Work Bound

Work Bound, what is it? It pretty much says what it is on the tin, being bound by work.

Just imagine waking up in the dark ready to go to work and then coming home in the dark from work whilst working a standard 9 hour shift, normal isn't it? I understand that having a job is a luxury in the world we live in today and I do not take it for granted one bit seeing as many have it a lot worse than myself. Work does not just affect yourself it affects everybody be it financially, emotionally or physically. The three very things that shape who we are, but the financial prospects do not shape us as much, but do help us get by.

I got my first job when I was 18, fresh out of college wanting a gap year before I went to University. The idea was to gain new skills and put some money into my savings so that I could put a deposit down on my house ready for July. Everything seemed okay and it was not all that bad, but I feel that because I was new to work I decided to put work first over mostly everything that I held dear to me. I had a new job and a sense of independence in the ' Big Bad World ' as the experienced over 40's call it. Work started to become my life and the only thing I talked about be it negative or positive, but it mostly became negative.

Work Bound Routine
-Wake up
-Go to work
-Work
-Come home
-Sleep
-Wake up
-Go to work
-Work
-Come Home
-Sleep

Okay, okay you get the point. A Progressive cycle which does not change unless you want it to. Once you fall into the vicious cycle you can choose to feel sorry for yourself and stay in it or change it. I started putting work before my actual interests and stopped doing the very things that helped ground me, relax me and keep me healthy. The reason behind this blog is not just to express how I feel, but to also let others know that feel this way to put yourself and your interests first. I will admit that when I got home from work all I would wanted to do was grab a snack and sit on my ass and do nothing all night and on my days off I just wanted to stay in bed due to being run down, this led to my anxiety to get worse, weight gain and mood swings.

So how could you prevent being Work Bound? Like I said before it is your own choice to prevent it and finding the time to do what interests you whilst having some motivation which is vital in all of this. It can be hard, but it is worth it after all. After work I use to go swimming at my local leisure center which personally is such a good way to keep fit and also keep a calm maintained trail of thought. I am starting to go swimming again seeing as I have not made much time for myself since getting another new job which has less hours and I feel that I need to get back into shape for my Skegvegas body so that I can strut my stuff on the crisp packet littered beaches of Britain, hahaha!!

Swimming is not just splashing around in the water with your hair sticking to your head like an aftershave advert, but it is a great way to unwind and look buff in front of those aged, between a coffee down town on market day or a mad night out at the local bingo hall. I choose to go swimming late at night due to body confidence and athletic capabilities, but my God can those old people swim like Rambo in the amazon. I cannot express how good it feels to work out not just physically, but emotionally also.

Being Work Bound is a problem that can be fixed, so do not worry many do suffer with it old or young without realising it. Go out there and find out what really interests you and do it, once you are home you are not at work anymore. Not forgetting when you get time off from work make good use of it and make an interest of yours into a whole day worth of activities revolved around it. For example if I cannot go and swim and I go for a long walk with some lunch or ride my bike to the next village over from mine and look at the views.

It is possible, combat that Work Bound cycle and realise what you want!!

WeAreTheChange

Camber, Blood Donating and Batman

Camber, Blood Donating and Batman

I haven't written a blog in a while seeing as I have been out and about the U.K. for two weeks and busy with college/work, well I am back. HELLOOOOOOOOOO! (:

Whilst I have been away I went down to Camber for the week for a quick break away from my home town seeing as everything was becoming too much up here. Camber's countryside is beautiful and defiantly worth a trip around in the family car seeing things that make you appreciate our natural world. I stayed at a place called ' Camber sands holiday park ' which was a bit shabby but homey. I stayed in a little holiday home which ended up being upgraded from bronze to silver seeing as the caravans looked dirty and horrible. ( Top snob )The park had a beach on my door step, an arcade, pub/restaurant and a shop. I had a few problems and concerns whilst being down there, little French kids were going round the machines taking 2p's from people's machines whilst they were not looking or being distracted by other French kids. It made me become angry with them, so I started to enforce my own punishment on them by pretending I am staff and making them cry or make sure I removed them myself. I can't stand 7 year olds without decent morals which their parents should of brought them up on, but instead their parents stayed in the bar and drank till they got drunk and miss treated their kids. I will admit I am a snob, but at least I have been brought up to understand what is right or wrong and how to act in public unlike these scabbers.

Overall the holiday was good for saying it was for only a week, it actually gave me time to think and a chance to tell someone that I liked them.

So I gave blood! Giving blood is a great thing to do and also something everyone should do. Currently there is a shortage of blood donations which is a dangerous thing seeing as blood donating is becoming less frequent. Seeing as I am 17 which is quite a rare age to donate I decided to go through with it, not just to get praise from others, but to make a difference and put back into our community and country. The only part I hate is the needle, she put it in at an awkward position which hurt when I clenched my hand because it poked my muscle ( which is normal ) Whilst bobbing my head to Foster The People it was over so quickly. A pint of blood looks so sick, but funny. I'm feeling a lot better now compared to yesterday felt like crap at night because of my sugar intake. I think more people should do it and help out.

