Shores of Night

I started this post a long time ago, and I suspect I planned to put explanations in for each of my 'bitter pills'. Looking at it now, I've changed my mind.  Nothing here needs to be expounded upon, in my opinion (humble or otherwise).  These are all lessons life has taught me. What have you learnt? 1: Never Surrender Your Power 2: Karma is Bullshit 3: Love may not be Enough 4: Know Your own Mind 5: Wishing is fine, but Work is better 6: Nobody but you is going to Rescue you 7: Don't try to fit in, Only You can be You. 8: If you Can't Talk it out, Walk Away. 9: People are Like Sharks, Keep Moving or You Will Die 10: Guilt, Regret, and Nostalgia are Wasted Emotions

It's with no small fanfare and jocularity that I announce that an anthology I've got a story in has been published. You can find it at Amazon at this link. The collection is all about how far we can modify the human body, Chrome Chrysalis looks at this subject from a fairly bleak perspective and was inspired by the 2016 Olympics, of all things! Please do pick the collection up and I hope you enjoy reading it.

Hello, hello, Sorry, I missed last weekend because of, um, reasons... Honestly, I just didn't switch on my PC and sit down to do it... I'm not sure if there's a theme this week or if I'm just posting stuff I like... Anyway... yeah. Wolfsheim: Find You're Here and Fine You're Gone Pete Murphy: Cuts You Up The Cure: Burn Ladytron: Destroy Everything You Touch Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Maps My Chemical Romance: Sing Placebo: Nancy Boy

Patriotism, John Bull, Uncle Sam, all those figures we've created to shout about how great our nations are. They cling to our imaginations at a time when to all intents and purposes their reason for being, the nation state, seems to be losing it's grip on reality and becoming unnecessary. If anything, we seem to be undergoing a resurgence of patriotism, and nationalism, in the really real world. Recently, I've been forced to reassess my belief that I'm not a patriot. Let me be clear, I don't think of myself in that way, patriotism in the UK often seems to either come in violent racism or '2 wars and one world cup' flavours. That, or lots of clinging to the Proms and the Royal Family because apparently that's all the nation is good for. The problem is, I'm damn awkward at the best time. The things that everyone else gets excited about really don't do anything for me. I'm  more energised by the fact Punk and Goth were British creations than...

So, I logged into Blogger today to do... something (I don't know what - I don't really know what to talk about at the moment). I found the notice below and I'm posting it so that you can see what's happening with EU law.   European Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information about cookies used and data collected on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent. Out of courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies, and other data collected by Google. You are responsible for confirming that this notice actually works for your blog, and that it displays. If you employ other cookies, for example by adding third-party features, this notice may not work for you. If you include functionality from other providers there may be extra information collected from your users.

Last week was the rainbow... like you didn't get that straight away! Now that I'm feeling a bit better, I thought I'd put up something happy so there's no link this week just songs that make me feel happy when I listen to them. Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer: Songs for Acid Edward I was never into rave but for some reason, this song makes me happy. I think it's partly because Mr B has been clever in fitting everything together, but also I just think 'Acid Ted' looks hilarious. Queen: Breakthru I don't know why this song makes me happy, but it does. The beat drives it on and there's just something fun about the song. Neneh Cherry: Buffalo Stance I love the 'character' Neneh Cherry plays here, and the track is quirky and fun. Wicked: What is this Feeling This is just so catchy and fun. The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody This is just fun, the Muppets are special anyway, and them covering one of the greatest rock songs...

My disintegration continues apace, it seems. I'm honestly wondering if there's a point to this living, this life, all this busyness that seems to add up to nothing but misery and more busyness. It all feels like a highly unsatisfying cycle where the best you can hope for is to make lemonade out of all the damn lemons life gives you. Honestly, I'm starting to wonder if it's worth it, or if the best part of things would be to take a sharp exit to get off stage as quickly as possible. I feel as if the best part of my adult life has been a waste of time, and as if I don't have anything to show for it apart from several failed projects and mental illness. Of course, it may be the mental illness that makes me feel this way but I don't know. In the same way, I know you're not meant to compare your life to anyone else's, but I look around and all I see is happy people, people who seem to know what their purpose in life is and to have found some sort of balan...