Hey guys.
So it's now the Christmas break and well...the social life is dead (it only came back after a week or two yesterday after I finished my media law). Anyway today has been a pretty long day to be honest, with a detour to Cardiff on the way back to Shotingham...a place that to be fair, is totally not me! But I've been thinking how life isn't simple. Now I must explain, I don't really seem to be that much of a positive person in Nottingham, like the attitude kinda changes. It's like here I know nobody and have a lot of time to ponder. And well with the rest of today as well...I really have had a lot to ponder.
1. Moving
One thing I've hated through my life, is leaving friends behind. To be fair when we first moved to the Isle Of Man I was four. Anyone knows that at four you're not going to really understand the concept. I just knew we were moving to an Island where I was gonna go to school as Dad had got a job there. And to be honest, unlike anywhere we have been before, Redruth and Cornwall that, as a family, there are links that mean that these places are visited still. Unfortunately, that is not such the case from that point. I mean we moved to Cambridge where I had a pretty great batch of friends through year 5 and 6 and well, now I may have one or two on Facebook or follow them on Twitter or Instagram. I don't talk to them and I've only been back to Cambridge two or three times since and I've not seen any of them in any visit. The Isle of Man I've seen less of since, we went back once. Again my contact with all of my friends there seemed to die. I wish I still had contact with both groups of friends, but in reality, when you're that young and before even video messaging. You want to go out with your friends have a laugh with your friends, not compose an email or MSN with them. It's not fun at 11. To be fair it's not really fun at 18 or 20 but I guess now, like with friends from Bideford, especially +Ryan I get to like play games and voice chat. But that brings me onto my worst move. Like obviously now when I move I fear losing contact more nowadays, because of the Isle of Man and Cambridge, especially when it's hundreds of miles. So moving to Nottingham was a nightmare.
When you spend 7 years making an extensive group of friends and you're forced to just walk away from them, when you've lost all friends like that before AND when you're 18 and meant to be having some of the best times of your life, it's quite bluntly shit. Like, you know some you will lose, because when you have a fairly large load of friends, you can't just Facebook or Tweet every single one regularly. You only keep your closest. Which is rubbish when you think if you still lived there you'd still have the more peripheral friends, because those people have a positive impact. You lose a number of them and that's a big thing. It's horrible. I can name to you a list of people that due to moving I have no real contact with who I would still like to have contact with.
And now my parents are probably moving to Cardiff (leads well to the next subject :L) so once again I'll be moving. And well it means less to me this time, a lot less, because I haven't really made friends in Nottingham (another subject I'll get too) and by all accounts, I'm a southerner.
2. Relationships
Not exactly the most prime concern in the world. It's probably more my idiocy with them. I'm more frustrated by the way like you can't really pick and choose who you like. And what if you don't stop liking them? What if you see a chance? It's more the confusion in not knowing what the bloody hell to do with it. Like I've been single since June 2012 and since then has a girl who really interests me come along? No. It's kinda shit this one because I don't even know what to say or how to put this on paper. Living in the same city as the girl who I was last in a relationship with is something that would be interesting. Even now it's just a difficult subject. I'd like the right chance to come along generally. It isn't in Nottingham and I would say it isn't in Plymouth really. To be honest this is a subject where really I'm mindfucked. Don't even know what to do in this subject. It frustrates me. But there's nothing I can do about it.
3. Friends where there is no school/uni and no jobs.
Okay, to an extent this one could be argued to be a fairly big one. I spend most of my year at Uni, which is awesome. I live in a house with my best Uni friends on the whole. And well it's great. But like whereas people go back to where they went to school, I don't. I never went to school in Nottingham. Never set foot in a school in Nottingham. I've applied for countless jobs, but there hasn't been a proper job. ASDA seem to essentially employ family members of it's current staff I swear and besides, due to cuts loads of people who probably had better jobs beforehand now have to work in these places. There is nothing for a student to do here unless you want to knock door to door for a charity getting abuse shouted in your face (I tried, but I got to a point I was going to shout back at the next dickhead who came up with abuse, plus it was pay per sign up. People don't generally want to sign up to direct debit £10 a month to a charity at the moment! Overall it was a humiliating form of job). Therefore I don't get a social life. And yes, my parents are good and all that, but you can't spend all day every day with the same people, same interests etc. It just doesn't work. I get bored. Then I ponder. Then I feel shit. It's how I work. To be honest, it's how I feel right now.
So yeah, basically, if 2014 could like make itself simple. I'd be bloody grateful. If the end of 2013 would sort itself out to give the year a bit more of a positive edge after a pretty negative 2012 as well I'd also appreciate it yeah? So if there is a factor in making fate, please, positive? From now?
So yeah, comment below with thoughts, I'll admit in areas I've kept vague and some people may know more than others, so if you are a close friend and want to comment I ask you to respect that.
Thanks
Showing posts with label uni. Show all posts
Showing posts with label uni. Show all posts
Friday, 13 December 2013
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
Student Loans - Need For Reform
Hey guys! So this is spontaneous, although I would like to write this well as I am to send this blog off as a link to many different people including some MP's as I think it's important that they at least have the option to see an average students view of the Student Loan. I am also aware that some people don't go to university and they may see it as a choice that we have made, including the financial burden of the loan, for you people, we do choose to go to University, we don't choose to receive what we do from the student loan. Anyway, here I go.
I believe the system that Student Finance England use at present an unfair way regarding the way loans are given out. Now there are reasons why I regard this the case and I shall be explaining them and then what I would change about them. I shall also be making an e-petition which I shall link at the bottom of this blog for all you people who agree with me to sign.
