Pruneskin rides!

Ah, the sun, ain't it great? A very full day today, or as full as they get now. Fairly long walk over the hills, nothing to note except there was a LOT of dead sheep. Reckon the weather is doing them in. Came home a little early partly to work but also cos Jasper doesn't do so well in the heat and even though early morning, I don't want him to do too much.

Worked on synth all afternoon, have tried everything now and it's an easy one to write up. In fact I sat and wrote almost 3,000 words this evening in a single sitting. Would've done more but Pat managed to get home early from the overtime she'd been landed with (again!). Yesterday promised myself I'd not drink the two cans in the fridge. Just finishing the second now. Writing fuel you see? Excuses you see? In Yoda mode you are?

I also installed and auditioned those thai samples I got yesterday. Frankly they're underwhelming. Looks like this one is gonna be a hard slog as I listened to a fair few and none were inspiring, except possibly some of the female vocal ones. Too hot to do much more though so once again had a few hours reading my book. As it's a Blandings novel, I feel this may have polluted my review as I'm pretty sure I used the word "bally" in it somewhere. Ah well, lots to do at it yet, this being not even draft #1 really.

I think I took some pix. Digs for phone...finds it, can't find lead, gives up... :)

Blimey

Yep, a strange day. The hot weather continues and I am the proud owner of a parasol. However the real stinger today is my PRS payments are dramatically up. Assuming it's not a cockup (and with PRS you never know), this suggests I should not have let two disappointing quarters put me off. So blimey really sums it up.

No sign of the review keyboard, they only sent the "authorisation" link today so it will arrive tomorrow. Nowt I can do though. The alesis mixer arrived, beautifully packed. Must give it a try later I suppose.

Will look into getting some thai samples and plod on with the music, perhaps put in more effort to get more tracks out there with more and better libraries. The PRS statement will provide guidance.

A close call considering the job thing. Surreal really but that's how it all works... :)

Result of continuing good mood http://soundcloud.com/smokyfrog/barn-dance

Glorious Sunday

And so it was. Jasper got attacked - again - by a staffie, which I kicked, conscious of the fact I was only wearing sandals. The bloke was a short thuggish type who didn't look me in the eye but did put his dog on a lead after I booted it.

Had a nice walk then went to check the wall where I'm doing a painting. Got a good idea what I'm doing and it's an easy image so should be OK. Will get paint in the week and organise a time, this is the type of thing:

Sweet huh?
Worked out I can't have got that job as didn't hear anything. Slightly surprised but maybe my age against me, but whatever, I'm remarkably chilled about it, which makes me worry whether I really want to work or not. If not I need to find a way to stop the rot and get into doing something. Not while it's sunny though. :)

The question now is: should I go to the More-Ohr-Less festival? I'd really like to as it's exactly the sort of place Headshock should play. Something to ponder in the week, check flights, hotels etc. Or shall I worship the great god Intertia, as always?

Right, beer and maybe some novel.

Brill word!

Well, I like it anyway. It's rannygazoo, a century-old term, now rare, for a deceptive story or scheme, pranks, tricks or other irritating or foolish carryings-on. So now you know. Went to the library today, got three PG Wodehouses and dug into the first. 

Sunshine, burnt my neck a bit on the morning's hill walk. Broke the lawn mower, honest I wasn't just trying to have yet another easy afternoon. What else happened today? Well, I got a music request for some thai music for a documentary, will try and do some if I get chance but I did tell them I had to do something for real money. Review seems to have descended into farce. Dealing with 4 different folks from same company, one about the video thing which I'd hoped might fizzle out. The other three about the supposedly urgent review gear which I thought was on the way but now may require me to authorise via a link in an email I didn't receive yet. Sigh. Had hoped to make a start this weekend but no. Unless it shows up tomorrow. 

Asked a friend about doing me a cover for "The Last Day", which I've decided to release with two bonus tracks. Some bits still to finalise, mastering to do but it's there for what it's worth. Nowt is what I'm thinking.

