24 September 2012

Introducing My Gallery

One of the many incredible Cuban sunsets taken from this deserted Treasure Island
 Just a quick post today before I write a more in depth one later this week. I basically wanted to introduce My Gallery (you can find a permanant link at the top of my blog in the navigation bar). I have decided to show off some of my photography on here in the hope that it might get a few more views than it currently does. Think of it as a bit of self advertisement! I may consider producing a better website for it in the future, but for now this'll do!

If you want to see more of my work, then please visit my Deviant Art Gallery. I would also be thrilled if you were to comment on them as I'm always looking for ways to improve and love hearing peoples opinions.

Thanks guys!

Phil

19 September 2012

A Day In the Future


I can see my warm breath condensating before my eyes as it meets the cold, crisp air around me. I'm walking briskly through a forest, dried leaves crunching underfoot with my Border Collie, Molly, at my heels. The low morning sunshine is gleaming through the gaps in the branches above me, highlighting the surrounding reds and golds. The air feels clean and refreshing against my skin, turning it pink as my body tries to keep warm. I'm wrapped up in a thick coat and scarf with a wooly hat and a smile spread across my face.

My farmhouse is only about a mile away now and I'm looking forward to stepping into the kitchen, heated warm by the roaring fire. I'll take my wellies off and leave them on the doormat before putting the kettle on to settle down with a hot cup of tea. Molly lays by the fire to doze, content now she's had her exericse for the day. I'm unsure of what I'm going to do with the rest of the day, maybe drive into the village in my Land Rover to pick up some milk. I should probably tidy some of the vegetable plots up too and prepare them for the long, sleepy winter ahead. I might get around to finishing one of the three books I've started later this evening too.

We've had a beautiful Summer with nice hot weather. Perfect for the garden, especially the fruit and vegetable harvest. But now is the best time of the year. It's Autumn.

...

Okay, so It's not quite Autumn yet. The leaves are still green and the hope for a few more lasting days of warm weather are around us. But there is something strangely refreshing and invigorating about my favourite season. It's the inbetween phase between the hot, warm Summer and the cold, miserable Winter. I'm looking forward to wrapping up warm and going out to explore. I have an amazing view of the allotments behind our house, and the woods behind that. It will be fun to watch this view change over the coming months for the first time - a small picture of tranquility in the middle of this busy City.

For the first time in quite a while, I've woken up early and I feel motivated and inspired! I watched Grand Designs with a cup of tea and decided that I would seise the day. I'm going to go out this afternoon and find somewhere in the middle of nowhere to take photos and enjoy the first hints of my favourite season.

...

As a lot of you may already know, I have finally obtained my degree with a 2:1! This is amazing news, as for a long time I doubted I would get there and I was so close to giving up on many occasions. I would like to thank everyone that helped and encouraged me to get to the end.

...

It's official, I have begun my 30 consecutive days of being a Vegetarian. It's not so easy, and I'm struggling a little. I'm going home for a week tomorrow and it will be interesting to see how my family adapt and what we all do about food. The last day will be October 18th, and I'm looking forward to writing about how it's affected my life, if at all.

I do have plans for actual content in my future blog posts, but once again the need for a creative outlet arose. This is that outlet and I hope this post makes you excited at the thought of changing weather and not miserable (as most people probably would feel).

I have found the source of my inspiration, if only a temporary one. How about taking a few moments to think over yours, and refresh them in your mind? It might do you the world of good.

Phil.




12 September 2012

Now and Then; Literally



Long term happiness and productivity is the aim, and the wheels have been set in motion. But what about the short term? What about now?

My interview for St John Ambulance was great, and now I just need to wait the 6 weeks for my CRB check to clear. Although it's only 6 weeks, that is hell of a long time to just 'wait'. This is kind of what I mean, I have ideas for the future and that's great. I will enjoy that when the time comes. But what about now? That's where I'm struggling. There is nothing for now and it's because I've been too busy planning for the future, but as the old saying goes; tomorrow never comes.

For some reason it's been wired into my brain that the key to happiness and fulfilment lies with what I plan to do, and to a certain extent that will be key to my happiness, but for then and not now. It seems that I need to change this way of thinking and start doing things for today, for now. If I don't then I'm always only going to be 'happy in the future'.

I hope you understand what I'm trying to say here, it's not so easy to put into words. It just seems like a massive realisation to me. A better way to put it might be that we all have stuff to look forward to, but what do we do while we wait for them? Nothing is probably the answer, and then once this exciting event passes we again do nothing until the next exciting event. I think the true source of happiness is either from enjoying this 'nothing' or from turning this 'nothing' into something, not from collecting a series of events so that we can brag about them. I always think I would enjoy doing nothing, but in all honesty it sends me stir crazy and saps everything from me, leaving nothing left to enjoy the moment. Is this what they call motivation?

