Not supporting England in the World cup is NOT racist

Over on Facebook, some people are getting hot under the collar about Scots not supporting England during the World Cup.  One poster has gone as far as calling it "thinly veiled racism".  WTF!!  I am not English, and I don't live in England.  I live in SCOTLAND.  It's a different culture, we're from different backgrounds.  We're of Celtic/Viking descent, while the English are Anglo-Saxon with a bit of whoever else invaded thrown in.  The Irish are also Celts, but for some reason, it's the Scots who are accused of being racist for not supporting England.

Why would be?

If I was a Rangers supporter, I wouldn't support Celtic in a tournament because they had got through and Rangers hadn't.

This sprang up because of a FB group boycotting Mars bars in England coloured wrappers, designed to show support for England.  Sorry, I don't support England, so I won't buy one.  It's not rocket science.
Would I buy one with a Saltire on it.  I wouldn't go out my way to, but I will not buy something to show support for a team I don't support.  And if some people think that's racist, then that's their problem.

Visit to the vet

Had to take one of the cats (Rosie) to the vet last night.  She was there a couple of months ago with impacted anal glands (messy).  This time I noticed there was a faint smell of wee from her and she's licking her backside a fair bit.

The vet didn't get a urine sample, but basically assumed that she had a urine infection and gave her an antibiotic shot, that will last two weeks.  If things haven't improved by then, we'll have to take her back.

She's a happy enough cat, she just isn't too keen on me at the moment for taking her to the vet.

Mini clear out

I've managed to accumulate a wee pile of cd's in work, so today I had a wee rake through them and took some to the 2nd hand record shop.  Didn't trade, as there's nothing I'm interested in getting at the moment, so took cash instead.  Payed me what I'd have asked for, so no need to haggle.

I want to de-clutter badly.

Be like water

Karate on Friday night was good.  For various reasons there was just three of us (including sensei), so we got some in depth practice.
We were concentrating on someone grabbing your wrists, and the fact that if you turned your hips, you could off-balance them.  If you used your arms, nothing happened, but if you relaxed your arms, and kept a strong stomach, when they grabbed, it only took a sllight movement to send them on their way.

Reminded me of Bruce Lee's quotes about being like water and flowing, and that trees that are rigid break when a force is applied, whereas saplings that bend in the breeze wont.

Quite a zen-like class.

Ripples

When I woke up this morning, or more realistically, when the alarm wrenched me from the deep sleep I was in, I was shattered.  How is it possible to feel like you'd had a skinfull the night before, when in reality you haven't had any alcohol for about 4 days?  Anyway, I digress.  It was so bad that even though it was Friday, it felt like a Monday.

When I got into town, I headed in to see if a coffee would make me feel better/wake me up.  I occasionally grab a coffee when I cycle to work, so a few of the staff know I like a mocha and a muffin. Today, I was served by the manageress, who shouted my coffee order and put a muffin on the tray for me.  As I handed her my money, she said "Coffee on the house for you today".  Instant smile on my part.

By the time I got into work my spirits had raised.  A random act of kindness when I was feeling run down, and I perked right up.  This will have an ongoing effect.  I truly believe that things like this ripple outwards, and one person giving me a free coffee, will result in someone neither of us have met, having a better day.

advert weirdness

I'm not sure why I went in for the monetise programme with this blog, lets face it, it's not like anyone actually reads it, anyway, today was the weirdest ad yet.  After posting about ending up unexpectedly in the pub, I get an ad for colonic irrigation.  Yes folks, by some bizarre train of thought which I can't fathom, ad-sense seems t link going to the pub with colonic irrigation.

Go figure.

Unexpected afternoon in pub

Yesterday I went out for a lunchtime wander round GOMA (Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art).  It's usually quite good, but the main hall was taken up with a video installation which was, to be honest, a bit wanky.
After perusing the pretentiousness of it all (and don't get me wrong, I like a bit of pretention), I headed back up to work to find that there had been a wee bit of a fire.  So, once it was over, they let us collect personal belongings and told us to go home.

