17.12.98 - Sunbathing in Baghdad

I'm so sick of being disorganised and tonight I had a mini surge of organisation and managed to get... well.... hardly anything done actually, but at least I tried! Hehehe. My Christmas shopping is started at least (if you count one gift as a 'start') but I only have one very busy weekend to get all the rest done and I can't even think what to get people. It's really becoming a chore and I don't usually have this problem. I mean I like to get gifts that I know people will love and so in the past I have agonised over it but really, this time I just seem to have forgotten the art of gift shopping altogether! It's almost like my mind can't be bothered to think about anything on that theme, or anything other than me organising my social and/or love life. Selfish huh?

I went up late night shopping and managed to spend more money on myself than anything! I bought "The Guardian" because today has an IT jobs section. I bought a CD by Rancid, some deodorant, some throat lozenges and I got a bank statement, not necessarily in that order. I'm sat here listening to the CD and contemplating the large figure on my credit card bills. I sat and worked out how long it would take me to pay them off completely if I used all the spare money I could. Needless to say that the estimated date of final payment was not any time soon. Oh well... I kind of knew it would be like that when I went to America. It's the price you have to pay for enjoyment. I still think it was worth it anyway.

I got the last of my holiday photos from 'Supasnaps' today so when I get off my lazy, disorganised arse I will send a spare set to Theda and beg and plead her to scan as many as she can so that I can bored you all with them online. Hehe. It's amazing how photogenic the camera case was and even though I certainly don't remember taking that many of the case it seemed to damn well pop up a lot! I guess even an idiot proof camera has it's faults... I wonder if they will invent a camera that automatically removes your finger, camera case or any other incongruous elements from in front of the lens? I'd buy one.

I haven't phoned my friend Sri because we were going to go out sometime either this weekend or early next week before Christmas and I still don't know what I am doing. I'm waiting to hear from Peter in London because it's his birthday next Thursday and I wanted to give him his birthday/christmas present but his time is really limited between now and Christmas. I hate waiting around to hear from someone when I need to know things so that I can organise my own time. I'm a 'planner' as opposed to a 'spur of the moment' kind of guy. I like to know what I am doing in the coming week and not just be in a situation where I get a phone call and go out that night or the next night as a result. I'm not saying I never do that but I don't like it when I do. Maybe when I have my own place and I am responsible for my own time then I will feel differently and it will be quite fun to just drop everything and go out when the mood takes me. What a great way to spend all my money that would be!

I feel like I need to make it into London anyway to finish my Christmas shopping. In wandering around my local town I realise that there are hardly any decent shops here and even the ones that are here don't offer the selection of things that I feel I need. Maybe if Peter is not free this weekend then I will persuade Sri to head into London with me on a shopping spree. Oh God.... what a thought.... shopping in London on the weekend before Christmas. Am I mad? It would be less dangerous to be sunbathing in Baghdad!!!

Although this isn't a journal to report on current world events I feel I should make some mention of what is going on in Iraq at the moment so that when people (including myself) look back on this entry they can put the time period into perspective and perhaps some of the mood of the moment. Unless you've been hiding under a rock or you are reading this tens of years into the future and are crap at history you will know that the US and the UK have started air strikes on Baghdad because of Saddam Hussein's consistent refusal to allow UN weapons inspectors into key sites. It's a scarey time and an awful time to be either in the armed forces or have someone close to you in the forces. What worries me is that the strikes were not approved by the UN and indeed France, Russia and China have all stated their disapproval at the action insisting that a diplomatic solution is the only answer. I mean... if it wasn't bad enough that we start a war with Iraq, we have to go and upset three other nuclear powers! I'm a little nuts about things like this and start imagining scenarios degenerating to cause the end of the world as we know it. Paranoid I know... but it seems to be a by-product of someone who over analyses every situation and has a certain level of anxiety to maintain. It seems to put the trivialities of my life and this Christmas shopping thing into perspective. I wonder how evolution managed to produce a fuckwit like Saddam Hussein?

PREVIOUS ENTRY   JOURNAL MENU   NEXT ENTRY

Website created by Rich Hull,1998.