A generation of change

Hello Internet, 

As I said last week I've found a direction for this blog and I'm going try and stick to that occasionally going back to the less serious and the bike stuff every so often. This blog will be a place for opinions and thoughts to be expressed and challenged. 

I was sat in a talk the other day about how different generations have changed rapidly. It got me thinking that actually it isn't a generational change its a age change, Katie's youngest cousin can probably utilise an I-pad better than me. What does this mean then? That we will be alienated by technology like generations before us? No I don't think so, yes we may not be as fast with future tech whatever that means, but were thepopulation familiar with the steam engine or electricty when the Victorians brought it out? No they were as amazed as we are when a new iPhone comes out or when a car can park itself. 

The power of our social media, and I say our because we own it without the public the servers would be dead and it wouldn't exsist, anyway I'm rambling. Look at Hong Kong and the protests there, the government couldn't control the population because they were using there phones to organise themselves, so what do the government do? They shut down the internet out a tight lock on it? Why because they don't understand how to use it properly it scared them! And trust be told I'm scared if the power of internet. There are people in YouTube that have millions of subscribers if one of those celebrities came out with some ideologies then it could seriously impact power. When in this talk I brought up the opinion that the internet is a lawless society because it is.. How many people do you know that been caught downloading music? People commit internet fraud all of the time.. But the worst one is cyber bullying yes the person can be caught and punished but it's the principle of hiding before your 15 inche HD screen. I'm not suggesting that there is strict laws to be placed on the internet like China, but I am saying we as a society should seriously respect the power that's in our pockets. 

Thanks for reading, have an amazing week :) 

Sam x 

Remember you can you can follow me on Bloglovin if you would like to keep up to date with my blog posts and you can also like my Facebook page. 

Am I a feminist?

Hello internet, 

You should all realise this blog is a place where I can express my thoughts and feelings. 

So as you can guess from the title I'm going to explore gender equality a bit. Now I'm not going to be light hearted about this because it's not a light hearted subject. Now I come from a white middle class background, I can't help that blame the parents. But that doesn't make me stuck in my ways, I'm always open to new things and new ideas. Some you may know I want to study sociology and politics for that very reason. 

Recently there has been a lot of stigma towards women online, what with the apple cloud hack. Which both scared me and got me thinking, we as a culture enjoy sex. We do there's not a day goes by without two famous people in a sex scene on our TVs. Or certain tablid magazines proclaiming the latest sex scandal. It scared me because non of us are really safe from the internet, the richest women in Hollywood have been exposed. Now hmm do I feel sorry for these actresses? Yes I do it's a horrible thing and those pictures were meant to be private and between two people that trusted each other but then the other side of me says why did they take them? They knew the risk of them getting leaked... And then I realised that they were convinced by a man, a man who hasn't been named and shamed like these poor women. So I asked myself this question am I a feminist? Or more am I allowed to be a feminist? 

I studied GCSE history I know about the suffragettes and sufferegists, the awareness they raised is outstanding. Without there commitment we wouldn't be anywhere near gender equality today. I watched Emma Watsons speech about heforshe and I 100% agree with what she said. And I realised I'm not a feminist or a feminist allie, what I am is a equalitist (made up word I think). I believe we should all be equal, I'm an 18 year old male and I take care of myself. I pluck my eyebrows so I don't look like I have a mono brow, I moisturise my hands and arms because they get dry, I shave my face and I shower with flowery smelling body washes. I've even been known to exfoliate. Does this make me lesser a man? No it makes me comfertable. Trust me I can be aggressive competive arrogant idiot if I wish to be, however I tried it and I hated myself for it. I wish we had a society where the highest death rate for males wasn't suicide. However I can see why those statitics exsist, I'm greeted with comments on the way I have my hair or the clothes I wear from females.. But if that judgmental back I would be sexist. That's not a equal world. For equality to work everyone should be equal. Haha when you write it it sounds so simple. 

There is one thing though... Feminists aren't a bunch of scary women burning bras and chaining themselves to fences, they are mothers and entrepreneurs. There your neighbours, husbands, sons, police women. Notice I included men in there because like me there is men out there that believe the same as me, everyone should be equal. Now I'm straight, I like women. But not just as an image on a computer screen, I like women for conversation and fun and to work with. Yeah I like boobs who doesn't? But saying that isn't sexist it's realist, men and women are attracted to each other it's a fact of life. 

This probably won't make sense and is a definite ramble of thoughts so I'll link a YouTube video by Jack Howard below who explains it a lot better than I ever could. http://youtu.be/oJTDQPC_OAQ

Thanks for reading, have an amazing week

Sam x 

Remember you can you can follow me on Bloglovin if you would like to keep up to date with my blog posts and you can also like my Facebook page. 

The cycle show

Hello wonderful internet people, 

I was lucky enough to get a free ticket to the bike show through work, so a friend and I went to see all the amazing new tech that's out there and just look at all of the gorgoues bikes, I won't bore you with details instead I'll just put in all the pictures I took from the day. And maybe there will be a blog about building a dream bike in few months time... 

