Yearly Archives: 2018

2018-04-01 · 18:00

Endless Adventure

blur-bunnies-chocolates-6408 Today is Easter Sunday and April Fool’s Day. This post has nothing to do with either of those things but since they are on today I should probably talk briefly about them.

To me Easter Sunday is a bit anti-climactic. It is like Christmas without the presents. Since I stopped getting Easter Eggs, with the acceptation of the one from work, there is nothing to Easter except that the shops are closed. And the Egg from work? It didn’t even last a day.

adorable-animal-art-271955 As for April Fool’s Day? Well that is a rather none event. I don’t really like pranks as they can often be cruel – so there is not much to say about that. So here is a cat in a bowl to make you smile.

What I actually wanted to talk about today is: Endless Adventure. I discovered this vlog a little while ago and wanted to share it with you.

Eric and Alison are a couple from the US and they spend their lives travelling the world. These videos have inspired me to do some travelling – as soon as I can scrape some money together. So why not take a look at the vlog. Maybe you will love it too:

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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 is from: https://www.pexels.com/

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2018-03-25 · 17:00

Food

20180314_201404 I have a tiny kitchen. I only have two rings and have to use the bed as a surface. Yes you read that right.

Maybe it is the influence of watching Blue Peter as a child but I have a very specific way I like to cook. I prepare all the ingredients first an put them all into bowls, or at the very least piles on chopping boards.

So, yes, while cooking I had the food prepared in bowls, or on chopping boards and sitting upon the bed. I’m guessing I might find a stray piece of garlic in my bed tonight.

pexels-photo-128402 Lately I haven’t been cooking all that much. And when I have it is usually a case of chop and stir-fry. Today (2018-03-14) I decided to follow an actual recipe.

I made Kaju Chicken with Aloo Matar, Rose & Raisin Chutney Indian coleslaw. Specifically it was a recipy from: The Spicer.

The recipe was delicious, if I do say so myself, and it did five portions – could easily have stretched to six. However I would say that it may not be the best thing to make if you a new to cooking; you might find it difficult to keep track of all parts of the meal. As it was I forgot about the chutney.

From ingredients, and including chopping, it took about two hours to cook. This is why I don’t cook all that much. Although I suppose I have shown that I only need to cook once in five or six days – aren’t freezers wonderful – and I still have a few potatoes and 3/4 of a cabbage to use another day.

The only change I had to make was miking the Kaju Chicken and the Aloo Matar – to keep warm – as I didn’t have the hob space.

So that was my foray into cooking for today. I wonder what I will cook next.

Also…

No fire so that is always good.

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

And the top picture is from me.

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2018-03-18 · 18:00

Steps

sea-beach-footprint-steps In my efforts to exercise I use a pedometer. Having a target to reach is so helpful to me in feeling that I have actually achieved something.

I have a job where I am on my feat all day. Therefore on work days meeting my target is easy and just happens.

Days off are a little more tricky. There is a nice park near my flat. So on nice days, in Britain the definition of nice can be as simple as ‘not raining’, the park is a good place to go.

One disadvantage of going for walks, as opposed to going to the gym, is route planning. Even if the walk is its own purpose you still have to make the decisions of left or right turn.

I usually try to have a destination in mind. And since I am apparently uninventive that destination often seems to involve food – which doesn’t exactly undo the benefits of the exercise but is a bit silly.

dark-brown-milk-candy I have however stopped buying chocolate. I like chocolate, obviously, and it is so easy to take a square every time you open the cupboard – or just from boredom. So basically I have no self control and can only do it by not having it in the flat.

Finally I have started to drink more water. pexels-photo-113734 I am not sure how much of an effect that is having but it can only be a good thing. Who knows maybe in a few months I will be thin or, at the very least, thinner.

Only time will tell.

See you next time.

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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 picture here is from: https://www.pexels.com/

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2018-03-11 · 18:00

Call me, Gym

pexels-photo-136409 As you can tell from the title I have run out of gym puns.

Which doesn’t matter now as I have quite the gym. Last year I bought for a year in advance which ended on the 26th of February. Over the course of that year I went to the gym 40 times.

That is not the best showing. The good news is that I spent less than I would have just going along to the gym and buying a day pass. So money wise it was, technically, worth it.

The thing about the gym is the amount of time it takes up. pexels-photo-859933 Granted I only live 15 minutes away but it still takes time. And I never felt like going after work or on consecutive days so that very much limited my options.

So what is my plan now? Abandon all hope of looking good and start washing myself with a rag on a stick?

No instead I am going to exercise at home. Little and often. I worked out that with the amount of time I went to the gym about 12 minutes, ish, a day would have more or less the same effect. This requires some fudging, and is by no means scientific, but I will see how it works.

dumbbells-training-silver-sports-163498 I bought a dumbbell. Yes. Just the one. I can alternate arms so there was no real need for two. I just need to make sure I keep a good count so that I don’t end up being lopsided.

