2007 in brief...

That time of the year again - listing all the profanitites performed and items consumed to carry on the capitalist cohorts of the western world... not.

Personally, I think the year has been a bit twofold. At home, things are great. Xinola has submitted her thesis and we're doing really well together, I've never been happier. I just hope she'll find a meaningful job for herself at some point, which I'm sure she will. Patience is a virtue, they say - and boy, are they right.

Workwise, I've been given much more stuff to do this year and it seems that next year comes with a set of new challenges, not that I mind too much. In 2007, I spent on average 2 days a week away from home and now that's come down to 2 days a month. That's a great improvement on it's own! 2008, who knows? Only thing that is for sure is that I'll still need a job and currently the one I have is looking to offer more options than I thought. Maybe next year this time things look totally different. Say no more.

Travelwise, we made a nice little trip to Finland in the beginning of the year. Lots of snow, sunshine and nice time with the family. All good.

In April, it was time for our yearly trip to Mexico. Family was very much in the picture there too, as it should be. Xinola's uncle took us to Taxco for a weekend and we have a little humpback clayman standing guard in our lounge as proof of that trip, together with very nice memories. We also managed to creep in some time on the beach, this time in a nice secluded area of Sontecomapan lagoon. Very nice beach there, snorkling wasn't that hot though... oh well. Great trip overall!

In May, we had visitors from Mexico for a couple of days. Surprisingly, the weather was rubbish and we ended up freezing in rain up in Cambridge for a day. Also in May, Olavi Viimeinen (aka Mick Blogger) made a rush visit which was spent with Mr's Jameson and Carslberg.

Cometh summer (which never did this year by the way) and we received yet another visitor. This one was a little squirrel in the form of Xinola's youngest sister. Our holiday in the summer was a combination of land, sea and air travel - first we flew to Sweden, spent some time in Stockholm (nice city in the summer). Then, we took a little ferry to Finland and ran away from the rain in Helsinki. In Finland, time was spent with the family and at the summer house doing some fishing, going to sauna and eating in excess. All good. I hope the little squirrel enjoyed her first visit to the evil European continent.

I also made a third visit to Finland later this year to get my teeth fixed properly. There was an incident some years ago in England that put me off from going to a dentist in this country - finally my teeth are all good. During this trip I also met up with my old friends which was really great - I have brilliant friends and I'll be ever grateful for that. I also had the pleasure of getting together with Olavi and jUles for one evening which was much appreciated. A lot of deconstructioning of life and its tenets between the UK and Finland - this story will continue... thanks for your thoughts.

So, the second Christmas that Xinola and I spent together without either family arrived. Great food, quality time together and that's it! I'm getting used to the idea of not being pampered by one of our mothers during this time of the year. At least we're learning how to make crackingly good food for the festive season...

Tonight, we're going to receive the new year with some of my colleagues. Could be a bit risky knowing their drinking habits but I'm hopeful that we'll have a good time.

Finally, I hope that all of you will welcome the year 2008 with hope and belief in yourselves. Keep your eyes, ears and minds open (if a bit blurry tonight) and you'll be just fine! I'll try and do the same.

Happy New Year 2008

Christmas time...

Today, I've been mostly feeling frustrated. Being told that we can go home on the Christmas Eve at around three pm is somewhat annoying seeing that it's half past two now. Nobody's actually doing anything but surfing the web etc. I've been trying to get going for the past two hours but as there's very little momentum behind my movement (read: no management to back me up on this decision) nothing's happened. No surprise there then.

Well, just to burn some of the useless time on my hands, I might as well post something as you've noticed. Christmas and it's meaning, wow, there's a real story lying in there somewhere. I, unfortunately, am not capable of telling this one as it's the one story that I have nothing to add on. What made me really wonder about meaning of this 'festive time of the year' was a story on the news last night about palestinians (christians at that) spending their christmas on the Gaza strip.

These people are on a constant gunpoint and mostly due to their religious beliefs, or is just their traditions, I really dont know. My point here is that I just can not comprehend the need for all this religious nonsense especially when there's a good chance that it's served with a piping hot piece of 7.62mm lead between your eyes from the guy who actully has been made to believe that the way someone else thinks is wrong just because it's different.

