Let’s start with the exciting news. I have a new job!
The last week or so has been a chaotic whirlwind of activity that has led me to be offered and accepting a new job. I wont give too much details as I’ve always maintained this is a personal blog and always had a strict rule about not discussing work. Needless to say this rule will be maintained in my new post.
But it is an exciting opportunity, out of the geographic area I currently work in and will present me with some new challenges. I’ll have read up and update myself on Nursing practices in a hospital setting, as I haven’t worked in a hospital since I completed my Nurse training. I’m looking forward to starting the post in the coming months, embracing the learning opportunities the post brings as well as developing best practice.
Now on to things to look forward too over the next few months:
Dressing up the cats in costumes for Halloween / Samhain. (If anyone knows where I can buy cat costumes, please let me know by commenting. I can find plenty of human Halloween costumes online, but none so far for the cats.)
Undertaking Samhain ritual with Simon & Chrys (see Pagan Festivals).
Having a private Samhain ritual to commerate the loss of my brother Alex (see My Darling Baby Brother) earlier this year.
Yule / Christmas – the opportunity to take some time out with my family and friends. Plus it’s the cats first Christmas, so they will be spoilt. No doubt they’ll manage to bring down the Christmas tree. I’m sure it will have sad moments since Alex (see My Darling Baby Brother) wont be here – but I’m hoping that overall it will be positive.
Completion of my first few chapters of a creative writing story I’m going to set to work on (I promise) and getting all of your feedback.
One of my brothers fiancée giving birth to a baby. Giving me another Niece or Nephew.
So lots to look forwards too. Signing off for now, feeling really positive,
It seems that everyday when I shut down my laptop I see the screen above. “Installing an Update” it says, more like “Installing Another Update.” I’m a windows user by default, it’s what I’ve been brought up with. But I’m getting fed up of Windows installing updates with nothing changing or improving for me as a user. All that seems to happen is that my laptop gets slower and slower. If I was cynical, I could be thinking that Windows deliberately release updates that slow down computers, forcing users to upgrade.
What I’ve discovered with my iphone is that Apple only update their software occasionally. When Apple do update you see the changes and understand why they’ve made them. An added bonus with Apple is that the new updates don’t slow down the performance of the machine. In fact if Apple were clever and reduced their prices (Apple laptops, PC’s, etc. are very VERY expensive), I’d be a full fledged Apple user. In fact I think a large number of people would as well.
Episode 7 alternates between the 1920’s with Jack and Angelo and present day with Jack and Gwen. The transitions between past and present are seamless. This has been deemed my favourite episode due to the love and sex scenes between Jack and Angelo and because it finally reveals who’s behind Miracle Day. Well done BBC for being brave enough to show sex scenes between two men! However apparently the BBC shortened the sex scenes between Jack and Angelo as even after the watershed British viewers aren’t ready to see these scenes. Yet BBC America showed the full unedited episode as the writer intended, a slight point of criticism there. Hopefully the full episode, as the writer intended will be on the Torchwood: Miracle Day DVD.
The episode starts in the 1920’s with Angelo claiming Jack’s visa to enter America. Jack catches up with him and Angelo gets detained. Jack chats with him in the cell and decides to take Angelo with him. In New York they get a room together, above a butchers shop. Quickly they become lovers and start a relationship. To Jack two men together is normal whereas to Angelo (a catholic) is racked with guilt. Meanwhile back in the present day, Gwen receives instructions through the Torchwood contact lenses to abduct Jack in the car – and that’s exactly what she does.
Back in the 1920’s Jack and Angelo are stopped one evening by some local gangsters. The gangsters give Jack and Angelo a task. Break into a secure warehouse, steal a box, don’t under any circumstances open it and get it to another part of the country. Jack decides to do this alone, but Angelo insists on coming. Jack mentions the Doctor as always having a companion. This gives an insight into the motivations of Jack’s character: why he’s getting so close to Angelo and why he’s so close to Gwen in the present day. Jack doesn’t want to be alone, he doesn’t want to be lonely, he wants someone by his side. Jack and Angelo break into the secure warehouse, open the box and kill an alien that could have had a big impact on the politics of the time. Then the alarm goes off and as they are trying to escape Jack gets shot. Angelo shocked, gets caught by the police. Present day Gwen continues to follow instructions from the Torchwood contact lenses and Jack wakes up. Jack tries to convince Gwen to release him but Gwen is undeterred – her family is at risk.
