At some point (no pun intended) the compass was seen as new technology and perhaps that fact alone makes my insight into technology itself a rather flawed one. But when I think about the sat nav - I think about how dumb it makes us. There was a time when we didn't need a voice to tell us where to go, in fact, if you where listening to a voice telling you where to go the only place you ended up was in a mental hospital!! In the past, we studied maps, plotted our direction, took a few wrong turns got lost and rolled down our windows to ask for directions. Then we got lost again because we never listen to anyone when they are giving directions! But amongst that annoyance we gained skills, we spoke to people, we looked at maps and through time we gained our bearings and had a general knowledge of our surroundings. Doesn't the sat-nav take all that away? Of course it does however I do understand that it saves time, how we don't get lost as much and how convenient it is. But at the end of the day, any daft bastard can follow a computer voice! I still feel as though some of our basic human instincts and communicative skills are being replaced by technology. In the future we will write in abbreviated txt language, we will put on a virtual reality suit and go to a virtual dancing, have virtual drinks and have a virtual hangover, we won't have emotions we will have emticons and we won't even smile we will have smileys!! You might think I am crazy but if I told you 15 years ago that we would be talking to each on computers you would LMAO (see what I mean) We even have virtual graveyards on Bebo with people leaving comments to the deceased but that isn't really paying respects – visiting a graveyard and putting down flowers is paying respects. The funny thing is about sites such as social network sites, in a way, are actually making us anti-social – because we no longer meet up or talk or phone each other , a comment is not personal, hearing someone's voice on a telephone is personal. Yup, I understand I am being a touch ironic and contradictory by posting the blog on a computer I am just giving you some food for thought. It's The Daily...just don't throw it all over me!
- It's good to talk
- GP's
- Music creates music
- Micra more subtle
- Culinary delights
- Stupid bet
- There's no place like home
- Loath thy neighbour
- I can see clearly now
- Was his name Jack?
- Agening gracefully
- It's good to talk
I would imagine most people reading this Daily do not answer their phone whenever an unknown number calls them – I was one of those people too. Ah, the unknowns, how dare they withhold their number from us! Outrageous! Don't they know what time it is? Why are they calling me? But more importantly who the hell is it? By the time you've pondered over the questions the unknown assailant has disappeared and quite literally vanished without a trace - you will most likely never know who it was that phoned you. And you don't really care because most of the time an unknown number appears it's a debt collector or just a stupid prank call. But I missed one of the most important phone calls of my life because I thought it was just another debt collector, another prank caller, another 'unknown.' There I was standing in my kitchen listening to a guy I barely knew rattling on about films while I ignored my phone and it wasn't the only thing I had to deal with there was the chicken tonight which was bubbling away in the pan. His conversations...I can barely remember...the Chicken Tonight – I never had it that night. And the call? When I eventually answered it...I discovered a relative was in hospital in a bad condition.
- GP's
When something is wrong with me I don't go to the doctors to get it checked out (unless it's serious) and that's because up until recently I haven't had a doctors to go too. It's also because I firmly believe a lot of doctors don't know what they are talking about which is coupled with the fact that I don't like taking pills and there seems to be a pill for everything. But there was something seriously wrong with me (like y'all didn't know that) and I had to go to my local health centre. I was being diagnosed for something I knew I had and I knew how it was going to get sorted out but in true GP fashion she pulled out the old “an idiots guide to becoming a General Practitioner” and told me I need pills to sort out the problem. However I was rather worried that she consulted a book! She was consulting the book as if she was a priest! This is not the first time I have heard about this and it's not very comforting to know that my GP is relying on a book to give me advice about my health. Maybe I am being pedantic, after all, they must have learned a lot of their skills from a book but then you wouldn't expect a surgeon performing open heart surgery to suddenly pull out a book, “heart surgery.....Chapter 5” then all of a sudden “beeeeeeeeeeeeeep!” Patient dies, “oh well, I better bookmark that one for future reference.” Are they called general practitioner because they generalise?
- Music creates music
I was originally a sole lover of hip-hop music but it's interesting how my musical tastes have expanded over the past two years, for instance the last album I bought (yeah I still buy them) was by the old crooner Andy Williams and before that it was blues in the form of Muddy Waters. But hip hop is still in my heart and because a lot of hip hop uses samples from other musical genres it has opened up my ear drums to other types of music. For instance the song 'Eye Know' by De La Soul samples the Steely Dan song 'Peg' and also “Sittin at the dock of the bay' by Otis Redding, check it out for yourself:
De La Soul 'Eye Know'
Steely Dan 'Peg'
Since hearing that song 'Peg' I got the Steely Dan album and it's amazing, I guess I can thank De La for introducing me to Steely – music creates music.
- Micra more subtle
I haven't really driven or should I say legally driven a car since I passed my test in February so one could say, the only time I have been in 5th gear was watching channel 5! But my view is the license isn't going anywhere unless of course I do something stupid and it gets taken from me. However I could be on the road soon if I add myself to my girlfriends car insurance. Will you be wanting the bat pod sir? In the middle of the day Alfred, not very subtle. The Nissan Micra then, much more subtle!
