Pieces of a Man Think it. Do it. Be it. Embellish.

67.68.69.70.71.72.73.74.75.76 77.78.79.80.81.82.83.84.85.86 87.88.89.90.91.92.93.94.95.96 97.98.99.00.01.02.03.04.05.06 07.08.09.10

... 40 to go. A whole 11 days has passed since I last posted anything, much of which was gearing up for and coming down from Nick's wedding. What a great day, and what a perfect reflection of the love in the world for Nick. A highlight for me was meeting my cousin, Catherine, and Nick's mate, Toby, again for the first time in over 20 years. It was wonderful to see how well two shy, unassuming teenagers have blossomed into such fine people. Toby's speech, especially, was something to cherish.

Eleven days of non-posting on the study front is a bit scary since it takes me past the half way point. A lot of that nervousness comes from knowing that I've not been doing much 'study' in this period in the sense of sitting at home hunched over books. I should really have an understanding of research methods pouring out of my ears at this point, whereas in fact I've been resisting Messrs Gill and Johnson ('Research Methods for Managers') for weeks and finding other things that need to be done.

However, maybe things are not as bad as they seem because during this period much of the nuts and bolts of what needs to happen has been progressing steadily - questionnaires, training and coaching. This must be the equivalent of cruising at 36,000 feet - less nerve-wracking and interesting than take-off and landing, but actually comprising the bulk of what is needed to get from A to B.

So today I'm going to grit my teeth and tackle those research methods in the hope that I don't look like a tit next week when I catch up with my supervisor. If I can do it successfully then hopefully it will spur me on to start gearing up for the two weeks in March when I plan to write everything up. At the moment the prospect is looming on the horizon like a prison sentence, but I just keep telling myself that one day I shall be free.

One man who's already free - literally - is Gil Scott-Heron, and quite a lot of my recent displacement activity has been driven by a growing frenzy about his April UK dates. Talking to siblings at the wedding, I realised that it must be strange for them to see a grown man in a state of such fevered excitement about seeing a grizzled old poet growling away at the organ. However, I've literally been waiting years for this; I can't even count the number of times I sat searching the web in the early hours to see if he'd been released yet, and then it happened.

Even after that, though, I never, ever imagined that he'd actually work again, let alone get back into the UK. It's truly a dream come true. Enjoy...

Labels: 2010