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30 Days Blogging Challenge |
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| Vincent Van Gogh said, "If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint', then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." What is your 'you cannot ____' voice always ragging on you about, and how good are you at silencing it? Haven't we all had those days where we've been certain we'll never be a writer or we'll never be whatever it is we were certain we could be? At the end of September, I was asked to put together a programme for our Church's Christmas event, a bigger thing than we'd done before. I have to say that I was so unsure that I could possibly do this, however, there were people relying on what I could put together in the following three months. I have to say that at first, I felt out of my depth, I heard that voice that Vincent Van Gogh is quoting. You can't do it! I then realised that I had an outline of what I wanted for the event and by bringing in the right people, the whole thing came together brilliantly. That voice can be a killer. It can kill creativity, break a person's confidence and stop a career in its tracks. To move forward you always have to listen to another voice, the one that says you can do this. This is most important at the times when it seems as if you've failed when the rejection letters start coming. I'm not even there yet but I hope that I will cope with them well, with grace and not too much dejection. I have included here three quotes that inspired me; I especially like the quote by Thomas Edison, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." The other two are: "Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill "Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." -- Nathaniel Hawthorne  |
| What's your favourite way of passing the time when your internet connection is interrupted for an extended period of time, especially when you had a lot you planned on taking care of online? Or, if you prefer- real talk- how addicted to the internet are you? I have to say that I am just a little addicted to my internet, I have a laptop and two tablets, one of which I can take with me and use the internet with while I'm out. I also, of course, have my mobile phone. Therefore, what do I do when I can't get online, reading is one of my popular options, catching up with the housework that I haven't done is another. On a normal day, after doing all the work online I need to do, I'm off playing games. Then I do the housework, I'm aware that my priorities aren't always quite right at times. Some days I'm good and I do the housework before the games! I have a disability that means I am unable to work in the usual sense of the word. I have a voluntary job one afternoon a week; I help people who don't have IT skills use computers so they can look for jobs. I get out as much as I can and leave my internet at home, so addicted, perhaps not, at least until I get home, then it's all go! So, perhaps you'd call it an obsession rather than an addiction. I do like to think I use it for practical purposes, though, not just gaming all the time. Being disabled it's a connection for me to the outside world at those times when I'm stuck indoors. It becomes a little lonelier if I lose my internet connection but I have friends and family here so it's not the end of the world. |
| What do you think? When have you had to turn a potential "worst experience" into something positive? When I was nineteen, I was made redundant because I was working for a small firm and I was told that my job no longer existed. This wasn't the case at all; I had been diagnosed with Epilepsy about a month previously and was aware that my fellow staff thought I was stupid. What none of us knew was that I wasn't stupid or lazy, the other thing I had overheard them saying about me, it turned out I had a serious problem. Within six months of being made redundant, my short-term memory had deteriorated to an almost non-existent state. I was told that I needed brain surgery and this took place six weeks after the diagnosis of an AVM. It was much later when I had recovered physically from the surgery itself that I felt I wanted to start looking for work. This, of course, wasn't going to be straightforward because my memory was still recovering, but overall was much better. The suggestion was to go away to a rehabilitation centre, I would come home only every other weekend. I decided this was the best way to get myself back to work. The centre had an office where people could learn how to work in an office, including, at the time a telephony station that linked the whole site. There was a garden where we worked in greenhouses; I was there for thirteen weeks in total. When I left, I had said to someone running the facility that I wanted to teach myself book-keeping, she said to me that she didn't believe I would ever be able to do that; she said that my memory wouldn't get any better. I was aggravated by this I hate being told what I am and am not capable of doing. So, my first port of call after leaving the centre was to go to college, I learnt more office skills including shorthand and typing. I was still bugged by what this woman had said to me and I was determined to find a way of teaching myself the skill I really wanted to learn. I found a home-study course and I completed two out of three of the courses with The Association of Bookkeepers. I'd decided I didn't want to learn the third course; I wasn't interested in this part of the course. Because of this, I got a temporary job as a wages clerk in a local firm that lasted a year. I would have loved to have stayed there but it was only for a year. Within that year, I caught a man trying to alter his pay cheques, attempting to steal from the company; also I travelled North in the UK to visit the Headquarters of the company. I have to say that from a very difficult situation came a time when I realised that my memory would recover. It took many years for it to recover completely but it was probably better than it was before the operation. I would have died within ten years if I hadn't had the operation, yet I got married and had two children who are both grown now, one of whom is married herself. It was a difficult time for me but by saying yes to an operation my life changed for the better. |
| Well, I wasn't impressed by many of the items that were on show but I like the look of the electric car. I can't drive but that doesn't mean I can't like the look of it. I'm no expert on cars so the specs will mean nothing to me. I know it's an electric car; it has to be better for the environment doesn't it. Of course, it depends on how society makes its electricity I suppose. After all, any vehicle we use requires energy, all energy has its problems; both petrol and diesel have pollution issues. Cars using electricity, to be completely clean, would have to use electricity from only renewable energy. Today, electricity from Nuclear Power is said to be the cleanest form of power apart from those such as Solar and Wind power. However, what about the waste products that never break down, or if they do, it will take many generations, these are potentially much more harmful in the long run. Therefore, our society can show off cars such as these, and I have to say I still love the design, but as to whether these new electric cars are better for our environment is debatable. |
