Batman conundrum

This has been bugging me for a while now.  The first Batman computer game was a "3D" isometric game in the same mould as Head Over Heels, Alien-8, Nightshade etc.  Looked like this:

Anyway, I was sure that there was an occasional occurrence that the game would take pity on you after you lost your last life and gave you a "doggie's life" or something like that (probably a reference to the slang phrase "a dog's chance" i.e. a slim chance).  However, I googled as hard as I could and found loads of screenshots, reviews, cheats and maps but could find no reference to this phenomenon.  So the only thing to do was to go back in time and play it again, Sam.

I was right!

Back to the room you "died" in, zero lives left.  I KNEW IT!  Score one for Matt's memory, and now this fact is documented on the web.

Why is this even important?  Well, I am in the middle of restoring a 1975 Gibson Ripper bass and I thought that this particular video game moment was similar to the second chance that this bass is getting to be a viable instrument again.  So much so that I'm considering putting that bloody ugly, pixellated dog on the headstock, in homage to both the sentiment and the actual video game.

Neglect

It appears to me that I have become more and more insular as time has gone on.  I don't know what I do any more and I don't know who I do it with.  Have I forsaken my friends, or have they forsaken me?  For what it's worth, I accept part of the blame, for not being proactive, for not nourishing and sustaining friendships that have withered and I hope not died.  Blame is a strong word though, for I do not seek explanation, only a return to simpler times when involvement in activities was assured rather than cautiously asked for.

I am sorry for all the friendships I have let lapse.  I started to think that I was an inconvenience to others, and that it wasn't cool to invite myself round to your houses, that you all had busy lives that I didn't want to unbalance.  I hope this was a silly, groundless thought.

Next year, things are going to change.  I am going to make a pest of myself, and if you do mind then I'm sure you'll let me know, as you are my friends and I would like to think you would tell me straight.

Have a good Hogmanay, and I will be annoying you in the near future.

Help Jayne continue her operatic journey!

My wife Jayne has been accepted onto an opera production down in London and while it's an amazing opportunity, travelling back and forth to London isn't going to be much fun.  She is looking for sponsors to help her along her way.  She can explain it way better than me, but if you'd like to see what she's up to then go here:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JayneJayneCarmichaelNorrie

Aren't you getting a bit old for this, Aberdeen?

Where have all the bees gone?  Don't blame the miserable summer, they're all buzzing around in various people's bonnets in the aftermath of a serious uppercut landed in the continuing bout between supporters of retaining UTG and proponents of the CGP (and I don't believe for one minute that this bruising, attritional, weary war of words and dubious deeds is over yet).

I always said that I was against CGP.  I always said that the sums didn't add up for me.  However, once the referendum went through and my side lost, I shut the hell up about it.  So now things have swung back to my way of thinking, am I happy?  Not really.  I always had a suspicion that everyone in Aberdeen basically despises anyone they don't know. The only result we're left with post referendum is an already divided populous which has been carved almost right down the middle thanks to a merely mathematical (and as it turns out, pointless) majority.  You might as well start making up sandbags.  This isn't over.  This is just beginning.  Civil war in Aberdeen, except conducted by a bunch of Internet hard nuts and keyboard warriors.  Battle has already resumed and they didn't even have the courtesy to wait until I get some popcorn!  Now that's just rude.

Do I think that democracy has been damaged?  Hardly - it's broken by design.

Do I think that all the Internet based "debate" is damaging to Aberdeen?  Most definitely.  When I read some of the "debate" that is ongoing on Facebook or Twitter, all it boils down to for me is this:

crowd arguing

This is a pretty good approximation of what I imagine you would all sound like if we put you all in the Beach Ballroom and asked you to have a "debate".  Come on, some of you can't even spell your insults correctly.  Quantity of Facebook "likes" being used as an analogy for testicle size and the moral right to... tell people how it should be?  Reports of dissenting views being deleted because they don't tally up with the prevailing way of thinking on a particular page?  Pathetic.

