If We Were Having Coffee…

Posted on August 3, 2014 by suzie81speaks

I wouldn’t be drinking coffee. I’d be thoroughly enjoying the aromas, but as I don’t like the taste I’d be drinking a hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream or a mango and passion fruit smoothie. Oh, and I’d be eating cake. Preferably cake filled with raspberry jam.

If we were having coffee, I would bore you with tales of my running endeavours. I have gone for a run several times in the last week, always in the morning before my neighbours surface, and each time I have improved my distance, my speed and the number of calories I have burned. I hate it, but I always feel really good once I’m done.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I watched Guardians Of The Galaxy the other day, and I thought it was pretty great. It isn’t in the same league as Avengers Assemble (one of my favourite all time films and the only film I have ever wanted to see again immediately after watching it at the cinema), but the characters were good, there was the right amount of tears, laughter and action and it was a nice way to spend the morning. I would also tell you that the actress who played ‘Nebula’ is the Scottish actress who played ‘Amy Pond’ in Doctor Who and that she shaved her beautiful long red hair off for the role.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you about my obsessions with Castle and White Collar, of which I am currently on Season 4 of both. I have developed a little crush on Nathan Fillion (despite hating his character in Season 7 of Buffy) and even though my friends have unwittingly provided me with spoilers I am thoroughly enjoying both programmes.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I’m absolutely obsessed with this song at the minute…

If we were having coffee, I would show you my Facebook newsfeed at the minute, which is full to bursting with pictures of weddings, newborn babies and holidays in exotic places. I would show you this picture of Daisy that I uploaded just to balance it out a bit. Circle of Life, anyone?

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I awoke the other morning and immediately checked my blog, as I do almost every morning. I get a little buzz from reading all the lovely comments that I receive overnight and it always gives me a great start to the day. However, the first comment that I read started with ‘Lol, you’re such a stupid b*tch...’ Apparently, a crazy Justin Bieber fan had stumbled across my anti-Bieber post from a few months ago and decided that I needed to be lectured about how the music industry actually works. I was so grateful for the information. I would tell you that the reason why everyone hates him is that he won’t give up, he won’t break down and he stays strong. Awesome. I had no idea. It must be quite a revelation to live in a world where there is an actual belief that this famous pop star is actually going to marry them someday. Bless. My Trash comments were busier than usual that morning.

And finally, If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I’ve had far more entries than I anticipated for my Summer competition, and so I’ll announce the results in a few days!

I loved this idea, which I saw on the ever fabulous Nerd in the Brain‘s blog, who in turn saw it on the equally fabulous Part Time Monster‘s blog, who found it somewhere else. It’s one of the many reasons why I love the blogging community – they inspire me!

What about you? If we were having coffee, what would we talk about?

You can also find me on Twitter and Tumblr @suzie81blog

Blog Envy and Trolls

Posted on July 29, 2014 by suzie81speaks

I always assumed that when I reached adulthood my social interactions would be much more simple and straightforward. As a teenager I was surrounded by people who were untrustworthy, two-faced and false, (although, luckily I had some good friends) and I looked forward to the day that I would be able to participate in relationships that were exactly as I perceived them to be.

Of course, in my naive little world, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Adults, are in fact, as bad, if not worse than children, particularly if they have a computer screen in which they can hide behind. When I was a teenager, the World Wide Web was in it’s early stages, there was no such thing as social media, and mobile phones were enormous chunky things that were mainly used by rich people working in the city. ‘Trolling’ was not a term I had ever heard of, aside from in the ‘Billy Goats Gruff’ story that I had read as a child.

However, as technology has developed, so has the troll. I always imagine that the troll hides in its darkened room, sitting at a display board made up of lots of monitors, surrounded by broken computers, wires and empty coffee cups, staring at the brightly lit screens in front of it and giggling nastily every time it writes a hurtful comment.

Unfortunately, the troll looks just like every other human being, and is impossible to identify based on appearance. The key to troll identification is within the comment section of lots of blogs.

