Staying Put
Posted: Sat 27 September, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, Introspective, Thoughts Leave a comment »In other news, it’s the time of year again where I renew (or not) the tenancy agreement on my current place. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been here two and a half years now, but that’s how long it’s been. Time flies when you’re having fun, and all that.
As always, I do some thinking when this comes round, deciding what I want to do, where I want to be, all that tat.
I know that at some point I will want to be moving on, going somewhere new, doing all that stuff again. But the time for that isn’t now. In some ways I really do want to move on, but the time isn’t right, and I don’t know where I want to be. So this’ll do for the time being.
I’m signing up for another year. By then, I’ll most likely have decided what’s next. Or I might stay another year. I don’t know. There’s lots can change in that time.
By the time of the next renewal, this will have been the longest I’ve been any one place in a very long time. And yet I don’t feel settled – and I don’t quite know why. I’m sure I’ll figure it out at some point.
10km
Posted: Mon 15 September, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, People, Thoughts, Weigh Less Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I took part in a 10km (6 mile) walk to raise funds for Marie Curie cancer care. They’d done it as an evening thing, round a local(ish) stately home. In my case, that meant Boughton House, near Kettering in Northamptonshire.
As it was, I just fancied doing it – it seemed like a fun alternative to the whole ‘fun run’ (an oxymoron if ever I heard one) and just something I wanted to do, so I signed up ages back, and did some (very minimal) fundraising with friends via Facebook. I raised enough to be able to do the walk, so there we go.
In the meantime, life conspired to make sure I had no practice or ‘training’ whatsoever – with the icing on the cake being the fact that my decent walking boots fell apart the night before the walk. Ain’t life grand? Still, it wasn’t a major issue – I walk everywhere in boots anyway, so sod it, just use my everyday ones. At least I know I won’t get blisters!
Fortunately, Saturday evening was dry – the limit of my preparation was a vaguely waterproof jacket (well, more fleece than anything) but by halfway round I was sweating like a perv in a playground, so it got taken off and carried the rest of the way.
I wasn’t really in the mood to be sociable, so didn’t actually speak to anyone else on the walk. Chatted briefly to some of the marshals, but nothing else. I was doing it more for the walk, the fundraising, and just to be doing it – plus plenty of time for thinking/planning, of which more another time. I could’ve strangled a few people – particularly the dog-walkers, with their extendy-leads that conspire to try and trip people at every opportunity – but for once I was fairly mellow. Mind you, one of ’em nearly ended up with a boot up the arse.
All told, I did the 10km in 1hr 50 mins, which I was really quite pleased with. It wasn’t super-quick, but at the same time I was also surprised by how many people took a lot longer to do it. It wasn’t competitive: no names, numbers, or times, but it was still interesting. I didn’t set out to be first, or to do a blistering time, but managed to end up in the first third of finishers, if not the first quarter. Which surprised me, but anyway.
And then just the drive home. I could’ve stayed for some kind of concert and fireworks, but again, I wasn’t really in the mood.
More importantly, I was quite chuffed that I’d done it, and while my feet were sore afterwards there’s been no lasting pain, blisters, or anything. All told – and bearing in mind how little preparation I’d managed to do – it went pretty damn well.
Who knows, I might even do it again next year. After all, I’ve a time (and financial) target to beat now…
Submitting Writing
Posted: Sat 16 August, 2014 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Getting Organised, Write More, Writing Leave a comment »As usual, one of my projects for this year has been about writing more. (Not that you’d know it from D4D of late, but that’s different, more about having time than anything else)
Anyway, I’m doing more along the way, but also trying to send it out into the world, so I’ve submitted bits to a couple of competitions recently.
Nothing major, and if I’m honest I don’t expect anything to come of them. But at least I’m writing, and making the effort.
Stone Down
Posted: Fri 11 July, 2014 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »In other news, I’ve now lost a stone in weight this year.
That puts me on a weirdly OCD number (ending with two zeroes) although still at the high-end of “Functioning fat fucker”, with a way to go.
I’m happy with the progress though. I’d like it to be quicker (wouldn’t we all?) but at least it’s progress.
Creativity Locked
Posted: Thu 29 May, 2014 Filed under: Depression, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Insomnia, Project 42, SAD, Words, Writing Leave a comment »Over the last couple of months, my creative side has felt like it’s completely locked up. I don’t particularly know why – although I suspect it’s linked to feeling constantly tired, burned out, and unwell.
After this weekend, I’m making some changes again – mainly employment stuff (of which a bit more tomorrow) but also a few life-based things.
With the new job, I’m aiming to limit myself to work-based stuff just in work hours. With the last couple of jobs they’ve been coming home with me, and it’s been sitting in my head. I suspect that’s been a mistake. It’s certainly put me in a position where a lot of the time I don’t even want to look at a computer while I’m at home – although again that may be down to also feeling depressingly run-down – so I’m currently hoping that if I limit myself a bit more workwise, I might have the time and inclination to do other stuff when I’m back at home.
It could also be that I’m going through a bit of a depression dump. It wouldn’t be the first time that I get affected like that once the days have started getting longer. I can deal with – and fight – the seasonal depression of long nights and grey days, but once the days get longer I lower my guard, lower my resistance, and sometimes it just hits hard for a while.
I’m hoping I’ll find some ways to reset myself a bit over the next couple of weeks, but we’ll see.
Two Years On
Posted: Tue 13 May, 2014 Filed under: 2011/12, 2013/14, Domestic, Finances, Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »It’s now two years (well, just over, as it was the early May Bank Holiday weekend) since I moved into the current house. That move was probably one of the most stressful ones I’ve ever done, as it all happened while my dad was in hospital with heart issues, and the move itself was done in just one day.
You know how they say that the most stressful things in life are moving house, changing jobs, and relationship breakups? Try doing all three at once, with added health concerns of a parent. It makes for an interesting weekend, it’s fair to say.
A lot has changed since then – most of it for the better. The job stayed the same ’til July last year, and then I’ve been back on the contracting side and done a fair variety in the remaining time. Finances have improved beyond measure – at least relatively speaking – along with my own health, sanity and stability.
Dad’s fine too, still with us, and far healthier than he was.
Two years ago I couldn’t see this far, couldn’t see the light that was beginning to glimmer at the end of the tunnel. I’m not yet out of the tunnel completely, but that light is all too visible now, and I know things are well on their way.
Slow Progress
Posted: Sun 20 April, 2014 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Health, Project 42, Weigh Less 4 Comments »This year, as I’ve said before (and on many occasions) I’ve been working at getting more exercise, with an aim of losing some weight, improving health, and all that standard crap. At the same time I’ve been keeping track of food intake and so on, which has been interesting rather than overly useful.
I’ve been doing fairly well for a start- I’m tending to average walking about 3-4 miles a day, including at least a mile round the village every day. I started off just making sure I did it even on days when I wasn’t in the mood, or when the weather was vile (and lord knows we’ve had plenty of those so far this year) so that I could establish it as routine, and thus have even less excuse when the weather was good.
It’s slow-going though – which I’m not happy about. I’m eating less than the ‘recommended’ calorie count, and I’m doing more exercise. But weight has stayed fairly stable. As it is, I’ve lost half a stone this year – which is better than it could be, but it’s still hard to monitor when it takes so sodding long.
This week has been different, because of stuffing my back last weekend (which is improving, but still insanely sore in the morning) I made the decision to lay off the walking etc. as much. It’s about halved from the usual, and I’ll actually be glad to get back to it.
Anyway, there’s been progress, it’s just been ridiculously slow. Next step, once I’m back to not hurting (pardon the pun) will be to get back on my bike again and do more work on that score as well. Maybe that’ll help things progress. We’ll see.
Hermetic
Posted: Fri 28 February, 2014 Filed under: Creativity, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Project 42, Thoughts, Work-related, Writing 2 Comments »
Over the years, I’ve often thought about finding a nice remote cottage, and ending up as a hermit, more or less. Shunning human contact for the most part, and being able to spend the time doing something creative.
Of course, as most of my nature and work is also pretty techie, the idea of a remote cottage in the middle of the moors somewhere is a bit of a stretch, there not being likely to be decent broadband anywhere nearby. If I were primarily doing writing, I could probably do it – but that particular aspect is still very much a pipe dream, albeit one that I’m still working on when I get the chance.
I still like the idea of it though – it’s still something that sticks with me, and even more so when I do travel up to the North-East and North-West, or Somerset/Devon. Maybe one day – depending on how everything else works out.
In the meantime though, it occurs to me that a lot of my current existence is quite hermit-like in many ways. I don’t interact with people around me all that much – I do with colleagues, to a degree, but in general prefer not to – and I’d rather be in my little house and spending time with my own company.
I have enough broadband (although I’d prefer more, but such is life at the moment) so really it’s the best of both worlds. Or at least it is for me – I suspect it would drive most people mental.
Things may change over time – there’s some things I’d like to change, and others I’m not bothered by – but in quite a number of ways, I’m actually really quite content at the moment. It’s a strange state of affairs.
Fitbit Flex – Sleepy Time
Posted: Thu 20 February, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Insomnia, Project 42, Reviews(ish), Sleep - or lack thereof, Technology Leave a comment »Carrying on from yesterday’s post, I’m writing a bit about how I’m doing with the Fitbit Flex, a wristband pedometer and sleep monitor. Today it’s more about the sleep monitoring that the Flex does.
As with the pedometer side, the sleep monitoring can be a useful tool, but it’s not something to rely on absolutely.
The sleep monitoring is activated manually (which is usually OK, but could be a pain in the ass on occasion) and also needs to be manually deactivated – which is more of a pig, because if you forget, it screws the figures. It would be nice to have some automatic deactivation in there, although I suspect that the variables for it are pretty wobbly.
Based – I assume – on movement during the night, the Flex can report on “Sleep”, “Disturbed Sleep” and “Awake”. “Sleep” is – again, I assume – when the sleeper is motionless, as REM sleep paralyses the body. (which is why most people don’t sleepwalk, or do anything else physical that they’re dreaming about) “Disturbed Sleep” is when the sleeper is moving about. I’ve no idea how it discerns “Awake” though – it pegs my awake-in-bed time as ‘disturbed sleep’- so I assume that “Awake” means “Registered as sleeping, but actually walking around”. As such, the categories are a bit rough, but at least provide an illustration of sleep quality – or lack thereof.
One thing I do find affects me though is actually looking at the results. (Which is a bit meta and ‘chaos theory’, but bear with me) It’s one thing to feel like you’ve had a bad night, but it’s another one entirely to know it with the readings from the Flex. And yes, I could ‘leave it’ til later, but damn it, I’m interested. However, it does make me feel more tired, more justified in being tired, with that knowledge of “Oh yeah, but I had a crap night”. Seeing the information makes me aware of that crap night, and does affect how I feel during the day. (Similar to how reading a horoscope first thing can sometimes subconsciously direct you towards doing the things ‘predicted’)
It is interesting though. It’s proven that I usually actually get by on 3.5-4 hours sleep per night most of the time, and that it’s really only when I’m on sub-three-hours that I feel shockingly bad. I have good nights (rare), bad nights (common) and very bad nights (thankfully not quite as common as I’d thought)
I’ll keep on using the Flex for this – as I’ve said, it’s a useful indicator, if nothing else. Whether I continue to be aware of the timings or not, bearing in mind how much that knowledge affects me, remains to be seen.
Fitbit Flex – Taking Steps
Posted: Wed 19 February, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Project 42, Reviews(ish), Technology, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »It’s now been a couple of months since I got the Fitbit Flex, and it’s been pretty interesting. I didn’t buy it to boost my fitness, or any of that other rot – I just wanted to see how much I do walk on any given day, keep track of it, and also to look at how I sleep. (which I’ve written about before)
The sleep monitoring is quite useful – although I do wonder about how it affects me subliminally. (of which more later in the week)
For the walking / pedometer, it shows I’m currently walking about 3 miles a day. Not brilliant – but equally, not at all bad. I started this year with the intention of getting out and walking more, and getting into a routine of doing so. (This actually started back in November-ish, but has been more fixed since January) I try to make sure I walk around the village (a decent mile loop) most days – although I still sometimes fail to do so when the weather is truly vile – as well as walking more when I go to the local cinema etc.
The Flex helps me keep track of that, and it’s been useful. There is a certain satisfaction when it buzzes away on my wrist, letting me know that the daily target (currently set at 5,000 steps a day, approx 2.5 miles) has been achieved. And weirdly it does get into your head – I find myself thinking “Oh, well if I park there, it’s a longer distance to get to the shop/cinema/whatever, I’ll be closer to that target” and similar.
If nothing else, it’s a useful tool for just keeping track of exercise through the days and weeks – but also as a minor kick-up-the-arse for actually getting out and walking more.
Monitoring Sleep
Posted: Thu 9 January, 2014 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Dreaming, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Insomnia, Project 42, Sleep - or lack thereof, Technology Leave a comment »Over the years, I’ve kind of got used to sleeping really badly – although I’d still like to know the causes, and whether it really is as bad as I think/feel it is.
The reason I’m not sure is because – as I think I’ve said before – according to partners, sometimes I’ll have slept through the night, but woken up and been convinced I’ve had a bad night. Yes, I apparently manage to dream that I’m waking up and having a bad night. And yes, that is really really fucked-up, however you look at it.
