Gary's Nine A Day: December 2015

Thursday, 31 December 2015

NEW YEAR'S EVE, THURSDAY 31st DECEMBER 2015 08:55 GMT

3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

PINNACLE CHRISTMAS: DAY 12 OF 13
Sleep patterns appear to have rebalanced themselves over the last 24 hours. I had two hours sleep as planned yesterday afternoon, went to bed again at midnight (after one of mine and son's "Deep Chats"), had the "wee at three", went straight back to bed and awoke at 07:00 this morning. I will still probably have another two hours this afternoon to fully pay off sleep debt, all geared up for New Year's Eve frolics tonight.

With son celebrating with his mates tonight, New Year's Eve will simply be me and Missus - and that will suit me just fine! Being a natural introvert, I feel uncomfortable at parties. Missus also prefers the creature comforts of home. I'm not completely against parties - I'd go to a rock party and enjoy it, but don't particularly want the time, expense and effort of finding one, getting to one and getting back.

At home there is every comfort and facility, entertainment, music and food of my own choice and I'm going to be loved, appreciated and get laid. I therefore don't need the back drop of a crowd, which does nothing for me. I will have a fabulous time with my creature comforts and lover/best friend. She may be a loon and I may be her carer, but she's still my favourite company, because only she has an agenda and destiny tightly interwoven with mine.

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Do you really know what you really enjoy, rather than supposed to enjoy?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD

Moon:

Weathertrack: A depression approaching from the south-west will move across Britain overnight
Air Pressure: 1021 millibars and falling

6. TODAY'S ONELINER
Relationship or hallucination? I don't care. Either way, I'm seeing somebody. :D

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!
Gabriel Iglesias - Pregnancy Scare

8. TRIVIA
Places with higher precipitation levels have higher autism rates. Higher precipitation rates may carry more pollutants.

9. ZEN WISDOM
People shouldn’t hesitate to exert their all, in a way true to themselves. How can you possibly ever know how far or fast you can go if you’ve never run all-out? To give up even before you’ve tried is actually arrogance—an affront to the wondrous power of life within you and disrespectful to yourself.

Tuesday, 29 December 2015

WEDNESDAY 30th DECEMBER 2015 05:34 GMT

Read my book - ENLIGHTENMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK

Also available - EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
WISDOM, HUMOUR, AND LOTS OF OTHER INTERESTING STUFF CAN BE FOUND ON MY PINTEREST PAGE and FACEBOOK PAGE
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1. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
30th December 1890
The Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden purchase was a 29,640-square-mile (76,800 km2) region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed on December 30, 1853 by James Gadsden who was the American ambassador to Mexico at that time. It was then ratified, with changes, by the U.S. Senate on April 25, 1854, and signed by 14th President Franklin Pierce, with final approval action taken by Mexico's government and their General Congress or Congress of the Union on June 8, 1854. The purchase was the last territorial acquisition of the mainland United States.

The purchase included lands south of the Gila River and west of the Rio Grande; it was largely so that the U.S.A. could construct a transcontinental railroad along a deep southern route. (This happened with the transcontinental railroad, constructed by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1881/1883). It also aimed to reconcile outstanding border issues between the U.S. and Mexico following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the earlier first Mexican–American War of 1846–1848.

As the railroad age evolved, business-oriented Southerners saw that a railroad linking the South with the Pacific Coast would expand trade opportunities. They thought the topography of the southern portion of the original boundary line to the Mexican Cession (future states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, western Colorado) of 1848 after the Mexican-American War was too mountainous to allow a direct route. Projected southern railroad routes tended to run to the North at their eastern ends, which would favor connections with northern railroads and ultimately favor northern seaports. Southerners saw that to avoid the mountains, a route with a southeastern terminus might need to swing south into what was still then Mexican territory.

The administration of 14th President Franklin Pierce, strongly influenced by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, (later President of the southern seceding Confederate States) saw an opportunity to acquire land for the railroad, as well as to acquire significant other territory from northern Mexico. In the end, territory for the railroad was purchased for $10 million ($260 million today), but Mexico balked at any larger-scale sale of territory. In the United States, the debate over the treaty became interwoven with the sectional dispute over slavery, preventing progress before the American Civil War in the planning or construction of a transcontinental railroad.

