Always Learning

February 8, 2016 ~ Sue ~ 1 Comment

There is a problem with education in this country. It has the habit of ruining things which a lot of pupils cam be passionate about. I know that when I was younger, I lost my love of reading, after being forced to write laborious essays and questions on books read during class. I think it was the idea of constantly having my thoughts on novels that I loved critiqued, really sucked any joy out of the reading process for me.

Over time, my love for reading anything and everything came back to me. I found that I loved reading different types of writing, from formal articles on science to trashy magazines. I love the variety that can be created by the written word.

As I have gotten older, I have discovered that I do love to learn new things. It was just the formal setup of school, that didn’t agree with me. The biggest problem for me, was, as mentioned above, the constant testing. The constant nagging that you weren’t good enough, just ruined that period of my life. I was beginning to struggle with my mental health, and my grades started to suffer when I couldn’t actually use the things I loved to relax, because I was getting assessed on them

Now my mental health is a lot better these days, I am trying to make the best of things and try to learn more. I have found a service called Future Learn, which provides free courses online. The courses run from a few weeks, to a couple of months, and are run with the help of many universities from all over the world. The course that I have signed up for, is Community Journalism, which is a 5 week course run by Cardiff University. The course has a variety of steps for every participant to complete every week, with a final test and the option to get a certificate upon completion. The best thing about Future Learn is that there is a wide variety of topics, something for everybody. You can also communicate with people also participating in the course, which means I have the ability to talk to people all over the world. It’s great.

So, if you are interested in a topic that you would like to study into further, but you maybe don’t have the money to enroll in a course, don’t have the time to study full-time or just want to learn a bit more about something. I recommend that everyone pops onto Future Learn and has a look around and see if there is anything you fancy. Because education is about enlightenment, not examinations.

How I relax

September 3, 2015September 2, 2015 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

I am a total stress-head about a lot of what happens every day. I can completely panic unnecessarily over nothing. I try to find one way to relax every d ay. Here is a few of my favourite things that helps me relax a little.

1) Listening to a random album whilst I travel on the bus home. Staring out the window and listening to some cheesy music really helps me relax. Any stress that I have felt over the day just melts away, and my mood is totally uplifted.

2) A hot bubble bath is also something that has become a regular occurrence for me. Because I work on my feet, and can easily walk over 5 miles every day. It is something that is good for my health, but can sometimes hurt my feet and legs. I get tendonitis, have done since I was a teenager, and that means that it doesn’t take much for my body to start hurting and swelling up. A bath is good, because it soothes my muscles, and makes it a lot easier for sleeping. If I don’t have a bath when in pain, I can’t sleep at night, which just leads to other issues.

3) I never used to watch much TV, as it bores me. If I start to watch a series, I always forget a part, and then get lost. So I don’t watch a lot when I am on my own. However, after a long day at work, I have grown to like sitting with other members of my family watching random TV. I think it is the companionship that relaxes me, the fact that I am not having to be on my own.

4) If I wake up in a bad mood, which happens more than I’d like to admit, a walk in the fresh air can make me feel better. It doesn’t have to be a long walk, just a nip round the block can be enough to get the blood pumping and motivate me for the day. I also love walking down to the sea, which is right next to the town where I live. I like sitting looking into the water, and looking across the Forth towards Edinburgh. I find the sound and smell of the sea very relaxing.

5)If it is sunny there is nothing more relaxing that reading a book in the garden. It is one of the things I love most about summer, it being warm enough to sit outside. It doesn’t have to be my garden, I’ll walk down the local park, or even just find a bench to read on. It helps block out everyone around me, and chills me out, especially if it is a good book.

In the world we live in, there is pressure everywhere, so it is important to find ways to escape from those pressures. But different people find different things relaxing. So, what do you do when you need to chill out?

Having Fun Isn’t Hard, When You Have A Library Card

August 17, 2015August 17, 2015 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Nothing beats reading a new book, particularly when the sun is out and you have a cool drink in your hand. That is what I have been doing today and it is my kind of heaven. A playlist of favourite songs in the background as my bare feet play with the grass in the garden. It’s relaxing and is always when I read the most.

The thing is, you can’t simply purchase every book that sparks your interest. I, for one, don’t have the financial standings to get EVERY book I want. Which is depressing. I have started avoiding book shops unless I have £30 or so to spend, because I have no restraint. Seriously, it’s like I have no control. But to quench my thirst for new reads, I head to the library.

