Three Years, to this evening, little girls were targeted by a Terrorist at an Ariana Grande gig; in the name of ‘Peace.’
Tunes:
I wish I was in Macclesfield
Today marks the fortieth anniversary of Ian Curtis’ suicide. I was meant to be in his native Macclesfield today to commemorate. However, the Tyrants have us in Lockdown. England has gradual reopening, already, while Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales still want us to stay at home.
Nevertheless, I’m learning to cope. I ordered Lavender-flavoured Organic Shampoo; I never washed my hair in the past few years. Now, I’m doing more self-care. Also, I got cotton makeup pads to apply the coconut oil I got last week for my face. The leftover plastic boxes, from the orders of Chicken Chow Mein I’ve had, can be used to store the pads. Those takeaways weren’t such a waste of money, after all. Plus, I also have leftover boxes from the Mayflower curry powder.
Also, happy Victoria Day to all Canadians. Here comes Summer. In this country, it’s wet and miserable; Summer for us. 😀
Tunes:
New Decade – New Plan
This evening, I weighed myself at Slimming World in Ballinderry. After getting down to below 20 Stone – 280 Pounds – eleven days ago, I put on eight pounds since then. There were a few boxes of biscuits and Chicken Chow Mein deliveries along the way. However, I manned up about the weigh-in, and got a recipe book and ordered stuff for delivery from Sainsbury’s – to make Veggie Chilli Con Carne. I’ll NEVER go Vegan but remain open-minded to Veggie options.
Christmas itself was great. I spent FOUR consecutive days with my neighbour for meals. Then, I bought her Jimmy Choo perfume and a bottle of Australian Sauvignon Blanc to show my appreciation. One of her brothers from Philadelphia flew back to Ireland on Boxing Day and he gave me a Philadelphia Eagles Toque as a gift. I also got, from my Skype buddy from Toronto, a Leafs t-shirt, a George sweatshirt, two pyjama bottoms and a Greatest Hits compilation by the Headstones – Canadian Punk Band from the Nineties. I was landed. 🙂
Twenty years ago, we faced the Millenium Bug. Now, it’s the Millenials who are bugging us. 😀 My Toque proved to be a good-luck charm, as the Eagles secured a playoff berth last night. 🙂
Tunes:
Good news and bad news
Bad news: (Bad news ALWAYS comes first)
I had to resign from the job in Portadown I got over a bureaucratic rigmarole regarding Occupational Health at the agency involved declining a fit for work certificate required. After contacting the agency and health professionals, it was too much stress and strain in the end. Therefore I resigned and the agency will keep searching for other roles that don’t require that fit for work certificate.
Good news:
I was paid for the two days I did work last week. 🙂
Tunes:
Job interview coming up
On Wednesday, I have a job interview with Deloitte in Belfast. Tomorrow, Monday, there is an introductory session prior to the interview process. I have learned to suit up, to show up, to grow up. After upsetting others on a Slack channel, I learned to back off and left that channel for the sake of all. I still have difficulty measuring moral and ethical barometers, part of my Asperger’s. But I am learning.
My PIP appeal is still ongoing. However, should I be accepted for the job, the training provided at first MUST be priority number one. This is probably the one opportunity I have been seeking. But, this morning, I scanned the documentation which arrived in yesterday’s, Saturday, mail and emailed it to Advice NI. It’s a contingency plan should I not get the job.
This afternoon I mowed the lawn. Chop wood, carry water.
Tunes:
Been a while since I last blogged
Been choc-a-bloc with s**t happening! 🙂
My Christmas Day was low key. Went to The Hub in Cookstown for Dinner. Enjoyed the Crack – as in enjoyment 🙂 – and music, but didn’t eat much of my dinner. Wasn’t that hungry. A friend I talk to from Magherafelt said that her kids with Autism had Pizza for Christmas dinner; the daughter didn’t eat much of hers either. Picky eaters, us! 🙂
I had to top up my data for last month whenever my brother was here until New Year’s Day. Coming to think of that, I won’t renew the contract on my WiFi – in September 2019 – and will probably stick with using my Android as a WiFi hotspot as it has 4G here. Living in the sticks is damn expensive.
