Monday 31 March 2008

Not like me...

to quote the news but i was blog surfing today and came accross a link to this article in the Daily Mail.

So if you've had a look you'll see its about experimenting with cannibis to discover the how it affects us really.

I was understandably quite interested as i have been known to dabble, a lot when i was younger, less as i get older admittedly but i'm not sure i believe all the hype surrounding it lately.

I could be wrong and i'm open to that but this article wound me up for a few reasons...

"I felt absolutely terrified," recalls Nicky, a divorced mother-of-three, thinking back to her first experience just over a month ago.

"Paranoia set in, and I felt as if I was having a panic attack. At one point, I was simply too frightened to get out of my chair.

"I had a feeling the drug had unlocked some sort of paranoia in my head that would never go away again - I suddenly felt everyone hated me. Without doubt, that was one of the worst moments of my life."

Ok fine, sometimes it affects people that way but considering they took this woman to Amsterdam for a month to conduct this experiment, during which time she had to undertake a job in a foreign country with a BBC camera crew following her about, well i'm sorry pass me the joint because i'd be a little paranoid too...

"I wanted to know whether there is any truth to the claim made by dope smokers that you can smoke cannabis and carry on with life as normal. And I wanted to find out if the drug really does drive you into madness."

Well i can understand she wanted to find out if she could carry on as normal. So discounting the fact that as i said she was in a foreign country, with a new job and a camera crew she tried.
Well to my knowledge most people who smoke cannibis and carry on as normal didnt start out doing that straight away, it was more of a gradual thing and for the people i know who have done this and the very few i know who still do this started when they were younger, when jobs/rent/responsibilities were less of a problem.
They were already used to living their lives like this by the time they had responsibilites to live up to.
Dont get me wrong, i have friends who have stopped and their lives are much much more productive and happy and they are indeed less sluggish and paranoid but it doesnt mean its the same for everyone.

"Although the paranoia had gone, I was left dazed and my mind seemed to be operating much more slowly than it usually does," says Nicky. "I had no motivation and just wanted to go back to bed. I had no idea how anyone could get stoned at night and then function properly the next day."

People do this all the time, in my office alone there are at least five people who do this, some in management positions but again it isnt something they suddenly started doing it was a gradual thing.

"I'm a very active person, with a mind that normally works at a million miles an hour. I thrive on multi-tasking and getting through my daily 'To do' lists. Yet, with cannabis in my life, I reached the end of every day feeling frustrated that I'd achieved so little.

Fair point, i'm a lazy couch potato at the best of times and it was never any different when i was stoned, a friend of mine is superactive, drives me mad she's got so much energy and was also the same when she was stoned....its just not the same for everyone.

"I was suddenly gripped by the idea that the scientists conducting the experiment were characters from a horror film who were somehow out to get me," she says.

"I later found myself fantasising about jumping out of a window and crawling away somewhere that I would never be found. I was increasingly agitated and convinced they were trying to trick me in everything they said to me."

I have never known anyone to react like this from cannabis alone. With something else also yes but not from cannabis alone.

"Until now, I hadn't really considered cannabis had that much more effect than a bottle of wine might do, but now I know that's far from the truth.

Why is alcohol so acceptable?? Like it isnt equally as bad for you...

I'm not trying to say that using cannabis is fine and dandy and off you go and get on with it, it just riled me that the whole experiment seemed so one sided and was reported on in a way that told you how terrible it is. In this day and age most people who use it know the reputation it has for altering psychosis and yet they do it anyway.....

No doubt i'm in for a world of pain in the comments, i'm not trying to offend....

Wednesday 26 March 2008

Such a shame

I work with a really nice young man called Alex.
He's about 24, a nice friendly young man who rarely takes time off work and when he is there he works hard and is a pleasure to be around.

At the beginning of last week he came into work looking upset, asked to have a word with our manager and when he came back it was obvious he had been crying.

Alex is Greek, he has been in Britain for around 5 years, lives with his girlfriend and seems happy.
He has been told he has to go back to Greece to do his National Service.

He leaves tomorrow, flies back to Greece on Sunday.

It's such a shame.

