The 21st Century, The age when stalking our friends became a good thing.....but should it have?

So today I left for my first holiday in two years.  In fact I’m typing this post up on my laptop as I fly 33,000 feet over southern Russia……….or maybe its some small country formerly of the USSR. It is hard to tell from the small screen with a blurry map that British Airways have supplied me with. I will be posting this as soon as I get to Singapore. 


However, moving onto something more relevant, I am reminded this week of the amazing wonder that is Social Net-Stalking. I am finding that although I will be 10,000 miles away, I am not so far removed from my friends, girlfriend, family and other loved ones. The wonders that are Facebook, Twitter, Skype and, the ultimate companion for anyone of the Gen-Z vintage, the SMS, all leave me with the ability to speak to those I am closest to when I am, in fact, as far away as possible without leaving orbit.


It is clear that technology has in fact brought us (the human race) closer together in many ways and, at the moment, I am extremely grateful for that. Unfortunately, sitting here in my partially reclined seat with extra legroom, I am drawn to the thought of how much Social Networking has taken away from us.


Keeping in touch through technology has not always been the case, as I am sure you are all aware. There was a time when flying to other side of the world meant that when you left behind those special people in your life, you truly left them behind and the only way to have a conversation even resembling “instant” was to actually go back and talk to them face to face.


So the big question is how did we cope? What did people have ten or twenty years ago that allowed them to keep relationships, catch up with friends from a far off country and feed the illusion in their minds that they are still close to somebody they haven’t physically spoken to in five years? The answer is a fairly simple one. We talked to each other using actual words.


Social Networking has been around for thousands of years; it’s just been called different things. Until recently it was called having a social life. It involved this strange and bizarre thing called talking to people. Actually having a conversation with someone, telling him or her about your self and listening to what they have to say. We had an inherent ability to “pick up where we left off” and bridge gaps of time, age and geography regardless of the effort involved. There was no technology involved, not an email to be read, no thumbs were harmed due to the constant pressing of buttons to text somebody and no screens flashed giving us that light happy feeling that jumps into our hearts telling us “yes, somebody does love me”. No we survived on seeing the beautiful smile on the face of that person we love so much, hearing the laugh of our best friend when we’ve actually told them a joke and seeing the look of sadness in someone’s eyes that tells you there is something more to the situation than what they’re actually telling you. We got to know the people in our lives, rather than just being acquainted with them and it made our relationships stronger.

What the Social Networking age has given us is a wonderful new way to be lazy. Why go and visit someone you haven’t seen in a while when you can learn about their entire life by reading their profile page or just instant messaging them? Don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful for inventions like Facebook. Having moved around so much in my life it has made keeping in contact with people easy, but sometimes I wish it hadn’t. I think I might appreciate people who were once a major part of my life or currently are now if I actually had to work to keep it that way. If asked I would get rid of text messaging. It is the bane of my existence. I use it more than most but if I were given the choice I would speak to people face to face all the time. When you’re texting or instant messaging you have time to practice. You can think about what you’re going to say instead of truly expressing yourself. So much of a conversation, especially the important ones, is shown through our expressions and what we don’t say rather than what we do. It is like the difference between a film and live theatre. Films are great, but you know that each scene took half a dozen takes and was edited afterwards, whereas theatre is one take, every time. If you screw up then it is a part of the performance and at least the expression was pure and unedited.


So I think in summary, I am grateful to live in an age that gives us this closeness through the LCD screen, but at the same time I weep, metaphorically, for the social skills of future generations. Yes we can live our lives from a computer, but that doesn’t mean we should. It is not as though the Social Network age took away the old ways of talking to and meeting people, we’re just too lazy to use them anymore. So today, tonight or yesterday depending on your relative time zone, I implore you all to go out of your house, find that person who is truly special in your life or once was and talk to them for an hour or six. Or even better, go out and meet someone knew. Don’t add them on Facebook, don’t exchange Blackberry pins, just talk and get to know them. Make a friend the right way. Trust me, it’s a good feeling.


Till next time…

There is a difference between belief and religion..............believe me.

I should probably start by saying that I am not a religious person and for this purpose of this blog I want you to understand that when I speak about "belief" it does not automatically pertain to religion. I follow no particular religion. I was raised as a Roman Catholic but have since decided that this is not what I believe. Through what I am about to write I intend no offense and wish only to convey my personal beliefs and opinions. I do not expect anyone to agree with, like or even understand my beliefs but that is not my aim. 

Having said that, lets move on.

A slightly amazing thing happened yesterday. For the first time in my life I voluntarily and without obligation went to church. I did it for several reasons but all of them boil down to the same thing: understanding. If you didn't know already, I am fascinated by everything, especially things that I don't understand or agree with. Religion is no different. I'd never been to a church in England before and I wanted to know what it was like. I tend to embrace religions as a way to learn more about people and their culture. As a result of that I also learn more about what I believe as an individual. A combination of intellectual and spiritual curiosity would be a good way to explain why I went.

I don't believe in a god, but at the same time I don't completely disregard the idea of there being one or many. If somebody comes up to me and tells me they believe in God or Allah or Yahweh, fair enough. I don't have to agree with them but I don't have a problem them believing it either. They may even prove me wrong one day. What I do believe in is that, regardless of which religion you do or don't follow or even if you completely deny the existence of a god/creator, we all have the the same inherent aim in life: to be good people.