- Culinary Delights
When I say Ginger people think I am talking about irn-bru, when I say Tumeric people think I am in hospital, when I say Korma people think it's got something to do with luck, when I say stock people think I work in a ware-house. Okay so you can tell I have been cooking but not only cooking but cooking to the degree (no pun intended) that I am actually making authentic Indian curries using 6 different spices,loads of ingredients and I walk around the next couple of days licking my fingers because I can still smell the garlic off them! I have been cooking since I left home but recently it's been very experimental, extremely tasty and so much fun. It all started when me and my girlfriend kept talking about food and then we made meals for whenever we visited each other. I haven't took her to a fancy restaurant but I that doesn't matter because I have made her some fancy meals :) Then we joined forces and made meals together like Ghost except there's no clay or Patrick Swayze or Demi Moore involved! We made chicken soup together and from there it's grown into one culinary delight after the other. And it's funny because it's all relatively easy and cheap to do, we made potato and leek soup in our big cauldron and it cost less than a fiver and you could get about 10 bowls out of it! My favourite one so far has been the chicken curry, Cat got an Indian recipe book recently and when I first looked at it I just saw the amount of ingredients/spices involved and thought there is no Bombay (way) that I could make this. But when I looked closer at the cooking instructions it sounded quite easy so a trip to the supermarket and I got all the spices and ingredients needed and went to work. Man, I can still taste that sauce in my mouth when I think about it, it was bursting with flavours and spices and it wasn't that hard to make. Now that we have all the spices for it that Indian curry will only cost £4 for the chicken breast and tomatoes and I ain't joking it's so much better than a home delivery. They say variety is the spice of life, trust me, it's worth it to do your own home cooking and having a go at different dishes because it's so tasty and rewarding :D
- Stupid bet
I knew a guy who lost £300 betting on a Tennis match, he thought he was on to a good 'return' but it turned out to be a double fault or should that be triple fault? Yeah, he definitely got 'served' because losing £300 on a tennis match...damn, that's one hell of a 'backhand', ahem, I better not suggest this DVD for viewing;
http://content8.flixster.com/photo/72/15/19/7215194_ori.jpg
http://content8.flixster.com/photo/72/15/19/7215194_ori.jpg
- There's no place like home?
This is the bit in the Daily where I get to take my pop at popular phrases, where I get to smack the fish wife with a fish! This weeks phrase is, 'There's no place like home'. So they say there is no place like home but how many times have you been in someone else's house and not wanted to leave? Or seen how good their house is compared to yours? My own thoughts on this phrase came from being in other peoples houses and marvelling in the comfort and cleanliness of their homes then coming home to my place which seemed somewhat inadequate and unclean. There's no place like home? Only when you have a beautiful one and if that's not the case...there is no place like somebody else's home! Especially the set design one's in Ikea, they are really nice...perhaps it's time I done a bit of decorating!
- Loath thy neighbour
One of the old classic sayings is love thy neighbour but try applying that to the neighbours I have had over the years and I ain't talking about Harold. No, I am talking having my bike stole, windows smashed and my flat broken into at least 3 times and who could forget the £150 that was stolen from me. And that's me just scratching the head of a life filled with greasy neighbours and when I moved up here I thought I had washed my hair of them - I thought this place was devout of the afore mentioned scum and villainy until one of my neighbours stole my bed sheets! Of all the things to steal!?!? That's personal or should I say 'persil'onal because my sheets are my resting place, it's where the sweat of one's toils are soaked! My neighbours have 'crossed the line' this time, stealing someone's sheets is simply 'pillow the belt.' But the good news is I phoned the Police and theirs an 'undercover' investigation going on :D
- I can see clearly now
Window cleaners are a 'pane' in the arse! I think they should be legally made to send out a letter informing residents that their going to be cleaning the windows so when you hear that scary BANG of the ladder against your wall you don't shit yourself. Also, if you're thinking of an excuse to avoid mischievous activity you can say, “sorry dear not today, the window cleaners coming!” :D
- Was his name Jack?
I think I have the answer to the question posed in one of Jack Johnsons' songs - the question... “where did all the good people go?” On a recent trip to Morrison's I was standing in the queue (that is one tricky word to spell) emptying the contents of my shopping basket onto the conveyor belt. I had already noticed the guy in front of me as I went through the pleasantries of saying thanks to him for placing the “next customer please” sign down for me. He then turned around and said, “you have won the competition for the most items in a shopping basket!” It was only when me and the missus looked at all the stuff we had that we began to smile. The guy then asked how we we're doing and before he went away he said goodbye. A couple of observations... why is that when a stranger speaks to you, you assume he is drunk? And you get a bit defensive like, 'why the hell is this guy talking to me?' Isn't it telling of today's society that a guy is just trying to be nice and we think the worst of him. So where have all the good people gone? I'd say Morrison's :D
- Something about winning
I can't help but think that sometimes winning is selfish, that giving it 100% and trying desperately to win in everything you do seems a bit crispy like bacon left in the pan too long. And if you like your bacon crispy and you like to win then there's absolutely nothing wrong with your taste buds or your attitude. I Just feel that it's good to realise that you can't win everything as the saying goes, “winning isn't everything.” Obviously nobody likes to lose but you do learn a lot more about yourself in loss, there is more more character revelations through losing. I played basketball for about 3 or 4 years with Oatlands and we lost all the time, we became so caught up in winning, so desperate to taste victory that we forgot the whole reason we where playing in the first place : to enjoy ourselves - winning may be important but not when you sacrifice enjoyment.
- Ageing gracefully
Whatever happened to ageing gracefully? It seems to me that a lot of people are scared of getting old and I don't understand why since we are not here to live forever. I also find it ironic that people go under the knife to look younger but the only thing it does to them is make them look older because you can tell their plastic! When I get older I will be happy to wear the signs of worn survival - grey hairs,walking stick and a wrinkly face. I think the only time you should attempt turn back the clock is when it's Summer for the daylight savings.
I shall see you in the next instance :D
No comments:
Post a Comment