In my experience, the blogging world is predominantly made up of opinion and, as bloggers, we all like to use our own little space of the Internet to share these with others – make-up to buy, recipes to follow, rantings about the lastest news stories, music to listen to and fashions to wear, to name a few. There is nothing wrong with doing this – in 2014 we should be able to speak freely about subjects that interest and/or frustrate us. However, we also need to understand that when doing this it is highly unlikely that everyone will agree with us, and will use the comment section to spark a healthy debate.

Earlier in the year I wrote about my dislike of Justin Beiber, in which I listed many of his misdemeanours and gave my reasons as to why I felt that he was a poor role model to the millions of young teenagers worldwide that idolise him. Lots of commenters agreed with what I had written, but as I expected there were a few that didn’t, quite rightly pointing out that a nineteen year old boy with lots of money and very little guidance is bound to make mistakes. I appreciated those comments (aside from the one who made it personal by accusing me of being a bully), they made me think about things from a different perspective and I enjoyed the debate that started because of it, until Mr Troll got involved.

Mr Troll totally disagreed with what I said, and wrote a very long and abusive comment that somehow started with Justin Bieber and ended with Michael Jackson. It was so abusive, in fact, that I didn’t allow the comment to be posted (I moderate every comment before I allow them on my blog). When I didn’t respond, Mr Troll came back for more.

This is the difference between a troll and someone who disagrees with your opinion. A troll seeks to cause trouble and will return repeatedly if they feel that what they are doing is successfully having a negative impact. Rather than respectfully disagreeing with an opinion and explaining why, a troll will do their best to make things personal and hurt feelings, sometimes by writing extreme things that wish harm on the writer.

Having trouble with a troll?

1. Set your comment section so that all comments are required to be moderated by you first.

2. Delete the comment immediately, or move it to the spam section and take screen shots of it if you are genuinely concerned.

3. If your blog is public, you cannot block people and prevent them from following you in the same way that you can on Twitter. You can, however, by using their IP address, prevent them from commenting on your blog – it will be sent straight to the spam folder.

4. If you are concerned, contact WordPress. The admin guys have been amazing when I have asked them for assistance.

5. Focus on the positive people – they’re far more entertaining.

6. Try not to take it personally – there are always going to be idiots in every aspect of life.

WordPress is a community that I have always been proud to be part of. In just over a year of blogging I can genuinely state that I have had very few negative experiences – the Justin Bieber commenter being one of only a few occasions where someone has become extremely nasty – but I have found that, like in lots of areas of life at the minute, the negativity seems to be on the rise. I awoke this morning to see that one of my favourite bloggers has decided to cancel his account as he is sick of the abuse that he receives from trolls that are simply jealous of his extensive and loyal following. His blog is witty, insightful and honest and I look forward to every post. Since I began my blog TD has been nothing but supportive, taking the time to comment on and promote my posts, and I know for a fact that he does the same for hundreds of others out there too. I’m sorry he feels that deleting such a great blog is his only option, and I’m going to miss him.

The reason why I believe that he has had to deal with abuse is because of the blog envy that seems to becoming more prominent in the WordPress world. It seems to be all about the numbers, rather than the content. I am the first to admit that I have shouted my blogging milestones from the rooftops on occasion, but I have done this because I am proud of what I have achieved, and have certainly never tried to make others feel small. Indeed, I have experienced blogging envy when others have done the same, and there are a few blogs out there that are so great I am jealous every time I read one of their fabulous posts. However, I would continue to write whether I had 100 followers or 10,000, because I write for me, and me alone. Always have.

So, for those of you who are spending far too much time comparing your own writings to everyone else’s, I’d like you to consider doing this:

1. Write fabulous posts that you enjoy.

2. Mind your own goddam business what everybody else is doing. Leave the trolling to Twitter.

What do you guys think? Have you had any bad experiences with trolls?

