30/1/2005
I have just discovered a 20p coin in my money box which was minted in 1983. That makes it more than half a decade older than me. 22 years old. Think on that. This coin is old enough to have children, drive, vote, play full international sport... yet when I hold it against a 2004 10p, which happens to be the newest coin in my money box, there is little difference in colour. It's made me all existential, at least for a few minutes - how brief is human life. I'm more or less unrecognisable from photos of me when I was a baby, but this coin has hardly changed.
Think about all the people who've had this coin. The 4 year-old, in 1985, to whom it was worth a Mars bar, and therefore was soon lost, but of enormous importance. I recall, about a year ago, a little old lady (there are never big old ladies, are there) ahead of me in the queue at the supermarket, counting out about £25 in 20p pieces. Perhaps this was among them, one in 125, barely glanced at.
I could go on speculating for some time - I'm sure you have ideas of where my 20p might have been: perhaps you've held it yourself.
23/1/2005
A wonderfully empty weekend, making up for a week without space to breathe.
I have always known that I am more of a radio than a television person, and that radio 4 is the pinnacle of broadcasting excellence (or something). However, for some reason I've always spent more time watching TV - maybe because everyone else seems to, so one tries to fit in, even when no-one else knows what one's doing. It has therefore been a wonderful experience to rediscover radio 4 over the last week, and I've realised that around 2/3rds of the programmes broadcast on any given day will be actually interesting. This is rarer than one might think - I find genuinely interesting radio, or especially TV, programmes are exceptionally hard to find (despite, or perhaps because of, my having 800 or so channels at my disposal).
And on top of all this, "I'm sorry, I haven't a clue" made me laugh more than I have at anything else for some time, although that seems to be the case whenever one starts watching or listening to something new - a change is as good as a rest (not sure what that's got to do with the case, though).
17/1/2005
This term is beginning to look rather difficult:
- Music composition & performances to be finished (or in the latter case, done)
- Technology project to complete (and it's looking worryingly big - at least 1m tall for a unit supposed to go on mummy's desk)
- Myriad coursework, in all the subjects you can imagine, including regression to primary school as we grow cress
- A maths module exam shortly
- A number of trips which I foolishly arranged before I found out what situation we would all be ourselves in, but all of which are of value for both education and exams (a very rare combination)
- And, of course, to cap it all off, for about 3 hours after school most days, Jesus Christ Superstar rehearsals.
I look at that list, realise that there is nothing I want to cancel, and worry. And then I ask why it is all in this final term before the exams strike, and question the value (and indeed the sanity) of the State Education System. You can hear the capital letters.
12/1/2005
Is this the way forward - longer but less regular news updates? On balance, I think not: makes writing ( and probably reading) them a chore, and results in me forgetting what has happened since the last time I posted.
Back in school, with Jesus Christ Superstar rehearsals beginning, and so far being great fun. It also shows promise of probably being quite a good production & certainly continuing to be very interesting. The staff have gone all out to with this musical: 18 characters with radio mics, making sound a job and a half, off-stage singers with a video link to the conductor and an excellent set, with which I have already had a lot of fun.
The downside of returning to school of course has been the resumption of lessons such as Spanish. Why do we bother to learn foreign languages when English is the language of the world? *JOKE* (you never know how your gonna sound without visual contact or tone of voice).
I was recently shocked by the quality of "Scrubs" (comedy set in a surreal hospital). Quite apart from being, as it should be, very funny, in the few episodes I have watched there have been some very profound moments. I suppose it is following, in many ways, a similar formula to my favourite American sitcom (though I hate that term), M*A*S*H. However, don't get the idea that Scrubs is just ripping off the excellent M*A*S*H - its comedy is derived completely differently, and the settings, whilst both hospitals, are about as different as two hospitals could be. Well worth a watch though (both).