A turkey was here.

There's a turkey hanging around our yard.

We are going to eat it.

So, here are some Before photos. After is coming later.

Delicious.

Bye.

Day number [enter number of day here]

Today I had a good day for some unknown reason. Nothing particularly good happened, I was just bouncy. Like a ball.

A big, white, bouncy ball.

So that's nice for all of you. You can all feel warm inside now.

Not much news still - I'm still taking it easy on the drumming front. I did a little bit today and am currently working on talking drum stuff. There you go. Information.

I also 'finished' off a new song the other day, it's about the Pom Pom Eskimo and it's in the player on the right. It's a song I've been wanting to write since Year 9 drama class (long, stupid story... can't be bothered) but haven't known how (and still aren't convinced that I do). Listen. Be nice.

On the election front - the re-election for the President happened and the NDC (National Democratic Congress) won. This seems to be good and has made lots of Ghanaians happy. CHANGE is coming!.

I'm still looking for it though. Has anyone seen the change yet?

Hello?

Umm. An ATM stole 200 cedis from me today - I have to try and get it back, which is poo (well, getting it back's not poo, but having to run around hoops is).

That's about it.

Sorry for using the word 'poo', it was childish and crude and I apologise from the heart of my bottom.

Chow.

A nice little ditty

B'day (French mixed with Australian [Bon-Day], fool, not birthday. Fool again.).

Here's a nice little African song and video to see you into the new year. It's not by me unfortunately, but you'll deal.



It's called Alhaji by Dj Ramatoulaye.

Love it.
Bye.

I'm here

Hello.

Not much news. Christmas was ok - I went to Theofo's mother's house in Labadi. It was pretty relaxed and fine. Since then, I have largely just been in my room - inadvertently staying up stupidly late and sleeping in. Not much drumming at the moment - I'm staying low until after New Year, that's my plan.

So, yeah. How was christmas? Same ol'?

Tomorrow is the re-election for the president here between the candidates from the NDC and NPP parties. How exciting for you all.

I'll write something here later after something really interesting happens.

Ok bye.

Uh oh...

So, today Baby Kusun are hanging around the centre playing bells, singing and doing other artistical thingery. My sense of danger was piqued when I noticed this sign outside the front gate:



Druming & Dancin
Today is going to be an all Star Show at KUSUN Centre, therefore we are inviting all dancers to join us to celebrate the Christmas.
Time: 9:00 PM TILL DAY BREAK
Venue: KUSUN
All friends and sympatizers are cordially invited
DON'T MISS IT
[sic]

I have a feeling this means that I will not be sleeping very much tonight (but how will Santa come!?).

I'll keep you updated.

Best wishes for The Christmas from Baby Kusun:



Bye.

I'm really popping them out.

[UPDATE: A slightly different version of the song is now up. By Jacob]

Hello. I did another song. I just kinda stumbled on this one accidentally when I was trying to do something else. It's like an old video game song. Rockin. It's called Mega Drive and is in the player over on the right.

On the African front, I did little bit of wandering around Nungua today, running some errands. I also played with Baby Kusun again, which was great - it's the first time for a while where I actually felt tired and physically challenged while playing. Good stuff. Gets my chops up. Sort of.

For the foolish out there who don't know nothing, Baby Kusun is a group of young guys (like 18 - 20 or so) who use Kusun's drums and space to rehearse. So they're Baby Kusun. It's good playing with them because the young guys tend to play things too fast and loud, which is good for me wanting to work on my chops and stamina. Also, their level is only about 15 years ahead of me, instead of the usual 5000. So I don't feel like too much of a douche. Just a fair bit.

Ok. Enough for now. I'm going to write you MORE songs.

Chow.

A Whole Nother Song. About Fauns.

Yo Whatup Dog Wiggidy Wiggidy.

I done a new song. It's called Shards of Light and is very pretty. Perhaps too pretty, but bear with it.

Basically, I was playing around with a vocoder and merged said playing around with a poem that I wrote for a writing subject at uni once when I was younger way back when. It's a real piece of art. The song is over there in the player on the right. A pdf of my wonderful poem is here. Please note that I was being creative with/taking the piss out of the assignment I was set (I think it was something to do with writing a poem that had lots of heavy, poetic-type description). Ok?

Just had to say that.

This song is the next in the 'Jacob is learning to use Ableton Live' series.



Africa? Huh?

Oh yeah, I'm still here. Just... doin' stuff. I didn't done much over this last weekend but - I was feeling sick and hidey. I went into town today and got a nice African top that swirls out when I spin. Lovely.

