Getting Up To Date

Sheesh... it's the end of the first week of 2011, and it's actually been fairly busy, in a way.

I'm still not working - still haven't contacted Job Centre Plus, for that matter - but life is anything but restful. It's all small stuff that shouldn't be bothering me, but it's all mounting up because I'm not doing anything about any of it... Stupid, as usual.

At first glance, it looks as though the Income Protection insurance I got for my mortgage does not cover anything but health-related loss of income. Pretty bloody stupid of me, if that's the case. I can find records of 'incapacity protection', 'accidental death cover' and 'critical illness cover'... which, sure, where the all-important ones... and maybe I wasn't thinking of the possibility of losing my job two years ago, when I arranged all this... it didn't seem at all likely: I was there for the long haul. Nevertheless... I shall have to contact the people who arranged it, to confirm exactly how bone-headed I was when I first set up the insurance on my mortgage.

Money isn't an issue, really, so I'm not overly concerned by this... Sure, I'd like to save as much of my redundancy payout as possible but, if the worst comes to the worst, it's there to be spent...

Then there's the all-too-typical increase in time spent online and downloading large files, while I'm stuck at home... It's the beginning of the month, and already I have just 2Gb to last me 20 days. I've tried purchasing more, but there seems to be an error... so I shall have to contact my ISP as well...

And I'm back on Lansoprazole... Having visited the doctor a couple of days ago, he's assuming that it was the right prescription, but perhaps the wrong quantity. I have a prescription for two months' supply, and he suggested that, if it does work, I may need to take it for the rest of my life... and if it doesn't, they'll have to look at my ongoing throat problem from a different angle.

In slightly more positive news, I've finally seen TRON Legacy... and it's awesome. I stand by my previous comments about its relevance in the world of today, and also add concerns about the excessive use of real-world physics, the apparent absence of which being one of the defining elements of the original. Sure, there was gravity... but also bikes that could execute instantaneous ninety-degree turns, and vehicles that were made up of pieces that didn't actually connect in any way, and yet stayed together as vehicles. There's also the point that Flynn's residence on the Grid rather too closely resembles the room at the end of 2001... miscellaneous inconsistencies... plot holes... inadequate or absent explanations... and a great big neon sign saying "ANOTHER SEQUEL" running right alongside the action, until the very end, where it suddenly seems to disappear into the sunrise.

I am guilty of overthinking it and, while I was watching it (for just over 2 hours) it kept me utterly enthralled, even though the voice in the back of my mind was saying things like "cliché" or "call that a twist?" or just "what the f...?". It may not be the perfect sequel/follow-up I've been awaiting for 25 years, but it was an amazing spectacle... the IMAX 3D presentation was possibly the finest demonstration of the system you could hope to see... marred only by the videogame-level CGI of the 'young' Kevin Flynn/CLU. It looked great in the trailers, but just isn't detailed or fluid enough on the big screen.

If there is another sequel planned, let's hope they do us the courtesy of not leaving it another 20 years or so before starting.

After the movie, my companion and I ventured to the riverfront branch of Giraffe and, despite a disappointingly long wait for a table (the floor manager popped over to apologise once we were seated), everything was pretty good... though I suspect the menu has been pared down in recent years. We discussed the plans to set up the new business, how much work is assured, and how she's going to go about drumming up more... it's all sounding pretty positive, and I'm keen to get started.

Other movies I've watched recently include the incredible Moon, starring Sam Rockwell, in a role that proves he can actually act. He's essentially alone throughout most of the movie, and his solitude is part of the main thrust of the story. Some elements of the story are almost heartbreaking, particularly the lengths GERTY - the mining station's computer - goes to in executing its primary function: to keep the human operator safe. I was expecting the computer to be another HAL-9000... but nothing could be further from the truth. It's a very small, focused movie, with the shortest cast list I've seen in ages...  IMDb estimates its budget at about $5Million... a pittance, by today's standards

My DVD collection is swelling again - aside from Moon, I've picked up Scott Pligrim vs The World, The Brothers Grimm and Inglourious Basterds... quite a mixture.

I recently picked up WiiFit Plus, including the balance board and, after what seemed like a false start with the rechargeable battery pack, and facing the board the wrong way, my biggest worry is that I don't have enough space in the flat to use it. It also reckons I'm overweight, but only just... and so I've set myself the goal of losing a stone in three months... shouldn't be too taxing.

