Isn't it funny how....

things can really knock you for six.

One of my friends went missing last night - he was supposed to be staying with us all weekend, but he never arrived. He was still missing at midnight when I went to bed - his phone was off, and not replying to messages. His plane had arrived at the airport, and yet he still hadn't arrived or contacted. Today, his phone was still off, text messages were not being delivered to it, and he was not replying to e-mails. I was sickly worried.

He's fine - he'd had his bag stolen at the airport he was coming from; the bag contained his passport, phone and wallet. He managed to e-mail me this evening to say he was ok, and to thank me for worrying about him. I was obviously very relieved as I was thinking of phoning the police if I hadn't heard by tomorrow. It also reminded me how important friends are, how I mustn't take them for granted, and how nice it is to feel appreciated and not taken for granted yourself.

These reminders are always timely - I feel one of the major reminders is slightly lateral to this - it has reminded me that I'm important too, and I must never forget myself: something I've been prone to doing recently. Having been at home alot lately because of a lack of money and unidentified stomach pains, I feel lucky to have had time to think about these things that happen in my much-quoted Rhythm of Life.

In further odd and unusual occurence, I was doing my shopping in Finchley Road earlier, and I saw an excellent bossa nova band playing in the O2 Centre. They were a fairly middle-aged combo and playing on a small stage. Unfortunately their cheap-sounding PA system, coupled with bad balancing, and shopping-centre acoustic did not do them justice. Although their music was slightly generic, they had, in my opinion, flashes of inspiration in their jazz fusion. It reminded me how I still hunger to get into the recording industry at some point in my life - that discovery of unsigned creativity is a very exciting thing. I've felt it before, and I'm sure I'll see it again. It makes life exciting having possibility in the future! In the same way, earlier today, more television work was mooted as a possibility for me by the production team. So that is good too.

Now sitting at home, as described above, I have time to reflect upon my revived friendship philosophies, my continued music industry ambition and excitement, and unexpected avenues of work.

A busy emotiono-mental day ...

Thank Friday it's tomorrow ;P


JL

I have spent most of my evenings at home with stomach pains for about a week: I'm never