For some unknown reason every time I've opened this window to start a blog entry over the past few weeks my mind has gone blank, but every time there is more stuff to blether about. So today I'm determined to bash out an update - it's Sunday evening, I have Harriet Wheeler warbling away to me in the background and a nice glass of plonk beside me. I might cheat and repurpose a few bits from emails but here goes...
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Work's still a joy: I had my 3 month review the week before last (a bit early) and it went blindingly well - we tinkered with my job title to better reflect the multi-hatted nature of what I do, and (in spite of my explicitly saying I didn't expect one) I got a raise for being so good at my job. Hurrah! Ooh and I got my very own account to manage which makes me happy.
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Plans for my birthday have been pretty much finalised for a few weeks now and I'm really looking forward to it: to celebrate the start of my fourth decade a bunch of us are off to Guisachan, it'll be my main holiday this year (2 weeks) and I'm almost daring to hope that we might get an Indian summer after all this rain... well you never know.
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Almost a year on from deciding to be carless I'm now almost free of the V5C... I won't go into all the details of the saga and especially not about the last two months (grr) but today I finally got Frank back and all being well I'll be handing him over to my good friend James at the start of August - hopefully having his own wheels will mean James visits more often so he can be further convinced of the need for him to move to Edinburgh!
Meanwhile I'm enjoying vicarious car shopping by helping out my friend Jo (whose ancient 306 recently died in the middle of the Forth Road Bridge). Jo is great and (it turns out) lots of fun to go car shopping with: for one thing when she asks questions about something, she's actually interested in the answer so I get to come away from it feeling like I've been useful and helped her understand something (which is always fun for Patricks)
So far we have seen several duds of varying degrees, but Jo has become a seasoned car-shopper and hopefully will land something perfect soon... which will be kinda sad for me since I'm enjoying having an excuse to be a car-geek.
Yes, I know: I am a freak. A useful and happy freak though so that's OK.
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Friday I went for dinner at Monster Mash with Hamish, Marja & Chris before joining Jen, Alexis and someone new whose name I forget (sorry) at the theatre. We saw this which was baffling but very good. It stared a sofa, which is not to say that the sofa stole the show* but that (because of some clever, and plot-relevant staging) it was the first thing all of us mentioned on leaving, and will probably be what we remember the play for. That and being darkly disturbing but excellently well acted. If you get chance and are so inclined I'd recommend it.
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Rain keeps raining here as well as over most of the rest of the UK, happily Edinburgh seems disinclined to flood and we do get plenty of nice bright spells in amongst the downpours. I'm wondering where summer is.
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That's far from everything but it's enough for now, I'll endeavour to be less rubbish with the updates in August.
* it moves, slowly turning round in a circle throughout the play. It's such a gradual movement though that for the first 25mins I (and - as far as I can gather - the whole of the rest of the audience) couldn't help being distracted by apparently having misremembered its position on the stage. It wasn't gratuitous though: there was a point to it and it was terribly clever, if a bit distracting.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
the devil's been busy...
I know I know, I've been shockingly bad at this of late but in my defence I've been fiendishly busy doing my job... very well too by all accounts - go me!
not a lot else to say in this post because I'm tired but I did see a woman at the bus stop outside Virgin the other day dancing to the recently rereleased Travelling Wilburys as it spilled out of the shop doorway. Can't blame her really it is awesome after all.
Will post properly soon. promise.
not a lot else to say in this post because I'm tired but I did see a woman at the bus stop outside Virgin the other day dancing to the recently rereleased Travelling Wilburys as it spilled out of the shop doorway. Can't blame her really it is awesome after all.
Will post properly soon. promise.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
a dazed (but very happy) rambling update
How is it almost June?
I must now be a proper grown-up: it's 8pm and I was just checking my work email. Fear not though this is not the norm by a long way. A supplier did a Bad Thing on a job. The client for the job is in a timezone where it's only just lunch. The deadline is soon. There's an outside chance that by checking my work inbox for a few minutes a few times this evening I won't end up with a hellish Friday afternoon, and it doesn't disrupt my evening of chilling out on the sofa with music (the Wilburys are on right now but 's a very mixed playlist)
My cousin got married this weekend, meaning I'm now the last unpartnered member of my generation of the family*, four of the five of us are now happily bespoused and I really enjoyed being included this weekend. Family occasions are generally an affirming experience for me, I'm lucky enough to belong to a very close and loving immediate family. I don't see as much as I'd like of my extended family, but every time I do we seem able to pick up where we left off and I'm very fond of my cousins, aunts and uncle... I gather from assorted conversations this weekend that the feeling's mutual too which is nice. We're a pretty inclusive clan too I think, and each of my contemporaries seems to have done very well in finding a mate meaning I get four more great people folded into my family at varying distances <tone=mildly wistful>it would be nice to have someone of my own to bring to that particular party someday</tone>
(as if to snap me out of it the iPod just decided to swicth to the Red Elivises: I think it might actually be impossible to feel even remotely sorry for oneself while Istanbul Bellydance is playing... and I wasn't actually feeling down anyway, just mildly wistful)
Work continues to be a source of joy as well as a source of income (YAY! I got paid for the first time in seven months on Friday!) I know many people will have been apalled by my earlier revelation about email but it really does all balance out, and nobody other than me even suggested I might do what I'm doing this evening so I don't think there's any danger of my work-life over running my free time. I do seem to have difficulty talking about much else lately though so appologies to anyone I've bored to death lately with endless yammering about how great my job is.
