Day 31 - 14 April 09 - Late last night

Yes! Veggie hotpot was a huge success. All in attendance remarked (and genuinely I think) what a damned good job the whole affair was whilst I did my best to wear a face of complacency to suggest that this was one of a repertoire of many rather than raw beginners luck.

Went to the cinema last night and saw "Let the right one in". This is a Swedish vampire-horror-drama-coming-of-age type film so great if you're looking for something a little unusual. The 12 year old actors were superb but I can't make out if the film was rubbish or a masterpiece.

On the subject of masterpieces hows this from Chekov's "On the Road" last night:

"There was a storm raging outside. Something furious and ill-tempered, but deeply unhappy, was tearing round the inn with the frenzy of a wild animal, trying to break in. Banging the doors, knocking on the windows and the roof, and scratching at the walls, it by turns threatened, cajoled, and subsided briefly, only to throw itself down the chimney the next moment with a joyful, treacherous whoop; but the logs in the stove were blazing, and the fire confronted its enemy with the ferocity of a chained dog - a fight began, then after it came sobbing, screaming, and an angry growl. You could also hear in all this a resentful sorrow, an unsated hatred, and the wounded powerlessness of one formerly used to victory..."

Late last night I finished Daniel Goleman's "Working with Emotional Intelligence". He makes the case well as to why most of the training in companies is a waste of time. He puts a strong case too as to the importance of Emotional Intelligence but never really draws the threads together to provide anything close to an action plan for companies. Or may be he does but you have to read the whole book thoroughly and carefully to be able to grasp it. May be I want it in short Twitter like summaries over every few pages or so and judge his omissions accordingly.