One last effort

My (full time) academic career is now drawing to a close. One last hurdle remains, my dissertation. I have so far shied away from thinking about it, despite knowing that the others on my course have had their heads buried deep inside in the library and archives for months already.

Once again I seem unable to motivate myself for something I am foolishly confident I can bodge in the final hour in order to scrape past the finish line. As usual. I was grossly disgusted when my first essays passed with near flying colours after having thrown them together the same day they were due. This massive injustice, albeit in my favour, did nothing to implant the correct work ethic in my mind. I needed to fail those essays. I needed that wake up call. But it never came.

What is perhaps more ridiculous is that despite seeming to know this, I am still unable to appreciate my position. Unable to take that lifeline.

This could potentially be the last academic ‘action’ of my life. The deadline is August 24th (regrettable three days before the end of the Fringe Festival).

I suppose I should buckle down, as they say.

Wish me luck.

summer breaks

Coming from someone who is convinced they suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder during the darker months of the year it is worrying that this summer is shaping up to be just like the last, and by that I mean highly stressful.

Fortunately escape is always at hand and allows for the temporary replacement of my anxieties with an overflowing sense of elation. I find some of the best summer escapes come in the form of concerts. Gigs where thousands of wildly optimistic and arrogant middle class teenagers don their finest black eye liner and baggy jeans in order to descend upon muddy fields to drink, shout and occasionally listen to their favourite bands play music.

I get a crushing sense of anti-climax at the beginning of these events. It stems from a sense of loathing for my fellow middle class white man. Something about this rebellious lot smacks of conformity, especially when they all eagerly line up outside the main sponsors tent to download the most recent ring tones to their Sony Ericsson’s. When did rock concerts become corporate trade shows?

However, this disillusionment swiftly falls away and is replaced by an overpowering sense of hope. Now, this might be the drink talking, but I doubt it – I rarely drink at such events since I always feel that after having paid over £100 for the privilege of being there it might not be best to then scramble my short term memory functions of what actually took place. But that’s not to say I don’t indulge in the odd branded larger or two.

But I am losing myself here, what is important is that these gigs always make me feel pretty damn incredible and a lot happier about both my future, and that of the collective. I soon start to ask myself how such an overly educated, tolerant and sexy looking bunch of people could possibly lead the world to ruin?

Once you get them all bouncing up and down, shouting in chorus and embracing strangers in a strange explosion of ecstasy, there does seem to be this aura of pure energy that is hard not to appreciate.

About the actual music itself two things are worth nothing. One, an upcoming band called ‘Scouting for girls’, with a brilliantly charismatic front man, are well worth looking out for. Secondly, Muse confirmed what I already knew, and that is that they are by far the most entertaining band to see live in Britain today. (Even without the extra funding their stage crew clearly had when planning what was in fact New Wembley’s first ever sell-out gig).

All in all these gigs have once again proven to be excellent save points in a summer full of potential pitfalls.

What do you want to know, Gaia? - Hmm, I’m going to call you that from now on.

How I’ve been? What I’ve been doing? What am I planning?

Or how it feels to be in the presence of your infinite beauty, with just limited time?

Whose idea was that one?

Hmm, it’s been some while since I’ve spoken like that. This time last year in fact, was when I started. Which is funny, because I am beginning to feel exactly the same as I did then.

Stress, anxiety. A constant mental static interspersed with soul soothing moments of bliss. Or some such nonsense.

There’s a lot going on Gaia. The dissertation, the reserves, the accommodation and job search, and of course the constant part time quest for enlightenment (ha).

Going away soon, South London for four nights on my own. Hopefully I will find something their in the distant past to drag forwards, something to shore up my shaky academic status.

Swiftly after that I’m walking my way through Scotland on the West Highland Way. A much looked forward to extended break from the straight jacket of responsibility. Like Vancouver last year, a whole peaceful week without a mobile. Wireless in the original sense. Space to think.

I'm writing off the back of a corporate sponsored rock concert and then, two days later one of Britain’s most entertaining rock bands in Britain’s newest venue. Good escapes. Good save points in this, the next level.

Responsibility beckons once more.

Goodnight Gaia.

Rubbish

Why is there not a tax on plastic bags in the UK?

Ireland introduced such a scheme in 2002 and they have seen a significant drop in the numbers used and interestingly, despite their newly acquired importance, a large increase in the numbers sent for recycling.

Tesco in the UK almost singly handedly destroyed the momentum for a similar law here in the UK after introducing its ‘green points’ scheme for reusing plastic bags. The Scottish executive was considering bringing the law into Scotland but has unfortunately since stalled. The Scottish Parliament can be of great use when it tries out semi-controversial ideas like this one since if they can prove a policies effectiveness in Scotland there is little reason it should not be introduced in the rest of Britain either (i.e. the smoking ban which has been in full operation for more than a year now in Scotland).

I’m not suggesting a plastic bag tax will save the earth, because it simply won’t do that, however I am still caught up in this idea that the public are hugely affected by their immediate environmental factors (like in the tipping point theory). I think this plastic bag tax could be a tipping point in boosting recycling throughout the UK, in all areas, not just plastic bags. The minute people are forced to start thinking about the need to re-use plastic bags on a daily basis then I think they will soon extend that thinking to other items, plastic bottles, glass, paper etc.

I’m not a fan of the nanny state but I don’t think this simple and subtle change represents to great an intrusion on people’s lives. Indeed, by retaining consumer choice I believe this law would have a far more positive net effect on ‘green’ habits that an outright ban would have.

Of course, I could be wrong – but there is little to lose in giving it a go.