I'm struggling with motivation, probably because I'm planning for the future at the moment. I'm trying to get things to fall into place, but these things are long term and it leaves nothing for the short term except for existing, and this doesn't provide me with any happiness or fulfilment. It is also much easier to commit to something in 6 weeks time because I don't have to face it now, giving the illusion of motivation.

So. In short, I have no motivation for the now. When the future does rock around, I will feel compelled to do whatever it is I had planned because it would be harder to back out. This doesn't sound like something I want to do. I want to volunteer because I enjoy it and I get fulfilment out of it, not because I thought it would be a good idea six weeks ago.

How do I go about changing this view? I will let you know when I find out, I feel I'm not the only one out there with this problem.

This isn't really what I wanted to do in this post and I'm not sure it's achieved what I wanted (I may come back to it when I've had a bit more of a think about it). It has turned into a bit of a jumbled rant and I doubt even I could make sense of it if I were to read over it again and I do apologise, but I feel my this may be key to my success some day and should be posted.

...

On a lighter note to end, I tried to get some information from Cancer Research UK about their fund raising processes and now they seem to think I want to raise £10,000 for them and won't stop ringing me. I don't know how I manage to get myself into these sticky situations.

I will actually try to leave it a week before I post anything else, I get a bit carried away!

Until then, have a good weekend!

Phil

8 September 2012

My Life List

I was reading my new favourite blog and discovered the writer has a life list. I looked into it, and he's written a very good article about how most people write lists of wishes and never get around to doing them because they are of a huge nature and do not fit into what they want from life. He made a good point of saying life wishes should actually be goals as opposed to something that will be forgotten about and brushed off as life's youthful desires.

So, because of this I have decided to make my own life list using the guidelines and advice set out in his blog post, which you can read here if at all interested.

I actually only really wanted somewhere to put this list where it would be out of the way so as not to clutter up my room but accessible so I can check on it from time to time, and do any necessary 'pruning'. However, I have been unable to find any good websites for this so it's going on my blog instead, and I thought I'd make a short post about it.

Would love to see what ideas other people come up with!

And without further ado, here is my list (it will also be present on a permanant page where it will be updated. Also, consider it a living, breathing thing as it will forever change - such as more books will be added, but this requires research. I'm not happy with the categories either and will shuffle them around one day):

Achieved: 7/59

TRAVEL


1. Road Trip around North America

2. InterRail around Scandinavian Europe

3. Visit Indonesia

4. Visit the Galapagos

5. Explore South America

6. Visit Antarctica

7. InterRail around Eastern Europe

8. Visit New Zealand/Australia

9. Explore the wilderness of Canada

10. Visit Asia

11. Explore the area that I grew up (Scotland)

SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE


12. Complete the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)

13. Complete the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64) without cheating

14. Learn to drive - COMPLETED (October '08)

15. Write a will

16. Learn a classical piece of music on the piano

17. Learn Spanish

18. Obtain an University degree - PROGRESS - SO close now

19. Complete my Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award

20. Have a go at developing my own photos

21. Read Of the Origin Of Species

22. Finish reading The Lord of the Rings

23. Go on a scientific expedition - COMPLETED (April '12) - Expedition to Punta Francés on the Isle of Youth, Cuba where I scuba dived on Coral reefs and carried out research in the forest.

24. Hold a Tarantula - COMPLETED (April '12) - Held a Tarantula in Cuba (did not overcome my fear of spiders though).

25. Give Blood - COMPLETED (May '12) - Gave blood for the first time. I now aim to continue giving blood for the forseeable future.

26. Visit a large American Theme Park

27. Fly in a Hot Air Balloon

28. Fly in a Glider - COMPLETED (Circa 2005) - Flew a Glider myself. Pretty incredible experience.

29. See the Northern Lights

30. SCUBA dive on Coral Reefs - COMPLETED (April '12) - Part of the scientific expedition to cuba. This was one of the best weeks of my life to date. Worth all the time put in to achieve this, and will be looking to do it again in the future.

31. Build my own House

32. Complete 100 hours of voluntary work

33. Be a vegetarian for atleast 30 days

34. Wild camp in the Scottish Highlands for atleast 3 nights

35. Travel by plane and train in 1st class

36. Own Chickens

37. Grow and eat my own Vegetables and Herbs

38. Live with Friends - COMPLETED (September '10 onwards) - Lived with friends in my second year of uni, and still live with friends now that I have left uni.

39. Bring up a puppy and see it through life

40. See a famous band live

41. Skydive

CAREER


42. Become a fully qualified Paramedic

43. Become an air ambulance Paramedic

FINANCES


44. Own a VW Camper Van

45. Own my own house outright

46. Pay my Father back

47. Own 100 CD's

48. Own atleast 2 acres of land

49. Sell 10 different prints of photos that I have taken

50. Become debt free

51. Raise £10,000 for Charity

RELATIONSHIPS & FAMILY


52. Get Married

53. Have Children

54. Have Grand Children

PHYSICAL FEATS


55. Run a Half Marathon

56. Complete 200 consecutive sit ups

57. Complete 100 consecutive push ups

58. Trek to Everest Base Camp

59. Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro

4 September 2012

Blood, Phones, Spiders, New Targets and More!