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
Shopping
Lunch
Nap
Me Time
Making Supper
Missus Time

Twitter Followers = 2,060 (up 2)
Non-followed eliminated = 1
@AriSeshScribe
Unfollowers eliminated = 0
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New Followers followed back = 2
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Spammers not followed back = 1
@rehmanchouhan1

3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

PINNACLE CHRISTMAS: DAY 11 OF 13
I have observed that without external structures to force it, my natural rhythms become somewhat chaotic. Sleep in particular is all over the place.

I have in previous entries described the phenomenon of the "wee boner" - a raging erection in the middle of the night caused not by libido but a full bladder. A wee, not a good fap, is required to relieve it. However, one can get confused with the other, especially when sleep patterns lapse into chaos!

After marital passion on Monday whilst the "sex police" was out seeing his mates, I had no inclination on Tuesday. This morning I woke "hungry" and duly indulged, only to find afterwards that I had been fooled by a wee boner. Post-wee, I was now hot, sweaty, wide awake and thirsty at 03:00! I decided that since I would have the opportunity for an afternoon nap, I would just go with it, stay awake and enjoy the opportunity of several hours of "me time".

I find all this quite fascinating rather than disturbing. If there is a lesson to be learned, it's that as nice as holidays are, you need a time-frame imposed on you to keep your mind and body at peak efficiency. The "old routine" turns out to be a wellbeing essential, so I will embrace it like an old friend returning after "Pinnacle Christmas".

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Are you fully "in tune" with your mind and body?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD

Moon:

Weathertrack: Winter storm Frank will drive a strong cold front across Britain today
Air Pressure: 1003 millibars and static

6. TODAY'S ONELINER
Do people who watch talent shows ever think about using their own?

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!
Aziz Ansari on Dick Pics

8. TRIVIA
In 1995, a woman named Berbel Zummer was walking through a park in Austria during a storm wearing a wire-enforced bra under her clothes. The metal in her bra attracted a bolt of lighting that killed her instantly.

9. ZEN WISDOM
Our ability to respect others is the true mark of our humanity. Respect for other people different to us is the essence of human rights.

TUESDAY 29th DECEMBER 2015 08:11 GMT

Read my book - ENLIGHTENMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK

Also available - EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
WISDOM, HUMOUR, AND LOTS OF OTHER INTERESTING STUFF CAN BE FOUND ON MY PINTEREST PAGE and FACEBOOK PAGE
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1. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
29th December 1890
The Massacre At Wounded Knee
The previous day, a detachment of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment commanded by Major Samuel M. Whitside intercepted Spotted Elk's band of Miniconjou Lakota and 38 Hunkpapa Lakota near Porcupine Butte and escorted them 5 miles (8.0 km) westward to Wounded Knee Creek, where they made camp. The remainder of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, led by Colonel James W. Forsyth, arrived and surrounded the encampment. The regiment was supported by a battery of four Hotchkiss mountain guns.

On the morning of December 29, the troops went into the camp to disarm the Lakota. One version of events claims that during the process of disarming the Lakota, a deaf tribesman named Black Coyote was reluctant to give up his rifle, claiming he had paid a lot for it. A scuffle over the rifle escalated, and a shot was fired which resulted in the 7th Cavalry opening fire indiscriminately from all sides, killing men, women, and children, as well as some of their fellow soldiers. The Lakota warriors who still had weapons began shooting back at the attacking soldiers, who quickly suppressed the Lakota fire. The surviving Lakota fled, but cavalrymen pursued and killed many who were unarmed.

