Well, I had an idea for the colour scheme for globaljen.com. Like it? Hate it? Tell me.

I really need to get globaljen.com up and running, I bought the name as I've sorta grown tired of jen-x, and I wanted a proper site for myself. Jen-x will survive as a blog, but in what format and technology I'm not sure; I do know I have to get my backside into gear. As I said to Cal, "I have said that for months now. i cant settle on a design, can't decide on arty vs clean, blogger vs greymatter vs my own, blue vs green.. god, i cant even choose an ice cream flavour !". I look at all the beautiful designs on the web and despair that I can reach those dizzying heights. I know I'm meant to have my own look and feel and vibe, but heck, I have loads of ideas but none of them are quite right, so I'm not going to compromise and throw something up for the hell of it. I need to sit down with Fireworks for more than 1/2 an hour and come to a decision. Gah!

Also good.

Did I ever tell you how much I love Pixelflo? Sheer genius. Who thought JS could be fun?!

Microsoft meets MTV. What can I say?! [via more people than I can remember]

Oh, and I had to convince at least 5 people last night that I was English and not from NZ. So I have a rather dodgy accent, and although I am not at all insulted by the mistake (and even a little pleased), it is rather odd. Seems that Meg has a similar sort of identity problem ;)

Oooh! Big congratulations to Rodney, who got a Diarist Award for his multimediablog. Nice work!

I went to see Paul Kelly and Dave Dobbyn in concert last night. Well, to be honest I went to see Dave, but he was supporting Paul and - well - Paul's excellent as well. So it was a bit of a bonus evening. Paul was on top form - his lyrics just crack me up and it's well worth checking him out - he manages to write song after song of catchy singalong tunes - genius. [anyone who can write a funny song about cricket deserves a medal!]

Dave was just ace. I haven't seen him play since New Year's Day 2000 in New Plymouth, NZ. That was a slightly different show - a multi-artist outdoor (rainy!) 4000+ extravaganza with a home (and thus very appreciative!) crowd. Last night was a small room filled with 150+ bunch of pissed Aussies who couldn't give a **** about Dave. But still, standing right under his nose meant I got to hear most of it, and it was Very, Very Good. He's just been awarded a lifetime achievement award in NZ, which he more than deserves.

Which got me to thinking. Four out of my five most favourite musicians are from NZ; < href="http://www.nilfun.net" target="_new" title="him from Crowded House">Neil Finn, Don McGlashan, Tim Finn and Dave Dobbyn. Can't be a coincidence, can it? Is there some sort of musical genius forcefield in that part of the world? Sure, we have some good musicians, but on my planet they don't even touch these four. My uber-gig fantasy would be these 4 guys playing an "in the round" gig - a phenomenal amount of talent.

So anyway, he played nearly all my favourites, and some more (though I'd loved to have heard Naked Flame and Lap of the Gods, but we can't have everything!). I also managed a quick hello/shake hands sorta thing - for someone who isn't really ever short of a quick comment, I was pretty much lost for words at that point. I'm not a star-struck person at the best of times (I can calmly walk past Elton John without blinking an eyelid - probably cos he's so short!) but there are some people who I just can't help being in awe of - and quite rightly so. Yes, so out of NZ he's not exactly a household name, but to those who've listened and watched and enjoyed (and the entire population of NZ), he's a legend in his lifetime.

Learn how to do (almost) anything...

Check this out. Nice new site to browse around... beautifully done and as surreal as the band themselves! Oh, and if you are in the Putney area tonight, head over and see them play @ The Half Moon - they're ace! No one I know has left disappointed. Now that's something you can't say about most of the cr*p in the music industry these days. Nosirree (Bob), these guys are something truly special. Go!

