Ain't nobody got time for that!

Here we go. I'm once again moaning about how I can never find time to do this but here we are.
I had a rubbish day at work today. In fact, it wasn't rubbish, it just proved to be one of those days that highlights my inadequacies. It's happened a few times in the new job and well when you swap out the environment and the people this stuff becomes apparent.

The big inadequacy is I'm not very good at talking to people.

That may seem a shock if you are one of the "elite" I guess that know me quite well, and find me to be a but of a loudmouth goofball.
I think the thing that I find the most annoying is that if you were to make the binary decision then you would label me introvert and that means that you are happy enough to just be quiet in the corner. It almost certainly is not the same for introverts but I like the social interaction - I believe we are hardwired to crave social contact. Perhaps habit can suppress this and to some extent it has in me - I find it very awkward sharing close quarters with other people like in the kitchen when making tea. I have lived on my own for so long now that while the idea of living with someone else (a lodger in the new place perhaps) sounds cool but I fear or rather expect that I would get annoyed at sharing the space with them.
I do want to be involved in the conversation, believe me. I've said this on the last two work outings, Christmas last year and Neil and Jim's leaving do, I feel the layout of the office and where I am in relation to others mean it's easy for me to remain quiet but please listen to my quips!
On the work outings, Lesley has said both times that she loves when "I come out of my shell" but that person that they see after a couple of brews is much closer to what I feel is the real me. Lesley's comments, bless her are probably said during her famed "blackouts", make me feel good. I, for the most part, quite like myself but it's an area of my life which I would love to improve.
I did a little digging round the Internet and there is a Shropshire Speakers event that happens once a month for those that want to improve public speaking. I'm not sure if it's what we're after or if it would be any help but might be worth a look?

I've also been toying with the idea of doing video diary things in lieu of the blog. I figure it may improve my speaking and who doesn't like a good monologue?

I was thinking of wearing a hat for the lolz...

Unnerving smile

Not quite the work post that I hinted at earlier, or you were screaming for, but we're getting closer.
Now I don't strictly work in a customer-facing job so it's not something I have to worry about, but there are people at my workplace, the company HQ, that do speak with outsiders, with tenants (I work for a housing association). I may have mentioned this before when I went into the bank to get a loan and after sitting down with a lady to do the application, fill out all the paperwork, I went to leave and we shook hands and she said "It was nice to meet you" and I was literally disarmed, I stopped in my tracks and didn't know how to react (although not unusual for me).

The posts that never were ( = Content!)

Along with digging through old posts, I found some old drafts that I started but never flourished, never matured into full-fledged posts. As mentioned in the previous post, I found it fascinating to read the kind of stuff I was writing a couple years back so I'm going to post them here for analysis. Some were particularly time specific, so don't make any sense here, although interesting my F1 post going on about Lewis Hamilton outshadowing Jenson and how now he will never get a chance to challenge for the world title, can't always be right :)

The archives are interesting

That's true I think. For some reason I found myself looking at Google Analytics for this blog - it's always interesting to see how people stumble here and what they decide to look at. That being said I believe most people that go here are people I know in the real world, or fans of Bottom and drinking. Yes, that's right, one of my most popular posts is my Bottom Drinking Game - a game of drinking to the British TV Show Bottom (it is literally middle-aged Young Ones).
Anyways, I fell down the rabbit-hole revisiting some old posts which others had been checking out and it's made me want to blog again, so I shall try!

Using Spotify more...

The title says it all really. I've known about Spotify for a long time but I haven't been a bigger user of the service. I personally struggle to force myself to spend time crafting playlists - I much prefer to stick the iPod on the overall shuffle and go with the large hopper of songs.
That being said, I'm slowly coming round to the use of Spotify and believe it's only a matter of time before I end going for the subscription and removing the annoying ads (oh and allowing more plays of individual songs and being able to play more songs in a month of course!). To that end I've set myself a challenge to use Spotify more proactively - a lot of the times I will create playlists which are simply whole albums of artists.

