Engage

To engage people.  Good people.  How?

I was going to try and do a three x three x three thing and TRY and be all clever with it.  But WHY?  So instead I'm going to list some things that are really involving my brain at the moment:

IP - Intellectual Property.
Protectionism - As a way of maintaining IP.
Profiteering - as a way of milking protectionism.

I HATE:

that I work for a drug company.

that I don't feel I can make a positive difference in my work.

that IP and Protectionism and Profiteering are hand-in-hand.

I WANT:

to work for a company.

that I feel I can make a positive difference for with my work.

and that IP and Protectionism that the company I work for employs prevents profiteering on any one's part.

The last post?

Shit! Fuck! Crap!

All these (3) things.

I've been totally blocked from saying things on the quince since god knows how long. I feel as if there are a million and one things that I need to tell you all (all 3 of ya!). But what exactly? In which order? How? and then it all stops. The flow is dammed (in the verb sense, as in to dam a river - fuck I wonder sometimes if I'm fluent in English and it is NEVER helped by going to the Turkish barber just down the road from you and asking for a haircut).

So, revert, update. (is that a sentence? - probably not... edit...).

SO. Here is an UPDATE! (acknowledging the indiscriminate use of CAPS!).

I have a new JOB. I started at the end of last month. It is the promise of something more. But it has failed to deliver, as my suspicion led me to believe many moons ago. I do not care. For the moment. But I suffer for want of something TO DO!

This means lots of things, but primarily this: I need a distraction. Morgue has inadvertently put his hand up. Bless him. I'll take ANY distraction he giveth me.

And it also means that I'm squandering what precious little time I have on this earth by wondering and pondering and doing NOTHING about a myriad of things that I need an audience for. But I also need a muse.

And that is where I see this site failing. It isn't my muse. Where do you find a muse these days??? The technology is there - why can't I capitalise? It isn't time, but it may be my priority!

I need virtual help. Will any of you provide it?

OK

Three things,

Number One: No blog activity.  Apologies. Nothing to write.


Number Two: New Job.  Boring.  I await training...


Number Three:  Happy.  Life is interesting.  In tune...

Good on you Harry!

I've been listening to my iPod of late and have been caught a number of times by a track which I have no recollection of ever actually collecting.  This is due to a widening of my interpretation of digital copyright, and the kind sofa cruisers we sometimes encourage to stay on their way through London that have varied musical possessions I can 'borrow'.

It doesn't help that I have an iPod shuffle that doesn't tell me the track name, and also have an incredibly poor ear for lyrics that makes the looking up of a familiar but unknown song all that more difficult.

So I've just been able to track down a recent addition to iTunes and it comes from Harry, NZ's Flash kind. 

So good on you Harry.  Nice one.  And I don't mean that in the tabloid sense...

Update

In a remarkably romantic turn of events, the UK Home Office has (in its infinite wisdom) given me leave to remain on UK soil on the basis of my longstanding (now five year) relationship with Sal. The visa confirmation came through on Valentines Day!

Of course to celebrate I went climbing, and Sal went to dinner with a friend for we (as a couple) care not for the commercial trappings and enforced romantic attentions of an arbitrary date. Though it was interesting to learn that this particular arbitrary date used to celebrate werewolves, blood and ****ing!

So yeah, I'm in the envious position of being able to a) resign from work (did that yesterday), b) get a start date for my new permanent job (the 26th of Feb) c) extend next weekend by a couple of days (I quit next Wednesday) and d) go to Rome!

Fucking Rome! How cool is that? I for one like them apples.

In short, life is good. Hope yours is too.

NZ Visit

Very quickly, here is a late January post, all the way from NZ where I'm currently seven days into a whirlwind home visit, the primary reason for which was the marriage of my best friend to his long-term and wonderfully lovely partner. There is NOTHING better in the world to come home and celebrate with the best of people a relationship between the best of people. And that is just what I've done for the last few days. I can't wait to see the photos!

