Posted: Tue 3 December, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Business, Catering, Domestic, Television, Time, Writing |
Over the last few weeks (I really don’t want to figure out how many weeks) I’ve been unreasonably addicted to Masterchef Australia, which – thankfully – finished last week. It’s been on five days a week, which really has made it quite a timesink, but it’s been fun. I’ve liked the programme in previous seasons – it’s very Australian, which is a very good thing in my book – so it’s been worth the time invested. Up to a point.
As with all TV stuff, I don’t just sit and watch, I’m usually doing other stuff at the same time – including cooking and eating meals that were a lot less technical and inspiring than the stuff on the programme, which I always find somewhat ironic. But all the same, it’s been a lot of time sunk into a TV programme, and while I’ve enjoyed the great majority of it, I’m also somewhat relieved that it’s finished.
Posted: Fri 29 November, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 2013/14, Business, D4D™, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Own Business, Project 42, Thoughts, Time, Weight Loss, Work-related, Writing |
Yes, this is the 6,500th post on D4D™, according to WordPress. So what better time to look at what may be happening here over 2014? (There’s no guarantees, it’s more about where my head’s at right now)
In just over a month, it’ll be 2014. As usual, I’m not making any resolutions for 2014 – that old ‘everyone else does it, so I’m not‘ thing kicking in again – although there is the stuff from Project 42 (i.e. what I want to do from November to November) to consider. Which all means I have to balance out time across a number of things – something I’m renownedly abysmal at doing.
So – what may happen is that D4D may step back a bit, maybe not have the daily updates. (Of course it might stay the same, too. It kind of depends on everything else) I’ve got some writing ideas – as well as some other things I’m not going to go into right now – and I need to make time for them. I’ll still be updating, it just might not be daily.
This coming year is going to be interesting. There’s a lot of potential ideas and plans, a lot of stuff I’d like to do, but I do need to figure things out in order to be somewhat realistic about it as well. I’m going to take time over December to get things in place, work out priorities, form that limited company that needs doing, and a bundle of other prep crap to let 2014 be as productive as possible.
As for D4D™, it’ll keep on going – on and on. I can’t guarantee another 6,500 posts (who could?) but it’s not being planned to die off anytime soon.
Posted: Wed 13 November, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Creativity, D4D™, Domestic, Geeky, Words, Writing |
[Inspired by this post with the same title over at Gordon’s place]
I started writing D4D™ back on August 9th 2002. Eleven years ago – damn, that time’s flown past.
I’ve said this before (almost certainly more than once) but I started blogging primarily because I wanted a project to keep on working on. I’ve always been a lover of the written word, since I learned to read, and I wanted to see if I could write. I’d done other projects along the way, short stories, novella-length and a couple of novel-length as well.
But the main reason was that I know how bad I am at not going through with projects. I start them, and then I move on to something else. I know that about myself, and the basic reason behind D4D was to keep a project going – as well as to get into the habit of writing, and to see whether it spawned anything else.
D4D’s been part of my life ever since. It’s been there through the ups and the downs, and a lot has changed in that eleven years. I had a year or more where the writing fell off a cliff, but this year I’ve worked quite hard to get back into it, and I think that’s been quite successful. There’s still a way to go, but I’m getting back into the habit and the routine of it.
And has it spawned anything else? Well, yes and no. I got into the writing of D4D, but in some ways that supercedes the writing on anything else, and I need to rediscover – or perhaps find at all – the balance between writing here, and writing elsewhere. I’ve got more writing ideas, stories and screenplays, but I need to find the time to write them.
D4D will keep on going for the foreseeable – I’ve still got a long way to go, and I want the ability to look back on things afterwards. I’ve changed a lot in this eleven years, and so has my writing – none of which is surprising, considering that time span – and it’ll be interesting to see how things develop from here on.
And that’s why I blog. Writing, routine, a diary, a repository of ideas and thoughts. D4D is all of that, and more.
Posted: Mon 4 November, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 2012/13, 41 - 42, D4D™, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Work-related, Writing |
Since this time last year, my plans were simple – well, the main goals were, anyway.
The plans, laid out on my last birthday were
- Weigh Less
- Write More
With those simple plans, I actually did OK over the last twelve months – and got a lot more stuff done besides.
For weighing less, I’ve lost just over a stone in the last year. Could be better, could be worse. I’ve monitored my food intake etc. over the year, and kept track of health/exercise/etc., but it’s not been as good as I wanted it to be either. Something to be continued with over the next year, anyway.
