I’m always a fan of people having fun, specially when they do it well and entertain us in the process. Chad, Matt and Rob are a group of 3 guys that like to entertain with pranks and video hi-jinx. This video is their most highly shown video with over 1.6 million views on You Tube, however some of their other stuff is good too. Check out their other videos such as Chad takes the boys to the Zoo to film some animals.
My feedback here is just one man’s opinion, so please don’t take it to heart, or take it as me having a go, it’s just a point of view. I haven’t fought a War since last Spring War and I doubt I’ll be fighting this one. That’s not to say that I’m not interested in it at all any more… Just that there are a number of factors that have dulled my interest in it to the point that it’s not as much fun any more, some of these are purely personal reasons.
These reasons are my own, and I certainly don’t speak from any great authority on the matter. I’m just someone who fought for a year, and hasn’t bothered since. And a year is all it was… Spring War 2006 was when I was Authorised, and Spring War 2007 was when I last fought. I’m not say I will never fight as an Archer again, or that I even feel that strongly about it. All I’m saying is that these factors have influenced my decision to take a break. When I get interested enough again I might actually make an effort to ignore these reasons, but as it stands these are the reasons I cite as being why I just couldn’t be bothered fighting anymore.
I don’t usually do this kind of stuff… Cross-posting random stuff from the internet… But a friend IM’d me this this morning and well, apart from the creepy almost but not quite eerie music, it’s actually quite intriguing. Another step on the way to living forever.
Rat Brain Robot Removed due to crappy MySpace Autoplay, follow the link if you want to see it.
Won’t be long before the military are putting dead solders brains into robotic bodies, and getting them to police the neighbourhood. ;)
The Lochac Network - An Independent Alternative source of all things Lochac.
Forever an advocate of free speech, and free information, I have taken steps to create an alternative communications channel for Lochac on the Internet. The Lochac Network is a forum and website specifically designed to bring Lochac together by allowing people one login and open access to most of the site. It also allows forum security so should people want a more private communication channel that is still part of the same network, that too is available.
This is by no means intended to take over from existing communications channels, and is only meant to provide an alternative viewpoint. Mainly it’s meant to provide a nice easy to remember web address that gives you quick and easy access to discussions as well as group websites, A&S information as well as give a nice easy ready to go forum for any small groups who want to get together.
So, if you are part of a group that would like your own forum, check out http://forum.lochac.net, chances are there’s a forum in there for you to use, and if there isn’t, send me a message and I shall create one for you.
So, seems I stuffed up slightly and was cross-posting stuff that I shouldn’t have. If you have been viewing stuff on my LJ, then the photo series that has been showing up there daily is from http://www.clickofcreativity.com the website of a friend called Korske. I have stopped the automated cross-posting now, as it seems I cannot seem to find the time to actually get it to work correctly and link back to the website. I hope you enjoyed it whilst you can, and if I do ever work out how to convince the syndication software to do the right thing, then I shall start posting them again.
A recent discussion with a friend got me thinking all philosophical like…
This friend was telling me how they occasionally felt paranoid, and possibly even shut out by those around them. It’s something I deal with daily, but have learnt to accept. I’m still a loner, still someone who likes to find my own path sometimes, but I do acknowledge that I suffer from occasional bursts of paranoia and sensitivity. I have learnt to deal with it through being aware of a few key things, things which are philosophically based, and which help me to not only be more accepting and more tolerant, they have taught me to see the forest as well as the trees, they have taught me that my own opinion is just as valid as anyone elses.
So… What is normal anyway? The dictionary says:
However that doesn’t really define normal does it? In fact it points to normal just being a statistically agreed upon average. When we are talking about Normal as a state of being, then how can that have a statistical average? What would have had to have taken place is that a group of people have categorised personalities, and placed them on a scale. Is that normal? Maybe someone will elaborate on this for us later, however I shall continue. So we have all these categories, then how do we work out what’s normal and whats not? Surely that just comes down to a popularity contest?
