Bread and Circuses

Hi!

Hi!! How have you been? (Was that overeager?)

Nothing much - just family stuff. Went traveling as well - Thailand is pretty incredible. The water is really as clear as it looks in the pictures.

It’s been some time, right? Nearly a year. (Seven months and if you ask, no, I haven’t been counting)

Yeah. Just came back from a trip home. The niece is growing up so quickly, I totally miscalculated what she’d want.

And then you took her out shopping? (I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know. I don’t.)

Well I had to, didn’t I? Anyway, how’s work? Travelling?

Work is work. Banking is all screwed up. We are all going to be replaced by machine learning and credit scores soon. Travelled a bit. Nothing spectacular. How’s work going for you?

It’s okay. It a balancing act, but managing it. Let’s see how the review next year goes. This boss is not a complete monster, so fingers crossed.

That’s good news. I had been meaning to message you today actually. So, happy…

Sorry. Someone’s calling. Got to run.

…sure.

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Often, the only way to survive is to keep your head down and the volume high. A good song helps, with syncopated beats perhaps, lyrics be damned. I have learnt to believe in the process. Of clearing your head of all noise and just going blank – focusing simply on the evenness of breath and the fact that the tips of your fingers are a little cooler than usual. Just don’t react, because this too will pass.

And talking of things that pass, we come to the fact that 2018 is coming to an end. I will try to put in my thoughts on that, on another year that passes all too soon, doing too much and showing too little at the end of it. There are a couple of weeks of holidays coming up, leaves not taken, so I will put pen to paper (or finger to the keyboard as it were) to jot things down. Till then, so long.

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Will keep it short. Couple of songs, like I am supposed to:

1.     TV on the Radio - Trouble. Catchy yes, but lyrical as well (Oh, I've changed my number| Wore disguises and went undercover just to| Just to hide away from you| Oh, my ghost came a-calling| Making noises 'bout a promise I had broken| Oh, I'm gonna be lonely soon)

2.   Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You. Very American, jangly guitars and that delicious voice. Became interested in them after watching Dig! - a rockumentary about their rivalry/friendship with Brian Jonestown Massacre. Similarities to Jesus & Mary Chain and to Sonic Youth can be easily found (all pretty decent bands btw).

 

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The reference is to what we, as citizens, remain solely interested in. And Stephen Fry is still the coolest.