Daily Life

A lifeblog is not for now, it's for the future

Posted on 2012-08-22 06:35 by rv

The concept of lifeblogging should be familiar to anyone who reads this blog. I write whatever is in my head at the moment. Yet that's exactly what I haven't been doing the past year, and I regret it. Perhaps I've been bored on some occasions, but to write nothing is wrong. Because in the future I will have forgotten entirely what I did that year, and without a blog entry to guide my memory I won't be able to recall what I was doing in the past. Blog posts and photos. Those are the guiding threads of memory.

Log your life. Your future self will thank you for it.

Posted in Daily Life , Thoughts

As expected..

Posted on 2012-07-23 07:19 by rv

My estate agent just called me to let me know that she won't be able to make it today, exactly as I predicted yesterday. She said she had to bring her children to school. On Saturday when she was checking the room I asked her in person THREE FUCKING TIMES if she would be able to make it on Monday, and she said yes. Incompetent.

Anyway, she's going to check the room after I've left it, meaning she'll have every chance to throw weird allegations at me and do evil things to try and keep my money. Therefore I took photos of my apartment last night and posted them online here: https://www.colorfulwolf.com/pics/apt20120723. If you care about my situation please download these photos and leave a comment so that I have some evidence that I actually left the room like this. I realize this is not much in the way of evidence and I have no idea if it will hold up in court, but I need to cover every single base because this woman could seriously screw me over if she was so inclined.

Argh. At least I don't have to see that annoying face of her again.

Posted in Daily Life , UK

The last of the estate agent

Posted on 2012-07-22 23:35 by rv

It's been an interesting couple of days. I got a call from my estate agent on Wednesday about finishing everything up before I leave. I told her I'd be leaving on Monday morning but would have to leave very early. She said she understood and acknowledged I was a 'special case' (her words, not mine) and to do the room check on Saturday at 10AM. She even confirmed that I would be moving out on Monday and that these were special circumstances. I spent most of the Friday cleaning up the place for the room check and did not have time to work.

Then Saturday arrived, and she called me at 9:30AM, said she couldn't make it and if we could reschedule to 4PM. Not happy about this I told her I already had other plans for my Saturday, but she had no other time slot, so I gave in and stayed at home until 4PM, catching up on the work that I missed the day before.

Then she arrived at 4PM, asked me some silly unrelated questions and then asked me for my keys since I would be moving out right after the check. I told her that no, this was not what we agreed on over the phone, and that I would be moving out on Monday. She then changed her mind completely and said that she couldn't do the room check then. This pissed me off greatly as she had essentially ruined my Saturday for fucking nothing. I told her that I had to leave Monday morning early at 9AM, and that I would not have time to spare if anything will take longer than expected, but she insisted on doing the room check on Monday anyway. I confirmed with her twice that I would absolutely leave at 9AM to catch my flight, and she said she was okay with that.

What I expect to happen: she will make up some silly issue that would have to cause the professional cleaners to come in, which will cost me 100 pounds. I will try to argue the point with her but I will have to leave to catch my flight. She will then deduct 100 pounds from my deposit before returning it, or find another reason to not return my deposit at all. Because she is that kind of woman.

After her visit finished on Saturday I was so angry that I had to walk to the park to cool off. I spent at least an hour there, just sitting, thinking about things, being angry at her. She is by far the most incompetent and malicious person I have ever had dealings with and I regret it greatly that I ever signed a contract with her. The only way I can keep myself to think slightly positive about the situation, is to assume that I've already lost my entire deposit. That way I'll be happy if I see a part of it back. That said, I can fully see this ending in a court case if she decides she can take advantage of me in some other way. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Posted in Daily Life , UK

It's about trust

Posted on 2012-07-21 18:31 by rv

I'm just so tired right now I can't be bothered to write the post I was about to write. I'm fed up, really. So just take my word for it. Never trust middle men, ever. Be quick to trust friends, be quick to drop the trust when they betray it. In Japan, trust strangers. In London, don't. Don't become cynical. If you are emotionally unable to recognize when to trust people, then you have a problem and you should get help. Trust is what allows you to enjoy life. Trust that everything will be ok. Trust that no one will steal your bicycle or your backpack. Do not lose your trust after one bad experience. Don't let the world win. You can be better than all those people who do not deserve your trust. Don't give up. Be better.

Posted in Daily Life , Thoughts

An environment that promotes blogging

Posted on 2012-07-17 19:09 by rv

I'm sitting here at the Google cafeteria, just finished my dinner. One of the perks that this job brings is that I get to eat here whenever I like, and since I've been moving stuff out of my apartment I've been coming here more frequently. I think I've already lost the idea that 'the place where I sleep' is equivalent to 'my home'. I don't feel a particular urge to go back; I'm just as comfortable here.

