Christopher Hamilton

The day is finally here. After a long, hard campaign we will finally discover who is going to be the 44th President of the United States.

If I could vote in the American election, my vote would be emphatically for Barack Obama. Unfortunately I can’t, and so I have to watch and hope that the American public do the right thing and remove the Republican party from power.

I look at the campaign John McCain ran, and his poor, poor choice of running mate, and can’t help but be terrified of the prospect of another Republican President. Especially when his successor (should he be unable to complete his full term), is a completely unqualified, extreme right wing, nut job. The Republican campaign seems to have been all about making the American public afraid of Barack Obama, and spreading terrible rumours and lies about him. It became an extremely negative campaign that really had nothing of any real value in it at all. Whereas the Democratic campaign revolved around the problems the American people have, and what Barack Obama, and the Democratic party, wants to do to resolve them. Of course, I’m coming from a very biased stand point here. I do have respect for John McCain as a man, how could I not. He has been through, and done some remarkable things in his life. But as a politician I have lost all respect for him.

I don’t understand the people that vote for a party that panders to the Fundamentalist Christian right. I struggle to come to terms with those that believe in creationism, that women shouldn’t have the right to choose to have an abortion, that are bigoted in so many ways, or are so forceful in their religious beliefs that they have no respect for the beliefs of others. The people that think if you don’t agree with their small minded viewpoint of the world you are an unpatriotic heathen. If you give me the choice of two groups, one contains a large percentage of religious zealots with no ability to allow other beliefs or viewpoints into their lives, or one that prides itself on being smart, articulate, and are able to look at the world from perspectives other than their own, I know who my choice to lead a nation would be. The fact that in 2008 this choice is such a close run thing in America baffles me, it really does. I know there is a great deal more to the Republican party, but because of that extreme right wing, everything of any value is completely drowned out.

In Barack Obama the Democrats have found a very intelligent, idealistic man who has been able to capture the American peoples imagination with his inspiring oratory skills. He has given them something that has been desperately needed for the last 8 years. Someone who has the ability to make them believe that they can be better than they’ve become. America is the most powerful nation in the world, like it or not, but the damage George W. Bush, and the Republican party have done to their reputation and standing in the world has been catastrophic. Obama has to potential to repair that reputation throughout the world, he has the potential to put America back on the right track in a world that is bigger than themselves.

I look at America as it stands today and I can’t believe how far they’ve fallen. I watched them four, and eight years ago and gaped in disbelief as they elected a complete idiot to the highest office in their country. I look at them and see an opportunity to finally reverse those monumental errors in judgement. I look at them and hope that today they make a the correct decision, and elect Barack Obama as the next President of the United States.

The alternative doesn’t bare thinking about.

It’s only 5 short days until NaNoWriMo begins again. I’ve participated in this frenzy of novel writing for the last two years now. I was successful at the first attempt, but last year was an unmitigated disaster. I managed to get about five thousand words into the story and hit a wall I couldn’t get beyond. So I put the story in a drawer and started again. The second attempt was even less successful than the first. After about three thousand words I’d completely lost my way with the story and threw that one out. It was just over a week into November and I had already thrown out two attempts, so I made the decision to abandon it that year as I was struggling to tell a complete story, and it was loosing the fun aspect it should have.

In an effort to avoid that nightmare scenario again this year I’ve spent the last few months making notes, coming up with characters and trying to outline a story. I managed to get a few ideas written down and a decent idea planned out. But I’ve decided I’m not going to use any of them.

A few days ago I was walking home from work, listening to a Mogwai album, when my favourite song of theirs came on. It’s a song that fills me with a lot of emotion and on that day, the sun was setting and the combination of the song and the sunset made it seem epic. Instantly I had several images flash through my mind, and realised that it was the last scene in a story that was completely different from the others I’d been planning.

I could almost see the entire last chapter in my mind playing out like a movie with this song driving the images. As soon as I got home I wrote down a rough outline of what I’d just experienced, and almost straight away the larger picture of the story began to form. I’d been planning for months, and in a few short minutes everything had changed.

It’s the very first time I’ve had the complete ending to a story planned out before I knew anything else about it. I had no idea exactly who the characters were with the exception of their reasons for being where they were and what happens to them at the end of the story. So I had to sit down and figure out exactly how they reached the point of the story I had visualised, and exactly who they were. To do that I switched the lights off, lay down, and played the entire album ‘Mr. Beast‘ from beginning to end.

