Guest Post :: "My name is Alex and I'm a vinyl addict"

I haven't done a Guest Post in a while ... so when my friend Alex recently told me about his new hi-fi set up, I asked him to write about it. This is what he had to say:

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Like many vinyl junkies it crept up on me. I wasn't always trawling through eBay, or scouring second hand shops looking for that specific 180gsm gatefold treasure. My collection started out as a meagre 5 albums all of which I am too embarrassed to list, back in the 90s and has steadily grown to its now 300ish bulk.

My first vinyl hardware set up was as you would expect not worthy of a fan fare. It consisted of a very cheap Sony turntable from the mid 90s and a not too shabby Kenwoood 3020 integrated amp. Nothing changed for a great many years as at this time CDs consumed me. The turntable was really just to complete my separates system.

Then there was this friend who was big on vinyl and had spent a fortune on a serious setup.

Monoblock pre and power amps bi wired and hooked up to a purpose built turntable made up of a 6 inch composite platter, separate motor and power supply. I did not have the money to spend on a system like this but crikey it was a thing of beauty. Not long after being introduced to this beauty I made my first tentative step into proper vinyl HIFI audio. I bought a second hand Thorens TD160 Super for £150. I made some minor mods to the platter and dampening and a nice platter matt to help improve the sound quality and it became clear that the better the source the better the listening experience. My then year old Kenwoood amp was still doing a lovely job.

So my love of vinyl was ignited, and the cd player and tape deck and tuner separates which took up lots of room all slowly disappeared. Life was good.

Spring forward 10 years however and now things started to go wrong, first the volume control became a little crackly on the amp when turning it up but it was still working. Then disaster struck as the phono stage stopped working altogether!!

What to do. Perhaps I can fix it or.... perhaps I can buy a new system.

This was October, Christmas was looming and I have a 1 year old. Money was tight and all I had was £200 (at a push) to play with.

Where to start?

I had lost touch with hi-fi over the years having been content with my simple set up producing a nice sound stage with a pretty detailed listening experience. I did what any self respecting researcher would do. Google to the rescue. I re-discovered the audiophile pre and power amp systems of my dreams and decided to set myself a challenge. Build a pre, power amp set up with a separate phono stage on my measly budget.

I was soon to discover this was not going to be an easy task. Pre and Power amps are expensive and second hand ones still hold their value well, very well. With just one purchase capable of blowing my entire budget. Dejected I decided to just go for a phono stage instead and stick with my increasingly flaky Kenwood 3020 amp.

I discovered the Rega a2 phono stage after auditioning one and being seriously impressed with the results. I started scouring eBay and the sales sites to see if I could get one cheaper than the £80 price tag in the shop.

I was still looking at the pre power amp setup and had taken to haunting the DIY audio forums with dreams of building my own amps. That's where I stumbled on it. A link to an eBay seller who sold tube amps from China in kit form, and that they were, according to some very detailed reviews actually pretty good. Imagine my surprise when I found this little Chinese outfit selling tube RIAA phono pre amp, 4 tubes.... TUBES.. and significantly cheaper than the rega. I was in.

My seemingly impossible goal of building a budget system was looking more of a reality.

Little bear RIAA phono pre amp £65 including postage. Done...

Now about that pre and power amp set up. At the same time as the phono stage I discovered that the same crew made single input pre amp. I managed to get a little bear mini valve pre-amp for £15, which even if it was useless would at least allow me to get started and upgrade at a later date.

Little bear 6J1 x2 tube mini pre amp £15. Done.

I was energised, my dream was becoming a reality. That's when I discovered these amazing little digital amps. Based around the Texas instruments t2024 chip. Some of the reviews were truly amazing. Notably a British company who make a wonderful little amp known as the bantam and it's big brother the bantam gold, which was getting reviews better than a lot of serious audiophile amps. They also did a proper power amp version. But still a bit rich for my budget. So went back to the diy forums to see if there were any alternatives. I heard mention of the Muse digital amp again made by a Chinese outfit but with the build quality and sound quality on a par with the bantam, at half the price. By this point I had listened to a digital amp in my local hifi store and was very surprised at the depth of the sound stage and how much power there was. This tiny amp was no bigger than my phone and was easily powering a set of floor standers. I stumbled across a 2nd hand Muse 50 watt amp on ebay which had been an unwanted gift. It also had a volume control so if my pre amp was rubbish no loss. It was a win win.

