My Best Friend

has just called me; We haven't spoken in about a year, I guess, and thats cool - sometimes thats how our thing goes, but we can pick up the phone any time day or night and carry on or call for help like nothings happened. THATS true friendship.

Anyhoo, to draw a very rough sketch, he's a clinically depressed alcoholic that is pathologically scared of success and so will sabotage any good thing ( job, relationship, health, etc ). This then reinforces his psychosis that he is not worthy of happiness of any kind. He's a fantastic friend, an excellent chef, superb artist and was on the way to being a good counsellor (I've always found that ironic - the best doctors are the unhealthiest; The best athletes scoff Mars Bars. You get the idea).

So he calls and he is in trouble; Just come around after a marathon bender, puking cos its reacting with his medication, but won't let me go to him. Finally persuaded him to seek medical help. This has really scared him proper this time around. So much so that he has come straight out with this; It normally takes gentle interrogation to get him to admit having a beer! I'm worried. I'll call him back later...

Married Men have two phases...

When they want to be faithful but don't, and when they want to be unfaithful but can't. So I asked her how we should celebrate our 21st anniversary; She suggested a two-minute silence.

Monogamy

Following on from the previous post, its this bloggers observation that it is often lonelier in a relationship than not!

When your partner has their head in work, studybooks, web pages(!), the monogamous partner often has no-one to turn to for conversation or distraction, whereas theres a whole world of friends you haven't drifted from, lost touch with or been banned from, for the 'single' person.

I know this is a basic view of a larger subject and probably one that I shall return too, since this is my distraction at the moment, given my wifes' studies.

Opinions on a postcard please...

Valentines Day

A word of advice:

When buying your lovers' present, pay CASH

When wrapping your lovers' present, DON'T do it in the home

I know these are obvious things, but remember the formula; GUILT+PANIC= STUPIDITY

and the inverse correlation between perceived self-confidence and actual stupidity.

Just a pearl of wisdom passed onto me, I thought I'd throw out there to the universe...

Not condoning this behaviour, but I know monogamy is not for all.

Silat

Just come back from another excellent Silat training session; After 26 years of learning and teaching Martial Arts, this is the most complete art I have come across, in my humble opinion. I can't get near these guys!

Its been just over a year of learning this art. I've seen traditional and some modern 'eclectic' arts that all have command over one or more ranges, may have some weapon bias, may encompass some philosophy and some might even have a traceable lineage, but this system has all that and more!

I know I'm going to ache tomorrow, so I'm doing this whilst I can still type! I've given up other arts so that I can devote more time to this one, and yet I've found that I can easily move in and out of Silat whilst 'doing' other arts. If I'm showing an Aiki-jutsu flow, I can end up in an elbow juru, and conversely, after a Harimau takedown, I can apply some Brazilian Jiu-Jutsu ( even though this is not practical for multiple opponents ).

A bit of background - part 2

My normal life consists of waking up around 7 am, checking I'm still alive ( most of the time it's good news ), then prepping 4 packed lunches whilst the kids raid the cupboards for breakfast. My wifes studying for a degree, so she'll be upstairs reading, finishing an assignment, or searching for the kids school uniforms they threw around the night before.

Then I'll get the two youngest washed and dressed, ensure all 5 of us take the various medications we're on before taking the two youngest to school before heading off to work.

Eight hours of fun and frolics ( I wish! ) later, and I'm picking the kids up. We're home in 5 minutes, and the kids can eat fruit and watch TV, while I prepare the tea.

Then its dishwasher on, kids bathed, storied and into bed. My wife will have either stayed in the bedroom, studying during all this, or, if she has eaten with us, she'll immediately go back upstairs to continue her studies. We may watch TV or a movie together about 9-ish, but most of the time, I'm doing computery things, teaching Martial Arts or wondering where my life is heading. Then its bed about 11-12pm and the cycle starts again.

A bit of background - part 1

So, my normal family consists of my lovely wife , three girls aged 14, 6 & 5 years old, various relatives ( 'the rellies' ) and a cast of incidental characters that will pop up / in / along, from time to time.

My normal job is a Manager in a 'Dilbert'-type company, and again, I'm sure a whole list of incidental characters will be mentioned from time to time, as and when they do something that either amuses, enrages or shocks me, or when I turn to the blog instead of reaching for a blunt instrument of some description ( it will have tape on the handle to disguise the prints, don't worry )

This blogger is based in the Midlands. I think thats all you need to know right now, in case any of the characters ever stumble across this blog.

My First Post

So, this is what all the fuss is about: My own personal space that acts like my diary, to-do list and therapist! At the tender age of 39 and a bit, I'm doing yet another mid-life crisis thing. I've had a few in my time, so given they're 'mid-life' crises, I'm gonna die when I'm either 56, 60, 64... you get the idea.

This time it's embracing technology and (subconsciously?) reaching out to the masses in an effort to prove that:

We are alone in our thoughts and situations, whilst a global audience flicks through the (web) channels hoping for a glimpse of something good, bad or interesting to while away their own life

OR

We are not alone in our thoughts and situations, and finally there is a way of getting feedback from people to bounce situations, solutions and maybe even (virtual) paper missiles off

We shall see...