If work =closed due to fire
Then home=pub

:-D

Dan Reed

Last night Dan Reed was back at King Tuts for the second time this year.  Once again, it was a brilliant show.  The band are really tight, and Dan really looks like he's enjoying himself, no pretentious rock star posturing or ego on show here.

The new material is brilliant.  It's not the funked up sound he had in the early 90s, it's got a laid back acoustic-y feel to  it, and it's already proved to be the perfect soundtrack for lazing in the garden on a sunny day.

Here's a wee pic from last night's gig.

All change (sort of)

After posting about the sweltering temperatures that were threatening to turn the average weegie into some sort of weird human-lobster hybrid, the weather goes and changes on me today.  It was all fine and dandy when I left the house and cycled into work this morning, but by late morning, it was considerably cooler, and when I was out for a wander at lunchtime, it tried, and failed, to rain.  This probably means it will try, and succeed, when I'm cycling home.

The lunchtime karate class was cancelled today as the sensei is ill, she's hoping to be ok for Friday, but if it's off, it'll give me a lazy evening, which at the moment, I wouldn't be averse to :-D.

In other news, I picked up Lawrence of Arabia for a fiver.  I've not seen it since I was a kid, and at over 200 mins, I'll have to set aside an afternoon to watch it.  Hope it's as good as I remember.

Hot hot hot

Glasgow is currently trying it's best to resemble a tropical paradise.  Well, the sun is out, at least, and for the past few days it's been hot hot hot.  In typical weegie* style, the natives are moaning about the heat, and forgetting that last week they were moaning about the rain.

Taking advantage of the weather, I got up earlier than usual so I could cycle slowly to work.  When the weather is good and you're up early enough that the traffic is minimal, Glasgow is actually a nice city to cylce round.  Tomorrow I'm on the train as I'm going out straight from work, but on Wendesday, I need to remember to pick up my camera and do another leasiurely pedal into work, looking for photo oppertunities.

(*Weegie - a native of the City of Glasgow)

Linn Park mooch

Went for a wander round the Linn Park again yesterday.  This time we went up to the spot where Mary Queen of Scots was supposed to have stood and watched the Battle of Langside take place.  (Battlefield in Glasgow is built on the actual site of the Battle of Langside trivia fans).

There's a monument on top of the hill to mark the spot, unfortunately you can't see down to Battlefield as there's trees in the way.  Hey, at least it's not flats.

The above is the engraving on the monument to the Battle, that stands on the spot Mary stood while watching the battle rage below her.

 

Above is the monument, showing the engraving commemorating the battle, and below is another view of the monument.

                                               

Home again home again jiggedy jig

That's us back from our holiday to Beirut, with a two day trip to Damascus thrown in. 

An excellent time was had, although Simon and Wendy had to head home a week early, as Wendy had a shoulder injury that was causing a lot of pain.

Lebanon is a beautiful country, with Beirut a very cosmopolitan city.  Syria is also stunning, with possibly the friendliest people I have ever come across.  Highly recommended, and can't wait to go back, only this time, we'll spend more time in Damascus.

Weekend mooch

So, the weekend invloved walking in the hills, drinks with friends, and lazing about doing absolutely nothing except catching up with Dr Who.

On Saturday we went for a wander up Gleniffer Braes outside Paisley.  There was a trig pillar found...

....and there was standing stones.  Sort of.....

Later on, Robbie & Linda came over for a drink and a natter, but I was flagging by about midnight and had to bounce them.  Sorry guys :-)

Sunday mainly involved lazing about, catching up with Dr Who (loving it), and also a couple of episodes of Warehouse 13, which I like.  Sort of X-Files meets Reaper sort of thing.

Now it's back to work and planning for next weekend.

Eastercon. The halfway point

So, it's Sunday morning and we're half-way through the convention.  Panels have been attended, ale has been quaffed, and there's even been a spot of ceilidh dancing for which proper attire was worn (see pic).

Last night included a mass viewing of Dr Who, with what looked like the entire convention watching.  Brilliant 1st episode. 

So far it's been a good one.  Off for breakie now.

Eastercon ho!

