Monday, September 23, 2013

Passions vs interests

Hello there, buddies.

The other day I watched a clip about an economist (whose name escapes me) and he was talking about the differences between interests and passions in relation to failure and success. This clip really got my mind buzzing and I turned to my friend saying that I really need to blog about this sort of thing. So...here it is.

Now I think that there is a clear distinction between something you are interested in, and something that you are passionate about. However, the person who was speaking in that clip said that you cannot be successful by pursuing something you are simply interested in, yet not passionate about. This is something I think I am going to chat about today.

It was also said that you have to be successful to have a 'great' career. Now I say to you, what makes a 'great' career? I think that anything that provides a stable income and something you enjoy doing is a great career. I don't know what your opinions on this would be, so please do tell me in the comments below. The idea of a great career is clearly subjective, and most likely is going to change depending on the outlook of a person and what they enjoy. Also, the status of a career is going to change whether it is viewed as good or great. For example, my dad is a firefighter, a career that many people see as great. From someone who has an inside view, I would say that this would be 'good' career based on the theory provided by the economist. This is because he risks his life on a daily basis, doesn't have a high income, and is most likely something that my dad is not 100% passionate about (although others would disagree). However, someone who has an outside view would view this as a 'great' career because of this heroic stigma attached to it.They are often sensationalized as people who saves lives - which of course they do - but what people always tend to forget is that they put the lives of others before their own...and thy get paid pennies to do it. People idolise the likes of football players (who get paid over 30 times more what my dad gets in a year) who just run around on a field for a while chasing a white ball and over-exaggerating any contact they get. These types of people are passionate about what they do, yes, but they only made a career out of things by luck - nothing to do with being passionate. I would label my dad's career as 'good' because of the sheer fear that comes along with it - would you think that it is great wondering whether your dad is OK after tackling a blazing fire? 

The thing is, it was said that something you are only interested in basically means you are doomed for failure? Do I agree with this? No, I do not. As someone who doesn't have a passion, this basic theory means that I am doomed to fail in life. Now this is just ridiculous. I have very high aspirations for myself, but in something I am only interested in. Does this mean that I will just spend the rest of my life failing at anything I go for? I think not. 

I think it is irrelevant as to whether you are interested in something, or passionate about it, whether you succeed in it. If you are driven enough, know the right people, or have the right attitude then you will succeed. Interest and passion play no role in that.

I would say I am only interested in the subject that I am studying at university, yet I am hoping to have a career in the subject. I also have got relevant experience in it, and a once in a lifetime opportunity in this area without being passionate about it. Do you think I am going to fail simply because I am only interested in it?

The economist is suggested that no external factors play a role in whether you succeed or fail in life, and that it is driven simply by the desire fabricated by a severe interest in a certain thing. Take my blog for example. I wouldn't quite describe my blog as my passion as I find it quite easy to stop blogging for a while and turn my attention to other things; the same can be said about my degree. Someone who is passionate about something can only focus their main attention on that one given subject, without being able to voluntarily cease their involvement in it. 

Would a passion mean that I am more likely to succeed in life? I do take two opposing views on this...First of all, it might help me along my way because of the extent of drive it would enforce in me. I would be likely to continue to pursue what I am doing out of pure interest and the desire to succeed because of how I felt about the said subject. But on the other hand, I feel that I don't need to be passionate about about it to get to that level of success. I can see the opinion of the economist, yes, but what I do not understand is why it is viewed that passion overrules interest. Surely you have to be interested in something for it to become a passion? Whether this interest is furthered to become a passion is down to the perceptions of the person involved. Just because they don't develop that strong attachment to it that develops in to a passion, doesn't mean they cannot be successful in that field. 

I think that passions are a good thing to have, yes. But I think it's rare that you can find something to be that attached to. Some people have passions and go far in life, and some even become famous, but some people just aren't that lucky. For example, me! I am never going to be famous or crazy successful because I am just not that lucky - but that is a post for another time!

