Perhaps I am working, and just not getting paid. After all a friend of mine suggested that to be self-employed is to be in the land of the quantum pay-cheque, and what a perfectly poetic turn of phrase that is. He went on:

At all times there is and isn’t a pay-cheque available.

It’s true. I don’t think dwelling on that too much is healthy, but it does rather describe the possibilities of the situation.

With a house move but one week away, I’ve seen this fortnight as a chance to get my brain into gear and start planning various things. Mainly how to hunt down those cash-shaped particles, but also to think which cash-shaped particles I’d rather be hunting, and which are more likely to radiate a presence.

I’m not much of a financial physicist, I’ll grant you, but I’ve a feeling such skills will come in handy. I’m peppering the great slice of opportunity I seem to have in front of me with a particularly large dusting of realism. Hence the website work (and the new work and experience section), hence the LinkedIn refresh, and hence the constant querying of self-employed friends and families about the whys and wherefores.

I’ll admit it, it’s a strange new land with some foreign rules. But I like exploring, I’ve skills I know are useful, and my game could prove to translate perfectly.

What I do know is that you can’t be paid for doing nothing. But the positive thing is, I don’t intend to test that.

RAARRGHHHHHHHhhh.

So anyway,  it’s the weekend and for all those of you out there with partners I hope you have a superb weekend spending time with them. For those who don’t. You’re awesome, so don’t let bachelor-dom get you down.

Just a quick update on what I’m doing at the moment: I’m working hard on The Barefoot Beginner and getting modest traffic, while I’m posting on AllTheSkill intermittently, and otherwise running as pre-training for the marathon. Speaking of which please consider sponsoring me if you haven’t already – if you need extra persuading (you’re a hard master but) click the image to the right where hopefully my JustGiving page will convince you that it’s a good idea.

Other things I think you need to be aware of are the fantastic artistic offerings of Kerry Hyndman I’ve got one of these bad boys on my Christmas list: Awesome.  Also, you might remember me mentioning electropoetry outfit The King’s Will before. Well guess what. Not only is the album officially launching on December 13th at CAMP London, you should definitely click play on their latest video below. Just superb.

Um, I think that’s me for now. All decent – hope you are.

Kev

Click here to view the embedded video.

PoeJazzi

So, if you missed it last night, PoeJazzi had its fifth anniversary show, featuring Mista Gee, Rosie Sleightholme, Sabrina Mahfouz, Scroobius Pip, Cornelia, and spur of the moment performances by creators (and, I’m lucky enough to call them good friends) Joshua Idehen and Musa Okwonga. Just a recap: The reason I go on about PoeJazzi is (that I’m biased, and) this is the night that featured Ed Sheeran before all but a few of his fans knew who he was. This is the night that featured Scroobius Pip before he was on the radio (and before he was widely regarded as a musician, rather than a poet). This is a night of cultural clout, genuine talent and genuine love. Boiled down, it’s very, very good, and it’s people and players are superb.

In the crowd last night were the wonderful photographer and musician Kim Leng-Hills; a stand-out poetic talent in Alex Gwyther; the intelligently curious minded, tweet-guru and top writer, Will Conway; the poet, playwright and graphic designer Inua Ellams; the supreme singer/songwriter, Louise Golbey and many others.

But the kind of people that this night attracts to play and watch was summed up by one person in one act. Not the generous applause given and richly deserved. Not the attention and respect given throughout the night. But the arrival of the true gentleman artist, Scroobius Pip.

I met Scroobius in 2006 before the first Poejazzi – I believe he was touring the country’s open mic nights in a camper van. We met again on the first PoeJazzi night. I saw him about the poetry scene for a few months and then caught up with him twice at Glastonbury 2007, just after he’d teamed up with Dan Le Sac, and where he performed once as a ‘rapper’ and once as a poet/a capella artist. Since then his career has really taken off. He’s released two albums with Dan Le Sac, made multiple appearances on TV and radio, launched a poetry book and, now, has his own solo album out.

And the thing is, apart from the unsteady and deep communication sea that is Twitter (and only there once or twice), I’ve not spoken to him for over four years. Yet, as I saw him approach the City Arts & Music Project on City Road near Old St, he walked straight up and greeted me like an old friend.

That’s class. After all, I’m not a national figure, am I. I haven’t released albums or books. The most that the world knows of me is probably wrongly identifying an advert’s theme tune. And yet, Scroobius remembers me from before his fame, as someone he met before he found international success. That’s telling of his character of course, but also of the sort of people PoeJazzi attracts to watch, perform and then come back to watch or perform.

So if you missed it, you missed out. But I’m sure there’ll be another time.

Bit of a new project that I’m hoping will be of help to those wondering what on earth barefoot running is, and where to start with the absolute mass of information that is out there.

I’m also going through one of those periods in life where I am abolutely addicted to the amount of information on TED. The place is a goldmine. My current favourites are:

[ted id=860]

and

[ted id=1227]

And who is Scrillex? Apparently some sort of sonic star, featured on the cover of Rock Sound. And listen to this:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Right, I’m now off to go and see PoeJazzi’s 5th Anniversary show. It should be awesome.

Cheers!

But then, that’s probably not of national interest. However, did you hear about “Block the Bridge“?  That is. The NHS is awesome, and the fact that people have taken the time to show their support is wonderful. I’m with them in supporting the NHS.  At the time of writing the BBC has started covering it apparently. I believe the protesters have been there for some five hours now. However, blocking an actual working bridge…err, guys…won’t that potentially block a route for ambulances and such?[*update* apparently they were let through - thanks Vin].

Crazy Sundays, eh?

"I shall call it 'Awesomnity'"

So aside from that, I’ve been implementing a few tweaks and changes to this site. If you’ve seen the lightboxes then feedback is appreciated. If not, you’re a lucky devil. I’m working on another website/project which I’ll have some more news on shortly, and for those of you interested in The Arsenal, or football in general, my latest blog on AllTheSkill can be found here.

Oh, while I remember, I now own the colour #0a83af. Or, as I have named it, “Awesomnity”. See. I’m hoping I’ve helped UNICEF save some lives in the process, and hoping that you do too.

Right, just a quick update from me. Hope you’re decent.

So what’s new? Well I’m living in S.London, which is decent. I’m reading a lot. I’m learning to run in the barefoot style, as I’m reading Christopher McDougall’s Born To Run. It’s a fantastic book; such a fantastic book actually that I’d like to recommend you go and buy a copy right now if you have any interest in running, general fitness or – what the hell – travel writing. For ease, you can click through to Amazon from my Recommended Read link in the sidebar.

Oh, I’ve started an Arsenal-related fooball blog called All The Skill. Otherwise I’m generally keeping well, and I’ll be back here a fair bit more frequently, while tidying the place up a bit as well.

Until next time.