Plans for 2008

I just read my post from 31st Dec 2006, to see what I could write about on this last day of the year.

However, all I wrote last year was that we’re going to a party, that I will wear black leather (hehe), and what a great year 2006 was.

I think this time round I don’t need to tell everyone what a great year 2007 was – it was pretty sweet, but also unsettling. The main thing, especially in the second half of 2007, was not having a home and staying with either BF or a friend, which has given my life a degree of insecurity, a ‘living out of suitcases’ – feel. At 34, I really don’t need or want that.

I don’t want to think about the old year too much. I’m much more interested in the future, and excited and curious about what 2008 will bring. I have great plans such as selling my house in Italy, buying a huge fuck-off HD TV (= superficial), maybe getting a cat, and starting another degree (MA in Translation – my place was postponed to 2008). The latter might not happen, if budget cuts are going ahead which means postgraduate students may have to fork out as much as overseas students for their courses.

What I will do, however, is write down a list of goals that I can then revisit on NYE 2008, to discuss what I have and haven’t achieved. This list is as follows (in no particular order):

• move back up to Edinburgh (by mid-2008 the latest)
• sell Italy-house (by autumn 2008 )
• get a cat
• start MA in Translation (Sept 08 )
• buy a 52″ or bigger high-end HD TV

and that’s it!

Until the next year,

lenina

Nuncquam Anglorum dominio aliquatenus volumus subiugari

I spend a touristy day in Edinburgh today, including culture, sightseeing, a meal etc. We tried to finally get into Mary King’s Close because, whenever we’re there, it’s fully booked, but same thing again: Fully booked for the next 2 days.

Walking up to the castle and then down the Royal Mile was spectacular – you feel held in time and everything is constant, and constantly present.

It’s calming and soothing for the nerves – I felt the same peace and contentment when I was in Rome. In Rome, similarly, you walk through living history and for some reason it’s very soothing – as if time and history itself wrap themselves around you, telling you not to worry.

We also went to the Museum of Scotland, and it is here that I picked up the title of this blog post. It’s from the Declaration of Arbroath , which is the first confirmation of Scotland as an independent, separate state from England. It’s from 1320. Again, this made me feel all warm inside, as I can easily cast myself as subjugated by English rule – what with my English BF, a job in London, and my general suspicion towards Engerland

Thus, my heart lept as I read:

Quia quamdiu Centum ex nobis viri remanserint, nuncquam Anglorum dominio aliquatenus volumus subiugari.

 

Only Two Days Left to Go

Wow, only 2 days left in a year that has seen me

• being awarded my PhD (in July)
• get a new, really exciting job (in July)
• being plunged into some sort of ‘career’ that has now got me by the b4ll5, pulling at them hard

However, fear not oh reader of my blog. 2008 will be the year where lenina will at last find freedom and happiness.

Whatever else happens, she will move back to Edinburgh. She will get a cat or two, she may study again (there is still a place for her on the MA in Translation, distance learning, starting in September), and she will not sell herself or her mind to the highest bidder with the most comfortable bed.

Lenina doesn’t want to sleep any more.

Netscape Navigator RIP

Read just now that Netscape Navigator is to be discontinued:

“After 1 February, there will be no more active product support for Navigator nine, or any previous Netscape Navigator browser,” wrote Mr Drapeau.

This brought back some memories for me. Navigator was the best browser at the time, especially, when part of the ‘Netscape Communicator‘ internet suite. Their mail program was called Messenger.

One reason for me not switching to IE initially (after evil M$ started bundling it with their sucky operating system) was that it was far more convenient imho to have the mail program integrated with the browser, so you could just switch from one to the other.

There again, at the time t’Internet wasn’t really ‘on’ all the time, and I didn’t really use it much. Initially, around 1-2 hours a day – didn’t even have my own computer at the start.

Anyway, Netscape Communicator/Navigator, you gave me a lot of pleasure, and I thank you for that.

