Weekender
Monday, September 6, 2010 ~ 2 comments so far
About the author: If you've followed a direct link to this page from elsewhere, here is a quick overview. My name is Gordon McLean, and this blog has been running for far far too long. You can get more information about this site, or dive into the archives.
-------------------------------------------------------------------Finding it really hard to write these days. My other blog languishes from week to week, and I won’t even mention the other place as it’s bereft of passion, ideas and any form of desire to be creative.
I’m blaming that entirely on the fact that I’m pretty damn busy these days, but in a very good way.
For example, Saturday was spent wandering shops after appealing for ideas of what to get my Mum for her birthday (thanks to those on Twitter and Facebook who made suggestions, they are all duly noted for future reference as well).
Sunday was spent with said Mother, lunch with the family at Inverbeg, and then in the evening after some Tapas it was off to the Glasgow Film Theatre to watch Some Like It Hot. Brilliant!
Was a great experience, being in an old cinema with other movie fans who were there to WATCH and ENJOY the movie, who laughed along and applauded with genuine warmth at the end. A far remove from the multiplex cacklers, munchers and yakkers I’m used to.
I will be back at the Glasgow Film Theatre for sure (Stephen Fry is ‘live broadcast’ there soon, and I spotted Metropolis on the bill as well!).
Still no movement on the house sale, still stalled. But, aside from that, life is good and I’m just embracing all the fun and happiness I can. It’s a nice way to be.
13 (+1)
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 ~ 1 comment so far
Unlucky for some (the future lies ahead).
As they say (whoever they are).
Had hoped to not to be here when this rolled around (but it’s only a number).
Life goes on (14 years is a long time).
Always (there are many years ahead).
Without fail (life goes on).
Nothing is truly unlucky (nor is there such a thing as fate).
Things are good (and will get better).
Do not worry (the past will remain, fondly).
There are many years ahead (always).
Life continues
Thursday, August 26, 2010 ~ No comments yet
No offer on house. The viewers didn’t get an offer on their property so we are back to square … two, I guess as they are still interested.
Anyway, off to visit the nurse today for a checkup on my blood pressure and to see if the drugs still work (and aren’t destroying my kidneys). I’m thinking my blood pressure might be a teeny tiny ickle bit affected by the whole splitting up/selling house thing…
Still, life goes on. Tonight I’m at an ISTC area group meeting, tomorrow night marks the return of Games Night at work, where we use the big projector and other large screens hooked up to Wiis and XBoxes to, yeah, play games. We also order pizza.
And then on Saturday it’s haircut day, I’ll also be visiting the dental hygienist then off into Glasgow later for food then to watch Scott Pilgrim vs the World! Looking forward to that.
So, life continues.
And, to be honest, aside from the house sale situation, everything is good. We can’t do anything else to make the house sell quicker so no point fretting about that, instead I’m getting out and about more and enjoying every minute.
Hoping for Mental
Monday, August 23, 2010 ~ 1 comment so far
Ahhh yes, it makes perfect sense now I’ve realised what is going to happen. There is nothing I can do to stop it, so, as I have before, I’ll just go with the flow whilst the madness unfurls around me.
If you can keep your head when all around you are losing theirs…
We are waiting to hear if the people who viewed our house a couple of weeks ago are going to make an offer. They are waiting on an offer being made on their property and are expecting it this week.
Which, if we are lucky, will mean that by this time next week we will be agreeing moving dates and so on. All good.
That is until I realised that September is already a very busy month for me. I’m speaking at a conference in the middle of September, have several things going on at work that I can’t drop out of at this point, not to mention a few birthdays to remember (my parents both have birthdays in September). I may also be needing to find somewhere to live, pack the house into boxes, get a van and a man service to help us move, deal with the cancelling of accounts, paying off of debts and everything else that goes along with selling a house and splitting up.
Of course, it might not go that way. It might fall through. I’m trying my best not to get my hopes up.
But.
I’m fairly optimistic. Particularly given previous experiences when life has conspired to bring several things together into a mad mental stramash. But I’ve gotten through those times OK, so I’m sure this will be just the same.
So, if it does all happen, it’s fair to say that September is gonna be just a LITTLE BIT MENTAL! You have been warned.
I was in Edinburghertown
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 ~ 1 comment so far
I’m alive!
Speaking of which, who sings that song? The one in the Five Alive advert with the Dodo? Anyone? CBATG…
Having been and went and done Edinburgh on Sunday, I had planned to write up some blog posts but, alas, I’m old now and an entire day drinking takes an undue toll and leaves me moulded to the sofa with only enough energy to make toast and coffee every couple of hours.
