When the world falls apart, some things stay in place...Levi Stubbs' tears run down his face...

I've been breaking the theme a little bit over the past few days as I struggle to deal with why girls are so horrible and smelly. When you're pondering your reflection at the bottom of a deep dark well, sometimes you lean over a little too far and fall in. It took me a while to climb back out but when I got to the top, my old friend Mr Cheapwine was waiting for me with his gleaming self-pity mobile and we took a short fast trip back to the Land of Cold and Dead Inside. Funny, the trip didn't take nearly as long as it did last time...

Gradually I've worked my way through the five phases of grief: junk food, cheap wine, chocolate, crying, and wiping your snotty nose on your flatmate's dressing gown, and am almost back to my former cynical and astringent self.

It's times like these when you realise who your true friends are and why they're your friends in the first place. Special thanks to my flatmates Chloe and Luisa for providing the dressing gown and chocolate, respectively. Super special thanks to Libby and Sarah for being my inspirational desktop calendars and giving my self-esteem a swift kick up the arse. And extra super special thanks to Pauly for igniting a flame war in the blogosphere in defence of my balls. Not only is he a true mate but a paragon of all that is Belco Metal.

I started a new role recently on an internal project. I'm the functional architect for a reporting and metrics application, which is a whole new and interesting world. Having the typical feelings of self-doubt and being out of my depth that you get when taking on something new. Fans of the Far Side strip will remember the giant cockroach lying in an alley talking to a bum saying: "I had it all: great job, great car, money, success, beautiful wife. Then one day someone shouted, 'Hey! He's just a big cockroach!'". One sympathises...

The good thing is I get to go to India in a couple of weeks to meet our off-shore development team and try and convince them to respect me and let me wreck their beloved application that they've been building for the past 2 years. The Seagull strikes again! I've heard some horror stories about what life is like over there so be prepared for some exciting tales upon my return...or perhaps 'should' I return.

Hope to have some good news to report soon...