Pinch punch, first of the month. White rabbits. Holy fucking shit it's November already, where has this year gone? I ask myself this every first of the month as I am wary of my life whizzing by. My to-do list for 2015 will never be completed now although I can report a healthy amount of crossings out. It is pretty much just the filming projects that haven't happened because of funding issues but there are things I am doing that were not on the list in January so I hope that the swings balance out the roundabouts. Every year around this time I tell Mandi how busy I'm going to be next year and how much of a slog it will be, and she just sort of shrugs it off because she knows what I know - it isn't going to happen. This is the annual ritual for us now, it's almost the first sign that Christmas is coming and it annoys the hell out of me. I am hoping that I can approach my fortieth birthday in August with that 'life begins' optimism rather than the usual despondency that my special day brings. 

I never know how well my podcast is going to do until I check the figures at intermittent times of the day, and I can never quite work out why certain editions do better than others. Every now and then a PR company will send me music by a known band but they rarely succumb to my evil re-tweeting scheme so it is down to the social media following that the artists have at a grass roots level who are clicking on the link to have a listen, which is pretty cool. What would be cooler is if a few of them click the PayPal button and made a donation. It would be even cooler if the people who read this blog do the same, especially as I have a lot of projects on the way pending raising the budget.

Today was spent in pretty much the usual 'day of rest my arse' frame of mind although I didn't seem to be as stressed about the gig tonight as I usually am. I'm writing this having just returned from my dad's house and he is unwell with a bad back so won't be joining me to film the show. As I haven't been able to find someone to do the door either I'm in for a bit of a task but as this is the last gig (for this year at least) I might as well just take whatever is thrown at me.

The Sunday Alternative Podcast #62 is available now from here.

Please read my November newsletter about funding for new projects.

This week's episode of The Random Saturday Sessions is here.