I had Banku and fish for dinner. Also lovely.

Bye. Listen to my song.

Bye.

A blog post.

Hello.

Just quickly, yesterday (Friday) I was all sick and depressed and came up with lots of deep, dark snippets of pseudo-intellectualism to discuss on this blog. However, I don't feel like writing about that right now. Bad luck.

Also, I don't have any money until Monday due to my bank fiasco on Thursday so am having to be very careful. Like, walking to save 40 pesewas (about 50 cents) on a taxi. I had flied lice for dinner - 50 pesewas.

Today was a little better. I was feeling better and didn't really have to do anything all day. It was really freaking hot. I walked and got plantain and beans for lunch. Later I sat in on a Baby Kusun rehearsal. This was good - it was the first drumming I have done for a while that was actually hard and tired me out. So, yeah.

Then I wrote this.

Still alive.

Bye.

A Krazy time. So Krazy it's spelled with a 'K'. Woah.

Coneechiwa.

I have just got home from a crazy (sorry, Krazy) day. Well, eventful anyway. However, before getting to that, the week in review:

Monday: Did Stuff. Had a lesson probably. Went to Afotey's rehearsal. All is well. Quiet is good.

Tuesday: Went into Accra to get all my stuff. Previously, my plan has been to put off buying 'things' (presents, souvenirs, clothes, etc.) for myself until just before I leave. The reasoning behind this had to do with the possibility that I might run out of money and should spend it on essentials, rather than shiny things. However, I have recently realised that I have enough money for essentials and that the extra spending that might cause me to run out of money would consist of giving to Ghanaians. So, basically, my original plan involved me going without buying the presents for others and things I wanted to take home from Ghana so as to (in a ridiculously short-term manner) subsidise people here.

Obviously, while perhaps being 'noble', this makes no sense. So, I decided to get all my stuff now so that when I run out of money it means I just can't give any more, not that I don't buy the things I want. No, Need. In addition to this, I decided to get all the money out of the bank that I have budgeted for spending, so as to not keep dipping into the savings meant to buy the things I need when I get back to Australia (computer, Uni books, hats, etc.). That is, when my pile o' cash is gone, it's gone.

So, on Tuesday, I attemped to carry out my plan.

Here's the condensed version:

My first place of interest was Makola market where I had to get stuff. Then we had lunch. Then I went to the fetish market to get some seeds. Then back to Makola. Then to the Arts centre market. By this time the bank was closed so my plan to draw out all my money was foiled (I have recently been informed that it costs way more [like, $150 per 400GHS withdrawn] to use an ATM than to go into the bank and withdraw money, so I want to do it that way). Then I went to look for Ablo (who's fixing my Ngoni [and who teaches me]) who lives in the Arts centre. At his house I didn't find him but I found a few of his friends who were practising, so we sat there and watched for a while. Then it was dark. Then home.

In conclusion, I got most of my stuff done that day, except for a few specific items and my money, which I would have to go back another time for. Of course, this is Ghana and my plan to efficiently do everything in one fell swoop was somewhat naive. So, Tuesday was a good day which involved an early start, an awful lot of walking in HEAT and a little bit of retail therapy.

By the way, I have photos of this - they're coming, I can't be bothered doing it now.

Wednesday: Stayed in Nungua - I had arranged for Adjetey and Theofo to do a joint lesson (Adjetey is a dancer and I recorded him dancing for some of the rhythms that I had learned from Theofo) and had a lesson and rehearsal with Afotey. On the way home some guy tried to marry me to his sister when I was waiting to buy kelewele (fried plantain with spices and stuff. Rearry dericious.). That was nice.

Thursday (today): I tried to resume my plan. I was going to go into the bank, get my money, go to the Arts Centre and find Ablo and then buy the last of my things (with Theofo). That sort of happened, but not quite.

First, we started out later than I had planned - I was meant to have an 8.00 lesson with Theofo and then we would leave at 9.00 or so. Somehow, I forgot to set my alarm and didn't wake up until about 10. So we skipped the lesson and left for town at about 11.