Anyway, as part of the whole ‘weighing less’ part of this year, I was also wanting to monitor (or at least better monitor) my activity, steps-per-day and the like. So I’ve ended up ordering a FitBit Flex which should let me keep an eye on all of that at once. It’ll also integrate with a couple of other apps on the phone etc., which will make for some interesting reading over time. The only downside is that I’d have liked one that also allows me to check/monitor heart-rate (and really, why can’t you get a wearable wristband device that’ll do that? It can’t be that difficult, surely?) but there just isn’t anything like that around at the moment. The closest would be the Pulse from Withings – but that doesn’t do the integration stuff, and doesn’t keep track of heartbeat in the way that I wanted.
I’m not relying on it, or assuming it’ll be the thing that changes everything for me – but it should at least answer some questions, particularly about how I sleep. And that at least will be interesting, and make it worth what I’ve paid. Anything else is a bonus, really.
Year Start
Posted: Wed 1 January, 2014 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Project 42, Resolutions Leave a comment »And lo, here we are in 2014. It seems like only yesterday that it was merely 2013. Oh yeah – it was only yesterday. How time flies.
Anyway, the year comes with some plans. Not resolutions, oh no no no, we don’t do those here chez Lyle. There’s the ongoing plan for 2013/14, which is pretty simple, but this is more of a “Things I’d Like To Do In 2014”.
Of course, the original 2013/14 goals are still in place as primary things, which are…
- Weigh Less
- Write More
But there’s also a few other bits that I’d like to do this year, including…
- Carry on the progress from 2013
- Develop the software / websites for the main company stuff I’m doing
- Keep working on finances and rebuilding
- Take a proper holiday somewhere – even ‘just’ in the UK, but some time out
- See friends more regularly, and generally be a bit more sociable
- Take the IAM driving test – purely for my own ego, but I’d still like to do it
And that’s about it for the ‘plan’ side of things. The “Random shit” side is likely to be a lot more busy, in fairness.
Death of a Bankrupt
Posted: Fri 15 November, 2013 Filed under: 42-43, Bankruptcy, Depression, Domestic, Finances, News, Project 42, Thoughts Leave a comment »Since declaring myself bankrupt in August 2013, I’ve noticed it a lot more in the news. That’s not to say it’s in the news more (or even less) often, merely that I notice it, having been through that process.
So I found the story yesterday about the suicide of Paul Bhattacharjee to be very sad. From the evidence, it looks like he had been declared bankrupt, and killed himself as a result.
Of course, that wasn’t the entire cause – his widow said he was a “proud” man who had a “darkness inside him that was irreparable”.
‘The bankruptcy was the final straw after a life of major highs and lows’
From a personal side, I can absolutely understand the perceived ‘shame’ of bankruptcy – and probably more so when someone else has declared you bankrupt rather than it being a decision made by yourself. It’s had a stigma for a very long time – and again, it’s an understandable stigma. It’s about saying ‘I can’t afford to pay my debts’, and should never be treated lightly.
However, from my own experience, I don’t think it is The End. In many ways it’s a new start, as I’ve said before. There is a shame, a pain to go with the process – and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone without knowing their entire situation, or as anything except a last resort. It is emphatically not a quick fix, or a “get out of jail free” card.
But shameful? In these days of debt, loans, finance and borrowing? I don’t know that it’s as bad as it was even fifty years ago. It’s more commonplace certainly – although at the moment it appears that personal insolvencies and bankruptcies are falling (and have been since 2009)
(That graph comes from the Insolvency service, and is copyrighted to them)
I completely understand why someone would feel the stigma and shame of being declared bankrupt and feel the need to kill themselves as a result – and probably even more so when that person also already has a history and core of depression – but in many cases it is not The End. It is the end of the stress, the pain of being chased from pillar to post by creditors, the hassles of interest, mounting charges, and juggling finances, knowing that it’ll only take one tiny change or event to push you off the edge of the cliff.
It’s not an easy process – I know I’ve no intention of ever going through it again, and (as I’ve said already) I wouldn’t recommend it to people except as a final option. It is the death of many things, of the life you know, and sometimes of the things you have. It’s a loss, and as such perhaps is a thing to grieve, to regret, to learn from.
But what it also is, though, is a relief. A new start. An ability to rebuild your life from a stable foundation, to build everything back in a better, more stable – and a debt-free – manner. It’s a struggle, but it’s also a new life, if you allow it to be.
Anniversal
Posted: Tue 5 November, 2013 Filed under: 2013/14, 41 - 42, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er) Leave a comment »Bloody Hell, I’m forty-sodding-two.
It’s going to be an interesting year, I’m sure. And come April, I’ll be halfway through the rebooted Five Year Plan, from Age 40 to 45. I think there’ll be more about that over the coming few days/weeks/months. I bet you can’t wait…
Location, Location
Posted: Wed 30 October, 2013 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Travel Leave a comment »Even though I know I’m going to be in the current place for at least another year (tenancy agreement all signed and sorted etc.) I still find myself thinking about moving on. I don’t plan to do so in the next year, but I’m thinking about it all the same.
Primarily it’s more about “Where would/do I want to be next?“, and then looking at current prices and places, just so I’ve an idea of what might work, along with what and where might be practical.
I’m not sure yet what’ll happen, and whether I’ll move on or not. Looking at the changes over the last year or two, it’s pretty much impossible to plan where I’ll be in a year’s time. For the moment I’m just doing my research, and hoping to keep my options open.
Another Year
Posted: Mon 7 October, 2013 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »In a fit of being organised, I’ve already sorted out another year’s tenancy on the current house. The agreement was signed yesterday, and went in the post, so it’s all sorted.
It didn’t need to be done for another month – it actually starts on Nov 4th – but I’m far happier with knowing it’s all done and sorted.
My landlord would actually be happy with just doing the entire thing on a rolling monthly agreement, but for the time being I’m happier knowing that I’m tied in (and so is the landlord) for the year. Monthly-rolling is just a bit too easy for my liking, too easy for a landlord to say at the start of the month “Ok, here’s your notice” (and I do mean any landlord, for I don’t think mine would actually do this) and then it’s an organisational (and financial) nightmare for that month.
I used to do 12-month tenancy agreements back when I was in Manchester, and I was fine with them then, too. I had some hassle when it came to moving out mid-term (when I moved to be with Herself) but that was fair enough, and kind-of expected. Even then though, they got another tenant, so I only paid I think two month’s rent once I’d moved out. Could’ve been a lot worse. (And the rent now is significantly less than I was paying for the place in Manch, too. Mind you, the house is also about a third of the size of the Manch place)
At worst it’s something I don’t need to think about for the next twelve months. At best, it’s off my mind, so I can fill that space with other ideas and plans. I’ll be in the same place ’til at least my birthday 2014, and that’s fine with me.
2013 Phase 3 : One week in
Posted: Mon 16 September, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Getting Old(er), Health, Weigh Less 6 Comments »So, as I wrote a week ago, I made some minor(ish) changes to lifestyle last Monday. Obviously it’s only a week in, but I thought I’d write a wee bit about what’s happened in that week. I’m trying to get back into routines and patterns on these things, so I know that a week is kind of short, but if I’ve done it for one, I can do it for more.
The changes were
- Cutting out bread completely
- Eating better while at work (i.e. no sandwiches, in particular)
- Walking/cycling more
And so far things have been OK, I’m pleased to say.
I’ve had no bread at all – although I’ve not cut out pasta or other wheaty products as such – and honestly I’ve felt no change, and seen no changes or results. I’m going to keep on with it for a while more though.
I’ve certainly eaten better at work, mainly through getting back to eating stuff I’ve made at home and taking that in, rather than paying for it on a daily basis. I do need to find a balance here still, because as a contractor, it’s better for tax purposes (don’t ask) to buy something each day.
Exercise has been the big one. I’ve been out on the bike five times, and covered fifteen miles, there being a rather nice little three-mile circuit from home that works well for me. My times have dropped noticeably already – I’m using the Strava app on the phone to track things – and we’ll see how it goes. My leg muscles in particular hurt like buggery on a couple of occasions, which isn’t surprising considering that the last time I was cycling properly was in 2005 when I worked at CrapCo. But I’ll get better, get fitter, get faster. That’s the plan, anyway.
More importantly though, I’m quite enjoying it at the moment. I’m hoping to get into the routine before the nights draw in and the weather gets worse, so that then I’ll have even fewer excuses for not going. I have missed a couple of days this week- one through vile weather, another through being busy doing other stuff – but I can live with a five-out-of-seven plan for the moment.
All told, it’s all looking fairly positive.
2013 Phase Three
Posted: Mon 9 September, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Domestic, Health, Weigh Less Leave a comment »This time last week I wrote about starting the final third of 2013, and what I wanted to be working on with that. Part of that project/phase is to be healthier, and ideally weigh less too.
Because of the change in working location, I’ve had to stop my membership of the gym in Luton, where I was working before. There’s no point in my having a gym that’s 30 minutes away in the wrong direction, and that thus I now wouldn’t be using at all.
I may sign up for a gym in Milton Keynes, as I’m there a lot more often, but I don’t know yet, and I don’t need to decide right now.
What I am doing right now is
- Cutting out bread for a while, to see what happens. I’ve never really done this before, so it’ll be interesting regardless.
- Related to one, changing some of the stuff I have while at work, lunches and the like.
- Getting out and walking/cycling more. I went out for a short cycle ride yesterday for the first time in *cough* years, 3 miles in 20 minutes, and I’m hoping that’ll improve pretty quickly.
All told, it can be summed up as “Eat less/better/differently, exercise more.” Whether things will change or not remains to be seen – after all, things only really started yesterday, so there’s some time to be taken yet.
The plan is just to get into a routine on this stuff for the moment, see how it all goes. I’ve got the plan in my head, but we’ll see how things work out when the real world gets its ass involved.
Scoring
Posted: Sat 7 September, 2013 Filed under: 2013/14, Bankruptcy, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised Leave a comment »As part of both the Five Year Plan and rebuilding post-bankruptcy, one thing that’s really useful to know is one’s credit score, as well as what records are being held, and what they say.
So I’ve signed up (briefly) to Credit Expert, the happy smiley public face of the credit-reporting/scoring agency Experian.
It’s been an interesting process so far. When I registered to look at the record, I got told I’d got an existing account. Surprising – I did use them about eight years ago while with Herself, but nothing since. So I’ve had to go through a bundle of hoops in order to resurrect the old account, on a defunct email address/domain, because ‘we can’t have two records/accounts for the same person’ (according to their customer services clowns) despite that second account having a new email, address, phone number, and details. (Indeed, it’s kind of spooky that they can make the connection at all, based on the sheer level of change that’s gone on)
Annoyingly, this ‘use your old account’ process means I can’t take advantage of their ’30-day free trial’ offer, but I can live with that, to be honest.
Still, it’s letting me check all the relevant information, and I’m quite surprised to see that things are more positive than I’d expected. I was fully braced for seeing a score down near zero, and rebuilding from there. Instead, because of the ongoing accounts I’ve held over the last year (and more) it’s sat in the “fair” bracket. Which is quite amusing, when you think about it.
There are some bits I want to check out, particularly a couple of accounts that still say there’s large amounts outstanding – despite them being part of the bankruptcy process. I’ll find out what needs doing with those, as (I think) they should be sat along with the other accounts that read “closed”, rather than “In Default”. But I’ll find all that out, and figure out what needs doing.
There’s a long way to go yet, and I have no intentions of ending up back in the same situation I was in last year. But I do want to rebuild, to know I can make use of these things should I ever have to, want to, or need to. It’s not a quick process, but these first steps have shown me that perhaps – perhaps – the process won’t be quite as slow and drawn-out as I was expecting initially.
Year One
Posted: Fri 9 August, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Bankruptcy, Domestic, Finances, Thoughts 1 Comment »As of today, I’m no longer technically in bankruptcy. (Which is a weird word to type, but that’s something else entirely)
I declared myself bankrupt a year ago today, and that discharges automatically after one year, other than in exceptional circumstances. Basically, if the court decides you’ve been obstructive, or untruthful – or you’ve continued to build debt while in bankruptcy, or done anything else seriously stupid – they can extend the period of bankruptcy, but I’ve not done any of that, so it expires today.
There’s still a long way to go before it’s completely expunged from the record – another five years, in fact – but regardless, this is a milestone. (Rather than the millstone that the debts themselves were)
I’m still paying what I can afford for the next two years too. Once that’s done, it’s about rebuilding properly – for one thing, the amount I’m currently paying through the court system can go into a savings account. I haven’t missed the money, so I might as well keep paying it, but for my benefit rather than anyone else’s.
Bankruptcy isn’t an easy process, it’s not one I’d wish on anyone else. But it’s also not the great stigma on one’s character that it used to be, and while it’s not The Answer, it most certainly is An Answer.
For my own life, I’m glad I made the decision to go down this route – not that there were many other options, to be honest – because it’s allowing me to start again, to build up from those solid foundations that the last year has let me build.
11
Posted: Fri 9 August, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, 2013/14, Change, D4D™, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »Somehow, D4D™ has now made it to its eleventh birthday. I never expected it to do so, but I can’t deny, I’m actually fairly proud that it has.
Events over the last eighteen months have meant that the writing here has slowed down, and lost its frequency (and in some ways I feel it’s also lost its way a bit) but I’m going to see how we do over the next year, and wait ’til this time next year to see what happens. I might close it down, I might just keep it with irregular updates. Right now, I just don’t know.
The last couple of years have been – interesting, I think it’s fair to say. D4D’s been through that time with me (well, obviously) and will continue to do so, I think. There’s still a long way on this old journey, and I think/hope the next year (or two) is going to be instrumental in whatever comes next.
