Stuff Topic: Stephen Says
I've been meaning to blog about a bunch of things but haven't gotten around to doing it for a while. And then other stuff happens and I want to blog about that but there's the previous thing to blog about and so I don't and the viscious cycle continues in a never ending cycle. Visciously.
One thing I wanted to blog about was the sheer crap that was the Vatican but Sean summed it up better than I could in his comment. Basically, I couldn't bother to get pissed off by the sheer over-abundance of wealth that directly goes against what Jesus said he wanted. But I suppose that to care too much about it either way is to care more than its worth. After all, what does the Catholic church do now-a-days other than stoke Christian/Muslem tension? Thank you very much, The New Pope.
One look at the cardinals/bishops/priests during the service I saw pretty much exposes them for being snotty elitists with their heads so far up their asses that they may as well be left in their imaginary world where tourists come to bask in their glory and all the women have their shoulders covered.
In some ways the Vatican is a little like London - A stomping ground for tourists where the locals are the main attraction only they don't realise it.
Over the past weekend I pretty much overdid it. I'm 30 now and am not allowed to have fun. At least the kind of fun I used to have. Fun for me now is sitting in Stabucks sipping an espresso discussing the political merits of the latest George Clooney movie.
I had a mildly surreal evperience at Waterloo station at 7:30 Sunday morning where I wound up in a music video. My attenton was caught by a tall Asian man with a double guitar, big floppy leather hat and wearing a technicolour dream coat who was surrounded by young, beautiful people. 'Ooh, clubbers,' I thought and went over to bask in their youthful exuberance when music started suddenly and everyone formed lines and started dancing and clapping.
I tried to ake a video but a 7 foot tall, 6 foot wide bouncer got in my face and started shouting at me. I kind of wish i'd gotten that on video as well.
Anyway, let me know if you see the video. That's me standing off to one side drunk, confused and eating a roasted vegetable & brie sandwich with a newspaper under one arm.
I've also been trying to upload some videos of Rome but Youtube's being fiddley and irritating.
Anyway, I suffered through a couple of days of zombie-hood and am back at work. Tomorrow are the interviews for a new manager which is weird because I've got to informally interview people who, if they get hired, will cause me to lose my 'promotion.'
One candidate rang up yesterday to ask if she needed any mental health knowledge so I feel that my position may be quite safe.
No Blogging Now Playing: Love - Forever Changes Topic: Stephen Says
What's this? No blogging? Frankly, we've been up to our eye balls busy. Me: working like a mo-fo. Elisabeth: Schmoozing with 4 generations of woking mayors & assorted dignitaries and politicians associated with Surrey. Pity, really, because when there's nothing going on there's lots of blog-time available and when there is stuff (And pretty interesting stuff at that), there's silence.
Back Now Playing: Tom Waits - Real Gone Topic: Stephen Says
...And we're back from La Roma and surprisingly not tired - let's hear it for sleeper cars!. Pics, thoughts and low rez videos to follow over the next few days as real life rears its ugly head and makes us do things. In Woking.
We're waiting on Dominos (I know, I know, sacrilage after what we've tasted.) and a crap/brainless movie (What's it gonna be - Jodie Foster in flightplan or Mister Bean in Johnny English?) before we turn in.
By the way, anyone out there know what happened 5 years ago today?
I'll give you a clue... It's September the 11th...
If you answered 'Stephen phoned Elisabeth to ask her out on a date,' you win. Advance to 'Go' and collect a Life card.
Oh, and among other things... Now Playing: Faith No More - The Real Thing Topic: Stephen Says
Today marks the 5 year anniversay of Elisabeth and I getting drunk and making out at a party, signalling, um, signalling whatever it signalled.
And The Independent, in keeping with it's habit of having utterly crap insets, has a guide to mountain and moorland birds. I now know what the Ring Ouzel, Meadow Pipit and Golden Plover look like. I have discovered that a bird named the Ptarmigan exists (It's a plump gamebird that lives in the mountains of Scotland though, in cold weather, may move to the edge of forests), I can tell the difference between a male and female Hen Harrier and, most importantly, have learned that Ravens make a 'hollow sounding "kronk, kronk" or "Prrruk, prrruk" call."
Next stop: Rome Now Playing: Tom Waits - Real Gone Topic: Stephen Says
It's been a while since there's been any real news. I'm laying low because my old manager has it out for me after springing the whole awards thing on him and he knows that I'm hard to embarass so I'm pretty much just watching my back and being innately suspicious of any phone calls from people whose voices I don't recognize.
I've been to the Optomitrist for the 1st time in years and the good news is that my eye-sight hasn't changed. The maybe bad news is that I've gone and bought new glasses and they're a pretty big style change and I don't know if I've gone and done very bad with them. They're insured at the very least so if Elisabeth walks through the door tonight and looks aghast, I can arrange a little accident with them. I'm also claiming them on my health insurance policy which is pretty cool because I bought an astronomically expensive pair that I'll pay very little towards from my own pocket.
So yeah, we're off to Italy tomorrow and I'm also looking forward to the few hours we'll get in Paris. My mission: (1)Eat noting but pizza while in Rome and (2)buy a new pair of shades because the pair that I got in the U.S. just seem to be getting uglier and uglier by the day.
I'm also procrastinating while working on my NVQ assignment. I keep thinking what a nice day it is and how I should go out again. Maybe pick up a paper and go to the pub. In fact, I will.
