Take a look http://www.flickr.com/photos/shootsforthemoon/
Thursday, 28 November 2013
Thursday, 14 November 2013
NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo
Now apparently, according to 20SB (twenty-something bloggers) NaBloPoMo is a thing. It stands for (I believe) National Blog Posting Month. Now I've heard that it's a thing that runs all year round, rather than just for one month a year, like NaNoWriMo.
When I was on WordPress, I posted every day fora year the first six months (ish) of 2011. I'm aiming to do that again but for just a month. Then maybe two months. Then maybe a year. We'll just see how it goes.
I left the WordPress blog for a few reasons. I wanted a fresh start. I wanted a bit of privacy (ironic, I know). I wanted to get rid of a follower troll. I hated the new layout. The list goes on...
I spent a few minutes going back over my WordPress blog when I wrote this post. While it was only two years ago, it feels like a lifetime. I am nothing like who I was in so many ways. I mean, I haven't changed a lot but, especially since starting the meds and getting therapy, I'm just different somehow. Sometimes it's fairly obvious but at others it's sort of intangible.
I guess it's a good thing. Sometimes I feel like I haven't got much of an identity, much of a personality, but I know that that's not really true.
What's a shame though, is everything that I've lost. The friends I've moved on from or the friends who've moved on from me. It's sad but I suppose it's just the way life is. People grow apart. Especially when they're living in different cities, doing different things, hanging out with different people. There's always more that can be done to stop it happening. I could call more, text more, message more. But so could they. I imagine they've been busy. But so have I. It's no one's fault, not really. But it's still sad.
I imagine, with a few of these cases, that everything could be fine if we could just hangout a few times. Unfortunately, that's unlikely to be a thing in the near future. That old lack of money and time to go down the country thing is rearing its head again.
It's time to stop living in the past. It's no good for anyone.
What I meant to post about was my progress with NaNoWriMo but I'm finding that my blogging topics are getting a little hard to control. Much as my novel is getting a little hard to control too...
Thus far, I've managed to keep up with most of the word count. I've fallen behind a little in the last couple of days however. My mind just hasn't been in it. I don't know why really. It's just difficult to focus. I guess it's the only thing I've really had to focus on since my gran died and I'm just struggling with it.
To be honest I'm just struggling generally. Life is fucking hard. It should come with a manual...
In lieu of a manual, I'm going to stick with this blog. And writing. A bit of escapism always helps.
When I was on WordPress, I posted every day for
I left the WordPress blog for a few reasons. I wanted a fresh start. I wanted a bit of privacy (ironic, I know). I wanted to get rid of a follower troll. I hated the new layout. The list goes on...
I spent a few minutes going back over my WordPress blog when I wrote this post. While it was only two years ago, it feels like a lifetime. I am nothing like who I was in so many ways. I mean, I haven't changed a lot but, especially since starting the meds and getting therapy, I'm just different somehow. Sometimes it's fairly obvious but at others it's sort of intangible.
I guess it's a good thing. Sometimes I feel like I haven't got much of an identity, much of a personality, but I know that that's not really true.
What's a shame though, is everything that I've lost. The friends I've moved on from or the friends who've moved on from me. It's sad but I suppose it's just the way life is. People grow apart. Especially when they're living in different cities, doing different things, hanging out with different people. There's always more that can be done to stop it happening. I could call more, text more, message more. But so could they. I imagine they've been busy. But so have I. It's no one's fault, not really. But it's still sad.
I imagine, with a few of these cases, that everything could be fine if we could just hangout a few times. Unfortunately, that's unlikely to be a thing in the near future. That old lack of money and time to go down the country thing is rearing its head again.
It's time to stop living in the past. It's no good for anyone.
"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live." - J. K. Rowling.Well that escalated quickly!
What I meant to post about was my progress with NaNoWriMo but I'm finding that my blogging topics are getting a little hard to control. Much as my novel is getting a little hard to control too...
Thus far, I've managed to keep up with most of the word count. I've fallen behind a little in the last couple of days however. My mind just hasn't been in it. I don't know why really. It's just difficult to focus. I guess it's the only thing I've really had to focus on since my gran died and I'm just struggling with it.