Student Loans and The Means Test
My generation seem to come from an age where everything has been means tested around our parents income. I can still remember EMA and what I remember from this are the people that received the £30 a week. I remember a lot of the people who got this bragged about it, unfortunately the people that bragged about having £30 to go and spend (and 99% of the time not a penny of this expenditure was on educational resources but the latest games, alcohol and cinema tickets) had parents that didn't work. I had a friend who was one of these people and what annoyed me most wasn't the fact he got £30 a week but that his parents didn't work out of choice and he was being rewarded over people such as myself getting considerably more money than me, which he spent on games, because my parents worked when his decided years before to give up employment years before. My parents weren't earning particularly much, especially after tax, my dad being a Methodist Minister whilst my Mum worked part time as a care worker. This prevented me from EMA but my parents couldn't afford to give me £30 to support me. And my opinion stands now with the student loan.
The same person I mentioned I can use as a classic example here with their student loan. We are both going to the same University and last year we lived together (although he has recently decided not to talk to me as I asked him back to help when it came to cleaning the flat). He got around the £7,000 mark, yet he also got a bursary from the University of Plymouth itself because of his parents low income, his bursary was over £900. Now fair you may say, people need money to get by at University, yet I got a £300 bursary and a loan of less than £100 over £6,000. My parents can't afford to make up the difference so once again it feels like he was getting rewarded for the fact his parents don't work. At the end of the day, just because someones parents earns so much it doesn't mean that the student profits thanks to their parents. We aren't our parents, the money they earn therefore doesn't go into our bank accounts and when we're not at home it's not money that buys us food. Therefore how is it even fair to give us so much less because our parents have jobs, not amazingly well paid jobs at that. I also have friends at Uni who I am living with next year who get even less. Around the £5,000 mark. Now after rent, that would be around the £600 mark over three terms, a whole University year, now Ian Duncan Smith may claim he can live on the costs of benefits, but try living on less than £20 a week and tell me it's fair.
So what do I think is fair, I think the only fair way is removal of the means test. All students should get the same amount, it therefore means that there are no people showing off that they have more money because their parents don't work, it also will mean people aren't struggling on less than £20 a week relying on family handouts to survive at University. It would solve the issue of parents having to give money to their children constantly because they are earning money, not that much money at that. It's ridiculous. The system needs to be fair. That is my aim to get through whilst writing this post. The one thing I would add in is that I also know different people have different distances to travel and I believe that the majority use trains, I do think that regarding termly trains a system where a percentage of the train journey can be claimed back from a system would be beneficial for students especially given the current system where many people get very little.
Before I move on to my second part, I noticed this is an area where people will go and say "get a job", well I tried all summer so far in the Gedling/Nottingham area, I looked and could only find commission jobs, I did have a go at it, but I wasn't skilled at selling a charity door to door, only a few people can and if you can't sell it enough you actually end up losing more than you earn as you are paid per sale. I have my opinions on these companies which I will keep mainly for another day but I thought being paid on commission whilst doing twelve hour shifts and a lot of the time losing money on transport etc was fairly degrading especially when you knocked on the doors of those people that were just incredibly foul and rude, which unfortunately you get. There were no jobs going that were willing to give me a chance (if you're reading this and thinking "your CV must need major improvement, I assure you I believe it is very good at saying what I have done, however I am more than willing to send it to you should you email me). But I do agree that for many people who get these jobs on commission, it can feel degrading, especially in an economic climate where people don't want to sign up to give £10 more a month to a charity however good they may be.
Student Rent Regulation
Now I believe the first idea I gave is a fairly simple and logical idea to implement, now although I feel this is not as simple I feel that this may well be one of the only fair ways to go regarding how much rent students are paying. First of all I am going to give you a simple sum of my rent next year per term.
Student Loan: £6004 / 3 = £2001.25
Rent: £1440
Student Loan - Rent = £561.25 (rounded to £561)
Term 1 - Four Months - £561 / 4 = £140.25 / 4.5 = £31.16
That folks is my weekly budget before I take out a £40 train journey, my railcard (which comes up for renewal in December) and any course costs such as items for my dissertation, lectures and seminars, which would considerably lower that £561. You probably notice that the main expense here is clearly the rent of my room within the house. A huge amount. Now I remember hearing that rent should be about 50%, it is now way above this. My theory for this is that the houses should all be checked by the University. The houses ranked A (the ones in very good condition) should charge a maximum of 50% of the student loan, a house ranked B (good condition) should charge a maximum of 42.5% of the student loan and a house ranked C (satisfactory condition) should charge a maximum of 35% of the student loan. A radical change? Yes, but one that see's that students get two things.
1) Enough money to live on for the year from their student loan without to much panicking.
2) The option to save more money by going for a lesser property and essentially getting what you pay for (this comes from living in a property that was not as good as first thought with the viewing etc last year).
Conclusion
Both of these policies together create a feeling of safety for students, a feeling that is lacked with some students at the current time. I believe many students including myself spend a long time worrying about how much money we may have for the next week. Whether we can go out and do anything enjoyable, whether it be a trip to the pub or hiring a 5-a-side pitch for an hour, I'm not talking about really expensive leisure. As I'm sure you agree, it is nice to go to sleep feeling financially safe. Something students don't get to do a lot nowadays, especially on loans like myself (or like some friends, even less).
I am also aware of two facts people may say, so I shall answer them now.
How much should this Student Loan without Means Testing be?
Well I look at the rent in Plymouth first, I gave you a pretty average amount in the £1440 per term, that's less than what my rent was last year marginally. However there are 9 people in this house and lowering the rent to £1000 would still see the owner receive £27k a year just from one household! If it was £1500 per term we are talking of them receiving in excess of £40k a year for a 9 person house. A lot of this is due to inflation and the factor that the competition rises together there is no competitor trying to give a good house for cheap rent in a decent location for students really. So although I don't think landlords should lost too much, I don't want to see many thousands of people in debt they'll never get out of (although with £9k tuition fees it could be argued this is the case), therefore I would say between £2200 and £2400 per term. I would look at the first term though and be aware it is a month longer than the second and make sure that the student loan realises this. If the first term was £2400, the second £2200 and the third £2000 the rent would be a maximum of £3300. Not bad income for a landlord I would presume and not too badder sums for a student.