To all those who engage in this tiresome charade - you all disgust me with your petty, childish, bitter behaviour.  We're going nowhere, fast, and you aren't helping one iota.

Yay, it's 1997 again!

And that would make me ... 22.  Man, time flies.

Tonight is the night I decided to switch the criminally underused stereo on and put a CD on.  I'm not sure what the motivation was, I was watching the documentary "An Ox's Tale" about John Entwistle (bass player in The Who, in case you didn't know) and ended up feeling a bit sad (y'know, 'cos he's dead and all that).  Then I remembered a while back I was feeling all guilty about having hundreds of CDs that I never listen to so I decided to finally do something about it.

I didn't put much thought into choosing a CD, the first letter I looked at was S and I had an urge to put on Supergrass, "In It for the Money".  I fired up the amp, the CD player and the graphic equaliser and stuck it on.  I'd like to tell you that I was whisked away to a magical fantasy land, but the Android phone, the Intel i5 sticker on the laptop, the electricity monitor and the fact that I just tweeted the picture to the left kept me in the 21st century.

All the same, it felt like I had reclaimed or rediscovered something about me, something I had forgotten, something I used to like about myself and it felt good.

CD's nearly coming to an end ("Sometimes I Make You Sad") - one more for tonight, I wonder if I'll keep with the 1997 theme or put something classic on...

Health kick

Recently, we've made a couple changes to see if we can be a bit more healthy.

1) I'm joining Jayne at Zumba once a week.  At present I am the only bloke attending this particular session.  I had a brief flashback to school when the male membership of the recorder group dwindled away to just me (I left as soon as that happened - oh, if I knew then what I know now), but I just had an attack of  "what the hell" and got stuck in.  I lack co-ordination and tend to throw myself about like an idiot, but it gets the heart going and sweat running so I must be doing something.

2) We're doing Meat Free Mondays (http://www.meatfreemondays.com/) - it's been three weeks now and it's no bother - while I enjoy eating meat, I'm not completely closed minded to meals without meat.  Quorn, as you can imagine has figured quite heavily in things so far but I will branch out and try some recipes as the weeks go on.  Not my turn next week though, so I've got a bit of time to prepare :)

Hopefully these small changes will make a difference to health and energy levels.  Not that I have been feeling unhealthy or lethargic, but I have thought over the past few years that I could do better.  Time will tell.

Freedom of speech?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-17858257

This news item made me think, along with the other stuff, like people being pulled up for clearly jokey threats to blow up airports about how our freedom of speech is being eroded.  Now it's not nice to wish harm on people, and advocating that someone be shot is a bit harsh.  But surely all it requires is a time out, a calm down, and an apology?  Who is actually going to shoot someone on the vague urgings of a tweet?  Would a bomber say "I'm going to blow up an airport" before they go and do it?  Preposterous.

Perhaps I should be arrested too.  I have a confession to make.  

The year was 1994, it was summer and the World Cup was in full swing.  Beer was consumed and football was watched.  The USA were playing the fancied Columbia in the first round.  I vaguely remember it being an exciting match and I can still remember the feeling of utter disbelief when the unfortunate Andrés Escobar scored an own goal a striker would have been proud of in his attempt to cut out a USA cross.

I remember this moment like it was yesterday.  A friend and I stood up simultaneously, pointed at the telly and in unison proclaimed "THAT BLOKE SHOULD BE SHOT!"

Anyone with a passing interest in international football probably knows what happened next.  For those of you who haven't figured out where I'm going with this see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9s_Escobar - basically he went home and a week later he was shot dead outside a nightclub.

What I did is exactly the same as what has been happening in all this draconian smacking down of off-the-cuff remarks on social networking on the Internet. You had better come down and arrest me, for I have been a very naughty boy.  Even worse, the "harm" that I wished on someone actually came true.  Clearly that makes me prime suspect.

