"Is it a claims query?"
"Er, no, it's just an update on some treatment I'm having for a claim."
??????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's *not* a claims query? Well what is exactly then you moron?!
Jeez. This job'd be fine if it weren't for the customers.
23 February 2007
21 February 2007
Just not a shouter
I occasionally get people on the phone at work who can't make out what I'm saying. I don't consider myself especially softly spoken, on the phone I speak clearly and fairly loudly, more loudly than in person certainly.
Now, when someone communicates to me that they can't hear me, I speak up. Naturally. Often it's down to the caller being hard of hearing, often they are elderly (this is medical insurance, afterall). I try to be polite and friendly, but I hate raising my voice, it sometimes feels like I'm downright shouting down the phone and it's bloomin' hard to retain a polite tone when speaking *that* loudly!
Just now I had a woman who said I was very quiet. I raised my voice and said "Is that better?", and she actually said "Yes, but I still didn't hear what you said"!!!!!!!!! OK, give me a chance to repeat my question, I was damn well checking that she could hear me this time! Stupid cow.
So I changed my wording (sometimes people don't understand the meaning of "How may I direct your call?") and shouted "Which department can I transfer you to?" and she obviously wanted the helpdesk, they usually do. She sounded put out, but what did she expect when she's being a difficult person despite me trying to be helpful?!
While writing this, I've had another call from a woman complaining about being on hold. She went off on one about the message that plays saying about "one of our agents will be with you shortly" she said it sounded like the staff don't actually work for the company and we should change the wording and I should report it and she couldn't hold the line any longer! Honestly, it's only a word. If they used "administrator" people might think they're on the wrong line, they might think "administrators" can't help with their claim or something. "Advisor" might do the job, but technically I don't think we're able to give advice, that was certainly the case at the last insurance company I worked for.
This job'd be fine if it weren't for the old cronies.
Now, when someone communicates to me that they can't hear me, I speak up. Naturally. Often it's down to the caller being hard of hearing, often they are elderly (this is medical insurance, afterall). I try to be polite and friendly, but I hate raising my voice, it sometimes feels like I'm downright shouting down the phone and it's bloomin' hard to retain a polite tone when speaking *that* loudly!
Just now I had a woman who said I was very quiet. I raised my voice and said "Is that better?", and she actually said "Yes, but I still didn't hear what you said"!!!!!!!!! OK, give me a chance to repeat my question, I was damn well checking that she could hear me this time! Stupid cow.
So I changed my wording (sometimes people don't understand the meaning of "How may I direct your call?") and shouted "Which department can I transfer you to?" and she obviously wanted the helpdesk, they usually do. She sounded put out, but what did she expect when she's being a difficult person despite me trying to be helpful?!
While writing this, I've had another call from a woman complaining about being on hold. She went off on one about the message that plays saying about "one of our agents will be with you shortly" she said it sounded like the staff don't actually work for the company and we should change the wording and I should report it and she couldn't hold the line any longer! Honestly, it's only a word. If they used "administrator" people might think they're on the wrong line, they might think "administrators" can't help with their claim or something. "Advisor" might do the job, but technically I don't think we're able to give advice, that was certainly the case at the last insurance company I worked for.
This job'd be fine if it weren't for the old cronies.
20 February 2007
Working too hard
I was lucky enough to be enjoying my temp job. It was simple, nice people and plenty of time to faff online and do coursework too.
Last Friday they offered to take me on on a three month contract. I was really pleased, I still am. It's, I think, just right for me for now and three months is a short enough term so that I can reassess things at the end of it.
I've been working very hard, I had a TMA last week and tutorial to read for and this week so far I've been reading and note taking at work and stayed late last night to get more done before heading to Andy and mine's Monday night roleplaying group.
It was a good game too, Andy's running Midnight and we ran quite late. So it was a late night after a long day of hard work. Then I didn't sleep. I chalk it up to adrenaline from the game, my head was spinning with ideas and plans for my character and I just kept waking up, if I really slept at all. Chester wanted letting out at 5.10 so I got up to do that and got a bit more sleep. I woke utterly exhausted.
Can I do this?
Last Friday they offered to take me on on a three month contract. I was really pleased, I still am. It's, I think, just right for me for now and three months is a short enough term so that I can reassess things at the end of it.
I've been working very hard, I had a TMA last week and tutorial to read for and this week so far I've been reading and note taking at work and stayed late last night to get more done before heading to Andy and mine's Monday night roleplaying group.
It was a good game too, Andy's running Midnight and we ran quite late. So it was a late night after a long day of hard work. Then I didn't sleep. I chalk it up to adrenaline from the game, my head was spinning with ideas and plans for my character and I just kept waking up, if I really slept at all. Chester wanted letting out at 5.10 so I got up to do that and got a bit more sleep. I woke utterly exhausted.
Can I do this?
14 February 2007
Life Gets In The Way
I'm not that crazy about Valentines Day, I think it's nice to take a moment (or a day) to appreciate a loved one but largely it's a commercial mess with very little hold on me. Maybe because I'm married, maybe it's a bigger deal for single people or those in the early days of a relationship.
But I still hope for the day to be a moderately happy one.
I'm temping at the moment, full time hours with about an hour and a quarter commute each way, allowing for traffic. So I am out of the house from 7.45am until 6.15pm. I'm also studying full time, I take course books to work with me and study at lunch time and sometimes at my desk between calls (I operate a switchboard on this assignment). I had my first essay of the year due in this week so all my time at home has been spent doing that for the last week.
So, I'm tired, grumpy and feeling generally pretty down. I wish I didn't have to work, I wish I could just be studying. I spend all day at work chatting to other OU students online and thinking about the work I *could* be doing. As an OU student, I don't qualify for a student loan, so have little choice but to work at least part time.
This morning I felt a pang of annoyance and disappointment when I expressed my exhaustion to Andy and he responded with an "oh" about me having to stop working full time once this assignment is over. We both knew this year would be hard and when I took this 6 week assignment I prepared him for the possibility of burn out. We discussed me getting a part time job afterwards, cafe work or something and all seemed fine. Andy says he agrees that my degree has to come first, so I am disappointed that he wasn't immediately supportive.
Tonight we had plans to have a nice meal and watch a soppy film. I hope I can shake off this feeling so we can still have a nice Valentine's evening together.
But I still hope for the day to be a moderately happy one.
I'm temping at the moment, full time hours with about an hour and a quarter commute each way, allowing for traffic. So I am out of the house from 7.45am until 6.15pm. I'm also studying full time, I take course books to work with me and study at lunch time and sometimes at my desk between calls (I operate a switchboard on this assignment). I had my first essay of the year due in this week so all my time at home has been spent doing that for the last week.
So, I'm tired, grumpy and feeling generally pretty down. I wish I didn't have to work, I wish I could just be studying. I spend all day at work chatting to other OU students online and thinking about the work I *could* be doing. As an OU student, I don't qualify for a student loan, so have little choice but to work at least part time.
This morning I felt a pang of annoyance and disappointment when I expressed my exhaustion to Andy and he responded with an "oh" about me having to stop working full time once this assignment is over. We both knew this year would be hard and when I took this 6 week assignment I prepared him for the possibility of burn out. We discussed me getting a part time job afterwards, cafe work or something and all seemed fine. Andy says he agrees that my degree has to come first, so I am disappointed that he wasn't immediately supportive.
