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7月30日 BritishnessPolitical subject today. Actually no... political material - no blog post really. I'd really love to hear your thoughts on these articles form the BBC Website - honest thoughts as they come, and I'll maybe do a blog about it soon after reading any comments I get back. The first one is about the Union Flag. Apparently there's some plan coming in to fly it more often. Scotland will be opting out of this activity. From the article: "SNP leader Alex Salmond, now first minister, previously said Britishness "went bust long ago" in Scotland." "Culture Secretary James Purnell said: "The Union flag is a powerful symbol of both our heritage and modern, diverse Britain. It brings us together in solidarity and shared identity." And here's the link to the article - It's pretty short (the article that is): Next up, Britain's Asian Culture. It's entitled "Many Asians 'do not feel British'" From the article: "38% of the UK residents of South Asian origin polled felt only slightly or not at all British." "84% were satisfied with life in Britain and almost half thought they have more opportunities here." "Half of the South Asians and nearly two-thirds of the white people interviewed agreed it was too easy for immigrants to settle in Britain." "Three-quarters felt their culture was being diluted by living in the UK and nearly half believed white people do not treat them as British." "Many British Asians consider themselves to be British but at home they are more in touch with their cultural and ancestral roots." And the link: So whatever ethnic origin or nationalites you have, any thoughts? Email's, phone calls, or grabbing hold of me to discuss in person are all welcome if prefered to comments, but it'd be interesting to see thoughts bounce of each other. 7月21日 Style ChangeNew look to the space - decided to have a peek at the changes MS have made to these spaces. On the whole and I'm annoyed they've moved all the admin controls around and made it really bulky...er than it was :( But I thought I'd explore and while I did, I decided it was time for a new theme. Something sleek and clean - hope it's pleasing to thine eyes :) __ Phil 7月20日 Real LifeOkay, so it's become apparent that there's been some massive gaps in my blog updates regarding where I am and what I'm doing. The reason for that is I've been in limbo really but some people have justifiably complained they don't even know where I'm living any more.
So that's the first thing. I live in Rochdale, North Manchester. I moved from London about 2 months ago now maybe and I'm staying with my rents rather than renting my own place, because I'm not going to be staying in Manchester for too long.
When I left elucid8, I wanted to move into a job that was going to be my career - the next job I do I want to be committed to for a good 3-6 years at least and if and when I move on, it will be an onward step from that job, possibly in the same company, not a sideways step into something else. I'm not a believer in the state supporting people just because they haven't found the job they want to do yet - if you haven't found the right job you just take a job until you do, but that only really holds true if you need the state to support you. If you can support yourself it's really your choice to work or not and I've had just enough savings to get by (though I'll have run out soon enough
 ). I've had a really long break to think very carefully about what I want to do with not just my days 9-5, but on a broader picture with my career as a whole and my life. Actually I decided those questions are more fun if left unanswered, but certainly looking at the next step in a longer term mindset.I applied for a bunch of jobs. Some I never got a reply from, some I interviewed for. Some I didn't get, and some I did. Those I did, I decided I didn't want on closer inspection, but each time I became certain of a job I didn't want I asked myself why that was, and that helped me figure out what it was I did want. Mainly I didn't want a job where all I'm doing is helping rich people get richer at the expense of poor people. I didn't want a job that only facilitated meaningless buerocracy. I didn't want a job that I didn't really think was anything but a redundant role with no real benefit to anyone. This all sounds obvious I know but there's a lot of jobs out there that come down to that and not everyone has the chance in life to sit down and really choose what they're going to make of themselves, yet and here I am, with all those choices right there for me, and lots of space to make them - I'm incredibly fortunate to be in this position and I didn't want to waste it.
Anyway - I decided. I've flirted with the idea on and off for as long as I can remember. I'm going military. I think it was the first or second year of uni when the metro was full of war talk every day and Caleb and I would talk about the 'news' worthy gossip from the war, usually about how the Americans had hit the wrong target again or how soldiers were being accused of doing this or that wrong. On the Timothy Programme there was lots of chance to talk about politics and war, and working for the Salvation Army, and then for Elucid8, political interests were prominent enough. I'm saying I do a lot of talking about how I think things should be done out there, as many of us do, but then... I'm not the one out there doing it. Well, I want to be. There's a lot of difficult complicated and horrific situations in the world as a whole and when they ask for people to try to make a difference, I want to step up to the plate and say, 'I will'.
Course it doesn't really work like that - for starters it's not about individual making a difference at all. The military work as a whole and one officers job might seem a million miles from dealing with a life and death situation, but it's all about working as a whole machine - doing your job so it all works. I want to be part of that.
That's the theory anyway. If you're more responsive to individual pragmatic viewpoints, the benefits are the ample training, good pay, and great experience. It's also about the only way to get a good Doctor and a Dentist of any sort. I plan to go in for 6 years and go from there. If I come out I'll have a lot of options for civilian jobs with my experience and if I stay in, should be an interesting career ahead of me. Either way, I think it's going to be time really well spent in significant ways.
