McDonald's gobbles Pret stake - does this mean we are to look forward to McSushi and McSmoothies?!

Speaking of food, I am looking forward to a delicious Thai dinner tonight, with some friends of mine. I say friends, as they are; but I have never met 2 of them. In my first week of university (back in the dark ages of the early 1990's), I discovered Telnet... and talkers. I met my friend Ian online that first week, and we are still in contact 8 years later. Tonight will be the first time we've ever met in real life. Spooky. I am really looking forward to it, thought it will be very strange...

Meanwhile I am eating the nicest sandwich known to man; simple, yet elegant. One french stick, cheddar cheese, pickle (dark brown Branston pickle, not gherkin), mayo, and salad. Yum :)

A lot of my entries seem to be about food recently...

Oh, I am REALLY worried about my computer - it sounds like there is a hamster running around in there with a squeaky wheel. Have already had the hard drive go once; PLEASE not again..... :(

God, MS Project HAS to be the dullest piece of software out. AND a time-eater. You sit there moving the little time-bars; forward and back, linked and unlinked... all very un-interesting. As my friend Rodney said, all very useful if you're trying to manage the building of a pipeline or something.

It seems to slow down time as well, strrreeeetttttcchhhhhhing it out to eternity. Rather than bore you with the details, I'm going to recommend that you visit Silkwood Park in South Island, New Zealand. A friend of mine's parents manage the property, and I visited in January 2000. To say that it's beautiful is an understatement. They are currently selling plots of land in the park, offering joint-management of the central area.

Whoever buys and builds there are the luckiest people on earth; it's a total paradise. I am really pleased that my little second-cousin Francis has the opportunity to grow up in such a stunning area, with the Abel Tasman National Park right on his doorstep. He's only 18 months old, so he won't realise this yet. But fingers crossed that he will appreciate it when he is older.

Eventually I got 65% of the video dubbing done (watched the most amazing documentary about Split Enz), 30% of the MDisc dubbing, washed up, did the laundry, set up the stereo (but need an FM aerial). didn't touch the emails, and the phonebill is still on the floor. So is the chequebook for rent. So are the ticket sheets. And the unused guillotine. But I did fix next door's modem :) And dropped a free-internet CD thru my aunt's door. And did some shopping for my mum. And posted some stuff to people.

Oh, and I forgot to buy my friend Sarah's birthday present. But that'll keep as it's not for another week and I got half of it already.

Not bad; saturday was so productive that today I took a long, LONG lunch with my friend David instead :) So - who should I send a valentines card to this year?

*Not Telling*

:)

Has anyone else heard of the author "Nevil Shute", btw? I reckon he's awesome but seems to have disappeared from the bookstores in London... he wrote the story "A Town Like Alice" and "On The Beach", both made later into films. Oh and so was "Pied Piper" (starring Peter O'Toole).

Damn this blogger thing. I wonder if it's addictive?? "Bloggeritus" ??

Doing/Done: video dubbing, MDisc dubbing, snailmailing, cooking, drinking vino, eating, thinking, talking to old friends (via yahoo messenger voicechat), laminating tickets.....

Avoiding: washing up, hanging out laundry, tidying up MDiscs, guillotining remaining tickets, filing emails, paying phonebill, paying rent....

Freaked Out By: talking to my mother on ICQ... one of the most techie-avoiding people I know is going to own a new titanium Apple G4 powerbook - it scares me.... (no i'm not jealous. much)...

Try This At Home: 2 salmon steaks, marinaded in juice of one lemon & one lime, zest of 2 limes, chopped fresh coriander, pepper, seasalt, chili olive oil, bake in foil in oven for 12 minutes, serve with green salad and baby potatoes. lovely. ;p

I still haven't put the new stereo together...

I had a very productive day today. I am very proud of myself.

Firstly, I dragged myself out of bed before 12, DESPITE being online to a friend til 1.30am. I went over the river to the bank, post office, hifi shop, stationers (where I found cute little lamination kits for my pre-gig shindig next week). Oh, and some lovely salmon steaks. I then avoided the football crowds for a bit and dubbed videos.

