Are You Sure About This?

We've all heard of someone who's sent a stupid or silly message on the Internet. You know the type of thing: sending a messages to a mailing list instead of an individual, complaining about your boss on Facebook when they're a friend on their, or even sending your love letter to the wrong Sam in your address book.

Sometimes the mistake is noticed a slit second after its too late.

The problem is that communication is instantaneous. Imagine if Facebook was a magazine, it wouldn't work but lets just go with it, and you had to post messages via snail mail. You'd have to write the message, find an envelope, find a stamp, and remember to take it with you when you leave the house. Odds are that you will think better of it after a couple of days. When you've forgotten to post the letter for the third time you might realised that the hurtful letter is a bad idea and bin it.

So I propose that computers should have an 'Are you sure about this?' setting. Google already has some features of this nature. If you say 'attachment' in a message but forget to attach the document it'll remind you.

So how about this you write an email and when you click send a message comes up. 'Did you mean to use the word ***', 'Your message, Subject: 'Itchy Bum' is about to be sent to 'Work mailing list' is this what you meant?

On the other hand maybe people should just be a little more careful. This is not a phenomenon that's going to go away. And if you do hate work so much you feel the need to complain online here's my advice.

Make sure your boss won't see it.

If you want to risk it keep it PG. I don't think you could get fired for saying that work is annoying.

And if work is that bad maybe a new job would be a good idea.

Writer's Blog: Day Eight of Nine

What should I write here? I've been trying to figure out something to say. Its raining heavily and I have to leave for work soon. Today is my eighth day in a row.

I've recently set myself the goal of writing something here every week. Some days though the ideas just don't flow. Earlier today I submitted a short story for a competition. I'm not confident that I'll win but you have to enter to have a chance. The competition was free so what do I have to loose?

I'm alternating now between writing a short story and writing for my novel. So its over to the novel for a few thousand words now.

Maybe I'll have a killer idea today.

Happy writing and I hope you all have a great day.

Writer's Blog: Dark Genisis

I haven't talked about what I've been reading in quite a while. Late last year, with a brief interlude to read 'A Christmas Carol', I read the Babylon 5 Psi Corps trilogy.

These books tell of the inception of the Psi Corps and give more information on the history of Alfred Bester.

Bester appeared in twelve episodes of Babylon 5. He always had his own agenda and, while being a villain, he remained a fun character.

'Alfred Bester: If I had my talent working, I could have warned you when he was coming.
Michael Garibaldi: And if I had a baseball bat, we could hang you from the ceiling and play piñata.
Alfred Bester: A piñata, huh? So, you think of me as something bright and cheerful, full of toys and candy for young children? Thank you! That makes me feel much better about our relationship.' (Dust to Dust - Babylon 5)

These books were interesting and give a real incite into the life of Bester. For the continuity geeks, I suppose I'm one, its good to know that the story is also cannon. I'm not sure what non-Babylon 5 fans would get out of it but if you liked the series I'd give these a try.

Eurovision

Saturday was the Eurovison Song Contest. It is a bizarre event. If you know it you don't need me to tell you that and if you don't know it you might not believe me.

Britain has done very badly in recent years. Mostly its our fault for putting forward awful performs. Scooch, a couple of years back, was an embarrassment. This year we put forward Engelbert Humperdinck singing a loverly simple song.



For once I wasn't embarrassed, disappointed, or ashamed. Our song was well performed and the dancers complimented the performance. Yet, for some reason, we didn't get the votes and came last but one.

Part of the reason for this is that we're Britain. The rest of Europe doesn't like us very much. We also went on first so perhaps the song was forgotten by the time it came to the voting.

Some years I understand the winner: Hard Rock Hallelujah was brilliant and so was Satellite. Some years however I find myself thinking: 'What?' It was like that for me this year. Sweden won Eurovison and when the singer came on to perform, the winner always performs again, I couldn't really remember having seen it.



I voted for Denmark and Denmark came very near the bottom.



So you can never quite tell what's going to happen. More often than not the ones I like aren't anywhere near the winners.

This year the series was hosted in Azerbaijan. I found a recipe for Azerbaijani Lamp Pilau - I'm going to add to our family tradition of watching Eurovison by cooking a dish related to the host nation - I guess its meatballs next year.

Oops

I've just been looking over some old posts and realised I've made a bit of a mistake. I ended two posts recently saying what I would discuss in the next post. Then I um... didn't.

The first of these was with regard to my writing life. I stated:

'My life is writing and I don't do it as often as I would like to but that's a topic for another blog.'

I have to work. Work, for me, is just a means to an end. I need money to live it is the fact of life. The dream would be to find a job in writing or, at the very least, enjoy. My currant job does not fit this particular bill.

I don't yet know how I could start to make money from writing. These ramblings are certainly not going to do it.

