Category Archives: General Ranting

Karma: A Beginners Guide

Posted on by under General Ranting

karma-a-beginners-guide

Karma is a wonderful thing. I don’t believe it’s the universe rewarding good deeds with more good stuff. But I very much believe that you get what you give and it’s other people that give it back.

No one is perfect. Anyone that claims they are is wrong. No matter how wonderful I think my friends are, they’re not perfect. I’m far from it myself. Even Mary Poppins wasn’t perfect. Practically perfect but not perfect. It’s difficult to be perfect. Even the pursuit of perfection is hard and ultimately fruitless. But it’s easy to not be an arse. And when you’re not an arse, people will be nicer to you and opportunities will be easier to come by.

So here are my five top tips for Karma.

1. Be Genuine

When people can see that you’re genuinely trying to help they will appreciate it more. It’s so so obvious when you’re doing good things just to be praised. It’s cringeworthy to see people doing stuff and patting themselves on the back. If you’re going to help someone, make sure you want to do it. Half arsed help could potentially do more damage than good.

2. Be Humble

Following on nicely from being genuine, be humble. There’s literally nothing worse than people patting themselves on the back and thinking they’re hot shit because they shared a link on Facebook about some poorly sourced information that sounds like it should be true and progressive. Bill and Melinda Gates (along with tons of other people) helped to virtually eradicate polio. How often do you hear them going to talks and saying “Yeah, I basically eradicated polio, no biggie.”? You don’t. Humble is good. Humble brags aren’t.

3. Don’t Promise More Than You Can Do

Doing good is wonderful. Promising to do good is also good as long as you can do it. If you’re a graphic designer with no other talents, do not offer to build a wall in someones garden. If you can’t do something, don’t do it. I’m not saying just walk away and leave it at that. You can still support that person to find the help they need.

4. Take The Opportunity To Be Kind

If you see someone in need of support, offer that support. Simple really. If they accept your help, you’ll be able to do some good for someone. If they say no, wish them well and leave them to it. The gesture will have been appreciated. Sometimes you don’t even see that someone needs help. There is always an opportunity to be kind. Always.

5. Enjoy Being Kind

You should enjoy being kind to others. It’s a wonderful feeling for you and it’s a fantastic feeling for others. As mentioned in my post absolutely years ago, you can’t be selfless all the time. It’s okay to be selfish sometimes and it’s okay to enjoy what you do, even if it’s meant to be a selfless act. Also, the more you enjoy what you do, the more you’ll do it and in turn, the more people will want to be kind to you.

If you follow these top 5 tips to Karma, if you’re kind, genuine and humble, Karma and the people around you will be kind to you.

What are your top tips to make the most of the swings and roundabouts? 🙂

A

 

 

“Not Really Such Thing As Racism, Just Opinion”

Posted on by under General Ranting, Uncategorized

I can’t believe I’m saying this but “Not really such a thing as racism, just opinion” is a thing that an actual human being said on my Facebook. Racism doesn’t exist apparently. We’re all being super sensitive, we’re weak minded and we’re pathetic people for bitching and moaning about being treated differently.

I made a couple of posts recently about how certain races are represented in mainstream media on my Facebook and one on my blog here. I am by no means an expert on race. All I know is that it’s pretty obvious when people are being belittled, ridiculed and made to look like lesser human beings. Sometimes it’s outright disrespect. Other times it’s veiled as a political piece. The shitstorm on my personal Facebook started when I posted about how angry I was about this particular piece of news racist bullshit. The same person who denied that racism exists said that just after having said “I was hoping you were Asian and Black so that we would have two reasons to discriminate against you”.

If you really want to watch it, I’ll oblige. I warn you though. It’s garbage. It’s not news.

All you have to do is look at the comments on the video to see that it’s offended people but there are somehow also a shit ton of people who for some reason feel the need to defend this shit. If the people this is about are offended, take a fucking hint. It’s fucking disgusting.

