Life in the middle

Friendship.

Found an old note book this evening from when I was little (about 10 years old I think). In it there is something I wrote for some homework entitled 'Friendship'. This is what it says.

"Most of all in a friend I look for a person I can have a good laugh and fun with, and a person I can have serious talks with, and someone I can confide in.

My best friend is the person I trust more than anyone else in the world. Someone I can tell anything to, stuff I might be too embarrassed to tell anyone else. A friend is someone who likes you as much as you like them, someone you share thoughts and feelings with.

Most of my friends I play sport with. A lot them I met through sport, but my best friend I just talk to, and we walk his dog every night." 

Being a kid was great. I sometimes miss being a kid.

"Nothing happens to any man which he is not framed by nature to bear."

"I feel like a pig shat in my head"

 

Shocking hangover.

Ate crisps. Drank Coke. No press-ups or sit-ups. Sasuage and egg roll instead of fruit. And missed my nephew's birthday.

Not sure what this means.

Red socks spotted in there natural environment.

FREE. OFFER ENDS SOON. DON'T MISS. WIN!

In this new spirit of trying to make things better I've decided to be a bit more environmentally friendly, and generally a bit nicer (admittedly coming from a low base).

With that in mind I've decided to offer my readers a chance to win a very valuable (and quite heavy) prize, and recycle something I would otherwise burn. In my hand in the picture above is a reasonably complete copy of all the blog writings of Richard Huntington (printed it off to read prior to our interview). To win all you have to do is say (in the comments section of this post), and in no more than 5,000 words, what you would do with said writings to make the world (slightly) better.

Entries by the end of the week or I'm selling it on ebay (for charity).

(If I'm breaching some really obvious copyright law would someone let me know. I don't want to have to rename this blog 'Life in the middle of a 7 year stretch')

Lets see what happens.

Was chatting at coffee on Friday about the power of making promises and setting challenges to myself online, especially on something as personal as blog. With that thought (and a bad spare rib experience) in mind, I wrote this post yesterday.

Given the comments posted about it, I (we) have decided to start a new blog called 'lets see what happens' (though I haven't checked if it's available yet). The basic idea is that it will be a group blog, containing pledges, promises, challenges etc. (For a flavour of some of the others read the comments on yesterday's post). And then follow-ups about how people are getting on with them - failures, successes, thoughts, feelings, and tips for others. Depending on what people pledge it might also work as a contact point for people who want to do similar things (like say climb Everest, or... start a blog about Dutch techno music).

I'm hoping it won't be as worthy, wanky, and American as I've made it sound.

At the moment the confirmed participants are; me, Russell, Lebowski, Dan, Henry, and Ben. If anyone else wants to join in at this stage, or has some ideas for how to make it more interesting then please do holler.

"If you really want to understand something, try to change it."

Sometimes I eat those rancid ribs that you can buy from the supermarket, the ones caked in chinese or bbq sauce. They're really bad for you, and make me look like this (see picture above). Plus, the idea of them is always better than the reality - they're actually a bit like eating fatty charcoal. But the idea of them is so good. What to do?

Well, seeing as this blog is a good way to make promises to myself and to challenge myself, I thought I'd write a post about it - then I could read the post whenever I was craving them and hey presto - no more rib eating.

So, if you're reading this Paul (future Paul that is) stop eating those ribs, they're rank.

Okay, good. That's the rib eating sorted.

But then I thought why stop there?

Is there anything else I should try and give up, or, other things I should take up and do more of?

Here's my starting list;

1. Going to give up sugar in my tea - I've cut down from 2 tea spoons to a half a tea spoon, seems silly not to cut it out all together.

2. Going to eat 7 portions of fruit and/or vegetables a day. Have fruit for breakfast (this is a surprisingly easy way to get fruit into your diet, and much more filling than you would think), but need to eat more salads, and vegetables.

3. Going to do 200 press-ups and 100 sit-ups every day. The press-ups are easy as I've been doing them for a few years now (the secret is to do them as part of your routine when you get up - walk into the bath room and do a set, brush teeth and do a set, shave and do a set etc), but the sit-ups are always something I hated. So I need to do those, maybe in sets of 20 through out the day to start with.

4. Going to run another pre-work marathon. Ah fuck it - I'm going to run two, on consecutive days. And then try and run one every month. (I'll admit this one scares me.)

5. Going to set a career goal. This sounds naff I know. But I don't really have one. I used to think I wasn't ambitious, but I am - I want to work with smart and interesting people, for a good and purposeful organisation that makes me feel like I matter. So there. (This one scares me more than the last one, I'm worried that I'm career lazy.)

6. Going to stop watching Lost. I don't know what's happening. And I just don't care anymore.

7. I'm going to enter every grappling and amateur MMA competition that comes up - no more excuses. If I can't make the weight then I'll fight in the category above. If I haven't trained hard enough then I'll lose early. But I'll lose leaving it on the mat. I'll be defeated living the great Jean Jacques Machado's motto - "I'd rather lose with my opponent running for his life, than win running for mine".

8. Going to stop eating crisps and chocolate. This could be hard as they taste good. But they're going to stop me achieving the other things I want to do. I don't ever actually feel very good after eating them. They're the weeds in the garden. They don't help. That's that - they're out.

9. I'm going to follow the wise words of Goethe..."One ought, each day at least, hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and, if possible, speak a few reasonable words." A poem, a song, a nice picture, a few reasonable words, well that sounds just lovely, yes, I definitely do that.

10. Going to decide. Not dilly dally. Decide. Be done. Live with the consequences.

11. Finally, I must try and remember birthdays. Particularly family members, it's just not funny anymore, especially to my nieces and nephews.

So that's my start.

Bit rubbish. But you've got to start somewhere.

Cranky charm (Podcast).

I recorded a podcast with Richard Huntington of United London this afternoon.

Richard's legendary crankiness was partially in evidence, but mostly his sharp insights into the industry and provocative thoughts around branding dominated the proceedings.

What I found most interesting about talking to Richard was that he was prepared to let it all hang out, contradict himself, debate the point on the fly, before giving his conclusion; I found that really refreshing.

So thanks Richard. Stay provocative. Stay contradictory. Stay cranky. Stay interesting.

(Right click on link below and 'save as' to download.)

Download richard_huntington_chat.MP3

Simply fun.

On the last couple of evenings of our holiday the whole family would, at about 11pm at night, go for a walk along the beach and try and spot shooting stars. We would walk with our necks bent so far back that we'd almost topple into the sand behind us, gawping at the majesty of the universe, and shrieking with delight if we saw a shooting star; excitedly checking who'd seen it and who'd been looking at the wrong bit of the sky.

Sitting here now, back in London, late at night, that's what I wish I was doing.

My Mum and Dad are still there, so maybe that's what they are doing now. (If they are then Mum will have spotted way more than Dad, he's rubbish at it, but he plays none the less. Good old Dad.)

Uncles know things, this one knows opera...(Podcast)

This is my uncle Jim (the one with hair). He lives in Youghal, near Cork, in Ireland. Whilst I was on holiday there for the last week I took some time to record a podcast with him about a few things, but mostly about his love of music, and opera in particular - we even play a couple of records, giving this the best ending of a 'Colmancast' (TM Ben) ever!

I'm now interested in opera. Thanks uncle Jim.

(For anyone who's interested in hearing more he has a local radio show that goes out over the internet, the link to streaming is here.)

Download uncle_jim_chat.MP3