Missing Something(s)

I don't like being materialistic and I try not to own too many things but fail miserably when it comes to music. I don't regret this or feel ashamed about this but when I am away from my vinyl collection and guitar, I feel like I am not quite the same.

Listening to music on tinny laptop speakers is horrible really but I guess it's a small comfort. As for headphones, the advantage is that I can appreciate the nuances you don't always hear when listening to music but (sob, sob) my head usually hurts after using them for a short time. On top of this there is always the fear that I am damaging my hearing by exposing my ears to such a concentration of sound which is being channelled directly at my ear drums.

Playing vinyls or CDs on something other than a laptop is so much more of an enjoyable experience and makes me appreciate the album format for what it is.

Now when it comes to the guitar it's a different matter altogether. This is the tool I use to express what goes on in my head or what is made up from the imagination. It is the instrument that holds options that writing just doesn't have. I do love writing stories or these snippets I post here for that matter, but the combination of words and music is something special. I love the spark, the new idea and also the thought that the next song will be better than anything that I've done before. The latter is the driving force. First of all I need to prove to myself that I can create a new song that I feel is god and only then does it come to the point of possible performance. There are many songs that I have never shared and never will. They are like diary entries that have been recorded to remember them but that's all.

So I guess all this does make me materialistic but I feel I can justify it by saying it's also very much a spiritual thing.

How To Get Lost.

Trying to be clever, I have entitled this post 'Get Lost'. Why? Well, this is a rant about my bank called Getin Bank. Very clever, eh?

After listening to people for far too long expressing their fears that we will basically all be screwed when we retire because of the predicted pitiful pension funds, I decided to set up my own pension fund. My plan was to open a savings bank account and set up a monthly direct transfer of an affordable sum of money from one account to another, the second of which, I planned to not touch until retirement or in the case of a really, really, extreme, extreme situation, which does not include holidays, music gear or anything like that.

So, I went to the bank, where I was well assisted and returned home ready to begin this sensible operation, but when I logged in, I could not see this new account.

The next day, I went back to the bank and was informed that perhaps my online banking system needed to be updated. The guy told me he had done something to make it work but that I should go home and check it and return the next day if nothing had changed.

Guess what? I had to return the next day. This time I had to sign some forms in order to change my account to a more modern version that I was informed was much easier to use than the old one. It all sounded great so I returned home once again and logged into my new account ready to set up my pension savings scheme. When I logged in, I now saw that my account had become an empty corpse. My balance had been erased and there was no information that this account was alive and well except that which told me where it is I live.

Since then I have been in correspondance with my bank by email and have been informed on a daily basis that everything will be fixed soon. It has been over one week since I began, what I believed would be a very easy, straightforward process but instead of beginning a very mature and sensible scheme, I now have no money in my online account, no account number, no record of any transactions but at least I know where I live.