Tonight we had plans to have a nice meal and watch a soppy film. I hope I can shake off this feeling so we can still have a nice Valentine's evening together.
09 February 2007
Finally
So there's now been a report to say categorically, once and for all, that *WE* cause global warming. Now, the sensible people all already knew this, but hopefully it will shut up those idiots who refused to believe it, all those "it's perfectly natural for the earth to cycle through warm periods" wankers.
Stick your "natural" argument! Maybe even Exxon Mobil will change their tune. Apparently they've actually been attempting to bribe scientists to refute the evidence lately! Wankers!
Sorry, bit wound up about it. But why should I apologise for giving a damn? Some people do seem to think I should, some people seem to think that passion is a bad thing. But where would we be without passion? Would there be anyone investigating climate change at all? Would we all just sit back and let it happen without those of us who are willing to stand up and say "NO! This has to change!"?
Stick your "natural" argument! Maybe even Exxon Mobil will change their tune. Apparently they've actually been attempting to bribe scientists to refute the evidence lately! Wankers!
Sorry, bit wound up about it. But why should I apologise for giving a damn? Some people do seem to think I should, some people seem to think that passion is a bad thing. But where would we be without passion? Would there be anyone investigating climate change at all? Would we all just sit back and let it happen without those of us who are willing to stand up and say "NO! This has to change!"?
26 January 2007
Japanese attempt to sabotage ban on whaling
Japan are planning to kill nearly 1000 whales this year. They are hosting a meeting in February and inviting various governments to make it appear that there is world-wide support for a lift on the whaling ban.
Denmark hold a swing vote on the issue. Under pressure they are likely to not attend the meeting in Tokyo. Write asking their officials not to attend here
23 January 2007
03 January 2007
More on Iraq
OK, so some bright infiltrator has put camera-phone footage of the execution on the internet and it has created quite a stir. Also, Prime Minister Maliki has said he wants to step down. AND, the Baath party have posted Saddam's former deputy to lead the party.
What did I say? Eh? Civil war draws ever closer and we're caught in the middle. Well, I don't want to say it, it isn't entirely accurate, but there is a case for suggesting that it is actually our fault. Say what you like about Saddam's regime, the country was a heck of a lot more stable then. I suppose with all the infighting they're less likely to be amassing an arsenal with which to attack us... but come on, we all know how unlikely that was. Many of us were saying so before Tony took our troops marching in illegally.
On a slightly lighter note, I started my new job yesterday, training is easy. Blah.
30 December 2006
"End of a dark chapter"
Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki has said that the execution of Saddam Hussein "ends a dark chapter" in Iraq's history. Such a mind-numbingly, ignorant and down right false statement at such a time strikes me as further evidence of a puppet regime that has been erected by the US in Iraq.
People are still dying every day in Iraq as the country plummets ever more rapidly towards civil war. Shia and Sunni rivalry continues to build, areas of Baghdad, Basra and other major cities are growing into forts controlled by militarized civilians. Police forces go rogue, occupying forces are faced with daily attacks against them. It's a mess.
What did "we" really get with the execution of the former-dictator? What does it really mean? I'm inclined to think that a martyr for the Sunni minority has been created. The BBC quotes a "Security Advisor" saying that Saddam looked remorseless as he was led out to be executed. Is that really a surprise? Should we expect to see remorse from a man who all along undoubtedly believed he was doing the right thing?
One thing is for certain, this is in no way the end of trouble.
People are still dying every day in Iraq as the country plummets ever more rapidly towards civil war. Shia and Sunni rivalry continues to build, areas of Baghdad, Basra and other major cities are growing into forts controlled by militarized civilians. Police forces go rogue, occupying forces are faced with daily attacks against them. It's a mess.
What did "we" really get with the execution of the former-dictator? What does it really mean? I'm inclined to think that a martyr for the Sunni minority has been created. The BBC quotes a "Security Advisor" saying that Saddam looked remorseless as he was led out to be executed. Is that really a surprise? Should we expect to see remorse from a man who all along undoubtedly believed he was doing the right thing?
One thing is for certain, this is in no way the end of trouble.
21 December 2006
Aaaaand.... rest.
So I have go quite a bit to say actually. I have just got back from a 10 day stint up in Yorkshire visiting my family pre-Christmas, as this year it's Andy's family's turn for Xmas proper.
Andy and I went up together on Friday 8th, the drive was alright. Saturday was particularly exciting as we met up with a dear old friend of mine who moved to the States six years ago who I haven't seen since but stayed in touch with via email. It was amazing to catch up and meet her baby girl!
Then on Sunday we had our annual Christmas walk at Howstein Gorge. We've been going there for like forty years or something, it's a multi-generational family get-together started by my grandparents at which we all gather to walk up a very steep hill and down again for a Christmas meal. When it first started they used to do a twenty mile trek across the moors, when I started going we did a couple of miles up the hill across fields and over stiles and all that, now it has degenerated into a half mile walk up the road! But the spirit remains and it's something I've always looked forward to all my life.
Except that over the last few years it has become something I do out of obligation I suppose, I don't really enjoy it as I am much more aware now of the stupid family politics and there is one particular family member who I have disliked for a good few years who I am happy to avoid. It irks that Andy gets on better with this side of my family than I do too.
Andy drove home on Monday and I stayed to catch up with friends, do some shopping and spend some time with my parents, who I don't see often these days. It was all good, especially spending the day shopping in Leeds with my girl Sarah! I got an all too short visit with my other best mate, Simon, hopefully we'll get a longer visit soon.
Then on Thursday I checked stuff online (email and the like) and found I had got my OU result for this year.... I'm pretty pleased, make that ecstatic! I was just waiting for the result of my 5000 word assignment, worth 50% of the total mark, with 82% for my coursework in the bag. Well I got 77% on the 5000 word-er! So I passed with flying colours! Yay me :D
Then the last weekend was dedicated to a trip up to Scotland to visit my eight year old niece, Maisie. I hadn't seen her since May and before that it had been a year and a half. She's such an amazing little girl, she blows my mind with how generous, intelligent and caring she is. And I discovered - much to Andy's joy - that I'm a pretty good cricket player when playing my mum, brother and Maisie! Seriously, I got a bigger reaction to this news than my OU result!
Monday I came home on the train. By a freak of good timing I was travelling first class for dirt cheap, which was nice. Free orange juice and biscuits, more room etc. But no luggage space so my extra room was taken up by my bags of Xmas presents!
It's good to be home and chilling out for a bit before heading over to Essex on Sunday for Xmas with the in-laws :-/
All my OU course materials for next year have arrived, some of which arrived before I went away and I got a start on that course already. Reading through some of the notes for the assessment of my European Politics course has got me pretty nervous. It certainly looks demanding with a 5000 word assignment in August followed by a project in September. That's alongside the 4000 word assignment and exam for the other course! I am going to be a busy bee.
I also have a full time job lined up from Jan 2nd so I am refusing to start OU work until after Xmas now, getting a serious pit stop in before I have to crack on. Besides, I need my set books before I can go any further and I'm expecting to unwrap them on Xmas day ;-p
The 5000 word essay for European Politics requires lots of independent study, outside the course materials that they send you, so I plan to be hitting the library after work every day for most of June-August.
I made a pact with Sarah about next year. We shook on it, so I have to go through with it now... 2007 will be the year I change my life. I don't make New Year's Resolutions, I never stick to them. This is different, this is an inner revolution.
