I love the petrol prices going up. It’s like a grand social experiment.
You know those t-shirts that say "how do you keep an idiot busy?"? It’s like that. It’s also like the realisation of the phrase "a fool and his money are soon parted". I wonder how high petrol prices will go before the general public decide it is too expensive to drive. £1 a litre? £5 a litre? £500 a litre?
I mean, that is the problem with Britain today. We’re not in debt because things are more expensive. We’re in debt because we want what other people have, and we refuse to let a small thing like money get in the way. I mean, if my boss drives the NASA Mondeo, lives in a 200-bed penthouse appartment, owns a 250″ plasma television and owns Ireland, why shouldn’t I?
I concede I can’t afford a house; I can’t afford to buy and run a car; I can’t afford a Nintendo Wii, but I don’t whinge on national television about it. Instead, I acknowledge I don’t need a house, I don’t need a car, I don’t need a Nintendo Wii and I’m perfectly happy. I just wish others would realise what really matters to them, what really makes them happy, and stop striving for things that ultimately make them annoying bastards. 
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Perhaps the biggest debate going on in the football world at the moment is ‘should there be a winter break?’. There are contributors from just about everyone to all sides of the story… that is, except for the fans.
I am in support of the winter break, and there is a simple reason. Supporters seem to be the last consideration of the football authorities, and this is why they insist on staging matches on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. The problem with this is that there is absolutely no public transport on these days, and thus supporters like myself cannot get to these matches. Unless of course they have access to a car, which is another assumption that the authorities have… but that’s a different article…
Last year, when we were handed a home game against Manchester United on New Year’s Day, we found we couldn’t go because there was no public transport. I emailed Newcastle United and the Premier League. Newcastle United didn’t bother responding – they never do – and the Premier League’s response was so poor and inappropriate it would not be worth me describing what it said.
As it happens, my grandad was able to give us a lift to the game last year, and Newcastle United’s home game against Manchester City has been moved to 2nd January. But giving us a winter break would be a sign that the supporters matter every bit as much as some rich guy from that glorious place called ‘television’.
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I feel like a fish in a pond at the moment; resisting lures.
Aaaanyway, I made my third ever application for a job yesterday. I need to make a CV though. This is a bit of a problem, however. It seems as though it is much easier to write someone else’s CV than my own. The problem is my past employment: there is none of course. I can explain it away… it’s just putting that explanation on a CV that’s the sticking point.
There’s plenty of (conflicting) advice on how to write a CV, but it’s not the same as having someone else write one!
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As I speak to you, I’m freezing my nuts off typing with rigid, icicle-bestowed fingers; suffering as a result of no-one knowing when to turn the air conditioning off.
In Merz Court, things were different. It was like a sauna! You could sit down with a bottle of water and after ten minutes you’d stir in your sugar, dip in a teabag, and bask in the heat. If it was wet outside, you could count on jungle-like conditions in that computer room. But here, you have to make do with trying to trap the heat from the case fan before the whirring gods get at it…
Anyway, I was in town today. Christmas decorations everywhere. If you were frozen for twenty years and saw everything on display, you wouldn’t know whether it was Christmas, Halloween or Bonfire Night. Fair enough: let us buy Christmas decorations and things, so we can be prepared for the big day. But there is absolutely no reason to set up Santa’s grotto, and festoon the complex with gaudy decorations.
So it got me thinking – as it does – what should I give up for Lent? Easter is early this year, and as such Lent begins on 8th February – so not very long at all! So I must prepare… what do you think I should give up for Lent?
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On Tuesday I went to see my project leader again to discuss my project. It isn’t easy, of course, and it has taken me longer to understand the principle concepts than I had hoped. I still don’t think I completely understand, but it seems I know enough to proceed. That is good, but I’m greedy and want more!
One thing I noticed is that visiting my project leader for our weekly meeting felt a lot like having driving lessons. The anticipation is a nerve-wracking experience, but I’m fine once I’m there and we’re into the swing of things. I also make stupid mistakes and quickly learn from them! Most of all, getting it over and done with is a curious relief for the rest of the week. The only thing different is that with driving lessons I didn’t get as much homework!
But I guess that is what this stage of academia brings: more independent work. I’ve found it quite a big step from being taught by a person to being taught from a book. You can’t tell a book you don’t understand and hope it describes the problem in a different way. You can consult other books, but what tends to happen is that other books deal with it in an entirely different way or don’t deal with it at all. But then the lecturers are always quite approachable when you do have a problem, so I shouldn’t complain…
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I’m on the Uni computers at the moment. I’ve just looked at my theme and it doesn’t look nearly so nice on a CRT monitor with fingermarks and God knows what else smeared across the screen. I can tell you the keyboards aren’t that clean either… So you might see some changes afoot… like prompting the ISS to get proper screens.
Or perhaps I should have taken heed of my own advice: I’m writing for the 34SP WordPress blog with the intention of directing poor misguided folk through WordPress installations; creating and uploading themes and picking out plugins for their site. I’m not exactly sure why I am doing this: I am meant to be getting free hosting for this but it does not seem to have materialised…
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My character Maleviolent from the realm Bronze Dragonflight in the game World Of Warcraft (Europe) has finally reached level 70! This means I have maxed out level-wise, but there is still a lot to do…
About bloody time too!
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It’s just as well I don’t keep my laptop in my bedroom, as I might have been cursing on here about the early start for my 9 o’clock lecture. As it is, now that I’m washed and packed, I feel a lot more enthusiastic.
It’s an opportunity to put my mood over the past few days behind me and get on with life (again!).
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I’ve had a bit of a crisis over the last few days. My mind has been elsewhere: thinking of someone else. I think it’s quite clear that there is little by way of mutual feeling between us, so I suppose it’s time to move on. That’s what happens if you try to follow both your brain and your heart.
It feels like I don’t have much to look forward to at the moment. That is, nothing aside from things I dread.
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I was watching repeats of Mind, Body and Kick Ass Miracles again on UKTV G2 and I was once again intrigued. It has helped me realise what is possibly my greatest flaw: I think too much.
Martial artists across the East work hard to remove thought and develop instinct as a basis for their defence. The result is that more often than not their response to an action is the right one. In context, I guess this means that I should listen to my heart more than I do my head. But it’s not easy; and that is why there is a gulf of difference between those practising martial arts and those that master them.
It really is very hard. My heart would dictate that I did things that I would – in my mind at least – find intrinsically wrong in so much that it would cause more problems than it would solve. And my fears, hopes, dreams and memories all exist solely in my mind, and the more I think about them, the greater they become. I’m frightened my heart will make mistakes where my brain would be satisfied with the status quo.
If my heart wrote this blog it would probably be a more entertaining read.
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