You can also find me on Twitter and Tumblr @suzie81blog.

image credits:

theatlantic.com

Ifiwereartemis.com

Train Adventures

Posted on July 27, 2014 by suzie81speaks

It’s another glorious day and I’m on a train to London – I’ve booked tickets for The Commitments for my mother and I and we’re going to have a lovely meal at a beautiful restaurant.

I always try and reserve seats in advance and I was pleased that for once I had managed to obtain a seat with a table and a plug outlet. Unfortunately, when I arrived I had discovered that an elderly lady had sat in it. She pretended not to hear me when I informed her that she had taken my seat so I sat opposite her instead. It’s fairly quiet at the minute and I’m quite comfortable so I’ll wait until someone tells me to move and then work it out later. I’m currently sitting next to a lovely woman from London who is on her way back from a bachelorette party and is feeling extremely hung over. She’s very nice, but absolutely reeks of alcohol. We’ve been stopped for a while now in the middle of nowhere as there is apparently debris on the track, so I’m going to be late for meeting mum, but it has given me the opportunity to be nosey and observe those around me.

Regardless of the journey I am on, there are always the same type of people in each carriage:

1. The Sniffer. It’s almost rhythmic – 1, 2, 3, sniff, 1,2, 3, sniff. I have been known to make up melodies to match the patterns.

2. The Small Talker. The person that’s desperate to get to know everyone around them because they can’t stand the silence.

3. The Old Marrieds. Obviously been together as long as I’ve been alive, and have developed the art of commenting on everything and everyone around them… “Ooh, look John, a lovely tree. Isn’t that a lovely tree!”

4. The Stag and Hen parties. It’s always possible to tell what stage of the party they have reached based on the noise level – if it’s just beginning there will be lots of shouting and laughing, if they’re on the way home the smell of stale beer will be in the air and they’ll be talking very slowly and quietly about the events of the previous night.

5. The Business Person. Dressed in a suit. Working on a laptop. Talking loudly on the phone, their conversation interspersed with loud guffawing.

6. The Stressed Out Parent. Their child simply won’t shut up, and so they’ve given up and have allowed them to run up and down the carriage just for a minutes peace.

7. The Complainer. It’s too hot. It’s too cold. They’re tired. Why isn’t the coffee machine working in the shop.

8. The Girl Who Has Just Been Dumped. Will spend the entire journey on the phone, starting with the ex and followed by every single female friend in their phone. Usually finishes with a phone call to their mother.

9. The Chewer. Chews their food loudly. Very loudly. Fond of consuming crisps (chips) in vast quantities…

10. The Music Enthusiast. Likes to listen to music on their headphones so loudly that the rest of the carriage can hear them.

What about you guys? Do you see any stereotypes on public transport?

You can also find me on Twitter and Tumblr @suzie81blog

If I Knew Then: What I’ve Learned About Blogging

Posted on July 26, 2014 by suzie81speaks

114

Just over a year ago I started Suzie81 Speaks as an online journal. I had been experiencing a difficult time and as writing has always been therapeutic it was the perfect solution. I had no goals – the act of writing was simply enough. However, over a short space of time, this little space of the Internet grew beyond any expectations that I had ever imagined and I found that as I began to recover, my writing style and goals changed.

I’ve learned a lot, and if I could go back and do it again these are the things that I would do differently.

1. I would decide on a name that I was happy with at the very beginning. In my excitement about the prospect of starting the blog, I hastily chose the name ‘Suzie81’ – my name and the year that I was born. After a while I became really dissatisfied with my choice – it had no real reference to any of the content in the blog – but by this point everybody knew me as this name. When I later purchased my domain name, there were very few options that I could use and I ended up changing it to ‘Suzie81 Speaks’ so as not to confuse my followers.

2. I would create a set of profiles on other social media networks from the beginning. It took me about eight months to establish a Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Pinterest account, and I’ve always regretted not doing this sooner as these are now responsible for the majority of my views on my site. An important thing to know here is that none of them are linked to my personal pages on the same sites – I created a completely separate account for each, along with a new email address.

