I read a lot of magazines. Mainly because I have no friends here currently and also no job as no one wants to employ me. But also, simply because I like it. I like the features more than anything as opposed to the celebrity crap and the fashion and beauty pages, but what annoys me, is that women's magazines seem to go out of their depths to make us seem unbelievably shallow.
I'm not going to name names here, as most womens magazines do it, so I'll just mention them collectively. Aside from a couple of features in monthly/weekly issues depending on the magazine, they seem to talk about nothing but fashion, beauty and celebrities. It makes it sound like it's all we care about, whereas frankly, I couldn't care less.
I mean, I couldn't give a shit what looks hot on the catwalks right now, most of which they only advertise stuff in shops that I could never afford to shop in on a student budget. I don't care if the top is a replica of something hot of the catwalk, I refuse to pay £25 for a TOP. Obviously, I like to look nice and wear nice clothes, but at the end of the day, I like living in my flat and eating. Something which has priority over looking nice I'd think.
Beauty tips aren't that bad, because some of them are helpful at times, some of which I've read and have thought they were genius ideas and have used them every single day afterwards, but as far as the make up they talk about, who in their right mind would pay anything over a fiver for a mascara? It's your eyelashes for crying out loud. Something which people are rarely going to see up close, unless you gaze into your boyfriend's eyes a lot or something, but even so, most guys probably don't care what your eyelashes look like.
I buy make up, and I wear it every day, but I refuse to pay anything over a tenner for the lot. Call me cheap if you must, but I just don't see the point. Cheaper brands like Miss Sporty still do the job, although I draw the line at using make up out of cheap gift sets and from places like Poundland.
What's probably the worst in these magazines is the celebrity news though. By all means have it, but don't fill up half of your magazine with it. I don't know who actually physically worries themselves over what Taylor Swift wore at the Teen Choice awards, or how stressful Kim Kardashian's wedding plans are (on a side note, surely with all the money she has she can afford a wedding planner to do it all for her?). Yeah people might be interested, but I wouldn't have thought anything like that is an OMG! moment, especially not with the stuff going on in this country right now.
I'm not going to say I completely boycott the celeb news, because I don't. If it's a celebrity I'm interested in, I will read whatever feature it is, but thankfully, most of the celebs I'm interested in are stars of Desperate Housewives and The Big Bang Theory, and in this country, you don't always get a lot of news about them unless you purposely look for it, which I don't have the time to do (although you'd think I would, not having a job or anything). A few members of the Glee cast are in magazines now and again, and I'll gladly read that, as I'm a massive Gleek, but I'm saying if it wasn't there, I wouldn't be bothered and I wouldn't be frantically Googling them to find out what's going on with them right now, as there's more important things to worry about.
Some features in magazines I have found useful, and I'm not going to lie, if I find something in a magazine that interests me or I find useful or I just enjoy reading, I cut it out and keep it to refer back to. That probably makes me sound shallow in itself, but it's things like money saving tips, recipes, tips on how to be more confident etc, and I do read things and think "ooh, must try that."
I just hate the idea that all magazines seem to think that the only thing women worry about are clothes, make up, hair and celebrities, because I'm sure 90% at least of the female population in this country don't prioritise any of those. I know I don't. I worry about how much money's in my bank account, whether I'll ever find a job, whether I'll make some more stable friends at uni this year, my relationships, my family, my health, what's going on in the world etc, and I'm sure that's the same with most women.
Still despite these annoyances, I'll keep on reading magazines for the appealing features.
Finally, on a brief note, I can't blog at this time without mentioning the current riots going on.
What scares me the most is the fact these people obviously know what damage they're doing to people's lives and homes, but they're still willing to cause all this disruption, and now the first fatality has been confirmed. How many people are going to have to be killed in order for them to realise that enough is enough? Those doing it are just scum and deserve whatever punishment's coming to them. If they want to fight they should get their scummy shit faced asses to Afghanistan, where real men who have families and are risking their lives are fighting a war, unlike the disgusting wastes of space that are tearing up their own cities for virtually no reason. Thoughts are with everyone affected and hoping that all this nastiness ends soon. x
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
Saturday, 9 July 2011
Facebook: The annoying social network that we all love to be annoyed by...
We all love Facebook right? Most people would certainly be lost without it, and don't get me wrong, it's great for keeping in touch with old friends from school and family members. But God, it's annoying. In a way, it's not Facebook's fault for being annoying, it's the people on it. Hell, most of my annoyances come from people doing stuff that pisses me off on Facebook.
First off, being able to 'like' people's statuses is annoying in it's own right. Okay, so you can agree with what people say without actually writing anything, or you can show your support by 'liking' someone's status after they've gotten a new job or whatever, but what gets me is when people 'like' stuff just to be annoying. If you post a negative status for example, (something which I do all too often being a pessemist and what not) you'll occassionally get the odd dickhead who 'likes' it. Not because they revel in your misery (or they might, depending on who it is), but because they're just dicks who like to be annoying.
Occasionally people will 'like' at the wrong time - namely when you post something like this: "RIP *insert name here* You will be sorely missed :( x x x" It can seem highly inappropriate to 'like' a status like this, but yet people do it to be supportive because they don't always know what to write. Still, even saying that, depending on who the person is, namely, someone you don't talk to often or even like that much, you'll probably see it as them 'liking' the fact that a loved one has died. Although if it's a close friend, then probably you'll know they're being supportive. But a close friend would most likely have something to say. Tricky.
That's the thing about Facebook. It's almost always ambiguous. Which leads me to my next point. Ambiguous statues that may or may not be about you, one of the worst things about Facebook and I reckon probably a large contributor to cyber-bullying, or at least upsetting people. Occasionally they can be nice such as "*Name* has just had the most wonderful day with someone really special ;)" or they can be terribly bitchy: "*Name* thinks that some people are total assholes and need to mind their own business."