Of course, somehow racists found their way to my Facebook post (even though I don’t know any of them) and started mouthing off that I was being overly sensitive and a whiny, weak-minded bitch. Apparently, we’d all be better off if we’d (people of colour [POC]) stop being such pathetic excuses for human beings. POC have spent hundreds of years being raped, murdered and having their land, resources and cultures stolen and are STILL having to prove themselves to not be inferior. This isn’t just about Chinese people either, Black people across the world, Latinx people, Hispanic people, people from the Middle East, East Asians, the native people of countries like America and Australia. This kind of shit happens to all of us and it’s not okay. We won’t be the quiet subservient POC that you expect us to be.

My original post was this:

Karate is Japanese, they went to a martial arts centre with a south Korean flag (amongst others, but not Chinese), Mr Miyagi isn’t Chinese, this American dude is a piece of shit. Respect to the last guy. He knew what was going on. Fox news and Watters/Oreilly are saying it was all in good fun. How about I take the piss out of American stereotypes. They’re fat, white, racist scumbags who murder and incarcerate thousands of black people every year and think they’re better than everyone else. Not nice is it? Fuck it, it’s all in good fun.

There are tons of other things I could list about that video that are very obviously racist. I won’t bother though. We’d be here for days. After all the comments on Facebook from random ALL WHITE Americans, my friends and I tried to inform them with logic, facts, statistics and literal dictionary definitions and some times even tried to appeal to their sense of empathy. Well played, Alex. Empathy? These people? No chance. They also told me words don’t matter. Walk up to a Black person and call them the N word. See if it matters then. People get brave on the internet, in person, I highly doubt they’d be so willing to say the kind of shit they said to us last night.

However, I do want to say thank you to all of my friends, of all races and ethnicities, who argued back with these random racists, who have shown support on my statuses following the incident, and have sent me messages, texts, calls etc. to make sure that I’m not too upset and have sent me real message of support. POC can speak for themselves but my friends and allies from white communities help so much by helping to tackle ignorance and hatred in their communities. I appreciate you all and I’m proud to know you all.

One friend asked me if I’m on some sort of racist watchlist. I have no idea if I am, but if my speaking up about race is getting me on racist watchlists, I must be doing something right eh?

Racism is real and is a serious problem that is literally killing POC. Don’t forget it, don’t let it happen, don’t stay quiet.

A

P.S. I fully expect some racists to come on here and comment and bitch and moan too. You will be blocked, your comments deleted and your existence forgotten.

Culture, Identities and Representation.

Posted on by under General Ranting

So while I’ve been off sick I’ve had lots of time to think. Lots of time to try to understand the world, discover things in books, in pop culture and in everything else, I’ve been thinking a lot about my own culture, identities and representation. This will be a different kind of post (and significantly longer too) so let me know if you want to see more of this kind of post.

I, along with many others, have grown a little tired of being so woefully under-represented in mainstream media. I’m not just talking about Chinese people, I’m talking about people of colour in general. Obviously, being Chinese, I’m going to focus mainly on representation of Chinese and Oriental people in comic books and also mainstream movies, anime etc.

For those of you who know me, you know I’m a bit of a nerd. When I say a bit of a nerd I mean I’m a complete nerd. at least 50% of the content on my bookshelf is in comic form (with many, many, more digital comics) and a few years ago I picked up a Bruce Lee comic book. It was a 6 issue mini series about one of the most influential Hong Kong Chinese figures of modern times. A man known for, not only, his martial arts prowess and movies but his philosophies and incredibly deep insights into humanity, love, life, perseverance and many other topics. This comic was published between 1995-1996 and guess who wrote it? Some white dude. Okay, Mike Baron. Respected in his field, award winning and I’m sure very talented but have a look at some of the stuff Bruce was saying. “I’ve got to check my homeboys”, “Shelley, baby, sweetheart”.

You would think that such a well respected man would be represented better, even in the 90’s. It’s tough to effectively represent Chinese people, even public figureheads like Bruce Lee, without any f***ing Asian people in it. Literally everyone behind the comic. Not a single Chinese person. How often do you find the N word in comic books? Even in the 90’s. But Chink? Apparently no problem there.