| Develop a new New Year's Eve tradition. It can be serious or humorous; possible or impossible. I thought to myself, what would I do on New Year's Eve, and I realised that I like it just as it is for me personally. I often spend it alone and, again, I like that after the chaos of Christmas. So I thought about traditions. Every country has fireworks, so I began to think along these lines. Then it came to me, I think we should put the whole of the government into Trafalgar Square. Then we seal it off, fill it with bird food and let in the pigeons. It doesn't matter what party is in power, I think it should be compulsory, that if they want to be in government they have to partake in this particular event. When I was young people came from all over the world to feed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square, we aren't allowed anymore. It was a highlight of a trip to London, so perhaps the government would appreciate this treat, or not! Angel |
| If you had to resort to some kind of evil shenanigans or trickery in order to increase your chances of winning this blogging challenge, what would be your plan of attack? I was thinking about this, my problem is that I'm not the sort of person to cheat. I have to say, though, that I'm competitive. Therefore, I thought I could change my name so that it was close to the one running this contest, (sorry Fivesixer). Then, I would send emails to everyone saying that the Blog challenge had moved to another place. I'd set up a false page and perhaps at least some of the people would pop over to the false contest. I'd send them a daily prompt, in fact, I would copy Fivesixer's, it would just not be on the same page as mine. This would hopefully give me less competition. |
| Are you on the road, or are you safely at home? Think about it. At the time of thinking about this, I was and still am, safely at home. This hasn't always been the case. There was a time in my life; I was much younger, when I would have done anything to get out of where I was living. Home is a relative word, going home doesn't mean it is one; sometimes it's just a house, a place where you live. It's where others also live but where you don't belong, except to be abused. Don't get me wrong, I have good memories. I also have whole parts of my childhood memories missing and some awful ones I want to forget. I don't know about on the road, I'm not much of a traveller. I just know that what goes on behind closed doors is something people don't know about. Today, I may not have slipped through the cracks. Today, I may have been listened to, but then there were carpets under which to sweep things. There are times when I wish that for this reason alone, that I was a child now instead of then. |
| What's one place in the world you have yet to visit, and have absolutely no intention of ever, ever going? Why are you so adamant about never visiting? I have to say that my travel experience is limited. When I was young, I went on a couple of day trips to France on the ferry, and one on the 'Vomit Comet', well the hovercraft as it was then. Its nickname speaks for itself, I was fine but many of the other children weren't, teachers too. Later on, there was an overnight trip to Amsterdam, sleeping on the ferry and spending the day in Holland and home again that evening. As my children were growing up, we also took them to France; nothing more, it was all we could afford. Even after they built the tunnel, it was too expensive for us as a family. It was only later, in my late forties that I got the opportunity to go abroad, and I've been several times since, including a trip to Paris through the aforementioned tunnel. I'm writing all this because the quote asks 'What's one place in the world you have yet to visit'. Admittedly, this is the first part of the question, but because I've visited so few places I had to think hard about the second part 'the country you have absolutely no intention of ever, ever going, and why'. I thought firstly of the war-torn places that now seem obvious to avoid, then the places with regimes in charge. Alongside these are all the countries with famine along with war, such as in many parts of Africa. In the end, I decided that Japan or China would have to be top of my list if I took out of the equation the aforementioned countries for obvious reasons. I am intrigued by the cultures of these countries. After some thought I chose Japan, my main reason is an environmental one. Before I continue, I'm not a crazy environmentalist; however, I do care about our planet. I believe that nature plays a huge part in the balance of the earth, and it frustrates me that we think that it's ok to do what we want with it; that we have a right to strip it of everything, including hunting animals to extinction. My specific issue over Japan is Whale hunting. I understand that, as in many places in the world, there are small local villages who continue to hunt a few coastal whales; here, the meat is eaten, they survive on it. I have no problem with this; after all, we catch fish, is this any different. It's the huge whaling fleets that are sent hundreds of miles to the Antarctic, that are wrong and unnecessary. After the Second World War, the Japanese people were starving, they sent out their first fleets to the Antarctic to hunt for whales to feed their people. This is no longer necessary, yet they still do it. It has been condemned around the world, yet this is ignored and the whales are being hunted to extinction. They are not, of course, the only culprits but for this blog, I have focussed on my reasoning for not visiting one country and that is Japan. Their human rights record is also of great concern, this shouldn't be ignored either, as the treatment of their people is of utmost importance. On a lighter note to finish, another reason for not going there is that their food is weird! I'm not sure I'm up for some of the things they eat. |
