Way · Upstream, · Past · Armageddon · Bridge..

Since last writing, an old friend has moved back to the 'Nam - Dave Hart : ex guitarist with JANG!, writer, bon-viveur, drunk.  I've had some good nights out with him and the usual malingerers that I drink in pubs with.

I've spent a few days working in London, which on the last occasion involved a trip to the Noel Coward theatre to see Avenue Q - which was just and funny, and enjoyable as the soundtrack - which I've been listening to now for months, suggested.

I have a new GFX card in my PC, and can confirm that Bioshock is quite the prettiest game I've ever seen running on one.  So - that was a good buy - despite all the fiddles involved in getting the card working.  I blame [one] of my shonky old [but staunchly reliable] 21" monitors.

And, at the weekend I helped out with the filming of a local music festival to benefit Gloucestershire flood victims, the first filming engagement I've ever done - but the bands were good even if the festival was poorly advertised.  Turns out the event had been put on by a bunch of Gloucester Witches, witch[sic] explained why there were loads of people wearing Pentagram pendants on necklaces, and in one case, eminently visable as a tattoo.

Hopefully some of my footage will get on the DVD which is being produced to raise money for the relief fund.

So - my life is work, the occasional drink, and a low fat diet as prescribed by my Doctor.  Still - Winter is drawing in, and its' my favourite time of the year.  So here's to dark nights and dark mornings, and [hopefully] snow :)

I read a few days ago that the St Trinians story is being revived for a new movie.  I'm a little sad at this because the original Frank Launder / Sidney Gilliat films are quaint and gentle comedies which echo the bucolic  era of life in Britain in the 50's, as these and other films [I'm thinking of the Norman Wisdom films] portray.  These films were always the cornerstones of filler tv for me in the 70's and 80's and were often screened on BBC2 on rainy afternoons.  There's an innocence in these films that I don't want to see stripped away and reinterpreted as something quite tawdry.

I have the original black and white movies on DVD and am currently working on a video project to take chunks of video and set them to music by Sunn 0))) which is a good start because slo-core music doesn't need too many keyframes!  This is by way of making an unofficial music video.  Making music videos is my dream job, and many years ago I made a video with Fran Healy [Travis.]  I've now got the tools to do this myself [DVCam / PC powerful enough to do video editing / Diskspace], and if I can get to grips with Adobe Premiere then it'll be a lot of fun to do so.

Otherwise, I was sat in Kandinsky on Wednesday, waiting for a friend to arrive, and reading Audrey Niffeneggers' "The Time-Traveller's Wife" when some of my foriegn cow-orkers who were staying at the hotel arrived in the conservatory, and thus we got talking.  One of them picked up the book, claiming that you can learn a lot from people by way of the books they read, and queried me as to why I was reading a love story.  I replied that "the books contains a retelling of a Violent Femmes gig, and they're one of my favourite bands."  He later misheard me as
saying I was Bisexual.  He had misheard me of course, and - even if I was - I certainly wouldn't choose to out myself to cow-orkers I'd only just met.

Funny world.

I'm on call - the weekend has been *challenging*.  Tonight, the fates conspire to keep me at home - where I plan to do a number of things, talk to a friend, tidy up and vaccuum the flat.  My Vaccuum cleaner now blows, rather than sucks-up dust.

I think it needs replacing.

Nevertheless - I welcomed 2007 in my own inimitably private manner.

Happy new year - Shanghai!!!!  Motherf*ckers!

I'm going back home in less than 10 days, back to Lancashire where I grew up. I haven't been back there for a couple of years now and I do very much miss the place.
Even if I feel a little like a stranger while I'm there - I know there's things that need doing. Maybe I'll post some pictures when I get back?

Bizzarely - it does, but anyhow...

The Science Festival starts on Wednesday! I'm very much looking forwards to lectures between Wednesday and Sunday on subjects including the work of Professor Gunther Von Hagens, the creative force behind plastination and the Bodyworlds [Korpenwelten] exhibition I visited in Brick Lane a few years ago, and the Channel 4 "Autopsy" programme. "The Science Of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy" and oddly enough "What Makes A Fundementalist?" also look quite attractive.

