Bulgaria day 4

Surprisingly.... I wake up late..... the morning sessions of the conference aren't relevant for me. I start the day with my standard lengths of the pool, followed by a sauna. I could get used to this:







After lunch, the conference gets more interesting with some technical presentations... after this, it's more swimming and saunaing(is sauna a verb?), before we head up the hill behind the hotel to have a farewell BBQ:



We get a table together... There is already a glass of rakia beside each salad:



There's also a couple of bottles of Melnik's finest... it could be another good night, although one course in, it;s clear that while everyone is relaxed and happy(it must be the sauna), there isn't the same energy and excitement of the previous evening.

There are two guys in the corner one on guitar and one on keyboards, they are singing various songs, some traditional, some Bulgarian, some in English, some not. By the time we have had a good fill of protein from the Barbecue, people have taken to the dance floor... a swift rakia puts me up there beside them... it's the same routine as last night....and a lot of fun....

We carry on like this... utlising the young Bulgarian girl to get us red wine refills.... SLowly various people head back to the hotel.... we have an early start tomorrow. I have taken the opportunity of a seat on a little minibus which is going to stop over in the Rila Monastery on the way to Sofia tomorrow. This makes up for me missing the excursion on he first day. There are very strict instructions concerning the buses in the morning. There will be two coaches.... and one mini bus..... those on early flights should take the white bus... we repeat... the WHITE bus..... Someone asks what I was wickedly thinking... "What colour are the other buses?" Unamused... we are informed that the bus for early travellers will definitely be white, and thats all that important.....

Within an hour, we are the only people left up on the hill.... we have watched the sun set behind the Pirin Mountains... and the food is digesting away nicely:



We've been up here for about 45 minutes on our own. I feel sorry for the musicians.. they have been sitting vamping away fro our benefit for some time..... I send our young interpreter over to tell them they should go home and not stay for our benefit. When she returns, she has a naughty smile on her face... she informs us that she is going to be playing the next song.....

We take to the stage..... she plays a nice little song... and then I get egged on to play some guitar.... To say I'm unpracticed is an understatement..... My guitar has been gathering dust for weeks. I pull out the old faithful of a couple of Pearl jam songs... I feel a little embarrassed, cos the Bulgarian guitarist was very good.



After this, the dancing starts.... We have Italian tango lessons, and then I'm asked to teach them Scottish Country dancing. I decide that since my attempt to teach our little pianist the blues failled, that my Bulgarian music descriptions aren't good enough to describe reels and jigs.... Instead I dance the Gay Gordons with a Romanian while singing the music....,. all very silly.... but a lot of fun:



We decide to call it a night and take a walk back to the hotel down the darkened hill....

All that is left of our holiday... sorry conference... is a quick few games of pool(Incidentally, a romanian finished with the shot of the conference) before bed and an early start.....



......uggggg.....Bed......

Hello Amsterdam!!!!!!

After a few beers last night - I'm back sleeping in my own bed. It feels good. I wake up and continue my effort to make sure I can resurrect a social life despite my lack of presence in Amsterdam.

Following last night, a Brazilian friend and I are making a valiant effort to return to guitar playing by going to the park.

I have a Master's degree in Music and have dabbled at various points with musical ability. I have been, in the past, a drummer, a pretty reasonable brass player, and a regularly gigging bassist. Throughout all these musical identities, I have consistently been a bedroom guitarist. I basically enjoy playing for myself - working out songs, playing my favourites, singing a few(Albeit badly), at uni - I could pull out an acoustic and impress/bore, and I can also join in in Jam Sessions and hold my own.

The problem of late is that - being busy with work, and travelling a lot, you kind of can't be bothered ensuring that every second spent at home is used to make sure you haven't forgot every song you ever knew on the guitar.

A few months ago - I tried to remedy this by playing along to dookie:



It's dead easy to play - dead fun to play - and I have played almost every song on it at some point or other in a band.

First time through requires a couple of rewinds, but generally I'm surprised at my ability/memory, so I play it all the way through a second time, with now stops. When I put the guitar down, I can't move my left arm any more - I feel like an old man. It's been too long, since I played for any length of time, so need to get back on the horse.

In Amsterdam I have taken a selection of the many bits of guitars which reside in my parents house in Scotland and my set up is as follows:

Rosewood Guild Electric S50(Pic is Kim Thayil of Soundgarden with a Guild S100, but you get the picture)



A little Amp:



and a nine volt battery:



It's not the most powerful set up in the world, but it makes for a good trip to the park.

I have a Brazilian friend who I know through a friend in my Dutch class. For his guitar abilities. He is in a similar situation to me, in that he was without a guitar for a while, and needs to knock some of the rust off his fingers. The difference is that he was better than me in the first place.

So here I am on Saturday afternoon. 24 hours previously I was power walking round Warsaw, but now we are exchanging licks and riffs. He's a big Guns and Rose's fan, which means he's a little more disciplined in his playing than my Mudhoney style:

Considered:



Less considered:



We make it through a few songs before going off to Sarphati park for a little al fresco playing and a few beers:



It feels good to be back playing - hopefully we can make it a regular event.

January has been boring

I have very little to report. January is the time of writing papers for summer conferences. I am writing far less than last year. I think the novelty wore off. My work is different than it was last year, I have some software development, some open source distribution sites to do, a new big project, but little in the way of results to report. We have kind of announcement type papers for our new big project, which basically involve copying and pasting bits and pieces from internal departmental documents. It doesn't feel as creative.

Maybe I need to get my finger out and dust off my guitar. Even tho garageband(Apple music making program), is wonderful, its pretty rare that I take the time to sit down and actually do something with it.

I'm bored, at a loose end, have nothing to report. I think it's time to arrange a gratuitous meeting. This seems to be the thinking of everyone else in the world.