X - Unknown - July 10 2002

I woke up at 6.15am this morning, on the first alarm. I staggered
downstairs still half asleep with my eye twitching from time to time. I
fed the cats as if in a dream and of course Tabby didn't want his food.
I suspect this tiredness may also be due to being woken up at 3am by
the cats chasing each other about the house and making lots of noise.
The sun is streaming in through the window. I have a coffee and a smoke
and write up yesterday's diary in my handwritten journal.

Yesterday I woke up and had to write a poem. I felt better afterwards.
I get the train as usual and read and finish Nine Princes in Amber then
I start reading The Guns Of Avalon which is the next book in the Amber
series. It starts where the other one leaves off.

During the morning I worked on more reports and spent a while trying to
work out something which if I hadn't been tired would have been easy to
do I think. I rang ... at lunchtime and was on the phone for nearly
half an hour. I read some poetry to ... then went out bought panini
pastrami, latte, Jimmy Eat World and the Hives and listened to them
wehen I got back to my desk. In fact I forgot I was playing the Hives
and my boss had to tell me to stop the CD. I listened to track 8 of
J.e.W. as well and I like it a lot.

In the afternoon I did the tapes and retrieved an ATT netwrok point so
we can setup to print to the photocopiers. Although this sounds insane
they copiers are also 45 ppm printers. (when they are working of
course).

I got in from work at 6.15 and played my guitar. I had written two more
songs on the train on the laptop but I had some real problems trying to
get a tune together. In the ened I gave up on one of them and did a
simple three chord sequence for the other which was vaguely like the
Velvet Underground or summat.

My wife went to Yoga. I stayed on line and then did some emails. She
got back and we had tea and watched a very funny episode of Big
Brother. In it they all got drunk and Alex and Kate had a wrestle, PJ
and Jade had a huge argument like they were married, Tim posed about
and Jonny made a series of inspired comments.

I didn't talk to ... on chat because they had gone out. I typed up two
songs from a Jam album and emailed them that. I think with writing you
need to have an idea first, I found it impossible just to sit there and
come up with something. The idea is important I think.

I got an email from the girl selling me the Reading tickets so all
looks good for getting the tickets at present. Someone told me that the
tent could be stolen, and I thought "Are you saying I have to walk
around the arena bowed down under the weight of my gear and a tent like
one of those creatures from the Dark Crystal, not skeksis, the other
ones? " But I think if that was the case it would be very crowded in
there.

I listened to the Jam and the Velvet Underground again last night, and
was sitting there typing another email listening to Lou Reed singing
when it was time to go to bed. I sent the email and went off
line.

From time to time I have a waking dream of arriving somewhere in a
rocket ship from another place and finding the girl and battling
aliens. Or imagining that I have just beamed down on an alien planet
which although looks very much like Earth is actually subtlely
different.

I decide at some stage to do a tape of songs using the acoustic may be.
I have three under weigh at present, maybe none of them much
good.

I am not sure whether to get a haircut. My boss got his hair cut but I
am still thinking about it. I have an idea of creating a new hairstyle
altogether consisting of a number two at the back and sides and nothing
off the top like a medieval knight. Sort of Henry the V style, hmm,
maybe thats not so new. But I dont know, getting my hair cut is quite a
one way process, its unlike they could put the hair back on again once
it has been cut off. I may have to talk to my hairdresser about it. See
what they think. I used to wear my hair when I was 18 very short, so
short that my parents used to complain, I mean this was in the days
when everyone had much longer hair as well. Then I let it grow into a
huge quiff, but for some reason it doesnt grow that quickly now.

Sometimes I picture myself riding a horse in full armour like the guy
in A Knights Tale, and I posted something about chivalry. I used to
wear my old leather jacket like armour, I wore the jacket everywhere,
even slept in it at all night parties. I even painted a band name on
the back but messed it up, it was supposed to say The Noise, but it
didnt work out.

The band name the Vines I thought of last year and it was funny to see
a single in Fives by a band I thought only I knew about.

Sometimes I picture myself on stage playing guitar dressed in black
like the Velvet Underground singing an old Larry Williams song "Slow
Down". It's just a picture for now. I am probaly too old to chuck
everything in and form a band. But the sound would be 1965-68 garage
punk, of that I am sure.

A good name is worth its weight in negotiable currency valid on all
planets in the Federation. In fact that's an idea for a film: a pilot
crashes his rocket ship on an alien planet in which he mets several
human like people and forms a band and starts touring the planet
raising cash to get the rocketship repaired....maybe they call the band
Freefall or Zero Gravity (no doubt now I've said that a band will form
called either of those two names)

I have a lunch today, it's somebody's tenth year working for my firm.
It may be difficult to make any nphopne calls as the restaurant we are
going to is only a few minutes walk away, and I have to be back at work
at 2.30pm more or less sober.