I have no idea what effect doing weights for some few minutes a day will do. I will see how I look after giving it a few months.

I am also using Wii fit. I know that game is really old now but I enjoy it and I don’t have weighing scales other wise.

In addition to this there is walking. Today (2018-03-04) was a work day and I have walked 10.66 kilometres according to my pedometer so that and walking on days off might be enough.

How do you like to keep fit? What keeps you motivated to go to the gym? And how do you find the time?

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

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2018-03-04 · 18:00

Universal Basic Income

Today I simply wanted to share this video with you. Have you heard of this idea before? What do you think about it?

I rather like the idea – and no not because I’m lazy. I think that this would give people the opportunity to seek out what they really want from life. If the basics are taken care of people can take a chance. They can go for that risky job, they can take a trip they have always wanted to take, they can ramble on their blog.

You don’t need me to tell you that it is all in the video. It may be the Star Trek fan in me talking but I think it would work. In the Trek universe, in general, it seems that people can do what they have a passion for – and wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing?

Unlike Star Trek we aren’t going to get rid of money. This brings me to the question of the boring jobs – as raised in the video. I think people would still do them. Why? Because the job would only be funding the fun stuff. And it is a lot easier to sit through a shift at Brain Numbing Inc if it is funding: a holiday to the beach, Netflix, cinema, and pizza rather than, rent, electricity, and gas. A question though would the internet count as an essential?

See you next time.

Funny story: I had planned this as a quick post so I could work on a longer one – but my complete lack of HTML skill meant it took rather longer!

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2018-02-25 · 18:00

To-Do or Not To-do Lists that is the Question

I like lists. At least I think I like lists. I certainly use them a lot. However sometimes it feels like my brain is like a security guard at an exclusive club. It even has a clip board.

What I mean by that is that if it is not on the list it doesn’t happen. Sometimes it doesn’t happen if it is on the list!

So far this year I can count this blog as a success from the list. This is being written on the 15th and for you it is the 25th. Scheduling is a real joy. I even feel tempted to put some in for the far future. Just for the hell of it. That would really confuse people. That is assuming of course the internet will still exist in decades to come. It probably will. I maybe a pessimist a lot of the time but I don’t actually believe humans are going to blow up the world or anything.

As I write this I am getting towards the end of a week off. There was no particular reason to take leave it was more of use it or loose it type situation. And in this week off I have discovered something rather interesting. I suck at time management. As I have been off my time has all been my own and I haven’t smashed my to-do list(s). There is still rather a lot to be done. I have come to an important realisation – I have given myself more tasks to do than I actually have time to do them.

Clearly this is something I need to work on. The funny thing is I feel a little guilty when not being productive and drained when I don’t do more fun stuff.

As I am typing now it is a rather nice day outside. And it would be nice to go for a walk – all I can think though is that I have stuff to do. There is something wonderful in the feeling of crossing off something from a to-do list. Which is why I want to wrap this up so I can do everything!

I did make an interesting discovery on this week off though. And that is the market. To be more accurate I should say rediscovery. Cardiff has a nice covered market not to mention other independent green grocers, butchers, and so on. And what is amazing they are cheaper than the supermarket.

This is still something of a surprise to me. It would seem logical to assume that supermarkets, since they can have massive national contracts with farmers, that as a consequence they would be cheaper. They are not.

So I have at the very least learned this from my week off. Go to the market. Cheep and delicious food and, if I’m honest, a more enjoyable shopping experience than that of a supermarket. Spending cash maybe a little annoying but you’ll spend less and my even be healthier.

See you next time.

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

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2018-02-18 · 18:00

Ramble

pexels-photo-60088 I remember seeing a meme a while ago which read: ‘I want to sleep. My brain wants to know if penguins have knees.’

That is the go-to question for an example of an irrelevant question. I’m sure though that everyone has had that happen. That moment when a fact, especially one you know that you used to know, gets stuck in your mind. And all you can think of is: ‘Who was it who played that guy in that thing?’

This is especially annoying in the cinema. You see an actor and you know you know him from somewhere but you can’t google it. pexels-photo-457884 There is a special place in hell for people who use their phones during a film at the cinema.

And as I watch science fiction it is entirely possible that I last saw the actor in question as a Cardassian or something.

Then you get out of the cinema and can look it up and it is quite a relief after having the voice lodged in your mind and not being able to pinpoint where you know it from. I know that if I were ever trapped on a deserted island that I, will actually I would die but setting that aside, would have a fact stuck in my mind. The first thing I would do on being rescued would be to borrow a phone or tablet and find out who it was that played that guy in that thing. And the relief would be amazing. Then I would call my parents and tell them I was OK.