By the time it was over, more than 200 men, women, and children of the Lakota had been killed and 51 were wounded (4 men and 47 women and children, some of whom died later); some estimates placed the number of dead at 300. Twenty-five soldiers also died, and 39 were wounded (6 of the wounded later died). At least twenty soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor. In 2001, the National Congress of American Indians passed two resolutions condemning the awards and called on the U.S. government to rescind them. The site of the battlefield has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
Me Time
Meditation
Missus Time

Twitter Followers = 2,058 (up 1)
Non-followed eliminated = 0
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Unfollowers eliminated = 0
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New Followers followed back = 1
@JohnSin41510604
Spammers not followed back = 0
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3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

PINNACLE CHRISTMAS: DAY 10 OF 13
I must sadly report that my very brief fun with the quadcopter has ended already after one of the four motors died - I'm sure that it was never right from the start. That and hearing about the death of Lemmy brings a somewhat sad start to the day. In the former case I feel very sorry for Son who made a financial sacrifice in an attempt to make my day, and it's gone "tits up". Of course most of us get that learning experience. I'm certainly not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, even one that was diseased from the start. On this particular issue I'm going to adopt the "least said soonest mended" approach.

What I have learned myself (the hard way!) when buying electronics or any product for that matter is to do your research - study the customer reviews, and be particularly wary of a make no one's ever heard of. I consequently rarely get ripped off these days.

Today will be the quietest and therefore the best day of the holiday, as bad news notwithstanding I have only the paper run to do, and even get some solo time in the afternoon, though I will probably spend much of that in meditation. With time now moving at warp speed, quiet days are welcome opportunities to pause and be grateful.

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
For what are you profoundly grateful?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD

Moon:

Weathertrack: Britain is in a run of clear southerly air between an anticyclone over Scandanavia and Winter Storm Frank in the Atlantic

6. TODAY'S ONELINER
I swallow at least one note per meal that says "we're all really proud of you," in case the person who does my autopsy is having a bad day. :D

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!
The Graham Norton Show - Sigourney Weaver's Sexy Knickers

8. TRIVIA
Vitamins are grouped according to their solubility in either fat or water. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat soluble, meaning they need fat to be absorbed into the body and can be stored in the body. Vitamin B complexes and Vitamin C are water soluble and, because they cannot be stored in the body, they must be replaced every day.

9. ZEN WISDOM
Only when we learn to channel the energy we direct toward winning over others into winning over ourselves can we begin to develop our humanity.

Sunday, 27 December 2015

MONDAY 28th DECEMBER 2015 06:54 GMT

Read my book - ENLIGHTENMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK

Also available - EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
WISDOM, HUMOUR, AND LOTS OF OTHER INTERESTING STUFF CAN BE FOUND ON MY PINTEREST PAGE and FACEBOOK PAGE
TO FIND OUT WHAT I DO, CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE

1. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
29th December 1065
Westminster Abbey is consecrated
Between 1042 and 1052 King Edward the Confessor began rebuilding St Peter's Abbey to provide himself with a royal burial church. It was the first church in England built in the Romanesque style. The building was not completed until around 1090 but was consecrated on 28 December 1065, only a week before Edward's death on 5 January 1066.A week later he was buried in the church, and nine years later his wife Edith was buried alongside him. His successor, Harold II, was probably crowned in the abbey, although the first documented coronation is that of William the Conqueror later the same year. From this time onward, the abbey was the coronation venue of Kings of England.

The only surviving depiction of this original abbey, together with the adjacent Palace of Westminster, is in the Bayeux Tapestry. Some of the lower parts of the monastic dormitory, an extension of the South Transept, survive in the Norman undercroft of the Great School, including a door said to come from the previous Saxon abbey. Increased endowments supported a community increased from a dozen monks in Dunstan's original foundation, up to a maximum about eighty monks, although there was also a large community of lay brothers who supported the monastery's extensive property and activities.

The current Gothic-style building was initiated by Henry III in 1245, and was then for several centuries was continually being expanded or altered until 1517. The building then remained unaltered until 1722 when construction began on the two distinctive towers, complete by 1745.

