Reboot - An Attempt at Returning to Blogging

Somebody hand me a duster.

I think it's about time that I give this blogging thing a shot again. Many of you will have thought that it was curtains for my blogging career, and so did I. My actual career has taken priority over most things over the last eight or so months, and I'm sad to say that this blog was one of the first things to get left behind.

But I'm proud of what I've got here, and it's probably worth trying to add to it - even if only occasionally.

So what's been so important that I've not had time for writing?

Reflections on Going to Work

To paraphrase an underplayed song: 'I don't like my job...I love it.'

Never one to enthuse too much about anything other than a good defensive midfielder, you might be surprised to read that.

I love my family, I love my girlfriend, I love my friends and, one weekend out of 36, I love my football club - but my job, really? Let me tell you why.

A New Look for the Blog and a Pipeline Lined with Ideas

Like the new look? Like the new logo?

 

Yesterday's redesign was a long time coming. Not only did the blog itself look tired and old-fashioned, everything associated with it - including its author - was not where it should be. After a good number of hours staring at my laptop, I can say that I am at least moderately happy with how it looks now.

Who's Still Working on His Masterpiece? - My 'Favourite' Song

Back to basics.

The only thing more tiring than doing something is not doing it. If that is true, then I am on my knees from not writing any blog posts. Having now seen off university for the final time and dealt with 'grown up' responsibilities for the time being, I've run out of excuses for not writing. I guess, therefore, it is time to get back up on my feet again.

I've decided to break myself back in softly. Rule #1 for dealing with writer's block is to pick something you love and write about it. I was listening to music earlier; I love music; let's write. The flow was uncontrollable - just.

In my own inimitable style I've actually picked something stupid to write about. I would be doing you a disservice if I gave you the impression that the song I'm going to write about is always my favourite. It is, however, one that always springs to mind when I'm asked to choose.

Spartacus, Other-halves, Lego and Insanity: Why I Write

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Albert Einstein

My keyboard is cold and the words aren't flowing like they used to. The web page in front of me is a familiar one - homely even - but everything else seems so unfamiliar. It was the Twenty sixth day of August Two thousand and Fourteen (I apologise to those who understand why I've written like that) when I last mustered the motivation, and indeed the confidence, to write a blog post. Now I'm back, I guess the biggest question is this: why? Let me try and answer that question.

Too much has happened over the last five or so months to consign to a single act of blogging, although not enough to claim there's a book to be written. I've therefore decided that instead of clearing my throat with a splurt of dull dear diary drivel, that I'll hit you with the important stuff and try and answer the question set. Exam mode at the ready.

Classic Me to Classical Music - The Short Journey to Being Boring

This blog could not get any more boring. For the most part I agree with that statement because my writing over the last year or so has taken a turn for, what one might call, the philosophical - or just downright rubbish. Long gone are the days when I would sit down twice a week and make a fool of myself for the entertainment of others. Admittedly that was not the aim of my writing, but in hindsight I can't help but feel that my weekly log of embarrassment brought smiles to more faces that I care to think. 

Nostalgia Continued - My Brief Glance at Ramblings of a Teenager

I've not been writing enough recently, or at least I'm not writing the stuff that I want to be. The final semester of university (or at least undergraduate) is starting to swallow up all of my waking hours, with very little time for myself in between library sessions. Tonight, therefore, I am happy to say that I have found a moment to sit down and relax with a beer and some good television - finally got around to watching last weekend's Musketeers! 

Of course I can't be working all of the time. I have pretty good staying power and focus when I want to, but I am also a pretty astute procrastinator when the right distraction comes along. Tonight I want to tell you about another trip down memory lane that I took this week. It seems that every post that I write just now it looking in my past, but I suppose that's what an impending end does to people.

Some Comments from University and Home, Literally - Part 2

Since Part 1 was published earlier on, I've slowly lost the enthusiasm for writing this second post. Aside from the fact that I used up most of my good ideas earlier (there was potential for three separate posts in there!) I'm also suffering from post-uni lethargy. But the show must go on and will not let you diehards down tonight! 

We all know that symmetry can be quite beautiful - the more symmetrical your face, the more attractive you apparently are - so I'm going to go with the three section structure that I used earlier - now to try and think three things to write about. Just kidding, I've got a few belters up my sleeve for tonight.

Some Comments from University and Home, Literally - Part 1

It's not everyday that I'll start a blog post in the library but I've decided to take a short break from competition law to write about a few wonderings of mine. Also the table of dark-rimmed classes opposite is getting restless which doesn't help concentration much - more on them to follow. I don't feel like I've been writing particularly well recently so this post is an attempt to rediscover my way with words. This post will come in two parts (I think that might be a first for me?) so keep your eyes peeled for both installments!

Re: The Lads' Mags Debate Continues

As I mentioned the last time this blog went live, I only occasionally follow up on old posts. It is an even less common occurrence for me to write a response to my own post but that it what I'm going to do briefly this morning. In light of some of the responses that I got about my most recent post on the lads' mags debate, I feel that it's important to clarify and expand some of the points that I made last time out.