To be honest I'm just struggling generally. Life is fucking hard. It should come with a manual...
In lieu of a manual, I'm going to stick with this blog. And writing. A bit of escapism always helps.
Racial Profiling
*Check out this here blog post: it inspired me to write my own take, though sheltered, on the views that are explored in this issue at this time.*
As you may or may not have heard, a young woman was murdered at the beginning of November. Now I know that there are likely many other more pressing news stories and other tragic events and I am, by no means, belittling them. I just simply feel that this news story has a prominent message on our society and the way we think.
Renisha McBride, 19, was shot in the face and killed after a car accident.
What actually occurred here is unclear at the moment. Some reports say that the girl was going door to door asking for help, others say she was trying to get home. Almost all of them point out that she was a black girl in a predominantly white neighbourhood where black people shouldn't be seen after sunset.
That is what I want to talk about.
The shooter claims that he thought that someone was breaking into the house and also that his 12 gauge shotgun 'discharged accidentally'.
Now, setting aside the fact that I find that very hard to believe indeed, I want to talk about the fact that nothing has been done.
The white man that shot Renisha, while he has been spoken to by the police, remains free to go about his life. Surely he should be in custody? Or, at very least, be under house arrest? Or something, anything at all, that isn't just free to go about his day to day, his normal business.
The fact that these towns, districts, counties, exist where people of a certain race, be it black, white, asian, can't be seen after dark for fear of their lives is terrible! It's archaic! It's something that I'd expect to see either in the deep south in the 1930s or in Germany in the 1940s or somewhere in the 3rd World that is ruled by suspicion and superstition. It is most certainly not something that should be happening in America. Or England. Or anywhere for that matter.
I grew up in a fairly rough area. Now 'rough' in England, in the North-East, is starkly different from 'rough' in London, or Libya, or southern America. But all the same, if someone was trying to break into our house, my step-dad had a large stick, sort of like a baseball bat in size, shape and weight, and I know that, on more than one occasion, he has chased someone down the street with it. Guns are not widely available in England like they are in America. We just don't have those laws but, similarly, we don't seem to need them.
Now I'm not sure if it's just me being naive but while our justice system leaves a lot to be desired - and that's a post for another time - our police don't need to gun people down to be effective. England has one of the lowest gun homicide rates in the world. Because we don't have guns.
The solution to stopping gun crime is not to give more people guns. If there's a shooting in a school, the way to remedy that is not to give the security guards guns or hire more armed security but to take the guns away! I don't see how that's so difficult!
As for racism and racists? I genuinely believe that this is a real flaw in society. Anyone who believes that skin colour has an effect on how a person can work or learn or be a human is flawed beyond measure. Yes, skin colour can define a person. It can be something to be proud of. It can give you an identity, a home, a sense of belonging. Most black people would probably like to be seen as black people, whether that's Nigerian, Jamaican, Caribbean, and so on, much in the same way that white people want to be seen as white people be that English, Irish, American, European.
I'm a white girl, I don't want to be seen for anything other than I am. I have Nigerian family - lots and lots of Nigerian family - they are so incredibly proud of their culture and heritage. I can't imagine it being taken away from them.
Everyone wants to be seen for who they are. They don't want to be pigeon-holed into something that they're not because it fits a viewpoint better. Just in the same way that it's wrong and illogical to discriminate against eye-colour and hair colour, such is it wrong to discriminate where skin colour is involved.
Now I thought, with the election of President Obama, that America was streaking forwards where race issues were concerned but now it feels worse than it has in a long time. People are segregating themselves and others are just letting it happen.
The white, middle-class politician, whether male or female, will never understand issues of race in the same way that a working class black man or woman will. They will never feel racism in the same way, every day of their lives. They will always have the opportunity to walk away. To make it stop. To change. They can support people speaking out against racism but they cannot do it themselves. What they say will never be as powerful as what someone who has lived it will say.
Renisha McBride was murdered, unlawfully. As yet, no justice has been given.
As you may or may not have heard, a young woman was murdered at the beginning of November. Now I know that there are likely many other more pressing news stories and other tragic events and I am, by no means, belittling them. I just simply feel that this news story has a prominent message on our society and the way we think.