I'm not going to lie, I've done statuses like this before, not to be bitchy, but in all honesty because I am a chicken and would rather post something like that than say it to someone's face and risk the consequences of a face to face argument. And I think most people are like that. We've all done it, yet we all complain about it. We've probably all seen a status like this: "*Name* thinks that some people are pussies and that some people should say stuff to my face!" I remember that in A-level psychology, we studied aggression and there's a sense of power that people feel when they're in front of a keyboard, they're a lot more willing to say things because there's less risk of getting their face kicked in.
A massive bugaboo of mine about Facebook is the constant friendship PDAs. Yes, we all know that you're super-amazing-awesome-BFFs, but you don't have to constantly remind the world about it. I'm talking about albums full of the same 'cam-whore-style-taken-with-a-phone-camera' pictures of the two of you and the wall postings that come up and spam your homepage and the statuses where you tag one another. By all means, now and again is fine, there's nothing wrong with it, and you obviously can't stop what people post on Facebook (unless you block them from your news feed, but there's something about being nosy that makes you want to keep them unblocked), but just don't overdo it. I'll emphasise that there's nothing wrong with showing how much you love your BFF on Facebook, but when you have an album full of pics of the two of you in the same position, I think it's time to cut back on the PDAs. Surely it's better to text your friend how much you love them and what a great time you had with them today rather than show it off to the world and his cat? Whatever happened to the privacy of texting?
Pages you can 'like' are also one of the other many annoying things about Facebook. By all means, I love a funny page as much as the next person (the "Like if you remember this *insert obsence comment describing an innocent cartoon character you loved in your childhood* crack me up and I've ended up with about 20 to my name) but when they start spamming your homepage with random links, it gets a bit annoying. They also go back with the thing about ambiguous statuses too, because there's some saying things like "That status was about me, say it to my face next time" or whatever (I have liked those before, but in my defence, I was upset and pissed off..). In short, there's probably a page for everything. Forget "there's an app for that" it's more likely "there's a Facebook page for that."
Family on Facebook is another thing to be weary of. I don't need to worry too much as I was brought up in a house full of swearing (which, I might add, there's nothing wrong with!) so my folks are used to seeing a potty-mouthed status or whatever, but a lot of people have to be careful. To be honest there is the option of putting your family members into one group (including friends of the family and your friend's parents, just to be safe) and blocking posts from that group, so it's not a totally unavoidable thing. And there's also the option to hide things you've been tagged in, lucky, because your mum probably doesn't want to see you face down in your own vomit with a cock drawn on your head on that night out does she? For that matter, neither do any of your colleagues or old teachers if you have them as friends!
That leads me onto my next point, being tagged in inappropriate photos is a definite thing to be annoyed about. I was recently told that most employers Google your name when they read your job application, so you have to go through all the trouble of making sure you're not tagged in any compromising photos or posts. Hence why it's important to set your profile to private.
Finally, there's the whole being friends with people you don't really want to be friends with thing. I have over 100 friends on my Facebook, some are people I've met online through forums and some are people from school, some are old friends and some are family. Most of the people on there, I am happy to call my friends, but some, I don't even know why they're on my friends list because in real life, I've been shat on (not literally, might I add) and upset by them so many times. To be honest, if there's someone you know who you wouldn't say hi to in the street, then there's not really any reason to have them on Facebook.
Of course there's the option of just ignoring their friend request if they add you, and deleting them if you already have them, but they'll add you again at the end of the day, because you do get the odd kind of person who is obsessed by numbers rather than actual friends. In short they wouldn't cross the street to spit on you, but they've still added you because they want to have more friends on their list than anyone else.
Still, I'm happy to have some old accquaintances on Facebook, it's good to keep in touch and occasionally you get the odd person start a conversation with you asking what you've been up to.
So there's lots of stuff that annoys more than likely everyone about Facebook, but in spite of that, loads of people probably can't live without it. Honestly, I know I couldn't, I'm sad enough to check it regularly, I don't even know why, perhaps I don't have a life and I need to get some friends while I'm in Northampton, perhaps I'm just nosy, whatever, but I'm sure that's the case for most people. At the end of the day I like that I can keep in touch with my friends from school and members of my family I don't see or speak to often while I'm at uni, and I know even if Facebook didn't exist there'd still be the option of texting them or whatever, but the fact Facebook's there just sort of makes it easier.
So I suppose at the end of the day, Facebook's good for that sort of thing, provided that you can put up with the minor annoyances it brings.
First off, being able to 'like' people's statuses is annoying in it's own right. Okay, so you can agree with what people say without actually writing anything, or you can show your support by 'liking' someone's status after they've gotten a new job or whatever, but what gets me is when people 'like' stuff just to be annoying. If you post a negative status for example, (something which I do all too often being a pessemist and what not) you'll occassionally get the odd dickhead who 'likes' it. Not because they revel in your misery (or they might, depending on who it is), but because they're just dicks who like to be annoying.
Occasionally people will 'like' at the wrong time - namely when you post something like this: "RIP *insert name here* You will be sorely missed :( x x x" It can seem highly inappropriate to 'like' a status like this, but yet people do it to be supportive because they don't always know what to write. Still, even saying that, depending on who the person is, namely, someone you don't talk to often or even like that much, you'll probably see it as them 'liking' the fact that a loved one has died. Although if it's a close friend, then probably you'll know they're being supportive. But a close friend would most likely have something to say. Tricky.
