Ten Things I Love About This March

This month, as a bit of a change of pace, instead of yet another rant I thought I'd 'write happy'. I've read a few articles lately that, most notably, talked about enjoying the 'little things' and urged the reader to embrace the joy of life, as well as the things that it brings (A pause to reflect and wax lyrical and Beta Male: a few of my favourite things | The Times) .  I don’t want to regurgitate the same sentiment. However I have decided to heed the writers’ advice and to seize the month of March, and maybe even beyond if this 'embracing' malarkey works out. Who knows. With this in mind I would like to share ten things from the wonderful month of March that have made me happy. I'll try my best not to share too smugly - after all, no one like a smart-ass, or even a smug-ass.

Talking of smug individuals leads me nicely to number one of the things that has recently made me happy: Kermit the Frog. Smug but loveable. The ultimate beta male and a prince among, well, frogs I guess (as well as Muppets, Men and Muppet-Men). Let's be honest, even for the most hardy of people there is a simple pleasure attached to this green fluffless puppet. Indeed, for me at least, he reminds me of the optimism of childhood and the hopefulness that innocence brings. He's weedy-looking, he's got no real talent, he's green and a Muppet. None of these debilitating factors hinder him. With his band of faithful friends there is seemingly no task too great for Kermit and his fellow Muppets. With the arrival of the new film they are everywhere and, after over a decade in the wilderness, I welcome them back with open arms. I challenge anyone to watch the new film and not smile. It simply can't be done. Unless, of course, you’re a dick.

The Muppets new movie once again leads me nicely onto the next subject and number two on my list: singing. Now, I want to stress at this point that I am not referring to well-coached tuneful singing. I am referring to the bashful tone deaf singing you only ever hear when people think they are alone.  Shower singing, cooking singing, naked singing…Okay ignore the last one. But hearty, wholesome, warm singing. If you still don't get me, think Brian Blessed belting out Mustang Sally whilst cooking a fry up. I love to sing. Of course, not in front of other living people, but I still love doing it. The shower is my particular favourite, and what's more if you can get your 'funk on' early in the morning, I find my mood is lifted throughout the day. Ignore me if you want but this is a free source of cheer and I bet anyone who by chance overhears you will smile too.


Onto number three: the Sun, and I'm not talking about the newspaper here people. I'm thinking more along the lines of the flaming ball in the sky. Rare as it is in England, it's a dead cert for bringing a little bit of joy. I hate February as a general rule, I suppose I'm a little like Garfield in that respect. It's cold, rainy and Christmas and the enthusiasm that New Year brings are well and truly over. March on the other hand brings 'close of play' on the worst of both the weather and the dark dank days. That fiery sphere has been pretty active this month and good on it. So here's a shout out for the Sun; keep it up big fella.

Terry Pratchett is down at number four. Well done Terry. Why is Terry Pratchett on my list? Well because he's funny and I am reading one of his books at the moment. I’ll let you join the dots.  I'm reading Mort and it's the first book by Mr. Patchett I've ever read. I'm not going to lie, I think he's done well. The writing style reminds me of Douglas Adams and is the sort of humour that unexpectedly jabs you in the ribs and forces a laugh out of you. On the basis of this book, I have no doubt I shall read more. My brother, a Pratchett addict, has informed me it's not even his best so I thoroughly look forward to the next, whichever one it is.

At number five, with the shortest explanation, I have Fulham FC. I love Fulham. We've won three of our last five games; not the worst (or the best) run of form, but I know that's about as good as it gets, so well done chaps.

The sixth reason for loving March is because of friends. Not to be confused with the comic, long-running American TV series ( I do like Friends, but I think my like for Friends the series extends past the month of March). I don't really know I've ended up with quite so many genuinely nice people in my life but I have. This month for various reasons I have had more than a normal quota of support from them and the funny bastards they are have made me chuckle throughout. I remember an old western film I saw when I was about six years old. I forget it's name, but the protagonist said that if you can count more than a handful of good friends then you're a blessed man. After this month I feel blessed. 

Now we're getting towards the tail end of my list and, as it's been a rather good month, there are quite a few things that despite their excellence still won't make the cut. But enough about that that, I said I wouldn't be smug. However, it does go some way (hopefully) in illustrating exactly how brilliant the next selection is. So without further ado, at number seven we have the IKEA pillow. If god made pillows then he'd have to stop, because IKEA would put him (or her) out of business. I have no idea how, for the bargain basement prices they charge, they do it, but they do. IKEA pillows are, to resurrect an old 90's word, 'boss'. They have managed to capture the cartoon properties of a cloud and then somehow store and package them in a cotton container as fit for purpose pillows. I know there will be people reading this and not believing, and the truth is I just don't care. Believe me or not, the truth is the truth, and that’s a fact.


At number eight we have resignations, and to clarify I’m talking job resignations. Slightly odd to have resignations on my list of things that have made me happy, so I'll do a little explaining. Firstly there is my own. I resigned from my job this month after a fairly unhappy period. No bad feeling or anger was attached to the decision (on either side) but the general direction which I wanted to go in and the direction the company was going were the polar opposites. I've had, on the whole, a good few years there and will look back with happy memories. But giving my notice was definitely the right choice. At this stage I don't have another job to go to. However I liken the feeling to when I had just finished University. I felt scared, because the future was somewhat uncertain, but at the same time felt like I could do anything. I have that same excited/scared feeling now and am going to embrace it rather than worrying about it. Now I couldn't really mention this subject, particularly this month, without giving some reference to Greg Smith the Goldman and Sachs executive. He resigned from his job by writing his letter of resignation in The New York Times, entitled 'Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs'. Greg, you have balls the size of watermelons, nice work (on the letter, not on your balls).

