Monthly Archives: May 2018

The Finishing Line

people doing marathon

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In the background, behind what you see, I have a secret. And it is a shameful secret. I’m talking about the unfinished blog posts. The drafts.

You will notice the plural form ‘posts’ yes I have a couple of blog posts, one of which has been in draft for… lets just say a while. Will you let me get away with that? Thank you.

It is one of the problems when you don’t have a set deadline. I have though, for sixteen weeks, posted here consistently and I am quite proud of that. I can’t technically say it is a success of my resolution, as I missed three weeks at the beginning of the year, but it is still a good thing. And that post will see the light of day sooner or later.

person woman apple hotel

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We can only do so much. And there is a self-imposed deadline of Sunday at 1800. The only thing to do with longer posts is to nibble at it until it is finished.

And now for the awkeard segue part of the post from nibble-to-food-to-diet.

I am attempting intermittent fasting. The idea is to only give yourself an eight hour feeding window. And no that does not mean that you get to eat constantly for those eight hours.

food-healthy-vegetables-potatoes

What it means is that you skip one of your meals. So as I write this it is 1201 and I have been up since 0600. Since I last ate last night at 2020 I can’t eat again until after 1220.

I’m choosing to skip breakfast because it is not that special to me and I can save the calories for later. Not all the calories. Doing that would rather defeat the purpose. However, for me, there is certainly merit to the idea of waiting till I am really hungry before eating.

Everyone’s body is different, and I know less about dieting than I do about football, but I like this idea. There is another version of the diet, The warrior diet, in which only one meal a day is consumed. This would be too inflexible for me. I would want to eat in the evening and when in work I only have twenty minutes for dinner. And trying to eat my one hearty meal in that time would be bad for the stomach I’m sure.

analogue classic clock clock face

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I haven’t been doing this for long enough to see results but, so far, I want to keep with it. Even if I am checking the clock every so often to see if I can eat yet.

The thing with diets is that the common wisdom seems to be that the best strategy is to make a lifestyle change. I was calorie counting before but didn’t have the will power to stop when I hit the limit. I would try to balance food intake with exercise though. Also it is not always clear what calories to write down. I can’t take a weighing scales into the staff canteen and weigh all my food. All that counting calories is tedious in any case.

There is not finishing line when it comes to diets. The body requires constant upkeep. The time just crossed into feeding time but I have just under thirty minutes on my pomodoro left so no food yet. Soon though, grumbling belly, soon. And now I will go away and nibble at one of those longer blog posts.

I hope you have had a wonderful Sunday.

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I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.

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Eurovision – 2018

venice-grand-canal-water-boats-161850.jpeg Last Saturday was the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song contest. This is something I watch every year. One year I watched it on catch up how sad is that?

I can’t really sit here and tell you it is good but it is something I wouldn’t miss – hence watching it on catch-up the year I couldn’t catch the show on the night.

There was an incident with the UK entry:  And I have to say the way SuRie recovered was remarkable. It didn’t help the UK in getting votes but isn’t it supposed to be about the taking part? I say ‘Yes’.

It is no secret that the UK hasn’t done well in Eurovision. We won in 1997, second in 1998, third in 2002, and then the infamous Gemini happened 2003. Since then the best we have done is fifth in 2009. If the UK wants to do better they might want to submit something good!

smiling woman wearing white and beige showing thumbs up

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That was a little mean. While I would say that Daz Samson and Scootch were a crime against music I have enjoyed other recent entries.

This was enjoyable:  

And so was this:  Even if I have no idea after four years I have no idea what it means.

I liked this one too:  And it certainly didn’t deserve to do as badly as it did.

This years entry was nice:  It didn’t make me embarrassed to be British and it fit nicely with the others.

The winner this year was Israel:  Which was not one of my favourites. Maybe I just don’t get music. And ‘not one of my favourites’ is putting it mildly. I have seen worse, the aforementioned British entries of Daz Samson and Scootch, but I have also seen a lot better ones too.

The weird thing about Eurovision is that one or two songs always end up jockeying for first place. Given all the countries participating, and surely all with different tastes, it would be reasonable to expect a more even spread of points.

I didn’t have a standout favourite this year but here are some I liked. The first one that stood out for me was:  It may have something to do with the fact that the singer is rather beautiful.

There were other good songs too of course. Ireland’s song was lovely.  That is pretty much what I would expect from Ireland – although the did give us a singing Turkey one year. And the staging, if not the song, of Moldova was very interesting.

In conclusion it was a mixed evening with some good songs, few face palms, and a, to me,  rather incomprehensible winner. So yes nice simple songs were rejected in favour of a woman making chicken noises. So about normal for this show.

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I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.

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The picture here are from: https://www.pexels.com/

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Negativity

pexels-photo-54379.jpeg I have a tendency to be rather negative. This is a problem I have. This is a problem I need to deal with. This is a problem I don’t quite know how to deal with.

