The Internet

My internet connection has been down for five days, and it's been an absolute pain in the proverbial arse. Not only have I had almost no communication with the outside world (because the landline was down too and my rubbish £10 phone still works on a 10p-per-text credit system), but I have had no way of researching things, which I completely take for granted. No Wikipedia. No YouTube. No iPlayer. No matter how romantic my ideas are about "the good old days," and no matter how much I complain about technology, I am very dependent on the internet. I love it.

However, five days without the internet is, in the great scheme of things, not a great deal of time. After all, our parents' generation grew up without internet access, and millions of people across the world still don't have access to it. Interestingly, the BBC posted an article back in March in which it was claimed that the majority of people believe that internet access is a universal human right. This really interests me, because internet can surely be perceived as a luxury. I'm dependent on it, because I use it for the entertainment, communication and research that I enjoy. But if I didn't have the internet, and the right to use the internet, I'd still live. I'd still have a roof over my head, and I'd still think I had full human rights.

Yet, when people have the internet, they get informed. With the net, messages spread quickly, video footage gets spread, people become educated. While there are negative consequences of this--such as the spread of terrorism and extreme ideology--the internet is a great way of informing and connecting people all around the world, and makes it harder for governments to control the ideas of the people. Of course, China censors the internet to a shocking degree, but in general the internet opens minds. Does its impact make it a human right?

Interesting questions.

Aaah... it's great to have the net back though! It's lovely to sit down with a cup of tea and type away. :)

J xxx

Birdcages, Brain Cells and Summer

1) Argentina have legalised gay marriage! This is very good news for gay people in Argentina and across the world. However, it draws attention to the lack of gay marriage around the world and the massive inequalities that remain between gay and straight people. Please will everyone else hurry up and legalise what is, I believe, a human right?

2) For a while now, I've wanted a vintage birdcage to add to the general eccentricity of my bedroom. Finally, my wish has been granted! I'm so pleased with it. It's really big and just the right colour. I have no idea what I'm going to put in it, if anything. I shall hang it from my ceiling tomorrow! In the pic Lancelot is captive, but don't worry: it was a modelling job and he has now been released.

3) My childhood interest in the Titanic has had a bit of a resurgence. I know it's not massively historically relevant, but it's so interesting. There are so many myths and curses surrounding it, and there are lots of lessons that can be learned from it. I'm going to watch the film again with my family tonight. It's cliched and it's soppy but it's still the best film we have of the disaster, and Rose was my first ever crush back in 1999... so time to crack out the dark chocolate and the gin!

4) Mission for the next few days: grow some brain cells. I've spent the last two weeks drinking too much, and I feel like my head is mushed. It would help if I could stop drinking... I've already had two gins tonight and it's only a night in. But yes, I intend to get out the books and try and toughen up my brain again. I already smell failure (and booze). Wish me luck.

5) I can't believe I've finished school. The years at King's have been amazing and I am blessed with the most incredible friends and memories. Like Terra mentioned on her blog, I feel there is a huge gap in my life that I need to fill. I really want to have lots of fun this summer, but I'm really worried something is going to go wrong... Also, my straight friends seem to be having increasing success in pulling and I feel like I'm getting desperate. Still, I'm optimistic and I'm looking forward to going away to exotic old Shropshire with Ellie, Rome with Rach and of course Greenbelt with the pair of them.

6) I'll stop rambling now.

Love J

xxx

Oscillation

I have just returned from sunny Devon, having spent just under a week relaxing with my wonderful friends. There has been much hilarity and I wish I was still there.

The day before I set off for Devon, I wrote this poem in the dead time between breakfast and the school run, before my final paper. I think my brain was active, because of the impending exam, but completely unwilling to cram any factual information... so this was the result.

Oscillation

I am suspended in the dream called history,

Locked in the quantum cell between

Orphaned past and

Infinite future.

I am in the now,

The non-existent space around which the

Dimensions pivot

And I am trapped.

The hands of the clock are the sails of my boat

And I am lost at sea.

You and I are tip-toeing on reality together,

Exploring even as we lose the seconds

To the invisible reaper called Time.

We are never present but we are here,

Balancing all our illusions on our heads

Like water jugs, and clinging to the promise

Of tangible tomorrows.

J xxx