All systems go

Now, I'll bring this thing up to speed with what else is going on in my world.

I'd like to start by giving New Year's day a glowing review, but under the circumstances, it's not really appropriate. It was great at the time though, I just thought it would be my fault there'd never be another family get-together like that one. Anyway, my aunt and uncle were also over for dinner, with their three sons (aged 5-14 or something like that), and they brought over their karaoke machine. Holy shit, we were on that thing for hours. I felt like the big fish in that small pond, being the only member of my family that can sing. Well... not so much that I can sing, I'm hardly much of a singer, being that I only do vocal for Minus3 out of necessity and not because I can and all that, but I certainly stood out for being the only person there with at least some sense of things like key, tone, harmony, and all that. It was a helluva good laugh, though my sis (who is actually a bloody good singer) doesn't have her brother's lack of shame, and was too embarrased to give us a tune. Good times, and possibly the most drunk I've ever been in company of my family.

Since then, I've been trying to get motivated to do everything right. To start with, I've got a definitive date for my move to Canada. I'm leaving on Saturday, 20th March, which at time of writing gives me 66 days to get my shit sorted. This, obviously, is very soon, and is sending me into a blind panic... it's like, holy shit, it's actually happening. This, however, is good... now that we've settled a date for it, I've got something to work to, and I tend to work much better when I have a deadline. I'm scared as hell, but I can't wait, I just want to get the next few months over and done with, they're gonna be tough.

I've been doing the whole self-improvement thing too, though that wasn't a result of any new years resolution or anything like that, I was just suddenly motivated to sort my shit out. I think it might have been fear of Lapper being on holiday in the first week back at work after the new year (always a crazy busy time), but I started off with sorting out my sleeping patterns, at least to some extent. This makes me sound like an old man, but I've been making the effort to get to bed by 11pm and get out of bed by 7am the next day, even at the weekend - I'm notorious for not sleeping till silly o'clock in the morning at the weekend, then sleeping all day, which really fucks you up when you have to go back to work on Monday. I'm doing pretty good so far... dropped the ball a bit last weekend, but it wasn't too bad, most nights in the past fortnight or so I've managed to get myself a good 7-8 hours of sleep. I can't believe how much of a change this makes to me... Janette could never understand how I could function on a couple of hours sleep a night, as it turns out, I actually couldn't. I'm so much more motivated, so much more focussed, and (this one suprised me) so much happier with a good night's sleep behind me. So far, so good... hope I can keep it up, having a poor sleeping pattern is one of my more annoying vices.

The other major self-improvement I'm making is to my eating habits... since I'm up in the morning on time now, I'm having time to make myself a proper breakfast, which makes a big difference to my morning, and stops me from eating junk shite to make up for it. I'm also bringing sandwiches to work, which is another very old man-ish thing to do, but it's stopping me from eating junk at work, and it saves tons of cash too. I'm cooking and eating proper dinners for myself now... usually something I only do if I have company, I can never usually be bothered when it's just for myself, but I'm getting back in the swing of being quite the chef. This is probably just as well, since Janette doesn't fancy herself as much of a cook (I'm the boss of the kitchen and she's the boss of the bedroom, apparently... this arrangement rocks, actually), so it's a skill I'll be needing. So, no more giant take away pizzas to myself, no more Burger King, no more curry, no more of any of that wonderful junk that's so easy to get in Paisley. Lots of good healthy meals instead, and I'm actually enjoying the whole process of making a meal. I'm definately getting old. Been a long time since I've felt so young though, so that's probably a good thing.

Unfortunately all this self-improvement shit doesn't make a difference overnight... which is why it's always so hard, so I'm hoping I can keep it up. I'm by no stretch of the imagination fat, a little lumpier in places than I should be, but I want to be at my best for my girl when I go to Canada. It's my intention to get myself back to a 34 waist, something I've not been for a long time, all my old baggy clothes are now tight, and that's not on. Can't go to Canada being a fat bastard, so I'm keeping this up, and hoping for a fitter, slimmer me. At the moment though, all this healthy eating is just making me need to go for a poo more often. Cuff tells me this is a good sign. *shrug*

I'm making better use of my spare time, which is probably a good thing, because I don't have time to be sitting around playing games now, though obviously I still do that too. All four members of Minus3 have agreed to a GIG, which is something that hasn't happened for a long while, and I can't wait. It'll be my swansong, and it's gonna rawk the house that rawked the house... it'll be good to bow out in a blaze of flaming death and glory, I was worried that the last Minus3 show (with me, at least) would be that disaster from months ago. It's gonna be amazing, or at least I hope it's gonna be... if I can put on one last glorious performance, I think I'll be content putting a full stop to my part of it.

Too much Lord of the Rings makes Stu something something... I've watched the films over too much, finished reading the book and am reading it again, played quite a bit of the Return of The King game, and even went to the cinema to see ROTK again with Meech. I'm starting to spread out a bit from Tolkien's stuff again and have started heading towards Tolkien themed stuff, like the Gothic games on the PC. I've never pictured myself to be into all that fantasy medieval guff, but apparently I am. I blame Janette, for some reason.

Man, I've got too much stuff to write in here today, and people are giving me shit for not doing my job. Fuck it, I'm done.