Been too lazy to update lately :o)
Diary: Week of 23/02: Work and films :o)
Work seems to be levelling out nicely. RBS was nice and comfortable because I'd been there so long but I think that once I get past that I do really prefer this job.
At RBS we were constantly given unrealistic targets that would get higher whenever we reached them. At HSBC I have a fixed set of tasks I need to do and that I can do with anything further being a bonus.
At RBS I'd have team leaders and similar trying to micro-manage me and nag me into getting my performance up. At HSBC I'm in control of my own productivity. I have deadlines but no one is over my shoulder telling me what to do otherwise. Even things like locking my computer are left more sensibly to my own judgement rather than having to do it every time I stand up to walk a few feet to the printer.
I'm also back to taking lunch when I feel it's appropriate rather than having it timetabled and I don't have to bring my plastic bottles home with me any more in order to get them recycled. Fab.
Of course, but the time I've settled into the job well enough to be properly comfortable I'll likely be at the end of my contract but having a foreseeable end to my time there has it's pluses as well - it's not going to turn into one of those jobs that I feel 'stuck' in.
On the weekend me and Lacuna_Raze opted for a night in. Perhaps when the weather is better and more people are going out more frequently then we'll be able to start going out more often again :o)
Last weekend we watched Sleeping Beauty... this time we watched Beauty and the Beast :oD
We also watched Madagascar I and II but in terms of animated films Wall-e definitely came up top. I wasn't really sure what to expect but it did turn out to be very good. I especially like how they even made the credits at the end entertaining (if you switched off before watching them you missed out!) :oP
Diary: Week of 02/03: Games and Films :o)
My parents were heading off to Wales during the week and not back until Saturday evening so I spent the week trying to pester people into coming around on the Friday, whilst I had the place to myself, to play Risk and computer games. Utterly failed though :o( As it turned out me and Lacuna_Raze did end up playing Risk with my brother and his girlfriend on the Saturday though :o)
That being said the game went poorly for me >:o( (I blame my territories being scattered everywhere!). Lacuna_Raze ended up winning :o)
My brother did also manage to set me up a version of 'Left 4 Dead' that I can play over a LAN from my laptop :o) It's a nifty little zombie survival shoot-em-up game for four players (co-operative). Despite having played games like Unreal Tournament, it's the first game that really captures the idea of cooperative games for me :o) (maybe I'm just not playing Unreal Tournament with enough players though!)
Had lots of fun watching Lost. I read in reviews that a lot of people are finding the plot lines harder and harder to understand because of the time lines being all over the place now. Some people seem to think that's a bad thing but I think it makes it even better. Recent developments have opened up a lot more of the history of the show and it's more fun working out where the plot lines are going now because it's not so obvious (I stll seem to be okay at guessing what's going to happen next though!) :oD
Watched Ghost Town (starring Ricky Gervais), which was quite good :o) It's a plot line that would probably never be accepted if the gender roles were reversed, but looking past that it's still a good film. Saying that, I tend to like Gervais' performances in most of what he's in.
Diary: Week of 09/04: Clubbing and Films :o)
Just to reduce my comfort level, I'm being given more work to do through the day now. :o/ Ahh well, should still have plenty of time to get it all done anyway without having to rush through anything so it's okay really. Just a shame as I'd just began to relax a little and ease into a comfortable zone! :o)
Friday me and Lacuna_Raze headed out for Industrial Fallout, given that we'd missed the last one. Was nice to see so many people out for the event but it didn't really reach me. The music that gets played at Industrial/EBM events seem to drift further and further away from anything that would make me want to dance the more I attend these things.
I suspect Dungeon will still be the first choice locally for me really. Hopefully, now that it's getting warmer, Dungeon will be getting busier again :o)
On the rest of the weekend we watched Films (no surprise there) :o) 'The Mist' was quite good. Lacuna_Raze had read the book but, although I probably own it and have it laying around somewhere, I haven't. The 'horror movie' aspect of it isn't too impressive, but it redeems itself through exploring how people act in extreme situations, right up to the very bleak ending. Stretches believability a bit mind.