Ongoing Reductions
Posted: Mon 24 June, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Diet Coke, Domestic, Getting Organised, Health Leave a comment »Since last November I’ve been cutting down on my intake of Diet Coke, and doing OK on it. I’ve written about before, and will no doubt write about it again in the future.
We’re now six full months into 2013, and I’ve kept the intake down. It’s not zero – I don’t want it to be – but in general it’s about a quarter to a third of what it used to be, if not less. I’m still quite proud of that reduction, and of keeping the reduction going. My water intake has increased significantly as a result too, which is also supposedly a good thing – it’s certainly doing its thing to keep my kidneys in working order!
I still have good days and bad days – but less bad days than I used to – but overall I think it’s fair to say that the reduction might just be here to stay. Time will tell of course, but I think this is the longest sustained cut-down I’ve had in years.
One Year
Posted: Sun 5 May, 2013 Filed under: 2011/12, 2012/13, Change, Domestic, Getting Old(er), Getting Organised Leave a comment »Exactly one year ago today – date-wise, rather than weekday-wise – I moved to the new place.
It’s been one hell of a year, and eventful in many ways. Looking back, in some ways it’s raced past and feels like only a few weeks. Indeed it’s only when I look back and list the amount of stuff I’ve actually done in that time, check out all the changes and occurences in that time, that I realise how much has been done, and then it seems amazing how I’ve fitted it all into such a short span.
There’s still a lot to do, many changes to be made, many things to be tried and worked on. Some I’ll do, some I won’t. But this last year has been a good building block, and it’s laid the foundations for a lot of the upcoming stuff that should be really quite interesting.
January Progress
Posted: Mon 4 February, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, D4D™, Diet Coke, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss, Write More, Writing Leave a comment »Back at the end of 2012, I said I’d got two main plans for this year,
- Weigh less
- Write more
So, one month in, where do we stand?
On Point One, I’ve lost half a stone. Obviously that’s not insignificant, but there’s a long way to go still.
As part of it, I’ve been keeping a food diary for the last month, which has been interesting. It’s allowed me to keep track of what I’m eating and illustrate any bad foods (or even bad days) although it’s shown more that the intake side is lower than it should be. (I’m averaging about 1600 a day, from current evidence)
As I’ve written before, I’ve also had the health MOT this month : blood pressure, cholesterol, thyroid, blood sugar, the lot. It’s all come through OK, so that’s another thing.
And, of course, I’ve cut down my intake of Diet Coke significantly. It’s still got a small way to go if I’m to cut it out completely, but it’s still massively reduced from where it was.
Now it’s a case of upping the exercise levels as part of that project point.
For Point Two, I’ve managed to do some writing, although not as much as I’d hoped. I’ve got a short story mostly done, which I want to get completed in the next few days. I’ve also been writing a new idea, and that’s currently about a fifth of the way through it. Again, it’s something I’m working on, and it’s already better than it was last year, but there’s a long way to go.
Still though, it’s been a good start to the year.
Diet Coke – Progress
Posted: Fri 18 January, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Diet Coke, Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss 1 Comment »A while back, I started cutting down on my intake of Diet Coke, and I have to say, so far it’s going pretty well. It’s been a bit turbulent, and while I halved it when I started back in November, by mid-December it was back to normal. I properly dropped it again once I was on leave over Christmas, and it’s been kept down for near on a month now.
I’d decided that I wasn’t going to cut it all the way out – or at least not immediately – and opted instead for a phased withdrawal. It’s a drink I like drinking, so I don’t know that I’ll cut it all the way out.
Anyway, so far I’ve done pretty well. I’m down to about one-third of what I was drinking, and I’ve replaced the majority of the intake with water, which is supposed to be a better alternative. (I’m not yet convinced – I don’t feel masses better for it, it’s – frankly – fucking boring, and it makes me piss like a horse)
I’m pleased with how I’m doing – I have good days with even less intake, and I have shit days where I have more, but most importantly, even on the shit days I’m drinking no more than half the Diet Coke I was doing.
It’s not been part of the weight loss plan – the calorific intake wasn’t that high, even when the intake was high – but it’s part of the general plan for this year, regardless.
There’s still a way to go – but I’m happy with where things stand for now.
Embarassing Fat Bodies
Posted: Wed 16 January, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, 2012/13, Cynicism, Food, Health, People, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »Channel 4’s got a new series of “Embarassing Fat Bodies” at the moment, and it’s really annoying me. Not just because of my own ongoing issues with weight-loss, but just because of the people.
I know I’ve a long way to go, that’s a foregone conclusion. As such I’ve probably not got much room to talk, currently. You know what? I really don’t care.
You see, the difference with me is that I’m doing something about it. I’m taking the hints from my body, and I’m doing something about it.
The people on Embarassing Fat Bodies just don’t – or at least haven’t – and it’s like they’re waiting for some bloody wizard to come along and wave a wand at them to fix the problem.
One of the people on this week’s programme had a hernia the size of a basketball, a lipoma the size of two footballs, is housebound, and has a BMI of 79. Yes, seventy-fucking-nine! But still she eats – and admits to eating – meals for three or four people.
Another one, 35 stone, BMI of 66 waddled in, having done a food diary, talking about “a bag of crisps”. It turned out that what she meant by that was the huge family-bag size bag of crisps. This is someone who can’t stand, and has brought an office-chair into her kitchen so she can scoot around the kitchen rather than walking around it. But still, a diet of crisps, chocolate, full-fat fizzy drinks.
How long does it take to pick up the hints? If you’re that size, at least cut down what you’re eating, or go for the healthier alternatives!
Again, I’m not perfect, I know. Some of my diet isn’t grand – but my intake is on the low side, not the excesses listed by some of the people on this programme.
GP Results – Thoughts
Posted: Tue 15 January, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Cynicism, Domestic, Food, Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »In some ways I’m quite happy about the GP results – they were a lot better than they had any right to be. In another, I’m almost annoyed, because I can’t deny, I kind of hoped there would be some kind of medical explanation for why I don’t lose weight.
I’ve done the food diary – admittedly only for a week, although I’m going to continue doing it for a while more – and my intake averaged out at 1750 calories, give or take. That’s *low*, my basic maintenance should be around the 2,500 – 3,000 mark, so I should be losing weight quickly and easily. But I’m not. It’s much the same as it has been for ten years, with the exception of losing a stone through Slimming World three or four years back. (Even that was fucked- the time I went with their exact plan, I gained weight)
And now there’s no visible medical reason for it either.
I know I need more exercise, and that’s part of the plan for this year.
But basically, right now, there’s no sodding reason for me to be the size/weight I am. And that pisses me off.
GP Results
Posted: Mon 14 January, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Cynicism, Domestic, Food, Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »So, having (finally) seen the GP this time – only half an hour late, that’s almost early compared to usual – I’ve got the final figures…
- Blood Pressure : 120/80
- Heart rate : 75
- Cholesterol : 5.7
- Thyroid : Normal
- Blood Tests : Normal
Being a pissbag, the GP wouldn’t give me exact figures for the thyroid results etc. – I remain cynical about “normal” until I can check – and refused to give me a referral to the dietician service. Instead I’ve got to see the diabetes nurses next week for diet advice. Because, of course, they’re the ones who know.
Luckily I’m also getting the diet advice from someone else I trust, so it’s not hyper-relevant to get the referral, but I do want the request on my NHS record. I asked for the same thing in Norfolk, and Suffolk, and nothing happened at all. So I’m more serious about it this time round.
Anyway, all told I’m bordering on healthy – with the exception of my BMI and weight, which I still want to work on. Considering the BMI and weight, there’s no way the rest of the figures should be as good as they are. So all told I feel quite positive about things, for once.
I’ve still got bits to work on, obviously – I do want to reduce my weight, and work from there, but knowing that the basics are OK is a big thing too.
GP Follow-up
Posted: Mon 14 January, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Domestic, Health, Weigh Less Leave a comment »This afternoon, I’m back at the GPs, finding out the results of blood tests, and getting the blood-pressure taken. Well, that’s the plan, anyway.
I’ve also asked for a couple of specific tests, as they’re issues that run in the family.
- Blood-sugar (Well, fasting blood sugar) levels for Diabetes
- Thyroid levels – there’s been thyroid issues for at least two prior generations of my family
- Cholesterol – I figured I might as well get this while I’m at it.
I’ve no idea what the results will be, so it’s going to be interesting to see what they are.
Food Diary
Posted: Mon 7 January, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Domestic, Food, Health, Weigh Less Leave a comment »In the run-up to the start of 2013, I wrote a little bit about the goals (well, they’re more like guidelines) I’ve got for the year. I’m keeping it pretty simple, although there’s lots of other stuff under those main points. For the moment I don’t plan to share the sub-points, because they’re not actually of much use to anyone except me.
Anyway, as part of the “Weigh Less” goal, I’m starting to write a food diary from today. Obviously that’s not all of the plan, but it’s a good starting point for establishing what I’m doing, and what needs to change.
I’ve been lucky enough to be able to do this with the help of Dragon, and to be able to help him with his training for being a PT by doing the initial food diary, analysis and plans with him.
I’m going to see how it all goes, and I’ll write more about it as time goes on.
Along the way, as well as getting results from the GP (including that missing blood-pressure test) over the next couple of weeks, I’ve also invested in some proper weighing scales, including body-fat. Much as I like the idea of them, I didn’t go for one of the Withings or FitBit ones in the end – £100 for scales is a bit much, and while I like the idea of keeping those records and graphs online, I can do the same thing by myself, either locally or on RunKeeper etc. Besides, seeing those updates from other people on Facebook and Twitter pisses me off in the end, so I don’t want to do the same to other people.
Instead, and on a recommendation, I’ve gone for these scales from from Omron, which do everything I want them to.
So – progress is being made. I’ll be interested (and probably depressed) to see the initial figures, but I’m thinking/hoping that they’ll provide me with more impetus for going ahead with the weight loss.
2013
Posted: Tue 1 January, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, D4D™, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Health, Weigh Less 3 Comments »And so – a new year. (Again)
As per many years previously, I don’t really do New Year Resolutions, they’re not my thing.
So my plan for 2013 (as written about very briefly back in November) is pretty simple. It’s not resolutions, just a bit of a plan, and that plan can be summed up thus…
- Weigh less
- Write more.
And that’s it. There’s other stuff along the way, but that’s the two key points, really.
Anyway- have a good one. I certainly hope to do so.
Closing Out The Year
Posted: Mon 31 December, 2012 Filed under: 2012/13, D4D™, Domestic Leave a comment »Today proved to be a day for getting things done that I hadn’t got round to doing for a while. The full list is ineffably dull (as these things usually are) so I won’t bother with the full thing. Suffice it to say, it’s been a pretty productive day.
The real key thing though is that I’m now registered with the local GP – I don’t need to be, per se, but well, I figure it’s better to be registered than not.
As longer-term readers of D4D™ know, I bloody hate GPs in general, but still, it’s better to be with a local one, rather than the one in Suffolk I was registered at.
Anyway, all told it’s a decent way to close off 2012, getting a few things off the list of stuff that needed doing.
What a Year
Posted: Mon 24 December, 2012 Filed under: 2011/12, D4D™, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Thoughts Leave a comment »It really has been quite a year.
In the last twelve months, I’ve…
- Moved house. Twice.
- Changed jobs. Twice. (And also gone from Contractor to Permanent Employee)
- Declared Bankruptcy
- Started rebuilding everything
There’s been a fair amount of other stuff going on as well – not least, a constantly increasing workload – but they’ve been the main events.
This time last year, I had eased off D4D a lot – there was only one post in December, for example – but that’s slowly coming back. It’s not back to the old glories yet – maybe in 2013, who knows – but things are definitely on the way back up.
Getting Back
Posted: Mon 12 November, 2012 Filed under: 2012/13, 41 - 42, Domestic, Gigs, Music Leave a comment »In conversations (and D4D posts) last week, I realised it’s now more than a year since I’ve been to a concert. I’ve eased off on them over the last few years, partly through getting a bit pickier following some that were pretty bad, and partly just through a lack of available time and finances along with venues not being as easy to get to.
Manchester was fantastic for getting to/from gigs, and had plenty of good venues as well. Bracknell was less good, and Norfolk/Suffolk were a pain in the bits. From the new place, it’s likely still London (although there’s also other smaller locations which aren’t too bad) and what with one thing and another it’s not been great for booking tickets.
Anyway, I’d thought I’d make some changes, and this weekend has meant that’s started – my first gig in 14 months will be in Janurary, seeing the Cowboy Junkies (yet again) , this time at the Barbican in London.
And I can’t wait.
The 2010/11 List
Posted: Tue 9 November, 2010 Filed under: 2010/11, Depression, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Thoughts 1 Comment »In my “What’s Next?” list, I said that one of my targets would be to get off the anti-depressants, and a commenter said that should be first thing on the list.
In some ways I agree, although it’s not strictly realistic. I saw my GP last week, and discussed my dislike (OK, utter loathing) of taking these pills. But at the same time even I have to acknowledge that they’ve done me some good.
Anyway, the GP recommends staying on them for another 3-4 months, which is what I’ll do. It takes me over the hump of the Festering Season, and into 2011. After that, well, see how it goes.
That seems like the best plan for now, anyway.
Writing
Posted: Fri 15 October, 2010 Filed under: 2009/10, Creativity, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), London Screenwriters Festival, The '10 Writing Project, Writing | Tags: #celtx, #lsw, #lswf 1 Comment »Life’s been a bit quiet round here of late, what with one thing and another.
