I've got issues

Sometimes I really think I shouldn't be a waitress because I hate people. Well, not all people, but some at least. I hate the people that don't make eye contact with me when I'm taking their order, it's so rude. I hate the people who tell me their meals are fine when I go and check on them, and then complain about them when they come and pay - you've eaten it now, there is nothing I can do. And I hate, I hate, I HATE the people who sit on a dirty table that I am literally on my way to clean. This has been happening a lot lately and it's especially annoying because every time, the pub has not been overly busy and there has been several clean tables for them to choose from. I don't understand why you would choose a sticky table covered in crumbs, with glasses on it and an empty cutlery pot, over a nicely wiped table with no glasses on it and a brand new cutlery pot. It really takes the piss when someone who has sat on this dirty table comes over to you, looks at you as if they think you are completely incompetent and says, "Er, excuse me but could someone please come and wipe our table? It's really dirty." The urge to punch people is so high when I'm at work.


I love a good rant, I feel better now. Daf thinks I have rage issues because of my 'irrational hatred' of certain people (for example, Bear Grylls). I don't think my hatred of Bear Grylls is irrational at all. He has all his survivor shows and whatever, which is fine, but it's just the way he goes about it. He starts every single show in a helicopter, shouting to make himself heard over the propellers. Why can't he just wait until he's landed to tell us what the show is going to be about? And then he runs around the desert or a forest or the mountains or wherever he is surviving this week, eating disgusting things and drinking his own urine and getting too close to bears and whispering to his camera, "There's a bear right over there". Well I can see that; get away from the bear you idiot. Daf says that his show has probably helped save some lives of people getting stuck in the middle of nowhere, but has it really? If anyone was doing research ahead of going into some kind of dangerous wilderness, like the North Pole or something, I doubt they'd just be watching loads of Bear Grylls.


I guess my point is that Bear Grylls is really irritating and I so do not have irrational anger issues.


Away from things I hate and onto something I love which is the song Lego House by Ed Sheeran. I love the video for it (mostly because Rupert Grint is in it), it's so weird and creepy, but I like it.

Rainy rain

It's raining. And according to the weather report, it'll be raining for the next few days off and on. Which is a pain, because I go on holiday to Turkey at the end of next week and it would be quite nice to not be blindingly pale when I get there.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 comes out on the day we fly, so we'll have to wait until we're back to go and see it. Nevertheless, I'm super excited to watch it. A bit sad as well, because it is the last one, but it does look pretty epic. And the critics actually like it apparently, which never happens. So it'll probably be shit now. (Only joking - well, I hope so).

My parents are having the dining room re-decorated at the moment. The wallpaper is all up, so there's just the new carpet to be fitted tomorrow, and then we have the joyous task of moving all the furniture back in. I currently have dining room chairs in my bedroom. I'm a bit miffed because my Mum didn't listen to any of my suggestions on the colour scheme. She didn't like the idea of purple and gold, and Wolves colours were a definite no-no. I can't understand why she wasn't more open to the idea.

Orange and black, very soothing tones.

Speaking of re-decorating, I was watching Homes Under the Hammer this morning, and my favourite part is naturally when they go back and see what people have done with the houses, flats or plots that they have purchased at the auction. However, in today's episode, there was a garage or something on a plot that had planning permission to build a 3-bedroom house on it, but when the camera crew returned to see the progress, the man who'd bought it had decided not to build the house because of the current market and had re-sold the land instead, so all that had happened was the garage (or whatever it was) had been demolished. I was peeved, to say the least. I hate it when they go back and nothing has happened, I don't think they should include lots like that on the program because it's really irritating to the viewer (i.e. me). In fact, I might write a letter to the BBC and complain. Except I won't really. But it is annoying.

******

Song of the Day: Every You Every Me by Placebo

All alone in space in time/There's nothing here, but what here's mine/Something borrowed, something blue/Every me and every you

Bad accents

Daf went out last night for a friends birthday so I had the flat to myself, which is nice because it means I get to watch films or TV programmes that he doesn't normally let me watch. I watched The Edge Of Love about Dylan Thomas and his wife and ex-girlfriend (Sienna Miller and Keira Knightley) because it was on the BBC. I don't know whether I thought it was good or not to be honest, because I was too busy flying into an incandescent rage over Keira Knightley's Welsh accent. I like her as an actress, and Welsh accents are hard to do if you're not Welsh, so I don't blame her, I blame the director. If it is that vitally important to the plot that the accent is Welsh, then hire a Welsh actress, or at least an actress who can convincingly do the accent properly. On the other hand, if you're so set on having Keira Knightley in this role, then do that thing that directors do a lot and make a slight script change so she can speak in her normal voice. Sienna Miller's accent wasn't very good either. I think she was supposed to be Irish, but then I couldn't tell if she was Irish or Welsh.

