The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

What a guy!

I don’t always have much desire to praise my former self. In fact, if I’m honest I tend to find myself increasingly annoyed and pissed off at earlier versions of me.

I mean, if he could just have bothered to take the time to learn another language, just think how useful that would have been for me now. And what if he’d decided to take a bit more care of his body and eating habits a little bit sooner? Well, I wouldn’t have had to fight so hard to lose all that weight now would I? Frankly, I have to say the guy is mostly something of a disappointment.

But today I could have pinched his cheek, and given him a friendly slap on the shoulder followed by a manly hug, while saying things like “come here, you…” and grinning warmly.

You see, Kim of a year ago realised, when he was struggling with sorting out his accounts on a spreadsheet, that Kim of the future would probably have forgotten the system he used. So, after compiling the spreadsheet of income & expenditure for 2005/6, he created a template for 2006/7 and filled in the first month.

So when I came to start going through the receipts and invoices and panicked at the idea of having to create a spreadsheet system I could work with, I was delighted to discover one was already waiting for me. And because it had the first month filled in I was able to work out how to do the rest.

It was one of those few times when I would happily have bought my past self a drink. Unfortunately he was nowhere to be seen so I had to have his one.

Mind you, even though I now have the figures I need, the selfish bastard has always used an accountant in previous years to fill in his self-assessment tax form*. The lazy sod had more money than me so felt he could fritter it away on the services of such professionals. This has left me in the unenviable position of trying to figure out how to do it myself for the first time.

I hope my future self is suitably grateful next year.

*Due for the end of September

15 comments

ADW said...

Hmmm... Just don't forget to do it for next year and then you can have another drink on you!!

savannah said...

doncha jes love it when you plan ahead and forget you did? (i'm a sucker for a surprise)

Mary Witzl said...

This cracked me up, Kim.

I know exactly what you mean. Every time I find the stapler where I've squirreled it away (in an underwear drawer, as my family make fast and free with it), I feel the same way. Ditto when I find a friend's phone number, carefully written on the edge of our calendar, or the recipe for apple jelly, helpfully jotted down in the front cover of a dictionary.

Sometimes you just exceed yourself and then you really do feel beside yourself with joy.

stinkypaw said...

Don't you just love surprises like that?! Your old self sure deserves a pat on the back and I'd say a piece of sweet something. As for being a cheap bastard, well... that's a whole different thing! Good luck with that!

Pat said...

We dispensed with an accountant some years back and saved ourselves a bob or two. Recently MTL thought we could do with some more help, went to see one who would get in touch within the week and zilch!
Well done for thinking ahead- it usually pays off and I'm so glad to see a face more like you.

Eryl Shields said...

I am wishing that my yesterday self hadn't eaten so many prunes. Didn't she know I have to go out today!

Christina M said...

WTG Kim of the past :-)
Good luck to Kim of the Future

Anonymous said...

nice one

i always tend to just worry about it later so i would have my past self to blame for that but i am just going to worry about it later and my future self can deal with it.

Kanani said...

Ach.... spreadsheets.
They made no sense to me until I signed up with Gmail and started using theirs. Years with excel, which really, was pathetic watching me try to figure out what all these cells were for, and then I figure out the Gmail spreadsheet in like...30 seconds.

So maybe my brain had to grow.
Let's see... and accountant for taxes over here, well, it' all depends on how complicated they are. For our business, we rely on one... and they also do our personal ones. Yup, it's a bundle!

Sven said...

Perhaps you should buy your present self a drink now in anticipation of the next thing you might do today on behalf of your future self.

Kim Ayres said...

ADW - I'd feel a bit better about helping my future self out if he wasn't such an ungrateful bastard. I'm tempted not to, just to spite him...

Savannah - it's happened at Xmas before now, when I've gone out and bought presents only to find I'd actually bought them a couple of months before and completely forgotten

Mary - one of the worst feelings when looking for something is the realisation I would have put it "somewhere safe..."

Stinkypaw - my past self had far too many sweet things, hence the need to lose over 100lbs in the first place.

Pat - it never ceases to amaze me how many business throw away custom by just not bothering to get back in touch with enquiries. When I ran my web design business many of the jobs I successfully pitched for I got because my competition didn't get back to the clients so effectively handed the business to me on a plate.

Eryl - boy, and I thought my earlier sef was irresponsible...

Christina - thanks :)

Michael - my father always says that 95% of what we worry about never happens, and the other 5% wouldn't have changed because of our worrying anyway. Nice sentiments, but I struggle too much to adpot them.

Kanani - Not tried the gmail spreadsheets - will look into them sometime.

Sven - now that's a damn fine thought.

Kanani said...

Ahem...consider this the early morning phone call.
You've just won an award. Dress up --meaning put on your best t-shirt an pick it up!

Kim Ayres said...

'Tis about to be mentioned in my next post

Unknown said...

You have such a unique way of looking at things. Again, I would have moaned and wished I would have went to college, learned a language, etc, but I never would have made it humorous, real,and thought provoking. I say buy the present Kim a drink.

Kim Ayres said...

Thank you, Carole! I'll just have the one though - I tend to fall over if I have 2

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