One of the bits that’s reduced my writing time here has been the Short Script Competition for the London Screenwriter’s Festival , whose deadline was today. (In a couple of hours, in fact)
I’d had an idea for the project, which I wrote in CeltX (again) and wanted to get finished and submitted. And today I got it all done, dusted and submitted.
I don’t know how it’ll do – no idea at all, to be honest – but regardless, I’m happy with having completed it and got it in for the deadline. Even if nothing at all comes of it, it’s another idea completed, written, and submitted.
That makes it the second script (admittedly, short script) completed and submitted to competitions this year. My writing plan for 2010 was to get at least one – and hopefully more – bits written, and I’ve done that. I’m not going to stop there- there’s still a lot to write and a lot of ideas in my head – but at least I’m doing it now. It’s taken far too long to get to this point.
Writing Project – LSF
Posted: Tue 7 September, 2010 Filed under: 2009/10, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, London Screenwriters Festival, The '10 Writing Project, Writing | Tags: London Screenwriters Festival, LSF 1 Comment »Another writing project has come up, which is making life interesting – if chaotic.
As I plan to be attending the London Screenwriting Festival at the end of October, it only seems right to enter their competition. I’ve got the idea, and I’ve started writing it. I’ve got a month to complete it – which should be enough time, I hope.
Currently I’m about a third of the way through the plan, so it’s on schedule. We’ll just have to see how it goes.
One Word
Posted: Mon 5 July, 2010 Filed under: Creativity, Five Year Plan (now Ten), The '10 Writing Project, Writing Leave a comment »A while back, someone (I can’t now remember who) drew my attention to the “My One Word” screenwriting competition, which really appealed to me.
MY ONE WORD is inspired by the proverb “a picture is worth a thousand words” and we want to inspire you to create fresh, powerful stories using images and just one word.
MY ONE WORD focuses the power of visual storytelling by creating a series of short movies with only one word. If you love to write, this is your chance to show off your talents!
All told, I’ve submitted two pieces to this competition- I don’t know if either one will get anywhere, but it’s worth at least a try.
The first one uses just one word, but used several times. It’s a bit derivative, but the idea’s there and would (I think) work.
The second one uses just one word. That’s it. The rest of the story is visual.
In their own ways I’m pleased with both submissions. They’re very different – which I’m pleased about – and (I hope) different enough to stand out. Of course on that score I could be completely talking out of my backside. We’ll see.
More importantly, it means I’ve completed two short screenplay things. Very short, admittedly – about three mins each – but completed, submitted, and out in the Big Wide World. Should make life interesting.
Antidepressed
Posted: Thu 15 April, 2010 Filed under: 2009/10, Depression, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Introspective, Thoughts, Writing 2 Comments »A couple of weeks back I wrote about making an appointment to see the doctor about depression, lack of motivation, lack of drive etc. etc. I didn’t – and still don’t – want to ask for help, but I know that in my current state I have/had to.
Yesterday was the day of the appointment. 7am and I’m at the doctors. That’s never going to be the start of a good day…
Anyway, I talked through some of the stuff with the GP – who’s extremely wet and wanky, but means well. Better than being completely useless I suppose. But you never really get the impression he could give much of a damn one way or t’other. I suppose that’s one of the risks of being a GP though.
And now I’ve got a prescription for Citalopram, an SSRI anti-depressant. I’m going to take them, and see how things go.
I’m not happy about being on these pills, but I’m at the point where I know that I need something to break the cycle/spiral I’ve got into. This is the first step in that process. Well technically it’s the third step, I suppose- the first one was acknowledging I’m in that cycle at all, and the second was doing something about it by going to the GP.
I don’t like the thought of being reliant on pills or medication – I’m crap at even taking painkillers unless I really need them.
Also I can’t help but wonder what I’ll be like on anti-depressants. I’ve been living with depression for such a long time now, I wonder what changes there’ll be if it’s not around. It’ll be interesting to find out, anyway.
Writing Plans
Posted: Mon 29 March, 2010 Filed under: 2009/10, Creativity, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Script Frenzy, The '10 Writing Project, Writing 4 Comments »One of my challenges for April is to take part in Script Frenzy – a challenge to churn out 100 pages of screenplay during the month.
I don’t yet know if I’ll manage to do it – there’s a lot of stuff coming up over the next month what with one thing and another – but I’m going to give it a go. I had my reservations back in November about the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) but this time round it’s something I feel a bit better about having a go at it.
I won’t make any promises or guarantees about this right now – I had intended to have some plans and idea in place before the start of April about what’s going to happen and where it’s going to start/run/go, but I haven’t. We’ll see.
Photo Project : Phase One
Posted: Sun 21 February, 2010 Filed under: Driving, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Norfolk, Photography, Travel Leave a comment »Part of my 2010 project is about getting back out with my camera – or at least trying to. And as part of that, I’m going to work on Amateur Photographer magazine’s “Amateur Photographer of the Year” competition.
The first round of it is due to be in next Friday, so I’m planning to take some time today to go out and see what I can do.
It’ll mean taking Hound out too, as I’m off to the coast – the project is about the interaction of water and land, and there are some fantastic environments for that kind of theme around here.
We’ll just have to see what comes out of the day. I hope it’s worth the time.
Actually, I’m sure it will be – even if it doesn’t come up with the results I want, there’ll be something from it.
[Update : Well, I was going to go, but then it’s chucked it down with snow. So currently re-debating the plan]
Snow vs Resolution
Posted: Sun 10 January, 2010 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Resolutions 1 Comment »One of my plans for 2010 is to keep on losing weight, and get myself back to the gym, see how things go.
I had planned to be going in some time over the last week, at least get started on the idea. However, the weather has kind of kicked that into touch, and will probably continue to do so this coming week.
It might sound like the weather’s an excuse – and I suppose if I were really determined, I could still go, but it’d be interesting, to say the least. The gym itself is on the outskirts of another local village, where the roads haven’t been gritted at all. But I’ve had one crunch on dodgy roads this winter, and I really don’t want to have another one – particularly while I’m still in the poxy hire car.
I will go back to the gym – but only when it’s safe to do so.
Catering for stupidity
Posted: Tue 24 November, 2009 Filed under: Business, Catering, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Media, People, Thoughts 3 Comments »Many moons ago, I used to run pubs and hotels – as I’ve mentioned once or twice before. It’s still something that I’d go back to, depending on the right circumstances and so on. In fact, it’s something we’re both talking about as an idea – although not just ‘any old’ pub/restaurant. Although I’ll leave that for now.
Anyway, as a result of that, I do find myself interested by programmes like (among others) BBC’s “The Restaurant“, where nine couples compete to win the chance to run a restaurant in partnership with Raymond Blanc. It’s kind of like “The Apprentice”, but for the restaurant business. My initial plan was to watch it as research, making sure I wouldn’t make any really stupid mistakes.
However, it also leads me to be exceptionally rude and sweary. Sadly, ‘The Restaurant’ has fallen into the same kind of Reality TV trap as The Apprentice, in that the people they’ve got on there aren’t really interested in running a business, but are more interested in being on TV- and that’s also evident in the selection process, where the competitors have quite obviously been selected for their road-crash style fuckups rather than their ideas or restaurant skills.
I’m not saying I’m surprised by this, by the way – more like vaguely despairing, but not at all surprised.
In the current series we’ve already had the couple who (on camera at least) couldn’t find a proper can opener, and thus tried opening a can (and a coconut) with a razor-sharp chef’s knife, using a rolling-pin as a hammer to knock the knife in. I had to look away at that point, because I couldn’t help but wonder whether we were about to see the first on-screen amputation.
We’ve also (somehow still) got a pair where the chef doesn’t cook – and in fact appears to be actively terrified of cooking. How – and indeed why?!? – do you select a pair for a restaurant/catering-based show when the person doing the cooking side of things is (frankly) an utter bell-end whose previous ‘cooking’ experience has been – um – making cocktails in a bar?
I just think it’s a shame – and a waste – of a good idea to have ended up with it being so obviously made-for-TV. I know, it’s a TV programme – but there could’ve been so many opportunities for having something that promoted innovative food, ideas and menus, and instead it’s just another sad Reality TV staple.
Reorganising and Rationalising
Posted: Fri 23 October, 2009 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Photography, Web Development, Writing Leave a comment »As part of the run-up to my birthday – and yet another of the “Five Year Plan” rundowns, as at that point I’ll be 3/5ths of the way through – I’ve been starting to think about some site organisations and rationalising a few bits of what I’m doing.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m anywhere even close to having sensible levels of life/work, but I’m trying to do something about some of it, at least. In some ways, weirdly, it means I’m going to have more to manage, but that’s OK too.
One of the projects I’d had on the cards this year was to merge my ‘creative’ sites together, so that the Photography and Writing stuff would all sit under one roof. I did it back in April/May time, and what it’s actually meant is that I’ve not added much to either site – which of course wasn’t the expected action at all. So I’m spending a bit of time separating the sites again, and going back to (almost) how they were a year ago. Retrograde steps or what?
In hindsight, while it was logical to think about putting the two ‘creative’ sides into one place, the two bits don’t actually go together all that well. Putting the two in one place led to more separation and confusion than the seperate sites did/will, and while in some aspects it’s now a wasted effort, at least I know for sure that the idea didn’t work, and (to some degree) why it didn’t. Sure, it’s annoying. But like the man said, “It’s better to regret something you have done than something you haven’t”.
There’s other bits of rationalisation and thought in the offing, but that’s the starting point. I’m sure I’ll write more of the other stuff over the next two weeks. For in two weeks time, I shall be 38. And that’s pretty scary in itself.
Writing Tasks
Posted: Sun 11 October, 2009 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), The '09 Writing Project, Writing Leave a comment »Now that I’ve got the new job sorted, I’m hoping to take the time to look at what I want to do.
I know there’s the five-year plan, and that’s still ongoing. There’s plans and ideas that still need to be put into action, and I’m working on those slowly but surely. I’ll get there – although that five-year plan might still end up as a six or seven year plan, with the other stuff that’s been going on.
At the same time the last few weeks has also made me think about other options, whether this web geekery stuff is really for me. I think in general it is, because I like doing a lot of the stuff still. But I’ve ended up working with a lot of bell-ends this year, and a number of people who really weren’t up to the standards they said they were. All of which leads to a fair dollop of disillusionment.
So while I’m doing this proper job, I’m going to aim to get a couple of writing projects started. Again, this is kind of revisitng something I said I’d do back at the start of the year, and that I haven’t got round to. The aim is still the same, to have something done by the end of the year.
I’ve still got the time to get some stuff written, and draft out a couple of ideas as well. I just need to be more organised about taking the time to do some writing, I think.
Night Photography
Posted: Sat 8 August, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Photography, Weather Leave a comment »For the last two and a half years, I’ve had a mental image of a photograph I wanted to try and get – basically, haybales lit by moonlight, so they’d be silver rather than gold. I know, strange but true.
Over the last two summers, events have conspired against that plan – there’s been no full moon when the bales are available, and conversely no bales when the full moon’s around. And on the occasions when there was a full moon + bales, the nights have been too cloudy to do anything with it.
Last night, I finally got the perfect circumstances – lovely full moon, clear skies (OK, a tiny bit of cloud, but nothing important) and bales in the fields. So off I went.
And it’s been reasonably successful. I’m pleased with the results in general, except for one thing. They’re horrifically noisy as well as everything else. Now some of that’s my fault – the wrong ISO setting, for one thing – so I’m going to go out again tonight and see whether I get anything better while using a super-low ISO – 200 at most, but preferably 100. It’ll also probably mean I need to take even longer exposures, although the ones I got last night of about 2.5-3 minutes seemed to work OK.
Even at that point I think I’m still going to need to do some editing in Photoshop and/or Capture ONE in order to get the results I’m actually thinking of , as it turns out that my mental image is probably rather more “romantic” than the reality. Still, it’s fun to try.
Additionally, it also meant I finally got to use my PClix 100 properly for the first time since I bought it three years ago. It’s a nice bit of kit, but ’til now I haven’t really had the project and/or ideas that necessitated its use. Long exposures though are one of the areas it specialises in. Without the PClix, I wouldn’t have had any real chance of getting a decent exposure at all.
NCFE Photography – The Result
Posted: Wed 1 July, 2009 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), NCFE Course, Photography, Resolutions Leave a comment »So, ten months after starting the course – three terms of ten weeks each, plus breaks for half-term and between terms – I’ve now passed my NCFE Level 2 Photography certificate.
I’ve written about the course on odd occasions over the last year, and it’s been a pretty good course all told. I wouldn’t say I’ve learned masses, but that wasn’t necessarily my goal for the course – it was more about getting more motivation for going out and taking photos, which was more what I needed – and in that way, it’s been pretty successful.
There’s a fair number of the final portfolio images in this set on my Flickr pages although I haven’t added all of them yet.
All told, I’m pleased to have successfully completed the course, and to have built up the portfolio project, and it’s another thing to add to the CV. All the people on the course have decided we’ll continue to meet up on a regular basis, and keep our motivation going in that way, creating in effect our own photography club, so we’ll see how that goes.
And for further further education? I don’t know yet – Norfolk’s Adult Education has apparently been hit hard by budget cuts, so there are nowhere near as many courses for 2009/10, and even more annoyingly it looks like the NCFE have also stopped doing the Level 3 certificate completely. So we’ll just have to see what I decide to do on that score.