"A transformation expressed in XSLT describes rules for transforming a source tree into a result tree. The transformation is achieved by associating patterns with templates. A pattern is matched against elements in the source tree. A template is instantiated to create part of the result tree. The result tree is separate from the source tree. The structure of the result tree can be completely different from the structure of the source tree. In constructing the result tree, elements from the source tree can be filtered and reordered, and arbitrary structure can be added." [W3.org]

Tell me, honestly, if you find the above statement remotely understandable (without thinking of forests and lumberjacks etc - me, I'm about to take to this with a chainsaw). I am sitting here trying to do some XSLT stuff with Oracle (nice toys), and working out how I can get my prebuilt XML to come out as WAP without me doing very much at all. It's scientifically possible. But the books (many, and very heavy) and webpages (many, and light on helpful explanations) I am looking at, mean that I can't see the wood for the trees (please excuse my appalling pun). I want a "how to" in easy-peasy-speak so that I can put this baby to bed. Gah.

Oh, and so I can really forget about work and enjoy tonight's gig - Paul Kelly supported by Dave Dobbyn. I haven't seen Dave play for at least 20 months, and I am getting the DTs. This show is going to be a real slice of heaven....

Oh, and I have a craving for Black Jacks right now. Little squares of aniseed deliciousness. *Drool*.

Darn you, Cal, I am totally addicted to this ultra cool game now. Gah!

Just finished updating the photos on Jasmine's website. What a cutie! Below is my favourite picture from the weekend (the other cutie is my sis!).

One thing that my sis and I are exceptionally fond of is bad movies. Not bad as in 'evil', but just undeniable trash - where the storyline (if there is one) is at best predictable, and at the very least, will have only a tenuous grasp on reality. We're very fussy about the 'badness' quotient, and there is a low tolerance threshold for a film that has no amusement value in its awfulness. Usually these films will involve children (often precocious, spoilt and/or with family issues), and will be set somewhere other than England. We will have a go at guessing 'what will happen next/overall', but most of the viewing will be punctuated only by cups of tea (or beer as we've grown older).

We've been into these films for ages. As kids who didn't even see a TV until we were about 7 (we went to someone else's house to see Prince Charles' wedding - how very 1950s!), the box in the corner was a cause of endless fascination and many tears. Our viewing habits when much younger were strictly controlled - with only Newsround, Doctor Who, Blue Peter and The Six O'Clock (BBC) News being deemed fit for our innocent (!) eyes. When we were home sick, Sesame Street was allowed only in cases where we were fit enough to watch it (tummy-ache was a yes, headache was a no). Saturday mornings became more flexible as we grew older, and we were able to watch the morning's kids' shows until the parentals got up and turned off the TV (usually in the middle of a program).

Even as we grew older (Mum still won't have The Simpsons on in the house!), TV was strictly limited - no Grange Hill or Eastenders, and nothing after 9pm (though I do remember being allowed to watch a Woody Allen film when I was about 8, and both of us were terrified for months after watching Salem's Lot aged 9 and 7!). We were very much latch key kids for a while, and coming home to an empty house meant an open season on trash tv. So although our viewing habits weren't consistent; to make up for the paucity of agreed exposure, if there was no parental, we watched anything and everyhing we could. The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, Countdown, University Challenge, American teensoaps... if it was trashy enough, we'd see it through. Six weeks each year spent in the backwoods of Canada, meant we would be back in front of the tube with renewed energy come September.

So despite having such a strict 'ban' imposed on us from an early age, we were both self-confessed telly addicts. I've now grown out of most of my viewing habits - I don't watch the TV for months at a time (though do love the Adventure, History and National Geographic channels). My sister is much the same, but as a new mum should be given leeway for the videos she watches. I think we thought we had both pretty much grown out of such high-volume, low-quality TV viewing.

