Addiction

I have an addiction problem ... a LEGO addiction problem.  Some sets are investments and will remain in their boxes until such time as they are hopefully worth a lot more money, but others I will actually build.  Here's my latest:

I've even fitted a motor to this set so that the wheel is powered.  How sad is that.

Office Politics

I am thankful that my promotion has already been confirmed, because I fear that I am about to become a victim of some bad office politics.  I’ll try not to get into specifics, but basically there’s this regular task I’ve been working on for over a year that has come under closer scrutiny with implied criticism that I have not been following guidelines on how to perform this work correctly – despite my doing everything that has been asked of me, despite my raising the kind of criticisms being leveled at me now at the onset of the work, despite getting reassurance from management that it was okay for me to continue doing what I’m doing etc.  Unfortunately, I’ve been desperately searching my email folders but I cannot find the proof to confirm a lot of this.  I think the immediate people I work with know that I haven’t done anything wrong, but it’s other people I’m worried about and how my not following guidelines will be perceived and criticized.  And if this work ever gets audited, then I may be in a bit more trouble.  I hope it doesn’t come to that – but at least I can try to address these things now before it’s too late.  I don’t think any of this is serious enough to threaten my job security or anything like that, but just that I might not come out of this looking particularly good as other people cover their own asses. 

Karaoke

It’s been several years since I’ve done karaoke, but when I’m on a YouTube music dive I find that I keep on coming back time and again to the same songs to belt out to myself.  Think tunes like: 

Cracker – Low
The Cars – Drive
Tears for Fears – Head over Heels
David Bowie – Space Oddity
The Cranberries – Zombie
The Kinks – Lola
Weezer – Say It Ain’t So
Radiohead – Creep
Soundgarden – Black Hole Sun
The Smiths – How Soon is Now?
Blondie – Rapture (TOUGH!)
Pet Shop Boys – West End Girls
Martha and the Muffins – Echo Beach
Aqualung - Strange and Beautiful
The Zombies - She's Not There

And that excludes some obvious crowd-pleasing choices, including some that I may or may not have covered years ago under alcohol-induced courage with an actual audience, like Livin’ on a Prayer, Bohemian Rhapsody, Losing My Religion, Hey Jude, Wonderwall, California Dreaming.  And, I hasten to add, my favorite karaoke songs do not overlap much with my actual favorite songs - there's a big difference.

Outlook

This is what I like to see – whilst most of America suffers from cold weather, it’s looking good for us.  The Midwest is about to be hit by a polar vortex which will likely cause chaos – wind chill temperatures in the minus 50's (Fahrenheit – though that is probably about the same in Celsius).  That is cold.  Expect a certain president to say something uninformed and inaccurate about global warming.

Best Opening to a Film Ever

No contest.

Where to start - the music, the green screen, the stunts.  Classic.

Trouble Comes in Threes

Over the last few days, a lot of things have started going wrong in my house.  It started when I came home from work yesterday to find my fridge leaking.  The leakage looked like it was coming from a water filter cartridge in my fridge, so I've had to shell out on a replacement today to see whether that solves the problem - let's hope so (it wasn't cheap).  And then I got woken up in the early hours by the loud sound of scratching in the wall behind my bed headboard.  That freaked me out - definitely sounded like I've got some kind of pest problem, like mice or rats or worse (a raccoon?).  That's the first time I've heard anything like that (minus the wasp nest from a while ago) - maybe because I sleep with earplugs in so I might have missed any earlier noises - but that is definitely something I need to let my landlord know if it happens again.  I did a thorough check around my house today, and at least I don't see any evidence of droppings or anything.  And then when I was outside earlier today cleaning my car, I heard the sound of water and then was hit by this horrific smell - I suspect it was my septic tank.  It stopped after a little while, but I've got no idea how septic tanks work and whether that is normal.  I maybe need to landlord know about that if I smell it again, in case the tank needs emptying or something is wrong with the system.  Just thinking about that smell again makes me gag.  All these things just confirm my belief that if I ever buy my own place, it has to be new or newly built - I don't have the capacity to deal with these kind of issues on my own.

Division

I’m going to say it, but I think wearing one of those red Make America Great Again caps is akin to wearing a KKK hood back in the day.  They represent the same thing – a symbol of hate.  And so if you are kids caught on video wearing these hats and mocking a Native American guy, then you deserve to be the object of hatred and vitriol – and people have every right to find you and your hat offensive.  I don’t care if you were provoked and didn’t start the confrontation, you’re asking for trouble wearing those hats.  And you know it.  And, just to make it even worse, you were attending an anti-abortion rally – yet another source of confrontation and controversy, supporting a cause that I – like many - find abhorrent.  At least it looks like we’re not going to get this ridiculous wall, for the time being anyway.  I’m enjoying Trump having to eat a slice of humble pie for a change – you just know he is fuming.  Guaranteed every single petty thing he can do to get back at Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats he will try now – I expect more tantrums and a very divisive State of the Union speech.  And probably another government shutdown in 3 weeks time.