1. That Charlotte Church EXCLUSIVE that I linked to a few hours ago? ‘Twas an ingenious hoax, apparently. All credit to PB Curtis for stirring just the right amount of plausibility into the brew.
2. I’m a bit flat and miserable today, so thanks to Cliff of This Is This for making me laugh out loud with two consecutive posts: Just A Cup (an anti-saucer rant), and Just A Coffee (an anti-milky coffee rant).
3. Cliff (eek, I just realised) and Olga aren’t their real names, you know. I mean, come on, really.
4. OK, a bit more detail, now that things are calming down a bit. My friend and colleague JP was hit by a bus, just outside the office in Hangzhou where I worked for three weeks last Christmas. He sustained head injuries, but following a series of CT scans, an operation has not been deemed necessary. His partner has flown out to join him, and they’re being transferred by air ambulance to a super-duper private hospital in Hong Kong on Saturday. dB in the Hangzhou office has been supplying me with regular updates on his condition, and has been doing a fantastic job all round. Alan at Reluctant Nomad has more details.
5. I’m doing mad amounts of music writing this week. A feature length album review for Stylus, which I’ll link to when it’s published. Two gig reviews for t’local paper so far (Bugz In The Attic on Monday, Hidden Cameras last night), and another tomorrow night (David Essex).
6. And as if three gigs in five nights wasn’t enough, I’m attending a proper grown-up Serious Music “recital” this evening: yer Steve Reichs, yer Terry Rileys, yer John Cages, that sort of thing. Talk about a busman’s holiday. (Note to self: avoid the Big Clapping which gave you away as an alien interloper last time round. For “recitals”, dainty little clappity-clappitys are the accepted order of the day.)
7. Today is quite an important date for K work-wise, but we don’t talk about such matters. I’m just leaving a reminder for myself in the archives, that’s all.
8. I’m currently trying out some new-fangled vari-focal gas permeable contact lenses. The methodology is still being developed, and so these kinds of lenses aren’t yet generally available for purchase. However, not having worn lenses at all for the past five or six weeks, I’m having difficulties with them. They’re also bigger and thicker than my old gas permeables, which makes them harder to get used to. I can see myself reverting to the standard models, and using reading glasses as and when necessary. It’s nice to be in the vanguard, but I’d rather be able to see properly, thanks all the same.
9. All I want to do right now is kick my shoes off, lie flat out on the sofa, and stare at whatever moronic telly happens to be on at the time while thinking about as little as possible – which is highly untypical, as I’m usually super-fussy about what I watch. (As a habitual Big Brother addict, I am well aware of the inherent irony of this last statement.) Anyway, I did this for all of ten minutes yesterday evening, and it felt wonderful. Cabbage therapy! Brilliant!
10. Why is it important to drag these lists out to ten items, anyway? I’ll fill this one in when I think of something. Don’t hold your breath.
troubled diva 