Censorship

Friday, July 31, 2009 ~ 5 comments so far

I’ve been writing this blog for quite a while, so I must admit that I’m surprised that this is the first time I’ve found myself in my current position.

Perhaps it’s because I tend not to make inflammatory statements (aside from that post about the Bible being a work of fiction written by the Devil, obv) but I’ve never had to censor any comments before.

Luckily I have a Comment Posting Policy which states:

I reserve the exclusive right to moderate all comments posted on my site, including but not limited to… deleting comments that contain offensive language. Repeated use of abusive and offensive language will be deleted and banned.

So, said comment is gone, forever banished to the land of dead pixels and binary dust.

It’s hard

Wednesday, July 29, 2009 ~ 2 comments so far

Listening to the news on the way to work this morning, some chav sounding lassie from some London suburb or other was bemoaning the fact that she found it hard not to bunk off school.

Yes, that’s right. She wasn’t finding it hard to attend school just hard not to bunk off at least once a week.

She said she had once “even” been arrested whilst bunking off which didn’t reflect well on her school, or her parents but it was just really hard not to bunk off. I’m guessing peer pressure is probably the reason but that’s just a symptom of the underlying disease

I’ve touched on this theme before, several years ago, and whilst part of my reaction disgusts me I can’t help that knee-jerk feeling that somewhere, somehow, discipline has been lost, and my contempt for that girl rises to the top.

Do we blame the parents? The teachers? The government? The kids? Probably all of them in different ways and magnitudes.

And the thing that really annoys me is that fixing, or at the very least addressing, the slow decline of moral standards in our society must be possible.

Just, you know, it’s, like, hard.

I am not a morning person

Monday, July 27, 2009 ~ Comments Off

It’s 10am on Sunday morning, I pick up my water bottle, a small towel and head out the door. I arrive at an almost empty gym and start to warm up. My body resists, my mind suggests that going back to bed might be a better idea and by and large the next hour or so is a bit of a struggle.

This is not a new feeling.

When I first started jogging there were sessions on a Wednesday evening, and a Sunday morning. Once I got over the initial shock of doing any form of regular exercise I was soon bounding along during the Wednesday evening sessions. Sunday mornings were horrid.

I used to think that it was maybe because I wasn’t warmed up enough, that as it was early in the morning I hadn’t really done anything so my body wasn’t really geared up to doing anything strenuous. Unfortunately even after an intense 10 minute warm up my body still wasn’t really of a mind to exert itself. It’s a wonder I managed it out of the house at all.

So I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m not a morning person, and so I wasn’t to perturb on Sunday when I couldn’t cycle as far as I did during the week, nor complete the same amount of reps on any of the machines. That’s ok though.

Because I was there. That is what counts on the days you really don’t want to go.

Now I just need to find a way to make them count DOUBLE, and I’ll be happy.

Ill Communication

Thursday, July 23, 2009 ~ 5 comments so far

Twitter is changing. Whilst the technology is the same, the way it is being used (or perhaps the way I use it?) has been slowly evolving.

Evolution is a good thing, but that does mean that I now find myself evolving how I use and interact with Twitter.

Maybe I need to slim down my followers list and remove those that are only making noise.

I include those who have endless conversations between themselves, for me that’s just noise.

Hashtags present another issue, whilst they can be useful they are now used in other ways which add to the noise.

I’m worried that I’m actually considering the categorisation of some Twitter posts as “types of noise”, but maybe that is what is needed?

Whilst I can use apps like TweetDeck to filter out “types of noise”, it would be better to have opt-in than blanket messaging?

But then, that’s not Twitter, is it?

I’m really not complaining about Twitter or those who I follow, although a little self-policing would help.

After all, what happens when you put 100 people in a room mostly talking to themselves?

Day in the life

Tuesday, July 21, 2009 ~ 2 comments so far

Woke up, fell out of bed,
Dragged a comb across my head;

If only the second line were true.