After all, isn’t democracy based on a popularity contest? You vote for the party, the group that you feel is offering the best chance for things to work in your favour. Maybe things don’t work out, and their are more people voting for someone else… you discover you are in a minority… Maybe your perspective changes, you feel that maybe you are wrong in your thoughts and you want to be where all the cool people are… So next time around you vote to win, to be on the winning side. Some people sacrifice their values to be what they believe is right, what they believe is right is not always controlled by them, but by those who control the information, those who make things popular. But I digress… Popularity influences Normalcy, Normalcy influences Popularity.
In my humble opinion Douglas Adams was closer to the answer to the ultimate question than we would be happy to admit. Forty Two… That IS the answer, but what is the question? What IS Normal? What is life? Isn’t Normalcy really just a matter of perspective? Our lives lead us to live by a set of morals, we develop our own code. But isn’t that code just as unique as DNA? 35 Years I have lived… and even if I had a cojoined twin brother born at the same time, joined at the hip who shared every experience I did, he would never share the same perspective of life, his would always be about 18 inches to the side. Perspective moulds us into what we are. Sure we can have similar experiences that effect us in very similar ways, but no matter what, we are all unique, our life experiences are unique our moral code is unique, our opinions. No two people have the same perspective on life, the universe and everything. So what does that mean?
That means that everything I have just writtten here is written from my heart, from my perspective, and it is part of my code. It is my opinion. Whether it is Right… whether it is normal doesn’t actually matter. For it is Normal to me, and whilst it might spark some judgement in yourself, it it cannot change the fact that that the time of writing it is what I call normal. Now that said, other peoples opinions of normal might differ, and if they express them in an orderly and understandable way… it might actually shift my understanding of normal. If they express them as an opinion that is right, and the only opinion that matters, then I’m just likely to think they are are slightly deranged and have no sense of how the world about the really works. But thats just me.
What’s your Normal? ;)
As yet another Hallmark inspired day proaches, I ponder the wonderful man that is my father. Like all of us he has his flaws, his vises and his adorable qualities… Though all of these are simply from my own perspective. insomnier has given me time tonight to mull over my times with the man that is my father, sorting out the issues that to this day mean that while I love him dearly and wish to be able to spend more time with him, I find myself having little in common with him. I have thought about how I believe his life has moulded mine and about how his influences have made me into the man I am today.
The thing I discovered is that I’m not all that different than the cliche that TV seems to show us. Life it seems tends to drive our fathers away from us, turning them into serious men who need to work for a living and have less and less time for the little things in life. Is this the culture of Australia these last 30 years? Or is this just the results of the situations that life seems to put us in. Am I destined to repeat my parents mistakes? Personally I don’t think so… personally I believe that as children we our lives are moulded from the success and failure of our parents. Some of us strive not to do the things that our parents did that hurt us, some of us seem destined to repeat them.
My childhood wasn’t the happiest of childhoods, I grew up for the first 6 years of my life in what I saw as a loving family. My father would spend time with us, and would include us in his life. In those days he was an entertainer, an avid folk musician and someone who loved to entertain people. He was an actor in the pantomime scene when I was starting school, and this made for some great times as we would get to be involved in him making costumes and props for the shows. Sure, getting involved meant watching from a distance and maybe playing after, but he made us feel special by including us.
This was a great way to grow up as a kid, but unfortunately it wasn’t able to support a family of five. I guess Dad needed to make more money to be able to support us, which meant a serious job. Unfortunately a serious job meant moving us from Brisbane to Melbourne, and it also meant that Dad was working serious hours, you know… the whole 9 to 5 thing. It was serious and that turned him into a serious person. One who needed to make money so that his family could live in a house, eat food and well, maybe have a little money left over to do things on the weekends. Does this sound familiar?
