Weird...But In A Good Way

The Magic Box

Steph — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:58:19 +0000

Despite it now being March 2010 I still have my 2009 calendar up in my kitchen, not because I’m particularly lazy (but I am) but because it’s about 50 shades of awesome!

Of course every parent thinks their kids work is amazing, fantastic, fabulous, first rate etc, but this is! I like it so much because while it’s not the work of art Matisse, Banksy or Tracy Emin could produce, and it’s no Shakespearean prose, Hell it’s even below the quality of work TBK can produce when he wants to, every time I read I can’t help but smile.

I read it and remember that it’s good to have imagination and to never ever stifle his!

The Magic Box

In my box I will put a massive, dirty and dangereus exploding army tank. The feel of silky, shiny, sparkly, quick Sahara sand and a door leading to a u.f.o.

In my box I will put the smell of super noodles cooking the sight of presents round the tree and the sound of rock music.

My box is fashioned from high tech lock and dinosaur skin cover.

And hinges made from a alligator jaw.

Spelling mistakes are all his own!

Rogue States

Steph — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:30:52 +0000

James’ cousin’s band Rogue States released their début E.P Lights last year, and to go with it they shot an amazing music video.

The boys organised the shoot themselves, with drummer Stuart Baxter Wilkinson directing, long time friend of his Tim Larcombe behind the camera as director of photographer and the props (lamps and rugs) being stolen borrowed from their wives, girlfriends, friends, cousins, aunts, uncles houses.

It was shot mid February 2009 in the FREEZING cold Rainbow Warehouse in Digbeth, Birmingham – I’m pushing home the point of how cold it was as in one close up of lead singer Michael you can see the breathe he’s exhaling. Poor boys couldn’t even get the place heated – but in fairness is does add something to those scenes

Excitingly Q have just picked up on the video and are now showing it on rotation on their music channel in the UK, Sky 364 and Virgin 338, and I urge you all to check it out….

www.roguestates.net

…And if you enjoyed that you can come see them live at one of their upcoming dates in London, Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

Onomatopoeia

Steph — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:10:20 +0000

This evening I came home to find TBK once again beating the crap out of his alien friends on Halo3. Since having had the xBox for Christmas he’s spent more time than I’ve ever let him before seated in front of his computer playing games.

I’ve alieviated myself of some the guilt of being one of ‘those’ parents who sits their children in front of the box to entertain themselves by a. Convincing myself that with xBox live at least it’s social, as in he might be by himself but he’s not playing alone and b. Once the evenings are lighter and the weather warmer he’ll be back out on his bike and in and out the front door like a yoyo just like the last few summers.

I say some of the guilt as I’d still had doubts, I was still worried of the ‘mind numbing effects of playing pointless video games’ and didn’t wish him to become a statistic of the illiterate generation we hear so much about in the media.

I know I’ve been worrying unnecessarily as my mis-spent youth visiting friends houses and setting up our own LAN parties for weekend long games of Quake hardly set my development back at all – and you’ve only got to have a conversation with TBK to see he’s a well rounded 10year old, but as a parent you can’t help but worry.

I discovered needn’t have!

This evening TBK showed me in style why I have no need to worry about computer games stunting his academic development.

Whilst in the virtual world of Halo he was running across a sandtrap and jumping to strike a competitor, gravity hammer in hand, In the real world he’s sitting in the arm chair screaming “Onomatopoeia” at the screen and the following exchange took place ..

Me: why did you say that? Do you know what Onomatopoeia means?

TBK: yeah!

Me: explain then….

TBK: it’s when a word sounds like its spelt, like bang, and the gravity hammer goes bang when you hit something, so….Onomatopoeia!

Me: *speechless*

I don’t mind admitting that I think I was a whole lot older than 10 before I grasped the concept of onomatopoeia, in fact I can still remember learning about it in secondary school, which definitely made me older than 10, and I don’t think there has ever been a time in my life where I’ve had a discussion that included the word onomatopoeia or used it outside of that classroom before this evening.

So if TBK wants to spend his down time plugged into his xBox talking to the voices of his disembodied friends hunting aliens in “pointless video games” then so be it because it’s at times like this evening that I realise it’s not doing any harm at all!

Wordpress for Android.

Steph — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:17:12 +0000

Today I’ve downloaded Wordpress for Android, an handy app for my hero that will let me blog on the move.

I’ve added multiple accounts so I should be able to post to here and to www.WV11.co.uk by selecting the correct blog at the log in screen.