Now it is on to the arduous task of hanging out with everyone I know in Wellington before getting on the flight on Saturday to bring me back to my UK existence. Busy, busy, busy!

Average

According to the statisticians, UK 2006 was the warmest UK in history.

I, on the other hand, am showing a very luke warm average of posts on this website.  If I wasn't a closet collector, I'd have binned this site in favor of something else I couldn't stick my teeth into.

So yeah.  Average.

I suspect that my mood is somewhat negatively affected by the latest screening at Rio (my local cinema).  Went alone to a film called Pan's Labyrinth (something else in the native spanish) and wasn't quite prepared for the visual onslaught.  It's a fantastical movie, and I was hoping to find some hope in it along those lines.  

And I guess it is a sign of good storytelling, cause the movie could be received by audiences as a fantasy and walk out of it heart warmed that the human spirit can triumph in adverse circumstances.  I on the other hand couldn't buy into the fantasy elements, knowing them all too well as the inventions and delusions of the main protagonist.  And I near wept at the inevitable conculsion of the movie, because I suspect that a terrible number of humans live by the same inventions and delusions.

But don't let that stop you from watching this movie.  It is good, probably very good.  It looks great.  I really wanted to believe.  Just be prepared to walk along the edge of a cliff for the length of the movie and know that I, for one, just couldn't buy into the fantasy keeping me off the rocks.

It is officially Xmas time.  In an apparent "Do you thumb your nose at me?" moment (ref. warmest UK year in History), on the way to work I slipped on frozen pavement and had to duck to avoid spiders webs adorned with icicles.  Needless to say my nipples were VERY erect.  It was also DARK and the path was illuminated with festive decorations.  So its Xmas...

Actually I'm looking forward to Xmas this year.  Am forcing others to gather in our small abode to enjoy a vege feast on the 25th, and one of those others is my BIG sister.  'Tis always good to have family about over Xmas!

So if you don't hear from me before the 25th, as the current quince average would dictate, then have a good one.  Please don't get yourselves lost in a Labyrinth.  

FYI: Incredibly strangely Destiny's Child is playing on my stereo.  So also remember to leave your men at home...

Raven-ous

Tower of London - not so long ago. Quite a cool looking raven. Obviously totally at ease with the tourists and photo taking. Just a shame that the wings are clipped. Spoils an otherwise amazing looking bird - the kind that you just can't help imagining pecking eyeballs out of decapitated heads, not that I saw any on the tour.




















Am humoured to think that bad movie titles still abound. The latest is Run, Fat Boy, Run. Ex-Friends Star David Schwimmer is directing and scenes for it have been filmed just round the corner of our flat. So while the name doesn't interest me in the least, at least my daily walk to the train station has been fun.

Life re-cap: New Job. Home in 6 weeks (only for two). Weather Mild. Hungry. Looking forward to Xmas...

Under-Waterworld

Skipping all the nonsense that accompanies my usual lack-of-blogging here is an excited, yet relaxed, slightly tanned update from the northern hemisphere. For this King-of-Quince has recently arrived back from a snorkeling and diving holiday in Egypt where I wasn't terrorized at all, except by the resort helpers perpetual calls for 'beach volley, anyone?'

Despite this I managed to relax, forget about life and enjoy good weather and some amazing, freaky, cool, amazing, beautiful, (did I mention amazing already?) aquatic life and landscapes.

And thanks to the wonders of digital photography and the cool tech bods that came up with the CRAZY idea of designing underwater cases for such digital wizardry, I'm able so show you a teaser of the under-waterworld.


Spotted Dick? No just a friendly grouper (I think) that was always in the same spot on the house reef.


This amazing creature is an electric ray, maybe 30cm long. I was surprised to get this photo, as I was focusing on trying to photograph an octopus (Old Eight Arms) at the time. So very cute. By comparison check out this stingray.