First and foremost I am going to keep up the hard work with the OU. Two firsts in a row, on a roll.
Second, and very importantly, I am going to keep my job. Seriously, I have walked out of so many awful jobs before, I know this one is going to be awful in advance, but it is decent money, decent hours and easy. So I am going to stick at it while I concentrate on getting good marks so that we don't have to worry about money, I do not need that distraction.
Thirdly, I am going to sort our house out! We have so much crap around this place, I am going to flog and bin our junk, sort out a decent filing system for paperwork (bills etc.), get some more storage so we can finish unpacking - oh yes, for those who haven't seen our office, we still have crates and boxes that haven't been touched after living here for well over four years! We have actually acquired more stuff to unpack as we have gradually brought old crap from our parents' houses over the years despite having nowhere to put any of it. I am going to finish decorating the house, make sure we get the kitchen we ordered and sort the living room out with a new suite and hopefully a shiny LCD HD-readyTV if all goes well financially - which it will, see number 2.
Fourthly, I am going to shift the weight I have been lugging around for years. I did actually manage to lose it once, last year as some of you will remember, I looked fantastic for a couple of months in the summer of 2005 after losing a stone and a half between January and June. Then in September I started working at RSA (eeeeeeeeeevil) and put two thirds of it back on in the space of two months. Argh! Well, it's going again, and a little more as I didn't quite meet my target last time. My new job has a subsidised gym, so no excuses!
Finally, Andy and I are going to start dancing lessons. Somehow I will fit this in! We've both been quite inspired by Strictly Come Dancing (hey, at least I don't watch X Factor!) and I can see it being great for us to do something like this together. We get to learn a new skill, spend time together and get exercise all in one go :-)
Now then, I know it seems like I'm taking a lot on. But the thing about me is that I do tend to do better under pressure and as a teenager I was exceptionally busy, I had something on every weeknight and Saturdays, Sundays too during panto season! If I set myself these goals and make a commitment to myself (not to mention the all important hand shake) I will achieve everything I set out to do. As long as I timetable things properly it will all be doable.
So, if you don't see much of me next year, you know in advance why!
Andy and I went up together on Friday 8th, the drive was alright. Saturday was particularly exciting as we met up with a dear old friend of mine who moved to the States six years ago who I haven't seen since but stayed in touch with via email. It was amazing to catch up and meet her baby girl!
Then on Sunday we had our annual Christmas walk at Howstein Gorge. We've been going there for like forty years or something, it's a multi-generational family get-together started by my grandparents at which we all gather to walk up a very steep hill and down again for a Christmas meal. When it first started they used to do a twenty mile trek across the moors, when I started going we did a couple of miles up the hill across fields and over stiles and all that, now it has degenerated into a half mile walk up the road! But the spirit remains and it's something I've always looked forward to all my life.
Except that over the last few years it has become something I do out of obligation I suppose, I don't really enjoy it as I am much more aware now of the stupid family politics and there is one particular family member who I have disliked for a good few years who I am happy to avoid. It irks that Andy gets on better with this side of my family than I do too.
Andy drove home on Monday and I stayed to catch up with friends, do some shopping and spend some time with my parents, who I don't see often these days. It was all good, especially spending the day shopping in Leeds with my girl Sarah! I got an all too short visit with my other best mate, Simon, hopefully we'll get a longer visit soon.
Then on Thursday I checked stuff online (email and the like) and found I had got my OU result for this year.... I'm pretty pleased, make that ecstatic! I was just waiting for the result of my 5000 word assignment, worth 50% of the total mark, with 82% for my coursework in the bag. Well I got 77% on the 5000 word-er! So I passed with flying colours! Yay me :D
Then the last weekend was dedicated to a trip up to Scotland to visit my eight year old niece, Maisie. I hadn't seen her since May and before that it had been a year and a half. She's such an amazing little girl, she blows my mind with how generous, intelligent and caring she is. And I discovered - much to Andy's joy - that I'm a pretty good cricket player when playing my mum, brother and Maisie! Seriously, I got a bigger reaction to this news than my OU result!
Monday I came home on the train. By a freak of good timing I was travelling first class for dirt cheap, which was nice. Free orange juice and biscuits, more room etc. But no luggage space so my extra room was taken up by my bags of Xmas presents!
It's good to be home and chilling out for a bit before heading over to Essex on Sunday for Xmas with the in-laws :-/
All my OU course materials for next year have arrived, some of which arrived before I went away and I got a start on that course already. Reading through some of the notes for the assessment of my European Politics course has got me pretty nervous. It certainly looks demanding with a 5000 word assignment in August followed by a project in September. That's alongside the 4000 word assignment and exam for the other course! I am going to be a busy bee.
I also have a full time job lined up from Jan 2nd so I am refusing to start OU work until after Xmas now, getting a serious pit stop in before I have to crack on. Besides, I need my set books before I can go any further and I'm expecting to unwrap them on Xmas day ;-p
The 5000 word essay for European Politics requires lots of independent study, outside the course materials that they send you, so I plan to be hitting the library after work every day for most of June-August.
I made a pact with Sarah about next year. We shook on it, so I have to go through with it now... 2007 will be the year I change my life. I don't make New Year's Resolutions, I never stick to them. This is different, this is an inner revolution.
First and foremost I am going to keep up the hard work with the OU. Two firsts in a row, on a roll.
Second, and very importantly, I am going to keep my job. Seriously, I have walked out of so many awful jobs before, I know this one is going to be awful in advance, but it is decent money, decent hours and easy. So I am going to stick at it while I concentrate on getting good marks so that we don't have to worry about money, I do not need that distraction.
Thirdly, I am going to sort our house out! We have so much crap around this place, I am going to flog and bin our junk, sort out a decent filing system for paperwork (bills etc.), get some more storage so we can finish unpacking - oh yes, for those who haven't seen our office, we still have crates and boxes that haven't been touched after living here for well over four years! We have actually acquired more stuff to unpack as we have gradually brought old crap from our parents' houses over the years despite having nowhere to put any of it. I am going to finish decorating the house, make sure we get the kitchen we ordered and sort the living room out with a new suite and hopefully a shiny LCD HD-readyTV if all goes well financially - which it will, see number 2.
Fourthly, I am going to shift the weight I have been lugging around for years. I did actually manage to lose it once, last year as some of you will remember, I looked fantastic for a couple of months in the summer of 2005 after losing a stone and a half between January and June. Then in September I started working at RSA (eeeeeeeeeevil) and put two thirds of it back on in the space of two months. Argh! Well, it's going again, and a little more as I didn't quite meet my target last time. My new job has a subsidised gym, so no excuses!
Finally, Andy and I are going to start dancing lessons. Somehow I will fit this in! We've both been quite inspired by Strictly Come Dancing (hey, at least I don't watch X Factor!) and I can see it being great for us to do something like this together. We get to learn a new skill, spend time together and get exercise all in one go :-)
Now then, I know it seems like I'm taking a lot on. But the thing about me is that I do tend to do better under pressure and as a teenager I was exceptionally busy, I had something on every weeknight and Saturdays, Sundays too during panto season! If I set myself these goals and make a commitment to myself (not to mention the all important hand shake) I will achieve everything I set out to do. As long as I timetable things properly it will all be doable.
So, if you don't see much of me next year, you know in advance why!