Watching life happen around me these days I can see that the failed marriage, the trying to spend time with us but also trying to juggle work, a new girlfriend, and the expense of still having to support a family is really just par for the course. But it’s taken over 30 years for this realisation to come to me. Anyway, back to the story…
The thing is.. the seriousness of life seemed to seep into my father and my new step-mother. Whilst they tried and well, did a damn good job of spending time with us, and ensuring that we knew we were loved, we could always tell that the seriousness of their jobs was something that effected them more than they were willing to admit. Now, before I go on, I have to admit that we got to a point where we were only seeing them on School holidays, as they were living in Sydney and well.. we were in Melbourne and then back to Brisbane. Looking back now, I can see that they must have tried really hard to for those one or two week long periods when we stayed with them.
From my perspective the seriousness of life and the way that my father and step mother seemed to believe was a good way to bring up kids seemed to clash. Sure there were great times, and they were no where near as serious as I have seen some other parents. However I believe it affected me, and I believe the seriousness that was thrust at me during my childhood was the reason that these days I find it hard to take life too seriously. Life is here to be enjoyed, and kids are here to remind us of that. I believe that my father is just begining to realise that these days, and I also believe that I have little right to judge him for his seriousness when I have not taken the time to settle down and raise a family myself. Really though, I don’t judge him or my step-mother at all, how can I when I have not walked in their shoes, lived life through their eyes, or felt the weight of responsibility on their shoulders. I cannot. What I can do is attempt to understand their perspective, their decisions in life, and learn from that.
Do I blame them for how I turned out? Hell yes! As I blame everyone who has had influence in my life through the years. But blame is such a harsh word and I feel that I have turned out OK so far, so whilst I blame these people, I also thank them, I thank all of you who have had some influence over who I have become, but most of all I thank my Dad. His seriousness might make it hard for us to find topics of conversation, but it has turned me into the person I am today, and I love him for that, and for him just being him.
There’s currently a discussion blazing away on The Shambles that really got me thinking about things, so I thought I would share my thoughts here, as it’s all pretty much been said on The Shambles.
The discussion was started by one Mr Eric TF Bat, who is a great instigator of many a roaring great discussion, knowing just the right buttons to press and having just the right lever to get that ball rolling. I am a great fan and envious of his skills. Mr Bat quite innocently (well…) put to The Shambles reading audience the question of whether there were some SCAdianisms that should be weeded out and stamped on with great gusto. Some of those on the list were such things as ‘The Eric’, ‘Garb’ and even ‘Troll’. The word Garb even made it into his list of “And some I’d like to see fade (or stamp out, violently)”.
Whilst Mr Bats opinions are shared by some, and not by others I thought I would share my own perspective on this matter here. These are my thoughts and my opinions that I share purely for well… me actually. First a little history of my involvement in the SCA…
I was first introduced to the SCA about 15 years ago, back then it seemed fun, quirky and a little scary. It was something I could see myself getting swept up in quite easily. Back then I was a fringe dweller in the Society, barely touching the sides, but standing at the edge looking in at a wonderful and fun world. Back then it seemed like it was more about fun and encouraging arts and sciences as well as the fighting… Much like it is today.
Back then I never got involved enough to notice whether there was an underlying sub-culture in the Society that not only encourages ‘period-ness’ but visibly turned their noses up attempts that they judged to be ‘not good enough’. Maybe it’s just the cynic in me, but since getting more actively involved in AS-39, I have noticed more and more who well, seem to be well… Authenticity Snobs. These are lovely people mind you, but they just aren’t shy in visibly letting people know that they think they are better… more authentic. Please don’t get me wrong… It’s not the clothes they wear, or even the fact that they are definitely more authentic, more period in everything they do. It’s the not so subtle looks of distaste when they judge people who might not necessarily be in the SCA to be on parade. Now everyone is entitled to their opinion, and as I’m doing here, expressing that opinion is their right too. So basically I’m a hypocrite for judging these people… I can except that, and I shall explain why.