Therefore in answer to the question I am going to say around between £6600 and £7000 with a rise with the rate of inflation every year. It isn't much more than we are giving to some today. The loan would not decrease for third year (I have learnt that this happens, for no legitimate reason either, apparently our term finishes earlier, funny the exams often finish later than first and second years, making the year longer)
Landlords aren't going to be happy with this proposal
When it comes to this comment, I have to be honest, the landlord is still making a huge amount of money. The landlord often charges for the unnecessary months in Plymouth of June and July, exams end in May, the summer ball is in May 90% of the time, so why do we pay two months more anyway. Therefore I think if the landlord feels they are losing money, perhaps the contract can be shorter and end at the end of June, given I am unaware of University's hosting exams in July.
Do you feel the same way about the student system as I do? Do you feel that Student Finance needs some reform? Then email your MP, you can even send this blog and hopefully the issues with the current Student Finance system can get some recognition.
PLEASE NOTE
I have created an e-petition, however I am currently waiting for it to be approved. I shall be adding the e-petition here when it is done. If you want to sign it please follow me on twitter @totalJPM and I shall let you know the link when it is ready.
Remember, there is no way that anything will happen about this if we do nothing, act now!
I believe the system that Student Finance England use at present an unfair way regarding the way loans are given out. Now there are reasons why I regard this the case and I shall be explaining them and then what I would change about them. I shall also be making an e-petition which I shall link at the bottom of this blog for all you people who agree with me to sign.
Student Loans and The Means Test
My generation seem to come from an age where everything has been means tested around our parents income. I can still remember EMA and what I remember from this are the people that received the £30 a week. I remember a lot of the people who got this bragged about it, unfortunately the people that bragged about having £30 to go and spend (and 99% of the time not a penny of this expenditure was on educational resources but the latest games, alcohol and cinema tickets) had parents that didn't work. I had a friend who was one of these people and what annoyed me most wasn't the fact he got £30 a week but that his parents didn't work out of choice and he was being rewarded over people such as myself getting considerably more money than me, which he spent on games, because my parents worked when his decided years before to give up employment years before. My parents weren't earning particularly much, especially after tax, my dad being a Methodist Minister whilst my Mum worked part time as a care worker. This prevented me from EMA but my parents couldn't afford to give me £30 to support me. And my opinion stands now with the student loan.
The same person I mentioned I can use as a classic example here with their student loan. We are both going to the same University and last year we lived together (although he has recently decided not to talk to me as I asked him back to help when it came to cleaning the flat). He got around the £7,000 mark, yet he also got a bursary from the University of Plymouth itself because of his parents low income, his bursary was over £900. Now fair you may say, people need money to get by at University, yet I got a £300 bursary and a loan of less than £100 over £6,000. My parents can't afford to make up the difference so once again it feels like he was getting rewarded for the fact his parents don't work. At the end of the day, just because someones parents earns so much it doesn't mean that the student profits thanks to their parents. We aren't our parents, the money they earn therefore doesn't go into our bank accounts and when we're not at home it's not money that buys us food. Therefore how is it even fair to give us so much less because our parents have jobs, not amazingly well paid jobs at that. I also have friends at Uni who I am living with next year who get even less. Around the £5,000 mark. Now after rent, that would be around the £600 mark over three terms, a whole University year, now Ian Duncan Smith may claim he can live on the costs of benefits, but try living on less than £20 a week and tell me it's fair.
So what do I think is fair, I think the only fair way is removal of the means test. All students should get the same amount, it therefore means that there are no people showing off that they have more money because their parents don't work, it also will mean people aren't struggling on less than £20 a week relying on family handouts to survive at University. It would solve the issue of parents having to give money to their children constantly because they are earning money, not that much money at that. It's ridiculous. The system needs to be fair. That is my aim to get through whilst writing this post. The one thing I would add in is that I also know different people have different distances to travel and I believe that the majority use trains, I do think that regarding termly trains a system where a percentage of the train journey can be claimed back from a system would be beneficial for students especially given the current system where many people get very little.
Before I move on to my second part, I noticed this is an area where people will go and say "get a job", well I tried all summer so far in the Gedling/Nottingham area, I looked and could only find commission jobs, I did have a go at it, but I wasn't skilled at selling a charity door to door, only a few people can and if you can't sell it enough you actually end up losing more than you earn as you are paid per sale. I have my opinions on these companies which I will keep mainly for another day but I thought being paid on commission whilst doing twelve hour shifts and a lot of the time losing money on transport etc was fairly degrading especially when you knocked on the doors of those people that were just incredibly foul and rude, which unfortunately you get. There were no jobs going that were willing to give me a chance (if you're reading this and thinking "your CV must need major improvement, I assure you I believe it is very good at saying what I have done, however I am more than willing to send it to you should you email me). But I do agree that for many people who get these jobs on commission, it can feel degrading, especially in an economic climate where people don't want to sign up to give £10 more a month to a charity however good they may be.
Student Rent Regulation
Now I believe the first idea I gave is a fairly simple and logical idea to implement, now although I feel this is not as simple I feel that this may well be one of the only fair ways to go regarding how much rent students are paying. First of all I am going to give you a simple sum of my rent next year per term.
Student Loan: £6004 / 3 = £2001.25
Rent: £1440
Student Loan - Rent = £561.25 (rounded to £561)
Term 1 - Four Months - £561 / 4 = £140.25 / 4.5 = £31.16
That folks is my weekly budget before I take out a £40 train journey, my railcard (which comes up for renewal in December) and any course costs such as items for my dissertation, lectures and seminars, which would considerably lower that £561. You probably notice that the main expense here is clearly the rent of my room within the house. A huge amount. Now I remember hearing that rent should be about 50%, it is now way above this. My theory for this is that the houses should all be checked by the University. The houses ranked A (the ones in very good condition) should charge a maximum of 50% of the student loan, a house ranked B (good condition) should charge a maximum of 42.5% of the student loan and a house ranked C (satisfactory condition) should charge a maximum of 35% of the student loan. A radical change? Yes, but one that see's that students get two things.
