To Read Or Not To Read; That Is the Question

I’ve often wondered about literary opinion, and how literary opinion differs between people. Everyone understands the world in a different way to somebody else, and so naturally, they will understand literature differently too. Literature, and one’s attitude and understanding towards it, depends on experiences. Experiences of education, literature, whether you enjoyed your lessons when you were in primary school, whether you have a natural love of reading. These are all key factors in understanding what literature is, and whether you enjoy it, or despise it.

I know people who have yet to finish an entire book, and I suspect there are people who go their whole lives barely reading books and magazines. This is of course, a life choice. Whether you want to read or not is entirely up to you; education demands a certain amount of reading. If you choose a literature, or essay based degree, you’ll find reading to be nonnegotiable. Arts courses tend to be much more vocational, and this choice depends very much on the style of learning one is accustomed to.

Philosophy of the Mind (1)

It’s difficult to know how you’ll feel about different kinds of literature, until you experience it. For example, I don’t like all kinds of literature. I really dislike mythical Greek and Roman texts, as well as finding James Joyce’s Ulysses utterly intolerable. Some regard it as an example of the greatest literary creation of all time. I think it is a grammatical abomination, and something that is so complicated that it begins to lose its point, because it’s completely inaccessible. Conversely however, I thoroughly enjoy T.S Eliot, who is well-known for regarding literature as an elite pursuit and past time.

Philosophy is something else that is considered highbrow, and rarely brought down to an accessible level. It is complicated because it involves thinking about the makings of the universe, and theorizing on that most illusive of characters, knowledge. However it’s less complex than some think; it’s a matter of having a good teacher and a simple reader, to introduce someone to the rudimentary elements of philosophy. There’s no need to over-complicate things, and dive straight into analysis on Plato’s dialogues.

I consider literature to be one of my greatest loves, and I consider almost everything to be literature. I think that the well-written blog can be considered literature of all sorts; some blogs can be understood as literotica, some can be understood as beautiful prose. New writing is the writing that will one day be considered classic, and will belong to the modern cannon, and so I think it’s important to look at new literature, read magazines, of all kinds; fashion, photography, literary; they’re all part of a modern culture that will, like all cultures before it, be revered by future generations.

It’s all about enjoyment, you see. Culture is formulated through the things that people enjoy; a city with a strong opera programme tends to become linked to the opera as a pursuit and therefore becomes a cultural construct. To this end, we create our own culture. I’d like to think we do, at least.

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(1) http://philosophy.uchicago.edu/workshops/_files/Philosophy-of-Mind-Workshop.jpg

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Good Afternoon, Dr. Freud

Now, I’ve always been something of a sceptic when it comes to psychoanalysis. I don’t really buy into brain-dwellers, and I think that ferreting around in the subconscious is sometimes like digging around a landmine; sometimes, things are buried for a reason. However, our American cousins seem to have a lot of faith in the practice, and since I have to revise the subject anyway, I thought I’d embrace it and see what all the fuss is about.

Freudian psychoanalysis is a method of literary interpretation that places heavy emphasis on the nature of the mind, and how the unconscious influences of the super-ego, ego and id affect the way we conduct our literary and everyday lives. Freud wrote a number of important essays on various topics of literary interpretation. These include his thoughts on narcissism, the short comings of the pleasure principle, the issues surrounding proposed infantile sexuality, and the importance of dream analysis.

A Formidable Man… (1)

Psychoanalysis as a discipline focusses on the talking cure as a way of establishing and tackling the root behind one’s neuroses. This approach can be applied to literature in so far as one searches for one’s neuroses hidden behind imagery that can be found in a text. Freud suggests that everything we do is the result of impulses and therefore to look for these impulses can be conducive to providing a literary analysis of the subject.

All of Freud’s literature is based around the concept of the unconscious, which is deemed as having three levels. The first is the super-ego, which represents the expectations of society and is widely considered as being the voice of morality. The ego represents desires, and attempts to mediate between the id and the superego, whilst the id represents the base human instincts; it is something that is inaccessible.

