Thursday 30 August 2012

Blog transfer

Due to running a few blogs, and having a few ideas for other blogs, i've now combined all my blogs in to one big super blog. On my new blog (click), you will find my posts from here being transferred over as well as football posts, posts about my life and any work that I complete at university. I will be posting new blogs on moans as and when I feel like it, and not at the regular occurrence of  every week like I did on this blog.

Thanks for reading, and see you around when I scope the universe.

Monday 11 June 2012

Indicators

Indicators are a small part of cars, puny in comparison to the rest of the vehicle's parts such as the engine. However, fundamentally, indicators are quite an important part of a vehicle, especially when it comes to avoiding accidents on the road. Let's divulge. 


I ran indicators as a pretty nifty invention by man, up there with the person who decided to put 'You are here' on a map. Indicators allow us to convey a message to another driver, without winding the window down and shouting where we are planning to go. It's as simple as flicking a little lever, and a bright orange light flashes on the left or the right hand side of the car 'indicating' which path you are choosing to take. This means that other drivers know where you are going, and can plan there path accordingly.


Now the basics have been explained, let's delve deeper.


I've already stated that I believe indicators can, in theory, cause less accidents. Accidents equals death, so in my head, indicating can save lives. It's true, by indicating you're telling another driver not to be hasty in making his decision and not to assume you're going somewhere else. So, everybody should use indicators right? wrong. 


A substantial number of drivers on the road just expect others to know where they're going, and more often than not, go an entire journey without indicating. Indicating can save other peoples lives, never mind your own, so surely it makes sense to flick a lever, it's not really hard work, is it?


A small shout out to Rachel McMaster who gave me the idea for this moan.


My next moan: Day-time adverts

Monday 4 June 2012

Bruno Mars

As I frantically search for more things to moan about, you'll find my posts becoming a lot more niche. I've moaned about chart music before, and the rapid decline in good music. However, even talented musicians such as Bruno Mars, spout some questionable lyrics that has somehow condemned the entire male population to looking like morons.


As stated above, Bruno is a talented musician. However, his constant sucking up to the female musician has gained him the status of some sort of demi-god amongst women. He is seen as the perfect male, who would catch a grenade for a woman. A woman who seemingly doesn't care about him. Thanks for that Bruno, the next time somebody throws a grenade at me and a future female companion, your song lyrics will immediately spring to my mind and i'll attempt to catch, only to fumble the grenade, killing the both of us. 


The most irritable song in his collection, (to my knowledge, i refuse to listen to all of his songs) is 'Marry You'. It's no wonder that young adults are rushing into commitments they are not ready for when Bruno is spouting 'I'm looking for something to dumb to you, hey baby, i think I'm gonna marry you'. If I was looking for something to dumb to do, i'd think of a thousand other things ranging from setting off fireworks in a nunnery to swimming in a frozen lake before exchanging wedding vows.


Also 'Count on me' also has some questionable lyrics, 'You can count on me, like, 1, 2 ,3', is a good enough line in itself, even though he is presumptuous in us not knowing how to count. However, he then insists he can count on the women like '4, 3, 2', which is a bit lazy on his behalf. He's already used numbers in his song, which worked reasonably well. Only for him to use them again, then stop counting at 2. What about one, Bruno? What about one?


To wrap up, Bruno you're talented, but your songs make all us men look bad, and your material of loving the girl so much that you'd do anything for her, is going to get old. 


My next moan: Indicators

Monday 28 May 2012

Young mothers

This post all came about while I was at work, a couple of weeks ago. I saw a girl walking through the store entrance, and I immediately recognized her. I'm usually quite good at remembering faces, but I couldn't put a name to a face. However, I remember seeing her in tagged photos of some friends of mine on facebook, and pieced together that she was either in the year below me, or 2 years below me. I'd find that out later. I wasn't friends with her, nor had I ever talked to her. However, I did recognize her. Then I saw a bump. A baby bump.