Thankfully, we’ve come a long way. That’s not to say that there’s not lots more work to be done. We’ve got Shang-Chi now who, despite being the stereotypical master of kung fu, is a total BAMF. (He was also created by a pair of white dudes, Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin). We also have Amadeus Cho. A young Korean super genius who’s currently serving as the Totally Awesome Hulk. He was created by Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa, a Canadian Japanese dude who does some beautiful art work. The Cassandra Cain Batgirl is a total badass too.

On the flip side we have characters like Wong. He’s the “sidekick and manservant/valet” to Dr Strange created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1963. We have amazing Japanese anime films like Ghost in the Shell, which influenced the Matrix films, who are getting Hollywood adaptations where the main character is being played by Scarlett Johannson. We have Emma Stone playing a Hawaiian/Asian character in Aloha. Tilda Swinton playing the Ancient One, a Tibetan master of magic. The list goes on. So my request to white writers, if you’re going to create Asian characters, or use Asian characters, plots, adapt films, at the very least, let us represent ourselves. This is a great watch:

One of the things that the guy with the dyed grey hair says is that he’s never been described as sexy, or suave, just cute, funny and friendly. Now those words aren’t bad. They’re positive things. But put together like that, it sounds like you’re describing a child. Or a puppy.

Asian men are very very rarely allowed to be sexy or cool. Think Raj from BBT (which is a terrible show anyway) or Mosuka from Dexter, or Han Bryce Lee, the horrifically asexual Asian boss from the awful 2 Broke Girls. Almost anything that Ken Jeong is cast in (he slept with Shirley in Community but that was “disgusting” and used purely to make jokes). Danny Pudi’s Abed is only sexual when he’s playing famous white characters like Don Draper or Han Solo. Masi Oka in Heroes was pretty much asexual apart from that thing with Charlie which was short lived as she was sent to the past and he ended up single for the rest of it while several other white characters somehow had multiple relationships. How many Jackie Chan or Jet Li films end with them “getting the girl”? Don’t even get me started on the older, more outrageous films with Asian characters.

Asian women have it even worse. Lots of Asian women are depicted as being submissive, timid people who dote entirely on their man and are super sexualised and sexually compliant. This is often referred to as the “China Doll” stereotype. On the other hand you have the complete opposite as well the “Dragon Lady” the abrasive, aggressive, opportunistically sexual, gold digger type characters.

Like I said, we’re making progress. Glenn from the Walking Dead is a great character. Anything that Aziz Ansari is in is generally gold. Master of None has some great scenes about being typecast and stereotypes. The New Superman comic (which I’m buying every month) stars Kenan Kong a regular Chinese guy who, so far (I’ve only read #1. #2 is on the way) is a bit of a tool. No kung fu. No super smarts. No stereotypes. Best of all, it’s written by Gene Luen Yang a Chinese-American writer.

One day I’m hoping that campaigns like #StarringJohnCho and #StarringConstanceWu is no longer necessary. There is some incredible work though so check out the hashtags to get a good idea.

So, how can my children or my little cousins to grow up and not adhere to those stereotypes if they don’t get to see people like them in popular culture? Let’s help Asian people get more exposure in the media as regular people rather than the terrible old stereotypes of times gone by.

As mentioned before this is a slightly different kind of post. I don’t write about this stuff often but this is the tip of the ice berg. I’m keen to write more like this. Would you like to see more? Pop in a vote on that poll for me. Agree? Disagree? Pop a comment below.

We need to talk about your kids.

Posted on by under General Ranting, Life, Reflection, Youth

Dear adults,

I’m 24 years old, working at a charity aiming to get more young people involved with social action and I love my job. Outside of work, I try to volunteer as much as I can, I play music, I sing and I try to make people as happy as I can, however I can. I love to learn about science and technology. I’m a smart phone tinkerer and computer enthusiast. I love comic books and I love food, cooking and eating. When I’m not at work I’m an introvert. I’m happy in my own company and big groups of people I don’t know make me extremely anxious. At work, I’m more than happy to make myself look like an asshat so that the people I work with don’t feel the way I feel in new situations.

Your children, your friends children and the children of the people you barely/don’t know are just like me and also completely different. Your kids share a lot of my hopes, dreams and passions and also a whole lot of my fears, worries and anxieties.

