Little Howard's Unpleasant Lullaby

Is this the best song ever written? I submit that it is :D Discuss!

Woot, etc.

Today I am filled with an insane amount of happy. I am like a tall glass of joy (an actually tall glass, not a Starbucks tall) with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles :D

...

...AND A FLAKE

:D

That is all.

:)

Warning: Crotchety Old Woman Ranting ahead

What follows is, in all likelihood, of no interest to anyone who reads this. But I need to get a few things off my chest, and since this is my writing space, where better to do it?

So, you've been given due warning. Now would be a good time to stop reading and go and do something interesting.

Five...

Four...

Three...

Two...

One...

We have bitching! Bitch-off? Anyway.

• I have had enough of certain people who talk about my 8.5-hour-a-day, 5 days a week job as "not a real job": mind your own damn business, and stop taking your frustration out on me. You're jealous because I make more than you. Get over it. I work 5 times more hours than you a week, of course I make more! You had the opportunity to make just as much, and you turned it down. Quit your bitching.
  
• There are crossed wires somewhere along the line. You seem to think I'm this naive, innocent, fluffy little creature and I'm just not, anyone who knows me knows that. I might have my blonde moments but that doesn't mean I'm stupid: I can read you like a book and you are also fairly obvious.
  
• You seem to take it as read that I'm just going to put up with your shit because I love you. Well, not any more I'm not. Good luck finding someone else who'll deal with it.
• I am terrified - TERRIFIED - that I won't pass this driving test. I need a little damn independence.
• I am horrified and ashamed by past decisions and honestly wish I could wipe them from the collective consciousness, including my own.
• I want to slap today's children. Repeatedly. And set them on fire with a flamethrower. They are disrespectful, self-important, under-educated and frankly, have no dress sense either.
• People shouldn't mistake being a rebel without a cause for being unique. Really unique people don't have to try to be unique. And don't refer to others as "sheep" just because they don't fit your view on how everyone ought to be a special snowflake. They might be wearing this season's fashions, and yes that might be rather shallow, but you are dressed like and act like an idiot and you are going to look back on this in many years and want to burn all photographic evidence.
• I am really impatient to get back to university. I never thought I'd enjoy it this much.
• Why is it so hard to find someone with my interests who is also attractive, funny and into me? Why are all the men who find me attractive creepy perverts? Is it the boobs? Because as annoying as that is, they're not going anywhere, I love my boobs.
• You are not nearly as funny, intelligent or attractive as you think you are. Everyone thinks you're an ass.

Right! That's my rant for the moment. I feel a bit better now.

General update

Life is going in to's and fro's at the moment - some things better than others.

But I'm trying to look at things in the sense that the bad things will turn out for the best, and I'm grateful for what's going well.

Some people are acting in a very confusing fashion. Hopefully everything will become clear sooner or later.

Relating to my writing, I've written a poem I'm quite happy with recently, which doesn't happen often, and a couple of short stories are in the works, as well as the plot for a children's book (which hopefully I will have developed a bit more before I start my writing for children module).

The weather here is lovely at the moment, though it was painfully hot today - feeding the ponies was a sweaty nightmare. Bleh.

Anyway - here's to warm summer nights and good wine with good friends!

Hx

My summer has not really gone as planned so far.

Still, I'm off for a while yet.

A bigger problem is my lack of inspiration writing-wise. :S

But then I guess there's still time for that, too.

Uncultured Project and more

((Skip to "Too Long; Didn't Read?" if you just want a summary))

Let's face it: most human beings are essentially selfish creatures. Heck, I can be pretty selfish at times, I accept that. I can be pretty thoughtless, too, just like everyone else. And lord knows at times I lack perspective on just how great my life is in comparison to those of others on the planet.

The whole "survival of the fittest" attitude isn't something that goes away just because you're a sentient, "civilised" creature, in fact I'd argue it's worse the more mentally advanced a species you are, because understanding that you can help someone else and ignoring it is more selfish than having no concept of altruistic behaviour.

Anyway, this post had a point and it wasn't anything to do with Darwin, so let's get to that.

My point is this: it feels good to do good things, and even though we are selfish creatures by nature, we know this; it's just hard for some people to get motivated, and sometimes you can't see a way that you personally could help.

Well, good news, because I'm going to attempt, in a disjointed and rambling fashion, to show you some ways that you can do some good, and the best part is that you get to feel good about yourself, for a good reason instead of a self-involved one! (Not that you personally are self-involved, but you see my point)

Hank and John Green, two of my favouritest-favourite people in the universe head a worldwide group-that-is-and-isn't-a-group, Nerdfighters, an enormous gathering of nerdy folks who would like ultimately to decrease World Suck and increase World Awesome levels through various media. Some readers may have seen John and Hank on YouTube. Anyway.

