A blog is a sort-of place where people write down their thoughts and then influence the world. I have been blogging for over seven years, intermittently, as we all do everything, being the multifunctional beings that we are. As yet, however, I do not feel I have enacted any particular global change, and I think this might be because I have never really had any clear objectives in that area. Therefore, my demands are:

1. Less wars. I don't know how many wars there currently are, but it always feels like too many. I didn't have a specific number in mind. Maybe zero? Lennon said 'give peace a chance'. But that's not the same as saying 'There should only be peace'. I mean, I gave Lost a chance, but I watched other TV programmes as well. Plus, if you say that we're going to stop all wars, but you overshoot, you're in danger of owing some people some war. So perhaps we should just aim to keep a few. Like maybe four? Four wars? That sound manageable, and pleasing. If shutting down the others proves difficult, we could just merge a few together. Is there really a need for separate insurgencies in Laos, Chechnya AND Yemen?

2. Something to be done about the environment/the banks/this oven (whichever is easier).

3. Smoking to be made more ridiculous. Cigarettes should be increased in diameter so they require two hands to hold. They should have a sad whistle built in which plays every time someone inhales. Would expect to see less smoking in films (whistle obscures dialogue, takes attention away from plot) and by musicians (to cumbersome to also hold instrument or play with hair).

4. Drinks to change temperature in the same direction when left in a room. Either hot drinks should get hotter or cold drinks should get colder, but the current system is an absolute mess and I can't believe we've tolerated it.

5. An end to 'less is more', and full reinstatement of 'more' to the role of 'more'.

6. You don't see many herons these days, do you? I'm not sure this is a demand, so much as an observation. A demand would be more along the lines of: I have to see more herons. But I haven't decided whether I think seeing more herons is desirable. Sure, to start with, it's all, 'hey, look, there's a heron', but after a while it becomes 'is that still the same heron?' and then finally 'who do we call about this heron?'. So maybe it's for the best.

7. Waiting lists to be made shorter, but deeper.

8. Everything else to be doubled.

I seem to have developed some followers. Thanks for popping by, and that. Do say 'Hello' of you get the chance.

I haven't had such a long gap in blogging for a while. I have no idea how the past two months have gone by (chronologically, I would imagine), but here we are, December 15th, and as far as anyone knows, I could be dead.

But I am not! (Of course, I would say this). I have been simply been drowning in a sea of thesis writing, teaching, working, holidays, films, meals, sleep, watching live comedy, performing in live comedy (not dead) and swimming pools. All of which is pretty standard fare, particular for those of us who write theses, teach, work, holiday, watch film, eat, sleep, watch live comedy, perform live comedy (not dead), recycle jokes and swim. So here's a brief snippet of each.

1. My thesis nears completion. It looks and sounds very much like a thesis - earthy and well researched.

2. My teaching has been fun. I hope one day to be good at it.

3. My work has proceeded. I have research papers and journal submissions and I think I'm due a minion.

4. I went to Egypt! I walked like an Egyptian - that is to say, near some pyramids and sand. This was a very good time.

5. I have watched many films. I'm unlikely to reach 100, as I've lulled for much of the year, but I've got through a lot in the past month. Donnie Brasco is absolutely my new favourite film. I like Johnny Depp playing lunatics and the weird, but Johnny Depp playing hardman undercover agent is far better, and Al Pacino's performance? Forgedduhboutit.

6. I have ate and slept. Not dead, you see.

7. I saw Mark Watson - here's a comedian who you should go and see if you want five hours of comedy delivered in under two hours. I failed to see Josie Long.

8. I have done the Imps, and that. There were new Imps who are a delight to be around and old Imps who get better and better, and a director-assistant director team who are doing a lovely job. A student of mine saw a show, which I imagine was strange for her. But that's me, shattering preconceptions about lecturers and their non-participation in improvised comedy shows. In some ways, this carries over into tutorials (no preparation, polite applause, rock music between each section).

