No, don’t worry— I’m still alive. Very much so. But alas, any pathetic attempts to explain away my pathetic lack of prowess in the field of blogging-frequency would be worth nought but bemused contempt, dear reader. But enough of that. Here are a few things I’ve been doing:

• Doing fairly well on Valentine’s day, considering the previous Thursday was rent and cleaned me out. I had no money to spend (OK then, the Mastercard generously gave me $50 on Sunday, but I wasn’t expecting it to), so what better way to demonstrate my devotion than to go without that which I love second most: sleep. Marion had an aptitude test for a job interview at 9am on Valentines Day, so I said we should meet in the city at eight. Imagine her surprise when she arrived at her station at 7:12 to see me waiting there. It’s actually easier to get up at 5am than at 8am. If you’re me. So we had breakfast at her local café and took the train in together. Nauseatingly together, but it was the first Valentines Day that I’ve actually had a Valentine, rather than the sour memory of a Christmastime fling, a romantic gesture answered by a startled look, or (by far the most common) nix. After her test (she typed 75wpm with one single error and didn’t know how amazing that was) we went back to my place for lunch and stuff. I know what you’re thinking Hiss. And I... ummm... yes, I know what you’re thinking.
  
• My World of Warcraft paladin travelled to the four corners of the earth collecting materials so that a fellow could make her a really cool mace. While this certainly deserves your scorn, gentle reader, or at least your mystified pity, I was quite proud to have done it. One of my character’s friends is a guy in the choir in real life and we talk way too much about it. Marion’s been invited to join this choir which is great. In fact, she’s been invited to my old university choir, who are touring Europe this year. Mainly because she’s a very fine choral singer, among many other things.
  
• I’m writing music again. I didn’t write anything in 2004, for a number of reasons, but I’m back in business now. Alas, it means that a lot of the time that I spent musing on what would be entertaining to put in my diary is now spent conceiving musical frameworks and pondering solutions to contrapuntal dilemmas. Composing’s definitely the most brain-intensive thing I do, and I’ve had to dust off a few cobwebs up there.
  
• Last week I saw myself in a close-up on television. This was amusing enough, but then my friends played it another four times, the last time frame-by-face-contorting-frame.

Anyway it’s bedtime, so I’ll wish youse all well, and begin to plot the next entry, in tandem with working out how to bring in nine voices in the most effective way possible.

Here’s an interesting entry I’ve been reading by the 14-year-old Pablo.

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