By the end of the evening I’d been able to outline the entire story to the point where I’m almost positive what needs to happen in every single chapter. There are a few chapters where I’m not totally sure what’s going to happen, but I know what comes before and what needs to come after, which leaves me a few chapters that need to be made up as I’m writing. I’m not going to try to outline these at the moment because the hold-on-for-dear life style of writing is what NaNoWriMo’s all about.

I can’t wait for it to start. It’s becoming a struggle not to open up Word and begin writing this story. I have the same excitement now as I did before I started my first NaNoWriMo, which is surely a very good sign.

Last night my flatmates and I went to see Mogwai at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange. It’s the first time I’ve been to see them, but the third time for the other guys, so I had no idea what to expect.

They came on and got stuck straight into it, no mucking around at the mic, just bam! Straight into a sonic wall. The place went nuts. Then after that song they took a few seconds to inform us of the Man U - vs- Celtic score before launching into my favourite track of theirs. The rest of the gig was a momentous experience, especially as you could feel every kick of the bass drum vibrate through your body.

I said to the guys after the gig that they played my favourite song two songs in, so I was pretty happy, but then the gig just kept getting better. It was quite an experience, and is probably up there as the best gig I’ve ever been to, removing Chris Cornell from that lofty position.

After the gig one of my flatmates and I headed to the Thistle Street Bar for a post gig pint. One turned into a few as we discussed the gig, and life in general, all with a high pitched ringing in our ears. That ringing is till there, although greatly reduced.

I’m going to be keeping an eye open for any future performances they make in Edinburgh, and I’ll be getting myself a ticket to every one.

In an effort to get myself healthy again I’ve reacquired a running habit. At the moment I’m going out three times a week and running further than I ever did other in recent attempts. My standard pace for the run is improving, plus my stamina and overall health are improving that much quicker.

I’ve added the Nike+ “Latest 5 Runs” widget over on the the sidebar which (because of the scale), makes my runs look crazy. Trust me they’re not that erratic.

The running is only part of the goal to lose some weight and get healthy again. I’m going to be starting the 100 push-ups program soon, I’ve cut down the amount of beer I drink, and I barely eat any junk food anymore. A few things slip through but not much.

The health and weightloss are a part of a few big changes I’m going to be making to overhaul my life over the next year. I’ll talk about some of the others when I make sure that I’ve made running a habit, but they range from career and finances to general lifestyle.

Exciting times are on the horizon.

****

UPDATE: The timing was a little too messed up. I posted this on Wednesday afternoon, and by Wednesday night I was so sick with a cold it was unbelievable. It’s four days later and I’m still really unwell. So much for getting healthy.

I may have mentioned a while ago on Twitter we had a major issue with our old landlords Grant Management. One of the biggest issues was the day they violated the terms of our lease by arranging a viewing of the flat without giving us any prior notice. There were a few other issues, both minor and major, but this was the one that pushed us over the edge. I wrote a letter of complaint to them that I wanted to stick up here on the web to make the issue more public. So here it is:

Date: 1st October 2008

Beverley Burness

Grant Management Ltd

14 Coates Crescent

Edinburgh

EH3 7AF

Dear Ms Burness,

I wish to formally complain against actions carried out by your companies agents on the morning of Thursday the 11th September. At 85 Brunswick Street a member of your staff carried out a viewing of the property without any prior notification. As stated in the lease agreement under in Section 5) Responsibilites of the Tenant, paragrah s):

“The Tenant will allow the Landlord or his agents with or without others (i.e workmen or Local Authority officials) access to the property at all reasonable times to examine the condition of the property, any contents, fittings and furnishings and to carry out any repairs, improvements, safety inspections or any other works required. In all cases reasonable notice in writing will be given to the Tenant.”

As no notice of this viewing was in fact given, you must agree that by the terms set out in the above paragraph, our lease agreement was breached by Grant Management Ltd on the above stated date. As we only discovered this due to a fellow Tenant being in the property during this time, it leads to me to ask the question, how many other times has this happened without our knowledge?

This may in fact be an isolated incident, however it adds to a growing sense of unease when dealing with your company. I for one will never again participate in a lease agreement with Grant Management, and as such will recommend the same course of action to any friends and acquaintances seeking rented accomodation in Edinburgh.

Regards,

Christopher Hamilton

I’ve mentioned this to various people over the last six months, but I can’t stress how bad a landlord Grant Management are. I would avoid using them if at all possible.