I’ve been up for a while — around 6:30 — and it’s now after 9am, so it’s not like I couldn’t get in early and catch up on some of the always-present, always-urgent, never-scheduled, always-stupid tasks that seem to get punted down upon us (from manager to manager all the way down to the lowly “plebs”, the betas, the only ones who actually seem to do anything — us, in other words). Take yesterday, for example: as well as the what-the? comment from my manager, I spent the good part of the afternoon needlessly pasting names and details of all our user accounts into a spreadsheet … even though the names all exist in a shiny little “single-sign on” database application. Oh, and the fact that we’ve got well over 70,000 users — more than will fit in a single Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. It’s stupid whichever way you cut it. And that’s before even considering the security implications of having a list of user details on a network share somewhere.

Today I have to write my “Personal Development Plan”, despite the fact that it seems that our department has been set up as a kind of fly-trap — once you’re in, you’re not going anywhere. So, hmm, this year I want to develop my sitting-around-waiting-for-stuff-to-break skills, along with my answering-stupid-questions-from-stupid-people abilities. Yay team!

Anyway, I am concentrating on the fourth prime at the moment. At 14 I started becoming an adult, physically at least (I was huge compared to the other 14 year olds. I could have been a good bully if I’d been that self- and politically-aware at the time.) 21 is a recognised turning point — key to the house/car/city and all that jazz — and we left the country at 28, a pretty big deal by most people’s estimations. My next point should be 35 — and it will no doubt be a big deal since 5 x 7 = 35 and 4 x 9 = 36. Until then, I should just be happy sitting around, working tirelessly for the bank and raking in on-call money like I invented the idea. But I can’t stay still.

Perhaps it’s because 29 is a prime too, or perhaps I’m just bored. Either way it feels like I — we! — are at a turning point right now. The question is: which way do we turn?

Okay, I’ll confess — this is more because we’d already decided to move down to London and then were hit with another potential offer from the good folk at Danielle’s work — how about we move to Singapore, and by the way, the new team at Singapore is taking your jobs. As I say, it’s all “potential” — we were meant to hear last week (nothing) or this week (nothing yet — but it’s only Tuesday, mardi, dienstag) — but we’ve not heard a peep. Not so great for the cynic, or the conspiracy theorist. Already a french-man named JC (I think it stands for Jesus Christ, but I can’t confirm that) has said he thinks they are just leading us on. I tend to agree most of the time — who wants to argue with Joshua the King, saviour for so many, a virgin-born Anakin Skywalker for the Middle East — but occasionally I find I suffer moments of illogical optimism and think it would be great. I could hang out in Buddhist temples, challenging the monks to tests of gong fu, learning Chinese (mandarin, puhtongua, zhongwen). What’s more, I could take a break from the so-called “Information Technology” industry, which seems neither Informative nor Technological, nor even Industrious for that matter. Pull pints by night, write any one of twelve novels by day, and be supported by my hard-working, long-suffering beloved. Hey, I’m lucky she likes my writing — I may even get the chance to try some version of the lifestyle above one day. Maybe.

But anyway, I’ve applied for a relocation within my company to London, so that’s option number two. Actually, it’s option one — we planned that first, thinking we could finally unleash the hidden socialites within ourselves, break free from the cloistered life we’ve lead in Edinburgh — we know all of two people, and actually like even fewer — and hang out with our fellow Aussies and their adopted Poles (or is it the other way ’round?). Oh, too have a social life! What bliss!

So yeah, they’re the options, and I must confess I swing between one or the other with alarming frequency (it may be circular frequency actually — my thoughts spin at phi) and can’t decide between the two.

Oh well, let fate decide I guess?

This should see us travelling around Scotland and Skye on a bus for a few days, with plenty of opportunities for walking (Chris’s idea) and drinking whiskey (my idea), as well as a chance to meet some new people on the bus itself. We’ll stay in backpacker hostels, nice and cheap for the poor Aussie lad, and should get to see some awesome sights – Skye, Loch Ness, Inverness, Culloden Moor, castles, monsters, Celtic battles ahoy!

Lucky I just bought a 1GB photo card. I cannae wait!

To that end Dee has booked us into a hotel in London for the Easter long weekend (6th – 9th April). We’ll be staying at the Hilton Docklands, which is close to where we might want to live and work and thus will give a good feel for the area: people, places and atmosphere. Possibly we can even check out some flats for rent, to check what kind of standard you get for the money. It’s a bit expensive there, but no more so than in Edinburgh. Whilst we could no doubt get a cheaper place just a little further out, I think we want both the “inner city experience” and to avoid the Underground as much as possible — especially as everyone warns us of Met-sickness, the particular and peculiar afflication of commuters that includes symptoms such as frequent coughing and sneezing, loss of energy and (here’s the kicker) blackened mucus. Ew, no thanks. So the less time spent on the train system the better (although only hermit crabs can avoid it altogether).

