Gordon White

Things are piecing themselves together in stops and starts. So this will be a post of pieces.

What is it With Gays and Flags?

Here’s something he doesn’t know I am posting online, but James has a new haircut:

Which is nice. And I have a new flag:

Which is also nice.

Actually I can’t even come close to taking credit for the flag ownership. That’s all down to Tan, Dan and a little known site named twitter.

One mildly frustrating afternoon, Tan asked the twitterverse what kind of flag he should buy. Intrigued, I enquired as to how and why and where to? Apparently Dan and Kanishk had already procured flags. Antigua and somewhere else.

Well, I thought, this is really fucking awesome. I want in on this! And seeing as everyone appeared to be picking -how shall I say- crap countries, I thought I should follow suit.

Hence I chose the Federated States of Micronesia. Not only because I have been there but also because their flag looks like something out of the original Star Trek series. (If you want to know, the stars represent the four states and the blue represents the Spacific Ocean. Not the main races in the United Federation of Planets.)

Don’t ask me how but spending eight quid online on a foreign flag really improves your entire day. Plus, in my case, it solves the pesky issue of what to hang on the walls of my tiny new room. The Micronesian flag. Why not?

Anyway, I recommended Tan buy Djibouti but I think it’s still up for grabs in this Union of Overlooked Countries. (Which is a group I suggest we form principally for the prevention of petty street crime and tooth decay.)

So Djibouti is up for grabs. Leave a comment if you want to know more.

A Diminishing List of Barriers

My membership to the Hospital Club was approved today. Can’t tell you how excited/ticketsy (Bill, is that a word?) I am feeling about it. What is it with London and clubs? They’ve been such a significant part of the city’s cultural landscape for a couple of hundred years. I’m sure it’s something to do with a class-based society and some highly unique rules about public and private spaces. Regardless, joining a (decent) club was something on my cosmic London To-Do list.

Naturally, I’m not paying for this myself, it’s part of the Discovery package. And it was one of the last things on my list of ‘stuff I need to even begin doing my job.’

You remember what it is like when it takes you about a month to get going because despite all those assurances on your first day that everything is ready to go in fact NOT A FUCKING THING IS READY and your boss has been lied to by finance, IT, HR, Security, etc.

Well, with my boss touring the provinces the last couple of weeks (I call Amsterdam, Warsaw, Berlin, etc the provinces now apparently) I have been left on my own to procure my own items from the naturally shy, conflict-avoidant, intensely private Brits who don’t know me from shit.

Whilst successful, it has been really frustrating as my job is new, the Brits don’t do change well, will say yes to my face rather than argue it out like rational colonials (they’re very Fijian that way), etc. So I had been feeling a little… Shirty.

Anyway, long story short this led to me slightly admonish someone in Australia down the line during a global conference call. I wish I had admonished a Brit. Then I would just have to apologise profusely and it would all be over. Unfortunately it was an Australian and she wouldn’t have a bar of it if I even tried. (This was the flag buying day if you hadn’t worked it out.)

So I feel a bit bad but I am putting a presentation together for them and I that will give me an opportunity to make amends.

Bullet Dodging

Not literally, of course.

But I had to catch the commuter train from Richmond to Reading on the way back to Bristol and, well… Fuck doing that every night. If you have ever wondered what a metal tube filled with broken, grey shadows looks like then come with me next time.

Yeesh. You know you’re starting to pull out of your depression when you begin to appreciate the small things like not having anyone else in that train carriage’s life.

If things suck for you right now… Remember that carriage. Or the awesome citizens of Micronesia.