VERY cross. I just wrote a huge entry in here and somehow managed to delete the lot when I published it - gone, not to be recovered.
I am in high dudgeon, so, don't speak to me for at least an hour!
I gone and broken my 5 year plan (cf. previous entries)!! Stupid really. If you have a plan you should stick to it - I know this, I know it from business and I know it from life. So why break the rules?
What I've done is I've given up smoking. I wasn't planning on doing that until 2008, and then o nly when I'd consolidated my weight-loss. Instead, Saturday night I had my last cigarette.
You see, I was sat there on Saturday, head hung out the back door like some vanquished puppy, puffing away on what was probably my 30th cigarette of the day. I thought to myself, 'am I actually enjoying this?'. There was a timne when I insisted I enjoyed it - I think I did - the mild buzz was enticing and enjoyable, it was relaxing and it was social. There was this tim, but, when I thought about it, that time was long gone. So, I thought some more . . . I'm 30, I've been smoking for 17 years. I have two kids. I had my physiotherapist tell me that I kept injuring my back and slipping discs because of smoking. My asthma isn't improving because of smoking. I am almost recovered from agoraphobia and that crutch of needing a *** when travelling - that's gone. I'm NOT enjoying it, and the only thing that is stopping me from giving up is the fear that I will undo all the good work I've done in my weight loss. This is still possible. THEN everything fitted into place . . .
Sunday Morning, after church, a trip to the pharmacist. Now, this was the first morning in 17 years that I hadn't had a cigarette, and, yes, I was tetchy - not unreasonable. I go into the chemist, expecting to see the the same old guy who's been in there for years only to find he's retired, and here's a new guy. I chatted to him and explained my situation and he told me I was his first ever customer (patient?) in this town, he'd just bought the place and this was his first day, AND in his last pharmacy in London he had helped 1400 people give up smoking and he'd help me. He spent ages goingthrough everything, realy taking charge ofteh management of it and me and, great, I'm patched up, I have a puffy thing to suck on and I haven't murdered anyone. Yet.
As for the weight loss, watch this space - there are ways and means - and it's not as if I'm tying to do everything at once - the diet/healthy eating is already well underway - it'll just be a bit more difficult. I reckon things are only as difficult as you make them. I keep in mind the over-all aim. This is about ME and MY kids. I don't want to die too young.
In other news, I watched 'The Forgotten' on Saturday on DVD - a flick from a few years ago staring Julieanne Moore. What a great film, bit of a lsow start, but I love a good psychological thriller and this fitted the bill. My dear wife fell asleep while watching it, but then again she always does, and I do make a wonderfully comfortable pillow!
I've also started reading Vladamir Nabakov's 'Lolita'. Dialogue's a bit stilted (Dialouge is always the bit that suffers in translations I find), but it's a darn good read apart from that.
Pip, pip!
What is it about 'flashes of genius'? How is it some people have them and others do not? No use trying to search for flashes of genius, they come orthey don't. Of course, the internet has provided genius to be entreprneureal - like the Edison discoveries of the electronic age, like the Royal Society in the 17th Century - each age provides the tools for a few 'chosen' individuals to explore wonderous new knowledge and media to develop, discover and gratify. Over the last few months, three 'geniuses' have caught my eye on the net. Three very different ideas, but each rather wonderful in their own way.
Beau Bo D'or: I discovered this image altering chap through www.b3ta.com about 3 years ago. He has constant, quick and often very funny takes on current and not so current affairs on his own website http://www.bbdo.co.uk/ - his images are regularly pinched by newspapers and magazines and he is rarely credited - par fo the course in his line of hobby. If you look, you'll recognise many images that became viral. Nice fella too. His flashes of genius don't make him money and provide just a tiny bit of fame, but they are regular - and in that sense, he scores well with the other two.
One Red Paperclip: Been in the news a bit lately - but for sheer audacity, this guy Kyle MacDonald has got the stupidest idea and it works. Why the heck not, I say! http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/
Million Dollar Homepage: Such a famous website from such a simple idea that spawned hundreds of copycat sites. More fool the person who spent a hugely inflated $36,000 for the last few pixels only to watch the hit rate drop to almost zero immediately afterwards - of course!!!! The blog is a good read, and my claim to fame is that I came upon this site when there were only $3,000 or so worth of pixels sold. For flashes of genius in the internet age, this has to be right up there. http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/
So, what sparked these thought in me today? Well, I had my own, very mini flash of genius in the middle of a long meeting with my bank manager.
I've been thrashing out a new business proposal which looked promising, when it struck me - a way of adjusting the business plan to make something that was slightly risky suddenly very, very sound and profitable. Okay - dull in the extreme to anyone else, but for me and the bank manager, we were both frothing at the mouth. What was due to be a 15 minute meeting ended up being 2 fruitful and wonderful hours! I've been working on this project for 4 months, and the simplest solution came at the denument. Very odd, very exciting and, well, you an probbly tell, I'm well chuffed.
Of course, I'm long enough in the tooth to know it can all go wrong, but at least I can start to envisage me having my own PA in the next few months and, long term, my dreams of building my own house from scratch are no longer pie-in-the-sky. LOADS to do, but, hey - it's one heck of a start.
