Fight the Power

I've recently received a thoroughly unsatisfactory grade at college, one that doesn't represent the situation in which the work was submitted, lack of teacher, etc. the norm. The difference is that here the establishment has made no attempt to try and help us out by adjusting our marks even though they could. Now, i'm eloquent enough to have written a powerfully worded and strong letter to the director of studies detailing all of the concerns, essentially ripping him a new one and take it all the way to the top of the college.

Now, if I carry on with this it's possible they could somehow get me for plagiarism and kick me out because I'd be rubbing them the completely wrong way which isn't something I usually aim to do. Now the question remains, how far do you go to defend the principle when It's actually you on the line.

I mean it's all well and good when you're supporting a distance and unrelated cause but when you're actually in the center of everything and it's you who's enacting the change, do you back off and take it or do you put it all on the line when everything going right for the first time in your life?

Jeez, this is the kind of time I could do with outside opinions...maybe I'm just being paranoid.

Zeitgeist

I have a housemate who is convinced the banks conspire with a world agenda in order to control the world's money and therefore control the world. Now i'm fairly tired so I'll try and keep this short and sweet but I'm just going to launch into a small discussion on the extent to which I agree with him.

Now I started with a somewhat oversimplification although it stands true and I don't want anyone thinking I'm a "nutjob" conspiracy theorist - having said that I don't actually think conspiracy theorists are "nutjobs", all they do is take a lack of evidence supporting the govenment's view or whoever else's and turn it around into the evidence for their point of view. I digress - now this is starting to become a bit of a mess. I told you I was tired.
Money is power, this has always been true. On this assumption the same banks or banking families have controlled the world's money for a very long time, hundreds of years, stretching all the way to the medici banking family in Venice and beyond. They controlled whole cities and sections of countries and of course as money makes money their influence, power and stockpiles have only increased since. Think about it, people in power breed with people in power and create powerful marriages spawning powerful children. It's the way the world works. You can only really break into this elite group through marriage, game-changing inventions or pure merit placing you heads and shoulders above the rest of the world. Today, this is no different, the federal reserve act was drafted on a private island by a group of bankers; it is in their interest to hold on to power and hell, they're the ones who're used to it and who am I to tell them they shouldn't still be clinging to it because if we've proved one thing as the general public, it's that WE CANNOT BE TRUSTED. The difference between me and my housemate is that I've been following politics for a very long time, he hasn't. He seems to have just awoken to the news having lived on a small island most of his life and has made the mistake of accepting all information he is given with the same value. So a nutter preaching about how Obama is the worst president the world has ever seen is given the same gravity as an article in the economist. Hearing about the debt ceiling being raised this year will enrage him until I let him know that it's been raised at least 3 or 4 times a year for the last at least 50 years or so. "Oh, uh, well that cant be true because youtube said otherwise"... T_T

In fact, even worse, he insists that you cannot trust any data or evidence presented in any media because it is all fabricated. However it seems the random youtube videos from which he gets his half-assed news seems to be fact because it's from the people. There's really only one world for people like this. Idiots. To assume that all data given to you by any source, no matter how reputable, to ignore evidence no matter how impartial the source is nothing short of idiocy. It is the viewpoint for people who cannot understand the difference between fact and fiction which is highlighted greatly in the debates I seem to be dragged into with him from time to time.

He, of course, has no opinion of his own, no matter how much he may parrot the line of others it is painfully obvious to all around him that he cannot think for himself and so any ideas he presents are the ideas of others. Now recently he has become the patron saint of soon to be unknown, soon to be 4th place republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul. He spends all day every day watching his speeches on youtube and walks around telling everyone he's going to be assassinated if he gets into power. He takes his word as law. He takes his rhetoric against the other politicians as the truth and repeats them without any other viewpoint than his own.

I could go on forever and I'll only get more and more angry and less and less able to sleep in a bit so really I should tail this off. If you or anyone you know is like this you have to accept that they are ignorant to the extreme, incapable of forming their own opinions and nothing short of an outlet for the media they tout as untrustworthy. I'm not the media's friend but I can recognize the difference between fact and fiction and now, after half a year I can recognize that there is zero point in arguing with him because when you don't recognize facts as facts there is no basis from which to continue. I personally blame the fact he was raised in a boarding school so had no adults to tell him he was spouting shit with only gullible kids to idolize his torrent of shit he ends every argument with well, it's my opinion so...

Christ, I'm getting pissed. The fact that it's your opinion doesn't mean it's a fact from which you base all future arguments. If it was a fact that all facts are fabricated that's fine, but the fact that it's your opinion makes anything you say invalid. That and the denial of global warming, another attempt to pass off the mainstream republican party line as his own view. Just like the views of Ron Paul himself, generally over simplistic, narrow minded and short sighted just like his supporters. Apart from his libertarian views on drugs - even those go too far.