Why do we bother with religion at all as a species? Is there really a need to have organised religions? Are we so scared of the unknown that we have to let a bunch of fundamentalists wanting to secure their position in power tell us what is right and what is wrong? Do we need these hipocrates telling us about morality or cant we see for ourselves the consequences of our actions?

Rhetoric or not, this really bugs me big time. People die on a minute to minute basis just because they happen to recognise a different set of rules written on a differently named piece of nonsense. Really sad. Just so sad that it's enough to make me want to cry. Aren't we, the human beings, supposed to be the cutting edge of evolution? Will there be a future in which we have finally realised that religions are just as much as products of human imagination as any daily consumer products we use? My earlier feeling of frustration is changing towards anger...

It's the shortest day of the year. There's a thought to hold on to that is actually real. Time to say 'fuck you' to all religions.

This world needs an enema and I might just have an idea where to stick that...

I joined facebook, therefore I am... perhaps

The peer pressure just got too much! Well, that's my excuse for joining facebook anyway.

Actually I am sectretly exited about this. I already found a whole bunch of people there who I haven't met in years. What I have to give to them after all these years is a different matter, of course. And there's no guarantee that they want to be my friends, is there?

Another scary aspect of facebook is the way it kind of ranks you according to how many friends you have. There are the super facebookers who have thousands of friends. But what if no one wants to my friend...

Let's see, how many people have I pissed off so badly that they wouldn't want to make their own friend lists bigger? - Quite a few probably, now that I come to think of it.

Maybe this fear of being alone is the secret agenda of facebook, making people nicer to each other in order to gain power and glory. Could it be that facebook is the work of some secret charitable organisation?

What ever it is, it's scaring me a bit. I'll get back with more news after I have steadied my nerves a bit...

Until then, I'm sorry for everything I may or may not have done. Just be nice to me in facebook... please!

LAWYERWARE as in Kitchenware

Within the absolute numbness that accompanies my job, I have to check the backgrounds of loads and loads of lawyers from around the English speaking world. This means that I have to request references from the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia and NZ on a constant basis. However, every now and then i have to contact India as well.

In case you have not been fortunate enough to ever contact India for information, you may have to know that it sucks! Their telephones never work, or have changed, people are not keen to inform, never reply to requests, and when they do they take months and months. Yes, it is terribly frustrating to open a file and see that the checks that have to be carried out are only to be done in Indian schools, universities and companies of all sorts.

India is well known to have many IT companies, as well as trillions of '.com' based enterprises. Many of those trillions of companies have the same bloody name, which makes it quite difficult to find out the specific one to contact... I cannot begin to nag about this, and i will not even get into the complaint because, well, it's pointless.

What i wanted to present this time to our blog is one fascinating thing that I came accross with a little while ago. This is called: LAWYERWARE. What the hell!!!! When i was browsing the website of the Bombay Bas Association, i was looking on the side menu and found a link with that tittle. Geeee.... i had to click in to check it out. It has exactly what it says in the tin: gadgets for lawyers (like blackberries, on the go mobile printers, etc).

When i saw that i was honestly laughing my guts out. Was thinking on the brain that came up with the notion in order to frame the idiocity of presenting information to lawyers about the latest available technology in the market that may suit their work better. How did this happen? Were a bunch of lawyers' think tank sitting on a round table wondering about the difficulties that solicitors and paralegals have on a daily basis when dealing with their jobs?

Then, my naivity was stroke when i found that there is actually a whole world of lawyerware that is very much legitimised...on the internet. Actual computer programs for lawyers? Games for lawyers? Spellcheck programs? I know auditing and doing some mathematical stuff can be very much aided with different software... But just not getting into much detail, simply sounds funny. I want to keep it like this, in a very, very supereficial manner.

Screensavers, anyone?

Cross-eyed

Today, I've been mostly feeling warm. You know, that cosy sensation that makes you somewhat sleepy and calm. The only minor drawback to this is that I need to spend a good 8 hours of my day stuck in the office and I actually really feel sleepy. Need sleep.