3. I would participate in link ups earlier. I participate in regular link ups on Twitter, particularly at the Sits Girls #sitssharefest on Saturdays and Rachel in the OC’s #MondayBlogs on Mondays. I’ve been able to meet hundreds of lovely people and it’s a great opportunity to share and read new posts.

4. I wouldn’t share the fact that I have a blog with many people in my personal life. I have lots of lovely friends who have been very supportive, but as the blog became more popular it has been used against me, which caused some issues. I have also found that as lots of people in my life now read my ramblings it prevents me from writing about certain issues that are very personal, which defeats the point of the blog in the first place.

5. I wouldn’t be as hasty to post something just for the sake of posting it. In my early blogging madness I posted everything I could think of. Looking back, I’ve had to revisit lots of things and delete them, simply because they have no meaning with what I thought I was trying to create.

Here are some simple ‘Do’s’ and ‘Don’ts’ that may be useful if you are starting your blog.

1. Don’t expect too much. There are MILLIONS of blogs out there. You are not going to gain thousands of followers (unless your post goes viral) simply by pressing the publish button. Blogging takes LOTS of time and effort.

2. Don’t feel that your blog should have a niche. I follow lots of great blogs that do, but I prefer to cover lots of topics within my own.

3. Do take the time to visit lots of other blogs and follow them.

4. Don’t automatically expect (or even worse, request and plead for) a follow back. This is one of my biggest annoyances – I follow about 250, but I often receive messages saying ‘I’ve followed you, now you need to follow me.’ Why? Others shouldn’t be made to feel obliged or bullied into following you simply to return the favour.

5. Do leave comments on other blogs to let them know that you have enjoyed what you have read.

6. Don’t spam comment sections with links to your own posts. This happens to me a lot, and while I always try and share, tweet and reblog posts I get irritated when others end their comment with a link to their latest post, demanding that we ‘check it out.’

7. Do make the effort to reply to comments that have been left on your posts. I read and appreciate every single comment that is ever written, but until recently I have been poor at replying to some of them. This was because work became a priority and took over life somewhat, but I always make the effort to reply when I can.

8. Do remember that content is key. I love inspirational posters, but there are only so many that you can post before your audience may start to get bored. Make sure that your content is your own – if you have used somebody else’s and images, be sure to credit them.

9. Do be respectful at all times. One of the best things about the WordPress community is that the majority of people are unbelievably friendly and supportive.

10. Don’t expect everyone to agree with you. If you choose to write about a controversial subject, it is highly unlikely that all of your audience will support you in your arguments. Listen, respond and be respectful about it.

What about you guys? Any hints and tips that you have learned in your blogging endeavours?

You can also find me on Twitter and Tumblr @suzie81blog

Image credits:

guardianlv.com

http://www.petitemom.com

Why I Don’t Believe in Soulmates

Posted on July 20, 2014 by suzie81speaks

Lots of people in my world are getting married at the minute, and amidst the excitable chatter about dresses, cake, flowers and reception venues I have heard the world ‘soulmate’ thrown around a number of times.

Admittedly, I am hardly Little Miss Romantic, despite immersing myself in many a romantic comedy over the years. Most of these films seem to follow the same conventions – the characters meet, they fall in love, we see a montage that demonstrates some happy times together, something or someone interferes, they break up and eventually the film will end with a huge gesture and a proclamation of feelings and the couple will kiss while an orchestra plays intense, passionate music in the background.

However, what happens when Vivienne rescues Edward ‘right back?’ Did Harry continue to love the little wrinkle in the middle of Sally’s forehead? Did Hal love Rosemary regardless of her size or did he revert back to his shallow ways?

What we actually see in these films is not love, it’s a demonstration of mutual attraction and the fun, exciting initial stages of the honeymoon period in a relationship. It’s pure lust. These characters don’t appear to deal with every day situations – the stresses of work, being tired and grumpy at each other, having a nasty cold, having the car break down on the way to work, the death of a family member, friend or pet. Why? Because real life is far more boring.

