A place for everything…

…And from the back window of a cab in the nice part of DC, a crappy snap of a tourist trap :) More on Flickr too….

Think this techniqe (such as it isn’t) is quite emotive and gives an unexpectedly realistic impression of being there… will try it again one day

Went off the radar a little back there… I’ve just had about the most fun two months ever and haven’t yet written a damn thing!

This oughta serve as a reminder to self to get back on with it - I enjoyed writing stuff over the winter so will get back on the blog.

Reason for the post title? Saw the Cinematic Orchestra last night at the Williamsburg Music Hall, not more than 10 mins walk from my apt. The bass is still shaking my ribs. What a fantastic gig!

Between blogging and living… weird.

Very, very tired. Kthxbye!

“Take care of yourselves while I’m gone, y’all…”

“Oh don’t worry, Jon, we will!”

(Thanks Bill)

“We just need to sort the deposit, whether you want the bed and furniture and stuff, some other stuff I’m sure, but not that sure - watch out for that car - just how am I managing to stay upright… and look, here’s a coffee shop, quick!”

“Starbucks???”

“I used to have principles too…”

***

“I can’t believe I didn’t go to Download with you…”

“The three of them are up there and they play each other’s guitars!”

***

“With very few examples, no work could completely satisfy me; maybe 80% on the absolute best of days, but there’s always a significant part of my life that needs other stimulus, other sources of joy and they need time, and a life to live. Maybe that’s why I’m not killing myself in the city.”

“You should write that down or something, that’s exactly how I feel!”

“Just seems like common sense really. How do we split this fiver?”

***

“So the hero’s dead, the antihero is a total fucking psycho, and the sheriff’s dreaming of his own death.”

“And there’s no music; that shotgun sound is incredible.”

“What the hell did we just watch?”

A neologism I’d like to coin: Microhobby.

In these days of constant distraction, hyperactive advertising, media, social networks, cool devices, gadgets, geekery, sport, clubs, activities, short haul weekends away, gigs, shows, films, festivals, and er, the 9to5 work that pays for it all, can anyone really have the time to form a proper hobby? Devote regular time each week to actually turn up and do stuff? I’m not so sure…

Do you sit, as I am now, in front of a film you’ve seen 10 times before, know all the plotlines and aren’t really paying attention towards, because you have your laptop warming your legs, have youtube playing in the corner window and playing with a devastatingly cute bunny? Yep, welcome to the world of Constant Partial Attention.

This is not multi tasking, this is trying to do everything at once, to only a reasonable level gaining broad but shallow experience. A more advanced manifestation is N.A.D.D. which afflicts the geek in all of us - always searching for something new, something cool, the new high thats comes from finding something out, finding out how it links into the world and expands your mental map of everything. Once linked, of course, it serves no further purpose in itself, why should it? Why stop there when it can be used to understand the next cool thing? Time to move onto it. Now, now now!

Which brings me back round to hobbies.

I’ve tried a lot of hobbies in my years, visual, musical, sporting, some even using my brain. But none, save for an unhealthy appetite for new music, seem to hang around for long. I bought a gorgeous racing bike over the summer, rode it around the South Downs for a few weekends and never did it again. The weather wasn’t great, and it demanded a train ride to get down to the club in the first place, but I could have gone if I really wanted to. Tried Capioera, Far Eastern films, long-distance running, playing guitar, snooker, weights, poetry, writing, producing music, swimming, video games, golf, hiking, climbing, badminton yadda yadda yadda. Point is, I’d love to be brilliant at something, anything, but there’s simply too much I want to do. There’s too much I know about, so much opportunity to try new things, that I seem to never build up depth in any particular area… Microhobbies all of them: entered into with much gusto, buy all the kit, get involved, get bored, go home, try something else…

Hmmm.

Microhobbies. What shall I try next?

***

I finally found the quiet steps that lead down to the Thames to let you see this imposing view:

We made it, another year!
Fireworks on the Thames looked good from afar, but this borrowed pic got closer than us :)

Happy New Year!

Jon

I set out to have an interesting year, I haven’t been disappointed. So many great things that I went and did and saw and explored and laughed and spent incredibly good time with wonderful people. An emotional year and all the better for it. I’ve grown and learned, have felt both unbelievably happy and sad, been overjoyed that I can mean something to someone and vice versa, have challenged myself physically and mentally and been more alive than ever before.

Here’s hoping for 2008 to be even better :)

The winter solstice comes tomorrow, the shortest day, the longest night. A time to pinch open problems closed, a time to leave the past, to anticipate the new year, the new light.

A turning point.