I still intend to make a tit out of myself talking about Doctor Who, The Mars Volta and so on, be without fear, but right now I wish to provide a continuation of the post-before-last, which concerned, essentially, this burgeoning sense of disenchantment and wanderlust I am feeling lately.

I'm doing something about it.

Not on the grand scale I talked about, not yet, but today, my first free day in what feels like ages, was spent vagranting by myself around Brighton, a place that has always been somewhat of a reliable escape to me ever since I was a child.
As a friend mentioned to me once, there is a funny thrill that comes from being in a new place, and being able to almost re-invent yourself. I am always conscious of the image I seem to have inadvertently created for myself here at home: It feels like it is one of just being monochrome, only into what people may think of as gleefully phillistinic: heavy music, stupid films, drinking, just generally being a dick.
However, this is not all of me. It is a character I feel certain friends expect me to play, and when it becomes those friends who you find yourself socialising with the most, the character becomes the actor. This is an exaggeration, of course, but perhaps that's needed to emphasise this; so as to better emphasise my overall point.
Walking into a record shop or art gallery or book store and asking for the folk section, or the surrealist paintings, or the philosophy shelf (shit, reading any book at all can get you looked at funny in certain circles) turned out to be unusually liberating today. Chatting to the people in the shops, asking for recommendations and discussing just how magical certain records can be, recommendations and records that would have been unbroachable down our towns misguidedly beloved main street, was, to be honest, far more enjoyable than a mere functional conversation should have been. Turns out, talking to strangers is actually a very fulfilling experience.
Days like today are the sort of thing I'm looking for, and I've decided this is not due to a desire for escapism, but for freedom, and self-contentment. It's who I want to be in the open air, because it's who I am inside my head, and just as I want to be this person, I want this person to be informed and shaped by more than just one social circle, or town, or country or culture. The prospect of drawing from differing diverse sources to create my own perspective on the world is one which has me completely. It excites me, it scares me, it fascinates me and overall, it puts ticks in every single box on the 'do you feel alive?' checklist.
You know what? It's not even hard to externalise this internal attitude, because it's just that; an attitude, one of just liking what you like, doing what you want, and not really giving a shit if anyone says you can't. There's a lot of wonderful stuff out there, and I'm talking about everything here, from music, to film to just, y'know, LIFE, and you'd be a fool to feel as if you weren't allowed to experience whatever of it you liked.

I'm always half-convinced of some sort of providence, by the way. I tend to find that when I've got something on my mind, the answers, somewhat beautifully, can be found in the coincidences of the world. Well check this out: of all the trains in the county, and out of all the people on the train today, the one I chose to take, found me sat opposite an elderly couple from New Zealand. They were going round the world together after finally retiring, 35 years after marrying, and then working, day in, day out. They'd waited their whole lives together to do this, and now they were out seeing the world, just with each other and a suitcase, not giving a fuck for whatever you can imagine life was inevitably throwing at them in their old age. And throughout the journey, there were smiles on their faces and glistening in their eyes.

I couldn't add anything to that situation which would make that any more beautiful. Everyday life can be the most profound thing.

Anyway, back to earth now, here's what I actually got in Brighton, partly because I know people can be nosy, but also because I know exactly how one friend in particular who reads this will react to one or two things, and that makes me smile.

Books:
1x David Sedaris- When You Are Engulfed In Flames
1x Stephen Fry- In America
1x Chuck Palahniuk- Snuff
1x Henry Rollins- Smile, You're Travelling.
(Do you have any idea how hard it is to find his books? Fuck!)

CDs
1x Magnolia Electric Co- Josephine
1x William E Whitmore- Hymns For The Hopeless
1x Bill Callaghan- Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
1x Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest

and my ultimate prize of the day:

Neutral Milk Hotel- In The Aeroplane Over The Sea on 12 inch vinyl.

Yes, I have started buying vinyl. No, I don't have a record player yet. Yes, I am financially doomed now.