Henry VIII, who ordered the demolition of all abbeys, wanted to keep the building, so circumvented his own decree by granting the abbey cathedral status. Under Mary I, the abbey was briefly handed over to the Benedictine order, but in 1560 Elizabeth I ejected them, and made the abbey a "Royal Peculiar", directly ruled by the sovereign rather than the local diocese. Since that time, the abbey has been neither a true abbey nor a cathedral, but a church owned by the sovereign, (except during the Commonwealth of 1649-1660, when it was owned by parliament)

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
The paper run
Some client prep
Me Time
Missus Time

Twitter Followers = 2,057 (up 1)
Non-followed eliminated = 0
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Unfollowers eliminated = 0
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New Followers followed back = 1
@Chris Milbank
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3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

PINNACLE CHRISTMAS: DAY 9 OF 13
Sunday followed the pattern of a standard Sunday, with the exception that the afternoon meditation was replaced with a full sleep, to pay back sleep debt. As such it went smoothly. My body clock these days, regardless of what time I went to bed, usually (but not dependably!) gets me up at 5am, and this morning was no exception. This suits me fine as I get all my blogging done, but with late nights, the 2pm-4pm nap has become a standard feature over the holiday.

I am now entering the much looked-forward to phase between Christmas and New Year as I don't have the Weekend Job to do, as they both fall at the weekend. I expect them to be generally easy-going with some business prep, promotional work and housework thrown in.

Mindstate, after the minor upset of Boxing day evening, has returned to calm and grateful, allowing consciousness to rise above the character once more. After some experimentation, I have found the best place for consciousness to sit is "on the character's shoulder", seeing from this point in time and space without becoming "lost" in the character.

The challenge to staying superconscious is emotional reaction, which can override consciousness and drag it back down to dreamstate, the standard character-identified state of mankind. There's no easy cure for emotional override, only the continual practice of Mindfulness to enable you to quickly rise back above the emotion to experience it from a dissociated mode.

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Are you fully in control of yourself?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
Dry and cloudy throughout with a moderate north-easterly wind
Max Temp = 9 deg C at noon
Min Temp = 8 degC at 7am
Sunrise at 08:25
Sunset at 15:52
Moon:

Weathertrack: Britain is in a run of southerly winds between depressions in the Atlantic and an anticyclone over Scandanavia

Air Pressure: 1017 millibars and falling

6. TODAY'S ONELINER

There I was floating in the womb minding my own business when someone shouted YOU ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP! :D

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!

Mock The Week - Unlikely things to hear on Question Time

8. TRIVIA

Of the thousands of chemical agents in tobacco smoke, more than 50 have been proven to cause cancer.

9. ZEN WISDOM

Just as a diamond can only be polished by another diamond, it is only through genuine, all-out engagement with others that people can polish their character, and help each other to reach greater heights.

Saturday, 26 December 2015

SUNDAY 27th DECEMBER 2015 06:51 GMT

Read my book - ENLIGHTENMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK

Also available - EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
WISDOM, HUMOUR, AND LOTS OF OTHER INTERESTING STUFF CAN BE FOUND ON MY PINTEREST PAGE and FACEBOOK PAGE
TO FIND OUT WHAT I DO, CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE

1. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
27th December 1979
The Soviet Union occupies Afghanistan after "Operation Storm-333"
The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, established in 1978 after a coup d'etat by Afghan communists, was initially led by Nur Muhammad Taraki, who was pro-Soviet Union, so Afghan–Soviet relations were friendly. However Taraki's reforms angered most of the devoutly muslim and conservative population, and by April 1979 the government had lost control of the whole country outside the major cities, and there was disquiet within the Afghan Communist party.

In September 1979, Taraki was deposed by Hafizullah Amin, due to intra-party strife. After this event and the suspicious death of Taraki (an apparent assassination by Amin's followers), Afghan–Soviet relations started to deteriorate; by December the Soviet leadership had established an alliance with Babrak Karmal. The Soviet Union declared its plan to intervene in Afghanistan on 12 December 1979, and the Soviet leadership initiated Operation Storm-333 (the first phase of the intervention) on 27 December 1979.

Soviet forces stormed the Tajbeg Palace in Afghanistan and captured Afghan President Hafizullah Amin. Several other government buildings were seized during the operation, including the Ministry of Interior building, the Internal Security (KHAD) building, and the General Staff building (Darul Aman Palace). An unknown number of Afghan palace guards were killed while 150 were captured. Amin's 11-year-old son died from shrapnel wounds. The Soviets installed Babrak Karmal as Amin's successor.

