A rant on obesity

Timer set at 8.36

Greetings,

Something that has sparked my interest recently are some of the major issues our world faces today, especially the western world that I have taken an interest in. This is climate change and the obesity epidemic that a lot of our wonderful countries need to start to address.

First is the Obesity epidemic which I was aware of but lacked some of the complicating “know how” that America faces and I’m sure my country faces too (New Zealand). I watched the documentary Food Inc and Feed up which really blew my mind. I’ve always said sugar is a killer and it needs to be managed but its such a tricky issue, especially when you have these large conglomerates that make up huge parts of different industries who in some cases team together to take on policy that would damage their business/wider industries. The really frustrating thing for me is, it is the children, friend and families who suffer, then it is the environment which Humans generally disregard anyway, sadly.

People need to start giving a fuck about some of these serious issues and taking ownership of what is right and wrong, the government will not be able to do it for you, possibly in time, but that is after people understand the bigger picture – that the government is not always trying to take away your rights and freedom to eat and pollute but to try to lessen the impact of these businesses who have multi billon dollar interests in the food and energy industries. An actual fact it is these industries that prompt these media debates which tpush your buttons. For example, this nanny state shit, that industry says certain countries will become if they start to restrict what kind of car we drive or whether we get a bucket of chicken etc but funnily enough these are clever ploys that deceive you into thinking that the government is wrong and “I SHOULD BE ABLE TO EAT WHAT I WANT ETC” well no, not when your wasteline directly impacts my local health services, tax and insurance. Why should I be impacted because of your negligence? Apparently, according to this “feed me” doco, the american health service is slammed by around 60-70 percent with patients who suffer from obesity related illness, whether this is dibeties or stomach stapling, WE (when I say we, I mean Americans) pay for this, so to go back to my point, everyone should take an interest and try to reduce these horrible statistics! Imagine how more productive we would be, how more resiliant our communities would become. The economic benefit I’m sure would far out way the cons of closing Kellogs!

Climate change is another which I will talk about next time. This is a real issue too which is interlinked with the food industries in more ways than one.

An update

Hi there,

It has been some time, slightly less, scratch that significnatly less than the last break so lets be grateful for that.

So, the house is nearly ready to rent, we have knocked out the kitchen, bathroom and laundry in 12 months including a truck load of other miscellaneous activities like battling the ongoing ant problem which is a true fucker. The place is looking great though, we’ve been looking over the photos of when we moved in and the dated decor was something else, some of it was reasonably functional but other parts were ruined. The previous users were tenants so no surprises they didn’t give a flying fuck but alas we got stuck in and made a real dent. Now we just need to do the remaining 5 bedrooms in less than 2 months to remain on track for our savings that are pivotal for our OE.

Jeepers its a stressful time but will make it, we have to and I for one must remain confident. If you haven’t picked up on it yet I’m lacking in thee ye old confidence, struggling so much that sometimes I surprise myself at how much of a pussy I’ve become. I have a view of my old self when I was a teenager of course without any care in the world but realistically I know this was atleast 50% exaggerated since when I think of a specific example I was never all that bad. Like confrontation for instance was always avoided, cheap remarks that often belittled peoples insecurities was my only weapon but it wasnt really one. I should probably see a shrink but I’m too jewish. I’ll let it consume me and then make some desperate plea and hope that the family and friends in my life will help? selfish much?

Right, moving on, thinking of the future, staying positive and all of that. I think an overseas experience will be good for me, meeting some different people, taking some risk and facing a few challenges. Another cool thing I’ve recently been thinking about it whether or not I want to progress with an IT career, I don’t mind the work (mainly business focuseed, spending long amounts of time in front of a computer writing documents) and a fair amount of interaction but i don’t feel like I add any value what so ever, so aside from the pay and flexibility, I’d rather go rogue and build a home or seek out the spiritual side of me in india (not literally of course), I am becoming a little more realistic and aware that grown ups i.e adults who are over 30 are not really any different to me, probably filled with the same amount of worry but on a different scale. SO, based on this, I’ve gotta be more agressive, and more pro-active about what I could/couldnt do otherwise, I’m not going to change, I’m not going to be happy. I wanna be bloody passionate about something, you know like, kicking off a new idea, putting up some capital and working the fuck out of it to make something measly work. The house has been great for me, I’ve installed a kitchen bench, replaced plumbing and carried out basic rewiring, fixed rot, boged and shapped window sills, laid matiu flooring all of it was awesome. I was actually learning something and thinking for a change.

Anyway, until next time.

Today is the first day of my life

Gidday,

I am planning an overseas trip which has been a big talking point of mine recently since I hope to do something epic and preferably long so that I can find what I really want out of life and what I don’t want so much. I’ve been thinking about South America to start with for a few months and then move north at a snails pace into the states. My travelling background has been rather skint, I have visited Thailand and Australia a few times but have not been anywhere for a substantial amount of soul searching time, so understandably, I am very much looking forward to this.

I am aware that I’ll have to take some risk and resign from my current job, leave a house in New Zealand which will sucumb to various tenants while I am away and I will also leave my friends and family.. All of these things make up my life and are important to me, some from an emotional perspective and others from an purely selfish/ financial security perspective. Guess which are which?