This feeling reminds me of the time I was cycling around Japan. Back then I also had every important material possession with me. Except back then I was living off of a netbook and the iPad was not released yet. These days I adventure about with a laptop that's just as powerful as any desktop and plays games pretty well, and an iPad for every other occassion. Travelling convenience has increased massively since then.

Travelling habits, on the other hand, have remained the same. When I'm out in the open like this I change my habits. If I were at home I would immediately revert back to the daily slur of making dinner, watching anime I don't really care about and surfing the interwebz for pictures of silly cats. But when I'm in the travelling mindset I better enjoy periods of doing nothing, and I feel more inclined to think about things. And blog.

I think this is a good thing. If you take a look at this blog you'll see that I hardly blogged at all during the past year. It's not just that the daily slur means that nothing blog-worthy happens; the daily slur also prevents blog-worthy thoughts from entering your head. Which is a shame, because I see this blog as a record of my life. Twenty years from now I will want to look back on how I thought about life at the moment of writing this, and some periods I just can't get back because I didn't blog about them.

On that note, I am planning to keep on having an 'open' lifestyle for quite some time after my trip, so hopefully I'll end up blogging a bit more. There's a lot of topics I want to cover here, most importantly how cynical, judgmental and unaccepting I've become. That said, I'm in the calm before the storm now. Maybe when my trip is over I'll be longing to get back into that boring daily-life slur again. But I doubt it. Let's hope I can keep my current momentum going. The time for change is upon us once more!

Posted in Daily Life , Thoughts

A bad banking experience

Posted on 2012-07-16 11:46 by rv

Before writing this post I planned on keeping the name of the bank anonymous, but then I looked through my previous blogposts and found that I had already named Barclays and my unhappiness with them several times. So there's not much point in anonymizing this. Just keep in mind that I may have been unlucky in my dealings with Barclays, and you may get an actual nice person who serves you properly. Personally I think that's a load of crap and they're all told to stick to their silly scripts. Anyway, here's my story.

I'm trying to get a business bank account set up before I go on holiday the next Monday. Last Wednesday I called Barclays up to inquire about a business bank account and they assured me that it would be all ready to go within 5 working days, including internet banking. It sounded great, and the guy I spoke to on the phone actually seemed like a decent guy who was quick and to the point. He set me up with an appointment for today with no hassle. He is the only person in Barclays I ever spoke to who seemed sincerely helpful. Everyone else is just out to get you to sign up for more products.

So I showed up this morning for my 'introductionary' talk. I made it quite clear right from the start that I already have an accountant and he's helping me with the finances, and that I just wanted the account set up quickly. My personal banker then proceeded to do the whole scripted conversation bullshit, asking me about my interests, my history and whatnot. He swivelled his screen to me so I could see what he was typing. And he couldn't spell for shit. Dressed in a suit, looking proper, but not able to spell words like 'maintenance' ('maintainance') or even 'developer' (devloper, spelled consistently wrong several times). That's just crap, and does not inspire confidence.

The bit about my interests and hobbies took a while, so I asked him why they needed this information. The response was that they could give me an improved personalized experience, or some other marketing bullshittiness to that tone. I thought 'whatever' and just ran with it.

"What are your hobbies?"
-Well, I like to cycle.
"Ok, that's nice. Please give me something more so we can better personalize your experience. "
- Could you explain how this will help me get a business bank account?
"<bullshitbullshitbullshitbullshitbullshit>"
- I see.
"So please give me some more of your hobbies."
- Hmm, I like photography
"That's kind of generic. What kind of photography do you like?"
- fuck this shit

I didn't say the last bit, but at that moment I was convinced that this was not the right bank for me. I just want a goddamn bank account! Knowing that I like landscape photography is not going to help with that. Argh...

The topic changed to my business. My personal banker seemed to have a hard time understanding that I did not want Barclays' help in finding clients. I told him dozens of times already that I just wanted the bank account, and I emphasized that I find my own clients and have no trouble finding clients, but he just couldn't grasp it. I really had to hammer it in before he finally moved on.

And the next topic was the breaking point, really. I had been promised over the phone that my account plus internet banking would be ready to use within 5 business days. Now, I realize that this is quite a demanding wish, especially for a business bank account which would take more time to set up than a personal one. But Barclays had already told me it would be possible within 5 days, so when the guy I spoke to casually mentioned it would take 7 to 10 working days I had just reached my limit. I told him that's too long and told him I would decide after my holiday. He tried to keep me hooked but I ignored his attempts and left. He did not have a happy face on when I walked out the door.

So I went to HSBC. The second I walked in I was treated like a human and not like a data entry point to be taken advantage of. I asked how long it would take to set up a business bank account and they told me it can be done in one day, with internet banking working the next day, and they'll give me everything I need to access internet banking on the spot, unlike Barclays which would have to send stuff by post long after the account is activated. I'm meeting with HSBC on Wednesday. Let's see if they're as good as they promise. And even if they're not, it won't take much effort to be better than Barclays.