Anyway, hopefully we can catch up with Hippy and Mal, and maybe Renée too since Sheila mentioned she’s arriving in London today (could be off to Coventry for work by April, but that’s where Dee’s Dad is from so we might want to visit anyway — if not on this trip then on another).

In other news I got another update from work: apparently the reference to “a relocation package” simply means that nobody will pay for the move, not that it isn’t possible within the organisation. This is fine — I wouldn’t expect the company to pay relocation expenses unless they were requesting it — but it was definitely confusing. Seems a bit more positive now, as the Greater Evil’s stated that such a move sounded “plausible” … and although they couldn’t give any definite direction or timescale, they did promise to go back and ask again.

We may be out of here soon after all? (Finger’s crossed, but not holding my breath either.)

I’m pretty much convinced that we won’t be going to Singapore now. It just seems to me that Dee’s work is stalling, trying to get a little “natural churn” and have people quit (rather than having to find them new work or give them redundancy payouts). Her team-leader (accidently?) mentioned that “… things will change in six weeks, obviously.” Six weeks? What happens in six weeks, asked Dee. “Oh, nothing, that was just a number I pulled out of the air.” Yeah, I believe that, really. No, I do. What do you mean, sarcasm? I don’t even know what sarcasm means!

That’s okay, London is nice this time of year. I’m in the “resource pool” now, so I could get assigned to a project down there at any time. I hope it’s soon.

Interesting, and not too surprising: the equipment is getting cheaper all the time. It’s the right time for the OpenEEG project then, which aims to provide opensource hardware designs and software for building EEGs – for experimentation, mental training and research. Who wouldn’t want to understand their own brain, mind and moods a little better? (Okay, probably lots of people, but I’m not one of them!)

I like that one of the first examples of a neurofeedback toy is a Darth Vader mask and light-saber which you have to concentrate to keep activated. Very geek.

What if our consciousness exists outside of spacetime, “mapping” onto our living, physical brains to allow us to control our bodies and receive physical input? This isn’t too far out an idea — why else do you forget your dreams when you move in bed, but can regain some of the memory if you move back to precisely the same position? The dream-state may exist in a spatial location separate from the brain. (Actually, it could also be that more than just the brain is required for thought — perhaps the whole nervous system is involved in the creation of consciousness. More on that later, I think.)

Okay, so accept for a second that it is at least possible that consciousness exists separately from our physical brain, outside of time and space altogether. Religious people would say that it at least occupies the same space as, if not being the “holy” part of, a timeless, formless Elohim (although isn’t that plural?), the Brahma-ocean, or Omega-point consciousness. Wow, deep. Basically I’m just hypothesising that what we call our consciousness exists in one or more different dimension(s) to those we identify as “space-time”. Therefore, what limits it to a temporally-linear evolution?

An example: last night I tried writing, but got very little done. I’m trying to write a novel or three, but find that when I’m inspired, I’m not at my desk, and vice-versa. So today I’m browsing the web because, by some chance, I have little to do at work until 1pm, and I find an article describing a simple technique for avoiding writer’s block — writing as an email! This is brilliant, and simple, and obvious, and self-evident … and I never would have thought of it on my own.

(On the other hand, perhaps I already had. It’s altogether possible that this existence, this samsara, is just a dream, a reflection, flawed because I am flawed, the world seen through the unique lens of the distorting ego I call “self”.)

I’m almost hoping that Dee lands a contract quick smart so I have no choice but to force their hand — “if you can’t place me in London, I resign.” How much fun would that be?!

The idea, if I haven’t already said it, is that Dee can do contracting and I’ll stay “permy” — no, not my hair (as if I have enough!) — either with my current lovely employer, or someone else newer and shinier. Unfortunately 18 months of more-admin-than-tech support means my Java development skills aren’t really up to scratch (I think), so whilst Dee was Securing Our Fiscal Future I stared writing a “LiveStats” application to monitor our SLA’s and system availability. It is (well, will be) a rotating display of various statistics and monitoring that I can put up on the spare screen we have at work. Then we can all sit around it pretending we are watching something critical and acting important, and the managing head of the department will look over, see our dedication and professionalism and immediately give us all raises, bottles of champagne and an electric car.

Well, that’s the idea anyway. At the very least it will remind me how to actually do something, and then I can sit my Java certification exam in a month or so.

In other news, it sounds like Grant and Sheila are having a lot of fun on their around-the-world travels — I’m so jealous! They are currently in the land of Vlad Dracul, and no doubt by now they’ve been turned into immortal vampires (say nosferatu in a scary voice!) and the rest of the trip will have to be made at night time. Hope you enjoy your eternal twilight guys! And I hope we are in London by the time you swing by …