Sometimes it's all too much

I haven't posted for a few days and was thinking about what I could write about next, and that got me on this train of thought.

I'll start on a slightly personal note, something that I don't like to do much because the last thing I want this blog to be is an open diary - I don't believe anyone except my nearest and dearest would read that, and they'd probably only do it out of sympathy, bless. I try to make all posts informative and interesting as much as possible - hopefully anyone reading doesn't disagree too strongly. So to give what's below some context, it's probably also worth me pointing out that I work full time (in a job that's loosely music related, but I don't get paid to listen to music, or write about it), I have a decently busy social life, I like watching movies, football and reading non-music books. And I'm trying to move flat, and today for instance have spent most of the day trying to fix my mystery internet problem. And most important of all, I have a wife, who when all's said and done would be quite enough to fill all of my time if such an impractical dream could ever be a reality.

My point is that there's a lot going on - there always is. And I'm sure that is the case for most people, so I don't expect any special sympathy. But I've got this whole other thing going on too...

At the moment I'm feeding my music habit from as many sources as possible, and as often as possible. I subscribe to all the main music magazines (and try to read the other ones when I can), I Sky + all the music shows (such as they are in these TOTP-free days), I follow lots of blogs, read the papers with good music coverage, keep up to date with all the Tweets, as well as buying (and listening to!) as much music as I possibly can.

But the downside of inviting all of these different media into my life is that it can sometimes feel quite overwhelming. It's hard to know where to start, or where to stop.

So, I'm stressed because I have a big pile of vinyl that I haven't listened to yet. I've got a ton of stuff on my ipod that is still in its virtual iTunes wrapper (and that's just recent stuff, there are probably countless 'lost' albums on there). My pile of unread magazines is growing almost daily and the Sky + box is permanently under 10% (which is enough on its own to send some people I know round the bend).

Don't get me wrong - there are a lot worse problems in the world, and all of this is said very firmly in the context of "things could always be worse", but like I say, sometimes I just sit there thinking, "I should read that mag, listen to that record, watch that show" - but where the hell can all the hours in the day come from? Reminds me of that Jay-Z lyric where he's talking about changing champagne brand after the Cristal boss slagged off hip hop, prompting Jigga to observe "there's much bigger problems in the world I know, but I first had to take care of the world I know". Is there no problem that can't be explained by a Jay-Z lyric?

I love what I'm doing right now - I've found a legitimate reason to think about music for most of time, so that's not going to stop any time soon. I just wish I could win the lottery so it didn't have to compete with all the other stuff that life chucks at you.

So I guess this is a very long-winded way of saying bear with me if I don't post for a few days sometimes - it'll come, and when it does, I'll make it worth the wait, promise.

Disclaimer: it's late on a wednesday night in the middle of a shitty week, so I'm going to let this rambling post through the quality control net because I've just found a "Free Pass For One Self-Indulgent Post Per Year" voucher.