Broke my naffing thumbnail! I can just about cope with fingernail loss but the thumb is hurting when I pick. Gave up practice after 45 minutes due to throbbing thumb. Nails are a perishing nuisance (literally perishing).

Powered up the Mac to download Yahoo Messenger. Installed it and placed it on the desktop. Then noticed it had 2 icons in the dock. I couldn’t remove either of them. Got out the manual, did what the manual said and it seemed to work for about 5 seconds. Then it reappeared in the dock again. Tried to power down, and again the screen went blank as the fan went into overdrive. Had to hold down the power button to get it to shut off properly. Naffing computer.

Powered up PS2 and resumed The Bards Tale. I left the world map and went to Kirkwall, which was in flames, and the villagers were shrieking and milling about in panic. I got Bard to conjure up the hag and the bodyguard and set about killing all the skeletal horses with the flail. But the villagers still wouldn’t shut up. Then I had an idea. I saved the game there and opened up the Fender flight case. I managed to dig out an old Dobro thumbpick from the bottom of the case & resumed my guitar practice. Hadn’t used that thumbpick for many many years. It’s a bit loud & harsh, but at least I could play.

Worked on the instrumental. Decided to leave out the 7/8 8/8 bars as they were just too funky for a ‘classical’ type composition. I MUST remember them for something else later on though.

After an hour I checked the right elbow and it was aching again. This is happening all the time now. I’m going to have to pay more attention to my playing posture. Played ‘All My Friends are Gone, Girls In My Life, Jupiter and You Are My Sunshine, which I used to experiment with bar lengths & varied timings.

8.30pm Poured a glass of wine and put on Respighi’s Fontane di Roma as I tidied up kitchen and did the dishes. Naffing washing up.