Muse digital t2024 50watt amp. £35. Done.

Total cost £118

Add this to my Thorens TD160 and my shelf top Mission 700s we were good to go.

Now all I had to do was wait.....

The digital amp was here in 2 days.



6 weeks later my stuff from China arrived.



So i got to building.





Finally it was there and I was pretty pleased with the look.





Now what does it sound like?

I started with my all time favourite Jazz album, one I have listened to for many years. Miles Davis' "a kind of blue" on 180g vinyl, and I was blown away. I had listened to this via my iPod with the digital amp to test it when it first arrived. The sound stage had really opened up, the detail was incredible if not a little clinical. I was really impressed. The difference the phono stage and pre amp made was nothing short of miraculous. The tone was rich, the bass suddenly had real presence and it was a joy to listen to.

Each LP I played brought another surprise. "Dark Side of the Moon" had this wide sound stage with instruments delicately dancing around each other. Jeff Buckly and "So Real" almost had me in tears as the prescence and warmth of his voice came to the fore on "Hallelujah" and "Corpus Christi Carol". Even the heavy rock notes from Rage Against the Machine and Wolfmother were deeper and more gutsy.

I could go on at depth and review each LP that I listened to that day and since but basically the music feels more real, instruments came to life and vocals have deep emotion. The sound stage has opened up and given life to a lot of my older vinyl.



Even my wife who is not a fan of the glowing tubes and wires, something about not being baby friendly, had to admit that it sounded amazing.

So in summary I have pulled together a system for under £150 which sounds like it should cost at least 3 to 4 times more, and has given me a foundation to really build on. But more importantly is that I am enjoying my vinyl again and that was always the real goal.

- Alex

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Thanks Alex!

If you have something you would like to share on this ol' nanolog ... please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Tx

Cruel Cuts Can Create Community > my seventh guest post from Damien O'Keeffe aka @flawedmonkey

The UK Government's Comprehensive Spending Review held no real surprises. As a nation we had been living beyond our means for a long time, and the years of 'live now, pay later' had caught up. The time to pay up had arrived. What did, perhaps, surprise everyone though was the severity of the cuts proposed by the CSR, and the immediacy of their effect.

Frontline public services bore the brunt (hardly surprising with a Conservative-led coalition in power) as did the arts. The NHS, libraries, children's services, even the police force have been told to cut their expenditure drastically in order to balance the nation's books. Local Authorities have made entire workforces redundant in order to cut their costs. Even the Nation's forests were being put up for sale at one point.

Funding for the arts has been slashed. Not only through organisations such as The Arts Council but also in terms of funding higher education courses in arts related subjects. But then, the arts have always been an easy target; they don't really add anything to the quality of life, do they? You can't account for art or calculate it's cost effectiveness. So why should our hard-earned taxes pay for it? It is such narrow-minded and short-sighted thinking that leads to babies being thrown out with the bathwater. A classic example of this is David Cameron's speech glowing with pride at the success of the British film industry at this year's Oscars. The best picture of 2011 is 'The King's Speech', a film only made possible through the funding and support offered by The UK Film Council, an organisation that David Cameron has decided must go as it is not cost-effective!

The big idea behind the Government's thinking is 'The Big Society' - a radical notion that, somehow, we are all in this together (apart from the bankers pocketing bonuses for not losing too much more of our money, but let us not even start on that little injustice!) and that we must each take a bit more responsibility for the services and resources we use. On the face of it, not an unreasonable idea but this does assume that this hasn't been happening previously, that we have all been acting totally selfishly. Such an assumption, I would suggest, says more about those making it.

The actual effect of the spending cuts and the privatisation plans and the securing of larger profits for a smaller elite has been to strengthen the bonds of community that already exist, and to increase the ways in which people are willing to support one another. An attempt to force people into competition with one another has, in reality, begun to bring them together.

There have been a number of high-profile campaigns against various aspects of the proposed cuts. Organisations and lobby-groups have sprung up, galvanising support for libraries, the NHS, the arts in general, and the publicly owned, publicly accessible national forests.

