Six months ago I started learning to play the baritone and at the time it made me realise quite how terrifying it is to be launched into a whole new world. Learning about music seemed about as complex as working out how to carb count, adjust basal rates and identify hypos. The one advantage music has… Read More »
Avid account holders at your soaraway Shoot Up will be aware that when you sign up you are asked to tell us what your favourite ABBA song is. Some people thing that this is a clever anti-spam mechanism, others a complex physiological test of some description. In actual fact it’s a piece of paper-thin whimsy… Read More »
I’ve decided to learn to play a musical instrument. My family will quickly tell you that this is well outside my current skillset. I’m not renowned for my sense of rhythm or pitch. However, the husband plays the tenor horn in a wind orchestra and in a pub after a recent concert I was bullied/coerced/persuaded/pressured… Read More »
Brett Ryan Stewart is a gifted young, up and coming American musician who writes and plays some good music described as “indie/pop peppered with a southern influence”. You can listen to his stuff over on his MySpace page here. As well as being irritatingly talented, Brett is also lucky enough to have Type One diabetes… Read More »
Since the discovery of insulin by Banting & Best in 1922 there have been millions of pounds spent on diabetes research each and every year since. Such research has been of huge benefit to the diabetic community, with meta studies advocating the advantages of multiple daily injections, balanced diets and so on which have helped… Read More »
My fair city of Edinburgh is currently in the grip of the Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe. For those that don’t know, the city plays host to the world’s largest arts festival. Each August a bewildering number of plays, dance routines, comedy shows, musical extravaganzas, street performances are put on in a warren of tiny,… Read More »
While Alison and I are completely ancient (Alison especially), I know that some of you young folk regularly read the soaraway Shoot Up. It’s therefore worth noting that Edinburgh’s Napier University have recently created a leaflet giving advice to you outlandish young people who have diabetes about attending this summer’s music festivals, where I understand… Read More »
When I was a teenager (many, many, many years ago) I did a lot of things that teenagers do – get grumpy, get spotty, grow my hair long and make mix-tapes for distribution to friends and stalkees. Recorded directly from the radio I would be furious if the half-witted DJ spoke over the last few… Read More »