The new season dawns…
Just a quick post.
The new football season is a week away. And I for one can't wait. It's been too long since I've since those tackles flying in and screamers shooting past the goalie.
Luckily for me, one of my birthday presents was to go and see Derby v Birmingham this Saturday. I know it's not the most amazing spectacle for the rest of you, but as a Derby County F.C. supporter, it's gonna be awesome (win or lose).
I've already got some sweeet fantasy football teams on the go and they've been placed in my mates leagues ready for them to take the piss out of me when I forget to do my transfers.
Anyway, hopefully Derby will actually finish somewhere near mid-table this season or theres going to be lots of swearing from me!
I think both the Premiership and Championship will be very tight again this season. You've got Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool looking to challenge this season. While the rest of the league looks to be one big massive scrap for european places and relegation avoidance. The teams that have dropped down a division will as usual, be looking to bounce straight back up. But as last season proved, it ain't gonna be that easy.
Also the Champions League looks set to be it's brilliant best again. I just hope that someone can at least give Barcelona a scare. As I fear that if Xavi, Iniesta and Messi stay fit, they've as good as won again.
Here's looking forward to the new season. Get in!
A challenge
So.. things are about the change in my life. I not long ago, used to view this as a problem.
I've gone through a lot of change without even realising it the past 5 years. Tesco really were right when they said "Every little helps", whether having a positive or a negative effect. Now I'm not going to walk you though the last half decade of my life, but it's safe to say that I once lived in a world that wasn't really there at all. I mean, it obviously was there (I'm not crazy). I treated life as something that couldn't affect me and in turn this caused large reprocussions.
It's not to say that I didn't feel bad or good, but there was a point in time where I didn't 'feel' anything at all. Now... what I can tell you is, that not feeling anything is far much worse that not feeling anything at all. The problem for me was the way the world is. I for a long time, dreamed of a world that was good in every sense of the word. I don't mean anything sickly, it's hard to explain but I just mean everything had good genuine intentions. I still, at the moment, believe that some of the world has this, but the rest of it is filled with apparent good intentions clouded and justified by a supposed 'higher purpose'.
The above actually hurts me. So much so that I still refuse to believe we don't have a purpose. And by "we", I mean everything, the whole of existence.
As I'll never be able to explain fully what I mean on here. I've decided to forget about why everything isn't right and just anymore. I've decided to be as just a person as I can be and work hard at it. If there really isn't any real purpose in life, then I'm going to make it my mission to be as good a person as possible and have fun on the way. And if I'm wrong, (which I hope I am) then I'll have made a lot of people happy, including myself aswell.
What this means in less crazy terms is this: I don't remember the exact time I once stopped embracing life, but it has most certainly ended now. And I mean now.
So I'm going to start small. Tomorrow, I'm going to do something good for someone, however insignificant. Then I'm going to be the person I know I've always been, over and over again. I don't even have to be financially successful, or be the social genuis. I just will be as happy as possible in the end.
Thanks for reading.
Ben
What’s a man to do?
I recently read a column from a female reporter from the Daily Mail. It was regarding the way men act towards women in certain situations.
The article focussed on everyday things that you most likely experience 3-4 times a day. The reporter was upset that men tend to help women with the little things in life, like opening a door for them, or offering to help carry something heavy. From what I read, the reporter sounded almost 'angry' them men were helpful in this way. There are of course many of these types of situations.
It sounded like the reporter felt like her ability as a woman was being tarnished by the fact that a man was offering to help or 'claiming' as she put, to be polite. Now.. I can see her point of view. If I was a woman and a man offered to open a door for me, it might seem that he had an alterior motive if was a suspicious or overproud person. Especially if he was a cocky overconfident type. One of those 'alphamale' douchebags.
Women & Men
I've got to say and this might sound a bit cheesy. If I ever offer to do the following things for a woman (open a door / let her though an entrance first / carry a heavy object / say "ladies first" / walk on the pavement nearest the road), I'm not doing it to belittle you, be macho, have an alterior motive, or show that men are better than women. I'm doing this because you ladies are meant to be the light of us mens lives, you know, the heavenly fair ones who should be treated with the most respect and kindness. I know it's only little things I'm talking about here, but sometimes they can go along way to brightening up someones day.
Anyway, there's no way I'd ever claim to be an expert on women. It's just that I've always been taught that if anyone needs a bit of help (man or woman), then it's polite to offer it. And although I do apprectiate that you ladies don't need 'protecting', I'd like to hope that us men would be there too if needed.
There's one last thing. It's a truth that some people can scare away from. Men are physically stronger than women. It doesn't make us better people. We just are. So if you're a woman who'd like to completely ignore this post, do the following: The next time a man offers to help you with something heavy, make him do extra so he's wincing with a little bit of pain after, so you can just sit back, relax and have a little laugh to yourself.