Until this weekend. We proved that such binge viewing of naff American angst movies has not been sated, we could indeed still actively watch cr*p films, and discovered so in the most scary way possible. Sitting down on Sunday evening to watch 'whatever was on' (we'd been up since 7am with Jas), we started watching an angsty teen American movie about cowboy dads and divorce courts (cheerful). We got slightly confused when they cut to another family in similar situation (but with divorcee mom). "Oh" we said, "I bet they get together". There was no cut-back to the original family, and these (younger) kids were harbouring a convicted criminal. We assumed this criminal was the guy who'd shot the mother of the first family of kids. An hour later, we switched channels during the ad break. To find the happy ending of the first lot of kids' cowboy dad gaining custody of the shot mother's children. A cunning plot twist, perhaps? (we are both very good at picking up the thread of a movie 1/2 way through).

No. We'd switched movies halfway through, and hadn't even noticed.

Apparently, I'm nuthin' but an old trout... [via Meg]

Well, I am back from Oop Norf. It were luvverly [no, I don't know what that accent is either!].

Jas is a proper little person now - alert, bright-eyed, receptive and a bundle of giggles. She recognises people easily, and has a definite stubborn streak in her! She's a very chilled baby, and a joy to be with - despite the very early starts in the morning ;) Lovely to see my sis too, and spend some 'quality time'.

Am exhausted now - need another Bank Holiday to recover ;)

On location in York setting up a BabyNieceCam. Having a very chilled time. I do love Bank Holiday Weekends :)

Had a lovely Thai meal tonight with a very old friend, her parents (my 2nd mum!) and boyfriend (big ups, Stalker-Boy-Dan!). Well, she's not very old, it's just we've been friends a very long time... something like 15 years! :) Talking all about Australia, cricket, Aussie Rules (football), letcherous commentators, the beach, the house - god, I want to be there now! And most importantly, Sarah's baby! Not long now - I can't wait. I don't think she can either (especially looking forward to a comfortable night's sleep ;) !!). A lovely end to a particularly horrible day.

Am off to York tomorrow for the Bank Holiday weekend. To see my divine niece. Cool :)

Fan update: It has now splattered over a large radius, and a lot of it is not good.

I feel betrayed, sad, and totally gutted. I have lost faith in a lot of people I really respected, and that hurts so much. Damn.

Roll on Australia.

The. Sh1t. Has. Hit. The. Fan.

In the biggest, messiest, smelliest way possible.

I should feel better about this. I don't. I feel sick. I feel more stressed than before. I just want to curl up and go to sleep and not wake up until it's all over and the sun is shining again.

Gah.

The Web Page from Hell. It needs no introduction...

Knowledge 2

You will be pleased to know that the idiots (at least one of them) of yesterdays post, are digging themselves deeper into their self-made hole. Marvellous. Has done nothing good for my stress levels today, though.

I'm off for horshi with hoofsabi sauce and hayso soup with Davo and another friend in a while. Delicious !

Is Knowledge Power?

I have a dilemma. Not a moral dilemma - as morals have nothing to do with it. Well, they did, but they flew out the window a long time ago. Essentially, I have some information that I'm not meant to have. It's very useful, very damning and very dangerous. It could get 2 people in a LOT of trouble - to the extent they would lose their job. But I am not meant to have this information, cannot reveal its source and therefore cannot prove a thing. Personally, I hope they both rot in hell (can you tell how much I like them?!), but as I can't divulge anything except the information, and would get innocent parties in trouble if I ever revealed the source, it's really frustrating. Knowledge may be power - and this information does give me very much the upper hand (they don't know I know, ya see) - but my hands are tied here. They deserve everything that comes their way - it's just how and when such things come to pass. It really annoys me when bad people get away with such despicable behaviour, and there's nothing you can do about it, despite having the means to bring them down. Damnit.

Let's just hope Karma is a real entity....

Good news - I am feeling miles better today, I ate a bucketload of (delicious) food last night (why is it that when you get a cold you get worse munchies than - well, y'know?) and passed out in front of the TV after a nice hot bath. I have to go to a drinks party tonight which I don't feel up to, however it's 'family' so I have to go - gah! Trying desperately to shake off all germs before I go visit my gorgeous niece at the weekend. My sis has just got this fab new job, where Jas gets 'free' nursery education - brilliant stuff! Actually, if you have any really great recipes for small kids, please tell me?!