Recently, I've had mixed feelings about my life as it is. I enjoy living in the UK to some extent and I think Xinola'll agree with me. We like the little things like the good selection of cheeses available, people being polite (when sober) and the fact that we can be what ever we feel like being without being scrutinised to the dot. There's nothing that I really despise here, but I miss things from Finland that I'm not sure I can even try to explain to anyone else.

I made a quick visit to see my oldest and best friends last weekend and I have to say, my confusion just got worse. The sense of comfort that I experienced from being with the people I spent my teenage years with was something ridiculous. Not to mention the emotion of warmth that overtook me when I hung my towel to dry in my parents sauna after a shower.

These are still just emotions and as such not enough to justify any drastic moves or decisions to be made. That much I realise. However, the idea of a possibility to move and work in Finland at some point is intriguing. In UK, people probably have somewhat better purchasing power and a wider selection of consumables available, sometimes even at a reasonable price. This, nevertheless, still seems to me like that's all there is in this country. Yes, there are the lakes up North and the coast and Scotland and yahdi-yah. Yet, there is no forest right there out of your doorstep, no cross sountry ski tracks starting from your rear garden, not tens of thousands of lakes into which you can jump in the summer and from which you can fish throughout the year, no saunas in your friends houses, and perhaps most importantly, no sensation of connection to the surrounding nature.

To some, I'm sure that the above paragraph reads like a provocative piece of poor argumentation but for me, it is becoming more evident that I am actually missing to fulfill some of the most basic needs that I have when living in the UK. Maybe I just cant escape the Finnishness I have in me as well as I've thought? Or maybe, the idea of a possibility of moving back there at some point is making me think these things differently? Who knows really. All I'm interested in is to have a good life-work balance (in that order) as it's quite difficult to manage in this world without a job but it's even more difficult to manage in this world if all you do is work. Whether this balance is more easily achieved in Finland or Britain, remains to be seen.

On another note, it's really windy out there today. Christmas is coming but I have no real feelings for that apart from spending a couple of nice days with Xinola, eating well.

I'll get me coat.

Iranian stand-up act

I always thought that this guy was quite a serious, "we'll nuke whoever we like" kind of fellow, but I guess it's never too late for reactionary statesmen to turn into stand-up comedians...

American puberty

I've got it! The mystery is solved! The dark secret of american psyche has been reveiled!

It’s been bothering me for years now; what is it about americans (individually and collectively) that drives me crazy. I know they are not bad peolple, but if you find yourself stuck in a room with two or more americans having a converstion, you will be looking for the nearest fire exit after a couple of minutes.

I was in that very situation recently, in a hotel just outside Dublin. An American couple was having their breakfast next to me and I couldn't help overhearing their conversation (even despite my continuous efforts to direct all my consentration to my cup of coffee). The husband was enthusiastically explaining his wife about the joys of Hurling (the game, just to be clear, not projectile vomiting) that he had just discovered. "It's like full contact, no paddings, and the ball is like bigger than a shot put!" Then his face lit up even more as he reached the crescendo "and they hit the ball like in baseball. I mean, you can totally blow someone's head off!" At that point I had already gone off my beans, but her reply very nearly got me choking on my bacon; "Wow!", she bellowed.

A moment later I was trying hard to concentrate on my orange juice and block out the outside world when the wife grabbed my arm; "You know what sport those guys in blue shirts are playing?" I looked over my shoulder and saw a table full of gentlemen with pictures of golf clubs printed on their blue polo shirts. I explained that given their shirts, the average age of 60 and the fact that the hotel is also one of the nicest golf resorts around, I would guess they play golf. "I knew it, it’s Hurling!" shouted the husband.

That's when I realised what it was about Americans that’s been bothering me; it's puberty. They seem to be fascinated by violence, they are unable to pay attention if a sentence has more than five words in it, and they either believe everything or nothing you say.

After my revelation I wanted to hug the couple and tell them about my wonderful insight that frees them from shame and explains their curious state, but after the graphic details of brutality involved in Hurling that the husband had enthusiastically explained, I thought it was best to simply walk away and keep my theory to myself. After all, he was a big, dim, and exited American, you can’t be too careful with them.