For now, I’m going to enjoy a summer off, and take some time to think about what comes next.
NCFE Completion
Posted: Sat 13 June, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, NCFE Course, Photography, Thoughts Leave a comment »As regular readers know, over the last year (well, nine months or so) I’ve been doing an NCFE Level 2 course in Digital Photography + Photoshop. It’s been OK – I’ve learnt a few things, although nowhere near as much as I hoped to – but it has meant I’ve been getting out and taking more photos, which really was the prime reason for taking the course.
There’s a larger piece being written about me, motivation and other issues, so I won’t go into them too much here, but suffice to say that my motivation has been distinctly lacking over the last year or so, so I’ve been working along the way to do things that get me doing more. And the NCFE course was one of those things.
Anyway, it’s coming to a close, and the main thrust for this term has been the assemblage of a final portfolio, which needs to be done by the 23rd June. We’ve all known about needing to do this portfolio, and in truth I’m actually on the third iteration of it – the first two project ideas fell through due to a lack of available opportunities and/or time (in fact the idea for the first one still wouldn’t have been available for me to do ’til next week, which is cutting it just a little bit fine…) so I’ve ended up with one that I’m happy with, but that’s completely in my comfort-zone, which isn’t the ideal for this course. But there we go, them’s the breaks.
But it’s now completely done, with everything being printed and assembled by Photobox. In some ways it’s a relief to have it all done and out the way, but in others it’s more a case of “OK, so what’s next?”
Five Year Plan – Half Way!
Posted: Sun 5 April, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Photography, Writing 1 Comment »Back in November, I made a more basic list of what the plans would be for 2008/9 on the Five Year Plan.
I’m now halfway through – both the 2008/9 year, and the Plan itself. Which also means that in 2½ years time from today, I’ll be 40. Shite.
Anyway, here’s the list from November, along with progress comments.
- Sort out the mortgage renewal along with Herself (March/April)
- Write and Launch the main site ideas that are in my head at the moment, and see how they do
- Daily Word Challenge : launched
- Creativity Merger Site : done
- Two Three other primary sites : under development
- Promote one of the other sites I’ve done, which has a big dollop of potential – probably going to sack this one off
- Complete the NCFE Photography qualification/course – ongoing, 2/3s of the way through now
- Redesign my photography site – considering a significant change of theme on this one
- Promote the photography and site more – working on it
- Write at least one more big piece to get it out of my head at last – getting there
- Possibly redesign D4D™ a bit – I know, I’ve been talking about it now for years
Oh yeah, and… - Lose some weight, as my plans for doing so in 2008 have emphatically failed – primarily due to zero motivation to do so, but also due to life over-riding gym etc. Ahem, yes, well, absolutely bugger-all done on this one.
Far Too Organised
Posted: Fri 27 March, 2009 Filed under: Creativity, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, WHC2010, Writing Leave a comment »This time next year, the World Horror Convention will be in Europe for the first time – and it’ll be being held in Brighton.
At the moment, the cost for a ticket (or Attending Membership, if you prefer) is a mighty £60. Yes, £60.
Needless to say, I’m going to be going. I don’t know who’ll be attending yet (for obvious reasons) although some names have already been confirmed, but regardless I think it’ll be a fun trip.
Rationalisation
Posted: Thu 5 March, 2009 Filed under: Creativity, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Photography, The '09 Writing Project, Writing Leave a comment »Over the last few months, I’ve decided that in some ways I’ve been spreading myself too thin – and particularly with regard to the more creative side of my life, the photography, the writing, and so on. Up ’til now I’ve had separate sites for all the bits – plus D4D™, of course.
Equally, while the photography site is currently connected (by name) to the business site, I’m not overly happy with that, or the name that came about because of the connection. To my mind it just doesn’t fit, doesn’t connect properly.
So now I’m working on bringing it all into one site, and rationalising it all a bit.
D4D™ will stay here and separate, for a number of reasons I’ve written about many times before. The company site will stay separate, because it doesn’t fit in with the “branding” of the new concept.
However, all the creative bits – primarily the writing and the photography stuff – will move to the new site.
I’m still not going to overly publicise the connection between the new site and D4D™ – I prefer to keep them as separate as possible, and don’t plan to change that separation anytime soon.
The new ‘brand’ for the creative bits also fits in with my avowed intention to get my finger out and get on with doing the stuff. I’ll no doubt write more about the plans as they come closer to happening.
Time Padding
Posted: Thu 26 February, 2009 Filed under: Creativity, Depression, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Introspective, Thoughts 2 Comments »Over the last two (nearly 2½) years, I’ve been banging on about my five-year plan, and the work that’s been going into it. The project is still going on, but I think I may need to add a year to it. That’s annoying to me – it means that I get it done by the time I turn 41 instead of 40 (and fuck me, does that really mean I’m going to be 40 in 2½ years? Shit) and thus lose some of the nice roundedness of the idea. It also means that I don’t live up to the ‘five-year’ part of the title.
The thing is, since the inception of the plan, there’ve been things going on that have delayed some of the work I planned on doing. The house purchase – and the ongoing work on the house – has had a significant effect on some of the plans, as we’ve been doing one hell of a lot that wasn’t really in the initial plan as such. Yes, they’re in the original set of planned tasks – but I wasn’t realistic about how long they’d take, or how much work would be involved.
So that’s one thing that’s kind of superceded other plans.
But the other one has been far sneakier, and far harder to get to grips with. It’s one I’m familiar with (and it’s mentioned in the categories up there) but that I don’t always see without some hindsight. Yes, I’m referring (of course) to Ye Olde Depression. Again.
I still don’t know if I’ve actually been fully depressed – but I do know that for the last eighteen months or so my motivation has been pretty much non-existent. The ideas have still been there, and some things have sparked some desire to work on them, but the real motivation to work just hasn’t. I’ve let things drift, or not started them at all. OK, the bits for this year are coming on, and there’s a couple that can be checked off, I still feel like I’m lagging behind.
I’m working on it – things this year have started off OK, and the motivation appears to be on its way back – but right now I’m not sure whether to add a year to the target, or leave it as it stands for now, and just see how I do.
I suspect that for now it might be the latter plan – I’d rather do the five years and see where I am at that point, to be honest – but it’s something that’s worth thinking about as time goes on. I’ll most likely review it come November, when there’s only two years left on the list.
But of course any ideas or suggestions are welcome in the meantime…
Goals
Posted: Tue 17 February, 2009 Filed under: D4D™, Depression, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Own Business, The '09 Writing Project, Thoughts, Writing Leave a comment »Yesterday, in a comment on the post about colour-schemes for D4D™, Gordon wrote :
Step back a minute.
Why do you have this blog? What do YOU want from it?
Which seemed like a pretty good starting point for a post, to be honest.
1. Why do you have this blog?
There’s a number of reasons, but the main one will always come out as “Because I wanted to see if I could“. Over the years, I’ve had many many projects that I’ve started up, got about 75-80% of the way through, or even all the way to launch, and then got bored and not completed them. (or not continued putting energy into them) There was always something new to try, something else to work on.
D4D™ was a way to combat that. It was an ongoing project, sure – but it’s been one I’ve kept on with now for six-and-a-bit years. Maybe it’ll fade out at some point – the odds are that it will – but it’s kept going, kept me going, and I haven’t just faded off with it. Sure, it’s nowhere even close to what I envisioned when I started – them’s the breaks – but it’s kept on happening.
Also, it was a way to get me back into regular writing. Not necessarily about anything – even a quick trawl through the archives will easily show there’s no consistent theme to any of this rubbish – but to be posting at least one piece per day, every day. Years back I’d written two book-length stories as well as an absolute shed-load of shorter/smaller stuff (some of which is utterly cringeworthy now, but some of it still works to one degree or other) but they were fuelled by depression and a need for catharsis on certain experiences. Between then – about 1995 or so – and 2002 when D4D™ came on the scene, I hadn’t written a damn thing. Since then, some 750,000 words – and it must be coming up to the 800,000 mark by now – have gone through D4D™.
Of course, at some point I want to be doing more “proper” writing, as I’ve mentioned before. So at that point, D4D™ will either mutate once more, or get put on hold. Or some weird bastard-child intersection of those two things. Or something else entirely.
2. What do YOU want from it?
Now that one’s a bit harder. I don’t really know what I want from D4D™ – other than to be a braindump space, where I can splurge out some of the things and thoughts that keep on happening. It’s a healthy venting spot for my more cynical moments, but it’s bugger-all use for the more creative stuff I want to be working on.
I suppose I could add a different section to D4D™ now that a lot of the other stuff has gone The Way Of The Bin, which deals with the bigger stuff, or even get back to doing a “Page” for a longer piece every so often. (That’s what I would do with the old rants etc. anyway, should they ever make a comeback) Or I could just have a different site for that writing stuff. I don’t know yet.
So I suppose what I want from D4D™ is to maintain a status quo, to allow me to keep on writing – with no aim of becoming BWABD (Blog With A Book Deal) or anything other than just that general dumping ground for whatever’s going on in my brain at the moment. Or at least whatever’s going on in my brain that is a) not related to other sites/writing and b) not related to the multitudinous other business ideas etc that are forever battering round the brain cells.
In fact, I think that’s what the aim will be for now – to let the site keep on going, to keep it doing the same kind of things it has for the last six years.
Of course, that means that I’ve got an open hand when it comes to colour schemes etc. – but for now that’s going to stay the same too, and the yellow will remain as a reminder of the reasons why D4D™ came into being at all…
To Upgrade, or Not
Posted: Wed 11 February, 2009 Filed under: D4D™, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Geeky, Redesign, Thoughts 4 Comments »One of the current questions I keep coming back to with D4D™ is whether I should bother upgrading my WordPress install to get me back up to date.
As it is, D4D™ still runs on WP 2.1 , and the current version is 2.7 . It’s so behind the times that I know I should go through the pain of a multi-version upgrade, but I honestly don’t know if I can actually be bothered.
I’m very aware that when I moved over to WP, it was a pain – although I wouldn’t go back now, believe me – and I know that the D4D™ template has been corrupted by me to within an inch of its life.
Of course, I could do the upgrade, and put D4D™ into a WP template for a while. That’d be quite a shock to the system, wouldn’t it? If I were to go that route, I’d also be putting into place at least the basics of a re-plan of how things go on D4D™ including taking out a lot of the old sections that really aren’t looked at any more, and just a bit of a tidy up.
Oh, and a move to a new/different host. After all, why make things simple and do just one thing at a time? That’s no bloody fun at all…
Writing Plans
Posted: Wed 28 January, 2009 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Resolutions, Travel, Writing 1 Comment »As I’ve written before, one of my plans for this year is to get some more writing done. I’m working on it, and there’s still a lot of the year to go, so we’ll see how things work out.
However, I’ve also been thinking about getting some impetus towards year-end, where I can both learn a bit more about my preferred writing areas, and (hopefully) get some feedback on ideas that I’ll have written – or at the bare minimum, have outlined and started – by that time.
In that light, and because I’ve known about them for years, I’ve signed up for a course through the Arvon Foundation, which I’m already really looking forward to.
It’s a cost of nearly £600 for the week, but that includes all food, board etc., but I think it’ll be an interesting departure, and something cool to do. Who knows, if it works out well, I might even go on more of them in 2010…
Ambition…
Posted: Sun 16 November, 2008 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Own Business, Writing Leave a comment »Yesterday I saw a news release that just made me go “Ooooh. Me Wanty.”
Red have released information about a whole new digital movie/still camera system that they’ve created and frankly, Wow.
Maybe one day.
Five Year Plan : 40% Done
Posted: Wed 5 November, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Own Business, Thoughts, Writing Leave a comment »- Photography
Take more photosPut the good ones in the portfolio site- Work on a couple of projects/themes
Started the work on a couple of projects, and seeing how they go - Possibly do a redesign of the portfolio site to fit in more with ‘brand ‘image’
Couldn’t be chuffed with this one in the end, although I’m still thinking about it - Submit portfolio site and photos to various interested parties
- Possibly make more use of Flickr, although that one’s a bit of a “don’t know”
And really haven’t done this either, as I’ve been using the portfolio site instead - Pull more attention to the portfolio site
Again, working on it
- Business
Redesign/redevelop business website with a CMS etc.Look at sorting out a proper business bank accountKeep generating new work
As always, an ongoing process – but working fairly well so far, allbeit not having generated as much as I should have doneContinue with current work and clients
Again, an ongoing processGet new contract – the one with the current place will definitely expire in ’08, due to tax/IR35 reasons
I haven’t had any long-term contracts, but plenty of shorter-term ones, and now the new permanent role…Work on developing new sites and business ideas- Minimise outgoings, increase incoming money
Nice idea, but not all that successful due to rising costs (particularly of petrol)
- Writing
Realistically? Get one solid idea written and done, if only for the head-space
Admittedly, ‘only’ a short screenplay for a film of about 10-15 minutes, but still, completed and done, except for small ongoing edits- Optimistically? Get two solid ideas written and done.
Working on the second one (and a third, to be honest), but not completed
- House stuff
- House alterations
Bathroom- Kitchen extension/upgrade
Postponed for foreseeable future - Extra Item :
Cavity Wall Insulation - Extra Item : Loft Insulation
Postponed ’til ’09, due to a nightmare of work involved
- Garden alterations/work
Veg patch- Front garden/driveway
Semi-complete - Main lawn etc.