Freud’s theory of dreams tends to relate back to the content of the id, and the process of establishing the dream-work is perhaps the most important in terms of psychoanalysis. Latent content is the fundamental basis of analysis, made all the more obscure by way of the fact that it is hidden deep inside the content of the dream.

Condensation is the Freudian understanding that one object in a dream represents a number of complex ideas, therefore the content of the dream is deceptively small. Alongside condensation is the concept of displacement, where the dream object’s emotional significance is separated from it’s real object or content and attached to an entirely different one, in order to not arouse the suspicions of the dreamer. Dreams are never simple and represent a huge amount of latent content.

The pleasure principle is something that is always sublimated to something else; the human psyche is more complex than simply the pursuit of pleasure. Other pursuits, such as repeating a certain action, are repeated in order to fulfil the unfulfilled wish. The converse principle, or the reality principle, counters the pleasure principle, when people choose to defer fulfilling a certain desire on the basis that circumstantial reality is opposed to this desire. Society therefore intervenes, creating the reality principle. Freud defines maturity as an ability to tolerate continual deferred pleasure, in favour of conforming with social expectations and understanding. Therefore the ego has become reasonable, and obeys the reality principle in favour of understanding only the pleasure principle. The reality principle does also seek to fulfil desires; however it does so whilst taking into account the problems of circumstantial reality.

This concludes my elementary understanding of Freudian theory, and also proved a very useful revision task.

Thank you for reading!

(:

(1) http://specularimage.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/freud12.jpg?w=640

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Sarah Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has long been a popular children’s story, and has featured on the reading lists of many adults as well. The novel was first published in 1865 and became an institution in itself, inspiring many writers, and production studios. Alice’s adventures even reached into the blogosphere, inspiring one very talented bloggette. Alice’s world is inspirational because it creates the impression that even the nonsensical is sensible, given the appropriate imagination and context; everything can be experienced in technicolour if you have the imagination to think that way.

The Red Queen, in the Tim Burton film. (1)

I loved the film when I was a child, and when I’m not feeling well, I’ll still watch both the Disney original, and the new version, featuring Johnny Depp. I find the latter to be fascinating, with just enough suspense and dragon fighting to capture the audience’s attention, or more specifically, the attention of a slightly older audience. It has always been immensely difficult to write a children’s book that is sufficiently versatile that it will appeal to adults at the same time, however that’s what Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (pseudonym Lewis Carroll) managed to do. It is the most critically acclaimed children’s book of all time, widely being hailed as a fantastic example of the nonsense literary genre, by people such as Sir Walter Scott.

Alice’s various explorations, including the episode of the Walrus and the Carpenter, and tea with the Mad Hatter, are adventures that we all really would like to do it, a little bit. We all want to escape, and falling down the rabbit hole, landing without so much of a scratch really is a rather heroic feat. To be able to eat cake, and shrink, or drink something and grow is almost like a superpower; I rather fancy Alice as a kind of superhero for little girls.

However, in the novel, there are some more disturbing images, that even to this day give me the creeps. I find the episode with the pepper and the pig to be consisted of almost grotesque imagery, and for a children’s story, I think that could be considered quite an alarming element. However from a more educationally led perspective, the whole episode could be interpreted as an allegory for not quite understanding the consequences of one’s actions, and being surprised when something distasteful results. We’ve all been there and done it; done some we oughtn’t have, and then been slightly surprised at the awkward or irritating results we left behind.

Figurative language always catches my attention, and none more so than in Alice and Wonderland. The whimsical nature of the prose is something I find profoundly interesting. The poems seem almost meshed together, as if no thought at all went into them, however it becomes clear that the very opposite is true; the nonsense if you like, is an intellectual construction, interested only in creating a whimsical nature. I suppose one could argue then, that the novel isn’t part of the nonsense genre at all, however that presupposes that one considers the genre to be just what it says it is; nonsense.

If you’ve never read the book by itself, I encourage you to. It’s a wonderful trip into fantasy.

