Coughing in public

When people cough in small spaces everything becomes amplified. Because there's nothing else to focus on, you end up focussing on the cough and start imagining little germs spreading from their mouth.
Some people (including me) focus so much on the germ situation, they decide that the logical thing to do is to hold your breath for a certain amount of time so the germs will vanish, therefore you won't breath them in. This is all very well, until you start to go red in the face and begin to get strange looks. Or, there's one cough, you start to hold your breath and then there is another. Now, you're pretty screwed. Do you risk cathching a possible cold or risk self-suffocation?
Imagine ending up in hospital explaining to a Doctor that you're there because you decided to hold you're breath for too long after someone coughed and suffocated yourself.

Another option for preventing the germ intake is blowing out with your 'nose air' or through the side of your mouth. This might be a safer option but can't always be successful. To get the 'nose air' you need to breath in a decent amount. If you manage to do this the theory is it will push the germs away from your breathing space, thus creating fresher air to breath in.

I think i have issues.

Unfair lesbian assumptions.

Because I'm too busy enjoying my Hot Chocolate delight, I shall pass you over to my new copywriting buddy Britton (Brittony Collins)

So... as it's Friday Vicky and I decided to waltz on down to the coffee shop and get ourselves a hot chocolate. But I think the woman at the counter mistook Vicky for a lesbian and gave her a free LARGE hot chocolate with a caramel syrup shot. I personally think that this is appauling as my hot chocolate was half the size and I payed for it! And my double chocolate muffin (that I searched in three different coffee shops for) tasted like orange.



I am disappointed and quite frankly disturbed by this woman.
Vicky however, is now considering lesbianism.

Wine

There's white, there's red and there's rose. Sometimes pronounced like the flower by inexperienced rose drinkers.

White - the easy choice but can get a bit much. It starts off nice but for some reason always gets worse as you progress further down the bottle.

Red - difficult to find a good red, a lot of knowledge and experience needed, looks more sophisticated but results in black lips.

Rose - my personal favourite, a great middle ground. Not only does the title make you feel classy - in a look at me im speaking french way - it's also the safest taste-wise.

Rose seems to be slowly dominating the wine front as more and more University females discover it. I've heard the discrimintion against Rose, 'C'mon! Choose a team!' but there will always be a place for Rose in my heart/stomach.

Teen books

When i was 11 i started reading Louise Rennison's book series aimed at young teenage girls. 11 years ago i wasn't planning ahead, i didn't realise by choosing this one book i'd still be buying them when i was 22. The final book in the series was published last year and i have just got round to buying it.It's quite embarassing walking into a book shop at 22 and finding yourself hunting for books in the teen fiction section.
I had to come up with a cunning plan this time, i said 'my niece loves these books'. I have no niece, but im pretty sure the man at the till believed me. Usually i end up buying 2 adult books to sandwich the teen book and hope it will confuse the checkout operator.

Anyway, i look forward to moving on with my life as soon as this book has been finished.

Cobs

When i moved North to Mansfield one of the hardest things to adapt to was the 'cob'. This is a Midland's term for the bread roll. It has absolutely no ressemblance to the word roll what so ever.
If i asked for a roll, i'd just get a blank stare as if i were speaking Spanish. Even sandwiches are called 'cobs' - to me that's just laziness. I tried to defend the bread roll by explaining that on packets of rolls it is titled '4 white bread rolls'. In return i once had the reply that rolls were a dessert 'one of those long things with icing on'.

This is a quote from Wikipedia that all 'cob' people should read:

'Cob, a word often incorrectly associated with bread rolls by Midlands students studying English...' Why studying English i don't know but either way it proves bread roll is correct!

As for breadcake..... that's easy - cake, bread? Which is it? Bread.

Before the internet

It's hard to imagine what life would be like without internet, especially now that we are completely reliant on it. In school, the closest we got to typing in random key words and recieving information was Encarta.


Microsofts Digital Multimedia Encyclopedia. Enacarta even exists now!

