Remind me again how I was going to make a fortune overnight.

It is done. This afternoon, I filled out and handed in an innocuous peach-coloured A5 form that will consign me to a whole extra year studying the obscure branch of mathematics known as Computer Science. Erk. My revised year of graduation is 2006. Double erk. That's, like, the future, maaan. And all for an MEng instead of a BSc.

Said James, helpfully: "Is a masters in computer science even worth the paper it's printed on? ;-)" Well, I sure hope so. Time will inevitably tell.

Life-changing decisions aside, today was quite uneventful. I spent an uncharacteristic six hours on campus indulging my "core skills" - alternating between writing code in DCS and playing piano in the Music Centre. Specifically, I've been brushing up on sockets programming in Linux, a field I haven't touched in over a year, and as a side effect, refreshing my slightly shaky knowledge of essential terminal tools like vi and screen. Piano-wise, I'm gradually gaining the confidence to just play the damned thing without worrying about other humans wandering past and overhearing. It's strange. Put me on stage at a gig with my digital piano and I'm fine. Put me in a rehearsal room with either of my bands and I'm the same. But put me in an echoey room with an acoustic piano and let a load of fancy classical types maraud around outside with their sheet music and their Diplomas, and I'm too scared to play without the soft pedal depressed. Why? The fact that I'm literally making it up as I go along shouldn't necessitate quite such a furtive attitude in the presence of "proper" musicians, I'm sure.

On that note (ho-ho), I'm going back to the recording studio with The Stolen tomorrow, to finalise a few more of the five tracks that we laid down in a marathon seven day stint last month - an experience that I'm going to get around to writing about here sometime!

Before I go, I should also mention last Saturday's Radiohead experience at the Nottingham (Ice) Arena. I went expecting somewhat lesser greatness than the Shepherd's Bush Empire gig in May, and frankly, my expectations were met. A heavy bias towards their newer electronica tracks and the utter lack of "intimacy" provided by the stadium setting both detracted from my enjoyment of what was otherwise a solid performance. Pretty lights and big screens abounded (abond?) as one might expect at an event of such scale. The "nostril-cam" mounted on the microphone atop Thom's piano was particularly interesting.

Bye for now.

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