There's a brilliant moment that I enjoyed a lot because it was very reminiscent of certain creatures from Warhammer 40k, but I won't mention more because it's too much of a spoiler :o)
Also just started on Ashes to Ashes. Sceptical at first because I was never a fan of Gene Hunt, often just found him too dislikeable, but is definitely growing on me. Like the last one, it's not too scared to get it's hand dirty and avoid the simple easy moral messages :o)
Diary: Week of 16/04: And some more :o)
I'm adjusting to the new workload at work now. It does mean doing new unfamiliar things, which puts me back into the learning process, but time wise everything seems to fit in okay. Just spend less time going over work I've already done to make sure it's okay *shrugs*
Saturday me and Lacuna_Raze spent a lot of time being confused as various possibilities for the evening failed to make themselves clear... every time we thought we'd finally decided something wouldn't be worth it something would change an we'd end up considering it again, so we flicked between going to Dungeon, seeing my brother to play games or just staying in and watching movies. Eventually, it was established that people would be going to Dungeon and we got ready to head out :oD
We did end up leaving early again, but was still a better time than was had at Industrial Fallout just because there was space and we could hear people. These things seem to be under appreciated at club events :o/
Sunday watching included Sunshine, an odd movie with interesting concepts that goes off the rails the longer you watch it, Quarantine, a typical zombie/'infected' gorefest, and What Dreams May Come, which was the best of the weekend and I recommend it to just about anyone. It's a film about the after-life and, whilst there's nothing new here philosophically in it, I did enjoy seeing them put on screen. It even managed to approach the issue without getting very religious about the whole thing. Great stuff :o)
Thoughts: Violence against men by women
Just recently someone was trolling wtf_Sexism with a post about a novelty item advertised on sexist grounds. The majority of the responses agreed with the assessment that it was being advertised in a sexist manner, but being a troll he wasn't willing to accept that feminists aren't men-haters who don't care about these issues (discussed somewhat here)
He's banned now, but an interesting upshot of the event is that there has been more discussion about how sexism can harm men.
First was a post about an article called 'If she hit him, he probably deserved it'
The article is written in defence of a woman who assaulted (drawing blood) her husband for a particularly disrespectful act of infidelity. The idea being that such an act of 'mental abuse' justifies retaliatory violence.
As it is I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who behave in very vile (yet legal) ways to other people and get beaten up for it but I can't condone the behaviour. I wouldn't condone a man who beats up his wife for flagrant infidelity nor do I condone (the more common) cuckolded man who beats up the man who slept with his partner. Both acts are justifiably illegal and people who do them should be prosecuted where possible.
The second post links to a youtube video about how people react to seeing domestic violence depending on whether it's a man-on-woman assault or a woman-on-man assault.
This video is quite interesting because it adds some commentary on the issue, although it mirrors a lot of the views mentioned by posters in the first post.
I think what I find most interesting about this is it shows how a network of assumptions and prejudices about gender that can clearly be said to benefit men can in particular cases disadvantage them. I do think there are some physical and cultural trends that also play a part (discussed somewhat here) but I see much of the problem here seems to be the assumption that men always have power and physical superiority and that women don't really pose that much of a threat. Even in the case of outright assault it the women involved sometimes are interpreted not as 'exceeding their rights' but 'rising themselves out from a position of weakness'.
And clearly Man=Powerful and Woman=Weak are not assumptions that will often benifet women whilst they will often benefit men.
Still, for those men who don't like to play up to and use those assumptions, there may well be very good self-interested reasons to be supporting feminist ideals regarding the getting rid of them.