I have grown up using my local library, from researching local history for school projects, to using the free internet when I didn’t have it at home. I frequently rent out books, where I find I am more varied in my selections. There’s no worry if you don’t like a story, because you haven’t paid your hard earned cash on it. It has made me a bit more adventurous, as my library tries to stock Scottish authors, something that wouldn’t stick out so much in Waterstones or the supermarket.

Every town around here has a library, which has become important parts of local life. Where people who don’t have computers can access the Internet and connect with relatives or find jobs. There are story time groups and reading challenges for kids. It really is my favourite place. And it really opens up the world for everyone, and it costs nothing. And, let’s be honest, how much stuff is free these days? If you are a bookworm, like me, I recommend checking out your local library and select a random book.

You might be surprised.

(Not) Following Instructions

April 26, 2014April 24, 2014 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

I like to think I am a very independently minded person, in that I am willing to go down a different path, if I feel it will work for me. I always have been a little like that. Did what I wanted to do, despite what other people would do. I’d spend my summers reading library books, as well as playing outside with friends. From an early age, I seemed to realis that ‘a little bit of everything’ is a good thing. So I would try new things, as well as doing my favourite things. The problem with trying something new, is that you have to learn the best way to do it, and this can sometimes be where I fall a bit flat.

If I get instructions for something, I tend to skim through and try to pick the bits that I deem the most important. This is, as I have mentioned before, because I am lazy. I don’t want to spend any longer on something than necessary. I like a good ol’ quick fix. Sometimes it works. I do what ever I need done, and there are no problems. However, a lot of the time something doesn’t work. And you’d think I would have learned something over my 30 years of life, on to at least read instructions properly. But I haven’t.

I am sure that everyone has this one character flaw, that means that they do the same thing wrong over and over again. Reading instructions is mine. I seem to think I know what I need to do, before I even glance at the instructions. This seems bizarre, when I am writing it down like this, because if I knew what to do, then why have the instructions? What I think I know, and what I don’t know are two different things. As a person, living in an age where I can Google any question I have from my phone, wherever I am. Information is everywhere. And as such, I think it may make people think they know ‘it all’, when the actually know very little. And I feel this ‘knowlege bravado’ is what makes me rush through instructions and trying to learn. It is something that annoys me, because if I read things properly, it would probably take less time that having to re-read things because of inadequate skimming.

An example of this is that I recently decided to sell my old phone to a phone recycling website, so I can get a bit of cash. Great idea, right? I received a box with instructions on preparing your phone for delivery. The instructions was two sided, which I would have noticed if I had taken my time. I read one side, which showed how to wipe all the data from your mobile phone, and then send it. Which I did? What I had missed was that you also had to remove the device from your online cloud account. I only know this, because I received an email from the company telling me to remove the phone from my account. So I have had to take time tonight, after work, to find my account and remove the device as requested. And the disturbance to my evening, is no-one’s fault but my own.

So learning how to follow instructions needs to be on my to-do list. Not that anything on that list is getting done. Am I the only one who doesn’t read instructions properly?

Reading Material Abuse

October 2, 2011October 2, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

I got a little bit of stick today. It was because I bought Company magazine.

For those outwith the UK, or who are unfamiliar with the publication, it is a ‘Women’s Lifestyle’ magazine. Now a lot of these magazine’s get a lot of abuse for the images they portray to women, with the unrealistic body images they promote, etc. To be honest, one look at me in my Asda jeans and Avenged Sevenfold shirt, I think you would know it isn’t the fashion topic, per say, that I am interested.

It is the articles. Being a person who has become so in love with writing over the years, I find that it is for my own good that in take in a variety of styles of writing. Because, as much as I don’t want to admit to myself, this conversational manner that I have going on, is not for everyone. But that is fine, everyone has different tastes and topics of interest, which is what makes everything so interesting. And is also why I do read Company magazine.

It is one of the cheaper ‘glossies’ on the news-stand, and it, like me, tries to have a very conversational tone for their reader to enjoy. I know that I like reading this style of writing, because it helps me feel… settled, I guess. I think that it is because there is no force in what is in front of you, just a display of opinion, that is worded like it is a chat you are having with a friend. I feel that this takes out any confrontation, and makes it easier to accept the opinion being put across. If you are too forceful with opinion, then it can come across like you are looking for an argument. Which, to me, is not what writing is about. Yes, show opinion, but don’t try to force what you feel on others.

