This be the blog

"Mum! You're needed to say funny things." "Shall I tell you about what you need to think when you want to kill a fly?" "No, I have topics. Let's talk about the word 'awesome'." "Well that's easy, that's me." "I saw a parrot on the allotment. It had a red head and wings." "Dad, are you sure that wasn't me?" "Its underside looked like a raptor." "Right. Mum. How would you describe 'awesome'?" "Me. There is no one more awesomer in the world than me." "You know the really worrying thing? She believes it." "Shouldn't everyone believe they're awesome?" "Yeah, but not all of us can be." "Is he taking my talking off me? It's not fair if he's taking my talking." Several months ago I watched a TED talk about the word awesome, and (well, like many TED talks) it really stuck with me. I'll try and embe...

"Mum! Come in here. I've got a load of blog posts and I want to start them all with quotes from us." "Hang on. I got confused and tried to work with the computer with a foot treadle." "There are two questions I get asked a lot. In relation to music, so not 'what colour is your hair really ?'. What do you think they are?" "Who's the most famous person you've met?" "No, questions by actual music people, not you and your mates." "Oh. Are you single?" "Music people, not teenagers with guitars." "Do you have an informed opinion on the Rolf Harris situation?" "A careers person might ask it." "Do you like sitting at a desk all day, or do you like being out and about?" "Nope, not what we're looking for." "Can we buy a good review from you?" "No, that's in a different article." "Are you done with the weights? And do you w...

"Mum! I'm starting a new blog. What should the URL be?" "Why are you starting a new blog? Will it be serious?" "Not really, but it'll be less taking the piss out of you." "Okay." "And what should the URL be?" "Well I quite liked 'This Be The Blog'." "That was the blog title, not the URL." "What was the URL?" "'deceptivelyoptimistic.tumblr.com'." "Oh." "What should my new URL be?" "I don't know. Can't you just keep the old blog?" "I'll call it a derivative of Elizabeth." "As in, you'll call it a derivative of Elizabeth, or you'll call it A Derivative Of Elizabeth?" "I'll call it A Derivative Of Elizabeth." "Why?" "Because that's what people call me." "They call you A Derivative Of Elizabeth?" "Someone did once, but no." "Then ...