One Man's Notes

Hi there. Long time no see. Sorry about that, but been kinda busy, you know? Lots of writing on at the minute. Took a special project that was close to my heart and most of my screen time was devoted to that. What else have I been up to? Well, I went to visit my Mum. She’s doing OK, although she has her down days.

I read a very interesting article in the paper at the weekend, though, which put forward the idea that we no longer know how to deal with grief. Once upon a time, there was a period of mourning, and you wore black or a black armband. Everyone could see that you felt like shit and that you were miserable. You were allowed a decent period of time to wallow in it and then you moved on. It’s been nearly six months since Dad died. I still miss him terribly, and I’m going through a bad patch right now. It’ll pass, I know, but how much am I allowed to let it affect me now? How much can I talk about it at the moment? The rules have gone. I’m confused.

And now we hand you over to our Strangely Appropriate department for this brief public message:

I could tell you why this was appropriate, but then I’d have to smite you.

Well, I’ve been busy sorting out an accessible photo album.

Adam’s Photo Album

Feel free to go have a peek into my life.

Typical. I’ve started a rash of Hitchikers quiz posts. I can’t even be consistent in my whining.

Now, I’ve got that deadline to hit.

Which Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy character are you?

I’m feeling rather confused, you see. Anyone know where I can get a nice cup of tea?

Am I allowed to whine that my friends page seems to be filling up with people’s tests, rather than them actually writing something interesting? Or will that just be interpreted as another step on the short, slippery road to middle age?

OK, I’ve been using LiveJournal long enough that I’ve decided it was time I stumped up some cash. I’m a great believer in supporting web services that I use, so the LJ people now have 25 bucks from me for a year’s use of the service. If nothing else, like gym membership, it’s an incentive for me to use it more.

I’ve been thinking about tenzil’s recent post about writing for himself versus writing for other people’s IPs. He also said some interesting things about motivations and deadlines. I’ve been accepting freelance assignments pretty much by rote of late. I suppose that I’m just enjoying having the free time to do it again. The fact that Lorna is so close to the end of her PHD makes it an attractive proposition, as well. If she’s in the lab, it gives me something interesting to do. However, like Jim, I would like to write stuff for other people, not just the magazine or the gaming company. Still, I don’t suppose this is a good time to make any final decisions. After all, this time next year, I might be upping and leaving London to go freelance full-time.

Oh, and I’ve made a decision about that friend I met up with last week - I am going to contact her.

Find out which Buffy villian you are most like!
By

I’m sure that’s not how you speall “reaking”.

There’s nothing quite as frightening as a doctor holding your eyelids open and saying “nurse, fetch the orange needle, would you?” This was how I spent my Sunday morning. The morning had started well. Mum wanted to go to church, so I was busy getting ready. I popped in my right contact lens, and then the left one. My eye exploded in pain. I couldn’t see properly out of it, but I could feel that the contact was there. Could I get at it? No. Could my Mum get at it? No.

So, an hour later I was in the Patrick Stead hospital in Halesworth, having my eye washed out. When the lens started coming out in sections, the doctor called for the needle. My, such fun. The net result is that I had to abstain from driving for a day, computers for 48 hours and wearing contacts for two weeks. I am officially a speccy git for the next fortnight. Still, at least I can see.