Posted on Wednesday, December 20th, 2006 at 2:23 am by Philip Devitt
I’m older, and its official. Too be honest I can’t say I noticed the clock tick past midnight or even felt the weight of another year fall onto my shoulders. I was too busy reading. For the first time in a long time I decided to get out my dusty old omnibus of “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”.
I must have read Douglas Adams’ adventures of Arthur Dent half a dozen times during and after my student years. Whether I’ve read it or not I’ve always taken it with me on long haul flights and car journeys partly for entertainment, partly as something to take my mind from whatever tedium I’m forced to endure, but mostly because it reminds me of home; sitting back on the sofa with a warm mug of coffee, trying not to nod off before the next chapter.
It’s often tag-lined as being “A Trilogy in Five Parts“, not quite as catchy as “A Trilogy in Four Parts” which it used to be known as but at least its accurate. Too be honest I was never enthralled by the fifth and final book “Mostly Harmless”. I never got over how easily Adams dissolved Fenchurch — I understand how a miserable Arthur is probably better from a story-writers perspective but I think most readers wanted her to stay for a little longer. If there was an absolute requirement to bump her off Adams could have at least give her a decent death. Maybe having her eaten by the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal while a helpless Arthur tries not to peep under the towel covering his head. Thankfully I have to read through four more books to get to “Mostly Harmless”.
So what has the last twelve months brought me? One on the biggest changes has been the introduction of my neice. Babies are very strange creatures; how can something so small have such an emotional affect on those around them? I’ve recently been thinking of what my main uncle/godfather duties are. So far I’ve come up with these three rules:-
Admitedly the second and third rules don’t really apply until she can a) converse to a limited degree and b) understand the concept of money, but I think the first rule should be enough for the moment.
What do I think the future will bring, to answer that I need look to the past. There are two main aspects that I would like to change; work and play.
Firstly regarding my career: For the last few years I’ve been playing a game which is now getting a little repetative and I’ve finally come to realise that I don’t think I’ll win anytime soon and now is the time to either change my hand or find a new game to play. Maybe I need a totally different game genre to help whet the edge I’ve allowed to dull in recent years.
The second aspect of my existance I need to address is my playtime; I need to concentrate on the teachings of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and find me what every pirate should have. (Is that “a parrot” I hear you cry?) I needs me a wench. Preferably buxom with a large bank balance and a vested interest in her fathers whiskey distillery, but I’m not really that choosey anymore. Anyone who makes me smile, shows me the world, or keeps change in my pocket will do.
An old friend of mine has some interesting views on the current state of popular literature on his website.
Posted on Monday, December 18th, 2006 at 11:13 pm by Philip Devitt
The Dickens classic always been one of my favourite stories; its got 3 ghosts, 2 deaths and a little cripple boy, what more could the reader want ? As it happens some kind folks at Project Gutenberg have been good enough to key in the entire book for you to download, but as it is Christmas I’ve provided a link to my own version that you can browse online. For those who like to turn the pages of a real book I’ve provided links to Amazon where you can purchase a paper copy.
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens.
Posted on Friday, December 8th, 2006 at 10:26 pm by Philip Devitt
It’s that time of year again; a fortnight before Christmas and I can already sense the ghosts of yuletides past creeping up on me and bringing back memories of yesteryears seasonal sins. The only redeeming feature of this “holiday season” is that I have somehow managed to avoid taking any vacation time off work and have a stupidly large number of days to spend. I don’t know why I bother, I never know what to do, but at least I can do it without having to wake up an some Godawful hour of the morning. Its the mornings that get to me; 9:00 o’clock and it’s still dark, dank and miserable. The evenings aren’t much better, or lighter.
How come the term “Holiday Season” has started to creep into the language? I can recall there being winter, summer, autumn and spring but have no recollection of “holiday”. I believe its because some poxy conservative white protestant bureucrat is afraid to remind people who have migrated to this country that this once great nation is primarily made up of white anglosaxon Christians. Whilst most of these Christians are not wholly devout the majority do like to be reminded of the story (and I repeat STORY) of Jesus.
Christmas is a celebration of a time when some poor unfortunate Jewish girl was knocked up in time for Chanukah and was so afraid to tell her dad of adolesent springtime fumblings behind the goatshed that she figured it’d be easier to say an angel had “visited” her. The only real difference between now and then is that most petrified impregnated teenagers these days haven’t got the nerve to blag it; let’s face it, your benefits are bound to be affected if you put down “God” as the father.
Enough misery for now.