I think I need to draw this all together now; I seem to have rabbited on a bit too much, sorry! Long story short, I don't think people should be made to feel bad for the fact that they don't have something they are passionate about. If it were that people weren't successful because of the fact they haven't got a passion for something, then 90% of the world would be unemployed. I think it's more valuable to have multiple interests than to have one single passion so you can keep your options open and have several different talents. People who focus on more than one thing are probably more valuable in the long run. I don't know, that is just my opinion. Maybe I am biased because I don't have a particular passion? I don't know.

Anyway, enough from me.

I want to know your opinion. In the comments below, tell me what you think about the whole "passions vs interests" thing.  If you have a passion I want to know why you have one and how it came about. If you don't have one, then I want to know the things you are interested in, why you're interested in them, etc. Basically, what draws you to the thinks you love?

If you enjoyed this post then do please click "Join This Site". I'd love to know whether you liked this style of post compared to my usual rant-y things.

As always, thank you for reading!

Talk to you soon, lovelies. 

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Inappropriate people rant

Hello there, buddies.

I first of all have to make an apology to you guys. I recently went on a 3 week blogging break where I blogged once. So I do apologise for that. The reasons were I had a lot going on with working and heading back to uni that I found I didn't have the time I wanted to write the quality of posts that I usually do. I didn't think it was fair on you guys, and me, to be writing when it wasn't something I was enjoying or that I thought you wouldn't enjoy. So I made the difficult decision to stop writing for a while. 

I am now happy to say that this blogging break is over! I have finished work until December and I am now moved in my new house in Plymouth, so I can hopefully get back in to my normal writing routine. I am hoping to write normal posts every day (you have had two today, you lucky bunch), and some specialised posts throughout.

I am also happy to announce that I have two new original several part series debuting on my blog this month. I am hoping to launch my "How It Should Have Ended" series at the end of this month, with a new crime fiction series entitled "Into The Darkness" launching in the next few months. I will write a full synopsis of "Into The Darkness" tomorrow, but this will be a chapter series which will over time form a novel. I am very excited about this, and have the first half of chapter one written! I hope you will enjoy it!

Formal shit over; on with the rant!

So today I will be ranting about people. If you can put your hand on your heart and tell me that you don't get annoyed by people then I call bullshit. People are the most annoying things in the entire world. I am sorry, I love you and everything, but everyone at some point in their lives does something to annoy someone else. Unfortunately I am one of those people who just has almost zero tolerance for people, and gets really angry and certain things all the time. 

I have several little annoyances I am going to share with you. I am hoping that I can encourage you to rant about the things that people do that you really cannot stand because otherwise I am going to be alone and feel like a right asshole. 

First of all, the most annoying thing that I think people do is eating with their mouths open. I cannot stand it. At all. It is gross. You are not brought up in a zoo, so why would you eat like an animal?! You have manners, do you not?! I do tend to get quite angry when people do it, and often have to leave the room if I can hear someone eating. Don't know why.

Partially linked to this is the fact that a lot of the population seem to lack general manners. For example, not apologising if they walk in to you, or forgetting general life rules. I think this applies more to the younger teenage generation - the current 15/16 year olds. Now if you are this age and you are thinking I am talking a load of shit, then you are most likely the small percentage of that population that are actually polite human beings. However, I think that generation is slightly messed up in some ways. For example, I was sat in McDonald's in Plymouth having a drink with a friend at the end of last year when a woman with a newborn baby came in and sat down. Shortly following her were a bunch of about 16 year olds walked in, beer cans in hand, and started causing a load of chaos. Now call me old fashioned, but drinking when you are 16 is illegal anyway (I know we all did it, but not in a public place in the middle of the day) and I just think the way they were acting was completely out of hand. They then continued to sit next to the woman when the restaurant was almost empty, giving her shit and shouting at her. Then, if things could not get worse, they started pushing and shoving her with her newborn baby in her arms. I am sorry but those people just need a punch in the face. How dare they do that?! Seriously, some people just need to sort their lives out. Jeremy Kyle will be their next stop.

As you all know, I really cannot stand bad grammar or language. It seriously ruffles my feathers when people talk in text-talk or whatever. Seriously. Are people just not educated in proper English these days? Someone please explain to me why so many people just cannot talk in a proper manner.