The core beliefs of all religions promote exactly that, being good people. The ways in which people go about that tend to differ but the aim is pretty much the same. Believing in a god and going to some form of afterlife is just an incentive to be a good person but you don't need to follow a religion to realise that its a good idea anyway. Praying, sacrements and going to church don't make you a good person, you just need to accept people for who they are. Don't let differences in beliefs, culture or language turn you into an ignorant, negative and hateful person. 

This is one of the reasons I dislike most organised religion. Many have a habit of focusing on the consequences for those who believe anything different rather than the positive reasons for which they should conform. This just creates a negative effect on people outside of their religion rather than giving painting it in a positive light to those of us who don't believe. So many religions were started simply because somebody had a different interpretation of a religious text or didn't agree with what somebody else believed. Yet most of these religions seem to have forgotten that and as such refuse to accept other people's difference in lifestyle, opinion and, especially, beliefs. 

To give you an example, the service that I went to last night opened with the welcoming of newcomers, giving the appearance of what was, for the most part, a very nice place. However the atmosphere, for me at least, changed quite a bit when it came to the sermon. Whether or not the gentleman speaking intended to make his point in this way I am not sure. However, while speaking about keeping the strength of your faith he said that "Christians can not enter into relationships with non-Christians" without being drawn away from the church. It was point that he had drawn from the study of the story of Lot and his daughters taken from the book of Genesis and I understand how, to him and many others, it would seem a valid point. Unfortunately, I found this offensive and, to a large extent, ironic. One of the reasons that I went to this service was that I have recently entered into a relationship with someone who is a Christian and I wanted to have a better understanding of her beliefs and why that is a part of her life. 

The last thing I would ever want to do is turn someone I care about away from something that they believe in. Beliefs make a person who they are and to ridicule them for it or to try and change that would change them as a person. Yet in my attempt to gain a greater understanding I was told by this religious organisation, one which not thirty minutes earlier had welcomed me, that without changing my beliefs, and therefore who I am, I should not be with this person as I would ultimately make them unhappy. In a sense this person was encouraging the faithful to discriminate against someone like me simply on the small chance that I would take them away from their beliefs. Regardless of whether or not it is a nice way to preach your religion, it definitely makes for a terrible sales pitch. What made the whole situation even more ironic is that the particular branch of Christianity that this church follows originated from one man being drawn away from his faith because he wanted to start a relationship with a woman. 

I am not trying to paint this church in a bad light. The opposite, in fact, is true. I actually enjoyed the evening and had some very interesting discussions with some very open minded people. I just use it as an example of why I don't agree with any single religion, but at the same time I'm comfortable with my beliefs and that if I continue to spend my life being a good person, regardless of whether there is someone out their to reward me for doing it, I'll have done the right thing and made the right choice. 

My beliefs are very hard to explain simply because they cannot be categorized into a single religion or even into simple Atheism and to be honest I prefer it that way. Belief in a particular religion isn't something that you just choose to have and if it is then you've chosen for all the wrong reasons. It is something that comes to you personally. I may not be able to label my beliefs, but that doesn't make them any less legitimate than anyone else's. 

Till next time....

Well...........its October

Hello my people/family/friends/minions/creepy internet stalkers!

Wow so much stuff has happened since I last wrote on here. Yes I know it's been far too long but if any of you know me then you must have realised how lazy I can be at times. Well, I guess I should fill you in.

I got my grades at the end of August. Not fantastic but I don't feel that I underprepared. Besides, they were still good enough to get me accepted into a couple of good universities. Offers that I quickly declined so that I could move onto the celebratory drinking.

September was brilliant. Most of my friends left for university and sadly I didn't get to say goodbye to as many as I wanted to. Why is it that you are always busy at the most inconvenient times?? But anyway, I got on with my life and by my life I mean Les Miserable. The performance in the last week of September was fantastic and definitely worth all the effort and illness that had come from months of rehearsal. It was easily one of the best experiences of my life. I've always enjoyed acting and performing but this was probably the first time in my life that I've realised that I actually love it. For the first time ever I was booed during my bow on stage by someone who had clearly seen too many Pantomimes. As I was playing the bad guy I'd say that meant I did alright. Although, I personally like to think of Javert as more misunderstood than bad.

I suppose this leads me onto the other significant thing that has happened in the last month or so. In the last three weeks my plans for my acting future have changed dramatically (no pun intended.......oh screw it I meant to say it now laugh!). I am no longer moving back to Australia to attend NIDA or WAAPA. I know it is shocking (this is the part where you all gasp dramatically.......I've also been working on my stage direction). You'd think after all the complaining that I've done about this country, its society, its politics and its downright dreadful food that I would be first to get out of here, but apparently not. Instead, I've decided it would be much more dramatic and spectacular to gamble against the odds for my future and stay in England. Getting into Drama school is hard enough anywhere in the world but I have so many reasons to be staying here. From a career perspective London is the place to be. In terms of applicants per places, London actually holds better odds for me getting into a course than anywhere else and looking further ahead the West End, the BBC and more Shakespeare companies than you can imagine means more hope for my career. There are more jobs here than in Australia and more chance of actually landing them than in LA. So it would appear that, for once in my life, I have made a logical decision.

