Pushing My Luck :S (Blog 63)

In blog 61, I warned of the dangers of extreme sleeping, (sleeping with the windows open in freezing climates), and whilst I may have pointed out it made me feel ill, what I didn’t do was realise or say just how ill it made me. After having a routine blood test, I was told that my white blood cell count dropped. However, it wasn’t known if that was caused by the weather or the side effects of the medication I’m on. (It so was the weather). I told my doctor about my intense sleeping habits, and he gave me an enigmatic look. Was he thinking ‘yes, the outside conditions can do that do your cells’, or was he thinking ‘idiot’? The fact I couldn’t tell, could mean it was a complicated mixture of both. One or the other is usually pretty clear. I had to have another test to see if I was ok.

The night before I got my results, I thought to myself ‘I just want to rest in my bed with the window open for a while. Then I’ll shut it and go to sleep’. However, even though I knew the cold could have a significant negative effect on me, that didn’t stop me from dozing off. It was when I woke up in the unwanted morning breeze I realised: I have a problem. A genuine addiction that may need treating. I had a bit of a sore throat and was worried my blood count dropped further. Furthermore, I was expecting a phone call from my doctor a few hours later, to tell me whether I was ok or not. But what if I wasn’t and had to do another test? How could I explain to my practitioner that I had been living like a hobo AGAIN? Isn’t once enough?

To my huge relief, I was soon told my blood was fine. If it wasn’t I’d have to change medications, and I’m not exaggerating when I say the other stuff has side effects which are piss poor. You sometimes hear about people going crazy because they didn’t take their meds, and you might just think, ‘well, he should have taken them’. However, you need a REAL good reason not to pop them in your mouth, and that is likely to be because of the extreme drowsiness that can come with what’s treating you. But I don’t have to worry about that, now. Instead I’m living it up as weird, though reasonably functional and energetic human being. (Or human bean. I love that phrase. Lol. A crazy image, right?)

On a completely different matter, I was recently offered the chance to come up with interview questions for the popular prog metal band Kamelot. Again, that was for the site theindependentvoice.org. I asked one of the runners of the website whether I could ask funny questions, or not and I was told I could. Yes! Here are the queries I came up with. (Note, I didn’t make all of my work amusing, as I didn’t want to be annoying)…

I understand that you used to be called ‘Camelot’, but you later changed your name to ‘Kamelot’. It must have been very frustrating for you, when you found out you were right first time?

Your earlier work’s singing is rather theatric. Was there any reason you moved away from that sound?

Did you know that most people in England are distantly related to King Arthur? What do you think of that fact?

Is there any power metal music you don’t like, and why?

Have your tastes in music changed as you have gotten older? Are you starting to think double pedal beats are a bit noisy?

It’s ironic that Thomas Youngblood is your longest serving member. Was that on purpose?

If you were all infinitely talented and could play whatever you wanted, what direction would you like to take your band in the most?

If you were biscuits, what type of biscuits would you be?

Your guitar soloing style is relatively melodic. What do you think of Yngwie Malmsteen’s and his clone’s over-the-top style?

When you use orchestral parts in your music, are the instruments real or produced by keyboards?

Your music video to ‘Phantom Divine’ looks very futuristic. Wouldn’t it have been appropriate to show an old king or a sword or two?

… I submitted my material to one of the admins, and was positively (I think) told to wait for approval from someone else. ‘You’re not actually thinking of publishing this??’, I thought. A little while later I was indeed told I had to rewrite my work. Damn. I had to be respectful to the band, apparently. Haven’t they had enough respect from all their adoring fans? Come on. Maybe if they had a little less appreciation, most of their albums wouldn’t have ended up all sounding the same. They need to be pushed. Anyway, that’s it from me! I have a feeling I’m not going to have time to blog for at least a few days, as I have 7 album reviews to get done. I just have to be respectful. Ohhh…. Fine. Bye!!!!!