esoterica | Wait until next year

March 10, 2013

Your Regular Sunday Excuse Post

Yes, I’m afraid it is true dear reader – yet another week without me going on and on about something or other. While I’m sure those of you who subscribe are enjoying my sabbatical, I guess I might as well explain a little. We’ve just moved house, and I can certainly vouch for those reports and surveys that state that house is one of the most stressful activities one can undertake in life.

The actual move wasn’t so bad – the removal men were pretty amazing, being incredibly careful with all our worldly goods and being generally understanding and friendly and everything you need on such a stressful day. However, preceding events had meant the move was stressful before we’d actually moved in.

We’d given ourselves two weeks to sort the place out (the luxury of first-time buyers) but that time was swallowed up with a full rewire of the property, the elimination of woodworm and the replacement of many floorboards. Still, at least we got the carpets relaid and white goods installed. A busy two weeks, but not the gentle redecoration we’d had in mind. Rather, a building site with half the floor missing.

Yet, now we have a home of our own and any stress prior to moving in (or following it for that matter) is entirely worth it in exchange for the thrill of building a home with my long-suffering and ever-patient wife. Anyway, enough of the domestic update for now…posts of another nature (or a series of posts on the pitfalls of decorating) may or may not follow shortly! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

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February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine’s Day folks

Man carrying huge heart across the road

I’m rather wary of Valentine’s Day, what with it being essentially a widespread capitalist scam designed to guilt us into buying terrible gifts, eating miserable overpriced meals in bad restaurants and generally seeing 14th February as the one day to be romantic (through commerce) rather than being romantic all year (through deed). However, I do love each and every one of my readers dearly, so I thought I’d share this great mix from Hudson Mohawke. I’m not entirely sure what slowjams are, but I like ’em.

Image from George Eastman House, via Flickr

January 26, 2013

Prompted into action

WordPress offers bloggers regular ideas or starting points for new posts, with the Daily Prompt feature. I can certainly see the value of it but have always been a little wary. I’d like to write stuff from my own ideas, not from the prompts of others. But with a short period of blogging-time becoming available, and no posts lined up in my head that I could just bash out without any real work, I figured I’d take a look at the suggestions and see if I was inspired. And I was. Kind of. I thought I’d try to respond to the last five prompts posted here in this very post. Read the rest of this entry »

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January 23, 2013

Repeat/Remodel/Remix

It is a point that has made before, and has no doubt been made in a more eloquent way, but the internet is full of people presenting something that someone else has actually produced. Much of what the internet churns out is essentially repeats of something that has already been churned out on the internet. I’m not getting on my high horse here, it is second nature for most of us. We share things on Facebook. We retweet. We reblog on Tumblr and WordPress. We embed videos and songs and photos from other people.

Read the rest of this entry »

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January 11, 2013

The Wait Until Next Year Conditional Manifesto for Blogging Success and Satisfaction

I do like a good manifesto. There is something pretty powerful about a clear declaration of intent. There is something almost grandiose about a manifesto that you don’t get from a simple resolution, or pledge or plan of action. They seem innately ambitious, and equally doomed to fail, as nobody ever really can achieve the ideal, whatever that ideal might be. Read the rest of this entry »

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Category: esoterica