I've just looked on Wikipedia and apparently Keira's mum wrote the script. I still think my point is valid. Bad accents can ruin films.

Anyway, after that was finished, I flipped through the channels and saw that the 2003 version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was about to start on Film4. Daf hates horror films, so I figured I may as well watch it. I got about 5 minutes into it, before anything had really happened, and then decided that this was a terrible idea because I was alone and it was dark, and you can't watch a horror movie with the light on. So then I watched Star Trek instead.

******

Today I'm loving: That there was a fox running around Twickenham stadium before the 6 nations match started.

Today I'm hatin': Essays again, as I have one due on Tuesday and it's going slowly.

Song of the Day: Getting Up With You by The Yeah You's

I didn't wanna get out of bed this morning/But it feels much better/To know I'm getting up with you

China and Facebook

Before coming back to university, Dafydd and I held a mini leaving do at my house for our friend Ben, who has just gone to China for a year to teach English. He was supposed to be leaving on or around the 15th, as far as I know, and so all being well, he should now be safely in China. Yesterday Joe and Soph popped over for a bit and I asked if either of them had heard from Ben yet, as I had written on his Facebook wall and not heard back yet. To which Joe replied:

"Yeah, but he won't be able to read that because Facebook's banned in China."

What?

Facebook is everywhere these days, where someone's more likely to 'add' you on Facebook than ask you for your number. The concept of you not being able to access it in a whole country absolutely blows my mind. So much so that at first I wasn't even sure I believed it was true, and I googled it. I typed in Why is Facebook blocked in China? and the internet told me this:

"Because in China when people start to question the Government the government cracks down. Opponents are called terrorists, traitors and unpatriotic.

The state controlled media that supports the government 100% then begins to feed the masses with all sorts of stories about how the government is good and only wants to help. That the dissidents, are a danger to the country because they question the wisdom of the government.

To make this stick they have to block outside sources of information because they fear that the people will not just accept the media stories and instead decide to find out the truth for themselves." - Yahoo Answers

So that clears that up then. Thanks, internet!

Speaking of Facebook, I have a daily internal debate with myself every single time I log into my account over whether or not to delete it. Because to tell you the truth, Facebook infuriates me. I have it because it's a convenient way of sharing photos, catching up with friends, sorting out events, and things like that. But there are so many people on there who TyPe LyK diS in a manner that obviously takes much more effort than just typing properly. Text speak seems to have taken over in such a way that some people shorten words that simply don't need to be shortened. Also, you get those copy and paste statuses some people put up that say something along the lines of:


"Copy and Paste this as your status if you know anyone who has cancer. 93% of people won't paste this as their status, but will you be part of the 7% that does?"

I know they're supposed to raise awareness for a good cause, and believe me, I am a full supporter of cancer charities and awareness is obviously a good thing. However, I certainly don't need a patronising status update to remind me that cancer exists. I feel like it's trying to make people feel guilty, that those of us in the 93% are terrible people or something. Actually, I give money to cancer charities on a fairly regular basis. Maybe you in the 7% should get off Facebook and do the same. I don't know, perhaps I'm being unfair, I just think it comes across as really self-righteous and it really grinds my gears (haha, I love Family Guy references).

The stupid pointless groups are another Facebook annoyance of mine. A lot of them are supposed to be petitions for this, that and the other. Whilst some of these petitions are actually legit and for something serious, a lot of them are like, 'If one million people sign this petition then they'll do another series of Gavin & Stacey'. No they won't. Deal with it.

The worst thing about Facebook is the people who go on there just to insult everyone else. On so many group walls where people have simply written down their opinion on something, there are sometimes hundreds of comments full of the vilest language towards this unsuspecting person simply because they disagree, and it just becomes a slanging match. It's the whole internet society where you can sit at your computer and say things you'd (most likely) never dream of saying to someone's face.

All that being said, I probably won't delete my Facebook account, at least not for the foreseeable future. After everything I've just written, it does seem a tad hypocritical, but to be honest I think I'd just worry I was missing out on something if I did get rid of it. It's a sad, sad world. I do have a phone, after all.

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Bit gross, I know. Funny though.

Have a good one,

Emma

Today I'm loving: the beautiful new boots I got from Brantano, the text from my mum saying she liked the photos in my last blog, and that when I searched for why Facebook was banned in China, the fact that Miley Cyrus is also banned in China was brought to my attention. I didn't look into why, it probably would have been a let down.

Today I'm hatin': that there were no Apple Turnovers in Morrisons, when secretly they were the whole reason we went in the first place.

Song of the day: Looking for Love by Michelle Featherstone. It's beautiful, check it out.  

I'm looking for love/And love, love, love/I  thought it was you