I AM BATMAN... Only joking. Batman is such a great film. As much as I would like to talk about it I am afraid I can't without ruining it for you guys. All I am going to say is that the plot line was pretty obvious if you've read the comics, so the film wasn't that surprising in my opinion. Altogether it's not a film for small kids below the ages of 9 because it is quite dark and I hate screaming kids in cinema's whilst I am trying to watch a film. GO WATCH IT NOW, GOTHAM NEEDS YOU!!

Luke St.Denis

Making The Right Move And Jealousy

Making The Right Move And Jealousy

Ever since the start of the first relationship that opens so many doors your emotions get the better of you. The first word, the first hug, the first kiss. All these things make you fixate onto that one person you love or like and jealously plays a major part in that for me. The Jealousy side of me comes from the depths of the person I don't want to be for many other reasons. I don't want to come across as needy, controlling or annoying, I just want to be there to care and make sure they're treated like anyone should be, like a human.

Many see jealousy as a bitter hate towards another whilst others see jealousy as a way of caring for someone you like or love. I just see it as a pain in the ass due to my insecurities of the past. Women forget that even if they mention other men in a relationship all the time and make it obvious they like them all the time that it affects us and we feel like crap because we are not like them. This knocks us down a lot and just, well it makes me feel terrible. They might think it's a joke or something similar, but a person with insecurities will possibly take it the other way and get false readings from it all. As I write this blog there is so much going on in my mind that this blog makes sense to how I am feeling lately.

Relationships come and go, but those worth while last and stay which make us happy. Some say relationships are too much hassle at the age of 15-17 which is true and false, but there is always that sense of security knowing you've got someone that cares for you rather than only having yourself or a select group of friends that know everything. Opening up to someone completely new gives you another look on your life to see how you could improve or help make theirs better. Having someone there to help you through the thick and thin or when you need a shoulder to cry on. People do not take that into account because they might have had an unlucky pick of the bunch and found someone that didn't care for them. The way I see relationships is that they have both pros and cons, but they are what you make them. If you chose to argue, you argue. If you love each other, you love each other. Just because someone has had a bad relationship it doesn't make them all bad.

Making the right move is the most trickiest part of anything. It could be the end to something or the beginning, who knows? The only thing we do know is that we're going to come out good or bad which ever way we look at it. The move... The start... The end... is there really any time to make the right move? As I think about it confidence and the acceptance of being let down are the two things you need. Confidence to ask and the acceptance of being let down in case it all goes pear shaped.

So...

Luke St.Denis

How Much Does The Royal Family Cost?

How Much Does The Royal Family Cost?

How much does the Royal Family cost us? People will only see the negative side to how much the Royal Family costs the public because of the state our country is in. Our financial prospects are not bright, so it makes others become negative when money is involved that is being supposedly wasted in their eyes. For years the public and press have slated the Royal Family for them spending public money on travel and clothing etc... But is it really all that bad? Don't we like to see our Monarchy going abroad casting our names in stone and setting a prime example of our royalty in the Middle East or the West? I guess I do even though I am not a Royalist. 

The Royal Family brings our country together at times of celebration such as the Queen's Jubilee or the death of a Family member such as Dianna. In times like these we put of differences behind each other and celebrate the unity of our country. Some are patriotic and others are not, but we still have a little bit of pride of what we stand for and the country we live in, even if it isn't the best place to be in our current predicament. Whilst the cost of bills, the price of petrol, the price of food and housing is becoming higher it's getting harder for the common person to live in the current climate. The press strive to slate the Royal Family at times like these, but who should we really be slating? People living of benefits with 10 kids? People faking illness just to get benefits? The Olympics? Who knows. But slating the one true thing to our country is not going to help.

Whilst money is tight and the banks are crashing around us money is like a God. Money controls us like a puppet by their puppet master. As to say without Money the world would become a hellish playground for the needy. Since having a Royal Family money has always been a wonder. The Queens current expenditure is around £32.3 million ( 2010 - 2011 ) Records are around £32.4m - £32.5m this year. If we look at the figures it does seem like a massive take on how much of the tax payer's money is used to fund the Royal Family. The Queen makes our country unique and loved. Whilst flying around the world to show face to other world leaders it makes others from around the world want to visit the U.K. to absorb our natural beauty and historic agriculture that our country offers. This will bring in an income for beyond the figures that the Royal Family spends. So... Should we be slating the Royal Family? 