1) Enough money to live on for the year from their student loan without to much panicking.
2) The option to save more money by going for a lesser property and essentially getting what you pay for (this comes from living in a property that was not as good as first thought with the viewing etc last year).
Conclusion
Both of these policies together create a feeling of safety for students, a feeling that is lacked with some students at the current time. I believe many students including myself spend a long time worrying about how much money we may have for the next week. Whether we can go out and do anything enjoyable, whether it be a trip to the pub or hiring a 5-a-side pitch for an hour, I'm not talking about really expensive leisure. As I'm sure you agree, it is nice to go to sleep feeling financially safe. Something students don't get to do a lot nowadays, especially on loans like myself (or like some friends, even less).
I am also aware of two facts people may say, so I shall answer them now.
How much should this Student Loan without Means Testing be?
Well I look at the rent in Plymouth first, I gave you a pretty average amount in the £1440 per term, that's less than what my rent was last year marginally. However there are 9 people in this house and lowering the rent to £1000 would still see the owner receive £27k a year just from one household! If it was £1500 per term we are talking of them receiving in excess of £40k a year for a 9 person house. A lot of this is due to inflation and the factor that the competition rises together there is no competitor trying to give a good house for cheap rent in a decent location for students really. So although I don't think landlords should lost too much, I don't want to see many thousands of people in debt they'll never get out of (although with £9k tuition fees it could be argued this is the case), therefore I would say between £2200 and £2400 per term. I would look at the first term though and be aware it is a month longer than the second and make sure that the student loan realises this. If the first term was £2400, the second £2200 and the third £2000 the rent would be a maximum of £3300. Not bad income for a landlord I would presume and not too badder sums for a student.
Therefore in answer to the question I am going to say around between £6600 and £7000 with a rise with the rate of inflation every year. It isn't much more than we are giving to some today. The loan would not decrease for third year (I have learnt that this happens, for no legitimate reason either, apparently our term finishes earlier, funny the exams often finish later than first and second years, making the year longer)
Landlords aren't going to be happy with this proposal
When it comes to this comment, I have to be honest, the landlord is still making a huge amount of money. The landlord often charges for the unnecessary months in Plymouth of June and July, exams end in May, the summer ball is in May 90% of the time, so why do we pay two months more anyway. Therefore I think if the landlord feels they are losing money, perhaps the contract can be shorter and end at the end of June, given I am unaware of University's hosting exams in July.
Do you feel the same way about the student system as I do? Do you feel that Student Finance needs some reform? Then email your MP, you can even send this blog and hopefully the issues with the current Student Finance system can get some recognition.
PLEASE NOTE
I have created an e-petition, however I am currently waiting for it to be approved. I shall be adding the e-petition here when it is done. If you want to sign it please follow me on twitter @totalJPM and I shall let you know the link when it is ready.
Remember, there is no way that anything will happen about this if we do nothing, act now!
Monday, 29 July 2013
Things I'd Tell My Teenage Self: Part 1
Okay guys, so earlier on +Danièlle Owen posted about the things she would tell her teenage self. She also included that I would do this from a male viewpoint. So here I am. Like her blog for the female viewer my post's will analyse items such as relationships, money, friends and family as well as others that are more unique to my teenage self. Obviously some of you reading may be teenagers, some will be older. If you have an points about the post that I write please send a tweet to (@totalJPM) or use the hashtag #JPMTeenSelf. So yeah here we go!
Relationships and Girls
Yeah obviously a big one to write about first haha. And to be fair, not even the me now could claim to be anything close to an expert on either of these. However I did have a close to 3 year relationship in my teens. I don't really know what to think about this nowadays really, like would I change stuff? Yes. But I guess there were the best and worst moments in hindsight. I know I would say to my teenage self "Don't be taken as a fool by a girl", as well maybe if I didn't have an element of naivety then I would have definitely noticed the end. It's important to not be naive, things can be great for 18 months, then something can ruin them, especially such things as lies. Trusting after the other has done whatever is incredibly hard, it's probably over from there in reality. Unless you can be a very forgetful person just to try to keep the relationship. Although back then it must have been the fact of really wanting it, really liking the person and therefore being willing to try to forgive.
I'd probably also tell myself that, hey, a relationship ending isn't the end of the world, it may seem like that initially, but it isn't. The single life is free and provides different opportunities and can save money as well! To be honest going the seperate ways and then looking back at the person also showed me how much they changed. I don't think I've changed (you'd have to ask my friends in the past 12 months if I've changed!) but she certainly has. Just wouldn't have been interested at all if we had a conversation for the first time now.
I'd also tell my teenage self here, that there is no rush. Life comes at you and shit happens. You learn from it. You don't need to run from one relationship and jump into another. Hell no, take a step back look at it, the good and the bad and take something from it. Probably should tell the person you're in a relationship with to log off Facebook on your iPod...especially if they're sending sexual messages to someone from the United States (or anywhere else, but in this case...yeah). Probably should stop here with this....
To be fair, regarding relationships, you probably have to go through the shit to find the green grass at the end of the road and that right relationship!
Money
Haha, what a subject. Well Uni has told me a lot about conserving money and budgeting. I think simply with money, it's just learning the value of it. I mean for instance before Uni you go out and £4 for a pint of Brothers Cider at Crabby Dicks in Bideford seems okay. Then you go to Uni and live under a budget and you think "wow this is a fair bit, I could buy lunch with this" until you're really drunk. I used to be way happier buying any skint friend a drink or something, now that isn't so much the case. I would say use money sparingly. Yes buy friends stuff, not every time though. I dunno, I also would buy pointless goods. So I would say think twice. Budget yourself. Don't take a card on a night out, you'll be an idiot. C103 last freshers proved that when I took out an extra £30 in there paying a fee of £1.75 to use that machine. And I soberly refuse to use them. Mind you that was an exceptionally drunk night!
So really, I'd say budget, there's always a goal, a big event. You don't wanna miss it!