(:

(1) http://media-file.net/6/aliceinwonderland/images/RedQueen_Banner.jpg

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Where Post-Colonialism Takes A Nineteenth Century Stroll

A Short Introduction (1)

Post-colonialist criticism has won my favour today, because I’ve been revising all the theories that I haven’t written about in my essays. This presents a problem, because I didn’t realise at the beginning of the year that I couldn’t write about the same topic twice. This means I’m in the slightly tricky position of having to write about all the theories that quite frankly, well, I’m mediocre (at best) at. This means that a frantic revision of all the compulsory reading ensued, and now I’m feeling marginally calmer, I’ve  had an epiphany: I will not have to write about Jacques Derrida under exam conditions. Anyone familiar with Derrida’s work will realise what a completely beautiful blessing this is.

Anyway, I’ve been reading extensively around the subject of post-colonialist criticism today, which essentially considers the nature of literature in terms of its understanding of ‘the subaltern’, and how Britain perceives the world, whilst it perches on something of a pedestal due to its great imperial past. It was certainly a great past, if slightly ethically questionable. Some would argue that because our empire has disintegrated, that we are no longer great, and instead ride on the coat-tails of the reasonably new superpower, the United States of America. But that’s a whole other conversation.

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I like the idea of the subaltern; the idea that we cannot communicate with the subaltern, as proposed by Edward Said is interesting, because it suggests we have no way of creating a common language with which to communicate. Structuralist theory, as dictated by Ferdinand Saussure, suggests that in order to communicate, we must have a culturally agreed code to fall back on, to determine the meaning of the sign. (In this case, words). Without this shared culture, it is seemingly impossible to communicate quite literally, across the world.

Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park is one of the best examples of literature that is concerned with empire. She discusses the role of Sir Thomas Bertram in Antigua, running a slave plantation. She personally was opposed to slavery, however in the novel, it is implicitly accepted as a commodity that is fundamental to the wealth of the Bertrams. Interestingly, when the financial difficulties of the plantation become apparent, no lifestyle changes occur, almost as if to suggest there is an innate wealth underpinning the lifestyles of the family.

Post-colonial critics have suggested any number of things about Jane Austen in relation to this novel, such as the idea that she supports slavery because of the nature of the Bertrams wealth. An interesting counter to this argument however is that Fanny Price, the novel’s protagonist, asks her uncle, Sir Thomas about the plantation, and he neglects to give a reply. This could be interpreted as showing an awareness of immorality, and therefore an unwillingness to discuss the situation with his niece.

Returning to the ideology itself however, I find it extremely compelling because of its entanglement with history, perhaps more so than other forms of literary criticism. The key critics behind post-colonialism, including Spivak and Said, present repeatedly reputable arguments that discuss the British attitudes towards empire, and towards this culture that we are unable to communicate with, due to our extreme cultural differences, and historic hegemony towards them.

For anyone with a particular interest in the British Empire, I’d suggest reading Orientalism by Edward Said; it presents some very interesting forward thinking on the subject of empire and dominance, and for anyone unfamiliar with the concept of hegemony, I’d suggest looking that up too. Antonio’s Gramsci’s marxist thoughts on hegemony provide a very interesting inside into the ways of imperialism in the modern world, a world that has long moved on from naval conquests, into a more political kind of empiricism.

Happy reading!

(:

(1) http://cultural.emulty.com/wp-content/uploads/wpid-41ecV3AnOOLSL500.jpg

(2) Image courtesy of Wikipedia

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Notes Backwards

We’ve all wondered what we’d say, if we could travel back in time, and tell ourselves what to do. I thought I’d blog about it today, on account of the weather being simply terrible, which is making me all reflective, and thoughtful.

Knowledge, and university courses. In the pursuit of knowledge, there are several things a person must know. The first, is that learning stuff, the big stuff, isn’t easy, and unless you’re bless with a photographic memory, something I dearly wish I had, you will spend an inordinate amount of time reading, rereading, and note-taking, before you can confidently declare to understand something. Moreover, somebody will always know more than you about something. This is inevitable, but it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t attempt to be absolutely the very best, at everything you try to do. You should take the university course you love, because otherwise you’ll be extremely resentful of it, and it’ll make it one thousand times more difficult to finish it.

