Tight

Political goings on are funny things. Cynical. Yes, indeed. The announcing that Bono was named in th Queen's New Years Honours List before New year. Hmm. And the latest. Old Saddam getting punted. Coincidence that he was punted on the last day of the year?
Thought of the day: How many deaths were caused in Iraq as a result of Saddam? And how many caused in Iraq by the Bush Family?
1 gets hanged, the others rest in splendour.
\That's 2006 for you. contradictory.

Good rindence.
What will change tomorrow?
now't.
happy new year even though its the same as it was the day before and the day before that and the month before that.

and watch out for the wind.

Tail

all this review nonsense. it's everywhere. newspapers, internet, tv. yeah yeah yeah. 2006. hottest and wettest and windiest on record. and?

shitshit shit shit shit, shitshit. Shit.shit; shit.

And thats it.
That's all that can be said about it all.
The year that was.

King.

Soundwaves. That's all it is.

Agree or disagree. Doesn't really matter either way.

Album of the year:

The Warning by Hot Chip.
Hmm. Something for everything=official line.
unofficial line=electronic music is by all accounts cold and unfeeling. Souless. This is far from it. Soul. Warm. Emotional. The sheer joyness of repetition on 'over and over' to the drumandbass mayhem of 'careful' and the pure eternal summer-popness of 'boy from school'. To the unlistenable 'look after you'.

Notable=the sexiness brought back by CSS. Hipster baiting. Explicitness and utter disregard for pop tradition. why is that we stand so still people gonna start thinking we're statues. Makes me want to learn Portugese.
The Rapture.

Single of the year:

When we were young by the Killers.
Just listen to it. 3minutes 40sec. Single length. Verse. Builds after the chorus. And that descending bit a la Springsteen at 1minute 49. Slows and then that squealing guitar. Doesn't look abit like Jesus.

Song of the year:

Dance with me by The Juan MacLean
14miuntes 7 seconds.
A shuffling song. It starts, then slows,then starts. Almost ambient at times, high-hat strewn. Piano infused. All held together but a hypnotic female vocal. A vocal that is close to crying with desperation yet at times with a weariness more associated with being close to sleep. Hey uh huh move like this. come on over and dance with me. don't you wanna dance with me? =i wish she would. really.

notable=original run by LCD Soundsystem.

lines

f12

The 3 month build up ends today.
Is it worth all the build up and the stress?
Not going to comment. Everyone has his or her own story to tell.

Alas, Mr. James Brown passed away. His influence may not be as obvious as the likes of Elvis or Lennon yet it's everywhere.

Just get a James Brown cd and you'll hear it. It's as simple as that. It's just makes you want to tap your feet. It might, on a good day make you want to swing your hips.

Merrychristmas.

Patients.

Hmm.
Guess I should be coming out with something infinitly profound now that I'm suddenly thrust into the next decade of my life. That and all the other important and adult goings on recently, I do think I should make a wise statement or something...

But.
It's just another day. Everyone doing whatever it is they do. Shopping, stressing or just faffing. You go outside and everyone has their own mission. 'Eh, hello it's my birthday right now'. But no-one knows or cares. Haha.

I wonder if life is actually just passing me by. Actually, I do wonder that more than alot. Perhaps I'm just being abit stupid. Perhaps I have done quite alot in my 29 years. More than some, that's for sure. Less than others though.
Think I'd better stop otherwise I might start off on a random diatribe that will get me all worked up.

30.
and the same as I was when i was 29.

Scent

Given up on my assignments. Just can't concentrate. Writing is at a complete standstill and I just can't seem to get out of that mindset. Had I been in the mood, I could have essentially completed assignment 2. Alas, i'm only 3/4 of the way there. Hopefully, by giving myself a few days off, I can get the old 'mojo' back. If not, i'm going to struggle.

Congrats to Uncle Bill and his missus. Baby son safely delievered. Not a moment too early it must be said. Never give someone a borthday on Christmas Eve. It's a crap day to have a birthday 'cos no-one really cares. They are only interested in Christmas, not the birthday itself.

Controversial.but true.

And.

First things first.

A welcome.

To a little girl that goes by the name of Emily /is that how it's spelt?/.

Safely delievered last night.

Mum is fine. Not sure about dad.

Size=don't know.

It's not a man thing to ask. 'Everything is ok?' 'Yes'. End of conversation.

So, do you just casually walk up to babies and take them by the hand and introduce yourself? 'Alright, I'm Paul...how's it going - been here long?'
Is there some kind of formal introductory ettiquette that I need to follow or even know about?

I'm sure I'll get a crash course in it all.

Anyway, welcome and please don't turn out to be a ned. That wouldn't be a good idea but at least we know you became one because of the genes you inherited!

Strategy

Actually, it's not really a big week for me.
It's a big week for 4 other people I know. 2 here and 2 over there in my old house. The sub-division of 2 into 3. The arrival of what the Oxford English Dictionary refers to as 'the youngest member of a family or group'.

