And so it begins. You have forgotten something.

Nick and I both got our songs finished and submitted. He says his is in the vein on Nick Cave (and, presumably, The Bad Seeds), but as I can't call to mind their sound, I can't judge. It's a good little song of lost love, somehow mawkishly bleak. I really wish I could write lyrics that easily.

Mine came out pretty well, with two small problems. First the vocals are mixed too low. And second, all the production tricks that I used to make it loud...seemed to make it quiet.

So, I spent several hours today revisiting and refining softknee compressors, hard limiters, and the mathematical artistry involved in using them. I still don't really understand them well enough to know which paramaters are helpful for which genre.

An email arrived from H. He thinks I'm as grumpy in cyberspace as in real life - which is probably true. Sometimes he's so kind, intelligent, and modest about it I could happily spend each night cuddled up to him. And sometimes he's so blithly life-affirmative I want to grind my teeth. Sounds like a lot of successful couples I've met.

Oh yes. The new year's party. I have vague recollections of getting very drunk very quickly, arguing about the laws of probability applied to extraterrestrial life, arguing about whether or not the english are accent snobs, communally hating George Bush and the whole 'empire' attitude, embarassing Jon Snape by kissing him, embarassing Max by kissing him, and getting home with a muzzy headache and a mouth like mouldy newspaper.

I've just reinstalled Windows 2000 yet again on one computer, and now I'm going to reinstall it on this computer. Happy New Year. Goodnight.