innocent_lex

I've been doing things that aren't posting to blogs of late. This isn't a great surprise to me, mostly because my focus has been quite inward and not outward, and not even inward in an outward kind of way. But I think I'm moving back into the real world, looking at things I have to do (sort out financey stuff, sort out housey stuff) and taking some notice of what's happening out there. Not that any of it's profound or essential to the continuation of the species, but it's little steps that are worthwhile to me.

Anyhoo, my conclusions about the year that's just gone are forming, and the first one is that I've bought two pieces of tech that have been really, really worth it. The first was my Samsung tablet, which was exactly what I needed, when I needed it, and has continued to be extremely useful. And the second (more surprising) was my xbox with kinect, because it surprised me with what it could do (not just help me jump around like an idiot), and I'm absolutely going to make the most of the jumping aroundness of it and also the media centre functionality of it when it's installed in its new home in the newly converted garage (which itself will only be a few more weeks in the making). Tech is fun.

I have more conclusions, but musing will continue.

This kind of thing is always really personal (as in, each person has their own, not as in my deepest, darkest secrets). Still, I've had a few little things that have made a huge difference of late:

- I bought a couple of little thermoses that I use to take a mug full of tea with me on the train in the morning. The difference this makes to my brain and my peace of mind is entirely out of proportion to the scale of the little hot drink, but I'm not asking questions.
- I implemented the concept of a 'doing day' instead of trying to have tasks done every day. This means I don't worry on normal days that there's an endless list of stuff that still needs doing. Today is one such day. Am having a break for tea and t'internet.
- I have a to do list app on my phone that I use when I'm having a 'doing day', so I can tick off absolutely everything I've done - no matter how small - and feel much progress has been made
- Thornton's Viennese truffles. I bought some a few weeks ago and they're scrummylicious to have with tea. I've known that for years, but for some inexplicable reason I keep on forgetting they exist.
- Watched a 17 minute video review of yet another tablet simply to get an itch out of my system that I need one. It's shiny. I don't need one. More importantly, I don't want one. 17 minutes saved me £300 of impulse buying. Huzzah!
- Use of my amazon wishlist. I think I've mentioned this before, but when I want some DVDs or a book or something, I add it to my wishlist. I come back a week later to see if I still want it. Then give it another week. Then sometimes more time. More often than not, stuff just gets deleted from the wishlist.
- Also have created a 'to watch on film rental' wishlist on Amazon - if I have an urge to watch a film and have no idea what, I can check that list out.

Any wee things that work for you, dear flist?

Have just replaced a (supposedly equally bright, supposedly long-life) burnt-out low energy bulb with a normal one. I can see again! It's not horribly dim in the room any more! That's an experiment I won't be repeating for a while.

Also, if these new bulbs are so environmentally friendly, why do I need to call a hazmat removal team instead of just throwing it away?

Tea all over me. Twice.

US folks are remaking Randall and Hopkirk (deceased) because they loved the classic Brit show. Except they're changing the name. And the plots. And most things. But there'll be a dead guy! Probably. http://io9.com/5742524/jane-espenson-tells-io9-about-bringing-britains-greatest-ghost-detective-to-america

Mayonnaise and raspberry jam? That's not snap. Raspberry jam doesn't taste good with chicken. Next time, get the right jar out of the fridge.

Got about 4 hours of sleep last night. Hope to get more tonight. Won't be much more, though.

Can't find my chequebook.

Tired.

That's enough of shifting boxes around the house. Seriously. Ouch. I see a hot bath in my future. Right now, though, I can also see a lot more floor in the conservatory and in the back bedroom, so that's a very good thing. Also, I have more empty boxes. Huzzah!

Damn connection keeps going down. It'll be up for five minutes, then down for five, then up for two, then down for thirty seconds, then... well, you get the picture. My own computer can cope with that. My work computer, not so much. Damn network failure just keeps crashing the machine, and means reboots. Am now at the point where I can't do what I need to do because of Virgin. This is not a surprise to me, but it's frustrating. Again.

I've been having nightmares again recently, which is always fun. Waking up repeatedly during the night because something's scaring you witless (or sleepless) is less of a joy than you might otherwise imagine.
( Putting this behind a cut for the squeamish. )

Forgot to eat anything other than breakfast today. Will remember tomorrow. Maybe I should make a note.

Doh.

Am going to bed.

Have you ever had a whole bunch of things you wanted to do (not had to do) and had so much choice you ended up doing none of it? Yeah, that's me at the moment. I have a pile of books I want to read (some for pleasure, some for learning), a pile of DVDs to watch, various bits of figuring out to do so I can enjoy things more, and all kinds of magazines, music, telly, etc on the list saying "me, me, me!". It's a wonderful position to be in, but at the same time I'm ending up doing none of it because I can't decide what to focus on. All these shiny objects are incredibly distracting for an ENTP.

Oh, hang on, the washing machine's just stopped. Must do something about that, then I can come back and stare at the bewildering mass of temptation once more.

Just because.