i'm listening to an american artist called m ward right at this very moment and i love this song, it just makes me feel alive. maybe coz he's just sung the line "god it's great to be alive, takes the skin right off my eyes, to think i'll have to give this all up some day". he sings it with such conviction, it's fantastic. so, i'm feeling very good just now, i'm not sure why but i'm riding with it and not questioning it. i question enough in life to start doing it when i'm feeling happy and content. that would be an act of madness. i'll tell you what's been happening just in case you're interested. i don't mind blogging, i enjoy it if i'm in the right mood. some people think blogging in general is self-indulgent nonsense and that's fair enough, a lot of it is. but i like to read the blogs written by people who create work that i like, plus there's a small x at the top right hand corner of the computer screen that is always there, like a virtual emergency exit if it all gets too much.
i swam today. i'll be honest, i'm really not a swimmer and this is all very new to me. it's all quite embarrasing. or it would be if i could see more than a foot ahead of me when i'm ploughing my way through the water. i keep to the side, out of everyone's way and swim out as far as i've worked out where it gets scarily deep then turn and swim back again. embarrasing, but like i say, i can't see a damn thing so i don't get embarrased at the time, only when i visualise myself which is what i'm doing now so i should stop. it's the breast stroke i've been doing and i'm getting better. we did have swimming lessons at school but i really hated it and the highlight of those excruciating excursions was getting a roll and sausage at the end. not at the end of the pool, eating lorne sausages in the shallow end would have been frowned upon i'm sure. i mean of course at the end of the morning's swimming lesson, once showered and dried we got to buy a roll and sausage in the cafe with the money our mums had given us. life was simplier then of course, but these kind of little rewards still keep us all going. another reward after the swim today was partly roasting myself in the steam room. if you'd stuck a fork in me after i'd been in there you'd think i was ready to be served up with new potatoes and garden peas. but i love that kind of relaxation, just as i loved the hot springs in japan. i'd really like to go to a genuine sauna in finland some day..
which brings me on to another reason i feel contented - i recorded a song (actually two songs - one was an instrumental) coz i've now got a wee set up in my flat (thanks to miguel) that enables me to record. so two nights ago i decided to get creative and, equally importantly, to get productive so i took the music of a song i'd written and fleshed out the lyrics and recorded it, just with guitar and vocals but some harmonies as well. i really like it, it's called "man's man". listening back though i realised the song would make little sense to anyone unfamiliar with what i'd thought when i'd written it. that's a very clumsy way of saying no one would have a clue what it's about except me:P so i need to revisit it and revise some of the lyrics. but i'm happy with the verses and chorus and harmonies and some of the lines. i'm a talkative typer tonight huh? i can't remember the last time i droned on and on like this. keep your finger hovering above the x.
to record or not to record, that is the question just now. wow, it's nearly 1am but that's when i started recording "man's man" the other night. i think i'll leave it though for now. this swimming business has made me a little soft and sleepy. i like that feeling. tomorrow edinburgh beckons; i'm looking forward to playing there, it's been a while. oh, wow. larry sanders is about to start on itv4. that's my cue to leave!
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