I want to be in bed by 11pm (I know) so this is going to have to be quick, but basically I want to moan about my day but explain how one should and shouldn't look at negative things. Actually, that's a bit big of me to say that, but this is how I look at things, which I believe is the correct way.
Today, I forgot my Oyster card, was late, and the trains were delayed. In addition, I felt sick and hadn't had enough sleep over the weekend. It wasn't the most fantastic way to start the morning, my Mp3 player then decided to run out of batteries as I was standing on the platform. Luckily I had a book, Obama's, but as it turned out the tube was so busy I couldn't even read it.
Everyone around me was pretty peeved, and rightly so. I saw it differently - this can only get better, maybe this is my bad karma, in the meantime lets laugh at the situation. I obviously wasn't standing in the tube laughing away, but it was a situation that, if you didn't look at is positively, you would just get very frustrated about. The way back was the same, although this time I had my recharged mp3 player so I was ready to roll. I think I am definitely going to check the tube before I go out tomorrow morning!
That's all I wanted to say, but as it is 22:59 I should add I am REALLY excited about Obama officially becoming the President tomorrow. He is an intriguing man, and I wish him all the best, as his decisions will ultimately have an effect on the safety and sanity of the people on planet earth. If that makes sense. I will be tuning in at work most definitely.
It's now 23.01 so I better head to bed. P&L
Monday, 19 January 2009
Sunday, 18 January 2009
Life update
So, I haven’t blogged in a while – my apologies. Although judging by the amount of people that read this, I am sure no one has dropped dead as a result.
Anywizzle, a life update is surely in order. I am working very hard at Itchy, I have a barrel load of articles online, and everyone seems really friendly and nice to hang out with. Except this is the problem, I still don’t quite see it as a job yet, I get frustrated because the only person I really talk to is the other intern. It’s not like Uni or indeed my general approach to life where I see it fit to talk to just about anyone and everyone. It is funny reading my last blog, my fears evaporated after the first day or two.
The highlights of Itchy have definitely been: the positive responses to my feature ideas, and the gin mixing competition. I didn’t compete (despite my mix-masta-mike nickname) but I watched and interviewed the winner. It was really good fun, and obviously fantastic experience. Oh and the other highlight is definitely the food, there is a market not far from the office that sells all sorts of things. I’ve had Dim Sum, Curried Goat, Jerk Chicken, Vege Chinese... very very tasty!
The negatives are the travelling. God I hate the London Underground sometimes, having someone’s body part in my face, while being squished into the other side is just not pleasant. I genuinely cannot stand it, plus I have to wake up early which I hateee so uh, that part of work is not cool. Oh and also, I write so much (say about 3000 words a day) that my fingers hurt at the end of the day. Which is why I haven’t blogged at all, or finished any of the stories that I wanted to.
I guess the other negative as well is that while I love Journalism, I don’t know how I am going to make a career from it. What I really want to do is travel the world a bit, and teach English in Japan and China and all those amazing countries, so how Journalism is going to fit into all of this... I don’t know. I might have to be a struggling feature writing freelancer :P
Away from food briefly. Today was very frustrating, it was the fourth anniversary of my friends mum committing suicide. It is obviously very sad at these events, she was a lovely woman, but when we’re asked for a moment of silence to reflect I just get angry at her for being selfish like that. And then I have another part of me that defends her, and thinks that she obviously loved her kids, whatever it was that made her commit suicide must have been so major that is superseded even that. I don’t know anything that could possibly supersede that, but I think it’s unfair to judge her when I am not in her shoes. So, I didn’t cry, and I didn’t cry at her funeral either but I have this real angriness towards the situation that I need to discuss with someone in the family someday.
And then we also saw some family today. Family is so damn important! The connections you can see, the similarities, the laid back vibes, I need to get more into it.
Oh, and I am now on chess.com if you want to give me a game (you’ll probably win) my name is mikieboi.
Living in London for a few more weeks has really brought home to me that I can’t wait to graduate.
P and L.
Anywizzle, a life update is surely in order. I am working very hard at Itchy, I have a barrel load of articles online, and everyone seems really friendly and nice to hang out with. Except this is the problem, I still don’t quite see it as a job yet, I get frustrated because the only person I really talk to is the other intern. It’s not like Uni or indeed my general approach to life where I see it fit to talk to just about anyone and everyone. It is funny reading my last blog, my fears evaporated after the first day or two.
The highlights of Itchy have definitely been: the positive responses to my feature ideas, and the gin mixing competition. I didn’t compete (despite my mix-masta-mike nickname) but I watched and interviewed the winner. It was really good fun, and obviously fantastic experience. Oh and the other highlight is definitely the food, there is a market not far from the office that sells all sorts of things. I’ve had Dim Sum, Curried Goat, Jerk Chicken, Vege Chinese... very very tasty!
