Pulse

I had another really bad night's sleep last night. For some reason even when I'm in my bed I just couldn't drop off to sleep.

It was another really dull day at work. I was supposed to be on some training thing this afternoon, but it was cancelled at almost literally the last minute. Apparently the person organising it had made a mistake with her scheduling.I also had to go to a brief meeting with the "Team Leader" about taking the two days after my robbery off on sick leave. Apparently they have to have these meetings to make sure that people don't use too much sick leave. Considering that this is only the second time I've used sick leave in the four and a half years I've been working there, I think I'm off the hook. The first time was when I came down with a viral infection in October 2003.

After work I went up to see Emily, and had some very nice spaghetti bolognese, which she'd made. Then we watched a DVD of the film Pulse, directed by Jim Sonzero. The film is a remake of a 2001 Japanese horror film, and stars Kristen Bell as a student whose friends seem to be comitting suicide after ghostly visitations, apparently caused by a computer signal. I've not seen the original, but it was a fun and enjoyable movie. It was a very nice evening. My dad came and brought me back home. I do think I am slowly starting to get more comfortable being out after dark again after my robbery, and hopefully it won't be long before things are back to normal again. It is slightly embarrassing being collected by my dad (although it is very nice of him to do it). It's just for a week or two though, until I get more comfortable with being out.

Back at Work

I went back to work today, for the first time since my robbery. The police phoned a couple of times. Apparently someone had been arrested had been arrested this morning for robbing someone else in the same area, and the description and method used by the robber matched what I had told them. A couple of police officers came to my work at lunchtime with some photos to see if I could identify the robber. The one that I picked out apparently wasn't the guy they have in custody, but they said that they would question him about what happened to me anyway.

The rest of the day at work was pretty dull. The same as usual, really.

Emily met me at my work and we went over to my place. We ordered a chicken supreme pizza, and watched the first fifteen minutes of Wes Craven's Last House on the Left, which Emily didn't really enjoy, so we replaced it with The Royal Tenenbaums, a 2002 film directed by Wes Anderson, about an eccentric family, whose three children initially showed signs of genius but their early success faded away as they all reached adulthood. It's a very quirky film, but I really find it very funny, and I think that Emily enjoyed it. She headed back home after the film ended.

As I wrote a few days earlier I have been thinking a lot about things over the past few weeks. I always think that one of my main problems is that I tend to be constantly afraid of what might happen, in any given or imagined situation. For some reason I always imagine the worst happening.

Visit to the Castle

Last night I was watching Doctor Who: Resurrection of the Daleks on DVD. The story was from 1984 with Peter Davison as the fifth Doctor, who discovers that the Daleks are trying to break their creator, Davros, out of a prison space station to help them find a cure for a fatal disease they encountered during their last war. They are also sending robot duplicates of humans back along a "time corridor" to a warehouse in 1980s London to allow the Daleks to invade the Earth, again. It was a good episode with some high production values, plenty of action and suspense. However, it was also surprisingly violent for Doctor Who.

Later on last night I tried to watch the film Quatermass 2 on television, but I fell asleep during the middle of it. I'd actually been quite looking forward to seeing it, because I have the original TV series on DVD.

I got up early this morning to go out and get my groceries for the week. Then I went up to see Emily and we went along to visit Edinburgh Castle, which I have not been to for years. It's expensive to get in, but it is a nice place to walk around, with some interesting exhibits and nice views of the city, although it was very windy today as well. I got home before dark.

The events of the past few days have certainly made me think a lot. I think it is about time that I did certainly consider making changes in my life to become happier with myself and to increse my confidence. Aside from figuring out some way to be less afraid and less stressed all the time, and figuring some way to do things that I really need to do, like find a job that I actually like better, and find a girlfriend, and all these other things that I need to do. I know what I want to do, I just don't have a clue how to go about it.

Another Day

I was off work today. My friend Joe telephoned to make sure that I was okay. I went up and saw Emily. We walked down along Princes Street and stopped off at HMV. I'd planned to go out anyway and get some DVDs to cheer myself up a bit. I did buy some DVDs in the sales: Doctor Who: Resurrection of the Daleks, Pan's Labyrinth (a film which terrified my friend Michele), Hot Fuzz and The Big Lebowski. I have been trying to budget my money recently, but I thought I would just treat myself, given the last few days. After that we went along to the Rutland for lunch (we had fish and chips, which was very nice). Emily really has been very good to me over the past couple of days.

On the way home I stopped off at the corner shop close to my home and bought some milk and a copy of Radio Times. The guy is the shop asked if I was the one who was robbed a few days ago and I said that I was. He said that the robber had been picked up by the police yesterday morning, hanging around outside the shop, which was where I encountered him. Apparently he was a drug addict who had been trying to beg money from people and obviously, as was the case with me, try to rob them. I hadn't heard anything about him being arrested do I hope it actually was the same one that they picked up. I'm still feeling extremely disturbed by everything that has happened. In fact I'm still not comfortable with being out after dark. It may take some time before I'm back to normal. My emotions have been very close to the surface for the past day or so and I've been getting upset far easier than usual. Hopefully it will pass soon.