If the Internet was to suddenly disappear i wonder what the back-up plan would be. Would we go back to Encarta, start using Libraries? I think that i'd struggle most with no e-mailing or google images. Not only does the Internet save me money - less stamps, but it also saves me huge amounts of time! I don't need to walk to letterboxes every day or flick through thousands of books looking for images.

This is a toast to the intenet!

(i've never had to spell toast before but i can assure you that this is the correct spelling)

Disney or Gremlins

When i was a child i used to watch all the disney classics, Snow White, The Lion King, Cinderella, Peter Pan etc. Disney are known for sugar coating stories to make them more 'happy ever after' resulting in happy children when the films finish.

Around the same age i was also watching Gremlins, ET, Neverending Story and The Labyrinth. You cannot compare these films to Disney films, they should be rated 15+. Now, as a result of my parents lack of responsibilty i'm a damaged adult. I cannot watch these films.

I could watch Saw or Alien, but Gremlins NOOOOO! If i see a toy Gizmo i have a sudden rush of fear and basically run to the nearest lit area. If i see a statue either side of me i expect its eyes to open and fire death rays at me. A pile of stuffed animals make me brace myself for an alien to pop out and chase me around the house saying 'ET PHONE HOME' over and over.


On a completely seperate note, i used to think Disney was Disnep because of the logo.

JLS Condoms

Just
Love
Safe




Whilst i think this is a good idea, i cant help find it not so good at the same time. It's weird to think people will be more persuaded to use condoms if a boyband are on the packet... Also whilst it has good intentions it may have the reverse effect and encourage sex to those underage. To an outsider you can see it's encouraging safe sex but to a devoted fan it's saying buy these, they're cool and so is sex.

Jeans

Jeans are so common, every clothing shop sells a pair. It's probably one of the hardest things for a woman to shop for, it's frustrating and one of those things you have to try on before buying. I don't know one woman that has the perfect fitting jeans, there's always size issues, muffin tops, gaping holes in the back, saggy bums, ankle biters...

Levi's are taking advantage of this insight:

'Text by Dazed Digital
Facing the age-old trouble of finding a jean that fits, Levi's has taken the wardrobe staple and attempted to work out its problems using the Curve ID theory taking a woman's measurements to ensure a perfect fit. After conducting a study, Levi's had found that a massive 87 per cent of women wanted better fitting jeans than the ones they currently owned, hence the need for a new approach in creating a denim range that fits all women.

Utilising the ratio between the measurements between the narrowest and widest parts of the hips, the jeans are made with a stretchy denim available in light to dark washes. Shot by Peter Lindbergh, the three spokespersons Swedish singer Lykke Li, Miss Nine and Pixie Geldof front the campaign for the new range representing the three fits of 'Slight', 'Demi', and 'Bold'.

Dazed Digital: What was the initial inspired this project?
Consumers. This journey of the Curve ID took a year to do. We decided let's go talk to women and find out their current relationship with jeans and their relationship with Levi's - and we found a lot of frustration and we wondered why there was this frustation, and basically women found a difficulty in finding the right fit. Then came the research ideas, so the first surveys and research speaking to women took three months, then after the initial feedback, another six - nine months to perfect the fit.

DD: Do you think three shapes sufficiently embodies all women?
No. It accounts for 80 per cent of women, globally! We're now working on the fourth fit for next year.

DD: Is there scope for this range to expand or develop in the future?
In terms of body types we will be expanding our shapes and sizes but also within the same system of curves. This will be available in our current and more rises. What we currently have is the most popular rise in the market so this is why we're using this low rise.

DD: With all this emphasis on 'curve', will this alienate 'uncurvy' girls?
You still have curve - but in proportion to your body! Depends on the conversation we have with women, part of the research with Curve ID is the shopping experience with women - why don't they feel good when they say you have a flat butt or thunder hips, but all women are curved, period, point. It just depends on your build. You don't have to change to fit the jeans, but the jeans fit you.'

Soon, we might all live in a world wear jeans can be purchased at ease. All our jean dreams may come true and piles of jeans on changing room floors will be a distant memory.

Angry Animals

This is what blogs are made for.

Domain names

Why hasn't www.dotcom.com been created!?