When we got to the bank, I went to the window, gave them my card and then started blankly at the teller when he asked for my passport. I hadn't even thought to bring it and even after offering my driver's license, student ID and telling him that my passport was at the embassy and I couldn't get it for a week and had no money, the guy didn't budge. So, my options were to just give up and go home or to not give up but to go home, get my passport and come back. The round trip takes a couple of hours and isn't particularly fun, but I figured I would see how long it took to get home and decide once I got there. As I had some small money on me, I decided to get some of the other things on my list out of the way before heading back to Nungua, so as to not make the trip a complete waste of time. So, I went to the Arts Centre, found Ablo, gave him money to get a bag for my ngoni made and gave Theofo money to go and find some beads. Then I had a coconut, which was delicious.

After this, we went to Labadi to a gallery to get some very special material for my mother. Then we went home.

By the time we got home, it was about 3.15. As the banks close at 5.00, I figured we would have enough time to get back to the bank by 4.30 or so and could get my money and get the remaining couple of things on my list. Additionally, Jane was leaving for Holland at 11.30 that night, so I was going to meet her at the airport at 8.00 or so, when we'd finished. We headed back into town.

In a nail-biting race against the clock, Theofo and I cursed the heat and the constantly-stopping tro-tro all the way into town. Somehow, we managed to get into the tro-tro station at about 4.20. I figured this would get us to the bank by about 4.30 and we would have just enough time to complete what I had heard was a time-consuming transaction process. So, we power-walked to the bank, arriving at 4.31.

The bank closed at 4.30.

Awesome. As I was banking (HA!) on getting money from the bank, I had earlier spent most of my money. So I now don't have an awful (or good, for that matter) lot left.

So, after 10 minutes or so of pacing back and forth trying to work out a magic solution, we gave up. Our new plan was to just go back to the tro-tro station, catch one to Labadi and wait there (and drink and eat) until it was time to meet Jane at the airport. So we did. We were walking more slowly this time.

We found a tro-tro and hopped in. Unfortunately, the mate (the driver's assistant who tells him when to stop and start and takes the money, etc.) was being a foolish boy and trying to cram far more people into the tro-tro that could actually fit. As we were already cranky, Theofo spoke up and had a go at the mate. The mate, who was a small boy and should have more respect, then mouthed off at Theofo who got angrier. Then some other people fired up a bit (all talking in Ga, so I don't really know what was being said, although I kinda do). Eventually I calmed Theofo down (told him not to worry and pull his head in) and the crammed bus set on its way. Theofo spent the whole way brooding and sulking, I figured I'd leave him and try and calm him down once we got off. However, as soon as we got down in Labadi, the mate said something and Theofo lunged at him and started trying to 'deal him blows'. I grabbed Theofo in an impromptu headlock-sort-of-thing and held his arms (after which he tried to headbutt the guy, which was pretty funny) until he calmed down. Really, the situation was pretty understandable - here, you respect your elders or they beat you. So, this kid (probably 18 or so) was mouthing off and got what he deserved. However, I quite firmly explained to Theofo that all it takes is one dodgy policeman to see a white man near a fight and that white man could be in a spot of legal trouble. I think I said it in those words...

We then went and had a drink. Then got food. The food was good - Theofo took me to a place that serves grasscutter (which is kind of like a big rat). As I said, good. Jane then called and said she was on her way to the airport, so we left to meet her there. There could be more story here, but I can't be bothered so I'll cut to the interesting bit.

While waiting for the time at which she had to go and wait in a special go-and-waiting area, we (Jane, Theofo, Kwame [you don't know him] and me) sat waiting in the spot/chop bar near the restaurant. That place must make a killing because everything is about 20x the normal price. Anyway, a nice young lady friend came up and started talking to Theofo, then to Kwame and eventually ended up sitting beside me. She was friendly. I knew this because she said she wanted to be my friend. I thought this was lovely. She was very pretty too with nice fishnet stockings and makeup that had been applied in the taxi on the way there, I think. A few of her good lines include "I just want to be your friend, not anything more than that", "I want to do everything with you, just like a sister, nothing more" which then got altered to "Well, maybe about 90% of everything". I asked her whether brushing my teeth was included in the 90%? How about haircuts? She looked confused.

After 30 or 40 minutes of me switching between ignoring her and asking questions about where she's from and where she went to school (which received completely mixed, changing and contradictory answers - I kept asking though because I didn't want to be rude) I used my awesome eyebrow communication skills to convince our group that it was time to go and see Jane off. My new friend (Jessica) decided she'd follow and see Jane off too. Indeed, when the time came to say goodbye, she got a little bit teary. Such a dericate frower, my new friend Jessica.

