09. I must be dreaming.

Nothing academic to debate about in this post...I'm too relaxed at present to find anything that disagreeable.
   Despite my general lack of going out and getting wrecked, this summer is probably one of the most enjoyable (excluding work obviously) I have had in a while, and it has been pretty productive, which is....different.

   A good few years back we used to spend all our time down the park playing football. I was awful and still am...but it was enjoyable, and it kept us in decent shape. Now I'm not health nut, but it is nice to have some acceptable level of fitness. So before summer kicked off I was talking to one of my friends who used to sort all of it out, and he invited me to train with the team he plays for (I'll add a link for them if I find one). I think he was surprised when summer came and I turned up, and have done now for about 4 weeks. I am far better now compared to back then, but compared to these guys, I am abysmal, but I'm enjoying it.
With any luck training over the summer might just get me to the level I need to get into my university team....even if it is the fifths.

   On the hobby front me and a couple of guys started playing Necromunda. For those unfamiliar with the game Necromunda is set within the Warhammer 40,000 universe (our universe in the 41st millennium). It is a very dystopic, gothic and war driven setting. Necromunda is set within the human populated 'hive worlds.' It is a game about gang conflict within these societies. You can download the rulebook for free if you want to learn more.
Usually I'd link my bolter and Chainsword blog to show you my work, but that only deals in 'power armoured' models. So I'm going to have to find a new way of showing off what I come up with. I'll throw the link in a future post.

   I recently bought a few things (despite my moaning about having a job, it does afford me to indulge in some luxuries: P), one of which is the new Warhammer 40,000 game on Xbox live called 'Kill team'. So far it is fairly enjoyable. I'll post a full review of it when I've finished it and tried out the other features.

   There have been other [i]developments[/i], But I'm not going to jinx it by writing about it here. The title of this post is a clue. If you figure it out, it doesn't apply to it all...yet. Just the first part ;).

   That is all for now. Link spam to follow soon no doubt :P.

Peace.
-DH-

  

08. Seventy times seven and/or there is no 'I' in team, depending on which record you bought first; A double entendre.

A quick note before I start this one. I think it is safe to assume from now on weekly updates are not going to happen. I'll do my best, but, I'm not promising anything.

   On the hobby front, I finally got round to building my grey knight models
So far this consists of;

15 power armoured grey knights (PAGK),
15 grey knight terminators (GKT); 2 squads of 5, and 1 squad of 5 paladins,
1 Grand master (Calgar conversion),
1 Land raider.

That is all at the moment. I'll save photos and other assorted ramblings about them for my Bolter and Chainsword blog (see the toolbar on the left), and I'll post a little filler blog on here when that goes live.

  
   I decided last week to visit one of my friends. I've mentioned this individual before...sort of. (See 02. April fools is for fool's)
Yes, that one. I know what you are probably thinking.
Yes I am an idiot.
It is hard to explain, as these things always are, but I can't help myself.

   Anyway, the first day went rather well. I had a good time with this person and their friends, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something I wouldn't like was going to happen. The individual in question kept sneaking in mentions of a 'friend' who was coming in a couple of days. Cutting a long story short, a couple of days later my feeling proves to be right, leaving me, well, you get the idea.
 
Idiot, I know. Yet, while  it hurts, which is their doing, I acknowledge they owe me nothing. They have made no promises. It is all me. Yeah, idiot, I know. Don't remind me.

  The instant this happened a song popped into my head that described exactly how I was feeling. (See video/Lyrics)
Seventy Times Seven - Brand New.

"Back in school they never taught us
what we needed to know
Like how to deal with despair
or someone breakin your heart
For twelve years I've held it all together
but a night like this is beggin to pull me apart
I played it quiet left you deep in conversation
I felt uncool and hung out around the kitchen
I remember I kept thinking
that I know you never would
And now I know I want to kill you
like only a best friend could

Everyone's caught on to everything you do
Everyone's caught on to...

As if it happening wasn't enough
I got to go and write a song
just to remind myself how bad it sucked
Ignore the sun, covers over my head
Wrote a message on my pillow that says
"Jesse, stay asleep in bed"
Don't apologize (I hope you choke and die!)
Search your cell for something which to hang yourself
They say you need to pray
if you want to go to heaven
But they don't tell you what to say
when your whole life has gone to Hell!

