i have a poster on my wall that has etches or whatever you call it, of all the bars in Manchester. i only have memories of this The Rain Bar and another - i forget .. not much of a memory.

Its a bit too humid and hot today. Sigh. Anything for a rainy, at-home day. Which will do wonders to cool of my brain.

and no... i never did stay more than 3 days in Manchester. Plus, i still wanna do a few things there.

1) Attend a concert at Manchester Concert Hall
2) Go to John Rylands Library again
3) Go see the LS Lowry collection/gallery
4) Hang around the square and City Hall
5) Go eat at Ning (the chef was recently home to launch the 'home edition' of his cookbook, Malaysian Food

Please rain.

It's funny that i consider time away from blogging to be either a holiday or a mad busy time. Perhaps, it is - diary writing is no longer a must, and rather something i do in leisure. Although i still burn to write ideas down, i find that you do need a certain kind of a frame of mind to sit down, switch on the computer, log on to Blogger and write thoughtfully.

i've had a wonderful time away from blogging and its revelatory properties. Plus, i did celebrate a birthday. ...

My favourite gifts are clothes/accessories (because my friends have lovely taste); books (ah! those who buy books have the greatest taste, of course. And they do need a lot of courage to buy me books because i can be quite critical. but that applies to fashion as well, i guess. Now you know how i feel when i buy books for people - doubtful and hopeful.) and finally - when all else fails - hard cash works the best! Of which, i must say thanks, Mom - cos the cash went into my CD buying collection.

Hmmm, which makes me wonder - why doesn't anyone buy me music anymore? The last time i got one wwassss .... Joni Mitchell's Hits - nice!!! Okok, i think Lizzie did offer to get me Tanya Chua's latest album, but i said i preferred a CD player ;-)

i think i better put up a Must have list ... all separately.

i recently gained a neighbour at work ... who's been lending me cool music! Good and Bad, ya?

The first few albums i lent her were my two all-time favourites - Shinkai [Mr Children] and OK [A-yue]. And she has thrown Bump of Chicken my way, yummm, lovely folky sounds.

Oh, and my birthday present to myself is What A Wonderful World (WAWW) [Mr Children] (which i lost) and Acoustic Fukuyamania (an instrumental album featuring Yoshikawa Chuei, and has artwork by Junko Terada).

So, i've been playing Bump of Chicken's Jupiter, Misuchiru's Shinkai & WAWW, Northern Bright, ...and now the Misuchiru's Best of compilations. i'll probably dig out my L'arc En Ciel, Glay and Luna Sea soon enough. All which should last me until the evening.

Music for inspiration and not in English or languages that i am familiar with - should help me write. That said, i need to finish my household chores before starting the word slogging.

Later la.

Finally to marineko-chan - congrats to finally finishing your paper! (i'm glad you found inspiration in OK)

(note: Coelacanth is the first track of Shinkai, which alludes to this extinct organism as a source of inspiration, a muse)