OK, maybe I overstepped the boundries but... Now Playing: Ministry - Rio Grande Blood Topic: Stephen Says
A few weeks ago I covertly nominated my old manager for charity worker of the year to our local crap mall (Wolsey place)(As opposed to the Peacocks Centre, which is our less crap mall) as a laugh. But everyone thought that his humiliation would be funny if he actually showed up to accept his award and plans (i.e. lies) were made and we ambushed him this afternoon where he got to hang with the local press and meet the mayor with all the other nominees. I'll see if I can get the actual news article up but here's a video I made of the event with my new handy-dandy camera. And I know the resolution's crap but it was my fisrt video ever.
Too precious.
I've managed to scam most of the week off to get things ready for our trip to ome this weekend but unfortunately most of my time off will be spent on NVQ coursework so it won't be all shits & giggles.
Don't feel like writing a title Mood: incredulous Now Playing: Skinny Puppy - Too Dark Park Topic: Stephen Says
I'm so out of it that all day yesterday I was convinced that it was Friday and when someone pointed out to me that it was Wednesday, I wanted to cry.
That said, there's been a big ol' blow up with a fellow at another mental health organization and I've written a kick ass letter that should result in getting him fired. It involved a quarter of a page of people I c.c.ed it to including CEO's of his charity and head psychiatists (Can't remember their formal title) of the local mental health team. Fun, fun, fun. I can't wait for the inquest so I can watch this putz go down in flames.
(Hmm, I wonder if bumping into that Polish Pschmuck the other day blasted be an overdose of nemesis karma into me and now I've got a new asshole trying to bring me down to contend with.)
Anyway, in celebration of the shit hitting the fan (Amongst various other work-related disasters that may include an amputation), I bought a lovely sauvignon blanc and whipped up baked walnut and gorgonzola tortollini in a spinache and tomato sauce with organic courgette shreds only to remember that Elisabeth's got a big ol' meeting tonight so the food and drink is all mine tonight.
Tomorrow's my day off and I've shunted the POVA meeting I was supposed to attend to one of my collegues so that I can have an actual day off and, in traditional MACA fashion, use it to get boozy.
Typical Topic: Stephen Says
I left work and 1 minute out the door it began to pour with rain and so I trudged to Sainsburys in wet jeans to do my shopping. As I waited outside for things to clear up, eating a brie, grape & fruit chutney triangle sandwich, the Polish idiot who tried to do me up for sexual harassment bumped into me where he tried to play some kind of asinine one-upmanship game of macho stupidity dealing with travelling over Europe (Except he'd forgotten if I was Canadian or Australian and wasn't aware that I was well aware of his [lack of] job history since getting fired from the charity). I just ate my sandwich as a response, too bored to deal with this Pschmuck who almost cost me my job. Weird because 6 months ago I would have been trying very hard not to be shouting at him. Elisabeth pointed out how much he dominated my life (for the worse) back then and now I don't even think of him. Even today when I saw him, I didn't get stressed out - just thought 'Huh, well this is going to be akward for him, not me,' and just kept eating my brie, grape and fruit chutney triangle sandwich.
Blah, it's just me pointlessly blogging because I'm in a poo-kinda mood (Pity there's no emoticon for poo) Mood: irritated Now Playing: Steel Pole Bath Tub - Scars From Falling Down Topic: Stephen Says
1 more week to go running the project and it can't end soon enough. It's not that I can't handle it (I can), it's that I don't have any deputy to deferr to which means that I'm doing both roles and it's a lot to deal with staff, resident & paperwork-wise and things started to kick off this weekend and this week is only going to get worse as the repercussions snowball.
And then I realised that I've been scheduled to attend this big meeting with all the local social workers this Friday and that's my day off so I'll probably have to go to it anyway for a couple of hours and get my brain sucked out. If I'm lucky.
...I've been meaning to blog about Bulgakov but so far I've only been able to struggle through to chapter two. It has, however, enlightened me into the ulterior plans with regard to Bush's so-called War on Terror:
You see, in the book, Pontious Pilot is aghast that Bar-Rabban is pardoned and that Jesus sent to be crucified but the justification is that an idea (spread peacefully) is more dangerous than a violent revolutionary because those kinds of people will mar the message and create a physical embodiment that soldiers can battle and countries can go to war against.
So you see, this is why Osama Bin Laden is being allowed to live safely in Pakistan and the discussion is about what an evil religion of extremists Islam is. Because if the tenants of Islam were to be explored and if people understood that it, like, technically, all religions, it was about peace & love, there would be no one to fight. We'd all understand one another, the corporations wouldn't make billions, Bush would be indicted for voter fraud back in 2000, tens of thousands of people would be alive today, hundreds of thousands of people wouldn't face the scars of experiencing war, etc.
Because, you know, if religions got along then people might want to convert to ones that aren't Chritian and the rapture might be delayed enough so rich white people might get affected by the environmental destruction they're brining about.
Bleah, I'm not expressing myself as clearly as I want to. I've also just checked and there are 32 chapters to The Master an Margarita (Plus epilogue). So by my estimation, I should finish the book around autumn 2007.
I Suck. Topic: Stephen Says
The piece of junk cell phone I used to have died on me earlier this week. I don't really need a cell phone other than it's extremely handy to have one for work and now I've gone and bought (With Elisabeth's urging) a relatively new fangled one with built in Mp3 player, camera, video, etc and am just a great big bewildered nerd now trying to hook the phone up to the laptop so that my ring tone will be some song that I can't even think of right now.
Elisabeth & Dan are in London and off to the Proms tonight. I'm being a big, lazy nerd.
A big lazy nerd who was going to blog about something but has forgotten because his cell phone has eaten his brain.
incredulous
irritated