2001: A Space Odyssey Problem

Does anybody else have this problem when watching 2001: A Space Odyssey? That one little design detail on the helmet of the suit ruins the whole Frank Poole scene for me.

An Attitude of Gratitude

Personally, I think it's important to express an "attitude of gratitude". It's good to acknowledge that we could easily be a lot worse of if things didn't work out the way they did, either by birthright, or state of health, or general aptitude (whether that's through natural instinct or lessons in life we've happened across). You might be thinking to yourself, I got where I am today by sheer will and hard work, but I doubt you can say nobody even gave you a chance, a foot in the door, a leg up, or maybe an introduction. If you've got ahead by dragging others down and trampling them in the dirt, then I expect this post is not for you.

 The point is, I think it's healthy to acknowledge the help of others, and that some folks just never catch a break even though they do try their hardest, and that we could be less fortunate or lucky than we are.  I want to see that attitude fostered in my children, so from time to time we give thanks before a meal. I'm not a religious man, so I don't refer to it as saying grace, or blessing the food, but we do give thanks.

 So what should an agnostic say for this kind of occasion? This is what I decided to use:

We thank the maker, and the provider, and remember those with less to share.

I think it covers all the bases, thanks to whoever made this, thanks to who went out and bought it, or grew it, or worked hard to pay for it, and thanks that we are lucky enough to be sitting down together with friends and family to share it together.

The other one I really like but can never remember is the old Scottish blessing:

Some hae meat and cannae eat. Some nae meat but want it. We hae meat and we can eat and sae the Lord be thankit.

Got My Mojo Workin'

I finally got around to plugging in my amp this morning. Seems to have travelled half-way around the planet without any ill effects. So nice to have all my toys here now, but there are still many boxes to unpack...

Curry and Lager Night

Last night we had a curry and lager night with Jani and Alec. We were craving a good curry night since we left London, and when I suggested it to Alec we decided we'd have to have an appropriate lager. This time we found some Kingfisher, but we'll be looking out for Cobra and Tiger for the next curry night.

A Place With My Name On It...

So I finally go around to buying the GregJxn.com domain today and will try and bring all my personal minutia together under the one umbrella..

So just for now, I have set up :

• blog.gregjxn.com - which is actually here
• measurablewins.gregjxn.com - my old Blogger idea dump
• music.gregjxn.com - my BandCamp presence

Hopefully there will be more interesting things to come, but for now I will leave you with this lovely piece of music with an appropriate title...