I've come into work early tonight, because the late shift person went sick, awarding myself an extra four hours in my delightful workplace. I have to say that I'm doing it strictly for the money, and not in any exaggerated sense of 'helping out the company' - my latest payslip, covering the second half of my time on sick leave/annual leave arrived in the post today, and it didn't make very encouraging reading. My run-in with the 'youth of today' has ended up costing me several hundred pounds in lost wages, mainly for weekend work, so a few hours' overtime will redress the balance a little, even if I'm not very keen on being here.
Speaking of youth, almost as soon as I'd arrived here this evening, I happened to be looking out of the window when a good looking young man of 16 or 17 passed by. I hadn't seen him before, although he was wearing the uniform of the local comprehensive school, so he presumably lives in the area. The phrase 'young man' is the significant one, though, because, although I recognised the fact that he was handsome, I felt no attraction to him at all. Had I seen him 3 or 4 years ago, though, and assuming that he looked how I would imagine, extrapolating from how he looks now (that's if you can extrapolate backwards, of course!), I have no doubt that I would've been absolutely drooling over him. But now, to my taste, he just looked too adult. It doesn't bother me, but gives an interesting sidelight on my 'age of attraction'.
A little bit of sad news today, too (actually posted last night, but I didn't see it until this afternoon), in that Mattie is giving up his blog (House of Mattie). His was one of the first blogs I began following, in February this year, and it's one that has always been entertaining. As with anyone who keeps a blog, if he feels it's the right time to stop, then it absolutely is, but I can't help feeling a little disappointment. The bloggers and commenters who you come across in blog-land aren't exactly friends (I intend no offence to anyone in saying that), but there is a sense of community, and when someone leaves the community, there's a certain feeling of loss. I've left a comment on his last post, but I would also like to say here that I hope wherever Mattie goes on to in his life, he's happy and successful.
Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B
I really don't understand Mattie's reasons for quitting his blog but of course I respect his right to do so. I guess I would have just expected him to taper off slowly in the frequency of his posts if he was losing interest rather than just quit abruptly. I've enjoyed following his daily life and I will miss doing so. It does seem a little suspicious to me. Someone mentioned in a comment that maybe it was some sort of a social experiment that has now ended, as the school period has ended. That is certainly a possibility I guess. Whatever the reasons for him having his blog, it was entertaining while it lasted. And I do wish him happiness in the future.
ReplyDeleteHello Brian
ReplyDeleteI saw the comment on 'House of Mattie' about the whole thing having been a fake, and I thought it was most unfair. While no-one has any way of being certain of anyone's bona fides in the online world, unless they know them personally, I don't see any reason to assume that someone giving up their blog unexpectedly has anything other than genuine reasons for doing so. He's a 15 year old boy, at the end of the day (assuming he's being honest about himself), and I remember being that sort of age and finding that something you thought was the best thing since sliced bread one month being boring the next.
Love & best wishes
Sammy B
Hi there, Sammy and Brian
ReplyDeleteI'm reasonably sure that Mattie is genuine, not least because he and Kieren have met and reported it on their respective blogs. I've been following and commenting extensively on Kieren's blog for the last ten weeks or so, and I'm quite convinced he's genuine.
It's worth bearing in mind that in Britain the school period has not ended, and will not do so for another month or so. I think the timing was driven by Mattie's birthday, which seems a convenient milestone.
I have participated in a blog which did turn out to be (at least partly) a school project - Inside Hostel Life, as you may remember Brian - and there the blogger had the courtesy to tell us what was going on when he stopped blogging and deleted most of the posts.
Meanwhile, Sammy, I'm quite impressed that your work environment (even if outside office hours) is such that you can blog from there. I'm pretty sure it's blocked by my employer, and even if it weren't I think they keep quite a close eye on the web browser logs.
I hadn't appreciated that your sick leave would have financial as well as health implications - I guess I'm used to a typical 9 to 5.30 office environment, where overtime is very much the exception rather than the rule. I hope you will be able to recoup some of your lost income.
*hugs*
Mark
Hello Mark
ReplyDeleteIf it was down to my company's internal computer system, I certainly wouldn't be writing this now - there are all sorts of restrictions and firewalls on what we can access, for reasons that I'm sure you can appreciate much better than me. I'm blogging on my laptop with a mobile broadband 'dongle', which I'm not supposed to use while I'm on duty, as it's deemed to be a distraction in my 'safety-critical' work environment, as though I'd ignore the job and use it if anything significant was going on - we're treated like heedless children at times by our management.
I'm sure you're right in what you say about Mattie and his blog, his birthday being the reason for him choosing to stop now rather than at some past or future juncture. As I said in my reply to Brian, no-one can be certain about anyone in the online world - I could be a 12 year old girl or Osama bin Laden based purely on the evidence of my blog, I know I'm neither, but there's way I can prove that just by saying so here. If we're going to spend all our time suspecting one another of deception (and I'm saying this in full knowledge that there are spoofers, and plenty of them, online) then I feel the whole enterprise becomes pointless. I said in a comment on Rowan's blog some time ago that blog-land is like most walks of life, there are some 'rotten apples', but most people have their hearts in the right place, and, call me naive if you like, but I'll continue to work on that assumption until someone conclusively proves me to be wrong.
Love & best wishes
Sammy B