Renisha McBride, 19, was shot in the face and killed after a car accident.
What actually occurred here is unclear at the moment. Some reports say that the girl was going door to door asking for help, others say she was trying to get home. Almost all of them point out that she was a black girl in a predominantly white neighbourhood where black people shouldn't be seen after sunset.
That is what I want to talk about.
The shooter claims that he thought that someone was breaking into the house and also that his 12 gauge shotgun 'discharged accidentally'.
Now, setting aside the fact that I find that very hard to believe indeed, I want to talk about the fact that nothing has been done.
The white man that shot Renisha, while he has been spoken to by the police, remains free to go about his life. Surely he should be in custody? Or, at very least, be under house arrest? Or something, anything at all, that isn't just free to go about his day to day, his normal business.
The fact that these towns, districts, counties, exist where people of a certain race, be it black, white, asian, can't be seen after dark for fear of their lives is terrible! It's archaic! It's something that I'd expect to see either in the deep south in the 1930s or in Germany in the 1940s or somewhere in the 3rd World that is ruled by suspicion and superstition. It is most certainly not something that should be happening in America. Or England. Or anywhere for that matter.
I grew up in a fairly rough area. Now 'rough' in England, in the North-East, is starkly different from 'rough' in London, or Libya, or southern America. But all the same, if someone was trying to break into our house, my step-dad had a large stick, sort of like a baseball bat in size, shape and weight, and I know that, on more than one occasion, he has chased someone down the street with it. Guns are not widely available in England like they are in America. We just don't have those laws but, similarly, we don't seem to need them.
Now I'm not sure if it's just me being naive but while our justice system leaves a lot to be desired - and that's a post for another time - our police don't need to gun people down to be effective. England has one of the lowest gun homicide rates in the world. Because we don't have guns.
The solution to stopping gun crime is not to give more people guns. If there's a shooting in a school, the way to remedy that is not to give the security guards guns or hire more armed security but to take the guns away! I don't see how that's so difficult!
As for racism and racists? I genuinely believe that this is a real flaw in society. Anyone who believes that skin colour has an effect on how a person can work or learn or be a human is flawed beyond measure. Yes, skin colour can define a person. It can be something to be proud of. It can give you an identity, a home, a sense of belonging. Most black people would probably like to be seen as black people, whether that's Nigerian, Jamaican, Caribbean, and so on, much in the same way that white people want to be seen as white people be that English, Irish, American, European.
I'm a white girl, I don't want to be seen for anything other than I am. I have Nigerian family - lots and lots of Nigerian family - they are so incredibly proud of their culture and heritage. I can't imagine it being taken away from them.
Everyone wants to be seen for who they are. They don't want to be pigeon-holed into something that they're not because it fits a viewpoint better. Just in the same way that it's wrong and illogical to discriminate against eye-colour and hair colour, such is it wrong to discriminate where skin colour is involved.
Now I thought, with the election of President Obama, that America was streaking forwards where race issues were concerned but now it feels worse than it has in a long time. People are segregating themselves and others are just letting it happen.
The white, middle-class politician, whether male or female, will never understand issues of race in the same way that a working class black man or woman will. They will never feel racism in the same way, every day of their lives. They will always have the opportunity to walk away. To make it stop. To change. They can support people speaking out against racism but they cannot do it themselves. What they say will never be as powerful as what someone who has lived it will say.
Renisha McBride was murdered, unlawfully. As yet, no justice has been given.
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Holy Crap!
Evening folks!
I've just had a wonderful revelation as I loaded up my blogger homepage this evening. As of 7.30pm today, I've had 1,005 views on this blog! Now granted that I've had this site nearly a year now, that doesn't really seem like all that many.
However, nearly a quarter of those views have been in the last 30 days.
30 days!
Now that seems like a canny spike to me. It may well be because I've had a link to my site in a obvious place (not Facebook, which I am contemplating, however).
But anyway, I just wanted to say thank you.
Thank you for making this blog a pleasure to write. For showing that people are at least vaguely interested in what I have to say. I'd love some comments that were more substantial than my 'posted to Google+' ones that happen automatically to every blog I post when I post it but not to worry! These things will come in time, I don't doubt.
