Electrified Weight

Yes, by the rather idiotic and stupid name of this blog post, I am going to talk about Brighton (Brighton... Bright Tun... get it?).

During mid April, I was asked by Tantrwm to accompany them to Brighton for six days. Why? It was to help them cover the 45th annual IATEFL conference. Or the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language.

As you can guess by the long title, it is an association of teachers from around the world to aid their students to learn the English language as their second language. The conference consisted of many a talk, five plenaries and some interviews. Tantrwm was asked to stream the plenaries and the interviews live onto the internet while recording the variety of talks to place on their website at a later date.

I was picked up by Chainey at nine-ish in the morning. Three and a half hours later, we arrived at the Brighton Centre. The first thing I did? Helped unpack the van and then begin to build the studio with the rest of the team. Well, the majority of the team, as three of them (one of who was Craig, Editor man of Wicid) was still on the road, and ended up in Brighton in the nighttime.

At the end of day one, this is what the studio looked like...

The next day was really another build day, with just adding the final touches to the studio - adding screens, placing the furniture and laying out the cameras. It was only on the third day where I actually did proper work. Well, all I did really was carry cables and stands around and at the same time write on and take the tapes down to the studio to keep copies of the talks. Did that for three days or so. Wasn't that hard. Just made me wish I was both stronger and taller. Ha.

The nights were alright too. I gained the nickname "Waterboy" due to my water drinking. It's better than being called impotent or piss head. But yeah, all the Tantrwm and the British Council guys were pretty funky. I just hope I did good for them and not look like an idiot like at the first plenary (basically, I walked into a camera stand and a boom microphone). Ha.

But yeah, it was a good experience. First time I stayed somewhere outside Wales for a few days. It was also the first time I had a Japanese and a Mexican. Food now, not women.

So yeah, nothing gobsmack worthy to state. Apologies for the lateness on this post. Ah well. I may actually write a Dear World this week to compensate for the Insults one not being up for about three weeks... Ah well...

- FIN me up inside.

Fuck This Shit

Yes, this is about swearing.

If you didn't know, my recent Dear World article is about insults. In the article, I talk about how insults have become lazy and short like "motherfucker" and "penishead". I also urge the youth of Wales (well, RCT) to marvel at wonderful insults that are thoughtful and bamboozling at the same time. Well, I think I did anyway.

In this article, I do swear, though I don't write a fucking fuck after every fucking word. At first, the article went up fine. Then, I had a call, saying that the council wanted to edit it so the swearing won't be obvious (so, instead of twat, it would be tw*t). For some reason, they are still unhappy.

They now want to blank out all the swearing in the article, meaning that a rather light swearword like shag (for example) could be misunderstood for a fuck or a cunt.

Because of this reason, I asked if they can just have the first letter of it (so it would be t--- instead of twat), but apparently they are still unhappy with this.

So, for a website that is supposed to be giving the young people a voice, it has pretty much failed due to some rather stupid council people being unhappy that I've said the word "twat" and "wanker".

I'm sorry, but I've sworn in an article a few times before (and the majority of them in a Dear World article). So, why are they censoring it now?

Also, I don't understand why they are censoring it. If their train of thought is that the younger end of the Clic age group (say, eleven to fourteen) are going to go on a swearing frenzy just because I used the word wanker in an article. I write how I talk, and I usually talk to an eleven year old the same as I would a twenty five year old. I don't see how I should shelter, if you will, the younger generation by censoring my writing (well, anyone's writing on Wicid and all the Clic sites).

It's not like they don't know about swearing, right? I mean, people in the same year as me were swearing during the late years of primary school. What age is that? About nine, ten, eleven? They know all about these words these days. I don't think that, on a website that gives a voice for young people in Wales, that anyone should cover their arse by not saying arse. Yet, ass would probably be acceptable. Fucking Americanisms...

I apologise to you, my possible and improbable readers, as I'm ranting to you about the council's doing. I really don't care if they know that I've written this. Fuck, I won't even deny doing so. It makes no sense.