He's a great friend, and more or less a generally good guy. However there are just some people you should leave to their opinions and their ways because as soon as you start trying to engage them you'll start going in circles leading to headaches, depression and suicide. He neither aims to be, nor will ever be in a position where his opinion on such matters are taken seriously so fuck it. At least I know I'm right.


Idiots; they'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience...

Back after a break

Been a while...

No deep meaningful input for tonight, just an update. Just been ticking over since exams, went to a warehouse rave, my first time, finished at about 6am which was awesome spent the last 2 hours coming down in the seating "death" area but other than that it was pretty decent. Otherwise winding up for the next set in a month or so which is absolutely ridiculous. They just come around disgustingly quickly and before you know it another year has been completed and you're another year closer to the world of work and real responsibility. I've stopped kidding myself that I'm going to write an entry whilst actually at college as i'm just too high too much of the time, don't get me wrong I fucking love it and there's not many places I'd rather be but whilst I'm there I feel almost compelled and that means I'm in no position to write; too relaxed with too little motivation. Speaking of real work I've got a job as an engineer which is incredible...I'll be starting sometime this  year - earning real money which should be nice and taking a year out of college to experience adults who aren't in the bubble that I call college life.

In fact, where I live it seems as if people don't understand how small a pond they're swimming in - I'm not saying I know how big a pond the world is because nobody really can but living in a capital city most of your life you get a good idea. They strut about like everyone wants to know them and talk like what they have to say is the law however the reality is that they have their friends who're also in the bubble they have their parents who make no attempt to burst the bubble and they have girls at clubs who're even more sheltered and "bubble'd" than the guys who're trying to chat them up. None of them have any substance, all of them think they're god's gift to the world and very few of them will make it anywhere and that's not a problem for them because mediocrity in life is what they're gunning for. It's in 10 to 15 years when those of us who're awake to the ways of the world, those of us who know what's going on, those of us who know what we want and know how to get it, those of us who're presented with these mindless morons on a daily basis and lie, manipulate and coerce your way around them in order to achieve something who will be employing these idiots in the future and will be managing their skills, or lack thereof, to complete projects to deadlines. I'm also not saying that everyone is like that because, as I consider myself a good judge of character, I've found a good group of guys who aren't as clueless as everyone else and on the most part are on the same page; nothing to do with intelligence or booksmarts. I was going to provide an example but I fear i'm going on too long - I lie, the example I was thinking of doesn't tie in well enough to be worth mentioning and I wanted to finish this entry but I guess that in itself is an example of what I'm talking about.


At home now though so expect a few posts in the next few weeks...

Exams and After Exams Parties

Wow, that last post was pretty heavy! Just reading through I'm pretty disappointed with myself because if anyone accidentally stumbled upon this little corner of the internet it's 90% likely they were scared away before they read anything else! :(  Alas, it was probably because I was under the stress of exams and that also explains the huge lack of posts. That and the fact I can't help but get high in the evening thereby negating the opportunity to get anything done at all that doesn't involve sitting in one place until the inevitability of sleep takes hold. But that's not a problem because I'm back home again and I'm sober so here I am!

A few interesting things happened over the last few weeks, I had a series of exams, had a little celebration at the end and then came down with a crushing illness, sort of in that order. Nothing too serious but it was enough to put me in bed for 4 days. However I managed to drive back to the safety of home before I collapsed in a vegetable-like heap but not before I veered very almost out of control from my lane on two occasions hitting the hard shoulder and jolting back awake to resume control of the vehicle. Irresponsible I know but I was ill and I needed to get home.

Now the exams; nobody likes exams but there's almost a serenity to it induced by the routine and the work, to be entirely honest, is much much easier than learning something new. All that's really involved is memorization and that's made easier if you're surrounded by friends in the same position; everyone gets cranky but everyone also understands that it's not personal, it's just exams.

It was also made somewhat easier by the introduction of something I had heard a lot about over the last little while, Ritalin. Now I wouldn't usually take something like this because, without meaning to brag too much, I don't need to. I can remember large amounts of information without much difficulty just put me in a room alone for a certain amount of time and I'll get it done. However there's another side to my personality that isn't quite so fastidious, it's a side that takes the easiest road through any situation and that's the side that convinced me to take it.

