An unsuccessful getaway

And I would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those pesky kids.."

So said the perpetrator of some wicked crime in Scooby Doo, expressing his remorse at the fact that were it not for the unwanted attention of some people he did not particularly know, and was not expecting any interest from, he would have otherwise have been able to continue his nefarious life of crime in peace and quiet.

It hasn't been my birthday for a few days now, and so it was this evening that I logged on to Second Life quite expecting not to be walking right into a surprise birthday party - but when someone said "Would you just come over this way, please?" I somehow immediately knew that the game was up, that my attempts to keep my birthday quiet had not been successful, and that the word was out.

"Would you just move a little to the left?" is usually a sign that someone has carefully arranged a dangling piano, swinging delicately from a thin rope, just above your head, but you're not standing in quite the perfect position to be flattened.

And so, sure enough, moving a little over this way please revealed that waiting for me was was cake, balloons, dancing, and, therefore, a rather embarrassed white bat standing awkwardly in the corner of the dance floor, not really sure what to say or do or how to deal with this rather unexpected situation.

I'm not sure if I should be comforted by the fact that I found the virtual experience almost entirely as awkward and embarrassing as I would have found it in real life. It's not that I'm not grateful - it was awfully nice of my Second Life acquaintances to do this. I'm sure that if I wasn't such a basket case I would have appreciated it even more. It just makes me wonder where on earth my head is at - is it because I don't know how to handle social situations? Because I feel awkward at having to appear pleased or happy when all I feel is.. awkward? That I just don't know what to say? Or something else entirely?

More questions than answers. But I hope that despite my awkward silences, everyone had a good time. If I think about it some more I'm sure I'll be filled with that nice kind of inside warmth that comes from not being blind to something quite as valuable as friendship. It might have been my birthday a few days ago but I'm clearly  still not enough of a grown-up to handle such things. Maybe one day. :-)

Put It On Fabric

"Brilliant people are often difficult, quickly bored, and easily disheartened."

Came across this in something I read earlier today. OK, I had to edit it because it was phrased in a slightly more clumsy manner, and used 'easily' for both 'bored' and 'disheartened', so I had to change it around a bit. But my point, and I do have one, is this: I agree with this sentiment. In fact I think I'm going to have it printed on a t-shirt.

How else are people going to find out, after all?

Ant Turns It Out

I believe it was the noted philosopher, NWA's very own "MC Ren", who I would be tempted to refer to as "my man MC Ren" if it wasn't so terribly unlikely, who once said "Ruthless, plenty of that and much more." - And so it is that ruthlessness is once again the order of the day as my ongoing war against clutter continues.

Tuesday is a good day for tidying, because it is Wednesday morning when a big truck arrives and takes everyone's large and bulky rubbish to the dump. So Tuesdays are a great day for leaving large and bulky rubbish in the place where it should be left. Today I excised several items of junk, both from my room and also from my shed. I have a warm glow inside, which makes me feel that I am really doing something.

It wasn't until a little while later that I actually added up the cost of what I'd just chucked out.

- a perfectly good video recorder which only makes a very slightly loud metallic grinding noise while trying to watch tapes. Purchased in 1988 for £200.

- a 21 inch TV which I unfortunately later discovered was made by Alba, so of course it stopped working within moments, and its cardboard insides are entirely unrepairable. £200 about 5 years ago.

- a fax/scanner/printer thingy which unfortunately stopped printing, but would otherwise have still been quite good for faxing or scanning were it not for the fact it doesn't work on anything more up to date than Windows 95. £300 about 9 or 10 years ago?

- an old colour deskjet printer. Those used to be expensive once (£300 about 12 years ago). That said, it was second hand when I got it, and it's just no use now, the space it takes being more valuable than the replacement cost. Only slightly not working, but already replaced with something else, and not actually mine anyway (on loan from work) who told me to drop it from the tallest place I could find. A good printer, although I noticed that last week someone had actually left a later model in the place where large and bulky rubbish should be left.

This is a degree of ruthlessness I was not sure I could achieve, but I have done. And while I still have many boxes and things getting in my way, I do at least have slightly less of them than before, so that's some progress for today, anyway.