Freshly Spilled Thoughts

Hump day seems to have rolled around fast this week.

But I’m not going to talk about that here…

You know how you assume certain things then something happens that makes you question whether people think or see things the same as you do?

Here’s a case in point. I was speaking to this guy once who said to me, “I can’t visualise faces. I know who someone is when I see them, but I can’t close my eyes and visualise them”.

Until he said that I just assumed everyone could do that, just like I assumed people could replay conversations and moments from years ago in their heads.

Some things that happened years ago seem like yesterday and I can plonk myself right there in that moment if I want to.

I can still go down the garden with my grandfather, picking blackberries and him talking about how badly cultivated his blackberry bush was. I still remember how annoyed he was about it (lol).

I don’t know if that is some kind of ability or it’s the norm when certain things in your life stick with you. I’d love to know how much other people remember and how they recall things because for me it’s like a tape player. When I was younger, my ability to do this was next level shit, but I don’t put as much effort into it these days 🙂

I still remember my first day at school when I was 4 and what I was thinking in the bathroom before I went to school that day. I remember exactly what the bathroom looked like.

Then I talk to someone else and they go, “I don’t remember shit, Dean“. You have to laugh really.

Me and my mate used to jokingly say, “It would be great to be a simpleton because then you wouldn’t have anything on your mind“.

I finished watching Uncut Gems.

A brilliant depiction of a risk taker living on the edge of their emotions as things are unraveling, trying to keep the plates spinning long enough to hit a home run and make everything alright again.

A loser that wants to beat the odds and become the winner that can embrace the good times.

As the Guv’nor once said, “All my life all I’ve had is egg. Where’s the cream?”

I don’t want to say much more about it here. It’s not a relaxing film, but it keeps you wondering how it’s all going to turn out and it’s absolute madness.

I ended up rooting for him because the way he was wired meant he was doing it all the only way he knew how and somewhere in his psyche he wanted to be better.

4.5 drinking horns out of 5 (I kinda loved it).

January 6th is the biggest divorce filing date of the calendar year, so everyone in a rocky marriage will be going home tonight biting their fingernails.

I don’t know where these stats come from but apparently this is a fact.

People spending a lot of time together over the Christmas holidays no doubt plays a part in this decision making as they angrily consume Christmas puddings and pull their crackers through gritted teeth as Wizzard belt out, “I wish it could be Christmas every day” in the background.

Side Note: That song by Wizzard makes 180k per year in royalties which I think is pretty jaw dropping for something written in 1972.

Divorce Roulette is the New Year party game nobody wants to buy in the shops.

Quite some time ago now, I used to mess around making silly videos with a ridiculously grainy webcam (I quite liked the graininess. Who really wants to see themselves in HD anyway?).

I started getting into it, then life sort of got in the way, as it tends to do.

I’ve thought about returning to that kind of thing from time to time because I enjoy randomness, but I usually have more pressing matters to attend to, and this blog is really my only indulgence at present.

Anyway, this is a brief rambling video about flirting on an old dating site called Love @ Lycos during a time when things felt a bit more accidental, innocent and human. The likes of which you don’t really see anymore.

Now it’s all apps, subscriptions, and swiping left or right, which to my way of thinking is basically a casual hookup facilitator with a slick interface. Surely most humans are more nuanced than being funnelled in that manner to a decision about their romantic life and whatever that encompasses.

Back to days of old when knights were bold and paper wasn’t invented…

I seem to recall there being a big TV advertising campaign when Lycos launched, which is probably how I ended up on there in the first place…

I even posted those videos to Facebook at the time. I didn’t give it a second thought back then, until I was at a stag do and people unexpectedly kept coming up to me saying they’d watched them.

When I get time, I might pull some of that old silliness together into a single post. Not as a nostalgia trip exactly, but more as a curated reminder of a time I hit record spontaneously. Doing this stuff was cathartic to a degree, and as I type this now, I realise how easy it is to forget that feeling.

5 days into 2026 already. Will be Christmas again before we know it 😉

My New Years Resolution is not to dream about people I know visiting France (don’t ask).

This song by Blu Cantrell was pretty good: “Hit ‘Em Up Style”. Another one I’d forgotten.

She turned out to be a one hit wonder other than one track with Sean Paul, which is hard to believe when the likes of Ed Sheeran (and dare I say it, Taylor Swift) crank out hit after hit that sounds the same.

It’s not about how good you are, it’s about how well these artists are marketed to the public and how much money gets pumped in…

Dean as a kid:

“Wow. It’s been snowing (said with excitement and a sense of wonder), I’m going outside to roll big balls of snow to make a snowman and then I’m going to shove a carrot in its face and call it a nose. Have we still got the red plastic sledge thing? I hope this lasts forever.”

