On the move

Ok, I am going to stop being indecisive and move to WordPress. I feel disloyal [to a blog! - Help, I really do have an over-developed sense of responsibility], but I can't have two blogs on the go at the same time, and WordPress won, despite some trouble with images, which I hope will sort itself out.

So, from now on I'll be posting under the guise of Bookmouse. Please come and visit me in my new home!

If you have a link to me, don't worry about changing it (unless you'd rather). Hopefully people can find their way from here to the new blog ok.

My latest post

Which concerns photos and dogs, can be viewed somewhere else. Sorry for flitting, I just happened to be there testing things out, so I thought I'd write something there.

Recipe: Pink Curry

Ingredients

• 1 chicken breast per person
• 1 red pepper
• Curry powder
• Chili and garlic sauce
• Garlic (fresh or sauce)
• Sliced courgette
• 1 small carton of coconut milk
• 75g of rice per person
• Cooking oil

Method

1. Measure out rice and put in saucepan
2. Boil enough water in a kettle to cover the rice. When boiled add to the rice in the saucepan.
3. Set the rice on the hob at the lowest heat and leave to cook. Keep checking it so that it doesn't stick to the pan - make sure there is plenty of water in the pan.
4. Heat oil in pan. Chop chicken into pieces and fry in oil.
5. Slice and add courgettes and pepper. Fry with chicken in pan.
6. Add curry powder to taste and stir in to chicken mix.
7. Add garlic sauce and chili sauce to taste. Stir, and simmer for a few minutes.
8. Add the carton of coconut milk and leave to cook on a low heat for about 10-15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
9. Check rice to see if it is cooked.
10. When chicken and rice are ready, drain rice and serve with the curry.
11. Eat!

Meanwhile, in other electronic and unimportant lands

Meanwhile, in TV-land, Ruth has left Spooks. I was quite disappointed by this, in a not very important, it's only TV kind of way. She was my favourite spook, for several reasons - she's wasn't blond, she wasn't pretty (although she was beautiful), and she was a bit crazy. Harry made a good choice.

Meanwhile, in blog-land, I'm thinking of moving to WordPress. Many blogging acquaintances use this, so I thought I would investigate. I've set up a little test blog there and it seems more user-friendly than Blogger. Stuff that's only in beta here is standard there, plus it has stuff that isn't even in beta Blogger. Oops I hope Blogger don't wipe my blog now I've said bad things about it. I do still like you! Anyway, I'm staying here for now, as I can't transfer stuff from here to there until the beta becomes alpha, or whatever the techie term is. I guess I could just start a continuation blog...I might do that, but I don't like change. It's a bit like getting my hair cut. I like the thought of it, but I never quite get around to doing it, and I might just be going through a phase. I'll try it (WordPress, not hair cutting) out a bit more first and see...

Taking criticism

Taking inspiration from the Singing Librarian's post on taking a compliment, I have decided to write one about taking criticism. Like him I am also not particularly adept at taking compliments, but my ineptitude in this area pales into insignificance when compared to my complete inability to take criticism well.

I have several stock reactions to criticism:

1. Blame someone or something other than myself
2. Defensiveness
3. Self-pity (usually a bit later, when the critic has gone)
4. Over-reaction (I did this wrong, therefore I must do everything wrong)
5. More over-reaction (why is it always me who gets it wrong)
6. Comparison of self to others (why are they always right/perfect etc)

It's not a particularly life-enhancing list, is it?

An additional problem is that often, the person I see as being critical and thinking badly of me probably isn't doing so at all. In reality they were probably just giving me some advice, or reminding me of something. Even if they are telling me I've done something wrong, nine times out of ten they'll be nice about it, but I can still react badly.

Like the Singing Librarian and his reaction to compliments, my reaction to critcism can worsen the situation, especially if I am defensive and snappy towards the person who I see as criticising me. Then I will feel even worse, because I've added a nice little emotion called guilt into the equation, as well as potentially being offensive/hurtful towards another person.