I later found out that she was 2 years below me at school, making the girl aged 16 or 17. The time that I saw her, was before her birthday, making her pregnant at the age of 16. Possibly amounting to her having unprotected sex at the age of 15, dates allowing. However, this is in-probable due to her having a quite decent sized bump at the age of 16, so if my calculations are correct she had unprotected sex at the age of 16. Excusing that, if contraception didn't work, she still had sex at 16. However, looking through picture of sonograms and bumps, and statuses saying that she was excited to have a baby, I began to question whether she did just want this child in the first place.


I was befuddled as to how someone, who looked so young and innocent, would feel as to going through pregnancy at such a tender age. 16 is no age to be pregnant, and 17 is no age to be a mother. How are you going to care for a child at that age? Is pocket money going to feed your child? Or are you going to rely heavily on the child's grandparents to help fund that child a decent enough life until the mother has some independency of her own. The latter, I assume. 


We're brought up in schools that beat you with a stick in regards to sex education, and the amount of information that you get given at such a young age, you really do have to be quite the idiot to get pregnant. Some want to get pregnant at a young age, which again I can't fathom. You're just entering into your teenage years, the best years of your life. Why would you want a baby now, meaning if you are to be the caring and nurturing parents that you ought to be, you can't go out and live your own life.


Sadly, this is the look of our ever changing nation. Stories will often arise in newspapers about younger and younger parents. One notably last year, in little Alfie who apparently got a girl pregnant at the age of 12. At the age of 12, I was playing out on my new aluminium scooter and chasing the ice cream van before he drove off. A stark contrast, if ever there was one.


There's students in my year, who at this moment in time have children who are more mature than me. If that's not a frightening thought, then I don't know what is. 


My next moan: Bruno Mars

Monday 21 May 2012

Sun, sex and suspicious parents

The hit BBC three programme, is the subject for this weeks moan. This is the first time that i've ever moaned about a TV show, so be wary if you do like the show. I like the show, and often watch it, but the entire concept of it is really starting to grate on me. 


First of all, the first couple of episodes were the best. Here's why. Nobody had heard of Sun, sex and suspicious parents before, hence meaning that the children on the show didn't know the concept. They just thought that a camera crew was following them around to record their antics while they frolicked in the sun. However, their parents were watching their every move and judging them while they were under the influence. Like they were never young and mischievous. However, as the show gained more and more popularity, surely the kids on the show have some idea that they are on the programme. I mean, you'd think that at least one of eight participants would twig and think, 'hang on a second, we could be being watched by somebody's parents'.


This has gone for other shows in the past, for example, Big Brother. Now in it's 44th series, or something like that, it is now become a laughing stock to viewers. However, Big Brother was exceptionally good to start with, because nobody knew what was going on. It was 12 contestants thrown into a house and nobody had any idea what was going on, which made for quality viewing. Now, as Channel 5 feeds at the scraps at what Channel 4 no longer want, it's now just repetitive and boring. Everyone knows what is going to happen, and they're running out of ideas to make the show quality viewing. 


Anyway, I digress, so if it wasn't enough that nobody twigs that they're on SSSP (Sun, sex and suspicious parents), is that there's a lot of unnecessary points to the show. There is no need for the parents to sit on top of a bar and watch the videotape of their child. There is no need to sit on a hotel balcony and watch the videotape. Just sit in a room and watch the thing. It doesn't matter where you are. They could actually just send you the video clip back home and save you the cost of flying you out there. 


Then, they'll pop their head over the balcony, or over the bush, to get a look at their child as they're walking on the beach. And then, bob their head down as if the child is going to see them. If the child was to see them then it would have to be a pretty big slice of luck, and then I hardly doubt the episode would be put on television if the kid had walked over to see their parents hiding in a bush. What makes matters worse is the punditry always makes out 'if they are seen now, then it's all over', which in theory is true, but BBC Three aren't going to let that happen.


Finally, parents over react. I suppose this kind of enhances the quality of the show as it would get a bit tedious if they were happy with what they had done on holiday. But, they're young and they're free from the first times of parental grasps so they're obviously going to enjoy themselves. How, boring would the programme be if they had sat round the pool all week and played volleyball in the swimming pool. It's absolutely hilarious to see some of the antics that some get up to on their holiday, and comes right back round to the quality viewing dimension. Parents over react to them drinking too much, or having a bit of hanky panky, and generally just having a good time. They seem to forget that they were young at one point, and probably did antics just as bad, if not worse back in their day.


