2000 Presents vs 2010 Presents

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and hope everyone didn't overspend! 2011 is soon!

According to a newspaper article I was reading, the most thing children wanted for Christmas this year wasn't dolls or toy cars, but gadgets. The top 3 spots were all Apple products. Is it me, or is children's tastes getting more expensive as the years roll by?

I don't see why a parent would give a child an iPhone. Yes, I can see them giving their child a cheap phone which doesn't cost much and using it mainly for getting in contact with one another but an iPhone? What if the child breaks it? It really ain't that hard, I should know, I've done it. What happens then? You spend a fortune getting it fixed and give it back to them? Children can be really clumsy!

Giving girls dolls seems like a thing of the past now

Its not like they can pay the bills every month and I doubt you could give them a limit on what they can spend each month downloading apps etc. Hell they can hardly afford chocolate! And when are they going to really use it? At school when they're supposed to be working? Not really giving a strong message here!

Parents complain that children should act their age, tell them you only get one childhood and complain that things on TV are unsuitable for children and then give them grown up things like that? It's all a bit silly really.

When I was 10, I got Pokemon cards. Yes it sounds like I should be 100 as it sounds like such an ancient thing to get, but it was only 11 years ago. They may not have had the same features as any piece of technology but they did bring out hours of entertainment. And you could collect hundreds of them for under a fiver. Lose one? Chances were you could find another minutes later. Lose an iPhone and its a costly business.

You can bend them, dunk them in water, even drop them and they'd be fine

I think giving children costly gifts every year is an extremely bad idea. It sends out a bad message and it can make them ungrateful and give them the attitude I want I get. Maybe I'm just old fashioned but if I had kids, I wouldn't give them an iPhone when they're children!

The One Where I Got Locked Out

My flatmates have gone back to the wonderful island of Shetland, leaving me to defend for myself. I have to admit, everything was going smoothly and I was actually enjoying living on my own until today. I locked myself out. The thing was, I knew something like this would happen to and have been reminding myself to double check I had keys. Today, I forgot

Everything was fine until I realised I needed milk. So as I was dashing through the snow (See what I did there :P) I realised I had left my wallet. It was only until I was outside my door when I realised my keys were inside, along with my wallet and mobile. My only possible way to get back into the flat were is Shetland so I was stuck with this little problem.

I knew I couldn't just stand there so I decided now was the best time to meet my neighbours. I tried every door but no-one answered. On the last door, I heard someone inside and not wanting to feel defeated, I knocked very loudly. Luckily, the guy was nothing I imagined (a balding grumpy fat guy) and very generously gave me coffee and let me use his phone to call the landlord.

Of course, this all happened out of hours, so the office was closed. On their little answering machine thing, they left numbers, luckily one of them was for a locksmith. I hadn't considered my luck getting any worse until the guy told me the price, £80 plus VAT to let me back in. And they needed payment on that day in cash.

I didn't have £80 to spare! Luckily the man was nice about it and said they would charge me at a later date and would call me back on that number when he was on his way. So there I was, in a typical boy's flat, trying to find somewhere clean to sit. I was like a UK version of Bree Van De Kamp. Although saying that, they were really nice and asked me if my place was dirty. I replied politely saying sometimes, although what I meant was yer right!

After a few more minutes of conversation, one of the guys had an idea, we could try and break into my flat. They all rushed to find something they could use. Coming out with bits of thin plastic, they made way to my day. I had to admit, I thought they would fail. But they didn't give up, and it worked!

So what have I learned from this experience?
1) Always make sure I have my keys with me BEFORE I leave the house
2) Always dress to impress, don't wear your pyjamas under your clothes, even if I am just nipping to the shops, and
3) Make sure I lock all the locks when I leave the flat/ go to bed, since it's so easy to break in!

And the moral of this story is
Love Thy Neighbour, for you may need them to break into your home!

Santa is....GAY

I saw this and thought I'd reshare. The author makes some interesting points and it does make you think, is our beloved fat man a gay man?

"I hate to be the one to defy sacred myth, but I believe Santa's gay. Christmas is a big, organized, warm, fuzzy, nurturing social deal, and I have a tough time believing a straight man could possibly pull it all off! For starters, think about the planning that goes into an event like Christmas. Even Martha Stewart is envious.

Straight men have day jobs, so they wouldn't have time to stand at the local shopping malls and ring a bell all day. But if you're a gay, out-of-work Actor/Dancer/Waiter it's the perfect gig until you get your big break. Also, if he were straight he would have picked a more masculine animal than the reindeer to get him around, like horses or oxen, but the reindeer just happens to appeal to Santa's inherent sense of grace and beauty. And those names: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen? Fill in the blanks."

"Mrs. Claus has been married to him for eons and he's never fathered a child with her, she's over-weight and still content... Can you say "Fag-hag"? 

Ever thought about the Rudolph story? He's gay too! "All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names. They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games." (as if he wanted to). Isn't Rudolph really a metaphor for the gay child in a straight society anyway? 

Ever ask yourself why fruitcake is the traditional dessert at Christmas time? Well, now you know. And stop pretending you don't like it. Deep down inside, you've always liked fruitcake. 

Other reasons why Santa can't possibly be a straight man: 

* Look at the size of the bag he packs for a one night trip!

* Red velvet, fur collar, black engineer boots... think people!

* Physically he's a wet dream for the Girth and Mirth club and the perfect poster model for GMSMA.

* Gay men have long been using stockings to hide their candy.

* Ho Ho / Homo... a little too similar if you ask me. 

* That long over-night flight around the world taps into the flight attendant gene. And one more thing, did you ever know a straight man named Nicholas? Oh, straight society has tried to butch up his image by calling him St. Nick, but we know better. It's Nicholas, damn it! Ms. Claus if you're nasty."

