I'm back, but I still haven't found what I am looking for.

I've had a funny half year, after losing a pet and then some big changes for my family, somehow I really lost my way and track of time. The last few weeks have been focused on making some organisational changes in my home; moving furniture, repurposing storage, failed DIY and generally trying new arrangements. As well as repeatedly thumping my computer which is being REALLY slow.

Unlocking brain power

Now I am watching a film called Limitless in which a man takes a new drug that brings him absolute clarity, his deductive reasoning increases more than tenfold. I've yet to see the part where he finds the drawbacks but he is able to connect ideas, memories and patterns from his life to create new solutions, and a lot of money, and it is making me think.

I know I am smart, I was always smart, but I've been a bit unlucky having worked for companies that either went broke or had some other issues, so I have never really had a chance to prove myself. I've also been somewhat let down by my health which is a nuisance and doesn't really help.

I am very aware of things around me, like the guy in the film. I'm good at putting ideas together and creating new ideas from them but I am not so good at how to connect to the right people to put them into practice. I've been burned a few times; shared an idea, heard nothing back then one day the idea is on the shelves. Twenty years ago at university I wrote an essay predicting that the music business would come to see the live experience as its primary income stream, and now with the rise of filesharing my theory is proving quite accurate. There are even businesses based on people sharing the experience.

I know that in the right situations I am quick thinking, able to spot trends, aware of potential pitfalls and capable of asking all the questions that get the information needed at that moment. A little bit like the man in the film who's brain starts working at full capacity.

But somehow I can't get that on a CV and prove to a decent employer that I am the person they need.

I know that 'the right situations' are ones where I am stimulated, required to stretch my mind, a little under pressure and where I have some incentive to solve the issues at hand. I.e. situations that are not a lot like most of the paid employment I have had.

It is partly bad luck that I found jobs in the wrong places, partly a distinct lack of self belief and the confidence required to get my foot through the right door (I am most definitely an introvert), and partly a serious distaste for the mundane and repetitive. Not that I can't knuckle down, I've cleared rooms piled high with junk and turned them into orderly and accurately mapped file storage spaces, but when you keep being asked to do those tasks but have the brain power for so much more it gets to be entirely disheartening.

I've always had the sense that the solution for me is just a tiny bit beyond my reach, that if I could turn a little quicker that idea I glimpsed would come into full focus or that if I could just connect couple of dots I would have all the answers.

So the little pills the man in the film takes to make all that happen sound very appealing. Except now the film is over, I really don't want to deal with some of those consequences.

It's the little things

I like this

It is a part of why I like to pass on information I find, you never know how sharing something might make a difference to someone's life and all it costs is a little time. The rewards could be lifelong.

The future of the world

I read this fascinating article on The Guardian website.




Food for thought for sure but it invites as many questions as solutions at this stage.

• First up is the thought 'how many times has something similar been said in the last century or more?'
• I can imagine that there have been many great thinkers from Adam Smith to Jeremy Bentham and even Malthus who have posited that profit can not be the only aim of business in a civilised world.
• Then, is there any real way to get all the world's business and political leaders around the same table to make it happen?
• In a week when the London Underground proposed later running tubes only to be shouted down by the unions, people whose livelihoods depend on the same system in the same town, can the diverse interests and fields of all business and communities really be brought under one umbrella set of regulations?
• Can we ever reach a point where all the experts agree?
• Even today there are people in power and experts who can't agree on the realities of climate change. Some are absolutely convinced it is not happening, others believe mankind has had a huge and continuing impact.
• Can we be sure that any ideology proposed by any one nation or company is not imposing something entirely alien on others?
• The simple idea of consuming horsemeat has this week shown divisions in Europe that are cultural and historical and that neither side would view as being wrong or negotiable.

It's a noble idea to make the world run on more ethical terms and one I wish more people subscribed to, but is it realistic to expect so many diverse interests to be able to come together and make it work?

How would you change the world for the better?

Gainful employment

As you know I am a bit of an information junkie. I love to look up the answers to anything and everything. Whether it's how particle physics works, who Prince Blucher was, how to make sure a guitarist doesn't get his cables trapped under the drum kit or who needs to know about that recipe for jam roly poly, I want to know and share as much as humanly possible.

If you have seen my other blog you might also know I am in search of my dream job. The major obstacle being that I don't know what I want to do with my life and have no clue what job would be a dream for me.

I am, therefore, trying to imagine ways to combine the two. My craving for answers (and disseminating them) with my search for the perfect work.

I'm a bit late to create Google unfortunately, and am not that interested in programming search algorithms anyway.

Please do let me know if you know of a job that sounds like it would suit me to a T!

New Diary, New Start

Many many years ago when I was a student, I bought myself an academic year diary running from July to July. Because every year my diary ends in July I have always replaced it in the middle of the year, rather than at the end.

