Justoutofcuriosity's Blog

rather awesome

justoutofcuriosity — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 22:51:47 +0000

The moral implications of taking chlamydia test(s) for “free stuff”

justoutofcuriosity — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 07:29:13 +0000

Should I feel bad for doing this?

On the one hand I feel that seeking to gain benefit from a health campaign designed to help people in my perceived demographic (sexually active students) seems like an morally wrong thing to partake in. What right do I have to come along and just take the NHS’s free stuff? I think the fact that I know for certain almost, that I do not have these STIs makes it worse. Because, obviously, although the free stuff is meant to be an incentive for everyone, to attract the people who may/do have STIs to come forward and then, shock horror discover that, in the midst of enjoying their “if you can catch this, you can catch chlamydia” frisbee that the slogan makes sense all of a sudden.

The problem here is, that I know I probably do not have these STIs, I am merely exploiting the system for personal gain; I enjoy my frisbee, highlighter, keyring, phone sock, cinema ticket, led light, bag of condoms and lube safe in the knowledge that it was all free. Well, it’s the NHS’s problem not mine.

Diaries of a law student- Introductions bla bla

justoutofcuriosity — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 06:46:31 +0000

I would like to point out firstly, that, I by no means advocate the behaviour that I participate in, nor do I expect you to think that this is what studying law is like for all people; it is merely just my own personal experience.

Just a little foreword: I am a first year law student in the UK, taking a three-year LLB course. I studied geography, history and english literature for my A-levels. I have no particular area of law that I wish to enter following my degree, but I hope that my field of interest will develop along with my blog into something vaguely more interesting than kitchen foil.

It is currently 6 weeks into my degree and I feel that I have settled in somewhat to life at university; however, disorganisation in my life seems to be be rife. I am not fully up to date with my studies and other aspects of my life, I have a whole host of unpaid fees for random societies (including the law society) and have missed copious amounts of meetings for them too. This is definitely something that will be sorted out soon, as my procrastination over study could do with being at least somewhat slightly more productive and fun than facebook and snacking. Additionally I find myself regretting certain things, for example, my £99 gym membership… I have not entered the gym once despite my constant worries about maintaining my beach body.

The fact that I am sitting here at 6.26am writing this blog certainly draws attention though, to the fact that my sleeping pattern is, once again totally and utterly atrociously bad. I have a knack for desiring to do my work before I sleep, but also at the same time, procrastinating instead of doing my work, which often leads me down a deep and dark spiral of sadness and sorrow as my tiredness kicks in and my motivation to do the work dwindles proportionately. Why I do this to myself I do not know, but at least my excuse for today is that I am just trying to fix my body clock and thus, tomorrow (today) I go to bed I can go to bed at a normal hour… perhaps.

For anyone worried about the workload, I feel that it is certainly manageable, for now at least. I heard myself of many shocking tales involving law students’ workload and it seems to be both true and false. All I can say is that the amount of hours one has to put in varies, one seminar’s preparation (smaller group session) can range from nothing one week to 4 hours plus the next, and obviously the work is what you make of it, you can do more if you want to or need to, less if you don’t want to or don’t need to, and so on. Obviously I realise that, despite describing the work as “manageable”, I am myself behind, but we shall ignore this hypocrisy as I promise to improve in future! But hey, at least this way I can ensure total reader satisfaction via describing both sides of the picture, from a lazy perspective and from a studious one (watch this space).

a cat in a box

A video poem

justoutofcuriosity — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 23:45:52 +0000

by everynone on vimeo

Interesting stuff

Under my umbrella

justoutofcuriosity — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 16:03:02 +0000

I have faint memories on many rainy occasions from my childhood, of being told off by my mother as I would refuse to take the umbrella despite her pleas and would then proceed run off soaken-haired into the distance; hair wet, but intact.

Walking home from university today I was reminded of something I have always known. The design of all umbrellas I have used inherently lead to my hair being caught in between the little connecting parts of their shafts. I absolutely hate it, the umbrella gives no warning and I am subject to a torturous walk through the rain regardless of being dry. This has always happened to me, from my days as a small child when I would choose to get wet instead of having to endure the unrelenting and frequently sharp pricking sensation as my hair would be plucked somewhat from my head in an excruciating fashion. These days however, I seem to favour staying moderately dry and have my hair pulled from my head for some reason or other; and as I sit here writing this my overdramatic self itches the patch of my head which had been assaulted earlier.
Am I making a big deal of this =p?

edit: my umbrella decided to break on me the day after writing this message.. =/

The emotional impact of media

justoutofcuriosity — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 04:15:36 +0000

Not really much of a revolutionary point to make, but whilst watching a movie with a companion of mine, I realised how the media can have such a profound effect on your state of mind. Not that this particular moment in time was one that reflected this point the most obviously for me; but after watching half of “synecdoche new york,” a rather peculiar movie about what I could only discern as the breakdown of a man’s life before his very eyes, my own mood seemed to have a more sombre and thoughtful disposition. This was mirrored by the downbeat and imagery and symbol laden nature of the movie. Although only temporary, these such thoughts made me think, in a way which I would not normally lean towards.

Of course, I know the idea of a good movie, song, book or article is to make you think about things in a different perspective, but how much of the media one encounters on a day-to-day basis does one take with them the long-haul, and how much is left only to your temporary consciousness, one of many thought-provoking ideas not provoking enough to avoid being discarded into a pile of forgotten memories? Do certain people have an inclination to accept particular ideas and let their imaginations run wild with them? I am by no means an expert in this field, so if this is a silly question and a knowledgeable navigator of the human psyche would like to enlighten me then please feel free to comment or email me here.

Just a thought.