Posted in Daily Life , UK

Tempo

Posted on 2012-07-15 11:12 by rv

Recently I read the Tempo Book by Venkatesh Rao, one of my favourite bloggers. It's about how changes of pace in yourself and other people affect you in daily life, both in the immediate short-term such as when you're in a meeting, or in the very long term, such as planning out different phases of your life. I found quite a few parallels/applications to my own life so I definitely recommend it.

The thing I realized since coming to work at Potato is that my working tempo tends to affect my home/living tempo. My work tempo tends to vary a lot from month to month depending on what we're doing. Usually it's fairly busy, with crunch times every once in a while, and relaxing times occurring at about the same or slightly lower frequency than the crunch times.

I find that whenever I am in a busy period at work, I artificially make myself busy at home too. I'll suddenly feel the need to do two things at the same time, all the time. Or I'll suddenly be motivated again to work on that personal project I neglected for so long. Although the triggers for this sudden activity may be the busy periods at work, they don't happen at the same time. Usually they happen just after, when work has quieted down a bit. Perhaps I'm missing the business and am trying to continue the trend at home?

The reverse is probably also true, but perhaps less noticeable: when not busy at work I am not busy at home. This particular period is a bit of an exception because I have to deal with a ton of things before I'm moving out, but I can't think of another counterexample to this statement.

I'm not sure if the relation is one-way or two-way; does my home tempo affect my work tempo? When I was working from my parent's home during a brief holiday it did. I had trouble motivating myself for work then and in the end decided to work less hours but at a high intensity. This is not usually the case though. I guess my home tempo tends to be more stable than my work tempo, which is why home doesn't affect work so much.

The reason I wanted to blog about this is very simple. If you're used to working at a higher tempo, you start to equate doing stuff at a high pace with being happy. Suddenly you feel like if you do less that you can't be happy. This is very untrue but can get you stuck in a high-speed depression if you're not careful. After giving yourself time to adjust (days, usually) you'll find that living at a slower pace is perhaps more satisfying than living at a fast pace. At least, that's the conclusion I settled on, your mileage may vary.

If I had to graph my happiness versus things I got done, there would be a negative correlation between them after a certain amount of activities. Below x activities per day I feel like I'm not doing anything and wasting my life; above x activities per day I feel stressed and like I can't do the things I really want to do. The value of x and the comfort zone around it will vary from person to person.

My tempo is going to change in the next few months: for the first time in my life I will keep a steady work tempo and will introduce a variable life tempo. I'll be going on holiday, moving from place to place, while trying to do my work remotely. I've never attempted this for such a long period before. I'm giving myself the so-needed disconnect time at the end of my holiday, but for the first few weeks I'll be trying to do my hours as usual.

A new experiment! I'll let you know how it goes.

Posted in Daily Life , Thoughts | Tagged tempo

Incorporated, Inc.

Posted on 2012-07-11 18:29 by rv

Well, I own a company now. Somehow I managed to ignore the entire issue for almost a year and managed to just be self-employed, but now I've finally taken the plunge and got an accountant. Crunch got my company up and running in three days flat, and I'm very happy about that. I'm not sure what instigated the sudden action on my part. I had the whole year to get it done yet somehow I'm doing it in the final two weeks before I go on a long holiday. Ugh.

I'm not quite done yet. There's still a business bank account to get and all the billing stuff to set up. But soon I will be paying myself a salary.

On an entirely unrelated note: does anyone know where I can buy a good touring bicycle in Japan? I want one with rear and front luggage rack.

Posted in Daily Life | Tagged boring

Tearing down the Wall of Mundanity

Posted on 2012-06-03 12:21 by rv

My girlfriend brought me this board when I first moved into my apartment last year. Since then we've been using it to stick mundane things on there: the Ikea shopping list for my initial furniture, receipts of supermarket trips, local pizzeria menus, that one time I couldn't be bothered to do the JLPT, and a parking ticket. Today I am tearing it down.

This apartment has brought me nothing but misery. I've never felt comfortable here. Some reasons for this I can pinpoint, others I can't. I don't know if it's related to everyday life or not. I think if I was living in a hotel or with a weird Indian landlady, I wouldn't feel the need to 'have a perfect place', whereas if I have an apartment of my own, I want it to be perfect. Perfection in housing cannot be obtained in London, and I was a fool for trying to achieve it.

I still feel massively pressured by having to deal with my estate agent to get everything taken care of to get rid of this apartment. But I'm already anticipating that moment next month when I'll be able to get rid of all the misery related to this place. I'll be unburdened again. I will go on a long trip, and when I come back, I will try again.

Posted in Daily Life

Leaving it all behind

Posted on 2012-06-01 10:34 by rv

Ugh.

There's so much crap I have to deal with in getting my apartment cancelled, internet cancelled, flights booked/rebooked/changed. I'm really getting tired of everything and just want to leave it all behind.

July 23rd, that's when I'm done with all this bullshit. I can't wait.

Posted in Daily Life , UK

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