The military operation had been a complete success, returning a pro-Soviet regime to Afghanistan. The victory however proved to be hollow, as even massive Soviet military intervention failed to suppress and control a deeply hostile population in Afghanistan's mountainous and difficult terrain.

The Soviet Union became embroiled in a fruitless ten year struggle to prop up the deeply unpopular Communist government, losing over 14,000 men. In February 1989 the Soviet Union abandoned Afghanistan.

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
The milk run
Ironing
Lunch
Afternoon nap
Me Time
Missus Time

Twitter Followers = 2,056 (up 1)
Non-followed eliminated = 0
-
Unfollowers eliminated = 1
@littlehashtag
New Followers followed back = 1
@kukarain
Spammers not followed back = 1
@FreeLoglines

3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

PINNACLE CHRISTMAS: DAY 8 OF 13
Boxing Day was great with a sour end. After a some great Missus time and me time, including a feat of TV footie and comedy after, a final late session with the quadcopter got frustrating when one of the propellers developed a fault I couldn't get to the bottom of before the battery went flat.

Son, who had proposed some quality time involving a game of Chess, never followed through (again!) Both Missus and Son went to their bedrooms, and I discovered a pile of their dirty crockery in the kitchen. For all the joys of the day I suddenly felt very frustrated and lonely. My consciousness, which would in previous years have dissolved into fury, kinda rose above the situation to look down on it from a higher plane, though this did not quell the emotion, only the behaviour of the character.

Despite it now being midnight, I dived into housework, clearing all the shite I'd been left, then decided to cheer myself up on the laptop, finally hitting the sack around 02:15. Nevertheless, my body-clock still woke me at 05:00. I decided to go with it and pay off the sleep debt this afternoon, as that way I can prevent further housework backlogs.

On a plus-note, the mystery of the high-pressure boiler was solved - the water inlet tap was not tightly closed. Shutting it tight last night, the excess water drained out of the exterior pressure-relief valve and the boiler was down to normal pressure this morning.

Reflecting on yesterday, I'm finding that the quadcopter, though something I'd wanted for some time, is a potential source of unhappiness. You can't just start it up and fly it - it's an incredibly difficult thing to master and maintain. Now I'm conscious of this, I will endeavour to ensure it doesn't spoil the rest of the holiday, and I will greatly limit the time I spend on it.

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Are you aware of things that are distracting you from your goal?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
Dry and cloudy throughout
A light south-westerly will swing south-easterly in the afternoon
Max Temp = 10 degC at midnight
Min Temp = 6 degC at 7am
Sunrise at 08:25
Sunset at 15:51
Moon:

Weathertrack: The weather front that has been over Britain for 48 hours will remain for today but will weaken considerably then move north overnight as the anticyclone over southern Europe intensifies

Air pressure: 1014 millibars and rising

6. TODAY'S ONELINER

All shoes are buy one get one free :D

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!

Mock The Week: Things you wouldn't hear in a sci-fi film

8. TRIVIA

In 2010, there were more farm animals living in the U.S. than there were humans on earth.

9. ZEN WISDOM

Dialogue starts from the courageous willingness to know and be known by others. It is the painstaking and persistent effort to remove all obstacles that obscure our common humanity.

Friday, 25 December 2015

BOXING DAY, SATURDAY 26th DECEMBER 2015 06:22 GMT

Read my book - ENLIGHTENMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK

Also available - EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
WISDOM, HUMOUR, AND LOTS OF OTHER INTERESTING STUFF CAN BE FOUND ON MY PINTEREST PAGE and FACEBOOK PAGE
TO FIND OUT WHAT I DO, CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE

1. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
26th December 1991
The end of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was a result of the declaration no. 142-Н of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, acknowledging the independence of the former Soviet republics and creating the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), although five of the signatories ratified it much later or not at all. On the previous day, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, resigned, declared his office extinct, and handed over its powers – including control of the Soviet nuclear missile launching codes – to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. That evening at 7:32 p.m., the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary Russian flag.