Satisfying the DJ inside me, I've decided to put together (at least for now) one playlist a month with the aim of approx CD length i.e max 74 mins so if someone wanted to rip to a CD they totally could. Another restriction is an artist only appears once in the playlist (a golden rule of a good DJ set) plus I like there to be some kind of a flow through the songs.
To which I present you my May 2012 playlist - enjoy!

I'm also going to impose an extra restriction and that an artist can't appear in my monthly playlists in consecutive months. Maybe a little harsh if I'm going through a particular band phase but hey, variety is the spice of life!

I appreciate any feedback and look out for next month's playlist.

Jonny plays Draw Something

Just in case you've been living under a rock these last couple of months, there's a cool mobile game called "Draw Something" which has come out and simply blown up.
A very simply asynchronous game which is perfect for the mobile platforms (Apple, Android) where you have to draw something (geddit?!) from a small list of words, submit the drawing and then have your mate try and guess it. Swap over and repeat. Lots of times.
So, I'm pretty addicted to this and with the latest update, it makes it easy to export your drawings. So that's what I've been doing and then sticking up on the tumblr I set up linked below.
The cool thing with tumblr is you can queue up posts so check back often - I currently have enough sketches to last up until Thursday!

Jonny plays Draw Something.

Late Lunch

I've been trying something new and have started eating my evening meal much later (around about 9pm). I have been trying to save some money and have buying the 3 for £10 gammon from Sainsburys. Yes I know, it's probably not the best thing I could be eating but it's cheap and fills a hole. I'm still recovering from Christmas fallout plus badly timed expenses such as the cost of a crown on my tooth, an upcoming eye test which will no doubt lead to new glasses being purchased. There's also me being a little silly and getting the new iPhone 4S - that one's on me but hey my old 3GS was really beat up and the home button was not consistently working, see I can rationalise it away. I was noticing that when I was eating straight after getting in from work I would end up getting peckish before I went to bed, eating far too much cheese etc and then feeling bad for having a weak spirit. So that's the main motivation of eating later.

As a desired by-product of eating later, I'm trying to spend the 2-3 hours from getting in from work to eating being productive as is one of my new year's resolutions. This has meant that I've got back into my online programming course that I neglected for long (embarrassingly long) periods of last year. In less than 2 weeks I've effectively coded the final assignment and am getting back to the previous assignment which I hit a roadblock a long time and left.
I'm also putting aside at least one night in the week to write on my blog(s) like now! I aim to write a number of posts and then schedule them across the next week or so. Nothing I write is truly that topical so it doesn't matter if there's a 4 day lag from when I wrote something to when it appears on the Internet. So if I get inspiration for a post I can choose to take a night away from the programming and get the idea down on paper, so to speak.

The above usually takes me up to about half 7, 8pm so that's when I go out for a walk. I take a 40-50min walk doing a circuit round the streets of Bridgnorth usually clocking in around 3 miles. My good friend Rob has become infatuated with the Appalachian Trail - the longest trail in the US I believe and he has (hopefully not so serious) designs on us walking in a few years time - a feat that takes good hikers approximately 6 months. Even if that never happens, walking is very good for you and primal for those interested. I usually pick a route that has a gradient and good ol' hilly Bridgnorth does not disappoint in that respect.

I think it's been going well so far (and even longer by the time this post appears) and I'm pleased at how productive I've managed to be. I have of course let myself have the odd day off from this routine, usually round the weekend but this is more recharging the batteries...

Smooth move

In my continuing quest to eat healthier and more primal, I finally pulled the trigger and got myself a smoothie maker machine.
The aim is to get myself eating more fruit, particularly those that are considered more primal. These fruit are generally berries and not the high-sugar citrus fruits.