Now, after some reflection, I feel that future is full of hope. Puberty is, after all, a desease cured by the passing of time. So, my fellow human beings, let's not be cruel to the Americans, they might grow up to be perfectly reasonable adults – one day.

Sad stuff, but not as sad as The Times

The vast majority of us has heard about this high school shooting that took place in Finland yesterday. Truly, truly awful indeed. But I was also appalled by the standard of The Times article that made this to be a 'very Finnish incident'. The author based his views on some bogus stories about the ancient gods of Finland and also assumed that because Finnish winters are dark and cold that all Finnish people only have the luxury of proper friendships (as the rest of the world knows them) during the summer months. He also assumed that due to high levels of ICT use - the internet networking and mobile phones were mentioned - amongst the population and the youth in particular, people are gravitating towards a lifestyle that is increasingly alienated from real human contact.

This was the author's argument for the shooting being a 'very Finnish incident' indeed. I might be wrong here but has there not been several instances in one particular country before this and were there no clear connections to these instances? Not that I'm going to elaborate here but you dont need to be very switched on to realise this.

I've been amazed and to some extent encouraged by the number of comments that the article in The Times has generated. Most of these are being sent from Finnish people responding to the absurd assumptions and analysis being offered by the author. However, and this is worth paying that extra bit of attention to, there is also a large number of foreign people that happen to live in Finland who have responded very eagerly against the author's comments. And to make things even more interesting, there was even a Swedish woman defending Finland. That really assured me that my personal reaction was not that far off. You see, Swedes have brains, where could we get some for this reporter fella?

The article also generously suggests that Finland has 120 people per square kilometer, where in fact this is more like 14. Big deal, I know... just had to get that out of my system too...

Another pussy lifted on the coffee table was the number of firearms in Finland. Apparently Finland has the third largest depository of firearms per capita in the world (after USA, surprise and Yemen! - makes me wonder about the validity of this stat). This means, supposedly, that 56% of Finnish people have a firearm. What the author gloriously has missed, is that the majority of these weapons are in the households where hunting is a serious thing, and that it is common for people who hunt to have more weapons than just one per head. You know, the moose deserves to be shot with a different slug than the boar, and the rabbit, and the partridge, and the duck, you get the point here?

Enough of my disappointment for now. It suffices to say that my level of trust in the analytical capabilities of The Times reporter in question has suffered significantly.

Lastly, I felt quite shocked about the incident itself and still it makes me feel really bizarre. The conflicting question inside me is asking whether the Finnish people think of their homeland as a good place to bring up children as a naive and taken for granted thing with regards to safety and all, or, will these instances reoccur in the near future and change the face and fabric of the society on the whole? I'm really not sure but I'd still like to see Finland retaining some of the qualities that I've always attributed to it, be it naively or not.

Over and out.

Now I've seen it all!

I heard it on the news and I've seen the pictures but it just doesn't seem to sink in - lawyers protesting on the streets of Islamabad.

Situation must be pretty damn bad if lawyers take to the streets and start throwing stones at the riot police! Lawyers! Rioting! Do they have their secretaries to pick the stones for them, or make the reservations at the Plaza for an executive lunch in between a custody hearing and a bit of rioting?

What's next? Chartered accountants of the City on the barricades against Mr. Brown's hairstyle?

Seriously, I find myself in a curious situation of having to agree with Bush Jr. that General Pervez Musharraf should restore the constitution, step down as the army leader and hold (preferably free) elections... I mean, if lawyers are throwing stones at you, you're in trouble!

Not yet

I feel like a teenager... wondering with deep feelings of dark frustration - WHY ME? -

Please, please, i only want to submit and get over with this degree!

Gosh, nothing can express my feelings, random schizophrenic presences in my head, basically i feel dislocated from the social and from myself.

Almost There

Yep, i am about to finish my dissertation, just not yet there....

Poetry In Prose, or Rap This If You Can

The Office is not a World System

Years have passed since the man
that I met as a student
stop being one and became
an office man...

Discussions we had,
he was doing his job because
of the need for another income.

Nothing,
I thought,
could justify a personal decline as such,
however, when one does not know what one wants,
how can that be call a decline?

