You are allowed to enjoy this…

Misery, despair, upset…
Yes, I start 2006 by getting my financial affairs in order. Cheques are written to appease the taxman and the credit card company. I see a four figure sum leaving the house and I feel tears of upset well in my eyes. Oh well, start as you mean to go on, no?

So do you feel any different? Did you get too drunk and do something you deeply regret? Did you vow to change your life in the New Year? Did you wake up this morning and wish you were dead?
Watched the London New Year’s Eve celebrations on the box last night and the fireworks display based around the London Eye was amazing. For once, I was kind of envious that I wasn’t there. Why wasn’t the Millennium Eve fireworks that good? But yes, it was one of the most spectacular 10 minutes of fireworks I’d seen and I hope they make it an annual thing.
On the illness front: the lurgy that plagued the Missus before Xmas has taken a grip on me. I have a sore throat and runny nose and the occasional sharp pains in the left ear. The symptoms keep disappearing though and I suddenly feel fine, only for the next day to feel rotten again. Apparently, this is the norm for this bug. Whoopsie do!
Today: chicken dinner followed by more Xmas pud and champagne. As I write this, I am also cooking lunch (ain’t I a magnificent multitasking motherfunner, eh?) and I am ready to go down to peel some spuds and get the veg prepared for our new vegetable steamer. I expect to spend the afternoon napping on the sofa, slightly sozzled on the champers. This is how we live.

Well what to say? It’s the last day of 2005 and boy has the time flown. This has to be the fastest year yet and it scares the life out of me. Next year, in February, I’ll be 35 years old – halfway through the average life expectancy for a male – and this perturbs me greatly.
There were some good points in 2005: seeing VDGG and Tom Jones in the same week, 5000 miles apart. Cool. I saw some good gigs and had many a good time sitting in the sun getting slowly toasted on cider. This is a good thing. I was born for that moment. I’ve found the guitar of my dreams, bought and sold a lot of gear and steadily recorded more music through the year. I also found time to write a little novel (which will probably never be read by anyone other than myself and The Missus, but I don’t care. It’s done and I like it and that’s the important thing).
Well whatever happens, I’ll still be here in 2006 (rent has been paid) trying to get good use out of all this webspace and boring you all with tales of my mundane life and the godammn awful music I make. Remember folks, you can still purchase my CDs at:

So a Happy New Year to my loyal reader and I hope you have a prosperous twelve months!

Hey – it actually did snow today. The white stuff settled giving us a dusting of about an inch, but at least Alex the Wonderdog got to get his paw prints in the snow. Funny how that when the conditions are fine, the little blighter won’t walk, but when the path is icy and treacherous he sprints along dragging you behind. Little sod.
Snow pictures:

For me, Boxing Day is more relaxing because I don’t have to run around the kitchen like an idiot. The day started with a walk to the newsagents and then some Internet shopping for bargains. I purchased a new TV on behalf of my mum as her one is on the blink. Fingers crossed, a new spiffy digital TV should be here by the end of the week…all at a very reasonable price.
Turkey for last night’s supper, turkey for lunch and turkey for tea tonight. Is there nothing this wonderful bird cannot do? Plenty of meat left for animals and humans alike. The Missus got a good old bird this year. Nice and meaty.
Back in Studio Lock, I completed the new track and glued it lovingly into place. It all fits together so nicely and if I worked hard, I might just finish the recording! The muse seems to be with me at the moment. For my loyal reader, here is the completed mix:

Direct download link is here
These new wireless headphones are a bit strange to mix with. I think they have some kind of volume limiting circuit as everytime I mix an instrument louder, it seems to be the same volume in the mix. I have a fear that this new mix above will be incredibly loud and I may have to go back to my faithful corded headphones.