I used to spend hours outside as a kid in the snow with wellies on. My sister would follow me around, not that I knew what I was doing.

Dean as an adult: 

*opens curtains first thing*

“Fuck, it’s been snowing. I’ve got to drive in this and the roads are full of twats. It’s still pretty though.”

Magical vs Practical.

I’m half way through watching a film with Adam Sandler in called “Uncut Gems”.

At the half-way mark it’s been like spending a night out with someone who has bipolar disorder and is firmly on the mania side, whilst spinning plates just to keep the wheels turning in his life.

I think some people would find this kind of viewing exhausting but I’m hooked as there’s never a dull moment.

It’s absolutely bonkers. To live the way he does in the film, you’d have to source a never ending supply of adrenaline and have viagra subscriptions on speed dial.

I am at the point now where he’s gone into Angry Superman mode, which I quite liked because that makes him seem more authentic. At every turn he’s one footstep away from stepping on a mine he’s had no small part in creating for himself.

In between all this he’s placing bets with money he hasn’t got, robbing Peter to pay Paul.

I can’t say I was a big fan of Sandler prior to watching this. I’m sure his comedy films are okay, I’ve just never really watched them.

So far, so good though with Uncut Gems at the mid-point of this frenetically paced glimpse into a world where one man with ambition, lives on the edge of feast or famine.

You don’t quite know if he’s going to pull it off, which is what keeps you watching (I did not intend to write any form of euphemism there).

One of my friends is taking the opportunity to set up her own business now that the New Year has rolled around.

I know she is nervous about it but I’m so super proud of her facing her fear and doing it anyway.

It takes a lot to do that and step into the unknown. Getting over the notion of people possibly judging you and facing the ‘what ifs’.

The sad thing is the most amazing and talented people are the ones that are crippled by all these fears because they care so much about what others think.

Meanwhile, the dork brains are doing it anyway and all they needed was their limbic system (that means the bar is low).

The fear of failure can be so overwhelming it leads to paralysis by analysis, but it’s just how you look at it.

Failure doesn’t define someone and it’s not the worst thing that can happen.

Failure is not permanent.

When you fail you learn, it does not mean you lost.

Ever heard the saying: “I may have lost the battle but I will not lose the war”? (paraphrased)

People usually only fear failure because it puts the spotlight upon them if it happens, so all the people that didn’t have what it takes to do something can say things like, “Told you it wouldn’t work” or “They were just wasting their time”.

These people are all missing the point. It’s easy to be an armchair critic, anyone can do that.

It’s no coincidence that all the people who seemingly know how to run the country are driving taxis.

If you know anyone that has a dream that wants to do something, give them a few words of encouragement or just listen to them.

Reassure and tell them you believe in them.

Sometimes that’s all someone needs to do amazing things because it’s already within them anyway, waiting to be released into the universe.

And if anyone is thinking about doing something, literally ignore all the doubters and naysayers.

All you need in your mind when faced with that is this quote by Bruce Lee:

To win it you have to be in it. Everything a person wants is on the other side of fear itself and the obstacle is the way.

The Sunny Temptress.

I am a huge fan of strongman, particularly World’s Strongest Man.

Always have been since I was a kid, back when Geoff Capes was King.

That contest is basically like Christmas to me… without the shitty songs.

Today we lost one I’d been following for a while.

Pa O’Dwyer at just 40 years of age…

Always a tragically sad thing to hear about. RIP big man.

Eddie Hall has set up a go fund me with a 130k target (looks like they’ll hit it):

Fundraiser by Eddie Hall : Pa O’Dwyer Family

The light that shines twice as bright, burns half as long.

Remember, tomorrow is never promised. If you love someone, tell them today and start every day with gratitude.

We’re all just passing through and time is more finite than we often realise.

I’ve just bought a pair of ice skating boots to get about in.

Wish I’d thought of it earlier.

Haven’t mastered the twirl yet, but I’m working on it.

It always looks so much fun in Charlie Brown…

I used to buy a lot of Dance Albums.

One of them was great and had this track on which I still like today…

Fall in love with music, fall in love with dance
Fall in love with anything that makes you want romance
Make a little softer on the way that you go
Just think that everything you touch could turn to gold

Jam & Spoon – Right in the Night

Messing about with my sister from the same mister, the other day.

Rolo thinks we’re mad and he’d be right…  

Dean’s latest film review:

Lou (Netflix I think)

Starts off okay. Main character is a hardened female badass in her more senior years (or at least that’s how she appears).

It’s great when they’re like that, I wish they’d stay that way all the way through the film.

