Where the heck have I been?

That really is the question, isn’t it. Why have I been largely absent from WordPress, Google+ and Twitter for several months and, perhaps more importantly, what changes have I made to my life to prevent this from happening again in the future?

There are three reasons for my dismal level of social media interaction over recent months:

• A lack of personal organisation

• Suffering from ‘flu for the first few months of the year

• The recent demise of my ageing budget laptop

All of us are given twenty four hours every day. Whilst some people use the time to create business empires or to be active within civil rights pressure groups, I was somehow struggling to even find time to vacuum the car on a regular basis. So, come October when I needed to find extra time for some studying on top of the tasks I was already failing to fulfil, I put myself under unnecessary pressure.

Even Amazon struggled. They took six weeks to deliver my Jerry Harrison: Casual Gods CD

I needed to organise my time much better. After a lot of soul searching, I have (in theory) managed to find the necessary time to do everything. I listed everything that I need to achieve and now have time slots for all necessary tasks during the week. It means that WordPress and Google+ will get my attention on a Saturday, around the time that I back up my computer files to my external hard drive (I also sync to an online encrypted cloud account). I’ll delve into the Twitter account whenever I get a few moments during the working week.

Last year my health was great right up until November when I started to catch every cold or bug that was doing its rounds. Boxing Day was when I succumbed to one of the strains of ‘flu that ravished Britain last winter.

I had trouble to get the help that I needed from the NHS which I am certain lengthened the time that I suffered.

I was even sent back to work too early by one doctor and within two days was back off work worse than ever and needing another course of antibiotics to treat the return of the secondary bacterial infection that for weeks had taken my left lung hostage.

I never want to go through that again.

My fruit and vegetable intake has since vastly increased and I have promised myself a ‘flu jab every year. Paying about £20 a year is a small price to sacrifice if I can avoid a repeat. I know that it isn’t likely that I will catch ‘flu every year but avoiding one future battle with that virus is something I am desperate for.

I need to lose some weight again now. After the ‘flu went, I started eating more and exercising less; but I have started to turn this around.

And finally, my ageing budget laptop had become increasingly temperamental over recent months. (Can laptops catch ‘flu?) Eventually, a fortnight ago with two study assignments due within days, it stopped effective service. It logs in but stops working within about fifteen minutes. I could get it fixed no doubt but it looks to be a three figure sum repair bill, so a new machine became a reasonable option.

Anyway, I mentioned that I started studying and any delay would prevent submitting my final assignments whose deadlines were only days away.

I bought a cheap Windows laptop for immediate use and this will become my wife’s main laptop in the next few weeks. Gloria’s been after her own laptop for quite a while and so is looking forward to sole use of the PC. This will be her’s on receipt of the much beefier laptop I have treated myself to, which will come with Ubuntu-Mate installed as the operating system. Man, am I looking forward to that.

(Incidentally, I found that my old laptop running Ubuntu worked better at connecting to Adobe Connect rooms than some of my fellow students’ Windows machines when attending online study meetings. Linux is more software friendly than you may think.)

So, there were three reasons that affected my output to which I have sourced three solutions: planning how I will use my time better, an annual ‘flu jab and a new (as yet undelivered) Ubuntu-Mate laptop which should last me a decade or more with careful use.

I just hope no-one cursed me too much these last few months whilst I was mostly absent…or, maybe, these events were due to someone’s curse on me.

My little problem in 2016

For many of us, there are dates during the year that remind us of something important that we have lost.  For me, there are two such dates.  One of these is in February and another in March.  My father passed away on Thursday 19th March 2009 following a long period suffering from Parkinsons Disease.

And so, February and March are the most stressful months for me.  This means that since 2009, I seem to catch every germ and bug doing the rounds.

This isn’t going to be a post of woe and of how hard done by I am.  I mean, this blog is called “Sad Music, Dark Literature and Positive Thoughts 2”.  So, we won’t be deviating too far from positive thoughts, right?

I mentioned in my post from only two days ago, that I would explain what had delayed this post from finding its way up here on this site on Sunday.  The explanation is that I’ve been feeling quite rough for a couple of weeks and I am now off work on a course of antibiotics.

My trip to and from the hospital out of hours doctor via a taxi and also grabbing my prescription last night have left my wallet twenty five British pounds lighter.  I guess that this cannot be helped.

I worked from home on Monday but was not up to even doing that since Tuesday.

Look, I don’t want to moan about every ache and pain that I have – I don’t suffer from the proverbial man flu!  However, it became a concern when the cocktail of symptoms that I was suffering from were supplemented by feeling confused and losing my short term memory.

This confusion and memory loss is due to my body diverting resources to fighting the bugs in my body, the doctor reassured me.  It’s clearly not important to remember where you have just placed your drink bottle, keys or half-eaten plum.

I want to sign off by telling you all that I am looking after myself with good food.Porridge for breakfast, salad for lunch, fruit for a snack and home cooked food for supper would normally be the ideal guardians of good health.

Sometimes, there are emotions that will try and knock you down whatever you do to stop them.  You just have to get ready to pick yourself back up afterwards.