Some Random Thoughts

Today at work there was an e-mail going around that there was to be another Union meeting tomorrow morning about the pay issue, despite the fact that this year's pay deal has already gone through. The thing is that we're not getting any time credited to attend the meeting, which would mean anyone attending would lose an about an hour at least. I'm not going to go along. I don't want to lose the time. Also, to be honest, I'm getting kind of sick of the thing. They've been doing exactly the same things for the past four years, and never really make any progress. Also everyone is getting absolutely sick of the whole thing, especially after having two strikes inside of one month.

Aside from that it was a fairly quiet day. I was listening to my iPod in the afternoon again and eating extra-strong mints. I like them actually. They are quite refreshing.

The original version of The Omen was on TV last night, but I didn't watch it. I've got it on DVD and I've seen it loads of times before anyway. I was reading an entertaining essay by Harlan Ellison a couple of weeks ago, heavily criticising the level of violence in horror movies of the late '70s and early '80s and The Omen was cited as the main example of gratuitous violence especially one particular scene (which I won't mention in case anyone hasn't seen it).

In our office there are some people who talk endlessly about pretty much anything that comes into their minds, even to complete strangers, or people who have absolutely no interest in what they are talking about. It was sound weird, but I really kind of envy people that can do that. I find it extremely to speak to people one on one, because I get extremely shy and kind of clam up, however I am very good at speaking in public. I just find it really difficult having a conversation, and I often wish I was better at it.

I've been trying to experiment recently in opening up more in this journal and writing more about thoughts, feelings and opinions and so on.

City of Death

Last night I was watching a Doctor Who story from 1979 called "The City of Death". The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) and Romana (Lalla Ward) are on holiday in 1979 Paris when they become involved in a scheme to steal the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. The scheme is being masterminded by a mysterious Italian count (Julian Glover) who has been stealing a series of great artworks. It turns out that the Count is in a fact a green, one-eyed, multi-tentacled alien, whose spaceship exploded on primeval Earth, before life developed, and is stealing the artworks to finance the construction of a time-machine to stop the explosion. However, if he succeeds it could spend the end of life on Earth. I really enjoyed it, and I would say it is one of the best of the original Doctor Who serials. The script was co-written by Douglas Adams (who was the series' script editor at the time), and there is plenty of his trademark humour, which, fortunately, doesn't get in the way of the drama.

As usual on a Friday, there was barely anyone in work. We got a letter notifying us of the annual cost-of-living pay raise. It's not as much as the Union were holding out for, though. The management basically ignored the Union and instituted the raise anyway, which is exactly the same thing that happened last year. Although the next pay day we will be getting some backpay, hopefully. By the time I left work, at around five o'clock the office was almost deserted.

Union Meeting

Last night was another pretty quiet evening. I stayed in and watched TV, which is pretty much what I usually do.

It was another pretty dull day at work. There was a union meeting about the pay dispute this morning. So we all trooped alongto a nearby sports stadium and sat there for over an hour. The meeting was pretty pointless, they didn't say anything that we didn't already know and the PA system was so bad that I could barely make out what they were saying. The seats were also extremely uncomfortable, I spent most of the time writing in my notebook. I suppose it was a break from the office and we get a time claim for it. The strike is still scheduled for next Thursday.

It was really hot and muggy and I was pretty tired anyway so I was feeling quite irritable by the end of the day, and relieved to be heading home.

That is me off work until Tuesday, so that's good.

Another Quiet Day (For a Change)

Last night was fairly quiet. I spent most of the time watching repeats of old comedy shows on TV and reading my books.

Today was pretty quiet as well, and I went straight on home after work, although I did stop to get a loaf of bread. I found a notebook of mine at the bottom of my bag this morning. It was full of a lot of random thoughts, because I used to carry it about with me and write on the spur of the moment. Actually, however boring this internet diary might be, my paper diaries would be an exercise in total tedium for any reader, as I write about my breakfast porridge, what I'm watching on TV, what is on my daily calendar and my thoughts and opinions about stuff (including some thoughts that may be slightly edging towards X-rated). I don't think they would make for a particularly entertaining or interesting read.

There is a Union meeting this Thursday to discuss possible strike action over the pay dispute.

Stanley Kubrick

Last night I was watching a True Stories documentary called Stanley Kubrick's Boxes. Apparently Stanley Kubrick kept almost everything related to his professional life in cardboard boxes, of which there were thousands all over his estate. The documentary was made by film-maker Job Ronson, who was contacted by the Kubrick family and allowed access to the boxes (one of the few people who were). The documentary details some of the things hidden in the boxes and interviews some of the people referred to in the documents about their memories of Kubrick. There are thousands of pictures of random doorways and gates, and apartment and shop interiors shot over a year in preperation for Eyes Wide Shut, actors Malcolm McDowell and Warren Clarke modelling a wide variety of hats in order to find the perfect hat for A Clockwork Orange, memos asking there to be no less than three melons in the Kubrick house at any one time and requesting the exact barometric pressure in London at a particular date and time, every fan letter Kubrick ever received meticulously filed by location and labelled by Kubrick himself under three categories: "Positive", "Negative" and "Crank", Kubrick's vast collection of stationary, and footage of him on the set of Full Metal Jacket argueing about the amount of tea-breaks the crew could take and tellig the actors how to march, as well as a touching acceptance speech for an award that Kubrick filmed only a few months before his death where he describes film-making as being like: "writing War and Peace in a dodgem car". Among many other things.
The people interviewed all seemed to have very affectionate memories of Kubrick who came across as a very shy, quiet and extremely intelligent man who did have a healthy sense of humour about his perfectionism.
I can still remember when I heard about Kubrick's death in March 1999: I had just come back from the movies where I had been to see The Roaring Twenties and the first thing my mum said to me when I returned was that Stanley Kubrick had died.

I tend to collect stationary myself. There's a particular kind of large hard-back notebook that I like and I have boxes full of them, some have stuff written in them, but most haven't. I like to stock up in case they stop making them. I also try and stock up on pens, because I'm always losing them or they're running out.

The documentary was followed by a very early short documentary film by Kubrick from 1951 called Day of the Fight which followed a boxer over the day of a big fight. Despite the film only being twenty minutes long, they still had to interrupt it in the middle for five minutes of adverts, which I was pretty annoyed about because it did spoil it a bit.

It was a fairly average day at work, as usual. The pay dispute goes on apace with the latest offer being rejected by the Union.

Pay Drama

It was another quiet day at work, pretty much the same as usual. The on-going drama about the pay dispute seems to be heating up. Basically we are supposed to get an annual cost-of-living wage increase, but there hasn't been one this year, and the Union have bee pretty much fighting about this for pretty much the entire year, and there have already been two strikes about it so far this year, and it looks very likely that there's going to be another one. It's certainly getting extremely annoying. There's really nothing to do but hope that it gets sorted out sooner rather than later.

I got out of work at about half past six and am anticipating a fairly quiet evening, and I am off work tomorrow so that should be fun.