I'm sure there a million reasons not to do this of course and I have thought of all of them, but I see no reason to concentrate on them. One of the main reasons I'm staying is the emotional aspect of it all. My family live in England, my friends live in England and my life is, subsequently, in England. I'm happy here so why should I give it up? I think too often people sacrifice happiness for success. These days I see people constantly being put in a position where they have to choose between the happiness of having a family or success in their profession. Given that decision I would take happiness any day. I deliberately chose a career path that would make me happy rather than a desk job I know I would regret. Why should I sacrifice happiness in order to ultimately achieve it? It would just seem like going backwards to me.

I know I'm quite literally jeopardising my education and subsequently my future by staying in England but at the same time I am willing and perfectly able to work hard to achieve both and I think it will be worth it in the end. When you opt for a career in acting or performance of any kind, no matter where you are, you have to be prepared for the fact that it won't be easy. Even if I did move back to Australia and take the safer course, I would still be faced with a huge uphill struggle to gain success. I'd just rather be around the people who love and support me while I do it.

Regardless of what the future brings, I am happy at the moment and I don't see that changing soon. I will be off on a holiday back home in Australia in a couple of weeks and I look forward to seeing family and friends. This gap year is going to be hectic but awesome. I just hope I have time to write on here about it more often.

Till next time.....

No fatigue.........but getting close to insomnia.

I have a problem that is keeping me awake so you all get to hear about it! Yay!

So as you may know over a month ago I came down with Glandular Fever. At the time it really sucked. I had the throat infection, the swollen glands, the headaches and the fatigue but the thing that worried me the most was the horror stories. I know quite a few people who have had the old kissing disease and on top of stories I'd read on the internet I thought I would feel horrible for months and, more devastatingly, lose my part in Les Miserable. There were tales of fatigue lasting for weeks, months, years and horror stories of complications and debilitating bouts of recurring throat infections................but none of these things happened to me.

You should know that I am a very healthy person. Granted, I don't live on celery and run 10 miles every morning, but as far as avoiding sickness goes I am an absolute master. I live in a house with two very young siblings who contract everything under the sun and nine times out of ten I manage to not catch it from them. I make sure I get enough sleep and, contrary to popular belief, I have probably drunk less since turning 18 than I used to.........I can't afford it anymore. Until I came down with the Glandular Fever I hadn't been to a doctor in three years and hadn't had so much as a cold in 4 months.

You're probably thinking "what the hell are you complaining about man?" Well that's it. I don't have a problem with being healthy, I have a problem with people presuming I am sick without any knowledge of my medical condition. Basically my director for Les Miserable refuses to let me return to rehearsals until I am 100% fit to do so.

I have been 100% fit for nearly two weeks now.

In fact two weeks ago my doctor declared me fit to return to rehearsals barring any major recurrence of symptoms. I, personally, took it upon myself to take an extra week off to avoid any further risk of contaminating my fellow cast members but since then have been refused permission to return to the production. Now I have about six weeks to learn the blocking for an entire two Act show and make sure I can sing all of my solos and my director won't let me back into rehearsals. I can work hard, but at this point, for the sake of the production, I think it needs to be a case of either return or retire.

So my dilema is this: do I confront my director with the knowledge that I am healthy, have always quickly recovered from illness and am more eager to get back to this musical than humanly possible but in doing so risk offending her and possibly losing my part OR do I keep my mouth shut in the hope that she will eventually come to the conclusion that not everybody suffers for months from Glandular Fever?

Ironically thinking about Glandular Fever has been keeping we awake the last couple of days and there has been no sign of fatigue.

I am consulting my doctor again in the morning to get her opinion in writing. Maybe it will help and maybe it won't.

Till next time...

PROP8

A story that caught my attention in the news this week was PROP8. Basically it turns out that homosexuals in California CAN, in fact, get married without the world ending. This week, in California, Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that Proposition 8, the voter-approved bill to put a stop to gay marriage, was "unconstitutional."

The immediate reaction from the gay community was a highly fashionable, broadway style victory dance. But the rest of us (by us I mean California and a few people with above average intelligence in the rest of the world) were all thinking "Oh cmon the Republicans aren't gonna give up that easily........are they?" Republicans hate the idea of gay marriage. Even mentioning homosexuality in a Republican household is like saying Voldemort too loudly in Diagon Alley and would probably result in someone being shipped off to military school.

But it nothing happened. The Republicans did bugger all. (Excuse the pun.) Of course an appeal was lodged against the ruling but that was pretty much a given. There was no major complaints from political leaders and what was even more amazing was that Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has asked the judge who made the ruling to legalise gay marriage again.

Deep down you'd like to think that the lack of complaining from the Republicans was just them being decent human beings and a certain amount of humility in what appears to be defeat, but I think its something else. "Unconstitutional". It is a sacred word to the Americans. As soon as you say something is "unconstitutional" in the United States it becomes the most deplorable thing you could possible do like mooning the Queen on St. George's Day while dancing on Churchill's grave.

Unfortunately, for all those gay couples looking to get married in California in the near future, Judge Walker, to prevent what he thought would be a flurry of marriages, put a stay on his same sex marriages ruling until the appeal process could be completed. I understand the whole respecting the course of justice angle he's going with here but that is so hypocritical. Its like inviting your neighbour over for a beer and then drinking them all in front of him. Its practically insulting.