20 December 2006
ID Cards - The Latest
OK, so now the government has admitted that the new database to store all this personal data was an expensive and insecure idea. Now they want to spread the data over three existing systems, making it even less secure and still a painfully disturbing scheme in terms of civil liberties. They want to "check everyone in and check everyone out" of the country and are still claiming that this will somehow prevent terrorism, although refraining from saying how. John Reid even admitted that ID cards will not prevent people having fake identities.
Argh!
Read the full story here and sign the No2ID petition here.
Argh!
Read the full story here and sign the No2ID petition here.
07 December 2006
OU
Another OU year is over so I decided to blog about my progress so far with my degree. I understand that there's probably quite a few friends of mine who don't really know what it is I'm doing with my life, either because I haven't taken the time to enthuse about my education, or because we're not in close touch these days so they may have lost track of what I'm up to.
So, I started studying with the Open University after I left Aberystwyth, in November 2002. Initially I just wanted to keep studying, keep my brain from going idle. So I got a prospectus for 2003, as the Open University year runs from February to October, leaving the winter free for the majority of OU students who are mature and with families etc, the timing couldn't have been better. I picked a course that looked interesting, it was A211: Philosophy and the Human Situation. It was a 60 credit course (which I'll explain more about in a minute) starting in February 2003 and concerned six areas of contemporary philosophy; the acceptable limits of individual freedom; attitudes towards animals; environmental ethics; Darwinism and human nature; mind and matter; and philosophy of religion. It was a really interesting course that I did enjoy, but adjusting to OU study wasn't easy, I fell behind and found it difficult to catch up. I also did really badly in the exam and my overall result was what the OU call a "Grade 4 pass", basically a 3rd in traditional university marking schemes.
But I had got the bug and fallen in love with the subject, so I decided to get my degree (after having dropped out of my Drama, Film & TV Studies BA) the long way, part time.
So here's how the OU works. You can study courses of a certain number of credits, 10, 30 or 60. The most you can take in one year is 120 credits worth, this is the same as full time study at a bricks & mortar university. Those of you with degrees or currently studying will recognise this credit system as the same as traditional universities and will likely remember picking out modules of 30/60 credits to fill a year or semester.
Each course you take you can designate a qualification you want it to count towards and they offer a huge range of these, from diplomas (usually 120 credits), to open degrees (300 or 360 credits and with no subject, just a mesh of courses from all faculties), to named degrees like you would get from a bricks & mortar uni. I decided to go for a named degree, it will be BA (Hons.) Humanities with Religious Studies - because for some reason they lump loads of subjects together under Humanities and that's how they name their degrees. When I put it on my CV and tell people what my degree is in I will leave out the "Humanities" part! It will be 360 credits (that's what the Honours part is) and will be made up of 3 60 credit courses in Religious Studies, 2 60 credit courses in Philosophy and 1 60 credit compulsory course that I have to do to get the named degree.
The OU divide courses into three levels to denote difficulty and workload. I didn't bother with any level 1 courses as I had come directly from university education and none of the OU's level 1 courses interested me as they were all so vague. "Introduction to Humanities" was the obvious one and it covered everything from English Lit to History to Classical Studies. Yuck, too woolly for me. And to build a degree you don't need any level 1 courses, you need at least 120 credits each from levels 2 and 3. Are you still with me?!
So, in my second year (2004) I took A213: World Religions. As you might guess, this course consisted of the study of the six major world religions. It also looked at three core issues facing those religions; sacred space, making moral decisions and women in religion. Without boring anyone on the details these three issues made up the second half of the course, while the basics in beliefs, organisation, religious practice etc. was the first half. I did well in my assignments over the year, securing an average of 66%.... but failed my exam. Me and exams have never mixed well. So I failed the course, but was entitled to resit the exam.
Now, rather than having a second exam session in, say February or something, the OU make you wait a whole year and do the exam with the following year's students and they make you use up the number of credits of the course in question. So in my case, a 60 credit course, meant that I could do another 60 credits alongside my resit, but no more (max 120 a year, remember?) So for 2005 I applied for the resit and another course, AD317: Religion Today: Tradition, Modernity and Change, determined to stay on track for completing in 6 years.
Despite a very healthy 74 for my first assignment, I ran into trouble with this course quite early and ended up dropping it in May. I did nothing for a few months then in September began intensive revision for my resit exam. One month later I sat my exam and got really lucky with one question: I had happened to revise precisely the right thing the day before and the answer flowed very easily *smug grin*. But apart from that one answer I didn't feel too confident. Me and exams etc... Results time arrived in mid-December and I nearly had a heart attack on seeing that I had achieved 77% in the exam, was in the top 2% for my course nationwide and had got between 85-100% on that lucky question! That meant that I had secured a comfortable 1st for my second course, although the OU call it a "Grade 2 pass", a "grade 1" being over 85%.
So, into 2006 and I started again with the course I had dropped the previous year, AD317. This was a level 3 course, studying the intensive changes occurring in religion globally over the last century. It looked at the role of the internet; the role of religion on social transformations; the concept of a civil religion (Princess Diana, war memorials etc.); the patterns and differences in global and local belief and practice; and new religious movements such as Paganism.
Yeah, that last topic was tough. I thought I would love it and excel with my incredible knowledge of the subject. But no. I learned a few cold, hard truths about modern Paganism and had to seriously reassess my position on its history. But I feel better for it, difficult though it was, I feel empowered now that I'm not labouring under false impressions and have become more involved in the online community of Pagans because of it, making some interesting acquaintances. This course didn't have an exam, instead it had what the OU call an ECA - extended course assignment. It was a 5000 word essay concluding the course, the question I chose was about the role of religion in having an informed understanding of the modern world. Now I'm waiting for my results. I know I did really well in the normal assignments, my average mark being above 80%, I need 58% in the ECA to get a 1st for this year. I should be getting my result in a week or so and I'm pretty damn nervous about it.
Now then, the quick among you will have noticed that it has taken me 4 years to complete 3 courses. So in order to finish this thing in just 2 more years, I have registered for 120 credits next year. 2007 is going to be very, very hard. Both 60 credit courses are level 3, they are AA300: Europe: Culture and Identities in a Contested Continent and AA307: Religion in History: Conflict, Conversion and Coexistence.
The first is my compulsory course to get the named degree, it is essentially a European politics course, but I think it looks interesting. I had a choice of three courses for this compulsory bit and the other two looked appallingly dull, this one has some grit to it and will hopefully be relevant to my overall degree as it touches on religion in places, as well as concepts such as globalization, which I've studied already in this year's course.
The second is my final RS course and I can't wait to look at the conversion of Rome to Christianity and the Crusades, two time periods I have never studied before. It also covers the Reformation and Britain post WWII - which I also studied this year, secularization theory here I come again! (It's bull shit btw, the world ain't secularizing, not by a long shot. We like to think it is because Britain is, but look outside north-western Europe and religion is growing very rapidly and isn't detaching itself from the state.) The first batch of materials arrived last Friday and I got stuck in over the weekend, reading the introduction and getting started on the notes and exercises. There's nothing like an early start to thses things, especially when tackling two of the buggars in one year!
This will leave me with one more course to do in 2008, another philosophy course to finish what I started - what can I say? I like symmetry. AA308: Thought and Experience: Themes in Philosophy of the Mind. It covers emotion; thought and language; imagination and creativity; and consciousness. I can't wait for that one!