I’m writing to you to try to convince you to allow your children to make their own choices in life. Chances are, you’re good parents who only want the best for them. They have unlimited potential that they can only reach if they have someone believes in their vision, their decisions and their passions. I worked with a group yesterday who told me so many stories which inspired me and broke my heart at the same time. They feel pressured to follow traditional education routes when their passions lie in the creative fields, they feel pressured to make money to become “successful”. The men in the room feel like they can’t be themselves, show their emotions and show they care. The women in the room feel like they either have to sit quietly and act “ladylike” or have to shout and be a “bitch” to get their voices heard. But when we debate together with peers, there’s a mutual respect for everyone’s beliefs.

These are the values that you’ve managed to instill in the current generation. But these are also values that we all fail to respect and show. The young adults that we have in this country and all around the world are not the lazy, rude, apathetic people that your peers may paint us to be. We are proud, passionate, creative people who are fixing the problems created by generations past. We don’t care all that much about who caused these problems in the first place. All we care about is that everyone whether they created the problems or not, work together to fix it. They’re doing their bit. What are you doing? Convince your peers to listen to reason. To talk to our young people. Work with us. Respect us. We are well informed. We dig around and find facts that aren’t often reported in traditional media. We’re the experts in the digital age, the age of information and we’re happy to help.

I alone, have thousands of ideas floating in my head. I find it hard to articulate them all in this post. But I can guarantee you, your kids, your friends kids, kids you don’t even know have even more. One of the young people I spoke to yesterday said that we’ve always been told that you need to play the game to change the game. After a little discussion we decided that we’re no longer going to play your games. We’re making our own and it’s about to become very popular. We know full well that there are textbook answers to issues in the world but we’ve read the textbook and clearly they’re not effective. We’re writing a new one. We could use some support.

If, after reading this, you’re not convinced, at the very least, don’t forget that we’re going to be the ones that will be looking after you when you’re old. It’s much much harder to do if we don’t have everything we need to do that.

Yours Sincerely,

Alex Quang

 

Do you have anything you’d like to say to the “adults” of the world? Drop it in the comments and let them know!

#FastForAFriend

Posted on by under #fastforafriend, Change, Eid, General Ranting, Iftar, Islam. Ramadan, Open, People, Religion, Respect, Selflessness

A couple days ago I was talking to a good friend of mine, Uzma, and we were talking about how her Ramadan was going. At the end of our conversation, she challenged me to fast for a day. Today was that day! Last night, I posted a simple Facebook status and a single tweet. The reaction that I got on social media was massive. Tweets of good luck, thanks, prayer and tips on how to get through your first day of fasting. The messages were from strangers, friends of friends and long time friends. I even got a tweet from SuperSaf (one of my favourite YouTube tech reviewers) which was amazing! I had complete strangers tweet me and message me on what Ramadan means to them. The sense of community that I felt from these people has been incredible.

The absolute sheer good, the positivity and the kindness that exudes from the Muslim community is immeasurable. All the time, it’s incredible. Not just during Ramadan. I’ve been invited to iftars by complete strangers on Twitter and Facebook. In Manchester, they’ve been doing huge iftars for the homeless in the centre of town. Selflessness is a huge part of Islam.

I’m not religious and I don’t think I ever will be but I do appreciate the values that Islam and all religions hold and that’s community, peace and justice for all. These last two days I’ve experienced first hand those principles.

The whole point of this exercise was for me to learn more about Ramadan, Islam and the community and hopefully share it with the internet world to disprove all the utter nonsense in the media. The “Muslims” you see terrorising people on TV are absolutely not Muslims. If you really think that those of ISIS represent the majority then please, fast, talk to Muslims in your area, open your mind to what the religion really represents.

I’m going to end it here. I can’t articulate exactly  I’m sleepy, hungry and Uzma has just sent me this:

I’m going to break fast now a little bit early as my food is going cold.

Thank you to the entire Muslim community locally and online for welcoming me into the family. I hope you have an amazing Ramadan and I’ll hopefully be around to celebrate Eid with you all too! 🙂

EDIT: I also want to make sure I send a huge thank you to Zahrah. She looked after me during the day and did a live stream interview with me about Islam and Ramadan.

