Old Stuff

Hello again,

Here are some old noodlings from when I thought blogging was impossibly technical. Some background: I wrote this on 6 February 2007, I'd just lost 22 pounds in weight, and Karina is my other half (but less about that the better at the moment).

Hello. It’s late and about 36 hours after I finished my diet. I thought I might put fingers to keys for the first time in a long time, surprise myself how bad my typing is, and listen to some music in the process. 

I’ve always liked James Brown, but sadly it took his passing on Christmas Day to get me to listen to some sixties seven inch singles I bought in the summer. One track that really stood out was I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me) which sounded like it was recorded in 2006. It could be assumed to be the stereotypical James Brown track, but it has something else – not just 75% of the ‘Good God’s’ attributed to him throughout his career.

So, that’s just been downloaded into Pan Pod and added to the platters that matter. iTunes is making me compulsively buy more singles for the first time in years.  Tonight, after six attention grabbing seconds on “You Are What You Eat”, I bought I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers. James Brown and The Proclaimers in the same night. Twenty-four hours after Nelly Furtado’s Maneater.  This two days after an apparent embolism which brought with it three Grace Jones tracks. (If you must know, My Jamaican Guy, Pull Up To The Bumper, and Slave To The Rhythm.)  All this at 79p a throw. Cheaper than the discs, better than buying an album, more revealing about how my mind works than any survey and on average, horrifying if you look back over the last ten purchases you make.

Ow! Good God!

Yes, I mentioned the diet. Probably the first thing I’ve done and been proud to be associated with…ever. In under five weeks, I went from 15 stones, (210lbs) to 13 stones 6 pounds (188lbs). Using a combination of determination, only eating fruit and veg, and drinking plenty of water and fruit juice. I totally cut out meat, chocolate, crisps, caffeine, cheese, and really scaled back on bread. After I had my final weigh-in, I ceremonially broke the diet with a chocolate and it tasted like fat. Later that morning, I had a coffee which gave me a headache and in the evening I wolfed down the biggest meatiest pizza possible which had the effect of filling my lower intestine with concrete. This morning (the day after) I had an unprovoked nosebleed. If you ever do my diet, never stop.  I also feel like crap and about to fall asleep, but must persevere with the stabbing at keys.

Music is a great thing. From the first things I can really remember there was music, and music is similar only to smell in that it can transport you to another place in a beat. Classical music takes me to Channel 4 and their test card. The Cure’s Love Song and I am in an eleventh floor flat in the centre of Warsaw, half an hour into 2005. Faith as performed by Limp Bizkit and I can feel Karina on my back in Finsbury Park.  You get the idea. Music leads me to radio, which is something I have always been interested in, and is my stock answer to “What do you want to do with your life?” I think I can do a good job, have a very effective voice-over, er, voice, and a selection of other DJ modes. There is the love of good music, which is often a block to progressing in the world of local radio.

So if anyone knows any jobs going, please get in touch.