Edinburgh is gloomy. Why is that? April was lovely and May has been decidedly iffy, I was all geared up for a bright and clear summer (I don't care much about the heat, I just like it to be dry underfoot and warm enough to sit in the park) Hopefully June will be better.
*by most conventional counts although you could argue otherwise by including step-cousins or (possibly?) cousins I don't know about.
I must now be a proper grown-up: it's 8pm and I was just checking my work email. Fear not though this is not the norm by a long way. A supplier did a Bad Thing on a job. The client for the job is in a timezone where it's only just lunch. The deadline is soon. There's an outside chance that by checking my work inbox for a few minutes a few times this evening I won't end up with a hellish Friday afternoon, and it doesn't disrupt my evening of chilling out on the sofa with music (the Wilburys are on right now but 's a very mixed playlist)
My cousin got married this weekend, meaning I'm now the last unpartnered member of my generation of the family*, four of the five of us are now happily bespoused and I really enjoyed being included this weekend. Family occasions are generally an affirming experience for me, I'm lucky enough to belong to a very close and loving immediate family. I don't see as much as I'd like of my extended family, but every time I do we seem able to pick up where we left off and I'm very fond of my cousins, aunts and uncle... I gather from assorted conversations this weekend that the feeling's mutual too which is nice. We're a pretty inclusive clan too I think, and each of my contemporaries seems to have done very well in finding a mate meaning I get four more great people folded into my family at varying distances <tone=mildly wistful>it would be nice to have someone of my own to bring to that particular party someday</tone>
(as if to snap me out of it the iPod just decided to swicth to the Red Elivises: I think it might actually be impossible to feel even remotely sorry for oneself while Istanbul Bellydance is playing... and I wasn't actually feeling down anyway, just mildly wistful)
Work continues to be a source of joy as well as a source of income (YAY! I got paid for the first time in seven months on Friday!) I know many people will have been apalled by my earlier revelation about email but it really does all balance out, and nobody other than me even suggested I might do what I'm doing this evening so I don't think there's any danger of my work-life over running my free time. I do seem to have difficulty talking about much else lately though so appologies to anyone I've bored to death lately with endless yammering about how great my job is.
Edinburgh is gloomy. Why is that? April was lovely and May has been decidedly iffy, I was all geared up for a bright and clear summer (I don't care much about the heat, I just like it to be dry underfoot and warm enough to sit in the park) Hopefully June will be better.
*by most conventional counts although you could argue otherwise by including step-cousins or (possibly?) cousins I don't know about.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
"thank you for holding...*
... your call is important to us..."
I know I know, I'm sorry: I've managed to go three weeks now without mentioning my big news and lots of you will have been checking in looking for news of how it's going - sorry for keeping you hanging.
So... in case the news has somehow missed you, that "right job" I've been looking for finally showed up. At the end of April I started working for a really cool little marketing solutions agency called Gecko. The company's based back in Yorkshire (Otley actually, but not a million miles from my old stomping grounds) but no, I haven't moved: At the end of last year they opened a second office in Scotland with a view to expanding the company, and as part of that plan I've joined the Edinburgh office as its second member. It's all still quite new, but so far I'm loving it!
Why's it taken me so long to post this news then? (which by now isn't actually news to many of you.) Well for one thing I've been busy making the lifestyle transition from layabout/backpacker to busy office person, Happily the commute is pretty easy (it's a pleasant 3min walk to the office, stark contrast to the hour and a half drives in I used to do) but on top of being kept very busy at work my social life has gone into one of its busier phases too, so finding the time to sit down and share this has been a challenge.
Also one of the good signs from my interview has been making me a little self conscious... while interviewing for this post I found that for (as far as I know) the first time in my long and varied interview history, someone had actually read my web page! I mean read it too, not just glanced at it but actually had a good look around at all the junk on here... a very good sign I thought, (means that a: they were interested in getting to know me and b: what they read on here held their attention) but since getting the job, that knowledge has made me a teensy bit self conscious. I don't mean self conscious out of any fear of consequences from blog entries, for one thing because this is a refreshingly crap-free company: what matters is how well you do your job, and the emphasis is on having fun while you do that (again, stark contrast to some of my previous working environments... no specifics but certain people reading this will know exactly what I mean). I don't mean I was worried about any of the cliché blog pitfalls, I was just conscious of not wanting to seem too much of a bright-eyed eager new guy - stupid eh? Especially since my boss knows how happy I am, because she keeps asking me and getting a big goofy grin in reply!