Number nine was a no brainer for me: family. As previously mentioned, I resigned this month (see eight). Had it not been for the support and understanding of my family I wouldn't have had the guts to do this. Thanks guys, it means a lot. Also I know I drive you all a bit loopy, but whether you know it or not, you're always making me smile.


Last of all, for number ten I have the Internet. This would be a little harder to explain if I didn't have the advantage of being able to add links below. Most of these are links to advertisements or television clips, but thanks to the wonderful Internet, they are available to share and entertain on demand. Obviously, I understand that this is not the sole purpose of the Internet. However it is a happy by-product of being able to share media. The few clips I have selected below, although not massively high brow, made me laugh out loud and after all that's happiness in its purest form.

- This is why the ipad can't replace newspaper

- Are we the bad guys

- Darth Vader being a smartass

Before I finish I want to leave you with something. This is by no means an exhaustive list, not even close. However, it does illustrate how much good there is in an average life, in an average month. Look around occasionally, smile more, because - to rip off a Budwiser slogan, "Good times are out there

Non Social Media

So I've just spent the past six days in Dubai. In a nut-shell, for people who have never been, Dubai is hot, extravagant, rich and well let's be honest sandy. It was the first week-long holiday I've had in a few years and the reason for choosing Dubai was to visit a friend. As a result I spent the week living within an expat community. To a large extent the social community resembled closely that which I had left back in Blighty. However, with subtle differences. The most noticeable of these is that Dubai is a very large city, but it has a town-type feel. What I mean by this is that people seem to be less anonymous. Now this may not necessarily be a feature of Dubai itself but more of the expat community, although not having lived in either I can't be sure. What I can tell you is the environment I found myself in was one where people were close, the atmosphere was friendly and there was a solid sense of inclusion.

The purpose of this month's blog is not to discuss Dubai and the social difference between the clustered communities that exist there and those in London. It's to illustrate a point, and I promise you I do have one. Whilst away I witnessed a dispute which started, as so many arguments do, on a drunken night out. The original incident occurred in restaurant the day before my arrival, where the offending person made (apparently) a bit of a scene and verbally insulted a number of the establishment's staff and other clientele. From what I gather the restaurant in question markets themselves as a loud sociable venue, so unpleasant as these things are, they're probably fairly common place.

The repercussions for the offender were harsh, and were aided and exaggerated by the availability of technology.

As you may expect the following morning the offender issued a prompt apology via text message. It was ignored and with a medium such as text messaging silence can be deathly. This continued for a couple of days and after a number of failed attempts at communication Facebook was used to try and solidify the apology and appeal to those offended in an open forum.

One of the great things about Facebook and other similar sites is their availability to the masses. They provide 'The Average Joe' with the opportunity to spread their opinion to a vast range and number of people. This is why we love them. For the most part I tend to use Facebook as a way of providing friends with a high level commentary on my life. Well, that and a way to publicise the odd witty observations. I don't think I'm particularly unique.

In the case this week Facebook was used as a method to try and restore social equilibrium. It didn't work and instead highlighted a very, very visible way in which to vent frustration. The opportunity was not wasted and a number of fairly tame, but very visible, snide comments ensued. 

In the circle of friends I have, Facebook isn't used as a bitching tool. That said I have made a number of foot-in-mouth comments which easily could have been misinterpreted and erupted in on-line arguments. Thankfully that hasn't happened, but more down to luck (and a high level of tolerance by my friends) than my own judgement. Sadly however, I have witnessed it amongst two people I know and it can get messy. If you take an average Facebook account holder and estimate that they have around one hundred contacts, if an on-line argument occurs between three people, comments could be visible to three hundred people! Now, given the offender in this case used Facebook as a way to apologise, abusing them to hundreds of people seemed somewhat harsh. More than that it highlights how cheaply someone's credibility can be put into question, with very little thought from the aggressor. Once upon a time if you had some 'beef' with someone you talked to them about it. Even the most active busy-body probably couldn't publicise their opinions to more than ten or so people using the traditional methods of slander, speech. 

I've omitted both the name of the guilty and well the guilty (the aggressor and the offender)  in this article, because frankly the process of 'misdemeanor followed by bollocking' is not a new one. It's old, very old. However, what it did make me realise was how easily someone can be socially isolated by the use of social media. Now personally I don't think that was what it was meant for. In truth I don't think either the offender or the aggressor this week appreciated how detrimental Facebook could be. But that's the problem. As Facebook users, we are encouraged to say what's on our minds, for better and for worse. As the use of social media becomes a more prominent part of our life style, as indeed it has over the past five or so years, I have absolutely no doubt that these type of incidents will become more frequent. There's a massive difference between online banter and online abuse; notably tone and context, which are easily misinterpreted. 

Looking beyond the case above, posting abusive or inappropriate messages on Facebook can have far-reaching consequences. Posting an insult may seem harmless or even funny at the time, but you only have to look at sites such as Failbook or Lamebook to realise how horribly devastating they can be. I have family members on Facebook and a throw away comment from 'friends' could easily lead to a great deal of controversy. Just imagine, your old dear reading a post about a conquest from the previous night, left by a mate. Probably, she wouldn't be impressed and I dare say somewhat disappointed, all because of nothing more than a lack of thought from the poster. The misuses of social media are potentially endless but thankfully I think most people have the common sense to use them with at least a minimal degree of respect. However next time you post a throw away comment consider who could be reading, because not only does a derogatory comment leave a black mark on the recipient, but it also can say a lot about you too.