| Does any government have a right to say what you can or cannot do with your body? This is possibly a huge subject, but for me, it's a very personal one. Here in the UK, we have the NHS, something that I am extremely grateful for, because it means that we can see a doctor whenever we want, have whatever operation we want without worrying about whether we have enough insurance or not. It's not a perfect system; it has its faults, long waiting lists for operations and for seeing specialists for example. However, because it's a free service, or at least appears to be, the government are now targeting specific groups, particularly those who are overweight, as being a drain on the NHS. They are reported as being unhealthy, and at risk of high blood pressure, strokes, heart problems and diabetes, because of bad diet, laziness, and a bad attitude. It's now on so many news reports that anyone who is overweight is now ashamed to walk out of the door, despite the cause of their weight gain. Now, I have to say, I'm one of these people, I am overweight, my first two stone never lost after struggling with post-natal depression after my daughter was born. This would not have been a problem, had I not had family issues that continued this depression for another eighteen months longer than it would have been. I didn't gain weight in this time I just didn't lose it. I was fit and healthy, with two children to raise and working part-time, I would cycle to and from work each day, about three miles each way. It was later when I became unwell that my problems started. A long-term illness from childhood recurred; it wasn't something I had expected to face again. It meant I had to start taking medication. At this time, I cooked all the family's meals from fresh food, from scratch, even while struggling with depression. However, my illness meant that for a few years, I didn't eat as well as I had been, I also wasn't getting as much exercise, as I was unable to work. This, I know had something to do with my weight gain but certainly not all of it. I soon discovered that the problem with medication is that most of it has side effects. The type of medication I take puts weight on; when they last changed my medication, I put on a stone and a half in just two months. This weight is much harder to get rid of; I even had a doctor who said exactly that. So, to the question at hand, should the government have a right to say what you can or cannot do with your body? I understand that they are trying to save our NHS money by preventing health problems but the way they've been doing this has demonised everybody. I admit it, I am overweight, not in the huge category but after that first two stone, I've added another four stone. Through hard work, I've managed to keep my weight in check and it's only when I change medications that the weight goes mad. However, because of the countrywide damnation of anyone overweight, I'm now looked at as someone who is lazy, eats rubbish food and is a drain on society. The government aren't making rules out in the open; they use the media to do it for them, spreading it like propaganda. They turn the public against the people they want to, by using news stations, papers and any other media they can, to get what they want. We condemn communist countries for the use of propaganda, yet it happens here. We are supposed to have free speech, shouldn't we also have the freedom to live the way we want. This is not to say, that as a member of a society, we don't have a certain responsibility to that society to share equally. Perhaps this is a little idealistic and maybe the government are trying to achieve this. It is still, as far as I'm aware, a free society and the government should be careful how much they interfere with the everyday lives of people. This sort of interference is what begins hate campaigns and possibly more health problems for those being targeted; mental health problems especially, leading to the need for more care from the NHS. So wouldn't it be better to deal with underlying problems for those whose lives can be changed rather than making them targets, and for situations like mine that can't be changed, we can then be left in peace. |
Quote:Isaac Asimov, born on this day in 1920, once said: "Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers." What are your thoughts on this quote? Is writing simply a brain-to-hand exercise, or is there more involved? I achieved a Degree late in life, in Literature. As part of this course I studied Creative Writing, this does not make me an expert, it just gave me a kick-start in the right direction. However, one of the first things we were taught was to free-write. It’s an exercise where you write without thinking about it; whatever comes into your head goes onto paper, then you look at what you’ve written and see what you can write from it. This avoids the thinking process altogether; it apparently, taps straight into the creative area of our brains. Another tool is to try writing with your sub-dominant hand, this, again, connects with your subconscious, taking the thinking process out of the equation. On this evidence, it could seem that Isaac Asimov may be correct in his quote. I, however, think that there is much more to writing than a brain to hand exercise. It seems writers’ brains are wired differently to non-writers; they have a much more vivid imagination, sometimes, with whole worlds living inside their heads. I remember travelling on a train one day for quite a long journey on my own. As I looked out of the window, all I saw were fields, but into my head came the start of a poem about a blade of grass. By the time the trip had finished, so was the poem. My daughter later commented, you must be the only one who can look out of a train window and do that. I just see fields; often I don’t even notice them. On the way home, I wrote one about a seagull who was watching us on the station. My daughter just laughed when she read it, not because the poem was funny, but because, again, she wouldn’t have even seen the bird. She has never understood poetry, she studied English Literature for her A Levels and she got a good grade, but she never really understood it, never had a passion for it; she has a very logical mind. As writers, we have a passion for getting those words from the brain, through the fingers, and onto the page. Without passion, anything we do in life is a futile exercise. Why are some people fascinated by trains, others by stamps, it is how our brains are wired; writing is something most people do, though, so why do some expand, what is an everyday thing into something other people are fascinated by. How does a writer take that world inside their head and write it in such a way that others can see the world too? I don’t know the answer to that, I just know that my mind sees deeper into things, focusses on smaller things that others, who don’t write, don’t see. Therefore, it can be an eye to brain, then, brain to hand exercise. Alternatively, it may be ear to brain, then, a brain to hand exercise; it may come from something we hear just as much as we see. But, somewhere within the process is creativity, an ability to turn what we see or hear, into something incredible; so between the input and the output there is a world that we don’t understand and I think Isaac Asimov, in this quote, has oversimplified it somewhat. |
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