Harry Pears

365 has, for the foreseeable future, moved to Flickr. And if it does return to Wordpress, it will take a while for all of the previous posts to return, because some evil DDoSers caused my entire 365 folder to disappear, and Josh could not find the upload folder. =[

Oh well, at least the database is okay (or so I hear).

And I also lost (along with my meta.php file) my style sheet, and so my normal theme has gone. And I quite like this Classic theme, so don’t be surprised if it takes me a while to reupload the stylesheet.

Basically, this was in case you actually look at my Three-Six-Five and wonder where it is. If you do, thanks. :3

The same as last year’s New Year post? Maybe; I have forgotten. Just another cliché? Yes, most definitely.

So. A new year, a new decade. A new start? There are many things a new year may be, but a new start is not one of them.

In middle school, the head teacher would always do the same assembly at the start of each term. He would crumple a piece of paper up and throw it away. He would then have a blank piece of paper; a new start; a clean slate. But really? No, not at all. Everyone knows what you did the previous term. Everyone remembers your mistakes.

The same goes for New Years. People may choose to forget other peoples’ mistakes, but it isn’t a new start. Tell yourself it’s a new start, please do, but it isn’t a new start.

Despite this, I will be going with the whole new start business – the New Year seems like a convenient time to set personal goals and challenges. A time to change. But, why do we want to change who we are? Well, I suppose that doesn’t really need answering.

But why do we do this? Celebrate, and make a big deal out of, the fact that twelve months has passed and we will start naming our days from January again?

Personally, the only reason I take an interest in the New Year is because everyone else does; I’m a sheep. My parents couldn’t care less about the New Year, and so the last time I celebrated it was 1999/2000 when some friends had a party. Alas, I was only 5 and a half, and all I remember is waking up when everyone started yelling the countdown. But I was there, in the circle, arms crossed holding hands, with everyone around me drunkenly attempting Auld Lang Syne as the clocks ticked around to midnight.

But that is besides the point.

What I am trying to say, is that time and dates are really just a universal, age-old system, to ensure that people do not miss their train, right? So what are we celebrating? Is it just another reason to drink excessively? Or is there a reason?

If I had to choose one reason why the New Year is one of the lesser more important “dates in my diary”, it would be that the New Year is a time to reflect on the previous year, and, I guess, to be grateful for what we have.

And I’m not just talking materialistically. This past year, I have made a few really good friends. (I did say it would be clichéd; this next comment even more so). One of which, I trust with anything. And I have only known them a year. (Told you so).

And then there are the experiences. I’m almost positive I will never forget going to see The Wombats in July, or going to Ireland in August, or Summer camp.

It’s these things that mean something to me; that I want to remember. The New Year seems as good a time as any to collect up all these memories to look back on in years to come. Especially the childhood friends (if you can still call them that when you get to 15/16)?

I came across a blog post, detailing some guy’s Christmas card list. He states “As for the hundreds of kids I went to school with, they’ve all fallen completely off radar.” And, certainly with my parents, that appears to be the normal thing to happen. My mother still keeps in contact with one or two of her school friends, and as for my father, I am not aware of any that he is still in touch with.

When you think about it quickly, you will probably think, “Oh, that’s understandable. You move on, go to uni, get a job, and end up living on the other side of the country.” But, really, is this how it should be? I suppose you can’t really argue with it, because that is the way it is, although, it shouldn’t be this way.

Childhood friends, especially those who you are closest to from ages 13/14 until 17/18 are, at least from my position as a 15 year old guy, some of the most important people in your lives. You grow up and develop around them. They influence you, change you, shape your personality. They become a part of you. You can put your ultimate trust in a close childhood friend, and do things you would never do with anyone else. (And no, I am not talking about the swapping of bodily fluids. Although…No, just no).

So to me, the New Year is a time to reflect the good, and the bad, points from the previous year. To remember how grateful I should be. And I guess to also think ahead; to set targets, have ambitions. Resolutions.

Now, resolutions. Why do we only talk about resolutions at New Year? Surely resolutions should be kept and made throughout the year. Otherwise, wouldn’t the, I don’t know how to phrase it… The standard of humanity, I guess, decline as the year went on? When Christmas arrives, no one is still keeping to the resolutions they pledged to twelve months prior, are they?

I suppose I do have some resolutions myself. A couple of which were made with others, and involve social interaction. My main target for the next year, however silly I find the idea of “resolutions”, will probably to cease procrastinating and find motivation. Finding motivation sounds virtually impossible though…

Here’s to another, (hopefully) successful, enjoyable and brilliant, year, and decade, then!

One evening, I think it was Boxing Day, I was lying in bed, staring out of my window. My eyes were drawn to this one star, the brightest I could see, in front of me. I was transfixed on this star for several minutes. And it made me think.