So life in Patrickland is good right now, and the embargo on asking me about work is well and truly lifted... in fact (as most of my nearby friends will attest to) it's become almost impossible to shut me up about it!
*This post's title comes to you courtesy of Virgin Trains whose convoluted booking systems (both online and phone) have seen me log a total of 1 hour 20mins hold-time so far this evening (at five past ten), I'm on hold to their online booking support as I type after the online booking that mysteriously vanished (causing me to resort to their phone system) sent me a confirmation for itself two hours later! - grrr - it just struck me as also appropriate to what I'm writing...
I know I know, I'm sorry: I've managed to go three weeks now without mentioning my big news and lots of you will have been checking in looking for news of how it's going - sorry for keeping you hanging.
So... in case the news has somehow missed you, that "right job" I've been looking for finally showed up. At the end of April I started working for a really cool little marketing solutions agency called Gecko. The company's based back in Yorkshire (Otley actually, but not a million miles from my old stomping grounds) but no, I haven't moved: At the end of last year they opened a second office in Scotland with a view to expanding the company, and as part of that plan I've joined the Edinburgh office as its second member. It's all still quite new, but so far I'm loving it!
Why's it taken me so long to post this news then? (which by now isn't actually news to many of you.) Well for one thing I've been busy making the lifestyle transition from layabout/backpacker to busy office person, Happily the commute is pretty easy (it's a pleasant 3min walk to the office, stark contrast to the hour and a half drives in I used to do) but on top of being kept very busy at work my social life has gone into one of its busier phases too, so finding the time to sit down and share this has been a challenge.
Also one of the good signs from my interview has been making me a little self conscious... while interviewing for this post I found that for (as far as I know) the first time in my long and varied interview history, someone had actually read my web page! I mean read it too, not just glanced at it but actually had a good look around at all the junk on here... a very good sign I thought, (means that a: they were interested in getting to know me and b: what they read on here held their attention) but since getting the job, that knowledge has made me a teensy bit self conscious. I don't mean self conscious out of any fear of consequences from blog entries, for one thing because this is a refreshingly crap-free company: what matters is how well you do your job, and the emphasis is on having fun while you do that (again, stark contrast to some of my previous working environments... no specifics but certain people reading this will know exactly what I mean). I don't mean I was worried about any of the cliché blog pitfalls, I was just conscious of not wanting to seem too much of a bright-eyed eager new guy - stupid eh? Especially since my boss knows how happy I am, because she keeps asking me and getting a big goofy grin in reply!
So life in Patrickland is good right now, and the embargo on asking me about work is well and truly lifted... in fact (as most of my nearby friends will attest to) it's become almost impossible to shut me up about it!
*This post's title comes to you courtesy of Virgin Trains whose convoluted booking systems (both online and phone) have seen me log a total of 1 hour 20mins hold-time so far this evening (at five past ten), I'm on hold to their online booking support as I type after the online booking that mysteriously vanished (causing me to resort to their phone system) sent me a confirmation for itself two hours later! - grrr - it just struck me as also appropriate to what I'm writing...
Sunday, May 06, 2007
A photo-meme (blame Liz)
The assignment of this meme, should you choose to accept it:
1. Go through your house and take one picture in each room - The picture can be of anything, a big wide shot or a small detail, whatever catches your eye. The only caveat is that you not arrange anything to make the picture look good. Shoot what is there exactly the way it looks in the moment your eye and camera falls upon it.
2.Keep it simple - Don't play with the photographs or the camera, just take the picture, upload and move on with your life. I'm more interested in a "life in progress" look than perfection here.
3. Name the room & caption (mine are done as title tags - hover over the image for the captions) - When you post the pics, tell us what room they are from and give each one a caption.
4. Post in your journal - I wanna see 'em on my friends page.
bedroom
hall
bathroom
kitchen
livingroom
Hame's room
garden
1. Go through your house and take one picture in each room - The picture can be of anything, a big wide shot or a small detail, whatever catches your eye. The only caveat is that you not arrange anything to make the picture look good. Shoot what is there exactly the way it looks in the moment your eye and camera falls upon it.
2.Keep it simple - Don't play with the photographs or the camera, just take the picture, upload and move on with your life. I'm more interested in a "life in progress" look than perfection here.
3. Name the room & caption (mine are done as title tags - hover over the image for the captions) - When you post the pics, tell us what room they are from and give each one a caption.
4. Post in your journal - I wanna see 'em on my friends page.
bedroom
hall
bathroom
kitchen
livingroom
Hame's room
garden
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
While U Wait
Lots to say, and I promise a proper update soon but in the meantime I just stumbled over this and loved it so here's something to keep you occupied while you're waiting for a real blog post:
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