2 Months On – Goal Review

Not quite ticks all around yet!

It’s been almost two months since I posted about the goals I have for the coming months and that means it is time for a quick review to get back on track.

Career wise, I was looking for 30+ hours a week. This has kinda happened but not really. I’m still at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, however I am doing generally speaking a lot more hours than before. The problem is, it is not set hours and really comes down to if I am needed to cover someone. Two weeks ago I did 42 hours of work, whilst last week I did 13 hours and 14.5 hours this week. Next week will be 13 hours and the week after will be 37 hours. So as you can see it is a bit all over the place. The dockyard is also going through some major changes within the visitor centre where I work (once they decide what those changes actually are) so my job might not be that secure. I kind of have a contract now as well. Well, I do but it is a 0 hour contract so doesn’t really count! All in all, this goal has been about half achieved. I still want to find something to supplement the income from the dockyard.

The financial goal always rested on the hours I could get. To streamline the financial goals, however, I have decided to focus on one at a time (in order of what comes soonest) and any money left over can go towards the next goal. So first up is the trip to Spain in the Easter period of next year. Looking to have around £350 for that which I should now be able to have by the end of January. I’ve also decided to spend a chunk of my next paycheck on a dSLR camera because I’ve always wanted one and now I can afford one! After Spain, it will be time to save for the Masters. I think I’ll push back the PC until next year because they ain’t cheap! So this goal is well on the way to be achieved. Probably about 10% considering the amount I need all together.

As for Education, the first goal was to find the right Masters course for me, and I think I’m going to go for the Winchester one. That will run me about £5000 when commuting is taken into account. So if I can afford the majority of that I hope to start in 2013, otherwise January 2014. As for the goal about learning French, the less said the better! Goal completion: 50%.

For the fitness goal I wanted to boost my weight by 20lbs, and so far its gone up by 5lbs which is nice. I haven’t really been trying that hard to be honest though and I haven’t done much more running so that second part of the goal concerning the 10 miles run is still a pipe dream. I am going to get on with it soon though, promise! 12.5% complete.

With the pleasure goals, I am making a little headway. Namely I am saving that money needed for the Spain trip (and subsequent trips) and I have almost finished the first book. Admittedly, I could have had it finished by now but I don’t spend as much time as I should reading. And that sucks. 5% done for this one.

So I guess that comes out to about 20% done on the goals all around. I need to get a serious move on with some of them though.

Stay amazing,

MD

 

The Broken Britain Series

From a blank start to full fledged essays, the creation process is long.

I have started work on what I have called ‘The Broken Britain Series’. I aim to release every few weeks an essay on a topic concerning itself with the current political, social, or economic state of Britain. This is partly to give myself something to do over the coming months, and partly to help me explore an issue I find deeply interesting: the widespread ignorance of the British public to the problems facing the country and the society that lives within its borders.

The URL of the blog (also hosted on wordpress) that I will use to host that essays will be http://thebrokenbritainseries.wordpress.com/

You will also be able to find them uploaded onto Academia.edu. If any of you use this website, feel free to follow me on it and I may well return the favour. The link is: http://winchester.academia.edu/MichaelDobson

At the moment only a short introduction is provided (and not available on Academia.edu) but you can expect the main essays to run at around 2,500 to 3,500 words. Maybe more if there is a lot to say on the topic but I am hoping setting a word limit for each will prevent be from rambling and keep the essays concise and informative.

I hope to provide the facts on the issue, perhaps followed by recommendations. Everything will be supported by sources and/or annotations if is my opinion.

I am quite excited about this project, and look forward to writing the essays in the next few months.

MD

Is This Thing On?

Please stand by. Uploading ‘Life.exe’

For the past few days I’ve been thinking of how I will shape the next few months of my life. The answer was pretty simple: set goals. Knowing this I then had to decide on what those goals should be. Unsurprisingly, I went for the things that I have repeatedly said I want to do. I hope that now they are written with their own deadline I will actually get on with those things! The deadline being the start of next summer, however, some of the goals need to be done before this point.

So what are my goals? I split them up into five categories to keep them concise. Those 5 categories are: Career, Financial, Education, Physical, and Pleasure.