Art. Art is important. It’s important because we like to build things, create things. We must remember to write, read, draw, and dance, throughout the exams, and throughout the long working weeks, because otherwise life becomes well, incredibly boring. It’s also never too late to be something you’ve dreamt of being, even if you find you’re just a little older than the others. That just means you’re more mature.

Body. You think you’re fat now, however hindsight suggests you were wonderfully slim. As Baz Luhrmann quite rightly says, “you are not as fat as you imagine”. Take care of the body. Get some exercise, even if you hate it, and remember not to eat too much rubbish. Some junk food however is good for the soul, and so eating some of it is strongly encouraged. As is the eating of broccoli.

Success. Being an awkward child, you don’t know what you want to be yet, however you do know that it’s going to be something incredibly high-flying, and difficult to manage. The aspiration will seem like it’s a really long way away when you get a reality check, and sadly have to check into the real world for a while, however you ought to just keep going, and find new ways to pursue things. Thinking outside the box is really very, very important.

Self Confidence. Another Baz Luhrmann quote. “Do not congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either.” I find these to be rather wise words, and he has a point. Remember not to get complacent, and don’t think that you know everything. When you get to university you will be humbled by everyone and everything, including your peers, how daunting the real world seems, and how little you really know about your degree. Just remember it’s only the beginning, work hard to understand more, and use the library often. Do not be disappointed if you don’t just sail through, straight away. There’s no reward, if it’s too easy.

I think that summarises my wise words of the day. I think it’s useful, sometimes, to remember what you’ve learnt. It makes you feel wise, and more mature than you were when you first started out, even if it was only really six months ago.  The video by Baz Luhrmann is something I find incredibly useful too, have a listen!

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The Importance of Teddy Bears

Who wouldn’t love that face? (1)

Teddy bears are one of those items that everyone loves and owns, but nobody really wants to admit it after a certain age. I find this a little offensive, because I feel as though they provide comfort when we are small, and it seems cruel to just abandon them when we get older, because they’re one of those items that one “grows out of”. I never really grew out of a love of teddy bears, firstly because they’re adorable, and secondly because I still have a very overactive imagination.

I used to read quite a lot of Enid Blyton when I was young, and The Faraway Tree Stories were my favourite bedtime stories. I love the idea of having a magical tree, full of elves and fairies, ready to take you on adventures. I did say I had something of an overactive imagination. It’s something I was born with. Teddy bear stories comfort little people because they take them to different worlds, where things simply aren’t as scary. There are never monsters under the bed in teddy bear stories. Adults I think have their own versions of teddy bear stories; we watch TV, some drink, and we draw, and paint. People spend lots of time not thinking about what’s really happening in the world.

An interesting comparison (2)

And this is I think one of the reasons that teddy bears, or at least the principles behind them, are so important. They provide a childish world in which to escape. Some of you reading this will be scoffing, however I think everyone has to be at least a little childish, and have a place where they can play with train sets and Lego. I personally enjoy Lego immensely; it’s one of the best children’s pursuits out there. I also used to love (and still do, a little bit), building massive Barbie mansions. At one point I think I owned about thirty Barbies, and not the new, strange ones, but the real-life 90s ones, which looked triangular. On a related note, I think those who blame 90s Barbie for causing terrible perceptions of body image is just preposterous, because she was so extreme. The newer Barbies are so perfect that surely they seem more human, and therefore more realistic shapes to aspire to? But there we go, something of a side note.

So anyway, I think everyone should own a teddy bear. They’re so lovely and so welcoming, and surely the world is a horrible enough place, without people abandoning teddy bears left, right, and centre too?

(:

(1) http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51aIwCvfdhL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

(2) http://www.picshag.com/pics/012011/barbie-in-the-1990s-vs-barbie-in-the-2000s.jpg

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War Crimes Convictions? But Katie Price Just Had Her Nose Done…

I have written on the subject of the media before, however in light of a very thought-provoking comment from a fellow blogger, I thought I’d write about media bias. It’s something that affects all of us whether we are aware that it does or not; because our perceptions are shaped by the world we experience, and if there’s something that can change the way we look at the universe, then that is powerful, potent even. As the age-old statement goes, “the pen is mightier than the sword”. Or in this case, television, Twitter, Facebook, and radio, might be more powerful than anything else.

