It’s rare to see a really good romance movie, especially one that doesn’t involve sex and the ubiquitous silhouette intimate shot. Romance is supposed to be subtle, something that creeps up to you and this portrays it with gusto. You become attached to the characters and really suck into how they feel for each other. I’m going to watch this film tonight again, I advise people to buy a copy because it’s one of these films that you should watch before you die, easily one of my favorites.

The music is beautiful (and sad), the characters are awesome (you seem them together a lot in other films) and the plot is epic. Watch this if you feel in the mood.

Might watch 2046 afterwards but that one does get a bit depressing. I easily prefer In the Mood for love.

“Do you know what people did in the old days when they had secrets they didn’t want to share? They’d climb a mountain, find a tree, carve a hole in it, whisper the secret into the hole and cover it up with mud. That way, nobody else would ever learn the secret…”

The password is within the heart followed by four numbers

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They’ve recently moved into their new place, it was their temporary stay until they found a place to start buying. The location was near to where Rachel worked / studied. It felt like yesterday that we were sitting on some steps in a shopping centre eating greggs bloomer sandwiches for lunch at college (food at college has horrific). Now they’ve found a place to stay and will eventually get into the whole mortgaging business, oh how we’ve grown.

…well for them anyway. I feel like I’m still stuck in a time bubble where I’m still at college, just that work is actually work in a company, and we don’t do games/p.e. (boo I like running). I think I need to begin the plan of moving out and starting a life of my own, though this will inevitably take time and money to execute. I suppose I can live with the salary I make, but it would be ideal if I can save up as well for that move in the property ladder. No point in renting and forever stuck in a “renting” state.

So what’s the goal? What’s the plan? Well I don’t intend on moving out this year, and maybe not the next either. I don’t think I’m in a comfortable position to move, both for financial and personal reasons. I think for the next two years I’m going to first get out of any existing debts I’m in (hopefully random juicy bonuses will help!) and then review whether the situation changes and that I’m comfortable in moving.

I’ve already begun saving up via a savings account. I just need to continue that momentum and build up a momentum of constantly saving up, ignoring expensive gadgets and games and focusing on more long term things. Having this goal down in writing gives me the clarity I need and takes me out of the zone where I feel like I’m simply procrastinating in life. I’ve been moving forward pretty rapidly and I don’t want that to stop.

So where do I see myself in 2 years? Well hopefully I’ll be living in my own place in London, with a more senior role in the company. I will be in a more comfortable position to review my status in getting my own place but at that time, I have a place I’m renting and saving. A place that reminds me of where Jason and Rachel are living right now, where everything is customised to perfection (subjectively) and taste. It would be a place I feel comfortable living in as well a place that’s actually near work (I’m losing 2 hours of my life per weekday just sitting down waiting for transport C to take me to destination B)

The goal is pretty standard for anyone, suppose it’s the milestones and timing that make them my goal. You definitely need to be in a place where you can stop and review on what’s going on in your life, so a lovely reminder from 43things will do just that.

That’s it for now, I’ve recently got a raise from work and hopefully I can prove my worth in the company. Things will only get better, you just need to have clear goals and an ass that won’t quit.

Send all your emails to

me

that at symbol (the squiggly one :))

crazybobbles

dot (of the dot variety)

org

I write it like that so bots can’t read it :). Though if you can’t decipher what my email address is… uhm, I don’t really know haha, I’m sure you can.

Man it’s been a long time since I’ve touched a keyboard! The keys are all dusty and my fingers are twitching to play some random chords and arpeggios. After doing some random jams, I started to look into playing the Phantom of the Opera overture. Turns out it’s A LOT harder than I had imagine it’d be. There are so many bits to play on both hands! Things you’ll not notice on a naked listen, I managed to download a midi of the track and slowly worked out the notes from that (I can’t read music, and there isn’t music for the overture (that isn’t watermarked before you ask)) so yeah, it’s back to good old listening to it and playing it by ear and memory. That’s how I learn pieces anyway. It’s surprising how many songs I have hidden inside my head. Sometimes it requires a jog of my memory but I’ve never relied on written music to play a piece, it’s the best way but I’m simply not capable of reading it for now, not to mention I’m impatient to learn (maybe this could be another todo?) So yeah. The piece is pretty hard, but that doesn’t stop me from learning it slowly. When you want to learn something so hard, you just charge onto it head first and do your best, practice does indeed make perfectomundo.

