In a world full of incidents and information, you would think that finding a subject to write about would be an easy enough ask for a lowly little blogger like myself. Not so the case. It would appear that unless my brain has an affinity for my chosen subject matter it refuses to function.
There is nothing particularly unusual about that to be honest, the functionality of my brain has always been something that confused and frustrated me.
I wanted to be a genius, honestly I did, I was just too lazy / stubborn / undisciplined to study. I preferred the ‘drift into it’ method. When the time came and I looked at the slip of paper that bore my results I’m sure I uttered a sentence that started with “if only…”. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this was to become a regular saying in my life. Another favourite would become, “I have no one to blame but myself”. At least I have enough balls to admit when I am wrong, well most of the time anyway.
The trouble is, when I do something I like to do it well. I would feel uncomfortable writing about a subject that I have very little knowledge of. Sure I have an opinion and can offer it to anyone prepared to listen, but it won’t necessarily be right or correct.
Most people seem to think that you need to pick a subject matter and stick to it. Essentially this means that there is a theme running through your blog, but doesn’t this pigeon hole you a little? In later months you might feel a little uncomfortable about hitting your readers with a different subject matter than usual and perhaps losing some of the street cred you have spent months, even years building.
Personally I love people who write little bits of anything and everything. It keeps me interested and engaged. But each to his own.
If there are indeed different categories in the blogging world, then I fall squarely into the ‘mongrel’ one, because I am not a defined breed. I am a sum total of many different parts of anything and everything that comes to mind. Kinda makes sense now that I have been called ‘barking’ mad right?
I don’t have an exciting life. I don’t have time for hobbies, well except blogging and the Xbox and…ok so maybe I do have hobbies. I don’t travel the world. I don’t have an interesting job that I can regale you with stories of, however I do have very entertaining work colleagues and friends.
So you see even though I am, in my own way unique and individual, I am also the same.
I sleep, get up, work, come home, make dinner, do dishes, wash, iron, sleep and then rise the next morning to repeat the whole cycle again. The only difference between myself and some other folks is that instead of doing all of this for a partner and children I do it for aging parents, one of whom is regressing back to childhood.
Where’s the subject matter in that? Most times I am too tired to think.
So the moral of this story? Well that’s easy. Just write whatever the feck you want, there are eejits everywhere, if you build the blog they will come!
Are you evil enough for the October What if writing challenge?
Come on you lot!! Get writing :-)
A reminder the month long October What if writing challenge is open for your responses. A great way to get a little writing in and you get to tell us what evil creature you can see yourself as. Check out the other links and then add yours. You can vote for your favorites all day on Halloween.
For October I have decided to have a month long writing challenge in addition to the weekly challenges.
What if you descended into darkness and became a minion of evil?
I want to know what evil creature you see yourself as most and what you will do in your new found life of evilness. It is time for all the zombies, werewolves, vampires, ghosts and other supernatural creatures to come out and play.
If you can see yourself as more than one creature of darkness you are welcome to add a link for…
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The Joys of Modern Travel – Part 10
I have not written about the joys of modern travel for ages it seems. I would like to say that this is because it has actually been a joy to travel, but it’s more a case of it’s been annoying my poor frazzled brain so much I was having difficulty transcribing it into words.
The new school year has brought with it a whole different class of characters who now use the train to travel from A to B. They are louder, brasher and pushier than ever before. They have no concept of ‘sitting beside someone’ rather they practically plonk themselves on top of you. This morning I had the unenviable task of trying to liberate my coat tails from someone who had obviously paid for their seat, and half of mine.
In the morning I no longer attempt to change trains, there is just no point. It’s like trying to push your way through a hoard of stampeding cattle. ‘Alien Leg’ is still refusing to do stairs, so what with the aforementioned stampeding cattle and the completely unreasonable 3 minute platform time change, it’s never going to happen. Not right now anyway. This means I travel to the nearest main station, get off, change and then double back on myself, adding 20 minutes to a journey that is already long and arduous.
On the way home I now have 2 train changes, as if one wasn’t bad enough, wtf! Railway planners were obviously on drugs the day they devised the new timetable.
It’s bad enough for me, with a wonky leg, but can you imagine what it would be like for someone in a wheelchair trying to attempt to make the same journey that I do.
They advertise the fact that you can travel in comfort and enjoy the free ‘WiFi’, relax and banish all the stresses of sitting in traffic. That’s a bit of an untruth. By the time you get yourself seated, if in fact you are lucky enough to get one, get out your tablet, connect to the wifi and kick back to enjoy it, you’re at the last stop and it’s time for the first change. Next stop and it’s time for the second change. By the time you clamour aboard for the final leg of the journey, you’re too fecking knackered to even attempt to hook any enabled device to any kind of sodding internet and you just collapse into the nearest available seat.