For some reason, I find the current group of teenagers very frustrating - as you can probably see by my little rant a second ago. They just seem so disrespectful to the older population and seem to think that they are above absolutely everything else. Now I know I am not exactly much older than them, and I still have a lot to learn, but they are just something else. Especially when I used to have to turn some people away from a place I used to work for being underage then claiming that they "have the wrong ID". I am sorry, no. Get some manners. 

Then there are those fucking irritating 2 faced and bitchy people. For some reason, this seems to be something that shows itself more in girls. As a rule, I find it really difficult to get on with girls as it is, and most of my friends are actually male, so when people end up being a twat then any trust is literally destroyed in milliseconds. So if you are reading this as one of my friends and you happen to be female, congratulations you aren't an asshole. Bitchy people piss me off because of the fact that 99.9% of the time they will do it behind your back then be sickly-sweet to your face. I mean, grow some balls and be a bitch to my face. 

The world's most annoying type of person is the person who says that they will/won't do something then go and do the complete opposite. I think everyone knows a person who does this, if you don't then you are extremely lucky. They are the type of people who fuck up plans that get made at the last minute - I got messed around with some Katy Perry tickets a few years ago the day before after people had an entire year to sort everything out. This type of person is a pain in the ass half of the time, and I am now learning to steer clear of this sort of thing. I never make solid plans with anyone who I know will probably fuck me about. Happy days.

Then we have those lovely selfish people. Don't you just love them? Those people who just do things to benefit them, or only want to know you when they want to. I knew someone like that in my first year at university. Safe to say that I am no longer friends with this person. Bitch. 

I also seem to have a little tiny bit of a problem with Justin Bieber (queue hate from Beliebers). I am sorry, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion, Beliebers' just happen to love him whilst I happen to dislike him. I think fame has gone to his head and he is not a good role model for his younger followers. I hope that this moment of pure madness that he is going through is seriously short-lived as it is getting old and this spoiled brat look is not desirable. Sort it out, Bieber.

I also dislike the fact that there are many people who are on the roads these days who simply cannot drive. Like they are seriously dangerous. I am not necessarily talking about people driving too fast, although that does play a role, but even going too slow is dangerous too, y'know? I was driving down a road the other day that has a 60mph restriction on it, and I was going about 50mph as it is a slightly windy and hilly road, so always better to go a bit slower. But there was a guy going under 15mph....15mph. I had to slam on my breaks because he was at the bottom of a hill and I couldn't see him. But that was so dangerous to be going that slow on a road with that limit. There are also those people who just don't pay attention and end up almost going in to the back of people, or just being a hazard. Do not go on your mobile phone when you drive, asshole. I have seen this so many times. The worst was when I saw a woman driving, whilst using her phone, with 2 young children in the car. Responsibility, woman.

I also hate the fact that there are a small proportion of people who act completely different around different groups of people. Like, what is with the split personality? Surely you should just be yourself and not conform to the mannerisms and whatnot of different groups of people. It seriously bugs me. 

I do have a slightly petty thing on here in that it bugs me when people say that they don't like Nandos without having tried it. Although I do think that I am slightly biased with the fact that I absolutely adore Nandos. But I mean who doesn't like chicken? Unless you are a vegetarian or something...then I will let you off.

I cannot stand nosey people who want to know what you are doing all the time. The worst one is when you are texting or writing or something and you catch them reading over your shoulder. I am like, "sorry, did you want me to read my private text out loud so you can know what is going on?". If you do this, I suggest that you don't bother, because you are just not cool. 

Finally, (I know this has gone on considerably longer than usual, sorry) but when someone cannot grasp the fact that everyone has their own personal space that shouldn't be invaded unless they are invited to, I get seriously irritated. As a rule, I don't like being touched, like at all. So if someone is like all over me, or constantly sticking their head or arms or something really close to me, then I get really uncomfortable. So please don't do it.

And I am going to stop this now because I don't want to bore you.

I hope you have enjoyed this post! If you would like to see more then do hit the "Join This Site" button to hear more from me before anyone else does!

