i don't deliberately start all my blogs with lines from musicals although the last two have turned out that way. guess it's just cos i'm a musical geek and often it's when songs are running through my head that i come up with the subject of a blog.
so, for those of you who know the musical Avenue Q (puppets and awesome is all i'm gonna say) you might recognise this line from the song everyone's a little bit racist.
recently i saw something where someone had made a slightly racist comment which was then followed by other slightly racist comments from other people and continued in a downward spiral until there were some offensive remarks made.
seems that the general consensus of this was that it was okay to say because the precursor "i'm not racist but" had been used
now, i'm not the thought police (reading 1984 at the moment, albeit very slowly) and i would never try to tell people what to think but i would like to knock sense into people to make them understand that just by saying your not racist doesn't make the comment not offensive.
it's actually pretty much the same as when someone says "no offence but". we all know that we're about to be negatively impacted emotionally. and why don't people understand that they could say the same thing in a constructive manner that would be so much more effective!
anyway, back to the touchy subject. clearly we've just finished yet another festive period and there are some people who have taken political correctness to the extreme and may try to remove christ from christmas... oh wait... that was done years ago when it became xmas... ho hum.
what i want to know, is who are these politically correct people? what is their race or nationality? why do we always feel that we have the right to speak up for people of whom the majority we've not met?
so what does it actually mean to be racist? i'm a bit of a geek and tend to look towards dictionaries in situations like these. the online oxford dictionary defines racism as the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race , especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.
so the first part of that is true, different races tend to possess different characteristics etc and it does help to distinguish them. the whole superior/inferior thing... surely that's a subjective matter depending on who is contemplating the issue and what the issue actually is?
someone was telling me about a great relationship they have with someone from nigeria where they can joke using racial characteristics, one may be able to survive if both of them were running away from a bear however the other would have a better chance if they were in a sinking dingy! i had to have this explained to me cos at the time i didn't know too much about racial characteristics, d'oh!
apparently the un hasn't given a definition of racism but it has defined racial discrimination as the term "racial discrimination" shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.
i guess my point is that everyone is racist, it's how people manage this that important. if there's something that you want to say that may cause offense actually use your brain to see if it's necessary to say it the way you were planning or can you say it in a constructive manner? is it actually worth saying at all?
and if you do decide to say it make sure you've got your facts straight. don't blame other races for decisions of people who have gone too far on the politically correct train.
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
look behind the facade
this morning my dog woke us up at 5am... not a great start to roy's day but meant that i could get ready at a leisurely pace and still get into work on time.
while i was doing my make up a song from the musical jekyll and hyde popped into my head - facade. the reason that song popped in is the first two lines there's a face that we wear, in the cold light of day and it got me thinking.
in october 2009 i was re-diagnosed with depression and signed off work. this blog isn't about that but it's a bit of information that kinda helps to set the scene.
before i was signed off i wasn't really bothered about making much of an effort in my appearance for work, i loved doing my make-up and hair for nights out but work was just work.
i was off for 5 months, i went back at the very end of february 2010 and since then there has only been 1 day that i haven't worn make-up (and that was because i hadn't been able to cool down enough after the gym to apply any).
the thought of going in without make-up freaks me out quite a bit, actually the thought of going anywhere without make-up is pretty daunting.
so this is all seeming pretty insignificant and shallow however it got me wondering, how many of us actually show our real faces to the outside world.
i'm not sure if there's anyone in my life that i am 100% myself with. obviously there are people who know more of the real me that most but even they may not know everything.
i figure this is probably pretty normal but i'm not sure why we do this. i used to always say that i was happy with who i was and if people didn't like it then that was their issue, not mine. i still believe that sentiment is true but since i don't let anyone know the real me then how does it really work?
i guess that this blog helps me be more open and honest since i'm letting people get to know me a bit but i clearly have to make more of an effort in person too. this year is about being happy and to be happy i have to be honest with myself.
i have my flaws, recognising them and doing something about them isn't easy but it is possible and i plan on doing as much as i can to overcome them.
and if you're interested... the soundtrack to jeykll and hyde is awesome and i recommend it to everyone!
while i was doing my make up a song from the musical jekyll and hyde popped into my head - facade. the reason that song popped in is the first two lines there's a face that we wear, in the cold light of day and it got me thinking.