Everyone's caught on to everything you do
Everyone's caught on to...
Everyone's caught on to
(and I can't let you let me down again)
everything you do
Everyone's caught on to...
(and I can't let you let me down again)

So is that what you call a getaway?
Tell me what you got away with
Cause I've seen more spine on jellyfish
I've seen more guts on eleven-year-old kids
Have another drink and drive yourself home
I hope there's ice on all the roads
And you can think of me when you forget your seatbelt
and again when your head goes through the windshield

Is that what you call tact?
You're as subtle as a brick in the small of my back
So let's end this call and end this conversation
And is that what you call a getaway?
Tell me what you got away with
Cause you left the frays from the ties you severed
when you say "best friends" means friends forever

Is that what you call a getaway?!!
Tell me what you got away with!!
Cause I've seen more spine on jellyfish!!
I've seen more guts on eleven-year-old kids!!
Have another drink and drive yourself home!!
I hope there's ice on all the roads!!
And you can think of me when you forget your seatbelt
then when your head goes through the windshield!!

(I can't let you let me down again)
Everyone's caught on to everything you do
(and I can't let you let me down again)
Everyone's caught on to...
(I can't let you let me down again)
Everyone's caught on to everything you do
(and I can't let you let me down again)
Everyone's caught on to..."

  I know it is a tad cruel, but this is honestly how I felt. I lay in bed that night, shaking in rage, anger, disappointment, sadness and whatever else.

   The next day I decided to head home early. Weirdly me and my friend spent the rest of the day together, and had an amazing time, of which I'll spare you the details. This; coupled with the fact that they have no 'official' knowledge of how I feel, and thus have no obligations to those feelings, made something inside me click.

The title of the song that popped into my head; Seventy Times Seven, has another meaning.

The Parable of the unmerciful servant.

"21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

22Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

23“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

26“The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27The servant’s master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go.

28“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

29“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’

30“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

32“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

35“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” - Mathew 18."

  I'm not getting into a debate about religion, my views on that are a simple mix of agnosticism (based on the lack of irrefutable proof either way) and tolerance and acceptance of all religions (based on respect for individual liberties).

  The Bible can be interpreted in many ways, indeed, this small parable can be interpreted with similar ambiguity. For me, in the context of my situation, it is about accepting the reality of the situation, and not holding a grudge for something that, in all honesty, I would probably do myself in a similar situation.

  If you're reading this,  小紅龍 (Xiǎo hóng lóng) you are forgiven (Yeah, I did use Google translate...I don't know Chinese) and I think you should know, that in a primary school kinda way, I think I'm starting to hate you too. A lot (which will only make sense if you remember what we were talking about before I went home).

Yeah, idiot, I know. Don't remind me.

- DH -

07. The end and the beginning.

I finally have finished my second year at University.

I can honestly say that it has been terrible in comparison with the first. The course content was much more challenging than last year, and there was also a considerably larger amount of work to wade through as well. Not only that but I have not enjoyed the social side of this year as much either. To be honest, that is a bit of an understatement. It's been unbearable at times.

  I'll start with the more academic side of things this time around, mainly because it is pretty short. I spoke with one of my tutors (Sources and Debates) and it turned out I'd done fairly well in my extended essay. We had a chat about what I could do better and the like, and then went on to the subject of dissertations.
The thought terrifies me. I struggled to find 4,000 words, let alone 10,000!
But after talking to him about it I feel a little more relaxed, even if I have no idea what I'm going to write about.

  As much as I'd like to vent about the social aspect I won't. I'm not as fucking childish as some people. All I'm going to say is stop being jealous of something I don't have. I've never had any animosity towards you, but from now on, don't expect any quarter from me.
If you're reading this and it you think 'this is about me right?' it probably is. Grow up.

That is all.


I'll be going back home on the weekend. Hobby/Work and general 'good time' orientated blogging will ensue.

SUMMER IS HERE!
Thank Fuck.

