Archive for the 'hypochondria' Category

Misc

04Dec08

This week was the occasion of my miscellaneous birthday. Like many Decemberists, I’ve always regretted that my birthday falls at this time of year. I would rather it were in the summer, at a time of year I’d be more likely to have joy in my heart.
I suffer a bit from SAD, and generally hate [...]


I’ve been moderating comments for a while now, and never regretted the decision to start doing so. I also edit what appear to be legitimate comments (i.e. they have something to do with the post they’re on) if I suspect someone is just after a free link/ad. I just remove the link. If offence is [...]


When I was a teenager, I had a Saturday job at Bejam’s, the frozen food supermarket which was to become Iceland. I’ve never felt the need to shop in a supermarket dedicated to frozen foods, when all the other supermarkets have freezer sections. It has never made sense to me. Bejam’s always seemed like the [...]


Polyp Weather

04Jan08

What they don’t tell you on the Sensodyne toothpaste adverts: that it tastes absolutely foul.
Over the past couple of mornings, I’ve got up at about the time that Richard Bacon pops into the Breakfast studio on Five Live to announce what his 9-12 phone-in shift is going to be. (My bedside radio is still defaulting [...]


It’s been the first week of a new term. I am now officially a Newly Qualified Teacher, which means I have approximately 80% of a proper teaching load.
Of course, in the first week you get overwhelmed with paperwork all over again, and finish the week exhausted as the action ramps up. And (if you are [...]


It Could Happen to You is on tonight, one of my favourite films, and one that’s sure to bring a little tear to my eye, awash with sentiment as it is. It has Bridget Fonda in it. I’m fonda her myself.
But the real reason I have something in my eye is that yesterday on my [...]


Walk this Way

17Aug07

“Nothing left to the imagination.”
It all dates back to when I hit puberty. I’ve been asked to clarify a certain matter concerning men’s undergarmentry, so here is a warning: what you are about to read may contain explicit reference to the male bollock.
I was svelte and fit and I could run and run and run. [...]


Billy’s recent post on greetings has inspired me to share my thoughts on what he calls the waving limit.
I’ve been with my wife now for 14 years (is it?), and this year saw the 13th summer visit to her parents’ house. I was thinking this year of how, that first time, my craving for cigarettes [...]


Turns out I’m back sooner than I thought I was. For no other reason than that I didn’t actually know the date I was due back and just guessed. Wrongly.
Forgot to pre-pay one of my credit cards: late payment will cost me £12. Ker-ching.
Car threw a wheel bearing (or something) which we had to get [...]


(Advanced is the kind you get when you have a PhD.)
I don’t know whether or not to be embarrassed by the fact that I have had an account on eBay since April 2001 but am only now selling my first item using that account. I also have never bought anything. So it doesn’t look good, [...]