I rang Liz today as many of the lecutres centre around issues of science in Health, and asked if she'd seen the programme. She hadn't - but she's going to pick one up and perhaps we'll catch up for an afternoon or evening if we have interleaving lectures to attend.

After much struggling with my connection today, I finally wrangled enough online time to email the treated photographs to Chris for his thoughts regarding the cd cover. The good news is my favourite shot of the set, is also his. Taken at 4am in the morning, without lighting effect - it's simple but stunningly effective. This shot will be the cover of his new lp.
I'm very happy :)

Also, it appears that Coffee perhaps is not the best thing I could be ingesting at the moment, 2 cups today after several days away from the substance have proved that it has a rather unpleasant effect upon my stomach and I could really do better being away from the stuff in the time being.

Since last I journalled..

I've spent time in the company of Crystal_Clare, _Kent, Boingley & Lani, Skorpion_uk, Dakeyras, Mr Chris Rudrum and a couple of other people
who showed up to Crystal's birthday drinks in Holborn the other weekend.

Been appointed as Technical Support Engineer with a fast-growing Email management company just outside of Cheltenham starting on 13/6/05
with a very competitive salary for the area and excellent promotion prospects.

Seen the truly brilliant "The League of Gentlemen: Apocalypse" at Gloucester UGC yesterday after 30 minutes spent winding-down in the Cathedral.

Finished the photos for Chris's lp cover - I need to do the video treatments on them tomorrow and email them.

Seen Liz again and taken her walking around a part of Cheltenham she didn't know existed, subsequently spending a few hours in the Imperial Gardens talking
about all manner of things.


The coming week is my last of leisure, and this week I must:

Finish the photographs for Chris.

Sign and post my contract.

Get my P45 sorted from my previous job agency, reminding previous contact there that is is their legal obligation to provide me with my P45 and they've
had 3 months to get on to doing it.

Decide which of the Science Festival events I'll be attending and maybe see if Liz would like to join me for 1 or 2.

Sort out a replacement id card from University for free bus travel.

1..The Chameleons.
2..Tori Amos.
3..Violent Femmes.
4..The House of Love.
5..Trembling Blue Stars.
6..Gene.
7..The Sisters of Mercy.
8..Catherine Wheel.
9..Lush.
10..Ride.
11..David Bowie.
12..Blondie.
13..The Fall.
14..Fields of The Nephilim.
15..Marilyn Manson.
16..Queens Of The Stone Age.
17..Black Box Recorder.
18..The Auteurs.
19..David Kitt.
20..Happy Mondays.

Well - there *would* have been more hadn't I ended up in Cheltenham General until Monday morning.

This time, Gastritis was the cause, as opposed to a resurgence of my pancreatitis. Turns out that I was contingently suffering from both Gastritis and Pancreatitis [lending credibility to my GP's differential[*] diagnosis of a Gastric complaint in the first instance, until my Pancreatitis [aggravated by gallstones] was identified as the main cause of my illness.

Anyhow - I began to worry on Friday - whilst at work, as I couldn't walk more than a few steps before feeling the heartburn well ominously within my chest, the occasional feeling like I'd been punched in my diaphragm every time wind actually managed to escape from my throat, and the dreadful nausea I experienced. Consequently, Val advised I speak to the Hospital in a speculative manner as they might still have had my nots lying around, turns out they didn't but the on-call Doctor at the Hospital invited me in for an examination. Pancreatitis was suspected at that point. After much wrestling trying to get a Canula into me [on the 6th or 7th attempt it ended up sited in the hollow of my right elbow, not a fun place to have a canula], I ended up in receipt of a welcome shot of Morphine some time later that night...

"Would you like the whole 10ml?" asked the Nurse...

"Oh yes, 10ml is fine..." I replied, through the buzzing in my head....