It is vaguely nerve-wracking to think that I will be raising a daughter into a world I don’t understand – I only got a mobile phone when I was 19 or 20, whereas she will no doubt want one at 5 or 6. How much should I moderate her internet usage in her teenage years? What is the best way of killing her first boyfriend? I suppose this is all a long way in the future. At the moment, the closest she gets to surfing the internet or dating is doing a poo and then laughing. And that is not very close.*

She can say “daddy” but only when no-one else is there. This is quite frustrating!

Panther likes: sorting plastic shapes, baths, pooing, sleeping on her face with her bum in the air, cuddles, biscuits and long walks by the sea
Panther doesn’t like: getting up in the morning, noisy environments, sharing books, having her eye cleaned, prawns

* unless you come from Glasgow, where it is an established courtship ritual

I do still love her. I do.

2011 did see me resume blogging in a semi-regular fashion. Let’s see how that continues!

There’s always the cooking blog that the wife has initiated. But how likely is it that I will move from zero blogs to two without fading out again? (Rhetorical.)

In other (dull) news, I continue to fiddle with the format of the blog to no real avail, but I am sure I will settle on a theme I like one day. The best way of reading the blog remains by feed or on a mobile phone, where the idiosyncracies of my formatting are largely overwritten by native format!

I could get on better with boring fitness activities if I could find some way of enjoying some music at the same time, but I have yet to find a pair of earphones that are comfortable/don’t mash my glasses to my face in a lop-sided manner/don’t fall out upon physical exertion.

I have been swimming a lot with Panther. This is not much effort as although she needs holding the whole time, she is quite light. She is good at swimming, and can hold onto the side. She will close her eyes if she goes under water, but unfortunately gets overexcited and opens her mouth. She is only small.

Again Panther-inspired, we go on more walks of a weekend. This is nice, and probably has a small but non-zero impact on my health.

I have a new gym routine which I enjoy. It is very focussed on core strength. Also, I can do press ups again after 10 years of being a weakling! Hooray!

However, a friend of mine who also attends the gym says I remind him of Walter the softie from the Beano. Goal: beef up and then kill him.

Don't make the same mistake Dennis did and underestimate me. I will mess you up, son.

I have started to learn aikido, as there is a dojo a short walk from our house (in an old school). It is good, and is refreshing some of the things I knew back in the day when I was more fit and did Ju Jitsu.

Bizarrely, some of what should be an advantage is working against me somewhat, and I find techniques where my old and new learning is similar but not identical to be hardest. A lot of the gymnastics you do in martial arts are slightly different between styles and it is hard to unlearn something to relearn (particularly when it is something you have learned to stop your head accelerating towards the floor).

Martial arts are taught in an interesting manner. I am quite interested in learning how to manipulate the human body. I am fairly uninterested in learning how to be a Japanese person (and one at that who lives in the 15th century). It is sometimes difficult to separate the two.

In other news, Christmas has been unkind to my waistline (press ups notwithstanding) and RJ has put us both on a diet for the new year. I am also considering starting spinning on Wednesdays! Spinning is like death on bikes, but less fun.

Join me later in the week for more boring updates from 2011. I am also late presenting the December Chrlog round-up to a grateful public. It’s non-stop excitement round here, n’est-ce pas?

To whit: We will be cooking at least one new recipe each week and sharing the results at The Hoblog.

Longstanding fans of the Chrlog will recognise the etymology.

If you can stomach** the thought of yet another cooking blog, why not pay it a visit?

* something like bird’s nest soup, perhaps? Ha ha ha…
** there is rich material here for fans of the terrible pun.

I continue to be one of the only members who both read and play dynamics and who watch the conductor. Someone has to.

I had no organ-playing engagements in 2011 after my resurgence in 2010 at one carol concert. But I have heard a lot of terrible organ playing. It is a shame that my collapse into irreligiosity has deprived the world of my genius (read: mediocrity). Playing an organ is an interesting thing, and it can be quite physical, but at its heart it is about following other people. A lot of organists forget this. Also, a lot are in their nineties, which is a challenge.

I practised the piano very infrequently in 2011 and must improve this over the next year.

I wrote 80% of a carol, and composed nothing else. As usual. My opera is on hold until after I have passed all of my exams.

If a vacancy does come up, I will of course advertise here first.

January started with me failing an exam and the rest of the year has consisted of me taking said exam again and again and again. Once again in January I find myself awaiting the postman. I am fed up of exams. I am thirty years old, for pity’s sake!

As of April 2012 I (currently) find myself with no job. Life is not very easy in the post-coalition world. There has been much re-organisation, even by our normal standards. One happy note is that I will almost certainly be able to attend the Wedding of Stephen, soon to be Lord of all Chocolate. April is quite a dicey time for the accounting profession, and now I will either have it as pre-booked holiday or indeed I will be a Lord myself, of leisure. Of course, should I be going back to work post-wedding, I will be plunged into a hellish chaos, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

On the debit side, I am settling into my new career and have started to think in financial years and, yes, debits and credits. This, I feel, is the beginning of the end. Soon I will have to wave goodbye to my dreams of being a rock star.

Chris de Chrlog and the Accruals

In an effort to publish something this time, I am posting this in parts. The first part will be about work. Scintillating!

So, in the words of my spam commenters: “An absorbing communication is designer mention. I judge that you should write more on this substance, it strength not be a inhibition matter but generally fill are not sufficiency to communicate on such topics. To the succeeding. Cheers like your Worst spam comment ever The Chrlog.”

Wise words indeed. Onward!

2012 has brought back blue mouthwash to the Chrlog household for which there must be much rejoicing. Even though I still prefer the red.