It's all abit confusing really. Having known the 2 over there for awhile and the 2 here for alot longer and knowing that potentially the next time I meet them, they will not be the same. Not by a long shot. It's something that gives me a headache.

Gone are the carefree days of doing what couples do and worrying only about themselves. Instead, the focus is not themselves. It's going to be a bundle of well, I'm not really sure to be honest. I have zero experience of babies. Children yes, but babies definitely not.
You guys are on your own there. Sometimes I have been a help. Perhaps not the best help ever but now I really have no help to offer at all. It's completely uncharted territory.

That's not to say that uncharted territory is a bad thing because it definitely not. Perhaps it's more of not knowing that is the scary bit.

I wonder if all this will make me want babies. All paternal and all that. Not convinced. It's probably taken me until the beginning of this year to decide that I'm comfortable with the thought of getting married. Something that I actually would quite like to do. Others were doing it, met someoneBut...all abit touchy so i'll reverse out of that cul-de-sac.
Think though it might take me alittle longer to get to the 'babies' bit.

I guess it's all a sign of getting more mature and given what will be delievered this week and my own birthday certainly reinforces the passing of time. We are no longer the young upstarts. The bright young things with the swagger and the attitude and the know-it-all cockiness. Gone and replaced.

Much like my assignments, I'm not writing what's in my brain...so, I'll just say that - well, fingers crossed. When that moment arrives, I hope that mother and little one are fine and functioning fully. Of course, that is extented to dads as well. Not really sure what else to ask for.

Rarified

I guess it's quite a big week ahead. It's weird that, for me, all the 'important' things that occur in a calendar year are concentrated into the space of a single week. 51 weeks of nowt much...1 week of, well not that much either.

Alas, Christmas then New Year. But before that a small matter of getting a year older. I could say alot about all that but I suspect that it would not make enjoyable reading and wouldn't be that pleasant to write. Perhaps I'll say something about it later...

Instead, Saturday sees a 'gathering' of sorts. For those who care - Pear Tree next to Edinburgh Uni. from 8pm. I wonder if I'll be there all alone. Physically I'll be there, mentally though. Hmm. Nothing would surprise me.

Published

I'm not walking these mean streets again. Its too dangerous.

I thought that George St. was meant to be a safe place where the well-to-do population of Edinburgh tended to shop and relax in reassuringly expensive establishments. Clearly, i've been out of Edinburgh for too long because that's not what George St. is now.

In the space of 100 yards, I witnessed the following:

1. A pissed up mid-20's bloke with his face in a Bouncers face, yelling like a total arse. Presumably because the Bouncer had had the sense to not let him into the Bar he wanted to get into. Most stable people would be alittle miffed but then move onto somewhere else. Not this knob. Does he honestly think that by abusing the Bouncers, the Bouncers - who are significantly larger than he is - would whim out and let him in?

You're having a laugh.

2. Next, upon getting my cash out of the wall, i wonder back down George St. I wanted to cross the road but elect not too and walk down the middle of the road instead. The reason for not walking acorss the road is the presence of 2 rival groups of blokes and some birds. Some of the blokes start fighting with each other. Hardcore punching and attempted kicks. It gets broken up quite quickly. Through the gaps inbetween the parked cars, I see some bloke lying motionless on the pavement with another guy over him. I think the worst...but the motionless guy starts moving and with that, I move on.

Mental.

Alcohol and blokes ego's. Stick them both up your arse. It's neither big nor clever.

Superfluous

Not sure if I'm going to get a number 5 bus ever again. Well, I might. It's not that bad getting it from Oxgangs towards town but getting from Nicholson St. back to Oxgangs is a dodgy experience.

There just seems to be some sort of magnetic attraction between the number 5 and knobheads. I'll not say if I'm a knobhead or not. That's a subjective point!

Anyway, this bloke got on and bounced up the stairs. Hood up, fag in mouth. He the starts talking to all these other random people on the bus. How's it goin'? How long tae Oxgangs? Is that aw? Ye ken the bizzies shop? Whits yer name mate? Yae got a light? Gony meet ma bird.

He was the sort of bloke that you just argee with, whatever nonsense he starts on. Otherwise, you'll get your head kicked in. And you wouldn't want that.

Needless to say that I just stared straight ahead. Didn't look around and cranked up the ipod which I thought was sensible but then he might have noticed that I had an ipod and might have tried to nick it!

But, if he had...he might have pressed play and shouted 'Whit tha fook is this pishh?'

Edinburghers.

Recipt

Right, my head is up my arse. It could be argued that it always is but this time it is. 100%. Assignments have taken over.
Could apologise for it but I'm not going to.
Priority is given to them.
So, if I seem distracted and irritable, then don't worry. If I don't reply to texts or emails or anything then it's cos my head is up my ass.
Also, if I don't care about birthday's, xmas cards and xmas in general it's not that i'm anti them all, it's just I can't be arsed thinking about them.
And no talk of 'u can't do assignments all the time'. Well I can and i probably will. Writing is not like a 9-5 job. Writing doesn't follow those times. You don't suddenly stop at 1pm for lunch or turn off and go home at 5pm. Writing happens when it happens. It's not restricted by times or even days for that matter. Saturday for 'workers' means a day off. The same can't be said for students or poets or writers or musicians. You don't just suddenly stop cos it's the 'weekend' or it's midnight.

