Late Friday afternoon and I'm feeling stressed. This is a combination of things. I think it's primarily having felt like I was not being listened to and was having something which I found meaningless imposed upon me. I felt a bit like I did in a lecture we used to have back at uni. The lecturer would draw lots of stuff on the board which had pockets of sense in it. Then he'd wave his hands a lot and just kind of expect us to "get" it. He finished his syllabus in the middle of the course and was thrilled. We'd got through so much. He looked at us confidently and said:

Lecturer "We've finished half-way through the course. Anyone got anything you'd like me to go through again."
A student "Er, yes... all of it"
Everyone else (relieved) "Yes... all of it."

So. Yes. All of it.

Never mind. It's the weekend. Wooot!

The Car
The faithful vehicle has been through its 154,500 mile service... and it didn't even demand more than the basic service fee. Surely something big is due to go wrong? Cripes!

Causing controversy
Today was not the first time that I've found myself on the receiving end of a chiding email about this article, which summarises in a fairly comical way, what I consider to be many of the fallacious and foul attitudes underpinning the behaviour of a small but potent and poisonous sector of society. Still, I usually find that the people who object to the article have a value system which naturally sets them apart from the behaviour I'm criticising. Those people who know me purely through that article form a ridiculous opinion of me through it. They're prejudiced on account of my prejudice... what a silly state of affairs!

All you can eat/Eat as much as you like
Accidentally went to a buffet-style restaurant last-night. These places are one of the rare examples of communism in our society. To each according to his needs... well, according to his gluttony.

It's fair to say that I over-ate in spades and woke up this morning with a full and uncomfortable belly. It's also fair to say that the diet really isn't something that I'm committed to. However, I live in hope that I'll pull my finger out and do something before the year is out. Perhaps I shall buy that bike.

There was a brief debate on the whole "all you can eat" vs "as much as you like" question. In some respects, the "all you can eat" is more of a challenge. You shall sit and eat so much food that you're nearly sick. Clearly if you are sick, you've eaten more than you can eat. If you are not nearly sick, then you've the ability to eat more. This is quite a responsibility and I don't think it's worth paying money to put that much stress on your body. If, however, the place is an "eat as much as you like", then you can be more relaxed about things. You might like a bit of this and a bit of that and then to just stop. That's fine. It's about choice. So those people who cram the food in, perhaps out of some maverick urge to get their money's worth, might be going about it incorrectly. Eat while you're still enjoying it. If you stop enjoying the chewing and swallowing, then you're no longer eating what you like. You're eating what's on your plate. It's more than you like. You have disobeyed the laws of the buffet restaurant and must be punished.

Either way, I think that these buffet places may be an excuse to go home and make oneself deliberately sick to lighten the load. If you do that once, it needn't be an eating disorder. If you do it after every meal, I think it's time to seek help... or stop eating every meal at a buffet restaurant.

The weekend ahead...
Now I'm hungry and I'm not likely to get much to eat until much later on tonight. I've a rehearsal for South Pacific in 90 minutes' time and then I'm going to go and see some comedy.

Tomorrow is a day for doing stuff. Perhaps I'll get some lyrics from Blaized to set to music. Perhaps I'll write my Bond Theme for Postman Pat. Perhaps I'll do more work on the musical I'm supposed to be writing (which is really not getting as far as I'd hoped). Maybe I'll get some sodding exercise or buy a bike and expend the same energy trying to put it together. I should probably do some houseworky things. If I end up on the sofa eating Pizza, then I've been most bad (unless it's home-made, in which case DOUBLE POINTS!).

Sunday I have a gig in the evening in Hartlepool. Lovely Hartlepool. I've been there far more times in the past year than I expected.

If I get all excitable about something during the course of the weekend, I'm sure I'll post more.