Remember to live
Friday, March 21, 2008 ~ 5 comments so far
It seems I can’t avoid this blog post so I may as well crack on and see what falls out of my head.
My father-in-law lives in small town in Spain and, as such, is part of a tight-knit ex-pat community over there. Early this week a man we’ve met a few times, and who was always friendly and welcoming, dropped dead. We saw him just last month. Quite a shock.
Then I read this post from Tom about a man who dropped dead in the street. Tom closes his post with some advice:
…live life to the full. Make yourself happy. Try to make those that you care for happy. Your life is the only thing that you truly own and you only get one – so don’t sweat the small stuff.
Sounds twee, sounds “new-age hippy crap” but he’s right. It’s not easy though, grabbing fragments of life during the bustle of your day, pausing long enough to breathe in a moment of beauty. But we must try, mustn’t we? If not, what else is there to this life?
We all face challenges, situations arise and every day we put off doing something simple and easy. Reality slips past unnoticed, our vision narrowed by repetition. There is always something beautiful and unique, always a moment to grasp.
Current Mood: Ranty
Thursday, March 20, 2008 ~ 5 comments so far
Idiots: Take 1
Orange have dropped my line rental by 20%. Yay.
Orange have offered me an upgrade on my handset, and I hate my current handset. Yay.
That would mean a new 18mth contract. Boo.
And despite having chosen the phone on Monday, I was told yesterday that I’m in the “wrong band”. Boo.
(That last one is odd, I’ve never even been in a band, unless you count noodling around on keyboards in Martin Gillespie’s garage when I was 14….)
This is not the first time I’ve ended up having to chase two different Orange departments because THEY screwed up. So, as soon as I can, I’m off to O2.
Idiots: Take 2
I put up an item on eBay and it sold for £97. Yay.
The buyer had no history, whilst ALL the other bidders did. Hmmmmm.
eBay pulled the item because of ‘rogue activity’ on the buyers account. Nuts.
Because the item was pulled, I have to go through the entire listing process again, rather than just clicking “Relist”. Boo.
I received an email from “paypal” to tell me the funds were in, and could I ship the items to an address in Nigeria. When I say paypal, the email came from officeemail.net but hey, they’d transferred £127 into my Paypal acc… ohh wait, they didn’t. Boo.
Idiots: Take 3
I filled my iPod with some music yesterday, planning to bring it into work so I can get my head down as there are a few items that have just leaped in priority and I want to get them done ASAP.
iPod remains sitting on my desk at home. Boo.
And finally…
Apparently it is now Spring. This is evidenced by the fact that is grey, cold, windy and raining.
You know what, I think chocolate will feature in my food diary today…
Upcoming
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 ~ 1 comment so far
This post is entirely to save my own sanity. Feel free to skip it but if I don’t write all this down my head will explode.
Today I await the arrival of a new kitchen worktop and need to visit the doctor (well the nurse) to get my blood pressure taken again. I’ve been pretty good watching what I eat, not adding salt to anything (well a tiny amount to that tasteless bowl of chicken soup.. ick) and I’ve also managed to lose about 5lbs so it’s all good, I hope.
Tomorrow night Louise is out seeing South Pacific. Not my favourite show so quite glad I’m not going, it’ll give me a chance to sort through my bookshelves (some of them at least).
Saturday (22nd) night we are out to dinner with my sister and her boyfriend, then off to see Jimmy Carr. I’m expecting sore sides on Sunday morning.
Although I might have to work on Sunday so I hope they aren’t too sore.
Alas I might also have to work on Monday (Bank Holiday or not, but I’ll get the days back…).
At some point next week the article I wrote for Credit Control Journal (exciting stuff) will be published.
Tuesday (25th) of next week I’m through in Edinburgh in the evening at a SUPA event (ohh dahhhlling that’s supa!), which will give me some blog fodder for that other blog I have as well as being pretty damn interesting in general.
Thursday (27th) of next week, we are at the dentist at 9.30am. Well Louise is, but as we share the commute these days it means I’ll also be late into the office.
Friday (28th) of next week is Games Night at work, and I’m looking forward to chilling out a little, playing Guitar Hero, eating pizza and generally being a bit geeky.
