Just before Christmas, I went for an interview with another Sheffield company, and received a job offer, which I have accepted.  I consider this as continuing the recent HuSi tradition of changing jobs, and also to make me less of a hypocrite when I mock other people for working in jobs they don't like.

It's not that there was anything wrong with my old job, but general ennui and the stress of having so much responsibility all to myself sucked.  It was hard not to play out in my head scenarios that could quite easily happen that would result in major crises that I would have to sort out on my own.  Even having one other person capable of helping would have eased the concern - misery shared and all that.

New job is still based on web interfaces, but heavily involving AJAX/SOAP and resulting in "cool" things (VOIP, IPTV).  The pay rise, better prospects and stability are all pluses too.

Favourite cheeky interview moment:

Interviewer: "We encourage working from home."
Gaz: "That's funny, so do I."

I start on the 15th.

Gigs:

I briefly mentioned the other day that I had formed a covers band, and that we were playing a gig last Friday.  Well, here are some more details.

I've wanted to do more music stuff for ages, and had had a drunken conversation with someone about how it would be cool just to form a cheesy covers band, just to get out there and play.  Zero artistic integrity, just a bit of fun and a little extra cash.  At the end of November he called me up and asked if I'd be happy playing bass rather than guitar, as he (vocalist) had found a guitarist (mutual friend, better guitarist than me) who in turn had found a drummer (who can keep time!  A drummer!  Who can keep time!)

Naturally I said yes, we picked 5 songs to learn that week, and went to rehearsal.  It was a bit messy, but there was a glimmer of hope.  This is when the vocalist mentioned he'd booked us a gig on Jan 5th playing at his friend's surprise birthday party, giving us about 5 weeks of elapsed time to learn a full set and practice enough to get tight.  We crammed in as many rehearsals as we possibly could, but that still only amounted to 5-6 rehearsals of 2-3 hours.  That's why I've not been around so much; free time has been spent learning basslines

After the last rehearsal, I was actually beginning to think we could do it.  We bought a lighting rig and associated gubbins, decided on a band outfit (jeans+t-shirt is fine for NME's darling credible indie bands, but not for covers bands) and set up at the venue - a pub in Chesterfield.

When everyone showed, I had time for a couple of nerve-settling pints, then we went backstage to put on the outfits and head out.  Nerves were on high terror alert, when I heard the opening riff to Hey Joe.  It happened so quickly I didn't have time to think about anything other than getting ready for my part.  Now Hey Joe is a very easy song for the bass, and thankfully nobody missed any cues for the different riffs.  It sounded great.

Quickly detune to drop-D, and straight into Fat Bottomed Girls.  This is the song I'd decided ahead of time I needed to get right, as it was so early on in the set and the first song where the bassline was really a major part of the song.  It went without hitch, and I was able to relax and get into it after that point.

The first set was 12 songs, ending on Love Machine, which went down really well.  Throughout the set people were politely listening but not much more.  Still, that's to be expected.  The reaction to Love Machine was better though.

Break for half an hour and have a couple more pints.  Nerves pretty much non-existent now.  This time when we came out, people seemed more into it.  We opened with that rock classic Since You've Been Gone, and people were shouting along.  By the end of the set (12 songs) the crowd were well and truly onside, shouting along, singing into the mic when the vocalist went running into the audience.  The only big mistake we made was in Stuck In The Middle where the vocalist went into the bridge when it should have been the guitar break.  We quickly switched to match him, but he just got confused.  Still, we eventually recovered in time for the next verse, so although a noticeable fuck-up, we didn't have to stop playing, which is about the worst thing that could happen.

We went off stage, and the crowd were literally roaring for more.  Now I know they were all friends and friends-of-friends, and so were onside from the start, but it was still a nice thing to hear.  So we switched hats (hats!) into the cowboy hats and did a 2 song encore of Sweet Home Alabama and finally Wanted Dead Or Alive.

After the gig, we got lots of positive comments, suggestions of people who'd want to book us, and general amazement when we said we'd only been together for 5 weeks.

I had a photographer friend take pics, so hopefully I should be able to post some in the near future.

So what's your excuse about the MFC then?

Last night, I started to record my MFC entry (I wasn't leaving it till the last minute; for some reason I thought the deadline was Friday), when I realised that as backups I'd taken my XLR and TRS cables to the gig, and the vocalist still had them.  I'll be able to get them back at rehearsal on Saturday, so I humbly request an extension till Monday, as I'll be unable to record vocals otherwise :(

Houses:

My housemate's moving in with his girlfriend at the start of next month.  He tried to phone the landlord mid-December, but couldn't get through on any of three numbers.  We've not been able to get through since.  A friend said she may want to move in, but fucked around for ages.  She eventually said yes, but would only be able to move in May, and so phoned the landlord to see if they could work around that.  I didn't want to pay the full house rent for the months in-between, of course.

Naturally she couldn't get through either.

Fortunately I've found another friend who'll move in, and will move in from the start of Feb.  We've even managed to get in touch with the landlord after my housemate sent a speculative email to someone with their fairly distinctive name.  All I need to do now is get them on the phone and arrange a date for contract signing.  Huzzah!  Moving house is a pain - I still would like my next house move to be into a house I own.  Perhaps not next year, but the year after.

Love life:

Well, I've wanted out of my job for a while, and I got that sorted at the start of this year.  I've wanted to get more involved with music and performing, and I've now got that sorted.  The immediate issue of accommodation has now been sorted.  That leaves exactly one thing that I would like to change in my life: I require a Gazbette.

I've been quite happily single for several years, with just the occasional (alright, very occasional) one-night-stand.  This is due to a general wariness of getting into relationships for reasons that I shaln't go into.  But finally I think I can stand having a woman around.  Based on recent life-successes (see first paragraph of the section) I imagine I shall "score" within Q1.

Miscellany:

As if you needed telling, I am going to see Sugababes and Girls Aloud in the next few months.  I have decent seats for GA, but the Sugababes seats are literally A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  So there.