“Honestly” by Zwan reminds me of the “love and peace” rock era of the 60s… “‘Cause there’s no place that I could be without you. It’s too far to discard the life I once knew. Honestly, all the weather storms I bring are just a picture of my needs. ‘Cause when I think of you as mine and allow myself the time to lead into the life we want, I feel loved. Honestly…”

I first heard of Zwan quite some time ago, being described as Billy Corgan’s (of Smashing Pumpkins fame) new brainchild. I was a little sceptical of the direction he wanted to go down with his new project but breathed a sigh of relief when he decided to go back down the good ol’ Smashing Pumpkins circa Siamese Dream route. Though their Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness album is pretty masterful, I still rate Siamese Dream as my favourite of theirs, with nice variation in the grunge and bubblegum pop/rock sound. The first time I heard their music was also the first time I saw them play live, on TV. With his new band, it seems that Corgan is walking down that path again, leaving behind the angst, sorrow and melancholy he etched out in the latter years of Smashing Pumpkins, and choosing to make Zwan a “happy band” (even their band logo is reminiscent of trippy Woodstock logos). And watching them perform was happiness in itself because they play happy music and do look like a happy band. So much so that I couldn’t help but let the corners of my mouth turn upwards watching them. I think a lot of musicians today are preoccupied in their work so much so that they forget to smile or forget that they are in the career of their dreams. To sound like a rhyme for just a moment, Zwan appear to have the kwan. “The kwan,” you’ll remember is the complete package that Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character, Rod Tidwell, referred to in the film Jerry Maguire. For Tidwell, the kwan meant the love, respect, community and money (”Show me the money!“) that come with being a sport’s superstar. Suffice to say that a musician’s kwan should include the same things, including the important sense of achievement and of course, happiness.

After a bit of a wait, I was contacted by the IT company on Wednesday regarding the training position. I wasn’t really nervous and always try to maintain professionalism and cool when being interviewed, but I couldn’t help but feel a little anxious about this one, since potentially they could have asked me anything. Anything to do with IT. OK, I accept I’m fairly well versed in it all, but I still feel that my knowledge is a mere blip on the radar in the grand battlefield of code. But then I feel reassured when I am able to help friends with technical support or receive comments from friends such as “You are so good at the IT stuff. Some of the stuff you used to do like when you guys hacked into my e-mail account is just impressive.”

I was immediately put at ease when I spoke to the training manager over the phone and it turned out to be a simple chat, rather than an interview, where he just outlined the terms and conditions and basically asking me if I wanted in! He said that he and a few guys there were impressed with the project work I did for my Master’s degree and luckily didn’t ask too many questions about that (a greying area for me). Naturally, I took it and am fairly excited about going back to full-time studying and eventually working in IT. Anyway, this presented me with a good opportunity to start checking out potential car purchases. I’m not too sure what to get, but hopefully will be able to hook Dad into it with the whole talk of “Isn’t it widely accepted that fathers will buy their first born sons their first car, hmmm?” I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

I went into the city yesterday and on my walk I spotted K10 Xpress, an express modern Japanese lunch place I hadn’t noticed before on Wardour Street. They’ve consistently been voted the best in London for cheap eats by Time Out, so with my stomach grumbling, I just had to see what all the fuss was about. They had a fairly good selection and I was going to order the lunchtime special (the offer was for take out only) and pay the service fee to sit inside. But, I guess a smile and a courteous nod goes a long way, because the waitress/cashier allowed me to sit inside for no extra charge despite it being peak lunch hour. She even told me to go ahead and sit down and she’d bring me my Miso soup when it was ready. It’s still strange that it happens, but I’m starting to believe there must be some sort of truth in Chris’ theories about my rapport with waitresses. I’ve eaten in a lot of places that have been renowned or generally known for their bad service, but I don’t think I’ve ever had bad service in any restaurant or diner (from both waiters and waitresses). The food there was really good too. Pretty good conveyor belt style sushi and was fresh. They had a good selection of my favourite inside-out maki rolls (the ones rolled in roe). Would certainly go back there as it’s usually hard to find good express sushi at lunchtime prices.

Went out to see Donnie Darko at the Prince Charles Cinema. Had wanted to see this for a while, and it seems that lately I end up seeing films there because I am always too preoccupied at the time to catch films whilst they are new releases. Really enjoyed the film and didn’t know so many well known celebs would be in it. Surprising, but in a good way. With a dark and original storyline, and excellent performances, it was a strange take on the whole space-time continuum and time travel malarkey, but largely well made for an independent film.

Later, met with Yogi who was winding up Kristy over the phone, saying he had e-mailed her ex-boyfriend pretending to be a girl and had set him up on a date with some other guy (who he pretended to be a girl with too). He gave me some pointers about cars and tried to get me to narrow down my choices. Still, I’m unsure, but I’m probably going for either a Volkswagen, Honda or Toyota (I like German and Japanese cars the best). Was also considering maybe going for a classic car like a BMW which would mean cheaper insurance (classic cars = classic insurance) due to low/no road tax. Yogi was telling me how there are lots of good deals out there and after telling me of relatively cheap Jaguars (the car, not the animal), it got me thinking about what I’d do if I found a really nice car, which was flash for its price but was overly powerful (i.e. heavy on the fuel consumption). Do I go for a standard 4 door/5 door car if for a similar price, a sports coupe or 2-person 3 litre plus, sports car was available? Having said this I’ll probably end up with a Rover or a Ford, but hmmm, I seriously need to convince my dad that it’s his duty to suppy his first born with a car.