I went the other direction and bought a new stereo (mine died last week after 16 years of sterling service), and came home and hit the nice vino I bought earlier, helped by my friend David. I only bought the wine cos it had a lovely silver bottle - it's passable chardonnay, but as I am a white wine "snob" (apparently), it's not as good as the normal NZ wines I buy. No, I don't go spending more than £6 a bottle (believe me, that's CHEAP around here!), but it's nice. It'll go nicely with the salmon in lime and coriander that I have marinading downstairs (unless the cats have got to it!).

An evening in. First for several weeks, last for another few weeks. Joined soon by David, but he's out clubbing later so I have the house to myself. BLISS.

It might not sound like a fun day, but boyohboy, I haven't known such normality for a long while. Lovely !!

I think I have some MDiscs to dub..... pass me those speaker wires..

"You may think electronic gadgets can't use much electricity," said Karl Stahlkopf of the Power Research Institute. "In fact, when you look at the servers and the computers that back up the wireless Palm Pilot, for example, you'll find it has the electrical load equivalent of a refrigerator."

Wise words indeed. I know this Silicon Valley electricity crisis is old news, but it isn't over yet. Perhaps all those keep-fit nutters over in California can work out some way of connecting all their exercise bikes to the grid, and do some good? $75million is a lot to lose in a day....

I would feel bad about it - but the fact that the outages have been exacerbated by a heatwave, and that I am stuck indoors (albeit at midnight) in the pouring down rain, climbing into the roofspace to put buckets under the leaks - is not conducive to me summoning much sympathy, I'm afraid. Yes, so I know I work in the industry, and am well aware of the damage these outages cause, but - it's still warmer over there, so ;p ! Heartless person that I am....

Things are hotting up in New Zealand...

Well, however useless I feel sometimes, I do know that I CAN organise a pissup in a brewery (well, a pub to be technically correct). What started off as a "quick pint" with some friends before a show has now turned into a bit of a "session", with the 100th person emailing me about 4 minutes ago to ask for directions. Nice. Want to read more about it?

The second Divine Comedy gig (last night) was far better; not sure whether it's cos the songs weren't new any more, or the distinct reduction in "industry" types in the crowd (always a hard one to please). Neil Hannon forgot the words to two of his old songs (and swearing freely as a result), but the crowd kept him going and the atmosphere was a lot lighter. The sound mix was also far better... I am growing to like these new songs.

So much for an early night, I got back and watched the Horizon program about the carved stone circle found in a prime piece of Miami real estate, and bought for $27million to save it from development. Having ruled out it wasn't the result of a 1950's septic tank installation ($27m well spent!), there was speculation about it being a wooden stilt structure build by the local native tribe, the Tequesta; previously thought to be nomadic barbarians. Read more about it @ the BBC site.

An addition to the "not recognising famous people" post below. As I said, I don't. Nor did Simon, who was standing in the bar with me ("who are these people?"). But my friend Rodney does (it's almost his job)...... so you can read all about "who" was there on HIS blog :)

Personally I wouldn't have recognised any of them if they'd come up and introduced themselves by name.....

* Note To Self: # become au fait with sitcom stars so I can spot them more easily # *

"Being happy and having fun are not the same things at all"
-- Phyllis Benia Salazar

Have no idea who Phyllis is, but it's a good quote.

Amusing news - my friend Rodney just mailed me to say that Jennifer Aniston has nicked my name! No, not "Jennifer" (doh!) - but the Jen X idea. She is to star in an internet-only sitcom called "Jen XX", hosted by Voxxy. I wonder by how much (if at all) it will increase hits here? Should I write to them? Answers on a postcard...

Microsoft. Pants.

That little DNS problem they had yesterday - fantastically funny !

Then again I hate Netscape, so IE5 is okay (relatively).

Went to a launch party last night... not entirely on purpose, I just happened to get "stuck" in the bar with a friend on the way out of the Divine Comedy gig. I reckon the number of CD's I've bought, EMI owes me a pint or two anyway.... it was interesting; I recognised a hell of a lot of people, but god only knows who they were (I have an inate ability of not recognising "famous" people). A smattering of lesser pop stars, a few radio DJ's, music industry people... all very entertaining and "trendy". After all, Rock 'n' Roll is the new black....