Friends
This is one place where I don't think I've went too wrong. I mean at school I was in W1 where essentially I was in a friend group. Unfortunately some have gone their ways and we've lost contact. I mean James Ellis, where are you now mate? Then there's some which I clearly barely see because of moving after my A Level results, despite this I would still regard them as good friends if we met up.
I also am lucky enough to have one friend who comes down to visit me when I'm at Uni +Ryan Steppel as well as Craig who I get on better with at Uni than I did at school! Pretty awesome mates. I also have Elliot who goes to the same Uni from my school, still good friends. These are people I feel lucky to have, as these people I have been friends with as we've all matured from GCSE students all the way to...well, adults. Student adults, but adults. I've also done really well at Uni with friends. A base of friends who I am living with next year (plus ones that will essentially live with us, by that I mean Vikki and Milky....again) that are all individually amazing in their own ways is really a great marker! I mean I feel lucky to have met all of these people and that I really hit the nail on the head when it came to friends in the majority of cases. I don't really like to group these people. I've found that in general with these friends, each one is a great friend for a different reason, each friendship was formed in many ways, half of them wouldn't have happened without one of the other friendships. Sometimes though I feel they may know me better than me! Which can be a tad worrying guys ;).
I will briefly say about the 10% I get wrong. These are generally people with a lack of ambition, a lack of attitude, generally quite negative about their prospects and not willing to help other friends at a small cost. There are people reading this knowing I could be meaning them, or feeling they're so perfect in a world that really is their own little bubble. That bubble might be Xbox Live or whatever it is.
I'd like to elaborate on the negative about prospects. Many of you will think I'm a negative person and yes, to a degree you are right. I shout my opinions out loud, I am not one who will sit back at something that annoys me or something that has angered me and stay quiet. That can be football or a cult like Beliebers, it could be David Cameron's next stupid idea, however the point being, I will say my opinion. This is not what I regard as negative, I regard this as opinionated. If something pleases me I will also say it. Sometimes I will only say it for the reaction! Negative attitude or negative about prospects regards those who are quitters, those that don't have the ambition to do well but the ambition to just stay in the same place doing sufficiently.
An example could be a placement year at Uni. Don't just apply for where you live if you live in a small town with little prospect. Reach out. Go and at least attempt to get something that is ambitious. Otherwise why are you at Uni. You have no ambition, go back home. It irritates me. I don't get this chance with my degree, so I'd like to see those who do take it, it shows ambition, pride, an attitude and I respect this and therefore would find it easier to be a friend. My teenage self had some of these friends. I don't really know what I've done wrong in the year but they have got to the point where they have decided not to reply to me even on their world (the gaming networks). They do of course like to try to put down those who are more ambitious than them, to a point that insulted me and the people involved. This happened over years in honesty to different people. However I have kept the friendships that mean something to me.
However I'd say regarding friendships, my friendship with +Ryan Steppel was the start of the me that showed ambition, pride and the attributes I have mentioned mainly because it is a friendship of two big personalities with a get up and go, an ambition and some drive. I would say before some of my friendships were settled, especially with those that shared my initials. It doesn't bother me now. As since the friendship with the Milky Bar Kid I've also made some equally awesome friends who also share the attributes that make them ideal friends, best bit is, I live with some from September!
Anyway, I shall post Part 2 in the next few days depending on work! So cya guys later!!!!
Relationships and Girls
Yeah obviously a big one to write about first haha. And to be fair, not even the me now could claim to be anything close to an expert on either of these. However I did have a close to 3 year relationship in my teens. I don't really know what to think about this nowadays really, like would I change stuff? Yes. But I guess there were the best and worst moments in hindsight. I know I would say to my teenage self "Don't be taken as a fool by a girl", as well maybe if I didn't have an element of naivety then I would have definitely noticed the end. It's important to not be naive, things can be great for 18 months, then something can ruin them, especially such things as lies. Trusting after the other has done whatever is incredibly hard, it's probably over from there in reality. Unless you can be a very forgetful person just to try to keep the relationship. Although back then it must have been the fact of really wanting it, really liking the person and therefore being willing to try to forgive.
I'd probably also tell myself that, hey, a relationship ending isn't the end of the world, it may seem like that initially, but it isn't. The single life is free and provides different opportunities and can save money as well! To be honest going the seperate ways and then looking back at the person also showed me how much they changed. I don't think I've changed (you'd have to ask my friends in the past 12 months if I've changed!) but she certainly has. Just wouldn't have been interested at all if we had a conversation for the first time now.
I'd also tell my teenage self here, that there is no rush. Life comes at you and shit happens. You learn from it. You don't need to run from one relationship and jump into another. Hell no, take a step back look at it, the good and the bad and take something from it. Probably should tell the person you're in a relationship with to log off Facebook on your iPod...especially if they're sending sexual messages to someone from the United States (or anywhere else, but in this case...yeah). Probably should stop here with this....
To be fair, regarding relationships, you probably have to go through the shit to find the green grass at the end of the road and that right relationship!
Money
Haha, what a subject. Well Uni has told me a lot about conserving money and budgeting. I think simply with money, it's just learning the value of it. I mean for instance before Uni you go out and £4 for a pint of Brothers Cider at Crabby Dicks in Bideford seems okay. Then you go to Uni and live under a budget and you think "wow this is a fair bit, I could buy lunch with this" until you're really drunk. I used to be way happier buying any skint friend a drink or something, now that isn't so much the case. I would say use money sparingly. Yes buy friends stuff, not every time though. I dunno, I also would buy pointless goods. So I would say think twice. Budget yourself. Don't take a card on a night out, you'll be an idiot. C103 last freshers proved that when I took out an extra £30 in there paying a fee of £1.75 to use that machine. And I soberly refuse to use them. Mind you that was an exceptionally drunk night!
So really, I'd say budget, there's always a goal, a big event. You don't wanna miss it!