Width? Maybe 1-1.5m. Length? Maybe 2-2.5m. Distances can be deceiving underwater, but this was very literally a monster. It had me worried in the way that I felt it would rupture my tank--by stabbing it's barb through me--if I decided to become a little too Steve Irwin. At 20m below the surface, I was very keen not to loose any air unnecessarily!

Here is my favorite critter photographed on holiday. I took about 10 photos of this beastie, and a movie; half showing it's alien grace in avoiding my unwanted attention the other half showing my lack of skill underwater. But this is my favorite pic. It is an illustration of just how cool nature is, and how lucky I am to be able to be here to see a small part of it. Here is Old Eight Arms:



And as a final photo, and to prove to those of you who can actually recognize me under my snazzy new mask (a birthday present), here I am breathing underwater. I am in fact half fish!



Note: this is likely the only photo I'll ever publicly publish of myself. I feel safe and anonymous, cause even I have trouble recognizing my smashing good looks under my mask sucking on a lifesaving, but huge, black lollipop!

Anyway, life is good. I'm now 30, but I'm relaxed about where I'm at. I think I have a semblance of a plan. There is NZ music on the stereo. I have a choice of beer and tea on the table next to me. Who cares that when I left work early at 4.55pm tonight, it was dark and 2 degrees outside? No, not me. Never!

The strange world of the interweb

Very briefly, for i don't have much to say.  But I was amazed at the interweb today.  It connected a few disjoint things that I've been mulling over recently.  A while back I read Simon Singh 's "Big Bang" and in it it had a quote from Paul Dirac regarding how science was the complete opposite of poetry.  I agreed at the time, and then it popped up today as a quote of the day.  So I was intrigued.  hings like that probably pop up twice in my short term memory too often to follow like this, but I did.  And in the process I learned all sorts of things about old Paul.

But the best thing I 'learned' is that he re-discovered purling in knitting!  Which made me think of vaginas and Stronger Light, because when she is not a knitting tea cosy she'd prefer to knit vaginas...  God bless her little knitted socks!

So Physics and Vaginas is linked.

Thank god for the internet.

Catching

Have a wee sniffly, the residue of a cold or my immune system's response to all the socialising I've been making it handle recently.  It is inbetween sniffles that I have noticed just how long that it has been since posting last.  A long time...  *sniffles*  A very long time...  *blows nose*

So what has been happening i hear you ask?  Well, couple of things.  I've started climbing, which I think I may have mentioned already.  Doing that 1 to 3 nights a week seriously cuts into blogging time, but sure leaves me with the satisfied aches and pains of true physical activity that no amount of typing will ever give.

I've been going out lots, and drinking too much and feeling TERRIBLE the next day, and then using that as a GREAT excuse to catch up on TV programs that I have burnt to my wonderful external hard drive.  This too cuts into communication time, but leaves me happy in the knowlege that I have at last caught up on phenomenons such as Firefly/Serenity.  Oh so much better than the Prison Break series I was previously watching which degenerated into addictive awefulness.  I'm now learning how to survive thanks to Ray Mears' Bushcraft series...

I've been watching movies.  Saw a couple at the local cinema and both were very good.  They were Volver and Little Fish.  Little Fish was amazing.  Loved every little scene in it, though Hugo's bearded ex-AFL star character was a might hard to watch at times.  Volver was great too.  I fell in love with Penelope's eyes the instant they come on screen, The movie that followed then allowed me a good reason to watch after them for the better part of two hours. *contented sigh*

I've even been shocked into internet silence by antipodean goings on.  What with Steve Irwin's death at the barb of a stingray (a death all the more keenly felt due to my own run in with the poisonous fish in Thailand) and Peter "perfect" Brock's death, I'm now waiting on internet news of a third high profile Aussie to die 'doing what they love...'  These things always come in threes.

And i've been to Brussels.  The belgium beer was fantastic.  Bruge was picturesque.  The food was fatty and rich.  Yum.