And as for life after the OU, well, my fellow students and I sometimes discuss this subject, for many studying with the OU becomes an obsession, they never leave but continue to study and learn, whether earning qualifications or not. It becomes such a big part of your life and I think OU students are sort of united in a way I've never found with bricks & mortar uni students. Many friends for life are made and the support we provide each other with gets to be a serious crutch! SOme of my friends on this course this year were finishing their degrees with it and towards the end of the year they turned very nostalgic. A few did actually say that even though they were finishing their degrees, they might just take a 10 credit course next year, just to keep it going a little longer. It's something about it taking 6 years, it's a big chunk of your life. It's hard to let go.
Others go into teaching or other career changes. Me? Well, this whole thing started just because I wanted a degree, any degree! Now I love my subject, I love it so much I am already looking at MAs and PhDs... not with the OU, but with bricks & mortar unis. I just want to keep on going. We'll see what happens, I'm also thinking about teaching for a few years before embarking on post grad study.
So guys, I will almost certainly need all your help and support next year if I'm going to succeed and get the high marks I have become accustomed to! Hopefully now, a few people will *get* what I'm up to and how hard I am actually working, despite being intermittently unemployed and constantly poor.
Love to all
xxx
So, I started studying with the Open University after I left Aberystwyth, in November 2002. Initially I just wanted to keep studying, keep my brain from going idle. So I got a prospectus for 2003, as the Open University year runs from February to October, leaving the winter free for the majority of OU students who are mature and with families etc, the timing couldn't have been better. I picked a course that looked interesting, it was A211: Philosophy and the Human Situation. It was a 60 credit course (which I'll explain more about in a minute) starting in February 2003 and concerned six areas of contemporary philosophy; the acceptable limits of individual freedom; attitudes towards animals; environmental ethics; Darwinism and human nature; mind and matter; and philosophy of religion. It was a really interesting course that I did enjoy, but adjusting to OU study wasn't easy, I fell behind and found it difficult to catch up. I also did really badly in the exam and my overall result was what the OU call a "Grade 4 pass", basically a 3rd in traditional university marking schemes.
But I had got the bug and fallen in love with the subject, so I decided to get my degree (after having dropped out of my Drama, Film & TV Studies BA) the long way, part time.
So here's how the OU works. You can study courses of a certain number of credits, 10, 30 or 60. The most you can take in one year is 120 credits worth, this is the same as full time study at a bricks & mortar university. Those of you with degrees or currently studying will recognise this credit system as the same as traditional universities and will likely remember picking out modules of 30/60 credits to fill a year or semester.
Each course you take you can designate a qualification you want it to count towards and they offer a huge range of these, from diplomas (usually 120 credits), to open degrees (300 or 360 credits and with no subject, just a mesh of courses from all faculties), to named degrees like you would get from a bricks & mortar uni. I decided to go for a named degree, it will be BA (Hons.) Humanities with Religious Studies - because for some reason they lump loads of subjects together under Humanities and that's how they name their degrees. When I put it on my CV and tell people what my degree is in I will leave out the "Humanities" part! It will be 360 credits (that's what the Honours part is) and will be made up of 3 60 credit courses in Religious Studies, 2 60 credit courses in Philosophy and 1 60 credit compulsory course that I have to do to get the named degree.
The OU divide courses into three levels to denote difficulty and workload. I didn't bother with any level 1 courses as I had come directly from university education and none of the OU's level 1 courses interested me as they were all so vague. "Introduction to Humanities" was the obvious one and it covered everything from English Lit to History to Classical Studies. Yuck, too woolly for me. And to build a degree you don't need any level 1 courses, you need at least 120 credits each from levels 2 and 3. Are you still with me?!
So, in my second year (2004) I took A213: World Religions. As you might guess, this course consisted of the study of the six major world religions. It also looked at three core issues facing those religions; sacred space, making moral decisions and women in religion. Without boring anyone on the details these three issues made up the second half of the course, while the basics in beliefs, organisation, religious practice etc. was the first half. I did well in my assignments over the year, securing an average of 66%.... but failed my exam. Me and exams have never mixed well. So I failed the course, but was entitled to resit the exam.
Now, rather than having a second exam session in, say February or something, the OU make you wait a whole year and do the exam with the following year's students and they make you use up the number of credits of the course in question. So in my case, a 60 credit course, meant that I could do another 60 credits alongside my resit, but no more (max 120 a year, remember?) So for 2005 I applied for the resit and another course, AD317: Religion Today: Tradition, Modernity and Change, determined to stay on track for completing in 6 years.
Despite a very healthy 74 for my first assignment, I ran into trouble with this course quite early and ended up dropping it in May. I did nothing for a few months then in September began intensive revision for my resit exam. One month later I sat my exam and got really lucky with one question: I had happened to revise precisely the right thing the day before and the answer flowed very easily *smug grin*. But apart from that one answer I didn't feel too confident. Me and exams etc... Results time arrived in mid-December and I nearly had a heart attack on seeing that I had achieved 77% in the exam, was in the top 2% for my course nationwide and had got between 85-100% on that lucky question! That meant that I had secured a comfortable 1st for my second course, although the OU call it a "Grade 2 pass", a "grade 1" being over 85%.
So, into 2006 and I started again with the course I had dropped the previous year, AD317. This was a level 3 course, studying the intensive changes occurring in religion globally over the last century. It looked at the role of the internet; the role of religion on social transformations; the concept of a civil religion (Princess Diana, war memorials etc.); the patterns and differences in global and local belief and practice; and new religious movements such as Paganism.
Yeah, that last topic was tough. I thought I would love it and excel with my incredible knowledge of the subject. But no. I learned a few cold, hard truths about modern Paganism and had to seriously reassess my position on its history. But I feel better for it, difficult though it was, I feel empowered now that I'm not labouring under false impressions and have become more involved in the online community of Pagans because of it, making some interesting acquaintances. This course didn't have an exam, instead it had what the OU call an ECA - extended course assignment. It was a 5000 word essay concluding the course, the question I chose was about the role of religion in having an informed understanding of the modern world. Now I'm waiting for my results. I know I did really well in the normal assignments, my average mark being above 80%, I need 58% in the ECA to get a 1st for this year. I should be getting my result in a week or so and I'm pretty damn nervous about it.
Now then, the quick among you will have noticed that it has taken me 4 years to complete 3 courses. So in order to finish this thing in just 2 more years, I have registered for 120 credits next year. 2007 is going to be very, very hard. Both 60 credit courses are level 3, they are AA300: Europe: Culture and Identities in a Contested Continent and AA307: Religion in History: Conflict, Conversion and Coexistence.
The first is my compulsory course to get the named degree, it is essentially a European politics course, but I think it looks interesting. I had a choice of three courses for this compulsory bit and the other two looked appallingly dull, this one has some grit to it and will hopefully be relevant to my overall degree as it touches on religion in places, as well as concepts such as globalization, which I've studied already in this year's course.
The second is my final RS course and I can't wait to look at the conversion of Rome to Christianity and the Crusades, two time periods I have never studied before. It also covers the Reformation and Britain post WWII - which I also studied this year, secularization theory here I come again! (It's bull shit btw, the world ain't secularizing, not by a long shot. We like to think it is because Britain is, but look outside north-western Europe and religion is growing very rapidly and isn't detaching itself from the state.) The first batch of materials arrived last Friday and I got stuck in over the weekend, reading the introduction and getting started on the notes and exercises. There's nothing like an early start to thses things, especially when tackling two of the buggars in one year!