In the 1920’s Angelo is finally released from prison to be met by Jack. Angelo can not believe his eyes, he saw Jack get shot and die. Jack tries to play the incident down saying “I came back for you.” Angelo with his religious roots believes Jack’s the devil, but Jack manages to convince him to go back to the room above the butchers shop – the room they used to have together. Angelo gives Jack the opportunity to tell him what he is but again Jack plays it down. Finally Angelo (convinced that Jack is the devil) kills him with a knife, only to see Jack come back alive. Angelo gets the butcher from below and kills Jack so that they can see him come back to life. It quickly spirals out of control with Jack being hooked up on butchers hooks in the cellar of the butchers with people able to come and watch him be killed and come back to life again. The old butchers wife collects the blood. Jack is also vaguely concious when three men agree to buy Jack off the butcher, thinking they are essentially buying immortality. Angelo saves Jack one evening, cleaning him up and giving him clothes. Angelo wants to go with Jack and start a fresh. But Jack disagrees and escapes off into the night.
In the present day Gwen and Jack finally arrive at the destination given by the Torchwood contact lenses. They exchange some past experiences together as well as the most beautiful thing Jack’s ever seen, which turns out to be a rather touching moment. Cars arrive with a woman and men with guns to take Jack. But unknown to them Rex and Esther have been following and have a sniper gun on the woman. At the same time Esther calls Gwen’s Police friend in Wales who saves Gwen’s family. The woman explains that Jack will still want to come with her as she knows whose behind Miracle Day and that she knows Angelo.
That brings Episode 7 to an end this week. You can read previous Episode reviews I’ve wrote here:
Recently I read a very honest post on Mike’s blog titled Glass half… It got me thinking about how difficult it can be to be completely honest my with myself. I’m sure you’ve all had the same difficulty at times.
Then this weekend my good friend Sye came round to visit. Sye and I have a rather unique relationship – we can tell each other anything (and I mean anything). We had a long chat about different things going on in our lives going in to the early hours of the morning. I won’t go into the detail of the conversation as it’s private and unimportant, but what is important is what I’ve realised: I’m not always being completely honest with myself. I do a fantastic job of avoiding the issues that I have and distracting myself with other things.
This avoidance of these issues has led to them seeping in to my everyday life with out me even realising. Look at my blog for example, when’s the last time I wrote a personal post? In the last few months it’s been review after review, books, TV anything to avoid writing from the heart. Well that’s going to be the first change. I’m still going to write reviews (as I quite enjoy it), but the most recent personal post will be a sticky. This means the most recent personal post will appear as the first blog post on the home page. If you like reading the reviews remember to check further down the page for the most recent review. Oh and I know I’m a few Torchwood episodes behind, but I do intend to catch up.
So first completely honest point – I am struggling to decide what are my own feelings and those of others. In paganism and indeed most spiritualities there is a belief that everyone and everything are interconnected. The theory goes that we are all connected and that if enough people feel negative it spreads making more people feel negative. Have you ever been to see a friend feeling really happy but they are down in the dumps and you leave them feeling down yourself? It’s kind of like that but on a much larger scale. We are constantly being bombarded with negativity, more so than ever before, just think: bankers, corrupt politicians, the economic climate (and all that it brings – lack of job security, etc.), the list could go on.
So that’s my first challenge to decide how I feel about everything in my life. To sort through things in my head and listen to what my heart says. From there I can decide what and how I am going to change the things in my life that need changing.
Write soon,
Antony
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Sunday 4 September 2011
About
Antony Simpson - Author, Blogger, Nurse & Witch.
Author of eight books.
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