I said it at the beginning of 2008 that I was going to seriously get my head into blogging. I meant it and despite only posting half as many entries in 2008 as I did in 2007 I’ve learned far more than I ever have on the subject.

So with that in mind 2009 is lining up to be a far more productive year. My colleagues at work have finally caught on to what I do during my lunchtimes and whilst some have been really interested others have questioned the point. It’s not as if I’m going to end up with an audience the size of say Perez Hilton or Darren Rowse over at Problogger. That’s not why I do it though. I write because I enjoy writing. I’m completely inept when it comes to written English though despite it technically being my first language. I am gradually getting better though thanks to things like this.

During my years at school I was never encouraged to write. I was told to write but thats an entirely different thing. We had the usual book reviews and structured critiques of plays but we were never encouraged to write for the sake of writing. Actually that’s a complete lie as we had a supply teacher for 3 months that did exactly that but that’s a story for another post. Other than that one teacher the only time we were allowed to just write was when it was short story time and even then we had limitations put on us. No less than 500 words and no more than 800 words put a huge limitation on anyone that wanted to just keep going with a story in their head and no matter what your chosen subject was you had to have a twist. It could be the robber getting away like Robin Hood or the unlucky gambler finally hitting big but you had to have that in. You couldn’t have more than one twist though as that wasn’t allowed and if your story didn’t have any and actually worked without it you were forced to include one or pick another subject to write about.

As the years went on I stuck to my maths, tech drawing and computing and lost almost every skill I ever gained in the English classes. So much so in fact that I had to rely on a girl in class to help me through my final round of English modules before I left school. I did the video production, editing and graphics whilst she did everything else. As it was a group mark we all passed but only just. These days though I have stories running through my heads from all the roleplay campaigns I’ve played in the past as well as those I want to play in the future. I also have the need to write on topics that interest me other than storytelling. Again it’s not my forte but I enjoy it. My wife encourages me and has gave me a huge boost by telling me exactly why she enjoys reading my writing when I put my mind to it. She says it’s like having a conversation with me as I lay things out in exactly the same way as I would when going on at length about something I care about when I talk to her. If just on person other than myself thinks that about something I’ve written then I’ve won a watch.

I don’t write for anyone but myself but I will admit to being a stat junkie but that’s more down to my years of playing computer games and having to get a higher points total than your mate. My wife has a few blogs herself so there’s a constant battle with that side of things. She has more subscribers but I get far more daily viewers… usually.

The only other piece of advice is taken from Wil Wheaton. Don’t be afraid to suck. It’s going to happen and if it does and noone reads what I have to say than so be it. As I’ve said it doesn’t get written for anyone other than myself anyway so if I get it right and people do like it then it’s something to learn from and to try and replicate in future. For every post that I get a new reader from I’ll have ten that will only ever be read by close friends and family so it’s no use it effecting my writing.

That was a bit of an aimless ramble though so I’ll leave it at that and get stuck back into tidying and coming up with a new tructure for my blogs for 2009.

I’ve neglected you for a while but I’ll be back and give you a spring clean soon enough

The reason why I’m here is that I noticed something last night that depressed me slightly. My son is no longer a baby. It’s quite obvious to see that when you look at him but you know what I mean. He’s the biggest in his nursery class despite being the youngest but he’s always been a baby. that was until last night. He’s came on in leaps and bounds since starting nursery but last night was the first time I looked at him and seen a wee boy staring back at me. You could see the intelligence working overtime behind those eyes of his.

I’ve finally got a computer I can turn off and not have to worry about it maybe not turning back on again!

Thanks to my lovely wife I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago.

And it was finally delivered yesterday. No longer do I need to use an old 14″ CRT after my flatscreen blewup. No longer do I need to fight with the on switch to get it to boot up. No longer do I have to fit all my computer time into the space of breakfast and dinner.

The thing is a beast though. Its a mid range version of a mid range model so whilst its got a few bells and whistles they are very basic. Nothing as fancy as Vonnies XPS laptop at any rate despite it having similar specs. What makes it a beast however is that I’ve went from being used to a 13″ laptop to a 17″ widescreen laptop. The keyboards got a bloody number pad its that wide! I don’t actually think it will fit in any of my laptop bags.

Anyway it runs games at higher resolutions and at higher frame rates than my desktop which I’m surprised by but its certainly not something I’m going to complain about. It won’t be running the latest games but anything I have to throw at it just now it will handle with ease.

Now to get a decent mouse for it.

So I’ve been ill. Turns out my fatigue at the weekend wasn’t just the dark mornings messing with my sleep patterns. Going on the doctors views I’ve been hit with a virus as well as my migraines playing up and because of my heart problems I’ve had to give several vails of blood so they can run a full battery of tests just in case theres anything that might act up later on.

Add to this my doc has changed my migraine medication. Part of the symptoms of my normal run of the mill migraine is that I get nausous and lose my appetite and the pills I’ve been on doing well with getting rid of the pain but they’ve been making my stomach problems worse. I’m now on Maxalt which is a gel form pill that melts in your mouth and actually works better if your stomachs empty. As with all these kinds of medication you get the drowsy warning and usually they do make me sleepy. I took one of the new pills this morning and it felt like the world was closing in. It got rid of the migraine almost straight away and everything else seems normal but 30  minutes after taking the pill I started getting tunnel vision. I also started to lose coordination. I’m not the least clumsy person normally but this morning i’ve been misjuging distances left right and centre.

Im sore and tired and I’m going to sleep.

I’m feeling really anxious today and I don’t know why. Over the weekend the dark mornings meant the kids slept longer which in turn meant i got to sleep longer. I think that extra sleep has totally messed with my bodies routine.

So we’ve finally managed to track down my echo results. Apparently they were returned on the 9th September and they’ve been kicking about the system since then. My doc asked for the cardiologist to see me and finish things off which was nice. What wasn’t so nice was that whilst my echo came back as clear for the symptoms of pericardiatis it also showed abnormal septal movement which my doc wasn’t sure he should tell me.

So now I’ve got to wait until the hospital get back with an appointment. This wouldn’t be so bad but the doctor also said that I shouldn’t go anywhere near a gym or do anything more that a brisk walk or swim for exercise. All those nights dancing or playing with the kids in the street apparently weren’t good for me. Who’d have thunk it?

750g Chicken
2 Carrots
2 Onions
2 Tins Chopped Tomatoes
9 Pitted Dates
Handful Dried Apricots
1 Tsp Turmuric
1 Tsp Cumin
1 Tsp Garam Masala
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Ground Black Pepper
Tiny bit of Ground Cloves
2 Cloves of Garlic

Fry the onion with the spices and add the chopped chicken after a few minutes. Once the chicken starts to cook add the carrots, fruit and tinned chopped tomatos. Mix it all together and transfer to the slow cooker and cook on med for 4 hours. Stick on low until ready to serve.

Serve with couscous and enjoy.

Hopefully it’ll taste nice otherwise I’ll put this one down to experience and call in pizza :p

And I’ve only just worked out why tissue paper is so named.

I need to get out more.