I am hoping this year to do more with my acoustic music. The last thing I want to do, however, is stand alone on stage with lights blasting in my face and a huge chasm between myself and the audience. What I’d really love is an empty room, with a big trendy rug on the floor for the performers to stand.

“Performers?” you ask? Yes, multiple performers. I really don’t want to play by myself ever again. There’s just nothing that interesting about just myself for people to want to see me perform more than once. That’s why I’m looking for some musicians to play along with me. If you’re in the London area and play one of these instruments, or know someone in the area who does, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

• upright bass player
• percussionist (djembe, congas, some bell instruments are a bonus)
• string players - violin, viola, cello are all welcome to apply
• beat boxer
• pianist/keyboardist

If you play anything else, from a mean electric guitar to a glockenspiel, I would love to hear from you. My whole focus for this is to create something organic, birthed from a community of musicians and artists. If you’re interested, hit my email at hello [at] patdryburgh.com.

I suck at wish lists. For one, I don’t feel comfortable accepting gifts. Also, I generally want things that I have no right asking someone else to purchase for me, like a guitar. My birthday wish list for my parents this year was:

1. A car, which I have asked for every Christmas and birthday since I was 16 and have never received. Gotta stick with tradition!
2. Money, so I could buy some things for the new apartment.
3. A 24” Cinema Display, knowing I would never get it, further ensuring that I would receive money.

Well, my parents are way too thoughtful to give money. They put a lot of pride in the gifts they give their children, and so this year I received the incredible following gifts:

1. Two boxes of food and necessities for the new place.
2. A $25 Subway gift card
3. A lamp, which I had planned to purchase with the money they were going to give me.

So really, things worked out in the end. Except…

It happens every year; I think of what I want for my birthday days after the gifts have been bought and opened. And so this year I have decided to write down what I should have asked for, with the intent of asking for these items at the next appropriate occasion (or so my mom can surprise me at any point throughout the year):

1. A cook book. Gordon Ramsay’s “Fast Food” or Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution” seem to have recipes I would be interested in.
2. A Nike Plus system. I want to start tracking my runs better than I do now, and this seems to be the best solution.
3. A Nalgene Fitness bottle, so I don’t spill water down my shirt while I run and drink from my normal Nalgene bottle.

Three simple, small ideas that I really should have asked for. Oh well, there’s always Christmas.

Why are we so quick to expound the idea that “the best camera is the one you have on you,” when at the same time we’re constantly downloading and installing the newest GTD apps, spending hours tweaking our menu bars and docks, trying out every Twitter client known to man, and switching from browser to browser to browser every week?

Maybe the best GTD app, menu bar and dock layout, Twitter client, and browser is the one you have. All you need to do now is use it.