Journal Entries
Get A Life
Posted Dec 31, 2009
And I leave you with this joyful piece of work, which just gets better the more you read:
http://www.cornishstannaryparliament.co.uk/
Happy New Year, all.
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Latest reply: Dec 31, 2009
Long Time No See
Posted Dec 25, 2009
Apparently, I haven't posted since mid-October.
In a week, I fly to The Gambia, and when I return there will be a Mrs B as well. In principle, this wouldn't take much to organise (get to Gambia, appear on appointed day) but in reality I'm acting as travel agent, tour guide and nonsense-answerer for everyone that's going out there. Today, thanks to a hell of a lot of hard work on my part, I finally have the vaguest idea what's going on. It's amazing how a 'simple idea' can be so much damn work.
Have a great Christmas, all, and hopefully I'll catch up with you around February.
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Latest reply: Dec 25, 2009
Women
Posted Nov 21, 2009
Well done. You win.
Lainey's off on her hen do this weekend. I have the place to myself. ALL weekend. Woo!
Except I have nothing to do. I can't make her a cup of tea when she wakes up, nor one when she gets home from work. I'm eating out (curry) all weekend, at least in part because there isn't any point in coooking anything nice if your lover isn't there to enjoy it.
My cousins met up with me for a curry tonight, and we all agree that the world wouild fall apart without women. We'd be ok with our pubs and stuff for a few days, but would soon fall into an apathetic state brought on by Sky Sports News, comfortable sofas and lager. I don't see how we'd cope.
The flat feels weirdly empty. I'm used to there being two people here. One may be asleep on the sofa or off to bed already, but there's two of us. It feels lonely right now.
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Latest reply: Nov 21, 2009
In Defence of Science
Posted Nov 10, 2009
I've just been watching QI XL, for my sins, and there was a little bit about the Gomboc on there. A Gomboc is a little self-righting device - whichever way you start it, it will end up resting on the same point - and it is unique in the world.
I thought this was rather clever and quite good fun, until one of the panel asked its inventor 'so what purpose does this serve?' with a sneering look.
Why is it only science that seems to have the obligation to serve society's needs? Is every work of art, every sculpture and painting, every song and symphony, every film and TV programme, created to serve the greater good rather than a cultural need? Or do they further society in an entirely seperate way to science, which needs to justify every step forward by demonstrating our lives will be richly improved as a result of every morsel we learn?
White-coated boffins messing about with test tubes and contradicting one another with messy, complicated explanations of things that have absolutely no value to anyone anyway. Right?
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Latest reply: Nov 10, 2009
Retirement
Posted Nov 9, 2009
After 18 months, I've decided to retire as Post editor with immediate effect.
Since the summer break, I've struggled to get back into the groove and found that editing has increasingly become a chore rather than a pleasure. That isn't a good attitude for an editor to have, obviously. I'd have liked to have gone through to the ten year anniversary issue or Christmas before calling it a day, because there were a couple of ideas that I wanted to see through, and I was still enjoying my work (if not as much as I used to).
Today, two of Lainey's colleagues were involved in a very serious car crash. Neither will ever recover fully, if at all - they're both in intensive care. They are both in their twenties. I have never met either of them and Lainey barely knows them so we're not affected personally, but it was enough of a shock for me to take stock. Saying goodbye to The Post was a big deal, but the time is right now for me to go.
Knee-jerk? Maybe. But it's a knee-jerk that's been about to happen for a while now.
I've thoroughly enjoyed my time at The Post, and I'm really grateful to Shazz and EMR in particular for giving me the chance to be involved. And good luck to Bel and the rest of the team for the future. It's been a blast.
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Latest reply: Nov 9, 2009
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