I took one tablet once a day in the evening when I found that I was "dropping off" and no longer at my peak and it took me to a kind of serene place where I could become super focused and endevour to complete large sections of revision in one go. I was learning like a king. However the down side to this, and to anyone reading and hasn't tried drugs, with a take there is ALWAYS and WITHOUT EXCEPTION a "give"; I couldn't sleep for hours and hours afterwards. I would take it at 5 and not be able to sleep until 5 the next morning. It was horrible. So the natural option was to smoke a spliff. I would revise and come home and smoke and go to bed. I know it seems counter-intuitive but it seemed to work and I could remember everything the next day and in the exam I didn't seem to forget much of what I had learnt. I guess I'll update this when I get my results - if I've done as well as I hope I have then I think I really have pulled off something special. Think about it, waking up with a bit of a stone-over having a coffee and studying solidly until about 5 taking a ritalin and then working through till 11, coming home, eating, smoking spliffs until you can't move and then going to bed, rinse and repeat. It was awesome; let's just hope it pays off.

Now for the end of exams party I went and got some MDMA, now this I feel kind of bad for, it's going to make me sound like a total douche and this is the first time I've done this kind of thing so that preconception you're about to form; un-form it that's not who I am. And bear in mind it's only someone who truly believes that, that would type all of that out to convince a non-existent person that it's true. Anyway I don't feel bad about the MDMA in fact it made me feel quite the opposite the fact is I went and bought it for considerably less that I and everyone else expected however i bought it back and handed it out with everyone reimbursing me for the amount we usually get it for. I pocketed the difference. To be honest I really don't feel that bad anyway I always go and drive to get it and I always get ripped off so really I'm just getting even. Having said that, that night I lost my jacket and jumper; it was a Christmas present from my mother; in fact my favorite present and now it's gone. Then I proceeded to get ill and spend my only week off for the next 4 months in bed. Shit maybe I won't rip everyone off again...karma's a bitch. I hope my jacket is still there I'm going to go check on Monday.


It's not going to be there...fucking clubs...would've been better off not going it's not like I remember it...

Ed Miliband's Labour Party

A short post because it's late and I should be in bed; the Labour party under the leadership of Ed Miliband  is an utter shambles. He hasn't managed to make any kind of impact on the public or, as it seems, his own party. It's almost as if he's the best of the worst crop in generations; even when the Tories went through their rough patch they could field better opposition - hell a coma patient has more charisma than this guy.

I believe in the English parliamentary system; its worked for hundreds of years and hopefully it will carry on in this fashion. HOWEVER. And this is a big however. It relies heavily on the strength of the opposition to challenge the incumbent's ideology and policy and to push them to be better themselves as it's not about us and them (as the USA seems to be setting a stellar example for) it's about a journey they take towards a better future for the population. The problem now becomes obvious with Ed's complete lack of leadership, vision and originality he is merely a third fiddle even to the head of the Liberal Democrat coalition partner Deputy PM Nick Clegg who himself is the tea-boy of the current Prime Minister David Cameron. 

Although I've slightly bashed the U.S. system it does do one thing - encourage the rise of fresh faced politicians, possibly from different backgrounds and allows them a chance to shine before they inevitably get sucked into the black hole that is politics. Instead of the engaging speeches of Obama and Clinton all we get from him are half-arsed jokes and annoyingly nasal splutterings of "David Cameron policies are unraveling!" or that the state of affairs is "an utter shambles".

What he should be doing is taking a long hard look at his own positions which are widely recognized as a joke in themselves and if he cannot provide sufficient resistance to the wheels of change, no matter how benign their direction may be, then he should step aside and let another one of his floundering, unimaginative, outdated and out of touch career politician colleagues have a shot.

Woo politics...next time will be more lighthearted g'damn work...Although I can't promise there won't be something on the state of the House of Lords soon...

The State of Radio...

Hello, hello, hello...is there anybody in there?...

I read a study recently that decided pretty much conclusively validates the musings of older generations that the 80s really were the golden age of music. Of course this was based on the general trend that music (pop I can only assume) is getting louder and more repetitive - but no shit!

Pop music nowadays is a vile institution that churns out track after track of manufactured copycat rubbish that panders to the masses and you know what? It works. They can't get this stuff off of the shelves fast enough and no matter how much you try and avoid it; CDs or Ipods in the car, busses, trains etc. you will at some point end up tuned into a radio channel that's playing it because they all are; at least in the UK, and it won't take long for silence to become the less offensive option.

There're really only two options other than that commercial crap firstly, a favourite of drunk people in cabs everywhere; the easy listening channel - mellow magic, peaceful pop, affable anthems or lazy lullabies. However they package it whispered into their microphone like sweet nothings into a lover's ear it doesn't change the fact that they're playing absolute crap that nobody, of any age, has heard of. Nobody. And if this one "hit" wonder's song, and it pains me to use the word hit so liberally, can't be recognized it really shouldn't be played. Anywhere. These guys have a CHOICE they CHOOSE to play it to you and I bet they don't want to but these "DJs", used in the loosest way possible, are selling out every single day harder and faster than Snoop Dogg in Katy Perry's latest candy covered project. So instead of doing what's right. They choose instead to just repeat the same volume of tracks at the same time every day, week after week, year after  year.