You can't just turn off from the whole process. Whatever u are doing, wherever you are it's still there somewhere - in the conscious or unconscious part of the brain. Suddenly something that u wrote 2 days ago pops into your head and you realise that it's not what you meant to say or what you wrote is crap or you haven't clarified something well enough.

It's all or nothing at all. What's the point in doing something half heartedly. It's a waste of everyones time.

end of discussion.

Relevence

Notgoing to mention anything about the weather. Nothing at all. Honest. Would love to but won't cos I'll just get accused of being anti-Scottish or something.

Have abandoned my umbrella though.

proof

So then the little sub-mariner that is Romanov has parked the submarine long enough to punt his club captain. The same captain that commented that there is 'significant unrest within the dressing room'.

So much for freedom of speech. He told the truth and got what amounted to getting sent to Siberbia. Shocking. Hope the team goes downhill because of it. In fact, I think that the other 'Riccarton two' should have the same balls as Pressely. Alas, they won't unless of course Romanov punts them as well but lets face it, he's not going to punt Gordon now is?

Hope Pressely comes and signs for Celtic. Would be quite happy with that to be honest. He's not the greatest defender but what he lacks in skill he more than makes up with his footballing brain in terms of reading the game and organisational skills. Something that Celtic need now that big Bobo is back in the team.

Hearts fans can moan and groan about that but they can have no compliants at all. Pressely has done all he could at Hearts and has left with his head held high. And if they do complain, well they are welcome to that silly little man that they hailed 18 months ago.

Program

Final, final class of the semester.
My god. Didn't that go fast?
Means we are at the business end of the semester. The time when all the learning has to stop and the writing begins.
Hoping to average 500 quality words a day.
Doesn't sound like much but it is especially when you are as useless at writing as me. I can sit for ages and write nothing of note.
Pathetic really.
I could just type but then it would be crap and I would have to go back to it and do it all again, so I might as well take abit of time and get it to a reasonable standard. right?

Armada

Xylophone.
Not only is it not a phone but I think we need to recognise that it is in fact a highly under-rated and underutilised instrument.

Go on, think of a piece of modern beat music that incorporates on.
Answer=not many.

And that is why it is extremely noticable when it does appear in a song. You get that 'oh' feeling. That little shock of pleasant surprise. Of course, it all depends on where it is in the mix of the song.

Take a 45 minute swirling opus of beats, vocals and at times ambient. Yet halfway through, this little instrument comes along to provide the melody.

Another is a 4 minute affair. It sets the mood for the entire song regardless of the other instrumentation used. Depending upon ones mood, it can be uplifting but also quite a hollow, cold sound.

Yet, I defy anyone to not try and hum along with it. You can't. It's impossible.

The world needs more of it.

ok, anyway i'm tired of being sexy.
lesson over.

Out

I'm always amazed by people. Both in their 'good' ways and their 'bad' ways and the fact that they sometimes seen completely oblivious to the fact that they are being 'bad' or 'good'. They just continue on their merry way...

Take today...I'm cycling along. The junction is perhaps 10 metres away. You can either turn left or right at this junction. There is also a red cycle lane which continues to the part of the junction in which you can turn right. In order to turn left, you have to crossover this red cycle lane. There is a couple of cars waiting to turn right so that the 3rd car can't turn left, even if he wanted to. But, this 3rd car and it's owner looks as if he wants to turn right because he hasn't indicated that it is turning left. So, I continue along the red cycle lane because I'm turning right. The 3rd car then gets enough space so that it can get into position to turn left. But, i'm in my cycle lane and he tries to cut me off. He kind of slows down as do I. He then finally fully cuts in front of me and goes to the part of the junction in which he can turn left whilst I continue to the part of the junction to turn right.

We both wait but I'm faster than he is and go right. When I go right he toots his horn...presumably at me.

But for what purpose?

He is the one who tried to cut me off!

Is he trying to show that he is an alpha male or something?
Trying to impress his passenger?
Or is he just being an arse?

Me thinks the latter.
Would have loved him to get out and have a go!
Was in quite a cheeky mood and would have put him in his place...and then cycled away as fast as I could!

house

It all starts now. The writing proces that is. Today is the day that i've allocated for stopping reading and getting everythnig I've read into a position in which I can sift through it and condense and finally put in into a meaningful array of sentences and paragraphs.

But scared to be honest. I know what I'd like to say but whether I can transfer what I have in my head into something that looks and feels like a decent assignment remains to be seen. I think I can.

I've read widely enough. No reason not to succed.

3 assignments in December. Possible?
Hope so. Would love to be in a position on Jan.1st in which I'm mostly 'done'.
Big ask but that's what I signed up for.