Or maybe some sense could be seen.  It's very simple - either you arrest and charge all the 4000+ people who repeated Paul Chambers' chilling threat on Robin Hood Airport, or you let him off.  He made an off-the-cuff remark for which he has apologised.  Case closed.

Oh, and sorry Andrés, I never actually wanted you to be actually shot, like with a real gun.

End of the road

Hey folks, as you might have noticed, I can't stick at this photo a day malarkey - even with a camera in my pocket at almost all times.  I'm not sure what this says about me other than I'm either very forgetful or very lazy.  Either way, I was always worried about the artistic value of what I was doing.  I always want to have a point to the photos, something interesting to look at but it was getting to the point where I was resisting the urge to just point the camera in a random direction and fire it, just to have something to post. I didn't consider that to be a worthwhile use of my time, or yours come to think of it.  So I've decided to can it.

From now on, there'll only be something here if I feel it's worthy of inclusion, be it pictures, video or words.

Bad Matt

Well, that's me 6 days behind in my "photo a day" thing including today.  Furthermore it isn't the first time I've fallen behind - the big burps of photos might have given that away, after all, when am I far from a computer?  I really have got a problem with attention span.  I'm the sort of person who makes lunch the night before (oh, how organised) and then forgets to grab it from the fridge before leaving for work.  Like today then :(

Lately I have been finding myself a little ill at ease with myself, a bit fed up, a bit demotivated and a bit lethargic.  Only a bit.  Not enough to lump it all under "stress" and take 3 months off work, but just a little gnawing feeling.  I think I just need to get back to a state of being comfortable in my own skin.  I'm a terrible one for editing what gets out into the world, in any interaction you can see me chewing words over in my head before I say them as I sift through the possible outcomes of what I'm about to say.  Now there's nothing wrong with being a bit measured in one's approach to life and using words sparingly and appropriately but it seems that I spend so long mulling it over that the real me is buried somewhere in the middle of a convoluted flow chart in my head.  I've got to realise that I can't control everything.  If you don't share something of yourself then can anyone truly know you as a person?  I can understand being like this with strangers, or people on the outskirts of your social circle - but with your friends, family and - most important of all - one's significant other?  That's out of order and it needs sorted.  It's been going on so long now that I'm losing sight of my understanding of "the real me".  The worst part is that I'm not so sure that I even like the stuff that does escape the inner vault.  I guess that makes me a crap editor as well as a dubious friend, an errant son and a rotten husband.

I'm hoping that typing that out is a springboard from which to start diving into conversations and letting the important people back into my life - properly.

Getting back to the original point (before I hijacked it) there's no excuse other than laziness with a side order of lack of motivation for this lapse in photographic service.  It's not as if I've been rushed off my feet from when I get up in the morning to when I go to bed at night.  I guess I've got some catching up to do, but to be honest I don't know if I'm going to bother.  I'll know by the end of today.

Photo a day 2012 (73/366) - the wedding present

Photo taken in my living room.  One of the more unusual and amusing gifts that we received on our wedding day.  The note reads "Thought I would give you something special to contribute towards your new home" :)

Why I am turning my back on Formula One

I've taken the decision to completely boycott Formula One this season (and all the subsequent seasons that the entire season is not available free to air in its entirety) and considering that F1 is a sport I have followed since I was a kid it's not one I've taken lightly.  I am so angry that the BBC sold out - years ahead of the end of the current contract.

The coverage was getting good again, after the ITV nonsense (ad breaks in Formula One?  Gadzooks!) and having had a couple of seasons of a changing of the guard at the top of the pecking order the racing was quite compelling at times.  The BBC team were getting into their stride (the occasionally cringeworthy exchanges between David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan notwithstanding) and things were coming together nicely.  The on screen info was good.  The driver tracker was a revelation (albeit a few seconds behind what was actually happening).  All these things I will miss.

However, I object most strenuously to my TV license being devalued.  I already pay to watch television in this country.  I refuse to pay more to another company in order to watch the stuff I used to be able to watch in the monthly amount I already allocate to watching television.  I am incensed by this cheapening of the quality of the BBC's output.