That is about all I have to say about that at the moment.  Hope you are all well.

a shitty biscuit!

Bugger.  Went to the bank (online of course) to pay my dues and, well, fucked up proper.  I had thought that the measly amount of money I receive in what is termed my 'salary' was sufficient for the purchase of a removable hard drive as well as rent, food for the week, transport and beer (of course).  I was mistaken. 

The buggers at amazon dot bloody transact three days bloody later dot com didn't help cause they did just that.  Charge me three bloody days after I tried to buy the thing.  And timing wise they couldn't have chosen better to illustrate to the world that I HAVE NO MONEY.  It came JUST after I stupidly assumed i'd enough money to make the rent payment.  I'm officially in arrears...  To both Amazon and Sal.  'Tis and 'twill be a hard grind clawing my way back into liquidity.  Till I do I'll take solace in the beer, a liquidity of sorts...

Hope you are all well and not suffering what I like to term shitty biscuit syndrome.  SBS.  TLAs.  I love 'em!

While I'm here

Visual Factory:

At work we have a glorified notice board. It is called the visual factory. It comprises a bunch of laminated info sheets that are not particularly visual or informative.

I on the other hand perceive my world as a visual factory. A proper one. Interesting and, well, visual. Some visuals of note...

V for Vendetta - Dvd, glad I watched it cause finding a library copy of the graphic novel was proving too difficult to come by. It reminded me of the comics, and made me so pleased that Chris G pushed it upon me (in his unassuming ways) back in the Todman St days. Some things you connect with in unpredictable ways. Others fit. Chris's suggestion fitted and it was good to be reminded of that thanks to the film. I can't knock it because of this even though there was no LSD induced revelation. Bah!

Little Fish - Actually this was more of a COMPLETE experience, visuals, accents, Shortland St actors and, well, just normal people. As a movie it works SO well in terms being it's namesake. Everything about the film is little fish. Ab-so-lutely loved it and was well homesick at the conclusion despite the fact that it was set in Aussie. Good old Joel Tolbeck turned up. I remember him in a weird NZ kid's program about pirates whose name I can't remember. Can anyone help?

Maimi Vice - well it was a film and therefore visual. But it was complete shite, and I don't have anything to say about it except that it was shite.

Firefly - THE PILOT!!! At last. I have the series and Serenity in my possession. Am watching in relish, mostly due to the fact that I ain't seen a lot of TV recently (seeing as I don't have one) but also cause the good ole folk back Welly-ways seems to almost universally recommend it. Anyway loved the first 120 odd mins. At the conclusion of this I'm off to watch MORE!

The LARGE 'Ciremai' poster looks down upon me from its pride of place, hanging on the living room wall. Visuals are EVERYWHERE. Even the ones that exist only in your mind. Open your eyes and take a look.

A note of Ron The Body

Check out this.

--

Edited cause I am a muppet myself and can't spell. Also I meant note as in Floral. A hint in other words.

Will wonders never cease?

Seems as if the e-mail to blog feature is working again.  I guess this means that there are NO excuses for not keeping things up-to-date.  Except for the fact that I'm lazy...

Tired from two largish nights in a row topping off a sport-billy week.  A slow sunday will ensue as the sore muscles and sleep deprivation combine to make lethargy the number one activity.  Will have to eventually leave the flat, as I have to go to chemist to find painkillers for the headache.   Damn it all!

So, yeah, the week was a sporting one.  Had Badminton on Tuesday, Rock climbing on Wednesday and BASKETBALL on Thursday.  My whole body is a wreck of stressed muscles and tendons.  But I'm much happier for it.  Thinking of repeating the whole exercise next week...

