I blog, therefore I am

Cogito ergo sum – Descartes

Blogito ergo sum – malawihazel (and probably someone before me)

I would like to talk of two blogs, belonging to two old friends of mine – one from school and one from university. I started reading these blogs at around the same time, and they were the very inspiration that started me blogging. Although very different, the blogs had the common theme of being created when the authors moved (or were about to move) somewhere new. They are both brilliant, and I love reading them. However, over the last couple of months, their upkeep has withered. This entry is to try to encourage the authors to get back on blogging form (presuming they are still reading mine).

In an earlier post, I spoke of a blog being a reflection of identity. I would like to take this thought further and suggest that blogging is philosophy-forming. When our thoughts are documented, they reveal a lot about our state of mind at the time. There is an intersection of many factors - new experiences and relationships; our history, upbringing, education and beliefs; similarities and difference; emotions; and the context we are in. Our interpretation of the world around us is being represented in the (relatively) new form of a website with the possibility of those we choose (and sometimes those we don’t choose) to comment. We are representing ourselves.

Without always realising it, we are exploring what, for us, constitutes knowledge (a social construction?). We are revealing how and where our beliefs are being challenged, when we question what we previously thought was granted. Our imaginations are being exercised and a record (or log) is being produced. This is part of working out what we really believe in.

Expressions of autonomy.
Place-making.
How we fit into our environment.
That beautiful ‘thing’ - subjectivity.
Questions of what we want to write about and how to depict a situation.
The language we choose to use.
Meaning.

And on a more grounded note - I also find that since I started blogging, I have acquired a new appreciation for words. I use the dictionary or rather dictionary.com a lot more and am finding words can be really fun (said at the risk of sounding like a complete loser). The other day my finger pressed the d key instead of the s and I inserted the word ‘strawberried’ into my sentence. Isn’t it a wonderful word? Wouldn’t you love to be strawberried? Another time I was reading (and obviously not concentrating very well) and I came across the phrase “the danger bears”. Thoughts and images flew through my mind, I was fascinated by who these bears could be. After further investigation, I found the sentence (split over two lines) “the danger bears down on us”.

So please start blogging again, and share the evolution of your philosophy of life with those around you. Admittedly, now that I am working full time, my need for updates on these blogs is not as pressing as when I was only studying and had all the time in the world…. But still, they make me feel closer to friends who are far away. They are also important for times like now when I am taking a break from work to write an assignment (and therefore need some procrastination) – and yes, you guessed right – I am writing a methodology paper about the philosophical underpinnings of my dissertation.

P.S. I must add that I have just had a look at the one blog, and seeing as there have been three posts in the last two weeks, perhaps this entry doesn’t apply to it anymore. Welcome back!! Wanna meet up for a glass of red wine to discuss whether one should be or do? Do you remember that t-shirt that Marcus had – it went something along the lines of:

To do is to be - Descartes
To be is to do - Voltaire
Do be do be do - Frank Sinatra

Funny – our blogs seem to be in tune right now.

As for the other blogger – you are still rubbish.

It can be very windy up there on the moral high ground

As my friend Diana would say.

And I have been reminded of this a couple of times in the last month. I have had to eat my hat (no, wrong expression), eat my shorts (still wrong – when is that simpson’s movie out by the way?), eat my WORDS!!!!

A few months ago I helped my friend Lucy pack up her house (actually I don’t think I helped much) and I remember the word “hoarder” emanating from me a few times (as I smugly mentioned how the room I was living in was VERY small and that I didn’t own very much – belongings, you know, are SO overrated).

So, I moved house this last weekend. I don’t want to talk about it too much (it is cited as the third most stressful thing you can do in your life – after losing a loved one and getting divorced). But while my darling friend Lucy (along with Rosahn and Stuart) helped me on Sunday – I felt rather humble as we made our umpteenth trip down the stairs, with the 4000th box. She is very kind and didn’t rub it in.

The other fact to which I feel rather sheepish is - I joined Facebook (this is where I need a little yellow emoticon face blushing). After months of slandering, insulting, criticising, judging……curiosity killed the cat. Those of you who are regular readers may remember my pompous, maligning facebook post.

