| I am now using LJ again |
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| 03:44pm 06/07/2009 |
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mood:  clever
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This is because it supports RSS and thus it's content can be embedded in my own web page. So read it there. Not on LJ. |
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| I ran ten miles today. |
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| 06:36pm 05/07/2009 |
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mood:  accomplished music: Bizarre eclectic mixage
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'Cos I am just that kind of awesome! And I went to the gym afterwards. I felt like an advert for Nike. But in a good way. |
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| I made the century! |
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| 09:32pm 13/04/2008 |
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mood: accomplished music: Trendy ambient bollocks. Ie, the usual for the Mezz.
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100 upper body reps! 101, actually. And no LJ posts for over a year! IAFWA!
In other news:
- I am currently taking a break from working, after holding down a six month IT contract in Livingston.
- I am no longer going to the gym, after going for about four months, as I got out of the habit with my excessive commuting schedule. I am considering going back, however.
- I am actually getting on with some of my personal projects. It's only taken me a year and a half. I'm going to seriously consider what shitty jobs I take in the future. Nothing that's more than half an hour from door to door, that's for sure. Not for a while anyway. Anyway, the projects:
- I've now got a fully working Catan board generator in Visual Basic (apart from a bit of counter ordering, which is trivial) and I've done some core maths work on corresponding mouse and piece locations.
- I've done some serious figuring out of how to use GIMP. Basically, you use Photoshop for everything and then import the project into the GIMP in order to animate it :) This has allowed me to create fun stuff (ie new LJ icons, see above) from screencapped AMVs and DVDs.
- Speaking of AMVs, my AMV DVD project continues to generate new versions. It currently has 40 AMVs on it (including short spoofs but no longer any op/eds) for a total of two hours. I'd like to start work on a second volume and I went through the top ten percent on animemusicvideos.org but for very little return. A lot of what I did find was in mp4 format as well. I'm going to have to look in to that.
- I have also been downloading a lot of anime. I have (finally!) finished torrenting Rose of Versailles and have downloaded over half of Ouran in AVIs. My new torrent project is The Wire which is a live action cop drama which someone at Conpulsion told me about and is supposed to be all "if you like the Shield then you'll love this".
- And, yes, I have applied for some jobs but no written applications this week. I'll have to pull my finger out a little there. There are actually very few jobs around at the moment and a large proportion of them seem to be email CVs. Which is OK. Sorta.
- No progress on Project Citizenship. I should really get my act together there as well.
- I should have a look at my long term goals list as I haven't looked at it for a while. I know it has 'Go to agencies' on it but frankly, that can GTF for a while at least.
Well, that was longer than I thought it was going to be. Maybe I should cut it but hell, I'm writing this to get things clear in my own mind, not for anyone else's benefit. |
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Read 23 - Post |
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| My work finally made a move |
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| 06:06pm 10/04/2007 |
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mood:  Come on already!
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I got put on a formal verbal warning for poor performance today. With luck they might get round to sacking me in about six or eight weeks. Yay! I need to apply for more jobs anyway.
In other news:
I've started going to the gym with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ogrilion. I've been twice now and it's pretty good. I'm probably going to make it a regular Friday night thing. I ran a game at the Nationals and that went well I think. What else? I'm sleeping better but not ideally. I'm going through some mood swings. I need to do more things I actually enjoy. The job is really kicking that in the ass as it's just draining the life out of me. Oh well. Hopefully it will be over relatively soon and I might even be able to get another job in the mean time. |
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Read 2 - Post |
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| Not a bad week overall |
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| 09:09pm 08/02/2007 |
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mood: yeah, alright
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I've applied for three jobs and made a start on another one today. Still loads to do, courtesy of my visit to the job centre last week. I have a job interview this coming Monday. It's a good job. It's only half hours but I should be able to live on the money. The prospect of only working half the time appeals to me. It means I can maybe get on with some of my personal projects that have been building up since I started my current job.
Up to 83 reps on the weights. Is the century achievable?!? |
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Read 3 - Post |
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| I was on strike yesterday |
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| 09:02pm 01/02/2007 |
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For the first time ever. It's also the first time I've been in a union. I'm only there for another four months but conditions are just so ludicrously crap and getting worse, seemingly on a monthly basis, that I felt I had to do something.
It was actually pretty useful to have a day off. I managed to find my British citizenship book which I have been looking for for months and thought was lost/nicked so that's ten pounds and some time saved. I also managed to get to the job centre, despite the fact they were supposed to be on strike as well, and they had some jobs available which I phoned up for. I was going to go to the haidressers as well but I got an instant interview for a rather rubbish shop job which I thought I met as well go along to instead. I'm not sure when I'm going to manage to have a hair cut now as from this Saturday I'll probably have enough job applications to keep me busy all of next week. I also have to renew my bus pass this weekend. Wow, this is fascinating stuff! Oh well, I guess I'l struggle along somehow.