Here's another post about different treatment for statuary rape: linky
Flier: Resurgence - 12th Anniversary - Sunday 3rd May
Anyone from Southampton planning to go? I can't really get back again by myself :o(
Work seems to be levelling out nicely. RBS was nice and comfortable because I'd been there so long but I think that once I get past that I do really prefer this job.
At RBS we were constantly given unrealistic targets that would get higher whenever we reached them. At HSBC I have a fixed set of tasks I need to do and that I can do with anything further being a bonus.
At RBS I'd have team leaders and similar trying to micro-manage me and nag me into getting my performance up. At HSBC I'm in control of my own productivity. I have deadlines but no one is over my shoulder telling me what to do otherwise. Even things like locking my computer are left more sensibly to my own judgement rather than having to do it every time I stand up to walk a few feet to the printer.
I'm also back to taking lunch when I feel it's appropriate rather than having it timetabled and I don't have to bring my plastic bottles home with me any more in order to get them recycled. Fab.
Of course, but the time I've settled into the job well enough to be properly comfortable I'll likely be at the end of my contract but having a foreseeable end to my time there has it's pluses as well - it's not going to turn into one of those jobs that I feel 'stuck' in.
On the weekend me and Lacuna_Raze opted for a night in. Perhaps when the weather is better and more people are going out more frequently then we'll be able to start going out more often again :o)
Last weekend we watched Sleeping Beauty... this time we watched Beauty and the Beast :oD
We also watched Madagascar I and II but in terms of animated films Wall-e definitely came up top. I wasn't really sure what to expect but it did turn out to be very good. I especially like how they even made the credits at the end entertaining (if you switched off before watching them you missed out!) :oP
Diary: Week of 02/03: Games and Films :o)
My parents were heading off to Wales during the week and not back until Saturday evening so I spent the week trying to pester people into coming around on the Friday, whilst I had the place to myself, to play Risk and computer games. Utterly failed though :o( As it turned out me and Lacuna_Raze did end up playing Risk with my brother and his girlfriend on the Saturday though :o)
That being said the game went poorly for me >:o( (I blame my territories being scattered everywhere!). Lacuna_Raze ended up winning :o)
My brother did also manage to set me up a version of 'Left 4 Dead' that I can play over a LAN from my laptop :o) It's a nifty little zombie survival shoot-em-up game for four players (co-operative). Despite having played games like Unreal Tournament, it's the first game that really captures the idea of cooperative games for me :o) (maybe I'm just not playing Unreal Tournament with enough players though!)
Had lots of fun watching Lost. I read in reviews that a lot of people are finding the plot lines harder and harder to understand because of the time lines being all over the place now. Some people seem to think that's a bad thing but I think it makes it even better. Recent developments have opened up a lot more of the history of the show and it's more fun working out where the plot lines are going now because it's not so obvious (I stll seem to be okay at guessing what's going to happen next though!) :oD
Watched Ghost Town (starring Ricky Gervais), which was quite good :o) It's a plot line that would probably never be accepted if the gender roles were reversed, but looking past that it's still a good film. Saying that, I tend to like Gervais' performances in most of what he's in.
Diary: Week of 09/04: Clubbing and Films :o)
Just to reduce my comfort level, I'm being given more work to do through the day now. :o/ Ahh well, should still have plenty of time to get it all done anyway without having to rush through anything so it's okay really. Just a shame as I'd just began to relax a little and ease into a comfortable zone! :o)
Friday me and Lacuna_Raze headed out for Industrial Fallout, given that we'd missed the last one. Was nice to see so many people out for the event but it didn't really reach me. The music that gets played at Industrial/EBM events seem to drift further and further away from anything that would make me want to dance the more I attend these things.
I suspect Dungeon will still be the first choice locally for me really. Hopefully, now that it's getting warmer, Dungeon will be getting busier again :o)
On the rest of the weekend we watched Films (no surprise there) :o) 'The Mist' was quite good. Lacuna_Raze had read the book but, although I probably own it and have it laying around somewhere, I haven't. The 'horror movie' aspect of it isn't too impressive, but it redeems itself through exploring how people act in extreme situations, right up to the very bleak ending. Stretches believability a bit mind.
