January 2013. It still feels a bit like the future. So far, the month has been a lot like 2012, but with added snow and back pains. My first working week was troubled by a rib in my chest acting up. A guy straightened me out but I felt it for most of the weekend and didn’t feel good enough to play sports last Monday. So when I woke up Saturday morning and felt pretty good, I was quite happy with that. Then I took a shower and did something weird when using the towel. It was completely unnecessary what I did but it felt like something moved and immediately snapped back. Not sure what it was but my neck has been troubling me since. Last night I slept pretty good but I woke up whenever I moved my head. It didn’t feel like a broken night, so hopefully tonight won’t be one either. And I’m desperately hoping that tomorrow the pain will have lessened. For now I call these growing pains. I joke to myself I’m getting old. I hope I’m not though. I can’t be!

Meanwhile, fresh snow has fallen here in The Netherlands. Which delivers on lots of nice Instagrams and other pretty pictures. But I am not a big fan of going outside when the wind feels like the whole Western world forgot to close the fridge. The temperature outside was supposed to be a mere -2 (Celcius) but it felt like -10. Not comfortable at all. So apart from getting my hair cut, doing shopping and visiting a friend to play music, I stayed indoors mostly. I also blame it on my neck – a little.

The fresh snow did prevent me from seeing a couple of musicians and my favourite (still alive) children’s book author Toon Tellegen live in my parents’ hometown. I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to get back home tonight, so I stayed home and watched some football instead. I also caught up with some back issues of Wired. It dawned on me that listening to some jazz with some tea, a couple of candles and some reading is enough for me to get completely relaxed.

Oh and I did buy the new I Am Kloot while out and about yesterday. On vinyl. And while I had my reservations about These Days Are Mine and the Elbow-esque directions (while I like Elbow as a a band!) the album might head in, so far I’m not disappointed. The title track I’ve been familiar with for a couple of years, dating back from pre-I Am Kloot band The Mouth. This version is kind of nice though. The Kloot version is a bit more polished I guess…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SAox1ePSEQ&sns=tw

So I wonder how well the new Kloot will sell and whether it’ll give the band more mainstream success… Time will tell. They definitely deserve some succes…