Alright, so it’s been a long time between updates. But we’ve honestly been flat out. And I don’t mean in the lame-excuse way so much as the actually having a boat-load of things to do way.
We’re settling in to the new house very nicely. The usual maintenance and upkeep type stuff is around, plus of course a healthy quotient of customisation and individualisation to be done. But generally it’s been ready to move into, comfortable, and relatively hassle-free. A massive change from the previous digs (or “that old dump” as Knotty aptly dubbed it for us).
Speaking of that old dump, we had a bit of an, er… “negotiation” with the property manager. There was certain damage which had occurred that they were trying to blame us for. Thankfully, we were anal enough to take video evidence at the time, and they were forced to yeild to our superior evidence-power. Hurrah! I feel a bit mean, but then again, we’re only getting what’s due, so I suspect I’ll still sleep tonight.
The puppies are doing great – coming along in leaps and bounds. No doubt you’ll have marvelled appropriately at the photo above. The usual puppy brat-ness abounds, but generally they’re an absolute joy to come home to, or wake up to. That’s what I love about dogs – they’re always utterly thrilled to see you. More than once this last month I’ve woken up tired, grumpy, and to be perfectly honest, slightly hungover, only to have my bad mood completely evaporated by virtue of the power of puppy enthusiasm. Honestly, it can’t be over-stated. If you could convert canine affection into electricity you could power the planet by being nice to puppies. And that’s a world I’d be happy to live in 
The garage to studio conversion is coming along, albeit a little slower than I’d hoped. The floor coating went on in three coats, and wound up looking pretty much like bare concrete, at which point I decided to hell with it, bare conrete aesthetics is just what the audio/muso practitioner of 2009 will be sporting. On the plus side, three coats of bond-crete have made it much more resistant to dust and what-not, so while it might not be immediately aestheitcally different, it’s certainly significantly easier on the gear, and much more readily maintainable. The furniture is broadly in place, and I’ve put up shelves for the speakers (destroying a couple of cheap-ass masonry bits in the process) so now the main issue is to clear away the detritus from the floor, and do something about the fluorescent strip-lighting. Not only is it fugly, but it’s pretty poor from an RF point of view, so some tasteful halogen will hopefully not be too far away.
Oh, and I re-applied for uni, and was accepted. Yay! I initially enrolled for a 3-year degree in 2004, and have yet to finish it, the lure of paid work being too strong to resist. Actually the cartoon job was more than that – it was a fantastic chance to get a toehold into an industry that I enjoy working in. Nevertheless, I don’t want to throw away the study I’ve already done, and the powers that be are quite happy for me to continue with study part-time, so this year it’s all on. Media Law is my unit of choice, so be prepared for some gratuitous legal proselytising over the next few months.
Musically, sadly, all this scholarly pursuit and domesticity has left scant room for much creativity. T3E is still on the top of my creative to-do list, but there simply hasn’t been the time or circumstance to get it done. We’re all getting together on Sunday afternoon to have a listen to some things that Knotty and Cornel have been up to, and have a general chat about things, which will be grand, as it’s been a very long time. We sort of kind of got together when we moved in here, save Cornel who was otherwise indisposed. And even that was over a month ago now, so we’re well overdue.
So yeah… I’ll keep y’all posted