Started this morning with coffee and read the paper. Then I eventually got up, drove to Argos and picked up the shower. That then just leaves the grout, the tile beading and the thermal boards. Put another coat of paint stripper on the door frame and waited for many Amazon parcels to arrive. Which they did. I then assembled a keyboard stand. It currently contains no keyboards, but one step at a time. Drove towards town, then walked to it. Popped in toolstation, bought a door handle and lock, sealant, oh and more paint stripper. Came back, scraped door frame, still not clean, another coat of stripper. Ordered the grout, the tile bead and the thermal boards. I think that really is everything now apart from the blinds, and may be a toilet brush. Still waiting for a couple of bits to arrive. Maybe by the time Mr Plumber starts the door frame will be finished, I wouldn’t bet on it though.

So the boss stayed clear of me all day which was probably wise for both of us. Worked on grass stuff then a complete load of other performance related stuff. Very very busy. Went to gym, did Pump. Then did a session with Laverne. Came back and did a few more bloody hours. Still, it is the last couple of months of the project. Put the washing away, now just waiting for the pizza to heat.

I’ve ordered all the stuff for my ‘music room’, will arrive tomorrow.

So started near enough at 9AM. Worked through until almost 3PM. Then walked the dog (Dillon it wasn’t happening). Then did a 7 mile run. Came back, had a shower, then did far too much work again. I’m getting it from all angles at the moment, frame rates, not enough grass, not enough this, too slow that, memory overwrite here…blah blah blah. Just living with it. I’m thinking of taking the whole of May off, and I want to be paid for it, plus it ain’t coming off my holiday quota. And I want a 100K. Tax free. And I want a pony.

Started at 6:20, back in bed by 7:10 and working by 8:40. I won’t discuss work, but lets just say I resigned twice, called the MD a twat and the last I heard from him was six missed calls and a text message saying ‘Answer your phone you diva’. All over grass. End of.

Walked Dillon. Picked up Sasha. First proper Pump session. New release, not sure about it yet. Came back and got the keyboard out. Now I’ve learnt all the patches I’m now trying to play against the music video, I think this is a good way of learning the rhythm. Boy is it bloody difficult. I was really drained after an hour.

Now sat down. Half pissed already. Hell of a day. Watching ‘Celeb Big Brother’. This year, so far, only three in, but looks interesting.

So this morning started at a record 8:36. I was so shocked I almost went back to bed. Worked all the way through for five hours. Then, as it was a nice day, it really was, almost eight degrees, I went for a run. Came back. Had a shower and then carried on with work. Still finished by just gone six. Then downloaded both Cubase and Ableton. The object was to assess both. Cubase didn’t get off to a good start, first the installer didn’t work with OsX, then after it did install, it seemed to take ages to start up. Still when it did it was fairly intuitive and I managed to record a midi track without too many problems. Then I installed Ableton, which I’d already played around with last night on the MacBook, installed no problem. Fun to play with, intuitive and lots of help windows, ideal for a noob like me when it comes to these things. Managed to record a track in that in sections and then piece them all together. I quite like the work flow in Ableton, I think I can have a lot of fun with it. It’s only after you record your midi playing you realise how crap your timing is, and boy is mine way out. Okay, so waying it up, Cubase has been around for four thousand years, is used by shit loads of people and is a very advanced tool. Ableton is very flexible, supports loads of shit, does everything I want and is half the price of Cubase and is also on offer at the moment. It’s about £46, which I can live with for a bit of software. I think the next step I need to do is pretend I’m part of ‘Tubeway Army’ and start playing along to the music video, that should hopefully improve my timing.

On an unrelated note, I need to file three years of notes in my old Filofax. That’s will just leave 2012, which will be filed at the end of the year. I will then bin it, in some sort of weird ceremony. I have then every single year since I was sixteen documented and stored in a drawer. Until I moved on to the online blog a couple of years ago. It would be fun to actually transfer all those notes into the blog, but twenty-three years worth would take some typing. It’s a shame actually that I don’t have entries from about the ages of twelve to sixteen, by god there would be some good shit in there. I will reveal all when I hit my fiftieth, you have eight years to wait.

