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Coffee House => Coffee House Boards => CH / General => Topic started by: the_leander on January 08, 2005, 12:43:07 AM
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Yes it has passed, that glorious time of year, where family come together to meet up and discuss the year over enough food to feed perhaps twice the amount of people at the table...
Only this year, at least for me it wasn't quite what I wanted, the conversation was of my Parents ever more embittered divorce, the food though nice, left a sour taste in my mouth...
And then, on the 27th at 11:30pm GMT, I got a phone call from my father in law - our house had been burgled whilst me and my wife were in Plymouth (we live in Sheffield).. Not much was taken, but even so...
So all in all, this year for me has ended on a pretty {bleep}ty note, Cecilia, the darling that she is, has been kind enough to buck me up a bit and get me to see a silver lining (in that no one was hurt and not a great deal was stolen)... (I don't think I've thanked her for that, but then how can I adiquately thank her for putting up with my ramblings?)
I admit I was livid when I first found out, but after a walk around Plymouth's city centre a few days after getting that call, I had what I can only describe as an ipifiny (sorry spellings a bit off I know). A moment of pure clarity, in which I realised that the anger was useless, and that I should move on... With a few relapses into wishing inordinate amounts of harm to befall the ba$stard son's of motherless whoremongers who broke in.. I've pretty much decided to accept it.
As for the divorce, well tbh I can see this doing my mother a great amount of harm emotionally and physically... I'm hoping for another one of those moments to strike...
Here's hoping that this new year is better then the last :pint:
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Bummer, dude. But I'm glad to see the glass is half-full.
Epiphany, I believe. :-)
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Greetings Leander,
Bummer! What a way to start the year. Anyway, just be thankful there was no one harmed during the burglary and friends willing to help. :pint:
Cheers!
Gizz72
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@The_Leander:
Sorry to hear that mate. Hope things pick up for you soon.
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well so far looking through all that was nicked we've worked out that we've lost about £1200's worth of gear... and thats still rising as we go to get things that are no longer there...
I think the most irritating thing so far is that when they took my missus's wallet they also took (unbeknownst to them) my son's milk tokens... which took some time for me to chill out about..
And for reasons best known to themselves, they also took most of the frozen food out of the freezer... very odd.
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Sorry to hear about it, a break in is a bad thing, but even worse at Christmas :-(
And for reasons best known to themselves, they also took most of the frozen food out of the freezer... very odd.
Would you want to go out shopping for food after a hard day's work? :-P
(couldn't resist that, sorry :-D)
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Vincent wrote:
Sorry to hear about it, a break in is a bad thing, but even worse at Christmas :-(
And for reasons best known to themselves, they also took most of the frozen food out of the freezer... very odd.
Would you want to go out shopping for food after a hard day's work? :-P
(couldn't resist that, sorry :-D)
A Scotsman who knows the word "Work"!?!?!
(couldn't resist that, sorry :-D)
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:lol:
I know the word, I just don't do it :-P
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Sorry to hear about your break in and other troubles. A couple years ago the same thing happened to me, the only difference is they broke in while we were all home and sleeping. They didn't get too much. My wallet with ~$50, a digital camera, a nextel phone, that's about it. What it did do was make me a raging f***ing bull, took me probably a month to calm down. It happened X-mas morning, Dec 26 I spent the day mounting motion sensor flood lights all arround my houuse. I still get angry thinking about it :pissed:
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And just when we'ed pinned down just what was taken - I found something else that is gone - my beloved Apple Newton message pad 120... So we're now up to £1700.
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the_leander wrote:
And just when we'ed pinned down just what was taken - I found something else that is gone - my beloved Apple Newton message pad 120... So we're now up to £1700.
You insured the Newton for £500 :-o You can get a lovely new VGA iPAQ for that and still have change! :-D
-Edit- I'll bet the guy who stole the Newton is really pissed off :-) look around the local canals you my find it discarded...
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Its based on new for old insurance - remember that they want the price not for the item itself, but for a direct replacement that is available today... which is where I get the figure I just produced.