This is my first post from it. Let’s see how this works. Post written, tags and categories added now to hit publish and fingers crossed!

——-

Edit: It made it here and retained all the information I’ve added but now I’ve come to use the Wv11 account it doesn’t seem to want to work despite the proper bits and piece over there being enabled… I love the interface but I really need it to work with multiple accounts. Will keep playing and see how it goes…

——

Edit: It works hurrah, multiple accounts set up* think I’m going to LOVE this app

* the original problem was mine and a quick peruse of the forums fixed it!

Freecycle Ettiquite

Steph — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:53:58 +0000

I like Freecycling*, or Freeworlding or Freegling or whatever the hell it is called now parts of it have broken away from the mainstream freecycling network.

Freecycling* is basically recycling by giving an item away for free via an online community set up to do just that. You first join the group geographically relevant to yourself, then if you have something to offer you post *Offered item and Postcode/Area* to the group and people contact you to ask you for it, or you can post a wanted in a similar way and if someone can help you out they will email you to say.

Fantastic yes?

I have given away boxes and boxes of things ranging from old toys and clothes, to computer monitors, an excersize bike (wishful thinking on behalf having it in the first place) and even 2 sofas, and I’ve received my fair share too – a different sofa, some awesome craft items and some draws for in the shed among other things. It’s good for everyone, it stops perfectly good consumer items ending up in the land fill and saves everyone a bit of money in the process….the only bad side to it that I have found is some of the people!

The amount of times I’ve posted an offer and have received a blunt “I’ll have it” or “Call me *random mobile number*” in response, is unbelievable and yeah that sort of response is going to endear me to giving you my things isn’t it! Honestly, a simple “Could you consider me for x?” would do. I understand you might really want what I’m giving away but really – any blunt or worse text speak responses in my inbox just get deleted.

Then there is the other end of the spectrum the replies that are an essay telling me about their disabled children, yes all 6 of them, their mother with dementia, their sister who has just had to have her dog put to sleep and the nervous breakdown they suffered last year so can you please consider me for your spare bicycle pump for my son, (or whatever other piece I may be offering). These come in just as regularly as the blunt rude ones and I find these slightly unnerving – I don’t NEED that much personal information about you, seriously you may be in a position to REALLY REALLY need whatever it is I’m offering but a simple sentence “My daughter would make good use of x, is it still available?” – Or if you really need to stress how much you need something “My daughter REALLY needs one of these – can you consider me for it please?” would suffice, all your essays make me do is cringe for you and then make me have to fight my guilt complex because I haven’t got one of whatever I’m offering up for every family with 33 children and a father with alzheimer’s, and hence makes me less likely to offer it to you, not because I’m heartless but because I don’t like to be made to feel guilty!

Then there are the people who once you’ve posted an offer, they’ve responded and you follow through and make it available to them, they don’t turn up to collect. No email with an apology, or a text if you’ve exchanged numbers, no response when you email/text them to find out if there is a problem/delay and you end up with whatever you happen to be trying to get rid of sitting in the hallway for a week while you are trying to sort out what to do! – I have fallen foul of this one on a couple of occasions and now I don’t delete any of my responses to offers so that if someone doesn’t turn up and fails to get in touch I have a list of alternative recipients in place!

It drives me wild – freecycling is a brilliant idea, perfect for getting rid of those unwanted but perfectly working items without them ending up in land fill but I do wish the other users would sometime realise that just like the items being offered up manners cost nothing too!

*According to The Freecycle Network, “Freecycle” is properly used only as a brand name to identify the company’s products and services, ie a Freecycle group: but balls to it I’m using here to mean all areas of giving stuff away online using a similar service!

Merry Christmas

Steph — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 09:56:26 +0000

Maybe you are my friend, or maybe we’ve never met before.
Maybe we speak to each other daily, or maybe we’ve never so much as passed on the street.
Maybe I know you virtually in my on-line world of Twitter, of flickr, of moblog or facebook.
Maybe I know you in the real world and every so often we’ll see each other in the pub or you come to my house and we laugh and joke the night away…
…but but however we may, or may not, know each other friend, family, acquaintance or stranger may I wish you the best for this festive season and a very prosperous new year…..

Merry Christmas.
Steph
xxx

#6 Fact about me.

Steph — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:38:25 +0000

I love night photography but don’t get out as often as a I would like to shoot in the evening – come to think of it I don’t do ANY photography as often as I’d like!

p.s That’s the building I work in.