in october 2009 i was re-diagnosed with depression and signed off work. this blog isn't about that but it's a bit of information that kinda helps to set the scene.
before i was signed off i wasn't really bothered about making much of an effort in my appearance for work, i loved doing my make-up and hair for nights out but work was just work.
i was off for 5 months, i went back at the very end of february 2010 and since then there has only been 1 day that i haven't worn make-up (and that was because i hadn't been able to cool down enough after the gym to apply any).
the thought of going in without make-up freaks me out quite a bit, actually the thought of going anywhere without make-up is pretty daunting.
so this is all seeming pretty insignificant and shallow however it got me wondering, how many of us actually show our real faces to the outside world.
i'm not sure if there's anyone in my life that i am 100% myself with. obviously there are people who know more of the real me that most but even they may not know everything.
i figure this is probably pretty normal but i'm not sure why we do this. i used to always say that i was happy with who i was and if people didn't like it then that was their issue, not mine. i still believe that sentiment is true but since i don't let anyone know the real me then how does it really work?
i guess that this blog helps me be more open and honest since i'm letting people get to know me a bit but i clearly have to make more of an effort in person too. this year is about being happy and to be happy i have to be honest with myself.
i have my flaws, recognising them and doing something about them isn't easy but it is possible and i plan on doing as much as i can to overcome them.
and if you're interested... the soundtrack to jeykll and hyde is awesome and i recommend it to everyone!
Thursday, 6 January 2011
ah'll hae a peh, twa bridies an' an ingin ane an aw!
i love being scottish. more than that i'm really proud to be dundonian, something i get mocked for quite a lot but i don't care.
on my way home tonight i popped into my local supermarket to get stuff for dinner and i came across a book that inspired this blog.
it's the collins book of scottish words and i've spent the last hour reading some extremely weird words and some that i thought were the real name... la la la.
i didn't know that there were so many scottish words for backside! and they're awesome words, get these:
and then there's the words i thought were the real words....
roy claims that i use makey up words too and claim they're dundonian (he also thinks that the staff in starbucks and i are making up a language when i order my coffee but that's another blog!).
in dundee we know that a roundabout is in a play park, the thing in the road is called a circle!
a dub seems to be better known as a puddle, but it's still a dub to me
some people may call the boundaries of road a curb... we call it a krib, and there's a great game called kribby that we used to play when we were bairns
i learned from my book that a haar is specific to the east coast cos it comes off the north sea. i thought it was just another word for a low lying mist!
a howff is a place, especially a pub, used as a regular meeting place. strangely the howff in dundee is a cemetery in the city centre....
so, now i'm thinking a lot about the scottish dialect and on the whole i'm thinking it rocks! and in appreciation of the fabness of the language i'm going to post a scottish word or phrase on facebook. feel free to join in!
on my way home tonight i popped into my local supermarket to get stuff for dinner and i came across a book that inspired this blog.
it's the collins book of scottish words and i've spent the last hour reading some extremely weird words and some that i thought were the real name... la la la.
i didn't know that there were so many scottish words for backside! and they're awesome words, get these:
- bahookie or behouchie (pronounced ba-hoo-kee)
- bumbaleerie (pronounced bum-buh-lee-ree)
- doakie (pronounced doe-ki)
- doup (pronounced dowp)
- erse (pronounced erss)
- hurdies
and then there's the words i thought were the real words....
- forkietail - real name - earwig
- harl - real name - actually none. it's a term to describe an exterior building surfacing technique... apparently!
- it's not a film it's a filum
- it's not time it's tiym
- it's not a pole it's a poley
- a fireman or woman is known as a firie
roy claims that i use makey up words too and claim they're dundonian (he also thinks that the staff in starbucks and i are making up a language when i order my coffee but that's another blog!).
in dundee we know that a roundabout is in a play park, the thing in the road is called a circle!
a dub seems to be better known as a puddle, but it's still a dub to me
some people may call the boundaries of road a curb... we call it a krib, and there's a great game called kribby that we used to play when we were bairns
i learned from my book that a haar is specific to the east coast cos it comes off the north sea. i thought it was just another word for a low lying mist!
a howff is a place, especially a pub, used as a regular meeting place. strangely the howff in dundee is a cemetery in the city centre....
so, now i'm thinking a lot about the scottish dialect and on the whole i'm thinking it rocks! and in appreciation of the fabness of the language i'm going to post a scottish word or phrase on facebook. feel free to join in!