This will leave me with one more course to do in 2008, another philosophy course to finish what I started - what can I say? I like symmetry. AA308: Thought and Experience: Themes in Philosophy of the Mind. It covers emotion; thought and language; imagination and creativity; and consciousness. I can't wait for that one!
And as for life after the OU, well, my fellow students and I sometimes discuss this subject, for many studying with the OU becomes an obsession, they never leave but continue to study and learn, whether earning qualifications or not. It becomes such a big part of your life and I think OU students are sort of united in a way I've never found with bricks & mortar uni students. Many friends for life are made and the support we provide each other with gets to be a serious crutch! SOme of my friends on this course this year were finishing their degrees with it and towards the end of the year they turned very nostalgic. A few did actually say that even though they were finishing their degrees, they might just take a 10 credit course next year, just to keep it going a little longer. It's something about it taking 6 years, it's a big chunk of your life. It's hard to let go.
Others go into teaching or other career changes. Me? Well, this whole thing started just because I wanted a degree, any degree! Now I love my subject, I love it so much I am already looking at MAs and PhDs... not with the OU, but with bricks & mortar unis. I just want to keep on going. We'll see what happens, I'm also thinking about teaching for a few years before embarking on post grad study.
So guys, I will almost certainly need all your help and support next year if I'm going to succeed and get the high marks I have become accustomed to! Hopefully now, a few people will *get* what I'm up to and how hard I am actually working, despite being intermittently unemployed and constantly poor.
Love to all
xxx
13 November 2006
My dirty little secret
I have decided to finally "come out" for the second time in my life (I still find it ironic that the first person I told about my sexuality was my drama teacher, she was very supportive and within a year I knew exactly why, she began sexual reassignment and became a he!).
Anyway, for a couple of years now I have been writing smutty Harry Potter fanfic. That's right, I write porn and post it on the internet. Almost nobody knows about this, Andy and my dear friend Louis have know for ages and I just told my mum about it last weekend. Telling her has given me the courage to announce it here, I'm damn proud of my writing and if anyone reading this has a problem with it keep it to yourself and don't mention it to me and we'll be fine. You don't have to read it if you don't want to.
I'm not going to put my pen name up here, or links to my writing. But, if any of you particularly fancy seeing what goes on in my filthy little mind send me an email and I'll point you to where you can find my stuff.
While I'm here I just wanted to have a bit of a rant because I just finished my second lengthy story yesterday, one that I have been writing, on and off, for over a year and it was a very tearful ending. I cried writing it and really hoped that it packed the same sort of punch as the endings of the last two actual HP books, Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince. While I have had quite a few lovely reviews, I have also had a couple of fairly nasty ones, criticising me for not including warnings or ruining the end of an otherwise good fic.
Now, I do this chiefly for myself, I don't make a living out of this although I hope to make a living writing original fiction in the future, but I am unashamedly encouraged by seeing that hit counter tick over and reading reviews praising me and begging for updates. I love that feeling that people are reading and enjoying my writing, I get a huge buzz from it. However, I will always write in a way that I like, I will always include plot twists and hooks that interest me and take the story where I want it to go. I do not pander to the audience (one reviewer demanded an epilogue to make it a happy ending!!!) And I am more than a little annoyed that people would criticise me for doing this. I am NOT about to put great big warnings on my summary, spoiling the ending for my readers, obviously some people do not want to be surprised or moved by fiction, but personally I do and I despise spoilers. If someone had told me what happened in the real HP books (again, esp the latest two) I would have been devastated and they certainly wouldn't have had me balling my eyes out the way they both did.
Why do some readers have to be so ungrateful? One review I removed because it was so spiteful and I didn't want other readers seeing it and being put off. I won't do that again though, I was just upset by that one and it was a reflexive action. If I get any more like that I will respond, politely! Take this little gem though:
"I really, really, really loved this story, a lot! But I was very disappointed by the ending; no warnings/clues in the fic, I really didn't see that one coming..."
That's sort of the point!!! And besides, there were plenty of clues, in the form of fiction conventions, describing the fears of the two lead characters and planting all too obvious hopes for the future. You know the kind you read and go "Oh no, don't get your hopes up.. it's too good to be true" That kind of thing. It is NOT my fault if people do not understand these conventions.
This story is posted on an ADULT fanfic site, readers should expect not only explicit sex scenes, but possibly shocking plots. One of my favourite authors posted a fantastic blog about this sort of thing and I hope she doesn't mind me quoting it here because she put it so well:
"Authors do not owe readers:
1. Updates. Most authors have lives outside of the fandom and readers should respect that. An occasional email or review asking when a story will be updated is fine. It's nice to know that people haven't forgotten about a story. An angry email demanding an update like a payment on an overdue bill is rude. People who send them should consider getting one of those lives outside of the fandom that I mentioned earlier. Simple solution for the unsatisfied reader: Don't read WIPs.
2. Happy Endings. Formula romance might be your preference, but it's not everyone's cup of tea. That said, in a good story, the ending, even if it's a surprise, should be inevitable, or so I've been told. Simple Reader Solution: Restrict your reading to known romance authors or to archives where stories are categorized as "Romance".
3. Quality. When you purchase a novel, you are plunking down your hard-earned money with the assumption that what you are purchasing has been edited and proofread. You have have the right to expect good grammar and a story that meets professional standards. When you read fan fiction, you aren't spending a dime and you aren't reading the work of published authors. Finding a professional quality story is nice, expecting one is simple-minded. Simple Reader Solution: Stick to moderated archives or trusted recommendations.
4. Canon Compliance. It's been said a thousand times before by better essayist than me, but I'll say it again: Only JKR writes canon. Everything else, to varying degrees, is AU. JKR said that she stays away from the nets because some of the stuff she sees scares her. If the prospect of running into a story that has Snape in fishnet stockings, stilettos, and a Frederick's of Hollywood pink satin corset is going to send you into a tizzy, take JKR's lead and stay off the nets. Simple Reader Solution: Read the submission guidelines for various archives and only read the ones that squelch all creativity require a high degree of canon compliance.
5. Their wank fantasy. Some of you, and you know who you are, seem to have an unnatural attachment to pretend wizards. Unless you've commissioned a fic, it's not reasonable to expect a writer to give your literary object d'amour all of the qualities that blow your skirt up. Some of you get quite wanky about this. Harmionians anyone? Simple Reader Solution: Get help. Seriously.
6. Their Hermione-Sue: Or Any-other-canon-character-Sue/Stu, over-invested self-insert. (That makes Hermione sound like a sex toy, doesn't it?) You're not Hermione. Simple Reader Solution: See Above.
7. Warnings. Unless the archive specifically requires them, I don't think an author is required to suck all of the suspense out of their plot with a million warnings.
I guess what I'm saying in a nutshell is that the only thing that a writer owes a reader is to follow the rules of the archive they are posting in. I view the fandom and fanfiction as a free market and for the reader it's caveat lector. That said, what's good for the reader is good for the writer. When you post your story on the big bad internet, it's with the understanding that no one is required to like it, review it, or be nice to you."
I wholeheartedly agree with this author and I'm not complaining about people being nasty exactly, I am disappointed with some people's expectations not to mention being disappointed that for those people, my story wasn't effective in the way I intended.
