Highly Evolved - September 07 2002

07.10 am And I am up again, and it is cold outside, and I can see it
has been raining again in the night. The lawn really does look like a
Reading campsite ground, even down to the faded patches where tents
might have been. I am listening to the Vines' "Highly Evolved"
album.

Yesterday (06) I spent more time on email than I did writing
yesterday's entry, even though it completed a set. Sometimes I find I
have nothing to say, and other times I have a lot.

I fed the cats and they sniffed the food and started eating it without
much fuss. Longhair will still dive into his biscuits if I am slow in
putting out his food, and on account of this he is getting quite
chunky. We call him Tomsk from time to time as he looks like he could
do some work on a building site wearing a vest.

After sorting out email I had a quick look on the forums which is
usually a mistake as I really don't have time but I like to see what
has gone in overnight, and what new bizarre things the trolls are
muttering.

I got the 8.22 to London and listened to the Pattern on the train. I
went to work and spent the morning sorting out new machines for another
site we now have to look after, and for that reason we have a new bloke
starting on Monday on the admin side. At present have five PCs setup in
the area I work in, there's my GX 240, a Compaq Deskpro, a GX110 which
is used for the high impact scanner, a GX1 which was used by someone
who had trouble typing and another GX 240.

At lunchtime I went to HMV and took back the ordinary version of the
Music album and swapped it for the von Bondies album, and then bought a
CD by a band called Sahara Hotnights, which I read about in NME. They
are a swedish all girl punk band and sound ok. I think the reviewer
described them as bubblegum punk. I got my panini and latte, and the
guy serving tried to give me change from a tenner when I had only given
him a fiver, and couldnt understand why I didnt want the extra money.
He had to call his boss over to sort it out.

In the afternoon I took the GX240 spare over to our other main site and
set it up. Then I put away the Deskpro, as it was taking up space on
the desk. My desk used to be piled high with paper and files and now I
try to keep it clear as possible. I tend to throw away stuff after I
have read it, and sometimes before I have read it, if its junk mail or
a computer magazine which I am not interested in.

I got the train home, there was delay while they uncoupled the back
four carriages which had become broken, and didnt work. So of course in
the melee i zoomed to the front of the train and got a seat.

I listened to the von Bondies. Each evening I try to listen to a
different CD on the discman as then it is like going to a gig and I can
forget the train journey.

Once in, I got changed and then played the B/W Fender Telecaster, which
I also taped and accumulated about 30 minutes of different songs as
such, without words. I like to do this as it benchmarks what sort of
stuff I was playing at the time. One tape I found from 1985 was an
acoustic session recorded in the kitchen without any floor, I sat on a
stool balanced on the joists underneath and the echo was great. It was
a mixture of rock and roll like Be Bop A Lula and some other material.
My current stuff is a mixture, although there is one simple song (or
series of chords) that I care to call the Ash song. Then there is the
Velvets song, the Weller song and some other stuff that sounds like the
music I listen to now.

I have gotten some good feedback to some of my stuff posted on UKA
which was good to know.

Online I chatted with some people I have met on the NME chat room. I
also had a chat with Kit as well. I went into the chat room on NME and
spent a couple of hours watching the anarchy and making the occasional
comment. I am still finding out about all the different people there,
so I keep quiet most of the time. I had two pints of Aftershock and
Lemonade. I have a pack of Gauloise which my wife reckons really stink,
so I will have to get some Rothmans tomorrow. She went to the gym this
evening and then watched tv. This week I have spent more time with her
in the evening, and it is better. That way I can enjoy going on chat
some evenings rather than every night and not saying anything
much.

I can hear the rain and it is falling down again.