Nature Hunt :)

justoutofcuriosity — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 14:10:51 +0000

rare mushroom of some sort..

It all began in my bed, late one night. For whatever reason, in amongst my brain’s usual thoughts pokemon, pandas and McDonald’s, it suddenly occurred to me that I could do some exploring in my local area for nature. Everyone who knows me well, is aware of my love for nature and wildlife in particular. I spent most of my time in ayia napa… not drinking and clubbing as you might expect, but chasing after the many lizards that populate the island of cyprus, in addition to spending a whole morning scouring rockpools for crabs and prawns one day. But anyway, I thought it would make for an interesting day out for me certainly, and hopefully at least a semi-interesting blog update also .

deer with horns...

The nature reserve I visited is notable for its deer herd, they were very friendly indeed. Although the big ones bullied the little ones, making it very hard for me and my companion to feed the younger deer.

Brown spotted butterfly

Walking down the path at the reserve I happened to come across this lovely butterfly specimen who perched itself happily on a patch of ground nearby; it was truly a delight for the eyes.

grey squirrel

A skyward view

Perhaps my favourite picture from my nature outing was the skyward view (see bottom), the picture doesn’t do the view justice. It truly was lovely with the silhouetted branches and leaves glimmering in the sunshine ^^.

Holiday to Ayia Napa

justoutofcuriosity — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 17:37:32 +0000

In a tradition well-known to many british youths, I found myself and a large group of friends going to a clubbing resort on holiday earlier this summer. For the typical wild, drunken trip that seems to be the norm for all young people such as myself.

Nissi Beach

Above you can see the beach, full of the standard “wet t-shirt competitions” and frolicking holiday-makers. It was actually a very nice beach to my surprise, despite the huge numbers of tourists present there, it has blue-flag status, meaning it adheres to certain water and litter standards (I think). Me and my friends spent many an afternoon there with its clear, blue water and fine, golden sand

LILY the LIZARD

One of my favourite activities to partake in whilst drunk is meeting and talking to new people, safe in the knowledge that whatever nonsense and rubbish I come up with, I won’t be seeing them ever again ^^! This basically means that I free to say whatever I want for my own personal amusement, sometimes resulting in angry responses, but mostly my drunken rambling is received by ecstatic, joyous, faces. I did indeed meet lots of random people whom I now have no recollection of; except for one: Lily the lizard. She was easily the most interesting friend I have ever made on a night out. For whatever reason, me and my friend just seemed to get along with Lily so well… and I just wish we had caught her surname so a sincere facebook add could have found itself heading her way. Oh well =/…

Mysterious rabbit

The most bizarre occurrence of the whole holiday was surely the ghostly rabbit spirit that appeared before us on the plane home. It is surely, the most clear evidence of ghosts I have seen in my life.

All in all, it was a very fun holiday

Summer sun.. something’s begun

justoutofcuriosity — Thu, 20 May 2010 19:06:20 +0000

With my final A-level exams dawning on me, naturally my thoughts recently have turned to thinking about what I want to do this summer after their conclusion. The weather seems to be warming up as of late and I am definitely in the mood for some summery frivolities, rather than crappy revision.

Perhaps one of my favourite things in summer are barbeques. I think barbeques are somewhat symbolic of such times, seeing as for the majority of the year, the weather makes any attempt end at bbq related activities end in a flurry of wind and rain. There’s something quite special about sitting round a blazing fire with some burgers, your alcoholic beverage of preference and most importantly good company, into the dwindling moments of light on a summer evening.

I love the feeling the warm sunshine brings, it makes me happy and smile, and get emotional thinking about how awesome life is bla bla =p. I was walking down my road road today and if not for the girl walking several paces beind me’s presence, I probably would have broken into song and dance, something along the lines of…..

Albeit, slightly more exaggerated and happy than the video might suggest of course…

Walking home with the sun out, not quite hot enough to be stifling but not quite cool enough to warrant the wearing of my blazer, was quite lovely. The view I took of the world at that moment in time was clearly one through through rose-tinted spectacles, but if this little burst of happiness in my life has such a marvelously profound effect on my frame of mind, then who gives a crap if I’m being overly exagerative and cheery; theres enough rubbish and monotony for people living in modern society to put up with as it is. It’s times like these make me think, f*** it, I’ll just enjoy life while I can =).

ps. hello ^^, you make me want to sing and dance 500 days style, all day every day.

Ice Cream Review: Solero Exotic

justoutofcuriosity — Thu, 13 May 2010 18:00:38 +0000

Continuing my feature of ice cream reviews, I bring you my review of the Solero Exotic by Walls.

“A delicious ice cream coated in an exotic fruit sorbet. It contains no artificial colours or flavours, and 99 calories.” Walls website

Aesthetic Appeal:

The Solero Exotic by Walls has an exceedingly vivid aesthetic quality to it, with the vibrant orange hue of the sorbet coating enticing one into its delectable innards. Once the outer coating has been sweeped away, a beautiful marble swirl of orange can be seen against the snowy whiteness of the vanilla ice cream; providing a simple and yet alluring contrast between the bright orange and milky white colour combination.

Texture

The texture of the vanilla portion of the lolly is satisfyingly smooth, gliding across the tongue. The sorbet seems to adopt a more icy texture, although it is soft and light, just as a sorbet should be.

Flavour

The vanilla ice cream is satisfyingly creamy and sweet, not overpoweringly sweet though, very well balanced. The sorbet is tangy and sharp, with notes of passion fruit and mango particularly shining through, tantalising the taste buds. This fusion of both the vanilla ice cream and the fruit sorbet seem to merge seamlessly to provide a delicious fruity sorbet, against a smooth and creamy backdrop of vanilla.

verdict
chilled and thrilled 8/10