“Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night.” - Philip K Dick

Well look who's here!

Not me but a face from the distant past! (That sounds like an episode summary - Billy must confront a mysterious figure from his youth, a man known only as fiftywatt!!! {played by Anton Rodgers probably, or maybe Derek Guyler}).
Hello to the shadowy figure of fiftywatt, the first non spambot commenter I've had in a long time, also proprietor of a wonderfully witty blog (http://familiar-unknown.blogspot.co.uk). I can dredge up almost as much TV and movie ephemera as him, but he can phrase it so much better.

In other news life creeps on. Since Billie became independent of transport, and my shifts changed, I'm seeing her maybe once or twice a week, and savings on Dad Taxi petrol outgoings, I can pass on to her in the form of cash (tongue mostly in cheek).

Whilst apparently I'm in the top 10% of earners in the world, I must be doing something spectacularly wrong in this,or (heaven forbid) previous lives (a strange sentence from a devout atheist eh?). 

A leaving do next week, and despite it only being April my first night out of the year, where can I buy a mumu on short notice? A very scant list of attendees to boot, especially since it's for four! separate leavings, I didn't even warrant my own night apparently! Just a quarter of one.

My three Nurse Practitioner colleagues have all been on holiday this week , so I find myself in the unique situation of not only being lonely at home, but at work also, go figure.

Popular culture update - well not much recently, welcome back Game of Thrones (home to literally ALL British and Irish character actors) and Madmen of course, Hannibal and Cosmos remain excellent viewing, but movie wise all I've watched this week was a blu ray of "Blue Thunder". Perfect if like me you love a good formulaic 80s actioner, but some (most?) might find it extremely cheesy and trope heavy, but that's a combination I like, plus it's hard not to warm to Roy Scheider in anything!
(Since Billie asked me to fund her netflix subscription, I suddenly find myself with on demand access too, consequently I binged watched Series 3 & 4 of Blackadder last weekend, such wit and wordplay!)

I see your Nat Jackley Con-Apts and raise you my Edward Malin Mo-Pad ! 

"We'll never make it in time!" from yakkowarner on 8tracks Radio.

“Contrary to general belief, I do not believe that friends are necessarily the people you like best, they are merely the people who got there first” - Peter Ustinov

“Money cannot buy health, but I'd settle for a diamond-studded wheelchair.” - Dorothy Parker

I'm back,
possibly for one night only.

Whatever need this blog served me seems less important to my older jaded self. Back when apparently one or two people read it, I thought I could use it as a means of getting my views out to real people and even dared to dream of interaction, crazy eh? Now I realise that there's no one there save spammers, and even if there was, they don't care.

The new job continues, I don't want to go into detail , as work policy forbids it, but after the first year or so of financial woes (no weekends means much less pay for me, about £200 per month) it should be great. The work itself is interesting, but as it's a new role finding our way is akin to crossing a swamp, best done daintily and very very carefully.

Billy bought a brand new car (a Vauxhall Adam in fact), and is driving around like an old hand. She's so confident, a fact that makes me simultaneously proud and frightened.

And me? Things continue as ever. I've vowed to lose some weight, and I think I might actually manage it this time. I don't want to be thin, just able to buy a nice shirt or jacket and have it fit.

I don't feel as miserable as once was, but sometimes the future frightens me, it's a lot shorter than it once was, and it looks very lonely. But I'm only one of millions to feel like that I imagine.

I bought a new PC (it metaphorically flies), the first since the wonderful summer of 2007, a couple of weeks after I first "met" Barbara. That date is quite a touchstone for me, but you probably knew that anyway, didn't you?

What popular culture has interested me?
"Hannibal" Season 2 is excellent, "True Detective" was sublime, and "The Winter Soldier" was rollicking good fun.

I've been doing a lot of studying (for work of course), and it's great to be learning new stuff. It seems you can teach an old dog new tricks, or at least new versions of them.

Be seeing you...

"Secrets are dangerous things Audrey" from yakkowarner on 8tracks Radio.

“You can't teach an old dogma new tricks.” - Dorothy Parker 

 

“The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how good I get, I'll never be as good as a wall.” - Mitch Hedberg

I couldn't believe it when I saw it was a month since I last posted.
This used to be my go to place when I needed to say something, maybe I have even less to say than i once did.

Yesterday was my "last" day doing my old job. I barely got through it. A couple of Weeks ago a pain in my left knee developed into a minor disability. I had to have a few days off just to rest. Even now standing up (the act of standing, once I'm up it's just a pain) is agony. I think it'll get better with time, but all the kneeling my old job entailed is now a no no (and probably a contributing factor I imagine).

In good news, Billie passed her driving test last week, and bought a brand spanking new car. So be it.
I haven't seen much of her recently, just scheduling and happenstance I imagine, but she'll soon be gone, for the longest of times.

I must briefly mention "True Detective" , the latest TV event and rightly so. I cannot wait to see the final two episodes (but sadly like the rest of the world, I'll have to do just that).

I'm on holiday this week, and next week begin training full time, let's see what happens eh?

Hopefully I'll be back sooner, rather than later...

Who Knows Where The Time Goes? from yakkowarner on 8tracks Radio.

“I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day.” - Abraham Lincoln

 

 

 

“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction” - Winston Churchill

I can't really talk about work, so I won't. Lets just say it's very stressful, in new and interesting ways.

I thought my leaking roof saga was over, but what's that dripping ? always discovered at 1am , when everything is , briefly silent, but worries seem larger and more foreboding.


(The roof man is here as I speak actually, having "a look").

(ps - he fixed it free of charge!)


Mentally I feel better than I have done for years. I'm completely off medication. However there's still the odd "rebound" or blip. Such is life.


I'm so very bored, that's my main problem.
Of course I could pick up a textbook , or even do overtime at work, but I know I probably won't. Likewise the appeal of some sort of relationship occasionally crosses my mind. But the realist in me knows that will probably never happen. If I could lose a few stone and magically revitalise my so called dwelling, maybe. But being me is just too embarrassing to share with anyone else.


I've hardly seen my beloved daughter recently. What with driving lessons, the ever approaching exam season, darn football, and just being a teenager, my main role is lift giver, with the occasional request for a tenner (by her not me of course). But I'd be lost without her.

Mom And Dad from yakkowarner on 8tracks Radio.

“I'm just preparing my impromptu remarks.” - Winston Churchill

Heaven... from yakkowarner on 8tracks Radio.

I love this song and the album it comes from. Fond memories too of the movie, the facts there within are a bit kit bashed, but great Tuesday afternoon fodder, with the winning combination of Niven, Howard and the good type of patriotism...




oh have another !

“Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.” - Jimi Hendrix

So suddenly the Matron calls a meeting, and all of a sudden this is my last week on the ward - from Monday I'm wearing navy, and a Nurse Practitioner (albeit in training). Blimey I'm scared, you know there's two things I can't cope with, change, and anything at all.

Six months of Monday to Friday, and effectively a pay cut!

I'm already quite broke!

New Years Eve - at work we were busy , all 3 of us worked our arses off. 3 of us, 3!

I dislike New Year so much it's the one night I go to bed early. 11pm asleep, so I sleep through the transition.

I haven't seen my daughter since Christmas Day!

The Look Of Love from yakkowarner on 8tracks Radio.

"Here's to those who wish us well and those who don't can go to hell." - Patsy Cline