Blank pages full of potential

It is nice to open up a new diary, full of blank pages to fill, full of potential. I also think it is actually quite nice to do it at this time of year as well, rather than in December when there is all the chaos of Christmas to deal with and when everyone is wondering what the New Year will bring. I think by June all that optimism and potential has been a bit squashed by the frenetic and relentless rush of life carrying on apace. 
Having a new diary now is a small moment of peace, taking stock and thinking and planning afresh. 
Do you have times that make you step back form life for a moment to think a bit clearly again?

Feet!

I've recently decided that the trouble I get with my feet when standing for a while can't possibly be a result of aging, I'm not that old, or of a lifetime of wearing heels as the pains are in the wrong places. So I plucked up the nerve to go to a specialist and have been told it is plantar fasciitis. It's not the best news but it does mean that with the right exercises, better shoes when I'm not in my heels and a few sessions of ultra sound therapy I could be back to boogying the nights away in no time.


I've also discovered Ian's Shoe Lacing Methods which have enabled me to customise the way I lace my trainers and boots to ease pressure in some places and improve the degree of tightening I can achieve with my weedy girlie hands. I would definitely recommend taking a look as I doubt there are very many people who have reviewed and analysed the way they tie their shoes since the age of about 6, and this fella has done all the research you could need!
 
(I do love it when I find someone who has really developed an interest and become and expert in something a bit esoteric, makes me feel like a proper Master Of None)


I would also recommend that if you are suffering form any kind of pain or impediment, get it checked out. Perhaps your deafness is caused by wax that can easily be removed, maybe your funny shaped mole would be better removed now than in a year when it's gone nasty, or perhaps your aching feet can be treated to allow you to enjoy what you love doing again. Don't put it off, see a doctor, pharmacist or high street chiropodist! Just go. Now!!!!!

Do you feel lucky?

What is luck? A benevolent Lady who watches over you or a cruel whim of the gods?
Some people you say you make your own luck.
That's great for a person who is breezing through life, happy, healthy, successful and popular. How nice to think you are the sole architect of your good fortune. How confidence boosting to believe you are that great.
But consider someone equally smart with similar opportunities who has had a string of bad luck, made redundant though no fault of their own, a recurring health issue, friends who moved away, no success with applying for a new job simply because of the high level of competition. Are they responsible for the misery that seems to have befallen them? To say you make your own luck suggests you make your own bad luck too. But if you are suffering a series of chance happenings that work against you, how would you feel to be told you made your own luck? Not so good, and hearing that over and over from those successful people who don't know what bad luck is, might just make you feel worse about yourself, erode your confidence and spiral into a spate of worse situations.

Luck is just chance. A string of good luck is very healthy, a string of bad luck needs to be seen as what is it, chance. And chance says that previous events can't influence the future. Your luck just might change.

Take note

Do you find you have lots of scraps of paper with little bits of information on them?
Are your desk, bag, wallet and pockets full of reminders?
Spreadsheet! Open up a new spread sheet, on your computer or on your smartphone.
Have a page for websites you want to visit - mark them off when you have looked at them, a page for books to read, one for people you want to look up, one for places to have days out at etc.

Save paper, save reminders and save your sanity.

Web privacy

Both Google and Facebook are making changes to the way they work that enable them to gather more information about you so that they can personalise advertising that appears on your screen and thus make themselves more money.
Both are free services so you are under no obligation to stick with them but you can make certain changes to protect yourself.

Change you Google settings to remove the details of your web history. http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/320137

Read this article about the Facebook timeline so you understand the changes. https://www.facebook.com/notes/daniel-b-lancaster/the-timeline-faq-why-timeline-cant-be-removed-and-what-you-can-do-to-protest-it/390360994314464

Be web savvy, be web safe.

Trust or respect

Apologies first, for the hiatus over Xmas. I trust you enjoyed yourselves. Hopefully normal service will resume now.

I had a conversation recently with someone that triggered a train of thought about respect.
I believe that you have to earn trust, you don't tell your darkest secrets to someone you just met, even if they are your doctor or lawyer, you need to build up a degree of trust first. However I believe that you should start from a position of mutual respect with everyone you meet, including at the checkout, in a queue, among friends and in virtual meetings. Both parties should be able to expect that they will be treated politely, kindly and as an intelligent being with rights from the get go.

I wonder if this is something lacking in society as a whole? Might it be the reason that we seem to have seen so many acts of wanton disrespect in the news over the last year?

Perhaps we need to start to instil respect in every meeting and encourage others to do so as well.

Where am I?

I was recently watching All Roads Lead Home and heard Stephen Mangan say "If you are not aware of where you are, you are not really there".
I don't generally expect depth and profundity from comedians but I thought this was a remarkable observation.
If your mind is not thinking about the place you are in then where is it?
Sometimes it is good for the mind to wander, to explore ideas or imaginary worlds, and I would recommend such mental exercise when doing something mundane like the washing up. But if you are on a journey, in a new place or even having quiet time at home, take some time to admire your surroundings and get to know the place you are in, and make yourself really be there.