After this, Theofo and I had to work out how to get home. It was about 10.50. Jessica was staying disturbingly close behind and kept trying to whisper things in my ear. Unfortunately for both of us, her method of whispering involved putting her ear next to my ear, which meant that she was whispering behind my head, where I, or most other humans I believe, don't have ears. However, while I couldn't discern the specifics, I had a fair idea what she might have been saying. Perhaps so do you.

Anyhow, we organised a taxi to get to 37 (a suburb of Accra), from where we were hoping to catch a tro-tro to Nungua (home). Jessica thought that she might join in on the taxi fun as well. Even after I firmly told her than I had to go, she had to stay and she was not getting in the taxi, she ended up getting in the taxi. She said something about how she just wanted to get dropped off at Circle (another area of Accra) and Theofo felt sorry/in love for her (and was enjoying watching my situation). Even after my pointing out that our taxi to 37 wouldn't go near Circle, she still ended up in the front seat, staring at me in the mirror. I moved my head to the side a bit.

So, we then ended up in 37 and, surprise, she hadn't been dropped off anywhere. And she was following us. At this time of night (11 or so), tro-tros to Nungua had stopped running (really, this probably wasn't too bad a thing - I couldn't have stopped her from getting on a tro-tro if she wanted). So we had to organise a cab. Throughout this whole affair, Theofo and I were teasing each other amidst my trying to explain to him that he couldn't afford her and should just keep his mouth and pants shut. I think I said something along the lines of "If you want her to come, you can pay for the taxi". This worked.

After finding our taxi driver and firmly (again) explaining that she was not coming with us and no, I would not give her my phone number, I then had to forcibly eject her from the taxi and lock the doors. This was slightly sad because it meant she was probably stranded in 37 (the middle of nowhere) late at night, possibly with no money (although she did say that she was going to pay for some of the taxi fare and had bought drinks at the spot earlier) and was saying "Oh, Jacob!" in her most hurt and distressed voice.

But, that's what you get for being a pushy whore.

Finally, Theofo and I spent the whole way home alternating between laughing and teasing each other and feeling a bit sad and sorry for this girl - she was sad and pretty. Just like in Pretty Woman.

Except not.

Eventually, laughing and teasing won and we forgot to feel sad.

On another note, the taxi driver told us a story though about another taxi driver who picked up some girl late at night, was not married and decided he wanted to marry her. He formed a relationship with her over a few weeks... but only at night... Then, after he went to her house one day, during the day, to find her, he couldn't. So he rang up a spiritual adviser at Hot FM (I've heard radio spiritual advisers are a couple of steps above agony aunts) who informed him that the lady was a ghost, had stolen his spirit while they were rooting and that he would die within 2 months. Apparently he died in 2 weeks.

True story.

Goodnight, sweet dreams.

A song what's new.

I did another song. It's called Egg Sandwich and it's in the player over on the right there. Listen to it.

Hear it? That's the sound of me learning to use Ableton Live - it's just one idea and isn't properly fleshed out yet. One day it will be. Good for you.

I spent all Saturday just hanging around the house chillin'. That was good. I had an egg sandwich for dinner, hence the title of this song. There is no other meaning to it.

Today (Sunday, fools) I went to lunch with my Mum's friend Thomas and his kids Tony and Mouse. I hadn't seen the kids for 9 years - they're not really kids, they're 21 and 18. Of course, none of us recognised each other. That was nice.

Lunch was nice too.

Let me know what you think.

Ok. Bye.

Photos, video.. everything you ever wanted.

Hello.

The last two days in brief:

Thursday, went to Labadi to go to another fetish ceremony where I played drums a small bit.

Friday, spent all day at a funeral (Theofo's half-sister's grandmother....) in Teshie.

And that's about it.

I have photos to prove it. And video. However, before you press play on the video, you might want to turn your volume down a bit - it's really loud. Sorry about that. Deal with it.

Photos of the trip to Labadi and the fetish ceremony are here.

Video of the fetish ceremony is here.

Photos from the funeral in Teshie are here.

Represent.

I had some more hair cut. Off.

Yesterday Okuley cut my hair again. Photos of this wondrous event are here.

Here's a preview.

Before:


After:



Goody for you.

On the election side of things, a re-election is being held on December 28th to determine the president. This time the vote will only be between John Atta Mills (NDC) and Nana Akufo-Addo (NPP). We'll see.

The end.

My mind, for you.

Greetings.

Still no news about the election results... waiting...

Besides the internet being down a short time ago, I haven't posted very much lately. This is because I haven't felt like it. This seems to me because of two issues, the details of which I will attempt to outline here for you, dear reader.