Rest in Peace.

 

Check out the RSS feeds my Friend Reads (Privacy WTF)

The shocking news has come to my attention that Google Reader has now started invading our privacy. If you’ve got Google Reader, you can now see all your friends’ feeds (without their knowing this is the case). Sneak out what interests your friends have, whether they subscribe to any dodgy, illegal feeds – no worries as they won’t realise you’re spying on them!

I just tried getting rid of my Goolge Reader but it doesn’t seem to be possible. Thus, the only alternative was to simply unsubscribe all of my feeds.

Good-bye Google Reader. Pic below: Guess the friend by their feed

Back at Work Tomorrow

No, not really

But I will be working again tomorrow. I set some freelancers deadlines for Thur 27th and will need to check that they’re doing what they’re meant to be doing. I.e. I’m not meant to be working, but I will be putting some hours in, which I can hopefully take off in the new year.

I’m also going to prepare for something I can’t really talk about on here   – unless I write in German, which I’m not going to do.

So, Thur and Fri will probably be standard working days for lenina, say, a full working day spread over 2 days. I don’t really mind as I have had a fully restful, blissful, and pleasurable Xmas

BTW Extras - Christmas special is on tomorrow. I don’t like Extras as much as The Office, but it’s still pretty good (though not revolutionary, progressively so).

lenina is addicted

Over the last few days, I’ve been playing Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction constantly. Instead of watching shitty Xmas TV (well, apart from the obligatory Eastenders – Stacey’s and Max’ affair is finally revealed; Dr. Who – guest starring Kylie, the nation’s darling :S , and Mr & Mrs Smith on Film 4 – mediocre star-vehicle that at one point puts Angelina in dominatrix – gear – undoubtedly entertaining for elberry), I’ve just been progressing swiftly on this extremely pleasurable and entertaining game.

I really am a very casual gamer – up until this point, I hadn’t played my PS3 yet, even though I’ve had it since July, purely because there were no games out on it that interested me. I probably haven’t played my PS2 in over a year, and on the PSP I have been playing Breath of Fire III, but again haven’t in fact touched the handheld in about 2 months.

There isn’t normally time in my life to just indulge in wasting time, which is what gaming essentially is. A glorious waste of time, but entertainingly so. A definite alternative to watching TV, though gaming will never take on the importance or relevance of reading (incidentally, the story of most games is appallingly poor).

However, games vs. shitty TV and mainstream Hollywood yawners = games win every time

How to Get Rid of Your Father

My father contacts me every year on my birthday. He sends me an email (even though I’ve told my sister to *not* give him my email address!) trying to ‘build bridges’, saying things like

We would really like to see you again – it’s been 10 years since we last saw you, I believe, at your sister’s wedding.

Here’s some news for you, dad: I’m not fucking interested. You were an asshole to my mother, and you were a mean, sadistic bastard towards me. You instilled in me a distrust and hatred of men, and, no, blood is not thicker than water.

/me deletes email

Don’t send me the Elf Yourself viral

I’ve now received the Elf Yourself – viral website from 4 different people :S

• First, back in November, from some guys at the agency I work for – they sent it round to the whole office
• A week or so ago, a friend sent it to me
• Shortly after, another friend, residing in Italy, did the same
• And finally, my one London friend send it to me today.

Yes, it’s kinda funny, and it’s a clever viral idea. It’s also immensely popular and last year helped contribute to a 20% traffic increase during the holiday period for OfficeMax.

In fact I do faintly remember ElfYourself from last year, but I think it’s much bigger this time round.

Perfect idea though, to create a viral website that can be relaunched every year, ad infinitum, at the same URL, at no (or hardly any) extra cost. The people at OfficeMax must be very happy.

