under another sun

Feeling in better health and my penny drop of recent days has allowed me to pull myself up by my bootstraps. I feel happier than I have felt in a long time. Helpful too that the steroid-induced paranoia and depression appears to have worn off and I am thinking straight again. With Lorraine to the fete of the school she has been seconded to. Met a few of her pleasant colleagues, and saw children running about, or sitting behind stands offering free tattoo transfers, or challenges to assemble lego cars. I felt a bit like Dennis Thatcher or Prince Philip having to somehow radiate being responsible member of society in a supporting role. Met some of Lorraine's new colleagues (one fuming because some of the children had been helping themselves to the float money). There was one room with containers full of exotic animals, including an fat, obnoxiously-proportioned tarantula. I also enjoyed a hilarious display of local cheer leading. Whoever was guiding these girls forgot to ...

Feeling cheerful. This even more remarkable as I had stabbing eye pains, compelling me to undergo  a personal triage about acute onset glaucoma, and preventing me working more than a few hours. Eye strain almost certainly caused when I was on steroids and, feeling crazy, listened to audiobooks and played an obsessive bubble-shooting computer game. The drugs made it hard to focus, I think. Finished the Steve Jobs audiobook, an interesting depiction of a complex and hard to like man.  Went to the gym today, for the briefest of workouts. Had to accept that I couldn't do much as the muscles in my calf have been pulled, as I have been loping orc wise for several weeks.   A lovely evening, having met Matt in The Basketmakers , something that has not happened for some time. Huge amounts to discuss, and really great to simply have a few beers and shoot the breeze about music, writing and approaches to creativity - not to mention general gossip. It had been far too l...

Had a penny drop moment today. I have been feeling unhappy lately (not helped by weeks of pain and an adverse reaction to steroids), but I noticed I have been falling into the trap of wasting energy being aggrieved that things were not as I believe they should be, rather than simply dealing with things as they are. I need to reboot by being grateful for what I have and where I am. Also the fact that things have not worked out particularly well this year, has forced me to be innovative and create The New Idea which has forced me to think in new ways. As ever, I am left with the realisation that the one thing that you can exert any influence over is your own conduct. A good day, gradually feeling human again despite weird possibly steroid related pains in my eyes preventing me typing more than a few hours. Having some good ideas and feeling fairly cheerful. Absorbed by the Steve Jobs biography, but certainly not in an admiring way. A mooch in the park at lunch time, listening to th...

Thank God off the steroids today although brain is still mushy. I seem to have lots of good ideas but can't get any of them down. Off at lunchtime to meet Anton for a coffee in the Marwood Cafe. Able to sit outside in a little courtyard garden for a while too as it wasn't raining. He had been reading some of the latest draft of The New Idea and had some good suggestions and a few thoughts on the story so far. Excellent to get some feedback, and good to have coffee with Anton, still gloating over his iPad and announcing that he is going paperless. Bought the audiobook of the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson to keep abreast of the Zeitgeist. Lots of people are very impressed by Jobs.  Have listened to a few hours of it. On this account I think I would have found him obnoxious, although clearly an incredibly successful businessman. Interesting to follow a thread through California and the IT and business story that I was dimly aware of working for IBM in the 90s in Londo...

Lording it Learning all about how to be a landlord today, thank God for the Internet. Reading stuff from Government sites, and various Landlord sites, and have clear idea of the things I need to do. One of these was to realise that I needed an Energy Performance Certificate before I could rent the place. Organised this, and am seeing a man called Barry tomorrow morning at the house. Felt a wave of rage at how much personal bandwidth this is taking up. In other news, however, I began to post the video below, and Matt and I have agreed the CD cover. So, in a few weeks, we will soft-launch the CD, before a big launch around Valentine's day. Quite surprised to see such an outpouring of sadness about Steve Jobs, the Apple guy. They played a speech he gave about making the most of your life as death is inevitable, which was quite refreshing coming from 'a factory owner' as one acquaintance called him. Jobs was interested in Buddhism and this was reflected in the contents of his s...