“Some people have too much time on their hands” say a billion twitter tards and other assorted Internet gobshites when presented with something incredibly intricate that clearly took a lot of time and effort to create. It may seem pointless, it may actually be pointless, and it frequently did take a long time to create, but the suggestion that it is the product of someone with “too much time on their hands” is ludicrously pathetic and it gets right on my tits.
The most talented and creative people I know produce things at a rate that is at least an order of magnitude higher than I could ever follow. They get the same time as we all do – they just use it effectively. They all have day jobs, and they all go out and have fun. But they also have an inexplicable ability to be creative too. I wish I knew how this trick was pulled off and not knowing fills me with envy. But one thing is for certain: they don’t have too much time on their hands. No-one does. It is argued that people who do literally nothing could be said to have too much time on their hands – but they fill their days somehow.
The real problem is people who get bored; if you find yourself bored in 2012 then you are either a moron, or living somewhere that doesn’t have Internet access within walking distance. If the latter, then I feel for you. If the former then please turn off your router and stop donating your opinions. The only boring thing in your life is you.

Writing to friends and loved ones has always proved problematic for me. Unless I write back immediately, the prospect of writing becomes ever more daunting with the passage of time. Writing back to a work email, or a query is simple because it can be an informal one line response – especially via email. But returning a message from someone you really like feels like it should contain something “worthy” and time consuming, and that prospect renders it difficult embark upon. Of course if you do just bite the bullet and send *any* sort of message – no matter how short and shallow it feels – it’s contact. What usually happens then is a rapid exchange of messages which slowly tail off for another long hiatus.
Well, after over 10 years of blogging I can confirm it suffers from the same problem. Looking back it’s apparent that the posting pattern consists of bursts of activity followed by periods of quiescence.
Part of the problem is that a blog is “published” – even if no-one actually reads it. So the desire to do a good job can often prevent it happening. Having said that, I’ve looked back at some of the vintage postings here and cringed for every imaginable reason.
Anyway a month later not much has changed. Here are the exciting highlights:
* Thanks to The Producers another short film was made and I now have an IMDB page. Really!
* We have added another set of wings to the flock; Corbett, the bird that introduced us to the world of avian adoration is currently living with us as his mum (our Gran) is poorly. Get well soon Dot. Cacophonous is the only word to describe our house at this moment.
* Milestones were reached at work and there are currently thousands of people around the world that are using software that contains bits of code I’ve written. Obviously that’s not unusual for a software developer, but it’s the first time I can say that about code I’ve written for over a year.
* I currently dream in objective-c.
* The binary clock I’ve been working on is coming together.
* I really need to either switch to WordPress or implement a markdown filter for this blog.
* Fighting off the dark forces of cynicism has become progressively more difficult recently.