Ironically, this took me three attempts to upload too. Thanks for improving my mood Blogger.

Since I seem to get the best praise for the prose I write whilst in a half awake state of consumate hatred for most everything, I figure now's a good time to once again spew social commentary onto my keyboard. If there's one thing worse than an unproductive day where you've achieved nothing except tying some fireworks together and playing a video-game you don't actually enjoy very much, it's having an unproductive day where you've achieved nothing except tying some fireworks together and playing a videogame you don't actually enjoy very much AND have had to deal with a total cock spanner of a window cleaner and a University server crash (presumably because their entire IT department is staffed by howler monkeys).

Fate seems to have a nice sense of humour too- since the ever-stress-relieving past time of squash is denied to me because there are no slots left today. I know there are 25,000 students at this Uni but I didn't realise they apparently all play squash on the same sodding day of the week.

As a result I'm feeling as charming and sociable as Jeffrey Dahmer on a Monday and would quite like to just sit the rest of the day out and wake up tomorrow. That probably sounds pathetic but when the weather outside is bleak and miserable, the news is doleful, you're hungry and don't have enough food in, and every attempt at doing productive activities is met by stubborn refusal from your arch nemesis Your Brain, it all mounts up to a festering deep rooted hatred that not even homicide can satisfy.

If you know what I'm talking about, try a blog. It doesn't make you feel better but at least you can inflict it on other people.

Like playing Justin Bieber really loudly.

-Neopblllleeeeeeeerrrrrrggggg

The tide of inevitability

I'm so, so glad that elections happen but once every four/five (ish) years. Normal conversation at University outside of a tight-knit circle of similarly mental physicists is becoming nearly impossible without dialogue inevitably turning to voting, politicians, and how super-trendy it has suddenly become to support the Lib Dems.

I realise in advance that a blog about not-talking about the election might come across as self-defeating. If you feel the urge to point out to me that this is true, I recommend you scribble down your sentiments on some paper, roll it into a tube, and insert it forcefully into your left eye. This is mainly because I don't care, but also because if you think about it, suggesting why people should stop talking about something necessarily involves mentioning the subject itself; and hell, if people were more thoughtful in the first place none of this would be required.

The thing that bothers me more than herpes bothering a hooker, is that people (specifically students) seem to think that their opinion of which political party is best, is somehow more sound than anyone else's. That, in of itself, is perfectly normal of any rational opinion we hold. What's not so normal is doing your absolute hardest to tell everyone around you what you think.

What, in the name of buggery, possesses people to puke political signage onto their front lawn? Huge garish splashes of blue and orange (and very rarely red!) are showered over the country as if the people responsible think "Hey! I know what'll swing a floating-voter's opinions into line with my own! A large and hideous sign with nothing more than a party name and a slogan on it!".

I can't believe this would ever work. I imagine if it did, it would appeal to someone who needs physical help picking their own nose and dribbles a lot. In other words, they've come up with a campaign idea to appeal purely to idiots and people who cave under peer-pressure from their neighbours.

Exactly the same is true of Facebook groups proclaiming loudly that you will/won't vote for someone/some party. What you've thus achieved is alienating all the people who's opinions differ from your own. That's not generally regarded as a good way of keeping friends. Sure it's good to 'encourage discussion', but again (no offence to anyone I know) your own opinion is about as likely to change my mind about which party to support as it is likely to convince me to sell all my belongings and live under a bridge for the rest of my life, eating pigeons. I certainly don't base my political orientation on my friends (except for any sort of subconscious connections) and I know full well that me ranting full on at someone else will probably not swing their views either. So why bother? The upshot is arguments, frustration, and strained relationships: or at the very least a constant niggling fear that a casual pub-chat will steer dangerously close to that impassable ravine of electoral discussion which leads to a 500m drop into a pool of misery.

Anyone who does 'swing' depending on what particular colour sign they spot on the way to the polling station should have their voting rights (and probably breeding rights) revoked and be demoted to working as some form of building material for the rest of their life.

*deep breath*

I know I'm being extreme here- but the point remains. I don't doubt that of the few people who read this fewer still will take anything away from it, but if there's the tiniest modicum of chance that this has somehow made sense to you, then please, PLEASE keep your political opinions to yourself, show your support by voting, and keep hold of your friends long after we've selected who the next berk to run the country will be.

-Neop

Long Time

As you must be able to tell by the relative infrequency of updates, I've actually been fairly successful in beating boredom these last few weeks. At the risk of turning this into a LiveJournal clone, I'll elucidate:

For those of you blessed with living in the United Kingdom of England and Other Less Important Places (UKoEOLIP), you'll have noticed that the weather outside has been very good recently, or, in an English dialect, Pretty Bloody Marvelous (PBM). Consequently, I've been resisting the temptations of the digital era and have been attempting to regress to that beautifully carefree level of humanity where people actually go outside and interact. Frisbee, I think, must be man's single greatest achievement since, before, and during, the invention of sliced bakery products.

Southampton has an absolute myriad of green spaces and it's absolutely amazing being able to slog out of a lecture (or, as in yesterday's case, an exam) and head straight for the nearest patch of grass and start sunning yourself and running around trying to catch a flying disc and doing dog impressions (if that's your thing). Surely this is what University is all about??

Another thing I've found myself doing a lot of, is playing squash. Having paid through the nose, mouth, and ears for "SportRec" membership earlier this year, it seems fitting that I can now use a squash court for free, pretty much whenever I want. Sure the idea is you BOOK one, but no-one turns up to theirs half the time so one is free to court-hop until you're finally kicked off completely.

Anyway, what I'm trying to get across is that there's more to life than sitting in front of a computer (MTLTSIFOAC), and on that note (and owing to the fact that my esteemed neighbour, who happens to be in possesion of the largest sound system in the world, is playing music only a rapper's mother could love) I'm going to finish my stupidly-large washing up load and go catch some vitamin D.

Love and sunshine,

Neop.

Ps: space enthusiasts, check out the GOCE launch. Go google it or something. Great stuff!