The concept of The Dream is in effect what guides the SCA as a whole. Not the Dream itself, as the concept of The Dream is that everyone has their own Dream, and that the SCA is just a legal framework. The concept of The Dream guides us to be tolerant and encourage everyone to find their own Dream and to help them to do so. From my perspective an Authenticity Snob is someone who tries to encourage someone to accept their Dream of authenticity as The Dream instead of helping them to find their own Dream.
When it comes to the words we use in the SCA not being period, not being authentic, I really believe that that’s because the SCA isn’t a recreation Society, it’s a Society for Creative Anachronisms. It has never been and never will be a re-creation society. The culture of the SCA has grown through 42 years of creative anachronisms, of being a modern society that creatively puts things out of their time. Coke machines Internet Cafe’s at Pennsic may make people cringe, but they are Creative Anachronisms when put in the context of being at a medieval fair.
We have developed a culture, language and cultural traditions over many years and to try and change that now would I believe be very difficult. The Eric will always be The Eric to some, as will all the other terms and those of us who love the concept of The Dream, love the true root of what the SCA is all about will always seek out those who have been in the society the longest. We will seek them out to hear stories of the old days, and I’m not talking about the old days being the medieval times, the old days are the early history of the SCA and of Lochac. I believe there are actually a surprising number of active people in the Society that are not in it specifically to be authentic, I believe that they are here because the whole culture of the SCA is one of acceptance, tolerance and community togetherness all with a taste of something quirky and fun. :) 42 years of traditions and culture is a heavy load hurtling through time and space, it’ll take a massive amount of energy to change its direction, even just by one degree.
OK, So I’m working on this weird and useless project at the moment. It’s useless cause for the effort I put in it will most likely get very little use, however it’s all about the journey, and not the result. So what I’m going to explain here is the outline of the project, and then ramble on about my thoughts for moving forward with it.
The Van when I first bought it back in January 2007. The Roof racks and tube have since been removed.
Intro: Take one Misubishi Express Van, add a computer and a wireless hotspot access point, viola! You have the Great Roadtrip Server project. Only limited by imagination… and well.. what bits can be gotten cheap or scrounged.
Aim: To create a mobile travelling wireless hotspot server that provides information and entertainment to passengers with Laptops within the hotspot area (ie; travellers going in the same direction.). The server will act as a wifi hotspot, allowing anyone to connect to it, but imediately taking them to portal page which will inform them that there isn’t actually any internet access as such and everything they are viewing is on the server.
They will be able to connect to other users of the server to chat, both through a text chat room, and via teamspeak or ventrillo. The server will also cache a few more popular websites, and if possible mirror some of the online Java games websites for entertainment, hopefully providing a well rounded selection of information and entertainment for all ages.
I may look into future possibilities of connecting it to the web via a 3G modem so that it can keep certain information up to date, most likely this information will be added to the portal via RSS and cached. It will also have a live blog containing some text and photo’s that will either be updated when the server is in contact with it’s home syncing station, or via the aforementioned 3G modem.
So, that’s the project in a nutshell. Currently the plan is to install DD-WRT on a Linksys WRT platform as the Access point and use a Mac Mini or other hardware as the server. Originally I was just looking at using some sort of PC as the hardware and attempting to configure it as an access point, however utilising DD-WRT allows me to do some fancy stuff, as well as the ability to keep each client computer separate (Which was a possible security issue, as it opens up the possibility of client to client hacks).
This will be a whole system, as included in the installation will be a home syncing station/server that will have a local copy of the setup and the webpages. When the Vehicle server can access this home station it will attempt to pull everything across. This hopefully will limit the amount of work that needs to be done on the Vehicle server itself.
Power is my main consern, as I would like to be able to keep the server running for as long as possible without external power needed. This means that I need to look into one of two options that I can think of.
I’m thinking Option 2 is the most beneficial, as it allows a fairly powerful server to be used when power isn’t too much of an issue, but also provides
So my first issue is committing some hardware to the project. I am a little reluctant to use the Mac mini as I have grown quite fond of using it as a workstation, however it IS actually the hardware that was originally purchased for the job. I have a bid in on a Linksys router which will become the DD-WRT access point.