A handful of years went by,
and under the continuous pressure of lack of cash,
I, myself, was put into an extreme job search.

Call it lucky, call it fate,
but soon after,
a job interview I was called to attend.

If i would have ever be warned by my own experience,
I promise you my reader,
that I would have not done that,
and would have only rested to enjoy counting the pennies for my beer.

Needless to say,
I have been coopted by my own fears of not having money,
and working in an office i have started.

After the first weeks
the place i hated, the people i disliked,
the job, i found, is purely and blatantly worthless.

The days, the weeks have gone by,
and a big bunch of the people in my office are leaving.
And when yesterday, the news reached my ears
I could not feel anything else but awkwardness.
But, why did i feel that way?
Would i miss the rudeness towards the clients,
the constant talks about their drinking sessions,
seeing them playing, being barefoot,
caring about nothing else but their vane springfull youth...

It not surprisingly, took me long to realise
that
it is the job and the place,
and not my office mates that i dislike.

Because it is them
who have constantly reminded me about
the world and life in-there and out-there,
that what we do,
working for whoever evil we work for,
shan't coopt our minds,
neither our bodies for more than the hours we are paid,
and perhaps not even then.

It is then,
a mystery to me
what the near future in my office life
is preparing.
What if new boring and quiet office mates arrive?
What if they only silently comply with their office world system?

I should only have a task,
to remind myself that working at the office is not more
than one medium for me to overcome impoverishment.
Notwithstanding, the biggest challenge is
whilst being there, to overcome scarcity
of my soul and mind.

It's all just too damned temporary!

That's my most recent conclusion of my lifespan so far. I've come to think of life as an infinite entity to a worrying extent recently. I even had a little crisis over the issue. That's so not me, or at least so I thought.

It all began by being bored at work, as things do. There was a dark cloud hanging over my left temple and it was making too many rumbling noises for my liking. The first bolt of lightning came without a warning, unless you take into account the rain and my blurred vision. Somehow I'd managed to start realising that my life has become a series of temporary events, loosely linked together by the people in them and the non-existing continuity amongst.

This is by no means a revelation of a grander scale. I'm pretty convinced that there are people more capable putting their lives into the brackets of taxonomies than I am but I guess this was the reason the thunder was so heavy.

The only solid thing that has a presence on a daily basis and carries me forward is, you guessed it - Xinola. Of course, there is the family and there's the sun in the sky, well, sometimes. But I treat everything else as a temporary entity - my job, most of the people I know, this two dog town and this nation of... what? Maybe a little continuity would help to blow some of the darkest clouds away?

I'm not a kind of a person that wants to settle down for good. Hell no! A little continuity would still not hurt. Maybe we need to take a huge loan out from the bank. At least we'd be tied to something for a good while. I see no end to this thunderstorm... yet.

However, in the midst of the still gathering and darkening clouds, lightning bolts and torrential downpour, I've come to realise that I need a direction and a change in my life. Maybe my Xinola will take me away from here to new adventures. Maybe that's what I need - a new beginning.

So, some heavy rain and random expulsions of high voltage can make you wonder many things. At least this site serves its purpose in allowing me to continue my whinging.

Finally, I'd like to thank first and foremost Xinola for being there for me and providing the continuity that I need. I'd also like to big up Mick for the fantastic chat we had on Friday evening/night/morning. With a little help from friends... miracles can happen.

Let it Rock!

Can this be untitled?

Puff, why do i always have to think of titles for anything? Most of the
time i don't write any subject in the 'subject' slot of the emails'
formats. I would only put a 'subject' if it is a formal email or if i
think that there is something in particular that can summarize what i
will be saying in the email. Hence, it will be an overstatement to say
that having nothing to write as the title of this post, shows that i
have nothing in special to say today.

It has been long since i
thought I had anything to say really. Not that i do now, but i have
some things to take care of and decided to have a break because it is
my mind that needs a break. I am feeling that i am on the verge of
something. Not of a nervous-breakdownAlmodovar's style, god forbid! It
may be that there is a sense of overwhelming emotions based on
practically nothing. My life is as boring as it has ever being. Haven't
watched much films, haven't done many things, most of the time i spend
it at home, almost none friends around to count on, no motivation for
reading much, and so on. No motivation in general to take the first
step on things.

