From Vigilantes To Creators To... Disney

"The accumulation of their filth will foam up around their waists, and all the whores and politicians will look up as shout, 'SAVE US!' and I'll look down and whisper, 'no.'"

Can you blame him?
Whether you're a disgusted vigilante with no concept of moral greyness, a girl sitting at a computer wondering what to write or God Almighty Himself, you have to admit there is something wrong with our reception of those who help us.

In the graphic novel The Watchmen (from which the quote above is from) there is evidence of our non-existent gratitude to do-gooders. The fictional Keene Act passed in the book's year 1977 forbids any "costumed adventuring" from taking place independently (though two men who worked for the Government were conveniently excepted). All those people were doing were rescuing families from house fires, chasing muggers and rapists and occasionally taking bullets for innocents.
And though the message the above speaker left the makers of the Keene Act was pinned to the corpse of a multiple rapist ("NEVER!"), he was still chased by police for years before being brought down with all the force at their disposal.

Even Disney have touched upon our tendency to hate those who strive to help us. At the beginning of the Pixar film The Incredibles, we see how people suddenly decided they didn't need heroes anymore, and those who fought crime were forced to step down or have people make them. A message so strong as to puncture a children's film, however briefly, should be noticed more often as a major flaw of the human race.

I have no idea what the people responsible for these works believe. It could be they are noting the same similarities of the symbolism as other people, or that they truly didn't see the connection, but the foundations to this human behaviour seem to me to be rooted in religion. Well, there's a surprise; isn't everything?
In a world where political correctness has gone mad, where we have refrained from speaking of beliefs in case they "offend" somebody...
...in a world where we have dismissed God...
In short, we live in a time when we have told God to bugger off.
We can no longer read Bibles in schools, sing hymns where anyone but believers can hear them or (in some cases) wear crosses to work. We hesitate before admitting our beliefs... and we use the word "admitting" as we speak of them.

And then we have people (no names time, but if you've caught me in a ranting mood, you might know to whom I am referring) who, on hearing you are a Christian, turn around and say: "Well where was He on September the 11th, or July the 7th? Where was He when the first troops were sent into the Middle East? Where is He NOW?!"

And amongst things like "Screw you, bitch," I managed to finally say, "did you ever ask Him to do anything about all those things?"
"Of course not, I don't believe in Him."

If you don't believe in Him, how can you expect to see any results by Him?

Confessions Of A Teenage Insomniac

"You've made your bed, so sleep in it..."

Yeah, I bloody wish.

So, here I am, bright eyed and bushy tailed after my first insomnia-related all-nighter: went to bed at 12, gave up and got up at 6:30. Not a wink of sleep between those hours.
It's been getting notably worse since the return from Slovenia; a sleeplessness (real word? Don't know) that used to get me, say, every other- or third- night has now been every singe day I go to bed. Usually it's just a few hours, I end up dead to the world anyway. Not last night.

So I'd been to my mum's friend's boyfriend's (still with me?) party. It wasn't the liveliest of dos and the worst thing I managed was being pressed to try a mouthful of flat Gin and Tonic (simply spontaneous, right?)

Cept that night I go to bed and lie awake for six and a half hours, occasionally breaking the boredom with a chapter of the phenomenal graphic novel The Watchmen (read it.)

However, it wasn't as fun as you might think. In fact it was pretty shit.

There comes a time when you realise, four hours into your reluctant all-nighter, that if you don't fall asleep now you will feel this way for the rest of the day ahead. Feel like what? you ask.
Like you are totally and blissfully asleep every time your eyes shut to blink. Then, as they open again, you're utterly and frustratingly wide awake.

Another terrible stage is when your brain splits. Not literally of course, although by this time of the night you're doing very well not to have a headache of some kind. But I do not know whether it's a human reaction to the solitude, or simply proof that I personally am insane. However, the brain starts talking back to itself.
"Don't be soft," part of your mind says. "You're obviously not tired or you'd be asleep. Logical, no?"
"But I AM tired," another bit of your brain argues. "If you'd just shut up, maybe we'd get some rest."
A third part of your consciousness is wondering vaguely how this is even possible; the brain is one organ designed to control, help (and hinder) it's host body. It shouldn't be sniping at itself and referring to itself in the first person.
A still further bit of the mind is ignoring the other three all together, caught up in a desperate personal struggle to dispel the highly annoying (and insanely catchy) voice of the lead singer of the All American Rejects from looping over and over to only it's tortured ears... while simultaneously wondering if said singer is really Kermit the frog (listen to Her Name Rhymes With Mindy, then listen to the green Muppet’s voice: IDENTICAL).

Later on in the night/morning, you don't know whether it's from the hours and hours you have spend staring into darkness, or the fact the sky is finally beginning to lighten, but forms of you familiar things start to take shape. Then, every time you blink, as well as being ridiculously disappointed when your eyes open, you are somehow always surprised that the room you are in is lighter than the inside of your eyelids.

You think about a lot of things in a tiny amount of time when you're in the same place for hours at a time. A couple of the things flashing through my mind were:
● My Year 11 Media Project ● The difference of the words Glamour and Glamorous ● The fact the Cullen's aren't actually real vampires ● The fact I really need to post a blog soon ● What the bloody hell time is it? ● Oh, only five minutes past the last time I checked ●

Stand Back, Hold Your Breath and Close Your Eyes

Yes, that's right, I'm blowing the dust off this poor little blog.
I really am sorry... but summer holidays don't generally inspire any fantastical mind-wanderings or outspoken ideas.

It was only after somebody I didn't even know read this said in passing (in a trans-British Live Messenger conversation)... "You haven't blogged in a while..."
In truth I'd forgotten other people read this - a dangerous thing to do, if I begin mentioning names - so I've decided to post something up, even if its just an explanation of why I haven't been around.

I hate busy summers.I'm going/have been (depends on when you're reading this) away from home three times this summer. Okay, I love a summer holiday away as much as the next person, and I really enjoyed this year's one (Slovenia - nope, nobody's heard of it, you're not alone. Its a tiny country just to the right of Italy).
But then there's a week in Liverpool with my Grandma, who I love but who never lets me sleep in (what are holidays for?!)
And then five days in some CentreParcs place with only a couple of people I know and a bunch of people I don't. No doubt it will be a lot of fun, but the chances of slowing down and (again) messing up my sleeping pattern, are fairly slim.

And then it's school again. And yet another summer gone. Sorry if that sounds depressing, it wasn't meant to be. I generally don't mind school, and I am looking forward (kind of... a little bit) to seeing this multi-million new school building we're being blessed with.
Unfortunately it comes with a compulsory stripy new uniform. Stripy. Will I ever live it down to people outside my own school?
No, I don't think so either.