Tony Blair (1)

Media control is an issue often associated with totalitarian regimes, and it is rarely perceived as an actual problem in what we refer to as the ‘civilized’ western world. However, the control that exists is subtle, and because it is subtle, there is little cause for rebellion against it, from most of us. It is widely accepted that newspapers tend to have a political bias, however it is not always obvious that the content of newspapers can, and often is, controlled to a certain extent by the proprietors of such things. Rupert Murdoch for instance, is hailed as the media’s big, bad bully; but on the other hand, who can blame the man for wanting to expand control? Power is a base human instinct.

The conviction of George W. Bush and Tony Blair for their role in the Iraq War (example courtesy of this blogger), was not well publicized in the slightest, despite the fact that they were convicted for the most heinous of crimes; a war crimes conviction is not something that is taken lightly in society, however the lack of news coverage in the aftermath of the aforementioned tribunal is astonishing; other elements of leadership, such as the organisations that underpin government, are often obscured through a sort of smoke and mirrors facade. Issues that should be fundamental in securing voters are often hidden, or at least not advertised. Small articles features on the very back pages of newspapers are often used to line kitty litter boxes, and few people really get to the bottom of difficult political issues on a regular basis.

This is also representative of the new celebrity craze that exists; we idolize the rich and famous, often for having made no significant contributions to society. We follow twitter updates constantly, and seem to associate our interests not in the trivial, per se, but in the more human elements of life. We are concerned with how the other half live. We are far less concerned as a society about the workings of government than we were one hundred years ago, however again we live in a culture that is shaped by the significance of media exposure, and so if all we are exposed to is human interest, then it is much more difficult to form a society that is genuinely concerned about finance. As the Nazi regime, and North Korean dictatorships have discovered, anything can be accomplished through propaganda, and there is always a side of the story that can and will be obscured if it is in aid of ‘the greater good’, or a particular political agenda.

I have included the comment of the aforementioned blogger, which was written in response to one of my earlier posts, because I think it provides a very interesting understanding of ‘the other side’.

(:

Comment

You mention the connection between education and politics/ political leaders.

Here’s a fascinating video about that very subject.

I’m not sure if the national socialist (AKA Nazi) ideology is dead at all. The main difference between the corporate fascism of the WWII Germany and the corporate fascism we see in the ‘west’ today seems to be that in Germany the state took over the corporations. Today the corporations are taking over the state. (My brain is saying “Like, whatever….”)

Don’t forget that the Nazi’s were funded by elite bankers such as the Rockefellers and even George W. Bush’s grandfather Prescott Bush.To understand why they would do this we just need to look above the school history textbook (or mass media/ Hollywood) version of history and realise that the banking and political ‘elite’ sit above nation states and have no particular allegiance to any of them. Not only do they fund and profit financially from war (from human death, let’s be honest), but they use war as a means to affect the geopolitical landscape in order to consolidate their power.

Their motto is ‘Order out of Chaos’. They first create or manipulate the chaos into being (a war, an economic crash, a terrorist act etc) and then while the world is in disarray and the traumatized public are desperate for their leaders to “do something”, it’s much easier for them to steer society towards their desired objectives, towards their new order (towards their ‘new world order’).

The strategy is all around us. David Icke, although much ridiculed for some of his theories, sums it up perfectly in the phrase: Problem – Reaction – Solution.

After the elite funded WWII was over, hundreds of Nazi mind control and rocket scientists were imported to the US, pardoned of their horrific crimes and integrated into the US military industrial complex, including universities. Many of the propulsion scientists (such as Von Braun) ended up working for NASA.

As researchers like bestselling author and journalist Jim Marrs have pointed out, the Nazi’s didn’t really ‘lose’ WW2…. they just had to relocate to somewhere else ie America. In reality, America was hijacked by these globalist elite and their psychopathic frontmen long, long ago. The people who run America today are all CFR members (an organisation well worth researching), including Obama (not that he really runs America – he is just a wall street puppet like most presidents).

