Red Bull
Thursday, November 13, 2008 ~ 8 comments so far
Is Red Bull the Marmite of my generation?
Although strictly speaking, Marmite is the Marmite of our generation but bear with me here…
Red Bull, that sickly sweet, caffeinated drink, the one that gives you WINNGGSSS, seems to be increasingly popular. Particularly when mixed with vodka. Standing at the bar the other night instead of vodka and coke, the tipple of choice for the 30-somethings of the evening appeared to be, almost exclusively vodka and red bull.
As an aside, why is the alcoholic part of a mixed drink always first? You don’t order a Tonic and Gin, do you? Hmmmm.
Where was I? Ohh yes, Red Bull.
Six cans of Red Bull (no vodka) got me through an overnight drive to Torquay a few years ago, and more recently several glasses of Red Bull (with vodka) got me through a night out into the wee small hours of dawn and whilst I’m not sure that it helps, or whether it’s more my ability to handle vodka instead of my usual post-beer tipple (Southern Comfort), I certainly wasn’t suffering as much as I thought I would be (and that includes several tequilas).
That said, it does seem to be a love/hate kinda thing.
So, if Red Bull gives you wings, where would you fly to?
11th hour of the 11th day
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 ~ 1 comment so far
Pause for a moment today, and remember.
The further away from the Great War we get, the harder it becomes to remember, to relate. But we should, we must. Without the sacrifice of many we would not have the world we have today.
I AM A WINNER!
Monday, November 10, 2008 ~ 6 comments so far
In January 2007 a website I designed was launched. The mission of the website was to highlight great writing on personal blogs; to draw attention to blogs that you might not have heard of before; and to point you to one absolute guaranteed humdinger of a blog post, once a week, every week.
One year and several months later, I’ve been honoured to be the Post of the Week. I’m hugely flattered given the quality of the other nominations, although there is part of me that wonders what took so long!
I highly recommend you head over to the Post of the Week website to check out the other nominations from last week and all of the previous winners, the quality of writing continues to amaze and I’m humbled to included.
Dear President Obama
Sunday, November 9, 2008 ~ 6 comments so far
There is a Flickr group where you can post a message to President (elect) Obama.
But what to say?
I’m not sure what kind of job he will do as President, he’s inheriting one helluva mess, but that’s almost secondary to the fact that he was elected in the first place. One thing at a time and all that.
With that in mind, there really was only one message to send with the hope that “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”.
Sigur Ros
Friday, November 7, 2008 ~ 3 comments so far
Just home from the Sigur Ros gig at the Carling Academy. Not quite sure what to make of it to be honest but let’s get one thing out of the road first.
I left early.
I have never, ever, ever, left a gig early before.
So I’m trying to figure out if that means that it wasn’t a great gig, or whether it just wasn’t the right gig for me.
When I bought the ticket for the gig I spent sometime listening back through the Sigur Ros albums I have, enjoying the subtle tones and instrumentation, the changes of volume and pace, and realised that this could be a very special gig. The emotional range of the music is quite broad and due to the nature of the language used is entirely open to interpretation so whilst I couldn’t quite picture how they’d convey the rich textures and tones of their music, it’s fair to say I was quite excited.
However, somewhere in the maelstro of sound that was swirling round the Carling Academy tonight, something got lost and, as yet another barrage of noise hit me I decided to leave.
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a bad gig, far from it. When they got it right the music soared and swayed the hearts of the room, but if I’m honest those moments were too frequently lost amongst the next wave of distorted feedback. It’s a shame really, cos this should’ve been a wonderful gig.
I’m not discounting the fact that it might’ve been me, that perhaps I wasn’t in the right mood, or perhaps I’m not as big a fan of Sigur Ros as I thought. Certainly everyone else seemed to be having a good time.
Maybe next time.
Work that needs done
Thursday, November 6, 2008 ~ 7 comments so far
Turning the TV off I pause, considering the work that lies before me. I decide to have a coffee to get me started but, as I stand and start to walk to the kitchen, I realise that the clothes that were hung up a couple of nights ago will now be dry. I take my time folding them, sorting them into neat piles before taking them upstairs, ready to be put away.
