Embracing your Weirdness

I own quite a few gadgets and being a self confessed geek this is not surprising. Of all my gadgets my absolute favourite is my Kindle. My Kindle is the most amazing bit of kit ever.

I bought my Kindle shortly after my Dad passed away. I fit left a little money and I wanted to but something that really reminded me of him. So I bought a Kindle in tribute to the abiding memories of reading books overlooking the beach after school each day.

I am an avid if sporadic reader. I go through phases of devouring many books in a week but the spells of reading very little. But when I do read I read quite quickly so holidays were always a nightmare with the number if books I’d carry to last the whole time.
And this is the joy of the Kindle. Two years ago I was a leader on a Scout trip to Sweden and Denmark. One of the scouts picked up an ear infection so I ended up spending three days in a Danish youth hostel foyer while the Scout recovered. And I read. First one hook. Then another. Then another. I read the entire Rizzoli and Isles series ove those few days. I’d have never got all those books in my backpack. And the youth hostel selection was mostly in languages that I don’t speak so it would have been a very boring few days. This is after spending 4 days on a remote island in Sweden watching Scouts do activities whilst sunbathing and occasionally taking photos of them. I read a lot that trip. And thanks to my Kindle I wasn’t stick reading and re- reading the same book over and over and over again

Although I suppose it could have been an opportunity to learn another language. Thanks to my Kindle though we will never know.

I recently discovered I could copy my old Blogger Blog into this one. I’ve been reading back through my posts back to 2005 and I find if so interesting to see what I thought and felt at the time as well as what I thought about he future.

My writing style hasn’t changed much, maybe because I don’t get to write as much as I’d like to.

So what’s changed since 2005?

I hadn’t even graduated when I wrote my first post. I graduated later that year and had many adventures before settling down – first with a job, then with my partner, got married, bought a house, had a child. I wouldn’t say grown up because I don’t feel any older. I still have fun and now with a child I have an excuse again!

I wrote my first post on my old desktop computer that is still chugging along but now only used for my Nan to play solitaire on. It was great for its time but now just looks aged with its massive tower and CRT monitor. My first memory stick was 256MB. i now own more than one 8GB stick. We are now in the age of tablets and smartphones and computers with more memory and processing power than those that went to the moon.

I still want to write more but lots if ideas just get stuck in my head while I mull them over and then the moment has passed. There is so much more I want to say. If only I wasn’t too busy enjoying my life to say it.

AlI do is fix computers. I’m lucky. I get paid to so something I really enjoy and I get to do it for the National Health Service.

I get to fix computers for people who do important things. They save lives. Deliver babies. Care for the dying. Male a difference. Matter.

Realistically this is the closest I will get to doing something important with my life. I believe in the NHS. I understand and value it’s principles. And after spending most of my last 6 years service on fixed term contracts I am trying to reconcile that I may not get to do this for as long as I’d like.

I feel quite sad at the thought that I may have to leave the organisation I believe in so much.

But really all I do us fix computers. I can do that anywhere. But the NHS. That will stay with me forever.