I've never climbed before (except for one form three camp I can hardly remember).  Was thinking it would be all about ropes and belays and harnesses, but was surprised with the sole activity I pursued - bouldering.  It's ridiculously hard and I'm incredibly poor at it, but when my lack of skill combines with a simple course and I actually climb to the top, the sense of achievement is amazing.  I plan to do it again, that is if my arms and hands ever regain a semblance of strength...

The climbing centre is a bit of a local landmark round these parts.  It's called the castle and it was once a water pumping station for London water supply.  If you're interested you can check out this picture of it (thanks wiki!).  And if you follow the links back to the forwarding pages you'll even get a bit of the history of area in which I'm currently living; Stoke Newington/Dalston.

Anyway the return to basketball, oh it was good.   Played for damn near three hours, which was fun for allowing me to watch my own skill and stamina ebb as I became more and more tired.  It was a thorough workout, and left me feeling as if I remembered enough of the game to want to play it again properly.  Just need to work on the fitness.  Would also be nice to drop a few years off my age.  Nothing quite like waking up sore and thirty and then having to go to work...

Not much else to say.  So lets confirm if this post mechanism is returned.

3

2

1

...

wtf?

What is going on?

I'm having difficulty. The e-mail to blog thing seems broken. I've lost the measly three posts that I've tried to write since the 12th of July. And I don't know why! It is currently residing in the too difficult basket. Till I fix it I guess I'll have to resort to trying from within blogger.com.

So what has been going on? Well work for one. A co-wo got fired the other day. I'm VERY pissed off about it, because it wasn't justifiable for the reasons that they gave (it might have been justifiable for others they did not give - I'm not sure). But it just wasn't justifiable, and worse it was the inevitable outcome of some extremely poor management finally jumping on an opportunity, no matter how un-justifiable it was, to rid themselves of a staff member they no longer wanted.

And I'm pissed off about it. It is an illustration of how bad the management is at my work; how they approach problem staff, the quality of their decision making abilities in dealing with difficulties and worst of all the trumped up buzz they evidently gained from the whole business. The look on the fresh-faced management involved after the 'affair' was enough to make me want to ball my fist and ram it down their fucken throats.

In the process I've lost a friend at work, any last respect for the 'senior' management, and any desire to continue to do good work in the role for anyone but me. Unfortunately I can't let up my depraved profesionalism and actually do a bad job. I really want to, but every time I find myself cutting corners and shirking responsability, it hurts me. Yeah, so work is difficult at the moment.

--

I need to lighten this post before I think too much about work. I'll therefore try an experiment:

Hypothesis;

Sidonia is not accepting posts.

Null-Hypothesis;

This post or other avenues will create posts at Sidonia.

Therefore, if I see this post on Sidonia soon, I'll try to post a funny picture through Picassa (and lighten my load) and this will give me confidence that the next three e-mail to blog posts will NOT be eaten by the mysterious internet.

Lets see on the other side of this! ...

fucked off

all work related, for which I feel shouldn't tell you. but I am. Well fucked off.

--

At home. Alone. A leprechaun has stolen the S and left me the man-in-charge. I think there was a program out there called that. I'm not living in a sitcom though. For the above reasons. Grr!

--

Speaking of sit-somethings, I've been watching Prison Break on the olde computer. It's OK. Addictive but nothing special. Seriously fucked off with a scene in episode 12 where a rubbish bag plugged a two foot hole against a 20 foot high water pressure. Fuck Off!

In fact the whole set up can be surmised by 'The Incredible Machine meets Apollo 13' - An intricate, highly thought-out and well executed plan is hit by an asteroid that should have been blown up by a nuclear warhead delivered by Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis, but before you panic, don't worry it'll all be right on the night (of the execution).

Aim to get a hold on the remaining episodes soon to knock this bastard off the must-watch tv (oxymoron?) list being bandied around at the mo.

--

The sweet sounds are heaven. Even Bob D's 'Oxford Town' ain't too discordant these days (I find this song strangely UK appropriate cause I have a fucked up word-association=happy brain connectivity thingamajig). So good to come home and thrash something that makes you happy instead of fearing that the laptop will shake itself to bits (the shitty speakers of which have previously provided the sounds).

