October, 2006

I’m not afraid to admit that I was an early fan of Destiny’s Child. There was always something aluring about their ‘independent woman’ attitude, infectious tunes and skimpy clothes. Beyonce could kick my ass to the curb any day of the week…

That all changed when Beyonce seemed to become a parody of her sexy self and turned into a loathsome clothes horse as displayed on the pages of Heat magazine every week. Then came the gangsta’s moll phase, when she hooked up with Jay-Z. The girlie Beyonce was replaced by a horrible soft porn version. Not nice.

With the release of Irreplacable, Beyonce seems to have gone back to her roots. And a welcome return it is.

The instrumentation is stripped right back: basically just guitar and a simple drumbeat carrying the tune. A very simple verse/chorus arrangement is enhanced by Beyonce’s most honest vocal performance in recent memory. Beautiful melody in the verses and a chorus so catchy it’ll take a lobotomy to stop you singing it.

Subject matter is a return to Independent Women and Bills, Bills, Bills territory - very much woman on top type of thing.

The video for Irreplaceable carries on the ’stripped down’ theme - Beyonce looking her most natural in ages. The storyline reminds me slightly of the Emotion single Destiny’s Child release a couple of years ago. There’s a little bit of posturing by Ms Knowles, enough to keep the lads happy without being as OTT as her other recent singles.

You mus’ not know ’bout a-me, you mus’ not know ’bout a-me….

Tuesday, October 24th, 2006 // General

When this blog started way back in 2004, one of the reasons was that we’d (me and the missus) discovered that we were expecting another baby. Our third, and a complete surprise, as we’d been very careful not to invoke a third child.

Needless to say, we’re almost two years down the line and baby’s on his feet already, yet the vasectomy I’d requested has still not been done.

My last post about getting a vasectomy was well over a year ago, at which point I was considering paying for the necessary surgery. Well, we just couldn’t afford that, so we were extra extra careful.

Anyway, I went to my doctor about a month ago to try and move this ridiculously slow process on. Shortly afterward I got an appointment to see the consultant. That appointment was today.

Firstly, if you’re married or in a relationship, you can’t have one of these appointments without your wife or partner in attendance. Apparently they might want more babies, so they have to give their blessing to the vasectomy party procedure. Let me tell you, Mrs Levee was only too happy to agree!

Secondly, the appointment is unexpectedly short. The consultant went over the details of the vasectomy with me, even into the idiot-proof details like “the object of this is to render you permanently sterile”. Well, yipee! Sign me up!

Luckily, they seemed to recognise that the appointment had taken forever and told us that the procedure would be done within the next six weeks. After that, you’re advised to keep wearing the rubber johnnies until they’ve tested for the presence of sperm. They do that at three months and agains at four. If you get a clean report, your nappy changing days are over. Hooray!

The only question remaining: local or general anaesthetic? Take your pick.

Thursday, October 19th, 2006 // Family Life

As many of you know, I’m in the process of looking for a new job. I’m currently breaking out in blotches at the sight of application forms and trying to ‘tweak’ my history to fit the job I’m applying for.

Anyway, I’ve been filling out another application form this evening, and the Equal Opportunities/Fair Employment declaration has me cornered from all sides. Basically I’ve got to get off the damn fence and identify myself as a Protestant or a Catholic.

First off, I’ve got to choose from five different shades of white. Of the two that are applicable, I’m either Irish White or British White. Right, I can understand racial profiling to a degree, but isn’t that splitting hairs a bit too much?

So, on the basis of technically being a UK resident, I choose British White. But it doesn’t feel right. Nor does Irish White for that matter. They’re both…well, they’re both a bit foreign….

Anyway, on to the old question of religion. Am I a Prod or a Taig? Neither, I answer with confidence, having shrugged off the God factor a long time ago.

But wait! What’s this extra question? They want to know what primary school I went to? For God’s sake leave me alone! I just want to be an ordinary white (Northern Irish White, thank you) athiest bloke. Why do they want to bring my primary school into it?