I honestly think that PROP8 is fighting a losing battle. A hundred years ago a black man marrying a white woman was seen to be just a morally wrong by ignorant people as homosexuality is today. Some people just need to get over it. Gay marriage doesn't affect anyone except the two people who are getting marriage. If you think its against your religion then fine, in your view they'll go to hell, in theirs they won't. Either way it has nothing to do with you. If you don't like it then fine don't go over for dinner parties.

Eventually, at least I hope, gay marriage won't even be a point of discussion. It will just be called marriage..........or misery depending on how you look at it. The only reason these sort of propositions even go into effect is because people enjoy creating misery and hating other people. You can stop gay couples from marrying each other legally but I'm pretty sure there is no way in hell you'll be able to stop them from loving each other. Face it this Proposition 8 has already lost, its just presents the illusion of winning for a bunch of 70 year old men with their heads up their asses.

In other news I'm finally recovered from my Glandular Fever. Yay.

Also I will be writing a blog tomorrow about my opinion on the Australian Federal Election.

Till next time...

Reluctant Goodbyes

Forgive me for not posting for quite a while. I had exams, then relatives and now almost a month of illness. This is the longest I have ever been sick in my entire life, but that is a depressing and frustrating story for another day.

I will start by saying I do not refer to people I know personally by name. This is to avoid humiliation, frustration, law suits or all of the above.

What I have been doing for the last month or two is an awful lot of saying goodbye. School finished, exams finished, there was prom (which I was ill for) and friends have all been jet setting off to holidays. I have said goodbye to many and I most likely won't see many of these people for years to come or ever again and this week was no different. On Wednesday I, along with several friends, said farewell to someone very special.

This person, whom I have known for no more than nine months, has had a greater and more positive effect on my life than people I have know for 10+ years. In the short time that I have know her she has brought out a side of me that I had never knew was there. She has directly influenced my choice in career and how I intend to spend the rest of my life. Being under her guidance has taught me so much and, more than that, it has made me happy. I enjoyed every one of her lessons and appreciate everything she has done for me.

The meal among friends was a great and a brilliant way to say farewell. Everyone had a brilliant time and it was fantastic to be able to see off a good friend. Hugs, tears, presents and goodbyes were exchanged and, although it was sad, the night ended on a positive note.

However, I, personally, did not and will not say goodbye to this person. I am a firm believer in the idea that it is worth the effort of bridging gaps of geography and lifestyle to keep those who have a positive effect on you in your life. No matter how hard it may seem at times, there is always a way to keep these people with you. So instead of saying goodbye to this person I intend to say something else: Thank you.

Thank you for everything you have done for me, thank you for accepting me into your class when you had no obligation to do so, thank you for teaching me so much and thank you for making my final year of school one of the most enjoyable.

The End.......is The Beginning?

Wow has it really been that long? Anyone would think I've been busy lately. In which case, first of all I'd like to apologize for my lack of posting lately and hopefully from now on I will be able to consistently to subject you all to my words of pure ignorance.

Right then. Moving on.

The End. Well this could apply to a lot of things in my life at the moment, whether it be the end of school, the end of the Lost series or the end of one more Act of my life (I would have said "chapter" but I thought a theatre reference was much cooler). For today we'll stick with one ending: school.

As of 11am BST on 26th of June, 2010 I am, officially, no longer at school. Yes that's right I am free of the classrooms, the early morning registrations, the whiteboards, the assemblies and the lectures from a certain nameless Head of Sixth. All of these mundane daily things will be gone from my life, however, as is always the case, there is always a downside to leaving anything behind. As much as people like myself complain about school, the rules, the time, the effort and the exams that are forever haunting the nightmares of students across the globe, we will miss it. Or at least I will. I'm going to miss lounging around in the Common Room, the brutal yet entertaining card games, the games of rounders, the musicals, the parties, the English lessons, the bricks that were thrown, the music played, the costumes made, the soccer games etc.

I could go on forever without a doubt so I'll concentrate on the two things I am going to miss most. Firstly, the friendship. Yes I know friends don't just disappear into thin air once school is over, but it's something I've been through before. I've been to so many different schools and left so many friends behind but it never get easier. Regardless of how hard we try, this is the point where life will take us in different directions. Some friends with stay close, others will send cards and others will become distant memories. The second is the security. There's something comfortable about having a routine like school life. Most of us have had it for thirteen years and losing that, to me, seems significant. It signifies the point in life where I finally have to accept that I'm an adult. I actually have to make choices, live my life and take responsibility.

Bugger.

Yet while all this responsibility seems daunting at first, the end of my schooling life, as far as I see it, is just the beginning of my life. I haven't even finished exams yet and already there is so much to look forward to in my life. I'm starting a production of Les Miserable soon, I'll be recording an album over summer, there's Reading Festival, going back to Australia and seeing all of my old friends and family and of course university............eventually.

Regardless of the emotion that I feel about leaving school and eventually finishing my time in England, I can't ignore how many positive things are yet to come in my life and really can't wait for them to start.

Also if you haven't read Nick Hornby's High Fidelity then do. I am reading now and it's brilliant.

Till next time....

ASBOlute Bullshit

Surprise, surprise I have once again found something about British society that annoys me greatly. This one is pretty pathetic.

I read an article today about a 64 year-old man who was served with an ASBO (Anti-Social Behaviour Order for those unfamiliar with the term). This in itself is nothing special as people are served with ASBOs all the time. However this man was served with an ASBO for............wait for it............swearing at his TV.

Funny, right? Oh but it gets better.