The negatives are the travelling. God I hate the London Underground sometimes, having someone’s body part in my face, while being squished into the other side is just not pleasant. I genuinely cannot stand it, plus I have to wake up early which I hateee so uh, that part of work is not cool. Oh and also, I write so much (say about 3000 words a day) that my fingers hurt at the end of the day. Which is why I haven’t blogged at all, or finished any of the stories that I wanted to.
I guess the other negative as well is that while I love Journalism, I don’t know how I am going to make a career from it. What I really want to do is travel the world a bit, and teach English in Japan and China and all those amazing countries, so how Journalism is going to fit into all of this... I don’t know. I might have to be a struggling feature writing freelancer :P
Away from food briefly. Today was very frustrating, it was the fourth anniversary of my friends mum committing suicide. It is obviously very sad at these events, she was a lovely woman, but when we’re asked for a moment of silence to reflect I just get angry at her for being selfish like that. And then I have another part of me that defends her, and thinks that she obviously loved her kids, whatever it was that made her commit suicide must have been so major that is superseded even that. I don’t know anything that could possibly supersede that, but I think it’s unfair to judge her when I am not in her shoes. So, I didn’t cry, and I didn’t cry at her funeral either but I have this real angriness towards the situation that I need to discuss with someone in the family someday.
And then we also saw some family today. Family is so damn important! The connections you can see, the similarities, the laid back vibes, I need to get more into it.
Oh, and I am now on chess.com if you want to give me a game (you’ll probably win) my name is mikieboi.
Living in London for a few more weeks has really brought home to me that I can’t wait to graduate.
P and L.
Sunday, 4 January 2009
Nervousness kicking in
Woah so I feel nervous right now.
I start work tomorrow. TOMORROW. Full time 10-6 proper work, haha. I will be working in the field that I have been studying in for the last year and a half, and in what I’ve been practising for the last three or four years or so. And I guess it will decide if I want to be a journalist (I’m pretty sure I do), and what kind of journalist I want to be. Obviously, that will all happen over the next six weeks, not just tomorrow, but it is still a pretty scary thing to jumping into.
I don’t feel prepared, although I never do. We also have all this additional work we have to be doing (3000 word case study, yum!) which sounds boring. I just wonder how much blissful free time I will have over the next few weeks. My body has been in such immense relaxation mode – got to love Christmas – that it will be strange going back into the swing of things. I know I will get used to it though, I am just anticipating tomorrow to be an awkward day. Hopefully they won’t expect too much of me. I’m going to invest in some pro-pluses if I can any on the way too. What is with these afternoon naps?!
Luckily I have a sushi dinner set up as a reward once it’s over with! Boo ya!
I had an idea for another short story today, so I am going to try that out today so how it goes.
Hope everyone in cyber space is well.
Mkb.
I start work tomorrow. TOMORROW. Full time 10-6 proper work, haha. I will be working in the field that I have been studying in for the last year and a half, and in what I’ve been practising for the last three or four years or so. And I guess it will decide if I want to be a journalist (I’m pretty sure I do), and what kind of journalist I want to be. Obviously, that will all happen over the next six weeks, not just tomorrow, but it is still a pretty scary thing to jumping into.
I don’t feel prepared, although I never do. We also have all this additional work we have to be doing (3000 word case study, yum!) which sounds boring. I just wonder how much blissful free time I will have over the next few weeks. My body has been in such immense relaxation mode – got to love Christmas – that it will be strange going back into the swing of things. I know I will get used to it though, I am just anticipating tomorrow to be an awkward day. Hopefully they won’t expect too much of me. I’m going to invest in some pro-pluses if I can any on the way too. What is with these afternoon naps?!
Luckily I have a sushi dinner set up as a reward once it’s over with! Boo ya!
I had an idea for another short story today, so I am going to try that out today so how it goes.
Hope everyone in cyber space is well.
Mkb.
Saturday, 3 January 2009
What a cool day!
Today turned out to be great! Not that I was expecting it be awful but I just thought it would be brief, if you will.
Me and Jojo went to Yes-Man, which is a wicked movie. The plot is generally pretty stupid, but it almost doesn't matter. The movie's success is based on its one liners, and visual comedy, not the complex twists and turns. The main downer of the movie was that I needed to pee midway through, and a water pipe had burst down the road, so I couldn't wash my hands after I'd peed haha. They gave us some weird antibacterial handwash stuff, I still felt kinda dirty haha.
After that we walked around Hendon for aaaages, and ended up at Nandos - gotta love the chicken there. My walk home was pretty much a nightmare, they closed off the exits to the tube station I was coming out of, so I was walking around Brent Cross semi-lost. I pretty much guessed where to go, had to jump over loads of fences and stuff, crossing motorways on route. THANKFULLY I found a bus stop, and got home safe.