I wander into the spare room and turn on the computer, watching the lights, listening to the whirrs and clicks as it readies itself for the day.
Bugger, I think, coffee.
Back downstairs and I fill the kettle and set it on to boil. That done I stand next to it with my hands flat on the work surface, staring through the rising cloud of steam. Out through the window I can see autumn leaves swirling and bumping their way to the ground, coaxed from branches by a lazy breeze. Thoughts of work nudge at the fringes of my mind but I ignore them.
The kettle announces itself with a loud click. I slowly fill my mug, stirring away the granules until there are none left. A dash of milk, a final stir and it’s ready. I lift the mug and slowly make my way upstairs, up towards the faint glow of the monitor, the heavy draw of work that needs done.
I set my mug down carefully and take a moment to shuffle some paperwork into a pile, making room for the work that needs done. That done I swivel in my chair and cast my eye round the room, a chair piled with clothes to my right, next to it an overflowing bin. A spark of electricity zips through my brain at this point and I turn the other way to the bookcase where my eyes quickly locate the roll of binbags I left there the last time I tidied up.
Getting up I rip a bag from the roll and empty the bin into it before wandering to the bathroom to empty the bin there, and again in the spare room. I leave the bin bag at the top of the stairs to remind myself to take it down later and return to the work that needs done.
A few streets away I can hear the buzz of power tools so I launch iTunes, sleepily watching the status bar complete it’s journey. I scroll randomly through the library, thinking that I really should clear some of it out, before alighting on a track I like. I reach over and turn the speakers up as the opening drum riff of Superstition ripples through the room.
To make sure I’m not interrupted I check my emails, check Twitter and have a quick look through some RSS feeds. I realise at this point I’ve not read any news today and load the BBC News website into my browser, spending further idle minutes reading about things that hold little interest. Out of the corner of my eye a printed document lies on the desk, work that needs done.
A noise from downstairs tells me the cat has returned home and soon he is at my feet, miaowing for attention whilst he rubs back and forth. I reach down and start scratching under his collar and with a loud purr he leans into my hand, eyes closed. After some time he wanders off, eager to find a good place to sleep.
I sit up straight in my chair and turn to face the monitor. I look down at the desk. On it is an empty mug and a printed document. There is work that needs done.
Another noise from downstairs as the postman delivers the latest bill. Without a second though I get up and wander downstairs to check.
On my desk sits a document. Work that needs done.
There’s nothing like a good book
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 ~ 7 comments so far
We are off to Spain next week so there are some vital things to sort out. Namely what music to put on my iPhone (I’ve got Series 1 of The Wire on there already), and most importantly what books to take!
I’ve got a Jeffrey Deaver and an Ian Rankin on standby and have just ordered Casino Royale and Live and Let Die so that should get me through the week, in between trips to the pub and general lounging around of course.
I don’t really make time to read all that much these days, in fact I struggle to get through the two monthly magazine subscriptions I receive (Esquire and Runners World if you must know). Aside from that mostly everything I read is for work related purposes and even then I’ve got a backlog, it’s just never that high up my priority list to be honest. I’ve tried to ‘hack’ my habits to get back to reading more often but nothing has worked, my attention and thoughts continue to lie elsewhere and, if I’m honest I’m fairly happy with that at the moment. We’ll see if that changes any time soon but my take is that, if I was REALLY that bothered I’d have done something about it.
Obviously I’m not.
That said there is a part of me that is looking forward to getting away, purely to be able to completely zone out in a good book, or at the very least a trashy thriller. There is nothing quite like losing all sense of time whilst you frantically flip pages, desperate to get to the next part of the story, and the quiet sense of despair you feel when you reach the end and, just like that, it’s over. You don’t get that with every book, some just fizzle out and leave you somewhat deflated but others take you on such a journey that the temptation to re-read them immediately is almost overwhelming.
Go on then, what are you reading right now? (aside from this blog, obviously!).