And of course, this is closer to my heart.

Check out {coudal partners inc}, especially the section on Photoshop Tennis. Pure i'magic.

Not blogging much cos v v v v tired. Just got back - V2001 was excellent, wet, muddy but a really good laugh. Highlights of the weekend were Wheatus, Powderfinger, Relish, Witness, Neil Finn (of course!), David Gray and Kylie !! Yes, I did go see the dancing diva - it threw it down with rain last night, and her tent was the driest place on site (that's my excuse and I am sticking to it!). She was brilliant - and some random sweetheart gave me a birds eye view from his shoulders :) Today was interesting - got to the very front next to the barrier on the main stage, and therefore had a great view of Neil - but also got moshed to death by the Idlewild audience. A few bruised ribs and a suspected cracked rib later... it was worth it. The atmosphere was incredible, the music brilliant, and when Neil sang "Weather with You", the sun came out and stayed :) [proof indeed that the man is God!]

am off to v2001 for the weekend. if i have the chance to blog i shall. meanwhile i have to find my waterproof trousers. mo?!

i have been in the local bar (la perla) with my boss since 8pm. that isn't the best way to start a long hard weekend that starts with an 8.30 house-leaving time. ouch.............

I have one million and one things going through my head - work, music, websites, family, friends, the future. Several long-term work projects are coming to fruition, I am trying to make plans for the future, working on several personal websites and music schemes, and living day to day.

Sometimes I wish I had a 'hibernate' button on my head like my laptop, and I could stop the incessant whirring in my head - for even a short time. But it's all good - I'd always rather be busy than bored.

*Mental Note* Don't go to La Perla (a great Mexican cocktail bar on Fulham Road) on a school night. One hour and 4 cocktails later (2 margharitas, a mojito and a caipirinha), I headed off with David to meet Mikey at Pappa et Ciccia (pizza place). We were lucky enough to nab the window seat, so had a cool breeze whilst we tucked into our pizzas and the most heavenly orange sorbet. Two bottles of NZ white finished the evening (and us!).

And now for something completely different....

Reproduced (with permission); Luke & I's extremely intellectual and technical discussion about a CD I'm sending.

Jen: you will need a PC...
Luke: Cool. Have got one.+
Jen: LOL
Jen: Really?!
Luke: No, not really. This is a modified FX-80 calculator.
Jen: Darn. I thought it was a modified soap dispenser. And I thought you were SO behind - you are FAR ahead of me !
Jen: I Am working on a jiggered electric toothbrush.
Luke: Nice. Does the HTML <whir> command work on it?
Jen: Yeah and I Have the beta <whizz> on it too!
Luke: Ooh!
Luke: all you need now is the <floss> plugin.
Jen: I found the <floss> plugin had a conflict with <whizz.BETA> so I had to install the freeware <Flooooss> instead
Luke: Ah. You have a h4x0r toothbrush!
Jen: INdeed. But I upgraded the <ToothOS> to <ToothpastePak 4.2> so it's a bit better now.
Jen: and it made the <whizz> run much faster
Luke: Ooh. overclocked!
Jen: Well I need to get a new <BrusHeadOMatic> card soon, as the memory on this one gets used up too fast.
Luke: hehe
Jen: I might just save up and get a totally new OS - I heard that <Flymo Pro> is a great bargain and is more extensible. It's just not as portable..
Luke: Yeah. And can have disastrous cross-system effects.
Jen: Well it just doesn't like talking to the h4x0r, so a lot of my stuff will be redundant. THere are spoofing solutions (<FlyBrush Pro> and <HoverFloss Beta>) but they are just too expensive.
Luke: Hee hee.

Update to this morning's f*ckwittage incident: the guy driving the truck (who bopped me one with the 2x4) was an agency driver - who has now been removed from the contract (the timber company went mental!) and his agency advised me to call the rozza's - which I did - who are round giving him a bollocking. They were really nice.

