2008 #18 - More Bullets

- Do I really need an extra room? Suddenly managed to fit everything I need into my 1 bed. Even my weight bench. It's in the kitchen!

- In 2005/6 I changed employers (technically anyway). This somehow caused me to underpay income tax by £112, and now the tax man wants it back. They're not asking. Would say they're telling, but they didn't actually tell. Had to ask them why they were taking even more of my money than usual.

- Still hopeful for a real summer, despite talk of La Nina messing it all up this year.

- Twitter fever has now officially reached the point where it's unbearable to read or hear about it, what it means and how it's changing everything. Standard test people: Do you non-tech friends with Facebook accounts have Twitter accounts? None of mine do (EDIT: Kara Swisher makes a similar point a little earlier in the day, and with somewhat more focus). Many of my favorite episodic shows (formerly podcasts) seem to drift on to the topic, acknowledge that it's over-discussed, then continue to talk about it anyway. What then, is the focus of the majority of these conversations? "HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE FOLLOWING ME". Some guys have managed to convince supposedly well rounded intelligent people to participate in the myspace friend count war 2.0. The old "Nobody cares what you're doing" argument doesn't even get a look in anymore.

- That last one was really too long to quality as a bullet.

Manifesto Check:

Easy

1. New extended less is more philosophy going well, plus normal goal fine.

2. What annoys me is that I win piddly tournaments against the odds but then suffer bad beat after bad beat at around the prize point where I can finally score enough chips to be playing the game properly again. People are pulling random straights out of their arses everywhere this week using cards that no real player would ever have in a hand in the first place. Goal fine.

3. This week, "In Her Shoes". I'm seeing a lot of chick flicks lately I must say. Big Lebowski tonight. Realistically i'm not going to hit 8. No more Blockbuster subscription. As this goal existed to ensure I wasn't wasting said subscription, i'm going to lay this one to rest this week. Does this mean I won't see enough films? Hope not. I may subscribe to another service in the future. If I realise I'm missing out, I'll introduce a new goal.

4. Okay look. Whenever I take a camera on a night out I can't help but feel I'm being looked upon as annoying camera guy. I did go to a great little club in Birmingham on Saturday named "The Jam House", owned by Jools Holland. Much as I enjoyed it though, I can't imagine what photos I would have taken (without a group situation), and I haven't been anywhere else of note in the last week that would merit photography.

5. Remains good. I'd like to extend this to maybe seeing more people between weekends. This is something I guess I need to make happen.

Harder

1. I really thought this goal was crashing and burning but somehow as rain poured on Leicester midway through Sunday afternoon on the final weekend of the month, I stumbled upon a beautiful little acoustic chord progression, which also inspired a chorus, and recorded it. I may not have managed to make up for failure in March yet, but April has a theme tune!

2. Finally got a date for my annual review - a week tomorrow. Perhaps after that I can get back to just doing my job rather than trying to prove that I do it. Needless to say, very much working towards these goals in doing the above, but this blogged goal may need an update in a few weeks, as knowing the business there will be an obligatory gap during which I have no goals. Then, later, they'll tell me I had a year to work through the ones they did set.

3. With last week in mind I decided to think a little less about direction to see if it made me feel any better. Hard to say, because I'm in a good mood now, but I recall feeling weirdly low on Saturday before I went out and enjoyed myself. I did actually have some thoughts amidst the not thinking. Maybe part of the problem I'm having is my insistence that I'm somehow supposed to be part of this world of tech that I for no clear reason decided to reconnect with a few years back. I'm less interested in the tech blogs I subscribe to than ever, skipping most of the posts most of the time. It's become another inbox clearing ritual for a number of feeds. As usual, no conclusions here, but at least some thoughts.

4. This week is the week I hope to finally be able to say I met this goal. I will swim on Tuesday, I will lift weights on Thursday or Friday, and I will cycle at the weekend. I failed to swim last week due to too many weeknight commitments, but I did go for a ride today. Great to have the weights back in the house, although i'm not going to lift too much too soon. Made that mistake before. Easing back in.

Updated Manifesto:

The Easy Stuff
1. I will stick to my weekday food and drink ethic as set out previously plus consider the portion size of every meal, cutting back where necessary.
2. I will stick to wasting less weekday time playing fake poker.
3. I will take my camera with me whenever I go, or feel i'm likely to go, somewhere i've never been before but only on a night out if there are more than two people involved.
4. I will stay in touch with my friends weekly and start trying to initiate some weeknight activities.

The Challenging Stuff

1. I will continue to write a song each month and make up for missing one in March by writing an extra song before the end of the year.
2. I will continue to work towards my set work goals.
3. I will continue to rethink my career inside and outside my current role weekly.
4. I will find the time to manage a 3 times a week exercise schedule.