changing rooms

In the words of the mighty, mighty Morrissey, "good times for a change".

What a fantastic weekend. Blown away by kindness from my family and left this evening feeling many warm, glowing feelings inside.

First up, health wise, I actually glad to be alive again. My blood count are obviously rising quickly now and I can get up and move around without thinking about it. I feel good. A few minor pain attacks today but nothing bad .. they seem to be getting back to their normal self. It looks like I will have a full week at work and play, feeling as healthy as someone with tumours growing in their body can be and I shall be savouring every hour of the week ahead. Good times indeed.

Yesterday, after a brain-wave and and a 'what if' question posed to my step-dad on Friday night, I was invaded by some family members - two sisters, a step-dad, a nan and an uncle .. all prepared to make my day special, whilst I alternated between lying on my side in pain and pathetically helping out, which wasn't needed.

The task .. to take my spare double-bedroom and dismantle the beds, remove all the furniture, hoover it through and make me a large dedicated studio space. As it stood, my home studio was in my other bedroom where I slept, cramped down one end. Getting to anything was a headache - quite literally - as plugging anything in or out, normally resulted in a banged-head on the corner of a synth.

The day was really pleasant, got to catch up with my sisters and nan, whilst the men set to work ... and what a job they did. I was left with an amazing space to move everything into. They also helped lump in and set up the main gear for me. I had bought myself a new space-age keyboard stand in the morning, to celebrate the impending new studio build and by the time I got everything set-up, I was overwhelmed by a)how great it looked, b)how much space there was and c)how practical things are now - like getting behind the PC/Mixers to plug things in. You can tell I'm happy. Really happy. I keep walking into the room, just to be in there and smiling. A really nice space to be.

I got a bit tearful that night - the kindness of my family to just make it happen for me. I think my step-dad was so pleased he could do something for me that he was just as happy as I was to get a new studio music room.

Thanks a lot Jimbo and Malcolm for all your hard work. And thanks to Simone for the tea making, the fish and chip preparing and the clearing up and to be Bianca for feeding the ducks and making me laugh and to nan for being there and giving big hugs. It was a special day.

Today has been a day of finishing setting up the room and just enjoying being at home and in my new music room.

Work tomorrow. I hope I remember how to get there.