One Angry Monkey

Calm down, Brendan, I don’t mean ours. Just general anniversaries of important events in my life. Er, other important things in my life. Our anniversary is, of course, important. Whew, smooth-talked my way out of that one.

A little over a year ago, I quit smoking. Well, we both did, but you know, if Brendan wants recognition Brendan can post about it on Brendan’s blog. This is all about me, baby. 12 nicotine-free months and counting. I should light up to celebrate! Oh, wait, that won’t work. The only real side-effect I’ve noticed is a strange urge to set everything I see on fire. That, of course, could just be a subconscious attempt to justify the continuing existence of my old lighters.

As a side note, do you know how many half-full lighters the average smoker will have in their house at any given time? More than they could conceivably need, that’s how many. (more…)

On the second weekend of my stay in New Zealand last October, I took a photo which still provides me with a little amusement. I’ve decided to share it with the world because, well, I’m just that generous. Yay me. Shall I share the back-story? I think I shall!

The Coromandel region was once known for more than just its surfing beaches. It was quite the booming gold mining region, back when people still did that sort of thing. I lie, there’s still a working gold mine. And a museum with a severed thumb preserved in, like, formaldehyde or something. When you’re a kid, that’s pretty cool. It’s also a geographically unfriendly sort of place, needing much taming from the early prospectors. Evidence of that remains, in the form of a hole in a rocky mountain. (more…)

I’ve been doing a fair bit of thinking over the past few weeks. I know, I know, I should be careful with that. Don’t want to strain myself. I’ve gotten nowhere with it either. My mind is excellent at dragging me around in circles. Funny that, the rest of me has a stellar sense of direction.

I’m going to make a confession. I’m a fantasy nut. I love fantasy. I love it because it’s in a different world. When something doesn’t sound right, it doesn’t matter to me. It’s not supposed to be right. It’s a brave new world, baby. I don’t get the urge to run to my computer and google anything just to see whether it is right or not. I kind of like science fiction as well, as long as it’s well done. I loved (and I mean loved) Joss Whedon’s series Firefly and the associated movie, Serenity. It was magnificent. It was entertaining. It didn’t revolve around matter / anti-matter fluctuations in the warp drive. Best of all, I have no idea how the ship worked, or how fast it could take them from A to B. Do you know what I do know? I know the characters and the story. (more…)