…9 days ago marked the 2 year anniversary of me coming back from Oz.

2 YEARS. It’s a crazy amount of time. On one hand it feels like it can’t be that long, but then I think back to the days hiking up mountains in the morning sun, taking in breathtaking views, through careering at nigh-on terminal velocity towards the earth, to hanging out with my traveling buddies in the many bars and hostels we visited, it seems like a different life.

Was that life not real? Is the working office life how reality actually is?

Or is it the other way round?

I’m sure I knew this at one point around about 2 years ago…

Pat

Days without Alcohol: 6
Mood: Hopeful, and generally ok.
Song in Head: Coldplay – Cemeteries of London

Captain’s log supplementary:

Before going to sleep, Ensign McGibbon provided me with something wonderful to make even the most miserable, self-hating person truly love themself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o50_ZlMnjqY

I hope it’s real. I really, really do.

Kirk out.

P.S. Thanks Gib, I’ve watched this about 5 times in the past 5 minutes :-)

Being ill sucks. Particularly when you’re at work.

I really should’ve stayed at home, but I only started feeling ill once in the office. And once you’re there, well, you might aswell stay.

If you’re an idiot.

HELLO! I’m Pat!

Right, anyway, back to some wrapping up warm…

Byeeee,

Pat

Days without alcohol: 4
Mood: Under the weather
Tune in Head: Yves Larock – Rise Up (Radio Edit. Yep, it’s a very specific mix that’s stuck in my head, ok?)

Hiya!

Well, day 3 into my Alcohol Fast and I must say it’s feeling… well, a bit like most weeks, really, given that I don’t usually drink on a Monday or Sunday. To be honest, I might save the no-alcohol updates til the weekend, as (as Mr Hey rightly points out) that’ll be the real test.

That said, I could probably do with a beer right now. Why? Because it’s Mid Year Appraisal Time at work!

Woohoo! Never before has all the hassle of getting an appraisal done been married so well to a totally meaningless end result.

That’s right, even if we wrote “I AM A FISH” 100 times on the mid-term, it really makes no difference to pay or promotion prospects from what I can gather. So long as I hand in a half-decent appraisal form at the end of the year, I’ll still get judged reasonably. Provided I don’t write “Wrote a piss take mid year appraisal” as one of my 2009 Achievements.

Alas, I don’t quite have the guts to do it. What I might put in my “room for improvement” section is “Stop being all mouth no trousers”.

On a tangent, that phrase has never made sense to me: surely someone who’s being very lippy AND has no trousers on is clearly pretty confident, and shouldn’t be mocked. They should be downright feared.

Anyway, I’d best stop rambling on and go to work to write my mid-year. You know what? I bet I’ll try to make it great too. I’m rubbish at subversion.

Pat

Days without Alcohol: 3 (count them)
Mood: Excited, Yet Bored. How the hell is that even possible?
Tune Up My Head: The Postal Service – Brand New Colony

P.S. for not-getting-sacked reasons, I would like to state that I appreciate the mid year appraisal is useful for giving an individual the opportunity to improve on any weaknesses prior to the actually-going-towards-your-performance-record end-of-year appraisal. This blog post is written purely “tongue in cheek”, ok?
P.P.S. For not-ruining-the-above-blog-post reasons, I would like you to ignore the “P.S.” above. Thanks.

This is something that comes around once in a blue moon for me: a point where I’ve basically had enough with alcohol – the good points associated with it are eclipsed by the bad ones.

1. I’ve gotta do something about my steamrollering into looking like the, uh, big boned Scottish gentlemen played by Mike Myers (no, not Shrek – the other Scottish gent Myers has played. I’m not concerned about my skin being green. That’s fine). Cutting alcohol out is going to be a major step for that.
2. I’m sick of feeling crappy for at least a day after a big sesh
3. I haven’t got the willpower to “only have a couple”
4. I don’t like not being able to remember what I’ve said or done the night before

So, this is day 1. Well, day 2 I guess, but yesterday I was majorly hungover, so I’d argue it doesn’t really count.

Here goes (drinking) nothing!