I'm going to get back to NaNoWriMo now, I've still got a couple of hundred words to write before midnight to keep up with my word total. This is the first time I've managed to pretty much keep up the entire way through the month - I know it's only the 12th but still. That's a big achievement for me!
Thanks again, for being awesome! I'll do a proper post once I've hit 20k in NaNo which should be in a couple of hours.
Until then, au revoir!
I've just had a wonderful revelation as I loaded up my blogger homepage this evening. As of 7.30pm today, I've had 1,005 views on this blog! Now granted that I've had this site nearly a year now, that doesn't really seem like all that many.
However, nearly a quarter of those views have been in the last 30 days.
30 days!
Now that seems like a canny spike to me. It may well be because I've had a link to my site in a obvious place (not Facebook, which I am contemplating, however).
But anyway, I just wanted to say thank you.
Thank you for making this blog a pleasure to write. For showing that people are at least vaguely interested in what I have to say. I'd love some comments that were more substantial than my 'posted to Google+' ones that happen automatically to every blog I post when I post it but not to worry! These things will come in time, I don't doubt.
I'm going to get back to NaNoWriMo now, I've still got a couple of hundred words to write before midnight to keep up with my word total. This is the first time I've managed to pretty much keep up the entire way through the month - I know it's only the 12th but still. That's a big achievement for me!
Thanks again, for being awesome! I'll do a proper post once I've hit 20k in NaNo which should be in a couple of hours.
Until then, au revoir!
Monday, 11 November 2013
Vegetarian Fish n Chips and StayClassy
Now as you may or may not already know, I'm vegetarian. (No, I'm not a member of PETA and, as an organisation, they disgust me).
Now since going veggie 18 months ago, I've found it pretty easy. My partner's vegetarian, so that helps a lot, and before the switch, I never really ate a lot of meat. The only thing that I ever really 'missed' was salmon. I only ever ate salmon maybe once every two months (or less) when we went out for sushi and even then, I'd have maybe one or two pieces of salmon sashimi and that'd be it.
I always ate a lot of fish, when I ate meat but, like I said, it wasn't a big miss. Occasionally I had fish and chips cravings when I passed a chippy but that was it. I always loved battered cod from the chippy and I think I always will think fondly of it, particularly since it was locally and ethically sourced.
However, a while back, like 16 months ago, I discovered vegan fish n chips at Jack Sprats at the top of Chillingham Road. Sadly, Jack Sprats has now closed down but the craving for vegan rich n chips has not gone away. This led me to do a bit of internet trawling until I found these beauties:
Now since going veggie 18 months ago, I've found it pretty easy. My partner's vegetarian, so that helps a lot, and before the switch, I never really ate a lot of meat. The only thing that I ever really 'missed' was salmon. I only ever ate salmon maybe once every two months (or less) when we went out for sushi and even then, I'd have maybe one or two pieces of salmon sashimi and that'd be it.
I always ate a lot of fish, when I ate meat but, like I said, it wasn't a big miss. Occasionally I had fish and chips cravings when I passed a chippy but that was it. I always loved battered cod from the chippy and I think I always will think fondly of it, particularly since it was locally and ethically sourced.
However, a while back, like 16 months ago, I discovered vegan fish n chips at Jack Sprats at the top of Chillingham Road. Sadly, Jack Sprats has now closed down but the craving for vegan rich n chips has not gone away. This led me to do a bit of internet trawling until I found these beauties:
- Vegan Fish n Chips with halloumi
- Vegan Fish n Chips with tofu
- Vegan Fish n Chips also with tofu (and quinoa)
To say that I was excited to try them out would be an understatement. I'm going to buy some tofu tomorrow night and give the second one a try this week. I'll let you know how it goes.
In the meantime, NaNoWriMo's going really well and I'd be honoured if you could take a look at Newcastle's StayClassy page (and maybe even sponsor us too!). The OLL's a great cause, bringing literacy and creative writing to underprivileged communities around the world. So thanks in advance, for perusing it.
I'm going to get back to writing now. Have a nice night/day wherever you are!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)