So yeah. Specifically, I'm joining the RAF. I haven't made this announcement before now because it's been far from certain, as it still is, that I will get the job. I have to have another interview in 2 weeks time, followed by a 4 day selection course. After that, they'll accept me or tell me to go away. I don't have an exact time scale beyond that but as I know I'll tell the world.
In the meantime, it feels like forever away, and everyone's asking me what I'm doing and trying to plan for me - but see, I already have a plan - I'm waiting for my real life to begin. I feel a song coming on... let's try out this LiveSpace video upload and see if it works. I'll change the main page video to this song as well...
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Phil 7月10日 Console Wars!Remember the 360, PS3, and Wii? Well having sepearated and established the markets, things had settled down into predictable growth rates and the corperate attentions had moved onto the next stage - bringing the consummers excuses to pour their disposable income away for their love of gaming.
There has been a recent shift on the console front though - as Sony cut the price of the PS3 after 8 months of failing to reach sales targets across the globe. This price cut of $100 makes the PS3 a much better value package against the X-Box 360, which is expected to follow suit very soon. This cut is also a backtrack, and something of an insult to those fans who were proimised price cuts were not on the table for at least 12 months, but as bitter to swallow as that pill might be, it's preferable to staying 3rd in a market Sony had dominated in the last generation.
What does this mean for you? Well I don't know if the cut is happening in the EU yet - but as the EU models of the PS3 were already overpriced and underfeatured against the US versions, you've got to hope so. And that will mean a cut for X-Box's to follow, which has been out not for over 20 months without a price cut. If you're considering buying a console in the near future - you could save between £50-£100 (or be given it in upgrades/freebies) if you wait up for another month or two.
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Phil War. War never changes.First up, if you read this on RSS I've changed the video at the top of the site to the Fallout Intro. A classic bit of gaming cinematics there, and of course, the sandbox matches with the news that Fallout 3 is on it's way. I'm being a down right fascist over on Carl's blog this week. I might be just trying to provoke debate a bit, but there's some genuine mileage in the views I'm sporting too. If you're bored and fancy some politics and ethics... head on over to: http://carlonline.blogspot.com/2007/07/arms-trade-campaign-news.html __ Phil 7月6日 Tagged by Simon Says...I know I'm normally too much of a stick in the mud to entertain internet behaviour such as this but... well I'll make an exception for the exceptional Mr Graham. I don't entirely understand what I'm meant to do but I think it's to grab the nearest book to me and randomly take a line from it, (btw Si, I tried to follow your blog links back to the person who'd tagged you to check, but the Coles' moved their blog and your link isn't updated - dunno if they're hiding the link to the new place or anything)...
Anywho... predictably there are *no* books in this room. Hold on...
The nearest book, ironically is 'The Art of Possibility', which is a book Mr Coles wanted me to read. I did read a few pages... got the jist of it. Honest. Anyway - random line...
"My usual routine on the day of a concert is to go to my room after the mornings rehearsal and take a long sleep, then shower, eat two English muffins and a scrambled egg with some nice strong English tea, and return to the hall to give my customary preconcert talk."
If I were a conductor - I'd like to think I could say the same.
Oh, and I'll tag NiceMissMayonnaise, as I hear William may be blogging soon anyway :)
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Phil 7月1日 Dancing -- Yeah!More travels! I have been to Newcastle this week visiting Tommy boy. It had everything I could have expected in a weekend with Tom - from open computers and people coming over to trade in spare parts, to cheese, wine, and full frontal nudity. Of course I didn't share in the wine, but the rest of it was all good. I've been slacking off so very much in my exercise regime, using travelling as an excuse to take the odd extra rest day, but I'm making up for it this weekend with a double dose, and I'm just about still on track. I figure the biggest news expected is about the interview I mentioned last time. The interview itself went pretty damn well, but there's been a slight snag in my application for which they've had to go a bit higher in the chain to get cleared. I'm waiting to hear back, and should do so in the next few days. I was told the message would either be "Yes" or "Never darken our doors again". That's actually a direct quote from the guy. So no news really... which sucks. I'm considering taking on another freelance contract that I've stumbled across to fill more of the gap should there be more gap to fill, but I'm worried I'll take it and then find I got the job I wanted and have to drop said freelance work, which I really don't want to risk doing. Bleh. While we wait for development on that front, let me apprise you of quite frankly, some shocking news. I went to a party last night, and after filling up on free food and a plenty of diet coke... I did dance. Took some persuasion... my good friend Mattius sent many an attractive lady to coerce me up to no avail before I decided to give in to the peer pressure and joined the group - but there - I did it. The last time I danced was 2 years prior, maybe 3, and it remains to be seen if I'll be sticking to that as a regular interval. Alrighty, I'm sure I'll make a blog post soon that's not all about my very dull life - I'm sure the 5 of you who read this will sleep better knowing that. :) Be good, __ Phil |
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