I would love some suggestions of means of caching websites so that when the server can connect to the home syncing station and retrieve updates. I would also love suggestions on any possible software that might help with the setup and management of this system.
The idea with doing this project isn’t so much to provide the service, but more to learn how and the journey to completing it.
My world hasn’t changed much lately. Sure, there have been things happening but nothing worthy of getting on here and ranting or raving about.
Radburne War was great fun, and I enjoyed it as much if not more than the first one. There was GOOD food, oh my was there good food! And there was singing around the fire, there was war, there was a FORT! As in almost a whole fort, not just a pallasade. Note I did say Almost… The missing bits were, the coverings on the side walls, and some gates, which Terry has said that he will make.
Discussions were had with a few members of Crossroads about my plans to build a small forge and metal working area. The members I have spoken to are keen for it to happen and as such have offered me a reasonably nice little plot to start planning. I do intend to plan it all out how I would like it, and then put a plan to the board asking for either a Yay or Nay, however the board members I have spoken to have indicated that it shouldn’t be a problem as this is exactly what Crossroads was designed for and not many people have done stuff cause they are worried that Crossroads has too many cooks. My worry isn’t so much that the board/committee will choose to interfere with my plans, but that other people will want to get involved and have opinions on how it should be built. I guess this might be a concern for anyone thinking about construction, and therefore a reason to hold off and wait to see what other people are doing. I’m not a member either, though seeing how this plan comes together will determine whether I want to be a member or not. I do love the idea, and whilst I do agree with some peoples assessment that their should be a better management of the ecological issues associated with land at the top of a catchment area, I do believe that there is also room for everyone to get a little out of it, and for it to be what the members see that it has the potential for. I do believe that the location is a little far away to expect the general public to venture to for a medieval weekend, at least for people to travel to for a day. It’s fine from Canberra, and closer area’s, but I do not believe that they will bring in the numbers that might be needed to make something worthwhile… This is just a personal opinion though, and should not be taken to be a slight on any such planned event.
In other news… I have purchased a nice new camera so that I can start taking decent pictures for this site, so expect to start seeing nice pictures of things soon.
Seems I must be doing something right at work… As of day I have only been working in the company for 7 weeks, and I have already been given a number of compliments from Customers and the Management as well as awarded the companies equivalent to the employee of the month.
To top it all off yesterday I was told by my boss that they feel I have proven myself a worthwhile employee, and that they are going to be taking me off my 3 month probation 5 weeks early. This is great news for my back pocket… well.. for those I’m in debt to anyway as it means I can actually afford to start scrabbling out of the small hole I had dug myself into.
My goal in life of being happy, and making sure that I am happy in everything I do does have it’s down sides. Whilst I believe my work ethic is good, I am aware that my perspective in life leads me to make decisions that aren’t always best for those who choose to give me credit. Leaving the last job the way I did was well… silly and irresponsible, but it felt good. I had no problems with that decision at the time, nor since. I am however very grateful to Russ, my new boss for giving me the job the way he did and for allowing me to prove to this company that I’m a worthwhile investment.
This is a whinge… I state that now so that those of you who aren’t at all interested in whinges can just ignore it. Whinge whinge whinge whinge whinge…
I’ll admit that I’m not the bestest of little old granny driving… But this weekend just gone’s trip to Sydney was well… Driving me round the bend with the idiots that get licences these days…
Lets start with the heading out of Canberra… Yes, It snowed at Lake George… Yes.. Drivers should slow down when there is snow and ice on the road. But to slow down from 110Kph to 30Kph by slamming on the brakes is just idiocy. To top it of, I had someone intentionally pull out of the left lane to slow me down (Yes, I was travelling at about 60-70Kph, quite comfortably within my ability to control the situation), this is not only stupid, risky and well… lets stick with Idiocy, it’s also counter productive to safety. For me to be getting out of everyone way by over taking them when they weren’t comfortable traveling at a slightly high speed means that there are less cars bunching up and less potential for a huge multi-car pileup. When I drove through there were some cars that had skidded off the road, there were reasonably clear tracks through the snow covered road, and well… the little flicks of the steering wheel to test the grip proved that things weren’t dire. Anyway… Ahhhh Release! Now on to the next whinge… and yes, you’ll notice there’s a theme.