If I could get a brand new Message Pad for a fraction of that then I would - the insurance company won't even look at supplying money for a second hand piece of kit as they are liable should something break on it.
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http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hardware/pdaandhandhelds/productView.htm?quicklinx=380L
That's yer puppy!!
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The wierdest and perhaps the coolest thing has just happened as a result of all this - the guy downstairs just popped around to see how we were going, now this alone may well have warrented a post but this was even more extraordinary - he'd got hold of our old door before the council replaced it, and stripped off every last piece of brass, the door handles, the letter box, hell the locks and bolts, everything!
I've now got a bag with enough brass to keep the brasso company going for quite a while.. I'm tempted to repaint the new door to match the old one and refit the brass fittings onto it...
I know it may seem a bit sad, but that kinda touched me :-)
Going to have to get them a bottle of wine or something as a thankyou :-)
What a wonderful day this is turning out to be!
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That's what I meant in my pmail about you being an ispiration Leander. I'd be furious and no doubt wanting to Black & Decker the kneecaps & elbows of the perpetrator/s to the pavement.
If the food's gone then it's either someone hungry or someone too lazy / skint to shop. Possibly some skag head or something, trying to sell whatever they can to feed their habit?
Meanwhile the Police will be focussing on punishing every single speeding motorist with the full weight of the law, so less serious offences like burglary or assault which require actual detective work and possibly more paperwork too are ignored.
I hate to troll (yes, am guilty as charged) on about these things and get all down on society, but I take a great deal of comfort in your ability to get your anger go. I wish I was able to do the same. So I'll end this post on a very positive note by saying it's an inspiration that someone can have {bleep} befall them, but remain optimistic.
:pint:
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PMC wrote:
That's what I meant in my pmail about you being an ispiration Leander. I'd be furious and no doubt wanting to Black & Decker the kneecaps & elbows of the perpetrator/s to the pavement.
You honestly think that if I were to meet them that they'd survive the encounter? Zen I may be but I'm also realistic in dealing with my feelings ;-)
If the food's gone then it's either someone hungry or someone too lazy / skint to shop. Possibly some skag head or something, trying to sell whatever they can to feed their habit?
Funny you should mention that, one of the folks upstairs was recently evicted for growing pot...
Meanwhile the Police will be focussing on punishing every single speeding motorist with the full weight of the law, so less serious offences like burglary or assault which require actual detective work and possibly more paperwork too are ignored.
I agree totally with this sentiment. The police of late do seem to take inordinate amounts of their time punishing to the fullest extent of the law minor offences, whilst major crap goes on virtually unpunished.
I hate to troll (yes, am guilty as charged) on about these things and get all down on society, but I take a great deal of comfort in your ability to get your anger go. I wish I was able to do the same. So I'll end this post on a very positive note by saying it's an inspiration that someone can have {bleep} befall them, but remain optimistic.
That last part is simply me being lazy - remaining angry takes a lot of energy I would rather put into my son, writing or drawing.
:pint:
I thought you'd never ask ;-)
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the_leander wrote:
You honestly think that if I were to meet them that they'd survive the encounter? Zen I may be but I'm also realistic in dealing with my feelings ;-)
Then you're honestly, not Zen
Zen is more like standing behind the line, seeing life as a whirlwind come by.
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I am speechless.
The most important thing in a situation like this is that no one gets hurt. Everything else is replaceable.
@red:
Wow. It happened while you guys were actually in the house! :-( Scary...
Too bad they decided to leave all those Prometheuses behind. (bad joke). ;-)
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Speelgoedmannetje wrote:
the_leander wrote:
You honestly think that if I were to meet them that they'd survive the encounter? Zen I may be but I'm also realistic in dealing with my feelings ;-)
Then you're honestly, not Zen
Zen is more like standing behind the line, seeing life as a whirlwind come by.
I try to be pragmatic about life, trying to be passive about as much as I can. Most of the time I succeed, but as I said I'm also realistic, if I were to meet the folks who did this to know them I would likely become very un passive toward them. As it stands however, I am never likely to meet them and, as such doing anything other then letting it go is pointless in the extreme. It took me many years to realise that last part.
