Month: September 2004

bookmark_borderAutumnal Musings

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Working from home today to allow me the option to go and stand over a bank manager to MAKE him process our new mortgage application in time. This should save me having to make a payment to both the old mortgage AND the new one this month (if that happens I’ll be offline for the month as we’ll have no money to feed the meter, and we’ll be living off beans on toast. That’s one can of savers beans and one slice of toast borrowed from the neighbours… to last the month).

Presuming that everything goes well today, I can look forward to a weekend of peace and quiet. Louise is away from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon on a hen weekend in Edinburgh, that strange far away land of salt and sauce. I’ve taken tomorrow and Monday off, so will have plenty of time to get some stuff done. This may, or may not include:

  1. Cutting the grass.

  2. Finishing the fireplace in the living room.

  3. Watching Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi on DVD.

  4. Finishing the “His Dark Materials” Trilogy.

  5. Playing Pro Evolution Soccer 4 (recently ‘acquired’).

  6. See what BitTorrent goodies I can grab.

(See what I did there? Ordered them by importance to try and influence myself.. in reality I’ll start at the bottom of the list and work up but hey, every little helps, right?)

It will also involve chinese takeaway, a wander round the shops at MY pace, and some pondering of the coming month of October.

For October is my favourite month. Mainly because it’s my birthday month (what? you want to buy me something? How kind!), but really because it’s always the first proper autumn month. Granted September has done a good job this year but you can never really trust it not to throw in the odd hot muggy summer-like day. October does it’s job properly, bringing in the first morning frosts, the bulk of the trees finally realise what is going on and start burning their leaves, and I no longer have to worry about being too hot (a constant problem for those with their own additional.. er.. ‘insulation’).

So, it’ll be quieter here for the next few days, but I have something in mind to keep you all going. Nothing major, but could be fun. I’ll post more details later today.

bookmark_borderLife out of Balance

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Koyaanisqatsi – borrowed from a friend, watched last week.

“If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster. Near the Day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky. A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans.”

The Hopi Prophecies are sung throughout this film, and I guess sums it up quite well.

The movie itself has no dialogue and, and this is to belittle the impact it has, is little more than a series of moving images set over music (provided by Philip Glass). As the first part of a trilogy, released in 1983, “the film is an apocalyptic vision of the collision of two different worlds — urban life and technology versus the environment.”

Now, I don’t want to over analyse this movie (for I fear the wrath of dg) but it’s hard not to discuss it without resorting to very descriptive and emotive language. Those images, and the haunting music, soon drag you in and I found myself transfixed, pondering life and my place in the grand scheme of things. It’s rare that I get so absorbed in this kind of art, and I think it’s very much something to watch when you are in the right mood, and even then many people will dismiss it as ‘nonsense masquerading as art’, but it is certainly unique.

I was moved by many of the scenes, some are quite brutal, some poignant, and the way it’s filmed seems to help you blend your own emotions into what you are watching on the screen. I’d love to see this on a cinema screen where I think the visual impact would be breathtaking. Not for everyone, but definitely one to watch.

bookmark_borderMister Sandman

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tee hee, heh… teee hheeee…. hehee….

Ohhh how she laughed. Well it was more of a giggle to be honest, a muted little murmuring. I wasn’t even sure what she was laughing at…

I have a routine, some would say ritual, when I’m in bed trying to get to sleep. Lying on my right side, in an adapted recovery position (my right arm is tucked behind me rather than in front), I ponder what tomorrow holds, making a mental note of things I need to get done. As I relax I start semi-dreaming – a sort of cross between dreaming and projection I think – and next thing I know the alarm is going off.

Or, as was the case last night, I’m woken at 2.47am by my beloved wife. Laughing. In her sleep. This was followed by an “annoyed growl” at 3.28am, and at 5.02am she had a short conversation with herself about, seemingly, her shoe: “My shoe… mumble… all of them … mumble.. not me…”

She remembers nothing. Of course.

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bookmark_borderGrowing Pains

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Is it just me? God, I hope it isn’t, I THINK it isn’t. But what if it is? I’m gonna sound daft….

How old do you feel? I know that no-one really feels the age they are, most people being ‘stuck’ somewhere in their mid-twenties; personally I’m still 23. I have no earthly idea why that age in particular, but it was a good time in my life so it could be worse. I’m not sure that’s the best reason mind you but hey, I didn’t choose it… did I?

OK, now let’s reverse things, does anyone ever feel ‘mature’? I don’t mean a long standing feeling, or knowledge, that you are level-headed or just not ‘silly’ anymore or anything like that, more that you are struck by something, usually a trivial silly thing, and for that moment you feel “all grown up”. I get it now and again when Louise and I are driving somewhere, the moment comes and goes in a flash but sits in my brain long enough to be registered: “Look at us, driving in our car, all grown up.” It’s an odd sensation. Almost ‘out of body-esque’ for want of a better term, and it kinda throws me every time. Most odd.

Anyhoo, I’ll leave you with this final thought: Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

This post was brought to you by the letter q, and the residue hangover of two bottles of red wine last night.

bookmark_borderStill Water

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OK, not gone to bed yet, just downloading some photos off the camera, taken on Friday morning last week. It was a lovely morning, don’t you think?

bookmark_borderThree days

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Back to work tomorrow after a fairly productive day today. Fireplace is 3/4 done. Should get it finished either tomorrow or Wednesday evening.

Mind you I’ve got a long weekend coming up so might leave it for then.

Anyway, not even sure why I’m sitting here as the two bottles of Ruby Cabernet are telling me I should be going to bed.

I think I’ll listen to them.