Sonya has advised me that all of you want to read more about the family and less about my ramblings. So I thought I update everyone on the other one.
Costandina goes back shortly to finish the second year of her degree. It started as a joint degree in creative writing and drama but as time goes on she has come down firmly in favour of creative writing. It is likely she will drop most if not all of her drama electives next year. She continues to explore various formats as she searches for her "voice". I think this process gives real pleasure and I hope she can find some outlets for work.
She has set herself up with a little business providing waxing services for fellow students at Winchester. It being difficult and all to find any legal work. So far it has been slow but as i have had pointed out to me women do not bother with waxing during Winter. It is only when Summer comes round that their thoughts turn to the removal of the hairs around their ankles (Using the term Clydesdale in reference to a woman being apt to produce a knife thrown in one's direction). So she is hopeful business will pick up. (I am threatened with waxing if I get too frisky but so far their taunts of cowardice have no effect)
Sam and her continue to be an item.Which seems a good thing but what would I know.
Michael is going down with her next week to spend a few days with her at Winchester (he has still got another week of half term holidays). The mind boggles at what mischief he will get up to while she is at her lectures. Michael is still a bit shell shocked that one of her lectures is 3 hours long! Do him the world of good i think
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Addiction and treatment
At the end of Naked Lunch William Burroughs includes a letter to his doctor in which he clinically and with some detachment describes all of the drugs he has taken and the various treatments he has undergone and assesses their efficacy.
I thought I'd do the same about PS3 addiction. For the last year we have tried a range of treatments; mostly of little effect. Michael continues to display all of the symptoms of addiction. His dogged determination to resist all attempts at a cure. His stubborn and subtle attempts to evade treatment and get around cures and punishments would be noteworthy were they directed toward something more useful in life
Disappointingly when we refer to the impact on his schoolwork he turns round and produces a term report showing significant improvement in effort and attainment with no discernible lessening of his addiction. This somewhat undermines our position.
We shift our attack and instead refer to our desire for conversational interaction with him on a regular basis. This produces a puzzled look of incomprehension and a grunt. We explain that the art of conversation is a two way process. We had to amend this definition to stress that his part of the process needed to involve more than one word responses. So far we have had negligible success. The only two things that animate him are shooting people on PS3 and the possibility of seeing naked breasts on TV.
We are resigned to a somewhat tedious struggle of wills for the next few years.
In the meantime we will continue to hunt for any commercially available cryogenic service to put him in suspended animation for 4 years until he is 18
I thought I'd do the same about PS3 addiction. For the last year we have tried a range of treatments; mostly of little effect. Michael continues to display all of the symptoms of addiction. His dogged determination to resist all attempts at a cure. His stubborn and subtle attempts to evade treatment and get around cures and punishments would be noteworthy were they directed toward something more useful in life
Disappointingly when we refer to the impact on his schoolwork he turns round and produces a term report showing significant improvement in effort and attainment with no discernible lessening of his addiction. This somewhat undermines our position.
We shift our attack and instead refer to our desire for conversational interaction with him on a regular basis. This produces a puzzled look of incomprehension and a grunt. We explain that the art of conversation is a two way process. We had to amend this definition to stress that his part of the process needed to involve more than one word responses. So far we have had negligible success. The only two things that animate him are shooting people on PS3 and the possibility of seeing naked breasts on TV.
We are resigned to a somewhat tedious struggle of wills for the next few years.
In the meantime we will continue to hunt for any commercially available cryogenic service to put him in suspended animation for 4 years until he is 18
Friday, 22 April 2011
Republicanism rules
I have to give an honourable mention however to the best exploitative marketing strategy. This is marketing genius
A new look
As you can see I've also given the blog a make over. Time for a new look. Green is supposed to be calming and I find bamboo fascinating. Deep symbolism eh
Jedi
Easter this year looks like being bathed in glorious sunshine. Mid 20's and bright sunshine. Absolutely perfect. Michael is outside trying to regain his basketball prowess as I type. The french doors are open. Not quite sure whats happened. Good weather is normally confined to working days with rain and clouds on our days off. Somebody sure messed up upstairs. Sonya and the kids are off the start of the Greek Easter church services. Me being a heathen infidel gets the evening off
Reminds me of the census we recently filled out. Under religion I put Jedi having read somewhere that 390,000 Britain's put Jedi for their religion in the last census (in 2001 when Star Wars was much more current). How cool is that.
Annoyed the hell of of a work colleague who was furious. He felt that aetheists needed to stick together. "Now they will just count you as religious and use your vote to justify more free faith schools". In his view this was worse than being an Australian - something I had little control over.
It had to be done though.
(Costandina's boyfriend put his race down as Cornish which was also pretty cool!)
Reminds me of the census we recently filled out. Under religion I put Jedi having read somewhere that 390,000 Britain's put Jedi for their religion in the last census (in 2001 when Star Wars was much more current). How cool is that.
