Higher Hate Of Hangovers

blue drinking glass with water and white medicine pills

It’s only two weeks since my detox finished but already I am collecting post-alcohol frustration. Last Friday I got rather hammered.  I had a self-rage from leaving my suitcase on the train, only then to feel the need to celebrate retrieving it.  I was pretty hammered – somehow and for some unknown reason, I got the 6:15am train back to London.  I do not remember the tube journey at all. 15 years ago that would have been a badge of honour.  Now it pisses me off. I like a beer.  I like a beer or two.  I love a glass … Continued

Cancelling My fabric Membership

close up of striped curtain

Hard times.  Not that I ever go any more but I do like the CDs and sense of belonging. ***** Dearest fabric It pains me to say it but I am going to have to cancel my membership.  Temporarily, of course. I am trying to work out how long I have been a fabricfirst member.  I would take a metaphorical synth stab at 11 years.  I have every one of your CDs.  Room 1 feels like home (well, until my feet get tired and I realise it actually isn’t my home).  I still have my original leather membership card – … Continued

Lent 2017

gray sanda

Every year I give up something fundamental in my life as a sacrifice. Last year I gave up high-5’s.  The year before I gave up trimming my eyebrows. Other years I gave up important aspects of living such as French swear words, zebra crossings, semi-colons and paper clips. If you know me, you know just how religiously I like to follow the nine commandments of the moon and giving something up for lent is my way of worshipping her. So onto this year. Well, I really want to give up recruitment consultants.  Sadly, until I get a job, I am … Continued

Happy Valentine’s From Me & Maggie

I used to find Valentine’s Day depressing, knowing that no non-cardboard women under 120kg found me attractive. But since Margaret has come into my life, I have been able to turn my love-frown upside down. Valentine’s Day is almost a good day now. I decided to take the day off.  Yeah I know, I’m unemployed, but today was the first day this month where I wasn’t coding all day, or applying for jobs/interviewing.  Every day this month I have been ‘working’ roughly 9-5, sometimes 6 – one time even until 11pm. I was starting to feel a bit jaded, and … Continued

James Went To Bratislava

Gosh was it two weeks ago already? It was probably the holiday I was least ever looking forward to.  Prior to going away, I was tired, not always my usual joyful self, feeling unhealthy and particularly worried about money. Typically, I booked the trip away and then lost my job a week later.  But the show must go on – no point in wasting booked flights and I certainly do not let people down.  I really wasn’t up for it – until the Friday afternoon when I started investigating and making a plan. One obligatory airport beer and super-expensive sausage … Continued

Detox 2017

Watermelon juice in a nestled jungle cafe.

It’s that time of year again.  Detox time. In fact, this is now day 8 of my detox – I’ve been so busy being unemployed that I literally am not getting time to do any blogging. I already feel much better.  I was drinking too much, and too often.  I have quite a dislike of getting up at 7am and going to work even if I have had just two beers the night before, not to mention the increased chances of having not slept properly – which means that I rarely drink the night before work. Not having had that … Continued

Happy Birthday To Me

So I had a birthday yesterday.  And I have a hangover today. It wasn’t the most glorious start.  Despite not having a job, I don’t know where the time goes.  I’ve been way too busy to clean the house recently and it was a fair mess. Therefore I decided to start my birthday with a cleaning session, bathroom and kitchen mainly – good timing too as my landlady popped round halfway through. Then my computer crashed again.  Nothing too unusual as it crashes most days, however it would not turn itself back on.  I quickly became consumed by rage as … Continued

The Psychology Of Unemployment

Labour Party Centenary 1900-2000. Historical party posters

I hadn’t forgotten the psychology of unemployment but maybe I had underestimated it – until now I had been generally as positive as normal.  I’m not one of those impossibly-happy types but generally I am positive about myself, the world – bar the odd moan or ten, especially about Brexit. It’s easy to sit here and criticise the unemployed, and there sure is a fair-sized collective of scumbags who simply don’t want to work.  I’m sure I could get A job tomorrow if I was not bothered about what I wanted to do. Maybe I am simply being a bit … Continued

2016: Tough, Tumultuous, Semi-Successful and Quite A Lot Of Fun

Brexit. Let’s get it out of the way.  Don’t worry, I won’t spend much time talking politics, this blog is all about the self-defecating narcissism, after all. I summed it up perfectly on the morning when I woke up.  A victory for lies.  A victory for xenophobia.  A victory for racism.  Or something like that. This year has seen the general feel of the country, and the wider western world, turn against the values of freedom, liberty, tolerance and respect that I hold so dear.  It’s almost acceptable to be racist once more.  It feels in a general context that … Continued

Unemployment Begins

Job Centre - Vicarage Road

So I have just returned from job centre minus for the second time this week. It was inspirational, invigorating, exciting, relevant and demeaning. So inspirational that I have poured myself a beer.  Though I was going to do that anyway – I’ve had a tough, busy week.  More on that in a minute.  Plus it is listed in the conditions for jobseekers that I spend some of it on beer. Last time I was made unemployed, it took me nearly two months to get around to applying for benefits as I was having too much fun.  This time I thought … Continued