Reading Lists

As a student I realise that there is a lot of reading to be done, but my eyes can only take so much! It's all read this and that, some of which I've started and some of which is just so mind numbingly boring that I might just use those text books to start a bonfire. Furthermore, I find that at this particular moment my drive is lacking... it must have something to do with all of the rain, the full on week I had last week and a few too many headaches. Still, why do there have to be so many stupid books this term? Last term I was given a huge reading list, bought all the books and read a couple of chapters from about, lets see... two of them! I mean really, were students who are already being hit up for £9,000, the least our lectures could do is tell us which books we have to read and which books we can read if we want too or have a deep passion for that area of study. Thats not to say some lectures don't be helpful, but I did waste £50 or so, on three books for one course that I AM NEVER GOING TO READ!!!

Super

Have you ever wanted to be a superhero? I have, and I would guess that everyone who has ever read a comic or seen a superhero movie would too. Having powers would be, well, awesome! We all wish that we could fly and be super strong and of course, not be defeated by a stupid rock, I'm talking to you Superman. However, isn't part of the fun of imagining ourselves as these heroes is that we are the only one, or part of a select few, who can do these incredible things?


Sadly, as far as we know, it is not possible to have super powers like Superman or the Flash as I would figure that if it were possible then nearly everybody who could afford to buy powers would have already. I have to admit that it would kind of take the fun out of it if it was only the rich people who got all the cool stuff yet again. However, if we applied comic book superheroes to the world nothing would work out the way it does it comics, would it?


I don't think it would. For starters, if somebody or a group of people developed powers they would be tested on till the cows came home to see if they carried the cure for cancer or if we could create an army of superheroes. Secondly, if it became applicable to everybody else our fun, the fantasy, is ruined. Finally,  we all screw up our planet and screw each other over enough that it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume our planet would be even more buggered than it already is, with us being given all new ways to destroy everything. 


It's not fair. I want to be a superhero, it would be awesome if life were a comic book, but it's not. Nevertheless, I can keep on dreaming, can't I?





Oh, and I totally forgot to mention that if we could be superheroes, we would have totally kick ass friends like these. Awesome! 

Peace...

Is world peace achievable? If we all want it then it must be right? 


Call me a pessimist, but no, I don't think so. Don't get me wrong world peace as a concept is great; we would all be happy and be able to get along with one another in perfect harmony. However, there are always (sadly), horrible, nasty, vicious and selfish people who can hinder us, even become malicious dictators. As long as we have these people in the world, peace is impossible.


However, if we did get rid of these people, would it mean that were any closer to world peace? No. Every human being has good and bad qualities. We can all try to live are lives as best as we can, but every now and again even the best of us are going to be selfish, or are going to be bad tempered.



There are so many things wrong with the world and humans, in pretty much every case I can think of, are the cause for it. We pollute the planet, we endanger species and we chop down forests to create our own concrete jungle. If we continue down the path that we are on then what chance does our planet stand? Will our great grandchildren even be able to call this planet home?

Earth is the only home we have, so lets take care of it. If we can get that right then maybe we may just get one step closer to a form of peace we can achieve.

Fear

We are all scared of something or the other. In fact, most of us probably share the same basic fundamental fears that are biologically predetermined. These are fears such as a fear of snakes or spiders. However, many of us develop these fears to an extreme and some of us even develop irrational fears such as a fear of clowns. When these fears become irrationally extreme they become phobias. The question is, however, why do some of us develop these fears?

For some people, developing a phobia of water maybe the result of an accident where you almost drowned. Some psychologists may suggest that phobias maybe the a response to a trauma we may have repressed since childhood. Nevertheless, people can have other conditions associated with fear. For example, a person who is suffering from General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) can actually completely change the way they behave and the way they live their lives, through their anxieties and fears, to an extreme in some server cases. Moreover, a mental illness which is often associated with conditions such as OCD is Depression, and, well could you blame them?

Even so, our fears can be useful if they are those which tell us to run away from the great big bear that looks very hungry. If we didn't evolve some of our most basic and fundamental shared fears then we could all have been killed off very easily long ago.

However, if you are somebody who has an irrational fear (e.g. mine is spiders. It maybe rational if I lived in Australia, but I live in the UK and house spiders cannot kill us) you just need to remember that it is all in your head. Our minds distort reality in so many different ways from time to time, but fear is one of the major distortions. So, (unless you have a phobia or other condition diagnosed by a mental health professional) next time you see your fear, man up (as long as its not anything that can kill you (LION) or harm you) and face you fear or you could run away, like I most probably will, but you should most definitely man up because it is just in your head.

