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Another list, this time novels - I found this one at the WordRidden blog. It’s 1001 books you must read before you die, taken from the book of the same name. The full list is here.

I was slightly disappointed to tick off a mere 21 titles (as listed below), with a further 6 which already appear on my ‘Must Read’ list (this actually exists, I may make it publicly available soon).

I think I’ll sneak a look at this publication next time I’m in a bookshop, and, if it’s informative beyond providing a list, I might purchase a copy, as I would love to expand my reading into different genres. It’s clear from the list below that I have a strong preference for dystopian/sci-fi themes. I don’t think this has anything to do with disliking other types of books, it’s just that there is an existing and ever-growing list of (mostly sci-fi) books that I urgently want to read, and it would be difficult to motivate me to take a break from these and try something completely new.

The books I’ve read:

Dead Air – Iain Banks
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres
Complicity – Iain Banks
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick
A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
I, Robot – Isaac Asimov
Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
Animal Farm – George Orwell
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists – Robert Tressell
The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells
Dracula – Bram Stoker
The Island of Dr. Moreau – H.G. Wells
The Time Machine – H.G. Wells
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift

The books I plan to read:

Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
Watchmen – Alan Moore & David Gibbons
The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
Neuromancer – William Gibson
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson

Earlier today I was logged in to my Facebook account, when I noticed the most recent addition to my News Feed:

6 of your friends joined the group: Facebook Will Be Forced to Shutdown in 7 Days! Join and Save it!

This roused my curiosity (”Facebook might cease to exist? And this is the first I’ve heard of it?”), so I followed the appropriate links to see which ‘friends’ had joined and what was actually going on…

Only a few clicks later, and I learned the history of the case in reasonable depth, found that the dispute between the founders of ConnectU and Facebook ended last month when a judge enforced settlement between the two parties, and that the final hearing took place on July 2.

Today is July 5.

It constantly surprises me - maybe it shouldn’t, but it does - that people frequently associate themselves with things they know nothing about. The information is right there for the taking - it took me less than a minute to unravel the reason behind this group’s creation and to learn that it was no longer relevant (never mind that I still have absolutely no idea how joining the group was supposed to contribute towards “saving” Facebook).

Of the 522,484 members who are (at the time I write this) associated with this group, how many of them, I wonder, have actually taken a moment to read anything about case before joining? And how many of them have joined the group since the case was closed as a result?

There has been such rapid growth in the popularity of social networking and it is becoming an increasingly important aspect of daily life for many of us. The potential it holds for the future of communication is enormous. Even I can see this, as a mere bystander to the local geek crowd, and mostly I welcome it.

But observing the current activity of my fellow Facebook users, I feel that it will be a long time before this potential is realised. ‘Groups’ and ’causes’ are created which have no apparent value, but users see that an opportunity to be part of something is being offered to them and without any consideration - *click* - they accept it. Not to mention the endless barrage of invitations to install yet another application (hands up those who always read the terms and conditions?), so that we can say we’re biting one another, or send each other small pictures of cocktails.

Is this fun? Really?

The conclusion I’ve come to is that with the exception of a very, very small minority, people don’t really like most of the Facebook applications they install. They don’t care for many of the ’causes’ or ‘groups’ they’ve signed up for. But it doesn’t matter what they’re joining in with. What matters is that everyone else is doing it, so they must too. This is probably a primative instinct kicking in, a need to be seen to be the same as their group, and not be picked out (or picked on) for not following the herd. Such instincts probably aided the survival of our ancestors and ensured that the human race stayed at the top of the food chain, so it’s no surprise that evolution has retained these traits and we will feel these desires surface from time to time. However, I would have thought that a developed brain and the capacity for independent and abstract though were also inherent to our current status as the ruling species on planet Earth. What I struggle to understand is why so many people continue to choose ignorance over knowledge, and will respond only to these animal instincts which are surely no longer critical to their survival?

I often find myself frustrated by examples of such behaviour, which makes me sound incredibly misanthropic… I’m really not! I love the human race. The human mind is a complex and beautiful thing.

I believe that the human species is still at the very early stages of its development and that the future holds brilliant scientific discoveries, architectural beauty breathtaking beyond anything we have currently achieved, an end to world hunger, etc etc. However, I’m only going to see a tiny portion of this in my lifetime - which is a bit gutting as I really want to be around to experience as much of it as possible. So I get annoyed with people who are holding back this progression and limiting my experience. Sort of like people who talk on their phones in the cinema, but on a much larger scale.

(PS. I just checked that Facebook group again out of curiousity, about 8000 more people have joined since I started writing…)

It’s interesting to look back at my first post of the year and see which promises to myself I’ve kept (so far), and which ones I’ve broken. I recently moved house and started a new job, and these changes have clearly had a big impact on my successes and my failures.