So, I felt pretty rubbish yesterday when I woke up. I won't lie, I don't think I got out of bed until about 1.30pm. However, after a lot of mental effort I managed to turn my day around and make something of it. I think the exercise I did really helped actually. I meant to go for a run today, but I'm giving blood later and I felt absolutely horrific after I gave blood last time. I was suprised how much it wiped me out! This is where I would normally suggest something out of my control that contributed to my weakness so I'm not to be blamed, but other than having a cold at the time I've got nothing.

On a related note, I've been asked to take part in a massive blood donation trial. The NHS Blood & Transplant are trying to decide if it's safe to reduce the wait time between each blood donation. They've already reduced mens to just 12 weeks, but if it can be reduced further then more blood can be donated safely. You can read more... here!

I have managed to downgrade my phone 'phobia' to just a plain 'dreaded fear' over the last few days because I've been forced to make about a million phone calls. This will probably just be a temporary downgrade, but it's progress nether-the-less (similar to holding a tarantula in Cuba and becoming petrified of spiders again upon return to home).

Yes, that is someone holding me in place. Clearly thought I was going to run away to get out of holding that hideous creature! I don't know why, it only took me about 20 minutes to work up the nerves...
Anyway, moving on to the main topic of todays post. I've had a bit of an obsession with Mt. Everest for a long time now and I can only dream of climbing it. I would give my right arm to be able to say I've managed to climb to the top of the world and back again. However, lots of people die and I'm not sure it's particularly doable in the near future, especially with the huge cost and my lack of climbing experience. HOWEVER, something that is doable, and something which I want to do hell of a lot is to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa.

Kilimanjaro has always interested me from a Biological aspect because as you ascend you pass through five different biomes, making it incredibly unique (plus I want to see the hippos). And lets be honest, who doesn't want to stand on the snowy summit and be able to say you're actually in Africa?! The summit stands at 19,341 ft which is pretty close to the height of Everest base camp (the summit of Everest stands at 29,029 ft).

Uhuru Peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro


I have a friend who wants to do this with me, and we've been talking about it for years but yesterday we finally decided to actually do it. We've set ourselves the challenge of doing it in Summer 2014 and will be climbing for charity (suggestions for charities are welcome, although I will probably have Cancer Research as my main charity and will receive half of what's raised). We will each be aiming to raise £10,000 which sounds a lot, but it's only a donation of £2 from 5,000 people.

I had the idea (actually, my mother did) of creating a blog for people to follow about the build up and climb itself, but access costs a one time donation of £2. This goes to charity and people get something of interest (hopefully) to follow, and to see what they are getting for their donation. I'm not sure how this will go down, so please leave a comment below and let me know what you think of this idea! I would really appreciate it. I would also like to know if you think putting an ad in a national paper is a good idea? I've looked up prices and it's not too expensive for a small advert in the Sunday Times (2.6 million readers per week). Of course I will be training and doing other sponsored... stuff, not just sitting on my fat arse typing in a blog every week and spending the charity money on KFC...

Talking of KFC, I have decided (I think) to try being a vegetarian. Prepare yourself for some preaching about the environment...

The amount of damage to the environment caused by meat production is MASSIVE. The carbon emissions amount to much more than cars produce, and of course we are running out of food and water. Eating meat is also incredibly inneficient (animals eat plants and lets say only 20% of the plant energy is used in animals, then we eat the animals and only 20% of their energy is used in our bodies) so just eating vegetables cuts out the middle man, so to speak. I went on one of them calculator things (from the PETA website) and it told me if I was to become vegan (eugh, don't worry I'm not that crazy) I would save 15120 animals from dying and 178,200 lbs of Carbon Dioxide emissions which amounts to the same as driving an SUV 185,954 miles. I've also heard it's healthy and makes your body feel better.

This will be incredibly challenging for the simple reason that I LOVE MEAT.

And last thing, I promise. I found a blog recently and having read through some of the posts I found it incredibly interesting and thought provoking. I don't know if it's your cup of tea (whoever 'you' are) but you can find it HERE.

Oh, I will get around to updating the layout soon, I err... promise. I get my results sometime in the near future too, so I will keep you posted about that (unless it's bad news). Finally I will get around to doing a Paramedic-y related posted in the near future, and keep you updated on my St John Ambulance interview next Tuesday!

I think that is about it, although I swear I had more to write about (probably a good job for you I can't remember it)! Oh, and if you fancy paying my rent for me this month then feel free to contact me!

Have a good week,

Phil


Kilimanjaro Peak Image: Activus Outdoors