With full and undying gratitude to Douglas Adams for the title of this post, I am beginning to write because of what has and hasn’t been happening in my life lately. And also because I feel like it must be time to write something here.

What hasn’t been happening is web site maintenance, podcasting and various other personal projects. What has been happening is that life has been continuing despite me being tired and, on occasion, a little poorly. I suspect the poorlyness, if there is such a word, is brought on in significant measure by the tiredness. The tiredness, in turn, is brought on by not sleeping enough. Yeah, that’s kind of obvious, that last part, huh?

I have an addiction that robs me of sleep. Call me Johnny 5 if you want, but I need more info. I have an insatiable thirst for information on a variety of subjects. Technology in various guises – the web, gadgets, cool software – is probably chief among the topics but I can also include aviation and photography pretty high on the list. I used to spend hours on my Mac in the evening, diving around all sorts of corners of the internet to satisfy these needs, and then realise that it really was ‘bed time’ before 11pm. Then came the iPod Touch, iPhone and recently, the iPad.

I still often make it to bed well before 11pm, but out comes the iPad and it continues. It is on my portable device that I watch all my video podcasts. I’ll sometimes listen to audio ones and play a game at the same time. Then there is Twitter, Facebook, my RSS feeds and email to check. Again. It’s often midnight by the time I finally make myself put down the device and turn the light out – leaving a scant 6-7 hours for sleep. Only, I don’t fall asleep quickly.

A plus side of all this consumption – at least on the subject of technology – is that I’m known amongst family, friends and colleagues as a fairly knowledgeable guy and I can – and often do – help people with their problems, even if it is only to make a few general suggestions. I’ve often thought how these people view me as this “über-geek” who knows so much when, in reality, I could let them in on my secrets (mostly my RSS feeds) and they could learn it all themselves. Except, of course, I have been doing this for a long time now.

There is one thing that technology has brought me that can cut through this swathe of information overload. Music. Every so often I feel the need to cut the information pipes and just flood my head with music. Not just any music. Great music. And it all comes from the internet. No, not like that. It’s all legal, I assure you. You see I have this belief that any piece of music is like a key. A good, old fashioned key has grooves and ridges, bumps and dips – just like the music. And much as the key fits a specific lock to make a smooth action, so I believe each of our minds is like a lock. We have our own, unique tumblers inside and the music engages them. Unlike the key and lock analogy, the music need not fit exactly to have some effect. But oh, when it does fit exactly, much enjoyment is to be had.

I have had personal experiences with music that have changed my mood. A gloomy walk to the office in the morning – an office I didn’t really want to go to at the time – was brightened significantly when I switched off the podcast, chose my podsafe music playlist and hit shuffle. I remember the song clearly. Magic Carpet by New Leaf.

And so I found myself today, feeling quite under the weather, on top of tired, hitting that shuffle icon on that same playlist as I dove into some fairly decent coding at work. I enjoy coding as it is, but zoning out to the likes of Black Lab, The Razorbax, Amphibians, Little Invisibles and Ariaphonics made the remainder of the day fly by and I forgot all about the tired limbs and uneasy head that had me almost turn for home on the way in this morning. Go ahead – follow those links and take a listen for yourself. Let the music flow and see which ones fit your lock.

Well hopefully there is some connected thought above. It’s 22:11 and I am now heading to bed. You know what happens next…