I left the bank walking on air, got into the car and promptly had a nosebleed. I hate hot weather.
Ha! Just discovered I can't add to an entry I've already published. I also failed to spell check that last one so the errors will remain forevermore!
Where was I? Ah, yes, my 5 year plan. The answer to which vice would kill me first is . . . fat! Being overweight was more likely to kill me, statistically, than smoking or drinking. Followed by smoking, followed by drinking. This beingth case, I mapped out my plan:
YEAR 1: Diet. Choose a low fat diet that llows for plenty of treats (I chose WeightWatchers - a client of mine goes there so I accompany him weekly).
After 2 months, establish an exercise regieme that doesn't scare the hell out of you, kill you or expect too much of your time. (I decided to do regular exercise every weekday in my own home - streches, push-ups, sit-ups, running on the spot, star-jumps - primary school stuff, you know? (Understand, I haven't 'exercised' for a good 15 years) The BEST thing I did is get my two young kids to exercise with me. They love it, so now, even if I have had an awful day and am absolutely knackered, one of the first things my kids do when I get home is 'Daddy, Daddy! Exercises, Daddy!!!'. Wow, that helps!)
YEAR 2: Aim to reach chosen weight (12.5st, still above the BMI 'ideal' weight - but I'd look plainly absurd at 11st 9lbs) by June, July and then . . . CONSOLIDATE!!!!! Keep to that weight, preparing yourself for the next big one . . .
YEAR 3: Give up smoking. (I think I'll do it properly this time - Doctor's, patches, yadda yadda. I Have been smoking for 17 of my 30 years, save for three months when I gave up a few years ago.)
Ensure I maintain my weight loss while giving up smoking - do this by attending WeightWatchers regularly - even if only to remind myself to keep off the crisps!!
YEAR 4: Take up a sport. (This is great one this. Me? Doing something sporty? Hmmm. I mulled over the idea of Snooker or Bar Billiards. I'm pretty good at Poker. But, just around the corner from me there is a thriving Rugby club - I've got friends there, attend the annual ball, do the quizzes, I just don;t do that 'playing' thing. It was the only sport I tollerated at school - I even made it onto the School Team for a couple of matches (There were six teams, I was in the sixth - and they were desperate) - so, Rugby Union it is. Ah, imagine it, halcyon days of mud-splattered faces, broken bones and a thriving drinking culture . . . which leads me onto . . . )
YEAR 5: Cut down my alcohol intake by half. (Recommended maximum in 20/21 units a week for men. I consume roughly 35 units a week, so if I aim for, say, 18 units a week, that's alright, isn't it? I like a drink. I think there were times when I was younger that I could have easily become an alcoholic, but those days are past. I don't drink beer, in fact I pretty much only drink Vodka and Soda. I think if I establish an appreciated of fine wine, that might be my get-out clause on this one. However, ordering a glass of Pinot Grigiot in the bar after a game of Rugby might lool a little odd? Ah well, plenty of time to think on it . . . .
So - there it is - my 5 year plan to add 30 years to my life. It doesn't sound such a huge undertaking when broken down like this. And I've made considerable progress so far. I started my diet on Jan 1st when I weighed in at 18st 4lbs. I am now 16st 3lbs - a loss of 29lbs. I am 3lbs off being my lowest adult weight (since 18). I have cut out almost all caffiene and I feel so damn good. I'm discovering bones and muscles where I didn; know they existed and I am NOT constantly hungry. Though there are days, my word there are days. Days when you need sweet tea and sympathy (not forthcoming from any quarter -should I be suprised) and days when you just don;t care less - rare, so far.
I have to remind myself, this isn't some masochistic, caustic diversion. Nor is it a flash in the pan. This is about my family, my work - most of all, me.
JUST SO YOU KNOW . . . this isn't going to be some self-obsessed blog about my five year plan. I can't think of many things more mind-numbingly boring than that. This is just where my blog went today . . . where it goes next time, I have no idea . . .
Well, a weather blog on a weather forum is just soooo predictable, so this is a blog about . . . not so sure yet. Certainly me, my family, my life. I have never done a blog before so I'll just type away and see what happens.
ME IN A NUTSHELL: I'm 30, Married to Sharon, 2 kids (J and M, girl and boy, 4 and 2). I own and run a care home, day service and outreach project for learning disabled adults in the seaside town of Deal in Kent. I eat too much, drink too much and smoke too much. I am a recovering agoraphobic. I'm healthy, reasonably well-off and happy. I enjoy the weather (!), theatre, books (when I get the time), politics and local history. I'm a school governer, Chairman of a local amatuer dramatics group, a writer, a practising Catholic, a Liberal Democrat. I come from a large and complicated family.
MY 5 YEAR PLAN (Personal): Since January 1st this year I decided on a 5 year plan for myself. I love my kids, my wife and much of my life, right? So, I decided it was probably a silly idea to die at 45/50 when if I just sorted myself out a bit I'd be on the earth maybe I'd be able to stick around that much longer. So, I did a bit of studying as to what of my vices are statistically likely to kill me first. I was suprised to find it was . . . what do you think?