It is possible that because of the reasons
mentioned above, I am letting myself becoming more and more directed by
eventual circumstances. Some of those circumstances are, for instance,
when my only friend around here wants to meet under her own terms. Yes,
I know this sounds quite pathetic, but well, there is no much i can do
about that. Other eventual events evolve around my supervisor'semission
of work for me, submission of papers for different deadlines, search
for jobs and filling up application forms, going to cinema when the Mr.
feels like he can drive all the way to our nearest screening theatre,
awaiting for visitors to come, such as my uncle and his partner, and my
younger sister.

As we can see, none of the listed events depend
on me, and the only way i relate to them is by performing in them, by
being there, and trying to experience them and participate of them one
way or another.

Can i ask, how many people are out there feeling
the same way i do? Can there be a reason to form a group of pathetic
selves that can meet just to get out of the shell? No other thing in
common but that? The thing is that this happens, but because this is
not sophisticated reason enough, people hide their pathetic selves
behind other more acceptable similarities. Acceptable similarities
could be shared with work/university colleagues, good friends/family,
people with similar ideologies (political, religious, financial,
environmental, etc.), arts related groups,etcetera . These are socially
acceptable reasons for people to get together, and without the style="font-style:italic;">likeness fact no many could
tolerate the idea of being with someone for the sake of.

However,
there is one important common and ongoing thing that actually brings
people together even if just for a short period of time. These are the
eventual conditions of both personal and social nature. It can be of
social nature if a person is waiting at a bus stop, sitting at the
beach or in a pub. This is the setting. Now, we need other people
around, and another person that will perceive the other's presence
within that same space. Both people can be either waiting for someone
else, killing time on their own, needing a break, whatever, but having
a time for themselves. Having said that, one of the two persons will
decide to approach the other person, no reason behind, just because
there is something about the other one that makes herlikable at that
moment and attractive for talking. The fact is that both people will be
engaged into a conversation for a little while and then will take their
different ways and most likely never meet again. I always wonder, what
is that allows this to happen? I am not talking about weirdos here,
nothing like that. Just circumstantial events that take place without
more commitments, than those of the instant. Yet, as we socially
dependent creatures strive on compromises and commitments, these kind
of eventual encounters with others are taken as of lesser value by many.

Am
I utterly wrong here? Honestly, those comments are not geared only by
my long lone days, i am always like this anyway. With the time, the
only thing that i fear is that social casualness will become more and
moreunconsciously censored (by the society and by individuals). I say
this because when I was younger (even during last year), I used to
spend much more time on my own in social spaces. Nowadays, it is less
easier for me to be the way i was before. I have started to question my
social abilities. For example, two weeks ago i went to town on my own,
and for once in a long while went to have some pub lunch alone.
Needless to say, but I was the only person who was eating alone. It
never bothered me before, i knew that there was nothing wrong with
being alone in public places.

I will try to keep a track on this
issue, because it is quite big in my life and need to think and write
more about it. Maybe only then, i can begin to understand a little bit
of what is actually going on.

Back from Mexico

Hello hello,

I'm back from the country of tacos, tortas and tamales (you could add tostadas, tamarindos, totopos, tinga, toritos but I'll leave them alone this time)! What a hot trip it was indeed. Here's a little account of the days gone by...

First, we had to physically get to the country of the T-diet. This, in today's world, means taking an airplane and defying the gravity for a considerable amount of time (11hrs). Luckily, we got upgraded in class and for once I had a decent space for myself on one of these flying tuna tins.

So, the flight was ok and as Xinola's uncle was at the airport to pick us up, we were up for the business. For me, however, the first evening was not such a successful one as I suffered from bad headache. Well, a little sleep and some tacos and I was as good as new (as a 30 year old can be).

Next morning we set off to the city of Taxco which is know of its silver shops and markets. It was hot but the city was really beautifully located in the mountains, its streets and narrow alleys circling the mountain sides. As I was with good company and the food was good, silver cheap and beer cold, I was happy!