Where I currently work, I earn a decent pay packet for a young man who has recently finished university (recently being 2 years) plus a whole bunch of other perks like training, flexibility and ample leave etc. However, this is strikingly shit because I feel like I provide no value what so ever and I know this because the work that I do could be done by a secondary school kid with the right attitude. There is no specialist skill, just lots of smoke and mirrors, I think I notice it more because I am the youngest and just know that the tax payer (especially if the media had their spin) would not be impressed. I read somewhere about this impostor syndrome that they say new employees get when they kick of a new role, they walk around feeling like their not doing anything and providing no value etc etc but most (keyword most) of the time they actually are but are just not aware of it. This iis not the case for me, ok my colleagues, boss etc are impressed with what I do but this is not difficult and I do not have a chip what so ever on my shoulder. What I think is at stake here is people’s seriously great pay packets, they know how much of a croc these teams are at heart but because people are putting away 70 – 150k per annum it doesnt matter because they are paying of their debt, planning for the holiday, feeling like they are actually doing something but you have to be realistic and I just don’t think that the organisation is getting the best performance out of people. Sure there are a good bunch of people who are passionate and commited but others just abusing the system, just like I saw at school and most importantly with kids testing the boundaries. Unfortunately, I feel like I’m the only one in this who feels horribly guilty even when taking a sick day. Fuck. What a rant.

So, this is partly why I want to travel and even larger factor is that I am searching for something that I can be passionate about. I know for certain that I do not like my job, aspects of it sure but I don’t see a long career in it.

What I think would be great is being able to have a reasonably large sum of money to try and kick of something, and I can already here people saying – why can’t you do that, why not yadda yadda yadda. You’re right, why the fuck not? provided it is a good idea, something with a robust stratgey and a new/innovative product or service that is in demand. It would be awesome, then I think I would be passionate about my job, like the way I currently am with the house that I bought last year. I put so much blood sweat and tears into it, friends are no longer surprised to see what’s changed but I often remind myself that no one could easily do what I have done. I have actually surprised myself, sure i have made mistakes and hurt myself but geez it feels satisfying once i complete something. This is the passion that I am looking for, the stuff that makes you get up in the middle of the night and climb into the ceiling to stop a leak, the kind of stuff that makes you paint for 14 hours straight! I think that this can be found in other avenues of life and I am dead keen to find it.

So I will keep you updated on my travel plans and what potential avenues I find.

“Sick day” – write about the alledged sick day that so frequently frustrates you

This post is not about the above, this is about me partly improving my writing skills and partly feeling like I’m doing something worthwhile with myself. Especially since time is now of the essence and I’m quickly realising I could be falling into a rut. Self absorbed much?

Anyway, I grabbed this essay question from the trusty google search engine so I will now endeavor to write about a page worth of words discussing the following:

Discuss the influence advertising has had on your life or the lives of your friends. Use specific examples

Note: some of the subject matter might not be correct/accurate, this is because I’m not going to extensively research these essay points but instead get the bare minimum from google or where ever else in order to remain focused on the end goal of improving my writing skills – sentatnce structure, vocab, grammer etc.

 

Intro:

Advertising, broadly speaking is the activity or profession of producing advertisements for commercial products or services. In simple terms the purpose of advertising is about influencing or sub-consciously suggesting to a person or group of persons to procure or acquire a specific product or service over another competitor’s or alternate product. Advertising can be conducted via a variety of channels (e.g. television bulletins, radio adverts etc) and through a variety of communication methods (e.g. push, pull,  formal, informal etc). Depending on the method, communication channel and a number of other factors advertising can have a profound impact on your life and your family and friends. This essay will attempt to describe these common and premeditated  objectives of advertising and analyse the impacts and influences that they have on my life and my friends/family.

 

An advertising channel is described according to the online dictionary as any outlet an advertising company or department uses to promote a product or service. The advertising channel chosen to promote a particular service or product must associate/relate sufficiently with the target audience i.e. the group of people identified as the potential customer. For example, a car manufacturer promoting a new model of commercial vehicle might use a combination of rural radio and local farming  festivals/events to try to reach a target group of customer — farmers/commerical operators. This strategy you can imagine has been mastered and excruciatingly tweaked by the big players in advertising to be a powerful and successful advertising tool. I can also personally think of a huge number of examples where my friends or family have wholeheartedly or partly succumbed to this. enough anyway to follow through with the purchase. In terms of my own life and my stubborn reluctance to conform to consumerism (an on-going battle) advertising has become overwhelming, approaching from all angles, via all forums, and it upset me because I think it has a powerful influence on culture, ethics, people, fashion, everything and with a commerical focus at the forefront, this could be bad news bears.

13/08 – I’ve come back to this draft post realising how truely sad I have become, who on this planet is going to read this crap? I certainly wouldn’t and I doubt the rest of the world would, especially since my front page has a dead animal on it, that can’t be good for marketing.

Alas, several months later, I now don’t give a fuck and am going to write about whatever the hell I want/ feel like at the time. I do however, want it to be atleast “thinking” material rather than just a teenaged girls dialogue with her virtual friends.

