boreders

Sometimes work can feel like you’re a kid in the ball pit looking out through the safety netting to the grown-ups. As you watch, you see they’re not interested in you and are having an earnest discussion about something. If you left the play area and asked, they’d probably tell you it was a chat about grown-up stuff and you should go back and play with your friends.

I’m sure it isn’t intentional, but whenever a big change occurs that is exactly how it feels. The more significant the change, the longer the earnest chat and the more time you get to spend in the netting… Despite the fact you’re ready for your Kids Meal now and all this bouncing around is making you feel a bit sick to be honest.

It’ll pass, I know; but in the meantime you’re left in a state if limbo. You don’t want to disturb the adults again and tell them you’re hungry now because they might take it the wrong way. However, you REALLY will be sick if you have to stay in the ball pit a moment longer.

YouAre Theme Demo shows off a neat looking theme for the blog keyed in to self-promotion. Looks remarkably easy to customise right from the Dashboard – judging by the screenshots on the site.

I shall have to give it a spin myself sometime and see how well it handles…

On a tangent, how come when you plan to do something or go somewhere, the weather spontaneously turns to precipitous shit. I have precious few days off in the year as it is, so I would really appreciate the world giving me a break and serving up some benign meteorological conditions, damn it.

I’ve just been watching a new episode of Bones, and realized it isn’t very good. Oh, I like the concept well enough, the characters within the ensemble, the witty banter, and more than one of the actresses. However, I find the stories deeply unsatisfying.

If I watch a detective series, I want to stand a cat-in-hell’s chance of solving the crime myself, with or before the characters. I have found, of late, that too many episodes have murderers who were at best extras with a fleeting influence on the story or hinge on evidence so flimsy as to be laughable. In a recent episode where a guy died in a safari reserve, it turned out the killer was a nurse at the victim’s hospital we heard in passing 10 minutes into the story and then not again until the conclusion. I might need to review the content of the episode, but I’m sure there was nothing that would have allowed you to pin the crime on her from facts gleaned in the story. Really, I could be wrong, but if I’m not feeling satisfied, then it isn’t really working as planned. In the last episode, they listed dozens of substances that might have left a false positive on a forensic test, then latched onto pond scum – which linked the crime to one of three characters… Despite the fact one of the other substances being cleaning fluid. Daft!

I may just stick to reading the books… They seem to make more sense.

Rupert Galvin… Philip Glenister… Demons… American accent… WHY???

Seriously, Philip has a perfectly decent accent all of his own. I don’t mean DCI Hunt’s gruff tones, I means his own accent. So, why make him speak with a faux American accent, likely to put me off watching the series?

I love my pets as much as the next pet-lover (our family includes three cats, four gerbils, three hamsters, a fish, and a sea anenome), but… I can’t help feeling two Fire Engines coming out to rescue a lost hamster represents a massive waste of manpower and tax-payers money.

Relevant reading:

Seriously. I could not believe the results today. A-Levels better than last year, for the 325th year in a row (or something like that). I mean, what rot. Anyway, thinking this is ridiculous, the guy on the radio explains that while the A-Levels may not have become easier and the students may not have become cleverer, one reason why they do so well is that there is currently no limit on how many times you can retake your A-Level. Up to 2000 (maybe 2001), you could only retake once; but, now you can retake them again and again. One student said it was quite possible to go from a fail to an A Grade through retakes.

I mean, that’s like when I took my driving test. I passed, as many other people have done. However, it took me three attempts to make it. Now, I may not be better or worse than the next man, but I did have a certain advantage in getting to try, try, try again. If it had to be first time or nothing, I would now be relying on public transport. If I had tried ten times, I might well have avoided several early accidents and dinks suffered.

Repeat attempts just don’t seem fair in some circumstances. I got a B, D, and an E Grade at A-level. Now, I might well have got A, C and a D with retakes… heck, I might have managed to swing three A Grade A-levels and got that place in Durham I was so keen on.

So, having grumbled about the nonsense of grades in the last fews years, I now can’t be bothered with it. I took a completely different A-level to the exam they run today – and when it comes down to it, I’m not going to use my exams to prove anything if I apply for another job.

Currently reading:

OK… fanboy excitement keeps me roaming around for tidbits about the ‘Watchmen’ movie, so when I spotted a few new promo pics on the front of IMDB.com, I had to go check. So, there I find several fine images of the characters… and a bewildered picture masquerading as Dave Gibbons.

This page features an image of Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

This is Dave Gibbons. I know… I have met him on several occasions (and have a fine picture of both Dr Manhattan and Rorschach in my copy of the graphic novel):

And here he is with slightly less hair (if you had a copy of the ‘Watchmen’ from 20 years ago, you’d see a Dave Gibbons with a LOT of hair):

Relevant reading:

In an action that seems to beggar belief, Games Workshop has decided to stop game related publications by the Black Library – meaning an end to Talisman and Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Dark Heresy, amongst others. In an announcement dated 28th January, the fate of these lines was sealed – with a decision to concentrate solely on novels instead. Just three days earlier, ‘Dark Heresy’ saw release through the likes of Amazon, and sold out immediately. So, you can understand the fundamental logic behind the decision.

Talisman only just came out last year after a lengthy absence where the eBay market flourished. You could sell a complete set of Talisman, supplements and all, for £700+, with the basic game 1st edition game going for £30+, with the 2nd or 3rd edition going for more. To have waited this long to have it pulled again…

It feels like a short term decision, taken based solely on current trends and profits. I have more thoughts on this that I’d like to back up with some evidence from a similar decision made a while back – that invariably proved short-sighted as well – but I don’t have it to hand. I’ll update when I have it with me…

I have an cold coming. A slow, insidious bug of some kind intent on taking its time. Having spent too long in a freezing cold meeting room on Thursday, I had a sore throat by Friday… and now, it’s got worse. The minor sore throat now feels like I have pebble-dashed the inside of my neck with gravel. I have an extra touch of Barry White in the tone of my voice – and a gathering feeling of congestion. I hate this sort of stuff… I really do.

Why is it that one days when I decide not to bring a packed lunch to work the prepared dinners prove to look as unappetizing as possible? Or fail to be what you recalled seeing on the menu earlier in the week. I mean, I didn’t bring a lunch in today and recalled seeing roast beef or some kind of meat ball dish on the menu. The beef didn’t materialise and the meat ball meal came in at £2 without much in the way of supporting side dish – savoury rice that has sat under a heat lamp for an hour… Hmm… Now, let me think whether I fancy one scoop or two!

So, I end up eating crisps instead – admittedly cheaper, but far from the filling, warming meal I had hoped for. Maybe I should lower my expectations or go out somewhere for something to eat? Then I might not end up so damned hungry and disappointed.