On a smaller but equally as important level, there has been an increase in the ways people have supported artistic and creative endeavour. Social networks have brought together like-minded individuals who are collaborating on projects, pooling resources, and promoting one another's work. This very post is the result of such interaction. My kind and generous host has also provided photographic artwork to a range of up and coming musicians; not for monetary gain but for the pleasure of helping someone else. One of these musicians is collaborating on a project with a student from my College. A professional actress is 'giving something back' by coming to talk to and mentor some of my acting students. All of these meetings and sharings have occurred either directly or indirectly via twitter.

I know that Thomas is passionate about many things and a man of faith. I also know that he understands how small acts of kindness and support can mean so much. In giving a little we have both gained so much more in return.

Damien

@flawedmonkey
flawedmonkey.blogspot.com/

Some thoughts on St. Peter's Brewery > my sixth guest post by Angus Mathie

Note
Olly and I gave my dad a copy of St Peter's Brewery by my dear friend JD Blundell. Here's what he thought of the book...

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I received this book as a Christmas 2010 present from my family and was delighted to receive the gift for, at least, two reasons:

Firstly, I had come to know and admire Jonathan through his friendship with my son and daughter-in-law, as well as the marvels of modern technology.

Secondly, the book was on my wish list and only various competing purchases had kept it out of my library. I enjoy the somethingbeautiful podcast, which allows me to listen to a wide spectrum of opinion and I expected the book to do the same for me.

Of the book itself, I think it is useful at this point to quote the storyline on the cover of the book:

“As a twenty-something living in Austin, Texas, Jimmy Gaines had it made. A great job in the tech industry, a great girlfriend, great friends and a great life. Or so he thought.
When it all came spiralling down, Jimmy quickly realized that the life he had built for himself wasn’t as great as he’d originally believed.  

Jimmy decides to run from his problems and finds sanctuary within the walls of a small pub in central Texas. It’s there that he’s ultimately forced to face the demons of his past and come to grip with true grace and forgiveness. Discover Jimmy’s slow road to fulfilment with the help of a few friends who set out to share life together through the community they’ve built around the local pub.”

I found the book immensely readable with very fluent novelist’s descriptive ability throughout. Scenes, emotions, thoughts and interweaving action are skilfully described. I read St Peter’s Brewery within 3 or 4 sessions, finding it difficult to put down. For this reason it can be read enjoyably on one level as an engrossing novel tracing Jimmy’s spiritual and physical transformation. On that basis it can be read on, for example, an air flight or for enjoyable leisure reading. However, I found it interesting and challenging on a deeper level.

The book draws on real life situations and I could readily identify the experiences of the Salvation Army couple and the trucker, in particular, and found their thoughts and involvement moving. Would I have reacted to Jimmy the way they and others did and be as open with my history? Do I display such “Good Samaritan” tendencies? Would I have Kim’s patience in dealing with someone who appeared so distrustful and cautious? Also, what do I make of a church in a pub and of the main adherents living in community?

I think the main issue I was confronted with in reading the book was to ensure I try desperately hard not to judge a person by appearances, especially as I do not walk in his or her shoes or know his or her story.

Only one thing remaining is to know the rest of Jimmy’s story.

Angus Mathie

St Peter’s Brewery, Jonathan D. Blundell, somethingbeautifulpress, ISBN 978-1442174788.

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Scriptural Symbolised through Stylised Art > my fifth guest post from Adam "Lurch Kimded” Howie

...aka I look up a thesaurus for Illustrated Bible


"Road to Emmaus" by Adam Howie

A couple of years back someone asked me, after seeing my art, if I had ever thought about creating an illustrated bible. The idea rattled around for a while and eventually I decided that it would be a interesting project. So, for almost two years now I have been slowly working, in a roundabout sort of way, on an illustrated bible. With the hope that at some point I will have amassed enough creative output to either output an art book or even somehow make a bible with the artwork inserted.

As for why I would be so interested in creating one, well, first off I believe that art can enhance a text, be it scripture, or poetry, or whatever. It can also detract is not done correctly. Secondly the bible is a rich tapestry full of sumptuous stories, tales, poems, and powerful images and words that forge intense images in our minds and hearts. Which makes it perfect for artists to be inspired by and have their own views on the words and the powerful imagery.

There are of course people who prefer words over images, they are drawn to and love the power and prose of the written word. For me however, certainly increasingly, it is the image that draws my heart and mind deeper, a single image can be as complex as a essay, as intricate as an novel, and as enthralling as the best prose.

