Coroner's Winehouse Verdict

As a follow-up to the post that I wrote when Amy Winehouse passed away, I've been keeping an eye out for the post-mortem report being released by the coroner. It was reported today and the conclusion of it was that she died from drinking too much alcohol. It's apparently called misadventure which I think is a little crass considering it is relation to someone's death. I would never call it an 'adventure' when I decide to have a drink so maybe a little rethink on that phraseology might be on the cards I think. The reason for me deciding to make a note of this report today was that, in the period of time between her death and now, so many people have been saying that it must have been an illegal substance that killed her; it was apparently inevitable that she has taken too much of something. I think it's sad that people jumped to conclusions, even if those conclusions were founded in the hard facts of her life.My view is that she was, and still is, treated far too negatively in the press and I feel that today's news should draw a line in the sand.

Apologies for this being a short post tonight but I'm completely knackered and it's the best I've got for you this evening.

Thanks for reading anyway,

Martin 

To-Do or To-Do? That is the Question

It's happening again! Tonight I lift my head with my stiff neck to see, on the wall, my week planned out before me. Day 1: Lots of work; Day 2: Lots of work, start essay; Day 3: Finish essay (if possible) + lots of work; Day 4: Lots of work for the week after. That is the abridged version of these notes of course because I'm not a complete moron - they are much more substantial than that of course - but you get the idea. I was writing out said week-plan last night when I realised that I was already at Friday. Luckily I realised that I had fired through everything that I needed to do and that ultimately, I should be able to take the weekend 'off'. Sadly the reality of it is that my brain hasn't been switched off since the end of the first week - during which it was technically going anyway but just warming up! 

The 2011 Reality

I love to listen to adults talking about the past and what the good (and bad) things were from their time as a young adult. In many respects the 'now generation' is living the high life because we've not lived through a war that's affected the home front; we've not had to do mandatory service in the army; and as young people nowadays we have more rights than ever. We live in a modern era where the internet provides the basis for almost everything we do and when we can access just about anything we want (from the past and the present) at the click of a button. We have access to brilliant education and we are encouraged to thrive by our elders instead of being ignored. The question I then ask is this: why do some people think we've got it bad?

Words, Words, Words

Coming off the back of last week when I was looking at my favourite posts, I thought that (somewhat ironically) I wouldn't have anything to write about this week. That worry was quickly quelled yesterday when I woke up and actually did something with my day! 'Wow Martin, you've really hit a low' I can hear you all think because, lets be honest, that shouldn't be much of an achievement for anyone but the thing is that yesterday was actually something to behold. My plans were executed to perfection and subsequently I felt great. I also don't think I've ever written as much in a single day as I did yesterday, hence the title of this post.

The plan was made on Saturday night after a trip to the cinema. I made a list in my head of all of the things that I needed to do, both for university and everything else on top of that. The morning wasn't all that easy because getting out of bed recently just hasn't been great fun for me but I shook my weary bones and cracked on. I prepared a couple of tutorials in the morning which took about 3 hours to do but they've been done properly which is good. That's something that I strive to do every time because consistently preparing tutorials well can only be a good thing for my education. I then got on with the house-work that needed done which is nobody's favourite but it's a reality that I'm used to. With that all behind me I was able to sit down and relax but if anything my plans for the day by that point were far from complete.

If you were reading my posts last week then you'll know that I'm also writing a blog on a car website and my post for that was next on my list. I knew that if I did that before all of my university work then that would throw me for the rest of the day. I saved it as something of a treat for me and, as alien as that sounds to some people, it got me through the tough stuff. I'm not sure when my post will get put live but I'll be sure to mention it over on my Facebook page during the week. That was the pièce de résistance of my day and it's always something I look forward to doing - words, I need more words!

So I'm going to have to make a slight admission. Despite the fact that one of the tags for today's post is going to be 'Me on Monday', this post was also composed on Sunday as well - that's how well my plan went. The fact that I go out on a Monday night isn't very conducive to writing a nice full post for your consumption. I guess the reality is that this post should be 'Me on Sunday' but that doesn't sound right and something really exciting or important might happen in the next 24 hours but I think I'll take that chance.

So all that is left for me now to do on my mental list for this evening is this: dinner, pub quiz and then bed before another week of university ahead of me. I guess I'm showing off a little bit with this post but it's not very often I get to say that I've actually had a productive day - especially when the day in question is a Sunday.

Thanks for reading folks!

Martin

My Favourites: Listen to Yourself!

I forgot to post last night and I'm sorry. Well not really but for the last choice of this week there is a slight irony that the reason I forgot was that it was Friday night and I was out having a good time with friends. Somebody came up to me this week and told me that their favourite posts from my blog are the ones when I teach myself a lesson or when I realise something about myself - 'Me on Monday' has never received such high praise! My last choice for this week before I get back to normal posts again next week is the one where I realised that people around me live for the weekend too much sometimes. It was a fun post to write and it was one that I remember talking about with the very same person that I was talking to this week - one of the main reasons for choosing it.

So yes have another look at it because personally I'm going to read it a few more times so I can get into my head again that weekdays are as important (if not more than) weekends:
http://roateenager.blogspot.com/2011/02/try-living-for-now-and-not-weekend.html

Thanks for joining me this week for a look back at my first 100 blog posts - hope you've enjoyed it!

Martin

P.S. I'm now writing another blog over on Netcars - go have a look!