Anyway, for a couple of years now I have been writing smutty Harry Potter fanfic. That's right, I write porn and post it on the internet. Almost nobody knows about this, Andy and my dear friend Louis have know for ages and I just told my mum about it last weekend. Telling her has given me the courage to announce it here, I'm damn proud of my writing and if anyone reading this has a problem with it keep it to yourself and don't mention it to me and we'll be fine. You don't have to read it if you don't want to.
I'm not going to put my pen name up here, or links to my writing. But, if any of you particularly fancy seeing what goes on in my filthy little mind send me an email and I'll point you to where you can find my stuff.
While I'm here I just wanted to have a bit of a rant because I just finished my second lengthy story yesterday, one that I have been writing, on and off, for over a year and it was a very tearful ending. I cried writing it and really hoped that it packed the same sort of punch as the endings of the last two actual HP books, Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince. While I have had quite a few lovely reviews, I have also had a couple of fairly nasty ones, criticising me for not including warnings or ruining the end of an otherwise good fic.
Now, I do this chiefly for myself, I don't make a living out of this although I hope to make a living writing original fiction in the future, but I am unashamedly encouraged by seeing that hit counter tick over and reading reviews praising me and begging for updates. I love that feeling that people are reading and enjoying my writing, I get a huge buzz from it. However, I will always write in a way that I like, I will always include plot twists and hooks that interest me and take the story where I want it to go. I do not pander to the audience (one reviewer demanded an epilogue to make it a happy ending!!!) And I am more than a little annoyed that people would criticise me for doing this. I am NOT about to put great big warnings on my summary, spoiling the ending for my readers, obviously some people do not want to be surprised or moved by fiction, but personally I do and I despise spoilers. If someone had told me what happened in the real HP books (again, esp the latest two) I would have been devastated and they certainly wouldn't have had me balling my eyes out the way they both did.
Why do some readers have to be so ungrateful? One review I removed because it was so spiteful and I didn't want other readers seeing it and being put off. I won't do that again though, I was just upset by that one and it was a reflexive action. If I get any more like that I will respond, politely! Take this little gem though:
"I really, really, really loved this story, a lot! But I was very disappointed by the ending; no warnings/clues in the fic, I really didn't see that one coming..."
That's sort of the point!!! And besides, there were plenty of clues, in the form of fiction conventions, describing the fears of the two lead characters and planting all too obvious hopes for the future. You know the kind you read and go "Oh no, don't get your hopes up.. it's too good to be true" That kind of thing. It is NOT my fault if people do not understand these conventions.
This story is posted on an ADULT fanfic site, readers should expect not only explicit sex scenes, but possibly shocking plots. One of my favourite authors posted a fantastic blog about this sort of thing and I hope she doesn't mind me quoting it here because she put it so well:
"Authors do not owe readers:
1. Updates. Most authors have lives outside of the fandom and readers should respect that. An occasional email or review asking when a story will be updated is fine. It's nice to know that people haven't forgotten about a story. An angry email demanding an update like a payment on an overdue bill is rude. People who send them should consider getting one of those lives outside of the fandom that I mentioned earlier. Simple solution for the unsatisfied reader: Don't read WIPs.
2. Happy Endings. Formula romance might be your preference, but it's not everyone's cup of tea. That said, in a good story, the ending, even if it's a surprise, should be inevitable, or so I've been told. Simple Reader Solution: Restrict your reading to known romance authors or to archives where stories are categorized as "Romance".
3. Quality. When you purchase a novel, you are plunking down your hard-earned money with the assumption that what you are purchasing has been edited and proofread. You have have the right to expect good grammar and a story that meets professional standards. When you read fan fiction, you aren't spending a dime and you aren't reading the work of published authors. Finding a professional quality story is nice, expecting one is simple-minded. Simple Reader Solution: Stick to moderated archives or trusted recommendations.
4. Canon Compliance. It's been said a thousand times before by better essayist than me, but I'll say it again: Only JKR writes canon. Everything else, to varying degrees, is AU. JKR said that she stays away from the nets because some of the stuff she sees scares her. If the prospect of running into a story that has Snape in fishnet stockings, stilettos, and a Frederick's of Hollywood pink satin corset is going to send you into a tizzy, take JKR's lead and stay off the nets. Simple Reader Solution: Read the submission guidelines for various archives and only read the ones that squelch all creativity require a high degree of canon compliance.
5. Their wank fantasy. Some of you, and you know who you are, seem to have an unnatural attachment to pretend wizards. Unless you've commissioned a fic, it's not reasonable to expect a writer to give your literary object d'amour all of the qualities that blow your skirt up. Some of you get quite wanky about this. Harmionians anyone? Simple Reader Solution: Get help. Seriously.
6. Their Hermione-Sue: Or Any-other-canon-character-Sue/Stu, over-invested self-insert. (That makes Hermione sound like a sex toy, doesn't it?) You're not Hermione. Simple Reader Solution: See Above.
7. Warnings. Unless the archive specifically requires them, I don't think an author is required to suck all of the suspense out of their plot with a million warnings.
I guess what I'm saying in a nutshell is that the only thing that a writer owes a reader is to follow the rules of the archive they are posting in. I view the fandom and fanfiction as a free market and for the reader it's caveat lector. That said, what's good for the reader is good for the writer. When you post your story on the big bad internet, it's with the understanding that no one is required to like it, review it, or be nice to you."
I wholeheartedly agree with this author and I'm not complaining about people being nasty exactly, I am disappointed with some people's expectations not to mention being disappointed that for those people, my story wasn't effective in the way I intended.
06 November 2006
Kitchen, Amnesty and the White House
We have had to delay the installation of our kitchen :-( it's complicated, and boring. Anyway, it's now going to be February. Doh. Never mind.
I just got back from a weekend away at my parents', my mum organised a ceilidh for her local Amnesty group that she's been involved with for a few years now. It was fun, dancing and merriment aplenty. But now I am exhausted after spending 13 hours out of the last 72 on a coach :-/ I just want to loaf for a couple of days!
And finally, onto the main point of my blog today. This brilliant website that my brother told me about, it's hilarious. If you want a good laugh at America check it out!
The White House
You can get an alternative view of the news and buy genius merchandise, I've got my eye on a few of the bumper stickers.
I just got back from a weekend away at my parents', my mum organised a ceilidh for her local Amnesty group that she's been involved with for a few years now. It was fun, dancing and merriment aplenty. But now I am exhausted after spending 13 hours out of the last 72 on a coach :-/ I just want to loaf for a couple of days!
And finally, onto the main point of my blog today. This brilliant website that my brother told me about, it's hilarious. If you want a good laugh at America check it out!
The White House
You can get an alternative view of the news and buy genius merchandise, I've got my eye on a few of the bumper stickers.
02 November 2006
Iceland
Iceland have defied the international community and undertaken the first commercial whaling there in over 20 years. Take the pledge to visit the country for your holiday after the government retracts this whaling licence that allows the slaughter of more endangered whales.
Click here to find out more.
Click here to find out more.
29 October 2006
Arrogant, ignorant, flaming wanker
Please excuse my language in this post. I am angry.
I am up in arms over this dickhead I have clashed horns with on an internet forum. The topic was trick or treating. Some people were claiming that it has only started happening in the UK in the last 20 years under the influence of America. I knew otherwise so piped up. This is what I said:
I suspect the tradition comes from an old Yule begging tradition, old women (often widows) used to to go begging from door to door saying a rhyme that varied from one region to another, records date from the mid-sixteenth century.