The only alternative isn't that great either; classic/rock channels who claim to be "Playing those classic/rock tunes all day long" but some how manage to pick and choose everything that has been wrong with rock music between the 70s and the mid 90s instead of the real classics or anything made in the last 15 years. The thing is, I understand crappy radio station. It's not your fault I guess good music is expensive to play and you guys don't have enough money from the 30 minutes of shameless plugs and advertisements for every 40 minutes of airtime, I really do understand. What you need to do is remove that large stick from your ass and realize that the only people left listening to you are people that really have no other choice.

Having said that I've recently found one diamond in the rough but alas, as soon as I go back to University it'll be gone again. And they wonder why everyone pirates music!

By the looks of it, better burn some more CDs for the drive back...

How better to brighten up long blocks of text than with Cardbo? Cardbo doesn't know what distraction is because he aces every test he walks into without any revision whatsoever.

Distractions, Distractions...

As a University student with exams pretty soon I'm staying at home at the moment being post-Christmas and what-not. However this means for me as what I'm sure it means for so many other people. Distraction. Hell that's what started this all off.

It seems without either your friends' or peers' ability to collectively shame each other into working - you're left to motivate yourself; and as much as I hate and admire in equal measure people who can sit and work for 16 hours straight without more than a few hours break for lunch and dinner. I'm not one of them and I probably never will be. Whatever I'm focusing on wherever I am; upstairs/downstairs/outside there's something to take my mind off the task at hand, maybe it's because I hate what I do (I don't, that much) but more than anything, the one thing that distracts me most is, say it with me now, FACEBOOK.

It hovers teasingly on the end of a queue of boring tabs covering this and that but none of those drive me with a compulsive urge to check and recheck what's going on with idiotic frequency; even when I know myself that nothings happened I still have to have a peek just to make sure. And you know, I don't think I'm the only one. Unlike almost any other time of the year when everyone has something better to be doing than sat in front of a desk slamming books against their head in a desperate attempt to passively absorb knowledge, at this time of the year you can comment and like and post and sure as the sun will rise; a flurry of responses at some ridiculously alarming rate.

I honestly wonder what the hell used to go on before the internet age; knowledge? I have no doubt that books sufficed as they seem to do quite a bit these days as I progress into realms where only specialist books seem to have the specific things I'm looking for but I mean in terms of distractions there really is nothing worse....

...than stumbleupon.com it's incredible, it takes what you like, sorts through and starts throwing sites at you; figuratively chucking them out from the screen as you dodge just in time to click "stumble" again and you know you shouldn't, deep down, in fact not even that deep you can be telling yourself for HOURS that you'll just check out another site. It's more addicting than crack. Speaking of...

Flash games. Crack. Huh? I said Flash Games. Crack. There, I can't even say one without including the other. Think about it, what do you take in incredibly small quantities and it has you hooked for days/weeks/months/years. It's inexpensive and doesn't seem too bad at first and then BANG you're more addicted than that haggard old whore on a date that end up desperately going home with some young guys looking to score coke with them (It's happened before and it'll happen again; another time another story.) Anyway I digress, flash games are the devils work and if you've ever played them I don't need to make any more analogies and if you haven't? God. Please. PLEASE. Just stay away; you wouldn't do crack so don't do flash games.


Hold on, I think something might have happened on Facebook...

FirstPost.

I’ll keep it simple, I've always seen blogs as self-serving pedestals from which one shouts his or her’s opinion trying desperately to be heard over the sea of people on equally sized pedestals also trying to get their voice out. But here I am. This little thing here is not to start what will become a sensation but I feel it’s only fair to give anyone who’s stumbled upon it the proper introduction it deserves; after all, if something’s worth doing surely it’s worth doing properly?

So here I am. I don’t see myself as someone who’s trying to get their voice out on any particular subject or such alike. No seriously, I’m not. The main point of this is to indulge myself in many different areas including writing; lord knows I don’t do anything near creative enough otherwise and I think over the next little while I’ll find a bit of time on my hands and you know what they say about idle hands…

Right. Few ground rules I guess, now again this is for myself, I’m not trying to reach anyone or influence anyone; I’d love for people to read this but I’m not setting out with that expectation – until then if that day ever comes, this is for me I guess. I expect what’s to come has no format, no structure and not much in the way of strict direction. I just hope this will be something I look back on or others look upon and read about how stupid, careless, and absolutely incredible I was. An online journal of sorts complete with ramblings ‘n all.

Wordy isn’t it?