Working

Got to work on Monday at 9:20am (10 minutes early).

Got to work today at 9.15am (15 minutes early, but actually 15 minutes behind schedule because two fellow co-workers hadn't made an appearance and all hell was breaking loose on arguably the most busy day of the year for the company).

People always say to me "Oh you're early today. How come?" to which I reply "Oh no reason" but which I always think "Because I'm paid to start work at 9.30am and it takes me at least 10 minutes to get ready for work." The people that ask me that question, I've noticed, always arrive on their start time but then take about 15 minutes to get a coffee, go to the toilet and chat to their mates before actually starting work. And even then, they're not really paying attention to work.

When explaining this point to people, it seems they suddenly don't remember they signed a contract to do these hours (from start point to finish point). Me? I'd rather spend 10 minutes having a quick coffee, checking my personal emails, do some websurfing and then - Bang! Work starts...

On the way to work, I overheard a loud conversation on the bus between two A-Level students about the choice of their University courses. Mr Y said he was not going to pursue the English Lit course he originally dreamed of because there were no career prospects whilst Miss X said she was going to carry on with her chosen course in Biochemistry because, at the end of the day, this was her final chance to live a little before being enslaved to the system and ending up in a dead end job.

That's not what was said, obviously, but that's what it boiled down to in my opinion. Great to know that we're continuing in the destruction of teenage dreams.

Bookwise, I'm 200 pages into Crossroads of Twilight and I wonder if Robert Jordan actually has anywhere to go with this book. I could do this myself - create a story that has a start point and an end point but then make sure the rest of the story is forever unfolding - kind of like A Thousand and One Arabian Nights.

Hmm... I've sworn to persevere now, if only to find out first hand what happens next.

Some New Year Resolutions

1) Be more positive - it's easy to whine about things. Smile more and mean it.
2) More exercise and balanced meals - no more snacking.
3) Less drinking alcohol - I turn into a prat when I get drunk.
4) Write more - if I have a knack for writing, I want to discover this now, not when I retire.

Actually, these aren't New Year Resolutions because I was doing all these things well before the New Year but I like to keep reminding myself of them. I do have one point to add:

5) Always reply to an email straight away. I got an important email recently, thought about it, had a conversation with the missus, then forgot about the original email.

Bad, bad, bad.

Finally, I've decided to stop playing City of Heroes in favour of World of Warcraft. CoH is a great game but there are a few problems - the chat system is antiquated and buggy, and the quests get very boring very quickly.

World of Warcraft, on the other hand, just blows you away on practically every level - graphics, the chat system, the AI, hell even the scenary is spectacular. At the end of the day, if I'm going to spend my time in a virtual world, there is a pre-requisite for it to look cool.