laughing at lions

I can't let problems be my life...

2009-04-17T12:53:00.005+01:00

Yesterday, was probably the most stressful day I've had to endure so far this year. From a bust up with my buddy about his girlfriend being too controlling and outright rude, to seeing my ex walking down the road with the person she left me for. Between this sight and the multiple arguments I had to endure I also received an email.
This email was from an Estate Agent who still holds £1230 deposit of mine, from a flat I vacated 2 and a half years ago. Recently, I've started the steps required before taking legal action against him. Unfortunately, his email stated that he was going to charge me for damages and refund me the remainder of the deposit, which would scupper my attempt to reclaim a fair repayment. So my hand was forced and I had to issue the company with a Letter Before Action, not something that I wanted to do so quickly, but I'd been left with less than 4 hours to act, due to the email stating that I had until the following day to respond. Not a very nice business move.

Later I told my brother about what had happened and asked why I couldn't have a normal easy life, without these problems that seem to occur on a daily basis.
His reply was simple. He told me that his life used to be the same and difficult situations would present themselves on a regular basis... Then he got Cancer and he realized that none of those problems really mattered.

I guess the moral of what he told me was that I shouldn't allow my problems to rule my life. And on reflection, I realize that for most of my life, I have lived from event to event, each time focusing on the problem, in a hope that it would lead to a happier or more fulfilled life. All it has done is center my life around problems.

Time for a change me thinks...

Sham Castle

2009-04-11T18:29:00.010+01:00

We went for a drive into town yesterday and along the way, Mike asked if I'd ever seen Sham Castle. And it occurred to me that in all the years that I've been living in this city and looking up at that castle, I've never once visited it.
It reminds me of how I grew up in South Africa, but actually saw very little of it. I think it's the same for a lot of people. You never really appreciate something until it's gone.
In fact I've lived in Bath for 6 or 7 years and I didn't even see the Roman Baths that the city was built around until late last year. And that was only because my theatre group had been asked to do a performance there.
So Mike and I took a quick 1 minute detour off our route into the city and arrived at the Castle. From the city down in the valley, it does look like a real castle set on a hill in a lovely forest. The truth is, it's the front of a cast, about a foot in width sitting beside a golf course.
It was quite weird to see this facade and the view over the city from it was very beautiful. In fact we'd picked the perfect day to visit it.
The terrible thing is that I've driven passed the turn off to this "castle" over a hundred times and I'd always wanted to see it, but had never put in the effort. It was right there all the time!!
Such a short trip to experience something that I'd always wanted to see.
At least I've done it now. And I'm glad I went with my brother, because previously I'd wanted to go with my ex, before she tore my heart out. But that's a story for another time.

I want to know more about... Everything

2009-04-11T11:54:00.004+01:00

I'd like to know more about what the universe is made of and maybe if you're interested you might want to learn a bit more about it through what I'm learning.
So where do we begin?
We'll, I think that it get's more complicated, the smaller you go, so I thought I'd start with "what is in the universe?" and then work my way down from there.
So what is in it?
Well, I thought I'd stick to the really simple stuff like galaxies and stars.
Firstly, there is the sun, which of course is a star. This is surrounded by our solar system, which is part of a galaxy and of course, there are a huge number of galaxies out there. There are black holes, asteroids and comets and nebulae.
Now the sun is a star, which we know, but there are many different types of stars, including Blue Stars, Blue Giant Stars, Super Blue Giant Stars, Brown Dwarfs, Red Dwarf Stars, Red Giant Stars, Red Super Giant Stars, White Dwarf Stars and many more.
Interestingly, the color of a star is determined by it's mass.
I'll start off with describing the types of stars in my next post on the subject

Introducing Mike

2009-04-11T09:52:00.000+01:00

I'd like to introduce you a little bit to my brother Michael. He's the chap on the right, meaning that I'm the fellow on the left.
I don't want to go into a massive psychological analysis, because that would take many psychologists many life times to conclude and they'd probably get it wrong in the end, for no other reason than Mike likes to change his mind about everything on a regular basis. And by regular I mean he'll change his mind about what he wants to do with his life over breakfast, then by lunch he'll have changed his mind again and then by dinner time he'll have come up with a completely new plan to change his mind on over breakfast and lunch tomorrow. Possibly this is a side affect of him being a genius or maybe he's just indecisive.
Though I'm not sure if he's ever been certified as an actual genius, but to people like myself, his brain seems immense. Till now, he has used his vast intellectual powers to stay relativity at the top of his class right through out school and then after a break of a couple of years went to university, where he got a degree in Physics. He then furthered this at a separate university where he obtained a masters in Cosmology. In other words, not being satisfied with general physics, he wanted to know about the physics of the entire universe and I can understand why.
I don't have the ready made gray matter to easily grasp the concepts that he has often spoken to me about, however I have recently taken a deeper look into the ideas surrounding what makes up our universe and it is Fascinating. Of course, being smart is not his only lot in life. Over the years he has gained a personal trainers license, been a provincial triathlete, gained a private pilots license, been trained as a scuba diver, a coastal yacht sailor and done a course in landscaping, plus many other things along the way.
So at the very least, I think that he's a rather amazing individual to have done all of this by the age of 27. Unfortunately, this was also the age at which he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I'll tell you a bit more about the details of that at a later date.
Never-the-less, being stuck at home for the first few months after being diagnosed, has not stopped him. He tried his hand at cooking and it turns out that he's an unbelievable chef too.
Of course there is far more to the character of Michael Eason than simply physics, fitness and cooking. There is also an individual who aside from being very good looking, charming and charismatic, has also wanted to find ways to further Green Powered Technology.
You'll get a further understanding of my brother, my mother and I in due time.

I have never laughed at a lion

2009-04-10T11:57:00.000+01:00

I have been in the company of lions on many occasions, but I can't ever say that I have actually laughed at one. I do regret this to a certain degree, but that does not mean that I will NEVER have the chance to laugh at one again. In fact I certainly hope that I will have the opportunity. For I will laugh at him till hit hurts, for no other reason than as to say that I have done so.
The title however is currently merely a metaphor to describe the possible nature of situations I will no doubt end up in, in the not too distant future.
And I would like to invite you to join me on my journey into the lion's den.