So how was it for you?
Christmas Day was just how I liked it: quiet. I got the presents I wanted and everything is right with the world. Some spiffing stuff came my way: some wireless headphones from The Missus (will stop me strangulating myself in Studio Lock when recording), a set of super-sharp knives from my mother and the vegetable steamer device. I was a bit dubious when my mother said she was going to get me a vegetable steamer, but the veggies were really tasty when cooked in it…and I also managed to steam the Xmas pudding at the same time. Superb!
My turkey turned out well this year and I went back to my old method of putting strips of butter under the skin on the breast to keep the meat moist. It was a very tasty and tender bird and I even returned for a couple of extra slices…oooooh my swollen tummy. The smell of the cooking and the turkey was almost too much for Alex the Wonderdog and I could see him giving me the evil eye as I dished up dinner, wishing me to drop the lot on the floor so he could snaffle it all up. Not this time around, my furry friend. He’ll get some turkey tomorrow in his bowl.
Greatly enjoyed “The Fantastic Four” DVD which arrived in my stocking courtesy of the Missus and then took Alex for a walk, returning in time for Doctor Who. I was a bit worried about David Tennant taking over from Christopher Eccleston, but he did a really good job. I thought it was exactly what TV needed on Xmas day, a good old fashioned silly romp. I loved it and I squealed like a little boy thoughout and the teaser trailer to the new series just left me giddy little a big girl. Good fun.
Been playing some games on my Xbox 360 too, but these new-fangled computer games aren’t what they used to be…too many bells and whistles. I’ve also noticed that with some of the first-person shooting games that I’ve started to develop serious motion sickness. Maybe this is my body’s way of saying: “Grow up!” But I do enjoy having a play now and again and ever since the Sega Master system, I have sampled every games console that’s been on the market, usually selling them on once I get bored with them (don’t want to end up living in a gaming museum). A lot of people turn their noses up at computer games, but if you are of a certain age and grew up with the first home computers – mine was a ZX Spectrum – it’s a bug that’s hard to kill.
Talking of home computers, here’s the story of another crap Christmas present. It must have been Christmas 1983 and I was just absolutely aching for a home computer for a present. Unfortunately, such devices were too much of an expense for my mother (and this was before errant fathers were pursued by the CSA) and so while on a Xmas shopping trip to Ilford, it was revealed that I was to get a computer from Tandy.
Now at this time, I remember that the Atari was still quite a big thing and Dean Seabrook, a snotty older boy who lived up the road and whose mother was shacked up with my Uncle Tommy, had one of these games systems. As a favour to Mrs Seabrook, my mother was to buy a copy of the latest Atari game on her behalf. So imagine having to stand in the shop while money was exchanged on a computer game for someone else’s Xmas present. And this guy was one of the ring-leaders who used to make my life miserable on Albert Road, taking considerable joy in intimidating me…This was a slap in the chops and I was in a bad mood. (A similar thing happened a few Christmases before that when we stored his Christmas present – a Grifter bike – at our house and it was in our living room tormenting me. I couldn’t have one because of the expense and because I couldn’t ride a bike, but I had convinced myself that if I had a Grifter I could ride it. I hated Dean Seabrook because of the bullying and because he always seemed to get better presents.)
So when we went to Tandy to purchase my Xmas present, my mood changed. This was it. This was going to be my entry into home computers. But imagine my horror when I actually saw what was going to be bought for me. It was some kind of home electronics kit where you use little bits of wire and bulbs to create a rudimentary “computer” and use paper templates to answer mathematical problems. My face fell. My heart sank. My mother asked if this was acceptable and I replied in the negative. My mother threatened me with the ol’ “Well you won’t get anything for Xmas” and I said “Fine” hoping that I wouldn’t see the contraption on Xmas morn.
Well fuck me sideways when the self-same build-it-yourself kit arrived at the end of my bed. Of course, you have to pretend to be grateful and nod your head and show enthusiasm, because I knew the sacrifice that my mother had made in buying me the item…despite me warning her of its unsuitability. I spent a couple of hours constructing the “computer” and making sure all the connections worked before quietly putting it all back in the box and storing it on the high shelf where old toys went to die to gather dust for about 7 years when it eventually got thrown away without any ceremony or remorse.
Anyway, I did a little research and ain’t Google a wonderful thing? It turns out that my shit Xmas present was called the Science Fair Computer Kit and was originally created in 1977. Gee – so my computer was already seven years old when I got it.

Here’s the link for the details: http://www.digibarn.com/collections/games/science-fair-digital-computer/