 

First They Came

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out 

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out 

Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out 

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out 

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me

First They Came by Pastor Martin Niemoller

Do I look bovvered?

Yes, I know, we all have those days when we just cannot be bothered, Catherine Tate may take that to the extreme, but it's true. For all of you who do not generally give a damn today........

Go away I can't be bothered either.

£300 and still no bloody remote...

I recently had the pleasure of staying in a 4 star hotel with some family members. We all agreed that the food was great, the setting was picturesque and the rooms were tastefully decorated. Well, for a bit over £300 I would expect this to be so, and as it was a hotel with a spa as well, it should be relaxing too.

It wasn't, for an hour, at least. First off the spa was fully booked up, which kind of defeated the purpose of going to a spa hotel, but I could live with that. However, for the several hours I and my relatives were apart I was utterly bored. You see, when you walk into a hotel room and see a TV, somewhere around the 30inch region, you think TV will save you from your hysterical boredom. Unfortunately, when you spend over an hour looking for the bloody TV remote, boredom, stress and anger seep through. I got so bored I gave up and spent half an hour contemplating why the controls on the TV itself cannot perform the necessary commands to actually be able to view any of the programmes, and why the TV remote apparently holds all of this voodoo magic that can actually make the TV do something other than make you want to do the whole rock 'n' roll thing of thrown the bloody thing out of the window and into the swimming pool below. I, however, did actually consider doing this until I realized that the pool was not outside my window, or in fact, outside at all.



Apparently, it turns out to be easier to throw a giraffe in a pool, or at least to find an image of.

Do you speak Simlish?

Simlish is a fictional language created for EA's Sim franchise, which is a computer game based originally on humans (sims) who you can control, and design how they look also. In a way The Sims allows you to play god, where you have command over an entire world of sims. However, with the expansion packs and various cheats you can control aliens, become vampires and even crate ghost babies. The game, like may others, allows players to play in a virtual escapist world.

We have previously had nerds learning fictional languages, such as Klingon, from movies, but now video games allow us to communicate at a new level of nonsense. I will not lie, I do play The Sims and even have addictive phases, but why would you want to learnt the language? Everybody who has played The Sims will have realized that the sims have their own language, but what could possibly make the desire to buy the official Simlish dictionary and learn the language? More to the point, why would anyone ever want to publish the Simlish dictionary in the first place?

I can only come to one conclusion... these people are obsessed! Perhaps, these people have become so tied up, so smitten with this alternate reality, that they want to get as involved with it as possible? Either way, I can only conclude that if I am going to learn a second language I'm going to learn a real one, seeing as it may come in handy.

Rupert

Today we burred my cousin Rupert Bowers. He was a Captain serving in Afghanistan when he was killed by an improvised explosive device. His parents handled today well, better than I could if I were in their shoes. His sister Juliet said a few words, words that showed just how much she loved her big brother. His wife of not quite 2 years, Vicky, had somebody else read the words she had written. They both seemed to cope far better than I would if it were my brother or husband. His son, Hugo, of around about 2 months old slept through most of the hymns, but did make us all aware of his presents when he awoke. I'll hand it to him, the kid has lungs, but he reminded us all that there is still a part of Rupert left in this world.

Rupert was an incredible young man. He had a great sense of adventure, the true heart of a lion, and was a beloved friend to his brother officers. He was a hero. He always put the greater need of others before his own, so much so he gave his rifle to a fellow soldier who needed it more, and carried an injured soldier on his back under fire. His bravery got a mention in Dispatches, the TV show. Rupert was 24 years old. He was too young.

This is where I could go off on one about how we should have never gotten involved with Iraq and, eventually, Afghanistan.

I don't even know how we ended up in Afghanistan.

Here, I could blame the government.

I don't. I do blame Tony Blair, to some extent, for sending us there because he was all to keen to kiss George Bush's backside. However, they didn't make Rupert join the army, they didn't plant the bomb. Rupert wanted to be there.

Now, I could curse God. I could question him as to why he took Rupert away from us? I could ask what is the point of any of this if we are so disposable, so fragile, so inexplicably smite-able?

If I were religious I might, but most probably I would pray for his safekeeping in eternal peace. If I were an atheist I would use this as one more point in my argument against his existence when faced by my ignorant friends clutching their crosses and their rosary beads. I, however, am undecided when it comes to faith, but Rupert's death doesn't sway me either way, it just has me as stuck in the middle more than I ever was.


