Brief interruption.

I was walking up a long sloping corridor or tunnel, with indistinct grey walls,
which disappeared into a distant brightness far above. There was an escalator,
but it wasn't running, I remembered a notice at the bottom saying it was
out of order, although I had no memory of getting to the start of the tunnel, or
of what had happened before then. There was nobody near me, and although I had
the vague impression of others climbing far ahead of me, the light made
everything too distinct to say for sure. Behind me, the view gradually
disappeared into a deepening darkness.

After what could have been months or minutes of ascending the stairs, I could
suddenly see that the light ahead was widening visibly as I approached the exit.
Relieved, I pushed myself up the last few steps and out onto an open plain.
Resting my aching feet, I turned around, to see a large gateway, and in front of
it an elderly man who I recognised instantly from the surroundings, and from his
shining white robes, full bushy beard and mane of hair. It was Karl Marx.

Have I come home? I asked him.

You're takin' the piss now, son, he replied. This place's not for
the likes of you. Back you go and keep trying. But one thing - you've learned,
you've caroused, and you've tried to do the right thing. Don't be so hard on
yourself this time.

And there endeth today's lesson.

The soul of a new machine.

Well, the new (partly, but all new to me) machine's up and running, and very fast it feels too. There's still a very annoying screen glitch, but I should be able to get that hammered down fairly soon. The important thing is . . .


Mozilla is loooovveeellyyyy. And it's not even the most recent version. This is nice.

Update: Glitch sorted. Just a matter of actually telling X how much memory the graphics card has to play with. This is all settling down nicely.

Foul devilry.

I've been reading skx's pages concerning his Livejournal Valentine System, and in particular the page describing the "status" and "excuse" fields.

This doesn't actually tell you all you need to know about Steve. Not quite all, anyway.

Festive Fifty.

I've just been looking at Peel's Festive Fifty for last year. Another good one for Ballboy - All The Records On The Radio Are Shite at joint ninth, and Where Do The Nights Of Sleep Go (When They Do Not Come To Me) at 24 - there are some more tour dates, as well - see their website for details. A couple of Low tracks (hmm.Should probably get more Low). The Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song (by Jeffrey Lewis) features as well. I remember thinking when i read a review of that album that it sounded like it should be quite interesting. Another one to chase after, I guess.