The one hilarious part of the trip home was this random girl who started talking to me, telling me how she loved my laces and my 'old skool style' haha! Although I do sometimes complain when members of the public decide to randomly talk to me (it does happen a lot) in this instance I was quiet flattered. I might have to further my old school fashion too, it would suit the up-and-coming mohawk cut.
I wrote a lot of my short story today, so far its 460 words long but I am aiming for at least 1000/2000 words. I will put it up here when it is finished, as this is essentially what I want this website/blog to become.
Mkb.
Me and Jojo went to Yes-Man, which is a wicked movie. The plot is generally pretty stupid, but it almost doesn't matter. The movie's success is based on its one liners, and visual comedy, not the complex twists and turns. The main downer of the movie was that I needed to pee midway through, and a water pipe had burst down the road, so I couldn't wash my hands after I'd peed haha. They gave us some weird antibacterial handwash stuff, I still felt kinda dirty haha.
After that we walked around Hendon for aaaages, and ended up at Nandos - gotta love the chicken there. My walk home was pretty much a nightmare, they closed off the exits to the tube station I was coming out of, so I was walking around Brent Cross semi-lost. I pretty much guessed where to go, had to jump over loads of fences and stuff, crossing motorways on route. THANKFULLY I found a bus stop, and got home safe.
The one hilarious part of the trip home was this random girl who started talking to me, telling me how she loved my laces and my 'old skool style' haha! Although I do sometimes complain when members of the public decide to randomly talk to me (it does happen a lot) in this instance I was quiet flattered. I might have to further my old school fashion too, it would suit the up-and-coming mohawk cut.
I wrote a lot of my short story today, so far its 460 words long but I am aiming for at least 1000/2000 words. I will put it up here when it is finished, as this is essentially what I want this website/blog to become.
Mkb.
Friday, 2 January 2009
My first blog entry...
Woah woah, what could this be? Time for my first official blog? I think so!
I think I will start with talking about last night. Which was of course, new years eve.
It started off on the tube. The tube was buzzing, a lot of people had prepared a little better than myself and were clearly already hammered – I’d only had some amaretto sours. The best bit, aside from the drunken ramblings was the reactions I got to my upcoming night out.
Random stranger: “Hey dude where you going tonight?”
Me: “Uhhh, I’m starting off at Angel bar, then going to a Chinese club night and then off to China town.”
... Awkward silence...
Random Stranger: “Oh, right, cool I guess”.
So off to Angel bar I went, in Angel – which is in Islington, North London, for any non UK readers – and it was typically busy. I arrived characteristically early, I don’t know if it is a personality fault, or if I am just blessed (uh!) but I always seem to arrive before everybody else, even when I think I’m late. It is usually pretty frustrating, but in this instance it meant I could start the drinking early, and warmed up with some Pimms (I was feeling posh) and a San Miguel. It was a strange place to be drinking, as I will be working nearby shortly, and it might become my temporary local pub. So I was sort of scoping it out, no Asahi beer unfortunately but I think I’ll survive.
Anyway, about half an hour after I arrived my friends pitched up, and the fun kicked off. Drinks were going down peoples necks all around me, and it started to feel like new years finally. I broke the seal depressingly early, so was in and out the gentleman’s every five minutes, which is always fun. There is something about new years and these fun events when everyone puts their guard down for a second and has a laugh. I wouldn’t usually have banter with a stranger while at the urinal, but on new years, anything is possible!
The club, wow. Almost the first thing to happen once we’d walked in was moving out the way of one guy chasing after another, drunkenly laying punches into the back of his head. He of course missed, and I got a punch in the shoulder for my troubles. I genuinely don’t understand dickheads like that, it is new years, and you’re in a nightclub – WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING?
Aside from that was great, until half one. The club was advertised to finish at five, but all of a sudden the police came in, the music was turned off, and we were told to leave. There were problems with the amount of people in the club, and it had to called off immediately. As you can imagine, everyone went nuts. And I don’t mean, “oh what a shame”, I’m talking “what the f*ck!!!!”. What followed was an almighty rush for the cloakroom, at which point I became a sardine. It was horrible, everyone was pushing from all sides trying to get past, there was just anger on everyone’s faces, but what’s more, it wasn’t helping. The cloakroom people were so slow because the cloakroom was a KITCHEN, and they had put everything away with no system, so it was almost pot luck if they came across your stuff. So myself and Mark were in there for what seemed like an eternity waiting to get our stuff back, and being pushed into people from all sides. Imagine 400+ people trying to get into a room two metres square, not fun.