As a writer ideas stuck in the head can be useful. The other day I had a fun idea to post – didn’t thing to write it down. At work I can’t really do that anyway. So you are stuck with word salad. And like a lot of salad it might be a bit disappointing. food-salad-healthy-colorful

I’m being unfair. The other week I did have a very nice salad at a friend’s birthday party. It was leafy, not lettuce, and had chunks of crispy duck atop it.

Now that I have written for a bit I think I might know what I was going to write about.

Books – yes that old topic. I bought three more the other day. In addition to the one the counsellor suggested – I may write about that when I have finished the book. I am now fairly sure I have more books than I could ever read. Well you know what they say about people without books in their home?

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

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2018-02-11 · 18:00

Valentine’s Day

pexels-photo-207962 Having been single for my whole adult life Valentine’s day is a day of nothing for me – but it is just a few days away and I want to talk about it.

If I were in a relationship I would want to make a big deal of it. I have heard some people say that you should love your partner completely and that a special day is unnecessary. I do understand that perspective but for me I still like the idea of the day.

At work we had a competition for which the prize was a box of Valentine’s day chocolates. I didn’t win which is probably for the best. There are few sadder things than an overweight, single, man sitting alone in his messy flat eating chocolates. The only thing that would have saved it is I would at least be dressed and not in just my boxers as the cliche goes.

So yes I like Valentine’s day and would love to have someone to make a big deal of it with. Once again this year it will just be a normal day. I am off that day, I booked it off ages ago in the vain hope, so perhaps I still-life-teddy-white-read will find a singles event to go to.

If you and your partner are doing something for Valentine’s day I hope you have a wonderful time together.

Hay look two weeks in a row! I wonder how long I can maintain this streak!

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

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2018-02-04 · 18:00

James Bond is a Time Lord

pexels-photo A little while ago I stumbled upon a You Tube channel called Calvin – Bond Reviewer.

And then I preceded to watch all of his videos within a few days. That seems to be what happens to me when finding a new channel to watch. That is assuming, of course, that they don’t have a huge amount of videos.

For the purposes of this post I want to focus on this video: I like this theory as, to me, it does explain the inconsistencies of the Bond films.

I should point out at this point that there is actually no way to to make a series like Bond work. After all the early films are clearly set in the 1960s and The World is Not Enough has a reference to the Millennium bug! As an aside I mentioned the Millennium bug to someone the other day – they were only a few years old at the turn of the century and had never heard of it. History is a funny thing isn’t it?

As an aside to the aside ‘The other day’ can be any time in the past.

The Bond films are simply set in the time they were made. And I don’t think, from the point of view of the creators, much thought is given to how they all link in. So I find the code name theory appealing. If we did want to head cannon our way out of this there are two options. All the Bonds are the same man – or it is a code name.

Calvin has nicely explained why the code name theory doesn’t work. So they are all the same man then. How can that be then? pexels-photo-130850 Bond is a Time Lord.

If Bond is a Time Lord, and thus each actor is a new regeneration, it coves over a lot of plot wholes.

It explains why Bolfled doesn’t recognise Bond in On Majesty’s Secret Service – George Lazenby was a regeneration – maybe Bolfeld was too as his actor was also changed.

And consider Q. His gadgets are always perfect to every mission. It is almost like he knows the future – or saw the script.

This was just a fun little thing that occurred to me. A quick Google search will show that I am not the only one to have thought about this. It is fun, or at least I think so, to try and paper over mistakes by outlandish theories.

A Time Lord would be a good secret agent. He or she would just keep on regenerating. Well I thought it was fun thing to think about any way.

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

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2018-01-29 · 00:21

Plans

giant-tortoise-reptile-shell-walking-162307 Well the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. So the cliche goes. So is it any wonder that me, an enthusiastic but inept planner, has totally failed to post here in weeks? Now you see why I was wishy-washy on the idea of make new year’s resolutions.

I am writing this on my phone while I wait for a friend and really should have thought of this before. If I use my phone, and sync to my computer, I can use any little nugget of time to try and hit my goal of a post a week – at least from now on.

Of course time is a funny thing. By the time you see this I will have eaten, seen a film, and had a good night. We are as yet undesired as to what film we’re going to see.

I said at the top my plans for regular posts didn’t pan out. That is because I make plans and tend to stick to them even if they are not working. So for February I will aim to do better.

As it turned out my friend and I did’t go to the cinema – as she had lost her keys. So we had a Chinese and watched some TV. She showed me Black Mirror – specifically the episode Be Right Back. pexels-photo-333837

I hadn’t seen any of Black Mirror before and rather enjoyed this episode. I like the idea of an anthology show and will check out more episodes in the future.

In reciprocation I put on the DS9 episode Duet – probably the best of season 1 of that show. I’m not sure if my friend enjoyed it or not – it is always hard to tell when showing a friend a favourite show.

Well on my ever present to-do list I am making this as done for yesterday – it is close enough – isn’t it?