Semi-complete - Borders, beds, blah blah
- House alterations
One Month To Go
Posted: Sun 5 October, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Resolutions, Thoughts Leave a comment »In one month’s time, my birthday will be here again, and this year (, Matthew,) I’m going to be 37. That means I need to write out the next progress document for that Five Year Plan, and how things are going.
Looking back over that category, and the plans for the last year (and I admit, I haven’t checked over that list on enough occasions) I look to have actually done OK.
I’ll have the full progress document ready for 5th November though.
Photography Course – Week One
Posted: Wed 24 September, 2008 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Photography, Thoughts Leave a comment »So, the photography course was actually OK last night. Happily, the first ten weeks will be based around the technical side of things, so that’s me satisfied – and the course covers things like focus, depth of field, apertures and the like.
Following on from that, we’ll be doing more about photography, and then digital manipulation (or non-manipulation) of the images, and that’s cool too.
Of course, it would have helped if Norfolk Adult Education had actually sent out the workbooks that were meant to be being used for the entire course, but the course tutor will be chasing that up today, so hopefully by next week’s session, we’ll all have the books.
The other bit of weirdness is that the course was advertised online as being for only four people. However, there are actually ten people doing it. Admittedly, I’d thought that four was going to make for quite a small and intense class, but I didn’t have a problem with that.
All told, it looks like it should be interesting though. I’ll know more once the workbook comes through, of course, but yes, for the moment it looks promising.
Photography Course
Posted: Tue 23 September, 2008 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Photography, Thoughts Leave a comment »Tonight’s the first night of the photography course I signed up for a while back. Quite honestly, I’ve no idea what to expect – I know what I’m kind of hoping for, but whether that’s what will actually happen or not, I don’t know.
What I’m hoping for is to get a better grounding in the basic terminology and techniques of photography – things like Depth of Field, Apertures, and the like. I use these techniques when I’m taking photos, and I suppose I’ve got a rudimentary understanding of apertures and f numbers – but I don’t understand how f-numbers work or why they are always f4.2 or whatever, rather than just f4 .
I’m also hoping to have to do at least one project or portfolio, to build up my motivation again on that score. I know that I haven’t taken anywhere near “enough” photos this year, it’s just somehow ended up being at the bottom of my list, supplanted by work, business, writing, D4D™ and many others.
So that’s what I’m hoping for. What the course will actually be like, I don’t yet know. I’ll start finding out at about 7.30 tonight. And I’ll write more about it once I know more.
Script One Completed
Posted: Tue 2 September, 2008 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Resolutions, Writing Leave a comment »Happy, happy day. I’ve now completed the first full draft of the script I’m working on with Tom – definitely a cause for celebration.
If I’m honest, it’s the first piece of writing I’ve actually completed in far too long – but it most certainly won’t be the last.
In fact, there’s already two or three other ideas waiting in the wings, and getting ready to be added to the CeltX project centre.
Of course, I’m sure there’ll be some alterations come back from Tom, but for now well I’m just happy that the first phase of it is completed. It’s taken longer than expected by about a week, and it’s meant that the project isn’t likely to be done and ready in time, which is a bummer – although we’ll still be making it, and if it’s not ready for this one then we’ll have it ready and polished for next time.
Over to you, Dragon…
50D
Posted: Mon 1 September, 2008 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Photography, Thoughts Leave a comment »Oh Canon, you evil evil bastards.
Since I bought the EOS20D, I’ve been really good and not even been tempted by the 30D and 40D. The upgrades they offered weren’t enough to make me think about it at all, really.
But now, they’ve launched the 50D, with double the pixels of the 20D, along with a new faster processor, bigger/better LCD screen with Live View, and a bundle of other features.
And oh Lord, am I tempted. Particularly when it can also count as a business expense…
Scripting
Posted: Thu 28 August, 2008 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Resolutions, Thoughts, Writing Leave a comment »A couple of weeks ago, Dragon wrote about a challenge to get a short film written, filmed and edited in 30 days – which sounded interesting.
So I submitted a brief idea to him – one that wasn’t written, and actually wasn’t anywhere except in my head. Even the brief was only written down for the first time in the first email to him. Admittedly, the initial plan was to have a completed script that just needed something doing to it – which would certainly have been possible in that thirty day limit.
As it is, the script has been being written by me at any spare moment, and is now just about complete. I’m sure that we’re not going to make the submission deadline of the 15th Sept – and I know that a fair dollop of the responsibility for that falls on my shoulders, as even with the writing deadline (and perhaps even because of it) my mind blocked up solidly for the best part of a week on how the entire thing should progress.
It’s been an interesting challenge already though – and we’ve already decided that the short film will be made from it as well, it’s just that it won’t get in to this year’s submissions. It’ll be getting submitted for next year though, you can be sure. (Well, so long as it actually works as a story, anyway)
It’s also the first time I’ve actually written a screenplay/script – so that’s been a learning curve in and of itself. But it’s certainly got the old creative juices flowing – there’s already the thoughts and plans for at least three other pieces to be done once this one is finally completed and out the door. (Well, out of the email box, to be pedantic)
Once again, the biggest bit of the challenge has been to get myself motivated to do the writing – and on that score, Dragon’s challenge has been a complete winner.
Just have to see how long it continues now, I guess…
Photography Course
Posted: Wed 27 August, 2008 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Photography 3 Comments »In the last week, I’ve signed up for a Digital Photography course based in Attleborough. It’s a year-long course, and will lead to NCFE Level 1 and 2 qualifications in Digital Photography.
I’m actually aiming for the Level 2 more than the Level 1, as I’m pretty certain I don’t count as a “beginner” in photography at all. What I’m hoping is that the course will also include some grounding in some of the basic photography stuff that I still don’t fully ‘get’ – apertures, f numbers, and calculating the appropriate shutter speed for a particular aperture/Depth of Field.
Additionally, I’m hoping that just having the extra impetus of this course will add some motivation for getting out more and taking more photos. It’s something I’ve been struggling with all year, the entire thing of keeping on going out and taking photos, so I hope that having something to work on will help on that score.
The course starts on 23rd September, so I’ll know more at that point. Should be interesting, anyway.
Gym Visit
Posted: Wed 20 August, 2008 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Thoughts 1 Comment »Among other things, this evening I’m having a quick visit at a new gym that’s opening up near us.
Currently I’ve no idea what it’ll be like, and I’m slightly concerned that the manager has said “There’s about ten different pricing plans”, but we’ll just have to see.
I know I need to get back into going to a gym, so it’ll be interesting to see what this one’s got to offer. Otherwise, we’ll be going back to using the local council-funded one who couldn’t find their own arses with both hands and a flashlight when we went there late last year. (And we’ve never darkened the doors since that piss-poor experience)
Business Banking
Posted: Mon 21 April, 2008 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business Leave a comment »So this morning I’m sorting out a bank account for the business. It’s taken some time to organise (and the worry is that the bank haven’t actually sent me the meeting confirmation, I’ve just realised) so I just hope that it all works out well in the end.
Following on from this, and getting everything set up at this point, I then need to sort out business insurance as well, but that’s the joys of business.
And at least I’ve also got my tax return done now for the 2007/8 Tax Year. So things are all shaping up as we go along. I’ll probably write more once the bank meeting is over and done with.
Five Year Plan: 20% done
Part One – What/How I’ve done
Posted: Sun 4 November, 2007 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, House Purchase, House Work, Photography Leave a comment »
So, I’m now one year through that five year plan. Which means that – fucking hell! – I must now be thirty-six. The last six months haven’t been quite so productive as the first six, but that’s because there also turned out to be a lot of other stuff occurring that wasn’t on the initial set of plans. You know, things like “buy house”, “work on house”, “work on garden”, that kind of thing. It’s meant that in some ways I hit a bit of a pause, but in others I’ve been productive as hell.
Of course, the first year was always going to be about groundwork, getting a load of the basics out of the way so that the next two or three years can make more progress. Well, that’s the concept. Whether it’ll work out like that or not, I don’t know.
Anyway, here’s the list that I wrote up for last November 5th, so let’s see how it’s all gone – the comments are in italics, in case you hadn’t guessed…
- Photography
Get a Macro Lens- Get a Wide-Angle Lens
still deciding whether I really need one. Maybe soon. Finish the Portfolio website
Completed, and with extra uploads on a fairly regular basis- Sell/Publish some stuff
Working on it, submitting it, and had one used in the Killarney page of an on-line guide to Ireland, although not for any money. - Join a local club
Still haven’t really found one. There’s a local club, but *shrug* I dunno. Get a decent flash
Done, a Speedlite 580EX- Start aiming to get work and projects
Started, and ongoing. I’ve sent out some initial letters to a couple of places regarding projects, and I’ll be sending out more over the next month or so.
- Writing
- Finish at least one piece of writing
still working on it, although not all that quickly - When a piece is finished submit it to the right people
Reliant on #1 being completed - Just see how things go
- Write more on d4d™? Maybe.
- Finish at least one piece of writing
- Work / Websites
- Build and work on the other ideas I’ve got in my head
working on it, and getting some of them sorted - Work (as always) on smaller sites, and do as many as possible
so far, three new sites launched, as well as the photography portfolio Sort out permanent job for the first part of ’07 while we’re house-buying etc.
All done, and no need to get that nasty ‘proper’ job after all- Redesign d4d™? It’s about time…
Merge lots of hosting accounts into one reseller account, and onto one server
done- Start getting better at invoicing for work done
in progress, and all being done a lot more efficiently - Develop some ideas in partnership with others, and see how they do
In progress – I’ve formed a couple of small collaborations, and they seem (so far) to be working well
- Build and work on the other ideas I’ve got in my head
- Education
Sign up with Open University
initially for a refresher course, and work from there- Look at an official course/qualification in Photography?
Yeah, OK, ‘Education’ is going to be the category that falls off the radar for ’07/’08, I’m afraid – mainly due to motivation issues, but also down to the fact I’m permanently busy doing other stuff. As such, any progress on this one is going to be a way off in the future
- Other
Restart the Archery once we’ve moved
Made all the enquiries, booked to go and do it, but not yet got round to attending. I suck.Move to NorfolkSort out work in NorfolkBuy houseStart work on house, garden- I must say here, Herself has been the prime organiser of most (if not all) of the stuff below. We’ve got a long way so far, and there’s still a long way to go, but most of it is down to Herself’s organisation rather than mine
Wood BurnerWood PileMaking house initially liveable-inInitial sort out of garden, lawn, veg patchDealing with various electrical issues etc.
Get Planning Permission for house alterationsGet Building Regs for hourse alterations
all doneBuy a car
Bought, insured, taxed, driven it for about 10,000 miles already
Moving posts
Posted: Sun 14 October, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Photography Leave a comment »I’m in the process of changing some things on D4D™ Primarily, I’m going to be taking the “photography” posts out of here, and moving them over to my portfolio site. For the moment at least, I’m not going to be ‘photoblogging’, but I am going to be doing a blog (although probably not a daily-updating one) on the site.
In general, I think it’ll make sense to move the posts for that over to the portfolio site, and maintain some separation between D4D™ and my other stuff. If nothing else, it’ll add some more content to the portfolio site, which makes sense and may (over time drag more people there.
I may also move some of the shots stuff there, which is part of the greater “D4D™ redesign/rethink” idea that I’ve been chuntering about for a while. It would make sense to move things about, as there’re whole sections that I don’t update at all, and perhaps would if they were easier to do – despite the fact that that’s a pathetic reason, considering I’m a techie, and could do it all easily anyway. But all the same, moving it all into something more sensible makes sense.
So anyway, yes, some (if not all) of the photography stuff will be heading over to the portfolio site over the next week or so, and then photography-based stuff is more likely to sit there than here.
Making The Leap
Posted: Tue 17 July, 2007 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Photography 1 Comment »Over the weekend we went to see a local framing store – yes, we’re going to put more of my photos on the walls of the new place – and while we were there, we started talking about whether he might be interested in stocking some of the photos I’ve done, in order to sell them to shop customers.
I’ve no idea whether we’ll make any progress – I guess that the odds of making a sale on one’s first attempt are fairly low, if I’m being realistic – or whether he’ll decide to give it a go or not. That’s something where only time will tell, really.
But for me the important thing is that I’ve now made that leap, and from here it really only gets easier. It’s something I’ve been talking about trying for a while (for which read “flummin’ ages”) but now I’ve actually started looking at whether I can sell some of my stuff.
There’s a long way to go yet, I know – but at least the first steps are now being taken. I’ve no idea whether I’ll be successful or not – I’d like to think it will, but reality tends to kick in at that point with a good healthy “Yeah, Right”. I’m going to try, though.
And like the man said, “Life’s too short to be filled with ‘I wish I’d….'”.
Home Page
Posted: Fri 20 April, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised 2 Comments »This week, Chris asked:
“When are you going to update the home page ?? 2005 is 2 years ago now..”
And it’s a valid point. I haven’t updated quite a number of pages since I moved over to WordPress properly, and while I’ve thought about it before, I may just have to do a little bit of a revamp and/or editing of D4D™ over the next couple of months.
Mind you, I think that the ‘random’ page is really the main landing page for D4D™ now, so maybe I should just move stuff around a bit (or just do some redirections behind the scenes) so that it becomes the ‘front’ page for the site.
It’s all definitely something to think about. And, of course, to ask you lot what you think I should do…
Photography Workflow
Posted: Mon 9 April, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Photography 1 Comment »Just under a month ago, I wrote about planning to change the way I use my camera a bit by starting to use the RAW file format as well as normal JPG.