It all makes a lot more sense once you realise their agenda for world domination actually requires an end to the ‘superpower’ (ie any nation strong enough to actually stand up to them!). IOW the very people who run America today are intent on destroying it! That is why they are happy to start war after war after war costing trillions …… or sell off all America’s industry to China ….. or destroy the constitution with the Patriot Act and NDAA….all at a time when the economy is so bad even middle class Americans are losing their homes and living in tent cities.

While the Bush family were busy promoting flag waving patriotism in order to send young boys to war (see also: Hitler) they were busy buying up hundred thousand acre ranch in Paraguay sitting on its own aquifer, ready for when America finally collapses and/ or turns into a fully fledged police state / ‘failed state’ under martial law.

Both Bush and Blair were found guilty of war crimes for Iraq under the Geneva Convention in a recent tribunal. And this didn’t even make the mainstream news such is the control the ‘elite’ have over the media these days (just five corporations own nearly all the main media networks in the US…. and the BBC is just as controlled).

Preemptive wars of empire, genocide of innocent civilians, foreign threats and terrorism blown out of all proportion and used to provoke fear and xenophobia, torture, false flag attacks, FEMA concentration camps, the erosion of civil rights, outlawing of basic freedoms and the creation of surveillance society based on fear and perhaps most importantly of all: a complacent, brainwashed public who can’t see it all for what it really is ……. has anything really changed since the days of Nazi Germany?

Have things in fact gotten worse?

Was that OK? … I can rant for longer if you want?  (well you’ve got to laugh…)

(:

(1) http://www.topnews.in/files/tony-blair3.jpg

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Indecision, Haircuts, and Farmers

It’s the eve of my nineteenth birthday, and all I can think about is a profoundly adolescent, female specific problem. Namely, my hair. It’s always sort of hung there, being curly. However now I’m approaching advanced age, I’m thinking of changing it. The colour has to change (I recently experimented with red, and despise it), and I shall need to go back to something vaguely honey and copper toned, I think. I shall leave this in the hands of my hairdresser.

Unfortunately however, I cannot simply give her free rein with the scissors; I need some direction, especially because I have particularly curly hair, which, if cut badly, will never look quite the same again. It will mean hats will be essential for the succeeding six weeks, and the experience is not really one I care to repeat.

(1) Standard haircut protocol...

This kind of conundrum does make me wonder about the superficial expectations of society and the opposite sex as a whole, however it mainly makes me question my own ability to like myself; it would seem my appearance is more important to me than anyone else, and the only person who really worries about my hair’s current colour and style is me. I put a disproportionate amount of time into worrying about my weight, and a conversely small amount of time into worrying about whether my hair looks nice. It rarely looks nice, especially during term time. I lose the ability to maintain grooming habits every time I set foot in my flat. Eyebrows are just sort of painted on, and I start to be less concerned with wearing make up.

It’s very strange to consider how appearance is directly proportional to exposure to modernity; farmers do not worry about their complexions or weight particularly (I’m sure there are exceptions), and country women typically are less concerned about heal heights and skirt lengths. Whenever I’m back in the city, heels become appropriate again, and clothing becomes much sharper. When I’m in the country, anything but jeans can be considered as an example of being overdressed, and knitted jumpers are perfectly acceptable evening attire. In the city, nothing short of a LBD will be worn on a night out. In the country, shorts and a t-shirt with flip-flops are essential. We rarely dress up, unless there’s a space themed party and some tinfoil involved.

Anyway, back to my current conundrum. I want a fringe, possibly, however I’m very worried that this will accentuate my slightly round face. I often look in the mirror and wonder what I was doing on the day they handed out the well-defined cheekbones. I need a new hair colour, and I want something new, however over the last six months I’ve pretty much covered the entire colour spectrum, from platinum blonde, to deep mahogany. I shall be satisfied with lots of highlights and lowlights, I think. In something vaguely honeyed. As long as I’m not ashy blonde anymore, I think I shall leave happy. This still doesn’t tackle the question of the cut though.