Annoyed the hell of of a work colleague who was furious. He felt that aetheists needed to stick together. "Now they will just count you as religious and use your vote to justify more free faith schools". In his view this was worse than being an Australian - something I had little control over.
It had to be done though.
(Costandina's boyfriend put his race down as Cornish which was also pretty cool!)
Phoenix rising
Well after almost exactly a year of silence I have summoned up the will to restart my Blog. I thought of renaming it Phoenix rising but the name has already been taken so I'll have to stick with the one I've got.
I don't really intend to bore everyone with all that has gone on and the multitude of reasons for not writing. Suffice to say I think i had my version of a mid life crisis and this is part of my way of coming out of the end of long dark tunnel.
Much of the past year has been spent being angry. Really angry. Angry at the Tory Government for decimating social housing in Britain and in the process decimating my career. Angry that the recession has stripped me of any real alternative to my current career. Angry at turning 50. Angry that at my boss for being such a poor boss. Angry at not losing weight. Just angry. Too angry to write anyway.
I think the turning point came on my birthday. A birthday I really didn't want. A celebration I really didn't want. Much to my surprise Sonya organised a very thoughtful day (well actually a couple of days) and confined the teasing to quite gentle levels. I was very touched and I think that was the start of the road back.
I guess more might come out over the coming weeks but that will probably do for now.
As Paul Newman says at the end of the Colour of Money "I'm back"
I don't really intend to bore everyone with all that has gone on and the multitude of reasons for not writing. Suffice to say I think i had my version of a mid life crisis and this is part of my way of coming out of the end of long dark tunnel.
Much of the past year has been spent being angry. Really angry. Angry at the Tory Government for decimating social housing in Britain and in the process decimating my career. Angry that the recession has stripped me of any real alternative to my current career. Angry at turning 50. Angry that at my boss for being such a poor boss. Angry at not losing weight. Just angry. Too angry to write anyway.
I think the turning point came on my birthday. A birthday I really didn't want. A celebration I really didn't want. Much to my surprise Sonya organised a very thoughtful day (well actually a couple of days) and confined the teasing to quite gentle levels. I was very touched and I think that was the start of the road back.
I guess more might come out over the coming weeks but that will probably do for now.
As Paul Newman says at the end of the Colour of Money "I'm back"
Friday, 14 May 2010
So what does it all mean
Well the deed has been done. After what must have been the most extraordinary election contest in living memory we now have the outcome no one predicted.
I am not sure how I feel about things - strangely buoyant i think for lots of unrelated reasons. In no particular order some of the extra-ordinary aspects of this election are:
Michael and Costandina both became politicised - almost overnight. The televised debates were probably the catalyst for this. But both of them went from disinterest to real engagement. It was lovely to see Costandina thinking carefully about what the choices were and trying to make up her own mind. Michael weighed in with with a much more black and white view as young teenagers are wont to do. The time for shades of grey is still some years off for Michael.
The TV debates were much better than anyone expected. They were staged and closely controlled but I still came away with a grudging admiration for all 3 leaders for acquitting themselves pretty well. 4 1/2 hours is a hell of a long time to remember all of your pat quotes and stock answers. Frequently having to respond on their feet to the responses of the other speakers it was deceptively testing ordeal I felt. It also spoke volumes that all 3 for calculated reasons felt obliged to act consensual. This stopped it degenerating into a slinging match and made it slightly more edifying.
The outcome was so much better than it could have been. Labour were lacking in va va va voom after 13 years in power and Gordon was deeply disliked as a dithering disconnected leader. It could have - should have - been a romp home for the Conservatives. That it wasn't is a phenomenal victory for Gordon Brown. The doomsday scenario was a Conservative majority that used the excuse of needing to make budget cuts to bring the deficit down to brutally dismantle whole swathes of the what Labour had patiently built up. That is now not going to happen. I think history will be kinder to Gordon than the current spate of obituaries. I also wonder whether there will be a simmering resentment against David Cameron from back benchers and the grass routes as to why didn't they do better.
The negotiations over forming the Coalition government were a master class in negotiation tactics and British restraint.
They were conducted in the full glare of the spotlight yet there were no leaks, no rush, no histrionics, no grandstanding. Democracy was the winner and an unusual level of statesmanship displayed. After the unedifying spectacle of the expenses scandal, no-one would have banked on such dignity and leadership.
Nick Clegg stuck to his guns and wouldn't be rushed despite enormous pressure to do so. The endgame was never a formality. The country was gripped with negotiation madness with everyone doing the maths and not coming up with a clear winner of a solution. That both Cameron and Clegg decided to rise above the obvious difficulties and fashion a result that no-one expected is a credit to their negotiating skills and vision. Both Cameron and Clegg appear to have made genuine and significant concessions. Concessions that have been difficult to sell to their respective parties and may yet unravel.
Will the Lib Dems be a genuine partner and be able to ameliorate the worst instinct of the gutter right - who knows? Has Clegg sold his soul to sup with the devil - maybe?
