Hell this is going to be long:

Well - I have posted nohting online since the 5th of January and this is because I am 1) lazy 2) busy and 3)have tried a hard written log. I started that one on the 21st of January and I will put the collected thoughts on here now:

21st Jan:
One queston that I found myself asking was : "Would I be able to write more freely with a pen than a keyboard?". This has now been answered - No. Certainly I had legibility concerns and these are being felt now that I am putting this onto the Blog. They were certainly well founded. The speed of writing may be faster with the pen, but it is a close-run thing. The keyboard has the benefit of edit prior to post, ink is too permanent once written. I think I will have to go back to the "scratch file" Blog again and make more effort. I am hoping to put my thoughts here although not my book idea (Someone could nick it), that I will leave on my desktop.

It would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that what I write is of any importance to anyone ther than myself; on the contrary it is of the utmost unimportance. The commission of thoughts in an archivable form is what I wish to achieve. So much goes through my mind and so quickly, that I barely have time to dwell before moving on and I would perhaps like to look back over those thoughts. Even now I have altered this written post to allow for new thoughts.... The handwritten posts may not all end up here as there is so much and I need to move on so I will probably slip the rest in, on a later post.

I wonder if I should try and slow down and contemplate, or do I let my mind race as usual. This is a permanent problem for me and I have no way of being able to control it as yet. I did think that takng up slower pursuits may help and I think they might. I may also seek to take a retreat to solitude at some point later in the year. I felt Peter Jones series "Extreme Pilgrim" had a lot to teach us on the benefits of solitude and seeking the face of God. I would like to emulate this at some point. It certainly got me wondering wwhat would happen if I could throw of the shackles of modern life and money and tail-chasing and live in a "monastic" way..

Another question is whether I will improve my writing skills in this way. As stated earlier I am not that good with the English language and have to get my wife to look over any written works.

I was reading "the 13 1/2 lives of Captain Bluebear" , but have now finished this and moved on to another Police procedural "Dying light" by Stuart Macbride - gruesome but good. The "System of the World" by Neal Stephenson is taking a pace and I have at least moved past 100 pages now!

Looking forward to skiing now as is only 9 days to go. I do wonder if a 40yo can improve beyond the current ability - Josh certainly has youth as an advantage. I need to try and take on board all the tips from last year and see if we can move forward.

22nd Jan

Made a decision last night to get a grip on my finances, as the change in drawings at the end of November still hasnt quite sunk in and I am still struggling, but have an action-plan now so should be able to bring it all under control. A new mental state is required and I need to bring this to bear in so many areas of my life. Improvments in my weight are also required and these have been made by cutting out the cakes and reducing what I eat generally. Hopefully I can pull my BMI to the lower end of the normal range rather than the upper end of the range.

I also need to master what I actually believe in as this is fundamental to who I am. The contemplation of this may take time and takes into account that which I have written above. I feel I may be somewaht away from the mainstream and my faith position is based on a holistic view of the Universe and takes inot account all "rational explanation" as well as "faith based ideas". Confused - you bet. I need to embrace this change of pace but it will be a challenge.

29th Jan 2008:

Nothing for the last 7 days again.

The book thing is in my mind again...

Tomorrow looks like a good day so maybe I should get out with the camera - and indeed I did and got lots of good shots - I think I should try and photograph as much of the peninsula as I can.

A long run is out of the question as I did a 26mile epic in 4hours on Friday and 20mins at pace on the treamill was quite an effort last night anyway.

Linkin Park were excellent on Sunday night at the MEN - Josh was very impressed as well. Biffy Clyro were a solid support act, weak in openign but warmed up in the end.

31st Jan 08

Today - finally

Is it me or is it the rest of the world? I feel unable to get on top of all the developments in technology. The story is that my Palm is dying and this is a real issue as I totally rely on it for my working life. Indeed it may now be totally dead as I cannot reboot it at all. I then looked at the iphone as a replacement but this does not yet have 3rd party software ability as Apple have locked this but may release a SDK in the near future. It seems to rely on Web 2.0 funcitonality and indeed some of the Palm's functions may be replaced with web-apps but some may not. I could write my own.... Me write AJAX apps?? Confused - even more so.

Typing all this up has taken so long that I am now going to have to do some work! Maybe I should get back into the habit and it will then be easier...

too long since last post

Well. Its has been a long time – almost a month – still not totally into the habit of social networking and blogging. It has been a busy time so that might explain some of the slow progress.

I finished the Confusion in the week before Christmas; although it is not a final ending, and I am still completely clueless as to how this extremely large story will conclude. I have started the System of The World and I will keep myself updated with the progress – I don’t actually believe anyone else reads this – it is merely there so I can keep a track on my life..

I also finished “Cold Granite”. That was quite good and I am looking forward to the next one. I have since started and got almost half way through Robert Goddard’s “Name to a Face”. This is typical RG fare with a hapless protagonist finding himself in a series of improbable situations and I am sure it will all be sorted in the end. Quite good.

Back at work after Christmas period,; although I never was away fully really. Christmas was … different… this year. A trip to Lincolnshire for Xmas day was actually quite good. We saw all Debi’s side of the family and enjoyed her mum’s hospitality. The late night drive back to the Lakes was tiring but at least we got back so we could spend Boxing Day with my family.

Boxing day went quietly as well; Nanna failed to say anything outrageous and there were no major rows.

The real interest happened later in the week

A “dinner party”, Oh how the fuck I hate that phrase, with some interesting topics of conversation but when they are being discussed with someone who has all the intellectual capability of a fruit fly, it is well… interesting. If my family happen to read this it is nothing to do with them. Anyone who still thinks docking of dog’s tails is a reasonable process, is a (fill in your own perjorative term).

This is taking so long to post that I have managed to finish the Robert Goddard – a good book all in all and based on a not too far fetched premise. Very typical of his work but good nonetheless. The only question is .. which book next??

This post has taken too long – I am now reading “The 13 ½ lives of captain Bluebear” – very strange but quite compelling – a sort of word cartoon – don’t know where it will end up, I’ll keep myself informed.