Oh, isn’t life hard?

(:

(1) http://www.everydaypeoplecartoons.com/cartoons/327—September-30-October-6,-2007,-sense-of-self-haircut.gif

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Onwards, Upwards, and Backwards

The problem is time, and loneliness. They go hand in hand; they always have. People do not form meaningful relationships overnight; a classic example of course, is the one night stand. However people also do not form relationships over any short period; there are fleeting friendships, holiday romances, work colleagues. They all form your perceptions of the world around you, and impact you in different ways, however they are rarely long-term friends, or even very good friends, because after all, we impact one another without ever really realizing that we have.

(1) It's nice, to be together. Ask Winnie the Pooh.

I always feel slightly deceived by the cliques that exist in high schools across the world, and the misconceptions that surround universities and colleges, after high school. Nothing really changes, and friends are not magically made. You do have to go out and find them, and hope that whilst you’re away, your old friends don’t move too far away from you. This is one of the worst parts of university; a complete upheaval of everything, including your friends, who are essentially the people you grew up with. It’s hard to be away from the people who know you better than anyone; suddenly you have to start making first impressions all over again, being presentable. You cannot be yourself in its full, unmitigated glory, because people can’t always handle that.

It’s challenging then, to go back to a time where people don’t know you, and have no history with you. They really don’t know you from Adam, and therefore, why would they bother with you if you didn’t come across well? This is a valid point, and one that I think is rather valuable to remember; people don’t owe you anything, ever. You call in favours, you must have history and friendship; the world is build on the latter. It’s a warm fuzzy idea, however sometimes it’s just plain alienating, because the new world is a billion miles away from where it used to be, and nothing is ever quite the same, after that. Including going home.

It’s inevitable that some life changing things will happen, and that some progress will be made. How much or how little is dependent on one’s willingness to change and evolve, and sometimes people have to go forwards in order to appreciate what they used to have. People move on. It’s one of the worst and best things about university, and I think it’s natural to think that. People are the same across the world; even if we were all still together, things would still be moving along. This tends to happen; as horrible as it is during high school, its way worse in reality.

But inevitably, we also find new people. And these people are just as amazing as the old people. They’re our people too. Real friends never tend to move too far away; they always come back given a phone call, or two.

(:

(1) http://sarahalicewaterhouse.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/best_friends255b1255d.jpg?w=300

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On Coming Home

A very short note, to prove to all of you that I haven’t abandoned the blogging-sphere. I haven’t, really, I’ve just taken a small blogging hiatus, whilst I’m on a holiday of sorts, with one of my best friends. Anyway, the holiday is drawing to a very rapid close, and this time tomorrow, I will have skipped merrily across the country, back to my own house, and my own bed. I’m very excited.

I think my love of coming home stems from the fact that when I was younger, I couldn’t wait to move out; I thought it would be the best thing ever; you know the drill. Unlimited freedom, the power to go wherever I wanted, with whomever I wanted to. The part I managed to leave out of my perfect little fantasy, was that with unlimited freedom, comes unlimited responsibility. Money, bills, rent, and so on. All those things that just sort of weren’t there when you were fourteen, and designing grand houses that you would move into, as soon as you escaped from home. I realised however, this was the most preposterous thing I’ve ever done in my life. Ever.

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Anyway, the point is, that in twenty-four hours, I’ll be back at home with my parents and little sister, and all my teddy bears. I’m nineteen in a week, and I still cannot wait to go home, put on my onesie (they look ridiculous, but it’s like being in a bag of blanket), and cuddle up with my Mum. Whenever I tell people this, they either think it’s lovely, or that I’m somehow pathetic, and not independent; I think the two concepts are not the same. Loving home, and being independent, are not the same thing. There’s a distinction to be made, and I always feel as though people should realise the difference, and appreciate things they have, whilst they have them.

So to conclude: the rucksack is packed, the train tickets are ready to go. A spot of washing, and the making of packed lunch, and we’ll land back in the homeland before you know what’s hit you. Guess who’s back?

(1) http://www.twincitieshomeforeclosures.com/images/home/quotes/HFquote10.gif

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