Kilmarnock Evolution Soccer 3

Smoking In Public
One thing that annoyed me the other day was the claim (by some MP, I think) that, by smoking in public, Kate Moss was setting a bad example to teenage girls. Now this annoyed me because, although Kate Moss, like many celebrities, spends much her time in the public eye, she is not public property. What she does in her spare time is up to her and so long as she's not smoking on the catwalk, I say leave her alone. It's the media, in particular tabloid photographers, who are in the wrong by taking pictures of Ms. Moss with a fag in her mouth. Surely they are to blame, not her. Nobody's forcing them to take the pictures and publish them in the Sun, now, are they?

Moving
On the domestic front, I've temporarily moved into a friend's place in Kilmarnock. What's very handy about it is that there is a supermarket/garage right across the road, not to mention pubs, restaurants and also the train/bus station nearby. Also, I'm paying a low rent as well (£45 a week, all inclusive), so can't complain. There is a bigger price to pay and that is a long commute, but I'll see how it goes. I'll give it a 2-4 week trial period before making any further commitments.
So far, Kilmarnock doesn't seem as bad as I previously thought. Before, the only impression I had of the place was passing through on the Ayr-Glasgow bus, when it always seemed to be a really overcast, grey day, with neds hanging around everywhere. From that perspective, you can't really blame me for thinking the place was a shithole.

Amateur Evolution Soccer
I played 5 a side again, and this time I enjoyed it more, because my fitness has improved and even my ability to an extent. It follows that the more stamina you have, the more effort you can put into attempting trickery, shots etc. I'm still not quite the standard of Ronaldinho but I hope to gradually improve each week, barring injury.
What helped a lot was that we played 5's on a 7's pitch and so there was acres of space in which to make runs and pick out passes. As a result it was a very attacking game, end to end stuff. Eventually I think I'd like to play 2-3 times a week. This was only the 3rd week running I'd played but since the first time I feel as if I've come on leaps and bounds.

Pro Evolution Soccer
I was involved in a Pro Evolution Soccer tournament, somewhere in a secret North Ayrshire location. Notable were the semi-finals, which were both full of drama and heartache. I lost mine 4-3, so because I didn't win, I'm going to go off in a huff and not mention it any more.

Settling In
In general I think I've been settling in to working full time again. It's not just the whole cameraderie of getting used to early mornings, public transport times etc, but also there is the other aspect to it, namely retraining yourself to be able to think productively etc. That's one thing I've found in the past, that after having been out of work for a while, it takes quite a bit of getting used to again. At this stage I feel more confident as am much more familiar e.g. with SQL Server whereas at the start, it was far more daunting as I had much more to learn.
My point is that I think you get to the stage where you are cruising along to an extent, where if there's a problem to be solved, you know where to look and what steps to take, rather than being totally lost and frustrated. That's why this time round I'm going to try and take care to hang onto the job and not drift again into the dark world of unemployment.
Early mornings I still find tough, but as time goes on, it gets marginally easier. It's too easy to think the grass is always greener somewhere else but if I was jobless again, I'd be wishing I had a job, and cursing leaving the last one. Been there, done that, sold the t-shirt just so I had some money.