I just started watching 'Samurai 7' here: http://www.veoh.com/videos/v257616KAy8YGBF
You can't really argue with samurai fighting giant robots. It's great fun.

Thanks to all who made it to my various sets last week. Sorry about the last one on Friday - I think we were a little ambitious in our plan to play at 7am - it didn't happen in the end.

I just had the tastiest cake ever: Honeybuns lemon and ginger slice from Fresh and Wild.

I'm not as tired as I thought I'd be after all the excesses of the weekend. Stayed up all night on Friday for this squat party, had a couple of hours attempted sleep on Saturday morning in my front room lying on a bean bag and a chair. Went out to another warehouse party on Saturday night - saw some more trapeze action. Got back from that at 5am, then came out today to the fourth Kino Fist show (it was very gay this week - as unusual as it is to see a man poking a prison wall with his tumescent member, I preferred the film about chess).

I should get to bed now really, but I haven't taken the bins out yet which means putting on my shoes again.

Oh - my musical instrument family has some new members. A lovely soprano glockenspiel, a little wooden double-mini-guiro-thing that calls itself an 'agogo bell', a triple actual agogo bells, a triangle and, at last, a clarinet! I love my new clarinet. I forgot how full bodied they sound. It's amazing. Expect to start hearing it on everything. I makes the trumpet sound amazing too - I always contended that those two instruments go together perfectly.


There's an increasingly realistic prospect that I could start doing my 'full' installation projects before the year is out. By 'full' I mean: me, a grand piano, a drum kit, a trumpet, a clarinet, a load of toy keyboards and percussion instruments and a giant mixing desk - all going through a foot-pedal-controlled Ableton Live. I don't want to go into any more detail yet, but the prospect of doing that before Installation(10) is the most exciting thought I've had for a long time.

Here's something I was moaning about on Friday night after I played my set: I never seem to feel 'elated' after I've played a set. In fact, most of my sets are followed by a mild depression and emptiness. I'm always exhausted - it's really hard work playing the way I do. I wish I understood the base of this post-gig mild unhappiness. It's not to do with the quality of my set - I've been pretty happy with the last couple. It's not to do with not getting any good feedback - I usually get plenty. What could it be? I've got an awful feeling that it's just because I want 'hot groupie action'.

Perhaps I should do some gigs that are more conducive to getting hot-groupies.  Maybe I should learn a dance. Like a Michael Jackson dance. Or perhaps I should go more 80s. That seems to be quite popular at the moment. Horrendous 80s style clothing. Or I could wear make up and/or an eccentric wig. Or perhaps I could constantly big myself up as though I were some kind of rapper: 'In case you've forgotten what I just said about 15 seconds ago, my name is Michael Forrest, this is Michael Forrest coming through, coming at you, like a tornado, like a beat machine, yeah, I'm really good me, yeah, you heard me, I'm totally awesome. You really should come and listen to the music I'm coming at you with. I'm coming at you I'm Michael Forrest. Coming with the music for you. You know, cos, like, I'm really good and shit, yeah man, check it out, it's Michael Forrest. In the house. On the beat. Move your feet."  etc... etc.. etc.. Until you really know exactly what my name is. And shit.

Better not eh.

Nah - it's all about the music I'm afraid.

I once got a groupie you know - she was totally hot. Well - I say 'got', but I really mean 'a really hot girl once told me I was really good after a gig, I stammered a bit, and then I maintained an unconsumated crush on her for the following two years.' It's true. I was doing 150 feet-on-the-bed press-ups (the kind where you push up, clap, and land each time) a day for a while - trying to get myself into a shape that would be 'worthy of her'. I think I might have spoken to her three or four times. Ever. Don't ask me for any more detail, it's too embarassing. What a silly boy I was.

The next chapter of 'The unfortunately named and inappropriately anthropomorphised squirrels, aka Nephew The Squirrel' is written down in my Moleskine. I will type it up soon. I've worked out what Nex (as she will henceforth be known) is 'like'.

I have noticed my sighs have become a lot more efficient recently. A very short, gated burst of white noise. Do I sigh primarily out of habit now? Is sighing bad?

Did I mention I got a Mac for work? I am typing on its backlit keyboard right now. Why? Because I am retreating from all things Microsoft as fast as I can. More on that another time, perhaps.