same again.

Meanwhile, I just discovered that my loss assessor’s final fee is £14953.27 (+ VAT @ £2242.99). Jebus H Crumpets! Everyone pray to whichever wooden idol you worship and hope that the Motor Insurers Bureau are going to meet this cost. It would be a nice Christmas present.

The events of the last 12 months have finally manifested themselves in a breakdown of my immune system and a very painful nerve infection. The right side of my body and my arm feels like it is on fire, prickled by a thousand darting needles. But don’t fear gently reader, this is my pain. This pain belongs to me and no-one can take it away from me. I thank my assailant for this pain. It is a nice Christmas present. I thank you. I suffer for you. And I thank the insurance company too for adding to this pain. And I thank myself for bringing us here and putting us all in the line of fire. I must be punished and if this is my punishment, then I will take it like a man.
What really hurts is not being able to pick up and hug my children, such is the pain and nature of the infection. This may possibly last until beyond Christmas and the pain could continue long afer the infection has been overthrown.
I have instructed The Missus to only call the doctors when I cannot leave my sick bed, such is my aversion to medicine. Thankfully, I am still walking around and lugging stuff, so no sign of me falling over just yet.

My recent illness has poured a little cold water on the delivery of a new piece of musical kit: a Korg Wavedrum. I’ve had a Roland Handsonic for a long while but was interested in this item as it appeared to be more drum than an electronic instrument. It appears to combine mocrophonic input as well as a touch sensitive pad, so you have the best of both worlds and an instrument that is more responsive in a performance sense. So you can tap it, stroke it, scratch it, etc and those actions will be picked up microphonically.
The only downside is that there is no MIDI output or input, so it really is just a live performance instrument and, as with most Korg gear, the operating manual might as well be written in Chinese. There are only six operating buttons and one settings knob, so a lot of the buttons double up. I can’t get my head around programming the thing, so I am just enjoying the presets at the moment. There’s also not as many sounds as the Handsonic, but this is a mere quibble because the sounds you do get a very, very realistic.
Comparing it to the Handsonic is a bit like comparing an apple to an orange: they are both fruit, but completely different. I think they would complement each other though and plan to setup my Handsonic with the Wavedrum and see if I can get some grooves out of them both.
This is something I recorded with the Wavedrum. It is done is two passes as live. The first pass is me on the drum, just vamping along, with the output going through a digital delay pedal and the second pass was a live tracking of my six-string bass. I like it. It goes a bit African in the middle and is sufficiently different to keep me interested. Enjoy!

Spent time and good money on Christmas decorations in order to impress Madame V because last year we couldn’t really have decorations as we were living in rented accommodation. I was proud of my display. Madame comes in after her nap, is less than impressed and tells me “No like them”.
It’s the first time I’ve had a woman break my heart…