The Bloke and I have been together for about four and a half years. (We’ve actually lived together for six, but that is a much longer story that I will save for later). He’s my bloke, my partner in crime, my other half. He’s the person I am pleased to wake up to every morning.

But he isn’t my soulmate.

Why? Because I don’t believe that soulmates exist, or at least not in the context that it is used in the present day. The concept is nice, but unrealistic. In a world where seven billion people exist I refuse to believe that there is just one person for each of us, and I’m positive that if we had never met and were living in different places we would be equally happy with somebody else.

It may sound harsh, but my problem with the idea of a soulmate is that there is a sense of perfection behind the term. While I am by no means an expert in relationships, and I am certainly not claiming to be, I know enough to realise that perfection, in all forms, simply doesn’t exist. As human beings, we are all intrinsically flawed, and unless we are willing to accept both our own flaws and the flaws of our partners we will be forever left feeling disappointed.

Soulmates are not born and meant for each other, they are created through an ongoing process of trust, honesty and respect with people who deserve to be in a relationship with each other. When things have been going really well, The Bloke has been there with me to celebrate, and I’ve done the same with him. When I’ve been hurt or upset, The Bloke listened, comforted me and told me it would all be ok, and I’ve done the same for him. When I was ill and in hospital, he was there every night and sat with me for hours. When we had to move house shortly after, he pretty much did the whole thing by himself as I hadn’t fully recovered. We talk, we laugh, we go out together. He makes my lunch, runs me baths, picks me up from work and rubs my feet. He’s not just my bloke, he’s my friend, my confidante, my rock. I love him, and he loves me. He makes me happy. However, he’s not perfect, and neither am I.

While it’s certainly a far less romantic thought, I think its far more important to stop idealising the concept of ‘The One,’ and start working on the creation of forever in our relationships. It might just save a lot of time and heartache in the long term…

What do you think? Have you found your soulmate? Do you believe in them? Are you still waiting to meet yours?

You can also find me on Twitter and Tumblr @suzie81blog

How To Get Motivated: Things To Do Today

Posted on July 20, 2014 by suzie81speaks

Motivation, motivated, list

As the self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Procrastination,’ I have found myself in quite a slump as of late. The smallest tasks, however menial, seemed daunting and impossible to achieve and I fell behind in all areas of my life.

It’s been extremely difficult to get back on track, but over time I have been able to very slowly pull myself out of the rut and change the way that I was living on a daily basis. Here are some of the hints and tips I have learned that have helped me along the way.

1. Get up at a reasonable time. Have a shower. Get dressed. Eat breakfast. (Thanks to Ray for this – it’s possibly the most important, the most obvious and the least overlooked).

2. Get some sleep. Where possible (and this is easier said than done for people who are parents and those who work long hours), try and get as much sleep as possible. The more tired you are, the less likely you are to remain motivated.

4. Break things down into small steps. Instead of looking at the big picture, work out the small things that you need to do now, today.

5. Tackle just one task at a time. Trying to juggle too many tasks in one go will become overwhelming. Start a task, finish the task, then move onto something else.

6. Do things when they need to be done. Don’t allow yourself to sit down with the idea of ‘doing it later.’ The quicker you start, the quicker you’ll finish. If you’re anything like me, you won’t be able to truly relax until it’s finished anyway!

7. Ask for help. If someone joins you in a task, whether it is cleaning, working out or organising something, it is more likely to be done in a shorter amount of time and you’ll almost certainly have more fun doing it!

8. Create the ultimate playlist. Music is an integral part of my daily life, and I have a playlist of songs that genuinely pump me up and make me happy.

9. Get excited about it! Try and gain inspiration from other people – talk to them and ask for advice. Try and see the benefits that are to be gained from completing something rather than focusing on the negative.

10. Read about it. If I’m not sure how to begin something, I’ll search for articles about the same subject. I’m always left feeling inspired afterwards.

11. Find places and activities that inspire you. This could be a building, a park, a museum or your local coffee shop. It could be a dance class, a book reading or a film. Whatever it is, visit and/or participate.

