Dastardly Duets

What is that noise I hear? I think it's - yes, it is! - it's cicadas. I can hear cicadas.  It's not a sound I'm particularly fond of because I associate it with a stinking hot day, but at the moment, it is joyous because it just means I can't hear the other horrendous noise I've been subjected to for what seems ages: the frenetic voice behind my 15-year-old's favourite You Tube channel. I'm not sure who the You Tuber is, but Christ, he's fucking annoying. He must hoover up a line of coke before recording, and he sounds like some crazy race-caller in the final few seconds of the Melbourne Cup and who's on the verge of jizzing himself.  But now that school holidays are over, I am no longer subjected to that shrieking cockamamie lunatic.  I swear my catch phrase for the past six weeks has been, 'Turn it DOWN!'

Yes, school went back today, and peace and calm reigns over Chez Bingells.  Before I get the tide of comments along the line of not knowing what to do with myself, I can find PLENTY to keep me occupied in the quietness until my kid gets home and the ruckus resumes.

First of all, I'm studying again. I went over some notes for the course today, and felt much better about things that I have for a long time.

Furthermore, I have another book in the pipeline. I am revisiting the characters from my first ever novel to see where their lives have taken them, seven years on. It occurs to me I'm going to be researching PTSD, because I do believe my protagonist would suffer this syndrome given what she went through in the first book.

However, what I have been mainly doing today is thinking about musical duets. My Facebook group is posting duets today, and there are some interesting ones:

1. Ebony & Ivory by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. This is likely the worst song ever recorded. Stevie Wonder probably heard this and wished he could have been stricken with deafness, too.

2. Don't Go Breaking My Heart. Yes, we all know and enjoy the Elton John and Kiki Dee original, but have you ever heard the Macy Gray and OBD cover? If you haven't, my advice to you is that you remain ignorant. They both sound like they have been on a crack cocaine binge, and this OBD dude was (he's now deceased) completely tone deaf. Also, I could never understand the appeal of Macy Gray; she sounds like she's singing through a throatful of phlegm. I lasted about ten seconds into it, and had to peel myself from the chair because the sheer torque of the badness pinned me like a butterfly to a corkboard.

3. Don't Look Back by Mick Jagger and Peter Tosh. I do like this song very much, but I guess it's the moves Jagger busts in the film clip that make it interesting. He reminds me of a hiccupping chicken.

4.  Hey Paula by Ernie Sigley and Denise Drysdale. Come on people, admit you like it.

Anyway, I have some things to do before the youngster returns from school, and before I go tutoring this afternoon. Thank you for reading. Oh, in March I am to be the featured artist in an online art zine, and will post a link to the article. In the meantime, feel free to click on the links in the home page of this blog and buy my books. I might have one kid almost out of the house (he's moving to his on-campus accommodation within a fortnight), but the other one has an even more voracious appetite.