“Alien” vs “the crowd”

Steph — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:55:31 +0000

I’ve just upgraded my phone and whilst historically I’ve always gone for the option with the best camera and have usually erred to Sony Ericsson this year the choice wasn’t so cut and dry.

The way in which I use my phone has changed, no longer do I just want it to just make calls and snap the occasional picture whilst on the move. Now I want/need a PC in my pocket. I want to be connected to Twitter, Facebook and my email whilst also having the capacity to make calls and keep notes to hand, I needed a smartphone – but which one to choose, Blackberry? Android? or, do I wait knowing I like the Sony Ericsson model for them to catch up with the field?

Well after much reading/research, and with the announcement that the iPhone was coming to Orange I decided to ditch my S.E. and whittled the choices down to 2….the aforementioned iPhone or the Android HTC Hero.

I debated with myself for a while and still couldn’t decide iPhone vs Hero, iPhone vs Hero so I started asking around– most my friends are iPhone clones, so I had a play with their models (the 3G in one case and the 3Gs in another) and I asked their opinion and they all came up with the same argument, and it wasn’t quite as you may imagine, the argument was simply – “but it’s the iPhone”.

Not really the answer I was looking for when asking some basic questions about the apps and functions-

..What if I want to have my email running in the back ground whilst also following my friends tweets? ..
“You don’t need to”
..But what if I want to…
“But it’s the iPhone!”

..What about the problem you’ve been having with it losing your contact lists?..
“Oh I reinstalled them”
..but what if it happens again wont you be pissed..
“But it’s the iPhone!”

What about the 24 month contracts?
“But it’s the iPhone!”

You get the picture!

Unfortunately I don’t know anyone *in the real world* who has the HTC who I could ask for a quick test run and I couldn’t play with it in the Orange shop for as long as I’d played with the iPhones but as it turns out I didn’t need to, The man in the shop let me play with whateversettings/functions I wanted and after a short period of time I was hooked, it looked great, felt comfortable in my hand and functioned just how I’d like it to.

I went against the tide of popular opinion I went with the Hero…and I LOVE IT!

I’ve had it just over a week now and I have’t looked back. We (well James, I was at work when it turned up and I wanted it activated for when I got home *impatient*) turned it on the first time it said” ohhh you have WiFi – do you want me to connect, this will be so much quicker if you let me” and it then asked for my gmail, facebook, flickr and twitter sign in details and just like that everything was synced. It took 2-3 minutes and James said it was the best set up he’d ever completed.

Since then I’ve added a second email account, played with many apps for things I knew I wanted my phone to be able to do and a for things I didn’t know I wanted until I found apps for them. I’ve configured and then reconfigured my settings and now have the 7 – yes SEVEN home screens set up for optimum usage for me and that’s before I’ve even looked at the options the multiple scene selections offer!

I’m happy, I’ve overcome the teething problems getting used to the qwerty touch screen / predictive trying and now even some of my iPhone user chums are looking at Android in a different way now I’ve put my handset in front of their blinkers.

For me now it’s Android for the win!

#welovethenhs

Steph — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:52:24 +0000

The #welovethenhs twitter hashtag was started to help defend the National Health Service from attacks that are being launched on it by some of the opposition in the USA. President Obama has made health care reform a hot topic in the states by trying to approach the subject of re-balancing the inequalities they have there, mainly a health care system which penalises the most needy and rewards the most privileged.

Personally, I have many reasons to moan about the NHS, but I also have many reasons that make me thankful for them, So when people start debating their own flawed medical systems by jumping all over our established system they have, in all likeliness, no first hand experience of so cannot put forward a balanced debate, then I feel compelled to defend.

In the US without decent health insurance (and in some cases with it) if I were in an accident or if I, or TBK fell ill. I would have to choose my/his/our treatment based on what I could afford, not on what would be best for us. At least with the NHS our options are sorted, I wouldn’t have to choose between paying for mine or TBK health care if I couldn’t afford both. I don’t have to worry about any unforeseen accidents or illnesses, I know that if and when we fall ill or accidents happen we would be dealt with in a fair, non for profit system.

Now I know the NHS isn’t perfect, the waiting list for basic medical care (I’m thinking about my 6 months wait for physiotherapy here) for example is atrocious, I know it has boundaries, we’ve read enough negative headlines about post code lotteries and NICE withholding medicines because of costs to know it’s not perfect but it’s what we have and in my opinion it’s a whole lot better than the alternatives.