Perhaps Zen was the wrong word, but tbh it was the only one that came to mind to describe how I got to this point of being able to simply let it go.
It is however something I aspire to.
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the_leander wrote:
It is however something I aspire to.
heh, yeah, me too,
but I think for zen, you have to become a different person (in fact, becoming a buddha), I mean, it's THAT thorough. I don't think you can be halfway zen, or choose this or that I'll be zen but not for that and that.
If you can understand what I'm writing here :lol:
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the_leander wrote:
Perhaps Zen was the wrong word, but tbh it was the only one that came to mind to describe how I got to this point of being able to simply let it go.
It is however something I aspire to.
It is something I too aspire to. Once upon a time, I was tolerant and understanding of people and their mistakes but not any longer. Thing is, I've realised that when someone commits a thoughtless act that inconveniences me, the only person upset is me. It would be nice to be without anger, hate, jealousy, fear and prejudice but it would be like asking for the Ying without the Yang... (if you excuse the terminology).
Understanding and empathy help combat the negative, but it's a commodity not in endless supply.
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Speelgoedmannetje wrote:
the_leander wrote:
It is however something I aspire to.
heh, yeah, me too,
but I think for zen, you have to become a different person (in fact, becoming a buddha), I mean, it's THAT thorough. I don't think you can be halfway zen, or choose this or that I'll be zen but not for that and that.
If you can understand what I'm writing here :lol:
You may well have a point - I suspect however that I have far too many skeletons in my closet to deal with to ever reach such a height. But still I strive to better myself, and maintain some level of balance against my own instincts.
PMC wrote:
It is something I too aspire to. Once upon a time, I was tolerant and understanding of people and their mistakes but not any longer. Thing is, I've realised that when someone commits a thoughtless act that inconveniences me, the only person upset is me. It would be nice to be without anger, hate, jealousy, fear and prejudice but it would be like asking for the Ying without the Yang... (if you excuse the terminology).
Indeed.
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the_leander wrote:
Speelgoedmannetje wrote:
the_leander wrote:
It is however something I aspire to.
heh, yeah, me too,
but I think for zen, you have to become a different person (in fact, becoming a buddha), I mean, it's THAT thorough. I don't think you can be halfway zen, or choose this or that I'll be zen but not for that and that.
If you can understand what I'm writing here :lol:
You may well have a point - I suspect however that I have far too many skeletons in my closet to deal with to ever reach such a height. But still I strive to better myself, and maintain some level of balance against my own instincts.
it's not AGAINST your own instincts, it's more like having an almost physical distance between your instincts, I mean, you have instincts, but you know them, predict them, and these do not affect your thoughts, and not your actions.
But I'm not a buddhist monk so, I can be wrong :-)
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Speelgoedmannetje wrote:
the_leander wrote:
Speelgoedmannetje wrote:
the_leander wrote:
It is however something I aspire to.
heh, yeah, me too,
but I think for zen, you have to become a different person (in fact, becoming a buddha), I mean, it's THAT thorough. I don't think you can be halfway zen, or choose this or that I'll be zen but not for that and that.
If you can understand what I'm writing here :lol:
You may well have a point - I suspect however that I have far too many skeletons in my closet to deal with to ever reach such a height. But still I strive to better myself, and maintain some level of balance against my own instincts.
it's not AGAINST your own instincts, it's more like having an almost physical distance between your instincts, I mean, you have instincts, but you know them, predict them, and these do not affect your thoughts, and not your actions.
But I'm not a buddhist monk so, I can be wrong :-)
Oh trust me, it is against my instincts to not go out to hunt down the SOB's who broke in and give them a good kicking... But then my instincts are mostly screwed up. As you say: predict them, I do, which is why I decided early on that even if they did catch them, I would not want to get near them, for reasons given earlier.
In theory I would agree with you with respect to thoughts and actions, but I guess I'm not that good :-D