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
forever friends
i might have mentioned once or twice that i'm packing up my flat just now as i want to get it on the market soon and move to a bigger place with a garden
people who have ever been to my flat, either here or in dundee will know that i am a champion hoarder. i have scraps of paper dating back years that meant something at some point but for the life of me i don't remember what but clearly it was important enough for me to keep so i should keep it... that or it's something i stuffed in my pocket cos i couldn't find a bin at the time then forgot about it for a while....
anyways, the point is i have a lot of crap which i hate to part with, it can bring me out in a cold sweat thinking about how i would feel if, years down the line, i want to look back at a particular thing and then realise i threw it out during a clean out
this pretty much drives roy insane, he's not one for material possessions and likes a tidy home which is pretty difficult with limited storage
i'm doing my best at the moment to throw out stuff i don't need. one of the things i've had for years is a shoe box full of photo's. every now and again i look through them and have a giggle then put them back in the box and put it back in the cupboard
in this day and age it's pretty daft having physical photo's in a shoe box when it's so easy to scan and store them digitally
so that's what i did. and by "i" i mean "roy". I chose the pictures i wanted and he spent a day scanning them onto his pc, transferring them to a usb pen and handing me over 100 digital photo's saved on this wee device for me to upload to my laptop. so that's what i was doing last night which is why i didn't right a blog
i have to admit i got quite sentimental (and a little emotional cos i'm a wimp) looking through pictures of my friends from dundee and the fun times we used to have and thought about how much i miss being able to see everyone every day
this made me think about my 5 odd years in glasgow and the fact that i don't have a social group at all anymore which is sucky but completely in my control so i'm planning on doing something about it this year. me and a lad from work are planning a staff bowling night at the end of the month which is a start
i used to love singing and being in shows when i lived in dundee, i used to rehearse 3 times a week for different shows but since moving here i've only had a handful of singing lessons. that's something on my list of things to change (although not officially on my 2011 list)
thing about me tho, i'm good at saying that i want to change then not doing anything about it so if you fancy a night in, or out, and want some random company please keep me in mind and keep an eye out for new old photo's being added to my facebook page x
people who have ever been to my flat, either here or in dundee will know that i am a champion hoarder. i have scraps of paper dating back years that meant something at some point but for the life of me i don't remember what but clearly it was important enough for me to keep so i should keep it... that or it's something i stuffed in my pocket cos i couldn't find a bin at the time then forgot about it for a while....
anyways, the point is i have a lot of crap which i hate to part with, it can bring me out in a cold sweat thinking about how i would feel if, years down the line, i want to look back at a particular thing and then realise i threw it out during a clean out
this pretty much drives roy insane, he's not one for material possessions and likes a tidy home which is pretty difficult with limited storage
i'm doing my best at the moment to throw out stuff i don't need. one of the things i've had for years is a shoe box full of photo's. every now and again i look through them and have a giggle then put them back in the box and put it back in the cupboard
in this day and age it's pretty daft having physical photo's in a shoe box when it's so easy to scan and store them digitally
so that's what i did. and by "i" i mean "roy". I chose the pictures i wanted and he spent a day scanning them onto his pc, transferring them to a usb pen and handing me over 100 digital photo's saved on this wee device for me to upload to my laptop. so that's what i was doing last night which is why i didn't right a blog
i have to admit i got quite sentimental (and a little emotional cos i'm a wimp) looking through pictures of my friends from dundee and the fun times we used to have and thought about how much i miss being able to see everyone every day
this made me think about my 5 odd years in glasgow and the fact that i don't have a social group at all anymore which is sucky but completely in my control so i'm planning on doing something about it this year. me and a lad from work are planning a staff bowling night at the end of the month which is a start
i used to love singing and being in shows when i lived in dundee, i used to rehearse 3 times a week for different shows but since moving here i've only had a handful of singing lessons. that's something on my list of things to change (although not officially on my 2011 list)
thing about me tho, i'm good at saying that i want to change then not doing anything about it so if you fancy a night in, or out, and want some random company please keep me in mind and keep an eye out for new old photo's being added to my facebook page x
Monday, 3 January 2011
we are family
so, at the moment living in my house is me, roy, our dog biscuit and our bearded dragon porky (previously known as pinky but then i bought roy a computer keyboard that he thought could take over the world so his pc & keyboard ended up as pinky and the brain so the lizards name had to change!)