Hank and John are advocates of doing good deeds for the reduction of poverty, the improvement of the environment, the curing of diseases, and for better and more readily available education, among other things.

You can find out lots about their various projects by visiting the links above. They frequently arrange donation drives in aid of something worthy, usually sponsoring one or both of them doing something ridiculous. Also their non-aid-related videos are extremely funny and worth watching if you're anywhere near as nerdy as I am.

Through Hank and John I discovered the Uncultured Project, created by Shawn Ahmed. He explains his motivations for starting the project thus:

"In 2006, I was a grad student at Notre Dame. Then I heard Dr. Jeffrey Sachs (author of the book "The End of Poverty") talk about how it's our generation's responsibility to end poverty. I withdrew from grad school, packed my bags, grabbed my laptop and bought a camcorder and then flew to Bangladesh to see how I could make a difference among some of the world's poorest."

Shawn visits impoverished areas, giving out mosquito nets, water filters, and other useful stuff, and helping people to improve their own lives. He works with companies and organisations in order to contribute as best he can. Shawn stresses that his project is not a charity, but just his attempt to make the world a better place, and at the same time show others that they CAN make a difference. The Uncultured Project now accepts donations, and through Shawn's YouTube videos you can see exactly how your money is being spent, and who is benefiting (it really is inspiring stuff).

Vestergaard Frandsen, whom I learned about through Shawn, is a company that manufactures disease control textiles. They produce incredibly useful technologies like LifeStraw water purifiers, PermaNet mosquito nets, ZeroFly sheeting, and CarePack boxes for HIV sufferers. You can help by taking advantage of their donate option, where you can buy water filters and mosquito nets, and they'll be distributed to the people who need them.

Here's some frightening perspective: for £100, you could buy a brand new DS Lite, or you could pay for 16 personal or 4 family-sized water filters, which filter out particles (read as: mud and other things too disgusting to bear thinking about) and harmful bacteria, and could, no, WILL, save lives. For an amazing example of how effective these filters are, see Shawn's video here.

This video, I think, sums up my feelings pretty well and shows Hank leading by example.


Too Long; Didn't Read? (not a summary of what's above, please keep reading)

Okay, so here's a run-down of what you can do to help:

- Ask friends and relatives to make a donation to an organisation in your honour instead of buying you a Christmas/ birthday/ wedding (etc.) present. List of suggested charities and projects below.

- Count up the pennies you've got lying around, and donate them to a worthy cause. They'll only sit around in various bowls and jars in your house otherwise.

- If you have a lot of disposable income, donate the £10 instead of buying that third DVD. It feels good, trust me.

- Arrange a bake/ boot sale or charity event to raise money for a cause, or get sponsored to eat Peeps, if you like (I have never eaten a Peep. Am I missing out? Maybe I should get sponsored to eat Peeps).

- Get personally involved in one of the many great projects out there!

- There are a million more things you could do, I'm just not patient enough to write them all down.

Some Amazing People, and How You Can Help:

Vestergaard Frandsen - donate LifeStraws or PermaNets.

Shawn Ahmed's Uncultured Project - donate and see what the money is being spent on.

Nerdfighters - find out about projects to decrease World Suck.

Oxfam - make a donation; buy someone animals, seeds or tools; donate to a specific project; donate shares; buy from the Ethical Collection.

Save the Children - donate, or sponsor a child.

Heifer International - buy an animal to help an impoverished family support themselves.


I hope this has been informative. :)

The part that relates to my Facebook status of earlier today: On a personal note to friends and family reading this, if you were to donate to one of these fantastic groups on my behalf instead of a gift, that would be the best gift you could give me. Yeah, I'm a sap. Shut up :P

Free hugs for all!
Harri

Easter

As Easter weekend approaches I find myself unable to write. This is decidedly inconvenient as the folders are due starting the 24th April. Gaaaah.

Secrets & Lies

Sometimes I am completely thrown by the revelation that other people are in fact real human beings. Allow me to elucidate.

You see, there are days when I come close to being convinced that my life is some unpleasant and sadistic version of the Truman Show - actually when the film came out my tiny pre-teen brain had a few moments of wondering whether this was actually a hint and the audience was waiting with baited breath to see if I'd figure it out. In the words of Jim Carrey himself, "madness is never that far away", particularly when you have an over-active imagination and too much free time, as I unquestionably did and still do.

But, yes, returning to now, before I make any more embarrassing confessions. In recent years a friend paused before asking me, "Do you ever feel a bit like you're in The Truman Show?"

Hug me, kindred spirit!

It seems that she, too, had harboured this suspicion after many a day when everyone seems to be watching you and waiting for you to screw up.