12. Reward yourself! If you know there is a positive reward at the end of it, you’re more likely to push yourself.

13. Remember that it is ok to fail. Fear of failure is often reason for not doing something at all. If you fail – stop and start again.

14. Don’t initially set the bar too high. If fear of failure is a barrier to achieving your goal, lower your sights and build it up.

What about you guys? Have you got any useful hints and tips for motivating yourself when you are in a slump?

You can also find me on Twitter and tumblr @suzie81blog and don’t forget to check out my Pinterest page http://www.Pinterest.com/suzie81speaks and my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/suzie81speaks

My Facebook Newsfeed: A Snapshot of Life on One Page

Posted on July 15, 2014 by suzie81speaks

I went onto my Facebook newsfeed for the first time in a while today. The first few status updates were pictures of some of my friends newborn babies (there must have been something in the air – there have been seven births in the last few weeks), others were about the news that Michael Gove, the much despised Education Secretary, has been moved to another position in the cabinet (unfortunately, he’s been replaced by a woman who is quite openly against single sex marriage, but I’ll save that rant for later), and some of my teacher friends had expressed their excitement that the academic year ends at the end of this week. There were thanks for birthday messages, pictures of beautiful places they had recently visited and delicious looking food that they had eaten. One of my friends was clearly bored at work and had been sharing snippets of conversations he had been having with drunken customers, another had just bought a new car, another was discussing wedding preparations for her forthcoming wedding later this year and another had posted pictures from her wedding last weekend.

At the bottom, however, was a status from a woman, K, that I have known for almost thirty years. It included this:

“Today, I have Grade 3 breast cancer and I will begin six months chemotherapy when I return from my holiday next week… I don’t need support now but will need lots of Facebook entertainment during chemotherapy sessions. I strongly look forward to kicking cancer’s ass and coming back to raise money for the cure.”

I had to read and re-read the statement several times before it actually sank in. K is 30 years old. She was in the year below me and we were friends throughout primary and secondary school. As we both played musical instruments we also saw each other several times a week in the evenings for orchestras and bands and as we got older we would go out together. I remember when she met D, a trombone player in the same ensembles, who later became her husband. After I moved to Birmingham, we lost contact, but got back in touch through Facebook in 2007, and over the years I’ve seen her and D have three beautiful daughters. She has always been immensely popular, possessing a personality that makes somebody naturally warm to her – and has an enormous network of family and friends. K is a young, vivacious and successful family woman and I’m absolutely devastated for her and the fight that she has ahead.

Life can be so cruel.

However, K is a fighter, she always has been, and I know that she will come back from her holiday ready to kick cancer’s ass, and she’ll do so with the support of her family and the hundreds of friends that love and care for her, myself included.

I always marvel at the ability that Facebook has to show all the ups and downs that life can throw at us on just one page…

Liking To Be Liked

Posted on July 13, 2014 by suzie81speaks

When I was in my teens, I shared a lot of mutual friends with a girl that attended the same sixth form college as me, and consequently we seemed to spend a lot of time around each other. This would have been fine, other than the fact that she really disliked me. It bothered me and I would go out of my way to talk to her, try and make her laugh and do little things that I thought might please her. It didn’t work – she continued to be cold and distant when she was around me and remained that way until we finished our courses and left. I haven’t seen or heard from her since. Looking back, I can’t believe I wasted so much time and effort – I didn’t actually like her that much to begin with…

The simple fact is that we all like to be liked, even by people that we do not like ourselves. We seek approval, validation and even empathy. We want to be understood, to be praised. Our social media activities are focused on the amount of ‘likes’ and followers we can gain, and the respect that we are often given in the online world will depend how big our numbers are. It’s an inherent, irrational human trait and the overall desire for approval from others can often result in a compromise of actions, behaviour and lifestyle. Indeed, I have compromised myself on many occasions to try and please those around me. It took until I was in my late twenties to realise a few valuable things about people and friendships.