as much as i love our little set up i've always wanted a cat so today we took a drive up to the sspca in cardonald to see what they had. i swear, it breaks my heart that i can't adopt all the animals up there but that's me just being a big softy.
there was a wee kitten, 8 weeks old that had been found in a dumpster, i wanted to just pick it up and take it home but unfortunately someone had booked it so that wasn't the kitten for me.
then there was another wee one, maybe a couple of months old that was just adorable, it climbed up the grill on the door of it's wee room and was mewing like mad every time we went near it. this one had been booked too so we moved on.
in another wee room thing there were 2 bengals which were probably about 6 months old. these had been booked and the new owners will be so chuffed that they'll get 2 bengals for £90 rather than the ridiculous amounts that you have to pay private breeders.
a little bit further along and my eyes fell on the most gorgeous young cats. they were curled up together all cosy in their basket and i fell in love with them. luckily no one had booked them so off we rushed to speak to someone.
basic history for them is non-existent, all the staff knew was that one of their colleagues has claimed the cats on hogmanay and they are about 6 months old. since they've only been at the shelter a couple of days we couldn't bring them straight home but we'll be going to pick them up on sunday and i can't wait! it'll be great to have company for biscuit and more animals for me to spoil rotten!
i would say though that's it's so easy to buy pets from private breeders, before we got biscuit i was only looking at expensive puppies but i wouldn't swap my dog for the world and she was from the sspca. kittens and puppies are cute as hell, i always squeal when i see one but they don't stay small so actually... what's the difference between paying through the nose to get a pet through a private breeder and rescuing a pet that needs a home?
now i just need to pick names for my new girls... something that goes well with biscuits
as much as i love our little set up i've always wanted a cat so today we took a drive up to the sspca in cardonald to see what they had. i swear, it breaks my heart that i can't adopt all the animals up there but that's me just being a big softy.
there was a wee kitten, 8 weeks old that had been found in a dumpster, i wanted to just pick it up and take it home but unfortunately someone had booked it so that wasn't the kitten for me.
then there was another wee one, maybe a couple of months old that was just adorable, it climbed up the grill on the door of it's wee room and was mewing like mad every time we went near it. this one had been booked too so we moved on.
in another wee room thing there were 2 bengals which were probably about 6 months old. these had been booked and the new owners will be so chuffed that they'll get 2 bengals for £90 rather than the ridiculous amounts that you have to pay private breeders.
a little bit further along and my eyes fell on the most gorgeous young cats. they were curled up together all cosy in their basket and i fell in love with them. luckily no one had booked them so off we rushed to speak to someone.
basic history for them is non-existent, all the staff knew was that one of their colleagues has claimed the cats on hogmanay and they are about 6 months old. since they've only been at the shelter a couple of days we couldn't bring them straight home but we'll be going to pick them up on sunday and i can't wait! it'll be great to have company for biscuit and more animals for me to spoil rotten!
i would say though that's it's so easy to buy pets from private breeders, before we got biscuit i was only looking at expensive puppies but i wouldn't swap my dog for the world and she was from the sspca. kittens and puppies are cute as hell, i always squeal when i see one but they don't stay small so actually... what's the difference between paying through the nose to get a pet through a private breeder and rescuing a pet that needs a home?
now i just need to pick names for my new girls... something that goes well with biscuits
Sunday, 2 January 2011
where i lay my hat...
i moved to glasgow in november 2005 i think... sometimes it feels like longer, other times it feels like i've not been here any length of time at all. i hadn't been planning on moving but i had a choice of be made redundant or move and i figured i had more security staying with barclays than going back to bar and nightclub work so i packed up and headed south.
