This is my final post (for now, anyway) as a Second Life avatar.  If you have been following this blog (I live in hope) you will have noticed that for some time I have been writing much less about Second Life, and more about the “non-virtual” life.  I agreed with Caterin that the term Real Life doesn’t suit, so I call it First Life.  Anyway, I decided to relaunch the blog under my First Life name to reflect the change, and I’ve copied some of my posts to a new blog ent... Read Full Story

I have been away, and I’m sorry to say my routine of a weekly post has been disrupted.  I was trying to write a piece about memory - at first it was clear in my mind, now it’s not.  Never mind - perhaps it will resurface, and I’ll complete it. Returning to the office after lunch today, I watched in alarmed fascination as a man wove drunkenly through the Hampstead Road traffic, staggering and limping across the road towards University College Hospital, lurching around the car... Read Full Story

I meant to write this a while ago, but other things intervened. It’s a shame that the emotional upheaval of the last week has overshadowed one of the most memorable musical experiences I have ever had. Anyway - about two years ago I signed up as a subscriber to Maria Schneider’s Sky Blue project. This is a scheme to finance the production of an album, effectively purchasing it before it is recorded, and a great way to support musicians not in the mainstream. When I received the... Read Full Story

This post is for anyone who is thinking about the Landmark Forum, and would like to know more about it.  Maybe you have been invited to an introductory evening, or a friend has told you about it. As you can see from my previous posts, I have been considering whether to attend the Landmark Forum, and have decided against it.  Before reaching this decision, I attended an introductory evening at the Landmark Forum London HQ, discussed it with my partner and a friend, and did some research on the... Read Full Story

Last week I described my visit to an introductory evening at the London HQ of Landmark Education.  I could have said a lot more, but I like to keep my posts fairly short.  So this is the next instalment. If you read my previous post to the end you won’t be surprised to learn that I have decided not to go ahead with the Landmark Forum.  I would like to give some of my reasons for this decision, which I hope will help others who are thinking about this to make up their own minds.  My than... Read Full Story

If anyone out there has any experiences good or bad of the Landmark Forum, I would love to hear of them.  It might, or might not, help me to decide if I should enrol on this course - although writing this has pretty much made my mind up, as you will see if you read on. When the Landmark Forum was first suggested to me as a means of addressing the problems in my life, I dismissed it - I had already spent enough money and time on counselling, therapy and now life coaching, and had made a privat... Read Full Story

I saw the Dresden Dolls a couple of years ago, at a concert of Brecht songs organised by Patti Smith, and I thought they were fantastic, almost the best thing on the programme - as well as Patti Smith herself, despite nearly forgetting the words to Jenny’s Song, and a duet by Antony (of the Johnsons) and Martha Wainwright, of Surabaya Johnny.  Or was it Marc Almond who sang that? My memory is getting worse.  Anyway, when today I came across Amanda Palmer’s terrific blog (thanks, V... Read Full Story

The other day I finally met up in First Life with my best and oldest SL friend, the excellent Caterin.  We relaxed over a few (yes, a few) drinks in a London bar, after some confusion, and texting back and forth over which bar we were supposed to be in (quite like SL, really), and shared our memories of exploits in the virtual world.  I did worry beforehand whether I would recognise her, but I needn’t have.  If the residents were surprised by Caterin’s stunning appearance, they se... Read Full Story

Decisions, decisions - how does anyone make decisions? I like to think I am a rational and methodical person who weighs up the arguments, compiles spreadsheets and evaluates the advantages of the options before me. In fact (although I can do a pretty good spreadsheet) my decision-making is a random mixture of impulse and inertia. I also rely on irrational “defining moments”, when a situation, or a chance remark, brings things into focus, and my decision is made. The other day I at... Read Full Story

Home early, a beautiful sunny evening, and the Old English rose bush is in full flower. Bliss. Today I tried a random approach, holding the camera at arms’ length underneath the flowers, getting some lovely backlighting from the blue sky, which mainly resulted in a lot of unfocused blurs. This is one of the more successful. With a little (very little) tweaking on the computer, more details appear.  Bacon Rolls drew my attention to a group on Flickr for pictures with black background... Read Full Story