So what’s with these people that slow down when trying to merge with traffic going at 110Kph? You know… the ones that try and merge doing 80Kph or sometimes slower and wonder why it’s so damn hard? It’s frustrating and it happening far to often. Do we need to ban drivers from freeways unless they can merge safely*? Surely even 5th grade students can see that the safest and easiest way to merge with traffic on a freeway is to match their speed before you get to the bottom of the on-ramp? If you are going 110Kph and they are going 110Kph then you’re really not going to hit anyone that hard. The biggest safety issue with traveling at that speed is that if you fudge up, then the damage has the potential to be more. But seriously… if you are traveling at 80Kph and they are traveling at 110Kph that’s like hitting a brick wall at 30Kph. Speed in driving is relative when it comes to the cars around you.
The fact is, all driving is dangerous… But it’s the idiots like those above that increase the chances of something disastrous going wrong.
*
Yes… I totally broked it for a good 3 or 4 days almost… No Syridian.com, no Lochac.net, No Drakkar.org.au even.
And why? Why was it all broken, was there a reason I hear you ask? Well… yes… yes there was a reason. There are actually a few. Firstly this issue started when I tried to change my hosting plans so that I could better manage them and offer full domain hosting to other people who feel that they would like to have their own website and want to learn how to host them. So maybe having the hosting broken isn’t a confidence inspiring act that has people thinking they can rely on me to manage their own website should they wish for me to host it, true. The fact is that the change was a conciderable change not only changing servers, but also changing the way the sites are managed. Instead of being managed separately like they were, now they are all hosted on one server, with me having control of alot more aspects of the hosting. I’m no longer relying on getting support from the hosting provider, I can now do changes myself that previously I would need to submit a support ticket and wait for an answer.
The other reasons are that I intend on reviving Lochac.net, and as such intended on offering @lochac.net email addresses to those who wish them as well as cheap small website hosting to those who wish to create a household or business website. Interested? Contact me here!
The Lochac Network is a private initiative to colate everything online related to Lochac, from providing a directory to websites we all know to providing a Lochac-wide forum independant of official SCA-ness. This isn’t intended to provide an alternate un-official underground, but more to provide a network of people, links and resources that span our Kingdom, and are not constrained to local groups and group politics. I intend on drawing together all of the resources we have currently and possibly trying to make them interact togther. This is a long term project and will require time, patience and support from all.
I’m looking for people who are Internet aware and are willing to volunteer their time to help compile a database of links, collect data, and colate it into an informative and helpful website and communications medium that will draw users from all over. If you are interested, then contact me, and we can discuss what you are willing to contribute. If you just have a website you would like added to the database, feel free to just send a link. :) And if you are the webmaster of a resource and would like to help in spreading the word, sharing data, or discussing means of making things work better then please contact me, I would love to hear from you.
I have been reflecting on my device recently, asking myself if it’s too simple, if I should have made some more of the symbolism in it easily recognisable. Whilst pondering this I started thinking of the philosophy of symbolism in personal things. How symbolism is used and for what reasons.
Is it necessary for symbolism to be apparent to all? After all, isn’t symbolism sometimes used as a code to hide certain aspects from those not initiated, whilst allowing those knowledgeable to understand it’s true meaning? Take someone’s personal Arms for instance… It isn’t necessary for you to understand what it means for you to recognise it, however for those close to the person or even the subject, the symbolism in it can be as plain as day. Butchers in medieval times used crossed axes as a badge for their job, yet today if we saw crossed axes on a shop sign would we understand what they were?