Ciao. |
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| It's that time again |
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| 09:01pm 01/02/2007 |
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mood:  apathetic
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Yes, it's my birthday in two weeks. I'm currently thinking in terms of drinks in my flat from about 8pm on the following Saturday possibly going on somewhere afterwards. My address is available on request.
So that's Rik's Birthday 8pm Saturday 17th of February at my flat. |
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Read 4 - Post |
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| Small update |
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| 09:09pm 25/01/2007 |
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mood: healthy
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I've applied for two jobs this week and tonight I did 73 upper body reps with the weights. That's the most I've ever done. This would be more meaningful if I actually knew what they weighed! People have been dropping with the lurgy all around me but I've barely had a sniffle. I'm still not sleeping very well but I'm apparently pretty healthy. I just don't feel very good. Still, if I can keep this motivation thing going things can only get better. |
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Read 1 - Post |
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| Sacked or not? |
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| 09:11pm 18/01/2007 |
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mood:  hot
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As some of you may know, I was threatened with the sack on Tuesday. This is because my production figures are generally poor and on this day they were particularly bad. I was basically told I was going to have to shape up or ship out. The next day an interesting thing happened. In our morning meeting we were told that our production figures for the whole team (consisting of approximately ten people including me) had dropped from the previous day by thirty percent. Our line manager asked us if there was any reason why this was the case and the teams attitude was generally to shrug and say "explaining bad figures is your job not ours". He came up with some bullshit explanation to give to his superior. I now rather think that the reasons he came up with to cover our team and himself will also cover me. I'm also thinking it's now going to be quite difficult to sack me based on that day's figures. I've taken a copy of the figures (which are initialled by him and his boss) home to cover myself a bit further. Anyone got any thoughts on this? |
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Read 6 - Post |
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| It's just not worth it... |
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| 07:09pm 11/01/2007 |
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mood: aggravated
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I just poured some hot chicken grease into the bin, basically just to wind up my flatmate. He'd just had a go at me for spilling some water from boiling rice. Now he's blaming me for there being liquid at the bottom of bin bags. Like that never happens otherwise. *groan* |
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Read 3 - Post |
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| Back from Egypt! |
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| 08:39am 02/01/2007 |
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mood: cheerful
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We we were in Sharm Al Sheikh which is in Sinai by the Red Sea and used to belong to Israel. The area has only been developed over the last twenty years and as my brother repeatedly said he remembers it when it was all desert! The weather was good (around 25 degrees), if a bit windy. The water was usually warmer than the air so a whole lot of snorkelling was done. You had to pay to get on to a beach (three to five British pounds a day) as they were all owned by someone, even the ones which were signposted as being public. This was disconcerting at first but it was well worth it. The coral and other marine wildlife were very impressive (photos to come, hopefully) and we saw better and better underwater sights almost every day ending with Ras Mohammed National Park on Saturday, which was our last full day.
The hotel was three stars which was basic but perfectly fine and a good breakfast was included every day. The town itself is described as the Las Vegas of Egypt and this is a pretty apt description. It was tacky and overpriced and as well as having a Hard Rock Cafe and a club which hosted Ministry of Sound it also had a Pizza Hut, a KFC and a TGI Fridays all next door to each other! There were more authentic places to eat which was just as well as it wasn't really practical to either buy or prepare your own food. We did make one trip to the "Old Town" (all of twenty years!) and got some nice bread and fruit but this wasn't worth doing regularly.
All in all my goal of getting some summer sun has been well and truly achieved with the added bonus of some really excellent snorkelling having been done! |
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Read 4 - Post |
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| I'm in the pub! Come drink with me! |
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| 06:53pm 03/11/2006 |
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mood: amused
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This made me laugh. From the Metro:
Tricia Marwick, SNP MSP for Mid-Scotland and Fife, said: "If the work had been carried out a year ago, the decision could have been made this summer instead of next."
No, never! Gotta luv the SNP! ___2S___ |
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Read 3 - Post |
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| Legalisation of prostitution |
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| 08:58am 30/09/2006 |
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mood:  confused
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[Disclaimer: I have no background in economics. All viewpoints expressed here are purely my own. I also apologise to the PC advocates out there for the use of the term "black market". If you have a better term I'm interested in hearing it.]
I was having a discussion on this topic in the pub last night. Unfortunately it got somewhat heated and confused as these things do.