That's the thing about Facebook. It's almost always ambiguous. Which leads me to my next point. Ambiguous statues that may or may not be about you, one of the worst things about Facebook and I reckon probably a large contributor to cyber-bullying, or at least upsetting people. Occasionally they can be nice such as "*Name* has just had the most wonderful day with someone really special ;)" or they can be terribly bitchy: "*Name* thinks that some people are total assholes and need to mind their own business."
I'm not going to lie, I've done statuses like this before, not to be bitchy, but in all honesty because I am a chicken and would rather post something like that than say it to someone's face and risk the consequences of a face to face argument. And I think most people are like that. We've all done it, yet we all complain about it. We've probably all seen a status like this: "*Name* thinks that some people are pussies and that some people should say stuff to my face!" I remember that in A-level psychology, we studied aggression and there's a sense of power that people feel when they're in front of a keyboard, they're a lot more willing to say things because there's less risk of getting their face kicked in.
A massive bugaboo of mine about Facebook is the constant friendship PDAs. Yes, we all know that you're super-amazing-awesome-BFFs, but you don't have to constantly remind the world about it. I'm talking about albums full of the same 'cam-whore-style-taken-with-a-phone-camera' pictures of the two of you and the wall postings that come up and spam your homepage and the statuses where you tag one another. By all means, now and again is fine, there's nothing wrong with it, and you obviously can't stop what people post on Facebook (unless you block them from your news feed, but there's something about being nosy that makes you want to keep them unblocked), but just don't overdo it. I'll emphasise that there's nothing wrong with showing how much you love your BFF on Facebook, but when you have an album full of pics of the two of you in the same position, I think it's time to cut back on the PDAs. Surely it's better to text your friend how much you love them and what a great time you had with them today rather than show it off to the world and his cat? Whatever happened to the privacy of texting?
Pages you can 'like' are also one of the other many annoying things about Facebook. By all means, I love a funny page as much as the next person (the "Like if you remember this *insert obsence comment describing an innocent cartoon character you loved in your childhood* crack me up and I've ended up with about 20 to my name) but when they start spamming your homepage with random links, it gets a bit annoying. They also go back with the thing about ambiguous statuses too, because there's some saying things like "That status was about me, say it to my face next time" or whatever (I have liked those before, but in my defence, I was upset and pissed off..). In short, there's probably a page for everything. Forget "there's an app for that" it's more likely "there's a Facebook page for that."
Family on Facebook is another thing to be weary of. I don't need to worry too much as I was brought up in a house full of swearing (which, I might add, there's nothing wrong with!) so my folks are used to seeing a potty-mouthed status or whatever, but a lot of people have to be careful. To be honest there is the option of putting your family members into one group (including friends of the family and your friend's parents, just to be safe) and blocking posts from that group, so it's not a totally unavoidable thing. And there's also the option to hide things you've been tagged in, lucky, because your mum probably doesn't want to see you face down in your own vomit with a cock drawn on your head on that night out does she? For that matter, neither do any of your colleagues or old teachers if you have them as friends!
That leads me onto my next point, being tagged in inappropriate photos is a definite thing to be annoyed about. I was recently told that most employers Google your name when they read your job application, so you have to go through all the trouble of making sure you're not tagged in any compromising photos or posts. Hence why it's important to set your profile to private.
Finally, there's the whole being friends with people you don't really want to be friends with thing. I have over 100 friends on my Facebook, some are people I've met online through forums and some are people from school, some are old friends and some are family. Most of the people on there, I am happy to call my friends, but some, I don't even know why they're on my friends list because in real life, I've been shat on (not literally, might I add) and upset by them so many times. To be honest, if there's someone you know who you wouldn't say hi to in the street, then there's not really any reason to have them on Facebook.
Of course there's the option of just ignoring their friend request if they add you, and deleting them if you already have them, but they'll add you again at the end of the day, because you do get the odd kind of person who is obsessed by numbers rather than actual friends. In short they wouldn't cross the street to spit on you, but they've still added you because they want to have more friends on their list than anyone else.
Still, I'm happy to have some old accquaintances on Facebook, it's good to keep in touch and occasionally you get the odd person start a conversation with you asking what you've been up to.
So there's lots of stuff that annoys more than likely everyone about Facebook, but in spite of that, loads of people probably can't live without it. Honestly, I know I couldn't, I'm sad enough to check it regularly, I don't even know why, perhaps I don't have a life and I need to get some friends while I'm in Northampton, perhaps I'm just nosy, whatever, but I'm sure that's the case for most people. At the end of the day I like that I can keep in touch with my friends from school and members of my family I don't see or speak to often while I'm at uni, and I know even if Facebook didn't exist there'd still be the option of texting them or whatever, but the fact Facebook's there just sort of makes it easier.
So I suppose at the end of the day, Facebook's good for that sort of thing, provided that you can put up with the minor annoyances it brings.
Friday, 10 June 2011
Early nights, little drinking and organisation borderlining on OCD: My first year at University
So my first year of uni finished at the end of last month, following 2 months of tedious revision and constantly telling myself "after this, that's it, I'm quitting," with that following a severe hatred developed for the subject I once loved, and I can now honestly say, I'm so bored it's actually more tiring doing nothing than it is doing something.
The title of this post doesn't really seem like what a first year student would endure during their first year of uni. In fact, I didn't get the student experience at all to be honest (unless you count the severe stress and wishing you'd just gotten a job). Where most students spent their nights partying in town or at the SU, I spent mine making cupcakes and sitting on the sofa watching whatever was on TV or Scrubs/Friends/Desperate Housewives/Frasier/Big Bang Theory boxsets, and being in bed by 11 most nights. I think since moving here, the latest I've stayed up has been 2am, and that was just from having an argument. I never underestimated the value of sleep before starting uni, now it's the most important part of my day.