My Arms has a lot of symbolism in it, from a mythical creature which stirs my heart, to a state of mind with references to Australia, and most obviously part of what interests me in the SCA (incidentally it also describes my skill at said interest). There is even a very vague reference to my first attempt at being a part of the SCA in that my device uses the original device I drew up in 1993 as a basis. I won’t try and tell you that all of the symbolism in my device was planned to be there, a lot of it was, other parts were discovered later.
How much symbolism can you see in my device?
Thoughts and opinions matter, in some cases a lot more than they probably should. Some seem to take offence when opinions aren’t shared, others just aren’t willing to bother being friendly any more. Moral values and religious views separate people further and slowly people become less tolerant of differences.
Isn’t this exactly what is causing the majority of issues we see today? The right to have your own opinions doesn’t mean that anyone who doesn’t share those opinions is wrong. It just means that they have different opinions. Intolerance of difference whether it be of politics, religion, race or values is the kind of thing that starts wars. We see those wars starting every day, from discourteous looks in the supermarket shopping line, to comments and judgements made in passing. These things have the potential to grow into larger differences that after many years of slow stead growth blow out into larger conflicts. Small arguments can turn into group conflicts which can continue to escalate.
Unfortunately we are all guilty of judgement in some way or another. Judgement of who’s right and wrong is a disease that has spread for thousands of years, even this article is a form of judgement. My opinions written here are nothing but yet another opinion in a sea of opinions regarding freedom, tolerance and a possible better way. They are probably very similar to a large number of religious beliefs. So do I believe that these opinions are better? No, I believe that they are just an opinion. Do I believe that they are the Only way? Hell no. So why the fudge am I writing them here to share with the 2 readers that are likely to read this? Am I trying to change your opinions? Or tell you that you are wrong if you don’t believe this? Not at all… I’m just writing to give you something to think about, another opinion to discuss with friends and family.
The idea that small intolerances cause social division, which in turn can cause larger intolerances isn’t a new one. It’s a demonstrated fact of society, thought luckily the majority of those in power are fully aware of it. The knowledge that conflict can drive the best out of people is something that has kept governments going for years. Give them a cause, a reason to be intolerant, give them focus and resources… and a populace will become strong and be able to achieve anything. Ultimately intolerance is the fuel of control, but like a lot of volatile fuels if you aren’t careful it will burn you. Also, like all fuels you will be changed forever, usually into something black and with limited use.
I’m usually not one to shy away from my responsibilities, if I fuck up I’ll admit it usually and try and do what I can to minimise the fall out. That’s not to say that I do that all the time, as there are always times when running away seems like the only thing to do at the time… Usually these times are personal fuck-ups… saying the wrong thing to a friend… getting into a situation that affects others. These things a lot of the time I do walk away from, as usually just trying to fix them cascades into something much bigger, and friendships just end up being broken forever.
Relationships and friendships aren’t like work, work has guidelines, rules, contracts and defined consequences… Relationships on the other hand are usually poorly documented, and frequently don’t have contracts outlining rules and limits yet the consequences are fairly much the same. When you break the rules in a job, you get fired or if you are lucky reprimanded… Though when you break the rules in a relationship, a lot of the time you don’t even know that you have done it. Sometimes when you do know that you have done it, it’s possibly too late to fix. Expectations in a relationship seem to happen undocumented, and knowing where each party stands is guesswork if the communications department is a little slow. Sometimes the act of communicating differences is what we fear might start a confrontation in the first place.
Life is something I have yet to understand, however I can understand and respect a workplace easily because the rules are known, they are outlined for us to begin with. On Friday afternoon I fucked up. I didn’t have any difficulty admitting to my boss that it was me that stuffed up once we had worked out what the issue was. I knew were I stood, I knew that I had stuffed up things, and I knew how many customers I had affected. I also knew what I needed to do to fix the majority of the problems and I was damned if I was going to leave that for others to clean up my mess. On Saturday morning I crawled into bed knowing that I had at least done all that I could to fix what I had stuffed up.