Diversity City

Posted on by under Chinese, Family, Friends, General Ranting, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Race, Social, Stigma, Stories

I’m very fortunate to live in London (well, the London Borough of Croydon) and I’m so glad that I can look to any corner of my city and see diversity. I don’t just mean race. I mean religion, political views, ethics, gender, sexual orientation. The lot. Being involved in the work that I do is a real insight into how this part of town is run. So many people I know are activists, campaigners, socially and politically aware and active.

It’s great and there’s no doubt about it.

One thing I have noticed though, which upsets me sometimes is that even though our city is so diverse, there’s one group that doesn’t seem to mobilise as much as others. We have a huge feminist movement. A huge LGBTQI movement. A huge black rights movement. A huge immigration movement. But my community, the one I grew up in is no where to be seen and if it can be seen, it’s not been seen by me. Even tonight at the Border Talk event in Vauxhall, I’m pretty sure I was the only Chinese person  here.

I’m Chinese by blood and proud of it. Only in the last few years have I really started to talk about being Chinese and talk about being Chinese. In that time I’ve been so proud. I see the Chinese community taking care of each other like we’re all family. People I don’t even know will support us when/if we ever need it. But we’re not, I don’t feel, fully integrated.


Who’s fault is this? No one’s in particular. We’re partly to blame, of course, but so is society. I’m not saying we have it hard as a people but we’re still subjected to stereotypes and unintentional racism. I can’t count how many times I’ve been asked “do you live above a takeaway?”, “do you know martial arts?”, “so, who would win in a fight between Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee?”. People actively avoid saying the “N” word but the words “chink” and “yellow” are still banded around like nothing.

We’re often stereotyped as the people that work in takeaways. The people that sell pirate DVDs. The people that speak with that hilarious accent. We’re good at maths and all play the violin and piano. Well, no, for a start. But I get it. A lot of Chinese people do work in takeaways. But why is that?

You tell a child enough times as a society that they’re the spawn of Satan and they’ll believe it. You tell the Chinese community, directly or indirectly that they’re best placed working in a takeaway, where do you think they’re going to end up?

We’re often seen as the meek, mild people who are happy to get on with our work in the classroom quietly but that’s not all we are. We’re proud people who value community and we are so much more than our race. We are youth workers, graphic designers, carers, creators, writers, philosophers, artists, rappers, actors,  and China also happens to be one of the fastest developing economies in the world.

So my message is twofold here.

1. Society needs to acknowledge the Chinese community as more than the people on the other side of the counter when they order their egg fried rice and spring rolls. We are people with stories.

2. As Chinese people, we need to stop letting ourselves be ignored. We need to speak up on the issues that matter to us as British Chinese people and we need to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters here in the UK. This is our home now too, lets look after it.

Yeah, Chinese, and what?

Campaign Bootcamp

Posted on by under Anxiety, Appreciation, Campaign, Campaign Bootcamp, General Ranting, Grateful, Happiness, Health, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Life, Mental Health, Reflection

So for the last two days and for the next four, Campaign Bootcamp is my life. It’s an intensive week long campaign training course. It’s not a cheap thing to do but luckily I managed to get a scholarship to get on the course which means I didn’t have to pay a thing!

Around 225 people applied. People from all ages, races, religions, sexual orientations, genders and even countries have applied and I was one of the 35 people to be selected to be on the course. It’s an amazing group of people who are campaigning and working all across the sector from climate change to immigration. From youth work to positive money. The range
of people who are here is astounding and the skills and knowledge they have is not only impressive, but humbling and somewhat intimidating too.

Luckily everyone is remarkably nice which means that my perception of intimidation from them is all down to my own mindset. For those of you who know me well will know that I kind of hate making new friends and it really does make me feel extremely anxious. As I’m typing this, I’ve briefly retired to my bedroom to listen to music and to relax and calm my nerves. It does almost feel like a shame at the moment that I’m not making the most of the social opportunities here but I’m hoping that my anxiety will subside over the next few days and I can overcome my fear of meeting people!

