dittany

I was asleep but I got up to clean my teeth and now I am wakeful at three in the morning. I guess I will write a bit until I feel sleepy again.

Dad’s dongle from Dodo arrived the other day. If he can’t work it out I will go up on Sunday and sort it out. There is plenty of cleaning to do there if I do make it up.

I feel like I should explore my feelings about dad’s inability to clean. Claudia seems to think it would be natural to, that I should discuss the situation with my counsellor. But I don’t really see the need to work out what my feelings are, I feel it would be better just to get the work done. Hopefully while I am there doing the work some idea about what should be done will arise with dad. I think in a way there aren’t a lot of feelings there about his growing old and showing signs of impermanence. I just feel frustrated with his lack of motivation. We all know he is an intelligent man so it should be evident to him that allowing himself to do nothing is making an inextricable mess.

Work is rolling along but I am caught up in the dog project which is Flash based and therefore not learning new technology. No new skill to move on yet. There was a monthly staff meeting yesterday and the budget forecast is hardly glowing, which is yet another impetus to skill up and move on. The dog project had a meeting where we were going to set out what needs to be done arising from our individual reviews. We started with Huw’s list of suggestions but only got a few problems in when Steve postponed it so he could aggregate our revisions. Already the work arising looks like it will be fiddly and tedious, like adding a pagination count to all the three button menus.

Tomorrow I might make a start on removing the grass from the front yard. The plan is to replace the dodgy lawn with a bed of stones, maybe with a few bushes thrown in. Alternatively I could paint the back room. I might let the weather decide. If it is windy I won’t do either!

I finished reading Hard Times and now am reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, which is an account of the history of science. After that I think I will read a history of the 20th century which I think I will learn a lot more from seeing as though my history knowledge is quite wanting. The science I am generally familiar with, which is to say I am enjoying the Bryson book but I am in a hurry to learn more at moment. There is lots to learn and now seems like a good time for self improvement. I don’t seem to be painting much at the moment. You can’t do everything though. I think not painting is just a time constraint. Claudia keeps coming up with new schemes to occupy her time. The latest is an online art course.