did you know there are actually over 700,000 000 000 000 000 000 000 stars that are out there when we look up at space? apparently 5,000 are visible to the naked eye. also, the first e-mail was sent in 1972. the @ sign has been around for centuries; it was used as trading symbol in spain i think, though i might be wrong.
sorry, i found a copy of a science magazine lying around today and these things seem to have stuck in my mind. i'm guessing the amount of stars to the nearest dozen by the way. i'm pretty sure it said 5,000 were visible to the eye, though it could be through a telescope. hell, i'm not giving you much faith in my accuracy am i? i always wondered about rainbows. i was bad at science at school but today i was reading about how rainbows are created when the light bounces off the inside of the raindrops. amazing. the last two times i came back from east kilbride after recording/mixing i saw a rainbow, they really are quite something. east kilbride is quite high up so it just seemed to arch forever in the sky.
i think i'd like to work in transport. maybe a port where there's the hustle and bustle of trading going on all around me. exotic things arriving and exciting things departing. in the 18th century glasgow used to be incredibly busy as a trading port, all the tobacco came in to glasgow from the states. the job i'd be worse at would be a taxi driver coz i have no sense of direction. i'm in awe of people who can just drive off anywhere and know exactly where they're going and how to get there. my internal map is constantly folded up. it's really bad actually coz i get lost so so easily. i have zero spacial awareness and even got lost in new york with the numerical streets. bad huh?
i'm pleased to say that my friend and guitarist dave mchugh will be playing the acoustic gig at east kilbride arts centre with me. should be fun :) i'll get a lift there so i shouldn't get lost. east kilbride is one of these places with many roundabouts so it's a nightmare for the geographically illiterate like me.
i'm tired. i was thinking about eskimos earlier. i really don't know why. i was wondering what life would be like if every day our mission was simply to stay alive. too many of us moan. i'm guilty of moaning too. i think it's sometimes good to put yourself in other people's shoes. or furry boots if you're an eskimo. i remember being fascinated by american indians when i was growing up. it's funny how we were taught the indians were the baddies and the white invaders with bullets were the heroes. i wish i'd studied history more at school. the first chance i got to drop it it was gone. i regret that now. i wish i'd learned more about the past so i could better understand today. i have tried to catch up and patch over what bits of knowledge i lack. i once spent an entire night reading the huge hardback book 'the chronicle of the 20th century' in order to piece together the gaps of modern history. it was fun actually though i did get a muscle spasm. i must read that again. two women knocked on my door tonight. they asked if i minded them asking me some questions about religion. i said sure, why not. i'm far too polite. they asked me if i knew where my local church was . i said yes. then they asked me where it was and i told them. they looked at each other and smiled. then they asked me if i had a bible in the flat. i said 'no' and they looked at each other and frowned. i looked back with a 'don't judge me' face. they looked at each other with a 'okay, he's nice enough to talk to us, keep it smiley' face. then they asked if at the next church service i wanted them to pray for something specific for me. i said 'can't think of anything specifically just now'. then they invited me for supper at the church at a future date. maybe i looked in need of nourishment. they asked if they could send me an invitation and i said sure, why not. i wanted to say alot to them, to understand a bit about what they believed in and why they did but i froze damnit. i wonder if eskimos are religious? maybe they don't have time to be, they're more concerned with cornering wild animals and jabbing them with a stick or catching some fish simply to stay alive. but can you corner a polar bear? there are no corners in those frozen, barren landscapes. okay, i'm tired and nonsensical. time to hit publish and take a return journey to sleepyville.
So I sit on my own
Got my pipe and my throne
And everything’s just swell
Play my favourite tunes
Wear red pantaloons
And read my Perleman book
Coz I’m making sense
The world’s on a fence
And they’re looking at me
Just high in a tree
So airy and free
Yes I’m up a tree
And if you think you know best
Well I’m wearing the vest
And you’re the one who’s cold
I plan on taking my time
Drink my red red wine
And I can spill it on my lap
Coz I make the rules
You might think I’m the fool
But the ship's at sea
As packed as can be
Whilst I’m airy and free
Yes I’m up a tree
i wrote this song a while ago that i called 'bob dylan says', i think i mentioned it here before. i'd never fleshed out the lyrics but i'd been singing it for a week. as i was walking this line popped into my head and before i knew it i had all the lyrics. it feels totally right, more suited to the song. plus i've been humming it and singing it at random intervals and with passion, which i think is really important... we all have an internal jukebox i think. like we have a selection of songs that we sing to ourselves as we're going about our daily routine. usually i have around 6 i think. do you have any? am i normal? anyway, the last time this new song popped into my head was when i was making a cup of tea a few minutes ago. once i wrote a song on a plane. it's called 'calling out to you' and will feature on the album. it's all mixed too and i've just listened to it on my headphones. when i wrote it i didn't have a way of recording it so i got off the plane and all the way home in the taxi i had to keep singing it over and over so i'd not forget it. i was probably quite rude to the driver who must have thought i was a loony muttering away to myself. then i rushed in to my house and spewed it all out onto my tape recorder. so that's probably the strangest place i've ever written a song - 35,000 feet above the sea. anyway, this new one is called "i'm up a tree" and i'm really enjoying singing it at the moment. it's track one on my internal jukebox. track two is 'lord anthony' by belle and sebastian, track three is 'the dreamer' by jim mcculloch, track four is 'i can't believe i let her slip away' again by jim mcculloch, track five is a song by ron sexsmith that i don't know the name of but he's playing it live, track six is 'you never told me' a song from a 60s movie soundtrack by piero piccioni that i received yesterday from a very kind person and which i'm really getting into.
don't you think the coolest people are the ones who don't try and be anything but themselves? i seem to be blogging about people i know but there's one person i kind of know who is sort of inspiring me these days. i see him most days but i don't know him. but i listen in to what he says. he's so contented, his job's mundane but he laughs at that, he's in a happy relationship, he takes pleasure in the small things in life like chewits. he doesn't earn much at all but he's always endlessly optimistic and has a laugh that ripples through a room. he's just come back from spain and is glowing. especially on his balding bonce - he's no brad pitt by any means. but surely that's the only way to handle life? by being eternally and irritatingly optimistic. as the pythons say in life of brian 'you come in with nothing you leave with nothing, so what have you got to lose? absolutely nothing. '.
oh, i've just found out that he comes from a family who made their fortune in property. i'll leave this blog through the back door shall i...