Most of the ‘rules’ I did manage to stick to actually took no effort at all - a result, it seems, of being in a working environment where the pace is a lot gentler, and - in my opinion - much more fair. That’s not to say I’m not working as hard as I used to, it’s just that the chaos factor (read: dealing with members of the public) has been removed, and I now have just one deadline a month to worry about. It’s the first time in my design career that I’ve been able to work at my own pace, and take time to do research and share ideas with other designers. The knock-on effect is that I no longer feel under pressure to work through lunch to get something finished. Over-time is actively discouraged, and I have the freedom to get into work a little late if I need to, as long as I put in sufficient hours elsewhere to make sure my work is ready to go to press on time. I’m proud of the work I’ve done in the last two months and want to show it off, and it’s really not like me to feel that way. I don’t think I’m just proud of the work because it’s better, I think it’s also because I feel less negative.

I’ve not been doing so well with my eating habits - again, I think the change in work and home environments has had a big effect on my daily routine and I’m still trying to find motivation to stick to a schedule. Unfortunately I’m regularly going without breakfast (despite always having suitable breakfast foods in the house), and I’m also eating far too much take-away food. I’ve started getting a bit squishy around my middle, but I can’t find it in myself to panic about gaining weight, I’m only concerned that it’s a visible sign of a (possibly negative) change in my health that would be going undetected if it wasn’t for my new wobbly bits.

When I posted in January, I’d just seen my GP to have a chat about how tired and low I’d been feeling, and I was waiting to hear back about a blood test. I went back to discuss the results early January, and was told that my blood iron level was very low. I started taking ferrous sulphate to treat anaemia, 3 tablets a day taken with meals - but with breaking my meal-time routine during moving house, I began forgetting tablets so regularly that in the end I just gave up trying to remember them at all. I’m booked in for another blood test in a couple of weeks, so I’ll see what that brings - depending on the severity (and possibly on just how much of a ticking-off I get from the doctor), I’d like to use the result of my test to help me get in the right frame of mind to set a new routine for my eating.

This year, I resolve to give my health and happiness absolute priority over my work.

I will continue (as started late in 2007) to go for regular check-ups at dentist and optician, and to the doctor when I feel unwell. I will set a morning routine for myself: get up at the same time each day, allow time to enjoy a relaxing bath or shower, time to floss my teeth as well as brush them (dentist’s orders), most importantly I will make time for breakfast (doctor’s orders), and then I will leave for work in good time so I don’t spend my half-hour commute to Brighton in a panic over the consequences of being late in. I will never skip breakfast (at worst I’ll keep cereal bars, fruit, etc. in the house to take with me if I’m running late).

I will use my full lunch-time allowance each day, and try spend at least half of it away from work, stretching my legs and getting fresh air in my lungs, and clearing my mind of stressful thoughts. I will not spend my break complaining to Iestyn about problems at work! I will break for lunch as soon as I have an opportunity (aiming for between 12.00-1.00), rather than have a very late lunch or no break at all.

At work I’ll schedule time for ‘housekeeping’ (tidying the clutter from my desk, backing up my work, etc.) as this will make me more efficient and clear-headed and will improve on my productivity in the long run. I must remind myself that putting client work before these tasks is counter-productive. I’ll ensure I’m comfortable in my working environment, and if I pick up on RSI risks or anything else that concerns me I will deal with these problems as I go, as it will improve my happiness (for myself) and increase my productivity (for the company and its clients), so everybody benefits.

I’ll continue to write a fresh ‘To Do’ list at the end of each work day, but this year I will put the list out of my mind until I get back to the studio the next day. I will make an effort to enjoy my weekday evenings, rather than mulling over problems or watching mindless TV. I will try to do things that make me feel my time was well spent; I already know from experince that expending a little energy on activities I enjoy leaves me feeling far more refreshed than doing nothing at all.

Phew. So there it is.

My resolution definitely isn’t set in stone, and it’s not an ‘all or nothing’ deal. There will be days where I need to bend the rules a little, and projects where I’m working overtime for the pleasure of it as much as for the client’s benefit. I’d like my work to be a source of satisfaction again, and not be a burden like it has been lately. Ultimately, I want to restore the balance in my life. I’m not quite sure when I lost it, but late last year I finally acknowledged that I wasn’t happy and realised what I needed to change. I’m surprised at how small and manageable these changes are, as I expected I’d have to do something far more significant.

Happy new year, everyone!

Simon has just launched an online store for his tshirts. For as long as I’ve known him, he has been putting his heart and soul into setting up the SINAGE Clothing brand, and the hard work really has paid off. It’s great to see these fantastic, original designs finally available to buy online.

Of course, if you’re in Brighton, you could always take a first hand look at his shirts - Si’s often got the SINAGE stall set up for business down on the beach by the old West Pier at the weekend (as long as the sun is shining!), so if you’re down that way, keep an eye out for them, and make sure you stop by to say hello!

There are 6 designs currently available, in a variety of colour combinations and sizes - check out the store for the full range - I’ve spent the last month trying to choose between the Crest (on blue) and Bleeding Heart (gold on black) designs, and am still completely torn, so unless someone can help me make my mind up I’m going to have to start saving those 10p’s again so I can get both!