In other news, I'm having the expected second thoughts about eHarmony. This is 'business as usual' for me, and the whole reason I signed up so quickly (though I've yet to subscribe). That little voice in the back of my head is telling me I don't want to meet new people, because they are invariably tedious or stupid or selfish... and that, while I'm great at email communication, I don't make a good first impression, either with the self-written parts of my profile or in person. The funny thing is that the site basically recommends not letting your social life slip in favour of a hoped-for romantic life... good advice, but I tend to let all kinds of things slip... and I'm much more likely to come across as disinterested than overly keen these days.

I'm also coming to terms with the fact that a couple of my colleagues really did like me... and have expressed a wish to keep in touch that was more than mere lip service. I've been invited to dinner with a small group (including my ex-boss and companion from the TRON Legacy/Giraffe excursion) next week, and one of the newest recruits has tentatively suggested meeting ex-boss and I for drinks sometime in the near future. Part of me wonders if I should contact one or two others... but I already get the impression that a couple of those I did choose to send my details aren't as keen to stay in touch as they suggested... This is why I tend to refer to myself as an 'optimistic cynic' - I'll always look on the bright side, but I don't easily trust whoever else is involved.

Moving Forward

On the advice of a friend, I'm giving this eHarmony thing a go.

I've tried Internet Dating before, about six or seven years ago. By and large, I found it to be the fastest and most convenient way to meet plenty of people you'd never want to meet. There are those that don't know why they're there, there are those who are merely looking to hook up for sex (including, quite scarily, an old schoolfriend... though, to be fair, she was also looking for a dad for her son, just going about it in entirely the wrong way), there are those who seem to be performing some kind of social experiment (I saw two largely identical profiles that had used the same photo of Jessica Alba, but one had heavy makeup Photoshopped on), and there are those who are clearly just looking to replace their ex with a clone (one even going so far as to specify which brand of aftershave a prospective suitor should use).

eHarmony purports to be something different... all that advertising guff about matching folks based on values and intellect. Certainly, their signup procedure includes some fairly detailed psychometric profiling... and, while I tend to be sceptical of these things, the results were certainly quite impressive in my case. It's almost tempting to ask friends and family to try it themselves, just to see how their profiles turn out. It is sometimes said that these profiles are essentially middle-ground generalisations, true of just about anyone... but this one seems to be something more.

I'm not sure it'll go anywhere... And I have yet to upload any photos (largely because I have virtually none available - while I'm a fairly keen photographer (particularly when it comes to making 3D photos), I'm not keen on being the subject), which seems to be quite an important part of the process.

Then again, I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket... One of my ex-colleagues offered to play matchmaker for me a few weeks before I was made redundant, and I'm hoping to take her up on that offer, in the spirit of Not Dismissing Out Of Hand That Which I Do Not Believe Will Work. And, hey, maybe next time a woman serving me in a shop looks at me a certain way, and says or does something that's not entirely related to the sale at hand, I'll pay a bit more attention and do something about it.

Stranger things have happened, I'm sure... Just don't ask for an example.

Thing is, I often refer to myself (technically for reasons of comedy rather than veracity) as a Bitch Magnet... I have tended, historically, to attract the attention of those who are in some way inherently unstable, because I give the impression of great stability in and of myself. Unfortunately, I can't be a crutch the whole time... eventually it becomes too much and my own stability becomes jeopardised. In recent years, though, and by learning the hard way, I've been able to more easily identify the signs of instability in others... so, were I to become involved, it would be because I chose to become involved, rather than because I've missed the warning signs.

The question, then, becomes "am I the magnet, or the lump of unrefined iron?"

Only time will tell...

Or not, because I'm also consciously deciding not to become involved with anyone who's obviously unstable. What I need - what I'm hoping to get out of eHarmony, matchmaking friends, or my own sluggish efforts - is someone who is independently stable, knows who they are and what they want in life, and who is compatible with me in those ways.

A capacity for tolerating a toy-collecting, sci-fi, horror and videogame geek would be beneficial...

Gratuitous First Post of 2011

So, yeah... New Year.

Fireworks going off all around... I'm not watching Jools Holland's Hootenanny after all, just considering the question of whether I should go to bed, or play something on the Wii.

My, I know how to celebrate...