Along the way, I got very lucky. I’d decided to use Phase One’s Capture One LE software to process the RAW files – I’d heard good things about it, and for starting to learn about RAW processing, it seemed like a good deal for a fairly decent price at about €99 + VAT. At the same time, because of the extra memory requirements (in the camera) for processing RAW and JPG, I ordered a couple of SanDisk 2Gb Extreme III CompactFlash memory cards (I could’ve got one 4Gb card, but it was actually more expensive than two 2Gb cards) and they came with a promotion for CaptureOne LE to get it for free. So I spent £20 to get a licensed copy of Capture One LE instead of €99. Bonus.
So anyway, I got started using RAW captures as well, and the first real time of using them was at my parent’s 40th Anniversary, and it was a life-saver. The room they had the reception in, while lovely, was a lighting nightmare – lots of windows with daylight blazing in, and thus a large amount of really harsh light coming in.
Looking at the JPG results, the photos are OK, but there’s a lot of glare, dodgy contrasts and so on. The results would’ve been OK, but nothing really worth printing or using.
By contrast, the RAW files can be adjusted on the computer, and I can change the exposure, contrast, colour balance (not overly necessary in this case, but still) as well as doing all the cropping, sharpening etc. that might prove necessary. And it’s meant that I’ve been able to send my parents some photos from the event that they’re really pleased with, and want more copies of to send around.
If it had been an event I were getting paid for, RAW and Capture One would have been the difference between an impressed and happy customer and one who wondered if they could’ve gone elsewhere and got better results.
Five Year Plan : 10% done
Posted: Thu 5 April, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Introspective, Own Business, Photography, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »So, back on November 5th I turned 35, and started what I semi-laughingly refer to as a five-year plan. I’m only working on it year-to-year, and doing it mainly through non-new-year ‘resolutions’ – although they might as well be a to-do list, really. In my head I hold what is pretty much the full development curve of what to do and when, but really I’m working on it on that year-at-a-time basis. It makes for something vaguely resembling a sane approach to the entire thing.
The final goal? Making enough money that I can make my own choices, and do my own things, rather than being tied to a job for the next thirty years. (Twenty-five, by the end of the project). There’s some other stuff in there as well, but that’s the bottom line. One of the things about me is that I have loads of ideas that could, should, or might make money, but for various reasons over the years I’ve failed to follow them through and see how they did in reality instead of theory. Since last November 5th, I’ve been working on making them into reality, and seeing how I do. With most of them, the initial costs are pretty low (and intentionally so) so that if any of the ideas do take off, it won’t take a lot to knock them into profitability.
We’re now six months in, so I thought I’d jot out a little progress statement, just to see where things are going…
- Photography
Get a Macro Lens- Get a Wide-Angle Lens
Finish the Portfolio website– completed, and with extra uploads when necessary- Sell/Publish some stuff – working on it
- Join a local club
Get a decent flash– Done, a Speedlite 580EX- New : Start aiming to get work and projects – Started, and ongoing
- Writing
- Finish at least one piece of writing – working on it
- When a piece is finished submit it to the right people
- Just see how things go
- Write more on d4d™? Maybe.
- Work / Websites
- Build and work on the other ideas I’ve got in my head – working on it, and getting some of them sorted
- Work (as always) on smaller sites, and do as many as possible – so far, three new sites launched, as well as the photography portfolio
Sort out permanent job for the first part of ’07 while we’re house-buying etc.– All done, and no need to get that nasty ‘proper’ job after all- Redesign d4d™? It’s about time…
Merge lots of hosting accounts into one reseller account, and onto one server– done- New : Start getting better at invoicing for work done – in progress, and all being done a lot more efficiently
- New : Develop some ideas in partnership with others, and see how they do
- Education
Sign up with Open University– initially for a refresher course, and work from there- Look at an official course/qualification in Photography?
- Other
Restart the Archery once we’ve moved– booked, but not attended yetComplete the move to Norfolk– all done- New :
Buy a car– git it insured, all that.
So actually, the first six months has been very productive. All the foundations have been laid now, the website hosting agreements rationalised and merged where it’s necessary or beneficial to do so. In fact, just doing that and merging most of them into one reseller account has saved me £150 over the year, which is pretty impressive. In addition to that, the invoices I sent out at the end of last year amounted to a few hundred quid, which was also surprising – they were all for small amounts, so I hadn’t really thought about the way it all added up. Actually, though, D4D™ is going to be moving off that reseller server, though – it needs a space of its own, and it’s just taking up too much of the space and bandwidth available on the reseller server, so it’s going to go back to being a seperate entity. And that actually makes some sense, keeping D4D™ seperate from business sites etc.
In addition, I’ve been able to average at getting one solid site out per month, as well as a couple of smaller basic designs and/or amendments to existing stuff. There’s a whole lot of new stuff and new connections coming through at the moment, and that’s all going to start coming together over the next six month period, I think. That’s the plan, anyway. There’s some initial steps that need to be taken in order to make sure that everything has the potential and stability to get through (sorry, I’m sounding enigmatic, and while that’s not really the intention, at the moment it’s certainly the necessity.)
Photographically, now that the portfolio site is completed, and being regularly updated, I can start getting in touch with publishers, agencies and the like. I’m also considering doing image-library stuff, but it’s about making sure the photos get the best use made of them. I’ve also got a few projects in mind that have a lot of potential commercially as well – although the main thing about them is that they’re things that interest me – otherwise, if I’m honest, there’d be no chance of me going through with them. And of course there’s going to be lots of pictures of Hound over the summer…
Oh, and let’s not forget, within that six months we’ve also moved to Norfolk, bought a house, gone through all the bureaucratic nightmares of that little endeavour, and come through it intact. Over the next 10%, we’ll be moving in, and sorting the new place out too.
It’s been a good start. There’s still a long way to go – 4½years, to be exact, but the initial steps have been promising. Long-term I’ve no idea whether my goals and plans are realistic or not – but this way well, there’s no way I’ll be able to say “I wish I’d tried xxx” – because I’m trying it all. As time progresses, I’ll get ruthless, and if the ideas aren’t working out, they’ll be culled. Darwinian business – the good ones survive, the bad ones fall by the wayside.
Work/Life Balance
Posted: Sat 31 March, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, House Purchase, Introspective, Photography, Thoughts 1 Comment »One of the things that’s always being blethered about in TV programmes like “Relocation,Relocation” and the like is ‘Work/Life Balance’. It’s not a phrase I usually like, as it’s one of those things that’s usually indicative of someone who’ll spout every buzzword known to man at any given opportunity – but then at the same time it’s something I find myself thinking about more and more.
In fact, that was the exact motive behind the move to Norfolk. It’s also something I need to think about a lot more for the future, and how I want to plan things.
Of course, the real ‘balance’ side of things still isn’t going to happen this year – and possibly/probably not until even this time next year. There’s a lot that’ll need doing to the new house once we (finally) complete that process and move in. The garden needs a lot of work too, although I think Herself is going to do the majority of that – her fingers are far greener than mine. But there’s still going to be a fair amount of heavy labour involved. So over all, yes, I think it’ll most likely be April ’08 before we really start enjoying the place, rather than just working on it.
Work-wise, Norfolk really isn’t a great place for a web techie – well, not in the context of normal business stuff, anyway- unless, of course, you want to work in the IT department of Norwich Union. Which I really, really, really don’t want to do. It might mean that I end up working away from home during the week again, although there’s still some decisions to be made on that score too. But at the same time, and pretty much on the same timescale as the house stuff (i.e. over the next 12 months) I’m also aiming to get my own business up and moving, doing a number of smaller local sites, as well as that plan for launching my own sites, and seeing what works and what doesn’t with them.
At the same time, I’m also going to be working fairly hard on building up the photography portfolio as well. While Norfolk and its surrounds aren’t great for a web techie, they’re bloody marvellous for a photographer, and I wholly intend to take advantage of that over the coming months. Some of the ideas I’ve got on that score will have to wait now ’til Autumn comes around, but at the same time they may be all the better for it. Others really start coming into their own now, and would work less well come Autumn, so it all works out, one way or another.
In the end, I currently think that it’s going to be this time next year before things really settle down. There’s a lot to be done in that time, and it’s going to be a lot of work to get it all sorted.
But – and this is the thing – already we’re far, far happier, and more relaxed, than we were in Bracknell. Yes, the pace of some things (fucking house purchase) takes some getting used to, and in that kind of thing I’m still probably far too driven and impatient with buffoons, but well, that’s life.
Hound is definitely far happier out here – if for no other reason than that she gets to go to the beach fairly regularly, or on big long walks through Thetford Forest, or Knettishall Heath. But she’s more relaxed about other things as well – fireworks, jet planes, loud noises and so on. Of course, Hound being Hound, she finds other things to be stressed about instead – like the phone ringing – but we’re working on those. And once we’ve finally moved, we’ll have fields all around us, she’ll be able to go for decent walks on a more regular basis (for example, the morning one will be across fields, instead of the current use of the local recreation ground – if there’s one thing that Attleborough is bizarrely shit for, it’s places to walk dogs. On that score, Bracknell was far more useful)
It’s not just Hound, either. We’re (probably) more relaxed, allbeit in different ways. My commute takes a lot longer than it did from Bracknell to Wokingham (although nowhere near the shitebag day that involved working in London from Bracknell) but I get t sit on a train and usually see deer, hares, rabbits, and the occasional fox. (Of the four-legged russet-coloured variety, pervs) Or alternatively, F15s, Chinooks, or Blackhawk helicopters. (What can I say, I’m a geek) The train isn’t jam-packed with Blackberry-wielding tosspots, nor is it standing-room only. A good 95% of the time, I get to sit at a table, and either do some extra website work, or bash out rubbish like this. Or read. Whatever.
Herself has a job that is – in general – OK, and she seems happy with how everything’s working out. Or at least she will be once the fucking house purchase has completed. (Can you guess yet what our current main stressor has been? Thought not. I’ve avoided mentioning it so well.)
Yes, life at the moment is actually pretty good, and it’s beginning – just beginning, mind you – to feel like that elusive balance may not be so far out of reach after all.
Late Amendments
Posted: Wed 14 March, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Photography 2 Comments »Gah, there are times when I’m such a twonk, it’s unreal.
I’ve just redone some things on my photography portfolio site, having decided (once I’d uploaded a whole bundle of photos at one size) to change the image sizes so that the site looks better. And now, having re-uploaded all the photos that were there before, and some extra ones as well, something else has just occurred to me.
Fortunately, this one isn’t likely to involve me having to redo all the uploads, and I can change things around primarily using PHP.
But it’s still one of those blinding moments of “Ah! That’s an idea! Why didn’t I think of it earlier?” that can be awesomely annoying, even when they are a good idea, even if it’s one I should’ve had like two months ago.
Portfolio
Posted: Mon 5 February, 2007 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Photography 2 Comments »About four or five months ago now, I bought up the domain I wanted for use as a portfolio for my photography. I did some basic development of it, then got distracted by other things.
And so it remained.
However, over the weekend just gone, I’ve finally got working on it again – and even better, it’s now got some photos on it! There’s still a way to go, and I need to re-do some of the styling and programming (well, that’s what the train journey to and from work is for, after all) but it’s one hell of a way further on the way to being a decent portfolio site than it was, say, three days ago.
Of course, once I’ve got everything sorted, I’ll add in a link here (and in the meantime there’s always a small selection on my ImageKind page) and hopefully be able to do some promotion and so on in that way too.
Upgrading
Posted: Fri 2 February, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Geeky, Getting Organised 4 Comments »So, the time has finally come.
Over this weekend, I’m going to be upgrading to WordPress 2.1 on D4D™. Yes, I’m nervous about it. Although I’m not going to go the whole hog and re-rationalise everything at the same time, as mooted a while back when I considered removing the older sections of the site ( to a deafening silence and dearth of comments!) but that may well happen over the next couple of months too.
If I’ve been really organised, I’ll have used a trial site in order to check things out and see what it all looks like, getting the templates in order, making sure I don’t end up with a fucked-up abortion of a site for two days.
If I haven’t been organised, then it’s going to look like a dog’s dinner here for a while as I go through and fix the problems as/when they occur.
Should be interesting, if nothing else.
Self-Promotion
Posted: Thu 25 January, 2007 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business Leave a comment »Over the last week or so, I’ve started working harder at doing a bit of self-promotion. This hasn’t been the easiest of things – for one thing I’m not a great self-publicist – but I’m getting there.
Not least among The Things Wot I Done was registering my business name/site with both the UKWDA (UK Web Designers Association) and GAWDS (Guild of Accessible Web Designers), which has been interesting, and brought about some interesting conversations (well, interesting in a geeky way, anyway) about markup and how websites ‘should’ be written.
In addition I’ve been getting myself more organised with regard to billing, and I sent out a couple more invoices this week – it’s one of those things that I know I should do, but I still sometimes forget. I really do need to get better on that one.
And at the same time I’ve also been working on gaining permission to get access to a couple of locations where I really want to take photos. I’m still waiting for the responses on those requests though. Still, see how it all goes.
But yes, it’s all coming together, and so far it’s all looking pretty promising…
Developing
Posted: Sun 21 January, 2007 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Geeky, Getting Organised Leave a comment »Today, my head is completely elsewhere.
In fact, it’s in Geekworld completely. I’m currently developing three websites at the same time, which can get pretty confusing, it has to be said. But it’s going well, so I’m hoping to have made a fair load of progress by the end of the day, and to be pretty much completed on at least two of them by the end of the week. Should be interesting.