There is a proud tradition thankfully within the christian world of creating beautiful illustrated, and illuminated, bibles. The skill and craft of countless people through the ages has produced beautiful collections, and standalone, works of art. For me one of the most beautiful artworks of Christ isn't from an illustrated bible, rather its Dali's “Christ of St John of the Cross”, which is an odd choice I know, but there is something intangible about it,

In some way thats what I think is important about art (and all creative works). That is that you can't always explain why something moves you, or how it is you can spend all day looking at, listening to, reading, something. For me its because there is that part of us that seeks creativity, it is, for me, a part of the “made in the image of God” we all share. God is a creative being, God loves to create, and God shared that love and passion with us, we are a creative species, be it in the arts, technology, philosophy, whatever, we are driven towards creativity.

So as I work, slowly it seems, creating images, sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident, I am always in need of new ideas for what parts of the bible people would enjoy seeing created as art? What piece of scripture would intrigue you to see in illustrated form? If you have any ideas, please share them. Perhaps there are some illustrated/illuminated bibles or individual works of art that you find powerful, please share them as well.

You can keep track on my progress here on my home blog:
http://www.realityofdreams.org.uk/illustrated-bible/
Or my artwork in general through my work site:
http://www.illusionaryconstructs.com/

Thanks to headphonaught for the use of his blogspace :)

Adam “Lurch Kimded” Howie

Crime, society and community challenges... my fourth guest post > from @scottishpaddy84

When it comes to crime, the next leader of the Labour Party will have real power to make changes. They’ll have pretty decent freedom of movement in policy making. Compared to economic or public services policy, there are fewer internal structural constraints on the policy direction the Leader can take.

That means the next leader could put the stamp of their leadership on crime, society and community policy more than any other.

What challenges will they face?

First, the government will be keen to cast the debate in terms of distant state indifference versus local power. They will talk of democratic accountability as a way to get the police to focus on what matters, not Whitehall form filling.

At the same time, Budget pressure will mean police numbers will begin to fall. We’ll see shorter and fewer prison sentences. If high unemployment is sustained, we may well start to see an increase in crime figures *

In turn, this will increase the salience of crime as an issue. This will present a major political opportunity – as the Government will find it hard to present itself on the side of “Lawnorder” while cutting police budgets and shortening Prison sentences.
So what can they do about it?

The next Leader could choose to foreground punishment, policing and being “tough on crime”. However, I doubt any of them will want to do anything that could be presented as a straight grab for Tory crime policy.

There’s little appetite for that kind of political ruthlessness today. Instead, our candidate’s talk a lot about data based policy frameworks, quite rightly wanting to make good policy, not good sound bites.

So I expect the next Labour Party leader to broadly embrace the opportunity presented by the Coalition to shift the debate on prison numbers, sentencing and policy. If they’re smart, they’ll do this provisionally and on the basis of “What works”, and stressing that what matters is frontline police work, proper funding to prevent recidivism and investment in building community strength, not “Going soft because it’s cheap”

To emphasise that point, I expect our next leader will extend a vision of a “social community” or some such, as a more fleshed out response to the Big Society, by which Labour encourages mutual’s, charities, and councils to localise community services, and especially give communities a bigger voice in crime prevention policies.

Giving people the power to build a good society is an attractive and useful sell. Crime is holistic, after all, and issues from housing quality, to social engagement all affect it. Here, we pause, and stroke our beards compassionately.

Gosh, this all sounds remarkably easy. Let’s just give being nice a try!

A word of warning though.

When it comes to crime and society, there’s a lot of good reasons to embrace localism, rehabilitation and community service, but there’s also a danger of retreating into a kind of soggy loveliness that doesn’t relate to how angry people are about crime, social breakdown and anti-social acts.

I spend my evenings on an estate mixed with private and council housing. It is an excellent estate with good staff, regular cleaning and a strong sense of community. There are problems, as there will be in an estate with vulnerable residents, but the estate management has used local enforcement powers to get rid of a crack den, for example. What I’m saying is that they are good places to live. I’ve never felt unsafe.

Still, about every other night, someone urinates in the street.

I can cheerfully say that if I ever discover the phantom street urinator, my urge will not be to rehabilitate him.

