Last week I finally got my hands on something I’ve wanted for a while — an Omnichord. It is a kitsch electronic music instrument produced by Suzuki in the 1980s. It makes a very charming sound and is addictive to play. The key feature that makes the Omnichord stand out from other instruments is the […]
Archive:
Personal
Spontaneity
When someone says “be spontaneous”, they really mean “change your plans at short notice to suit me”. — Duncan Stephen (@Stepreo) March 17, 2012 I have been thinking a bit about spontaneity recently. For some reason, it is normally described as a good quality. I don’t understand why. Maybe I am biased. I do like […]
Avoiding spoilers
This weekend was the first time in very many years that I have had to avoid spoilers for a grand prix. I missed quite a few races live during 2007 due to work, but I always watched them as soon as I got home so there was not much problem with spoilers. Today, I had to […]
Time to take up music again?
I have recently been thinking about getting a new hobby. One option is to reignite my musical chops. I used to play musical instruments. But my history as a musician has been quite volatile. I played the piano and percussion instruments, and a brief flirtation with the guitar. But I gave them up just before […]
Trying to find a new hobby
I’ve decided I need a new hobby. I haven’t embarked on anything new for a while. Now feels like the right time to try and change that. 2008, 2009 and 2010 were fast-moving times for me. I graduated from university. After a shaky year or so, I got a proper job, which I feel lucky […]
Going iPodless — conclusion
Throughout the month of February, I planned to avoid using my iPod outdoors. Check out the first post for the reasons behind the experiment, and the second post for my thoughts after two weeks. My thoughts at the end of the month were not too different to the first two weeks. But the novelty had […]
London trip — day four: Design Museum
Day four map: This was my final day in London, and my train was at 2pm. So I had only a few hours to spare in the morning, and decided to take in the Design Museum as my final activity in London. There were two exhibitions on when I visited, both of which are still […]
London trip — day three: Science Museum; London Transport Museum
Day three map: Science Museum My original tentative schedule saw me planning to visit the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum and the V&A in one day. But some last-minute chopping and changing of my schedule saw me eventually trying to squeeze the Science Museum into a 90 minute visit. It didn’t take me long […]
London trip — day one: Royal Observatory, Greenwich; Tate Modern
Last weekend I took a trip to London for the weekend. I arrived on the afternoon of Friday 10 February, and left on the afternoon of Monday 13 February. London is the sort of place I could keep going to. I go about once every two years, and every time I go away feeling like […]
The iPodless experiment — two weeks in
I am now two weeks into my experiment to avoid using my iPod outdoors. So I thought I would provide an update at the midway point. The first day went really well. It felt really odd at first, and it still does feel odd to leave the office for my lunchtime walk without my iPod […]