I have a number of issues with prostitution, one of which is probably just basic prudishness. I'm just pretty old fashioned about some things. Regardless, I think prostitution could be legalised and probably should. Naturally this was not the position I took in the debate!
One point I was trying to make was that I believe that there is a large proportion of the sex industry that will only thrive in a black market economy. In the legitimate market products and services are sold on the basis of two things; quality and publicity. Good products reach a market through word of mouth and mediocre products require advertising. Of course most goods and services use a combination of these attributes. Prostitution relies on neither of these. No-one claims that prostitutes are prettier or more skilled than average. You also can't advertise an illegal service. The property sex is sold on is availability. If you tried to sell a conventional product on this basis I think people would pretty quickly see the problem. "OK, buy this food. Its unappealing and low quality and it might make you sick but hell, it's the best you're gonna get."
Legalisation has different implications with regard to prostitution than other phenomenon such as drugs or gun ownership. Primarily I think this is because it is based on a service rather than a product. Sex doesn't have to be produced or imported, it just has to be performed. You can't police it more than any other private interaction between people. With drugs you can make an argument that legalisation may bring the price down as smuggling and violent crime are high overheads that people only engage in for a large profit. A significant argument in favour of gun ownership is the "create a crime, create a criminal" principle. It would take a fairly major change in society to make owning the necessary equipment for prostitution illegal. (Not that certain societies haven't taken steps in that direction).
OK, I'm kinda rambling but I'm sure there's a point in there somewhere. I'm posting this if only to try and make my own thoughts clearer. |
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Read 1 - Post |
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| In other news |
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| 06:20pm 28/09/2006 |
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mood: motivated and cheery, actually
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Let's see. I'm going down to the Wirral for a week, from Saturday, to see family and catch up with a friend of mine who is now studying in Liverpool. And generally chill out from work and get looked after.
I was, not dreading exactly, but anticipating with slight regret the end of summer (is there a word for that?) but now that term has started again I'm finding it pretty pleasant to have a semi-regular social life again. One particular highlight is ogrilion and others organising a semi-formal GM-ing workshop where we have one week on one week off sessions of one person running a one-off and then discussing the game and technique in general in the following week.
What's out: TV; what's in: download anime.
There's shite all on but moving flat means I've been able to ditch my TV license standing order. I'm now more aware of non-streaming, non file-sharing anime download sites (although with an i'net connection in my flat these are useful too) and have started building up a reasonable collection which I can hopefully trade with other people. Specifically, I've just got hold of El Hazard which means I'm now in a position to start on my long thought about AMV project. I'm pretty enthused about that but that's how a lot of my projects start out. We'll see how it goes, anyway. |
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| Landlords: born or hatched? |
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| 05:52pm 28/09/2006 |
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mood: pissed off
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It's a chicken or egg situation; is there something about becoming a landlord that blinds you to basic human sensibilities or is the profession dominated by people whose ability to empathise with others was already terminally stunted?
My landlord and his wife seem unable to comprehend that having a firm of window cleaners, who have not been vetted by me in any way, trample all over my room completely unsupervised may be something I'm not entirely comfortable with. In fairness, the situation was partly explained to me before I moved in but it's only now (two or three anonymous visits later) that I'm being told that if I lock my door the cleaners won't go in. Initially my landlord told me he just hands them the keys to the flat (at his home) and lets them get on with it.
It's not just the huge insensitivity allowing strangers to wander into the private areas of someones home that gets to me nor even the fact that this is specifically breaking our contract and breaking property law in general but also the immense stupidity of his attitude. Many landlords require that you insure your property, mine is effectively preventing me from doing so. Doesn't he realise that I could get a witness to observe the presence of valuable property in my room (like for instance my £1,000 laptop), find out from a flat mate that the cleaners had been round, sell said property to someone else and then sue his ass? He's exposing himself to massive liability. I could take a dump in my room, claim they did it and then clean up (sorry) on emotional distress damages. OK, DNA testing notwithstanding but you get the idea. Prick. And Prickette.
[edit] In addition to this, I've just been told that the cleaners have been around every month since I moved in (at the end of July) and this is the first I've heard of it despite the fact that I have furniture and a TV blocking the window so they can't get to it. I should possibly mention that when I signed my contract I was told the windows would be cleaned as and when it was convenient for the cleaners and in fact I'm still being told it's impossible for them to give me any notice of when they will come around. Arseholes. [/edit] |
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Read 1 - Post |
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| Catan session? |
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| 05:33pm 16/08/2006 |
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I'm volunteering my flat for a board games session possibly including Settlers of Catan.
Sunday, around 4pm? Alternative suggestions are welcome. |
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Read 12 - Post |
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bad icon for a little pissed
tired
organised (slightly)