In terms of drinking, I attended 3 SU events. Honestly, just 3. These were all during freshers' week.
The first was a T-Shirt party, basically a night of drinking where they give you a free t-shirt to write your name on, which Liam and I attended, but no one approached us because we were basically the creepy inseperable couple in the corner and we had left by 10.30.
The second was a UV Rave which again, involved us sat in the corner talking to each other (or rather shouting because of how loud it was) and spending 45 minutes at a time at the bar, while another girl started chatting to me and then ended the conversation with "can I have one of your glowsticks?"and then just pissed off. Sure, have a conversation with me with the usual small talk I'd had with everyone else that week about what course I'm doing and where I'm from, assume that makes us friends and then scab a glowstick like we've been BFFs for years. The worst situation had to be getting drinks, at one point you'd get to the bar, and then be pushed out of the way again. Although for SU drink prices what can you expect? Although we did leave at 2am for that one. Sober, though.
The last one, and probably the most fun was the fresher's ball. £12 was very steep for a ticket but it was an excuse to dress up and look nice. Although I assumed I'd be able to wear my prom dress again, which was green, but the theme was red and white, so that idea was out, leading me to spend £30 on a white dress I'm never going to wear again. Still, it was a good night, it was the first (and last time) I had Jagermeister (eww) and I really enjoyed it. No one really spoke to us, but still it was the most successful night of the week. And we learned that it benefits you to buy 2 drinks at a time and keep one near you or in your pocket so you don't always have to go to the bar.
Once I made some friends I had one night out with them, which I thought went really well. We went to a few clubs and it did feel like I finally had some proper friends. It was a shame we weren't out for long as we had visitors the next day, but it was a fun night even so.
Obviously when I've gone home with people I know better, I've gotten more drunk, but it's not really the student experience of going to bed at 4, waking up at 8 with a severe hangover and trying not to throw up in your 9am lecture, but while at home I've had heavy nights and been due to visit my Dad the next day, and very nearly thrown up in the car on the way there. That's probably as close as I'll get.
I think the fact I never went into halls probably didn't help with a lot of things. I live about an hour's walk from my campus so couldn't really hang out with any friends I'd made and just the fact that most people stayed in their flat groups to begin with was a clue in itself that I would have more easily made friends in halls, but I chose love rather than friends. I wouldn't change it though, I couldn't stand the thought of sharing a bathroom with several people and I have far too much stuff (mainly DVDs) for just one room ;) And at least I'm living with someone who understands that I'm a huge bag of crazy.
One thing I've enjoyed (and this is going to be the saddest thing I've ever written) is that I've loved being organised this year. I've loved having a diary, having to plan my day, having folders and such. It was probably just feeding my mild OCD (which admittedly did get a bit worse over the year), but still I enjoyed the tidiness of my work. And the smell of brand new textbooks. Plus, I enjoy a regular trip to Paperchase in Bath when we're home and Liam has orthodontist.
I obviously haven't considered the academic side of this year, but I will say, I've had some exam results back and they're pretty good. I just hope the rest are too, but only time will tell on that one.
So to sum up, I haven't drunk nearly enough as what I should have to live up to the student reputation, I've realised how much I love sleeping, that Jagermeister is AWFUL, I've done fairly well in some exams, I've made a hell of a lot of cakes and don't really have any BFFs yet. One thing I would have liked is to have a Friends style group of friends while at uni. Maybe next year.
The title of this post doesn't really seem like what a first year student would endure during their first year of uni. In fact, I didn't get the student experience at all to be honest (unless you count the severe stress and wishing you'd just gotten a job). Where most students spent their nights partying in town or at the SU, I spent mine making cupcakes and sitting on the sofa watching whatever was on TV or Scrubs/Friends/Desperate Housewives/Frasier/Big Bang Theory boxsets, and being in bed by 11 most nights. I think since moving here, the latest I've stayed up has been 2am, and that was just from having an argument. I never underestimated the value of sleep before starting uni, now it's the most important part of my day.
In terms of drinking, I attended 3 SU events. Honestly, just 3. These were all during freshers' week.
The first was a T-Shirt party, basically a night of drinking where they give you a free t-shirt to write your name on, which Liam and I attended, but no one approached us because we were basically the creepy inseperable couple in the corner and we had left by 10.30.
The second was a UV Rave which again, involved us sat in the corner talking to each other (or rather shouting because of how loud it was) and spending 45 minutes at a time at the bar, while another girl started chatting to me and then ended the conversation with "can I have one of your glowsticks?"and then just pissed off. Sure, have a conversation with me with the usual small talk I'd had with everyone else that week about what course I'm doing and where I'm from, assume that makes us friends and then scab a glowstick like we've been BFFs for years. The worst situation had to be getting drinks, at one point you'd get to the bar, and then be pushed out of the way again. Although for SU drink prices what can you expect? Although we did leave at 2am for that one. Sober, though.
The last one, and probably the most fun was the fresher's ball. £12 was very steep for a ticket but it was an excuse to dress up and look nice. Although I assumed I'd be able to wear my prom dress again, which was green, but the theme was red and white, so that idea was out, leading me to spend £30 on a white dress I'm never going to wear again. Still, it was a good night, it was the first (and last time) I had Jagermeister (eww) and I really enjoyed it. No one really spoke to us, but still it was the most successful night of the week. And we learned that it benefits you to buy 2 drinks at a time and keep one near you or in your pocket so you don't always have to go to the bar.
Once I made some friends I had one night out with them, which I thought went really well. We went to a few clubs and it did feel like I finally had some proper friends. It was a shame we weren't out for long as we had visitors the next day, but it was a fun night even so.