-DH-

PS.
Play this game. It is WIN - http://www.nyanicorn.com/

06. Revision, Revision, Revision. Another stop gap.

I apologise for the lack of updates.
It is exam time again, and between revision and procrastination I have found very little to get animated about, and thus, found very little to write about.

Currently I am revising for my 'Power in the Modern World', ' Peace, Conflict and Security' and 'Equality' Exams.

Power is fairly difficult to revise for due to the fact that I'm unsure about the format the exam will take. The module is of very 'theory/narrative' based format, which is odd for a history module, and as such, I find it difficult to know how to approach revision.
Do I revise the theories behind the narratives? Or, do I attempt to relate those to historical instances; theory in practise?

I've gone with about a 70/30 mix of both....

Peace, Conflict and Security on the other hand should be relatively easy to revise for. The subject is by far the most complex out of the three, however, our lecturer had the foresight to 'drop us a hint' on what 'might' be on the exam. Pick a few topics, revise them and the job should be a good 'un.

Equality is the exam I am most confident about, as I would assume it would follow the lectures. It just so happens that Freedom and Equality was the one module I turned up for the most, and had the most interest in.

Yet exams always do this to me. The one I feel the most confident about I will do the worst in, and those I am dreading I will do the best in.

Needless to say I will be glad when this is all over.

On the procrastination side; Portal 2, Mine craft, The Horus Heresy Novels, Face book...
The list is endless.

When I have time I might write about some of the books, games and albums I have used to get through the moments where my mind refuses to do revision. You never know.


There will be more interesting updates in the future. I promise. (Well, I don't promise you'll find them interesting, but I will...maybe).

Ta'ra' for now.

-DH-

Moar link hammer

I updated my Bolter and Chainsword blog.
I finally stop bitching about the new Grey Knight codex ruining my Sister list and wrote up a new one.
If you fancy it check it out - L'ordre des anges - 1,500pts

The keen eyed amongst you may have noticed I've added a couple of new links to the side bar
<

Yes. I'm finally on twitter. If tweeting is your thing, follow me!
and
If you fancy asking me any questions about my blog or anything else, either comment/message me.Or alternatively you can ask me on formspring.

Until next time!
-DH-

05. Alternative is different. Not better. (NO to AV)

Warning: There be politics ahead.

  It may seem like I'm late to this party, but I have left it this late for a reason; I want people to make their own minds up about how to vote in the referendum. I'm not some evangelist. I don't want to push my views on to others; I just want to explain where I stand, and question others assumptions.

If you have no knowledge of the FPTP or AV systems please do read about them before reading this post, as it will make no sense otherwise.

FPTP - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-past-the-post_voting
AV - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_Vote

On with the show:

  The YES supporters claim that AV is a fairer, more proportional system, which will bring politics into the modern day and make politicians more moderate; appealing to the general public at large. By supporting AV they feel that the stage is open for further political reform, and a vote of NO will shut out any future changes. Also there are those that believe a vote of YES is a vote against the Tories and their savage cuts.

I disagree in every conceivable way.

  We shall start with the idea of proportionality. Simply put, AV is not proportional. At all.
The fact is that AV retains single member constituencies, and as such only one parliamentary candidate can be elected. This will result in wasted votes.

 This brings me to the idea that AV is fairer. I concede that the winning candidate will have a more general support base; 50% +1 and as such would make them 'more acceptable' to the general public.
The problem with this is the preference system. 

Example (100 voters);

1st round;
A 43%, B 26%, C 15%, D 15%, E 1%
no winner.

2nd round;
A 43%, B 26%, C16%, D 15%
no winner.

3rd round;
A 49%, B 35%, C 16%,
no winner.

4th round;
A 49%, B51%
B wins the seat.

  My example is a little bit farfetched and rather simplistic, but results akin to this are possible, and more importantly it conveys my main grievance with this system. It seems inconceivable that a candidate can win a simple majority (more than any single candidate) of peoples preference votes multiple times, and still not win the seat! The problem with this preference system is that, while it does not 'waste votes' in the traditional FPTP sense, these people who have voted in favour a this candidate for their 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. are ignored and thus wasted, whilst those people whos candidate gets knocked out, essentailly get another vote! How, can anyone call a system where some poeple get more votes than others 'fair' or more 'proportional?' Only a complete fucking idiot can to be honest.

