(no subject)
Back from the bog country, and it's time I wrote up a reply to the 5 things wulfboy set me. If you'd like five things to write about from me, I'd be surprised, since everybody else did this last week, but ask and you shall receive ...
1 Children
I used to make out that I didn't really like children, and in many ways it was true, although I always knew that I wanted (in a vague and preferably very distant way) to have some of my own. Partly through arrogance (there was a point where I did wonder if it was my duty to have intelligent children to offset the obvious decline in standards) but mostly because I just knew that I wanted to (eventually).
I won't claim that children aren't a double edged blessing. Bits of my life are a lot less fun now than they were before I had to grow up, but I don't really have any doubts that it was the right thing (for me) to do.
I also think, somewhat controversially, that wulfboy would actually make quite a good father, although he'll deny it if confronted with it. I also suspect that in actuality, he'd agree, and possibly even be quite pleased to hear it, but will be forced by his public persona to pretend otherwise.
2 Inebriation
I don't actually get all that drunk as often as at least some of the people who'll see this may think. That's mostly because they only ever see me when I'm in one of the very few sets of circumstances were I really do let loose. There's something about getting away from my real life, and meeting up with a bunch of mates who have little or no connection to the rest of my life that just lifts the pressure enough to get me started on what can turn out to be a heavy session. Not that I don't drink away from events, I drink more than I should pretty much year round, rather that I don't get drunk all that often.
I do quite enjoy the camaraderie of a good drinking session though, and I'd be lying if I didn't admit to it. It is a social thing though.Drinking alone is a whole different game.
3 Cooking
Cooking is one of those things I do to get away from the outside world. It takes enough of my attention that I just don't think about the fairly stressful stuff I do to get the food I like to eat. And I do like to eat. I'm not a great one for following recipes for every day cooking - aside from cooking times, the recipe books mostly only get used when I'm cooking for an event. My cooking style owes a lot to the early days of Ready, Steady, Cook, which I watched a lot when working in betting shops and unemployed. Essentially I improvise around a theme based on what I feel like at the time. Generally the results are good, but they're not terribly reproducible, as I've forgotten what I did within 5 minutes of doing it.
I make damn good gravy, though.
4 Stress
If there were no stress in my life, I'd probably get nothing done. At heart, I'm basically lazy, and left entirely to my own devices I could happily sit in front of a computer for days at a time, and have done so (more or less) in the past. Too much stress and I become a pretty unpleasant person to be around, but that's true of everyone I've ever seen under that much stress, so I don't claim to be original there.
These days I am stressed, but I've always been fairly good at compartmentalising, and as I've got older, I've got better. This means that while I can get extremely wound up at work, I generally manage to keep the outbursts that result from the sheer stupidity of other people at work. Viki has to listen to the occasional rant, admittedly, but that soon passes. Plus if I don't let her know when I'm stressed, it doesn't end well. The rants, combined with the odd glass of wine or two, serve pretty well as release valves, and generally means it's manageable these days. I also accept that the stress is an inevitable part of being allowed to do something I enjoy and being well paid for it, which helps too ...
5 Home Improvement
I have a love/hate relationship with home improvement. When I'm doing it regularly I'm actually not all that bad at it, as I spent most of my youth helping my dad improve our house, and I find it pretty enjoyable working with my hands, but as a result of having spent most of my weekends away from school either helping my dad or cutting the grass, I resent the time it takes. I also don't actually have that much time. Painting is my least favourite task, and something I tend to let Viki and my mother do (turn about being fair play and all that). From a purely mercenary perspective these days, my time is more valuably spent earning money and paying somebody else to do the work, or playing with the kids, who I hardly see during the week, but I do still take a certain amount of pleasure in doing the fun bits.
1 Children
I used to make out that I didn't really like children, and in many ways it was true, although I always knew that I wanted (in a vague and preferably very distant way) to have some of my own. Partly through arrogance (there was a point where I did wonder if it was my duty to have intelligent children to offset the obvious decline in standards) but mostly because I just knew that I wanted to (eventually).
I won't claim that children aren't a double edged blessing. Bits of my life are a lot less fun now than they were before I had to grow up, but I don't really have any doubts that it was the right thing (for me) to do.
I also think, somewhat controversially, that wulfboy would actually make quite a good father, although he'll deny it if confronted with it. I also suspect that in actuality, he'd agree, and possibly even be quite pleased to hear it, but will be forced by his public persona to pretend otherwise.
2 Inebriation
I don't actually get all that drunk as often as at least some of the people who'll see this may think. That's mostly because they only ever see me when I'm in one of the very few sets of circumstances were I really do let loose. There's something about getting away from my real life, and meeting up with a bunch of mates who have little or no connection to the rest of my life that just lifts the pressure enough to get me started on what can turn out to be a heavy session. Not that I don't drink away from events, I drink more than I should pretty much year round, rather that I don't get drunk all that often.
I do quite enjoy the camaraderie of a good drinking session though, and I'd be lying if I didn't admit to it. It is a social thing though.Drinking alone is a whole different game.
3 Cooking
Cooking is one of those things I do to get away from the outside world. It takes enough of my attention that I just don't think about the fairly stressful stuff I do to get the food I like to eat. And I do like to eat. I'm not a great one for following recipes for every day cooking - aside from cooking times, the recipe books mostly only get used when I'm cooking for an event. My cooking style owes a lot to the early days of Ready, Steady, Cook, which I watched a lot when working in betting shops and unemployed. Essentially I improvise around a theme based on what I feel like at the time. Generally the results are good, but they're not terribly reproducible, as I've forgotten what I did within 5 minutes of doing it.
I make damn good gravy, though.
4 Stress
If there were no stress in my life, I'd probably get nothing done. At heart, I'm basically lazy, and left entirely to my own devices I could happily sit in front of a computer for days at a time, and have done so (more or less) in the past. Too much stress and I become a pretty unpleasant person to be around, but that's true of everyone I've ever seen under that much stress, so I don't claim to be original there.
These days I am stressed, but I've always been fairly good at compartmentalising, and as I've got older, I've got better. This means that while I can get extremely wound up at work, I generally manage to keep the outbursts that result from the sheer stupidity of other people at work. Viki has to listen to the occasional rant, admittedly, but that soon passes. Plus if I don't let her know when I'm stressed, it doesn't end well. The rants, combined with the odd glass of wine or two, serve pretty well as release valves, and generally means it's manageable these days. I also accept that the stress is an inevitable part of being allowed to do something I enjoy and being well paid for it, which helps too ...
5 Home Improvement
I have a love/hate relationship with home improvement. When I'm doing it regularly I'm actually not all that bad at it, as I spent most of my youth helping my dad improve our house, and I find it pretty enjoyable working with my hands, but as a result of having spent most of my weekends away from school either helping my dad or cutting the grass, I resent the time it takes. I also don't actually have that much time. Painting is my least favourite task, and something I tend to let Viki and my mother do (turn about being fair play and all that). From a purely mercenary perspective these days, my time is more valuably spent earning money and paying somebody else to do the work, or playing with the kids, who I hardly see during the week, but I do still take a certain amount of pleasure in doing the fun bits.