Obviously when I've gone home with people I know better, I've gotten more drunk, but it's not really the student experience of going to bed at 4, waking up at 8 with a severe hangover and trying not to throw up in your 9am lecture, but while at home I've had heavy nights and been due to visit my Dad the next day, and very nearly thrown up in the car on the way there. That's probably as close as I'll get.
I think the fact I never went into halls probably didn't help with a lot of things. I live about an hour's walk from my campus so couldn't really hang out with any friends I'd made and just the fact that most people stayed in their flat groups to begin with was a clue in itself that I would have more easily made friends in halls, but I chose love rather than friends. I wouldn't change it though, I couldn't stand the thought of sharing a bathroom with several people and I have far too much stuff (mainly DVDs) for just one room ;) And at least I'm living with someone who understands that I'm a huge bag of crazy.
One thing I've enjoyed (and this is going to be the saddest thing I've ever written) is that I've loved being organised this year. I've loved having a diary, having to plan my day, having folders and such. It was probably just feeding my mild OCD (which admittedly did get a bit worse over the year), but still I enjoyed the tidiness of my work. And the smell of brand new textbooks. Plus, I enjoy a regular trip to Paperchase in Bath when we're home and Liam has orthodontist.
I obviously haven't considered the academic side of this year, but I will say, I've had some exam results back and they're pretty good. I just hope the rest are too, but only time will tell on that one.
So to sum up, I haven't drunk nearly enough as what I should have to live up to the student reputation, I've realised how much I love sleeping, that Jagermeister is AWFUL, I've done fairly well in some exams, I've made a hell of a lot of cakes and don't really have any BFFs yet. One thing I would have liked is to have a Friends style group of friends while at uni. Maybe next year.
Thursday, 2 June 2011
Embarassing Bodies: What if Your Mum's Watching?
So I'm quite the fan of the C4 show Embarassing Bodies. Not because I like laughing at other people or watching gorey surgical procedures, but because despite the fact I'm not all that bright, I'm quite interested in health and I do genuinelly like medical programmes - documentaries, not dramas like Casualty that is. Still, despite the fact I find it interesting, I hate looking at the bits where they do operations on people. Hats off to doctors and surgeons everywhere, I could not do it.
Anyway, my question about Embarassing Bodies is this: why are you too embarassed to visit your own doctor in private but not too embarassed to go on national television aired to millions of people and potentially get your genitals out? I don't know if people get paid for going on there and having their cases shown, but surely your dignity is more important than money? Yeah, it's not all genital problems, so people who have feet or skin problems or stomach problems, I can understand, but if I had a gammy vagina or a swollen penis, then I'd be much more comfortable visting my own doctor in the privacy of their office as opposed to getting it out on national TV.
It's also a case of you don't actually know who's watching it as well, your colleauges could be watching, if you're a teacher, your students could be watching, your in-laws could be watching, even worse, your parents could be watching it. I suppose you might warn them not to watch it, but that's not actually physically going to stop someone you know switching it on and being grossed out or having a good laugh over the size of your penis or the state of your bikini line.
Obviously it looks like the people on there get better medical care than what they would if they went to their own GP, and I don't actually know what goes on behind the cameras, whether they're referred to private specialists or if they have treatment on the NHS or whatever, but I still don't get the general concept of going on national television with an embarassing illness and presenting it to the country, as opposed to just keeping it between you and your GP.
I will admit, the show gives out some good health advice, and nearly all the cases I've seen on there are sorted and treated very well, but I'm just saying I'd much rather visit my doctor in private than go on TV with an embarassing illness. I'm in absolutely in no way criticising the show, just the idea of why people go on there confuses me. Like I said, maybe they get paid, maybe they get better treatment, maybe they do it for the benefit of others who have similar illnesses, maybe the benefits of getting your genitals out on TV outweigh the costs of it, but even so, I think I'll stick to seeing my GP privately if it were me.
Anyway, my question about Embarassing Bodies is this: why are you too embarassed to visit your own doctor in private but not too embarassed to go on national television aired to millions of people and potentially get your genitals out? I don't know if people get paid for going on there and having their cases shown, but surely your dignity is more important than money? Yeah, it's not all genital problems, so people who have feet or skin problems or stomach problems, I can understand, but if I had a gammy vagina or a swollen penis, then I'd be much more comfortable visting my own doctor in the privacy of their office as opposed to getting it out on national TV.
It's also a case of you don't actually know who's watching it as well, your colleauges could be watching, if you're a teacher, your students could be watching, your in-laws could be watching, even worse, your parents could be watching it. I suppose you might warn them not to watch it, but that's not actually physically going to stop someone you know switching it on and being grossed out or having a good laugh over the size of your penis or the state of your bikini line.
Obviously it looks like the people on there get better medical care than what they would if they went to their own GP, and I don't actually know what goes on behind the cameras, whether they're referred to private specialists or if they have treatment on the NHS or whatever, but I still don't get the general concept of going on national television with an embarassing illness and presenting it to the country, as opposed to just keeping it between you and your GP.
I will admit, the show gives out some good health advice, and nearly all the cases I've seen on there are sorted and treated very well, but I'm just saying I'd much rather visit my doctor in private than go on TV with an embarassing illness. I'm in absolutely in no way criticising the show, just the idea of why people go on there confuses me. Like I said, maybe they get paid, maybe they get better treatment, maybe they do it for the benefit of others who have similar illnesses, maybe the benefits of getting your genitals out on TV outweigh the costs of it, but even so, I think I'll stick to seeing my GP privately if it were me.