It just comes off as rude, obnoxious, and to be honest, does not always provide you with an audience. If people think you are trying to be too ‘Little Miss Dictatorship’. then you won’t get support, interest, and people may glance, but they will stop reading. Or they will read on, and then just send you abuse over it. Which, trust me, is not worth it, no matter how good your intentions may be. People can’t always pick up intended tone through text, so if you go for the conversational style, it will come across as more welcoming and friendly.

But I try to read a variety of material, all written in different styles. Music articles are written completely different to a Victorian novel, or even a financial broadsheet. The writing style is always appropriate for it’s intended audience. So if you can distinguish the differences, then it helps you write an article aiming at the right audience. So don’t belittle someone, just because they wish to open themselves up to different styles, these are the people who should be honoured. For not being afraid, for being open-minded, and for doing what they want, despite the uniqueness of what they do.

This has come off almost tutorial like, especially the end. Maybe I haven’t mastered tone as well as I had hoped. Practice is needed.

Very Boring

July 16, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Do I seem interesting?

With the immense time I put in to being an internet addict, probably not. Well, a little lie there, I actually find myself very interesting. I love my patterns of reading, blogging and TV. I say TV, because now my Sky+ is working properly mixed with Sky working on Xbox again, I have started watching a lot of TV. Most of it is The Gilmore Girls, but still, good quality, healthy TV.

The TV shows I like have to have good dialog and well written and developed characters. I like the fact that you can judge a character, because you have come to know their personality. I think it comes from a life a bookworm, where I did nothing but read for days on end. Not much has changed really, accept now, I tend to use writing to express myself more. It seems rather logical putting my loves for reading and writing together, but it didn’t happen that naturally. I liked to do things on my own, and write because I wanted to. When school became about essays and exams, it stopped being about writing for fun. It started to have a purpose. A purpose which was that I was writing for a meaningless grade.

That sounds bad. Grades aren’t meaningless. But I put a lot of love into what I wrote, and I didn’t like that it was graded and treating like a piece of crap, where all the feeling was sucked out of any piece, just so that the flaws (mostly in grammar) could be picked at. It was a bit of a change in things. Writing at school, became less a labour of love, and more a dementor. (5 points for HP reference.) And it made me think, ‘why’. Why did I have to put so much of ‘me’ into things, just for it to be torn to shreds because of my technical ability.

Through writing on my own, on blogs, etc, I have bettered myself in my grammar. I have become a better writer, but that is through reading a lot of novels, and writing a lot of pieces on other sites. Writing blogs has helped me a lot, in being an aide to help me find the words I need to express myself. The fact that I can put my thoughts across, and do it in such a way (I hope) people can pick up on what I am like, and how I feel. And that is a spiritual thing. The fact that you can connect to so many people, where age and country bare no significance.

Some say I am boring, and lead a boring life. I ask them, what do you do that gives you passion? What do you do, that makes you happy to be alive? What do you do to communicate with like-minded individuals? The internet helps me achieve all that and more, people only mock because they don’t know how to do what you do.

I Walk An Empty Road

October 21, 2010October 21, 2010 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

I like to think myself as an independent person. I like to spend time on my own, be it reading, watching TV shows or just thinking about things.

This wasn’t something I just stumbled on, this is something that was thrusted on me during High School, where I would spend my times after school in solitary confinement. I was not one of these people with loads of friends, who went out drinking from when they became a teenager. I was happy, sitting listening to music, reading a book.

Neither my brother or sister ever liked reading, and yet is something that I am so passionate about. It’s strange how that happens. I am polar-opposite to my brother sister, never been popular or interested in fashion. I just like what I like. *Shrugs* It’s the best way to be. I know that I love reading a book, that just takes me away into another world. I think it also helps that I am a total dreamer. I fantasize about so many different things, like what would we do under zombie attack.

Come on, that stuff is important. It is.

I guess, being a lonely soul, I’d like to say I don’t have the need to please people. But I do. We need human contact, its something we crave. The approval of others, as if it makes our own existence, that much more worthwhile. It’s utter shit, of course. But someone approving what you do, will always make you feel better. So is everything that you do, there to gain approval of others?

It sounds strange, but because I am pretty forthcoming with my theories and how I live, I do get people saying ‘I wish I could be like that’. Although I should just say, ‘well, do what you believe in’, I end up with this warmth. I think it is nice to know that not everybody thinks I am a babbling idiot, which to be honest, I am. But, it’s like someone giving you moral support. Its nice! And it is really comforting. That’s not why I do what I do, but it does make you think if we subconsciously go searching for approval.

Hmmmm……