Should really go see Tim at Jodrell tomorrow, not seen him in yonks. But I'll bask in the sunshine all afternoon, drink beer and be driving nowhere. Tony mentioned bringing his large telescope round so that'll do for my astronomy fix. I think £40 a bit much anyway as I don't really care about seeing a floyd tribute band. 

This is a rather cool pic and, apart from a few level tweaks, this is how it looked. 

Ah well

Watched some more of my Glastonbury recordings, more of the same though. Enjoyed Nile Rodgers but bored of Vampire Weekend now. I guess that shortbread may have been stronger than I suspected.

Didn't do a lot today except go for coffee and cake. Then spent the afternoon making tweaks to the new album, now have no idea what to call it but reinstated a few dropped tracks and dropped a few I'd been getting bored of. It could be a double but I really don't trust my own taste so may have thrown away good tracks. Same old. Will let a few folks hear it and tell me what they think. I really have no idea if it'll work as it's quite a mish-mash of in-the-box stuff and pure hardware improv. Needs mastering and a nice cover but I think I have a running order that works. Should ask Tim but I'm tempted to ask annamarie to do something cool.

Hey ho. I feel this is a pretty lame entry even for me so I'll pad it with a photo or something. Yes, that'll do...

Good but tiring day

Packed day, but later, though tired, got idea for a much improved way of passing my current sticking point in novel. It neatly puts everyone where I wanted them to be and with some elegant free gifts which will help keep the wheels turning.

Listening to Glastonbury. Thankfully out of the hours of recordings I heard some bands I may I like, remember the Hurts, Of Monsters and Men, Vampire Weekend, none of which I recall being much moved by ever before. Shortbread may have helped though cos quite a few things sounded good. Two chicks singing, great voices, more from Mail, there was another band too whose name I can't recall, had a very cute girl in shorts as singer. Should pay more attention.

Worked on review a bit, listened to new album and made mental notes for a few tweaks.

Not heard about job yet. Think it is about time I did something even if this doesn't work out. This hanging around home becomes too easy. Too dull. Brain turning to mush. Not quite ready for every day being the same yet.

Incidentally, one of the definites for album will be "Everything's the Same". May tweak the sample use slightly as I've heard it lots now and can tidy a couple of them.Was also going to tweak that note on one other tune, the one with the belly chimey sound.

Hope I sleep better tonight, may have been the bed turned up too high. Enjoying the Stephen King BTW, it's the one about a time travelling teacher.

The real world beckons

Well, first time in a while I've worn my suit when it hasn't been a funeral. Interview seemed to go well, at least I was happy enough with it - I can only hope they were happy with me. I do feel quite calm about the prospect of conventional employment, perhaps I'm just not pushy enough to keep looking for a decent library music company to work for, which is to say one that doesn't make me want to stand on a chair and scream each time I submit work for them to randomly disassemble or suggest pointless changes to, probably while pulling their tongues out at each other and racing each other around the office on chairs. I merely speculate of course, could have got entirely the wrong impression since I'm old and all that. :)

Submitted latest review this morning, seemed OK to me. Actually liked the thing and it's been darn useful while working on the software synth review I'm doing. Life is good, the sun is shining and I'm about a third of a way through the Stephen King I got. He's a darn good writer, seems to have infinite patience for faffy parts of story I'd never bother with but has a great way of making every word count, which is impressive given how many of the feckers he crams between the covers. I think it should've had a different title for UK audiences though as it's basically a date.

Now, should I catch up on my Glastonbury watching (I say "watching", I've skipped through most of it in quiet despair but did stop to watch Portishead, excellent) or plunge straight into Walking Dead? Must make sure the Returned records tonight as my Glasto pratting ended up cancelling the usual recording. Oops.

Off to see Phil in hosp tomorrow. All go. :)

Feel like making music too, have an urge to try and do a Man With No Name album since I totally love that stuff and the world needs more of it. If so I may need to dig out the Virus.

Those are my thoughts for this Monday, start of a new month and possibly start of something even bigger.

Another random phone photo (in case you were wondering)