Is a pretty neat little function. A nice way of listening to music on shuffle whilst only really getting music you're in the mood to listen to.

Two of my closest university friends have just got engaged. Exciting times. It was totally impromptu, which I think is very cool. I once very nearly asked Mr McLaren to marry me. It was a totally random innapropriate place (a dull restaurant with dull food) but that was all background noise; all that mattered was him. I didn't say a word though, I put the thought away. I don't think he'd have forgiven me for stealing his moment.

I have tomorrow off work, a random public holiday. Mr MacLaren has asked for the day's annual leave but his work never confirmed it to him. So he's going to go in first thing and see what the state of play is. If it's a nice day and he's about, I'd like to go to the Zoo. If he's not about I might go furntiture shopping.

Cafe Sci tomorrow night; just me going though, as Mr MacLaren is off to a gig.

I went out to a gig last night, to see Edinburgh legends Idlewild play new venue The Picture House . A recent conversion of the old Caley Cinema (to my mind it will always be Revulsion Revolution, a less than salubrious night club from my early student days) The Picture House is a gorgeous building to be in- I'd never noticed the artful old wood panelling in the entrance, and in the auditorium the stage of the old cinema screen is still relatively intact, albeit hidden last night behind sound curtains.

We seemed to be there for the soft opening; the first official gig at the venue but a full week and a bit before the Grand Opening with Scottish Dull-Rockers Travis. As I overheard someone saying in the loos, Idlewild seem to be more of a going concern on the Scottish music scene than Travis these days (and have always been a more interesting band)(AND they're actually from Edinburgh, just doon the road from The Picture House no less) but perhaps the fact that the Travis gig has sold out whereas last night hadn't should tell me I'm wrong.

In all I wasn't that impressed with the gig. I've been to see Idlewild plenty of times in the past and I know they can put on a blinding show. Last night though, was somewhat lacking. The main problem, as far as I was concerned, was that the mix was rubbish, and so Roddy Woomble's gorgeous voice and great singalong lyrics were lost in the three guitars. I'm not normall the kind of person who can comment on the quality of the mix either, so it must have been pretty pants. Perhaps because of this for me, the two stand out tracks were the acoustic songs at the beginning of the encore, ?American English and then When I Argue I See Shapes, which was a bit like this:

That said, the over all environment wasn't great. Gigs crowds reach this funny stage once you get out of the very smallest venues; over a couple of hundred in the audience and all of a sudden you get folk that have been drinking all afternoon, who are obnoxious and violent and you wonder why on earth they'd waste their money on coming to a gig when they can piss people off for free elsewhere. Presumably they like to aggravate with a rocking sound track. 

There were also a lot of those weird fans who are there for the lead singer and not the band (the first time we saw Radiohead there were lots of really scary people shouting about how Thom Yorke was a god and practically worshipping at the stage...it was most unpleasant) which is embarrasing when the band are as tight an effective a unit as Idlewild. A standard chant of Here we, Here we, Here we Fucking Go didn't take off when it started just before the band came on, but moments later poor Roddy Woomble was visible cringing to the sound of Roddy, Roddy, Roddy Fucking Woomble and (Remember you're a Woomble ). Perhaps because of this imbalance Roddy spent many of the non-lyric bits of the songs scooting off to one side of the stage and just letting the band have the limelight.

Generally I think The Picture House will be a good thing for Edinburgh. We need a mid-size venue, and one with decent soul not like the aircraft hanger monstrosity that is The Corn Exchange is very welcome. The wooden floors are easier on the aging/pogoing knees and the venue is dead central and well served by public transport. Even the Club nights they'll be running post gigs on Friday and Saturday appeal a bit. We shall have to see where things go.

we *finally* bought ourselves a new telly. For months we have been without tv at all. But now we have a telly. A big, shiny telly . It is VERY exciting.

I'm currently watching Shrek and it looks dead weird, because it is such a good picture.  It looks a bit like a computer game! Bright, and shiny, and crisp. I am exceedingly excited.

I can't tell you how tempted I am to cry off our party plans for this evening and settle down to watch Season Three of Battlestar Galactica, sitting on DVD in the corner awaiting the purchase of a suitable screen....frakkin A! 

after a very blue day I am feeling a tiny bit better tonight. Possibly because I have brought the application form to a reasonable close.

Last night the devil sent some twerp that's just got his LLB and thinks he's smart over and we batted about my options. That helped a little too, although I am still thinking. Time is on my side with the big option; the deadline for the job I've been working on this week is Friday. 

Right now I am going to bed. There hasn't been enough sleep of late. 

Oh and I would like to blame Tosha for any purchases I may inadvertently have made from etsy this week. Not my fault at all. 

Feeling distinctly uneasy at the moment, about my life, my future, my desires, my career. There are ideas, there are options I would probably jump for if they were here, now not vague and in the future, and there are lots of unknowns.

My anxiety at all this is not helped by people coming along dropping big hints that maybe I *ought* just go for it (the big, scary, expensive, timely commitment type option) like they know what I'm thinking. Making me think I ought to pull my socks up , work out what it is I want, and damned well do it.

As it is, I have a bit of time to think about Big, Scary Option. Option C (would be possibly exactly what I am looking for were it only in a different city) it seems, is the one I need to concentrate on just now; a typo on the jobs website gave a deadline of 08/10/08 when in fact it was 08/08/08 i.e. this Friday. Once I've applied I can work out if I want it or not.

So, I am listening to Karine Polwart, eating some popcorn, and trying to write a personal statement. I am sure it hasn't been nearly long enough since I last wrote one of these. Trying to avoid feeling as miserable and ill as I felt last night/this morning/late this afternoon.

Subject of email: Woman Seeks Looost Pet Goat With Bagels

AND now I am thinking hmm, cinnamon bagel for breakfast?