To Join or Not to Join the World of Social Media?

Now I bet there are a lot of people out there who have made a minor attempt at setting up a Twitter account, a blog (ahem), a LinkedIn profile and then have left it sitting there doing nothing, being of no use to anyone.

I talk from experience my fellow reader.  I too am guilty one too many times of seeing something that looks interesting, making an attempt to get started and then forgetting to maintain it.  If it's something you haven't done before then lack of knowledge and the initial lack of a community or following may discourage you from continuing to use social media.  However, I urge you to stick with it!

I recently wrote a blog for work discussing why it's a good idea to set up a Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn account for networking and job hunting purposes.  Even if you're not an active job hunter, it still enables you to join a network where you will know the latest information about your industry.  Head hunters are very open to sharing this information with those they engage with, so don't be afraid to connect with them.

Within the aforementioned blog, you'll see I've provided you with a few tips for getting up and running on LinkedIn which I hope you'll find useful.

Another link you may find interesting is the following regarding Intel's social media recruitment strategy.  A great example of how companies are now realising that social media has become such a permanent fixture within people's lives, that this is a fantastic platform for engaging with a) the type of people they want to employ and b) their customer base where they can also gain some intelligence and brand awareness for free!

I guess the overall message of this blog is "get stuck in".  If you're going to start using a social networking site then throw yourself into it because that's how you'll get the most out of it!

Two Tickets to Condale Please!

Summer Camp – a band whose sound is truly symbolic of those hazy summer moments. You know the ones: lying on the beach in the sunshine breathing in the salty sea air, the nights of drinking too much strawberry cider, the smell of dew on the grass carried by that gentle evening breeze and the taste of that sweet summer crush on your lips. All of that wrapped up in a strong American 80s vibe with a modern British twist is the brilliance of Summer Camp and what proves them to be so amazingly addictive.

My addiction has grown somewhat within only a few hours as Gemma (the best friend) and I had the joy of watching them perform live last night at The Rainbow in Birmingham. It wasn’t a massive venue with the biggest crowd which to me was an added bonus. Intimate gigs are always the best and you leave buzzing and feeling privileged that you’ve experienced something wonderful with only a small group of others.

The level of talent radiating from the band was immediately obvious as they began their first song Welcome To Condale. The singing duet consists of quirky Jeremy Warmsley and the beautiful Elizabeth Sankey, also an engaged duet off stage who clearly posses a love for one another which cannot be hidden and is shared during their performance. Both own incredible voices; powerful and complementary to one another and when combined creates a sound like no other. This was proved further when performing songs acoustically; walking through the crowd at one point singing Losing My Mind with only Jeremy’s guitar which they dedicated to Spencer- one can only assume someone they hold close to their hearts as the importance of that dedication seemed to overwhelm Elizabeth and the crowd as a soft ambience spread amongst us whilst we softly sang along. That was another fantastic thing about their gig; the raw emotion behind their songs, something which seems easily lost in translation in today’s music as record companies attempt to create that popular song that everyone will love. But they’ve managed to keep it real and have a given their art a meaning which is what music should be about. The reason why this works so well is not only because of their obvious talent but due to their personalities too. Both are confident yet personable and quick witted, with Elizabeth cracking out several lines in response to some hecklers which had the crowd cheering for her.

Now I can’t write about the band without mentioning their session drummer Will Bowerman: the hotty who sits behind that dazzling drum set and got some amazing moments to steal the thunder and explode the songs into overdrive. When Elizabeth introduced him he seemed somewhat modest, in keeping with the band’s seemingly humble personality. The stage set-up was good, featuring a screen in the background playing clips from those 80s classics such as Footloose (a nice emphasis on the retro vibe) which meant the band was pretty much in a line and we could see everyone. I always feel sorry for the drummers who are usually stuck at the back, almost forgotten about when it’s their sound which completely changes the feeling of a song and is an important touch which ties it all together.

To sum up, it was an absolutely amazing gig which has sky- rocketed Summer Camp to the top spot amongst my favourite bands. As they tour around the globe this year I suspect the addiction will spread and we will see them rise to success with the potential to becoming the music scene’s benchmark for breakthrough talent.