“My name is Hazel xxxxxxxx (blog anonymity – identity theft etc etc) and I am a facebooker. I have been a facebooker for 34 days. And that is all I have to say about that.”

Anyway, a few thoughts from the last week:

Things I have done for the first time:
Hired a van.
Gone to collect my van and found that the previous hirers are $%*@ers and they haven’t returned my van and so have made do with a car after a one and a half hour wait.
Driven a car through central London (am quite proud of this one – the most spectacular moment was driving round and round and round Vauxhall junction trying to work out how to get into the drop off car hire place that I could see very clearly – anyone who knows Vauxhall junction will appreciate this).
Been quite relieved that I was driving a car and not a van through central London.

Things that I haven’t done that I want to:
Try some British wine (there’s a story but I am too tired to explain right now).

Things that I thought I thought that have now been confirmed and I know I think for sure:
A friend who helps you move house, is a TRUE friend!!! I love you Lucy, Rosahn and Stuart!!!
I hate packing.
I hate unpacking.
It’s very windy up there on the moral highground.

A post describing my new hood to follow.

Advertisers are people too

So, a couple of friends of mine visited Botswana a couple of months ago, and on the flight from Joburg to Maun, they found the following advert in the in-flight magazine. It is an advert for Musica – a music shop in South Africa, and it was encouraging tourists to buy some South African music. I thought it was worth sharing with my readers.



(Musica generally does good adverts – a few years ago, one of their tv ads featured my friend Natalie’s bare bum in the shower – filmed through the opaque glass)

Glastonbury rocks!!!!!

So, I went.
And it rained.
And there was mud.
AND IT ROCKED!!!!

I love glasto – it is amazing. It is enormous – never quite imagined how huge it would be. Thousands of people, (177 to be exact) all having fun and partying and enjoying the music.

I saw the Killers for the second time (I can die happy twice now). As well as The Automatic, Babyshambles, Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, The Marley Brothers, Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs, The Editors, Maximo Park, Manic Street Preachers, Amy Winehouse, The Bees, The Kooks, Rupert Wainwright.

And then there were all the less known ones, my personal favourites being - Shit Disco, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Slovo, Hedge Monkey.

I don’t know how to describe it properly, so hopefully the photos do some justice – but it was AWESOME despite the rain and the mud and the loos.

As I sit in my ironed shirt at my computer at work – I fondly look down at the bits of mud that I STILL can’t get out of my nails!

My corn on the cob

Due to popular demand (well, two out of the five people who read my blog), I am going to write a short post describing my new job.

I am working for Defra – the government’s department for environment, food and rural affairs, in their climate change team. I am part of CESA (climate energy science analysis) in the response strategies and greenhouse gas emissions group. Last week we hosted a workshop on achieving a Low Carbon Society (LCS), with people from all over the world, which was really interesting. I will stop there with the descriptions as this paragraph might end up in acronymical madness (see dave’s blog for a good acronym descriptive posting). But I think it is safe to say that in a few weeks time I will know the Kyoto protocol, UNFCCC, IPCC, Stern Report etc etc backwards.

The good news is that it is a wonderful mix of the science and the social. Obviously there is a lot of science involved; but then there is the actual influencing of policy, getting people to change behaviour etc. It is also an international topic, so the north/south differences are involved. A very good exposure to how all these issues play out in the real world.

So far I am really enjoying it and I think it will be a great experience (as long as I can keep it a secret that in the last year my airmiles have consisted of a flight to Norway, two flights to Malawi, one to Cape Town and one to Sri Lanka…..)

The Good News and the Bad

The Good News – as of tomorrow, I will be gainfully employed again.

I’ve got a job. I will be earning money. It is one that sounds like it will be very interesting and will be good on the CV. I won’t be a delinquent daughter anymore.

I am very happy.

The Bad News – as of tomorrow, I will be gainfully employed again.

It is the end of my carefree student days. I will have to wear uncomfortable shoes. I won’t be able to walk along the South Bank at 2pm on Tuesdays. I won’t be able to sleep in until 11am if I want to. I won’t be taking library breaks with Anna, Sam, Rachel and Davina to have a cup of tea and do the crossword.

I am quite sad.

I wanna breathe that fire again

The stars are blazing
like rebel diamonds
cut out of the sun
can you read my mind?