- Eurovision was last weekend.
- I’ve always liked Eurovision, both in execution and in concept. Many people seemed unhappy with the result, but isn’t it wonderful to see so many people enjoying and feeling a passion for a single event.
- Livetweeting Eurovision used to be a fun thing, up until probably about five years ago. Livetooting on Mastodon recaptures some of that. I also learned a lot more about administering an instance from the more technical perspective. My little instance was slowing down ingesting toots from other instances, to the point where ‘new’ tweets were posted about 20 minutes ago. I probably wouldn’t have noticed unless Eurovision was on. Everyone seemed to be talking about the song three countries back. Anyway, feels like a good thing to understand that better.
- I bought a big suitcase—easily the biggest I’ve ever bought—ahead of going away soon.
- I’m not going to tell you when, in case you try and break into my house and steal my stuff. Fortunately, the case is big enough to take all my stuff with me, plus myself and a few of my friends. It’s so big that I’m worried the Just Stop Oil protestors will lie down in front of it.
- Anyway, I am going away next month and I can’t wait.
- I had a pitch win, and it’s important to take a moment to enjoy that before starting the work. Almost immediately I started working on preparing for another pitch.
- For years, I’ve been bouncing around from one email solution to the next. But I’m finding Fastmail to be better than anything else I’ve tried, and I regret not moving to there sooner. I was seduced by the spam-control of Gmail, then Gsuite, then seduced again by hydro-powered servers running in privacy-focussed juristictions. I’ve tried all sorts of filtering and management solutions that sit on top. But it turns out all I really need is a system that eventually deletes boring emails.
- I love fig rolls. They’ve been hard to get hold of on Brexit Island. I like them so much that my birthday present was a wholesale batch-load of Brexit-defeating fig rolls. Presumably they were smuggled in, or something. Perhaps that created demand because fig rolls were back on the shelves this week. And now they’re in my belly.
- New Zelda is out and consuming a lot of time in this household. It’s not a leap forward, like the last one, but it is certainly a refinement.
- Some of the most valuable things I’ve ever learned came straight out of Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss, a former FBI hostage negotiator. The thing I keep coming back to is simply that negotiation isn’t about beating someone. Negotiation is making sure everyone feels that they won.
Bass notes
[In which Mo learns the bass guitar]
- I’ve been waking up too early so practicing the bass first thing. It’s good discipline but it sure as hell gives me day-long earworms. And that’s on top of all the Eurovision earworms.
- Technique still patchy. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, not sure what is behind one or the other.
- The esteemed Phil Gyford, Esq. wrote something nice about these weeknotes: frankly I had no idea anyone—least of all him—was reading.
- Even though we’ve moved in the same circles for over two decades, I’ve met Phil (I think) only once. My epilepsy brain loses memories for extended periods but this one resurfaced recently. It was at the Conway Hall: London’s very own museum of uncomfortable seating. He’d made the mistake of standing in the foyer in plain view, and I collared him. Who is this guy, he must have thought, and why is he strangersplaining all the cool stuff I’ve made back to me? He was gracious.
- Phil has made many excellent things, including the Ooh! Directory of old-school blogs. The one I’d submitted dies this week, because the hosting company has make an unreasonable price increase and I’ve been too disorganised to move it away in time. Plus, I opted for WordPress, which I feared would be a mistake. Surely it can’t still be as bad as it used to be, I thought. But, of course, it is. So doing.digital will come back, all flat-file like this one is, although probably not using Publii either. I do like Publii but it’s quite common for me not to be at the machine upon which it’s installed, and it won’t install on any other device in my care.
- I initially missed this because Panelbear, which I used to gather a hit-count on this and other sites, was killed off at the end of last month to try and migrate to whatever bloated, overpriced thing took it over. So I did migrate, but to another nice simple, low-cost one. I then forgot the name of it. Fortunately a lovely someone spotted Mr Gyford’s kind words and emailed me about it. And that’s why we internet.
- I bought a jetwash and I regret waiting until middle-age to do it.
- Young people are under so much pressure to be young. And while they should make mistakes and travel and try stuff and savour the moment, they should also buy a jetwash.
- Mine is bristling with toys. The paving around this horrible rented house has never looked better. Having cleaned it and then brushed coarse sand between the blocks, it’s a higher-standard job than our lousy landlord really deserves: he who still hasn’t replaced the fence panels that blew away two winters ago.
- I’ve been ill this week. It’s probably the commonest of colds or perhaps a mild fever, but since Covid even the most minor things seem to wipe me out. So I’ve spent a few days sweating and being rubbish at Mariokart. Have you played Mariokart online? It’s a great way to remind yourself, no matter how good you think you are, that you can’t beat an international swarm of tweens*.
* I saw International Swarm of Tweens at Glastonbury once, before they were mainstream. Their earlier stuff was better.
- With no other commitments, I made substantial headway in the van (a self-build campervan) over the long weekend.
- In its original configuration as a DPD delivery van, had a bulkhead behind the cab, which I decided to remove so that the seats can rotate to face inwards. In its place are two plywood panels to tidy up the pillars: they were among the first things to be made, but many steps were necessary before they could be permanently fitted. They’ve also needed a recent repaint. The one behind the driver’s seat is wider as the kitchen will be immediately behind.
- With the panels now permanently installed and with the back and the middle of the van almost complete, the gap between gives a sense of the scale of the kitchen.
- Holiday planning is underway for our next trip to Japan next month. A couple of the less obvious destinations I’m very excited about.
- Other than that, just a short week of work. Good meetings though. My first trip to Nottingham, which is a nice city centre.
Bass notes
[In which Mo learns the bass guitar]
- A change in the band. Our exceptional drummer Ciara has many plates spinning at the moment and is stepping back. So Andi and I are considering what to do with ourselves: perhaps something edgier and more electronic. I spent a good while thinking whether to park all the existing material and start afresh, or whether to continue but change production styles. I think it’ll end up as a combination, across different projects.
- So, I’ve been messing about on the bass, trying new combinations of pedal sounds. I picked up a second-hand EHX Bass Soul Food overdrive, which is a glorious-sounding thing given what I paid for it. I also rejigged the order of the pedals on the board so that I can push the Kongpressor really hard. I don’t think I’ve got it sounding exactly right yet, but it’s in there somewhere.
- Having enjoyed a proper set-up, my little bass has a glorious jangle to it, and it has reintroduced me to its very highest notes. With the T-Rex Quint Machine, it’s fierce Deep Purple power-chords all the way.
- Many of the bass parts for the band I wrote for and played on synths, so I’m going back and re-learning them on the bass. I’m pleased I asked Andy the luthier to fit the Hipshot Xtender to the E string: I’d not realised how much I rely upon the D below.
- My technique is still mucky and I’m not that quick around that frets, but it’s coming along slowly.