Greetings! Welcome to “New New Life 2.0”, to some this may seem like a downgrade in terms of blogging innovation as opposed to ‘vlogging’. To be honest though, the amount of effort taken to actually make a 10min video about random crap in one’s life, only to get lost in the vast plethora of online boredom that is Youtube was too much for what it was worth. Besides I’m sure many were put off when they unwittingly opened up the video only to see my acne-riddled self appear before them (sigh). The other upside of actually conveying myself to the world via writing as opposed to a mug-shot video, is that it’s a damn sight easier for me to correct sentences and change things around. My mind is always toying with new ideas constantly, so this feature is always a boon.
First off for those who did watch the videos first time round and followed my bumbled gabbling on the interweb, I would like to apologise for the sudden cut off in transmission early on in the second semester. There was a lot of shit that was going down that was upsetting me and that was all that I wanted to talk to the world about. Though if I did, then the situation would’ve got a lot more... difficult (to say the least). I’m not going to repeat what happened, as I’m sure many of the people following this publication are friends and relatives and you probably know the story. Thankfully I’m in much better surroundings and the fact that I’m more comfortable about conveying tetchy situations tactfully via writing, means that a sudden cut in communications shouldn't happen again.
At the moment of writing this I’m currently procrastinating, most of the stuff from ‘Freshers Week’ has ended and I’m stewing over ideas for up-and-coming projects in this next semester. But this stewing led me down a rather nostalgic and poignant trip last night. I came across one of my first videos I ever done when I got my Mac 18 months ago. It was a mime of Baz Lurhman’s “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)” - some of you may remember me doing this. However watching it now and listening to the lyrics it seemed to strike me more than they did when I last listened to it all that time ago. Since then I’ve experienced a lot more of life, both good and bad. Here’s a quick list of some of the things said that really hit home:
- “Don’t worry about the future... the real troubles in your life, are out to be things that never crossed your worried mind...” - this is oh so true. Heck I never expected what happened to me last academic year, in that situation you have to be cool-headed. Panicking will get you nowhere fast.
- “Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours...” - The effect of both giver and receiver is the same... it hurts BIG time. It’s like all you want to do is go lock yourself away in your room and seep slowly and painfully into oblivion, like someone trying to pour treacle down a plug hole. Communication is the key folks, because without it people get lost as to what’s going on very quickly. The blunter and more straight forward the better. The trouble is that it’s worse for me as I never understand the implications of my (or that of other peoples’) words/actions until a lot later, only then does the guilt or heart-ache set in. I can’t grovel enough for some of the things I’ve said/done to the people I loved and regret them whole-heartily on an emotional level. However in the vast smelting pot that is life’s experiences, the lessons that can be taken from these soul destroying feelings are invaluable. It puts you on a path to make yourself a better and wiser person, while letting time hopefully heal the wounds.
- “Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life...” - a wonderful example of this happened to me this summer. This time last year if you came up to me and said ‘have you ever considered work in education?’ I’d have thought you were on day release from the mental asylum. Though doing some voluntary work with the education dept. of a wonderful musical establishment, opened my eyes to whole new route as to where I could steer my life towards. Perhaps not mainstream schooling, but something with music at it’s core, as it was great fun getting kids interested in something that is so vast and fascinating like music/audio production. Though I’m still digging my heals in about having kids of my own!
- “Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on to. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, whereas the older you get the more you need the people you knew when you were young...” - I am determined this year to make new and more friends than I did last year, because that’s what I lacked when the proverbial shit hit the fan. Hence I’ve joined up to one society of like minded people already and seriously considering another (just humming and harring over costs). The other thing I’m going to do is try to stay in contact with more of my friends and family from back home. One thing I failed to do last year was appreciate how much those people mean to me, spending time away and then back again with both people at work, friends from school and family has changed that. So I’ll be randomly messaging people over the course of my time here in Stafford. Here is pre-empted apology for those who are going to find it a random bolt from the blue.
So that brings me to the here and now, all I can say is that I’m raring to get stuck into this year, there are some really cool things I’d like to try and do. However I won’t be going into detail about these too much as I want to protect against myself from my newly invented terminology - ‘idea pirates’. I really wanted to start compiling material together, however some vital equipment went boom shortly after I got to Stafford (typical). So I’m a bit lost without it. But not nearly half as lost being without the internet for a week. How anyone survives without is a complete mystery to me!
I proclaim that the digital revolution has come and gone and now we reside in a world of digital feudalism, as we worship the world of the almighty 1’s and 0’s in the glow of our laptop screens... OK perhaps a bit too far but certainly I’ll make a valid point, in that my ability to do anything that I’d normally do has been severely hindered this week by the lack of a net connection where I live. Thank god it’s only been ONE week!
I’ll leave you now with my quote of the week from a comedian that I saw during freshers who actually studied for four years at Stafford before failing. “Four years studying at Staffordshire University left me with an incredibly muscly right arm, and a completely withered left one... Bet they never put that in the brochures when you signed up freshers.” I can totally understand... why he failed...
