Category Archives: Uncategorized

2018-06-10 · 18:00

Brain and Brain, what is Brain?

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I used Twitter to keep people updated about what I am going to post here. So it might be a little meta to talk about Twitter but that is what this post is about.

One reason I got a smart phone, in the first instance, was because of Twitter. I remember being out and about and thinking of cool witty things I could tweet. I was going to be funny! I had no illusions of this making me popular but I liked the idea of regular tweets and the weirdness of my brain seemed like a good place to mine for content.

Then something weird happened. When I got a smartphone ideas for tweets seemed to leap from my brain!

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My brain and I don’t have the best of relationship. If we were on Facebook it would probably be labelled ‘It’s complicated.’

Luckily I can wrestle it into submission when I sit down to write and sometimes ideas come out of nowhere and I am grateful. And sometimes ideas come out of nowhere and I want to give myself a good talking to because they are too weird.

I have a Google home and it is wonderful to be able to say: ‘Okay Google: Play ‘Bring it all Back’ and have it respond with. ‘Playing Baby got Back’ – not a real example but sometimes what it does bears as much similarity to what I asked for as an omelette does to a pizza!

And I remember long before Google home was a thing that I wanted this kind of thing. I wanted to listen to music and at the end of each song being able to give a verbal command and pick the next track – scrolling is such a bore. Now that I can do that my brain seems devoid of thoughts and can’t call to mind another song.

In conclusion my brain seems to have been rotted by technology. It is so easy to be over stimulated by all the stuff of the internet. Sounds, visuals, even words on a screen. It is only a matter of time before we start to have little computers embedded in our brains. Resistance is futile.

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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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Tagged as technology

2018-06-03 · 18:00

Book Review

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For today’s post I have reviewed Operation Hail Storm – please click here to see the review.

I hope you enjoy reading the review and I’ll see you again next week – and I hope your Sunday has been amazing.

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2018-05-27 · 18:00

The Finishing Line

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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.

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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.

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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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Tagged as diet, fasting, warrior

2018-05-20 · 18:00

Eurovision – 2018

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

Photo by Public Domain Pictures on Pexels.com

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

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2018-05-13 · 18:00

Negativity

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 be 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_800 By 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-261510 Naturally 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 20^th 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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The pictures here are from: https://www.pexels.com/

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Filed under Mental Health, Productivity, Uncategorized, writing

2018-04-29 · 18:00

0500

pexels-photo-859933 I have been thinking lately about the merits of getting up at 0500. And in reading that you might think that I have gone mad. Maybe I have gone mad but that is a separate issue.

The thing about getting up so early is that it allows me to get stuff done in the morning. I can go off to work knowing that a few nice tally marks have been added to my to-list – meaning I can try and relax when I get home and not have to worry about anything.

Of course this is me we’re talking about so there is always some worry.

It will take a while to get used to. They say it takes a month of doing something for a habit to be formed – so a way to go yet.

There is a health angle to this as well. Waking up early means I will sometimes get very little sleep. And they say that there is a connection between sleep and longevity. I find myself wondering how the maths works out on that one. How much longer would a person getting an eight hour average live vs a 6 hour average? If the difference was negligible the 8 hour people might spend their extra years sleeping.

Right now (For me it is Wednesday) it is almost time for work. This morning has gone alright. I have done my meditation, finished my book, done some housework, and of course finished this blog post.

I hope you’ve had a wonderful Sunday.

See you next week.

***

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

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2018-04-08 · 18:00

First Contact

In the Star Trek universe the 5th of April 2063 is the day humans make first contact – only 45 years to go.

Of course if that were true then it would mean we would have to have a third world war and have to have had a Eugenics war back in the 1990s.

It is possible that there were too many hads in that paragraph.

I am a life long science fiction fan. I really want to know the answer to the question of whether or not we are alone in the universe. Personally I believe there are other lifeforms out in space. Given then vastness of space it seems impossible that we could be alone.

This brings is to the Fermi Paradox – or to put it more simply ‘Where is everybody.’

I rather like the idea that aliens are giving us a wide berth. Humans have a hard enough time understanding each other’s behaviour sometimes so how would an alien understand?

Star Trek’s optimism of the future is a wonderful thing. I do wonder though what the real effect of an alien’s arrival on Earth would be.

In the movie First Contact the Earth had been ravaged by war. As such there may not have been any military capable of engaging an ‘invading’ ship. And Cochrane was just an independent scientist – at least from what we see in the film.

If aliens came to us in the real world they would face a strong planet and would certainly be met with fear. Therefore any aliens wanting to contact us would be very careful – maybe the prime directive is real – maybe they are in another galaxy – maybe in all the universe we are first – after all someone has to be.

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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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Tagged as Cooking, Food

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.

***
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?