It's The Small Things That Count...

It is not uncommon for the major events to define one's life. Occasionally there will be a heartwarming story in the paper headlined something like, “Man jumps into river to save drowning child and dog”, and although this provides a welcome change to the death and despair that so often fills our newspapers, an inevitable string of thoughts to follow. Often we look for these ‘defining’ moments in our own lives, and we cannot help but to wonder, would I be able to do that in a similar situation? The typical English response would be to stand around with a disapproving look on one’s face bellowing “Something should be done about this!” followed by several angry e-mails and letters to the local MP who will inevitably never read them due to the enormity of the task of ploughing through his daily sacks of hate mail in order to find them. 

With this considered, it seems strange that we seek to define our lives through such moments, especially since they rarely happen. Instead, I find it much more fulfilling to focus on the smaller things in life. If we each focus, even if it is just for a moment, perhaps even write a list of 30 of life’s little wonders, we can find so many things to be grateful for and hopefully develop a more positive outlook. 

I am grateful for warm strawberries, watching the night sky, text alerts, shoelaces, taps, my fingers, my thumbs, pyjamas, a roof, my senses, sliced bread, family, friends, small friends (since we are on the subject of little things!), colours, laughter, music, hugs, spell-check, grandparents, air, electricity, the middle of nowhere, green, sleep, humour, amusing texts sent to me during history lessons, steering wheels, vegetarian food, and ketchup.

Be grateful for everything, be grateful for you.

Rain Rain Go Away...

Us English are rather good at complaining, with it seeming to be one of our very few national talents. Indeed, our infamous “tut”, as my dictionary is telling me, was “first recorded in English in the early 16th cent.” We can tut at almost anything nowadays, but the most reliable focal point for our complaints has to be the weather. 

Never failing to come up with ammunition for our rants, British weather is a phenomenon; rain, wind, sun, warmth, chill, snow, sleet - the lot can all be experienced in one day. Not only does this provide golden tutting material, but it also opens up the doors to further points of frustration, namely, the weather forecast. The Met Office’s daily predictions on the weather might as well be done by spinning three wheels: one labelled “Area”, another “Time”, and the final one “Weather”. Obviously, for Britain you will need to spin the final wheel at least 3 times to give a wider spectrum of possible occurrences. 

Currently we are in June, and I do not know about you, but isn’t it mean to be summer outside? A few nights ago I was kept up by the drumming of the rain on the slanted windows of my room, and this got me thinking (quite an achievement). For the amount we ridicule the constant British rain, we rarely ponder its comforts. I for one cannot put any reasoning behind the comfort and relaxation I feel when being in the car in the rain, or indeed sitting in a cold room, watching the rain drip down the windows. Perhaps it is the feeling of security, stemming back to our natural selves battling against the elements (albeit sitting on a sofa with a mug of cocoa) and avoiding the punishing power of nature.  Not wanting to rob the world of this feeling, I will conclude in saying that despite its frustrating nature, the rain is always welcome to “come again another day”.

A Future for Facebook?

Happy Monday!

With this being my first blogging experience, I have been wondering where to begin. When running through my possible options, naturally, my brain (returning from its rather lengthy absence of around 17 years) gave me the idea of "at the beginning". So, I guess we might as well take it from there. 

With only a matter of days to go until the 4 weeks period of soul destroying, agonising torture (otherwise known as A-Levels), a common emotional concoction amongst fellow students is a complicated mixture of panic, stress, regret, headaches, pro-plus, red bull, and boredom, with each element slowly dragging us further away from the goal of successful revision (much as this blog is doing now). When thinking about it, exams do seem rather frivolous. Leaving around 15 years of education behind us, all we manage to salvage is a small collection of letters, and oddly enough, these will determine our futures. Regardless of our past achievements, it is the performance on the day that counts, and although society deems this a fair way of understanding one's abilities, I, and I reckon I am not alone in this thought, cannot see how that is possible.

Every one of us is an unique individual, with nobody else possessing the same combination of qualities and quirks, yet each one of us could have the same letters on our CVs. Furthermore, in a job you are not there just to perform on the day, you need to produce consistent performances - if any examiners are reading (which I highly doubt), please do not get the idea that more exams is an ideal solution! Although the sections on your personal activities and experiences go some way describing who you are, arguably, in this day and age wouldn't it be more appropriate to attach a link to your Facebook profile? Anybody can list an attribute on a CV whether they possess it or not, but after a long and lengthy profile stalk, employers would not only gain a broader understanding of you, but they would also have a much more enjoyable task in doing so! 

Do not get me wrong, the system we have now, although flawed, is the only reasonable way of dealing with this process. Although it has its issues, any other means of doing so would be impossible, or in the future will we see the CV replaced by the profile stalk? With this being highly unlikely to happen (until Mark Zuckerberg runs for PM in a coalition with Jeremy Clarkson - perhaps the cause of 2012?) our futures will be determined in the next few weeks. So, it is now time to rediscover our pencil cases, blow the inches of dust of the thrilling book "From Kaiser to Fuhrer: Germany 1900-1945" (oh dear... hours of fun awaits) and bend our minds to focus on work, completing our final journey through the education system and into the real world *dun dun duuuunnn*

And so readers, this concludes my first blog. I shall leave you now with a quote which seems appropriate for the next few weeks, “If you worry about yesterday’s failures, then today’s successes will be few. The future depends on what we do in the present” - Gandi

Until the next time...