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Why I'd be the most hopeless counsellor
Lately I've been beginning to think that I may not be the best person in the world to be a counsellor. Which sucks as my university course is Psychology and Counselling. You see, the main reason is that I hate people. Not in a way that makes me want to stab people or anything, but in a way that I really can't stand the idea of sitting and listening to them whine. Which I know is rich coming from me as that's really all I ever do.
Basically, in counselling you also have to adopt several assumptions, one being that all people are good. Yep that's right, everyone in the entire stinking world is good. So the guy who went on a shooting spree in Cumbria last year, those boys who killed that toddler, and Hitler are all good people are they? That is an assumption that I never have and never will agree with, even if those people didn't do the evil things they did. Call me a cynic and a miserable little girl bitch, but I genuinely do not believe that everyone is a good person. Yes, there are good people in the world, but when you look at how many people are killed, raped, beaten and abused, and when you look at terrorism, you can in no way come to the assumption that EVERYONE is good. Don't get me wrong, I have met some fantastic people in my life who are really good people and deserve all the happiness in the world, but I don't believe that everyone is like that.
Take this for example, last April, my cat, who my mum and I loved very dearly (yes I know, crazy cat ladies) was hit by a car driven by what I can only assume was a dickhead, breaking his jaw and deforming most of his face, resulting in him being fed through a tube and suffering what was clearly horrible pain for a week, until my mum decided she couldn't let him suffer anymore and agreed to have him put down. To some people I know you're probably thinking "it's a cat, get over it" but to me, he was my pet, he was my baby, and he was part of my family. Now I know in this country, if you hit a dog while driving, you must report it, however the same can't be said for cats. But this person did not even have the decency to come clean about what they had done, nor did they pick him up and bring him to us, nor did they apologise for doing what they did. I don't care if this person hit him on purpose or whether it was an accident, a good person would have had the common decency to at least report what they had done, as well as apologise. That person caused my mum and I lot of distress, which lasted for a very long time, and they also cost my mum over £500 in vets' bills, and at the end of it, we didn't even get our Ozzy back. And for that reason, I don't care if they are the nicest person in the world, I don't care if they regularly help charities or pass out food in homeless shelteres, to me, that person will always be considered a bad one. Some may think that's petty and childish, but that's how I feel and that is how I always will feel.
To be a counsellor you also have to empathise with people. Don't get me wrong, if someone came in with a phobia of something silly, I would empathise no matter how silly it was, because I know how they can affect your life. However, what am I supposed to do if someone who was a paedophile walked in to the room? Obviously, counselling isn't usually reccommended for people like that, but what if a client said that they were suddenly feeling 'that way?' I honestly don't think I could empathise with someone like that on any level. As a counsellor you can however tell a client you don't think they'll make progress with you and refer them to someone else, but I wouldn't want to do that if it was someone who I had worked with for a long time and this person had built up so much trust and felt comfortable with me.
At the moment everything is still up in the air about what I want to do when I graduate, but so far, I'm confused. I did really enjoy educational psychology but it's one of the more competative fields and with my vomit phobia, I wouldn't like to be around kids that long in case of bugs etc (I spent 2 weeks at a nursery for my work experience and after the first week I had a bad case of flu and a cough which resulted in me not being able to speak properly for over a month, so I've learned my lesson). If I did become a counsellor, I would prefer mainly to work with those suffering from anxiety disorders and phobias as I have personal experience in both and really do empathise with them - not that I wouldn't empathise with someone experiencing other problems, but it really helps talking to someone who has been through what you're going through in my opinion. Although I would need to remember that I'm helping this person rather than chatting to them about how much anxiety sucks...and if I had someone with a vomit phobia I'd have to re-think how to do exposure therapy for them...
Sorry for the heavy, contraversial blog. Next time will be fluffy kittens and bunnies and hot chocolate and candyfloss.
Basically, in counselling you also have to adopt several assumptions, one being that all people are good. Yep that's right, everyone in the entire stinking world is good. So the guy who went on a shooting spree in Cumbria last year, those boys who killed that toddler, and Hitler are all good people are they? That is an assumption that I never have and never will agree with, even if those people didn't do the evil things they did. Call me a cynic and a miserable little girl bitch, but I genuinely do not believe that everyone is a good person. Yes, there are good people in the world, but when you look at how many people are killed, raped, beaten and abused, and when you look at terrorism, you can in no way come to the assumption that EVERYONE is good. Don't get me wrong, I have met some fantastic people in my life who are really good people and deserve all the happiness in the world, but I don't believe that everyone is like that.
Take this for example, last April, my cat, who my mum and I loved very dearly (yes I know, crazy cat ladies) was hit by a car driven by what I can only assume was a dickhead, breaking his jaw and deforming most of his face, resulting in him being fed through a tube and suffering what was clearly horrible pain for a week, until my mum decided she couldn't let him suffer anymore and agreed to have him put down. To some people I know you're probably thinking "it's a cat, get over it" but to me, he was my pet, he was my baby, and he was part of my family. Now I know in this country, if you hit a dog while driving, you must report it, however the same can't be said for cats. But this person did not even have the decency to come clean about what they had done, nor did they pick him up and bring him to us, nor did they apologise for doing what they did. I don't care if this person hit him on purpose or whether it was an accident, a good person would have had the common decency to at least report what they had done, as well as apologise. That person caused my mum and I lot of distress, which lasted for a very long time, and they also cost my mum over £500 in vets' bills, and at the end of it, we didn't even get our Ozzy back. And for that reason, I don't care if they are the nicest person in the world, I don't care if they regularly help charities or pass out food in homeless shelteres, to me, that person will always be considered a bad one. Some may think that's petty and childish, but that's how I feel and that is how I always will feel.