All of us have experienced this kind of thing at least a few times in our lives, I think - we all think and do things that we won't necessarily admit to the people we know, but occasionally someone else will mention that they, too, pretend to be receiving a text in order to cover up stopping to rest halfway up a steep hill, or have the strong urge to look at their girlfriend's inbox when she leaves the Hotmail window open, and I think it's these moments more than anything else that makes us connect as human beings.

That's why comedians who bring these topics into their routine are so well received: everyone loves that moment when they can think, Other people do that, too! It's not weird!

So, in the spirit of openness, here are some of the things I wouldn't normally own up to:

-I pretend to be checking my phone so I can stop and rest my funny knee

-During every card transaction in a shop, I become convinced that the shopkeeper will think my card is stolen if the PIN confirmation takes the slightest bit too long to go through

-I object to judging people on their appearance but still wish people thought I was pretty

-I have restrained myself on multiple occasions from reading other people's emails, and feel proud of myself for not doing so despite knowing that doing so is akin to being proud of yourself for having not shoplifted

-If someone is staring at me, I have to sneak off to find a reflective surface to check if I have something on my face

-I sometimes resent people solely because they can do something I can't, then feel horrible for thinking that and try to make up for it by being extremely nice to/ about them

-When I catch myself thinking something bitchy, I wonder if the person I'm thinking about can hear me. Also I sometimes wonder if maybe everyone can hear my thoughts and I'm the only person in the room who can't also hear theirs

Those are a few of the most frequent ones. I've tried to list only a few for fear of appearing completely neurotic. I hope you've spotted one or two you're also guilty of, otherwise this is going to be embarrassing!

So, my point is, everyone feels alone sometimes, everyone wonders if they're not a bit barmy, everyone has the odd embarrassing daydream they'd rather not admit to: maybe it's time to be a bit less afraid of what people will think and test the waters, to discover what secrets we have in common? I'm not saying you should grab a stranger and announce that you have always found bald men strangely attractive, but it won't hurt to admit it to your friends.

Viewing Houses

Particularly poignant at this juncture in my life, attempting to find somewhere to live next year:



Had a viewing of a house today, or rather two houses near one another under the same landlords. Seemed nice enough places, despite the current tenants' underwear all over the place and the fact that when we arrived we were soaking wet from this sudden onslaught of rain we seem to be experiencing. Rent is £55 a week including bills, which is pretty good.

As long as I get to live indoors:

Bento boxes and PMS

Brilliantly funny, if a bit of a red flag to militant feminists :P

Used my new obento for the first time today - much nicer than carrying food around in a bag!

Onigiri bumblebees and exploding steamers

Have spent much of my free time since I got back from lectures doodling things I could make out of onigiri. Not sure why, just feel like it. So far I have a pig, a panda, and a bumblebee as well as playing with ideas for scene type bento boxes - I like the fish tank concept with li'l carrot golfish :3

Yes, it has been a boring week thus far. Can't you just tell?


Watch this all the way through, it's worth it.

Here and here are links to essentially the same article with different details, about Japanese "celebrity cannibal" Issei Sagawa. Freaky stuff.

Alright stop - HAMMER TIME!

"Activate your mechanical serpent while I soar aloft with my magic hammer!"

"The hammer does not return to my hand: I am losing momentum, plunging down!"

Batman-esque "POW"s and "BAM"s.

"This wooden hammer will suffice to keep yon enchanted nightmares at bay!"

"Later, the son of Odin sits upon a lonely promontory, sorely perplexed."

See also: the rainbow bridge, the theme song, the paper cut-out animation.



Best. Cartoon. Ever.

Claymation by Jimbob

By my dear brother - brilliantly funny :D

An uneventful week thus far

Watch this brilliant piece of claymation - great stuff.



I've been thinking - now that Bush is out of office, Mock the Week has lost about 50% of its usual material. Now they shall turn their eye ever more closely to British politics - Saints preserve us.

Ooh ooh

Thought -

Doesn't Obama take over sometime soon? Around the 20th?

Good times ahead I hope.

(What do I keep pressing that makes me hop up a line involuntarily? Keys are too close together on laptops. Also: I wish it had a number pad so I could play Sid Meier's Pirates! properly)

Essays

After 12 hours of brain ache, the essay is finished! I am victorious!

Plan for this evening: Have supper and play Spore. Maybe start a new planet with spiffy new spaceships? OoOoOoh... :D

I should do some comics also. Haven't updated since before the Christmas holiday.

Multivitamins

I've been taking a combination multivitamin and cod liver oil supplement (the Tesco "general wellbeing" brand one) for around a week now, and already I'm feeling the difference in my joints and seeing it in my skin.

Nice to know that occasionally a product actually works!