Another post ended with:

'Slightly off topic I've recently joined a dating site. This is in the hopes that I can avoid the 'friend zone' or not being thought of 'in that way.' This subject will form the basis of my next post.'

In someways I don't like the term 'Friend Zone' but it is a real phenomenon. I have always felt that when it comes to dating I like to get to know someone. So approaching a girl in a pub or club because she looks 'hot' would not be my style. In the interest of full discloser it doesn't help that I'm short and could be compared to a Klingon who's lost his ridges. Also I don't like clubbing so if I go to a club I would meet people who like clubs. I like book shops but people don't expect to be asked out at a book shop.

So before I ask anyone out I'd want to get to know them. That process can take a while and then you find yourself trapped as a friend. In someways dating sites are good for overcoming this because when you contact someone you know that dating is the reason for the communication. Thought the friend zone is still a possibility as your liable to find them on facebook, friend them, and never speak to them again!

Well time will tell and I may expand on this further in the future.    

Writer's Blog: Don't Apologise For What You Like

My MP3 player contains songs by S Club, I like almost any TV program with Star in the title, I don't like football and I'd rather spend my evenings reading than dancing.

So from this I guess you infer that I'm horribly uncool. Maybe you're right but what is cool? Its a question that I've often wondered about. I suppose the obvious answer is that its articular. 

I suppose coolness begins at school. It is expected that boys will like football and that those that don't are a bit strange. For some reason liking science fiction is seen as odd and is coupled with the cliché of basements and virgins. What this misses of course is that anyone and everyone can like anything.

At school I was bullied, not specifically about this, but it was one more thing that made me different. The strange thing about bullies though was that sometimes they acted as friends. One sports day practice they were quite encouraging and during a pot luck quiz people appreciated my knowing that William Shatner played Captain Kirk.

Even now that I'm 24 I still find myself hesitating to say what I like. It feels risky in a way that I can't quite pin down as to why. My dvd shelf contains: Babylon 5, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Bones.

I also have three Star Trek: Enterprise T-shirts. These were a set and a gift some years back. These seem especially risky to wear. People who don't like Star Trek will know you like it and people who do like Star Trek will know you like Enterprise!

In all seriousness don't apologies for what you like. The world would be pretty boring if everyone agreed on everything. So while I now tell people I write science fiction, join discussions about science fiction, if they occur around me, and have just bought a The Big Bang Theory t-shirt, I still have the feeling of being apologetic in my mind. It would appear this is the final frontier I need to over come.

Live long and prosper.

Below is a nice nerdy video to close this out.

Writer's Blog: School Doesn't Prepare You For Life

Recently I've come to realise that school fails in some important areas. I'm now living in a full sized house. The house is in a bit of a mess. I'm finding it a little difficult to organising my too many positions, deal with bills, cleaning, calling a plumber or electrician and the general upkeep that a house requires.

I'm going to blame some of my lack of organisation on school. I know this may seem like an odd segue, and a bit of a leap, but hear me out. At its most basic school is supposed to prepare us for life. Primary school prepares us quite nicely. At the end of Primary School most of us know reading, writing, basic arithmetic and some science. This is a good start. When we go onto High School...

(Just to try and be clear High School is different in the UK to the US. In the UK High School is five years from the ages of 12-16)

...these subjects are expanded upon. Of course these skills are important but I would argue that we should also learn skills for everyday life. We should learn, organising of finances, house work, laundry, finding a workman (how to make sure they are reputable) cooking and so on. These are things that everyone will need to do. I'm 24 and I'm still struggling a little to fit all the stuff I need to do, alongside what I want to do, into my daily life.

Perhaps I'm just being a little pathetic but I still think I have a point. My parents gave me a degree of autonomy before I left home. In the last year or so (I can't remember exactly how long.) of living at home I was responsible for getting my own dinner and doing my own laundry. I don't mean to cast aspersions but I imagine that many people don't do this. It explains why there is this perception that young people, particularly students, don't know you to cook ad are unclean.

School does have Home Economics but its not treated as important. I understand the need to teach biology, physics and chemistry but the average person probably won't use it much. Every one will have to deal with bills, work/life balance, cooking and cleaning.

Since I've got a job I've been at work for at least twenty hours a week. There is good (Money!) side to this but with uni and house work it can be difficult to fit everything it.

As I write this I realise I would probably have more time if I watched fewer you tube videos. Anyway that's beside the point. To be clear I'm not talking about procrastination, though there is a fair amount of that, its just finding the time.

So to round off this ramble... Is this something school could teach? Could there be a lesson where a teacher explains methods of balancing ones life? Most people will probably work for forty hours a week, they'll need to vacuum and clean the house, do the cooking and then try to have a life. My life is writing and I don't do it as often as I would like to but that's a topic for another blog.