Notice of Not Quitting

I was walking back to my flat last night after a long day at work when it occurred to me that I've not blogged in a long time. This, of course, has happened before but never have I felt such a profound feeling of losing a part of my identity as I felt when I started thinking back to the lofty days when I was producing (at least) two posts a week. And when I thought about it a bit more - the walk from the train station to the flat can sometimes drag on a bit - I realised that there are so many things that I don't do anymore that I was proud of or that made me happy. Heck, it would be nice to be able to make myself happy again without having to rely on other people.

Slipping Back to Normal Again

So it's been over a week since I got back from Salzburg and I'm now at the point where I feel like I was never away. The only obvious thing that reminds me that only a short while ago I was there is that I'm yet to find a safe home for the certificate I received at the end of the summer school so it remains on my desk. Of course there are the many (many, many) photos that I can go and look at any time but otherwise things are back to what I would call 'normal'. However, it is this normality that I resolved to move away from when I got home - and I'm going to try and stick to that resolution.

Liberating

So I'm sitting minding my own business, trying to get some reading done for another interesting week at university when the urge to procrastinate hits. An old tale, told by everyone in whatever life they have chosen for themselves. The only odd thing to come from this particular bout of procrastination is that it produced the a tiny spark of inspiration for writing again. I write a lot just now (5000 spilt today on the wonders of English property law) but nothing that would make people sit up and take noticed unless it was to get away from it. I'll stop going on about how life-changing this time-wasting was but the moral of this (preliminary) story is that procrasination doesn't have to be the bane of your life.

Vagina. There, I said it. Penis. Oh my goodness what is he doing? Well not very much actually apart from setting the tone for what might otherwise have been an awkward fumble through the taboo world of the names for body parts. I should let it be known that this isn't going to be a pornographic post. I don't fancy the idea of someone 'having a danger' (a term that some will be familiar with) or even the idea that someone's heart-rate will raise more than it needs to whilst reading - I'll do the writing, you just read along and we'll see if we're ready for 2nd and 3rd base when we're done...

A Quick Word

A watched kettle never boils. I've not had my eyes on this blog for about 2 weeks (or at least it feels like that) and so there must be some kind of analogy to be had for the whole thing turning to steam in my absence. It's happened before as a lot of you will know but the reason why I noticed this time was because I didn't notice - yes, I'm running in circles tonight. I didn't really notice that I hadn't been blogging until a good friend of mine posted on his but I have my reasons.

The first is that I was working a lot last week: working, sleeping, drinking, working etc. Then there is the small matter of my honours years starting at university. It seems like the new academic year has come out of nowhere and here I sit after only two days with summer but a distant memory. I can't say I'm not happy to be back but I've read more in the last two days that I have in the whole summer - and I was reading a fair amount to pass the time!

So this was just a brief note to say that I am still alive and blogging (the poor sister show of 'Live and Kicking') and to get that terrible kettle boiling analogy out of my system before I use it somewhere that my words actually matter. You, my trusted and much adored readers, get the best of me - I promise.

I'm hoping to get a post out over the next few days in between university stuff but if I don't then I'm sure you'll have something better to read anyway. Someone jokingly (or at least they claimed to be joking...) said that they only read my blog over the summer because they were bored. I take no offence to this except for the fact I'm the one that makes the jokes around here!

I'll stop blabbing because I need sleep/stop staring at my laptop. Thanks for reading and hopefully something funny/interesting/embarrasing will happen to me which will be conveyed in the form of a blog post in the coming days.

Martin

A Hopeful Return to the Basics

So with the finish line of the Olympics 2012 before us, it's about time that I found myself back on the blogging boat again. I've spent a lot of words on this blog in the past saying just how much I enjoy writing and, in particular, how much I enjoy writing my blog. That being said, I've actually enjoyed a brief hiatus from Ramblings of a Twenty-Something for one reason or another. 

First and foremost I've really enjoyed the last 2 weeks of sport on the TV and that is what I've been spending most of my time doing. Secondly (and I'm not sure why this is the case) I've enjoyed not having to thing about topics to write about - a break from the pressure that I put on myself to come up with good content. And that last note is third and final reason why I don't feel that guilty having not written for a while: I don't feel like I've written well for a long time. Looking back at my last 5 posts, there have only been a couple that I've come away with that satisfied feeling of having written what I what I wanted to. For those of you that click on my posts whatever the weather, you might have noticed this as well and for that I apologise. You might remember that I wrote about wanting to boost my readership through writing in quantity and with quality but neither of those things have come to fruition - time to pick things up I guess.

Still Alive

Knock, knock! Anyone out there!? You'll all be glad to know that I'm still here and I've not lost the ability to blog - who groaned at the back of the room there? After over 2 weeks of radio silence I return briefly this evening to make you smile (hopefully) and to make myself feel good about writing again. I'm not going to lie, these last few weeks have been pretty heavy going. I've done almost nothing but revise, a big part of which has been typing notes. I'm now well into the tens of thousands in terms of words typed for notes and not a word has been spilt since on anything jocular or with any of the usual innuendo or irony that I love to see dripping from my writing like too much chocolate sauce on your ice-cream. I've missed this thing more than ever over these last few weeks because of the (more often than not) dense amount of work that I've got to do for my exams. In short, it's nice to be back!