The countdown to this years Eastercon is well under way.  Thursday morning, I'm heading down to Heathrow, dumping the bags at the hotel, then heading into London to play at being a tourist, before meeting up with Steve and his other half for a drink.

The convention starts on Friday and runs till Monday.  I'm running a programme item (Do you worship Cthulhu?) on the Saturday, and I'm flying back on the Tuesday.  Get back around lunchtime, head home, get showered, and head back out to see Airbourne at the Academy.  It's going to be a hectic weekend :-)

It's all about money dammit.

Tonight I have to take one of the cats to the vet.  She's a bit tender round the base of her tail and round her backside, and last night was complaining if she was touched there.  Fortunately we're insured, so it should be a £50 max if anything needs done.

Tomorrow I've had to take the day off so that the boiler can be serviced.  British Gas don't appear to do servicings at weekends, so I've taken the day off.  With my luck that probably means the guy will turn up at 8.00am !  The earlier the better anyway, as it means I can head into town to pay some bills, and catch a movie before going to the karate club.

Music likes and loathes

I'm totally into the re-invented spiritual singer/songwriter that is Dan Reed.  I was a huge fan of the Dan Reed Network, and saw them a couple of times way back when, but when I saw Dan at the Garage a few weeks ago, it was awesome.
You know that moment in movies when someone sings or says something and the main character connects, and has a moment of total lucidity?  Well, that happened.   It was a moment of pure clarity, and I'm loving the new music as much if not more than the old DRN stuff.  In fact, the re-workings of the DRN stuff is superb.  The songs have a new life.

On the other hand, I totally don't get and cant' stand The Lost Prophets.  So working on the principle that if you can't say anything nice, I'll shut up right about now.

Life re-boot

There's things I want to change in my life.  Hoarding material things (OMG the cd's!!!) is getting to be a burden from a phsycic point of view.  I hanker after a life less cluttered, but letting go is hard. I'm obsessive about music/cd's/movies/comics.

I need to let go bit by bit.  There's a lot of books I could get rid of, but they "look good" on the shelf.  I know I'll probably rarely (if ever) re-read them.  I need to get down to the ones I do re-read (JRRT, Moorcock, Eddings, Barker).

My ideal would be to be like Cane in Kung Fu.  I could have one small-ish bag with all my needs in it.  Probably never happen, but it's something to aim for.

Back on the bike

Last year I mostly cycled to work.  It's cheaper than the bus/train, it's excercise, and it's faster than the bus.  I can take a route through a local park, and along the side of the River Clyde, that avoids LOTS of traffic lights, and as a result is faster than the bus.
When I get into work I can grab a shower in the gym, then there's still time to get a coffee before I have to start work, so it's win - win.

At the weekend, we had some friends round on Saturday for dinner, which was pretty good.  Sunday was a long lazy morning followed by a trip to the movies in the afternoon to see Shutter Island, which I liked, but K was a bit dissapointed in.  She liked it, but had thought from the trailers that it was a horror movie.

So, that was the weekend.  Short and sweet, and now it's back to work and as long as there's no horrible weather backlash, that's the bike now until December again.

Time to gafiate

(Google it)

I'm starting to prioritise things in my mind, and the monthly SF meet-up and conventions are currently not scoring too highly.  I need to get out of fandom for a bit for 2 reasons.

1. My sanity.  I tend to start something and immerse myself to the point that one day I wake up, and it's taken over everything else, and I start to resent it.  Fandom is getting that way.  I need to walk away for a bit.

2. I've realised what I knew all along.  It's not SF that I love.  It's fantasy, horror and comics.  That's not to say that I don't like SF, just that it's not my preffered genre, and I think I've been kidding myself by trudging through massive space operas when I could have been reading some Moorcock, Eddings, Barker or even Burroughs or Vonnegut.

This probably sounds a bit crap and over-analytical.  After all it's only books, but, I do tend to obsess slightly, and end up spending a fortune on stuff that ultimately I'm a bit meh about.

So that's it.  SF groups, only if I'm in the mood, not every month as I currently do.  Conventions?  If it's in Glasgow, maybe.  Elsewhere, highly unlikely.