It was not just that this man was prosecuted for swearing at his own TV that I found amusing, but also the fact that the program he was swearing at was Question Time. Yes that's right, shock horror, someone felt the need to swear at a panel of politicians while they rambled on trying to defend their policies against the critical questioning of an audience of voters.

The man apparently disturbed his neighbours with his swearing and they felt it necessary to report it to police. They clearly didn't agree with his political views.

I, personally, believe this to be a great injustice. What kind of world do we live in where a man can no longer dislike politicians in the comfort of his own home without fear of prosecution? This isn't the People's Republic of China. Yes, this mans swearing was caused by excessive drinking after work, however the man in question was in his own home, never intended to disturb his neighbours and was severely punished when he clearly showed remorse for any disturbance he may have caused.

Unfortunately it is not solely that this man was punished for his political views that upsets me. On Saturday night I was mugged in the street while with a friend. It's ok my friend was fine and all I suffered was a head-butt and I'm down £5 that fell out of my pocket. Honestly, this could easily happen to me on an average day at school. The real problem I have with this situation is a legal system that feels the need to punish a 64-year-old man for having a political opinion and accidentally waking his neighbours when there are clearly violent people, who have proven themselves to be dangerous, wandering the streets at night.

The idea of an ASBO is to prevent anti-social behaviour, yet somehow the legal system of this nation has allowed the development of an entire generation of people who clearly have no ambition in life other than to be exactly that, anti-social.

It doesn't surprise me that the majority of violent crimes in the world are left unreported when legal systems around the world make such a mockery of themselves. I'm not saying any nation in this world will ever have a perfect legal system. It is practically impossible. However, after being directly affected by something that was clearly a crime, to see someone be criminally prosecuted and punished for something so ridiculous that it barely scrapes in as an ASBO is more of a kick in the teeth than actually being attacked.

In other news I am hoping to get the vlog up this week at some point. I know I've said that before so don't quote me on it. Hope you are enjoying this decent English weather and have had a better weekend than me.

Till next time......

A future failed for all.....

It has been a long time since my last post and for this I apologize; however you'll be pleased to know today I'll be covering everyone's favourite topic, politics, and what a fantastic failure politics in this country has become.

Yes that's right the future of the United Kingdom looks bleek. For those of you that have taken any notice of the British election campaign there is very little sign of hope for the next generation in a nation that just over one hundred years ago controlled most of the world.

There are several reason that I have come to this depressing conclusion, the first of which being the absolutely amazing ignorance of the Labour Party.

Oh sorry......let me be more specific.

At Nottingham University a couple of weeks ago, Gordon Brown, in all of his wisdom, released five election pledges that will help Britain recover from the recession and everyone will be happy. I know Scotland might be socially on a different planet but seriously Gordy?

Yes these five pledges seemed extremely hollow and were riddled with holes such as where will the money come from, how do they plan to do it and is an election plan something that you should base on five short sentences? Unfortunately (and I use this word because it truly is unfortunate) this five pledges were not what concerned me most about the Labour Party's campaign. It was in fact the campaign slogan which surrounded the PM while he gave such a lackluster speech.

Anyone else spot it? The leading political party of the United Kingdom, the nation from which the modern English language originated, cannot come up with a slogan that includes any form of correct grammatical structure.

A future fair for all.

"Come on everyone, screw the election lets all go to a carnival."

A future, fair for all. A fair future for all. Either of these would have been perfectly acceptable yet somehow with all of resources available to Labour's PR department the still manage to make themselves look even less intelligent than they already appear.

Through a legal technicality I am allowed to vote in the United Kingdom. I pay taxes why the hell not? But do these people really expect me and any other person who hasn't recently suffered major head wounds to vote for them? As a party you can't master basic grammar but you want me to trust you with the next few years of my financial well being, public safety, job security, education, transport and everything else the government (which is currently the Labour Party) has failed at for the last four years? Well maybe you can work on some English skills Mr. Brown. What does g,e,t,f,u,c,k,e,d spell?

Anyway I think you can guess by now what I think of Labour Party. It makes me sad to some extent how hopeless they have become and it scares me to think what could happen if they are re-elected. Guess we'll find out on May 6th. In the mean time, over the next few weeks, I shall be pointing out the flaws, and maybe if you're lucky strengths, of the other various parties that we shall soon be putting our faith in. I might even review the E4 Party for those of you who have seen the ads :D

Till next time.....

The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Not-Quite-As-Good-Prequel

Hi everyone.

This will be a short post as it is a response to a comment made on my previous post by a man I admire, respect and love. Well at least enough to dedicate a whole post to his comment. The question posed is as follows.

"We can be happy any time, just by letting go of being unhappy. Why would anybody WANT to be unhappy -- and we do. What's the payoff supposed to be for withholding our happiness?"

I have a number of theories. However, I shall only elaborate on one.

We CANNOT be happy all the time, otherwise we wouldn't be happy. Stay with me here there is logic in these words..........somewhere. The key thing about being happy is its great. We enjoy it so much and why shouldn't we? Being happy makes the people around us happy and altogether improves our quality of life; but would it feel as good if were never unhappy?

Think about it. We've all had those periods in our lives when we feel truly awful. Its a terrible feeling but when we come out of that feeling and find happiness again the sense of relief is astonishing. I think if we were never unhappy we would never get that sense of relief. We wouldn't be able to appreciate what a brilliant thing happiness is.