There’s nothing worse than someone seeming like they are a cold-blooded assassin with a set of skills that would make the boogie man quake in his boots, only to find out later that they collect teddy bears and enjoy listening to Tony Blackburn whilst doing their knitting on Sundays.

The plot quickly unravelled to something very far fetched and unbelievable. It’s almost like they started writing the script drinking coffee, then went out for the afternoon and carried on writing the rest after a night out on the town, three sheets to the wind.

“The public will never believe this!”

“Doesn’t matter. Just blow something up”

“Cool. Then what?”

“Make the badass seem a bit more human by showing their caring side”

“Yeah. The audience will lap that up. And then?”

“Another explosion. Fight scene. Narrate it with something that sounds wise, like they went through something meaningful together”

“Liking it. After that we should definitely go out and get pissed or something”

“It would be rude not to.”

Overall Verdict: Film follows familiar tropes. A star or two for the initial bad assery. The rest was quite lame. 2.5 drinking horns max out of 5.

I had to travel today and all I can say is that it was a case of perilous misadventure.

The roads are so icy and the gritters are nowhere to be seen.

Are they all having a day off with the work-shy bin men?

At one point I got out of the car it was literally like an ice-skating-rink under foot.

If that is what Torville and Dean had to go through on a daily basis, they are welcome to it.

By the time I’d got back I was glad to still be in one piece.

The Lickey Hills looked nice on the TV though, laden with snow and not a footprint in sight.

Of course, if you go through the back of the wardrobe in this weather you end up in Narnia (Sshhhh… it’s just magic).

Rabbits!

I’ve just been writing out a list of my interests, which is by no means exhaustive. This is what I’ve come up with so far:

I also like cars but not the shit ones made with no heart or soul.

HNY.

I went back to my old gym today and ran on a treadmill for 20 minutes (walking/sprinting)

It was tons better than the one at my other gym and I felt like Sebastian Coe, albeit temporarily.

After that I went full Sparta mode for another hour in a meeting with gravity.

Now it’s New Years Eve and it’s time to indulge.

Yin/Yang. My new life philosophy.

I’m genuinely excited for 2026 and I’m as ready for it as I’ll ever be.

Wishing you all health, wealth and happiness in the year ahead.

I don’t take anything for granted, so with the caveat that the omnipresent one allows me to continue, I’ll leave you with the immortal words of Arnie in Terminator:

“I’ll Be Back.” 

Happy New Year 2026 in advance to all readers of this blog…

^^ I almost chose Eddie Murphy saying “Merry New Year” but I went with bewildered yet excited Chandler Bing instead ^^

My advice is not to make New Year’s resolutions.
People only break them.

If you do make one, choose something realistic like:

“I’ll eat fish and chips on Fridays and drink the finest wines known to humanity.”

I find people can stick to that ’cause they do it already 😉 Well, some people drink Carling but there’s no accounting for taste is there.

It’s better to choose things you don’t mind doing than commit to something that feels like a job.

I’m more into the Yin and Yang principle…

If you eat a Hobnob, run to the bus stop just up the road.
If you eat a generous pie, you just bought yourself an hours worth of exercise.
If you eat a doner kebab, there’s no hope, so start praying. Amen.

Triglycerides R Us isn’t a place they sell toys, but you’ll find all the kebabs under one roof

If I had a kebab shop I’d call it “Kebabs of Wonder” (who could resist one)

Of course, you can go too hard with these things… as the bishop once said to the actress.

Sorry. I can’t help myself.

The innuendo is strong with this one.

Yoda Dean.

In all seriousness, I hope that everyone who frequents this ‘virtual bar’ has the best year of their lives.

Feel free to help yourself to drinks when I’m not here.

I’m off to have a sneak peek at 2026 before it realises I’ve already gate crashed it early…

Today’s fortune cookie read (this is totally true, I don’t make up fortune cookie shizzle):

“Your help will be needed in an embarrassing situation“

Told ya.

My cup of intrigue doth spilleth over.

I don’t mind a hands-on approach as long as it’s not helping a cross-dresser out of their corset.

Back in college days we used to ignorantly take the piss because someone we knew was heavily into this indie band. One day I found myself listening to this song and ended up liking it. You might call it a guilty pleasure of sorts (ssshhh… don’t tell anyone) and that’s why I have to play this one out with Armchair Anarchist by Kingmaker….

These lyrics had pretty high shock value back when this song came out:

“I’m a young transvestite
I wear clothes that women like
In fact I’ve got a lovely silken blouse
That just gets me so aroused

What do you think of me?
What do you think of me NOW!”

Holding up a mirror to the listener is a clever bit of provocation.

I doubt many people will remember this song now, or even the group.

But some things stay with you longer than you expect them to.