Yeah, so I want to eat more strawberries, blueberries etc but I'm not a huge fan of the texture. Now that would probably go away with time but it's difficult to get into new habits if the journey isn't very enjoyable.
The solution (at least for me) is to make a smoothie containing these desirable fruits. So I'm now in the process of working on a good recipe(s). Currently I can't be bothered with taking exact measurements - I don't have a beaker etc to easily measure 200ml of apple juice or scales to weigh 80g of raspberries so right now we're just throwing stuff together to see what works. Maybe I'll have to get to that point but for now we'll see how it goes - would ideally not want to make further purchases.
I'm taking inspiration from the awesome Innocent smoothies that give a breakdown of their ingredients on the side of their cartons. I've learnt pretty quickly that banana is a good base to get a thick smoothie - my first effort was sans banana and it was more bitty juice.

The ultimate aim is to get down some tasty smoothie recipes with which I will make smoothies to have for lunch at work. Personally I find it the hardest to stick to a primal diet if I'm away from home where I can't control ingredients, hobs to cook with etc. Right now, I feel that my lunch could be improved to make another step to a balanced diet. If I have a smoothie for lunch every day then it's going to be very easy to hit the recommended 5 servings of fruit and veg a day.
I welcome any recipe suggestions; I'm doing some Internet searching and trying some experimentation, hell if I arrive at a recipe that works for me I'll probably post it here.

I *heart* my Kindle

Reading is something I used to do a lot. I would always read before going to bed, but I guess when I got a TV for my own room and then after moving out whether that be at University, or post-Uni and all the media that the Internet can offer, meant I was more likely watching some right before bed, and often in bed.
Now Amazon's Kindle had been out for a while and I had been tempted by it for a while. The year previously I had made an effort to read more books and had bought some paperbacks but having space-saving digital e-books that can often be cheaper than their paper based siblings was very attractive. I went for it late Jan/early Feb last year and have not looked back!
There are those which say it's not the same as holding a real book. Well yes, they are right, there aren't physical pages to turn but the counter to that is that instead it's super thin, lightweight and with the e-ink, there's no glare on your eyes and it's effectively like reading off paper.
I do all my reading in bed pretty much and sometimes I will read whilst lying on my side. With a book I have to crane my neck to read both pages, a little awkward especially if the book is large. With the Kindle, this is not a problem.
Reading the Game of Thrones books in particular has meant I've made good use of the dictionary function. I simply hover over an archaic word and get an immediate definition - it's fun to learn!
Battery life is also very good, page turning is very fast and it can even display web pages and play mp3s if you so desire.
It's awesome and as in the title, I <3 my Kindle, plus they've recently released a new version which drops the keyboard for an even smaller form factor which is dirt cheap. If you like reading, just go and buy one. I didn't go for the 3G one as I'm happy to do any purchases or transfers off my Mac over the Wi-Fi. If you travel a lot then the 3G connection sounds good for purchasing books whilst out and about.
Click for a list of books that I've read since getting my Kindle.

The Prescription Challenge

For those not in the know I am a coeliac - gluten intolerance to not use the medical term. So that means I can't have regular bread, flour or any dough based foods (e.g. pizza) etc. Getting special "gluten-free" products is available to me on prescription which I have got in the past, and still can in the future which brings me to the challenge.
When I was first diagnosed I was still at school so I got my prescriptions for free on the NHS. That extended to age 18 I believe as I carried on with further education but following that I would have to pay. Now I was getting the prescription of bread, bread rolls, crackers, pasta etc on a pretty regular basis so it made sense for me to get what they call a pre-payment prescription certificate - pay so much up front, and get as many prescriptions for the period.
Now that I'm eating a lot less (if any) of the gluten-free bread products, I'm throwing down the gauntlet - can I go without the certificate and try and save a bit of money?

New Year Resolutions

Just like everyone else it seems, I'm penning some new year resolutions to attempt to improve myself. Now generally I'm not one for saving all these changes for the new year - if you truly want to make a change, then start doing so tomorrow, or better yet, later today. Ignoring that here are some resolutions for the coming year, not necessarily every one I will start acting on immediately, but will definitely aim to at some point.

