It's just a word (no it isn't)

So I went for an impromptu drink tonight with a couple of people from
work. One girl is leaving to go back to england after a few months
here on a project, and another guy who I met a few years back is
over for a week to go on a stag-do for a guy who I used to study
Spanish with in the UK.




Anyway a good time was had by all and after 4 beers I decided to call it an evening and head back
and me and the leaving girl left at the same time. So anyway we were having a nice little chat about
nothing much on the way to the train station and I hear a voice:

" I really hate niggers though, I just can't stand black people."

So I'm a mild mannered enough person, and I decided to let it go but then I hear this voice following
us down the street. Well you can piss me off once and I might let it go, but this drunk pathetic
motherfucker piece of shit kept saying it. So I turned around, walked up to him and looked him in the
eyes. "Listen you piece of shit. If I wasn't with this girl you'd be lying on the floor right now. Turn
around and walk away before I kick the shit out of you"

It's amazing how quickly this bastard changed his tune, but he still wasn't playing anything I wanted
to hear. "Oh I didn't mean anything, personal. It's nothing against you, I just don't like black people."

Me: "it's everything to to with me you fucking arsehole." So I pushed him - it was the most I could do
not to punch and keep punching until he would be bleeding and crying so much that he wouldn't be
able to say another word for months.

There's no point to this, other than I need to vent, and it's amazing to me how just one word, that I
can hear in a rap song or in passing from 2 brothers on the street and not think twice about can
conjure up so many playground fights where me and my brother would unite and fight against stupid
kids repeating what their parents had said the night before; can send me into a blind rage, where I
just want to kill someone, but that's the way it is.

I calmed down pretty quickly, and the girl said "The funny thing is, my middle name's nigger (sic)"

Haha, every cloud.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7wiuG7uego

Healthcare

Ok so here's my take. 90% of the country has been paying 9% of their free time focusing on this, despite the fact that it's worth 25% of their income.

Yeah there was all the republican scare tactics about death panels, pulling the plug on grandma, socialism / fascism / anyism you'd like to pick this week, but at the end of the year and a bit - long debate, they lost. Full fucking stop. Barack Obama is getting some sort of socially beneficial policy through. And while I will strenuously protest the fact that there was no public option, a weak-sauce version of getting any kind of real health care reform which works for rich and poor alike through, he has defeated a republican congress which has not, does not, and will not for the time-being, vote for anything he tries to get through. These people lack any principles.

This man is one of the most intelligent, charismatic presidents for a looong time in this country, and although there are right wing militia groups getting arrested for assassination plots as we speak, at the end of the day, this man is making this country a better place, and somewhere I'd like my kids to grow up, rather than somewhere I'm just visiting for a while.

Do it Obama. You promised change. You're only delivering small change so far, but if you turn this ocean liner around, then your presidency will be truly monumental.

http://www.youtube.com/theyoungturks#p/search/0/sO6JXVBeBgs

Being resolute = achieving resolution?

Ok, it's time to regain some focus - here are my 10 resolutions for the rest of the month, the effectiveness of which will be assessed at the start of July:

1) I will not buy any cigarettes and will not smoke any tobacco unless I am drunk
2) I will not look for excuses to get drunk so that I can smoke
3) I will not go out for drinks during the week as this will jeopardise resolutions 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10
4) I will be in bed by 1am every schoolnight
5) I will aim to be in work before 10am every day
6) I will not bunk off work to avoid breaking resolution 5
7) I will prioritise the most urgent things at work, whether I like doing them or not
8) I will be friendly and helpful to everyone at work, no matter how much their attitudes, methods or philosophy on life fill me with disgust or make me want to stab them in the eye with a pencil over and over and over again
9) I will play guitar for at least 1 hour every day
10) I will do 50 push-ups and 50 sit-ups every 1-2 days

Having reviewed these resolutions, it seems that tobacco and alcohol are the root of many of my problems - who knew?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGE4uDzclQ0

Wise Words / Guiding Principles

So the older I get, the more I seem to notice myself using the phrases that my Nan and Grandad used to say to me when I was a bairn visiting them in Norfolk. So here's my take on a few:

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"
Total understatement - a bird in the hand is worth a gazillion in the bush! They say you never know what you have until it's gone, and man when it's gone, it blows.

"Actions speak louder than words"
SO true. What people say and what they do are often 2 different things. Language is often used to communicate your conception of something that you will make happen in the real world. So make it happen! I know this guy who is always talking about what he will do but he only folllows through on it about 50% of the time. So whenever he tells me something I simultaneously believe him and not believe him - very 1984. I get it - you're a dreamer - it's like a play, you're playing a role and even you think it's real - that's why it's so convincing. But please don't get pissed off when people call you out on it.

"A stitch in time saves nine"
Also true. I'm totally guilty of ignoring this one in my professional life. Maybe that's why I am where I am in my career and not "higher" despite being a total ninja. I do the things I take pleasure in and neglect the things that require a little bit of forethought, hoping that they will all take care of themselves, or someone else will do it. Of course they usually go tits up and then I end up steeling myself against the inevitable backlash of why I didn't do such and such. And you know what? I couldn't care less. I'm very selfish in that if I don't want to do something, you'll probably never get me to do it, or I'll do it really badly just to piss you off, smiling sweetly all the way.

"You can't see the wood for the trees"
This ones a zinger. Life's forest is a very bewildering place, and sometimes you don't know you were in a situation until you're out of it. Going home always gives me a better perspective about what I'm doing in this country. It's true that "there's no place like home", but at the end of the day you've got to make your own life wherever it has lead you. So while this year there was a promotion with no pay raise, and my engineer wage totally sucks compared to the bean counters on the hill, I'll take solace in the fact that I kind of like what I do, and that I'm in this totally unique country with my own apartment, have enough money do go out pretty much whenever I want, an accent and good enough looks not to scare women off too fast!

"All that glitters is not gold"
Birds love shiny things. I'm always amazed at the high correlation between whether a girl likes something and how shiny it is. But all that glitters is not gold. Anyway I sort of get this one - I guess it's trying to say that things that have the characteristics of something very valuable are not always that valuable after all. No shit Sherlock, there's SO many fake people out there (I hate that word but I can't think of a better one). I saw this dude walking down Fulton Street a couple of weeks ago with a HUGE fake gold chain on. Who are you trying to kid, man? You're not rich, and even if you were I wouldn't respect you - people earn my respect or they don't get it - full stop. Anyway that's why I wear zero bling on my person, apart from my watch which works pretty much every time - thanks Grandad!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR_YtF9uFpA