My attempt to jump start the brain

Something occurred to me recently which was a little unnerving and just generally a bit sad. Its that mushy brain of mine. To be specific, my memory. It seems to have gaps, massive looming gaps and no I don't just mean from those nights out where one stupidly consumes as many rum and cokes as possible, almost in some sort of fear there is going to be a rum drought. Wow lets not even joke about that...that would be somewhat devastating.

No, I refer to just a normal day where I have a conversation with someone and my brain goes to retrieve a memory as I begin discussing a fantastic film with that brilliant actor...ermm ohh who the hell is it again, or that subject we studied back at school and we looked into....that ...you know...thing.

I grew quite concerned when it actually dawned on me that this was happening a little too regular for comfort. Then a few of my friends told me it was because I wasn't using my brain as much as I was when I was back at school or uni. Which makes sense and thus I'm clinging to this theory in hope it isn't early signs of dementia!!

Yes it would seem the 'use it or loose it' theory is strong at play and so I looked at my day to day activity to see where I could slot in a bit of 'brain training and realised all I'm doing is working! 6:30am- 6:30pm is dedicated to work and that's on a good day. 7pm-8:30pm is gym. Then its dinner if I can be arsed and then time for bed. My god that's sickening to actually write it down!!! That accounts for 5 days of my week. Then the weekend is spent 1/3rd partying, 1/3rd hungover and the other third catching up with people, housework and just generic Sunday behaviour. So in an attempt to break my behaviour of the full time worker and full time loser I decided a good bit of training would be to revive the old blog; use the brain and get writing again. Coincidentally I'm due to start doing this at work from next week. Although I have to be somewhat stricter with myself and actually assign the writing skills to discussing something more 'business like' and steering shy from topics such as how I've rotted most of my brain cells from smoking and drinking too much after a grotty night at Scandals (ok three grotty nights on consecutive weekends).

So there we have it folks. My first blog in almost a year where I've pretty much concluded I'm a forgetful sado. Stay posted for even more self-indulgent whines this week as I'm making myself blog everyday in an attempt to create a habit and break away from solely keeping my nose to the grindstone...and rum bottle.

4 nights in The Dam

Amsterdam Coffee Shop
Its odd how leaving the country can open your mind so much. Leaving a place you are all too familiar with to go somewhere completely alien. Your life back home suddenly seems even more insignificant and I have to admit there's an odd addiction to this feeling. I know it sounds as though I've been travelling for months rather than having only 4 nights away in Amsterdam, but its great to think a trip as small as this could leave me feeling so....enlightened

When we first arrived in Amsterdam we were of course immediately

lost and stuck out like a sore touristy thumb! However thanks to the wonderful Dutch who compensate for hopeless Brits by learning English, we managed to find our way to the hotel and would later on rely these lovely people to find our way around the city.

Amsterdam is very different to any city I've ever visited. Usually with cities such as London and Paris you have the hustle bustle lifestyle, the people who are too busy to realise they've knocked you flying as they stride past you in the street, the constant beeping of car horns and the general feeling of being unclean as you swan about in the pollution and don't realise until you get back home and have to beat the dust from your clothes! Perhaps it was the daze incurred by some quality Amsterdam weed but Amsterdam seemed like a laid back city. People were friendly and there seemed to be a greater sense of community amongst everyone.

The sunny days brought this feeling out more and as we floated down the canal on our touristy boat ride we could see so many people of all ages out in boats with all their friends and family having parties or sunbathing and despite it being 1p

m, everyone had a beer in their hand. Some of their boats were sophisticated and expensive whilst others were no more than a bit of wood with a motor on the back. Either way it seemed like the perfect way to live.