My next moan: Young mothers

Monday 14 May 2012

Taxi drivers


In the midst of procrastination, working and finishing university, I somehow forgot about my blog. Surprisingly enough, I managed to keep my blog ticking over while exams were on, doing anything humanly possible opposed to revising, only then to have a complete mind blank when exams were over and spend my entire time surfing the internet without so much of a though towards moaning. Weird, I know. Anyway, we'll put it down to the fact that I was slightly ill, slightly side tracked and slightly annoyed by the new blogger layout which is a lot more complicated than it needs to be. Also, my posts are scheduled at 7pm every Monday, so that's why you got a lovely blank post. When I first started this blog, I was about 8 posts in front, but with exams taking their toll, and lack of sleep, I found myself writing my blog posts half an hour before they were being published. Enthralling, I know.

Anyway, now that apologies are out of the way, onto what you're all here for. To hear the delight of my amateur ramblings that will hopefully will put a wry smile on your face as I question everything in society that rubs me up the wrong way.

From the blog title, you'll see that I get annoyed with taxi drivers. They're not the worst people in the world, and they are quite tolerable when vacating the slot of a normal pedestrian. However, put them in a car and put them in charge of picking people up and dropping them off at their destination, so they suddenly evolve into this race of people that think they own the road and can do anything that they please.

I've now been driving for a year, and it's taxi drivers that are the worst drivers on the road. No, I'm not going to conform to the cliche that one gender is particularly better at driving than the other gender. Taxi drivers are very good drivers, they just think that the road is only for them and don't care about any other driver. 

They'll cut into you in traffic, not use their indicators (which is an unbelievable pet hate of mine), and then drive at their fastest possible to get to where they are going. There is no need, you will not to get to your destination any faster by doing any of these things, so just drive like a normal motorist. If anything you're just running the risk of having your license revoked, so calm down.

My next moan: Sun, sex and suspicious parents

Monday 7 May 2012

University


As I approach the end of my first academic year of university, it seems customary to do a moan. I recommend university to any young students out there who are rattling their brains about whether to actually put yourself in monumental amounts of debt, just for a degree. University is a great place to meet new people, and focus on that one subject that you have a real passion for, and have an actual interest in. Contrasted to the days of secondary school where you're forced to do tedious subjects such as Religious Education or Mathematics. No, university, is focused and specialized and I cannot speak of it highly enough.

However, the general consensus from all my blog posts is that I can find dust in diamonds. A strange comparison, but, university isn't perfect, far from it. It has a wealth of advantages, a university degree is regarded highly in job interviews and you catapult yourself up the job ladder a lot faster than working your way through the company.

Obviously, this moan is more tailored around my university experiences but university students up and down the country will be able to relate to my experiences. 

If you're used to the spoon fed life of college, then you're in for a shock at university. Not only do they expect you to do the work, they tell you once and that's it. There's no reminders. They expect you to make a note of it and do it on your own accord. Unlike school where they reminded you every single lesson until the coursework deadline.

Then there's assignments and exams. You think you had it bad at school, then wait for university. They don't spread them about across the year, not even across a month. Everything is expected to be completed in one week. It's a week that absolutely kills you, and of course being the lazy generation, we choose to do it all at the last minute and hence run ourselves into the ground trying to keep on top of it all. It's a cruel decision from the university elders to put all deadlines in one week, but we never learn. 

Then, this might just be for me, but if i'm paying just short of 10,000 pounds for a degree, (I got in to university before the recent price hikes) then I expect top quality education. Studying journalism, I don't want to learn how to use Windows movie maker. Nor, do I expect my lecturer to fall asleep in lesson while the other lecturer is taking the class. I didn't mind letting things slide at school and college, but if i'm putting myself into serious debt for a substantial amount of years after I graduate, then I expect the best education. Then again, that probably depends on the university that you go to. 

As said in the first paragraph. Go to university, it is worth it (yes, even after the price hikes), but prepare to run yourself into the ground, get constantly frustrated all for a little piece of paper tied up in a ribbon. 



My next moan: Taxi drivers