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'My Corduroyed Life' - Mark A's Journal
Eek! Where the hell did April go?!
Work this month has been dire. I hate my job, and I hate my lack of job security, and I hate the way I've been treated. I feel like I've been shat on from a great height, and that my colleagues and I are being kept in the dark the majority of the time about our future and our redeployment chances. This is horrible. I am dreading that meeting on Friday (the one that I was incensed about being told about by that bloody PA).
Job hunting has been difficult because I have no PC at home at the moment. However, I've applied for a couple of internal posts that I quite fancy. These are promotions, whereas if I were to be redeployed, it would only be sideways movement on the same grade. Realistically, I need to get a job that will challenge me more. I have also decided that whether or not I get a promotion, or redeployed to somewhere I like, I want a career change. I have a few things in mind, and they really are quite drastic career changes.
I hate my salary. I hate having two weeks of spending, then two weeks of utter poverty because I can't manage my meagre finances properly. I realise I have very little debt in comparison to a number of other graduates, but I do worry. As it was, this month, I managed to overspend a little less than I usually do. Not great, but I would say a passable performance.
Love life, love life, love life... It always seems to be a tale of woe for me. Well, I say I tale of woe - there is certainly no woe when I'm in bed 'enjoying myself' with a fit lad, but it's the consequences afterwards that are full of woe. I do appear to have a couple of possible potentials on the horizon. But who knows? After last month's feeling sorry for myself, I've decided to try to be more laid back with any guy I'm interested in. And it kinda seems to be working - there's been less heartache, and guys seem more interested in 'I'm not arsed if I see you again or not' Mark. Thing is, I'm worried that it's just an act. I can suppress my desperate desire for a boyfriend and 'play it cool', but it doesn't alter that desperate desire in reality, does it? And do I really want to change the fact that I'm an emotional person? After all, if I really was as viciously cynical and jaded as I sometimes pretend to be, surely I'd be even more miserable than being Mr. Oversensitive? Meh! At least I'm doing a bit better than last month...
Ninja has been uneventful, and quite a few lessons were cancelled due to the students being away for Easter. I have indulged myself though, and been to Van Dang's (Manchester's Martial Arts shop) and bought myself a set of Tonfas and a book on how to use them. Much back garden enjoyment will hopefully be had with them over the summer.
I've read one whole book this month!!!! Aren't I good?! I've still got two or three books on the go and have played at reading them, and the one book I have read is rather shameful. After borrowing it from a friend, I finished The Rock Says (Dwayne Johnson/ The Rock's autobiography) in three days! It was actually an enjoyable read, and well written, but realistically, I'd only recommend it to wrestling fans as there's too many private jokes/ references to specific wrestling storylines for it to be a good read for the general reader. Shame really, because without those bits, it would have been a good biography for any reader. I'm currently reading Tietam Brown by Mick Foley and I'm actually getting through that at a fast pace as well as it's really, really good.
As for films, a week without a DVD player means that I've not used my Screenselect as much as I could have. I also put Sex and the City and Doctor Who DVDs on my list there too and watched those. Going to the cinema, I've been going to The Film Works with Margaret as well as The Corner House, so the films I've seen at the cinema have had a smattering of mainstream thrown in as well (I can feel my pretension evaporating away - this must be stopped [grin]). At the cinema I've seen The Other Side of the Bed, Kill Bill - Vol. 2, Capturing The Friedmanns, and Monster. From Screenselect or at least on DVD, (not including the telly series I've had) I've seen: Returner, Feardotcom, Tadpole, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Le Fate Ignoranti, I liked the 'sentence each' idea that I did last month, so I'm gonna continue with that.
The Other Side of the Bed: A Spanish, musical comedy! Silly, funny, and a little bit philosophical - I really enjoyed it!
Kill Bill - Vol. 2: After the blood bath of the first one, this one was considerably different! I thought it was perhaps a little less stylised than the first one, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Am really looking forward to watching the two films together back to back.
Capturing The Friedmanns: A very, very clever and thought provoking, yet horribly disturbing, documentary film. An excellent film that leaves you with more questions than answers: in my opinion, exactly what a documentary should do!
Monster: A dark film about a lesbian serial killer which deliberately plays with your allegiance as she is betrayed and suffers terribly. Not a dissimilar vibe to One Hour Photo in its tragedy and pathos.
Returner: Very cool Japanese Sci-Fi with a very fit guy as the main character. What I liked about this film was there was actually some originality in it, despite its very obvious nods to things like Back To The Future. Would recommend!
Feardotcom: A disappointing film that basically took the idea of Ring, changed it from a videotape to a website, and made it crappy.
Tadpole: Fun, silly, throwaway comedy about a boy who fancies his stepmum. Worth seeing for a giggle.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest: I know I should have seen this already, but I hadn't. It really is great, isn't it?
Le Fate Ignoranti: A sad and poignant film about sexuality and grief. Tastefully and sensitively done - a wonderful film.
When it comes to music this month, my lack of 'tinternet has limited my flow of new music. However, Naked Lounge effing rocked at their last gig! Charlie (NL's bassist) has promised me a promo CD too. Did buy the Street news single, Fit But You Know It on DVD single, and it's fantastic.
I realise that my blogs have been less frequent and a bit rubbish recently. It's not for lack of inspiration, it's mainly because i don't have access to a PC other than at work. So many potential blogs have been abandoned due to lack of t'internet access [sigh]. However I do have some fun websites I've found this month: The Subservient Chicken is particularly amusing (try typing in 'Walk Like An Egyptian'), and the joy that is Eric Conveys An Emotion cannot be ignored - even if he hasn't updated for, like, ever.
While I'm here, it seems like an appropriate time to do the blog courtesy thing...
mcphee
Bowch
Pixie
Fluff
Prince Gaz
Mojo
Rubbish Gays
Other interesting stuff this month included a delightful weekend in Leeds to visit a friend I've known since I was 10 or summat (Hi Ben - did you ever ascertain if Steve would've?), the aforementioned Birthday Party at The Asda, and my alcohol epiphany. What was my epiphany? I hear you cry (maybe). Well basically, it goes along these lines: it's not the alcohol that causes the major hangovers, it's the sundries! By this I mean things like poppers and kebabs. My hangovers have been a lot less horrific if I've not had a 'bab or took poppers. So I have decided to go cold turkey: I've been off the poppers and 'babs for nearly a month. I am proud...
To cover the whole month in a few words: a lot of shit going down, but with some particularly good highlights.
Have fun,
M
Current mood:
okay.Current music: Fit But You Know It by The Streets.