Friends
This is one place where I don't think I've went too wrong. I mean at school I was in W1 where essentially I was in a friend group. Unfortunately some have gone their ways and we've lost contact. I mean James Ellis, where are you now mate? Then there's some which I clearly barely see because of moving after my A Level results, despite this I would still regard them as good friends if we met up.
I also am lucky enough to have one friend who comes down to visit me when I'm at Uni +Ryan Steppel as well as Craig who I get on better with at Uni than I did at school! Pretty awesome mates. I also have Elliot who goes to the same Uni from my school, still good friends. These are people I feel lucky to have, as these people I have been friends with as we've all matured from GCSE students all the way to...well, adults. Student adults, but adults. I've also done really well at Uni with friends. A base of friends who I am living with next year (plus ones that will essentially live with us, by that I mean Vikki and Milky....again) that are all individually amazing in their own ways is really a great marker! I mean I feel lucky to have met all of these people and that I really hit the nail on the head when it came to friends in the majority of cases. I don't really like to group these people. I've found that in general with these friends, each one is a great friend for a different reason, each friendship was formed in many ways, half of them wouldn't have happened without one of the other friendships. Sometimes though I feel they may know me better than me! Which can be a tad worrying guys ;).
I will briefly say about the 10% I get wrong. These are generally people with a lack of ambition, a lack of attitude, generally quite negative about their prospects and not willing to help other friends at a small cost. There are people reading this knowing I could be meaning them, or feeling they're so perfect in a world that really is their own little bubble. That bubble might be Xbox Live or whatever it is.
I'd like to elaborate on the negative about prospects. Many of you will think I'm a negative person and yes, to a degree you are right. I shout my opinions out loud, I am not one who will sit back at something that annoys me or something that has angered me and stay quiet. That can be football or a cult like Beliebers, it could be David Cameron's next stupid idea, however the point being, I will say my opinion. This is not what I regard as negative, I regard this as opinionated. If something pleases me I will also say it. Sometimes I will only say it for the reaction! Negative attitude or negative about prospects regards those who are quitters, those that don't have the ambition to do well but the ambition to just stay in the same place doing sufficiently.
An example could be a placement year at Uni. Don't just apply for where you live if you live in a small town with little prospect. Reach out. Go and at least attempt to get something that is ambitious. Otherwise why are you at Uni. You have no ambition, go back home. It irritates me. I don't get this chance with my degree, so I'd like to see those who do take it, it shows ambition, pride, an attitude and I respect this and therefore would find it easier to be a friend. My teenage self had some of these friends. I don't really know what I've done wrong in the year but they have got to the point where they have decided not to reply to me even on their world (the gaming networks). They do of course like to try to put down those who are more ambitious than them, to a point that insulted me and the people involved. This happened over years in honesty to different people. However I have kept the friendships that mean something to me.
However I'd say regarding friendships, my friendship with +Ryan Steppel was the start of the me that showed ambition, pride and the attributes I have mentioned mainly because it is a friendship of two big personalities with a get up and go, an ambition and some drive. I would say before some of my friendships were settled, especially with those that shared my initials. It doesn't bother me now. As since the friendship with the Milky Bar Kid I've also made some equally awesome friends who also share the attributes that make them ideal friends, best bit is, I live with some from September!
Anyway, I shall post Part 2 in the next few days depending on work! So cya guys later!!!!
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
James' Today 26/06/2013
Hey guys!
Okay so I imagine that this will be a shorter edition of my "Today" segment as I'm in a car and my sister gets in a serious temper about typing and being able to hear headphones and all of that rubbish. I don't know why but I can tell you that it is highly annoying and she is covering her ears now...she will love Plymouth University library with all of us on our laptops!!!
So what today...well I'm not sure writing this, I am thinking about the sun having decided to come out the ONE day that I have to spend the majority of the day in the car. Also I put in the keys to my flat today so I officially have no home in Plymouth until the first of November :(. Sucks right? As that's where we all wanna be! AND I have to pay for July. I'd advise anyone looking for a place at uni NOT to consider Shorey's. They're not great and that free organic food includes Mushroom's, my nemesis. And not just like two...more like 20...and when you have friends like I do they throw them at you. I can't stand them! Legitimate, compared to spiders, who in this country are relatively nice and help by killing flys, who are annoying little things!
I would also like to point out something I was thinking about last night, this is, what is the point of playing life safe and merely being just satisfied when you could take life by the scruff of the neck and take some risks, talk to people some people may not like but if the risks work you would be thrilled with your life. Yes that's right people, take some risks, go in the deep end, not the shallow end, and take those metaphorical arm bands off and go for it. At least you tried.
And finally, money issues, I'm annoyed at the lack of a job in the Nottingham area...this has led to me having to pull out of Mumford and Sons which is gutting as it was one of my only oppurtunities this summer to see school friends. Let's hope one or two of them go to Reading festival 2013 then! Either way that is gonna be HUGE. You can tell I can't wait for that, and freshers to be honest too.
But yeah I'm at a service station now and if I continue I think I won't be here on this planet to create James' Today tomorrow, and I know, you'd all hate that to happen.
Toodles
No video as this is mobile internet :(.
Okay so I imagine that this will be a shorter edition of my "Today" segment as I'm in a car and my sister gets in a serious temper about typing and being able to hear headphones and all of that rubbish. I don't know why but I can tell you that it is highly annoying and she is covering her ears now...she will love Plymouth University library with all of us on our laptops!!!
So what today...well I'm not sure writing this, I am thinking about the sun having decided to come out the ONE day that I have to spend the majority of the day in the car. Also I put in the keys to my flat today so I officially have no home in Plymouth until the first of November :(. Sucks right? As that's where we all wanna be! AND I have to pay for July. I'd advise anyone looking for a place at uni NOT to consider Shorey's. They're not great and that free organic food includes Mushroom's, my nemesis. And not just like two...more like 20...and when you have friends like I do they throw them at you. I can't stand them! Legitimate, compared to spiders, who in this country are relatively nice and help by killing flys, who are annoying little things!
