This Site Has Moved

New Wordpress Site

The Old/Non Updated Content...




The home of the haikulator

 

Links

Sentence Generators
My Stand-up & gigs
The Coding Craftsman
BurberryAndBroccoli
MarkInventions

The Musical!
Incredible Productions

apostrophell
backlash
incredible
haiku


Previous Posts

Missing The Point
419 Baiter
A**cco L**
Shared Wisdom
The Free Will Debate
Getting It Perfect
Everybody in the House Say Weigh-oh
I Have, Quite Literally, No Idea
Free Willy
Re-Reading

Blog Archives

October 2001
November 2001
December 2001
January 2002
February 2002
March 2002
April 2002
May 2002
June 2002
July 2002
August 2002
September 2002
October 2002
November 2002
December 2002
January 2003
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
August 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
August 2009
September 2009
January 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011
May 2011
June 2011
July 2011
August 2011
October 2011
December 2011
February 2012
March 2012
April 2012
May 2012
June 2012
July 2012
March 2013
April 2013
May 2013
June 2013
July 2013
August 2013
September 2013
October 2013
December 2013
January 2014
February 2014
March 2014
May 2014
July 2014
January 2015
February 2015
March 2015
April 2015
May 2015
June 2015
July 2015
August 2015
January 2016
February 2016
March 2016
April 2016
May 2016
July 2016
August 2017
January 2018
August 2018
September 2018
July 2019
August 2019
May 2020
June 2020
July 2020
August 2020
September 2020
December 2020
January 2021
July 2021
September 2021
February 2022

Thursday, November 2

Acting On Impulse

According to the old advert "men just can't help acting on impulse", which I guess is true from many different viewpoints. If we're getting back into my clearly ill-informed treatise on free will or lack thereof, then it's entirely involuntary impulses which cause all actions. If, alternatively, an impulse is defined as a quick unconsidered reaction to something, then, by definition, in order for something to be an impulse, it must be something that was acted upon impulsively, otherwise it was just a fleeting irrational thought. If, alternatively, we're going to go all Newtonian on your ass, and define an impulse as a force acting over a particular period of time, then, according to the laws of Newton's model of the universe, that which is having the force acted upon it returns that force both equally and oppositely.

Don't throw an aphorism at me and expect me to leave it undeconstructed.

Anyway, this lunchtime was formed from a series of whims.

Whim 1 - buy the computer magazine
Given that I was genuinely excited about the publication of today's Micro Mart and the article within it that I felt more proud of that any of my other submissions, I had pretty much hoped to make the time to go and buy a copy to read through. Even though I get a copy delivered for free, it doesn't always arrive on time (caused in no small way by its long journey via my old house and the Post Office's mail redirection system). I know what it says, having read it a few times, but I like to see an article in print - it looks different.

They've done a cracking job of the layout and pullout quotes and I think it looks good on the page. Buy it. That's Micro Mart.

Just in case this looks like an exercise in self-promotion, I'd have to say that Carol Midgley's article, which I lambasted a post ago, is at least better written than some of the sections of what I read that I'd written. Somehow seeing the words on the printed page makes me see them in a different light and there are some clunky bits hither and thither... it's still a blockbuster of a piece, and I've made some mental notes on what to improve on in further writings.

Whim 2 - buy the wood
On the way to the shopping centre where the WHSmiths lives, I remembered that I was still a couple of pieces of 300x300x18mm chipboard short of my guinea pig nesting box project. So, I nipped into B&Q, went to their woodcutting place and got two pieces cut to my specification. The grand charge for this whole exercise? 50p. That's cracking!

Whim 3 - get a flu vaccination
Parking outside Asda on the way to get the magazine, I noticed that Asda were selling flu jabs at £12 each. Though buying the wood had been a fairly impressive lunchtime impulse buy, buying a flu innoculation would have been much more extreme. I decided to go for it. Sadly, I'd totally misread the sign, which said it would be first come first served and not until Saturday. D'oh!

Though I think it's a crying shame that short supply of flu jabs has made the NHS run out and made a legitimate black market supply come through the supermarkets... if that makes any sense, I do feel the need to get such a flu jab. Something to do with working with the homeless over Christmas or something like that. The point is that I'm able to afford it, so I may as well pay if that's the only way.

It's an attitude like that which keeps the big supermarkets in customers. It's also an attitude like that which undermines the point of a national health service into which we all pay. As they sack the people who actually do the work, and create more paperwork for the people who do more paperwork, you have to wonder if the NHS has a future. Reading the blog of an NHS worker, I'd hope so, since they're clearly a good bunch of people doing a good service and doing it in support of this nation's strongly held believe that people, regardless of personal wealth, have the right to proper medical care.

Whim 4 - buy something from the health food shop
Talking of health, there's a health food shop between the WHSmith and the Asda which I almost always drop into when I'm at the shopping centre. They sell bags of healthy food, by which I mean things like dried apricots or nuts or whatever. I'm frequently prone to acting on my whim to go in there and be healthy - which translates as "buy something to gorge on which causes me to go to the toilet a lot for a day or so". I had a whim enter my head that, since I don't actually LIKE any of the things I buy there, perhaps I should resist the habit of going in there. I felt like my body was going to go in there anyway. In the end I won (either way I would have won, since it was just me) and did not buy a half a kilogram of poo-inducing fruit-concentrate.

Is that a whim, or the resistance of a whim? Who knows?

Who cares?

Don't answer.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

All content ©2001 - 2020 Ashley Frieze