Day one was all about getting to know one another and trying to make us feel a little more comfortable around each other. While I know that I can chat to people without them turning me away my own nerves and anxiety are currently preventing me from doing so. To a lot of people it’s really easy to just strike up a conversation with people and click with them but for me I find it infinitely more difficult! I have of course spoken to people in group activities and when they talk to me but I have been finding it really tough to approach people, especially since my most recent breakdown. That has left me in a particularly anxious and delicate state but I’m determined to make the most of my opportunity here and not let anxiety hold me back.

Today was day 2 and was all about strategy. It was a very up and down day, my mood was pretty low coming into the day and again, it’s made the social side of things really difficult. I learned plenty and heard a seriously inspiring story from a lady about her experience of surviving a forced marriage and how she dealt with her own depression and anxiety and turned that into various campaigns and powerful articles. What a lady!

My main take away from this so far is that my anxiety is currently debilitating and in turn is greatly affecting my depression but I’m going to make sure that this doesn’t ruin my week. I just have to keep reminding myself of the pride that I have that I made it on to the course, the importance of why I’m here and the appreciation for the opportunity. Don’t waste this opportunity, brain.

A

P.S. Look how nice this place is when it’s sunny!

Kindness Is Key

Posted on by under Change, General Ranting, Happiness, Kindness, Respect, Selfless, Selflessness, Social

As I sit here at work with virtually nothing to do while I’m covering this event, I got to thinking. I’ve reached the ripe old age of 23 and it feels like throughout my very short life, things have gone downhill constantly. Not me. The world. Every day there are more and more conflicts over more and more ridiculous things. Sexism, racism, ageism and all the other “isms” are coming to light and are causing more and more tension between groups.

The issues are becoming common knowledge and the people are becoming more and more angry about it. Some people react to it admirably and try to solve the many problems through peaceful, sensible and responsible means. Others however are getting angry and are generating more and more hate. So what do I think is the key to solving the world’s problems? Simple. It’s a combination of things.

Empathy is essential and knowledge is power. Many people in the UK are getting angry at those bloody immigrants stealing our jobs and our benefits. Working all the jobs whilst also not working at all. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but how much is your opinion really worth if you don’t do any research and refuse to learn, forever remaining ignorant? If you’re pissed off about immigrants, talk to them, calmly. Listen to stories of why they’re here. Learn the difference between asylum seekers and refugees. I’ve used immigration as an example, but the same rules should apply to all other kinds of things (racism, feminism, sexism etc.). Understand other people and be open to listen. Do not pity, just try to understand. Put yourself in their shoes before you make a judgement.

The most important thing in my opinion though, is kindness. Kindness is key!

We’re a species designed to live in groups. We don’t leave our offspring to fend for themselves once they’re born. We also don’t call them our offspring. We congregate in social groups whether in person or online. We’re constantly finding ways to make being a part of a group easier. However, if you’re in a group, you tend only to stick around people who show kindness and those who are unkind to members of the group are shunned and exiled. Why should this be different on a larger scale? If you show kindness on a larger scale, to everyone you meet, bonds form and they form strongly. It creates a chain reaction of kindness and it makes people act differently towards one another.

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/rr6lsTgZKAQ&source=uds

“But Alex, nice guys finish last! What’s the point?”. Welllllllll not quite. Being kind puts people in your corner and people will look out for you. In fact, the guys at ASAP Science have made a video about how nice guys actually finish first! Check it out. Society thrives on kindness. There just simply isn’t enough of it around at the moment. We’re fueled by hate and anger because it sells papers and gets people watching the news. We’re in a virtually endless cycle of anger but it is possible to break out of it. Just be kind and watch how things change for the better!

A

Neglecting Blogs Is Bad For The Soul

Posted on by under General Ranting, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Life, Little Things, Reflection, Social

Again I’ve neglected to write on here recently. I’ve been trying hard to relax and take it easy and completely forgot to blog! I’ve definitely felt a bit of a hole in my weekly schedule without the blog.

So today, I’m going to go back to the idea behind a previous post of mine. Appreciation. I’m going to be writing about the things that I’ve appreciated over the last week or so. These can be the big things like a huge event or the little things like someone smiling at me in the street. So lets get started.