Don’t even get me started on the amount of decibels one table of school children can produce.
Joys of modern travel my arse!
Hanging by a sliver…
My entry for:
and also:
Blast From the Past: Weekly Writing Challenge – ‘If you normally write non-fiction, try fiction.’
Hanging by a Sliver
They said they have never known this to happen before. They don’t know what to do with me. I scare them.
I am scared myself, but I cannot let them know.
I don’t look or feel any different.
I wear the same clothes, the same boots, jewellery and carefully selected slogan tee, ‘Welcome to the Darkside’, how apt. If my situation were not so utterly ridiculous I would laugh.
“Some of you must know what’s happened, what did we do today that we have not done any other day?” Peter is frantic, pacing the floor, barely keeping it together.
“Calm down Peter, we need to think.”
“Calm down, seriously, calm down, are you having a laugh, look at her. James, LOOK at her, it’s too late!”
“I can see ok, I can see, but you wittering in my ear is not helping me think. There might still be time.”
Carla leads Peter to a chair and makes him sit. On the way past she touches my arm and gives me a look. I can see the gesture, but I feel nothing more than a slight breeze brush past the spot where her hand lies.
I don’t understand how I can be so calm about this. Why am I not freaking out. I feel more relaxed than I have in a long time.
“We promised her nothing like this would happen.” Peter again, his voice is starting to grate on my nerves.
“It’s not like we planned it for fuck sake, is that what you think, you knew the risks and so for that matter did she.”
Carla lays her hand on James’ arm, “Leave him be, this won’t help.”
They are getting further away, they are blurring and now for the first time I start to panic.
“She’s fitting. Quick James help me.” Carla lays her arms across my chest, pushing me back onto the bed. I feel nothing, but I see everything.
Breathe, I need to breathe. Think albatross. Slow easy breaths.
“It’s passing.” Carla relaxes her grip.
They can’t see it, but I can. My view of my own lifeless body is unobstructed, all that holds me together is a sliver of lifestream, my soul. If I can perhaps use it to pull myself back I can……
Peter is up and pacing again, his anxiety peaking, “Look what we’ve done, this was only supposed to be an out of body experience, if we can’t get her back you know what will happen. You KNOW what will she will become.” To prove his point he opens his arms and gestures across my body.
He cuts the lifeline, as easily as if it were nothing more than a fine spiders web. There was no way he could have known. I can feel all hope leave me. Every good feeling, every happy memory.
He is crying now. “You know she will become a Dementor.”
Music for the Mehness!
Daily Prompt: Mix Tape Masterpiece
You make a new friend. Make them a mix tape (or playlist, for the younger folks) that tells them who you are through song
One of my friends once told me that I have the weirdest taste in music ever, another described it as music to slit your wrists to….I guess that puts me squarely into the melancholy category. It is what it is and I likes what I like, I make no apologies for it. I love dance and pop as much as the next person, but my heart lies in the realm of songs that can make me cry. I’ve been listening to some of these anyways as I have been drowning in mehness this week. so figured I might as well share them.
Picture the scene, a one hour train journey after a long day at work, there are four more days till the weekend, it’s dark outside and the rain streaks down the windows, now if that doesn’t want to make you gurn your lamps out then my top ten melancholy melodies will:
Any Other Name – Thomas Newman
I think I originally heard this on a chill out CD, but I thought it was one of the most beautiful pieces of music I had ever heard. It never fails to make me cry if I am glum!
The Eels – It’s a Motherf*cker
This song contains bad language so if you are going to be offended don’t even watch. It’s a great song though if you are missing someone and you need to let them know.
Annie Lennox – Into the West
I know this is really morose, but I want this song played at my funeral when that time comes. If you listen to the lyrics you will understand why.
Alex Cornish – Brothers In Arms
I love the Dire Straits version as well, but this one just struck a chord with me and became my favourite.
Massive Attack – Teardrop
This song has always been a constant for me. It’s never not been an any kind of audio player I own.
Elbow – Lippy Kids
I have my sister to thank for introducing me to Elbow. I had never heard much of their stuff before until one night she played the album ‘Build a rocket boys’ and I heard this song. From that moment on I was in love.
Fyfe Dangerfield – She’s always a woman
I loved the band the ‘Guillemots’ whose lead singer is Fyfe Dangerfield, but when I heard him sing this, I loved it so much more than the Billy Joel version.
Damien Rice – 9 Crimes
That’s the first time I have seen this video and it’s err different, but I still love the song!
Lana Del Ray – Video Games
Not sure what it is about this song, but it just gets to me.
