The Book Title Meme
Posted: Tue 21 March, 2006 Filed under: D4D™, General, Thoughts 3 Comments »From Gordon comes a rather interesting meme-tag thingy…
1. The Dying Of Delight – “Briefly describe an aspect of your life for which ‘The Dying Of Delight’ would be an apt title.â€?
My delight died a long time ago. At the time I didn’t know what it was I was losing, or that it would still bother me so long after it went. I didn’t know what I was doing, I was too young to understand the choices I was making, or that were being made for me.
Looking back, I wonder whether I would change those events – so life-changing in so many ways, I know that if I were to change them, I would be a very different person today. But at the same time, because of those events and the way they changed me, I now sit in a place where I can understand myself well, and by extension can also identify with many other people, and empathise with their lives. Would I change that? I don’t know.
The man who changed me is dead now, I can’t go back and ask him why, I can’t change things, or get questions answered now that at the time I deemed irrelevant. Now, though, I would like answers, and they are as unobtainable as a jar of moonlight.
2. Woken Furies – “Pick another book whose title has some resonance in your life, and write a little about it.â€?
I guess that the entire concept of “Woken Furies” resonates with me quite a bit, the concept of revenge, of letting ones anger and fury freeze over, to wait years even decades for the perfect time when that fury could be thawed out, woken up, and used in the most powerful and righteous way possible. In a different universe, or a parallel existence, I could have found myself becoming a truly vengeful person, wanting retribution against those who have wronged me, or even – in an extreme case – those who I think have wronged me.
3. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time – “Write one more short personal piece – one which matches the book title chosen (in part 2) by the person who tagged you.â€?
Why is it that dogs only ever choose to bark through the night at the times when you’re most exhausted, and most in need of sleep?
(How’s that for short?)
4. Wireless, by Jack O’Connell – “Take your favourite little-known book and plug it to your readers. Authors need incomes, and word of mouth is one of the best ways to sell books.â€?
I never quite figured out why I love Wireless so much. It’s a very odd story where you never actually find out who two of the main protagonists are, and where strange things happen for various reasons. Centring (loosely) around a bar called Wireless, but looking at hackers, radio jammers, DJs, talk radio, and a whole lot of other things, it grabbed me on the first read and has been one I regularly return to ever since.
Jack O’Connell’s work isn’t for everyone – most of my friends have absolutely hated the stuff he’s written, mainly (I think) because it’s a) bloody weird, and b) a lot of it is obscure and seems to go nowhere. Box Nine was memorable, Wireless I love, Skin Palace is good, and Word Made Flesh is just supremely weird. He seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet now, although I’d love to see something new come about.
5. Sit back and marvel at the magnificence of this meme.
It was brought to you by an out-of-breath author, reduced (on account of her publisher having expired) to trundling copies of her book across the internet on a rusty old trolley with one wheel missing, sweating and shouting “Buy me book, Gov?� Now visit www.TheDyingOfDelight.co.uk and see if you’d like a copy for yourself.
6 .Tag five people with this meme
Hmm, a couple of people have already been tagged with this who I’d have asked (Karen and Gordon), so I guess it’ll have to be :
Reversal of Fortune
Posted: Mon 20 March, 2006 Filed under: Thoughts, Weirdness 2 Comments »OK, picture this scenario…
You’re driving in a carpark, and have just gone over a (slightly) raised walkway when you realise there’s a parking space behind you (back over that walkway). Do you…
- Ignore it, drive forwards, and park in the free spot that’s about three car-lengths in front of you (although in fairness you haven’t spotted this one yet, as you’re so focussed on the one behind you)
- Check the mirror, and drive backwards slowly, checking for pedestrians on the walkway or
- Slam the car into reverse, and go backwards as fast as possible without checking for anything at all, and not even looking in the mirror
Knobby today, of course, did c) . So I slapped the back of his car with my hand, to let him know I was there, and not quite prepared to be run over. The dumb fuckwad hadn’t even seen me.
Mind you, the look of shock on his face when he realised was really quite amusing…
Aviation
Posted: Mon 20 March, 2006 Filed under: Animals, D4D™ Leave a comment »Last night was the closest I’ve been to murder in quite a while. And it all comes down to bloody animals. (Again)
As it was, I was completely knackered, and for once just wanted to sleep. So, of course, Psycho Cat decided to sleep on the bed too, right against my legs. First of all, he was using his special “heavier than lead” talent to make sure I couldn’t move the little shit, let alone try to get my legs back under the covers once they got chilly during the night. And then when I tried moving him again, the fucker stuck all his claws into my calf – just a warning, to say “Oi, I’m here” , like I didn’t know already.
Anyway, when that happens, the cat gets a flying lesson. Nothing hard, but he still comes off the bed at speed. Thing is, he doesn’t learn.
