The weather’s been great the last couple of days. Friday should be fun, with the Meatwaters Festival on at Happy. We had a rehearsal tonight for the Ascension Band’s gig – it was sounding promising: Three guitars, two basses, two drummers, keyboards and computer, with violinist and trumpeter joining us on the night. This is going to be worth seeing.
It seems to fit in with the spring weather, spring being the ascension season. One bummer for the year has been the complete lack of gigs by The Winter, although I did manage two separate duo gigs with Mike and Simon. Logically they should now do one without me. Oh well, that band was a very 2003 concept. This winter didn’t have all the narrative associations & personal upheaval of last year’s. This winter it was just a shitload of coursework to get through.
I’m into the last phase of the course. My one major remaining task is to beat my brain into shape regarding ability to write shorthand. I can currently write around 45wpm, probably no faster than my longhand. I need to reach 80wpm by the start of October or else fail the course. Guess I'll be doing some practice then (sticks finger down throat). Writing fast is an uncomfortable sensation – I hate being rushed, I like to take my time with pretty much everything. In this case there’s even a risk of OOS (or RSI). I reached my quota of 40 stories published with time to spare and without once using shorthand but that’s not the point. Oh well at least some of the other pressures have lessened. I’ll just write one or two more news stories, make them good ones to submit for my final portfolio. And spend time researching what to do next when the course finishes.
I’m feeling fairly upbeat this week. Two days in a row I got to sit on my sunporch (patch of roof outside my window) and get some Vitamin D and read. It felt so good – ultimately relaxation, pleasure and learning are far more important than work. I’m reading Critical Path by Buckminster Fuller at the moment – one of the 20th century’s good guys. He was convinced that the technology exists to eliminate world hunger and save the planet, it’s just a matter of allocating resources in a sane manner. Now if only we could convince the big world powers to stop wasting energy on ‘defence’ and do something useful with it, civilization might just survive.
It’s good that spring’s arrived. About time for some renewal. Hopefully see you at Meatwaters...
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