Every year we fund the EU a lot more than the Royal Family costs and where does that leave us? Poor. They take our pants down and rape our banks for everything we have and the Tax Payers pay for it. Unfair and cruel is what I call it, but we have to be hurt before we can rebuild our country to restore it back to how it once was. 

To solve the problem...

First - Those that have more than 2 Children should be taxed, as they do in China.
This will stop young mothers/fathers having children just so they claim benefits for each child and live of the government. But doesn't that effect those that want more than 2 children that are not living on benefits? Well it can do, but is not up to those that want more than 2 children to fund the tax to have another knowing that they do have money seeing as they're not on benefits. 

Second - Sort the government out. Rather than going all political and having a party such as  Labour, Conservatives or Lib Dems why don't we have people in charge that put the people's needs before their own and make them stop bickering about who has the best plans such as benefit cuts or EMA cuts etc... We just need people in charge that put their differences behind them and sort out what mess has been created.

Finally - We need to stop being a corrupt and greedy nation. A helping hand is something that goes a miss now and again in this country and we need to sort it out and become a thriving community just like it once was back in the War.

Just like the American President Ronald Reagan once said " We often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us realize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask you, IS NOT AN ALIEN FORCE ALREADY AMONG US?"

the end quote makes more sense to me :Dke St.Denis

Alton Towers - 2012

Alton Towers - 2012

Jake, Ben and Finn waiting for Air

 

Alton Towers, the place of many white knuckle, thrill and children rides. Me and a group of friends from the IT class all went to Alton Towers for the day at the expense of college. As we arrived after a hot cramped bus ride we all rushed straight to the gates and to our amazement there was a massive squirrel from Ice Age standing there having photos taken. We all gathered round pulling strange faces making those that walk by chuckle to themselves. 

We had a group talk about where to go first around the map board, then set haste towards our first destination which was... NEMESIS!!! The oldest, most exciting and fun ride Alton Towers has to offer. We rushed straight down the queue track into the cargo bay where you get onto the ride and waited. I'm like a kid in sweet shop when I go to Alton Towers, I was just standing there jumping and getting psyched up just for a Roller coaster ride? I know, how sad am I! We got onto the ride we were all waiting for and we were off. Cranking up we started to pull faces so our photos looked hilarious, but we ended up looking like we wanted to kill someone! Turn after turn and round the loop our faces stretched back into our headrests the ride was finally over. Being pumped after our first ride we reacted like ants when you pour hot water onto their nest. We wanted to go again. 

It was nearing 11 o'clock, but Air didn't open till 11, so we all headed for Ripsaw. Ripsaw is a ride that most people stand and observe just to watch the general public get drenched by water that contains a considerable amount of eye itching chlorine. We all slammed our bags into the nearest locker and made our way to the water soaked seats from the previous people. The bars come down not forgetting the crown jewels being crushed beyond belief. The odd yelp being heard the ride started. Whilst we span round and round the feeling of sick becoming a normal feeling for some of us the important LOCK HAPPENED! The lock is when the ride locks the motion of the spin and makes you go head first into the water jets which equals a complete soak from head to waist which the public love to watch. The ride finished then we all stepped off to collect our bags walking like we had soiled ourselves. 

In the queue for Air... Fag breaks... Gaming talk... Photo taking chances. We had to queue for 15 minutes which flew by, the sun was out so all was good at the time. We got straight onto Air which was quite lucky seeing as it's normally packed full of eager 12 year olds new to the experience. Air the ride that you're able to sing the Super Man theme tune on whilst pulling the Super Man pose without looking like a complete idiot.      Whilst you twist and turn flying around without a care in the world you just feel free till the ride finishes. Unfortunately for one of us Ben happened to get stuck in the ride whilst trying to get off bless him.

Ben stuck in Air ( Getting lucky )

Most of us were hungry after the first zone so we went and grabbed some food. As we approached a Burger King I happened to see the prices of the food and nearly died, but still paid seeing as I wasn't walking just to find a cheaper alternative. Finding the nearest table we all gathered and sat down to eat, till a duck decided to gate crash our meal and demanded feeding. Jake fed the duck whilst I videoed and snapped some photos of it. After the encounter with the feathered rebel we made out way to the X-Sector which contains the first vertical drop coaster, Oblivion and a few thrill rides such as the Enterprise and Submission which only a few of us went on. Seeing as the queuing time for Oblivion was 0 minutes all day we couldn't turn the opportunity down to go on it 4 times. The staff must of thought we were crazy to keep going on it again and again. We darted straight to the bay and locked ourselves into the ride eager to get up there and dropped straight into the dark abyss. We got to the edge, people resembled the size of ants and people were gripping onto dear life. I stuck my arms straight up into the air and my feet out ready to accept the g-force. The G-force made the blood rush straight to my head causing the feel of confusion to take over my mind.