... isn't it?

Oh yeah, the gig - interesting. DC's new foray into "chilled", Radiohead-esque vibes seems directly linked to the introduction of new producer Nigel Godrich (ex. Radiohead, Travis).. am reserving judgement on the majority of the new material until I hear it again tonight. It is quite a departure from the clean, crisp witty Neil Hannon I know and love, and his metamorphosis into slightly grungy nouveau-indie will be a bit of a shock to old-school DC fans. Still, "Perfect Love Song" is - by Neil's own admission - a number one single in the making... possibly because it is the least nouveau-indie-ish song of them all.

Note: check your keyboards..... Mystery of the disappearing dubyas.

Oh, and I seem to be psychic... Mr Mandelson has resigned... (see previous blog). Oh dear, what a shame... ;)

Don't say I never supply you with up-to-the-minute groundbreaking news. Breaking news today from the BBC - "Dinosaur honour for Dire Straits". In any case, it makes more interesting reading than Peter Mandelson screwing up (again)......

I do love the fact that ICQ saves all the conversations you have with people. I've just been reading through a couple, and found a great quote. I was quoting at the time, so don't know who said it, but I'll put it up anyway...

"Computer games don't affect kids, I mean if pac man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music."

That's all for today - need an early night, off to see The Divine Comedy tomorrow; new album launch. Have heard a few songs already, pretty cool :)

It's been a while... have been a busy bee this weekend! Got the hang of getting digital video thru into the puter on friday night; I was feeling a bit rough, so stayed in with my laptop instead of assaulting my liver @ the pub. My liver was very appreciative ! The video wasn't bad, but haven't quite worked out what to do with it..

Saturday involved the very last Crowdies House gig before John's departure for Barcelona. At last, we met the girl who is stealing him away... she is lovely, and he seems so happy - it's great. Will miss him though. The afternoon was an extended jam session, on the pretext of sound check (if you've ever imagined what Crowded House would sound like played in the style of Dire Straits, don't! It was very scary!). Oh, and some lovely stage decoration from Lee (aka. Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen; he's been watching too much "Changing Rooms"!). The gig (a charity dinner/dance) went extremely well, with Lee and Chris being thrown items of underwear halfway through the set ;) Tom Jones eat your heart out (I think he lent Lee his shirt for the evening!)!

Sunday - well, what a bummer. Having driven home in freezing fog, I did really well to wake up at 7am for the Cold Live At the Chapel webcast - yes, it's "Neil Finn Rules The Internet Week". I snoozed off and woke up with a start at 11.15 (!).. only to go upstairs to find that it was an impromptu Crowded House reunion, with Nick Seymour and Paul Hester joining Neil on stage for a good third of the show. Managed to catch the last few minutes, but was still pretty gutted. Even my non-music friends sensed that it was a really bummer, and were (for once) pretty sympathetic !

Some serious cheering-up was required, so I headed into London (as in central london; I live in London!) for a lovely long lunch with my friend David. Haven't seen him for a while; he jets off all over with his job, so it's nice to spend time with him. We opted for Japanese, and pigged out @ Satsuma on Wardour Street. This is a great place; and dirt cheap. We both ate til stuffed for under £25 - between the two of us! Sushi, tempura, the lot. :)

We then had a sniff around the area for a decent pub to meet up with people before the Neil Finn gig on 4th Feb. Trying to find somewhere for over 50 people arriving over 6 hours from 6 countries was tough, but we struck gold. Right next to the Palace Theatre was the "Spice of Life" pub, with a very sympathetic manager, who did us a sterling deal on the private bar downstairs. Gonna be fun!

Decided to get in a bit of culture, so watched "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" on recommendation from Rodney. It was pretty cool - the heroine (of sorts) is called Jen (!), and kicks butt throughout (so I should think!). A nice mix of subtle humour, action, good dialogue (yes it was in chinese but the subtitles were pretty clear!), and interesting storyline. Definitely a sunday afternoon film. I think it teetered on the edge of schmultz at certain points, but was saved by the humour and atmosphere the film and characters generated; it's a great film. Walked home over the River Thames, through a real London fog. It was so thick you couldn't even see the water.

