When I was about 14, I started getting into "alternative" music, but within a couple of years I hated the label and started avoiding its use. The trigger was a conversation with a friend of my dad's, who shared my obsessive love of music but whose taste was dramatically different (barbershop and 1950s film soundtracks, I think). He was interested ( Read more... )

I'm listening to Generation Terrorists, the Manic Street Preachers' debut album, which came out when I was 14 and into Warhammer 40K. I remember that detail because my one and only attempt at painting the miniature soldiers was a bit of a marathon, during which I listened to this album 4 times over, before admitting to myself that I just didn't ( Read more... )

I had a dismaying conversation the other day. It wasn't quite the most annoying case of someone I don't really know showing off their awfulness I've ever experienced-that was 8 years ago and I hope it remains a lifetime nadir-but it reminded me of that one.
( ... )

My addresses and phone numbers are too complicated and it's time to simplify. From now on, I'm going to only use my gmail address, my cellphone number (it actually works in the new house!), and skype. Also, the gmail address doubles as an instant messenger username, but I'm not often on IM at useful times, because I don't use it at work.

My job involves making a lot of phone calls. I'm not exactly enamoured with that aspect-I'd really rather use email for almost all long-distance communication, but an astonishing number of businesses never reply to emails from their customers-though I'm minding it less and less as time goes by. Having an obviously foreign accent interacts with ( Read more... )