History Repeating

So fairly recently I had a problem with a neighbour which led me to moving shortly after moving to Bridgnorth. Currently I live in a 3-storey block of flats, with one flat on each floor. For the longest time it has just been me in the top flat, this guy in the bottom flat and the middle flat has been unoccupied and up for sale.
Well, eventually the flat got sold and people moved in. Now, when I was looking at this place I met the previous tenant and I asked specifically can you hear the people below you? To which she replied no. Based on that I put in the application and the rest is history, here I am.
Now that people have moved in to the middle flat I can indeed hear them. Slamming of doors, footfalls, even voices which is technically worse than where I was with the terrible neighbour. Luckily (for now) there's been no banging on their ceiling complaining of noise but the feeling is that if I can hear their noise, then they can hear mine, but if I've got that in the back of my head, I will (and already am) start censoring myself - which I really hate to have to do. When I got home, I close the door on the world and then I'm free to do whatever.

It all feels like a bit of history repeating but maybe that's just how flats are. Here's an idea how about they make the floors/ceilings a little thicker? I mean, I can undestand the problem at where I was before - it was a house that was converted into 2 flats but where I am now is a purpose built block of flats.
Here's hoping that my next place won't suffer from this. Or alternatively I find a house for rent like the one I lived in at Kidderminster - no noise problems there...

Christmas Concern

It concerns me that come Christmas time and thinking about what gifts to get my family and I often draw complete blanks.
I don't want to give gifts that people don't want or will never use but it feels a little pathetic to ask what they would like for Christmas although to me it seems to be the safer of the two options.
Does it feel this way for anyone else? I fear I'm not as connected to my family as perhaps I should be.

That being said, no-one has asked me what I would like for Christmas so by my logic they must all know what to get me...

Anxiety (verbal diarrhea)

I've been struggling to come up with a suitable name for this post.
A post of which is going to be a back-to-basics post, more in line with the spirit of the blog at the start - that's right, I'm going to talk about my feelings.
I probably have teased it a little too much, but I'm going to keep all this stuff behind the "Read full post" link so if you wanted me to say something about video games or something on TV, then come back next week (although I haven't been posted enough to guarantee there will be something then, but you get the idea...)
Yeah, I want to talk about a few things which I'm quite sensitive about and this is why I decided on "anxiety" as a title. I was going to write this last week but often I'd rather watch TV or go to bed early and read Game of Thrones books but this stuff needs to be discussed, it's a problem that literally lives inside your head.

Chickened out

I thought I could happily post the dating kind of stuff here but I'm chickening out and going to put in a separate blog, most likely this one. I have lots to say and it's probably better if that kind of stuff is all found in the same place, so go check it out if you're interested...

Interesting reading

A quick post here after some interesting reading. So to carry on the Dating themed posts, I was reading the blog of one of the sites I have a profile up - OkCupid - which is actually the site I met Jo through.
Anyways, they have a cool blog where they analyse trends in people's profiles and their behaviour and actions on the site. That analysis of social behaviour is fascinating to me plus things like what to put in a first message is certainly useful.
One of their posts was a generation of a flowchart that someone can follow to see if they would date me or not. I have included mine after the read more link. Give it a click and see what you think...

Time to share...

Time to share indeed. I've been putting this off because it's something I don't really talk about with others, either it never comes up in conversation or I just get uncomfortable and look to change the topic. That is of course dating.

I was thinking of separating these kinds of posts into their own blog but I've written about personal things here before and I'm always saying to myself that I need to post more.
Like most times, I have blog posts swirling around in my head but am either away from the computer or lack the motivation to get the words down.
Anyways, after going on a date recently, well not that recently any more which is one reason for blogging (but we'll get to that later).

Expect more in the future...

JD's Footy Gambling Adventure

Some self promotion here so I'll make it quick. With the eve of this season's Premiership upon us I've decided it would be fun to have regular wagers on the weekend's matches with the fortunate side-effect of making a pretty penny. I present to you JD's Footy Gambling Adventure, a new blog I've set up where I will post my bets and then the awesome (or maybe disappointing) results. Head over there for more information. I could have made this adventure part of this blog but because it's such a bitesize idea I felt it best for it to be its own separate thing.
Here's hoping I pick well...

