Hello everyone and happy new year!
This blog is brought to you in no small part because I and my Xbox have been on different continents for much of the last two weeks. I bought it because a) I wanted one and it’s been years since I could afford such an extravagant splurge of money on a toy, and b) worried that I’d get bored in Kuwait, I figured it might help stave off any tedium that presents itself. So far, so successful with relation point b) as my time in the flat here has been humdrum-free, filled as it’s been with me striding across a post-apocalyptic landscape shooting all manner of mutants and scavengers in the legs and faces, all in the comfort of my boxers.
I’d written this post while I was in Scotland and reckoned that I’d try to kick off the year by writing something while I was distraction-free there. I’m back in Kuwait now which feels ok - my liver is certainly thankful - and though in the past I’d always really looked forward to going back to Italy, I’ve not been in Kuwait for long enough to have built up that much of a feeling for the place, really.
It’s a new year, it’s a new life, and while I wouldn’t say I’m feeling good, I’m pretty happy 2015 has been consigned to history. It narrowly edged 2014 out in a Bad-Off, and as much as Italy is a fantastic place with special people that I’ll always think fondly of, leaving was probably a good idea. Here’s hoping Kuwait’s an improvement. It was probably because I was really tired after a long day of travelling, but last night it really felt that I’m still quite far from getting away from bad vibrations though. Ho hum.
If you clicked on this link at the suggestion of incendiary stuff then pretty much the best I can offer is this:
To be honest, it’s not likely that you thought you’d get that stuff from me anyway, is it? I reckon only people I know will read this, and by and large I don’t know folk who get their knickers in a twist for scandal. At least the people on Facebook generally don’t, and given that the majority are Italians of whom most are former students, it means that they’re absolutely not in a linguistic position to persevere with or understand this either way.
Fireworks, though, eh? Like the Conservatives relationship to basic human decency, I just don’t get it.
Now to the real meat of this post, or depending on your perspective or diet, the chaffiest part of a very chaffy stick of wheat. In the last few days, probably every newspaper and magazine has run an article about resolutions, in doing so, trapping us in a spiral of misery and in some cases, consumerism. Why so down about it, you may ask? We make grand plans for the new year, stick to them for a couple of weeks and then fall off the bandwagon for one reason or another. Then we feel bad because we reneged on something that we felt would be good for us spiritually or physically, and as base animals, our instinct is to make ourselves feel better through the shortest route available - back to the fags / booze / chocolate / lying about in our own filth at the weekends / delete as appropriate. If you don’t know me that well you can probably tell that I’m fun, fun, fun at parties.
So, rather than resolutions that I know I’ll not be able to stick to unless I get brainwashed by an anti-tobacco minded cult, I’d like 2016 to not be as generally difficult as 2015 was. To do this, I need to realise that what made 2015 difficult was of my doing, which God only knows, I do. Other people will be lined up against the wall when I become emperor of the world anyway, but they weren’t the roots of last year’s malaise. If I can keep that in mind without it looming like a nervous looking elephant hanging over my head in a harness, then it’ll already be a step in the right direction, and I’ll tackle my bizarre hallucinations another day.
The only real thing that I’d like to do is to reduce my smoking to the point that I become a social-smoker. I’m not perfect, but if I could try to extend the time on Earth that I can make imperfect choices for a little longer then that’d be nice. And having a fag with a drink is always a pleasure. Time will tell if I’m able to do it without becoming an alcoholic in order to support that resolution, but I guess living in a dry country is a good way to try.
This would be nice for all our resolutions - don’t try and change the world because it can’t be done - alter, if anything, our mentality - that’s a much better way of making change that can be stuck to. By all means we should try to improve ourselves; I wouldn’t condone standing still and thinking everything was hunky dory. Rather, a small tweak in thinking might hopefully lead to a change in our actions and behaviour, and considering that we’ve buggered the world already, at least our last 100 years here might be a bit pleasanter.
Happy new year! :)