Career

This one was quite simple. I don’t want a ‘career’ as it were at the moment as I want to save money for a Masters degree and then after that I can consider a real career. However, I still need to consider my job and how often I work. My hours recently increased from 8 hours a fortnight to 14 hours. This is a nice bump considering the initial low figure. Although these hours will not be enough to fulfil financial needs in the coming months and so I must either find a Monday to Friday job or a job with better pay which includes the weekends. I wouldn’t much care to leave the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard as I enjoy it there but I have to do what I have to do. The goal here then is to find 30 hours of work a week as a minimum.

Financial

Financially, it’s all about the savings. I need to save money for that elusive Masters course. I’ll also need to have enough money so that if I need to relocate I can do so. Furthermore, I want to do several international trips so money will be needed for that. And finally, it’s about time for an upgrade to the old PC. This one is not completely necessary but something I do quite want. Three financial goals then: Masters, Holidays, Computer.

Education

Two goals here. First one is to find the right Masters course for me. Several factors come into play here, including the price, location, and what it actually teaches me. The second goal is to learn conversational French. I already have a strong base so it shouldn’t be too difficult but will take most of the time I have until Summer. Hopefully I will visit France once or twice over the next few seasons which will help with becoming a good French speaker. Probably won’t be attempting to do that Masters in French however!

Physical

As a long time student of the body, it would be nice to have something to show for it. This means getting serious with regular training. I’ve done quite well over the past few months but now it gets kicked up a notch. Two primary goals to achieve here by next summer. Firstly, I want to reach 215 lbs. And that’s not through an increase in the amount of fat I have either before I get any sarcastic comments. Currently I weigh about 195 lbs so a 20 lb increase over 7~8 months seems doable. The second goal is being able to run 10 miles in one session. This won’t be overly hard as long as I actually go outside and run. Haven’t done any running for a very long time so will take me a few runs to get back into the swing of things and then increase the distance. Tied in with both of these goals is, of course, eating healthier. This isn’t exactly a goal on its own however. Regardless, two reasonable Physical goals.

Pleasure

I suppose Pleasure just relates to everything else not covered above in a way. However, my goals here are pretty standard. Firstly, I have three destinations that I would like to visit. Firstly, Spain so I can visit my friend who is working over there for the year. Secondly, France so I can practice my French and it’s always a nice day/weekend out! Finally I want to go to the Isle of Wight. Yes I know it sounds boring but me and some friends have always spoken about going for a day trip but have never got around to it. Time to make it happen. People should take advantage of things on their doorstep! Another goal here is to read five books. Three of these books are known: ‘Chavs’, ’23 Things they didn’t tell you about Capitalism’, and ‘Why Vote?’. Two others I can decide on as I go along. I need to do more reading so made sense to make it one of the goals.

And that sums up the goals I have for the next 8 months. These are, naturally, subject to change but currently they are what I want to achieve. Hopefully these goals will give me more drive to do things with my life instead of just sitting in the house.

Have goals yourself? Share what they are by commenting below!

MD

Not Broken Just Bent

And we can learn to love again!

The past few months have been almost surreal. The holiday from life. The summer period where we are all happy but nothing gets done. Perhaps other people have had such an experience. Perhaps not.

It was fun while it lasted. Although it does feel like a lot of time wasted. I guess there is no point getting annoyed with myself over the time better spent doing other things. I had grand plans too (see any of my previous posts). Still, it’s not too late to get back into the game. After all, the game is changing quite a bit. Wouldn’t want to get left behind.

One of my friends is going to Spain for the academic year which means apart from graduation in a couple of months I won’t see him until I have the money to visit. A fair few more of my friends are off to do masters, or doing them in Portsmouth but that still means less time for them to spend with me. I suppose I’ll have a lot of time to myself in the coming months. Thank god for P!nk’s new album, eh?

My job contract comes to an end soon. The search for another job is once again in full swing. Applied to 8 jobs in the last week. Hopefully I’ll hear back from some of them. Will continue to apply for more until I find something. Most of these jobs are admin/retail/leisure sector jobs which is fine as I mainly just want to save up some money for a masters course of my own. Something more political would be nice though!

Need to get back into the swing of doing useful things with my life. Starting first thing tomorrow, Michael 2.0 begins! Or something like that anyway. Michael 2.0 might just be a bit too… cheese. Out for a late breakfast tomorrow with Rhys and some others. Will be nice to see them.

Now I getting back to it, I will update this blog more regularly instead of the hiatus that occurred for the past couple of months. Other people should also give us an update of their lives! You know who you are.

Hope you all had a nice summer!

