Students

Exams. Who needs them? They are a test of memory rather than of understanding. Well, thats my opinion anyway. They test your performance on a particular day without taking into account the rest of the work you've already done.

I can see the other side though, writing an essay with the books open in front of you doesn't show you understand the subject, just that you know how to do some research. I don't know what the happy medium is, but I just know I hate exams.

Exams don't make me nervous, and I usually do ok in them, but I do think they are unneccesary stress that doesn't help learning at all.

I also worry about everyone else, I try and help them, but all I really want to do is scream "Read a book!"

As you've probably guessed, I have exams tommorow. This really isn't helping my revision, but I'm not doing very well with that at the moment, just had to get that off my chest.

Oh and I hate how they have adverts for revision after Neighbours. I know I'm supposed to be revising, I don't need you Aunty Beeb reminding me that I'm not!

Sometimes I hate the world.

But sometimes websites like post a secret make it all seem a little bit better.

It's a snail mail address (remember them?) where you can send a customised postcard declaring your secret to the world. Most people have embraced the opportunity to be artistic with their cards and made them into mini canvasses to declare their deepest darkest secrets.

Some are poignant and meaningful.








Some are pretty funny.




And some could have been written by me...




Just substitute "Until I really got into Green Day" for the words "Until I started to care (that was last year)"

But whatever their message, they are all the secret of a real person out there in the world. Everyone has a secret, and not everyone has it made. No matter how together they look.

The ever impartial BBC.

I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the BBC, you can always rely on them to get the facts right. Their policy is to get the news right, not first. They also have a duty to the public to get it spot on. After all we are paying for it. (Well, I'm paying for neighbours and thats about it at the moment, but that's not important.)

Yeah, good old Aunty Beeb, you can always rely on her... To be bigoted and insulting! Oh yes, today people, a newsreader on BBC North West said this priceless line while talking about the Hearts v Gretna match: "There would be quite an upset if a certain team won in Glasgow today."

Now that sounds like blatant opinion to me. So much for being completley impartial. This woman (forgive me I didn't catch her name she isn't important to me) has made an assumption about the people of Glasgow, specifically football fans. Ok, they're not all saints, but the vast majority of football fans in Glasgow are a brilliant bunch. I don't follow football, but as soon as I mention that I'm from Glasgow, people assume I'm a bigoted sectarian and are appalled when I don't swear allegiance to a Glasgow team. (But with a surname like O'Neill, they make their own decision anyway, I don't have much say in the matter.)

There has obviously been some trouble in the past with Celtic and Rangers (I wasn't going to mention them, but I think it's necessary) but they're not even playing today, lets recap on who actually is. Hearts (from Edinburgh if I'm not mistaken) and Gretna, a 2nd division team? Neither are actually from anywhere near Glasgow, this match has absolutley nothing to do with Rangers or Celtic so are we to assume that this narrow minded BBC employee thinks that all football fans in Scotland are the same as the tiny minority of trouble makers that hit the headlines every couple of years? That's certainly what it sounds like.

There are racists and bigots in every walk of life and just for the record, the tartan army are actually among the most peaceful of all supporters. It's been proven in the past that the Scottish football fans, who incidentally come together to support their nation in the world cup or european league (what bigot would support alongside his mortal enemy), are being tarred with the brush of a few. And today has just given people in the North West of England more reason to believe this farce.

So good one BBC, your brilliant employees are broadcasting their bigoted opinion to the entire North West. I'm sure Gretna fans will be delighted to hear that they are terrifying the whole of England with their constant violence and sectarianism. And Hearts fans, travelling to Glasgow, where obviously they're heading to a certain fate, death by an angry mob of Glaswegian football fans gutted that their teams aren't playing today.

I know for a fact that in Glasgow today, cup final day, there are hundreds of fans in pubs watching the football, enjoying the last games of the season, who ever wins there will be celebrations, the atmosphere will be like a festival and everyone will enjoy the day for what it is.

I'm not trying to persuade you otherwise, belive what you like, be terrified of Glasgow if you like, we do sound a bit hard with our scary Trainspotting accents (yeah, that film was actually filmed in Edinburgh, but you can't tell the difference can you) and reputation as knife weilding riot causing extremists who will drink as much as they can just to get kicks from violence. Believe that, it's the stereotype that today, the BBC have reinforced. It means we can all fight each other to a bloody death and no one else will bother us.

xxx

So much for the nerds.

Having the internet in my home ever since it started means I really should be down with the kids and have one of these crazy blog things. The internet at the start was when you had to use your telephone line and dial a local number to look at a teletext style bulletin board, remember that? No, just me then.

Anyway, I had a blog once, but it was really private, I went on there and had a rant about whatever was bothering me in my life. It was just a chance to vent really and I never actually published anything online and eventually deleted it becuse reading it back brought back many things I thought I'd forgotten about. And I didn't want to be seen as a geek who still kept a diary!

One of the reasons I never started a proper one was I thought only nerds and geeks and people with too much time on their hands kept blogs. Turns out, I'm missing something! And I hate to be missing something. There are blogs from every walk of life, of course there are nerds out there complaining that they don't have girlfriends, or even worse, a PS3, but there are some really cool and important people out there too. For example, ultragrrrl (I think thats the right number of r's) has just been voted one of the most influential people in New York because of her blogging exploits. She tells tales of her record label, the new music she's interested in and apparently, people all over the world are taking her advice and buying the records.

Other good blogs are on a much smaller scale. Quit your Day Job began as a diary of events going on within a group of friends, especially when certain members of the group moved away or went travelling. It was a great way to keep in touch. Now though, the friends are pretty much back together and the blog means that no drunken night out is safe, no more falling on the floor unnoticed or falling asleep at a party for fear of it being broadcast to the world.

So here it is, my blog. I have no idea what is coming next and I hope that keeps it interesting!

xxx

Oh, and if I ever find out how to post a link in here, I shall link you to those amazing bloggers out there.

Warrington? Where's that?

Halfway between Liverpool and Manchester, thats the only worthy description. It's the only way to describe the junction on the motorway where you leave the M6 for either of the North West's biggest cities. It has been said that the only good thing about the "city" (Its not actually a city, it's a borough, incase you were wondering, I bet you weren't) is the road out of it.

What's that? You want to see a picture, you don't. Trust me. But here's one anyway.



See!

I have to disagree. I have to, I live there. I'm finding it hard to think of another good thing. The public transport is unreliable an irregular, there is absolutley no nightlfe, infact there's no day life either! Walking around the "town" centre (it's not a town either, its still a borough) on a Saturday afternoon is like walking around a ghost town. Actually, it's like walking around a chav ghost town, although, unfortunatley the chavs are real, they're as much ghosts as Warrington is a city!

So where are we so far? Warrington isn't a city, it's a borough, who still has boroughs? Apparently it's applying for city status, but you need to have a cathedral and a University for that. Of which Warrington has neither. It has chavs. It has no nightlife. Actually, that's not true, on a Tuesday night you can go to the imaginitvely named WA1, pay £11 and then drink as much as you can. Not as much as you like, but as much as you can manage, most people leave when it closes at 11pm and don't remember how they got home. An exciting night out in Warrington then.

That's right, I was going to talk about something good. Well, I'm here because of Uni, The University of Chester that is, remember Warrington doesn't have it's own. The people who attend this campus are amazing, they're pretty much the only reason I'm still here. The course I'm on is good, accredited and all that, not a lot of people on the course which is nice, but I wont get started on the state of the campus, or the disorganised course, or the fact that the campus is actually 20minutes drive outside the town centre.

I could go on, and on, and on. And I probably will, but that's it for now.

The Shelley x