The first relates to my previously-mentioned head-fullness due to which I could feel myself overloading - pretty much 4 months straight of intense learning every day is hard. To put it in the context of my usual life, I've done more studying and 'work' here than I would for a semester of Uni. Way more. Maybe two semesters. As such, my brain just started getting fuzzy. In addition to this problem, something else was happening.

My brain being fuzzy was one thing -- it made it more difficult to understand and remember things quickly (as I had previously somehow been able to do) -- but was compounded by an overall lack of motivation to learn. As well as not picking things up quickly, I was letting the material that I hadn't learned properly and needed to review build up. This was because I wasn't interested in doing it.

As nice an idea discipline is and as much as I have been exercising an amount surprising even to myself, forcing myself against my interest to 'sit down and work' at things that I am trying to learn and internalise, on a level beyond having to just regurgitate for an exam, is not effective. Of course, a lack of motivation frequently occurs while I'm at Uni, but there I have essays to write, exams to cram for and marks to obtain. In my current situation, there is no 'final test' for the things I am learning here and no examining body exists to regulate and assess me - the only reason I am here studying is for my interest and 'personal development'. As such, when my interest wanes, so does my motivation and reason for studying (as a side note, ideally, I think all education should be like this. But it's not and that's for another time). I needed to reboot my motivation.

Join me as I walk through how.

So far, my situation was like this: I was having trouble taking in information straight away which meant that I needed to further review my material. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like doing said further reviewing. As such, I was in a wussy little pickle.

While this may seem simply and reasonably just to be a typical enough example of causality and laziness, as I am a special boy, I knew that the above issues were merely symptoms for another underlying problem - it couldn't be that I am just lazy!

In short, my problem was that I was constantly thinking about how I would utilise and apply what I was learning when I got back home. This arises from my considering it a good idea to try and keep what I'm learning in some kind of perspective so as to not go too far down any rabbit holes and to maximise the efficiency of my time here (HA!). However, this has left me with a (fuzzy) head full of ideas, inspiration and stifled-motivation all aimed towards and dependent on my being back home, having access to my gear, getting more gear, setting things up, unfolding cunning plans, etc. - I was feeling like I'd done enough here and needed to get back home and use it before it all slipped away. Consquently, while the fuzzy-headedness was most likely a separately-caused phenomenon, my lack of motivation seems to have stemmed from my wanting to consolidate and mutate all the stuff I've learned - the possibility of said learned things falling out of my withering mind most likely raised the apparent emergency of my situation as well - rather than learning more stuff.

So, herein lies the problem: I think I've got enough and am ready to go home and win the world.

Of course, some of you may have noticed a flaw in my plan.

By my self-deprecating estimate, I probably have about two months' worth of musical activity, writing, inspiration and general farting around in me, ready to go. As I see it written like that, it still looks a bit tempting - two months is about the time I have left before I start uni and work again. Hmmm...

However, I have specifically structured my Uni course next semester so as to enable myself the maximum amount of time and headspace outside of Uni to puruse whatever I'm 'inspired' to pursue as a result of my stay here (in Ghana. Where I am). While this doesn't make the two months I would have available were I to leave now less emotionally tempting, it does lessen their impact in my reasoned, rational considerations (HA! again). As such, I know that staying here is far more useful, powerful and worthwhile than running home to play with toys for a while.

So, back to the beginning. I need to reboot my motivation.

My first step involved clearing my head. This meant no drumming and few Ghanaians for a few days. As mentioned previously, I had 'malaria'. It was very serious.

An interesting side-effect of my treatment (hiding) was that I started learning how to use Ableton Live. This was good. I found that, while adding slightly to my wanting to get home and play with gear, it gave me something to focus on so I didn't get bored out of my brain, directly assisted my 'personal development' and was interesting. So there. Win.

It also meant that I barely spent any money for a few days (I barely ate anything) which helped my head clear. Part of my head-fuzziness is definitely related to my ongoing concern about the contrast between my expected and actual capacities for giving - a few days' saving made me able to relax a bit.

As such, after 4 or 5 days of hibernation (in 30+ degree heat. Silly idea) I was slightly less fuzzy and sort of wanted to start again, in my mind. When it got down to it though, my body couldn't really be arsed (we'll talk about dualism later) - I tried doing some private practice a few times and just got over it really quickly and was tired. Not win.

