Random composer

At about midnight last night I found out that I'd been chosen as the recipient of the John Cage Memorial Random Composer Award. I like to think of it as a very prestigious award, despite my name having been selected as the winner by a process involving random noise! The recipient is selected in this manner so that no composer experiences prejudice as a result of their gender or the style of music they write. In the words of its organiser, Benjamin Hjertmann, "it's a fun, lighthearted and special honor in its own right. It's a way for us all to recognize the subjectivity of our field, to celebrate serendipity and its intimate relationship with music, and to serve as a kind of equalizer rewarding the act of composing itself, not our opinions of the results."

I'm therefore rather proud to have won!

Of course the award organisers were thrilled to hear about the computer musical.

You can read about the awards here: http://randomcomposeraward.weebly.com

We were at Craft and Cake this afternoon. It took us forever to get down to Catford. Every section of road which could have been traffic-logged was chockablock with angry drivers, cutting other drivers up, and using sneaky short cuts which simply delayed everyone else even further. I was driving and ended up with clutch foot. During the first hour of our journey, we covered exactly eight miles. We went down Highgate Hill at the same speed as a jogger, got stuck in the middle of a crowd heading to an Arsenal match on the Holloway Road, and then got trapped in Hackney like a pair of wasps in a bottle of lemonade. Even our sat nav was forced to acknowledge it would have been quicker to cycle!

Anyway, we were rewarded by a lovely pot of tea and some amazing food at Julie and Sam's. Profiteroles were the order of the day: raspberry and salted caramel flavour, but there was also a delicious fruit cake, scones, potato salad and panettone.
Kate announced that she was pregnant, which gave us all something to smile about. Hilary continued to knit her endless blanket, Julie made odd socks, Sam was knitting a lengthways scarf and Tina, for the first time ever, was knitting something which wasn't red. Something must be wrong with the world. Poor lass looked very uncomfortable! I bet she rips it out!

Abbie gave me an early Christmas present in the shape of a lovely reproduction Rice Krispies tin. I've been searching for ages for a tin to carry CDs about in to prevent the cases from cracking in my bag and Abbie told me she'd spent almost as long trying to find one to give me as a present. It's the perfect size and I was incredibly touched.

This evening, Nathan and I lent our dulcet(ish) tones to the Fleet Singers who were doing a little Christmas concert at the Methodist church in Gospel Oak. It was a really lovely evening. The audience was incredibly appreciate, everyone sang really beautifully, and as always, the choir rose to the challenge. The readings were particularly good. Everyone really threw themselves into them and some really unexpected poems were found.

We came home and watched X Factor and Strictly. I'm suffering from tinnitus again, so I'm a little worried about going to bed, because it's only when there's silence around me when the infernal whistling starts. I hear a very high-pitched sound like a crazy distant car alarm which oscillates between an E flat and a D. They're not even useful notes! I haven't noticed it for a while, so I'm sort of hoping it's something which won't be a constant part of my life. Nathan thinks it's returned recently because I'm stressed. Who knows? I think I simply have to try and embrace it. If I can get to a place were it starts to feel comforting, perhaps I'll stop obsessing about it.