The Return Of The All Seeing Eye

One day back in work after New Year's then another day in A&E for yours truly. Back in work again today, feeling much better. Eyeball still feels grainy, but it's not debilitating.

The antibiotics they gave me on Saturday simply weren't doing anything so I had to go back into the hospital and queue for 4 more hours... I'm beginning to think that maybe private medical insurance is worth it, after all. I left the building with anaethetised eyeballs and a new prescription consisting of 5x stronger antibiotics, plus two different types of 'artificial tear' to make me more comfortable! Yay! The antibiotics are preservative-free and need to be taken 6x daily and refrigerated. Plus they only last a week once opened, so I have two bottles to get through.

At least this time I was seen by a senior doctor who insisted that I should return ASAP to the proper clinic to try and figure out what's going wrong. Apparently 4 visits to A&E in 6 months is the magic number. Suits me! I finally have an appointment to be seen next Tuesday!

How about some guitar stuff, eh?

Well, the first thing that springs to mind is that the new term of Rockschool starts tomorrow. I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to get myself over there yet. Basically, it's bloody cold right now in London and whilst I'm fine to ride the scooter, I'm not completely happy with exposing Red to such unnecessary temperature changes.

I've actually missed the last couple of lessons due to Paris and then band practice, so I'm feeling like a bit of a slacker. I'll have to catch up with what's been learned in the interim.

Yesterday morning, as I was lying in bed with my eyes closed trying to get up the courage to haul my butt down to the hospital, Tim was spinning some old blues tunes. He was doing some last-minute cramming for an exam that afternoon and needed the distraction. The thing I love about blues stuff is that you can take a seemingly rigid format (12-bar, 8-bar etc) and twist it into something that sounds fresh and funky. Having learned "Strange Brew" for band practice I really got to thinking about how you can take something as simple as a I-IV-V progression but then rather than just playing chords, play riffs or fills based on those chords for the rhythm section. For some reason the sound of songs like that really excite me as they're kind of groovy.

Dah-dum, Dah-dum
Dum-dum
POW!

Dah-dum, Dah-dum
Dum-dum
POW!

Far out, man!

I've been exploring some stuff like this lately during my own little compositional phases. It's not that easy to come up with a simple yet groovy beat, but when you do, man, it's the best.

I think it's kind of an offshoot of my love of the whole jam-band thing. I have no problem listening to someone taking hours to build up to a crescendo just by repeating then modifying licks. I love that stuff. I particularly love it when you reach a peak then BANG, the whole band just takes off together in a different direction.

Ach... I need to get back to listening to some of my Derek Trucks Band stuff in preparation for Mardi Gras!

And it's time for my eyedrops again. Joy. Signing off!