My fear of communicating my thoughts and opinions is irrelevant in a working environment because my thoughts and feelings are irrelevant, sure they can help or hinder in the workplace but ultimately I have been employed to do a job. However a relationship is all about thoughts and feelings, it doesn’t matter how well you look after someone or whether you can provide for them… A relationship is all about caring, and sharing your feelings and desires with someone. Maybe that’s why I do OK with work, and I’m hopeless when it comes to relationships…
Well, actually the Nuttyness is me staying up until 1am casting tokens for College War… Tokens that I’m kinda not really into making, even though I promised I would. The good thing is that part of the deal was that I would supply them straight from the mould, with no cleaning up of the flashing. What are these tokens? Hmm You’ll have to wait and see… Tis a surprise for the College War attendee’s.
Though I will stick up photo’s on my Flickr on say.. maybe.. possibly… around… in a round about way… say… Tuesday. ;)
Since starting the new job with my Web-hosting company I have started getting interested in doing stuff with my website again. I can guess that most of you will be reading this through LiveJournal or Facebook, both of which I rarely use these days, not through lack of interest but just lack of time. I need to have a definitive plan for how everything should work together.
So far I have my website cross-posting to Live Journal and Facebook getting updates from the RSS feed on LJ. I’m also considering adding a gallery to the website instead of using Flickr… However, Flickr is probably better as there are ways to get that into the website as well, without the issues of having too much space taken up on my hosting account with Photo’s.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Woohoo! So my device has finally come through!!! Well… It’s at least rumoured to have. I’m sure there wouldn’t be the word “Congratulations” in a letter rumoured to be heading my way unless the news was good. Sure, “Congratulation, your device failed to be registered cause we think it’s crap.” might be a valid statement, but I’m sure the College of Heralds have more tact than that. :) So Woohoo! And in celebration, I just thought I would do up a nice new graphic of my device so that I can show it off to all you avid readers. A nice surprise for the Baronial Weekend.
Baronial Day this Sunday… Woohoo! Town Archer, Haig Park, Fun Dress-ups and even Pot Luck feasts if I get my act together. Will be nice to catch up with people, even if my SCA involvement has been a little slack since I got down to Polit. So slack in fact that I don’t know whether Sir Count Stephen actually fought His Majesty at Great Northern War to save my head from being removed from my body… After a great deal of torture and stuff.
In other SCA related news, I’ll be casting College War Tokens this weekend, so if anyone wants to come along and help out, I mean join in and even learn stuff, then let me know. Or just turn up if you know where I’m living now. Starts at 4pm and will only be a couple of hours.
Ahhh… It’s so good to be able to spend a weekend doing not much. After the last 3 weeks where I was in Sydney for 2 weekends, with all the driving and the visiting and the well… missing out on doing… ummm…. nothing…
So this weekend I had a lazy Friday night (I was meant to go to the Pirate night at the Uni, but well… A better offer presented itself, and I spend a lazy night chatting and watching umm… something on DVD. Saturday was slightly more energetic with 2 hours volunteering at the Archery Club moving paver’s, can’t wait to see how it comes out. In the afternoon I hung out washing, and sorted some stuff to make more than just a walk way through my bedroom.
Sunday I spent doing not much… followed by a little more washing, some sorting through stuff, and then moving a trailer and hacking off some bits of it so that a new towing frame can be constructed for it. All in all it was a very lazy weekend… though I am looking forward to the town archer weekend next weekend. I might even turn up to Pot Luck feast, if I can be arsed to get some food together for it.
As for this coming week, I need to finish off the soapstone mould for the College War Tokens, and then cast 50-60 of them when the pewter arrives. The mould I started whilst teaching a pewter casting class in Rowany is surprisingly OK by my standards, so I just need to add a little more detail, and cast a large batch in the next week or ten days. Whilst it’s a little flimsy for my liking, it still does work as intended so should be fine to be used as a small token for college war.
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