i'd probably only been to glasgow a handful of times since i started to drive. i actually refused to even drive in the city, if we were heading through for a night out i'd drive to stepps then get a train the rest of the way! i've always preferred edinburgh to glasgow and would have preferred to stay in dundee where i'd grown up and where my friends all lived but sometimes you have to make lemonade.
there's always the issue when you move to a new city of trying to figure out where the hell to live. i rented for a bit after moving and almost moved back to dundee a few times until i finally decided to buy a place and settle into live on the west coast. problem was i had no idea where was good and where was awful and thus ended up living in the questionable area that is known as springburn. now my flat is pretty nice. there's 2 big double bedrooms, a huge lounge and a dining kitchen which is awesome.
the issue i have is the owners of some of the other properties round here. the owners that live in the street are great, it's the owners who've rented out their flats and don't care about ensuring a good level of maintenance of the street, doesn't affect them so they just don't care.
in the past few months there seems to have been an improvement in the street. the council seems a bit more interested so hopefully soon these absentee landlords will be forced to start looking after their flats.
until then though i'm going to put my flat on the market and hopefully manage to sell up and move away.
although, even after 5 years in the city i still don't know much about where would be a good place to live...
i'd probably only been to glasgow a handful of times since i started to drive. i actually refused to even drive in the city, if we were heading through for a night out i'd drive to stepps then get a train the rest of the way! i've always preferred edinburgh to glasgow and would have preferred to stay in dundee where i'd grown up and where my friends all lived but sometimes you have to make lemonade.
there's always the issue when you move to a new city of trying to figure out where the hell to live. i rented for a bit after moving and almost moved back to dundee a few times until i finally decided to buy a place and settle into live on the west coast. problem was i had no idea where was good and where was awful and thus ended up living in the questionable area that is known as springburn. now my flat is pretty nice. there's 2 big double bedrooms, a huge lounge and a dining kitchen which is awesome.
the issue i have is the owners of some of the other properties round here. the owners that live in the street are great, it's the owners who've rented out their flats and don't care about ensuring a good level of maintenance of the street, doesn't affect them so they just don't care.
in the past few months there seems to have been an improvement in the street. the council seems a bit more interested so hopefully soon these absentee landlords will be forced to start looking after their flats.
until then though i'm going to put my flat on the market and hopefully manage to sell up and move away.
although, even after 5 years in the city i still don't know much about where would be a good place to live...
Saturday, 1 January 2011
Happy New Year?
when i was young we always had a big tidy up before new year as the way you saw the year in was the way it would stay for the year or something like that. basically, if my room was tidy for the bells it would stay tidy all year.... think my mum just wanted me to tidy my room!
there are lots of things about the start of the new year that i don't really get. there's the whole resolution thing. some people set them, break them then beat themselves up for it. other people state that they are wonderfully happy with who they are so don't need to set them.
i used to be in the first category, set a resolution, generally break it before i went to bed on the first then felt rotten for it for a wee while, especially when someone else pointed out i'd screwed up. you can pretty much tell from that statement that i'm a smoker and have been for a really long time!
this year i didn't set a resolution although i did write a list of things i want to do in 2011. my other half says that it's the same thing but i don't agree. guess like most of everything in life it's just a matter of perspective.
i also don't believe that we need to wait till the start of the new year to make a change if we're not happy. i quit drinking in november 2009. it was after one of those really bad nights out where i acted like an arse, was way too drunk, spent way too much money and was probably quite violent (my memory is fuzzy surprisingly enough).
like lots of people i'd said "never again" before and not meant it. i'd made new years resolutions to drink in moderation and not get wasted again before promptly getting smashed. what it came down to was how miserable drinking was making me. obviously it's a depressant in it's own right but the aftermath was the worse thing. i hate hangovers, and the older i get the worse they are. more than hangovers tho i hate the memories of what i'd done while drunk.
so i stopped drinking. don't get me wrong, it's not a case of 400 odd days with not a drop of booze going past my lips. i've had the odd bottle of beer but always stopped at one and now i pretty much don't ever fancy it.
this isn't meant to be a "look at me, i quit drinking story" but just a bit of my history to remind myself that i don't need to wait till the end of a year to change something i'm not happy about.
so bring it on 2011, there's gonna be lots to do and also my big three oh is this year and i plan on celebrating in style... although i'm not sure what style yet!
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