In a
bopping
to the sounds
kitchen meets MAN

moment, I cooked myself dinner. In the understanding that a) I'm poor, b) cheap & c) skinny - I've taken it as a personal challenge to:

EAT THE ENTIRE CONTENTS OF THE FRIDGE (TM)

[DISCLAIMER: 1, in a vaguely healthy kind of way 2, in the time remaining between now and when S comes back (I want her to think I cleaned the fridge!)]

In fact, I started yesterday. I had a block of tofu bbbd* of 11 JUL 06, therefore in DIRE need of eating. I ate it. I ate it good.

Fried, coated in rice flour (very effective soft-tofu batter!). I had 1/3rd block of the fried stuff left as entree tonight, and added to it:

1 Med-Large Courgette
3 Cloves of Garlic
3 Fat RED THAI chillies
3 small spring onions
1 small (slightly manky) pack of asparagus

[* Note * "Don't die just yet" David Holmes = Rocks...]

Anyway stir-fried the above after giving the garlic, chillies and spring onions the once-over with the mortar and pestle (the NEW Chef's Mate!). Delicious and hot and vaguely healthy. This leaves:

1 courgette, 1.5 cucumbers, (now) 3 beers, ~100g Stilton cheese, 50g budget cheese, 2 eggs, 1 small bunch of coriander, 2 green peppers, 1 lettuce, fresh ginger, 1 tube tomato paste, a couple of cherry tomatoes, an assortment of pickles and dressings (incl. salad cream (it tastes sooooooo good with chili sambal...) 0.75 loaf of bread, 0.5 small container of marge AND about 50 assorted green and red chillies...

I think that the pain rating of the meals over the next few day might out score the taste!

Wish me lcuk.
Fcuk.
Hcuck

!

The jinx!

Gave myself a dose of the jinx today with my NOT want towards work.  Train was late on the way to work and I came THIS close on the local station to saying fuck the money and walking home and calling in sick. 

Not that I'd have been paid for it.  I signed a contract where my work is poorly paid, sick leave isn't covered, I get no bonuses at all and I still have to give notice that I'm going to take time off.  I wouldn't stick with it if it were not for the poorly pay.  I need every last cent.  Grrr!

Anyway, late, unimpressed and slightly hungover (the three day kind of hangover - you know, the slow ache in the pit of your stomach and full body realisation of the punishment you've recently been giving it) at work to find a heavy schedule of work and bullshit meetings interrupting the productivity process.

So I stayed late to finish up and complete my precious 'billable' hours. And leaving late from work, I find that the rail network is still in flux and I get to wait another 30 minutes going nowhere.  I tell you some Mondays just ain't worth waking for.

--

Fortunately, I've not let the work and transport issues impede my life-o-solo.  And I made good on my promise to hang out with JJ and book with him a boys weekend away.  That's done now and I'm home blasting Hurt out of the surprisingly loud little speakers I ordered off Amazon in a rash display of my earning potential.  The trip that's lined up should be fun.  It is going to be cheap enough and happily sandwiched in the Friday after 4pm to Sunday midnight slot of NOT interrupting my 'billable' hours. 

--

JJs got a set of scales at the flat.  The digital kind, one tap to turn it on, large LCD screen etc. etc. which appeals to my gadget needs.  It says that I weigh a lot less than I thought, especially given all the bloody beer I've ended up drinking in this place.  I'd not trust the scales, except other users seem to think they are bang on (maybe we are all delusional).  If they are right I've never been less substantial than I am right now!  

I think I'm mirroring this insubstantiality in many facets of my life right now.

...

grumble

I really do NOT want to go to work today!
*grumble, grumble, mutter*
Have the house to myself for the next week, so aim to surf the internet in peace and write the occasional post.  Keep a lookout...