For writing more, that’s kind of worked and kind of hasn’t – it depends on what you class as ‘writing’. I’m writing more on D4D, and I’ve written some other pieces along the way (or at least started them, although I’ve also locked up on a couple when they’ve not worked out) so again, successful, but could do more.
I do feel that this last year has laid a lot of groundwork for the next year – I’m getting back into the swing of things, building up my own plans and routine, and generally feeling a lot more prepared for the coming year than I did this time last year.
Posted: Wed 16 October, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Gigs, Literacy, London, Reviews(ish), Sociable, Words, Writing |
Last night I was in London to see Neil Gaiman‘s one-off reading of his new children’s book, “Fortunately, The Milk” at the Methodist Central Hall in London, (also known as Central Hall Westminster) which was also fortuitously a friend‘s birthday (I won’t say which one) As it turned out, we also bumped into Clair
It was excellent. I’d been lucky enough to get tickets when they went on sale, but I know it sold out pretty quickly. The tickets also included a special signed copy of the book as well, so definitely value for money.
It’d been billed as “with special guests”, but with no real clues as to who might turn up – and it turned out that (among others) Neil’s wife, Amanda Palmer came along as a surprise – even to Neil – and Lenny Henry was also there, along with Mitch Benn, and live drawings from the book by Chris Riddell. (who is just ridiculously talented) There were several others who I didn’t immediately recognise, although some research has helped on that score.
The book itself is brilliant – if you’ve got spawn, add it to the Christmas list – and the performance of it was great, with lots of humour, and a brilliant atmosphere all the way through.
As for the venue, well, I want to visit that again and look at it properly – it’s quite amazing in and of itself, and even more so when you look at the history of the place. It’s spectacular inside, and totally not what I’d have expected from the name. It’s about as restrained and subtle as Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
A brilliant evening, even with a jam-packed train ride home. (Apparently there was some sporting event on at Wembley as well, which meant lots of happy football fans)
Posted: Fri 11 October, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Geeky, Ideas, Legal, News, People, Thoughts, Writing |
The BBC today has a fantastic story about Donald Miller, an American man who had disappeared for 8 years, was declared legally dead in 1994, then reappeared in 2005, having been drifting and moving from place to place since 1986.
Because he’d been declared legally dead, his ‘widow’ was given his Social Security death benefits, so when he reappeared – and I’m reading between the lines a little – it looks like they’ve tried to claim that back.
However, because he’s been ‘dead’ so long, that decision can’t be resolved or overturned. Apparently it can be within three years (which is pretty mind-boggling in itself) but not after 19 years – unsurprisingly.
What this means is that Donald Miller remains legally dead.
Of course, my mind went off on a tangent at that point, and thought about how cool this actually is. (in some ways) I wonder what would happen if (for example) he robbed a bank. Could a legally-dead person be charged with a crime? Could it go to court? I suspect not. Even fingerprint checks would – as I understand it – come back as being those of a dead person. And what happens when he does actually die?
It’s all a very odd story, based around odd tenets of law. And I suspect we haven’t heard the last of it.
Posted: Tue 1 October, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 2012/13, 2013/14, Creativity, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Work-related, Writing |
So here we are, the start of the final quarter of 2013. Where has the year gone? It’s been pretty busy, but hard to believe that we’re already three-quarters of the way through the year.
Anyway, such is life. Onwards and upwards, and all that rot.
The final quarter of my 2013 is going to be used preparing for 2014 – at least that’s the intention so far. Whether or not it happens in the way I hope, well, time will tell.
The main things I want to do are about preparation, about going into 2014 with some finished developments, stuff to build on/from, and see what happens. There’s likely to be a fair dollop of work being done, and it feels like the right time to be doing it.
Along with the new contract, which should take me through to the end of the year, I also want to :
- Form up a new limited company for some of the business stuff I’ve got in my head and…
- Write the primary framework for at least one of the ideas
- Write the primary business site to attract attention to the products
- Possibly attend a couple of related exhibitions and trade-shows, in order to drum up some more interest
- Also do some maintenance on stuff I’ve inherited (well, been asked to keep on working on) from Previous Employer
- Get on with some writing – there’s one idea in particular I want to work on
- Continue to work on the losing weight / gaining fitness thing
That’s the ideas, at least. It’s going to be a varied three months, I think, but that’s the basic framework…