NFL Fantasy Football Challenge 2011-12

September 18th, 2011 § 2 comments § permalink

NFL logo

NFL logoSo even though this is not an official MarkVersus Challenge, I do want as many people as possible to join in.

The excellent NFL UK site have started up their fantasy football contest for this season and I will be taking part. For those of you who might want to join in I have set up a mini-league of my own to compete directly with anyone who wants to get involved.

To pick  our team, go to the NFL UK site and sign up. Pick and name your team and once you are set up go into the ‘Leagues’ menu and use the code KJQ-YWM to join my mini-league the MFFL (I will let you guess what the ‘MF’ stands for ;) ). I can also send you an invite email with instructions if you let me know who you are.

The NFL UK and Sky Sports are giving away their own prizes weekly which you will be in line for but I will also be handing out my own prize (details TBC and probably from my house) for the winner of the league.

If you feel like joining in go for it. The site has a bunch of really great resources about the players and the game and  (as I have learned) fairly friendly to those of us with little or no prior experience of the game. The season has only just started and is well worth a watch.

Good luck, y’all.

My New Favourite Game

July 20th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

I have a new favourite game. Here are the instructions:-

  1. Get the song An Ending (Ascent) by Brian Eno and load it on to your media player of choice.
  2. Head out to a public place. Like a park or a train station.
  3. Find  a spot with a good view of the general public going about their business.
  4. Stick your headphones.
  5. Press play.
  6. Try and work out the plot of the film that this scene is the end of.

That’s all there is to it.  The ambient Eno magic of this song is such that no matter what surrounds you it is easy to imagine that the everyday goings on of he people in your field of vision are the protagonists in some drama. Or maybe they are just the public being shown to represent the smallness of the lives of our stars in among the human race And the best part is the plots will never be the same.

The piece is written to score a movie. The piece is so liquid that it will take the form of its container. That is to say it will morph from happy ending to sad purely by what surrounds it, and how you are feeling at the time.

I started playing this game as a tease, because I imagined it this piece of music as one of those that makes it onto the bed of numerous programs at an emotionally charged moment (a la Hoppipolla, grumble grumble), but it’s fun. If you go with it it can be quite affecting. All in the name of fun.

And of course the films are always masterpieces ;)

An Ending (Ascent) (on Youtube)
Wikipedia entry for where the song is used in other media

Weeknotes for 11/07/2011

July 18th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Things at the moment feel much like a reconstruction. I am rebuilding habits and enthusiasms. I am trying to restore some old, best practices and create new ones. Most of all I am trying to work out what direction to go in and how best to do so.

The positive aspect of the week of this week is that all of the steps I have been taking (small as they may have been) have felt like they were in the right direction.  This, after recent weeks, is a substantial victory, for no less reason than it makes me want to move them forward.

There is still a lot of filtering and prioritising to be done, but a cloud is lifting.

What it does leave me thinking about is how long I can allow this process to take. There are pressures. Financial pressures. Pressures from the people who have also been involved in those projects. Personal pressure to see these things (and myself) succeed.

With these pressures (of their varying degrees) how much time do I allow myself this reconstructive process? I have always believed in preparation and doing things right first time out, but there is precedent of this not working. I need to maintain a momentum throughout this process. Hopefully the small repetitive tasks I am setting myself, including the increased activity on this site, will have the effect they are designed for. That being exercise for the work muscles that have lost their definition.

The end of a positive week though.

My biggest problem is…

July 15th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

A signpost with no names on it

Is it possible to say that my biggest problem right now is an excess of options without sounding like an arsehole? Not really. Why? Because in analysis this is a shallow and worthless understanding of the concept of a problem.

I have been saying this to myself and other people for sometime now and each time I have to attach a disclaimer, an apology for sounding like an arsehole. It has taken me this time to realise that I had stopped exploring my circumstance having struck upon a convenient response that I could reel off and which, in doing so, I could take no blame for. After all, I had provided myself with a condition the cause of which was all these other people’s belief in my abilities and potential. Very flattering stuff. No wonder I was dragging it around with me.

I need to go deeper. If I have a problem it is with decisions not options. We are presented with hundreds of options daily and we make calls on those options sometimes with little or no thought and sometimes it takes a bit longer. In each case the process is the same. We evaluate the potential outcome until we are happy we can move forward.

Here’s my problem.

Have I stopped evaluating the outcome? Or am I evaluating it ad infinitum? The decisions I need to make are big ones. They deserve a proper process. I don’t have that process yet (or anymore? I don’t remember it being an issue in the past). But when I do I need to run it in full and make a choice because right now I am boring myself to shit.

And I know I can tolerate my nonsense a hell of a lot longer than most others can so I should probably apologise or STFU.

Divergence – A (very) short story

July 14th, 2011 § 1 comment § permalink

I am sitting on a bench outside an office building. I am aware that something has changed. I am worried.

I am not sure why this one was different. It began exactly like the others, as curiosity, as a game. I am following someone and they don’t even know they are being followed. They don’t know me. I could be anyone. I could be a killer. They are oblivious.

It’s OK though because it’s just a game. My imagination walking away with me. It’s OK because as long as they are on my route then I am not really following them. Or they are not being followed. One or the other. I used to enjoy the distinction. I would debate myself over the reality of my actions when the impact on the subject was zero. Did anything actually happen to them? The followee. The philosophy was part of the game. As long as they were on my route.

At some point today there was a divergence and I did not even notice.

It was not when I chose her.  She was anyone, like they always were.  It was not when I passed the street that I work on and did not take it. It had already happened by the. It was somewhere in between and it happened without my knowing.

It is an hour after I first started following her and I know I am not going to go to work today. I am watching the revolving front door of a tall glass building.  It feels like I am waiting.

I stand up and walk away from the bench and from the building.  I look ahead.  I am not sure where I am.  I am looking for how I got here.  The way back.

I realise that I am crying. I don’t yet know what for.

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