I was always getting these things. Far too many. So I made a definitive answer in February last year, and have not had one since. But I quite like it as a piece of writing so it's here. And I'm in a reflective mood at the moment, reading old e-mails and letters. So apologies. But it's my site.

We all know the game: Please write twenty-five random things about you!! LOL

I got tagged. So, here's those things. It's revealing.

1. Lip Balm

   My lips keep cracking. I can't win. Either it's too cold, or too warm. I have one extremely problematic crack in the centre of my lower lip. I got it when I was kissing a girl a few years ago. Her mouth opened up like the Leviathan. As I pulled away, my lip caught her upper incisors and split.

2. Tape measure

   I've made several abortive attempts to design my own vibes after I realised that fixing mine was a waste of time. I had this great idea of a split pedal, so a player could control the sustain octave by octave. I wanted to keep my set of keys, so I had to measure them. I have spreadsheets of acoustic calculations for resonator lengths, and various wheel designs to cope with steps.

   But then I remembered that I'm no good at making things. So I've going to buy one instead. That's why we have commerce and people who are good at making things.

3. Empty olive jars [three]

   I love olives.

4. Door hook

   I'm not sure where that's from. I suspect it's from the bathroom. We have those over-the-door ones now. The bathroom is the dustiest room in the house. I tried dusting it. It got dusty again. It now never gets dusted. There's no point.

   {Strangely, when we moved from that house we found that our other bathrooms were much less dusty. Weird—C.}

5. CD drive motor

   This is connected with the failed making of the vibraphone. I wanted an efficient engine, so I was looking at electrostatic motors [which a CD drive motor is—it works on a charge being supplied to a coil that is wound onto a spoke, which repels magnets that arranged in a circle on the spindle. As the charge varies, this drives the spindle].

6. Small stuffed teddy bear, wearing a hat

   I think someone left this at a party. I thought it was my god-daughter's, but no. Does anyone want to claim it [UK only; you'll have to come and get it!]?

7. Business cards that I've not looked at yet

   I get lots of these, usually from people who want things from you but don't really want to talk to you. I much prefer talking to someone and remembering the interaction; then writing that person's name in one of my notebooks; or [even better] getting that person to write in my notebook. I'm much more likely to remember that person, and I'm less likely to lose my notebook.

   I used to have cards, but came to the conclusion that people I gave cards to were exactly like me, and didn't look at them either.

8. Unpacked boxes [5] that I promise I'll throw out when I next move

   This is an on-going project every time I move. I am a hoarder, and think that each piece of paper is precious. I think I might be wrong.

   {Incidentally—the boxes are still here—C. }

9. Three-day, four-zone travelcard from Dalston from 22nd Jun 2008

   This is a journey I don't remember and have no record of taking in my diary. I imagine I was at the Vortex; but as to why I have no idea since I only seem to gig there in January. Unless it was for a rehearsal with Robert Mitchell, in which case I remember strolling with Deborah Jordan to an Italian coffee shop and not using the ticket at all.

10. Milk bottle [glass]

    I was doing some work for Creative Partnerships in Oxford, where we were mathematically working out musical intervals using milk bottles. I had one to try and tune it exactly. What joy was had when I found that a C takes 62.8ml of water!

11. Minature woven family

    That'd be the wife. She makes really cool things, but occasionally gives me small things to look at, and on rare moments, keep. I'm very fond of them. I'm not sure why.

12. Playstation 2 controller

    The PS2 is downstairs, but this is the extra one I bought when I thought I'd buy games that my friends could play with me. This never happened.

13. Turkey steaks

    They're defrosting. My study is the warmest [i.e. the smallest] room in the house {not any more!!—C.}. The boiler is in here [of course, when the boiler broke over Christmas, it wasn't very warm then!] so it gets like an oven in here sometimes.

14. Eye test appointment slip for 26th Jan

    And I did go... but...

15. Nectar points voucher for free eye test

    This is what I forgot. So I had to re-schedule. I then was late for the re-scheduling. So I re-scheduled again. I made it the third time. My eyesight's improved since four years ago, but I have astigmatism. I blame my mother.

16. Party poppers

    I think I may have snaffled these from some child's party.

17. Empty desk tray, balanced on
18. a broken turntable, which in turn rests upon
19. an unneeded 21-inch PC monitor

    I was given a desk tray in some effort to organise my life. I tried it and filled all three trays with paper. Then I started putting the paper on the floor again.

    Then I couldn't find anything and had wade through piles of stacked paper in the tray.

    One of the edges of the tray was sharp and I cut myself on it. So I filed the tray in The Corner Of Broken and Unneeded Things.

20. Surmandal

    This is an Indian zither. The fantastic clarinettist and great bloke Arun Ghosh gave me this as a Christmas present. It's my current study—I'm really enjoying the sound of it, although it's an arse to tune. Still, it's easier than the dulcimer and holds its tune for longer.

21. Box of runes

    The runes were a present from someone who probably wouldn't give me presents now. But Even though we're not as you would say best of friends any more, they do remind me of more gentle times and I do wonder how she is. The runes are drawn on small seashells she collected. I only use them when I can't find a coin to flip and the question is too big to ask anybody else {i.e., not very often at all—C.}.

22. The Garden of the Prophet by Gibran Kahlil Gibran

    This was a wedding gift from my wife. It contains a pressed flower. It falls out and it reminds me of our wedding day. I read the book often.

23. X-Men and the Savage Land [with Spider–Man, Kazar and Zabu]

    I grew up on comics, down to a decent upbringing by my mother.

    The American comics used a wider vocabulary than several of the British comics [even if there were obvious incorrect spellings] and had their own sense of wonder. I had a massive collection that I read [I'm not anal enough to keep them in bags] almost to tatters, but I had to leave them when my family moved from Zambia. I then started buying them again when I got back; but they became too expensive. I also started buying music about the time I stopped buying comics. I gave most of my comics away to a friend who was focussing on illustration at the time.

24. Box of casette tapes

    I'll never get rid of the tapes. Never. Taping the radio, although technically illegal, was the way I learned about music. I recorded Humphrey Lyttleton's show with a zealot's fervour when I used to live in Southampton. All the stuff that I used to borrow from Southampton library, too. Southampton library was special—great for music. I miss Southampton sometimes.

25. Pyjamas, belonging to person unknown!

    They're certainly not mine!