Of course I can't paint the perfect mellow picture of Amsterdam. The city has, what seems to be, a million lanes for its various modes of transport. Bicycle lanes, tram lanes and car lanes and all the while you have to make sure you're looking the correct way as they drive on the opposite side of the road. It sounds simple enough but you won't believe how hard it is to break a habit of a lifetime of looking right, left. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is stepping into a bike lane and sometimes you won't even realise you're doing it until you see an angry Dutch person hurtling towards you. If its one thing the Dutch lack patience in, its their cycle lanes. Bicycles have right of way over pretty much everything, even pedestrians, so its best to avoid getting in the way. Having said that, as much as

cyclists can add a stressful element to strolling around The Dam, it is an amazing sight to see. Nobody seems to own any top notch, multi geared, super bicycle with the latest, specially designed helmet. They all appeared to ride modest bikes and as for helmets, well who has to worry about silly things such as protecting your skull? Not the Dutch. Health and safety seemed less abundant there, which also became obvious when spotting how many passengers the Dutch try to cram on one bike. I can say it exceeded three quite often. Also there are so many people who choose to cycle over driving. Thinking back I can't even remember seeing car parks I just remember bicycles parked everywhere and even multi storey......'bike parks'?

Another great thing about Amsterdam is the food. There are so many different food outlets- you can get pretty much anything you want, whenever you want it. And after many visits to coffee shops and copious spliffs later you'll find this is a god send!

Coffee shops are most definitely something that should not be neglected on a trip to Amsterdam. Its got to be one of the big reasons people even visit the place- to enjoy the legality of cannabis. Well legal to a certain extent. You can't just walk around with a spliff hanging out of your mouth...although you'll soon realise that quite a few people do. However, play by the rules and go to a coffee shop and settle in for some laid back, deep conversation. It'll hit you as strange as you light up in front of so many other people, almost having to fight your natural instinct of hiding it away, but once you're over that its a brilliant atmosphere.

Now of course we couldn't go to Amsterdam and neglect its infamous Red Light District. Its honestly worth a look because you've never seen anything like it before. Its this complete juxtaposition of lovely canals, some beautiful architecture and then semi-naked (or naked!) woman watching you from a glass door. Some of them will act up, pouting and asking men to come over to them, whilst others just sat on a stool texting and probably browsing Facebook and updating their status- 'Work

is so boring today'. Its strange to see guys have the nerve to go up with their money in their hand and be pulled in....and even more strange to see them leave. It could be described as seedy and dirty but it was also quite business like. The feeling or look of shame seemed absent because nothing was being hidden. It was just right there.

The sex shows were something else all together. The title 'sex show' may imply you're going to watching something 'sexy' however we soon discovered this to be a wrong assumption. If you're looking to get aroused at a sex show in The Dam, good luck- most of it will have you laughing or cringing. Unless you really haven't got laid in years or indeed enjoy the sight of fat people fucking on stage. Yes, you read correctly. But you know what they say- when in Rome!

So from this entire trip all I can say is I want to go back and explore more. The way of life is so completely different it has me curious as to what it would feel like to be there longer and whether I was just caught up in some tourist frenzy for four days. If you're reading this and have never been I strongly recommend you go! You won't regret it.

An extremely condensed piece on the government's failure to stop drug (mis)use...

Centuries ago the government cashed in on the drugs trade, realising the money that could be made from exporting and importing substances such as opium around the world. Even in the early 1900s people were able to purchase drugs such as coke and heroin from the best of London’s shops such as Harrods! It was only with an increasing pressure from other countries that the government decided that it was time to bring in some sort of legislation to prevent drug abuse amongst the population.

Fast forward to today and experts are saying that the UK now has one of the most drug involved population in Europe, despite the fact that the government are always amending the ‘Misuse of Drugs Act’ by changing the classification system in an attempt to make the number of users drop.

In 1997 Labour started their ‘war on drugs’ leading to them spend £10 billion on an outcome that didn’t look very different to when they’d started. Along with the wasting money and failing to produce the correct outcome, the government is also prone to ignoring advice from the Advisory Council of the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) - a group of scientists who ensure that the government is implementing the drug law correctly. A classic example is when cannabis was made a class C drug the number of users actually dropped. However the government decided suddenly to put it back up to a class B, despite the ACMD strongly advising against it, in an attempt to appear tough on drug use. But what does this really mean? A drain on money and law enforcement over something that, I’m sure is the case for many young adults, won’t change anything. Is this really going to stop people from taking a substance which is so readily available that theories of it becoming socially acceptable are becoming ever more significant?

