Well sort of; I have ordered Sky TV and that will be installed tomorrow morning, so will have lots of choice of TV programming to watch. Which hopefully will keep my out of trouble, by trouble I mean drinking way too much and blowing loads of money. I didn’t touch a drop of alcohol on Tuesday at Open Mic, no matter how much I felt like having a drink! I am more tempted to drink at Open Mic than any other night because it’s either completely dead and I sit around doing doing bugger all for four hours or a load of drunken idiots getting up on the mic pissing everyone else off. The dilemma is that I can’t say no when there is blatantly no-one that wants to play music, usually Konrad plays then that’s it. There’s a complete lack of publicity for the weekly event, only a few posters in the Voodoo Lounge, it needs to be promoted in shops, online and be actively advertised outside the venue, maybe on a couple of those springy advertising boards. Anyway, that’s rambling onto another subject, I am now going to the bank every couple of days to deposit any money that I have earned, out of sight, out of mind… I am more likely to spend if I know I have cash laying around. Wednesday night went OK, I only had a pint and a couple of vodka and cokes during the five hours I was there. It was a reasonably busy night, not so many people dancing as normal but they were stood at the bar buying drinks, which is just as good if not better for our longevity as the owner doesn’t see lots of people dancing, he just sees the money going through the till. I was playing DJ again last night, it seems that Stephen is getting too tired working a 9 – 5 and DJ’ing as well and/or losing interest, which is fair enough. I am happy to DJ with Steve (the other DJ) for the foreseeable future, although last night was interesting with only an iPod and a limited amount of CD’s but we managed to get away with it somehow even with the gaps while switching between tracks on the iPod. So next week, myself and Steve will go half on buying a pack of blank CDRs and burning off loads of albums to compliment what I have on the iPod, to make the transition between songs smoother, having gaps between tracks is a big NO NO in DJ circles, last night was unavoidable, but I don’t think anyone minded! There was one occasion last night when the 2 – 3 second gap worked in my favour when the people on the dance floor were chanting “Lamb of God”, Lamb of God” which was brilliant as I had it cued all ready to go, and was waiting for the iPod to catch up with my key presses. I am going to limit myself to going out clubbing at maximum once every two weeks and with a little luck once every month; it’s still nice to catch up with people in JFK’s every now and again, going every week gets boring. If I only go once a month then it will seem more special even if the place is a complete dive, but I guess that’s its charm, it feels like seedy backstreet rock club. I’m working, Friday, Saturday and Sunday so this week I won’t be able to go out anyway, given the choice or earning money or spending money, earning money has to take priority.
In cricket, England lost their second one day international against the West Indies by 61 runs being bowled out for just 217 chasing the West Indies target of 279 to win. England looked in control early in the game after captain Paul Collingwood won the toss and elected to bowl first. Early signs were good with Gayle and Smith falling early leaving the tourists 67 – 2. Then it was time for Shiv Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels to come out and frustrate the Englishmen, knocking up 116 (not out) and 77 respectively. The Windies eventually finished their allotted 50 overs 278 – 5. The English scorecard doesn’t make for good reading with five or the England XI not reaching double figures, notably Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen and skipper Paul Collingwood. Wicketkeeper Matt Prior had another good innings scoring a half century, Owais Shah knocked up 45 from the 64 deliveries he faced. There was a valiant rear guard action from the England bowlers, notably Stuart Broad and Ryan Sidebottom but the specialist batsmen left the tail-enders too much to do. There’s something to be said when two of your specialist bowlers score more highly than three of your top order batsmen and that something is “it simply isn’t good enough” – But I have to say that the Windies were well worth the win today, I have no complaints. England will need to step up their game in the third and final one day international on Saturday, and I’ll be able to watch the game in the comfort of my own home having Sky TV installed tomorrow!