Tuesday 16/06/09

I think I need a new hobby. I have only three, maybe four, and what spending nearly all my free time outside of work alone in my room or the car (I am atypically fond of solitude), I’ve exhausted my mind’s ability to conjure up things to do outside of business hours. I think I’ve seen so much Peep Show that I’ve gone from being able to quote it off by heart to pointing out even the tiniest flaws in direction or continuity. I’m turning into Mr Skin for sitcom mistakes, and there is no demand for that. Even if there is, I want no part of it.

I’ve grown weary of music. I’ve seen all of my favourite bands live, a few who are definitely not my favourites (enter Enter Shikari) and I’ve little interest in expanding my already bloated music collection. I have enough to keep me entertained and a band as good as TLE wont come along any time soon so there is little point investigating. Reading comes around with such regularity I’m pretty sure I could take up the festival lifestyle fulltime, almost existing as a sunburned tramp with a penchant for rather derivative punk rock and indie.

Incidentally, live events, such as gigs and festivals, don’t come cheap and I am by no means a rich man. Arsene Wenger himself would struggle to afford an Arsenal season ticket, especially if he wants to sit so close to the pitch. Since Arsenal’s home form has been less consistent than my poo after an Emirates Stadium pizza, as committed a fan as I am, spending over £50 on each game (sometimes including travel) cannot be justified as week in-week out entertainment. Plus Soccer Saturday is often more entertaining.

Live comedy is another of my interests, but I get the impression that this area isn’t the comedians’ best friend, particularly Stewart Lee who summed up his 2008 tour by saying that there was ‘silence in Maidenhead’. All lies, particularly as I was at the gig with Bushell and we were both laughing pretty heavily throughout. Mind you, Lee does say he’s partially deaf so maybe he mistook his own aural degeneration for public displeasure. It’s possible, and I can imagine Lee Evans getting the opposite feeling when he performs. He is crap. Anyway, there aren’t many comedy shows locally so I have to go to London if I want to laugh in public, which is expensive.

So what could I do if watching football, music and comedy is getting more difficult and losing its appeal? Well, I could become more than a passive observer and actually play football, but I’m currently injured. I tried some keepy-uppys in the garden last night and felt a twinge so I’m far from fit enough. I could play some music, as I have been meaning to do. Writing the second Freeman Is A Problem album is it’s own problem, mainly because I have to actually write it this time. No wonder all rappers do is steal loops from 1980s pop songs and talk over the top of it, its hard work making music. I haven’t done myself any favours by not buying any equipment yet, waiting until the time feels right to buy a microphone.

I could do something out of my comfort zone, like going to nightclubs or taking up folk dancing, but I feel as though I’d be lying to myself if I did that just to get out of the house. I think I’ll just stay in and write desperate letters to Channel 4 urging them to write more series of Peep Show and continue my current unfulfilled, but quite relaxing, life.