But it doesn't make me feel better. I'd really rather not waste police time (it's not like it was on purpose) - but the agency said he wouldn't learn any other way. It amazes me that people hire obvious idiots such as this - but really, I am not surprised. Having worked with and encountered many such losers, they're all too prevalent in society. A question a colleague asked me (rhetorically) once; "I don't understand how they even get this far in life...". Me neither.

Damn. At last I have an entertaining story to tell, and I can't in case I end up sueing the b*st*rd. Well, he did say "So sue me" (and then some other words that aren't printable).... suffice to say it involved a piece of wood connecting with my head. You get the idea. There are a lot of evil people on this planet - it saddens me.

I can't wait until tomorrow - I'm having a proper head and neck massage with aromatherapy etc. Meanwhile, I am suffering from really awful earache, so I am off to bed.. Gah!

Every day, I walk the same route to work. I count myself very lucky that I don't have to get on a smelly tube or train - as I've been commuting since the age of 9 (to primary school by tube), I feel that I've paid my due to London Transport (and then some!) So, each day I walk 1 block down, 3 blocks left, 1 block down, across the main road, then walk another 3 blocks down and a final block left. It takes about 10 minutes; past the terraced and semi-detached houses, the red-brick rectory, right at the modern yellow-brick church, left past the quaint sub-post office, the tiny doctors surgery and right again at the huge Victorian school. Usually the route is teeming with small children and au pairs on their way to nursery, but during the summer the route is deserted and ghostly. Dog-walkers and the postman provide the distractions in August, as I side-step the postman's (postperson?) delivery cart.

Every Monday, there are the same three old ladies standing outside the post office; I'd love to know what they talk about - Beryl's new hip, the awful flower arrangement in the church on Sunday, or counter-espionage methods and subversive Government plots? They look so engrossed by their conversation, nothing intruding into their small circle. I can tell the time by them; about 2 minutes to 9, they line up regimentally, waiting for the door to open and then flood into the small shop-front to receive their pension. I always avoid going to the post office on Mondays - they seem very fierce and territorial (despite their soft, white-haloed appearance) when you somehow manage to get in the queue in front of them. Once, despite having been in the queue for about 4 minutes before they arrived, one lept nimbly into the small gap between myself and the door. What do you say in a situation like this? I was in a hurry - "excuse me, I believe I was first in line?" - she practically growled before retreating to join her cronies. Reminded me of Roald Dahl's book, "The Witches" - though luckily, these ladies were not wearing gloves.....

I do love walking to work and indeed anywhere - whatever the weather, wherever I am going. On Saturday afternoon, after the marvellous 'Lie of the Land' Map Exhibition (discovered in a tip-off from Meg - ta!), Rodney and I walked from the British Library to Westminster - punctuated by a dinner-stop (in Soho) a pub-stop (in Whitehall), and a quick foray into a tropical fish shop (in Bloomsbury). My legs are slightly weary now, and I didn't do much yesterday in the form of exercise (apart from a struggle in the loft to find the projector screen) - merely sitting on the sofa, watching my friend David's fabulous slides from his holiday in Peru. My internet connection decided to die, so I avoided the computer like the plague, and ate home-made goats cheese salad washed down with an Australian Red and some Sussex-made Bramble Liqueur. Feeling very 'tired' this morning... ;)

I was lying in bed having watched X-Files and any other crap I could find because I couldnt sleep, I thought "I know. Rodney will be online". And he was. It's good to talk. Am glad he's been nominated for that Diarist Award thingy..

