Ooh, I can hear this morning! I wasn't expecting that.

I went to the Levellers gig at the Corn Exchange last night, which was excellent. Lots of loud, bouncy and good music and flashing lights, an audience shouting half the lyrics back at the band in the louder bits (although the audience weren't a patch on NMA's in London two years ago, who could sing so well in tune that the band just left them to get on with it for one verse).

Something that struck me as a particularly good light effect was the bit in the chorus of "Exodus", where the band sings "we the solution should be respected" in a monotone; to accompany this line and the preceding one, they had some huge bright white floodlights suddenly come on and shine into the eyes of the whole audience, and then went out again just afterwards. I've always thought that line was slightly sinister to start with, and I found the light effect really enhanced that sinister quality, though I couldn't have said why at the time ... Fortunately, half an hour later my subconscious decided to let me in on the secret. I'm pretty sure the reason I'd found it sinister when a light flashed on in time with someone speaking in monotone is because it subconsciously reminded me of a Dalek (only much louder). :-)

Somewhat to my surprise, my hearing is pretty much back to normal this morning. I was expecting it to take longer than that to recover; the last few songs were very loud.

I've spent a lot of today being variously sworn at, patronised and insulted. By myself.

This does make sense really. In mid-1999 I managed to forget a dentist's appointment on the day, despite having kept it firmly in mind for the whole of the previous week. I was somewhat disgusted with myself as a result, and when in late 2001 I forgot again, I decided to take stern measures. Hence, every time I go to the dentist and come back with an appointment for six months later, I now immediately schedule a large number of reminders - deferred emails, beepy things on my watch, anything else I can think of - which will nag me incessantly in the week leading up to the next appointment in the hope that with enough endless repetition I won't manage to forget. Since this tradition was born when I was extremely annoyed with myself, the messages mostly tend to be either very rude, or of the form "Do try and remember this time". So twice a year, I receive a whole week's worth of invective from my six-months-younger self.

My teeth are usually perfectly all right, requiring nothing more than a little cleaning; so I'm not actually worried about the appointment. But nonetheless I'll be very relieved when it's over, because my six-months-younger self will finally SHUT UP :-)