In the end that's what happiness is: the realisation that we are no longer unhappy. We take risks, push boundaries, expose ourselves physically and emotionally, work hard, fail, sacrifice, berate ourselves and in general put ourselves into situations that will most likely cause us misery. Why? Because once we get through it all we get that sense of relief, we're happy and ready to do it all over again....

Till next time.

The Pursuit of Unhappiness: A Trilogy

Lately I've had a fair amount to be happy about. I got good results in my exam, my job interview was successful and I start next week, my English coursework is FINALLY getting somewhere near the grade I want and my musical endeavours actually seem to be going in the right direction. All of these things have combined to make me a rather tired, yet extremely happy individual.

There is, however, a down side.....

I've noticed a pattern over the last year or so that every time i find myself in a generally happy mood, those around me are miserable. It seems that I can never be mutually happy with any majority of my friends or family.

I have spent quite a significant amount of time (perhaps too much) pondering this situation to come up with a cause. I narrowed it down to three.

The first and perhaps most logical: Coincidence.

Pure coincidence can more often than not be the reason for everything. As a people the Human Race has spent most of its existence trying to find order and meaning in things that most probably don't have one. We see this in the sheer number of varying religions, the way we analyse literature to find some deeper meaning in an authors words when really they're just talking about how crappy the weather is and many other things that appear to have an improbable significance. If something bad happens and someone asks their priest "If God exists then why would he let this happen?" the stereotypical reply is "The Lord works in mysterious ways". An Atheist's interpretation of that answer, and a suitable one for this scenario, would be "Sometimes life just sucks. There's no real reason for it, that's just how it works sometimes." So maybe sometimes my friend's just have a bad time of it when I'm not. Luck of the draw I suppose.

The second possible cause and in the words of Aardman creation Mr Tweedy: "It's all in your 'e'd!"

Maybe it is. Maybe my current heightened state of happiness is warping my perspective of the situation. The fact that I am happy at the current time could make it seem as those others are more miserable than usual; or perhaps they have always been this unhappy and my common miserable state of mind caused it go unnoticed. Either way perhaps I'm making too much of it all.

The final conclusion I came up with.........well I couldn't.

I don't see any reason for people to be unhappy with their lives. Yes sometimes your life sucks and sometimes you can't do anything about it but I'm a firm believer that unhappiness is, for the most part, self inflicted. People seem to find it so easy to take a negative view of the world and treat it accordingly. More and more people are spending their time feeling sorry for themselves. Misery loves company and it NEVER struggles to find any. Perhaps these people need to focus on the positives in their lives, ignore the negatives, leave them in the past and look toward all the amazing possibilities in their future. I know I sound harsh and inconsiderate but sometimes people just forget how much potential to be happy they really have.

So maybe it's that great force of coincidence, maybe it's me or maybe it's people struggling to notice how amazing and happy they can really be. Whatever the case I think most importantly what people need to remember is that their friends are always there. Even people who feel like they have nobody still have someone in their lives who is happy enough to help them through the hard times. Maybe it's somebody close to you or maybe it's a person you wouldn't expect it to be but there is always somebody.

Right now I'm one of those people. Maybe next week I won't be but for now I'm here to help those friends who need it. Just thought you should know.

Till next time....

Work and Work

Hi Guys (I use this term collectively as political correctness has never been one of my strong points)

Long time, no Blog.

It's been a busy week, however it's seemed to be one of those weeks where I have done so much yet managed to achieve so little. Do other people get this? I am exhausted this week and it all seems as though it's all ahead of me to do.

My life over the last week can be broken down into two things: Work and Work.

I'll start with Work. It seems that no matter how hard I try my academic life just will not let up. I am reminded almost everyday, by at least one of my teachers, that there is only nine weeks left of my schooling life. On top of this I am also reminded that there are only two outcomes at the end of those nine weeks: Failure or Success. Failure of course means no university and no basic education. I will not get a job which will of course cause me to take up drugs, get someone pregnant and effectively ruin my life. Success on the other hand appears to mean paradise. Teachers make it sound like getting good A-Level grades will cause the heavens to open and paradise and happiness to reign down on us all for eternity. BULLSHIT.

It seems that, in the eyes of the Sixth Form academic staff of this world, these are the only paths which we as students can take and that these outcomes are destined for all students. Surely this can't be the best way to encourage your students to do well during their last few months at school. What about those of us who are unlikely to get the top grades and be opened unto the paradisiacal gates of life? Surely teachers, who have been doing this for quite some time, could take a more positive approach to their graduating (or flunking as the case may be) students. I am a firm believer that positive reinforcement is a far greater weapon than destructive fear mongering and this must apply to students. If you tell someone that they can do something, in combination with hard work, then they are more likely to feel that they can and work towards achieving that goal; however if you tell people that their lives will be ruined unless the learn how to do something, then I guarantee you'll have less success. Teachers want us to succeed but sometimes they are fairly clueless as to the best way to get us there.

This brings me onto my second topic of the week: Work.