I would also like to point out something I was thinking about last night, this is, what is the point of playing life safe and merely being just satisfied when you could take life by the scruff of the neck and take some risks, talk to people some people may not like but if the risks work you would be thrilled with your life. Yes that's right people, take some risks, go in the deep end, not the shallow end, and take those metaphorical arm bands off and go for it. At least you tried.
And finally, money issues, I'm annoyed at the lack of a job in the Nottingham area...this has led to me having to pull out of Mumford and Sons which is gutting as it was one of my only oppurtunities this summer to see school friends. Let's hope one or two of them go to Reading festival 2013 then! Either way that is gonna be HUGE. You can tell I can't wait for that, and freshers to be honest too.
But yeah I'm at a service station now and if I continue I think I won't be here on this planet to create James' Today tomorrow, and I know, you'd all hate that to happen.
Toodles
No video as this is mobile internet :(.
Saturday, 22 June 2013
Frustrated
Hey guys! Now I've been feeling frustrated and bored the last few days, you may ask why, well it's summer and I'm a University student. More to the point though whereas most University students get to go back to where they went to secondary school and hang out with their friends as well as work, a lot of them at jobs they got before University which are open to them going back to in holidays. However my family moved to Nottinghamshire on the days I got my A level results and confirmation I would be going to Plymouth University. For those that don't know getting from Nottinghamshire to either Plymouth or Barnstaple does cost well over £30, sometimes closer to £60, a trip I have to make a few times a year to go from the family home to my University home, it's not something I can really afford to do though to see my friends back in the town I would refer to as home in the Summer and lets be honest, there's no point of any of them going to Nottingham, the only good event that has happened there that I noticed was Blink-182.
So why am I telling you all this in this blog? Well it's frustrating. I have applied for countless jobs, at places at anywhere advertising and places that are not. I have considered walking into the supermarkets and telling them I won't move until they give me a job or at least interview me or give me a job trial because lets be honest they can afford it. I'm not sure why it seems easier for my friends to get a job in Bideford but it does, maybe there are just not as many people of my age group going to University here and deciding to work in a shop for the rest of their lives and more teenage parents here (although there were and I believe looking on Facebook are a fair few teenage parents in Bideford) who can't afford to go to University or courses away from here due to that commitment. For some reason though, it seems harder to get a job in this more densely populated area of the country, this might be because ASDA like to employ their employees children here, seems to be one of the reasons, the rest seem quite backwards in all honesty, for instance when my Mum bought some goods there explained to the person putting the "freshly" baked "pasties" (they were not of a sufficient quality to bear the name pasty to be honest) that both her and my sister were vegetarians, the person put the pasties into the same bag. This person shouldn't be working at a food store if she does this, what if a person who is due to beliefs a vegetarian and this person puts them next to a product containing meat that they don't eat, it could to the customer "contaminate" their food. Yet this person has a job and I do not. Takes away my belief in the best people getting the job, as even if I'm not the best, she clearly was near the worst. Also I need money to see my friends, so I can't see my friends because people hire idiots like that and don't give students a good chance as far as I'm aware (if anyone in Nottingham reads this and wants to give me a job, please send a comment, email or tweet yeah?).
Secondly, things here happen that wouldn't so easily happen in Bideford. I may have had my fair share of scraps in Bideford, but I was the type of person who wouldn't keep my opinion quiet if I was offended and this could lead to myself falling out with people that made racist comments, especially Tom Benson (if you wanna send your Mum to my old houses door to complain to my Mum but not to my face, or send your army mates round there to "get me" because you can't face up to your own racist remarks yourself, please do) and the chavs. But in Nottingham on my first full day back from Univeristy for Christmas it was my sisters 18th party, me and my cousins however were fed up of her taste in music and stuff and thought about going to Wetherspoons, only to have some thugs try to mug us. These were low life scum mugs that you seem to see more of here than in Bideford, attacking three people unprovoked asking for our phones. Now I must be honest, I didn't get punched, I thought they had a knife and found the nearby bouncer for Wetherspoons to get the police on these scumbags, and I hope they were arrested, I also by a streak of luck didn't have my iPhone 5 on my but my iPod touch, although I wasn't giving it to them, they wouldn't understand the music on it as it contains instruments and isn't just full of "I'm gonna fucking shoot you, because I am hard, because I do rap, and emo's are useless" but proper music from the Arctic Monkeys, to Green Day all the way to odd hits by pop groups like Marina and the Diamonds, Eliza Doolittle and Ellie Goulding. But this showed me a sign that some of the people in Nottingham aren't exactly receptive of people who don't just give their phones. At least in Bideford I knew who some of these problem people were and to watch out for them, I also could predict that a couple of people in my year would end up in prison (I got at least one right unfortunately). Also the people of Nottingham seem to go out wearing joggers, (the type of thing you wear when you're staying in because you have a hangover after an intense night in Oceana Plymouth, busy on the sambucca and beer without getting into trouble...). This is a just no, to me you look like an idiot, especially if you have lines in your hair, the only reason for having that is that your friend did it when you were asleep or your name is Mario Balotelli. You just look like a twat.
Thirdly, not knowing anybody here (and not really being willing to associate with someone who has dressed up like a member of D12), I don't really have a friend here. The people who I have met seem to have this idea that the original people who lived there must be better and therefore leads to me having a lower opinion of them too. Grow up is all I can say to those people. Then there is the fact that due to the timings of moving, my sister obviously went to six form and made friends, I on the other hand didn't get any opportunity to do this and therefore know nobody, so I've went from Bideford where we went to the cinema, went on nights out, hung out on the beach to Nottinghamshire where I lack friends to do any of this with (which will make me a lightweight by Reading Festival/Freshers 2013 as well as miss new films like The Man Of Steel), partly down to the time of move, partly down to myself only being in Nottingham during short periods other than the long long summer, and secondly there is no bloody beach! I miss the beach, the beach was amazing, a nice pint of cider by Westward Ho! beach on the pebble ridge was great, it was one of the best things to do really! I do really miss the regular meeting up with friends.