Previously, from August to December, all the individual republics, including Russia itself, had seceded from the union. The week before the union's formal dissolution, 11 republics – all except the Baltic states and Georgia – signed the Alma-Ata Protocol formally establishing the CIS and declaring that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. The dissolution of the USSR (Russian: Распад СССР) also signaled the end of the Cold War. The Revolutions of 1989 and the end of the Soviet Union led to the end of decades-long hostility between North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact, the defining feature of the Cold War.

Several of the former Soviet republics have retained close links with the Russian Federation and formed multilateral organizations such as the Eurasian Economic Community, the Union State, the Eurasian Customs Union, and the Eurasian Economic Union to enhance economic and security cooperation. Some have joined NATO and the European Union or aspire to do so, to enhance their military and economic independence from Russia.

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
The Milk Run
Ironing
Me Time
Missus Time
Family Time

Twitter Followers = 2,055 (up 1)
Non-followed eliminated = 0
-
Unfollowers eliminated = 0
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New Followers followed back = 1
@ameliamichaels
Spammers not followed back = 0
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3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

PINNACLE CHRISTMAS: DAY 7 OF 13
Christmas Day was generally great - no fallouts or upsets of any kind, everyone got presents they wanted, there were no stupid presents and so no complaints whatsoever. However, to grow means to nitpick the minor negatives quietly to oneself in order to learn from them.

Christmas dinner was a slight weak point in that I partially burned the Yorkshire puddings (we all ate them anyway) and I got a little impatient with Son whilst serving, and though he rightly protested, he didn't hold a grudge, probably because he did rather well out of us this year.

I got a quadcopter drone to my delight, but found that flying the thing was something of a challenge, especially when cat hairs get caught in the shafts of the propellers, and they're fiddly to unravel. The other challenge was the water pressure in the boiler, which after continually draining to 0 out of the external pressure-relief valve has become stuck at 3 bar (too high) despite the pressure-relief valve still letting out water and extensive radiator bleeding.

The quadcopter got de-haired but is still not hovering straight so there's a challenge sorting that one. I'm beginning to disbelieve the boiler pressure gauge, particularly after all the water I drained from the radiators and the boiler still works fine anyway. I decided to just not tamper any longer and see what happens. It certainly came on fine this morning!

These technical challenges only served to reinforce my belief about happiness, which is that happiness is not the absence of challenges but fulfilment in relationships and purpose. I am also pleased that my mindfulness quickly picked up on and corrected times of impatience, and I quickly returned to kindness and gentleness. Saving my wrath for genuine predators and the self-interested has been a very important learning point. With undesirables now suitably distant, I am freed up to fine-tune, focus and enhance kindness to loved ones, fans and neutrals.

Without a disciplined structure, eating and sleeping has become a little chaotic in the past few days! Letting myself go for Christmas has led to both overeating and sugar-crashes, and I have been waking early (around 04:00) meaning I need 2 hours in the afternoon. Since Missus also likes an afternoon nap (at 4-5 hours) this is not a problem on holiday!

Now I am entering the second half of the holiday, the reintroduction of at least partial discipline is necessary for wellbeing, so I will endeavour not to nibble all day or binge on chocolate, as enjoyable as that was yesterday!

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Are you completely honest with yourself?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
Heavy rain throughout and a moderate to strong south-westerly wind
Max Temp = 12 degC at noon
Min Temp = 8 degC at midnight
Sunrise at 08:25
Sunset at 15:50

Weathertrack: A strong weather front will remain static over Britain
Air Pressure: 1009 millibars and falling slightly

6. TODAY'S ONELINER
All I want for Christmas is to win an argument :D

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!
Two And A Half Men featuring Jenny McCarthy

8. TRIVIA
Cholesterol can be too low as well as too high. Low cholesterol levels have been associated with higher rates of suicide, violence, Alzheimer’s, and accidents. Scientists suggest that cholesterol plays a critical role in neuron signaling and brain structure.

9. ZEN WISDOM
We must each initiate action in the direction we believe to be right. We must refuse the temptation to passively accommodate ourselves to present realities and embark upon the challenge of creating a new reality.