I have been looking for a new job for months now. Much longer than I care to have been and I clearly have not been successful so far. There are all sorts of reason for this, my education restricting the hours I can work, travelling distances and the just extreme lack of jobs for people my age in Maidenhead; but one thing that has really prevented me from getting jobs and annoys the hell out of me is that ever elusive attribute for people my age: Experience. It seems that with the economic situation (once again something we're constantly reminded of by teachers), that employers are now able to pick and choose who they hire. The lack of higher paying jobs that require qualifications is forcing more and more people to settle for the lower paying jobs that students such as myself crave in order to pay for holidays, new clothes and our weekend drinking habits. As a result employers are now asking for experienced workers for jobs that would previously not have requested it. Yet they never seem to offer a way for us to gain this experience.

Now that all the jobs for us younger, inexperienced people are gone, the world is beginning to create a generation of people who are just completely inexperienced. We students used to rely on the weekend bar jobs, the dishwasher jobs and the waiter positions to beef up our CV's so we don't look like worthless idiots when we come out of uni. Now, however, we are once again being told that we are not good enough and that a 30 year old ex-banker can pour a beer much better than we can. When will the world tell us that we can do something and that even if we screw up our lives will be enjoyable???

It seems that Work and Work are really not positive aspects of a young person's life these days. We've inherited a world of "put up or shut up" and it seems that I'm now at that point in life we're I'm expected to do both - "Shut up" and do some work so you can "put up" your grades to a level that will "shut up" your employer so he/she will give you a decent job that "puts you up" in the world.

Well now it really is time for me to shut up and put up this post.

On another note I have a job interview tomorrow. Wish me luck. I'd also like to shout out to Suzy who's joyful 18th birthday I will unfortunately miss tomorrow. Happy Birthday Suzy.

Till next time......

Creativity

As you know from my first post I am in the process of developing a vlog for my YouTube page and so far all it has brought me is grief. It turns out my creativity is not what it used to be. I've been thinking about what I should put in my first vlog and so far I'm coming up blank. Friends have suggested that I start with an introductory vlog in much the same way that I began my blog, however I personally think this would just be a cop out. I refuse to believe that my mind is devoid of interesting thought and that somehow I should be able to drag up from the dark and desolate dungeon that is my imagination some kind of interesting, and hopefully humorous, thought to share with the world.

The thought that my imagination has in been in some way wounded or killed in the last few years got me thinking about the imagination in general. Most people seem to think our imaginations are most active when we are children and this would seem to be the case but in a rare show of individuality from myself I refuse to believe this. I hope I'm not alone in thinking this because, contrary to what I opened with, adults have extremely vivid imaginations we just don't give them the time of day anymore. Children are free to let their imaginations run wild whereas we older members of society just don't have the time. The pressures of finishing your A-levels, keeping hold of your £15,000p.a. job during the recession or just trying to find a girlfriend to spend your spare time with are just a few of the things that prevent adults form utilizing their imaginations. I think this idea that children have better imaginations has just spawned from the fact the older people barely have the time to use theirs.

Case in point: my vlog troubles.

I think..........or should I say I hope that my imagination is just as sterling as it was ten years ago. The only reason it has hit a wall is I am rarely called upon to use it and it has forgotten what its supposed to be doing. It's like meeting an old friend you haven't seen in years. It's hard to recognise them at first but once you get past the awkward stage of forgetting their name, you're off having beers and telling embarrassing stories.

So in summary imaginations need to be used for them to work properly. Our day to day routines are causing us to neglect our creativity and it's making our lives so much less magical. I hope that you agree with me on this and that you'll start to use your imaginations more often like I will soon be doing.

Now who wants to give me ideas for my vlog? My imagination sucks....... :P

Till next time.......

"Become a Fan"

Some people absolutely amaze me. Even people I don't even know surprise me but lately it has been for all the wrong reasons. Today I saw that one of my friends on Facebook had become "a fan of Not Being Raped". This just served to remind me of all the other crap that gets put up on Facebook lately. I mean sure I once joined a group called "Not Being On Fire" because I thought it was funny. And it is. People dont normally just end up on fire but making a joke about rape, as far as I'm concerned, is vile.

Rape is NOT funny.

Its one of the most disgusting and hateful crimes that exists in this world and I just don't see why people would want to make a public joke across the internet about it. I mean think about people who may have genuinely been through such a traumatic experience and then they go on the internet and have to see people making fun of it. It is just one of the many things that has made Facebook less and less attractive to me personally.

A couple of weeks ago a 12 year-old boy in Queensland was stabbed to death and a tribute page was set up in his memory but unfortunately some people took it upon themselves to desecrate this page. They posted porn, bestiality and picture of the boy himself with captions like "yay I'm dead!" What the fuck is wrong with there people? I'll state the obvious again for anyone who doesn't get it.

Young children being murdered is NOT funny.

On the plus side these people were tracked down and criminally prosecuted but they set a precedent and week later when an 8 year-old girl was abducted from her bed and murdered similar things were done to her tribute page.

I understand that people in society today are bored. You wouldn't think so with the amount of technology, sport, tv, music and cinema we have today but people, especially my age, are bored shitless. And this causes us to do stupid things, however I still don't see how the heinous crimes and the genuine suffering of others can cause joy for people.

There are things about this world I love so much but unfortunately people just make me lose all faith in humanity sometimes.

Well I best end my rant/expression of disbelief there. My last posting was waaaayy too long and I could complain about people for hours here.

Let me know your thoughts on this people. I am being unreasonable or have you noticed this stuff too?

Till next time.....

Dramatic happenings

I think I'm losing my touch.

Let me explain that statement a little better. For those of you that don't know me I'm normally fairly quick witted and observant of what is going on around me however today (technically yesterday but i haven't gone to bed yet) the ability to see a situation for what it really is completely abandoned me.