Merry Christmas! 

Yup, it's still snowing...

On Monday we got the worst snow storm I've seen in a while. It started to snow at 7.30am and didn't stop until 3 in the afternoon and caused chaos to the UK. Everything stopped working, cars were getting stuck, buses weren't going, businesses and schools closed and planes were grounded. I got the lucky task of walking home in the snow. After many slips, falls and cutting myself on the fence, I eventually got home, nearly 3 hours later...

During my walk I noticed how everything seemed more peaceful, even though all the drivers were probably stressed out about driving in the snow. The only good thing about the snow is it makes everything more peaceful.

However, for most of my walk home I was in a fury of rage. How dare it make civilisation come to a halt. I would've gladly have welcomed the snow when I was younger for days off school (however saying that, my school never closed) but now I was part of the working society and the snow slowed everything down.

The storm which brought civilisation in the UK to it's knees

That's when I realised its not the weather we should blame, its mankind. We know from previous experience and generations that snow causes everything to not work so, why haven't we invented vehicles/aircraft that can still work during snow? I mean, we have invented self-flushing toilets that speak and self cleaning ovens so why haven't we invented a snow proof vehicle? It would make a lot of sense, it would mean there would be no disruptions in your normal day life and instead of panicking about driving in the snow and wondering if the roads were bad you wouldn't notice it.

Maybe those smart guys haven't invented it so when it does snow, they can call into work to say they got snowed in. If that's the cause, you guys suck ¬¬

40 Questions

Since its coming to the end of the year, I thought I would answer these 40 questions thing. I stole it off of Sarah :)

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
Make coffee using a coffee machine!

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
No I didn't keep mine (who does?) and I'll probably make a few more and not keep them next year

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No-one close to me but a few people I know did

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nope

5. What countries did you visit?
None outside the UK

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
Haha money!

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory?

March 15th - Sian's birthday party in Aberdeen,
July 3rd - my 21st,
August 16th - my last shift at Flints,
 August 21st - the day I moved to Edinburgh,
October 15th - the day Sian put me in A&E,
November 1st - the day I started my new job.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I suppose moving away and getting a job

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not being able to go home for Xmas

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My mp3 player! Can't imagine life without it!

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
I dunno

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Won't say

14. Where did most of your money go?
Food and bills - sad times! And nights out! :D

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My 21st and moving to Edinburgh

16. What song/album will always remind you of 2010?
Umm Alejandro, Telephone, Rude Boy, Candy haha

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

happier or sadder? Happier
thinner or fatter? Thinner
richer or poorer? Poorer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Gone out more with my friends!

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Wasted money

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Alone in Edinburgh, working

21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?
Sian and my family

22. Did you fall in love in 2010?
Nope

23. How many one night stands in this last year?
Haha! Ummm...

24. What was your favourite TV program?
Glee

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Don't think so

26. What was the best book(s) you read?
Of Mice and Men

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Its between Lady Gaga and Rihanna

28. What did you want and get?
To move to Edinburgh

29. What did you want and not get?
Money

30. What were your favourite films of this year?
Boy in the striped pyjamas

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 21 and I had a party in which everyone got dressed up as anything they wanted. The top bar was all decorated with banners and old pictures of me and we ate cake! It was a nice surprise but I can't remember much after that :)

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Moving to Edinburgh and sharing a flat with two wonderful people!

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Out dated haha.

34. What kept you sane?
My friends and family

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I can't think of one!

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
I don't really get into politics

37. Who did you miss?
Some friends still up in Shetland

38. Who was the best new person you met?
A few people from my old work and my new work!

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.
Always come prepared

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?
"I left my head and my heart on the dancefloor"

The German Market

A couple of weeks ago, I joined my friends for the annual opening of the German Market and the Christmas lights getting switched on in Edinburgh. Luckily for us, the market opened a few days before the snow started so at least we weren't slipping on the snow. It was a spectacular show, five men dangling on wire for... well I don't really know why they were on the wire, maybe they were decorating the tree or something, but we all watched in awe as the spotlights followed them up high.

We all decided it would be fun to get Mulled Wine, but it turned out only Sarah and I got any. As we waited in the que for ages, the fireworks went off. After a few minutes watching the pretty colours in the sky, we got bored and concentrated solely on getting the wine. After paying the £2 deposit for a cup (which was quite ugly) and another £3.50, we finally got our wine and took a victory sip. After a couple more sips, we had both given them to other people.

The market was absolutely packed. Trying to get from one end to the other was a challenge. It took us a long time. As we were making some progress through the crowd, I realised we were all walking like penguins, slowly marching along and all huddling together trying to get warm. In this case however, we were all trying to get to our destinations and would push and shove people out of the way to get there.

A few days later, Sian and I decided to have another look at the market. This time, we got to see everything and had enough room to "swing a cat around". It was also covered in snow so it felt a tad bit more Christmasey.

 We decided it would be fun to go on the Ferris Wheel. It was fun until Sian decided to turn the cage around (there was a wheel in the middle of the cage which you could spin to see at all angles). It made a creeking sound and started to vibrate. For something that had only been up for a few days startled us. That was when we noticed the rust on it. We had to go around another 3 times before it stopped to let us off.

Notice how I'm holding on for dear life!

There was also a Wii tent too. We got to play some Wii games for free. Unfortunately it confirmed what I already knew, that I suck at Nintendo games. Only Nintendo games (apart from Monkey Ball!). There was also an ice rink but I wasn't going to pay £8 to fall on my ass when I could do it for free.

Overall, the market is a lot of fun! I wish there was something similar like that in Shetland, but saying that it would've been just another market and not as fun as it has been!