Saturday, August 29, 2009

Edinburgh - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry




Listening to David Simon talking about writing, The Wire and associated stuff



A 7 Year Itch gust of wind near the Glasshouse



Rich Hall late night at the Assembly Rooms

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Early morning & dusk view of Greek Hill (Calton Hill), Edinburgh



The Winding Hill (Cockburn Street) (where I confirmed the meaning of "lomography")



Lunch in the sun in the Grassmarket

Starspots #244


Edinburgh 28/29.8.09



Jimmy Carr

Adrian Chiles

Charlie Brooker



Dominic West
Peter Andre

Monday, August 24, 2009

Latest TLAs 4

EPD = Extreme Plunging Dress (as beautifully demonstrated by Rachel McAdams at the New York premiere of The Time Traveller's Wife 8.09)

IWA = Irish Windsurfing Association

Friday, August 21, 2009

Latest TLAs 3

ARP = Air Raid Precautions (WW2)

LTE = Long-term evolution (4th generation mobile broadband)

MPC = Monetary Policy Committee (Bank of England)

ASA = Advertising Standards Authority ('Keeping advertising standards high')

RSA = Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce

LPS = Land & Property Service (Northern Irish rate collector)

CRT = Cathode Ray Tube {courtesy of The Word podcast}

Bolt from the black - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Watching Ussain Bolt en famille smash the 200m world record

Watching a rain storm sweep down Carlingford Lough

Seeing the seasonal high tide at the near pier

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Positive Psychology

Martin Seligman - University of Pennsylvania

The Pleasant Life
The Good Life - "knowing your highest strengths and values, and using them all the time"
The Meaningful Life - "using your strengths in the service of something larger than yourself"

Resilience
Engagement
Purpose
Good relationships

Sonja Lyubomirsky - University of California
1 express gratitude *
2 cultivate optimism
3 avoid obsessing or paying too much attention to what others are doing
4 practise acts of kindness *
5 make time for friends *
6 develop coping stategies
7 learn to forgive
8 immerse yourself in activities (including new ones)
9 savour life's joys *
10 work towards meaningful goals
11 practise spirituality
12 exercise *

Inscription on a sundial

Inscription on a sundial at Madresfield, the model for Brideshead:

That day is wasted on which we have not laughed.

Latest TLAs 2

GEC = Great English Classic (Nancy Mitford to Evelyn Waugh on Brideshead Revisited)

IEC = Independent Electoral Comission (Afghanistan Aug 09)

RHR = Resting Heart Rate (Ed Wardle from Alone in the Wild)

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Creative Accounting #414

State of Play / TV = Defence of the Realm / Film + All the President's Men

David Morrisey / England = Liam Neeson / Ireland

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Reaching the summit of Slieve Foy with N (and Eoin and Larry)

Coming across an abandoned village on the slopes below Queen Meabh's Gap in Cooley, Co. Louth

A coffee at Dan's Stonewall Cafe after 5 hours of walking

Monday, August 10, 2009

Recent Happiness Experiment entries

Fri 7/8:
Jog down past a heron to the stone circle in Kenmare

Walk with U to the stone circle at Gleninchaquin - then the waterfall and river

Visit to the cute Kenmare bookshop where I picked up a volume on Ulysses and one about the Easter Rising

Thurs 6/8:
Lunch in the village of Sneem - newspaper and toasties

Visiting the Charlie Chaplin statue at Waterville with Dylan Charlie Wilf

Swimming with N + D at Derrynane beach

Wed 5/8:
Swim in Loch Hyne, unique sea-water lake, with D

Walk through oak forest at Glengarriff in evening sunlight

Baking myself on a stone wall outside Phil McCarthy's

Dingle - Saturday's Happiness Experiment entry

A boat trip out of Dingle guided by Bernie and visited by Fungie (the first dolphin I've seen in the wild)

Playing It on the dunes of Inch beach with N & D (location for Ryan's Daughter)

Visiting Tom Crean's pub - the South Pole Inn in Annascaul - and then sharing the experience with Oliver Dudley whilst he's rowing around Landsend into the Irish Sea (shades of Crean's heroic small boat voyage with Shackleton to South Georgia)

Rainy day doings - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Repatriating a book to North-West London from the second-hand bookshop in Kenmare (belonging to the late Arnie Kertz, teacher at Kilburn College).

The walk to and from the three Musician sculptures (Snowman stylee) overlooking the Kenmare River

Watching Sidney Pollack's The Interpreter en famille after Sunday night supper

Latest TLAs

ZSL = Zoological Society of London (Whipsnade sign on M1)

PUD = Personnel Unable to Deploy (MoD jargon relating to unfit and obese soldiers, more prevalent in the army since the maximum BMI of recruits was raised to 32)

LMT = London Media Tech (mediocre colllege in The London Pigeon Wars)

CCC = Cork County Council + Clapham Community Centre (in The London Pigeon Wars)

KCC = Kerry County Council

HSE = Health Services Executive (Ireland)

RIC = Royal Irish Constabulary (1916)

NDP = National Development Plan (Eire)

Neologisms:
Croker = Croke Park
Compo = compensation (Irish)

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Sherkin - Today's Happiness Experiment entry

The beach on Sherkin Island - Silver Strand

Zephyring across the Sound at Baltimore to Sherkin

Walking home from the beach down the lanes lined with Dusky Maiden crocosmias and fuchias catching the evening light

Hothouse Flowers - Monday's Happiness Experiment entry

Seeing the Hothouse Flowers in the community hall of Baltimore - watching Liam Ó Maonlaí hard at play close-up

Having a spin in an open-topped British racing green Morgan roadster

Breakfast under the sails at Glebe House, Baltimore

Monday, August 03, 2009

Creative Accounting #411

Liam Ó Maonlaí / Hothouse Flowers = Mike Scott + Paul Brady + Jim Morrison (incl. native american spirit) + Crosby Stills Nash & Young + sprinkle of Van

Sunday's Happiness Experiment entry

Meeting Ben Baird of Aquarium Studios by chance on the Dublin ferry

Exploring Rhos-on-sea beach on a sunny Sunday morning - with U & D

Having a swift half on our arrival in West Cork (Roscarberry) with N (his was a red lemonade)

Saturday's Happiness Experiment entry

View of the sea at Colwyn Bay - first sight of the sea for a while

Listening back to my Girls compilation for the first time (songs about girls)

Sleeping in a family room (in Rhos on sea)