freckles_and_doubt | insurance, the white man's burden

Weird sort of day, really. My insurance broker came round this morning to sign me up for more horrible-things-happening cover, and we spent a happy hour and twenty minutes animatedly discussing Finland, the broadening effect of overseas travel, colonial guilt, history, Argentina, global warming, diet plans, good chocolate emporiums in Cape Town (apparently the one in Kloof Nek road is excellent), economic breakdown, Pakistan, the increasing angst levels of the Afrikaaner male, and Zimbabwe. In a brief 10-minute follow-up we then surveyed the possibilities of extra cover, and signed me up for it. Half an hour later I'd had the necessary medical tests done. I feel slightly breathless, for more reasons than one. I'm not sure if this counts as full-service insurance brokerage, extra service insurance brokerage, or mere random distraction.

Have finally managed to convey to philipandjo the presents (minor, random, for the use of) I bought them in Finland, only three weeks after arriving home, and after the jo half of philipandjo took the law into her own hands and collected the darned things. This conveys to my powerful intellect the sad fact that I don't see enough of philipandjo. *makes resolutions*.

Mad socialising appears to be mine. Book club tonight. (Cautiously, because I'm not sure I can keep the Evil English Academic in me subdued enough that the other book club members aren't forced to club me to death). Shakespeare on Thursday night. Supper with Mike and Nikki, for purposes of thesis moral supportage, on Friday night. Buffy Season 3 with Lara on Friday afternoon. Live music on Saturday night.

Amount of actual work done today: none. DT finished, though. Achieved shopping, layout, a Strange Insurance Experience, a new cellphone number, and several cups of tea. Headache and sore throat much improved. Actual food eaten today: absolutely none whatsoever, so far. By which you can deduce that the weather, she continues hot. On the upside, I bought proper lettuce.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I have a bit of a strange relationship with those CDs you burned me last time. I pull them out occasionally and play them, with alternating wild cries of enjoyment and annoyance. (Actually, this is beginning to sound a bit like the way I interact with you in person, so no surprises there...) Often the irritation wins out and I don't finish playing the CD. You may wish to shunt more my way on the grounds that my education is obviously incomplete.

I am listening to Muse because Vera has lent me her entire collection, on the assumption that they're enough like Radiohead that I might enjoy them. I am following my usual band-grokking process of playing them through, repeatedly, in strict chronological order. Alternative rock-y. They're texturally quite complex, which I like, but I'm finding them a little formless at times. Still, good listening. The singer sounds uncommonly Radioheaded. Falsetto.

Often the irritation wins out

Not quite the reaction I was aiming for, though I would definitely have failed if nobody disliked any of it. That would be just too bland. Now, which is the last CD that you have from me?

I'm not sure if I would recommend it, but I have been listening to Franz Ferdinand.

You gave me two compilations last time you were in Cape Town; one entitled "Waiting for Robot", the other ... mysteriously missing from my desk pile, so I can't tell you what you called it. Tracks I like on "Robot": the David Bowie/Pat Metheny group one, and the Radiohead (natch). Oh, and the Johnny Cash. Wait, here's the other - "Lifting the Sky."

Why wouldn't you recommend Franz Ferdinand? Answer on one side of the paper only...

I'm not sure if I'd recommend Franz Ferdinad to anyone over 30. Their songs are rocky and catchy and witty and very well-executed, and a lot of them on the album stand out as radio-quality, but I do find it a bit facile at times. You can listen to a FF song once and then hum it. Where's the difficulty in that? The slight Joy Division influence is good, as is the air of louche (1) refined arty decadence. But fundamentally it's pretentious airy pop-rock, only mock-serious.

1) I looked up "louche" – it means what I thought it meant.

Good word, louche.

If FFerdinand are poppy, odds are I'll enjoy them even more than you do, I think I have a much higher pop-tolerance. Not to say that you're an egregious musical snob, or anything, other than occasionally ;>. But I do have an ingrained liking for tune.

I do have an ingrained liking for tune

Hm, well. In contrast to some of my techno-listening friends, I prefer music with tunes in it. The problem is that I am not very musical, and if I can grasp the tune fully after one listening, it's going to be a simple one that I will soon tire of.

insurance, the white man's burden

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