(no subject)

Today is a glorious day. The sun is shining, it's pleasantly warm, and you can just feel the world starting to come alive.
The sun was shining in my room this morning. Sounds such a minor thing, but I really do think that the human psyche is strongly keyed to sunlight. I'm noticing it.
Or maybe it's just because I rather like the idea of hibernating for months. Lurking in my room, in a pile of bedding and only emerging occasionally for pizza deliveries.

A thought crossed my mind though last night. Have you ever noticed how you can tell who it is just in the corridor etc. without being able to see them? Now in my particular case, it's the section of the house just outside my room. I always have a pretty good idea of who's there.

You see, everyone has their own 'signature'. Breathing pattern, walking pattern, and sound to their movements. And if you pay attention to those sorts of cues, then you can tell who it is who's just outside.

I've now got myself a copy of "Roadcraft - the police drivers handbook".
And there's this idea that might be interesting. Find someone, and take turns to critique their driving. Not in the "you're a shit driver" sense (even if I am) but more in the "ride around town a bit, and comment on things that you notice that they don't". I'm sure that those who drive are well aware that they've picked up bad habits - I know I have, but ... well driving is mostly subconcious, so without drawing attention to it, you remain unaware (mostly).

Excuses and life.

One of the sad facts of life is this: The world doesn't care about your excuse.

This sounds somewhat harsh, but the simple fact is this. It doesn't matter why you failed, only that you failed. Most will accept your excuse, and forgive your failing. The problem is this though - failure doesn't require forgiveness.

Everyone makes mistakes. Some large, some small, but every day unwise choices are made. Hindsight brings clarity to bad choices, but without being able to tell the future, you can never

The real problem is in those who think that failing is a bad thing. It's not. Well, not entirely. You see, it's ok to make mistakes. That's how we learn. Even if the mistake is only in not listening to some well meant, and perceptive advice.

But accepting excuses is the real mistake. You see, what an excuse is, is a way of transferring blame. Of avoiding responsibility. If one makes excuses for their actions, then they're not accepting that there was _some way_ that they could have avoided the problem. There almost certainly was.

So next time you feel inclined to offer an excuse, consider carefully whether you're trying to deny responsibility, and if there actually was a way that you could have done better, to avoid the problem which you are
making excuses for.

But accept too, that there are things that are genuinely unavoidable or unpredictable. These don't need to be excused either. If there was a train crash, or you were ill, or there was a family emergency then that's fine. There are always things that are a genuine priority or just random chance.

I'll forgive you your failings, as I hope you'll forgive mine.
I'll not accept excuses. Because I'm not worried about the reason. Either it's an excuse, and I don't care, or something genuinely went wrong, and that's fine too.
I will expect you to learn. A mistake is an opportunity to grow in wisdom.

Don't waste it.

Hats and hols

Whatever happened to hats? There was a time, where pretty near everyone wore a hat of some sort. Be it a flat cap, a bonnet, a top hat, or whatever.

And then, they sort of just stopped being fashionable. And even went as far as becoming (shock) un-cool. And now, you rarely see them. Oh every now and then, you see someone in a baseball cap, but they're not wearing it because it's a _hat_ they're wearing it because it's cool.

Now you see, I wear a hat. I now have a grand total of two. Admittedly the tricorn is mostly inappropriate, but it _did_ get some admiring comments from people outside the pub. (Well, ok they were probably taking the piss, but it was the kinda good natured way that sort of says that they were really really envious of my style at wearing that sort of hat.)

I also have a Tilley Hat. It's green and has a brim all round. It also floats, and has a pocket in the top. It's claimed to be one of the toughest hat in the world - there's a story of one getting eaten by an elephant. Three times.

And it's great. In the rain, it's a portable brolly. In the sun, it's a sunshade (really, very nice if the sun is more than about 20 degrees over the horizon) and if it's cold, then it keeps my head warm. If it's windy, well that's a little less convenient, but it does have a strap to keep it from flying down the road.

(incidentally, at the moment it's also coated in insect repellent).

So I don't get it. Why is the whole hat thing just 'not done'? Too many accessories? Just not something you've considered? Or just so horribly uncool that I'm going to get reported to the fashion police for even thinking about it?


Incidentally, we've got a new holiday booking thing. It's a lotus notes database. So far I've managed to book:

2 weeks _maternity_ leave.

And overlapping 2 weeks _paternity_ leave.

0 days absence over a weekend.

And -22 days holiday from 30th of april to the 1st of april. (That one was a little more tricky, because <1 day requires a specification of am or PM. But if you set it to 0.5 days, click am, and then alter to -22 it works fine because then the hidden field is set.)

I guess these notes programmers just ain't prepared for a piss take monkey like meself.

And Wooo! Amber tonight!

SINergy.

There WILL be a sinergy.

It will be at 'Retro Rooms' AKA Rack'n'Roll.
http://www.racknroll.co.uk
It's just off the inner ringroad of leicester.

They've given us a flat rate of £200 so we should be able to cover door costs (even if no one shows).

Hopefully a new venue of leicester will be enough to attract some newcomers (I believe there's a notable LRP crowd in leicester, not to mention the fact that it's doable from london - admittedly it's a 21:47 last train, but that's not _much_ before time out)

So ya'll better show up, or I'll cut yer todgers off. And bring people. I reckon we can make this a night to remember.