Unsubscribe. This was the text of an email I sent/replied to a bloke I’ve never ‘eard of. This isn’t quite true. I got an email off him last Christmas and I suspect one the year before. It began ‘I know you’ve all been waiting for my latest Seasonal message!’ I hadn’t. His was a cheery end of year missive full of bonhomie with links to videos he’d created illustrating his knowledge of subjects unknown, because I didn’t read the text or watch the movie. Artificial Intelligence. That was it.
I must have picked him up on LinkedIn or simlar. Not aware that I’ve ever met him. He works for ‘a pre-eminent Global law firm providing its clients with exceptional quality and value’. Just looked em up.
I remember getting last year’s Christmas email and pondering whether I should take action. It didn’t address me by name. His wasn’t an offensive message. Quite the opposite, packed with seasonal cheer and absolutely nothing to dislike. I let it go. Last year.
This year’s email tipped me over the edge. I looked for an unsubscribe button. There wasn’t one. The email was a personal albeit bcc job as opposed to being from a mailer. So I just replied simply saying ‘unsubscribe’.
Within seconds I got a personal reply mentioning my name (Trefor – nobody calls me Trefor, I’m Tref) and saying I would be removed from his list. I felt bad. He had put a lot of thought into his Christmas message and it is Christmas for goodness sake. Still spam though.
I have tens of thousands of unread emails. Every now and again I delete the ones from my trefor.net account as it approaches capacity. I don’t need more. I have a Hotmail account for registering with sites I think might spam me. The only time I ever look at it is when I need to click on a link to validate the address.
This bloke should stick to LinkedIn for his Christmas messages. Somewhere where if you know him you can choose to read his message because he is a good old boy and his stuff is always interesting and witty. Or not.
Anyway, now is the time to move on.
Last night I watched some seventies rock classics on YouTube. Sweet Child In Time was one. They all had very flat stomachs and beautifully kept long hair. The beautifully kept hair bit doesn’t feel right for rockers. Wild and unmanageable sounds more appropriate. They must have all been softies underneath that alcohol and drug fuelled hotel room trashing image. ‘Anyone got any conditioner?’
I quite like the notion of being able to earn a living at something like being a rock star. I don’t want to be a rock star per se and I am not in the right demographic really (obvs). Needs to be something different. Something cool where people would think omg I wish I could do that. Problem is I don’t want the publicity that might go with it. I wouldn’t want w@$%^rs attacking me on social media because I was successful.
I dunno. Something will turn up 😀 I’m sure we all sometimes think about what we would like to do when we grow up. Somewhere over the rainbow there is a land where happiness reigns. Many people dream of it. Nothing wrong with yearning for utopia. Keep looking. You will get there. Probs. Mañana.
In other news it is good to hear that poetry book sales are on the rise, apaz. Not sold any of mine for years. Lemme know if you want one. I still have copies. Tenner.
The milkman doesn’t come on a Tuesday.
…
It is btw v yukky out there again. I’ve breakfasted well on avocado toast with a side of smoked bacon and am now sipping tea before getting on with the day. There is much to be getting on with today and we have also decided to at least start thinking about the Christmas food shopping.
This is relatively easy as we reuse the same spreadsheet every year. I will need to preorder a turkey crown. We usually have beef which will be on the menu again in 2023 but the reintroduction of turkey into the diet has been requested on a supplementary basis.
The great thing this year is that we have no plans to go away after Boxing Day, or even on Boxing Day so we will be able to spend a few days eating leftovers. It will also encourage me to buy a bigger beef joint. Nothing quite like very pink in the middle beef sandwiches and the bigger the joint the juicer the meat.
Not going away will also save a lot of dosh on hotel rooms. Fwiw. There are a lot of us.
…
Dark now. I have Christmas lights up in the shed. They need properly arranging really but I stuck em up quickly last night. It’s the first time I’ve had lights. These normally go on the tree in the front room but this year THG has decided white lights are in so I’ve repurposed the multicoloured ones that I really like 🙂