This, however, is what I do know. Rupert was my cousin. My Grandfather adored him, something which he wouldn't have done without just cause. Most of the things I know about Rupert I have been told through stories, including those at the funeral. In fact, when I think of it, I didn't know Rupert that well. All I know is that he was a great man who I wish, so dearly, that I could have spent more time with.

I may not have known him as well as I could have, but I know this... I loved him, despite the little time I had a chance to speak to him, to get to know him. Yet I cannot help but think that, even though I have so few memories of a man whom it was an honor to know, Hugo should have had my time with him. No child should have to grow up knowing nothing but the stories they are told about their father, yet that is all Hugo will ever have.

Rest in peace Rupert. You will be missed by all who knew you, no matter how well they knew you, you will be missed.

Hope

A friend called me last night. He was considering committing suicide. I called my mum and talked to friends who were nearby, somebody, anybody who could help.

I had my mum come and pick me up from university an hour and a half away. I had a call on the way home that he had gone home and was safe, as safe as a suicidal person can be at least.

 Today I saw him. I tried to talk to him. I tried to get him to listen, to know that it will get better. I tried the softy-softy-touchy-feely approach. That didn't work. I tried the tough guy approach. That didn't work. In the end we gave up on the convosation and moved on to just trying to do some thing to try and distract him. He told me he won't kill himself, but he feels alone.

 He can't talk to his parents, they didn't even want him to have psychological evaluations or to take his medication for his depression. I think they may be worried about the stigma attached to mental health issues, or maybe they just don't want people to think that they are bad parents? After all, a good parent has a happy child don't they?

 The thing is mental illness is not any bodies fault. Sometimes shit just happens and when it keeps happening to you it is easy to feel depressed. Depression can be caused by a simple chemical imbalance in the brain. The fact is mental illness happens.

People can think that if you have a mental illness you are crazy, you are different and in a small minority of people who you should avoid. If you think that then think about this, I once heard a statistic, 1 in 5 people have dandruff, 1 in 4 have depression. Mental illness is a common occurrence. In fact you may even have a mental health issue and not even realised it. I know it took me a long time to discover that I actually had depression. I actually didn't bring my suspicions up with my doctor until I was at the point of being terrified of harming myself.

 So, if you have depression or feel suicidal just stop and realise that there is help out there to be had. If family doesn't understand see your doctor, go to councilling, get in touch with your faith if you follow a religion. Also, remember that if you need help now, or any of the above suggestions don't work, call Samaritons. They are there to listen and to get you the help you need.

 Above all remember that even if it doesn't feel like it, there is always somebody out there who cares about you. If you go out and look for help, just tell somebody how you feel, you have made the first step. Once you make the first step, things will get better.


I hope this post is helpful to anyone suffering from depression or if you know somebody who is suffering. If you need help or further information please check out these numbers and web addresses for the Samaritans.

http://www.samaritans.org/
Tel: 08457 90 90 90 (UK)
Tel: 1850 60 90 90 (ROI)

True Love

In a modern day society it is often consider that if you get married whilst in your teenage years you are only doing so because you knocked up some poor girl or you are the poor girl in question. I'm not going to argue with that. I have heard of cases of this happening. However, I have heard of teenage couples getting engaged and married, not because of pregnancy, but love. In fact, two of these couples are my friends.


I have to think about what exactly I thought on both occasions. Firstly, I have to think why? Is it because of their strong Christian beliefs getting in the way of horny teenage wants? Or is it because they think its romantic? The Twilight Saga certainly promotes teenage marriage and, yes, it was partly because they were in love, but mainly because Bella was on the verge of dry humping anything that moves. Is this the same reason for my friends? I would be lying if I said that I believed it had nothing to do with sex. They are relatively divot Christians but the public displays of affection by the newly engaged couple were FULL ON even when they were just going out!


So, we have admitted the sex element, but what about the example Twilight sets? By which, I mean, could it just be because they think it is cool due to the Cullen\Swan union? It wouldn't surprise me if it was for some couples. People will trick themselves by saying it's because of love but it could be for attention just as easily. For my friends, however, I do not believe that is the case.


