freedom costs money

I've realised the downside of having no TV.

I have absolutely no idea what's going on in the world.

It's inexcusable really. I should read the news on the Internet or read the papers or something. The problem is: who's to say whether those sources are any more or less reliable that TV? Each paper has its own agenda. Radio stations too, I suppose.

The other day, I rationalised the motivation behind what I believe is the next wave of suicide bombers by applying it to my own situation. I can understand how it might happen. I was a bit miffed for some (probably hormone related) reason and I wrote this little nonsense.

oh good god.

1x cure for insomnia:

give up caffeine (sorry, there's no easy shortcut)
approach bookshelf (with caution)
Choose biggest, most obscure looking book thereon.
Take it to bed with you.

Since there's no reason in the world for me to drink caffeine over this Easter month off I have decided to give up. As of yesterday at 1am, I am officially clean.

Some symptoms I have suffered from since then include:

Bloody chilli peppers bringing out my bad side.

There’s always been a part of me that wanted to be the leader of the pack. Not necessarily to pick up women in sweetshops and die as a result of a head-on collision with a lorry transporting dustbin lids. More like I always dared to dream that I had it in me to create a stir, some real anarchy. It’s all very well to whinge about the law and the government but to really fight back, it takes a little more than smoking a bit of weed in your student squat and wandering the streets moodily at night for no apparent reason. I crave the machismo and the intoxicating rush of powerful individuals sharing a morally ambiguous goal. Imagine being a high-performance cell of some messy, vicious but super-efficient organism.

I am starting to think that my inability to dance is a genuine social disability. It's like a sort of physical Aspergers syndrome.

On Wednesday night, I did something I haven't done for a while: went to a club totally sober! And I was reminded of how awkward it really is when all you really want to do is sit and watch all the other gyratin' lovelies from a safe distance and yet you feel a strange, obscure pressure on you to join the throng. Might be that people think it's creepy when you just slouch with Jack Daniel's and stare at them. Might be that people aren't convinced you're having a good time unless you're on your feet shaking your groove thang. Ahem.

I learnt a valuable lesson from my weekend.

After 62 hours of being awake (included within which were two naps, 1 and 4 hours respectively), I thought I would be a nervous, irritable, tearful wreck of a mess of a state. I'm not the kind of person who can go without sleep and get away with it. However, in the end, I was not only A-OK for the duration, I actually felt better than I have done in weeks. Might have been something to do with the high quality of entertainment and company I had to keep me conscious/amused throughout. Might have been the high levels of sunlight which always makes me feel better.

It's time for another exciting installment of....
...Up late with Taki! Guests on the show tonight include:

My wisdom tooth! He's a newcomer in my life, something of an enigma that refuses to be ignored.

Lo! Anton von Strudel and Taki have been granted the wisdom of Pablo (small rubber dinosaur/deity) whom we have exalted beyond all reason and perched atop the cigarette kiosk at work.

Having finally seen Clerks, I can fully appreciate the desperate states of mind working in a shop like that can induce and I consequently feel much better about the whole thing.

Could this be the greatest board game ever? I think so. It's a healthy outlet for everyone's inner megalomaniac and a chance to live the dream of taking over the world. It can also be modified slightly and used as a drinking game or made to reflect current events to the extent that we all started to feel a bit guilty...