Frustration

This weather has really been getting to me.   As always this is a difficult time of year for a gardeners, but this year I do seem to be particularly short of funds, I have work in hand but nothing really substantial, rather than any one big job I have quite a few small ones, but this does mean that although I should be earning wages (when I can work) but nothing or not much in the way of profit.

However trying to be positive I have been able to do a bit of practice, mostly on Trombone, and catch up with a bit of admin, I have to say that my heart isn't in it though.   At least it's better than when I was trying to ply my trade as a pro musician, I remember one year with no work at all from new years eve till Valentines day, now that was tough.

And a Pie !?

I think I have played in this section

Well we have got to the middle of January and I am trying to stick to my resolutions, but it is not as easy as I had hoped, of course if they were easy then I would have been doing them anyway.   I am pleased to be able to say that I have been doing some practise, but so far only on trombone, and I have managed to tune the van radio into Classic FM as well as Radio 4.

I am concentrating more on teh trombone as my next couple of gigs on bass trombone, and I need to build up a bit more strength in my lip, and develop my tone.   So back to basics lots of long note practise and some basic solid studies.

Audiences

It's not always easy to deal with audiences, one of the things I find most daunting when conducting a concert is the requirement to compere as well.   I am quite happy to compere, it is just that with the musical performance to worry about as well, I always fear that one or the other will suffer.   However the more I do the better I get, but I won't follow the example below

Click to enlarge

Cartoons

I love cartoons, I must have said this before, but it's true.   This one tickles my fancy and is specially for all you closet Jazzers

Cartoon Time

While I have been pleading that I am very busy at the moment - maybe it's just an excuse for not posting more frequently - I have had the time to start following a couple of new (to me) web comics. So rest assured that this is nothing to do with Rolf Harris.

I have been enjoying Skin Horsefor some time now, to say the least this strip is a little offthe wall! I just love the characters, reading the comments it sounds as though there are a lot of references to other fantasy type thingies, cartoons, games, books etc. which I don't get, but that does not hinder my enjoyment any. The link takes you straight to the contents / index page, if you have the time it is great fun to start at the beginning and work your way through, if you just jump in on today's post it will be more than a little confusing.

http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/skinhorse/toc.php

I have just discovered http://comics.com/9_chickweed_lane/ and http://www.girlamatic.com/comics/mell.php?view=toc and like both of these. There is more stuff on the net than I can contemplate and much of it is well worth avoiding but I can recommend these - especially if you enjoy the odd!.

The picture is of Unity one of my favorite charicters from Skin Horse