I forgot to write about something which happened earlier this week.

The band and I were doing ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’. And there’s a moment in the final section where we all stop - for pretty much as long as I feel like it - the last time we do this phrase:

“But each time I do

Just the thought of you

Makes me stop…”

<Pause>

“Before I begin…”

- It’s a bit of a cliche on this song, but fun to do occasionally.

So, anyway, there we were on a fairly busy night, but with an attentive audience, so all was quiet in the bar; and this is what happens:

“But each time I do

Just the thought of you

Makes me stop…”

<Pause>

<Phone in the bar rings, right next to the stage>

As they’d say in South Park: Sweet.

CC dropped by the bar last night, and brought with him the negatives and digital versions of the photos I took with the SLR the other day.

The results weren’t too bad - beautifully sharp, if a little over-exposed (it was a very sunny day). But hey, nothing a little iPhoto-ing can’t fix. Almost:

What I noticed most of all when looking at shots like the one above and the one below, here -

- is that, apart from both being of windows, they’re really not so different from the results I can get with my little digital camera. So easily the most satisfying photos I took with the SLR are ones which really use that SLR , if you see what I mean. Like these:

Though the centre of focus is clearly slightly skew-whiff* on that second one.

Anyway, SLR Lesson Number One learned ;-).

More pictures from that afternoon in Georgetown are here.

*Definitely the first time I’ve ever written that word.

Back, I tell you!

Well, my public needed me - what can I say?

I got an email from a friend today saying “sorry to hear about your cold” - and I replied (after first thanking her for her sympathy) that it’s strange what blogs do to you. Ordinarily, a cold is nothing out of the ordinary, and I feel pathetic for even writing about it, let alone eliciting any sympathy for it. Especially when my poor sister-in-law is laid up after major back surgery (here’s a shout out to you, K!).

In the realm of daily blogging, however, a slight sniffle suddenly assumes the mantle of Headline Of The Week (or even: Weak), and people here are asking me if I’m really OK, and if I’m going to see a doctor, and how I should really see a doctor, what with Malaysian viruses being particularly strong.

But: it’s just a cold.

So I was back on the bandstand tonight - after D’s daughter did a sterling job of standing in for me over the past two nights - and lo, like the Pied Piper of Hamlin, as soon as I started singing, people started to enter the room. No, really. It was quite spooky. Though not as spooky as it would have been if it had been rats.

I felt like I was firing on two cylinders all night; and it’s really quite an interesting exercise, to sing with only 50% of your voice. Mainly because it’s not an even 50% split. It’s not like you lose half of your range; it’s more that the ‘oomph’ isn’t there, and you lose the control you normally have. So when you start a phrase, no matter how short or long, it could suddenly slip at some point. A bit like singing on black ice.

But, hey: at least I was back up there.

Next up: a fascinating report on how I’ve chipped a fingernail!