1. Regardless of who you are and what you do, there will always be those that simply don’t like you.

2. That’s ok.

After years of bending over backwards for others I stopped being a people pleaser and started to focus on improving myself for me and me alone. I realised that I was the only person that would remain with me throughout the entirety of my life and that it was my own opinion of myself that was more important that those I spent time with.

Does the knowledge that you are disliked upset you? Here are a few questions you need to consider:

1. Can you look at yourself in the mirror and know that you are a good person?

2. Do you live life with morals that you are proud of?

3. Do YOU like you?

If you can answer ‘yes’ to these questions honestly, then nothing else should matter. Go about your business, continue to be a good person, be there for others when they need it, but make sure you are content with yourself first.

And if others don’t like you? They clearly weren’t worth your time in the first place…

What about you? Do you go out of your way to please others?

You can also find me on Twitter and Tumblr @suzie81blog

25 More Thoughts for the Day

Posted on July 12, 2014 by suzie81speaks

A few weeks ago I created a post entitled ’25 Thoughts For the Day,’ which essentially was a collection of 25 phrases that I had collected from various memes and inspirational posters around the Internet. It was received quite well, and in a few of the comments that were given there was a request to do another. Unfortunately, sequels are invariably nowhere near the standard of the original, but I thought I would honour the requests and create a further list…

1. Don’t regret the things you did. Regret the things you didn’t do when you had the chance.

2. Life is too short to remove the USB safely.

3. Build your own dreams, or somebody else will hire you to build theirs.

4. With great power comes a great electricity bill.

5. You never realise how boring your life is until someone asks you what you do for fun.

6. Help a man when he is in trouble, and he’ll remember you when he is trouble again.

7. The best things in life are free. The second best things are very expensive.

8. A jealous person does better detective work than the FBI.

9. Having one child makes you a parent. Having two makes you a referee.

10. Unless life also hands you water, your lemonade is going to suck.

11. You can’t breathe through your nose with your tongue out.

12. You’ve just tried it, realised that you can breathe through your nose with your tongue out, but doing so makes you closely resemble a panting dog.

13. A whale swims all day, eats fish and is fat. A tortoise barely moves and can live for hundreds of years. Exercise fanatics: think on…

14. The chance of you dying on the way to buy your lottery ticket is greater than your chance of winning.

15. When nothing goes left… Go right.

16. Life is like a party. You invite lots of people – some will arrive on time, bring their own drinks and food, some will stay up all night, some will laugh at you, some will laugh with you, some will arrive really late. When the fun is over, some will help you clean up the mess, even though it wasn’t theirs.

17. Never trust a computer that you can’t throw out of a window.

18. Forgive your enemy… But never forget their name.

19. If you do not ask, the answer will always be no.

20. Do not let success go to your head, and failure go to your heart.

21. There are often three sides to a story. Yours, theirs and the truth.

22. If everyone is completely happy with you in life, you may have made many compromises. If you are happy with everyone, it is likely that you have ignored the many faults of others.

23. Life is like a bath – the longer you’re in it, the more wrinkled you are going to get.

24. If you love something set it free… Unless its a tiger.

25. And finally, this:

You can also find me on Twitter and Tumblr @suzie81blog

Tired

Posted on July 8, 2014 by suzie81speaks

I’m feeling really tired today, partly because of yesterday’s run and partly due to the fact that I was awake until 1.30am dealing with the insanity that was yesterday’s blogging endeavours. I wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you for the hundreds of messages, comments and emails that I received from you guys – it means a lot and once again demonstrates just how amazing the WordPress community is. I feel very lucky to be a small part of it.

School is almost over for the summer and now the students have done their assessments I was able to sit back and actually enjoy just being in the classroom. It’s a brilliant atmosphere at the minute – some of my students are in disgustingly good moods as they are excited about the holidays ahead and are desperate to share their holiday destinations with everyone.

I’m not going on holiday this year – the cat and the vets bills have seen to that – but I am determined to get away for just a day or two. Here’s where I need your help – do you have any ideas for fun activities/days out/days in that won’t leave me bankrupt?

Image credit: attackofthecute.com

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