On Monday the 31st of March the kitchen fitters arrive. I’m not saying any more on THAT topic lest I jinx things but it does mean the next few weekends will consist of flooring, papering, cleaning and of course we’ll need to buy new stuff (basin, bins, that kind of thing).
On Friday the 4th of April I’ll be at the Elbow gig at the ABC in Glasgow (anyone else going??).
On Friday the 11th of April we have a Development night out (allegedly, it’s still to be arranged).
And on Saturday the 12th April I’ll be at the Portishead gig in the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh. That’ll be odd as their new album isn’t released until the 28th…
At some point in April we will be going down to see Peggy and family so Louise and her get a chance to meet before we fly off to Hungary together at the start of May.
I’ve also got an article in the ISTC quarterly publication, Communicator, but not sure when that is appearing, and I’ve got a regular slot in their monthly newsletter starting this month. Both will be covered on t’other blog.
Phew.
Ever wondered how the time goes by so quickly? THAT’S why!!
The art of complaining
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 ~ 9 comments so far
Apparently we are rubbish at it, us Brits. We’d rather quietly seethe than give voice to any kind of negative comment or any hint that we are complaining.
I’m an occasional complainer, mainly because I just don’t see the need to bother with things I consider mundane so I tend to save up my complainments* and currently they are all being focussed on a letter of complaint.
There is a twisted joy to writing a nice meaty letter of complaint, I guess it’s akin to actors preferring to play the bad guy, it’s much more fun. That said I have never ever written a letter of praise. Maybe I should do one of those too, balance out the karma??
Anyway, as we will be without a kitchen until the first week in April, at the earliest, then I’m currently pulling together a letter pointing out that the delay was entirely the fault of the surveyor not doing his job (he didn’t check the electrics or plumbing, both of which the contract confirms he has to verify as being up to scratch) and that we expect some compensation for the inconvenience. I’m still trying to figure out the amount.
Thankfully we’ve only paid a deposit so have a few thousand pounds worth of bargaining chips.
Part of me is hacked off it’s going to take so long, part of me is relieved that the end is starting to appear over the horizon, even if it’s still a little too far away.
If this were a movie, this is the part where I lick my pencil, and starting scribbling on a yellow legal pad.
But this isn’t a movie (hopefully you’ve noticed that already) so I’ll flip to the Firefox tab that has Google Docs open, and start composing my magnum opus in the field of letters of complaint.
* I am fighting against made up words at work right now (“productizing” anyone??) and it’s kinda turned into … well making up words all over the place.
The one where I don’t read any books
Monday, March 17, 2008 ~ Comments Off
Some wise person once said “Best laid plans are soonest avoided”. Admittedly it may have been me…
My weekend was hiijacked by shopping (whilst we waited on the electricians finishing) so I have a couple of new shirts, a night out with our friends (and rather delicious steak!), and a car boot sale which included getting up in the middle of the night to get there, and having people peer into the back of your car the second you pull up. They had torches and everything, these are serious people, organised people, do NOT get in their road!
Also managed to fit a cat flap which Ollie has finally figured out how to use, although it will mean building a new back step (he’s climbing up some bricks at the moment to get to the flap), and through the joys of Sky+ I got to watch Scotland lose at rugby, Rangers steal a cup final from Dundee United, and a rather exciting Grand Prix.
I did not, however, read anything, nor start clearing out my bookshelves. Oh well, Louise is out on Wednesday night so I can crack on with that job when I’ve got the house to myself. Yes, yes, I could easily tackle the job when she is there but it means I need to limit the volume of “that crap music”… it’s much better if I wait until she is out, trust me.
A busy few weeks ahead, kitchen ‘stuff’ of course, plus Jimmy Carr this weekend and a trip back to the doctors to see about my high blood pressure. I’ve spent the last week adding no salt, reading labels on packets and generally being sensible about what I eat (if you discount the Toffee Crisp I had yesterday… hey, I’d been up since 4.30am!!). It’s not been too bad to be honest and I really hope it’s helped lower my blood pressure as I really REALLY don’t want more pills, I’ve still got two weeks of antibiotics to get through!