Also, I cancelled my WordPress plan for my homesite and also cancelled the hosting Namesco provided. I now just have email forwarding with them and the opportunity to redirect my domain to my Adobe Portfolio. No paintings since my last blog post, but I do have photos from the Ulster American Folk Park. The roads I took there weren’t ones for ‘giving her Dixie’, though. 😦
Hopefully, I won’t be affected by the Intel Processor data compromise should I update my Mac OS X. Pain in the Bum…..Bum Bum Bum Bum! 🙂 Get 007 to sort out SPECTRE. 🙂
My oil furnace was air locked again, but yesterday I got barrels from my uncle to buy emergency kerosene and he bled the furnace afterwards. We got the white smoke in the end. My uncle quipped, “Pope elected!” 🙂
Tunes and Clips:
Hectic week
On Monday I was preparing to head on Tuesday morning to Dublin for a graphic design Meetup whenever I received an email for a cloud technology academy in Belfast inviting me to attend an introductory presentation on Wednesday evening and a job interview on Thursday morning. However I managed to attend all three as I then booked a night at the Hotel where the introductory session was held after coming back from Dublin. It was almost divine intervention that I went to Dublin and back from the Aircoach bus between Glengall Street and O’Connell Street.
My employment advisor came with me to the interview yesterday and said that I did really well given the circumstances. I was given a real time problem to solve. I solved it, but only through trial and error. They used an Excel function I didn’t know about. It’s all up to the Gods now.
Now today I have an appointment with my occupational therapist then plan to drive to Cullybackey to get a train to Portrush to relax on the beach; the Irish Open (Golf) is on this weekend, but I’m not interested. 🙂
Tunes:
Manchester on my mind
Was at a poetry gig this lunchtime
I went to see Mike Garry headlining a poetry gig from 11:30 am to 1:15 pm at the Black Box in Belfast and got to immerse myself in eclectic poetry from him and the support acts.
I braved the elements this morning, exaggeration, to get the bus to Belfast from Castledawson park-and-ride; which should be my home address. 🙂 Then after I got back I got groceries at Lidl. Chop wood, carry water. 🙂
I found out about the Red Pill Studio and wonder how I can contact them without resorting to either Twitter or Facebook. Every time you log onto one of those two sites, God kills a Calf! Someone think of the Calves! 🙂
Arsenal won again, after eight minutes of injury time and getting a penalty at the end. Jaysus, talk about skating on thin ice.
One of the support acts was a quintessential Millennial originally from a Scumbag area of Dublin, but now a budding Actress living in London. (imagine Buffy with a Flat Dublin Accent) I mentioned seeing Mike support John Cooper Clarke at Dun Laoghaire last May and about the bus that goes from Tallaght to Dun Laoghaire. The number 75.
Just a little plug for Mike Garry; his EP ‘St. Anthony – a tribute to Anthony H. Wilson’ is available on iTunes.
Gran in hospital again
Yesterday my gran, who’s now 91, fell and hit her head and is now at Craigavon Area Hospital. Today I saw her, after deciding just to drive to Antrim then take the train to Portadown and get a taxi to the hospital, and she is really beginning to dote. She thought she was still at home and was on about her handbag and staff. The nurses said gran’s Niece will bring them over. In the end I decided to head back and, luckily, I was got the Dublin to Belfast train at Portadown and got the 7:20 train to Derry at Belfast Central, getting off at Antrim.
Big weekend ahead. FA Cup final tomorrow then Derry V Tyrone in the Ulster Championship on Sunday. I hope that this will take my mind off the woes about gran and my financial issues.
My Asperger’s tendency to stare placed me in an awkward moment on the trains, I tend to get worked up over others’ views of me. But, God willing, I managed to avoid making an Arse of myself in public. 🙂
Tunes:
gizzajobblog 