The question is......

By Paul Flower on Feb 18, 09 05:09 PM

I've been busy. Frankly it's overdue; I was starting to get worried. Who wants to be under-employed during a recession? I would've preferred the frantically busy time not to hit during the half-term school holiday but rather this than not at all I guess.

The knock-on effect of suddenly being maniacally busy is that I'm unable to socially interact as much as usual. I was never that social, and nor am I now, however the effect of facebook and twitter has been to inadvertently make myself more communicative. I now stress if I haven't updated my links/status for days, this is despite not having the time to think about it - to be fair, few people seem to be doing much thinking when they post, but I'm not those people.

Being an unorganised chap I have compartmentalised most of my electronic activity. This blog gets updated weekly with a long-form 500 word type stream of consciousness, my other blog is supposed to be shorter, more frequent and random. Added to these I try to keep my twitter fairly pithy but intelligent (I usually fail); I like the fact that it can only be 140 characters (or whatever), and my facebook is the most random of all. Sadly the facebook seems to be most visible/well-read, they really work that site quite well.

Of course in a busy work-period all this forethought goes out of the window. I don't think I've updated any of the other blogs at all in the last week and I was struggling to find a subject for this one. Actually that's not true - I had about four streams of thought, but couldn't crystallise any of them in the time available, not concisely anyway. Not that this usually matters.

Consequently this blog is composed 'on-the-fly' as it were. I have frequently realised that my life is a series of questions. Many of these are ridiculous, random and (as I love alliteration) rhetorical. Usually they're not aired in public, only in my mind. Today I'm sharing them with you.

Occasionally they'll be given a back-up explanation but usually not, I'll let you draw your own conclusions. Owing to another busy day I'm starting this at 09.32 and will add to it as the day comes along and the opportunities or questions present themselves. Today, you share the noises that occupy my head.

09:46 Where's my pencil? Will this stomach ache ever go away? Why is my train always delayed on a Monday? What is the point of Piers Morgan?

09:57 Did I miss Quidam at the NIA? Is it too late to blag?

09:59 Do I like this Fleet Foxes track?

10:07 What is number one? Am I warming to Lily Allen? Does Lily have two ls?

10:08 Benicassim or RockWerchter?

10:11 Did I make the right choice in turning down that BRITS ticket? There's now a buzz in the air about the event, maybe I should've gone. Admittedly I have been a few times before and only enjoyed it once (Hammersmith Apollo for the ceremony, some hotel for the official party - Michael Stipe on roller-skates among my memories). In the last ten years I've turned down three invites and I am too busy this year but I generally feel that the music industry may be issuing its swan-song; this year's BRITS may be the final year of wanton excess, the last hurrah. I am busy, but I should've found the time. I've made a mistake.

10:13 How have I got to 580 words already?

10:19 How did UB40 go so wrong? (inspired by hearing 'Food For Thought' on Absolute). Why would anyone buy those Labour of Love albums ahead of 'Signing Off'?

10:32 Will Blue Man Group sell outside London? Will people know what it is?

10:42 Was Russell Brand wearing blue contact lenses? Did I think that because I conditionally assume beautiful people all have blue eyes?

11:11 How embarrassing is it to confuse February with March? (Linked to the 09:57 thought, unfortunately).

12:43 Is Piers Morgan's continued existence proof of the ongoing class divide in Britain? Do the British still kowtow to smug poshos?

12:54 Have I put enough/any prep into that meeting at 4pm? Is it at 4pm?

13:00 WTF is 'Brown Eyed Girl' doing on this music bed?

13:05 Is pressurising a word?

13:17 Is Lee avoiding me?

13:18 Can it wait until Monday?

13:19 Where is Darren?

13:34 30 or 40 seconds?

13:58 Did I know about that meeting on March 6th? Do I have to re-boot?

14:10 Did Neil Tennant really write that script?

14:21 Has Jade Goody lived her entire adult life in the public eye?

14:31 Where do we go, where do we go, where do we go from here?

14:33 Is spotify the future of online music? Will they ever get all music or will it always be just a taster?

15:00 Is a giant horse art?

15:09 Do I have to pay?

16:36 Is this it?

17:08 Can I go now?

Do I have to post some of the answers to these questions next week?
Some of them - in order - were no point, no, maybe, yes, no, either, no, dunno, possibly, probably, yes, no, no, because it is, yes, yes, no, hiding, 30, no, no, possibly, it feels like it, there, for now, no, for now, yes, no, yes.

Here every week
Here sometimes, randomly