So, what is my problem? Most people don't like being criticised, but some deal with it better than others. Some people can think, 'oh, ok, so I did that wrong, but that's ok, now I'll try to rectify the situation and it's good that I know what I did wrong, I am happy and at peace with the world and myself' (or something like that). I have been pondering (for a few years) on why I don't like criticism and can never seem to react very positively to it. The reason is quite similar to the reason I find it difficult to take compliments, and is the root of many of my social problems - the dreaded low self esteem/insecurity/lack of confidence thing.

Or maybe I'm just grumpy.

Blogging for history

I thought you (anyone who's reading this) might be interested in the 1 Day in History day on October 17th. The History Matters campaign want as many people as possible to record their experiences of the day, which was chosen as it's not a 'special' day, for a mass blog to be archived at the British Library. You can read the Daily Telegraph article about it if you like, or visit the History Matters website for more information.

Comments

I'm feeling a bit braver today, so I've enabled comments again.

A very bad poem about stock management, with apologies to real poets

Oh books, in cardboard boxes,
What hopes must you have had?
What dreams may you have dreamed
That now will never come to pass?

Of influencing minds of men
And changing history
Of scholarship and pleasure
That never now shall be

Your lonely lives have run their course
And no more will you live
No one will learn the secret things
That you were born to give

But, yet, yet, hope may shine for you
In the gloom of library land
For if you catch librarians’ eyes
You may yet withstand

The onslaught that is policy
Stock management for you and me
And books, which in their hundreds lay
Untouched on shelves until today,

Are now to be destroyed, alas
Are now to be destroyed.

The other side of The X-Factor

This might be a post, that, like the one about Elizabethtown, had more of a point when it was in my head that when it made it to the computer. Anyway...

I watched The X-Factor last night. It was round two, I believe, known as "Boot Camp" and people were getting thrown out quite regularly until each group was down to the final eight acts. This purging of contestants made me think a bit more about those who didn't make it to the next round. Unlike most of the contestants on "Maria", the people who enter The X-Factor competition aren't middle class graduates. A lot of the contestants, particularly those in the 25 (years old) and over category seemed to be people who had already had a hard time in life and wanted to win The X-Factor to make a better lives for themselves and their families.

One contestant particularly stood out for me. She wasn't the best singer, but it was what she said rather than how she sang that really made me think. She said that if she didn't get through [to the next round] she would become "just another statistic". She was in the competition with the aim of providing a better life for her children. She talked about the house they always looked at and dreamt about buying one day. Unfortunately, she didn't get through. It made me sad to think that she only saw herself as a statistic, and didn't seem to recognise her worth as a person, and an intelligent and articulate person at that. I hope that she can find some other way out of her situation, and that she will one day have a better life for herself and her children.

Other people in the 25 and over category included a Scottish lady who saw The X-Factor as her last chance to get out of the factory job she has been working in for about 20 years. She was quite emotional because she said that she didn't feel that she deserved to have got so far thought the competition. Happily, she got through to the final eight, and her reaction was great! I hope she has the confidence in herself to perform well enough to go on through the next rounds.

I do realise that the footage is edited, and that the producers can make people appear any way they want them to, if they want to draw people into watching the show. Even so, it made me think a bit more deeply than I expected to, which can only be a good thing, in my opinion (even if on 'paper' my thoughts haven't come out quite as clearly as I would have liked).

Elizabethtown

The story is quite simple: guy who thinks he's made a mess of his life finds some hope and love and learns to love life and realise what's important.

It didn't do very well when it was released and may not even have reached your local cinema. Many people said it wasn't very good, but I really like it. I can see why people might not have embraced it wholeheartedly - it's quite slow and a bit cheesey at times, and Kirsten Dunst can be a bit annoying. You might not like it if you are of a particularly cynical disposition. Having said that, I have been accused of cynicism many times, and it may be one of my favourite films. For me it achieves what I think is it's goal - it's a life affirming film that leaves you feeling better at the end of the film than you did when you sat down to watch it. Great soundtrack as well.

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility if you watch the film after reading this post and hate it!