I am planning on making this "Inappropriate Rant" thing a bit of a mini-series as they are the things you guys seem to like more. 

Stay tuned on my site as I have some awesome new things coming your way and I can't wait to show you them all!

As always, thank you for reading and I will speak to you tomorrow!

Toodle-oo, lovelies!



Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Student internet options

Hello there, buddies.

As a second year university student, I have just moved in to a house with 8 other people - which is going to be ever so slightly mad at times.


There are loads of decisions about what things we will all need in the year that we are living here, with the most important one possibly being the internet!


In my house this year, we have BT internet. I was with TalkTalk back at my family home where we had so many problems with the connection and everything dropping out, so I was really worried about having internet with a minimum of 9 devices connected to it at any one time. So you can imagine how amazing it was to find this internet is so fast, and doesn't slow down when we are all connected to it.


If you are reading this as a student trying to figure out what internet you are going to get in your house, then you are most definitely in the right place! I have an amazing unique offer for you.


LovelyChubly is working in partnership with BT to bring you this offer!


BT is currently offering students a cheaper and pretty awesome internet contract for student houses.


This offer currently includes: a 9 month subscription (which is perfect for students living in their student accommodation, then moving home for holidays) with some ultimate entertainment packages up for grabs.


This 9 month subscription comes in two tiers:


38MG for £20 per month

or

16MG for £16 per month


This download speed is incredible and is perfect for watching TV online, or downloading some new music for all those parties.

Along with this fantastic offer, BT has some incredible benefits to this.


There is an unlimited connection which you will be seriously needing with all that internet browsing for both essays and procrastination! There are over 5 million BT hot spots all over the UK for only BT broadband customers, so you can take advantage of that. No download limits, no usage caps - perfect!


Fibre optic broadband offering one of the fastest connections around - BT Infinity was voted best fibre broadband service in 2013.


BT is amazing value, and completely affordable for students, which makes a change as many internet providers don't offer a cheaper option for students.


Unlimited weekend calls to landlines are also on offer, so always time to make that call home!


BT sport online offers streaming of all the top sporting events, games and matches online straight to your PC or Mac. Never miss a match again!


BT also offers the SmartTalk App for iPhone and Android. This app allows you to connect to your wi-fi or the hot spots and make cheaper calls. You can find out more by clicking here.


Entertainment packages to be won

BT is offering a prize draw for students who purchase this deal - there are 5 up for grabs worth £2000!


HD ready Samsung 43" plasma screen television
Samsung home theatre system 
Nikon Coolpix S9050 digital camera
Xbox 360 S console with 250GB HDD
4 iPod Shuffle (4th gen) 2BG
£300 Sainsbury's vouchers 
Free BT broadband and calls for 9 months
All terms and conditions can be found on the BT website

Once you have purchased your package and had your confirmation, click here to enter the competition. 


This offer is exclusive to students, and I can pretty much guarantee that you won't get a better offer than this. 


Not only is it affordable, but you get all the added bonuses too.


To find out more, and how you can get this amazing deal, visit the BT Student page!





Sunday, September 01, 2013

One Direction taking on the world!

Hello there, buddies.

One Direction has to be the biggest boy band in the world right now with their first single "What Makes You Beautiful" selling over 5 million copies to date.


The popular band consists of 5 members: Niall Horan (19), Zayn Mailk (20), Liam Payne (20), Harry Styles (19), and Louis Tomlinson (21). 





It is hard to believe that only 3 years ago the boys were auditioning on ITV's The X Factor as solo artists. Luckily for us, Simon Cowell had a moment of pure genius and after rejecting the boys as solo artists, he suggested they get put together in a 5 piece boy band. The boys then got through the live shows with unbelievable success, but unfortunately lost out in a place in the final to Rebecca Furguson. Never could the boys have thought what incredible success was to follow when the show ended.


A large fan-base of UK girls formed whilst the boys were on the shows, yet this just continued to grow as time went on. The boys now have over 18.5 million Facebook fans and a combined total of 71 million followers on Twitter. Their fan-base is still continuing to grow with the nickname of "Directioners" being labelled to them.