Not a bad weekend then, although looking at the weather today I wish I had the day off because the garden really really needs some attention! Anyone wanna bet it’s raining this weekend?
We can haz electricitics?*
Saturday, March 15, 2008 ~ 5 comments so far
We can!!
Lessons learned, if you know someone in the ‘trade’, ask them for a recommendation. Not only have the guys done a bang up job, clearing up after themselves in the process, they were HALF the price we got quoted for a job that would’ve taken twice as long?
When we told Danny, our newest bestest electrician friend, about the other quote he was gobsmacked both at the price and the length of time quoted.
If you are in the South Lanarkshire area, I’d recommend you steer clear of “First Call Electrical Services” and Mark Rodger.
And if you need an electrician I’ll happily pass on the number of our newest bestest electrician friend.
So, step one in getting the kitchen finished is complete. Just waiting on the delivery of a new worktop and then rescheduling the fitters. Another week perhaps??
Anyway, to celebrate saving a fair wodge of cash on the job, we’re off out for dinner with our friends Ian and Susan. Ian is our “friend in the trade” (and his Mum comments here on occasion, Hi Moyra!) so this is a big THANK YOU for helping us de-stress a little and hopefully lowering my blood pressure… ohh I’ve not told you that news have I… 176/116 is bad, apparently so I’m being healthy now. It sucks. More on that, later (but not tomorrow as we are car boot sale-ing and have to be up at 4am to get a pitch!!! Mental!).
Must dash, we’re going out in an hou… ummm.. 40 minutes!!
* In case anyone is wondering (surely by now EVERYONE has heard of them?) the wording of the title is a tribute to Lolcats.
How many books is too many?
Thursday, March 13, 2008 ~ 7 comments so far
I have a lot of books. I have a lot of unread books. I keep saying I’ll go through the ones I’ve read and ditch some but I never do. Instead I buy more. I don’t know why I do that. Why do I do that? Why do I buy more? I have enough as it is, many unread. So why, as I have many books, do I buy?
It’s a compulsion, etched into my mind, an inherited trait that I can’t fight, an itch that remains out of reach no matter which way I toss and turn.
I have books on all sorts of topics, fictional stories that others have recommended, factual books on many topics, from mental wellbeing, web design, philosophy, gardening, exercise, movies and more. Just about all of them are kept for some tenuous reason or another but I really need to let go…
But that doesn’t help solve the puzzle of why I keep buying new books, especially as I have so many that remain unread, some of which I purchased several years ago.
I’ll quite happily admit that I bought a few books with ‘betterment’ in mind (and ‘of mind’). Be they a classic novel or a book on the great philosophical thinkers (bought from Meg I think) I deliberately chose them with a view to becoming better read, whatever that means, although I quickly ditched those in favour of the really highbrow stuff (The Da Vinci Code for example) so that reasoning has back-fired.
I wonder if I buy books because I don’t trust my memory and I’m scared I’ll forget the name or author of that one killer book? Perhaps I need to do is hack my brain to chuck the name and author of a book into a list, rather than just order it “because it’s only £4.99″. I mean we all know what lies at the end of that road, “it’s only £4.99″ soon becomes, “yeah but I’m gettin’ 4 books for under £20!”, swiftly followed by “Ohhh one more for free shipping…”.
I buy books based on author, David Mitchell, Ian Rankin, Alice Sebold, and ignore them for the latest James Patterson. Hell I’ve probably read more pages from Esquire magazine in the past 6 months than I have pages of a book. I know I go through spells of reading but this is becoming an increasingly dry time. A fallow spell of unbroken spines, if you will.
Why do I read? For enjoyment largely. I enjoy the escape, the way time slips past in the shadows as you immerse yourself deeper and deeper into the words on the page.
If this were a movie, this is where you’d get a CGI scene with the words floating up off the page and spinning up and round me as I sit, transfixed.
Ohh and whilst I remember, you bloggers who have had books published (I count 5 on my shelf) aren’t helping!
You know what, perhaps a clear out would help. Allow me to refocus on the books I’ve not read. Yes yes, a clear out is in order.
Let’s not be too hasty though… let me just check what Amazon have on sale…