As we quickly got off the ride to go and see our photos in the shop I could see the two Ben's faces light up with laughter. Now that Oblivion was done multiple times the next zone held the Queen of speed and the not so amazing Thirteen. We jumped into the queue for Rita leading to some right laughs with the group whilst we waited. On Rita it always says " Hold on tight " but am I seriously going to take their advice? No. I stuck my arms tight into the air, the track came crashing down and the lights suddenly turned GREEN!!!!!! Zooooooooooooooooom...... Desperately trying to stick my arms down there was no going back. Shouting and waving my arms we were going so fast I hadn't got time to think. In a flash the Queen of speed was conquered. We were going to go on Thirteen, but the queue was stupidly long and the ride wasn't even that good anyway. 

The duck of Alton Towers 2012 - <3

Seeing as some us wanted to get wet we decided to adventure towards the log flume. Since the log flume has been at Alton Towers it never fails to get the public wet ( I mean drenched from head to toe ) As we were queueing we were all trying to come up with an idea of what to do on the ride, so it came down to lifting our tops up and just pulling faces. C'mon we are lads... Forgetting there was no lockers we had to take our bags on the flumes with us and get them soaked just like our clothes. Getting 5 grown lads into a small log and 3 bags isn't the best idea. The only thing we could say whilst going round was " What a freaking sausage fest this is " Hahahaha. As we got to the top of the flume we were all struggling to get our tops up seeing as our bags were in the way, but we did it in the end. Which was a lot of effort. 

Topless log flume Jake, Rory, Finn, me and Will

We finished the day off with the river rapids which was quite a lot fun considering hardly none of us got wet apart from Will and Alex. We did end up running back to the Ripsaw again just to get wet which wasn't a good idea. Walking back to the bus  the lads decided to waste their money trying to win stuffed animals on stands that were most probably rigged, but it was really funny to watch them all fail.

Altogether going to Alton Towers with my IT group had to be the best time I have spent with them all and now we have all broken up for the Summer holidays. Thanks for a great time lads and also for being a great group to work with.

Special thanks to the duck and Bhav! See you after the Summer maybe!

End of the day - Alton Towers IT Group.

Thanks again guys it's been a pleasure to work with you all and laugh with you all, also talking about Tesco with Big Man John.

Luke St.Denis.

Making The Right Decisions

Making The Right Decisions

There comes a time in our lives where we have to make decisions that will affect us long term or short term depending on the repercussions of our actions or others actions. The decisions we make might not be forgotten or forgiven, but they do help us progress in life and help us get past those crucial hurdles that block our emotional thought process.

( I will finish the rest of when I am ready to think :) )

Confidence

Confidence
Confidence is a thing that most people lack in their life. Confidence is something that makes us become people that do not fear certain things that use to scare us as a young child, such as the dark or heights. Confidence is something that gives us that extra little push in life to do something we would never think about doing, such as volunteering or simply going on a ride at a theme park. We are guided by family and friends throughout each day of our lives getting that so called ' Confidence boost ' that we need to progress and excel in certain areas. Certain areas could be, handing your course work on in time, making new friends or going out into big open places.

Lately I have noticed that women and men are starting to lack confidence at our age which is between the ages of 15-18. Women feel the need to be the centre of attention by taking photos of themselves that show off their boobs or ass just to get 100+ likes on Facebook. Men also feel the need to take photos whilst showing their six/eight packs, but what does that achieve? Nothing... Women and men start to feel conscious about their bodies just because of some people flaunting theirs off which makes them lack confidence and then they start doing stupid things just to become this so called ' Perfect ' that us lads or women supposedly love!? 

Let me clear one thing up... I like women that are curvy, women that don't wear a tonne of make up, women that don't starve themselves just because they put 2 pounds on, women that have self confidence and take pride in who they are and women that do not want to be the centre of attention. I can't stand women or men that make others feel like crap just because they have small imperfections, It's unfair. We all know the real reason to all of their bitching and bullying is just because they can't stand themselves and they have to wear the whole of boots ( To those that don't know what Boots is, it's a cosmetics store etc.. ) and also wear clothes that EVERYONE BLOODY WEARS!!!  Jesus.... what gives people the rights to dog down or make others feel bad, it only makes them become someone that always feels inferior to the same gender and someone that they are not personally happy with.

Moving back to the whole confidence issue. We now live in a world where people have to look the same to fit in otherwise they will get talked about or bullied, everyone has to act the same or yet again we get bullied, but isn't it time we actually started accepting each other for who we are and not for what we try to be to fit in? It's a shame that I have to grow in such a time like this because it only starts to pressurise us all in the end.

We have all made others feel like crap before, but we can still question why others do it when we realise about the damage it can cause and also when we grow up and finally stop caring what others think and be ourselves.

Luke St.Denis