The Joy of Tech
Posted: Fri 22 March, 2019 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Domestic, Finances, Geeky, Getting Organised, Rebuilding, Technology, Thoughts 3 Comments »Yesterday, while doing a quick shop on the way to work, I suddenly realised I’d left my wallet at home. Bugger.
I was just about prepared to take everything back to its shelves/locations, when it occurred to me that actually I was still OK – I had my phone with me still. That meant I’d got the ability to make a contactless payment – and because I’d also added the details of my Monzo card/account to the phone, it meant I had everything I needed.
It’s pretty amazing, the way these things have now become so much more mainstream than they were ten years ago, or even five. Since I got the Monzo card eighteen months ago (it’s the only one I have that also connects into my ApplePay account on the phone) I’ve stopped carrying cash except for specific occasions – for example, the car wash I use still only takes cash.
I still prefer to carry physical cards (hence usually having a wallet) but it was still interesting to realise that forgetting it is no longer the “Oh shit!” moment it used to be. (So long as I remember my phone, and that I can use it, anyway)
Ain’t progress grand?
Poorly Sick
Posted: Mon 28 January, 2019 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Health, Travel Leave a comment »It’s that time of year again, where I pick up a cold/flu bug and feel like crap. I think it’s just a cold, although last night I was shivering in bed while also being roastingly hot, so who the hell knows.
Of course, it’s also in a week where I’m stupidly busy and doing a bundle of driving. So that’ll be fun.
Anyway, we’ll see how it goes, and hopefully I’ll feel better before long.
In the meantime, bleurgh.
Ticket Admin
Posted: Mon 21 January, 2019 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Gigs, Single Life Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I spent a bit of time organising myself. Primarily this involved taking all the tickets I currently have on my noticeboard for forthcoming events, and making sure all the dates for them were entered in my phone, so I don’t double-book myself.
The trigger for this was that there was one particular day where I very nearly ended up not just double-booked, but triple-booked. It’s already double-booked, depending on what I decide to do and how some things progress between now and September, but triple-booking would’ve been really silly. Fortunately that latest event is occurring on two consecutive evenings, so I was able to make it into a busy weekend rather than a “for fuck’s sake” weekend.
But it made me realise that there were other things that I hadn’t yet listed in the diary, which was always going to end up biting me at some point.
Now though it’s all good, I’ve got everything diarised – and yes, as it turned out I’d forgotten a couple of booked things (thankfully with no clashes, although there’s one that’s going to make life a little bit interesting along the way) But all sorted for now, and I feel pretty good about that fact.
Subconscious
Posted: Fri 18 January, 2019 Filed under: Car Repairs, Domestic, Dreaming, Driving, Getting Organised, Stupidity, Weirdness Leave a comment »Recently, I came across a really odd thing.
For the last few months, I’ve been experiencing problems with my car at night, with the lights suddenly failing and me driving in absolute darkness.
One night this week I had a drive home where it felt like the same thing had happened again – cars pulling out right in front of me as if they hadn’t seen me, that kind of thing. It happened on enough occasions in a short time that I ended up checking whether my lights were working, thinking “Fuck sake, not again”
And that’s when I realised.
I haven’t been experiencing actual problems with the car. I’ve had dreams that I’ve been experiencing problems – because there’s no way on Earth that I would have not got a problem like that sorted immediately. If I’d had an electrical/lighting failure like that, I’d have taken it to the garage the following morning. But I haven’t – I’ve never even called the garage to make an appointment.
So while my conscious brain has been thinking that there’ve been problems with the car and that I really should get things checked/sorted, my subconscious has been sticking its oar in and stopping that from happening. Somewhere along the line it’s known that these problems have been dreams, and has prevented my conscious from actually calling the garage and getting those things sorted.
All the way through I’d have sworn blind that these problems were happening. And it’s only been when I consciously worried that the same problem had occurred again that I realised the previous occurrences hadn’t actually happened.
And that, with no shadow of a doubt, is really bloody weird.
Clearing The Decks
Posted: Wed 9 January, 2019 Filed under: 2018/19, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised Leave a comment »One of the things I’ve been working on over the last month or so is finishing off some outstanding projects. Happily, so far I can say it’s been pretty successful.
I’ve been able to complete two web things that have been hanging around for a while – there will be more stuff to be done in the future on them, but right now they’re in a state where I can take them off my list.
I’ve also been able to get back into another couple of things that I’d like to get done, and that are some of the key parts of plans for 2019, so that’s feeling pretty positive two.
Of course, me being me, there are also a couple of other new things that I want to do, and now I’m at a point where I can at least make the initial steps and plans for those as well.
It’s been a good start – now I just have to keep on going in a similar direction. Only time will tell how I do on that score.
Starting The Year
Posted: Tue 1 January, 2019 Filed under: 2018/19, Business, Change, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Resolutions, Thoughts Leave a comment »And so, Happy New Year. Another orbit round the sun, and as is the tradition, some thoughts about what’s coming.
As usual, I don’t really do resolutions – particularly not New Year’s ones. I do a list around my birthday, which can be found here, but I’m thinking about some changes this year as part of that as well.
One of the things that will change a bit is that I’m going to put more into sorting out routines for things, rather than necessarily just looking at the goals themselves. There are a couple of bits on my list where it’s about “I want to have done [x]”, and that’s fine. But more of them are about “I want to achieve [y]”, and while I’ve always had the intention, the actuality has evaded me.
Last year I got pointed at this article about creating systems rather than setting goals, and it rang a major bell with me.
All told, I’m in a good place to get started on this stuff.
I’ve just completed version one of a project for another contact, and I’ve done pretty much all I can on it until they get back to me with final information. It’s a working version, although I’ve had to replace some of the functionality/information I’m waiting for with automated processes for the minute. But I’m happy with where it is, and it’s now out of my brain, which is A Good Thing.
Of course, it’s immediately been replaced with another project – this one something that’s important to me as well – which I want to work on sooner rather than later.
So, Happy New Year. Onwards and upwards, etc. etc.
And as one of the Doctors would say, “Allons-y!”