I'm fully aware that this post has gone a bit metro and mushy. So I'm off to drink some beer and smoke a cigarette whilst lifting weights.
Evening you Marsians and Venusians...
Bank Holiday
I don't know about you, but I always think it's funny when someone comes up with the same old cliché when it rains on Bank Holiday's; "Good old Bank Holiday rain" (or something along those lines).
I never know what to do on these extra days. There is the obvious lets go to the pub and get a bit tipsy response, but to be honest, most pubs are usually filled with mental people (chavs/scallies/mindless yobs) who seem to have come out their hiding places for once and decided to involve themselves with the rest of the world. In any event, this is what I usually end up doing, as even though I've just taken the mick out of the "rain people", it usually does rain on Bank Holidays unfortunately.
I suppose it's all good for the parents, as they get an extra day off to sort their kids out with some fun activities, which I know I benefited from in the past. As long as they don't get in the way of the one time I don't go to the pub first on Bank Holidays. Which when my mates and I, get our sporting asses down to Marketeon Park in Derby and get involved with some "Hardcore Pitch and Putt Action". We all do seem to be improving our scores each year, but usually at some point, we get stuck behind some god awful 5 strong clan of blithering idiots trying to put 1 ball into 1 hole. I'll be honest, it's an embarassment to their families.
Anyway, enough of the negative stuff (although it's fun to rant about stupid people). I've been up since ten o'clock, I'm on my fifth cuppa tea, listening to the Gran Turismo 1 soundtrack (awesome). Listen to Ash - Lose Control btw. What I'm saying is, it's all good on this Bank Holiday, yes it is raining, yes I'm probably going to end up in the pub later and yes I'm going to moan about the numptys the world has let loose, but it doesn't matter, as I could've gone to work today instead.
In a bit!
The farce of fickle.
You'll appreciate this post if you're anything like me and can understand a situation based on facts and not random opinion fashioned out of emotion and fear.
The year hasn't started that well for Derby. I can't remember the last we won a game and from the performances I've managed to see, the football at times has gone back to hitting it long ball again. Now this isn't to say that Derby haven't been playing some good football at times, because sometimes, the opposition look a bit confused as too how well we can play when we start passing and moving.
So from a point of statistics, we've dropped from a high of 4th in the table to a low of 16th. Now we all know that the table doesn't lie, however this isn't the time to start calling for the boards many heads, let alone Nigel Clough's.
It's a well proven fact of the sport that keeping a manager in place is a far better recipe for success than doing away with once after a season or two. With this in mind, we as fans shouldn't be pushing for the sack to easily. Lets not forget that however bad the results have been recently, pretty much the same team has been put out since when we were on a winning streak.
I can perfectly understand the views of some fans. In which making a snap judgement on performances seems to be the only way to vent their frustration. But I think sometimes the best and worst thing about football is it's all about opinion. Mine is, stick with the man who's trying his best to build a team slowly without a lot of money to play with, or we'll end up at the same place we started.
New Years Betting Extravaganza
My mates and I have deciced to create a New Years resolution involving gambling. Not the best resolution I know, but here are the rules below, apparently:
1. Start with £20 and musn't drop below the zero mark for the entire year.
2. Must make at least 15 bets each month of at least 25p each.
3. Winner is the bloke with the highest balance at the end of the year.
Walford, you will lose and Kite, you will lose also.
The Kindle
Is it me, or does anyone think that the Amazon Kindle is for the same douchebags that wear Bluetooth headsets and sunglasses indoors?
It's like they've just created the E-book reader just for show offs who don't know how to spend their money properly.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for new gadgets that improve life and make a leap in technology. But all this one does is reduce your book shelf size and that's about it, as far as I can tell?
Anyway, I'm going to stick with the oldskool approach of reading books offline and if I need any further information, I'll look it up on my laptop.
Kris Commons
Well it's about time. Even though he doesn't sound Scottish, Kris Commons finally scored for Scotland last night.
In making his first return to international football since September 2009, he scored Scotland's second goal in a 3-0 win over the Faroe Islands; nicely flicking in a Charlie Adam cross in the 31st minute.
Despite having a tough start to the season at Derby, he's currently showing why he can be one of the best players in the Championship with nine goals to his name.
Many Rams fans may still have their doubts about a player that sometimes doesn't seem to turn up for some games, but in this current form, he may be able to show us his worth as a player and justify Nigel Clough's faith in him. Definately, if he carries on playing like he is, a new contract cant be far away.
New WOW Guild
I've recently joined a new WOW guild on the Argent Dawn server. They're getting me up to level 80 well quick!
Here is a picture from the site, after their first Lich King kill! 
New site
Hi,
I'm just getting this site up and running at the moment. Come back soon and I'll have some updated content on all things interesting and exciting.