A Stiff Upper Lip

I went to the dentist this morning for some fillings. I was frightened. 

I didn't mind childbirth, but hurty things in my head are a no-no.

The local anaesthetic lasted most of the day. I forgot about it, and made a cup of tea which went in one side of my mouth and out of the other. 

The trauma of the drillings and fillings experience allowed me to have a really lazy day, and read three quarters of an utterly crappy crime novel that appeared to have been written to order for a focus group of Marks-and-Spencer types. It's finished now, and ready to go to the bookshelf at the tube station for a poor commuter to be troubled by it.

I've been worried that I've been lazy since walking out of my lecturing job last summer, but Champagne Friend says that I haven't, so maybe I really haven't. I used to structure each day very tightly to get everything done, but now the structures are much more wobbly. It is, though, quite amazing what you can achieve when you're not being undermined by neoliberal managers whose sole philosophy is being an underminer! How British society has changed: we used to have a strong mining community, and now we have a strong undermining one. They flit about from one University to another, managing decline and cutting budgets, leaving the academics to deal with the students' ire at not getting what they had been promised. In my last meeting with a manager, which was online, I decided to sit with a notebook and write down anything she actually said. She didn't say anything- she giggled for an hour. What a waste of time! 

I think I've been worried by not finishing any songs recently, but that is about to change. Plus I've learned/rehearsed four different sets over the past month, starting with Robert's backing vocals, then the Helen and the Horns set, then The Chefs quartet of songs for tomorrow, and my current songs.

I've also dug through tons of archive tracks, and sent off the unreleased Chefs album to Hull to be remastered, and made a bit of progress with recording me and James's duo versions of the four songs we've been playing together live.

I've been writing stories for a possible animation if I can get a story that will make sense in two minutes or less (a bit like the early Chefs songs, I suppose), and starting to have ideas for Beefheart! The Musical, which me and Gina will be writing in December, and performing early next year in Bury.

Now I have to prevent myself from worrying about whether I should drive to Sussex tomorrow, or get the train. It's so much quicker to drive, but will I feel sleepy? I bought some giant marshmallows to eat on the way home just in case and have eaten two already, even though they're disgusting. 

That's no way to treat fresh new fillings, is it?