From Taxco we returned to Mexico City via Cuernavaca. This is a lovely colonial town with a nice restaurant scene. The food I had was one of the best I've had in Mexico even if I thought the restaurant was too fancy for my liking. For the record, in Mexico it's not necessary to go to the best and the most expensive restaurants for excellent food but in this case I'm glad to say it was flipping good.

Over the Monday night, we took a bus to the coastal city of Coatzacoalcos. Now, I'm not overly keen with this city as it's a bit boring and too hot. They have a semiclean beach. Period.

This was family time and as such very enjoyable. I read a book and relaxed under a fan and with some ice cold beer. We did make a daytrip to Palenque which was cool. This is an archaelogical site from the Mayan era and very impressively set in the middle of a lush jungle. Monkeys, birds, tourists, you name it...

The weekend was spent on the coast again. This time in Lago de Sontecomapan and Rancho Los Amigos. It was picturesque and beautiful, I think the whole family enjoyed it. The beach was one of the nicest beaches I've been to (Isla Mujeres still clearly #1) , with clean and clear water and a nice wave break.

During the week we took it easy and enjoyed being lazy as much as we could from the heat. Then, the time to go to Orizaba arrived and so we took off. There, more excellent food and nice and relaxing time was consumed. Weather in Orizaba was not such great, being cloudy and rainy at times but that was ok after the heat of the coast.

It was time for me to come back. I tried to upgrade my seat at the check in but instead was offered a emergency exit seat which I gladly accepted.

This is a hasty outline of our holiday and I'll try to give a little bit more detailed account with some pictures at some point too. Now, back to work. I have a nice little drive from London back to the periphery ahead of me. Let's hope M25 will not prove to be worth its reputation once again...

until next time.

2007 - the beginning

Apologies. Me and my co-bloggers have been quiet for a long time.

The last time I wrote, I mentioned that we had some visitors for new year's eve. Mick and jULES arrived on the day before and we had an enjoyable couple of days together. It's a rarity and therefore a luxury to have such good friends visiting. Thanks for stopping by.

I've been busy as hell with work. So busy in fact, that blogging from work has been out of the question. This, to me, is ridiculous. I still keep thinking all the same things as before. I should try to find something else to do and yadi ya. I almost found something from the intranet but it turned out to be a money begging kinda job so I let it go. I need to have something that is varied, have to deal with various people and something that I can get gratification from in seeing that I'm making things happen. Some days in my current job I feel this and it makes me feel good. I even got a recognition £100 from my boss to keep my motivation up. Not sure if it made any difference for my motivation but it made me feel good for about a day. Then, back to square one.

This is all way too familiar to read from the previous posts as you know. I should try to get back in the habit of bashing the marketing departments and trying to be funny. Very telling (to myself at least) that there's something going on that won't allow me to relax and just piss about. At least we have a holiday coming again. Maybe I'll get my mojo back.

We popped to Finland for a couple of days as well a while ago, which was nice. There was a proper winter weather and it reminded me of my childhood. I've been doing this kind of thinking a lot - looking back at things I've done and how I've felt about certain happenings and events. Some obviously stand out as brilliant memories and there's always a longing to relive some of those moments. Fat chance, I know. This is why I should instead concentrate fully on what's going on currently.

I think that many of these thoughts have emerged as a result of turning 30. It's made me think for the first time that I might be getting to an age where I really should keep concentrating on the current rather than anything else. I am very happy with my relationship with Xinola and would not change that for anything in the world. At least I have a job and I'm not totally broke. I don't know what to think....

Again, I'm doing the same thing. Complaining. I guess that this for me is the purpose of this blog and I should use it more often to let some steam off. I can't promise anything but if you see more mindless ranting, it'll be just old little me again.

Time to watch some football. I'm away tonight in London on business and feel lonely. Hotels are utterly boring places with shit telly and rubbish food. At least the kind of hotels my company pays for anyway.

Man, almost forgot! A guy from office (white, middle-class, 22) has knocked up and girl from the office (white, chavvy, 18) and they seem to be willing to keep it. None of my business but I just hate to see these things happening. The baby has no future and it hasn't even been born yet. omg.

me. gone.