For my last part of annoyance, I'll wish you would click on this link. It is the swearing section of the Wicid (and Clic) style guide. If you cannot be arsed to click on a like, here is what it says.

Gratuitous swearing cannot be allowed on the websites due to the age range of our readers (11-25). If you feel you absolutely have to swear, please keep it light and ensure it is in context with your article, although we can’t guarantee its inclusion.

I understand completely why this is in the style guide. As the age group is eleven to twenty five, we must make aware that our content is between these ages. But, to my defense, I do believe in all of my being that my swearing is well within the context of the article. I'll stick it up on my Dear World blog for you to read. I was going to write one on swearing, though I guess that's out of the question.

Anyway, I honestly believe that I needed to swear in the article. For one, it was a form of quoting. Second of all, it was a reference to the quote and lastly it was an example of other swear words.

I only used three swearwords - twat, wanker and prick. I didn't type something racist, nor did I use something that is derogatory of women. It's three swearwords, and all in context.

Why? RCTCBC, why?

- Fuck the motherfucker. Fuck the motherfucker. Fuck the motherfucker. He's a fucking motherfucker. Fuck the motherfucker. Fuck the motherfucker. Fuck the motherfucking FIN.

Film Me In

I apologise that my blogging has been rather rubbish of late, I have been rather busy doing some stuff.

Anyway, it's done.

Finished.

I have completed my first year of university... kind of.

My lectures have finished formally. No more this year do I have to go to university and endure hours of lectures with people who seem uninterested in the subject matter in hand. Don't get me wrong, the lecturers were decent enough, it just seemed that only a handful of the students in the course want to learn, the others just seem to be interested in getting pissed or thinking that getting into university is enough. Ah well, don't have to worry about them for another few months.

Saying that I'm off from university, I have six assignments due in by May sometime - one for each module. Yes, I have to resit one assignment for Video Production. Yes, it was the group assignment. I knew we didn't finish the video, but the rest of the group thought otherwise. Ah well, can't change that now, can we?

In other news, I've received my second first in an assignment. Guess what for? Yes, for Electronics, again. Fuck yeah. And the next assignment for Electronics involve logic gates, something I learned about in GCSE Electronics. This is going to be interesting.

So yes, I have six assignments due in on May, then I'm free for the rest of the educational year. Though, during next week, I shall be heading Brighton for a video conference thing with Tantrwm, the guys who help run Wicid. Apparently, I'll be helping out with cameras and all that, maybe some editing (but probably nothing major). Should be fun, should be interesting.

Interesting thing to note to the fans of facts, this will be the first time I'll be sleeping somewhere outside of Wales that I can remember. Yes, I've been to France when I was younger, but that was when I was three, four.

Anyway, I shall leave you now. I have a pain in my leg. E-cookies to the first one to guess what leg.

- Fuck me, I've FIN'd university for the year...

The Ghost That Wasn't

I survived.

Indeed, the first Wicid residential has been completed.

As I can tell by your good looks and your beautiful eyes that you read anything that compliments you. So, allow me to elaborate.

It was Friday. It was sunny, and I missed university because I gave in the assignment a day earlier than needed. You did not need to know that. Moving on.

We had our mission, to do some stuff for Wicid. Allocated time? A weekend (that's two days, fact fans). Where? Sealyham Adventure Centre in Pembrokeshire.

Somehow, we actually got to the destination roughly on time. And yes, I am looking at you, Clic's most recent residential up in Anglesey. Argh is indeed the word for the moment.

We arrived, some time not long after the sun went to visit the other side of the world, outside a Georgian house. It was a rather nice house, to be fair, and the surrounding area was rather dark, as it was night. I'm babbling. Forgive me.

After devouring the food that was in front of us, we had the whole "get to know each other" thing, this time we had to say two things that we liked about ourselves. Lovely. Luckily, all I had to say was that I was the sub-editor of Wicid. Talk about easy runnings...

