A funny thing happened yesterday. They have a habit of happening to me… But it made me think - I’ve been settling in here, but I don’t feel settled. I was asked by a waiter in the restaurant ‘Are you alone?’. I said yes, and sighed slightly. I’m sure he caught me, but tbh, I don’t really care. The point is that an innocent question made me all at once feel very, very isolated from everything I know. This, in itself, isn’t a bad thing. I’m not on the phone to my boss saying “Get me the fuck out of here, I hate this 5 star hotel, increased salary and per diem!”. What it promoted in my head was a chance to take stock of where I am and everything that’s happened in the 7 days since I arrived here, somewhat confused by the airport and tired. (The meal, btw, was all you can eat food, but a Western style buffet. Roast potatoes and buttered veg. Those little fried balls of risotto, Arancini and more. For the first time in my life, I got excited for plain brocolli and cauliflower!) …

So, I’d love to tell you from my tiny seat on Easyjet that I had a massive revelation this week, and that I’ve rediscovered all my old passions and that life is better than ever. I can’t though - I’ve not spent all week excitedly doing things I’ve loved in the past. Who does, however? You move on from things because your personal circumstances require it or you lose interest or you have too many hobbies and can’t handle everything all the time. …

So I’ve finally ported anything of worth from my old Tumblr over here… When I say anything of worth, there were maybe about 10 things worth saving. Most of it was crap. Videos that were funny that I shared or pictures of cats. Importantly, I saved my log of experiences in America - it gives a great window into how my mind worked back then, and also brought some strong memories of great weekends with great friends back. You can read the full story here - watch out, though. It’s in reverse-chronological order. Oldest at the bottom. Maybe that’s chronological order. I dunno - it’s 1am… I don’t really care. …

So I’m a bit of a kit whore - I do love a new shiny. I hoard things too. I’ve got all this old stuff I should probably throw/give away… It’s been a while since I’ve been in the market for new toys, and I managed to rationalise a new machine - I’m about to move overseas for 6 weeks, and I don’t want to live on the work machine. I want something quick, light, with long battery and that I can take on excursions or just for evening IRC and twitter. I thought long and hard about whether a tablet would fit this - I experimented with my Nexus 7 in a case to make it stand up and with a bluetooth keyboard - while it was promising, the workflow just didn’t feel right - A notebook it had to be. …

So last year, I did a video blog (vlog, I believe the kids call them) about Spotify. This year, I’m on a new service, and figured I’d share my thoughts for continuity. Plus, I get to go to bed earlier by starting earlier. (Note: I started this and it took 3 days to write. Turns out I had to do some thinking…) Here’s the old one, just FYI. What’s all this noise about? So - ‘All you can eat’ music services are great. I mean, you pay a negligible monthly fee and get access to millions of tracks to listen to. That’s great. Really great. Buying music, we all know, can get expensive if you’re not a mean bargain bin hunter at the 2 remaining record stores, so these fill the gap nicely. They also cater to, and possibly feed, the growing popular way of consuming music - randomly, all the time. Music is no longer an event - It has evolved from going to a concert to see an orchestra, going to a bar to see a singer or sharing folk music with your neighbours to being someone’s constant soundtrack. We run with headphones in, we drive with music playing, many workplaces are constantly buzzing with tunes or workers have headphones in. It’s absolutely everywhere. I’m just as guilty - I rarely have music not on ( Above and Beyond - Group Therapy now if you’re curious) - when doing all of the above and more. I use it as a mood modifier, as a background to thought, as a way to clear my head. Constant. Everywhere. Always. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not complaining, I love it. …