Pat

Mood: Fed up with life, but hopeful
Song In Head: [nothing]

Two things happened last night:

1. I saw this man in the streets of North London:

   

   (Here he is talking to one of the many random people he decides to start talking to in the middle of the street, as they desperately try to make eye contact with any other stranger in order to get away. Oh, and when I’d first seen him he was standing in the sun, on his own at the side of the road. In just his black y-fronts. “Oh, London…”)

2. I met up with Sarah Schloo, one of the New Zealand Kiwi Experience groovy people, last night in London for a most amusing evening (ah, those Adam and Joe X podcasts, Sarah, they really can’t be beaten). As part of this, Sarah made me aware of a very amusing site:

   Garfield Minus Garfield

   It’s a whole load of Garfield comics – without (as the title suggests) Garfield. Essentially it’s a load of comics featuring John looking like a full on mental. It’s utterly brilliant! Go there now!

In a podcast-related note, check out the Collings and Herrin podcast (Andrew “Collings” Collins and Richard “Herrin” Herring). It’s awesome. And fully wrong.

That is all.

Bye!

Pat

Feeling: Tired
Song in my head: Kate Walsh – Your Song

Wow.

That really was quite a break, wasn’t it?

Alas my previous blog post just about sums up my past year, but let’s recap:

1. I’ve moved out of the olds’, and rent my own house (with a conservatory and garden, no less)
2. I went to Florida and did almost all of the theme parks
3. I lost lots of weight at the gym last year, then put it all back on this year
4. I learned Flash from scratch (loads to learn still but it’s a good start!)
5. I’m still at my place of work, as despite requesting VR I was denied it
6. I do Squage Party almost every Sunday – and I’m enjoying it!
7. I started reading Ben Goldacre’s “Bad Science”. And you should too!
8. I’ve got a new phone (Nokia 5800) – and managed to keep my old 6300 for two years (and counting) without breaking it
9. I broke two cameras. One in my pocket (somehow), the other in a pint of Czech Beer in Prague. Oops!
10. I went to Glastonbury and left wanting to marry Regina Spektor
11. I want to break free into something fun – doing my own graphic novels, making music, doing graphic design… but am doing nothing about it yet
12. Yesterday marked the two year anniversary of me getting back from Australia

There you go. These blog posts will be, well, who knows? Whatever I fancy writing about I guess. Gonna task myself with a “daily blog” aim, even if it’s just “Hello. Today I ate a sandwich”. Might get that one written now just for when it needs to be brought out of the bag.

That’ll do for today!

Toodles,

Pat

Feeling: Frustrated
Song in my head: LadySmith Black Mambo – Swing Low Sweet Chariot

Heya!

Very long time no blog. I might start up again at some point, but no promises. In the mean time, here’s an update regarding what I’ve been up to these past months:

;-)

Toodles,

Pat

Yo,

Just a quick one to say two things:

1. My brother David is running the London Marathon this weekend
2. MY BROTHER DAVID RUNNING THE LONDON MARATHON THIS WEEKEND

Fecking awesome, I’m so impressed with how well he’s done in training for this (not least the lack of alcohol since the start of the year and, oh yeah, the occasional MASSIVE RUN (most recent was about 18 miles!!))… go David!

He’s running for Down Syndrome Extra 21, a charity which helps to promote equal opportunities for people with Down syndrome and offer support to them and their families. It promotes public awareness of Down syndrome and encourages and helps local support groups.

If you want to help this great charity through sponsoring my brother to do this amazing feat then please head over to his JustGiving page and donate:

http://www.justgiving.com/davidscullion

Anything would be appreciated. Thanks in advance from myself, David and those with Down Syndrome across the UK.

Toodles :-)

Pat

Where “Hammer” = “No Blogging or Radio Shows”.

Yes, as one would clearly predict from the title of this blog, I’m writing on behalf of one Mr P. Scullion to let you know that there’s gonna be a bit of a drought blog-and-online-radio-show-wise from him for a few months.

“He still does blogging?”, you might ask, and you’d be right to cos he’s rubbish at keeping his blogs up to date (Oi! – Pat). However, the difference now is that he’s not going to be spending time half-writing them, or starting to write them and getting distracted, plus he’s not going to be spending many hours of a weekend preparing for and doing online radio shows.

Instead of that he’s going to be concentrating on a project he’s working on that involves both himself and myself, which he feels is of muchos grandos importance-os.

Can’t say more than that at the moment, but if you speak to Pat directly I’m sure he’ll explain more…

Righty, that’s that for now then. Have a lovely rest-of-winter, Easter and spring and both Pat and I will catch you again in a few months!

Toodles,

Squage (and Pat)