Some of my favourite Rules as described by the Esquire’s, A Man’s Guide to Life:

394 – Sinatra is never wrong

43 – For the last time, no goddamn Speedos

392 – When in doubt pick C

498 – A man can never own too many pairs of socks

210 – Executives don’t need presents

302 – The correct description for any photograph of someone else’s baby is “adorable.” Have this word ready to go before the photograph is shown…so you can utter “adorable” without hesitation.

249 – The is nothing good about berets

1 – In an argument between two men, the one chewing a cigar naturally has the upper hand

196 – No woman over the age of 17 has ever been thrilled by the gift of carnations

95 – People who live inland are fatter than those who live in coastal areas

413 – A gentleman never considers sexual activity until the dog has been sent to another room

96 – The Wall Street Journal is the proper newspaper for the steam room

83 – The last slice of pie is the tastiest

500 – Women whose names end with the letter “i” are more promiscuous

78 – A man whose belt is fastened on the last hole is a desparate and resourceless-looking man

607 – Money may not buy happiness but it’s a hefty down payment

668 – Relax. Enjoy yourself. Have a good time

“These are the rules that apply to every man’s life. They have stood the test of time and have been bound between the covers of a book by Esquire. They are, therefore, true. The rules have been revised and updated – because being a man has gotton that much harder.”

I find it difficult to do an array of things, even if they are sequential, starting and completing multiple tasks just feels impossible. Within the confines of work, it is easier, you don’t have too much of a choice so you simply preserve with those things that are in your in tray and get them done to relieve any pending pressure, we call it silent running. Outside of work is where my weakness to get things done is most apparent.

For the past two or so months I have been battling with a throat problem, I am not going to try to detail it but remedying it has taken all of my focus, sometimes overtly, sometimes subtly but it has always been manifested in my subconscious.

And it’s made doing all of the other things that I would normally do, like updating this space of secondary unimportance.

Fingers crossed, it does now feel like I am getting the better of it, I certainly hope so. I have changed my diet and my routine, my mother even made me jelly (which was very heart warming) over the course of April. Your health is not sometime to take for granted and I mostly don’t but every so often you are reminded that you have to do things differently for your own good, you just can’t continue to do all of those things that you are accustomed to in perpetuity. I’m trying to make dietary changes, simple changes that I think I’ll be able to stick with going forward, most of it centres around timing, even moderation and drinking a lot more water.

The one thing that I do want to start to do is eat more fruit during the working day, my intake is sporadic at best. When we had our offices in the CBD, I’d buy fruit for the day from one of the vendors close to the office, lots of people did the same thing, it was a good habit to get into and easy to maintain. Now I have to bring things in from home, I often forget, the fruit goes off and there is a lag between when I go to the supermarket to get some more, it’s not as easy but I must make a concerted effort to make it easy. Other little changes centre around the timing of espresso, being a little less generous with the pour and improving my fitness, these changes require a little discipline and some rigor but they are not all together out of the question.

I don’t want to tackle anymore until those are bedded down in my routine and hopefully that will be enough for me to regain my health, or more importantly a belief that I am healthy, that things are in balance because I just don’t cope all that well when things are out of my predefined equilibrium, I really struggle to the extent that all my effort it directed at the one thing that needs to be addressed for the balance to return.

McRae’s chemistry with a lyric was not dissimilar to sodium pentothal’s effects on subjects of interrogation -the truth, for better or worse, would emerge. Like her idol, Sarah Vaughan, she was a musician first, a singer second. And like Billie Holiday, her prime inspiration, she was an irrepressible improviser whose commanding musicianship gave her the control to take liberties wild and subtle in articulating her vision of a song. Ted Panken (Liner Notes, Carmen McRae, Priceless Jazz Collection).

I read that and then I went to the listening counter in the Jazz section and heard Bye Bye Blackbird; My Funny Valentine and I knew, I knew that I was in the company of one of the genre’s greats.

Carmen McRae was for a long time my second favourite vocal jazz musician, Ella, remains my number one but Carmen was nestled in there at number two, this lasted until I began to buy, listen to and experience Billie’s last few albums and Carmen slipped into third spot.

But it doesn’t really matter, they are all good and ranking them is only good for dinner table conversation which never resolves anything nor takes away the pleasure of hearing each vocalist in her own unique capacity. I only mention ranking to provide you with a reference but Carmen McRae stands out in her own right.

When I bought my Priceless collection for days I never made it beyond “Flamingo” that little repeat button function, ensured that it looped around my head for days on end, eventually I got past track three only to get stuck on track number five, my favourite version of, “How long has this been going on?” Those two songs and a later live version of “Take-5″ define Carmen McRae for me, they are my sodium pentothal, my moment of truth and I have included them for review.

2007-02-03

I picked up my, KT Tunstall, Acoustic Extravaganza, again determined to like the album even after J had said that, ‘she sounds like Sheryl Crow’ which just instantly ruined it for me.