In the past I have Googled the subject of emotional suppression. Unless you hail from the planet Vulcan emotions are something that you have to deal with. At the time of that search I wanted to know if emotional suppression was really possible. And at times I still do.

My emotions are often in turmoil. I find that a good mood can be destroyed by something relatively minor. Being jump around happy is amazing – but sometimes wonder if sacrificing those times would befitness-jump-health-woman-56615.jpeg worth it if it meant never having to feel bad.

I know that, as humans, we can’t give up on emotion. Which means trying to deal with them.

To that end I have been meditating. I honestly can’t say with any certainty how much it has helped. I suppose the only way would be to have two identical mes and one meditates and the other doesn’t and then the data is compared – so bring on the cloning vat – set course for Sontar.

There is a lot of noise in every day life –   calm-daylight-evening-267967 both in reality and in our own minds. Thus taking a few minutes to stop and not think can surely only be beneficial. With the caveat if you’re in a car heading off a cliff you might want to try turning away.

Switching off completely is more difficult these days than it ever was in the past. Thanks to social media it is so easy to get sucked into you tube and Facebook. The former particularly is one I have a love/hate relationship with. I have found some wonderful videos on there but, on the other had, I probably don’t need to know 25 Things I Hate from some random person.

Creeping_butercup_close_800By the time you read this I will have returned from my holiday. I hope that I will feel refreshed and a bit better about myself.

I think the negativity of others is worthy of consideration too. If you have a friend who gets done on you and tells you you are useless then maybe you want to distance yourself from them. I am just a guy with a blog. There is no reason to take advice from me but a friend being negative is not going to help. It may even be in the guise of being helpful. Maybe they are telling you to be realistic about a dream of yours. In life there is no guarantee of success but in terms of ambition I refer you to the words of J Michael Straczynski: ‘Never Surrender Dreams.’

pexels-photo-261510Naturally writing is my dream. I can’t imagine not doing it. At times it is infuriating; when the image so clearly in my mind is so hard to translate into these little inefficient squiggles. At times it is annoying: when I don’t know something and have to get passed the 20th page on a Google search or find an expert. And sometimes I realise that the thing I need to know is something I will never understand.

Always though I know this is what I need to do. Not in a destiny way. Not in a ‘it was meant to be’ way. This is just something that has to be for me. I hope that many of you have that enjoyment of something.

For now I keep going. I try to be more positive and find the things that make me happy. And I will keep writing. Maybe one day I can make a living from it. That would be a great day indeed. But maybe not though – it is a compulsion, it is almost like a drug, but I must, as Joe Sisko says, ‘Write the words.’

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I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.

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The pictures here are from: https://www.pexels.com/

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Holiday

pexels-photo-434632.jpegMy holiday is coming up. I’ll be going to Tenby (again).

I like Tenby and being by the seaside (no singing please) there is something special about the sounds of the sea – some how it relaxes me – and just being away from the day-to-day is good. I suppose I have just defined holidays there haven’t I?

I wish I could bring that relaxed feeling into my day-to-day life and mindset too.

I’ll be staying in an Airbnb and am really looking forward to it. As well as enjoying the (hopefully) sunny weather I’ll be writing. Which is a lot easier in that setting than in an untidy flat that I should be tidying.

Do you have a favourite place to take your holidays? Tenby has become a tradition for me now having gone their for so many years. It will be a good and fun time – this I know – even though it probably won’t feel long enough.

Then again a holiday never does does it?

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I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.

***

The pictures here are from: https://www.pexels.com/

 

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May the Fourth Be With You

pexels-photo-207529.jpeg I couldn’t let today go by without mention of Star Wars could I? And it is the only celebration linked to a bad pun.

We are also only three weeks away from the release of: Solo: A Star Wars Story. I am looking forward to this film. Rouge One was excellent, though admittedly better the second time, and I enjoyed The Force Awakens too.

I have been, and always shall be, more of a Trek fan than a Star Wars – although I don’t like Discovery or the Kelvin Timeline. However I do enjoy Star Wars very much. I have even come to re-evaluate the prequels in recent years. I still think they are flawed and, at times, facepalmingly bad. pexels-photo.jpg However they are  fun. And isn’t that the point of a film?

As for The Last Jedi I have only seen it the once but rather liked it. I do have a vague recollection of checking my watch during it though.

I am probably an odd fan though since I much prefer Han over Luke and have never quite seen the big deal over Darth Vader.* Don’t get me wrong Vader is an interesting character but I have never quite seen why he so often seems to feature on lists of greatest villains. In the original trilogy he doesn’t do much. Tarkin however he is an excellent villain.

If you are re-watching a Star Wars film tonight then have fun. And I’ll see you again on Sunday. (Actually I’ll see you in my past as that post is already scheduled.)

*Although the sequence in Rouge One was amazing.

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I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.

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The pictures here are from: https://www.pexels.com/

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