So this morning I was up at half eight and started work bang on quarter to nine. Within ten minutes I was pissed off and people were generally annoying me. This is pretty much what I expected though. Spent some time fixing a memory overwrite issue, then it was on to a GUI glitching bug, which I’m still on, but found the cause of now. Will need lots of testing. Took a half hour break at lunchtime to walk the dogs, then straight back on. Was determined to finish bang on quarter past five…well managed twenty-five past, so not too bad. Then I piddled around a bit and then went to combat, which was busy, but not as busy as I was expecting. Came back and practiced Gary Numan again, pretty much got all the patterns nailed now, need to work on fluidity. Then had a pop at a couple of others, now working on ‘Imagine’ which is quite difficult as you have to jump around the keyboard a lot, getting the hang of it though, that’ll be the next one to play on the big keyboard. I need to start working normal sort of hours and ignoring everything work related outside of them, otherwise I don’t really have much of a life. So I’m determined now not to check any forums until work time tomorrow. Not my dog walking day tomorrow, so may be able to go right through. Oh, also saved two more baubles, the rest are now sadly in a land fill somewhere.

So today started a little late, but coffee was soon had an paint stripper soon applied. It was then on to the next job of the day which has been outstanding for about a year, putting the edging round the skirting board in the hall and fixing up a couple of bits that had fallen off in the kitchen. That was all done by lunchtime. Ate Bakewell tart in the aim to get rid of all the crap food in the house. Walked the dogs and picked up the poo. Then it was on to packing away the Christmas decorations. I emptied out one box to put the baubles in and there I found two boxes of Homebase baubles. Now these I one’s I bought for my first Christmas when I first moved out. There was a very bad tinsel star, a box of six hand painted blue baubles that only contained four and a box of sixteen red baubles that only contained about ten, all of which were slightly chipped and no longer had their perfect sheen. I tried to think back to when I first got them. All were perfect, all were well kept, Christmas after Christmas they came out, with the tacky star. Then one year after Nat had moved in the cat had got one, then one broke. Then a few years ago Sasha decided to attack a few more. So now I was left with a tacky star that would be never used again, and two boxes of rather sad looking baubles. Time to say goodbye. I tore up the cardboard boxes and stuck the remaining baubles into a bag and stuck them in the bin. It’s sad to let go, I have very fond memories of them and all the Christmases they represent. So much so that I may have sneaked one red bauble back out of the bin and put on my shelf, when I catch a glimpse of it, I will always remember Christmases past.

So started the day off after coffee by stripping the paint off the door frame. It will require another coat for sure. Then I went off to Tesco’s to pick up a paper. Also asked about blinds, they are coming round in a couple of weeks. Think they will be pricey. Then went and did a home check for a cat in Almondsbury, lovely house. Came back and walked the dogs. Then set up all the lighting and stuff and made an ‘update’ video. Afterwards I tidied up and practiced on the synth for a bit. Then started editing the videos. The dog hairs on the couch our beautifully in focus, even if I’m not at times. Did the accounts. Ate shite. Lots to do tomorrow.

So started this morning with a round of paint stripper. Well actually coffee, followed by a coat on the door frame. Then it was down to filing the tax return, it’s pretty straightforward these days after calculating electricity usage and unit costs. They owe me just over three hundred quid. Then did all the end of year filing. Again, pretty straightforward. Ordered the doors for the bathroom cabinet. Walked the dogs. Synced all code and data ready for work on Monday. Went to Pump, surprisingly quiet. Didn’t do a session afterwards as need to build up to that again. Came back and practiced Gary Numan again. Getting quite good at it now, needs to flow a lot better though. Right, not sure about the weekend. Pack all the decorations away again for another year. May make a video, still have one to edit. May go shopping.

So I woke up just fine. Jamie had something resembling a hell of a hangover. Last night was quite a success. We may very well do it again next year, we shall see. We had thirteen people here at one point, which is twelve more than I’d like. Dillon was fine. Sasha had to be kept outside, she was completely uncontrollable.

Anyway, I spent two hours cleaning up, it was fairly painless really. I then had a choice, I could do my tax return and end of year accounts, or something more interesting. I went for option two and got my new years toy out. Which was Casio’s top end keyboard. I then sat there for three hours attempting to master Gary Numan, followed by a ‘learn to play’ keyboard book. I must admit, in ten minutes I was playing ‘London’s burning’ and within half an hour I’d mastered ‘ode to joy’. The problem I have currently is trying to control my left hand and the right hand at the same time. Put a collective in it and I can fly it to within a millimetre of an airfield, but by god I can’t do a G chord after a C. But give it time, I’ll master it. Still another few days off and back to work. In the meantime, I have those accounts to do…