Movie Review: Lucy

What were Scarlett Johansson & Morgan Freeman thinking when they signed up for this?
This was almost the third movie I've walked out on, but stayed simply because I'd paid $9 and needed to see how this trash ended.
Totally unclear about how it attained a 66% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but the audience rating is closer to the truth.
Enough said.

Day 1: Back in the city

After a few months off, it's a temporary assignment as a desk jockey. Still better than no income. Day 1 today.

Why no updates for a while...

Sorry for not being my normal boring self.

I've been the sickest I've ever felt in a while. The only side benefit is that I've lost 5kgs (~11lbs) over the last few weeks.

Brain cleanse is almost complete. There's only so many crap movies you can watch over winger.

Job hunt will resume shortly.

Other abnormal service will resume shortly.

Until then...

April's Movies - Trash TV

After spending most of the month house-bound in sickness & foul weather with nothing constructive I really wanted to do, here's a list of the movies (& release years) I have watched over the course of the last month.

I use "watched" loosely because many I fast-forwarded because they were pretty dire.
In no particular order:

• 21 and Over (2013)
• Back In the Day (2014)
• Cubicle Warriors (2013)
• Dredd (2012)
• Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
• A Haunted House (2013)
• The Hunger Games (2012)
• The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)
• Iron Man 3 (2013)
• Life of Pi (2012)
• Prowl (2010)
• The Purge (2013)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
• Ted (2012)
• This Is The End (2011)
• Trance (2013)
• Beautiful Creatures (2013)
• Happy Thank You More Please (2011)
• Jobs (2013)
• Magic Mike (2012)
• Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
• Paper Giants: Magazine Wars Parts 1 & 2 (2013)
• Power Games: The Packer/Murdoch Story Parts 1 & 2 (2013)
• Safe Haven (2013)
• Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2012)
• Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)
• Side Effects (2013)
• Astro Boy (2009)
• Brave (2012)
• After The Sunset (2004)
• Fool's Gold (2007)
• Pretty Woman (1990)
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

In general, most were just rubbish running in the background but there were a handful that were hidden gems or familiar flavours that hit the spot at the right moment.

One Month Anniversary

Today is the one month anniversary of my last day at my last job. It's also 3 weeks since I got a sinus infection that's made me feel like doing very little until today.
So I guess it's about time to start exploring the options.

Anyone asking me "What's the plan?" or "What do you want to do?" have generally had a response of "Nothing" & "Dunno".
Has anything changed? Umm... NO
Do I want to get back into the drudgery of what I know, or try something new? No idea.

One of the benefits of my last job was not sitting at my desk for the entire day. Almost any day could have entertained getting work-related fresh air.
The downside was S-O-S* every day.

I might head "home" for a few days, but reduced budget means travelling the most economic way = Ferry + Bus unless anyone's got a cheaper way to travel NZ's shortest flight route.

Time to do the thinking & make some decisions.

    * Same-Old-Shite

Two weeks of rain leads to pain in brain

So what I thought would be a good start to my career break has turned into a bit of a bust.

Two weeks of pretty much solid rain has caused me to loll inside playing mindless Facebook games, perusing Reddit, and watching movies I never want to see again on Sky TV. Productivity has been about 10%, but it has meant my brain is slowly getting reset back to a position I need to look for new or revisit old options.

That shit weather, combined with a autumnal cold & cough ,hasn't made we want to venture off the property for anything other than food that's not in the fridge or on the shelves. (Damn, I have to do that today.)

I had planned to grab a ferry or plane to visit nearby relatives, but weather conditions would probably mean I'd be wasting $s and likely just end up doing the same thing when I got there.

Tonight is the start of a long weekend. Hopefully the weather will fine up and next week will bring about some random spontaneity that will put something less than boredom & crap TV movies into my day.

Maybe I just need a proverbial, or literal, kick up the arse to get the reboot I need?
Any suggestions appreciated.

I'm relatively confident that all my readers are me. At least it's a vent for my inner feelings.
Hopefully next time I'll have something other than ennui to report

Final Day Speech

Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking... blah, blah, blah.

So on my final day at my last job I wanted to give a speech to sum up my feeling of nearly seven year there, but I couldn't. I'd scribbled down some notes a couple of months ago and the went something like this:

First, in no particular order, the Good & Bad things about working there:
(Names have been altered to protect the innocent)

Good	Bad

Yeah, nah, there's nothing like that that I'm quite willing to share yet. Maybe another day

Secondly let's try Learnings vs Realisations :
(same rules apply)

Learning	Realisation
Rubbish Bins	Rosters DO NOT WORK
Dishwasher	How hard is it to was a frigging fork
Paper Towels & Toilet Rolls	Your mother MUST work here
Foosball (Table soccer)	Yeah... nah
Basketball/Ice Hockey/Grid Iron	All sports play be Americans & the occasional Kiwi
How to put things in boxes & make them go away	It IS that easy, really. That fecking easy.
Office Politics	No matter what the size of the company, this is all the same
Customers	They're always right, except when they're wrong they're still right
People	Are strange, but that place wouldn't work without them that way
The Bus	Is a great way to see people change & grow over the years. Try it some time
LOTR	NAFTR
The Force	Is STRONG here
This List	Must end here

TL;DR: In the words of The Doctor, from the movie Star Wars 7: The Quest for the Holy Grail: "It's been a blast; may the force be with you, and part on dudes."

Hung in there for a little bit more

I don't know whether it was a mistake or a blessing to offer to stay a while & help the new appointee.
The lack of knowledge I've imparted makes me feel dumb for not being able to teach as much as I can.
Fortunately I can say he's got more education for the majority of the role than I ever got. So good luck.

The end finally occurred on April 1st - no joke,  even though many of my colleagues thought it may have been.

My first day of freedom was a blur. House duties, random tasks & lots of little things to occupy the busy mind and try to slowly relax it down. Dog tired by 9pm and the first good night's sleep in 6 months.

So what's the plan?
Ha-ha, there's not one.
 

Let's just go with the flow and try to achieve some trivial, geeky or bucket list things before I feel that I'm ready to bring value to the world again.

OK, so I quit my job yesterday

After much thought, I resigned from my job yesterday. After 6 & 1/2 years, it's time for something new.

Unlike some countries, when you do this in New Zealand there's a general expectation that you've already got something lined up. I haven't.

This blog will be my irregular thoughts for the next 30ish days while I work out my notice and musings as to what I might do in the future.

Pardon the language, style & lack of mind-blowing revelations. I'm new to this and hopefully the content will get better.

Until next time.