Now, my rage of mine at such a minor piece of anti-social behavior should not get in the way of making good policy. Just because I want to do it, I doubt upstanding citizens should be allowed to take pruning shears to the private parts of street urinators. That would be bad.

But even if my atavistic urges should not be given into, they shouldn’t be ignored or dismissed. Suffering from Crime and Anti-Social behavior isn’t a small issue that can be distracted from by visiting a teenager’s charity and nodding empathetically.

So if the next Labour leader doesn’t find a way to channel the anger people feel about crime and society, they will not get the traction they need to talk about the positive steps they wish to make a stronger community.

This is the challenge for the next leader.

Talk of localism, of community, of the good society, and noble policies intended to bring that rhetoric to life, will fall flat if not accompanied with a clear understanding that people live with a level of unpleasantness, anti-social behavior, rudeness and criminal activity that should neither be tolerated or shrugged at.

Disproportionately, the people affected by the poor behavior of others are the poorest, the weakest, and the most vulnerable. If we are to try to set out policies to support community, to build society, to encourage mutualism, these will so much blather if we cannot also convince people that we are as angry, frustrated and passionate as they are about stopping criminal and anti-social behavior.

Note I have provided precisely zero solutions. I am just trying to set out the challenges.

@scottishpaddy84 aka Gordon Miller.

*Oddly if we cut police numbers, BCS might start going up, while recorded crime falls – esp. if forces are given more discretion in recording crime)

Pocket Personality... my third guest post > from @timlukejones

They say you can tell a lot about a woman from the contents of her handbag but not being a woman or the carrier of a handbag (I can't find one to match the Commissioner's overalls) this doesn't really work too well! I do carry keys though, and these can illustrate my pocket personality - who I am...

• Lacie iamakey USB stick - I am a geek - in fact this could easily be renamed iamageek, for that is what I am! I carry a USB stick for quick data transfer of pictures, music and documents on the go - wherever I am.

• House keys - I am a housemate. I share a house with another person who works in the public sector. Our home is one filled with laughter and fun a lot of the time but has also seen many deep, wholehearted and genuine conversations in its short life as our house.

• Drum cupboard key - I am a bandsman. It would be easy to get into 'that' discussion about Salvation Army bands but I know for certain that some wonderful mission opportunities have arisen from the playing of Christian music over the past 18 years or so. I know it isn't totally relevant so I'm under no illusion there, but I also know it's not totally irrelevant.

• Regent Hall key fob - I am a Rinker. Since arriving in London as an innocent 18 year old student of German and Scandinavian Studies the Rink (Regent Hall Salvation Army) has been my home church! It has supported me through some happy times and some sad times, highs and lows, God loving and God loathing times. It provides a great stopping point on Oxford St, right in the middle of the world's busiest shopping street.

• HMV loyalty card - I am a film buff. I own too many DVDs. I have 42GB of movies on my iPod. I have a Cineworld unlimited access card and usually watch 3 films a week (on average!). There's rarely a genre or style of film I won't watch - from Hollywood blockbusters to Brit films to films about Cold War German life to Icelandic comedy to Korean horror! Movies are a great release from real life but also a great insight into it.

• Handcuff key - I am a police officer. A rozzer. A pig. The fuzz. The PoPo. It's my job and it's one I take so much pleasure from doing. I am young in age and service but can already see the impact my work has had on people. I deal with some of the people on society's margins, seen as the dregs or the dross but I do it gladly. Not just for the money but because it's my vocation and calling.

• Drum key - I am a drummer! Always tapping on something or somebody (usually myself!) the rhythm got me at and early age and has stuck with me. I play a variety of shaky, hitty, noisy, clinky, swooshy things, both tuned and not. I can often be found playing bass drum LOUDLY on the Rink open airs and marches and do this gladly!

• Mum and Dad's house key - I am a son. To my parents, oddly enough! I was born in Suffolk and grew up in Cambridgeshire, Gwent, Glamorgan, Lancashire, Essex, Middlesex and Surrey (and I'm still growing up). But through my parents have seen lots of the UK and will be ever grateful for my upbringing.

• North Wales Police keyring - I am a judo champion. Last October I travelled to North Wales to compete in the Police National judo championships. I won my weight category and got my tail kicked quite unceremoniously in the open weight! Nonetheless this was enough to strike fear into the hearts of the people I knew (although it may have been a widespread case of heartburn). I love putting my gi on and training and fighting for the pure enjoyment of it!