Distinctive Hallowe'en trick or treating can be traced back in the UK to the beginning of the twentieth century :-)
All true, as discussed at length by Ronald Hutton, leading historian on the origins of British folk customs, in his book Stations of the Sun. Which another poster suggested this guy should read.
Dickhead said:
The truth is prosaic. It came from America and is promoted by the High Street.
To which I responded with:
Are you denying the likely British roots of this tradition in the face of historical evidence? It's probable that trick or treating as we know it today was rekindled under American influence. But it's fairly obvious that the traditions both here and in America have their own individual heritages.
This is obviously speculation on my part, but not unjustifiable I think. The response I got was infuriating:
I can hardly do that if nobody presents any historical evidence.
Yes, and in ancient prehistory we all worshipped a Mother Goddess until the nasty Christians came along and stole our calendar. Do me a favour.
When advised by another poster he was being harsh he actually implied that he had prepared a much more scathing reply that he had toned down. He went on to say:
I know that but it bores me to objection when people promote nonsense about the past, about the beliefs and actions of our ancestors. Why do some people feel they must belong to an ancient tradition in order for their own beliefs to be legitimate and viable in our modern society?
Was that what I was doing?! Hardly! I despise that as much as anyone as I feel strongly that pagan literature is incredibly misleading about the origins of modern paganism and I was duped, like many people for many years before I read historical research on the matter.
All I was saying was that there was an old begging custom at Yule (by which I meant the Christmas season) that was likely transferred to Hallowe'en at some point and that Hallowe'en (note, I steered clear of the name Samhain) trick or treating can be traced back through historical records to 100 years ago. Why do arrogant wankers read things into posts that aren't there?!
I am so frustrated because the forum in question is moderated and not 24 hours, so I have to wait until 9am tomorrow to reply to the cocksucker.
Argh!
10 October 2006
Ladylike and A New Fucking Kitchen Baby!
I cannot stop playing Ladylike - by the fabulous Storm Large. I play it full volume and sing my little heart out over and over. It's probably the best song I've ever, ever heard. Now, coming from someone who is quite prone to picking one song to worship for a several year stretch at a time and whose cd collection is (although I haven't actually counted it) rather fucking large! Yes, it is indeed that good a song, it has replaced my old favourite of approximately five years. I'm a little obsessive about it :-p
And in other news.... Andy and I are getting a NEW KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's booked for installation starting on November 20th. I am more than a little excited about this as we have been living with "hell's kitchen" for four very long years. No dishwasher, cupboards with no shelves in them, cupboards and drawers with either no handles or handles that come off when you use them, irremovable stains on the floor, awful brown tiles, dubious but unavoidable positioning of cooker next to sink and worktops too shallow to actually prepare food on! It's all going, being ripped out and thrown away in favour of shiny new cabinets and worktops, with soft close doors! We will actually have an extractor hood too and most importantly..... A DISHWASHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, just a tad excited about this :-D
And in other news.... Andy and I are getting a NEW KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's booked for installation starting on November 20th. I am more than a little excited about this as we have been living with "hell's kitchen" for four very long years. No dishwasher, cupboards with no shelves in them, cupboards and drawers with either no handles or handles that come off when you use them, irremovable stains on the floor, awful brown tiles, dubious but unavoidable positioning of cooker next to sink and worktops too shallow to actually prepare food on! It's all going, being ripped out and thrown away in favour of shiny new cabinets and worktops, with soft close doors! We will actually have an extractor hood too and most importantly..... A DISHWASHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, just a tad excited about this :-D
03 October 2006
Lib Dem Conference
Check out this webcast about the Lib Dem Green Tax Switch:
http://www.libdems.org.uk/news/lib-dem-ppb.html
http://www.libdems.org.uk/news/lib-dem-ppb.html
26 September 2006
BNTM & end of course
Well, what a couple of days. Last night was the finale of season 2 of BNTM, my little obsession. I actually try quite hard to keep this quiet, but what the hey, it's not that bad a habit. I watch ...Next Top Model - America's, Australia's & of course Britain's. I love it, it's tacky tele at its best and indulges my fashion fetish.
This season of BNTM has been very frustrating as there was one contestant that I felt a great desire to strangle right from the beginning and another who I adored and desperately wanted to win. Every week I would be crossing my fingers that the former would be sent home and the latter would stay. Well, I got one wish almost to the end, but not the other. The woman I hated only went and won the damn thing! I joked with Andy in about week 4 that she would win, but I didn't really believe she would.
The woman I like, Abbey made it to the final too and she was by far the best at the climactic fashion show. The judges sat there and deliberated, praising Abbey and I thought she could actually pull it off - the big doubt was over her figure, she actually had breasts and from the beginning they criticised her for being too "lads mag". Despite her being better on the runway and having stunning photos and the fact that the big reason for my feelings towards the other one being her negative attitude, self-doubt and self-criticism (oh and her tendency to fall apart every week over something trivial), Abbey didn't win! They picked the weepy, annoying cow who couldn't make it through a go-see without telling the client that all her photos were awful!!!
Seriously? WTF?! I have come to the conclusion that sometimes they just go for the pity vote. They pick the one who needs the biggest help up into the industry. Incidentally, not that I knew this until googling her this week, but Abbey's the girlfriend of Peter Crouch and was one of the WAGs sent home from the World Cup in disgrace. But as I try to ignore football and icky tabloids, I knew nothing of this.
Anyway. Onto the other matter... this afternoon I finished my ECA, a 5000 word essay due for the end of my course in place of an exam. It's done, it will be in tomorrow's post. So I am free again to have a social life :D and get on with the tiresome business of finding a new job :-/
The OU academic year is over, roll on winter holiday! Back to OU in February, so I have to make the most of this brief interlude when I actually have the time and inclination to read something non-academic!
This season of BNTM has been very frustrating as there was one contestant that I felt a great desire to strangle right from the beginning and another who I adored and desperately wanted to win. Every week I would be crossing my fingers that the former would be sent home and the latter would stay. Well, I got one wish almost to the end, but not the other. The woman I hated only went and won the damn thing! I joked with Andy in about week 4 that she would win, but I didn't really believe she would.
The woman I like, Abbey made it to the final too and she was by far the best at the climactic fashion show. The judges sat there and deliberated, praising Abbey and I thought she could actually pull it off - the big doubt was over her figure, she actually had breasts and from the beginning they criticised her for being too "lads mag". Despite her being better on the runway and having stunning photos and the fact that the big reason for my feelings towards the other one being her negative attitude, self-doubt and self-criticism (oh and her tendency to fall apart every week over something trivial), Abbey didn't win! They picked the weepy, annoying cow who couldn't make it through a go-see without telling the client that all her photos were awful!!!
Seriously? WTF?! I have come to the conclusion that sometimes they just go for the pity vote. They pick the one who needs the biggest help up into the industry. Incidentally, not that I knew this until googling her this week, but Abbey's the girlfriend of Peter Crouch and was one of the WAGs sent home from the World Cup in disgrace. But as I try to ignore football and icky tabloids, I knew nothing of this.
Anyway. Onto the other matter... this afternoon I finished my ECA, a 5000 word essay due for the end of my course in place of an exam. It's done, it will be in tomorrow's post. So I am free again to have a social life :D and get on with the tiresome business of finding a new job :-/
The OU academic year is over, roll on winter holiday! Back to OU in February, so I have to make the most of this brief interlude when I actually have the time and inclination to read something non-academic!
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