Liverpool was great. Getting there was a comedy of errors. I left the office slightly earlier than I (and definitely my boss) had anticipated - I was watching the clock and doing everything I had to do in record time when as if from nowhere, a deluge descended from the heavens and kept going. Luckily a colleague was dropping his car off, and went out of his way to take me to the tube station, which was exceedingly kind. Having evaded one 'act of God', I bought a ticket for the tube, walked up to the eastbound platform, and encountered a tube spilling its human cargo onto the platform. "Person under train, all change please". The next train was not expected any time soon, so I headed downstairs again. I'd left the obligatory one hour to get to Euston, but the time was fast slipping away.

Having only managed to wangle this trip finance-wise by buying a super-cheap (and inflexible) train ticket off a friend, I was stumped - pay £15 for a taxi, or miss the train (when I say inflexible, I mean inflexible). I opted for the taxi - my local and very friendly cab firm had a taxi there in 4 minutes flat. An aged Rocker driving a people carrier, we had a lovely conversation about the Rolling Stones, Bowie, Queen, U2 and the numerous and memorable shows that both of us had seen. Traffic was abysmal (why does London grind to a halt as soon as it so much as spits with rain?) so we careered round corners in Hyde Park, I had totally forgotten how absolutely huge it is. Seeing as on the BlogPicnic we'd only penetrated it by less than 100 metres, it was a shock to drive through its entirety. Managed to reach the train with 10 minutes to spare ("a newspaper, a bottle of water and some sugar free chewing gum, please"). Settled into my airline seat, but decided that as it wasn't facing the direction of travel, I would sit next to a harmless old lady facing the other way with a seat to spare. Harmless my foot - I did manage to grab about 20 minutes sleep, but the rest of the time was spent fetching dropped tickets, glasses, and discussing her kids. Not to say it was boring, it was just I wanted more sleep and more newspaper-time (both luxuries I have had little of recently).

Liverpool was warm and sunny (it was never like that when I was there as a student!), and I had time to kill. I decided to visit the old haunts - striding up Mount Pleasant, cutting across on Rodney Street to Hardman Street, sidling past the Cambridge Pub to the Geography Department. It was as if I was in a time warp - nothing had changed. Nothing at all. The same students sat outside on the grass, the same baseball-capped final year students with their theodolites waiting for a lift. The same porter who was always so sweet when I was there, a big gleaming grin on his face as the tide of recognition swept over him. Awww, bless! I strode up to the 5th floor (well, that's a lie - I used the lift!) and finding no one in (no change there, then) I descended to the 4th floor. My old tutor was there with his gorgeous puppy, and we had a bit of a chat - it was as if I had never left - still the same old same old. Can't believe I left 4 years ago.. nor could he, or my old meteorology lecturer who was in the office opposite. Sad that more people weren't around, but this is the holidays...

Couldn't hang around, I made it to the Picket and stopped for a drink and a chat and an impromptu picnic with friends waiting to see the gig. Which was fantastic. An opening (support) set by Goldenboy was brilliant and unbelievably funny - Shon has such humour on stage, employing Sebastian (Steinberg) as "DJ MC Invisible", and John the stage technician on guitar. Neil Finn was next, a quiet and short acoustic set with Shon, Lisa (Germano) and Sebastian. Covers of Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" and a brief rendition of brother Tim's "Charlie" were fantastic, as well as one of my favourite Finn Brothers' songs, "Only Talking Sense". Part two was Neil and the Band of Strangers, locals (and not so locals) who had auditioned to take part. Seeing as they'd only had an hour or so rehearsal (the band were stuck in traffic) it was phenomenal - an amazing standard of musicianship and a great deal of energy. A host of talent concentrated in a small space. Most definitely worth the trip, and then some.

Off home (well, my old flatmate Rhi's home), sleep (10 hours, lovely!) and an omelette for breakfast. A brief shopping trip, and it was back on the train - reading my book, listening to the live MDs I recorded during the gig (giggling at the Goldenboy set), eavesdropping on the conversations around me, checking out the rather cute guy opposite... (shhhhhhhhhhhhh! *blush*!)... and a quick pint at Euston with an old friend. TV and a chinese takeaway.