MD

Legacy

There comes a point in every persons life when they must look at where they have been, where they are, and where they are going. More often than not, people will experience multiple moments like this. God knows I have had several over the past few months. The reason? Over the past few months nothing has really changed in my life – and that worries me. It worries me because soon my job contract will run out and I still won’t have anything to go on to. It worries me because I only have so many months in my life and wasting them doing nothing is not what I had planned all that time ago. It worries me because I can see everyone else moving swiftly on and I certainly don’t want to get left behind!

Is this stagnation my fault? Probably. I mean, jobs in what I want to do are scarce but one can not simply judge their life on what job they have. Cultivating relationships, skills and taking part in cultural activities are also vastly important. These things I have also failed to do. And for no real reason. I just haven’t got around to it. Sounds stupid doesn’t it? Yet, despite this, I feel quite happy at the current time. Perhaps this is down to an optimism of things to come. Things getting better. Or maybe I’m still happily drunk from my friend’s graduation party on Monday night. It’s good to see him do so well at university and have multiple routes open to him. I guess, in a way, we all have multiple routes open to us. I could go on to get a job in many different fields, or I could become a writer, painter, or I could become a fitness instructor (haha). The possibilities really are endless.

What is comes down to is a desire to have a good life. I would ask for nothing more. Not a faithful or romanticised one, simply a good one. If I can live a good life than surely the other stuff will follow. Old hatreds wither and die when you live a good life. New opportunities arise when you live a good life. What are the drawbacks to a good life? None! One believes this post is now getting overly philosophical in nature and so I will move on.

I still want to do what I wanted to do last week and the week before (and so on). Learn some French, find a good job, maintain a fitness regime. I should try actually getting on with it and see if it helps. I can’t just magic these things from the abyss. Shall let you know next week what progress has been made!

In other news, last Saturday saw me and some university friends take London. And by ‘take London’, I mean generally wander around and wonder what to do. It was a good day and it was nice to see all my old friends. New plans were put in motion for future social events and we’ll most likely be seeing a lot of each other over the rest of the year (and beyond that I would hope!).

Monday evening, as I mentioned, was my good friends graduation party. Apart from almost having to sing in front of everyone (not my forte), the night was amazing. A huge thank you to his family for the tab on the bar! I’m not sure I will have a large party for my graduation. Probably just a good night out with the friends and a meal with the family. Either way, we will remember Monday night for a good while yet!

That’s all for now, shall update you again at the weekend (after my mother’s graduation!). Until then, take care!

MD

Final Marks and Reflections

Yesterday, almost two months after my final exam, I received my grades for the entire degree. When all was said I done, I have concluded my university experience with the grade of an Upper Second Class. For those that don’t know, the only higher grade is a First Class (and in some instances, a Stared First Class). I am incredibly pleased with this result and it is what I was expecting as pretty much all my individual assessment marks were a 2:1. Graduation has been set for the 8th November, so quite a way away.

In the mean time, this final grade means I can add it to my CV and start looking for jobs with the knowledge I have a solid educational base and a sort of specialisation. Hopefully I will have better luck in finding that job from here on out!

With this grade in hand, it is time to look back upon my university experience and gauge whether it was a positive one and a worthwhile one. I would have to say it was, if not simply for the reason that I do not know what else I would have done. I’m sure I would have found a job eventually but if it would have been something I would have enjoyed or simply a job to get by is another matter entirely. The fact is that my time at university was well spent as far as I am concerned. It has been an interesting experience and I have learnt a lot more than just what I covered in my lectures.

Whilst reflecting, it dawned upon me that my recent post regarding the House of Lords reform may have been poorly conceived. I offer reflections on that post here.

I will undoubtedly have more thoughts of my time at university and those shall be conveyed to you through the medium of this blog. Until that time, I hope everyone is doing well and if you have also recently received your final grades for university or otherwise that you are pleased with them.

MD

On The Purposed House of Lords Reform – My Opinion

Firstly, let me say that posts about politics will not feature heavily on this blog and that this post is largely so I can get peoples opinion on the style of writing and content. I’m thinking about going into political commentary and one way to pursue that is to submit articles to blogs, at least until I get the hang of it. Whilst this piece is not the best I’ve written by a long margin, it represents the size of posts that will likely be produced for any political blog. Thoughts and opinions are welcomed!

