Dear X,

Apologies for the gap between letters. It's been manically busy at work. It still is, but I thought I'd blog/write/whatever instead of update my PowerPoint slides. Naughty? Not quite. Hibernating has been the extent of my naughtiness of late. :)

What I have been naughty about is catching up with all of the great music that friends have been recommending to me. Bands include:

Raining Pleasure
Bon Iver
Water School
Gravenhurst
Tokyo Police Club
new Little Wings
RL Burnside
Holy Fuck
Black Mountain
Castanets
Atlas Sound
new Hot Chip
Euros Childs
Monade
Jean Jacques Perrey and Luke Vibert
VHS or Beta
Most Serene Republic
new Sia
new Destroyer
new Thurston Moore
Apparat
Breathe Owl Breathe
Datarock
Lightspeed Champion
Miracle Fortress


and more.

If you have other bands I need to add to my list then let me know. :)

On the non-musical front I've been trying to build up my running after knackering my legs with the half-marathon. My muscles were all tight and knotted up, but vigorous deep tissue massage (not an enjoyable experience, but highly effective) and yoga has helped. Yes, I've taken up yoga. I'm surprised at my ability to do some of the poses, but then befuddled when I can't do the others. I'm inclined to think that the human body was never intended to contort itself into those positions, but I must accept that I'm a rather tight little ball that needs a bit of stretching.

On the social front I've been a bit naughty and cancelled some planned outings due to work commitments. On the plus-side I've got some nice things to look forward to this week:
- a day off with a friend to go clothes shopping on Tuesday
- a night out with colleagues on Wednesday
- a gig with my rock buddy on Friday
- an Easter party with some new friends (they're Greek and Easter falls a bit later for them)

I'm a bit weary of (almost) each of them. I can't spend too much money on Tuesday ... I love going to gigs with my rock buddy so that will be good and, who knows, he might get singled out by the band like the last time ... I'm looking forward to the Easter bash but I'm shy and weary of arriving at the party and not knowing many of the people there. I know I shouldn't work myself up into knots about these nice things in advance - it's just my nature.

I'd better sign off here, but I wish you well. Take care.

Stephanie

Tune for today: For Emma by Bon Iver