Well that’s me on the bus returning home from Dundee. Its been a great trip, full of real Xmas spirit and positivity.
Xmas is all about other people as well enjoying yourself, and I definitely accomplished this on the visit. To keep a good friend company and liven up his Xmas, and getting to chill and do things we both enjoy.
We went on lovely walks around Dundee. One windy afternoon we took a stroll down to the Tay, taking in the lovely views along with the blustering wind in our hair. Another day we were unsure were to head, and ended up taking a stroll and discovered a skate park. It was great to do all of this with camera in hand, and in Ross’s case, a video camera. We took some good shots of the skate park, and once home went about working out how to get these into Google Earth.
The days started with fresh coffee and weetabix, with the one adventurous morning of a fry up. The afternoons were time to go for a stroll, and luckily the weather was kind to us. The evenings saw us whipping up some tasty meals, with the lovely raw ingredients of onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, olives and…erm cheese, and then either pasta or, erm eggs to pan it out. The main ingredient that pads out the veg is insignificant when you have an array of tasty ingredients that can stand on their own. Eating these at the table to make a change from lounging on the couch was a nice twist. Once our bellies were stuffed, and it was difficult to move, it was time to open up the laptops.
We did various kinds of work; Ross working more on his animation, me working on my movie for my best friends’ Xmas present. We also worked through the Neuro Linguistic Programming book I had bought for Ross, and also own myself, in order to see how to work out and lay down our goals.
I must say Ross out shone me in this department! He got right into his Google calander and notebook in order to start moving ahead in his goals. I just got more and more frustrated to be honest, but I spend the majority of my time trying to find the right bit of software to write mine in. The idea of writing in a text pad with a white background was horrifying. So I started with Google’s presentation software, moved to trying to use Keynote, then even ventured into making a Net Beans php project. I wanted to install Open Office, but there was a glitch so that will have to wait. I gave in and installed MS Office. By this time hours had gone by, and I only just completed the well-formed goal structure for my first goal, and wasn’t in the best of moods.
It was great watching Ross work on some of his project in After Effects, and start playing around with camera angles, and also see the project come to life a bit more. I feel that this project is a journey for me to be part of even if I’m just watching it. Its great to see something develop from sketches, and watch all the different techniques and design stages. I wonder what texture the couch will end up with.
We stayed away from TV as much as we could. We did watch a couple of polar bear documentaries, and Creature Comforts. I wasn’t able to persuade the watching of Top Gear. Then there was the great movie of the week….Polar Express…I must say it was tragic. We spent the time ripping it to shreds, and were dying for it to be over. One movie I will not be watching again.
I can’t think of anything that would have made it a better week, maybe more ice cream lol
While waiting for the bus, I saw a young lad, dressed, as I would put it, like a ned. He was asking people if he could buy a cigarette. After he had a few failed attempts, I waved him over to where I was sitting on my luggage, and offered to make him a rollie from my tobacco. He sat down net to me, and we ended up having a conversation. I always like the times when I talk to random people, so much can be gotten from it. It turned out he lived in the streets and had been in foster care most of his life. We just breezed over these topics, which was nice. Its hard to know what to say to someone who lives on the street when you know you’re carrying a good quality laptop, phone and pda as well as a stack of xmas presents, and that you are heading back to your nice warm house with all its amenities.
I happened to have a spare packet of tobacco and papers on me which I gave to him. Not out of pity, just because I knew I wouldn’t miss it, and it would be something good for him that he would appreciate. He was a nice guy, very polite and friendly, called Dean. As I said to him, there are many good people I know who don’t have much in the world, and far too many people who are not so good and have lots.
After times like this I struggle with the fact that so many people have it so bad, and this is something I try not to think about, I like to bury my head in the sand and get on with my life. We cant all make it our mission to save the world. I have my plans for how I want the world to be a better place, and how to get people to realise their potential and do the same. This area is in software and working practices, as well as life coaching further down the line. My talents would be wasted if I went and worked for a homeless association to get people off the streets. That’s not my passion, but hopefully I can help people fulfil their passions and do the things I cannot.
This may all come off as a bit pompous, or…there’s probably a list of negative words for it. I have days where I feel like the whole human race should be wiped out, and the planet left to get on with in. I have to not watch news and upsetting real life stories too much. Even down to not really knowing what is going on with our own government. It steals away my hope and positivity. When I am stronger and on a better path, I can incorporate these things more and not be so naïve.
I know that my mother went out her way to save the world at a young age. She was a great activist. But she left me knowing that we all have our own path, and there’s nothing wrong if I don’t have a drive to go on big marches, and lie in front of trucks or chain myself to a tree. As long as I am true to myself, and don’t harm others and have respect for things, that’s a good start.
Still on the bus, and I must say I’m feeling a bit queasy, but its not often I sit typing on the laptop while travelling. I’m looking forward to getting back in my front door and having my troop of cats greet me. I know my house will be a tip and in urgent need of cleaning. Well I think I can tackle that after a nice freshly brewed cup of chai tea, and stick on some the of lovely world music Ross has given me. I will probably salsa round the flat, tripping over the cats, making it look like it should.
I just had to look out the window and took a good long breath while looking at the way the sun is lighting up the mountains and the clouds show some beautiful shades of colour, and praying that the big dark purple ones are not going to follow me and let go of their load when I hit Aberdeen.
Once some cleaning is completed, I’ll be ready to await the arrival of Mandy for our great night our (attempt 2). I’m disappointed that I couldn’t get the movie project written to disc, but then the complications of rendering it to an avi, running it out of hard drive space and then having to re-do and seeing the quality at a shocking bad level, were just not things I foresaw. At least I can show her the project in all its glory inside iMovie, and sort out the rendering and writing to disc at a later stage.
We will hit the town, and go to clubs I haven’t been to in ages, in fact I don’t think I’ve been to any apart from Moshulu since Mandy left about 3 months ago. Its not something I do on my own, instead I go and free myself dancing in the street on a Saturday. Will be a great night, and alcohol for me is strictly limited so that I make it through the night this time.
I’ve even had time to read over this and perform a spell check, and now im just pulling into Aberdeen.
Time to sign off and enjoy the view.