So I’m gonna post this as is, cause I can, and then kick off with a second,post, you might think another essay will come but you will never truely know until you engage with my fantastically unstructured and ilertate view on life. Jesus, I really need to stop seeking attention I’m sounding more and more like that teenaged girl I dread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slacking off in the first 7 days

My blog was created about 7 days ago and since then I haven’t managed to get on and write  nearly as much as i’d hoped. I’d originally started this blog with the intention of writing everyday but I quickly received a reality check. In between working full time for the government, physio for an injured knee and studying for my Business Analysis cert I quickly run out of time each day. However, I can’t be too harsh on myself as it is in fact a Saturday and i’m writing now. Yes, as you can imagine its a constant battle upstairs with what to write and where to take this impromptu story.

Anyway lets keep the ball rolling.

Look at the beast that I caught this week on my kitchen bench, now I know that this is a bit macabre but please appreciate that two of these small rats have been romping around our flat for a while now and something had to be done!

Now this is probably our doing as we have a number of small openings in and around our kitchen plus we regularly leave food out but I dont think this was our fault. I believe the recent cold weather we’ve been having in Wellington has culminated in all kinds of bugs and animals attempting to find refuge in a warmer and dry place. Humans beware i guess.

Until next time.

My day

What a day! Started with a groggy start at 6:30, rolled out of bed at 7 and made it to work by 740 in time for my staple meal – muesli and milk.

After a much needed coffee and a healthy exchange of small talk with a colleague I tucked into my uncomfortable ergonomic chair and began checking my emails from over the weekend.

10 hours later after one hell of a Monday I was finally leaving my dreaded soul sucking place of work and was bound for home. Now this was an adventure in itself, navigating the busy bus riddled streets on my mountain bike with no lights ( usually I pack these but it has only recently occurred to me thats its been getting progressively darker) so alas I headed home with diesel fumes in my wake.

I came home to a welcoming sight, a small animal taking advantage of my leftovers from the following night. Yes glad wrap/clear fill riddled around its small mouth. However before I could do anything it had launched itself in a gap between the lino.

So that has been my day so far, I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Now Anne Frank’s a Belieber

Cubik's Rube

Today, the usual simmering resentment and anger the internet feels for Justin Bieber came to a roaring boil and bubbled over. And all it took was a few well meant words.

Let’s go back in time seventy-odd years for a brief recap. Anne Frank was a young German girl, who lived mostly in Amsterdam, who was hunted down by the Nazis during World War II because they were Jewish. Eventually she and her family were caught and taken to a concentration camp, where she died at the age of 15. She’s become famous for the diary that she kept, for much of the last few years of her short life.

The building in Amsterdam where Anne Frank and her family hid from invading Nazi forces is now the Anne Frank House, a museum dedicated to her memory. Recently, Justin Bieber went there to visit the place, as the museum reported…

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My philosophical take on the world

In response to blog post (My generation apologises’)  I concur, great blog. I think traditionally people are stuck in a ‘parent’ and ‘child’ way of thinking and this purely reflects on how we as people have been taught to behave in society. i.e if you have been treated like a child, more often than not you will be more inclined to behave like a child. For example, if you have been caught at work doing something wrong, you may blame this on someone else or deflect in another way but you will not recognise that you did something wrong and address this issue. If you have always been looked up to or relied upon you may behave like a ‘parent’. For example, if you are an older or more dominant sibling you will easily think of times when you have instructed, commanded or told your sibling or someone else what to do but not given an ‘adult’ suggestion. You can also imagine other variations of these modes like child to child ( two workers gossiping about another colleague or undermining someone else’s integrity who is not present) or parent to parent and so on.

I think both child and parent modes are wrong and people as a whole should work towards acting like adults. Having adult relationships where people are respectful, polite, confident, encouraged to take responsibility etc.

 

New day, 5 extra views

Good morning all, I awoke to some sudden excitement – I’d entered the online domain and couldn’t wait to write my next message. Wop wop.

5 views I received last night, that’s 4 authentic views when you discount my view. I think any other blogger would relate, the curiosity of seeing your own thoughts published on the world wide web far exceeds the small loss of dignity you get when you publish what you’ve done.

Today, my plan is to build this blog somewhat, no not in views or popularity as that would be too hard but cosmetically. I may not have the correct amount of wit or interest but I will at least coax people in to choosing my blog over someone else’s based on perception. Everyone knows how something looks makes up a large chunk of a decision. Whether to buy something or not. In my case whether to click on my blog or not.

In the mean time think about why you like the look of this pizza? I grabbed this the other night and was swept up with exotic flavours. Ohm ohm ohm

What to write about

I decided to start a blog. This is partly an impulse decision and an attempt at writing publicly to encourage some creativity to enter my life.

To test the effectiveness of WordPress and the Internet I am asking you (the reader or blog stumbler) to respond with a suggestion that I could write about. Be it something controversial or something we all wonder about. Whatever it is make sure you are interested.

To encourage your creative flow or lack of, how about the recent explosions in Boston!