As I placed the cd into the shuttle, knowing that the first track, Ashes, didn’t sound anything like mz Crow, I proceeded to open the booklet and discovered the following bit of text which she references and which I now reference:

Beauty of Uncertainty posted on 28-02-2006 @ 16:57

People with missing children. Children without parents. People without food or water. There are many who are destroyed by not knowing what the future holds. For those of us more fortunate, the beauty of uncertainty is that it motivates us to seek certainty. We are compelled to replace doubt with conviction, to replace confusion with clarity, to be more fearful of old ideas instead of new ones. Nothing is more disparaged than the person who is lost, hesitant, and anxious.

Yet the true path to fulfillment comes from these conditions. Uncertainty becomes truly beautiful when connected with the certainty that there is a better life beyond the life that is known. The artist, scientist, entrepreneur, athlete, and traveller: all embrace uncertainty as their muse. What is going to happen next is more enticing than what is happening now. The thrill of anticipation, the mystery of the unknown, the open road, mistakes as portals of discovery, the inevitability of change, purpose from chaos, questions leading to answers, failure as the threshold of knowledge.

All of these conditions inform the life of the adventurer, the human being who is engaged in becoming. The beauty of uncertainty is that it prepares us to embrace life in the face of death. Allows us the strength to deal with the freedom to choose. To willingly exchange the fear of uncertainty for the security of certainty is to admit defeat. To surrender to the fear of actually living your life. As T. S. Eliot observed, “Where is the life we have lost in living?”

Nothing moves forward except by the craving to seek certainty from uncertainty.- Brian Hendricks, Editor, HoBO magazine.

Unfortunately the rest of the album which is great, still remains somewhat in ruin because of that idle, throw-away, observation which is now etched into my subconscious, although I have added a point of departure.

‘beauty of uncertainty’

My love for the beautiful game started at age seven it was an instinctive and immediate affection and at the time only rivaled my marble collection. The game came very naturally to me, I had a cultured left boot and an automatic understanding of its dynamics. Up until the age of 16, football was my main passion but changing circumstance and a growing appreciation for new-wave music, in particular a certain synthesizer band from Basildon, quietly nudged it into second place. A couple of things fuelled my enjoyment of the game, the first being that I was quite good at it, I played as a striker and scored a lot of goals between under 10 and under 14, I captained local school teams and won the odd award. The other more significant event was when my mother recognized that she could use this burgeoning interest to spawn another interest and that was an interest in reading.

Every week, all be it almost two months later thanks to the postal service, I got three football magazines: the Shoot, Roy of the Rovers and Billy Boots, these magazines had literature was of such a good standard that it made a nonsense of the debate about letting your children read too many comics. So my parents managed to kill two birds with one stone, they tapped into my interests and ensured that I was reading every week.

I followed Liverpool, they had such intellectual front players in the Eighties, Dalglish and Rush, it was an easy choice even though we hardly saw any of it on the television but from the little that I did see of those players they struck a chord. And the team has a very special anthem, “You never walk alone” which was great to hear at the end of games when Liverpool was the featured team on the BBC radio commentary.

Football has exploded in recent years, the last decade has seen greater television coverage and post the Bosman ruling many more African players are plying their trade in the top European leagues.

Today I am part of the larger Rafalution and every Monday during the season, myself and my fellow Red comrades have a cuppa tea and discuss the team’s disappointments and triumphs in great depth. It’s been a difficult week for Liverpool supporters two Arsenal defeats, nine goals conceded and dumped out of two cups, still this comes with the territory and it helps to try and keep perspective.

’2007-01-05’

Footnote:

Lets hope we put in a good winning performance tonight against the Gunners and then wish urhm well for the upcoming ManU games.

Many of you may have seen or heard a bit about this by now, but wanted to let you all know that the street kid awareness campaign is starting to get underway!

For those who I haven’t spoken to yet, this is a very special cause that is close to my heart… and it raises funds and awareness for a very cool project run by The Homestead and the WCSCF. It’s called the Hardened Street Child Care Plan, and in a nutshell it aims to get each one of those scruffy, neglected kids still living the hard life on the streets into a place where they have a chance at a normal life.

As bloggers we have a great platform to reach people, and as many incidents (not least the Don Edwards vs. QVC battle) have shown, collectively we have a lot of power.

This is why I’m asking you all to help me get the word out about the great work that is being done for kids in need – who we all see around the city. We need to Spread the Love and use our blogs to change our communities (if not the world!).

You don’t have to do much – simply check out the info below, join the Facebook group if possible, and do a post on this cause. I’ve included some basic copy which you can change as you like, plus I’ve also included a banner and a few badges plus code. These can be put onto blogs or website to show support.

If saving the world and all that jazz isn’t motivation enough, all bloggers who join the cause and show their support will also get mention in any press releases or material that goes out (and believe me, I plan to pimp this baby as far as I can go!).

So it’s a win-win kinda thing really!

I’ve done a post to get the ball rolling:

Now let’s see what you lot can do!

Thanks a lot for everyone who gets this out, you all rock.

Rox

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