Money’s too tight to mention
So that’s the end of that post, then.
<Drums fingers>
It’s a very grey, very rainy day out today. Look for yourself:
So whereas I thought it might be a day for sunbathing and swimming, it’s actually going to be a day for writing - not just the blog, but also a piece for jazz.com, and the celebrity fashion flog (that’s a ‘fake blog’, fact - or indeed etymology - fans) I write silly weekend posts for. And possibly also a day for watching CNN while I walk very quickly for 15 minutes, ie. ‘hitting the gym’.
I’m entering my final week here now - my last gig is a week tonight - and so I’m mindful of what I’ve got planned for each day before I leave. I’m also very mindful of the life that awaits me back home; not least because the freelance job which was my main source of income before I left is no more. As Scooby-Doo’s Shaggy would say: Yikes (Scoob).
Still, I’m a firm believer not in fate, but in seeing such things as chances to go in different directions; and as such, very often a Good Thing In Disguise. Fear leads one to blitz for work, and as a result: I may end up doing some work for an old employer which would involve more writing; I’ve applied for a paid blogging job on a news site; I’ve pitched the idea of a feature about my time out here to a leading women’s magazine; and the endorsement of the editor of jazz.com, a heavyweight jazz writer and critic, has given me a boost in terms of writing about the music I make, and led me to offer my freelance services to a British jazz magazine. Well, pretty much the only British jazz magazine - but a jazz magazine nonetheless (and no sniggering at the back there, please). Oh, and I’ve fortuitously just heard from a London-based jazz band who are up to their eyeballs in function gigs, and need a dep for their female singer. (Who’s also called Andrea. And no, I still don’t believe in fate. 
)
I’ve realised only belatedly that being out here has actually been good in terms of earning money; and given the work situation back home, wonder whether I should have taken up T’s offer of extending my stay here for another month. But I have family and friends to get back to - and two brand new members of that group in the form of my best friend’s new baby, and my sister’s impending one - and, to be truthful, two months has felt like exactly the right length of time to be here.
Obviously before I leave I’ll write a final post about my experience out here - a conclusion, as it were. But in the meantime: as I think about leaving and returning to London, I’ve realised more than ever just how much I love my life there, how much I love my friends and family, and how grateful I am at the thought of seeing them all again.
But now, to writing about Britney’s latest fashion blunder…
March 22nd, 2008 at 5.33pm
You should write a novel, get yourself and agent and make a real career out of writing. You have a great and very readable style. And you already have a title: Singapore Bling
March 22nd, 2008 at 6.27pm
ahh thanks for the endorsement, Pete! :-). Perhaps I should make ‘Singapore Bling’ the name of the heroine of my romantic novel?
March 22nd, 2008 at 7.03pm
I think it’s about time your family said how much we’ve enjoyed reading your blog, looking at your pics and how much we are looking forward to seeing you again.
Love you lots.
March 22nd, 2008 at 7.04pm
aww shucks…
March 22nd, 2008 at 8.46pm
Just catching up on the blog events of the last week. I’ve been down in darkest Kent accompanying singers on a course under the tutelage of Pete ‘the Guru’ Churchill, Lee Gibson and Norma Winstone amongst others.
Seems strange that your time in Penang is coming to an end already. I hope it’s given you a kick start to a whole new area of work,both writing and singing.
I’ll miss reading your blog when it comes to an end.
March 23rd, 2008 at 1.04am
or maybe she should be called Apore and the at some point somene could say Sing Apore Sing!
March 23rd, 2008 at 1.04am
the only drawback being that it isn’t a name.
March 23rd, 2008 at 2.10am
ha! (that’s directed at Peter, btw)
John - thanks. it’s been fun sharing the journey with you :-). bet that course was great… funnily enough I was thinking about Pete Churchill today; reflecting on how part of my experience here has been teaching the rudiments of jazz for the first time, without realising that I’d have to - and how much I owe everyone who has ever taught *me* about jazz.