No, it wasn't very interesting this weekend, and I am too tired to do my normal "write it so it looks cool" job of making it seem that way. It's past my bed time, I've been wrestling flash and javascript all evening, and there are many things to do (like washing up!) before I finally hit the hay. It's a busy week, but I hope to add bits here and there as it goes on.

Thanks to all those people who've emailed me about this Blog; it persuades me to carry on (despite boring bits)... and to try harder ;) Hope you have a great week too :) G'night!

People ask me what I look like; I don't tell them. This is the closest I come to a having a photo taken - oh DARN! My cat just jumped between me and the lens... :) Oh, and I forgot to turn the flash back on. Shame. :p

Having a conversation with my mate Doug over in Huntsville, Alabama right now (isn't technology so cool!). He was sent the address of my Blog by his mate Joe, who is a mate through... yeah, you guessed it... music. Have definitely had my musical tastes (and the weather!) widened by Joe, and hopefully vice versa. And I owe him an email... oops, sorry mate!! Yeah, I know it's my turn!

Anyway, the point of this is to give you Doug's Tip of the Day. It's pretty much America-specific, but I know there are american friends of mine who sometimes struggle with the colloquialisms in my writing. Doug uses The Best of British - The American's guide to speaking British.

I didn't realise I used so much UK-specific slang in my writing; I know I use a lot of americanisms, and did used to use a lot of Aussie/NZ slang. Been home too long..... quick, phone the travel agent :)

That's a point - is it too early to book my air ticket to Oz @ Xmas?!

I wrote loads last night. About my mate's final gig before he goes to Barcelona. About how music draws us all together in a way nothing else can. Lots of stuff... and then the computer crashed. Not for any particular reason; I guess it just felt like it. Or maybe it didn't approve of what I was writing? Yup, I guess that's it; it probably thought I was being a bit too sentimental....

It was a good evening, though, with many old friends, many new faces, and much laughter, joy, sadness, dancing (which I don't do often), and an atmosphere of good will and camraderie. I drank too much coke, became a bit too sentimental, probably said things I shouldn't (see yesterday's entry; not only am I obviously allergic to caffeine and thus bloody stupid last night, coke has the same affect on me as beer!).

Ah well, I don't regret whatever I said or did - my excuse on these occasions is that it's my subconcious talking without the repression of a standard moralistic Church of England upbringing; though I'm not religious by any stretch of the imagination, those morals can get in the way sometimes :) It's sometimes good and healthy to say or do what you really REALLY think or feel.....

I shall now return to my violent pink webpage and finish it off. Not machete-weilding pink; rather more kitchen-knife sorta violent. Still, best to keep out the way.... (Hex colour #FF80FF, actually, and yes - I AM going to change it !)

Caffeine Withrawal...

I discovered (or rather, confirmed) an awful, TERRIBLE fact today.

I am allergic to coffee. Seriously.

I've sort-of guessed this for about 12 years, but have been in denial (since I passed out whilst babysitting once, after a rather strong expresso).

I think I've just lost the will to live... WHAT NO MOCHAS?????!!

I wonder if there's a cure?

Well, it was fab. Marvellous. Great. Bloomin' fantastic, actually ! Worth staying at work for.. I owe my boss BIG time here, as not only did I get to stay til whenever I needed, I got the use of his laptop and ADSL connection (which was super, stunning til it cut off at the end).

NF again (with Lester). Live Webcast. Fab ! Isn't technology brill ?!


As Neil himself said shortly afterwards...

"the thrill of direct global communication is immediate and undeniable... it may be early days yet but there is an intimacy about broadcasting from home on the web which fills me with optimism and goodwill... I am imagining having you all tuned in as new songs are written and recorded, anything is possible... anyway we're taking the rest of the day off, heading for the beach.. it's still summer and life is short."

You can read a copy of the transcript here! I am off to sleep...