And just to make life that little bit more complex, the site list I’m working on doesn’t include the one for my own company, nor the CV. However, as well as the sites I am working on, I’m also working on a framework idea, so that I’ve got all the basic stuff in place for any of the other new sites that’re still on the planning schedule.
Anyway, that’s where my head’s at today. There may be other updates today, but I really wouldn’t count on it!
Unexpected
Posted: Tue 16 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), House Purchase, Thoughts 5 Comments »I used a phrase today that, quite honestly, I’ve never expected to say.
Yes, we intend to borrow £200,000.
It hit me just afterwards, that’s one fuck of a lot of money.
Decisions Made?
Posted: Sun 14 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Green, House Purchase Leave a comment »So, we ended up seeing two ore properties today, even though we’d already made a decision about the place we’re going to make an offer on. Why did we still see other places? Because by the time we’d seen the one we wanted, it was too late to cancel today’s viewings, the relevant estate agents had closed, and so we decided to be decent human beings, and still go see them.
Thankfully, neither of the properties today changed our minds about the ones yesterday.
However.
Now, I could gloss over this, and make out it never happened. But I won’t.
So, yesterday we saw two properties (Well, we saw way more than two, but we saw two particular ones) that we really liked. We’d made a decision on one, a fantastic place we both loved. We also had a second choice, which would be a bit more of a project, needs more work, but also ticked all the boxes. The difference between the two?
Property One is the more expensive one, by about £15,000 at the max price – but that puts it over the £250,000 stamp-duty threshold – which means we’d pay £7,800 in stamp duty instead of £2,500 on Property Two. Property One would need a small amount of work, but it would’ve been done quickly, whereas Two needs a lot more work – it’s fine to live in, but there’s a lot we’d want to do. Property One is an old place, whereas Porperty Two is 60s/70s, and has all the ‘character’ of a dead sponge. Oh, and Property One’s garden is OK, but small – and Property Two’s one is feckin’ huge, and sits on a plot of about 1/3rd of an acre…
We revisited both properties today, and did a lot of thinking.
And while last night it was Property One that was going to get the offer made on it, it’s now going to be Property Two. With it we get a huge garden, and a massive potential to expand on the place, increase its value, and make some serious changes. It also gives us the opportunity to add in some green energy stuff, as well as doing a lot more of our own vegetables etc., which Property One just wouldn’t have had.
So yes, we’ve made a decision, and Herself will be making the offer in the morning.
Mortgage Pay-off
Posted: Fri 12 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised Leave a comment »With our current situation of starting off on the mortgage trail, one other thing that’s coming back to the forefront (for me, anyway) is the entire aim/aspiration to pay off that mortgage as quickly as possible. So it was interesting last night to see the return of the BBC’s “Pay off your mortgage in two years” programme.
The project is now at an end, and the first one last night – now titled “Did they pay off their mortgage in two years?” – was a good start. As it turned out, the couple had just about achieved their target (although to complete it, René Carayol (the presenter/mentor of the programme) had to buy one of their HotPod stoves) which was impressive. It’ll be interesting to see over the next few weeks how many of the other families involved in the project were successful.
Personally, I found it quite inspiring, and could (to a degree) identify with the couple in the programme, who had a lifestyle that was pretty relaxed and laid-back in general, and seeing how they came through in the end. I always find I can identify far more with that lifestyle than with the entire rat-race oriented people you so often see in this type of programme,(Relocation, Relocation drives me potty with the entire ‘Tarquin and Suzanne have worked in London, but now want to sell their townhouse and get a country getaway as well as a city crashpad’ crap, which appeals to me about as much as being repeatedly booted in the balls) I also love the fact that their main source of the income that paid off the mortgage was those HotPod stoves that they’d designed and made themselves.
The programme is definitely designed more for the ‘self-starter’ type of person, rather than the ‘quick-fix’, and I just find the entire thing fascinating. It’s certainly part of my own goals over the next few years – I acknowledge that I can’t just get a mortgage and then start paying it off immediately at well over the odds, but I can still aim to get it done as soon as possible, even if that in the end takes five or ten years, instead of the god-awful thirty that is likely to be the term of the loan.
I don’t know, maybe I’m unrealistic – but seeing programmes like the one last night make me realise that at least I’m not the only unrealistic or unreasonable person out there, and also that just because most people do choose to pay off their mortgages etc. over the allotted time, it doesn’t mean everyone does.
For now, that’s enough to keep me going at looking towards what I’m doing and what I want to do, while keeping that final goal/ aim/ aspiration in mind.
Viewing More
Posted: Fri 12 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Thoughts 1 Comment »Another three properties viewed last night – one was a definite no, one was a probable, and one was fantastic and would’ve been a definite yes if the price were lower. And not by just a couple of thousand.
While we do have a ridiculous upper limit on our basic mortgage offer, we don’t want to go anywhere near that figure. Partly that’s because it’s based on the fact I’m getting paid stupid amounts as a daily rate, which works out as some fucking extortionate amount per year, which then skews up the max amount on offer.
So yeah, if the property we saw were about £40,000 lower in price, it’d be a definite yes. But as it is, we would be looking at repayments of £1,500 per month, plus council tax and all the normal expenses. Yes, we could manage it, but it’s a fair amount more than we’d like to be paying back in an ideal world (and particularly when you see about interest rates going up again)
The first really great property we saw is beginning to look like it’s a lot of hassle, and I can’t deny that I’m getting cold feet (and some major reservations) about it now.
As it is, well, we’ve got about another ten properties to view between now and Sunday. We’re doing well at the moment, but there’s still a long way to go…
Week One – Additional
Posted: Sun 7 January, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised 2 Comments »As it turned out (I’d written the original “Week One” post on Friday, knowing we were busy yesterday) there were/are some alterations to make to the post about the last week.
First of all, because we were viewing three houses today, I didn’t end up going to the Archery. Just one of those timing things, it simply wasn’t to be. I’ll go next week instead – checking out houses was more important.
Secondly, the IFA called up on Saturday morning to let us know that we now have an Agreement in Principal on a mortgage – and that the maximum that they’ll loan us is an amount that is frankly so ridiculous I can’t believe it. In fact, the maximum amount is roughly double the amount we were actually looking at getting.
Obviously that doesn’t mean we’re going to suddenly be looking at places at the top end of the bracket, because we’re not looking at doing anything that involves hocking ourselves to the hilt, or making life more hectic. But all the same, it was pretty surprising, being told that we were quite that eligible… We’re now waiting for some more information about just how much the repayments are for the amounts we’re talking about.
Anyway, this weekend we’ve now seen six (I think) houses, with one ‘probable’, two ‘possible’s and three ‘yuck’s. Could be worse, I guess.
The ‘probable’ is fantastic, but has some questions that need answering. We’ll see what happens over the next few days, as those questions get asked. But everything’s coming together, and Week One of 2007 is looking like the start of a year that’ll become more and more promising.
Resolutions
Posted: Mon 1 January, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Festering Season, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised Leave a comment »Well, today’s the day that we’re supposed to do all that guff about resolutions etc.
Except, being an awkward old bastard, I started mine back in November.
So there’s no list of ‘what I plan’ for ’07, because it’s all back there. And so far, the progress is going pretty well, thanksk for asking…
Scary
Posted: Sat 30 December, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised Leave a comment »This week, another part of my general domestication process has started happening.
We went in to a couple of local estate agents, and got ourselves added to their mailing lists. As if this wasn’t scary enough, we’ve also now seen an IFA with regard to what we’ll have to do in order to obtain (sit down before you read this) a mortgage. Yes, yes, it’s happening.
Anyway, it all went quite successfully. The IFA seemed to think that because I’ve actually been a contractor for a long time (i.e. more than six years) I can get away with classing it as a full-time occupation, and thus not prone to the risks that there would be if, for example, this were my first or second contract, and I’d only been doing it briefly.
So – and now we get to the really scary bit – she’s putting in a general application (I think it was an Application or Approval in Principal) to some mortgage companies. We’ll know what they say come the start of the new year.
How fucking scary is that?!?
Zeroed
Posted: Thu 28 December, 2006 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business Leave a comment »On the credit card I got back in July, the interest-free period expires on 31st December.
And, I’m pleased to say – not that this will mean a sod to anyone else – I’ve paid off the lot. This has been the next step in what I wanted to do – having the credit card, using it (lots) for expenses, equipment and so on, and then having it completely paid off by the time the interest-free period expires.
I’ll use it now for a couple of small purchases per month, and pay it off. Maybe a slightly larger purchase every so often that gets paid off over two or three months, with a little bit of interest. That’ll keep everyone happy.
It’s all part of the plan, building up my credit score, generally making myself out to be a ‘responsible’ person. And so far, everything’s going to plan. Even my current account, having just got through the Festering Season, is in credit – and I’m still due for December’s pay, so that’s healthy too.
And I hae to say, all things considered, that’s a pretty good feeling.
Photographic Paraphenalia
Posted: Sat 16 December, 2006 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Photography Leave a comment »This week, I’ve sorted out the last semi-major purchase of photo gear this year. It’s already just over a year since I bought the EOS20D, and I’m still really pleased with it – although I’ve known there was extra stuff I needed to buy.
So this week I’ve been able to get the 100mm f2.8 Macro lens (which is bloody huge) plus lens hood, a Speedlite 580EX flashgun, and a small home-studio thing so I can start taking some specific photos of stuff that Herself has been working on – which will also be one of the websites for developing very soon now.
As such, I’ve now got pretty much all the stuff I want right now, and the set-up I’ve got is capable of wide-angle landscapes, macro, portrait, flash, and all the general types of photography I’m currently interested in.
I just don’t want to think about just how much it’s all cost, or what the value of the gear is!
Preparation
Posted: Mon 11 December, 2006 Filed under: D4D™, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised Leave a comment »Today, work is notably dull, with very little going on at all.
So I’m spending the day being productive, but in a d4d™ way, rather than a “proper job” way.
As such, I’m stripping out all the old shit, tags, formatting etc. from the old sections of D4D™ (i.e. rants, thoughts, and quite possibly even photos, if the day doesn’t get busier), leaving myself with just some raw content to play with.
Why? Because I’m thinking that D4D™ really should get a revamp/redesign in the new year, and this scut-work crud is the bit where I fell over last time, and just couldn’t be arsed with it any more. So this time I’m spending some time beforehand, laying down the groundwork, and hopefully that means that any redesign project should be a lot less effort than it would otherwise be.
Resolutions – One Month In
Posted: Mon 11 December, 2006 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »On my birthday, I set up a new list of resolutions, which I wanted to work on. One month on, how’s it going?
Actually – not bad at all. There’s been a couple of new additions to the lists as well, as things progress, but yes, so far, it’s all looking a bit promising. Most unnatural…
- Photography
Get a Macro Lens- Get a Wide-Angle Lens
Finish the Portfolio website– it’s pretty much done, except for uploading the portfolio photos- Sell/Publish some stuff
- Join a local club
- New : Get a decent flash
- Writing
- Finish at least one piece of writing – working on it
- When a piece is finished submit it to the right people
- Just see how things go
- Write more on d4d™? Maybe.
- Work / Websites
- Keep on going with Where’s Good
- Build and work on the other ideas I’ve got in my head
- Work (as always) on smaller sites, and do as many as possible
- Sort out permanent job for the first part of ’07 while we’re house-buying etc.
- Redesign d4d™? It’s about time…
- New :
Merge lots of accounts into one, and onto one server– all the main ones done, couple of others still waiting - New : Start getting better at invoicing for work done – certainly started off OK on that one – time will tell
- Education
Sign up with Open University– initially for a refresher course, and work from there- Look at an official course/qualification in Photography?
- Other
Restart the Archery once we’ve moved– booked, but not attended yetComplete the move to Norfolk–first a rental, then the house-buying
Starting Off Badly
Posted: Mon 6 November, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Thoughts Leave a comment »Having signed up about ten days ago for that Open University course, I was expecting to get a bundle of paperwork, course information etc. last week. But it didn’t arrive. Hmm, that sounds familiar from last time I signed up with them.
Anyway, having given it a clear two weeks ’til today to allow them time to be inefficient, I gave them a call today. Turns out, despite having paid, and the money having left my account, they’d still got my account listed as “on hold” , rather than “registered”.
I’ve sorted it now, and the paperwork should be on its way. But really, it’s not an auspicious start to the course, is it?
Beginning to Study
Posted: Mon 6 November, 2006 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised Leave a comment »One thing I’ve banged on about a lot is re-starting myself in some education – either with evening courses, or through something like the Open University. For a variety of reasons, I’ve never really got round to it – mainly through moving either my house or my job at the time that course registration is going on. It’s not even a conscious thing, just the way timing works out.
I did sign up for an “Openings” course with the OU back while I was in Manchester, but the entire thing was farcical and went horribly wrong – including a tutor who never actually contacted me at all – and I ended up getting my money back following a formal complaint to them because of how fucked up the entire thing was.
Anyway, now I’ve got some time on my hands in the evenings – although I’ve got a whole bundle of things I intend to be doing as well – I decided to see if things were any better in a different area (I know, in theory they shouldn’t be, as OU is national, but I bet/hope they are) and signed up for another Openings course a couple of weeks ago.
I’ve no idea as yet what it’ll involve – but in theory they’re supposed to be about getting people back into the practice of study, and that’s definitely something I need. Still, it’ll be interesting to see how it goes this time.