[598] Unfinished monkey business May 30th, 2008 – 10:48pm Posted in Thoughts 1 comment

This will, Sopranos-series-5-culminating-on-my-other-monitor-permitting, be the first of two posts tonight. The first of two which, when I have thought them over for the past hour, illustrate to me quite succinctly how futile our language is for communicating the truth of human nature. We attempt to define everything – to have a word or a phrase for every feeling and characteristic – but the reality is that nothing at all can be defined absolutely. There are shades and shadows to every single thing and it’s this I’m thinking of this month.

So there’s the preamble. Let’s take a look at one side of the coin. I’ve sat here tonight on my own having eaten, washed, tidied, catered for those around me and then… nothing. I sat watching the news for a while, but it’s superfluous in the important ways. I came up here and sat down, read a couple of e-mails, set a film I’d been recommended …read more.

[597] Eyes wide shut May 21st, 2008 – 12:04am Posted in Events, Thoughts No comments

Monday was spent trying out contacts again after a break of five or six months, with the net effect of leaving me semi-blind this morning as I staggered down the road with eyesight at 20% and falling as the bond of superglue beneath my eyelids fastened. They will definitely be one to wean myself back on, like talking to people back home about the price of fish after being away for a week, or attempting to remaster a Motorola brick when your mobile goes missing.

Work is an uneventful place. I puncture the hours in front of the screen with trips upstairs for coffee and meanders across the office for a bit of a natter, and the dinner hour is always good, but the time inbetween passes without incident. My little bit is now isolated by a wall liberally decorated with windows so the rest of the office can have a good look in as they pass. I made a joke about this earlier in the week which was …read more.

[596] Root vegetable cuisine May 19th, 2008 – 11:37pm Posted in Daft No comments

“You know when you’re cooking a leek, do you cook it all?” That’s the first thing that popped into my head today in one of those off-the-cuff moments – when you find yourself talking to someone you know, but you don’t know. The bank of safe one-liners runs dry and in an instant I’ve descended into absurdity, today the intricacies of root vegetable cuisine. Already I know the next line had I not exit stage left – are leeks root vegetables? Or do they hang from trees?

Today I came across Living with fear in Lancashire. The only fear I really have is of whoever created that because Lancashire is a funny place to live. On the ride home tonight, two chav cars entered into a honking contest at the traffic lights, wheels screeching as they revved up, only serving to fill their cars with smoke. Blackburn is funny because of …read more.

[595] A change of technique May 19th, 2008 – 8:44pm Posted in Events No comments

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on a new look for this site and in the absence of anything else to do this week I’m hoping to get it done and dusted before the weekend. By coincidence, this will fit in with a change of style in what I write here – actually, in many ways a return to how I used to write. I began writing purely off the cuff, almost a stream of consciousness, but that developed over the years as I tried to make every post crafted and insightful. The reality is, while I can achieve that sometimes, often it just takes too long and I don’t get anything down at all. The way my life is these days, I very rarely get the chance to stop and write when I’m in a particularly thoughtful mood and an idea has come together in my head …read more.

[594] Venice 2008 May 19th, 2008 – 12:25am Posted in Events No comments

A glance across Blackburn seems short; you seem to take it all in with one look, whereas a glance over a Venecian skyline takes longer. Your eyes dance up and down over the horizon picking out dusty red buildings, shimmering seas and passing tourists before you cut back for all that you missed the first time round. It’s a simplistic point, I know, because I’ve lived there all my life, but the eye doesn’t lie at the end of the day – Venice picks small town home life up, flips it over in its hand and tosses it into the sewer.

Aesthetics are subjective so it’s difficult to qualify just why Venice is Venice. My best explanation is that there is a time and tested quality to its architecture. When a building has stood for 600 years without objection, you get the idea there’s probably something intrinsically attractive about its form. It’s …read more.

[593] Ups and downs May 6th, 2008 – 7:36pm Posted in Thoughts No comments

I’ve had more nightmares, and wish I knew why they’ve replaced dreams. They seem to have the same meaning at the end of the day, so why the need for the scary shit?

Anyway. Just a quick update, as yesterday I decided in the afternoon I was going to sit down and spend all night writing about all the things I don’t get round to any longer, but then food and drink and stuff happened and it was 10pm and I had too much else going on to even think about being coherent on here. So, I’ll do that another day, but what struck me today is how even though I’m aware of so many of my own thoughts and feelings, I still can’t control them fully. I can do it quite easily most of the time using one of two tactics: ignoring them completely, or making a joke out of …read more.