Does the country have to make swinging cuts in expenditure - yep. Would Labour have had to make profoundly unpopular cuts if they had held onto power - yep. Is it better that we have a credibly stable government that can have a go at making the necessary cuts without the imminent fear of electoral collapse - on balance I think so.
I think so because I don't think it was in Labour's interest to have to go to the people again in a few months time when a minority government may have collapsed. It would not have had enough time to get its house in order and elect a new leader. There would have been a huge risk of the people saying - Sod this, lets just put the Tories for a go.
As it is Labour is in so much better a position to rebuild that it might have been. It hasn't been decimated. There is still a significant parliamentary party to mount a vigorous opposition. It didn't have the numbers to make a minority Government work. Only just mind you. But then again the Tories were only just short of making it work on their own as well. It was so so delicately balanced.
The extraordinary accuracy of the exit polls was also remarkable. 10 minutes after the polls closed they issued their first prediction and got it unbelievably accurate. They were only one seat out. They called in 307 for the Tories and they got 306. That's after 10 minutes of the polls closing and bearing in mind there had been major electoral boundary changes since the last election, a resurgent Lib Dem party that no-one knew had to calculate and a late surge back to Labour. All massively increasing the unpredictability of calling the result.
A remarkable few weeks
I am not sure how I feel about things - strangely buoyant i think for lots of unrelated reasons. In no particular order some of the extra-ordinary aspects of this election are:
Michael and Costandina both became politicised - almost overnight. The televised debates were probably the catalyst for this. But both of them went from disinterest to real engagement. It was lovely to see Costandina thinking carefully about what the choices were and trying to make up her own mind. Michael weighed in with with a much more black and white view as young teenagers are wont to do. The time for shades of grey is still some years off for Michael.
The TV debates were much better than anyone expected. They were staged and closely controlled but I still came away with a grudging admiration for all 3 leaders for acquitting themselves pretty well. 4 1/2 hours is a hell of a long time to remember all of your pat quotes and stock answers. Frequently having to respond on their feet to the responses of the other speakers it was deceptively testing ordeal I felt. It also spoke volumes that all 3 for calculated reasons felt obliged to act consensual. This stopped it degenerating into a slinging match and made it slightly more edifying.
The outcome was so much better than it could have been. Labour were lacking in va va va voom after 13 years in power and Gordon was deeply disliked as a dithering disconnected leader. It could have - should have - been a romp home for the Conservatives. That it wasn't is a phenomenal victory for Gordon Brown. The doomsday scenario was a Conservative majority that used the excuse of needing to make budget cuts to bring the deficit down to brutally dismantle whole swathes of the what Labour had patiently built up. That is now not going to happen. I think history will be kinder to Gordon than the current spate of obituaries. I also wonder whether there will be a simmering resentment against David Cameron from back benchers and the grass routes as to why didn't they do better.
The negotiations over forming the Coalition government were a master class in negotiation tactics and British restraint.
They were conducted in the full glare of the spotlight yet there were no leaks, no rush, no histrionics, no grandstanding. Democracy was the winner and an unusual level of statesmanship displayed. After the unedifying spectacle of the expenses scandal, no-one would have banked on such dignity and leadership.
Nick Clegg stuck to his guns and wouldn't be rushed despite enormous pressure to do so. The endgame was never a formality. The country was gripped with negotiation madness with everyone doing the maths and not coming up with a clear winner of a solution. That both Cameron and Clegg decided to rise above the obvious difficulties and fashion a result that no-one expected is a credit to their negotiating skills and vision. Both Cameron and Clegg appear to have made genuine and significant concessions. Concessions that have been difficult to sell to their respective parties and may yet unravel.
Will the Lib Dems be a genuine partner and be able to ameliorate the worst instinct of the gutter right - who knows? Has Clegg sold his soul to sup with the devil - maybe?
Does the country have to make swinging cuts in expenditure - yep. Would Labour have had to make profoundly unpopular cuts if they had held onto power - yep. Is it better that we have a credibly stable government that can have a go at making the necessary cuts without the imminent fear of electoral collapse - on balance I think so.
I think so because I don't think it was in Labour's interest to have to go to the people again in a few months time when a minority government may have collapsed. It would not have had enough time to get its house in order and elect a new leader. There would have been a huge risk of the people saying - Sod this, lets just put the Tories for a go.
As it is Labour is in so much better a position to rebuild that it might have been. It hasn't been decimated. There is still a significant parliamentary party to mount a vigorous opposition. It didn't have the numbers to make a minority Government work. Only just mind you. But then again the Tories were only just short of making it work on their own as well. It was so so delicately balanced.
The extraordinary accuracy of the exit polls was also remarkable. 10 minutes after the polls closed they issued their first prediction and got it unbelievably accurate. They were only one seat out. They called in 307 for the Tories and they got 306. That's after 10 minutes of the polls closing and bearing in mind there had been major electoral boundary changes since the last election, a resurgent Lib Dem party that no-one knew had to calculate and a late surge back to Labour. All massively increasing the unpredictability of calling the result.
A remarkable few weeks
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