My day has a routine, I doubt very much that this is an usual fact. I mean I’d imagine most people do pretty much what I do every day. Actually that’s probably not true. Most people in the western world perhaps and at this point I’ll pause to consider how lucky I am and how much I take my comfortable life for granted.

*pauses*

The alarm clicks and the radio wakens me from my slumber. I still use an alarm clock beside my bed as I like to see the time. I have tried using my phone in the past and if could find an iPhone app that disabled email notifications whilst the clock was showing that I’d probably switch back to that.

I swing my legs out of bed and pad to the bathroom, stepping over the cat who will be lying on the landing waiting for someone to go downstairs and feed him. I pee, weigh myself, and shower. I don’t shave everyday as my skin can be a bit temperamental. I then wander back across the landing to the part of my office that holds my daily accoutrements, apply some deodorant, a dab of aftershave then back into the bedroom to get dressed.

Once clothed, back to the office where I’ll put on my shoes, lift my phone from the charger, put my wallet in my back pocket and dip into the small wooden tub in which I keep my spare change. I usually make sure I’ve got at least a couple of pounds in my pocket, with at least £10 in my wallet.

Downstairs now. Whoever is first will feed the cat, a treacherous exercise as he winds himself round your feet, mewing and pleading to be fed. Then it’s a small glass of fruit juice to wash down my pills (2 a day), a quick check to ensure there aren’t any dead animals (mice usually) in the living room and I grab the car keys, unlock the front door and drive to work.

Once at work, a quick skim of any new emails (subject lines only at this point) and if nothing is urgent then I’ll grab a bowl of cereal and sit at my desk and read and respond as required. By the time 8.30am rolls around I’m usually done with that, have had a quick check on Twitter and a quick flick through some RSS feeds.

Then it’s coffee and the working day begins.

I’ve had the same routine, give or take travel differences, for quite a while. It works for me. Although I will admit that some days I do mix it up a little… instead of cereal I’ll have a roll and sausage (of the square variety). Dangerous I know but hey, what’s life without a little bit of chaos!

The white stuff

Sunday, July 19, 2009 ~ 4 comments so far

I have white stuff all over my hands. I really should wash it off.

I would’ve washed it off earlier after the first time, but I knew I’d be doing it again so, you know, what’s the point?

It’s like showering before going to the gym. Actually that’s a bad example as there are some people who really should do that, either that or they’ve been in the gym a looooonng time, phouew!

Looking down at my hands, the white stuff gives me a sense of achievement. Not a large one, but hey size doesn’t matter, right?

Anyway, whilst I will need to do it a third time, I guess that’ll wait until tomorrow. Best go wash my hands.

Thankfully it’s white emulsion so will clean right off.

The impossible bike ride

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 ~ 3 comments so far

My legs are pumping, sweat drips from my brow, trickling down my nose, my hands are slipping on the grips and through half shut eyes I watch the distance slowly rise.

More! Faster! COME ON!! I silently urge myself, blocking out the slow burn of acid in my muscles, pushing myself on, adrenalin surging round my body whilst I gasp for air.

The timer counts down, seconds to go, I know I won’t make it but I have to try, all the way, 100% until there is no time left, push push push, the pedals spin and my legs scream at me to stop.

The timer hits zero, I sit up in the saddle and gulp down air. Huge mouthfuls, a drowning man saved. My legs slowly calm as I slow down.

I look down at the display, hoping for the distance I want, the distance that was set, the target that spurred me on.

The LCD glows. 10.4km.

I silently curse.

I slowly cool down, stretch my legs and head home. Why can’t I do it? Why am I so far away from it? I’ve done it once before, mere weeks ago, what is wrong with me??

And then it hits me.

Two weeks ago I sat back after spending 40 minutes on the bike. I ‘travelled’ 12.1km. Excellent, I thought. A good target. Since then I’ve only managed around 10km, quite a drop, and it’s taken me until now to realise why.

I’m only cycling for 30 minutes.

My brain is trying to kill me.