Half a season of total weekend coverage is worse than none at all.  I'd rather the BBC had just sold out completely rather than present me with their half baked, half arsed, completely ineffectual half-way house offering, for which no doubt they expect me to be grateful.  Well, I'm not.  I am baffled, disappointed, confused and a little upset, in case you hadn't already noticed.

I've been mulling this over ever since the fateful announcement.  Despite the BBC being a public service it seems that our opinions as licence payers have been completely ignored, nay not even asked for.  There was no vote, there was no seeking of points of view on the matter.  This is what we're doing whether you like it or not, so suck it up, peasants.

I don't suppose that my statistically irrelevant teeny tiny blip on the viewing figures will make much difference, but the various F1 powers-that-be have seriously overestimated my desire to pay extra money to receive the same thing.

In summary: up yours, BBC.  Up yours, Sky.  Up yours, Bernie.  Up yours, F1.

Photo a day 2012 (45/366) - Shedio, Mk II

Photo taken from the top of the outside stairs.  Following on from my picture showing the water damage in the shedio, here is the first attempt to make it watertight - a layer of felt along the ridge.

Alone with my thoughts

Jayne's away in Birmingham just now at a conference thing.  Chico (the cat) has gone outside to take care of business, get some fresh air and maybe hassle some local wildlife.  I have wasted most of my day watching films I've already seen.

I haven't been completely useless - I took Jayne to the station, managed to get the recycling out in time, did a load of washing, hung it out to dry, worked on a bass project that I'm building just now, took care of the dishes which had built up, fed the cat and posted a letter for Jayne.  But I don't feel like I've made much use of another day out of my allotted time on this planet.

The day is drawing to a close and the only sounds I can hear are the call and response of two clocks ticking at each other, a slight whirr and occasional chatter from the hard drive of my laptop, the clacking of the keys as I type and the very faint drone of a ship in the harbour.

It's times like these when I marvel at how lucky I am to have met someone as amazing as Jayne.  It's times like these when I imagine how empty my life would be without her.  I hope and pray that we're together for the long haul and that I don't fuck things up, either with a single catastrophic failure or a slow build up of little failures.  I know she'll be back in a couple of days, but during the very occasional times we're apart, I get as sad as the sad looking house on the electricity monitor which tells you you've gone over your target consumption for the day.

I love you, Jayne.  I miss you and I am just plodding along until you come home again.

xx

Taking care of business

I have decided to sort out some stuff that I should have done years ago.

1) Give blood - it's taken me 17 years of adult life to get around to it, and I'll carry that shame to my grave but last Tuesday I finally gave blood for the first time.  No problems - I passed the questionnaire, the interview and the blood iron test and was able to give my donation.

One cool thing is that I'll get to find out my blood group - I have never known this.  I'm a bit disappointed that I have to wait 12 weeks to go again - with reference to the guilt/shame above I want to go again!  Jayne got a badge for her 10th donation (it was actually her 12th but they forgot to give her the badge at the time - it was a long time ago) and a badge for coming back.  The badge score is 2-0 to her and the competitive side of me is craving badges!

Seriously though, everyone who is physically able and medically allowed to give blood should.  Help a premature baby live and get a free cup of tea and a biscuit - no brainer!

2) Embark on a course of bass lessons - some of you who have seen/heard me play might be thinking "at last!" but it's been something I've been thinking of doing for a couple of years now.  My primary motivation is to improve my sloppy, self-taught technique and learn the whys and hows behind playing.  I'm not content to simply play notes because they sound good and to learn songs in a painfully slowly note by note way.  Already I'm reaping some benefits from knowing major, natural/harmonic minor scales and pentatonic scales.  Some of the theory is taking its sweet time to stick in my head (should have done this 20 years ago!), but I'm confident with continued study and application that I'll get there.

