Caves and Fires - an exercise in ongoing writing while working

I'm having a Nick Cave/Arcade Fire morning. No deep basslines for now, no repetitive rhythms, no pads... Just 'proper' music. Sometimes a girl needs lyrics.

This blog post will be an exercise in ongoing writing while working. I will take you through my mind. It will be like Being John Malkovich, but without going through tiny doors or meaningless repetition of words.

So, another Friday and plans for the weekend are - to say the least - exciting. I am tempted to say 'eggciting' because of an inside joke that has been going on in the office, but  I won't. I'm lucky enough to have a 2pm finish today, which means I get to enjoy being in the cold for a little bit more.

It's 09:48 and Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) comes on:

Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small,
That we can never get away from the sprawl,
Living in the sprawl,
Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains,
And there's no end in sight,
I need the darkness someone please cut the lights.



Moving on. There's something about Fridays. Like you can achieve something, your time is here. Although small achievements come on an everyday basis.

Achievements of the week:

- Made great cake as therapy for having broken my iPhone's screen (RIP)
- Reached 1,000 words in my book of short stories (est. publication date: 2041)
- Made great soup on Monday, and great soup on Wednesday
- Remained calm in times of challenge
- Went to the gym despite having the excuse of a swollen ankle (entirely my fault)

Anyway, Fridays. There's something special about Fridays. Going out on a Friday night means you wake up on Saturday morning with a feeling of fulfilment and without the pressure of needing to 'do something' for the weekend to make it meaningful. I acknowledge that a lot of people are not like that, but in the world of twenty-somethings, the weekend is that special little chunk of the week where your time is not being controlled by the hands of a clock but by how you would like to spread it out.

A taster of tonight (in a large scale version). Ellen Allien doing her thang at Fly Bermuda Festival: http://www.be-at.tv/brands/bermuda-berlin-music-days/fly-bermuda-festival/ellen-allien.go?0

So. Excited. This is what Fridays should be like.

And, tomorrow I've got my first 'solo' gig in London. 5 hours of playing the music I like (you gotta be selfish sometimes) to my friends and hopefully other people with a taste similar to mine.



Midday. Usual lunch time, but as I leave work in a while I'm going to have late lunch. For now, it's CAKE TIME! With the amazing aforementioned therapy cake.

12:37 - Armed with tea and a sugar high, it's time for that final push towards the end of the working week.

Malkovich Malkovich.

Push The Sky Away

Nick Cave!

New album!

European tour!

I'm not big on exclamation marks, but this man deserves them (and sometimes likes to use them himself).

So, while randomly browsing my twitter feed and dreaming of pancakes, I saw a teeny weeny tweet about Nick Cave. And European dates.

Nick Cave. Probably one of the hottest ugly men out there. Because he makes hot music, and he has a hot voice.

The Guardian has kindly posted a full stream of the whole album. Enjoy it here.

I think I know you from somewhere

Soooo. SUN. Finally.

Of course it's still absolutely freezing, but at least we got a little bit of a vitamin D boost. I went out for a walk and cigarette on my lunch break, and I stopped at traffic lights on purpose, although I had the chance to cross the road (twice, at a leisurely pace), so I could stand in a sunny spot for a few more seconds.



In other news, Pinterest and tumblr have proven to be great methods of procrastination, although I've been cheating somewhat with the latter, as I've only been uploading my favourite photos I took using instagram.

In O' Level Geography, back in my glorious high school days (I'm sure I'm showing my age now, which isn't that tragic, but still), we were taught about the term 'conurbation', which basically happens once two or more urban areas start developing and growing to such an extent that they start merging with each other and turning into one. I feel the same is happening with the online and social media landscape.

The big question that keeps revolving in my head is when these will stop working together and start working against each other. It may become a case of the big fish eating the small ones, or people will simply fall back into their own networks of choice.

Cravings of the day

#1

Iced latte

(current outdoor temperature: 5°C)

#2

Donuts

On honesty to ourselves and to others

How honest are we?

Do we write things because we want someone to read them? Why post something online if you want to keep it personal? How private can you be in the world of facebook, twitter, instagram and smartphones?

Constantly connected, our lives are always on display to people we have merely brushed shoulders with on dimly lit Saturday night.

Things we have to admit to ourselves, things we have to admit to others. In that order? Not necessarily.

Writing in a diary or a blog is like an exercise in honesty. The more the readers, the more difficult honesty becomes. Honesty is perceived as a weakness, when it can really be a weapon. A game-changer. The most important and judgemental reader should, after all, be ourselves.