My Next Car...

Is going to be a Mini Cooper - I'm 90% certain of this. This past weekend, my Uncle finally pulled the trigger and bought a new car. He traded in his 11 year old Focus - a car that is literally falling apart now and would certainly fail its MOT and just in time as well because in a couple of weeks he would have to renew the tax which is what he has been continuously doing for the last couple of months.
He went for a Renault Megane in the end although he had his eyes set on a Mazda 5 (?) for a long time. Whilst I was waiting for my Uncle Geoff to barter with the salesmen I asked someone there about how they put a value on the car you trade-in. I was most interested in whether the mileage of the car comes into play or whether it's just down to the age and model of the car. Turns out (for at least this dealership) that mileage does come into play which is great because my 10 year old Fiesta has not done 60,000 miles and that's even with me greatly increasing the mileage since I've had it.

I had pretty much mapped out to get at least 3 years out of my Fiesta and while I haven't even been driving for 2 years, I've already started looking ahead. I got chatting with my good friend Wilson about what future car I would want. I did reply that I wasn't sure, haven't given it much thought but I've always liked the new Minis. In fact, The most recent (and successful) lessons I took in a Mini One and then later a Mini Clubman (the Minivan one). Of course, if money were no object, then I would probably go for something a little more expensive, but a decent second hand Mini could well be in my price range, and it would totally be a car I would be happy to own. I have a tiny concern that Minis can be considered "chick cars" but if I go for the sporty model I can win back some Man points...

The guy at the Renault dealership did mention that the amount of time left before the car's next MOT will affect how much they offer. If the car needs to be MOT'ed then they're going to want the owner to MOT the car first, or knock that off the offer price. So bearing that in mind, October is the anniversary of my car's MOT so I should probably look for a new car around August time next year. The intention is to start putting some money away right now and then when it rolls round next year, I can put down a healthy deposit.

Of course, I have this year's insurance, MOT and tax disc to pay for in the month of October, so I'm starting to cut back on the spending now so I can afford all of that - the pay raise following this year's annual review will certainly help! (more about that in a future post). One they're out of the way, I'll start saving for the Mini - I would love to have one that has a checked or Union Jack on the roof but will happily have anything within reason. My crazy theory is the colour of my Fiesta seems to attract birds and even when I don't park directly under trees I still arrive at the car daily to find new birdcrap. To this end, I will be avoiding the colour red where possible, probably go for a blue, or maybe racing green.
The insurance may be higher for the Mini - ideally I'd like to get a Mini Cooper S which generally has a 1.6 litre engine versus the 1.25 I drive now. From my next car I really want the better acceleration and less of the body roll which the Fiesta is very guilty of - attacking roundabouts can be scary. Yeah, so the insurance may go up but then, I would have 3 years no claims under my belt (touch wood) and I will be past the age of 25 (I already am lol) so hopefully it won't be too bad. I'm hoping that the insurance for the Fiesta this year won't be too bad. It was Approx £950 the first year, £750 the second year - If I can get sub £600 then that would be great.

What I'm planning to do is sit down and do some proper budgeting, have a look at what I'm spending now and see what I can put aside - it's far enough out I feel that with some proper planning I should be able to afford the Mini of my dreams...

Here's looking forward to a new car...

Man's Best Friend

My Mum has recently been on the lookout to buy a dog. Our dear Jacob passed away early this year and now she is looking for new companionship - something I can completely understand.
Because my Mum works awkward, generally long hours it''s not very sensible for her to get a puppy - she simply isn't about to train it properly. So that means she is looking at older dogs and rescue homes seem to be the way to go. I've been going along with her, my birthday gift to her is to help with the purchase (I like to protect my investments hehe, which translates to telling my Mum not to get a "yappy" Yorkshire Terrier-type dog.