Hooked on the lazy and carefree feeling brought on by “Good Song” by Blur… “Sleeping but my works not done, I could be lying on an atom bomb. I’ll take care, ’cause I know you’ll be there. You seem very beautiful to me…”

My hair had reached the threshold length that got me started in pondering the possibility of a haircut. Do I get it cut short, or do I grow it long in theme with the season that will be winter soon? To trim or not to trim? That is the eternal question. This time I had an answer, so I went to the usual salon. Since the last time I had found out they were Korean hairdressers. They speak English just fine, so I was relieved I didn’t have to dig into my brain for my stash of Korean words, which to be honest is only really limited to (excuse the possibly poor romanisation):

• “Annyong ha sae yo (Hello)”
• “Gahm sa hum ni da (Thank you)”
• “Yupgi (Loosely translated as “curiosity about strange and uncanny things or events” or “nonsensical and bizarre but cool and funny)”
• “Chugu le? (Wanna die?)”

I learned the last 2 specifically from watching My Sassy Girl and unfortunately neither phrase would get me too far in any Korean-speaking environment, unless the police station happened to be on the other side of town.

On my way back from the shops, there was a ladder propped up against the front of a shop. The foot of the ladder was placed near the edge of the kerb where the pavement meets the road. It afforded only little room for pedestrians to walk around the ladder, yet plenty of space to pass underneath it. As I was approaching it, nearly everyone approaching it noticed the ladder in an obvious way and changed their steps to walk around it. I on the other hand checked the ladder and noticed there was nothing on it, so walked underneath it. Yeah, I know. Bad luck is in store for me. But does bad luck really affect people who don’t believe in that sort of thing?

The walking-under-a-ladder thing is a really bizarre superstition if you take a moment to really analyse it. Okay, it’s not the worst old wive’s tale because it does have some practical sense attached to it. One should be hesitant to pass under a ladder when there’s a dizzy looking burly man on it. It’s also a bit of a test of luck when there’s a paintcan hanging from it and one is wearing one’s bestest outfit. But if it’s just an ordinary ladder with nothing or nobody on it, why not happily pass through underneath it? Do people even know why they avoid walking underneath ladders? Can they explain why it’s considered bad luck? The ladder superstition came about not due to safety and practicality. It came from the observation that if a ladder is placed against a wall, it forms a triangle from its edge, the edge of the wall and the ground. A triangle is a symbol used to represent the Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity is made up of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit/Ghost. By walking through the Trinity, you are breaking it and this would put you in league with the devil according to the old Christians. And you know what Christians used to do to those they thought were in league with the devil, so it’s no doubt avoiding ladders was common practice back in the day.

There is another possible explanation for the ladder superstition. Ladders were unpopular contraptions back in the day before gallows were created to hang the guilty. The condemned were hung by their necks from the top of ladders instead. It was believed that the ghosts of those who met their demise this way often hung around ladders (no pun intended). Since people don’t generally like ghosts, they’d happily avoid ladders without second thought. On the flip-side, ladders are also considered lucky. In Egypt, for example, people carry miniature ladders as lucky charms. Why? Because in Egyptian mythology, it was a ladder that helped the Sun God Osiris to escape when he was imprisoned by the Spirit of Darkness. The ladder then became associated with the ascension and emancipation of Gods. Archaeologists in Egypt found evidence to this when they found small ladders placed in the tombs of kings, to help them climb to upwards to Heaven.

I’m not entirely sure where the black cat and breaking mirrors superstitions come from, but I’ve been through these too and no real bad luck on my part in the aftermath. To me, most superstitions seem to be a mild form of obsessive compulsive disorder anyway.

I ordered the latest Blur album because I can’t get “Good Song” out of my head. Why I’d give myself a better chance to listen to it in my leisure time and have it bore its way deeper into my brain, I don’t know. Call it hair of dog.

Me: Yeah, [the live performance on TV] was really good. Hmmm, makes me curiously want to go check them out if they play live. But they’re too big for small venues. A shame, because they sound a bit better since Coxon’s departure.
Chris: Ha, controversial. There’s many a Blur fan that thinks they sound shite since Coxon left. I think maybe the best balance for Blur would have been if Albarn left to be honest and they got Coxon back.
Me: Hahah, I wonder if they could technically carry on if Albarn left.
Chris: Well, I think if he left, he’d call himself Blur, and they’d have to call themselves something else. Blur X for instance.

If Albarn left Blur, then technically he’d take the name with him. Blur can’t really remain Blur without Albarn in it, because he’s a principle songwriter, singer and face. I wouldn’t really be able to pick out any of the members from a crowd asides from Albarn and James and it goes to show how a band is really defined by it’s singer (AKA frontman). My mum always said that in a band, you should be the singer if you want recognition. The singer will always be the one with the most attention because he/she is the one with the voice and hence the one people will turn to as the whole band’s representative. So true too, with the exception of some bands like Van Halen (Van Halen is known best by its guitarist, Eddie Van Halen). But even when its first generation singer David Lee Roth left Van Halen and was replaced by Sammy Hagar, most fans felt that the spirit of Van Halen had gone the way of the Dodo.

I like that Blur have simple descriptively titled songs like “Good Song,” “Crazy Song” and “Mellow Song.” It removes the process of having to name your song and serves as a header note to remember the feel of the song. I’ve been using a similar system for all those songs I’ve written that are still untitled. I’ve got approximately 20 independently numbered songs called “Good Song,” around 30 called “Mellow Song” and around 10 called “Crazy Song.” I do have a set of songs in my repertoire with titles that Albarn hasn’t done yet (which metal fans may like) called: “Mosh Song” and “Apeshit Song” and they’re not for the faint hearted.

I received an e-mail today from my current ISP telling me that I’ve exceeded my monthly quota for the last time and that they’re terminating my account. This first of all came as a surprise because I don’t recall hammering this account (not for the last month anyway). So now I’m with a new ISP, which is cheaper and just as fast (yay)! My website was hosted on webspace provided by my ISP, so I guess that will go too. So now I’ve got a new webhost too and yes, after over 7 years of the net I’ve finally bought my first Internet real estate. It’s going to take a while for the Domain Name Server to kick in, but from now on my new home on the web is at StereoSky.com. I’m thinking a new layout is in order too, but I’ll have to wait for the lazy portion of my mind to catch up with the creative portion. Please hold your breath only if you can do so indefinitely.