To be a counsellor you also have to empathise with people. Don't get me wrong, if someone came in with a phobia of something silly, I would empathise no matter how silly it was, because I know how they can affect your life. However, what am I supposed to do if someone who was a paedophile walked in to the room? Obviously, counselling isn't usually reccommended for people like that, but what if a client said that they were suddenly feeling 'that way?' I honestly don't think I could empathise with someone like that on any level. As a counsellor you can however tell a client you don't think they'll make progress with you and refer them to someone else, but I wouldn't want to do that if it was someone who I had worked with for a long time and this person had built up so much trust and felt comfortable with me.
At the moment everything is still up in the air about what I want to do when I graduate, but so far, I'm confused. I did really enjoy educational psychology but it's one of the more competative fields and with my vomit phobia, I wouldn't like to be around kids that long in case of bugs etc (I spent 2 weeks at a nursery for my work experience and after the first week I had a bad case of flu and a cough which resulted in me not being able to speak properly for over a month, so I've learned my lesson). If I did become a counsellor, I would prefer mainly to work with those suffering from anxiety disorders and phobias as I have personal experience in both and really do empathise with them - not that I wouldn't empathise with someone experiencing other problems, but it really helps talking to someone who has been through what you're going through in my opinion. Although I would need to remember that I'm helping this person rather than chatting to them about how much anxiety sucks...and if I had someone with a vomit phobia I'd have to re-think how to do exposure therapy for them...
Sorry for the heavy, contraversial blog. Next time will be fluffy kittens and bunnies and hot chocolate and candyfloss.
Friday, 31 December 2010
2010 - Highlights of the year
Well, its NYE and thought I'd re-cap 2010. Yeah, nice. 2010 has had a lot of ups and downs, some of it has been pretty damn awesome, while some of it has been just plain shit. Here's just a list of some of the stuff that happened to me this year.
1. Liam and I got engaged. 11.23pm on Christmas Eve. I couldn't be happier and I'm very lucky to have such an amazing boyfriend.
2. Got a B in my first ever university essay.
3. Endured several weeks of university filled with crying and complaining that I had no friends and just generally hated it.
4. Moved in with Liam after months of being scared it wouldn't happen, but now living in a rather nice flat in Northampton.
5. Failed my second driving test
6. Got into my chosen course at The University of Northampton
7. Passed all my exams with grades that are sharable - English Lit-C, Psychology-B and Food Tech-A
8. Failed my first driving test - but only got 5 minors.
9. Went on a week long holiday to Dawlish with 8 friends intending to get massively pissed, but actually had several nights of being sober and just having general chats, but still had a great time
10. Endured awful exams - all of which were essay based and published by AQA - whom I didn't trust after the biology exam everyone complained about!
11. Went through several weeks of exposure therapy for my vomit phobia after my mum ranted to a doctor about it and got me some counselling. Never completed it, but just got to the stage where I could watch a video where someone is almost sick. Hm. Don't think it helped that much.
12. Celebrated my 18th birthday with a meal at The Somerset Arms and a party. Also got over £600 worth of birthday money, 80% of which I drank due to the fact I was now old enough to go out. I missed that once I went to uni...
13. Said goodbye to my beautiful baby, my cat Ozzy, after he was hit by a car. He broke his jaw and had severe injuries to his face. Vet was optimistic he'd get better but after a week he still couldn't eat for himself and we were forced to have him put down, just a week before his 6th birthday, and my 18th. Rest in peace Ozzy, I still miss you.
14. Saw Dara O'Brian live at the Bristol Hippodrome
15. Endured awful stomach aches, which led to blood tetsts, some IBS tablets, and my mum having to go to the doctors with me for the first time in years.
16. Celebrated being with Liam for a year on Valentine's Day with a meal and roses
17. Had my brace removed and for the first time in over 10 years, I was able to smile in photos!
18. Rung in the 2010 completely sober, but merry, with Liam and several other friends, after an evening of playing Singstar and Buzz, and not having to worry about anyone throwing up!
So, aside from a few glitches, I think this year went rather well. Hoping 2011 is vomit and stress free! Although I'm a student, so there will probably be a fuckload of stress. A few things I have to look forward to in 2011...
1. Seeing Russell Howard at the LG Arena in Birmingham in February
2. Celebrating 2 years being with Liam on Valentine's day
3. Seeing Ed Byrne in Northampton in April
4. Celebrating my 19th birthday, also with a possible exam resit depending on how well I did a few weeks ago
5. Hopefully getting a job
6. Making some friends properly and just not being a general twat.
7. Starting driving lessons again, although that depends on when I get a job
8. Completing my first year of university (hopefully - if I don't pussy out at any stage)
9. Finishing one or two modules that I can't stand
10. Next Christmas :)
1. Liam and I got engaged. 11.23pm on Christmas Eve. I couldn't be happier and I'm very lucky to have such an amazing boyfriend.
2. Got a B in my first ever university essay.
3. Endured several weeks of university filled with crying and complaining that I had no friends and just generally hated it.
4. Moved in with Liam after months of being scared it wouldn't happen, but now living in a rather nice flat in Northampton.
5. Failed my second driving test
6. Got into my chosen course at The University of Northampton
7. Passed all my exams with grades that are sharable - English Lit-C, Psychology-B and Food Tech-A
8. Failed my first driving test - but only got 5 minors.
9. Went on a week long holiday to Dawlish with 8 friends intending to get massively pissed, but actually had several nights of being sober and just having general chats, but still had a great time
10. Endured awful exams - all of which were essay based and published by AQA - whom I didn't trust after the biology exam everyone complained about!
11. Went through several weeks of exposure therapy for my vomit phobia after my mum ranted to a doctor about it and got me some counselling. Never completed it, but just got to the stage where I could watch a video where someone is almost sick. Hm. Don't think it helped that much.