And although I now can't sleep, it's all ok - because I feel as if I've already had a weekend this week, and it's only just started.

It's cheaper by Concorde.... Apt article, seeing as I will be winging my way to Liverpool in 2.5 hours courtesy of Mr Branson and his marvellous fleet of donkeys. I'm off to see Neil Finn in concert (yes, again!) @ The Picket - should be fun, as half the gig will be played by pre-auditioned Joe & Josephine Public. Added to that, it's only a 300 capacity venue - my favourite kind of show. I will have a chance to sleep on the train (sleep! at last!) and relive all those train journeys to Uni many moons ago. I won't have net access but I will have my palm pilot...

Recent addition to 'Megs Meme' post below... (I can't resist).

- " I think NooMeejaSadBastard was the phrase you were looking for..." [said Rodney]

"A US couple who tried to find a corporate sponsor for their baby son have failed to find a bidder. Jason Black and Frances Schroeder used ebay and Yahoo! to auction the naming rights to their third child. They were holding out for at least $500,000 so they could name their little kiddie Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, or whatever."

Classic. [via Matt]

Continuing Meg's Meme - some things people have said to me today:

- "I'm bored, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty and I need a shag!! So that beats your simple 'bored'!"
- "You don't have to go into a cupboard to get beamed up"
- "Are you ready for the Starship Enterprise, kids?" [see above]
- "Don't show me pictures of pets"
- "Actually it just looks like a fridge. maybe it's not."
- "I got a nice package from Cambodia in the post today"
- "It's not that usual 'slit your wrists' music you like"
- "But it's a whole 13 minutes walk to the tube"
- "But what kind of tea do you want?"
- "I don't want a manicure" [my male colleague]
- "You can't drink shorts with oysters"
- "Everyone's very gay in Muswell Hill"

At last - I have got the 'JenCam' working. Check out the link to the left (4th item down). Am I doing anything I shouldn't? Tell me !

G'night !

I am so very tired. I totally lost track of time last night, and got sucked into The Timeless Land Of The Site Update. There, time passes 100x slower and everything else outside this world disappears. Sadly, the efforts weren't aimed at this site, but at fameis.com; it needed a substantial overhaul and several new pages. As Graybo said this morning - it's very minty fresh and cavity free ;)

I also bought a webcam at the weekend - had great fun on Yahoo Messenger with friends in Oz and the USA and UK, making silly faces and showing our cats and dogs off - and other such general tomfoolery. I am working on getting a feed up to this site, but I'm going to revamp this site first. This page will be the blog part of globaljen.com - once I get my backside into gear and decide on a design ;) There aren't enough hours in the day - sometimes I wish normal life could be extended by a factor of 10.... or that time was truly relative, and the clock ticked on when you'd finished what you wanted to do, and stopped until you had enough sleep for the night.

Bands to watch out for: Virginia Coalition. Go check out their MP3s - I was exceedingly impressed; difficult to pigeonhole, some fantastic Ben Folds-esque moves, a touch of Jayhawks, a whiff of Paul Simon, a hint of the groovier Sting, overlaid by a superb groove. Emminently listenable, cheerful, foot-tapping and I can't honestly say anything but positive things about what I've heard, and I'm after the full back catalogue now. A hot, up-and-coming band from Alexandria, Virginia, they are the stars of the Washington DC clubs - playing packed gigs and pulling a loyal crowd. Their last CD (Townsburg) was mixed by Mitch Easter (REM, Wilco), and they've appeared with Dave Matthews Band, Fuel... check them out!. They're embarking on a College tour in October - a good chance to give them a whirl :)

Urgh. Into my second day of sleep, more sleep, fizzy water, two 24hr guard-cats and the shittiest headache/nausea/photosensitivity combination known to man. Migraines - the spawn of the devil. At least I know that Meg knows how I feel (poor chickadee!). I am extremely bored now... and I even want to go to work tomorrow.

This screen is hurting my eyes. Ouch. G'night...