Overall, the little bastard had four flying lessons last night before sodding off and sleeping in the chair. And my calf muscle looks like it’s been attacked by a cactus…
Dara O’Briain, Concert Hall, Reading
Posted: Sun 19 March, 2006 Filed under: Reviews(ish) 1 Comment »I’ve been a fairly long-term fan of Dara O’Briain since seeing him host Have I Got News For You, being on QI, and also the set he did on Jack Dee at the Apollo. So when I saw he was doing a UK tour, and playing at Reading’s Concert Hall, I got the tickets pretty quickly.
So quickly, in fact, that we were on the second row of the audience. Which would’ve been great, except that we arrived ten minutes after he’d started. Oh bugger. So yes, the next ten minutes or so involved Yours Truly being quizzed by Yer Man. Thankfully I’m not the kind of person who curls up and dies under interrogation, so I was OK – but all the same, it’s kind of weird, being pointed out and having a conversation with the star of the evening. Bloody funny, though.
And yes, he really was the star of the evening. It’s nice to see a comedian interacting with the audience, finding out stuff about people there, and then using that in the show, rather than just going through a scripted exercise which, while still funny, still loses something in comparison to the way this one was done.
So, so many subjects were covered, including (in no particular order) Air Traffic Control, the champion cow-milker, Wensleydale cows, Bracknell car-thieves (admittedly one of my own contributions), religion, marriage, Fosters, rugby, and many many others.
If you get a chance, go and see the tour. Yer man’s feckin’ awesome.
Testing Drugs
Posted: Sat 18 March, 2006 Filed under: News, Thoughts 3 Comments »Unless you’ve been living in a cave in the desert this week, you’ll know that there’s been a fair amount of hysteria about human drug trials this week, following six people being seriously ill having done a first human test.
Of course, now we’re getting all the shit about “we should never do human trials again”, which seems to me to be missing a couple of pretty relevant points. As Reynolds points out, the drugs that are now being used to treat these men were also tried on humans at some point – they had to be, to get approval in the first place. If human trials are banned, how will any more drugs become approved? Running them on a simulated human in a computer system is all well and good, but then what happens when they’re approved following simulacra testing, and it turns out something was wrong in the sim, and it kills people or harms them in the real world?
Human testing is one of those things that happens. It’s an essential part of drug development, and as such we will always need volunteers to put themselves up for this. Of course, in years gone past, and in cultures now thankfully gone, the people who were the guinea-pigs for new drugs weren’t volunteers at all, but were prisoners of war, people in jails, conscripted soldiers, or “lesser members of society” (in the eyes of that society, anyway) who were seen as sub-human, but who were good for things like this, where in effect it didn’t matter if the results of the trial were fatal or harmful, the victims/subjects could just be buried and forgotten. I don’t want to go back to a society or a perspective like that – but that’s the alternative, forcing people to test these things if people won’t volunteer to do it.
I’ve considered taking part in medical trials before – and been right up to the final selection levels. Personally, I feel that if someone objects to testing drugs on animals, then they should be prepared to stand in the place of those animals and allow the tests to happen on themselves instead. Having the courage of one’s convictions, and all that jazz.
All the people who volunteered to take part in this trial gave their consent. They were made aware of the potential risks, and what could happen. Of course this result was unexpected – and I suspect that the volunteers had the standard human thought-process of “It won’t happen to me”, if indeed they even really thought about the true potential effects of trialling these drugs.
If I’m honest, the potential for life-altering – and potentially long-term damage and alteration – was what put me off going through with the tests and trials. On a cynical point of view, the test I was going for also didn’t pay enough for those potential long-term risks. But I can understand why people do submit to these trials, and I’d hate to see the alternatives make a comeback…
Altering Attitudes
Posted: Fri 17 March, 2006 Filed under: Animals, Domestic 2 Comments »This morning something quite special happened. Absolutely irrelevant to anyone else, but still, sod it, I’m going to write a little bit about it.
I’ve been with Herself now for heading towards 2 years, (about 21 months currently, if anyone cares about accuracy) and living with her now for just over a year (about 14 months, ditto). In all that time, Hound has been getting used to me, and allowing me to do more stuff with her – it started with walks, following commands, feeding her, playing with her (well, being the primary ball-thrower etc.) and that kind of thing.
Again I should point out, feeding her is actually quite a big issue – she suffers from a throat condition called Megaoesophagus, which means we have to feed her dry food by hand. The Megaoesophagus means she can’t swallow properly, all the nerves in her throat are knackered, so she chokes on normal food, has to have a water bottle (like the one on a hamster cage, only bigger), and so on.
All this time, though, she’s always gone back to Herself for affection. I don’t mind – because of the throat condition and a bundle of other things, trust is a big issue for Hound, and she’s also so routine-driven she might as well be autistic. So of course a “new” person was always going to be a bit of a shock to the system/routine, and these things take time to figure out. Particularly for dogs.
Anyway, and to get back to the point of this post, this morning – for the first time ever – Hound actually came over to me for a stroke, and a scratch behind the ears. She even rolled over and let me scratch her belly. And all this got witnessed by herself too.
So yes, I’m actually pretty chuffed. No good reason really, but all the same, I’m happy about it.