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I’m quite a malleable person in some ways, maybe a less kind way of describing this would be to say gullible!  But that’s not quite it, I don’t think.  When I’m suitably inspired by something I can ‘park’ my preconceptions and get somewhat taken in by it – albeit very temporarily – whether it’s a person, a film or – in the case in point – a book that is doing the actual “inspiring.”

The book in question is one I read a while ago, and I’ve just read the second of the series, it’s called K-PAX written by Gene Brewer, and without giving the game away, is about a patient in a mental institution who is exhibits – and very convincingly – a character called ‘prot’ who is a being from another world, called upon to help a human who has had a very torrid time at numerous junctures in his life.

Despite knowing it’s a fictional work, it is presented in a way that allows you to immerse as though it is real, and when viewing the world through the eyes of a visitor from a more utopic (is that a word?) place, it does make one realise what a terribly paradoxical world we live in.  Not just from a corrupt or untrustworthy government perspective, but also on a more personal level.

For example, I’m a self-proclaimed animal lover (not in the people-from-Derby sense, I might add!), yet I’ll quite happily consume meat products or similar.  Just for fleeting moments I found myself nodding and thinking that the idyllic ideas of the K-paxians presented in the book sounds quite enticing.  Of course, upon pondering this some more you get the inevitable lull that our very nature prevents anything approximating this way of thinking becoming the norm.

Despite all this, I’m still looking forward to a Subway with Rich tomorrow before we head off for a few beers.  It is highly likely the sub in question will contain meat!  Anyhow, I’d recommend the book for those of you craving food for thought, the film starring Kevin Spacey isn’t half bad either – although inevitably losing some of the depth of the original text.

Back on my old blog I recalled a random hymn I’d remembered from school, and it sparked off a bit of discussion via the comment system. I’m not a particularly (okay, not a remotely!) religious person, so I was basically pondering why I could recall the numerous hymns we were subjected to particularly at Primary school.

As a person who struggles to remember things I’ve done at work a few weeks ago, or social appointments I’ve made with people, and certainly can’t remember many of the facts and theories I learned during my schooling – so why oh why can I recall words to hymns I’ve not heard for 20 odd years? Perhaps schools could introduce songs for assemblies that actually have future use… which will potentially set me off on another tangent*

The hymn that sparked all this off was ‘When I needed a neighbour‘ – and since I posted the lyrics on my old blog, I’ve noticed in the logs for this one that I’m still getting hits from people searching Google for them thanks to them cacheing my old site still – so below are the lyrics again, just to satisfy those that arrive here for that purpose!

When I needed a neighbour
Were you there, were you there?
When I needed a neighbour
Were you there?

And the creed and the colour
And the name won’t matter
Were you there?

I was hungry and thirsty
Were you there, were you there?
I was hungry and thirsty
Were you there?

And the creed and the colour
And the name won’t matter
Were you there?

I was cold, I was naked
Were you there, were you there?
I was cold, I was naked
Were you there?

And the creed and the colour
And the name won’t matter
Were you there?

When I needed a shelter
Were you there, were you there?
When I needed a shelter
Were you there?

And the creed and the colour
And the name won’t matter
Were you there?

When I needed a healer
Were you there, were you there?
When I needed a healer
Were you there?

And the creed and the colour
And the name won’t matter
Were you there?

Wherever you travel
I’ll be there, I’ll be there.
Wherever you travel
I’ll be there.

And the creed and the colour
And the name won’t matter
I’ll be there.

So there you go. A few visitors had left other random hymns they remembered in similar circumstances – the one that stuck in my head was one that went “the ink is black, the page is white, together we learn to read and write” – ah, bless ’em all – but I’m sure I could find much more productive uses to the mental real estate these old songs are occupying!

* I remember also when I was a young’un Rich and I were presented with a cassette tape with a photocopied yellow insert with ‘tables disco’ written on it – it was basically the 1 to 12 times tables set to cheesy disco music… imagine if you will, cheap sounding synth-based music with a sinister man voicing over “One one is one, one one is one, two ones are two, two ones are two..” ad infinitum! My favourite was the excitement when it was revealed that “Twelve twelves…. ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR!” Didn’t stop me getting lines at Primary school for assisting my 12 times table test by writing the answers on my ruler, though! 😆

Apparently if I was in The Simpsons, this is what I’d look like.  According to Simpsonizeme.com.  I’m not entirely convinced, but well, it’s all fun and games – you can have a bash at uploading a photo of you and seeing what your Simpsons equivalent might look like.

I’ve not been to see the film yet – I anticipate it being a let down, despite reading a few good reviews from mates who have seen it already.