   As I have just mentioned AV still has the potential to waste votes. Wasted votes are always going to be a factor in voting, especially in single member constituencies; someone has to win and someone has to lose. As the example shows, B) wins with a 51% majority; which under AV is enough to secure victory. A) On the other hand loses, and those 49% of votes are wasted.
  I agree that this is unfair to those voters whose candidate loses and thus their votes are wasted. However, it would require a change in electoral system and not a change in voting system to change that fact; this is something that AV does NOT provide.

  Onto making politicians more moderate. The larger parties are already moderate. Under the current system the only parties that gain a significant portion of the vote are the more moderate parties; those that are near the centre of the political spectrum. AV therefore will not change that. What it 'may' do however is create a system where coalition governments play a larger role, and as such, may tone done the policies of the party with the 'majority'.
   How, can AV supporters talk about fairness or proportionality, and support coalitions?
I concede Coalition governments tend to be more toned down, ie; more moderate with their policies.
So what?
Using the current coalition government as a reference; one party 'won' the general election; the conservatives. They may not have won enough seats to form a majority government, but they won enough votes to secure a simple plurality, and thus had the mandate to govern. Fine. The government may not have been efficient, but it would have been legitimate.
What having a coalition government does however is allow a party that has no mandate to govern into power. The Liberal Democrats have no right o be in government. At all. They did not win enough of the popular vote, nor did they win enough seats. How is it fair and proportional to allow this party into power? It isn't.
  AV does increase the likelihood of this happening, which in my eyes completely delegitimizes any arguments about fairness, wasted votes, or proportionality that the AV supporters can muster.

 
In summary of the objections to AV;
AV is NOT fairer, AV is NOT more proportional and Av has the ability to waste more votes. In addition to this the increase of collation governments that could follow such a change breaks down any arguments in favour of AV.
   Simply put if you want fairness, proportionality and your votes to count you want a form of PR (Proportional Representation) which AV is NOT!.

Which brings me to the idea that voting NO will lead to no future electoral reform. 

   Where did this assumption come from? Granted the conservatives will not allow for such a possibility while they are in power. The conservatives have never been in favour of electoral reform. Shock.

  The fact of the matter is Labour are. It was Labour who set up the electoral reform commission and select committee under Tony Blair. It was these bodies that suggested AV as the only alternative voting system that would fit into our current legislative and Electoral system. Ed Milliband is in favour of electoral reform, and as head of the party, there is a significant possibility that under a Labour government there could be future reforms.
 
   So is a vote of YES a vote against the conservatives? Yes in one sense; they don't want the change, but at the same time it is not.
  In my eyes a vote of YES, is a vote for the Liberal Democrats and as we have seen in the last general election; a vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote for the Conservatives. 

 This vote should not be thought about along party lines.
  For example, not all of the Labour party want the voting system to change, and they are the conservatives arch rivals. 

This is a vote for which voting system works best for the UK. Granted FPTP is not perfect in many, many ways. But AV does not offer any desirable alternative. It is not worth wasting time, money and risking the efficiency of government on a 'possibility'.

   Many of you will disagree with what I have written, which is fine, that is after all your right.
However, I think those that do will find it hard to argue against the logic that I have written here, when all they are armed with are assumptions.

Thanks for reading -DH-
  

04. Pop-Punk is for lovers and the AV outline.

My mind still isn't running at full capacity, but I'm in a good mood so I couldn't care right now.

   The week that was set up to be pretty awesome turned out to be fairly lack-lustre; luckily the weekend saved it from being a write off. All my plans went to shit, except for Friday, and even that was a pretty close thing. But what a night Friday was =]

  Despite a couple of my friends not being able to make it due to work commitments, I turned up in Wolvo with a sense of optimism (my cynicism taking a back seat for a change) and just had a good time.
I bumped into a couple of friends I see far too little of, and met a few new people, who were all pretty nice to be honest (one in particular, if you catch my drift =])
And of course the music was epic.
Planet, once again you provide me with good times. I thank you.