• Suitcase
• Some big bucks
• Travel documents: Passport, tickets
• Clothes for travelling (sunny)
• Sunglasses
• Toilet stuff
• Psp and usb cable
• iPod and usb cable
• Phone and usb cable
• Tripod!
  
• Usb to mains adaptor (otherwise we have no use for usb cables)
• Dslr camera (no need for charger)
• Notebook
• Company laptop

I think that’s about it. Keeping it nice and simple. Anymore and it will destroy me. It’s going to be nice and sunny so yay! Was going to get a giant mug that says “I <3 NY” but I’ll wait until someone makes an “I <3 My Tissues” mug haha.

Things are so much clearer when you actively write about something you intend to do, even if it’s embedded in your subconscious. Once it’s out and about, you feel clarity in what you’re doing and you “know” what you’re doing. What you’re committed to do.

For this case, I’ve been ensuring that everytime I’m asked whether I need a bag, I take a moment to reflect on whether I NEED and in most cases, I really don’t. So I reply with a no to them.
That’s the easy bit done, always reviewing on your bag situation when asked, but when people assume you want a bag and start packing it, it’s frustrating on both ends to stop them from doing it. Nonetheless, that’s not going to stop me from saying no to shopping bags, previously I was doing it passively, now I need to actively stop them from doing it, you get used to it, some people are confused on why you want them to take it back out and some are more than happy to save a plastic bag. Nonetheless the goal is to reduce the amount of bags used.

I’ve also began selectively buying dvds and games too. Reading an article about a guy who threw away all his boxes made me review my current dvd collection, it’s pretty big. So keeping things digital will hopefully help me reduce clutter on my bookshelf. Avoiding films I wouldn’t watch or games I wouldn’t play is the key. It does get tough when they are super cheap. I might look into doing rentals. I really need to escape this desire to hoard and collect things. Even innocently buying a dvd will ensure that the future I’ll be questioning why I’ve bought it and only watched it once.

Anyway, dvd will most likely be another 43things, but then again that’s not a clear goal since you can’t really measure it (like this one)

So what did I think of it? It’s not bad at all. It does base most of it’s stuff on manual tools such as the retro pen and paper and loads of folders for filing. I fortunately am in a position where work is digitally stored and categorised. The hard work is literally done, leaving me with my inbox to sort out. This (and remember the milk) are the areas I will working GTD on. Though you can see the difficulties of implementing stuff that’s mainly done via pen and paper hard on the PC.

The processes it teaches are quite similar to what I originally had. i worked at a zero inbox methodology where I treat each email as something to action, they are filled into appropriate sections once I’m finished with them so a zero inbox would literally mean I have done all my tasks and have nothing to do.

The book teaches you to store things under sections such as “next action” for those tasks that need to be completed asap, “waiting for” for tasks that require following up by someone and “tickler/someday” for things that can be done… someday. I was particularly keen on the “someday” folder as it was something missing from my system, work out of the ordinary were collected into the system and stored somewhere where I knew I could access and start work on if I felt it was time. Everything begins to feel more logical when you start implementing it though. It’s hard to persuade someone to implement this since people tend to be resistant on their current methods and systems. Bringing a new system introduces the idea of “when it’s not broken, don’t fix it” so I’m quite stuck in telling people what they should do. But I suppose I can give my feedback on how the book has changed the way I work.

I’ve not implemented the task full yet (so I’m not counting that as complete) but soon I will.