There's a brilliant moment that I enjoyed a lot because it was very reminiscent of certain creatures from Warhammer 40k, but I won't mention more because it's too much of a spoiler :o)
Also just started on Ashes to Ashes. Sceptical at first because I was never a fan of Gene Hunt, often just found him too dislikeable, but is definitely growing on me. Like the last one, it's not too scared to get it's hand dirty and avoid the simple easy moral messages :o)
Diary: Week of 16/04: And some more :o)
I'm adjusting to the new workload at work now. It does mean doing new unfamiliar things, which puts me back into the learning process, but time wise everything seems to fit in okay. Just spend less time going over work I've already done to make sure it's okay *shrugs*
Saturday me and Lacuna_Raze spent a lot of time being confused as various possibilities for the evening failed to make themselves clear... every time we thought we'd finally decided something wouldn't be worth it something would change an we'd end up considering it again, so we flicked between going to Dungeon, seeing my brother to play games or just staying in and watching movies. Eventually, it was established that people would be going to Dungeon and we got ready to head out :oD
We did end up leaving early again, but was still a better time than was had at Industrial Fallout just because there was space and we could hear people. These things seem to be under appreciated at club events :o/
Sunday watching included Sunshine, an odd movie with interesting concepts that goes off the rails the longer you watch it, Quarantine, a typical zombie/'infected' gorefest, and What Dreams May Come, which was the best of the weekend and I recommend it to just about anyone. It's a film about the after-life and, whilst there's nothing new here philosophically in it, I did enjoy seeing them put on screen. It even managed to approach the issue without getting very religious about the whole thing. Great stuff :o)
Thoughts: Violence against men by women
Just recently someone was trolling wtf_Sexism with a post about a novelty item advertised on sexist grounds. The majority of the responses agreed with the assessment that it was being advertised in a sexist manner, but being a troll he wasn't willing to accept that feminists aren't men-haters who don't care about these issues (discussed somewhat here)
He's banned now, but an interesting upshot of the event is that there has been more discussion about how sexism can harm men.
First was a post about an article called 'If she hit him, he probably deserved it'
The article is written in defence of a woman who assaulted (drawing blood) her husband for a particularly disrespectful act of infidelity. The idea being that such an act of 'mental abuse' justifies retaliatory violence.
As it is I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who behave in very vile (yet legal) ways to other people and get beaten up for it but I can't condone the behaviour. I wouldn't condone a man who beats up his wife for flagrant infidelity nor do I condone (the more common) cuckolded man who beats up the man who slept with his partner. Both acts are justifiably illegal and people who do them should be prosecuted where possible.
The second post links to a youtube video about how people react to seeing domestic violence depending on whether it's a man-on-woman assault or a woman-on-man assault.
This video is quite interesting because it adds some commentary on the issue, although it mirrors a lot of the views mentioned by posters in the first post.
I think what I find most interesting about this is it shows how a network of assumptions and prejudices about gender that can clearly be said to benefit men can in particular cases disadvantage them. I do think there are some physical and cultural trends that also play a part (discussed somewhat here) but I see much of the problem here seems to be the assumption that men always have power and physical superiority and that women don't really pose that much of a threat. Even in the case of outright assault it the women involved sometimes are interpreted not as 'exceeding their rights' but 'rising themselves out from a position of weakness'.
And clearly Man=Powerful and Woman=Weak are not assumptions that will often benifet women whilst they will often benefit men.
Still, for those men who don't like to play up to and use those assumptions, there may well be very good self-interested reasons to be supporting feminist ideals regarding the getting rid of them.
Here's another post about different treatment for statuary rape: linky
Flier: Resurgence - 12th Anniversary - Sunday 3rd May
Anyone from Southampton planning to go? I can't really get back again by myself :o(