1. My Basic Human Rights

I’m well aware that my family and I aren’t super rich. But we earn and we have everything we need. Food, water and shelter. I’m able to live comfortably with a fair few extra luxuries as well but I never forget how lucky I am to have these things. 
I’m also free to say and do what I like (with the obvious exceptions of murder etc.). People won’t always agree with my opinions but it’s their right not to. I can belong to a faith if I so choose, but at the same time, it’s totally fine if I don’t. 

2. Music

I’ve been diving back into going to gigs recently with tons more to come. There’s nothing better than live music. That feeling of the bass hitting you right in the chest, the anticipation of the act coming on stage, the buzz you get from the crowd. You can’t beat it! Even if I’m not at a gig, I’ve been writing, recording and singing lots of songs. It’s a relaxing task which I can do at home whenever I like! 

3. Science and Technology

There’s no denying that technology is taking over. People are spending more and more time on their phones, computers, tablets and games consoles these days. Scientists have even found that people suffer from lack of concentration and increased anxiety when they’re separated from their phones for even a short amount of time. It’s not all good, but what I do appreciate is the time, energy and effort that goes into developing technology and science. Phones these days have more computing power than the systems used to send humankind to the moon. When I think of the huge steps in innovation that people are achieving these days it fascinates me, especially when we think about the real world applications that are possible!

4. The Tolerance of Society

Another thing that I really have started appreciating is how tolerant people are these days. Sure, in isolated incidents people are intolerant, even with the rise of less tolerant political groups, they’re still outnumbered. I’m also very appreciative of how intolerant people are of bulls***. #FoxNewsFacts took over twitter recently and it showed how people were absolutely unwilling to accept the rubbish “news” that Fox news are spouting. 
Don’t forget to appreciate the little things that happen throughout the week! We’re powered by positivity. 
A

New Year… Old Me?

Posted on by under General Ranting, Happiness, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Life, Time

I’ve been neglecting my blog somewhat recently especially over the Christmas break where I was refusing to do anything at all! But I’m alive and awake again and first things first, happy New Year!

There are a few different things that I’d like to write about this time. First of all a little bit of appreciation for all things 2014. Obviously this is a super short version of things I’m grateful for!

2014

1. Work
There was a point in 2014 where I wasn’t particularly enjoying my work. My depression was kicking my arse and I didn’t feel like I was up to the job. However it’s extremely important for me to recognise that without work, a routine and meeting the people I’m trying to help I wouldn’t be feeling better now and I wouldn’t be enjoying my work! 2015 has me sticking around with work with a new exciting role!

2. Friends
Well, there’s not much I need to say. I have amazing people around me. Not necessarily geographically, but you know what I mean. My friends always always support me through the roughest times and celebrate with me when the good times come! Even the friends I don’t see or speak to very often, whenever I see them, it’s like I saw them yesterday. We can pick off where we left off with no problem whatsoever.

3. Music

Whether it’s listening, gigging or writing music, I feel better when I’m around it. Music is one thing that almost everyone listens to and it’s often one thing that can instantly make people happy and I hope that I can make more people happy with my music!

4. Volunteering

I’m not doing as much as I used to at the moment but the little bits that I do always leaves me feeling great. I get to try new ways to help out the people on the programme and our little gang of mentors. Keeping volunteers motivated has never been easier than when I’ve got my mentors around!

2015

Lots of people talk about turning over a new leaf every New Year. It’s understandable, it’s a symbolic clean slate for the upcoming year. I’m not knocking those who make resolutions, but why do we need to wait for a new year to attempt to better ourselves?
I try my hardest at all times to make myself better than I was yesterday. I don’t want to wait for a new year to do that. Also, nothing that has happened in 2014 will be forgotten! The hard work that I put into 2014 will carry over to 2015 as will all the bad things. To me, there’s no clean slate. That’s not a bad thing though. If you lived 2014 to the fullest, that energy and positivity will carry over to 2015. 
Making a resolution is a great idea. New Years may be a good time to do it, but don’t forget you don’t need a calendar to resolve to do something. If you want to do something, DO IT! Don’t wait for a new year to do it. Just go for it. There’s no better time than the present. (I understand the present is new years day, but you get the gist.)
A