Sunday, August 30, 2009

Who Moved My Cheese?

So today I want to share a small fable with you, hopefully it will give you something to think about at least. I read this story a couple of years ago, and found it brilliant in its simplicity and its truth. For some reason I forgot about it, and I think it is something that should always be present in our lives.

Quick mention of the characters, they all represent one attribute of people, so you might have a bit of all in you, but which one is more you? Well check the story and let me know... Be honest about it, all of them have their strengths and weaknesses, and economics is all about transforming one into the other, and treats into opportunities... Or so I've been told ;)

Anyway, enjoy the tale...

Who Moved My Cheese ?

Monday, August 24, 2009

The beach? Really? That's what you call it?...

Well a quick post about something that I've been meaning to post about for the last month. The Nottingham "beach", or so they called it. So a couple of months ago I got the council newsletter saying Nottingham will have a beach this summer, they order 300 tons of sand and a lot of stuff to build one in market square. Nottingham is in the middle of England, so at least 100 miles from a beach, again the use of the term beach for any part of the British cost can be a stretch (But that is another story).
So, when I read about it I was like "this can't be good". So here are the photos of the "beach"...





It is actualy not as bad as it seems, the place has a lot of movement, the bars are nice, nice all around except for one tinny little thing, the pond they use to simulate the sea, I meant seriously the kids go in there that water seems, well you can see from the picture...But the brits will be brits, one can just enjoy the show...

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

9 crimes...

Today I was in a mood to share not just a song but a feeling, not so much a literal interpretation of its lyrics, but more on the criminal side of it. The lyrics made more sense in another time, but the song still makes me wonder about me and what is alright... So the question becomes this is your life, is that alright?

Leave me out with the waste
This is not what I do
It's the wrong kind of place
To be thinking of you
It's the wrong time
For somebody new
It's a small crime
And I've got no excuse

Is that alright?
Give my gun away when it's loaded
Is that alright?
If u don't shoot it how am I supposed to hold it
Is that alright?
Give my gun away when it's loaded
Is that alright
With you?

Leave me out with the waste
This is not what I do
It's the wrong kind of place
To be cheating on you
It's the wrong time
She's pulling me through
It's a small crime
And I've got no excuse

Is that alright?
I give my gun away when it's loaded
Is that alright?
If you dont shoot it, how am I supposed to hold it
Is that alright?
I give my gun away when it's loaded
Is that alright
Is that alright with you?

Is that alright?
I give my gun away when it's loaded
Is that alright?
If you don't shoot it, how am I supposed to hold it
Is that alright?
If I give my gun away when it's loaded
Is that alright
Is that alright with you?

Is that alright?
Is that alright?
Is that alright with you?
Is that alright?
Is that alright?
Is that alright with you?

No...


Tuesday, August 11, 2009

White Shadows... Just something to think about...

Well two posts in one day seems strange, but I wanted to talk about this and it wasn't really related with the previous post, so a new post is my found solution.
I want to go through some words with you, feeling up for it? Well if not stop now ;P

When I was a young boy I tried to listen
And I wanna feel like that,
Little white shadows blink and miss them
Part of a system, I am

When I was a kid I used to look around me, more than listening I observed, I felt a bit like the odd one out, as a strange body in a blood stream where all bodies made sense, all had a purpose... The need for a purpose is a great part of who we are, or at least that is what I think. The need to feel it, not just know it, is what in fact makes us human, or my definition of human anyway... Don't get me wrong feeling is fundamentally human, however showing these feelings is strictly related to personality ;)
Time at the time seemed like a surreal concept for me, things and events made it so for me. All things that happen where radical, and erratic, thus I making me feel more out of place... However I was part of it...

If you ever feel like something's missing
Things you'll never understand,
Little white shadows sparkle and glisten,
Part of a system, a plan

And you think, and you reason, and you find answers and justifications for things, maybe stuff is missing, maybe you are simple too young to understand, I mean that was what people told me as answers too more complex questions... But was I really to young to understand, or simply too young to grasp all that was happening, all I need to capture and see... Could the master plan simply be elusive for a kid...

All this noise I'm waking up
All this space I'm taking up
All this sound is breaking up

The randomness of things that disturbed me... The questions, and questions, lack of reasons, the lack of insight...

Maybe you'll get what you wanted
Maybe you'll stumble upon it
Everything you ever wanted
In a permanent state

The "what ifs..." in my thought process, the scenarios, the possibilities, is there something I want? Perhaps I will realise it once I get it, or not, perhaps the answers is what I want, and time will give them to me...

Maybe you'll know when you see it
Maybe if you say it you'll mean it
And when you find it you'll keep it
In a permanent state, a permanent state

Maybe is the key word, it provides hope for the hopeless, provides possibilities for those who have none, but mainly the possibility for the dream of leaving this permanent state of not belonging...

When I was a young boy I tried to listen,
Don't you wanna feel like that?
You're part of the human race
All of the stars in the outer space,
Part of a system, a plan

All this noise I'm waking up
All this space I'm taking up
I cannot hear you're breaking up

Woaaooh

Maybe you'll get what you wanted
Maybe you'll stumble upon it
Everything you ever wanted
In a permanent state

Maybe you'll know when you see it
Maybe if you say it you'll mean it
And when you find it you'll keep it
In a permanent state, a permanent state

Swimmin' on a sea of faces
The tide of the human races, oh
An answer now is what I need
I see it in the new sun rising and
See it break on your horizon, oh
Come on love, stay with me

When I was a young boy... What about now? I am still that boy, wiser without wisdom, older without ageing (in my mind), truer without the truth, a real part of the system for other kids and yet still not belonging... Is this the truth? The system is simply the combination of non belonging parts together making it seem whole, look whole, a system made by individual humans that don't feel like they belong and yet form this completeness viewed from a kids eyes. The perfection of the imperfect joined together... Just something to think about...

Lesson on focusing...

Hello again, seems like every time I write here I need to apologise for the lack of posts, and while I always mean it, it seems I can't break the cycle of not writing.
The fact that I am at the end of my third year as a PhD student does help explain this, how could I lose time writing here, when I am having troubles writing for my PhD. This brings me to the point of this post, ever felt like you need to work but can't motivate yourself to do so? You sit in front of the computer and nothing comes out, you find excuses not to do it, talk with colleagues, read online news, search for random things, play games, in a word you procrastinate... Well if you relate to this I found a way to deal with it.
Go to a public place (I use Starbucks, but any coffee place should work ;)), no computer, just your required reading material, blank paper and something to write with. Force yourself to stay there, you will feel alone in a crowd, once this feeling sinks in you become aware that you are there doing nothing, thus you become self concious that other people might find that strange. I mean the Starbucks I use usually has a lot of couples there, if I don't work, well I feel like a stalker, and probably look like one :P. So I work, it is a way to try and force yourself to focus and to work, doesn't do wonders for motivation, but hey at least you work ;).