My Favourites: A Lesson Well Learned

I've only got a couple more days to pick out some gems from my blogging back-catalogue and for that I'm a little sad. As I said in yesterday's post, I've really enjoyed looking back into the past at what I've been thinking and feeling about certain things and how I've interpreted them. It's interesting from the point of view that I might interpret various things in different ways now and I might have different ways of dealing with things on the whole. Today's choice popped into my head this afternoon before I even had even sat down this evening to choose a favourite for this evening. In fact it's in my head pretty much all of the time which is testament to just how much of a change it indicated in me. The post in question was the one when I got back from a tutorial early last year to realise that I had just made a massive break through both in confidence and productivity. I can still remember that day as if it was yesterday and the thing that I learned still crosses my mind every time I pass through the door into a tutorial room.

For those of you that are lacking a little confidence or just aren't getting enough out of university, I suggest you take heed from my epiphany from this time last year: 
http://roateenager.blogspot.com/2011/01/eureka-new-way-to-learn.html

Cheers everyone!

Martin

My Favourites: Not so Fresh Anymore

The reason why I decided to do this 'favourites' thing this week was to encourage myself to have a look back at my older posts and see what I was writing about at various moments in the history of this blog. So far I've come across happy times, sad times, stupid times (that have been utterly laughable) and times that should be reflected on. Today's favourite falls under that last category because it's the post that I wrote just after freshers week in first year. Back then I was a lot quieter and more reserved than I am now (believe it or not) and I also had a hunger to start my degree that I had forgotten I could have. I'm absolutely loving the challenge that I've got before me after just a month of second year but it's very refreshing to read just how enthusiastic I was about everything back at the very start. It also reminds me that although I can sometimes get myself down about university work, I've got this bubbling desire to succeed that's always just under the surface and a confidence in my ability to go with it. This week of reading old posts for me has turned this blog into something of a time-capsule for me - just another beautiful aspect to what I've got here.

Enjoy...again!: http://roateenager.blogspot.com/2010/09/week-one-down-rest-of-life-to-go.html 

For the first time ever I'm going to thank myself for keeping this going through all that's happened in the last year and a half but, as always, the big thanks goes to my consistent readership.


Martin

My Favourites: Cheesy Stuff!

To kick off some of my favourite blog posts I'm going to go for one of the basics. This was the 3rd post that I ever wrote and reading it back I can see just how much better I've become just from writing this blog. The message, however, is as strong as ever and I occasionally go back to it just to refresh what I was trying to say all of those years ago. So here is the link to one of my best and favourite posts from the last 100: 

http://roateenager.blogspot.com/2010/02/cheese-theory.html.

Enjoy - promise it was me that wrote it despite how bad it might look.

Thanks again folks!

Martin 

Post 100: The Numbers Game

100. It's a big number but it depends in what context you're saying it. £100 is a lot of money but 100p isn't. 100/200 shares is a lot of shares but 100/10000 is less so. 100 is a big number to me because it indicates a fairly big milestone for me: today is my 100th post on Ramblings of a Teenager. Now if I was to look at them properly (that being all posts that I've written) then it would certainly be clear that some of them haven't been as long as others or haven't actually amounted to any kind of message but the number 100 now shows on my blogger dashboard and it's nice. If I was to try and average out the word-count of all of my posts then my guess is that it would come out at about 500 words per post meaning that I've then written about 50,000 words in this blog, probably more. That for me indicates just what a commitment (and to some extents, what an addiction) this blog has become to me. I would go as far as to say that a little bit of me in now in this blog and it's an experience that I'm never likely to forget.

Tell It How It Is Or Suffer The Consequences

It was only a matter of time before I started to take inspiration from Eastenders. In general I think that most people have 'their' soap and mine, for as long as I can remember, has been the goings on in Albert Square. It provides a nice break from university work or just lets me get away from everything for a couple of hours a week. Escapism is something that I'm always interested in findings new forms of but this is my constant and the thing I can always be sure to make me feel a little bit better - call me sick because I've been called worse in the past! Anyway what inspiration did Eastenders provide me with this week? There is currently a storyline about Phil Mitchell (everyone must know Phil!) and his son Ben who has recently realised he's gay. The thing is that Ben is petrified of him finding out and only him and and an old dude Patrick (who caught him kissing a guy) knows. Phil thinks that Patrick is picking on Ben and subsequently Phil is going crazy with people calling him a racist and other such things. The thing is that this is having an affect on lots of different people in the show and this is where today's message comes from.

Home or Away?

Sadly this post is going to be written in a little bit of a rush this evening and so I'm going to have to limit it to one of those posts where I put forward a simple idea for you to all think about. I'm sure I've dabbled in this topic before but I'm going to refresh my thoughts on it through this question that I've been thinking about recently: is home really where the heart is? I've gone home for the last three weekends for one reason or another (mainly for football) and every time I go home it's like I've been away for ages when I get home and then it gradually turns into a feeling of I've never been away. I've come to one personal conclusion on the matter that it is what is at home that is where my heart is. I love my house and I feel most at home there naturally but it's the fact that my family are there which makes me look forward to going home most. I really enjoy being in Edinburgh (in fact I think that in the future I would like to live here) but it doesn't yet hold the same meaning as home does - I wonder when I'll grow out of it...


Apologies for the brief post this evening but I'm running to a tight schedule just now!


Martin