The success of One Direction isn't just confined to the UK. Their albums and singles have tallied a total of 61 number one's worldwide. They also have an impressive 19 million singles sold, and 10 million albums.


However, they aren't just awesome musicians, oh no. They also have recently launched a fragrance and a film entitled "This Is Us" which has so far made an impressive £38 million in the US Box Office since opening on August 29, along with a massive line of merchandise! 


I was not fortunate enough to be able to make the Leicester Square premiere of the film, but I did get the chance to go see it today, and I was very impressed.


The film is basically self-explanatory, and the title "This Is Us" really says it all. It is an insight into the lives of the 5 boys, and shows Little Things (see what I did there?) about the boys themselves, their background and stories, along with some incredible footage from their shows all around the world. 


The film is made for 3D, which I saw it in, and actually has some really good 3D effects in it! I won't give too much away about it though because I really think you should go see it.


The film shows a different side to the boys compared to what people usually see in the press and other media outlets. I think it is nice to see that they are still really grounded and not caught up in the fame. The boys are still extremely realistic with everything, and you can see the shock on their faces when they get bombarded by fans.



One Direction at the premiere of "This Is It" in Leicester Square, London


There are many different sections in the films, with little comments throughout from the boys themselves. I think it is these moment when you can see that they are still normal boys! Their security guard talks about how they are just pranksters at heart and love to mess about. Their are some clips of Harry sitting in a bin and being pushed about by Niall, and many of the boys messing about in rehearsals. Including lots of joking about the fact the boys struggle with their dance moves!


There are quite a few heartwarming moments, too. There is a clip where Zayn talks to him mum after buying her a house. This definitely made me tear up a tiny bit. There is also a quite sentimental moment when Liam talks about the fact he worries that someone will like him because of his fame, not because of the person he is. 


You can really see in "This Is It" the true dedication of the fans, nicknamed "Directioners". I would say that about 96% of their fan-base are female, and many of them getting very teary and shaky when they see them.


Something I was extremely happy to see was the fact there is loads of footage from their performances in there. As someone who was cheated out of tickets to see 1D, I felt a little less upset seeing the footage. I am dying to see the boys live, but unfortunately as a student there is no way I can ever afford tickets to see them. So online videos are something I am going to have to get accustomed to. 



One Direction's Take Me Home tour

It makes me all warm inside to see that the boys still value their roots, with footage of Harry visiting his old job in a bakery and saying that it's nice to visit somewhere where people know the real him. 



Harry Styles in the bakery he worked in as a teenager

I loved the boys already, but to see that they are real genuine guys just makes me love them more. I am not the sort of person who likes them simply because of the fact they are famous, I love their personalities and the fact that they went from not knowing each other whatsoever, to becoming basically family in such a small space of time. The film itself really shows that too, especially in moments when the boys are chatting about the `band and their success, with them all mentioning that they wouldn't be where they are with each other. 


I do have a slight personal favourite out of all the boys (a biiiiig soft spot for Niall has been there since day one), but after seeing "This Is Us" I am loving them all equally! Although I do think that Niall should come for a cheeky Nandos and drink with me...


It was nice to see the real side to the boys and for them to not include every aspect of their personal lives. They are all heavily reported on in the media, especially revolving around their love lives, so it was so lovely to see that they kept this private and to themselves. 


The film is definitely made to be aimed at their fans as it has all the things that drive them wild; Zayn's mysterious gaze, half-naked Liam, Niall's cheeky grin, Louis playing pranks, and Harry's face. Makes me a happy woman, I must say. 


I would seriously recommend the movie even to people who aren't fans of One Direction as it is a really good watch, and has all their toe-tapping songs in it, too. See it in 3D to get the full experience.


I would love to hear your opinions whether you have seen the film and like the boys or not, so tell me all about it in the comments below.


Also, if you know of any cheaper One Direction tickets for 2014 that would be awesome. I'd even blog/vlog about it!


As always, thank you for reading and speak to you all soon!


Toodle-oo.