Shit I Have Learnt in 2015

So it’s that time of year when round ups are fashionable, so I decided to make a brief list of things I learnt this year. 2015 has been full of peril, danger and mayhem, if by peril you mean work, danger you mean public transport and mayhem you mean walking your dogs. Some of what I’ve learnt might be useful, so I wrote it down.

The Liverpool Street line is way, way less comfortable than the Fenchurch Street line, but passing the Olympic Park on your way into work gives one a sense that anything is possible. Namely building a fucking great red tower thing, calling it art and getting away with it.
Ignoring the YA section when you realised you disliked Twilight was a bad move. You should always read YA. YA is better than A. There is more magic, less awful sex scenes and way more interesting story lines.
It is completely okay to stop doing something you used to enjoy doing. Like blogging. It is also okay to start it again and do whatever you want with it. Even if you don’t know what that is.
Always have an emergency funds bank account.
No one who passed their driving test more than five years ago understands how to signal at a roundabout. There is a special place in hell for these people.
It is totally okay to reuse bubble bags.
That guy in that TV show is way better looking in the TV show than he was in that movie.
People who earn money from their blog and social media presence have either done a deal with the devil or have reserves of strength in their soul that I can only imagine. PR-friendly bloggers, you have my unwavering respect and my constant, begrudging, irritation. Usually my irritation. Keep it up you jammy fuckers.
Screenplays do not contain magic dust that turned a Word document into a script. You can get a computer to do that.
Also, screenplays still look like they did in 1920 because the font size and typeface (Courier, 12) equal a page per minute.
Never leave a job while your internship(s) is unpaid. Find a way to do both.
Your 2 ft dog can take up more room on your bed than you can. Also, he snores more than you.
When you think racist people can’t get any more racist, you should show them footage of Syrian refugees.
Louis from One Direction is not the guy in One Direction I thought he was. He is the other guy, who I ignored until I noticed I quite liked his face. I checked and I am still unsure about their music.
Mitt Romney was not the worst Republican candidate to ever run for president.
Never go to Westfield shopping centre on Black Friday.

I may add to this. What have you lot learnt?

No Site For Weaklings

We’ve started the religious experience topic in RS, and today we looked at proof. Here is an extract of my notes:

If someone experiences an entity, then the entity exists. (I have conversations with characters, then the characters exist…)

It took me a few minutes to figure out why Thank You God was playing in my head.

Speaking of characters I want to talk to, one thing lead to another yesterday. No regrets (I had just finished an essay on William Blake, okay, and football was the only thing on TV. Plus there needs to be somewhere in my imagination where di Angelo doesn’t need a hug).

Question: should I have tagged this post not safe for work? Because thinking about it, I should probably tag every Tim Minchin video or even some MCR posts NSFW, for the language and whatnot. But then, is my language crossing the line? What is or isn’t “safe for work”? Surely that depends on your job?!

I mean, I don’t much like censorship, which is one of the reasons I run this thing by myself, and it’s not like I’m one of the people Google’s blocking… I don’t want to get younger readers into trouble for having adult words or links to questionable fan art – but that’s not my fight. I just write this and it’s up to you, reading this, whether or not you read it. If you don’t want to then click exit. If you don’t want your child to read it then click exit for them but please remember that if they like this sort of site (as in, not space bar games or celebrity forums) then they’re probably going to find another way to read.

I don’t label atheism-related posts “GOD-HATING NEARBY, PIOUS PEOPLE BEWARE”, so should I label a link to a drawing of two dudes kissing “homophobes your eyes might fall out”, or “in the movies this would be a 15”? I mean, Perks wasn’t a 15 and Steve Chbosky got in about 85% of the book’s content.

Is it just enough that I say “headphones are a good idea for this song” or to clearly label links? Maybe I should do a little thing on the sidebar: “oh hey I’m a teenager and if you’ve met one of those you’ll know that they talk like sailors and launch very different types of ships”?

(You shouldn’t be reading Indifferent Ignorance at work anyway, although if you can please notify me of your occupation.)

It’s, Like, a Musical, About, Like, God. Or Something.

This has been a week of mythology.

School has been hard lately and I’ve had to be careful about my arm so when Waterstones outdid themselves and delivered House of Hades a day before its official release, I spent most of the afternoon reading (it counts as independent study for Latin, yes?).

Uncle Rick, you are a genius. A trolling, cliffhanger-creating genius. Between Annabeth, Piper, Hazel, Reyna and Hermione Granger, I don’t know how young girls even consider looking up to bikini-clad airheads. I even warmed to Jason. I love Bob too – and Nico… was Nico always Nico or…?

Argh.

Last night (well ‘tonight’ in terms of writing this because I’m bored on the train) I saw Jesus Christ Superstar at the O2. Before I start chatting let me get one thing clear:

I like Jesus. I am also, until further notice, an atheist (or agnostic if I’ve not watched the news). I also like politics and a good theatrical rock show.

Jesus Christ Superstar is a secular-theatrical-colourful-rock ‘n’ roll-interpretation of the Passion of the Christ and I love it. C’mon, man, there’s sparkles and dancing girls and everyone’s favourite atheist comic musician and did I mention it’s just as relevant now as it was in 1973 as it was in 90AD when John wrote his gospel?

Yep, I’m calling a trip to London Religious Studies work. Anyway. The centrum of the matter is that you don’t have to like ITV to be grateful that they found a dude who can sing like this. You don’t have to believe in the proposed divinity of a story to learn from it and if you wear your second-highest heels to London then your feet will hate you the next day.

Hallelujah!

Yesterday’s version of Gethsemane was better than that, by the way. As in, my ears hurt it was so good. Ah. I’m off to write about the downsides of globalisation. Do you think I could get this in there somewhere?

Reason #583873449 Why MCR is Better Than Your Favourite Band: They Play Kids’ TV Shows.

Seriously.

I’m bummed I can’t put the video on here, but I’m only just getting to grips with WP’s ‘PressThis’ button, and I don’t think it worked anyway. So you can have a picture of the band in their, er, ski suits.

For those of us who don’t live in the US, Yo Gabba Gabba is a children’s television show with costumed characters, animations and music. Gerard’s actually hinted at this happening before, in fact… So grab your raygun and start dancing along with the nearest four-year-old!

Was it just me who thought they were wearing their Killjoy gear but with shorts at first glance? Either way, I’m glad Party Poison’s hair’s made a comeback, even if it is for a programme where the children are told that ‘MCR’ means ‘Music Can Rock’. Does this mean that Every Snowflake is Different will feature on the next album?

Stay tuned for the billions of memes that will definitely emerge when this goes viral. Oh, wait. I just glanced at Twitter and look what’s trending:

I guess not everyone appreciates the ski suits.

Rock ‘n’ roll.

**UPDATE**

Here’s what Gerard had to say. Which wasn’t much, but Dewees was definitely supposed to be blue.