  During the week my brother and I played some 40k in 40 minutes (or combat patrol for you newbie's).
Overall it was pretty entertaining and of course, I won every game. This has nothing to do with me being better than my brother (though obviously I am: P) but more to do with him using and army which I feel has been ruined by the recent addition of the Grey Knight codex. This isn't the right place for this talk, but I have written about it over at my Bolter and Chainsword Blog, so Check it out here if you feel the need to geek out :P

  On an intellectual note...
I've got nothing. Sorry, but I just haven't.

 I'm saving my words for the next post which I anticipate will be about the AV referendum. I even ordered a copy of Lijphart's 'patterns of democracy' especially for the occasion.
 Here is a basic summary of what I plan on arguing;
AV does not go far enough.
If you want a 'fairer' voting system you have to change how the state functions.
Lijphart shows that the 'fairest' democracies have radically different political and legislative systems. To have a 'fairer' voting system, we would really have to change a lot more than the voting system.
Why is this problem then? Why not change this? Simple.
Efficiency.
Lijphart argues that these 'fairer' systems are more beneficial for growth, and so on.
This may be true. However, when the economical crisis hit a few years back, which countries were the fastest to recover? Parliamentary democracies. The power that can be employed by the current legislative system is necessary in these situations.
To have a truly 'democratic' voting system, our political system would require a drastic change, which I believe to be a bad idea. This is evidenced by the recent economic downturn, and the fact that that countries Lijphart argues are 'most democratic' and have the 'highest amount of democratic satisfaction' have taken a lot longer to initiate recovery, and have larger debts than ourselves.
As much as I'd like a more proportional system in place I feel it endangers the stability of our nation.

  I will go into a lot more detail with each point raised, and give greater justification to said points; but that is the basis of it.

Cheers for reading
-DH-

03. Associated Dairies and Power.

Sorry about the week + delay :|
I'm still not exactly sure where I'm going with this, so with any luck it will be half rubbish and half interesting...

   As I've said before, I'm back home for the Easter break. Amongst other things, this means I'm back at work (woo! great holiday!). I don't do anything particularly interesting to be honest with you; I stack shelves in a supermarket. Like with most jobs out there, it is not the most entertaining job around, but money is money, and the people are not too bad either. So I put up with it.
The good thing about my job is I can pick and choose (to a degree) which hours I work (my boss is a badass!). Which gives me the freedom to do stuff; the next week is lining up to be a good one ; ]

    Speaking of work, I finally decided what topic to do for my 'power in the modern world essay'. A little foregrounding on 'power' is needed here I think. This module is, as suggested, about power, or rather, the sources of it throughout history (it is after all a History module). However, it is about here where any similarities with History end. The way this module is structured focuses on the theoretical frameworks that help historians to establish the various narratives of power throughout History. In this respect then, it has more in common with a Politics module (well, political philosophy at any rate). As such it doesn't focus on the importance of any given event(s), but rather the importance of a concept in understanding events. In all honesty this is something any Historian should already understand, in fact most people should understand, but this module just gives the concepts flashy names. For anyone interested, I'm doing Orientalism. 

  Orientalism fits quite nicely with a couple of my other modules, and is a concept a lot of people will be familiar with, even if you have not heard the term itself. Throughout history there has been talk of East and West relations, especially in regards to the cold war. However it is not limited to that era. In texts about fascism the western Bloc of democratic nations is portrayed as the opposite of the South/East bloc of authoritarian regime. What constitutes as East and West? Predominantly history focuses around a 'Eurocentric' view of the world. West being the nations to the west of and including western Europe and the East nations to the east of and including the east of Europe. This view of the world is not a modern concept, for example if one were to look at Early Modern conceptions of power one would find a divide between the Christendom of the West and the 'other' of the East. This Eurocentric western view of the world is what Said defines as 'Orientalism.' 