And this doesn’t just apply to cannabis but to other substances too. After all these years and all these different laws, of which nobody really knows what means what, the fact remains that drug use is at an all time high and nothing has changed. So this calls for something bigger than just changing weed from being a bit naughty to naughtier. Perhaps it calls for drugs to be de-criminalised all together. If we can’t stop people from taking drugs then why not at least make money off of it like with alcohol and tobacco? The tax could go towards the NHS to make up for the higher number of casualties and to educate people thoroughly about the effects (both positive and negative) that these substances have on the body. This would then mean that the government had done its job in acting responsibly but that it had also accepted that at the end of the day if someone wants to take drugs it is their own choice to do so.

Another positive to the drugs being made legal is that pharmaceutical companies would produce them, meaning underground drugs would be wiped out and so the substances would be pure. For example the main reason ecstasy is so dangerous is because it is often cut with other drugs such as paracetamol, meaning that the consumer is unknowingly taking potentially large amounts of paracetamol which could lead to a damaged liver. If made legal this wouldn’t happen because it’d be in a safe and controlled environment.

Drugs are always going to be a subject of controversy and the idea of legalising drugs is a scary thought for many people. But it is about time that the government realised that their methods of controlling drug use are failing and that maybe it’s about time to listen to the experts rather than the tabloids.

To be a graduate

The life of an unemployed graduate is most certainly nothing to boast about! After all those years of education and budgeting, you get excited about the prospect of leaving it all behind to finally enter the real world of work and money and freedom. But why do we have these delusions?

It has been far from work, money and freedom. It has been unemployment, countless job applications, obsessive waiting for the phone to call and realising that your social life has diminished so badly that you follow whoever is next through the door around the house like a lost sheep!

Now I sit here at home bored as hell wondering what I could do. There are various useful things I could be doing with my time. First of all I could be applying for more jobs- although I've done that so much recently that the idea of unemployment seems much more appealing than having to fill in the 100th application. My brain is a blur with boasts of my past achievements and my various CV layouts.

Secondly I could be writing the article that I said I would for Winchester's student magazine. But I have over a week before the deadline, have done all the research, and I think that in that space of time I could find myself even more bored than today and would really need a project like that to focus on for the day.

So that leaves me with other options. Pick a new hobby. I want to start learning to play the guitar again but being back in my parents house I have to respect the fact that my Dad works night shifts and so guitar playing is not possible until after 2pm. Even when he is awake, I'd rather not practice with him around because he hunts me out just to tell me that my playing sounds awful. This then puts me off playing all together.

I could watch a film but the weather is at that stage where its hot but cloudy and I have this weird guilt consume me, as if I should be outside all day long to appreciate that it's not raining for once.

Basically there are lots of things I could be doing but cannot motivate my brain to do any of it because I'm too busy feeling sorry for myself which is utterly pathetic. My lazy git attitude is most definitely not helping but before any of you can call me an ungrateful, moaning, time-waster I will end with a positive phrase; the only way is up!!

Dissertation? Easy! Application forms? Go away!

Ok so I'm sat here in this slightly odd emotional state of being upset because I'm leaving university but also exhausted after working so hard for so long and therefore slighly relieved that it's all over with. This means that the last thing I want to do is fill in the world's longest application form but that is what I'm doing right now and finding it ridiculously difficult!!

It's as if my brain has given up on me and is having some sort of protest and is refusing to do any sort of intellectual, challenging thinking for the foreseeable future. This comes as quite a problem as the deadline for this application form is tomorrow evening. I've completed almost all of it except for the parts where I have to address 10 different skills that they require and examplify how I possess these with my past achievements. Sounds fairly simple and yet it feels like a major hurdle to overcome and I also worry that I'm repeating myself time and time again.

It probably hasn't helped that I have abused my poor body with stupid amounts of alcohol this past week and that won't really change this week either. But I would like to think that I still have a fair few other brain cells left that would work!

So this is the end of my rant, I just had to blogg about this because I thought it might help wake my brain up and get it to write coherent(ish) sentences. I fear that it has had no such effect.