i spilled the ink across the page, trying to spell your name

a) Mastering the samba is hard work. I've got the hands down, but getting the foot pattern underneath is really not working for me. So this week, I've got some exercises to use over the troublesome foot pattern, so hopefully it will become second nature. Basically involves a few of the rudiments i know, and simple 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 and 1/32 notes, with various accents. So far it's helping.

b) So I bought a new frypan. Scanpan. So far, it's a superb addition to the kitchen. Got a $60 wok in the same deal (RRP $299), so was happy with that. I've used that too, and so far very impressed. Good to get back into cooking some tasty treats.

c) As a side note I've decided to give myself 10 weeks to build up to running 10km. (At the moment I can run about 1km comfortably).

d) Another side note, I bought a DVD-Recorder with a HDD for recording TV shows. Apparently it will play divx movies through a USB port, but I'm waiting to see if that is actually the case.

e) I pick up Sago, my new kitten on Wednesday. Can't wait!

f) Oops, I wandered outside of the beat/chef boundary.

g) Really digging Angus & Julia Stone's Chocolates & Cigarettes EP at the moment.

listen to the sound of me spillin' my heart through this pen

These last few weeks I've been learning all sorts of world beats and variations. Some real interesting stuff. Very challenging too, but getting there. I'm finding it easy to sit down for 30-40 minutes and just improvise. Going to try and master the Samba this week. It's a bit harder on my electronic kit to distinguish the accents, but I don't have a choice for now. We'll see what happens.