With Jemma's friends Dan and Andy visiting I played host and tourguide last night in the East Village. Deciding that Max Fish was too empty we went into Luna Lounge where we came across Matchless (not 'Mattress' as I originally thought, perhaps a better name?). This is a Seattle based four piece with an amazing lead singer/bass player and drummer (both female). Kind of cross between Janes Addiction, New Order and general Seattle grunginess. Dan reckoned they were like a heavier version of the Delgados. Anyhoo - check them out.

This running thing's getting to be a habit! Decided to run into work this morning. Great idea since the clothes I needed were already in there - still ended up with a rugsac full of bits though. Need to find a way to stop it bouncing around so much! This activity was all in aid of burning off a team Thai meal at Jai-Ya last night. Now I feel a little shakey and in need of carbohydrate...

I've decided that I should quit consultancy and go into porn sites. The money's better and I think the ethical level is higher (they admit what they are doing as opposed to consultants who are often required to lie for the company good rather than have an 'honest, open relationship' with the customer).

Achey. Went for a run across the bridge this morning. This was the result of severe food overindulgence yesterday at brunch with Kirsteen and then at a superb toga party in honor of Barbara's 31st birthday at Herta's house. Good fun and thanks to John for the loan of a sheet! Greg, Nicole's brother, was there as well and I completely didn't recognise him due to lack of beard. Oops. I'm also aching from Saturday when we had a Q picnic in Prospect Park - good fun. Lots of ice fights, throwing balls around and food in the sun. April's dogs were great entertainment as was the impromptu duet between Nathan and Sam Loy's daughter.

I was thinking again about registering a domain to myself... The obvious ones, ultrahi.com and matthewhobbs.com have already gone (strangely 'matthewhobbs.com' is not registered to a Matthew Hobbs) although their net equivalents still seem to be around.

Current random URLs that might be cool:

• sushification.com - a site describing the continuing gentrification of Manhatten via Sushi restaurants, the spore of the rich, trendy and white
• diaretic.com - my diary
• unilover.com - a site dedicated to all those people who've worked at Unilever that I've known and loved (sometimes more carnally than others)
• unileaver.com - a site dedicated to all those who have left Unilever and want to form an ad-hoc community as they go through film school or eat too many pies or make bad relationship choices
• quidpunks.com - the Quidnunc community as suggested by J Pegues, a mastermind

In one of my drunken moments I was struck with a realization. Frantically I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote it down. So, in the cold light of day, here is that 'insight': rules make you lazy. Not very exciting really as it stands - I think I was trying to capture some deeper thought but didn't use the right words. The basic concept stands well though and I think it was more that 'other people's rules make you lazy' than rules in general - good rules help you make quicker decisions from a priori knowledge as long as they are used with the correct context.

Today my brother in law Simon got ordained at Guildford Cathedral so he's now a deacon. Strange to be back in a church after so long and, of course, nothing had really changed with the good old C of E. Stranger still was seeing Simon with his dad, Lesley, and brother, Matt, all standing together with their dog collars on. An entire family in service to God. Simon's dad looked so happy though. Bless.

Meanwhile I'm packing to go back to New York taking my usual excessive luggage (two bags) back having been on shopping sprees to CyberDog, Grade A and Muji. The last two weeks have been fun but I'm really looking forward to getting back to doing something rather than just sitting about! Some of the last week has also been quite stressful for reasons involving glasses of coke and a Camden nightclub. Seems to have turned out OK now but it is still in the back of my mind. Strangeness. Watch out New York - here I come...

Sometimes it's not worth being nice to people. They want you to be nasty to them, so being nice confuses them. It's like a dog with an injury biting the vets hand. They strike out at the immediate pain, not seeing the long term benefits of seeing it through. I don't like to think like this but it is true. So that leaves you, the vet, with a bloody hand, wondering if the pain is worth it to help...