9. I continue to Twitter. Follow me on Twitter. This is where you get everything you might expect from this blog - mystery, intrigue, preconception shatterings (bring you own!), jokes about the News and what we should do about it - but shorter (less than 140 characters) and more regular (more than 0 characters in two months).

10. I have continued with swimming. I am svelte. I am doing an exercise class on Saturday mornings. My abs glean in the midday sun. I am getting faster in the pool. My biceps bulge. I take my hands and place them on your hips, pulling you close.

Sorry that this blog keeps changing in appearance. After six years, I wanted to try something new, and whilst I liked the last template, the code was rubbish and their were loads of problems (like no dates) and I don't know CSS so I have now switched to this one.

I also figured it was time for a name change. My use of Frogg as a internet pseudonym has diminished in recent years - I tend to go simply by Craig on wrestling or music forums or ScowlinMonk on latex fetish message boards - and I've always liked Adult, Content as a title for something (it was going to be my autobiography) so that is now the way it is.

This is post number 400, apparently, and I tend to use such landmarks for reflection. Why should this be any different?

It's a particularly interesting time for such consideration, as I'm coming towards the end of my years as a full-time student, with various options being contemplated. By September, I'll need to find some alternative to the grant that has supported me for the last four years. My doctoral thesis won't yet be finished, though I hope to have made huge in-roads into that by then. I'm looking at economics jobs to be working at while I finish. This is broadly labelled the Safe Path.

As I write this, I'm also coming to the end of putting on my first show. I am immensely proud of it (particularly tonight, which was our best performance so far, and which also featured my parents in the audience - the first time they've seen me do any live comedy) and I feel like it might be the start of something good. I am enjoying collaborating with Andy, and feel we work well together. I also think I could be OK at this, and it is certainly more exciting that consultancy. However, it's performance art, and as such carries with it the prospects of poverty and failure. I think it would be fair to label this the Risky Path.

My plans depend greatly on my current circumstances - I'm going to be married in May, and I want a family. If I had been in a different situation, I'd give the Risky Path a proper go without hesitation - when you don't have more than yourself to think about, it is much easier to put up with a low income in the pursuit of a goal. But I'm not, and I don't regret that at all. Cath brings more more happiness than any career ever could.

But I don't want to squander any opportunities I have. I'm fortunate to have a number of useful talents, one of which could be comedy writing, another of which is a reasonably functioning and intellectually curious brain (which, happily enough, may be valued by a company with a good pay schedule). I do hope I can find a compromise - secure work to provide the sort of life I'd hope for my family (and which I was lucky to enjoy myself growing up) but continual efforts towards writing in between. You never know what might happen.

I have started a new blog, which I will be using to post about the professional wrestling. This is so if I want to write about that, people who don't care (my "friends") no longer have to read it.

Prizes for working out what the name of the site is all about, though.

Have posted a couple of things on Project Brainstorm in the last week. By all means, have a peak.

You may also notice I've added labels to posts here. I suspect you definitely have by now.

So, this is post number 300. I thought I'd mark it as a seperate entry. I've been blogging for more or less four years, with some periods where I haven't written regularly. I am aware that the majority of my posts are fairly self-indulgent - I seem to share few interests with my actual friends. But I still think it has been worthwhile to document, to varying degrees my opinions on things that matter to me and that I care about, if only for my own future use. And occassionaly, I hope I manage to be entertaining or interesting.

I've been thinking about the Passage of Time recently. I've now been here in Oxford for five and a half years, and I think I have made the most of at least some of the opportunities that has afforded me, certainly since about 2005. When I first started writing here, I had never thought of myself as a comedian, and never had any ambitions in that respect. My views on the world and my politics were half-formed. I wasn't even as knowledgeable about subjects I've been interested in since before uni, like pro-wrestling and metal. I find myself feeling quite pleased with how I've grown since 2004 (and earlier), and I'm glad I will always have this resource to document how that came to be.