    "Orientalist; the heir to a 'narcissistic' tradition of European writing founded by, amongst others, Homer and Aeschylus, through his writing 'creates' the 'orient'. In the process, he assists in the creation of a series of stereotypical images, according to which Europe (the West, the 'self') is seen as being essentially rational, developed, humane, superior, authentic, active, creative and masculine, while the orient (the East, the 'other') (a sort of surrogate, underground version of the west or the 'self') is seen as being irrational, aberrant, backward, crude, despotic, inferior, inauthentic, passive and sexually corrupt." - Edward Said

    The Basic point Said makes is that this Orientalist attitude is not only a misconception, but is also self perpetuating. Despite the various (and indeed, many) flaws in Said's argument, this concept is quite convincing. Some of you reading this might think to yourselves 'I would never think in such a way.' But that is Said's point; 'you' don't think, you absorb. Next time you're watching the news, or reading a paper, watch out for this view point. It need not be sinister; for example, generalisations about 'Africans' as a single entity, a single 'people'. This is ridiculous when you think about it. After all Africa "is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa) and it has vastly different cultures and traditions within each sovereign state. 

I challenge you to catch yourself doing it. I know I make assumptions and generalisations sometimes. When/if you do, stop. Take a moment, and think; do you understand the differences within what is being generalised? If you don't, maybe you should take some time out to get to know how some of the people you share this planet live, and respect those differences.

   I could go on about Orientalism, but for now I think I'll leave it there, before I start to sound too 'radical'

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment and stuff.
- DH -

Bibliography 

• Macfie. A. L (Ed.) (2000). 'Orientalism: A Reader' (Edinburgh University Press).

P.S: This is a warning; The AV (Alternative Vote) Debate is heating up, and as a Politics student I WILL feel the need to write about it. I see myself as an advocate of Social Liberalism (Socialism + Liberalism), and I think you might be in for a shock when you read my side of the argument. If you have no interest in politics/ don't like political debate I advise you skip the blog post where I talk about it (It will be titled appropriately)

Insert shameless advertisement here

Not really a proper post. Sorry!

I updated my B&C blog with some painted models...
I'll have to go back and touch them up....the photos pointed out some mistakes...

But they look good from a distance....which is the point of table-top quality...

So enjoy (if you are into that sort of thing obviously)!

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?autocom=blog&blogid=721&showentry=7080

Cheers - DH

02 - April fools is for fool's.

   Apologies for the delay in the new post. I've recently been in at a pretty bad place, which all came to a head Wednesday. I snapped; packed up my shit and came home early for Easter. It is a long and complicated story, and one I'm not going to bore you with. I think I can pretty much sum up how I feel in the words of Melrose Diner

    "I hate the way I get when I can’t handle bad news. It feels like I’ve been an asshole for months. All I’ve got left are these handfuls of fuck you and man, that’s never enough. I guess I’m just down. I guess I’ll be honest, I could use you around. I can’t stand the dork that you’re hanging with now. I guess I’ll be honest, I could use you around." - The Wonder Years.

   I am fairly gutted to be honest, but shit happens; life goes on and I don't plan to dwell on what could have been. There has been nothing new to learn from these recent events; just a reminder of my weakness for pretty girls, whom appear to be against the grain as it were. Shock ¬_¬. Oh and apparently; according to one of my female friends I'm 'too nice'. I fail to understand how that can be a bad thing...but it appears it can. Weird.

Ranting aside.
  Today is April the 1st, and as a precaution, I stayed in bed until after midday to avoid being pranked. As such I haven't exactly done a lot today. This served as a reminder to how different being at university is compared to being back at home.

   While I'm at home everything seems to flow at a normal pace; Developments happen over time, change is slow, people stay the same and there is very little drama.
   University on the other hand is like life in fast forward; relationships come and go in the blink of an eye, you make best friends in weeks as opposed to years, and there is always some drama. It is like trying to cram in a lifetime's worth of living in three years. All the highs and lows of a life at normal pace, but in rapid succession.

   The problem with this is that, well, generally there are more lows in [my] life. In the 'normal' setting of home you have time to deal with these problems as they come. In the hyper accelerated life you don't. There is only so much disappointment one can take in such a short amount of time. Hence the previously mentioned early exit. 

Maybe it is just me.

Sorry for the lack of thought provoking stuff, but with the normal pace of life restored, my mind doesn't work in overdrive...but something interesting [might] pop in there at some point....

Cheers - DH