Well, what a great surprise this morning! Logged onto my mail before I headed for work (I don't normally, I just had a vibe - how true was that!) and there was a mail from Peter (see yesterday's entry), to say neil was online. As in live, webcasting, singing. Headed to Nilfun.net and sure enough, there was the little man, playing his way thru requests - including mine.

"Serge", in case you were wondering; a little-known song written in his teenage years, about a retired Italian ballet dancer. Quite why he was writing about this subject matter at that age is beyond me, but then again I am not an internationally successful songwriter. Suffice to say it was a beautiful song, heard on my phone from NZ via Bristol. No, not some fancy technology; just the fact the 56k link went, I had to go to work (45 minutes late already), and I was walking to work, calling a friend on the way. Suddenly I heard her 'cast in the background, and it was Neil, reading out my email I'd sent before I left. I didn't hear quite what he said, but he did mention the mirror ball (groovy lighting effect while he was out the room smoking a...... OOPS. Sorry. "taking a break". Yeah.

So that was my 16 minutes of fame. Actually I got a bit emotional listening to it; one of my most favourite songs, as a request, over the internet.... via a good mate who patiently held her phone next to the speaker throughout the duration. THANKS DAWN! And another cool mate who managed to sort-of record it for me. TA JAX!!

Am now reading my way thru an XML book, Oracle documentation on XML, and Vignette personalisation software. And back-issues of Blogs. Yes, simultaneously. Oh, and writing this. Which reminds me, I really must get the redesign of this sorted. I'll do it soon. Promise. I'd say tonight, but Neil's doing another webcast.

Yes, I did mention his name again.

And again.

No I am not madly in love with some random popstar in NZ who too few people realise is a songwriting genius. He's just very talented, and I appreciate that talent.

Oh, and he's got cute hair.

*Ahem*

It's very weird, this Blogger thing. Online diaries - the whole shebang. Like you're peering into peoples lives, you think you can work out what makes them tick, who they are, what they believe in. But it's all rubbish. Sure, people open themselves up a lot more online, as it's not at all confrontational and you're lulled into some false sense of security, but I still can't work out if who you read online is actually THEM. Of course Blogs are slightly different to email (I seem to have some long-running email feud with someone in the US, dunno how it started but hey, it's bloody funny! AND I get to meet them in 20 days. I wonder what they're like in the flesh? Scary times, indeed). Age etc seem to disappear into the ether - people get to be people, without outward appearances, prejudices and other crappy stuff getting in the way (I did have a sitcom idea for that but it was crap, apparently. Ok, so it was). It's also very egalitarian. Mao Tse Tung would have liked the internet, I think (she says, delving into what history she can remember).

As for who you are online, there are some people who are "who they are" - some diaries I read are very "them" - as far as I know, anyway (Rodney and Peter, to name 2), but I do wonder about the people I don't meet. Gryphon (Peter) and Rodney (who very nicely took me to an interesting sitcom thing tonight) have been doing this online diary thing for ages (Peter since June 1996!), and I really look forward to reading their stuff - and even get a sort of "cheated" feeling when it's not updated (borne out by the number of mails I sent Rodney this week, asking when he was going to update the bloody thing!). I guess I haven't been at it long enough. I wonder what people think I am like IRL? (that's In Real Life, btw [btw=by the way]). Peter met me for the first time this time last year - he said "you're not how I thought you'd be, you're actually quite normal".

Now THAT is a quote and a half!!

No, don't laugh.

No, really. Don't.

I really am not all THAT normal.

Well, I have been a bad girl, and I haven't updated this for a while. Partly as I have been designing other people's sites for them (no, I haven't got round to completing my own yet!) I also have a few gigs coming up; things that (as you know) seem to rule my life. Neil Finn (how many times have I mentioned him here? No, don't count.) is appearing soon; that's gonna be an odd one, as I know probably up to 200 people coming to that gig - but have only met <100 of them. Yes that internet thing again - you think you know someone, blahdeblah...... At least I know 74% of the people in the front 3 rows with me. Yes, I did calculate that...