And then there's the issue that whilst in Nottingham I am always with my family, it's great to go and see them, it really is, but it can become irritating living under rules again, not having to worry about times you come in, or nobody would worry if you just go out and stuff like that. Also people sleep later at uni than at home, so of course you can be louder, and people won't tell you to get quieter for instance. Also was nice to order a Chinese or Indian randomly at 10pm for instance. You also didn't get comments about the time of getting up, mind you staying up late is definitely not as fun at home. Also University had daily meet ups with friends, which was great. Going from that to very little of a social life is frustrating.
There may be a part two to this post, you never know, there is probably enough to write about, so ya'know.
Got any comments about frustration in your life, particularly regarding summer for uni students, or moving, then leave a comment or tweet me, alternatively you can email and I shall get back to you.
Cheers guys
So why am I telling you all this in this blog? Well it's frustrating. I have applied for countless jobs, at places at anywhere advertising and places that are not. I have considered walking into the supermarkets and telling them I won't move until they give me a job or at least interview me or give me a job trial because lets be honest they can afford it. I'm not sure why it seems easier for my friends to get a job in Bideford but it does, maybe there are just not as many people of my age group going to University here and deciding to work in a shop for the rest of their lives and more teenage parents here (although there were and I believe looking on Facebook are a fair few teenage parents in Bideford) who can't afford to go to University or courses away from here due to that commitment. For some reason though, it seems harder to get a job in this more densely populated area of the country, this might be because ASDA like to employ their employees children here, seems to be one of the reasons, the rest seem quite backwards in all honesty, for instance when my Mum bought some goods there explained to the person putting the "freshly" baked "pasties" (they were not of a sufficient quality to bear the name pasty to be honest) that both her and my sister were vegetarians, the person put the pasties into the same bag. This person shouldn't be working at a food store if she does this, what if a person who is due to beliefs a vegetarian and this person puts them next to a product containing meat that they don't eat, it could to the customer "contaminate" their food. Yet this person has a job and I do not. Takes away my belief in the best people getting the job, as even if I'm not the best, she clearly was near the worst. Also I need money to see my friends, so I can't see my friends because people hire idiots like that and don't give students a good chance as far as I'm aware (if anyone in Nottingham reads this and wants to give me a job, please send a comment, email or tweet yeah?).
Secondly, things here happen that wouldn't so easily happen in Bideford. I may have had my fair share of scraps in Bideford, but I was the type of person who wouldn't keep my opinion quiet if I was offended and this could lead to myself falling out with people that made racist comments, especially Tom Benson (if you wanna send your Mum to my old houses door to complain to my Mum but not to my face, or send your army mates round there to "get me" because you can't face up to your own racist remarks yourself, please do) and the chavs. But in Nottingham on my first full day back from Univeristy for Christmas it was my sisters 18th party, me and my cousins however were fed up of her taste in music and stuff and thought about going to Wetherspoons, only to have some thugs try to mug us. These were low life scum mugs that you seem to see more of here than in Bideford, attacking three people unprovoked asking for our phones. Now I must be honest, I didn't get punched, I thought they had a knife and found the nearby bouncer for Wetherspoons to get the police on these scumbags, and I hope they were arrested, I also by a streak of luck didn't have my iPhone 5 on my but my iPod touch, although I wasn't giving it to them, they wouldn't understand the music on it as it contains instruments and isn't just full of "I'm gonna fucking shoot you, because I am hard, because I do rap, and emo's are useless" but proper music from the Arctic Monkeys, to Green Day all the way to odd hits by pop groups like Marina and the Diamonds, Eliza Doolittle and Ellie Goulding. But this showed me a sign that some of the people in Nottingham aren't exactly receptive of people who don't just give their phones. At least in Bideford I knew who some of these problem people were and to watch out for them, I also could predict that a couple of people in my year would end up in prison (I got at least one right unfortunately). Also the people of Nottingham seem to go out wearing joggers, (the type of thing you wear when you're staying in because you have a hangover after an intense night in Oceana Plymouth, busy on the sambucca and beer without getting into trouble...). This is a just no, to me you look like an idiot, especially if you have lines in your hair, the only reason for having that is that your friend did it when you were asleep or your name is Mario Balotelli. You just look like a twat.
Thirdly, not knowing anybody here (and not really being willing to associate with someone who has dressed up like a member of D12), I don't really have a friend here. The people who I have met seem to have this idea that the original people who lived there must be better and therefore leads to me having a lower opinion of them too. Grow up is all I can say to those people. Then there is the fact that due to the timings of moving, my sister obviously went to six form and made friends, I on the other hand didn't get any opportunity to do this and therefore know nobody, so I've went from Bideford where we went to the cinema, went on nights out, hung out on the beach to Nottinghamshire where I lack friends to do any of this with (which will make me a lightweight by Reading Festival/Freshers 2013 as well as miss new films like The Man Of Steel), partly down to the time of move, partly down to myself only being in Nottingham during short periods other than the long long summer, and secondly there is no bloody beach! I miss the beach, the beach was amazing, a nice pint of cider by Westward Ho! beach on the pebble ridge was great, it was one of the best things to do really! I do really miss the regular meeting up with friends.
And then there's the issue that whilst in Nottingham I am always with my family, it's great to go and see them, it really is, but it can become irritating living under rules again, not having to worry about times you come in, or nobody would worry if you just go out and stuff like that. Also people sleep later at uni than at home, so of course you can be louder, and people won't tell you to get quieter for instance. Also was nice to order a Chinese or Indian randomly at 10pm for instance. You also didn't get comments about the time of getting up, mind you staying up late is definitely not as fun at home. Also University had daily meet ups with friends, which was great. Going from that to very little of a social life is frustrating.
There may be a part two to this post, you never know, there is probably enough to write about, so ya'know.
Got any comments about frustration in your life, particularly regarding summer for uni students, or moving, then leave a comment or tweet me, alternatively you can email and I shall get back to you.
Cheers guys
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