Tuesday 25 March 2008

Tuesday Ten #1

Since i've seen loads of blogs with a "Thursday Thirteen" or something similar i thought i'd have a go but just to be different i thought i'd do a "Tuesday Ten"

Ten things that have made me feel old:

1. When the woman with a small child at the bus stop said "mind that lady" instead of "mind that girl"

2. Neice Claire turned 20! I mean 20 really! how inconsiderate!

3. When i sit in the doctor's waiting room and the "well women" clinic notices on the board are for women aged 18-25!

4. When my boss didnt know who The Crankies were!

5. When Neice Claire didnt know who Mr T was!

6. When a woman in a shop thought she recognised me as a girl she went to primary school with, turned out she meant my sister! (my sister is 9, yes NINE years older than me!)

7. When i fill in a form with tick boxes for your age and my box isnt in the first 2!

8. When people call me Mrs Hall lol

9. Last weekend i went to a 40th birthday party that was one of my own friends lol

10. When i'm with a small child like Sydney and strangers assume she is mine!

Wednesday 19 March 2008

Wordless Wednesday

I've noticed a lot of blogs that do "Wordless Wednesday" where they just post a favourite photo and since i'm moaning i can't write what i like i thought i'd join in.
I know it's predictable that i've chosen a photo from the wedding but it's one i haven't shared before as it's a little blurred which is such a shame as it's so cute!


I

Tuesday 18 March 2008

Tagged by FoX

I have been tagged by FoX under the pretence that he is interested in who i e-mail but i tend to believe he was doing me the faour of giving me something to write about lol

4 movies I'd watch again
Twin Town
Clerks
Pulp Fiction
Napoleon Dynamite

4 places I've lived

I'm afraid i've only lived in 3!
Stockport
Glossop
Preston

4 TV shows I watch

Family Guy
South Park
Heroes
Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.

4 people I email

Anyone who e-mails me!
Fish Face, real name Louisa, my friend i used to work with but rarely see anymore.
Karen or "Purplefox" , i would link to her blog but spaces is unavailable and she doesnt post much anyway lol
Zivanai Marandu! A guy i work with to whom i forward my funnies, just thought i'd share his wonderful name lol

4 things I eat

Bread
Cheese (it's my downfall in life.... Cheese on toast is one of my faves).
Ham & Cheese Sandwiches (am i allowed a combination of the first two??)
Pepperoni Pizza


4 places I'd rather be

Amsterdam, Blue Velvet coffeeshop with Chris :0)
Walking out of work to go home
On the motorway on the way home from work
At home (can you sense a theme?)

I would tag people but two of the people i would tag have either tagged me or been tagged by my tagger!

Wednesday 12 March 2008

Stuck!

Ok i'm stuck!

I want to write here, i want to tell everyone everything!

I find it cathartic if thats the right word, i enjoy getting it off my chest wether it be serious or silly and i enjoy the comments it sometimes provokes.

Since i started this blog on msn all that time ago my life has changed immeasurably, i have gone from a single girl with a lodger to a married woman with a husband, 2 cats and a mannequin....i know its weird but its my life and i love it lol

So i'm much happier than i was when i began.

But here's the killer, other people dont want me to write about THEIR lives here! And who am i to go against their wishes?? This means that although i have more blog material i have less i can write about....

You may think looking over the last few months that i have just grown bored of blogging, not true, i just feel restricted as to what i can write without causing upset or going against someones wishes.

I'm stuck!

Tuesday 4 March 2008

Conversation with Nanna

Fred who sits next to Nanna at the home is in hospital sadly having suffered a stroke.

A chap called John has taken to sitting in his seat next to Nanna.

Chris went up to visit and had the following conversation....

Nanna - I dont know how they put up with him in here, he's up and down and wandering about all the time, he drives them mad, just cant sit still.

Chris - Nanna thats because he has Downs Syndrome.

Nanna - Eh?

Chris - He has Downs Syndrome.

Nanna - What??

Chris - He has Downs Syndrome Nanna, you know like Natalie...

Nanna - Eh? What?

Chris - He has Downs Syndrome.

Nanna - What do you mean he's a "Dancing Gnome"


Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!