Saturday 18 December 2010

Winter

According to the news, which seems shocked that the weather's actually doing what it's meant to do in the final month of the year, Britain has been plunged into a bleak, bleak midwinter. People are looking at snow and dropping dead, and small children's tears at the lack of electronic goods arriving in the post are freezing on their tiny little cheeks. Personally, I adore winter. Every bit of it. I love the snow, I love the general feeling of Merriness and seasonal cheer from most people, but there are certain parts of Winter I love more than anything.
Kids in winter are great. Not the arsey little sods that snowball you and those around you and think it's hilarious, but little kids in antlers and babies dressed like Christmas puddings. I saw a little girl today who was so wrapped up and had a coat so very large that her arms were stuck out at right angles from her body and she actually couldn't put them by her sides. She didn't seem to care, she was just trying to get to a Charlie and Lola book.
I even like Chavs in winter, purely because they don't want to put real coats on, and so are always obviously freezing. I saw one try to throw a snowball yesterday, misjudge his strength and just topple over. His friends laughed, I laughed, and I felt then that the spirit of Christmas was truly with us.
Even the walk to Morrisons, and very probably my walks to work next week, seem nicer in the snow. There were more people walking, it was dark and quiet and most everyone seemed happy to be out there. I stood in my drive and it was dead quiet apart from two people singing Jingle Bells. Because at Christmas, in the snow, you can legitimately sing outdoors, and no one really minds.
As Wizzard once put it, If you're skating in the park, and the snow clouds paint it dark, then your rosy cheeks are gonna light my merry way.

Thursday 16 December 2010

On Youtube, Twitter and Facebook.

Youtube
I don't believe in 'Sub4Sub'. It's pointless, and purely a way to boost your subscriber numbers. There are a few people I know on Youtube that have over 100 subscribers. I have roughly 20. I've been going longer than them, and although I haven't made a video in a while, there IS something in the pipeline. Now, I might be guessing, and I might be wrong, but I think their subscribers are from Sub4Subs, or from people subscribing to them because they met them one time and feel they should. In case you don't know what Sub4Subs are, how it works is that if I subscribed to you on YouTube, you would subscribe to me without looking at my videos, seeing if you liked them, anything similar. Do I wish I had more subscribers on Youtube? I suppose so, yes, but I'd rather have people who watched my videos and enjoyed them, than people subscribing because they feel they have to.

Twitter
My sister's friends have started to get twitter. As they know I have twitter, they're following me. Don't get me wrong, I like facebook, but I say different things on twitter. I don't think I want her friends following me, but I don't want to delete them because they're her friends, and I kind of want to encourage them to use Twitter, because it's brilliant. But that lead me to think. What will the Tweeps among us do when Twitter is Facebook? Where will we go? Will we retreat back to Facebook, and stage a revival in an attempt to lure the vapid to their rightful place, or will we instead move to pastures older? Myspace, maybe, or even Bebo. Will there be a New Twitter for us to run to? Should we run at all?

Facebook
Recently I've had a couple of Facebook Friend Purges. I deleted anyone a) who I hadn't spoken to recently, and didn't even when they weren't at Uni, b)who's general updates weren't entertaining enough to warrant keeping them on my list or c)I didn't actually like.
Not many people noticed, if I'm honest, but then there was trouble. If someone noticed I'd deleted them and re-added me, what would I do? In all cases so far, I've accept the friend request, because I'm a wuss. What I'd like to do is ignore, because obviously I don't want them on my friends list, but most of these occasions have been people who I used to class as a friend. But I don't want to cause an argument.

Tuesday 7 December 2010

The Goodnight List

Almost every night, before I go to sleep, I say Goodnight to a list of people. I absolutely HAVE to get it right. If I forget about it entirely, it's fine, but if I get it wrong halfway through, I have to start from the beginning. Yes I know, OCD much, but it's really my only thing like this. Doesn't sound that hard, does it? Yeah, actually, cos the list is 40+ people, more if I'm not with my family because then they get added on to the list. You can track my phases and obsessions through this list, and there and some omissions that, if you know me well, you'll be surprised about. Here's the list. Some are fictional, some aren't. If anyone tells me the full names of all of these people, I'll buy you a present.
John
George
Ringo
Paul
Ian
Robin 
Howard 
Howard 
Phil 
Gene 
Adam 
Morrissey 
Peter 
David 
Tristan 
Rick 
Michael 
Marty 
Tim 
Hugh 
Matt 
Hank 
John 
Henry 
Sarah 
Katherine 
John 
John 
Chris 
Craig 
Robert 
Danny 
Benedict 
Martin 
Steven 
Mark 
Reece 
Steve 
Jeremy 
Andrew 
Paul 
William

Saturday 4 December 2010

Being Famous

Everyone's heard the saying about '15 minutes of fame'. In the society we live in currently, it's becoming easier and easier to grab hold of your 15 minutes and squeeze every last drop out of it. X-factor et al. help with this, but if you know me, you already know that I hate those programmes intensely anyway for the cruelty shown towards the contestants, and the sense of superiority that they create for the public viewers. Being famous for being famous is pretty much commonplace now, and I'm sure there are kids somewhere that want to grow up and 'be famous'. I know I did when I was little. I wanted to be a famous actress. I'll be honest, if someone Famous tweets me, I'm very excited. 
I don't want to be famous now. I'd like to be recognised for something, be it YouTube (which I doubt, considering my constantly growing hiatus) or for writing, or something entirely unknown to me yet that I do in my future. If someone was as excited about me tweeting them as I am when Reece Shearsmith does, or when Maureen Johnson does, or if I was recognised in the street, I would be very happy with my life. I don't need to be famous, to have tons and tons of money, but if I made someone as happy as the 'famous' people I admire can make me, that's my life complete.

Wednesday 1 December 2010

The Plague

That's right, the Blake family have been struck down. Dad's alright now, and Charlotte hasn't had it yet. James is downstairs watching TV and milking his a little bit, Mum's feeling a bit better and is in bed with the kitty and I'm in bed, freezing cold and dry heaving every 10 minutes. JUST want you want to hear early in the morning. Sorry I'm complaining, but I'm dehydrated and freezing. Rar.