So, even though I’ve tried my best to be good ol’ neutral me, this form is insisting I take a side. I don’t want to take a damn side, I’ve avoided it all my life so far! Well, Saint Patrick’s Primary School might be a bit of a give away, but what choice do I have?

Anyone else think Irish White/British White is a step too far in the campaign for equality of employment?

Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

For the last year, I’ve been an avid reader of Steve Pavlina’s ‘personal development for smart people’ blog.

If you’re not familiar with Steve’s writing, he tends to deal with a wide range of self-help topics infused with some notes on blogging and income generation. His posts vary from the blindingly sensible to more offbeat views of life like his recent theories on subjective reality.

There’s something new-agey about Steve Pavlina’s writing, and what I particularly like about it is that he sometimes explores radically different viewpoints on life. The subjective reality ideas in particular are worthy of consideration, whether you accept them or not (I’m borderline). Some people aren’t so impressed, though.

My approach to Pavlina’s writing comes from a secular/athiest perspective. I’m sceptical of mystical explanations of life. I believe that human beings use only a small percentage of their brains. I believe that we repress a lot of our natural ability as we learn (and conform to) social trends. I believe that people like Steve Pavlina are exploring ways to reconnect with the human potential we lost during our childhood. I really do.

So, before you cart me off to the funny farm, take a look at Steve’s blog and tell me what you think. Subjective reality isn’t a good place to start. Maybe read his post on Bears and Eagles or the posts about polyphasic sleep, which I find really interesting.

Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 // Spirituality & Stuff

Mrs L wrote about PostSecret back in September. It’s a site we keep going back to, partly because it’s an open door into people’s innermost secrets.

In public, people tend to conform to societal norms. Don’t they? But while many people give the impression of normality, there are often thoughts or emotions that they leave repressed for fear of looking stupid or weird.

PostSecret allows people to lay out their unconventional side for all the world to see. Of course, each ’secret’ is posted anonymously, which means people have no fear of reprisals or ridicule from friends/family/co-workers. Basically, you create a home-made postcard with pictures and words and express what you’re feeling. Often the people who submit these make fantastic pieces of art - PostSecret seems to encourage artistic, emotive pieces from everyone.

The subjects range from relationships to isolation to hopes and fears. Some PostSecrets will make you smile and others will bring tears to your eyes. Others will have you nodding your head in recognition! Here’s one that touched me:

The most recent posts appear on the PostSecret website, and you can also check for pictures tagged PostSecret on Flickr.

Monday, October 16th, 2006 // Observations

I’m sorry to say that The Levee Breaks has fallen by the wayside recently. It’s got swept up in the general madness that is life at the moment.

My political blogging has run out of steam to a degree – when all you’re shooting for (pun not intended) is people to settle down and live in a civilized Northern Ireland, you don’t have history on your side! You certainly don’t have a guerilla movement and hundreds thousands of dead bodies to lend legitimacy to your argument!

Unlike my compadres in the Unionist/Nationalist blogging communities, I can’t abide repeating myself ad nauseum, even though I think my argument makes more sense.

Frankly, in Northern Ireland the same issues still exist: one part of the population wants to be Irish, the other British. Will Nationalists be happy to argue for a United Ireland in a perpetual talking shop, or will their politicians let it slide, happy with their slice of the power-sharing cake?

I don’t know. And to be honest, right now I don’t care.

I’ll continue to post political pieces, but I’m not as motivated by it as before, mostly because there’s nothing I can change. Most idiots are only too happy to swallow up the garbage their politicians sell to them. They’re not listening to me or attempting to broaden their perspective. Are they?

Ah, who cares? I’ve still got jobs to hunt and a family to worry about. I’m still reading most of the main blogs, although I’m lamenting the loss of others (not JoBlog for some reason).

I’ll be having a wee think about my life as Levee and maybe try to do something different with the site to make it a bit more fun. Remember when blogging was fun?

Friday, October 6th, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

You know how it is, you’re out for the night with a hot girl and you end up back in her bedroom. Did you remember to bring protection?

How long before this sort of thing becomes a reality?

Link leads to a video which may or may not be worksafe. It just depends on whether your employer has a sense of humor!

Thursday, October 5th, 2006 // Observations