——

So I’ve seen a lot of talk lately about reforming the House of Lords (the upper chamber of the British Parliament). HC Bill 52 is the new piece of legislation that the Liberal Democrats are pushing which will reform the upper house into some more akin to the House of Commons. Except it will be completely different. My current understanding of this legislation is that it will create a house whereby its members are not directly elected. Instead, votes will be cast for the parties and then the percentage of votes they get will represent the number of seats that party gets in the new house. The parties would then select members to sit in the new house. The current peers might not be elected, but at least they are not under the thumb of the parties. Party politics is already too entrenched within the House of Commons which in itself can be seen as an undemocratic concept.

Regardless of my understanding of what the new law will entail, there are a couple of key points that still persist no matter the kind of elected chamber is created. Many of these points are widely misunderstood by the general public and this is played on by the supports of this new bill as well as other anti-Lords groups. The first of which, and probably the most important, is that unelected peers is not a bad thing. The idea that all the people currently sitting in the House of Lords are either ‘snobs’ or there because of their fathers is, for the most part, false. Many people in the house are experts in a particular field which is something you don’t find often in the House of Commons. Furthermore, the fact that they don’t have to worry about re-election means that they can do what is best for the country in the long term and not just what the people want at that particular point (because guess what general public – what you want isn’t always best for you or the country!). Let’s not forget that we live in a constitutional monarchy with democratic elements anyway and not a full on democracy (and no – the USA is not a full blown democracy either). And guess what? It works. The number of times that the House of Lords have prevented stupid laws from going through greatly outnumbers the times it stopped good laws (of which I can think of no examples – let me know if you have any).

My second point on why we should keep it as it is would be that with such great voter apathy as there is, what chance is there the public genuinely wants to have to vote for even more things? Now, I’m a believer that if you don’t vote then you should probably keep quiet when it comes to politics. If you didn’t vote, and then complain about the way things are, it’s hypocritical. If you think things should change then it is your role to vote for that change. Amazingly, 65.1% of those eligible to vote did so in the 2010 general elections. However, according to figures presented by the group ‘Fix Parliament’, 95% of the public want House of Lords reform. I can’t find any source for this figure (which seems a bit far-fetched) and even if it is correct, that means that 29.9% to 34.9% of the population that did not vote think that the Upper House should be reformed. Granted, ‘reform’ does not mean the full blown change the way that the new bill suggests but I can imagine most people would expect some kind of elected aspect of the reformed house. So basically people that don’t vote want more things to vote for. Yeah, ok. One could make the assumption, an assumption that would not be completely unreasonable, that with more to vote for, less people would vote.

There are many other points in favour of keeping the House of Lords as it is, and many against it as well which I have not gone in to. When it comes down to it though, is this really worth spending the time on this notion now when the country, continent, and world seem to be falling apart at the seams? No, I didn’t think so.

MD

Structure

Just a short one today.

The days pass but little seems to change. I risk growing too complacent and too bored if I do not soon move on with my life. My friend recently commented that it was weeks ago that I first said I would learn more French bit I have made very little actual headway into this goal. My search for a job also goes poorly, a long with my attempts to maintain any kind of weightlifting regime. I may regularly do various sports, but dust is beginning to settle upon my weights.

This is not how I expected my new found freedom to go. I have spoken of wanting to live a fun, enriched and happy life but I cannot do that for long without some sort of progression of my life or some overarching theme (such as learning a new language).

I do not want to wake up in ten, twenty, thirty years time and still feel this feeling of stagnation. Action must be taken now. It seems that in the loss of even a flexible weekly structure presented by university I am faltering but if this is true then I must make my own structure. In doing doing so, there is a lot I must consider. Time for my current job, to look for a new one, to workout, to learn a language, to do sports, to blog even, amongst other things.  I cannot predict what times some of these activities will occur so I will need to be able to adjust this structure on the fly most of the time. Making sure I set aside time for all the things I want to do should be enough. I like flexibility with my life and what I do in it anyway.

I will not say that I need to improve my life, as my life is already good. I simply believe that I have lost my way, in a manner of speaking. I guess it comes down to me finding time to do what I want to do. That statement probably sounds stupid considering the fact that all I have is free time. It would be fair to say I squander that time at the moment however. No more. Here’s to having time to do what is important. Here’s to clarity.

MD

A Very British Summer & Aspirations for the Season

Summer is now upon us and in true British fashion, it is raining. It has rained for days. It will continue to rain for days. I, for one, do not really mind the weather so much. It is a bit frustrating considering all this rain started  the day after I brought new running shorts but that is just my luck. I also got completely soaked whilst on the way to Badminton yesterday, something that will hopefully not repeat itself tomorrow. It was not easy to play in clothes that were weighed down with so much water!