You see on the advice of my Performing Arts teacher I spent some time over the weekend (admittedly not a huge amount) reading about Augustus Boal and the Theatre of the Oppressed. She believed it would be relevant to a forth coming project of mine and she had mentioned that she would be running a workshop on it on Monday. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Theatre of the Oppressed I will summarise it in an almost insultingly simple way. Basically Boal believed that the audience should be put in a situation that causes them or people to be oppressed in a way that causes them to react and either stand up for those around them or take no action at all, thereby realising something about themselves. Basically he would put people in really awkward and sometimes harrowing situations without people realising it was all an act and not real. (This is know as Invisible Theatre)

Anyway when it came to my performing arts lesson on Monday I assumed that this is what we would be working on and had even mentioned it to my dad who has a great deal of experience with theatre. This, however, was not the case. I arrived to the lesson with an extremely agitated and almost irate teacher who was determined that we were going to work on the use of puppetry theatre and given the nature of her mood pushed Boal completely out of my mind. The reason, as it appeared at the time, that my teacher was so angry was that apparently the quality of some of our recent work had been below standard and she was, understandably, frustrated with the class.

It wasn't long before a friend of mine decided that she was not going to take part in the lesson. Now this is not uncommon in our class and often our teacher is quite understanding if we don't feel comfortable with what we're doing or just simply are having one of those days where we hinder the lesson more than help it. Soon after another friend of mine turned up late, which is also not uncommon for him. My teacher then proceeded to pull them aside and tell them both off out of earshot from the rest of us which seemed to irritate the both of greatly.

For the rest of the lesson my teacher grew more and more frustrated with them and the rest of the class, aiming snide remarks about their behaviour directly at them, threatening to kick them off the course and altogether treating them like small naughty children rather the young adults that they are. My two friends where not making the situation much better for themselves either. They refused to participate, stormed out of the theatre, threw things, banged chairs and just generally acted like toddlers who haven't had their daily nap.

This behaviour would seem generally unacceptable but at the time and given the ferocious nature of our teacher the class seemed at a consensus that our teacher was in the wrong and on the numerous occasions when she stormed out the theatre after the two to tell them off we would gather and bitch.

Yes we were bitches. Men and women alike.

As far as we were concerned our teacher was completely out of line, our lesson was being disrupted and we were considering storming out as well. However out teacher would often return to class, catch us bitching and not doing work and then yell at us. As if it were an instinctual reaction we would obey, not daring to challenge the authority of teacher half a foot shorter than most of us. We all felt powerless while she was in the room and it was only when she left that we gained any form of confidence only to have it ripped away from us every time she re-entered the theatre.

It was not until the end of the lesson that the teacher asked our two friends to come and sit down and then asked us all to give them a round of applause for their Invisible Theatre performance. After a few seconds of shocked and blank looks towards each other we all felt felt a few moments of relief that it had all been fake. This did not last long unfortunately as we were soon all ashamed. We had failed to stand up for our friends even though we all clearly believed that our teacher was being too harsh and we had all been so quick to ridicule our teacher over the situation.

I however was ashamed as well as kicking myself. Less than an hour earlier I had been thinking about exactly the kind of thing that had just happened around me and I had not even noticed it. I normally take pride in myself for seeing the world as it really is and yet in that lesson I had not even noticed a thing. I would like to think that maybe it was the fear of the situation that put me out but really I know I was just generally an idiot.

I feel bad that I didn't notice it and even worse that when I thought it was real I did nothing to stop it, however that was easily the best lesson I have ever had in my life. It reminded me of the thing I love most about theatre and acting. It has so much power. Theatre (much like music which I'll talk about another day) has the power to challenge people's perspective of the world. It can create emotions and reactions in people that even they didn't know they could experience. Without theatre I think I would genuinely hate my life......or at least be very dissatisfied with it.

Anyway now that its like nearly 1am and I've finished my this blog (or should I say extended essay) I am going to go to bed!

Thank-you to those of you that actually read this all the way through and to those of you who didn't...........I don't blame you!

Till next time.....

This is an experiment......

........quite literally. You see I've always wanted to get into the world of v-logging. I understand that the YouTube v-log community is quite well established with likes of Nat (communitychannel), Alex Day (nerimon), Philip DeFranco (sxephil) and Tessa (meekakitty) to name a few; however I believe there must still be room to break through to world.

This is why I am merely starting with a text based blog, because while I am pained to say it literature is dead as a way of communication. One hundred years ago writers were able to interact with the world through the use of written word. Now, however, digital has taken over. Things like YouTube are more a part of the general public's lives than anything else in the world. It helps politicians win elections, encourages people to donate to charity, gives us advice on which films we should see and what x-box games are worth playing.

Don't misunderstand me here. I'm not complaining. I embrace all technology and use it just as much as everyone else. I've had a YouTube account for coming up on 4 years now (I've uploaded less than half a dozen videos but thats another matter) and love the idea that it is now so much easier to communicate with the world.

I suppose that this blog, to me at least, is just my way of acknowledging the passing of the literary world. While I will eventually get to making a v-log (and it will most likely be unsuccessful) this blog will remain just because I refuse to abandon writing altogether.

Much love to those few people who actually decide to read this :P

Now I must finish watching Canada beat USA in Ice Hockey!