The same concept of course applies to popular Xmas songs, such as The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York (= brilliant), and Slade’s Merry Christmas Everybody (= rubbish). A hit, played every year constantly in the time running up to Christmas, guaranteeing a nice solid income for the songwriters, forever (thus keeping Shane McGowan in the drink, who, BTW, turns 50 on the 25th December!).

lenina’s Xmas Message: Spread the Love

Love is all around lenina this Xmas. The reason for this is that I’m in Edinburgh, rather than London.

Remember, many social outings in London were characterised by people abusing lenina, with outright hatred being displayed towards her by various females, including threats of violence towards an innocent, albeit haughty, lenina.

I was trying to get my head around that last night, when seeing some of my Edinburgh friends for the first time since August. With them, love is all around. They’re not over the top friendly in a superficial way (unlike the ‘London crowd’ who are always superficial to the point of not in fact existing. At all.), but they are genuine and solid. My male friends don’t have any flirty bollocks going on, and there is no ’sexual tension’, instead, it’s just a proper genuine liking, and being happy to be spending some time together.

In the afternoon, I went to my friend J’s in ‘her’ shop (she manages a big H&M store in Edinburgh) as a surprise. She was genuinely happy to see me, with various hugs etc. In the ‘London crowd’ a similar hugging etc. would have occurred, the only difference being that these people have never had a real conversation with me, therefore it’s all unreal (i.e. lenina would NEVER hug a fucking stranger that she’s only exchanged platitudes and generic sentences with, whereas for the London crowd, generic conversation translates immediately into a great, close friendship, that is to be solidified by physical contact such as hugging. Yes, that’s why I don’t see them any more).

I wonder whether it’s something in the Scottish national psyche that makes them more similar to the German one, as opposed to the English (rather, the London one. London isn’t exactly England). I get the impression that the Scottish are initially quite reserved, but, once you actually get to know them, they are the warmest and most genuine people, and you have a friend for life. It’s a bit similar to the German way I think. That’s why I can’t stand the OTT way prevalent in American and Australian culture, smiling all the time and everything is fucking great.

The ‘London way’ seems to be similar. Everything is quite superficial, and you don’t get to know anyone really (but you don’t bloody want to, either!). I’ve only got one friend in London, but I’ve known her since 1994, and the reason why I get on with her so well is probably that she’s a disabled, lesbian artist. I.e. she too is a total outcast from mainstream society insomuch that she can’t and doesn’t relate to hegemonic London discourses surrounding relationships, sexuality, male/female bollocks, or friendships.

Still, the reason for this post is not to think about the stupid city that is London, but instead, to ask everyone to spread the love this Xmas. I don’t care what everyone has been doing up until now, but from today, treat everyone nicely, especially, the people you are close to. Also think of giving some money to charity or doing something charitable. Here are my two favourites:

• FreeRice: I’ve blogged about this before
• the Guardian’s Katine project – if you’ve had a good year and some money left over, you really ought to give some of it away. I learned by watching Make Me A Muslim that in the Islam faith, it’s obligatory to give a percentage of your annual income to charity:

There are two forms of charity in Islam—obligatory and voluntary, called zakat and sadaqa respectively. Zakah, from the verb zaka, which signifies “to thrive,” “to be wholesome,” “to be pure” means purification. Giving up of a portion of the wealth one may possess in excess of what is needed for sustenance, is to “purify” or legalize it so that the remainder may lawfully be used by the alms giver.

Deducting zakat from one’s earnings is a material acknowledgment of the fact that the actual giver is God. Since the giver is God, the recipient is duty bound to spend it in His cause.

The law of zakat is to take from those who have wealth and give it away to those who do not. This rotation of wealth is a way to balance social inequality.

(source)

Leaving aside the God stuff which doesn’t sit comfortably with me, the idea of obligatory charity is a great one, and one thing we should learn from Islam.

Though I won’t wish anyone a Happy Holiday. I’ll be wishing people a Merry Xmas, and if they don’t celebrate Xmas, I’ll be wishing them a great holiday, or just a nice time off.