Passenger – The One You Love
I just love this guys voice and his album ‘Flight of the Crow’ is well worth a listen!
So there you have it, the 10 tracks from my forthcoming compilation album ‘Music for the Mehness’.
Big Fat Broken Blog!
So, it seems it’s a for gone conclusion now, that when I changed my blog name from The Geeky G4mer to The Indecisive Eejit, I broke it!
There’s a hole in my blog, dear Liza, Dear Liza
Henry was more than likely able to fix Liza’s bucket, I am not sure however that he can help me!
Although it comfortingly says at the side of my blog that I still have around 190 odd followers, there are 100 or so who no longer see my posts. The die hards are still here, because either by luck, good grace or sheer badgering on my part they un followed and re followed me again meaning I still appear in their reader section.
I’ve contacted support by posting on the forums, but that was about a week ago and no one has answered. To be fair to them, they are probably secretly laughing and saying you should not have been so indecisive and changed your name in the first place. Thats a fair point, but the time was right, and with the blog name being the same as my Xbox gamer tag, things were getting a little messy and it was time for a split.
It’s kinda like starting all over again or the way weird mind looks at it, buying a bigger bag. All my personal effects are the die hards who have stuck with me, they are placed into the big bag before anything else, now I just need to walk around with it for a while until I can find more things to add. Perhaps on the journey some of my existing followers who are no longer aware of my existence will see me and say ‘Oh my, new bag, I must follow you again’.
In order for all of this to be possible though I need to get my head on straight and remember how to write. The mehness is an idea sucker. Last night I must have sat in front of this screen for a good 45 minutes. I really wanted to write, but I just couldn’t think of anything to write about. I have challenges to do (see more at bottom of page), but it was already after midnight and I need just a little more thinking time for them. On hindsight, perhaps I should just have posted ‘Goodnight’, but time differences make little quirks like that confusing because for some of you it will be morning!
So for anyone who still has me in their reader and has not yet Un followed and Re followed me, you may have to for things to work correctly. WordPress is wonderful, but sadly there is no way of letting your followers know on mass that things have changed, well not that I am aware of anyway. I am open to suggestions.
Ok so now for a few updates!
Over at Okay, what if?, things have gotten even more spooktacular than usuall. As well as the normal weekly challenges, a new month long challenge has been added for October, this one incorporates voting as well, so you can show appreciation for your favourites. If you would like more information about ‘October What if challenge. What if you descended into darkness?‘ just click the link and follow the instructions.
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The hilarious brain behind the blogs Her Broken Nibs and Lemon Lime Follies has amalgamated the two and all her writing can now be found on the second. The sheepsie is still there, so I was a happy bunny..erm shee…lamb. Have a gander, ewe will not regret it! Beware the killer socks though!
That’s all folks!!
Good Morning Rathlin Island!
In response to The Daily Post weekly photo challenge: Good Morning!
A few years back, a couple of my friends and I decided to take the early morning crossing out to Rathlin Island to try and get some pictures.
The crossing on the ferry was terrible as we sailed at the same time as the ‘meeting of the tides’, but the views upon arrival were amazing and so worth the white knuckle ride.
This is a picture of one of the Puffin stacks on the island. Rathlin plays host to one of Northern Ireland’s biggest seabird colonies and it truly is something amazing to watch. Puffins and many other seabirds congregate in their thousands to breed from approximately May to July.
Imagine living in a house and waking up to that view every morning! It sure would make it a good one!
I might go to Mars!
This week’s ‘Okay, what if?‘ challenge
What if you could live on another planet?
NASA has perfected space travel and created a livable environment on Mars. In an attempt to colonize they have invited you to be among the first inhabitants of the red planet. Do you accept and if so, what is your experience?
Dear Nasa,
Thank you for informing me that I have been randomly selected for the ‘Trip to Mars Draw’.
Winning a ticket would invoke the same reactions in me as it did in Charlie when he won his Golden Ticket to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, only I didn’t run all the way home because my leg is knacked, and I’m too lazy. The other advantage I have however, is that going to Mars will make me lighter, whereas going to the chocolate factory would definitely have made me heavier!
So here’s the thing, I’d give strong consideration to going but I don’t reckon I’d last too long. You’ve heard the old saying about a fart in a spacesuit right? well if I eat beans and I drop one I’m a goner. There are no second chances….I am D E A D! But by the same token, if I cut a blow hole in my spacesuit will I die anyway when the atmosphere penetrates? This is a real worry!
I’m not sure I like the idea of having to chase my food around the house much either. I’ve seen the adverts, an open bag of M&M’s fly in all directions, I mean what’s the use of that, by the time I round all the feckers up, I’d be too tired to eat them! Do you have any way of combating this catastrophe?