I hope the weather will improve in time for Friday, when I will be travelling to Winchester for the day to say the final goodbyes to my residence of the past two years. After the to be ceremonial handing in of the keys I will leave Winchester for the foreseeable future (after a spot of lunch!). It my hope that one day I shall return to the city for it is clearly more magnificent then any other city I have visited thus far. Maybe when I retire, I shall head to it’s rolling hills.

Moving swiftly back to the present day and the coming months, I must decide what it is I am going to do with my life, at least for the short term. Generally speaking, I must find another job that will compliment my current seasonal work and supplement my income. I am not sure what kind of job I am looking for at the moment, however something to do with the government would be ideal. Unfortunately, such opportunities are hard to come by these days. My current seasonal work at the historic dockyard fell into my lap and the whole process of being told about the job to having the job was over in a matter of days. I was incredibly lucky in this respect and shouldn’t expect the same to happen again. I must be ‘on the ball’, so to speak.

I can’t spend all my time job hunting though. I will continue to enjoy regular sporting activities over the summer, and once the weather improves this will expand to football and outside tennis I’d imagine. Along with that, I finally have the workings of a workout regime I can implement that is flexible enough to allow for said sports. It is my hope I can successfully stick to this plan over the summer and look like a Greek God by Christmas haha… Well, any improvement would be nice for now.

Beyond that, I still want to learn some more French. And that might culminate in a day trip to France for a bit of light shopping and soaking in of the local culture. More on this later if I decide to go ahead with it. It certainly would make for an enjoyable day but I am unsure if my finances could allow for such an event to occur.

I will be on the lookout for other activities to pass the time and if I find any I shall report back on what ever they are and if they are actually any good. Apart from that, I am thinking about doing a weekly summary of my week at the weekends on this blog to allow for you to stalk me more effectively. This will be in addition to regular broadcasting.

MD

And a Dash of Perspective.

The Art of Perspective

Forgive the cheesy quote, however it does ring certain truths. For the longest time I have always yearned for a future where I am rich, successful, and able to change peoples life’s  for the better. Whether that was through a large business or the government, the scheme changed from time to time. In short, I wanted to reach for perfection and I wanted it to reach back. It is in this post-university haze that I have realised that kind of live is not what I really want. I wish, primarily, to be happy. It sounds so simple and yet the idea eludes so many people. There is no reason why, that in my quest to live a good and happy life, I cannot still achieve some of the things I previously desired. The difference is now I will not have use all of my energy focusing on those things. I can be, in a sense, ‘free’ from them.

I’m sure this all sounds well and good, but how does one achieve happiness? I’m sure the Dalai Lama would have some choice words for those seeking this illusive state of mind. For myself, happiness can come from nullifying stressful events, not dwelling on matters that cannot be changed, and living a life that I can be proud of, on my own terms. This still sounds quite cheesy, I know. I guess it’s just one of those posts.

One attempts to be happy in the day to day life by doing activities that one enjoys at a leisurely pace. Of course, I have to do plenty of things with my life that I would rather not do (read: household chores). Because of these things that can occur on a daily basis, it is important to realise that they are, in themselves, good things. This is because they are done either for the self or others. Helping yourself will lead to more happiness in the future and helping others can bestow a sense of reward that you are making other people happier, their lives easier.

Perhaps it would be best to describe a happy life as an enriched life. A person who is knowledgeable,  social and cultured, along with other such traits. Such is the kind of person I now wish to be. I believe that to pursue these noble ideas will give me a happy life. In time I will be able to tell if this is true, but already over the past few weeks I can say that I feel happier, and not just because the stress of university is finished with.

Plenty of factors come into play when considering how  happy you are. As I now have a job and thus a source of income, it acts as a boon to my happiness. Many events that happen in life are uncontrollable and may act to hinder or boost one’s happiness. It is in accepting the bad and riding the good that one can find greater happiness.

This is all starting to sound a bit philosophical for my tastes. I will leave such thought and discussion to wiser men than I. To sum up my own thoughts: one must strive for a happy life. It should be possible to find joy in even the smallest of actions and when the bad times come about, which they will, one must learn to deal with the issues swiftly and in a manner that will not hinder future happiness. After all, it’s all in your head.

MD