There are other things which are in the process of being sorted, but I can't talk about them right now because they are in the very early fragile stages and the cat isn't ready to be let out of the bag.  Cat owners will know that the cat will leave the bag when it is damn well good and ready unless said bag is violently shaken ;)

Real estate plug

If anyone reading is looking for a property near Glasgow then this recently renovated 2 bed could be the place for you:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-29095072.html

It's in Condorrat, which is near Cumbernauld to the north east of Glasgow.  If you know someone looking around here then pass it on :)

Why do you go to a cash machine?

A weird thing happened last night - I was at the end of a queue for the cash machine and when it came to my turn I found that the guy who had used it before me had left a big wadge of cash in the machine.  Of course, I called the guy back and pointed out his mistake.

There's a problem with that last statement - the "of course" bit.  There was no-one behind me.  The guy was about to walk off and cross the road.  I will admit that there was a brief fast forward video in my head of me grabbing that cash, jumping in my nearby car and speeding off.  This was accompanied by a couple of parallel thoughts.  How much is there?  What kind of bass could I buy with that?

Thoughtcrime?

I'm glad I did the right thing, but don't get me started on the reasoning behind it because that's whole new box for Pandora to open (did I do it because it's the right thing to do, or did I do it out of fear of the consequences of not doing it?)

What the hell is this?  Psychology?  Sociology?  Criminology?  One thing's for sure - I never thought going to the cash machine could be so thought provoking :)

Radio silence

Apologies for the hiss of static emanating from here, things have been more than a little chaotic here due to a recent family bereavement.

I would say normal service will be resumed as soon as possible, but no-one probably noticed the difference in post frequency anyway ;-)

I'll try and post something more substantive in the near future.

Home improvements

I had a week off work last week and as well as a bit of socialising I got stuck into a few jobs which needed doing.

Garden stuff - We've made a start on clearing the crap out of our garden and bomb BBQ shelter.  My dad very kindly offered his assistance and his trailer.  Long story short, we moved 3 trailer loads to the dump civic amenity site recycling centre - a load of wood, a load of rocks/bricks/rubble and a load of general junk.  Treasure found so far - an amount of lead cuttings (from flashings presumably), a rear reflector for my bike, some garden tools (hoe, edging shears).  Disappointment of the proceedings - a table saw which had been left to rot in the shelter.

House stuff - Jayne varnished the fireplace surround to make it darker, I replaced the toilet seat (one of the hinges had broken), we tried some colours for the hall/stairs.

Guitar stuff - The body of the Victory Artist is nearly completely sanded (save for some annoying areas in the horns) and it is officially an Artist once more:

Short story: it's a white backed laser water slide transfer, printed black except the writing, covering the whole piece then protected with several coats of Plasti-kote Fast Dry Enamel, cut back in between with 1000 grit sandpaper.

I have found somewhere to make a 5 ply b/w/b/w/b copy of my pickguard and it went yesterday.

Last week I might have drunk some Guinness.

Chico the cat

After a visit to Mrs Murray's Home for Stray Dogs and Cats and Re-Homing Centre we have a new addition to the family - meet Chico the cat:

He's 1 year old, and according to Jayne is settling in rapidly.  Which, knowing cats, means commandeering the whole house incrementally.  He seems like a friendly sort of chap, so I'm looking forward to having him around.

My life is currently unbalanced in a good way

I am both pleased and worried by the amount of good fortune I have experienced lately, pleased obviously for all the good stuff and worried about what's in the post to balance things out :)

• Won the Euromillons (well £5.50 of them)
• My vegetable garden is coming along in leaps and bounds
• Got a bunch of debt collectors who have been chasing me since October to admit they made a mistake
• Car passed its MOT first time
• Got a lift to the garage from work by a passing colleague

I'm sure there's other stuff but that's enough to illustrate my point.  What worries me is that things will come around and we'll get hit with a run of bad luck, life has a tendency to even out over the long term.

However, I'm currently sunbathing in a sunbeam :)