Rich has an unfortunately labyrinthine memory for random past misdemeanors, and in the midst of Harry Potter related activities of both reading the book and anticipating going to see the latest film on Sunday, he’s recalled a possibly shameful moment from my past which I’d completely forgotten about!

Still, it’s nice to have a few hints and tips about how to maintain brotherly esteem I suppose!

Our local Powerleague has updated their pitches from the old style wire-wool-on-concrete style of Astroturf to a new rubber crumb variety.  This means impact from running is greatly reduced (not to mention falling over!), and you don’t end up with major flesh wounds when you do fall on the surface.

It’s also incredibly energy-sapping compared to the old surface, and offers more grass-like resistance to the ball.  The other factor is when it’s wet it behaves very differently to when dry – much like a proper grass surface.  On the whole it’s a massive improvement, but it’s taken a few weeks to get used to how draining it is to play on, which I suppose means it will be better for longer term fitness!

Today’s game was interesting – we were 10-3 up and cruising before collapsing and letting the other side get back to 10-10.  My personal highlight was a freekick that Phil feigned a shot, instead backheeling to me – albeit not quite where I was expecting it – so I ended up having to spanner it with the outside of the right foot which admittedly foxed the defence and saw the ball curl nicely and firmly into the net.

We won 14-10 in the end after remembering we did a lot better when we were playing simple passes and then moving – and I think it was probably deserved!

I watched ‘Happy Feet‘ tonight, which – for those of you who don’t know – is an animated film about penguins.  I’m quite partial to such productions, but I have to say that this one is rubbish!  The animation was very good, in fairness, it was the singular lack of an interesting plot which I struggled with!

Although, as Cat amusingly observed, who could have foreseen the plot twist which resulted in some kind of runt-penguin affecting global fishing legislation, through the medium of dance.  I certainly didn’t see that one coming!

Other than disappointing films, I’ve ordered a replacement digital photo frame for my Mum, as the one I acquired for her birthday broke, I’ve also ordered a new bag for the laptop along with a memory stick and the irresistible concept of a USB freeview dongle for the laptop – telly on the move!  Assuming the portable aerial is any kop!

I’m loving my new toy, I’ve not bought a camera since way back in 2002 when I picked up an original Canon Ixus, which was ace, but was only two megapixels and was playing up somewhat – so replacing it with a shiny new 7 megapixel Samsung i70 was a good move.

Particularly since I paid for it – along with a 2gb memory card and a new case – entirely with Boots Advantage Card points! I’ve worked for Boots for almost five years, and acquired the card at this time – and have been gathering points by buying lunch and generally trying to buy stuff from my employers when I could – so finally my hard work eating all those sandwiches comes to some fruition!

So I’m looking forward to using it in earnest – probably likely to be in August when Cat and I are heading back up to Yorkshire for a second-attempt at our falconry experience. So let’s hope the weather picks up!

Teehee… my camera can do funky cartoonifying of photos, which is damn funky – this is all one photo, but each of the three boxes could’ve had separate photos in there. There is a rudimentary text-adding tool too, but I added the text myself using Gimp instead.

Couldn’t quite fit it on the post – but if you click it, then all should be revealed!

Being essentially a child trapped inside an adult’s body, I joined the general clamour for the final Harry Potter book yesterday (albeit not at midnight – it was probably around 11am by the time I got hold of it, and fully afternoon by the time I’d settled down to start reading!).  The idea of killing off people is a genius plan to get people to buy and read in a hurry!

I’d actually pre-ordered the book but since it was due to arrive at work, the temptation to pick up a copy at a loss-making £4.99 from a local grocer was something I wasn’t able to resist – since Cat had done the same thing, come monday we’ll have three copies of the book in our possession, and both have read it (probably twice, in Cat’s case).

So, before I go on to blatant spoiler-age (so read on no further than this paragraph if you don’t want to be spoiled), I did enjoy the book very much, as I have all the series.  Whilst starting out as undoubtedly children’s books, there is enough depth and quality of story to keep me interested – and whilst the overriding themes I found incredibly predictable, I wasn’t quite able to fathom out how the outcome would be delivered.

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Went out last night for a pseudo-Hen do for Murf at work – I say pseudo, as obviously as a male person I shouldn’t be attending such events. So really it was a work night out. We were in fancy dress, we got suitably drunk, thrown out of a pub for some of the lads opting for an impromptu striptease.

Ended up in The Approach which was a good laugh, and finally a quick trip to the Casino (via an ultimately pointless walk to the Irish, which was closed!) before heading home.

Work was quite painful today – but at least the rest of the team were feeling the pain a bit. Trouble is, upon getting home today I nodded off for a couple of hours or so, and now I can’t sleep – grrrr!