I’ve been known to see red on a few occasions, but how would I cope seeing it on a daily basis? and the floors, how would I keep them clean? I don’t want people tramping that red dust stuff all over my clean carpets. I suppose I could make them wear plastic bags on their feet….aye, not a bad idea that, so just ignore my last.
I’ve wanted a dog for a long time, will they be allowed? I could never have one here because I’m at work all day, but you’re telling me I wouldn’t have to work so I’d have plenty of time. If I took it out for a walk would it be like trailing a balloon after me, or do you have special little boots for them too? Also could you design some kind of little umbrella that attaches to it’s tail to catch the poop as it floats into space? or is it something more primitive, like a butterfly net for example?
It’s a lot to take in, and there is a lot to leave behind, so I am not sure what my answer would be if I won the draw. If you could however provide the answers to the questions I have asked that may assist with the decision making process.
Many thanks in advance for your assistance.
The Indecisive Eejit.
In the midst of the Meh!
I’m not a big lover of posting videos, I like to share my music tastes as the ‘In my music bubble’ page shows, but I didn’t like having to make people watch things. A few others have been sharing their music using you tube video’s and I realised it was actually a great way to share the songs here. How could I have been so stupid, I mean how did I think people were going to find my offerings. Stupid cow, can I blame the fact that I am an eejit? Thank you Rob and NBI for opening my eyes :)
I’ve been feeling a little off kilter for the past couple of weeks. I can’t seem to put my finger on why, but my happiness meter is nowhere near where it should be. I suppose I can take some comfort from the fact that I am able to recognize the dips, I’ve had them before.
Even before my friend came on holiday, my posting had been a little sporadic, mainly because of the way I had been feeling.
I would describe myself as two halves, on one hand you have the person you all know, the jokey one, who gets a kick from entertaining and loves all the interaction.
On the other hand you have the constant worrier. The older I get, the worse it gets. This half still loves all the interaction, but doesn’t feel particularly deserving of it, in fact I think you’re all nuts and hiding behind rose tinted glasses lol I still get scared to comment, even though I know in my heart of hearts you will understand me and get what it is I am trying to say. This half is eternally grateful to you all, well actually both halves are, because you all make me feel grounded and a part of something. I adore the interaction. You’ve helped my quiet side step out from the shadows.
I wanted this blog to be a happy place, I didn’t want to bring my other side in, however the downside of that, is that when you are feeling a little ‘meh’ you either don’t want to write or feel that you can’t.
It’s stupid that I should put restrictions on myself, at the end of the day this is my blog and I can write what I want. I don’t need to seek approval. Anyone who is a friend will accept me for all the parts of me, not just the ones I chose to show at any given time. There are no hard and fast rules that state I have to be happy all the time, although given the choice and a slightly less frazzled brain, that would be the preferred option.
I am my own worst critic, of that there is no doubt. I am never happy, no matter how well I do at something, but I am going to try and make changes. At the end of the day, if I don’t feel comfortable within myself, how can I expect others to be comfortable around me. I am in awe of the eejits that have already pulled up their recliners and settled down around me, you are more than welcome, now put the kettle on would ya? I brought biscuits!
I’m telling you this because I want to. I’m letting you know that in the life of The Indecisive Eejit, whilst it is always indecisive, it is not always rainbows and unicorns. I’m preparing you for the fact that I might let the blog ship sail on stormy days and not just the sunshine ones.
I’m also, if we go right back to the beginning of this post and how it started out, sharing a you tube video of the latest song I like listening to whilst I am wallowing around in the big pond of mehness that surrounds me.
I hope you like it too and thank you for being here, you complete and utter bunch of eejits :)
Ello…..remember me?
Well hello there. Some of you may have realised (although probably not lol) that I have been absent for the last week. It’s been hectic!
Paul, as in he of Purple Shirt Paul was here for a few days for a holiday, and we have been traveling the length and breadth of Northern Ireland, well ok, perhaps that is a slight exaggeration, but we did cover a fair amount of ground, thank you Sis and Brother in Law for the photo session.
Normal blogging should hopefully resume, but in the mean time I thought I would post a few pictures from our travels to keep you all amused.
The view that greeted us nearly everyday, well before the rain came, on our way into Belfast Central Station.
This guy thought my blog was a great idea and was helping get the word around, apparently he’s an excellent speaker!
The gorgeous views from the shortline at Kearney.
The walk up to the tower almost killed me, but alien leg and I made it and were quite proud of ourselves.
Last one is for you Rob, to let you see how the surfers roll over here. I’m guessing the waves are no where near the size of the ones you guys have, but they still manage!
The Indecisive Eejit 