Seriously, it is bed-time now. I am rambling and I am tired. NOT a good combination. And I have some new Blogs to look at tomorrow. Nice.

Well, it's official.... Neil's new album title... "One Nil". As someone I (vaguely) know said, do we now sing "there's only one nil fun, there's
only......."..

*Ahem*

Well, I have now managed to get another part of my site off the ground; just the music bit. It's happening slowly..... Can't decide if I want to port my whole site here, am tempted to keep this music stuff separate. It's cool anyway - searchable gig diary, reviews, news, cool toys... check it out!

It was all so misty here that the eclipse wasn't all that fantastic..... but the BBC has good footage here. I'll hopefully have some (fuzzy!) photos and mpg stills here tomorrow.

Have been working on a new music sub-site... cool flash toys. Will be nice. A gig diary too, so you can find out when your favourite band is playing. Reviews, photos, toys... the lot ! Stay tuned.

More exciting is the new Divine Comedy album, "Regeneration", out 12th March. Produced by Nigel Godrich (producer behind Travis and Radiohead), it's going to be very interesting.... Heard a track today, will be cool to see them live again!

Disturbing start to the morning. Plugged my modem in and fired up NILFUN this morning, to be greeted by a news item describing a new video with Neil Finn absolutely starkers, tied to the front of a semi-trailer. *Ahem*. Am sure it's some kinda artistic statement.... Less disturbing news is he's doing a web cast on 17th January (10am NZ time). Tune in or miss out!

Keep an eye on the skies.... 9th January sees a total lunar eclipse, visible from UK, Africa and some of Asia. For more info see here.

I seem to be racking up the gigs this spring... Andy White on 17th March (St Patricks Day). Cool :) This will be a bit of a shindig, and WHAT a lovely man Andy is!!

Hot & Sour soup - a life saver. Best Hot & Sour Soup 2001 award goes to the Mandarin Star on Munster Road in SW6. Have a few prawn crackers left....

Sushi is just so delicious - every time I eat it, I wonder why I don't eat it more... yes, there is the cost factor, but boy is it good :) Especially Salmon sashimi *drool*. AND it's so healthy! My friend Rodney says it tastes like a wet sponge, so I guess it's an acquired taste !

Tomorrow, madness descends on my street. Fulham Football Club plays Manchester United. As the ground is probably a bit less than 100 yards from my front door, I may as well not bother leaving the house.... forget the car! I tried to drive after a match recently, but would have had about 50+ bodies on my conscience had I actually driven faster than 0.4 miles an hour... took me 1/2 hour to get 200ft!! I used to be really disparaging about the whole thing - and still am to an extent - but then my friend Vic kindly took me to a couple of Chelsea home matches. What fun! I used to play a lot of hockey, but seemed to get the same amount of adrenaline from watching football. No, I won't be going to the match tomorrow (in fact I will walk over the river to get away from it!) but I just hope that Fulham beat Man U...... :)

Here's one for the bookmark section... passed on to me by my friend Matt. "Dementia May Change Musical Tastes". Interesting...

"They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel."
- Carl W. Buechner

This and other quotes / trivia at: Quote Central at UselessKnowledge.com.

Happy New Year!

Well, back to work, back to Linux, back to getting up in the morning, breaking New Years Resolutions, coffee, and lack of sleep.

Came across this amazing site, a bit like online meccano that moves.... Sodaplay. Well worth a play !!

The concerts are stacking up on my credit card already.... new albums and gigs to look forward to in the next couple of months include The Divine Comedy (London gigs 24th & 25th Jan., single release in Feb, album in March) and Neil Finn (Australasia album release in March). Tim Finn also has another (as yet un-named) album, hot on the heels of last year's release "Say it is So". Andy White will hopefully do his yearly St Patricks Day gig @ the 12 Bar Club in London, too.... fingers X'd!

So much for a holiday; still haven't got jenrundall.com up and running yet; having stuck post-its on my christmas cards, it was meant to go live yesterday. Oh well! Was reading LifeAsItHappens and agree with Rodney... 2000 was definitely downsized! There aren't as many hours in the day as there used to be....... :)