But yeah, we went on a ghost walk thing in the nearby woods, which wasn't that scary. It was a bit unnerving, but the fact was we were in near pitch darkness and I'm not a fan of the dark (not phobia level, I just prefer light than darkness). Luckily, I had a torch on my phone, so I just stood by Craig (Wicid's editor when Cat's away) so he can find his way as he was filming. Well, I'm guessing he didn't want to damage his camera, so y'know, I thought I'd be nice. Ha.

After that, t'was plain sailing. The only other interesting thing after that was a story of Goldilocks told in the style of Stacey Solomon by Ricky Paveltish. Pretty epic story, to be fair.

Next morning, we had stroganoff for breakfast. We didn't, but even if we did I wouldn't have recognised it or had it. I had a roll from my bag. Hardcore isn't even the word for me. Neither is bird. Anyway.

The workshops began. As Craig went out to pick up some spray paints or some weed, we're not entirely sure what, the Detached youth workers began the first workshop, an OCN in creative writing.

Luckily, one of them came up to me saying to me and four other, older members of Wicid "you can sit this out, we actually want you to go around and helping the others". Result.

I went around, not helping anyone. Not by choice, but by the fact that I had no idea about creative writing. Granted, nearly everyone I know says that I can do creative writing because of my Dear World articles, but I can't see them as creative. They are just the stuff I think about and write them down. Ooh, I'm babbling, forgive me.

Later on that day, Crag returned with some spray paints, and with a rather spaced out look about him. The rather large group was split into two groups. One continued with the creative writing workshop, while Craig led the music workshop.

It was a songwriting workshop. He asked me to help out, I was rather rubbish with my attempts to help. I did, on the other hand, think up a riff for a song now. That is all.

So, in all the Clic residentials, there were activities, with the one up in Anglesey being something involving circus stunts and that. This time, we had a choice between high ropes, coast steering and archery. And since I have a thing about both water and heights, it was obvious for me to go to archery.

The walk was long, but to be fair the scenery was epic. When we arrived, and after the instructor told us how to do archery, we had some practice shots. Unfortunately, I didn't kill anyone. Ah well.

I'll be honest, I've always liked the idea of archery. I've always wanted to try it, yet I have failed to try. I didn't think I was going to be good at it, I just thought I'd try.

I stood up to the plate (well, the bow and a piece of wood, but y'know what I mean), picked up the bow, placed the arrow in place, aimed and fired. I hit the board, and not a bad shot with that. I continued, with the next three arrows going close to the first one. None in the bullseye, but no total misses either. Lovely.

After two or three rounds, I stood up once more to the piece of wood. I then asked the instructor something. Can I try it left handed? He allowed me to do so.

And, to the surprise of both of us, I was at near the same level I was doing it right handed. It seems as though I am ambidextrous in archery. I bet you'd give your right hand to say that.

After a few more rounds of hitting balloons with arrows and crisps, we headed back, had nomage and began the next workshop. I still stayed with the music lot, though I was worse than I was in the beginning. I'm rather crap when I need to help people on a subject that I'm not good at. Ah well.

After that went on for a bit longer, dinner was served. For them, it meant lasagna and other foods. For me, it meant a few welshcakes and a ham baguette. Don't ask me why.

The Saturday night ended with a few people watching the Wales game, though I, along with a few other people, went to some room where they had some games and that. After that was some film about a social networking website or something, I don't know. After that, bed. Nice.

It was a rather disappointing residential overall. The place was supposed to be haunted, we were supposed to have heard coughing in the night and feeling like we were pushed down in our beds. It didn't happen. Nobody went missing, which I thought would have happened. Ah well.

It did end on a high. I went with Craig on the way home. We stopped somewhere near Neath to have some food. He then thought it would be funny to tell the girl who served us that "Trevor sent us", referring to the car shop that was near. He insisted that he heard on the radio that if we said that Trevor sent us to McDonald's, they'd give us a free Big Mac. Worth a try, but she was having none of it. Ah well.

Apparently, there's going to be more Wicid residentials. Ah well, maybe they can pick a place that has internet access, eh? Ah well.

- With karate I'll kick your FIN.