And we're back
Apologies to any regular readers for the intermission in regular service... It seems like aeons since I wrote anything here, and I thought I was probably due an update. Real Life got in the way, iz all!
It's been a strange few months, really. The chief distraction was some uncertainty about work, as for the first time in several years the FE college where I work has been subject to dramatic changes in governmental funding, and has been forced into the position of making some redundancies and making fairly dramatic cuts in spending. It's all been somewhat alarming, and we've been living on a knife edge since Easter, wondering how many of us would still have jobs by the summer. Thankfully it seems that the jobs of those of us who remain will be safe for a little while longer, but this does rather depend on student recruitment for the new academic year and the government not making further cuts which would force yet another economy drive. I think it's fair to say that no-one's resting easy at the moment, and these are the most uncertain times for small FE colleges like ourselves for many years - certainly since before Labour came to power in the 90s. Time will tell, but I will admit to being somewhat distracted and concerned over the past few months. There's nothing worse than not knowing what the score is for a protracted period. I can't say I lost sleep over it, exactly, but it's been a constant nagging worry and the cause of some real concern. Here's hoping that from hereon in, it's not such a major issue.
I've also gone back to school. I'm nearly halfway through a web design course at the Open University, which has been good discipline for me whilst all the stress has been going on, and has well truly infected me with the coding bug once again. I've also learnt a great deal about website design, which is something I've always been really interested in. It also stands me in good stead for setting up the Hippy Towers website, which has been on the agenda for the best part of a decade now, and which I may actually start to make some progress on before the end of the year. It's been a revelation to me just how much I actually enjoy rolling up my sleeves, firing up my trusty HTML editor and getting stuck in after so many years away from it all. I don't think I've actually done any HTML coding in... oh, probably the best part of 8 years or more. I'm making up for lost time now, mind... :-)
What else? Well, it's been a difficult year already for a number of bands that I like. Especially in the more progressive end of the spectrum, 2010 has already seen a crop of departures and splits: Mostly Autumn swapped singers, Breathing Space lost their singer and guitarist, Touchstone lost their drummer, Karnataka lost half the band... and so it goes on. Happily most if not all of these bands have bounced back already, and it seems the others will be following suit before too long. I guess 2010 has become significant for a whole bunch of people, albeit not for the reasons that Arthur C. Clarke predicted... ;-) As I'm involved to some degree with several bands who've been affected in one way or another, usually in terms of online promotion or maintaining their forums etc, it's been an interesting time. I think it's probably fair to say that my diplomatic skills have been tested to their limits at times. Still, change comes to us all and I suppose if there was sufficient cause for someone to bail out of a band that they've been part of for some time, it's probably for the best in the end, no matter how difficult it makes things in the interim. It'll be interesting to see where these bands take their sound from hereon in, and if any substantial change is on its way.
I'm gearing up for a long weekend - we get Monday and Tuesday off due to the upcoming Bank Holiday, and i've taken Wednesday off as well, so a bumper 5-day weekend is in the offing. Things kick off tonight with a mouth-watering chicken vindaloo and a drink of the beer nature, then tomorrow our mate Ian will be popping up for a chinwag and a Mexican-assisted evening of Eurovision-related hilarity, which should be plenty good. Beyond that we have no firm plans, other than a terk out to Worcester to nip into the cinema to catch the new Sex & The City film (Steen is a big fan, and it buys me kudos points which I will probably employ to drag Steen along when the new Predators film comes out in July). Time for some quality choonage and some hardcore chillaxing. Hopefully the weather will hold out accordingly, 'cos it's reet pretty out there at the moment: sunny and warm, it's the sort of weather that makes me dig out my Eat Static records and crank 'em up to the max... :-)
Anyway, enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend (if you're in the UK, obviously - commisserations to those of you who are not) and I'll catch you on the flipside...
It's been a strange few months, really. The chief distraction was some uncertainty about work, as for the first time in several years the FE college where I work has been subject to dramatic changes in governmental funding, and has been forced into the position of making some redundancies and making fairly dramatic cuts in spending. It's all been somewhat alarming, and we've been living on a knife edge since Easter, wondering how many of us would still have jobs by the summer. Thankfully it seems that the jobs of those of us who remain will be safe for a little while longer, but this does rather depend on student recruitment for the new academic year and the government not making further cuts which would force yet another economy drive. I think it's fair to say that no-one's resting easy at the moment, and these are the most uncertain times for small FE colleges like ourselves for many years - certainly since before Labour came to power in the 90s. Time will tell, but I will admit to being somewhat distracted and concerned over the past few months. There's nothing worse than not knowing what the score is for a protracted period. I can't say I lost sleep over it, exactly, but it's been a constant nagging worry and the cause of some real concern. Here's hoping that from hereon in, it's not such a major issue.
I've also gone back to school. I'm nearly halfway through a web design course at the Open University, which has been good discipline for me whilst all the stress has been going on, and has well truly infected me with the coding bug once again. I've also learnt a great deal about website design, which is something I've always been really interested in. It also stands me in good stead for setting up the Hippy Towers website, which has been on the agenda for the best part of a decade now, and which I may actually start to make some progress on before the end of the year. It's been a revelation to me just how much I actually enjoy rolling up my sleeves, firing up my trusty HTML editor and getting stuck in after so many years away from it all. I don't think I've actually done any HTML coding in... oh, probably the best part of 8 years or more. I'm making up for lost time now, mind... :-)
What else? Well, it's been a difficult year already for a number of bands that I like. Especially in the more progressive end of the spectrum, 2010 has already seen a crop of departures and splits: Mostly Autumn swapped singers, Breathing Space lost their singer and guitarist, Touchstone lost their drummer, Karnataka lost half the band... and so it goes on. Happily most if not all of these bands have bounced back already, and it seems the others will be following suit before too long. I guess 2010 has become significant for a whole bunch of people, albeit not for the reasons that Arthur C. Clarke predicted... ;-) As I'm involved to some degree with several bands who've been affected in one way or another, usually in terms of online promotion or maintaining their forums etc, it's been an interesting time. I think it's probably fair to say that my diplomatic skills have been tested to their limits at times. Still, change comes to us all and I suppose if there was sufficient cause for someone to bail out of a band that they've been part of for some time, it's probably for the best in the end, no matter how difficult it makes things in the interim. It'll be interesting to see where these bands take their sound from hereon in, and if any substantial change is on its way.
I'm gearing up for a long weekend - we get Monday and Tuesday off due to the upcoming Bank Holiday, and i've taken Wednesday off as well, so a bumper 5-day weekend is in the offing. Things kick off tonight with a mouth-watering chicken vindaloo and a drink of the beer nature, then tomorrow our mate Ian will be popping up for a chinwag and a Mexican-assisted evening of Eurovision-related hilarity, which should be plenty good. Beyond that we have no firm plans, other than a terk out to Worcester to nip into the cinema to catch the new Sex & The City film (Steen is a big fan, and it buys me kudos points which I will probably employ to drag Steen along when the new Predators film comes out in July). Time for some quality choonage and some hardcore chillaxing. Hopefully the weather will hold out accordingly, 'cos it's reet pretty out there at the moment: sunny and warm, it's the sort of weather that makes me dig out my Eat Static records and crank 'em up to the max... :-)
Anyway, enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend (if you're in the UK, obviously - commisserations to those of you who are not) and I'll catch you on the flipside...