Bradley Wiggins world championship bike

If your going to build a bike make titanium 

Nothing looks as good as Italian design 

Very exciting. The first full carbon bike from genesis.

Full adjustable carbon stem from look which is a brilliant design feature, hoping that trickles down to the high street soon. 

The essentials for any cyclist 

For me kinesis really stood out and there race light bike will definitely be a future investment. 

Loved the old school vibe to this colnago!!

Thanks for looking through this weeks blog. Have an amazing week

Sam x 

Remember you can you can follow me on Bloglovin if you would like to keep up to date with my blog posts and you can also like my Facebook page. 

Long Sunday afternoon

Hello lovely internet, 

A few years ago I was in a very different place in life and I was clawring for nothing that would give me a sense of happiness ( you can probably guess the illness I suffer from). Anyway I discovered Blood Brothers the musical the sorry is brilliant and gripping, I've seen the show 5 times and every time I'm hooked from start to finish! We'll get back to this point later.

So this week everyone went off to uni, including Katie. As you all know Katie is my beautiful girlfriend who doubles up as my best friend too:) it's only been two days so it's a bit weird still but I can definitely say I miss her so much! 

Then my best mate Ben left aswell, he's a lad that will always be part of the family. Y'know the sort friend that doesn't need to knock to come in and they just empty out the cupboards for good? Yeah that's Ben or as my mother calls him the favourite son. 

Going back to my original point, there's a song in Blood Brothers called Sunday afternoon, which is about one the main characters feeling lonely because all his friends have moved away or not coming out. That's what it feels like at the moment for me. Feel like I'm 10 again and wanting people to come play out abs no ones around. 

Thanks for reading. Have an amazing week

Sam x

You can follow me on Bloglovin if you would like to keep up to date with my blogs and you can also like my Facebook page. 

Just putting it out there

Hello lovely internet folk, 

This is going to one of those posts that has no pictures, but I've been thinking and well... We live in a right scary world don't we?

I mean if its not ISIS competing to be as vicious as the Nazi part in 1940s Germany we have America and Russia threatening to go to war.

Why can't the people in power realise that the mass majority of people want peace, its not hard. Sit down and talk like humans not like politicians. I'm sorry I've managed to hide my political views up to now, but this whole beheading of westerns really got to me. For centuries people have never got on its a fact that not everyone will get on, but do we really need to bring average people in on the global arguments between super powers?

Ok if your not following my drift, imagine having an argument with a friend at school and after the argument you go up to other kids you've never spoke to and then get them to comment on the argument, its stupid right? You just fall out with your friend until one of you decides to say sorry. 

So why can't important people in power do the same? Agree to disagree and move on. Don't start killing each other! 

Thank you for reading my rant 

I hope you have an amazing week 

Sam x 

Things I've learnt

Hello lovely internet people, 

This week I had a huge woke up call, now I won't go into details about what happened but Katie and I fell out a little bit. We both realised that we had got to comfortable and were taking each other for granted, which after nearly 4 years is understandable. However it's not fair, so we sat down and had a huge talk which meant I had to get out of my comfort zone.. I'm not perfect so I had to listen to some hard things but it's definitely made things easier for us. 

One thing I really struggle with is saying how I feel, Katie is amazingly patient with me but sometimes even she snaps and I have to be honest and say how I'm feeling, why I'm blogging about this I don't know. Perhaps you and your boyfriend/girlfriend are struggling and this might help. Just sit down and talk everything out if that person really matters they will take on board what's being said and start to make changes. 

As you all know I have a slight addiction to cycling which doesn't really help a relationship. Disappearing for 4 hours on the bike makes having a conversation hard, what I'm saying is I don't have to stop riding. Maybe I could ride in the mornings that way Katie and I can spend the afternoon together having a picnic or go see a film. 

With Katie going off to university in a week or so this is going to be really important, we've decided that we will make the most of the time we have together because we're both studying and no one needs a grumpy stressed partner after you travel to see them. 

I'd your having trouble in a relationship step out your comfort zone and be honest with each other. And then go get cocktails it's brilliant fun... Although I'm still confused why Katie's had cream in it :p 

I hope you enjoyed this blog, sorry was bit serious. Have an amazing week!!

Sam x

Remember you can you can follow me on Bloglovin if you would like to keep up to date with my blog posts and you can also like my Facebook page. 

Greenbelt festival

Hello lovely internet people,

For the last 6 years every August bank holiday I have gone to a festival called Greenbelt, it's a music and arts festival with a Christian ethos.. Now I was brought up in a fairly religious family but over recent years I've turned my back on the church because well it started to annoy me. However Greenbelt restores my faith in humanity. Instead writing a huge blog post I'm just going to put in all the pictures from the weekend. I hope you enjoy:

 

I drank some tasty cider, enjoyed some fantastic music; listened to inspirational talks and spent with some like minded people. I came home with a new perspective.

I hope you enjoyed this blog, thanks for reading 

Sam x 

You can follow me on Bloglovin if you would like to keep up to date with my blogs and you can also like my Facebook page.