Busy-ness

Things are starting to get busy in the world of Jessie. This is a good thing, because lately I haven't had so much to do, and as a result, I've done very little.

I've started running again, and after a steep curve from 0km through 5km to 10km, I'm back on track and quite enjoying it. I'm cutting down on non-essential tv watching, which is a bit difficult seeing as I'm partway through 30 Rock season 3, the last few episodes of Community, and season 2 of Veronica Mars - not to mention that I've just dipped my toes into the seedy world of Underbelly.

Still, these .avi files are not going anywhere, and there are things to be done! I have proper work to be getting on with, at least proper training for work, as my capabilities step up in the world of Topspin. I have a proper holiday coming up - cos yes, it's about time I took some time off and jetted around the world - in the form of ten days in Japan. My travelling companion is my sister Audrey, and we're visiting a bunch of cool friends, which means this is holiday is set to be TEH AWESUM.

Enough procrastination.

Freedom, control and voluntariness

Recently I received an email telling me that Yahoo Briefcase is closing, so I figured out how to open it and discovered some files I'd saved there in 2002. A flimsy CV, a cover letter I hope I never sent to any prospective employer, and a few essays from my final university semester.

I hoped to find my (self-confessed) masterpiece on why it was that Madame de Merteuil persisted in her incriminating correspondence with Vicomte de Valmonte in Choderlos de Laclos' Les Liaisons Dangereuses, penned for my horizon-blowing 400-level philosophy paper, the wonderfully titled Fragility of Goodness. But I didn't. It is gone.

I did find an essay I wrote in the same semester, for an Ethics paper I begrudgingly took to make up the final credits in my PPE degree. I'd already done the compulsory ethics paper for law, but I needed 300-level philosophy points, and this one fit my timetable. The essay looks at the concept of automony, and I recall that once I got into it, I found it fascinating. My tattoo-dreams of the time revolved around finding or creating a symbol representing autonomy, because it seemed to fit exactly what I was feeling. I'd not long returned to a static Dunedin from Copenhagen; I'd proven myself capable of surviving alone far from home. It was my final semester of university, and who knew what would be? Sometimes I want that again - not to be 22 and facing a smorgasbord of choice, but to be 28 and have the same outlook. It happens now and then in life, but I don't see it in my near future.

Several days later, and I've only now read past the rosy memories and the first paragraph. It's a little bit fascinating but having grasped notions of the "hierarchical view of self" and "second order volitions", I'm afraid I want to put it down and watch another episode of Mad Men.

50,000

50,005 to be exact. It took me a week over three months to notch up a further 10,000 tracks. What that says, is that I have managed to write a measly four blog posts in three months.

You know where that time goes - the time that I could be spending writing intelligent and worthwhile pieces, which would no doubt provoke and entertain my legions of faithful readers? It goes the same way as the hours I would love to spend playing my guitar, knitting, cooking normal meals, and watching quality tv and films. It goes on the tube.



No time for analysis on the latest figures, I got to get some sleep. Just a couple of things first. I am watching a tv series called 'Huff'. I just finished episode 4, season 1. It gave me some quite significant food for thought. I'll be eating that meal alone.

Secondly, I watched 'In Bruges' on the weekend, and OMG!!1! Colin Farrell is hot. I am a total sucker for that sexy Irish accent, too. Watch him being hot on Jonathan Ross, part one and part two. [Insert drooling sound.] The movie itself is really good. For some reason I thought it was going to suck - the preview and poster didn't sell it but it is definitely well worth it.

40,000

I've scrobbled 10,000 tracks in the four months since June. 2,500 per month. Which brings me to 40,000 tracks since April 2005, an overall average of roughly 950 tracks per month. Makes sense given that I split my listening formats between vinyl, mp3 and cd before shifting solely to mp3 once I left NZ last year. Since my previous last.fm stats milestone in June this year, the site has undergone a makeover and is now better than ever.



I'm going to avoid getting more involved in calculating averages and instead watch season 1, episode 1 of The Wire.

Before I forget - Calexico last night at the Forum was superb. Great set consisting of a mix of tracks from Carried to Dust, Garden Ruin and Feast of Wire, with one or two others - go take a look at the setlist if you're interested. The Forum is a great venue and the crowd was pretty chilled out, and most importantly the sound was just right. I took a few photos which you can see starting here.

one minute left

I'm waiting for 10pm to watch Grey's Anatomy. I think it's been around a year since I last saw it. I am so excited!

Here's my favourite shop in the neighbourhood:



So what's been going on? I spent ten days in Turkey with my dad. That was pretty awesome. We went hot air ballooning:



IT'S ALMOST ON!!

hypermarché

Yesterday, Ange, Rin and I went to Coquelles for the day. We went on a bus, which went on a train, under the English Channel. Quite strange really. It was a good day, although we needn't have been in France - we could have been anywhere.

Next weekend there are various birthday and engagement festivities planned. The following weekend, I head to Scotland to take in the sights of Glasgow in Jane's company, and perhaps also check out an infrequent club night in some ancient caves beneath Edinburgh. Rin, Ange and I descend upon Amsterdam the weekend after, for some compulsory exploration, and them I have one further weekend in London before we all head over to Tuscany for Christmas and New Year.

Lest January become dull, I have a week in Turkey at the end of the month. I'll spend a few days in Istanbul with Libby and Guy, then see what's happening in Antalya.

There was a long delay at the tunnel terminal. I passed an hour looking through 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, gaining inspiration for heightened music collecting. More, more. The book made we want to relisten to lots of the listed albums which I already own, with the White Stripes' Elephant taking first honours.

After going for a run this morning, I spent the day in horizontal mode on the sofa kicking back through four episodes of Outrageous Fortune season one. I think it might be my favourite tv show ever. I also want to buy Spaced and Flight of the Conchords. TV series on dvd is the way forward, particularly as the days shrink and the cold settles in.