12. Celebrated my 18th birthday with a meal at The Somerset Arms and a party. Also got over £600 worth of birthday money, 80% of which I drank due to the fact I was now old enough to go out. I missed that once I went to uni...
13. Said goodbye to my beautiful baby, my cat Ozzy, after he was hit by a car. He broke his jaw and had severe injuries to his face. Vet was optimistic he'd get better but after a week he still couldn't eat for himself and we were forced to have him put down, just a week before his 6th birthday, and my 18th. Rest in peace Ozzy, I still miss you.
14. Saw Dara O'Brian live at the Bristol Hippodrome
15. Endured awful stomach aches, which led to blood tetsts, some IBS tablets, and my mum having to go to the doctors with me for the first time in years.
16. Celebrated being with Liam for a year on Valentine's Day with a meal and roses
17. Had my brace removed and for the first time in over 10 years, I was able to smile in photos!
18. Rung in the 2010 completely sober, but merry, with Liam and several other friends, after an evening of playing Singstar and Buzz, and not having to worry about anyone throwing up!
So, aside from a few glitches, I think this year went rather well. Hoping 2011 is vomit and stress free! Although I'm a student, so there will probably be a fuckload of stress. A few things I have to look forward to in 2011...
1. Seeing Russell Howard at the LG Arena in Birmingham in February
2. Celebrating 2 years being with Liam on Valentine's day
3. Seeing Ed Byrne in Northampton in April
4. Celebrating my 19th birthday, also with a possible exam resit depending on how well I did a few weeks ago
5. Hopefully getting a job
6. Making some friends properly and just not being a general twat.
7. Starting driving lessons again, although that depends on when I get a job
8. Completing my first year of university (hopefully - if I don't pussy out at any stage)
9. Finishing one or two modules that I can't stand
10. Next Christmas :)
Saturday, 11 December 2010
Brief update
It's been a while since I last wrote, so here goes. So basically, I gave up with my exposure therapy. Mainly because I was never contacted to get another appointment because the system at my old GP surgery was lets face it, fucked up.
Anyway, I got into the University of Northampton with some surprisingly good grades, and I'm now living in a privately rented flat with my boyfriend. Aah, all grown up now.
Anywho, in terms of uni, things are moderate. I've had some serious ups and downs in the last couple of weeks, in terms of making friends and getting on with the work. The course I actually haven't found that bad, just one module involves far too much maths for my liking (for those interested, I'm studying BSc Psychology and Counselling). In terms of friendships, I don't believe that the friends you make at uni are your friends for life. Mainly due to the fact I haven't made any proper ones and I'm having more contact with my friends at home. Everyone I've spoken to has said that if I stick it out a bit further, things will change, but lets face it, it's been over 3 months now. I have been hanging around with a group of lovely people, but I'm very cautious to use the word friends as I don't want to jinx things. If things keep up after Christmas, I may begin to use that term. People I hung round with at the beginning of the year were slowly referred to as friends but once I did this, I began to feel very left out and excluded, so I'm not exactly with them anymore, aside from brief hellos in the corridoors.
I think things would have been different if I'd either been in halls or a shared house. I mean, I didn't want to do that mainly because I was worried about people nicking my stuff (and yes I will also admit I was scared of any girls nicking my boyfriend because I'm a paranoid freak) and just generally being all up in my space. But in the last few months I've been seeing how close people are in their flat groups and I do begin to think I would have made some really good friends if I'd gone into halls. Don't get me wrong, I really don't regret moving in with my boyfriend, it's brilliant, and it's nice to always have someone to come home to - I'm trying to look at it from this way: I could be in halls with 8 other girls (and girls can be very bitchy) and have absolutely no friends, or I could be in a private flat, have no friends on campus, but an amazing, lovely boyfriend to come home to when I've had such a crap day. A massive thank-you to him for putting up wth so much of my tantrums and being miserable on a day to day basis!
Anyway, I got into the University of Northampton with some surprisingly good grades, and I'm now living in a privately rented flat with my boyfriend. Aah, all grown up now.
Anywho, in terms of uni, things are moderate. I've had some serious ups and downs in the last couple of weeks, in terms of making friends and getting on with the work. The course I actually haven't found that bad, just one module involves far too much maths for my liking (for those interested, I'm studying BSc Psychology and Counselling). In terms of friendships, I don't believe that the friends you make at uni are your friends for life. Mainly due to the fact I haven't made any proper ones and I'm having more contact with my friends at home. Everyone I've spoken to has said that if I stick it out a bit further, things will change, but lets face it, it's been over 3 months now. I have been hanging around with a group of lovely people, but I'm very cautious to use the word friends as I don't want to jinx things. If things keep up after Christmas, I may begin to use that term. People I hung round with at the beginning of the year were slowly referred to as friends but once I did this, I began to feel very left out and excluded, so I'm not exactly with them anymore, aside from brief hellos in the corridoors.
I think things would have been different if I'd either been in halls or a shared house. I mean, I didn't want to do that mainly because I was worried about people nicking my stuff (and yes I will also admit I was scared of any girls nicking my boyfriend because I'm a paranoid freak) and just generally being all up in my space. But in the last few months I've been seeing how close people are in their flat groups and I do begin to think I would have made some really good friends if I'd gone into halls. Don't get me wrong, I really don't regret moving in with my boyfriend, it's brilliant, and it's nice to always have someone to come home to - I'm trying to look at it from this way: I could be in halls with 8 other girls (and girls can be very bitchy) and have absolutely no friends, or I could be in a private flat, have no friends on campus, but an amazing, lovely boyfriend to come home to when I've had such a crap day. A massive thank-you to him for putting up wth so much of my tantrums and being miserable on a day to day basis!
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