We are insignificant. All of our actions, our steps, our lives. They do not matter. Nothing matters. We are nothing but tiny people, on a tiny planet, in the middle of an unimaginable expanse of what we do not know. It would take over thirteen billion lightyears to travel to our cosmic horizon. That is over 7.64204976 × 10^22 miles (That is over 76 sextillion miles – in American terms). An inconceivable distance; it is nothing but a number to me, and probably most people alive.

But with this, I am not trying to say that your life is worthless and what you do is pointless and you may as well just give up now. No, far from this, in fact. Take from this what you please, but what I am trying to say is to take every opportunity, do everything. Have no regrets.

Okay, that was pretty clichéd, but, no matter what anyone says, it’s good logic; why bother what anyone thinks of you, when humanity is only a small race, in a minuscule “corner” of the universe.

Right, so any aliens out there probably aren’t going to be judging you, and what is out there doesn’t matter to how you live your life. But, when you lay there thinking about it, you do realise how small you really are, and how pointless the whole concept of life really is.

So, why not make it as good as possible?

This was mainly a way in which I could remember what I am thinking. And a prompt, I guess. And also procrastination.

I also have another couple of bits of writing I could finish. But I should probably start my revision first.

“If I say I am going to vote BNP, I will look cool.”

Or at least, that seems to be the general consensus of the people I associate with. I just hope they see sense in three years time when they have the vote.

Apparently, the BNP isn’t racist, all successful countries have right-wing governments (so therefore the United Kingdom is not successful), China does not count as a successful left-wing party, and left-wing parties always slide into dictatorships. Yes, that’s right, Gordon Brown is a dictator. You heard it here first!

It was repeatedly thumped into my skull this lunchtime that the BNP is the best political part in the country, left-wing parties don’t know what they are doing, the Green Party’s policies consist of windmills and tree-hugging and I need reasons as to why I believe left-wing politics is the best option, yet I do not need to be presented with proof that the BNP is no longer racist. It kind of reminds me of Griffin on Question Time…

Someone also stated that we should not have a Monarchy. They then said we should rebuild the British Empire. I somehow don’t think the Empire would be as successful without a Monarchy, myself. Wouldn’t it just end up being a big dictatorship, just like I was told the EU is?

The EU is, of course, not a dictatorship. I was told that no one gets to vote on the policies. If they don’t, what the hell are MEPs getting paid to do? Sit there and watch as “illegal immigrants” legally come to Britain and do the jobs British people do not want to do, at a rate and wage British people would be disgusted at?

I then made the point that citizens in the EU can freely move between countries. The reply was something along the lines of, “Why don’t we go and live in their countries? Oh wait, they’re shit.” Well, if they are shit, are you surprised that they are immigrating here?

The subject then moved on to Muslims, and how they are forcing their culture upon us. Are they? Really? I haven’t heard of any Muslims campaigning for a new Mosque in their street, or for schools to have compulsory prayer sessions or all pork products to be banned from supermarkets.

Basically, all teenagers are Fascist and believe Muslims and Poles are oppressing our nation. And that I should “fuck off to France” because “I would fit in” What?

I am not trying to make it sound like my views are superior, and that I know far more about politics than anyone else my age; I don’t. It just frustrated me the number of people who “support” a racist, oppressive party.

My Proposition.

Ever since starting my photo project (which is filling with incredibly boring photos), I have neglected my trustworthy blog. Although, that said, I never really have been a regular blogger. I think the reason for this is because I never have interesting topics of, well, interest. I don’t like boring you with what I have done; I use Twitter for that. So instead, I just forget about my blog. And then, when something interesting enough to write about does happen, I either never start or never finish.

I think from now on, I am going to just let this place die. Either that, or have a regular monthly/bi-monthly post which – in theory (the theory is being thought up as I type…) – would encourage me to think about what is happening around me. I do this anyway, and get very annoyed by some things. Some of you will know that the Sunday Express annoys me strongly, and that the whole Maddie-fiasco has been annoying from practically day one, and that Darth Mandelson’s ideas to cut off broadband to file sharers is, in my opinion, utterly ludicrous.

Anyway, that is off the subject. I suppose what I am thinking would be sort of like a Sunday newspaper column. Only, not in a newspaper, not always on Sundays, and with probably far less readers. Oh, and not very interesting.

Reading back though, it appears that I would be whinging and moaning to whoever reads this twice a month.

In my head, this seems like a reasonable idea, and something which I should be able to achieve. Although I thought that I could take an interesting photograph every day for a year. In the past week you have seen some folded paper, some cutlery, my desk and the contents of my bag…

Obviously, there would be little point in bothering if no one reads my babble any more, or if you don’t want to hear my opinions (used in the loosest sense possible, mind). Because, in reality, teenage whines are not the thing you want to look back on in a few years time and think “My, I was a very opinionated, bright child!” The actual response would probably be a massive cringe and the files would be swiftly erased from existence.

What I am really saying is who would willingly read my “column” and whether it sounds like a sensible idea.

Thanks :3