That said, it was fun, as it usually is, spending a day in the mania that is Edinburgh at festival time and, amongst several pubs, many beers and a rather delicious burger in Holyrood 9A, we even managed to catch a short comedy show, Ronna and Beverly which included Mike McShane as one of their guests and even he seemed a delightfully bemused by the two bickering Jewish Matriarchs. Thankfully, despite pointing out the “Three young gentlemen” at the start of their show, they didn’t pick on us. They did, however, mention a sexual practice called “Dog in the bathtub”, which was new to me.
Yeah, I wouldn’t google for that at work though.
Also don’t google “one man and a jar”. EVER. I’m serious. Just hearing about it… ohhh no I can’t even think about it again… *barf*
I’m serious, I know you are all thinking… ohh it can’t be that bad, I’ll have seen worse. Trust me. Don’t do it. And yes, I should probably not even mention it here but part of me is interested to see which of you perverted sickos will go and look at it (apparently a couple of people I follow on Twitter made that mistake. To them I apologise, but I DID WARN YOU!!).
Anyway, the ‘we’ in question was myself and my best mates Stuart and Keith, unfortunately the other two usual suspects, Ian and Bill, couldn’t make it. Bill lives in Holland now (yes, I know, I WILL VISIT SOON!) and Ian was working in Ireland. So, being the type of good friends we are we shared some of the joy of drinking beer outside in the sunshine by emailing pics of said beer to Ian. He really, really did appreciate it. Honest.
The advantage of having friends you’ve known for a long time is that some things never change. We’ve many good shared memories, despite the fact we all tend to forget things, like each other’s birthdays, the fact my Dad had a heart attack several years ago (“Your Dad had a heart attack? When?” “Ehhh like 6 years ago” “ohhhh, ohhh yeah…”) amongst others. And one advantage of having a mate who works at the festival every year is that he knows all the little pubs that sell good beer and are never that busy. Hic.
Always good to spend time with my friends, just chilling out and talking bollocks. As friends are wont to do. It’s also good to revisit many of the old jokes and, as usual, make drunken promises of holidays and visits knowing fine well it’ll likely be Christmas before we are all together again. Yes, yes indeed, a good time was had.
Going out
Thursday, August 12, 2010 ~ 1 comment so far
Quick house sale update: We had a viewer and they liked the house. They are waiting on receiving offers on their place though, but still, progress! Exciting! And other exclamation mark worthy statements!!
One thing I’ve been starting to do over the past few months is get out more. Meet up with people, even just for a coffee or a drink, or just spending time wandering about Glasgow meeting random people. People like Svetlana.
But I’m not going to talk about Svetlana (don’t worry I’ll introduce her to you all soon*).
I’m a pretty confident guy and share the ability to talk to anyone with my sister, although admittedly I can’t quite match her words-a-second ratio (I can only presume she’s mastered circular breathing as she can talk for minutes WITHOUT ONCE DRAWING BREATH!), so I’m quite happy sitting in a bar on my own or chatting to shop keepers and the like.
It feels good to be out and about in the city, and I can’t wait to move into it (or at least to the edges of it) and whilst I know there are drawbacks, it’ll be good to at least feel a part of something.
Clubs will be next, as in joining some, not battering baby seals to death. I’ve a couple in mind which should keep me out of trouble, add in joining a local gym and I’ll need to remember to leave sometime for just chilling out and reading books.
Speaking of which, have you ordered a copy of Dance Your Way To Psychic Sex yet? It’s avery limited print run of an excellent book, well worth the money! I’d also happily recommend Sex and Bowls and Rock and Roll which WILL make you laugh, guaranteed!** I’m reading it at the moment and have been asked to stop laughing so much!
And yes, it is a COMPLETE COINCIDENCE that both books have the word SEX in the title (Hello Google!).
* she’s not a person
** not really but it really will make you chuckle!
56
Monday, August 9, 2010 ~ 8 comments so far
I’ve been gamed.
Or rather, I’m gaming myself.
I’m fully aware this is happening, and yet I’m actually enjoying letting my behaviour be dictated by the simplest of mechanisms, a number displayed on a screen.
The premise is simple enough, the higher the number the better.
I started at about 44 and slowly rose, week after week until it hit 55.3. It peaked there for a while and then crept up further, plateauing at 55.5.
I thought that would be it, and if I’m honest I almost accepted it for a while. 55.5 would be the highest it would go and there wasn’t much else I could do if I wanted to influence it.
Except that’s not true.
With such systems it’s always possible to eek a little more from the working set of parameters, adapting in finer and finer increments until you get a perceptible gain.
It’s been a long time but in the past couple of weeks 55.7 was reached, then 55.9 was touched, all too briefly. The last week saw the number fluctuate, 55.8, 55.9, 55.8, 55.9.
Such torment!
And then, finally, on Sunday the display read 56!
I know I’ve been gaming myself, using the number to adjust things, changing this and that to keep it rising higher and higher. I could probably keep going but at some point there must come a balance and I’m happy enough with things as they are.
Yes, 56 is a good number. I’m happy with 56.