For every 2 or 3 horror stories you hear there are 2 – 3 HUNDRED maybe THOUSAND successes. It was NHS surgeons who operated on both my mother and grandmother who without surgery would have both succumbed to different forms of cancer long ago. When I was younger and had to have operations to correct my sight, it was NHS surgeons who treated me and made sure that I can see well enough to be sitting here writing this blog today and when I was in labour with TBK and he was lying the wrong way around, stuck and going nowhere fast it was the NHS midwives and doctors who helped me deliver him with not a second glance towards my paperwork to check which painkillers my policies covered.

The US is a deeply divided nation on health as in many other policy areas – it is simultaneously home to some of the planet’s best hospitals, the best research in medical advances and the best healthcare practioners – and also home to some of the worst poverty and barriers to healthcare, the worst developed-world child mortality rates.

Alex Foster , LDV

I know people personally who will argue back at me that our system is flawed, and from their experience they think the whole system needs to be altered, but to them I say this;

Fall down the stairs, be hit by a car, suffer a brain hemorrhage, develop cancer, suffer from MS, ME, asthma, eczema, give birth, twist your ankle, be the wealthiest or the neediest person in the UK, it doesn’t matter because when you need it the NHS will be there. You will be treated the same as the next person regardless of your economic standing, and you will be treated for free, So UK doubters and the US critics, give the NHS a break no system is perfect and where ever there is something to be paid for there will be restrictions but if it wasn’t for the NHS and what they do, I along with countless others wouldn’t be here today.

Education….Education…Education….

Steph — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:30:46 +0000

I’m going on Holiday in October Term time AND taking my 9 year old son with me. I take him out of school every year for a holiday and for other activity days, as was agreed with his school that I be allowed to do so in advance of enrolling him.

Flexi Schooling is the correct term for it.

I take my responsibility as a parent very seriously and TBK consistently scores in the top percentile in his class and receives glowing praise every year from his teachers, he has friends in school who come home to play (please read create havoc), and is fully integrated into society, he is bright and articulate, and as bias as I may be as his mother I do have the school reports to back this up, His education and social skills are not suffering because of it, if anything they are prospering.

YET the local paper is yet again reporting on an increase of “Truancy Fines” and while the article itself didn’t really rub me up the wrong way. As, I will never have to pay a truancy fine for my son as we’ve the proper protocol in place for our educational choices, But taking out holiday leave from the debate, it still leaves the question unanswered of WHY these young people feel the need to play truant in the first place?*, What really wound me up was the ignorance of some of the commentators who posted both before and after me.

These trips or in some peoples eyes “absenses” provide an education kids just can’t get when in school and also teaching shouldn’t just happen, and in our life DOESN’T, just happen from 9am – 3pm in the classroom!

On our holiday, just like last year, we will be teaching TBK Maths (currency conversion), Geography (he knows where we are going and surrounding countries) History, (we often like to visit cultural and historical monuments while away and actively encourage TBK to involve himself in the culture). R.E. (Turkey (this years destination) is a predominantly a Muslim country) and much more, all on a one to one basis for periods of time he would never get in the classroom.

Previously he’s also been out of school to have the opportunity to attend HESFES, (the home educators seaside festival) where he has taken part in wood work and metal work excersizes, fabric painting and labyrinth building amongst other things, using skills he’d have never developed sat behind a desk.

We’ve taken him out of school to have a hands on learning experience as a zoo keeper for the day. He’s had time off to go to an archery day, and to attend other exhibitions and events. Once, when he was in reception class, I even kept him off school on a Monday JUST so he could have a day off, As over the weekend he had participated in clay building with us, visited a monkey sanctuary, spent an afternoon playing drums and for a child of only 6 this was a lot, he needed the rest!

So how about we stop stereotyping parents who take their kids out of the classroom for any period of time as losers (as one commentator metioned) or selfish (as another did) and look at the beneifts these extra curricular activities can and do provide!

The real time and effort should be concentrated on dealing with the parents who’s children aren’t getting any education through truancy because the parents just don’t care!

* Yes I played truant as a teen, and I was duely punished for it by my mother, But I know why I did it. I hated my English teacher and she hated me, proven fact as she marked all my work down and told me , and my mom, I woudln’t get higher than a D, myc oursework was sent to the invigulator and came back marked higher and I left school with a B (lit) and a C(lan) Take that Mrs Smith!

Maybe if I’d have been listened to as a teen and moved to another class I’d have attended those sessions I missed and maybe that tis the answer now, listening to what our young people want!