I just typed it in and ... nothing. If i had the money to spend on buying new domain names i would and that would be the first one i'd buy. It's only a matter of time before it's gone. So much potential and so little time.

Pete versus Life

This is a brand new series on channel 4 that follows the life of struggling sports writer Pete Griffith, your everyday average guy. Whilst that may sound boring this programme is far from, his every move is observed by two commentators and analysed brutally.
It's refreshing to see a unique approach to a comedy series. I'd describe it as the Truman Show meets Friends... Okay, instead i'll just say it is sophisticated entertainment, with a great twist.

If you haven't watched it, give it a go: Friday nights at 10pm or 4od

Leg space on a train

Lately, i've been spending A LOT of time on trains. Like most people i try to get 2 seats to myself, but sometimes you can't keep hold of that extra 'seat for your bag'. Recently i had a reserved seat which was on a table.

I hate table seats when i'm travelling alone because:
It means your less likely to be alone as your sitting with 3 other people
You're facing someone directly, so it's hard to avoid any eye contact
You cant sit with your bag under your chair for easy access
as
their is limited leg room
and so
you have to lay all your travel belongings out on the table - in view of your other table sitters

Let me just highlight the limited leg room issue - Men seem to think women dont have legs. Not only do women have suffer with men sitting open legged constantly 'for comfort', but now we have to keep our legs tucked in awkwardly the whole journey as a man needs way over half of the leg space. If i was to draw the equal leg space allowance on the table, they would be way into my area...

Well, i have drawn it:


Here you can see how much room is theoretically allowed and the intursion into my personal leg allowance. And to top it all off, they kick your feet too!

(This is not aimed at all men - you know who you are!)

Handshakes

When you meet someone new it's always dificult to judge whether its a handshake moment or not. And, when it is a handshake situation, how much pressure do you apply? How many times do you physically shake your hands up and down? Do you even shake, or is it more of a warm grasp?



Handshake become even more difficult when it's mixed gender. If your the woman, you want to seem confident and strong but not to butch. A man wants to be professional, non-sexist but at the same time respect the 'lady'.

Things you should know about Handshakes(thanks to Wikipedia)
The earliest handshake dates back to 5th century BC.
Handshakes should always be made bare handed, in some customs it is considered inappropriate/derogatory behaviour if preformed whilst wearing gloves.
'It is considered to be in poor taste to show dominance with too strong a handshake conversely, too weak a handshake (sometimes referred to as a "limp fish" or "dead fish" handshake) is also considered unseemly due to people perceiving it as a sign of weakness.'
New Jersey Mayor Joseph Lazarow from Atlantic City was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for shaking more than 11,000 hands in a single day.
And just incase you were thinking of doing the longest ever handshake:
Matthew Rosen and Joe Ackerman hold a world record time of 15 hours, 30 minutes and 45 seconds.

Cats vs Dogs

1)Are you a cat person or dog person?

A cat person - Enjoys the quieter and lower maintanance pet. Seeks prettier, more aesthetically pleasing animals. Forms a bigger emotional bond with their pet, rather than physical.

A dog person - Wants a much more active pet, that will entertain themselves and an audience. Requires unconditional love and a strong physical bond between the person and pet.





2)Would you prefer to be a cat or a dog?

A cat - self sufficient, more ignorant, clean, sleeps at least 18 hours a day.

A dog - reliant, dirty, affectionate, smells, awake 11-14 hours a day.




My answers
Question 1) Cat person
Question 2) Cat

The Stereotype Info

'Cat people (like cats) are a little more mysterious, self-centered and independent, sometimes bordering on aloof; they are capable of entertaining themselves for hours on end, more tricky, more circuitous, more manipulative.' (John Woestendiek)

'Dog people (like dogs) are more prone to dominance and co-dependence, crave constant attention and are more open, outgoing, social and likely to drool.' (John Woestendiek)

"Many people perceive themselves as being either 'cat people' or 'dog people.' These people often think they relate to their pets because they share similar personalities."
This isn't necessarily true. Stereotypes are stereotypes.