Outside we sang songs (Hey There Delilah) to cheer ourselves up. From that point on the night got better, we went to China Town, had some wicked food and bubble tea and laughed about what happened. What was cool about the evening was that, although fate clearly didn’t want us to have a fantastic evening, the fact that the company was so entertaining, and created such a cool vibe, it ended up being a quality night. Mid-way through our meal, my friend got a call on her phone to say one of her friends had been beaten up, taken to the police station, and put on probation. Now that, is a crap way to spend new year, and it made me appreciate my new year.
Anyway, I eventually got back at half five. And guess what? I forgot my keys! But luckily my brother was still awake (he has his uses sometimes) and was able to let me in. I had a cup of peppermint tea, my new addiction, and slunk off to bed. All in all, it was a great night. Definitely memorable.
Last my new year was awful, the clock struck twelve while I was waiting outside Burger King, so this year was definitely an improvement. I should be in Vietnam for the next new year, that will be amazing (I hope).
Anyway, that is my first blog. Hope my next one is a little more interesting.
Mkb.
I think I will start with talking about last night. Which was of course, new years eve.
It started off on the tube. The tube was buzzing, a lot of people had prepared a little better than myself and were clearly already hammered – I’d only had some amaretto sours. The best bit, aside from the drunken ramblings was the reactions I got to my upcoming night out.
Random stranger: “Hey dude where you going tonight?”
Me: “Uhhh, I’m starting off at Angel bar, then going to a Chinese club night and then off to China town.”
... Awkward silence...
Random Stranger: “Oh, right, cool I guess”.
So off to Angel bar I went, in Angel – which is in Islington, North London, for any non UK readers – and it was typically busy. I arrived characteristically early, I don’t know if it is a personality fault, or if I am just blessed (uh!) but I always seem to arrive before everybody else, even when I think I’m late. It is usually pretty frustrating, but in this instance it meant I could start the drinking early, and warmed up with some Pimms (I was feeling posh) and a San Miguel. It was a strange place to be drinking, as I will be working nearby shortly, and it might become my temporary local pub. So I was sort of scoping it out, no Asahi beer unfortunately but I think I’ll survive.
Anyway, about half an hour after I arrived my friends pitched up, and the fun kicked off. Drinks were going down peoples necks all around me, and it started to feel like new years finally. I broke the seal depressingly early, so was in and out the gentleman’s every five minutes, which is always fun. There is something about new years and these fun events when everyone puts their guard down for a second and has a laugh. I wouldn’t usually have banter with a stranger while at the urinal, but on new years, anything is possible!
The club, wow. Almost the first thing to happen once we’d walked in was moving out the way of one guy chasing after another, drunkenly laying punches into the back of his head. He of course missed, and I got a punch in the shoulder for my troubles. I genuinely don’t understand dickheads like that, it is new years, and you’re in a nightclub – WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING?
Aside from that was great, until half one. The club was advertised to finish at five, but all of a sudden the police came in, the music was turned off, and we were told to leave. There were problems with the amount of people in the club, and it had to called off immediately. As you can imagine, everyone went nuts. And I don’t mean, “oh what a shame”, I’m talking “what the f*ck!!!!”. What followed was an almighty rush for the cloakroom, at which point I became a sardine. It was horrible, everyone was pushing from all sides trying to get past, there was just anger on everyone’s faces, but what’s more, it wasn’t helping. The cloakroom people were so slow because the cloakroom was a KITCHEN, and they had put everything away with no system, so it was almost pot luck if they came across your stuff. So myself and Mark were in there for what seemed like an eternity waiting to get our stuff back, and being pushed into people from all sides. Imagine 400+ people trying to get into a room two metres square, not fun.
Outside we sang songs (Hey There Delilah) to cheer ourselves up. From that point on the night got better, we went to China Town, had some wicked food and bubble tea and laughed about what happened. What was cool about the evening was that, although fate clearly didn’t want us to have a fantastic evening, the fact that the company was so entertaining, and created such a cool vibe, it ended up being a quality night. Mid-way through our meal, my friend got a call on her phone to say one of her friends had been beaten up, taken to the police station, and put on probation. Now that, is a crap way to spend new year, and it made me appreciate my new year.
Anyway, I eventually got back at half five. And guess what? I forgot my keys! But luckily my brother was still awake (he has his uses sometimes) and was able to let me in. I had a cup of peppermint tea, my new addiction, and slunk off to bed. All in all, it was a great night. Definitely memorable.
Last my new year was awful, the clock struck twelve while I was waiting outside Burger King, so this year was definitely an improvement. I should be in Vietnam for the next new year, that will be amazing (I hope).
Anyway, that is my first blog. Hope my next one is a little more interesting.
Mkb.
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