So, since my mind was willing, I decided to let my mind do the work - I started looking at my backlog; writing out better versions of my transcriptions, transcribing stuff from recordings, etc.. Luckily, this had a positive effect - I could feel my desire to continue getting stronger. I also watched The Dark Knight which was quite enjoyable.

From there, I listed all the things I wanted to learn and harnessed my revived motivation to begin organising lessons again. Over the last couple of days, I've had a few lessons and noticed that my head's clearer. A couple of times I surprised myself at how well I picked things up. Today I had a lesson with Theofo at 7.30 (back to that whole routine...) and organised for Richmond to come and have a practice/play. He hasn't come, but I figure it gave me time to write this, so that's ok. Maybe tomorrow.

In conclusion, I'm still a bit lazy and reluctant to chase guys, but I am a lot more motivated and interested than I was. All is ok and building slowly.

Realistically, I also know that I'm never going to have learned 'enough'. That's just ridiculous. It's just the desire to go and make some new stuff that really is tempting.

Off I go, into the sunset.

The end


Phewf. I know that was long, but thank you for reading it (or skimming through it because you don't care). I hope you found it mildy interesting. Feel free to comment.

On an administrative note, if you haven't already, you can subscribe to the RSS feed of this blog or enter your email address (both over on the right) so that whenever I make a post it gets sent to your email or RSS reader. That way you are always up to date. With me! Yeah!

Bye.

The election happened.

Hi.

Apparently there was some sort of election happened here yesterday. The results are still unknown - I think at this stage the NDC seems to have taken a majority of seats. The presidential election, while conducted at the same time, is separate - the president is still too close to call. From what I can tell anyway.

I'm looking for the 'change' that NDC were supposed to bring - can't see any yet. I'll let you know when it shows up. It's a race between here and the US.

The last few days I have been hiding in my room with 'malaria'. Don't worry, I don't really have malaria, but don't tell anyone that. It keeps Ghanaians from bothering me - I was almost left alone for 3 days in a row!

As mentioned in my previous post, I was trying to tune out and take a break for a few days. As such, I think my head is a little bit clearer now. A little bit. I have been learning how to use Ableton Live. This has been a productive use of my time. Hoorah.

Now all I need to do is re-motivate myself to drum again and finish some things that I want to get done/learned before I leave.

No other news, really. I haven't done anything.

You give me news if you're so good.

Ok bye.

A blog post. Here. Now.

Hi.

The internet's been down, hence my silence. I know you missed me. Sorry.

I can't be bothered relating my last week's activities, not really in the mood right now. Sorry again.

In short, my brain's getting full - I can feel rhythms falling out as soon as, in a lesson, I try to cram them in. I am thus trying to have a few days of rest. It's a little bit hard to achieve due to my popularity, electric personality and wit. Sorry about that. Again.

So, I am merely posting so as to post and let you know that I posted. So there.

Also, in response to Anonymous's post rebuking my claim about the connection between physical and emotional states, I reckon that your argument actually supports my view, not the opposite; boredom, excessive workload and frustration are all easily understood and observed as physical conditions (boredom and frustration have definite [although not necessarily consistent between individuals], observable physical symptoms - take notice next time you are frustrated or bored). As for the monks and their science, it also makes sense from my viewpoint that calming your body would calm your mind (and, of course, vice versa - your 'mind' is, most likely, a product of your body.

So, again, in conclusion: Materialism, woo yeah!

On a completely unrelated note (but not really), I enabled anonymous commenting more so as to allow people who are scared, unable or too busy to sign up for a google account (and to stop the excuse that people didn't comment because it asked them for a password and then they gave up. Take that!) than to give people a means to say things without anyone knowing who they are. As such, I would ask for people commenting anonymously to sign off with their name (or nickname or whatever) so I know who you are and how to interpret the comment and stuff. I know this undermines the idea of anonymity but you'll deal with it. Also, you don't even have to do it. So, yeah.

A new song's up. It's not mine, it's by Chick Corea. I was just transcribing it and fiddling around and I thought you could have a listen. So, do it. On the right.

Thanks for those of you who donated to movember. I now have a beard to accompany my mo:



By popular demand, the beard is staying. For those of you who are upset by this - you have learned the hard way the power of your vote.

I think my plan is to have Okuley give me a number one all over (my head. Just my head) except for my little moustache thus looking like this:


But without the stupid hat. And funnier. But possibly with slightly fewer screaming girls running after me.

Still waiting for song ideas. If it doesn't happen, fine. I'll just cry some more.

Bye.