Age. That is the next thought. These couples would not have been in that many relationships before and for most these relationships are the only serious ones they have ever had. Now I have no issue with anybody marrying someone they have know since they were young, but why marry whilst they are still young? Would it really do any harm to wait a few more years until they have had more time to get to know each other better? But then again if they are in love why not? It is quite simple, when we are young we make stupid mistakes. Thats not to say my friends are making mistakes, if they had said no and broken up over it there would probably always been a part of them that wished they hadn't given up. On the other hand, how can they be so sure now? I'm not even sure about changing my hair cut just because the time I would have to wait for it to grow out if I didn't like it is far too much commitment at this juncture.


Finally, on the issue of age, what is so wrong about teenage marriage? After all if we think back to the not-so-distant past, getting married at 18 or even 16 years old was considered a normal part of life. Furthermore, some of these couples have been together for years, whether or not that is due to the stigma attached to divorce or not us a question for them to answer, but it is without saying that some of these marriages (if not most) were successful to varying extents. Nevertheless, every marriage has issues, the test of the relationship is how well they work it out. However, the most interesting issue to me here is if it was socially acceptable for young couple to get married then why is it not frowned upon to some extent now? Sure the times have changed and the British are more liberal, but when it come down to it, we really are a bunch of judgemental hypocritical bastards.


It's often said that when we fall in love we just know, but how do we know if we have nothing to compare it to? But in the end aren't we all just fools when it comes to love? So with that I hope that any young couples who are thinking about marrying in their teens, or shortly thereafter, just stop and think, am I doing this for the right reasons? Am I actually in love and can I see myself spending the rest of my life with this person? And above all, make sure you are not tying the knot because you are simply in love with the idea of love.


For any of those couple reading this have decided that they have or are making the right choice I say, kudos. May you and my friends mentioned in this post live long and happy lives together.


Oh and if it does all go to buggery at least divorce has been legal for a while now.

Good and Bad

How do we decide what is good and what is bad? Most of us have varying definitions of what is and isn’t good, but if we have differing opinions how can we know for sure? Do good and evil even exist?

Most of us believe that good and bad do exist. Some people, like my flatmate, believe that they are not mutually exclusive (you cannot have one without the other) which, when reasoned out seems an acceptable observation. However, if we can accept this then we need to then look at definitions of the two. For most people the dictionary definitions are not enough of an explanation and quite frankly I don’t think good and bad can be defined. So many times people have changed their definitions to suit their actions and say their unkind acts where for “the greater good”, but isn’t this just the blurred grey line between the two?

All I know is that it is best to treat people as you would like them to treat you. I guess that is the best chance any of us have at being good.

Get Rich Quick.

Get rich quick. That is what everybody wants. The irony is some people are willing to spend a ridiculous amount of money to get rich, but end up being poorer in most cases. However, if you think about it, it's not just 'some people', it's everyone. After all, we have all bought a Lottery ticket at least once, haven't we?

However, if people are willing to getting themselves into more and more debt, even fall victim to scams, then surely there must be a way to make millions? We have all see the 'investment opportunities' and the guides to millions for the small fee of £100, but do any of these actually do anything other than making us empty our pockets? Today I was emailed a link from a friend informing me of one of these opportunities where they claimed that you could earn nearly $300 a day for an hour’s work, but of course they need $100 for them to show you how. Now I have been bought up to be sceptical of certain things, but in spite of this I still spent over an hour reading this page from head to toe trying to figure out if it is a scam or, in fact, that one golden opportunity.

In all honesty, I have concluded that I don't have a damn clue. I've spent all afternoon wrestling with myself over whether or not it's worth risking $100. I know many who have seen this opportunity have thrown money at this scheme and I know many will in the future. For all I know they could be rolling in mountains of money as I type, but how do I know whether they are or not? 

And this, Ladies and Gentlemen is the issue with society today. So many of us are slovenly, greedy and pathological chancres, but how many of us have won when it comes to the matter of money? Some people do have the brains to make their millions, but it takes a lot of hard work, hence why so few of us achieve the American dream or the modern day evolution of that. However, most sit around twiddling their thumbs and blaming the bankers.  

In the end, it seems that only the rich stay rich, which economically makes sense. After all, we do have to remember a little thing called supply and demand. That's the way it has worked since the beginning, our currency may not be chickens anymore, but it is still the same principle, just it is now applied in a more global sense. Sadly, the fact is in a capitalist world there will always be winners and losers, and almost without a doubt, there are very few genuine get rich quick opportunities. I'm afraid in order to make our millions we will just have to avoid our lackadaisical ways and get out that good old elbow grease. 

Effort.