But not everything I am is summed up on my keyring. I am happy, saved and free. I am a Christian. I am loved. I am blessed. I am handsome. I am funny (see previous point!) but most of all - I am me...

@timlukejones

I love music... my second guest post > from @jaredmente

I’m probably like most of you – I love music. I can remember as a young boy when I first discovered real music, you know, something other than the theme songs to my favorite cartoons. I was rummaging through my older brother’s room (why did I do that so much?) and found U2’s the Joshua Tree on tape and decided to pop it into the deck. I put on the headphones and started to listen. I was immediately immersed in the beats and rhythms and melodies. This was awesome! I started singing along with the catchy hooks, not quite keeping up with Bono’s screeching high notes…then suddenly my brother barged in and turned on the lights (why was I in the dark?) and proceeded to berate me for being in his room without his permission. But he was too late – I was hooked.

Life continued on with piano lessons from my mom, trumpet lessons from school, singing in the choir, guitar lessons from…well nobody, etc etc – I’ve been surrounded by music my whole life. So, when I decided to start making my own music it just felt like the natural progression. At the time, I set out to create music that I would like to listen to, because I couldn’t find anyone else making exactly the same type of music. I would just fill that void myself. That was before the days of such great sites like bandcamp and soundcloud (at least I think it was, I’m no history buff in terms of the internet). By the time I was finishing up my first album, Assorted Ambience, I looked out across the web and discovered that there are actually quite a lot of people making this kind of music, or similar. There is a myriad of musical choices out on the web today and I love it! I am at the heart, after all, nothing more than a music enthusiast.

So I added my contribution to the musical world and immediately began working on my second album. I get bored unless I’m creating something – an itch that my day job certainly does not scratch – so I feel compelled to make things, be it music, videos, or what have you. I think my creative level improved with my second album. I will openly admit that I’m no expert in making this music of mine, I’m learning on the job. I feel like it’s evolving and getting better with each take. I hope that if you give the two albums a listen that you will agree. The second album, Unseen, I am particularly fond of and worked quite hard on. But, that wasn’t enough – a third album is currently in the works. And, by the way, I’m bored with my current home on the web and am in the midst of creating a new website for my musical persona.

I’m an addict of the melodiously strange and interesting world that is today’s popular (and more usually unpopular) music. I still drive in my car with the tunes turned way too loud while singing along at the top of my lungs – still unable to hit those really high notes. There’s just something so great about music that allows you to be pulled in, to be something greater than what you are, to be somewhere you have been before. I love music.

@jaredmente

"Unseen" on Bandcamp

Story... my first guest post > from @myopicaardvark

Story.

It's all about story for me. Doesn't matter whether it's books, telly, gaming or music. If it doesn't tell me a good story, it's not for me.

I play games a lot - sure, I've got things like Peggle which is fairly simple, but it's got a slight story hanging on it (slight as it may be).

When I play City Of Heroes, I play stories that I've seen hundreds of times over the last six years. You play them again and again and you end up knowing them by rote. But it's how each character reacts to them that makes the story. It's how my perfect hero reacts to something or how my villain laughs maniacally as they steal some books from orphans (true story - the most evil arc in the game).

And I listen to my wide range of soundtrack music, both while gaming and whilst walking, and sometimes in work too. The crescendo of the music changes each part of my journey as I run the notes through my head. I'm constantly reinventing the same scenarios based on the music , visuals and all the things which influence them.

When a good movie comes out or a good book, it'll colour the story in my head. So when Transformers came out, the music led to robot attacks, profound speeches made by voices with deep gravitas and lots of explosions (fun when you're walking along Argyle Street).

When something Star Wars related occurs (so wait until The Old Republic is released next year), there are honourable foes and despicable villains having sword fights across my synapses).

And when I return to my typical comic book hero pasttimes, I end up seeing heroes around town, doing similar acts to whatever the current story arc is in the comics, I do live in the real world, but my imagination colours it to tell a story that I don't get in normal circumstances.

It's not a bad way to live and I'm quite happy with it.

So how do stories influence your day to day existence? Are they small scale distractions or do they have an effect on how you react to everything? I think I'm somewhere in the middle (as per usual). Where are you?

@myopicaardvark