My Ma Won't Admit It

How did it get to be September again so quickly? This time last year, the UK was full of anti-war sentiment but even more full of political apathy, New Orleans was in ruins, and I was fixing a lot of computers while trying to lose weight. My how things have changed.

Still, in a few days the TV will be awash with pundits solomnly reminding us that the world changed forever five years ago. This was when 3000 yuppies died, and we blamed a Syrian with friends in Pakistan and America. So we looked for him in Afganistan and Iraq.

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I've taken a leaf out of Tony's blog, and spent a very pleasant the evening (yesterday) on YouTube, watching pop videos from my youth. Including:

* Close to the Edit by the late great Art of Noise. This is the only video that looks as fantastic now as it did then.

* Various tracks by Paul Hardcastle - at the time it didn't seem obvious he was a late New Romantic. Or jazz influenced. He was just amazingly cool for 2 or 3 years, and used magic boxes called "samplers".

I got a sampler - or rather, pestered my parents to buy me a sampler - largely because of him. His was an Emulator II, costing UKP2000+. Mine was a Casio SK5, costing (I think) UKP89.95. It was 8-bit, could store 4 samples of 1.2 seconds (or 2 of 1.4 seconds), and had no MIDI or backing store capability. It's sitting behind me on a shelf.

* True Faith by New Order. Okay, it looks almost as good as when it was new. And it means absolutely nothing.

Recently someone tried to persuade me David Bowie's Ashes to Ashes video - the one with the nuns, mechanical digger, purple sky, harlequin costume and old woman - was not just meaningful but deeply meaningful.

As opposed to the pile of lovable old toss everyone else knows it to be. But I doubt if even he would see deeper meaning in True Faith.

* Various stuff by Wang Chung - because I know someone who knows someone who was in them before they became Wang Chung. Which was their video that had Wilson and Keppel's sand-dance in it? I think I like Dancehall Days best.

* Living on Video by Trans-X. The song (or rather, the synth) was a great favourite of mine when I was about 15, but I never saw the video till now. It's cyberpunk on a shoestring budget.

* The Race by Yello. Featuring a Swiss bloke rapping into a large spanner, some motor race crashes, and deliberately awful back projection. Love it.

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A half hour lovey-dovey phone conversation with CW last night. He says he loves me - oh he knows it's early days and we shouldn't rush into things and we should be careful etc, but he still feels that way anyway.

And, well...I'm afraid so do I. I know it's bad idea to let my hopes run away with my emotions, and I'm trying to take it slow and cautious, but...it just feels right. Is that dumb?

Strict Machines are playing a hastily arranged gig this evening, and we two will be there. And my god it's only our second proper date. It's definitely wrong to think about spending your life with someone after one date, even if you've both spent the past 15 years not quite being able to forget each other.

I think I'll ask for a song to be dedicated to us - maybe their new cover of I'm a Boy, originally by The Who.

Anyhow, setting off to see them and him now.